Author: Mad Snail
Date: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Action; Adventure; Fantasy; Romance; VRMMO
Description: The world’s largest VRMMO, Conviction, was almost like a second world for humanity. It had integrated itself into the real world’s economy, with both corporations and individuals seeking their fortunes through the game. In this game, Nie Yan prided himself in his Level 180 Thief. He could barely be considered among the top experts in the game. Though, that was the only thing he could take pride in. He was penniless and unable to advance in life; a situation he was forced into by the enemy of his father. If it weren’t for the little money he made by selling off items in Conviction, he would’ve

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Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed The World

(重生之贼行天下)

by

Mad Snail

(发飙的蜗牛)

Synopsis

The world’s largest VRMMO, Conviction, was almost like a second world for humanity.

It had integrated itself into the real world’s economy, with both corporations and individuals seeking their fortunes through the game.

In this game, Nie Yan prided himself in his Level 180 Thief.

He could barely be considered among the top experts in the game.

Though, that was the only thing he could take pride in.

He was penniless and unable to advance in life; a situation he was forced into by the enemy of his father.

If it weren’t for the little money he made by selling off items in Conviction, he would’ve barely been able to eat.

In the end, he chose to settle his matters once and for all.

He assassinated his father’s enemy.

He lay dying shortly after being shot in the pursuit.

However, that wasn’t the end of his story.

Instead, he awoke moments later to find that he had reincarnated into his past-self.

Armed with his experience and knowledge of future events, he sets out to live his life anew.

Chapter 1 – Rebirth

「Born into suffering. Suffering leads to death.

Parting with one’s desire leads to bitterness.

Bitterness leads into what one does not desire,

Being unable to obtain one’s desires leads into Suffering.」

In Buddhism, there are the Eight Sufferings; Nie Yan had experienced no fewer than five of these sufferings. His whole life since birth had basically been a chronicle of tragedies. Fortunately, it was a short chronicle, because he only lived to the age of twenty-eight before facing his mortality.

Perhaps his life ought to have ended at that point. However, at that moment, fate conceived a single turning point.

Nie Yan turned over. A feeling of wetness arose from his back as his clothing clung closely to his skin. It was an uncomfortable sensation. He vaguely recalled having been shot in the back and collapsing onto the ground. His blood flowed out, seeping into the earth.

Isn’t it just death? Nie Yan lay there calmly where he collapsed. To silently pass away like this… Couldn’t this also be considered a peaceful death of sorts?

He had lain in ambush for five whole days at the gates of the Cao Xu Mansion. There, he waited with great anticipation for Cao Xu to emerge. At the moment when Cao Xu nearly disappeared into his vehicle, Nie Yan pulled the trigger. Employing his sniper rifle, he delivered a bullet straight through Cao Xu’s skull.「Bang!」Blood dyed the ground. Gazing through the scope from a distance, he saw a hole appeared in Cao Xu’s head, his blood flowing out smoothly.

Cao Xu’s eyes stared vacantly before finally becoming blank as the light in them gradually faded away.

Replaying the event in his mind, Nie Yan felt incomparable pleasure in his heart as he recalled the scene of the bullet piercing through Cao Xu’s head. Naturally, it was because he had been unburdened of his hatred.

Cao Xu possessed a lifetime of glory and splendor, yet he died at the hands of a nobody like Nie Yan. Even if he became a ghost, Nie Yan wouldn’t be too particularly bitter. In the face of death, everyone was at an equal standing. Even if he had the wealth to rival nations, it still hadn’t been able to save his life.

Cao Xu had committed too many evils… It would be hard for him to escape retribution in the afterlife.

At the same moment when Cao Xu’s brains were blown out, Nie Yan came to a realization. His perspective on life underwent a complete transformation. So everything in life was could be determined by no more than a single shot of a sniper rifle. Perhaps tomorrow his picture would appear plastered on the front page of the morning newspaper. The headline would read "Millionaire Cao Xu Assassinated!” Below, a giant mug shot would lay on the page for the common people to revere and worship.

Immediately after Nie Yan had assassinated Cao Xu, Cao Xu’s personal bodyguards discovered his location and went in pursuit. They shot at Nie Yan, and a single bullet managed to hit him in the back.

He felt a burst of sharp pain. So this is how it feels to get shot… His heart gradually grew colder as his life force rapidly escaped his body.

Am I about to die? he thought, and let out a faint laugh. He laughed at the bitter shortness of life. He laughed at his life of confusion and hesitation. Only when he was about to die did he finally awaken to reality.

Shortly after this realization, tears began to streak down his cheeks.

The deep animosity he felt towards his parents had already ceased to exist. The events of the past were now replaying within his mind as if they were some kind of film. The only thing he longed for now in his fading time on this Earth was her faint, unblemished smile.

She was Nie Yan’s fellow classmate in high school. By now, she had already been engaged to someone else, yet her elegant and refined complexion remained engraved in Nie Yan’s mind; the same as it was in the past. Following the passage of time, her image became all the more unforgettable. He wondered… When she receives the news of my death, of how I took Cao Xu out with me, how will she react? Will she sigh? Or perhaps… will she shed tears in grief?

The old memories of the past seemed to breach through their constraints and began flooding in. They were now drifting and floating within his mind. He was quite regretful. Sometimes, when you finally realize or understand the truth of something… it is already too late to do anything about it. In this lifetime he truly had too many regrets, too many unfulfilled desires…

Nie Yan reached out to grab at the empty air, wishing to grasp onto something… However, to his dismay, everything had gradually gone out of his reach. Alas, his life had finally reached its limit—up ahead lay only an eternally silent abyss.

Remorse and dismay resembled a dagger as it incessantly sliced at his heart; the pain in his chest was unbearable.

What wrongs have I committed in my past life for the Heavens to torment and punish me in such a way!?

Nie Yan’s grievances soared to the Heavens. He was bitter. He screamed resentfully in his mind as teardrops continually tumbled down his cheeks.

The moment seemed to last forever, and Nie Yan was actually completely unaware of how much time had passed. Eventually, his mind calmed down and gradually became serene.

His mind was still active as he pondered away… Could it be…? Is this death? Perhaps, I’m in spirit form now?

For a long time Nie Yan felt sensations in his fingers, moreover, it felt real. Why, after all this time, why am I still conscious? He immediately sat up. Surveying his surroundings, he stared out blankly, at a complete loss.

Could it be…? Is this the underworld?

Nie Yan’s dull eyes gradually began to regain their focus. As he looked around, a few old things entered his vision: a wooden bed, a chair, and a visibly damaged floor.

Where is this place? Didn’t I already die?

He felt as if he were in a dream—having a sort of illusory sensation. He began feeling his back; his entire hand felt wet and sticky. However, as he moved his hand into view, he saw that his palm wasn’t covered in blood but rather sweat. The wet sensation he felt earlier was due to the clothing on his back having been soaked wet in his own perspiration.

What’s going on?

Didn’t I lose a lot of blood? He vaguely recalled his blood being red. It was just like red wine, except with a scarlet tint; it was the colour of his life gradually fading away.

Nie Yan still felt pain after pinching himself. This really isn’t a dream. Don’t tell me… assassinating Cao Xu was a dream as well?

Why did it feel so real?

It was just as Zhuang Zhuo muttered as he awoke from a dream, "Am I Zhuang Zhuo who dreamt I was a butterfly, or a butterfly who dreamt it was Zhang Zhuo?”

How do I determine what is real, and what is a dream?

He surveyed his surroundings with a hint of doubt. There were just too many questions left unanswered.

Within the dim lighting, there was a shabby-looking wooden bed, chair, and desk. By the wall, there stood the grandfather clock his old man loved to exaggerate as a priceless antique.「Tick Tock Tick Tock」The sound it produced echoed into the silence. Nie Yan recalled that the clock’s time had never been accurate, not even once.

It was as if his past memories were stored in an old photo album, they slowly began opening up.

This room here feels so familiar. Isn’t this the house I lived in when I was in high school?

Through the gap in the window curtains, sunlight shone in. He felt a stinging sensation as the sunlight entered his eyes, causing his pupils to violently contract. This was a type of dazzling awakening into reality.

I’m still alive… Nie Yan stretched his right hand forward. He gazed at its tenderness and slight immaturity before noticing the sickly pale skin tone.

I… What’s going on here? Am I myself from ten years in the past, or am I myself from ten years in the future? Nie Yan scratched his hair in great bewilderment.

Aligning his train of thought, a few fragments from his memories began emerging. Gradually, they became clearer and distinct.

This was the year he turned eighteen. It was summer vacation and his parents weren’t home. He had developed a forty degree fever that summer and nearly died… Only through luck did he manage to keep his life.

During that time, his parents had left him with a bit of money—immediately afterward, they took off without a word of goodbye. They never returned home, not even after two or three months, and he wasn’t able to reach them through their cellphones either. It was as if they had just vanished without a trace. At that time, he believed his parents didn’t want him anymore. He was alarmed… terrified… scared. All kinds of emotions began to plague and burden him. In addition to this, he had also developed that high fever. The experience left a deep trauma within his heart. He became timid, cowering at the slightest breeze. It took him until the age of twenty-five to begin correcting that personality to some extent.

Only afterwards, when he grew up, did he find out that his parents hadn’t abandoned him on purpose. Rather, they had borrowed money from a family friend and started up a smuggling businesses at the country’s borders. At that time, the country urgently needed a type of metal called polonium; it proved to be an important strategic resource. Following every nation’s discovery of this metal’s usage, they rapidly began placing restrictions on its export and started hoarding the resource for themselves. It was unknown how Nie Yan’s parents were able to find such a source. Although, in the end, they managed to smuggle the metal back into the country, selling it to the government at several hundred times the price they purchased it for. As a result, they earned a huge sum of money.

Their current circumstances at the time were very stressful and nerve-racking. Thus, Nie Yan’s parents were unable to contact him through the phone. Furthermore, their matters were classified military secrets. If any information were to leak out, it would result in their deaths. As a consequence, Nie Yan and his parents’ misunderstanding became buried in such a way. It took many years after the matter had passed for his father to inform him of the truth, and only then did Nie Yan forgive the both of them.

It was that year when his father had earned his first major payout and used it to establish a smelting company. Furthermore, he undertook and completed several large projects, advancing the company’s reputation by leaps and bounds. He resolved his family’s plight, and as a result, Nie Yan was transferred over to a high-class school within the city.

Is it possible? Have I really returned to that time?

I can start all over again from the beginning?

Nie Yan’s current emotional state was hard to describe; pleasant surprise and nervous apprehension interweaved with each other as his emotions swayed all over the place. He was anxious that everything occurring now was simply a dream.

Nie Yan climbed out of his bed and opened the window curtains. Rays of sunlight were scalding as they released their scorching heat onto his skin. The sensation clearly informed him that at present, he truly wasn’t dreaming.

He bent his head down to see that beside the windowsill lay his textbooks, arranged neatly on the table: mechanical theory, automation, language, advanced mathematics, A.I design, and so on…

Nie Yan flipped open a few pages. The familiar characters were like a clear stream. Along with his past memories, they rejuvenated his mind. These textbooks represented the youth that had passed by. After reaching his senior year of high school, he transferred to a high-class inner-city school. The projects that his father had undertaken succeeded. From then on, any materialistic desires he had were easily satisfied. His rise into becoming a well-off son of an entrepreneur caused him to turn lazy and idle. By the time he had graduated high school, his academic marks were definitely less than stellar. Afterwards, his father spent quite a bit of money to allow him to attend a famous university. Only… by the time he graduated from university, he had learned absolutely nothing; he wasted every day sitting around idly.

When he reached the age of twenty-five, his father’s business started suffering from the attacks of the Cao Xu Century Financial Group. Several family friends who were also trusted confidants were bribed by Cao Xu into betraying Nie Yan’s father. Thus, his company met with several setbacks in quick succession… Money, once more, had become a concern for the family. His father committed suicide by overdosing on drugs, and his mother fell ill due to the grief. She eventually passed away in the end as well. Only after suffering the pain of losing both his parents did Nie Yan begin making progress in his studies—self-studying in numerous courses. However, by that time it was already too late. He had simply missed too many opportunities.

Once full of longing, Nie Yan was prepared to hew out a piece of the world for himself. However, how could Cao Xu allow the son of his former enemy to make a comeback? With Cao Xu interfering behind the scenes, there wasn’t a single company who dared to hire him, leaving Nie Yan with nowhere to go. If it weren’t for him playing the Virtual Reality game Conviction—scraping by with what little income he could earn by selling items, he wouldn’t have been able to even eat a meal.

He had no hopes of gloriously defeating Cao Xu by rising to prominence as an underdog. However, an anxious hare could still give a nasty bite. Being at an impasse, Nie Yan’s final decision was to take Cao Xu out with him. The sound of the gunshot vented out all of Nie Yan’s resentments and loathing.

His destiny seemed bright and clear, so Cao Xu probably never thought his life would conclude in such a way.

Nie Yan believed himself to have died and never expected Time to play a joke on him, returning him to the summer vacation of his second year in high school.

And though he still wasn’t able to contact his parents, he could at least be certain they were still alive. When he thought of this, tears began filling his eyes.

When a son wanted to provide for his parents yet the parents were already gone… No other person was capable of understanding the bitterness and grief in Nie Yan’s heart.

The Heavens had given him another chance. He would absolutely never become confused and act indecisively again.

It would take a little over twenty days for his mother and father to return home. Since it was summer vacation right now, at the moment, he had no choice but to stay at home.

That year… in the latter half of the second semester during my second year of high school, if I recall correctly, the Virtual Reality game, Conviction, had just recently been released. Nie Yan distinctly remembered the scene of countless financial firms establishing a presence in Conviction’s rapidly rising popularity on the year of the game’s release. They poured tremendous amounts of resources into the large-scale development of this Virtual Reality game. It was truly due to these numerous financial firms that Conviction deservedly became the second world for humanity.

After he entered the high-class inner city school, he was finally introduced to the game by his best friend, by that time a semester had already passed. Only by then, many people were already at a very high level. He had already missed the best period of time to begin leveling. Left behind, he had no choice but to try and catch up with all his might.

The faded pages of the photo album—his memory—once again turned anew, revealing their bright colours. The most unforgettable moments in his life had come from the time he’d spent in the game. He had come to know so many friends in that game. In the calendar of his life, it was only because of them that those days of loneliness had not appeared too excessively senseless.

Prior to assassinating Cao Xu, Nie Yan was formerly a Level 180+ Great Thief. Though he wasn’t at the summit, he could barely be considered to be among the top experts.

Nie Yan suddenly recalled there was a bank card containing all of his savings in the drawer.

I have the money to buy a Virtual Reality helmet! Nie Yan thought to himself. Pulling open the drawer, he turned everything over, searching. At last, he found a silver-white bank card from the corner of the drawer. If he recalled correctly, the amount of money stored inside his bank account was two thousand credits; one credit the equivalent of one dollar. This money had come from him saving expenses on food and clothes over the course of several years. Back then, he wanted to buy the most advanced Model X3 computer. However, by the time he waited the several years needed to save up the money, the Model X3 had already become obsolete. Naturally, his pocket money was not merely this little after his father’s business had become successful. Due to his father wanting to make it up to Nie Yan, he gave Nie Yan practically everything he asked for. Something he wanted…? If it could be bought, it would arrive.

Nie Yan was eighteen years old this year. However, he possessed the soul of his twenty-eight-year-old self. Everything would once again start anew. From henceforth, a new chapter in his life would open up. However, without the sufficient capital, he wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything. So, he would start from the game. Using his prior experiences of the game, becoming a professional gamer and earning a little bit of money was a very simple affair.

Nie Yan remembered the time when Conviction’s first gaming helmets had just begun selling. In an effort to make them spread, the prices were unusually cheap. There were three entry models: Model A, B, and C. Each entry model’s configurations were unique. The immersion level of the Virtual Reality helmets ranged from 76%–98%. A sum of a thousand three hundred credits was enough to afford the cheapest model. With the current amount of money Nie Yan had stored in his savings, it was sufficient for him to purchase the lowest tier model Virtual Reality helmet.

He could clearly and distinctly recall many items and things from the game. If he started all over again, it wouldn’t be too difficult for him to procure some results.

Placing his bank card within his pocket, he shifted his gazed towards the advanced mathematics textbook on the side. As if God himself had just slightly nudged the textbook up, it trembled a little bit before a crisp new hundred dollar bill emerged and fell out. At that moment, he recalled several things as memories once again began floating into his mind.

He suddenly remembered that the first meeting between him and Xie Yao would occur today. He had taken the hundred dollar bill and left the house to buy medicine at the pharmacy.

Xie Yao was his deskmate during his senior year of high school, as well as the prettiest girl in his class. Once again, he reminisced on this past event, a segment of his life that he couldn’t bear to look at without causing his wrists to tremble. After nearly a decade had passed, Xie Yao and the publically recognized gifted student in his class, Liu Rui, had fallen in love; the two of them had moved together to the Moon. Only after he and Xie Yao communicated through several calls did he find out Xie Yao was not the least bit happy. When matters relating to the past in his senior year of high school were brought up, both of them would sigh incessantly.

If he had just been a little bit more courageous… if only he wasn’t so gutless and inferior in front of Xie Yao. Perhaps, he wouldn’t have missed his chance…

Sometimes… there were decisions that lasted for an entire lifetime; they would become regrets that one would never be able to resolve.

At the time, Xie Yao always liked wearing a white skirt. Pure and beautiful, her appearance remained engraved deeply in Nie Yan’s heart. This sort of melancholic yearning was just like the sound of a flute playing in the evening, tranquil and far away in the distance…

Nie Yan glimpsed at the shabby-looking clock, the hands pointing to three o’clock. There still might be enough time! He picked up the hundred dollar bill, rushed down the stairs out, and out the door.

His family lived in a suburban district. It was extremely bleak. A shabby street that wasn’t at all wide, and as the wind blew over, it picked up a lot of dust. Contrary to what one might expect, many trees were seeded on either side of the street. Under the blazing hot sunlight, they remained lush and flourishing, casting shade on the earth below them…

Greeted with a hot afternoon, no pedestrians could be seen walking by. Cars were also few and far between… Occasionally, one or two hover cars would drive by…

In the past, Nie Yan had loathed this town very much. However, after his reincarnation, as he once again met with this bleak place, Nie Yan did not feel loathing or disgust. To the contrary, he unexpectedly felt an amiable familiarity. This was the place he lived in when he was eighteen years old.

Before Nie Yan reached the age of twenty-five he was timid and weak; it was not unrelated to the living environment of the former years of his life. He was just a little boy from a small town whose family suddenly became wealthy, and because of this, he was transferred over to a high-class city school.[1] Originally during his first and second year of high school, his academics could actually be regarded as pretty exceptional. However, by the end, it was the complete inverse. He was also frequently ridiculed for wearing tacky clothing. In addition to the events that occurred during that hot summer, it caused him to have a very low self-esteem and left behind many psychological insecurities. By the time he moved to a new environment, he had already become insecure and timid, seemingly never fitting in with everything and everyone. If he hadn’t come to know several good friends, it would be hard to say he wouldn’t have suffered a mental breakdown.

However, this was in the past. Presently, never did he expect that after going through an entire lifetime, he would return to where it all started. This time, he promised to himself that he would never repeat the mistakes of his previous self again.

He sprinted off towards the pharmacy.

The surrounding buildings looked somewhat shabby, there were no signs of human life… Following the increasing speed of the urbanization process, the people of this small town would migrate towards the dense crowds of large cities. And the area within this small town’s borders would become increasingly desolate as the population became fewer and fewer. After a hundred years, this area would become demolished and once more change into an open field…

Over here is the school, and on the other side is the supermarket… Like an old horse that knew the way, Nie Yan gazed at the surrounding buildings with familiarity. His frame of mind gradually became more optimistic. I’ve gone back! I’ve truly gone back!

In the past, he had always held a lot resentment towards his unjust fate. However, now he was grateful towards the Heavens.

I’m going to start all over again! I’ll do it right this time! Nie Yan was tempted to scream these words at the top of his lungs, venting out all of the indescribable emotions he had held within his heart.

Notes:

1] Chinese people start high school at grade 10, so they only have three years of high school as opposed to our four.

Chapter 2 – To Meet Once Again

Nie Yan increasingly neared the pharmacy. However, as he was crossing the road, as if by some supernatural occurrence, he tripped and fell hard onto the pavement.

When one reaches the peak of happiness, sorrow is soon to strike.

「Ssssss…ah.」Nie Yan hissed in pain. His hands felt numb from breaking the fall, and his knee was bleeding from scraping off the pavement.

Nie Yan sat up with great difficulty; his knee had been badly cut open, exposing raw flesh and blood.

At that time, a pink hovercar happened to be passing through the area. It halted, not far from where Nie Yan had fallen. The hovercar was of top quality, truly a rare sight in this peaceful little town. It appeared to be a limited edition hovercar, valued around ninety million dollars—something an ordinary family certainly couldn’t afford.

A young lady in a white skirt appeared, stepping out after the car door was opened. Urgently, she ran over to where Nie Yan had fallen.

"Fellow student, are you alright?” A clear and pleasant voice appeared to be deeply concerned as it passed through Nie Yan’s ears.

Hearing this voice so familiar to his heart, his soul began to tremble. He turned his head to look; if the person appearing before his eyes wasn’t Xie Yao, then who else could it be?

She was wearing a white dress dotted with pink lace, her hair was tied behind her back as her clear and charming eyes gazed on with concern. Her cheeks, appearing still somewhat childish, were brimming with youth and life. She was still as beautiful as ever.

Nie Yan absentmindedly recalled the high school reunion that had occurred six years after his graduation. At that time, Xie Yao had become a successful businesswoman. She had worn a beautiful and enchanting OL dress.

Time was indeed a wondrous thing—changing a pure and innocent young girl into a charming and beautiful woman… and at present, once again changing her back.

After a whole lifetime, I’ve met you again… Perhaps this is fate, our destinies rewinding like magnetic tape, placing us two once again at where we first encountered. Melodious music slowly began playing in his soul; every single note so pleasant and beautiful to listen to.

Nie Yan still kept the memories of the day he and Xie Yao had first come across each other; it had mirrored this exact scene. His eyes were moist, Xie Yao… I haven’t seen you in such a long time. Are you still doing fine? In this lifetime, I’ll never let you go again…

"Ah! Your knee is badly scraped, and it’s bleeding badly!” Xie Yao called out in alarm. After recalling that the first aid kit in her car still had a few bandages, she quickly ran back to retrieve them.

Nie Yan watched as Xie Yao returned to her vehicle. During his senior year, what he loved to do the most was follow her elegant little figure with his eyes. Glancing at her seductive figure, her knee length skirt revealed snow-white skin that resembled exquisite jade. On that topic, Nie Yan’s appearance also couldn’t be considered too bad. Following his father’s success, his financial circumstances had also become pretty good; he wasn’t the least bit inferior to Xie Yao. However, when facing her, he could never rouse up enough courage to interact with her.

His state of mind during senior year was odd and hard to fathom. Looking back as an adult, he felt he truly was too immature at the time.

Xie Yao grabbed the bandages and walked over to Nie Yan’s side. She then began disinfecting the wound with antiseptics. Moving with extreme care, she picked off the tiny bits of gravel with her delicate fingers.

"How can you cry? You’re already a grown boy. How could a little wound like this cause you to tear up? It’s not a very good appearance, you know!~”Xie Yao smiled teasingly while using her thumb to massage Nie Yan’s bruised knee.

When she smiled, the corners of her mouth exposed her slight dimples, revealing a type of indescribably bright charm.

"When I fell, there was just a little dust that got into my eyes.” Nie Yan’s cheeks became a little red as he absentmindedly replied with an excuse. The real reason he had cried wasn’t due to the injury on his knee in the slightest. It was Xie Yao’s appearance which caused him to feel as if boiling hot water had been poured over his head. His state of mind was in a chaotic mess: an overwhelming amount of bitterness and joy mixed together wanted to surge out of him.

Xie Yao’s attention was singlemindedly focused on Nie Yan’s bruised knee.

Nie Yan raised his head and gazed at Xie Yao’s face as she leaned in towards him. Her skin, like flawless white jade, was tender and supple. A strand of black hair hung down as he gazed at the beautiful earrings that hung from her earlobes.

In the past when he and Xie Yao were deskmates, he always liked to secretly peek at her during class time. Though no matter how much he looked, he felt he could never look enough.

Xie Yao was without a doubt the prettiest girl in their class; however, other classes had very pretty girls too. Nie Yan, on the other hand, firmly believed Xie Yao was the most beautiful girl in the entire school.

After their first encounter, Nie Yan had never forgotten her. Later on, when he entered his senior year of high school, he was surprised to discover the both of them were in the same class. Not only that… but they were also deskmates as well. He came to believe this occurrence was predestined. It wasn’t until ten years later that he came to understand… even if two people were fated to be together, if one didn’t properly seize their opportunity, they would miss their chance. By the time he became aware of this, it was already too late.

"How could you come here all by yourself!? This is a really dangerous area where a lot of criminals operate!” Nie Yan said in a genuinely concerned tone. It truly was an area occupied by many criminal organizations. An especially dangerous place for a beautiful young girl like Xie Yao to be alone.

"Don’t underestimate me! I’m a third level black belt in taekwondo! After I turn twenty-one, I’ll be able to advance onto the fourth level. If you don’t believe me, then let me show you!” Xie Yao took up an open stance, then suddenly halted as her face turned dizzily red. She stalled and said, "Actually, nevermind… I’m wearing a skirt today, but I really am super strong!” Xie Yao said innocently without the slightest trace of scheming.

Nie Yan replied with a laugh, and after chatting with Xie Yao for a while, he confirmed that this young lady in front of him was indeed Xie Yao—the girl who was so sincere, lovable, lively, and carefree. Yet after graduating university and meeting up once again, that sort of lively innocence soon became something he could never see again. It turns out going through a stressful period of time would indefinitely change anyone…

Xie Yao began sizing Nie Yan up a bit. Compared to herself, he seemed to be younger than her by a few years. His height was also roughly the same as hers, appearing to be only around a hundred seventy centimeters in height. The clothes he wore were a little dirty, possibly from falling over just now. Appearance wise—although he couldn’t be regarded as handsome—he was passable. Only, she didn’t seem to know why, but she felt an indescribable sort of familiarity and closeness towards Nie Yan. Unknowingly, they ended up chatting for quite a while.

"What school are you from? From your appearance… it looks as though you should be studying in middle school, right?” Xia Yao felt Nie Yan was a little bit foolish and empty-headed, so silly it was slightly adorable. Not minding the ground while he was running, many boys from middle school are foolish like this. They become a lot more mature by the time they reach high school though.

Although Nie Yan was eighteen years old right now, he had the wisdom of a twenty-eight-year-old. When he met with Xie Yao once again, Nie Yan was no longer the confused, ignorant little boy he had been in the past. His spirit had been refined and tempered by the passage of time; he had become calm and collected.

"Who said I’m in middle school? If it weren’t for the country’s child policy, my son would already be old enough to buy groceries himself!” Nie Yan replied jokingly. As a person, one shouldn’t be so deadpan and boring.

"Your son? Buying groceries himself? Stop joking around!” Nie Yan’s words had caused Xie Yao to burst out into laughter, causing her to giggle nonstop.

"I’m eighteen.”

"Are you really eighteen? You don’t look like you’re around my age,” Xie Yao said in surprise.

Due to being a bit malnourished, Nie Yan’s present height was evidently a bit short—around a hundred sixty-five centimetres tall. When his living conditions had improved later on, his height soared up to a hundred eighty centimetres by the time he had reached his senior year of high school. His current appearance still seemed that of a juvenile, and he really did look like a middle schooler. This was the reason why he had always looked a little depressed.

The most unfortunate thing for him, as a twenty-eight-year-old, was unexpectedly being told he looked like a middle school student. However, he really did look baby-faced at present, so there was nothing that could be done. "This is because my face looks naturally younger compared to others.”

"If you’re young, you’re young. You still won’t admit it?” Xie Yao replied giggling. She came to feel this Nie Yan was a pretty amusing person. All the boys in her class were always either shy when they met her, never knowing what to say, or haughty delinquents that brought her disgust.

The two talked for quite a while. Nie Yan appeared very comfortable when conversing with Xie Yao, occasionally teasing her with a few clever quips that made her laugh.

Nie Yan gazed at Xie Yao’s smiling expression that was simply beautiful. It reminded him of the time he had graduated high school. He and Xie Yao had been deskmates for a year, and he had always believed the two of them could never form any sort of connection. They were two people from completely different worlds. He continued to admire Xie Yao in secret, gifting Xie Yao whatever she asked for. However, he had never made a demand for Xie Yao to remember a lowly person such as himself. Never did he expect that after graduation he would unexpectedly receive a gift from her. Perhaps, he really had left an impression in Xie Yao’s heart.

What appeared in the gift was a photograph of Xie Yao as a twelve-year-old. At the time, she was still a chubby little fat girl. It was a picture that would only be shared with someone she considered herself to be close to.

After graduation, Nie Yan remained incapable of forgetting Xie Yao and both of them continued to stay in touch.

After being reborn, Nie Yan would never again allow himself to miss his opportunity.

Having once more encountered each other, Nie Yan’s state of mind fell into somewhat of a daze. In his past life, and in his current life, he and Xie Yao shared an unbreakable bond tied by fate.

Her clear and limpid eyes stealthily glanced at Nie Yan’s face, sizing him up. Although Nie Yan wasn’t particularly handsome, even looking very ordinary at first, and despite looking very childish, he had a very indescribable calmness. Perhaps it has to do with his personality?

"My name is Nie Yan (聂言). The Nie written with ‘pair’ (双) and ‘ear’ (耳), and the Yan written as ‘word’ (言) in ‘language’ (語言),” Nie Yan said while looking at Xie Yao eye to eye.

Xie Yao’s charming face became flustered as she tried to avoid Nie Yan’s gaze.

"I’m called Xie Yao…”

Nie Yan shifted his gaze downwards, stopping at Xie Yao’s lips. They were a faint pink in colour—soft with a glossy allure. The previous Nie Yan in his senior year of high school would absolutely never dare to gaze at Xie Yao’s face in such a way. He had only dared to stealthily sneak glances at Xie Yao’s beautiful face from the corner of his eye.

"My father is still waiting for me, so I-I’ll be leaving first… I felt very happy chatting with you today. But remember, you can only remove your bandage by tomorrow! You definitely can’t remove it any earlier!” Xie Yao didn’t feel assured, so she repeatedly warned Nie Yan as she stood up.

Nie Yan attempted to move his knee a bit, and noticed that he was able to do so without issue—the wound was only superficial.

"I’m alright. I can already walk again, so you should go back now. Also, thank you for today,” Nie Yan replied. Despite wanting to talk with Xie Yao for a little while longer, he ended up walking back to the curb. They would be studying at the same high-class city school in the future, and he would have plenty of opportunities to get to know her then.

"I’ll be leaving first then…”

"Bye bye,” Nie Yan replied smiling, as he began strolling away. As he walked up to the pharmacy, he couldn’t help but feel a little sentimental in his heart. After briefly meeting one another, they parted once again.

Xie Yao sat in her hovercar and started it back up.

Nie Yan turned his head and glanced back, but by that time Xie Yao’s hovercar had already departed. They had met in the past like this, completely by accident. However, it didn’t go as smoothly as this last time as the previous him hadn’t even been able to form a single coherent word in front Xie Yao. The Xie Yao back then had wrapped up his leg with a bandage and left right after. Though it was this chance encounter, caused by his carelessness, that allowed Xie Yao to leave an inerasable mark in his heart. It was to the extent where he had never forgotten her.

Reincarnating is such a wonderful thing; everything could once again start afresh. Nie Yan then came to think, his everything could very likely be snatched away by Cao Xu in a couple of years down the road. In his mind rose a strong sense of urgency… He had to become much more powerful to be able to protect everything that he held dear.

Thinking about Cao Xu, Nie Yan’s heart gradually grew colder. This was a loathing that penetrated deep into one’s marrow—to the extent where he felt not the slightest hesitation in putting a bullet through his enemy’s head.

However, for now, all he was currently able to do was seize his opportunity and enter Conviction as quickly as possible, to set up an early foundation in the game. Conviction was unlike any other game, naturally because it was humanity’s second world. The game had transformed the entire globe. Nie Yan could obtain what he wanted by playing Conviction.

At the pharmacy, he bought a few packets of cold medicine. As he swallowed it down, he immediately felt his body relax as his fever receded. At present, he felt the medicine’s effects were very satisfactory.

After he finished up in the pharmacy, he walked over to the department store in the area. He planned to buy a Virtual Reality helmet.

Every department store had a dazzling lineup of products within. They had many kinds of appliances and devices; so many, they couldn’t be counted. For the most part, they were all smart devices. There were some products Nie Yan wasn’t even able to name. This place had no sales representatives; you only need swipe your card and you’d be able to receive whatever you wanted to buy.

Half a day had passed since Nie Yan left his house, and finally, he had reached the section where they sold Virtual Reality helmets. They were displayed one by one stacked on top of the wall. It was a feast for the eyes; there were three entry models differentiated by thousands of styles, patterns, and designs.

The lowest price was thirteen hundred credits while the most expensive reached upwards of a million and two hundred thousand credits.

The higher the price, the better the configuration. You get what you pay for, and at present Nie Yan could only afford the cheapest configuration.

Besides the currently available Virtual Reality helmets, there were also limited edition ones that could be purchased only by making a reservation. Their prices reached upwards of sixty million credits.

Regarding these helmets, at present, Nie Yan could only wish for them in his thoughts—nothing more.

Nie Yan swiped his card at the register. He had chosen a light-blue coloured helmet and furthermore bound it to his identity. Once his identity was registered to the helmet, it could only be used by him from then on.

Conviction had only been released seven days ago, thus the highest leveled player was probably only level 5. So he still had plenty of time to catch up.

After having been reborn, he should be able to effortlessly obliterate any opponent in his way in a grand and imposing manner. "Step up to the highest peak, and all mountains below will be seen as insignificant.”

Chapter 3 – Haggling

Nie Yan glanced back at the clock, it was already half past three. Conviction’s game servers were open from five in the afternoon to nine in the morning—sixteen hours total. In this way, it wouldn’t be a hindrance to the common person’s work schedule. Thus, everyone’s game time was more or less equivalent. Hence, it made it unlikely for any single player to create a large disparity in level compared to the rest of the player-base. In addition, Conviction’s Virtual Reality technology exceeded perfection. As a result, it gained increasing popularity, eventually becoming popular all over the globe. It gradually transformed into an absolute necessity in everyone’s life.

This was the world that had become dominated by Virtual Reality technology; it had become a perfect system. Five months later, Conviction would complete this system by connecting virtual currency with the real world economy, thus completely merging into humanity’s livelihood.

With such a high rate of player retention, the player-base was able to grow to a tremendous amount. It spurred the increasing consumption of Virtual Reality in the rest of the world. The amount of time the world spent playing Conviction every year was so astronomical, it was to the extent that it surpassed the amount of time they spent in reality. The emergence of numerous new consumer groups caused the creation of a great number of service industries, a vast majority of which targeted the professional gaming community.

Almost every financial group had established a presence in Conviction. Following the establishment of his father’s business—after the company had produced decent earnings—Nie Yan’s father also began participating in Conviction’s rising popularity. He put up a large sum of money into the game as well. Though in the end, due to suffering a crushing defeat, it resulted in the company and its assets being brought to ruin. This allowed Cao Xu the opportunity to seize even more of an advantage… Nie Yan absolutely wouldn’t allow such a situation to occur again.

Establishing an early presence in Conviction was essential, and it was crucial that he mustn’t fail. Nie Yan needed to first help his father by paving the road ahead. Only when his father begins injecting funds into Conviction, will he be able to establish an uninterrupted chain of funding and take the first steps towards success. This would prevent any problems from arising in the future.

Nie Yan made a stop and ate out for dinner, spending thirty dollars. By the time he had arrived home, it was already nearing five o’clock.

After putting on his helmet, he calmly waited for Conviction to boot up.

Twelve minutes had passed. The helmet’s display gradually illuminated, revealing the time to be [05:00 PM]. Abruptly, a lively jingle began playing, echoing through his ears. The tune felt familiar; it had been something he’d heard countless times in the past. He never felt any particular attachment towards it. However, it currently felt strangely pleasant to his ears.

「System: Do you wish to create an account?」

"Yes!”

「System: Please select your country.」

There were three factions you could choose from when entering Conviction. The first was the righteous faction who guarded the light. This faction consisted of the Viridian (Ge-lín-lan) Empire and Satreen (Sa-te-en) Empire. The Viridian Empire was a nation ruled by humans and governed by an Elder Parliament. The Satreen Empire, on the other hand, was a nation formed from the alliance between dwarves, beastmen, and elves. The second was the evil faction who guarded the darkness; it was ruled by a tyrant who reigned over both the devils and undead. For people who didn’t enjoy conflict, there was a third faction which was neutral and ruled by the irenic giant tribe.

In the past, Nie Yan had chosen the Tempest Thief-profession of the Viridian Empire, which meant he was also quite familiar with the landscape of the empire. Furthermore, he was well acquainted with the Tempest Thief’s skills and profession missions. If he had chosen a different starting nation, then the superior advantage he had gained from being reborn wouldn’t be worth much in the end.

Nie Yan held a special type of affection for the Tempest Thief-profession. After all, he had dedicated nearly a decade of painstaking effort into it. The Level 180 Thief represented the height of his glory.

When he considered all these factors, he selected the Tempest Thief as his profession once again—just as he had in the past.

「System: You’ve chosen to start in the Viridian Empire.」

「System: You’ve selected Tempest Thief as your profession.」

「System: Please name your character.」

(涅)Nie (炎)Yan

"Nirvana Flame!” Nie Yan chose the same name as he had in the past. "Nirvana Flame”—though these words were pronounced in the same way as his real name when they were spoken, they presented the meaning of a phoenix entering nirvana and being reborn.

「System: Successfully created character name. The character Nirvana Flame has been created.」

The game automatically blurred the player’s true appearance after entering. Then, the system would conduct minor alterations to the face of the player’s character. Under normal circumstances, the appearance of the player’s character and the player’s actual appearance were vastly different. It would actually be quite difficult to recognize a player in real life. However, the actual beauty or ugliness of the character was more or less equivalent to how it would be outside the game.

Nie Yan opened his status window and took a look at his own stats.

Character: Nirvana Flame

Level: 0

HP: 100/100

Rage: 0/100

Stats:

Strength: 2

Intellect: 2

Awareness: 2

Agility: 2

Physique: 2

Charisma: 2

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Defense: 2 (Defend Rate 20%)

Resilience: 1

Willpower: 0

Focus: 5

Stealth: 0 (The current skill is empty)

Cloak: 5

Search: 5

Move Speed: 5 (Weight Modifier 0)

Attack: 3 (Hit Rate 10)

Reflex: 2

Balance: 5

Jump: 5 (Short Range: 0.9 yards) (Medium Range: 1.5 yards) (Long Range: 3.0 yards)

Magic Resistance: 0 (Magic Defend Rate 0%)

Attack Speed: 5 (Weapon Modifier 0 Weight Modifier 0)

----------

Weight: 0 / 60 lb (Weight Modifier +10)

Light Load: 0 - 20 lb (maintain under 20lb for agile movement)

Medium Load: 20 - 30 lb (regular movement)

Heavy Load: 30 - 50 lb (slow movement)

----------

Character Race Attribute: Humans possess knowledge many races wish for. Every five levels, Intellect +3

Thief Profession Trait I: Every five levels receive a trap exemption bonus

Theif Profession Trait II: Mounting a sneak attack towards an enemy's back causes an additional 30% attack bonus.

Human Thief Profession Trait: Excellent Intellect allows them to be proficient in employing all kinds of tools and enchanted items.

Profession Skills:

Beginner Evasion (+2 Reflex)

Beginner Weapon Mastery: Dagger (+1 Attack)

Beginner Cloaking (+2 Cloak)

Beginner Marksmen (Able to use bow and crossbow)

Tempest: Thieves are agile in the use of their fingers.

These were the base stats for every type of Thief in the beginning of the game. Furthermore, at Level 0, the system gave five stat points and one skill point.

Nie Yan took a glance at his status window. When he had chosen the Tempest Thief profession in the past, he had added one point in Strength, two points in Dexterity, and two points in Physique in order to make himself more durable. In turn, it caused him to have a very weak attack power and slow attack speed during the initial stages of the game, causing him to waste a lot of his time trying to level. In reality, thieves never required a lot of HP at the start of the game. In the past, when he thought about this failure and all the time he had wasted, Nie Yan couldn’t help but drop his shoulders down and sigh many times, wishing he could delete and restart again. This time around, he wouldn’t repeat such a disastrous mistake again.

This time, he added three points into Strength and two points in Dexterity. He had concluded this was the most optimum ratio, after taking into account the leveling habits of his previous life. He took another glance at the status window after allocating all of his stat points.

Attack 5 → 6

Hit Rate 10.0 → 10.6

Movement Speed 5.0 → 5.4

Attack Speed 5 → 5.6

There were also profession masteries. Regarding these Thief profession masteries, a majority of thieves from the Human race would choose to add their first skill point into either Evasion, Weapon Mastery, or Cloaking. Nie Yan was also prepared to add his first skill point into Weapon Mastery, but he stopped suddenly. After a moment of careful consideration, he decided to add his first skill point into Marksmen.

Beginner Marksmen → Intermediate Marksmen: Rapid Reloading +3, Firing Range + 3, Attack when using crossbow/bow +3, Ignore Level difference + 3 (Thief Profession Modifier + 1),

Profession skills were divided into five levels. Beginner→Intermediate→Advanced→Expert→Specialist. One could not advance further after reaching Specialist. However, there were many types of profession skills, and different professions were allowed to upgrade different profession skills.

Human thieves were proficient in a variety of tools and enchanted items. Bows and crossbows belonged to this category, which is why those with Intermediate Marksmen received an additional attack bonus when they were used.

After assigning his stats, Nie Yan’s scenery shifted and he soon appeared at the transport point within Calore (Ka-luo-er) City. Encompassing the surroundings were rows upon rows of towering buildings. Every building in Calore City was pure white and possessed an incomparable brilliance. At the center of the city stood a white spire which towered through the skies. Not too far from the spire was an equally magnificent pure white sculpture that stood several hundred meters in height. Holding onto a Magician’s scepter, it had a solemn and dignified expression. This was, of course, the protector of the Viridian Empire, Qiao Biya the Great.

People were arriving and departing as they moved through the main streets, which were bustling with noise and excitement.

Evening in reality was actually early morning within the game. The light of daybreak enveloped and warmed the top of every building as if a blanket of silver white light had been laid over all of Calore City.

Calore City was the capital of the Viridian Empire; it was a floating city that lay suspended over the Calore Prairies. From the city, numerous transport points connected to various other cities, towns, and villages.

"Selling top rate White-tier dagger (Attack +2)! It’s better than the novice dagger (Attack +1), and only costs two copper coins! Only three left in stock until they’re all sold out!” A Level 3 Arcane Mage had currently set up shop near the transport point. Many beginners were crowding in front of his store.

Every new person who enters the game receives ten coppers in their inventory as their starting capital. Even though they felt their hearts ache, many people still purchased one of these daggers for the sake of training a little bit faster in the initial stages of the game.

Nie Yan snorted in disdain. On the map, the same daggers could be found in Level 1–5 villages being sold for only one copper. Furthermore, Level 0 players could easily walk up to a transport point and teleport to one of these villages free of charge. They could purchase one of these daggers from an NPC, and then come back—all within two or three minutes.

In his previous life, he had also foolishly bought one of these daggers, only to find out he had been cheated later on.

The nearby towns each had their own stores; the small town of Link had a clothing shop, Joseph Town had a hat and shoe store, and Locke Town had a shop that sold weapons. Nie Yan teleported back and forth three times through the transport points. He spent six coppers to switch out his defenseless beginner equipment for better gear. Each piece of equipment gave him an increase in Defense. He gained 1–2 Defense each from equipping his new footwear, headgear, shoulder guards, and leg protectors. He also gained an additional 2–3 Defense from equipping cloth armour.

These were all lessons he had learned from his past experiences. Taking a look at his Defense, it had now become 8–13. If beginner thieves at Level 2 or 3 weren’t resourceful enough in keeping their equipment up with their levels, they would also have this little bit of defense.

After taking a stroll around the marketplace, he discovered a Level 3 Paladin selling Thief profession Stealth skill books. He was selling six books for six coppers each in his store. Many of the low-level thieves could only gaze from afar due to the price of these skill books being so expensive.

The Paladin had the appearance of a man in his twenties. His stature was tall and robust. it would’ve been pretty good if he had chosen to be a Warrior, but he was still passable as a Paladin.

Paladins were guardians of the Temple of Light. They could learn holy skills passed down from the Temple such as certain offensive enchantments or healing skills. Furthermore, they had decent close combat skills and could provide supportive party buffs for teammates at the same time. They were a pretty balanced profession in every aspect. Silencing Paladins were Paladins that could learn Silence—a divine skill that could suppress Mages, Priests, and other Mage type professions.

"How much for this Stealth skill book?” Nie Yan asked as he bent down and picked up the skill book from the cloth mat that was spread out on the ground. The Stealth skill was an essential skill for a beginner Thief. Luckily, though, the Stealth skill book had a very high drop rate from the various monster spawn points, so it wasn’t too expensive.

"You’ve already seen it, the price is six coppers,” the Paladin replied, pursing his lips into a frown.

"Aren’t you just trying to rip people off? A Silencing Paladin like you can easily hunt down the Fallen Shamans around Link Town. You could easily farm out six skills books in a day, and still not lose any health. It’s definitely much easier to make money this way compared to farming Goblins. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself, selling at such a high price? Three coppers, and not a copper more.” Nie Yan haggled down the price to half.

"How could it be as easy as you described? Do you even know much I spend on potions a day? If I sold it to you for three coppers, I basically wouldn’t be making any money! My lowest offer is five coppers.” The Paladin was shocked by Nie Yan’s words and had taken quite a while to reply. He definitely wasn’t the type of person who was calculating and skillful at deceiving others. At a glance, this new player in front was definitely a well-informed customer, definitely not someone to be easily fooled.

"That’s because the place you’re farming monsters at is inefficient. If you farm the Fallen Shamans at these coordinates, [22385.21338.23329], you can easily get at least ten skill books a day. Not only that, you won’t waste a lot of money on potions as well. Three coppers, not a single copper more. If you don’t want to sell, then I’ll just take my leave.” Nie Yan had inspected this Paladin. He had a squarish jawline with slightly grown out stubble, and his appearance didn’t seem too despicable.

Chapter 4 – Flying Stone

"W-wait a minute! What did you say those coordinate numbers were? Does that place truly drop many Stealth skill books?” the Paladin hurriedly asked. After hearing the manner in which Nie Yan had spoken in, he somewhat began to believe this passing Thief.

"[22385.21338.23329], the location is near the Fallen Shaman Camp, but it’s still a fair distance away. The area should be absolutely safe. After farming for around twenty minutes, a Fallen Shaman should spawn once every five seconds. A Silencing Paladin like you can train there up until they hit Level 5. Brat, you’re still too inexperienced. If this great master were to casually hand out even a little bit of game advice, you’d be able to receive endless benefits!” Nie Yan shamelessly boasted while patting the Paladin’s shoulder. "How about it? Give me another discount?”

"Four coppers, I won’t go any lower.” The Paladin was still skeptical about Nie Yan’s words. However, he was indeed able to obtain around six skill books a day by farming the Fallen Shamans outside of the Fallen Shaman Camp, just as Nie Yan had said. Though this Fallen Shaman Camp… he had gone there once before and nearly lost his life. The location in the coordinates Nie Yan provided should definitely lead him right outside of that same camp.

Nie Yan’s words completely matched this information, so it probably shouldn’t be false. The Paladin muttered to himself and began pondering…. Should I head over to those coordinates and take a look myself?

"Three coppers, if you’re not willing then I’ll be taking my leave. However, if you’re willing to give me this book as a gift, I’ll give you some more valuable information regarding the Fallen Shaman Camp.” Nie Yan gave an incentive. After seeing the Paladin still appearing hesitant, he turned his body and prepared to depart.

Nie Yan was embarrassingly short on funds. He didn’t have a lot of money to spend on the Stealth skill book. However, it was still essential for every Thief during the early stages of the game. This truly won’t do. I’ll have to put it off for later. At least until I can manage to get a bit of money grinding off Level 1 mobs in the beginning area….

"W-wait, hold up!” Seeing Nie Yan about to leave, the Paladin hurriedly called out to him. He hastily picked up a Stealth skill book from the little shop he had set up and said, "Isn’t it merely a single Stealth skill book…? I can easily farm out six of them in a day! Here! I’ll give this to you as a present. Now tell me, what’s information you have on this Fallen Shaman Camp?” It just so happened that he and his companions would be setting off to train in that area shortly. Thus, he really wanted to be as informed as possible about the area. In the Paladin’s eyes, Nie Yan certainly did appear to be a very knowledgeable person.

Nie Yan glanced back at him. This Paladin does seem to be an honest person. I was able to secure a Stealth skill book, and I didn’t even need to spend a single penny. Recalling this, Nie Yan was in a great mood.

"Seeing as you’re being sincere. Don’t head over to the coordinates I just gave you. If you really did head over there looking to train, then not even within five minutes passing, three Fallen Shaman Leaders would appear. A single cast of their Fireball would cause an explosion that would kill you instantly,” Nie Yan casually informed.

Upon hearing these words, the Paladin instantly broke out in a cold sweat as he felt a great chill run through his heart. When Nie Yan informed him that those coordinates were a good place to farm, he truly intended to head over there and try his luck. He never expected that not only were these coordinates false, they were also dangerous as well. If he hadn’t hurriedly called Nie Yan back… one could only imagine the consequences. It would have truly been an injustice if he had been killed in such a way.

Nie Yan was simply too cunning—not even raising a single finger, and he entrapped someone.

Originally, the Paladin still felt a bit regretful giving away the Stealth skill book. However, at present, he became incredibly overjoyed. There was basically no comparison between his life and a single Stealth skill book. Dying in the game would result in losing a level along with losing a random piece of equipment. It turns out being a kind and sincere really does have its own benefits.

Noticing the Paladin gazing at him with such an aggrieved expression, Nie Yan flashed a slight smile and said, "The real coordinates are [22325.21383.23359]. You can farm out ten Stealth skill books from there. The spawn rate is pretty good too, so it’s definitely a good place to train. I’m not lying to you this time around. This is my way of expressing gratitude for gifting me this beginner skill book. Then, I guess this could be considered your payment? As for the Fallen Shaman Camp… naturally, it’s a twenty-person instance. There’s a requisite of seventy-two defense for Warriors. Regarding Paladins and Priests, the requisites are also similarly high. Paladins must have a willpower of eight and Priests are required to learn the Heal skill. The strength of their Heal must also reach thirty points. Not only this… but when entering the camp, you must bring an ample supply of health and mana potions.”

"The requirements are too high. Would I still be able to enter if my willpower is only seven points? The Heal skill books are also too expensive as well. The influx of new players has caused the skill book to skyrocket to an extremely expensive price. It’s to the point where it has no set market value. Our party consists of only one Priest, and the reason we want to enter the Fallen Shaman Camp is because we need to obtain the Heal skill book for him. So tell me… if we don’t meet these requirements, can we still enter the Fallen Shaman Camp?” the Paladin asked.

"Entering is definitely possible. However, you’ll need to use a special method to enter.”

"What kind of special method?” the Paladin asked curiously.

Nie Yan smiled wordlessly. In the future, he would most likely enter the Fallen Shaman Camp as well. If others wanted him to inform them about this special method, then they must be willing to pay a sufficient price.

"All party quests are divided into five difficulties: Easy, Normal, Hard, Expert, and Specialist. If you guys are unsure of yourselves, then you should select the Easy difficulty. Speaking of which, it really shouldn’t be too difficult. If you guys don’t meet the requirements, then you simply need to just keep upgrading, that’s all.” Nie Yan looked at him meaningfully. He can’t possibly think that a single Stealth skill book would allow him to candidly obtain the special method for entering the Fallen Shaman Camp, could he?

Although Nie Yan was only Level 0, he still gave off the appearance of a professional. The Paladin began weighing his thoughts and in the end, he still trusted Nie Yan’s words.

"Thank you,” the Paladin sincerely expressed his gratitude.

Nie Yan couldn’t help smiling. The person before him was forced to give him a skill book free of charge, and he still thanked him in the end—this was truly adorable. In his previous life, Nie Yan was also such a sincere type of person. Only after experiencing many difficulties and setbacks, he slowly became cunning and sly. Although he felt this Paladin was very stupid, Nie Yan had a good impression of him. While tossing the skill book in his hands, he muttered, "We each take what we need.”

Just as Nie Yan turned around and started to leave, the Paladin called out to him, "Expert, what’s your name? Why don’t we add each other as friends? That way, if I ever meet up with a problem I can’t solve, I’ll still be able to ask you for advice.”

"Sure, but it’ll cost you. I’m not one who offers a free service,” Nie Yan replied. He definitely didn’t want to give out information for free.

"That’s not a problem,” the Paladin replied straightforwardly.

"Alright then, my name is Nirvana Flame.” If this person was able to give a sufficient price, Nie Yan felt there would be no harm in sharing some information. He’ll just consider it earning a bit of extra income.

"My name is Flying Stone, though all my friends just call me Stone,” the Paladin named Stone replied. He had already considered Nie Yan to be one of his friends.

"That’s fine. I have a few matters to attend to. So, I’ll be leaving first. See you later!” Nie Yan said his goodbyes to Stone and walked over to the transport point. He wanted to learn the Stealth skill quickly. A Thief’s defense and health were too low when compared to other close combat professions. In the initial stages of the game, he would only be able to train on the weak mobs that were the same level as him. Not only that, but he could only fight them one on one too. If he were to face a more powerful mob or perhaps… two or more monsters, then his only option would be to flee for his life. Thieves were unlike Warriors, who possessed the ability to fight two monsters of the same level. if the Warrior had decent equipment, then they’d be able to face off against three or more monsters. Therefore, unless a Thief was training in a party, their leveling from beginning to end was much slower when compared to Warriors, Mages, and other similar professions.

Currently, the highest level player among them was Level 5, while the highest level Thief was only Level 4.

At the start, thieves must continuously make money in order to buy skill books. Only after getting plenty of skills would their strengths finally begin to emerge—which would additionally cause their training speed to gradually increase.

At present, Nie Yan had gained the first ability in his skill bar, Stealth.

Stealth was the bread and butter skill for all thieves—their most basic and most powerful skill.

Nie Yan transported over to Tellak (te-la-ke) town. This was one of the most ordinary towns within the Calore Prairies—it was an NPC settlement. The houses were made of clay and mud, which exuded prairie-like characteristics. There were many Level 2 players in the area. Hence, the place was bustling with movements.

The monsters surrounding these small settlements ranged from Level 1–10.

There were Level 2–3 players everywhere in small towns. They were either trading goods or looking to form parties to hunt monsters. The streets were filled with noise and excitement. When walking down the streets, one could easily feel a bit claustrophobic.

If he recalled correctly, there was a silver treasure chest near the Wildcat region of Tellak town. In his previous life, he had discovered it while farming monsters in that region. He had obtained a high-quality Thief skill book from the chest. However, it was an area that contained Level 5 monsters. Fortunately, no one should have reached that location yet.

When teams formed parties to level, players would usually split into groups of three or four. Otherwise, the experience definitely wouldn’t be worth it. If ten or more were to form a party to hunt, then the experience gained would be too minuscule after being split. In general, three to five people in a party were able to train in an area where Level 5 monsters spawned, however, this was also rarely seen.

Treasure chests were graded from White Treasure Chests, Silver Treasure Chests, Gold Treasure Chests, Dark Gold Treasure Chests, Legendary Treasure Chests, etc… The higher ranked the treasure chest, the better the items that would come out of it. The items inside the chests were set, so once they were removed, the chest would disappear.

Although he was only Level 0, after obtaining the Stealth skill, Nie Yan had come up with a few ideas on how to obtain that silver treasure chest.

Chapter 5 – Vital Strike

Towns contained only the most rudimentary of buildings: general stores, low-level equipment shops, personal storages, etc… Even NPCs were sparse in number, and these NPCs were quest givers. For the most part, these simple quests consisted of gathering and collecting various items, hunting and killing an animal to collect its fur, collecting herbs, ores, and so on. After completing these quests, one would be rewarded with either money or experience.

After arriving at the general store, Nie Yan went forward and bought three Basic Health Potions. One potion would restore upwards of thirty health, and each potion was priced at a single copper. General stores only offered Basic Health Potions. Middle- or higher-tiered potions could only be purchased from an Alchemist.

Following the purchase of his three potions, only a single copper remained in Nie Yan’s pockets.

Nie Yan walked outside and went out of the town’s boundaries. After leaving the town, he hurriedly rushed over to the treasure chest’s spawn point. If he met a monster, he would make a detour around it and maintain his distance.

The place he was heading towards was a Level 5 monster area. At present, with his current level, the danger was very high. However, with his experience currently at Level 0: 0.00%, even if he died, he wouldn’t lose any experience.

Nie Yan passed through two Level 1 monster zones, a Level 3 monster zone, and a Level 4 monster zone. After four minutes, Nie Yan had finally arrived at the monster zone where Level 5 Wildcats spawned.

After surveying the surrounding area, he saw dense pastures and lush grass that could reach up to one’s waist. Gazing at a distant area in the dense pastures, he saw a tall willow rising above the vegetation. It appeared to be especially lofty and majestic as it occupied its own space within the pasture.

The silver treasure chest wasn’t far from this location. Nie Yan’s heart began to tense up with nervousness as he grew closer.

At his current level, the Level 5 Wildcats in this area weren’t monsters that Nie Yan was capable of dealing with.

Occasionally one or two Wildcats would pass through the area, and Nie Yan would hurriedly conceal himself.

Thieves possessed a passive profession skill which raised their ability to conceal themselves. Once they went into hiding, it wouldn’t be easy for other lifeforms to detect them.

At the same time, he was still able to use his Stealth skill.

Nie Yan began calculating the level difference formula for Stealth in his head. After using Stealth, the safe distance between him and a Wildcat should be about two meters. In other words, if he went within two meters of a Wildcat while he was in stealth, he would be discovered. Between two and three meters was the buffer zone where he could possibly be discovered. Beyond three meters he was at an absolutely safe distance.

Having spent over a decade playing the Thief profession in his previous life, Nie Yan’s usage of these Thief skills had long been tempered to perfection. In addition, using his vision to estimate distance also wasn’t too hard of a feat.

Suddenly, the underbrush in the distance began to tremble and stir with movement. Nie Yan’s complexion rapidly changed as he quickly went into hiding by activating Stealth.

A Wildcat that was as large as a German Shepherd pounced out of the thickets. Its sharp eyes surveyed the surroundings, but it didn’t discover anything strange. As it passed through the open space that lay ahead, it entered into another patch of grass and disappeared.

Only when he was assured the Wildcat had gone far away did Nie Yan dare to continue moving forward.

There was a stretch of open space in a ten-meter radius around the willow. A silver white chest quietly lay at the base of the willow tree. The nearby area had six to seven Wildcats roaming around freely.

To clear out these Level 5 Wildcats would require a team of at least twenty Level 3 players.

It would not be easy getting ahold of this chest.

Nie Yan observed the movements of these Wildcats within the thickets of grass, as he attempted to find a safe route to the willow tree.

Their movements appeared to have a fixed pattern.

After observing for a while, Nie Yan removed all the equipment from his body and stored them in his inventory. He then re-equipped his defenseless beginner equipment. If his beginner equipment were to be sold to an NPC store, they wouldn’t be worth even a single copper. Simply put, they were trash. Even if one were to throw them on the ground, no one would bother picking them up.

Dying in Conviction would result in the loss of a level. Additionally, a random piece of equipment would also be dropped upon death. If the new equipment he had just recently bought dropped unexpectedly, then that would truly be wasteful. However, if the beginner equipment dropped, he wouldn’t care. He was only equipping it to temporarily to cover his body anyway.

While using his Stealth skill, Nie Yan slowly crept towards the willow tree. He walked for approximately ten seconds, before suddenly stopping and holding his breath. A Wildcat was making its way around Nie Yan’s left flank—within approximately two meters.

After waiting for six seconds, Nie Yan pressed onwards once again—carefully exercising control over his distance between each Wildcat.

Gradually, the distance between him and the chest shortened.

Nie Yan’s heart rate sped up once again. He understood that as a Level 0, if he succeeded in grabbing this skill book, then it would be immensely helpful in the future.

Two wildcats began moving towards Nie Yan’s location.

Nie Yan quickly halted, but the wildcats continued their advance. Fortunately, the distance between them was still about two meters apart. Nie Yan was frightened badly as he felt a cold sweat run down his back.

Stealth had a total duration of two minutes, and time was ticking away. Knowing that Stealth’s effects would end within thirty-two seconds, Nie Yan’s state of mind began to fluctuate.

There’s not enough time…! Nie Yan slightly accelerated his pace.

Not far from where Nie Yan was located, a Wildcat moved slightly. It became aware of Nie Yan’s location almost immediately. After locking its eyes onto Nie Yan, the Wildcat exposed its sharp teeth and let out a hoarse growl.

Not good, I was discovered!

The Wildcat moved, pouncing towards Nie Yan.

The Wildcat’s sudden attack was quick, and Nie Yan’s movement speed meant that he was basically incapable of keeping up. However, Nie Yan still managed to sidestep out of the way of the Wildcat’s attack by relying on his reaction speed—something he had developed during his past life.

The basic movements for a character were sidestepping, rolling, jumping, etc… Players were able to utilize these movements to dodge attacks—as long as it was within the capabilities of the system.

The sharp claws of the Wildcat swiped through empty air, missing Nie Yan’s throat by just an inch.

Just as Nie Yan had dodged, two more Wildcats appeared and pounced at him from the sides. One of them clawed at him from the back, while the other bit into his arm.

****, I’m finished!

Under these circumstances, using health potions would be useless.

−68

−32

Two damage values floated over Nie Yan’s head. He collapsed to the ground as his health fell to zero.

The scenery changed, and Nie Yan found himself resurrected at the cemetery in Tellak town.

His failure was a result of using Stealth too early. When Stealth’s duration was nearly up, he had become impatient and mistakes were made. This was the root cause that led him to failure.

Nie Yan summed up all the causes of his failure and continued forward. As he glanced at the equipment on his body, he noticed that his armguards had been dropped. However, it was only a piece of beginner equipment. Even if it dropped, it wouldn’t be too alarming. As for losing experience… it didn’t matter because he was still at Level 0: 0.00%.

He had already created a plan in case he ended up dying, which was why he dared to venture into an area with Level 5 monsters.

Nie Yan set off once more. After he had left the boundaries of Tellak town, he went back over to where the Wildcats spawned.

Once again, Nie Yan arrived at that open space. He soon discovered slight changes in the movement paths of the Wildcats. He had led the Wildcats near the chest before he died, and they continued to remain close by where he fell. Obtaining the silver treasure chest had just become a much more difficult task.

The Wildcats were constantly roaming about in the area. Nie Yan began studying their movement again. He could possibly brave death by drawing these Wildcats away. Then, he could resurrect,use Stealth to easily slip the past, and get to the chest afterward.

He ended Stealth. Gradually, his figure emerged about three meters away from the Wildcats.

Five Wildcats in the surrounding area simultaneously discovered him and began their pursuit.

Nie Yan made a mad dash away from the area, but his movement speed was slow compared to the Wildcats. Soon, they quickly caught up with him. One Wildcat pounced forward, causing Nie Yan to fall to the ground. The other Wildcats soon encircled him and went in for the kill.

After a flash of white light, Nie Yan once again resurrected at the cemetery in Tellak town. This time, his leg guard had dropped.

He once more set out of the town, rushing back to plunder the treasure after resurrecting. With the passage of ten minutes, Nie Yan had once again reached the open clearing.

The Wildcats were now some distance farther from the treasure chest. As he calculated their movements in his head, Nie Yan’s eyes lit up. There shouldn’t be any problems this time around.

Nie Yan activated Stealth and approached the silver treasure chest. He advanced for more than twenty seconds, before stopping in place after noticing two Wildcats coming up from behind. They came close to Nie Yan’s location, before gradually walking away.

All the Wildcats in the area were rather far away from Nie Yan—at about a distance of approximately five meters. When he confirmed that he was finally safe, Nie Yan accelerated his pace and quickly arrived at the silver chest. Stealth still had a remaining duration of thirty-six seconds—six seconds more than he had initially anticipated.

Nie Yan crouched down to open the chest while still using Stealth—opening the chest would not cancel the skill.

「System: Opening chest… Estimated Completion: 20%… 50%…」

A Wildcat in the vicinity walked towards Nie Yan. It neared a little over two meters before eventually stopping.

Nie Yan’s pulse unconsciously sped up. Calm… must remain calm… He had to constantly console himself in his head before his pulse finally calmed down.

The Wildcat glanced around for a short while, but eventually turned around and left after not detecting anything.

Nie Yan’s body eased up and he let out a sigh of relief.

「System: Chest successfully opened! Time taken: 27.0 s」

Nie Yan opened the chest and began feeling around inside. When his hand came into contact with a book, his heart abruptly jumped. This is it!

Taking the book out, he looked it over.

Skill Book: Vital Strike

Skill Description: Thieves can cause additional damage by attacking an enemy’s vitals.

Required: Action (requires weapon)

Skill Attribute: Hitting a target’s vitals causes 5% additional damage, marking the
target with a damage debuff.

Skill Cooldown: 30 s

User Restriction: Thief, Warrior, Paladin, can be learned by any faction.

Indeed this was the Vital Strike skill book. This was the best skill he was capable of learning at Level 0! This was what he had worked so hard to obtain. After Nie Yan grabbed the book, it became a ray of white light.

Glancing at his skill bar, he noticed that another skill had appeared: Vital Strike!

Following Nie Yan’s removal of the Vital Strike skill book, the silver chest began to gradually fade away before disappearing without a trace.

It’s all settled! Heh… I can return to town for free too.

As Stealth’s duration ended, Nie Yan’s figure slowly emerged. The few Wildcats in the area immediately discovered him and attacked.

Nie Yan didn’t have any experience to lose, so he was planning on dying and resurrecting in the town to avoid having to run back. Nie Yan peacefully awaited his fate.

Once again, Nie Yan died and returned to the town cemetery. This time, his novice gloves dropped. However, compared to the Vital Strike skill book, the loss was negligible. By obtaining Vital Strike, his training speed would increase greatly.

Chapter 6 – Making Preparations

Nie Yan wanted to proceed forward with the second step of his training plan. However, he required twenty coppers in order to do so!

Earning money while simultaneously training at a high speed, this is the only way to be efficient. Nie Yan thought for a moment, then began running deeper into Tellak town.

Coordinates: [309.289.221] Tellak Town, NPC: Hunter Klaus

Quest: Collect 50 Giant Silverdust Rat Skulls

Coordinates: [290.231.256] NPC: Farmer Ende

Quest: Kill 50 Giant Silverdust Rats.

Coordinates: [350.220.389] Tellak Town Outskirts, Hidden NPC: Alchemist Oer

Quest: Collect 21 Giant Silverdust Rat tails

Nie Yan found two common NPCs and three hidden NPCs that handed out quests related to killing Giant Silverdust Rats. The coordinates for the hidden NPCs were provided in a strategy guide from his previous life. Countless players had come to experience great difficulty in finding these hidden NPCs because they were unaware of these coordinates.

After he had received five quests, Nie Yan ran out of Tellak town and began heading towards the area where Giant Silverdust Rats spawned. Giant Silverdust Rats were a species of immensely large rodents that possessed a silver ashen gray coat. Their builds slightly exceeded that of a water buffalo’s, and they appeared similar to small moving hills when they roamed about. However, their movements were quite sluggish, and their attack wasn’t all that high.

Giant Silverdust Rats: Level 1

Health: 100/100

The game’s servers had already been up and running for a little over a week, and the vast majority of players have already reached Level 2 or 3. Hence, many of them had already moved on to hunt in higher-leveled regions. As such, only a sparse few players were still training in this Level 1 area.

Nie Yan moved quickly after discovering a Giant Silverdust Rat. He attacked, leaving several stab marks on its back.

−21

−20

−21

Three damage values appeared, floating above the Giant Silverdust Rat’s head.

The Giant Silverdust Rat retaliated by turning its head to attack Nie Yan. Before it could, though, Nie Yan activated Vital Strike and stabbed the Giant Silverdust Rat in the eye.

「System: Vital Strike successful! Attack +5%, resulting in additional damage dealt!」

−38

Another damage value floated over the Giant Silverdust Rat’s head. The giant dust rat let out a miserable squeak and immediately fell to the ground.

Not bad, Vital Strike is pretty decent. Nie Yan collected the Giant Rat Skull that had been dropped as loot.

Vital Strike’s cooldown was thirty seconds, giving Nie Yan just enough time to seek out another Giant Silverdust Rat.

After finding an area where Giant Silverdust Rats spawned rather quickly, Nie Yan began to idly grind monsters. Numerous Giant Silverdust Rats were constantly defeated and fell to the ground.

Nie Yan’s experience bar gradually rose. 1%, 2%, 10%… after about two hours, Nie Yan had slain a little over two hundred Giant Silverdust Rats. He continued until his experience bar finally reached 15%.

Giant Rat Tails, Giant Rat Skulls, etc… All these items were gathered in a large heap. Furthermore, he had also obtained three coppers total as loot drops.

The drop rate for money was extremely low. Only under certain circumstances would the drop rate be higher. This was in order to make Conviction’s in-game currency much more valuable.

As Nie Yan’s Vital Strike slew yet another giant rat, something appeared flickering under its corpse. Nie Yan’s heart skipped a beat. Quickly, he bent over to pick up the item.

Tough Leather Leg Protectors (White Equipment)

Level requirement: Level 0

Properties: Defense 3–5

Weight: 3lb

User Restriction: Warrior, can be equipped by any faction.

Equipment drops in Conviction were quite rare. Only in a few relatively higher instances would the drop rate be increased. However, the level of difficulty for such instances would also be much higher. Nie Yan remembered very clearly in the past there were many players Level 10 or higher who had no choice but to equip Level 5 equipment. Simply because they couldn’t find Level 10 equipment, they had to form parties and hunt monsters with lower level gear.

Since this Tough Leather Leg Protector is meant for Warriors, it’ll sell for at least seven coppers if I throw it into the auction house.

He stored the Tough Leather Leg Protector into his inventory; a beginner bag had only twenty slots. Nie Yan filled his bag with so many items, there now were only eleven slots remaining.

Inside the beginner bag was a dimensional space. Items stored inside this space wouldn’t raise a player’s weight value.

A player’s weight value was only affected by the player’s equipment.

With the three coppers that had previously dropped, and by selling off the Tough Leather Leg Protector… my funds should be brought up to ten coppers. Turning in these quests should also give me a few rewards… I ought to have a little over twenty coppers by then.

Nie Yan glanced over at his bag space. The five quests he had accepted were all completed. So he started heading back to Tellak Town, as he no longer needed to hunt the Giant Silverdust Rats.

Nie Yan was doing his utmost to catch up. First, he would bridge the level gap between him and the other players. Then he would use his past life’s experience to progressively expand his superiority in the game.

After returning to Tellak town, Nie Yan handed over all five quests, completing his missions. He obtained six hundred experience, which raised his experience bar to 55%. Furthermore, he had also received thirty-four coppers—an amount which exceeded his expectations. The money and experience awarded by those three hidden NPCs were several times higher than what ordinary NPCs would’ve rewarded. Besides the money and experience, he also received three Basic Health Potions.

Nie Yan put the Tough Leather Leg Protector in the auction house and walked towards the weapon shop.

Upon arriving outside of the place, he saw a small narrow shop front. However, after entering, the interior space was actually quite large—roughly five by ten meters.

Weapons for every profession could be seen lined up on both the left and right sides of the wall. Common equipment for all professions could also be seen hanging from the rear wall of the shop: bows, crossbows, small daggers, etc…

The store filled to the brim with equipment was a dazzling display for the eyes.

The weapon shop’s owner was a fierce looking blacksmith, appearing to be in his forties.

"The weapons I forge are the best within the whole region of the Western Prairies! Respected adventurers, may I ask what you require?” Seeing business arrive, the blacksmith came up to greet him in a lively straightforward tone.

"Bow, or crossbow.”

"Let’s see… what kind of bow or crossbow are you looking for? The equipment I have here can meet all the requirements of adventures who are Level 5 or lower.”

"Level 0, one that I can use. Attack +3 or more, and Firing Rate of 12 or more.” Nie Yan thought for a moment, and added, "The price should be within thirty coppers.”

Nie Yan originally thought collecting twenty coppers would be sufficient to purchase an ordinary bow or crossbow. He didn’t expect that he would exceed his target goal, and earn thirty-seven coppers. After the Tough Leather Leg Protector sold, his funds would surpass forty coppers. He had a complete abundance of money to splurge on a better bow or crossbow.

"I have three pieces of equipment that meet your criteria. The first is a short bow. Attack +3, Firing Rate is 13, Attack Deviation of 11%, and a Range of 20 meters. The price is seven copper coins.” The Blacksmith took out a short bow, and presented it to Nie Yan.

"Do you have anything better? Perhaps something with a higher accuracy?”

He had a task he wanted to complete. And though the short bow would suffice, having something better would save him time.

"Well, I also have this long bow. It has Attack +5, Firing Rate of 12, Deviation of 9%, and Range of 30 meters. The price is fifteen coppers.” The Blacksmith took out a long bow and presented it. Afterward, he took out an exquisite one-handed crossbow. He loaded it with five bolts, then propped it up with his arm and aimed it around the shop. "If that doesn’t please you, then this is my finest piece of work, the one I’m most proud of. A compact crossbow with a triple-shot effect, Attack +5, Firing Rate of 8. Furthermore, as a result of its supplementary firing ability, the Firing Rate of a single shot is tested at 15. It has a deviation of 5%, and a range 30 meters. The price is twenty-eight coppers.”

"I’ll take it. Give me nine low-grade crossbow bolt quivers as well,” Nie Yan said. Each quiver contained a thousand low-grade crossbow bolts; it was definitely enough.

Nie Yan spent thirty-seven coppers to complete the transaction, leaving him without a single copper remaining. He stored the crossbow and nine quivers he had recently purchased into his bag space.

"Feel free to come again respected adventurer. I wish you a safe journey.”

In his past life, when Nie Yan had first entered the game, he believed the NPCs only possessed simple AI. He amazed at what he discovered. Afterward, he was able to keep his calm much more easily.

As Nie Yan left the weapon shop, a system notification appeared.

「System: Your Tough Leather Leg Protector has been sold for eight coppers.」

Ah, it finally sold… not bad. I now have eight coppers as my total funds. At least I won’t be considered too poor right now.

Nie Yan left the boundaries of Tellak town and hurried over towards the Level 8 Bison spawn area. The Bison monsters were even more dangerous than the Wildcats. They had extremely powerful attacks, and their movement speeds were also much faster than the Wildcats. In fact, they were more than three times faster than Nie Yan with his current stats. When facing against these Bisons, there was essentially only death and no chance of survival.

Currently, there was not a single player whatsoever who dared to face off against a Level 8 monster. Even if they were currently the highest level player in the game, they still wouldn’t dare.

Chapter 7 – Bypassing The Level Gap And Killing The Bison

Passing through a vast expanse of prairie land, Nie Yan, at last, arrived at a region of barrens and stone. As far as the eye could see, lofty and oddly shaped boulders were irregularly strewn throughout the area. Within this mess of boulders were narrow cracks and passageways.

It should be right here. Nie Yan surveyed the expanse for a moment. After confirming without a doubt that these were the correct coordinates, he became especially vigilant and began slowly sneaking around. This region was where Bisons actively roamed about. The whole area permeated with a sense of dread and danger. Cautiously, he squeezed himself into one of the narrow passageways within the boulders.

Coordinates [567.528.192]

The topography of this region was strange and eccentric. The narrow passageways within these boulders only allowed enough space for a single person to pass through. As he looked out after going through the narrow passageway, a dark-coloured Bison in an area at a distance of about twenty-six meters away entered his vision. Large and robust, its entire body was densely packed with muscle. Above its head, two sharp horns resembling the tips of daggers protruded out.

Bison Chief (Leader): Level 8

Health: 300/300

Nie Yan took out his crossbow and held it with his left hand. He began calibrating it, making sure the angle was just right.

By lucky coincidence, the Bison Chief was within his attacking range. Due to its body size being so massive, even if it were to discover his presence, it was still unable to traverse the narrow passageways within the mess of boulders. As a result, it was completely incapable of attacking him.

This was a typical terrain exploit!

This was an exploit his Arcane Mage friend had discovered within the game. However, at present, the only one who was aware of this terrain exploit was him!

By employing this exploit, Nie Yan could bypass the level disparity and effortlessly kill this Bison Chief!

Nie Yan began loading the crossbow with bolts. After three seconds, three crossbow bolts were completely loaded and the crossbow was cocked and ready to fire.「Wsh! Wsh! Wsh!」Three bolts were fired in rapid succession, flying in a straight line right towards the Bison Chief.

「Put! Put! Put!」The three crossbow bolts hit the Bison Chief nearly simultaneously.

Miss

−1

Miss

Three damage values floated above the Bison Chief’s head. Due to the level disparity between both sides being too large, Nie Yan’s attacks against the Bison Chief were weak. Most of the time it would be a miss and even if it did hit the target, it would only cause a little bit of damage.

After it had been attacked, the Bison Chief huffed out a large amount of musty air and began its mad charge towards Nie Yan’s location.

「Boom!」A large crashing sound burst out. The Bison Chief had charged into the boulders and was repelled back. Its attack was unable to reach Nie Yan. It could only turn around and circle the boulders, without having any other course of action.

Nie Yan skillfully finished reloading the crossbow and like before, shot out three bolts in rapid succession towards the Bison Chief.

Although the damage was extremely low, under Nie Yan’s continuous and unrelenting attacks the Bison Chief’s health bar began showing signs of declining ever so slightly. However, it was awfully slow, merely falling by the smallest amount. Every now and then, it even recovered by a slight fraction.

Nie Yan’s rate of fire was quite stable. After suffering his attacks, the Bison Chief bellowed out furiously, precisely because it was incapable of even nearing Nie Yan.

Everything went as smoothly as expected. Nie Yan was attacking the Bison Chief while figuring out the next step in his leveling strategy. After being reborn, if he were like others trying to find a place to level, it would truly be an asinine waste of his time.

One must know, Nie Yan’s mind possessed a vast amount of game knowledge. He followed his own reasoning and designed a perfect leveling plan.

The seconds and minutes continued to pass by. After half an hour, Nie Yan had completely used up all of the crossbow bolts within one quiver—a thousand crossbow bolts! At present, the Bison Chief still had approximately two-thirds of its health remaining.

The uninterrupted process of reloading and shooting made Nie Yan feel himself about to fall asleep. However, he still spent great effort in maintaining his high frequency of firing, so as to avoid having the Bison Chief’s health recover again after he ceased his attacks.

The Bison Chief began getting somewhat weary. It continually strained for breath as it anxiously rammed against the rocks and collapsed a portion of the boulders.

Nie Yan quickly retreated inward a bit and at that moment, his menu sounded out with a voice call notification.

"Expert, I went to the coordinates you gave us for farming monsters. It is indeed very fast! I’ve already picked up two Stealth skill books from today alone!” Flying Stone said. At the location where Nie Yan told him to train, leveling was fifty percent more efficient compared to the common training areas. This had made Flying Stone really excited. Gifting Nie Yan a single Stealth Skill book had given him such a treasure trove of a training area—it was definitely a worthwhile trade!

"That’s natural of course. Fallen Shamans also drop the Owl Sight skill book. If you find any extra, don’t forget to send me one.” Nie Yan wasn’t the least bit surprised. He had gone through numerous expert strategy guides in his previous life. Small tidbits like these—the amount he remembered was definitely not few in number. In his life, Nie Yan was the type of person who was thick-skinned and furthermore very forgetful. There was an awful amount of things he would go through life forgetting or completely neglecting. However, the only things he remembered the most distinctly were definitely these game strategy guides.

Every person had an exceptional memory when dealing with the things they were particularly interested in.

"If the skill book drops, I’ll send it to you through the mail. There’s something I’ve been wondering about, how did you find out about this training spot?” Stone asked through the chat. When he had met Nie Yan, the latter had been nothing more than a Level 0.

"I used to play on a Warrior account, however, I deleted it to create a Thief.” Nie Yan casually gave out an excuse without thinking. Naturally, he didn’t want anyone to know the secret was that he had been reincarnated.

"So it was like that… Your Warrior account must have been really high leveled, huh. Why’d you end up deleting it? In a few days, one of my friends wants to form a group to enter the Fallen Shaman camp. Expert, what are your thoughts on this?” Stone asked expectantly in his message. Nie Yan certainly did appear to be a person who was very knowledgeable. Furthermore, his several friends were indeed only able to fight to the Fallen Shaman Camp’s outer area and couldn’t advance any farther.

The Fallen Shaman Camp is a high difficulty instance. Instances are divided into special instances and basic instances. When a special instance is cleared by players, it disappears and becomes an ordinary area. As for basic instances, if they were cleared by players, they can still be repeatedly entered afterward. However, the equipment drop rate is much lower and the profits earned weren’t that high either.

The Fallen Shaman Camp is classified as a basic instance. It’s divided into five difficulties: Easy, Normal, Hard, Expert, Specialist. The higher the difficulty, the better the equipment that would drop. If a party were to clear this instance, they would have to wait five days until they could enter and clear it again.

"A full walkthrough on how to clear the Fallen Shaman Camp will cost you two silvers, no bargaining,” Nie Yan replied. Two silvers were the equivalent of two hundred coppers. Towards new players, this was definitely an extravagant sum of money. However, since Stone’s friends were able to form a team to clear the Fallen Shaman Camp, two silvers shouldn’t be regarded as much.

"I’ll go back and discuss it with my friend.” Stone was a little skeptical. He couldn’t possibly have a complete Fallen Shaman Camp walkthrough, right? Such a thing doesn’t even exist online.

On an average run, profits from clearing the easy difficulty of the Fallen Shaman Camp should be about three silvers. If their luck were good, they might be able to obtain one or two high-quality drops with decent stats. Though the drop everyone wanted the most from the Fallen Shaman Camp was still the Heal skill book. Nie Yan demanding a two-silver information fee could be regarded as beyond excessive. If no equipment dropped, then they would’ve paid Nie Yan for nothing.

The difficulty of the Fallen Shaman Camp was a little high. After their party gets wiped out a few times, they’ll naturally realize the fee Nie Yan had commissioned wasn’t the least bit expensive at all.

"Reply to me after your friend agrees. If he doesn’t agree, don’t bother me unless you have business.” Nie Yan continued shooting at his target. Under his constant rain of fire, the Bison Chief gradually began showing indications of falling.

"Alright, I’ll go and talk with our party leader.” There was basically an equal sign connecting Nie Yan to the title of an expert. He wasn’t slightest bit offended in regards to Nie Yan’s cold attitude. Experts who have this kind of personality were also pretty common. Stone was wondering, What level did Nirvana Flame’s previous warrior account reach? It ought to have been really powerful, but why did he end up deleting it? Could it have possibly been related to a matter that was difficult to discuss?

Flying Stone finished speaking.「Doot! Doot! Doot! …」A busy signal came from the voice chat.

Nie Yan hung up and accelerated the firing rate of the crossbow in his hand. One after another, arrows continued to rapidly leave the crossbow and shoot out.

Firing for one and a half hours, he had consumed around thirty-six hundred crossbow bolts.「Mooo!」At long last, the Bison Chief let out a final agonizing cry before staggering to the ground. The massive body smashed heavily towards the earth, and Nie Yan could even feel the vibrations under his feet.

Nie Yan estimated a bit: if he had used the short bow, killing the Bison Chief would have taken at least five hours in addition to consuming over ten thousand arrows. Fortunately, this single-handed crossbow with its additional skill saved him quite a bit of time.

Two white lights shone upon Nie Yan’s body as two clear and melodious tunes sounded out—each one represented a single level up.

「System: You’ve successfully slain a Bison Chief. +1800% experience for killing a monster above your level. You have received 8290 experience points.」

Nie Yan glanced at his experience bar, he had reached Level 2 with 21% of his experience bar already filled. The experience gained from killing the Bison Chief was definitely enormous.

After finally completing his task, Nie Yan put away the crossbow in his hand and walked over towards the Bison Chief’s corpse. Searching under the Bison Chief’s dead body, he found that it dropped five coppers. In addition, he also managed to pick up a dagger.

Nie Yan glanced at the dagger’s stats.

Horn Dagger: Bronze

Properties: Unidentified

Nie Yan’s eyelids jumped up in excitement. It was a Bronze-grade dagger! Equipment was divided in these grades: White, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Dark Gold, and Legendary. Occasionally there would also be green-coloured sets. Only equipment at Bronze Grade or above had additional properties.

The monsters within Conviction are classified into these rarities: Leaders, Sub Elites, Elites, and Lords. These monsters were uncommon and very few in number as well as spawning infrequently. Equipment with additional properties only had a one in one thousand chance of dropping. The majority of players could only make do by wearing white-grade equipment. Due to this, equipment with additional properties were all fairly precious, and their prices would skyrocket to the extent that they were unbearable for ordinary players.

Bronze grade weapons normally had additional 20% attack above that of ordinary weapons. Furthermore, they also came with additional properties.

The equipment that a Level 8 Bison Chief drops should be Level 5. At present, the price of a Level 5 bronze grade dagger is at least three silvers or higher. Furthermore, an average Level 3 player’s total assets, for the most part, was only about twenty coppers. If one had assets valued at the level of silvers, they were definitely a very well-off person.

According to his plans, he gathered the Bison Chief’s drops and stored away the bronze grade dagger into his bag space. Nie Yan retreated from the narrow passageways within the boulders and headed back towards Tellak town.

Tellak town’s only appraiser was a short-statured white-bearded old man with narrow triangular eyes. He was very shrewd, making everyone who saw him feel very unnerved. However, he was the only appraiser in all of Tellak town.

Nie Yan opened the trading window.

"Youngster, do you need me to appraise any items?” the short old man asked.

"A dagger.” Nie Yan put up the Horn Dagger into the appraisal window.

"The appraisal fee is ten coppers. Do you still wish for an appraisal?”

Nie Yan’s heart skipped a beat. This Horn Dagger’s appraisal fee was ten coppers. Typically, the appraisal fee for an item was five percent of the item’s price, and this was only the NPC’s price for the item. The market price was frequently more than six times higher than that. In other words, this Horn dagger had a value of at least twelve silvers!

He thought for a moment. In the next few days, I won’t be needing to go anywhere that requires a lot of money. Spending ten coppers also won’t be that troublesome. He pressed confirm.

The Horn Dagger blossomed with a cyan radiance; its brilliance was definitely not understated. This radiance was a distinctive characteristic of bronze grade equipment.

The Horn Dagger’s handle was cambered with the texture of wood, with an awfully sharp blade in the front. It was much thicker compared to ordinary daggers and possessed the unique characteristic of being shaped like a bull’s horn.

Horn Dagger (Bronze)

Level Requirement: Level 5

Properties: Attack 16–19, Strength +5

Attack Speed: 2.3

Weight: 1 lb

User Restriction: Thief, can be equipped by any faction.

This Horn Dagger gave a bonus to his Strength stat. These five points in Strength were equivalent to five points of attack. Then add onto the fact that the dagger’s base attack was already higher than an ordinary Level 5 dagger’s by three or four points, it meant this Horn Dagger was better than an ordinary dagger by nearly ten points. The influence of these ten points of attack, speaking from a new player’s perspective, was indeed very large.

Looks like I’ve picked up a reliable Level 5 dagger, Nie Yan thought.

Chapter 8 – The Price Of Underestimation

After finishing the appraisal of the dagger, Nie Yan had begun to walk outside. Lowering his head, he took a glance at his skill bar. There were only two skills there: Stealth, and Vital Strike.

A perfect Thief should have numerous skills piled up at their disposal. A Thief could make do without equipment; however, they absolutely could not do without skills.

Of the several areas where Thief skill books could be farmed in the beginning stages of the game, Nie Yan knew all of them like the back of his hand. However, he would be unlikely to take the great effort and pain of farming them out. If a skill book could be farmed out, then it could also easily be bought in the marketplace.

Hmm… were there any other places where I could find rare beginner skill books?

Nie Yan smacked his forehead. How did I manage to forget that?

With regards to professions such as a Thieves, if they wanted to possess sustainable fighting strength they would often select either Alchemy Crafting or the Bandage skill. Alchemy Crafting allowed a player to manufacture every kind of health potion, drug, etc… In the middle of a battle, a health potion—that could instantly restore lost health—was tantamount to a second life for a player. Afterwards when a battle was over, drinking a recovery potion allowed a player to quickly restore their health and throw themselves back into combat again. Thus, accelerating their training speed as well. As for the Bandaging skill, in comparison to a health potion, it was a bit lacking—the common Bandage skill could not be used during a skirmish.

Nie Yan knew of a location where a rare skill, Combat Medic, could be learned. Unlike Bandage, it could be used while in combat.

At higher levels, if a person wished to purchase middle- or higher-tiered health or recovery potions from the marketplace, their expenditure would be quite large. After all, their prices were quite costly—for most players, health and recovery potions were items they could only acquire by digging through the gaps between their teeth. Unless one were rich, the average player wouldn’t be seen commonly using health, or recovery, potions.

However, Nie Yan was different—his head was filled with many ways to earn money quickly and easily. He didn’t need to worry about money. Later on, health and recovery potions were all things he could easily buy from the marketplace. Thus, it wasn’t necessary for him to waste his time learning Alchemy Crafting. However, if he learned this Combat Medic skill, it would greatly enhance his survivability. Thinking to this, Nie Yan suddenly had an idea.

I’ll put that off for later. I should learn the Combat Medic skill first.

Nie Yan spent two coppers and bought two Basic Underwater Breathing Pills from the NPC general store. Right after, he rushed towards Lake Rando which wasn’t too far of a distance from Tellak town.

After passing through several Level 2–3 areas, he had met many players that had formed parties to hunt monsters. They often occupied a single region in their own area. Warriors, Paladins, etc… all these close combat professions worked to draw monsters. Right afterwards, the Mage would unleash an unceasing barrage of spells towards these monsters. Some parties would even bring their own priest. Most priests didn’t currently have the Heal skill—their ability to deal damage wasn’t as good as Mages either. For the most part, they were dirty experience leeches. Despite this, every team still looked for a priest as if they were a hot commodity. This was because if a team wanted to have any growth or development in the future, they absolutely needed to have a good relationship with their priest. Lacking a priest was the same as lacking an endless supply of health potions.

As for Thieves, in the early stages of the game, many Thieves would be easily dumped by their team. However, Thieves were quite famous for their solo training speed. As long as they purchased all of the necessary skills they required, a Thief’s training speed would not be inferior to a Mage’s in any aspect. So, it wouldn’t be much of a loss if they couldn’t join a team.

Level training in the various monster spawn areas was awfully monotonous and boring. However, these players could still chat with each other. Thus, the time would pass quite quickly when they chatted on idly.

Nie Yan carefully passed through these areas where players were training because a lot of struggles would occur between players for certain training spots. If a player killed other players, they would receive a penalty with their names marked red. They would be barred from entering city walls as well. Having their names marked red meant other players could kill them without fear of recourse. Their loss of levels upon death would be even harsher, and every single piece of equipment would drop as well. Though, if that player killed monsters for a certain period of time, the red marking on their name would eventually disappear. Despite this, many players would still frequently take this risk for the sake of stealing another player’s equipment. Not hesitating in the slightest, they would kill others for their equipment, regardless of having their name marked red. In order to do this safely, they would often target strangers in the wilderness far away from any city, Thus, one must be very cautious when travelling alone.

Lake Rando… this area was inhabited by Fishmen monsters. According to rumours, these Fishmen were the descendants of the ancient Wicked Naga. After countless generations, they finally developed into their current form. They possessed the body of a fish, and four limbs just like a human. The weapons they employed for attacks were their sharp teeth and the tridents they held in their hands.

Fishmen were Level 3 monsters that heavily populated the area with their massive numbers. Furthermore, there was even a Fishmen village within the vicinity. It was necessary for Nie Yan to pass through the borders of the village to enter Lake Rando. Afterwards, he would need to swim through the lake to arrive at his destination.

Situated by the lakeside of Lake Rando was the Fishmen village with its several hundred wooden huts scattered sporadically by the sandy edges of the lakeshore. This Fishmen village contained at least three hundred or so Fishmen, several tens of Fishmen Leaders, and two Elite Fishmen. If one wanted to clear this area, they’d need at least a thousand players or more.

Just as Nie Yan was preparing to use Stealth to bypass the Fishmen village, a system announcement rang out.

Local Announcement: The Guild, Victorious Return, is planning to clear this location in three minutes. All players within the vicinity of the Fishmen Village, please depart immediately.

Victorious Return? Nie Yan raised his eyebrow. In his previous life, he and the guild Victorious Return had a few run-ins and festivities together… Victorious Return’s people ran rampant and acted arrogantly. They’d clear the path and kill everyone in it whenever they wanted to. A long time ago, one of Nie Yan’s brothers killed three members from Victorious Return because he was discontent from the guild forcing him out of a training area. A bit of a grudge was pillared down with those from the Victorious Return, and all of the guilds went chasing after him. They threatened to have his brother slaughtered back to Level 0. Nie Yan’s and the others’ strength was still pretty weak back then, thus he could only hide deeply in the ravines of the mountain. He continued to level up and trained like a madman for over a month. Only when he felt his level had reached high enough did he dare to come out. Even then, he was still barely able to defend himself. In the end, he never dared to have a direct open confrontation with a big guild like Victorious Return.

The feeling of powerlessness back then… don’t even bring it up.

In this life, that sort of history absolutely won’t repeat itself. This debt would definitely be one that I’ll have repaid in full. However, it won’t be today, for now…

Nie Yan had just entered the game for less than a day. He still needed to gradually accumulate his wealth bit by bit.

Immediately, he turned and ran towards the lakeside.

As he looked ahead of him, he saw the clear waters merging with the reflection of the azure sky. The lake gleamed and sparkled as the sun’s rays illuminated the top of the crystalline clear waters.

Victorious Return’s players had mobilized intensely and were surveying the area. There were many areas in the vicinity where one could discover the movements of Victorious Return’s people. They definitely did not come with few numbers. It appeared that they were preparing to begin their operation on the Fishmen village.

The Fishmen village wasn’t an instance, but rather a spawning ground for monsters to congregate. These types of places would also frequently drop decent items.

Nie Yan passed through a small grove of trees, arriving at about two hundred meters away from the lakeside.

Suddenly, a ball of fire streaked through the sky, launching towards Nie Yan’s location.

As the ball of fire flashed, Nie Yan’s line of sight shifted past the grove of trees. His eyes fell upon the body of an Elementalist wearing a red robe. The opposing player was a Level 3 Elementalist from Victorious Return!

Mages were divided into three types of classes: Elementalists, Arcane Mages, and Holy Mages. Elementalists had the ability to control ice, fire, and lightning—their power was the elements. Arcane Mages were able to control arcane might and finally, there were the Holy Mages. They were the least selected profession. Their skills were the most difficult to train in, however their power was definitely the strongest. They could cast and unleash the power of divine spells.

The killing power of fire spells was the highest among the spells at an Elementalist’s disposal.

By the time Nie Yan had noticed the fireball, it was already too late.

「Boom!」The fireball exploded on Nie Yan’s body. It tore through Nie Yan’s health, as his health bar plummeted by twenty-two points.

「System: The opposing player Violet Flame has attacked you. You are free to retaliate in legitimate self-defense. Time: 3 minutes.」

When coming across a Mage, you either run up to them and engage them in close quarters combat or hurriedly ran away.

After confirming there were no other players from Victorious Return nearby, Nie Yan dashed towards the Elementalist named Violet Flame.

A Mage’s strategy was to maintain as great of a distance from the enemy as possible and bombard them with magic spells.

The Elementalist Violet Flame leapt back using the spell Flame Burst and cast Fireball once again. Afterwards, he turned around and fled in an attempt to gain some distance from Nie Yan.

When facing incoming magic in a fight, players were usually able to dodge the spell by rolling. However, if they dodged the spell by rolling, they would undoubtedly give the opposing Elementalist the opportunity to gain some distance. Nie Yan directly confronted the Elementalist’s fireball and continued to charge forward.

「Boom!」The fireball exploded on Nie Yan’s body, causing him to lose twenty-seven points of health.

Each time Violet Flame cast a spell, there would be a delay in the casting of the spell.

There were some essential factors in casting magic. Gestures, language, material, and magical tools were all required in casting different types of magic. The requirements for casting different spell were distinct. Some only required for you to perform a chant to cast the spell. Some required gestures and others required chants, gestures, and materials—all of these components at once in order to cast a spell.

Every spell had different requirements in order to be cast, and the casting time would vary as well.

Casting a spell used syllables and gestures as units—one syllable per second and one gesture per second. Ten syllables formed into a set of syllables and ten gestures formed into a set of gestures. Syllables and gestures could also be layered over each other—meaning they could both be done at the same time.

The casting time for the Flame Burst spell was two syllables and two gestures for a total of two seconds. If they hadn’t learnt a movement skill when casting the Flame Burst spell they would need to stay still for two seconds.

Nie Yan took advantage of the time Violet Flame used to cast Flame Burst to press forward. Quickly, with a forward stab, he shaved off twenty-three points of health from Violet Flame. A Mage’s defense was extraordinarily fragile.

Violet Flame leapt backwards. Promptly, he cast Fierce Flame Ring. Four separate flames appeared launching towards Nie Yan.

Fierce Flame Ring only required one syllable in order to cast.

At such a close distance, Nie Yan was simply unable to evade it. Thus, he could only suffer through, receiving thirty-nine points in damage. With a flick of his finger, he took out the Basic Health Potion from his belt and downed it.

Violet Flame’s actions could be regarded as standard for a Mage. However, his movements were quite rigid and clumsy. Every Mage would tense up when a Thief neared them in close proximity.

As the Fierce Flame Ring was flying through the air, Violet Flame took the opportunity to draw back.

Nie Yan added many points into Dexterity. In terms of speed, Thieves were still quite remarkable. This time around, his speed gained him an advantage as he continuously wrapped around Violet Flame. He lunged out with two consecutive stabs causing Violet Flame to lose thirty-six points of health.

Once more, Violet Flame cast another fireball towards Nie Yan.

Conviction’s combat system counted three seconds per round, and any magical spell that took less than three seconds to chant would be uninterruptible unless the caster died. Even though it was a close combat battle, Violet Flame would still be able to counter-attack Nie Yan.

Under Fireball’s high damage, Nie Yan was left with twenty-five health remaining. Violet Flame wanted to retreat back to pull some distance. Brandishing his staff, he began reciting another spell incantation. The fire elements rapidly began moving towards his staff and coalescing into a round mass.

It appeared Violet Flame still had fifty-one health remaining. For the time being, he was safe because Nie Yan merely had twenty-five health remaining. As long as he casts another Fireball he could finish off Nie Yan.

Following Violet Flame’s chanting, the fire elements rapidly gathered together as it raged and blazed forward.

"Drop dead!” Violet Flame felt everything was now within his control—the flames from his staff illuminated the sinister expression on his face.

Nie Yan was well aware of how dangerous his current situation was. He had already forced his way to Violet Flame’s side. Glancing at his rage bar, he noticed it was fully charged and matched the requirements for an enhanced attack.

Nie Yan’s deep black pupils locked onto Violet Flame’s throat. Quickly, he maneuvered the dagger in his hand into a reverse grip.

"Vital Strike!”

Nie Yan’s and Violet Flame’s body crossed paths. A streak of cold glint flashed past Violet Flame’s throat. A deep cut appeared on his throat as it split open with blood gushing forth.

「System: Vital Strike successful! Attack +5%, causing additional damage!」

−51

A damage value floated atop Violet Flame’s head.

A complete turnaround!

How is this possible?

His eyes were deeply permeated with an unfathomable sort of expression.

Never underestimate the explosive power of a Thief. When facing a Thief, never feel that you’re safe or secure, even if you occupy an absolute advantage… because in the very next moment, the one who ends up dead could very well be you.

The light in Violet Flame’s eyes gradually faded.「Plop…」He collapsed on the ground, still unable to understand what had happened. How could a single Thief just suddenly burst out with so much damage…?

Vital Strike… this skill’s damage is pretty good, Nie Yan thought.

Nie Yan put away his dagger, then bent down to look through Violet Flame’s corpse. Soon, he retrieved a dropped equipment and picked up a Level 0 Intelligence +3 Bronze Staff. He estimated he could sell it for around ten or so coppers.

"There’s an enemy over there! Violet Flame was killed!”

"Chase! Don’t let him escape!

Nie Yan had killed a member from Victorious Return. Such a large event was certain to attract the attention of everyone within the surrounding area. Six members from Victorious Return came from every direction and quickly rushed towards Nie Yan’s location in an attempt to surround him.

Seeing this, Nie Yan made a mad dash towards Lake Rando. His running speed was quicker than most of the average players at his level. Soon, he rapidly gained some distance between him and the other players.

Though, a Swordsman appeared right ahead of Nie Yan, barring his way forward.

"You want to run? It’s not going to be that easy! Linear Slash!’

Chapter 9 – Fishmen

The Berserker jumped high into the air. Borrowing the force of gravity, he sent his sword cleaving towards Nie Yan.

By the time Nie Yan saw the Berserker’s Bastard Sword whistling through the wind, it had already neared his forehead.

Nie Yan leaned his body to the side as the sword brushed past.

Within Conviction, long range attacks would automatically lock onto their target—who could only roll to dodge. As for melee combat, one could sidestep to avoid certain attacks.

The most important requirement while sidestepping to dodge head-on attacks was to have good reaction speed. The timing had to be extremely precise. In his previous life, Nie Yan had already trained this ability to an extremely proficient level. After he dodged the Berserker’s attack, he made a mad dash towards the lake.

As his sword slashed through empty space, the Berserker stared out blankly with a look of shock. That guy’s reaction speed is quick, being able to even dodge an attack like that…

By the time he turned his head, the Berserker had discovered that Nie Yan had already run out a far distance. Seeing this, he held his sword out and gave chase.

"Third Brother, what’s going on with you? You can’t even stop a single person from running away!” To his side, a Fighter came running over and voiced out his complaints.

"That Thief’s movements were too quick. I wasn’t able to stop him at all!”

The Fighter quickly glanced over at Elementalist Zi Huo’s (Violet Flame’s) corpse. Zi Huo was an extremely reclusive fellow, however, his skills were definitely not weak. Yet he still died by the hands of that Thief. Looking back, it appeared that the Thief was not as simple as he first appeared.

"Everyone! Gather up and bar his way forward!”

Both the Fighter and Berserker accelerated their pace.

As he drew increasingly closer to the lake’s surface—at about five or six meters away—Nie Yan fished out the Basic Underwater Breathing Pill he had bought prior and popped it into his mouth.

"He wants to dive into the lake to escape!”

"Don’t let him get to the water!”

In a moment of mutual understanding, both the Berserker and Fighter simultaneously leapt forward. The Fighter and Berserker were both professions of the Warrior class. Their attacks after borrowing the momentum of their leaps were much more fierce and quick compared to other melee professions.

"Sudden Assault!”

"Flame Slash!”

The Fighter brandished his sword and charged forward, quickly advancing towards Nie Yan.

As the Berserker cleaved downwards, his sword ignited and became enveloped in raging flames.

Nie Yan and the two were still a bit of a distance apart. As he turned his head to look back at them, he immediately felt his face assaulted by the flames of the sword stroke. Suddenly, from the corners of his mouth, he revealed a strange smile and then leapt backwards… His back entered the waters first, as he plunged deeply into Lake Rando.

Right after, concentric ripples began slowly dispersing through the surface of the tranquil lake waters.

The Fighter and Berserker rushed over, finally stopping at the lakeside. The Berserker prepared to jump into the lake waters, but the Fighter pulled him back and stopped him. "Forget it… there’s no need to chase after a cornered enemy. Besides, none of us have any Underwater Breathing Pills.” The Fighter thought back to the strange smile Nie Yan had shown just moment prior. This was the root cause of his unwillingness to enter the lake’s waters—for fear that Nie Yan could possibly have some sort of malicious plan for them in the waters below. Ultimately, he was fearful that it would cause them to be left buried under the lakebed.

"Forget it… just like that?” the Berserker replied in an extremely depressed tone.

"Just consider it Zi Huo’s bad luck. Who let him think he was so invincible that he could just separate himself from the team like that? Anyway, we’ll let this be a lesson for him—there are still many experts besides him.”

Several players from Victorious Return ran up to them breathlessly, most of whom were Mages, Priests, and so on. Their movement speeds weren’t as quick compared to the Warriors. Hence, they were left far behind.

"How’d it go? Where’d that guy run off to?” one of the Mages asked.

The Fighter shook his head and replied, "We didn’t catch him. He ended up diving into the lake.”

That Mage had an astonished expression as he gazed at the Fighter and Berserker. These two, Zi Yan (Violet Cliff) and Zi Ming (Violet Underworld), could be considered the top two Warriors within the guild. First, that Thief killed Zi Huo, and then he managed to escape even after being surrounded by Zi Yan and Zi Ming… Where the hell did that Thief come from?

"I wonder… what was that Thief’s name? Go ask Zi Huo. He should have already revived at the graveyard.” The Mage spoke in a curious tone.

"Zi Huo just said the Thief’s name is Nirvana Flame,” Zi Ming replied and firmly kept this name within his mind.

In a concerned tone, the Mage commanded, "From now on, have the people under you stay cautious. If they encounter this Nirvana Flame, have them report back immediately.” When the several of them came across Nie Yan, they were unable to gain any sort of advantage. As for the outcome, if ordinary members of the guild were to encounter him, one could well imagine the consequences.

After Nie Yan dived into the lake, he began swimming about. The waters of Lake Rando were extraordinarily clear. The sun’s rays penetrated through the water. As the light refracted through the water’s surface, it formed brightly coloured pillars. The lake’s vegetation drifted about gently—slowly dancing with the waves. It formed an exceptionally beautiful and mesmerizing piece of scenery.

As Nie Yan was submerged near the lake floor, shuttling himself between the lake’s vegetation, he suddenly recalled that there was another chest within Lake Rando’s waters as well. However, he was a little unsure of its exact location as his memory was still a bit hazy.

It should definitely be near this area. That chest should contain the skill book of a supportive skill called Gatherer. Even though Gatherer is not some kind of rare skill book, it’s still pretty scarce, considering the average level of the current player-base. After a player learned the Gatherer skill, they could increase their income by quite a bit. Every team required at least one member to have this skill, and every solo player definitely required the Gatherer skill as well. The market demand for the skill book was huge, however, the supply was few. This caused the relationship between supply and demand to become unbalanced. In turn, it caused the price of the Gatherer skill book to soar to great heights.

If I’m able to find the treasure chest, it would be very good. One of the characteristics of Thieves is that they’re able to reach many locations that other professions would be incapable of reaching. By acquiring the Gatherer skill I can make it display even more of its usefulness.

Basic Underwater Breathing Pills can only last for fifteen minutes. If I had known earlier that I was going to be underwater searching for a treasure chest, I would’ve definitely bought a few more. Nie Yan felt a considerable bit of regret.

In the far distance, a figure slowly submerged itself into the water and began swimming over. After being illuminated by the sun’s rays. Nie Yan could, at last, see the figure distinctly. It was indeed a Level 3 Fishman. It had the body of a fish, its four limbs continuously moving to and fro. The speed of its movement underwater was unusually quick. In addition, it held a trident which was grasped firmly in its hand.

Nie Yan hurriedly concealed himself within the thickets of the underwater vegetation.

If it were one versus one, Nie Yan could effortlessly kill this Fishman. However, Fishmen very much loathed fighting one on one. In a situation where they were attacked, they would produce a howl so intense that it draws all the Fishmen within the immediate vicinity over to its location.

For the purpose of staying safe, Nie Yan definitely did not dare to provoke these troublesome fellows.

The Fishman was in an area not far from Nie Yan and was swimming over. Pushing apart the underwater vegetation, it made its way through.

While the Fishman was brushing past the underwater plants, Nie Yan’s eyes peered through the thickets of vegetation, discovering an object faintly concealed within.

Glancing at the Fishman who had swum a far distance away, Nie Yan carefully swam past. This was an area heavily surrounded by Fishmen activity. If he were discovered, it would become dangerous very quickly.

Nie Yan brushed past the vegetation. After searching for a while, he finally found a small wooden crate within the vegetation. It was the lowest level of treasure chests—White grade. However, he was unsure if it was the one from his memories that he was looking for.

After opening the wooden crate, Nie Yan went about digging through it. Surprisingly, the sensation he felt in his hands when he touched the object in the chest wasn’t that of a skill book, but rather that of a smooth pearl.

Nie Yan examined this object’s properties.

Murloc Water Aversion Pearl: Special Item

Additional effect: Allows the user to breathe underwater. Once activated, allows the user to breathe underwater for thirty minutes.

Cooldown: Twelve Hours.

It was the most basic of special items. Although the item wasn’t anything particularly great, it would allow Nie Yan to save on a few Basic Underwater Breathing pills. So, he would still be able to use them in the future.

It seems this place doesn’t contain only a single chest. After thinking about it, it should be right. Within such a large lake, the developers definitely wouldn’t place only a single treasure chest. Nie Yan continued his search through the thick plant growth, traveling back and forth. After finding the Water Aversion Pearl, he spent quite an ample amount of time searching for treasure chests underwater.

There were some movements in one of the thickets not far from him, causing Nie Yan’s heart to jump with fright. Hurriedly, he ducked into the undergrowth next to him and concealed himself.

A single Fishman appeared swimming through the vegetation, not far from Nie Yan. It leisurely swam past the gaps between the aquatic plant life.

In the next moment, another Fishman came swimming towards Nie Yan’s location.

A single Fishman appeared swimming through the vegetation. Not far from Nie Yan, it leisurely swam past the gaps between the aquatic plant life.

In the next moment, another Fishman came swimming towards Nie Yan’s location.

Then another Fishman appeared and another one…

The Fishmen were appearing with increasing frequency.

Dammit, did I end up stumbling upon a Fishmen lair…? Or maybe it’s just my luck that I ended up coming across a school of Fishmen swimming by.

One of the Fishmen neared him; the distance between them became increasingly shorter. Nie Yan felt a lump in his throat—his mind full of anxiousness and urgency. He firmly grasped onto the dagger in his hand. Hiding seems like it’s going to be impossible now. I can only hope for an opportunity to escape. Only, my swimming speed can’t be compared to that of a Fishmen. I’m not confident that I can really escape…

The number of Fishmen within the vicinity were simply too many. If all of them came over, the only path Nie Yan would have left to take was death.

If I were to blame someone I can only blame myself for getting too greedy. For the sake of finding treasure, I completely forgot about the dangers.

One of the Fishmen arrived in the area about three meters away from him. It seemed to have noticed something. Halting in place, it raised up the trident in its hand.

「Kieeh! Croak!」The Fishmen opened its mouth and produced a bizarre call.

Nie Yan gazed at his surroundings. At least ten or so Fishmen emerged, surrounding the area he had hidden himself in. The Trident, which was as bright as snow, had already completely sealed off his escape route.

He was finished. There was no way he could beat these Fishmen. The speed at which they moved underwater was unusually quick. Furthermore, once their sharp teeth bit into their target, they wouldn’t release their jaws until they tore their target to shreds.

Escaping is absolutely impossible. It’s also impossible to win, even if I try forcefully facing off against them.

In his mind, Nie Yan was prepared to die. He quickly glanced at the body of the Fishmen directly opposite of him. They had a soft red patch surrounding their abdomens—that area was their weak spot. Even if I die, I’ll at least take one out with me!

Just at that moment, the intense sound of a horn rang out from the distant direction of the lakeside. The quick tempo was filled with urgency, as the loud and clear sound continuously resonated into the far distance.

This was the warning signal. The Fishmen tribe was being attacked!

The ten or so surrounding Fishmen near Nie Yan all stopped their movements at the same time.「Gurgle, Croak!」Shifting their heads to listen carefully, they opened their mouths and spoke in a strange language. Right after, they all simultaneously swam towards the direction of the lakeside at a great speed.

These ten Fishmen swam away, becoming increasingly distant. Over a hundred Fishmen rushed over from all directions, converging together towards a single point as if they were a shoal of fish.

The Fishmen gradually disappeared from Nie Yan’s view.

Nie Yan still felt apprehension in his heart. By some stroke of luck, the outcome of those subsequent events was surprising. However, they were still within his expectations.

Chapter 10 – Physician Blevins

Nie Yan glanced in the direction of the Lakeside. It seems they’ve already started.

The Fishmen tribe was suffering an attack by the Victorious Return guild. This was why the encircling Fishmen had abandoned their attack and returned to aid their tribe. I never thought Victorious Return’s people would end up saving my life. Haha, this world is so wonderfully strange!

After all the Fishmen had swum away, the surrounding vicinity was now completely safe. Hence, Nie Yan stepped up his search for nearby treasure chests. Eventually, he noticed another treasure chest hidden within the thick underwater vegetation. It was a white treasure chest, just like the last.

The surrounding landscape… everything here coincides with the one in my memories. This is the location!

Nie Yan opened the chest. Digging through it, he felt a skill book make contact with his hands. It was the Gatherer skill book! As he held it in his hands, it turned into a streak of white light. The skill bar for supportive abilities had another skill appear—Gatherer!

Pretty decent harvest… However, I don’t know if there are any other treasure chests within this area. It would simply be a waste of time to keep searching. It doesn’t matter; I still know many other locations where I can find treasure chests. When I level up a bit, I can go pick them up at any time.

Nie Yan swam, shuttling back and forth between the aquatic plants. If he encountered a monster, he would avoid them by staying a far distance away. After about ten minutes of swimming, he noticed a single island in the middle of Lake Rando. Only after noticing this did he swim towards the surface.

「System: You’ve discovered an island within the center of the lake.」

Reaching the shore, Nie Yan checked his coordinates. As he was investigating the surrounding area, he discovered a person sitting in the far distance—fishing by the shore.

This NPC was a very odd old man. He would make a request to every single player who encountered him to retrieve Fine Silk. For every bundle of Fine Silk that was brought back, the player would receive one Silk Cloth.

If Fine Silk was sold to an NPC, it would amount to three coppers. However, Silk Cloth could only be sold for two coppers. If one continued on like this, there would be a loss in profit. Even after continuously exchanging with him, this Old Man would still do absolutely nothing to compensate the player.

There were many players who would complete this task. However, every one of them would continue to receive losses—never to receive a reward of any sort.

Nie Yan also did this task in his previous life. Only after delivering five Fine Silk did he finally give up accepting this quest. Exchanging Fine Silk for Silk Cloth was truly a waste of money.

Sometime later, a person who did not believe he would continue to receive nothing, repeatedly accepted the quest. Only after delivering thirty Fine Silk did he finally receive a reward. This NPC would impart onto the player the Combat Medic skill—not only this, but it would be at the Intermediate level as well. After this information came out, it caused an uproar among the player-base. One after another, they would continuously rush over to accept the quest. However by that time, the NPC had already left.

Currently in the area where Nie Yan was located, there were Level 3 monsters known as Water Spiders that dropped Fine Silk. Obtaining thirty Fine Silk would probably require about three days of continuous grinding. It just so happened that he could farm these thirty pieces of Fine Silk while also leveling up. Exchanging thirty Fine Silk for thirty Silk Cloth was merely a loss of thirty coppers, nothing more. Compared to an Intermediate Combat Medic skill, it was truly a negligible amount.

Nie Yan walked over to the Old Man.

The strange Old Man muttered loudly to himself, "Around this time of year, the Hilton Stronghold would be besieged by the devil creatures that arise from the remote underground. There are numerous warriors who defend the stronghold. For the sake of safeguarding this lush and prosperous land, they pay with their blood and lives. The wounded suffer in anguish every day and night. To them, yesterday is the same as tomorrow and tomorrow is the same as yesterday.”

He turned his head towards Nie Yan and asked, "Youngster, now tell me—would it better if I fished here on the shore, or would it be better if I fished while on the waters?”

The Old Man had grey hair and appeared somewhat senile with his age. Numerous wrinkles were spread across his face. As if withered, his skin looked similar to tree bark. Sagging like the folds of his skin, his ashen-grey cloak hung low by his fishing rod.

From his impression, Nie Yan’s felt this NPC was a funny muddle-headed old man. He always asked a series of strange and odd questions, and it was fine as long as you somewhat answered them. However at present, when Nie Yan heard the Old Man’s words, "Yesterday is the same as tomorrow. Tomorrow is also the same as yesterday,” they had a new type of meaning.

This Old Man wasn’t an old fool. Rather, he was actually quite wise!

It was fine if you answered the question in whichever way you liked. However, as if goaded on by some supernatural force, Nie Yan answered, "As long as you’re able to catch fish, shore or water, what difference does it make?”

Hearing Nie Yan’s answer, the Old Man’s eyes flashed with a strange glint.

Noticing the change in the Old Man’s expression as it fell upon his eyes, Nie Yan became increasingly convinced—this Old Man in front of him definitely wasn’t simple.

"Time is akin to an illusion and moves like a pendulum. The months and years are wasted doing nothing and suffering eternally repeats. In the end, everything returns to dust. Even if those brave warriors are able to defend this vast great world, they won’t be able to escape the pain of illness and the Reaper of Death. In the end, what meaning is there to life?” the Old Man sighed.

"The meaning of life is to stubbornly prevail—to live without regrets,” Nie Yan said, while deep in contemplation. These were the insights he had gained this life after living through his previous one. He continued replying to the Old Man’s question. "All their loved ones, their fellow brothers… all of them are here alongside them in this vast world. They continue to resist the attacks of their enemies for the sake of bringing them happiness. They stake their lives in order to defend this conviction. That is their honor and that is their glory. In doing so, the God of Light will protect them.”

Nie Yan speculated that this Old Man was very likely one of the NPCs from the Hilton Stronghold, who left and journeyed outside in search of Fine Silk.

Listening to Nie Yan’s words, the muddled expression in the Old Man’s eyes became clear.

"Young man, I need a lot of Fine Silk. Is it possible for you to help me obtain it?” the Old Man asked.

"It’s my desire to help in any way I can,” Nie Yan happily replied. These were the exact words he had waited for.

「System: You’ve received a task. Physician Blevins has entrusted you the task of retrieving Fine Silk.」

Nie Yan began to recall. In his previous life, he had simply answered all these questions without much thought. The task he ended up receiving was "Nameless Old Man’s Request.” It seems the name of this current quest and the one he had received in the past weren’t exactly the same.

This Old Man ought to be the NPC physician in the Hilton Stronghold… Did he come all the way from the Hilton Stronghold for the sake of finding Fine Silk?

The fact that this Old Man also taught the Intermediate Combat Medic skill further confirmed Nie Yan’s suspicions.

All of that doesn’t matter right now. First, I’ll finish this quest and think about it later.

Nie Yan bid farewell to the Old Man and headed south of the small island. That region of the lake was an area where Water Spiders roamed about. Although Water Spiders were Level 3 monsters, their combat strength wasn’t that great. Only when they were on the water’s surface would they become somewhat of a problem.

Once more, Nie Yan plunged into the lake, then stuck his head out of the water. This region of underwater space didn’t have a lot of monster activity. Thus, he didn’t have to worry about any monsters launching a sneak attack from below.

Soon, he discovered a Water Spider. They were a species of spider that grew to a very large size. They were capable of moving about at high speeds on the water’s surface. Unlike other spiders, they didn’t use venom to attack. Furthermore, they were even afraid of humans. As long as a player didn’t attack them, they wouldn’t take the initiative to attack the player.

Water Spider: Level 3

Health: 80/80

Nie Yan gradually neared the Water Spider from behind. Swiftly, he raised his dagger and pounced forward. Stabbing into the Water Spider’s back, he managed to attack it several times in quick succession.

The Water Spider shrieked miserably before lunging towards its attacker. Nie Yan quickly dodged, and then returned with another stab. Saving enough energy for a Vital Strike, he stabbed the Water Spider in the eye.

Letting out an agonized shriek, the Water Spider’s legs shrivelled up and curled towards its body as it floated on the surface of the water.

After dying, it dropped a single copper. Nie Yan caught the copper coin it dropped before swimming off towards another Water Spider.

The drop rate for Fine Silk was 0.5%. In other words, Nie Yan needed to kill around six thousand Water Spiders in order to obtain the thirty pieces of Fine Silk. This would require about three days of nonstop grinding.

Three days would be enough time for Nie Yan to raise his level to three, learn the Combat Medic skill, and return to town to purchase a few skill books. His strength would improve quite a bit.

In the far distance, Nie Yan saw a Water Spider moving at high speed on the surface of the lake.

A single spell fell from the Heavens and struck the Water Spider down. Soon, a damage value of thirty-six floated over its head.

It was Holy Smite—a spell used by Holy Mages.

There’s another person in this area?

Nie Yan became vigilant and went on high alert. Looking far off into the distance, he noticed a person being pursued by a Level 3 Water Spider.

It was quite far away, so Nie Yan could only see that this person belonged to the Holy Mage profession. Not only this, but the Holy Mage was a woman as well. She was clutching a blue-coloured staff in her hand and was wearing a white mage robe over her body. However, he was still unable to clearly distinguish her features.

It seemed that she was in a bit of trouble. Nie Yan stayed silent for a moment. Afterwards, he dived underwater and swam towards her. If she was a hostile player, he would kill her without hesitation. However, if there was no enmity, he would lend her a hand.

That Holy Mage was dealing with the pursuing Water Spiders. By coincidence, she was also swimming over in his direction.

At last, Nie Yan’s head broke out of the water. He was now approximately five meters away from her.

Noticing another person—Nie Yan—popping out of the water, the Holy Mage tensed up. Immediately, she changed directions and swam over to another location.

She was currently being chased by several Water Spiders. If she encountered a person who took pleasure in kicking others while they were down, it would undoubtedly mean her death.

Both parties were already in close proximity.

When the Holy Mage turned her head around, Nie Yan could clearly see the other person’s appearance. She was a beautiful looking young woman. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, with a single lock of hair hanging down from the side of her face. Her cheeks were white, and her eyes were as clear as water.

Although Conviction altered a player’s appearance, they were only slight adjustments. The overall attractiveness of the player would not be altered. Hence, their level of attractiveness would fundamentally be the same as it was in reality. This was also one of the reasons why Conviction drew people in.

Nie Yan was able to clearly see at a glance that the Holy Mage across from him was a real beauty.

The Holy Mage worryingly gazed over at where Nie Yan was located—their two eyes converged. She turned around and continued to fend off the Water Spiders. Simultaneously evading three Water Spiders was definitely a little challenging. However, she still remained very calm. Using a Haste scroll on herself, her speed immediately increased by several fold.

After recognizing the opposite party’s appearance, Nie Yan’s mouth opened so wide a chicken egg could fit in it. How did I end up meeting her here!?

He couldn’t help emotionally sighing at how minuscule the world was.

The beautiful woman across from him was called Yao Yao (Dark Mystery). Come to think of it, in his past life, the two of them actually had a rather complicated and ill-fated relationship. Never did he expect that they would meet again here. It appeared lovers or enemies could truly not avoid meeting with one another.

Perhaps this type of chance encounter was meant to be.

Nie Yan and his friends were going to enter an instance. However, they were short a Mage. Thus, one of his friends brought Yao Yao into the team. This was the first time they had met. Afterwards, they gradually grew closer when they found more opportunities to party up later on and had many more adventures together.

Old friends are the same as before, Nie Yan sighed with deep sorrow.

Chapter 11 – Assassinate Skill Book

Yao Yao was continuously placed in dangerous situations. Seeing this, Nie Yan quickly swam over in her direction.

Yao Yao became even more nervous when she saw Nie Yan swim over. There were three monsters chasing her from behind. Perhaps if she relied on her excellent skills, then she would be able to slowly whittle away their health until they died. Even then, her hopes of survival wouldn’t surpass ten percent. However, if Nie Yan were to take advantage of her situation, she would essentially have no chance of living.

Noticing the three Water Spiders repeatedly launching themselves at Yao Yao, Nie Yan increased his pace and closed in from behind. Gradually, he overtook one of the Water Spiders. With his dagger in hand, he leaped out of the water’s surface and stabbed at the center of its back.

Yao Yao turned around and followed Nie Yan’s attack by casting Holy Smite. The spell connected and blasted the Water Spider’s body, killing it in the process.

She gazed over and stared at her savior. Since Nie Yan had helped her deal with the Water Spider, Yao Yao presumed he didn’t have any malicious intents.

Nie Yan directed his attention to another Water Spider—one that had only half of its health remaining. Using Vital Strike, he stabbed the spider in the eye and dealt fifty-two damage.

In the blink of an eye, only one of the three original spiders remained standing.

What a powerful attack! Yao Yao stared in astonishment at Nie Yan. In her mind, out of all her friends, she had never met anyone as strong as him. Looking again, he seemed somewhat unfamiliar.

After Nie Yan finished killing the second Water Spider, he immediately swam over to the third.

With two people against only a single spider, the situation immediately appeared to be much more relaxed.

Yao Yao brandished the staff in her right hand and cast Holy Strike. The attack landed on the remaining Water Spider’s body.

"Thank you.” Seeing that the three Water Spiders were completely wiped out, Yao Yao faced Nie Yan and expressed her gratitude. However, she still remained on alert, just in case Nie Yan decided to suddenly attack.

"No need to be polite, it was only a slight effort. Hi, I’m called Nie Yan (Nirvana Flame).” Nie Yan smiled brightly, and began to recall, in the past Yao Yao had been a very gentle and understanding girl. She was a very considerate person. Though she was a little headstrong as well—for a girl, it wasn’t too hard of a shortcoming to accept.

"My name is Yao Yao (Dark Mystery).” Evidently, she still remained quite cautious. She had never met Nie Yan before, so it wasn’t very easy for her to let her guard down.

Nie Yan wanted to add Yao Yao as a friend and find out what she was doing here. However, so as not to make it appear too sudden, he wouldn’t ask these inappropriate questions immediately. After all, Yao Yao was still a girl. Despite understanding that she remained cautious when facing him, Nie Yan still firmly believed that from his understanding of Yao Yao, the two of them could still become friends like before.

Back then, after he became acquainted with her in the game, it was always her who would stay by his side comforting and encouraging him whenever he felt really depressed or frustrated. The two of them still remained friends. However, a certain relationship had unwittingly occurred between the two of them. From thenceforth, the complications between the two could not be broken nor tidied up.

Yao Yao quietly observed Nie Yan. Looking at him, he gave the impression of being very young and he didn’t seem like a bad person.

The two people didn’t exchange any words afterward. Due to Yao Yao’s cold nature, it caused the two parties to become somewhat silent.

"Today you saved me, so I want to thank you. How about we add each other as friends?” Yao Yao broke the ice by speaking.

"You’re welcome. So, why are you here farming Water Spiders?” Nie Yan asked. This place was quite a far distance from any towns. Hence, few players would frequent this area.

"One of my quests is to kill Water Spiders and collect their Water Sacks,” Yao Yao replied. As she began to recall the prior events, she thought, That was quite a close call. Just a moment ago, I nearly died to the monsters here. If I died, then these past three to four days of painstaking efforts would’ve gone down the drain.

"That’s great; I also happened to accept a quest that requires me to kill Water Spiders, but to gather their Fine Silk instead. We should party up and kill these spiders together. The Water Sacks will go to you, and Fine Silk to me. How about it?” Nie Yan suggested.

Yao Yao remained silent for a moment. Then she nodded her head and said, "Alright, however, we both have to agree to one condition. If a person finishes collecting the materials they need, then they can leave at any time.”

She chose to put forth these conditions so if she felt Nie Yan were being useless when they were killing monsters together, she could leave immediately.

"That’s only natural. I’ll start the party.” Nie Yan sent Yao Yao a party request.

System: Yao Yao has become a member of your party.

"I have twelve Fine Silks on me right now. I’ll give them to you. Just consider it a thank you gift.” Yao Yao opened her trade window while she spoke.

"Twelve Fine Silks is the equivalent of thirty-six coppers!” Nie Yan shook his head in refusal.

"Are you meaning to say that my level’s worth of experience isn’t even worth thirty-six coppers? Besides, I don’t have any use for Fine Silk anyways.” Yao Yao stared at Nie Yan. Her eyes were quite large and round, while her eyelashes were slightly raised. She appeared to be quite smart and quick-witted. Yao Yao clearly showed that she didn’t want to owe him a debt. Furthermore, she also came up with an idea to pay him back. Since it was also favourable for him, Nie Yan didn’t have any reasons to pester her more about it.

"Fine.” Nie Yan confirmed the trade. Once Yao Yao was set on a matter, she would become very stubborn. Hence, Nie Yan didn’t want to argue further and cause the atmosphere to become too stiff.

"That’s more like it.” Yao Yao let out a faint smile once she saw Nie Yan accept the trade.

In this way, Nie Yan had taken a large step towards completing his quest.

Nie Yan began organizing his inventory as he quietly observed Yao Yao. Compared to the time when the two had first met in his past life, she seemed slightly more immature. Her skin appeared white as snow, while the lake waters that had soaked into her clothes caused her tight-fitting robe to accentuate her curvaceous figure even more.

Nie Yan distinctly remembered the day when they were in the dungeons under Fenarte city. When Yao Yao had taken off her clothes, her bare and perfectly curved body resembled the carving of a goddess.

On that erotic and lascivious day, both of them became completely dominated by the most primal of urges.

However, they clearly understood… this was only a game. Neither of the two had the courage to approach the other in real life. After that event, they gradually returned to the roles of just being good friends. Only, that one instance had ended up turning into a magnificent mistake. It became a lifelong memory that could never be erased, submerging itself deeply within their hearts.

Nie Yan and Yao Yao chatted for a while, talking about topics related to nothing but the game. However, the two still chatted rather amicably.

"How about we start going?” Yao Yao blinked while staring at Nie Yan.

Nie Yan’s appearance could only be regarded as ordinary. Indeed, he was unable to compare to the several people on her team. However, the way he treated people wasn’t bad. So in that sense, he was much more pleasing to the eye than her other companions.

Two people hunting monsters was much faster than a single person alone. Nie Yan tanked, dealing with the monsters in the front while Yao Yao attacked from the back with Holy Smite and Holy Strike. A Holy Mage’s damage output was really powerful. Compared to Nie Yan’s damage, it was much higher. Though naturally, when it came to comparing attack speed, she wasn’t able to reach Nie Yan at all.

Nie Yan’s mind went blank for a moment as he began to recall those matters in his previous life. Immediately, he regained his focus. Those matters in the past were already over. He’ll become good friends with Yao Yao again, however, he absolutely wouldn’t make that mistake again. Xie Yao was the only person who was engraved in Nie Yan’s heart. After all, everything in a game is only an illusion. In the end, even the most harmonious of virtual lovers would also eventually part ways.

"Have you joined a team yet?” Yao Yao asked.

"At present, I still haven’t.”

"How come? With your skills being so good, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a lot of teams competing to recruit you.” Yao Yao felt rather puzzled.

"I’m used to training alone. As for joining a team, I’ll think about it in the future. There’s no meaning in joining a team in the early levels after all.”

Nie Yan finished speaking and lunged towards a nearby Water Spider. Very quickly, Yao Yao followed up with a Holy Smite.

Just as the Water Spider was about to make a move, Nie Yan’s dagger had already stabbed into the spider’s abdomen, killing it in the process. The pair coordinated extremely well and had a tacit understanding.

This was the first time Yao Yao had felt so relaxed while farming monsters with another person. She couldn’t help but have some doubts in her heart and wonder, could she have met Nie Yan somewhere before?

"Nirvana Flame (Nie Yan), Nirvana Flame (Nie Yan)… it couldn’t possibly be him, right?” Muttering to herself, Yao Yao stared at the figure of Nie Yan’s back. Dazedly, she began to feel he somewhat resembled a person she knew.

[TN: Remember, Nirvana Flame and Nie Yan—his real name—have the same pronunciation when spoken in Mandarin.]

"Our team currently has only seventeen people, so it’s still not full. Do you want to join us?” Yao Yao suggested. Although Nie Yan is only Level 2, his skills are quite good. Big Sis Blue Feather (Yu Lan) would most likely welcome him gladly.

"I don’t want to join any teams for now,” Nie Yan said, declining her offer.

"Oh.” Yao Yao felt a slight sense of disappointment.

"An Assassinate skill book for Thieves dropped,” Nie Yan said.

"It’s a Thief skill book, so you should take it then. If a Mage item drops, just give it to me. We’ll each take what we need.”

After having chatted for quite a while, the two gradually became more familiar. Thus, Yao Yao also wouldn’t haggle over any drops with Nie Yan.

"Then, I’ll be helping myself.” Nie Yan gazed at the Assassinate skill book.

Skill book: Assassinate

Skill description: Thieves gain Rage after a successful strike.

Required for use: Action (requires weapon)

Skill attribute: Hitting a target’s vitals adds an additional Attack +2, Rage +1, Combo Count +1.

Skill cooldown: 30 s

Profession Limitation: Thief, Warrior, Paladin; can be learned by any faction.

Nie Yan wasn’t like those whom she had partied up with before. They would put on an act of sincerity and decline, only to accept it right afterward. Yao Yao’s expression changed into a slight smile. While interacting with Nie Yan, she had unexpectedly developed a sort of familiarity that penetrated deeply into her bone marrow. Right here, she didn’t need to act in the sort of manner she did in real life—always putting on many false facades.

Nie Yan finished learning the Assassinate skill. Thus, his skill bar had another skill added to it.

A Thief’s attack skills were divided into Basic Skills, Combo Skills, and Finishing Skills. Basic skills could be used at any time. Combo Skills were used to obtain a combo count, and to build up Rage when attacking an enemy. Vital Strike and skills similar to it were classified as Finishing Skills. They were only able to be used after building up a sufficient amount of Rage. Every additional point added to the combo count would give an additional +20% in Attack. The upper limit for this combo count was ten stacks. Once they were used, the combo counter would reset to zero.

As such, this was the beauty of the existence known as the combo system. If two Thieves possessing the same skills were to match up, the damage an expert level Thief would deal was often two to three times higher than the average thief—sometimes even more.

Under ordinary circumstances, it was considered quite normal for a Thief to have twice as many Basic Skills and Combo Skills than Finishing Skills in their skillset.

After obtaining Assassinate, Nie Yan’s Rage was now able to build up at a much faster rate. One normal attack followed by Assassinate would build up enough Rage to use Vital Strike.

Nie Yan and Yao Yao became increasingly skillful in their coordination. Thus, the two of them acted more daringly as they accelerated the rate at which they hunted monsters. During the times when there were many opponents, Nie Yan would be dealing with three monsters at a time while Yao Yao frantically cast spells from behind.

Her staff never stopped moving, continuously firing off Holy Smites and Holy Strikes. When she was out of mana, she would drink a mana recovery potion.

As long as one wasn’t interrupted by an attack from the enemy, a Basic Mana Recovery Potion would restore sixty mana in thirty seconds. The price was also inexpensive, so it was extremely cost-effective.

"How many Water Sacks have you collected?”

"Fifty-two.”

"How much more do you need?”

"Eight more.”

"It seems you’ll be finished collecting them very soon. You probably haven’t learned Alchemy Crafting yet, right? After you’ve handed in your quest, go to Moste Town [356.329.31]. That place should have a Hidden NPC who issues the quest called ‘Rare Herbs.’ After you’ve completed the quest from the NPC, you’ll be able to learn Perfect Alchemy Crafting,” Nie Yan said. Perfect Alchemy Crafting’s effectiveness was a lot more powerful when compared to common Alchemy Crafting.

Ahhhh… I’m going to complete my quest so soon. Yao Yao suddenly felt a sense of loss in her heart. Hunting monsters together with Nie Yan was far more enjoyable than leveling alone; at the very least, she had a companion to chat with.

Chapter 12 – Extra Income

"Why learn Alchemy Crafting?” Yao Yao (Dark Mystery) asked in a puzzled tone.

"Mages who don’t learn Alchemy Crafting are certain to become poor beggars by the time they reach a high level. After all, magic potions are extremely expensive. The innate skill of a Human Mage is that they are able to skip a grade when creating magic type potions. It would simply be too much of a waste if a Mage didn’t learn Alchemy Crafting,” Nie Yan replied.

"Alright then, I’ve recorded the coordinates. Thanks for the recommendation, Nie Yan.

After noticing the movements of a water spider just ahead of him, Nie Yan began swimming towards its location. It was in an area about five meters away. Though suddenly, he stopped and swam no further. The Water Spider in front of him wasn’t exactly the same as an ordinary Water Spider—its build was slightly larger than average.

Water Spider Leader: Level 3

Health: 160/160

"It’s a Leader monster,” Nie Yan turned his head and said to Yao Yao.

"Can we beat it?” Yao Yao asked. Nie Yan was more knowledgeable than her. So somehow, she was starting to get used to asking Nie Yan whenever she had a question.

"Just barely. Only… it’s going to be slightly difficult.” Nie Yan surveyed the nearby area. The open water didn’t have any terrain they would be able to make use of. Not to mention this region was a haven for Water Spiders.

"If it’s too dangerous, then we should let it pass,” Yao Yao added. It would simply be too much of a loss if they ended up dying and dropping a level. For it would take two to three days’ time at minimum if they desired to train back to their current state.

"Do you have any Underwater Breathing Pills?” Nie Yan asked. The Water Spider was a type of creature that could only move on the water’s surface. Hence, they were unable to dive underwater—a fatal weakness of theirs.

"I don’t have any more. I didn’t carry enough and ended up using them all before.” Yao Yao’s expression had turned a shade of red. She hadn’t expected that—while on this journey—she would be required to use up so many Underwater Breathing Pills. If she did have enough pills, she also wouldn’t have met with such dangers. She could dive underwater whenever she encountered danger, and there would’ve been no problems at all.

"I still have one more pill with me… Take it. Water Spiders can’t dive underwater, so you’ll be the one attacking it first. If you’re forced into close quarters with it, then dive underwater immediately. I’ll be in the distance shooting crossbow bolts to draw it away. Once it’s gone far enough, resurface and continue casting. When its health nears zero, we’ll regroup and face it then,” Nie Yan said after contemplating for a moment.

Using this method, they could gradually whittle at the Water Spider Leader’s health until it died.

"I didn’t see it before, but that head of yours is truly useful.” Yao Yao couldn’t help but stare at Nie Yan. In his hands, any sort of problem simply became a cakewalk to resolve.

"When I was younger, my IQ was tested to be at two hundred and six. Matters such as these are a mere trifle!” Nie Yan smiled before swimming over to another side.

Seeing the appearance of how pleased Nie Yan was with himself, Yao Yao couldn’t help but break out into a grin. Really, this guy, give him a little praise and he gets so happy.

Seeing that he was about twenty meters apart from the Water Spider Leader, Nie Yan signaled Yao Yao.

She waved her staff and cast Holy Smite. The spell struck the Spider Leader’s body, dealing fifteen points of damage to its health. [Health: 145/160]

What’s with this Leader monster? Its defense is actually higher by a lot!

「Hiss!」The Spider Leader let out a strange screech and began sprinting towards Yao Yao. Before the Spider Leader was able to reach her location, she could still cast one more spell. She began to activate Holy Strike.「Boom!」A beam of light exploded forth, falling from the Heavens and smashing down onto the Spider Leader’s body—causing it to lose sixteen health. [Health: 129/160]

Once Nie Yan finished arming his crossbow, three bolts fired out in succession.「Putt! Putt! Putt!」All of them hit their target. −6, −6, −6

[Health: 111/160]Three damage numbers floated above the Spider Leader’s head. Afterwards, he continued to rearm the crossbow.

Having finished casting Holy Strike, Yao Yao saw that the Spider Leader had charged close to her position. Almost immediately, she dove back into the water.

After Yao Yao had dove underwater, the Spider Leader had no means of getting to her.

The Spider Leader was skittering back and forth fretfully on the water’s surface, where Yao Yao had submerged.

「Whsh! Whsh! Whsh!」Three bolts arrived at their target, hitting the Spider Leader’s head. [Health: 93/160] Nie Yan immediately attracted its attention, and the spider went sprinting towards his location.

Nie Yan anxiously resupplied his crossbow with bolts. Before he could even finish fully reloading, the Spider Leader had already rushed in front of him. He hurriedly swapped his crossbow for his dagger.

"Assassinate!”

Nie Yan struck out with Assassinate, stabbing the Spider Leader in its flank—dealing twelve points of damage to its health bar. [Health: 81/120]

The Spider Leader leapt forward and struck him, causing Nie Yan to lose sixty health.

What a strong attack!

If I suffer another hit, I’ll undoubtedly die!

Nie Yan originally wanted to fight it out for another round. However, when he was facing a danger of this degree, he didn’t dare take the risk. In the next moment, he dove into the water.

The Spider Leader’s next strike hit empty air. Raising its sharp stinging legs, it stabbed into the water below. Its legs were similar to arrows raining down and entering the water’s surface. One struck Nie Yan and pierced directly into his shoulder.

−32

A damage value floated atop Nie Yan’s head.

The Spider Leader had succeeded in hitting with one of its attacks. Soon after, another leg came piercing towards Nie Yan.

Nie Yan did a quick roll within the water. The Spider Leader’s awl-like leg pierced through the water, just past Nie Yan’s cheek, causing a large streak of bubbles to emerge.

Close call! Only after Nie Yan dived a bit deeper, did he finally leave the Spider Leader’s attack range. He had a little less than twenty health remaining. Next time he wouldn’t confront the Spider Leader head on.

"Sacred Art!”

Taking advantage of the Spider Leader’s attention on Nie Yan, Yao Yao cast her strongest spell dealing twenty-seven damage to its health.

[Health: 54/120]

"Are you alright?” Yao Yao asked in a worried tone. She saw two very large damage values float over Nie Yan’s head.

"I’m fine. The Water Spider Leader’s attacks are too powerful. By all means, do not get hit by one of its attacks,” Nie Yan said while still having some lingering fears. He had underestimated the Spider Leader’s attack capability and nearly died.

"Okay, I understand,” Yao Yao answered back and continued to brandish her staff.

Under her unceasing bombardment of attacks, the Spider Leader’s aggro shifted back to Yao Yao. Once more, it charged in her direction.

"Holy Smite! Holy Strike!”

−15 [Health: 39/160]

−16 [Health: 23/160]

After Yao Yao finished casting another round of spells, she once again dove underwater.

The Spider Leader irritably skittered around the water’s surface. Nie Yan then fired off another three bolts, hitting the Spider Leader in its butt. [Health: 5/160]

So after kiting it back and forth, the Spider Leader’s health bar was gradually drained clean. Following Yao Yao casting one final Sacred Art, the Spider Leader’s health bar dropped to zero. its body floated above the surface of the water, shrivelled and curled up.

The entire process was simpler than they had imagined.

Seeing the Water Spider Leader meet its death, Nie Yan finally relaxed and sighed in relief. After killing it, his experience bar rose to fifty-two percent.

"What item did it drop?” Nie Yan asked.

"Come and see.” Yao Yao put the two items she just picked up into the trade window.

Fine Silk Gloves (Bronze Grade)

Level Requirements: Level 0

Properties: Defense 2–3, Magic +3

Weight: 1.3 lb

User Restriction: Mage; can be equipped by any faction

Rare Fine Silk (Raw Materials)

Quantity: 5

"You have the Appraisal skill?” Nie Yan asked. It’s reasonable to say that recently dropped items should be unidentified. He would’ve never expected that Yao Yao�—with her Level being so low—had already learned the Appraisal skill.

Yao Yao nodded her head and said, "Correct! I learned the most basic Appraisal skill.

"The gloves go to you and, since I need it, the Rare Fine Silk to me,” Nie Yan said. What difference does this Rare Fine Silk have with ordinary Fine Silk? I wonder… will Physician Blevins accept this Rare Fine Silk, or not?

"En, I won’t be polite then,” Yao Yao said. Fortunately, those gloves were just what she needed—having Magic +3 as a property. To a Mage, an increase in Magic was the best property they could wish for in a piece of equipment. If it were placed in the market, it would go for at least fifty or sixty coppers. If one calculated, Nie Yan had received the raw end of the deal. Yao Yao felt slightly apologetic, but recalling that Nie Yan had also picked up the Assassinate skill book earlier, she became less flustered.

Yao Yao placed the Rare Fine Silk in her trade window. Afterwards, both of them pressed accept.

While the two were conducting the trade, they were both really close. Nie Yan glanced at Yao Yao’s cheek. Her skin tone was as healthy as ever—jade like porcelain so white, he couldn’t find a single blemish.

"What are you staring at?” Yao Yao asked in a panicked manner. Being gazed at by Nie Yan caused a deep red to emerge from her cheeks, lightly spreading across her face.

Seeing Yao Yao’s expression redden like a tomato, Nie Yan laughed and swam towards a nearby Water Spider.

After an afternoon of killing monsters, Nie Yan had collected twenty-three Fine Silks, and Yao Yao finally finished gathering the Water Sacks she required.

"In a few days, my team will be hunting in the Treant Forest near Tellak Town. We still have a few spots, do you want to join?” Yao Yao pretended to ask in a casual and nonchalant manner. However, in her heart, she actually had some faint hopes and expectations that Nie Yan would accept.

Treant Forest is a small Level 3 instance; it’s one of the basic instances. The difficulty for basic instances is usually high. The final Treant King is pretty troublesome as well—an Elite monster. If a Fighter’s Defense stat didn’t reach sixty, and their health wasn’t at least two hundred and twenty, they basically have no chance.

"How many people do you have?”

"Including you, we have eighteen: two Fighters, two Berserkers, two Paladins, two Thieves, three Priests, and seven Mages.”

"How much defense and health do your Fighters have?” Nie Yan asked. If her team is skilled, there’d be no harm in going once. Treant Forest drops quite a few good Thief-related items.

"Fifty-three Defense, and two hundred thirty health.”

"Their health is fine, however, their defense is too low. I’d still advise you guys to not go,” Nie Yan said as he shook his head. The Fighters’ stats were lacking a bit.

"Why?” Yao Yao opened her eyes widely, staring at Nie Yan in bewilderment.

"The Treant King has a two percent chance of landing a critical hit. Therefore the Fighters’ defense and health must be high. The Priests’ Heal skill also needs to be able to follow up. Otherwise, if a critical hit occurred and your Fighters are killed, then your whole team will end up being wiped. Although you don’t drop equipment or levels in an instance, you’ll still lose twenty percent of your experience. Which is enough to be unbearable for most people.”

"How do you know this?”

Nie Yan faintly smiled, but he didn’t reply.

"Although I feel what you’re saying could possibly be correct, they’ve already been preparing for many days. I can’t just refuse to go, right?”

"Just listen to my words. Have your Fighters get their defense to sixty, first, then you can go,” Nie Yan said. If Yao Yao didn’t listen to his warnings and went now, she was sure to lose twenty percent of her experience. Fortunately, twenty percent wasn’t all that much. With less than a day’s worth of training, she could gain it back.

"Defense of sixty… it’s only possible if we get another piece of Bronze-tier equipment at the very least. That’s going to be too difficult,” Yao Yao said while shaking her head. A piece of Bronze-tier equipment was at least, but not limited to, five or six times the price of ordinary equipment. At minimum, it would cost at least three to four silvers. Their team definitely didn’t have such financial power.

"If you can refuse, then just refuse. However, if your friends really are determined to go, then there’s no helping it. In any case, it’s only twenty percent experience, nothing more.”

"Nie Yan, is what you said true?” Yao Yao furrowed her beautiful brows and asked with concern.

Nie Yan nodded his head and swam over to a nearby Water Spider that was off to his side.

Yao Yao’s intuition told her Nie Yan’s words were credible, yet she was still quite puzzled. How did Nie Yan know about this information? Could it be… Had he already been to the Treant Forest before? Even if he did go there previously, it was still impossible for him to obtain such accurate data so quickly.

"I’ve finished my quest, so I should get going. Today has quite enjoyable. Training together with you was very fun. Nie Yan (Nirvana Flame), how about we add each other as friends? So in the future, I can contact you again,” Yao Yao said. In her heart, she felt a little reluctant to part. Nie Yan was the very first friend of the opposite gender she felt happy being around with. Of course, her intentions were for them to be within the boundaries of friends and nothing more.

"Sure,” Nie Yan responded, and added Yao Yao to his friend list.

"I’ll be leaving first then. Bye bye!” Yao Yao said while waving her hand in farewell.

The figure of Yao Yao’s back became increasingly distant.

Once Yao Yao left, Nie Yan felt a bit of melancholy. However, very soon, he adjusted his mood and continued to kill Water Spiders.

One after another, spiders continuously fell at the hand of Nie Yan’s dagger.

He looked at the time—still three hours until the game closed.「Pururu! Pururu! Pururu!」Nie Yan received a voice notification.

"Expert, it’s me,” Stone said via a voice message.

"What do you want?” Nie Yan replied back.

"I have a friend who wants to meet you.”

"I’ve been very busy lately. I don’t have the time.”

"My friend said he’s willing to pay the two silvers required to obtain the guide for the Fallen Shaman camp.”

"Did your team get wiped out by the wooden fences there?” Nie Yan asked. That area was an extremely difficult hurdle. If you didn’t know the trick to get through, then passing was extremely difficult.

"H-how’d you know?” Stone asked in surprise. Nie Yan had guessed correctly. He became more certain—Nie Yan had definitely beaten the Fallen Shaman camp in the past.

"Of course, I know. You guys want the Fallen Shaman Camp guide? That’s fine. First send the money over to my personal storage.”

A personal storage was the same as an account. Players themselves were free to access their own storage. They were even allowed to send money and items to another player’s storage, but they were not allowed to take anything out.

"This… I’ll have to ask first,” Stone said. It was evident he wasn’t the one making the decisions. After a moment, he sent another voice message to Nie Yan. "My friend said we’re able to send one silver in advance as a down payment. If your guide truly is effective, then we’ll send the other half of the payment.”

Nie Yan thought for a moment and said, "Alright, that’s fine.” Due to Nie Yan having hit the mark several times on the things he spoke of, the other party was willing to do this trade. However, by paying first, they were taking on a huge risk. If by chance Nie Yan was actually a swindler, it would be the same as if they flushed their money down the toilet. Thus, they chose to send the first half as a down payment.

「System: Player Flying Stone has deposited one silver into your personal storage.」

"The money… I’ve already sent it,” Stone messaged again. He was a little bit nervous. If Nie Yan really was a scammer, then their one silver would completely go to waste.

"The first hurdle you’ll face is by the wooden fences. There are seven Fallen Shamans in that area. Don’t send your Warriors to tank. At Level 5 and under, they’ll be completely unable to resist a volley from seven Fallen Shamans attacking together. Instead, send your Thief over to the willow tree outside the fence and station them there. Tell them to use their bow or crossbow to shoot at the Fallen Shamans to the left. Remember carefully; there cannot be any mistakes in where you shoot. Only then will you be able to draw out three Fallen Shamans and kill them. After you’ve gotten rid of them, the remaining four should be much easier to deal with. The second important location is off to the side of the altar; there’s a Fallen Shaman Priest located there. When facing him, if you’re not careful you’ll end up aggroing the Fallen Shaman Leader as well. Once every five minutes, the Fallen Shaman Priest will start walking around. Wait until it walks past the altar and arrives next to the obelisk. Then, have your Fighter draw it outside to about five or six meters away, where you’ll surround and kill it. Afterwards, you’ll be able to kill the Fallen Shaman Leader. If you still have any problems, just send me a message,” Nie Yan said. This was taking another’s money to help them avoid disaster. In any case, it was just a small instance. Very soon, someone would come along and beat it. So it was quite good that he managed to exchange some information for a bit of spending money. What’s more, it was two entire silvers.

"That’s all…?” Stone asked in a daze.

"That’s all.”

Just this little bit of information was worth two silvers. Nie Yan had earned this money a bit too easily.

However, this method for overcoming the hurdles was summed from the experiences of countless players. An average team needed to go through this instance at least several times before they could get a feel for it. In that perspective, perhaps the guide wasn’t that expensive after all.

Chapter 13 – Golden Electric Eel

Kalore City transfer point.

At present, a group consisting of twenty or so players were gathered together in a heated discussion.

"I definitely think that guy’s a swindler. How could he possibly know the strategy for the Fallen Shaman Camp!?”

"That person shouldn’t be a swindler. Otherwise, how was he able to correctly guess where our party was wiped? Only by having a deep understanding of this instance, could he have known where we would fall apart.”

Everyone had differing opinions. Hence, it was very hard for them to come to a conclusion.

"Stone, what’s up? Has he said anything?” asked a Warrior on the side. He was Sleepy Fox, the captain of the team.

Stone then proceeded to pass Nie Yan’s words on to them.

A Priest pondered to himself for a while, before looking at his teammates and asking, "Do you guys think his words are trustworthy?”

"Hard to say….” replied a teammate beside him. The several hurdles they had to pass in the Fallen Shaman Camp were too difficult for them. It was to the extent that they had all been wiped out before even having a chance to encounter the Fallen Shaman Priest.

"We can’t say for sure whether or not this Nie Yan (Nirvana Flame) has already beaten the Fallen Shaman Camp with a team.”

"He really is an expert. Remember the area where I was farming, near the Fallen Shaman Camp? It was he who had told me about it. He said that he used to have a Warrior account in the past, but he deleted it and made a new Thief account. I have a feeling his old Warrior account was around Level 4 at the very least. If not, how could he know so much?” Flying Stone said as he argued in Nie Yan’s defense. In regards to Nie Yan’s words, Stone held a firm belief in him.

"So we’re gonna try his method then?”

"Everyone! Begin your preparations. We’ll be setting off in ten minutes,” the Priest called out as he came to a decision.

"Big Brother Fox, are we actually going?” another Mage asked.

"I believe his words hold some degree of credibility. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be so knowledgeable of the Fallen Shaman instance. Let’s give it a try. If that person ends up being a swindler, then I’ll make him pay the price,” said Sleepy Fox in a confident manner. Truth or lie, he was still able to distinguish the two. If it weren’t for them getting wiped at the instance prior to this, he wouldn’t have allowed Stone to contact Nie Yan for help.

Nie Yan was still killing Water Spiders and gathering Fine Silk. The whole process was rather mundane and boring.

He was in the middle of fighting against a Water Spider; one that was already on the verge of being defeated.「Hiss! Eee!」The spider let out an intense high-pitched cry.

In the distance, six Water Spiders were alerted by the noise. Their movements showed that they were heading to flank Nie Yan.

Simultaneously dealing with two spiders was his limit. Any more, and he had absolutely no chance of winning.

Nie Yan leapt forward. With a single Vital Strike, the lone Water Spider that had been surviving on low health was killed. As the spider fell, a single copper dropped from its corpse and floated into Nie Yan’s hand. By that time, the six charging Water Spiders had already neared him.

Without delay, Nie Yan dived into the water below and swam towards the lake floor.

Upon arriving at their destination, the six spiders skittered about on the water’s surface as they tried to find traces of Nie Yan.

However, Nie Yan continued to swim a fair distance away. After about a minute, he felt himself start to suffocate. He turned his head and looked up to the surface of the water. Unexpectedly, the amount of spiders roaming around his location had increased in number. If he were to go up at this moment, he would certainly die.

For the sake of not drowning, Nie Yan had no choice but to activate the underwater breathing ability of the Water Aversion Pearl. He prepared to resurface after finding an area with fewer Water Spiders.

A ray of light was cast down upon the lake, illuminating its serene depths. Near the lake floor, Nie Yan’s eyes noticed a faint flash of golden light. His heart skipped a beat. This… it couldn’t be some kind of treasure, right?

In any case, the duration of the Water Aversion Pearl’s ability is pretty long. Nie Yan continued his descent, diving deeper into the depths of the lake.

It was deep to the extent that one could not see the bottom, and the deeper he dove, the greater the pressure he felt bearing down on his body.

Strange rock formations were clustered around the surrounding lake floor. Between these rocks were dim narrow passages where one’s field of view would only extend to about two meters.

Nie Yan was able to see a few Black Iron Crystals and other types of ores covering the tops of these rocks. It was a pity he didn’t have the Mining skill. Thus, he could only leave them be.

A stream of cold water flowed between the strange rocks, battering Nie Yan’s body and causing him to feel a cold chill.

Suddenly, a huge gold-coloured eel came out from the rocks and swam pass Nie Yan’s side.

The sudden appearance caused Nie Yan to jump out in fright. When he was finally able to see it clearly, he discovered that it was a Golden Electric Eel!

Just a while ago, that golden flash of light he had seen from above was actually this eel!

The Golden Electric Eel was a type of rare monster that ranged from Level 0 to 20. Their temperaments were gentle and docile, so they never attacked the player first. However, if a player attacked them first, they would retaliate by using the back of their tails to release an intense electric shock. In the water, this was a powerful killing move.

Though, Golden Electric Eels would normally drop some good equipment when killed. At the very least, it would be Bronze-tier.

Golden Electric Eel: Level 0

Health 80/80

Fortunately, it was only a Level 0 Golden Electric Eel. If the level were a little higher, Nie Yan basically wouldn’t stand a chance.

Nie Yan swam beside the eel and followed it closely. He was trying to find weaknesses as he observed its three-meter long body.

The eel didn’t seem to mind Nie Yan’s existence in the slightest. To the point where it even swam a few laps around his body.

It had been reported that the Golden Electric eel’s weak point was its neck. Nie Yan swam over to check and discovered red-coloured scales covering its neck.

That’s the Golden Electric Eel’s weak point!

Nie Yan swam with the Golden Electric Eel until they finally reached a narrow crevice between the rocks. Raising his dagger, he swiftly stabbed towards the eel. Dark red blood gushed forth as Nie Yan activated Assassinate while the dagger entered the eel’s neck.

−11

The Golden Electric Eel never expected that the player beside it would attack. It struggled violently, wanting to break free from its attacker.

Nie Yan firmly held onto the eel. However, its entire body was covered in a slippery mucus—making it very difficult to hold onto.

The Golden Electric Eel swung its tail and a powerful electric shock bombarded Nie Yan’s body.

−32

When the electric current struck, it felt as if ten thousand ants were stinging him all at once. He was unable to move as he felt his whole body go numb.

The Golden Electric Eel’s attacks have a paralysis effect!

In his absentmindedness, Nie Yan noticed that the Golden Electric Eel was trying to escape. Once again—with dagger in hand—he stabbed into the eel’s body. The dagger was imbedded near the eel’s spine.

He tenaciously held onto his dagger.

The Golden Electric Eel swam forward, dragging Nie Yan with it. Once again, another electric shock blasted his body, causing a damage value of twenty-three to float above his head.

Golden Electric Eels were a special class of monster. They were even a bit stronger than Leader monsters. If the Eel’s level had been just a little higher, then Nie Yan would have already lost his life a long time ago.

Feeling himself almost lose consciousness, Nie Yan forcefully shook himself awake.

The eel swam at an extremely fast pace as it moved through the narrow crevices between the rocks. Blood kept gushing forth from its wounds, dying the surrounding water red.

After a while had passed, the Golden Electric Eel once again let loose an electric shock, battering Nie Yan’s body and dealing sixteen damage.

The amount of electricity within the Golden Electric Eel’s body was limited. Consequently, the more times it released an electric shock, the weaker its power would become.

The eel dragged its attacker along, unceasingly attacking him as it swam about for five or six minutes. Nie Yan’s health continued to drop until he was left with only twenty-three health remaining. With great strain, he managed to use a Basic Health Potion.

The repeated electrical shocks had paralyzed his whole body. Even making the slightest of movements was incredibly difficult.

After finally becoming exhausted, the Golden Electric Eel stopped. Nie Yan quickly seized this opportunity. Using the dagger in his hand, he activated Vital Strike and stabbed into its neck.

The Golden Electric Eel continued to struggle by wrapping itself tightly around Nie Yan. He felt himself start to suffocate with the eel completely coiled around his body.

−5, −5, −5 One by one, these damage numbers floated above Nie Yan’s head; his health had only fifteen percent remaining.

Seeing his health continuously drop lower and lower, Nie Yan quickened his attacks. The dagger in his hand unceasingly stabbed at the eel’s neck.

−8, −8, −8 The Golden Electric Eel’s health appeared to have finally reached zero. It gradually loosened its coil, then flipped over and revealed its white belly.

Nie Yan finally broke free from the eel’s hold. Using his right hand, he caught a piece of equipment that the eel had dropped—a pair of gloves.

Soft Leather Gloves (Bronze)

Properties: Unidentified

A Level 0 Golden Electric Eel should drop Level 0 equipment. As for the properties, I still need to go back to the city to get it appraised. However, since it’s leather equipment, a Thief can definitely use it.

Nie Yan placed the Soft Leather Gloves in his bagspace. Gradually, the paralysis effect on his body wore off. He also didn’t know where the Golden Electric Eel had dragged him off to, so Nie Yan began swimming towards the surface.

As he swam through the dark narrow crevices between the rocks, Nie Yan discovered a small plant in the distance. It danced and fluttered about as it followed the movements of the currents, lying firmly planted atop the rock.

This small plant was half an inch in length, with three tile-shaped green leaves that were as soft as silk.

Looking at its features… this should be Waterscale Grass!

Nie Yan’s eyelids jumped. There were six recipes for creating mana potions. Among these recipes, Waterscale Grass was the main ingredient out of the raw materials required to make them. Generally, the lowest tier of Mana Potion was worth around thirty coppers. Therefore, this Waterscale Grass—as the main ingredient—would be valued at around twenty coppers.

Not far from where the Waterscale Grass was located, two red-coloured water snakes emerged.

Flowerscale Water Snake: Level 3

Health: 100/100

Nie Yan lingered by the side for a moment, waiting for the water snakes to swim away. Only after they moved away, did he swim over to the area where the Waterscale Grass was growing. The plant resembled a gecko as it sat firmly atop a rock. Nie Yan finally plucked it and placed it in his bag.

This ought to be an area where Waterscale Grass grows. Nie Yan began searching around the area, eventually finding two more Waterscale Grasses. Heh… pretty good harvest.

Nie Yan swam up towards the surface until his figure broke through the water. Spending such a long time within that dark underwater environment was truly oppressive. At last, he could breathe a sigh of relief.

His location was still within the Water Spider’s territory. So, Nie Yan continued farming Water Spiders. By the time the game servers were about to shut down, Nie Yan had managed to pick up a Paladin skill book—Divine Light Slash. This was one of the beginner skills for a Paladin. At the moment, its price should be about thirty coppers.

His luck wasn’t bad. The drop rate for the Divine Light Slash skill book didn’t exceed one in ten thousand. Some people could end up killing Water Spiders for several days, and they still wouldn’t find this skill book.

「System: The servers will be shutting down in three minutes. We request that all players prepare to go offline.」

Nie Yan found an area that seemed safer than others and concealed himself within. After three minutes passed, his vision went dark.

By the time he logged off the game, it was already nine in the morning. A new day had begun, and people were getting ready for work. Due to the implementation of a three hour work day—one hour of work in the morning and two in the afternoon—their schedules were fairly relaxed. Students, on the other hand, were beginning the day’s summer recreation.

After finishing breakfast, Nie Yan began to exercise. His old man—having a military background—had harsh and strict expectations for Nie Yan. Thus, his foundations were pretty good. Back then, he persisted for two years in tempering his body for the sake of assassinating Cao Xu. He employed special forces training that he had gotten from the internet. The training methods were extraordinarily abnormal. Due to being too old at the time, he missed the optimum period of time to train his body. Thus, the results weren’t that amazing. However, he still had the ability to easily knock out two or three grown men.

When referring to two or three grown men, Nie Yan was referring to adults who had at least some training. The increasing productivity had liberated people from the toils of hard labour. Thus, the modern man placed an increasing importance on elite—martial and intellectual—education. Beside the core academic courses, electives such as kickboxing, taekwondo, and boxing could also be taken. Since people studied martial arts from a young age, everyone’s physical fitness was pretty decent. At the very least, they would know a few martial arts techniques. Today, there was a never-waning abundance of huge martial arts tournaments of all kinds. Speaking precisely, the present society is one that promotes the martial spirit.

He didn’t have any equipment at home, so he could only do a few basic exercises. In the future when his family would have more money, he could buy equipment and body enhancing medicines; the effects would be much more distinct.

He exercised for an hour and did twenty minutes of martial arts training. Afterwards, Nie Yan began to review his schoolwork. In this day and age, making use of one’s knowledge was of the utmost importance, and the knowledge contained in textbooks covered just about everything. Starting from small—such as simple physics and chemistry—to the large—such as manufacturing polymers, aircrafts, small scale nuclear batteries, etc… all of these were covered. If he managed to put all of the knowledge within these textbooks to use, let alone manufacturing aircrafts, even constructing a mecha wouldn’t be a problem at all.

People in this age—with advancements of bio-electric stimulation in medicine—had an average IQ of a hundred and sixty or higher. On the higher end, a person’s IQ was even capable of reaching two hundred and sixty. However, throughout their wholes lives, these people would still be completely unable to master all of the accumulated knowledge left behind by their predecessors.

During high school, scoring fifty or sixty percent on a test paper could already be considered not bad. There wasn’t a failing grade in these tests. However, every test mark would be recorded and entered into an individual’s overall evaluation.

Nie Yan—when he was in his first and second year of high school—was ranked among the top three in terms of academics. However, after he transferred from his school to a high-class one in the city, his achievements could only be ranked at the bottom. In this world, perhaps you could do plenty of things if you had money. However, knowledge is what secured a person’s position indefinitely. Perhaps Nie Yan’s father, using his money, could pave a future of brilliant prospects for him. Though, whether or not he was able to walk down this path… Nie Yan was still required to rely on himself.

Chapter 14 – Close Friends

Nie Yan studied for an hour, then went back to training. Whenever he was hungry, he would take out a portioned tube of nutrition tonic from the fridge and then go back to studying. He continued this cycle of studying, training, and eating until one o’clock in the afternoon.

「Ring! Ring!」The phone in Nie Yan’s home rang out.

"Hello. May I ask who this is?” Nie Yan picked up the phone and asked.

"Nie Yan! How about we go out and play? I’m almost suffocating to death by staying at home.”

The voice Nie Yan had just heard belonged to Tang Yao. The pages in his memories once again began turning. Tang Yao was his best friend—the two had known each other since they were in diapers. Though Tang Yao’s family eventually became quite wealthy, and they moved away to the city. However, their family ended up purchasing a villa near this town. So every summer, he would come over to visit and stay for a while.

Tang Yao, this person was an especially loyal friend. In Nie Yan’s previous life, when he had become very poor, it was Tang Yao who braved the risks of being discovered by Cao Xu and secretly provided financial support to him. This allowed him to pass those harsh days much more easily.

However, Tang Yao had one fatal weakness; he loved frequenting bars and womanizing. One time while drinking at a bar, he got into a fight with another man over a woman and ended up being beaten to death by that person. Due to the other side’s background being too great, the case was left unsettled.

Tang Yao, you’re still alive! This is great. In this lifetime, I will definitely not let that sort of thing happen again.

All of a sudden, tears began gushing forth and pouring out of Nie Yan’s eyes.

"Hello? Nie Yan, don’t just die on me. Say something.”

"Where are we going?” Nie Yan asked after restraining his emotions.

"Let’s go to the PK bar. Are you interested? Recently, this Conviction game has been really popular. Have you play it yet?”

"I’ve been playing. I’m a Level 2 Tempest Thief,” Nie Yan replied. The PK bar is a gaming and entertainment club where players can transfer their characters from the game and compete with other players in various scenarios. This type of duel wouldn’t raise a player’s level, nor would it affect their progress in the game. Only occasionally were players able to win one or two pieces of equipment through gambling with other players.

"Not bad at all! You’ve already risen to Level 2. When did you buy a game helmet?” Tang Yao asked, somewhat astonished. He remembered Nie Yan’s family was not well-off at all.

"I’ve had it for some time now.”

"Let’s head out then. We’ll have a stroll over to the PK Lounge. I have a Level 3 Arcane Mage by the way,” Tang Yao flauntingly said in a somewhat proud tone.

Nie Yan faintly smiled. Eighteen- to nineteen-year-old kids all want to show off even the smallest accomplishments. Naturally, this was human nature. However, Nie Yan had already long passed that age.

At the current stage, anyone who was able to rise to Level 3 was a decently skilled player. Such players were in the top ten percent of the player base. However, Nie Yan knew that Tang Yao’s skills were still a bit lacking if he wanted to go to the PK Lounge. The number of experts at the lounge were not few. It was a place where all sorts of experts gathered.

"Us going there to play is fine. However, it’s best if you don’t gamble,” Nie Yan said. From his memories, Tang Yao loved to gamble, yet he would never win—not even once. This never dissuaded him, however, and he continued to enjoy it. Luckily, the amount of pocket money Tang Yao had wasn’t very much, so losing wasn’t that big of a deal. With the current teachings, the head of the family wouldn’t give their child too much money. This was to avoid having that child form bad habits and become a good for nothing in the future.

"Since when did you become such a naggy old lady? Hurry up, I’m heading downstairs.”

"Alright then,” Nie Yan reluctantly replied with a hint of helplessness in his voice. He understood Tang Yao’s character. Preventing him from gambling was definitely impossible. Nie Yan only wished to remind him to show a little restraint while he was by Tang Yao’s side.

In his past life, there was a time when he didn’t go with Tang Yao because he had fallen ill and didn’t feel well. He heard that during that time Tang Yao had lost over three thousand credits.

Nie Yan washed up his sweaty body, changed his clothes, and headed downstairs.

"That brat, why is he still dawdling around?”

By the time Nie Yan came downstairs, Tang Yao had already arrived in his hover-car and parked next to Nie Yan’s house.

Nie Yan pushed down the emotions stirring within his heart. He hadn’t seen his friend in ages. The current Tang Yao was still the simple short little fatty he remembered. He and Nie Yan were of the same stature; it wasn’t until their third year of high school that they would grow in height. The handsome and confident Tang Yao from that time was entirely different from the one currently before him.

"I was taking a shower.”

"Get in the car! Hurry up! It wasn’t easy slipping away, and when I get home my old man’s gonna call me to help him out with his work again,” Tang Yao urged.

Nie Yan opened the car door and got in.

"We haven’t seen each other in nearly a year, huh? You brat, you still haven’t grown at all.”

"You’re the same too,” Nie Yan said with a smile. This type of close and familiar feeling came back to him again. Tang Yao, it’s been almost three years since we’ve last met…

"I lost over a thousand at the PK Lounge yesterday. Now this Young Master is burning with anger. I definitely have to beat those several brats until they only have their underwear left,” Tang Yao hatefully said. He stepped on the gas pedal, and the hover car shot forward as if it were an arrow.

"Those guys, were they Wei Kai’s group?” Nie Yan recalled. He remembered those several people were the neighbourhood bullies. When he was still going to school in this area, he was bullied a lot by them.

"It was exactly them. Yesterday I wanted to vent out some anger towards them in your place,” Tang Yao gloomily said.

In Tang Yao’s mind, Nie Yan had always been very cowardly and timid—the type who didn’t dare to utter a word when they were bullied. Thus, Tang Yao was always very protective of him. However, he was unaware that the present Nie Yan was no longer the previous weak and afraid person he once knew.

"Yo! You’ve arrived Young Master Tang, and just on time.” An eighteen to nineteen-year-old youth came walking forward. He was dark-skinned, with a skinny build. The clothing on his body looked like it hadn’t been washed in several days. Once he spoke, he gave off a delinquent type of feeling.

His name was Wei Kai. Due to his dark skin—a shade that would make him seem invisible during the night—Nie Yan and Tang Yao had once wondered if he were of African descent. Secretly, they started only referring to him as "Black Person.” A nickname which ended up spreading later on. This caused Wei Kai to direct his hate towards both Nie Yan and Tang Yao. However, he was still a little afraid of Tang Yao, as Tang Yao’s father was the CEO of Linzhou Airline—someone he couldn’t afford to offend. Consequently, from time to time, he would look for Nie Yan to start trouble with instead.

There were also five others following behind him, though they were a bit younger. They were all a part of his group.

"Oh, this brat Nie Yan also came. Tsk, tsk. He still hasn’t learned enough of a lesson from last time.”

Those several brats grinned maliciously as they stared at Nie Yan.

In his previous life, Nie Yan heard that Wei Kai caused some trouble and was exiled to another planet. Afterwards, there was no more word of him. The current Nie Yan, after reincarnating, could barely be bothered to keep these few delinquents in his mind. Regarding the bullying he received back then, what meaning was there for him to collect his debts now?

"No need to worry, you have me here with you. They won’t dare do anything to you.” Tang Yao spoke in a low voice and attempted to comfort Nie Yan.

Nie Yan nodded his head.

Tang Yao couldn’t help but look at Nie Yan. The latter seemed especially calm today. This brat. Looks like he finally gained some courage.

"Less bullshit. Did you bring the money?” Tang Yao said to Wei Kai.

"No worries, I brought two thousand. However, you’ll be the one paying for our entry fee today.” Wei Kai took out a bank card, shaking it in his hand.

"Only a hundred or so credits and you’re making such a hassle about it.” Tang Yao slanted his lips in disdain as ruthless words came out of his mouth.

"I’m not like Young Master Tang right here who’s so well-off with money. Our little group of commoners has no choice but to bother about this small amount of money,” Wei Kai smilingly replied without the slightest bit of anger.

From an adult’s perspective, Nie Yan reexamined Wei Kai. He discovered Wei Kai, although simply a delinquent, still carried an air of shrewdness about him. There were many people like Wei Kai, fumbling through society, gaining a lot of knowledge and experience along the way.

"God damn. Isn’t it just him having a rich old man? What’s so amazing about that?”

The several youngsters behind Wei Kai couldn’t bear Tang Yao anymore, and began cursing at him one after another.

Tang Yao treated his friends very well. The reason his words were so unkind today was most likely because of Wei Kai and his group frequently bullying Nie Yan.

Tang Yao ignored those several youngsters and walked up to the counter. He took out two hundred credits, placed them on the reception desk and then said, "Boss, open up a private room for us. No need to return the change. Also, have the attendants send some drinks over. No coke please.”

"Room number six. This is the card for your room.” The manager handed over a card to Tang Yao as he spoke.

"Please. You lead the way, Young Master Tang,” Wei Kai said while laughing. Then briefly, he swept his gaze towards Nie Yan. Their eyes locked, as they met face to face. Nie Yan stared back at him calmly.

Wei Kai was mildly surprised. Today, Nie Yan appeared to be distinctly different than how he was in the past. Previously, whenever Nie Yan met him, he would be timid and afraid. Yet today, he was unusually calm.

The group of people went over to room number six.

Nie Yan and the rest entered the room. The interior was separated into two areas. Each area had five platforms with recliners and machines. Players could hold 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, and 5v5 battles. If they wanted to hold larger team battles, they were required to rent out a larger room.

Nie Yan and Tang Yao entered one area and closed the door. Their area and Wei Kai’s were separated by a glass wall.

"What level is Wei Kai?” Nie Yan asked Tang Yao.

"A Level 3 Berserker,” Tang Yao replied. Yesterday they had fought ten matches, and Tang Yao only won three of them. After he returned home, he had his father’s underling find him an Arcane Blast skill book, as well as a Bronze-tier mage robe which he exchanged for his own. He was well prepared to beat Wei Kai in a few matches, and thoroughly return all the losses he had received yesterday.

Ten matches. The prize for every match was two hundred.

"What skills do you have?” Nie Yan asked. For good or bad, Nie Yan had played Conviction for many years. Even if you’ve never eaten pork, you’d still be able to recognize a pig. So although he never played Arcane Mage before, he had faced them countless times in battle. As such, he somewhat understood their abilities.

"Arcane Missiles, Arcane Fireball, Arcane Blaze, Arcane Blast, and Magic Return.” Tang Yao spoke without thinking. He never considered Nie Yan to know a lot about Conviction, as he had already trained up to Level 3, while Nie Yan was only Level 2.

"What’s your health and mana?”

"One hundred and twenty health, and one hundred and fifty mana,” Tang Yao replied. His equipment could be considered decent for a Level 3 Arcane Mage.

"Has Wei Kai learned Provoke yet?” Nie Yan asked. He was really confused. With this set of skills, just how did Tang Yao manage to lose in his previous life?

"He’s learned it.”

"No wonder.” Nie Yan suddenly understood. After a Berserker learns Provoke, if they were able to use the skill well, they could easily suppress an Arcane Mage.

"It’s about to begin,” Tang Yao said as he put on his game helmet.

Tang Yao was most likely going to lose. Nie Yan thought for a bit. He would continue observing for a while more. If Tang Yao started losing badly, then he would make a move.

They swiped their IDs over the machine and then put on their game helmets. The machines here would automatically extract the player’s character information from Conviction and duplicate it. They were able to conduct battles here, and since the data was only a copy, it would have no relation with Conviction.

Everyone entered the game. Nie Yan and those five youngsters were placed in an auditorium, and the arena chosen was random. It appeared the first one would be in the mountains.

The mountainous terrain was especially advantageous for Arcane Mages.

Tang Yao and Wei Kai both finished their preparations. Following the sound of a system prompt, the two began the battle.

"Hey, brat. Long time no see. A Level 2 Tempest Thief huh, not bad. Are you interested in having a match?” The one who spoke was one of the boys from Wei Kai’s group. Nie Yan faintly remembered that this guy’s name was Shi Feng (Stone Mountain).

A Level 2 Battle Thief!

There was an essential difference between Battle Thieves and Tempest Thieves. Battle Thieves had a more elegant title called Knight-errants. They were the same as Tempest Thieves in that they both had the Stealth skill. However, when fighting, they placed a greater emphasis on combat. Usually, they used weapons such as daggers and had decent close combat abilities.

The properties of professions are all unique. There was no division of strongest and weakest professions. Conviction had no weak professions—only weak players.

Nie Yan shot a glance at Shi Feng and said with indifference, "You’re still unworthy. Picking such a skilless profession like a Knight-errant, you have poor tastes.”

"Seems you’re missing a beating. Do you believe this grandfather won’t give you one once we leave the game?” Shi Feng cursed back at him. He didn’t expect that Nie Yan—who had always been a yes-man—would dare to speak rudely to him.

Nie Yan raised his eyebrow. They were just a few brats, nothing more. What did he have to fear? Even though his current body’s health was a little weak—to the point where it was poles apart from his previous peak condition—by relying on his fighting skills, he would be able to deal with these kids who had barely reached adulthood, and still have energy left to spare. These good-for-nothings were a level inferior to Wei Kai. They were still a bunch of students, yet they dressed like delinquents and poured obscenities out of their mouths—thinking of themselves as gangsters. They were very childish. Though, in reality, being a gangster was also a type of profession that required skill to make a living.

"If you have the guts, then come out and fight me next match.”

"Only one match? The stakes for this gamble are too small. I’m not that interested,” Nie Yan said. Wasn’t it too simple of a task to take care of Shi Feng?

"The brat’s grown up, huh? I have three hundred here on me. Let’s have a match. How about it?” Shi Feng took out a bank card. Nie Yan, this brat’s becoming more and more courageous. If I don’t teach him a lesson, he truly won’t know how high the heavens are and how thick the earth is.

"I’ll only play one game. I’ve got seven hundred.” Nie Yan brought out his bank card. He swiped it to show the amount of money in the card was seven hundred credits. This amount of money—to the eighteen-year-old Nie Yan—was an amazingly huge sum of money.

"Any of you guys have money? Lend me a few hundred.” Shi Feng turned his head and spoke to the friends beside him.

"I’ve got two hundred.”

"I’ve got a hundred.”

"I’ve also got a hundred.”

After borrowing four hundred, Shi Feng finally had seven hundred credits. He hung out with Wei Kai, but after all, he was still a delinquent and never had much money on him.

Nie Yan glanced at Tang Yao and Wei Kai’s battle. In the mountainous terrain, Wei Kai wasn’t able to fully display his Berserker’s abilities, and the match was won by Tang Yao. The next match was in open plains. Tang Yao would likely lose this one.

"Let’s go then.” Nie Yan withdrew his glance, then spoke to Shi Feng.

The scenery of the two people switched over. Soon, they appeared in a jungle. Thick vegetation surrounded them everywhere, and the two were separated by about fifty meters.

"Little brat. Watch this grandpa teach you how to respect others.”

Nie Yan faintly laughed. He didn’t even bother having a verbal showdown with Shi Feng.

Shi Feng muttered, whispering to himself, "Why is Nie Yan giving off a feeling that would make others feel unsettled today?”

「System: Match start!」

Nie Yan and Shi Feng both activated Stealth.

Stealth didn’t equal invisibility. When a Thief uses stealth, their body would melt into the background. If one didn’t observe carefully, it was really hard to detect. However, if one concentrated their attention, they could still make out the flaws in the camouflage.

Stealth was based on a Thief’s Dexterity and their ability to hide themselves. Being discovered would depend on the other player’s eyesight.

At this time, the two were approaching each other. Nie Yan’s footsteps were light and gentle. If he came across leaves and branches, he would carefully move around them. He left no footprints behind. After playing Thief for so many years, if he were to be discovered by a novice like Shi Feng, he’d be losing too much face. Nie Yan’s eyes moved like electricity as he scanned the area. On a branch in the far distance, there was a trace of unusual movement. Focusing his gaze, he was able to distinctly make out the vague figure of a person. He had quickly discovered his opponent’s position.

Shi Feng was moving about slowly and cautiously, carefully paying attention to his surroundings. However, to him, it seemed as if Nie Yan had disappeared completely. Shi Feng couldn’t find any traces of him whatsoever.

A Thief’s ability to conceal themselves was very closely related to their surroundings. The more complex the background, the easier it would be to find them. However, if the background were simple and only had one colour, even if the enemy carefully observed, it would be very hard to discover them.

Just like a stick insect sticking to bamboo, they would completely melt into the background. Even if a predator came up close to it, they would still be unable to discover anything.

Stealth’s effectiveness was also greatly related to a player’s ability to control their movements. While in Stealth, the route and pace you walked in were all things that required very careful attention.

For Nie Yan, he basically didn’t need to conceal himself in such a meticulous manner. The motions of concealing himself had become instinctive to him. These movements had long penetrated through the core of his being, down to the bone marrow.

After ten years playing as a Thief, even an idiot would still turn into an expert, let alone Nie Yan—whose comprehension abilities could already be regarded as quite decent.

Chapter 15 – Viewed In A New Light

Shi Feng brushed Nie Yan’s side. Though, unexpectedly, he had moved past without noticing his opponent.

"Dammit… Where is that brat?” Shi Feng muttered under his breath. He had yet to realize that he had already been exposed.

Nie Yan trailed behind Shi Feng, following him closely. His gaze was focused on the area around Shi Feng’s back.

The dagger in Nie Yan’s right hand resembled lightning as it swiftly stabbed towards the back of his unsuspecting victim.

By the time Shi Feng felt something wasn’t right, it was too late. Nie Yan’s dagger had already arrived, penetrating deeply into Shi Feng’s back.

「Shlink! Splurt!」The dagger easily cut into him, dealing thirty-one points of damage to Shi Feng. Evidently, his defense stat wasn’t very high.

One attacked, and the other was being attacked. Immediately, the effects of Stealth for both players disappeared simultaneously.

Having finally discovered his assailant, Shi Feng turned around and retaliated. He slashed back at Nie Yan, sweeping his dagger in a wide arc.

Shi Feng’s dagger seemed to be just a bit short in length. However, that lack in blade length signified a miss as his dagger passed by Nie Yan.

"Vital Strike!”

Nie Yan’s dagger seemed to carry a cold glint as it streaked through the air, slitting Shi Feng’s throat.

「System: Vital Strike successful! Attack +5%, resulting in additional damage dealt!」

In one fell swoop, the seventy-nine health Shi Feng had remaining was instantly depleted. His eyes were filled with disbelief as if he had seen a ghost.「Thud.」His body collapsed onto the jungle floor.

The entire course of events had taken place in merely a few seconds. Nie Yan still had full health remaining.

The corner of Nie Yan’s mouth faintly curved into a sneer. He wasn’t required to showcase even the least of his abilities to deal with this novice Level 2 Knight-errant.

Both of them were returned to the auditorium at the same time.

"Shi Feng, what the hell happened?”

"Just how… how did it end so quickly…?”

The several youths encircled Shi Feng and began asking questions. On the video screen, they saw the figures of both Nie Yan and Shi Feng in combat after they had come out of stealth. In that fleeting moment, they were basically unable to clearly see, nor understand, what had occurred near the end. Within the blink of an eye—in simply a few exchanges—Shi Feng had already collapsed on the ground.

"His movements were really fast.” Shi Feng recalled their earlier exchange. Nie Yan had only made a few simple movements, yet his speed was simply unbelievable. Moreover, Nie Yan had killed him in two strikes; one of them hitting him in the vitals. Inside the game, the system would assist a player’s movements when executing skills. However, when it came to reaction speed, judgement, sense of attack and so on, all of them relied on the player’s own capabilities. Shi Feng had a hard time imagining what sort of disastrous outcome would occur if the two of them were to end up fighting in real life, especially if Nie Yan had a blade in his hand.

As he stared at that person’s figure, Shi Feng recalled all the times they went to him looking for trouble. He remembered how that person would always grin and bear through their humiliation without a hint of resistance. If that same person from the past had always been faking it… now that would be truly too terrifying. As he thought back to that dagger in Nie Yan’s hand, Shi Feng felt a cold chill run through his heart.

"I lost.” At that moment, Shi Feng didn’t dare to refute his defeat. The facts were arranged right before everyone’s eyes. Furthermore, he had also lost to Nie Yan’s boldness during the fight.

There was no need to fear those who acted arrogant and tyrannical. In reality, their tough appearances were merely poor disguises; Shi Feng was one such person. What people like him feared the most were those who possessed great strength and could endure without ever wavering.

Shi Feng began to think of Fourth Elder Lei who opened a restaurant in Gatehead Village. He truly was an amiable and gentle person. In the past, this area used to have a bunch of gangsters who would frequently go to his place. There they would freeload food and vandalize the restaurant. Fourth Elder Lei had always let them do what they wanted, bearing through their humiliation. There was a time when Shi Feng had gone to his restaurant in order to freeload food with ten or so other people. By chance, they ended up meeting his daughter who had just returned. Fourth Elder Lei had grown into a hunchback, but that daughter of his was actually fairly lively and beautiful. Several of them couldn’t resist trying to get their hands on his daughter.

Fourth Elder Lei begged for mercy, but those gangsters wouldn’t have it. They started to tear off his daughter’s clothes which enraged Fourth Elder Lei. He grabbed his kitchen knife and cut down three of those gangsters—they were instantly killed on the spot. Then, with his knife, he chopped off Boss Yin’s arm. Fourth Elder Lei’s whole body was covered in blood, yet he remained calm and unperturbed, allowing the customers on the side to call the police. At that time, Shi Feng was so frightened he nearly urinated in his pants.

Since Fourth Elder Lei had acted in self-defense, he was only sentenced to half a year in jail. After that, no one dared to cause trouble at his restaurant, nor lay a hand on his daughter again.

People who could endure silently were the most terrifying. It was because if they were to snap one day, they would reveal their full ferocity—becoming fiercer than anyone else. Remembering the scene of that day, Shi Feng felt his body break out in a cold sweat.

After experiencing something like that, Shi Feng had honestly and properly behaved himself for a while. Afterward, however, he began following Wei Kai’s group. After experiencing the fight today, his whole body began to quiver. If they were to bully Nie Yan and push him to the brink one day, would he snap just as Fourth Elder Lei had? Would Nie Yan grab a blade and ruthlessly slash their throats akin to what Shi Feng had just experienced in the game?

"In the future, it’ll be better if we don’t provoke that guy anymore. He’s definitely hard to deal with.” Shi Feng warned the several people beside him in a solemn manner.

"Shi Feng! You can’t be terrified after losing just one match, can you? From now on, we don’t know each other.” One of the youths by his side cursed at him. The others around him had also exposed expressions of disdain.

"I’ll still pay you guys back the money. As for the loss, it’s no big deal anyway,” Shi Feng said. He suddenly understood. Although people like them felt good when they often bullied others, there would come a day when all their debts are repaid in full—just like that matter with Fourth Elder Lei. On that day, Boss Yin lost both his arm and his position as the boss. Now he could only make a living by scavenging for trash. As for those three gangsters who were cut down, they couldn’t even make a living as they had lost their lives.

"Get out. Scram.”

Nie Yan no longer paid attention to Shi Feng and the others. He continued looking at the scene of the match. The competition between Tang Yao and Wei Kai was still in the second round. Since it was on an open field, this time, Tang Yao had lost his advantage. Eventually, he was killed by the slash of Wei Kai wielding his sword.

One after another, the matches continued. After they had finished ten matches, Tang Yao had won two, while Wei Kai had won eight. As a result, Tang Yao lost a thousand and two hundred credits.

"Fuck, Wei Kai that bastard also learned a new skill. This time, it’s the Berserker skill, Resist Magic Aura. This beating is truly depressing,” Tang Yao said while he fumed with anger. Resist Magic Aura increased the player’s magic resistance. A Berserker with this skill was practically the bane of all Mages.

"You know, Resist Magic Aura only decreases your damage by a little bit. When you’re PvPing as an Arcane Mage, your movements need to be quick. Secondly, you need to keep your mana expenditure at a stable rate. Third, your reactions have to be fast as well. Furthermore, when you were fighting, your timing for casting spells was incorrect,” Nie Yan advised. In terms of strength, Tang Yao’s Arcane Mage was stronger than Wei Kai’s Berserker by a lot. The reason Tang Yao lost wasn’t because Wei Kai was more skilled than him by any means. Rather, it was because Arcane Mages had a higher skill cap. A skilled Arcane Mage could effortlessly toy a Berserker of the same level to death. However, an unskilled Arcane Mage would easily be hacked to death by a Berserker of the same level. Simple professions like Berserkers, which were tanky hack and slashers, didn’t require much skill to play at all.

"You brat! I didn’t expect that you knew so much,” Tang Yao said in admiration. In retrospect, Nie Yan’s words made quite some sense.

After pushing open the door, Wei Kai and his group came over from the other side with Shi Feng following from behind. The latter glanced at Nie Yan with a somewhat complicated expression on his face.

"Young Master Tang, it seems that your brother here is growing up more and more. Surprisingly, he even defeated Shi Feng.” Wei Kai’s narrow and slender eyes glanced over towards Nie Yan. In the past, Nie Yan had always been a well-behaved punching bag. Indeed, it appeared the Nie Yan of today and the Nie Yan from the past just weren’t the same. Be it expression or temperament, there was quite a large change in both.

Wei Kai switched the video on the screen over to the time when Nie Yan defeated Shi Feng in their fight. Afterward, he played it back in slow motion. The entire fight had concluded within three seconds. Looking at the screen, Nie Yan’s movements and attacks were flawless and watertight.

After watching the video, Tang Yao stared at Nie Yan with an astonished gaze, as if what he had seen was unimaginable. This brother of his, just when had he become so courageous and powerful?

"Just a few moments ago, you had a match with Shi Feng?” Tang Yao was a little dazed. He still didn’t dare to believe that person in the video was Nie Yan.

"Just a small match. He was too weak, though,” Nie Yan replied in an unrestrained manner, not minding the people near him at all.

Wei Kai gave a meaningful glance, signaling the youth who wore a flower pattern shirt next to him.

This action caught Nie Yan’s eye. That person was called Li Yang—Wei Kai’s right-hand man.

"Brat! Don’t get too conceited. Do you believe I can’t beat you down?” Li Yang approached Nie Yan and came at him with a kick. His age was one or two years younger than Nie Yan, however, he was taller and more robust in comparison.

Nie Yan was a little short. Combined with his poor nutrition, he was also very thin and weak.

Nie Yan coldly smiled, then dodged Li Yang’s attack. He followed up by kicking Li Yang’s supporting leg, stamping on the knee joint. He was no longer the same youth who had been so easily bullied in the past.

His current strength was not one bit inferior to a second grade mixed martial artist. It was just that his body was still weak. However, when it came to dealing with wannabe gangsters like them, he had more than enough energy to spare.

"Ahhhh!” Li Yang let out a miserable shriek as he reeled back, stumbled, and then fell.

That blood-curdling scream sent chills through the hearts of everyone who witnessed this scene.

With this show of force, Shi Feng was reminded of Fourth Elder Lei. At that moment, he felt becoming an obedient student at school would be quite a wonderful and fortunate idea.

"You’re courting death!” The several youths behind Wei Kai wanted to charge in and give Nie Yan a painful and thorough beating. However, they were all pulled back by Wei Kai.

Li Yang’s prior actions were simply Wei Kai’s way of probing Nie Yan. Though admittedly, he was also greatly surprised. Unexpectedly, the timid and cowardly Nie Yan—who was always grinning and bearing through humiliation—actually had this kind of skill. From his experience, he had only seen those kinds of quick movements from a few people. Martial arts wasn’t something one could quickly improve in only two or three days. It required long periods of training. Only then would one be able to slowly improve. Could it be…? Nie Yan’s cowardice in the past, was it all just an act?

Why is it that no matter how I look at him, Nie Yan seems completely different today?

Ignoring Li Yang who was still clutching his leg and screaming on the floor, Wei Kai walked up to Nie Yan and said, "Young Master Nie, are you interested in playing a match?” He had even changed the way he addressed Nie Yan. After drifting through society for so long, he knew which kinds of people he could touch, and which he could not. Nie Yan had just revealed his skill, and completely put Wei Kai in awe.

"There’s no harm in playing one or two matches. However, I won’t play if the stakes are too small.” Inwardly, Nie Yan felt unavoidably shocked—this Wei Kai was quite a character. The criminal bosses of the underworld acted outwardly kind in appearance, but commit evil deeds in secret. In addition, many of them would reveal astonishing talents when they were at a very young age, fostering them as they grew older. In his past life, he heard Wei Kai had actually become pretty well regarded. It was only until later on when he invaded another criminal organization’s territory and caused a major event, did he disappear without a trace.

"A thousand a match. I have three thousand,” Wei Kai said. He had brought out all the money he had.

"That’s too unfair. A Level 3 Berserker facing a Level 2 Tempest Thief, don’t you think you’re bullying people too much?” Tang Yao said in a dissatisfied manner. There was a difference in level, and it was a heavily armoured Warrior versus a lightly armored Thief. It was obvious which side was superior.

"—Three thousand a match.” Nie Yan interrupted Tang Yao’s complaints and spoke to Wei Kai.

"Fine. I’ll keep you company then,” Wei Kai replied. He didn’t believe a Level 2 Tempest Thief was capable of turning the tables on him.

"Nie Yan, Have you gone mad!?” Tang Yao anxiously said. A Level 2 Tempest Thief versus a Level 3 Berserker; unless he was a Heaven-defying expert who could bypass the level gap, he would definitely lose this match.

"I only have fourteen hundred on me. Lend me sixteen hundred,” Nie Yan said to Tang Yao while laughing.

"God dammit. If you lose, it’s whatever. You still have to pay me back, though!” Tang Yao angrily muttered back.

"I’ll pay you back,” Nie Yan said. Although Tang Yao’s old man was wealthy, he still didn’t get a lot of pocket money. Not to mention, it would all be earned through working for his dad. In this era, all high-class elites would educate their children in this way, making them earn their own living and become self-reliant.

"Bullshit. If you want to lose, just lose. Who wants you to pay them back anyways.” Tang Yao swiped his card, transferring over sixteen hundred credits to Nie Yan.

"Thanks,” Nie Yan said. Tang Yao was the type of person who had a sharp tongue, but a soft heart. If Nie Yan lost, Tang Yao definitely wouldn’t allow Nie Yan to pay him back those thousand six hundred credits.

In his past life, Nie Yan had received too much of Tang Yao’s grace. He had never once thought of letting Nie Yan pay him back. This is what a true brother should be like.

"Pull Li Yang up, we’re leaving,” Wei Kai said. The group of people headed back to their respective area in the room.

"Nie Yan, that brat! How did he suddenly become capable of fighting? God dammit… it hurts like hell. Next time I’ll definitely find some people to beat that shitty brat to death.” Li Yang walked over to the sofa and rolled up his pant leg. A large area on his knee was bruised completely black and blue.

"Don’t waste your breath, he didn’t even use any strength. Otherwise, your leg would’ve been broken. I want you guys to remember this from now on. No one is to provoke Nie Yan. If you meet him, I want you to hide far away. If any one of you stirs up trouble for me, don’t blame me for not being polite!” Wei Kai warned. Their school taught Taekwondo, boxing, and mixed martial arts as academic programs. He was able to make out that the movements Nie Yan had made were standard in mixed martial arts. However, in comparison to the mixed martial arts that was taught in school, his movements were much more fierce and violent. When he took action, every movement would either cause serious, or even fatal, damage. Just what kind of person is this brat?

He began to recall Nie Yan’s former cowardly and timid manner. That guy’s thoughts are really deep and mysterious. He was actually able to conceal himself for this long. Wei Kai felt a wave of coldness pour over his heart.

"How can we just let it pass?” Li Yang unwillingly asked.

"So…? What about it? You ask yourself, are you capable of beating him? In the future, properly go to your Taekwondo classes, and you won’t lose so miserably next time!” Wei Kai replied.

"Boss, it’s about to start.” A youth next to him spoke.

Wei Kai put on his helmet.

In the adjacent area, Tang Yao was carefully observing Nie Yan. After a long while, he finally spoke. "Just a moment ago, I was being stupid and forgot to ask. Brat, you’re actually not too bad! When did you become so strong!? One move and you had Li Yang knocked down and rolling on the floor!”

"I’ve been training at home for a while now. It’s more than enough to deal with those guys,” Nie Yan said. His body’s strength really was too weak, otherwise, his power wouldn’t be this little. Li Yang and those good for nothings were like a bunch of pillows. Only Wei Kai would be a bit difficult to deal with. Even then, he still wasn’t much of an opponent.

"You brat. You’ve certainly made me look at you in a new light. I’m still suspicious of whether or not you’re the same Nie Yan I’ve known since childhood!” Tang Yao said in quite a good mood.

"It doesn’t matter how much I change, you’re still going to be my brother!” Nie Yan proclaimed. In his past life, even when he was at the lowest point of his life, Tang Yao still viewed him as a brother. Just as distance would determine the stamina of a horse, time would eventually reveal a person’s true nature.

"For the sake of those words, let’s properly have a toast when we get back!” Tang Yao said while patting Nie Yan on the shoulder.

"Wei Kai’s already waiting inside the game.”

"Are you sure you can win?” Tan Yao anxiously asked.

"No worries, just watch and see. What? Could it be you don’t believe I’ll pay you back that thousand six hundred…?” Nie Yan laughed, joking around with Tang Yao.

"Go have your match. As for money, that kind of thing is useless to me. Even if you lose, it’s not like it’s the end of the world. Besides, you don’t get much of an allowance every month anyways… If you end up losing that fourteen hundred, you’ll be eating boiled rice for a whole month, isn’t that right?"

[TN: Boiled rice is sort of like rice gruel. Putting already cooked rice in hot water and eating it like that. Pretty bland and tasteless. It’s usually eaten by the poor.]

"Watch as I toy this Level 3 Berserker to death!” Nie Yan said with a confident smile.

"Good man! You’re getting wilder and wilder!” Tang Yao laughed.

Two people wore their helmets and entered the game.

When he reemerged, the stage Nie Yan appeared in was an open prairie. There was an endless field of lush green grass. The dense underbrush was tall—roughly reaching up to a person’s knees.

My luck is pretty bad. Turns out it’s a grassland stage, thought Nie Yan as he knitted his brows. However, even if he were in the open fields, he still had his tactics. The green background of the grassland served as good camouflage for a Thief to conceal themselves with. The only flaw was that the dense undergrowth on the ground could possibly expose his whereabouts.

"The current stage is an open field. If you think it’s unfair, we can switch stages,” Wei Kai suggested. There would be a large amount of luck involved if they were only playing a single match. Different terrains suited different professions, and the open prairie suited Warrior professions such as the Berserker—who could freely charge around swinging their swords.

Although Wei Kai was a bully, he surprisingly acted in a magnanimous manner.

"Doesn’t matter. If it’s an open field, it’s an open field.” Nie Yan grasped his dagger and entered Stealth. His opinion of Wei Kai had actually changed by quite a bit.

A gentle breeze blew past the open prairie, causing the tall grasses to bend in its direction. Gradually, Nie Yan’s silhouette faded into the background.

He has this much ability? Wei Kai felt his heart sink; his expression becoming solemn. He was observing carefully, yet he couldn’t find any traces of Nie Yan’s whereabouts. He wasn’t even able to find any peculiarities with the thick grass on the ground either.

Nie Yan did indeed have some skill. Wei Kai grasped onto his greatsword and gradually drew closer. The shorter the distance between them, the easier it would be for him to find his opponent.

Nie Yan walked alongside the wind, continuously changing direction in accordance with it. Even if he were to step on the grass, it would slant in the same direction the wind was blowing

Chapter 16 – Arrogant Before, Respectful After!

Seeing Wei Kai draw near, Nie Yan gradually made his way around his opponent. He continued to slowly move until he was behind Wei Kai, and out of his range of vision. Then he began creeping towards his unsuspecting opponent’s back, taking long and unhurried steps as he did so.

Wei Kai turned his head, surveying the area in every direction. He was unable to find anything particularly odd. All he could see were endless fields of grass rolling about gently under the influence of the wind, like waves following the ocean breeze.

Where the hell could he be?

This was the first time Wei Kai had come across a Tempest Thief who was actually able to employ Stealth to such a perfect extent. It was reasonable to say that the thick grass beneath Wei Kai’s feet was an easy place for a Thief to expose themselves. Yet, Nie Yan seemed to have no issues hiding in the field with the assistance of Stealth.

Wei Kai carefully moved forward with his greatsword held close to his chest, keeping it at the ready. He believed that Nie Yan must’ve been moving at an extremely slow pace, in order to remain unexposed while stealthed. Hence, he came to the conclusion that Nie Yan was most likely some distance ahead of him.

However, he remained unaware of the fact that Nie Yan was already behind him, having circled around a long time ago.

Approximately three meters were between Nie Yan and Wei Kai’s back. Suddenly, a large gust of wind blew forth, turning the gentle breeze into a howling gale.

Just as the wind began to howl—as if he had been waiting for that exact moment—Nie Yan abruptly sprinted forwards. The dagger in his grasp resembled lightning as it struck out, speeding towards Wei Kai’s back.

The sound of rapid footsteps and howling wind blended together, creating a mess of sounds that was hard for a person to distinguish. The gust of wind also greatly reduced Wei Kai’s awareness.

Assassinate!

Nie Yan’s dagger pierced into his target’s back, dealing thirty-five points of damage.

Wei Kai never expected his opponent to suddenly appear behind him. He held up the greatsword and swept outwards in a wide slash.

Nie Yan dodged the strike and managed to reposition himself behind Wei Kai once again. He dashed forward, dagger in hand, and stabbed Wei Kai in the back for the second time—causing him to lose twenty-three health.

Out of the hundred and sixty health he had, only a little over a hundred points remained. Since the beginning of the fight, Wei Kai had been completely incapable of keeping up with Nie Yan’s speed.

A Berserker’s speed relied on their ability to quickly charge forward. A Thief’s speed, on the other hand, relied greatly on their ability to make agile and nimble movements. The type of movements the two professions specialized in clearly differed.

Nie Yan’s movements were fast and agile, as he stuck close to Wei Kai’s back. In this short period of time, he had already managed to attack Wei Kai two times in quick succession.

This bastard is as nimble as a monkey. Wei Kai suddenly roared in anger. An aura began radiating from his greatsword as he started spinning around in circles.

"Whirlwind Slash!”

Wei Kai resembled a top as he spun around with his greatsword.

The moment Wei Kai brandished his sword, Nie Yan judged from the movements that Wei Kai was about to execute Whirlwind Slash, so he quickly retreated back about two meters.

The greatsword unleashed a strong gust of wind as it streaked through the air. The slash barely grazed past Nie Yan, almost directly hitting him. −9 A damage value floated over his head.

Despite missing, the Whirlwind Slash still managed to cause some damage to Nie Yan.

Wei Kai’s attack finally ended after he had rotated three times. He gasped for breath as he thought, This bastard is so quick at dodging!

In the split second Wei Kai stopped spinning with his sword, Nie Yan dashed forward; the dagger in his hand aiming straight for Wei Kai’s throat—Vital Strike!

Tang Yao, Li Yang, and the others were watching the match from outside with dumbstruck expressions. Nie Yan’s movements were simply a perfection of art. From the moment he escaped Wei Kai’s Whirlwind Slash, to when he attacked with Vital Strike as it ended, the timing of his every action was at the peak of perfection.

After watching Nie Yan, they now understood what PvPing truly meant. It wasn’t two opposing sides simply slashing their swords at each other, but rather a battle of awareness and skill.

Within his mind, Tang Yao had a sudden flash of insight. He finally understood why Nie Yan said that his timing when casting spells was incorrect. Depending on whether or not a player took action at the right time, two entirely different outcomes could arise.

He never expected that Nie Yan, whom he had known and grown up with since they were in diapers, would possess this kind of skill. The amount of skill Nie Yan displayed really expanded Tang Yao’s horizons. There was a saying: "When a scholar disappears for three days, view them in a greater light.” These words were the most appropriate to describe what Tang Yao was feeling at the moment.

Nie Yan’s dagger slashed across Wei Kai’s throat!

−95

Vital Strike was still as powerful as ever. In just a few attacks, Wei Kai had already been reduced to a mere seven health. Meanwhile, Nie Yan’s health was still close to full. It was clear which side had established their superiority.

It was only then that Wei Kai realized the immense gap between the two of them.

"Flame Slash!”

Wei Kai was unwilling to be defeated in such a manner. Just as Nie Yan’s Vital Strike ended, he took advantage of the opening that was revealed and brandished his sword towards Nie Yan. The greatsword in his grasp was enveloped by a raging flame as it cleaved downwards in a blazing radiance

The raging heat assaulted his face as it drew closer.

The might of a Berserker’s Flame Slash was immense. Nie Yan deeply understood this as a result of firsthand experience. He decisively pulled back, in an attempt to avoid the sharp blade.

Despite this, Wei Kai still managed to catch up to Nie Yan after suddenly accelerating his pace, and the Flame Slash struck him right in the middle of his chest.

−56

A single damage value emerged, floating atop Nie Yan’s head.

Nie Yan took the brunt of Flame Slash. Just when he finally managed to regain his footing, Wei Kai activated his Charge skill. He approached with his sword raised, resembling a tank as he came crashing forward.

"Linear Slash!”

The sword aura formed a straight line as it came slashing down.

Nie Yan had only half of his health remaining, and the Charge skill had a brief stun duration. If he collided into Wei Kai, the Berserker’s explosive power would be more than enough to kill Nie Yan in a matter of seconds.

So, Nie Yan quickly decided to pull back and retreat again. At that moment, Wei Kai’s sword brushed past Nie Yan’s face barely by just a few inches. Nie Yan’s pupils violently contracted as he sidestepped in an attempt the avoid the attack. He then switched the dagger in his hand to a reverse grip and slashed at Wei Kai’s throat.

In the end, he was still sent flying back after being struck by Wei Kai’s charge.

As Nie Yan fell to the ground, his opponent’s health bar finally depleted. He staggered back up and stood firmly on both feet, then he gazed at his own health; only twenty-five points remained.

Mhmm, as expected… Facing a Level 3 as a Level 2 is a little troublesome.

Nie Yan’s gaze fell on Wei Kai’s corpse. Seeing that he died, Nie Yan put away his dagger.

Moments later, the two were transported away from the PvP arena and back to the auditorium.

"I’m impressed, brat. Who knew you were so capable?! Hahaha.” Tang Yao approached Nie Yan as the latter took off his helmet.

"The win was a fluke, I just happened to be a little lucky,” Nie Yan said. He had almost been killed by Wei Kai as well. In the end, there just wasn’t enough time for him to acquire enough equipment and skills. If he had a few more skills at his disposal, then defeating Wei Kai would’ve taken much less effort.

"A win is still a win. Not to mention that it was a Level 2 versus a Level 3. Hey, do you know how to play Arcane Mages? Teach me how to play them when we get home, okay?” Tang Yao said as he rubbed his hands together. It seems Nie Yan really does know a lot.

"I’m not very knowledgeable when it comes to Arcane Mages. They have various unique skill builds, all of which requires different tactics. I’ll teach you what I know, though,” Nie Yan replied. When it came to Tang Yao, he wouldn’t conceal things and act selfishly.

"That would be great!” Having witnessed Nie Yan’s abilities in battle firsthand, Tang Yao held a firm belief in him.

Nie Yan gazed at his bank card, which displayed a total of six thousand credits. He took three thousand and transferred it to Tang Yao. "The thousand six hundred is what I owe you. As for the other fourteen hundred… consider it me helping recoup your loses.”

"It’s only a few thousand credits. How could that kind of money be anything between us brothers?” Tang Yao said, sounding a bit displeased. From the start, this money he had never regarded this money with any importance. Nie Yan bothering about it actually made him feel quite unhappy.

"True brothers always repay their debts. If you’re still unhappy about… tonight, you can treat me instead,” Nie Yan said with a smile.

"You’ve made so much money today, while I barely broke even. Yet you still have the nerve try and freeload off me!? You’re the one treating me to dinner tonight—end of discussion!”

"Fine then. Eating a small loss is no big deal.”

"What are we eating tonight? In any case, let’s head to a restaurant!”

"A bowl of wonton noodle soup is five dollars. That should be enough to fill you up,” Nie Yan said as he stashed away his bank card.

"I say, aren’t you being too much of a miser here?”

"Takes one to know one.” Nie Yan laughed. He and Tang Yao could be considered birds of the same feather.

Wei Kai and his group walked into the room, having come over from the other area. Tang Yao’s expression became grave upon seeing them. He knew that Wei Kai and his people had lost a lot of money today. They wouldn’t fly into a fit of rage, would they?

A smiling expression still remained on Nie Yan’s face. Compared to Tang Yao, he certainly looked a lot calmer.

"Wei Kai, you wouldn’t be trying to shamelessly take back the money you just lost, would you?” Tang Yao had inadvertently placed himself in front of Nie Yan. Subconsciously, he still considered Nie Yan to be the same as he was in the past—an easily bullied youth.

"How could I? Money lost is money lost after all, and money won is also money earned. Even this one knows this much when it comes to gambling. You know, they say that even disputes will eventually lead to friendship, so how about we settle our debts and makeup? Young Master Nie and Young Master Tang, when you two have time in the future, you should pay a visit to our little establishment. Hmm?” Wei Kai said with a smile.

Wei Kai had been drifting through society for many years now. Contrary to what one might expect, he had actually learned how to conduct himself properly during those years. He understood which types of people he should not provoke, and as a result, he did not mention their past grievances at all.

"We’ll be sure to visit when we have the time.” Nie Yan nodded his head. Wei Kai this guy, he also knows when to advance and when to retreat.

"This one will take his leave first then. Young Master Tang, Young Master Nie, you two have fun,” Wei Kai said while smiling, bringing his lackeys with him as he departed.

"What happened to him? Why did he suddenly become so formal and courteous? That’s way too abnormal! God damn, it’s really making me uncomfortable,” Tang Yao said in a baffled tone as he stood by Nie Yan’s side.

"Who knows?” Nie Yan let out a faint laugh.

Wei Kai and his group had just left the PK Lounge when one of his underlings spoke.

"Boss, why were you treating that brat Nie Yan so politely? ‘Young Master Nie,’ does he even deserve it?” Li Yang walked up to Wei Kai and asked in bewilderment.

"You know there’s a saying, ‘Do not bully the youth when they are poor.’ Have you heard it before? In the future when you judge someone, don’t just look at the present, you also need to gaze a little further into the distance,” Wei Kai replied. He was able to discern that Nie Yan was a hidden dragon. Sooner or later, he would fly up high into the Heavens. It would be in his best interest not to become enemies with such a person.

[TN: Thanks to Deathblade for the explanation. "It’s better to bully an old poor person than a young person. If you bully a poor young person, you never know what that young person will grow up to be, and how rich and powerful they might become” – DB]

Li Yang was still at a loss as to what those words meant. However, in comparison to the rest of them, the boss was much more knowledgeable and experienced, thus he thought, The Boss’s words are definitely correct, so I’ll listen to him!

Nie Yan and Tang Yao got into a car and drove off in the direction of a nearby restaurant.

"What’s your in-game name?” Tang Yao asked. Nie Yan was a Human thief, so Nie Yan was definitely the same race as him. They both started out in the Viridian Empire!

"Nie Yan (Nirvana Flame). The ‘Nie’ in Nirvana, and the ‘Yan’ in fire,” Nie Yan replied

"I’ll come and find you when I get home then,” Tang Yao said. He couldn’t help but get excited when he thought of how he could level together with Nie Yan.

"I’m in the middle of a quest right now, so I can’t return to the city,” Nie Yan said. He still needed to hand in the quest from Physician Blevins. Moreover, he already had arrangements for future matters, so he would be unable to level together with Tang Yao.

"Eh? Nevermind then… How about you just teach me how to play Arcane Mage now, and I’ll practice it when I get back home.” Tang Yao felt a slight touch of disappointment, though he quickly went back to being excited in a few moments.

"Arcane Mages are basically divided into three groups. First, you’ve got the ones that are the most universal—Arcane Fire Mages. They wear all sorts of equipment in order to raise their magic damage. Also, the skills they learn are all similar to ones like Arcane Flame Burst; the type that has a high kill potential. Arcane Mages like these are welcome in all teams. Another kind are the Arcane Speed Mages. They wear equipment that gives a bonus to movement speed. Once they start moving, they end up being really fast. Add in the Arcane Mage’s relatively short cast time, and you’ve got a build that’s great at PvPing. The remaining group is essentially a balance between the last two. So, what path do you intend to take?” Nie Yan asked.

Tang Yao thought for a while, then started smiling in embarrassment as he asked, "Which group has skill requirements that are a bit on the lower side?”

"That’s definitely going to be an Arcane Fire Mage then. As long as they have good equipment, and high damage, all teams will want them. When fighting in a team, all you need to do is keep on attacking and you’ll be fine. However, that kind of Arcane Mage has no chance when PvPing.” With just a glance, Nie Yan could tell that Tang Yao wanted to be lazy. This scoundrel’s brain isn’t dumb; he’s just too lazy to use it.

"I won’t be able to PvP!? Ahhhh! That’s way too boring!” PvPing was just too exciting of an activity for him. Without it, half of the excitement in his life would be gone! Now, Tang Yao felt rather unwilling.

"It’s better if you choose a balance of both then. Before you allocate your points, make sure you consult with me first,” Nie Yan advised. Conviction was designed so that every five levels from Level 1 to 30 would grant a player five stat points, and one skill point to allocate. Therefore, for a player, every five levels prior to Level 30 was a minor watershed in combat power.

"Alright then, I understand.” Tang Yao happily agreed. If he had Nie Yan helping him allocate his points, then he would be saving himself a lot of trouble. What he hated the most was thinking about these types of complicated matters in the game.

"I still have some business to attend to after we finish dinner. We’ll contact each other in the evening when we get in the game, alright?” Nie Yan said.

"Alright.”

After the two had dinner, Tang Yao dropped Nie Yan off and then went home himself.

Having been out for so long, Nie Yan had wasted a lot of time. Upon arriving back home, he immediately went off to train, then study once again.

Chapter 17 – Lacerate

As Nie Yan opened up his textbook, various equations ranging from complex mathematics to theoretical physics appeared in front of his eyes. He managed to quickly solve all of them in a surprisingly short amount of time. In light of this development, he noticed that his cognitive abilities had vastly improved since his reincarnation. Though it hadn’t reached the point where he developed photographic memory, his memory had still improved quite significantly. Moreover, he sensed that his mind had become sharper as well. For example, he had finished twice the amount of work in half the time when he was studying.

In addition, there was an even more astonishing discovery. He felt neither the slightest bit of fatigue nor weariness despite having intensely exercised for quite a long period of time. In fact, after every training session, he felt his strength increasing in small yet noticeable increments.

Nie Yan was quite satisfied with his current body. As long as he received the proper amount of nourishment, it would rapidly transform and rise in stature— similar to how it had in the past during his senior year of high school. However, there was only one complication: the nutritional supplements he required were simply too expensive. At present, the expenses weren’t something he could handle. In fact, the lowest quality nutritional supplements had a price tag of around five hundred dollars, while medium quality ones could cost upwards of several thousand. Sadly, his household carried only two portions; one of which he had already used earlier in the morning.

Finally, at five o’clock in the afternoon, Nie Yan entered the game once more.

Upon reconnecting, he discovered a nearly endless swarm of Water Spiders skittering around him in all directions. It appeared that every single monster in the vicinity had respawned.

Fortunately, players were invulnerable for the first thirty seconds upon reconnecting. They would appear in an ethereal state as if they were a spirit. In this state, they would not only be unable to attack, but monsters would be unable to attack them as well. Nie Yan took a detour around these Water Spiders and swam away from the area where he had concealed himself.

After thirty seconds had passed, he began farming the spiders in the surrounding area once more. Currently, he had already gathered twenty-five Fine Silks and five Rare Fine Silks which came from the Water Spider Leader the day prior.

With his current hunting speed, Nie Yan estimated that it would take around three more hours for him to complete this quest.

When I return to town, I’ll definitely have to make more money. That way, when I come across another gathering quest like this one, I can just buy the needed materials from the market instead. With this plan, Nie Yan would have no need to go through the tedious labour of gathering the materials himself.

Another hour passed by, and Nie Yan received a notification—it was from Yao Yao.

「Nie Yan (Nirvana Flame), where are you right now?」

「I’m still farming Water Spiders. Why, you need something?」He didn’t stop killing Water Spiders, even while he chatted with Yao Yao. After activating Assassinate with his right hand, he stabbed a nearby Water Spider with his dagger. As it died, it miserably flipped over and curled up.

「My friends and I went to the Treant Forest earlier this morning.」

「Oh.」

「Huh, you’re not going to ask how it went?」

「There’s no need for me to ask.」Regarding this Treant Forest, Nie Yan already understood this instance quite well. In the past, it had taken him and his friends five attempts to pass the instance. If the party didn’t have Warriors with at least sixty defense and two hundred and twenty health, they wouldn’t stand a chance. Therefore, it would be impossible for them to clear the instance.

「Alright, it was just like you said. Our party was completely wiped. We didn’t even manage to get to the Treant King. But nevermind that, one of my friends wants to meet you. We’re gonna try and clear the forest again tomorrow. So… can you join us then?」

「Come back when your Fighters upgrade their defense, then we’ll talk. I’ll see if I have the time by then. However, make sure you tell your friend this: In exchange for joining you guys in the Treant Forest, I want to act as the party leader. Furthermore, every single Thief item that drops will go to me.」There was a rather decent Thief cloak that dropped from the monsters within the Treant Forest, one that Nie Yan wanted.

「You want to be the party leader? Why?」

「I don’t trust anyone else with leading a team.」

「This… I’ll have to ask. Giving every Thief drop to you is going to be a bit difficult. After all, we have a Thief in our party as well…」Yao Yao’s party was set so that drops were distributed equally among their members.

「If your team captain doesn’t agree to it, then so be it.」Nie Yan really didn’t want to make things awkward and difficult for Yao Yao on purpose. However, in Nie Yan’s eyes, this thief in Yao Yao’s party was especially unpleasant.

「I’ll go ask our captain…」Nie Yan’s harsh demands lowered Yao Yao’s impressions of him by quite a bit.

The team captain Yao Yao spoke of was a woman named Yu Lan (Blue Feather); a Berserker. Nie Yan’s first impression of this woman was her large pair of breasts. Her Berserker armour, which was tightly fitted around her body, accentuated her curves–particularly in the chest area. Moreover, the gap in her armour also exposed an extreme amount of cleavage. When he recalled this memory of her, he couldn’t help but slightly tremble.

However, Nie Yan would never dare to provoke Yu Lan. Normally, she was quite friendly and amiable; however, if someone were to irritate her, then her fiery temper would become as large as her breasts. He remembered that there was a time when another player decided to tease her. Yu Lan ended up chasing and killing that player until he dropped five levels.

It was because of such things that this beauty could only be gazed at from afar. She could neither be toyed with nor treated with disrespect. Otherwise, one would most likely find himself being the one toyed with instead.

「Also, there’s one other thing… Other than the Thief equipment, I also want the jewel that the Treant King drops when it dies.」Nie Yan said without a hint of politeness or restraint.

「We all just want to try and run the dungeon together… But you…! How can you act in such a selfish way!?」Yao Yao stomped her feet and ended the call. She was furious and frustrated to the point where glistening tears began to flow from her eyes. After fighting and completing their quests together yesterday, she noticed that they actually matched each other quite well. Because of this, she felt that Nie Yan was a rather decent person and even wanted to get to know him better and befriend him. Yet she never thought that, again and again, Nie Yan would continuously crush her good impression of him that she held deep within her heart.

Nie Yan indifferently smiled. Sometimes attempting to explain was superfluous.

Yao Yao hung up the call in anger.

「Ha…」Nie Yan sighed softly. If they were to run an instance together, then it would be better to make some things clear at the start. Otherwise, when the time came, disputes would certainly arise.

At the Tellak Town transport point, Yu Lan’s team had assembled together in the area. In total, there were nineteen individuals gathered together. Among them, the most conspicuous were Yu Lan, who was wearing blue armour, and Yao Yao, who was wearing a White coloured mage-robe while standing in the center.

Like the stars gathering around the moon, everyone there had gathered around, placing these two beauties at the center. Naturally, the team had other decent looking women as well. However, compared to the two beauties in the center, they could only entirely serve as the background.

With her tall curvaceous figure and long slender legs that were almost too alluring, Yu Lan had grown up to be quite a beauty. Her looks could be rated at the highest quality. Despite appearing to be only in her twenties, she gave off the full charm of an adult woman. Though the main reason for this was her large voluptuous chest that easily attracted one’s eyes.

On the other hand, Yao Yao was another sort of beauty. With her whole body covered by a white robe, along with her delicate oval-shaped face, and her hair that was tied in a ponytail, she looked pure and beautiful. Anyone who looked at her would’ve been moved by her charm.

"Yao Yao, what’d he say?” Yu Lan asked when she saw that Yao Yao had disconnected her voice chat.

"He said that if we’re gonna go together, then he wants to be the party leader, get all the Thief equipment drops, and he also wants the jewel that drops from the Treant King!” Yao Yao’s face was nearly red from anger. Originally she had been quite excited about having Nie Yan as a good friend, and introducing him to Yu Lan. Never did she expect that Nie Yan was actually that kind of person.

"Yao Yao, you’re just really too naive. These kinds of people are everywhere. He’s definitely just a weak liar who’s trying to cheat us out of our drops,” said a Thief by her side. He was Chen Bo, a rather handsome man who appeared to be around twenty years old.

Yao Yao wanted to refute those words on Nie Yan’s behalf, but after giving it a second thought, she realised that she was too angry to bother. She didn’t know why, but for some reason, she still somewhat sided with Nie Yan in her heart. After all, he was actually quite strong. Not to mention that, unlike Chen Bo, she truly didn’t think he was trying to scam them for equipment or anything that intolerable.

"That’s not necessarily true. He already knows that the Treant King drops a jewel, which means that he’s definitely gone to the Treant Forest before. Not only that but cleared it as well. The fact that he was able to make it through the instance with a party of his own, is more than enough to prove his ability to work in a team. Moreover, he’s significantly more experienced than us. So it wasn’t that excessive for him to request to act as party leader, nor was it excessive for him to receive both the Thief drops and the jewel. Since he bluntly stated his demands to Yao Yao, it shows that he did so with a clear conscious clear conscience.” Yu Lan patted Yao Yao’s shoulders. "Yao Yao, you don’t need to mind it.”

After listening to Yu Lan’s words, Yao Yao revealed a relieved smile. Though she was still a little angry at Nie Yan, in her heart she was already feeling significantly better.

Seeing the beautiful smiling expression on her face, Chen Bo felt his heart sink. He didn’t know why, but the sudden appearance of this Nie Yan gave him a sense of foreboding.

"We’ll rent a piece of Bronze-tier Fighter equipment for tomorrow. Oh yeah, make sure to tell him that we’re running the instance tomorrow and that he’s invited to join us,” Yu Lan said. She had already begun her arrangements.

"Hmph, I’m still gonna ignore him for the rest of the morning. I’ll talk to him again in the afternoon.” Yao Yao pouted.

"Alright, you can contact him again in the afternoon.” Yu Lan nodded while smiling.

During all this, Nie Yan continued to kill Water Spiders. His luck wasn’t bad at all, considering that three Fine Silks had dropped in succession. Looking in his bag, he already had twenty-nine of them. Only one more was needed to finish his quest.

Nevertheless, it appeared that hunting monsters early in the morning had its own benefits. For one, the drop rate for various items was comparatively higher.

After killing another Water Spider, Nie Yan reached out with his right hand to collect the loot. What’d I get? As he held up the item to get a closer look, he realized that it was a Thief skill book.

Skill Book: Lacerate

Skill Description: Thieves can use their daggers to slice into an enemy, causing them to bleed profusely. Targets hit by this attack will take bleed damage every second.

Required: Action (requires weapon)

Skill Attribute: Cuts into a target creating an open wound. Attack +1. Causes five points of bleeding every second for six seconds.

Skill Cooldown: 30 s

User Restriction: Thief, Warrior, Paladin; can be learned by any faction.

Lacerate was a Basic Skill that synergized well with Assassinate. It could be used to follow up after Assassinate, causing additional lacerations that would make an enemy bleed for five health every second for six seconds.

However, as for it’s killing power… the damage from Lacerate, even including its additional bleed damage, was slightly weaker than Vital Strike. Even so, it was still a considerably decent skill.

Presently, this exact skill was what Nie Yan lacked the most.

After learning the skill, Nie Yan turned to face another a Water Spider. Suddenly he received another notification from his voice chat. This little girl… she’s sending another call request.

Nie Yan answered the call. However, there was an awkward silence between the two that lingered on for what seemed like an eternity.

「You know… I originally planned to ignore you and never talk to you again. But… I’m an adult who’s willing to be magnanimous, so I won’t bother stooping to your level and arguing with you. My party is going to run the Treant Forest tomorrow. So are you going to come or not?」

Nie Yan couldn’t help but reveal a knowing smile after imagining Yao Yao’s adorable pouting expression.

「Tomorrow… I—」

「No need to explain yourself if you’ve other business to attend to tomorrow. Just tell me whether you’re coming or not. Yes or no?」

Nie Yan was interrupted by Yao Yao just as he was about to speak.

「Alright. Just tell me the time for tomorrow, and I’ll definitely be there.」 Nie Yan smiled helplessly. When it came to this little missus, he had already thoroughly given up.

「Hmm… now that sounds better. Good! We’ll call you over tomorrow morning. What, are you going to be busy?」Yao Yao was quite pleased with Nie Yan’s reply. She immediately hung up, not even giving him a chance to speak further.

Hmph! Little boy, we’ll see if I can’t discipline you, Yao Yao thought proudly to herself. When she imagined the distressed look on Nie Yan’s face, she couldn’t help but giggle to herself.

「Doot! Doot!」Upon hearing the sound of the call ending, Nie Yan could only smile bitterly. It seems that tomorrow I’ll have to go for a run in the Treant Forest. With the distraction gone, Nie Yan continued to kill Water Spiders while steadily speeding up his pace.

After receiving the Lacerate skill, a significant increase in his hunting speed could be seen. By attacking with Assassinate and then following up with Lacerate, he was able to effortlessly kill a Water Spider.

「Ding!」A melodious jingle could be heard as a system notification rang out. Nie Yan had risen to Level 3.

After a while, he finished collecting the thirty Fine Silks.

I’m finally done. Nie Yan swam back towards the island to hand in his quest.

「System: Player Flying Stone has deposited one silver into your personal storage.」

「Expert, the strategy you provided us with was really useful! Thanks to it, we’ve managed clear the Fallen Shaman Camp. As such, the other silver has already been deposited into your storage.」Stone informed Nie Yan in excitement.

「I’ve received it. Is there anything else you need?」With the two silvers from Stone plus his recent earnings, he had almost three silvers. With this, he could be considered to have some capital.

「One of my friends said that they’re gonna form a party to hunt in the Agmota Muddy Wetlands the day after tomorrow. Do you wanna come?」Stone asked with a hint of expectation.

「I’m going to be busy the day after tomorrow.」The Agmota Muddy Wetlands was a somewhat difficult instance. Though seeing as Stone’s party was able to clear the Fallen Shaman Camp, it seemed like their strength wasn’t too bad.

「Ah… nevermind then. Expert, would you happen to have a guide for the Agmota Muddy Wetlands as well…?」

「Ahhh…!? Do you think I’m some kind of god? Agmota Muddy Wetlands is the most difficult Level 3 instance. You think I’m able to make up a guide for it so quickly?」He couldn’t keep offering to sell guides for dungeon instances. Otherwise, he’d end up attracting too much suspicion from others. Besides, it would be better for him to wait for a good offer, which would inevitably come after Stone and his team were wiped during their first few attempts.

「Ah. I’m sorry. I was just thinking out of habit… haha.」Stone laughed in embarrassment.

Chapter 18 – Hidden Quest

Nie Yan and Stone briefly exchanged a few more words before hanging up the call. By this time, he had already arrived back at the island. There, he found Physician Blevins still fishing by the lakeshore.

"Youngster! How many bundles of Fine Silk did you manage to collect?” Physician Plevins asked after seeing that Nie Yan had returned.

"Esteemed Senior, here are the thirty bundles of Fine Silk I’ve gathered. I’d like to request that Senior have a look,” Nie Yan replied in a polite and formal tone that was standard when turning in quests.

"Youngster, I must thank you for your generosity. Please take these thirty Silk Cloths with you as a means to repay your kindness. Furthermore, I have also decided to impart upon you a skill.”

「System: Physician Blevins wishes to teach you Intermediate Combat Medic. Will you learn it?」

Nie Yan felt his heart skip a beat. This was exactly the skill he wanted to learn. Without showing the slightest hint of hesitation, he immediately hit accept.

「System: The Great Mage, Blevins, has taught you a skill. You have learned Intermediate Combat Medic.」

Intermediate Combat Medic: Allows the player to create and use Intermediate Combat Bandages while in combat. Requires 10 Silk Cloth. Each bandage replenishes 20 health every second for 10 seconds. Healing can be interrupted after 3 seconds of applying bandages. Bandages can also be used on other party members.

Ten silk cloths were equivalent to twenty coppers. Although it was a tad expensive, this was still a skill that could save lives in a moment of crisis!

「System: The task Physician Blevins has entrusted you with is 20% complete.」

Nie Yan stared blankly at this notification. Reasonably enough, he believed that the quest would have ended after handing in the thirty Fine Silks, but reality proved otherwise. What the hell? Why is it only twenty percent complete?

"Youngster, thirty bundles of Fine Silk is still far from being enough. I still need much more. Would you be willing to help me find more?”

"I’m willing to aid you in your task,” Nie Yan hurriedly replied. It appeared that the Combat Medic Skill was merely one of the rewards in this lengthy quest. He was clueless as to what other quest rewards would lie further ahead. "Esteemed Senior. Here are five Rare Fine Silks that I’d chanced upon, though I am unsure of their usefulness.”

"Fine Silk becomes Rare Fine Silk after it has undergone processing. Each bundle of Rare Fine Silk is equivalent to six bundles of common Fine Silk,” the Old Man explained to Nie Yan. Afterwards, the Old Man inquired further, "So youngster, are you willing to give them to me?”

"Yes,” Nie Yan replied. Five Rare Fine Silks were equivalent to thirty ordinary Fine Silks. He had been killing Water Spiders for so long, yet he never once thought to hunt Water Spider Leaders despite them giving better drops.

However, this was to be expected, as killing a Leader-ranked Water Spider was truly too dangerous of a task. In any case, it wasn’t something Nie Yan could simply accomplish by himself.

「System: You’ve received 30 Silk Cloths.」

「System: You’ve received Headhunter’s Silver Leather Armour.」

「System: The task Physician Blevins has entrusted you with is 40% complete.」

Nie Yan felt a pleasant surprise after reading the second system announcement. After opening his bag, he found a silver-coloured piece of armour within his inventory.

Who knew what kind of animal hide was used to make this piece of leather armour. It was tough, durable, and radiated a silver-white lustre. Furthermore, it didn’t need to be appraised.

Let’s take a look at its properties.

Headhunter’s Silver Leather Armour (Silver)

Level Requirement: Level 5

Properties: Defense 13–17, Strength +5, Dexterity +5

Weight: 3 lb

User Restriction: Thief, Paladin, can only be equipped by the Righteous faction who protects the light.

The properties of Silver-grade equipment were at least thirty percent higher than normal equipment. Furthermore, they also included two additional properties. With current market prices, Nie Yan estimated that he could sell this piece of armour for at least five silvers if he put it up in the auction house.

Nie Yan’s equipment would improve significantly upon reaching level 5, as he would finally be able to replace his current equipment with the Horn Dagger and Headhunter’s Silver Leather Armour.

With these thoughts in mind, he suddenly felt more motivation to level up.

This Old Man sure is generous with his quest rewards, and sixty percent of the quest still remains unfinished. If I try to farm ninety more Fine Silks myself though… I’d end up working myself to death! I’ll just spend some money to buy the materials off the auction house instead. Ninety Fine Silks… that would be about three silvers. Ah… looking at it this way, I’m still a long ways off from having enough money to spend freely.

How can I make some money fast? Nie Yan was trying to rack his brain for a solution to this difficult problem. Eventually, he remembered a certain online guide that he viewed in the past.

It was then that Nie Yan had a sudden flash of insight. Back when the game was first released, the most worthless item in the game was a drop by the name of Bat Teeth. It was a material used for crafting Level 0 beginner weapons. Even more laughable, these weapons would come out with pitifully low attack. Thus, for the most part, no one, aside from the occasional player who would purchase a few to level up their Blacksmithing after learning the skill, would buy the Bat Teeth. Other than that, there were just no other players who would bother buying any. Not to mention even if you sold five stacks of them—a hundred bat teeth—to an NPC, you would only receive a single copper. For these reasons, there were quite a few Bat Teeth littered across the ground in the Level 3 Bat spawning area, as few would bother picking them up.

Many players would rather throw them away than have this trash material take up space in their bag. As a result, only the poorest of players would bother picking them up and selling them to the NPC stores.

Nie Yan, however, knew these Bat Teeth had another use. They could be given to a high-level blacksmith in Calore city after triggering his hidden quest. In exchange for ten Bat Teeth—half of a full stack—you would receive a little bit of experience and one copper. Furthermore, you could exchange an unlimited amount of Bat Teeth with this blacksmith. As more and more players discovered this blacksmith, the market price for these Bat Teeth rose accordingly.

This sort of business is actually doable… Nie Yan couldn’t help but have this thought. All he needed to do was head to the Level 3 Bat spawn area and advertise that he’s buying a stack of Bat Teeth for one copper. He’d soon have a massive amount of Bat Teeth delivered right to his doorstep. Afterwards, he could exchange all of them with that blacksmith in Calore city and receive his quest reward. This way he could make a profit while also leveling up at the same time. How could he have forgotten something like this!?

Nie Yan no longer hesitated and immediately ran off towards Tellak town. After returning to the town, he retrieved his two silvers from the storage, threw all his unwanted equipment up in the auction house, and then finally went to the appraiser to appraise the Soft Leather Gloves that he looted from the Golden Electric Eel. The gloves ended up being a Level 0 equipment with an additional property of Dexterity +2.

The properties were fairly decent for Level 0 equipment. Nie Yan put the gloves on; they were the first piece of Bronze-grade equipment that he could actually equip.

The gloves radiated a faint cyan glow until Nie Yan turned off the visual effects in equipment settings. It was still best if he kept a low profile. If his equipment was too conspicuous, then he would very likely be followed after leaving the city. After finishing up his business in town, Nie Yan went through the transport point to Calore city. From there he went directly to the Kade Smithy within the city center.

Calore city housed over sixty smithies that offered various blacksmithing services. You could buy everything from large siege equipment to weapons, armour, and even horseshoes. Only the Kade Smithy differed from this norm. Of all the smithies in the city, it was the most unremarkable.

It was the high-level blacksmith, Kade, who issued the quest to gather Bat Teeth. In his former life, the player who first discovered it was a Paladin. After discovering that this blacksmith, Kade, gave out such a quest, he immediately bought a large amount of Bat Teeth and exchanged them with Kade for a large amount of profit and experience. He wanted to keep this his own secret, so he worked especially low key. However, as this Paladin purchased an increasingly large amount of Bat Teeth, other players began to grow suspicious. What could this Paladin possibly need so many Bat Teeth for? Afterwards, a Thief ended up shadowing him to the Kade Smithy, and the secret became publicized. However, by that time, most players were already over Level 10. The price of Bat Teeth had increased, and no players were willing to sell them for a low price now. It already wasn’t worth it for them to go back to the area and farm Bat Teeth for the quest. When those Level 10 players recalled all the Bat Teeth they threw away in the past, they could only helplessly shake their heads and sigh. As for the Paladin who had first discovered this hidden quest, he had already earned overflowing basins full of money from doing this quest in secret for such a long time.

However, at present… the only person who knew of this hidden quest was Nie Yan and Nie Yan alone!

Nie Yan entered the Kade Smithy. Its shopfront was extremely narrow, nevertheless, it was still one of the many smithies designated by the Viridian Empire Military.

As Nie Yan entered the smithy, he saw an NPC apprentice blacksmith.

"Dear customer, may I ask if there is anything you require?” the Apprentice came up and asked.

"I’m looking for Mister Kade.”

"I’m sorry, but my master has already gone out,” the Apprentice replied apologetically.

"I have some business with him. May I ask when he’ll be back?” The Apprentice’s reply came as no surprise. This was precisely how the hidden quest was triggered.

"May I ask what business you have with my master? I can pass along a message.” The Apprentice sized up Nie Yan, a sharp expression filling his eyes.

"Please let Mister Kade know that I can help him with the current problem he’s facing.”

"Please wait a moment!” The Apprentice hastily ran out the door.

After a while, the Smithing Apprentice came back with a tall and sturdy-looking blacksmith in his middle ages. He had messy sideburns, and his upper body was completely bare. His whole body was robust and covered in muscles from head to toe. Not only that, but his skin had also turned a dark shade of red after being exposed to the heat of a blazing furnace all year round.

"Mister Blacksmith, rumours say you’ve met with some worrisome troubles. May I ask what they might be? Perhaps I might be able to help you out,” Nie Yan said and then thought to himself, There should be no problems with my wording here…

‘Coming this autumn, the situation in Hilton Stronghold will become more and more intense. We need much more weapons in order to meet the demands of the soldiers on the frontlines. I need materials—a great amount of them. And at present, I’m clueless as to how I can amass such a large amount of these materials…” Blacksmith Kade said in a distressed manner.

"May I inquire what kind of materials you need? Perhaps I can help you find them.”

"I need a large quantity of Bat Teeth. I’m willing to purchase a stack for two coppers if you have them,” Blacksmith Kade replied. For Kade, these Bat Teeth were crucial materials he was in desperate need of.

NPCs didn’t have much intelligence; they simply followed the instructions given by the main system A.I. They could only issue and receive quests. Hidden NPCs like Blacksmith Kade would not announce their quest publically.

「System: Do you wish to accept Blacksmith Kade’s request?」

Yes!

「System: You have accepted Blacksmith Kade’s request.」

"Please be at ease. I will definitely help you find these materials.” Nie Yan reassured Blacksmith Kade, then went through a transport point to the town of Mordor.

There was a large expanse near Mordor where a large amount of Level 3 Bat monsters congregated.

With about several hundred people in it, the town was quite crowded.

"Recruiting people Level 3 or higher for Level 3 Instance, Warriors Tomb. I’m a Mage that deals over thirty magic damage!”

"Recruiting people to hunt bats! I’m a Level 3 Fire Elementalist!”

Players were looking to form parties. Some would end up joining parties, while others would be buzzing around like houseflies. Those who had good equipment would often have an easy time finding a party to join. Meanwhile, those with poor equipment would find themselves being ignored by most parties.

Parties formed one after another and left the town.

It was currently early morning in the game. Once players formed a party, they would farm monsters for the whole day, only disbanding late in the evening.

Nie Yan had set up a booth near the player storehouse. There he put up a sign that read: ‘Buying Bat Teeth. One stack for one copper.’

He had just put up the sign, yet there were already many players gathering around him. Many of them always hung around this area hunting Bats, thus their bags were filled with many Bat Teeth. Once they gathered a hundred of them, they would go back and sell them to the NPCs. One copper wasn’t much, but no matter how insignificant the amount was, it was still money. Besides, Nie Yan buying Bat Teeth for one copper per stack was a much better deal than selling the materials to an NPC.

The players thought, Huh? These Bat Teeth litter the ground everywhere. I can actually sell a garbage drop like this for such a high price? Doing the math, I can make a decent profit selling these Bat Teeth.

The everyday income for the average players wasn’t very high. Add on their need to purchase equipment and healing items, most players would only have ten or twenty coppers on them at most. Naturally, they were all very willing when they learned that they could make a few extra coppers off of Nie Yan.

"Hey, brother! I have three stacks of Bat Teeth here. Do you want them?”

"Of course. If you have any, I’ll take them,” Nie Yan said while nodding his head. After briefly sweeping a glance at the ten or so people circling around him, he noticed that five or six of them were already organizing their inventories. Several others were hastily opening up their personal storages, fearful that Nie Yan had collected enough Bat Teeth and no longer wanted any more.

"What are these Bat Teeth used for?” Some players probed and asked.

"I’m using them to level up my Beginner Blacksmithing skill,” Nie Yan would reply.

"How does leveling up the Beginner Blacksmithing skill require so many Bat Teeth?”

"I have ten or so friends who are all learning Blacksmithing as well, and they’re having me buy the materials all at once. If you’re going to sell then sell already. If you’re not, then stop standing around and blocking the line,” Nie Yan replied indifferently.

"Here, I have two stacks.”

Nie Yan glanced at the trade window. He put in two coppers and then hit confirm.

"Here are mine. There are three stacks.”

One after another, players continuously made trades with Nie Yan. Those who had more would sell around three or four stacks. While those with less would sell only one or two stacks. There were even a few who hadn’t traded anything; they stood off to the side and gazed helplessly. They were the ones who had either already sold all their Bat Teeth to the NPCs, or thrown them away. In either case, they all stood there filled with regret.

While trading, Nie Yan was also depositing the Bat Teeth into his personal storage. His bag only had twenty slots, and simply didn’t have enough space to hold all the materials.

More and more people came to trade with Nie Yan. The players who had sold their Bat Teeth would pass this information onto their friends. Then those friends who had Bat Teeth would come over one after another, bringing their Bat Teeth with them.

Before long, Nie Yan had collected over two hundred stacks of Bat Teeth.

Nie Yan hurriedly made an announcement. "Everyone, please wait a moment! All of you, please wait! I’m already out of money. Let me get some more money from my friends first. I’ll be back in just a moment—fifteen minutes at most. Everyone, please come back after fifteen minutes, I’ll be back here by then.”

"I still have some here!”

"Wait! There’s mine too!”

Nie Yan pushed through the crowd as he walked out. Finally, he took a deep breath. "Hah… these players are way too enthusiastic…”

Chapter 19 – New Money

Nie Yan arrived back at Calore city after passing through the transport point. As soon as he arrived, he turned a corner and entered a nearby alleyway. There he activated Stealth after making sure no one was following him. Only after making seven or eight detours through the alleyways, did he finally arrive at the Kade Smithy.

This was a lesson learned from the past. He definitely wouldn’t allow the location of the Kade Smithy to be disclosed.

Nie Yan would retrieve the Bat Teeth he had collected from the other player in batches, then transport and sell them to Kade.

A while later, over two hundred stacks of teeth were sold for four silvers. Two silvers had become four in only half an hour. In addition, he also gained nine hundred experience. Nie Yan noticed his experience bar had already risen to five percent when he glanced at it.

He went back to Mordor after handing over all the Bat Teeth, and continued buying more.

Those players who saw Nie Yan return, fearful that he might soon leave again, immediately lined up and waited to trade.

Mordor was bustling with an unusually high amount of activity due to Nie Yan’s actions.

"Everyone, there’s no need to feel anxious. After I buy everything I need this morning, I’ll be coming back around eight in the evening to buy some more.” Nie Yan issued an announcement to the crowd. These players would most likely amass quite a few Bat Teeth after farming monsters for the whole day up till eight in the evening.

By the time he had purchased over two hundred stacks, the amount of Bat Teeth being traded had gradually lessened. After purchasing another one hundred stacks, Nie Yan saw there were no more players coming to trade. Thus he went through the transport point back to Calore city.

Two Thieves were following him closely. Nie Yan had bought these Bat Teeth all in one go, yet he still had the appearance of someone who looked like they still hadn’t had enough. With that sort of behavior, trying not to attract the suspicion of others was difficult in itself.

Nie Yan’s mouth curved into a faint smile when he detected these Thieves attempting to track him. At present, those who were able to track him… haven’t even been born yet!

Nie Yan turned a corner into an alleyway and activated Stealth, very quickly disappearing from sight.

By the time those Thieves made their way over to the alleyway, all traces of Nie Yan were gone.

"Where’d that guy go?”

"I can’t find him.”

"Brother, what do you think that guy’s gonna do with all the Bat Teeth he bought?”

"Who the hell knows… It definitely isn’t for leveling his Blacksmithing though, that’s for certain. There’s no way in hell Blacksmithing would take that many Bat Teeth to level up, even if he’s buying them for his friends. Not to mention he’s even coming back for more in the evening. Let’s wait until next time.”

Those two Thieves who stood at the corner spoke a few more words, then turned around and left.

Gradually, a silhouette emerged from a wall not far from where those two Thieves had been. It was Nie Yan coming out of Stealth. He had been just two meters away from them at most, yet they hadn’t detected anything in the slightest.

Nie Yan smiled coldly as he gazed at the backs of their retreating figures. It was simply wishful thinking, believing that they could pry into his secret. He wouldn’t be so stupid as to reveal Blacksmith Kade’s location. He turned around and went further into the alleyway.

Having exchanged all three hundred stacks of Bat Teeth with Kade, Nie Yan now had seven silvers in his pockets. With the current average level of the player base, this could be considered a massive sum of money.

He then ran to Carter town and Yeme town to purchase more Bat Teeth. After exchanging them with Kade, he had a total of twenty-six silvers.

He now understood what it felt like to be rolling in money.

"Ahh… how refreshing.”

The amount of money a player had early in the game was essential to their growth in the future.

That Paladin from his past life had made over ten gold coins from this quest. Earning such an amount seemed inconceivable to him when he first entered the game, but now he knew it was possible firsthand. Those players who knew about Nie Yan buying Bat Teeth for a high price would never imagine he was selling them to an NPC. Thus he would be able to make even more money down the road!

A person’s confidence would change when they had money, and Nie Yan was no exception. He immediately went off to the largest auction house in Calore city. The equipment and weapons being auctioned there were all at least Bronze-grade or higher. In addition, there were also various uncommon skill books and materials being auctioned off as well. For the most part, players who traded here were those who would often partake in raids.

While on his way to the auction house, Nie Yan decided in advance that he would buy ninety Fine Silks at the lowest possible price. After making the purchase, he deposited his new materials into storage, so he could retrieve them whenever he wanted to hand in his quest. Afterwards, he strolled into the large hall of the auction house.

As expected of the largest auction house in Calore, its construction was quite grand. The pillars within the main hall were built to be dozens of meters high to support the immense roof. The entire length of the hall spanned over a hundred meters. It was as if it was the hall of some vast temple or shrine.

Nie Yan had routinely walked through these halls in his former life. After finding a corner to sit down at, he picked up his bidding device and marked down the quoted prices of the various merchandise that would appear on the magic screen.

He look at page after page of merchandise. Everything listed on the magic screen was separated into categories, making it easy for players to find a specific item they were searching for.

Nie Yan unchecked all the categories that were of no use to him. All that remained on the screen were items that could used by all professions, such as defensive daggers, small round shields, bags, etc…

Player could equip up to five bags. They were divided into slots of sixteen, twenty, twenty-four, twenty-eight, and so on. The larger the bag space, the higher the price.

Each player would be given a starter bag with twenty slots when they began the game. If they wanted more bag space, they could buy a sixteen-slot bag from the market place for ten coppers. As for twenty slot bags… their prices were even higher. Though at any rate, money wasn’t really an issue for Nie Yan at the moment.

Money spent could still be earned back in the future. In reality, the real loss was letting it waste away in your pockets.

Nie Yan was using this money to outfit himself with the best equipment.

The auction house had no more than eleven twenty-slot bags up for auction, each one being auctioned off for around twenty coppers. Nie Yan placed bids on four of these twenty-slot bags.

Although the price of the bags Nie Yan bid on gradually rose, his maximum bid never exceeded twenty-two coppers. Before long, he managed to secure four twenty-slot bags.

God dammit… tailors are the ones that make the real money, Nie Yan couldn’t help but think to himself. However it was necessary to have the right connections if one wanted to be successful in a crafting profession. For example, a player could be at ease leveling their crafting skill if they had a guild to rely on and have the guild supply them with an endless amount of materials. Tailors were like this as well. And although many normal players would learn a crafting skill as well, they couldn’t compare to those players who specialized in their crafting skill.

Nie Yan’s need for money still hadn’t degenerated to the point where he needed to become a player that specialized in crafting.

After spending half a silver, he opened up a page that was exclusively for Thief merchandise.

He skimmed through the page, searching for anything that looked interesting. As long as the item was useful, he would buy it without the slightest hint of hesitation. It didn’t matter if the item was a little overpriced, he would still purchase it regardless.

The items he bought were all Bronze-grade; a pair of Soft Leather Pants with Dexterity +3, a set of Azure Fur Armour with Strength +2, a pair of Horsehide Boots with Balance +2, and a Silver-tip Dagger with Strength +3. Nie Yan had spent a hefty sum purchasing these four pieces of Level 0 equipment. After replacing his current equipment with his new gear, he was now wearing only Bronze-grade equipment. Any one of these four pieces of equipment would cost a fortune for the average player. If it wasn’t for him taking advantage of Kade’s hidden quest to make a profit, he definitely wouldn’t have dared to spend so much money.

Nie Yan glanced at his equip load after replacing his equipment—16 lb. His weight was still classified as a "Light Load” (0–20 lb), thus his movements wouldn’t be hindered at all.

In addition to those four pieces of equipment, Nie Yan also bought three Thief skill books. The first was the passive skill, Enhance Stealth: Stealth and Cloak receive an additional bonus of +3. The second book taught an attack skill called Concussive Blow: Directly strike an opponent, confusing them and preventing movement for three seconds. This skill has a cooldown of thirty seconds. Finally, the third book taught a skill called Smothering Strike: Strike an enemy from behind, putting them in a confused state for six seconds. Target will awaken from confusion if attacked. This skill has a cooldown of thirty seconds.

These three skill books taught only Level 0 Thief skills, however the market price for them was roughly twenty coppers each. Thieves would be very poor when first starting out in the game. In that respect, Thieves and Mages could be considered fellow sufferers in the same boat, as both professions would end up spending practically all their wealth buying skill books!

Thieves were a profession that couldn’t survive without skills, but each skill book was quite expensive! Thus they had no choice but to bear through the hard times, living frugally each day so they could purchase a single skill book. Sometimes these players would even be forced to continue wearing their old worn out equipment, just so that they could save a few coppers. Even the Thief players who were somewhat wealthy in real life would sometimes have no choice but to head to the transaction platforms and spend some money to buy in-game currency.

A Thief’s true power, their formidable ability to control a fight, would only emerge if a player could endure through these hard times and buy the skills they needed.

Nie Yan had also endured these hardships before, slowly making his way up bit by bit before being reincarnated. Though he was able to easily buy his way through this barrier in his current life.

His skill bar looked that much less empty after learning those three skills. He pulled up the page for skill books again to see if there were any other skills up for sale. As he browsed, the name of an uncommon skill caught his eye.

Skill Book: Parry

Skill Description: Parry an opponent’s attack with your weapon.

Required: Action (requires weapon)

Skill Cooldown: 30 s

User Restriction: Thief, Warrior, Paladin; can be learned by any faction.

Nie Yan couldn’t forget this skill. It was something that every close combat profession yearned for—the most valuable asset of any melee profession. It didn’t matter what kind of situation a player was in, whether PvPing or fighting a monster, being able to parry an attack was a lifesaver.

Parry was a skill that had a one in ten thousand chance of dropping from demonic monsters.

Only one or two players had learned the skill when he participated in a hundred man battle full of Level 60s in the past. This exemplified how rare of a skill it was. Its value was only slightly less than the skill book for Vital Strike.

It didn’t matter though… he would buy it anyway!

Nie Yan glanced at the current bid—two silvers. Not only that but the bidding price was constantly rising by at least fifty coppers each time.

The ones who made bids on these uncommon and rare skills were usually wealthy players, teams, or maybe even guild leaders. More often times than not, they wouldn’t mind spending a few silvers for the sake of a single skill book.

Two silvers and fifty coppers, three silvers, three silvers and fifty coppers…

The fierce bidding on the Parry skill book attracted the attention of many players.

"It’s a rare skill!”

"No wonder the bids are so high…”

Three silvers… it was roughly the same amount that a team would make after clearing a common Level 3 dungeon. Even then the most they could earn would be five silvers.

After a short while, the bidding came to a halt. The auctioned item would go to the highest bidder if ten minutes passed without any further bids.

"Four silvers…” Nie Yan placed his bid. He was determined to get this Parry skill book.

"Four silvers and fifty coppers!?” He didn’t know who, but someone increased the bid yet again.

This price could terrify the overwhelming majority of players in the game.

At this moment, it was simply a matter of which side was more willing to throw their money away. "Five silvers!” Nie Yan increased his bid once more… No matter what he’d still have many more opportunities to earn money in the future. This amount wasn’t something he’d be lacking in the slightest.

"God damn. Who the hell is that rich? To spend that much money for a single Parry skill book…”

All of the players at the auction were already discussing it in private. A single Thief skill book being auctioned for such a price… This was just too terrifying.

"There truly are a lot of wealthy people.”

The price didn’t increase for a while. It seemed the other party had been scared off by Nie Yan’s bid. The Parry skill book entered his bag after ten minutes passed.

After learning the skill, he bought a vial of poison used by Thieves to coat their daggers for thirty coppers. It could be applied three times before running out, and would cause an enemy to lose ten percent of their defense after being poisoned.

Finally he was done purchasing everything he needed. Furthermore, the items he had auctioned earlier had been sold. Currently he still had sixteen silvers remaining in his pockets.

Despite having learned so many new skills, Nie Yan didn’t need to practice with them at all. This was because he was highly familiar with both the Thief Skills and the profession itself. He could use these skills with ease right off the bat, thus his strength had increased significantly after learning them.

Nie Yan now had a lot more confidence when comparing himself to those who had started when the game first released. Using the game knowledge of his past life, he could now pave a path for his future development. Then in the future he could walk down this path unobstructed.

Afterwards he crafted the Silk Cloths in his bag into bandages, which could be used in case of emergency. He also bought bread and other useful items that could replenish his strength. Furthermore he now had a bag full of Basic Health Potions and Basic Recovery Potions.

Intermediate Combat Medic: Skill Mastery 10/500

Should I head off and level then? Nie Yan immediately thought of several leveling locations that were very suited for Thieves to train in.

Chapter 20 – Killing A Red Named Player

I suppose I’ll check Spiritmyth Pond first. There should be a few treasure chests there, not to mention the drops aren’t too bad either. Though I don’t know whether or not the chests have already been found by someone else. 「Ding!」 While contemplating this matter, Nie Yan suddenly received a notification.

「System: Player Yao Zi (Young Sparrow Hawk) has sent you a friend request.」

「Nie Yan, it’s me,」Tang Yao said in an anxious tone.

「What’s the matter?」Nie Yan asked. The anxiousness in Tang Yao’s tone caused him to furrow his brows.

「I’ve been cornered at Levin Hills,」Tang Yao said depressingly. The only person he could think of who could help him out at this moment was Nie Yan.

「What, who’s got you cornered?」

「People from the Radiant Sacred Flame guild. There’s at least twenty of them! All five of my teammates were killed by those bastards. Only I alone managed to escape… If it wasn’t for Lei Zi (Young Thunder) shielding me, then I would’ve died as well. Right now those guys are blocking the only two exits from Levin Hills.」 Lei Zi was Nie Yan and Tang Yao’s classmate in middle school. However, unlike Tang Yao, he wasn’t very close to Nie Yan, as they had only made brief contact in the past.

Radiant Sacred Flame… Nie Yan had actually heard of this guild before. It was a large guild, similar to Victorious Return. In the past, around the time he had reached Level 60, Conviction’s developers implemented the guild ranking system. Radiant Sacred Flame was one of the guilds that had ranked in the top sixties. Even as the years went by they never fell below the top one hundred.

"Hide well. I’ll be there in just a moment,” Nie Yan advised. Tang Yao would very likely be killed if he was late by even a few moments. Dying meant the loss of a level. This would be an extremely unfortunate outcome for Tang Yao.

Nie Yan entered a scroll shop and bought five Return Scrolls, five Basic Haste Scrolls, and five Basic Strength Scrolls. He only needed to give Tang Yao a Return Scroll and the latter would be able to be safely teleported to the nearest city or town. As for the other scrolls, he prepared them in case he needed them later on.

A single Return Scroll would cost upwards of thirty coppers. As for the Basic Haste and Strength Scrolls, they were slightly cheaper at twenty coppers each. Both these scrolls had a duration of thirty seconds. Basic Haste Scrolls would increase movement speed by twenty percent, whereas Basic Strength Scrolls would increase strength by five points.

For players who weren’t so wealthy, these scrolls were items that many of them couldn’t bear to use. No one would dare act like Nie Yan and buy this many scrolls in one go.

He also bought more Basic Health Potions in preparation for the future.

Nie Yan put away the scrolls and hastily made his way towards the nearest transport point. He was equipped with Bronze-grade equipment that gave stat bonuses such as Dexterity +5 and Move Speed +2. As a result, his current movement speed vastly outstripped the average player.

He quickly arrived at the transport point and teleported straight to Link town. After emerging in the town, he immediately sprinted off towards the north.

「How’d you guys get into a scuffle with them in the first place?」

「We met a Leader-class monster in the area where we were hunting Level 3 mobs. While we were fighting it, a group of people came over and tried to forcefully steal the kill from us, just because they had the advantage in numbers. In the end, our party’s Thief managed to grab a piece of Bronze equipment when the Leader-class monster died. Those guys weren’t willing to accept that, though, so they tried to kill us afterwards. Now three of them have their names marked red.」Tang Yao seemed to be out of breath while he said all this. It appeared that he was still hiding from his pursuers.

「How much longer do you think you can hold out for?」

「Luckily, Levin Hills is a pretty wide area. So as long as I keep moving around, they shouldn’t even think about catching me within the next hour, especially considering how few people they have. That is… unless they call for more reinforcements.」

「One hour is enough. I’ll make sure to thoroughly have fun with them.」Nie Yan was beginning to grow restless. He was equipped from head to toe with Bronze-grade equipment and had learnt many new skills. He was just itching to go, now that he had found new opponents to test them out on.

「What’re you gonna do?」

「This brother is going to vent some frustrations on your behalf,」Nie Yan confidently replied.

「How many people do you have with you?」Tang Yao asked, bewildered. He couldn’t help but wonder if Nie Yan actually managed to bring a lot of people with him.

「None, just me.」

「Is this some kind of joke!?」Tang Yao felt this was simply too ridiculous.

「Haha! What do you think?」Nie Yan replied. At present, most players in the game weren’t that strong. After all, they’ve only been playing the game for about a week. To put it simply, they were all still novices. Even guilds like Radiant Sacred Flame would be hard pressed to find even a single member that could rival Nie Yan, let alone having the bottom ranking runts facing him.「I can’t wipe them all out, but taking care of a few of them shouldn’t be a problem.」

Nie Yan had ten years of experience playing a Thief. He knew all the skills used by each and every profession for PvP. Not to mention he understood combat strategies like the back of his hand. Even if they have more people… so what?

「Don’t go getting yourself killed, though. If the situation starts looking dangerous and you can’t help me, then so be it. Even if I die, I’ll only lose one level. It’s nothing to lose your head over.」

「No worries. Find a place to hide and don’t come out. Just sit back and watch.」

The entrance to Levin Hills was a small ravine that allowed only three to four people to pass through at a time. Steep vertical cliff faces flanked the ravine on both sides.

There were three players guarding this entrance: a Level 3 Berserker, a Level 3 Elementalist, and a Level 2 Priest.

Among the three, only the Elementalist had their name marked red.

Their companions had already gone in to chase after Tang Yao, leaving only these three to guard the entrance.

And the hapless Tang Yao was trapped inside, just like a turtle in a jar.

"Damn! That bastard is as slippery as a loach. Even after all this, we still haven’t managed to catch him. What’s worse is that I don’t even know when this red mark on my name is going to disappear. I can’t even enter any towns or cities until it goes away,” the Elementalist cursed while chatting with his teammates.

"Captain Dian Cang (Blue Drop), don’t be angry. There’s no problem as long as you don’t get killed by someone before your red name disappears. Besides, we gained a lot of profit from this. Each of those five people we killed dropped a piece of equipment,” the Berserker consoled.

"Peh! Those five pieces of garbage aren’t worth ass. If it weren’t for those brats thinking they could actually steal our equipment, putting me in a shitty mood, then this old man wouldn’t even have bothered with them.” the Elementalist named Dian Cang replied disdainfully.

"Captain Dian Cang you’re truly like an invincible god. You managed to single-handedly take out three of them by yourself. Remember when you cast Scorching Flame Explosion earlier? The way you used it was simply too exquisite!” the Priest next to him began flattering and fawning.

"Hmph! Those three were just weak. It only took one Scorching Flame Explosion to take out over half of their health. If it weren’t for their small amount of magic resistance, they surely wouldn’t have survived!” Dian Cang said, somewhat pleased with himself.

The nearby Berserker and Priest were simply followers of this ill-tempered Elementalist. It seemed that his position within the Radiant Sacred Flame guild was rather high.

The three chatted on idly like this.

"Ah! A red name. Looks like today’s meal will be rather decent.” Nie Yan cackled with a strange laugh while hiding far off in the distance. If a player with their name marked in bright red like this Elementalist were to be killed, then not a single a piece of equipment on their body would remain. Everything equipped would drop!

Furthermore, the equipment this Elementalist donned didn’t look half-bad. He wore a blazing red mage gown that resembled flowing flames. He held in his hands a dark crimson redwood mage staff with a fiery blaze that circulated at the top. It appeared to be a part of the Fire Chaser set, but Nie Yan himself wasn’t too sure.

This Elementalist was going down a route that focused on fire damage. The high damage from his fire spells was going to be a slight pain to deal with. The nearby Berserker also looked like he would be hard to handle. As for the Priest by their side, he could simply be ignored. Most priests still haven’t even learned Heal this early in the game. Therefore, they would just follow the team from behind and leech experience.

Dian Cang swept his eyes over the surroundings. The steep inclines of the nearby mountains made the background slightly difficult to blend into. However, Nie Yan had learned the Enhance Stealth passive skill, so it wouldn’t be much of a problem.

He entered Stealth and slowly moved towards those three players.

He grasped the dagger in his right hand, holding it in a reverse grip, and slowly crept closer. At about five meters away, he was able to clearly make out the expressions on each of their faces.

The Elementalist Dian Cang felt something peculiar and glanced over the nearby area. Seeing this, Nie Yan quickly halted his steps and exercised control over his breathing. Seems this Elementalist has a rather high Awareness.

"Captain Dian Cang, what’s wrong?” the Berserker asked with a bewildered expression. He looked around, but all he saw was empty space.

Dian Cang searched the surroundings once more with a more focused gaze, but still didn’t discover anything. He shook his head and said, "Nothing, probably just my imagination.”

Nie Yan faintly knitted his brows. He could tell this Dian Cang was experienced in PKing, because he was able to vaguely sense Nie Yan’s presence from such a far distance.

The more points a player had in Awareness, the easier it would be for them to detect hidden enemies such as Thieves.

I can’t take my opponents too lightly. Nie Yan inwardly reminded himself. Numerous bitter experiences in the past reminded him that underestimating an opponent would often lead to defeat.

Nie Yan lightly tread forward, occasionally altering his walking speed. After calming his mind, he gradually entered a Thief’s stealthing state, and completely merged with the background.

"Captain Dian Cang, who knows where that Arcane Mage could be hiding up in the hills. Maybe Bai Mao (White Hair) and the others have already lost him,” the Berserker said after taking a quick glance at Dian Cang’s expression.

"Oh,” Dian Cang absent-mindedly replied.

"That brat is pretty cunning. He nearly killed Dong Zi (East Child) just now,” the Priest informed after looking at the party chat.

"Mhmm… his defense is too weak,” Dian Cang answered back. He seemed preoccupied with something else.

The Berserker and Priest were quite puzzled. What’s going on with the Captain? Why is he so absent-minded?

By this time, Nie Yan had made his way behind Dian Cang, and was unable to see the expression on the latter’s face.

He was now only two meters away from Dian Cang. Nie Yan attentively gazed at his target’s back. After making some quick measurements, he found that he was about three meters away from the other two. It’s about time. He resembled a cheetah as he patiently stored up power in his legs before suddenly pouncing towards his target—Dian Cang!

"Brat! I was waiting for you to show yourself!” Dian Cang laughed sinisterly. He retreated back and brandished the staff in his hand. "Fierce Flame Ring!”

He had discovered Nie Yan long ago! His eight points of Awareness weren’t something to be trifled with.

Even if they were stealthed, it would still be incredibly difficult for a Thief to leave behind no traces in front of an expert.

The Elementalist had intended to lure Nie Yan closer so he could kill him with the help of the nearby Berserker and Priest!

"You took a fancy to this old man’s equipment? Do you think you’ll still have a life to snatch it with?” Dian Cang smiled disdainfully. He thought Nie Yan was no more than a passing Thief who was lusting after his equipment. One who was urged on after seeing his red name and the type of gear he was wearing. From the start, he never thought Nie Yan and Tang Yao were connected.

Dian Cang finished casting his spell. Immediately, a blazing ring of fire emerged out of thin air, expanding outwards in every direction as it headed towards Nie Yan.

After casting Fierce Flame Ring, the Elementalist immediately retreated backwards.

Nie Yan was assaulted by the sensation of scorching flames!

Nie Yan was inwardly surprised. This guy’s reaction speed is pretty quick…

"Thief!” The nearby Berserker and Priest finally reacted to the situation and immediately began taking action.

At present, it was much too dangerous for Nie Yan to turn his back on them and try to make an escape. If the Berserker were to start off with Charge, and then the Elementalist and Priest were to follow up with their attacks, he would undoubtedly die!

"Kill him!” Dian Cang forced Nie Yan to halt his steps by casting Fierce Flame Ring. The Berserker seized this opportunity and went to cut off his escape. Meanwhile, Dian Cang started putting more distance between himself and Nie Yan so that he could calmly cast spells from the back.

How could Nie Yan not understand his intentions? He knew that retreating at this moment was the same as asking Dian Cang to barrage him with spells.

With a flick of a finger, a scroll appeared in his hand. Although he was a little regretful, he still used it without the slightest bit of hesitation.

「System: Your movement speed has been increased by 20% for 30 seconds!」

Nie Yan’s base movement speed was already quite high. However, with the twenty percent increase, it had reached an astonishing level. He welcomed the oncoming blaze head on and rushed forward.

「Boom!」An explosion rang out as the Fierce Flame Ring struck Nie Yan.

−35

「System: The opposing party lead by player Dian Cang (Blue Drop) has taken the initiative to attack you. You are free to retaliate in legitimate self-defense. Time: 30 minutes.」

The retaliation period increased to thirty minutes when facing a small party. It would increase even further in team battles or guild wars.

The magic damage from Dian Cang’s Fierce Flame Ring was quite high. If Nie Yan hadn’t changed his old gear to his current Bronze-grade equipment, this Fierce Flame Ring would’ve surely taken out at least the greater half of his health!

Sparks scattered in every direction as Nie Yan rushed through the Fierce Flame Ring, rapidly drawing closer to Dian Cang. He stabbed out with his dagger, aiming directly at his opponent’s chest.

Dian Cang had originally hoped that his Fierce Flame Ring would force Nie Yan to withdraw. He never thought that Nie Yan would be so unwavering in his offense, pushing ahead instead of retreating. His speed was even faster than it was just moment prior. Moreover, he hadn’t expected that his spell would do so little damage to Nie Yan. He honestly thought that it would deal around fifty damage at the very least.

He hastily retreated backwards while casting Small Fireball.

"Assassinate!”

「Splash!」Blood gushed out and splattered everywhere. Nie Yan had met the spell head on as his dagger penetrated Dian Cang’s chest.

Finally, within melee range, his dagger flashed with a chilling light.

This wasn’t the first time Dian Cang had faced a Thief in combat, but it was definitely the first time he had felt such enormous pressure. Nie Yan’s damage was quite high and his movements were extremely quick.

He used a scroll!

Dian Cang hurriedly drew back and pulled out a talisman for his next spell. As he put some distance between himself and his opponent, he prepared to cast Scorching Flame Explosion.

Scorching Flame Explosion required five syllables, two gestures, and a magic catalyst to cast; the spell wouldn’t cast if even one of these components were missing. Fortunately, the talismans could be bought in stores and weren’t expensive at all.

The Berserker came around from the side, then leapt into the air and cleaved down towards Nie Yan with Flame Slash. He was covering for Dian Cang so that the latter could cast their spell.

The two had fairly good teamwork. The Berserker had managed to block Nie Yan at a crucial time.

Red coloured fire elements began rapidly coalescing. In Dian Cang’s arsenal of spells, Scorching Flame Explosion had the highest amount of damage. If the opponent’s magic resistance was low, it was even possible for them to be instantly killed on the spot.

The magic resistance of Thieves could only be considered average. Their base magic resistance was equal to sixty percent of their defense.

The casting time for Scorching Flame Explosion was five seconds.

Seeing the Berserker leap at him from the side, Nie Yan waited until the edge of the oncoming blade was in front of his eyes. In that moment, Nie Yan swiftly and elegantly raised his dagger, parrying the blow.

The three-inch dagger and Berserker’s greatsword clashed against each other. A sharp metallic sound rang out, jolting both players at the same time. The Berserker’s greatsword struggled to advance by even half an inch.

Dian Cang continued retreating backwards while chanting out cryptic sounding syllables one after another. His voice radiated out with a muffled yet explosive power.

This voice was beckoning the elements to his call.

「Bang!」A ray of holy light had struck Nie Yan, dealing thirteen damage. Although this Priest’s damage output was limited, he still continued to attack Nie Yan regardless.

Nie Yan quickly went in pursuit of Dian Cang once more after he had parried the Berserker’s attack.

The Elementalist’s heart shook in awe after witnessing this Thief who was still advancing forward, even after facing an onslaught of fierce attacks. What a valiant Thief!

Nie Yan clearly understood that he had no time to think because he would lose his life if he hesitated in the slightest. In order to preserve his life, he could only put it at stake.

He bravely faced the enemy head on so that he could achieve victory.

Countless years of PvP experience from his past life gave Nie Yan extremely sharp instincts. He wouldn’t lose!

Three seconds… four seconds… blazing flames were rapidly coalescing into a huge mass atop Dian Cang’s staff. Soon the flames had rotated into a chaotic mass of deadly scorching fire essence.

Nie Yan dashed forward at full speed and arrived in front of Dian Cang.

"Concussive Blow!”

In the end, Dian Cang was just a step slower. Nie Yan bashed his dagger into the Elementalist’s skull. The Scorching Flame Explosion rapidly collapsed before completely dissipating into thin air.

Concussive Blow had the effect of interrupting attacks. Therefore Nie Yan attacking Dian Cang with Concussive Blow in the middle of casting caused Dian Cang’s spell to be cancelled.

Nie Yan felt the tight heartstrings in his chest loosen by a bit. I barely made it. If I had let him successfully cast Scorching Flame Explosion, I just can’t imagine what sort of consequences there would’ve been.

The Berserker’s Flame Slash had been parried, and in the blink of an eye, Nie Yan had already gotten out of his attack range. Furthermore, he had also managed to interrupt and stun Dian Cang.

Too fast. The Berserker felt a chill in his heart. Nie Yan’s speed was much faster than any other Thief he had seen before. However, he didn’t have the time to continue staring out blankly. He brandished his sword and activated Charge. The Berserker resembled a tank as he came crashing forward in Nie Yan’s direction.

"Vital Strike!” Nie Yan completely ignored the incoming Berserker. He took advantage of Dian Cang’s dazed state to activate Vital Strike and pierce his dagger into Dian Cang’s heart.

「System: Vital Strike successful! Attack +5%, causing additional damage!」

The sixty or so health Dian Cang had remaining immediately started to plummet, then completely disappeared.「Thud!」Everything he was wearing, from his upper body to his lower body, dropped. From his headgear to his mage robes, gloves, pants, and boots, not a single piece of equipment remained. Every single piece of equipment had dropped and fallen on the ground.

「System: You have killed a red name player, and receive Fame +1!」

In the game, it was possible to receive a little fame for killing a player who had their name marked in red. However, you wouldn’t receive any more fame after killing the same red-named player more than three times. Killing red-named players wasn’t the only way to earn fame, though, players would also receive it for completing missions. The higher a player’s fame, the easier it would be to receive certain missions. Fame would also allow players to receive more preferential treatment in towns and cities.

By the time Nie Yan had killed Dian Cang, the charging Berserker had finally arrived and came slashing down with his sword. Nie Yan dodged by side stepping, and their shoulders brushed as the charging Berserker missed his target.

Nie Yan was right before his eyes. The Berserker had been absolutely certain his attack would hit Nie Yan. He never expected that Nie Yan would actually dodge all of a sudden, leaving him to continue charging far off into the distance.

"All of the captain’s equipment dropped! Quickly, pick it up!” the Berserker anxiously shouted. Dian Cang was an important figure within the Radiant Sacred Flame guild and someone who frequently participated in guild dungeon runs. Every piece of equipment on his body was extremely valuable and rare. Even if you compared it to the entire guild, it would still be considered more valuable. If one were to estimate their value, they would be worth more than ten silvers!

However, the dropped equipment was just too far away from him. When he looked back, he found that Nie Yan was already beginning to pick the equipment up.

The Priest quickly ran over to where Dian Cang dropped his equipment after dying. Just prior, he had run off into the distance, casting spells from the back in order to evade Nie Yan. How could he possibly make it back in time to grab some of the equipment?

Just as Nie Yan had bent over and stuffed two pieces of equipment in his bag, a ray of holy light struck his body.

−17

A damage value floated above Nie Yan’s head.

Linear Slash!

The Berserker came leaping forward with his sword, slashing towards Nie Yan.

Nie Yan ignored the oncoming Berserker’s slash and continued stuffing one piece of equipment after another into his bag.

Ah… that’s everything. Picking up equipment sure does make a person happy. By the time he lifted his head back up, the Berserker had already arrived in front of him.

「Bang!」The Berserker’s sword aura struck Nie Yan’s body, causing him to lose twenty-two health.

Nie Yan only had twenty-three health remaining, yet he still maintained a cool head. He rapidly fell back and drank a Basic Health Potion.

"Brat! Let’s see if I can’t hack you to death!” Dian Cang had been killed. If he didn’t kill Nie Yan, then he would have a hard time facing Dian Cang. As a result, he frantically pursued Nie Yan with bloodshot eyes.

Chapter 21 – Fire Chaser Set

"That would require you to have at least some skill!” Nie Yan laughed in contempt as he turned around and dashed away.

He managed to pull himself away from the Berserker almost instantaneously. The Thief was already an inherently nimble profession. Yet now, with the dexterity bonus from his Bronze-grade equipment and the movement speed bonus from the scroll, Nie Yan vastly outstripped the Berserker in terms of speed.

Nie Yan had already retreated five yards back.

"Don’t let him run away, or else we won’t be able to explain ourselves to the captain!” the Berserker shouted anxiously. He was too slow. There was absolutely no way he’d be able to catch up. As he took a quick glance at Charge on his skill bar, he lamented the fact that it was still on cooldown.

"I know.” The Priest attacked once more. A beam of holy light struck Nie Yan, dealing sixteen damage.

The Berserker relentlessly pursued from behind.

However, from the start, Nie Yan never intended to escape. He was simply stalling for time so that a few skills could come off cooldown.

Just as the Priest finished casting, Nie Yan pulled back and began applying bandages to himself.

+20… +20… +20… +20—

Gradually, his health began restoring every second. On the fourth tick, the Priest struck Nie Yan with another beam of holy light, interrupting the healing.

Though by this time, Nie Yan had already been restored to full health.

At present, with the average level of the player base, Intermediate Combat Medic was an existence that defied the Heavens.

"He has a Medic skill!” the Berserker exclaimed in surprise; a hint of fear could be heard in his tone. What kind of Medic skill is this!? The Medic skills he had seen in the past could only be used when combat ended. Nonetheless, they would still only restore five health every second. Yet… Nie Yan’s skill restored twenty! He had never even encountered a Medic skill like Nie Yan’s that could be used in the middle of combat, let alone one that had such outrageous healing effects too.

It was a painstaking effort trying to get Nie Yan down to low health. His death was right before their eyes. Then all of a sudden, the situation completely reversed!

By now all of Nie Yan’s skills had come off cooldown. The corner of his lips faintly curved into a smile. Now it’s your turn! He turned around and dashed in the direction of the Berserker.

The Berserker’s complexion turned deathly white as he watched Nie Yan pounce towards him. Hurriedly, he raised his sword in an attempt to resist.

Nie Yan at full health could kill their captain even while being attacked on three sides. Now that Dian Cang was dead, how could just the two of them possibly be a match for Nie Yan!?

The dagger in Nie Yan’s hand sliced in a wide arc, then suddenly changed direction mid slash. Concussive Blow!「Thwack!」The Berserker’s greatsword crashed into Nie Yan’s chest. At the same time, the pommel of Nie Yan’s dagger hit the Berserker directly on the forehead!

The Berserker sunk into a dazed state.

Assassinate! Nie Yan plunged the dagger into the Berserker’s chest. He then followed up with Vital Strike, sending the dagger even deeper into his target. Instantly, the Berserker lost the greater portion of his health.

Seeing the Berserker about to come back to his sense, Nie Yan circled behind him and used Smothering Strike, putting him in a dazed state once more.

Due to performing a series of attacks and having been in combat so long, Nie Yan was running somewhat low on stamina. Taking a deep breath, he plunged his dagger into the Berserker’s back.

Through the sequence of explosive attacks, the Berserker’s health had gone from over a hundred and eighty to a mere sixty within just a few short seconds.

If this continues, I’m dead for sure!

The Berserker was distraught with fear as he emerged from his dazed state. He frantically fled in the other direction in an attempt to preserve his life.

If the Berserker had turned around and attacked Nie Yan, he might’ve still been able to cause some damage. However, he chose not to because he was self-centered and cowardly. Instead, he panicked as soon as he saw his health was low, desperately running for his life just because he was afraid of losing a piece of equipment upon death.

"You think you can escape?” Nie Yan pursued, effortlessly arriving behind the Berserker’s back. He raised his dagger, then successively slashed his opponent several times in the back.

−23

−21

−16

"Argh… Dammit—!” The Berserker cursed as his health fell to zero and his vision faded to black. His body collapsed and landed flat on the ground. Just a moment later, a piece of equipment dropped from his corpse.

"Heh. It’s finally your turn.” Nie Yan dashed towards the Priest after picking up the Berserker’s dropped equipment. He had taken quite a sore beating from this Priest. From the time he was fighting Dian Cang up until the Berserker just now, this Priest was constantly firing off attacks at him like a buzzing fly.

Seeing the Berserker collapsed on the ground, the Priest stared out foolishly. How did he suddenly become the only one remaining in the blink of an eye? He was just a low-level Priest who hadn’t even learned any healing skills. How could he possibly be a match for this Thief?

The Priest turned his back and broke into a mad sprint. At that moment, he had completely thrown away any thoughts of trying to fight Nie Yan. No matter what course of action he took, he would still end up dead. Therefore his first instinctual reaction was to flee for his life.

Nie Yan was already in pursuit. Mage professions like this Priest were inherently rather slow, so where could a Priest like him possibly escape to?

As Nie Yan slashed in quick succession, his dagger easily tore through the Priest’s cloth armour.

−31

−32

−32

Several damage values floated above the Priest’s head. Before he had even made a few steps, his body fell forward and collapsed on the ground.

Nie Yan walked up to the Priest’s corpse and picked up the piece of equipment that dropped.

The equipment the Priest and Berserker dropped were rather ordinary—two pieces of Level 0 equipment that were both White-grade. The best pieces of gear were still the ones that were dropped by the Elementalist: headgear, gloves, mage robes, staff, pants, and boots. Six pieces of equipment in total, and not one less.

Fire Chaser Crown: Fire Damage +5

Fire Chaser Gloves: Balance +3

Fire Chaser Robes: Fire Damage +10

Fire Chaser Pants: Willpower +2

Fire Chaser Boots: Movement Speed +2

It’s the Fire Chaser set! No wonder that Elementalist’s damage was so high! The equipment for this set came from the Level 3 instance, Black Flame Forest. Before Level 5 instances were released, this set was regarded as the best possible equipment for Mages that focused on fire magic. Of course, because it was good, the set pieces had a rather low drop rate. It would take at least four or five runs through the Black Flame Forest to collect all the pieces required to complete the entire set.

Besides the Fire Chaser set, there was also a Silver-grade Level 0 Tempered Blue Staff. It had the additional properties of Magic +3 and Elemental Damage +5.

Nie Yan reckoned that Dian Cang’s intestines were now green with regret. Even if Dian Cang continued killing Tang Yao and his party members until they dropped back to Level 0, it still wouldn’t be worth losing every single piece of equipment on his body.

Not bad… he even had a Silver-grade staff, Nie Yan thought to himself. If he were to put this staff up for auction, it would at the very least sell for three silvers.

This Bronze-grade Fire Chaser set can be equipped by both Elementalists and Arcane Mages because both of these professions have fire magic. Elementalists are able to control the fire elements, whereas Arcane Mages are able to control arcane fire. Nie Yan could gift Tang Yao this Fire Chaser set as a present. As for the Silver-grade staff, Tang Yao wasn’t able to use it. As such, Nie Yan thought about selling it and using the money for other expenses. If not, he could always exchange it for one or two pieces of equipment instead.

「Where are you right now? Tell me your coordinates.」

「231.395.285, there’s a cave in that area where Level 5 monsters spawn inside. I’m in that cave right now, hiding in a corner and afraid to come out.」

「I killed three members from the Radiant Sacred Flame guild. One of them was called Dian Cang or something.」

「You killed Dian Cang? You’re not lying to me, are you? That bastard was too damned overpowered. He took out three of my party members all by himself. With his magic damage, a single Fireball was able to take out half our health.」To Tang Yao, Nie Yan killing Dian Cang was an amazing and unimaginable outcome.

「The guy’s name was marked in bright red. He dropped every single piece of equipment from his body when he died. Here, this is his equipment. It’s the Fire Chaser set. I’ll give it to you as a gift.」

Brother, I was lucky to have you watch out for me in my past life. I’ve burdened you with much too many things. Before I even got to repay you back, I ended up reincarnating. Brother! In this life, I’ll be the one to watch out for you instead! Nie Yan inwardly thought as he shared the Fire Chaser set with Tang Yao.

Tang Yao’s mouth was agape. His face was filled with surprise as he stared at the equipment Nie Yan shared with him.

「This isn’t real, right?」Tang Yao slapped himself in the face to confirm he was seeing things clearly. 「This set… are you sure you want to gift this to me?」

Tang Yao naturally knew what this Fire Chaser set signified. It was only possible to get this set after running the Black Flame Forest four or five times. Not to mention that teams would often get wiped while running it as well. If he were to wear this set and enter an instance with another party, then it could be said that from the value of this set alone, it was certain that those members would rush to recruit him into their team.

「Do you think I’m making fun of you or something!?」Nie Yan scolded Tang Yao and laughed.

「Even if I die today, it’ll still be worth it. Although I’m only eighteen years old this year and still haven’t experienced many serious matters in life, what I’m most proud of is that I managed to find a brother like you!」Tang Yao emotionally exclaimed. He naturally understood Nie Yan’s financial situation. This Fire Chaser set… if Nie Yan were to put it up at a transaction platform for real money, the price he’d fetch would be quite considerable. Yet Nie Yan was actually preparing to send him this set as a gift. This proved that Nie Yan truly regarded him as a brother.

Nie Yan thought back to the past. What he had wanted to say the most to Tang Yao in his past life were those words as well.

「When it comes to brothers like us, there’s no need to be polite! Wait up, I’m going to kill a few more of them,」Nie Yan informed. He still had twenty-five minutes remaining where he was allowed to retaliate in self-defense.

「I never thought that a guy like you would be so gifted at playing this game. When I listened to your advice earlier in the day, everything suddenly became clear to me, and my skill significantly improved. Otherwise, I would’ve never been able to hold on up until now,」Tang Yao informed. He admired Nie Yan from the bottom of his heart. After seeing his performance today, he couldn’t help but at Nie Yan in a whole new light.

His equipment would vastly improve with this Fire Chaser set, and he would enter the ranks of experts.

In the past, Tang Yao had regarded Nie Yan as a poor and pitiful brother. One whom he would have watch out for in everything. But now, Nie Yan’s actions had caused him to look up to and admire Nie Yan. For the first time, he felt this brother of his was quite truly, a capable person.

Chapter 22 – Deer Chief

「Arcane Mages only have so many skills. So all you need to do is put on that Fire Chaser set, practice your skills for a bit, and you’ll find yourself improving in no time.」

「There are over twenty people. How do you plan on dealing with all of them?」Tang Yao asked. No matter how strong Nie Yan was, he was still just a single person.

「This is the difference between Thieves and other professions. Thieves don’t necessarily have to attack head on!」

The expertise of a Thief lay in their ability to set ambushes.

Tang Yao somewhat understood when he heard these words. Nie Yan was preparing to mount a sneak attack, catch them off guard and take them out one by one. However, this wasn’t going to be easy to pull off. If he wasn’t careful and ended up getting caught, then he would most likely end up dead. Tang Yao couldn’t help but think that perhaps Nie Yan was being a bit too confident.

Small hilltops stretched out as far as the eye could see. They were covered in dense thickets of trees and strangely shaped boulders that towered over the landscape. Small streams flowed at the base of each hillside, where dense amounts of stone and rubble could be seen littering the nearby area. The terrain of this place was quite complicated. It was no wonder that Tang Yao could hide in this area for so long without anyone discovering him.

Off in the distance, a few indistinct figures could be seen at the top of one of these hillsides. Nie Yan sprinted off in that direction.

Tang Yao was hiding within a cave on that exact hilltop.

This group of scoundrels was rather unrelenting. They seemed to be fine wasting their time trying to completely exterminate Tang Yao’s party, simply because a minor conflict had arisen between the two of them. They were truly too vicious, and the only reason they dared to act in such a way was because they noticed that Tang Yao’s group didn’t have a guild backing them up. Therefore, even if Tang Yao and his friends were killed off, they would have no one to bring up their grievances to. Today the Radiant Sacred Flame members were killing Tang Yao’s group in order to make them drop a level. They did this with the intent of impeding their progress. This was to prevent Tang Yao and his party from becoming more troublesome when they leveled up in the future.

Nie Yan traveled through the dense thickets. He was only around a hundred meters away from the cave that Tang Yao was hiding in.

「I’m not too far away from you. For now, it’s best you don’t come out, so just keep hiding.」

「Be careful, they aren’t weak.」Tang Yao knew what Nie Yan wanted to do, and couldn’t help but worry a little.

「No worries. With their levels, I’ll be able to easily toy with them to death.」Nie Yan’s bag was full of potions, his gear was Bronze-grade, and he had learned many new skills. Furthermore, he possessed the immensely overpowered Intermediate Combat Medic skill. Killing one or two of them wouldn’t be a problem for him at all.

Tang Yao felt that Nie Yan had changed a great deal. In fact, he had changed so much that Tang Yao didn’t even recognize him anymore. The cowardly Nie Yan of the past wouldn’t dare to say such words.

Nie Yan had become a lot more confident compared to his past self. Not only that, but he also gave off the feeling that you could firmly place your trust in him.

While Nie Yan and Tang Yao were talking, a slight rustling noise could be heard off in the distance.

「They’re here.」Nie Yan’s eyebrows raised as he took cover behind a tree.

A party of five was moving through the nearby thickets.

Nie Yan observed the composition of their party: an Elementalist, a Holy Mage, a Berserker, a Fighter, and a Paladin. The frontliners took the lead while the two casters followed from behind. This was a rather standard formation. Their equipment didn’t look like anything special either. Within the current player base, those who could wear Bronze-grade or Silver-grade equipment were few in number.

The dense thickets were full of branches that grew without restraint and got in the way. These branches made it very difficult for the group of five to move forward, as they had no choice but to duck their heads and travel through small gaps between the trees. The Berserker even had to use his sword to chop down the occasional thick branch that would obstruct their path.

"Captain Dian Cang was killed,” the Fighter said as he looked at the team chat.

"How’s that possible? With the Captain’s strength, there are very few people capable of beating him,” the Paladin replied in a surprised tone. Dian Cang’s strength was publicly recognized amongst all of them. With the Fire Chaser set, his damage was at least within the top ten in the entire guild. Not to mention his skill in combat wasn’t bad either.

"The Captain’s name was still marked red. Which means that all that equipment on his body…?” the Elementalist raised his head to look at everyone and discovered the gloomy expressions on each of their faces. None of them dared to ask what happened next.

"Everything dropped,” the Fighter gloomily exclaimed. They truly were unlucky today.

"Who did it?

"They must have had a lot of people, right?” the Elementalist questioned. In his mind, there should have been no other way. Whoever killed Dian Cang must’ve brought many people in order to do so. "Which team was it, or was it perhaps the work of a guild? We’ll exterminate them!”

"The enemy was only a single Thief,” the Fighter replied. When he had heard the news himself, he too felt that it was inconceivable.

"Wait, weren’t there two other people with the Captain?”

"Indeed. However, that one Thief managed to kill all three of them.”

What? How is that possible!?

"What level was the Thief?”

"Level 3.”

A single Level 3 Thief managed to kill Dian Cang and his party. This was simply too crazy! Everyone felt that such a thing was simply outrageous.

"Are you sure you aren’t mistaken?”

"This piece of information came straight from the mouth of the Captain himself.”

The information couldn’t be false. After all, a single Level 3 had wiped out his entire party. For Dian Cang, this definitely wasn’t something he was proud of. If the information wasn’t true, then he wouldn’t be proclaiming it everywhere.

"What was that Thief’s name?” the Elementalist asked. Currently, the level difference among the player base wasn’t high. Being able to fight one versus two was already a huge accomplishment, but being able to win one versus three… this person must have had some kind of god level combat ability.

"He’s called Nie Yan (Nirvana Flame), and the guild’s put out a hit order on him. The reward for killing him once is five silvers. In the future, if anyone encounters this player, they are to remain vigilant. Captain Dian Cang said that person has a lot of skills. Unless your party is over three members, it’s best not to seek him out with the intent of provoking him,” the Fighter announced. Although the reward for killing Nie Yan was luxurious, they were still required to put their lives on the line to do it. Dian Cang was unable to defeat him, let alone them.

"Five silvers is a lot of money!” the Elementalist and the others exclaimed in amazement. Five silvers was more than enough for them to buy several pieces of Bronze-grade equipment.

While these people were deep in discussion, Nie Yan had stealthily made his way over to them.

A kill order from the Radiant Sacred Flame Guild? Interesting… I’d like to see how you intend to do that. Nie Yan smiled disdainfully as he approached from behind and confirmed the positions of the five people.

The closest one to him was the Holy Mage at about three meters away. The next was the Elementalist at about five meters. The furthest away were the Berserker, Fighter, and Paladin, who were clearing the way ahead.

Occasionally, one or two Level 3 Deer would appear in this area. However, they would be swiftly killed by these five people. Three powerful members who could fight in close combat, along with two Mages who had high magic damage made killing monsters especially quick.

Nie Yan was waiting for the right opportunity as he leisurely followed them from behind.

The Holy Mage seemed to have sensed something and turned his head back to look around.

Nie Yan hurriedly hid behind a nearby tree. He hadn’t activated Stealth yet, instead, he was relying entirely on his own awareness. As he ducked away from this Holy Mage’s line of sight, the shade from the tree concealed his body. The Thief’s innate concealing abilities would automatically reveal its effects.

Everything was serene. The Holy Mage didn’t discover anything strange. Could it have just been my imagination?

"There are monsters ahead. Hurry up and catch up with us,” the Elementalist turned his head and said to the Holy Mage who was lagging behind.

"Oh, alright,” the Holy Mage replied, and quickened his pace to catch up.

Hearing the conversation between those two people, Nie Yan’s heartbeat jumped. His opportunity had arrived. He entered Stealth and slightly accelerated his pace.

"There’s a Leader-class Deer. Everyone be careful!” the Fighter yelled out as he raised his round wooden shield and slowly proceeded forward.

"We’re not searching for that Arcane Mage anymore?”

"We have no idea where that brat ran off to. In any case, the situation has turned out like this. Let’s kill this Deer Chief first, then we’ll discuss it afterward.

As it was five of them versus a single Deer Chief, they expected an easy fight.

A huge Deer emerged from the thickets ahead. It had a build similar to that of a Bison, and its entire body was covered in white spots. Immense antlers that resembled overgrown coral sprouted from its head. The deer lowered its head, its antlers reaching down past its knees, and prepared to charge.

The moment the Deer Chief moved, the muscles in its forelimbs incessantly trembled, brimming with an explosive power.

The moment it saw the Fighter approaching, it lowered its antlers and issued a warning cry, then slowly began moving forward.

Deer Chief: Level 3

Leader Class Monster

Health: 200/200

"Are you guys ready?” the Fighter nervously shouted back to his allies. His Wooden Round Shield and the Deer’s antlers were only a few meters apart, yet he was still able to feel the powerful and imposing pressure that emanated from this Deer Chief’s robust body.

"Ready.”

"We have to kill this Deer Chief before Fei Zha, Xia Ku, and the others arrive,” the Fighter instructed. If the five of them killed this Deer Chief now, then the loot would be distributed evenly amongst the five of them. However, if the others were to arrive, then they wouldn’t receive much after distributing it evenly.

The Berserker and Paladin were flanking from both sides, while the Holy Mage and Elementalist took their positions away from the front.

Chapter 23 – Coming And Going Unobstructed

The Fighter shouted with a booming voice then rushed forward and cleaved down with the sword in his right hand.「Slash!」The sword left a large wound after it struck the Deer Chief’s body.

The Deer Chief took one step forward and swept its sharp antlers at the Fighter.

The Fighter pulled back a bit and raised his shield to defend against the incoming blow.「Bang!」A heavy sound reverberated as a pair of antlers collided with a round wooden shield.

The Berserker and Paladin took this opportunity to flank the Deer Chief on both sides in a pincer attack.

"Guys, pay attention to your aggro,” the Fighter urged with a worried tone. Due to their ability to wield a shield, Fighters had a much higher defense when compared to other professions. Because of this, the Deer Chief was only able to deal ten or so damage to the Fighter when it attacked. However, if the Deer Chief were to switch aggro onto the Berserker or Paladin… they would at most be able to survive five attacks.

Monsters would initially focus their aggro on whoever attacked them first. However, in the event that there was someone who dealt too much damage to a monster, or a player’s level or power was exceedingly low, the monster’s aggro would switch onto them.

"We know. You can relax,” replied the Berserker and Paladin.

The Holy Mage and Elementalist at the back began casting spells and dealing damage.

Their coordination would be considered about average. It seemed that killing the Deer Chief within the next few moments wouldn’t be a problem for them. Only, they weren’t aware of the danger that was quietly approaching from behind.

Nie Yan stealthily made his way behind the Holy Mage and Elementalist. Only a few steps more and he would close the distance between them. The two Mages were standing quite close to each other, and their attention was focused entirely on the Deer Chief.

It appeared that the Deer Chief would be dead within the next thirty seconds. The party members were filled with an endless amount of excitement when they thought about all the loot they would receive.

Before Nie Yan’s eyes, the heads of the Holy Mage and Elementalist were completely exposed.

Nie Yan’s pacing slowed as he drew closer, as he needed to be more cautious when he neared his target. Otherwise, there was a possibility that the prey within his grasp would slip away.

Patience was another major quality that defined a Thief’s competence. After all, the outcome of their battles often depended on whether their first strike was a success or not. Of course, there was also an endless amount of sneaking and preparation which led up to that first strike. If a Thief lacked patience, it would be very easy for others to find flaws and catch them.

The battle between this group of players and the Deer Chief was about to reach its climax. The Deer Chief had been unceasingly ramming its antlers against the Fighter, causing the latter’s health to rapidly fall. When his health fell to around twenty, the Fighter took out a Basic Health Potion and drank it.

"Keep it up, everyone! The Deer Chief only has half its health remaining!” the Fighter shouted as he raised his shield and slashed forward with his sword again.

The Berserker and Paladin followed suit, increasing their attack speed. While in combat with the Deer Chief, their health had fallen to about half. The only ones who hadn’t received any damage were the two Mages in the back.

"Lei Zi, fall back a bit. Why are you so far forward?” the Fighter admonished to the Berserker.

"I know, I know.” The Berserker hurriedly pulled back.

Evidently, out of the five people in this group, it appeared that this Fighter had the most combat experience.

"When we’re running a dungeon in the future, you guys absolutely cannot go too far forward. Otherwise, you’re looking to get yourself killed. Realize your mistakes today, and tomorrow we’ll run a small five-man dungeon together. Once you guys get more familiarized with team-based combat, then we can start running larger dungeons with a full team,” the Fighter said. He then took a few steps back, luring the Deer Chief in between two large trees.

"What activities has the guild been doing lately?” The Berserker’s eyes lit up as he asked.

"There have always been guild activities. The Guild Leader and some of the others have been running the Treant Forest and Dark Wetlands for awhile now. You think you’re good enough to accompany them?” the Fighter asked rhetorically.

The people running the Treant Forest and Dark Wetlands were all elites in the Radiant Sacred Flame guild. In terms of a player’s defense, attack, health, etc… their guild had harsh requirements. So unless a player’s equipment reached a certain level, or they had good skills, there was basically no chance that they would be allowed to run a dungeon with the elites. In other words, this group of five shouldn’t even dream of going.

"There’s no Level 2 dungeons? You know, like the Moose Rat Cavern or Skeleton Cave?” the Berserker asked. These dungeons were also twenty-person instances. They were easier and the equipment that could be looted wasn’t bad either. Which was why running one of these dungeons would help them upgrade their equipment in preparation for the higher ranked ones.

"The Guild Leader will be organizing something in a few days, so let’s focus on raising our levels for now. Be careful and don’t let your attention wane. But for now, let’s get rid of this Deer Chief. Who knows? It might drop some decent equipment.” The Fighter took two more steps back. His retreat was firm and stable.

The Holy Mage and Elementalist copied him and retreated a few steps back as well.

Nie Yan noticed the opposing Fighter was rather decent. His ability to pull aggro was quite good. As soon as he noticed the Deer Chief was about to switch its aggro, he would strike it with his shield and attract its attention again.

With its aggro constantly being attracted and pulled, the Deer Chief was unable to display its full fighting strength.

Were it not for this Fighter, this team wouldn’t have stood a chance against this Level 3 Deer Chief.

Nie Yan’s movements were extremely cautious in order to prevent being detected by the Holy Mage and Elementalist. However, they unexpectedly started retreating back towards him.

For fucks sake… Nie Yan thought. The Holy Mage had already retreated back to where he was hiding.

Nie Yan raised his dagger and struck down, aiming at the back of the Holy Mage’s head.

"Smothering Strike!”

His dagger hit the Holy Mage and put him under a dazed state.

"Someone’s trying to steal our kill!” the Elementalist beside them noticed the commotion and turned his head, immediately discovering Nie Yan. Yet before even half of these words could come out of his mouth, Nie Yan dashed over and used the handle of his dagger to strike the Elementalist in the forehead.

"Concussive Blow!”

After successfully stunning his target, Nie Yan followed up with Assassinate, Lacerate, and finished it off with a Vital Strike aimed at his opponent’s throat.

Nie Yan’s actions were quite fast. In just a short amount of time, he managed to inflict a massive amount of damage.

−20

−22

−29

−36

Four damage values floated above the Elementalist’s head. By the time the Elementalist came out of his dazed state, he was left with only eighteen health remaining.

The Mage had gone into a state of panic—Nie Yan’s damage was just too terrifying.

−5

−5

Two more damage values floated above the Elementalist’s head in succession.

The Elementalist hurriedly took out a Basic Health Potion. Just as the bottle touched his lips… Nie Yan’s dagger flashed into view and lightly slashed across his chest. −8 A damage value floated atop his head.

The Elementalist staggered back and reached out as if to grasp something, but his hand found only empty air. Soon after, he collapsed on the ground as his health bar fell to zero.

"That’s one down,” Nie Yan whispered to himself as he picked up the piece of equipment that the Elementalist dropped.

By this time the Holy Mage had come out of his daze. But, unluckily for him, Nie Yan had already finished off the Elementalist. The Holy Mage turned tail and attempted to escape, but how could Nie Yan possibly give him such an opportunity?

Nie Yan brandished his dagger and gave chase to the fleeing Mage. After catching up, he unleashed a barrage of attacks on the Holy Mage’s back.

−12

−13

−15

Without exception, every single one of his skills was on cooldown. Therefore Nie Yan could only use a normal attack. However, due to a Thief’s attack speed being innately fast, the damage dealt was still quite considerable.

The Holy Mage wasn’t about to go down without a fight, though. He turned around and hit Nie Yan with Holy Strike, then followed up with Holy Smite—dealing a total of fifty-three damage.

During all this, the Fighter, Berserker, and Paladin had continued fighting with the Deer Chief. They became aware of the situation after noticing that, all of a sudden, the constant damage from their Mages in the rear had suddenly disappeared.

"Someone mounted a sneak attack! It’s that Thief, Nie Yan (Nirvana Flame)!” the Fighter anxiously shouted. Why did this scoundrel have to suddenly appear during such a crucial moment in their fight against the Leader class monster?

In addition, Nie Yan still had over twenty minutes of Retaliation Time left!

"What are we gonna do!?” Little by little, the Berserker slowly retreated. Their current circumstances were quite unfavourable. They were suffering from a pincer attack, with the Deer Chief attacking from the front and Nie Yan attacking from the rear. The three frontline had been constantly dealing with the Deer Chief, which was why each of them had a little under half their health remaining. If they were even a little careless, it was very likely that all five of them would die here today. In the blink of an eye, Nie Yan had taken out their Elementalist. Their other Mage was still alive, but he barely had any health left. The way things were looking, the situation was about to become even more worrisome!

"First, kill the Deer Chief; we’ll deal with the rest later!” the Fighter instructed. The Deer Chief’s aggro was completely focused on them. If they ignored the Deer Chief and went after Nie Yan instead, it would definitely cause them trouble later on.

The Deer Chief doesn’t have much health left!

"Cleave!”

The Fighter cleaved down with his sword. The Berserker and Paladin also quickened their pace as they unceasingly hacked at the Deer Chief.

"Flame Slash!”

"Radiant Slash!”

The Berserker and Paladin each used their most powerful skills, with the intent of causing high amounts of damage. One after another, damage values drifted up from the Deer Chief’s head.

It was a race against time for both sides.

The battle between Nie Yan and the Holy Mage was also nearing its climax. The two continued to battle as they ran, with one fleeing from the other. Nie Yan constantly maneuvered his way around the Holy Mage and repeatedly slashed at his exposed back. Wherever the dagger struck, blood would spurt out.

The Holy Mage continuously unloaded magic spells as he attempted to break away from Nie Yan.

Gradually, both their health bars fell. However, it was clear that the Holy Mage’s health was falling faster. He hurriedly took out both a Basic Health Potion and a Basic Recovery Potion, then drank them.

+3

+3

Before even a few seconds had passed, Nie Yan struck out and interrupted the healing from the Basic Recovery Potion.

−18

−15

"Run over here!” The Fighter was burning with anxiety as he yelled out. He was fighting the Deer Chief while also keeping a close eye on the battle between Nie Yan and the Holy Mage. It was clear to him that his teammate wasn’t much of a match for this Thief.

The Holy Mage was down to only thirty-six health.

"Damn that bastard. Isn’t he targeting us on purpose?” the Fighter cursed as he continuously slashed at the Deer Chief. After taking out Dian Cang and his group, Nie Yan suddenly appeared here. This definitely wasn’t a coincidence. Don’t tell me… this Thief is friends with that Arcane Mage and his group?

"Nie Yan, I’ll remember you! Our Radiant Sacred Flame guild definitely won’t let you off easily!” the Berserker furiously shouted.

"I’m extremely honoured. I’ll gladly await you maggots at any time,” Nie Yan replied with an indifferent expression. At this point in time, Radiant Sacred Flame was but a small guild. Even if you were to add up all their members, they still wouldn’t surpass a thousand. They certainly didn’t have the time or energy to search everywhere for Nie Yan and Tang Yao. Granted, even if they were able to find Tang Yao and Nie Yan, they still couldn’t possibly dispatch the entire guild after them. Besides, if they were to send everyone over and he decided that he couldn’t afford to take them on, then couldn’t he just hide instead?

In the past, Nie Yan had single-handedly caused the five guilds under the Cao Xu Financial Group to scramble after him. Even their several hundred thousand people were incapable of dealing with him, so why would Nie Yan fear a small fry like Radiant Sacred Flame guild?

Not to mention that the reincarnated Nie Yan was definitely much more difficult to deal with than the Nie Yan from the past.

So what was there for him to be afraid of?

"Even if your backup arrives, they’ll simply be sending side dishes!”[1] Nie Yan said with contempt. He stabbed his dagger into the Holy Mage’s chest, finishing him off. Glancing at his own health bar, he saw that he still had a little over fifty remaining. This number was within his expectations.

Nie Yan dashed over to where the Warriors were. The Deer Chief’s health had been whittled down to where it had only around ten percent remaining. Nie Yan was preparing to snatch whatever equipment dropped from the Deer Chief.

"Kill!” the Fighter furiously yelled while using Shield Strike to push the Deer Chief back.

Suddenly, the Deer Chief started to waver.

"Linear Slash!” the Berserker tightly gripped his greatsword and slashed at the Deer Chief.

−15

A damage value floated above the Deer Chief’s head. It was a critical strike!

The Deer Chief let out a miserable whine and then collapsed.

The Fighter quickly bent down, picked up the item that the Deer Chief dropped, and threw it into his bag.

"I was just a step too late.” Nie Yan halted his movements upon seeing the Fighter pick up the loot, and then began retreating back.

The Fighter only had a quarter of his health remaining, the Berserker had about forty percent, and the Paladin had thirty-five percent. Although they had low health, facing these three close combat professions together certainly wasn’t as simple as it seemed. Not to mention his dagger wouldn’t do much damage against professions with thick armour—such as the Fighter. I can’t deal with the three of them. I’ll be better off not taking this risk, Nie Yan thought to himself.

The Fighter and the two others weren’t willing to take such risks to block off Nie Yan either, as they didn’t have much health remaining. Thus they just stood and waited as their health slowly recovered. Having only gained a single piece of Bronze grade equipment after losing two people in the fight against the Deer Chief, they certainly weren’t looking at a profitable outcome.

"Two more were killed,” the Fighter whispered under his breath as he stared daggers at Nie Yan. If they were to calculate their losses now, a total of five members from the Radiant Sacred Flame guild had been killed by Nie Yan’s hands today.

Nie Yan wasn’t very far from his enemies. Both sides stood still, simply staring at each other. Neither party dared to attack rashly. Although they all had low health, the three of them together could definitely take on Nie Yan. However, if they were separated, then who could say what the outcome might be.

A single Thief had frightened these three Warriors to the point where they didn’t dare to take action. This was simply a huge loss of face. Their expressions showed a hint of anger and humiliation.

Nie Yan extended his right hand forward, raised a certain finger, and made an amusing yet disdainful gesture.

"The three of you aren’t going to come? If you’re not coming, I might as well leave then.” Nie Yan glanced at the three and laughed mockingly. His eyes seemed to be focused on something deeper within the thickets. Movement and activity could be seen to the south, east, and west of his current position. He reckoned that the other Radiant Sacred Flame members were moving closer in an attempt to encircle him.

Nie Yan didn’t dare to be careless, and so hastily started retreating back. He moved like a hare as he dashed through the gaps between trees.

"Reinforcements have arrived! Block him and don’t let him escape!” The Fighter ordered as he gave chase to Nie Yan.

The Berserker and Paladin followed closely from behind.

「Why did it take you guys so long to get here?」 the Fighter said gloomily in voice chat.

「We found out where that Arcane Mage was hiding and almost managed to catch him. If you guys hadn’t gotten in trouble, that bastard would already be dead. What happened over on your side?」

「Dao Zi and Huang Ni were killed,」the Fighter replied.

「What happened? Weren’t they together with you guys?」

「It was the work of that thief called Nie Yan (Nirvana Flame) again. He mounted a sneak attack against us and killed Dao Zi and Huang Ni,」the Fighter explained. He hid the fact that he and his party members had been fighting a Deer Chief at the time.

「Fuck, it’s that damn Thief again!」

They had never met such a powerful Thief before. Moreover, this scoundrel had been specifically targeting them this whole time.

「I reckon he’s friends with that group of people we killed earlier. He escaped north! Let’s chase him!」

Several figures made their way through the gaps in the thicket.

Nie Yan was quite fast. In the blink of an eye, he had already put a large distance between himself and his pursuers. Up ahead, several silhouettes emerged from the trees and flanked him on both sides. He couldn’t go any further forward, and the Fighter and the others were pursuing him from behind. No matter where he ran, he would definitely end up surrounded.

Seeing no escape route, Nie Yan hid behind a tree and entered Stealth.

The Fighter, Berserker, and Paladin, who were pursuing from behind, met up with the several figures who appeared up ahead.

"What happened? Where is he?” asked the Fighter. He scanned the surroundings and found naught but trees and empty space. Where had Nie Yan disappeared to?

"Did he run off?”

"I think he went into Stealth. Let’s stay here and search.”

The players spread out and began searching every nook and cranny in the surrounding area.

Nie Yan maintained his breathing and made his way out while still under the effects of Stealth.

However, people from the Radiant Sacred Flame guild were everywhere, which meant that the crisis was still unabated.

「Where are you? What’s the situation?」Tang Yao asked through the voice call.

「I killed another two,」replied Nie Yan as he glanced at his knapsack. Although there were two new pieces of equipment inside, they weren’t anything special. Even if he put it up for auction, it would only sell for a few coppers at most.

「Awesome! Brat, I’m impressed!」Tang Yao exclaimed in admiration. The Radiant Sacred Flame members usually operated in groups of three or four. Tang Yao couldn’t help but wonder how Nie Yan managed to accomplish such a feat.

「Where are you right now?」asked Nie Yan.

「I encountered a group of Radiant Sacred Flame members just a moment ago. I almost ended up being caught by them, so I fled deeper into the cave. In the end, they left the cave and went back outside. But now I can’t get out; there’re Level 5 monsters everywhere and they’ve got me trapped,」replied Tang Yao. He guessed the reason why those Radiant Sacred Flame members left was to deal with Nie Yan. This meant Nie Yan had indirectly saved his life. However, the problem was… he was currently in an even more dangerous predicament. The deeper parts of the cave were filled with Level 5 Rock Spiders. If he was even a bit careless, he would most likely lose his life.

「Just stay put. I’ll give you a Return Scroll when I get there.」

「Having a Return Scroll would make things a lot easier, but can you even get here? The passage is completely blocked by Rock Spiders now.」

「We’ll deal with that later. There’s a bit of a problem over on my side, so I’m gonna hang up first.」

Notes:

1] So the side dishes part is a pun because the Chinese slang for "noob” is the same character as vegetable/side dish. Nie Yan is basically saying that, even if they send more people, they’re all noobs and are going to be food (equipment dropped) for him.

Chapter 24 – Rock Spider Cave

Nie Yan hung up the call. Gradually his body became more and more transparent until he completely blended in with the dense green thickets that surrounded him. He carefully observed the players who were constantly passing by.

Several of these players ran straight past Nie Yan, yet not a single one noticed his presence.

"I couldn’t find him. Where the hell could he have gone?”

"Forget about it. He’s probably already escaped by now,” the Berserker named Lei Zi suggested. A slight fear still lingered in his mind, urging him to leave. After all, ever since Nie Yan had appeared they were always the ones being attacked, never the ones attacking. By now the number of dead on their side totalled five people, yet they weren’t even able to touch a single hair on their opponent’s body. He was an extremely dangerous individual, and it definitely wasn’t worth the risk to continue chasing him down like this. What if they were unable to catch him and were killed instead?

"What about that Arcane Mage, Yao Zi?”

"We chased him into the Rock Spider Cavern. When that Thief Nie Yan appeared we were called over to help catch him, so we couldn’t chase that Arcane Mage any longer. But don’t worry, I aggroed a bunch of Rock Spiders and lured them near the passage, so I reckon he won’t be getting out anytime soon.”

"Hang on, I think we should continue searching for that Thief. His Stealth should be coming to an end soon, and he’s definitely still in this area!” the Fighter said, unwilling to give up the search. How could he just allow Nie Yan to escape?

Nie Yan locked his gaze on the Berserker who only had forty-five percent health remaining. As the Berserker had just been in combat, he didn’t have the time to sit down and recover his health. In addition, the system still considered him to be in a state of combat, which meant that his natural health recovery would be slowed considerably. Though his nearby guildmates gave him a sense of relief, he still kept a tight grip on the Basic Health Potion he was hiding in his left hand .

Yet there was one other reason why nobody was restoring their health: the Fighter wouldn’t allow it. He was hoping that their low health would lure Nie Yan out into the open.

Even though they couldn’t see Nie Yan, his mere existence forced them to remain cautious.

The Berserker also had a Silencing Paladin at full health by his side. The two of them began walking in Nie Yan’s direction.

Steadily, they drew closer and closer to where Nie Yan was hiding, yet they still didn’t discover him. It was starting to look like the two would walk right into him.

If an enemy were to make contact with a Thief under the effects of Stealth, the skill would immediately come to an end.

Nie Yan focused his eyes on the Berserker’s throat, waited for the right moment, and then pounced. Vital Strike! The dagger slashed across the Berserker’s neck, sending blood gushing out.

−51

"He’s here!” the Berserker cried out in alarm. He quickly retreated back and drank the Basic Health Potion that he had in his hand.

However, how could Nie Yan let this Berserker get away? He lunged forward and stabbed his dagger into the Berserker’s chest, then followed up with Lacerate. His dagger ruthlessly cut into his opponent’s flesh. The Berserker’s health, which just been replenished, was once again depleted.

Now the Berserker was at low health and suffering from the bleed effect of Lacerate.

"You’re courting death!” Nie Yan’s movements were so quick that the nearby Paladin had only now reacted. He charged towards Nie Yan and slashed down with his sword, which was burning with a radiant splendor.

Nie Yan had planned on continuing to pursue the Berserker, but the Paladin coming up from behind forced him to change his plans.

Nie Yan’s max health wasn’t very high, so he didn’t dare neglect the oncoming attack. Without a further thought, he dodged to the side, avoiding the blow.

The Paladin quickly put himself between Nie Yan and the Berserker, saving his teammate’s life.

"Where is he!?”

"He’s over there!”

All of the ten or so members of the Radiant Sacred Flame guild who were in the surrounding area came rushing over. Several of them shot spells in Nie Yan’s direction.

When Nie Yan looked at his current situation, he had no choice but to forget about killing the Berserker. Instead of continuing his pursuit, he rolled to the side and dodged the incoming spells. By the time he stood up, the Berserker had already run away.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Nie Yan’s location was bombarded with spells. Most of them missed their target and harmlessly exploded off the surrounding trees.

However one of them managed to hit Nie Yan.

−23

With the nimbleness of a hare, Nie Yan madly dashed through the thickets and quickly put more than twenty meters between himself and the Mages behind. He would soon be out of their attack range.

At this moment, the Berserker who thought he was a safe distance away from the combat was actually not all that safe.

"Dammit, I’m bleeding!” the Berserker gloomily cursed. His Basic Health Potion was still on cooldown, so he had to resort to drinking a Basic Recovery Potion. However not even the healing from the potion could overcome the constant damage from bleeding.

−5, +3, −5, +3, −5

In the end, his struggle was futile. Five seconds after drinking the potion, the Berserker’s health fell to zero and he died.

With his death, Nie Yan had taken out yet another one of the Radiant Sacred Flame guild’s members!

However the Berserker suffered a bit of injustice in his death. Unlike the others who died in combat, he just watched as his own health bled out until he died.

The Fighter felt a slight chill run down his spine. This Thief by the name of Nie Yan (Nirvana Flame) truly was just too terrifying! They had no way of restraining him. The Fighter picked up the equipment that the Berserker dropped—a Bronze-grade piece of armour. Thankfully for them, it didn’t end up in Nie Yan’s hands.

Though Nie Yan had taken out one of his opponents he wasn’t out of danger just yet. Up ahead, a Battle Thief and a Paladin blocked his way forward.

Meanwhile, several spells were being launched at him from behind.

Seeing this, Nie Yan hurriedly applied a bandage to himself. +20, +20, +20

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」−23, −22, −20 A bombardment of spells smashed into Nie Yan, interrupting the healing from his bandages.

Nie Yan lowered his head and glanced at his health bar—seventeen health remaining. While doing this he also sucked in his stomach and made some slight maneuvers, causing two attacks to pass through empty air. The Paladin’s greatsword had just barely grazed Nie Yan’s cheek as it streaked by, and the Battle Thief’s dagger had harmlessly cut into the air where his stomach had been moments prior.

What mattered most in a direct confrontation such as this one was who had sharper eyes and quicker hands.

This was because these confrontations would finish in mere seconds.

Though in this confrontation, it was evident that Nie Yan’s skills were much higher.

He broke through the blockade that the Battle Thief and Paladin had formed and disappeared into the thickets. In doing so he had put even more space between himself and his opponents.

"Damn, this bastard’s fast!”

"Fuck! We let him escape again!”

They had been unable to gain any sort of advantage against Nie Yan, even when engaging him in close combat. In the end he escaped after taking the Berserker’s life, putting the total number of dead to six. One after another, the members of the Radiant Sacred Flame guild were being killed off by Nie Yan.

"Forget it. Let’s just head back,” the Fighter suggested. Unexpectedly, he no longer wished to pursue such an abnormal person like Nie Yan any further.

Everyone who heard this looked at each other with gloomy expressions.

"Alright…”

A hint of helplessness could be heard in their tone. Nie Yan had already successfully escaped, so what else could they do?

Thus, the players from the Radiant Sacred Flame guild gathered into groups and departed. While leaving they didn’t dare move more than two meters away from their teammates, as they were still fearful that Nie Yan might suddenly emerge from hiding again.

「I killed another one of their members; a Berserker this time. Also their group has just left,」Nie Yan informed Tang Yao.

Despite being encircled by over ten people, Nie Yan was still able to kill one of their members and then successfully escape. What kind of unimaginably impressive feat was this? Tang Yao burned with excitement as he thought about it. He felt it was a pity that he had chosen to be an Arcane Mage instead of a Thief.

「Brother! You should continue taking care of me in the future!」Tang Yao laughed happily. The tree that he could rely on for shade was truly refreshing.

「No problem,」Nie Yan replied straightforwardly. Just as distance determined the stamina of a horse, time would also reveal a person’s true nature. When Nie Yan was at his lowest in his past life, he watched as people deserted him left and right. It was then that he finally understood what it truly meant to have a brother. Brothers would always put each other first. Naturally, he would do the same for Tang Yao.

After the players from the Radiant Sacred Flame guild left, Nie Yan made his way over to the cliff face where the Rock Spider Cave was located.

The cave entrance was well hidden and emanated a serene darkness. Who knew where it would lead to? Inside, long strands of silk hung from the cave walls and stalagmites above. This silk resembled a veil of vines as it hid the interior of the cave from view.

This was a Level 5 area. The number of players who were able to train in this area were few.

"Rock Spider Cave huh… this place is pretty good,” Nie Yan muttered to himself as he recollected all the information from his past life regarding the cave.

Brushing away the webs outside, Nie Yan made his way into the cave. As he went deeper, the floor became slightly muddy and the main entrance began branching off into numerous narrow pathways.

Every single one of the Rock Spiders in this area were Level 5 monsters. If he were to face them one on one, then perhaps he would be able to handle them. However, in the event that he encountered more than one, he could only flee for his life.

「Scritch! Scritch!」Sharp cries could be heard reverberating from the depths of the cave until they finally faded away.

All that remained was an eerie chill from the occasional gust of cold wind that blew in from the depths of the cave.

「Tell me your coordinates,」Nie Yan said through the voice call.

「352.238.235. Be careful though, there’s over ten Rock Spiders blocking the way here. Are you sure you can reach me?」

「I won’t know if I don’t try.」Nie Yan glanced at his current coordinates and found that he wasn’t far from Tang Yao. After finishing his conversation, he continued to carefully move through the tunnels.

「Scritch! Scritch!」Nie Yan heard a sharp cry echo out from just an earshot away. A nearby Rock Spider had climbed down from the walls and pounced at him.

Nie Yan hurriedly moved backwards after noticing that the spider had launched itself at him. After avoiding the pounce, Nie Yan then stepped forward and retaliated with Concussive Blow.

The Rock Spider sunk into a dazed state.

Rock Spider: Level 5

Health: 108/130

Using the momentum from his previous attack, Nie Yan followed up with several more strikes. In addition, he also used Assassinate, Lacerate, and Vital Strike.

The Rock Spider continuously threw itself at Nie Yan and attacked. It was two levels higher than him, and thus its damage was fairly high. Every attack that hit dealt at least thirty damage to him.

Nie Yan started falling back while still keeping the Rock Spider within his attack range. As he retreated, he would repeatedly stab his dagger into the spider. After twenty seconds of fighting like this, the spider collapsed on the ground and let out a miserable shriek.

Nie Yan used this short respite to glance at his health bar. He only had around twenty percent remaining. It appeared even a single Rock Spider was still a danger to him. However there was one upside to fighting them: Rock Spiders granted a great deal of experience upon death. Each spider gave two hundred and eighty experience. The amount alone was quite generous.

The only downside was that no useful drops came from these Rock Spiders.

Nie Yan sat down to rest and then ate some bread. Slowly but surely, his health recovered to full and all his skills came off cooldown.

With his health recovered and skills once again ready for use, Nie Yan stood up and continued advancing into the darkness of the cave. Up ahead, he noticed three Rock Spiders moving about. After observing the location of each spider, Nie Yan took out his crossbow. He moved close to the nearby wall and aimed at the closest Rock Spider.

「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」A line of bolts pierced through the air as they shot out towards their target.

−5, −3, −5

Three damage values floated upward above the spider’s head.

After taking the hits, the spider rushed over to where Nie Yan was hiding.「Scritch! Scritch!」It let out a furious shriek as it pounced towards the one who had injured it.

With this, Nie Yan had succeeded in drawing out a single Rock Spider without alerting its companions. When the spider neared his location, he drew his dagger and rushed out to greet it. The two engaged in close combat, with Nie Yan dishing out consecutive attacks. As they fought, numerous damage values appeared one after another above the spider’s head.

Within twenty seconds, the Rock Spider was dead. Surprisingly, this spider had dropped something. Nie Yan walked over and picked up the loot: a single copper…

After waiting for his health to recover, Nie Yan used his crossbow to draw out the other spiders and kill them one by one, just as he had earlier.

Using this tactic, he continued to make his way forward. By the time he finally arrived at Tang Yao’s coordinates, several more spiders had died by his hands. Up ahead there was a wide area where many tunnels intersected. In that area no less than ten Rock Spiders could be seen wandering around.

Nie Yan didn’t immediately rush in; instead he just observed the surroundings. It seemed as though passing through this area safely would be quite difficult. Especially considering that he might draw out more than one spider if he were to use his crossbow like before.

Two of them, huh… Can’t say for sure if I’ll be able to deal with them, Nie Yan thought to himself. He did have one plan in mind, but it required the use of one of his bandages. There was a problem with this plan though: he didn’t have many bandages left. Not to mention that a single Intermediate Combat Bandage would cost him upwards of twenty coppers in materials. An average person would be hard-pressed to use even a single one due to the high cost.

Chapter 25 – Silver Chest

Numerous spiders had converged within the wide space where the tunnels intersected. They were constantly patrolling the area, which meant that their positions were ever-changing.

Nie Yan patiently waited for an opportunity to arise. He didn’t need to wait long; about half a minute later, the spiders began congregating towards the center. It was then that Nie Yan noticed there was one lone spider that had lagged behind. It loitered off to the side, not too far from where he was.

Nie Yan’s eyes lit up; this was his chance! There was no time to lose. He raised his crossbow, aimed at the lone spider, and fired.

「Pa! Pa! Pa!」Three crossbow bolts lodged themselves into their target, enraging it. The spider immediately turned to face its aggressor and charged.

Fortunately, none of the other spiders followed, thus, Nie Yan welcomed its assault with open arms.

When their skirmish reached its conclusion, the spider fell to the ground, dead. Nie Yan walked over to its corpse and picked up the single piece of equipment it dropped as loot: a White-grade Level 5 Dark Leather Thief Tunic.

The drop rates for equipment were extremely low regardless of which profession it belonged to, to the extent that prices for equipment always remained high. For instance, if this leather tunic were to be placed on the marketplace, it would sell for at least six or seven coppers.

Nie Yan tossed the leather tunic into his knapsack, then went back to waiting for another opportunity.

Within the span of roughly six minutes, he had drawn out and killed another three spiders. Afterward, Nie Yan tallied up the remaining monsters and found that there were still twelve remaining.

Unfortunately, these spiders were clumped too closely to be drawn out one at a time.

Nie Yan searched for quite some time but was unable to find a suitable position to repeat his earlier tactics.

Hmm… this seems to be the best position, though it’s still a bit lacking. I suppose I’ll give it a shot from here, though things might get a little dangerous.

Nie Yan raised his crossbow once more and fired. Subsequently, three bolts were sent piercing through the air.

−5, −5, −5

These bolts struck the body of a nearby Rock Spider.「Scritch! Scritch!」The spider furiously cried out as it charged towards the one who had harmed it. Unlike the previous spiders he had lured, however, this one was being followed closely from behind by another.

I aggroed two of them… Nie Yan’s heart tightened as he made a hasty retreat back to one of the narrow tunnels within the cave. The narrowness of this passage meant there would be no room for two spiders to move side by side.

When they drew close enough, Nie Yan pulled out his dagger. He directly engaged the Rock Spider he had aggroed first and unleashed a continuous chain of attack upon it.

The spider repeatedly lunged at Nie Yan. One after another, a line of damage values floated up above Nie Yan’s head as they exchanged blows.

Ninety-two percent, eighty-seven percent, seventy-two percent… Slowly but surely, Nie Yan’s health continued to fall.

While in combat, Nie Yan made sure to maintain awareness of both his surroundings and the positioning of his footsteps. Currently, the only spider capable of attacking him in the narrow tunnel was the one he aggroed first. As for its partner, who had closely followed from behind, it could do nothing more than cry out helplessly.

The spider met its end when Nie Yan finally finished it off with Vital Strike. He glanced at his health bar—around a quarter of his health remained—then quickly retreated back from his current position

Almost immediately after the first spider was killed, its ally who had been helplessly crying from behind lunged forward.

Seeing this, Nie Yan hastened his retreat and began applying a Combat Bandage.

+20… +20… +20…

With each passing second, his health was being restored by a large amount.

The Rock Spider repeatedly lunged at Nie Yan as the latter dodged and leaped back in retreat. However, he soon reached an impasse. Approximately five meters behind him, there was another spider. If Nie Yan were to continue moving like he was, then it would undoubtedly be aggroed. Thus, retreating was no longer an option. By this time, his health had been restored to eighty percent, so he raised his dagger and ran forward to face the spider head-on.

The two parties finally met and clashed. Unfortunately, all of Nie Yan’s skills had yet to come off cooldown. Met with such a situation, all he could do was lash out with regular stabs and slashes.

After evading the spider’s lunge, Nie Yan would step forward and counter with successive attacks.

Under the barrage of violent attacks from the spider, Nie Yan’s health was quickly dropping. Whereas the spider currently had over sixty percent of its health remaining, Nie Yan only had a third left. In the end, the damage that could be dealt with regular attacks was rather limited. After all, Thieves were a profession that relied heavily on their skills to deal damage.

Twenty seconds later…

Assassinate, Lacerate, and Vital Strike had finally come off cooldown.

For Nie Yan, this was undoubtedly a great boon.

Not even a moment later, the Rock Spider came leaping forward while baring its fangs.

This is my chance!

Nie Yan slipped his dagger past the spider’s legs and aimed directly for its head—all while it was still leaping through the air. After his dagger was implanted deeply within the spider’s eye, Nie Yan used the momentum to ruthlessly slash outwards, causing a thick green liquid to ooze from its mutilated head.

Despite this, the Rock Spider still managed to use one of its legs to pierce through Nie Yan’s shoulder, dealing thirty-three damage and sending a number floating above his head.

Nie Yan quickly glanced at his health bar and found that he had a little over a tenth of his health remaining.

That was dangerous!

+30

He had hastily pulled out a Basic Health Potion and gulped down its contents. His last hit with Vital Strike had taken out thirty-nine points from the spider’s health, but the fight still wasn’t over. The Rock Spider dashed towards Nie Yan with the intent of ramming into him.

When the two collided, the spider crashed into Nie Yan’s chest and dealt thirty-five damage to him.

After receiving the blow, Nie Yan quickly retreated back several steps.

The Rock Spider turned its body to face where its opponent had retreated.

Nie Yan swept his eyes over the spider’s health bar and noticed it that only had fifteen health remaining. In comparison, after drinking the Basic Health Potion and taking the spider’s attack directly, he barely had a tenth of his health left. Right now if one of the spider’s attacks were to even slightly graze him, then he would likely meet his end.

He quickly took several more steps back as the spider lunged in pursuit.

If he were to engage this spider, and if their battle was to be anything like the last, then it would be a mutually assured destruction.

−5… −5…

As the spider pounced forward, two damage values popped up above its head one after another.

In its final moments, the spiders raised its forelimbs and attempted to stab Nie Yan as its lumbering body descended forward.

Nie Yan instantly reacted and dodged the spider’s final attack by rolling.「Crash!」The spider’s body smashed into the ground beside him, creating a large pit in the earth.

If he had been just a millisecond too slow, then he would’ve been struck by that attack. Nie Yan broke out into a cold sweat as he thought of how he had just narrowly escaped death.

−5

Finally, the spider’s health had been bled dry. The legs that had been struggling to get up earlier suddenly lost all their ability to support the main body, causing the spider to collapse to the ground.

「System: You’ve gained 280 experience points.」

The second Rock Spider had finally met its end… using this short respite, Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. Using both arms to support himself, he pushed his body off the ground and propped himself up against the cave wall. Soon, his health gradually started to recover.

Pitifully, this spider hadn’t dropped even a single item upon death. What’s worse was that he had been forced to expend a Combat Bandage against a common mob like this Rock Spider. The cost of crafting a single bandage was such that the payout of this battle wasn’t worth his efforts.

After a few moments of rest, his health was at last fully restored. That was just too dangerous… If I’m going to lure out more Rock Spiders, then I should definitely avoid aggroing more than one of them at a time.

Nie Yan picked himself up off the ground and walked over to the intersection. There was a lot more space to maneuver there now, as only ten spiders remained.

However, these ten spiders were moving together in groups of two or three, which made it incredibly difficult for Nie Yan to find an opportunity to strike.

At least there’s more room to move around now… I should be able to use Stealth to make my way through here. At Stealth’s current level, I should be able to pass within a meter of these spiders without being detected.

Gradually, Nie Yan’s body became increasingly transparent until it completely blended in with the darkness of the cave. Shortly after, he began to slowly make his way forward.

As he moved, Nie Yan spotted three spiders approaching him from behind. One was off to his left, about three meters away. The other two were off to his right, about five meters away.

Nie Yan carefully observed the positions of each spider and determined their patrol routes as he continued moving ahead.

Suddenly, two spiders crawled until they were just two meters away from his current position. Seeing this, Nie Yan quickly halted his footsteps. After a short period of time, the two spiders slowly moved on without having noticed his presence.

While Nie Yan was moving forward, he suddenly happened to spot something over in the corner of the room. Nestled between several large rocks was a single chest that faintly glowed with a silver light.

The rocks had obstructed his line of view, thus he was only able to see the edge of the silver chest.

Son of a b*tch… they really hid it well.

Unexpectedly, it’s a silver treasure chest! Nie Yan’s heart rate involuntarily sped up.

At the same time, three spiders abruptly halted their movements and looked around.

These actions were akin to a bucket of cold water being dumped over his head, causing him to immediately calm down. Right now, it was still too soon to get excited. The duration of Stealth was finite, and he couldn’t afford the luxury of spending the time to open the chest. Thus, he was forced to give up on the chest and leave it for another time.

Nie Yan maintained his breathing,

Having not discovered anything, the three spiders resumed their patrols and crawled further and further away.

Nie Yan carefully crept his way around the remaining spiders until finally making it out of danger. He breathed a sigh of relief. This kind of work definitely wasn’t suited for an average person.

After proceeding forward for a while longer, Nie Yan glanced at his coordinates. Finally, I’m here!

"Tang Yao, where are you?”

The next moment, a figure slowly emerged from the nearby shadows. Who knew what hole this guy had deeply burrowed himself into? By the time he finally crawled out, his body was completely covered in dirt.

"Haha, not bad… you hid yourself pretty well,” Nie Yan said with a smile.

Tang Yao patted the dirt off his body and gloomily replied, "Don’t say anymore… Anyways, there were so many Rock Spiders over there. How’d you manage to get through?”

"Stealth,” Nie Yan answered back.

‘You can even do that?” Tang Yao’s mind went blank for a moment. That intersection was littered with Rock Spiders. How the hell could a Thief Stealth their way through that? It was an incredibly difficult task to pull off!

Chapter 26 – Locked Chest

"Why wouldn’t I be able to?” Nie Yan chuckled as he sent Tang Yao a trade request. After the latter accepted, he placed the Fire Chaser set and a single Return Scroll inside the trade window.

"Y-you’re giving all of this to me?” Tang Yao stared out with a blank face. He never thought the Fire Chaser set would have such high property bonuses.

"I got these off of Dian Cang when they dropped from his corpse. There was a staff among those items as well, but it’s not suited for you. Anyways, take this Fire Chaser set with you. As for the Return Scroll… don’t use it just yet, I want you to stay here with me for a bit,” Nie Yan replied. He and Tang Yao were brothers who had known each other since childhood. To put it simply, compared to their friendship, this Fire Chaser set didn’t amount to much.

"Mhmm… alright. I guess I can’t refuse.” A hint of anticipation flashed through Tang Yao’s eyes.

After donning the Fire Chaser set, Tang Yao’s outer appearance improved significantly. If he were to go out now, he would undoubtedly attract many women.

"What’s your magic damage at now?” Nie Yan asked.

"Fifty.” To Tang Yao, this amount was something he couldn’t even imagine reaching in the past.

"Not bad, you should be able to run some of the harder dungeons and quests with that much. Though it seems your current weapon is still a bit lacking. You should try and find yourself a better one when you return to town,” Nie Yan suggested. Tang Yao receiving this Fire Chaser set for free so suddenly was tantamount to Nie Yan helping him reach the Heavens with a single step. The path he would need to walk in the future had become a lot shorter.

Tang Yao kept gazing at the current equipment he was wearing, seemingly unable to stop himself from admiring it.

"Let’s stay here and train for a bit. There’s a silver treasure chest up ahead and I want you to tag along and help me retrieve it. Here, I’ll make the party.” With how high Tang Yao’s damage was now, killing Rock Spiders in this cave would be a piece of cake.

There was a treasure chest just waiting to be opened. If he didn’t retrieve whatever was inside today, then he wouldn’t be able to sleep soundly at night.

"Silver chest, where!?” Tang Yao began burning with excitement. Up until now, he had only ever managed to find and open a single chest, not to mention, it was only a common white one. He had never even seen a silver chest before, let alone seen one.

"Let’s clear out those Rock Spiders back at that intersection first,” Nie Yan replied. Now, with Tang Yao’s assistance, there would be a lot less pressure on him when dealing with two Rock Spiders. Even three Rock Spiders might not even pose a challenge.

After arriving at the intersection, Nie Yan took out his crossbow and loaded it. Then he took aim at a nearby spider and fired, sending three bolts flying out of the crossbow in quick succession.

「Pa! Pa! Pa!」He ended up aggroing two Rock Spiders with his attack—the one that was hit and its companion in tow. Nie Yan positioned himself in the front while Tang Yao brandished his staff and released an Arcane Fireball and Arcane Blaze from the rear. Every spell he launched would deal over thirty or so damage. Occasionally, he would even score a critical hit, causing two fifties to appear.

"They’re two levels above me, yet I’m able to deal this kind of damage…?” Tang Yao exclaimed while seemingly in a daze. His own damage output had shocked him.

Under the combined efforts of their attacks, the two spiders collapsed on the ground by the time Nie Yan’s health had fallen to around fifty percent.

Afterward, the two victors took the time to rest up. While Nie Yan sat down and recovered his health, Tang Yao took out some Spring Water and used it to replenish his mana.

"What’s your experience at?” Nie Yan asked as he stood up, his health having fully recovered.

"Level 3, 56%. How about you?” Tang Yao replied. He had played for over a week to get to this level.

"Level 3, 9%.” Leveling in Conviction was extremely difficult. Each level required an insane amount of experience to level up. Considering that he had just started playing a few days ago, his leveling speed was fast enough to frighten someone. Not even two days had passed and he was already Level 3. If word were to get out, it would definitely frighten many people.

While they chatted, Nie Yan used his crossbow to lure out another two spiders and killed them. Repeating this tactic, the entire area was soon completely cleared of monsters.

Nie Yan bent down and picked up an item that had dropped from the last Rock Spider. It was a Charge skill book for Warriors. Hmm… The market price for a Charge skill book should be around twenty some coppers right now.

Indeed, the drop rate in a Level 5 area is much higher compared to the low-level ones.

"What’d it drop?”

"A Charge skill book.”

Tang Yao waved his hands and said, "I’m pretty satisfied with just this Fire Chaser set, so you can take all the drops. Besides, I won’t need to start looking for new equipment until I reach Level 5.”

To Nie Yan, however, a single skill book wasn’t of much value either. In the end, he didn’t even try to argue with Tang Yao and threw the Charge skill book into his knapsack.

Since the two of them were in a party, they had to share the experience gained through combat. Thanks to Tang Yao’s high damage, however, their pace had sped up significantly. Therefore they were gaining experience at a much faster rate than when they were by themselves, which made up for the fact that it was being shared.

With the spiders all cleared out, Nie Yan walked over to where he had spotted the chest earlier.

As he neared its location, he discovered many strange engravings and patterns etched into the top of the chest. These designs were extremely elaborate. In addition, there was a lock on this chest that kept it firmly sealed.

"Damn, I haven’t learned the Lockpicking yet.” Lockpicking was a skill that could only be learned after reaching Level 5. Not to mention, the skill book that taught it was extremely expensive as well. And since this was a Level 5 map, a locked chest appearing wouldn’t be unexpected.

"Well, what are we going to do then?” Tang Yao asked. This was the first time he had ever come across a silver chest, and it was going to end with this kind of outcome?

"Let’s leave it for now and try to get to Level 5 as quickly as possible. Who knows? By that time, that chest might still be here,” Nie Yan helplessly replied.

Just as Nie Yan and Tang Yao were preparing to leave and go back to training, a nearby boulder suddenly began trembling.

"W-what’s that?” Tang Yao asked after being startled.

The trembling boulder was quite large,roughly twice the size of an ordinary Rock Spider, and had a hard and coarse surface. Had it not been trembling, it would’ve perfectly blended in with the numerous other boulders that were strewn about the area.

Abruptly, eight legs extended out of this ‘boulder’ as it stood up. Once it was fully upright, it gradually opened its eyes, revealing eight mossy green lights.「Scritch! Scritch!」It let out a shrill cry. The boulder was actually a Rock Spider!

"It’s a Leader-class Rock Spider!” Nie Yan’s heart tightened. He immediately entered stealth and made his way around it, positioning himself behind its back.

Elite Rock Spider: Level 5

Leader-class Monster

Health: 180/180

The spider glanced at its surrounds and quickly locked its gaze onto Tang Yao’s position.

Tang Yao looked back at the spider and saw his own image being reflected in its eyes. This, combined with the spider’s sinister appearance, was especially terrifying to him. He immediately turned back and began to retreat.

"What are we gonna do!? This is a Level 5 Leader-class Rock Spider!” Tang Yao nervously exclaimed. The strongest mob he’d ever encountered up until now was a measly Level 3 Leader-class. Not to mention, this was his first time entering a Level 5 area and unexpectedly, he had already come across such a powerful opponent.

"Kill it! Blast it with magic!” Nie Yan answered back. It was far more dangerous to try and run instead of fighting it. They would most definitely die while trying to escape. In addition, there was also the possibility of aggroing other spiders while one the run. As for escaping with a Return Scroll, it required twenty seconds to activate and would cancel upon being hit, which meant that it was out of the question as well. Under these circumstances, they were better off fighting it.

Would the two of them even be able to kill a Level 5 Leader-class monster? Tang Yao was skeptical.

"Make sure you get far away from it, at least twenty meters. Then find a narrow tunnel and bunker down inside. Don’t run too far in, though, otherwise you might aggro some more spiders!” Nie Yan warned. Tang Yao was still a novice and entrusting him with such a dangerous task would be difficult.

In this situation, Nie Yan was perfectly safe and could escape at any time. As for Tang Yao, however, Nie Yan couldn’t guarantee his survival if he were to fight.

Thus, they could only resign themselves to fate.

「Scritch! Scritch!」The Rock Spider furiously cried out as it charged towards Tang Yao.

"Oh… for fucks sake!” Tang Yao hurriedly sped up his pace. While running, he followed Nie Yan’s advice and fired an Arcane Fireball at it.

「Bang!」The fireball exploded when it crashed into the spider’s body and dealt eighteen damage, causing a damage value to float above its head.

Its defense was absurd! Fire magic was supposed to deal bonus damage to Rock Spiders, but even so, the damage was still just too low!

However, this was to be expected. It was a Leader-class monster after all, so the damage was still alright. There’s my chance! Nie Yan’s eyes lit up as he struck the back of the Rock Spider with a Smothering Strike.

The spider trembled and stopped in place.

It’s only going to be stunned three seconds!

Normally, Smothering Strike would daze an enemy for six seconds, but this Rock Spider was a Leader-class monster! It had a certain resistance to crowd control effects. Thus, Nie Yan’s control skills were only half as effective against it. Regardless, these three seconds were still more than enough!

"Hit it! Don’t just stand there and watch!” Nie Yan shouted.

Upon hearing Nie Yan, Tang Yao immediately cast Arcane Blaze.「Boom!」The fiery blaze exploded when it hit the spider’s body.

When the spider woke from its dazed state, Nie Yan took the initiative and struck out with Assassinate. After using his dagger to stab into its fleshy abdomen, he followed through with Lacerate and slashed outward.

His attacked opened up a gaping hole on the spider’s underside where a thick green liquid began oozing out.

Even though Nie Yan had begun attacking, the spider was still aggroed onto Tang Yao. After coming out of its dazed state, it continued its pursuit.

Seeing this, Tang Yao rapidly retreated into a narrow passage.「Bam!」The spider’s immense body rammed itself into the opening of the passage, but couldn’t make it in. The surrounding walls trembled from this, causing several rocks to break from the ceiling and come crashing down to the ground.

「Scritch! Scritch!」The spider cried out furiously as it tried to squeeze its massive body into the passage.

"Come and see how this elder will take care of you!” After realizing the spider couldn’t enter, Tang Yao suddenly became much more courageous. He brandished his staff and fired off an Arcane Missile, then followed up with an Arcane Fireball. "Dammit! Arcane Missile is only dealing half as much damage as an Arcane Fireball.”

The cooldown for Arcane Missile was very short because it was a regular spell. The casting time was quite short as well, requiring only a single second. Meanwhile, Arcane Fireball had a ten-second cooldown and required three seconds to cast. So it was impossible for him to continuously cast Arcane Fireball.

As Tang Yao fired off spells, the Rock Spider continued to unceasingly ram itself into the entrance of the passageway, causing the walls on both sides to shake. Soon cracks began emerging in the walls, and the ceiling of the passageway gradually began to show signs of a possible collapse.

Chapter 27 – Meteor

Not only was Tang Yao the first one to attack the Leader class Rock Spider, but he was also the one putting out the most damage. It was because of this that the spider’s aggro had been firmly placed on him. Meanwhile, the spider had completely ignored Nie Yan who was attacking it with a combination of skills, leaving the latter behind as it continued pursuing Tang Yao. Nie Yan took advantage of the current situation and, while the spider was still distracted by Tang Yao, fished out the vial of poison within his knapsack and used it to coat his dagger.

Five seconds later, he finished applying the poison. He approached the spider from the rear and stabbed his dagger into its abdomen while using Vital Strike.

−10% Defense

−52

The Rock Spider became poisoned and a status debuff was applied.

Additionally, Nie Yan’s Vital Strike was a critical hit and dealt quite a bit of damage!

「Scritch! Scritch!」The spider shrieked out in pain. It switched its focus to Nie Yan and pounced towards him.

The spider’s sudden change in targets caught Nie Yan off guard, forcing him to hastily fall back.

−78

Despite his attempts to flee, however, the Rock Spider’s attack still managed to connect—draining the larger half of his health. Seeing his health bar quickly deplete, Nie Yan didn’t dare to be careless. He immediately fished out a Basic Health Potion and downed it, then rolled away and began retreating.

The spider followed in pursuit.

With the spider’s attention elsewhere, Tang Yao was free to fire off a salvo of spells. He sent off Arcane Missile, Arcane Blaze and Arcane Fireball in quick succession.

"I’m going to be out of mana soon…” Tang Yao glanced at his health and mana bars and found that he had roughly a quarter of his mana remaining. His mana expenditure was too ferocious, there was simply no chance his natural regeneration could keep up.

"Do you have any Mana Potions?” Nie Yan asked.

"I have a Basic Mana Potion.”

"Then hurry up and drink it. We’ll deal with it later,” Nie Yan instructed. When he turned back to face the Rock Spider, he found that it had already neared his position. In response, he brandished his dagger and struck out with Concussive Blow, forcing the charging spider to abruptly halt its movements. Nie Yan took advantage of this and put some more space between himself and the spider.

Even though the spider had been struck by Concussive Blow, it still managed to land an attack during the exchange. Nie Yan glanced at his health bar and found that roughly an eighth remained. Seeing this, he hurriedly used a Combat Bandage on himself.

+20… +20… +20…

During all this, Tang Yao had fished out a bottle filled with a blue liquid from his knapsack and drank it. Drinking the potion actually gave him a slight heartache; not because of the potion itself, but because that single bottle of blue liquid was worth ten coppers. To him, it was a life-saving treasure, one that he wouldn’t use even in dire circumstances.

Tang Yao’s mana was instantly restored to ninety percent. With his mana now replenished, he unleashed several spells in succession. Each and everyone of them exploded on contact, dealing a high amount of damage.

Before two seconds had even passed, the Rock Spider woke from its dazed state. Upon waking, it immediately abandoned its attempt to pursue Nie Yan and instead rushed towards Tang Yao.

Its aggro had shifted once again.

"Keep at it! It’s almost dead!” Nie Yan shouted. Once his health was fully restored from the Combat Bandages, he rushed to the spider’s side once again.

The damage He and Tang Yao were dealing was by no means low. Even though their opponent was a Level 5 Leader-class monster, it was still unable to withstand this kind of assault. By now, it only had a little over ten percent of its health remaining.

「Scritch! Scritch!」The spider cried out manically as its entire body suddenly turned a shade of crimson red.

"Not good! This son of a b*tch became enraged. Keep your distance and be careful of its attacks,” Nie Yan nervously shouted.

Even though Tang Yao still didn’t understand what was going on, he followed Nie Yan’s instructions regardless and began hastily retreating while continuing to cast spells.

During his retreat, a spike jutted out from the ground below and pierced towards him.

Fortunately, Tang Yao was still moving when this rock spike emerged, and as such, it only managed to barely graze him. However, this slight scratch still dealt thirty-two damage to his health.

If this rock spike had hit Tang Yao directly, Nie Yan estimated that he would’ve lost at least two-thirds of his health.

The attack nearly frightened Tang Yao to death, but the fact that he survived made him rejoice inside.

"Keep running and don’t stop. Oh, and make sure to avoid stepping on any areas where you see the ground trembling or cracking!” Nie Yan shouted. If Tang Yao paused for even a moment, then he would meet his end.

Sure enough, as soon as Nie Yan finished talking, more rock spikes began jutting out from the ground. Tang Yao listened to Nie Yan’s advice and paid close attention to the earth beneath his feet, occasionally dodging from side to side. Even so, aside from the first rock spike, not a single one managed to hit him.

Tang Yao couldn’t help but wonder how Nie Yan discovered this method for dodging the rock spikes. Could it be that he had slain a Leader-class Rock Spider in the past?

In the end, he put this thought in the back of his head and concentrated solely on evading the rock spikes erupting beneath his feet. He would occasionally see an opportunity to attack with a spell or two, but he never had the time to act.

The spider seemed to become even more enraged as it watched attack after attack miss. It began to unceasingly ram itself into the tunnel walls in anger. Suddenly…「Crash!!」The walls finally crumbled and collapsed. The spider climbed over the pile of rubble and rushed inside the tunnel, pouncing towards Tang Yao.

"Run quickly!” Nie Yan shouted.

"I can’t, there’s another Rock Spider behind me! If I run any further I’ll end up aggroing it!” Tang Yao nervously called out as he looked back at the spider’s immense body which was fast approaching.

Nie Yan looked at the spider’s heath bar. Five percent… it only had a sliver of life left!

"It’s fine! Keep running!” Nie Yan shouted as he checked his skill bar. By now, several of his skills had come off cooldown.

He chased after the spider and arrived near its rear.

Assassinate! Lacerate!

−2, −3

It still has two percent remaining!

Vital Strike!

Nie Yan lunged forward and pierced his dagger into the spider’s abdomen.

「Scritch! Scritch!」The spider let out a miserable shriek as it fell to the ground with a heavy crash. The impact made the entire cave tremble and shake.

"We finally killed it.” Nie Yan finally relaxed as he breathed a sigh of relief. He walked over to the Rock Spider’s corpse and picked up the loot.

"Hey, over here! I’ve still got one chasing me!!” Tang Yao ran over to Nie Yan with a smaller Rock Spider in tow him. When he was evading the Leader class Rock Spider just a moment ago, he was unable to avoid alerting one of the spiders in the area. Thankfully it was only a common monster.

Tang Yao ran behind Nie Yan and let the latter hold back the spider while he cast spells from the back.

The two made short work of the spider, and it soon collapsed on the floor.

"My God… I’m going to die of exhaustion.” Tang panted as he propped himself up against a nearby wall and began to slowly recover his health and mana. How they ever managed to kill this Leader-class Rock Spider, which was two levels above them, was beyond him. Nonetheless, it was most likely his greatest achievement since starting the game, "You know… I think I’ve just realised how awesome I actually am.”

Nie Yan took out the two items that the Leader-class Rock Spider had dropped: a single skill book and a silver white key.

Skill Book: Meteor

Skill Description: Beckon forth meteors to smite your enemies.

Required: One syllable, three gestures, and one talisman.

Skill Attribute: (Beginner) Summon five meteors. Each meteor deals five bonus damage; ten points of burn damage in a five-by-five meter area.

Skill Cooldown: 120 s

User Restriction: Elementalist, Arcane Mage; can only be learned by the Righteous Faction that protects the light.

This was an uncommon Arcane Mage skill book and an extremely rare one at that. At the Beginner level, it could summon blazing fireballs that would rain down from the sky like meteors. Each fireball could strike five targets within a designated area simultaneously. At later levels, it would become a powerful area-wide spell.

"Even something like this can drop…? You lucky son of a b*tch.” Nie Yan was almost speechless. The Meteor skill was exceedingly rare, as it could only be found in Level 1 to 30 areas where Rum Spiders, Rock Spiders, and Flame Spiders spawned. Moreover, it would only drop from Leader-class or higher versions of said monsters. What’s worse was that the drop rate for this skill wasn’t more than one in ten thousand. With the current level of the majority of the player base, this skill would be priceless in the marketplace. They really did meet with an unexpected success today. As for the rare drop, it was most likely due to killing a Leader-class monster that was two levels higher than them.

"What did it drop?” Tang Yao asked in surprise.

"Looks like your luck isn’t half-bad today. It dropped a Meteor skill book. At the Beginner level, it serves as an unparalleled area of effect skill, dealing high damage in a small area. At the later levels, it becomes a pretty decent mobbing skill.” Nie Yan felt a slight hint of envy as he summarized the skill to Tang Yao. An Arcane Mage acquiring Meteor during the first two weeks of the game… This truly was too much of a blessing.

"Really?” Tang Yao suddenly stood up in surprise. "Let me see!”

"It’s not bad. You can use it. But compared to Templar magic, Giant magic, or Dragon magic, it’s still somewhat lacking.” Nie Yan threw the Meteor skill book over to Tang Yao and then looked at the other item that had dropped.

Silver Key: Used to open Level 0–20 treasure chests that are Silver or lower.

Uses remaining: 3/3

"What’s Templar magic and Dragon magic?”

"You’ll find out in the future. For now just take this Meteor skill book; I’ll be taking the key,” Nie Yan replied. He and Tang Yao would both be getting the items most useful for themselves. Nevertheless, the key was still better in Nie Yan’s hands, because only he would be able to get the most value out of it. Not to mention that, with this key, he could now finally open that locked silver treasure chest.

"If that’s the case, I won’t be polite!” Tang Yao went ahead and learned Meteor. Afterwards, when he read the skill’s description, he felt extremely satisfied. He had been thoroughly depressed due to being pursued by the Radiant Sacred Flame guild all day. Who would’ve guessed that Nie Yan’s arrival would’ve completely reversed his dire situation, turning all of his sorrows into joy in the process.

Chapter 28 – Ring Of Woven Silk

Nie Yan walked over to the silver treasure chest and began unlocking it with the Silver Key.

「System: Opening treasure chest… Estimated Completion: 20%… 50%…」

「Click!」The chest was unlocked.

He glanced at the key which now had its durability reduced from three to two. Not bad… I can still use this two more times. Nie Yan threw the key into his knapsack and then started to feel around the inside of the chest. Eventually, he grasped an item; it was small, round, and felt smooth inside his hand. It’s a ring! Nie Yan’s surprise echoed in his thoughts as he fished out the item from the chest.

The band had an ashy gray colour and he found it difficult to discern what material it was crafted from. Upon the setting attached to one side of the band sat an opaque white jewel adorned at the very center. Engraved on this opaque white jewel was the image of a spider. Despite its small size, the engraving was vivid and lifelike. It made it appear as though a jade white spider truly did exist within this jewel.

Ring of Woven Silk

Properties: Unidentified

"It’s a Ring of Woven Silk!” Nie Yan gasped in surprise.

The Ring of Woven Silk was a Bronze-tier accessory that could only be found in areas where spider type monsters spawned. Moreover, it was a ring that retained its usefulness all the way up to Level 60. This was due to the ring’s unique properties; it could shoot out a tough resilient thread of spider silk that adhered to most surfaces and could extend up to ten feet in length. In essence, it was the perfect treasure for scaling or jumping over obstacles such as rooftops, walls, ledges, or trees.

"What’s a Ring of Woven Silk?” Tang Yao asked in bewilderment.

Nie Yan faintly smiled and replied, "Just look at the craftsmanship. It should be at least a Silver-tier accessory.”

Although the properties of this ring were yet to be appraised, he was able to discern the grade of equipment like this just by glancing at the name.

"Oh… so it was a Silver-grade accessory? No wonder you were so excited!” Tang Yao replied as he came to a sudden realization.

From Nie Yan’s perspective, this Ring of Woven Silk was much more valuable than the Meteor skill book. This was because this ring would make him significantly, therefore he would have plenty more options to consider when working towards a specific goal. In his heart, he couldn’t help but think: Now if only I can get a hold of that jewel from the Treant King, then everything will be perfect.

"A friend of mine invited me to run the Treant Forest with her tomorrow and there’s still a few open spots. Do you want to join?”

"Sure, but… would they even agree to have me?” Tang Yao asked in a somewhat anxious tone. He and his friends had wanted to form a team and run a dungeon in the past; however, not a single team wanted them or agreed to let them join.

"No worries, you have me with you after all. Besides, your magic damage is fifty now. Such a high damage Arcane Mage… even if they wanted to find one they wouldn’t be able to. Have some confidence in yourself. You’re my brother after all!” Nie Yan smiled and patted Tang Yao on the shoulder.

"Understood! If you have any more advice to give, then please let me know now. Whatever you tell me, I’ll practice it. I don’t believe there’s anything I can’t learn!” After listening to Nie Yan’s words, Tang Yao was in high spirits after feeling touch by Nie Yan’s words.

"Well, I’ve already told you all that you need to know in regards to improving your skills. The most crucial aspect now is whether you’ve practiced enough or not. As long as you practice, improve your reaction time, and put in the effort to avoid making any large mistakes, you’ll have nothing to worry about. Try finding people to duel with early in the day to improve your skills. When you get to Level 5, I’ll find some people and we’ll form a team to run the Secret Cavern. There I’ll help you grab the Arcane Mage’s Exile Disciple set. I’ll have you so satisfied, you’ll explode from happiness,” Nie Yan said. With him here, it would be difficult for Tang Yao not to become an expert—even if he didn’t want to.

"Really? Then it won’t do if I don’t make an effort!” Tang Yao was now full of motivation. In the past, he felt it didn’t matter how much he practiced his skills because in the end, he would never catch up to the people who were considered elites. However now, after listening to Nie Yan’s words, he felt a bright future lay ahead of him.

Afterward, Nie Yan gave Yao Yao a call through voice chat.

「What do you want?」Yao Yao asked in an annoyed tone. In truth, she was no longer angry at Nie Yan. When she answered the call, however, she pretended to still be angry with him.

「Do you still have any extra spaces for Treant Forest tomorrow?」Nie Yan smiled helplessly.

「Two more open spaces.」

「I have a friend who I want to bring along. Are you guys willing to take him?」

「What level is your friend, hmm? He’s not joining just to leech experience, is he…? Cause if he is, I’ll have to ask my Senior Sister first. Also, what profession does this friend of yours play?」Yao Yao answered in an abrasive tone.

「Arcane Mage.」

「Oh…? What’s his magic damage?」

「Over fifty. To be more accurate, it’s fifty-two.」

「His damage is that high!?」Yao Yao exclaimed in surprise. Her magic damage as a Holy Mage was only at thirty-seven—a number which was considered to be quite high among others at the same level. She never expected that Nie Yan’s friend would possess more magic damage than her, and by such a large margin at that.「Hold on, I’ll go ask my Senior Sister. She’ll most likely agree to it.」

For an Arcane Mage to possess such high magic damage, they definitely must’ve cleared many dungeons in the past. These people were top experts. Even if you found one and begged them to join, they still might not necessarily agree to join you. And now one of these experts has been delivered right to their doorstep. Her Senior Sister would have absolutely no reason to refuse. Normally it would be quite the opposite, with Tang Yao being the one doing the refusing or accepting.

「Alright, go and ask. I’ll be waiting for your reply.」

A few moments later, she sent a reply.「I’ve asked Big Sister Yu Lan. She agreed to let your friend join, so bring him with you when you come tomorrow morning.」

「Mhm… alright.」Nie Yan nodded his head and hung up the call.

「Doot! Doot!」

"Hello? Hello?” Yao Yao still wanted to ask Nie Yan why his friend would even want to join them. From their perspective, this kind of expert wasn’t easy to find, and they definitely weren’t someone who would casually join up with a team like theirs. However, Nie Yan had already hung up on her. The only noise she heard from the call now was the busy signal that signified that the call had ended, which ended up infuriating her to no end as she madly stamped her feet on the ground. "Hanging up on me so quickly… Now that you’ve got an expert by your side, you suddenly think you’re too good for me, is that how it is? Hmph! How infuriating!”

"So, how’d it go? Are they willing to let me join?” Tang Yao asked in an anxious tone as he fiddled with his hands.

Up until now, Tang Yao had always been someone who would join Pick-Up Groups. Occasionally he would join a group and run some common instances with them. However, he had never formed a regular party or team. The teams that were able to run Level 3 or higher instances also tended to be ones with a significant influence among the player base. Not to mention, these teams usually had fixed members. In almost all cases, there was simply no chance for an ordinary player to join. This was because if a team were to accept a weak player, that player would only hold the team back. This was why teams had harsh requirements and were particularly picky when recruiting new members. However, as long as a player met their requirements and joined their ranks, then they would easily become a part of the team. Such recruits would be called upon to join the ranks whenever the team was lacking in members.

Hence why Tang Yao waited with heated expectation when Nie Yan had hung up the call.

As a person who had also been unable to enter an elite team in the past, Nie Yan understood his feelings well. Tang Yao’s eagerness and anticipation made Nie Yan reminisce about when he had first entered a team in the past; he his feelings had been about the same back then as well.

"They agreed. All you need to do is tag along with me tomorrow and you’ll be fine. Your stats alone would make any team eager to have you, so relax. After all, playing an Arcane Mage requires a significant amount of skill.”

"That’s great!” Tan Yao excitedly exclaimed. Tomorrow was going to be his first time running a high-level instance like the Treant Forest. This was an opportunity he had been yearning for even in his dreams. "Are there any requirements to this instance?”

"For this instance, there are no specific requirements for Arcane Mages. Just make sure not to drawn any aggro and you’ll be fine. By the way, Treants have a fairly low resistance against fire magic, so who knows? Maybe you’ll have done the most damage by the end of tomorrow!” Nie Yan said while smiling. Meanwhile, Tang Yao was taking this matter seriously. When he recalled his first time running an instance, he didn’t fare any better…

"Did you bring any Talismans with you?

"I’ve got five.”

"Let’s have a look at Meteor then. Cast the spell for me before we leave here in a bit.”

"Where am I going to cast it?” The surrounding area only had one or two Rock Spiders at most. Using the skill here would be too much of a waste.

"I’ll gather them up, so just get ready!” Nie Yan replied as he ran off deeper into the cave.

"Okay!” Tang Yao fished out a Talisman from his bag. He was filled with anticipation and was quite eager to find out just how powerful his new spell was.

Nie Yan continued running deeper into the cave. Whenever he encountered a Rock Spider, he would attack it once and, instead of tangling with it any further, continue on his way. After these spiders were attacked, they would chase after him. The number of spiders chasing him steadily increased until they began slowing down due to the crowding.

Nie Yan was quite nimble as he moved back and forth through the cave. The mass of twenty plus Rock Spiders following behind him as they cried out made him resemble a train.

Tang Yao was busy tidying up his knapsack when he heard the sound of activity coming from deeper within the cave. When he walked over to take a look, he discovered a deluge of twenty plus spiders surging through the passage. They appeared as though they were going to swallow up everything in their path.

"Oh… my… God…! How did you manage to aggro so many of them!?” Tang Yao cried out in alarm as he turned around and began running for dear life.

Chapter 29 – Book Of Order

「Stop dawdling! Hurry up and cast Meteor already!」Nie Yan pestered through voice chat.

「Meteor takes ten seconds to cast! By the time I finish casting, it’ll already be too late!」Tang Yao anxiously replied. He estimated he would be overrun by spiders before he could even finish casting the spell.

「I don’t care, just start casting! C’mon, hurry up!」

Tang Yao clenched his teeth and unravelled the Talisman. After brandishing his staff, he began casting Meteor. Soon, large amounts of fire essence from the surrounding area began converging at his location.

As the fire essence gathered, the sheer heat from the scorching blaze caused the temperature in the surrounding air to rise.

Tang Yao watched as Nie Yan led the twenty plus Rock Spiders through the passageway and into the cave intersection. As spiders surged into the intersection like a massive wave, Nie Yan ran into to the narrow passage where Tang Yao had retreated. The passage was so narrow that only a single spider managed to squeeze itself through, but in doing so, it blocked off access to the passage for the rest of the spiders behind itself.

"Concussive Blow!” Nie Yan turned around and struck the leading spider in the head, causing it to enter a dazed state and stop the movements of the spiders behind itself.

Eight seconds… seven seconds… six seconds… five seconds…

As time slowly ticked by, the fire essence which was steadily gathering around Tang Yao became increasingly intense.

For the most part, the spells that required a set of syllables to cast were also the ones that had a relatively large area of effect. From Nie Yan’s knowledge and experience, Meteor was the only area of effect spell that Elementalists and Arcane Mages could learn at Level 0, and it was quite efficient at killing many monsters. However, even if you were to gather up a thousand Elementalists and Arcane Mages, you still might not necessarily find one that possessed Meteor.

After three seconds passed, the spider woke from its dazed state and immediately pounced towards Nie Yan. In reaction, Nie Yan raised his dagger and began skirmishing with the Rock Spider. He kept the spider firmly in place and prevented any of its attacks from reaching Tang Yao, so as to avoid interrupting the spell.

Ten seconds—whether this moment was long or short depended on one’s perspective. The truth of the matter, however, was that the moment would simply be over once you counted from one to ten.

While in a trance-like state, Tang Yao raised his staff and chanted lines of strange syllables that even he didn’t know the meaning of. When he finished casting, an enormous fireball fell from above「Boom!」A deafening explosion echoed out as the fireball crashed into the group of spiders. The fireball resembled a heavenly maiden upon impact—scattering fiery blossoms in every direction. These blazing flowers didn’t immediately extinguish upon landing on the ground. Instead, they continued to burn, dealing a fixed amount of damage every second to the spiders that were caught in the explosion.

「Scritch! Scritch!」The twenty plus spiders caught in the explosion were in a state of upheaval as they cried out in agony. No matter what kind of state they were in, however, they were still unable to attack Nie Yan and Tang Yao.

So, he had already calculated everything. No wonder he dared to aggro so many monsters at once.

Nie Yan and Tang Yao were only able to kill monsters like this by taking advantage of the unique topography of this intersection. Attempting to use this tactic and unleash a fireball upon a large group of enemies would’ve been suicidal if they were out in an open field. Normally the destruction caused by Meteor would be extremely limited in narrow spaces such as this. As it turned out, however, the intersection within the cave was quite suitable for casting the spell.

Tang Yao couldn’t help but admire Nie Yan even more. For him to be able to think of a tactic like this…

A second later, another fireball rained down from above and exploded after hitting the ground.

The brilliant flames expanded into the surroundings upon impact.

Three more enormous fireballs subsequently rained from the sky. Of the spiders that had been hit by Meteor, six were directly crushed, sixteen burned to the death from the continuous area of effect burn damage, and the remaining were all dying or near death. The destructive capabilities of Meteor had been clearly displayed before their very eyes.

Tang Yao gazed blankly at the pile of Rock Spider corpses that laid before him. He had singlehandedly caused all this destruction, a realization which hard for him to conceive!

"Nie Yan… did I really do all this?” Tang Yao asked foolishly. Only after looking at the enormous amount of experience, did he finally come to accept it. Just a moment ago, he really was the caster of that formidable Meteor spell.

"What’ve you got that blank look for? Come on, let’s take care of the remaining spiders,” Nie Yan smiled and said.

"I’m out of mana.” Tang Yao gazed at his mana bar that was almost completely bereft of any colour. He still had enough to cast a few Arcane Missiles, but he wouldn’t be able to cast anything like Flame Explosion.

After hearing Tang Yao’s words, Nie Yan recalled something; Meteor was a spell that voraciously consumed mana. That fact that Tang Yao was able to cast it was already quite impressive. Not to mention, he even had a little bit of mana left over to cast other spells!

Besides the mana consumption, Meteor also required Talismans which weren’t cheap either. Therefore, if he was to continue casting this spell while grinding monsters, then Tang Yao would find his funds being quickly eaten away.

Nie Yan pounced towards one of the remaining Rock Spiders and used Vital Strike to kill it. Following this, he and Tang Yao quickly began quickly cleaning up the remaining spiders.

Soon, every single of one of those twenty plus spiders had met their end and collapsed on the floor. Nie Yan walked over to the corpses and gathered up the loot which amounted to a total of three coppers. In the end, not a single piece of equipment had dropped. Nie Yan glanced at his experience bar; it had risen by another three percent after killing so many Rock Spiders.

"We’ve cleared out all the monsters in this area. Let’s head deeper in,” Nie Yan suggested. Mob grinding in such a manner could only be experienced every once in a while, as the monsters wouldn’t respawn fast enough to make it a viable tactic.

"What!? Why are we going even further in?” Tang Yao asked in a surprised manner.

"There’s something I must do deeper in the cave. Besides, the scenery inside this cave is quite mystical,” Nie Yan replied as he smiled mysteriously. Upon arriving inside this cave, Nie Yan had vaguely remembered something unique about it.

There was a spring at the very end of the Rock Spider Cave. Not only was the water in this spring quite deep, but it also contained many strong currents which weaved and intersected with one another underneath the surface. As for why these currents existed, it was because the spring connected to an underground lake. After passing through the lake, you would find yourself arriving at a secluded ravine where all kinds of exotic medicinal herbs grew in large abundance. However, there was something even more valuable inside this ravine. Something which countless players could only yearn for in their dreams; a torn page from the Book of Order.

In the game’s lore, the Book of Order and Book of Chaos were both divine objects which had been handed down since the Era of Shared Governance (873–1235). Even after five or six hundred years had passed, the legend of these two books continued to spread. Their emergence was a mystery, as well as the origins of their author.

Order and Chaos represented the laws of the world.

Each of the two books contained six volumes, thirty-six chapters total. These books represented two distinct and opposing powers which were scattered across the world.

Legend has it that if one were to gather every page and complete the Book of Order, they would be able to revive the God of Order and gain immense power. Moreover, the owner of the Book of Order would become the Supreme Pontiff of the Righteous Faction and control all the Holy Shrines in the continent. On the opposite side of the spectrum, if one were to complete the Book of Chaos, they would gain immense destructive power and become the Ruler of Darkness, arch-nemesis of the owner of the Book of Order.

The Book of Order and the Book of Chaos were both legendary existences.

When the first six-chapter volume emerged, a cinematic played showing the long history of the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire.

The six chapters from the Book of Order were as follows: the Chapter of Justice, the Chapter of Honesty, the Chapter of Courage, the Chapter of Wisdom, the Chapter of Equality, and the Chapter of Freedom.

These six chapters fell in the hands of six people, each of whom were experts that possessed a seat as one of the top hundred members in the Righteous faction. The owners of the Chapter of Justice, the Chapter of Courage, and the Chapter of Wisdom were respectively the first seat, the third seat, and the sixth seat. As such, the correlation between the two caused these chapters from the Book of Order to be viewed as divine existences by the public.

It was correct that each of these chapters from the Book of Order possessed a powerful strength, but the caveat was that they could not be stored in a player’s personal storage. Thus, the player would be forced to carry them on person. When the owner of a chapter was killed by another player, the chapter would always drop, unless the player possessed all six chapters. Due to this, the fighting and killing instigated by the Book of Order was almost never ending.

The Chapter of Justice, Chapter of Courage, and Chapter of Wisdom eventually fell into the hands of the leaders of three super guilds. The owners of the remaining chapters also gained formidable power, but they had to always keep a low profile whenever they set out. They would also try to avoid using their chapter’s powers in the presence of other players. Even so, Nie Yan had still witnessed the powerful might of these chapters from the Book of Order in videos before.

The holder of the Chapter of Justice was the president of Angel Corp, a Demon Hunter from the Elf race—Angyi Tianshi. He once confronted and defeated over one hundred hostile enemies by summoning sixteen Righteous Knights. One person had defeated over a hundred players. This event that later became a legend.

The holder of the Chapter of Wisdom was Holy Judgement’s guild leader, a Holy Mage—Emperor Killer. He had withstood the invasion of the Undead. During which he used the Forbidden Magic Resplendent Brilliance and eliminated three hundred liches. Thus creating another legend.

The holder of the Chapter of Courage was the guild leader of the Holy Empire Guild, a Berserker—Sleepy Fox. During a guild war, he rushed deep into the enemy ranks all by himself, killing an enemy with every few steps and personally beheading over two hundred of them. He had slaughtered everything before him.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but burn with excitement when he thought of this.

Chapter 30 – Search For The Chapter Of Courage

The Book of Order truly was an item of immense temptation. And now, in his new life, Nie Yan had the chance to gather all six chapters of the first volume. There was only one problem, he didn’t know if he could.

Nie Yan knew the whereabouts of the six chapters in the first volume quite clearly. As for the other thirty chapters that were scattered across the world, he roughly knew most of their locations! The one he was currently searching for was the third chapter of the Book of Order—the Chapter of Courage.

"What are we going to do when we get further in?”

"Just follow me to the end of the cave. After that you can head back and continue training. The place I’m planning to go to is somewhere you’re not capable of reaching,” Nie Yan replied. His destination would be somewhat difficult to reach even for a Thief like himself. Thus, there was no need to consider an Arcane Mage like Tang Yao.

"Is it dangerous?” Tang Yao curiously asked.

"Yes, very.” Nie Yan nodded and replied.

"If it’s that dangerous, then why do you want to go there?” Tang Yao asked while deep in confusion.

"There’s a certain item there I want to retrieve.” Nie Yan laughed as he responded. The game had just recently come out, and players like Tang Yao wouldn’t know just how alluring a single chapter from the Book of Order was.

"I see.” Tang Yao slowly nodded his head. He still didn’t understand why Nie Yan wanted to go despite being aware of the danger. However, it seemed Nie Yan already had a plan, so he didn’t inquire any further.

After finishing their conversation, the two headed deeper into the cave. The passages were extremely narrow, which massively reduced Meteor’s effectiveness. As a result, the two had to resort to using ordinary methods to clear the way as they slowly advanced.

Rock Spiders fell one after another. Under Nie Yan’s guidance, Tang Yao felt his skills improve significantly.

"You’re making rapid progress. Keep practicing like this and you’ll find yourself becoming an expert in no time. Oh yeah, since we’ll be heading to a dungeon tomorrow, let me give you a rundown on a few of the basics. The key aspects are aggro management and positioning. The dungeon we’re running tomorrow is going to be a bit difficult, so it’s best that you take caution, especially since we’re dealing with the Treant King,” Nie Yan said while facing Tang Yao. He went on and passed down all his knowledge regarding Arcane Mages and dungeoneering to Tang Yao. From time to time, he would also explain a few of the key parts of the Treant Forest.

Tang Yao keenly listened to every word he said. Before meeting Nie Yan, he could’ve been considered an average player. Neither his skills nor his equipment would’ve been considered anything special. In the end, he could only continue lagging behind others in the lower levels. But right now he was wearing the Fire Chaser Set, which meant that his equipment was among the very best. Not only did this great success make him feel self-conscious, but it also put an immense pressure on him. In order to live up to his own expectations, Tang Yao began to work as hard as an actual expert would. In truth, Tang Yao’s aptitude was pretty decent. Though it couldn’t be considered at the apex, he would still be considered quite skilled. After receiving Ni Yan’s pointers, however, he completely transformed. Even if he wasn’t regarded as an expert, in respect to his skills, it was evident that he knew how to improve.

"What else do I have to take note of?”

"The most important stats for an Arcane Mage are Intelligence, Awareness, and Focus. Among these three, Intelligence is the primary stat and undoubtedly the most important. Now this leaves the remaining two, Awareness and Focus, which are auxiliary stats. Awareness improves your survivability when confronting enemies that are able to Stealth, whereas Focus makes it harder for your spells to be interrupted. Hence these two stats are extremely important as well. You can’t improve auxiliary stats by leveling up, thus you must rely on passive skills to improve them. So if you want to keep up with others, make sure to possess the relevant passive skills. By the way, if you see any suitable skill books in the future and want to buy them but lack the money, let me know. I’ll help you pay for them,” Nie Yan said.

"Money isn’t something I’m lacking, so you don’t have to do that. I’ll just need to hang around the auction house some more in the future, that’s all,” Tang Yao said as he shook his head. He took all of Nie Yan’s advice to heart.

As the pair neared the end of the cave, the faint sound of running water could be heard.

"Well, now that we’ve reached our destination you should head back. There are three Leader-class Rock Spiders up ahead, and I’m afraid you won’t be able to make it past them,” Nie Yan suggested. In his past life, he had seen a video online about how the Chapter of Courage was found. From this video, he had completely memorized the path to the chapter.

"I see… Well, you be careful then.”

Nie Yan nodded his head. "I’ll call you before heading over to the dungeon tomorrow, so go train and level for now.”

"I’ll be leaving then.” Tang Yao took out the Return Scroll, unravelled it and read it out loud. After twenty seconds, he became a streak of white light and teleported away.

Nie Yan watched as Tang Yao was spirited away, then headed further into the cave.

Originally, he had planned to wait until his level was higher before retrieving any chapters from the Book of Order. At his current level, retrieving the Chapter of Courage would be quite troublesome. Since he was already here, however, he decided that he might as well try it out. After all, if he was successful in obtaining the Chapter of Courage, then it would certainly make it much easier for him to level in the future.

Nie Yan travelled deeper into the cave, where the secret area was located, and hid among the shadows.

After walking for three minutes, he found himself in an open space. Off in the distance, he could see three giant Leader-class Rock Spiders patrolling the area. Even further back, beyond the Rock Spiders, he could see an area entirely composed of water—roughly around two hundred square meters. The water circulated from a narrow channel which eventually led underground. This was the source of running water that he had heard from before.

Three Leader-class Rock Spiders blocked his path to the pond. They frequently moved about in the open space, only stopping in place to scratch their heads with their legs every once in awhile. Nie Yan carefully observed them. He estimated that roughly ten meters lied between him and the water’s edge.

For non-Thief professions, it was absolutely impossible to pass through this area without alerting the Leader-class Rock Spiders. Other professions would have to resort to killing them if they wanted to make it through the area.

I guess there’s no choice but to go in regardless!

Nie Yan understood the risky nature of such a tactic, but he had overcome situations that were several times more dangerous than this one before.

The most alluring characteristic of the Thief profession was the sheer excitement it provided. Thieves did what no other professions dared to do, and in doing so, they experienced the feeling of dancing between life and death.

Perhaps his own nature was one that welcomed risks and dangers.

What mattered most was that Nie Yan enjoyed this feeling. He strived to achieve the impossible and overcome dangerous situations one after another because it was proof of his own ability.

After some quick calculations, he estimated that two and a half meters was the closest he could get to one of the spiders without alerting it.

As long as I’m not within two and a half meters, I should be safe.

Nie Yan entered Stealth and began making his way forward.

The three Leader-class Rock Spiders continued to move about the area, their large eyes constantly reflecting images of their surroundings. Within the area, not a single thing was overlooked under their vigilant watch.

In his past life, a player once calculated the statistics of the various types of monsters. They discovered that among animal type monsters, spider types were ranked number seven when it came to Awareness. To put this into perspective, the number of animal type monsters in the game amounted to approximately six thousand. This alone proved just how high the Awareness of spiders was.

Nie Yan carefully maintained the distance between himself and the Leader-class Rock Spiders. He gradually moved towards the water’s edge while simultaneously controlling his breathing.

Using clock position, the locations of all three spiders were respectively three and a half meters at nine o’clock, five meters at twelve o’clock, and six meters at eleven o’ clock. His body resembled a gecko as he stuck himself to the cave wall and gradually shuffled his way forward.

Every action was made with meticulous care. From the loose stones near the cave wall to the scattered gravel underneath his feet, they were all variables that he had to take into consideration.

Caution was a ship that sailed for ten thousand years; Nie Yan felt he could never be too careful. The six years of experience he had gained in his past life granted him a deep understanding of this kind of reasoning. It was something he truly learned only after experiencing countless bitter lessons. In total, he had died over three hundred outside of instances. Needless to say, the times he died while in them was even more. An expert who had never experienced death was never an expert to begin with.

If one wanted to be looked upon as an expert, then it was absolutely essential to take risks and gain experience in PvP. It was because experience could only be gained in such dangerous situations that death was unavoidable. In the eyes of an expert, players who had never experienced death or only grinded monsters to reach Level 100 were still considered beginners.

It was truly only because of his numerous experiences with death that Nie Yan became a somewhat well-known Great Thief and held the title of Shadow Dancer. The difference between Shadow Dancer and an average Thief was only a single title. At that time, however, only six other people within the entire Atlanta continent held the title of Shadow Dancer.

Chapter 31 – Assassin’s Decree

As Nie Yan moved forward, he gradually came within roughly three meters of one of the nearby Leader-class Rock Spiders. The spider suddenly trembled and turned its gaze towards Nie Yan’s location.

Fortunately, Nie Yan was completely immersed within the darkness of the cave. The shadows here provided him an excellent environment to conceal himself.

Even so, the Rock Spider’s gaze was so intense that is actually appeared to be capable of piercing through the darkness.

The tenseness in his heart reached an extreme as he held his breath and stuck as close to the cave wall as possible.

The spider trembled as it saw a distinct silhouette gradually came into view.「Scritch! Scritch!」It let out a cry and rushed towards its newfound opponent.

Dammit, I’ve been discovered. Nie Yan’s heart sank as he activated a Speed Scroll and sped towards the spring as fast he could.

In that same moment, the two other spiders also took action and attempted to flank Nie Yan.

They blocked off his path while the previous spider attempted to ram him.

Nie Yan bent his knees to their limit and then leapt out of the way of the attacking spider.

His character’s weight load was currently light, thus he had a maximum jumping distance of three meters and jump height of half a meter. In a flash, he leapt out of the Rock Spider’s attack range.

「Boom!」The spider’s immense body rammed into the wall. The impact fractured the wall, sending rubble falling to the ground.

Meanwhile, the other two spiders simultaneously pounced at him from the front and left flank.

However, Nie Yan’s senses were sharp. He quickly went into a roll after landing, avoiding the oncoming charge of both spiders.「Bang!」The two spiders collided with each other, and as a result, they flipped over and sprawled out on their backs.

The three Leader-class Rock Spiders had nearly blocked off all paths of escape with their massive bodies alone.

Nie Yan successfully escaped their encirclement by passing through a small gap between the three spiders, after which he continued running forward. Upon reaching the five-meter mark, he increased his pace even more as he bolted towards the spring.

One of the spiders managed to recover faster than the others and pounced towards Nie Yan. Seeing this, Nie Yan leaped into the air, and with a splash, dove head first into the spring.

The three Rock Spiders hovered around when they arrived at the water’s edge. However, in the end, none of them dared to enter.

It was yet another narrow escape. As Nie Yan dove deeper, he activated the Water Aversion Pearl’s ability.

There was even less light underwater, which meant that his view distance was extremely limited. Meanwhile, the underlying currents posed a huge challenge as they pushed him every which way, making it more difficult to swim. At times they would even forcefully push or pull him away from his destination.

Nie Yan stabilized himself and carefully observed his surroundings. After reclaiming his bearings, he swam forth once more.

There shouldn’t be any monsters here, Nie Yan thought to himself. He swam for another ten minutes before seeing gentle pillars of light shine down through the waters above him.

I remember this place! There’s a treasure chest near this location! Nie Yan thought as he swam through the dark waters at the bottom of the lake. In his previous life, every inch of this area had been thoroughly searched by others. Even the hidden nooks and crannies weren’t exempt from this search. It was because of this that Nie Yan knew there was someone who had found a treasure chest in this location before.

Aside from the water far above, the surrounding region was pitch black. Therefore, Nie Yan could only rely on his sense of touch as he navigated through the area. He felt a slight pain as his feet hit the ground and he came into contact with several protruding rocks; he had reached the lakebed.

Ignoring the pain, Nie Yan continued to fumble his way through the rocks on the lakebed.

He reached his hands into the soft, delicate sand below and searched around. His hands soon came into contact with an object seemingly hidden underneath the lakebed. Immediately he began digging his way through layers upon layers of sand until a faint golden shimmer entered his eyes, causing his pupils to sharply contract.

I struck it rich! It’s a gold treasure chest!

The golden treasure chest emitted a brilliant luster within the darkness of the lakebed. Every inch of its surface was covered with delicate carvings. Although these engravings seemed somewhat worn and aged, it didn’t affect the overall aesthetic of the chest. On the contrary, it gave off the appeal of an artifact with historical value.

What was even more remarkable was a certain symbol on the chest that caught Nie Yan’s eye: a delicate engraving of a wolf. The engraving was roughly the size of an adult’s fist. When Nie Yan looked closely, he could even make out each individual hair on this extremely detailed engraving.

Both equipment and objects within the Atlanta continent were filled with a strong historical value from all eras. Each and every sculpture, painting, handiwork, and weapon carried the historical characteristics of their respective era. Therefore, no matter what decade, century, or era, there would always be relevant research on that certain time period.

With ten full years of experience with this game, Nie Yan had a meticulous understanding of the history behind these engravings, paintings, and so on.

This particular engraving was the symbol of an infamous pirate group that roamed the Sinse Sea Region during the Era of Shared Governance (873–1235). They were an endless headache for the Republic until their legislative body finally decided to act. The Republic dispatched their most elite naval forces to exterminate the pirates. The allied navy formed by the coalition of Humans, Giants, Elves, and Beastmen forced these pirates to flee for their lives. In the end, these pirates were eventually defeated. However, rumors have it that, before the war between the pirates and the Republic broke out, the pirates hid their treasures and scattered them in various locations throughout the continent. In response, the Republic decreed that ownership of the lost treasures would go to whomever finds them. As a result, countless treasure hunting groups were formed in hopes of finding lost treasure. Indeed, many of these lost treasures ended up being found during this time period. However, many remained hidden, lost within the Atlanta continent for centuries.

This golden chest was one such relic left behind from the Era of Shared Governance. The historical value of this ancient chest alone would make historians lose their minds.

Nie Yan only knew that someone from his past life had found a chest in this area. He thought that the treasure chest would just be an ordinary one. Never did he expect that it was actually a golden treasure chest left behind from the Era of Shared Governance. Whoever found the chest must’ve meticulously and deliberately hid the chest’s rank because of this.

Nie Yan opened the chest and reached inside. After feeling around for a bit, he grabbed onto what appeared to be a dagger. When he felt the dagger in his palm, Nie Yan couldn’t suppress the fierce excitement within his heart.

He hastily took the dagger out from the chest and gazed at its properties.

Assassin’s Decree (Dagger)

Properties: Unidentified

As the dagger needed to be appraised, he couldn’t tell what its properties were yet. However, despite having been worn down after sitting here for centuries, the cold glint reflecting off the blade’s edge showed that it was still sharp. This dagger had a unique design, vastly different from a common dagger. The handle was embroidered with various multicoloured jewels, which made it look extremely beautiful. There was also a blood groove on the flat side of the blade, which made the dagger look streamlined and sleek. The tip was not unlike a barb with the blade curving inwards. This dagger looked like it could easily cut through flesh.

Assassin’s Decree? Nie Yan tried to search him mind for any information related to this dagger, but nothing surfaced. He had never come across this dagger before, and thus he was unable to guess its properties. Despite this, he was still able to discern from the design of that dagger alone that it was at least a Gold-tier piece of equipment.

Nie Yan understood just how significant owning a Gold-tier piece of equipment this early in the game’s existence would be. He would have many opportunities in the future which wouldn’t have presented themselves had he not obtained this dagger.

Knowing this, Nie Yan was filled with endless excitement as he stored the dagger into his knapsack. Even if he failed to retrieve the Chapter of Courage this time, this dagger alone would’ve made the trip worthwhile.

According to how the game was designed, it was highly unlikely that two chests of the same quality would appear in the same area. The chances for such a situation to occur were slim to none. Thus Nie Yan didn’t bother searching the lakebed anymore and instead began swimming up towards the surface where rays of light gently shone down into the water. As he neared the surface, the light became increasingly intense.「Splash!」When Nie Yan’s head broke through the surface of the water, he found himself in an extremely small spring.

He surveyed his surroundings and discovered a beautiful valley. The clear spring he found himself in flowed down the valley gulch and into a flourishing forest below. An abundance of grass grew freely in the rest of the valley, resembling a thick green carpet which covered everything aside from the forest itself. Various kinds of wild flowers were littered across the area. These flowers gave off a delicate fragrance which wafted throughout the region.

Surrounding the valley were steep green mountains that acted as a natural barrier from the outside world. These mountains were home to a diverse range of vegetation, which meant this area was most likely sealed off from the rest of the world.

A short while later, Nie Yan was now walking through the deeper parts of the forest below. The dense foliage blocked off most of the sunlight from above, however, some light still managed to pass through the tender green leaves and shine down upon the earth below. It was because of this, the forest was not dark, but instead tinted a shade of viridian which gave off a mysterious yet warming sensation.

As Nie Yan walked through the forest, the surroundings made it seem as though he had entered a completely different world.

Chapter 32 – The Third Chapter Of The Book Of Order

Nie Yan swept his gaze over every nook and cranny in the forest. When he spotted a certain shrub at the base of the mountain, he was incapable of looking away.

This particular shrub reached up to his knees and had many branches. It’s appearance was not unlike a jade sculpture—pure, translucent, and radiating with vibrant colours. Tucked away within the shrub’s leaves was a single scarlet red fruit that resembled a cherry—tender and glistening.

This is a Red Urnberry! I didn’t think a plant like this could appear in such a low-level area!

Nie Yan’s memories were still quite clear; during the latter years of his past life, the selling price of a single Red Urnberry reached up to several hundred gold. Moreover, each and every Red Urnberry held different propertied.

Nie Yan walked towards the steep mountain wall and carefully harvested the Red Urnberry from the shrub. Fortunately he had already learned the gatherer skill, otherwise he would’ve had no chance retrieving this fruit—an event which would’ve been truly unfortunate.

Red Urnberry (Rare Fruit)

Description: The player who eats this fruit will gain +2 Willpower permanently.

Restriction: Each player may only consume this fruit up to three times. Further consumption will not yield any additional benefits.

Considering the Red Urnberry’s inherent rarity, and the fact that it could also permanently increase a player’s stats, it was no wonder this fruit could sell for upwards of several hundred gold.

Nie Yan contemplated for a while before finally deciding to eat the fruit. After all, this was a rare opportunity. Besides, this fruit was meant to be eaten; only a fool would actually sell it.

An additional two Willpower was quite decent. Willpower was a stat that reduced the effectiveness of debuffs (such as sickness, poison, curses, resistance debuffs, etc) on a player. It didn’t matter if it was PvP or PvE, Willpower was a stat that would always be useful. After all, the number of mobs and classes that could cast debuffs on a player were more than just a few.

Nie Yan put the fruit into his mouth. It melted almost instantaneously and became warm current that flowed directly to his stomach.

He took a quick glance at his Willpower stat. It had gone from zero to two.

Having two willpower at such a low level was rather useful. After eating the Red Urnberry, he didn’t dally any further and headed deeper into the forest.

After walking down a path hidden in the grass for roughly five minutes, he finally entered the deeper part of the forest. Here the trees were more lush and exuberant, but the lighting was much dimmer due to the light having to penetrate through much more vegetation to reach the ground below.

The forest floor was covered in a layer of dead leaves that stretched as far as the eye could see.

Within the dark forest, a single bright ray of light could be seen shining through the dense foliage. The absence of any other lights only served to make it all the more prominent and clear.

At the centre of the ray of light was a meter high cylindrical column that seemed to have been carved out of stone. Placed atop this column was a thick book which seemed to have been eroded by the elements. Its worn state seemed to be a testament to the book’s long and distant history.

This book was, according to Nie Yan’s memories, aptly named "Annal of the Era of Shared Governance.” Its contents detailed all of the historical events that occurred during the Era of Shared Governance.

It was within this thick history book that the Chapter of Courage was hidden.

Nie Yan walked up to the column and extended his right hand towards the cover of the book. The moment his fingers made contact, the book opened up by itself and began rapidly flipping through its pages.

Suddenly, a narration began playing.

「Within this secret forest, you’ve discovered a thick book that chronicles the history of an ancient era. Upon placing your hand on the book, you suddenly feel a mysterious force enter your body. "What’s this?” you inquire to yourself while brimming with curiosity. Shortly after, the pages in the book begin turning by themselves, revealing mysterious silver leafed characters. From these characters, you learn this "Annals of the Era of Shared Governance” was written by a combination of three languages: the Kasate Giant language, Ancient Universal language, and Draconic language. You record this newfound knowledge in your head.」

「System: You’ve learned the language of the Kasate Giants.」

「System: You’ve learned the language of the Dragons.」

「System: You’ve learned the ancient language of the common people.」

「System: You’ve received the "Annals of the Era of Shared Governance.”」

The Atlanta continent contained over three hundred languages. Before, Nie Yan had only learned the current common language, which was the language of the Humans. Yet suddenly, he had learned three new languages. He quickly glanced over his information page and realised it had a new section titled "Annals of the Era of Shared Governance.” Within this section was a description of every notable event that had occurred during that era.

This sort of data was invaluable. In the future, it could help Nie Yan accomplish many tasks and identify various items.

This "Annals of the Era of Shared Governance” will save me a lot of time and trouble when completing quests related to that era, Nie Yan couldn’t help but think to himself.

「"Eh?” Looking closely at the book, you are surprised to discover a separate piece of paper tucked away between the pages of the book. Numerous rows of mysterious, dark golden characters dotted this page. As you look over the lines of gibberish, you slowly realise that these characters belong to the language of the Kasate Giants and spell out "Chapter of Courage”.」

I’ve finally found it! Nie Yan pleasantly thought to himself as he glanced at the chapter’s properties.

Chapter of Courage: The third chapter of the first volume of the Book of Order, an incomplete piece of the legendary book.

Description: Whoever shall possess this chapter will receive the inheritance of the God of Light. Your mission is to spread the glory of light.

Properties: Receive two additional stat points and one skill point every five levels. Focus +15, Willpower +15, Resilience +16, Jump +15, Reflex+15, Speed +16.

Transcendent Insight: Gain the ability to see through your enemies. Allows you to view enemy character information. Also grants the ability to appraise items.

Passive: Awareness +10

Adjudicator of God: When activated, become immune to all magic, gain 500 health, and summon an advanced life-saving shield that absorbs sixty percent of all incoming damage for five minutes. (This skill cannot be used in instances)

Cooldown: 10 days (1/10)

User Restriction: Can only be bound by a member of the Righteous faction who protects the light.

Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player’s inventory.

Nie Yan stared out blankly as his hands began to tremble lightly. He had seen the properties of this chapter on the internet in his past life before, but now, as he held the chapter in his hands, he experienced an entirely different feeling. He reckoned this Adjudicator of God was the very skill the guild leader of Holy Empire, Sleepy Fox, had used to slaughter his way through two hundred players in his past life. Not to mention the skill even made the player immune to every single type of magic for five minutes. What kind of overpowered ability was this? What was even more disgusting was the fact that Sleepy Fox already had top-tier equipment in the first place. If you added immunity to all magic, five hundred health, and a shield that absorbed sixty percent of all damage, then his strength would undoubtedly become excessive beyond reason. To meet him on the battlefield would simply be meeting a god of death. However, the cooldown period of the skill was still quite high. After all, it would take ten days before the skill could be activated again, which was why most players wouldn’t rashly use the skill unless they were at a critical juncture.

And that was just the Adjudicator of God skill. The chapter’s other properties were quite powerful as well, especially the one that allowed a player to gain an additional two stat points and one skill point every five levels. Nie Yan was practically bursting with happiness. From his knowledge, the only professions that had a bonus that came close to this were Shamans, Paladins, and Dark Knights, who also gained two additional stat points every five levels. Due to their profession’s characteristics, however, they had to evenly distribute their stats between strength and intellect, because those professions would practically be useless if only focused on a single stat. However, a Thief was different. On top of the five stat points and one skill point he would gain every five levels from Level 0 to 30, he would now also gain two additional stat points and one skill point every five levels thanks to the Chapter of Courage. Nie Yan understood what this meant.

If you included the other stat bonuses and properties of the chapter, Nie Yan had effectively leapt up to become one of the top experts, if not the strongest player in the game. This chapter from the Book of Order clearly lived up to its name as a legendary existence.

After placing the Chapter of Courage into his knapsack, Nie Yan glanced at his stat page and found that several of his stats had risen by a large amount.

When Adjudicator of God came off cooldown, he would become unequalled in terms of combat strength.

However, from now on, he would have to take extra caution whenever he was killing mobs or fighting players. This was because the Chapter of Courage would immediately drop from his body if he died. The only way to prevent this was to find the other five chapters and complete the first volume of the Book of Order.

Despite having finally retrieved the Chapter of Courage, Nie Yan didn’t relax or loosen his guard at all. After storing the chapter in his knapsack, he took out a Return Scroll and began channelling it.

「System: Unable to activate Return Scroll from this location.」

Chapter 33 – The Boss Emerges: Guardian Of Order

Alarms rang out in Nie Yan’s mind. He understood well what this announcement signified: he was currently in a sealed region. How could the game allow him to get the Chapter of Courage so easily?

It was reasonable to assume that the chapter would have a guardian protecting it, which was a boss known as the Guardian of Order. However, up until now, why had it still not made an appearance?

In the past, Nie Yan had merely skimmed through the video regarding the chapter. There was one thing, however, that remained deeply engraved in his mind: the imposing figure of the Guardian of Order.

As Nie Yan thought about this, the ground beneath his feet began to violently tremble and crack. It was as though something below was attempting to force its way up. Nie Yan glanced at the path he took to get here, but found it had been obstructed by falling boulders.

Shit… I have to make a run for it! He looked around but there wasn’t even a single exit anywhere in sight. With no other options left, he began heading towards the mountain.

Upon arrival, he found a slope that didn’t seem too steep and began nimbly climbing his way up.

Many trees grew atop the mountain slope, giving him plenty of handholds.

While climbing, Nie Yan suddenly recalled something, Oh right, the Ring of Woven Silk! Up until now, he still hadn’t found an opportunity to appraise the ring. However now, with Transcendent Insight, appraising it would be a cinch. He took the ring out from his knapsack and appraised it.

Ring of Woven Silk (Bronze): Unique Accessory

Level Requirement: Level 0

Properties: Release a thread of silk that can adhere to certain surfaces. The thread can extend up to five meters in length and has a tensile strength of two hundred pounds. (Cooldown: 20 seconds)

Weight: 1 lb

User Restriction: Can be equipped by all factions.

After equipping the Ring of Woven Silk, he wanted to appraise Assassin’s Decree as well. At that very moment, however, a powerful gust of heat was expelled from the valley below as the ground shattered into countless pieces. Like a volcanic eruption, countless boulders and rock fragments were sent flying into the air. Many of the trees in the valley had been uprooted and were strewn across the area, while others had spontaneously combusted—a scene of utter and absolute destruction.

At the very centre of the valley, a horrifying crater of lava emerged and swallowed up everything within its reach

A dormant giant, awoken from its slumber, pulled itself up from deep beneath the ground. It was the servant of God and possessed the power to bestow divine judgement.

I don’t have much time… The suddenness of it all prevented Nie Yan from appraising the dagger, as he had to divert his attention back to scaling the mountain. The burst of heat had caught him off guard and he nearly slipped and fell back down to the valley below.

Standing atop one of the many trees growing horizontally on the mountainside, Nie Yan glanced upwards, looking for the next handhold. After spotting one about two meters away, he leapt high up into the air and grabbed onto a protruding rock, then clambered up. With this, he had made some more progress scaling the mountain.

Meanwhile, back at the valley, a giant head emerged from the cracks in the earth, followed by immense arms, a torso, and legs.

From head to toe, the giant was roughly sixty meters in height. Two wings covered in pitch black feathers sprouted from its back. In its hand was a thirty-meter-long crystal scepter. When it emerged from the earth, its entire body ignited with a blazing red aura, causing a whirlwind of scorching heat to rise and form at the centre of the valley.

With Transcendent Insight, Nie Yan could see the giant’s stats.

Guardian of Order (Low-level Intelligence): Level 100

Health: 200,000/200,000

The giant spoke with a bellowing voice that stretched far into the valley. Though whatever he was saying sounded like gibberish, it was actually the languages of the Dragons. His words roughly translated to "Light and darkness alternate in cycles. I am the protector of God’s will and guard his Order. If there is a sinful person who desires to purloin the chapter from the Book of Order, then they shall receive divine judgement!”

Legends say that the Guardians were birthed from the merging of giant and dragon. Viewed as freaks of nature, they were banished into the deep wilderness where they eventually received God’s baptism. Entrusted with a task from God, they protect the various chapters scattered across the world.

The Guardian’s gaze swept across its surroundings, finally coming to rest on a figure that had almost climbed to the mountain’s peak. With a single beat of its massive wings, the giant’s immense body rapidly rose up into the air.

The giant bellowed, "Black Flame Tempest!”

As if answering the giant’s call, a scorching black cloud of flame emerged out of thin air and began rapidly congealing into a sphere. Afterwards, the ball of black flame shot towards Nie Yan. 「BOOM!」The Black Flame Tempest exploded on the mountainside, scattering pitch black fireballs in every direction and setting the entire area ablaze.

Not far from Levin Hills, in a small forest town by the name of Link, the earth violently shook and trembled. Players who had gathered at the town were left frightened and anxious due to the sudden commotion.

"What’s going on!?”

"Look over there, where the mountains are!”

The entirety of the mountain’s peak had been engulfed in a cloud of black flame. And within those black flames emerged the immense silhouette of a figure hovering in the air. It was as though an apostle of destruction had arrived from the gates of hell itself.

Soon, a disaster warning was issued in Link.

「Warning: A monster of the Dragon race has emerged south of Link. We advise all nearby players to depart the area immediately!」

After a few brief moments, a flash of brilliant light was emitted from the transport point in Link. A group of fully armed NPC soldiers wearing bright silver armour had arrived in town. On the chest of each of these soldiers was a medal engraved with the insignia of the Holy Crusaders. The soldiers rapidly assembled in the public square, their numbers reaching an excess of several hundred.

Within the Viridian Empire, there existed two elite armies which were considered to be the empire’s most powerful fighting forces. The first belonged to the Imperial Church and were known as the Holy Crusaders. This army was composed of over five hundred thousand troops and their Commander-in-chief was the Holy Mage, Jebiah the Great. They were tasked with the duty of protecting the entire empire. The second army was the Guardian Legion of the Temple of Light, known as the Temple Guards. They numbered less, at around fifty thousand strong. Unlike the Holy Crusaders, however, their sole duty was to safeguard the Temple of Light and uphold the religion of the entire empire.

These several hundred soldiers who had arrived to guard the town belonged to the Holy Crusaders.

"No wonder, it was a monster from the Dragon race!”

The players vigorously chatted amongst themselves while gazing at the Guardian of Order who was hovering in the sky.

The Dragon race: an existence that was both powerful and distant to mankind. During the Dark Era (−2678–230), dragons had reigned supreme and established a mighty empire on the continent, which enslaved all other races. Eventually, their rule was toppled by the combined alliance of Giants, Humans, Dwarves, Elves, and Beastmen. To prevent facing retaliation from the dragons in the future, the alliance enacted a mass genocide of all dragons throughout the continent. Thus, the former glory of the Dragon race was no more; however, they didn’t simply fade from existence. There were still many dragons scattered across the continent, hidden away in their secluded abodes.

The Viridian Empire had classified the Guardian of Order as a member of the Dragon race. Although they were technically wrong, at least in regards to exterior appearances, there were only minute differences between the two.

With the appearance of the NPCs, the minds of players began working. A monster of the Dragon race had emerged, along with a large number of NPC soldiers. In such a scenario, the two parties were most certainly going to clash, which left the players wondering what sort of profits they could fish out from this spectacle.

Soon the information became widespread, and with it, guilds began appearing one after another through the transport point at Link . The three most prominent guilds were Splendid Temple, Dark Massacre, and Holy Empire. Each of which had sent anywhere from a thousand to over several thousand players.

The equipment the dragon might drop truly represented an irresistible enticement for these guilds.

In just a short period of time, Link had suddenly become armed to the teeth. Even the ballistae in the guard towers were being loaded and prepped.

A few moments earlier…

Nie Yan lifted his head and gazed the immense figure hovering in the sky. The pair of wings on its back were large enough to blot out the entire sun. When the Guardian displayed its might by casting Black Flame Tempest, clouds of black flame emerged and covered the sky, before congealing into a dense fireball. As if it were a meteor, the dense ball of black flame crashed towards Nie Yan, engulfing everything in its path.

The large black fireball exploded upon colliding with the mountain, sending several smaller fireballs scattered across the surroundings. On impact, they smashed boulders to rubble, created deep craters everywhere, and charred the earth black.

Even when faced with such a situation, Nie Yan still didn’t panic. Instead, by relying on his experience, eyesight, and judgement, he remained cool-headed and found a safe place to hide after calculating the fireball’s trajectory. Fortunately, the fireballs weren’t concentrated in a single area, but the explosive power of each individual fireball was still quite a terrifying sight to behold.

Shit… he’s coming down. Nie Yan tilted his head and gazed upward. He saw the Guardian of Order’s immense body descending towards his general location like a hawk swooping down to catch its prey. This creature, which looked like it had come from the deepest layers of hell, definitely wasn’t something he was currently capable of contending with.

Compared to the Guardian, Nie Yan was such a frail existence that even so much as a slight touch from the Guardian of Order could end his life.

Nie Yan didn’t spare a single second as he began rapidly descending the mountain. He made it about half-way before stopping at a steep cliff. As he peered downwards, he noticed it was roughly an eighty- to ninety-meter drop. Taking a quick glance behind, he saw the Guardian fast approaching his location. Without a second thought, he made a leap of faith and jumped off the cliff.

「BOOM!」The Guardian of Order descended onto the cliff where Nie Yan had just been standing moments ago. The impact of his landing shattered the surrounding rocks and boulders.

As Nie Yan fell from the mountain, his speed rapidly increased. He could feel the vegetation growing on the cliffside sweeping past his ear. Occasionally, one or two branches would briefly break his fall, only to immediately snap after bearing the full weight of his impact.

−7, −9, −5…

Each collision caused damage values to appear above his head one after another.

Chapter 34 – The Holy Crusaders

Nie Yan rapidly approached the earth, his body soon to crash into the ground. With his left arm extended, he activated the ability from the Ring of Woven Silk. A web line shot out and adhered to the cliff face between the vegetation, slowly decelerating his descent. The line was tough and resilient and resembled a rubber band as it gradually stretched itself to the limit.

The tension on the web line continuously increased.

The force of Nie Yan’s fall surpassed the silk line’s tensile strength and the line gave out with a snap, taking many of the branches and rubble from the cliff face along with it.

Despite snapping, the web line still managed to significantly slow down his falling speed.

−56

「Thud!」Nie Yan fell onto the ground. Fortunately, the fall damage wasn’t too high and was within the limits of what his health could handle.

In normal circumstances, if a player didn’t have an item such as the Ring of Woven Silk to cushion the fall, they would most certainly die!

Having climbed and fallen over the other side of the mountain, the distance from his current location to Link wasn’t too far off. With safety being his number one priority, Nie Yan entered stealth and activated a Basic Haste Scroll. From a half-withered bush at the base of the mountain, he made a sprint towards Link. The large crowds in the town should offer a little protection.

Having failed its attack, the Guardian of Order beat its wings and hovered in the air. Nie Yan had already escaped the valley by entering Stealth and disappeared without a trace.

After the fall, Nie Yan and the Guardian were more than one hundred meters apart. Even if the level disparity between them was high, it still couldn’t make up for the distance. Hence, even if the Guardian had a clear view of Nie Yan, it would still be unable to see through his Stealth.

With regards to how Stealth detection range was calculated, it depended on level disparity, the Awareness stat, and observation ability. With some rough estimations, Nie Yan was ensured as long as he stood at least one hundred meters from the Guardian, he would be safe from its detection. Even if it was a Level 100 Elite-class, its level, Awareness, and observational abilities couldn’t make up for such a large gap in distance.

Nie Yan turned his head to look back. At this point, the Guardian of Order still hadn’t left the area. Rather, it was heading over in his direction to investigate.

Without delay, Nie Yan held his breath and hid behind a large boulder.

The Guardian beat its wings and flew over. As it hovered in the sky, it investigated the area below it for any signs of movements, but didn’t manage to discover Nie Yan.

The hunter and the hunted: the Guardian of Order was like the eagle in the sky, while Nie Yan was like the prey on the ground.

There was still roughly a kilometer between him and Link. Under the attentive gaze of the Guardian, there was no way for him to safely travel such a large distance.

There’s still another method. I can use the Return Scroll!

It was possible to use the Return Scroll in this location; however, it would take a full twenty seconds to activate. Moreover, when channeling, the scroll would emit a bright light which would definitely attract the Guardian of Order’s attention.

With its flying speed, the Guardian wouldn’t need more than ten second to fly over to Nie Yan and kill him after discovering his location.

As the Guardian gradually descended from the air, the distance between it and Nie Yan became increasingly near.

This’ll be troublesome… Nie Yan anxiously thought. If the Guardian were to enter a range of less than a hundred meters, it was possible for his hiding location to be detected. With every step, danger was slowly approaching.

Since I can’t hide and avoid it, I might as well try fleeing for my life. Only… I’m not sure if I can make the half mile run.

Just as the Guardian prepared to descend onto the ground…「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Three arrows swiftly came flying over, all shot from afar. Each arrow separately aimed for its head, throat, and heart. The Guardian avoided them by flying to the side, causing all three arrows to miss their target.

In the distance, atop a large withered old tree, a tall NPC archer wearing silver plated armour drew his bow.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Another three arrows were fired into the air.

The Guardian of Order let out a hiss. Seemingly resentful of the provocation of these low-level beings, it pounced towards the NPC.

Several soldiers approached the archer in the tree. "Commander Nisode, the defensive perimeter has been built. We’re awaiting further instructions,” reported the several fully equipped soldiers.

"It’s approaching. Withdraw to Link! This foolish dragon will experience the divine judgement of the Holy Crusaders!” Commander Nisode shot a glance at the Guardian of Order speeding towards them in the air. Afterwards, he returned the bow to his back, leapt from the tree, and gracefully landed on the ground.

Under Commander Nicole’s provocations, the Guardian of Order flew over Nie Yan’s head and headed straight for Link.

「System: Level 1 Disaster Warning! Invasion of a dragon!」

The Guardian bellowed in the dragon language, "Blazing Meteor!”

The Guardian brandished its scepter. An enormous meteor formed out of blazing flames fell from the sky and streaked towards Link.

Flames were set ablaze in the sky. The meteor, fifty to sixty meters in size, would most likely engulf the surrounding twenty-five hundred square meters.

"Activate the basic defensive formation!” Commander Nisode climbed up to the tallest tower in Link and issued the order to those below him.

Afterwards, a blue barrier began forming and protected the entire town within it.

「BOOM!」The meteor exploded over the barrier while fire blossoms scattered in all directions. The barrier trembled violently due to the impact. Even all the players within the town could feel the barrier trembling as the remnant heat and fire elements assaulted their senses.

"ATTACK!” Commander Nisode issued out another order from the command tower. Immediately, every ballista within the town aimed at the Guardian of Order and fired.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Countless bolts flew through the air in a densely packed salvo.

Simultaneously, several thousand Archer and Mage players also fired a volley of attacks.

Meanwhile, the Guardian of Order unceasingly fired off its own magic attacks. Under its barrage of attacks, the barrier began showing signs of breaking as cracks appeared everywhere.「BANG!」A loud explosion echoed throughout the town as the barrier was shattered into pieces. With the barrier shattered, the Guardian rushed into the town and descended into the town. With a single step, the Guardian crushed a nearby building, sending smashed tiles, bricks, and other building materials flying everywhere.

The appearance of the Guardian wreaked havoc among the players in the town.

"Holy shit! It’s a Level 100 Elite monster! Fighters, don’t rush forward!”

"Mages! Where are the fucking Mages!? All of you, fire your spells!”

"Shi—fuck, dammit!! All of our attacks are misses! The level gap is too high!”

Panic and confusion spread through the players and the town was in a state of chaos and upheaval. Over ten heavily armoured Holy Crusaders rushed forward to engage the Guardian. Surrounding the Guardian, the soldiers began their assault, but their countless attacks fell short and were the equivalent of raindrops as they landed on the guardian’s body.

The Guardian was glowing red as a flaming aura surged from its scales. It was a terrifying existence which brought about destruction. With every swing of its scepter, a Holy Crusader would be smashed and sent flying. Buildings were crushed or knocked down, and the ground was scorched and charred, leaving a path of ruin wherever it passed.

"By the glory of the Holy Crusaders, my name is Commander Nisode and I will pass divine judgement upon this sinister dragon! Tyrant Impaling Arrow!” With these three words spoken, Commander Nisode placed his hand on the bowstring. He grunted heavily as he pulled back until it reached its maximum draw weight.「BOOM!」He released the bowstring. The arrow fiercely spiralled forward and carried a biting cold rotating energy along with it.「Bang!」The arrow briefly encountered some resistance when it met with the Guardian’s scales only to immediately pierce into and bore its way through the Guardian’s body.

−87829

An unfeasibly high damage value had appeared above the Guardian’s head.

The acute damage made the Guardian of Order release an indignant roar containing its wrath and fury. It raised the immense scepter in its grasp high into the air. The surrounding fire elements along with the smoldering remnants of its previous spells began to gather around and took the shape of an immense rotating pillar of flame.

The fighting in Link became increasingly intense. As for the origin of such this disaster, Nie Yan, he was inwardly rejoicing in his mind. Fortunately, the soldiers from Link led the Guardian of Order away; otherwise, I would have undoubtedly met my end.

Nie Yan was lingering around the outskirts of the town. Under the numerous attacks of the town’s soldiers, the Guardian of Order would soon be unable to resist any longer. He was curious what sort of equipment such a high level monster like the Guardian would drop. As he thought of this, Nie Yan’s mind was full of anticipation. He drew slightly closer to the Guardian at roughly sixty meters away and hid under the cover of a ruined building.

Since there was still a bit of time, Nie Yan took out Assassin’s Decree from his knapsack and decided to appraise it with Transcendent Insight.

Assassin’s Decree (Gold): Secondary Weapon

Level Requirement: 5

Properties: Attack 26–29, Strength +16, Accuracy +12

Attack Speed: 2.5

Weight: 3 lb

User Restriction: Can be equipped by all factions.

It was a secondary weapon and was truly worthy of being Gold-tier—Level 5 with an attack of nearly thirty. He would be able to equip it once he learned Dual Wielding and reached Level 5. His attack would then rise tremendously when he possessed such a powerful weapon. After glancing at its properties, Nie Yan put Assassin’s Decree back into his knapsack.

As for whether the Guardian of Order would drop any equipment, Nie Yan didn’t have high hopes. After all, the Guardian of Order was merely a protector and its existence was simply to safeguard the chapters from the Book of Order. These types of beings frequently dropped no equipment. However, there were naturally always exceptions to these cases.

Chapter 35 – Trip

The chapters from the Book of Order weren’t going to be left in incompetent hands, thus existences such as the Guardians of Order emerged.

The game designers put in such a powerful creature to guard the chapter, yet only gave it low-level intelligence. Therefore, the Guardian of Order only acted by instinct and its aggro system was the same as any other ordinary monster.

Therefore, Commander Nisode’s arrival had saved Nie Yan’s life at the most critical juncture.

There’s actually quite a few people here… Nie Yan swept his gaze over the surrounding environment and noticed many other players eyeing the current battle like tigers watching their prey. The moment the Guardian of Order died, these hundred or so players would all simultaneously take action in an attempt to pilfer whatever equipment that dropped!

There’re so many people here. Even if the equipment does drop, I definitely won’t be able to snatch it. I already got the Chapter of Courage… I should be satisfied with what I have, Nie Yan inwardly contemplated.

He was an easily satisfied person. Thus he never held high hopes when situations occurred where it was certain he would not obtain anything.

Nie Yan focused his gaze after peering past several obstacles and caught sight of a few acquaintances.

Xingzhi Huihuang (Splendid Star): a twenty-something-year-old man with a squarish jawline. He was the guild leader of Splendid Temple. Even though he couldn’t be regarded as handsome, he was still passable in terms of looks. His clean-shaven face gave off a bright and refreshing kind of look. In Nie Yan’s past life, he had friendly interactions with Nie Yan. Having helped Nie Yan on several occasions, he had a reckless personality but valued loyalty and friendship. In turn, Nie Yan had also accompanied him and his friends during several guild expeditions.

Lima Hengdao (Swift Slash): a sloppy looking man and the thirty-six-year-old guild leader of Dark Massacre. According to rumours, he was part of the criminal underworld and had quite a few underlings under his command. His personality was nothing great and on rare occassions would buttheads with Xingzhi Huihuang. As such, Nie Yan himself didn’t have too great of an impression on this person.

Sleepy Fox: a player who was roughly thirty years old. Nie Yan wasn’t too familiar with him nor did they have any sort of relationship. However, as the guild leader of Holy Empire, he was a somewhat well-known name. It was rumoured his prestige within the guild was fairly high—he was capable of leading Holy Empire into becoming one of the top ten largest guilds. This achievement alone was proof of his strength.

He was also the holder of the Chapter of Courage in Nie Yan’s previous life!

Xingzhi Huihuang and his group were lying in wait among the ruined buildings in the west. Lima Hengdao and his group were located in the southwest. Both sides were watching like tigers awaiting their prey, ready to act any moment. On the other hand, Sleepy Fox was located in the east. The corner of his mouth curved into a ridiculing smile as he gazed at the two sides ready to duke it out. He planned to swoop in when both sides were exhausted.

As he watched such a scene unfold, Nie Yan couldn’t help thinking… what if Sleepy Fox were to know he had taken the Chapter of Courage which was supposed to belong to him? What kind of reaction would Sleepy Fox have? Would he grab all his men and unrelentingly chase him down?

"Lima Hengdao, with our Splendid Temple members here, your Dark Massacre guild should just step off to the side. Don’t be so unwilling to accept it. I was the first to reach Level 5 before you. I was also the first to clear the Treant Forest and Blackflame Forest before you. No matter in real life, or in the game, I’ve always been ahead of you!” Xingzhi Huihuang bluntly proclaimed as he stared at Lima Hengdao in an unyielding manner.

Lima Hengdao’s face turned ashen. Xingzhi Huihuang’s words had infuriated him quite a bit. He sneered, "So what if your Splendid Temple guild cleared the Blackflame Forest? Your clear rate was only sixty-eight percent—it’s nothing to brag about. Your guild’s Honour is only higher than ours by two hundred points. Given some time, we’d easily catch up.”

"We’re two hundred points ahead of you right now, but who knows? Maybe by tomorrow, we’ll be ahead by a thousand, then the day after, two thousand. Trying to overtake us? Try again your next life!”

Guild reputation was a representation of a guild’s strength; otherwise, why else would they care about such a tiny gap in Honour points?

"Bastard! You’re looking to die!”

"What’s so terrific about Xinzhi Huihuang and his guild? Come on, let’s kill them!” A member of Dark Massacre passionately shouted from within the group.

"Brat! If you have the guts, then come up here!”

Over at Splendid Temple’s side, their members were itching to go as well. However, neither side made a move and only continued cursing at each other. The main goal of their trip was still to secure the equipment the Guardian of Order might drop.

This equipment was the target of all three guild leaders.

Meanwhile, the Holy Crusaders vehemently resisted the Guardian of Order, not yielding by even a single inch. The archers at the rear continued to fire a rain of arrows with every single one concentrated solely on the Guardian’s body.

The Guardian of Order thundered furiously and cast its magic. The deep and archaic dragon language echoed above Link with spells one after another pouring down like a torrent of raindrops.

"The Guardian of Order doesn’t have much health left! Quick, snatch the equipment!”

No one knew which person shouted those words, but immediately, a deluge of players pounced towards the Guardian of Order.

After Commander Nisode let out an explosive shout, a single arrow shot out from his bow and pierced the Guardian of Order’s shoulder, causing blood to gush out everywhere. The Guardian issued a mournful cry before transforming into white light and vanishing in the air. A single gold piece of armour fell from where it had been.

"It’s the equipment! Get it!” Xingzhi Huihuang coldly shouted.

"Kill whoever manages to snatch the equipment!” The guild leader of Holy Empire, Sleepy Fox, also ordered from the guild chat.

Three to four hundred players pounced from all directions and charged towards the armour that had fallen from the Guardian of Order. Every guild within the game could be seen included in the crowd—an especially chaotic scene to behold.

He never expected the Guardian of Order would actually drop a piece of equipment. Moreover, it appeared the equipment dropped was Gold-tier as well. Seeing this, Nie Yan also charged into the fray. He was already here, so why not give it a try anyway?

A Berserker from Holy Empire had taken the lead by activating Charge which increased his speed by a significant amount. Soon, it appeared as if he were about to snatch the equipment at any moment. However, ten spells immediately came flying over, bombarding his body simultaneously. After being hit by so many spells at once, his body transformed into a beam of white light and vanished.

"Fuck!” Sleepy Fox, seeing the piece of equipment just within his grasp fly away once more, cursed loudly. "Keep fighting!”

The three major guilds still didn’t near the dropped equipment. Instead, they began fighting and fired barrages of spells at one another. Seven or so players approached the dropped equipment and were immediately met with an explosion of spells that turned them into ashes.

Nie Yan was roughly twenty meters from the dropped equipment with a member from Dark Massacre, a Fighter, obstructing the path ahead. The Fighter noticed Nie Yan and came forward to intercept him.

With his body lowered, Nie Yan evaded and weaved his body past the Fighter’s attack.

The Fighter’s body shot into empty space. He stared out blankly before turning his head. By that time, Nie Yan had already run far away.

"CHARGE!” As a Berserker, Sleepy Fox took the lead and rushed forward.

Immediately, a dozen spells came bombarding towards him. As he was about to be hit, Sleepy Fox dodge rolled at the last moment. Of the dozen spells, only three managed to land on his body.

The equipment belongs to me! Sleepy Fox felt ecstatic as he bent down to pick up the equipment on the ground.

"Don’t be so quick to get happy!” Lima Hengdao coldly shouted.

"Ensnare!” Lima Hengdao brandished his staff, chanted several syllables, and cast Ensnare. Sleepy Fox’s body immediately became rigid as he was rooted in place.

While Lima Hengdao was a Shadow Priest, Ensnare was still a rarely seen spell that could cause a player’s body to become rigid. At Beginner level, it could root a player in place for three seconds.

Dammit! Sleepy Fox cursed in his mind. He was unable to move any part of his body.

At the same moment, Lima Hengdao and Xingzhi Huihuang both simultaneously pounced towards the armour and drew increasingly near.

Five meters, three meters…

In terms of speed, Lima Hengdao would definitely be able to snatch the armour before Xingzhi Huihuang.

Nie Yan had entered stealth and followed Lima Hengdao and Xingzhi Huihuang closely from behind. However, the two were still faster than him by a pace which meant he definitely wouldn’t be able to snatch it away. Since he couldn’t get the equipment himself, why not send it to a friend?

Nie Yan swept his left leg out!

Tripping was a basic movement in Conviction. In melee combat, a player could trip their opponent and cause them to stumble. The success rate depended on the person’s Strength stat and the opponent’s body weight.

Fortunately, Nie Yan’s left leg managed to stop right in front of Lima Hengdao’s foot, causing him to immediately lose his balance and fall once his leg was hooked.

「Thud!」Lima Hengdao fell onto the ground while Xingzhi Huihuang extended his right hand and grabbed the armour before stuffing it into his bag.

Only then did they realize there had been a Thief following them closely from behind.

After retrieving the equipment, Xingzhi Huihuang gave Nie Yan a grateful glance and said, "Thank you.” He discovered he didn’t recognize this Thief’s face at all. He wasn’t a part of their guild and Xingzhi Huihuang had never met him before. However regardless, this Thief had still helped him at this moment.

Chapter 36 – Sleepy Fox

With the Gold-tier armour possessing an owner, Xingzhi Huihuang (Splendid Star) hastily returned to his guild ranks.

Sleepy Fox felt extremely vexed. If Lima Hengdao (Swift Slash) hadn’t abruptly rooted him in place, that Gold-tier armour would have belonged to him!

Some felt elated and others felt upset, but no one could surpass the joy Xingzhi Huihuang currently felt because he had become the biggest winner this time around. He glanced over and observed Nie Yan. Earlier, the timing of this Thief’s trip—albeit a basic movement—was simply perfect. No matter the timing or position, he was not even a single iota off. The perfection of his timing and positioning definitely wasn’t by coincidence; it was intentional!

Moreover, Nie Yan was closer to him at that time. Reasonably enough, if Nie Yan had attempted to trip him instead, he’d have no way to evade. However, Nie Yan still purposefully chose Lima Hengdao. If it weren’t for this, the Gold-tier armour would have never fallen into his hands!

"Ah… I didn’t manage to get anything.” Nie Yan shrugged his shoulders and spoke in an indifferent manner, then turned around to leave.

"You want to leave after all that!? Don’t think you’re going to be let off that easily!” Lima Hengdao coldly snorted. If it weren’t for Nie Yan, the equipment would have definitely belonged to him!

In the same moment he spoke, several dozen Dark Massacre members in the area coldly shouted and began converging around Nie Yan, blocking his exit in a semi-circle.

"What…? You people want to detain me here?” Nie Yan’s replied with an unperturbed smile. However, his mind was still deeply scheming. It would be somewhat difficult if he wanted to break out of Lima Hengdao’s encirclement with his power alone. Moreover, if Lima Hengdao wanted to come to blows, Nie Yan felt he wasn’t a good person to provoke either.

"He’s my friend. Lima Hengdao, if you want to cause him problems, first ask yourself if our Splendid Temple members will approve or not!" Xingzhi Huihuang interrupted, seemingly determined to oppose Lima Hengdao as he stood shoulder to shoulder with Nie Yan. While behind him, the Splendid Temple members—after hearing their leader voice out his opinion—stepped up as well.

It was only because of him that Nie Yan ended up provoking Lima Hengdao. So naturally, he wouldn’t stay himself from the matter at hand.

"Xingzhi Huihuang, are you certain you want to contend against me!?” Lima Hengdao coldly threatened.

"Correct, our Splendid Temple isn’t afraid of your Dark Massacre guild. Brothers, tell me if I’m correct?” Xingzhi Huihuang turned back and asked his guild members.

"CORRECT!” The people from Splendid Temple roared in unison.

"If you Dark Massacre people have the guts, then come up and fight! This old man will happily accompany you!”

"You ball-less sons of bitches! Don’t tell me you’re suddenly afraid!?”

The people from Splendid Temple began shouting obscenities with both sides entering a shouting match afterwards. With swords drawn and bows bent, either side began forming their respective ranks. The atmosphere smelled of fresh gunpower. A fight was going to break out at any moment. Splendid Temple had over seven hundred players remaining while Dark Massacre had nearly a thousand. From the look of things, each side had taken heavy losses from the Guardian of Order. Thus, in terms of numbers, Splendid Temple was at a disadvantage.

Nie Yan glanced at Xingzhi Huihuang by his side. This guy was the exact same in Nie Yan’s past life—he valued loyalty quite a bit. It appeared Nie Yan didn’t make a mistake in helping Xingzhi Huihuang today. However, if they were going to face off against Dark Massacre, Nie Yan had to bear the brunt. It seemed the upcoming battle was going to be considerably dangerous and fierce. If he died, the loss in level and experience were of lesser importance. What was most important was the Chapter of Courage—an item he absolutely didn’t want being dropped!

"It appears I have no business being here.” Sleepy Fox laughed, bringing his companions off to the side. If a large spectacle were about to begin then why not have it play out a little quicker? Either way, the matter was unrelated to him, so he could not get involved with it. As for the Gold-tier armour, there was nothing he could do since he wasn’t able to get his hands on it.

Among the Holy Empire members, a certain Paladin wearing bright silver armour walked to the front and leaned over beside Sleepy Fox’s ear. "Boss, that Thief is the expert I mentioned before!” the Paladin said as he pointed his finger towards Nie Yan. Astonishingly, he was the Paladin Nie Yan had crossed paths with before, Flying Stone.

"Eh?” Sleepy Fox exclaimed in surprise. He then observed Nie Yan from the distance. It appeared this Nie Yan was still quite young; however, his skills were fairly good. From his actions earlier, he resembled a leopard as he went to trip Lima Hengdao. "He’s only Level 3… Don’t tell me his team was so strong they were able to clear the Fallen Shaman Camp at only this level?”

"Boss, what are we gonna do?” Stone asked. After all, they were still somewhat acquainted with Nie Yan. Moreover, at this moment, he sincerely believed that they should help Nie Yan.

"Let me think it over.” Sleepy Fox pondered for a long time. For Nie Yan, was it worth it to make an enemy out of Dark Massacre solely for his sake?

After a brief moment, he had his answer.

Since the beginning, Sleepy Fox had never attached importance to a small fry guild such as Dark Massacre.

"Hey, Brother Nie Yan! In a few days, our Holy Empire guild is planning to run the Agmota Muddy Wetlands. I wonder if you’re interested in joining?” Sleepy Fox loudly called out.

Sleepy Fox’s abrupt interruption immediately caught everyone’s attention. Even Lima Hengdao and Xingzhi Huihuang simultaneously cast their gaze over in Sleepy Fox’s direction.

Splendid Temple and Dark Massacre were currently in a deadlock. Thus, the intentions of the Holy Empire guild were especially important to take note of, because whoever Holy Empire decided to help would directly influence the outcome of the battle.

How does Sleepy Fox recognise me? Nie Yan shot a glance at Sleepy Fox and saw Stone standing by his side. Ah… So, it was like this.

"The Agmoto Muddy Swamplands, huh? Sure, I can think it over. However, if you want me to clear a dungeon with you, I have a few conditions first. I get the first pick on all Thief equipment and any item I have a use for,” Nie Yan replied.

At this moment every player—be they Dark Massacre, Splendid Temple, or even Holy Empire—focused their gaze on Nie Yan. They discovered he was no more than an average player who hadn’t even joined a guild yet. However, why would the guild leader of Holy Empire, Sleepy Fox, invite him on a dungeon run?

Even more outrageous was the fact Nie Yan didn’t immediately accept. He even made excessive demands. Getting first priority on all Thief equipment, who the hell does he think he is!?

Holy Empire was a famous guild among the player base. With fifty-six thousand Honour points, it was an existence which far overshadowed the likes of Splendid Temple and Dark Massacre.

In the eyes of players, guild prestige was the index for whether a guild was strong and powerful. Every cleared instance as well as completing quests for the first time guaranteed some Honour points. Naturally, the Honour points received increased with instance difficulty. Therefore, the higher the guild prestige, the more likely it was to find strong experts within the top rankings of the guild. Another benefit was the ability to attract elite players to the guild.

At any rate, the guild leader of Holy Empire, Sleepy Fox, could be regarded as a celebrity.

Moreover, this celebrity surprisingly invited an obscure no-name player like Nie Yan to run a dungeon with him. This was truly a strange and unforeseen turn of events.

Many players looked at Nie Yan with differing expressions. However, what they all shared in common was the extreme jealousy and envy in their heart. After all, most players would be extremely honoured and elated to have been personally invited to a dungeon run by the guild leader of Holy Empire himself.

A lone Tempest Thief moved closer to Sleepy Fox’s side and berated, "Leader, that guy’s way too outrageous! The moment he opened his mouth he requested first-pick on all Thief drops. Who the hell does he think he is!?” He then shot a cold glance at Nie Yan. If Nie Yan were to enter their team, wouldn’t that mean all the Thief equipment would go to him? What would there be left remaining for himself then?

"Like I said before. Nie Yan is an expert! Trying to invite him definitely won’t be easy,” Stone instantly refuted back.

After hearing Nie Yan’s demands, Sleepy Fox laughed. "He’s truly got quite an ego. Previously, I still didn’t believe he was an expert. However, this time, around, I could be considered more or less convinced. Since he dared to be so arrogant with his requests, it must mean he has a little skill.”

Stone nodded his head and took a glance at the Tempest Thief to his side.

Since the guild leader voiced his opinion, that Thief could only turn his head off to the side dejectedly.

"Brother Nie Yan, if you’re willing to agree, then naturally all Thief drops will go to you first,” Sleepy Fox straightforwardly replied.

Sleepy Fox unexpectedly agreed to Nie Yan’s excessive demands? Everyone present stared with widened eyes. This was too unbelievable. The expression of all the surrounding players turned strange as they gazed at Nie Yan. Just who was this person if he was capable of making Sleepy Fox concede so much just in order to befriend him?

Chapter 37 – Joke Becomes A Reality

Since Sleepy Fox was capable of leading the Holy Empire to a position of reverence, it meant he had little boldness in him. Nie Yan pondered for a brief moment. If he wanted to be fully equipped with top-tier gear, it wouldn’t be possible unless he ran dungeons. The equipment that could be bought in stores and the auction house were mostly second-rate gear because most guilds were unlikely to sell the equipment if it was a rare drop. The only method for obtaining the best gear was by running dungeons with a team. Although Holy Empire’s elite team wasn’t as strong as the one in his previous life, they were still a decent alternative.

"If that’s the case, send me a message when you’re ready to run the dungeon,” Nie Yan replied.

Lima Hengdao (Swift Slash) was also listening to the conversation going on between Nie Yan and Sleepy Fox. At this moment, Dark Massacre had been put in an awkward situation. If he wanted to deal with Nie Yan, not only would he have to go up against Splendid Glory, he’d have to face Holy Empire as well. How could his own forces possibly stand up against two entire guilds?

"Lima Hengdao, spare me some face. Let’s forget about the matters that occurred today, alright? Brother Nie Yan is a friend of mine,” Sleepy Fox said with a smile. His smiling expression contained a trace of danger. If Lima Hengdao wasn’t willing to look past his grievances, Sleepy Fox’s Holy Empire certainly wouldn’t be as easy to deal with as Splendid Temple.

"Since Guild Leader Sleepy Fox has spoken, I’ll let this matter pass.” Lima Hengdao swept his gaze at Nie Yan and Xingzhi Huihuang (Splendid Star) and coldly snorted. He then turned to face his party. "We’re leaving.”

Lima Hengdao brought the rest of Dark Massacre with him and departed.

After his departure, Sleepy Fox began walking over to Nie Yan’s side.

Seeing Sleepy Fox walking over, Xingzhi Huihuang looked beside him and said, "Wow, I never thought you were friends with the guild leader of Holy Empire. As for today’s matters, thank you.”

Xingzhu Huihuang made conjectures but no definite conclusions regarding Nie Yan’s identity. However, since Sleepy Fox was treating him so courteously, he must have some kind of background.

"We just happened to meet by chance, nothing too close,” Nie Yan replied with a faint smile.

"Eh… Is that so?” Xingzhi Huihuang examined Nie Yan’s facial expression and determined it was unlikely he was lying. However, if that were the truth, the manner in which Sleepy Fox treated Nie Yan really was worth thinking over.

"Brother Xinzhi Huihuang, your harvests today were rather decent,” Sleepy Fox interrupted. An amiable smile lay on his face and his tone was serene. He did not mention the conflict that had occurred moments ago, as if what they were fighting for was merely a single piece of equipment. This was expected of the leader of Holy Empire, Sleepy Fox did indeed have a fairly broad heart.

"Ah… Brother Fox, please don’t bring that up. If you want this Gold-tier armour, there’s no harm in giving it to you as a gift,” Xingzhi Huihuang replied dejectedly.

"Eh? Why is that? Don’t tell me the equipment’s properties are bad?”

"It’s not that… The properties aren’t bad. You’ll understand when you see it for yourself.”

Afterwards, Xingzhi Huihuang shared the properties of the Gold-tier armour he had just recently obtained.

Unyielding Armour of Courage (Gold)

Level Requirement: 100

Properties: Defense 585–621, Thorns Aura +5, Strength Blessing +12, Counter +15

Weight: 38 lb

User Restriction: Warrior; can be equipped by all factions.

Sleepy Foxed sucked in a breath of air. "It is a Gold-tier armour! Ah, what a pity…” Sleepy Fox sighed after exclaiming in admiration. This armour was strong but it was currently useless as it could only be equipped at Level 100. Who the hell knew how long that would take to reach!

"Indeed, it’s a pity. Moreover, the properties on it are rather decent too. I went through such hardships to get this armour only to discover I have to wait until Level 100 to equip it. Even if I threw it up in my shop, I doubt many people would want it.” Xingzhi Huihuang sighed.

It was no wonder Xingzhi Huihuang felt so dejected.

"No matter, just chuck it in your storage and treat it as a treasure,” Sleepy Fox comforted with a smile.

"Haha. Indeed, it is a treasure!” Xingzhi Huihuang laughed loudly. He then stored the armour back into his bag.

"Expert, we meet again! Next time, we’ll able to run a dungeon together!” The Paladin Flying Stone walked over and greeted with an excited laugh.

"Mhmm…” Nie Yan replied with a slight nod.

When everyone from Holy Empire suddenly began referring to Nie Yan as "Expert,” Xingzhi Huihuang stared at him with an astonished expression. Just how high was his degree of skill?

"I still have business to attend to, so I’ll be leaving first. I won’t be troubling you two guild leaders any longer.” Nie Yan excused himself and said his farewells. He still had many matters left unattended.

The current highest leveled player within the game was already Level 6. Moreover, the experts of top guilds like Sleepy Fox and his group were all Level 5. Although Nie Yan did indeed obtain quite a few good pieces of equipment, this time, around, the fact remained that he still had to slowly catch up bit by bit. Hence, he didn’t want too much of his time being squandered.

"Brother Nie Yan, don’t forget your promise!” Sleepy Fox, seeing Nie Yan wanted to depart, quickly called out and reminded him of their promise.

"I’ll be fine as long as you give me three hours’ prior notice,” Nie Yan replied.

"I’ll add you as a friend then,” Sleepy Fox suggested and sent Nie Yan a friend request.

"Me as well,” Xingzhi Huihuang interrupted and sent Nie Yan a friend request at the same time. He also sent Sleepy Fox one as well. Holy Empire was much stronger than Splendid Empire. Thus, adding Sleepy Fox as a friend undoubtedly gained him a powerful ally as well.

「System: You’ve added Sleepy Fox as a friend.」

「System: You’ve added Xingzhi Huihuang as a friend.」

In his previous life, Nie Yan and Xingzhi Huihuang had only been mere acquaintances. He had sold many pieces of equipment to Xingzhi Huihuang with methods such as real life credit exchanges . However, whenever Nie Yan sold to Xingzhi Huihuang, he would always buy them ten percent above the market price, which aided Nie Yan out of several desperate situations. Thus, their relationship in Nie Yan’s past life carrying over in this one could also be considered a type of fate.

After leaving Sleepy Fox and Xingzhi Huihuang, Nie Yan headed in the direction of Link’s transport point.

Due to the devastation and havoc caused by the Guardian of Order running amok, Link had become a ruin of its former self—barely any buildings remained standing.

I can finally finish Physician Blevins’ quest. However, it’s still best if I purchase more Bat Teeth first, Nie Yan pondered. Quite a bit of time had already passed, so the players should’ve picked up quite a few Bat Teeth by now. As for Physician Blevins, since he had already issued the quest, he wouldn’t leave before the deadline ended.

Nie Yan arrived at Mordor and hung up his sign: "One Copper for One Stack of Bat Teeth!” Immediately, the area bustled with activity and a large crowd of players gathered around his shop. From Nie Yan’s perspective, these players were akin to an oncoming wave of money.

"Brother, you’re here to purchase Bat Teeth again?”

"I have a stack here with me.

"I have a stack as well!”

The business was even livelier than it had been earlier in the morning.

Nie Yan’s storage began rapidly accumulating with Bat Teeth. Only after an hour did business slow down. However, by that time, his personal storage had no less than three thousand stacks of Bat Teeth piled up. He also made trips to two other towns and purchased two thousand more stacks. Afterwards, he exchanged all five thousand stacks of Bat Teeth with Blacksmith Kade for a net profit of fifty silvers.

In addition to his remaining capital, he had a total of sixty-one silvers in inventory.

The average beginner player regarded this amount as an unimaginably large sum of money.

I’ve purchased quite a few Bat Teeth today. I’ll wait until tomorrow and continue buying more, Nie Yan thought. He glanced at the time—June 7th. It appeared the day after tomorrow would be the announcement for the opening of a new dungeon, Sosil Valley. When the time came, he guessed many large guilds would be lining up to explore the area. Suddenly, Nie Yan recalled a certain something and smacked his head. How did I manage to forget this too!?

The final boss in the Level 3 dungeon, Sosil Valley, named Bousso the Roaming Werewolf was quite difficult to deal with. Moreover, the claws of the werewolves in the dungeon were all coated with a highly toxic poison. Perhaps, not few would horrendously fall victim to this dungeon. For example, in his previous life, he and his friends had been met with such a fate when they first made their attempts. Before the dungeon had opened, one of the known cures for the poison, Black Phenol, only sold for two coppers each and the formula to create it only sold for sixty coppers each. However, once the dungeon opened, on that day alone the price of Black Phenol shot up by five hundred percent and the formula’s price shot up by a thousand. One of his friends joked around about the matter saying if he could go back in time, he would have stocked up on Black Phenol and Black Phenol Recipes with the intent of striking it rich once the dungeon opened.

At that time the matter had only been a joke, but who could have known Nie Yan would actually go back in time? This joke had ended up becoming a reality!

Chapter 38 – Boots Of Swiftness (Gold)

Nie Yan’s train of thought suddenly diverged. It wasn’t only Sosil Valley. Similar situations had occurred during the future openings of other dungeons. For example, with the opening of Golden City, the prices of equipment with Dark Resistance +5 or higher increased by tenfold; when Specter Gorge opened, the prices of equipment with Focus +7 or higher increased by twentyfold. This sort of situation occurred frequently with the opening of a new dungeon, so by no means was a case like Sosil Valley isolated.

After going back in time there were opportunities to strike it rich everywhere, yet he had still worried about not making enough money?

Nie Yan arrived at the auction house and opened their catalog page. Within their alchemy section, he found a large amount of Black Phenol. Altogether there were a little over a hundred and eighty bottles for sale with each bottle selling for around two coppers. The current amount of uses this Black Phenol had were quite limited, which made them hard to sell and was the reason their price could not rise any higher. Nie Yan bought all one hundred and eighty bottles without the slightest hesitation. He then checked the subsection for alchemy formulas—fifty-six Black Phenol Formulas in total, each selling for twenty or so coppers. He bought all of these in one go as well

At this point in time, Black Phenol was classified as a useless material. However, very soon, players would quickly learn of its value. The moment Sosil Valley opened, they would return to purchase Black Phenol only discover its price had already sharply increased to a nearly unimaginable level.

From then on, the market price of Black Phenol would stabilize at no less than ten coppers per bottle. Moreover, it could be frequently sold for higher.

When he finished purchasing what he needed from the auction house, Nie Yan began walking over to the personal storage. He planned to leave these items there until the day Sosil Valley opened. After all, it was too much trouble keeping them on his body.

Five alchemist players, each wearing a silver moon shaped badge, strolled past Nie Yan. They paid him no heed as they passed by, seemingly enveloped in their own banter.

"How strange… I wanted to buy a Black Phenol alchemy formula to level up my Alchemy, but who would have they were sold out. I had no choice but to buy a Silver Phenol Formula instead.”

"How is that possible? How many people if any ever buy that kind of item? When I checked in the morning, there were still fifty or sixty formulas for sale in the auction house.”

"Why would I lie to you? If you don’t believe me, go check for yourself. Not only the formula, even the item itself was all sold out!”

"Indeed, that’s strange…”

When Nie Yan listened to the conversation of these alchemists, the corner of his mouth couldn’t help curving into a slight smile as these several players walked by.

When he arrived, Nie Yan deposited all of the Black Phenol Formulas and bottles of Black Phenol inside his storage. Afterward, he purchased a few more consumables: Haste Scrolls, Strength Scrolls, Underwater Breathing Pills, etc… He then arrived at Tellak town through the transport point and ran in the direction of Lake Rando.

There was still half an hour to the servers shutting down. So if possible, he’d like to hand in the quest before going offline.

Nie Yan used a Basic Haste Scroll and increased his speed by twenty percent. After thirty seconds the buff would fade away. However, he would immediately use another one to maintain his high travel speed after the Basic Haste Scroll’s cooldown disappeared.

If word of Nie Yan’s actions were to spread, he would certainly receive a flurry of angry complaints from other players. The average player, even when encountering danger, wouldn’t be willing to rashly use a luxury item such as the Basic Haste Scroll. However, Nie Yan was simply using this scroll for no other reason than to slightly increase his speed so he could save a bit of time.

The Fishmen Village appeared at the edge of Nie Yan’s vision. However, as he neared, he discovered the village had been turned into ruins. There were the corpses of Fishmen littered everywhere and would only respawn after the servers went offline. This was the work of Victorious Return. However, all of their members had already departed. Under the glow of the sunset, the broken down huts of the Fishmen Village appeared especially bleak.

After clearing the Fishmen Village, at the very least, Victorious Return received ten pieces of Silver-tier equipment. If their luck was good, they may have even obtained one or two pieces of Gold-tier equipment. Additional, they also obtained a large quantity of Fishscale Leather was used to craft equipment.

Turns out the members from Victorious Return move pretty quickly… Nie Yan thought. He felt a slight sense of crisis developing in his heart. Though his enemies were great in number, the most important point was that even if he was developing on his own, their growth wouldn’t halt either!

After passing the Fishmen Village, Nie Yan dived head-first into Lake Rando and quickly swam towards Physician Blevins’ little island.

Around ten minutes later, Center Island was finally within his vision. When he gazed at the island, he could make out the lonesome figure of an elderly man off in the distance. He appeared to be fishing from the shoreline underneath the waning light of the setting sun.

I wonder what sort of reward I’ll obtain this time around… When Nie Yan thought of this, he couldn’t help but increase his pace.

"Youngster, you’ve returned. How are you doing with the task I entrusted you?” Physician Blevins asked, after seeing Nie Yan come ashore.

"Senior, I’ve gathered all of the materials you requested. These are the ninety Fine Silks Senior tasked to me to retrieve. I hope they are enough to aid in Senior’s task.” Nie Yan then handed the Fine Silks to Physician Blevins.

"At last, I’ve collected enough Fine Silk. It seems I can return to the Hilton Stronghold by the next day. The brave warriors at the stronghold will remember your kindness. Generous and benevolent adventurer, may the Holy Radiance bless you. The darkness will finally disappear and light will spread throughout the continent,” Physician Blevins replied in a hopeful tone as he stored the Fine Silks into his satchel.

「System: Your Influence in Hilton Stronghold has increased by 11.」

Nie Yan glanced at the system announcement that had just appeared. In certain regions, the higher a player’s influence, the easier it would become for that player to receive specific quests. Moreover, the player would also receive preferable treatment and discounts when purchasing items. When can I head to the HIlton Stronghold for a visit? I can’t let these eleven Influence points go to waste! Nie Yan couldn’t help but think.

"May God bless the brave warriors stationed at the stronghold,” Nie Yan acted in a sincere manner and replied with a prayer as well. This type of tone and speech when speaking to an NPC absolutely made a difference.

"These things can be regarded as a token of my heartfelt appreciation. Generous and benevolent adventurer, I wish you a pleasant journey.”

「System: You have received 16,523 experience points.」

「System: You have received Boots of Swiftness (Gold).」

Nie Yan thought he would receive three pieces of equipment as a reward for the quest, one for every twenty percent. He never expected in reality, he would only receive one. Maybe this was one of those quests that gave a better reward the more you handed in at once. Unexpectedly, the reward, this time, was a pair of Gold-tier boots!

He examined the properties for this pair of boots.

Boots of Swiftness (Gold)

Level Requirement: 5

Properties: Defense 19–21, Resilience +11, Movement Speed +12

Weight 2 lb

User Restriction: Thief, can be equipped by all factions.

It adds eleven points of resilience and twelve points in movement speed! What a good item! Every point of resilience increased health by two and slightly increased defense. Eleven resilience was an increase in twenty-two health and eleven defense. Moreover, the boots also had the property of movement speed +12. It was simply one of the best pieces of equipment you could get at the early levels.

I finally have a good pair of boots to use at Level 5.

Nie Yan stored the Boots of Swiftness into his bag. Afterward, he expressed his gratitude to Physician Blevins. When he checked his experience bar, it was already at ninety-seven percent. He would level up very soon!

There were still ten minutes or so before the servers shut down. He swam over to the nearby Water Spiders in the area and began killing. After ten minutes of nonstop training and ten spiders later, he had only risen to ninety-eight percent. It looks like I won’t be able to level up today. I’ll randomly kill a few mobs first thing tomorrow and I should be able to level up by then.

Ah… whatever, I’ll just get off now, Nie Yan thought. Since there was less than a minute remaining, it wasn’t enough time for him to kill another monster. Thus, he logged off and lifted the gaming helmet off his head.

Chapter 39 – Frail, Sickly, And Poor

When Nie Yan exited the game, he immediately began an intense and rhythmic exercise regimen consisting of resistance training, squats, boxing, martial arts, and reflex training. He completed each set of exercises ten times, only stopping once every five minutes to rest and replenish his stamina with nutritional supplements.

Besides punching force, strong kicking power was also an important requirement in martial arts as well.

Nie Yan was prepared to do weighted squats. His two legs immediately felt strained when he attached thirty kilograms of weight to his body.

He placed both hands behind his head and began lowering his body from a standing position. He stopped when his knees bent at a near ninety degree angle, and then he began returning to his original position. One repetition… Two repetitions… After three repetitions not much time had passed, yet his back had already began to sweat. When he completed twenty repetitions, he felt his entire body was on the verge of collapse. However, after drinking some nutrition tonic and resting for two minutes, he continued onward with his second set of squats.

Within his moment of rest, his stamina progressively recovered while his exhaustion was swept away.

After going back in time, my current body’s recovery ability is rather decent. With such a good aptitude, I definitely can’t let it go to waste, Nie Yan couldn’t help but think.

When his body began gradually adapting to the additional weights, he added another five kilograms. He then picked up his machine dynamics textbook and began studying while doing squats.

His body was pushed to its physical limits, yet he clenched his teeth and continued to persevere.

"The combined application of the lever arm and torque inside the machine… The calculation of current strength… The problems I had so much trouble with in the past were actually this easy." Nie Yan began writing and drawing on his notebook. His writing speed was fairly quick. In but a brief moment, he had solved a highly difficult problem regarding current strength.

His body was exhausted at this moment. However, his mind was exceptionally active.

Even if he returned to the past, he had still experienced a lifetime’s worth of bitterness and solitude. Therefore, Nie Yan knew it was not easy to come by his current happy life. He wanted everyone in his life to be happy. He wanted himself to become stronger. No matter if it was in game or real life, economical ability or personal fighting accomplishments, he had to be strong in all those areas. Only then could he have the power to protect all that he held dear.

Cao Xu, if you’re unwilling to let my family go in this life as well, I’ll definitely kill you! Nie Yan’s expression flickered with murderous intent. He then added another five-kilogram weight and quickened his pace.

One, two, three, four, five…

The sound of his heavy breathing echoed out of the room.

The affection for his loved ones and the hatred for his enemies, these were two emotions were at extremes. However, either one of them could cause a person to burst with endless potential and ability. And, at this moment, both were propelling him to move forward.

"Ninety-seven… ninety-eight… ninety-nine…” Nie Yan had reached his limit long ago. He was persevering solely through willpower alone. The weights were pushing down on his body; he was unable to breathe. However, at that moment, he explosively roared, "One hundred!”

Nie Yan put every single muscle fibre within his being to use. Bearing the forty kilogram weights which weighed down on his body, he shakily pushed himself upright. In the instant he straightened out his body, he felt he had drained every last ounce of strength he had. An intense fatigue rushed forth as he collapsed on the floor.

"Hah… I reached my limit.” Nie Yan lay on his back while repeatedly gasping for breath, every muscle aching with pain.

Even under this extreme fatigue, he could still feel the exhaustion gradually lightening in the same way as before.

Nie Yan crawled back up after resting on the floor for five minutes. He felt his fatigue had significantly lessened as he stretched his four limbs.

Perhaps, I should go out and test my strength, Nie Yan thought.

This was an era where everyone engaged in some form of physical tempering. Nearly every citizen practiced taekwondo, kickboxing, or some other form of martials arts. There were martial arts facilities littered everywhere along any street. Usually, these martial arts facilities had several experts hired as instructors to teach patrons. Fitness equipments and exercise machines were incorporated into these facilities much like a regular gym. These facilities charged a fixed fee every hour for patrons who wished to use the equipment and machines. The working hours for the average person were quite brief, so most people liked to spend their spare time exercising at these facilities. People who didn’t exercise were looked down upon by the rest of society. Even when it came to picking up girls, men who knew martial arts would have a much easier time. Furthermore, there were frequent appearances of beautiful women with fantastic figures at these martial arts facilities.

Nie Yan had been through it all in his past life. He had gone mad from grief, insane from hopelessness, and debaucherous as well. He became even more of a silkpants when his father gained success. He had loitered around at all types of locations, and he especially never forgot or neglected those facilities where all the beautiful women frequented. Occasionally, he would even play around all through the night. At that time, he truly had the type of disgusting personality people could not bear. Xie Yao was the only thing that acted as a restraint in his mind and prevented him from crossing the line. Only when his father had suffered under Cao Xu’s attacks did he finally return to being studious and well behaved. However, by then it was already too late.

When he was well-off in his previous life, he had never gone to the martial arts facilities to actually train, but to chase girls instead. This time around, his mentality and experiences were widely different.

Nie Yan walked over to the nearest martial arts facility in his area, Lin Family Martials Arts Facility. It was a facility run by the father of one of his classmates. However, this classmate wasn’t someone he could particularly stand, so he hoped he wouldn’t encounter her when he entered the facility.

The Lin Family Martial Arts Facility couldn’t be counted as particularly large, but it was still of a decent size. The interior decorations weren’t bad either, and the various kinds of equipment and exercise machines were all available. In other words, within the local area, it could still be considered well-known.

Nie Yan stepped into the facility. As he lowered his head and looked at the reception counter, a familiar figure entered his eyes. Dammit! Why is she at the desk today?

The one receiving customers at the desk was Lin Jia. Truthfully, he and Lin Jia could be said to have a slight connection. They both lived near each other and were classmates in elementary school, middle school and high school. Her looks weren’t bad either—she was one of the prettiest girls in middle school. Though, when they reached high school, her looks became sorely outclassed compared to the other girls he met. In Nie Yan’s eyes, there was no need for comparison when it came to her and Xie Yao. It was debatable if you tried to pass the one off as good looking, while the other was undoubtedly a beauty that moved many hearts. Despite this, during middle school, he did indeed have a crush on this girl. He had even written her a love letter, which was promptly rejected when it was received. Some time after the event, she began proclaiming publicly that Nie Yan was secretly in love with her, which left him with basically no face. This event left him with a shadow in his heart that he wasn’t able to break free from until he transferred schools to the city.

As he gradually grew older, he came to understand that Lin Jia was a very vain type of person. How could someone like her ever be together with an impoverished person like him? Later on, after Nie Yan turned from a poor boy into a silkpants, she and Nie Yan crossed paths again during a gathering at his place one night. That night Nie Yan threw three hundred thousand dollars worth of banknotes at her. During the whole ordeal she remained surprisingly tactful. After taking the money, she left and never tried to tangle with or get close to Nie Yan again.

As he recalled this annoying memory, Nie Yan became unwilling to think of it any further.

Nie Yan turned to leave. However, after pausing for a moment, he had a change of heart. Mentally, he was already a twenty-something-year-old man. There was no need for him to be bothered because of this little girl. In any case, he was going to transfer schools in the future. By then, he would have no relation to her at all, why would he have to hide?

"Boss, give me a card for two hours.” Nie Yan placed fifty dollars on the desk counter.

The voice could still be regarded as somewhat familiar to her. She lifted her head to look at the person who spoke and discovered it was Nie Yan. Waving him away, she revealed a disdainful expression and said, "You came here to find me, right? Well, I don’t have any free time, so leave.” In her heart, there was no difference between Nie Yan and a loudly buzzing housefly.

Lin Jia was indeed a little pretty. She wore a silk dress with neckline that exposed a large area of white skin. Her cheeks were smooth and clean. Her eyebrows were drawn in a curve with eyeliner. Paired with her bright eyes, it did indeed make her seem somewhat coquettish.

However, before Nie Yan’s current gaze, Lin Jia was nothing more than a little girl who knew how to dress up slightly, that’s all. During middle school, his eyes must have truly been covered with shit to have been infatuated with a girl like her. Later on, during several student gatherings, he had found girls more beautiful than her everywhere. At that time he realized, she was only considered more beautiful because she was slightly better than her peers at dressing up, and putting on makeup. This was the sole reason she was able to stay popular during their time together in middle school and high school.

"I want a two-hour card to use the gym.” Nie Yan indifferently glanced at Lin Jia.

"Nie Yan, I already told you. Stop coming around to pester me. With a scrawny matchstick appearance like yours, you still want to come here and exercise?” Lin Jia replied with a sneer on her face. She then waved her hand and threw a card at Nie Yan.

This girl has been watching too many television dramas… Nie Yan was too lazy to bother with this girl. He picked up the exercise card and headed farther into the facility.

Lin Jia still wanted to say a few more words, but Nie Yan had already turned around. Thus, what was left facing her was only his back. The few words she had left to say were swallowed back down her throat. However, she then followed with a sneer and said, "Your family owes five, six hundred thousand dollars in debt, making you a penniless bum. Your group of relatives drop by every day demanding repayment, and your parents are nowhere to be found. You still have the whim to come here and exercise?”

When her harsh words reached Nie Yan’s ears, his heart rose with a slight anger. If this were the previous him, perhaps he would have already rushed up in a rage. However now, as twenty-eight-year-old man, it just wasn’t worth his time arguing with a snobbish brat who had barely reached adulthood.

Lin Jia gazed at the receding figure of Nie Yan’s back. She stared absentmindedly as if she were looking at an illusion. From when she last recalled, Nie Yan didn’t seem this muscular or robust.

"Peh, how is that possible? This guy is a famous matchstick known for always being frail and sickly. Even if he didn’t move, he’d get sick and ask for a leave of absence.” The tone of her voice contained a trace of mockery.

"Lin Jia, who was that person just now?” asked a young man who went over to Lin Jia’s side. His hair was dyed blonde and he appeared to be in his early twenties.

"That was one of my classmates. One of our ‘honour students’ who ranked third in literature!” Lin Jia replied. Her expression immediately revealed a charming smile when she saw this young man coming over.

Chapter 40 – Setting New Records

"Tsk, so what if he’s an honour student? In my eyes, he’s no more than fart. With a tiny body like that, I bet I could send him flying with a single punch. Hey, babe… What say you and I head over to the hotel tonight and have some fun?” The young man named Bao Wei groped Lin Jia’s perky buttocks with his perverted hand. A moment later, the hand began reaching deeper under her skirt.

"Hehe. You know this is my father’s place, right? If he catches you, he might even beat you to death.” Lin Jia rejected his advances and pushed his hand aside. Nevertheless, her actions and tone were quite gentle as she giggled while reprimanding him.

Nie Yan inwardly sneered when he caught a glance of what was occurring back at the desk counter. Turning his back, he proceeded to the machines to test his strength.

The first machine was to test his pulling strength. Nie Yan sat back and placed both hands on the grips of the machine. "Nhgh…” He heavily grunted and pulled down on the machine handles. Under the sudden change in force, the machine’s display began rapidly flashing with numbers.

「60 kg」→「80 kg」→ 「100 kg」→「161 kg」→「162 kg」

Nie Yan released his grip on the handles when he couldn’t hold on any longer. "Hah…” He gasped heavily for breath.

The value was too lacking when compared to his previous self. However, relatively speaking, it could already be regarded as pretty good with his current physique.

The following machine tested how much weight he could squat. Nie Yan walked up to it and began bearing its increasing weight on his back.

「80 kg」→「90 kg」→ …

The number displayed on the machine steadily increased. It soon reached ninety kilograms, a weight which surpassed the limit of some amateur athlete fighters.

"Hey, what are you looking at?” Bao Wei asked, nudging Lin Jia beside him.

"How is this possible…?” Lin Jia muttered to herself while gazing in a certain direction. Her mind which was reeling back in extreme shock.

"What’s not possible?” Bao Wei turned his head to look in the same direction. He was left momentarily stunned as he stood there with his eyes widened and a blank expression on his face.

It was quite evident Nie Yan’s stature was on the somewhat small and thin side. Yet at this moment, his small body, which bore several times its own weight, was gradually lowering as he squatted down. If one looked, the screen on the squat machine displayed a value of over one hundred and sixty kilograms! Such a scene was simply terrifying… What kind of monster was he?

In international competitions, there was no lack of athletes squatting well over a thousand kilograms. However, these people were all unequaled strong men who’ve gone through specialized training. For the average fighter, it was already quite excellent if they could squat two or three hundred kilograms. Within a small town like Ningjiang, the number of people who could squat over one hundred and sixty kilograms could still be counted on two hands. Just how did Nie Yan possess such a terrifying amount of strength with such a small and thin physique?

After getting one hundred and sixty kilograms on the squat machine, Nie Yan arrived beside the machine that tested punching strength. After a moment of stretching, Nie Yan entered a basic fighting stance. He resembled a cheetah in the moment he struck his fist out.「BOOM!」The sound of his fist hitting the machine reverberated. The screen on the machine displayed a punching force of one hundred and thirty kilograms.

「Punch Strength: A new record has been set!」

Since Ningjiang was a small town, it was even rarer for an expert to frequent a place like the Lin Family Martial Arts Facility. One hundred thirty kilograms was all it took to set a new record in a facility? Others in less remote regions would have felt this was some sort of joke.

My body’s foundation isn’t bad, Nie Yan thought, before walking over to the machine that tested reaction time.

Leg strength, arm strength, core strength, etc… were the basic foundations of a fighter. Therefore, even if Nie Yan hadn’t learned any fighting techniques, he could still become a city-level athlete fighter. He could easily enter the finals of a city-level competition solely by relying on his physical prowess.

「Reaction Speed: A new record has been set!」

「Kick Strength: A new record has been set!」

「Running Speed: A new record has been set!」

Lin Jia was stunned as she watched Nie Yan set new records one after another in the facility. The world must have gone crazy. Was the person she looked at truly Nie Yan? As she recalled, Nie Yan had always been a feeble boy who would fall over from the slightest breeze. Who would have ever thought his inner aptitude was so surprisingly strong to an extent like this? All of the previous records in these machines were set by her father. However, six of them were now broken by Nie Yan. As for the others, Nie Yan’s numbers were about the same as her father’s. Since this was the case, wouldn’t that mean Nie Yan was even stronger?

"Who is that guy? He’s a monster…” Bao Wei asked as his voice slightly trembled. This guy is even stronger than the bodyguards back home. Thank god I didn’t mess with him earlier. Otherwise, with his strength, a single kick would break several of my ribs…

Lin Jia had a sour feeling in her heart. Nie Yan had never shown off in front of her in such a way before. If she had known he was this strong, she would have already tried getting in bed with him long ago. From her perspective, a woman needed to be conquered by a man. The stronger the man was, the more sense of security she would feel. If only she had known he was this strong earlier… So what if he was poor as hell? With his strength, if he applied to enter the number one military academy after graduation, she had no doubts he would easily be accepted. Entering the number one military academy was equivalent to possessing a bright future. She only now understood how blind and foolish she was in the past. She had mistaken a precious jade for a useless pebble.

My reaction speed still isn’t fast enough, Nie Yan inwardly criticized. Reaction speed directly influenced the outcome of a fight. Moreover, reaction and thinking speed were both very important factors when playing Conviction as well.

A large crowd was gathered in a circle around the facility’s arena. They were there to spectate the two fighters who were in the middle of a spar. At this moment, however, everyone’s attention was drawn solely onto Nie Yan.

The crowd couldn’t help but wonder, who was this terrifying brat?

A quiet sense of fear radiated throughout the facility. Nie Yan raised his head and discovered everyone was staring at him. He glanced at the arena and saw two heavily built men standing there. They were both around one hundred and eighty centimeters tall and their bodies were covered in robust muscles. With a single look, anyone could tell they been training for a long time.

At that moment, Nie Yan was slightly itching to test out his skill. He stared at those two men and asked without a second thought, "Hey, you two over there. Are you guys interested in having a spar?”

"N-no, there’s no need!” The taller man in blue gym shorts hurriedly declined as he felt his legs go somewhat soft.

"No thanks, I’m fine as well!” The other man in red gyms shorts quickly declined as well. This was some sort of joke. Who in their right mind would fight someone who had a punching strength of a hundred thirty kilograms, and kicking of two hundred sixty kilograms? Let alone them, this kind of monster would even sweep all of his competition in city-level tournaments. A single punch from him, and they’d most likely be hospitalized for three months.

Nie Yan felt slightly disappointed after hearing their responses. It seems he wouldn’t get the opportunity to experience the pleasure of a fight today. He looked at the time and noticed his two hours were almost up. He then turned back and headed for the reception desk.

When Bao Wei who was standing beside the desk saw Nie Yan arriving, he revealed a flattering smile and made way for Nie Yan by retreating off to the side.

Lin Jia tidied up her hair and revealed what she considered a charming smile. Nie Yan, however, felt it was quite nauseating.

"I’m returning this.” Nie Yan threw the card on the counter.

"Brother Nie, there’s no need to pay the fee for the two hours here. Consider it as me treating you. Furthermore, here’s the reward for setting new records in the facility. Altogether, it’s twenty-six thousand.” Lin Jia took out a bank card and handed it over to Nie Yan.

All training facilities gave out established rewards. If a patron came in and set a new record on one of the machines, they would receive some reward money. This was a sort of business. The records for the various machines were connected throughout the entire country. If a record was set, and the higher the test results, it could raise the influence of a facility. Thus, in order to attract more experts to their place, establishments used methods such as giving out rewards.

Twenty-six thousand was roughly the amount of profit a large training facility made in a day.

"Thanks.” Nie Yan put the bank card in his pocket. Although he was disgusted by a person like Lin Jia, he wasn’t one to make life difficult for someone who was handing him money. After receiving this money, he could use it to buy better nutritional supplements.

"Brother Nie, I have some free time later tonight. Are you interested in having a drink with me at the Evening Trance tonight? It’s my treat,” Lin Jia asked, revealing an expression she considered to be seductive.

The Evening Trance was a well-known drinking establishment in Ningjiang. It was also rather high class with many sectioned off private rooms installed inside the establishment. Many of which were used to commit unsavory actions. Needless to say, Lin Jia’s invitation was undoubtedly a dubious one. A man and a woman entering together in a private room, who wouldn’t know what was going to happen?

Although Lin Jia was somewhat good looking, Nie Yan had met numerous beautiful women in his past life. Furthermore, how could Lin Jia ever compare to Xie Yao?

"I’m sorry, I’ll have to decline,” Nie Yan disinterestedly replied. He turned around and walked towards the exit.

Lin Jia originally believed by relying on her beauty she could seduce Nie Yan. She never expected that she would immediately have the door slammed right in front of her face. She stood there momentarily puzzled. Wasn’t Nie Yan always secretly in love with her? Wasn’t she returning the feelings he had written for her in that love letter? Nie Yan’s cold and indifferent attitude left her somewhat angry and resentful.

Before walking out of the door, Nie Yan turned around and said, "When school starts, tell everyone in our class that I transferred schools and I’ll visit them sometime in the future.”

"You’re transferring schools? Where?” Lin Jia asked in surprise.

"That’s none of your business,” Nie Yan replied, walking out of the facility.

"Since that guy rejected you, I’m free tonight. How about we head to the Evening Trance together?” Bao Wei happily laughed. He then walked up and pinched Lin Jia’s soft bosom.

"Scram!” Lin Jia was in a terrible mood and angrily slapped Bao Wei’s hand away.

"Tsk… You’re just a cheap slut who’d sleep with anyone. What’s so great about you?” Bao Wei sneered after being rejected by Lin Jia and turned to leave.

Lin Jia gazed at Nie Yan’s retreating back and spat out in disdain. Peh! Aren’t you just a poor brat, yet you’re so high standard that even this lady here isn’t good enough for you? However, Lin Jia understood the reality of the situation. Nie Yan’s talents would most likely allow him to soar into the heavens. Thus, she could only stand there sourly and let out a few curses.

Chapter 41 – Vulgar Fellow

Nie Yan had a better understanding of his own strength after using the testing machines today. Although he was quite lacking compared to those expert fighters, he should still be able to handle himself if he came across unexpected circumstances.

With twenty-eight thousand dollars in reward money, Nie Yan headed to the department store to purchase ten or so tubes of nutritional supplements, which were enough to last him for the rest of the month.

Nie Yan continued exercising when he returned home. During the past few days, aside from gaming, he spent the rest of his time exercising and studying. As for other matters, he’d have to put them aside until his parents returned.

Just like this, half a day quickly passed by. It was near five in the evening and the game servers would be opening soon. Nie Yan reclined on the bed with the gaming helmet on his head.

As soon as he entered the game, he began to diligently train by grinding the surrounding Water Spiders. As several spiders met their deaths one after another by his hands, his experience bar gradually rose. He would level up shortly after ten or so mobs.

「Nie Yan, where are you right now?」Yao Yao asked Nie Yan through voice chat.

「I’m still at Lake Rando killing Water Spiders.」

「Come to the Tellak town transport point in five minutes. We’re about to set off very soon. Bring that friend of yours over as well.」

「Alright,」Nie Yan replied.

「If that’s all, I guess we’ll meet in five minutes then.」

After disconnecting from the voice chat with Yao Yao, Nie Yan contacted Tang Yao. 「Tellak town transport point. Our team is about to head out soon. Quickly get over there.」

「This early?」Tang Yao replied in surprise. His tone contained eagerness and pleasant surprise.

「Generally, people run dungeons as early in the day as possible rather than later. Besides, it’s better to set off in the morning compared to the afternoon or evening.」

「Gotcha, I’ll head there right now,」Tang Yao replied and hurriedly prepared himself to leave.

Nie Yan checked his experience bar—Level 3, 99%. Filling up the remaining one percent would still require ten minutes of grinding at the very least. Since it appeared he didn’t have enough time, he took out a return scroll and began unravelling it. After twenty seconds and a brilliant flash of light, the scenery before his eyes shifted. He had returned to town.

「Where are you? Coordinates?」Nie Yan asked Tang Yao through voice chat.

「Hey, I can see you. I’ll come over, so stay where you are.」Tang Yao came walking over from the plaza in the distance. He was garbed from head to toe in a fiery red mage robe. It appeared especially conspicuous within the crowd and attracted the envious gazes of the surrounding players. Tang Yao had even unconsciously straightened his back and puffed out his chest.

The equipment he wore was a symbol of high honour because it represented the presence of an expert.

"So, how’d your practice at home go?” Nie Yan asked. Tang Yao appeared to be full of energy when Nie Yan gazed at him. He no longer looked like the depressed and dispirited player he remembered in his past life.

"Not bad. You’ll know in just a bit. I didn’t improve by just a small amount either! Hey, listen to this! When I logged off, that brat Wei Kai actually called me up. That guy surprisingly wanted to curry some favour with us. He even asked for your phone number. Anyway, I made him my training partner and had several dozen matches with him. That guy didn’t even win a single match!”

"You sure he didn’t just let you win?” Nie Yan asked with a smile. In his mind, he knew this was exactly Wei Kai’s style of handling affairs.

"You’re underestimating me too much. I’m actually quite skillful now, y’know? Hey, when Wei Kai called me up in the afternoon, he said you went to the Lin Family Martial Arts Facility. You didn’t go there looking for Lin Jia, did you? I really couldn’t believe it. How could you possibly like that woman? I heard she’s already slept with many guys already.”

"That was back in middle school when I was still naive and young. Now, I don’t have any interest in her. I only went to the facility to test out my strength.”

"When I thought it over, I believed this was the most likely case as well. How could you possibly be attracted to Lin Jia? If you’re looking for a girl, this brother here can help introduce you to one!” Tang Yao laughed while he pat on Nie Yan’s shoulder.

"With the type of girls you’re acquainted with, it’s better if you keep them to yourself.” Nie Yan rolled his eyes at Tang Yao’s antics.

A sweet fragrance entered Nie Yan’s nose. The scent belonged to a lily perfume sold in NPC stores. It was simple, elegant, and pleasant to the nose. He knew exactly who had arrived the moment this scent entered his nose.

"All you think about is things like picking up girls all day. I knew you weren’t a good person.” Yao Yao muttered to herself.

Nie Yan knowingly smiled when he heard this voice. He turned his head and saw Yao Yao’s charming figure standing right behind him. She was dressed in a pure white mage gown. It was like mercury falling, complementing her perfect body. Her hair hung down, and the pink kerchief she had tied over her head made her appear all the more lovely.

It was as if she walked out from the canvas of a beautiful painting.

Tang Yao stared at the beautiful Yao Yao standing by Nie Yan’s side with saliva almost dripping from his mouth. He stood there with a blank expression for what seemed like half a day before elbowing Nie Yan in the side. "So beautiful! A first-rate beauty! Oh my God… Nie Yan, is this your girlfriend?”

"What are you saying? Who are you saying is his girlfriend?” Yao Yao’s eyes widened into a furious glare. She was absolutely fuming. Before her eyes, this vulgar fellow surprisingly said she was Nie Yan’s girlfriend. "Hmph! Indeed, birds of a feather do flock together…”

"Exactly, birds of a feather do flock together. Otherwise, you also wouldn’t have come here looking for us!” Nie Yan laughed while teasing Yao Yao.

"Y-you… Hmph! This magnanimous lady is going to ignore you. Senior Sister Yu Lan (Blue Feather) and the rest of them are already at the transport point. Let’s go and meet up with them.” Since she couldn’t outwit Nie Yan, Yao Yao quickly changed the subject.

Tang Yao suddenly realized something as he watched the Nie Yan and Yao Yao bickering. What was it called again? He seemed to have forgotten. Oh, that’s right, it’s definitely this! It was a lover’s quarrel. He had seen many couples that enjoyed bickering like this before. Although Tang Yao himself was a person who was usually lecherous and full of hormones, he still held some principles. He might take away another person’s woman, but when it came to his own brother’s, he definitely wouldn’t interfere.

Tang Yao mentally gave Nie Yan’s a thumbs up and secretly whispered, "You do have some skill after all.”

Tang Yao’s mentality immediately diverged. From then on, he viewed Yao Yao as nothing more than a potential friend. Seeing this, Nie Yan couldn’t help smiling; however, he was too lazy to explain. Besides, when it come to these matters, explaining them would only make things messier.

The three began walking in the direction of the transport point.

"Nie Yan, is this your friend? That guy has a vulgar appearance, but it looks like his equipment is pretty good. What kind of equipment is he wearing?” Yao Yao curiously asked.

Tang Yao’s cheeks were streaming with tears. Why was this beautiful woman right beside him, when describing his appearance, not using words like confident, dashing, or crushingly handsome, but instead using words like vulgar?

"Fire Chaser Set,” Nie Yan replied. He noticed Yao Yao’s hair beneath her kerchief was folded into several layers. The irregular arrangement was quite charming and revealed it was done with the utmost care.

"The Fire Chaser Set dropped from Blackflame Forest?” Yao Yao exclaimed in surprise. She knew Blackflame Forest was a much more difficult dungeon compared to Treant Forest. Only the elite teams from large guilds would enter these dungeons! After realizing this, Yao Yao couldn’t help but look at Tang Yao in a new light. Those who were able to run Blackflame Forest were definitely experts. "I never expected this wretched fatty was actually a powerful expert.”

Tang Yao had advanced from a vulgar person into a wretched fatty.

However, after Yao Yao added that he was a powerful expert, Tang Yao felt slightly better—even somewhat proud of himself. He also had somewhat of a guilty conscious. This title of "expert” was merely a forgery. When compared to genuine experts, he was still lacking by a whole grade.

"Nie Yan, my kerchief is pretty isn’t it? It was a drop I got from farming in the Radiant Ruins. It’s Holy Damage +3.” Yao Yao did a little spin. Her fluttering mage gown resembled a snow lotus in bloom as her kerchief danced in the air. To an onlooker, it was especially moving. It seemed she still held the slight temperament of a child. If she had something nice, she couldn’t help but show it off. Moreover, the displeasure she held towards Nie Yan from their prior conversation appeared to have been completely forgotten.

"Mhmm, it does look very pretty,” Nie Yan replied with a nod of his head. Yao Yao had this magical characteristic about her. She was able to let any person completely forget about their worries.

"Brother, not bad… You should make your move at the first opportunity. Otherwise, she’ll get taken away by another person and it would be too late to regret by then!”

Chapter 42 – Temporary Team For Treant Forest

The three soon arrived at the transport point plaza. There a group of ten or so players was waiting together, grouped up like how the stars cupped themselves around the moon. At the center of their attention was a curvaceous beauty in azure armour.

"Senior Sister Yu Lan (Blue Feather), they’re here.” Yao Yao walked to Yu Lan’s side.

The two gorgeous beauties standing side by side was an especially stunning sight to behold.

"What luck! We’re encountering beauties as soon as we set out. So beautiful! So gorgeous!” Tang Yao softly whispered. This little scoundrel was a lecherous pervert who wouldn’t change even if you beat him to death. He enjoyed looking at beautiful women, but he knew very well that most of these beauties would never put him in their eyes. Therefore, he did nothing more than ogle.

"Pleasure to meet you,” Yu Lan said, facing Nie Yan and Tang Yao. She carefully observed Nie Yan. Although his appearance seemed somewhat juvenile, his calm and unhurried bearing made him look quite composed. The most noticeable trait was the air of confidence and decisiveness that surrounded him. Since she could still be regarded as experienced and knowledgeable, she could discern he possessed some of the special characteristics of an expert. He did indeed possess some of the special qualities of an expert. As for the fatty standing by his side… She didn’t know what to make of him.

"Likewise.” Nie Yan slightly nodded in reply. Yu Lan’s complete set of azure armour perfectly revealed the curves of her model-like figure. A glimpse of her deep cleavage could be seen in the opening near her chest. From head to toe, she radiated a fatal, wild attractiveness. She undoubtedly possessed the best figure out of all the women he had met before. Moreover, she had a beautiful face as well. This devastating combination was practically capable of seducing men to their deaths.

In spite of this, Nie Yan held no interest or desires towards her.

Tang Yao, however, had a little trouble shifting his gaze. When comparing Yao Yao and Yu Lan, the latter evidently suited his tastes much more.

"Take care, this beauty is someone even I don’t dare to provoke,” Nie Yan secretly informed Tang Yao.

"H-hello,” Tang Yao stumbled as he greeted her in an overly reserved manner.

Nie Yan’s eyes widened in surprise. This little scoundrel often couldn’t restrain himself when in front of beautiful women due to his perverted nature and natural tendencies as a chatterbox. However, today, Nie Yan was witnessing an unprecedented event. This chatterbox was acting quite shy and reserved! Am I dreaming? Did the sun rise from the west this morning?

"Alright, let’s get ready to set off for the dungeon. If you have something to say, we’ll talk on the road there.” Yu Lan consistently paid attention to efficiency, thus she didn’t want to waste any more time standing around.

"Remember our prior agreement. I’ll be acting as team captain during the run, so I want everyone listening to my arrangements,” Nie Yan promptly reminded Yu Lan. His gaze was sharp and resolute.

"Alright.” Yu Lan nodded in reply. She turned around and addressed the rest of her team. "I’m disbanding the team. In a moment, accept Nie Yan’s invite to form a team. He’ll be temporarily acting as team captain, so listen to his arrangements!”

The rest of the members began heavily discussing. They were unfamiliar with Nie Yan. Therefore, in their hearts, they were somewhat unwilling to take commands from this stranger.

"Yu Lan, why do we have to take orders from this guy? If by any chance he doesn’t know anything and ends up getting our team wiped, what do we do then?” The one who spoke was Chen Bo.[1] Nie Yan and Yao Yao’s seemingly intimate relationship had caused a sense of crisis to arise. As a result, he regarded Nie Yan with an intense hostility.

Nie Yan wasn’t unfamiliar with this Chen Bo. He was a classmate of Yu Lan and they were quite familiar with each other. In the past, he had always been pursuing Yu Lan, but after meeting Yao Yao, his mind went into a state of chaos. He liked all beauties. So, he didn’t know which one he should pursue. Therefore, he decided to make both his property and became unwilling to let any others come near the two. However, to his misfortune, both girls greatly disliked him and as a result, he ended up getting neither. Simply put, he was merely a useless brat with some wealth who got smitten with any beauty he laid eyes on.

In Nie Yan’s past life, this scoundrel was a walking tragedy. In this life, after encountering Nie Yan, it appeared he was still destined to become a walking tragedy.

"You are…?”

"I’m called Chen Bo!”

晨勃 |Chen·Bo|

"Morning Wood? Ohh~ I see… So it was Elder Brother Morning Wood!” Nie Yan’s tone dripped with sarcasm. He feigned surprise and acted as if Chen Bo’s input held great importance.

"I said my name is Chen Bo!

陳

"The same ‘Chen’ as in the surname.

博 博大 |Bo·da|

"The ‘Bo’ in ‘enormous’!” Chen Bo replied in an irritated tone.

"I did say Morning Wood! I didn’t speak incorrectly, did I?” Nie Yan innocently gazed at Tang Yao by his side.

Tang Yao clearly understood what was going on. Nie Yan was simply messing with Chen Bo and mispronouncing his name on purpose. Tang Yao was practically dying as he held back a belly full of laughter. He restrained himself and said with a smiling expression, "Right, you didn’t speak incorrectly. You did say Morning Wood.” Tang Yao even purposefully enunciated the two words in a serious tone.

However, from the smiling expressions on their faces, it was clear they weren’t pronouncing Chen Bo’s name correctly and pronouncing it as ‘Morning Wood’ instead.

Granted even if the person were an idiot, they would clearly understand what was going on. Yao Yao flashed a beautiful smile as two dimples emerged on her face. She shot a glance at Nie Yan, feigning displeasure. This guy is too awful. You can’t just humiliate people like this…

The majority of people she and Yu Lan met were quite reserved while in front of them. That being said, Nie Yan’s frank and forthright manner of speaking didn’t arouse her disgust. On the contrary, she felt Nie Yan was different from people like Chen Bo who often hid their true intentions and acted in an extremely hypocritical manner.

Yu Lan also slightly showed signs of being unable to hold back her laughter. Seeing Chen Bo on the brink of lividness, she hurriedly took on the role of peacemaker and said, "Forget it, he was just joking around. Nie Yan, go create the team.”

Nie Yan sent everyone in Yu Lan’s group an invite, Chen Bo included.

Chen Bo had the faint urge of lashing out.

Nie Yan fixed his expression and announced in a stern and severe tone, "If you’ve accepted me as team captain, you will unconditionally obey my commands as long as you’re within my team. If you have any misgivings or objections, you can come looking for me after the run and settle it then. Anyone unwilling is free to leave the team right now. We can still find others to fill your spot. If you attempt to cause mischief or join with malicious intent, even if the team is completely wiped during the run, the ones suffering losses, in the end, are still yourselves. Twenty percent of your experience bar… I think it’ll still take quite some time to fill back up, right?”

As Nie Yan spoke, he simultaneously swept his gaze over everyone present. His imposing stature was reminiscent of a true leader. Not a single person dared to look him straight in the eye. The crowd slowly discussed amongst themselves. After a short while, the people in the group began subsequently accepting the invitation.

「System: Yu Lan has joined your team.」

「System: Yao Yao has joined your team.」

「System: Bottled Water has joined your team.」

…

Nie Yan was quite imposing. Yu Lan’s eyes flashed with praise after evaluating his performance. Perhaps he really could carry them through the Treant Forest.

Yu Lan followed in a stern tone as well, "Regard Nie Yan’s orders as team captain as if they were given by me. Anyone who fails to comply might as well quit the team, because in the future… our team will no longer have such a person.”

The crowd immediately quieted down. As her own team members, they knew this type of order was extremely severe. After being in a team with each other for so long, they were quite familiar with one another and had established amicable friendships with their surrounding teammates. If they were forced to leave the team, where would they go? Even if they found another team, one that was capable of running a twenty-player dungeon like Treant Forest was extremely difficult to find!

Chen Bo held a resentful expression and was prepared to speak out.

However, Yu Lan’s severe gaze suddenly focused on him. Chen Bo, who was on the verge of speaking his mind, immediately swallowed his words back down his throat.

「System: Chen Bo has joined your team.」

"Since all of you have already entered my team, don’t blame me if I immediately kick you for disobeying orders. Our objective here is the same. We’re here for the sake of getting some equipment and nothing else. If things go smoothly, we may even be able to pick up even more equipment. If no issues arise, everyone here can gain at least twenty percent experience. If there’s anyone who wants to secretly sabotage the run, the damages inflicted on the entire team will be solely placed on them. The people next to you are all your fellow companions! Don’t think it’s necessary to make things difficult for your own people. If it appears I’m unsuitable to lead and cause mistakes to arise, I’ll hand over ten silvers to your captain, which can be considered compensation for you team!” Nie Yan said. He swept his gaze over everyone present and stopped on Chen Bo.

If it weren’t for the fact this expert level dungeon dropped a certain jewel, he wouldn’t have even bothered coming here.

Many players within the group were quite dissatisfied with Nie Yan. However, they had no choice but to concede. Nie Yan’s words were quite reasonable. If they absolutely wanted to make things difficult for him, it would be the same as making things difficult for themselves. Harming others without benefitting yourself? It wasn’t worth the trouble. They could only oblige themselves to listen to Nie Yan for the time being. He even gave his word and said he’d compensate the team with ten silvers if huge mistakes occurred because he was unsuitable as team captain. This could already be regarded as extremely benevolent.

"We’ve already been wiped in this dungeon twice. It wouldn’t be a strange matter if we ended up getting wiped once again. Besides, those elite teams from the large guilds frequently get wiped all the time too. We’re going to the Treant Forest simply to feel things out. As for those tens silvers, how could we possibly be so shameless as to ask Brother Nie Yan for it?” The one who spoke within the team was a Fighter called Bai Kaisui (Plain Boiled Water). He could be regarded as one of those players who were fair and just.

One by one, the surrounding members also began agreeing with his reasoning, and their impression of Nie Yan somewhat changed as well.

Notes:

1] Chen Bo appears in chapter 17 for the first time.

Chapter 43 – Prior To Departure

"Since that’s the case, I’ll start handing out orders now. If anyone’s dissatisfied with me, they put can forward their own suggestions. As long as it’s within reason, I’ll be happy to oblige,” Nie Yan said. Since his previous speech was effective, and Yu Lan’s leadership could still be considered competent, he shouldn’t have any problems leading this group of players through the dungeon.

"I’d like everyone to announce their names and character information, starting from the Fighter over there,” Nie Yan announced. If the most basic stat requirements weren’t met, even if the team possessed a strong expert, it would be incredibly difficult for them to clear the dungeon. In other words, even if he knew how to pass through the dungeon, he’d first need each member of his team to meet the basic stat requirements to even attempt it.

"Bai Kaisui (Plain Boiled Water), Fighter, sixty-one defense, two hundred and thirty health, and twenty-seven attack,” Bai Kaisui replied. He was the one who had spoken up for Nie Yan earlier. He had the appearance of a slightly rugged man in his late twenties and a robust body that resembled an ox. He was the team’s main tank. With a single glance, you knew he was made to be a Warrior.

"Steamed Dumpling (Feishui Zhujiaozi), calling me Dumpling is fine. I’m a Fighter, fifty-one defense, one hundred and sixty health, and twenty-eight attack.”

"Blaze, Elementalist, thirty-two magic damage.”

…

"Bai Kaisui, I want you to go and buy a Basic Haste Scroll. Pumpkin (Nan Gua), I want you to go and buy a Basic Strength Scroll…” Nie Yan issued orders after they were all accounted for.

Many of the players within the team looked at each other with embarrassed expressions. Among the average player, they were considered relatively strong experts with deep pockets, but in reality, the total wealth they had on hand absolutely didn’t exceed one silver. Items like Basic Haste Scrolls, Basic Strength Scrolls, Basic Intellect Scrolls, etc., easily cost upwards of twenty copper. Wasn’t this kind of expenditure rather extreme? Even if they cleared the Treant Forest, they were still unsure of the profit they’d receive.

"Hmph! Buying so many scrolls… If I was the leader and had so many scrolls, we’d be able to clear the dungeon too,” Chen Bo muttered to himself.

Chen Bo was repeatedly making things difficult for Nie Yan. Tang Yao, who had witnessed all of this on the side, was put in quite a foul mood.

"Could it be that you can’t afford it? If you don’t have the money to buy something as cheap as a scroll, I can always lend you a bit first,” Tang Yao provoked, staring at Chen Bo with a disdainful gaze.

"Twenty coppers is nothing. It’s not like this young master here can’t afford it. However, this guy here clearly has selfish motives. Why isn’t he making you buy Basic Intellect Scrolls, and instead making us spend all the money?” Chen Bo retorted without holding back any accusations.

Chen Bo’s accusations gave rise to doubts among the crowd as they stared suspiciously at Nie Yan. They were all in a team together. However, if Nie Yan clearly favoured his own people and deliberately made their side spend more money, then that would simply be an extremely callous and deceptive behavior—one that they could not tolerate.

During the whole ordeal, Tang Yao wasn’t able to give the reason why. The corner of Chen Bo’s mouth curved into a sneer and he said, "What? You don’t have anything to say now?”

The surrounding crowd waited for Nie Yan’s reply. If he didn’t give them a suitable explanation, the crowd most likely wouldn’t let him off so easily.

"You figured something out? You haven’t figured out piss. My brother is wearing the full Fire Chaser set. His magic damage is already over fifty. Does he need to buy Basic Intellect Scrolls then? He already has a hard enough time controlling his damage as it is. Does he need a Basic Intellect Scroll to increase his magic damage further? Do you want the boss to switch aggro and split him in half?” Nie Yan ruthlessly rebuked.

Nie Yan’s words held another implication: With the equipment Tang Yao possessed, the elite teams from large guilds would be more than happy to have him if he wanted to run a dungeon with them. Accompanying Yu Lan’s team into the dungeon was the same as using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut; it was simply a waste of his talents! It was already a show of respect by showing up here, yet they still wanted to make more demands and even threw out accusations?

Many of the team members after hearing Nie Yan’s words held faces full of shame. Their expressions greatly changed as they gazed the equipment on Tang Yao’s body. This was, in fact, the Fire Chaser set. It was a symbol of honour. It was a sign that a player had conquered Blackflame Forest! If Tang Yao had already cleared Blackflame Forest, it meant he had long since gotten everything he needed from a lower level dungeon like Treant Forest. Yet, he had still come back here to run this dungeon with them. This alone meant he was giving their team a tremendous amount of face.

Seeing the changed expressions of the surrounding crowd, Tang Yao subconsciously straightened his back. Being adored and respected by the crowd made him feel rather satisfied. Thus, Tang Yao inwardly confirmed his resolve. If I’m going to wear this kind of equipment, I shouldn’t lose any face. At the very least, I’ve got to show the bearing of an expert.

Chen Bo was momentarily left speechless. Nie Yan had ruthlessly suppressed him, and he simply had no means to retort.

Yu Lan glanced at Tang Yao and carefully examined the equipment on his body. Even I couldn’t recognize it at first… This wretched fatty is actually an expert!

"I want everyone who was called out to go and buy their respective scrolls,” Yu Lan ordered. However, she was left wondering… Even if they cleared the Treant Forest, would they still be able to gain a positive return after buying so many scrolls?

The members whose names were mentioned left to purchase scrolls. They had already bought all the consumables they needed beforehand, so making a return trip to the stores wouldn’t waste too much time.

"Nie Yan, do we really need so many scrolls to clear Treant Forest?” Yao Yao asked while her elegant eyes stared fixedly at Nie Yan. From her memory, the larger teams she knew didn’t use this many scrolls when they cleared Treant Forest.

"You’ll know when the time comes. I am absolutely not wasting money by making them buy these scrolls,” Nie Yan replied. Even if it were the elite teams from the large guilds, he reckoned they only cleared the Normal difficulty Treant Forest. However, the difficulty he was aiming for was the hardest one—Specialist!¹ It was impossible for them to clear the run without these scrolls.

"En.” Yao Yao blinked and nodded her head. Despite only knowing Nie Yan for several days, she was certain of one little thing: He was definitely someone who was capable and in no way would do something for no reason.

After a short while, the people who were called out returned with their scrolls purchased.

Nie Yan did roll call. All nineteen people—including him—were present and accounted for.

"Is there anyone here who can invite a strong Mage to join us? I’d be more reassured if there was another high damage Mage with us,” Nie Yan asked Yu Lan and her team.

"That’s going to be a little hard to do…” Yu Lan replied in a somewhat awkward tone. For the most part, Mages who had high damage were already in fixed teams, so where could they go looking for one?

"I can find one. I have a classmate who belongs in Radiant Sacred Flame guild’s elite team. Their team has recently been preparing for Blackflame Forest, but by chance, my classmate has some free time today,” Yao Yao interjected.

"Male or female? How’s their skill?” Yu Lan asked.

"He’s a male and really strong too,” Yao Yao replied.

"Radiant Sacred Flame guild? Forget it then,” Nie Yan shook his head and said.

"Why?” Yao Yao inquisitively asked.

"I’ve already killed several of their guild members. Right now, they have a hit order on me,” Nie Yan straightforwardly replied without holding anything back. Even if the Radiant Sacred Flame guild knew he was here, what could they do about it?

"Last time, everyone in my party except for me was wiped out by the Radiant Sacred Flame guild. My brother here singlehandedly killed seven or eight of them to save me.” Tang Yao proudly flaunted Nie Yan’s accomplishments. He couldn’t help but show off to everyone present that he and Nie Yan were brothers.

"They were a weak group. All their players were full of beginners,” Nie Yan didn’t feel it was anything significant.

"I say, you only killed off a few noobs and you think you’re so terrific? I’ve killed entire teams before!” Chen Bo suddenly interrupted. A sneer was on his face, and his expression was full of ridicule.

Chen Bo’s words infuriated Tang Yao by no small amount. The players Nie Yan killed were by no means beginners. Among them, there was even a player with the full Fire Chaser set! He was just about to retort, but Nie Yan held him back. Thus he could only suppress his anger in silence.

Yu Lan crossed her arms across her chest and examined Nie Yan. Since he wasn’t a brash person who liked to flaunt his accomplishments, it appeared Tang Yao’s words were most likely true. After all, those who were able to corner an expert level figure like Tang Yao definitely couldn’t be simple. It seemed Nie Yan wasn’t only skillful in dungeons, but in player versus player situations as well.

Chapter 44 – Dusk, The Arcane Mage

"Who are we going to find then?” Yao Yao asked. She believed even if her classmate was part of the Radiant Sacred Flame guild, it wasn’t as if he and Nie Yan were ever in direct conflict. Therefore, it didn’t necessarily mean their tensions couldn’t be eased. Perhaps in the future, she could even introduce them to one another and have them get to know each other. However, she chose to put this idea off until another time.

After giving it some thought, Bai Kaisui (Plain Bottled Water) interjected with his own suggestion. "I know a person. They’re an Arcane Mage from Holy Empire. His name is Dusk (Huang Hun) and his magic damage is fifty-two. Though… I don’t know if he’d be interested in running this dungeon with us. He and his team have already cleared Blackflame Forest and are preparing for the Agmota Muddy Swamplands, so I don’t know if he’d be willing to come back to Treant Forest again. I’ll give him a call anyway.”

…

A brief moment later, Yu Lan asked, "Bai Kaisui, how did it go? Is he willing?”

"He agreed!” Bai Kaisui replied in excitement. This truly was unexpected. They had only met several times in the past when they partied up to grind mobs. Dusk had given Bai Kaisui quite a bit of face by agreeing to come.

"Great! We now have exactly twenty players. We’ll set out the moment he arrives,” Nie Yan said, nodding his head. Surprisingly, it was someone from Holy Empire. A great opportunity was presenting itself to him.

"Ah! Brother Bai Kaisui does indeed possess a lot of face. He’s even able to invite someone from Holy Empire!” Chen Bo praised. He shot a glance at Nie Yan and Tang Yao. If this dungeon run were to go without a hitch, he couldn’t say for sure they wouldn’t be frequent additions to their team activities. He had to find some way of driving these two uninvited guests out of the team and maybe even rope in a few others to help him.

"How can that be? He’s the one who’s giving me face.” Bai Kaisui was practically glowing with joy. He also felt quite proud of his accomplishment.

"That kind of person is a true expert. His team is already preparing to run the Agmota Muddy Swamplands! He’s definitely cleared Treant Forest, so I think it’s best if we make that person the team captain instead.” Chen Bo shot a glance at Nie Yan and Tang Yao.

This bastard Chen Bo infuriated Tang Yao by no small measure. If it weren’t for Nie Yan who held him back, he would have lashed out long ago.

"True, if he’s cleared Treant Forest before, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to let him be team captain,” Nie Yan replied in a dull tone.

"Oh, so you realized your own incompetence? If you had realized it earlier, then there wouldn’t have been a need for you to foolishly show off!” Since Chen Bo was given an inch, he attempted to take a mile. He was a person with no sense of propriety.

"Chen Bo…” Yu Lan knitted her brows and called out in a displeased tone. She was rather annoyed with his behavior.

Met with Yu Lan’s reaction, Chen Bo muttered a few words to himself but no longer said anything more.

…

After a short while, the surrounding area flashed with a brilliant light and a figure emerged from the Tellak town transport point. It was an Arcane Mage who wore a black-coloured mage robe. The man had the appearance of a person in their late twenties. His black mage robes were inscribed with various strange magical runes and he exuded a mysterious and dignified aura. Nie Yan gave him a quick glance. He could tell this person was wearing the Arcane Mage’s Dark Winter set. Presently, it was a top-notch equipment set for Arcane Mages. This set and Tang Yao’s Fire Chaser set were both on the same level. However, the Fire Chaser set suited Elementalists more while the Dark Winter set suited Arcane Mages. Therefore, for an Arcane Mage, the Dark Winter set was much more preferable than the Fire Chaser set.

"Hey, Brother Dusk. Long time no see!” Bai Kaisui walked forward to welcome him.

"Long time no see.” Dusk also walked up and exchanged greetings with Bai Kaisui. He gave the crowd a quick glance and said, "Hello everyone.” These words were spoken with a slight arrogance. He was a member of Holy Empire’s elite team. His elite team and Yu Lan’s small team were on a completely different level. He decided to come because Bai Kaisui’s personality was decent and he had a slight friendship with him. Moreover, he had some free time because his team was making preparations for the Agmota Muddy Swamplands. If it weren’t for these two factors, he wouldn’t have even bothered paying this small team any attention.

"This is our team captain, Yu Lan.” Bai Kaisui introduced Yu Lan to his friend.

Dusk nodded at Yu Lan and smiled. "I didn’t expect your team captain was actually such a beauty. Pleased to meet your acquaintance,” Dusk greeted Yu Lan. This was their first meeting, and he didn’t reveal the slightest bit of impoliteness when met with a beauty such as Yu Lan. He appeared refined and courteous without lacking the slightest bit of elegance.

Yu Lan replied with the slight nod of her head. "Pleased to meet you.” This Dusk did indeed possess the bearing of an expert.

Chen Bo shuffled to Bai Kaisui’s side. He hoped Bai Kaisui would lend him a helping hand in introducing him to the expert. However, when Dusk noticed Nie Yan standing at the back of the crowd, his eyes widened in surprise and he walked over to greet Nie Yan.

"I never thought Brother Nie Yan would be in a place like this!” Dusk exclaimed in a pleasantly surprised tone.

"You are?” Nie Yan mumbled as if trying to recall who this person was. He remembered now. Back at Link town, there was such a person standing by Sleepy Fox’s side.

"You don’t recognize me, but I recognize you! Previously when our guild leader invited you to run the Agmota Muddy Swamplands, I was standing right behind him. Brother Nie Yan truly is skilled. You managed to trip Swift Slash (Lima Hengdao) and cause him to fall at the most crucial moment!” Dusk was in high spirits as he mentioned Nie Yan’s accomplishments.

When the surrounding crowd heard Dusk’s words, they cast their curious gazes towards Nie Yan and wondered just what kind of background he had. He even knew Holy Empire’s guild leader! As for Swift Slash, they seemed to recall he was the Dark Massacre’s guild leader. Every person Nie Yan had come in contact with had a terrifying amount of influence.

"You know Brother Nie Yan?” Bai Kaisui asked with an astonished expression.

"Not only do I know him, Brother Nie Yan is even currently a celebrity among our Holy Empire guild members. When our guild leader invited him to run the Agmota Muddy Swamplands together, Brother Nie Yan imposed the harsh demand of getting the first pick on all Thief equipment. Not a single person in our guild would have dared to speak in such a way to our guild leader, but surprisingly our guild leader agreed to Brother Nie Yan’s conditions!” Dusk replied. He was a straightforward person and he didn’t attempt to conceal any of the admiration he held for Nie Yan.

The crowd looked at each other in shock. Who was Sleepy Fox? He was the guild leader of Holy Empire—a legendary player among the player base! Nie Yan even set conditions when the guild leader of Holy Empire invited him to run the Agmota Muddy Swamplands together? Didn’t this clearly signify Sleepy Fox was the one currying favour with Nie Yan?

As the guild leader of Holy Empire, how could Sleepy Fox’s judgement possibly be lacking?

Going by that logic, wouldn’t this mean Nie Yan was a god-like figure who didn’t heed the most elite teams even if they begged him to come? If that was the case, Nie Yan’s conditions for running Treant Forest with their own team were actually rather light.

Dusk was a member of Holy Empire. It was unlikely his words were a lie.

"Yao Yao, it seems you actually invited an esteemed expert to help us,” Yu Lan teased in a joking manner.

Yao Yao’s eyebrow curved into crescents. Her face was brimming with joy from the pride she felt.

Chen Bo didn’t anticipate Nie Yan to have such a powerful background. He finally became aware that he and Nie Yan weren’t on the same standing. As if he were a shrivelled eggplant, he stood foolishly to the side, seething in anger when a malicious thought came to mind. He definitely had to make Nie Yan pay a heavy price for crossing his path.

When the crowd gazed at Nie Yan, their eyes flashed with a peculiar glint. Each and every one of them was trying to guess what sort of background he had.

Tang Yao was the happiest among all of them. He elbowed Nie Yan in the side and whispered, "Not bad! You really did conceal yourself well. When did you meet the guild leader of Holy Empire?”

"Yesterday,” Nie Yan calmly replied. The respect he gained wasn’t given by others. Rather, it was acquired by himself. Truthfully speaking, if he didn’t have any skill, it wouldn’t have mattered how much face Sleepy Fox gave him—it would all be useless. His present goal was still to clear the Treant Forest. He put other matters aside for now.

He was attempting a difficulty even the most elite of teams didn’t dare to rashly attempt—Specialist!

"Since everyone’s here, let’s set off,” Nie Yan ordered. He then began walking in the direction of the town exit.

"Brother Nie Yan, why are you still running Treant Forest?” Dusk curiously asked. He reasonably believed Nie Yan had absolutely no reason to waste his time on this sort of low-level dungeon with his level of skill.

"I want the Treant King’s Featherfall Jewel. Also, this dungeon drops some of the better Thief equipment. Perhaps one or two of them will drop during this run,” Nie Yan replied. In any case, everyone would eventually find out what he was planning when they arrived at the dungeon, so it wasn’t necessary for him to hide anything. Besides, his impression of Dusk was rather decent.

Chapter 45 – Specialist Difficulty

"Featherfall Jewel? What kind of item is that? We’ve run this dungeon five or six times in the past and we’ve never once gotten any ‘Featherfall Jewel,’” Dusk exclaimed in surprise.

Dusk didn’t know what the Featherfall Jewel was because it was only a drop on the Specialist difficulty. Moreover, it’d only drop from the Treant King. The dungeon’s difficulty changed depending on the overall level of the team—if there were more high-level players in the team, the dungeon’s difficulty would increase to compensate.

If players wanted to clear the Specialist Treant Forest, it definitely wouldn’t be an easy task. Even the elite teams from large guilds would have quite a hard time in clearing the dungeon. With this fact in mind, the Featherfall Jewel’s value became even more apparent.

"You’ll know when the time comes,” Nie Yan replied in a dull tone.

Dusk felt slightly puzzled. However, after giving it some thought, he realized since Nie Yan wasn’t telling him now, he’d eventually find out with the rest of the team later!

"This Tang Yao’s equipment is a bit strange. He’s clearly an Arcane Mage, but why is he wearing the Fire Chaser set?” Dusk asked in a confused tone.

Normally, with the way equipment distribution was managed in teams, the Elementalists of the team would definitely have priority on drops such as the Fire Chaser set. So, it was quite strange for the set to be given to an Arcane Mage.

Nie Yan replied with a faint smile but didn’t bother explaining.

Tang Yao slightly reddened in embarrassment upon hearing their conversation. He really did have somewhat of a guilty conscious when wearing this Fire Chaser set. However, this made him even more determined. He definitely needed to get a hold of a first-rate equipment set for his profession with his own power. Only then could he gain some confidence and have some self-respect for himself.

"Nie Yan, how did you meet the Holy Empire’s guild leader?” Yao Yao asked. Her bright and curious gaze made her appear especially cute.

"In reality, it isn’t as amazing as you’re all thinking it to be.” Nie Yan then narrated yesterday’s events to Yao Yao. However, he left out the matter regarding the Chapter of Courage.

"I still can’t help but think you’re quite amazing,” Yao Yao earnestly said. However, if this matter wasn’t related to Sleepy Fox, she also wouldn’t have thought this highly of Nie Yan.

"I still feel the event was a little strange. Why would a dragon all of a sudden invade the town for no reason? Generally, Elite- and Lord-class monsters don’t leave their territories,” Dusk curiously remarked. He still remained quite puzzled over the whole situation. Calling this sort of event rare was quite an understatement.

Nie Yan glanced at the Chapter of Courage in his bag. He sincerely hoped no one connected the appearance of the Guardian of Order with him.

"What’s so strange about that? The game developers probably had the monster siege the town as an event for the players. You know, to spice things up and add some excitement. Something like this isn’t rare at all in these sort of games,” Tang Yao said in a matter-of-fact tone. His comment had unintentionally aided Nie Yan by explaining the matter away.

"Ah, you’re probably right.” Dusk nodded in agreement.

After the party of twenty players passed through a wide open prairie, they were met with a lush and verdant forest at the base of a faraway mountainside. There an eerie mist lingered, appearing as if it would encircle the dense forest eternally. This area was a well known twenty-player dungeon—Treant Forest. It took more than ten minutes of travel time to reach this destination from Tellak town.

Many players idled at the entrance of the forest. Most of them were other twenty-player teams who were here to run the dungeon as well.

"It seems Treant Forest is also pretty lively. There sure are many people here.”

"The average players have leveled up. If they want better equipment, they have no choice but to run the dungeons.”

Treant Forest was still relatively difficult for the average player. The equipment dropped were also much better than the ones dropped from common dungeons. Most teams were unable to clear the dungeon, but it was still worth the run for the experience and potential dropped items. After all, if a team was unable to advance any further, they could simply withdraw from the dungeon. Although the Honour points they’d be missing out on wasn’t few, the majority of teams running the dungeons weren’t elites from the large guilds, so they didn’t care much about gaining Honour. Therefore, whether Honour points were lost or not, it was fine as long the team wasn’t wiped.

Presently within Conviction, there were in total thirty-six Level 5 or below twenty-player dungeons scattered across the Viridian Empire’s domain. Their difficulties differed, but out of the thirty-six, six of these dungeons were particularly challenging. They even required teams to attain a certain amount of Honour before being allowed to enter. The rest of the dungeons had no such requirements.

"I’m a thirty-seven magic damage Holy Mage! Looking for a team to enter Treant Forest with!”

"I’m a thirty-five defense, one hundred seventy health, and sixty-seven attack Berserker! Looking for a team to enter Treant Forest with!”

The entrance of the dungeon was bustling with activity. Many of the players gathered there were seeking teams. When they saw Nie Yan’s group arriving, they ran towards him asking if there was any space.

"Boss, invite me to the team please.”

"Brother, is your team lacking any members?”

Bai Kaisui (Plain Boiled Water) walked forward to deal with the crowd. "We’re full. Everyone, go look somewhere else please.”

Upon hearing Bai Kaisui’s words, the surrounding players had no choice but to leave in low spirits.

"You guys wait here. I’m going to apply to enter the dungeon,” Nie Yan announced and began walking over to the glowing monolith near the dungeon’s entrance. When he neared it, he extended his hand and touched it whereupon he felt a bizarre sensation enter his mind.

「Before entering this lush forest, you happen upon a strange block of stone. The stone block is engraved with various eccentric writing, which read as follows: "Forest Walkers (Treants): they absorb dew under the light of the early morning sun. The sound of a caretaker’s flute floats between the leaves. The tree spirits that have slumbered since the times of antiquity, awaken!” You are reminded, an official from the Viridian Empire told you there were signs of activity from Dark Elves in this area. You mutter to yourself, "These damn Dark Elves! When will they stop?”」

「System: Do you wish to enter Treant Forest?」

Yes!

Nie Yan hit confirm.

「System: Please select a difficulty. (Easy, Normal, Hard, Expert, Specialist)」

Specialist!

「System: Are you sure?」

Yes!

In the moment Nie Yan confirmed his selection, a brilliant light flashed through the eyes of each and every team member. When they regained their vision, they noticed they had emerged on a thick patch of grass within the forest. Although the sunlight was still able to penetrate through the foliage of the trees, the atmosphere surrounding the area still remained somewhat sinister and eerie.

「System: You have entered Treant Forest! (Difficulty: Specialist)」

The other nineteen members of the team also received the same notification. Each and every one of them looked on in horror upon reading it.

"Why is it Specialist difficulty?”

"Captain Nie Yan, did you pick the wrong difficulty! Why is it Specialist?”

"Yeah, how can we possibly clear Specialist difficulty?” The surrounding team members were anxious and worried.

Yu Lan looked over at Nie Yan and noticed his expression was still unperturbed. From what she knew of his personality, how could he possibly make such a rudimentary mistake? Unless… he intentionally chose this difficulty! If she recalled correctly, no one had ever cleared—or more so, even dared to attempt—Treant Forest on Specialist so far. Let alone Treant Forest, even the lowest level dungeons would become unreasonably difficult on Specialist difficulty,

"Since I brought you guys in, I naturally have a method to bring you out,” Nie Yan calmly announced.

"What kind of bullshit are you spouting!? Up until now, there hasn’t been a single team who’s been able to clear Treant Forest on Specialist and you think we of all people can do it? Our team can’t even clear this f*cking dungeon on Easy! Don’t drag us into your mess just because you want to show off!” Chen Bo ridiculed in an extremely irritated tone.

"Is this guy really your friend?” Upon witnessing Chen Bo’s rude outburst, Dusk who was by Nie Yan’s side could no longer remain silent.

"No, he’s not.” Nie Yan shook his head.

"If a team member dared to speak so rudely to our captain in the team, he would’ve been kicked by the captain long ago. No one would allow such a person to speak so much rubbish in the first place!” Dusk sneered. However, he didn’t look at Chen Bo. He didn’t even bother acknowledging the existence his words were referencing to. He turned to face Nie Yan who was by his side, and said with a smile, "I must say, Brother Nie is quite a tolerant person.”

From Dusk’s perspective, Nie Yan chose the Specialist difficulty because he had the confidence to clear it. This run actually held some meaning to it now. Initially, he only came here to grind mobs to kill time. Who would have expected he’d meet a rare opportunity instead.

Chen Bo was infuriated, but what could he do? Dusk was invited to the run by Bai Kaisui, so offending him was the same as offending Bai Kaisui. If this were to occur, it would inevitably lead him to become ostracized on the team.

"Chen Bo… Nie Yan is a friend I personally invited to the run. If you have any complaints regarding my decision, be upfront about it and tell me instead,” Yao Yao sharply rebuked and knitted her brows. It was most likely for her sake that Nie Yan didn’t bother with Chen Bo, or lower himself to Chen Bo’s level. After all, Nie Yan didn’t want to Yao Yao to be shunned for inviting a friend who made trouble within their team. If she didn’t speak out for Nie Yan now, it would be too much of a disgrace.

"Yao Yao! It’s not like that…” Chen Bo hurriedly tried to explain when he saw Yao Yao was getting upset.

However, Yao Yao coldly snorted and turned her head away.

"I’m only someone who was invited to their team. I’ll be leaving after we clear this run. Everyone else is simply cooperating with me. After all, I’m not the captain of any team. The real team captain is this beauty over there,” Nie Yan explained to Dusk and glanced at Yu Lan by his side. Truthfully, Nie Yan wasn’t such a tolerant person. Chen Bo had already crossed the line and offended him long ago. Therefore Nie Yan would certainly teach him a proper lesson in the future. However, when handling a type of person like Chen Bo, Nie Yan would simply be degrading himself if he were to deal with him directly.

"You—”

"Chen Bo, shut your mouth right now! Otherwise, don’t blame me for being impolite!” Yu Lan scolded. She then apologized to Nie Yan. "I’m really sorry. He just has this sort of unpleasant temper. I’d like to apologize to Brother Nie Yan on his behalf.”

Yu Lan also felt quite humiliated because of Chen Bo’s behavior. She and Chen Bo had been classmates for over ten years. Their parents were on good terms with each other, so she couldn’t afford to act too coldly towards Chen Bo.

Chen Bo never thought even Yu Lan would speak up against him for the sake of these strangers. He stared daggers at Nie Yan and Dusk, then resentfully turned his head away.

Dusk also felt bickering with Chen Bo would only be degrading himself, so he changed the topic. "I assume Brother Nie Yan has already made the necessary preparations? Otherwise, you wouldn’t have selected Specialist difficulty.” Since he was one of the people under Sleepy Fox’s command, he also wanted to examine how much ability Nie Yan had.

"Specialist isn’t actually that difficult. The mob health is only increased by thirty percent. It’s quite easy to handle if we have tanks with enough defense and Mages with high damage. However, the changes to the boss, Treant King, are quite distinct. I’ll let you guys know about them when the times comes,” Nie Yan reassured the rest of the team.

Nie Yan had spoken as if the whole matter was trivial, but Dusk understood the true significance of mobs gaining thirty percent extra health. What did it mean? It meant if the tank fell short by even one percent of health, or lacked even a single point of defense, their team would be wiped. It meant if the Mages were lacking by even a single point of damage, their team would be wiped! Just where did Nie Yan’s confidence come from?

Chapter 46 – The Prowess Of A True Thief

"Nie Yan, are you really sure we can do it?” Yao Yao said, gently nudging Nie Yan with her arm. The expression in her eyes was filled with worry.

"Rest assured, there won’t be any problems.”

Yao Yao’s actions couldn’t be considered excessively intimate; however, Chen Bo thought otherwise. He believed Nie Yan was stepping out of line by being too overly close with Yao Yao. As a consequence, the resentment and hatred in his eyes only grew all the more extreme as he covertly gazed at the two.

The team of twenty slowly advanced deeper into the forest. The Warriors and Paladins were on the frontline, and the Mages were in the back. Under Nie Yan’s repeated warnings, no players were more than two meters apart from each other.

"Brother Chen, how about you come in front and scout the path ahead?” Nie Yan suggested. The corner of his eyes flashed with a cold, peculiar light. Chen Bo had a hypocritical and petty personality. Therefore, he would firmly hold onto a grudge if even the slightest enmity occurred between the two of them. By making him lose face, Nie Yan had already thoroughly offended him. Despite this, Nie Yan wasn’t the slightest bit fearful. Chen Bo, you’re just a useless brat who’s barely capable of the simplest tasks. Do you really think you can stir up any trouble with me leading the team?

"You’re a Thief too! Why the hell are you making me go!?” Chen Bo coldly replied.

"I’m the team captain, so I have to lead the team. Would you rather have me scout ahead and have you lead the entire team instead, Brother Chen Bo?” Nie Yan countered.

"Hmph, no need! I want to see how exactly you plan to lead us through this dungeon on Specialist difficulty!” Chen Bo coldly snorted and walked to the front of the team. Utilizing his profession’s nimbleness, he then began scouting the path ahead.

From Chen Bo’s movements, Nie Yan could tell he was barely decent for an average Thief. If Chen Bo ever tried to compare with him, he would find that Nie Yan was of an entirely different caliber.

A cold breeze from the depths of the forest occasionally blew past, leaving the team with a strange sensation, almost as if they were being watched by some other entity. Nie Yan’s mind was on constant alert. With his keen sense, he caught glimpses of shadows hiding in the distance. They were Dark Elves, experts of camouflage and hiding in the darkness to mount ambushes. They were impossible to perceive unless the player had an Awareness of above ten.

Chen Bo moved forward and began scouting ahead for the rest of the team. On either side were thick branches with lush foliage which blocked his path. Beneath his feet were jungle vines and tree roots which resembled thick serpents as they lay strewn across the path ahead. They were tripping hazards and made advancing forward quite difficult.

"Ugh! Damn these things to hell!” Chen Bo tried kicking away one of the vines lying on the path. However, it seemed to have to mind of its own. As if it were an actual snake, the vine coiled around his legs, whipped upwards, and left him dangling in midair with his head facing the ground. "Save me!” Chen Bo miserably shrieked.

The towering tree beside him suddenly came alive, whereupon vines stretched as far as the eye could see. Chen Bo saw the tree grow a pair of eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Even the vines surrounding the trunk grew into what seemed like a beard. Chen Bo had been caught off guard by a Treant!

"It’s a Treant! Bai Kaisui (Plain Boiled Water), Dumpling, attack from the right. Paladins, form a wall. Mages, start casting spells,” Nie Yan calmly ordered. He had actually noticed the Treant in disguise earlier when Chen Bo was scouting the area. However, he intentionally chose not to warn Chen Bo in order to give him a good lesson. You impolite brat, I’ll have this Treant teach you in my place.

Dumpling rushed forward from the right side as he held a wooden shield in his hand. "Shield Bash!”「Bang!」A loud sound echoed out as the wooden shield collided with the Treant.

The crowd of frontliners firmly stood in place, surrounding the monster, while the Mages in the back fired off volley after volley of spells. A shower of magic flew up into the air and went streaking towards the Treant.「Boom! Boom! Boom!」Several explosions rang out in quick succession as they bombarded their target. The Treant issued a painful roar whereupon it transformed into a lump of wood debris that lay collapsed on the ground. The one they encountered was merely an ordinary mob. Therefore, it was impossible for the Treant to withstand such a concentrated assault.

The vine’s grip on Chen Bo loosened and he was sent hurtling towards the ground.「Thud!」He fell flat on his face.

Seeing his sorry figure, everyone on the team couldn’t help but laugh.

"What did it drop?”

"Three coppers.”

Chen Bo felt embarrassed. He cast an angry gaze at Nie Yan and said, "You did that intentionally, didn’t you!?” He knew Nie Yan noticed the Treant earlier but still chose not to warn him. Otherwise, how could Nie Yan have reacted so calmly in such a sudden and urgent situation?

"Brother Morning Wood, you’ll have to speak a bit more clearly. I’m finding your reasoning a little strange. It was you who wasn’t careful and ended up getting caught by the Treant. What does that have to do with me?” Nie Yan gave a barely discernible smile as he gazed at Chen Bo, his expression telling otherwise. I did notice the Treant earlier, and I did intentionally not warn you. What can you do about it?

"You—”

"Chen Bo, stop causing trouble,” Yu Lan interrupted. She was also unclear about whether Nie Yan had noticed the Treant earlier or not.

"Peh! I guess it’s just my bad luck.” Chen Bo spit out some of the dirt in his mouth. He turned around and continued moving forward.

"Brother Morning Wood, take care of what you step on.” When Nie Yan spoke, he deliberately slowed down his speech as he watched Chen Bo accidentally step on a trap. The moment Chen Bo turned around to look at Nie Yan, a large wooden beam came swinging over and struck him in the stomach. Chen Bo was sent flying into the air.「Thud!」He once again fell flat on his face. Fortunately for him, Thieves had higher Reflex compared to other professions. Therefore, even if they stepped on a trap, they’d receive much less damage compared to other professions. Despite this, the trap had still taken more than half of Chen Bo’s health away. To add insult to injury, Nie Yan continued to taunt him. "I did tell you to be careful, yet unfortunately… you still didn’t listen to me. You’re playing the Thief profession. Don’t tell me you don’t know how to avoid traps? I really don’t know how you could act as the team’s Thief. A good Thief can increase a team’s survival rate by over fifty percent, but with a Thief like you—Ah, never mind. Forget it. I won’t say any more. I don’t want to hurt your pride or anything.”

It was already bad enough that he had fallen for another trap. However, when Nie Yan deliberately taunted him in such a manner, Chen Bo looked as if he could spit fire as he stared daggers at Nie Yan.

Nie Yan didn’t care in the least how Chen Bo stared at him. He wasn’t some sort of kind and benevolent person. As soon as he entered their team, Chen Bo had always been mocking and ridiculing him. If he still continued to tolerate such behavior without acting, his name wouldn’t be Nie Yan.

"Why are you still trying to show off if you’re so unskilled? You got yourself in such a sorry state, and you’re still trying to blame others?” Tang Yao added in a mocking and drawn-out tone.

"Your equipment’s wasted on you. We’d probably find a better Thief than you by randomly pulling one off the streets.” Dusk also joined in while standing by Nie Yan’s side. Chen Bo’s current reputation within the team wasn’t great. At the moment, no one was willing to speak out and help him.

"Nie Yan, you really didn’t notice earlier?” Yao Yao’s beautiful face was full of doubt. Chen Bo stepping into another trap right after being caught by the Treant did seem like more than just a coincidence. However, when she looked back on those incidents, it still seemed that it was his own fault for being inattentive.

"What does his carelessness have to do with me?” Nie Yan innocently replied.

"You’re just full of evil tricks, aren’t you? No one can tell whether you purposefully baited him into those traps or not,” Yao Yao teasingly whispered into Nie Yan’s ear. The faint fragrance of her perfume paired with her soft and gentle voice left him feeling slightly refreshed.

"If I were Captain Yu Lan, I wouldn’t be so lenient in keeping such an unskilled Thief. I bet if I were to meet a hundred Thieves, ninety-nine of them wouldn’t be as weak as you. Do you want me to teach you how to play this profession?” The provocative tone in Nie Yan’s words was even clearer.

If the opposite party was determined to make an enemy out of him, he’d make sure to give them a few more kicks when he had them beneath his feet. Such was Nie Yan’s true character.

Nie Yan played with his dagger. His fingers were nimble as it twirled around his hand.

"My teammate lacks ability. Please just see this incident as nothing more than a joke. Chen Bo stepping in those traps while scouting ahead was due to his own carelessness.” As the team captain, Yu Lan also felt embarrassed when Chen Bo was ridiculed like so. Therefore she helped speak in his place.

"I guess it’s up to me then. It seems this task is something Brother Morning Wood is unable to accomplish,” Nie Yan announced. Since Yu Lan had spoken, it wouldn’t be quite appropriate for him to continue taunting Chen Bo. Besides, the only person he couldn’t bear was Chen Bo. He could get along fine with everyone else in Yu Lan’s team.

"I’ll have to trouble Brother Nie then,” Yu Lan replied. The change in topic eased the tension in the atmosphere.

Nie Yan rapidly inspected for traps as he scouted the path ahead. His eyes swept through the entire forest and he was extremely attentive as he examined every area where traps could potentially be placed. He noticed a peculiarly placed branch lying across the path ahead and instantly knew what it was upon examining it.

He extended his hand and lightly tapped the branch before quickly taking a few steps back.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Several dozen arrows were set flying across his previous position.「Put! Put! Put!」A short moment later, all of the arrows could be seen embedded in a nearby tree.

He had long since ducked out of their path, so these arrows were unable to harm him in any way.

Nie Yan disarmed trap after trap as they travelled deeper into the forest. Yu Lan, Yao Yao, and Dusk could only see his figure continuously travelling back and forth between the trees. They were inwardly frightened by his astonishing efficiency in discovering and disarming traps. During this whole time, their team had never once stepped into another trap.

Disarming traps was a Thief’s responsibility because of the unique characteristics of the profession. Moreover, the profession also gained an additional bonus in the Reflex stat, which allowed them to have a fifty percent higher survival rate compared to other professions.

Since Chen Bo was a Thief as well, he felt if he stayed idle with the rest of the team, he’d be losing too much face when compared to Nie Yan. With no other choice, he forced himself to look busy and traveled through the forest while pretending to look for traps. Only now did he realize the disparity between himself and Nie Yan. However, he was unwilling to admit it due to his pride. He inwardly sneered and muttered sourly, "He’s only good at playing a video game. What’s so amazing about that?”

Chapter 47 – Not All Men Are Created Equal

There were hidden dangers lurking everywhere within the forest such as the traps regularly encountered along the pathway. Chen Bo himself had narrowly escaped death by barely avoiding a fall into a spike pit. Fortunately, he was attentive enough to notice the pit before stepping in. Otherwise, he would have embarrassed himself further by dying to such a simple trap. After that incident, he changed his mind. He no longer went searching for traps along unexplored paths. Instead, he switched to areas Nie Yan had already scoured through and made himself look preoccupied, by pretending to search for any traps Nie Yan may have overlooked.

Even after ten minutes, no further mishaps occurred to Chen Bo; not because he was more attentive, but because every trap had already been disarmed in the areas he passed through.

Chen Bo pretended to examine a nearby area while he made his way over to a small clearing just ahead since he had just seen Nie Yan walk through it. As he arrived at the centre of the clearing, he noticed the ground beneath his feet was a little soft; however, he paid it no heed and negligently strode forward.

「Crash!」The ground trembled and a giant hole opened up underneath him, whereupon he fell into a pit of sludge. Chen Bo’s entire body was covered in filth. Moreover, since this filth was a mix of toxic sludge and mud, he was inflicted with the poison status which caused him to lose two health per second. With a disgruntled expression, he raised his head to gauge how far of a distance he had fallen. The dirt walls surrounding him were roughly three meters in height. Since this pitfall was so deep, climbing out would require him to expend quite a bit of effort.

Having walked over to the pitfall, Nie Yan stuck his head over the hole and said, "Ah? Brother Chen Bo, how did you manage to fall into another trap? Didn’t I warn you earlier? As a Thief, you must always be wary of your surroundings. How could you just stride forward and step right into one again?”

"You bastard! I clearly saw you walking past this area without any problems! You intentionally set me up!” Chen Bo angrily cursed. He might be an idiot but he still managed to figure out what had happened.

"You stepped in there yourself. I never pushed you in, so how is it my fault? You were simply careless, that’s all. I also have another piece of advice for you: Just because I passed through an area safely, it doesn’t mean you will as well. Not all men are created equal.” Nie Yan gazed at Chen Bo disdainfully before shaking his head. "You’re too useless!” Even before he reincarnated into the past, Nie Yan had long understood what type of personality Chen Bo possessed: petty, vindictive, and unable to tolerate any kind of offense. If he held a grudge towards someone, he would simply carry out that grudge to the bitter end. Since this was the case, whatever schemes he had planned in his head, Nie Yan was ready to receive them all!

"Nie Yan, you son of a bitch, I’ll remember this! Fuck your ancestors down to the eighteenth generation! I’ll kick your ass if you’ve got the guts to fight me!” Chen Bo was foaming at the mouth with anger.

"You’d be useless in that aspect as well. Maybe you should bring a few people with you too; otherwise, it’d be too boring.” Nie Yan was unfazed by Chen Bo’s outburst. He turned around and called out to Dumpling and his group. "Come pull him up. We still need to continue the run.”

As Dusk, Tang Yao, and the others glanced over, they felt Nie Yan had tormented Chen Bo into quite a miserable state.

「System: Player Chen Bo has withdrawn from the team.」

Chen Bo felt too embarrassed to stay any longer, so he gave himself an out by leaving the team.

"Good! Since that annoying fellow has left, let’s continue with the run. We’re better off without him anyway.” Nie Yan felt Chen Bo acted rather tactful by leaving when he knew he was unwelcome.

"Aren’t you going a little too far?” Yu Lan said while knitting her brows. Although she somewhat loathed Chen Bo as well, he was still a member of her team. She felt rather displeased when Nie Yan drove him away.

"You all saw what happened earlier as well. I wasn’t the one who had him foolishly walk into a slumbering Treant, nor was I the one who made him carelessly walk into traps. His actions were his own, and their consequences were due to his incompetence. I barely said more than a few sentences to him before he quit in a fit of anger. You really can’t blame those things on me, can you?” Nie Yan turned to face Yao Yao and innocently asked, "Am I in the wrong here?”

Seeing Nie Yan’s appearance, Yao Yao was already on the verge of bursting into laughter. This guy had already got what he wanted, but he still wanted to act as if he was being wronged.

"Big Sister, Chen Bo’s attitude earlier was quite bad as well. Even if Nie Yan was a little excessive, all of the mishaps that occurred during this run really was due to Chen Bo’s own carelessness. Besides, he shouldn’t have been shirking off his own duties and pushing them onto Nie Yan.” Yao Yao didn’t have a favourable impression of Chen Bo either. Therefore, she spoke on Nie Yan’s behalf as soon as she opened her mouth.

"Ah, never mind. Let’s focus on the dungeon run first. We’ll discuss this after the run,” Yu Lan said, shaking her head.

"In any case, my cooperation with your team ends after this run. As long as Chen Bo remains on your team, even if you invite me to another run, I won’t come. As they say, what the eye doesn’t see, the heart won’t grieve over. Since these circumstances will never occur again, you no longer have a reason to get further upset. It will have nothing to do with your team even if he comes to me looking for trouble in the future,” Nie Yan added. Were it not for Yao Yao’s invitation, he would have never considered running a dungeon with Yu Lan’s team. Chen Bo was too much of an eyesore; so what if he drove him away? Even Buddha could be angered to some degree. He’d have been a weakling with no backbone if he let Chen Bo walk all over him like that.

"Nie Yan, I’m really sorry…” Yao Yao said apologetically. Nie Yan had suffered because of her invitation.

Yao Yao really was too much of a sweetheart. This incident had been Chen Bo’s fault, yet she still directed the blame towards herself.

"It isn’t your fault. I’m just that sort of a person. If there’s someone I’m not on good terms with, I’ll keep looking for trouble. I’ve already gotten used to being a solo player and staying as one is fine too. If I enter a team, who knows what sort of restrictions they’ll put on me. In the future, it’ll be fine and dandy to just make my own team if I want to run a dungeon.” Nie Yan laughed in a carefree manner.

He had played down the incident and skirted around the issue. From Yao Yao’s perspective, Nie Yan appeared quite easy-going and unworried. Her impression of him somewhat changed once again.

"Right! After some time, we’ll find our own people to make a team with!” Tang Yao enthusiastically added.

Nie Yan believed if he were going to invite people to create a team, at the very minimum, the members needed to be super experts if they wanted to join.

"If you guys make your own team, I’m afraid I can’t join you,” Yao Yao apologetically said. She was already in a fixed team. Although she loathed Chen Bo, Yu Lan was in the team as well. She would never betray Yu Lan to join another person’s team, even if it was Nie Yan’s.

"Haha! Don’t worry. I already know. Alright everyone, let’s switch our focus back to the dungeon run. Let’s not give Brother Chen Bo something to mock at by getting wiped during the run,” Nie Yan smiled and said.

"Brother Nie, well done,” Dusk said with a smile. He felt Nie Yan was quite an interesting person.

…

Deeper within the eerie forest near an opening between the trees, a community of Treants were sauntering around, blocking the path ahead. Nie Yan drew closer to these enemies and counted their numbers—eighteen Treants in total. They possessed thirty percent more health than their Normal difficulty counterparts and gained noticeable bonuses in stats as well. Furthermore, there was also Bind—a crowd control skill—and Lash—a skill that increased their damage—to be wary of. Their team could only handle three Treants at once. Any more, and things could get a little dangerous. If they were unlucky enough to encounter more than five at once, they were guaranteed to be wiped. Since the game was still new, most Priests still didn’t have a healing or resurrection skill. In fact, the main purpose of coming to the Treant Forest for most teams was to get a hold of a Lesser Heal skill book.

"There’s eighteen of them up ahead. I want you guys to stay where you are for now,” Nie Yan ordered. He examined the terrain of the nearby area and began to formulate a plan.

"There’s no way we can deal with so many Treants,” Yu Lan said. Frankly, the moment she found out they had entered this dungeon on Specialist difficulty, she had already begun feeling a little restless. If they were wiped again, several of their members were going to drop a level, and climbing back to their previous levels would take quite a long time.

"Don’t worry. I’m not stupid enough to have you guys deal with so many of them at once.” Nie Yan began gauging their distance. The nearest Treants were roughly ten meters away. He raised his head and surveyed the forest canopy. It was quite fortunate there was a tall tree right next to him, and there was a branch that could support a person. He could get a better vantage point from a higher elevation. As he extended his hand, he shot out a line of webbing from his Ring of Woven Silk, which adhered to the thick branch of the tree above. After making sure the line was secure, he nimbly scaled the tree.

"What is he going to do?” Yao Yao asked puzzledly as she looked to her side at Yu Lan and the others.

Chapter 48 – Godly Ability

"Brother Nie has impressive perception. He was actually able to find such a good vantage point!” Dusk exclaimed in admiration. He was much more knowledgeable compared to Yu Lan (Blue Feather), Bai Kaisui (Plain Boiled Water), and the others. Naturally, this was because he frequently followed his captain, Sleepy Fox, into difficult dungeons. How could he not be knowledgeable regarding dungeon specific techniques?

"Hey, tell us. What’s he planning to do?” Yu Lan asked. Although she held the position of team captain, she was only the captain of a run-of-the-mill team. Therefore, she and her team weren’t proficient in aspects such as dungeoneering, otherwise, they wouldn’t have been wiped out in this dungeon on Easy difficulty.

"When running dungeons, there’s always one person assigned a certain designated task. That task is to find a suitable position to attack certain monsters within a large group. Optimally, that person should aggro one or two monsters over to the team without alerting the other monsters in the group. Using such methods, teams can break down large crowds of mobs into more manageable sizes. Generally, this job is assigned to the Thief who uses a crossbow to carry it out. Presumably, you should all know these things by now. Those eighteen Treants just ahead are quite close to each other. The moment one of them is aggroed, many others will follow in tow. This difference in mob density is likely also one of the key differences in running a Specialist dungeon. Even the minor obstacles are this difficult to deal with. Earlier, I had surveyed the area but was unable to find a suitable position to start. It wasn’t until I saw Brother Nie Yan scale the tree that I realised I was mistaken in my judgement. His current location is the most optimal for luring mobs. If one didn’t have exceptional perception, they would be hard-pressed to find such a great spot! If we had such a Thief in our team, our survival rate would increase by at least thirty percent or higher,” Dusk explained. He was not in the least bit shy in expressing his praise and admiration for Nie Yan’s skills.

Yu Lan remained taciturn. Initially, she believed herself quite capable, for being able to properly manage a team. However, it appeared that notion was simply due to her lack of experience.

When Yao Yao gazed at Nie Yan standing at the top of the branch, her eyes shone with a peculiar splendour. Nie Yan’s position within her mind had once again been elevated a few steps. Other than her senior sister, Yu Lan, there was no other person she admired more.

"However, finding a suitable position is one thing… actually luring the monsters without attracting the rest of the group is another. The latter is a test of a Thief’s perception and reaction. If he’s even a little off in the timing or hitting of his target, worst case scenario, he’ll aggro the whole group towards us and cause us to be wiped. Even the most elite Thieves have lapses in judgement and make mistakes,” Dusk gazed at Nie Yan and said in a nervous tone.

While standing on top of the branch, Nie Yan sheathed his dagger and wore it on his waist. He promptly retrieved his crossbow from his bag and propped it up on his shoulder. As he observed the Treants’ movements through the sight, his forehead dripped with a bead of sweat. The pressure and nervousness in his mind reached its apex. At this moment, the lives of all nineteen members of his team would be decided by his hands!

As the tension in the atmosphere increased, Nie Yan gradually tuned out the distractions around him until what remained was only the crossbow in his hand and the target through his sight.

Even after the seconds ticked into minutes he patiently awaited his opportunity to strike.

Most of these Treants stood idle. Occasionally, one or two of them would uproot themselves and roam about. However, they consistently remained within two meters of each other. The close proximity put him in an extremely risky situation. A single badly timed shot could cause a chain of aggro that would lead the entire group to his team.

Below Nie Yan were eighteen other players watching his every movement attentively. Earlier, they had been ignorant of the severity of their situation. It wasn’t until Dusk’s explanation that they realised their lives were held in Nie Yan’s hands. Since this dungeon was a sealed space, they would have nowhere to run to if those Treants came lumbering over after discovering their presence.

With the cross propped on his shoulder, Nie Yan remained motionless atop the tree branch almost as if he were a statue.

Time seemed to have stood still.

Through the crossbow sight, Nie Yan’s eyes focused on several Treants in the distance.

Periodically, a gust of wind blew past the trees causing the leaves to fall and flutter as if they were butterflies.

Nie Yan glanced at the fallen leaves floating in the wind. Wind speed, medium…

He abruptly pulled the trigger. The crossbow recoiled acutely after the first bolt fired. Before the second bolt flew out, he sharply shifted the crossbow in another direction.「Woosh! Woosh! Woosh!」Three bolts fired from the crossbow. As these bolts flew through the air, they surprisingly weren’t shot out in a single line but in three separate directions.

"We’re done for… Brother Nie’s hands were unsteady when he fired!” Dusk called out in alarm. When firing a crossbow, the user shouldn’t be nervous and absolutely shouldn’t have shaky hands. Otherwise, a single slip-up could cost the lives of the entire team.

No matter what profession, the shooter must first have a calm and steady mind because a single shot could decide the fate of their comrades. Under this kind of intense mental pressure, even an experienced expert could have a lapse in judgement due to nervousness. Consequently, such a lapse in judgement was the guaranteed deaths of the entire team.

It seems Brother Nie couldn’t handle the pressure…

Every member of the team felt their hearts sink upon hearing Dusk’s words.

"Bai Kaisui, prepare to hold position [289.288.212]!” After firing the crossbow, Nie Yan didn’t bother watching to see if the three bolts were on target. He leapt off the tree branch onto the ground and began running towards the team.

Dusk and the rest of the team looked over in the area where the bolts were fired.「Put! Put! Put!」The first bolt passed in between the Treants and struck a tree further in the back while the second bolt struck a sapling in the west. Despite both bolts missing their supposed targets, the noise from the bolts striking bark alerted the nearby Treants and over ten of them moved towards the two points to investigate the sources of the noise.

The remaining bolt struck the Treant nearest to the team and alerted a companion as well, whereupon the two Treants began lumbering over to Nie Yan.

These two Treants quickly separated from their group as they chased Nie Yan from behind.

He managed to lure two of them without aggroing the others!

"Holy shit, that was amazing!” Dusk exclaimed in surprise. The others might have not clearly seen what had happened but how could he not? The crossbow in Nie Yan’s hand was a type of semi-automatic crossbow that fired in three-bolt bursts. The three bolts were fired in different directions. The first two bolts had drawn most of the Treants away while the last bolt drew two Treants towards the team. He had been mistaken earlier in believing Nie Yan had unsteady hands when firing the crossbow. Rather, it was actually Nie Yan quickly changing directions to fire at different targets! He had only heard about this kind of highly-advanced skill in rumours!

Even with the same crossbow, if it were another person firing, the outcome would likely be vastly different!

Dusk had been secretly recording during this entire run. Although this type of video couldn’t be publically viewed online if it was recorded without the consent of the person in the video, it could still be shared privately with friends. He would definitely show this clip to his captain, Sleepy Fox.

A true top-class Thief!

This method of drawing aggro was an innovation in dungeoneering! If publically disseminated, it would certainly become textbook among Thieves!

Two Treants were nothing difficult. Since Bai Kaisui had already gotten into position, he easily intercepted one of the incoming Treants while Nie Yan used Concussive Blow on its companion. The rest of the frontliners arrived to surround the Treants and the Mages began casting their magic.「Boom! Boom! Boom!」A rain of spells exploded over the Treant’s bodies.

One of the Treants swept its arm out repelling most of the frontliners away. However, Bai Kaisui held his position, refusing to retreat. He loudly roared and struck the Treant using Shield Bash.

"The key to being a successful Fighter isn’t necessarily the ability to be aggressive. It’s the ability to be firm and stable. It doesn’t matter what situation, you mustn’t create any openings that could lead to a break in the ranks,” Nie Yan frankly advised, after seeing Bai Kaisui’s action. Although Nie Yan believed Bai Kaisui was a decent player, he was still far from being an expert in Nie Yan’s eyes.

In reality, before he reincarnated, those who were stronger than him could be found everywhere. It was just that everyone, in the present, was simply new to the game. The players were still gradually familiarising themselves with the combat and different skills and techniques in the game. However, Nie Yan was different. He had over ten years of experience in the game as a Thief and was already quite familiar with the various aspects of the game. The saying goes, "Practice makes perfect,” and Nie Yan, with his ten years of gameplay knowledge, had already far exceeded any current player in the game. The techniques he used now that would cause others to exclaim in admiration would be standard ten years later. There were still a few genuinely difficult techniques that even he wasn’t able to grasp. Those were the true highly-advanced techniques!

Bai Kaisui tuned down his aggression after listening to Nie Yan’s advice. When they first met, he wasn’t particularly impressed with Nie Yan’s ability. However, after witnessing Nie Yan’s display of skill just a moment ago, he became thoroughly convinced even if he wasn’t able to see it clearly. Since Nie Yan was elevated to the status of super expert in his mind, he would firmly believe in any advice that he was given by Nie Yan.

After focusing more on defense, even though the Treant’s attacks were fierce, he found it easier to hold his ground. He stood more stably and the pressure he felt had immediately lessened.

Chapter 49 – Insane Levelling Speed

After all was said and done, Nie Yan had knowledge of the next ten years of gameplay, events, and updates. Just a few words from him to Bai Kaisui (Plain Boiled Water) would allow the latter to reap endless benefits.

Another wave of spells struck the Treants. After the third wave, the first Treant collapsed and exploded into a pile of wood debris. Ten seconds later, the second Treant collapsed as well.

Nie Yan walked over their corpses and rummaged through the wood pile. He found a few coppers and a pair of Bronze-grade Mage gloves with Focus +2.

"A pair of Mage gloves dropped. Decide who should have it among yourselves,” Nie Yan said and threw the gloves over to Yu Lan (Blue Feather).

Naturally, Tang Yao and Dusk declined as they had no use for such gloves. Even though the Bronze-grade gloves were decent, it was still inferior to their set equipment.

In the end, the player named Pirate had the winning bid and received the pair of gloves for twelve copper. The money from his bid was then evenly split among the other team members. In this fashion, players could obtain equipment inexpensively rather than paying higher prices in the marketplace.

"Nie Yan, that move earlier was amazing! How did you pull it off? You should teach me next time!” Yao Yao (Dark Mystery) exclaimed excitedly, since crossbow techniques similarly applied to magic as well. She was considered an expert amongst her friends but in reality, she felt there was quite a large gap between herself and the true experts like Nie Yan.

Nie Yan replied with a faint smile and said, "Sure. Actually, it’s not really that difficult. I’ll tell you later when we get out of the dungeon.” After he finished speaking, he walked back to his prior position so they could continue the run. Nie Yan lured the Treants over one after the other. Sometimes, only one lumbered over; other times, they brought one or two companions with them. However, there were never more than three Treants at once. Since they ran the dungeon on Specialist difficulty, the drop rate was increased by over five hundred percent. Moreover, the type of equipment dropped was of a much higher quality. When all eighteen Treants were killed, the team obtained two more pieces of Bronze-grade equipment with decent properties and one piece of Silver-grade equipment.

When Yu Lan and her team ran this dungeon on Easy, they obtained no more than five pieces of Bronze-grade equipment per run. The properties of the equipment they picked up weren’t spectacular either. Yet, at present, the value of their recently dropped equipment far surpassed the profits of an entire run for them on Easy. Moreover, this was still the beginning of the dungeon! Such a fact put the members of the team in higher spirits.

"The profits from running a Specialist dungeon are staggering!” Dusk exclaimed. He felt the current drop rate was unimaginable.

"This is only the beginning,” Nie Yan replied. From his experience, these profits were simply a drop in the bucket. The total amount earned in a Specialist run was much more.

"The path splits up ahead,” Dusk called out. Everyone cast their gaze forward. The path between the forest thickets forked into two different directions.

"We’ll head west,” Nie Yan replied.

"Aren’t we supposed to go east?” Dusk asked in surprise. He and Sleepy Fox always went east when running this dungeon because the path to the west was a dead end. Regardless of the selected difficulty, the map for the Treant Forest always stayed the same.

"You won’t go wrong by listening to my instructions. While it’s true the west path leads to a dead end, don’t you think it’s odd for the path to exist for no reason? In fact, that area actually contains something very special! However, we’ll have to be a little more cautious. Many Treants lurk on the path ahead, making it quite dangerous,” Nie Yan replied. The secret to the dead end was hidden quite deeply. Very few people were able to discover it. If it weren’t for the information from his past life, he might have missed out on a great opportunity.

Everyone followed Nie Yan and took the west path. While on the path, they encountered many Treants roaming around. Sometimes, the Treants even charged towards the team. However, thanks to Nie Yan’s reminders, they were able to prepare in advance.

"Smothering Strike!” Nie Yan struck a Treant from behind and stunned it. He then turned around to attack another one nearby.

Bai Kaisui and the rest of the frontliners rushed up to take aggro while the Mages followed in tow.「Boom! Boom! Boom!」A volley of spells bombarded the two Treants.

…

The two Treants finally collapsed to the ground.

From their corpses, they found three coppers and a single skill book.

Skill Book: Uncanny Dodge (Passive)

Skill Description: Increases the player’s senses and ability to evade attacks.

Skill Attribute: Evasion +2, Awareness +1

User Restriction: Thief, Warrior, Paladin; can be learned by any faction.

"Since it’s a skill book I can learn, I’ll be taking it,” Nie Yan said to the team. The skill book was quite rare. Even its drop rate on Specialist was very low.

The skill could be learned by Thieves, Warriors, and Paladins. If he were to put it up for auction, it could sell for at least two silvers. Furthermore, at present, it was a skill book that had yet to appear on the marketplace. If such a skill book appeared in a run beside theirs, that team’s members would certainly fight or even become enemies over it.

However, Nie Yan directly took it without any opposition. Although many members drooled over the skill book, no one dared to say anything since they had already accepted Nie Yan’s conditions before setting out. Besides, without him, let alone obtaining such a good item, they wouldn’t even be able to take one step forward in this Specialist dungeon.

Each profession had a maximum of fifty skill slots. For an average Thief to fill even twenty-five of those slots was an accomplishment. Most players were able to comfortably get by with around ten active skills. Players able to attain more than twenty active skills were in the top ranks among the player base. Therefore, the majority of players had their skill bars padded with passive skills.

Some skills could be improved as time went on; however, those were few and far between. The bulk of skills obtained by players generally couldn’t be improved. Skills could also be forgotten to free up space in the skill bar. Therefore, once some lower level skills outlived their use, they could be replaced with higher level ones.

Uncanny Dodge was classified as one of the skills that couldn’t be improved.

Nie Yan glanced at his character page after learning the skill. His Evasion and Awareness had increased. The stat bonuses from passive skills were permanent. He felt passive skills were much better because the stat bonuses from equipment would disappear once the gear was unequipped.

…

The team had walked half-way through the path—just enough to see the edge of the forest. They could hear the gentle melody of a flute as the sound drifted between the leaves and floated into their ears. The clear melody moved the hearts of the members in the team.

"There’s a delirious old man who speaks nothing but gibberish at the end of the forest. No matter how we inquired or interacted with him, he wouldn’t give us any sort of quest. Since we could beat the Treant King regardless and the old man didn’t seem to do anything, we figured he was just a useless NPC. Don’t tell me he’s actually part of a quest line or something?” Dusk asked and turned to face Nie Yan. He didn’t know whether Nie Yan had any thoughts on this old man.

"There’s never an NPC who appears in a dungeon without reason. They have a ninety percent chance of being related to the main storyline,” Nie Yan replied before continuing on the path.

Dusk looked on in confusion. Could Nie Yan have found some clues regarding this old man? In any case, he feared this attempt would be futile as well.

Nie Yan had read over detailed guides for every dungeon in the game. Moreover, he himself had personally experienced ninety-nine percent of these dungeons. The matter of the senile old man was an easy case for him to solve.

"Nie Yan, have you been through this dungeon before?” Yao Yao asked. She was quite curious. Why did he seem to know everything about this dungeon?

"I’ve run this dungeon with a team before,” Nie Yan replied with a nod.

"On Specialist as well?”

"Nope, only on Normal difficulty.”

"Why were you so confident in entering the dungeon on Specialist then?”

"Like I said before, Specialist isn’t actually that hard. You simply need to have enough skill and if you understand the dungeon well enough, passing it on Specialist won’t be difficult at all,” Nie Yan replied.

When Nie Yan spoke in a confident and certain tone, it almost seemed as if every matter that appeared before him could be easily resolved. Yao Yao quietly gazed at Nie Yan. The outline of his face, as well as his overall appearance, still looked somewhat childish; a little bit of stubble had barely grown out of his chin. He wasn’t particularly handsome but he had a peculiar personality that made her subconsciously feel she could trust and rely on him.

As Yao Yao stared longer than what was considered polite, a thought suddenly emerged into her mind and she quickly turned away. A faint tinge of red could be seen on her elegant face.

"Yao Yao, how did you meet him again?” Yu Lan asked as she stood right beside Yao Yao. She also became quite interested in Nie Yan. The game servers had barely opened a week ago, so such a strong player was a rare sight.

"Remember when I was killing Water Spiders in Lake Rando? He was the one who saved me that day. If it weren’t for him, I’m afraid I would be a level lower right now,” Yao Yao replied. She shuddered at the thought of losing one level. Actually, she didn’t know how she got into such a mess in the first place but she had found herself being surrounded by six Water Spiders. She managed to kill three of them after using up two scrolls and a Basic Health Potion. However, the remaining three nearly ended her life.

Yu Lan couldn’t help thinking Yao Yao was extremely lucky to have met Nie Yan back then. Even if you searched every nook and cranny, you wouldn’t necessarily find someone as skilled as him.

…

Along the path, the team had killed another Treant and a jingling sound rang out. A white light then surrounded Nie Yan’s body.

"I levelled up,” Nie Yan said and glanced at his character page. He had finally reached Level 4.

"Congratulations.”

"Congratulations,” the team members applauded one after the other.

"Nie Yan, you levelled up already? How are you so quick!?” Tang Yao exclaimed in surprise. Just yesterday, he was almost fifty percent ahead of Nie Yan in experience! How did Nie Yan suddenly get so far ahead of him in only one day!?

Chapter 50 – Treant Caretaker

"I handed in a quest before I got off last night. It gave some fairly decent experience, so my level rose by quite a bit.”

"What kind of quest gives so much experience at once? Tell me, where is it? I want to try it too!”

"It was a unique quest.”

"Ah, so it was a unique quest. Oh well, forget it then,” Tang Yao replied in a disappointed manner. Unique quests were generally quite hard to trigger. Though their difficulties varied, the rewards for these quests were always extremely generous.

"Nie Yan, you’re already Level 4?” Yao Yao exclaimed in shock. Nie Yan was only Level 2 when she first encountered him, yet he reached Level 4 after only two days? Wasn’t this levelling speed a bit too monstrous?

"Mhmm.” Nie Yan nodded.

Even more shocked to hear this news was Dusk. He had heard from Flying Stone three days prior that Nie Yan had only been Level 0 when they first met. Barely several days have passed and he’s already Level 4. No wonder he dared to start all over again… It’s because he had the confidence to rise up. That’s why he dared to delete his old Warrior character!

This guy is impressive! And not the average kind of impressive either! Dusk said to himself.

Several days ago, Nie Yan didn’t put much thought into his explanation for Stone. He made up a story by telling Stone he simply deleted his old account and was restarting. After all, it was an easy explanation for why he knew so much about the dungeons.

Finally… Level 4. Nie Yan glanced at his experience bar. Currently, the highest level player in the game had only reached Level 6. Even groups like Sleepy Fox and his team averaged around Level 5. If he kept going at his current pace, he was certain to overtake them; it was only a matter of time.

As the team neared the edge of the forest, the members could see a distant cliff face ahead. Trees, shrubs, and flowers, along with other various plants flourished and grew vigorously on its near vertical incline. Presumably, this steep rock face was the end of the west path.

In addition to the cliff face, the team caught sight of a lone NPC at the edge of the forest—an elderly man in a shabby looking cap. He sat beside a nearby tree with his back supported by the trunk, absorbed in playing the flute he held in his hands. The song was dreary and distant, as if its melody had drifted through the forest since antiquity.

Nie Yan examined the old man. The name displayed above his head read "Nameless Old Man,” but Nie Yan knew this NPC’s actual name: Einpat the Treant Caretaker. He was this forest’s protector. Under his supervision, humans and Treants coexisted peacefully. However, around a month ago, the Treants suddenly went out of control and began slaughtering any humans that entered the forest. When traces of Dark Elf activity were discovered in the area, the Viridian Empire’s council of elders issued a statement. They called for the brave adventurers of the empire to enter the forest and kill the most dangerous being inside—the Treant King. This was where the main storyline of the Treant Forest dungeon begun.

"Adventurers, you have travelled a long way but please turn back now. This area is very dangerous. The Treants will kill anyone who enters the forest, so please hurriedly depart. When night descends, beneath the light of the moon, they gain a strange demonic power that increases their strength immensely.” The Nameless Old Man stopped playing his flute upon seeing Nie Yan approach and advised him to turn back.

"Respected Caretaker Einpat, it’s an honour to grace your presence. We’ve come here in order to exterminate the evil Treant King. While these Treants have gone berserk, it is my hope that God will allow them to be saved,” Nie Yan replied in a sincere and righteous manner.

"Damn those wretched beings from the underground! They should receive divine judgement! They stole my flute and hid it somewhere while snickering in the shadows!” Caretaker Einpat furiously exclaimed.

「This! Right here! It’s clearly a prompt for a quest but this old guy never gave it to us. No matter how we talked to him after, the old coot would only tell us to hurriedly leave. After that, we didn’t bother with him anymore and went straight to killing the Treant King,」 Dusk said in the team chat.

「That’s because you guys ran this dungeon on Hard difficulty. If we don’t trigger this NPC’s dialogue in Specialist difficulty, we’d have no way to beat the Treant King. The boss on Specialist is much more difficult than its counterpart on Hard,」Nie Yan replied. He then glanced at the shadows in the distance before turning his head and continuing his conversation with Einpat. "It is them. I immediately discovered their presence the moment I entered the forest. May the radiance of light purify these wretched demons.”

"Adventurer, you can actually detect their presence? Good! If not for those two damned Dark Elves snatching my flute, the Treants wouldn’t have gone berserk. Here, I personally created this Disillusioning Powder. It can reveal their true appearances and prevent them from escaping into the shadows again. Please, kill them and retrieve my flute, then you’ll be able to defeat the Treant King.” Caretaker Einpat rejoiced in surprise.

「System: You’ve obtained Disillusioning Powder. Quantity: 3」

Disillusioning Powder: Reveals all hidden players and monsters within a thirty meter radius for twenty seconds.

After receiving the powder, Nie Yan glanced at the distant shadows once more. Along with Transcendent Insight, his Awareness far exceeded other Thieves of the same level. Therefore, he was able to keenly sense the malicious entities stalking the shadows ever since he and his team entered the dungeon.

Out of everyone in the team, only Nie Yan had managed to notice the presence of those two Dark Elves.

"You… received the quest?” Dusk asked blankly. Prior to this, he, Sleepy Fox, and their team had tried numerous methods but were unable to retrieve even a single clue from this old man. He never expected it would be so simple to receive the quest while under Nie Yan’s lead.

"Yeah, let’s keep moving. We’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Nie Yan replied.

"Really? Was there really something following us?” Yao Yao followed Nie Yan’s gaze. Besides the shadows, there was absolutely nothing there. She suddenly felt a deep chill run down her spine.

"Just a bunch of frail Dark Elves. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Nie Yan then began strutting towards the darker areas in the forest.

With eighteen others following from behind, Nie Yan led the team out of the opening where the elderly NPC resided. He took them through a long and narrow path between the trees and brought them to the cliff face. At the base of the cliff, everyone could see a dense blanket of green covering the entire rock face where all sorts of vegetation grew.

"Why did we come here?” Tang Yao asked.

It wasn’t just Tang Yao, everyone else also felt puzzled as to why Nie Yan led them here.

Nie Yan glanced upward at the cliff face above them and said, "We came here to look for an opportunity to catch those two Dark Elves… Hold on, I think I saw something over on that side.” Nie Yan walked alongside the wall and jumped. He leapt three meters into the air before clinging onto the vegetation on the cliff face. He then shot a web line at a shrub three meters above him. Resembling a nimble monkey, he climbed higher and higher by grabbing onto nearby protruding rocks.

"Guys, look over there!” Yao Yao pointed above.

Everyone looked in the direction Yao Yao pointed. Only then did they discover a faintly shimmering object slightly sticking out on the cliff face. From its appearance, it was likely a treasure chest and a silver one at that. There was actually a chest so well hidden in this area. If it weren’t for Nie Yan, they would have never discovered it!

The real reason Nie Yan brought everyone here was solely for the sake of this chest as it only appeared in the Specialist version of this dungeon. Thus, in order not to arouse the team’s suspicions, he acted as if he were looking for the Dark Elves.

Nie Yan reached over and found the chest embedded deeply inside the crack on the cliff face. He didn’t know who discovered this chest first, but the person who discovered it was surely an expert. After all, it was nearly impossible to notice such a well-hidden chest unless the player possessed exceptional observational ability. Even without his exceptional eyesight, this location could be found on the guides in his past life. Be it hidden chests, items, or information regarding their respective dungeons, they were all written down. The knowledge came from the experiences of the high-level experts before him. When these experts reached a higher level, they would write down this information and sell it to online publications for a hefty sum. Nie Yan had always looked at these guides and thoroughly researched them before actually entering a dungeon with a team. This aided him greatly in avoiding disastrous mistakes and taking the wrong paths.

Chapter 51 – Elves

This chest wasn’t locked so Nie Yan stretched out his arm and opened it.

「System: Opening chest… Estimated Completion: 37%… 53%…」

「Click!」The treasure chest’s lid popped open. Nie Yan reached in and dug around. For the most part, items found inside dungeon chests were generated randomly, so anything could appear. Now it was all just a matter of luck.

After digging around for what seemed like half a day, Nie Yan picked up a skill book and a necklace from the chest.

Ah! It’s an accessory. Guess my luck isn’t too bad. Nie Yan felt pleasantly surprised. Accessories such as rings, necklaces, and medallions were the rarest type of equipment players could receive. Since they were so difficult to find, they fetched a high price on the marketplace and most players could only leave their accessory slots empty.

Forest Necklace

Properties: Unidentified

Nie Yan appraised the item using Transcendent Insight.

Forest Necklace (Silver)

Level Requirement: 0

Properties: Defense 2–3, Dexterity +2, Awareness +1

Weight: 1 lb

User Restriction: None

What a good accessory! It’s a Silver-tier necklace! Nie Yan felt quite elated. He then turned to look at the skill book. It’s a Lesser Heal skill book! The Lesser Heal skill was the lowest level healing skill of the Priest profession. However, it was difficult to acquire since its skill book could only be found within dungeons. This was also one of the reasons its market price remained so high, to the extent it was even more valuable than some Silver-tier equipment. Having received the Forest Necklace, Nie Yan didn’t mind too much about losing the Lesser Heal skill book. If he were to place it up for auction, he’d only receive around three silver. Such an insignificant sum wasn’t worth batting his eye over.

Nie Yan descended the cliff and met up with the team.

"We’re pretty lucky. The chest dropped a necklace and a Lesser Heal skill book. You guys can have the skill book since I don’t need it, but I’ll be taking the necklace,” Nie Yan said. He didn’t have to pay a single cent when taking an item. On the other hand, Yu Lan (Blue Feather) and her team had to share their profits with Dusk and Tang Yao. After all, the two were invited here and couldn’t just leave empty-handed.

"It’s a Silver-grade necklace!” Bai Kaisui’s (Plain Boiled Water) and the others’ eyes practically fell out of their sockets. A Silver-grade necklace! Now just how much was that worth? The group watched in anguish as Nie Yan put the necklace away. Ah, it’s such a pity… Why does it have to belong to someone else?

"If it weren’t for him finding this chest, we would’ve never gotten this Lesser Heal skill book in the first place. It would be better if we just buy this skill book off of you, Brother Nie,” Yu Lan said. She wasn’t willing to take advantage of Nie Yan’s generosity. The skill book was brought back by his own efforts. They hadn’t done anything to help at all.

"Since you put it that way… I’ll be straightforward and sell it to you. The market price for a Lesser Heal skill book is around three silvers, possibly even more. However, I’ll lower the price and sell it to you for cheaper—two silvers! How does that sound? This price can’t be considered disadvantageous to you, right?” Nie Yan replied. He wasn’t the least bit reserved in agreeing to Yu Lan’s request.

"Couldn’t you have just politely declined instead?” Yao Yao interjected, stamping her feet.

Nie Yan calmly laughed and replied, "Since someone is so adamant about spending their money, why should I refuse? Only fools would refuse money. If you want this Lesser Heal skill book, I can give it to you. Even if you wanted ten of them, I would still help you find them. However, your captain wants to buy it instead because she doesn’t want to owe me any favours. Let’s say I disregard her sentiments and politely refuse her offer… Even if you wouldn’t mind me being a hypocrite, I’d still be despising myself for being one.”

"Our team funds are only around five silvers… Would it be possible to pay you the two silvers at a later date?” Yu Lan asked in slight embarrassment. If she paid the two silvers now, their funds would be even more lacking than they were now.

"Are your funds that lacking? You even need to owe someone two silvers? Ah, whatever, whatever! You can pay me back whenever you want,” Nie Yan replied and waved his hands. An entire team couldn’t even bring out two silvers… Although that appeared quite pathetic, most teams only had two silvers! In reality, Yu Lan and her team were quite well off. They were just naturally no match when paired up against a walking money bag like Nie Yan.

The entire team stared at Nie Yan. These were two silvers! It wasn’t paltry amount! Yet he still didn’t attach any importance to them. This man was truly rich and overbearing.

Yao Yao pulled at Nie Yan’s sleeves and gazed at him while blinking her innocent eyes. She asked in a harmless and sincere tone, "Nie Yan… would you really be willing to gift me ten skill books?”

"Uh… Sure, but you never told me where I could find those ten skill books to give you.” Nie Yan felt a cold sweat run down his forehead. He knew exactly what sort of wicked thoughts were running through this enchantress’ mind.

"Hmph. You don’t even have the least bit of sincerity,” Yao Yao replied and feigned anger. Nevertheless, the corners of her mouth curved into a smile. Of course, she would never actually ask Nie Yan to give her ten Lesser Heal skill books. She only wanted to tease him a bit, that’s all.

Tang Yao glanced at the overhanging cliff. He was actually able to spot that chest all the way over there? He was increasingly unable to make sense of Nie Yan. The changes in this childhood friend of his became even greater and greater, to the point where even he was having slight troubles recognizing him. However, one thing remained certain. No matter how much Nie Yan changed, he would always remain as his brother!

"Alright, let’s focus on the matter at hand. We’re going to have to kill those two Dark Elves that have been stalking from behind. There’s a ravine in the area. We’ll split up into two groups. I’ll lead the first group into the ravine while the second group trails us. Those two Dark Elves are quite crafty, so we’ll have to lure them into the ravine and trap them in there by blocking their exit. Afterward, we’ll use the Disillusioning Powder to reveal them. However, I want everyone to stay on full alert. Even though those two Dark Elves don’t possess much fighting strength, they make up for it with their speed. We have to make sure they don’t escape; otherwise, it’ll be very difficult to make them fall for the same trick twice,” Nie Yan ordered and began carrying out his strategy.

The team separated into two groups. The first group of ten remained on standby while the second group advanced into the ravine.

While moving forward, Nie Yan paid careful attention to his surroundings. He noticed the slight movement of a silhouette eleven meters ahead. The other one didn’t follow? Nie Yan questioned inwardly. However, he was then able to sense something following them from behind. The entity kept ten meters of distance between them.

They’re both here. Nie Yan’s lips curved into a faint smile. These two elves are quite cowardly, afraid to even separate from themselves. Good, we’ll wipe them both out at once.

Nie Yan and the group entered the ravine. On either side of them were towering walls of rocks around ten meters high. In between was a small trail that was able to fit five or six players walking side by side.

This narrow ravine was the perfect site to set up an ambush. However, they had to succeed on the first try. Those two crafty elves wouldn’t be easily fooled twice.

Nie Yan sensed the two elves were hesitating at the entrance of the ravine. After a brief moment, they entered and followed.

They took the bait. Good, now they’re trapped just like a turtle in a jar! Nie Yan inwardly rejoiced. He then ordered through the team chat,「Yu Lan, you guys can come over now. Block the ravine’s entrance and by all means, don’t let those crafty buggers escape!」

Yu Lan felt strange and somewhat uncomfortable when Nie Yan addressed her without any honorifics, but this wasn’t the time to bother with such a matter. She led the remaining team members and rushed over to the ravine.

「We’re here!」Yu Lan informed.

Nie Yan retrieved the Disillusioning Powder and threw it in the air, whereupon the powder scattered and floated across the ravine. The powder’s area of effect constantly expanded and eventually covered the entire ravine. When the powder landed on the nearby shadows, the figures of the two impish elves were gradually revealed.

With pointed ears, their emaciated figures were nearly all skin and bone while the colour of their skin was a dark ashy grey. Besides their physical feature, the clothing on their body was shabby and worn out.

While the High Elves in the game were beautiful and handsome, these two Dark Elves were so shamefully ugly it was no wonder they were always hidden.

"RRYyeeKGgthh!” One of the elves let out an ear-piercing screech.

Chapter 52 – Einpat’s Flute

Both elves turned their backs and frantically dashed towards the ravine’s exit. Like a pair of hares, their movements were quite nimble. Nonetheless, they were quite fragile as well and only had around a hundred health. A single round of spells was enough to kill them instantly.

"You want to run? In your dreams!” As if he were an arrow released from a bow, Nie Yan quickly shot out from behind.

The rest of the group trailed him and followed in pursuit.

Right now, Yu Lan’s group should’ve already blocked off the exit.

Before the two elves made it too far, they were immediately stopped in their tracks upon reaching the ravine’s passage. Sure enough, Yu Lan and her group had already arrived and firmly stood in place, blocking off the elves’ only path to freedom.

They were already trapped with no hope of escape!

The two elves quickly glanced at each other before dashing towards the cliff face. When they had scaled three meters of the cliff, Nie Yan arrived right behind them and suddenly leaped into the air. He reached out with his arm and managed to grab one of the elves by the leg. He then extended his left hand and shot out a line of webbing from his Ring of Woven Silk. As the web line wrapped itself around the other elf’s leg, he pulled back sharply and flung the two elves off the cliff face.「Crash!」Their bodies made heavy contact with the ground, causing a cloud of dust to form and rise in the air.

With Nie Yan’s Dexterity and jump range being so high, his range of movements and speed were astonishing to a frightening degree. These two Dark Elves simply weren’t his match.

Shortly after the rest of the team arrived and surrounded the two elves, the Mages raised their staffs and prepared to unleash a rain of spells.

"Ryeehgh… Ryeghkh…” The two elves revealed pleading expressions on their faces.

"Hold up! Don’t kill them for now.” Nie Yan’s heart jumped in excitement. In his previous life, the player only needed to kill these two elves and Einpat’s flute would drop. When they handed the flute back to Einpat, they could proceed with the dungeon. However, he had never come across a situation such as this, where the elves wouldn’t fight back and instead pleaded for their lives.

In his previous life, the highest completion rate attained for this dungeon was only around seventy-five percent. Even ten years into the game, no one beat the dungeon to full completion. Yet at present, he couldn’t say for sure these two elves wouldn’t lead him to any information regarding the missing twenty-five percent.

When he was Level 4 in his previous life, the stats of his game character simply couldn’t compare with his stats right now. At that time, he was only an average low-level player, unable to obtain even a simple set of Bronze-grade equipment for himself. There was no need to even mention ludicrous aspirations such as attaining the legendary Chapter of Courage. In short, the Dexterity and jump range of his previous character were too inadequate. Let alone capturing these Dark Elves, even overtaking them was impossible. Therefore every team at the time—including his own—could only blast them with magic when they attempted to scale the ravine’s walls.

With their two bodies curled up like potato bugs, the two elves knelt on the ground and gazed at Nie Yan with begging expressions in the hopes that he would spare their lives.

The elves spoke in an ancient language Nie Yan wasn’t proficient with: the language of the Elves. However, from their body language and expressions, he could roughly tell they were begging for forgiveness.

"Who here can speak Elvish?” Nie Yan turned around and asked the team.

The surrounding team members gazed at each other before shaking their heads. They only knew one language in the game, and that was the common language spoken in the empire. As for Elvish? From the start, let alone understanding it, no one had even heard of its existence before.

Nie Yan silently pondered. If no one knew Elvish, communicating with these two Dark Elves would basically be impossible.

He glanced at his own language menu. At present, there were only four languages: Common, Dragon, Ancient Common, and Kasate Giant. Suddenly, he had another thought, These Dark Elves are an ancient race and possess extremely long lifespans. Perhaps they’ll understand other languages?

"Petty and frail Dark Elves, why have you come here?” Nie Yan spoke in Dragon Tongue.

Nie Yan spoke various syllables in a deep tone. The sound of his voice frightened the surrounding team members; however, they soon realized he was simply speaking another language.

Upon hearing the Dragon language, the two elves were badly frightened, even trembling as they gazed at Nie Yan. One of the elves who was somewhat more courageous continued to stare at him with caution and bewilderment. Eventually, he drummed up enough courage and crawled towards Nie Yan’s feet, kissing them before he fell back and began to speak.

The elf also spoke in Dragon Tongue. "Long live the Dragon God. This one’s name is Vasa Rhine. M’lord, I sincerely ask of you… are you of the dragon race, disguised as human?”

During the distant Dark Era, the Dark Elves were unlike the other races. As one of the races enslaved by the Dragon race, they didn’t join the rebellion with races such as Humans, High Elves, and Dwarves in fighting for their freedom. Their society and faith remained pious in their belief of the dragons. Even now, those existences that were currently hidden within the deepest corners of the world were still worthy of their reverence and loyalty.

Nie Yan felt elated. Humans who knew Dragon Tongue were few and far between. This Dark Elf had been scared witless and mistook him for an actual dragon. It’s best if I take advantage of this misunderstanding!

"Indeed! Long live the Dragon God! Dark Elf Vasa Rhine, I do not wish to repeat myself. Why have you come to this place?” Nie Yan spoke in Dragon Tongue once again.

"M’lord, our Drow Dark Elf Tribe suffered a crushing defeat at the Hilton Stronghold. In the chaos and confusion, my companion and I passed through the plains and escaped to this forest,” Vasa Rhine replied.

"Ah? Dark Elf Vasa Rhine… So it turns out you two were deserters from the battle at Hilton Stronghold!”

"M’lord, we are not deserters! This one named Vasa Rhine is a brave and courageous soldier! We are gathering intelligence for our tribe. In the evening three days from now, our Drow Tribe will strike back at the Hilton Stronghold. At that time, Dark Elf Vasa Rhine will once again return to the battlefield!”

Vasa Rhine spoke with courage and conviction.

「System: New quest received! Bring the heads of the two Dark Elves to Sir Kavrote in the HIlton Stronghold and inform him before the Drow Tribe commences their counterattack.」

A branching quest line! This was an exciting discovery; however, Nie Yan still maintained a calm and collected outer appearance. He continued to speak to Vasa Rhine as if everything was normal. As for the opposite party, Vasa Rhine believed Nie Yan was a dragon. He truthfully answered each and one of Nie Yan’s questions without exception and didn’t dare to conceal even a shred of information.

As Nie Yan and the Dark Elf continued to speak in the strange language, the team members had various thoughts. Just what were they talking about? Those Dark Elves seemed to be quite fearful of Nie Yan as well. Why was that? Everyone felt shocked. Just when did Nie Yan learn the language of other races?

"Dark Elf Vasa Rhine, the Treant Caretaker is a friend of mine. He informed me that you’ve stolen his flute. Tell me, how shall I enact your punishment?”

Upon hearing Nie Yan’s words, Vasa Rhine kowtowed repeatedly and begged for forgiveness. He then took out the flute and handed it to Nie Yan.

The entire flute was lacquer black while its surface was carved in turtle shell patterns. As Nie Yan examined it, he noticed the flute appeared very simple and unadorned.

He then glanced at its properties.

Einpat’s Flute (Quest Item)

Level Requirement: 0

Description: A flute used by the Treant Caretaker. Able to affect surrounding Treants.

Properties: Willpower +20, Strength +20, Reflex +20, Health +300. Reduces the stats of surrounding Treants by 50%.

User Restriction: Can only be equipped within the Treant Forest.

No mistake, that’s the flute we’re looking for. Once Nie Yan put the flute away, he sent an order through the team chat.「Kill them!」

The surrounding Mages raised their staffs and began chanting their magic. To the team’s surprise, the two Dark Elves didn’t resist and remained kneeling on the ground. They stayed motionless and silent as they awaited their deaths.

「Boom! Boom! Boom!」The spells rained down on the two elves. They remained firmly kneeling even when suffering the assault. It was only until their health bars fell empty that the two could no longer hold themselves up. Their lifeless corpses slumped to the ground, collapsing with a gentle thud that brought a small cloud of dust into the air.

…

「System: You’ve obtained Dark Elf’s Head. Quantity: 2」

"Alright, now that’s settled and done with. Good! They even dropped a pair of Warrior boots when they died. Decide between yourselves who gets it. We’ll be heading off to kill the Treant King next,” Nie Yan announced. This is going to be the first time in history a team finishes this dungeon with a perfect completion rate. Capturing those two Dark Elves led to a pleasant surprise.

"Nie Yan, what did you and those Dark Elves talk about? Why did it seem like they were very afraid of you? Not to mention when we were attacking them, they didn’t even dare to retaliate,” Yao Yao asked after walking to Nie Yan’s side.

The rest of the team also stared at Nie Yan with inquisitive gazes. Even Yu Lan couldn’t help but focus her attention on him.

Chapter 53 – Top Quality Round Shield

"Hmm… Oh that? That was nothing. I just spoke to them in Dragon Tongue, and they mistook me for a real dragon. The Dark Elves have been slaves to the Dragon race since the ancient Dark Era. Even in the present, their society still considers themselves servants of the dragons which is why they were so respectful and fearful of me. Thanks to the information they provided, I also received a branching quest line so I’ll be handing it in after we return to town,” Nie Yan replied.

"Dragon Tongue? When did you learn the Dragon language?” Yao Yao asked. It appeared Nie Yan still held quite a few secrets since he continued revealing surprises one after the other.

"Yeah! I heard dragons were extremely rare,” Tang Yao added. Nie Yan was truly becoming more and more outstanding; even the language of the dragons wasn’t out of his reach.

In the same moment, Dusk’s eyes sparkled as he thought of a certain possibility. Could Nie Yan’s ability to speak Dragon Tongue be related to the emergence of that dragon in Link town?

Nie Yan soon realized his slip of the tongue and turned to look at Dusk. From the expression on the latter’s face, he could tell this fellow had grasped onto some clues.

"Yesterday, actually. I ended up accidently stumbling into a ravine where I found an old book. When I turned the pages, I discovered it was actually an old history which recorded the events of past eras. Before I knew it, I received an announcement telling me I learned the Dragon Tongue, Kasate Giant, and Ancient Common. Afterward, that dragon emerged and chased me around before I managed to make a lucky escape,” Nie Yan replied in a casual manner.

This explanation was specifically directed towards Dusk. He felt it was better to partially tell the truth than to allow the existence of the Chapter of Courage to be leaked.

Dusk readily accepted the explanation. After all, he didn’t too feel good sticking his nose so deeply into another person’s secrets either.

"Truthfully, learning new languages isn’t that hard at all. Head over to the library when your levels are higher, and if you pay one gold, you’ll be able to learn the Ancient Common language. Also, if you head to the libraries belonging to the Giant race, you’ll be able to learn the Kasate Giant language after paying three gold.”

"How do you know all this?” Dusk and the others asked in astonishment.

"Head over to the library and look for yourself. Just browse through some the books there, and you’ll have an even better understanding of the entire Atlanta continent. There are various profession related books as well. If you manage to read them all, I guarantee you’ll be experts as well.”

"Ahhh? Who the hell goes to the library? An entire library has so many books. Even if you randomly pull one off the shelf, it’ll still have up to million characters! If I had to read every profession and history related book in the library, it would take me a month at the very least! Who the hell has that much free time on their hands?”

"Yeah! Who has the time to read those thick and heavy books?”

In his past life, Nie Yan often suffered setbacks while playing his Thief and developed an interest in reading as a result. After spending over a month reading at the library, he couldn’t help but admit the history of the Atlanta continent as well as its stories were quite fascinating and engaging. From the origins of his profession to the biographies of legendary Thieves and their abilities, he read it all without missing a single word. Thanks to his exceptional memory, he gained many insights. By the time he walked out of the library, he left with a thorough understanding of his profession. After several more years of polishing his skills, he ranked as one of the top fifty Thieves and was somewhat famous.

"I’ve only read a few myself. The biographies there are pretty well written,” Nie Yan said with a smile.

Nie Yan still had the leisure to go to the library and read? They had frequently risked life and death to reach their current level, yet they were still easily overtaken by Nie Yan. The crowd couldn’t help but feel a little disheartened at such a thought.

Many of the team members sighed deeply and no longer had the heart to inquire any further.

"Who knows what sort of rewards you’ll receive after turning in that quest!” Bai Kaisui (Plain Boiled Water) exclaimed, voicing out a similar thought among the crowd. Ultimately the topic everyone still cared for the most was the quest rewards.

"What was that flute that dropped just a moment ago?”

"It’s a quest item called Einpat’s Flute. We’ll have to return it to that old man before we exit the dungeon.” Nie Yan displayed the flute’s properties for the rest of the team to see, whereupon everyone inhaled a breath of cold air. The flute’s properties were simply astonishing. If it could be brought outside of the dungeon, it would most certainly cause every player to go crazy over it.

However, Nie Yan didn’t feel too much of a loss regarding this flute because he already possessed the Chapter of Courage.

"Ahhh! It’s such a pity! Why do we have to return it to the NPC?”

Many of the team members felt aggrieved.

Nie Yan opened the trade menu and traded the flute over to Bai Kaisui. This item had to be handed over to the team’s main tank for it to be used to its fullest potential.

"Holy crap! I have over seven hundred health! Even if it’s the Treant King, I’ll have nothing to be afraid of!” Bai Kaisui confidently boasted after checking his improved stats.

"Don’t underestimate the Treant King on Specialist. That thing is really difficult to deal with. Wait and see. You’ll be eating your own words very soon.” After splashing cold water over Bai Kaisui’s parade, Nie Yan said, "Since our Priests aren’t able to learn Revive yet, we’ll have a much easier time if two of them can cast Lesser Heal. I know another location that drops a Lesser Heal skill book so we’ll be heading there next.”

"No way, right? Is the Treant King really that difficult to deal with on Specialist difficulty?” Bai Kaisui asked in shock.

After all, he had never faced the Treant King on this difficulty before. He quickly reigned himself in after listening to Nie Yan’s words.

…

From the moment they entered this dungeon to now, the profits the team earned surpassed everyone’s expectations. Even if they discounted the items Nie Yan took for himself, the amount of equipment and skill books they obtained still far exceeded their imaginations. They even thought it would be great if Nie Yan could continue carrying their team just like this. However, this was nothing more than wishful thinking. He was never part of their team in the first place, and his cooperation with them would end after this run. Furthermore, he would never join their team in another dungeon run again. When they thought back to his previous statements, they couldn’t help but feel a little angry. They grumbled and voiced complaints in their hearts. Why did Chen Bo have to go and piss off Nie Yan? Originally, they too had felt somewhat dissatisfied when they witnessed Nie Yan driving Chen Bo out. After all, Chen Bo was still a member of their team and Nie Yan’s actions at that time really did seem excessive. Yet at present, they were having a subtle change of heart.

Having obtained Einpat’s Flute, Bai Kaisui became a genuine and formidable meatshield. With a Priest casting Lesser Heal from the backline, he became an unequalled tank that was able to contend against five Treants alone. After he equipped the flute, it became much easier for the team to clear the path ahead.

As they progressed through the run, the amount of equipment they looted quickly piled up. They obtained another Lesser Heal skill book and two pieces of Silver-grade equipment. One of them was a pair of Thieve gloves which was given to Nie Yan. They increased Strength by three and Awareness by two. The other piece was a recently dropped round shield that raised defense by fifteen percent and increased Physique by five. When the shield dropped, everyone’s eyes went wide with shock because it was the first time they had seen such a high-quality shield.

Round shields were fundamentally different from normal shields. Their defense was relatively lower compared to regular shields. However, their low weight meant they didn’t hinder a player’s movements as much as a regular shield would. Thus, round shields with high defense were a hot and very costly commodity in the marketplace.

"Damn! Even the round shield we got from Blackflame Forest wasn’t as good as this one.” Dusk widened his eyes in shock. What kind of drop rate was this? Good equipment was just dropping one after another as they progressed towards the boss. He didn’t mind passing on the previous drops because they were only Bronze-grade. However, at present, such an amazing Silver-grade round shield suddenly appeared! "If you guys are willing to sell, I guarantee my captain would be willing to pay ten silvers or even higher for that round shield!”

Everyone present understood the significance of a Heavy Knight with a good shield. A tank that was able to withstand a boss’ attacks ensured the survival of the whole team. Therefore, Heavy Knight equipment with high defense was extremely expensive on the marketplace. The bidding on this type of equipment in the auction house reached new records. However, even so, they remained targets for teams from the larger guilds.

"We don’t plan on selling this shield!” Yu Lan took in a deep breath of air. This shield meant they could still try and take on higher level dungeons even without Nie Yan’s help. Let alone ten silvers, even if it was for twenty silvers, she still wouldn’t sell.

Chapter 54 – Treant King

Yu Lan (Blue Feather) glanced at Nie Yan who stood off to the side in a laissez-faire manner. She thought of the ever-increasing amount of favours they owed him. If this continued, it would soon reach a point where they couldn’t possibly repay him.

"Yao Yao (Dark Mystery), give Nie Yan our thanks. We would’ve never been able to get all this good equipment if it weren’t for him,” Yu Lan suggested. In retrospect, Nie Yan’s conditions hadn’t been excessive at all.

"Mhm,” Yao Yao replied. She then walked to Nie Yan’s side, her bright eyes examining his expression as she approached.

"What are you looking at me for?” Nie Yan glanced at Yao Yao and smiled.

"We’ll be taking the round shield. You really don’t mind losing out on it?” Yao Yao faintly smiled and a pair of dimples emerged on her unblemished face.

Nie Yan’s pulse slightly raced after seeing her elegant yet bewitching smile. However, when he thought of Xie Yao, he immediately regained his composure. "It’s just a round shield. Do you really think I’m that stingy of a person? In any case, I’m already pretty satisfied as it is. I get to take any useful drops I want, and the Featherfall Jewel from the Treant King goes to me as well. When we entered the dungeon, did you guys not put in effort too? I definitely couldn’t clear this dungeon on my own,” he replied.

"Well, that shield is worth quite a bit of money. My captain asked me to thank you on the team’s behalf.”

"Oh?” Nie Yan glanced at the nearby Yu Lan. She was tall, slender, and had a voluptuous figure which could be called perfect. If there were a few more smiles on her face, then she would be rated as quite decent. Moreover, from his memory, he recalled she was quite a prideful figure. It was seldom that she would ever lower her head to someone.

As for what he knew about her, it was limited to a certain event where a player took too many liberties with her, and she retaliated by going on a rampage and killing him until he dropped back to Level 0. At that point in time, the only thought on Nie Yan’s mind was that this woman was extremely terrifying. However, after becoming more familiar with each other, he came to understand she had a quiet and amiable personality. Thus, she never left him with any sort of bad impression. Besides glancing back at her figure every once in awhile, he didn’t really have many opinions of her. He had never really chatted much with her either and by the end, they were nothing more than nodding acquaintances.

…

With the new equipment spurring them forward, the team members became even more spirited as they cleared mobs, especially Bai Kaisui (Plain Boiled Water) who charged into every battle. Nie Yan and the others took a detour and headed onto a smaller path where they encountered a group of five Treants. Shortly after making swift work of those Treants, another Lesser Heal skill book dropped from one of their corpses, just as Nie Yan had said earlier. From then on, the number of Priests who could cast Lesser Heal on their team rose to two.

As their group progressed, they completely cleared the path of any and all Treants. Eventually, they penetrated into the deepest part of the forest and entered a clearing. The surrounding vegetation visibly lessened. Moreover, no more Treants emerged on the path and even the presence of fauna and insects disappeared.

"We’re almost there. Be wary of the vines beneath your feet,” Nie Yan warned as he raised his guard. He walked at the front of the group and opened up a path by disarming each and every trap along the route. As the team drew closer to the centre of the forest, two vines which were lying motionless on the ground suddenly sprang to life. Like real serpents, the two vines snaked their way closer and shot towards Nie Yan.

Nie Yan sidestepped the attack and switched to a reverse grip.「Slash!」The vines were severed upon meeting his blade and fell to the ground.

The people in the back also suffered attacks; however, they were safer due to their numbers. Even if actual danger befell one of the members, the others around them could come to the rescue. Therefore, no problems occurred in the back.

After passing through the clearing, Nie Yan and the team finally caught sight of the Treant King. It resembled an immense tree towering at over ten meters high and several meters wide—many times larger than the average Treant. Its leaves and branches shrouded the entire sky and cast an immense shadow over the area. However, its most distinct feature lay in the ash black bark that covered its entire body.

The Treant King awoke from its deep slumber, aware of the approaching players as a cold, sinister glow radiated from its ancient eyes.

Treant King (Lord): Level 5

Health: 10,000/10,000

"It’s Lord-class!” Dusk screamed in shock. The Treant King had only been an Elite-class monster when he and his team ran this dungeon. Not only did this version have much more health than its normal difficulty counterpart, it was even upgraded to a higher class!

If it weren’t for such an overpowered item like Einpat’s Flute, even if the entire elite team from Holy Empire came over and joined them, they’d likely still end up being wiped.

"Everyone, prepare yourselves and get into formation. Wait for the Heavy Knight to engage before going in. There’s no need to feel anxious. Just listen to my commands,” Nie Yan reassured before sprinting towards the Treant King.

He stopped upon entering the boss’ line of sight.

"Wretched humans! For trespassing my territory… DIE!” The Treant King roared deeply and slammed a gigantic branch towards Nie Yan.「BOOM!」Its gigantic arm left a deep mark on the earth. However, Nie Yan had already rolled out of the way.

At that moment, Nie Yan had already fled and circled around its side. The Treant King raised its gigantic arm again and swept it towards Nie Yan.

As he watched the massive arm spanning towards him, Nie Yan abruptly lowered his body and slipped into a slide.「VOOM!」The Treant’s sweeping attack hurtled above and past his head. The fierce pressure alone was enough to cause pain as the wind scraped against his cheek.

Just a little bit slower and I would’ve been swatted into the air by its attack.

Nie Yan got up and fled in the other direction. Although the Treant King was overbearing and fierce, during the whole course of events, none of its attacks were able to reach Nie Yan who evaded like a slippery loach.

An average team would have most likely sent their Heavy Knight, who held Einpat’s Flute, to engage first since only that player could withstand the attacks of the Treant King. However, they would have neglected one key point: Heavy Knights, as their namesake would suggest, wore heavy armour which caused their movements to be hindered and clumsy. They were unable to dodge the Treant King’s attacks which had a strong knockback effect. Thus, they had no chance of closing in on the Treant King without others covering for them. However, if another player were to be struck by an attack, they would undoubtedly die.

Nie Yan’s movements seemed awkward whenever he evaded the Treant King’s attacks. Each time the team believed he was going to die from one of the attacks, they would discover he miraculously survived by dodging, rolling, or jumping out of the way at the very last second. More or less, he appeared to be more scared than hurt as he survived every encounter without mishap.

Dusk, however, felt shocked by Nie Yan’s actions. Holy shit! He can even do this? What a godly Thief! He subconsciously began comparing Nie Yan with the other Thieves in his team. However, he suddenly came to the realization that there wasn’t a single Thief within Holy Empire who could compare to Nie Yan! If there were a Thief with even half of Nie Yan’s skills in his team, they’d already be quite terrific.

From Nie Yan’s perspective, the Treant King’s attacks were slow and predictable. Each attack gave more than a second of reaction time to get out of the way. Thus, evading its attacks really wasn’t much of a problem.

It was simple and extremely easy, just like an adult being asked to do a grade schooler’s math homework.

After making sure the boss’ aggro was fully on him, Nie Yan gave an order through the team chat.「Bai Kaisui, take the lead and engage the boss. The rest of the frontliners will follow after. Backline, under no circumstances are you to go within thirty meters of the boss!」

Bai Kaisui rushed towards the Treant King. Since the boss’ attention was completely focused on Nie Yan, he quickly arrived in front of it. He struck the boss with Shield Bash and followed with Heroic Strike.

−36

−52

"Dammit! The Treant King has such high defense!”

Even with Einpat’s Flute, his attacks still dealt so little damage to it.

Shortly after Bai Kaisui’s engaged the boss, the other frontliners arrived as well and firmly surrounded the Treant King.

Under Bai Kaisui’s fierce assault, the boss’ aggro quickly shifted. It swept its arm and began attacking him instead.

「Mages, attack!」Just when Nie Yan finished speaking, numerous spells flew into the air.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」The spells bombarded the Treant King’s body.

Roughly a dozen damage numbers appeared above the Treant King’s head before drifting upwards and fading away. Most of them were in the low tens and some of them were even misses. However, two of them were in the thirties. These were the attacks from Dusk and Tang Yao.

Dusk’s Dark Winter set and Tang Yao’s Fire Chaser set were both from Blackflame Forest. Thus, both of their damage numbers were rather decent.

Chapter 55 – The Rhythm Of A Boss Battle

The Treant King’s extremely thick bark served as an effective defense against the players’ attacks. Therefore, the damage they dealt could be considered quite decent.

The king indignantly roared as it hoisted its massive arm into the air and swiped at Bai Kaisui (Plain Boiled Water).「Bang!」Its gigantic branch of an arm slammed into his shield. However, Bai Kaisui kept his centre of gravity low and allowed the shield to absorb the majority of the impact. It resulted in him being pushed back a few steps; however, he ran forward and closed the distance immediately. Bai Kaisui felt grateful for the advice given to him prior, of how he should remain stable and firm. Sure enough, it became quite useful in this situation. Ordinarily, he wouldn’t have merely been pushed back a few steps in such an exchange; rather, he would have likely been sent flying.

Those strikes were quite horrifying, each one reducing his health by eighty or so points. However, he was the sole person able to withstand its attacks, as the other frontliners would inevitably die within two strikes.

Beams of gentle light fell on the players who were in a melee with the boss. In the meantime, Nie Yan evaluated the strength of the team’s healers. Of the three Priests who knew Lesser Heal, the main one healed roughly sixty health while the remaining two barely reached fifty. Not that high. Things will likely get dangerous later. Seems like it’s best to remain careful and not leave anything to chance.

Due to the efforts of Bai Kaisui and the other frontliners, the flow of the battle stabilized. Thus, the Mages could begin steadily casting their magic.

「Cast fire elemental magic as much as possible and avoid ice magic. It won’t be effective since the boss’ ice resistance is too high,」Nie Yan ordered and circled round the Treant’s back since his profession received a damage bonus, thirty percent, while attacking opponents from behind. Paired with his exceptional equipment, his attacks easily pierced its strong defenses.

Sparks flew off its body and into the air as magic poured from the sky. Its health had been gradually chipped away and now neared seventy percent.

「Do any of our Priests have Dispel?」

「One of them does!」

「Great! Pay attention to Bai Kaisui! Immediately cast Dispel when the boss casts the fear debuff on him. Don’t be slow; even a second can cost us a lot of trouble!」Nie Yan said.

The Priest felt somewhat anxious as he listened to Nie Yan’s instructions. After all, he was still a novice at the game.

He was nicknamed Bamboo Pole by Bai Kaisui and the others due to his naturally lanky build. He felt quite nervous at the moment, anxiously gripping his staff while his muscles appeared to have been frozen stiff. However, Nie Yan noticed his apprehension and spoke reassuringly.「Relax a bit. I’ll remind you when the time comes, so all you’ll have to do is cast Dispel on my signal.」

Afterward, Bamboo Pole shot a grateful glance at Nie Yan.

Just as its health reached seventy percent, the boss released a deep roar that sent shivers down everyone’s spine.

Meanwhile, Bai Kaisui halted his attacks and involuntarily retreated back while his movements became extremely rigid.

「Dispel!」Nie Yan shouted through the team’s voice chat. Without delay, Bamboo Pole cast Dispel and a bright light illuminated Bai Kaisui from above.

Bai Kaisui had only retreated a few steps when feared. He charged back into battle and slammed his shield at the Treant King with Shield Bash.

「Not bad!」Nie Yan praised.

Bamboo Pole instantly felt relief seeing as his spell succeeded.

Following Nie Yan’s directions, the entire team fell into the rhythm of battle. Coupled with the fact that he knew the Treant King’s actions in advance, its health bar steadily fell lower.

It’s using Lash!

The Treant King lifted its vines and sent them lashing at Bai Kaisui.

「Priests, prepare to heal Bai Kaisui in three… two… one… now!」

A gentle shower of light shone on Bai Kaisui and his health continuously teetered up and down; the line separating life and death lay on a razor thin edge. However, thanks to the Priests, his health managed to hold until the end.

Nie Yan, on the other hand, released a flurry of attacks from behind. Roughly three minutes later, the entire team had steadily chipped away as its health fell to merely twenty-five percent.

「Priests, how much mana remaining?」

「67!」

「56!」

「23!」

「The Priest with twenty-three mana, drink your Mana Potion!」

The Priest downed a Basic Mana Potion after Nie Yan called him out.

…

Suddenly, the Treant King transformed into a shade of red.

「Finally… Everyone, get ready! Bai Kaisui, switch to a defensive stance! Mages, increase your damage output! Priests, prepare yourselves!」Nie Yan shouted. Bai Kaisui, in the moment he heard these instructions, held the shield to his chest and switched stances.

The Treant King let out an explosive roar. It raised its arms and slammed down on Bai Kaisui.

「Bang!」

The Treant King’s gigantic arms landed on Bai Kaisui’s shield and sent him several steps back, losing over two hundred health in the exchange. However, even after such a terrifying attack, the Treant King was unwilling to give up. It raised its arm once more and relentlessly smashed.

「Bang! Bang!」

The assault left two more craters in the earth while a gentle shower of light fell on Bai Kaisui in between the attacks.

−221

+60

−256

+52

Above Bai Kaisui’s head, four numbers floated upwards as he was repelled back.

「Such high damage!」

If it weren’t for Einpat’s Flute, just one of those attacks would instantly kill even the most powerful Fighter.

Bai Kaisui felt a cold chill run down his spine as he glanced at his health bar. If it weren’t for the timely heals from the Priests, he would have long been dead.

The Treant King had finished its three-hit combo and seemed to have come to a rest. However, a moment later, it continued its onslaught of battering their tank.

「Bai Kaisui, pull back! The rest of you guys, hold the line for a bit!」Nie Yan began running to Bai Kaisui’s side.

Bai Kaisui dodge rolled the Treant King’s next attack and downed a Basic Health Potion. However, the amount of health restored was basically negligible compared to his current total health.

The other frontliners rushed up to take Bai Kaisui’s place, forming a human shield as they blocked the Treant King’s advance. However, they could only hold it off for a limited time since their defense and health were much lower in comparison to the one they were replacing.

Nie Yan arrived at Bai Kaisui’s side and applied an Intermediate Combat Bandage.

+20… +20… +20…

"Drink a Basic Recovery Potion!”

"I already drank one.”

"Wait for the next round of healing from the Priests!”

Two Priests cast Lesser Heal on Bai Kaisui. After ten seconds, more than half of his health had recovered.

The other frontliners couldn’t hold on much longer. There was no one left to take another attack. After all, two hits and any one of them would be dead. If the Treant King scored a critical hit, even if they were full health, they would instantly die. Furthermore, two of their members had already been killed and sent to the graveyard.

"Bai Kaisui, go back in!” Nie Yan ordered when Bai Kaisui’s health had recovered past four hundred.

Bai Kaisui raised his shield and ran up to meet the boss. They had been in a state of crisis just now. Thus, no one dared to be any more careless. Tang Yao, Dusk, and the rest of the backline took out their most powerful spells, unloading each and every one on the Treant King.

「I’ll be out of mana soon!」Tang Yao anxiously said.

「Cast Arcane Fireballs! It expends the least amount of mana. Warriors and Paladins, go all out! Use Flame Slash!」Nie Yan replied. They only needed to hold out for a little longer. Victory was right before their eyes. They absolutely couldn’t fail at the final stretch of the battle. He circled behind the Treant King and used Vital Strike followed by Assassinate.

The Treant’s health steadily fell: nine percent… eight percent… six percent…

The team became increasingly nervous; none of them were willing to slow down by the slightest degree.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Fireballs landed on the Treant King’s body and left deep wounds upon impact.

Three percent!

「All frontliners, retreat! Mages, give it everything you’ve got!」Nie Yan suddenly instructed through the team chat.

The Warriors and Paladins didn’t understand why Nie Yan would have them retreat at such a crucial moment. However, they still listened to his orders without the slightest hint of hesitation and pulled back. Nie Yan had been the one who carried them to this point in the run. Thus, they had unwittingly come to acknowledge his ability and held faith in his commands.

Chapter 56 – Featherfall Jewel

Heaving one of its massive stumps into the air, the Treant King forcefully stamped on the ground.

War Trample!

「BOOM!」

Like a giant hammer striking the surface, the stump transmitted a powerful force deep into the earth which violently shook the ground. Soon, large fractures began forming on the surface, spreading to the nearby surroundings, appearing as if they would rend the entire world asunder.

Then powerful shock waves erupted from the depths, pouring volatile magical energy onto the surface.

The frontliners felt their hearts tighten as they witnessed the tyrannical might of this skill because likely then and there, they would have been instantly killed were it not for Nie Yan ordering them to retreat. Furthermore, with their absence and only the ranged units remaining, the team would certainly lack the damage necessary to finish off the boss, leading to a possible wipe as a consequence. Often times even the slightest of mistakes could reverse the outcome of a battle.

"Re-engage! The boss doesn’t have much health left. Faster everyone, faster!” Nie Yan shouted. Their next step was to simply finish off the Treant King, then everything would be fine. Besides, with so little health remaining, it couldn’t possibly do any more to reverse the situation.

"Heroic Strike!”

"Radiant Slash!”

A volley of magic poured into the sky.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」The spells blasted its body, depleting the boss of what little health it had remaining. Upon entering its death throes, the Treant King mournfully moaned as cracks began appearing all over its body. A moment later…「Boom!」An explosion rocked the area as its body splintered into pieces and fell to the ground as a pile of wood debris.

"The Treant King is dead!”

"We succeeded!”

All of the team members excitedly cheered. For a team like theirs, clearing this Specialist dungeon was simply a remarkable and unimaginable achievement.

In the exact moment they toppled the Treant King over, everyone felt like they were in a dream as if everything that happened wasn’t real. However, this dream was in fact reality, and an indescribable feeling of admiration arose in their hearts. Before meeting Nie Yan, their team hadn’t even been able to clear this dungeon on Easy difficulty. Yet while following his lead, they were able to directly beat it on Specialist difficulty—truly an inconceivable feat.

Seeing everyone’s joyous and excited expressions, Nie Yan broke into a smile because he was very much the same when he cleared a dungeon for the very first time.

Tang Yao, Yao Yao (Dark Mystery), Yu Lan (Blue Feather), and Bai Kaisui (Plain Boiled Water) were among the eight people who leveled up. Meanwhile, Nie Yan’s experience bar had risen to fifty-two percent. As one could quite easily tell, the Treant King had given an ample and generous amount of experience.

Nie Yan dug through the pile of wood debris. Despite finding two pieces of equipment, they weren’t the item he was looking for so he continued his search. He brushed aside the branches and twigs and jolted in elation when a bright blue gem entered his vision. This is exactly what I was looking for!

This gem was completely different from ordinary gems. Resembling a diamond, it was carved with many facets and blossomed with a dazzling radiance.

He quickly appraised the gem with Transcendent Insight. Featherfall Jewel… Ah, it’s the Featherfall Jewel! I finally have it in my hands…

"Two pieces of equipment and a jewel dropped. One of them is a Silver-grade hat for Arcane Mages, and the other is a Silver-grade armour for Paladins. As for the jewel, I’ll be taking it for myself,” Nie Yan announced. Even if he wanted to take the equipment, he wouldn’t have to pay money. However, the other members had to pay the rest of the team with their bid if they wanted the equipment.

At this moment, not a single person raised any objections.

The Arcane Mage hat went to Dusk for the low price of one silver and fifty coppers. Thanks to this, he didn’t come out of the trip empty-handed. The Paladin armour was taken away by Yu Lan for two silvers. Since many of the members were part of her team, and its value was divided evenly, most of the money stayed with her team and she only had to pay Dusk, Tang Yao, and Nie Yan a few coppers.

"What kind of jewel is that? Share the properties with me,” Dusk asked. He was rather curious about the jewel in Nie Yan’s hands. After all, the only reason the latter ran this Specialist dungeon was for the sake of this jewel.

Nie Yan shared the Featherfall Jewel’s properties.

Featherfall Jewel (Dark Gold): Ornament

Level Requirement: 0

Properties: Defense 8–10, Strength +7. Can be equipped with the accessory slot or embedded into jewelry slot where applicable.

Featherfall: Activate to allow the player to fall like a feather through the air. Duration: 3 minutes.

Weight: 1 lb

User Restriction: Can be equipped by all factions.

Excluding rings, necklaces, and medallions, every player had five slots which players could equip accessories. Nie Yan equipped the Featherfall Jewel into one of his accessory slots.

"So it was Dark Gold accessory! No wonder you cared about it so much!” Dusk exclaimed in surprise. The properties on this Featherfall Jewel weren’t that great but its Featherfall ability was quite rare; otherwise, it wouldn’t be classified as a Dark Gold-grade

Through this entire run, even if they were to add up all the equipment they received up till now, it still wouldn’t be equal in value to the equipment Nie Yan obtained for himself. Some team members felt this was a little unfair; however, they quickly erased this thought and quickly got over it. Without Nie Yan, let alone clearing this Specialist dungeon, they wouldn’t have even obtained a single hair.

"How much Honour points did your team receive?” Nie Yan glanced at Yu Lan and asked.

"Around twelve hundred. Thank you,” Yu Lan looked at Nie Yan and sincerely thanked him.

"So much? Even when my team cleared Blackflame Forest, we only received eight hundred,” Dusk exclaimed in fright. He began to think Specialist difficulty truly wasn’t simple. This was merely Treant Forest. If they were to run Blackflame Forest or Agmota Muddy Swamplands on Specialist, he’d imagine the rewards would definitely be much more generous.

"You guys can head to Blackflame Forest or the Fallen Shaman Camp now. If you haven’t gone to those dungeons before, you should take some time to prepare,” Nie Yan said.

"Will you come with us?” Yao Yao gazed at Nie Yan and asked.

Yu Lan and the rest also perked their ears up while waiting for Nie Yan’s reply. However, Yu Lun also understood her team’s little temple wasn’t big enough for a deity such as Nie Yan to stay in.

Nie Yan faintly smiled and said, "Like I said before, I won’t be following you guys to Blackflame forest.” He definitely wouldn’t have a pleasant time running a dungeon together with a person like Chen Bo. However, if Yu Lan and the others kicked Chen Bo out of the team, he would think it over. Even then, it was simply thinking it over. He’d have to check whether he had the free time.

"Oh…” Yao Yao felt somewhat disappointed.

"In a few days, Brother Nie is going with us to run the Agmota Muddy Swamplands,” Dusk interjected. He was now thoroughly convinced of Nie Yan’s ability. Being able to run another dungeon with this expert was truly a wonderful matter for him.

Tang Yao gazed at Nie Yan with expectation in his eyes. He wanted Nie Yan to bring him along as well.

Nie Yan sent a whisper to Tang Yao.「Your skills aren’t there yet. Agmota Muddy Swamplands has very high requirements for Mages. You can practice by following Yu Lan and her group for now. Then when you’re good enough, I’ll bring you along on the harder dungeon runs.」

「Alright, I understand.」Tang Yao nodded his head. Nie Yan wouldn’t lie to him. If he did tag along for the Agmota Muddy Swamplands and couldn’t keep up, he’d likely lose face for Nie Yan. He calmed himself before resolving to run a few more dungeons with Yu Lan and her team. That way he could polish up his skills.

"How about letting Tang Yao tag along with you guys for Blackflame and the Fallen Shaman Camp? As for those dungeons, I can give you guys a bit of advice,” Nie Yan suggested.

Yu Lan nodded her head and said, "We’re extremely glad to have him. From now on, he’ll be part of our team.” Tang Yao’s magic damage was quite high. His contributions in this run were great as well. For this kind of person to be willing to stay on their team, she couldn’t be any happier. Moreover, with Tang Yao here, Nie Yan would definitely give them some advice instead of keeping it from them.

With the item distribution finished, besides the Uncanny Dodge skill book, the Forest Necklace, and the Featherfall Jewel, Nie Yan also received three silvers. Meanwhile, Tang Yao earned his first large profit and received roughly sixty coppers.

Chapter 57 – Generous Rewards

"Is there anything we still need to do?” Dusk asked.

"Return the flute to Einpat,” Nie Yan replied. He glanced at Bai Kaisui (Plain Boiled Water) and said, "Hand the flute to me.”

At the end of the day the flute was a quest item and never belonged to him in the first place. Bai Kaisui inwardly sighed and handed the flute back to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan eyed the forest thickets and spotted a decrepit old man walking unsteadily towards them.

"Respected Senior, we’ve punished those despicable Dark Elves and retrieved your flute.”

"Good! Yes, this is indeed my flute! Thank you, brave adventurers. There’ll be no need to navigate the winding and twisting paths on your return. I’ll send you all to the exit myself. May the Divine bless you!”

Had Nie Yan and the others tried to keep the flute, they would have incurred Einpat’s wrath and likely found themselves in a perilous situation. Ultimately the Treant Forest would have become a resting place for their bones.

「System: Side quest "Einpat’s Missing Flute” has been completed. You have received 28,596 experience points.」

Shortly after Nie Yan received this notification, a thick fog emerged and enveloped the team; the elderly Einpat disappeared as well. When the fog finally dissipated and everyone could see clearly again, they discovered they had been returned to the entrance of the forest.

"We can still collect another reward by going to the commander in Calore!” Nie Yan glanced at his experience bar. Among his teammates, he received the largest share of the experience because he had contributed the most during Einpat’s quest. Moreover, after gaining the experience from the side quest, his experience bar rose to seventy-three percent.

Everyone was in high spirits. It truly felt great following Nie Yan into a dungeon. After receiving the reward, their experience bars once again rose by a large chunk.

…

After travelling back to Tellak town, the entire team took the transport point to Calore.

Upon arriving, Nie Yan headed directly for the barracks.

Their destination was to the southwest of the city. When they arrived at the outer perimeter of the barracks, they saw tall walls with many sentries posted atop. Overall, it appeared the defenses and security of this place were fairly tight. Nie Yan and his group didn’t enter the barracks but rather the lofty white tower that stood beside. This was the building where Commander Kavrote was stationed.

As they entered, the group could see there weren’t many NPCs within the building. However, a tall middle-aged man with a face full of scars and wore the military uniform of the Viridian Empire still walked over to greet them.

Nie Yan used Transcendent Insight to examine this NPC—Commander Kavrote.

"Youngsters, what business do you have coming to this place?”

"Lord Commander, we caught two Dark Elves lurking inside Treant Forest. After interrogating them, we received some information that concerns the safety of Hilton Stronghold. Here are the heads of the two Dark Elves we caught.”

Commander Kavrote followed up with a few more questions while Nie Yan answered accordingly in the formal manner which was standard in player-to-NPC interaction. Afterward, he handed the Dark Elf heads over to Commander Kavrote.

「System: Side quest "Deliver the Information” has been completed.」

「System: Your Influence in Hilton Stronghold has increased by 11.」

「System: Your Influence in Calore has increased by 11.」

「System: You have received 32,320 experience points.」

「System: You have learned Fighting from Commander Kavrote.」

「System: You have gained +2 Strength.」

「System: You have received 2 silvers.」

Some hidden quests gave additional stats as quest rewards. Nie Yan never expected this quest was one of them or to be so lucky as to receive two additional points in Strength.

Each member of the team received decent experience and money as rewards. Meanwhile, Nie Yan’s experience bar rose to ninety-seven percent. As for the two silvers he also received as a reward, they simply didn’t count for much considering the amount of wealth he already possessed.

Rather than grinding mobs, it seemed much easier to level up by doing quests. However, quests were divided into different levels. The higher the difficulty of the quest, the more experience points it would give. For example, relatively simple quests such as gathering animal furs would give very little experience as a reward. While in team quests, the rewards each individual received would be based on their own contribution in the quest. In the case of this quest as well as Einpat’s, Nie Yan had contributed the most, thus he received the most experience, while the other members received much less in comparison.

"Well we’ve handed in the quest so I should probably get going now,” Nie Yan said to Yao Yao (Dark Mystery) and the others.

"What are you gonna do now after handing in the quest?” Yao Yao asked. She was somewhat reluctant to part.

"Killing monsters and levelling up. However, where I’m going you guys are certainly unable to follow,” Nie Yan replied. Since he now had both the Featherfall Jewel and Ring of Woven Silk, there were many places he could try going to.

"Since he’s busy, let’s make our team and level up,” Dusk suggested. With so many high damage Mages on this team, it would be too much of waste if they separated now.

"Fatty over here has the Meteor spell. It’s got good area of effect and is decent at mobbing groups of monsters, so you probably won’t be levelling slowly with him on the team,” Nie Yan suggested. He was planning to have Tang Yao familiarize himself with the others so he would no longer have to worry about not being able to find a team. After receiving numerous pointers from Nie Yan over such a long period of time, Tang Yao’s had skills soared in proficiency. Though he still couldn’t be called an expert, he would have absolutely no problems assisting this team. After all, low-level dungeons and killing mobs generally weren’t too challenging for an Arcane Mage.

"Meteor!?” Everyone was surprised. At this point in the game, Mages who knew offensive area of effect spells could best be described as being as rare as a phoenix feather.

"Why didn’t we see you use it earlier in the dungeon?” Bai Kaisui asked.

"Using that skill in the dungeon? Do you think I’m looking to die!?” Before entering, Nie Yan specifically warned him not to cast Meteor while in the dungeon. Tang Yao had taken this warning very seriously. Therefore he sounded quite blunt and forceful in his reply.

"Oh right. Haha…” Bai Kaisui awkwardly smiled and scratched his head. Casting large area of effect spells would frequently alert many mobs and build up a lot of aggro at the same time. In such a case, the frontliners wouldn’t be able to keep the monsters from getting to the backline.

"So it turns out he actually he had Meteor! Why are we still wasting our time here?” Dusk rubbed his hands together. He was getting a little impatient to see the might of the rare Meteor spell for himself.

"I’ll be taking my leave first then,” Nie Yan said goodbye to everyone. Though after seeing Yao Yao’s unhappy appearance, he laughed and said, "Next time, I’ll kill monsters with you guys. How about it?”

"Remember those words because you’re not allowed go back on them!” Yao Yao widened her eyes, sounding pleasantly surprised. Her bright and colourful smile was as dazzling as the sun. She didn’t know why but she felt like she had known Nie Yan for a very long time despite them only being acquainted for a few days. They seemed to have a sort of unusually familiarity and understanding with each other.

Nie Yan laughed and said, "Sure.”

After leaving the group, Nie Yan began walking over to Calore’s auction house.

Meanwhile, the others in the group gazed at Nie Yan’s departing back. Only when his figure disappeared into the crowded streets did they finally regain their senses.

"C’mon, let’s go and train.”

When Dusk saw Nie Yan disappear into the crowd, he turned around and said, "Yeah, let’s head out.” As they departed the area, he sent a message to Sleepy Fox.

「Captain, take a look at this video.」

「What kind of video?」

「Just watch it, and you’ll know.」

…

In the Lesser Werewolf spawn area near Tellak town, a group of players was in the middle of combat. At the front of the group amongst those players was Sleepy Fox. He turned to the Warrior nearby and said, "Hold the line for a moment!” before retreating from the fight.

"Alright!”

As he retreated, several spells whizzed past him and blasted the Lesser Werewolves behind him.

He was currently in the middle of levelling. For Dusk to dare disturb him at this point in time, it would definitely be an important matter. He opened up the video and pressed play and was surprised to discover the person in this video was Nie Yan. His interest was now piqued; thus, he continued to watch. While he observed Nie Yan and the others killing the mobs, he furrowed his brows. This is Treant Forest, right? Why do the Treants have such high health? He was quite knowledgeable in the game. With but a glance, he was easily able to spot something strange about this video.

They’re running the dungeon on Specialist!

「Treant Forest on Specialist… Did you guys actually clear it?」Sleepy Fox sent a message to Dusk. He was shocked; however, he soon regained his wits. Such crappy equipment and their team still dare to enter a Specialist dungeon? Quite a rare sight indeed…

Chapter 58 – Clever Use Of The Featherfall Jewel

「We did clear it,」Dusk replied a moment later.

"His skills with the crossbow are amazing!” Sleepy Fox exclaimed in admiration. He was on the part of the video where Nie Yan first began luring the Treants with the crossbow. Even if one had exceptional skills, accurately firing those three bolts in such a short time frame and under such pressure was nearly an impossible feat. Nie Yan’s skills were beyond exceptional.

The players at present had just entered the game, so in regards to skill, they were a far distance away from Nie Yan. These three bolts might be nothing more than a common everyday skill in his former timeline. However, in the eyes of Sleepy Fox, Dusk, and the others, it was no different from the skills of a god!

Sleepy Fox had never valued or noticed the importance of a Thief during a dungeon run. After all, many teams who lacked one still managed to clear dungeons just fine. Therefore he never attached any importance to what Nie Yan could do as a Thief when he invited him. Though at present, he began to think having a good Thief in a dungeon expedition team was somewhat of a significant matter!

He had always felt the team was lacking a certain something yet only now did he realize what it was. What they were lacking was exactly an expert-level Thief like Nie Yan!

「Stone was correct. He really is an expert,」Dusk said. Stone’s judgement had always been somewhat lackluster, yet this time around… They didn’t know how or what, though a good analogy would probably be something like a disabled cat finding a dead mouse, but he somehow managed to invite a godly expert to their team.

「We should be able to clear Agmota Muddy Swamplands now.」After finishing the video, he understood the phrase, "A successful Thief can increase the team’s survival by thirty percent or higher,” slightly better. This line didn’t only apply to three-player parties nor only five-player parties, it meant the same with twenty-player and even thirty-player teams as well!

Besides his individual skill, Nie Yan’s leadership abilities were certainly commendable too. Were it not for him, Yu Lan and the others would have found it impossible to pass the dungeon because of their sub-par equipment.

The moment Nie Yan found out Dusk was part of Holy Empire, he knew the progression of the run would be seen by Sleepy Fox. Therefore the least he could do was to eliminate some of the doubts in Sleepy Fox’s mind.

Now that the Featherfall Jewel was in his hands, Nie Yan was reminded of a famous Elite Monster, Gato the Lion King. He still needed to make quite a few preparations if he wanted to get rid of that overgrown feline.

Nie Yan took a stroll around the auction house. Since the demand and selling price of Black Phenol wasn’t bad, many Alchemists gathered whatever leftover ingredients they had and concocted it into Black Phenol to put up on the auction house. At the moment, there were a little over a hundred bottles and several dozen recipes for sale. In but a few days the value of these items would soar considerably. However, a few days hadn’t arrived yet so Nie Yan pressed purchase without the slightest hesitation and cleaned the entire auction house out of all its Black Phenol, Black Phenol Recipes, and even the ingredients used to create Black Phenol.

After purchasing all of the Black Phenol and Black Phenol related items, Nie Yan sorted by price and bought nine of the most expensive crossbow quivers up for sale: two thousand Blackgold Bolts, three thousand Nightmare Bolts, and four thousand Tempered Poison Bolts.

Blackgold Quiver (1000 bolts): Damage +12 | Price: 2 silver

Nightmare Quiver (1000 bolts): Damage +10 | Price: 1 Silver, 50 copper

Tempered Poison Quiver (1000 bolts): Damage +9 | Price: 1 Silver, 10 copper

These bolts cost Nie Yan a pretty penny. Besides a few players from the larger guilds who were in charge of luring monsters, absolutely no one could bare to use these expensive bolts. Truthfully, even those wealthy guilds would find it a bit too wasteful squandering these bolts on luring monsters. Therefore the demand for these types of bolts wasn’t much at all. However, their prices still remained high because they were relatively uncommon. Hence only ridiculously rich players like Nie Yan would purchase these things.

After purchasing the quivers, Nie Yan teleported to Mordor using the transport point and headed off in the direction of Violet Dream Hills.

He went past the town walls and travelled north for roughly ten or so kilometers before encountering an unbroken chain of mountains. Arriving at the base of one of these mountains, he ran up the path leading to the mountain peak. Upon reaching the peak, he gazed far into the distance and saw an open plain. Due to how high up he was, everything on this plain looked extremely small. He then looked at the landscape directly beneath him which was nothing but desolate terrain.

Standing atop the peak where the wind whistled through the air, he observed the forest of conifers that ran along the mountain range; the trees flowed like the waves in an ocean of green.

The peak he stood atop of was roughly several hundred meters above ground. For the average player, it would mean certain death if they tried to jump off this peak.

Nie Yan paced back and forth around the peak, occasionally glancing down to examine the landscape directly below. However, he halted upon finding a certain tree situated near the peak’s edge.

He stood directly under this tree and faced east. One step, two step, three step… This should roughly be it.

Yep, it’s right here. There’s no mistaking it. Nie Yan then leaped off the mountain peak.

Though his actions stated otherwise, the purpose of making this trip really wasn’t so he could commit suicide. It was because the lair of the Level 7 Elite monster, Gato the Lion King, was located beneath this cliffside. This monster was the field boss who ruled over this desolate terrain, and many unsuspecting players who came to this area to train would find themselves killed by this mighty lion.

Gato would respawn within a day if he was killed. Moreover, he had a high probability of dropping the Blackblood Set which consisted of three items: cloak, gloves, and shoulder guards. At Level 5 Silver-grade, the set was currently the best Thief equipment sets in the game, coming second to the Covenant Set which could only be found in the yet-to-be-opened Sosil Valley dungeon. By obtaining the Blackblood set, Nie Yan could at least guarantee that he was fully geared in first-rate equipment. Beside the aforementioned set, Gato also dropped various Thief skill books.

In Nie Yan’s previous life, many players gathered here to hunt Gato the Lion King. Plenty of chaotic battles occurred for the sake of snatching the equipment he dropped. Often times a large expanse of players covered the entire area, so wanting to grab the Blackblood set wasn’t a simple matter. While trying to complete the set was even more of an ordeal. This was due to the fact that Gato would also spawn several hundred Lions with him each time he respawned. Therefore players needed to clear the surroundings of Lions before facing off against the boss safely. However, the numerous ordinary Level 7 Lions were extremely difficult to deal with as well.

The player base at present was too low level. At the very least, it would take twenty-five Level 5 or higher players to hunt Gato. However those sort of players were few and far between. Moreover, those who were at that level were certainly experts as well. In any case, gathering so many top ranked players together certainly wouldn’t be easy.

Let alone Gato, players didn’t even dare to come to this area to hunt the ordinary Lions. This vicinity was a Level 7 monster spawn area so very few people would come. Even if they did, none of them would be able to reach the Gato’s lair. This was the reason Nie Yan could feel at ease while carrying out his plan.

The wind blew past his hair as he continued descending in altitude. When Nie Yan reached four fifths of the way to the ground, he activated the Featherfall Jewel’s skill, whereupon he immediately began slowing down. He felt like he was as light as a feather as his speed slowed down to a steady rate.

Under the effect of Featherfall, Nie Yan’s falling speed was only somewhat faster than the actual falling speed of a feather.

The distance between him and the ground grew increasingly short. He estimated his current altitude at about twenty meters above ground. He shot out a web line from his Ring of Woven Silk which stuck to the rock face and stopped his fall. Now suspended in the middle of the air, he looked below to discover a robust brown Lion with a large mane of hair and an imposing royal aura.

By coincidence, this Lion was also within his firing range.

Obviously, this was Gato the Lion King. Nie Yan recalled this was the exact location where he spawned.

Perfect. The web line connected to Nie Yan’s left hand was firmly secured on the vegetation growing on the rock wall above. His right hand reached into his bag and took out a crossbow. He lined the sights on the Lion…「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」The bolts shot out of the crossbow and went in a straight line towards Gato.

Chapter 59 – Gato The Lion King

Since the majority of the player base was too low level, very few players were able to reach this destination, which led Nie Yan to believe his actions were far from prying eyes.

However unbeknownst to him, in an area not far from the cliff face he overhung, a group of ten or so players were hunting mobs. The strongest among them reached Level 6 while the lowest was Level 4. Even their highest level member was still a level lower than these Lions, thus none of them dared to penetrate too deeply into Violet Dream Hills.

Although they received three hundred percent bonus experience for killing these Level 7 Lions, it was offset by their numbers. Moreover, their expenditure was too great. In the game’s current state, even a single Basic Health Potion was an expensive luxury. Yet they were consuming these potions at a ludicrous rate. Were it not for the fact that their profits were somewhat decent after recently picking up a Leo Shield and a few fur pelts, they would have long stopped hunting these high health hard-to-chew monsters.

"Bladelight, let’s leave after another hour or two. We should have enough Lion Pelts by then,” said the Priest to the Level 6 Fighter at the front of the group.

The Fighter named Bladelight raised his shield and blocked an incoming Lion’s attack. Brandishing his sword, he countered with Heroic Strike and kited the Lion as the Mages whittled its health away. Once its health fell below a certain point, he finished it off with Whirlwind Slash.

"Alright, we’ll leave in an hour then. Since we’ve already got a Leo Shield, it’d be perfect if the Leo Armour dropped as well,” Resplendent Bladelight nodded and replied He unhurriedly collected the items that dropped from the monster’s corpse.

"That’s impossible. I read online that the drop rate for Leo Armour is one in five hundred,” said an Elementalist who walked to his side. He and Resplendent Bladelight were the only Level 6s in their team.

His was named Hei Zhuo (Black Amazing). The two of them could be counted as experts in the game. Although they were friends, neither was willing to admit they were weaker than the other. In terms of skill, Bladelight was superior but Hei Zhuo’s influence in their guild was higher. Their guild was named Unhindered and was established using both of their names. Since Bladelight wasn’t interested in the management aspects of the team or guild, Hei Zhuo naturally took on this role. Under his leadership, not only did Unhindered become a successful guild, it became somewhat famous as well.

"What? The Leo Shield’s drop rate is only one in a thousand yet we still managed to get one anyway.” Bladelight rebuked.

"That’s only cause you got lucky…” Hei Zhuo’s complexion paled. Bladelight’s tone made him somewhat speechless and angry; however, he still managed to mumble out a few words in reply.

"If I can equip the Leo Armour, I’ll have the highest defense out of any player in the game!” Bladelight said in a confident tone.

Egotistical prick… Hei Zhuo thought in disdain. His expression, however, did not betray his inner thoughts.

He and Bladelight, on various occasions, competed in sparring matches in the arena, though the difference between them was clear. Out of ten matches, it’d be considered amazing if he could even beat Bladelight in two of them.

Bladelight was famous, quite skilled, and he was well-respected among players in several professions. In truth, Unhindered was established solely on his reputation alone. Thus, Hei Zhuo had no choice but to rely on Bladelight. However, as the guild continued to expand, Hei Zhuo’s authority over it grew as well. As a result, he was slowly inching out Bladelight in terms of position within the guild.

As he and his team prepared to continue their hunt, Bladelight happened to gaze over at the distant cliff face and was surprised to discover a player jumping off its peak. Jeez… I’m seeing stranger things by the day. People are even committing suicide in video games. Can’t this guy be a little less morbid? However, to his astonishment, that player’s falling speed continued to decrease, to the extent where they were unlikely to die even if they hit the ground.

"Guys, look at the cliff face over there!” Bladelight exclaimed in an amazed manner.

"Hmmm, why?” Hei Zhuo asked as he inadvertently looked to the side, whereupon his expression immediately froze. He also noticed Nie Yan. At that moment, he saw Nie Yan shoot out something from his hand and suspend himself in midair, whereupon he took out a crossbow and began firing below.

"What the heck is doing?” The surrounding members stared blankly.

"Amazing, this guy can even think of a strategy like this! Haven’t you guys figured it out? He’s killing monsters!” Bladelight straightened his back and replied. The player overhanging this cliff deeply interested him. For being able to figure out such a unique method of killing mobs, this certainly wasn’t an average player.

"That item on his hand should be the Ring of Woven Silk!” Hei Zhuo recognized this item because he was knowledgeable of most equipment in the game.

"If we also had this Ring of Woven Silk, could we also be like him and hunt monsters like that?”

"No, even if we had that ring, we still wouldn’t be able to. Unless we have equipment with the Featherfall ability like him, the force of the fall would likely snap the web line,” Bladelight replied. The Ring of Woven Silk was already quite a rare accessory that held considerable value. There was even less of a need to discuss equipment with the Featherfall ability which happened to be rarer. These two unique items couldn’t necessarily be bought even if one did have the money. Yet for the sake of hunting monsters, this person obtained both? Just who the hell was he?

"Damn! I’d like to be able to kill monsters like that. If I never have to worry about being attacked while firing bolts, I’d be able to rise several levels in no time!”

"Not necessarily. The number of mobs in his range is limited. His levelling speed won’t be that high because the mobs don’t respawn fast enough at the rate he’s killing them. After clearing all the mobs in his range, he’ll have no choice but to go back,” a somewhat knowledgeable member of the team voiced their opinion.

Hei Zhuo didn’t utter a single word while listening to his teammate’s discussion. They couldn’t penetrate too deeply into the area because the nearer they approached that cliff, the higher the mob density. Since they didn’t dare to get anywhere near that area, they would never know what sort of monsters that player was hunting.

"ROAAAR” The deafening sound travelled all the way from the cliff face to where they were standing. The surrounding members paled as they all looked on in horror.

A robust Lion leapt five meters into the air and threw itself at the cliff face. The pounce was quite powerful and ferocious, even managing to shake the cliff face on impact. Yet no matter how high that Lion leapt, it was far from being able to reach Nie Yan. Its body halted on the cliff face and involuntarily slid off. All the while, Nie Yan dangled calmly in midair and steadily fired more bolts.

"It’s the Elite-class monster, Gato the Lion King!” Hei Zhuo shouted, his voice cracking in astonishment.

Each member of the group looked at each other in dismay and shock. Gato the Lion King, even if they were to form a twenty-player team right now, they still wouldn’t be able to kill this Lion. Yet this Level 7 Elite-class monster was currently being turned into a pin cushion as it was slowly shot to death by a single player overhanging a cliff. When they thought of this, they felt resentment boiling up inside of them, perhaps even more so a feeling of envy and jealousy.

"Can we rush in and steal the equipment from him after he kills it?” one of the members asked.

"Impossible. We simply don’t have any means of going there, unless Guild Leader Hei Zhuo can call a bunch of people over here. However, the losses we would suffer far outweigh our potential gains.”

"Ah… Forget it then.”

As Bladelight, Hei Zhuo, and the others contemplated, the earth violently trembled. The vibrations they felt on the ground resembled a stampede. Each of their faces paled, and they quickly looked into the distance. What they saw was a giant dust cloud rising into the air and several hundred Lions running in their direction. The Lion King’s roar had stirred up the Lions in the vicinity!

"We’re done for! Everyone, retreat immediately!” Hei Zhuo shouted in alarm, but it was already too late. The stampede of Lions had discovered their presence. At that moment, they were simply awaiting their impending doom.

Bladelight realized how difficult it would be to escape, so he raised his shield to welcome the enemies.

Meanwhile, the perpetrator of this disaster was hanging leisurely over the cliff face. He didn’t need to expend much strength. All he needed to do was steadily fire his crossbow. The bolts that were fired all had the additional property of dealing bonus on-hit damage. Even if it was the Level 7 Lion King, it still had no more than five or six thousand health. Under his steady fire, it soon had less than half of its health remaining.

The Lion King’s aggro was fully on Nie Yan but it was incapable of attacking him. Thus, there was nothing it could do. Since it only knew physical attacks, all of its abilities were related to raising its physical damage. Even when it leapt at its highest, it only reached six or seven meters while its opponent was suspended twenty meters in the air.

Killing monsters that surpassed him in level became much simpler with these bolts that dealt bonus on-hit damage. Each and every bolt would deal real and genuine damage.

Chapter 60 – Resplendent Bladelight

Nie Yan specifically chose this location after making certain the Lion King didn’t have any ranged attacks. Gato was the boss that resided at this cliff base, and Nie Yan recalled there were at least ten other monsters like him. However, Gato happened to be the easiest one to deal with because it only knew physical attacks. Naturally, Nie Yan would choose to challenge the pushover over the others.

The Lion King tried every which way to get its claws on Nie Yan. However, as time elapsed, its health eventually fell below twenty percent, and it entered a berserk state. Its robust and muscular body, though weakened, suddenly filled with energy and unyieldingly pounced at Nie Yan. However, no matter how hard it struggled, all of its efforts were futile in the end.

Before another half hour even passed, its health bar fell empty. The Lion King raised its head to the sky and resentfully roared, unwilling to resign to its fate, before collapsing onto the earth.

Gato the Lion King, the boss that would be fought over by numerous players in the future, had its life ended just like that. Nie Yan hadn’t lost a single drop of health in the process of whittling it to death.

「Ding!」A clear melody rang into the air. He received eight hundred percent bonus experience for killing a monster that surpassed him in level. After hitting Level 5, his experience bar continued filling up and only stopped upon hitting thirty-six percent.

The Lion King had dropped two pieces of equipment. Both items lay sparkling on the ground beside Gato’s corpse.

Equipment dropped! Excitement arose within Nie Yan; however, he still couldn’t come down.

He could see ten or so Lions still roaming around in an area not far from Gato’s corpse. In order to retrieve the dropped items safely, he needed to clear them out first. Thus, he continued firing the crossbow until each Lion was shot to death.

Unlike other games, dropped items never disappeared after a certain amount of time. The game resembled real life as in items thrown on the ground would never just disappear out of thin air. As for items players didn’t need or couldn’t sell, they could be broken down into raw materials by the Recycler to recoup some of their value.

Seeing as there were no monsters left in the area, Nie Yan released the web line and dropped to the ground. After falling twenty meters, he only lost sixty health. This sort of height wasn’t enough to kill him with fall damage.

Nie Yan walked up to the Lion King’s side and collected the two pieces of equipment that dropped. Since both items were unappraised, he revealed their properties with Transcendent Insight.

Blackblood Cloak (Gold)

Level Requirement: 5

Properties: Defense 19–21, Resilience +5, Mov. Speed +6

Weight: 2 lb

User Restriction: Thief; can be equipped by all factions.

Lion King’s Shield (Gold)

Level Requirement: 5

Properties: Defense 39–51, Block Chance +12%, Resilience +5, Magic Resist +7

Weight: 10 lb

User Restriction: Fighter, Paladin; can be equipped by all factions.

Nie Yan felt quite satisfied when he saw that a piece of equipment from the Blackblood set had dropped, though he didn’t expect the Lion King’s Shield to drop as well. Its value was much higher than the Blackblood Cloak! To illustrate a point, if he brought it to the marketplace, he absolutely wouldn’t sell it for anything less than twenty silvers. In the best case scenario, he could exchange it for a couple pieces of Thief equipment.

The price for a Fighter’s shield remained high in the marketplace, always occupying the top positions in terms of price. Out of the ten most expensive equipment sold in the marketplace, eight were Fighter shields.

What a good piece of equipment! Along with the Blackblood Cloak, I’ve made a decent profit. Nie Yan stored the shield and cloak into his bag.

I’m finally Level 5… Nie Yan glanced at his stat page. Due to the Chapter of Courage’s effect, he gained two additional stat points and one additional skill point upon reaching Level 5, meaning he had a total of seven stat points and two skill points to allocate. He allocated two points in Strength and five in Dexterity. Since Intermediate Marksmen couldn’t be improved any further at his current level, he distributed his two skill points into Dagger and Dual Wielding. As a result, he gained a ten percent attack bonus along with increased proficiency in wielding daggers. Moreover, he could at long last dual wield weapons.

Nie Yan brought out all the Level 5 equipment he had been carrying with him just for this occasion. After switching out all his Level 0 equipment, he glanced at his character info.

Main Weapon: Horn Dagger (Bronze)

Secondary Weapon: Assassin’s Decree (Gold)

Armour: Headhunter’s Silver Leather Armour (Silver)

Cape: Blackblood Cloak (Gold)

Boots: Boots of Swiftness (Gold)

Nie Yan’s upgraded equipment drastically changed his appearance. The Headhunter’s Silver Leather Armour, with its dull silver-white lustre, gave off a chilly aura of slaughter and death. From his back hung a dark, blood-red cloak that emitted a faint golden glow. In addition, the pair of daggers he held in his hands flickered with a cold glint. The style of Thief equipment was generally reserved compared to other professions, and Nie Yan had also concealed the equipment’s visual effects, but from a quick glimpse, one could still discern that his equipment was out of the ordinary.

Nie Yan became much faster with his Level 5 equipment. He moved like the wind, leaving afterimages behind him.

"Not bad,” he muttered to himself. He felt quite satisfied with his new equipment.

In this period of time where good equipment was still scarce, his own equipment would cause the overwhelming majority of players to look at him in admiration.

This new equipment would enable him to freely roam around any Level 6 or 7 monster area as he pleased.

Nie Yan would need to wait a day for Gato to respawn, so he began heading out of Violet Dream Hills. His next objective was the Level 8 Elite-class monster Ogre Devourer, who resided in an area not far from this one. The loot the Ogre Devourer dropped was also rather decent, as it dropped items for every profession. In his past life, there was even a player who’d obtained a piece of Dark Gold Thief equipment. Of course, the drop rate for equipment of this grade was extremely low. The Ogre Devourer was also a monster that took a day to respawn.

Nie Yan made sure to carefully avoid the Lions as he left the area. Moving forward, he heard a rustling sound coming from a nearby bush. Nie Yan looked over just in time to see a Fighter clad in white armour with an ashen silver greatshield in his hand leap out of the bush and come running in his direction. Just moments later, three Lions also emerged from the bush and pounced after the Fighter.

That Fighter’s footsteps were steady and unhurried. However, his situation was a little unfavourable, as his health was running low and the Lions’ attacks became increasingly ferocious.

Intimidate!

The Fighter’s sudden and explosive roar startled the Lions and halted their movements for a brief moment. Taking advantage of this small opening, he followed with Tendon Break and targeted the closest of the three Lions before rapidly pulling back.

The Lion struck by Tendon Break temporarily entered a crippled state. The two other Lions fiercely growled and leapt into the air, pouncing on the Fighter.

The Fighter retaliated with Heroic Strike, striking one of the Lions and repelling it. He then firmly raised his shield to meet the other Lion’s attack. Even for a Level 6 Fighter, it was still quite difficult to deal with three Level 7 Lions while low on health.

Nie Yan had activated Stealth the moment the Fighter appeared and blended in the background. Instead of leaving, he idled around the Fighter.

If Nie Yan were to take advantage of the situation and act, the Fighter would undoubtedly die. However, he still held some reservations. Judging by the other party’s firm and collected movements, he could tell with a single glance they were an expert. He was currently contemplating whether it was worth becoming enemies with this expert over a single piece of equipment. In the end, he decided it was best to wait for the three Lions to kill this expert first. After all, when two sides fought, it would always be the third party that benefited the most.

As for saving this person, Nie Yan had no interest in such an idea. He had been in too many situations where the person he saved repaid his kindness with malice. In this world, everyone fought for their own interests, so it was necessary for him to learn how to be cold-hearted.

Since this person dared to come to this area, they were presumably not weak. Nie Yan examined this Fighter with Transcendent Insight.

Resplendent Bladelight

Level 6 Fighter

Nie Yan’s raised an eyebrow after reading this player’s name. He knew almost all the players who rose to fame in Calore, even if they held just a little bit of reputation. Naturally, this Resplendent Bladelight was no exception.

Chapter 61 – Favour

"How could it be him…?” Nie Yan muttered to himself. Though he had no relation with Resplendent Bladelight, he still recognized this name because it was quite influential in his past life. Ranked as one of the top three Fighters in the game, Bladelight held impressive renown. His strength couldn’t be judged by rankings as the order frequently changed. Therefore, others found it difficult to decide the one truly ranked first among them. Nonetheless, Bladelight was still a famous personality and Nie Yan had heard of his name.

Now that Nie Yan thought about it, he seemed to recall there was a story surrounding Resplendent Bladelight. It was about one of his friends, an Elementalist named Hei Zhuo (Black Amazing). The two, who jointly established a guild named Unhindered, were considered the closest of friends. However, Bladelight didn’t care much for managing Unhindered, so full authority over the guild eventually fell to Hei Zhuo. Later on, Bladelight found out his girlfriend was having an affair with Hei Zhuo while he, of course, had absolutely no clue this had been occurring. He was a proud and arrogant person, so how could he bear this sort of humiliation? In retaliation, he brought many of his brothers away and left the guild. From then on, Unhindered separated into two factions with irreconcilable differences. As for what happened after… Bladelight could be considered a hero of sorts—he kept to his promises, valued loyalty, and was well respected among other players. Moreover, no one disputed his position as one of the top three Fighters in the game. Hence, without Bladelight, Unhindered went on a continual decline and eventually degenerated into a second-rate guild.

As Bladelight resisted the three Lions, he felt a cold chill run down his spine and a peculiar sensation arose in his heart. He steadily retreated as he fought, occasionally glancing behind to look around, yet he saw nothing but empty space.

However, his instincts would never betray him. He knew this odd feeling came from the gaze of a Thief.

Even with six points in Awareness, he was still unable to locate the other party’s position. This isn’t an ordinary Thief!

"Brother, since you’re already here, why don’t you show yourself? My name is Resplendent Bladelight. If you’ve decided to attack, I won’t attempt to struggle since I’m done for in any case. However, if you’re willing to save me, you’ll have my thanks. In addition, I’ll even swear on my name that I’ll remember this favour.” Bladelight spoke in a clear tone. At the same moment, the Lion that had been left behind recovered from its crippled state and joined back with its two companions. All three pounced forward and intensified their assault.

Hoh? I didn’t think he’d be able to notice me. Nie Yan pondered for a short while. He would only obtain a single piece of equipment if he killed Bladelight. The equipment he’d acquire wasn’t for his profession and its value wasn’t something he highly regarded. In contrast, being owed a favour by a first-class Fighter held much greater appeal than a single piece of equipment. Moreover, from his previous life, he knew Bladelight was known for being a trustworthy person.

The lights and shadows in the background blurred, followed by a figure emerging into sight roughly three meters from Bladelight. Nie Yan had emerged! He lowered his body and swiftly struck one of the Lions with a sweeping kick.

Concussive Blow!

The blade of his daggers flashed with a cold glint. Among the three Lions, the one he struck with Concussive Blow was low on health. Nie Yan chained his prior attack with Assassinate followed by Vital Strike and instantly killed the Lion, whereupon he drew back immediately and pulled out a crossbow.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Three bolts shot out of the crossbow and pierced the air.「Put! Put! Put!」

−37

−38

−32

Nie Yan’s attacks caused the two remaining Lions to switch aggro. They turned around and pounced on him.

Taunt!

Bladelight knew that this moment, his best course of action was to support Nie Yan. His taunt came at just the right time. The Lions stiffened mid-pounce and the aggro switched back to him.

「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Nie Yan fired his crossbow once more and three bolts shot through the air.「Put! Put! Put!」The Lion that was already low on health from being struck earlier died after the second round of bolts.

Nie Yan withdrew his crossbow and pounced toward the remaining Lion.

Cleave!

Bladelight leapt high into the air and struck the remaining Lion. The attack ensured its attention was fixated fully on him while Nie Yan circled round its back and released a flurry of attacks.

−52

−50

−51

Thieves dealt thirty percent more damage when attacking an enemy from behind. A brief moment later, the Lion went limp and collapsed to the ground.

Bladelight felt a mix of shock and relief when he saw Nie Yan’s nimble movements and high damage. What a strong Thief! Just a moment ago, if he had decided to attack me instead, I’d have zero chance of survival.

Nie Yan walked up to the three Lion Corpses and searched around. To his disappointment, nothing had dropped.

"Well, that’s settled. Too bad nothing dropped. Anyway, if you plan on keeping your promise, this means you owe me one now. My name is Nie Yan (Nirvana Flame),” Nie Yan said, examining Bladelight. He appeared to be near his mid-twenties. He also looked mature and rugged, giving off the impression of someone who could be relied on and trusted.

"I, Resplendent Bladelight, am a man of my word. I’ll remember this favour. In the future, just call if you need me. As long as it’s within my capabilities, I’ll do my best to lend a helping hand,” Bladelight replied in a straightforward manner. He wasn’t the type of person who backed out on his promises.

Bladelight then glanced at Nie Yan’s face and was shocked at his immature appearance. He never thought this Thief would be so young. He only looked to be eighteen or nineteen years old. Moreover, he didn’t think Nie Yan would appear in this area for no rhyme or reason. Presumably, the player he had seen earlier, suspended over the cliff face and shooting the Lion King, was Nie Yan.

"Why did you come here all by yourself?’ Nie Yan asked. It was quite dangerous for a lone Fighter to burst into a high-level monster area. Thieves might not have a problem coming here but that was only because they could avoid danger by activating Stealth.

"I entered this area in a party with my friends but we got separated when we met a large group of Lions. I’m the only one remaining; everyone else died. I was constantly fending off those Lions and there was never a chance for me to use a Return Scroll. If it weren’t for my high health and defense, I would’ve likely died as well,” Bladelight replied in a calm manner; however, Nie Yan could imagine how bitter and desperate of a situation he had been in.

"I guess you’re lucky then.”

"You’re right. I am pretty lucky for being able to somehow survive. How about we add each other as friends? Resplendent Bladelight is too much of a mouthful. You can just call me Bladelight.”

Nie Yan accepted Bladelight’s friend request. His new friend was a powerful Fighter, which was worth being happy over. At least from now on, he’d no longer have to worry about finding a good tank when running a dungeon.

"This isn’t a safe place for you to idle around. It’s best for you to hurry up and return to town,” Nie Yan suggested. If a pride of Lions were to catch sight of them, he could still easily escape, but Bladelight was different. He had no way to hide himself. Moreover, with his large build and bulky equipment, he’d likely become a free meal for the Lions in this area.

For Bladelight, these words weren’t pleasant to the ears but he had no means to refute them. Besides the fact Nie Yan seemed to be much stronger than him, Fighters couldn’t compete with Thieves when it came down to survivability.

"Alright then, I’ll leave. I owe you a favour, so if you ever need me just send a message. As long as it’s within my capabilities, I’ll try my best to help!” Bladelight nodded his head and retrieved a Return Scroll from his bag. It really wasn’t safe for him to stay here for too long.

"Wait a second!” Nie Yan shouted, stopping Bladelight just when he prepared to activate the scroll. His impression of Bladelight was quite good.

"What’s the matter?”

"I have a shield that you might want. I don’t mind selling it to you if you can give me a decent price,” Nie Yan said. It would be too much of a pity selling this shield through the auction house. If an acquaintance could afford it, he might as well sell it to that acquaintance instead. Either way, by selling the shield, he’d have more money to do other things.

"Huh? Let me take a look at it.” Bladelight seemed quite interested. Nie Yan was the person who suspended himself over the cliff face to kill the Lion King. To be able to use such an ingenious method of hunting a boss, he was certain to have good equipment.

Chapter 62 – Ogre

Nie Yan placed the Lion King’s Shield inside the trade window.

"This shield should be worth over twenty silvers, but I don’t mind selling it for only twenty.”

"T-this… dropped from the Lion King when you killed it?” Bladelight was left shaken after examining the shield’s properties. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how much better the Lion King’s Shield was in comparison to his own. In fact, there really was no comparison; the two weren’t even on the same level.

Nie Yan furrowed his brows. How did Bladelight know he killed the Lion King?

Seeing Nie Yan’s reaction, Bladelight hurriedly explained, "Oh, my apologies. It seems I got a bit too excited. However, you can rest assured that I won’t leak this information.” Then, he returned his gaze to the shield. "This Lion King’s Shield really is worth over twenty silvers. If it were to appear in the marketplace, it definitely wouldn’t sell for less than twenty-five silvers. Unfortunately, I don’t have that kind of money on me right now. Would you be willing to wait for me to scrape up enough funds after returning to the city?”

"Sure. I can wait,” Nie Yan replied, nodding his head.

"Oh! I also have a few pieces of Thief equipment in my personal storage. Several of them are pretty decent, and some of them should hold your interest. Would you be interested in exchanging them in place of money?” Bladelight asked.

"As long as I can use them, I’m fine with it,” Nie Yan replied. He had actually been worrying about being unable to find good Thief equipment, so Bladelight’s suggestion came at the perfect moment.

"Ah, alright then. I’ll contact you after I collect the money. Please don’t sell the shield to anyone before then!” Bladelight felt tense and anxious as he stared the Lion King’s shield in Nie Yan’s hand.

Nie Yan thought for a moment before he replied, "I’ll wait a day. If you’re not able to to raise enough money by then, I can only look elsewhere to sell.” Out of the people he had frequent contact with, only Bai Kaisui (Plain Boiled Water from Yu Lan’s (Blue Feather) team was a Fighter. However, it was highly unlikely, if not impossible, that Bai Kaisui could afford the twenty silvers he wanted for the shield. Nie Yan felt a little hesitant, putting the shield up in the auction house. He’d much rather keep the fertile waters flowing in his own fields. After all, it was more beneficial to give such equipment to his acquaintances rather than strangers.

"One day is enough!” Bladelight promptly replied.

He was a straightforward person and didn’t haggle over the shield’s price because he understood he had already received a great bargain. Normally, if it was sold to someone else, such a shield wouldn’t sell for any bid less than twenty-five silvers. For it to sell for thirty silvers or higher was a reasonable albeit unlikely possibility as well. Nevertheless, twenty silvers was still a significant sum. Hah… Seems that I’ll have to borrow some money.

Filled with excitement and anticipation, Bladelight activated the Return Scroll so he could raise the funds he needed in the city.

"Oh, there’s one other matter. Is Hei Zhuo (Black Amazing) your friend?” Nie Yan asked. After thinking it over, he still felt it was best to warn Bladelight. The type of people he detested the most were two-faced backstabbers. Hei Zhuo and Bladelight were friends. Yet the former still chose to have an affair with the latter’s girlfriend. This sort of behavior… Nie Yan truly found it condemnable.

"Yes, he is. How did you know?” Bladelight asked, a hint of bewilderment mixed in his tone.

"I’ve heard many unpleasant rumours surrounding what kind of person he is. A little incident happened between him and one of my friends. My friend met him and a woman called Zhi Ya (Beautiful Angelica) at Midnight Charm at Calore, and they got into a scuffle.” Nie Yan glimpsed at Bladelight expression. In his previous life, this bar was where Bladelight discovered his girlfriend and Hei Zhuo were committing acts of adultery. Nie Yan didn’t mind exposing Hei Zhuo’s deeds at an earlier date.

Sure enough, after listening to Nie Yan’s words, Bladelight’s complexion slightly paled.

Zhi Yan was his girlfriend whom he met online. Later on, they met each other in real life and had been living together since. If she and Hei Zhuo really were committing indecent acts within the game, it would truly be difficult for him to find out.

Hei Zhuo and Zhi Yan were the most trusted people in his life. He didn’t believe this was true… No, he wasn’t willing to believe it could be true. Yet, deep in his heart, he felt a hint of uncertainty and restlessness.

Could it be what he’s saying is actually…? No… Bladelight shook his head. It’s absolutely impossible.

"If I ever meet Hei Zhuo, it won’t be on friendly terms. Of course, it’ll have nothing to do with you.” Nie Yan was only warning him out of the kindness of his heart. Regardless, he wasn’t the one being cuckolded. "If there comes a day where you plan on leaving Unhindered, come and find me. I’d be happy to have you by my side.” Nie Yan said all that he wanted to say; he turned around and began walking into the distance.

"I’ll never leave Unhindered,” Bladelight coldly replied. He convinced himself Nie Yan was just another one of those people trying to poach members for their guild.

Truthfully, Nie Yan really did have the intention of recruiting him. After all, it would be a great boon for him to successfully pull Bladelight to his side. However, this little setback was of no matter. He had never hoped for immediate results. His goal was already accomplished. A seed of doubt had been planted deep within Bladelight’s heart. Sooner or later, as it slowly germinated, he would one day at last… catch whiff of what was being done behind his back. And at that moment, once he realized his short-sightedness, he’d recall Nie Yan’s invitation; this much was enough.

Nie Yan didn’t bother explaining. He activated stealth and disappeared from Bladelight’s view.

For a short while, Bladelight stood there in a daze. Eventually, he unfurled the Return Scroll and activated its magic within. A brilliant light flashed through the surroundings, and he was teleported away.

Nie Yan was currently dashing through Violet Dream Hills. At the base of a mountain in the distance, he could see an enormous tree several dozen meters in height. It would take at least seven full grown men to link their arms around this tree, and its immense treetop resembled a roof blocking out the sun. Such a landmarked seemed especially lofty when placed within Violet Dream Hills.

Surrounding this tree was a forest of smaller trees and vegetation. The Ogre Devourer he had been searching for was located here. A Level 8 Elite-class monster: if he and it were to go head-to-head, he’d stand absolutely no chance. However, when it came to hunting monsters, he didn’t necessarily need to face this Ogre Devourer in direct combat.

The boss frequently roamed around the vicinity. Therefore there was no set position where it could be found. If one was unlucky or careless, they would end up encountering it by accident. Unlike the Gato the Lion King, the Ogre Devourer wasn’t as well-known, and the items it dropped were a bit worse. Add on the fact that its skin was coarse and thick while its health was high, many players would find it very difficult to deal with. Furthermore, it possessed a skill named Petrifying Gaze which had the effect of paralysis. Average players were advised to keep as far away as possible if they encountered this boss.

Nie Yan neared the giant tree as he passed through some thickets. His Cloaking stat wasn’t low. Thus, once he hid in the background, even if he wasn’t in Stealth, he wouldn’t be so easily discovered by monsters or players.

The wind was surprisingly strong at the base of the mountain, and it carried the faint scent of blood.

Amid the sounds of leaves rustling in the wind, Nie Yan also heard distant footsteps. He hurriedly hid behind a nearby bush and looked towards the origin of the sound. Whereupon, an obese, two-meter-tall, blue-skinned, two-headed ogre entered his vision.

The Ogre wielded a giant wooden club in its hand. Its movements were clumsy and its two heads were looking around endlessly. Only after a long while did they finally start walking again.

With a single glance of its body, Nie Yan could tell this wasn’t the Oge Devourer but merely a common Ogre.

Nie Yan didn’t have any interest in killing small fry. He took a detour around the Ogre and continued his search. After exploring the area for what seemed like ages, he finally heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming from the depths of the forest.

He could distinguish these Ogres from the sound of their footsteps. The one approaching him definitely wasn’t ordinary.

Finally… The Ogre Devourer is coming. Nie Yan dashed towards the immense tree at the end of the forest which was roughly eighty meters away. Near the large tree, there were six other smaller trees. They were also thick and sturdy; roughly two grown men were required for their arms to surround a single tree.

He decided on these several trees as the location for his Ogre hunt.

As he arrived near the source of the sound which also happened to be in the direction of the immense tree, he gradually recalled the incident that prompted him to head to this area. Before he reincarnated, after the servers had been open for over two years, a Level 5 Thief single-handedly killed the Level 8 Elite-class monster, Ogre Devourer. Despite the player base having outgrown this boss, such an unprecedented event had still caused quite a stir.

Chapter 63 – Art Of Weaving

An enormous figure entered Nie Yan’s sight after ten or so seconds. It stood at an evident twofold the height of an ordinary Ogre while it spanned a much greater width; this was the Ogre Devourer.

Nie Yan hid behind a tree with one of his knees on the ground. He retrieved his crossbow, holding it up with his left hand while his right gripped the trigger. He gazed forward and aligned the crossbow sight with his target.

A Level 5 Thief had killed the Ogre Devourer with a crossbow by chipping away its health. Nie Yan had to admit… that person must have been quite courageous. Nonetheless, if they were to compare, Nie Yan wouldn’t lose to this Thief in any aspect; there was absolutely no doubt he too could accomplish this feat. After all, he was one of the few players who received the title of Shadow Dancer. He reckoned the other Shadow Dancers in his era could do the same.

Nie Yan had a thorough understanding of the process used to whittle the Ogre Devourer to its death. Nevertheless, the execution was still going to be a challenge. In his past life, that Thief had killed the boss without a hitch, but his success was partially attributed to luck.

Through the sight, the figure of the Ogre Devourer drew increasingly near. Nie Yan redirected his aim to a certain area on the boss’ chest—its weak point, the heart.

He held his finger on the trigger and prepared to launch a few bolts. However, out of nowhere, two common Ogres entered his line of sight. They were roaming in the vicinity of the boss.

Nie Yan stopped himself from pulling his trigger finger and paused for a moment. Though there was a sudden introduction of two unknown variables, whether they could influence the success of his plan remained to be seen. The Ogres are big and clumsy. I should be fine as long as I don’t get hit…

That said, it’s still isn’t an easy task to shave their health down without receiving any damage.

Raising his crossbow once more, Nie Yan took aim at the Ogre Devourer.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」With the pull of the trigger, three bolts shot out, aimed directly at the Devourer’s heart.

The three bolts whistled in the air.

「Put! Put! Put!」As if the bolts had struck thick bark, hard muffled sounds rang out.

Ogre Devourer (Elite): Level 8

Health: 6,000/6,000

Although this boss didn’t deal as much damage as the others, it made up for it with high health and thick skin. Either way, the Ogre Devourer certainly wasn’t easy pickings.

Due to its strong defense, normal crossbow bolts dealt limited damage. Nie Yan’s current attack only enabled him to deal two to three points of damage at most using normal bolts. Fortunately, he had bought those special bolts which dealt on-hit true damage. One of those bolts would take out at least fifteen health which was quite impressive.

The Ogre Devourer turned around in the direction of its assailant. It lumbered forward and moved towards Nie Yan while brandishing its large wooden club. The Devourer’s heavy five-ton body resembled a humanoid fortress as each of its steps caused tremors in the earth.

Seeing that he had successfully aggroed the boss, Nie Yan dashed towards a nearby tree and chose a path with denser vegetation. The Ogre Devourer was awkward and clumsy, and it seemed as if it were running slowly due to its large build. However, its large strides covered quite a bit of distance, and it was actually closing the gap as it chased Nie Yan. The other two Ogres could also be seen following the Ogre Devourer from the rear, though it soon became apparent that they weren’t going to catch up. They continued trailing further and further behind.

After running for about fifty meters, Nie Yan deaggroed the Ogre Devourer because it wasn’t able to catch him. It turned around and looked as if it wanted to depart.

However, Nie Yan turned around and shot three more bolts at it before dashing off again. After being attacked again, the Ogre Devourer reaggroed onto Nie Yan and chased him with renewed zeal.

While running, Nie Yan noticed only the Devourer was chasing him. The other two Ogres had long stopped chasing and were now wandering around in a distant area.

Eh? I guess my luck isn’t bad. It’ll be much easier dealing with the Ogre Devourer alone.

The boss gradually closed the distance, and only twenty meters separated them.

As it chased Nie Yan, the Ogre Devourer began emanating a dangerous aura. Its four eyes suddenly turned red, and its body radiated a scorching light like a cartoon bomb on the verge of exploding.

The two pairs of eyes locked onto Nie Yan.

Petrifying Gaze!

Nie Yan felt his chest tighten when he noticed the Ogre Devourer’s abnormal behavior. These types of monsters that could lock the player down were especially terrifying. If one were careless for just a moment, that player would find themselves unable to even budge an inch.

In the same moment the Ogre Devourer used Petrifying Gaze, Nie Yan rolled out of the way and ducked behind a tree.

MISS!

The Ogre Devourer roared in anger when it failed to hit its target. It strode forward and covered a large distance with each step while it charged at Nie Yan. The two Ogres behind it were also alerted. However, after only a few meters, they turned around and began wandering around again.

Nie Yan sucked in a deep breath of air while he hid behind the tree. The information he previously read in a guide was correct! After attacking the Ogre Devourer twice, it would use Petrifying Gaze six seconds later. If a player was struck, they would become frozen for six seconds, incapable of any movement. At present, the only method of dodging Petrifying Gaze was to get behind cover before the skill activated. Furthermore, the player couldn’t be a second late.

In the event that the skill hit Nie Yan, the Ogre Devourer would have caught up and smashed him to death with its giant wooden club.

This was the reason why it was considered extremely difficult soloing the Ogre Devourer. Not just anyone could accomplish this task. Even long after the video of it being killed had been published, it still remained as one of the toughest early game bosses to contend against.

「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Nie Yan fired another round of bolts. He nimbly traversed between the trees and fired the crossbow from time to time.

「Crash! … Crash! … Crash!」The Ogre Devourer continued brandishing its club. Each swing proved fruitless since trees were all they struck.

The key point in killing this boss revolved around making sporadic movements while traversing past obstacles. Although its running speed wasn’t slow in spite of its immense size, it was rather lacking in agility. An excellent Thief could take advantage of this weakness by circling around several large trees, making it so that the Ogre Devourer would miss its attacks.

However, this strategy was not one that could be pulled off well by anyone. If the player lacked spatial awareness, couldn’t properly judge the Ogre Devourer’s movements, or carelessly got hit by Petrifying Gaze, they’d likely be sending their lives to the boss.

In order to avoid being caught, the player had to always run in a curve and never in a straight line. They also couldn’t stop moving for more than three seconds.

With so many years of combat experience supporting him, many actions became instinctive and ingrained on the deepest level, enabling him to easily fire the crossbow while smoothly navigating the terrain.

Seeing as the Ogre Devourer wasn’t too difficult to deal with, Nie Yan felt much more relaxed. His nimble body weaved between the large trees while he fired the crossbow between the gaps. The boss had no way of dealing with Nie Yan. Unable to figure out how to catch him, its two heads turned in every direction, eventually getting dizzy and confused.

With top-quality gear and ten years of experience, if he couldn’t even match that Level 5 Thief in his past life, he shouldn’t have even bothered playing this game.

「Put! Put! Put!」

The bolts nailed themselves into the Ogre Devourer’s skin. Its health was gradually being chipped away as it repeatedly roared and brandished its club, smashing it at Nie Yan.

「Crash!」The club smacked the large tree. Nie Yan had leapt backwards and avoided the attack. It was unable to harm even a single hair on his body.

Chapter 64 – Slow Death

「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Another three bolts pinned themselves on the Ogre Devourer, eliciting furious roars that brought over two normal Ogres.

Now this was a bit troubling. Nie Yan glimpsed at the Ogre Devourer’s health bar—only a third remained after thirty minutes. If he put aside this Sub-Elite monster to deal with the normal Ogres, its health would return to full, and his work would go to waste. Whatever! Finish it off first!

Nie Yan accelerated his rate of fire as the two normal Ogres joined into the battlefield. The pressure he felt rose precipitously.

There was no end to the three monsters’ pursuit. They made attempts to surround and kill him, but they underestimated his agility. He was as slippery as a loach; through the gaps between several large trees, he shot bolts that seemingly came from nowhere.

An enraged roar came from the Ogre Devourer’s throat, and it swung its enormous club at Nie Yan—but the swipe could not reach him. The two normal Ogres weren’t of any help to the Ogre Devourer either due to Nie Yan’s meticulous pathing. Not only that, they even became obstructions. Every time it attempted to move, there were two Ogres blocking its way like brainless pigs.

Nie Yan was unperturbed by his perilous surroundings. When he prepared to fire another round of bolts between the trees with one knee on the ground, the Ogre Devourer’s eyes suddenly emitted another dark-red light.

Shit, it’s Petrifying Gaze again!

Nie Yan put away his crossbow and rolled under the cover of the trees.

MISS!

Nie Yan now had a greater understanding of Petrifying Gaze after successfully avoiding the skill three times—he’d be able to dodge so long as he hid behind a tree when it started casting.

Before he even found his footing, however, a massive shadow loomed from above. An Ogre had circled behind Nie Yan, avoiding his detection entirely, and its enormous club strewn with nails smashed down.

Nie Yan didn’t have the slightest thought of staying still; he threw himself forward, out of the club’s range of attack.

「Boom!」

The impact left a small pit and sent fragments of stone and dirt into the air.

Nie Yan had no issues imagining his fate if he had delayed by even a second.

The knockback effect from the Ogre Devourer’s attack would have sent him flying.

Disastrous consequences would occur during the two seconds it’d take to travel through the air, fall to the ground, and climb back up.

Nie Yan regained his stability, but much to his surprise, he had been surrounded by the three Ogres during that time. With their clubs raised high into the air, the Ogre Devourer and two normal Ogres approached steadily.

I’m done for. It seems that this is the end of the line. Such an accident was beyond his expectations. He swept his gaze over the surroundings: his path had been completely sealed by several large trees and the three Ogres. There was no escape in sight.

The Ogre Devourer bellowed and a deafening roar reverberated through the forest. It raised his club, then slammed it down at Nie Yan.

Within the blink of an eye, a spiked club covered his entire field of view—he could even see the individual nails embedded in the wood. Nie Yan tried retreating; however, the two Ogres flanked him from behind. His situation couldn’t be any direr and his heart felt like it was going to burst out his chest. In the brief moments before his seemingly imminent demise, he happened to notice the branches in the tree above.

They were roughly eight meters from the ground and flourished with leaves of a vibrant green. However ordinary they were, they seemed like an extension of a holy tree.

There! Nie Yan leapt to the side, slipping away from the Ogre Devourer’s club. He put full force into his legs and jumped, simultaneously shooting a line of webbing from the Ring of Woven Silk.

The power of his jump brought him three meters in the air, while the Ring of Woven Silk ejected a line of webbing of roughly five meters’ length.

The line of webbing shot through the gaps between the leaves and stuck on the branches. He was suspended in the air, but with a nearby foothold, he leapt up again and flew past the Ogre Devourer’s head.

「Boom! Boom! Boom!」 Three clubs smashed onto Nie Yan’s position, sending dirt and pebbles scattering into the air

However, no blood nor flesh stained the ground.

All three Ogres’ attacks struck naught but air and earth; their dazed expressions revealed their confusion.

Upon landing, Nie Yan bolted to build up some distance. He stopped between two trees and knelt. With his right hand supporting the crossbow and his left finger over the trigger, he shot three bolts.

「Put! Put! Put!」

Although the Ogre Devourer had briefly lost its target, the oncoming attack prompted it to turn its head towards Nie Yan, whereupon it raised its club and charged.

Contrary to expectations, Nie Yan did not stop shooting, even when the Ogre Devourer had approached.

Seeing as the enormous club was about to crush him, Nie Yan didn’t dare to hesitate. He rolled to the side and evaded the Ogre Devourer’s attack.

Its health had already been dropping quickly, and since Nie Yan now intensified his assault, the Ogre Devourer would soon fall.

Only forty or so health remained. Nie Yan circled to the Ogre Devourer’s back and withdrew his crossbow. He unsheathed his dagger and pounced at this Sub-Elite monster.

Vital Strike!

Lacerate!

Taking advantage of the few moments the Ogre Devourer took to turn its head, Nie Yan’s dagger left deep gashes on its back and scarlet blood stained the air and earth.

Nie Yan’s new set of equipment raised his attack significantly. In addition to the extra thirty percent given to a Thief when striking monsters from the back, he dealt fairly impressive damage.

As it felt a sharp pain shoot up from its back, the Ogre Devourer waved its club and let out a miserable roar.

Due to his honed reflexes, Nie Yan ducked his head as he could sense an object quickly flying towards his head.「VOOM!」A giant club swiped over his head, only missing by a hair’s breadth.

Phew! Too close. He raised his dagger and struck the Ogre Devourer’s chest with Assassinate.

At last, the final sliver of its health dwindled away. A short stagger, then its colossal figure collapsed.「BANG!」Dust rose into the air and gently floated amidst the thunderous noise.

From the side, the two remaining Ogres charged towards Nie Yan. He quickly fished the items from the Ogre Devourer’s corpse and backed away swiftly before he retrieved his crossbow and fired rapidly while darting between the trees. The normal Ogres’ strengths weren’t all that noteworthy, nor were their health points even close to the Ogre Devourer’s. So, when facing the assault of Nie Yan’s fire, they both fell to the ground in quick succession.

The party of Ogres was now dead, finally allowing Nie Yan a brief respite. Another field boss down. If it weren’t for such an ingenious method of killing monsters, there was absolutely no chance Nie Yan, with such a great disparity in levels, could have challenged that Sub-Elite monster and come out alive. This was the culmination of countless players’ knowledge in his past life.

He glanced at his experience bar—it had risen greatly once again. The Ogre Devourer had thick skin, high health, strong attacks, and a special ability: Petrifying Gaze. As a result of all those factors, the experience it was naturally a generous amount. By killing the Ogre Devourer, Nie Yan received a tenfold experience bonus as a reward—his experience bar rose by thirty-seven percent, and he was now Level 5 with nearly three-fourths of his experience bar filled.

Nie Yan had only killed one Elite monster and one Sub-Elite monster—Gato the Lion King and the Ogre Devourer respectively—yet the amount of experience other players obtained after grinding for several days could not even come close to what he received from those two monsters. His level was rising like a rocket! One would never feel greater satisfaction in grinding normal monsters than killing Elite monsters levels above themself. Unfortunately, there were quite few Elite creatures that could be killed by using terrain bugs or special techniques, and since Elite monsters had quite a long respawn rate, Nie Yan could only take this slowly.

Chapter 65 – Crossbow Of Blood

Nie Yan would have to wait until tomorrow for Gato the Lion King and the Ogre Devourer to respawn. As for leveling, his speed was already sufficiently quick so there was no need to grind normal monsters. With the time remaining, he could do some small businesses on the side.

The Ogre Devourer dropped a total of two items, both of which were rather decent.

Crossbow of Blood (Gold): Single-handed Crossbow

Level Requirement: 5

Properties: Attack +11, 10% Armour-piercing Effect, Triple-shot.

Shooting Speed: 16, Deviation 3%.

Limitation: None

Staff of Moonlight Worship (Gold)

Level requirement: 5

Properties: Attack 32–38, Level Three Holy Explosion. 20% extra damage against demons.

Limitation: Holy Mages; can only be equipped by a member of the Righteous faction.

Nie Yan had challenged the high-level Elites alone and had successfully defeated them despite the level gap. As such, the chances of receiving additional drops were multiplied and reasonably, the system’s rewards were especially munificent. Nie Yan had acquired four Gold-tier equipment by now, and every single piece was extraordinary—the Crossbow of Blood particularly. It brought a great surprise to him; the 10% armour-piercing effect was fairly decent.

When compared to such a substantially superior crossbow, the one in Nie Yan’s current possession was of such a poor quality there was absolutely no need to hesitate in switching. When comparing goods, there would always be one inferior. The crossbow bought from the NPC had finished its quest. It had served well, and its times of glory had now come to an end.

Thus, Nie Yan equipped the Crossbow of Blood. As for the old one, it should still fetch some money on the auction. It had a price tag of thirty-seven copper coins when he bought it, so its resale value should be some dozen copper coins.

Nie Yan returned to Calore, having finished examining the new equipment he acquired. There were quite a few people within the city, but the vast majority of players had gone outside for leveling. The streets were bustling with people, many of whom were visiting Jaden’s shop, the high-level Alchemist, on the corner. All players who exhausted their stock of potions when leveling outside had to replenish their supply at that place.

The auction house that sat in the heart of the city teemed with an even greater number of people. On the nearby streets, many players laid out their booths and once in a while, some eye-catching items would appear.

Nie Yan entered the auction house and sold off equipment he no longer had any use for. He also continued buying all available Black Phenol Formulas, Black Phenol, and the ingredients required. He left nothing unbought. After the opening of the new instance tomorrow, many guilds would go and spearhead the investigation. They would discover, to their amazement, that all traces of the low-priced and relatively unknown Black Phenol had vanished. Alchemists would occasionally produce several bottles of Black Phenol, but they’d be bought before one even had time to blink. As for the Black Phenol Nie Yan collected… they became commodities worth being stockpiled. He could starve the marketplace and slowly rid himself of the Black Phenol and Black Phenol Formulas bit by bit, thus inflating the prices. The larger the development into the new instance, the greater the players’ need for Black Phenol, and the easier the prices would rise. He could start by first selling Black Phenol and its ingredients, then he’d sell the formula at the later stages. He could gather a large sum of wealth with a method like this. Other investment options would be considered only after earning the money since he had spent quite a sum purchasing Black Phenol.

As usual, Nie Yan went over to several small towns to collect Bat Teeth. He sold them off and earned thirty or so silver coins. He even bought most of the Bat Teeth on the marketplace, and he was now waiting for players to continue grinding. When they came by more Bat Teeth, he would return.

However, Nie Yan felt slightly puzzled because he hadn’t even bought a single Bat Teeth at Link. Odd, as it was one of the larger sources of Bat Teeth.

"Mr. Kade, these are the Bat Teeth you asked for.”

"Sir Nie Yan (Nirvana Flame), I am grateful for your assistance.”

After Nie Yan’s Influence in Calore had been raised, the NPC started using honourifics with him. It was evident as Kade was much more amiable.

He came out of Kade’s store, the high-level Blacksmith. Nie Yan raised his head and saw a Paladin with Silver armour entering with a hammer in his hand.

This person seemed a bit over thirty years old. He was very tall and a bit fat; he had quite a unique appearance.

The Paladin looked at Nie Yan with a cautious gaze. They brushed past each other before the Paladin walked into Blacksmith Kade’s store and went to chat with him.

Nie Yan recalled this person: he was the Paladin who discovered the blacksmith quest in his past life—the person who made over ten gold coins. The person who truly discovered this Bat Teeth quest had arrived, increasing the total number who knew of this money-making method to two.

If there were two people simultaneously collecting Bat Teeth, one would raise the prices to increase competition. The opposing side would raise the prices as well, and it would turn into a repeated back-and-forth situation until the profits became marginal. The players would also begin to suspect whether the Bat Teeth held special uses and thus start holding onto them. Last time, there was a Thief that followed Nie Yan and now, there were a total of two players buying Bat Teeth for high prices. That would elicit more suspicion and soon, someone would follow that Paladin and Blacksmith Kade would be revealed.

I won’t be making much profit of off this quest any longer.

But to Nie Yan, Kade’s Bat Teeth quest was now dispensable. He had already acquired a sufficient starting capital, and he also had many other methods of making money. This quest was not a necessity for him.

Nie Yan checked his total assets: there were over sixty silver coins in his bag, and there were also large amounts of Black Phenol, its ingredients, and the formulas, all of which were going to inflate exponentially in value.

It was absolutely fine even if he lost this source of income.

Without even realizing it, he arrived at the Alchemist Guild’s entrance after finding his way through the crowd. His mind had been wandering about before a vender disrupted his thoughts.

"High-level potion ingredients and a Swift Retreat skill book for Thieves! It’s a pretty decent skill book! This brother here, would you like to have a look?” yelled a white-robed Holy Mage. He had laid out a booth at the Alchemist Guild’s entrance, and when Nie Yan passed by, his eyes brightened. He decided to draw attention to himself.

The Holy Mage was a shrewd person. With a glimpse, he knew Nie Yan’s equipment wasn’t common gear and several of them were quite high-quality. This skill book, Swift Retreat, was something good for early-level Thieves. However, it went for a rather expensive price—he demanded a silver.

Obviously, it was tough to find a buyer for such a costly item. If it were put on the auction, he’d likely find someone but he would only receive money and there was even a fee! The reason he chose to set this booth here was because he wanted to trade this skill book for Holy Mage equipment. His chances were greatly increased while people were converging here to form groups for the new instance.

Normal Thieves simply couldn’t afford to buy such a skill book. As a result, even though he had been yelling for twenty minutes and there were Thieves who came up to inquire the prices, they all shook their head as they departed. However, the Holy Mage couldn’t help but call out for Nie Yan since he appeared rather well-off.

Nie Yan turned his head around and glanced at the Holy Mage. With an ash-black staff in his hand, he was clad in a white mage robe and seemed to be around twenty years of age. With his sharp judgement, Nie Yan instantly recognized his equipment. The robe he wore was called the Holy Walker and the ash-black staff was the Wind of the Fallen Moon. Although these weren’t the best equipment at this level, they were still rather decent.

"You’re pretty lucky! Swift Retreat dropped for you,” Nie Yan said, faintly smiling. It was a very useful skill.

"Yeah! My luck’s always been good. I have a few friends who were grinding for several days at Holy Canyon, yet they haven’t even gotten anything good. I, on the other hand, just grinded for three hours and this Swift Retreat dropped! Right now, one of these is even more expensive than a Silver-tier equipment on the marketplace!” Nie Yan response to the Holy Mage’s advertisement immediately triggered this chatterbox. He was like a radio that had been turned on!

Chapter 66 – Godslayer of Yore

"The Holy Apostles there have pretty decent drop rates. Have you and your friends gone to the Holy Monastery? Assuming your group cleared that instance, you ought to have more than just the Swift Retreat skill book on you. I’m wondering… do you have the Desperate Strike skill book as well?” Nie Yan asked in a casual tone. Since the other party had Swift Retreat, he might as well try to procure the other skill book he needed.

Hearing Nie Yan mention the Holy Monastery, the Holy Mage was momentarily dazed. He examined Nie Yan from head to toe and shook his head. "No, we’re far from being able to obtain a Desperate Strike skill book. We still haven’t entered because the monsters there are too strong for us. Friend, seeing as your equipment is good, I take it that you’ve cleared dungeons around that level before?”

"No, I’m only slightly knowledgeable. I’ve never gone there myself. Anyway, how much for the skill book?” Although he was disappointed that the other party didn’t have a Desperate Strike skill book, obtaining Swift Retreat wasn’t too bad either.

The Holy Mage felt a little skeptical. Most players who wore such good equipment should have already been through every dungeon at least once. Moreover, as a Thief player, how could Nie Yan have not entered the Holy Monastery? The dungeon was practically brimming with all sorts of Thief items, and it was a location all expert-level Thieves visited at least once.

"I’m looking to trade this skill book for equipment. Elementalist, Holy Mage, or Paladin equipment; any of those are fine,” the Holy Mage replied. He believed that the Swift Retreat skill book was valuable enough for him to exchange for several pieces of equipment.

Nie Yan made an awkward expression. He had already thrown all the equipment he didn’t need into the auction house. The only equipment he had right now was the Staff of Moonlight Worship, but he didn’t know if Yao Yao (Dark Mystery) wanted it or not.

"I can still sell to you directly if you don’t have equipment. Give me an offer my friend! If it’s reasonable, I’ll sell it to you. My name is Godslayer of Yore (Past Destroying God). First meetings might be distant, but second encounters will bring us closer! Even if our trade fails, I hope we’ll remain on good terms!” After observing Nie Yan’s actions, he noticed the other party’s calm demeanor. He considered his own judgement to be decent; therefore, he felt Nie Yan was definitely an expert.

Godslayer of Yore…? Of the people he knew, Nie Yan vaguely recalled that he had heard of such a player in the past. Though only slightly famous, Godslayer of Yore was known for having gotten into a conflict with Victorious Return at some point. He and his friends massacred several hundred members of their guild, only to vanish into thin air afterward. Alas, solo players who didn’t have strong backings were destined to always be met with setbacks if they tried to take on a guild.

Numerous players had suffered at the hands of Victorious Return, Nie Yan himself being one such person. And perhaps because he felt they had experienced similar fates, he now held a more favourable impression of Godslayer of Yore. At that point in time, Godslayer of Yore’s fame outstripped his by a great margin. He had chosen to fight, unlike Nie Yan and his friends who had no choice but to hole up in the mountain ravines when they were being hunted by Victorious Return. "I’m Nie Yan (Nirvana Flame). Since you want me to make an offer for the skill book… One silver and fifty coppers; how does that sound?” Nie Yan was a rather wealthy and offered such a high price without batting an eye.

No matter how expensive the Swift Retreat skill book became, it certainly wouldn’t be worth more than one silver and fifty coppers.

"That’s too much, Even this skill book wouldn’t be sold at such a high price. It’s enough for you to just give me one silver.” Godslayer of Yore didn’t shy away from Nie Yan’s frank and straightforward attitude. Since the other side wanted to befriend him, why shouldn’t he reciprocate? Inside the game, having another friend meant having another option. Be it trading equipment or forming a team for a raid, befriending a few more experts would make all these things much easier.

"How many people are in your group?” Nie Yan asked. Since he needed a team to run dungeons, he’d eventually have to find some members to form one. Perhaps he could follow Godslayer of Yore and his friends into a dungeon run.

The game had just recently opened, so the number of players who had fixed teams were quite few. As for experts, they needed to carefully choose the right team before entering any instances or dungeons. However, good teams were hard to come by. Thus, many of these players who were looking for teams were likely to group together to form one.

Godslayer of Yore’s eyes brightened upon hearing Nie Yan’s inquiry. "You want to run a dungeon? I have six people on my side. They’re all classmates from the same university and decently skilled. We have five players who are Level 4 and one that’s Level 6, but he always runs dungeons with other people. However, he’ll definitely come with us if we call him since we’re all classmates. Our group is divided into one Berserker, three Mages, and two Paladins.”

"I might make a team, but I haven’t made any plans for now. Depending on the circumstances, we’ll see when the time comes,” Nie Yan said with a light smile.

"Oh…” Godslayer of Yore felt slightly disappointed, but Nie Yan’s answer made more sense after thinking about it. Forming a team wasn’t an easy affair. "Our equipment is more than a little lacking. So it’ll be somewhat inconvenient for us to run the lower level dungeons just to improve our gear. Not to mention, with the way our group is composed, we often can’t find a team to join.”

"The equipment isn’t a problem. How about this? When I find some more people in the future, I’ll come looking for you guys, alright?” Nie Yan replied then sent a friend request to Godslayer of Yore.

"No worries. Just call me whenever you’re ready!” Hearing Nie Yan’s promise, Godslayer of Yore’s heart was filled with expectation.

If he planned on continuing to develop in the future, it was a must that he secured his own team. While finding the right players was a troublesome matter, randomly picking people off the streets would often lead to mixed results. It would be a tragedy if he ended up recruiting a bottom-feeder who didn’t put in any effort and impeded the team instead. However, this sort of matter should be set aside for after he formed the team. In any case, even if they were bad eggs, all he needed to do was kick them.

Since Godslayer of Yore insisted, he didn’t argue any further and bought the skill book for one silver. Swift Retreat was an escape skill. In other words, it was a skill used in a situation where a player couldn’t beat an opponent and chose to run, which was fairly common. Swift Retreat increased a Thief’s movement speed by thirty percent for one minute when escaping, enabling them to quickly put some distance between them or even completely escape from the enemy. Occasionally, such skills aided the player in avoiding a calamity.

Nie Yan continued to chat with Godslayer of Yore. In any case, he wasn’t in a hurry to level because there were plenty of opportunities out there. It would only be a matter of time before he’d catch up with those top ranked players.

"Where did you guys find so many medicinal plants?” Nie Yan asked. He noticed that the majority of items for sale in Godslayer of Yore’s booth were plants.

"We can’t help it. Three of the members in our five-player group learned the Gatherer skill. We didn’t really train much and picked herbs instead,” Godslayer of Yore replied and forced out a somewhat helpless smile.

Nie Yan more or less understood what he meant. For players without a guild, if they didn’t improve their Gatherer skill or other side professions, they’d have a difficult time keeping up. Godslayer of Yore being able to equip Holy Walker and Wind of the Fallen Moon meant he was doing well for himself. His equipment was even better than many players who joined guilds.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. He thought about the people he could call when he wanted to form his own team. There was Tang Yao, Godslayer of Yore, and his five friends. As for a good Fighter, he wasn’t confident that Bladelight would come. However, since he was selling the Lion King’s Shield to Bladelight, the latter was certain to reciprocate this favour by giving him face. Perhaps he could call a few others to join as well. After that, he could recruit a few strangers to fill the remaining spots and form a passable team.

"No wonder you set up next to the Alchemist Guild’s doorway!” Nie Yan laughed. Only Alchemists would want so many medicinal ingredients. "You keep on selling your things then. I’ll be taking my leave. We’ll talk some other time!”

"Alright!” Godslayer of Yore replied.

Chapter 67 – Medicine King

Just as Godslayer of Yore (Past Destroying God) and Nie Yan were saying their goodbyes, two players near the entrance of the Alchemist Guild erupted into a heated argument. One of the quarrelers, a young man who barely looked twenty, wore plain cotton clothing and the Alchemist Guild’s badge on his chest. His level was low, so most likely he was only an apprentice in the guild. The other quarreler, an Elementalist who looked to be in his thirties, wore equipment of much higher quality. Tall and robust, he dwarfed his opposition so much that he made the apprentice Alchemist seem like a child.

"The failure in concocting isn’t my fault this time!”

"Not your fault? Then are you implying it’s mine!?”

"Yes! They set me up to fail when I was concocting!”

"Peh! Our captain provided you with so many ingredients, yet they were all turned into useless garbage by you. We can’t even recoup our losses! I heard you got lucky and learned some sort of hidden skill. Good, get lucky and scram out of my sight before I make you eat shit too!” Obscenities and curses poured out of the Elementalist’s mouth. The moment he finished speaking, he slapped the apprentice Alchemist in the face and knocked several alchemy tools and other items to the ground.

The slap sent the apprentice Alchemist tumbling down the guild entrance staircase. As he lay sprawled out on the ground, he lifted his head and hatefully glared at the Elementalist.

"Ahhh!? What the hell are you staring at? You got something to say? Keep staring and I’ll make you eat the dirt even harder! Get lost!” The Elementalist’s eyes bulged out of their sockets as he glared threateningly at the apprentice Alchemist.

The apprentice Alchemist glanced at the Elementalist once more. Eventually, he lowered his eyes and silently collected his tools off the floor.

"Bitch!” The Elementalist stamped on the apprentice Alchemist’s chest and knocked him back to the ground. The apprentice Alchemist didn’t retaliate; he remained taciturn, simply staggering back to his knees and continued picking up his things.

…

"Isn’t he too much of a pushover? Even after being kicked, he didn’t even make a sound!” Godslayer of Yore couldn’t help voicing his opinion. The scene had left a bad taste in his mouth.

"The way he dealt with the situation isn’t wrong. Right now, he probably has no choice but to endure. I believe by the time he rises in standing, it still won’t necessarily be too late for him to retaliate,” Nie Yan said with a peculiar expression in his eye. Despite taking on the abuse, the determination still hadn’t faded from the apprentice Alchemist’s eyes. Those who could patiently endure were especially terrifying.

Godslayer of Yore tilted his head back to look at Nie Yan. The latter’s words took him by surprise. Nie Yan was likely someone similar to himself, a person who refused to be on the short end of the stick. If anyone were to offend him, then they would definitely be met with appropriate retaliation. However, Godslayer of Yore suddenly saw Nie Yan’s expression change to pleasant surprise. He was gazing at the apprentice Alchemist like he found some kind of treasure.

"So it was him… It really is true; be they enemies or friends, both are bound to be met on a narrow path!” Nie Yan muttered to himself in a low voice. He recognized this apprentice Alchemist, but it wasn’t because they were friends. No, rather they were enemies. If things stayed on course, this person would eventually become one of Victorious Return’s most faithful dogs. In his original timeline, over a tenth of Victorious Return’s various high-level potions, pills, tonics, and other drugs were concocted by this one person; several of which could only be concocted by him.

Nie Yan had suffered heavily due to the oppressive manpower Victorious Return possessed, but those vile concoctions were also one of the factors that led to his many defeats. While in the wilderness, he had once encountered a squadron of Victorious Return members. At that time, he was unaware those players were escorting this Alchemist on a quest, and usually, he and his friends wouldn’t be at a disadvantage when facing off against such a group. However, who could have imagined each and every one of those players would take out some crafty, eccentric pill that bolstered their combat power by many fold. So, under the effects of those pills, he and his friends were beaten to a wretched state.

The apprentice Alchemist in front of his eyes was called Bird Leaves No Eggs. Owing to the fact that his name was unpleasant to the ears, because the "Bird” in his name could also be read as "Penis”, the members of Victorious Return didn’t feel comfortable addressing him directly by name. Thus, they gave him the nickname of Medicine King. This title was rather suitable, considering the numerous contributions his concoctions brought to the guild.

However, at this moment, Bird was merely an apprentice Alchemist. He had just been kicked, both literally and figuratively, out of the Dark Hero guild. In a month’s time, Victorious Return would recruit and attach great importance to him due to their guild leader showing him kindness and recognizing his worth. This was the reason for his unwavering loyalty and dedication to the guild. In other words, he was a person who did have somewhat of a moral compass.

Even if he’s the Medicine King, he’s only an apprentice Alchemist right now… Whether he’ll be worth the investment remains to be seen. Nie Yan pondered for a while. Bird’s success wouldn’t have been possible without Victorious Return’s generous support. They had supplied him with an ample amount of alchemic ingredients and slowly nurtured him until he became the Medicine King in both title and ability, to the extent his name resounded throughout the entire Atlanta continent.

After considering his current financial resources, Nie Yan decided fostering the Medicine King absolutely wouldn’t pose any problems. If he wished to succeed in the future, he needed to slowly build up his influence at present. He wanted to set up his own businesses in the game: an alchemy store, equipment shop, auction house, he couldn’t be lacking in a single one. However, what he was in most urgent need of was talented people, and fortunately, an opportunity to recruit one such person had presented itself. He felt taking Bird under his wing would undoubtedly be the correct choice.

The Elementalist departed after abusing Bird a few more times, his mouth still spitting out obscenities as he walked away.

While Bird picked up his tools, he lifted his head and coldly swept his gaze over the Elementalist’s back.

A few moments later…

"Hey! What was that Elementalist’s name?” Nie Yan asked as he walked up to Bird’s side. He slightly bent his knees and overlooked Bird who was still tidying up the mess.

"Razor. Why does this concern you?” Bird glanced at Nie Yan.

"It concerns me because it concerns you. Tell me, don’t you feel humiliated? Don’t you want revenge? However, you’re powerless, and those without power are destined to walk down the path of being disdained by others. Follow me, and I can have them see you in a different light. I can make them regret ever offending you with today’s actions.”

"Why should I trust you?” Bird replied in a suspicious tone. He raised his head and attentively stared at Nie Yan. He couldn’t comprehend Nie Yan’s sudden appearance. A stranger had just walked up to him and wanted to recruit him after a single exchange. Wasn’t that a little too conspicuous and bizarre?

"My intuition is telling me you’re not some sort of useless waste. After being kicked out of your guild, you probably feel quite resentful, correct? Well… I just wanted to see if you had the determination and ability to change confirm that assessment. Besides, you’re broke and have nothing at all. From the moment I approached, I had nothing to gain in scamming you, no?” After Nie Yan finished his speech, he turned around and began walking away.

While he departed, he hiddenly anticipated the moment when Bird would run up from behind and catch up. If this was the Medicine King he knew from the past, then Bird absolutely wouldn’t let this opportunity slip by once it presented itself in front of him.

"Wait up!”

Nie Yan faintly smiled.

Bird had resolved himself when he saw Nie Yan depart, his expression betraying the conflicting emotions in his heart. He had just been miserably humiliated and shunned by the Dark Hero guild. This was a disgrace he would never forget. He held an extreme wariness towards Nie Yan, because he wasn’t completely clear on the latter’s intentions. Moreover, the sudden appearance was rather odd. Despite this, one point remained certain—he was completely broke and penniless. Even his funds in real life were barely enough for him to live for two or three more months before being kicked out. Those who walked in bare feet didn’t fear others in shoes; in other words, he had nothing to lose so he wasn’t afraid. So what if he was swindled? What other choice did he have?

Belonging to the lowest rung of society, he was a cockroach who held the will to survive. As long as someone gave him a lifeline to hold onto, he would continue to live on.

Bird struggled back onto his feet and followed Nie Yan from behind.

Godslayer of Yore witnessed all the entire course of events while still sitting beside his items laid on the ground. He stared pensively at the receding silhouette of their backs and felt Nie Yan’s ambitions couldn’t merely be satisfied by forming a team. However, this was good as well. There would be plenty of shade under a big tree. To elaborate, increased influence also came with increased benefits.

…

"What do you want me to do?” Bird asked, while following Nie Yan from behind. Besides concocting, there was nothing else he was good at. Even then, he would still end up messing up the simplest of recipes when creating medicines. He couldn’t count how many materials he ended up squandering. If not, why else would he have been kicked from his guild?

"Naturally, it’s still concocting. Out of curiosity, what was that hidden skill that Elementalist mentioned?” Nie Yan asked, while continuing to walk.

"After successfully concocting a potion, pill, tonic, or other medicines, there’s a two percent chance of strengthening its effects.” Bird quickened his footsteps. As he followed from behind, he didn’t know why but he had a strong premonition, from the moment he decided to chase after Nie Yan, that his destiny had subtly changed. As for what the future held, whether it was good or bad, he didn’t know, but he was sure of one thing… He had already made his choice, and he was going to walk down the path he chose.

Chapter 68 – Medicine King Signs Away His Soul

"Mhmm… Not a bad hidden skill.”

"But what use would it have for me? When I concoct pills, my success rate is only a third of those around me! If someone came looking for me to create a pill, potion, or whatever, it’d only be a fluke if I succeed!”

"Since I took the effort to recruit you, naturally it means I believe in you. If you’re willing to follow me, sign this agreement.” Within the game world of Conviction, any contract was valid as long as it was within the scope of the real world’s laws.

Bird suspiciously glanced at the contract in Nie Yan’s hands before taking it and carefully reading over its contents. As he slowly read the contract, word for word and line by line, he realized the clauses were rather simple. In laymen’s terms, Nie Yan would provide him with the ingredients and materials required for him to train his Alchemy. In exchange, jurisdiction over how his creations—pills, elixirs, tonics, potions, and so on—were used would all be decided by Nie Yan. Moreover, he would receive a thirty percent share if the sales of his concoctions produced a net profit.

The conditions on this contract were roughly the same as the ones given by guilds when they recruited an Alchemist. Although, he could see one key difference: the contract Nie Yan presented him stated a thirty percent cut. In contrast, nearly every guild would only share twenty percent of the revenue at most, even if the Alchemist was highly valued. In terms of benefits, Nie Yan’s terms were much more generous than those guilds. However, nurturing an Alchemist gave rise to enormous expenditures, all of which would be taken on by Nie Yan; the number of responsibilities he needed to assume were staggering.

"This contract… You’re really willing to let me sign this contract under these terms?” Bird asked, his heart stirring with emotion. Even if you searched high and low, it would still be quite difficult to find such a generous contract.

"Mhmm.”

"From the moment I learned Alchemy to now, I’ve always been a failure in concocting. Why else would have my guild kicked me? Calculating the worth of all those medicinal ingredients I’ve destroyed to this day, it would probably reach two silvers at the very least! Please don’t blame if you end up making a loss. Consider carefully, it’s still not too late to renege on the contract.” Bird presented the contract back to Nie Yan, gesturing that he could take it back. As the piece of paper fluttered in his hands, he felt a mix of apprehension and anxiousness in his heart. What if Nie Yan were to take back the contract? What would he do then?

"I’m not lacking in money. Even if I make a loss, then so be it. I know how to recognize my own faults. However… my insight has never been wrong. Rarely do I ever make mistakes when it comes to these things.”

"Still… Isn’t thirty percent too high of a price to pay for me?” Bird’s voice was lacking in confidence. Even in those guilds that paid well, their Alchemists would still receive no more than twenty percent.

"It’s already been decided. I believe you’re worth the price,” Nie Yan replied, waving his hand and gesturing for Bird to hurry up. To gain Bird’s absolute loyalty, it wouldn’t do if he simply gave him money. No, he needed to have good will, and bolstering Bird’s confidence and making him feel appreciated was a good place to start.

Bird truly didn’t understand just where Nie Yan’s trust in him came from. However, he could tell, from both actions and words, that Nie Yan believed in his ability. When a person was at their lowest point and felt like a failure, what they needed the most wasn’t anyone’s pity, but rather only a single line of acknowledgement. Nie Yan’s words were unremarkable; his tone was normal, and there was no hidden meaning. Yet they were able to bypass the guard Bird had raised and entered his heart.

"Alright, Bird paused for a moment to compose himself. "I’ll sign the contract! I’m also fine with you lowering my share, but please don’t blame me if you make a loss.” Bird couldn’t help but add the last clause as he answered.

"Rest assured. Even if you fail, I still won’t blame or trouble you,” Nie Yan replied in a calm tone. After travelling back to the past, he had absolute confidence in himself, and he certainly wouldn’t be short on money, be it inside the game or real life. The first opening month of the game was merely the starting point of when the real world economy would connect to the in-game one. Roughly two and a half weeks later, in-game property would be available to purchase or bid on: shops, auction houses, land, and so on would all transform into privately owned entities. Various guilds backed by financial groups would certainly go into a bidding and buying frenzy for them. When real world currency could be converted into in-game currency and vice versa, the value of these properties would skyrocket. The players would discover the shops they bought for tens, hundreds, or even thousands of gold would go for millions, possibly even tens of millions of credits. As for auction houses, even if you listed them up for a hundred million credits, they would sell in an instant. This was the result of various large financial groups and adventure capitalists frantically investing in the scene. Nonetheless, owning a store or auction house truly would enable a player to reap enormous profits.

By using prophetic foresight, earning a profit certainly wouldn’t be a problem. Why would he be afraid of raising an Alchemist like Bird? Come the day this apprentice Alchemist truly becomes the Medicine King, his returns would be well worth the initial investment!

The reason why his father met with failure after investing into Conviction was because he had come too late! He had missed the opportunity to buy up in-game properties before the real world economy and in-game one fully connected. By the time his father entered the scene, the large financial groups had already divided the game world’s assets between themselves long ago and formed stable markets. When his father tried to forcefully enter, he was inevitably met with an iron plate known as the large financial groups.

He entered Conviction before his father did in order to lay out a path for him. Only then could his family avert the tragedy that befell them in his original timeline.

The number of tasks he needed to complete in the first month before the real world economy connected were many. He needed to amass a lot of wealth, and he needed to coax others to join him so he could increase his influence. In the future, the properties he would need under his banner included: equipment shops, alchemy shops, auction houses, banks, large amounts of land, and general stores. Although he possessed the enormous advantage of being from the future, he still understood the logic that a lone tree could only support so much. What did this world need the most? Talent! And in front of his eyes was one such talent! He had stolen Victorious Return’s future Medicine King from right under their noses, and he was now fostering their Medicine King under his own banner! Weakening your enemies’ strength while simultaneously increasing your own, what reason could he possibly have in not doing this?

The sole reason he became Bird’s benefactor was because he wanted the latter’s loyalty and dedication.

After receiving Nie Yan’s unconditional trust, Bird couldn’t deny that he wasn’t at least somewhat swayed. He silently made a resolve. Comehell or high water, he would dedicate himself to Nie Yan in order to live up to that trust. He had been similar to a drowning person, in desperate need of a lifeline. The lifeline happened to be someone’s acknowledgement, and Nie Yan happened to be the person who threw it. As for why Nie Yan would go out of his way to recruit him or trust in his ability so much, he didn’t know. Though, he felt this was fine, because those questions no longer mattered to him. Bird grabbed hold of the game generated pen and scribbled his signature on the contract.

Hereafter, all of Bird’s crafting profession related expenses would be recorded by the system and covered by Nie Yan. In the event Bird violated his contract, he would have to pay an exorbitant fee. However, if Nie Yan voluntarily chose to null the contract on his own, he wouldn’t receive a single cent from Bird.

"Follow me,” Nie Yan said before directly heading to the auction house.

Following Nie Yan from behind, he still had no clue as to what fate had in store for him. Am I really suitable as an Alchemist…? he wondered. In the future, if he still remained a failure, would Nie Yan tell him to pack it up and go? All these questions were like a riddle that lingered in his mind. The expenses required to improve the Alchemy skill were immense. Would Nie Yan really be able to provide him with the necessary supplies?

…

Two people, one in the front and the other in the back, entered the auction house.

"As long as you concentrate on concocting, I’ll be satisfied. Let me prepare a few ingredients and materials to start you off. If you run out, feel free to send me a message at any time,” Nie Yan said. As they walked down the auction house’s halls, he turned on his bidding device.

Nie Yan began to sort through the prices of the goods and bought four bags in a row.

"Why did you buy so many bags?”

"How could I not? An Alchemist’s bag is too small.”

"They’re for me…?” Bird asked in surprised tone. Out of the guild leaders he had met in the past, not a single one was willing to purchase these bags for their Alchemists. The only times these guid leaders would go out of their way to purchase various gifts were when the Alchemist was extraordinary or was in danger of being snatched away by others.

"Who else would I be giving them to?” Nie Yan replied in a matter-of-fact tone. He also purchased an entire set of Alchemy related wares. They were of a higher quality and possessed the addition property of increasing success rate when concocting by five percent. The price for the set cost him three silvers. Apart from the set of wares, he also purchased a large quantity of medicinal plants and formulas.

Bird witnessed Nie Yan purchase one item after another, and all of them were for him! Besides being surprised, he couldn’t help but feel touched as well. He had good reason to be surprised too; Nie Yan was actually so wealthy. He felt truly fortunate to have found a backer with such a large capital. The reason he felt touched was because Nie Yan actually spent so much money for his sake! This boss of his was definitely worthy of his admiration and respect. However, at the same time, a certain question popped up in his head. Was Nie Yan certain that he had to ability to return a profit?

Nie Yan had a large sum of wealth in his pockets. His could use it to rapidly nurture Bird into the Medicine King. In the coming years, a high-level Alchemist would become as precious as gold! Many of them would be valued at upwards of a hundred million credits. The Medicine King in his original timeline had a worth in the several hundred millions, and out of all Alchemists, he was ranked number three!

Considering his financial strength, he didn’t believe he wouldn’t be able to nurture Bird into the Medicine King.

Chapter 69 – Sulgata’s Shadow

Nie Yan’s act of generosity proved effective at persuading this Apprentice Alchemist’s heart, though the unbridled manner in which he spent his money held a much more devious purpose. The further he invested into Bird, the further he would become irrevocably bound to his ship, thus making it all the more difficult to leave. In the event Bird truly wanted to get off, he’d have to pay an exorbitant price to do so, and considering his financial situation, trying to break away was basically impossible. In other words, Nie Yan had accomplished another one of his objectives.

By the end of his shopping spree, he had bought Bird ten silvers worth of alchemy recipes and a vast quantity of ingredients and materials, filling all five bags completely.

"Here, use these supplies for now. Even when I’m not around, focus hard on raising your skill,” Nie Yan said. These alchemical ingredients were sufficient to last Bird a long time.

Seeing the bags packed to the brim with various plants and recipes, Bird couldn’t help feeling emotionally moved. No matter how much of an idiot he believed himself to be, he could tell these ingredients were more than enough for him to rank up to a Junior Alchemist. After being expelled from the Dark Hero guild, his experiences with Nie Yan felt like being pulled out of the depths of hell and placed into heaven. There were even several times where he believed this was all simply a dream.

"For showing me such kindness… I don’t really know how I could ever repay you. So for now, I’ll simply say thanks,” Bird said, his voice trembling in gratitude.

"Enough of that, these lines are getting too cheesy. It’s not like I recruited you solely from the kindness of my heart; there was a purpose as well. As long as you’re able to become an Alchemy Master or even Grandmaster and earn me more money, that’ll be the best way to repay me,” Nie Yan replied, waving him to stop. He couldn’t help but ponder over a certain problem. After returning to the past, this was the first time he significantly changed history. Without Victorious Return’s support in this timeline, would Bird still be able to become a Grandmaster Alchemist? At the moment, he couldn’t be sure since there wasn’t a clear answer. He could only try his best to make it happen. After all, every investment held their risks. "Now that everything’s settled, go and improve your Alchemy. I still have a lot of other business to attend to.”

"Gotcha, boss! I’ll be excusing myself then,” Bird answered. If he failed to attain any results even after spending so much of Nie Yan’s money, he simply wouldn’t have the face to show himself again. From being kicked from his guild to being picked up by a stranger, an ember of hope and a certain desire had arisen from the ashes of his despair. Thus, he felt nothing but grateful towards this savior of his.

He expressed his gratitude once more and took his leave.

…

Nie Yan paused for a moment and began to ponder. Such a chance encounter was analogous to having picked up a gem off the streets. Even if Bird couldn’t reach the Grandmaster level in the future, only reaching the Master level wouldn’t be too much of a loss either.

He planned to slowly gather a few people to serve his purpose in the future. Medicine King Bird from his original timeline had become the first among these individuals he successfully recruited.

After returning to the past, he was filled with wild ambition. Establishing his own elite team, acquiring an alchemy shop, recruiting a Master Tailor… there were many things he wished to do. Perhaps one day, he would even be able to establish his own guild! He might not interact alongside them all the time but there were other methods to manage the guild as well. By using his knowledge of the game and future events, he could still develop his elite forces from afar.

Many mysterious and wondrous new areas would be released in future patches. Included, of course, would be new dungeons, crafting materials, and other items as well. Furthermore, there would be intense struggles over strongholds and enormous guilds wars beyond the scope of one’s imagination. Even cities, provinces, or entire nations could get involved in these virtual battlefields.

In the previous timeline, countless financial firms across the globe had established their presence within the game. The potential commerce and booming economy within the game left many of these firms watering at their mouths. These major figures were itching to get the biggest slice while dividing up this enormous cake. They opened stores, established guilds, took over cities, and even became the powerful lords reigning over their regions.

Armed with the knowledge of the future, he was absolutely unwilling to be resigned to surviving in the cracks and crevices these numerous figures overlooked. Therefore he required his own power and influence in order to contend against them. He might not have any significant influence at present, but do remember: great oaks grew from the smallest of acorns, and even the tallest skyscrapers were built from the ground up. The foundations to realizing his wild ambitions were already steadily being built.

He withdrew from his daydreaming and began thinking of more immediate matters. No matter what the future held, his most urgent goal at present was still to hurry up and get strong.

He worked hard to recall the locations of the several other chapters from the Book of Order. As he quietly deliberated over the problem of acquiring the other chapters, he also began wondering which ones were attainable at his current level.

However, after a brief moment, he reluctantly decided that it was best to abandon such thoughts. All chapters were protected by a Guardian of Order. Were he to even attempt to retrieve another chapter in the hopes of surviving and succeeding, his actions could only be accurately described as foolishly throwing his life away. A few days ago, prior to his decision in retrieving the Chapter of Courage, he didn’t have much to lose. He didn’t have any valuable equipment on him, and at worst, he’d only drop a level. However, even he didn’t expect himself to succeed in the end as he had only gone in with a try-and-see attitude. Moreover, the reason he succeeded had a lot to do the Chapter of Courage’s location, a closed ravine by the mountainside. They were natural barriers he could cross over and take advantage of, and the ravine itself was a near a town. The other chapters certainly weren’t located in such convenient places. At the same time, he now held the Chapter of Courage on him. If he were to go and retrieve the other chapters and somehow met with an accident, he’d lose that as well. The risks compared to the rewards were simply too high.

From the moment he entered the game to up until now, he had never played with the intention of levelling up at the fastest possible pace. Yet, he still managed to amass quite a few good things: the Ring of Woven Silk, the Featherfall Jewel, the Chapter of Courage, and numerous skills and stat points. These things represented the strength that he had slowly built up for himself and would allow him to walk even further in the future.

What else can I do? Diverting his train of thought, he began to recall of something else. The chapters from the Book of Order might be the sacred objects of those who guarded order. However, for Thieves, there was another item that was heavily coveted, a pair of Legendary-grade boots called Sulgata’s Shadow. If he were to equip a piece of Legendary-grade equipment, he’d imagine his stats would be high enough to frighten others. Unfortunately, in the distant past during the Sulgata War, these boots were damaged and separated into three pieces, which were scattered across the Veridian Empire. Only by retrieving and assembling these three pieces together could this Legendary item be restored to its original form.

One of the pieces of Sulgata’s Shadow was located in an area not far from Calore. The area was an ancient city that became swallowed by marshland.

Sulgata City, though abandoned, survived from the distant Dark Era to the present.

"The Ancient City of Sulgata… Tsk, what a troublesome area,” he muttered to himself. In the previous timeline, he had been to this location before but by that time, the piece had long been taken. Over the course of centuries, the city had transformed into an extremely queer place. The respawn rate and density of the monsters there were high as well, and trying to enter without a team certainly wouldn’t be a simple matter.

However, for a Thief, it wasn’t necessarily an impossible feat. Perhaps he would be able to secretly enter.

Legendary-grade equipment were truly too difficult to collect. Simply having an opportunity to retrieve Sulgata’s Shadow, if only a part of it, was an extremely valuable thing, and he wasn’t willing to let it slip by. Since after some time, he couldn’t say for sure that there wasn’t already a guild preparing to storm the city.

I should give it a try. Who knows? I might actually succeed in collecting all the pieces.

Before departure, he purchased a few consumables that he deemed necessary for this trip before leaving through Calore’s west gates and teleporting to the surface. After reaching solid ground, he travelled to his destination, passed through a patch of wilderness where the warm sunlight shone down on the abundant vegetation which blanketed everything in green.

Passing the wilderness, he encountered an open plain. After walking through this plain for around ten minutes, he turned around and gazed east, looking into the horizon. There, he could see Calore, with its enormous walls and pearly white buildings, floating high in the air, suspended over the azure sky. Above the highest buildings, above the city itself, he saw a ring of light hovering and revolving in the air. Under the refraction of the mid-afternoon sun, the ring shone with a dazzling splendor.

This indestructible, impenetrable city in the sky represented the Veridian Empire’s greatest achievement in architecture.

The Veridian Mages, with all their wisdom and matchless abundance in mana, had controlled powerful magic beyond imagination to prop this imposing city into the sky, where it would stay suspended for past and future generations.

Chapter 70 – Natlan Marsh

Going by foot is too slow. How long will it take for me to start riding a horse? It’d be so much faster and more comfortable. However, Nie Yan knew it would actually take over two months for horses to become commonplace as a method of transportation. They were simply too expensive. At present, even the lousiest of breeds still cost upwards of ten gold or more. It just wasn’t worth it.

He retrieved a Basic Haste Scroll from his bag and activated it by crumpling it in his hand, before sprinting off towards Sulgata.

If there were players nearby, they would see a silhouette dashing across the open field, quickly disappearing into the distance.

Half an hour later, he encountered a new area as the surroundings transitioned into a dark marshland. This location was far from town so few players could be seen hunting here. Almost no one actively sought out this strange place that was inherently filled with danger. However, every so often, a rare bunch would take the initiative in exploring this marsh. Many of them were thrillseekers who happened to be high-level experts as well. On the road here, he had encountered many such players travelling in groups.

Short stubby bushes flourished all over. A dense fog lingered in the air and blocked the sunlight from above. While every so often, a cold wind blew past. The marsh left an eerie impression on those who came across it.

The earth was muddied and filled with basins of festering waters, where the occasional corpse of some unlucky animal could be found rotting inside. A slight rustle or movement periodically came from within the shrubs, as one or two snake-type monsters slithered by. All sorts of hidden dangers were lurking inside this dark marsh.

「System: You’ve discovered Natlan Marsh!」

I’m finally here. He examined the everlasting fog of the Natlan Marsh. Passing through this area will take a bit of effort.

He cautiously moved between the bushes, wary of the potential monsters lurking nearby. He did his best to evade their sights. However, after passing through a dense patch of shrubbery, his high Awareness warned him of impending danger.

「Rustle! Rustle! Rustle!」A large silhouette charged past the shrubs and pounced at him.

He instinctively dodge rolled and avoided the sudden attack. but not before getting a good look at the enemy’s appearance. It was a Marsh Monitor, a species of large lizards that lurked in this map. The one that appeared was over two meters in length. Its dark green skin was speckled with black. Sharp protrusions grew from its head and tail. These protrusions along with its claws were covered in a viscous green poison which caused paralysis. Those unlucky enough to be struck by this poison would be unable to move for three seconds. The paralyzing poison was the Marsh Monitor’s most dangerous weapon.

Ah, it’s these guys. His felt a bit apprehensive. Although these lizards had relatively low health and were quite frail, the consequences of being struck by their attacks were fatal.

In his previous life, an expert had once left some words of advice. Under no circumstances should you underestimate a monster because even the weakest of Marsh Monitors was still capable of causing death.

At the lower levels, these lizards were the nemesis of all Mages and Thieves since these professions relied on their mobility to survive. In the event a Thief or Mage became paralyzed, these Marsh Monitors could freely rip them to shreds. Even heavy-armoured Fighters were susceptible to being killed by these lizards if they were careless.

Marsh Monitor: Level 6

Health: 360/360

The Marsh Monitor’s attack struck air as its body fell back to the ground.「Crash!」Its heavyset body sent mud and water flying everywhere.

At the end of the roll, Nie Yan retrieved his dagger and wielded it in his right hand in a reverse grip. He returned with Concussive Blow, Assassinate, and Vital Strike.

−79

−83

−97

Then he finished with a flurry of attacks before the Concussive Blow’s stun duration timed out. Afterward, the Marsh Monitor trembled and collapsed to the ground.

These lizards truly were frail. As long as the player wasn’t hit, they were extremely easy to kill.

Under Nie Yan’s assault, the Marsh Monitor hadn’t been given the slightest bit of leeway and was killed in their first exchange.

After switching over to Level 5 equipment, his attack rose to over sixty points. Honestly, to the present player base, such a high attack was simply unimaginable on a Thief. Coupled with his profession’s innately fast attacks, his damage per second rose to an unprecedented degree. Apart from the leaders of the major guilds, very few players wore equipment of his quality. Even if they did, he still possessed the Chapter of Courage.

Even though he had fought and killed the Marsh Monitor, which was above his level, he didn’t feel the slightest bit of strain and was entirely in his element during the battle. This was the result of his high Willpower and Awareness, overbearing attack power, extreme maneuverability, and fast attack speed.

He killed several more Marsh Monitors along the trek forward. Due to his agility and speed, not a single one was able to reach him.

The further he travelled into the marsh, the denser the fog became, obscuring his vision even more. This caused him to be extremely carefully with every step forward. Although he could easily kill these Marsh Monitors, evem if he were struck once, they could do the same to him as well.

The dense fog rolled and drifted in the air. From time to time, he would see strange shadows appearing and disappearing within it.

These illusions were the remnants of a forgotten battlefield. The sounds of soldiers roaring and cavalry charging into battle could be faintly heard in his ears. However, as soon as the cold wind blew again, these desolate illusions of a distant play would drift away with it.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. They were heavy but amidst the other sounds, he couldn’t distinguish if they were real.

He didn’t notice anything unusual until he felt the ground begin to shake. Only then did he realize his situation wasn’t good. He swept his gaze towards the direction of the footsteps and saw a Marsh Monitor crawling out of a nearby brush. The moment he saw its scarlet red tongue flicking out of its mouth, a strong fishy smell assaulted his nose.

This lizard was five meters in length. It was supported by four powerful limbs and a thick, long tail that was covered in spikes. Its entire body was covered in ash-black scales save for a patch of white which formed a strange pattern on its neck.

Even for the original inhabitants of Natlan Swamp, this lizard was an extremely terrifying existence. The white pattern on its neck represented an old mystery as well as death.

This lizard was clearly different from the others he had met.

The giant lizard noticed his presence and charged. Its tail twisting and turning as it ran in an awkward gait. Though awkward as it may be, its speed was not to be trifled with. In reality, this unique gait was the reason it could move so quickly. In merely a brief few seconds, it had already arrived in front of him.

He activated Swift Retreat to pull some distance while simultaneously examining it with Transcendent Insight.

Serpentine Lizard (Sub-Elite): Level 7

Health: 1,200/1,200

His heart filled with shock when he read its name. Why the hell did I end meeting this guy!?

These lizards only roamed around the Natlan Marshland and were Sub-Elite monsters. At his current level, let alone a Level 7 Sub-Elite, even if he met a Leader-class monster at his own level, he’d still have no choice but to flee. The only reason he was able to take on Gato the Lion King and the Ogre Devourer was because they spawned in areas with exploitable terrain. However, in this marshland, there was no such terrain to speak of, and it was impossible for him to face it head-on. These lizards were the true overlords of this map.

Although the Serpentine Lizard didn’t have very much health compared to other Sub-Elites at the same level, it compensated with an exceedingly high attack. It could also release its poison into the mud and spread it through a mist. Level 10 or lower players were simply no match for this monster in a one-on-one fight. Only a party of five or more Level 10 players would dare to take on this overgrown lizard. In his original timeline, since many players ended up dying at their hands while training in this area, they were nicknamed the Killers of the Marsh

The Serpentine Lizard closed the distance in an instant and arrived in front of him, spewing out a poisonous mist from its mouth. After being released from its mouth, the green mist rapidly dispersed into the surroundings.

While within it, only a slight whiff would cause the player to become confused and dazed.

Chapter 71 – Elemental Temple Magic

−20… −20… −20…

What a strong corrosive poison!

Nie Yan didn’t dare to meet the Serpentine Lizard head-on. He rolled out of the poisonous mist, slipping past its head, and landed right next to it. In fact, he was so close he see each ashen black scale.

The Serpentine Lizard immediately swept its thick and powerful tail at him in response.

The tail resembled a whip as it whistled through the air at a ridiculous velocity.

He’d be done for if the lizard’s attack were to land. Even if he was lucky enough to survive, he’d still end up losing the greater half of his health!

Swift Retreat!

His movement speed explosively increased by thirty percent. Even then, it barely allowed him to keep up with the Serpentine Lizard. He quickly pulled away and evaded the attack by a hair’s breadth. Then, he turned tail and leapt over a large patch of shrubbery whereupon he gracefully landed back on the ground and fled for his life.

The Serpentine Lizard shifted its massive five-meter body and went in immediate pursuit.

Two silhouettes, one large and the other small, rapidly traversed the marshes.

Nie Yan glanced back from the corner of his eye and noticed the Serpentine Lizard shortening the distance by every second. He activated a Basic Haste Scroll and bolstered his speed by another twenty percent.

Although its target had been pulled further away, the Serpentine Lizard didn’t falter and continued to give chase. They were known as the most difficult monster to deal with in the marsh. The moment they set their sights on their prey, as long as it was still within the boundaries of the marsh, they would be unrelenting in their pursuit.

Nie Yan’s mind was in turmoil. He knew Swift Retreat’s duration wouldn’t last long, and when the timer ran out, the Serpentine Lizard would close the distance and catch up.

His eyes frantically swept over the surroundings as he searched for some way to live. Although he knew it would be incredibly difficult to survive this encounter, he didn’t want to sit and wait for death.

When all seemed lost, a surge of electricity emerged amidst the gaps of some distant thickets. His pupils contracted as his heart rapidly beat with excitement. He immediately moved towards the source of this magic.

Though a forbidden zone for low-level players, the Natlan Marsh was a wonderland for experts, a statement which held especially true for elite teams. Many of them came here for no other reason than to retrieve a certain item that could be found in this marsh—the Revive skill book!

The Marsh Monitors had a one in ten thousand chance of dropping this skill book. Despite its low drop rate, it was heavily sought after because of its incredible value in a team, so much that its importance far outstripped everything else. A Priest who learned the skill could revive a fallen teammate. Such an effect was a substantial buffer against potential losses in a run. At times, it could even save the team from being completely wiped!

Other than the Revive skill book, players could find decent equipment such as the Moon Chaser Staff, which gave Lightning Damage +9 and Intelligence +5, and the Sacred Wind Mallet, which gave Holy Shield +8 and Resilience +5. The common mobs in the marsh did drop Silver- or Gold-grade equipment but like the Revive book, their drop rates were quite low.

The equipment that came out of this map were of good quality. Moreover, since a team had recently found the Revive skill book while training here, increasingly more players flocked to this map in search of it. Therefore, the number of experts in the marsh weren’t all that few.

🗡🗡🗡

Elsewhere at an earlier time.

"Why hasn’t Candy returned yet?” asked a dark-faced man in crimson bone armour. His name was Dark Eternal Sin. He could be considered a well-known figure, though his fame lay outside the game. Before Conviction’s release, there were several other famous Virtual Reality Games such as Kings Tree and Purgatory. Dark Eternal Sin was the guild leader of Dark Empire and a powerful overlord in these games. However, to the surprise of others, he had chosen not to re-establish his guild when he entered Conviction, and instead he had only formed a team with his close friends. Nonetheless, he and his team were not to be underestimated. In fact, they were quite amazing. His Death’s Sacrifice +2 armour set was proof of this. It belonged to a Level 5 Gold-grade equipment set, and he had successfully upgraded it twice with Fortune Gems. Its properties could be rated as one of the highest among similar equipment.

Dark Eternal Sin chose Berserker as his profession. He had a tall stature, a fairly tan skin tone, and a ferocious appearance. Wherever he stood, he seemed like an immovable iron tower. At the centre of his bone armour was a giant skull that radiated a crimson glow. His weapon of choice was a black greatsword which he currently held in his hands. It was excessively broad, over two meters in length, and permeated with destructive power.

Dark Eternal Sin had brought over six of his members to train here. Excluding him, there were three Mages, one Priest, and one Thief. The person he had previously mentioned was the team’s Thief.

"There are probably no more monsters left for her to aggro,” the Holy Mage replied. She wore a pure-white robe that emitted a faint glow. Her staff appeared to radiate light as well, specifically from the clear crystal embedded at the end.

Her appearance was beautiful, and she held a faint seductive charm. Her figure wasn’t bad either. She was relatively tall, and her cleavage was full of allure. When paired with her Dancing Light Gown, she became quite enchanting.

"You’re probably right. There aren’t many monsters in this spot anymore. If she doesn’t go a bit farther, she won’t be able to pull any over.” Eternal Sin nodded his head in agreement.

At the same moment, a Thief appeared within their sights. She could be seen leading roughly a dozen Marsh Monitors towards their location.

Her appearance was exceptionally delicate and pretty. Her skin was fair and worthy of making any woman feel jealous. However, for some reason, she gave off a dark, murderous aura that couldn’t be put into words.

She was quite agile; she gracefully dodged the Marsh Monitors’ attacks while bringing them over.

In the former Dark Empire guild, she was absolutely someone who shouldn’t be overlooked—she was known as the deadliest member of their roster. The type of professions she previously played in other games were always Assassins, Thieves, and the like. During her run in these older games, numerous experts ended up dying by her hands. Her reputation was so terrifying that expressions would change into horror upon the mention of her name.

"Su Yan (White Smoke), prepare your magic!” Eternal Sin commanded. He prepared himself for Candy’s approach alongside the monsters in tow by grasping both hands on his greatsword firmly. The spot they chose to station at held advantageous terrain.

Su Yan and the two other Mages, an Elementalist and an Arcane Mage, brandished their staffs and began casting their spells. Soon, magical energy rapidly gathered in the air.

However, the one that brought the most attention among the three seemed to be the Elementalist. The air above him flashed and surged with electricity. As he held his staff with one hand, the other was raised in the air with his palm facing the sky. The electricity slowly began condensing above his head and transformed into a massive sphere.

Yet the Elementalist continued to chant his magic. It seemed like a high-level spell that required more than one set of syllables to cast. As he persisted with his incantation, the magical symbols appeared like tadpoles swimming in the air, dissipating as they rose into the sky.

Eternal Sin observed the ten or so Marsh Monitors charging closer. In the next moment, he brandished his greatsword and ran up to meet them. He let out a roar and used Whirlwind Slash, clashing with three of them in close distance.

At the same time, a brilliant beam of light and an Arcane Fireball fell over the group of Marsh Monitors.

「Boom! Boom!」The two spells exploded on impact. Even after their spells landed, the Elementalist named Lei Fa (Lightning Magic) was still in the middle of casting.

Meanwhile, on the frontline, Eternal Sin was chugging an Anti-Paralysis Potion. After he finished drinking it, he violently cleaved at a nearby Marsh Monitor that was low-health and killed it. "Dammit! Elemental Temple Magic is too inconvenient. It’s been so long yet it still hasn’t finished casting!”

Just as he spoke, a giant of ball of lightning whistled past his head and flew towards the group of Marsh Monitors ahead.「Boom!」The sphere of lightning exploded like fireworks. Electric sparks crackled and scattered in every direction. In a single flash, the spell had annihilated six Marsh Monitors.

−360, −360, −360…

A cluster of damage numbers rose above the group of lizards.

There was a wide crater left in the earth from the impact of the spell. Marsh Monitor corpses were littered everywhere while the ones that weren’t directly hit suffered heavy damage nonetheless.

"Though its destructive power is pretty good…” Eternal Sin swept his gaze over the scene. This spell was extremely powerful, but it was only good for mobbing. A spell that took such a long time to cast was completely worthless in PvP situations.

After casting the spell, the Elementalist’s mana bar was completely drained. He sat to the side cross-legged and drank a flask of Spring Water to replenish mana.

Chapter 72 – Thief

Elemental Temple Magic, which could only be learned by Elementalists, came from the various Elemental Shrines scattered across the continent. It was divided into sixteen ranks, with rank sixteen denoting the highest possible rank. The Thousand Swallows Burst from just a moment ago was classified as a rank one Elemental Temple Magic. It had a long channeling time, requiring a full set of syllables to successfully cast. The long casting time made it impractical in one-versus-one battles. As for team battles, it could be easily cancelled by a Paladin using Silence. Such reasons made it unsuitable for PvP. Not to mention its lengthy cooldown period, which came to a total of two entire days. Hence, Elementalists that learnt rank one Elemental Temple Magic would only cast them during emergencies. Naturally, if it was a high-level Elemental Temple Magic, for example the rank sixteen Mantra of Silence, it would be an entirely different case.

After Thousand Swallows Burst ended, Candy stealthily circled round a Marsh Monitor’s back. She raised her dagger and struck the back of its head with Smothering Strike. The dagger flickered with a cold glint as she arced the blade through her target’s neck. Her methods were efficient and brutal. The low-health Marsh Monitor stood no chance and collapsed to the ground.

"Flame Slash!” Eternal Sin cleaved down as his greatsword was enveloped by an intense blaze.「Boom!」His blade directly beheaded and cauterized a Marsh Monitor’s neck. The raging flames continued burning until its entire body was charred black.

The five remaining Marsh Monitors charged past and made a bee-line for the three Mages in the rear. However, Eternal Sin roared and stopped them in their tracks by using Taunt!

The moment his Taunt came out, the five lizards immediately aggroed onto him and unleashed a flurry of attacks. −15, −16, −18… Several damage values emerged and rose above his head. Fortunately, his defense was solid, so despite being encircled, these lizards posed no threat.

The Priest in the rear cast Dispel, removing the paralysis debuff, then followed up with Lesser Heal. As a result, Eternal Sin immediately recovered a large chunk of health.

With all five Marsh Monitors aggroed onto him, Eternal Sin brandished his greatsword and activated Whirlwind Slash. Immediately, his spinning blade swept through their bodies and dealt over fifty damage to each.

Su Yan (White Smoke) and the Arcane Mage continued casting spells in the rear.

Despite being besieged by Marsh Monitors, Eternal Sin firmly held his ground like an immovable boulder. The earth was splattered with blood, some from the lizards and some his own. Amidst the madness that shone in his eyes, he erupted in a frenzy intertwined with ruthlessness and bloodlust. His entire being was akin to an enraged beast, his every action hammering fear into one’s heart.

Su Yan and the others couldn’t help but tremble when witnessing Eternal Sin in such a state. He was simply a killing machine that maniacally swung his sword for slaughter.

The only one who remained unperturbed was Candy. She curled her lips and uttered, "Boring…” before lightly yawning. She then rummaged through her knapsack and took out a piece of fruit candy that could be bought at the NPC general store. Popping it into her mouth, she entered Stealth and approached a Monitor Lizard from the rear. Smothering Strike! Upon activating the skill, she struck the lizard on the backside of its head with the pommel of her dagger. Now that it was stunned, her blade easily pierced its flesh and sent out a spray of blood.

Eternal Sin and his team had fairly good synergy. Within a brief timespan, they were able to easily make short work of the dozen or so lizards.

Candy retrieved her dagger from a Marsh Monitor’s corpse and calmly wiped off the blood.

"Big Guy, the monsters here are too scarce. Let’s go somewhere else,” Candy said to Eternal Sin.

Only Candy would dare to call him in such a way since the others didn’t have the nerves to do so. This sense of familiarity came from having known each other for a long time. As for how long? No one knew. However, one fact remained consistent throughout the years: whenever Dark Empire was overturning the entire world of those previous games, Candy was never absent.

Although Candy and Eternal Sin didn’t establish a guild, the rallying power they held within Conviction was still extremely astonishing.

Eternal Sin strapped his greatsword on his back and turned to face the other members. "Let’s take a small break. We’ll switch locations afterwards.”

And so, atop a mound of dry earth under the shade of a tree, six players rested while eating Bread and drinking Spring Water.

🗡🗡🗡

Although the clamor of battle had recently ended, Nie Yan continued heading towards its source as he dashed through the marsh. Eventually, six players entered his sights.

At the same moment, Eternal Sin and his party also discovered him and quickly stood up in response.

Nie Yan observed the other party’s equipment as he neared, and he was particularly surprised by Eternal Sin’s equipment. What a strong group of players! Even then, the Serpentine Lizard was closing in from the rear, so he no choice but to disregard their strength and press on.

"It’s a Thief…” Eternal Sin said, after getting a better look at Nie Yan, though in no way did he believe this single Thief would pose a threat. Why? Because the strongest Thief in the game was standing right here beside them. Not to mention, with his high health and defense, there was simply no reason to fear any Thief in the first place. Even if Nie Yan’s equipment did look somewhat decent to him, to this day, there had never been a single Thief that could defeat him. This wasn’t confidence born out of arrogance but rather confidence that came from absolute strength.

"Oh?” Candy’s figure gradually faded before completely merging with the greenery in the background.

As Nie Yan ran, his eyes fell on a certain patch of shrubbery off in the distance. The other side’s prowess using Stealth was near flawless. Ordinary players or even experts might not be able to detect her presence, but she definitely wouldn’t go unnoticed by him.

Candy felt a tinge of surprise as she saw Nie Yan’s gaze focus on her. Oh…? It seems they encountered an interesting fellow.

Though he could clearly sense the open hostility in the moment he appeared before them, his circumstances were quite dire since the Serpentine Lizard was already close to his heels. He had to take this gamble, but he wasn’t naive enough to believes these six would help him out of the kindness of their hearts. So, he was left with no other choice. He would pass the Serpentine Lizard off to them and make use of their power order to survive!

He accelerated his pace and bolted straight for Eternal Sin and the others.

Eternal Sin unstrapped his greatsword and firmly grasped it in his hand. The blade was at an incline angle and firmly planted on the earth so he could be ready to receive his opponent. He stood no further than two meters from his Mages. Though he personally wasn’t afraid, things could get quite dangerous if he let this Thief enter their rearline.

Eternal Sin, who wore the Death’s Sacrifice set, resembled an iron wall that blocked the path to the three Mages behind him.

Just as Eternal Sin was prepared to cut down this Thief, the bushes in the distance stirred with activity, causing his heart to leap in surprise. Don’t tell me there’s more people at his rear?

He soon discovered what followed the Thief from behind wasn’t a player but rather… a gigantic lizard! It was several times larger than the ordinary lizard monsters in this area.

"Shit… It’s a Serpentine!” Candy drew in a breath of cold air upon seeing the lizard’s distinct gait. They were a terrifying existence: apex predators, killers of the marsh, and capable of reaching lightning-fast speeds.

"Level 7 Sub-Elite?” Eternal Sin stammered and retreated several steps back to the mound. They could have easily handled the situation if the second figure had been another player, but what arrived was a Level 7 Sub-Elite instead! It was an existence that was difficult to deal with even at their levels. Not to mention their Priest had yet to learn Revive. It would be a disastrous loss if one or two of them ended up dying due to this.

As Nie Yan drew increasingly near, the Elementalist at Eternal Sin’s rear brandished their staff and sent lightning crackling toward him.

This Thief’s intentions were already quite obvious to them. He wanted to pass the Serpentine Lizard off to them. Naturally, Eternal Sin and his group wouldn’t be polite. None of them dared to receive such a flaming hot potato.

Behind the bolt of lightning, Su Yan and the Arcane Mage’s attacks arrived in tow.

By this time, the Serpentine Lizard was basically nipping at his heels. It wound up its body, and in the next instant, pounced at him like an arrow. In response, Nie Yan rolled to the side and evaded its attack and incidentally, Lei Fa’s (Lightning Magic) bolt of lightning.「Bang!」However, he was unable to avoid a Holy Strike aimed prior to where he rolled to.

−67

「System: A member of the party led by player Eternal Sin has taken the initiative to attack you. You are free to retaliate in legitimate self-defense. Duration: 30 minutes.」

Dammit! What kind of damage is that!? Nie Yan inwardly cried out in alarm. He rolled again and avoided the oncoming Arcane Fireball. Just as the spell passed by him, he felt a murderous intent nearing his back.

Their Thief!

Chapter 73 – Tricked

Cloaking and Awareness were directly opposing stats. In situations where the opponent was a Thief under the effects of Stealth, they could only be seen clearly if the other party’s Awareness was higher than the Thief’s Cloaking by fifty percent or more. When the two stats were equal, the Thief could be spotted if the other player concentrated hard enough while searching. If the Thief was good, however, then in situations where Cloaking exceeded the defending side’s Awareness, the opposing player would be stunned before they even had a chance to react.

Naturally, this wasn’t to say that when a Thief was discovered their attacks could be easily avoided. After all, Thieves were innately fast, whether it be in terms of movement or attack.

In a certain region within the marsh, the air distorted to reveal a silhouette. Its owner was Candy, who had activated Stealth and disappeared earlier on. She had re-emerged at Nie Yan’s rear. Her attack was terrifyingly fast as she attempted to strike him in the back of the head.

A single Concussive Blow would leave him stunned long enough to allow the Mages to send him directly to the graveyard.

However, before Candy even approached his back, he had already discovered her presence. Those nineteen points in Awareness weren’t just for show. He smoothly leaned to the side and avoided her strike.

After dodging, he pivoted his foot and struck back with his own Concussive Blow, aimed directly at her temple.

What a decisive attack! Candy rapidly pulled back, evading by just a hair’s breadth, before distancing herself from Nie Yan.

This Thief had somehow discovered her!? Just how high was his Awareness? Not to mention his quick reaction speed and even fiercer counter. His movements were as natural as the floating clouds and flowing waters, a matchless style which left her heart in shock. What a strong guy!

At the moment, the average player was still quite low level, and although there weren’t many methods of attack, close-combat was the best judge of the opposing player’s experience and skills.

An expert! Candy was instantly convinced of this thought, though she wasn’t disheartened. In fact, she was delighted since things wouldn’t be interesting otherwise.

Just as their exchange ended, the Serpentine Lizard chose this moment to charge at Nie Yan from the side. Its gigantic body drew increasingly closer as its gaping maw appeared wider with each passing millisecond. He sidestepped the attack, locked his eyes onto a tree in the distance, then extended his left hand and shot out a line of webbing from his Ring of Woven Silk.

He jerked the web line and pulled himself out of immediate attack range.

The Serpentine Lizard’s attack had struck thin air yet again, enraging it to no end. It swung its body around and charged at Nie Yan once more.

In the brief moment when it had lost sight of him, Nie Yan activated a Basic Haste Scroll and bolted towards the three Mages at Eternal Sin’s rear. For the sake of preserving his life, he had no choice but to lead the Serpentine Lizard towards them; otherwise, he’d have no chance of surviving.

Eternal Sin firmly grasped his greatsword and blocked the approaching opponent’s path. He readied himself and prepared to attack when Nie Yan entered his range. A Thief’s innately frail defense meant that as long as he got in a few strikes, they could be easily killed.

As Nie Yan drew closer, Eternal Sin stared fixedly at him and the Serpentine Lizard in tow. At this point, it would be hard to avoid a confrontation with the lizard, though the most immediate issue was Nie Yan. They needed to kill him off; otherwise, it’d become quite annoying if he started wreaking havoc while they fought it.

Although Nie Yan initially had no enmity with Eternal Sin and his group, when he lead such a disaster towards them, it’d be quite normal for them to hate his guts.

Yet at the same time, this was also the wilderness, a place where life or death depended on skill. So even if they died, they would have no one to blame but themselves since they lacked the strength to survive.

By now the Serpentine was about to overtake Nie Yan, but the latter was likewise about to enter Eternal Sun’s range.

Eternal Sin brandished his blade and completely sealed off his path. It appeared he was going to match the Serpentine Lizard and perform a pincer attacker.

Nie Yan fully understood that the other party really wanted him dead. There was an enemy in front and another chasing from behind. He was being forced onto a narrow path. If he were to have the slightest slip-up, the Serpentine Lizard would pounce on him and Eternal Sin wouldn’t hesitate in cutting him down where he stood.

Seeing his opponent enter striking distance, Eternal Sin directly slashed down as a blade of light flew towards Nie Yan’s face. In the same instant, Nie Yan fiercely pivoted and leaped toward a nearby thicket.

The blade of light struck Nie Yan mid-leap and drew blood, followed by two explosions as a Holy Smite and a bolt of lightning landed afterwards.

−65

−89

−72

Several damage values rose above his head, and he had nearly lost all of his health with a little over a tenth remaining.

Shit! Just how far can he leap!?

Eternal Sin immediately felt his heart sink after seeing Nie Yan successfully escape through the bushes.

How high or how far a player could leap was based on the Strength and Jump stats as well as weight load. The upper limit of how high a player could leap was five meters. The higher Strength and Jump were, the more powerful the leap. On the other hand, as weight increased, jump range decreased.

Fortunately for Nie Yan, his weight load was light, and he possessed the Chapter of Courage which provided fifteen points in Jump. It was no wonder his leap was so astonishing.

Eternal Sin was confident in obstructing and pinning Nie Yan down. He had even perfectly matched the timing of his attack with the Serpentine Lizard. If things had proceeded without a hitch, his opponent would have been dead in less than five seconds. Yet, never did he expect that Nie Yan would turn into a frog and bound across the bushes to escape.

In the next moment, the Serpentine Lizard arrived at Nie Yan’s previous position. It had lost sight of its target. Fortunately, there was new prey standing right beside. It immediately turned around and pounced at Eternal Sin.

He had been tricked! As he stared at the giant lizard already in mid-leap, he knew he didn’t have the chance to retreat. He brandished his greatsword and stepped forward to meet it head-on.

"Everyone, be careful of that Thief! Candy, go after him!” Eternal Sin promptly commanded, then focused on repelling the Serpentine Lizard’s attacks. He feared Nie Yan would turn back and sneak attack the Mages in the backline.

The situation could get dangerous if Nie Yan got within melee range of the Mages. His could easily overwhelm them using his skill and agility, especially against the Priest who couldn’t put up much of a fight.

"No worries. Just leave it to me.” Candy’s eyes flashed with a peculiar expression. This guy’s quite skilled.

After successfully baiting Eternal Sin into engaging the Serpentine Lizard, Nie Yan turned around to examine the scene. Seeing as Eternal Sin and the Serpentine were already fighting, he felt somewhat alleviated of his stress. I finally got that lizard off my tail.

Should I take advantage of the situation to get rid of them or should I just leave? Nie Yan pondered for a moment. Let’s watch and see for now…

Nie Yan entered Stealth and began blending in with the background before completely disappearing from view.

The Mages at the rear spotted Nie Yan’s dissipating silhouette from across the bushes. When they noticed they couldn’t detect his presence, they couldn’t help bunching up a little. Despite their surroundings seeming completely empty, they felt an enormous pressure weighing down on them.

Candy also entered Stealth and scanned the surrounding for traces of Nie Yan. However, she didn’t dare to stray too far from the Mages. A Thief in hiding posed too much of a danger to lightly armoured professions.

The only sound that emanated from the scene was the battle between Eternal Sin and the Serpentine Lizard. Eternal Sin’s defenses were high so he could hold it off temporarily. After a short while, the Mages and the Priest also began casting their spells.

Nie Yan glanced at his health bar; only a slight sliver remained. He hid behind the cover of the bushes and began applying bandages.

+20… +20… +20…

He restored two hundred health after ten seconds. Only then did he loosen his mind that had been edge ever since he encountered the Serpentine Lizard .

Afterwards, he quietly observed the battle. Eternal Sin firmly held his ground as the Priest healed him and Mages dealt damage. Their composure and synergy left him wondering why he didn’t recognize them. They were such a strong team! However, after thinking about it for while, it made sense. In his original timeline, there were countless experts who were reserved and didn’t reveal their strength. It was quite normal that he didn’t recognize them.

Chapter 74 – Foiled Ambush

The Serpentine Lizard’s attacks were especially ferocious. Even if Eternal Sin’s defense was very high, he would still find them somewhat difficult to endure.

「Hiss! Hiss!」Just as its scarlet tongue flickered in and out, the lizard opened its jaw and spat out a green globular substance. Upon contact with the air, it near instantaneously turned gaseous, rapidly expanded, and enshrouded everything within a two-meter radius in a poisonous mist.

−30… −30… −30… Damage values continuously rose above Eternal Sin’s head with each passing second.

Each one of the Serpentine’s attacks dealt more than eighty damage to his health. At the rate the battle was currently going in, he wouldn’t be able to hold on for much longer.

"Death Speech, hurry up and cast Dispel!”

The team’s Priest, Death Speech, responded and hurriedly cast Dispel as a gentle ray of pure white fell on Eternal Sin’s position. The light reacted with the poisonous mist and within an instant, caused it to dilute by a great degree.

Eternal Sin glanced at his health bar which only had a hundred and sixty health remaining, though he didn’t have much time to ruminate over it as the Serpentine Lizard resumed its assault. He raised his greatsword in an effort to resist its attack, but the lizard latched onto him and bit out a chunk of flesh.

−76

Tendon Break!

Eternal Sin struck out in retaliation. The Serpentine Lizard’s movements immediately turned sluggish as it temporarily entered a crippled state. Taking advantage of this brief window, he hurriedly drew back in order to open some distance.

Just at that time, Lei Fa (Lightning Magic), the Elementalist, finished his incantation and cast Freeze Frost, whereupon a thin layer of ice began covering the Serpentine Lizard and slowed its movements even more.

This freeze effect was trademark of an Elementalist’s Ice Magic.

Death Speech promptly followed up by casting Lesser Heal, while Eternal Sin downed a Basic Recovery Potion to supplement the healing. After the initial burst of healing, the red of his health bar continued to steadily rise.

Even while recovering, Eternal Sin stayed on full alert as he knew that Thief didn’t go too far. If he emerged and caught them off guard, it would be difficult to predict the outcome of the battle.

Just as his health replenished by three fourths, the cripple and freeze debuffs wore off, and the Serpentine Lizard came rushing forward.

Sub-Elite monsters were truly too difficult to deal with. Even Eternal Sin, who wore Death’s Sacrifice +2, lost health at such a rapid pace. If it were another team with worse equipment, they would’ve long wiped by now.

Despite their combined efforts, the Serpentine Lizard still had a little over seventy percent health remaining.

「Candy, have you found him yet?」

「No, I have no idea where that slippery bastard ran off to.」

「Everyone, remain alert. Su Yan (White Smoke), be ready to use that spell!」

「Understood,」Su Yan replied promptly. After having known each other for so long, Eternal Sin only needed to say a few words and she would understand what was needed of her.

Although Nie Yan couldn’t listen in on what Eternal Sin and his team were conversing about, he knew it concerned him. However, they were heavily overestimating themselves. As a Thief with over ten years of experience, he wouldn’t allow himself to be caught so easily.

Their team isn’t bad. They might actually be able to kill it… He stared intently at the ferocious Serpentine Lizard. A Level 7 Sub Elite, who knows what sort of items it’ll drop?

For the time being, he didn’t have any immediate plans of going against Eternal Sin and his team. However, it wouldn’t necessarily be too late to decide after the two sides wore each other out a little further.

Eternal Sin brandished his greatsword. He fiercely slashed down on the Serpentine Lizard’s body and dealt incredibly high damage.

「What are your manas at?」Eternal Sin asked in the team chat.

「67%.」

「78%.」

「32%.」Lei Fa cast his gaze at Eternal Sin’s expression, afraid that he would get angry.

「Why is it so low?」Eternal Sin furrowed his brows and asked.

「When the battle started, my mana wasn’t fully recovered. Then later on, I used several high-damage spells…」

「Enough, just conserve what’s left of it.」Eternal Sin didn’t say more after listening to the Lei Fa’s explanation.

Lei Fa switched to the low-mana-cost Ice Arrow. After a while, his mana was still low, so he drank a Basic Mana Potion and restored his mana to sixty-seven percent.🗡🗡🗡

Under the constant battering spells, the Serpentine Lizard’s health eventually fell to a little over twenty percent.

It only has around two hundred health left! By this point, Eternal Sin’s mind was already tense to the point of snapping.

Once its health fell below the twenty percent line, the Serpentine Lizard’s skin began changing into a peculiar red.「HISS! HISS!」It let out a strange cry, and subsequently, the ground beneath Eternal Sin’s feet turned muddy.

He was inwardly alarmed when he discovered he couldn’t pull out his feet which began to sink.

Not even a second later, the Serpentine Lizard leapt at him again. He activated Whirlwind Slash and successfully repelled it several steps back.

Seeing Eternal Sin trapped in the mud pit, Candy suddenly thought of something and anxiously commanded,「Death Speech, use Illuminate!」

The Priest didn’t dare to dally after hearing Candy’s order. He extended his palm and sent a sphere of light flying into the air, whereupon it released a blinding radiance that fell to the earth like a curtain of silk.

Illuminate was a spell that revealed everything within a five-meter radius of the Priest. As the spell revealed its effects, the outline of a silhouette wielding two daggers gradually emerged behind the Priest. The silhouette was already mid-strike, the pommel of his dagger going straight for the back of the Priest’s head!

"He’s there!” Candy raised her dagger and dashed in to intercept Nie Yan.

The sound of blades clashing against each other reverberated through the air.

Nie Yan had been hard pressed to find an opening. Nonetheless, his patience had persevered. Taking advantage of the havoc caused by the Serpentine Lizard’s skill, he silently approached the Priest’s back, and just as he was about to deliver fate-sealing blow, his intentions had been unexpectedly seen through, and he was intercepted mid-attack. Now, he was forced into a passive state defending against Candy’s attacks.

His plan had been to kill the Priest named Death Speech first. With the healer down, Elemental Sin, who was fighting the Serpentine Lizard, would soon follow. It was killing two birds with one stone.

He just never expected that he would be seen through in spite of his flawless Stealth.

This was the first time he failed an ambush since reincarnating!

After Candy intercepted him, the Priest successfully escaped. Since his sneak attack had failed, he activated Swift Retreat and pulled back rapidly.

「Boom!」He dodged the bolt of lightning just in the knick of time.

Following the bolt of lightning, he had been struck by a ray of light, though it had dealt no damage.

Standing in the distance, Su Yan’s lips curved into smirk. Let’s just see where you can hide to now that you’ve been marked!

As Nie Yan retreated, a bright floating mark had appeared floating above his head. No matter where he went, the mark would follow and reveal his position.

I’ve been marked! he inwardly cried out in alarm and hastily made his retreat.

Candy followed in pursuit but she was noticeably slower than him. After activating Swift Retreat, he had become too fast for her. She had no chance of catching up to him. The gap increasingly widened, and he soon broke away.

These players were simply too strong. It would be rather difficult taking advantage of them. Thus, he had no choice but give up. He bolted out of the area and resumed his main objective.🗡🗡🗡

"Candy, how did you discover him?” Death Speech excitedly said, after being barely rescued from the clutches of death. That Thief had been really close to his position. If she was even a second later, not only would he have died but Eternal Sin would have as well.

"I didn’t. My Awareness isn’t that high. I was actually puzzled for quite a long time. Why hadn’t that Thief acted by now? There were already several good opportunities that had gone by. So, I put myself in his shoes and thought to myself, ‘When would be a good time to attack?’ When I saw Tall Guy sink into that quagmire, I guessed that was probably the best opportunity, which was why I had you cast Illuminate. I didn’t expect that I’d actually discover him…” Candy replied. If she been a step too late, Death Speech would have lost his life. Truthfully, that Thief’s Stealth could be described as perfect. The reason she had found him could be mostly attributed to good luck.

She peered past the thickets and into the distance. That Thief had long disappeared within Natlan Marsh’s fog.

Since Glimmer Mark had a duration of two minutes, if he were to come again within that time, they would immediately discover him. Thus, they could rest assured he wouldn’t mount another ambush.

Chapter 75 – Turn Of Events

Nie Yan fled the battle but he didn’t immediately leave the area. Instead, he took a detour and circled round the perimeter before stopping to scan his surroundings. Eventually, he spotted a slope not too far in the distance. He dashed toward the slope and promptly arrived at its peak, whereupon he looked over in the direction of Eternal Sin and his team. Despite the somewhat low visibility, the light show of magic and clamor signalled that the battle was still ongoing and quite fierce.

At first, for the sake of preserving his life, he only planned to borrow their hand in killing the Serpentine Lizard and nothing else. However, since they tried to kill him, he wouldn’t sit by idly and let them enjoy their meal in peace.

No, the temptation of obtaining the equipment dropped by a Level 7 Sub-Elite couldn’t be abandoned so easily.

Thus, Candy and the others were unaware that Nie Yan hadn’t actually fully retreated but was instead spying on them from atop a slope.

After believing they had finally driven that hateful Thief away, Eternal Sin and his team inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Just a moment ago, he was in quite a panic due to being rooted by the quagmire. If anything had happened to the Priest in the rear, he would’ve been a goner as well. Luckily, Candy discovered that Thief before it was too late and helped them avert a disaster that could’ve wiped the team.

「Good work! You all did well,」Eternal Sin praised in the team chat.

「We were just lucky. That guy isn’t so easy to deal with. We need to be careful if we ever encounter him in the future,」Candy replied, ending the celebrations early.

Eternal Sin assumed that with her skills, the other side wouldn’t be able to gain the slightest advantage over her, but it was clear that assumption was wrong. That Thief was quite astonishing.

After forcing Nie Yan away, killing the Serpentine Lizard became much more relaxed.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」The Serpentine Lizard was bombarded by several spells. Its body was charred and bloody, and many of its scales had been split open. This recent barrage shaved away a hundred and sixty health. The lizard was already at death’s door; it simply lacked that one final nudge. Yet even in its death throes, the lizard did not give up and revealed its final trump card. It flickered its tongue and spat out a peculiar mist. Unlike the previous times, the mist was far denser and was pitch-black in colour rather than the normal green. It rapidly expanded and encompassed everything with a radius of twenty meters.

Su Yan (White Smoke) and the other Mages had hastily retreated when the mist began to expand. While Eternal Sin, who was at the epicenter of the skill, missed his attack and saw the shadow of the lizard bolt away.

The sudden change took him by surprise, causing him to be dazed for a brief moment before realizing what was going on.

「Over there! It’s trying to escape!」Eternal Sin roared.

This was the first time they had come across a Sub-Elite that ran away when at low health. However, it didn’t mean they had never heard of them. Several Elite-class field bosses would also use a skill to try and flee after falling below a certain health.

「Where?」asked one of the Mages.

Under the cover of the mist, their vision was completely blocked and it was impossible for them to find their target.

Su Yan suddenly saw a shadow flash past some bushes. She raised her staff and prepared to cast a spell. Just as she spoke the first syllable to the incantation…

「System: Target is outside of spell range.」

She helplessly cancelled the incantation.

By the time the mist dissipated, any traces of the Serpentine Lizard would have long disappeared!

「It escaped…」Su Yan lowered her staff.

「In which direction?」Eternal Sin asked. They had poured enormous amounts of effort into getting the Serpentine Lizard’s health bar to barely a sliver of health. If it escaped just like that, wouldn’t that mean all their hard work had gone to waste?

「Over there!」

🗡🗡🗡

At an earlier point in time.

As Nie Yan silently observed the battle from the slope, a black mist emerged and covered his view, causing his heart to jump in excitement. It’s about to make a break for it! Just as he expected, from within the mist, he saw a shadow escaping towards the southeast.

The reason he didn’t entirely leave the area was because he had known the Serpentine Lizard would try and escape. So, he camped out atop this slope in order to cut off its escape.

The low-health Serpentine Lizard wouldn’t be able to run too far, around eight hundred meters at most. He planned to kill it before Eternal Sin and his team arrived and snatch the dropped items for himself.

He pondered for a moment, calculating the most optimal route, then bolted down the slope towards the nearest path and rushed to intercept the Serpentine Lizard.

There was an old line from a poem: "Making a beautiful dress only to give to others.” The line held a deeper meaning. It referred to others who, despite working hard and toiling for hours, gained no benefits and instead given it to others. This would be an accurate portrayal of Eternal Sin and his team.

Nie Yan activated a Basic Haste Scroll and ran like the wind as he traversed the marsh.

The marsh was full of wandering Marsh Monitors. Therefore, he inevitably ran past quite a few of them, who would aggro onto him and chase. Though in the end, he was too fast for them and quickly broke away. After a while, they would de-aggro and resume roaming around.

After travelling for a while, he heard explosions in the distance and wrinkled his brows. There are others in this area?

As he drew closer, the figures of another group of players entered his sights. There were six of them in total, and they appeared to be training in the marsh.

However, he didn’t slow down and soon entered their sights. Seeing him approach, the group eyed him suspiciously.

「It’s a Thief! Everyone, be careful.」

All six players raised their guards.

「He’s probably just passing by.」the leader of the group said. If this Thief really wanted to ambush them, he wouldn’t have emerged in front of them and exposed himself in plain sight.

「I think he’s just aggroing monsters for his team.」

These six players remained prudent and didn’t take the initiative to intercept him. If by chance, this Thief belonged to a team and they barred his way, it would bring them unnecessary trouble.

Nie Yan had more important fish to fry, so he didn’t want to get in a tangle with these players unnecessarily. Plus, they didn’t pose much of a threat. He ran past them and disappeared within the thickets.

Those six players were astonished by his speed as he dashed past them. He had closed the distance between them in almost an instant.

「What kind of speed is that?」

That Thief was simply too fast. Even if they had tried to intercept him, not only would they likely fail to stop him, they would have probably ended up worse for wear as well. These six players felt like they dodged a bullet.

"Forget it, let’s go back to levelling.”

"Hey Yi Wang (Forgotten), do you have any more health potions? I ran out. Share some with me.”

The Thief’s unexpected appearance was just a minor incident for them, so they quickly went back to training.

As Nie Yan travelled further through the marsh, he finally began finding traces of the Serpentine Lizard.

Finally found you. So I just need to keep going this way! He accelerated his pace. There were too many players in this area, and he didn’t want the Serpentine Lizard falling into another person’s hands.

After running several dozen meters, he caught sight of the Serpentine Lizard resting behind some bushes.

Likewise, the Serpentine Lizard noticed him as well. Its scarlet tongue flickered in, hissing as it watched him attentively. Like a lamp that had spend that last of its oil, there was no more strength left in its body. The final sprint had put it in a weakened state. By now, it no longer had the ability to flee.

Nie Yan retrieved his crossbow, took aim, and fired.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Three bolts went flying through the air.

−17

−18

−16

The Serpentine Lizard let out a mournful cry as it writhed in pain.

Nie Yan put away the crossbow, retrieved his daggers, then dashed toward it and dealt the final blow.

−51

A bright red damage value rose above the lizard’s head. It struggled briefly before going limp and collapsing on the ground.

"I saw it running over this way!”

"Look, I see its footprints on the ground!”

The several voices belonged to Eternal Sin and his teammates. However, they had arrived too late. Nie Yan stooped down to the ground and picked up the item that dropped from the Serpentine Lizard’s corpse. Hmmm… It’s a skill book.

After passing through some thickets, Eternal Sin and his team finally arrived and almost immediately noticed his presence.

"It’s that Thief!”

"Stop him!”

A spell came flying straight towards him.

Goodbye~ He faintly smiled and gazed at Eternal Sin, Candy, and the others before bounding over the shrubbery and disappearing from their sight.

Eternal Sin and his team anxiously went in pursuit but by the time they arrived at the lizard’s corpse, all signs of Nie Yan had long disappeared. They turned to looked at each other and saw the similarly dismayed expression in their teammate’s eyes.

It took them an enormous amount of effort to get the Serpentine Lizard to low health. Yet somehow, it still ended up in that Thief’s hands. Could it be that he had never left the area and was waiting for another opportunity to appear the whole time? If that was the case, he must have possessed a terrifying level of patience.

Chapter 76 – Ancient City Of Sulgata

This time around, the final victor of the battle was Nie Yan. As for Eternal Sin, Candy and the rest of their team, they had played all their cards already. Besides holding a grudge, there was nothing they could do.

After fleeing from Eternal Sin and his team, Nie Yan resumed his main objective and headed for the ruins of Sulgata. As he ran towards his destination, he retrieved the skill book that he had obtained from the Serpentine Lizard from his bag. Since he had been in a hurry to escape, he hadn’t checked to see what it actually was.

Dammit! It’s just a Revive skill book!

He couldn’t help letting out a sigh. Though, in truth, his luck wasn’t actually bad. This skill book was a vital necessity for teams if they wanted to progress in the future, and the sooner they obtained it, the better. Due to this, the current market price was ludicrous. Even if a player listed it for one gold, there would still be plenty of teams making a mad scramble to obtain it.

Skill Book: Revive

Description: Allows a Priest to revive a fallen comrade.

Requirement: Incantation, Gesture, and Material

Skill Attribute: Revive a fallen comrade; can only be cast while outside of combat. This skill requires 10 seconds to channel.

Cooldown: 30 s

User Restriction: Priest; can only be learned by a member of the Righteous faction.

He skimmed through its description before storing it back into his bag. It would become quite valuable to him in the future, so he didn’t plan on selling it. Besides, he wasn’t short on money either.

After traversing through a vast stretch of thickets, he eventually encountered a ruined city constructed at the center of the marshland. As he approached the city’s perimeter, his gaze fell on the once towering walls that had been eroded by the elements. Upon closer inspection, he could still see traces of its former majesty. Looming past the walls stood an imposing pyramid constructed out of stone slabs, placed at the city center. Even from afar, he could see various characters from the Dark Era carved on each slab, every single one of them radiating an ancient aura.

This ancient stronghold experienced countless battles and wars. No one knew what year or what month it happened, but the city had long since been devoid of life. All that remained were the aged pillars and walls that whistled a lonely ballad as the wind passed through them.

No mistake, I’ve found the right place!

Nie Yan circled the outer perimeter of the city for some time until he found the main gates.

He sorted out his inventory before setting foot inside the city gates. As he crossed the threshold from the gates into the passageway, he was met with the sight of countless ruins. Moreover, the instant he entered the walls, the sky suddenly turned dark. It was almost like he had been transported into another dimension. Darkness enshrouded everything, and he could no longer see outside the city. There was only the eerie sight of the ancient ruins in front of him.

「System: You’ve discovered the Sulgata Rampart!」

He saw rows upon rows of dilapidated buildings that led to the giant pyramid off in the distance. As he peered through the passageway at the main road, he saw the ghastly bones of the dead littering the pathways, streets, and sidewalks.

Suddenly, he felt a cold chill assault the back of his neck. A cold wind blew, and the scattered bones began moving on their own. Seeing this, he hurriedly climbed to a higher vantage point.

Shortly after reaching a reasonable height, the countless bones of varying sizes began to assemble together. There were some of short stature, seemingly belonging to Dwarves. Another group looked almost reptilian in nature, if you ignored the enormous bony wings that were growing out of their backs. Presumably, these belonged to the Dragon race. The rest belonged to the Human and Giant races.

These undead were what remained of an ancient battle. Countless lives belonging to various races were lost inside this stronghold. Their souls couldn’t move on to the afterlife, so they persisted through the ages and lingered by their remains. As soon as they sensed the breath of the living, they would reanimate their bodies and seek to exterminate its source without fail.

Nie Yan scanned over the nearest ones using Transcendent Insight.

Skeleton Sentinel (Extremely Frail): Level 10

Health: 120/120

Skeleton Mage (Extremely Frail): Level 10

Health: 80/80

Skeleton Ripper (Extremely Frail): Level 10

Health: 150/150

The skeletons had small health pools, and their attacks weren’t powerful. In addition, they possessed the Extremely Frail modifier, so the level disparity between him and the mobs could be ignored. Even so, their sheer numbers couldn’t be underestimated; the entire passageway was filled to the brim with skeletons. Moreover, since they were undead, they couldn’t bleed nor be stunned. Stealth was also useless against them since they detected the living through the presence of life, not sight.

He hurriedly distanced himself from these undead. If they discovered him, they would charge over in a rush to exterminate him.

After putting some space between them, he slowly made his way forward. Eventually, he encountered a lone Skeleton Sentinel. He unsheathed his daggers and dashed in. Opening with an Assassinate, he then followed up with Vital Strike and instantly smashed it into smithereens.

「System: You’ve successfully slain a Skeleton Sentinel. +200% experience for killing a monster above your level. You’ve received 230 experience points.」

Though these skeletons were relatively weak, the experience they gave was quite decent.

Just as Nie Yan killed the lone Skeleton Sentinel, a group of Skeleton Sentinels and Skeleton Rippers from across the passage noticed his presence and bolted towards him. There were over a dozen of them running at him like an incoming wave. The Skeleton Rippers were the first to approach as they brandished their blades. The Skeleton Mages behind them raised their staffs. Crimson and pale-white energy coalesced together, forming an otherworldly blaze, and a rain of ice and lightning magic followed as well.

God dammit! Why are there so many of them!? he inwardly cried. After a quick glance behind him, he discovered the exit had been sealed off as well. There were skeletons everywhere. He fled from the fight and dashed toward a fork in the path.

Although their numbers were great, their movements were clumsy and awkward. Thus, if he didn’t act carelessly, they wouldn’t pose too much of a threat to him.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Several spells exploded by his side as he dashed around the corner and escaped the Skeleton Mages’ attack range. As he fled from the skeletons, he observed the path ahead of him and noticed another mob of enemies aggressively charging in his direction.

He couldn’t retreat since the rear path was sealed off by skeletons, and he couldn’t advance into the charging skeletons. Nie Yan quickly looked at the walls beside him. They were roughly five meters high, and littered with footholds due to their eroded state. He leapt into the air and scaled the walls.

After reaching the top, he gently landed on the other side. There were several Skeleton Mages scattered around the vicinity of this path. In addition, many bones littered the ground, seemingly yet to reanimate.

He didn’t dare to be neglectful and dashed towards one of the Skeleton Mages with his daggers raised.

After a brief exchange, the Skeleton Mage collapsed to the ground and shattered into fragments.

The other Skeleton Mages had already noticed his presence and were in the middle of casting their spells. However, he was lightning fast and quickly finished them off one by one. Afterward, as he began picking up the items that dropped, the bones on the ground trembled and began reassembling themselves.

He didn’t stay any longer and promptly fled towards the exit.

However, as his feet stepped past a few tiles on the floor, he felt a slight vibration beneath his feet. Though it had been extremely minute, he still detected it immediately.

Traps!

He hastily jumped to the side.「Boom!」The tile he had stepped on exploded, sending debris flying everywhere. Several of the nearby skeletons had been caught by the explosion and were blown away. The shock from the blast destroyed them as they collapsed into a pile of bone fragments.

Some of the shrapnel from the explosion also struck his body and caused several damage values to rise above his head.

−12

−13

−15

He broke out in a cold sweat as he lay sprawled on the ground. These landmines were extremely terrifying. If he had taken the full brunt of that explosion, he wouldn’t have even left a complete corpse behind.

Although the landmines were dangerous, with a single explosion being able to instantly kill a Thief, there was a slight two-second window before they actually detonated. As long as he maintained his awareness, he could pass through safely without a hitch.

Chapter 77 – Cursed Skull

Nie Yan climbed back to his feet and dashed toward his destination, clearing out the skeletons as he travelled along the narrow, twisting passages of the Sulgata Rampart. After clearing out several passages, and finishing off the last nearby Skeleton Mage, his experience bar had risen by two percent. Along the way he had picked up many items, though he still hadn’t had the time to sort them out yet.

As he advanced onwards, he eventually encountered an area with no skeletal remains. Finally… This ought to be a safe area.

He sat down and began sorting through the items he had recently picked up: twenty-seven coppers and two subpar pieces of Bronze equipment.

Just as he was about to close his inventory menu, a shabby-looking scroll at the bottom corner of the window caught his eye. Only then did he recall that he had obtained such an item. He must have picked it up from that Skeleton Mage he destroyed earlier.

Written on this yellowed scroll were the ancient characters of the Dragon race. It read: "Ancient spirits awaken from within the shadows.”

It was a special one-use item called a Spirit Summoning Scroll. As the name suggests, the player could summon an ancient spirit by activating this scroll. However, there were downsides. In the event that the player failed to control the spirit, they would be devoured in turn.

It was quite an uncommon item. In Sulgata, the likelihood of it dropping was one in two thousand. So, if one were lucky, they’d obtain it every so often while killing skeletons in the area. The ghost summoned by this item wasn’t all that strong. At best, it could be used as a meat-shield. However, in an area like Sulgata that was filled with countless roaming skeletons, this item was surprisingly handy.

Though, there was a slight problem. His low level would make it difficult for him to control the summoned ghost, which meant that it was highly possible it would try to devour him.

Hmm… should I use it or not?

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. If I’m capable of controlling it, then I’ll have a meat shield at my disposal. If I fail, however, my only loss will be a scroll.

With those thoughts in mind, he turned and surveyed his surroundings. It’s pretty spacious here, and for the time being, there won’t be any monsters to disturb me.

After thinking for a bit, he bit into his thumb and pressed it onto the scroll, using his blood to draw a dark red mark.

As his blood gradually seeped into its fibres, the scroll began to radiate with a faint glow.

The ancient seals written on the scroll were slowly beginning to activate.

Soon, a dark ghastly energy emerged from the scroll and gradually condensed into the form of a person. The spirit he summoned was a Ghost Assassin. It appeared translucent and held a shadowy dagger in its hands.

Ghost Assassin: Level 10

Health: 230/230

Its stats actually weren’t bad for a Level 10 summon. In his previous timeline, he had also used this item when he was Level 10 or so. In those days, the price of a Spirit Summoning Scroll was about eight silvers, which wasn’t considered to be very expensive as the average player was able to buy them. If he were to sell the scroll at the marketplace now, then considering its current rarity, it would probably go for around ten silvers.

The Ghost Assassin’s combat strength was decent, and it had a summon duration of thirty minutes. It also possessed three skills: Shroud, Concussive Blow, and Self-Detonate. With this summon at his side, his levelling speed would certainly increase significantly.

After being summoned, the Ghost Assassin didn’t move at all. Instead, it scanned the surroundings with its cold eyes.

Nie Yan attempted to control the ghost, but it didn’t budge an inch. He tried once more, and this time, it actually moved.

I succeeded? His heart filled with pleasant surprise. With the Ghost Assassin by his side, he’d have an extra hand to help fight the skeletons.

Contrary to his expectations, however, the Ghost Assassin’s dagger flashed with a cold glint as it suddenly dashed toward him.

Shit, this asshole is trying to devour me!

This wasn’t entirely unexpected, though, as he never had high hopes to begin with when he summoned it. His level was simply too low. Moreover, the ghost wasn’t merely a level or two above him, it was five entire levels above him. Controlling it couldn’t have been an easy matter.

In the event that the player failed to control the summoned creature, they would be the first thing the summon would aggro onto.

Disregarding the fact that it could be stunned as it sped toward him. Nie Yan pulled back rapidly and dodged the Ghost Assassin’s oncoming attack. Then, seeing an opening, he quickly pounced forward and went on the offensive.

"Vital Strike!” Nie Yan shouted out as he slashed his dagger across the Ghost Assassin’s neck.

Yet, the attack seemed to be ineffective as its shadowy neck simply restored itself almost instantly after being cut. Brandishing the dagger in its hand, that ghastly being dashed forward and answered with an attack of its own.

Nie Yan was forced back onto the defensive and had to constantly retreat as they fought. Their positions were ever changing as they moved about the area. This ghost was much stronger than those frail skeletons. Thankfully, he had only summoned a Ghost Assassin and not something tankier. So although he was five levels below it, his damage wasn’t insignificant.

−23

−25

Two damage values rose above the Ghost Assassin’s head.

After losing a sizable chunk of health, the ghost’s body began to sway and fade, eventually disappearing from sight.

Nie Yan had lost sight of his target. No matter how hard he concentrated while searching, he was unable to detect its position. The level discrepancy between them was just too large, so he was couldn’t see through the Ghost Assassin’s Shroud.

He cautiously retreated to a nearby wall, then pressed his back against the stone so he would only have to face attacks from the front.

Suddenly, the nearby shadows flickered and a silhouette emerged at his side. The dagger in its hands deftly struck towards his head.

The Ghost Assassin was also capable of using Concussive Blow, and Nie Yan was a goner if he let himself get stunned.

Seeing the dagger approach, he quickly sidestepped the attack and avoided being stunned.

But just as he dodged the attack, the Ghost Assassin turned it’s blade back and lashed out at Nie Yan again, though this time, its dagger transformed into three flashes of light before it struck.

−52, −57, −56

The unexpected chain of attacks cost him the greater half of his health. Nie Yan hurriedly pulled back, just narrowly evading the Ghost Assassin’s second flurry of attacks, then leapt away to put some distance between them.

He took out a Basic Health Potion and poured its contents down his throat, instantly restoring thirty health. Seeing the Ghost Assassin draw near, Nie Yan swung out his right arm and attempted to hit it in the head with a Concussive Blow

The Ghost Assasin’s head split in two from the force of the strike, but rapidly began recovering to its original shape.

While its head recovered, the ghost halted its movements for several seconds. And those few seconds were all Nie Yan needed to unload enough attacks to bring it down to a third of its health.

He proved to be a bit too greedy with his attacks, though, as he continued attacking even after the stun had worn off. He didn’t have time to react as the Ghost Assassin slashed at his chest.

−76

A critical hit!

The attack reduced his health to thirteen percent, leaving him badly frightened. Without sparing a second, he quickly fell back with Swift Retreat and applied a Combat Bandage.

+20… +20… +20…

The Ghost Assassin had no intentions to let him rest as it rushed towards him with a dagger aimed right for his head.

Nie Yan dodge rolled to the side, evading the attack, then swiftly retaliated with Assassinate. His dagger slashed across the Ghost Assassin’s chest.

His attack also dealt a critical hit and brought the Ghost Assassin down to five percent health.

The Ghost Assassin suddenly let out a cry as its body turned a dark shade of red and began to rapidly expand and violently surge with energy.

It wants to self-destruct!

The explosion from a Ghost Assassin self-destructing was especially terrifying. He had been caught in such an explosion before in his past, and it caused him to lose over eighty percent of his health. But that was when he was Level 10. As a Level 5, he probably wouldn’t even be left with a complete corpse.

Judging that it was too late to escape the blast radius, he rushed at the Ghost Assassin and planted his dagger in its throat.

Vital Strike!

The Ghost Assassin’s health fell to zero, and it’s Self-Detonate was cancelled. As it dissolved into thin air, it let out a single mournful cry.

"Hah… Hah… Hah…” Nie Yan gasped for air. That bastard was more difficult than I thought.

As he recovered his stamina, his eyes happened to glance over the ground. It actually dropped something!

Although the Ghost Assassin was a summon, as soon as it broke away from the summoner’s control, it would become indistinguishable from common mobs. This meant that it could drop items upon death like any other mob.

Nie Yan bent down and grasped the item that had dropped. Upon further inspection, it appeared to be a skull that was roughly the size of his palm. Numerous delicate patterns and designs were carved onto the top of the skull, and there was even a gem embedded into it

Cursed Skull (Fate Item)

Chapter 78 – Fate Dice

Fate Items were spread by the powers of the Dark Faction. They were extremely rare items and often possessed unimaginable effects.

This information came from the dark region known as the Underworld, an area filled with pestilence and blight. There, countless creatures roamed amongst the lands dotted with ancient tombs. In addition to that, the land was also where the undead flourished, being home to wraiths, skeletons, ghouls, and all other sorts of dark entities. Aside from evil Necromancers, who beckoned the unliving with their magic, no others could approach this land.

The Spirit Summoning Scroll was an item used to bypass countless layers of earth and summon spiritual entities directly from the Underworld, most of which had never seen the light of day.

Some Fate Items served as catalysts for Necromancers to summon spirits, while others were evil items that contained powerful curses. Though no matter what their use was, not even Necromancers were fully capable of controlling these items as they desired.

Just like their name suggested, the outcome of using a Fate Item could only be left up to fate.

Nie Yan read over the Cursed Skull’s description.

In order to activate its effect, the player was required to crush the skull, whereupon three Fate Dice would be summoned. Once activated, there was no turning back. The player must roll each die; otherwise, they would be cursed. If a four or higher was rolled, then the player would receive a reward. If the player rolled a three or lower, however, they would be inflicted with a curse based on the result—the lower the roll, the heavier the penalty. Inversely, the higher the roll, the greater the reward.

Be it a reward or a curse, opportunity and risk were two sides of the same coin.

Additionally, the Cursed Skull would disappear if it wasn’t used within five minutes.

After he finished reading the description, Nie Yan felt an indescribable sensation in his chest. The outcome of using this item was hard to predict. This was because the summoned dice were rolled by the system, which meant it was impossible to cheat, and thus the end result depended entirely on luck. This meant each roll had a fifty percent chance to be a boon and an equal chance to be a curse.

Nie Yan calmly sat on the ground and started eating a loaf of bread to replenish his health, though his state of mind was anything but tranquil.

Gaaaah! It all depends on my luck! Even he couldn’t say for sure whether his luck was good or bad. While pondering about what his next action would be, Nie Yan closely examined the skull in the palm of his hands. The skull had a gem embedded in each eye, and they were flickering with a ghastly light. As he stared into the eyes, he felt as though they were staring back, watching him.

It was calling to him, telling him that it was simply providing him an opportunity. As for whether he dared to challenge fate, that choice was solely up to him.

The future was filled with uncertainty.

Nie Yan firmly grasped the skull in his hand, despite still being entirely hesitant about what he should do. If he delayed his choice any longer, then the Fate Item would vanish without a trace.

He endlessly questioned himself to the point of torture. In such a situation, no one would dare make a rash decision.

As the minutes and seconds continued to pass by, he suddenly recalled an old folktale in the game. It was about an old man who arrived in a village carrying a sealed chest. The old man entered the village square and told the residents that he would unlock the chest and give all the contents within it to whomever paid him a silver. Yet in the end, not even a single villager was willing to spend the money for the chest. Eventually, the old man left; however, from then on the residents of that village would often lose sleep as they tossed and turned in bed, recalling the old and his mysterious chest. They regretted not paying the silver and getting to the bottom of that chest.

The moral of the story was quite simple, and it applied to his current situation rather well. If he didn’t use this Cursed Skull and let it fade away, then perhaps he would end up like those villagers, endlessly thinking back to one event with regret.

There’s no harm in trying my luck… Nie Yan firmed his resolve and gradually exerted more strength on the skull in his right hand.「Crack!」It began to split under the pressure as he gritted his teeth.「Pop!」the Cursed Skull was crushed into pieces.

The next twenty seconds passed in complete silence, as if everything in the vicinity had been frozen in time.

Suddenly, an enormous bone-white, six-sided Fate Die emerged in the sky, suspended directly above Nie Yan. Each face had a different number carved into it; one to six appeared in ancient, crimson red characters belonging to the Spirit race.

It awaited his attempt to challenge fate!

After taking in a deep breath, Nie Yan slowly extended his right arm. As his hand hovered over one of the floating die, it began to spin at an incredible speed, with the number facing him changing at a rapid pace.

The scene was easily capable of making a person’s head spin from dizziness.

"Stop!” As soon as he called out, the rapidly spinning Fate Die immediately came to a rest, and the number was revealed before him. The bolded character was in a shade of red that resembled blood.

Shit… I’m out of luck.

Almost immediately, a sinister, malicious energy covered his entire body and slowly drained his Strength.

「Curse (Pestilence of the Frail): Your Strength has been permanently reduced by 10.」

The terrifying curse sent chills down his spine and caused his heart to freeze over. Even if he was a top expert, losing ten Strength was still incredibly difficult to bear.

Each stat point was as precious as the next. Not to mention that, outside of leveling, permanently raising a stat by even a single point was an extremely challenging task.

To Nie Yan, it seemed as though the scarlet number painted on the die had transformed into the slithering tongue of a devil; flamboyant and alluring, it gazed at him in a mocking manner.

The die had only landed on a three yet it had permanently reduced his Strength by ten points. He had a hard time imagining what sort of severe curse he would’ve come under if it had landed on a two or even possibly a one.

Even worse, he still had two more rolls to go. He didn’t dare think about the consequences that potentially awaited him. Would he end up a cripple? In that case, he would have to delete his character and start all over again.

His fate was unknown.

And because it was unknown, it was all the more terrifying to think of.

However, he couldn’t back out now. The next Fate Die was quietly floating in the air. If he didn’t roll before a certain amount of time passed, he would be automatically cursed regardless.

Was he regretting his decision? No. To be more accurate, he didn’t have the time for regret. He hovered his right hand over the second die, causing it to rapidly spin in the air. He didn’t know if the next roll was going to be a dazzling reward or a debilitating curse. Though, no matter the outcome, he was unable to escape this trial of fate.

What if it’s another curse…? No, it definitely won’t be!

"Stop!” Nie Yan called out. The tone of his voice revealed his faltering resolve compared to earlier, but he still pressed on regardless.

The ivory-white Fate Die was akin to a snake coiling itself around his heart. The sound of the die stopping practically caused his heart to stop beating.

Five! It landed on a five! Then, a white radiance descended over him, and he felt as though a huge weight had been lifted. It’s not a curse!

As long as it’s not a curse, then it’s okay!

Nie Yan regained his calm and checked the system announcement, whereupon he immediately checked his skill window. There was an extra skill in one of the slots!

Undead Rite (Undead Temple Magic – Rank 1): Sacrifice 30% health to summon an undead for three hours. 20% chance summoned undead will be directly under the player’s control. The player can only summon a maximum of 5 undead at one time. Cooldown: 30 s

Apparently, where there were sacrifices, there were also gains. When he saw Undead Rite, he couldn’t help but feel excited. It was actually Temple Magic! Elemental Temple Magic and Undead Temple Magic were both classified as high-level skills. After losing ten points of Strength, this seemed like a reasonable return. After all, since he had the Chapter of Courage, it was possible to make up for the permanent loss in Strength after twenty-five levels. In addition, this rare skill was a priceless treasure! In the future, he’d have an advantage when levelling and traversing areas filled with undead!

Unfortunately, that was where the celebrations would come to an end. The last die floating in the air caused him to gaze at it with a complex expression. This item could truly allow a player to reach the heavens in a single bound. At the same time, however, it could also consign a player to the deepest layers of hell.

Chapter 79 – Sulgata Colosseum

Fate tended to operate in an unfathomable way. It could grant a person a short respite during their time of suffering, only to send them straight to eternal damnation afterwards.

Life, or death? Nobody knew for certain what fate had in store for them.

If he wasn’t willing to take on the risks, he wouldn’t have crushed the skull in the first place.

Nie Yan forcefully calmed his mind and extended his hand over the die. A bountiful reward, or a malignant curse, the final result of his gamble would remain shrouded in mystery until this final die came to a stop.

The Fate Die began to spin and tumble in the air as his unknown fate beckoned to him.

Seeing the die rotating at a dizzying speed, he broke out in a cold sweat. Please… Please don’t let it be a curse!

"Stop!” He felt like his heart was going to explode out of his chest.

The die immediately halted, and the strange demonic character revealed before his eyes was shockingly… a five! Another five! Perhaps five was his lucky number!

The surprising result of the final roll left Nie Yan feeling an indescribable amount of bliss. His only hope was that he wouldn’t roll another curse. He never actually thought that he would receive a reward, much less what the reward might be.

After all, rolling three Fate Dice wasn’t something an ordinary player could afford. This extremely dangerous gamble made him feel as though his heart had been constricted from all the stress.

「System: You’ve received Pandora’s Box.」

Pandora’s Box (Fate Item)

What the hell! Another Fate Item!? The first one had already given him enough of a headache, yet he was given a second one! If this one was just like the first and could cause him to be cursed, then he’d rather have it disappear. After experiencing the fickle nature of the Fate Dice, he vowed to never partake in such a terrifying gamble again.

Partaking in a dangerous gamble like that just once was more than enough, so he wouldn’t regret letting the second chance disappear.

Pandora’s Box was a perfectly shaped, silver-gray cube. On each face was a different carving depicting various things such as a sinister skull, a fiendish devil, an angel, and so on. Not only were the carvings both vivid and lifelike, they were also meticulously detailed.

In addition, these carvings seemed to be imbued with a peculiar energy.

Nie Yan examined Pandora’s Box a bit more closely. Fortunately for him, it didn’t fall under the same category as the Cursed Skull. In fact, it was actually quite the treasure!

Pandora’s Box (Fate Item)

Item Description

➢Insert three pieces of equipment of equal grade into Pandora’s Box for a 10% chance of obtaining a piece of equipment of a higher grade. All pieces of equipment are destroyed upon failure.

➢Insert a piece of equipment and a Fortune Gem for a chance of raising its grade by one. Upon failure, the piece of equipment is demoted by a grade.

➢Counter (cycle = 3 seconds) begins when activated. If cycle number is even, Luck +5. If cycle is odd, Luck −5.

User Restriction: Can be used by all factions.

This item was actually quite a rarity. Although he had heard of such an item in the past, Nie Yan had never actually come across one himself. In addition, it didn’t lose out one bit to Legendary-grade equipment in value. He could put three pieces of Gold equipment inside Pandora’s Box for a ten percent chance of getting a piece of Dark Gold equipment in return. Of course, there was a ninety percent chance of failure as well, which meant the loss of all the items he had inserted, but the potential return was well worth the risk. For example, if he inserted three pieces of Dark Gold equipment into the box, he had a chance of obtaining a piece of Legendary equipment! The slight caveat was that very few players would actually dare to stake three pieces of Dark Gold equipment on such a gamble. After all, equipment of that rarity was extremely expensive and hard to obtain.

The second method allowed the player to raise the grade of their equipment by using Fortune Gems. These gems were expensive items created by Jewelcrafters that increased the success rate of inserting gems into equipment sockets. Usually their market price averaged around five silvers, but the real challenge was actually finding them being listed up for sale. Moreover, most of those who bought these gems couldn’t bear to actually use them.

The item’s ability to affect Luck was also very useful. It could influence the drop rate, crafting success rate, etc… Five points might not sound like much, but it was actually quite a significant amount of Luck. It could increase the drop rate when killing monsters by two hundred percent, crafting success rate by one-fifth, and so on. As for the inverse when the player’s Luck was reduced by five points… Let’s just say that, at that point, anything that could go wrong, was guaranteed to go wrong.

This item would basically divide the player’s time into two periods: one where they would be the luckiest man in the world, and one where they would be the most unfortunate soul in existence.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. It wasn’t necessarily a lucky item, but he could try his best to trigger events when the timer was on an even cycle. Even though three seconds passed by in the blink of an eye, he was confident he would be able to gauge the timing properly.

This blessing had arrived so abruptly that he had yet to figure out what item grade Pandora’s Box belonged to. This was quite the conundrum, one he’d certainly need to slowly research lest his miss any details. But that was a task for the future, right now he needed to get moving. After standing up, Nie Yan stored Pandora’s Box away in his bag. It seemed that in this gamble, the risks had brought more reward than punishment.

Realizing that he was one step closer to understanding one of the many mysteries of fate, Nie Yan felt his heart beat fluctuate.

As soon as the Fate Dice disappeared, time in the area seemed to start moving again. The frozen skeletons in the distance resumed their movements and once again began closing in with the intent of surrounding him.

Many skeletons who had seen Nie Yan while patrolling the area attempted to get closer to him, but upon drawing near, they simply stopped in their tracks. It wasn’t until the Fate Dice disappeared that they finally resumed their pursuit. Because of this, a large mob of skeletons had gradually built up nearby. When Nie Yan looked over, he saw them packed tighter than sardines in a tin can.

"So many skeletons!” Nie Yan didn’t dare stay here any longer and hastily fled towards a nearby wall.

The outer district of Sulgata resembled an immense labyrinth. He didn’t even know his own location. He was simply relying on his own judgement as he moved towards the gigantic pyramid that stood at the center of the city.

While navigating the city, the distant pyramid made for a convenient landmark.

The skeletons didn’t stop their pursuit. As soon as the Skeleton Mages got within range, they raised their staffs and rained magic down upon his location.

Nie Yan leaped into the air, and just as he set foot on top of the wall…

「Boom! Boom! Boom!」The volley of spells battered the wall and sent a large amount of debris flying everywhere.

₋21, ₋27, ₋25…

Numerous damage values rose above Nie Yan’s head, bringing his health down to a third after only a single round of spells. There were just too many Skeleton Mages below him.

After drinking a Health Potion, he jumped down to the other side.

His landing was graceful, but that didn’t mean he was out of danger yet. The only way Nie Yan saw to shake off the skeletons was to deviate from his current path, which would bring him further and further from the pyramid at the center. However, he had no other choice. He had to lose the skeletons that were pursuing him.

Nie Yan eventually came across an opening that seemed to lead to one of the city’s public squares. Even further off in the distance, he was able to make out a colosseum. It must’ve surely been an imposing sight back in its prime, but now it was nothing more than ruins—surely the work of several centuries of erosion. Even though it was now in ruins, when Nie Yan stared at the dilapidated relic from a long gone era, he was still able to imagine how it would’ve looked in the past.

「System: You’ve discovered Sulgata Colosseum!」

So it was the city’s colosseum. Nie Yan had been through this area in the past, but he never actually took the time to look around and explore this colosseum.

While making his way through the plaza, Nie Yan suddenly felt something give underneath his foot. It’s a pitfall! He had been too distracted by the imposing sight of the colosseum in the distance, and didn’t bother to examine the area for traps. Thus, in his carelessness, he ended up stepping right into a trap.

Nie Yan suddenly leapt forward in an attempt to jump away before the ground beneath him completely collapsed. To his shock, however, he discovered that the pitfall trap he had stumbled into was gigantic. It spanned over twenty meters wide. How could he possibly leap that far away?

Before he could get away, the ground collapsed, sending Nie Yan into a free fall.

He didn’t know how deep the pitfall was, so he readied his Featherfall Gem. If the pitfall was too high, he’d have no choice but to use it to prevent himself from dying from fall damage.

「Thud!」However, those worries seemed to be unnecessary as he landed on the ground and only a twenty-six rose above his head. It seemed the pitfall wasn’t too deep, only around ten meters at most.

Chapter 80 – Controlling The Undead

Nie Yan had fallen into a square room surrounded by prison cells. Above him hung several Night Pearls which illuminated the area below. As he took a good look at his surroundings, he then realized just what kind of place he had fallen into.

He was likely dropped into an underground dungeon. On either side of him were two enclosures with stout metal bars which firmly prevented escape. As he peered through the gaps and into the enclosures, he saw a gigantic set of bones in each one. The bone piles were over four meters high, and he could see an enormous tail, skeletal wings, and a lizard-like skull mixed in. These two skeletal remains had most likely been dragons when they were alive!

Since this dungeon wasn’t too far from the Sulgata Colosseum, it seemed these dragons were forced to fight in the gladiatorial arena.

As prisoners of the colosseum, all of their freedoms were wrested away, and they were made into tools of entertainment for the nobility. When Sulgata finally fell, they were most likely abandoned and kept locked in their cells, left to starve, and eventually turning into skeletons.

While Nie Yan was lost in thought, the two bone piles suddenly trembled and slowly began to reassemble.

「Roaaaar! Roaar!」

The two skeletons let out indignant cries which reverberated across the entire dungeon. They resembled two vicious beasts as they charged at Nie Yan.

「Bang!」The iron bars of their cells violently shuddered after being rammed by their large skeletal frames. Their cages slightly contorted as the bars had been bent askew from the collisions.

The skeletal dragons cried out furiously as they repeatedly slammed into their enclosure, causing the metal bars to warp just a little more each time. Nie Yan felt their cages wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer due to the continuous impacts.

These dragons probably held great resentment and vexation during their passing. Thus, their souls were unable to move on, and they became undead. They were much stronger than ordinary undead, and their dark red bones possessed a metallic lustre.

Nie Yan used Transcendent Insight to examine these skeletal dragons.

Undead Dragon Gladiator (Leader): Level 10

Health 600/600

They were Leader-class monsters, and they shared a common trait among most skeletal undead. Their healths were much lower in comparison to their living counterparts. Even then, these two Level 10 Leader-class monsters still weren’t something he could handle.

The Undead Dragons could easily kill him.

He glanced at the walls of the pitfall above him; it was too high. It would be impossible for him to climb out of it even with the aid of the Ring of Woven Silk. As he looked around for somewhere to escape, his eyes happened to fall on a tunnel in the distance that appeared to be the dungeon’s exit. However, the tunnel was sealed off by an iron gate. The gate was firmly clamped shut by a giant padlock. He didn’t have any thoughts of smashing the gate open, it simply wasn’t possible. He wasn’t like those Undead Dragons who possessed large bodies and robust frames.

After the repeated collisions from the Undead Dragons, many metals bars were visibly damaged and bent out of shape. The cages were becoming increasingly weaker with every passing second, and eventually, they collapsed, freeing the skeletal dragons as they charged towards Nie Yan.

Simultaneously facing off against two Level 10 Leader-class monsters in a such a confined space would undoubtedly mean his untimely death.

The two large skeletal frames came barreling towards him from the sky. They possessed strong bones that were stronger than metal, a powerful body that was full of strength, and a giant tail covered in bony spikes. No matter what he did, it would be impossible to defeat them.

It was hopeless to try and fight them directly; thus, he quickly scanned his eyes over his skill bar. He could only entrust his life into this final hope—Undead Rite!

This skill was the only thing that could save his life since it had a twenty percent chance of controlling a targeted undead. Whether he lived or died all depended on this skill succeeding!

Due to the level disparity between him and the Undead Dragon, he wasn’t sure he’d succeed in controlling it.

In the same instant the skeletal dragons neared, Nie Yan activated the skill and targeted one of them.

Undead Rite!

「System: You’ve targeted Undead Dragon Gladiator with Undead Rite. Your health has been reduced by 30%.」

「System: Undead Rite has failed!」

As soon as he read the system notification, Nie Yan activated Swift Retreat and rolled out of the way.

A giant tail whipped towards where he had just been standing.「Boom!」Clouds of dust rose into the air, and large cracks were left on the ground where the tail had struck.

Since the two dragons had charged at him at the same time, one of them ended up ramming against the other, and they were both sent staggering several steps back due to the impact.

Taking advantage of this brief window, Nie Yan activated Undead Rite once again, though the attempt was shortly followed by an announcement of the spell’s failure. Thus, before the dragons recovered from the collision, he rolled past their legs. Managing to stabilize himself with some difficulty, he then fled to the nearest corner.

Not only did the Undead Dragons miss with their attacks, they lost track of their target as well. Ghastly green flames flickered in their eye sockets as they searched for Nie Yan’s whereabouts, eventually finding him hidden in the corner.

Shortly after discovering Nie Yan, one of the skeletal dragons lifted its leg and attempted to crush him.

Nie Yan hastily ducked out of the way.

「Boom!」The stomp left a deep imprint in the floor.

Following the first one’s attack, the other skeletal dragon attempted to stomp him as well.

He was frightened half to death as he continuously evaded their attacks. Fortunately for him, the narrow passages of this dungeon further limited the movements of the already clumsy undead, and since their attacks were relatively slow, he was able to barely hang onto his life. However, if this battle continued to drag on at its current pace, he would probably end up dead regardless.

Undead Rite!

「System: You’ve targeted Undead Dragon Gladiator with Undead Rite. Your health has been reduced by 30%.」

「System: Undead Rite has failed!」

Now that Undead Rite had failed three times in a row, Nie Yan only had a tenth of his health remaining. While evading the attacks, he pulled out a Basic Recovery Potion, downed its contents, and then applied a Combat Bandage to himself.

After evading the skeletal dragons’ attacks for several breaths of time, Nie Yan cast Undead Rite once again when his health bar recovered to fifty-two percent.

In the same moment, the two skeletal dragons attacked!

「System: Undead Rite has succeeded!」

Shortly after the system announcement appeared, Nie Yan felt a strange energy being birthed in his mind. The energy rose above his head and shot straight at one of the skeletal dragons, disappearing into its body.

With Undead Rite succeeding, Nie Yan rolled out of the way and evaded the oncoming dragons.

「Boom!」The dragons missed their target and rammed into each other, the impact stunning both and sending them staggering several steps back.

In the meantime, Nie Yan hid in a corner and attentively gazed at the dragon he had taken control of using Undead Rite.

Did I actually succeed? What’s the result?

Nie Yan didn’t have high expectations in successfully controlling the Undead Dragon due to the level disparity between them. Thus, despite the announcement, he didn’t dare to confirm whether he had truly succeeded. This was possibly his last chance at survival; if he missed this opportunity, there would be no more.

Two skeletal dragons and Nie Yan formed a triangle as they stood in this narrow underground dungeon.

However, at this moment, the two dragon were staring at each other.

Time seemed to flow in reverse. returning Sulgata to its prime, when beasts and gladiators fought in the barbarous colosseum. Blood splattered everywhere, painting a vibrant scenery of crimson red.

The dragon who had been targeted by Undead Rite stood there blankly, staring out into space. The ghastly flames in its eyes seemed to be affected by some sort of foreign energy.「Boom! Boom!」It slightly shook about as if trying to break free of the fetters binding it.

"Please, God… Please let it succeed!” Nie Yan prayed for the skill to succeed. In reality, he was an atheist and didn’t actually believe in God or any divine deities. However, there was a certain entity in Conviction—God of Light—that could be considered God, and at this point in time, he became a devout and pious follower.

The other dragon suddenly took action and leapt at Nie Yan.

It pressed toward him and aimed to end his life.

Just as the skeletal dragon leaped into the air, the other dragon, who had been targeted by Undead Rite prior, rammed into its side.「Boom!」The two dragons collided again, and the one that was attacking Nie Yan was sent flying.

Perhaps some divine existence took pity on Nie Yan and answered his prayers because Undead Rite had unexpectedly succeeded in controlling the dragon just in the nick of time!

Under the effects of Undead Rite, a glowing black aura emerged over the dark reddish hues of the skeletal dragon’s bones, transforming it into a huge metallic beast that brimmed with berserk power.

「System: Please name the undead under your command.」

Nie Yan thought of a moment and decided to name this dragon, Dark Gladiator. It seemed appropriate, considering its appearance.

After being successfully controlled by Undead Rite, Dark Gladiator’s stats rose by ten percent. The already formidable skeletal dragon had become even more of a matchless powerhouse. Its only weak point was it could only act as a temporary companion and only lasted for three hours, whereupon its soul would be consumed by Undead Rite.

It was hard to imagine that someone could possess control over such a terrifying monster.

Chapter 81 – Dark Gladiator

Dark Gladiator relentlessly attacked the other skeletal dragon and flung it across the underground dungeon, smashing heavily into the walls.

「Boom! Boom! Boom!」The sound of thunderous strikes reverberated through the air as the skeletal dragon was battered left and right across the dungeon. Amidst the relentless assault, the skeletal dragon found an opening and retaliated, whipping its tail at Dark Gladiator’s chest!「Boom!」The force of the attack forced Dark Gladiator several steps back. However, Dark Gladiator seemed virtually unaffected as it resumed its assault and rushed at the skeletal dragon again.

As the fighting intensified, Dark Gladiator and the Undead Dragon resembled two ancient behemoths in a life-and-death struggle.

While the two dragons fought, Nie Yan retrieved his Crossbow of Blood from his inventory and adeptly loaded it with the Blackgold Bolts that dealt on-hit true damage. Propping the crossbow to his chest, he aligned the sights on his target and fired.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」The bolts struck the skeletal dragon causing three damage values to rise above its head. Although the damage wasn’t ludicrously high, it was still significant. At the minimum, the bolts dealt thirty to forty points in combined damage. In one instance, an armor-break occurred, and Nie Yan was able to deal upwards of a hundred damage.

The two dragons were engaged in an all-out brawl, and despite the hectic battle, Nie Yan was still able to fire at the other skeletal dragon with pinpoint accuracy.

Nie Yan felt it was quite unfortunate that it took him four attempts to control one of the skeletal dragons using Undead Rite. Moreover, in order to cast it the fourth time, he had been forced to use all of his recovery items to replenish his depleted health as quickly as possible.

He glanced at his remaining health—not even sufficient to cast another Undead Rite. Although he felt uncomfortable with his health being so low, he could do nothing about it since his Combat Bandages and other health recovery items were still on cooldown.

Dark Gladiator’s relentless attacks and Nie Yan’s continuous fire eventually brought the skeletal dragon down to critical health.

He originally planned to turn this remaining skeletal dragon into his servant as well, but looking at the current situation, such an idea was no longer possible since Dark Gladiator didn’t have much health remaining either. If he allowed the battle to drag on and purposefully delayed dealing the killing blow, Dark Gladiator would certainly end up being killed by the other skeletal dragon. After spending so much health obtaining one skeletal dragon, he wasn’t willing to let it die without serving him to its full potential.

At the twenty-second mark since the battle began, Dark Gladiator lashed out with its claws and struck the other skeletal dragon in the chest, simultaneously alleviating the opponent of its remaining health. Following the other skeleton dragon’s death, a ghastly ball of flame emerged from its chest and floated upward before gradually disappearing in the air. The skeleton, now a shell without an owner, shattered as it loudly crashed to the floor.

「Jingle! Jingle!」As soon as the dragon collapsed, a melodious tune rang out as a bright radiance emerged from Nie Yan’s body. He had finally levelled up to Level 6.

He gained a sizable amount of experience for killing the Level 10 Undead Dragon Gladiator. Due to it being five levels above him, he received seventeen-fold of its base experience value.

Nie Yan walked toward the bone pile and collected the items that dropped from the Undead Dragon. The first item was a pair of Level 10 Gladiator Gloves for Fighters. The other item was surprisingly a Gold-grade chest plate: 57–62 defense, Strength +13, and Resilience +17. It was definitely a good piece of equipment. He reckoned he could sell it for quite a bit in the auction house

Let alone one that gave bonuses in Strength and Resilience, even if a Gold-grade chest plate had undesirable properties, based on the raw defense it provided alone, it would still sell for a decent price. The value of this armour was only slightly lower than the Lion King’s Shield he planned to sell to Bladelight.

No buyer should even think of taking the chest plate off his hands if they didn’t offer at least twenty silvers. Naturally, this didn’t apply for acquaintances or friends who wanted to purchase it. In that case, it would depend on how friendly he was with the person.

After killing the Undead Dragon Gladiator and reaching Level 6, his experience bar filled by thirteen percent. When he checked the player ladder, the current top rank player was a Level 8. Moreover, they were a Mage. In Conviction, no matter how fast a Thief could kill monsters, they would still never compare to a Mage. Some powerful Mages were even able to easily kill monsters above their levels by kiting, taking advantage of terrain, or casting high-level spells. Skilled Mages could even solo-kill certain bosses without taking damage, an incredibly difficult task for melee professions. Of course, these norms didn’t apply to an extreme outlier such as him.

Nie Yan glanced at Dark Gladiator who lumbered over to his side. Its enormous body was covered with scratches and deep cut marks. However, they were healing at a pace even visible to the naked eye, and it wasn’t a simple recovery either. Rather than restoring to their original state, razor-sharp talons resembling blades began forming on the skeletal dragon’s claws, and its appearance became much more terrifying. The ghastly, pale cyan flames in its eye sockets flickered, radiating a deathly cold energy that made others not dare to stare at it straight-on.

Despite its imposing appearance, Dark Gladiator lowered its enormous skull as it kneeled in front of him.

As a controlled monster, it was now completely subservient to him, answering his every beck and call!

Hence, he was free to command it as he pleased.

Nie Yan tilted his head upward and peered at the opening of the pitfall. I should be able to escape from here now.

He stepped onto the palm of Dark Gladiator’s bony claws and ordered it to raise him higher. As he was elevated to a suitable height, he leaped out of its claws and returned to the surface. Dark Gladiator followed soon after and leaped out of the pitfall as well, the weight of its skeletal frame shaking the ground upon landing.

With this super meat-shield at his side, he would no longer have to fear those common skeletons.

Nie Yan would be under Dark Gladiator’s protection for roughly three hours, so he would definitely make use of the time by retrieving Sulgata’s Shadow.

Having escaped the underground dungeon, Nie Yan strode forward and headed for Sulgata’s center. Following behind was the enormous Dark Gladiator who dwarfed him and the surrounding ruins in size.

As soon as Nie Yan arrived in a new area, waves of skeletons would surge towards his position; however, like autumn leaves, they would be smashed apart by Dark Gladiator’s sweeping tail. In such a way, his experience bar steadily rose while he advanced toward his destination.

Every so often, after letting Dark Gladiator clean up most of the skeletons, he would find a suitable time to cast Undead Rite on the remaining Skeleton Mages. Hence, in this fashion, he soon formed a party of six consisting of Dark Gladiator, four Skeleton Mages, and him. Two of the Skeleton Mages specialized in ice magic, one in fire, and the other in lightning. All four guarded his side.

As he travelled through the intricate paths of the outer district, he thought back to the fragmented memories of the time he spent levelling here and seeking out the entrance to the inner district.

Levelling here is pretty fast. Nie Yan glanced at his experience bar. In the span of a few dozen minutes, it had already risen by eight percent. In the wake of his monstrous clearing speed, the surrounding undead in the vicinity couldn’t respawn fast enough

Just as he finished clearing the mobs in an area, he heard sounds of activity at his back. Nie Yan furrowed his brows since it didn’t resemble the sounds made by the undead. Voices? There are players here?

…

"Levelling here is pretty good but there’s just too many skeletons. We almost lost our lives there. How about we go back and call another Priest over? Two isn’t enough. We’ll need three if we want to continue training here.”

"Having too many Priests is inconvenient. How about we call a Holy Mage? They deal two times damage to undead, so our mobbing speed will increase.”

"You’re right. Let’s go back and recruit a Holy Mage.”

"There’s a Leader-class Skeleton Mage near the end of this path. We’ll need to circle around it first?”

The voices of several players coming from behind startled Nie Yan. Just as he spun around, he happened to see eight players facing him in the distance after they turned the corner at the end of the path.

In the same instant, the voices of the chattering players immediately came to a halt.

"Huh? Why did you guys stop talking? Did you all go stupid?” an Arcane Mage among them asked in a puzzled tone. He then followed his companions’ gazes, he immediately lost his voice as well.

There, at the end of the path, stood a player dressed in a Thief’s attire. They could tell with a single glance that his gear, especially the pair of daggers in his hands, was completely out of the ordinary. Why did this Thief suddenly appear out of nowhere? What was even more shocking, however, was the enormous bone dragon standing at this player’s side. As they stared at its dark metallic red bones, towering body, immense spiked tail, and razor sharp claws, they could instantly tell it was a tier higher than the common undead walking around this area.

Besides the skeletal dragon, four Skeleton Mages guard the Thief as they loosely gathered by his side, guarding him. The flickering flames in their eye sockets stared back at the recently emerged group of player.

The existence of the enormous bone dragon alone made this Thief seem all the more mysterious.

Chapter 82 – Skeleton Executioners

"Thief?”

"Is that… an NPC?” A Mage stammered in question.

"No, it’s a player!” Cold shivers traveled down another Thief’s body as fear grew in his heart.

"He summoned these skeletons? Is he a Necromancer?”

"No, he appears to be a Thief!”

Nie Yan stood silently with the Dark Gladiator, just looking at them, but also giving them a formless feeling of oppression. This was because he was manipulating the strings of their fates at this moment. If he commanded that enormous skeletal dragon to charge over and added the attacks from the four skeletal mages as well, those assembled would have no hope of survival at all.

The gloomy, cyan flames in the Dark Gladiator’s eyes flared. It was waiting for Nie Yan’s command. It would immediately make a move if he gave the word to attack.

Nie Yan used Transcendent Insight to view the information of these players.

Leader Young Seven, Forgotten, Yi Yan… all sorts of familiar names floated into view. Level six, six, and five. These people were influential personages in their past lives. Although they hadn’t joined any other guilds, they’d formed a team called True Dragon Mark. The strength of this team was roughly on par with the elite teams of the guilds.

It was then that Nie Yan recalled that he’d met these players when he was tracking the Serpentine Lizard.

This made sense when he thought about it. Players who dared come to Sulgata Ancient City at this level naturally wouldn’t be bumbling fools.

Leader Young Seven was a player who would be known as one of the Seven Great Priests in the future. A strong Priest was of utmost importance to a team. They would even have the effect of saving the entire team at critical moments.

As for Forgotten, he’d been superior to Nie Yan in his past life and was also one of the Thieves who received the moniker of Shadow Dancer. While he had been on roughly the same level as Nie Yan in terms of techniques, he had entered the game earlier and had an elite team. His level and equipment were both superior to Nie Yan. However, circumstances were different now. Nie Yan had more than ten years of experience as a Thief over Forgotten, and in this timeline, they both entered the game at the same time. So their positions would be sure to be rewritten in this life.

Perhaps one day, they would be the ones to learn to look up to Nie Yan.

As for the others, they weren’t as renowned as leader Young Seven or Forgotten, but they had a small bit of fame as well. Yi Yan for instance, was not a bad Fighter. Although he wasn’t ranked in the top ten of the Fighter rankings, he was at least in the top 50. This was still quite a high ranking. After all, the entire Righteous faction would have hundreds of thousands of teams ten years from now.

Although Nie Yan had heard of these people before, he’d never come in contact with them.

They stared at each other for a while, with the hand that leader Young Seven was using to grip his staff breaking out in a cold sweat. He didn’t display his internal nervousness on his face however. If Nie Yan made a move, the six of them would most likely not make it out alive. They’d naturally be gifting Nie Yan several pieces of equipment.

If Nie Yan made a move, it would be a single sided slaughter.

However, Nie Yan had his own thoughts about this matter. These people weren’t weak, and although their current levels were low, they would be sure to be elite experts in the future. If Nie Yan gave the order for the Dark Gladiator to charge and kill them, he’d at most get his hands on a few pieces of equipment and a red name. Those pieces of equipment weren’t worth much money at all, and he wasn’t short on money. Why make so many enemies? They didn’t know what he had come to Sulgata for, and he didn’t need to worry about someone seizing Sulgata’s Shadow at this current level.

Nie Yan smiled faintly and paid no more attention to these players, heading towards the depths of the city.

The Dark Gladiator looked at Nie Yan’s back, swiveled its head to look at the players, and then turned to follow him.

Several skeletons came pouncing towards Nie Yan. The Dark Gladiator lifted its tail high and sent it crashing down heavily, smashing the skeletons into fragments.

No one dared to follow. Whoever followed Nie Yan was courting death.

Nie Yan walked away quite dashingly. They’d only had one glance at his face, but it was something that Young Seven and the others would never forget.

"Wait!” Forgotten called out towards Nie Yan.

Nie Yan didn’t turn back as he left straight ahead, vanishing at the end of the path.

Countless numbers of skeletons poured in, blocking their line of vision and making it so that even the tall Dark Gladiator disappeared from sight as well.

"Just who was that fellow? He was damn awesome, and he really had summoned those skeletons!” Yi Yan mumbled off on the side. This was too frightening if this was the case.

"Perhaps they weren’t summoned creatures. Didn’t we get a Spirit Summoning Scroll drop too? He might’ve gotten something else.” Young Seven spoke, deep in thought. "Even if this is the case, he’s got some skills to dare come to Sulgata alone.”

"Oh right, Forgotten, what did you call out to him for just now?” Yi Yan asked, perplexed.

"Since he turned to leave, that proved that he wouldn’t do anything to us. It’s a good idea to interact more with someone like that.”

"Other people may not be willing to join our team.” Young Seven said. Otherwise, Nie Yan wouldn’t have turned without another word. It was obvious that he didn’t want to have anything to do with them.

"That’s fine too. We’ll become familiar with each other after some chatting. I used Inspect just now, that guy’s called Nie Yan.” Forgotten didn’t know what he was feeling now either. As a fellow Thief, there seemed to be a great gap between him and Nie Yan.

"Nie Yan? I seemed to have heard this name before. One of my friends said once that someone called Nie Yan slaughtered a lot of people in Radiant Sacred Flame. It looks like he’s the one. I’ve heard that he also has a relationship with Sleepy Fox.” Leader Young Seven said. He had friends in all sorts of places, and his sources of news were more timely. He often gossiped when chatting about news, like which guild had gotten a face full of dust from someone, which guilds had fought each other, etc.

"Is he someone from Holy Empire?”

"No idea, I didn’t see him wear a guild emblem just now. I don’t think so.”

Nie Yan had left them with a deep impression with just one glance. A lone Thief had dared to charge into Sulgata—this was why they felt deep respect for him. If they stumbled upon a chance to create good relations with Nie Yan or recruit him into their team, they would definitely jump on it.

Nie Yan moved towards the center of the city following along the passages within the maze-like outer district. He didn’t know about the intentions and plans of those behind him. If he knew that they wanted to recruit him for their team, he would’ve told them to give up. Nie Yan wouldn’t listen to anyone else’s commands. He’d joined the elites of Holy Empire only to get his hands on some equipment. He did want to form a team, but the reigns of command had to be in his hands.

The Dark Gladiator rushed forward fiercely, slamming groups of monsters to death. Under this freakish speed of mob killing, Nie Yan’s experience bar filled up rapidly.

He made his way through a patch of maze and entered an open square. It measured several thousand meters in radius and the tall, rugged pyramid structure was in the center.

Scores of tall and stocky Skeleton Executioners were patrolling around the center of the square. They were at least five meters tall, and were moving skeletons. Their right arms were noticeably thicker as they carried heavy axes. The axes were spotted with rust, but were still quite ferocious.

Chapter 83 – Expressing Goodwill

Skeleton Executioner: Level 13

Health: 1200/1200

These Skeleton Executioners had even more health than Dark Gladiator, not to mention they were quite numerous as well.

However, the caveat was once they were killed, they would never respawn again. Although he had visited Sulgata in the original timeline, these Skeleton Executioners had long been exterminated. Presumably, they were placed there for the sole purpose of guarding and preventing intruders from stealing the piece of Sulgata’s Shadow. Even though he knew a group of players had retrieved the piece from this city in the past, he wasn’t aware of the price they had to pay to do so.

He could imagine the bitter struggles those players must have gone through as he observed the Skeleton Executioners roaming this area.

"I didn’t expect there to be so many Sub-Elites…” Nie Yan muttered under his breath as his brows furrowed. However, thinking it over, it made sense that a Legendary-grade item such as Sulgata’s Shadow would have the protection of many strong monsters, even if just a single piece.

He calmly observed the area’s topography to determine if it was possible to make a detour. Unfortunately, the area was too open, meaning he would be spotted as soon as he showed himself. As for any cover he could make use of, he spotted a lone pillar standing in the distance—something far from being adequate.

Another possible method was to have Dark Gladiator lead the Dark Executioners away, giving him an opportunity to sneak in; however, he felt uneasy facing the hidden dangers that might lurk within the pyramid with no help accompanying him. Sacrificing Dark Gladiator simply wasn’t worth the risk.

He retreated for now and pondered over the matter while farming the weaker undead mobs in the vicinity.

Is it possible to turn the Skeleton Executioners into servants?

Nie Yan ordered Dark Gladiator to retreat inside the outer district and remain on standby. He jumped onto the outer district’s border walls and retrieved the Crossbow of Blood from his inventory, then aligned the sight on the Skeleton Executioners.

"Fifty-two meters, too far… Fifty meters, still too far…” Just as he was about to leave to find a more suitable position, a lone Skeleton Executioner started moving towards him, drawing progressively close.

Perfect! Nie Yan pulled the trigger.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Three bolts pierced the air and successively struck their target.

The cyan flames in the Skeleton Executioner’s eye sockets flickered as it tilted its head and locked its gaze onto the aggressor positioned atop the wall. It immediately brandished its gigantic axe and charged at Nie Yan.

The Skeleton Executioner emitted an odd roar that resembled the grinding of a bulldozer, swinging its axe wildly as it lumbered over.

The commotion also caused the nearby thirty-plus Skeleton Executioners to come forward.

Seeing the Skeleton Executioner about to smash the wall with its gigantic axe, Nie Yan jumped off the wall and withdrew at the last possible moment.

「Boom!」The large axe struck the eroded wall, breaking it as if it were rotten wood and bringing down large chunks of stone.「Boom! Boom! Boom!」Several dozen thunderous strikes followed the first, and the walls rapidly collapsed, allowing the Skeleton Executioners to enter the outer district.

Nie Yan ran backwards, his eyes remaining fixed on the crumbling wall as he avoided the flying debris. He found a suitable opening and cast Undead Rite, which took away thirty percent of his health in an instant.

A wisp of light struck a Skeleton Executioner and entered its body.

Its movements momentarily froze; however, in the next moment, the Skeleton Executioner broke free of the spell’s bindings and charged towards Nie Yan with its axe raised.

"Dammit, it failed…” He promptly rolled out of the way, dodging the oncoming axe. He then dashed toward a nearby wall, scaled over it, and hopped off on the other side. In this fashion, he traversed through the labyrinth-like outer district with the Skeleton Executioners in tow.

After destroying several walls without finding Nie Yan, the Skeleton Executioners finally gave up and returned to the pyramid.

There were just too many of them, which made it quite difficult to find a suitable opportunity to cast Undead Rite. Not to mention the low success rate, even if he succeeded by some lucky fluke, his new servant would be hacked to pieces by the other Skeleton Executioners almost immediately. Although there’d be one less to deal with, he could only imagine how tedious and inefficient it would be to use this method to enter the pyramid. At the very minimum, it would take him two to three days to clear the area of Skeleton Executioners.

Retrieving that piece of Sulgata’s Shadow is going to be more problematic than I initially thought…

In the end, Nie Yan had no choice but to helplessly linger around the outer district, allowing Dark Gladiator to clean up the surrounding mobs. Fortunately, the levelling speed was quite fast, which could count as a small consolation.

Before three hours were fully up, Nie Yan had cast Undead Rite three more times but made zero headway in recruiting a Skeleton Executioner. In a mere half hour or so, Dark Gladiator would disappear.

Don’t tell me… I have to just forget about it and try again later? However, if he decided to give up today, he might not be as lucky next time in finding an amazing servant like Dark Gladiator again. In addition, there was no guarantee another player wouldn’t snatch the piece of Sulgata’s Shadow before he returned.

Just as he was racking his brain over this problem, he heard the voices of nearby players enter his ear.

"It’s these guys again…” Nie Yan wrinkled his brows. Since the last time he met them, those players had finally explored their way here. With the presence of outsiders, he wouldn’t be able to execute his plans without a hitch. Before he retrieved the piece of Sulgata’s Shadow, he didn’t want to allow any others to become aware of its existence. However, he realized that even if they arrived here, once they saw how many Skeleton Executioners there were in the vicinity, they wouldn’t even dare to take half a step forward, let alone have any thoughts of entering the pyramid.

Unless they were all over Level 10 and brought a much larger group of players along with them, it would be impossible to clear the opening of all the Skeleton Executioners. Nie Yan still had ample time to retrieve Sulgata’s Shadow.

In the same moment, six players entered Nie Yan’s view.

The players were greeted by the sight of an enormous skeleton dragon standing by Nie Yan’s side like a dutiful guardian; the ghostly flames in its eye sockets seemed to follow their every move. Meanwhile, beside the Thief also stood three Skeleton Mages with their staffs brandished, ready to attack at any time, not letting their guards down in the slightest.

While within the safety of a city or a town, players maintained amiable attitudes and often befriended others. As soon as they stepped into the wilderness, however, their demeanors would completely reverse. Any stranger could become a potential enemy since everyone feared being plotted against or being ambushed by other players. Often times, even simple misunderstandings could lead to an endless bloodbath.

So even though Nie Yan had Dark Gladiator at his side, if those six players simultaneously attacked him, he’d still end up dying in a short amount of time. Thus, he had no choice but to keep his guard up against them at all times.

Leader Young Seven, Forgotten, and the others also noticed Nie Yan’s presence at the same time and halted.

"Greetings, we mean no harm!” Forgotten was the first one to speak up. Their group of six were also extremely cautious. After all, their life and death lay in how Nie Yan viewed them.

"Whether your intentions are bad or not makes no difference to me,” Nie Yan indifferently replied, taking the initiative to establish which side held dominance.

Young Seven and the others glanced at Dark Gladiator that stood by Nie Yan’s side. In truth, his statement was absolutely correct. With such a terrifying servant under his command, it really didn’t matter if they had come to provoke him or not.

"We came here simply because we wanted to befriend you. Besides, I believe there haven’t been any cases where we’ve offended you in the past,” Young Seven answered as he calmly took a step forward and gazed at Nie Yan.

Although they appeared to be at a complete disadvantage, Young Seven’s bearing was neither servile nor overbearing.

Pretty courageous… He was certainly worthy of being called one of the most outstanding players in his original timeline. Seemingly disregarding life and death, he staked his life in order to move one step closer toward Nie Yan.

Nie Yan had a change of heart. Since he hadn’t found a way of entering the pyramid on his own, Young Seven and his team might be able to help.

Chapter 84 – Aggroing Monsters

As Young Seven observed Nie Yan’s taciturn appearance, a certain thought drifted through his mind. Why did he enter Sulgata all by himself? There must’ve been a reason… Maybe a quest of some sort?

"I assume you came here for a reason. Do you need any help?” Young Seven took the initiative to ask.

"Even with these undead servants, I’m still not confident I’ll be able to succeed. Are you certain you want to help?” Nie Yan stared at Young Seven and the others as he narrowed his eyes.

Upon hearing Nie Yan’s rather straightforward response, Young Seven and his squadmates felt their minds turn to mush. If he couldn’t accomplish his task even with that giant bone dragon by his side, then of what use would they be?

"Encountering each other here could be considered fate. At the very least, we’re not enemies, so if we can provide any assistance, we’ll do our best to provide it. Even if we can’t, we’ll have at least made another friend, right?” Young Seven replied in an affable manner.

Nie Yan slightly relaxed his mind. In his previous life, he never interacted with Young Seven, Forgotten, or anyone else in their group, so he wasn’t sure of their personalities. Right now, however, they seemed to be pretty easy to get along with. Perhaps they really could become friends.

He went on to ponder in silence. The Skeletal Executioners always seemed to move together. If Young Seven and his team could draw them away, then perhaps he’d have a shot at entering the pyramid. There would certainly be monsters guarding the interior, but he could just let Dark Gladiator and the Skeleton mages deal with them. If things went smoothly, he might actually reach the room where the piece of Sulgata’s Shadow was located.

While Nie Yan continued to ponder deeply , Young Seven, Forgotten, and the rest of the team shot meaningful glances at each other. Although they didn’t know exactly what he was thinking about, he was still a dangerous figure that could annihilate their entire team. If Nie Yan still declined their offer to help, they would have no other choice but to stay as far away as possible.

"If we can’t help, then let’s just leave,” suggested Forgotten.

Young Seven suddenly came to realization upon hearing Forgotten’s suggestion. Since Nie Yan definitely came here with a purpose, perhaps for a secret quest of some sort, their presence here might actually be a hindrance to him! If that was the case, wouldn’t they be worsening their relationship with him instead by attempting to help?

Even now, Nie Yan still hadn’t given a reply.

It’s best if we just take our leave then, Young Seven concluded. He turned to Forgotten and replied, "Since we won’t be able to help, let’s forget it. It’s about time we return to town anyway.” His voice just happened to be within earshot of Nie Yan. Their conversation dispelled any misgivings he might’ve previously held and informed him they were willing to leave.

"It’s not that you won’t be able to help. But first, how about we make a little deal?” Nie Yan suddenly interrupted.

"What kind of deal?” Young Seven asked.

"I need you to help me with a certain task. It’s quite dangerous, but if you succeed, I’ll give you a Gold-grade piece of equipment.” Nie Yan still had the shoulder guards in his bag. Although it was a Gold-grade item with decent properties, it was negligible when compared to Sulgata’s Shadow.

If Young Seven and the others were truly willing to help him, he wouldn’t be miserly when it came to rewards.

In the game’s current stage, Gold-grade equipment was fairly rare.

Young Seven, Forgotten, and the rest of the team privately conversed amongst themselves. To illustrate just how rare Gold-grade equipment was, their team had only managed to acquire two Gold-grade pieces of equipment since the game started. Not to mention, they had to go through hell and back each time just to retrieve them. Yet Nie Yan, a player unassociated with any guilds, was actually willing to give one out so easily. This meant his skill was clearly on another level. Young Seven made a firm resolve in his mind. They definitely had to befriend him!

"Brother, since you’ve asked this of us, we can only try our best. As for compensating us, you don’t have to bother,” Young Seven replied in a bright tone. A measly Gold-grade item was nothing as long as they could establish a good relationship with Nie Yan. If they helped him without accepting a reward, then he would owe them a favour.

"Accepting help without giving anything in return? That won’t do. So long as you help me here, I promise to pay back the favour in the future.”

"Sounds good. So, what do you need us to do?”Young Seven asked.

"Well, how about we introduce ourselves first. My name is Nie Yan (Nirvana Flame).”

"I’m Leader Young Seven, but you can just call me Young Seven.”

"As for me, I’m Forgotten.”

And thus, the rest of Young Seven’s team introduced themselves. Although their skills couldn’t be compared to Nie Yan’s, they were still all talented individuals who weren’t half-bad.

"We don’t have much time, so just follow me for now.” Nie Yan said as he headed deeper into the outer district.

Young Seven and the rest followed close behind.

The numerous Skeleton Executioners had wreaked havoc upon the outer district. The already eroded buildings had become even more ruined, and many of the walls were collapsed.

After Nie Yan and the others arrived at the limits of the outer district, they hid behind a collapsed wall and gazed over at the plaza which led to the pyramid. There they saw over thirty Skeleton Executioners roaming freely, each one a Level 13 Sub-Elite monster

He can’t possibly be thinking of having us fight these monsters, right…!? Young Seven and his team couldn’t help but have this thought as they felt their scalps turning numb. However, they didn’t voice out their concerns. They didn’t want to look weak in front of Nie Yan. Killing a single Skeleton Executioner wouldn’t be a problem for their team, but taking on a group this large was surely impossible.

"Let me explain the plan. There are thirty-three Skeleton Executioners total. They all move in one group, so if you attack one of them, the others will follow. What I want you guys to do is to lure them away,” Nie Yan explained. If Young Seven and his team could lead these Skeleton Executioners away, then he would be able to pass through the plaza and safely enter the pyramid.

"You only want us to lead them away, right?” Young Seven asked, mentally sighing a breath of relief. Thankfully that was all he was asking of them. Although the task was still dangerous, it was nothing compared to actually fighting them.

"Yeah, I only need you to draw them away. It doesn’t have to be for long either. Around thirty seconds will be enough,” Nie Yan replied. Half a minute was more than sufficient for him to pass through the plaza and reach the pyramid.

"Alright, that makes things a bit easier.”

"I want you guys aggro them from here. Let me move to another location first. When I’m ready, I’ll give you guys the signal. Dissolve your party and accept my invite,” Nie Yan instructed. With other players helping him, entering the pyramid was going to be much easier.

"Alright.”

Once Young Seven disbanded his party, Nie Yan promptly invited everyone into his own.

"Perfect, I’ll be leaving it up to you then,” Nie Yan said, his tone sounding much less colder than before.

"Rest assured,” Young Seven nodded his head and replied. Nie Yan was quite polite. It seemed this was going to be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Nie Yan brought Dark Gladiator and the Skeleton Mages with him to another position.

His figure gradually became smaller in the distance.

"I just took a look. That bone dragon by Nie Yan’s side is a genuine Sub-Elite monster!” Forgotten exclaimed in shock. "What a godly player. Even a Sub-Elite undead isn’t out of his reach. I wonder how long it lasts. Maybe it’s permanent!”

"It shouldn’t be permanent. I was able to see more information when I used Inspect. That thing only has twenty minutes left before it disappears,” Young Seven replied. Still… even if that was the case, Nie Yan was still pretty incredible.

"No wonder he seemed to be in a rush. Hey, what do you think he wants to enter the pyramid for?”

"I think it’s probably a hidden quest.”

"Coming here to do a quest at this level, does he not care about dying?”

"Who knows?”

"He’s in position. I’ll go out and draw aggro,” Forgotten said after glancing at the team chat.

"You be careful now, we’re dealing with thirty-plus Sub-Elites after all,” Young Seven warned Forgotten.

"Understood. Heh, I can handle myself. You don’t need to worry.” Forgotten sheathed his dagger and took out a small crossbow, then walked closer to the square.

Young Seven and his team were positioned to the northeast of the square, while Nie Yan was positioned to the northwest. Coincidently, Nie Yan was able to see their situation from his position, so after he sent a message through the team chat, he saw Forgotten stepping out from behind a rock pile and slowly approach the Skeleton Executioners while crouching, crossbow in hand.

By the time Forgotten found an adequate position, the closest Skeleton Executioner was already within the range of his crossbow. He aimed at the Skeleton Executioner and fired.「Whoosh!」 A single bolt pierced through the air.

Chapter 85 – Secret Compartment

The crossbow bolt arced through the air and struck the nearest Skeleton Executioner directly in the chest. After being suddenly attacked, it let out a furious roar and charged toward Forgotten.

The roar also alerted the surrounding Skeleton Executioners, who stampeded toward Forgotten in a large mob.

"Crap, they’re all coming over!”

Seeing this, Forgotten immediately turned tail and leaped over the pile of rocks, fleeing for his life. After all, who would dare stay still when faced with such a terrifying sight.

Yet this was only the beginning. They had been tasked with keeping these Skeleton Executioners distracted for at least half a minute, which meant their job was far from over.

Nie Yan watched from the sidelines as the Skeleton Executioners stampeded toward the northeast. As their silhouettes grew distant, the plaza was soon emptied of their presence; thus, Nie Yan brought Dark Gladiator and the rest of his undead toward the pyramid’s entrance.

「Boom! Boom! Boom!」Thunderous noises reverberated from northeast of the plaza as the mob of Skeleton Executioners wreaked havoc upon the remaining ruins, causing the walls to topple over and collapse. In addition, volleys of magic could periodically be seen flying through the air, raining down upon the mob.

The spells were coming from Young Seven and the others, who, for the sake of stalling for time, didn’t hesitate to attack the group despite being well aware of the risks.

It appeared these players were quite earnest in helping him out. If they truly did end up helping him retrieve the fragment of Sulgata’s Shadow, then not only would he honour the favour he owed them, he would also gift them the Gold-grade shoulder guards regardless of their prior refusal. Even in games, if a person gave their word, then they should keep it. It was by far the simplest way to get along with others. And getting along with others was essential to establishing a large network of contacts. When one encountered a situation and required assistance, it became more convenient to find help.

「System: Player Round Stool has died.」

As he glanced at the party window, Nie Yan saw the highlighted text of a player’s name turn dark. This meant a member from Young Seven’s group had been killed. Aggroing these Skeleton Executioners was a dangerous task; it came as no surprise that one or two players would end up dying.

As the battle in the northeast raged on, Nie Yan became ever more concerned about how much longer they could hold out for. At this point, however, all he could do was hope for the best as he accelerated his pace towards the pyramid.

Bringing the Skeleton Mages along would be much too cumbersome. Thus, before he and Dark Gladiator moved towards the pyramid, he ordered them to farm monsters in the surrounding area and left them to their own devices. He and Dark Gladiator dashed through the plaza and safely arrived at the pyramid’s entrance.

The entrance, which appeared to be two solid metal gates carved with ancient, intricate designs, wasn’t all that large. Though, through the passing of the ages, their beauty had long since faded, giving way to rust and the dilapidation of time.

「I’ve already entered the pyramid. Hurry up and leave,」Nie Yan said through the party’s voice channel. However, just as those words exited his mouth, another player’s name turned dark; a second member of Young Seven’s team had been killed. For the sake of aiding him, they had made sacrifices that couldn’t be considered negligible. Fortunately, they were able to retrieve the equipment that had dropped from those who died.

「Roger, we’ll be taking our leave then,」Young Seven replied. If they stayed any longer, it would be hard to predict what else might happen, so after receiving Nie Yan’s go-ahead, the remaining members immediately withdrew from the battle.

「Thanks for this, I’ll give you the equipment when I get back.」

「No problem, we’ll be in the area farming mobs for a bit before returning to town.」

After entering the pyramid, Nie Yan walked through a dark, long and narrow passageway along a flight of stairs. Relying on his past knowledge, he carefully avoided all the hidden traps along the path.

The hidden mechanisms in this passage were all extremely dangerous and would result in instant death for anyone unlucky enough to trigger them. Nie Yan was quite cautious as he advanced along the path, not daring to reveal the slightest degree of carelessness.

Fortunately, no matter what manner of trap appeared, none of them were new to him since he had encountered every single one in his previous life. Therefore, as long as he wasn’t careless, none of these traps would pose any threat to him.

Advancing down the path, an eerie chill that made his blood run cold seemed to come from the depths of the pyramid.

As Nie Yan reached the end of the passageway, he was met with a dead end. All that lay ahead was a large stagnant pool of water.

The way leading to the interior of the pyramid was underneath this pool!

Nie Yan dived into the water and swam towards the depths while Dark Gladiator followed from behind. As an undead, Dark Gladiator didn’t need to breathe. Thus, it wouldn’t matter how long it stayed submerged underwater.

It was a sealed underwater passage. In every direction, left and right, above and below, were smooth stone walls while the path ahead was dark and foreboding. The path was so dark it was nearly impossible to make anything out.

Nie Yan continued to swim ahead, though he wasn’t rushing at all, so if by any chance he encountered a monster while underwater, he’d have ample time to react.

Just at that moment, Nie Yan suddenly felt something peculiar about the stone wall to his left, and his heart leapt out in alarm. There was a hidden mechanism inside the wall!

He only had time to see two sharp, black arrowheads emerge from it.

「Whoosh! Whoosh!」Two arrows shot out, leaving a trail of bubbles behind them while flying directly at Nie Yan.

He did an underwater roll and leaned his head to the side, and almost immediately after, an arrow streaked past his cheek and left side. Just by a hair’s breadth, he had nearly been struck in the head and heart. Luckily though, he had a good reaction speed.

The two arrows merely ended up embedded on the opposite wall.

After this close call, he became even more cautious and prudent.

Proceeding further into the depths of the underwater passage, his eyes happened to glance over at a certain area on the wall to his right where he discovered peculiar scratch marks, other markings, and what appeared to be ancient characters above them.

In the previous timeline, very few players, if any at all, who arrived here would be able to recognize these characters scribbled on the wall. Nie Yan, on the other hand, recognized these marks and characters. They were the secret totemic marking of the Dragons, and as for the two eroded characters above…

They were also the language of the Dragons!

Since Nie Yan had learned the Dragon Tongue from the Annals of Shared Governance he was immediately able to recognize these characters.

Legends told that before city perished, the Lord of Sulgata secretly hid all his treasures somewhere inside the city. Believing these legends to be true, in his previous life, players searched every nook and cranny of the city, yet no one was able to find even a hint of their whereabouts.

The Dragons believed in destruction, exercising their faith in flame and incineration which desired the eradication of everything in existence. It was certain the totemic marking on the wall possessed a unique origin!

Upon feeling a sense of suffocation suddenly come from his chest, he realized that he seemed to be running out of breath, so in response, he activated the underwater breathing ability of the Water Aversion Pearl and began searching around the wall. However, excluding a few minute cracks, it was as smooth as a mirror, and he couldn’t find any peculiarities whatsoever.

Could I just be overthinking things?

He was convinced the Dragon totemic markings appearing in this location wasn’t a simple matter.

Paying heed to his conviction, he expanded the range of his search and reached his hands into a nook beneath the wall.

There, his hands happened to pass over five cavities roughly the size of a fingerprint. These five cavities were so faint that they were extremely easy to miss if one passed over them carelessly.

Perhaps, a secret lay in these five cavities.

He placed the fingers on his right hand over the cavities, and as he slowly exerted pressure over them, they began sinking inward.

「Rumble! Rumble!」 A slab of stone an arm’s length away from him slowly protruded outward.

There was a secret compartment inside this wall! The activating mechanism to this compartment was extremely well hidden. Unless someone searched for a lengthy period of time, they would have no hopes of discovering it.

Although he didn’t know if any players discovered the totemic markings in his previous life, he definitely never heard of anyone finding this hidden compartment.

Chapter 86 – Gem

In the moment the slab fell out and the secret compartment was revealed, a rainbow-coloured radiance blossomed out and illuminated the dark, underwater passage. Nie Yan swam over and looked inside, but was blinded by the intense brilliance. However, as his eyes slowly adapted, he saw a mess of items loosely scattered around the interior. It appeared much of the compartment’s contents had already been removed, presumably by NPCs. Nonetheless, quite a few items remained behind, all of which were precious gems of various quality and type.

Nie Yan collected all of the gems and sorted through them. Five were Fortune Gems (1), and the rest were even more precious Resilient Gems (1) and Life Gems (1), which there were two and three of respectively. Although one was the lowest quality rating for a gem, they were still fairly uncommon in the game’s current stage. A single Fortune Gem (1) could go for roughly five silvers. As for the two other gems, the Resilient and Life ones, it was a bit difficult to determine their prices since they had yet to appear on the marketplace. However, once a Jewelcrafter socketed these gems into equipment, their corresponding properties would increase significantly.

Equipment didn’t generally come with sockets, so players were required to pay a two silver commission fee to a Jewelcrafter to create one. Gold equipment could possess up to two sockets, Dark Gold up to three, and Legendary up to five. Once the sockets were created, for three additional silvers, the player could then have the Jewelcrafter socket a gem, and once they were socketed into a piece of equipment, Resilient Gems (1) would increase Resilience by five and Life Gems (1) would increase health by fifty.

Due to their effects, practically all the major guilds fought over these gems. However, since their production rate was extremely low, they were almost never listed for sale and thus didn’t have a set market value. In addition, due to their rarity, it would be a waste to socket them into anything lower than Dark Gold-grade. In some circumstances, though, it was acceptable to socket rare Gold-grade items such as shields, rings, necklaces, and so on.

I’ve struck it rich this time! Nie Yan inwardly exclaimed. Today’s harvests were fairly abundant. So no matter happens next, the trip had at least paid for itself. If he were to list these gems up on the auction house, it would cause hordes of players to scramble and fight over them. Naturally, he had no plans of selling since, with so many gems, he could raise the overall quality of his gear significantly! Even if he did sell any of them, he would do so only if any remained after he had finished using them for himself and only to friends and acquaintances.

Nie Yan felt endless elation when he thought about these gems.

He threw these gems into a small sack and continued searching the compartment to confirm he hadn’t overlooked anything. Only then did he leave the secret compartment and proceeded deeper into the passage, resuming his original objective.

Nie Yan paid closer attention to the surrounding walls, but it led to no further discoveries.

A dozen or so minutes later, as he swam along the narrow passageway, he saw a sliver of light shining from above. Following it, he swam and eventually reached the water’s surface, whereupon he was greeted by the sight of an enormous room that could seemingly fit several hundred people. At the very center was a golden sarcophagus. It was five meters long, two meters wide, and two meters tall, and its surface was covered in delicate carvings, most of which were depictions of various dragons.

Besides the sarcophagus, the room was void of anything else.

It doesn’t seem like there are any monsters here. Nie Yan leapt out of the water and onto dry ground, then walked toward the giant sarcophagus. Right behind him, Dark Gladiator burst out of the water and positioned itself in a location not far from him.

Sulgata’s Shadow was a legendary Thief item and possessed much history behind it. Reportedly, the Lord of Sulgata, Seres Thoth, wore this piece of equipment during his reign in the Dark Era. However, when the conflict broke out, the item was shattered into three fragments. Now, it merely awaited the day when it would be restored. When all three fragments were retrieved, the powerful magical item would then finally make its reappearance in the world.

Each individual fragment was useless on its own. Thus, he could only wait until he possessed all three fragments for the item to have any effects. More importantly, however, was the fact that Nie Yan knew the location of the two other fragments. The second fragment was located in a Level 30 area, and the third was located in a Level 60 one. Although Level 30 and Level 60 seemed far away, he at least had definite goals for the future.

Legendary-grade equipment were items countless players coveted but were unable to obtain. Since there was an opportunity to obtain one, there was no chance Nie Yan could possibly let it pass by. He’d seize this fragment first and then wait until his level rose appropriately before seeking out the other two. Although it wouldn’t provide any immediate benefits, he was laying a path for the future that would pay off in the long-term.

As he drew closer, he discovered lines of characters carved on the stone above the sarcophagus. Like the totemic carvings he saw before, the characters here were also written in Dragon Tongue.

「TOMB OF LORD SERES THOTH」

「WHOEVER DISTURBS HIS REST WILL BE CURSED!」

The item Nie Yan had been searching for was located inside this sarcophagus, so it was, of course, necessary for him to open it!

The fragment of Sulgata’s Shadow was within his reach!

However, the very same moment, Dark Gladiator suddenly walked over and stood by Nie Yan’s side. The pale cyan flames in its eye sockets flickered even more intensely as it stared at the golden sarcophagus. Although it was a lower life form without intelligence nor a sense of fear, its instincts had driven it to protect him.

In response, Nie Yan glanced at Dark Gladiator’s information window. It seemed it had been inflicted with a status effect when they entered this tomb.

Dark Oppression: All stats are reduced by 20%.

Dark Gladiator’s stats had actually been reduced by a full twenty percent.

As Nie Yan began to wonder what sort of terrifying entity lurked inside this sarcophagus, traces of hesitation arose in his heart. If he was unable to retrieve the fragment of Sulgata’s Shadow and died instead, it would be a situation where he tried to steal a chicken and ended up losing the rice used to lure it.

Regarding the pyramid, all of the information he possessed came from hearsay, so he wasn’t knowledgeable of the finer details, and he was even more clueless when it came to the golden sarcophagus before him.

Will I be able to use a Return Scroll inside this tomb?

Nie Yan took out a Return Scroll and tested it to see. He was able to activate it without a problem! After confirming that he could still use the scroll to escape, the tension he felt abated significantly. In the worst case scenario, he’d grab the item and use the Return Scroll to escape. Besides, no matter how useless Dark Gladiator became, at the very least, it could still act as a meat shield for a brief period of time.

Risk and reward were two sides of the same coin. If he didn’t take any risks, how would he be able to reap any rewards?

Nie Yan resolved himself and walked up to the sarcophagus. Feeling around it, he found a small metal button protruding to the side. This was the activating mechanism for opening the sarcophagus! He reluctantly pushed the button and swiftly retreated behind Dark Gladiator. If anything dangerous emerged, he could only rely on Dark Gladiator to shield him.

The interior mechanisms of the sarcophagus slowly turned, emitting a sound that could cause a person to quake in fear. The lid slowly began moving away, and the friction of metal grinding against metal produced a sharp sound resembling nails on a chalkboard.

After the sarcophagus completely opened, a mummified corpse wearing a set of heavy armour appeared before Nie Yan’s eyes. It had completely rotted away; all that remained was skin and bones. The corpse wore a golden crown on its head. Its arms were folded flat across its stomach where both palms grasped a golden longsword pointed upwards. It was clear that, at the time of burial, the person died with a solemn and dignified expression.

Crusadium, Blacklight Crystal… Nie Yan scanned his eyes over the materials of the armour as his heart rate progressively increased. These were all priceless items!

Unfortunately, the equipment on this corpse weren’t items he could use. They were all incredibly heavy, and in his current state, even if he exerted all of his strength, he would be unable to budge it by so much as an inch.

At a first glance, when Nie Yan swept over the rest of the coffin and found a wooden case resting by the corpse’s side, it seemed exceedingly ordinary. For it to be put in such a luxurious sarcophagus made it seem somewhat out of place. However, his expression brightened immediately upon laying eyes on it. This box was exactly what he came for.

At this point, Nie Yan felt like his heart was going to leap out of his chest.

Sulgata’s Shadow: an item that would cause countless Thieves to drool over it, was quietly sitting right in front of him! It was right within reach and so readily available as well! This sort of situation would cause not only him but anyone to feel like they were on cloud nine!

Chapter 87 – Sulgata’s Boots

Nie Yan picked up the wooden case and carefully removed the lid. Almost immediately, like the rolling tides, swells of magical energy began diffusing into the expanse of the tomb. The source of such a phenomenon was a shimmering pair of fine boots situated quietly within the case.

No mistake, this is it! Nie Yan inwardly exclaimed. He nearly choked from his own excitement when he was greeted by the dazzling radiance of these boots.

In his previous life, Legendary-grade items were out of reach existences he could never hope to obtain. Although the item in his hands was merely a fragment, its price was high enough to make people faint. Even when he advanced into a Great Thief in the later years of the game, he had only been able to obtain a single fragment from a different Legendary-grade item. It was part of a breastplate only Fighters could equip, and for the sake of putting food on the table and supporting himself, he reluctantly sold it. With the money he obtained from selling the fragment, he was able to purchase a full set of Dark Gold equipment and enough Fortune Gems to upgrade said set to +9 while still having more than enough leftover to cover his living expenses.

Given this example, one could well imagine how high a price an intact Legendary item could fetch.

Sulgata’s Shadow was divided into three fragments: Sulgata’s Boots, Sulgata’s Feather, and Sulgata’s Cloth.

He needed to collect them for the remnant magical energy to restore the boots to its original form.

Sulgata’s Boots (Legendary)

Requirement: 130 Strength

Description

A fragment of Sulgata’s Shadow that had been broken into three pieces. These boots have remnant magical power and thus can still be equipped. The player must seek out the other fragments, as all three, Sulgata’s Boots, Sulgata’s Feather, and Sulgata’s Cloth, are required to restore Sulgata’s Shadow.

Properties: Dexterity +30, Speed +10, Jump +10, Stealth +10, Cloaking +10, Reflex +10.

Steal (Rank 3): Allows the player to steal money or items from other players or monsters.

Shadow Dance (Rank 3): Stealth +30, Cloaking +30, Speed +30; cannot be detected through Stealth for 6 s upon activation. Afterwards, Stealth has a chance of being seen through.

As a fragment of a Legendary item, the properties of Sulgata’s Boots were indeed astonishing. It raised Speed, Jump, Stealth, Cloaking, and Reflex uniformly. Moreover, it also bestowed upon the player two additional skills, Steal and Shadow Dance, both of which were rank three. They were high level skills that could only be learned once the player reached Level 30. Not to mention, if the player wanted to improve these skills to rank three, they needed to be at least Level 40 or higher.

Steal enabled a Thief to reap additional profits from players or monsters. However, only items from a player’s bag could be stolen, meaning Thieves were unable to steal gear directly equipped on a player’s body. The success rate of the skill and what sort of item was stolen depended on the level gap between the Thief and the target; though, the formula for calculating the rate was complicated since many variables besides level were also factored in. Generally, successful uses of the skill stole money from the target, and in some rare circumstances, equipment and other items could be stolen as well. As for Shadow Dance, it was quite useful for retreating or stealthily approaching a target since a multitude of things could be done within six seconds. Despite that, even if the player’s Stealth couldn’t be seen through, it didn’t mean they were invincible. All it meant was the opponent wouldn’t be able to see them. In other words, after the first six seconds of the skill, the opponent had a chance of detecting the player every three-second interval, which counted as a round within the game. If the opponent failed to detect the player, they would continue every round until the player revealed themselves or their Stealth was seen through.

"One hundred thirty strength? Ah… Why does it have to be so high?” Nie Yan wrinkled his brows. He was still seventy-three strength away from being able to use it. Such a high requisite was extremely harsh for him, especially since Thieves mainly focused on Dexterity while Strength was only secondary to them. If he put everything into Strength now, levelling in the future would become much more difficult. Fortunately, Sulgata’s Boots somewhat made up for it by providing thirty Dexterity. "God dammit! Why did I have to end up losing ten Strength!?”

Assuming they worked hard, an average player would probably need to be Level 40 or higher to put sixty points in Strength. If their equipment was good, however, then it was possible to have one hundred and thirty Strength by around Level 30.

Had Nie Yan not been cursed and permanently lost ten Strength, he would’ve reached one hundred and thirty Strength by Level 25.

Now I have to wait until Level 30 to equip this.

I’ll have to come up with a way to make up for this loss… Earlier, when he had noticed Sulgata’s Boots gave him rank three Steal, his eyes had lit up with anticipation. He knew better than anyone else what it meant to have Steal, let alone obtaining it at rank three, prior to Level 30.

Getting one hundred thirty Strength before Level 30 wasn’t impossible. In fact, after thinking over it some more, it was possible for him to reach it by Level 15!

Of course, there was a time and place for everything, and now wasn’t the time to be thinking about such things. The moment Nie Yan stuffed Sulgata’s Boots into his bag, Dark Gladiator suddenly trembled, causing him to feel an emerging sense of crisis. It wasn’t suitable to stay in this tomb any longer. He needed to flee, immediately!

Just as he planned to turn his head and flee, a terrifying scene played out before his eyes. The mummified corpse of Seres Tothe suddenly moved, and a pale cyan flame ignited in his eye sockets. Albeit an insignificant ember, it pulsated and gradually grew in intensity.

Without a doubt, this was the signal for him to retreat, lest he planned to lose his life. This mummified son of bitch wants to revive!

Nie Yan didn’t dare to dally and dashed toward the exit. However, to his dismay, the pond he had emerged out of became sealed as larger and larger boulders came crashing down!

From the moment he opened the sarcophagus, his escape route had already been blocked.

Nie Yan glanced at the Return Scroll in his bag. Good! I can still use it! He had already checked earlier, but this confirmed it. The tomb wasn’t a sealed room; he could at least teleport out!

In the next instant, the tall armoured corpse slowly rose from its sarcophagus.

Shit, there’s no time… The Return Scroll needs twenty seconds to activate!

In spite of that, he quickly put aside these thoughts and began channeling the scroll. As the ancient script within the scroll glowed with ever increasing intensity, a faint radiance soon enveloped him and a bright teleportation circle appeared beneath his feet.

The seconds seemed to stretch longer and longer.

By now, Seres Tothe, or more accurately his corpse, had fully arisen. Wearing a full set of golden armour, it wielded an equally dazzling longsword in its hands and emanated the aura of a ruler.

In life, he was a powerful lord who governed over Sulgata. After his death, he was buried in this tomb and eventually turned undead like the other inhabitants of the city.

Seres Tothe (Lord): Level 15

Health: 50,000/50,000

A Lord-class monster possessed a terrifying amount of health. Nie Yan knew that if an elite team of Level 15 players came, they’d stand no chance of defeating Seres Tothe. Discussing the possibility of him defeating this boss by himself was even less necessary. If he was even just a step too slow, he would subsequently lose his life.

Three seconds… Four seconds… Five seconds… He impatiently counted down as time seemed to slow to a crawl.

Nie Yan felt like he was going to explode from the nervousness building in his heart.

In the next second, the pale cyan flames in Seres Tothe’s eyes locked onto Nie Yan and, while his entire person emanating a powerful aura of death, began walking toward him, nearing ever closer with every step.

At Nie Yan’s level, Seres Tothe’s damage was simply too monstrous. There would be little suspense if they fought. With a single slash of that sword, his body would be cleanly bisected while his health bar fell to zero. It was impossible for him to withstand a single attack. Even if he was a Fighter, the end result would be the same.

Seres Tothe gradually drew closer, and the sense of crisis bore down on him even more intensely, yet he couldn’t move a single step. Otherwise, the Return Scroll’s channeling would be interrupted.

"Crap, just a little bit longer… Wait!” Nie Yan turned his head and glanced at Dark Gladiator, who patiently awaited his command, and ordered it to hold off Seres Tothe.

Without the slightest hesitation, Dark Gladiator lumbered over, brushed past his side, and then stood in front of him in order obstruct Seres Tothe. Although it was a being with minimal intelligence, it still possessed an innate fear and reverence toward the existence that lay ahead. However, its loyalty and drive to protect Nie Yan was even more absolute. With the sliver of consciousness in its mind, Dark Gladiator understood it was heading toward its demise; however, regardless of all costs, it would protect its master to the bitter end.

Chapter 88 – Escape

Before the imposing five-meter tall Seres Tothe, Dark Gladiator appeared to be naught but a feeble house gecko.

The golden armoured lord, who resembled a titan that had resurrected from antiquity, emanated an oppressive aura.

Things would dangerous if Seres Tothe was allowed to get within striking range!

Upon receiving Nie Yan’s command, Dark Gladiator suddenly soared into the air and then, after reaching an optimal height, plummeted towards the earth in an attempt to dive-bomb its opponent.

Seeing Dark Gladiator coming at him, the pale cyan flames in Seres Tothe’s eyes pulsated. He gazed over the frail skeleton dragon, his eyes showing utter disdain, and raised his arm up towards it. With a single flick of the wrist, he sent it crashing into the ground before it even had a chance to reach him.

「BOOM!」Dark Gladiator fell to the ground and tumbled along until finally colliding with one of the tomb walls.

−139

Seres Tothe’s damage was truly terrifying. Even Dark Gladiator, who possessed a formidable defense, instantly lost over twenty percent of its health in a single strike.

Dark Gladiator stumbled back to its feet and charged toward Seres Tothe once more.

If Dark Gladiator couldn’t hold off the boss, then Nie Yan would have no hope of escaping.

It was truly an unfortunate situation, as a servant like Dark Gladiator was hard to come by. However, in a life or death plight such as this, he didn’t really have any other choice. Besides, there wasn’t much time left on Undead Rite.

Once Dark Gladiator drew near, it pounced on Seres Tothe and latched onto his waist, firmly refusing to loosen its grasp. However, Seres Tothe simply raised his golden longsword.「Slash!」A streak of light cleaved through Dark Gladiator’s shoulder and cleanly lopped off its arm. He then followed with an elbow strike, which knocked aside the frail bone dragon like a ragdoll.

Like most undead, Seres Tothe’s actions were extremely clumsy and stiff. Because of this, Dark Gladiator was just barely able to avoid a fatal blow.

However, the undead dragon was only hanging on by a thread. With merely twenty-one percent of its health left, it wouldn’t be able to withstand another one of Seres Tothe’s attacks.

Now, with Dark Gladiator nearly out of commision, Nie Yan felt as though his heart would burst from anxiety. Although Dark Gladiator had slightly hindered Seres Tothe’s movements, it still failed at holding him back.

Twelve seconds… Fourteen seconds… Fifteen seconds…

The plan had failed, Seres Tothe couldn’t be stopped. Now, the golden armoured lord was standing before him, his massive body loomed over Nie Yan ominously. Seres Tothe’s sword flickered with a sharp light as he gradually raised it high above his head. Nie Yan knew only one thing was certain, he’d die if he allowed that sword to hit him!

Staring at the sword, Nie Yan couldn’t help but imagine himself being chopped in half. He quickly glanced over at Dark Gladiator who was still struggling to get up. C’mon! C’mon! Hurry up!

Dark Gladiator crawled back to its feet. Though it still appeared to be somewhat unsteady, it charged at Seres Tothe once again.

「Bang!」Just as Seres Tothe’s sword was about to come down on Nie Yan and cleave him in half, Dark Gladiator rammed its skeletal frame into Seres Tothe and caused him to stumble. Seemingly infuriated that a lower being had caused him to stagger, Seres Tothe brandished his longsword and attacked.

A cold arc of light followed his sword as it slashed across Dark Gladiator’s skeletal frame, splitting it in half. The bone dragon’s halves collapsed to the ground and shattered.

After turning Dark Gladiator into a pile of bone fragments, Seres Tothe turned its attention back to the other pest that he had been too preoccupied to deal with.

Eighteen… Nineteen… Twenty!

However, by then, the Return Scroll had already finished channeling. A bright radiance shone from the teleportation circle beneath Nie Yan’s feet as he disappeared from the tomb.

The scenery in front of Nie Yan changed as he emerged from Calore’s transfer point. Yet, despite his successful escape, his heart was still racing. I finally got away from that bastard. It’s unfortunate I ended up losing Dark Gladiator in the process though…

Ah, whatever. There was nothing else I could’ve done. Even if I didn’t sacrifice him, he would’ve disappeared soon anyway.

Nevertheless, he had still accomplished his objective, which was retrieving Sulgata’s Boots. Now he just needed to figure out how he could equip them as quickly as possible.

「Where are you guys?」Nie Yan messaged Young Seven and his crew.

「We’ve already returned to Calore. We’re at the alchemy shop right now,」Young Seven replied. They had actually returned pretty early on to restock. Since there were simply too many mobs in Sulgata, they ended up burning through their supply of consumables fairly quickly.

「Alright, meet me at the auction house.」

「No problem. See ya there.」

…

After some time, Young Seven and his team arrived at the auction house and spotted Nie Yan waiting just outside.

"Nice to see you,” Nie Yan greeted and nodded his head in acknowledgement. If it wasn’t for their help back in Sulgata, he wouldn’t have been able to to find those gems or retrieve Sulgata’s Boots.

"Likewise,” Young Seven replied, followed by Forgotten and the others who joined in.

"Did you complete your quest?” Forgotten asked. He didn’t bother to pry any further than that though, as the contents of Nie Yan’s quest were his business and his alone.

"I completed it.” Nie Yan nodded in reply. "According to my original offer, I owe you all a Gold-grade piece of equipment.”

"It’s fine. You don’t need to compensate us,” Young Seven replied.

"Two of your members ended up dying. I can’t just leave you empty-handed! How would I be able to live with myself?” Nie Yan insisted and sent Young Seven a trade request. He held a favourable impression of Young Seven and his team. They were sincere and kept to their word. He’d be sure to keep in contact with them in the future.

Urged by Nie Yan, Young Seven finally hit accept, which brought up a trade window in front of him. However, when he saw the item that appeared in the window, his eyes widened in surprise.

It was a pair of shoulder guards for Fighters! Although it could only be equipped at Level 10, it didn’t detract from the fact that it was definitely a good piece of equipment! Strength +13, and Resilience +17… This sort of item would definitely sell for at least thirty silvers or higher on the marketplace!

Young Seven initially thought Nie Yan would simply give them some random piece of Gold-grade equipment. After all, even the most average pieces of Gold-grade equipment were still quite expensive since their base properties were innately higher. Never did he imagine that Nie Yan would actually give him something of such high quality. He no longer had any plans of refusing Nie Yan’s kindness. Otherwise, he’d be failing his responsibility as a leader to his team. A Fighter’s defense played an incredibly significant role in most teams.

"Since you insist, refusing would be impolite. Brother Nie Yan, if anything comes up and you need our help, please don’t hesitate to ask. We’ll definitely do our best to lend a helping hand!” Young Seven said in a truly sincere manner, unlike earlier when he was putting on a pretense of being polite.

Truthfully, Nie Yan did in fact plan to give them an ordinary Gold-grade item in his bag. However, when he saw them giving an earnest effort to help him, to the point of even losing two of their members in the process, he changed his mind. He definitely couldn’t let them suffer a loss. Besides, he didn’t mind giving it away since it wasn’t an item he could equip. As for the money he could have potentially received from selling it, he couldn’t care less for an amount he considered pocket change.

Nie Yan would have ended up disliking Young Seven if he had continued refusing out of politeness. He preferred people who were straightforward with their actions and didn’t mince their words. These kinds of people were easier to interact with; plus, they weren’t hypocrites. He glanced at Young Seven, then at the members in the back. "If I need any help in the future, I’ll keep you guys in mind. I might even ask you to form a team with me.”

"We’d gladly oblige!” Forgotten interrupted from the side. They never had a set team in the first place, and though they liked the idea of forming one, they always lacked the time. Nie Yan’s willingness to form a team with them was exactly what they were looking for. When they had met him near the pyramid earlier, they actually came with the intention of recruiting him. However, in retrospect, that didn’t seem all too likely. Naturally, after witnessing his prowess, they realized their little temple was too small to host a deity like Nie Yan.

The game servers had barely been open for about two weeks, so the number of players capable of forming a team were few. For Nie Yan to win over so many exceptional players during this period was without a doubt an extremely good opportunity. However, it wasn’t like his current circumstances were all that bad either. He was able to frequently collect good items, farm high-level monsters, and occasionally join with other teams in dungeon runs.

Nie Yan continued chatting with Young Seven, Forgotten, and the others a little longer, which caused his impression of them to grow even more favourable. Eventually, he added all of them to his friends list so it would be easier to contact each other in the future.

Chapter 89 – Trading The Lion King’s Shield

While chatting with Young Seven and the others, Nie Yan abruptly received a call.

「You’re in the city? I’ve already got the twenty silvers. Tell me where you are, and I’ll head over there shortly.」

The person on the other end of the call was Resplendent Bladelight.

「I’m just outside the auction house.」

「Alright, wait for me. I’ll be there soon.」

"It was one of my acquaintances. He’s coming here to meet me,” Nie Yan informed Young Seven and the others.

"Ah, no problem. We aren’t exactly in a hurry to do anything right now, so we can continue chatting for a while longer,” Young Seven replied. After finding out that Nie Yan was interested in forming a team, he began to weigh his options. Should he proceed with his original plan, or should he follow Nie Yan? He had always liked the idea of forming his own team, but after realizing that he lacked skilled players, he decided, albeit reluctantly, to stall this pursuit for a later date. Even so, he still couldn’t help but feel a little unenthusiastic about the prospect of joining another person’s team.

Bladelight soon arrived in the area and began heading towards the auction house. On the way there, he spotted Nie Yan chatting with a few others near the entrance and promptly headed over.

"Hello,” Bladelight greeted Nie Yan.

Young Seven and the others were inwardly shocked by Bladelight’s appearance as they gazed at his equipment in awe. He was clad in silver-white armour and was holding an extravagant, golden shield in his left hand. Be it the armour or shield, from the design of the equipment and the runes engraved on their surface, they could immediately discern that his equipment was certainly out of the ordinary.

That’s some amazing equipment! Young Seven, Forgotten, and the rest couldn’t help but have this first impression in their collective mind.

Bladelight wasn’t in a particularly a good mood as a hint of dejection could be seen on his face. Seemingly, the matter Nie Yan warned him about had likely already occurred, and this was reinforced by the fact that the guild emblem he previously wore on his chest was now gone.

"You left the guild? Nie Yan asked.

"It was a trash guild. I wouldn’t have been happy staying there any longer,” Bladelight replied in a riled up manner.

Nie Yan figured Bladelight must’ve had a falling out with Hei Zhuo (Black Amazing) after hearing his response, and considering the lack of a guild emblem on his chest, arriving at such a conclusion was par for the course. Regardless of who it was, no one would be in the right frame of mind after finding out their lover and best friend were having an affair together behind their back, hence Bladelight’s departure from his guild. Speaking of which, the sole reason the guild Bladelight and Hei Zhuo founded together, Unhindered, had reached such soaring heights in his previous life was because of Bladelight’s prestige. It wasn’t until later, when their expansion stabilized, that his influence waned due to the hidden machinations Hei Zhuo employed to seize full control of the guild. However, at present, Nie Yan’s actions had unwittingly left Unhindered teetering on the brink of collapse right in the midst of their growth!

"It’s just a guild. Nothing to get down over,” said Nie Yan as he attempted to comfort him. Although Bladelight could be somewhat overbearing, his overall character wasn’t bad; otherwise, he wouldn’t have gone out of his way to warn Bladelight about Hei Zhuo.

"Haha, no worries! I’m not taking things too hard.” Bladelight forced a smile. Though he wore an uncaring expression, his inner feelings were anything but. He was the only one who truly knew his own feelings regarding the matter; however, he would never share these thoughts in public. He had already thrown away enough face in front of this person.

If he didn’t wish to bring this topic up, then Nie Yan had no reason to rub salt in an open wound.

"Well, since you’ve left your guild, have you found a new team by any chance?” Nie Yan asked. In his previous life, Bladelight was ranked as one of the top three Fighters in the game. Without a team supporting him, would he still be able to reach such heights?

"No, I still haven’t. Why, you decided to form one?”

"Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it.”

"Well, if you’re able to establish a fixed team, I wouldn’t mind joining. However, let me say this in advance. If I don’t see any signs of this team being successful in the future, I’ll probably leave,” replied Bladelight in a rather frank manner. Although it was somewhat unpleasant to the ear, at least he was speaking truthfully, which was much better than those hypocrites who put on a facade of friendliness.

"No problem, do as you wish. I’m just forming one for the fun of it. The only thing I’ll ask of everyone is to gather once in a while to run dungeons together. I don’t plan on restricting the freedom of my members or anything,” Nie Yan replied. He had always been a relaxed person, and he didn’t want to go through the trouble of managing a team. If a team wished to retain their players, especially those who could overcome the challenges of a dungeon, restricting their freedom wasn’t the way to achieve it. Instead, there needed to be a balance of goodwill, loyalty, and enticing prospects in order to encourage members to stay.

Nie Yan’s goal was to have an elite team that surpassed all other elites at his disposal, one that could help him obtain the best equipment. Once he possessed a group of loyal followers, he’d be able to gather them for dungeon runs while giving them helpful pointers and advice. In doing so, he would be able to slowly nurture his forces.

Nonetheless, Nie Yan still preferred to act on his own. Not to mention, his knowledge of the game far exceeded that of any other player. Even if he continued walking the path of a solo player, he’d still be able to become an incredibly powerful Thief.

"That sounds fine too. Just give me call whenever you plan a raid,” Bladelight said.

"It’s still a bit early right now, so I’ll let you know in a few days.”

Meanwhile, Young Seven had been listening in on their conversation from the side and was becoming riled up. If Nie Yan was capable of recruiting a Fighter who already had such amazing equipment, then there definitely wouldn’t be any harm in joining his team. For their hodgepodge group of players, finding a good Fighter had always been an incredibly frustrating task.

"Whenever you’re ready, count us in too!” Young Seven interjected.

"Alright.” Nie Yan nodded. His team now included a Fighter in the top three, one of the Seven Great Priests, and a Thief that had once been on par with him. Tang Yao’s damage was still passable, and he wouldn’t have any problem recruiting a few more Mages with high magic damage either. Then, if he found a few more reliable members, he’d have the makings of an elite team.

Only after a little bit of chatting, Nie Yan received another call. This time it was Stone.

「Expert, are you busy today?」

「Why? What is it?」

「Erm… The game developers released an announcement that a new dungeon called Sosil Valley will be opening tomorrow. Since we want to be one of the first to explore the dungeon, our guild rescheduled the Agmota Muddy Swamplands run to today,」Stone replied. He felt rather embarrassed. Earlier they had discussed with Nie Yan and decided that the run would occur tomorrow, but now they had suddenly moved it to today.

「That’s alright. I don’t have any other plans for today. There should be enough time for a run.」When Sosil Valley opened tomorrow, he would patiently wait until the players burned through the current supply of Black Phenol on the marketplace. Then, once the supply dried up, he would distribute his own stock at a gradual pace. However, that would be left for tomorrow. There wasn’t much time left in the day, so he might as well spend it doing a dungeon run.「I have a few friends with me, so let me say goodbye to them first. Let me know when and where we’re meeting up.」

「In five minutes at the Calore transfer point.」

「Gotcha.」

After ending the call with Stone, Nie Yan turned around to face Bladelight, Young Seven, and the others, and said, "Sorry guys. It seems my friends want me to run Agmota Muddy Swamplands with them. Let’s meet up again some other time.”

"No worries, I was planning to go off and grind some mobs anyway. Let’s get this trade out of the way and then I’ll head off,” replied Bladelight as he nodded his head.

Young Seven, Forgotten, and the rest gazed at Nie Yan with envious expressions. They had yet to form a fixed team and were already having a hard enough time finding players to run even the simplest of dungeons, let alone a high level dungeon like Agmota Muddy Swamplands. This bit of information only firmed the resolve in Young Seven’s mind. Following Nie Yan would definitely be the right choice. Since it seemed other teams frequently invited him to join them in their dungeon runs, they could probably benefit a lot from his guidance.

Nie Yan traded the Lion King’s Shield to Bladelight, making his bag twenty silvers heavier. Afterwards, he said goodbye to all of them and headed for the transport point.

Upon receiving the item, Bladelight impatiently swapped out his current shield with the new one. The Lion King’s Shield was an exceptionally stable tower shield with a brown, metallic hue. Moreover, the entire shield was reinforced by magic and emitted a dazzling, golden aura.

Chapter 90 – Holy Empire’s Elite Team

"What’s the quality of that shield?” Young Seven hesitantly asked. The brilliance coming from the Lion King’s Shield could be described as dazzling. If this really was a Gold-grade shield, he could scarcely imagine the sort of price it would fetch if it was put on the auction house.

"Gold-grade. Nie Yan sold it to me,” Bladelight replied.

"For how much?”

"Not much. He gave me a friend discount, so it was only twenty silver,” answered Bladelight. Speaking of which, aside from the shield, he probably owed Nie Yan a few favours now.

Young Seven was slightly envious; Bladelight definitely received a great bargain. If a shield of that quality were to appear on the marketplace, it wouldn’t be sold for anything less than thirty silver, quite possibly even more. Although players sold items to friends below market price, such a deep discount was certainly on the rare side. Unless Nie Yan’s pockets were overflowing with money, no one would give away such a great shield for that low of a price. Yet in retrospect, this was most likely the case. Could a person who casually gave away Gold-grade equipment like they were stickers really be lacking in money?

From the way Nie Yan normally acted, handled affairs, and treated his friends, they could tell he wasn’t stingy when it came to his own people.

After Nie Yan’s departure, Young Seven and company continued chatting with Bladelight.

"You guys wanna come level with me?” Bladelight offered.

"Sure, we’d love to!”

"But before that… You know the shield you switched out? Would it be possible for you to sell it to us?”

"Sure, I don’t have any use for it anymore anyway. Since you’re Nie Yan’s friends, I’d feel embarrassed taking too much. Let’s see… How does five silver sound? I had to take out a few loans from friends in order to buy that shield, and I still have to pay them back, so that’s the best I can do,” Bladelight replied. This was practically factory price. The Leo Shield he switched out absolutely wasn’t worth only this much. The sole reason he gave them such a bargain was out of respect for Nie Yan.

"Deal!” Young Seven exclaimed in an excited manner. When he gazed at the Leo Shield’s properties, he knew he got it for considerably cheap. And just like that, their party obtained a rather decent shield.

When Nie Yan arrived in the general area, he saw Sleepy Fox and over a dozen others, totalling almost twenty players, already gathered and waiting at the transport point.

The equipment on their bodies was quite extravagant. The Arcane Mages were all suited in the Dark Winter set, and Priests, the Radiant Prayer set. The gear of the Warriors was out of the ordinary as well. For such a gaudy assembly to not attract attention while gathered around the transport point was nigh impossible

The players in the vicinity were awestruck and were making inquires about the identities of these elites.

"Which guild does that team belong to?”

"What? How you could not recognize them? They’re from Holy Empire. The player wearing the silver-white armour, that’s their leader, Sleepy Fox!”

The Holy Empire players felt their hearts well with pride but even more so with arrogance as these passing murmurs entered their ears. Each of them was an elite carefully selected by the top brass of their guild. Even in the previous VRMMOs before Conviction, they had all been members of Holy Empire.

Sleepy Fox glanced at the stream of players entering from the main street and happened to spot Nie Yan walking amidst the crowd.

"He’s here,” Sleepy Fox declared to his teammates.

Without exception, every member of the team turned their gaze toward Nie Yan. None of them understood why their captain, Sleepy Fox, held this Thief in such high esteem. Who among them wasn’t a handpicked veteran elite? They were thoroughly unconvinced by this stranger.

Many of these members were unfamiliar with Nie Yan, some even expressing misgivings, but regardless of their opinion, all eyes were focused on him. However, even while under the scrutiny of their gazes, Nie Yan remained quite collected as he directly made his way to Sleepy Fox.

As soon as they made eye contact, Sleepy Fox acknowledged him with a slight nod. He could tell how much ability a person had from the way they carried themselves. Only by having self-confidence could a person achieve success.

"Expert, you’ve arrived!” Stone was the first one to step out and greet him.

"Mhm…” Nie Yan acknowledged Stone’s greeting, then turned to face Sleepy Fox. "We meet again.”

"Indeed,” answered Sleepy Fox.

Dusk was also there amongst the group. After running Treant Forest together, the two could be considered well acquainted, so he also stepped forward and greeted Nie Yan with a smile.

While the four chatted, the surrounding members were surprised to discover that, despite their captain being the prestigious guild leader of Holy Empire, Nie Yan’s presence was not the least bit inferior, as he spoke in neither a subservient nor overbearing tone. Not only this, but at many points in the conversation, he was the one taking the leading role. After witnessing such a scene unfold, the identity of this Thief once more became shrouded in a veil of mystery.

"I hear he’s some expert who’s already cleared Agmota Muddy Swamplands, and this time around, he’s only here to guide us through the dungeon.”

"How is that possible? In the entire server, there are only several dozen teams who’ve cleared Agmota Muddy Swamplands. Are you sure?”

"It should be, right..?” The person who spoke had never personally confirmed this fact, so his confident tone immediately faltered.

The members behind Sleepy Fox quietly discussed amongst themselves, occasionally stealing glances at the equipment on Nie Yan’s body in order to determine whether he had really cleared Agmota Muddy Swamplands only to quickly find themselves disappointed. He didn’t have a single piece of equipment on him that came from that dungeon, but that didn’t mean his equipment was ordinary either. In fact, it was quite extraordinary—this was undeniable.

"Brother Nie, will you be leading us through the dungeon this time around?” asked Sleepy Fox. He fixedly stared at Nie Yan as if he was trying to figure something out from the other party’s expression while even making conjectures about his background. Then, he lowered his gaze and glanced at the dagger by Nie Yan’s hip. He could discern that its quality was of at least Gold-grade.

Sleepy Fox’s words immediately attracted the attention of the members around him.

"It doesn’t matter to me. If you wish to lead, I’ll simply follow your pace. However, if you want me to guide all of you, beside first dibs on all Thief drops, I also want the Unknown Transfer Scroll that drops from the Manticore King,” Nie Yan calmly replied. It’s not as if he didn’t know Sleepy Fox was trying to probe him. He figured Sleepy Fox also wouldn’t be so rash as to easily hand over the leadership of this run to him.

What kind of arrogant tone is that? The members behind Sleepy Fox couldn’t help having this thought. Each and every one of them was filled with indignation. Just who the hell does this guy think he is?

Nie Yan acted as if he didn’t notice the uproar he caused and simply stared at Sleepy Fox while awaiting his response. If Sleepy Fox couldn’t make up his mind, he’d simply withdraw from this dungeon run and enter later with his own team.

Though, truthfully, the Unknown Transfer Scroll was an extremely attractive item that he’d like to obtain early on. Although it was just another consumable, to Nie Yan, it held incredible value!

Even though many of the members of the team doubted Nie Yan’s abilities, Dusk and Stone held their belief in him firm, and they quickly intervened to pacify their enraged teammates.

At this point in time, Sleepy Fox finally took notice of Nie Yan’s level. His heart shook in surprise, and he couldn’t help but recall what Stone had told him. When Stone first met him, Nie Yan had been a complete beginner, fresh at Level 0. Yet now, only several days later, Nie Yan had already reached Level 6 and caught up right to his footsteps. Wasn’t his levelling speed a bit too monstrous? When Nie Yan had informed them that he deleted his old character and restarted, he hadn’t really been convinced. However, the evidence in front of him clearly stated otherwise. Not to mention, if he didn’t delete and start over, how could he be so informed. How else would he be able to reach Level 6 in such a short period of time?

Perhaps Nie Yan really did have some ability.

Chapter 91 – Trembling Milo’s House

Sleepy Fox pondered for a moment before coming to a decision. He turned around and swept his strict gaze over each and every member, quelling the uproar with but a glance.

This very scene evidenced just how influential Sleepy Fox was to his team.

"Everyone, listen up! I’m going to dissolve our team and have Brother Nie invite you into his own. Today, he’ll be acting as the leader of this run in my stead,” informed Sleepy Fox to his team.

Another commotion erupted from the crowd as players looked at each other in dismay. For their captain to allow a complete stranger to lead them through a run, this was the first time such an event had ever occurred. What if he didn’t know what he was doing and caused them to wipe? If that happened, then wouldn’t they all end up losing twenty percent of their experience bar?!

"Captain, how is that alright? Please reconsider!”

"Yes, please reconsider! What’ll happen if we end up getting wiped?”

"Can we trust in his ability? Does he even have any?”

"If I say it’s alright, then it’s alright. Now enough chit chat, hurry up and accept the invite. I want you all to follow Brother Nie’s orders as if they were mine. If you still refuse to listen, then don’t blame me for kicking you out of the team. Also, to anyone who doesn’t put in their full effort and causes us to fail the run… Well, I’m sure you already understand what the consequences are,” Sleepy Fox replied sternly. He followed a simple principle: Those he felt were incompetent would never be relied upon, and those he relied upon would never be doubted! If Nie Yan was going to act as team captain, a role which required Sleepy Fox to put his faith in him, then he would grant him the highest authority.

After watching the video of him leading another team through Treant Forest, Sleepy Fox also felt a veil of mystery hanging over this person.

When their captain responded in such a way, they had no choice but to accept his decision, and the members who had expressed dissatisfaction promptly fell into silence. They all understood an order given by their captain could not be violated lest they be expelled from the guild. From the very beginning, Sleepy Fox had always ruled over his subordinates with an iron fist.

Nie Yan slightly nodded his head in approval. In both discipline and strength, Holy Empire’s elite team was far above Yu Lan’s (Blue Feather) team. The difference in atmosphere and quality was almost palpable. They certainly didn’t have a smug bastard like Chen Bo who put everyone beneath his eyes. Even though several Thieves were rather unhappy with their captain’s arrangements with Nie Yan, they absolutely wouldn’t dare to voice their dissatisfaction.

「System: Sleepy Fox has joined your team.」

「System: Flying Stone has joined your team.」

In a brief few moments, a thirty-player team was formed. Although Nie Yan was the captain of the team, it was still under Holy Empire’s name.

"Alright, now to inspect your stats. Mages, announce your magic damage; Fighters, announce your defense; and Priests, announce the strength of your Lesser Heal.”

And so, in a quick and orderly fashion, each member reported their respective stats. Nie Yan reviewed the information of these players. All of their equipment was excellent, and except for three players who were slightly lacking, everyone’s stats met the minimum requirements for clearing Agmota Muddy Swamplands on expert difficulty. Before they set off, Nie Yan ordered those three players to purchase a few scrolls.

"Is there anything else we need? We’ve already bought enough Anti-Paralysis Potions,” asked Sleepy Fox. He had a certain premonition, which made him believe Nie Yan wouldn’t merely be leading them through Agmota Muddy Swamplands on easy or normal. Otherwise, why else would he have had ordered some of their players buy scrolls to supplement their stats? Their team absolutely possessed the raw stats to conquer the dungeon on those difficulties without using such items.

"Which of you Fighters have Demoralizing Shout?” Nie Yan swept his gaze over the group but received no response.

"I have it,” Sleepy Fox answered. He felt bewildered and surprised by Nie Yan’s sudden question. Did clearing Agmota Muddy Swamplands really require such a high-level skill?

"Alright, not bad!” Nie Yan nodded. He didn’t explain himself and proceeded to the Priests. "How many of you have Dispel?”

All five Priests in the crowd promptly raised their hands in response.

Sleepy Fox did have some brains. He understood Dispel was extremely useful and didn’t spare expenses to obtain the skill for each of his Priests. Naturally, the only reason he could do so was because his guild had a strong foundation since even a single Dispel skill book cost quite a pretty penny.

"How many of your Paladins have Repel Evil?”

"One,” Sleepy Fox answered.

Nie Yan wrinkled his brows.

"It’s not enough?” asked Sleepy Fox after seeing Nie Yan’s change in expression.

"Then what about Remove Blind?”

"None.”

"We’ll need to purchase two Repel Evil skill books and a Remove Blind skill book then. It’s also best if you have your Shadow Priest learn Ensnare, but unfortunately, that skill book is a bit too rare. So even if we don’t have it, we’ll just have to make do.”

"I need to buy a few things. So once you find those items, notify me, and I’ll be over shortly,” Nie Yan just recalled there was an essential item required to clear the dungeon. Following the end of their conversation, he left the transfer point area and headed for the northeast district.

Nie Yan wanted to buy two different items that were exceedingly useful at this early of a stage in the game. If not for the dungeon run being moved to today, he would’ve nearly forgotten about it.

The northeast district of Calore was basically one giant slum, and rows of dilapidated buildings ran along every street and pathway. Just about any point in the slum was accessible through an alleyway. The infrastructure of the district was incredibly complex, resembling one giant labyrinth, and it was quite easy for players who entered the area to lose their way in these narrow paths. Even the largest streets were merely two meters across while the much more numerous alleyways could only fit a single person.

Nie Yan entered the winding and twisting paths of the district. The alleys were paved with slabs of stone while trash collected at the sides of the buildings.

I wonder if I’ll still able to find it, Nie Yan pondered.

Countless forks in the path connected with each to form one giant, confusing network. It had been quite a while since he last visited this area, so his memories of it had become fuzzy and indistinct. Though no matter how vague these recollections were, he could only rely on them and fumble his way through while hopefully going along the correct path toward his destination.

The location he seeked was extremely remote, so finding it wasn’t a simple matter, especially since he only remembered the general direction it was in.

Hidden within this slum was actually a secret shop. The items sold there were decent, but they were too expensive and were only useful at the lower levels. He himself had only been to this shop two or three times in his previous life, specifically when he planned to run Agmota Muddy Swamplands and needed to purchase the necessary items. This was the main reason why he had suddenly recalled the existence of this shop when they were about to run the dungeon.

He meandered around the alleys for ten minutes, taking a wrong turn several times, before finally finding a certain house. He gazed over at the plaque that hung over a giant wooden gate.

「TREMBLING MILO’S HOUSE」

I think it’s this place… Nie Yan was slightly hesitant. He vaguely recalled that it did seem to have such a name.

No, this should be the place, Nie Yan reassured himself. He slowly pushed opened the gate and entered the courtyard where he was greeted by the sight of a broken down thatch building.

His vague memories began clearing up. He had found the right place!

He walked past the dark hallways, down the staircase, and entered the basement. At the bottom, aged magic lamps shone through the darkness with a pale yellow glow.

Rather than saying this was a cellar, it was better to call it a display room for trash. The walls were lined with shelves that stocked with goods and various potion bottles filled with green, blue, red… liquids of all colours.

There, an unkempt old man with a scraggly beard in a worn robe was examining a potion bottle that he had just shaken in his hand. The old man noticed Nie Yan just as he walked down the staircase. "What do you want?” the old man greeted in a somewhat rude tone.

Then, a small window appeared in front of Nie Yan, displaying an assortment of special items.

Chapter 92 – Agmota

This old fogey had always been one to treat his customers in a cold and indifferent fashion, an attitude that hadn’t changed one bit since Nie Yan had first met him in the previous timeline. When he stumbled upon this shop by accident back then, his level was already in the thirties. The items sold there were low-level and overpriced, so he only shopped there once or twice to buy a few things. As a result, he only vaguely remembered the location of the shop.

Very few players were willing to put in the time and effort to explore this area due to its remoteness, meaning even fewer were aware of this old man’s existence. Perhaps aside from Nie Yan, no other players had yet to discover this shop, but this would change in the future. The slums of the northern district would be demolished and redeveloped into a new area for commerce. Despite that, Trembling Milo’s House would somehow persist through this process and remain in business. The new commercial area would bring in players which finally led to the public uncovering him. However, the new exposure didn’t stop this old man from continuing to price gouge his customers; thus, only well-off beginners would frequent the shop.

Nie Yan scanned over the merchandise listed in the window. The items he currently sought were two different scrolls and a particular pouch of dust: Web Scroll, Sheep Transformation Scroll, and Flash Powder.

He purchased ten pouches of Flash Powder for fifty coppers each, three Web Scrolls, and two Sheep Transformation Scrolls.

Milo was probably a Mage since he often created scrolls out of basic spells and offered them for sale. The scrolls Nie Yan bought contained Web and Sheep Transformation. Web was a spell that provided decent crowd control and could only be learned by Mages once they reached Level 10. The Web Scroll, however, could be activated by any player as soon as they hit Level 5. As for the Sheep Transformation spell, it couldn’t be learned until Level 20. Correspondingly, the requirements of the spell were also lowered in scroll form. The caveat being these scrolls came at a hefty price, costing two and three silvers respectively.

The prices of the scrolls increased accordingly with the usefulness of the spells they contained.

These items were so costly that even Nie Yan, who was filthy rich, would feel a slight ache in his heart when employing them. Thus, they would only be used sparingly; otherwise, he’d be spending more money than he earned. Outside of the major guilds, perhaps no other players were willing to purchase these things.

When Nie Yan thought back to the previous timeline, he remembered he had been penniless at this level. If he had been able to, he would have broken copper coins in half just to save a little money, so how would he have been willing to use such items? Fortunately, his present circumstances were substantially different, so much so that he could be described as rich and imposing.

After purchasing the items, he left Trembling Milo’s House and headed for the transfer point.

「We’ve gathered the skill books, and we’re all ready to set off. We’ll all need to hurry, though, since the servers go down in two hours,」Sleepy Fox messaged.

「I’ll be there shortly,」Nie Yan replied.

The return trip was much quicker, and he soon arrived at the transfer point.

"You’re here. Did you get what you needed?” Sleepy Fox greeted. He was quite curious. Just what did Nie Yan buy for him to take so long to return?

"Yeah, I got it.” Nie Yan nodded.

However, since Nie Yan didn’t bother explaining, he wouldn’t make any further inquiries.

With no other issues delaying them, everyone was ready to set off. Soon, the members of the team began stepping into the transfer point. Their destination was a small town called Nate, which meant "marshland settlement” in the Ancient Common language. Since the town was situated in a remote area, the price of the transfer was ten coppers per player.

Built in the middle of the marsh, Nate was besieged by poisonous beasts almost daily. This environment tempered the residents of the settlement into strong hunters, as evidenced by the ones who regularly passed through the town entrance, carrying crossbows along with the day’s hunt. The town’s main source of income came from selling these animal products, so the goods that could be purchased from the shops were mostly claws, fur pelts, and other items along these lines. In addition, materials of much higher quality would spring up for sale every once in a while, making this place a paradise for players who focused on a crafting profession such as Tailoring.

After arriving in the town, Nie Yan and company didn’t dally, promptly heading to the quest giver.

Unlike in Calore, the players on the street didn’t seem too surprised by the emergence of Nie Yan, Sleepy Fox, and the rest. Since many major guilds passed through this town en route to Agmota Muddy Swamplands, such a strong entourage of players was no strange sight to them.

While walking through the town, Nie Yan and the others arrived at the entrance of an imposing manor. Not only was this the most luxurious home in town, possessing a style that befitted a residence constructed in the marshland, it also stood atop a small hill, filled with vibrant, lush willows and other plant life as it overlooked the rest of the town. A small path cut across the hill; despite its winds and curves, it lead directly to the manor.

All of the team members halted their steps and gazed at Nie Yan.

"I’ll go receive the quest,” Nie Yan announced to the team and then walked over to the entrance gates.

After pushing open the metal gate, he proceeded along the path and shortly arrived at the manor’s doors. Then, he entered the building and walked straight past a luxurious looking living room, through a long a winding hallway, and into a dusky bedroom. Upon reaching his destination, he found an old man lying in bed, surrounded by numerous servants and townsfolk who stared at him with worried expressions. His complexion was sickly, and it looked like he was on his last breath.

"Mayor Monda was inflicted with the King Manticore’s poison. If we don’t find an antidote soon, he’ll…”

"Ross! Stop speaking drivel!”

"I-I’m sorry…”

"Sigh… It’s fine. At this point, the only thing that can save the mayor’s life is the King Manticore’s eye.”

「System: You’ve arrived at Mayor Monda’s residence and accidentally overheard some discussion. The mayor has been poisoned by the King Manticore. The vile creatures of the marsh have taken many innocent lives.」

「System: Are you willing to save Mayor Monda by slaying the King Manticore and retrieving its eye?」

Yes!

「System: You speak out and agree to save the mayor’s life. The townsfolk and servants cast a grateful gaze. You’ve received their respect. Your Influence in Nate has increased by 3.」

Players received three Influence when accepting the Agmota Muddy Wetlands quest for the first time. Subsequent attempts would garner no further benefits.

「System: Explore the Agmota Muddy Wetlands in search of the King Manticore. Please select a difficulty. (Easy, Normal, Hard, Expert, Specialist)」

Specialist!

「System: You’ve selected Specialist. All members will have their stats increased by 10%. Withdrawing from this instance is not possible.」

Once the quest was accepted, the team was not allowed to get into conflict with other players. In return, they received the protection of the town. So, if they were provoked by other players, the guards would come forward in their aid.

After receiving the quest, Nie Yan walked out of Mayor Monda’s manor. If they completed the quest, they could return here to receive a certain reward.

Seeing Nie Yan come out of the gates, Sleepy Fox walked forward to greet him. "Specialist? Are you confident we can beat it?”

"It should be fine,” Nie Yan replied. More accurately, it should be fine as long as no accidents occurred.

As usual, Nie Yan’s habit of not explaining things gave Sleepy Fox a headache. He simply couldn’t understand this person’s way of thinking. In comparison, Dusk was much more confident about this run. Although Agmota Muddy Wetlands was several tiers higher than Treant Forest in terms of difficulty, he still held absolute faith in Nie Yan’s skills.

The teammates who were unaware of the circumstances also felt shocked. Why was it Specialist? They all believed this had to be some sort of mistake. They had already run Agmota Muddy Wetlands three times but failed to clear it even once. In one of the runs, they had managed to reach the King Manticore, only to be defeated miserably shortly after. Their main tank possessed over one hundred and thirty defense and over three hundred and sixty health. Although these stats couldn’t be considered the best, they were still top-tier. In spite of this, the King Manticore demolished their frontline in a matter of seconds. Even now, the only reason they were willing to make another attempt was because their Priests had recently learned Radiant Barrier, a spell that could shield an ally from incoming damage.

Yet Nie Yan, in all his overbearing arrogance, had actually decided to pick Specialist. How could they not be incensed? It was fine if he wanted to court death, but why did he have to drag them along with him!?

Despite this, they had no choice but to swallow their indignation. The quest difficulty had already been selected, and there was no way to withdraw. Moreover, their guild leader, Sleepy Fox, hadn’t voiced his opinion on the matter. Thus, they could only wait and see how this situation developed.

Chapter 93 – King Manticore

Nie Yan and the others walked along the trail that cut through the marsh and advanced south. As dusk encroached, the scenery around them gradually grew darker. They encountered few players enroute to the dungeon, so much of the journey was uneventful and even somewhat bleak.

After several minutes, Nie Yan and company arrived at a checkpoint in the middle of the trail. Just ahead were two watchtowers, one erected on each side of the path, and stationed in each of them was a crossbow-carrying NPC guard.

"Beyond this point is the King Manticore’s territory. This is a forbidden area, so please turn back,” one of the guards called out.

"We’re adventures who wish to proceed to Agmota. We’re seeking to slay the King Manticore and retrieves its eye in order to treat Mayor Monda’s poison,” Nie Yan replied in a tone that was standard for advancing the quest.

"So it was like this… Brave adventures, the King Manticore is a dangerous and vile creature. I advise you to bring items that can cure paralysis,” forewarned the guard. "The mayor’s life is at stake, so I hope your mission ends in success!” The two guards allowed Nie Yan and the rest of the team to pass.

As soon as he stepped past the watchtowers, the entire team was transported inside the instance.

On arrival, an intense stench of blood and decay assaulted their noses as it freely permeated the air. Numerous corpses scattered the bog; some were fresh while others had completely rotted away, leaving only skeletal remains behind. The temperature plummeted, steeply, turning the atmosphere to one of cold and gloom. Suffice to say, the environment inside the dungeon was noticeably different from the one outside.

Signs of death could be seen everywhere across this long stretch of marsh.

Ahead of Nie Yan and the team was a small den. Manticores usually gathered in prides, so their dens often contained ten to several dozen individuals. Some were tasked with hunting prey, and others stayed behind to rear the young. Prides were headed by an Alpha Manticore, a Leader-class monster, while the rest of the pride consisted of females and the young. Manticores were monsters possessing the head and body of a lion and a scorpion’s poisonous tail. If struck by the stinger at the end of their tails, the player would become poisoned and lose a certain amount of health each second. Furthermore, there was also a chance of paralysis. Therefore, if the player didn’t bring Anti-Paralysis Potions, they would end up maimed to death before the poison had any meaningful effect.

For the most part, as long as the team’s Fighters made sure to cure their paralysis as soon they were inflicted with it, no problems should arise.

"How many Manticores do you think are in that den?”

"I already investigated. They number around sixteen,” Nie Yan replied. Since he was already at the front of the group, he had taken the initiative to survey their surroundings.

"Sixteen!? Oh my God!”

"When we ran it on Easy or Normal, the most we’d ever get was a group of five or six…”

All of the team members wore expressions of dismay. Manticores, with their high health, were notoriously difficult to deal with. This held even truer for the Alpha Manticore who was several times more powerful than their normal counterparts. Even on lower difficulties, they often faced great peril whenever they encountered a group of five or six Manticores. If they were careless for even a moment, their team would end up surrounded and killed.

Yet that den had sixteen of them! Even if they had received a ten percent stat boost, it was still impossible for them to deal with so many Manticores.

Nie Yan activated Transcendent Insight to examine the pride.

Alpha Manticore (Leader): Level 3

Health: 1830/1830

Manticore: Level 3

Health: 620/620

Although only one of the Manticores was a Leader-class monster, since Nie Yan and the team had entered the dungeon on Specialist, even the common mobs would have their health, defense, and other stats increased significantly, so if all of those Manticores came charging over, the team would undoubtedly end up wiping in an instant.

"The Manticores move as a group. Do you have any plans?” asked Sleepy Fox after he turned to Nie Yan. He had to admit, Nie Yan’s use of the crossbow in Treant Forest was ingenius, but that kind of tactic might not necessarily work against these Manticores.

The slow witted Treants simply weren’t on the same level as Manticores.

"If I entrusted this task to you, how would you deal with this?” replied Nie Yan with a question of his own.

Sleepy Fox wrinkled his brows. He wasn’t willing to show weakness in front of Nie Yan, so after pondering for a moment, he replied, "I’ve got an idea.”

Despite there being so many Manticores, he actually thought up a plan? It seems I’ve been underestimating him.

"Oh? How do you plan on clearing the den? Let’s go with your plan first, and I’ll follow along. Just tell me what I need to do,” Nie Yan replied before retreating to the side. He was trying to think of a way to gain the team’s trust. Otherwise, players might not follow his instructions correctly during tense situations. If that were to frequently occur, they’d have no hope of overcoming the King Manticore.

In the event Sleepy Fox’s plan failed to subjugate the Manticore and he acted afterwards, the team would naturally be more willing to accept his orders. On the flipside, if Sleepy Fox did actually succeed, he would be saved the effort of doing the work himself.

"Alright.” Sleepy Fox thought for a while, then began arranging the members into formation. The foe was a pride of sixteen Manticores, so naturally, he was still somewhat nervous. After he was done, he faced Nie Yan and said, "None of my teammates are comparable to you, so I’ll have to trouble you with aggroing the Manticores."

Nie Yan inspected Sleepy Fox’s arrangements. The formation took advantage of the boulders and trees in the vicinity by positioning the frontliners in a chokepoint. The Mages were safe, as they occupied the high ground. The Priests were well-hidden and stood in relatively safe spots in the rear, while the Paladins were positioned directly behind the frontliners, ready to provide assistance at any time.

It appeared Sleepy Fox did have some skill in arranging his troops. The current formation was capable of dealing enormous amounts of damage.

"Are you confident we can succeed?” Nie Yan asked in a worried tone. Although the formation was formidable, in a direct confrontation, the end result would still be their defeat. Why was he so sure that this formation would hold up against so many Manticores at once? Unless… maybe he had a hidden card of some sort? If so, Nie Yan was curious to see. After all, this was Holy Empire’s elite team. How could they not have a few tricks up their sleeves?

Sleepy Fox gave a confident nod.

"Alright, I’ll aggro them over,” Nie Yan replied. He then drew closer to the den, with crossbow in hand, and found a suitable vantage point to shoot from.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Several bolts fired from the crossbow. Two bolts struck trees at the far rear of the den, and a split second later, the third bolt landed on the Manticore closest to them.

The third bolt aggroed three Manticores over to Nie Yan while the rest of the pride was momentarily distracted by the sounds in the rear. However, after noticing three of their members charging in the opposite direction, they also stormed towards him.

"Not bad!” Sleepy Fox hardly held back on his praise. Nie Yan’s movements were swift and agile, he had sharp senses, and he possessed techniques that were extremely unique and innovative.

Sleepy Fox inwardly schemed. If he were to offer, would Nie Yan be willing to join his guild? Once Nie Yan became his subordinate, he would definitely receive a prominent position in Holy Empire. However, after getting more familiar with him, he vaguely sensed Nie Yan wasn’t the sort of person who would agree to lodge under another person’s roof. In other words, Nie Yan probably preferred to lead instead of being led.

When Nie Yan returned, the three Manticores also followed.

"Violent Waves, block them!” Sleepy Fox ordered. Violent Waves Rampant Surge was the number one Fighter in Holy Empire, his role being the team’s main tank. In the previous timeline, he was also considered a remarkable player. However, he and the other outstanding members were mostly overshadowed by the brilliance of their guild leader. One had to know, when Sleepy Fox retrieved the Chapter of Courage, he had eventually reached the apex and obtained the entire Holy Viridian set. From then on, only a scarce few players were able to rival him. As a consequence, many of the outstanding members serving under him ended up being overlooked. However, without an elite team supporting him in the shadows, how could a player like Sleepy Fox grow to be so powerful?

Chapter 94 – Templar Magic

Violent Waves Rampant Surge stepped forward and intercepted one of the Manticores. He opened with Heroic Strike followed by Shield Bash. As soon as they witnessed their companion being attacked, the other two Manticores immediately switched targets and joined the fray. Against all three Manticores, Violent Waves raised his golden tower shield and firmly defended against their assault.

His movements were extremely nimble and adept, especially for a Fighter. However, if he didn’t at least possess this little bit of skill, how could he have received the role of main tank in Holy Empire’s elite team?

A line of damage values rose above Violent Waves as he endured the relentless onslaught of the Manticores. Soon, a gentle radiance enveloped him, replenishing a large portion of his missing health.

His health bar continued to fluctuate as the battle raged on. Though, ultimately, the Priests weren’t able to keep pace as his health fell progressively lower. It appeared even Holy Empire’s best Fighter wasn’t able to endure against these fierce attacks.

The rest of the frontliners, which included Sleepy Fox, rushed forward and entered the battle in order to alleviate some of the pressure.

"Remember to use Anti-Paralysis Potions!”

"Understood!” Violent Waves replied.

Meanwhile, the Mages in the rear were emitting a brilliant radiance as magical energies coalesced. Some were still channeling high-level magic while others had already finished and were firing off their spells.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Magic bombarded the Manticores and instantly obliterated the one they first engaged.

Nie Yan circled behind one of the two remaining Manticores and assailed it with Concussive Blow followed by Vital Strike.

−103

−123

"Holy shit! What kind of damage is that!?” Many of the team members felt their minds turn to mush. Were those really the attacks of a Thief? Why did they seem so much fiercer than some of the attacks of the Warriors in the team?

From their perspectives, Warriors naturally had the higher attack because Thieves accounted for it with high attack speed. This was common sense. So, when they saw Nie Yan deal so much damage, they were astonished.

While dual-wielding daggers, Nie Yan possessed both high attack speed and high damage. This combination was simply too overpowered!

「Thud! Thud!」With that, the remaining two Manticores collapsed on the ground. The entire team worked with quick efficiency, so even by Nie Yan’s standards, he still had nothing to complain about.

After the first three Manticores were killed, the other thirteen had finally arrived.

All six frontliners, Sleepy Fox included, readied themselves to engage the Manticores. Directly behind them were the Paladins. Since they were a profession that wore plate armour, they could occasionally serve as frontliners as well. Moreover, Paladins with good equipment possessed defenses no lower than a Fighter’s.

"Dammit, these Manticores deal a lot of damage. Violent Waves, try to hold off that Alpha Manticore,” Sleepy Fox ordered. As their guild leader, even he felt incredibly nervous when he saw Violent Waves’ health continuously fall lower and lower. Needless to say, the other.team members weren’t faring much better.

The amount of damage these Manticores could dish out exceeded Sleepy Fox’s expectations. Even though there had been just three of them, they were barely able to cope with it. Yet now, there were thirteen of them. Thankfully he placed their formation in a choke point; otherwise, if so many powerful Manticores were allowed to freely get to their backline, he imagined the consequences would be disastrous.

It was probably a bad idea to continue gauging a Specialist dungeon by using their experiences on Normal.

"Cold Maple, cast Scorching Meteor. Otherwise, it’ll be too late,” Sleepy Fox declared solemnly. The healers were under far too much pressure. Even the slightest mistake could lead to serious consequences. He didn’t dare to dally any longer. He had to play all of the cards in his hand.

Wait, what? Scorching Meteor? Templar Magic?

"Wai-!”

Nie Yan wanted to stop him, but it was too late. That Holy Mage called Cold Maple had already taken out a golden coloured talisman and begun chanting the spell.

Ahh, what a waste! Why would you use Templar Magic in this kind of place! Nie Yan felt quite annoyed. If he had known they had such a spell in their arsenal, he would’ve prevented them from using it until the boss. The King Manticore was the most dangerous when it reached critical health, so the burst damage of a spell like Scorching Meteor would’ve been perfect for such a situation. Not only would it have saved them much time and effort, it would have also prevented potential casualties. However, by now, it was too late. The spell had already begun channeling; even if it was cancelled, it would still go on cooldown.

Out of the many classifications of magic, there were over several that were considered the strongest. They comprised Humanity’s Templar Magic, Giant’s Kasate Magic, Beastmen’s Berserk Magic, Elves’ Lunar Spirit Magic, Demons’ Black Magic, Undead’s Fate Magic, and a few others. Furthermore, there were also powerful magics just a tier lower such as Elemental Temple Magic, Undead Temple Magic, and so on. Each one possessed cultural and regional characteristics and was tied rather closely to the religion of the players.

There was no doubt that all of these magics were incredibly powerful.

Templar Magic was also divided into sixteen ranks.

Scorching Meteor was classified as the weakest rank one Templar Magic. Make no mistake, just because it was the weakest Templar Magic didn’t mean it was actually weak. Among the spells available to the current playerbase, Scorching Meteor was an exceedingly formidable skill. Its cooldown was two days, and the requisites for casting it were notoriously harsh.

The spell required a Templar Talisman that needed to be prepared in advance, which meant inscribing and imbuing. It would take nearly an hour to inscribe a spell like Scorching Meteor onto a talisman. Then, for there to be sufficient energy to power the spell, the talisman needed to be imbued with mana. Even the most common rank one spells required at least a thousand or more mana points. In other words, for a player like Cold Maple, he would have to drain at least three bars worth of mana to cast the spell.

Moreover, after casting Scorching Meteor, the spell required two entire days for it to be cast again. So, it seemed quite obvious that this spell shouldn’t be used rashly.

Naturally, Templar Magic wasn’t easily obtainable. A single skill book could cost upwards of one gold or more. Moreover, just because someone had the money didn’t mean it was necessarily purchasable.

Sleepy Fox had ordered Cold Maple to cast the spell. The main reason was because the situation seemed desperate, but the other reason was because he wanted to show Nie Yan his power and wealth.

After all, very few teams possessed spells as powerful as Templar Magic.

Under the ferocious assault of the Manticores, Sleepy Fox and the other frontliners were gradually being pushed back as they tried to buy as much time as possible.

Ten seconds. Twenty seconds. Thirty seconds. Scorching Meteor required three sets of syllables to invoke. Finally, the golden talisman in Cold Maple’s hand emitted a dazzling brilliance, whereupon a giant, scorching sphere emerged in the sky and burst into countless white meteors that streaked toward the Manticores.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」The meteors fell like rain as they battered the earth below.

−302, −321, −301, −310, −310… A stream of damage values rose into the sky. Each meteor blossomed into beautiful fireworks of light, resembling white lotuses as they bloomed into the open air.

After the third wave of meteors, almost all of the Manticores were killed. The only one remaining was the Alpha Manticore, but the meteors continued to fall. 「Bang! Bang! Bang!」After the fifth wave, even the Alpha Manticore was on its last legs.

The frontliners charged forward, and due to it being severely weakened, the Mages easily finished it off with another round of attacks.

Were it not for Scorching Meteor, they would have had a very tough time dealing with the Alpha Manticore. Perhaps without it, their team would have even been wiped out.

The area in front of them was littered with Manticore corpses. The several Thieves in the team walked over and began retrieving and sorting the dropped items.

"So, what do you think of that spell?” Sleepy Fox asked. He felt somewhat smug, but he didn’t reveal it in his expression. After all, he believed there was a chance Nie Yan hadn’t seen such a powerful spell before. He might have even broadened Nie Yan’s horizons.

Nie Yan forced out a smile. "Why did you have to use Templar Magic here. It’s simply too wasteful, don’t you think? If that had been your secret plan all along, what’s going to happen when we encounter the next den?”

Nie Yan wasn’t some newbie who just joined the game. His experiences far exceeded Sleepy Fox’s wildest imaginations, so he hadn’t been the least bit surprised, much less impressed, by a rank one Templar Magic like Scorching Meteor.

In fact, he was incredibly vexed and disappointed. Sleepy Fox using Templar Magic here was complete overkill. By the time they encountered the next den, not only would they not have the spell as back up, they would be stuck with no way to advance!

Sleepy Fox felt slightly embarrassed after listening to Nie Yan’s comments. If there were another way, he also wouldn’t have been willing to use Templar Magic, but their previous situation had been dire. Furthermore, the other reason he decided to use the spell was because he wanted to impress Nie Yan. Unfortunately, he garnered the complete opposite reaction and criticism instead, with Nie Yan identifying the spell as Templar Magic with just a single glance. Not only that, but Nie Yan seemed to know much more than him. Just who in the world was this person?

Chapter 95 – Convinced

"But if we didn’t use Scorching Meteor, the team would have definitely been wiped. How else are we supposed to deal with so many Manticores at once?” Sleepy Fox asked. He didn’t quite believe Nie Yan could clear such a large den of Manticores without the use of large-scale magic.

"We could’ve cleared it without wasting Scorching Meteor, but my method requires an extremely skilled Thief,” Nie Yan replied. Since he dared to bring them into a Specialist dungeon, naturally, it meant he knew how to clear the dens. Spells like Scorching Meteor were only one-offs since they couldn’t be repeatedly cast during a run.

Sleepy Fox didn’t reply; instead, he stayed taciturn and sunk into deep thought. If Nie Yan really could clear such a large den of Manticores by relying solely on skill and this current group of players, wouldn’t that mean Nie Yan was more capable of leading the team than him, their captain and guild leader?

"Alright, then let’s try your way out,” conceded Sleepy Fox, finally breaking his silence. He wasn’t a narrow-minded person who only cared about his reputation. If there was someone more capable, he would readily submit. He admired those who possessed ability and talent. And in Holy Empire, players who were more talented than him in one aspect or another could be found everywhere, yet he still remained as the guild leader!

"Captain! A piece of Gold equipment dropped!” one of the members called out in a pleasantly surprised tone.

"What kind of equipment? Come here and show me,” Sleepy Fox replied.

Sleepy Fox, Nie Yan, and the others examined the piece of equipment. It belonged to the Priest’s Divine Blessing set.

"Don’t get too excited yet. Out of all the current dungeons, Agmota Muddy Wetlands on Specialist has the highest drop rate for top-quality equipment, so one dropping here isn’t all that strange. Just wait a bit, you’ll be seeing much more equipment of this quality or higher the further we get into the run,” Nie Yan said. He was quite accustomed to seeing equipment of this quality. After all, in comparison to Legendary equipment, they were no different from other ordinary drops.

As for how the team would decide who this piece of equipment went to had nothing to do with him, since by the end of the run, he would receive his promised share regardless.

Beside being knowledgeable and experienced, Sleepy Fox sensed Nie Yan was also quite self-reliant. These types of people were the most difficult to recruit as subordinates since they didn’t like being ordered around. It seemed roping Nie Yan into Holy Empire wasn’t going to be as easy as he initially thought.

Sleepy Fox gave the set item to one of the stronger Priests, and with that, they then set out for the next area.

Not much time passed before they encountered another den. This one was roughly the same size as the one from earlier which contained seventeen Manticores.

Sleepy Fox turned Nie Yan and said, "Let’s see your method now.”

Nie Yan nodded and scanned the surrounding terrain for a suitable location. Under his command, he and the other Thieves in the team, numbered from one to three, set out to their specified positions.

These four soon arrived in their designated positions and took up a square formation. Then, Nie Yan proceeded to explain in detail what role each member would have.

The Manticores lazily roamed the area around their den, completely oblivious to the players who were lurking nearby and eying them like prey.

「Remember, don’t tangle with them. Run away as soon as you see them aggro onto you. Don’t dally either. They’re too fast for you. If you’re even a second too slow, you won’t be able to get away,」Nie Yan carefully reminded.

After listening to these instructions, Sleepy Fox suddenly had a flash of insight. It seemed Nie Yan planned on splitting the Manticores into more manageable groups. The only problem was the other Thieves in the team were simply too slow. Pulling these Manticores exceeded their abilities.

Although these Thieves were able to evade the Manticores for a period of time, they definitely couldn’t do it forever, and even then, it wouldn’t be for that long. Eventually, they would get overtaken, and then they would be screwed.

When the other Thieves finished their preparations, Nie Yan announced through the intercom,「Once we begin, don’t stray from my commands.」

The three Thieves were completely focused. All of them took a deep breath when they saw Nie Yan take out his crossbow and aim at the Alpha Manticore.

Eh…? They’re not all attacking together? Sleepy Fox was a bit taken by surprise.

As Nie Yan peered through the sight, he lined up the target and fired.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Three bolts flew through the air before striking the Alpha Manticore. Immediately, after being attacked, the Manticore discovered the location of its assailant. It roared in indignation then pounced toward him.

The numerous common Manticores also followed closely from behind. Upon seeing this, Nie Yan turned tail and fled.

He actually dared to take on all the aggro by himself? How courageous, Sleepy Fox thought. If Nie Yan didn’t have complete confidence in his ability, there was no way he would even attempt to take on such a difficult task that was tantamount to throwing his life away.

「Number Three, attack the three Manticores at the rear!」Nie Yan yelled through the intercom. Number Three didn’t dare to idle any longer and immediately drew the string back on his short bow and shot out three arrows.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」The arrows whistled in the air and hit their respective targets, one manticore each.

Upon being attacked, the three Manticores in the rear diverted their aggro, separated from the group, and began pursuing the Thief with the short bow instead.

The Thief hastily retreated to the forces waiting at the sidelines and pulled the Manticores along with him.

Nie Yan was madly dashing through the bog, inwardly counting the seconds as they passed. Three… Two… One…「Number Two, go for the next three!」

Number Two didn’t delay and shot three arrows at the three rearmost Manticores. Thus, another three were peeled off from the main group.

Since the Thieves would only pull three at a time, the frontliners didn’t feel too much pressure and were able to easily hold them off. Therefore, the Mages could freely fire their spells, requiring only three rounds to kill the Manticores.

Nie Yan ran like the wind as he continuously evaded the pursuit of the Manticores. Thanks to his speed and agility making him as slippery as a loach, their attacks would always fail to hit their target. It appeared even if they were given all the time in the world, these Manticores still wouldn’t be able to touch a single hair on his head.

While Nie Yan was distracting the main group, the three Thieves took turns in aggroing a few Manticores at a time. As they pulled three Manticores off of the main group with each rotation, they gradually shaved down what was once a formidable pride.

Spells fell like rain as the Manticores dropped like flies. Nie Yan’s method was undoubtedly a success. However, it could only be accomplished by a Thief with excellent fleeing abilities and spatial awareness. If someone else were to attempt this strategy, they definitely wouldn’t have the ability to pull it off and would only end up as food for the Manticores.

"Damn, he’s really fast!” Sleepy Fox couldn’t help but exclaim. He watched as Nie Yan made fools out of these Manticores while running circles around them.

"Guild Leader, who the hell is this guy!?”

The members in the team couldn’t help but wonder. Just where did their guild leader find such an obscenely overpowered Thief?

"Shut up! Stop slacking!” Sleepy Fox shouted.

The chattering immediately stopped, and they immediately focused their attention back onto the incoming Manticores, not daring to utter a single additional word. After several rounds, another wave was annihilated.

"Shit! I’m out of mana.”

"Use a Mana Potion!”

On the third wave, Sleepy Fox was shocked to discover that each time they had finished one wave, another Thief would arrive with three Manticores in tow. In neither a slow nor rushed pace, the next wave would always arrive in a timely manner.

Sleepy Fox was left speechless by Nie Yan’s impeccable timing.

None of the players here were fools. They all understood how challenging of a task it was to evade such a large group of Manticores. Their hearts were only filled with admiration, and they no longer dared to look down on him like they did when he arrived.

Initially, none of the members were convinced Nie Yan would be able to guide them through Agmota Muddy Wetlands. Now, however, they were convinced of his ability.

Chapter 96 – King Manticore

Speaking truthfully, the pressure Nie Yan felt while evading these Manticores was immense, but such actions were required for the sake of convincing the team of his ability, which was also why he refrained from using the items he purchased beforehand.

The Alpha Manticore was much faster than its brethren. So despite the use of a Haste Scroll, it eventually closed the distance and leaped forward.

As it pounced toward him, baring its fangs and claws, Nie Yan suddenly dodge rolled the fatal attack that was mere inches from taking off his head.

A bright blue light trailed behind the Alpha Manticore as it swiped only thin air. In spite of its quick attack speed, Nie Yan had avoided the attack in a timely manner, resulting in its massive frame barrelling past him.

Nie Yan quickly recovered from the roll and fled in a different direction.

This bold display of skill, where he was merely an inch away from death, left the onlookers endlessly shocked and excited. Nie Yan was truly a fearless person for daring to perform such a risky maneuver.

Upon landing, the Alpha Manticore veered its body and then continued after Nie Yan.

In order to keep buying more time for the rest of the team, Nie Yan deliberately ran in a zigzag pattern.

Every six to eight seconds, the three rearmost Manticores pursuing Nie Yan would be peeled from the main group. The formidable group of Manticores gradually dwindled until only the Alpha Manticore and an ordinary Manticore remained.

If not for the team members being there to personally witness it themselves, they would never believe a single Thief could be capable of evading such a large pride of Manticores for so long, especially one with an Alpha Manticore leading the chase.

At this moment, no member in Sleepy Fox’s team dared to call his ability into question. They finally understood their captain taking the time to invite Nie Yan and even conceding leadership of the run to him wasn’t without reason!

A player of Nie Yan caliber was definitely deserving of such consideration!

Despite there being no real evidence, Sleepy Fox surmised Nie Yan was quite possibly a member of a powerful team that must have already beaten Agmota Muddy Wetlands on Specialist difficulty before; otherwise, Nie Yan wouldn’t be so familiar with luring such a large pride of Manticores. Assuming this conjecture was true, didn’t that signify the strength of Nie Yan’s team had already reached a terrifying level?

With each and every revelation, Nie Yan’s origins were becoming more and more mysterious.

Never in his wildest dreams would he think that Nie Yan was actually someone who had reincarnated into the past. Nie Yan did indeed beat Agmota Muddy Wetlands on Specialist difficulty, but that was in the previous timeline where walkthroughs for all low-level dungeons were widespread and publicly available. By then, the number of teams that had cleared the Specialist dungeons were as numerous as the grains of sand on a beach shore.

As Sleepy Fox pondered over this matter, he saw Nie Yan leading the remaining Manticores over to them.

"Everyone, get ready for battle!” Sleepy Fox hurriedly announced. The Leader-class Manticore was still going to be rather difficult to deal with.

Violent Waves raised his shield and ran over to intercept the Alpha Manticore.

Though, before he could reach Nie Yan, the Alpha Manticore suddenly pounced.

"Watch out!” several people cried out in alarm.

Seeing as Nie Yan about to be killed, many members couldn’t bear to watch any longer. It appeared, even after persisting for long, he was still going to fall at the final stretch.

In that instant, as if he had grown eyes at the back of his head, Nie Yan suddenly pivoted his foot and dodged to the side.

The abrupt change in direction resulted in the Alpha Manticore’s claw harmlessly brushing past him.

Sleepy Fox and a few other who witnessed the scene all broke out into a cold sweat. The attack had missed by just the tiniest fraction of an inch. However, it was this small gap—this line of demarcation—that represented the pinnacle of skill.

Unlike the others, Nie Yan wore an expression of complete calm on his face despite having been just a hair’s breadth away from death; he acted as if such a haggaring situation was merely an everyday occurrence.

"Shield Bash!” Violent Waves rammed his shield into the Alpha Manticore and helped take aggro off of Nie Yan. Following immediately after were the numerous spells arriving from the rear line.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」They bombarded the Alpha Manticore’s body as damage values rose above its head.

Meanwhile, another Fighter charged ahead and took the aggro of the other Manticore, assuring it wouldn’t attack anyone else.

During all this, Nie Yan circled behind the Alpha Manticore and unleashed a chain of attacks.

−67

−73

−78

The damage Nie Yan dealt was quite considerable, causing the Alpha Manticore’s aggro to switch back to him. However, a moment later, Violent Waves let out an ear piercing roar that carried an intimidating force.

Demoralizing Shout!

The shout resulted in the Alpha Manticore immediately halting its movements. Then, in response, it turned back to Violent Waves and furiously started attacking him once more.

Demoralizing Shout was able to intimidate a monster for several seconds and interrupt their attack. At the same time, it was also able to attract aggro. This was the bread-and-butter within the toolkit Fighters had at their disposal to pull monsters.

Since the Alpha Manticore had become isolated, the battle was much easier and ended without much suspense. Under the constant barrage of spells, the Alpha Manticore was quickly, and simply, blasted into smithereens.

After collapsing onto the ground, the Alpha Manticore dropped a piece of a Silver equipment for Paladins.

Unfortunately, in a Specialist dungeon, getting a Silver equipment drop seemed a bit lackluster.

They really could clear an entire Manticore den without the need for Scorching Meteor. Completely amazed at this fact, Sleep Fox was now thoroughly convinced Nie Yan’s skills were beyond exceptional. He was an incredibly talented player. Sleepy Fox really wanted to recruit him into the guild and even offered very generous conditions, but he was tactfully refused. Now, since it appeared Nie Yan becoming his subordinate was unrealistic, he decided the next best plan was to maintain a friendly relationship.

Afterward, the team proceeded to clear over a dozen dens of similar size. Sleepy Fox was the first to reach Level 7 while the other members followed in succession. Seeing everyone else level up, Nie Yan glanced at his experience bar. He was still thirty-five percent away from levelling up, so he wasn’t far off either. During this period of time, where they cleared den after den, Sleepy Fox and his team acquired many good pieces of equipment. Among them was a pair of Thief Gold-grade leg guards: Strength +10, Balance +6. It could be considered decent and was better than the ones he had currently equipped, so Nie Yan directly took it. With the events that had transpired, the other Thieves in the team no longer had the courage to quibble with Nie Yan over it either. Regardless, by the end, the entire team had upgraded their gear in one way or another.

Nie Yan calculated in his head. From this run alone, he would receive at least ten or so silvers. Although it wasn’t much, it was still better than nothing.

Continuously employing the same tactics, Nie Yan and the team gradually approached the King Manticore’s den which was located at the center of the marsh. It was wide open space with many Manticores roaming around with roughly sixty to seven of them. If one looked into the distance, over a hundred meters a way, they would catch sight of a gigantic, golden-maned Manticore wandering about. It was many times larger and significantly more muscular than the other Manticores around it. This was the one and only King Manticore.

"If only we had Scorching Meteor for this boss…” Sleepy Fox mumbled in embarrassment. He couldn’t help but feel regret over wasting it in such a rash manner so early in the run.

"No worries, the area here is big enough that we can lure the Manticores without attracting the attention of the others. The only difficult part is actually killing the King Manticore. It’s Lord-class,” Nie Yan said. The boss’ Easy and Normal difficulty counterparts were Sub-Elites while the Hard and Expert ones were Elites. Only in Specialist would the players have to confront the Lord variant of the boss.

Although the Specialist counterpart was rather difficult to beat, the quality of the drops scaled accordingly with the increase in difficulty. Naturally, the kind of equipment that could be retrieved from this boss was on an entirely different level than ones from its lower difficulty counterparts. At the very least, an item of Gold-grade would drop, and occasionally, a Dark-Gold item would drop as well. Besides equipment, the boss also frequently dropped special items such as gems, special crafting materials, and unique consumables.

Chapter 97 – Fog And Lighthouse

"Still, if it weren’t for your help, we would’ve never made it here,” Sleepy Fox said.

During the journey, many members started to view Nie Yan in a different light. Their gazes were still filled with a complicated emotion, but more than anything, they were feeling deep admiration. Now, they heeded his every word with almost absolute faith. His leadership had borne excellent results.

The fact he was able to bring them to this point alone was already ample proof of his ability to command.

People like Nie Yan were destined to become legends.

"Brother Nie, are you absolutely certain you don’t wish to join our guild? Even among the other guilds, our Holy Empire is ranked quite highly. If Brother Nie is willing to join, then our treatment would be just as good as, if not better than, the other guilds’. If that still isn’t enticing enough, then how about you enter our guild as an honorary member for now? You won’t even be obligated to do anything. All we’ll ask is that you keep in contact with us.” Sleepy Fox tried throwing out another one of his recruiting pitches. Nie Yan didn’t bear any sort of emblem on his body, which meant he shouldn’t be a member of any guild. This was rare for a player as skilled as Nie Yan, so he wasn’t willing to give up just yet.

"That won’t be necessary,” Nie Yan lightly chuckled as he politely declined the offer. He understood that Sleepy Fox was simply trying to rope him into becoming involved with the guild. Once he was an honorary member, Sleepy Fox would gradually attempt to change his mind until he became a full-fledged member of Holy Empire. Although honorary membership would grant him many benefits, he knew there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world. He didn’t want to spend his time being a dog for some guild.

"Eh… Alright, then so be it,” Sleepy Fox replied, clearly disappointed.

"However, if any opportunities arise in the future, we should look to cooperate again,” Nie Yan added. This virtual world would birth countless legends of financial windfalls. More than just being a second world in name, this game turning into one would become a reality. It would be viewed by numerous figures as a new land of growth and opportunity. In his previous life, when Cao Xu was at the peak of his power, he had five large guilds at his beck and call and owned various businesses spread across Calore, Nisode, and Radiant City. Not only that, but the industries under his control were quite diverse as well, covering over ten different markets. As a result, his assets in the virtual world were valued in the hundreds of billions. Nie Yan needed to become more powerful than Cao Xu, powerful enough to thoroughly crush him. He needed to become so powerful that Cao Xu would be forced to think twice before acting against him. Only then would his mind be at ease. Nie Yan wouldn’t allow the events of his past life to repeat themselves in this one. This, however, was impossible to achieve alone, which was why he needed to gradually build up a network of reliable contacts. The person who currently stood before him, Sleepy Fox, was one such person who was worthy of developing a relationship with.

"Of course, I’d be glad to.” Sleepy Fox believed Nie Yan was merely talking about running another dungeon together. Never did Sleepy Fox consider that he might’ve actually meant something else.

However, Nie Yan didn’t bother expanding upon this any further and instead turned his attention back to hunting down the Manticores.

"Seven Nights, I want you to expand our coverage by scouting out the southeast. Be wary of the traps, especially the quagmires,” Nie Yan said. Seven Nights Showstopper was the weakest Thief on the team, a handsome young man who had just turned twenty. Currently he didn’t amount to much in Sleepy Fox’s eyes, but his talent and potential weren’t bad. According to Nie Yan’s past life, this man was to mature into the guild’s number one Thief in the future. Though Seven Nights was very quiet and reserved, which made it hard to gauge his thoughts, he had a gentle personality, so Nie Yan had a good impression of him. Because of this, Nie Yan had subconsciously favoured Seven Nights a bit more than the other Thieves when issuing orders.

"Alright,” replied Seven Nights. It was finally his turn to show off. After receiving Nie Yan’s order, he quickly dashed toward the southeast without feeling even the slightest bit of hesitation.

As someone who played the same profession, Seven Nights felt nothing but admiration for Nie Yan, even to the point of prostrating before him. What made him extremely happy was the fact that Nie Yan treated him quite politely despite not paying any attention to his companions, the other two Thieves in the team. Once he began his designated task of scouting the southeast, a thought popped up in his head. When this run was over, he would definitely make sure to ask Nie Yan for some advice on playing a Thief.

Nie Yan was completely unaware this slight discrepancy in treatment had birthed great waves in Seven Nights’ heart.

Why scout the southeast? Sleepy Fox thought to himself, slightly puzzled. Logically speaking, since the King Manticore was right in front of them, shouldn’t they just directly head for it instead of creating extra work for themselves by scouting the southeast?

"You’ll find out why in a bit,” Nie Yan said, as if he knew what Sleepy Fox was thinking.

Several minutes later, Seven Nights spoke through the team intercom.「I discovered an old light house, but there are a few Manticores guarding the area around the entrance!」

「Good, climb the lighthouse and turn on the light at the very top. Use Stealth to circle to the back and enter through the entrance there. Make sure those Manticores don’t detect you!」Nie Yan ordered. Seven Nights was quite fast, and with his skills, avoiding those Manticores shouldn’t pose much of a challenge.

Then, after another several minutes, a shabby lighthouse in the distance began emitting a little light.

The light grew increasingly brighter until its radiance became so intense that it penetrated the dark fog of the marsh and arrived at Nie Yan and the team’s location.

Under the illumination of the lighthouse, the dark fog that shrouded the Agmota Muddy Wetlands surprisingly dispersed.

The dark fog that once stifled everyone’s mood had mostly cleared out right away.

Sleepy Fox finally understood. This lighthouse was quite possibly the essential factor required in order to beat the King Manticore!

「You did well!」Sleepy Fox praised Seven Nights.

Upon hearing this, Seven Nights felt quite happy since their captain rarely praised his subordinates, but he was also fairly pleased because Nie Yan had given him the chance to display his skills!

"Alright, since the lighthouse is lit, let’s proceed to the next step. There are three Elite-class Manticores roaming the area near the King Manticore. We’ll have to draw them out one at a time and then eliminate them,” Nie Yan explained. This was one of the more difficult steps in clearing the dungeon on Specialist. It required a lot from the players, but he had a simple solution.

Sleepy Fox felt as if his heart had skipped a beat. One had to know, even on Hard and Expert, only the final boss was an Elite. Yet, on Specialist, not only did they have to deal with the King Manticore, a Lord-class monster, they had to contend with three Elite Manticores as well!

It could be seen rather clearly just how difficult dungeons on Specialist were. Thinking about what they were about to face, Sleepy Fox felt somewhat nervous and apprehensive. Even if they were able to kill the three Elite Manticores, with what could be lying in wait for them, would it really be possible for them to beat the final boss?

The only thing that was of some comfort was the fact that, despite this being a dungeon on Specialist, they had still been able to arrive at this point. Even if they wiped here, the number of items and pieces of equipment they had obtained so far would be able to make up for their losses. Since their losses were no longer an issue, they could commit everything to the final battle without fear.

The entire team shared this resolve.

So with this attitude, many of the members were prepared to go all out!

These three Elite Manticores were the queens of this entire pride, so their strength also couldn’t be looked down upon.

Nie Yan and company proceeded to clear the area of all the common Manticores. Afterward, the only monsters that remained were the three Elite Manticores and the King Manticore. The only problem was that they were fairly close to one another. In this wide open patch of dry land in the center of the marsh, they would occasionally roam around in a leisurely manner, and at other times, they would lay on their stomachs and briefly rest.

Everyone in the team was currently sitting down and resting under the cover of shrubbery. They were replenishing their health and mana. Only after they all fully recovered would they dare to finally engage one of the Elite-class Manticores.

During this time period, Nie Yan was the only one who wasn’t recovering with the others. He was actually searching for a suitable spot.

Chapter 98 – Repel Evil

Nie Yan peered through his crossbow sight from behind the brush he was using for cover. After a short while, he lowered his gaze and shook his head. This place won’t do either… With such thoughts in mind, he got up and moved to another area, only to repeat the same actions and move on yet again.

"What do you think he’s doing?” Dusk asked, flabbergasted, as he observed Nie Yan busily moving from one area to another. It was still too early to be aggroing the Elites, wasn’t it?

"Well, he shouldn’t be looking for a vantage point, that’s for sure. He hasn’t been within firing range this entire time,” Sleepy Fox replied. He was also rather curious as to what Nie Yan was up to.

After all, it was impossible for a crossbow to hit from this far away!

Nie Yan walked behind a tree and began gauging the distance. This should do! Finding a suitable spot, he raised his crossbow and fired in the direction of one of the Elite Manticores.

「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Three bolts flew out in succession.

Sleepy Fox was taken aback. Wait, are you really aggroing them? Isn’t it still too early? We haven’t even fully recovered yet! However, he suddenly recalled. Wait, that’s not right. They’re still out of his attack range.

As expected, the bolts gradually lost momentum and slowly dropped until they eventually hit the ground.

They had fallen just ten meters short of the closest Elite Manticore and thirteen away from the next closest.

An Elite Manticore’s detection range extended out to ten meters.

This knowledge was the result of compiling the numerous experiences of players who had run Agmota Muddy Wetlands on Specialist in Nie Yan’s past life.

Nie Yan just so happened to know of a little trick that made use of this information, and with his skills, he could easily pull it off even with his hands tied behind his back.

Out of the three Elite Manticores roaming around, only the closest one heard the sound of the bolts hitting the ground. Thus, it was also the only one that moved towards the source with the intent of investigating. After walking two or three meters, it stopped in place and began scanning the surrounding area, yet it wasn’t able to find anything, so it turned around and began to head back

「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Before it could take even a single step back, however, Nie Yan fired off another round of bolts which landed just ten meters away from the Elite Manticore yet again. The Manticore halted and resumed its search for the source of the sound, but it still couldn’t find anything. Then, just when it was about to head back, another sound came from an area ten more meters away.

Nie Yan repeated this action several more times. Whenever the Elite Manticore was about to turn and leave, he would send three more bolts to a spot just barely within its detection range. Meanwhile, Nie Yan did his best to avoid being spotted by the Manticore as he attracted its interest with crossbow bolts.

In this fashion, the Elite Manticore was continuously drawn away all by its lonesome self. The distance between itself and the other Manticores was growing increasingly wider with every repetition.

Sleepy Fox and the other members were shocked as they watched this scene unfold before their very eyes. Never did they expect that Nie Yan would use such a method to draw out the Elite Manticore.

If they continued like this, then it might actually be possible to kill the Elite Manticores and the King Manticore individually, one after another.

This method was something they could’ve never come up with on their own. Furthermore, it wasn’t a tactic that just anyone could employ either. Nie Yan’s timing and accuracy were both simply impeccable.

"Everyone, get into position. Since Brother Nie has revealed his skills, we mustn’t show any weaknesses either, unless you want others to look down on us. Remember, you’re the handpicked elite of Holy Empire. Show some vigour! Who knows, perhaps today we really will be able to beat Agmota Muddy Wetlands on Specialist!” Sleepy Fox stood tall and puffed up his chest. Seeing their captain stand up, the other members all followed suit, standing up one after another. Their eyes blazed with determination as they followed Sleepy Fox’s orders and began getting into formation.

The final hurdle was to clear these three Elite Manticores and the Lord-class King Manticore, a hurdle so insurmountable that even Sleepy Fox originally felt they had no hope of succeeding. However, who would have thought that Nie Yan randomly moving about would actually cause such an utterly drastic change in their circumstances.

Perhaps they really would be able to clear this dungeon!

After being drawn out by Nie Yan, the lone Elite Manticore was well over twenty meters away from its companions.

Nie Yan raised his crossbow and took aim once more.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Three bolts flew out once again, but this time they actually hit the Elite Manticore.

Upon being struck, the Elite Manticore immediately discovered Nie Yan’s presence. The attack had enraged it, and after letting out a low growl, it pounced toward its aggressor.

With that, Nie Yan turned around and fled towards the rest of the team.

"Everyone, prepare for battle!” Just as Nie Yan spoke, he discovered Sleepy Fox and company were already in formation.

Violent Waves raised his tower shield, charged forth, struck the Elite Manticore with Heroic Strike, and then followed with Taunt in order to completely grab its aggro. Afterwards, he retreated back, raised his shield, and moved into a defensive stance.

Now, the Elite Manticore’s aggro was fully on Violent Waves. It raised its paw and furiously swiped at his shield with a force so tremendous that he was knocked back several steps.

−123 A damage value floated above his head.

Such terrifying damage!

Violent Waves only had three hundred or so health. If the Manticore managed to land a critical hit, then he’d be in immediate peril.

"Paladins, cast Repel Evil on Violent Waves!” Nie Yan yelled. The Elite Manticore’s claws were strengthened with a sinister magic that made their attacks deal enormous damage.

Shortly after Nie Yan made the order, a shallow blue light enshrouded Violent Waves. Immediately, the damage he was receiving from the attacks fell by thirty perecent.

Only then did Sleepy Fox and the others discover that a Paladin’s Repel Evil was effective at reducing the Elite Manticore’s damage. The effect was even better than the Barrier spell. Furthermore, Barrier could only absorb so much damage before breaking. Under the Elite Manticore’s attacks, it would’ve shattered almost instantly. However, Repel Evil would last for ten seconds regardless of the damage it reduced. After the ten seconds were over, a different Paladin could cast another Repel Evil. No wonder Nie Yan wanted to have at least three Paladins with Repel Evil in the team. It was because three Paladins would mean Repel Evil would have a hundred percent uptime on the main tank as long as they took turns and cast it immediately after the previous one expired.

With a significant portion of the damage being negated, the whole fight progressed in an orderly manner. Violent Waves was able to easily tank the Elite Manticore’s attacks while the Mages at the rear gradually chipped away at its health.

The Elite Manticore opened its mouth and spewed a poisonous green mist in Violent Wave’s face.

Violent Waves, who was firmly blocking the Elite Manticore’s attacks, suddenly found himself deprived of his vision, causing him to fumble and lose sight of his target. However, this didn’t last more than a moment, and he was soon able to see clearly again. This was thanks to a Priest who had cast Remove Blind in a timely manner. Having regained his vision, Violent Waves immediately discovered that the Elite Manticore was about to switch its aggro to someone else. If someone else were to pull aggro, the Elite Manticore would proceed to wreak havoc on the backline which would most likely end up killing many of the Mages.

Demoralizing Shout!

Violent Waves’ use of Demoralizing Shout intimidated the Elite Manticore, forcing it to retreat several steps. After waiting to be healed some more, he charged forward and struck it with Shield Bash, pulling the Elite Manticore’s aggro back onto him. He felt a cold sweat run down his forehead. If he had to wait even a second longer for the Priest to cast Remove Blind, then the team would’ve most likely been wiped.

Nie Yan’s leadership gave rise to extremely important results.

All of the frontliners tightly surrounded the Elite Manticore and let loose every attack skill they had. Nie Yan also circled behind it and unleashed a flurry of skills.

The sound of explosions endlessly rang out as the Elite Manticore was bombarded with spells, sending damage values rising up into the air one after another.

When the Elite Manticore’s health fell below five percent, its fur transformed into a bright red that dazzled the eyes.

It was about to go berserk!

Chapter 99 – Flash Powder

"Shadow Priest, root him in place now!”

Immobilize!

The Elite Manticore’s movements suddenly halted as it froze in place for a brief moment.

Immobilize lasted for no more than a second, but its effects were quite obvious.

Magic rained down on the Elite Manticore as its health fell to three percent. When it entered a berserk state, its attack power increased threefold. Being the one who had to deal with this increase, Violent Waves felt immense pressure as he tried his best to endure its assault while the Priests cast Lesser Heal with reckless abandon as they struggled just to keep him alive.

Noticing the situation turn dire, Nie Yan flicked his wrist as a pouch of Flash Powder emerged in his hand and then lobbed it at the Elite Manticore.

「Poof!」The pouch exploded and scattered white powder into the air. This fine powder was akin to thousands of tiny needles as it released a blinding radiance that pierced into the Elite Manticore’s eyes.

The members of the team were also affected by the Flash Powder, but to a much lesser extent unlike the Elite Manticore that had lost all vision.

The pouch of powder was something Nie Yan had purchased prior from Trembling Milo. This item was able to release an intense flash of light that could momentarily blind the enemy for several seconds. The player could then take advantage of this time by either fleeing or attacking their opponent. Although the item cost a pretty penny, it was nevertheless extremely useful.

"Keep attacking, don’t slow down!” Nie Yan yelled.

The team had been taken aback and confused by the sudden burst of light. However, they soon regained their wits when they realized Nie Yan was the one who caused it. The enemy was completely blinded and helpless to retaliate, so they were able to freely let loose an even more ferocious barrage of magic and attacks at the Elite Manticore.

After a final round of spells, the Elite Manticore uttered one last, mournful roar before collapsing to the ground.

It wasn’t reasonable to say the Elite Manticore was the most dangerous when its health fell below five percent, but due to the crowd control effects of the Flash Powder and Immobilize, it was basically rendered harmless, allowing it to be easily slain.

On the other hand, under normal circumstances, an encounter with an Elite Manticore definitely wouldn’t have ended so pleasantly!

"What sort of item dropped?” Nie Yan asked Sleepy Fox.

Sleepy Fox walked over to the Elite Manticore’s corpse and picked up the dropped item. It was a Thief’s dagger, and not only that, it was Dark Gold-grade as well.

Blood Pact (Dark Gold)

Requirement: Level 0

Properties: Attack 23–26, Dexterity +11, Critical +12, Lifesteal 3%

Attack Speed: 2.3

Weight: 3 lb

User Restriction: Thief, can be equipped by all factions.

"It’s a Thief’s dagger!” Sleepy Fox shared the dagger’s information with Nie Yan.

As soon as the information window popped up, Nie Yan examined the dagger. Its properties weren’t bad for a Level 0 weapon, and the attack was only slightly lower than his Level 5 Gold dagger, Assassin’s Decree. Furthermore, the additional lifesteal and critical rate placed it a bit higher than Assassin’s Decree overall and much higher than his Horn Dagger!

Assassin's Decree (gold): Secondary Weapon
Level Requirement: 5
Properties: Attack 26-29
Strength +16
Accuracy +12
Attack Speed: 2.5
Weight: 3 lb
User Restriction: Can be equipped by all factions.

Horn Dagger (bronze)
Level Requirement: 5
Properties: Attack 16-19
Strength +5
Attack Speed: 2.3
Weight: 1 lb
User Restriction: Thief, can be equipped by all factions.

I can finally switch out my dagger!

This Blood Pact that they found in Agmota Muddy Wetlands on Specialist was probably one of the best Level 0 daggers possible.

"I want this dagger,” said Nie Yan as he stared at Sleepy Fox.

When such an amazing dagger appeared, all of the Thieves in the team gazed at it covetously. Of course, from the moment Nie Yan opened his mouth, they knew it would be impossible for them to obtain it, but speaking truthfully, this wasn’t all too surprising. There was no way Nie Yan would be willing to pass on a weapon like Blood Pact.

Sleepy Fox didn’t bicker and willingly handed Blood Pact over. After all, Nie Yan had been the one guiding them through this Specialist dungeon this whole time. If it weren’t for him, they would have never been able to reach this point. Yet, besides a pair of leg guards, Nie Yan had never taken anything else up until now, which left Sleepy Fox feeling slightly embarrassed. Taking all this into consideration, naturally, this Dark Gold dagger would go to Nie Yan.

Upon receiving the item, Nie Yan promptly replaced the Horn Dagger in his hand with Blood Pact which in turn improved his damage significantly. Furthermore, he estimated that he would be able to farm the complete Black Blood set in the next few days. When that time came around, his gear would be upgraded another level.

By utilizing the same tactic, Nie Yan lured the other two Elite Manticores to the team one after another where they were swiftly dealt with. Two decent pieces of equipment dropped from their corpses as well. However, Nie Yan voluntarily passed on them since they weren’t Thief items.

"Oh right! What were those pouches you threw at the Elite Manticore’s eyes?” Sleepy Fox couldn’t hold back his curiosity any longer and finally asked.

This question also prompted Dusk, Flying Stone, and the rest of the team members to turn their attention to Nie Yan as well. That strange pouch really was a useful item. Blinding an enemy in the middle of combat could achieve amazing results, especially during crucial moments,

"Flash Powder, it’s a special item, but it’s only effective against enemies Level 10 or lower.”

"Do you have anymore remaining?”

"In fact, I actually do, but I only have nine pouches left,” Nie Yan replied after pondering for a brief moment. Since Sleepy Fox and his team had already seen the item, he felt there was no harm in revealing it to them.

"Is this item really rare? I’ll buy two pouches for a silver each. How does that sound?” Sleepy Fox offered. Whether it was used against other players or against monsters, this queer item would likely show surprisingly good results. Hence, even if he bought them for a silver each, he still didn’t consider it very expensive.

Nie Yan’s eyes brightened after hearing these words. Given that Sleepy Fox was really willing to purchase the Flash Powder for one silver per pouch, then it was certain even more players would be willing to pay a high price as well. Trembling Milo was a hidden NPC, and at present, no other players had yet to discover him. If he were to return to the shop and purchase a large quantity of Flash Powder, Web Scrolls, and Sheep Transformation Scrolls and then sell them on the marketplace, he would undoubtedly earn a fortune!

At least until the average playerbase surpassed Level 10, items like the ones found in Trembling Milo’s House would all be extremely useful.

"How about we put this off until later? Let’s clear the dungeon first,” Nie Yan replied. Once they were out of the dungeon, he could list some of these items for sale and observe how the market would react.

"Alright, if you have any extra in storage, please sell a bit more to me,” Sleepy Fox said. For a guild as large as his, spending a few silvers wasn’t really a problem. Besides, after witnessing Flash Powder’s effects in person, he really wanted to get his hands on some for himself.

Now the only monster that remained was the boss. Whether they cleared the quest, which involved saving the mayor, would also be determined by the outcome of this final battle.

Calling this King Manticore much stronger than its Easy and Normal counterparts would be a gross understatement. So as the team prepared to face off against this behemoth of a boss, many of the members, as well as Sleepy Fox, were filled with fear and apprehension.

This would be their first encounter with a Lord-class monster that was actually within their level range!

With this thought running through their minds, the surrounding team members were all somewhat tense. Although they had been able to miraculously reach this point due to Nie Yan’s leadership, when facing against absolute strength, they couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread.

"Paladins, be ready to cast Repel Evil once the duration times out. Priests, constantly take note of Violent Waves’ health while managing your mana properly as well. When facing the King Manticore, there are certain to be casualties. Other players can die, but the only member on this team who absolutely cannot die is Violent Waves! If he ends up dead, the entire team will also end up wiping. Therefore, I want the Priests to only focus their healing on Violent Waves. Other frontliners, if your health gets low, immediately disengage from the battle because no Priests will be able to heal you. You’re only going to be able to heal yourselves once you’re out of combat. Shadow Priest, hold onto your Immobilize. I’ll tell you to cast it when the time arrives.” Having reached this point, Nie Yan began gradually informing everyone of their individual roles in the battle.

All of the team members committed their full attention, not daring to overlook even a single detail.

"As for the minor things, I’ve explained those as well. In the end, the King Manticore is simply like that, so there’s nothing for you all to get so nervous over,” Nie Yan said in a casual tone.

After hearing such a statement, Sleepy Fox, Dusk, Flying Stone, and all the other team members looked at each other and forced out a smile. Perhaps the only player in the game who could utter such words was Nie Yan. One had to know, the boss in front of them was a genuine Lord-class Monster!

Chapter 100 – Adapting To Unforeseen Circumstances

Nie Yan scanned his surroundings. Eventually, his eyes came across a nearby area that was flourishing with shrubbery, a place most suitable for facing the King Manticore. As such, he ordered the members of his team to set up their formation over there.

"Everyone ready? If so, then I’m going to pull,” asked Nie Yan as he turned to face his team.

"We’re good to go.”

Nie Yan raised his Crossbow of Blood and took aim at the King Manticore.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! 」Three bolts flew through the air and directly struck the boss.

The King Manticore discovered Nie Yan nigh instantly and pounced toward him with incredible speed.

Seeing this, Nie Yan hastily dashed toward the location of his team, continuously firing off his crossbow as he fled.

The King Manticore increased its speed, steadily closing the gap between it and Nie Yan.

Nie Yan only needed to take a single glance at the fearsome beast pursuing him from behind to understand that whoever was unlucky enough to suffer one of its attacks would undoubtedly die. Even Violent Waves wouldn’t be able to endure repeated strikes from the King Manticore. If it could build up enough momentum during its charge, then even a Fighter with five hundred health and a hundred and fifty defense would be easily dispatched with a single swipe of its paw.

Violent Waves hadn’t the slightest idea of just how dangerous the King Manticore was right now. He raised his shield and came forward with the intent of intercepting the beast after Nie Yan passed by.

When it was just thirty meters away, Nie Yan brought out a Sheep Transformation Scroll and bit his thumb, then used the blood to activate the magic dwelling inside.

A strange magical energy spilled out of the scroll and into the surrounding area.

By now, the distance between the King Manticore and Nie Yan had shortened to just twenty meters.

Once the Sheep Transformation Scroll’s channeling time of two seconds was up, the scroll suddenly emitted a dazzling radiance as countless magical runes flew out into the sky and began revolving in midair. Then…「Poof!」The scroll exploded and vanished without a trace.

As the scroll disappeared, a bright light fell down upon the King Manticore, enshrouding it. Then, all of a sudden, the gigantic beast began to shrink until it was reduced to the size of a small sheep. Realizing that the situation had changed, the King Manticore attempted to halt its charge, but the sudden change in body mass, coupled with the momentum that it had built up from its earlier charge, made it difficult. It placed its newly acquired hooves firmly on the ground and awkwardly slid forward until… 「Poof!」The King Manticore transformed, regaining its original appearance just two fleeting seconds after becoming a sheep.

The Sheep Transformation magic inside the scroll could transform ordinary monsters into sheep for ten seconds. During this time, if the player were to attack the transformed monster, then the spell would be cancelled prematurely. However, since the King Manticore had a high resistance against transformation magic, the spell’s effects would last for no more than two seconds.

By the time the King Manticore had returned to its original form, its charging speed had been drastically reduced.

And Nie Yan didn’t plan on giving it the opportunity to build its momentum back up either as he pulled out another scroll.

Web Scroll!

Suddenly, a gigantic cobweb appeared out of nowhere and fell on top of the King Manticore, trapping it.

The massive beast roared angrily as it thrashed about underneath the web. Though the web was quite strong, the King Manticore was even stronger, and it broke free just a moment later.

Though the web didn’t last long, it had still done its job by trapping the King Manticore, if even for a moment. Although it hadn’t received any injuries, its previous speed had vanished without a trace.

Nie Yan’s two scrolls had neutralized the most crucial, most ferocious, and most powerful strike from the King Manticore and, in doing so, had averted the imminent catastrophe that was about to befall the team.

At this point, the King Manticore had reached Violent Waves, who had been waiting to engage it with his shield raised. He opted to get the first strike in by fiercely bashing the beast with his shield. Immediately after, two spells, Repel Evil and Radiant Barrier, were cast on him by a Paladin and a Priest respectively.

Taunt!

Violent Waves quickly used the skill to draw the King Manticore’s aggro onto himself.

Enraged by the taunts of the pest, the King Manticore roared as it raised its giant paws and swiped at him twice.

−150

−152

After seeing the damage values float above their teammate’s head, the other team members suddenly realized that the King Manticore on Specialist wasn’t as terrifying as they had imagined. After all, the first time they encountered the King Manticore on Easy, Violent Waves had been sent to an early grave with just its first strike. Of course, this was due to many reasons. The first being that they had allowed the King Manticore to build up enough momentum in its charge, thereby significantly increasing the destructive force of its attack. Under such circumstances, a critical strike was very likely to occur as well. The second reason was because they had never cast Repel Evil while fighting the King Manticore, a spell which was extremely effective at restraining its killing power. The third reason was because the equipment Violent Waves wore at that time wasn’t nearly as good as his current gear. The fourth and final reason was that most of the team members were around Level 3, so they didn’t have Radiant Barrier which could absorb some of the damage.

Yet, right now, Violent Waves was able to endure the King Manticore’s attacks without much difficulty even though it was a Lord-class monster. Thanks to the constant healing of the Priests, his situation was stable, at least for the moment.

At this very moment, Sleepy Fox had an epiphany. It was only now that he realized why Nie Yan had used the Sheep Transformation Scroll and the Web Scroll earlier. The actions which seemed silly and pointless actually had an underlying meaning. It was all for the sake of dispelling the team’s fears which had been left behind from their previous encounters. Only, Nie Yan never said it outright.

Perhaps the Lord-class King Manticore really isn’t as terrifying as we imagined, Sleepy Fox thought as he stared at Nie Yan’s back. If they had a Thief in their team as capable as Nie Yan, then any dungeon would become easy.

Spells arced through the air and battered the King Manticore’s body as they lit up the sky like a brilliant display of fireworks.

Meanwhile, Nie Yan circled behind the King Manticore and unleashed a flurry of attacks, each hit dealing at least seventy to eighty damage. Out of all the frontliners currently fighting alongside him, not a single one was able to match his damage. Those Fighters, Berserkers, and Paladins would only deal forty to fifty damage at most.

It didn’t come as much of a surprise to him though. After all, not only were his equipment and weapons decent, but his stats were also greatly bolstered thanks to the Chapter of Courage. Not to mention, Thieves already possessed innately high attack speed. This, when paired with the fact that he also gained an additional thirty percent attack when striking an enemy from behind, was probably why he had the highest damage output among all the frontliners. It was even higher than some of the Mages in the rear.

As it suffered the team’s fierce assault, the King Manticore’s health gradually fell lower and lower.

80%… 70%… 60%…

Due to his ridiculous damage, the King Manticore suddenly showed signs of aggroing onto him, so Nie Yan immediately stopped his attacks and retreated.

Demoralizing Shout!

MISS!

The King Manticore had the potential to ignore a Fighter’s Demoralizing Shout. And of course, exactly at this moment, it had ignored Violent Waves’ Demoralizing Shout.

Violent Waves cried out in alarm. If he couldn’t keep its aggro, the consequences would be absolutely disastrous.

Before Violent Waves could get in another attack to pull back its aggro, the King Manticore abruptly switched targets and knocked the nearby Warrior and Thief. It raised its sharp claws and swiped down with a trail light following behind the attack. A Thief and Berserker were instantly killed by the attack and sent to the graveyard. At the same time, it attacked another Fighter, who, after receiving the attack, was only left with a sliver of health as he hurriedly retreated.

Violent Waves finally intervened and struck the King Manticore with Assault followed by Heroic Strike.

Heroic Strike was the most common offensive skill used by Fighters. Its damage was average, but it also had the effect of generating additional aggro.

Despite being hit by Violent Waves’ Heroic Strike, the King Manticore still seemed unwilling to pay attention to this hard-to-chew bone of a player and began pursuing Nie Yan instead.

Out of all the bugs it had to deal with, Nie Yan’s attacks were the most painful, and he also dealt the highest damage. So once the King Manticore saw Nie Yan was nearby, it immediately pounced toward him.

In response to the King Manticore charging toward him, Nie Yan retrieved a pouch of Flash Powder and lobbed it at the King Manticore.「Poof!」The glittering white powder scattered in the air and released a radiance so intense it almost burned and blinded the King Manticore’s eyes. After being struck the by the Flash Powder, the King Manticore thrashed about on the ground.

Nie Yan seized this brief opening and quickly retreated several steps. Then, he took out a Web Scroll and activated it, trapping the King Manticore long enough for Violent Waves to arrive, who struck it several times with his shield and then subsequently used Taunt.

Throughout this string of events, the Mages in the team had adjusted their positions, but even then, they never stopped firing spells. Magic constantly bombarded the King Manticore without end.

Similar to how Sheep Transformation and Web’s effects were reduced by its magic resistance, the King Manticore was merely affected for a short while. When it regained its vision, its attention was once again on the closest enemy to it, Violent Waves.

Nie Yan response to such an unforeseen event could be considered satisfactory.

Chapter 101 – Unknown Transfer Scroll

The King Manticore opened its maw and breathed out a black poisonous mist which enveloped Violent Waves.

"Remove Blind and Dispel on the double!” Just as Nie Yan spoke, the light from a Remove Blind spell enveloped Violent Waves. The Priests followed up on this with Dispel to clear the noxious gas, but only after the spell was cast three times did it finally disperse.

These Priests only possessed a lesser version of the Dispel spell, which was why the effects weren’t as powerful, and why it took three casts to fully expel the King Manticore’s poison. Even so, this was already considered quite good at this point in the game.

Although a small incident had occurred, the entire team was able to quickly adapt to whatever was thrown at them instead of falling into chaos thanks to Nie Yan’s leadership.

"Be careful of the stinger on the tip of the King Manticore’s tail. Violent Waves, drink an Anti-Paralysis Potion!”

Nie Yan orders were both effective and timely.

His ability at commanding the team was so great that Sleepy Fox estimated that, if they were able to defeat the King Manticore, Nie Yan’s contribution for the quest would be, at the very minimum, seventy percent or higher.

The only player who was no longer affected by the poisonous mist was Violent Waves. The surrounding five or six frontliners had all been debuffed with the blind status. Unfortunately, the Priests didn’t have the leisure to cure them, so they had no choice but to hastily retreat and patiently wait for the debuff to expire on the sidelines.

"Do any of you Paladins have Purify? If you do, use it on the King Manticore!” Nie Yan’s eyes swept over the Paladins, but none of them replied.

So be it… I can’t expect them to have all the rare skills.

As the battle progressed, the King Manticore’s health gradually fell below five percent, whereupon its fur transformed into a shade of bright red. Though this was expected, all of the team members felt their hearts sink. The Elite Manticores were already frightening enough when they became berserk. Just how terrifying would the Lord-class King Manticore become when it entered a berserk state?

The King Manticore’s power was rapidly rising as its eyes became bloodshot and filled with murderous intent.

"Shadow Priest, cast Immobilize now!” Nie Yan yelled. Thanks to the prior experiences with the three Elite Manticores, the Shadow Priest already began channeling the spell as soon as he saw the King Manticore’s fur turn red, so once Nie Yan gave the order, he was able to cast Immobilize on it right away.

The King Manticore suddenly halted as if it had been forcibly bound by an invisible energy.

"Throw everything you have at it!” Nie Yan yelled. He also circled behind and unleashed every skill in his arsenal on the King Manticore. Assassinate! Lacerate! Vital Strike!

Once all the Mages heard Nie Yan, they unloaded their most powerful, highest mana consuming spells on the boss such as Scorching Flame Explosion, Radiant Judgement, and so on.

The King Manticore was only momentarily paralyzed and recovered almost immediately.「Poof!」However, a pouch of Flash Powder subsequently struck it in the eye and deprived it of its vision. Thus, it could only randomly attack its surroundings in the hope of striking a few players.

Yet this crude tactic seemed effective as the King Manticore’s sharp claws streaked across three unlucky players who happened to be too close, instantly killing them. They promptly turned into streaks of light and disappeared from the map.

A berserk attack that dealt three hundred percent damage, no player would be able to survive if they were struck by such.

The King Manticore was akin to a headless fly as it chaotically thrashed around its surroundings. Once the effects of the Flash Powder wore off, however, another perfectly timed pouch exploded in front of its eyes, blinding it yet again.

During such a crucial moment, Nie Yan definitely wouldn’t be stingy with items.

"Frontliners, quickly retreat!” Nie Yan yelled. He evaded the blindly attacking King Manticore. After being deprived of its sight by the Flash Powder, it let out a rage filled roar, but sadly had no targets to attack.

Just as it began regaining its sight, Nie Yan robbed it of its vision once more by lobbing another pouch of Flash Powder at its eyes.

During this time, the King Manticore’s health had fallen to two percent. It angrily roared as a constant barrage of magic rained down on its body.

Despite being blinded, none of the team members dared to approach the boss. Its violent rage and frenzied attacks were incredibly terrifying. Occasionally, several unlucky players would end up cornered by the King Manticore and killed in an instant without any suspense.

However, Nie Yan remained the only player who hadn’t retreated. He had to carefully maintain the distance between himself and the King Manticore in order to be in range to throw another pouch of Flash Powder once the previous one wore off. He needed to stay close to the King Manticore, but not so close that he’d end up swatted to death.

After having thrown three pouches of Flash Powder, Nie Yan quickly retreated and retrieved a Sheep Transformation Scroll from his bag.

The Flash Powder would no longer be effective on the King Manticore after being used three times in a row.

"Mages, stop attacking. Anyone who needs to restore their mana, drink your Mana Potions now!” As soon as Nie Yan spoke, all of the Mages immediately stopped firing their spells. None of them doubted his orders. Even those who were in the middle of chanting their spells stopped.

「Poof!」The giant King Manticore transformed into a sheep!

The transformation could buy the Mages some much needed time to replenish their mana and allow their spells to come off cooldown.

As soon as those two seconds passed, the King Manticore promptly returned to its original form, and the Mages resumed firing their spells.

The transformation spell lost its effect. The King Manticore would become immune to Sheep Transformation and Web just like how Flash Powder had lost its effectiveness when it was used too often.

Nie Yan no longer had any cards up his sleeves to restrict the boss’ movements. Although the King Manticore only had one percent of its health remaining, its attacks were too powerful. In this berserk state, even Violent Waves wouldn’t be able to withstand a single strike, let alone any other members in the team.

"Mages, spread out quickly. Don’t stop firing your spells. How many of you survive will solely depend on luck,” Nie Yan said. At this point in time, the low health boss would instantly kill any player unlucky enough to cross its path. Whoever it aggroed onto would be in immediate peril as well. Fortunately, it only had less than one percent health remaining. Under the constant barrage of magic, the King Manticore would fall in fifteen seconds at most.

No matter what occurred, Nie Yan believed they could drag this battle out for at least fifteen seconds. During which, the King Manticore would only be able to kill three players in the worst cast scenario.

The King Manticore locked onto a nearby Paladin who immediately panicked upon noticing he had taken aggro. He turned tail and began fleeing for his life but how could he possibly outrun the berserk boss? The King Manticore instantly overtook him and killed him with a single swipe of its paw. Then it turned its head to the next target which of course was Nie Yan.

God dammit! Why is it me, you stupid overgrown cat!

Without a moment’s hesitation, Nie Yan crushed a Basic Haste Scroll and began sprinting towards an area that was full of shrubbery, hoping to use the terrain to elude the boss.

Despite the speed boost from the scroll, the King Manticore still managed to quickly close the distance and pounce at him. As soon as Nie Yan saw the King Manticore mid-pounce, he activated his Ring of Woven Silk and shot out a web line towards a nearby tree, instantly pulling himself in another direction.

By the time the King Manticore slammed into the ground and changed directions to continue its pursuit, Nie Yan had already run quite a far distance away.

However, the berserk King Manticore quickly caught up to him once again. Once it neared his back, it raised its gigantic paws and swiped down. It seemed this was going to be the final moment before Nie Yan was killed.

Nie Yan dodged to the side as the King Manticore’s claws streaked down, barely missing his chest.

As the claws almost grazed him, Nie Yan shifted to the King Manticore’s flank and struck it with a Concussive Blow.

The attack momentarily stunned the King Manticore, leaving it unable to retaliate. Of course, during this period, the Mages had never stopped casting their spells. Magic had been constantly bombarding the King Manticore’s body throughout this entire course of events.

Using this opportunity he had created with Concussive Blow, Nie Yan jumped back and hastily retreated.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」A final round of spells struck the King Manticore and shaved away its last bit of remaining health. At long last, it collapsed to the ground, having been drained of all of its health.

Nie Yan sighed a breath of deep relief. He had almost been turned into mincemeat by the King Manticore’s final attack. Fortunately, he had good reaction speed and managed to dodge in time.

In accordance with the King Manticore’s death, a bright radiance enveloped Nie Yan. The kill had given him enough experience to not only reach Level 7 but also filled his experience bar by thirty-six percent.

The King Manticore dropped four items: a single scroll, a Level 0 Dark Gold chestplate, and two Fortune Gems. Making sure to leave nothing behind, Nie Yan also stripped the King Manticore’s body for materials.

「System: You’ve obtained King Manticore’s Eyes. Gatherer +35 Experience」

"It’s finally done. Now let’s return and hand in the quest. Also, according to our agreement, this Unknown Transfer Scroll will go to me,” Nie Yan said. The reason he was willing to run Agmota Muddy Swamplands was mostly for this scroll. The Unknown Transfer Scroll only needed two seconds to channel. Once activated, it would instantly teleport the user two hundred to a thousand meters away from their original location. With this, he would be able to retrieve his second chapter from the Book of Order.

Chapter 102 – Invitation Declined

"We’ve already taken too much. You used up a lot of Flash Powder and scrolls during that fight, didn’t you? I’m sure they weren’t cheap. So here, these Fortune Gems should go to you as well,” Sleepy Fox said. He already felt extremely satisfied after obtaining the Dark Gold Fighter’s chestplate, so he didn’t mind passing on the Fortune Gems since they weren’t worth much in comparison.

Nie Yan thought for a moment and said, "If you insist, then it would be rude of me to refuse,” before accepting the Fortune Gems. After all, although he already had a few in his possession, he could always use more to upgrade his gear.

"Sosil Valley opens tomorrow. Do you want to run it together?” asked Sleepy Fox as he looked at Nie Yan.

Nie Yan shook his head and replied, "No, I’m not really interested right now, but we’ll see in the future.”

"Ah, alright then…” Since Nie Yan wasn’t willing, Sleepy Fox couldn’t really force him. Thus, all he could do was sigh and lament over the fact that he couldn’t bring such an exceptional Thief with him to the new dungeon.

With the new dungeon opening, Nie Yan definitely didn’t want to attract too much attention to himself. Otherwise, he might really end up arousing the suspicion of others. They would wonder if he was a Game Master. How else would he already know how to beat a new dungeon that just opened?

Having completed the dungeon, Nie Yan led Sleepy Fox and the rest of the team back to Nate by taking a shortcut through some thickets.

When they arrived back at the mayor’s residence, Nie Yan entered the mansion by himself, and as he stepped into the mayor’s room, a cutscene began playing.

「You hand over the King Manticore’s Eyes to one of the town’s residents, Ross, who in turn cries out in surprise and elation. "Oh thank the heavens! This is too unbelievable! Are these really the King Manticore’s Eyes? The mayor can be saved!” Ross takes the King Manticore’s Eyes and grinds them into a fine powder before feeding it to the mayor, alleviating the poison in his body. You have earned the respect of Nate’s inhabitants.」

「System: The Influence of all team members in Nate has increased by 6.」

「System: For your contribution in the team, you have earned 2,200 Reward Points.」

「System: Holy Empire has earned 3,300 Honour.」

「System: You have received 23,000 experience points and 12 silvers.」

Specialist dungeons always gave out generous rewards. The A.I. system in the game would evaluate each member’s performance during the run and distribute their rewards accordingly. Although Nie Yan’s contribution was undoubtedly the highest among the team, the other members received ample compensation as well.

Nie Yan glanced at his experience bar, Level 7 and seventy-six percent of the way filled, and he couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration, "I’m levelling so quickly!” He already surpassed Sleepy Fox, who after receiving the quest rewards was only at sixty-two percent.

There were still thirty minutes until the servers shut down. Since Nie Yan wanted to get a few things done before then, he quickly traded two Flash Powders to Sleepy Fox for a silver each and said, "Alright, I’ll be taking my leave first then.”

"Alright, let’s contact each other some other time. Oh, wait! Other than the Flash Powder, do you have anymore of those Sheep Transformation Scrolls and Web Scrolls? If so, would you be willing to sell some to me?” Sleepy Fox asked.

"Sorry, I don’t have any more on me, but I can mail you some when I resupply. It’s fine if you just give me three silver per scroll,” Nie Yan replied.

Nie Yan certainly didn’t plan on selling these scrolls for such a low price when listing them on the marketplace.

"Deal!” Sleepy Fox readily agreed. Sheep Transformation Scrolls and Web Scrolls were extremely useful. Let alone three silver per scroll, he would still be willing if it were four or even five silver!

The rewards from this dungeon run were rather decent, especially since Nie Yan was able to obtain the Unknown Transfer Scroll. In his eyes, this was tantamount to receiving a ticket for a free chapter from the Book of Order.

Sleepy Fox was quite puzzled about one thing. Why did Nie Yan seem so uninterested in everything except for the Unknown Transfer Scroll? To the best of his knowledge, the item didn’t have much use outside of certain situations. However, as curious as he might be, he knew better than to pry into another person’s business.

Finished, the silhouette of Nie Yan’s back gradually disappeared within the busy streets.

"Guild Leader, he wasn’t willing to join our guild?” Dusk asked. He happened to overhear Nie Yan and Sleepy Fox discussing this topic in private, but he didn’t learn about any of the specifics.

"Sigh… no, he wasn’t willing. I even offered him a position as an Honorary Officer in the guild too. It was a role with minimum restrictions yet he still declined. He probably thinks our little temple is too small to host a deity like him! Ahh, what a pity…! I wonder how high he’ll be able to climb in the future.” Sleepy Fox’s expression turned serious. "We definitely shouldn’t make an enemy out of him.”

"Yeah, it is a pity,” Dusk sighed in agreement. If a player like Nie Yan were to join their guild, their influence and achievements would undoubtedly soar to new heights.

Flying Stone, who happened to be standing nearby, was left dumbstruck when he eavesdropped on their conversation. Sleepy Fox was actually willing to make him an Honorary Officer in Holy Empire? It must be understood, this was actually one of the highest ranking positions in the guild which only answered to the Guild Leader, yet Nie Yan was surprisingly uninterested! He couldn’t help but feel a sense of great pity for Nie Yan. Truthfully, when speaking for himself, he didn’t have any high aspirations in terms of climbing the guild’s ladder. He felt membership as an Honorary Officer in Holy Empire was already quite terrific.

Seven Nights also happened to overhear the conversation, and he inwardly sighed. Now this was truly a Thief at the pinnacle. Just how long would it take for him to finally reach Nie Yan’s level where the guild leader would attach such importance to him?

Nie Yan on the other hand certainly didn’t feel a great sense of loss over passing up the opportunity. He casually passed through Nate’s transfer point and teleported back to Calore where he proceeded to Trembling Milo’s House to purchase twenty-six pouches of Flash Powder, thirty Web Scrolls, and thirty Sheep Transformation Scrolls. Finished acquiring merchandise, he sent a few of each to Sleepy Fox through the mail, then continued to the auction house.

There were quite a few players still roaming around the auction house, so he started looking around for a spot to set up his stall. Scanning the area, he finally found one and sat down, but only a moment later, he suddenly received a call.

「Nie Yan! It’s me, Yao Yao. Where are you right now?」She happened to notice Nie Yan was currently in Calore on her friends list, which was why she called him and asked.

「I’m at the auction house.」

「Ah! What a surprise~ I’m there as well! …Wait, I see you! I’m right over here! Come over and meet me.」Yao Yao had stood up and began looking around. Eventually, her eyes came across Nie Yan who happened to be sitting by a corner. She began jumping up and down, waving for him to come over.

Yao Yao resembled a snow lotus in bloom in her pure white robes. Her sweet, pleasant smile was able to put any man’s heart at ease.

Such a cheerful, beautiful young lady couldn’t help but attract the attention of onlookers. The surrounding crowd completely froze in place as they were rendered dumbstruck by her brilliant smile.

Noticing the peculiar gazes of the crowd, Yao Yao finally realized how much attention she was attracting. In response, she stuck out her tongue at Nie Yan and hastily sat back down.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but force out a wry smile when such a scene played out before him. He got up from his corner and began walking over to Yao Yao.

When he finally reached her side, he noticed that sitting next to her were two other girls, both around nineteen years old. One of the two was an Elementalist, and her appearance could be considered beautiful. She wore heavy makeup, revealing robes, and radiated a somewhat seductive charm. Nie Yan, however, didn’t find these types of girls particularly attractive. The other girl was a Priest who resembled a pretty daughter from a humble background. Her lovely appearance gave the impression that she was naturally agreeable and pleasant, the kind who would leave others with a good opinion after a single glance.

Nie Yan activated Transcendent Insight. The Elementalist was named Feiyun Liushui (Humble Charm of Flowing Water) while the Priest was named Moon Child.

When he sat down with Yao Yao and the girls, Nie Yan sensed the jealous gazes filled with murderous intent of the players in the crowd piercing through his back, so he couldn’t help but bitterly smile. There was an expression known as femme fatale; this was an example of such.

"These two are my classmates. She’s called Feiyun, and this is Moon Child. They’re extremely beautiful so try not to fall for them~” teased Yao Yao as she pointed at the two girls by her side and introduced them with a coy smile.

"Yao Yao, the only beauty here is you!” Moon Child pulled Yao Yao’s arm and had a very gentle smile on her face.

"Nice to meet you,” Nie Yan greeted Feiyun Liushui and Moon Child.

"Hello,” Moon Child smiled and greeted back with a gentle nod.

Chapter 103 – Paying In Installments

"Oh, so this is the guy you’ve been talking about…? He looks a little frail and weak, plus he isn’t nearly as handsome as Little Rui. Besides… we don’t even know if he’s as good a player as you’ve been telling us,” Feiyun gave Nie Yan an uncaring glance as she uttered in an unkind tone.

Her blatant rudeness made Nie Yan wrinkle his brows.

"Feiyun!” Moon Child berated her friend, then looked to Nie Yan apologetically and said, "I’m really sorry. Please don’t mind her. She’s actually a good person at heart.”

Nie Yan just smiled at Moon Child and nodded his head. Although he felt slighted, it wasn’t worth his time to get into a squabble with such a girl.

「Nie Yan, I’m really sorry… Feiyun is a classmate of ours and wanted to come as well. To be honest, I’m not too fond of her, but since Moon Child didn’t want to be rude, we let her tag along. Moon Child is a good friend of mine, but one of her quirks is that she doesn’t want to offend anyone. If it were only me, Feiyun would be long gone,」Yao Yao whispered to Nie Yan, seemingly seething with anger.

「Haha, when it comes to these kinds of people, it’s best to just ignore them,」Nie Yan replied.

With this in mind, Nie Yan no longer paid any heed to Feiyun. He instead directed his attention to Yao Yao and Moon Child and said, "I need to sell a few things here first, I’ll chat more once I’m done.”

"Alright, go ahead!” replied Moon Child as she smiled. Her gentle expression could easily melt any man’s heart.

Nie Yan sat down nearby and began focusing on his own business. When Feiyun noticed that Nie Yan was purposefully ignoring her, she became so mad that her gums itched and her blood boiled.

The four sat in a spot across from the auction house. Moon Child and Yao Yao were giggling and gossiping in hushed tones. Occasionally, Feiyun would interject with a few comments of her own, usually fawning over their appearance. When near these two, she could only serve as a part of the background to highlight their beauty.

"It’s the truth! He really is a skilled expert!” Yao Yao turned her head and nudged Nie Yan. "Tell them! You are an expert, right?”

"Really?” Moon Child asked in a somewhat doubtful tone. She just couldn’t imagine it.

Nie Yan lightly chuckled and modestly replied, "I’m only so-so.”

"Do you think you’re as skilled as our Little Rui…? Please, stop overestimating yourself. Little Rui has always liked Yao Yao. Don’t think you have even the slightest chance with her. You’re far from being worthy,” Feiyun commented in a harsh, mocking tone while barely glancing at him. It was as though she believed it was beneath her to look at Nie Yan for too long,

Nie Yan couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to this girl’s stereotypical words. He reached into his bag and grabbed three pouches of Flash Powder, two Web Scrolls, and two Sheep Transformation Scrolls, listing them all up for auction.

He set one silver as the starting price for the Flash Powders while the Web Scrolls and Sheep Transformation Scrolls were four silver each. Although the little he had in his bag wouldn’t have much effect on the marketplace, he hoped that, by selling them at a high price, he would be able to profit more in the long run. Even though it would sell relatively slowly, he would be able to earn quite a bit and would avoid arousing too much suspicion at the same time. The last thing he wanted was to draw attention to them by suddenly flooding the market with these rare items.

Nie Yan’s lack of response quickly bored Feiyun, so she scoffed and soon turned her gaze elsewhere.

The purpose of placing these items in the auction house was to gauge the market’s response. Consumables that could sell for such a high price were few in number. Furthermore, they would only be bought by the players who were well-off. In the end, this was just a test to see if these players were actually willing to spend the money.

Just moments after Nie Yan listed these items for auction, someone already increased the bid on one of the items. In fact, a bidding frenzy erupted for all three. However, this wasn’t all too surprising. At this stage in the game, there weren’t many Mage players who were able to create scrolls. Not to mention, the majority of Mages chose not to learn Spell Scribing, so the more widely available scrolls only came from NPC shops. Unfortunately, they all contained low-level spells like Fireball and would cost an arm and a leg to purchase. Control spells such as Sheep Transformation and Web were extremely rare in scroll form. After all, these spells could practically guarantee victory when fighting other players, which was why they were considered so useful. Aside from that, the scrolls were also great lifesavers since they could be used to flee when encountering a dangerous situation. Besides, to those rich players, a few silvers was merely pocket change. Therefore, the bids on the scrolls only gradually climbed higher and higher.

At the very end of the bidding war, each pouch of Flash Powder sold for two silvers while the Sheep Transformation Scrolls and Web Scrolls sold for around five silvers per scroll. For being so early in the game’s life, selling at these prices was terrific. Nie Yan had once again earned a sizable profit. Sure enough, the ocean of game knowledge he had amassed from his past life was an ocean of wealth as well.

Nie Yan’s items caused a great stir in the auction house. Many players were secretly inquiring about them. Just who in the world was actually able to create Sheep Transformation Scrolls and Web Scrolls? At the same time, many others were inquiring about the Flash Powder as well.

With how well they sold, he continued emptying his bag of Flash Powder, Sheep Transformation Scrolls, and Web Scrolls. Naturally, the more money he earned the better.

"Yao Yao, look at this Eroding Fire Staff that Little Rui gave me as a present. It’s a Silver weapon that boosts Intelligence by six and magic damage by seven! What do you think?” Feiyun took out the staff and waved it around with the intention of showing it off.

Since the game had barely been open for two weeks, a Silver staff could be considered an amazing weapon, let alone one that increased Intelligence and damage as well.

"My staff is Silver as well, but its properties aren’t as good as yours,” Yao Yao replied frankly. She didn’t display much envy in her tone or expression.

"You know, if you asked Little Rui for one, he’d definitely give you an even better staff. He’s had a crush on you for so long, so shouldn’t you respond by now?” Feiyun stared at Yao Yao and asked.

Nie Yan overheard their conversation. It seemed Feiyun had been bribed to be a mouthpiece.

The person Nie Yan cared for the most in his heart was Xie Yao. In spite of that, although his affection for Yao Yao wasn’t etched deeply into his heart, he still cared for her greatly.

Feiyun had treated him rudely despite being a friend of an acquaintance. And at the same time, she was also constantly trying to pair Yao Yao up with another guy right in front of him… Even Buddha had limits to what he could tolerate!

When he saw the bored expression on Yao Yao’s face, he suddenly understood this wasn’t a one-time event.

"Yao Yao, I have an extra staff laying around. It would go to waste sitting in my bag, so why don’t I give it to you as a present instead,” Nie Yan interrupted when he noticed Feiyun was about to urge her on some more.

"Hey, brat! Don’t you know interrupting people in the middle of their conversation is incredibly rude? It’s better if you leave that garbage inside your bag instead of trying to present it as a gift. It’ll save you from some embarrassment!” Feiyun said in a disdainful manner.

"Well, do you realize when others aren’t interested in hearing you talk, it’s incredibly rude to chatter on like a squawking hen?” Nie Yan replied, showing no trace of politeness in his tone.

"You…!”

"What kind of staff? Show it to me!” Yao Yao intentionally ignored Feiyun’s earlier ramblings.

Nie Yan took out the Staff of Moonlight Worship and handed it to Yao Yao. "This is my gift to you. No need to be shy.”

Staff of Moonlight Worship (gold)
Level Requirement: 5
Properties: Attack 32-38
Level Three Holy Explosion
20% extra damage against demons
User Restriction: Holy Mages; can only be equipped by a member of the righteous factions.

"Ah~! This is a Gold staff!” Yao Yao exclaimed. She clearly understood just how valuable a Gold-grade Staff was at present!

"Yao Yao, let me see. What Gold staff?” Moon Child asked in a doubtful tone.

Yao Yao shared the Staff of Moonlight Worship’s properties with the two other girls. Moon Child stared at Nie Yan in shock. She didn’t believe Nie Yan would actually give away a Gold-grade staff. However, Feiyun’s reaction was even more amusing to behold. Her complexion paled, and her expression immediately turned incredibly ugly. If this Staff of Moonlight Worship was trash, then what did the staff in her hand count as?

"Nie Yan, I’m really angry with you! What do you mean, ‘It would go to waste sitting in my bag so why don’t I give it to you as a present?’ It seems you’re tossing it away like it’s actually trash! However… I really do like this present! Thank you!” Yao Yao said with a faint smile, but then she sent him a whisper, 「I know you’re only putting on an act to shut that annoying person up, but I really do like this staff. Is it possible for me to keep it? I’m willing to pay in installments.」

「No need. I actually am giving it to you as a gift. It’s just a staff, after all.」From Nie Yan’s point of view, the Gold Staff wasn’t really worth much. It became even more negligible when compared to their friendship.

「Nie Yan, do you think you’re some kind of rich young master? This is a Gold-grade staff! How would it be alright if I didn’t pay for it!」

Nie Yan laughed. He understood her personality and knew full well just how stubborn she could get.「Fine, you win. You can pay in installments. Just give me a silver every month until you pay it back in full. How does that sound?」

「Good! Then that’s settled. Only idiots would act politely with a rich moneybag like you!」After getting her way, Yao Yao revealed a triumphant expression on her face before finally giving way to a charming smile.

Chapter 104 – Preparing For The Future

Nie Yan forced out a smile.「Oh, then you’re telling me you’re not being foolish right now…?」

Moon Child and Feiyun were shocked beyond belief when they saw Yao Yao had actually accepted the gift. They both understood Yao Yao’s disposition as she generally never took gifts from others, especially from males. Even on her birthday, she would only accept simple things like birthday cards. Today though, she actually accepted a gift, and from a male no less! There was definitely a hidden story behind this!

「Yao Yao, what’s your relationship with this person?」Moon Child whispered.

「He’s a good friend of mine,」Yao Yao replied with a somewhat guilty conscience.

「Really? Just a good friend eh~?」Moon Child asked in a mischievous tone. The expression on her face showed that she didn’t believe her friend in the slightest.

「Really! He’s just a friend!」Afraid Moon Child would continue down this line of questioning, Yao Yao decided to put up a bold front and expressed herself clearly. While her impression of Nie Yan was undeniably favourable, it certainly wasn’t to the extent of love or anything deep like that.

What Yao Yao was unaware of, however, was the special place she held in Nie Yan’s heart. Although he buried the events of his past life deep within the recesses of his mind, memories and emotions like those weren’t so easily erased.

「Alright, if you say he’s only a good friend, then that’s fine too,」Moon Child giggled. She seemed to have caught on to something.

"Moon Child, Yao Yao, I have some business to take care of, so I’ll be taking my leave now.” Feiyun was feeling quite bored since she was being ignored by Nie Yan, and Yao Yao and Moon Child were chatting in private, so she decided to get up and say goodbye.

"Feiyun, take care.” Moon Child waved her farewell.

Yao Yao acted a bit cold and detached, simply acknowledging that she was leaving.

Meanwhile, Nie Yan completely disregarded her existence. This cold-shoulder treatment only served to infuriate Feiyun even more, and by the time she left, she was seething with venomous hatred.

Following Feiyun’s departure, the group continued to chat for a brief while, during which even the girls sold a few items of their own as well.

"Nie Yan, we’re going to head off here. Big Sis Yu Lan (Blue Feather) is trying to get some last minute levelling in, and she wants us to hurry over,” Yao Yao said after checking the new messages in her chat.

"No problem. Let’s chat some other time then,” Nie Yan replied before waving them goodbye.

Afterwards, he checked his system notifications.

「System: Your Flash Powder x1 has sold for 2 silver, 10 copper.」

「System: Your Flash Powder x1 has sold for 2 silver, 5 copper.」

「System: Your Sheep Transformation Scroll x1 has sold for 5 silver, 20 copper.」

The money in Nie Yan’s bag rapidly piled up. Only by limiting the Flash Powder, Web Scrolls, and Sheep Transformations Scrolls he placed on the auction house, would he able to sell them for a sufficiently high price. Although unique items appeared in the auction house all the time, they were often so expensive that only a few players would be willing to buy them. On the other hand, if he sold too many of them, it would gradually lead to oversaturation.

Several minutes prior to the servers shutting down, Nie Yan had sold eight pouches of Flash Powder, six Web Scrolls, and five Sheep Transformation Scrolls, earning him around fifty silver. During this time, he also visited several small towns to purchase Bat Teeth, only to discover that not many players were willing to sell to him. It appeared the information about Blacksmith Kade purchasing Bat Teeth had somehow been leaked, so all the players were selling their Bat Teeth to Kade instead. Since there’s no more money to be made, so be it… I’ve found two other ways to earn money anyway.

For the time being, he could earn money by selling Flash Powder, Web Scrolls, and Sheep Transformation Scrolls. Then, when the price and demand for Black Phenol soared, he would gradually distribute his supply of that into the marketplace as well.

Before Nie Yan went offline, he once again emptied the marketplace of all Black Phenol, Black Phenol Recipes, and the alchemy ingredients required to craft Black Phenol. After taking note of his stock, he counted eight hundred bottles of Black Phenol, three thousand and two hundred Black Phenol alchemy ingredients, and two hundred and twenty Black Phenol Recipes. Due to his crazy purchasing, the marketplace was nearly devoid of Black Phenol, which resulted in their price increasing. However, since there was no one competing with him to purchase these items, the price didn’t rise by much. Therefore, he was still able to purchase everything relatively cheap.

These Black Phenol Recipes were the most crucial part of his plans. The amount in his possession was already enough to influence the market for Black Phenol for some time to come. In his past life, before Sosil Valley opened, the price of these recipes weren’t expensive at all. However, after the dungeon was released, many Alchemists started to notice the growing demand for Black Phenol and rushed to purchase the recipes in order to enter that market. Even then, the quantity of Black Phenol produced was far from meeting the demand of the countless teams running the dungeon. As a consequence, the price of Black Phenol and its recipes clambered up accordingly.

Yet, at present, all of the recipes on the market had unexpectedly disappeared. In other words, the market suddenly lost over two hundred and twenty Alchemists who could produce a steady supply of Black Phenol. With such a sudden shortage in supply during a time of high demand, the price of Black Phenol was certain to soar much higher than it did in his past life.

In this fashion, Nie Yan was almost guaranteed to make a killing off the monopoly he would hold on the Black Phenol market.

Plus, two weeks after Sosil Valley opens, a new Level 5 dungeon called Medusa’s lair would be released. The guilds who wanted to get an advantage over others would definitely seize the opportunity to enter the dungeon and get a head start. In this instance, the monsters possessed attacks that could petrify their enemies, so when the dungeon is added in, the demand for consumables and equipment that could prevent or resist petrification would definitely increase. From this point forward, he would slowly stockpile items and equipment with such properties.

Nie Yan glanced at his inventory. He currently had sixty-three silvers to his name. In the early stages of the game, this was already quite terrific, especially considering he was only Level 7. In the game’s present state, a single silver could buy a lot. Even the most expensive Gold-grade equipment was no more than thirty to forty silvers.

Having obtained so many items, Nie Yan tidied up his bag and personal storage, which currently contained rows upon rows of Black Phenol, recipes, and ingredients. After neatly organizing them, it was a rather spectacular sight to behold. The personal storage offered two hundred slots of space for free. Any additional space would require the player to pay rent, one copper a day for every two hundred slots. Nie Yan had rented over five thousand additional slots to store all his items, which amounted to twenty-five coppers a day. However, by now, he had already accumulated so much wealth that this little amount of money was practically negligible to him.

After finishing all his business in game, Nie Yan finally logged off, just as the servers were about to shut down.

When he took off the game helmet, he left his room and headed to his kitchen. There, he took a tube of nutrition tonic out of the fridge and sat near the dinner table. As he drank the tube, he let his eyes wander over his shabby room. From the aged walls to the old chandelier that had collected dust and grease, they all gave him a sense of familiarity and comfort.

He hadn’t received any news from his parents in quite a while now. Thankfully, he already knew the truth and the reason for their disappearance, so he no longer blamed them. For the sake of securing a better life for their family, they were braving great dangers and risking their lives.What right did he have to criticize or fault them?

If his parents took the risk of contacting him, what would certainly await them was death. Thus, he could only suppress his emotions and patiently wait for news of their return.

After finishing the nutrition tonic, Nie Yan proceeded with his daily training, improving his strength, agility, and reaction speed.

Wearing the helmets also had another beneficial effect. During the night, they would send electrical signals through the body, stimulating the nerves, nurturing cells, and allowing the muscles to always be in an active growing state, and the results of a day’s training wouldn’t disappear even after a night’s rest. In other words, one day of exercise in the present was the equivalent to ten days of exercise for a person in the past.

More recently, his training method was efficient, and his body’s nutritional needs were taken care of as well. So in these past few days, he had experienced a substantial growth in muscle. His stature was rapidly growing as well, becoming robust and tall. Eighteen years old was a time of growth for a person’s body, and at present, his body was transforming by the day!

「Bam! Bam! Bam!」A hard knocking sound came from the front door.

Nie Yan listened carefully. The soundproofing on the house door wasn’t great, so from the messy sound of footsteps, he determined there were at least five or six people outside the door.

Chapter 105 – Hatred And Desire For Revenge

"That kid isn’t home?" A hoarse voice passed through the door and entered Nie Yan’s ears.

Nie Yan wrinkled his brows upon hearing this voice, and anger began bubbling forth from inside him. The voice belonged to his first uncle from his mother’s side, a person he loathed with a burning passion. When his parents had borrowed money from relatives and friends, his uncle had been the stingiest. Later on, when his father started a successful business, they used the fact that they had lent him money as leverage to coerce him into giving them a twenty percent stake, turning his father’s own business into a family one. They took money but never worked to earn it back and constantly misappropriated the company’s funds. Thankfully, Nie Yan’s father had always been strict and caught on quickly, preventing the situation from worsening. Though, after the business began expanding into Conviction, a crisis suddenly emerged. Initially, his father only allowed thirty percent of the shares to be sold in order to safeguard the company from any mergers or acquisitions. Yet it was these exact friends and relatives cooperating with Cao Xu, backstabbing his father, that led to him losing control of the company. In the end, his father became clinically depressed and was eventually forced to bow out from managing the business.

After travelling back to the past, although the hatred he felt for Cao Xu remained deep-rooted in his very being, it had nevertheless diminished significantly. This world had always been one where the strong preyed upon the weak. If his family didn’t have the strength to defend themselves, granted even if Cao Xu didn’t make a move, some other bigshot would have acquired his father’s business instead. Taking this into consideration, the people Nie Yan resented the most were the friends and relatives who betrayed his father!

Backstabbed by his close friends and relatives… There was nothing else that contributed more to his father falling into deep depression.

「BAM! BAM! BAM!」The knocking on the door changed into heavy pounding, and he could easily sense the anger behind these sounds.

Nie Yan walked over to the door and opened it, whereupon five familiar faces entered his eyes.

"Oh, what a surprise! Uncles, aunties, you all came! Mr. Lin, you’re here as well?”[1] Nie Yan swept over his relatives as his expression filled with an increasing amount of derision and contempt with each passing moment. When his gaze finally fell upon a middle-aged man in the back, however, there was actually a hint of respect that lit up in his eyes. Nie Yan could roughly guess why his relatives had come knocking at the door. After all, his parents had borrowed quite a sum of money from numerous friends and family. It was within expectations that these four showed up at his doorstep, demanding repayment; however, Mr. Lin’s arrival was rather unexpected and puzzling.

Lin Ya was his father’s old friend from the army. When their family had been in dire straits, he had been one of the few people who never abandoned them. Even during the betrayal at his father’s company, he hadn’t been present. From what Nie Yan could remember, Mr. Lin was a man who didn’t speak much but attached great importance to friendship. When they were in the army together, Mr. Lin had even taken a bullet for his father, which left him crippled to this day. Their family definitely owed a lot to Mr. Lin.

After a moment, Nie Yan recalled that Mr. Lin had lent one hundred and sixty thousand dollars to his father, which took a heavy toll on his finances.

Nie Yan found it hard to imagine what sort of promise his father made to convince his relatives and friends to loan him so much money. If he didn’t know any better, he would assume these people had gambling problems. Truthfully speaking, if his father succeeded, they would earn a huge sum of money, but if his father failed, they would receive nothing in return.

Mr. Lin averted his gaze when Nie Yan’s eyes fell on him. Then, he stared back at Nie Yan with a slightly apologetic look and said, "Little Yan, I was dragged over here.”

Nie Yan was also quick to catch on. After lending a hundred and sixty thousand dollars to his father, Mr. Lin probably wasn’t doing too well financially. In all likelihood, Mr. Lin only came because he was unable to resist the pressure from First Uncle and the other relatives. In his heart, Nie Yan didn’t blame him either.

First Uncle and the rest sighed a breath of relief when Nie Yan answered the door.

Nie Yan wore an expression of ridicule on his face. He gazed at his several relatives, smiling and said, "Uncles, aunties, you didn’t think that I had run off, right?”

"Well, who knows!? Your parents borrowed so much money from us! If by any chance you ran off, then who would we go to!?” uttered First Uncle’s wife in an unkind tone. Her grating, high-pitched voice was already somewhat painful to listen to, but at the moment, it became even more unbearable.

Every one of his relatives forced themselves into his house.

"If I wanted to run, I would have done so a long time ago,” Nie Yan sneered.

"Brat! How dare you speak to us in such a tone! Stop wasting our time and call your parents up!” Leveraging his seniority, First Uncle Luoming spoke with unrestrained arrogance.

"My parents are currently busy and can’t be bothered to speak to you lot. If there’s nothing else, I suggest you go home.” Nie Yan then turned to Mr. Lin and said, "Uncle Lin, I’ll do my best to pay back the money my family owes you as soon as possible. I know your family is in a difficult place right now. I’m so sorry we’re causing you and your family so much trouble.”

Uncle Lin shook his head in response. Waving his hands, he said, "Don’t worry about it. Although we aren’t in the best of circumstances, we’re not in the worst either. Granted, even if I don’t have any money, I can still beg Old Liu to lend me some. Your father and I are friends who would die for each other. Even if your father can’t pay back the money, I wouldn’t hound his son over it.”

Nie Yan was quite touched by Mr. Liu’s sincere words. Sometimes the saying, "Blood is thicker than water,” simply wasn’t true.

The discrepancy between Mr. Lin and his relatives was like black and white!

"The money my family owes will be repaid in full. My parents have been gone for how long now? Yet you all act like they stole your money and ran away,” Nie Yan criticized as he coldly eyed his relatives.

"When did you become such a presumptuous brat? Make a phone call to your parents right now!” First Uncle’s palm came flying towards Nie Yan’s face. His first uncle had an incredibly short temper and would always beat and scold him at the first sign of perceived disrespect. Nie Yan was very afraid of him when he was younger, but at present, he didn’t fear his first uncle in the slightest.

Nie Yan reached out and grabbed his first uncle’s arm, stopping the attempted slap midway. He shot a cold glance at his first uncle and growled, "I already told you. My parents are too busy to bother with you lot. You aren’t welcome here, so I suggest you get out.”

"Brat! Who allowed you to speak?!” First Uncle still wanted to rely on his seniority to beat and scold Nie Yan, but when he tried pulling back his arm, he discovered his nephew’s hand was like an iron claw, firmly clasping it in place. No matter how he struggled, he was unable to break free, leaving his heart dumbfounded. Just when did his nephew grow to be so strong?

Only then did he notice that his nephew was taller and more robust than he remembered. Nie Yan was almost five foot nine and was no longer the frail and thin child he knew from the past.

He soon noticed Nie Yan’s grip becoming stronger and stronger, causing him to start sweating from the pain which in turn made his face turn bright red, but he was unwilling to back down to a child.

"Husband, what’s wrong? Nie Yan, let go of him! He’s your first uncle, you impudent brat!” First Uncle’s Wife scolded in a high-pitched shriek after realizing her husband was being overpowered.

"How much interest did my parents promise you?” Nie Yan asked, paying no attention to his aunt’s words. He swept his gaze over the three relatives in front of him before releasing his first uncle’s arm.

Having finally regained control of his arm, Uncle Luoming sighed in relief as he rubbed his arm.

"Ten percent a month!” First Uncle’s Wife replied. She looked like she had been injected with chicken blood as her expression was so distorted even her face looked like it was twisted.

Ten percent a month… In other words, his family had to pay back ten percent interest every month. Not to mention, it was compound interest, which meant they had to pay back more on top of what they already owed in the previous months. His relatives were basically no different from loan sharks.

When he brought up this matter, each and every one of his relatives revealed rotten expressions.

"Old Liu and I told your father he didn’t need to pay any interest…” Mr. Lin explained to Nie Yan. His gaze then happened to fall onto Luoming’s arm where he saw something unbelievable. The area Nie Yan grabbed had bruised and turned a deep shade of purple! Though it wasn’t much, he did know a fair bit about Luoming’s strength. He wasn’t some martial artist, but he still exercised regularly, and he was considerably strong for the average person. Yet Nie Yan, who was no more than a child, had taken full control over Luoming, rendering him helpless. The power required for such a feat was unimaginable!

"Uncle Lin, the money will be returned to you soon, rest assured. As for aunties and uncles, you’ll get your money back and not a penny less. Even if my parents cannot pay it back, I’ll do it in their stead.” Nie Yan stared at his several snobbish relatives, his tone turning increasingly cold.

He wouldn’t allow his father to end up the same way as his past life, neither would he allow his relatives to get their grubby hands on his father’s business. He would force upon these relatives a life of eternal remorse. Taking away all their possible means, he would leave them destitute with no hope of ever escaping the abyss he would leave them in. Only by taking care of them in such a manner would these people have no chance of nipping back at his father’s heels.

Nie Yan would exact revenge on the sins they committed and make them suffer as he had. His heart had grown much colder in the final years of his past life.

Notes:

1] In the raws, Nie Yan addresses them individually. Da Jiu (Maternal Uncle), Jiu Ma (Maternal Uncle’s Wife), Gu Ma (Paternal Aunt), and Er Yi (Mother’s Second Sister). Mr. Lin was addressed as Uncle Lin, but it was changed for the sake of preventing confusion since he isn’t a relative.

Chapter 106 – Nie Yan’s Talent

"You rotten punk! Your parents owe so much money. Even if we sold you off, do you really think you’d somehow pay it back?” Uncle Luo Ming’s wife sneered.

Unlike his wife, however, Uncle Luo Ming’s prior arrogance had vanished almost entirely. He couldn’t help but notice that the atmosphere around his nephew was completely different from the past. He no longer dared to treat Nie Yan like a child he could easily push around.

"Little Yan, have you been training recently? Come, let your Uncle Lin see how much you’ve grown!” This recent development made Mr. Lin feel happy and rekindled his desire for a good fight. Seeing his old comrade’s son finally grow up was also one of the things he desired to witness in his life.

Mr. Lin pushed past Luo Ming and Nie Yan’s other relatives. Although the space in the house was a little narrow, it was still still more than sufficient for sparring. In fact, a narrow space would actually better reflect the abilities of both fighters.

Uncle Luo Ming and the others all stared at Mr. Lin with bewildered looks on their faces. Just what in the world was Lin Ya planning to do?

"Yes!” Nie Yan nodded his head. He felt great respect towards Mr. Lin, but even more so a deep sense of shame. In his past life, due to their relation with the Nie Household, Mr. Lin and his family were targeted and fell into poverty.

Mr. Lin suddenly threw a fist at Nie Yan.

Nie Yan put up a horizontal guard with his left arm and retaliated with a strong sidekick. His leg produced a faint whistling as it flew towards Mr. Lin’s chest.

"Nice kick!” Mr. Lin said, pleasantly surprised. He leaned to the side, dodging the kick, and then closed in with an elbow strike.

Nie Yan hastily got out of the way and returned with a powerful roundhouse kick.

Mr. Lin raised his arm to block.「Bang!」The strength of the kick forced him several steps back, regaining his balance only after supporting himself on a nearby desk. The great force that he had just been inflicted with shocked him, but the joy he felt at experiencing Nie Yan’s growth firsthand greatly surpassed his alarm. He heartily laughed and said, "Not bad! Come, let’s go again!”

They had several more exchanges, but the outcome of the battle still could not be determined. Luo Ming and the other relatives were filled with astonishment as the spectacular scene unfolded before their eyes. Lin Ya was an army veteran, and his ability in martial arts wasn’t anything to scoff at. Even six grown men normally wouldn’t be his match, yet Nie Yan had managed to last this long against him. Not to mention he was able to fight on par with Lin Ya the entire time. The fact that he could manage such a feat was simply just too inconceivable.

「Bang!」Nie Yan and Mr. Lin both retreated several steps.

"Little Yan, you’ve been learning martial arts, right? Not bad… Uncle Lin is already old, so I can’t compare with you youngsters,” Mr. Lin praised without restraint. He was happy for his old comrade. With Nie Yan’s ability, as long as his academics weren’t too bad, getting into the number one military academy wouldn’t be a problem. They might even take the initiative to recruit him!

"I’ve only learned a little. Uncle Lin, you might be old, but you haven’t grown weak at all.”

"Being too modest isn’t good either. So, have you thought about what you want to do for university…?” Mr. Lin nervously asked.

"No, I haven’t,” Nie Yan shook his head and replied. He still hadn’t considered this matter. After all, that was still over a year away.

"Apply for the number one military academy then. I have an old army buddy working as a combat instructor there. I can ask him to put in a word for you. Besides, your talent is an additional reassurance. Your academics shouldn’t be a problem either. Back then, your father had barely failed to get in, and it became one of the biggest regrets in his life, but you’ll surely pass. Next year in January, the academy is hosting exams for special enrollment students. You must definitely apply then!” Uncle Lin exclaimed.

"En,” Nie Yan solemnly nodded. In his past life, he wasn’t able to pass the exam for the military academy. His father had been disappointed in him for a long time because of this matter. In addition, the moment his father received the results of that exam, he seemed to have aged several years. In this life, Nie Yan would definitely succeed his father’s dream.

Hearing the words, "number one military academy,” Luo Ming snapped back to reality. His nephew’s recent show of ability frightened him. Nie Yan was actually able to beat an army veteran who’d been through several wars. Two years ago, Old Liu’s son had passed the entrance exam for the academy. Yet every year he came back, he’d still be put in his place by Lin Ya. Taking this into consideration, Nie Yan entering the military academy shouldn’t be a problem.

Just what kind of place was the number one military academy? It was the nation’s top university specialized in nurturing talented individuals! So long as one passed the entrance exam, they would receive a scholarship which granted them a minimum of sixty thousand dollars each year. In addition, once they enrolled, they would at least receive the rank of a company officer. Every person’s performance in exams directly correlated to their military ranks. Some people, after graduating the academy, would be regiment officers or higher.

As the proverb goes, "Citizens should not oppose officials.” If Nie Yan really was able to succeed and graduate from the military academy, who knows if he might hold resentment in his heart over today’s matters.

Luo Ming and the others felt their scalps go numb when they saw Nie Yan’s ice-cold expression.

"Luo Ming. I’m thinking if Little Yan passess the entrance exams for the military academy, paying back those loans won’t be a problem, correct…?” Lin Ya said to Luo Ming. If they continued to hound Nie Yan and affected his frame of mind and studies, Lin Ya was thinking it might be necessary that he teach these people a lesson.

"This shouldn’t be a problem, right…?” Lin Ya said in a menacing tone, causing Luo Ming to shrink back.

Nie Yan’s other relatives also no longer dared to speak so harshly to him anymore.

"Little Yan, try your best. If you enter the military academy, auntie will be happy and proud,” Nie Yan’s paternal aunt said with an embarrassed yet obviously fake smile.

"Yes! Little Yan, do try your best! We’ll be taking our leave first, then.”

Nie Yan didn’t reply but simply stared at them with frosty eyes. Only now, after hearing that he could potentially enter the academy, did these four snobbish lowlives begin putting on friendly airs in front of him. However, there was still a zero percent chance that he would forgive them.

Having said so, Nie Yan’s relatives awkwardly left the house one after another. Lin Ya on the other hand stayed a while longer to chat with Nie Yan to give him some words of encouragement.

"Little Yan, do your best! You must succeed in entering the academy. If there’s anything troubling you, just tell your Uncle Lin. So long as you get into the academy, all your problems will vanish without a trace. If you do, you’ll turn your parent’s lives around as well. Work hard! Uncle Lin will be taking his leave now,” Lin Ya said.

"En! Thanks, Uncle Lin,” Nie Yan nodded. What Lin Ya didn’t know was that his family’s prospects would turn around before he even graduated high school. Once his parents returned, their financial circumstances would take a significant turn for the better.

After Lin Ya left, Nie Yan didn’t leave the house for the whole day. Instead, he stayed at home, studying hard and relearning everything that he had forgotten. After coming back to the past, he wasn’t willing to live his through his days muddleheaded. He would work hard to take full control of his fate. After seeing his relatives’ reactions today, it only further solidified his belief that only by becoming strong would those petty, despicable people fear him and stay far away. Otherwise, he would be harassed by them to no end.

The next day, Nie Yan logged on and made his usual runs of emptying the marketplace of all Black Phenol, Black Phenol Recipes, and the other various materials. After finishing his business, he went to kill the field bosses that had respawned, Gato the Lion King and the Ogre Devourer. By repeating what he did the previous day, he was able to kill them effortlessly, but those two weaklings were stingy and only dropped three pieces of Gold-grade equipment and one Fortune Gem. Thankfully, one of them happened to be a set item he wanted—Blackblood Gloves: Resilience +7, Dexterity +12.

The other two pieces of equipment were for a Priest and a Paladin, though Nie Yan didn’t plan to sell them since he wasn’t lacking in money. In the future, he would have a steady flow of income arriving in his pockets. He would rather let them rot in his storage than put them on the marketplace lest they enter an enemy’s hands. On the other hand, if an acquaintance wanted to purchase them, then he would think it over.

Not long after logging in, an announcement entered his ears: Sosil Valley had opened!

This incredibly exciting news caused countless guilds to rush over so they could get a headstart in the new dungeon.

Chapter 107 – Black Phenol Frenzy

The first team to succeed in clearing a new dungeon would receive additional rewards and Honour. Not to mention, since Sosil Valley was the final Level 3 dungeon, the equipment dropped there would be the best. These benefits spurred numerous guild leaders into attempting Sosil Valley with their elite members. Though the price of pioneering was wrought with bitterness and difficulty, some teams still advanced dauntlessly. Yet, in the end, the overwhelming majority would fail to even reach the boss, falling victim to the extremely potent poison of the common mobs.

A hallucinogenic poison that applied the fear status debuff and robbed the player of all movement ability… Presently, the only cure for it was Black Phenol!

Shortly after Sosil Valley’s opening, the demand for Black Phenol magnified countless times over. All of a sudden, it became the hottest selling item in the marketplace.

Sosil Valley was situated inside of a wide, open prairie. Today, the normally tranquil fields were bustling with activity as various teams from notable guilds dotted the entire region.

Among the teams gathered in the prairie, a group of Azure Falling Sky members were discussing a certain matter regarding the quantity of Black Phenol in the marketplace.

"This is really odd… Logically speaking, since we were one of the very first guilds to enter the dungeon, you’d think we’d be one of the first groups to snag all the Black Phenol in the marketplace, but when our members in the city arrived at the auction house… all of the Black Phenol suddenly vanished, and we were only able to purchase three bottles.”

"Just which guild was able to move faster than us…?”

"Captain Clear Sky, we’ve already ordered our Alchemists to put down what they’re doing and concentrate on producing Black Phenol.”

The person these guild members addressed as Clear Sky was a Paladin with the appearance of a man in his mid-twenties. His tall stature, standing at almost six foot three, was clad in unadorned ash-gray armour. The solemn expression on his face and imposing pressure he emanated left the other members feeling stifled and tense.

As the star player of Azure Falling Sky, one of the nation’s top ten gaming organizations, Clear Sky’s name was well-known to the gamers of China.

"How long will our supply of Black Phenol last us for?” Clear Sky asked. Someone was a step ahead of them and purchased all of the Black Phenol in the auction house. Thus, he could only look towards other methods.

"If we use them sparingly, we can still do another run of the dungeon.”

"How many of our Alchemists have learned how to concoct Black Phenol?”

"Only one…” the guild member embarrassedly replied.

Clear Sky’s expression became even more gloomy. If their supply of Black Phenol couldn’t keep up, then some other guild would get the first clear for Sosil Valley, which meant their rankings might fall by several places again. For a large gaming organization like them, falling one or two spots meant significant financial losses.

However, this type of development wasn’t only happening to them. In fact, aside from Azure Falling Sky… Victorious Return, Holy Empire, Brilliant Mother Earth, Atlantis, and almost all the other large guilds were in similar dilemmas. The market was entirely devoid of Black Phenol, and their own Alchemists couldn’t produce enough to keep up with the guild’s needs.

The guilds preparing to enter Sosil Valley numbered over sixty—

—and the same problem was perplexing all of them!

"Captain Sleepy Fox, what are we going to do? Without any Black Phenol, we won’t be able to run Sosil Valley! We’ll end up falling behind the other guilds. I heard someone found a piece of Gold equipment for Warriors in a recent run,” Dusk said in a gloomy tone. He felt their situation was the most tragic. There wasn’t a single Alchemist in the entire guild who could concoct Black Phenol, nor did they have any in the guild’s treasury.

"Give me the list of drops for Sosil Valley,” Sleepy Fox ordered, his tone somewhat jittery.

"Warrior’s Primal Wind and Tenacious Metal sets, Elementalist’s Scorching Flame Burst set, and a bunch of non-set equipment.” Dusk handed over the list to Sleepy Fox, but then, Nie Yan popped in his mind, and he quickly added, "This is only the list for Easy. No one knows what Specialist drops yet.”

"Tenacious Metal set… No, this won’t do. We must obtain that set!”As for the Black Phenol, first try and find an Alchemist who knows how to concoct it. If that won’t do, just contact the other guilds and offer to buy some for a high price! Where do Black Phenol Recipes and the required materials to concoct them drop?”Sleepy Fox scanned over the other team members.

"Celadon Tides Valley, but the drop rates are pretty terrible. We can go there, but we won’t obtain much.”

"Silent Gulf and Black Charred Islands also have them.”

"Are there any other areas?” Sleepy Fox asked.

"Not that we know of.”

"Tell some of our members to head over to those areas to farm. I refuse to believe this shortage will hold us back!”

"The other guilds have probably thought up something similar. They’ll be sending their forces to those areas as well. We won’t be able to obtain very much if we’re forced to share with too many players.”

"Sigh… Doesn’t matter. We’ll just have to take what we can get,” Sleepy Fox replied.

As predicted, various guilds shifted their manpower to gathering Black Phenol Recipes and the materials required for concocting it. Many teams soon departed the prairies in droves, and the bustling fields once more returned to their previous tranquil state.

Recently, Calore became even more lively, bustling with noise and activity. Many players were advertising on the streets: "Purchasing Black Penol! Twenty-five copper per bottle, ten silver for a recipe!”

These prices had already surpassed the ones in his past life by more than ten times over.

Due to Nie Yan regularly cleaning the auction house out of all Black Phenol and related items for the past several days, the shortage in supply had grown even wider. As a result, the spike in prices rose even more sharply in this timeline. Even though others were offering generous amounts to purchase these items, very few players were willing to part with them

Yet the buying frenzy was just beginning. Players possessing large quantities of Black Phenol quickly caught on and began hoarding their stock, waiting for the prices to swell even more. Thus, the already depleted supply of Black Phenol only dwindled further.

After checking the market price, Nie Yan knew it would inflate even more. Right now it was a seller’s market, a state of affairs that would last for at least ten more days, so he was perfectly willing to bide his time. After all, he had complete control of the market.

Nie Yan checked his bag. With the Unknown Transfer Scroll, he would be able to retrieve another chapter from the Book of Order. However, before he planned to set off, a certain matter popped in his mind. Before he headed for the second chapter, he would need to complete this task first.

This matter was similarly dangerous, but the reward was simply too enticing.

Nie Yan headed to the NPC shop and purchased a large quantity of consumables. Then, he proceeded to the auction house to resupply on high-quality crossbow bolts, as well as purchasing a great deal of Silk Cloth, which he crafted into Combat Bandages. Furthermore, he bought some black garbs which had the property of hiding his appearance.

Nie Yan’s destination was a Level 10 zone, so the Flash Powder, Web Scrolls, and Sheep Transformation scrolls wouldn’t be of any use, but he kept some in his bag anyways just in case.

Once he finished his preparations, he headed for the transfer area.

Along the way there, he came across countless players looking to purchase Black Phenol, which only further confirmed his speculations. The various guilds were extremely desperate. It seemed his choice of investing into this market early on was clearly a correct one.

Nie Yan suddenly had a thought. Holy Empire should be feeling immense pressure in trying to secure a supply of Black Phenol. If he called up Sleepy Fox and lent him a hand right now… Knowing his personality, if anything were to occur in the future, Sleepy Fox would certainly make sure to repay the favour.

Selling a portion of his supply to Holy Empire would be immensely beneficial for both sides. Not only would he obtain short term benefits, but when the other guilds see Holy Empire reaping rewards from exploring the dungeon, they would undoubtedly turn green with envy, serving only to inflate the price of Black Phenol to even more ludicrous levels. In short, Nie Yan would be able to earn a large profit, make Sleepy Fox owe him a favour, and raise the price of Black Phenol simultaneously. This was killing three birds with one stone!

Chapter 108 – Plague Canyon Tasoyi Village

「How’s it going? Are your runs going smoothly?」

「Sigh… Please don’t remind me. We wiped on the first run. Dealing with the Werewolves’ poison is just too difficult without Black Phenol. We barely made any progress… That aside, the equipment drops are pretty decent. Not only does the boss have a chance to drop Dark Gold equipment, even the common mobs have a chance of dropping Gold equipment. Why? Are you interested in joining?」Sleepy Fox didn’t miss a beat and made use of this opportunity to try and recruit Nie Yan.

「Nah, not really, but I do happen to have some Black Phenol on me. I’m wondering if you’re interested?」

「Black Phenol? How much do you have?」 Sleepy Fox asked. He couldn’t help but get excited. Was Nie Yan unaware of just how many players were madly scouring for Black Phenol right now?

「Thirty bottles, one recipe, and sixty raw materials. Give me an offer,」Nie Yan replied.

「S-so much?」Sleepy Fox sucked in a breath of cold air. He thought Nie Yan would have ten bottles to offer at most, but thirty? It would be more than enough for them to not have to worry about their supply of Black Phenol, even if only for a short while.

「Hmm? Too much for you?」

「N-no! Definitely not too much!」 Sleepy Fox hastily replied. He felt he’d really be shooting himself in the foot if he allowed Nie Yan to sell these items to someone else.「Brother Nie… I, Sleepy Fox, will definitely remember this favour. If anything comes up in the future, don’t hesitate to let me know!」

To Sleepy Fox, it was almost inconceivable how Nie Yan had managed to get his hands on so many, especially when there was such fierce competition over a low supply. Just what wasn’t this person capable of?

「Then let’s get straight to the point. What’s your offer?」Nie Yan said.

「Thirty silver,」Sleepy Fox answered, his tone slightly embarrassed. Although his offer was already a little higher than the current market price, who knew just how high the prices would rise over the course of the next few days? Though, in truth, thirty silvers was his absolute limit. The daily costs of maintaining a guild weren’t cheap. Thus, he couldn’t afford to spend too much money. Holy Empire might be a large guild, but it didn’t have much in the way of expendable income.

「Hmm… how about this? I need a few items, but I’m too lazy to go looking for them myself. How about you have some of your subordinates collect them for me? I’m looking for the skill books for two active skills, Backstab and Eviscerate, and five passive skills, Power of the Barbarian, Primal Strength, Strength Amplification, Strength of the Restless, and Power of the Warlock. If you find these for me, you won’t need to pay money for the Black Phenol.」The value of these skills books roughly covered the costs of the Black Phenol along with its recipe and materials. As for how much exactly, he couldn’t be bothered to calculate.

「The first two should be simple, but why do you need so many Strength boosting skill books?」Sleepy Fox asked in bewilderment.

「Sorry, that’s a secret.」

「Alright… It’s going to be a little difficult, but it’s doable. After all, they’re still relatively common skill books,」Sleepy Fox said. The passive skills Nie Yan was looking for were decent—capable of permanently increasing one’s strength as long as they were equipped. However, they couldn’t be improved, took up a skill slot, and were quite expensive, so few players found them worthwhile.

「That’s fine, so I guess it’s a deal then. I’ll mail you the items.」

「Alright, I’ll send over thirty silver first as collateral. You can return the money to me when I collect the skill books,」Sleepy Fox said after thinking for a moment.

「That’s fine too,」Nie Yan replied. He placed the items into the mailbox beside the transfer point and wrote Sleepy Fox as the recipient.

「System: Blade Dancer has deposited 30 silver into your storage.」

「I’ve sent the money over,」Sleepy Fox said.

「Yeah, I just received it. I’m a little busy, so let’s talk some other time.」

Shortly after hanging up the call, Nie Yan put on the black garbs, concealing his entire appearance, and then stepped into the transfer point.

「System: Confirm your destination. Transfer to Plague Canyon, Tasoyi village? Cost: 2 silver 」

Yes!

Since the location of the town was so remote, the transfer fee ended up being a total of two silver.

The scenery shifted and, by the time Nie Yan opened his eyes, he was no longer surrounded by the towering walls of Calore, but rather, a plethora of dense thickets and plant life. However, this place was more than just forest, it was actually a town. Numerous houses had been built into the trunks of trees in the area, many of them looking weathered and shabby, the result of enduring the elements for countless decades.

After stepping out of the transfer point, a man in worn, ash-gray robes who was carrying an archaic staff brushed past Nie Yan. He could be best described as haggard and approaching old age. From the indistinct patterns inscribed into his robes, Nie Yan could tell this aged fellow was an NPC Arcane Mage.

The old man shot Nie Yan an unfriendly glance and began radiating a strange arcane aura. Nie Yan hastily bowed his head and made his way forward.

Tasoyi was an odd little village. Translated from the Ancient Common language, its name meant unfriendly sins. According to the legend surrounding the village, God condemned the residents of the town to eternal sickness by spreading a plague. Moreover, the NPCs here were not only unwelcoming to strangers, but were also notorious for being incredibly difficult to interact with. It was to the point where even a single word greeting from a player to an NPC would incite such an outrage in the village that the player would be lucky to get off with just being expelled, lest they be attacked

Though he looked so unremarkable and frail that even a gentle breeze could knock him over, this old man was really a Level 30 Elite NPC. In fact, no resident of this town was below Level 30.

Therefore, from Nie Yan’s perspective as a mere Level 7, this town was an extremely dangerous place.

Nie Yan knew it was imperative that he protect himself in such a perilous location.

As he walked through the village, Nie Yan encountered various NPCs with unique appearances. He kept his head low, appearance hidden behind black garbs, and hurriedly walked past them. When he arrived at the village entrance, he raised his head to look at a quaint cabin built atop a nearby tree.

In his past life, many players liked shopping at that place since it sold many useful goods. However, with his current financial capital, Nie Yan still lacked the qualifications to frequent this location.

Without uttering a word, Nie Yan silently exited the village. He followed along the winding and twisting path and headed into depths of the forest.

「System: You’ve discovered Plague Forest.」

Dull, decaying trees dotted Plague Forest. Here, neither greeny nor life could be seen in the dreary forest. The oppressive atmosphere here, combined with the dense plant growth, would easily leave players claustrophobic.

The inhabitants of this forest were all extremely dangerous, each and every one of them exceeding Level 30. To Nie Yan, at his current level, they were unparalleled existences.

Nie Yan stealthily advanced through the forest. The trees here hid the sky and covered the earth. Few rays of light pierced through the gaps between the forest canopy, and the ones that did only left behind mottled reflections on the forest floor.

The lighting was dim, and the stale atmosphere was stifling.

Upon arriving in this forest, Nie Yan’s mind became extremely focused. When he heard the slightest of rustles, he raised his head and looked at an area between two trees off in the distance.

Spread across several large trees was a giant spiderweb. There, a giant blood-red spider was sprawled on top of it, quietly lying in ambush while awaiting its next meal.

That was the Level 30 Leader-class monster, Tempered Blood Spider!

Even the faintest sounds would alert these highly sensitive spiders to the presence of nearby prey. Nie Yan quietly departed the area and ducked into the maze of trees.

After several more detours around other dangerous monsters, Nie Yan eventually came across an area littered with towering stacks of stone and boulders, almost as if it was a forest itself. Under the erosion of wind and rain, these stones had become extremely smooth and round.

It’s over there… Nie Yan became even more cautious as he neared his destination. He passed through the dense underbrush, neared one of the stone stacks, and then hid behind it for cover.

Chapter 109 – Gaia Monitor

The sound of heavy, turbid breathing travelled between the scattered stacks and entered Nie Yan’s ears. As he carefully went over to investigate, an enormous, scaly body, lying flat on the ground, entered his sight.

It was a Gaia Monitor!

Nie Yan knew he would be encountering this fellow even before arriving at this location.

This five-meter long lizard hidden between the piles of rocks was covered in sharp spikes, making it almost indistinguishable from an ancient dinosaur.

As he looked elsewhere, he spotted a small cave well-hidden among some boulders. If one didn’t observe carefully, it would be rather easy to overlook.

From where he stood, he was unable to see deeper inside the cave.

I’ll need to get past this lizard first… Entering the cave without alerting the Gaia Monitor wasn’t going to be a simple task.

By habit, Nie Yan inspected the Gaia Monitor with Transcendent Insight.

Gaia Monitor (Elite): Level ??

Although Transcendent Insight failed to gather anything significant due to the level discrepancy, Nie Yan dimly recalled the Gaia Monitor was an Elite monster that was at least level 30. Even the slightest graze from such a high-level monster would undoubtedly mean his death.

Fortunately, this Gaia Monitor wouldn’t stay in this area for too long.

That being the case, Nie Yan patiently waited…

After twenty minutes, the Gaia Monitor finally began to move. It lazily rose to its feet, then stumbled over to a nearby boulder. As it perched itself at the top, its massive tail smashed into another boulder which happened to be quite close to where Nie Yan was hiding.「Boom!」A large explosion echoed out as the boulder instantly turned to rubble, sending debris flying in every direction.

「Pa! Pa! Pa!」Unfortunately, several of the fragments struck Nie Yan as well.

−23, −27. −26

Yet he didn’t dare to budge an inch lest the Gaia Monitor discover his presence.

The Gaia Monitor lowered its head and scanned over the mess of rocks and boulders.

Nie Yan felt his heart skip a beat. He remained motionless as he hid behind the cover of the rock pile, praying the Gaia Monitor wouldn’t notice his presence.

Only after what seemed like an eternity did the Gaia Monitor, having not found anything strange, languidly crawl off toward another area.

Once it had moved far enough away, Nie Yan at long last breathed a sigh of relief. Good… it didn’t notice me. At the sight of its silhouette disappearing into the distance, he finally dared to venture out and head for the cave.

After arriving at the cave’s entrance, Nie Yan felt a cold wind blowing from deep within the cave’s cavity. As he went inside, he noticed a slight dampness in the air as well as the walls that were full of deep scratches, presumably left behind by the Gaia Monitor.

This cave was its nest. Every two hours it would leave the area to sunbathe near some distant cliffs for five minutes or so.

With Nie Yan’s current gear and level, even if the Gaia Monitor laid motionless and allowed him to shoot at it with reckless abandon, the damage he dealt would be entirely negated by its base regeneration.

Were it not for the fact that Nie Yan knew the Gaia Monitor would leave its nest for some time, he would have never dared to come to this place.

As Nie Yan gradually explored deeper, the surroundings became increasingly dim until light no longer shined inside the cave. It was pitch black. He wasn’t even able to see his own hands. Thus, he could only rely on his other senses to guide him through his search.

Fortunately, aside from the Gaia Monitor, no other monsters inhabited this cave.

Nie Yan’s time was limited. If the Gaia Monitor caught wind of an unknown scent after returning, it would immediately rush inside the cave to tear the intruder into shreds.

After three minutes of exploring, Nie Yan still hadn’t reached the end, though he discovered a faint glow being emitted from deeper within the cave.

Is that a chest…? Nie Yan couldn’t help but get excited and hastily head towards the source of the glow.

When Nie Yan explored this area in his past life, this chest had long been opened by another player, so he had been unaware of its existence until now. In this life, however, since he was the first player to arrive in this cave, he also became the first to discover this chest. This was quite the pleasant surprise!

As expected, shortly after Nie Yan arrived at the corner of the cave, he found a shimmering silver treasure chest. Full of anticipation, he quickly examined it, and to his relief it wasn’t locked. If it had been a Level 30 locked chest, he would have no hope whatsoever of opening it.

Treasure chests were divided into two categories, normal chests and locked chests. Any player, regardless of profession or level, could open and retrieve the contents of the former. The latter, however, required a skill or key of the corresponding level.

Nie Yan squatted and started opening the chest.

「System: Opening treasure chest… Estimated Completion: 10%… 30%…」

「Click!」The chest was opened. Nie Yan put his hand inside the chest and felt around until he found something, whereupon he took out two items before hastily examining the first one.

Dark Pendant (Silver)

Requirements: 20 Strength, 30 Dexterity

Properties: Strength +7, Night Vison +3

Weight: 0.1 lb

Restrictions: None

Nie Yan’s heartbeat sped up a little as he stared at the pendant. It turned out to be an accessory that increased night vision. Not only that, but he was even able to wear it right away! Thanks to his gear being good, he had long met the pendant’s Strength and Dexterity requirements.

The moment he equipped the pendant, Nie Yan’s range of vision increased significantly, so much so that he could even vaguely make out the walls of the cave, but even then, it was still extremely limited. At this stage of the game though, it could already be considered quite good.

Nie Yan then inspected the second item.

Thunderbolt Blaze (Intermediate Scroll)

Requirements: 30 Intelligence, set of incantation gestures, set of invocation syllables

Description: Deals 200 damage in a 20-meter radius every second for fifteen seconds

Restrictions: Human; Thief, Paladin, Warrior

The second item was a rare intermediate scroll, which was fairly expensive even when the average level of the playerbase was around thirty to forty. Their drop rates were abysmal, not to mention they were one-use only. As such, they came to be categorized as too-good-to-use among the ordinary players. For Nie Yan to find this scroll now was tantamount to finding a priceless treasure. Its usefulness even exceeded the Dark Pendant’s.

The requirement for activating the scroll could be met by switching to gear that increased Intelligence. Then, he could simply switch back to his old gear when he finished using the scroll.

Done with inspecting his newly acquired loot, Nie Yan stored the Thunderbolt Blaze Scroll in his bag then proceeded deeper into the cave.

After walking for several minutes, Nie Yan found another treasure chest, a golden one at that! Unfortunately, the celebrations ended there because it was locked…

A Level 30 gold treasure chest required at least the Intermediate Lockpicking skill to open. So for the time being, Nie Yan had no way of opening it.

Truthfully speaking, Nie Yan was already able to learn Lockpicking when he reached Level 5, but he had not because of the skill’s high demand amongst the playerbase. Even after visiting the auction house several times, he had still been unable to find the skill book for sale, and although it could be farmed, the drop rate was one in ten thousand. Wasting several days for a single skill book just wasn’t worth the effort, so he had no choice but to put off learning Lockpicking for another time.

Nie Yan felt a deep sense of regret as he unwillingly departed the area. After travelling a little further in, he suddenly felt vibrations in the ground. Shit, this isn’t good. The Gaia Monitor is back!

The sound of heavy, lumbering footsteps soon followed, echoing along the cave walls before entering Nie Yan’s ears.

Knowing he couldn’t dally any longer, Nie Yan relied on his limited vision and madly sprinted towards the depths of the cave.

After half a minute, he saw traces of light as the howling of wind blew into the cave. He had finally found the exit!

Nie Yan sped up his pace and soon arrived at the end of the cave where he halted his footsteps. Just ahead was an overhanging precipice. Now standing at the edge, strong winds howled as they blew past his face. The drop down was in excess of several hundred meters.

This mountain looked as if it had been split down the middle with another cliff face straight across from him while a valley lay beneath him at bottom of the rift. As he gazed down, he could see the lush forest growing below.

Nie Yan quickly gauged how far he was from the opposite cliff face. Where the gap was the widest, he would have to cover over a hundred meters to get to the other side. In the narrow regions, however, he would only need to cover a roughly fifty-meter distance.

Fortunately, where he stood now happened to be the closest to the opposite cliff wall.

The only reason he came to this location was for the sake of reaching that cliff wall before him. With his present abilities, if he wanted to reach there, the only method available to him was this!

Nie Yan carefully scanned the opposite cliff wall but didn’t find anything stange.

The vibrations he felt from the Gaia Monitor were progressively becoming stronger, which meant he didn’t have much more time. He needed to act before it arrived.

There’s no point in hesitating any longer. Making it to the other side shouldn’t be a problem anyway… Nie Yan thought. He prepared to make a running leap and backed up approximately ten meters. Before making the jump, he familiarized himself with the surroundings to ensure that he wouldn’t trip.

Though he didn’t have long since a large silhouette was rapidly approaching from behind.

Nie Yan activated a Haste Scroll before breaking into a sprint. He gained more and more momentum as he neared the cliff.

By this time, the Gaia Monitor had finally arrived at the cave exit and lunged forward in pursuit. Even within the confines of the narrow cave tunnel, it was still rather fast. Its roar was akin to claps of thunder as it rushed at the intruder from the rear.

Nie Yan had already reached his fastest speed, the distance between him and the cliff quickly shortening. Five meters… Three meters… One meter… After arriving at the edge of the cliff, he leapt forward and shot into the air like an artillery shell as he flew towards the opposite side.

The strong winds howled past his ears, blowing into his face, but strangely… Nie Yan sensed that something had followed from behind and jumped off the cliff alongside him. Presumably, it was the Gaia Monitor…

Nie Yan began rapidly descending as he flew toward the opposite cliff face.

If such motion were expressed in a mathematical model, it would be a graph of horizontal projectile motion with air resistance. Nie Yan would continuously near the opposite cliff in this motion until he crashed into the opposite cliff or fell to his death.

After falling about a hundred meters, Nie Yan was quite close to the cliff wall. Without a moment’s hesitation, he activated the Featherfall Jewel’s ability and gradually slowed his descent until he was floating just like a feather.

As he attempted to find a place to land, Nie Yan quickly scanned over the cliff and spotted a cluster of vines near a cave about ten meters away. Over there!

Nie Yan shot a web line from his Silk Spinner Ring at the cluster and firmly stuck to it.

Now suspended over the cliff wall, Nie Yan slowly pulled himself up. His right hand grasped onto the vines, and he was left half dangling in the air.

「System: You’ve discovered Raindel」

Nie Yan had arrived in Raindel, a towering mountain peak. High and steep rock walls surrounded him. As he looked up at the peak of the mountain, he recalled certain legends that said that Temple of Raindel was located above, though he had never went there himself.

After being used, the Silk Spinner Ring’s ability went on cooldown.

Nie Yan estimated the distance between himself and the cave. It was roughly five meters away. He only needed to wait for the Silk Spinner Ring’s ability to come off cooldown, then he would be able to get over there.

In his past life, when Nie Yan heard someone had arrived here using only the Silk Spinner Ring and Featherfall Jewel, he thought it was inconceivable. However, now, after experiencing it firsthand, it really wasn’t all that far-fetched.

Twenty seconds later, the Silk Spinner Ring’s ability finally came off cooldown.

Nie Yan shot out another web line, whereupon it stuck onto a shrub near the cave’s entrance. He pulled on it to make sure the line was secure, then grabbed hold and began climbing upward. Once one of his hands grabbed onto the ledge of the cave, he swung his leg upward and rolled inside.

After entering, Nie Yan discovered there was molten lava flowing within. Although the cave was small, it still contained its own little world. Numerous stalactites hung down from the cave’s ceiling, forming a unique landscape.

Scorching hot gases bubbled from the depths of the mountain. According to the information from his past life, there was a Level 60 Elite Fire Elemental sleeping at its core. If Nie Yan were to enter the area, he would inevitably disturb it, though his goal for coming here was anything but that. After all, he had better things to do than throwing his life way.

Chapter 110 – Lively Market

Nie Yan carefully inspected his surroundings, making sure not to overlook even a single inch. His movements were extremely cautious. He didn’t dare to make the slightest sound, for fear that he might alert the Fire Elemental sleeping in the depths.

Eventually, his search led him to a hidden cranny. There, past volcanic fumes and smoke that obscured his vision, he found a small shabby chest tucked tightly behind a boulder.

The chest was made of wooden plank. Through the passing of centuries, the wood had long decomposed and become riddled with holes. Yet the fact it hadn’t broken down entirely in this harsh environment was the most surprising. It appeared rather ordinary, lacking the elegant designs of its silver and gold counterparts. The only feature worth paying particular attention to was the fire immunity rune engraved on the wood.

Although the ancient character appeared simple, it was exactly such an inconspicuous rune that isolated the chest from the fire elements in this cavern and ensured its integrity.

If my guess is correct… this should be it! Nie Yan knelt down and then opened the chest. He fished around for a while and eventually pulled out a ring.

Crawler Ring: Unidentified

The Crawler Ring! Alongside the Silk Spinner Ring, these two rings were essential for any player who wanted to be considered top-tier!

Nie Yan used Transcendent Insight to appraise the Crawler Ring’s properties.

Crawler Ring (Bronze): Unique Accessory

Requirements: Level 0

Properties: Enables the user to stick to walls and similar surfaces for ten minutes. (Cooldown: 1 hour)

Weight: 0.05 lb

Restrictions: Can be equipped by all factions.

The Crawler Ring, similar to the Silk Spinner Ring, was a unique accessory that aided the player in traversing difficult obstacles. Why had he risked life and death by passing through a Level 30 zone and sneaking into the Gaia Monitor’s nest?

It was precisely for the sake of obtaining this ring!

Now that Nie Yan had both rings, there were no longer any obstacles that could hinder his path!

Filled with expectations, he equipped the Crawler Ring.

After obtaining the item he desired, he thought for a moment. He could simply teleport out of here with a Return Scroll, but awakening the Fire Elemental wasn’t a risk he was willing to take. The effects of the scroll’s activation might alert the Fire Element of his presence.

As he retraced his steps, he was able to hear a rather rhythmic snoring coming from the depths of the cavern, sending forth a wave of hot air with every breath.

He quietly arrived back at the cavern’s entrance. There, he activated the Crawler Ring’s ability and immediately felt a strange suction force coming from his palms. Both hands stuck firmly to the surface of the rock as he began to descend the cliff.

If one were to spot him from afar, he would resemble a spider as he clung closely to the rock face. He was able to move quickly and easily as if he were treading on level ground.

For him, these steep, perilous cliffs were no longer a problem!

While searching for a suitable stopping point as he made his descent, he eventually came across a ledge he could stand on. There, he would be able to free up both his hands to use a Return Scroll.

Hmmm… The bottom seems like a Level 20-ish zone. There are quite a few Leader-class monsters there as well! Nie Yan stared at the monsters in the valley below, then glanced back at the Thunderbolt Blaze Scroll in his bag before having an inkling of an idea…

Considering his level and gear, it was too difficult, bordering on nigh impossible, for him to deal with even a single Level 20 monster, but that wasn’t the case with the Thunderbolt Blaze Scroll!

As the rare intermediate scroll had the ability to kill monsters over Level 20!

Unfortunately, Nie Yan didn’t possess sufficient Intelligence to cast the spell, but that could be easily remedied by finding a couple pieces of equipment in the marketplace! Thus, he set aside the thought for now and activated the Return Scroll. The scroll flashed, and a teleportation circle appeared beneath his feet.

Twenty seconds later, the circle pulsed with a brilliant light and he was teleported back to Calore.

After exiting the transfer area, he walked along Calore’s main street. He saw players everywhere, advertising that they were purchasing Black Phenol for twenty-five copper a bottle, though it was evident no one was willing to sell. At present, the bottles of Black Phenol were like hot cakes. All the guilds were fighting for them, so who would be willing to sell to these middlemen?

Twenty-six copper!

Thirty copper!

Thirty-two copper!

Many guilds were trying to one-up their competition by offering even higher prices for Black Phenol. Though, in the end, players were still unwilling to sell, leaving these guilds wide-eyed and shocked.

Some guilds would simply station their members at the auction house for the day. Occasionally, Alchemists who could create Black Phenol would toss a few bottles up for auction, instantly spurring those guild members into a frenzy as they fought over it. The most a bottle had sold for in the auction house was fifty copper.

In this timeline, the Black Phenol shortage had arrived sooner, was much fiercer, and was even more terrifying. The overwhelming majority of the guilds were all temporarily at a loss as to how to cope with these circumstances.

With the prices of Black Phenol skyrocketing to such a degree, the profits these guilds were able to earn from running Sosil Valley was minimal. Despite this, it was necessary that they continue running the dungeon, since a list of all the equipment that could be obtained from Sosil Valley as well as their drop rates had already been released on Conviction’s official website. Obtaining the Warrior equipment that dropped from the Werewolves was absolutely essential for the growth of their teams. The experience earned from killing the mobs was high as well. The only problem was that it was just too hard. There had already been several dozen attempts at the dungeon, yet no team was even close to beating it. At this rate, just how many bottles of Black Phenol would be consumed in the end?

Perhaps, at this time, the only guild that was able to run Sosil Valley without encountering such issues was Holy Empire. Thanks to Nie Yan providing their guild with so many supplies, they had enough Black Phenol to freely run the dungeon for some time to come.

When Nie Yan saw that the marketplace’s Black Phenol shortage had become so fierce and the prices had catapulted so much in such a short period of time, even he felt considerably taken aback. He believed the players would at least have a little in stock and that the guilds would dispatch their members to gather materials. Yet in the span of a few hours, just as the shortage was only beginning, the price of Black Phenol had already risen to such a terrifying state.

Nevertheless, Nie Yan also understood that this price was also probably the limit. Any higher and those guilds would be losing money every time they ran the dungeon. Of course, who in their right mind would be willing to do that?

I guess it’s about time for me to dump my stock into the marketplace!

Nie Yan placed ten bottles of Black Phenol on the auction house, whereupon a fervor of bidding immediately started on them. The bids continuously rose until they all gradually stopped at around fifty copper. With all ten bottles sold, his earnings were rather decent. Afterwards, he listed another ten bottles up for sale. Sure enough, they were all fought over until there were none left.

He proceeded to dump small batches of Black Phenol into the auction house in an unbroken cycle of selling persisted for quite a while.

News of Black Phenol being dumped into the marketplace quickly travelled to the leaders of the various guilds and caused all of them to assemble at the auction house.

Nie Yan walked along the auction house’s main auditorium and eventually settled in a seat in the furthest row back. His eyes scanned across the entire place. There were several very familiar faces, all of them belonging to the top brass of the various major guilds. It was obvious the Black Phenol shortage had been an unceasing headache for them.

Sitting not far from him were two other players discussing a topic quietly, though it was still within earshot for him.

"It seems the entire playerbase is concerned about Black Phenol right now. Say, who do you think still has so many bottles to sell? That person consistently puts up batches of ten as soon as their last one is sold. It seems they aren’t planning to dump all of their supply at once. They sure are crafty. Selling all of them at once probably won’t net as much of a profit. Only by selling it slowly and whetting the appetites of those large guilds can they sell at such a high price.”

"One bottle for fifty coppers, such a price is bordering on a scam. They’re earning money like crazy. Too bad the person hid their name when listing the Black Phenol up for auction. No one knows who they are.”

When Nie Yan heard these whispering murmurs, his mouth curved into a faint smile. This was the time for him to earn big!

Due to the fact that he really had too much Black Phenol in his storage, if he didn’t get rid of it quickly and allowed the guilds to gather their own steady supply, his own stock might end up going to waste.

Nie Yan spent his time like this in the auction house, just leisurely loitering around. For the time being, he didn’t kill monsters or try to level up. His mind was simply relaxing and being carefree.

In a market with such high demand, his supply of Black Phenol sold particularly well. The guilds that managed to purchase some already began resuming their exploration of Sosil Valley, leaving the ones who hadn’t feeling incredibly pressured. Granted, even though they knew they were being ripped off, progressing through the new dungeon still needed to happen, didn’t it?

Although the Black Phenol was only being sold in small batches, many guilds didn’t have Alchemists who could create it. For fear that the current batch might be the last, they couldn’t help but purchase a few just in case. Under the pressure of the market’s high demand, the price of Black Phenol consistently remained high.

The hysteria over Black Phenol caused money to pour in from all sides, as the funds in Nie Yan’s bag piled higher and higher.

After selling over five hundred bottles, he paused to calculate his earnings. He had earned roughly two and a half gold so far from Black Phenol alone. Alongside the profits from the raw materials, Flash Powder, Sheep Transformation Scrolls, and Web Scrolls, he now had a total of sixteen gold in his bag. In the next six or seven days, all of the earnings made by the several dozen guilds running Sosil Valley would end up falling into his pockets. In this early stage of the game, such a frightening sum of money would cause a person to sigh in admiration to no end. Not to mention, he still had three hundred more bottles of Black Phenol, two hundred and twenty recipes, and an enormous amount of raw materials to sell. It was the recipes that were the real moneymakers. The selling price of a single recipe had already skyrocketed to over twenty silver. Furthermore, it was still going in an upward trend. Nie Yan still didn’t need to be in a rush to get rid of his recipes. After selling all of the Black Phenol and raw materials first, he could decide then what he would sell the recipes for.

With his pockets being sixteen gold richer, he instantly became extravagantly rich. Even for those large guilds, they would at most have no more than three or four gold. Beginner players all required money. The average players didn’t even have enough money to use for themselves, so why would they donate it to their guild? After all, most of them were new recruits, so for the time being, they didn’t hold much loyalty or feel a strong sense of belonging to their guilds. Therefore, most guild leaders would be trying to wrack their brains over the problematic matter of raising funds. They could only ask their loyal members, those who had been members in other games, to draw up some funding. However, if they scraped the bottom of the barrel too hard and those subordinates silently grew resentful, this would also negatively influence the guild’s growth.

Now that he had money, Nie Yan couldn’t allow it to rot in his hands. He would turn his present capital into even more money! That was the sensible way of doing things. As soon as these thoughts ran through his mind, he recalled that he could buy property and land.

At this moment, the game company was already starting to sell the land in Calore. Some residences on the border streets of the city were torn down in order to make way for player constructed shops. Every important section of land on the main streets was currently up for sale. However, Chief Administrator Telus, the person in charge of selling the land, was actually quite free from any workload. The main hall in his building was practically empty, The reason he had no customers was because the price of a single plot of land was at least one gold, while the plots that were in relatively good areas for building shops were valued at several dozen gold. Namely, even those large guilds would be incapable of taking out such a large sum of money to purchase such a plot of land.

As for those cheap plots selling for one or two gold, they were located in less than preferable places that most players disliked, so no one was willing to purchase them, while land in relatively good locations, they couldn’t afford. Thus, most players who were rich enough to purchase land could only give up on the thought for the time being.

Though, in the near future, many of the large guilds would have much more capital to spend. The in-game economy would flourish even more, and every good plot of land would be fought over wildly by the various guilds! This was where the future was headed!

Every guild was unceasingly accumulating their finances in preparation to expand.

If a person bought a plot of land, it didn’t matter if they opened their own shop or leased it to others to collect rent, they were all decent options.

With so much money in his pockets, Nie Yan only had to leave one or two gold for his own personal use, and it would cover his daily expenses for quite a while. By using the remaining funds to purchase a plot of land, not only would he able to keep it, it would also rise in value. Who would have anything against that?

Virtual real-estate was the same as real-estate in the real world. They both possessed value!

Chapter 111 – Upgrade

Calore’s downtown area was presently located in the southern district of the city, neighbouring the Mercenary Guild. Most of the NPC shops in the city were concentrated in this area, and it was also where the auction house was located, making the area the central hub for business and player activity. As of right now, the NPC shops in the area only sold goods that would satisfy low level players. In the future, these shops would gradually be replaced by crafting professions that could meet the demands of higher level players who required more advanced goods and equipment. Of course, this shift in the economy would bring about changes in the structure of commerce in the city as well. Also to note was the fact that the game developers would eventually place the real world currency exchange center in the east, causing Calore’s downtown area to slowly shift to that region of the city. Business in the south would gradually thin out until the only entity that could draw players in was the Mercenary Guild.

Currently, the plots in Calore’s southern district were priced at a minimum of ten gold. A few were even valued at up to thirty to forty gold, whereas the ones in the eastern region would only fetch one or two, some for even less. However, in two to three months, the average value of these relatively cheap plots in the east would rise by at least tenfold and several hundred for the ones in prime locations. In the next ten years, they would skyrocket to even more frightening levels.

Yet, at present, the entire region was a slum, to the extent where there wasn’t a single modern building in sight.

Leaving the auction house, Nie Yan headed for the administrator’s office located in the heart of the business hub. After walking for several minutes, he soon approached his destination as a towering white spire came into view. Typical of Viridian architecture, the stone walls were full of exquisite carvings and then further reinforced with mana, resulting in a faint azure glow emitting from their surface. If one inspected more closely, they would see a row of orchids hanging from the building’s balcony, allowing their fragrant scent to drift down to the streets below.

Upon arriving at the doorstep, Nie Yan entered the building and saw floors so immaculate and smooth they revealed his own reflection. The more than ten-meter-high ceiling would leave anyone awed at the expansiveness of this place. Additionally, various colorful pieces of artwork were painted across it, free for guests to enjoy during their stay.

As soon as he stepped through the doors, an elderly man walked over to greet him. He wore a deep black, well-ironed military uniform that carried golden epaulettes at the shoulders. Despite his age, he still appeared full of vigor and possessed an aura that was both dignified and domineering.

"Chief Administrator Telus, I’ve come to purchase some land.”

"I’m happy that you’ve decided to take up residence in Calore. We welcome any customer who wishes to open up a shop. We especially offer the best services to those who abide by the law. Please, come with me,” Chief Administrator Telus said before heading into his office.

Nie Yan had come here before in his past life, though it was already far too late by then. Even the most remote plots of land were valued at over several thousand to upwards of tens of thousands of gold. It was also during this period that Calore came to be known as the City of Gold. Any piece of it was worth quite a bit of money. Even the most ordinary storefronts could earn a player a significant sum. Within Conviction, merchants became so rich and powerful that they possessed no less if not more influence than the top-tier players. In contrast, he had been powerless and could only leave the chief administrator’s office empty handed while filled with regret.

However, in this lifetime, he would be able to obtain a vast number of extremely valuable storefronts for dirt cheap prices before most players were even paying attention to the virtual real-estate market!

"Dear customer, which storefront would you like to purchase?” Chief Administrator Telus inquired, pointing towards a holographic model of the city on his desk. All properties available for purchase were marked, and even their individual prices were clearly displayed.

Nie Yan stared at the eastern region of the city. Presently, there were over twenty properties available. The most expensive ones were two gold while the cheapest were fifty silver.

A few of them were properties that were considered prime real-estate in his past life. One of the locations was even near the yet to be built currency exchange center. The market value of that property had been well over several tens of thousands of gold. While in the real world, it became even more invaluable. Yet, placed right before his very eyes, such a matchless location was only being sold for two gold!

No other fact caused his heart to beat as wildly as this!

"I would like the storefront over here…” Nie Yan said, pointing to the property near the yet to be built currency exchange center. In the moment that he spoke, his heart began racing in his chest and he felt an intense excitement that was almost impossible to suppress. He barely held himself back from shouting out in joy.

This investment of two gold would create unlimited possibilities for him in the future!

He handed over the money to Chief Administrator Telus, and without missing a beat, the chief administrator handed back a title deed for the property, which came in the appearance of a scroll.

This thin, somewhat ancient scroll served as a legal document in the virtual world. The contract language and terms in this document were the same as the ones in reality and bore the same protection by the law.

After the first transaction, Nie Yan proceeded to purchase eleven more properties in prime real estate locations. Two of them were especially large, occupying an enormous area of land that made it perfect for building a towering auction house. He hoped to make it the most prosperous place in the entire eastern district.

Nie Yan glanced at his bag. After purchasing the rights to so many properties, he was only left with two gold.

In any world, the best way of earning money wasn’t to set up a commercial enterprise but rather to invest with impeccable foresight. By using money to create more money, he would achieve the goal of expanding his capital. Being reborn had given him many opportunities that he had missed out on in his past life.

Calore would become the Viridian Empire’s most flourishing city in the future while these twelve properties would become the most profitable. Even if he didn’t open his own shop and only rented them out, he would still rake in tremendous sums of money.

「System: For purchasing five or more properties in the city, your Influence in Calore has increased by 5.」

The boost in Influence would be helpful to him when doing business in and around every part of the city. When a player’s Influence reached thirty, even if their name was marked in red, they would still be able to freely walk the streets of the city and enjoy the protection of the guards. When purchasing goods from the NPC shops, they wouldn’t dare to price gouge the player as they pleased, simply for the fact that Influence represented status in the city.

Right after killing another player, he would still be able to parade himself ostentatiously around the streets! Just how wonderful of a situation was that? Though with his low-key nature, he absolutely wouldn’t commit such an attention-seeking act.

"In the future, when you open a shop, you’ll have to pay 1% of your profits every month as income tax. It is also necessary that you improve your shop within the next two months. Furthermore, you will have to pay 0.05% of your shop’s value as property tax. The most you can be behind on your payments is three months. Failure to repay your debts within that time limit will result in the Viridian Empire seizing your property, as per stated in your contract. Do you wish to make any further inquiries?” Chief Administrator Telus asked.

"No, that’ll be fine,” Nie Yan replied. In comparison to the benefits these properties would bring him, these taxes could be completely disregarded considering how immaterial they were.

After completing the transaction, he stored the deeds away, then stared at the model of the city. He could see piles of gold overflowing from these properties as they towered over the eastern region of Calore.

Now, he simply had to wait for the eventual expansion of the region!

Having finished his business, Nie Yan left the building with a sense of satisfaction. Even if he stagnated and did nothing from now on, the slowly appreciating properties almost ensured his future earnings would satisfy his expenses for a long time to come. Naturally, he wouldn’t become complacent after acquiring these deeds. The grand oceans allowed the fish to leap, and the vast skies allowed the birds to fly. He still had much more business to take care of.

Nie Yan headed back to the auction house. Aside from the Black Phenol and materials, he also placed a batch of Flash Powder, Web Scrolls, and Sheep Transformation Scrolls up for auction as well. Though, the majority of the money he earned would be used to purchase things that might spike in value later on. For example, right now he was focused on gathering consumables that cured petrification and equipment that increased Spirit for the upcoming dungeon, Medusa’s Lair.

He also purchased several Fortune Gems in addition to the fifteen he already had in his possession. For him, selling these gems or sitting on them while waiting for their value to rise wasn’t worth his time. That meant the best course of action was to use them to strengthen his equipment right now. Only then could he get the most out of them.

After thinking about what he should upgrade, the Dark Gold dagger, Blood Pact, popped into his mind. Now that he thought about it, it was probably the best piece of gear out of all the equipment that was currently in his possession. Although it was a Level 0 dagger, it was still Dark Gold-grade. It certainly wasn’t lacking in attack, but the most significant aspect was that it boasted a fairly rare property, Lifesteal. If he were able to raise this dagger’s attack, then it would become even more perfect.

Blood Pact (dark gold)
Level Requirement: 0
Properties: Attack 23-26
Dexterity +11
Critical +12
Lifesteal 3%
Attack Speed: 2.3
Weight: 3 lb
User Restriction: Thief, can be equipped by all factions.

However, most players felt that using Fortune Gems on a Level 0 weapon was too much of a waste. After all, these gems cost five silver each! At the very least, many would wait until they reached the mid thirties, when levelling became much slower, to use such an expensive item, but Nie Yan didn’t have any such apprehensions. He had no shortage of money-making schemes to use in the future. Thus, if he really wanted to upgrade his equipment again, he could simply purchase more Fortune Gems at the auction house. All Elite or Lord monsters over Level 5 had a chance of dropping them. Usually, ordinary players who got their hands on some often couldn’t bear to use it for themselves, so they would place them up for sale on the auction house, making it so the market would never run out.

Aside from increasing the success rate of socketing gems, a Fortune Gem (1) could also raise a weapon’s attack by ten and a piece of armour’s defense by fifteen. These bonuses were enough to make many players go crazy. The caveat was that the success rate would fall depending on the number of upgrades. For the first five stages, the success rate was sixty percent. If it was successful, then all was fine, but upon failure, the piece of equipment would lose an upgrade stage. From stage six to ten, the success rate would fall to fifty percent, and upon failure, five stages would be lost. From the eleventh to the fifteenth stage, the success rate remained fifty percent, but all upgrades would be lost upon failure. As for the final stages, stage sixteen to twenty, each successive upgrade would provide the piece of equipment with an additional, formidable skill. Any piece of equipment that had been upgraded twenty times were existences that were as rare as Legendary-grade equipment.

When upgrading a piece of equipment, each additional gem would increase the success rate by a certain amount.

The concept of upgrading equipment with Fortune Gems was often the bane of players with gambling addictions. Those who were lucky would be able to raise several stages with only a few gems, thus creating an invaluable piece of equipment. In contrast, there were also some incredibly unfortunate fools, who, when falling prey to a moment of weakness, would try their luck only to lose over ten upgrades all at once.

No matter what, upgrading with Fortune Gems was an activity only for the rich. Ordinary players definitely wouldn’t dare to do so, or more accurately, they couldn’t afford to do so!

Not only did Nie Yan have fifteen Fortune Gems, he also possessed Pandora’s Box which had the ability to influence success rate. Thus, he was itching to give it a try. Besides, for the first ten stages, there was no chance of losing all upgrades.

Pandora's Box (fate item)
Item Description:

Insert three pieces of equal grade into Pandora's Box for a 10% chance of obtaining a piece of equipment of a higher grade. All pieces of equipment are destroyed upon failure

Insert a piece of equipment and a fortune gem for a chance of raising its grade by one. Upon failure, the piece of equipment is demoted by a grade.

Counter (cycle = 3 seconds) begins when activated. If cycle number is even, Luck +5. If cycle is odd, -5.

User Restriction: Can be used by all factions.

After confirming his decision, he placed Blood Pact and one Fortune Gem into Pandora’s Box. The dagger glowed with a blood red aura while beside it was a gem that emitted a dazzling radiance.

「System: Do you wish to upgrade this piece of equipment?」

Nie Yan gazed fixedly at Conviction’s clock. He calculated whether the time was on an even cycle or an odd cycle as he watched the passing seconds, his pupils reflecting each successive digit.

Now!

Nie Yan confirmed the upgrade.

「System: Upgrade successful! Blood Pact → Blood Pact +1」

My luck’s pretty good! He examined the properties of the improved Blood Pact.

Blood Pact +1 (Dark Gold)

Requirements: Level 1

Properties: Attack 33–36, Dexterity +11, Critical +12, Lifesteal 3%

Attack Speed: 2.3

Weight: 3lb

Restrictions: Thief, can be equipped by all factions.

The upgrade was a success, resulting in Blood Pact’s attack increasing by ten and its level requirement being raised by one. As such, its attack was now better than some Level 5 Gold daggers.

Chapter 112 – Blood Pact +7

Nie Yan was far from being satisfied with just a single upgrade.

He placed Blood Pact back into Pandora’s Box along with another Fortune Gem and tried to upgrade it again. If the game time was on an even cycle, then his success rate would be increased to around eighty percent.

「System: Upgrade successful! Blood Pact +1 → Blood Pact +2」

Nie Yan examined Blood Pact’s new properties.

Blood Pact +2 (Dark Gold)

Requirements: Level 2

Properties: Attack 43–46, Dexterity +11, Critical +12, Lifesteal 3%

Attack Speed: 2.3

Weight: 3lb

Restrictions: Thief, can be equipped by all factions.

Even with this, Nie Yan still wasn’t completely satisfied. He retrieved another Fortune Gem, placed it inside Pandora’s Box, and continued upgrading. After clicking confirm, the gem began radiating brighter and brighter until…「Poof!」The gem burst into ashes. He felt his heart sink. The probability of failing was only twenty percent, yet he had just failed on only his second attempt. It seemed even Pandora’s Box couldn’t help him with his innately poor luck.

「System: Upgrade failed! Blood Pact +2 → Blood Pact +1」

However, he wouldn’t allow this setback to discourage him. The price of a Fortune Gem alone might be enough to frighten most players, but Nie Yan wasn’t most players. Such a trivial sum wouldn’t be able to affect him. Failing this time meant losing ten silver, a loss he was entirely willing to bear.

「System: Upgrade successful! Blood Pact +1 → Blood Pact +2」

「System: Upgrade successful! Blood Pact +2 → Blood Pact +3」

「System: Upgrade successful! Blood Pact +3 → Blood Pact +4」

「System: Upgrade failed! Blood Pact +4 → Blood Pact +3」

…

Even with an eighty percent success rate, he still ended up failing two times before finally reaching his initial target. Lady Luck just didn’t seem to be on his side.

In total, it took him nine gems to advance Blood Pact to the fifth stage. As he took it out of the box to examine, he noticed a slight change in its appearance. It seemed to shine more brilliantly than before.

Blood Pact +5 (Dark Gold)

Requirements: Level 5

Properties: Attack 73–76, Dexterity +11, Critical +12, Lifesteal 3%

Attack Speed: 2.3

Weight: 3lb

Restrictions: Thief, can be equipped by all factions.

Blood Pact at its fifth stage already possessed an attack that was far beyond the vast majority of weapons in the game, even surpassing Level 10 Dark Gold weapons by a good margin. He still had eight Fortune Gems remaining in his inventory, so getting Blood Pact to the sixth stage probably wouldn’t be too much of a problem. According to how the upgrade system worked, getting the dagger to the seventh stage would be worthwhile. It was only when upgrading to the eighth or ninth stage that the stakes began to rise, as a single failure from stage six and onwards would drop the weapon back to the fifth stage. As for getting a piece of equipment to stage ten or higher, only those who possessed incredibly good luck or were filthy rich would dare to make the attempt.

Nie Yan placed Blood Pact back into Pandora’s Box along with another Fortune Gem. His chances of upgrading the dagger to the sixth stage was seventy percent. This could already be considered fairly high, since, without the aid of the box, it was usually fifty percent. In the game’s current state, a stage seven piece of equipment was as rare as a qilin horn or phoenix feather.

As Blood Pact emitted a bright red aura from inside Pandora’s Box, Nie Yan found it difficult to calm his nerves. After all, this might be the creation of the game’s first stage six or seven weapon. He couldn’t help but be nervous.

With a seventy percent success rate, I might as well give it a shot!

Nie Yan clenched his teeth and hit confirm.

The gem began shining brilliantly. Then, with a final flash of light, its essence was transferred to the dagger. Nie Yan felt as if an explosion had gone off in his mind as he watched this occur before his very eyes. The upgrade was a success!

After the golden radiance slowly dispersed, only the dagger remained in Pandora’s Box. A bedeviling crimson aura spread out as if to bask the world in its glorious presence.

A stage six dagger… Awesome!

The next step was to get the dagger to stage seven, a task which made even Nie Yan quiver under the pressure. A seventy percent chance of success was indeed quite high, but that still meant there was a thirty percent chance of failure. It was precisely this fact that made him extremely tense.

After careful deliberation, he decided to give it a shot and placed another Fortune Gem inside Pandora’s Box.

He clenched his teeth and hit upgrade. It has to succeed!

Although it wouldn’t be too much of a loss to him if he failed, he was still losing money!

「System: Do you wish to upgrade Blood Pact +6?」

Yes!

He steeled himself and hit confirm on the system prompt. The visual effects started playing, ending once more with a flash of golden light. It was a success! A wave of relief and happiness washed over Nie Yan. Apparently all of his bad luck had been used up in the previous two failures, as the dagger was successfully upgraded to the seventh stage without a hitch.

My luck’s pretty good! He examined the properties of the improved Blood Pact.

Blood Pact +7 (Dark Gold)

Requirements: Level 7

Properties: Attack 93–96, Dexterity +11, Critical +12, Lifesteal 3%

Attack Speed: 2.3

Weight: 3lb

Restrictions: Thief, can be equipped by all factions.

He had been relatively lucky this time around. With this, Blood Pact now possessed almost one hundred attack, nearly rivaling even some Level 15 weapons.

A Fortune Gem was quite a costly thing. There were very few, if any, players who would be as crazy as Nie Yan and attempt to upgrade a piece of equipment to the seventh stage. Even the leaders of the largest guilds wouldn’t dare to test their luck. At the very least, they would be extremely prudent by taking their equipment to a Jewelcrafter for the upgrade. In the entire game, there was probably no one else who had such a high success rate in upgrading equipment like Nie Yan.

Any other player would likely need to spend, at the very least, twice as many Fortune Gems to upgrade a piece of equipment to the seventh stage.

Blood Pact was now as brilliant as a ruby and surrounded by a pulsing, blood red aura that seemed to emit a murderous intent. Even if he hid the visual effects on the dagger, anyone could see with just a glance that it was out of the ordinary.

Attempting to upgrade the dagger to the eighth stage would be slightly risky. This was because if he failed, it would fall back to stage five.

Aside from Blood Pact, Nie Yan also used two Fortune Gems to upgrade his other dagger, Assassin’s Decree, to stage two, raising its attack by twenty.

Assassin’s Decree (Gold): Secondary Weapon
Requirements: Level 7
Properties: Attack 46–49, Strength +16, Accuracy +12
Attack Speed: 2.5
Weight: 3 lb
Restrictions: Can be equipped by all factions.

Assassin’s Decree was merely a Gold-grade weapon, so its stats weren’t that great in comparison. He was only using it for now until he found a suitable replacement, which would be pretty soon, so it wasn’t worthwhile to upgrade it any further.

Nie Yan checked his status page. While wielding these two top-tier daggers, his attack leapt to one hundred and seventy-six. Most of the Thieves who were currently Level 7 had an attack of around a hundred, so this was already terrific. In fact, it was practically blasphemous for a player to have such stats! At this point in the game, the quality of his gear would most likely make any honest, hard-working player froth at the mouth from rage.

Having finished buying properties and upgrading his gear, Nie Yan returned to the auction house and listed another batch of raw materials and Black Phenol for sale. Then, he opened the auction house’s catalogue and searched for equippable gear that boosted Intelligence.

However, it seemed there were fairly few pieces of equipment that matched such criteria in the market, though this was unsurprising. After all, what would a Thief do with Intelligence? The players who obtained such equipment would probably throw it in a recycler to be broken down into raw materials.

After searching for what seemed like half a day, he felt exasperated. He still wasn’t able to find a single piece of equipment. If I can’t find any here, don’t tell me I have to go farming for them myself…? Just how many years will that take!?

Thunderbolt Blaze was an intermediate scroll that required thirty Intelligence to cast. An intermediate scroll was still rather rare among the current playerbase, but after everyone raised their levels, just about any average joe would have one or two of these scrolls for emergency use. So, if he sat on the scroll for too long, its usefulness would diminish. Unfortunately, even the rarest of items today would become common commodities over time.

He wanted to make use of the Thunderbolt Blaze scroll, but he didn’t have sufficient Intelligence nor could he find the equipment to alleviate this issue. Just what was he going to do?

While wracking his brains over this problem, Sleepy Fox suddenly popped into his mind. Nie Yan didn’t know if Sleepy Fox had any equipment that increased Intelligence, but it was possible that he had some lying around. After all, for a guild as large as Holy Empire, picking up one or two pieces of Thief equipment that increased Intelligence was quite common. Even those pieces of equipment that no one would use wouldn’t be so easily discarded. Any sensible guild would use these items to pad the treasury. Just in case it actually did have some use, it could be easily retrieved when needed.

「You there?」Nie Yan sent Sleepy Fox a message.

「Yeah, I’m there. We’ve already found the skill books for the five passive skills you wanted. As for the two active skills, we’re out of luck for the time being, but we should be able to get them in the afternoon,」Sleepy Fox said apologetically. Thanks to the large quantity of Black Phenol and materials Nie Yan provided them, Holy Empire was able to get an advantage over the other guilds in running Sosil Valley. Although their team had yet to meet the boss, as they were still stuck on fighting the common mobs, the profits were nevertheless astonishing. They were able to obtain quite a few decent pieces of equipment. The experience wasn’t bad either. A single Werewolf provided eight hundred experience, so their levelling was much faster than killing mobs outside. Considering all the benefits Nie Yan provided him, he felt ashamed that they were still unable to fulfill a simple request.

At this time, the skill books Nie Yan was looking for, Backstab and Eviscerate, were fairly rare drops. Even a large guild such as Holy Empire would only be able to obtain a few in a single day. The demand for these skills was simply too high. As for those five passive skills, although relatively uncommon as well, they weren’t expensive or highly sought after by most players. Therefore, they were quite easy to find.

Truthfully, Sleepy Fox was rather puzzled as to why a Thief like Nie Yan would want to learn so many Strength-increasing skills. What was the point of filling up so many skill slots right now? Those skills would eventually be forgotten anyway. Wasn’t he just wasting money at this point? Though, after thinking about it, Sleepy Fox recalled that Nie Yan was perhaps the richest solo player he had met so far, so why would he care about losing some pocket change?

「No worries, there’s no rush. Just hold onto those skill books for now. I actually contacted you for something else. Do you have any skill books or equipment lying around that I can wear, ones that increase Intelligence?」Nie Yan replied.

「Intelligence? For a Thief…?」Sleepy Fox asked in a flabbergasted manner.

「Yep… Thief equipment or skills that increase Intelligence. I’d prefer if it was equipment,」Nie Yan said. If he had to learn a skill for the sake of increasing Intelligence, when he had no more skill slots, he would have no choice but to erase it to make space. At least with equipment, he’d still be able to recoup some of his losses.

「We should have some lying around… I’ll tell one of my subordinates to search through the treasury and check,」Sleepy Fox replied, as he became ever more baffled. While it was somewhat understandable for Thief to want items that raised their Strength, just why in the world would one ever need Intelligence? Was it possible that Nie Yan had picked up a piece of equipment that had an Intelligence requirement?

Nie Yan patiently waited for Sleepy Fox’s reply.

「So… after checking, we’ve got a pair of boots with +7 Intelligence, leather armour with +8 Intelligence, a pair of gloves with +7 Intelligence, and two skill books, Farsight and Comprehension, which raise Intelligence by nine and six respectively. That’s all we found,」Sleepy Fox said.

「It’s enough. Let me borrow the boots, leather armour, and gloves for a while. As for the Comprehension skill book, name a price.」

「No need. It’s not anything valuable, so feel free to take them all,」Sleepy Fox replied. Thief equipment that increased Intelligence wasn’t worth very much. Even if they placed these pieces of equipment in the auction house for a low price, it didn’t necessarily mean someone would buy them. Usually, they would simply sit in the treasury until enough of them piled up to be thrown into the recycler all at once.

「Thanks. I’ll return them later. Just send them through the mail,」Nie Yan said. If all these pieces of equipment were sold in the marketplace, the profit earned still wouldn’t amount to a single silver. The player would be lucky to receive fifty copper. Sleepy Fox would never be willing to collect payment on such items, and Nie Yan didn’t care to force him either.

「Alright,」Sleepy Fox said. He believed Nie Yan definitely had a good reason for borrowing all these pieces of equipment that increased Intelligence. However, since Nie Yan didn’t tell him, he wouldn’t ask too many questions.

After a while, Nie Yan headed to his personal storage and retrieved the items that he had asked for. Altogether there were four items that increased Intelligence, three of which were pieces of equipment while the fourth was a skill book.

On top of his base stats, these four items raised his Intelligence past thirty points, enabling him to meet the requirements to cast the Thunderbolt Blaze Scroll!

Chapter 113 – Thunderbolt Blaze

Nie Yan headed to the transfer point and proceeded to Tasoyi Village. Retracing the steps of his last visit, he traversed Plague Forest, the Gaia Monitor’s nest, and eventually arrived back at the overhanging cliff.

The cold wind, that originated from the Desolate Tundra of the North, whistled through the ravine. Although it would inevitably warm up during its journey here, currently the chilling nip still persisted.

As Nie Yan stood at the edge of the cliff, he stared at the dense forest canopy below.

The ravine was the central region of the Plague Canyon and also where Windletter Herb, a primary ingredient required to manufacture Intermediate Anti-Paralysis Potions, grew in abundance. At the peak of its demand during Nie Yan’s past life, this alchemy ingredient had sold for up to seventeen silver per plant. Moreover, since the mob density in the zone was relatively high and mostly consisted of Quilled Kobolds, a mob that was very slow and possessed no long range attacks, it became a favourite training ground among Mages who had reached Level 20.

The only inconvenience was that it was quite tedious to get to this zone. In order to do so, players would need to detour around a large mountain range. Usually, most players would set out on this journey by horseback. However, since Nie Yan didn’t have a mount, who knows just how much time he would waste if he were to actually walk the entire distance. Thus, the best option available was to take a shortcut by jumping off this cliff.

Naturally, this was only possible thanks to the Featherfall Jewel’s ability; otherwise, the fall would undoubtedly mean certain death.

Nie Yan finally jumped off the cliff.

The wind whistled past his ears as he rapidly descended into the ravine below.

Falling from several hundred meters high was still considerably exhilarating. After dropping over two hundred meters, his descending velocity was still constantly increasing. Soon, the air resistance made it difficult for him to keep his eyes open. As the ground drew closer and closer, he hastily activated the Featherfall Jewel’s ability.

Almost immediately, his falling speed slowed down to a crawl. Nie Yan adjusted his position accordingly and searched for a suitable location to land at. Eventually, after finding an opening in the canopy, he safely came into contact with the ground.

Nie Yan didn’t immediately take action but scanned the surrounding with his eyes instead. The area he landed in was a small meadow, roughly fifty meters in size, that thankfully happened to be beside the rock face.

This spot should be fine… Nie Yan thought. The topography in this meadow was quite suitable for his plan. He also quickly discovered many Windletter Herbs in the area. This was clearly an area that wasn’t frequented by other players, as the plant was freely growing everywhere in his surroundings. Unfortunately, his Gathering skill hadn’t yet reached the required level to harvest them.

Eventually, a Quilled Kobold wandered into the meadow. This monster was a bipedal, dumpy porcupine that only reached half a person’s height. They wielded small wooden clubs studded with wolf teeth. Their backs were covered in sharp, ash gray quills, which provided them with an extremely strong physical defense, and even enabled them to reflect some damage. However, not only were they especially slow, they were also vulnerable to magic, which made them easy targets for Mages. This one for example, upon discovering Nie Yan’s presence, emitted an odd, high-pitched squeak before charging straight at him.

Nie Yan instantly used Transcendent Insight to examine the Quilled Kobold.

Quilled Kobold: Level 23

Health: 1,300/1,300

A Level 23 Quilled Kobold’s health and defense were both frighteningly high.

Nie Yan retrieved his crossbow and shot three bolts at the approaching Quilled Kobold.

−10, −11, −10, three damage values rose above its head. However, as a Level 23 monster, its health regeneration was astonishingly high. Thus, the damage Nie Yan had dealt was quickly negated as its health had already recovered back to full.

Nie Yan activated Swift Retreat. With his movement speed increased by thirty percent, he was able to easily put a large distance between himself and the Quilled Kobold.

After assessing its speed, he became well aware of the situation. As long as he didn’t allow the Kobold to get too close, he would be in no danger whatsoever.

Nie Yan proceeded to run deeper into the forest and began to draw the aggro of other monsters. Whenever he came across a Quilled Kobold wandering around, he would fire a few bolts at it as he passed by. After being attacked, they would immediately pursue him while flailing their clubs. In this fashion, he continued to aggro more monsters while maintaining an optimal distance that wasn’t too close nor too far away from the monsters.

As he led the angry monsters on a chase around the forest, the mob began to resemble a train with Nie Yan as the conductor. Starting with only one Quilled Kobold, more and more joined the chase, until the size of the mob had exceeded twenty. Eventually, he led the entire mob of Kobolds back to the meadow he had originally landed at.

Having gotten the Kobolds where he wanted them, he accelerated his pace and quickly left their line of sight. Afterwards, the Kobolds deaggroed and returned to an idle state.

As such, a group of fifty to sixty of these Quilled Kobolds had flooded this open area. Luckily for Nie Yan, it was unlikely that this group would disperse and wander out of the area anytime soon.

Nie Yan ran off to another region of the forest and continued to aggro monsters with his crossbow. Before ten minutes had even passed, he had gathered another mob of a similar size behind him. However, unlike the previous group, several of the Kobolds in this group were comparatively larger and faster than the rest. Nonetheless, since there were so many ordinary Kobolds packed around them, obstructing their movements, they were unable to have any significant impact on the chase.

He once again used Transcendent Insight to examine one of these larger Kobolds.

Quilled Kobold (Leader): Level 25

Health: 2,100/2,100

They were Leader-class monsters that possessed significantly higher health. In normal circumstances, he would never dare to tangle with these Leader-class Kobolds. However, at present, even they were his prey.

Soon, he brought over the group of Kobolds to the meadow, before breaking off their aggro by moving out of their line of sight. Now, together with the previous group, this already crowded place started to become congested.

Nie Yan’s corralling of the Kobolds to the meadow progressed smoothly. After half an hour, he had managed to lead four more large groups of Kobolds into the area. This small meadow was now thoroughly crowded with over three hundred Quilled Kobolds, a number that would leave anyone completely speechless.

Finally finished… A faint smile could be seen on Nie Yan’s face as he stared at the group of Kobolds in this meadow. The final step would be to reap the rewards of all his efforts!

He nimbly evaded the attacks of the Kobolds as he made his way toward the rock face, then he activated the Crawler Ring’s ability. An attractive force immediately emerged from both his hands, and using this attractive force, he began to quickly climb up the rock face. After reaching an appropriate height, he found a suitable ledge to stand on.

As he firmly stood on the ledge he looked down upon the meadow and saw the Quilled Kobolds everywhere!

If he waited too much longer, all these monsters would begin to disperse!

Nie Yan switched out some of his gear with the three pieces of equipment that increased Intelligence, then retrieved the Thunderbolt Blaze Scroll and activated it.

「System: Do you wish to cast Thunderbolt Blaze?」

Yes!

「System: Casting Thunderbolt Blaze Scroll…」

As he began to read the words on the scroll aloud a succession of hard-to-pronounce invocation syllables left his mouth.

Casting this scroll required a set of syllables and gestures. In other words, it would require ten seconds to cast. The scroll in his hands gave him the feeling as if it was a giant sphere of fire, raging and ready to combust.

It was time, the Thunderbolt Blaze scroll was activating!

The fire elements in the atmosphere frantically converged, making the surrounding atmosphere increasingly hot as waves of scorching air rose up into the sky. It seemed as if some type of otherworldly destructive power was being awakened, ready to rain destruction upon wherever it was summoned. Clouds of flames, that resembled the beautiful shade of red from a sunset, began to pulsate in the sky.

Yet such a dazzling existence represented utter destruction.

Thunderbolt Blaze was an area of effect magic that called down a storm of flames upon the enemy and could only be learned by an Elementalist. It was also a rank one magic from the Elemental Palace, which meant that its destructive power this early in the game was astonishingly powerful. It could even deal decent damage to monsters over Level 30, so there was no need to talk about these Quilled Kobolds that were only slightly over Level 20.

The crowd of Kobolds apparently sensed the danger and began to grow restless. Before long they began to disperse in every direction.

In life and death battles in his past life, he had learned that ten seconds was a very long time. Many things could occur in ten seconds. In fact, magic could still be easily interrupted by an enemy when it was mid-cast. It was also enough time for a Thief to erupt with a fervor of skills, dishing out their entire combo which could kill a Mage on the spot. However, in this current situation, ten seconds was actually quite short. By the time the Quilled Kobolds reacted to the danger, it was already too late. From the start, ten seconds was never enough time for them to safely flee from the meadow.

Nie Yan aimed in an area where the Kobolds were the most concentrated.

Thunderbolt Blaze!

The blazing cloud began to congeal in the sky, before it rained down flames on the entire area.

A frightening torrent of fire!

「Boom! Boom! Boom!」Spheres of flames bombarded the Quilled Kobolds, causing sparks of fire to fly everywhere as the Kobolds let out mournful cries.

It resembled a scene straight out of the apocalypse. Wave after wave of fire rained down, pushing all of the Quilled Kobolds in a twenty-meter radius down to the ground with so much force that they weren’t even able to lift their heads up.

In the midst of this fiery hell, a vast cloud of damage values, −200, −200, −200, rose into the air every second and blotted out everything else. Just how spectacular of a sight was this!?

Even the tanky Leader-class Kobolds were unable to endure such terrifying damage!

Nearly ten full waves of flames rained down upon the area in the spell’s fifteen-second duration, leaving all of the Quilled Kobolds fully roasted!

In the most concentrated area of the spell, the Quilled Kobolds resembled harvested wheat as they toppled over by the dozens.

「System: You have successfully slain a Quilled Kobold. +1800% experience for killing a monster above your level. You have received 5,290 experience points.」

「System: You have successfully slain a Quilled Kobold. +1800% experience for killing a monster above your level. You have received 5,290 experience points.」

…

While all this was happening, Nie Yan looked at his experience bar. It was filling up at a frightening rate. 56%… 67%… 83%… 「Ding! Dong!」The crisp sound of the system prompt echoed out. He had levelled up to Level 8!

However, it didn’t end here. His experience bar was still continuing to fill up at the same alarming rate. 12%… 56%… 73%…

「System: You have successfully slain a Quilled Kobold (Leader). +2800% experience for killing a monster above your level. You have received 25,290 experience points.」

「System: You have successfully slain a Quilled Kobold (Leader). +2800% experience for killing a monster above your level. You have received 25,290 experience points.」

…

Nie Yan noticed his experience had yet again reached one hundred percent. A brilliant radiance enveloped him while the melodious jingle played again. Another level up. Now he was Level 9, yet the experience bar still didn’t stop. Only when it reached fifty-six percent did it finally come to a complete stop.

What a frightening amount of experience!

Nie Yan had only been Level 7 while these Quilled Kobolds were all Level 20 or higher. Hence, the experience multiplier was quite astonishing. As such, on top of their base experience, he had received experience equal to at least eighteen times the base experience, so the amount of experience he had received for each Kobold was excessive beyond reason.

The incredible amount of experience caused Nie Yan to go from Level 7 directly to Level 9. Not only that, but he was also more than halfway to Level 10! If Sleepy Fox were there to witness Nie Yan’s astonishing levelling speed, he would probably faint from shock!

Nie Yan suppressed his excitement as he examined the destruction left behind by Thunderbolt Blaze. After a short while, the remnants of the spell had already slowly begun to scatter. The most havoc was done to the central region, which was now a complete mess. There were Kobold corpses scattered all over the place while the earth was charred black. Quite a few of the corpses even sparkled with light, which was a clear sign that items had been dropped by these Kobolds upon their deaths.

Thunderbolt Blaze only affected everything in a twenty meter radius, so there were still quite a few Kobolds who had survived because they were outside of the spell’s range. However, they all had long scattered and fled due to the terrifying might of the spell.

Thus, he would be able to safely retrieve the items that had dropped from the corpses.

Chapter 114 – Insei Rais The Cripple

Nie Yan leapt off the ledge, descending the rock face, and proceeded to collect his spoils of war.

From the Leader class Kobolds, he obtained five pieces of Silver-grade equipment, each one for a different profession, Warrior, Thief, Mage, Paladin, and Priest, but they were only for Level 20s. By the time he reached that level, how could mere Silver-grade equipment possibly catch his eye?

He threw the equipment into his bag, before beginning to collect the money that dropped from the Kobolds. Confirming that he hadn’t missed anything, he began tallying his profits—twelve silver, which was a considerable sum.

Nonetheless, the main purpose of this trip had been to quickly increase his level. With that accomplished, He put his normal equipment back on and threw the Intelligence increasing equipment into his bag then retrieved a Return Scroll.

Twenty seconds laters, a brilliant radiance enveloped him as he was transferred back to the city. Before doing anything else, he checked the leaderboard rankings. Currently, the rank one player was also no higher than Level 9, the same as him.

The vast majority of players had yet to surpass Level 5. Seeing this, Nie Yan no longer felt the need to rush and raise his level. At least at the moment, his main priority was retrieving the second chapter from the Book of Order.

Suddenly, he received a call…

「Boss, I-I…」

「What? Speak up.」

「The materials you gave me, I ended up using them all for concocting, only…」Bird stammered nervously.

「Oh? So what were the results?」

「You can probably make back three silver… I’m really sorry… it’s just that my success rate is really low…」Bird responded in a rather embarrassed tone. He understood full well that the alchemy ingredients Nie Yan had provided were worth at least ten silver. After diligently practicing, he had managed to burn through this supply in less than a day. Yet despite his earnest efforts, he couldn’t even recoup a third of the costs. No matter how rich his boss might be, Bird feared that such incompetence wouldn’t be tolerated by anyone.

「Head to the Alchemist Guild. I’ll meet you by the entrance.」Nie Yan sucked in a cold breath of air after hearing Bird’s results. Even incompetence should have its limits…Wasn’t this guy’s success rate a bit too low? If he had given the same amount of materials to any other Alchemist, although it would be unlikely to earn a large profit, at least he wouldn’t be making a loss! Just why were most of these materials going to waste when they entered Bird’s hands?

「Alright…」Uneasiness had long crept upon Bird, as he even bordered on complete despair. It seemed this time around Nie Yan was probably going to fire him.

…

Bird impatiently paced back and forth in front of the Alchemist Guild’s entrance. Nie Yan had only just asked him to meet up, but he was already jumping to conclusions. He was definitely going to be given the boot.

Various Alchemists entered and exited the Alchemist Guild. Although their attires were varied, the vast majority had silver moon badges on their chests, a symbol of an Apprentice Alchemist. Occasionally, one or two Junior Alchemists wearing a gold moon badge could be seen as well. When one of these players passed by, an expression of envy could be seen on Bird’s face.

At this point in time, the gold badge on their chest represented a noble status. Within a guild, these Alchemists were highly valued because the pills, potions, tonics, and other concoctions they could prepare were extremely vital for the guild’s growth!

Generally, a large quantity of alchemy materials would be provided to an Apprentice Alchemist upon joining a guild, but in exchange, they received none of the profits from their concoctions. In essence, they would serve as nothing more than free labour. On the other hand, when they were able to increase their proficiency in Alchemy and ascend to the rank of a Junior Alchemist, their status would soar by leaps and bounds. Once such a talent worthy of being nurtured was discovered, the talent would receive generous benefits, and from receiving no profit whatsoever, their income would suddenly become comparable to a white collar worker.

It wasn’t long ago that Bird also dreamed of such a leisurely position as a valued guild Alchemist. Though at present, he had already given up on such an extravagant hope.

Dark Hero, the guild Bird formerly belonged to, was a well-known name. Prior to Conviction’s release, they had long secured a strong presence in several other games. Although they weren’t big players in Conviction, they were nonetheless much more united than the average guild. The only reason they had made an exception and allowed Bird to enter their prestigious ranks was because he obtained a hidden skill. Though, after only several days, he was expelled because of his abysmal success rate. They quickly realized that if they wished to nurture such an incompetent Alchemist, who was devoid of any skill, it would take an unimaginable toll on their resources. Even though they were by no means poor, money didn’t simply rain from the sky into their pockets.

Why was he unable to accomplish anything, while there were many others who had already struck it rich in the game?

Since he only had enough money left to get by for a couple more months in real life, Bird felt an indescribable sense of urgency. Just as his circumstances were taking a turn for the better, after finding another backer who was willing to help him grow, he ended up messing up yet again. Reasonably speaking, every Apprentice Alchemist should have roughly the same success rates while concocting, yet why was his so low?

As Bird nervously paced back and forth near the entrance, he happened to raise his head and notice Nie Yan walking toward the building.

"B-boss…!” Bird awkwardly exclaimed, not knowing what else to say.

"Save it for later, let’s head inside first. Do you have your own workshop yet?” Nie Yan asked. The Alchemist Guild had many private workshops that players could rent for thirty copper a day, enabling them to work freely without being distracted by any outside disturbance. As for those who couldn’t afford to rent a private workshop, they would have no choice but to endeavor in the bustling halls of the Alchemist Guild, where the noise and clamor was likely to negatively influence their concocting.

"No, I don’t. Renting one is too expensive…” Bird responded. He was unwilling to part with so much money just for the sake of a quiet workplace.

Nie Yan headed over to the receptionist. The pine wood desk she worked behind was patterned with a rippling wood grain, giving it a sense of antiqueness and succinctness. The beautiful NPC who was wearing a blue flower dress went by the name Salania. Her eyebrows resembled crescents while her eyes were as blue as sapphire. She had a straight nose, and two locks of hair hung down from her shoulders with a ruby at each end. In every sense possible, she perfectly captured the essence of Viridian grace, and the game’s technology was able to present this fluidly, interpreting the word "perfection” with flawless accuracy.

"Hello, how can I help you today?” Salania asked. Her voice was akin to a nightingale, exceedingly pleasant to listen to.

Such a beauty would inevitably cause any man’s heart to start racing.

Though for Nie Yan, he had long become accustomed to these NPCs. Not affected in the slightest, he said, "I’d like to rent a private workshop.”

"What grade of workshop would you like to rent? There are common, fine, and luxurious workshops available to rent at thirty copper a day, five silver a day, and sixty silver a day respectively,” Salania responded.

"A common workshop please,” Nie Yan said. At this point in the game, a common grade workshop was already enough for any Alchemist.

"Isn’t this too much of a waste?” Bird cried out in alarm. This was another thirty copper going down the drain every day! Nie Yan had already spent so much money on him yet he failed to produce any results, a fact which made him feel deeply ashamed.

"It’s only thirty coppers,” Nie Yan selected a workshop and paid the deposit, before turning to Bird and saying, "Alright, let’s go.”

Bird followed Nie Yan from behind as they entered the private workshop.

Nie Yan scanned the area with his eyes. The workshop wasn’t large, only a five by five meter space. However, since early stage materials were still relatively sparse, it was more than large enough for preparing concoctions. Two glass cabinets filled with various potions flanked the left side of the room. The delicate crystal bottles contained red, blue, green, and every colour of liquid under the sun. Each bottle had a white label plastered on the side that stated its respective name and price. They were all provided by the Alchemist Guild, but they weren’t free of charge. Upon exiting the workshop, they would have to be paid for along with the rental fee.

In the center of the room was a large rectangular work table with various alchemy wares arranged on top of it.

"When you’re concocting, do you have a hard time focusing?” Nie Yan shot a glance at Bird and asked.

Bird recalled the previous times when he had been concocting. He realized there really was a dark cloud shrouding his mind, causing him to grow increasingly restless. His eagerness to accomplish at least something in Alchemy had negatively influenced his state of mind, which negatively affected his concocting to such an extent that his average success rate was only a mere three tenths of an average Alchemist’s.

"Yes, I think so.”

"It’s best to have a tranquil state of mind before you begin concocting. Shut everything else out and devote your heart to Alchemy. Only then will your success rate reach sixty percent, the standard for the average Alchemist. At the same time, the quality of your tools and wares also influence the success rate of your concoctions, where the highest quality ones will even increase it up to ninety percent. Starting from now, erase any distracting thoughts from your mind and focus solely on concocting. Go ahead and give it a try,” Nie Yan instructed. Although there were no high-level Alchemists yet who could impart their experiences upon Bird, Nie Yan had the benefit of coming from the future. His advice was the accumulated experiences of the Alchemists from his timeline, and he wouldn’t be shy in using this knowledge.

Nie Yan placed several portions of alchemy materials on the table.

"Yes!” Bird nodded his head, picked up a portion, and began processing the materials while taking Nie Yan’s advice to heart.

Perhaps it was because Nie Yan was standing right beside him, but Bird felt a little nervous as his handling of the materials became clumsy.

This is the Alchemy King from my past life…? Nie Yan wrinkled his brows. This doesn’t make sense! There’s no doubt the Alchemy King was named Bird Leaves No Eggs! On second thought… I guess this should be normal. No one becomes the Alchemy King overnight. He probably put in a lot of effort to reach that level.

"Doing any activity requires an absolutely calm mind. Don’t let outside matters distract you. If you’re going to be this clumsy every time you concoct in front of me, then you might as well beat it. Stop making a fool of yourself,” Nie Yan harshly chided, not holding back in the least. He had given Bird a chance; it was now up to him to firmly grasp it. If Bird still didn’t show signs of improvement, there was nothing left for him to do but boot him out of the door. No matter how much money he had in excess, he wasn’t willing to waste it on a useless Alchemist.

Bird felt like his heart was being stabbed upon hearing these words. Did Nie Yan have any reason to keep providing him materials to practice Alchemy? Definitely not! If he really did continue on this path of incompetence, just like the Dark Hero guild, Nie Yan would kick him to the curb without the slightest hesitation. Even if Nie Yan didn’t shoo him away, he wouldn’t have the face to stay. In fact, these sort of opportunities were exceedingly rare and he wasn’t about to let it go to waste!

Taking in a deep breath, Bird slowly calmed his mind and focused all of his attention on the potion bottle in his hands. As the medicinal liquid inside the bottle gently swayed back and forth a rich colour began to emerge. Seeing this, he tensed up while proceeding to the next step, which caused the colour to immediately fade.

「System: Concocting has failed…」

I still failed… Bird didn’t raise his head to gauge Nie Yan’s reaction. Instead, he absentmindedly stared at the work table that had ten more portions of alchemy materials set on top of it. There were only ten more chances left… If he didn’t manage to improve his success rate while concocting, then after using up these ten portions of materials, he would probably beat it even if he wasn’t being forced to leave.

If I fail this time around, then I’m probably just not meant to be an Alchemist. Maybe I should delete this character and start over and pick a combat profession.

Upon reaching this line of thought, Bird picked up the next portion of alchemy materials. He had nothing to lose, and only everything to gain.

"Hold the neck of the bottle and rotate at a uniform speed. You don’t need to exert too much strength…” Nie Yan had never practiced Alchemy, so he could only rely on the obtained information from his previous timeline.

Bird understood that this was his last chance and finally managed to solely focus on concocting. He was completely absorbed in swaying the bottle in his hand back and forth.

「System: You have successfully concocted a Basic Anti-Paralysis Potion!」

I actually succeeded! Bird trembled in excitement as he breathed a sigh of relief. The immense pressure he had felt was somewhat alleviated by this timely success, and he confidently proceeded with the next portion.

He seemed to tune out every extraneous thought from his mind, including Nie Yan’s presence. Staring fixedly at the potion bottle in front of him, he gradually completed each successive step. The focused expression on Bird’s face even surprised Nie Yan, whereupon he was finally convinced that this individual was indeed the famous Alchemy King from his previous timeline.

Bird produced several more potions, his success rate improving to about fifty percent. Although this was still slightly lower than the average Alchemist, it was still a large step forward for him.

It seemed he had finally found his path in Alchemy.

After finally getting a foothold on his path, becoming the Alchemy King was only a question of time. Nie Yan quietly left the workshop as he allowed Bird to focus on his concocting. Naturally, the latter was too immersed to notice his departure.

After there were no more Alchemy materials left for him to use, he proudly looked at the five potions he had concocted. This accomplishment left him wild with joy. When he turned around to seek Nie Yan’s reaction, he found that the latter had already left his workshop.

「Boss, I produced five potions!」Bird excitedly messaged Nie Yan. He already desired to master the state of mind his benefactor had taught him. His previous failures had caused him to be on the brink of despair, but right now, he was finally able to see a dim light at the end of the tunnel.

「Alright, not bad. It’s still only fifty percent though. You’ve still got much more room for improvement, so keep practicing,」Nie Yan replied. Regardless of what profession, after one was given a foothold on the right path, the heights they reached would solely depend on their effort and talent.

「Yes, I understand!」Bird said in a happy tone. His latest improvements had already exceeded his wildest imaginations. Previously, he would be content if he was able to succeed at least twice out of eleven tries. So long as Nie Yan didn’t fire him prematurely, he firmly believed that he could gradually improve his concoction rate.

「I’m heading to the auction house to purchase some more Alchemy materials. I’ll send them over to you through the mail. Hurry up and rank up to a Junior Alchemist. As for the higher quality concoctions, don’t sell them just yet. I’m planning to open up a potion shop. When the time comes, you’ll be acting as the manager.」Nie Yan said. Now that he owned so many properties, opening one or two shops would only be the next logical step. Moreover, since his plots were currently located in undesirable locations, the price of opening and upgrading them would be relatively cheap. He estimated that it would only take two or three gold to upgrade one of them to a first class shop. If he was to wait for these slums to turn into a flourishing commercial hub, then the upgrade expenses would have already risen to an astronomical degree. For now, his objective was to turn one of these plots into a first class potion shop.

「A shop manager, me…!?」Bird emotionally asked. Owning his own shop had always been a dream of his, but he had never had the funds to realize this. Therefore it was never more than a fleeting dream. He would no longer have to worry about money as the manager of a potion shop, because his daily wages would surely not be low.

「Right, so keep practicing. I won’t mistreat those who are under me.」

「Yes, I’ll definitely give it my all!」Presently, Bird was in a indescribable mood. Just recently, he was all too ready to abandon everything and give up. Who knew that the answer to his problems would come to him in such a timely manner. As if the dark clouds had parted to reveal the evening moon in all its splendor, everything had suddenly become crystal clear. He took a deep breath and tried to suppress his excitement, but he couldn’t prevent his hands from shaking.

「System: Concocting has failed…」

"Dammit!”

…

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. Since he decided to open up a potion shop, he was no longer in a rush to get rid of his Black Phenol. Instead, he would use it to increase the popularity of his soon to be opened shop!

If he sold the Black Phenol that everyone was going crazy over in his shop, just how much would its popularity increase?

One could only imagine the popularity his shop would garner by selling Black Phenol, an item that everyone was frantically fighting over in the marketplace.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan had drawn up a plan. He headed over to the auction house and bought ten silvers worth of alchemy materials before sending them to Bird over the mail, alleviating his possible worries of running out of his supply and allowing him to solely concentrate on his Alchemy. He then sold off some of his Black Phenol and the materials required to craft Black Phenol, earning him three gold. Afterwards, he headed to the eastern region of the city to inspect the several properties that he had purchased.

Presently, Calore’s eastern district was still a slum. The NPCs that roamed this area all wore tattered and worn-out clothing, while on either side of the streets the shabby wooden homes seemed to be teetering on collapse.

From its current appearance it seemed like a bad joke to think that such a ghetto would transform into the largest area of commerce in Calore.

Nie Yan had purchased every property in this vicinity that was in a prime location for the sake of helping his father’s future business. In his original timeline these properties belonged to Cao Xu, but this time around with Nie Yan’s intervention, that ‘business legend’ would simply have to scram and look elsewhere!

According to his knowledge of the future, the best place to open up the potion shop was near a certain intersection. He quickly approached the most suitable property out of the twelve he owned.

「System: Are you certain you wish to upgrade the property? The current upgrade will cost 2 gold.」

Yes!

「System: The property has been successfully upgraded.」

A building arose from the ground on the plot Nie Yan selected. It was a one-story building constructed out of white marble bricks, which made for a detailed and aesthetically pleasing view. Inside, there was a countertop and rows upon rows of shelves. There were even exquisite runic carvings on the corners, bringing about a strong feeling of the Viridian Empire into the atmosphere.

「System: Do you wish to hire an assistant?」

Nie Yan glimpsed at the list of possible employees. Rows upon rows of names were spread over numerous pages, and on every single page was the information of the NPC, the cost of hire, and other related things, all available for reference.

NPC employees could represent the player to manage the store and they could be entrusted with selling goods. However, they could only sell merchandise by the preset prices given by the owner of the store. They could not make their own decisions, as their intelligence was not programmed to do as such.

Name: Carady

Gender: Male

Age: 30

Trust: 30

Ability: Quick Run

Employment Cost: 20 silver/month

Name: Tesla

Gender: Male

Age: 26

Trust: 28

Ability: Increased Strength

Employment Cost: 18 silver/month

…

Nie Yan kept on flipping through the list as he continued his search for someone suitable. All of them varied in their odd abilities: some had Speed-related abilities, some had Intelligence-related abilities, some had Power-related abilities… With the difference in ability also came a difference in price.

What was the name of that employee at the Golden Age Potion Shop again? Hmm… Nie Yan’s impression of that NPC was a bit hazy. It was a cripple, I remember that. His name was… Rais?

Nie Yan continued scrolling down the list, and finally when he flipped to the latter parts of the list, he noticed a familiar name.

Name: Insei Rais the Cripple

Gender: Male

Age: 56

Trust: 37

Ability: ???

Employment Cost: 50 silver/month

I remember! It’s him! Although the cost leaned on the expensive side, there was no hesitation in his mind as he confirmed his decision.

An NPC employee that possessed an unknown ability—and was even a cripple!—costed fifty silvers a month. There was clearly something odd going on. From his previous timeline, he remembered that the Golden Age Potion Shop had always kept an air of mysteriousness around this cripple. However, someone still managed to dig out his ability: it was the Diplomacy ability, something which was very rarely found. It was an ability that allowed him to hold smooth communications with all NPCs, and even made them build up favourable impressions towards him!

Chapter 115 – Chapter Of Freedom

Having paid the employment fees, Nie Yan noticed a crippled old man slowly walking in his direction.

The moment this old man entered his vision, he heaved a sigh of relief as this was indeed him!

"Milord, I am Insei Rais. My family and I would like to express our deepest gratitude for employing my humble self.” Wrinkles covered his face, and his skin was as withered as an old tree bark. In addition to his crippled leg, it was quite difficult to praise him in any way.

Insei Rais has family members? Hmm, now that I think about it… that actually makes sense.

"This is the store I’ll be handing over to you. I’ll also inform you on how to manage this business.” Nie Yan greeted Insei Rais with a small nod, while he contemplated on how to get the most out of this cripple’s Diplomacy Skill. For now, I’ll just have him look after the shop. It’s not like I would have to worry about him stealing merchandise or embezzling money with his thirty-seven Trust… After all, an employee’s loyalty is almost guaranteed when their Trust is thirty or over.

While preparing the store for business, Nie Yan instructed Bird to bring the completed Black Phenol over so that it could be sold. He also made a recruitment poster which read: "Hiring Alchemists! Those interested contact XXX.” If he wanted the shop to prosper, relying on the future Alchemy King alone was insufficient. He would only be satisfied when he had a large number of Alchemists under his command.

Hmm, what should I name this store…? I’ll just call it Starry Night Potion Shop. Nothing too special, while fairly easy to remember.

He instructed Insei Rais to sell the Black Phenol, the recipes, and the raw materials. In addition, to prevent his identity from being known, he hid his name as the shop’s owner.

The price of a portion of raw materials was set to twenty coppers, a single bottle of Black Phenol was set to sixty coppers, and a single Black Phenol Recipe was set to thirty silvers. These prices were far above the market price, especially the price of the recipe, which he made ridiculously expensive. Nie Yan planned to start off with these absurd prices, giving the large guilds an opportunity to be the first to buy them. Of course, if they felt that these prices were too high, they were free to go elsewhere. The price of Black Phenol was not going to drop anytime soon, and considering the necessity of this item to progress in the game, there were bound to be people who would buy them. As such, he planned to rob as many people of their money as possible, while the demand still far exceeded the supply, before he would slowly lower the price when the market began to stabilize. Obviously, even at this lower price, he would still make a decent profit.

With everything set up, he inspected the shop. It’s still pretty empty, huh. I really need more goods to fill the place up for it to become a genuine business.

The quality of the average Alchemist in Conviction was simply too low at present. Even if he hired a few, they mostly likely wouldn’t meet his standards. Therefore, there was no need to hastily start a large-scale recruitment campaign since other shops were likely in the same predicament. Having such thoughts going through his mind, he prepared to leave the shop.

"Eh? Since when was there a potion shop here?” Three players discovered Nie Yan’s shop as they passed by the area. After all, how could they not notice it when such a fine, brand-new building suddenly emerged within these slums?

"Let’s go have a look.”

The three players headed over to the store, and at the same moment, they noticed Nie Yan walking out.

"Hey! When did this shop open up?” The person who greeted him was a Warrior named Dauntless. He was a very strapping young man who stood at six foot three and had quite a terrifyingly loud and coarse voice.

Nie Yan glanced at Dauntless and said with a faint smile, "I just happened to pass by as well and went in for a look. I have no idea when it opened.”

"I see, thanks anyway. Tuo Ba, let’s take a look inside and see if they have any health or mana potions for sale.”

"It doesn’t look like there’s any,” Nie Yan said quite straightforwardly. After all, the shop had barely opened.

"I doubt a new shop would have many things in stock,” another voice rang out, though this one sounded a bit lethargic.

Nie Yan glimpsed at the youth behind Dauntless—a Paladin. The word handsome could be used to describe him, but there was just a tinge of inattentiveness to his appearance and even a bit of laziness. Tuo Ba… this name sounds a bit familiar. However, Nie Yan failed to recognize him and thus walked away, brushing past their shoulders on his way out.

"There aren’t even any basic potions? Why even open a potion store then, not to mention at such a remote place! I’m guessing business must be very poor,” the Arcane Mage noted.

Nevertheless, Dauntless and the other two walked into the store.

"Shit, they’re selling Black Phenol and even the recipe too!”

"The hell? What a rip-off! These prices are absolutely ridiculous!”

Dauntless’ coarse voice erupted behind Nie Yan the moment he had stepped out onto the street. None of them could have ever imagined a place like this would be selling Black Phenol and even its recipe. Items that were selling like hotcakes—items that every single guild yearned for. From this alone, they understood that this shop wasn’t owned by some simpleton.

Nie Yan stopped dead in his tracks when that coarse voice burst into his ears, but after making a faint smile, he walked wherever his feet led him. Since this shop had already been discovered, it was inevitable that this news would spread far and wide. When the guilds that thirsted for Black Phenol learned of this information, they were certain to head over and check it out for themselves. If they were in urgent need of Black Phenol, perhaps they would even buy a few in spite of the outrageous prices.

Black Phenol was already an extreme rarity in the marketplace, let alone the recipe. There was an undeniable truth that many were interested in those two things alone.

「Nie Yan, where are you right now?」Tang Yao messaged Nie Yan.

「I’m in Calore. How’s the levelling going with Yu Lan (Blue Feather) and the rest?」

「I’m Level 6, 56%, more than halfway to Level 7! How is it? Pretty impressive, eh?」Tang Yao proudly told him. His skill in casting spells was getting increasingly proficient, and in addition to the fact that Nie Yan provided them with several coordinates, representing places suitable for grinding in the early stages of the game, their levels were rising at quite a fast rate.

Though if Nie Yan were to tell Tang Yao that he was already Level 9, who knew how the latter would react.

「Not too bad,」Nie Yan said, nodding his head. This speed of levelling was already top-tier, outclassed only by the elite players killing Werewolves in Sosil Valley.

「I ran into Chen Bo again. That guy spat nothing but bullshit and even wanted to duel me! In the end, I one-shotted him with my Flame Explosion. Hmph, he was trying to convince Yu Lan and Yao Yao to kick me out of the team… That guy needs to take a good look in the mirror and see who the real loser is! Not a single person in the team paid any attention to him, and even Plain Boiled Water stood by my side. Eventually, Chen Bo couldn’t take the shame and left the team himself.」Nie Yan could feel the joy and happiness in Tang Yao’s words.

Without a doubt, Tang Yao definitely felt very smug about killing Chen Bo who subsequently left the team voluntarily.

Tang Yao’s Fire Chaser set increased all damage related to fire element magic. At present, Tang Yao’s damage surpassed most elite fire-spec Elementalists. Judging from the set of equipment Chen Bo wore, it was impossible that he could survive a single blast from Tang Yao’s Flame Explosion. As a Thief, Chen Bo was a complete failure for allowing a Mage to successfully cast Flame Explosion in a player versus player situation. If it were Nie Yan instead, Tang Yao would have had no chance of firing off any spells that had over a second of cast time.

「You should remain careful. Chen Bo’s the sort who remembers any and all grudges. I’m absolutely certain he’ll want to take revenge for this and mess with you in one way or the other.」The possibility of Chen Bo finding some people to deal with Tang Yao worried him. After all, he knew Chen Bo was not a particularly magnanimous person.

「You think I’m afraid of him? If he comes a few more times, then I’ll just beat him up a few more times!」Tang Yao was very confident in his current strength. He had always been someone who’d face matters like these directly. Even though Nie Yan had given him a reminder, it was unlikely that he would take this advice to heart.

Recalling the incident at the bar that one evening in the previous timeline, Nie Yan felt a lump rise into his throat. Brother, if there is anyone who dares to harm you in this life, I will have him pay twice—no, ten times the price! No matter the situation or location!

Nie Yan took a deep breath to calm himself down, and as he did so, he felt the lump in his throat slowly sink back down.

「It never hurts to be a bit more careful.」

「Yeah, yeah. Do you want to come and level with us? Even the beauties here already miss you!」

「I still need to get a few things done. Go on ahead without me. Besides, levelling with you guys is too slow for me anyway,」Nie Yan said nonchalantly.

「Eh… What level are you now?」Tang Yao was momentarily stunned; he recalled that he hadn’t asked about Nie Yan’s level in quite some time.

「I’m a bit past Level 9. Don’t tell anyone though, I don’t want to attract too much attention,」To Tang Yao, who he treated as a genuine brother, he didn’t feel the need to conceal the truth.

「Holy crap, already!? How did you level that fast!?」

「After I finish what I’m doing, I’ll take you out to level,」Nie Yan said. He still had to get his hands on that chapter from the Book of Order. Only after doing so would he bring Tang Yao with him. He knew of many ways for Mages to gain tons of experience, allowing Tang Yao’s level to soar up alongside his own.

「Then it’s decided!」Tang Yao said with a tone of clear excitement. I wonder how Nie Yan did it. That speed is insane!

They continued chatting a while longer before Nie Yan hung up. Meanwhile, he had prepared a few consumables and was now headed for the transfer point.

Carefully weighing the difficulties of acquiring the various chapters from the Book of Order as well as the properties and effects of each and every chapter, Nie Yan decided on one: the sixth chapter from the Book of Order, the Chapter of Freedom! When compared to the Chapter of Courage, the Chapter of Freedom was much more suitable for a Thief.

Nie Yan arrived at the transfer point and selected his destination.

「System: Are you certain you wish to teleport to Hems, Dead Field Gate. Since this is a special transfer, there will be an additional fee of 20 silver.」

Yes!

Nie Yan pressed confirm, and when he reopened his eyes, what entered his vision was a vast field of desolation. The dark skies gloomed; the chilly winds whistled. This was a bleak place without even the most miniscule signs of life. Some destroyed remnants of war machinery were semi-buried within the sands, as though speaking of their distant past. This was a former battleground from the ancient era; however, any turmoil had long since been silenced, and now, this was an untouched field holding nothing but death.

On the map of the Atlanta continent, Hems was located to the north of the Viridian Empire, and it was rumoured that an entrance to an underground city was located there. On the side of the overworld, there were a group of large angels guarding the entrance. If one were to pass through that entrance and enter the underworld, there would be a group of demons awaiting them. They acted as the seals that separated the two worlds. Millions of lives had been lost on these battle-ridden fields during the Era of Shared Governance.

Hems, Dead Gate Field, was a place of legends. In his previous life, when the game developers announced the Chapter of Freedom was located in some place within Hems, the players went into an uproar. There was simply no end to the teams entering and simply no end to the player deaths that occurred. This place became a true field of death.

There were a total of six chapters in the first volume of the Book of Order. If players were unable to find them within the first three months after the game’s release, the game developers would announce their whereabouts. Information regarding the following volume would only be disclosed after all chapters of the first volume were found.

Due to this impending reveal, Nie Yan was forced to obtain all chapters within this three-month time period. If he were unable to collect them before the deadline, he’d have no choice but to compete with the other players over the remaining chapters of the Book of Order.

No matter what happens, I’ll decide after obtaining the Chapter of Freedom first, Nie Yan thought.

Chapter 116 – Arcane Fairy

Although Nie Yan’s knowledge of the game far exceeded that of any other player in the present, even a glutton wouldn’t be able to consume a large meal in one bite. He needed to gather the best equipment, piece by piece, and gradually grow his personal strength. Only then would he be able to widen the gap between himself and other players.

Therefore, these several chapters from the Book of Order were an absolute necessity to accomplish his plans!

The vast region of barren land he had arrived in was encircled by a barrier, deeming it a safe zone in Hems. To reach the area populated by monsters, he would still have to walk quite a distance.

For his plan he could only rely on his intuition and vague memory of the surrounding landmarks to guide him in the proper direction. After he ventured past the first layer of the barrier, a giant silhouette appeared in his vision near the horizon as it lumbered around the expanse that was Hems Wasteland.

Skeleton Kodo!

Hems was home to several types of monsters, and Skeleton Kodos were one of them. They were the remnant spirits of war mounts that had fallen in battle. Reanimated as undead, they wandered these wastelands eternally.

Over three hundred Skeleton Kodos dotted the entire region of Hems. Even if all of them were put to rest, they would simply respawn the next day. These Skeleton Kodos were relatively slow to respawn, but their drops were excellent. If the player was lucky, they might even be able to obtain a Skeleton Kodo Saddle.

When the game developers eventually announced the whereabouts of the Chapter of Freedom, countless teams and guilds had rushed to Hems Wasteland in a bid to be the first to retrieve it. With the sudden influx of players, it became difficult to fight a monster without having the drops stolen. As a result, deaths due to fighting over a single monster were rather frequent.

Nie Yan activated Stealth before gradually making his way toward the Skeleton Kodo, and after drawing close enough, inspected it with Transcendent Insight.

Skeleton Kodo (Leader): Level 23

Health: 1,600/1,600

A Leader-class Skeleton Kodo… at his current level, provoking it would undoubtedly be an unwise decision. Although Undead Rite had a probability of controlling an undead monster, if the skill failed, he would draw the aggro of the targeted monster. It was especially dangerous because these Skeleton Kodos were quite fast when they wanted to be. In addition to the disparity in level, there was no way he would be able to escape.

He needed to formulate a plan if he wanted to take control of a Skeleton Kodo, and the first step would be finding a suitable meat shield.

If I recall correctly, there should be some lower level undead to the east. I’ll head there first before deciding what to do.

Nie Yan slowly retreated from the area. Only after leaving the Skeleton Kodo’s field of vision did he dare to break his stealth and sprint off towards the east.

About three minutes later, he spotted a few lower level undead. They wielded rusty battle axes and wooden shields as they aimlessly wandered around the barren field.

Skeleton Soldier: Level 15

Health: 800/800

Although Concussive Blow might not be effective against these Skeleton Soldiers, with his current stats, he would still be able to handle them with ease.

He activated Stealth, approached one of the Skeleton Soldiers from the rear, and then opened with Assassinate.

−128

A damage value appeared above the Skeleton Soldier’s head before slowly drifting up and fading away.

Wielding Blood Pact +7 and Assassin’s Decree +2, Nie Yan’s damage saw significant improvements. Even though he was six levels lower than the Skeleton Soldier, he was still able to easily penetrate through its defenses.

Upon being struck, the Skeleton Soldier turned around while simultaneously cleaving at its aggressor with the ancient battle axe in its left hand.

Nie Yan sidestepped to avoid the attack and countered with a slash followed by a stab.

−109

−112

He quickly depleted the Skeleton Soldier’s life until about sixty health remained, whereupon he disengaged from the melee.

Undead Rite!

「System: Undead Rite has failed!」

As the Skeleton Soldier charged toward him, he activated Swift Retreat and continued to pull back.

Undead Rite!

「System: Undead Rite has failed!」

With only forty percent of his health remaining, he cast Undead Rite once more but failed on the third attempt as well. No longer having the health to cast this skill again, he dashed back into melee range and felled the Skeleton Soldier with one final blow.

He received seven hundred experience for his efforts as the Skeleton Soldier collapsed into a pile of dust. Afterward, he found a safe area to sit down and replenish his health by eating Barley Bread. When he was fully recovered, he stood up and began to seek out his next target.

Nie Yan repeated these actions until eventually, while fighting the third Skeleton Soldier, the crisp sound of the system prompt echoed after he had cast Undead Rite.

Finally… I succeeded! Nie Yan examined his new undead servant. Just like with Dark Gladiator in the Ancient City of Sulgata, the Skeleton Soldier’s appearance transformed into a shade of deep, metallic black. Of course, he was now also able to control its actions and movements!

「System: Set a name for your new servant.」

Without putting much thought into it, he named it Soldier #1.

Having obtained his first Skeleton Soldier, the following ones would become much easier. After all, by making Soldier #1 act as a meat shield, he was able to safely cast Undead Rite from the rear. Then, if he still failed to control the undead after three attempts, he would simply order Soldier #1 to finish it off before moving on to the next target.

Finally, he managed to successfully take control of three more Skeleton Soldiers, which he respectively named Soldier #2, Soldier #3, and Soldier #4. After growing accustomed to their movements by having them kill some of the mobs in the area, he began to lead them back to the area inhabited by the Skeleton Kodos.

Several minutes later, he could see a Skeleton Kodo in the distance. In comparison to it, his Skeleton Soldiers seemed tiny and pathetically frail.

After thinking for a moment, Nie Yan ordered Soldier #2 to approach the Kodo. Its sole purpose was to simply play the role of bait.

Upon discovering an unfamiliar undead encroaching on its territory, the Kodo let out a deep, muffled roar and began pawing the ground with its forefeet while puffing out breaths of hot air.

The literally brainless Soldier #2 had no concept of fear and gradually closed in on its target. In the meantime, Nie Yan entered stealth and slowly circled behind the Kodo.

Once in position, he ordered Soldier #2 to charge toward it.

「Bang!」Soldier #2 rushed up and struck the Kodo with its battle axe.

−32

With a furious roar, it puffed more breaths of hot air before striking the Skeleton Soldier with the sharp horn on its head.

−356

A terrifyingly high damage value appeared above the Skeleton Soldier’s head before slowly drifting up and fading away.

Nie Yan was alarmed. The Skeleton Kodo’s attack was far too frightening. His Skeleton Soldiers would only be able to take three hits each at most!

He neared the Kodo and cast Undead Rite, whereupon a queer energy struck the creature, halting its movements. However, an instant later, the Kodo rammed into the Skeleton Soldier once more and sent it flying back.

「System: Undead Rite has failed!」

Seeing Undead Rite fail, Nie Yan didn’t dare to stick around any longer. He activated Swift Retreat and hastily fled from the Kodo’s line of sight while it was still preoccupied with the Skeleton Soldier.

Soldier #2 soon returned to the earth as it was beaten senseless like a ragdoll under the relentless assault of the Kodo.

He waited for Undead Rite to come off cooldown before making his second attempt by sending Soldier #3 toward the Kodo.

Following the death of Soldier #4, he still wasn’t able to successfully control the Skeleton Kodo. For lack of a better option, he brought Soldier #1 with him as he once more headed to the east. There, he would gather another four Skeleton Soldiers before returning.

So long as he kept at least one Skeleton Soldier alive, recruiting more with Undead Rite wouldn’t be too difficult. Nonetheless, doing it this way was still a huge waste of time. And so, after countless attempts, all of which resulted in failure, a full day had passed.

Once the servers shut down, Nie Yan took off his game helmet.

Although he had some free time on his hands before the servers reopened, Tang Yao had been dragged out by his father to do hard labour and the rest of his good friends from school were all in other parts of the country. Besides, his hometown was indeed a damnable place, definitely not somewhere a person would want to live. The environment wasn’t good, and the public security was a mess. If anyone had a little money, they’d definitely buy a house somewhere else and move out.

Thus, Nie Yan stayed home all day exercising and studying. Such a routine was also pretty satisfying. At certain times during the day he would think of his father and mother. He was also looking forward to starting his final year of high school, which was just around the corner.

Like this, the day quickly passed and 5:00 pm soon arrived. He placed the game helmet back on his head and continued off where he had stopped on the previous day.

After an hour or so, he eventually gathered another party of Skeleton Soldiers and set off towards the Skeleton Kodos again. Getting just one of those Skeleton Kodos under his control was extremely crucial to the success of his plan.

「Nie Yan, how are things on your side? Did you get what you needed to do done?」Tang Yao messaged.

「No, not yet. I encountered some trouble.」

「Ah… Anyway, when you get back, send me a message. Also, try and guess what I just found? Hehe…」Tang Yao giggled mischievously, almost unable to hold back his excitement.

「What? What did you get?」

「An Arcane Soul Crystal…」

「Really, what rank!?」Nie Yan asked in surprise. He even managed to pick up an Arcane Soul Crystal? First the Meteor spell and now this, just how lucky can he get? Very few items were capable of holding his attention this early in the game. The only ones he cared for were the chapters from the Book of Order, the Featherfall Jewel, the Silk Spinner Ring, the Crawler Ring, and Sulgata’s Shadow. As for an Arcane Soul Crystal, it was a top quality item for Arcane Mages and not an ordinary one at that!

They existed in the form of a crystal and only dropped from Arcane Fairy monsters. However, the chances of this item dropping was frighteningly low. Though, on the off chance an Arcane Mage obtained one, they could use it as a catalyst to beckon an Arcane Fairy to their side. The fairy was the same as a summon. Its health was proportionate to the summoner’s, its defenses were slightly lower, and it was incapable of attacking. Another downside was that the crystal was a one-time use item, and if the summon died, it would be gone forever. Even then, these fairies were still extremely useful since they were able to significantly improve an Arcane Mage’s mana recovery rate and shorten both cooldowns and cast times. Naturally, the higher rank the Arcane Fairy, the more valuable it was.

An Arcane Fairy was a great boon to any Arcane Mage lucky enough to obtain it. In the future, numerous top class Arcane Mages would compare their fairies to see who was better. Having an Arcane Fairy following by one’s side was certainly a matter to be proud of. Attributing to the fact that these fairies would disappear forever once they were killed, they became even more valued by Arcane Mages.

「It’s rank one. You know what it’s used for?」Tang Yao asked in a surprised manner.

「I found some information about it in the library,」Nie Yan replied.

「Ah, I see. It seems I should pay a visit to the library to check as well.」

「Be careful, once you summon the fairy, don’t let it die. If you can raise it to rank three, it’ll become even more valuable. If you can get it to rank five, then it’ll be priceless,」Nie Yan cautioned. Higher ranked Arcane Fairies would give Arcane Mages better bonuses. However, since they were so fragile, very few players were able to raise their fairies to rank three, let alone rank five. He had only ever seen a rank five Arcane Fairy once during his ten years of playing the game. At that time, he was killing monsters in the wilderness when he ran into a Level 135 Great Arcanist. The two of them got into a scuffle, and even though he was a level 165 Great Thief, he ended up being beaten like a dog, narrowly escaping with his tail tucked between his legs. Foolishly, he had underestimated the abilities of an Arcane Mage with a rank five Arcane Fairy as he had thought that the level discrepancy would pull the fight in his favour. That Great Arcanist was basically a machine gun that fired magic as he recklessly shot spells everywhere, seemingly losing no mana in the process. It was simply too terrifying.

「Just don’t end up getting killed. Wait for me to finish things on my side, then I’ll help you raise your Arcane Fairy’s rank,」Nie Yan said. If they had a rank two Arcane Fairy, levelling would become much easier.

「No problem! Hurry up already!」Tang Yao broke into a fit of excitement after hearing Nie Yan’s words and couldn’t help but become a little impatient.

Chapter 117 – Skeleton Kodo

After numerous attempts and losing several dozen Skeleton Soldiers, Nie Yan had still not managed to succeed.

It seemed Undead Rite’s success rate was also influenced by the level discrepancy between the caster and target. Wracking his brain to no avail, he finally decided to check the game’s official website to see if there was any information regarding this skill. Surprisingly, he did find something, which was quite a rare occurrence. According to the information there, Undead Rite had a twenty percent chance of controlling the targeted undead if it was equal to the caster in level. For every level the undead exceeded the caster, the chance of success would fall by one percent. The success rate would further diminish when facing Leaders, Sub-Elites, and so on. In short, if the target surpassed the player by twenty levels or more, the success rate became nil.

Since this was the first time he had come into contact with this type of skill, he wasn’t too knowledgeable regarding its intricacies. Apparently checking the official website every once in a while still held some benefits.

He was only Level 9 while the Skeleton Kodo was Level 23, not to mention a Leader-class monster as well, so his low success rate thus far was to be expected.

However, if he was incapable of controlling a Skeleton Kodo, he wouldn’t be able to proceed with the next step of his plan.

As time gradually ticked away, Nie Yan grew increasingly impatient. The only consolation was that his experience was steadily rising. Killing the undead in this area also wasn’t a bad way to level.

At this point, he had forgotten exactly how many Skeleton Soldiers died as he didn’t care to name them anymore. Was it twenty-seven or twenty-eight? Regardless, he ordered one of them to get a Skeleton Kodo’s attention while he circled behind to cast Undead Rite.

The Skeleton Soldier gradually approached the Kodo. Once it got in range, the Skeleton Soldier brandished its battle axe and charged forward.

Upon being struck, the Kodo violently lashed out in a rage fueled stupor.

「Bang!」The Skeleton Soldier was knocked flying away.

Taking advantage of this moment, Nie Yan cast Undead Rite!

As per usual, he began backing off after using the spell but halted his retreat when he noticed a change occurring in the Kodo’s appearance. Did I succeed? He quickly pulled up the system announcements to check and soon found his answer. I did succeed!

He mentally commanded the Kodo to move, and almost immediately, it trembled and then began lumbering over to him.

"Haha! I finally succeeded!”

Having obtained his first Kodo, he was finally able to move on with the next step of his plan.

Undead Rite’s duration on the Kodo was relatively long, so after thinking for a bit, he decided that he might as well do a bit of levelling.

「Where are you right now?」Nie Yan asked, sending Tang Yao a message.

「I’m levelling with Yu lan (Blue Feather) and the others. Why, what’s up?」Tang Yao responded. Since their first encounter several days ago, he had become much more familiar with Yu Lan and her team, even occasionally running a dungeon or two together with them. Furthermore, thanks to Nie Yan’s guidance, their team’s equipment progressively improved. They were even able to run Fallen Shaman Camp now.

「Return to the city,」Nie Yan said. He could only bring Tang Yao alone and not Yu Lan and the rest.

「Alright, let me say goodbye to them first,」Tang Yao said.

Several minutes later, Tang Yao sent Nie Yan a message:「I’m back in the city. Where are you right now?」

「Head to the transfer point and teleport to Hems, Dead Field Gate. The transfer fee is twenty silver. Do you have enough money?」Nie Yan asked.

「Hems, Dead Field Gate…? Wait, isn’t that a Level 20 zone!? Why are you all the way over there?」Tang Yao cried out in alarm. Why was he in a Level 20 map at his level? That was practically suicidal!

「You’ll know when you come over!」Nie Yan said.

「Ugh… Alright, fine… give me a minute. I don’t have enough money on me right now,」Nie Yan had asked him to come over alone, so it definitely meant this was important. Since he had full trust in his brother, he didn’t ask anymore questions.

「If you don’t have enough money, I can send someone over to cover the rest」Nie Yan said. If Tang Yao wasn’t able to gather up the funds, he could only ask Sleepy Fox to borrow some money.

「No need, I’m only short by a little bit. I’ll just ask my father’s aide to lend me some.」

「Alright, then hurry up. I’ll be waiting.」

Afterwards, Nie Yan sought out another Skeleton Kodo. He still used the same tactic of distracting them with the Skeleton Soldiers while he got into position to cast Undead Rite. If he made Kodo #1 fight, it would make short work of the other Kodo, meaning there wouldn’t be any time to cast the skill.

However, without at least several dozen attempts, the probability of him succeeding was very low.

Undead Rite!

Thanks to the Skeleton Soldier drawing its attention away, the Kodo didn’t notice him approaching from the rear. After he had used the skill, the Kodo trembled before its bones slowly transformed into a deep metallic black. He successfully took control of another Kodo with Undead Rite.

A feeling of pleasant surprise washed over his mind. Against all expectations, he succeeded. No one could ever be certain when it came to chance; sometimes a person would fail several dozen or even hundreds of times over, but other times, they would prevail after only one or two tries.

And so, Nie Yan obtained his second Skeleton Kodo, which he named Kodo #2. These two Kodos resembled dinosaurs from the ancient past as they possessed thick, sturdy forelimbs, an immense frame, and three sharp horns at the top of their heads, while pale cyan flames flickered in their eye sockets.

With two Kodos at his side, his levelling speed would improve significantly.

「I’m at Hems, where are you?」Tang Yao sent a message asking.

「Stay put, I’ll be there in a minute,」Nie Yan replied, bringing the pair of Skeleton Kodos and Skeleton Soldiers with him as he headed over to the transfer point.

After walking for a while, he eventually spotted a short, chubby figure waiting by the transfer point.

"Scary… a-are these your pets?” Tang Yao asked in shock, as he stared at the Skeleton Soldiers and Kodos by Nie Yan’s side.

"Yep, follow me. We’re going to level.”

"Level 9 already, no wonder your levelling speed is so fast… Also, you scared me half to death when you were bringing those Kodos over! I thought some monsters had roamed into this area, but since these two giant lugheads are on our side, levelling will definitely be much quicker!” Tang Yao exclaimed in excitement.

"It’s not bad,” Nie Yan laughed. While Tang Yao made a good guess, his fast levelling speed had nothing to do with these Kodos.

Where’s your Arcane Fairy?”

"It’s just hiding. It’s a little afraid of strangers.”

Only then did he notice a chubby little blue fairy hiding behind Tang Yao’s back. It resembled a boy with an adorable face and was surprisingly agile despite its appearance. As it hovered in the air, a faint blue light fluttered and spiralled around its body.

「Blub! Blub!」Occasionally, the fairy blew tiny blue bubbles from its mouth that floated into the air.

As long as an Arcane Mage properly guarded their Arcane Fairy from being killed by other players, they would receive an endless supply of mana. This was especially useful for Arcane Mages who had many high damage spells in their arsenal. They would be able to freely cast these spells without worrying about running out of mana. At the same time, their cooldowns and cast times were significantly reduced, meaning they would be able to cast the same spell again shortly after use.

However, when an Arcane Mage faced other players, their fairy would easily become the priority target of the enemy’s attacks. Therefore, raising an Arcane Fairy to rank three was an incredibly difficult task. As for anyone who owned a rank five fairy, it meant the player who raised it was also extremely skilled. For that sort of player to not have any powerful enemies was only natural.

"So, what kind of benefits do you get from a rank one fairy?” Nie Yan asked.

"Mana Recovery Rate +200%, all Cooldowns – 30%, all Cast Time -30%.”

"Wow, that’s pretty good.” Truthfully, Nie Yan was also shocked. Indeed, Arcane Fairies were quite overpowered. "From now on, don’t get into too many fights with other players. It would be a shame if your fairy ends up dying.”

Tang Yao thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Alright.” He resolved himself in his mind. If he wasn’t guaranteed to win in a duel, then he absolutely wouldn’t participate. There shouldn’t be a problem if he only stepped on relatively unskilled players. Otherwise, he would find it difficult to resist the itch growing in his heart. After all, it would be too much of a tragedy if he wasn’t allowed to duel other players after obtaining an Arcane Fairy, an existence that would enable him to dominate others.

Nie Yan revealed a wry smile. He knew his best friend’s personality all too well. Even though Tang Yao gave a straightforward reply, his mind was definitely thinking something else. The only way to guarantee that nothing bad would happen in the future was to make him improve as quickly as possible. Once he had the strength to protect himself, then he would be able to escape unscathed even when encountering an expert.

"Let’s set off,” Nie Yan said as he turned around and led Tang Yao with him back to the previous zone to hunt more Skeleton Kodos. Upon encountering one, he would make his Kodos act as tanks while he used Undead Rite from the rear. If the skill failed, then they would simply finish it off.

「System: You have successfully slain a Skeleton Kodo (Leader). +700% experience for killing a monster above your level. You have received 28,290 experience points.」

Watching his experience bar fill up, Tang Yao was shocked. He was just following Nie Yan and still hadn’t done anything, but after Nie Yan ordered Kodo #1 and Kodo #2 to finish off the other Kodo, his experience bar suddenly shot up from sixty-two percent directly to seventy-three percent.

This levelling speed was really too frightening.

One had to understand, when he was with Yu Lan and her team, he would use Meteor to kill mobs en masse. Yet after over half an hour of grinding, his experience bar would still only fill up by a mere six percent.

"Don’t move too far away from me,” Nie Yan said as he picked up the items that dropped from the Skeleton Kodo and then controlled Kodo #1 and #2 to seek out their next target.

"The levelling here is so fast! What did it drop?”

"A Fortune Gem.”

"Wow, we’re pretty lucky!” A single Fortune Gem was worth around five silver. From Tang Yao’s perspective, this was already quite a large sum of money. Although he didn’t voice it, he was still brooding over the twenty silver he spent to teleport from Calore to Hems. That one trip practically stripped him of all of his savings.

While they ventured forth, Nie Yan suddenly recalled that Tang Yao probably didn’t have much money left. Thankfully, the profits from this trip should more than make up for it.

"Tang Yao, you should be the one collecting all the drops from now. I’ll only take the items that I need, and you can have the rest to sell,” Nie Yan said. He wasn’t lacking in money; plus, dealing with the tedium of getting rid of equipment was annoying.

"You don’t want them?”

"I’m not short on money.”

"Well, now that I know you’re rich, I guess I won’t be shy about taking the drops!” Tang Yao happily exclaimed. They were childhood friends, ones that had grown up together since they were in diapers. If they had to be polite with each other in these circumstances, then they wouldn’t be brothers!

After a while, a white radiance enveloped Tang Yao. He had levelled up!.

"Damn! This levelling speed is friggin amazing! It’s like I’m riding on a rocket!” Tang Yao glanced at his experience bar. He was already five percent to Level 8 and at this rate he would easily reach Level 9 within two days.

"Have you picked up anything good?”

"A piece of Level 20 Silver equipment, a Paladin skill book, another Fortune Gem, and two silver. I’m not sure how much I can sell the first two for,” Tang Yao said after checking.

"Give me the Fortune Gem. You can sell the rest,” Nie Yan said while inspecting the skill book. Surprisingly, it was the skill book for Silence. "You can list this skill book up in the auction house, but don’t sell it for anything less than fifty silver.”

"Wow, it’s that expensive!” Tang Yao exclaimed, then continued, "Hey, I’m fine with splitting the profits from selling the skill book with you.” The Silence skill book was far too valuable in his opinion. Perhaps Nie Yan wouldn’t mind passing on one or two silver, but this was an entire fifty silver!

"No need,” Nie Yan laughed and then continued in an unconcerned tone, "It’s only fifty silver.” That amount wasn’t even enough to pick at the gaps between his teeth.

What did he mean by only fifty silver!? Recently, less than half of that had nearly stripped him of everything he had! Just how much money did this brother of his have!?

Chapter 118 – Sea Of Bones

Nie Yan led the pair of Skeleton Kodos in clearing out to the rest of the monsters in the vicinity. During this, he would also occasionally use Undead Rite in an attempt to recruit more servants. After all, the chances of success might be slim to none, but what harm was there in trying?

Since the Kodos’ spawning areas were rather sporadic, Nie Yan had to lead his minions all over the region to hunt them, while steamrolling everything in his path. By the time he had killed ten Kodos, he was able to bring yet another Skeleton Kodo under his control.

Now, with three Kodos, he possessed enough manpower to move on to the next phase of his plan.

Tang Yao was left awed by the sight of these three immense skeletal minions.

"What’s your experience at now?” Nie Yan asked.

"57%,” Tang Yao responded.

"Nice, you’ll be levelling up soon. I’ll stick around for a little while longer, but then I gotta head off and take care of some business. When you reach Level 8, let your Arcane Fairy have all the experience, then I’ll help you evolve it to rank two. Afterwards, I’ll bring you to somewhere you can train on your own.” Raising a fairy from rank one to rank two was fairly easy, but getting it from rank two to rank three was a hundred times more difficult. From rank three and onwards, the amount of experience required became even more excessive. This was also one of the reasons why Arcane Fairies were so difficult to nurture.

"Sure!” Tang Yao nodded. He wanted to prioritize leveling himself, but since Nie Yan had something else in mind, he decided to simply follow his instructions. Besides, he would have many more opportunities to tag along with Nie Yan in the future. Levelling with his brother was just too exhilarating to miss out on!

"So, where am I going to train?” Tang Yao asked in confusion. After all, with his current stats, attempting to solo grind mobs in this region was practically committing suicide.

"There’s a region to the east where Level 19 Skeleton Soldiers spawn. You should be able to train at that place. Oh, and don’t worry about their levels. You’ll understand what I mean when we get there,” Nie Yan answered.

Tang Yao was still slightly bewildered. Would he really be able to kill Level 19 mobs at his level? However, since Nie Yan said so, it definitely meant he had a plan.

Nie Yan led the Kodos around the zone, clearing out everything in his path. Eventually, a jingling sound rang out and he was enveloped in a brilliant radiance. He had levelled up as well.

Upon reaching Level 10, he opened his character page and saw that he now had seven stat points and two skill points to allocate.

For the sake of being able to equip Sulgata’s Boots sooner, he unhesitatingly placed all seven points into Strength.

After allocating his stats, he glanced at his Strength which now amounted to a total of fifty-three. Although it seemed like a far cry from the one hundred and thirty points he’d need to equip Sulgata’s Boots, in actuality, it was almost within his reach. Nie Yan did, after all, have many methods of raising his Strength without needing to rely on the stats gained from levelling up, the Chapter of Freedom being one of them. The reason he had set out to retrieve this chapter next was because it increased Strength by a considerable amount. If he were able to equip the restored Shadow of Sulgata, then everything would be perfect.

As for the two skill points, he placed a single point into both Intermediate Marksman and Adept Hands. The former increased a Thief’s proficiency with bows and crossbows, which increased ranged damage and provided a one percent armour piercing effect. The latter enabled a Thief to nimbly switch between different stances when using a dagger such as reverse grip, forward grip, and so on. It also increased damage by two percent and provided additional benefits to Steal.

The Steal skill was just a method for a Thief to earn some extra income. For someone such as Nie Yan, who was already filthy rich, it provided little to no benefit when levelling. However, it wasn’t entirely useless to him since there were a few quests where it came in extremely handy. These were profession restricted quests, available only to Thieves. The rewards were quite generous as well, even including top quality pieces of equipment that were capable of making most Thieves go green with envy. However, completing those quests would have to wait until after he retrieves the Chapter of Freedom which would allow him to equip Sulgata’s Boots and gain the Steal skill.

Since he received two skill points every five levels instead of only one, thanks to the Chapter of Courage, he wasn’t so conscious about where he was allocating them. He would place a point in any skill that he felt would be useful.

Eventually, Tang Yao also levelled up and reached Level 8, whereupon he began diverting one hundred percent of the experience he gained to his Arcane Fairy.

As they set off and hunted more Kodos, the fairy’s experience bar began to fill at a frightening pace.

There were very few regions that spawned Undead near Calore. Not to mention that, by the time he reached level 20, 30, and onwards, there would basically be no suitable areas to make use of Undead Rite. Therefore, he had to take advantage of these maps while they were still considered off limits by most players. If Tang Yao nurtured his Arcane Fairy now, then he’d have a much easier time levelling in the future. This would be especially true if he improved his magic attack and learned more high damage-spells, as his damage output would reach unprecedented levels with the aid of his Arcane Fairy, enabling him to dispatch large groups of monsters in a quick and efficient manner.

After leading Tang Yao around killing mobs for almost half an hour, the Arcane Fairy finally evolved. Thankfully, raising a fairy from rank one to rank two was fairly simple. Rank two to rank three, on the other hand, was much more difficult.

"What are your Arcane Fairy’s properties now?” Nie Yan asked.

"Mana Recovery Rate +300%, Cooldown -40%, Cast Time -40%, Magic Damage +10%, and… Ignore Level Difference +2.” Tang Yao gasped in surprise upon reading out the final property.

"Very good! That’s just the property we needed! With it, you should be able to kill the Level 19 Skeleton Soldiers by yourself,” Nie Yan said. The reason he had been so confident Tang Yao could be left on his own was due to the Ignore Level Difference property.

His plans had long taken even this small detail into consideration.

Afterwards, he and Tang Yao headed to the east. Eventually, they came across a large chain of unbroken sand dunes where hordes of Skeleton Soldiers wandered aimlessly at the base.

"Get on top of one of those dunes. As long as you don’t fall down below, the Skeleton Soldiers won’t be able to attack you,” Nie Yan explained. Since skeleton type monsters were inherently awkward and clumsy, they were more or less incapable of climbing these sand dunes. "Levelling here is much faster than following me. You should be able to grind out a few levels easily, but I still suggest giving all the experience to your Arcane Fairy since it’s that important to your progression right now. I know those skeletons are Level 19 and you’re only level 8, but the amount of experience you’ll gain for killing monsters eleven levels above you will be incredible. Not to mention, all of it will be going directly to your fairy. So, if you keep grinding, you should be able to evolve it again in just three days.”

Due to the discrepancy between the amount of experience needed for each rank, Arcane Fairies required a slightly different method of gaining experience than players. If Tang Yao were to follow the normal way, even if he were to give all of his experience to the fairy, it would still take at least a month for it to rank up again. Who knew what sort of unforeseen dangers a player might encounter during that time span?

In the previous timeline, a player had used a similar method to train their Arcane Fairy. After an entire month, they were able to evolve their fairy to rank four. Yet, no matter how much they grinded afterwards, they were unable to raise it to rank five. Later, they discovered that after rank four, an Arcane Fairy no longer required experience from monsters, but rather experience obtained by killing players.

However, most Arcane Mages who were able to reach this step would have their fairies slain by an enemy before they could get the required experience. If you walk alongside the shore, how can your feet not get wet? Even powerful experts could be killed when they were ambushed by a group of players.

"You’re right, this place isn’t bad. I’ll hurry up and raise my Arcane Fairy to rank three. That way we’ll be able to level together again!” Tang Yao exclaimed. His fairy already had such amazing properties at rank two. He could hardly imagine how monstrous it would become upon reaching rank three.

Generally, most Arcane Mages would be Level 40–50 or higher before their fairy reached rank three. If one were to emerge in the present, then the player who owned it would be far ahead of the pack and possess an equally astonishing might.

"Go off and level then. You shouldn’t run into any more mana issues since you have your Arcane Fairy with you, especially now that it’s rank two. Just send me a message when you’re about to leave,” Nie Yan said before examining the remaining duration on his Skeleton Kodos. The very first one he took control of, Kodo #1, still had a little under an hour left.

"Alright, no need to worry. I’ll definitely finish the task in three days, but I’ll probably end up sticking around for five, so you don’t need to go looking for me before then,” Tang Yao replied. After getting his fairy to rank three, he wanted to stay here awhile longer to quickly raise his level.

"Your gear is a little behind, but you should be fine since your Arcane Fairy increases your magic damage. Even if you wait until Level 15 to replace your equipment, it still shouldn’t be a problem. Well, I’ll leave you to level then.”

Afterward, Tang Yao made his way up to the top of one of the sand dunes and began bombarding the Skeleton Soldiers below with magic. Although most of the spells in his arsenal were single target, Meteor being the only notable area of effect magic, he was still receiving a considerable amount of experience. This was because he was able to continuously chain spells without worrying about mana!

After leaving Tang Yao, he and his Kodos headed off into the distance.

As his silhouette gradually receded before finally disappearing into the vast horizon, Tang Yao glanced at Nie Yan’s back once more, then returned to bombarding the Skeleton Soldiers with magic.

He would have to survive out here on his own for the next three to five days.

"Ahh… what a lonesome life!” Tang Yao sighed to himself. He opened his friends list and began searching for beautiful women to talk with.

「Hey babe, what are you up to?」

「I’m levelling.」

「Wanna chat with me to pass the time?」

「Too busy.」

「W-wait, don’t be so quick to brush me off! I’m actually an expert! I’m levelling in a Level 20 zone right now. I’ll prove it by bringing you here when I get back!」

「Hah… Like I’d believe you.」The other side abruptly disconnected from the chat.

Tang Yao let out a bitter smile. Why was it that when he spoke the truth, no one would believe him? He pressed the avatar of another beauty and proceeded to bother them. Harassing beauties while levelling, that was the only way he could keep himself amused in this tedious grind. He also found the sound of his fairy blowing bubbles by his side to be quite pleasant to listen to. No matter how he felt, if he wanted to become a genuine expert, he needed to be capable of tolerating long periods of loneliness.

In the meantime, Nie Yan was slowly venturing deeper into Hems Wasteland, a place where strong winds would scatter yellow sand across the barren land. Here, practically no plant could be seen as almost nothing could survive the harsh conditions.

The sky was overcast and blotted with sand, the unchanging scenery easily capable of making a person lose their sense of direction.

Nie Yan checked his coordinates. Although his memories of this location were fuzzy, he felt as though he was going in the right direction.

After ten minutes, Nie Yan finally found a graveyard in the vast barren. Countless tombstones jutted out of the ground, dotting the entire land. It was an endless graveyard that stretched out as far as the eye could see.

This quiet graveyard, which had experienced the passing of numerous ages, stood testament to those who had died.

As he looked a little further, he spotted a ruined building hidden within the yellow sands. It was the entrance that led to the catacombs underground.

Here lay Necromancer Abraham, who led an army of undead from the underworld to invade the Viridian Empire. He was a dreaded figure who controlled death, fear, and disease. After he was smited by an archangel, his body was eternally sealed inside this tomb.

According to legends, a Thief had entered this tomb in an attempt to rob the Necklace of Abraham. However, the Thief failed in his grave robbing attempt and died in the catacombs, leaving behind the Chapter of Freedom.

As Nie Yan drew closer to the catacombs, a dark wave of energy washed over the area. Suddenly, numerous skeletons pried their bony hands out of the sand as they began climbing out of their graves. One turned to tens, then hundreds, then thousands until the entire graveyard was filled with countless skeletons.

The vast graveyard was now dotted with skeletons stretching out as far as the eyes could see, resembling a sea of bones.

In that instant, Nie Yan understood what the term ‘army of skeletons’ truly meant. He was even able to vaguely imagine the spectacular sight of an ancient battlefield.

Chapter 119 – Abraham’s Tomb

Abraham’s Tomb was almost within reach, yet there was a near-insurmountable barrier in his path.

An endless sea of skeletons stood between Nie Yan and the entrance; there were simply too many.

With Transcendent Insight, he inspected one of the skeletons among the crowd.

Skeleton Warrior: Level 13

Health: 520/520

In the previous timeline, the owner of the Chapter of Freedom was a Thief named Quiet Life. He was the Representative Thief of the Victorious Return guild and one of few players worthy of the title Shadow Dancer. He would earn significant achievements in guild wars, stronghold sieges, and town sieges, killing at least a hundred enemies in every battle, most of which were cloth-armoured professions such as Magi and Divine Priests. Not only that, but he was quite elusive as well, possessing many life-saving skills that enabled him to escape unscathed, despite being completely surrounded, on several occasions.

Shadow Dancer, an honour that all Thieves sought after! Just because someone was high levelled didn’t necessarily mean they would obtain this title. In order to advance to one, they were required to go through an incredibly difficult profession advancement quest that pushed their abilities as a Thief to the limit, and upon passing it, they would receive greatly increased stats and skill rewards.

A Thief that achieved Shadow Dancer was an extremely terrifying existence. They were able to emerge in unpredictable places as they hid among the shadows. Once they took action, it was almost guaranteed to be a certain kill. Although they were unable to do much against their equally powerful Warrior and Paladin counterparts, the other side was helpless in pinning them down as well.

The best counter to a Shadow Dancer was a Priest’s Marking Sigil or a Paladin’s Divine Eye. Moreover, Magi with high awareness also had a fifty-fifty chance of beating a Shadow Dancer in a duel. Interestingly, they were only able to maintain such a victory rate for none other than the fact that they possessed a ludicrous levelling speed. Often times, when a Magus encountered a Shadow Dancer, the former would hold a level advantage of ten or higher.

Although there was nothing to criticize about Quiet Life’s ability, the Chapter of Freedom’s contribution could not go ignored when discussing his advancement to Shadow Dancer.

Victorious Return… Nie Yan let out a deep sigh. The sea of enmity he felt towards them was certainly not shallow, and it only increased after they were bought by Cao Xu and subsequently became one of the five major guilds under his control. Those five guilds were Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Bloodlust Blades. Each one held so much power that, upon joining forces, they would become unchallenged in the entire server. In the end, no one came even close to toppling his sovereign-like position in the game. In fact, many guilds were barely able to sustain themselves under Cao Xu’s oppression.

Rumours told that the guild leader of Victorious Return and Cao Xu were actually business partners in real life, which meant they would certainly form an alliance in the end. As such, if there was an opportunity to weaken Victorious Return, Nie Yan wouldn’t let that chance slip by. Regardless of whether they were going to be purchased by Cao Xu and his overbearing wealth, he would never let down his guard.

He gradually grew more determined as he stared at the vast sea of skeletons up ahead.

I won’t allow anyone to stop me on my path to becoming powerful!

He glanced at the Skeleton Kodos beside him. His reasoning for taking control of them was so that they could open up a path for him towards the tomb’s entrance. Afterwards, their mission would be complete.

As for the interior of the tomb, long after Victorious Return had removed the Chapter of Freedom, Nie Yan had explored and levelled in this place before. So, he had a general impression of its internal structure. As long as he got inside, he would be able to recall these memories.

Nie Yan ordered his minions to clear a path as he headed toward the tomb. The Kodos protected his front and both flanks while the Skeleton Fighters protected his rear.

The three Kodos spearheaded the sea of skeletons, pushing aside everything in their path which knocked many Skeleton Warriors away.

Many of the Skeleton Warriors began attacking the Kodos as damage values rose up above their heads.

−12, −12, −12…

As soon as he set foot on this graveyard, it was as if a single rock had set off a wave thousands of stories high. Like a swelling tide, upon sensing the breath of the living, these Skeleton Warriors frantically surged toward him and barred his way forward.

The Kodos pressed on while clearing the path ahead, losing a large chunk of health each time they moved forward. If it weren’t for their astonishing health recovery rate, they would have collapsed a long time ago.

At the current pace, however, these Kodos would die long before reaching the tomb’s entrance.

This somewhat deviated from his predictions. He had to somehow increase their speed!

Otherwise, he would sink into a sea of skeletons and undoubtedly meet his demise.

Nie Yan ordered the Kodos to speed up. However, this allowed a Skeleton Warrior to squeeze through their defensive formation. Brandishing the longsword in its hands, the Skeleton Warrior slashed towards him.

He sidestepped the attack and countered with Vital Strike followed by a reverse-grip slash, striking the Skeleton Warrior in the back.

−165

−152

The Skeleton Warrior that had slipped through didn’t have much health remaining in the first place, so with his high damage, Nie Yan was able to finish it off in only two attacks.

In this fashion, the Kodos accelerated while he dealt with the skeletons that slipped through the formation.

When he was no more than twenty meters from the entrance, the Skeleton Fighters protecting his rear collapsed. Although relatively few Skeleton Warriors attacked from the rear, their frail defenses were unable to endure the constant assault.

The horde of skeletons unceasingly swelled and surged towards them like the raging waves of the sea while Nie Yan and his Kodos were like a reef within. They were battered relentlessly, in danger of being engulfed at any time. And yet, when the swells receded, they still remained resolute, towering like monoliths over the surrounding sea of skeletons.

He glanced at the health bars of his Kodos. The highest one had eight hundred remaining while the lowest only had three hundred.

Having received Nie Yan’s command, the Kodos fiercely charged into the mob of skeletons, sending Skeleton Warriors flying in every direction.

Numerous Skeleton Warriors fell beneath his feet, meaning many items had dropped as well, but he had only bothered to bend down and pick up one or two that he felt were fairly valuable. As for money and ordinary items, he absolutely wouldn’t care about them, nor would he dare to retrieve them.

After all, the longer he dallied in place, the higher the likelihood of his death.

Amidst the intense assault, Nie Yan was now only eight meters from the entrance. With his destination being almost within reach, his heart began to race.

Eventually, one of the Kodos’ health bars was close to being depleted as numerous cracks began appearing and spreading on its skeletal frame.「Thud!」The Kodo finally died, and as its bones fell to the ground, it buried four Skeleton Warriors along with it.

One of his Kodos had died!

Nie Yan was greatly alarmed as only two Kodos remained; not only that, but they didn’t have much health left either!

He felt an impending sense of doom. If all of his Kodos died, he would lose his final screen of protection. The moment he was engulfed by the sea of skeletons, let alone a complete corpse, not even his bones would remain!

With one less companion, the two Kodos that were already barely holding on were put under even more pressure. Furthermore, the gap left Nie Yan with no other choice but to step up and deal with the wave of Skeleton Warriors surging toward him.

As soon as he killed a Skeleton Warrior with Assassinate, two more emerged and charged at him.

He dodged the first Skeleton Warrior’s attack but was unable to evade the second’s as it slashed his chest.

−32

In the next moment, five more Skeleton Warriors poured in from the gap and began surrounding him.

There were simply too many skeletons. As he was gradually overwhelmed, his health constantly fell lower and lower. 65%… 37%… Upon falling below fifteen percent, he hastily drank a Health Potion and applied a Combat Bandage.

+20, +20, +20

As he fended off the assault, he shot a glance in the direction of the tomb’s entrance. The ruined building stood three meters high. After centuries of erosion by wind and sand, its walls were covered in cracks. In fact, it seemed like it could collapse at any time. The inside of the tomb was hidden in darkness, but he was still able to vaguely make out a flight of stairs leading below where the darkness, as if it were a man-eating beast, awaited its prey with an open maw.

With what little remained of their health, Nie Yan and the two Kodos pressed on. After another three meters, the second Kodo ran out of health, and like the previous one, it let out a muffled groan before collapsing into a pile of bone fragments.

He became even more alarmed as he glanced at the remaining Kodo’s health bar. −12, −12, −15… A string of damage values rose up above its head. Under the constant assault of the Skeleton Warriors, it eventually ran out of health as well.

He had lost his final barrier of protection. Soon, an endless sea of Skeleton Warriors swarmed toward him. It seemed he would be engulfed at any moment.

Dammit… I’m running out of time. He helplessly glanced at the tomb which was only a few meters away. Could it be that he was really going to fail at the final step?

Countless Skeleton Warriors were like frantic beasts as they swarmed toward him. Two of them slashed him with their swords, resulting in his health falling from thirty-seven percent to twenty-one percent.

As he searched for an escape, his eyes happened to land on the beam of the tomb’s entrance. Without the slightest delay, he immediately shot out a web line from his Silk Spinner Ring. It flew over the Skeleton Warriors’ heads and stuck to the beam. With a hard tug, he was pulled towards the tomb’s entrance as his body soared over countless Skeleton Warriors.

While mid-air, he glanced back at his previous position. An instant later, it was engulfed by a surge of Skeleton Warriors.

He quickly approached the tomb’s wall. However, just before crashing into it, he held out his right hand and caught hold of the beam. After stabilizing himself, he climbed up on top of it and stared down.

The Skeleton Warriors beneath him grew restless as they constantly stirred around. However, they were incapable of reaching his location which allowed Nie Yan to breath a sigh of relief; he was finally safe. With only a little health remaining, he hastily found a spot to sit before eating some Barley Bread to replenish his health.

Chapter 120 – Grace Of The Civet

Those Skeleton Warriors seemed to have a fear of Abraham’s Tomb as they didn’t dare to approach it.

Nie Yan sat above the tomb’s entrance while his health gradually recovered. Moments later, his low health was once more restored to full.

No longer in danger of dying, his mind felt much more at ease. Turning around, he jumped off the beam, and after a graceful landing, he walked through the entrance before descending down the flight of stairs.

All of the steps had become smooth and flat due to erosion from the elements while their surfaces were covered in the ancient characters of the undead. Down below was an endless darkness where the silence would infinitely magnify even the softest of sounds. The silence was so palpable that he was even able to hear his heartbeat and breathing.

It was almost as if he was walking toward the gates of death.

The sinister smell of death and decay drifted upward from the deepest abyss of the tomb.

Nie Yan’s footsteps were light, sticking close to the wall as he made his way down.

Although he had traversed this place once upon a time, by the time he reached this area, it was already long explored by Victorious Return. The difficulty of exploring a new map and the difficulty of exploring a new dungeon was quite comparable in the sense that many Sub-Elites and Elites would emerge. However, with the former, once they were killed, they would never respawn, just like the Skeleton Executioners guarding the pyramid entrance in the Ancient City of Sulgata.

Not to mention, this was a Level 10 player challenging a Level 20 map. Perhaps in the entire server, Nie Yan was the only one who would dare to make such a crazy attempt.

Nonetheless, the Chapter of Freedom’s allure was too hard to resist.

Relying on his limited vision, Nie Yan fumbled his way down until he reached the bottom of the stairs where he was able to see a few dim rays shining from up ahead, making his surroundings much brighter as he approached.

Embedded into the walls on either side of him was a line of Night Pearls. The pale, hazy light they emitted added to the gloomy and enigmatic atmosphere of the tomb.

After entering, a sense of nostalgia arose within him as the familiar surroundings began stirring up his old memories. He had come here quite often to level in the past, so he had long explored every part of this place.

Up ahead shadows appeared to dance and flicker about, presumably due to monster activity in the area, sending Nie Yan on high alert. When he explored this place in the past, he had never encountered monsters around here. In fact, the area where monsters spawned was still quite a ways away.

Nie Yan slowly turned illusory until he completely blended into the background. Hidden within the shadows, he inched his way across the wall with his hands guiding him.

Eventually, he came across a wide open room about four hundred square meters in size with a ten meter high ceiling. There were candles everywhere, emitting flickering flames as shadowy figures wandered about.

In this dim lighting, he was finally able to make out the appearance of one of these monsters. It was a pale-skinned figure in a black chang pao, a Vampire! After examining their numbers, he counted over thirty of them, all blocking the path forward.

He activated Transcendent Insight.

Vampire Baron (Elite): Level 25

Health: 3,000/3,000

They were actually Vampire Barons! Nie Yan sucked in a cold breath as he suddenly recalled a certain piece of information. Vampire Barons were the hardest Level 20–30 Elites to deal with. Their health wasn’t all that high, but they were incredibly fast and possessed high damage. At the same time, they were also able to siphon health with their attacks, thus making them very difficult opponents. Even when he was Level 27, he had fallen victim to one of these monsters in another map.

Undead were very sensitive to the breath of the living. If any living being approached within seven or eight meters of them, they would instantly be able to detect that being’s exact position.

As such, a Thief’s ability to stealth wouldn’t be as effective!

There were over thirty of them, and they were all grouped around the passage forward! He had no chance of sneaking past them!

He would already be hard-pressed to deal with a single Vampire Baron, let alone such a large group!

How am I going to get through here? He thought for a moment, then looked up toward the ceiling entirely constructed out of stone. Various ancient designs covered the surface, forming an enormous, dark red maelstrom with a deathly pale skull depicted at its center, in which pale cyan flames calmly flickered in its eye sockets. The piece of artwork left a surreal impression, and as if staring at a god overlooking the world down below, the observer would be unable to look away.

The unidentified skull and the flickering flames made the atmosphere exceptionally mysterious.

As he examined the smoothness of the stone, the corner of Nie Yan’s mouth exposed a smile. He activated the Silk Spinner Ring’s ability and shot out a web-line which adhered to the wall. Borrowing the tension of the line, he flung himself upward.

While still in mid-air, he activated his Crawler Ring’s ability, whereupon both of his hands emitted an attractive force that enabled him to firmly latch on upon making contact with the wall.

Like a spider, he made his way up the wall toward the ceiling and then began crawling to the other side.

He was able to sense the Vampire Barons below him growing restless, presumably because they sensed the breath of the living. However, never would they suspect that he was actually right above them this whole time, and even if they did, they would have no way of attacking him.

He nimbly crawled under the ceiling and eventually neared its center. He was drawing progressively closer to the skull, but when he drew within five meters of it, he felt a strong sense of crisis growing in the back of his mind.

There’s something odd about this skull…

After coming to a realization, he immediately came to a halt before making a large detour around the skull.

It’s an explosive trap!

His sharp intuition had once again saved his life!

After safely circling around the skull, Nie Yan finally relaxed. If he had accidentally triggered that trap a moment ago, in that sort of circumstance, there would have been no way for him to avoid the explosion in time. He would have been reduced to ground meat!

Thieves had a relatively high chance of avoiding damage even if they stepped onto a trap thanks to their Reflex stat. However, many were extremely deadly. They would instantly kill anyone who triggered them, just like that explosive trap in the skull. Luckily, he had been quite prudent and didn’t approach rashly, leaving him enough time to sense the peculiar energy contained inside of it. If he had actually triggered the trap, then the result would have been obvious.

He slowly made his way forward for ten minutes until he was more than twenty meters away from the closest Vampire Baron. Then, he let go of the ceiling and fell back to the floor.

After safely passing through this dangerous region without any mishaps, Nie Yan proceeded deeper into the tomb.

Although the lighting inside the tomb was very dim, he was already very familiar with the path he was walking through. Occasionally, when he encountered an ordinary Vampire, even though he could deal with them, he would still duck away. After all, he hadn’t come here to level.

He had only one goal in mind and that was to retrieve the Chapter of Freedom!

As he stealthily traversed the labyrinth-like passages, he eventually arrived at the second floor of the tomb. During this period, he had come across several locked silver treasure chests. However, since he didn’t have the Lockpicking skill or a suitable key, there was nothing he could do about them. He did have a Silver Key in his bag, but sadly it only worked for silver chests Level 20 and under, while the ones in this map were all at least Level 25 or higher.

Silver Key: Used to open Level 0-20 treasure chests that are Silver or lower. Uses remaining: 3/3

After passing through a cell, he discovered an object hidden in a corner. Only when he approached closer did he find that it was actually an old shabby chest. It was a chest that wasn’t locked! He couldn’t help but sigh to himself. This journey had been too trying on his heart, finding so many chests yet being unable to open them, but at last, he had finally encountered one that he was actually able to open!

It had taken him this long to encounter a chest that he could actually open, while/even though the journey had been so difficult.

Nie Yan bent down and opened the chest. After fishing around for a bit, he grabbed hold of what appeared to be a skill book.

He took it out to examine.

Skill Book: Grace of the Civet

Requirement: Level 20

Description: The player will gain a powerful movement ability by harmonizing mind and body.

Properties: Depending on the height, fall damage will be reduced by 10%-50%. Climbing Ability +10%, Balance +10, Reflex +10, Dexterity +10

Restriction: Thief; can be learned by any faction.

So it was actually Grace of the Civet! For a Level 20 player, the properties of this skill were relatively decent, but they weren’t anything amazing. The first two properties, reduce fall damage and climbing ability, weren’t as useful, but for Nie Yan, it was nevertheless a very fitting item. This was because the path that he walked was different from other players.

Ordinary Thieves only cared for Dexterity and Balance. Nie Yan on the other hand focused on Dexterity while simultaneously using special items such as the Silk Spinner Ring, Crawler Ring, Featherfall Jewel, and so on to create his own special way of playing a Thief.

The Thief profession wasn’t limited to being only good at scouting, disarming traps, and assassinating lightly armoured targets. With what he was doing, he was giving this profession an entirely new definition.

In his previous timeline, he had always thought about creating such a Thief but never possessed the strength to do so. The drop rates of the Silk Spinner Ring and Crawler Ring were incredibly low, which meant they were expensive enough that he couldn’t afford them. As for the Featherfall Jewel, he was incapable of getting his hands on that as well. Although he did indeed beat Treant Forest on Specialist and a Featherfall Jewel did drop, when it came time to distribute the items, he never even had a chance of obtaining it himself. In the end, a Mage in the team took away the jewel with the rest of the team receiving three silver each. At that time, he was simply a bystander with no influence.

By the time he grew stronger, he had long exceeded the level requirements to enter Treant Forest and thus couldn’t go back to obtain the jewel. Meanwhile, the equipment that had the Featherfall Jewel socketed into them were all expensive beyond reason. So even then, he still couldn’t afford one.

As for Grace of the Civet, it was also an uncommon skill book. If not for him being the first to enter Abraham’s Tomb, this item would have went to someone else!

Although the skill wasn’t extremely important, it would at least be able to aid him in executing his plans more fluidly.

Nie Yan placed Grace of the Civet into his bag. I’ll have to wait until Level 20 before I can use it, so I’ll just keep it for now.

After passing through a long and narrow tunnel, he entered a relatively small room that was about one hundred square meters in size. There, he found three coffins made out of white marble. They appeared fairly ordinary with a simple twisting rune design carved into them. The grooves in these carvings were filled with a bright red paint that resembled the colour of blood.

They were Fate Rune Formations!

These three coffins weren’t actually as simple as they appeared. In fact, they were a very strange type of furnishing. Speaking precisely, they were the Undead race’s Fate Items!

When the player opened these coffins, the Fate Rune Formations would activate, and then a random surprise would emerge.

Once a coffin was opened, it would reset after ten days.

There were stories that told of players obtaining various high quality items such as the Helmet of Death or even a fragment of a Legendary-grade item. However, there was also a player who had been unlucky enough to spawn a Vampire Prince, which, as one would expect, killed them in an instant.

The three marble coffins lay there in silence, a sense of enticement luring one forth, yet also the fearful unknown lurking about in the air.

Chapter 121 – Junior Magic Resonance Potion Recipe

Nie Yan had to admit. Like many other players, he was extremely greedy, particularly when equipment was involved.

Even the slightest possibility of top-quality equipment emerging was more than enough to make countless players go frantic.

However, he wasn’t a person without rationale!

With the Fate Dice, he had been both lucky and unlucky. Despite losing ten Strength, he also obtained astonishing benefits—Undead Rite and Pandora’s Box. Considering the events since then, the usefulness of the former spoke for itself. As for the latter, it possessed the overpowered abilities of influencing luck and raising the grade of an item. As such, he was entirely content with disregarding the loss he suffered.

Nonetheless, that didn’t necessarily mean he was willing to repeat such a gamble.

If, instead of him, an irrational person were to arrive here, they would definitely be blinded by greed and open these coffins without much consideration.

On the off-chance a Vampire Prince emerged, no matter how strong the player was, would they be able to run? Of course not! Such a high-level entity would never allow its prey to escape. Therefore, their situation would be tantamount to a death sentence!

From Nie Yan’s perspective, the consequences of dying weren’t something he could brush off. Not only would he fail to retrieve the Chapter of Freedom, he would lose the Chapter of Courage as well.

He might be greedy, but he also understood his limits and only sought things that were achievable with his ability. As for opportunities that led to outcomes outside of his control, he felt better off forgoing them. After experiencing it once, he no longer wished to tangle with the fickle hands of fate.

He walked past the coffins and passed through a corridor sandwiched by iron bars. When he encountered a region with too many monsters, he patiently hid in a corner until the Crawler Ring and Silk Spinner Ring’s abilities were off cooldown before climbing over from a relatively high and hard-to-reach location.

Furthermore, as he grew more accustomed to the Crawler Ring’s ability, he became even more proficient in using it in conjunction with the Silk Spinner Ring. Now, he was able to cross over most obstacles effortlessly.

Without the Silk Spinner Ring, a player who possessed the Crawler Ring, upon arriving here, would have no choice but to turn back lest they be killed in one of these passageways.

After using the Crawler Ring to cross over a mob of Vampires, he carefully scanned the passageway below. Completely empty… I should be safe. He deactivated the Crawler Ring’s ability after which he dropped down from the ceiling and gently landed on the ground, not making a single sound in the process.

However, just as he was about to make his way forward, the sound of a spell being cast, originating from a pile of crates, arrived in his ears.

He spun around in search of the caster and noticed a pale-faced figure with a sinister appearance, condensing a dazzling sphere of lightning in its hands.

Wandering Mage: Level 23

Health 820/820

Many players often underestimated these Wandering Mages because of their low health, but Nie Yan knew better than anyone just how terrifying these monsters were. With their formidable magic power, they were easily capable of emptying his health pool in only two spells. Fortunately, the cast times for their magic was relatively long.

Perhaps he would be able to throw off this Wandering Mage if he ran now. However, there was a good chance that he might alert the monsters up ahead, sinking himself into an even more dangerous situation. As such, the best course of action was to deal with this problem while it was still within his control.

After it finished casting the spell, the crackling sphere of lightning shot towards him.

Nie Yan rapidly retreated. Just as this lightning ball was about to hit him, he rolled to the side and narrowly avoided it.

The ball of lightning whizzed past him, striking the wall, and exploded into a shower of sparks.

After regaining his balance, he retrieved the Crossbow of Blood and fired at the Wandering Mage.

「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Three crossbow bolts streaked through the air and struck their target.

−15

−15

−15

Sadly, if not for the on-hit true damage effect applied to the bolts, he wouldn’t have even made a dent in the Wandering Mage’s health bar. This was also one of the reasons why Thieves only used crossbows to draw aggro instead of farming mobs; they simply dealt too little damage. While it was entirely possible for a Thief to take advantage of terrain exploits to kill high-level mobs, if any player believed one was able to kite a high-level monster to death, they would be a complete idiot.

Nie Yan had no hope of killing the Wandering Mage with his crossbow. The time he spent between shooting and evading was long enough for its natural health recovery to nullify a significant portion of the damage he dealt.

Since that was the case, just how much time would he waste before finally killing it?

However, during that exchange, he was able to figure out the cast time for his opponent’s spell. He promptly put away his crossbow and dashed toward the Wandering Mage with a dagger in each hand. As he closed in on his opponent, he raised one of his daggers and bashed the pommel on the Wandering Mage’s head even though he was unable to stun it.

Undead monsters were highly resistant, if not completely immune, to stuns. For a profession that relied on such effects, this was an extremely depressing problem. It meant that he was unable to interrupt the Wandering Mage while it was channeling its spell.

Unleashing a flurry of attacks, a string of damage values rose above his enemy’s head.

−63, −67, −65…

Despite the gap in levels, the damage was quite decent.

He struck the Wandering Mage with Assassinate followed by Vital Strike. Although it didn’t really have any vital areas to speak of, since it was undead, the damage scaling on the skill was better than a normal attack.

As it was nearly finished channeling its spell, he hastily pulled back. After all, if he was too close, he wouldn’t be able to dodge.

Finally, the Wandering Mage shot a ball of lightning at Nie Yan, who promptly dodged to get out of the way, taking cover behind a pile of crates. An explosion echoed out as the spell smashed into the crates, sending them flying everywhere.

In that instant, without missing a beat, he leaped out unscathed and resumed his assault.

Even though this method was quite tedious, after five minutes, he was able to whittle his opponent’s health away until it finally died.

Seeing the Wandering Mage collapse on the floor, Nie Yan breathed out a sigh of relief. With his current stats, although he was able to kill monsters much higher level than him, the process of doing so was truly exhausting. Spending so much time to kill a single monster was simply too inefficient. Bending down to pick up the items that dropped, he was surprised to discover a recipe.

Junior Magic Resonance Potion Recipe

Requirements: Junior Alchemist

Properties: Magic Power +20

Materials: Rosegem Grass, Powdered Cow Horn, Neutralizing Agent, Sulfur

His luck was surprisingly good. He actually found such a valuable drop. Even though Bird wasn’t able to make use of it for now, he would be advancing to a Junior Alchemist pretty soon. The value of this recipe in the present day market was extremely terrifying—at the very least, selling for one gold.

Rosegem Grass was not at all expensive while the three other materials could be purchased from NPC shops. With regards to the current level of the playerbase, a potion that increased Magic Power by twenty was too frightening. Naturally, if the average player was over Level 20, they wouldn’t think much of these potions since they were drops from Level 25 maps. Furthermore, Level 0–30 Junior Alchemist concoctions had no level requirements.

He stored the recipe away in his bag and proceeded on with his journey through the tomb. Since all of the monsters here greatly exceeded his level, he had a tough time dealing with even the most ordinary of mobs. Henceforth, he took even more care with every step he took forward, spending a significant amount of time.

In the end, he spent nearly two days exploring the interior of the tomb before finally reaching its core.

For the purpose of retrieving the Chapter of Freedom, let alone two days, he was willing to spend any amount of time on it as long he succeeded!

Nie Yan sat on top of a tall pillar as he observed an enormous plaza below. Occasionally, he would spot squadrons of Vampires making round patrols. The existence which they were guarding lay at the very center of this plaza—a huge crystal coffin, the final resting place of Necromancer Abraham.

Legends told that Abraham was sealed there eternally, never to awaken again.

Guarding by his side were two of his descendants, both of which were Level 25 Lord-class monsters.

Not far from the coffin was a stone platform, and placed on top of it was the Chapter of Freedom.

Currently, he was thinking of ways to evade the eyes and ears of the patrolling Vampires.

「Where are you right now?」Suddenly Nie Yan received a message from Sleepy Fox.

「I’m outside of the city, levelling. What’s up?」

「We finally beat Sosil Valley. Of course, we only did it on Easy and Normal. Are you interested in joining us?」Sleepy Fox asked. He was hoping Nie Yan would guide them through Sosil Valley on Specialist.

「I’m busy right now, and besides, I don’t really need anything there,」Nie Yan responded. Although the drops from the dungeon were pretty good, in comparison to the Chapter of Freedom, they weren’t even worth mentioning. With two chapters from the Book of Order, he would never have to worry about his gear not being good enough. Therefore, there was nothing inside Sosil Valley that was capable of attracting his interest.

Sleepy Fox let out an awkward laugh. Just one sentence from Nie Yan had shattered his hopes. Did Nie Yan really have no interest in beating Sosil Valley on Specialist? Could he have already beaten the dungeon with another team? His background really was too mysterious.

Nie Yan thought for a moment and said,「I heard the game’s official website should be announcing a new dungeon tomorrow. Go take a look, the drops there should be beneficial to your team. You guys should also prepare for the Level 10 dungeons. Since the devs have finished working out most of the kinks in the game, they should be releasing a new dungeon every two or three days. That’s why these low-level dungeons don’t really interest me.」Since he already had a set of good equipment, he didn’t mind passing on the current dungeons. Only those who needed to improve their gear would be forced to run dungeons several times over in search of better equipment.

「Also, I heard a new potion shop opened in the eastern slums of Calore. Apparently, they’re selling Black Phenol. Do you know who the owner is?」Sleepy Fox probed. He suspected Nie Yan was the owner of this shop. It was when he recalled Nie Yan selling him so many bottles of Black Phenol at once that he started to connect the dots. Even if this shop wasn’t Nie Yan’s, he was definitely connected to it in one way or another. That shop still hadn’t sold out of Black Phenol, seemingly possessing an endless supply. If there wasn’t a formidable power behind it, how was it possible to run such a large business operation?

「I do, it was opened by one of my friends. Unfortunately, he isn’t fond of being in the spotlight, so that’s all I can say,」Nie Yan answered after thinking for a while. It was better to keep some matters hidden.

「Ah, so it was like this… Oh, I almost forgot, you’re still busy levelling, right? I shouldn’t disturb you any longer then. Let’s talk some other time.」

「Thanks, I’ll see you later.」Sleepy Fox’s call had suddenly reminded him of a certain matter. Since he was so busy dealing with monsters these past two days, which constantly left him on-edge, he had completely forgotten to check up on his shop. Since he was mainly focused on retrieving the Chapter of Freedom, it would be a while before he would be able to return to the city. However, he recalled that there was a section in the chat that automatically posted news from it. He had never opened one in his previous life, so he hadn’t developed the habit of monitoring its progress.

He searched around a bit before finding the shop notice window. When he opened it, a large row of messages covered his vision and left him in a momentary daze.

「02:39 (Notice): Starry Night Potion Shop has sold Black Phenol Recipe x1 for 30 silver.」

「02:40 (Notice): Starry Night Potion Shop has sold Black Phenol x12 for 7 silver, 20 copper.」

「02:40 (Notice): Starry Night Potion Shop has sold Black Phenol Recipe x1 for 30 silver.」

「02:41 (Notice): Starry Night Potion Shop has sold Black Phenol Recipe x1 for 30 silver.」

Chapter 122 – Escape!

Nie Yan’s eyes widened in shock as notices flooded his screen. He never expected the shop to sell so much in only two days.

Over the last few days, the activity surrounding Sosil Valley, instead of lessening, had actually increased substantially! Even though the drops from the dungeon were good and the Werewolves there gave decent experience, the main reasoning behind this event was due to rumours of a new dungeon opening soon. For the sake of being better prepared when it opens, various players and guilds were feverishly gathering better equipment to improve their strength.

As a consequence, the demand for Black Phenol was greatly magnified. So, when the supply in the auction house eventually ran out, the major guilds began taking note of the Starry Night Potion Shop. Unfortunately, the Black Phenol and Black Phenol Recipes there were excessively overpriced. It was as if they were being squeezed for everything they had! However, since the owner was nowhere to be found, there was no one to negotiate with. Thus, after struggling for a long period of time, they finally caved in and began buying the shop’s goods one after another. Despite being fully aware that they were being cheated, there was nothing they could do because the only place left that had Black Phenol and Black Phenol Recipes for sale was this single shop in the middle of the slums!

Often times, this was just the way the world worked.

After summarizing two days worth of sales, he had earned another twenty-five gold!

In terms of earning money, who would be able to compete with him?

With more money in his pockets, he planned to rapidly expand his capital. After all, if he left it sitting there, its purchasing power would only slowly depreciate, because as the players gradually advanced in level, the value of in-game currency would definitely fall. Furthermore, since he had reached Level 10, it was finally possible for him to use the transfer point to teleport to other cities, allowing him to proceed to the next phase of his plan. His ambitions didn’t stop only at Calore as he planned to purchase land in other cities too, but he wouldn’t get the chance if he was late!

The competition over in-game real-estate was extremely fierce. Who would wait for others when all of these properties were being quickly eaten up?

Not to mention, his act of monopolizing the Black Phenol market also had an underlying effect. It would reduce the capital of the major guilds at least by some extent, slowing their rate of expansion while rapidly increasing his own.

Having received some good news, Nie Yan’s mood instantly took a turn for the better. He had already figured out, as well as memorized, the movements of these numerous patrolling Vampires and, simultaneously, thought out a suitable plan. Although there was one small flaw in his plan, he still resolved to give it a try.

Nie Yan stared at the darkness below and walked the route he would take in his head. Finally, he jumped off the pillar, activating Stealth the moment he came in contact with the ground before disappearing into the background.

If he wished to stay outside of the detection range of these Vampires, he needed to stay at least ten meters away from them, which was exceedingly hard as he was no longer able to overlook their position from atop the pillar. Thus, he could only madly rush forward while strictly following the route he memorized in his heart.

He was completely relying on memory. Fortunately, he was confident enough that even if he was running around in the dark or his eyes were shut, he would still more or less be able to find his way.

After traversing about fifty meters, he came to a halt and held his breath.

Only ten meters ahead of him was a group of Vampires passing by before eventually moving into the distance.

Afterwards, a group of Vampires appeared from the rear and were walking in his general direction.

Noticing this, Nie Yan rapidly sped up and hurried forward in order to avoid them. Like this, he was constantly running and stopping. After a mere hundred meters, he had already evaded over thirty groups of patrolling Vampires!

His memory, though not the best of the best, was undoubtedly excellent.

After madly rushing another thirty meters, he came to a halt once more, having finally arrived within thirty meters of the Lord-class Vampire Earls. These Earls wore brightly coloured attires and possessed fair, beautiful complexions. Their azure eyes were keenly scanning the area around them.

While maintaining his stealth, he looked past the Vampire Earls at the very top of the square stone platform where a delicate, black wooden box was placed. A mere glance instantly caused his heartbeat to race uncontrollably.

The Chapter of Freedom was nearly within reach!

As long as he was able to get ahold of it, it would belong to him. Then, he could safely teleport away with the Unknown Transfer Scroll.

Suddenly, three groups of patrolling Vampires emerged from different directions.

Nie Yan took a deep breath while trying to maintain a calm breathing pattern. The following step would be the most important. If he was able to avoid these three patrolling groups, he would have at least thirty seconds to get past the Lord-class Vampire Earls and seize the Chapter of Freedom!

However, he wasn’t fully confident whether he was in an absolutely safe spot. The reason he had taken his time staying up on that pillar for so long was because there were simply too many patrolling groups near the stone platform. Two of the patrolling groups were now extremely close to the ten-meter range, forcing him to take even more care as one wrong step would lead to him being discovered.

This was simply toying with death!

As the three groups of vampires made their patrols, they were drawing closer and closer to Nie Yan. Very soon, they would cross that ten-meter range. Seeing this scene, a huge lump emerged in his throat.

Calm down! He slowly calmed his mind as he stared at the patrolling Vampires nearby. The size of each patrolling group was fairly large. Some had several dozen in their ranks while others had over a hundred. In any case, he was clearly able to see their sinister appearances.

One group left the square followed by another. Apparently, Nie Yan’s hopes were being fulfilled.

However, at this moment, an intense shout penetrated the air, shattering the silence in the square.

Nie Yan quickly locked onto the source of the sound. A Vampire had discovered him!

Subsequently, all of the Vampires drew their attention to him, including the Vampire Earls up ahead. Upon noticing an intruder, all of them went into an uproar.

Shit, they saw me! There was not an ounce of hesitation in Nie Yan’s mind nor any to his movements. He whipped out a Basic Haste Scroll and tore it immediately. Then, with as much strength as he could muster, he sprinted towards the Chapter of Freedom. This was his final chance. If he failed to retrieve the Chapter, then he would be forced to escape with his Unknown Transfer Scroll and wait until the next opportunity arose.

It was quite possible that he would never get another chance prior to Level 20. After all, without the Unknown Transfer Scroll or something similar to save his life, he would never dare to come here to seize the Chapter of Freedom.

When the Vampire Earls’ noticed his presence, they immediately dashed forward with an extremely fast speed, seemingly leaving after-images.

In the meantime, countless Vampires began pursuing him from the rear, cutting off all paths of retreat.

A Vampire lunged forward, causing him to spin to the side to avoid it. Not daring to slow down, he made a mad dash.

Dammit… If only Flash Powder, Web Scrolls, or Sheep Transformation Scrolls were effective. If only I had Tempest Step, or Advancing Dash. If only…

However, there was no time for ifs. The present Nie Yan was only Level 10. He was no longer a Level 180 Great Thief. He could only rely on his limited set of skills to display his limits.

In the previous timeline, when he was Level 10, he was an ordinary player who couldn’t be any more mediocre. However, everything he did was completely unaverage and out of the ordinary, just like what he was doing now!

He still hadn’t reached his limit!

He was like the wind as he rapidly drew close to the Chapter of Freedom. It was only about seven meters away—so close! He already took out the Unknown Transfer Scroll and tightly held it in his hand. As long as he retrieved the Chapter of Freedom, he would scram!

The numerous hordes of Vampires in the rear were quickly left behind in his dust.

At that moment, Nie Yan suddenly noticed the two Vampire Earls just in front of him. They bore their fangs and claws as bloody streaks of light flashed toward him.

In the instant that the Earls clawed at him, he ducked his head and lunged forward, then with his right arm bracing the ground, he did a flip and dodged the Earl’s attacks.

「Hiss! Hiss!」They angrily screeched as their attacks struck empty air.

Now only three meters from the stone platform, he stared at the black wooden box containing the Chapter of Freedom and activated the Silk Spinner Ring’s ability. Soon, a web line shot into the air and stuck to the wooden box. With a hard tug, it flew into the air toward him.

Lunging forward once again, he extended his left arm and caught the box before transitioning into a roll.

He had obtained the Chapter of Freedom!

Though, the celebrations were cut short as he suddenly found himself unable to budge an inch. It was as if an invisible force had firmly bound him. In the rear, one of the Earls swiped its sharp claws toward the back of his head. It seemed, in the next moment, his brains were going to be splattered all over the ground.

However, an intense white light suddenly burst forth from Nie Yan’s palm.

As the Earl’s claws made contact with his head, unexpectedly, there was no blood or gore. The Earl paused for a moment in a daze. Since it had low intelligence, it had no idea what was happening.

Nie Yan’s entire body had turned illusory. In the next instant, he disappeared without a trace.

The Earl’s attack had missed!

When Nie Yan opened his eyes, his heart was still rapidly beating. Just a moment ago, if he had been even a millisecond… He never expected the Earls to possess Spirit Bind. Such a skill was simply too terrifying.

Spirit Bind was a skill exclusive to monsters and could be used when they were within three meters of the enemy. Upon activation, both the user and the target would be unable to move for five minutes! As long as the Earl that targeted him didn’t die, he would have been stuck there for the whole duration. Unless he had teleportation, a nullifying skill, or something along those lines, there would be no chance of escape.

Fortunately, he had activated the Unknown Transfer Scroll just in the knick of time. Otherwise, his brains would have been splattered all over the floor of the tomb.

He had re-emerged in the barren wasteland with no idea where he was. However, he could at least confirm that he was in Hems Wasteland. There was a group of Skeleton Fighters charging toward him, so he quickly sprinted away. As he ran, he was no longer able to hold back the emotions stirring in his heart and excitedly opened the box that contained the Chapter of Freedom.

A chapter from the Book of Order appeared before his eyes.

This was one of the chapters from the first volume, the Chapter of Freedom!

Nie Yan quickly examined the chapter’s properties.

-Chapter of Freedom

Description: The sixth chapter from the first volume of the Book of Order, an incomplete piece of the legendary book.

Properties: Receive 2 Dexterity and 1 skill point every 5 levels. Stealth +15, Cloak +15, Reflex +15, Strength +30

Disappear: Allows the player to stealth in the middle of combat. Has a certain probability of avoiding the enemy’s attack.

Passive: Stealth +20

Sacrificial Gambit: Sacrifice 30% of current health for a 50%, 20%, or 10% chance to deal 200%, 300%, or 500% of the amount sacrificed as damage respectively.

Cooldown: 2 days (1/2)

Restrictions: Can only be used by a member of the Righteous Guardian of Order.

Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player’s bag.

With two chapters from the Book of Order in his bag, Nie Yan suddenly felt reinvigorated as a wave of joy and relief washed over him. Now that he had these two chapters by his side, there was simply no comparison between the current him and his former self!

Chapter 123 – 130 Strength!

Disappear was an exceptional life-saving skill. In his previous timeline, it enabled Quiet Life to turn the tide of battle or escape the grasp of death unscathed on multiple occasions. As such, one could imagine just how vital this skill was to the success of both him and Victorious Return. As for Sacrificial Gambit, Nie Yan already possessed 360 health—30% of that would be around 100. In other words, once the skill was activated, he had a 50% chance of dealing 200 damage, 20% chance of dealing 300 damage, or 10% chance of dealing 500 damage. Although there was a 20% chance of missing, in terms of potential single-target damage output, it was still an extremely, terrifying skill.

In that respect, Sacrificial Gambit classified as an advanced Thief skill. Although a two-day cooldown might seem a little excessive, such a powerful skill naturally demanded some restrictions in place, much like Elemental Palace Magic and Templar Magic which had similar drawbacks. Not to mention, there was also Adjudicator of God, the skill from the Chapter of Courage, which required ten full days before it could be used again. To this date, the skill had still yet to come off cooldown! Even if used efficiently, he would only be able to cast such a skill thirty-six times a year at most!

When activated, become immune to all magic, gain 500 health, and summon an advanced life-saving shield that absorbs 60% of all incoming damage for 5 minutes.

(This skill cannot be used in instances)

With Adjudicator of God, Disappear, and Sacrificial Gambit, Nie Yan reckoned he was pretty close to tackling another chapter from the Book of Order, but now wasn’t the right time.

Checking his stats, he confirmed that his Strength had risen to 83. If he used the five passive skill books he had requested from Sleepy Fox, then figured out a way to raise his Strength by a few more points, he would finally be able to equip Sulgata’s Boots.

「How’s things on your side?」Nie Yan sent a message to Tang Yao.

「Not bad, I’m still grinding on the skeletons. My Arcane Fairy is only at 67% though. Hell, why is it so hard to rank it up? I’ve been at it for two days already. I swear I’m about to die from boredom! If I took the experience for myself instead, I would have already been Level 10!」Tang Yao complained in a gloomy and dissatisfied tone.

「Well, I don’t really know what to say… Arcane Fairies are just difficult to raise. Hold out for another day or two, alright?」Nie Yan chuckled. In truth, this sort of monotonous grinding was like a form of torture for someone as restless as Tang Yao. Then again, his brother’s temperament could use a bit of grinding and tempering…

「Sigh… I understand,」Tang Yao replied dejectedly. Rather than one or two days, he would be here for at least three more. After all, if he stayed here to train for another two days after raising his fairy’s rank, he would easily be able to reach Level 10 or higher. Naturally, he didn’t want to let such an opportunity slip by, since if he wanted to come back here, he would need to fork over another twenty silver for the transfer fee. Not to mention, without the Skeleton Kodos’ protection, he would have no way of reaching these sandy dunes.

「Well, you should keep levelling. I’ll be returning to the city first, but before that, did you bring a Return Scroll with you? I can give you one if you didn’t.」

「No worries, I brought one. I’ll be fine on my own.」

「Ah, alright. I’ll be leaving then. Catch you later.」

Nie Yan found a spacious and empty area before he began channeling a Return Scroll. After a brilliant flash of light, he was teleported back to Calore.

「Have you found the skill books for Backstab and Eviscerate yet?」Nie Yan sent Sleepy Fox a message as he leisurely strolled toward the auction house.

「We’ve found them. Where are you right now? I’ll have someone deliver them to you.」

「Calore. I’ll be beside the Auction House entrance.」

「Gotcha, someone’ll be there in five minutes tops!」

Nie Yan patiently waited at the auction house entrance. Soon, a player from Holy Empire found him and initiated a trade, placing seven skill books in the trade window.

「Here are the items our guild leader asked me to give you.」

「Here’s the thirty silver as payment.」He placed the money in the trade window.

「Alright, thanks.」

After receiving the payment, the Holy Empire player said goodbye before departing.

Nie Yan scanned over these skill books. Backstab and Eviscerate were both active skills that dealt decent damage. This left him quite satisfied since he was currently lacking such skills, hence why he had asked Sleepy Fox to search for a few. Afterwards, he glanced over at the five remaining skill books.

Power of the Barbarian, Primal Strength, Strength Amplification, Strength of the Restless, and Power of the Warlock increased Strength by 6, 5, 5, 5, and 6 respectively.

Despite being uncommon, skill books such as these were fairly inexpensive. Although their efficiency was limited and Thieves didn’t place much importance on Strength, once they entered Nie Yan’s hands, it became an entirely different matter. After learning the five passive skills, his Strength rose to 110. Now, he was only 20 points away from his target of 130.

This gap could be easily remedied. He proceeded into the auction house and sat down in a corner.

After purchasing all equipment and consumables that protected against petrification, he opened up the gem section in the auction house’s catalogue, whereupon a dazzling display of glittering jewels was presented before his eyes. After searching for Strength Gems, hundreds of results were immediately projected on the display.

The Strength Gems were all of the lowest quality—Strength +3. If he wished to socket them, then he would need to bring them over to a Jewelsmith and pay a fee of three silver. In ordinary circumstances, most players would never part with such a sum After all, equipment was swapped out too often at this stage of the game. If socketed on a good piece of equipment, there was the fear that the piece of equipment would be wasted. If socketed on a mediocre piece of equipment, then it was a waste of money. Therefore, player demand for Strength Gems greatly declined, which was why their price was somewhat on the low side, costing only three silver.

Nie Yan spent twenty-four silver to purchase eight Strength Gems. Afterwards, he headed over to a Jewelsmith and socketed two gems each into his gloves, shoulder guards, leg guards, and leather chest-armour.

After spending close to fifty silver, his Strength had finally reached 130. Having finished this long and arduous journey, he attained a level of Strength that was hard if not impossible to reach for an average Thief of his level.

And so, Nie Yan was able to equip Sulgata’s Boots without any problems. Thanks to this amazing piece of equipment, his stats were greatly increased once more. Not to mention, with the Shadow Dance skill, his ability to survive was enormously improved.

Sulgata's Boots (Legendary)

Requirement: 130 Strength

Description: A fragment of Sulgata's Shadow that had been broken into 3 pieces. These boots have remnant magical power and thus can still be equipped. The player must seek out the other fragments, as all three, Sulgata's Boots, Sulgata's Feather, and Sulgata's Cloth, are required to restore Sulgata's Shadow.

Properties: Dexterity +30, Speed +10, Jump +10, Stealth +10, Cloaking +10, Reflex +10

Steal (Rank 3): Allows the player to steal money or items from other players or monsters

Shadow Dance (Rank 3): Stealth +30, Cloaking +30, Speed +30. Cannot be detected through stealth for 6s upon activation. Afterwards, stealth has a chance of being seen through.

He happily admired the boots on his feet. With their sleek design and the elegant yet unassuming runes etched into them, they emitted a beautiful glow that didn’t appear too ostentatious, further adding to the mysteriousness of this fragmented Legendary-grade item.

Afterwards, he turned off the visual effects and began strutting around as he broke them in, feeling extremely satisfied while doing so.

A Level 10 Thief wearing such good equipment… from an ordinary player’s perspective, this was an unimaginable occurrence.

"Sigh, how long will it be till I can wear a complete Legendary-grade item? Now that would be really awesome…” Nie Yan muttered under his breath. However, Legendary-grade items were simply too rare and unimaginably difficult to obtain. In his past life, around when he was Level 120, Conviction’s game developers had released some statistics. In all of Atlanta, there was a total of over fifty thousand pieces of Legendary-grade equipment scattered across the continent. In the Viridian Empire, there existed roughly ten thousand. Yet the number that fell into players’ hands didn’t exceed twenty. Many players owned fragments, but very few were able to collect all of the pieces to make a whole. As for the so-called godly equipment that players liked to brag about, they were no more than Sub-Legendary or fragments of a larger whole.

Nie Yan walked toward the eastern district to check up on his potion shop since he was unaware of how the situation had developed over the past several days.

A few minutes later, he arrived at the shop where he occasionally saw one or two players walk in and out. All of them wore relatively good equipment. Presumably, they were errand runners belonging to the major guilds.

"Welcome back, Milord!” Insei Rais hastily greeted after noticing his arrival.

Nie Yan slightly nodded in reply before reviewing the shop’s earnings: twenty-eight gold. Following the opening of the new dungeon, the major guilds would shift their attentions away from Sosil Valley, meaning the demand for Black Phenol would gradually diminish. At that point, he would sell for whatever he could get. Thus, it was imperative that he emptied his stock as quickly as possible.

"Milord, yesterday and the day before, Mr. Quiet Nannan, Mr. Still Grieving, and many others who saw your hiring sign came inquiring about your presence, but I was unable to reach you.” Insei Rais handed over a large list of names containing in the excess of sixty to seventy individuals. They were all Alchemists that had come to apply for the advertised position.

Even though the Starry Night Potion Shop only sold one type of product and had just opened, the Black Phenol stir had left many players shaken and wondering about the connections and financial resources of the shop owner. So when this mysterious figure began hiring, many Alchemists flocked over in the hopes of gaining benefits.

I didn’t think there would be so many people. Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel a little shaken as he skimmed through the list of names.

Name: Still Grieving

Occupation: Junior Alchemist

Name: Quiet Nannan

Occupation: Junior Alchemist

…

After going through all of them, he counted sixty-seven individuals. Surprisingly, there were twelve who were already Junior Alchemists. Among them, he found several familiar names that were fairly famous in his past life, such as Quiet Nannan and Still Grieving whom’s net worths were over one hundred million. Although they weren’t as famous as say someone like Bird Leaves No Eggs, they were still top figures in the Alchemist circle. Since the game had only recently opened, they likely hadn’t found masters yet… As for the others on the list, they were also notable Alchemists that had no lack of fame.

If he personally interviewed these Alchemists, then naturally his connection to the Starry Night Potion Shop would be exposed. Among the potential hires, there were certainly a few who came harboring hidden motives. However, if he insisted on hiding his identity, he wouldn’t be able to get any business done. After pondering for a moment, he called Bird over to the shop. Out of the people by his side, Bird could at least be considered trustworthy, so having him manage the shop shouldn’t pose any problems. By placing him in the foreground, he would still be able to act from behind the scenes as the mysterious shop owner.

Nie Yan rejected the applicants who didn’t have a good reputation in his previous lifetime before sending a message to the rest, telling them to come over to the Starry Night Potion Shop for an interview.

Altogether, ten Junior Alchemists and twenty-six Apprentice Alchemists received a request to be interviewed. Even if he were restricted to only employing half of them, that would still be good enough.

As for Quiet Nannan and Still Grieving, who were famous Alchemists in his past life, he would spare no expense in hiring them!

Nie Yan went into deep thought. If he were to spend five gold, he would be able to upgrade the shop from tier one to tier two. The benefits received from this included increased floorspace and a second-story expansion, which he had already set out plans for. On that floor, the hired Alchemists would each receive their own personal workshop. Furthermore, they would be barred from carrying any of the shop’s medicinal ingredients outside, making for easy supervision while preventing people from stuffing their own pockets.

In this fashion, even if he invited a few unscrupulous individuals, he would have nothing to fear.

He eventually came to a decision. If he seized the moment by developing the shop right now, it would eventually become a golden goose that would provide him with a steady source of income. Besides, from his perspective, five gold was an investment he was willing to undertake.

「System: Are you certain you wish to upgrade Starry Night Potion Shop to a Tier 2 Shop? The upgrade will cost 5 gold.」

Yes!

The Starry Night Potion Shop transformed into a structure of even greater splendor, appearing all the more conspicuous in this slum of short, run-down buildings. Presently, in the entirety of Calore, no other such shop existed!

Chapter 124 – Business

Now a two-story building that towered over its surroundings, the Starry Night Potion Shop gained an exterior constructed entirely out of white stone. Radiating a dazzling brilliance, the shop was breathtaking to behold. With intricate, beautiful designs carved into each pillar and crossbeam, they left any who gazed upon them in a state of reverie. Even the interior of the shop received a makeover, as the furnishings and containers appeared ever tidy and pleasant to the eye.

Shortly after being summoned, Bird entered the shop through the doorway.

"Boss, I’m here!” Bird called out as he staggered into the shop and glanced around, seemingly lost in admiration. It really is a Tier 2 shop! I wonder who the owner is, he couldn’t help but inwardly exclaim.

"Mhmm… Good, I have a little task for you,” Nie Yan acknowledged, then continued, "Starting from today, I’ll be leaving you in charge of this potion shop, at least for now… and I’ll assign you with a few tasks. As for benefits, if the shop does well, you’ll receive a bonus at the end of each month. Naturally, I won’t overload you with work. After all, your main goal should still be improving as an Alchemist since according to basic convention, you’ll only start getting a salary when you become a Junior Alchemist.”

"W-wait, you’re the one who opened this shop!?” Bird emotionally exclaimed. He knew Nie Yan was wealthy, but he never expected him to be this wealthy. He heard from others that buying up a plot of land took at least one gold, opening a shop required two gold, and upgrading one cost upwards of five! Such exorbitant prices would leave the vast majority of players overwhelmed, wallowing in despair at their own inability. As for him, the prospect of opening up a shop was similar to staring at the clouds on the horizon, beautiful but perhaps eternally out of reach.

However, even though he was only acting as the shop manager, being entrusted with such a responsibility left him feeling touched and filled him with great satisfaction.

"Of course I’m the one who opened it. Why else would I ask you to be the manager? Anyway, let’s get down to business. In a little while, a batch of potential hires will be arriving through these doors for an interview. For now, I don’t want to reveal myself, so I want you to hire them in my place. As for the relevant arrangements and information, I’ll send them over to you in a bit.”

"I understand.” Bird simply nodded his head.

In that respect, Bird could be considered quick-witted, almost immediately understanding the underlying meaning of these words. For some reason or another, Nie Yan didn’t wish for his identity as the shop owner to be known to the public. As for the exact reason why, he didn’t dare to ask.

"Good, since you seem to understand, let’s move on to explaining your job. The NPC over there is Insei Rais. He’s the salesclerk of this shop on the first floor, while the second floor is a workshop for the Alchemists. For you to be able to do your job, I’ll allow you the privilege of withdrawing a portion of the shop’s money from him. Use it to buy alchemy ingredients so the workshop upstairs is always fully stocked. At the end of each day, bring everything that was produced over to him, because he’ll be in charge of selling them. As for setting the prices, you can ask me. Finally, there’s one more slightly inconvenient task I need to ask of you. Give me a report of the shop’s income and expenses at the end of each week. Since the system automatically calculates that for you, it shouldn’t eat up too much of your time,” Nie Yan instructed. Whenever something came to mind, he would supplement with further detail on the spot.

As Nie Yan spoke, Bird quickly noted down his words lest he forget, though it seemed his daily workload wasn’t going to be all that much. As long as he properly managed the shop, everything would be fine.

Nie Yan thought, If it’s like this, then even if I don’t personally manage the shop, it should still be able to operate smoothly under the procedures I’ve set. Plus, there shouldn’t be any flaws in these policies either.

Suddenly, he spotted a hesitant look in Bird’s eyes, as if he wished to say something yet didn’t dare to.

"What? If you have something to say, just say it,” Nie Yan said as he glanced at Bird.

"Boss, it’s like this… With so many people applying, many of them already being Junior Alchemists, why did you pick me?” Bird hesitated for a moment before finally asking the question that was brewing in his heart. If he hadn’t, it would have kept gnawing away at the back of his mind.

Nie Yan chuckled in response, then said, "It’s simply because I felt you were more deserving of trust than others, that’s all.”

"Trust, huh…” Bird took a deep breath. It had been a long time since he last heard anyone say that to him. When he was at his lowest, even the dogs would avoid him. When he chose the name Bird Leaves No Eggs, he did so as a subtle jab at himself. However, since then, he had staggered along and crawled to his current position. If he were to turn timid or afraid now, then he would be no more than a useless scoundrel! Especially in a time where no one believed him, having even a single individual put faith in him meant that much more. "Thank you,” Bird said from the bottom of his heart.

Nie Yan simply smiled. After explaining the matters regarding managing the shop, he continued, "There are two Alchemists you should be especially mindful of. The first is Quiet Nannan while the other is Still Grieving. Listen carefully to their conditions for employment, then inform me of them.” With those two, as long as they didn’t go overboard with conditions, he would happily employ them.

"Alright, I understand!” Bird nodded his head, though he felt a bit of unease creep into his heart. After all, these two were Junior Alchemists while he was but a mere Apprentice Alchemist with a below average concocting success rate. It was no wonder he was feeling slightly pressured.

Bird had yet to fully embark on the path that would lead to him becoming the Alchemy King. So at present, he was no different from an ordinary Apprentice Alchemist.

"How long will it take you to become a Junior Alchemist?” Nie Yan asked.

"I think… another three or four days at least.”

Nie Yan nodded, then said, "Hurry up and practice. Here, this is a Junior Magic Resonance Potion Recipe. When Quiet Nannan and Still Grieving join, give it to one of them and have them start production immediately. These potions should fetch a decent price in the current market.”

"Right, I’ll pick the one with the higher production rate,” Bird responded, although he couldn’t help but feel dejected. If he were already a Junior Alchemist, then Nie Yan wouldn’t feel the need to hand over such a valuable recipe to others. However, he wasn’t a narrow-minded person. He understood that he had to rely on his own ability if he wished to accomplish anything. If he wasn’t up to the task, then it was only natural for Nie Yan to pass it on to someone who was.

The relationship between a contracted Alchemist and the employer was roughly the same as a mutual collaboration. By providing them with alchemy ingredients and recipes, as well as being in charge of selling their concoctions, the employer would receive a majority of the profits while the Alchemist would receive a base wage and a smaller share. If the Alchemist received a lucrative recipe from the employer, meaning the concoctions they created sold well, then they too would be able to bask in the profits. However, if the employer provided a recipe that wasn’t profitable, then both parties wouldn’t earn much.

"Don’t worry, there’ll be better recipes in the future. I have a few Anti-Petrify Potion Recipes with me. Hand one to each of the Junior Alchemists and tell them to focus their production on these. I’ve also stocked the workshop upstairs with various kinds of alchemy ingredients, seven thousand portions to be precise. Two thousand of them are for Anti-Petrify Potions,” Nie Yan said. After so many visits to the auction house, he had already amassed a large quantity of potions, recipes, and the various ingredients required to create it. He also acquired over eighty pieces of equipment with Resist Petrify +7 or higher. He purchased most of them for under thirty copper while buying the ones with better properties for fifty copper at most.

Unlike Anti-Petrify Potions, the demand for Black Phenol would slowly dwindle over time because, aside from the Werewolves in Sosil Valley, there weren’t many other places that had monsters with fear toxin. As for Anti-Petrify Potions, they would be useful for quite a long time even after the hype around Medusa’s Lair died down. Therefore, their price would always remain stable.

Although Nie Yan had purchased a large quantity of Anti-Petrify Potions, the amount being poured into the marketplace was simply too much. Even though he would still have an influence on the market, causing the price of Anti-Petrify Potions to rise, he wouldn’t be able to hold a monopoly over the market like he did with Black Phenol. Nonetheless, the price of Anti-Petrify Potions would still rise by at least five times. A 400% return on investment was enough to make most people go wild with joy.

Medusa’s Lair was known as one of the harder and more profitable dungeons. Hence, the teams that were able to run it were also ones that could afford the related expenses.

The most valuable was still the equipment with Resist Petrify. Although the Gorgons didn’t particularly have high attack, their Petrify ability was extremely difficult to deal with. If the player continuously used Anti-Petrify Potions to remove the status effect, then the number of potions consumed in a day would be staggering. However, if the player’s Resist Petrify stat was 14 or higher, then there was basically no need to fear being petrified.

If three or more frontliners were outfitted with Resist Petrify gear, a team would be able to save at least twenty silver after running Medusa’s Lair for a day. However, frontliners couldn’t wear too many pieces of equipment with low defensive stats. Optimally, they would only have one or two. Otherwise, if it were three or more, the decline in survivability would completely tank and the team could easily be wiped. As a result of this, the value of equipment with Resist Petrify +7 or higher became that much more apparent. A single piece of such equipment, no matter how lacking it was in other categories, would sell for at least ten silver. And just like that, he would be able to make a profit of at least eight gold or more.

After settling the matters regarding the potion shop, when Nie Yan was just about to leave, a twenty-six-year-old man in an ash-gray robe walked into the building. He glanced at both Nie Yan and Bird before his gaze finally rested on Nie Yan’s body.

"Excuse me, do you two know if the shop owner is here?” the player asked. From his perspective, between Bird, an Apprentice Alchemist, and Nie Yan, the latter looked more likely to be the owner.

As Bird’s gaze fell on the player’s neck, he noticed the collar of his robe was embroidered with a flower design using silver silk. A hint of envy flashed through his eyes. It was exactly this silver flower design that represented a dream that he had yet to achieve. It signified the honour of a Junior Alchemist!

Nie Yan shot a glance at Bird from the corner of his eye. Finally, Bird walked up to greet the player.

"I’m the owner of this shop. Do you have any business here?” Bird answered. He didn’t seem the least bit hesitant or lacking in confidence. In fact, he actually somewhat possessed the airs of an owner.

"Ah, I see. My name is Quiet Nannan. I heard you were hiring Alchemists,” the player responded. When he heard Bird announce himself as the shop owner, he was truly quite taken aback. However, on second thought, it did make some sense. The genuinely wealthy players often wore plain and simple clothing.

"With so many major guilds recruiting, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding work as a Junior Alchemist. So why did you come here and apply to my establishment instead of working for those major guilds?” Bird answered back with a question as he stared fixedly at Quiet Nannan.

Hoh… Nie Yan lightly nodded his head in approval. Earlier, he had informed Bird that he didn’t want players with hidden motives joining his shop. It seemed Bird was quite prudent and knew exactly what sort of questions to ask.

Chapter 125 – City Of Jadeite, Hilderlocke

"Yikes, I’ve barely stepped foot through the door, yet you’re already throwing me curveballs! Hmm, let’s see… Of course there’s no point in joining a weak guild. That’s why I’ve been searching for a strong backer this whole time. When I found out about this shop, I was almost certain that it had a strong backer acting from behind the scenes, but I didn’t know exactly who. Perhaps a financial group or a major guild? I’m not sure which, but I’m certain it’s an entity with a terrifying amount of resources. It hasn’t been long since the servers opened, but you’ve already got a shop opened when even the major guilds don’t. That’s why I’m applying here, to see if my intuition was correct,” Quiet Nannan responded in a frank and very direct manner. He felt using flowery words to praise and flatter would have sounded insincere, so he chose to go with a more direct approach.

How many days had passed since the game’s release, probably half a month at most? Yet a Tier 2 shop had already sprung up in this region of the city. Even if it was located in the slums, how could such an event go unnoticed?

Bird nodded his head in approval, then said, "We offer a 10% cut to contracted Alchemists at your rank. Are you still willing to join?”

"So low? The other guilds offered at least 20% plus a base salary.” Quiet Nannan furrowed his brows. This offer was simply too stingy. He’d be much better off joining a small guild.

Even Nie Yan couldn’t help but be taken by surprise when he heard Bird’s offer. He had given Bird full authority in hiring Alchemists. As long as the cut was 30% or lower, Bird had full power in making the decision. Plus, for players like Quiet Nannan and Still Grieving, he was even allowed to offer a few additional benefits as incentives to get them to join. Never did he expect that Bird would open with such a low offer. Just what would he do to convince these Alchemists to stay? Nonetheless, Nie Yan held the firm belief of not suspecting those he employed and not employing those he felt were suspect. As such, he planned to stick through and observe how this scene would unfold.

Bird replied to Quiet Nannan in a calm and collected manner. "We don’t offer a base salary here because such a thing is negligible. What we do offer though is an inexhaustible supply of alchemy ingredients and a lucrative platform to sell your concoctions on. If you want to earn big, the floor above has just what you need: ingredients—enough to keep you busy from morning to sundown. Moreover, we have enough personal workshops to provide one to each new hire. To add to that, we’re also planning on expanding rapidly, Tier 3, Tier 4, Tier 5… Nothing is out of our reach. Alchemists will be flocking to our doorsteps every single day. We’ll become the largest potion shop in all of Calore. Hence, only after you’ve proven yourself, by making this establishment a decent profit, will we even consider raising your share up from 10%.”

Listening to Bird boast so wildly, Nie Yan was left speechless as he broke into a wry smile. Still, this method was indeed suitable. Since human nature was so fickle, if an offer was too generous, then the other party might not show a sense of appreciation, as they might feel such treatment was naturally deserved. With Bird’s method, however, not only was it persuasive, but he would also be able to secure their loyalty if he provided them with sufficient benefits in the future.

Seeing this performance, any prior misgivings that Nie Yan held were completely swept away. Bird had shown that he was fully up to the task. Even if he didn’t find success as an Alchemist, perhaps he would do quite well in management.

Perseverance, patience, and a focus on excellent character was the prerequisite for success. If someone possessed all of these traits, as long as they were provided with a good environment to grow, they would definitely flourish. As for those who had these traits yet didn’t succeed, it wasn’t because they lacked the ability but because they lacked a good platform to support their growth instead. So, as long as Nie Yan set up a decent stage, it was still possible for him to unearth many outstanding talents.

Therefore, if he wished to seek out good seedlings, he couldn’t only base his judgement off of those who had succeeded in his past life. Of course, those famous existences were much easier to find. Looking at it from this point of view, if they were readily available, then what reason did he have to ignore them?

Quiet Nannan contemplated for a brief moment before replying, "Can I take a look at the second floor?”

Bird covertly shot a glance at Nie Yan from the corner of his eye. Seeing the slight nod of approval, he said, "No problem, follow me.”

As the two began walking upstairs, Nie Yan sent Bird a whisper.「I’ll be taking my leave. The shop is in your hands. Just like you said earlier, we’ll be constantly expanding and recruiting more and more Alchemists. Several dozen is too few, and several hundreds won’t be enough either.」

「I understand, boss. Rest assured, you’re leaving the shop’s matters in good hands.」

Nie Yan possessed sufficient capital to invest. As for the question of whether a concoction would sell well in the future or if it would spike in value, he would always be able to put out an accurate judgement. Under his guidance, there would be absolutely no problems in the future business of the Starry Night Potion Shop.

Not only that, but he wished for the Starry Night Potion Shop to transform into a behemoth that all future Alchemists would aspire to work at!

Aside from purchasing from the auction house, he still required another stable source of alchemy ingredients and recipes. Otherwise, the shop would be completely subject to the fluctuation of the market. If an entity capable of rivaling the shop were to arise in the future, then the Starry Night Potion Shop’s inability to adapt would really start to show.

While pondering over this problem, Sleepy Fox popped into his mind. If he had Holy Empire as a supplier, then he would no longer need to worry about finding a steady source of alchemy ingredients and recipes. What’s more, he would also be able to secure a collaboration pact and gradually make their interests coincide.

At that time, it was only because Cao Xu held control over Victorious Return and four other guilds that he was able to secure his powerful position. If Nie Yan wished to gain a foothold, then he couldn’t rely solely on himself. However, at the same time, he couldn’t be entirely reliant on others!

Since he had returned to the past, every step that he took forward was incredibly firm. His strength, both personal and financial, was constantly growing. Even so, he was still well aware that his time was limited. When the game began merging with the real world economy, he would have no choice but to face up against numerous enemies. The path he would walk in the future was going to be incredibly rocky.

He had always felt a sense of urgency at the back of his mind, and it would only be pacified if he put in his greatest effort.

After withdrawing twenty-five gold from the shop, Nie Yan walked out and headed for the auction house to acquire more Anti-Petrify related items. While here, he also purchased a large quantity of recipes, ingredients, and other items that might rise in value in the future. He sent all the alchemy related items to the potion shop and deposited the equipment.

As soon as he finished his business in the auction house, Nie Yan checked his personal storage. Inside, items of all shapes and sizes were tightly packed together. In total, the value of everything inside his storage was roughly nine gold, and it was expected to rise by a significant margin in the future.

Even with everything settled, he still had sixteen gold remaining in his pockets. He headed over to the transfer point area to proceed with the next phase of his plan.

「System: Are you certain you wish to teleport to City of Jadeite, Hilderlocke. The cost of teleporting to another city is 1 gold.」

The transfer fee was this high because there was a considerable travel distance between the two cities. This was also why there tended to be less travel to other cities.

Yes!

A few seconds later, a fascinating city, one that seemed to come out of a dream, emerged before Nie Yan’s eyes.

As a matter of fact, this city was erected right in the center of a forest. Numerous tall trees towered high into the sky, covering the entire city in their shade. The forest’s emerald green washed over the city’s pure white buildings, creating a breathtaking and harmonious spectacle. This, when combined with the mottled sunlight that shone down from the canopy above, made for a matchless scene of beauty.

Although there was a constant flow of players walking down the street, the bustle and liveliness here was much less than in Calore.

Hilderlocke was one of six major cities in the Viridian Empire. The real-estate here had the highest potential to rise in value because there were more high-level maps around the city. As such, the popularity of this place would progressively rise in the future. At the same time, Hilderlocke had the fewest properties for sale. In total, there were only about a dozen or so plots listed. At present, there wasn’t much attention on the city, but in the future, the land would become extremely expensive. The prosperous commerce in this city simply couldn’t be compared with Calore’s, but the prices were excessive beyond reason, at least several dozen times more expensive.

Nie Yan was currently eyeing the potential of the real-estate market here, which was his reason for coming. He definitely had to buy the most valuable property with the highest potential to appreciate. Only then would he get the most value out of his investment.

He headed for the administrator’s office located at the heart of the city. Upon arriving, he was greeted by the sight of a magnificent crystal palace flanked by courtyards on both sides. Each courtyard contained a fountain and a lush garden where various kinds of exceptionally beautiful flowers grew—all seemingly struggling over each other to stand out more.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Administrator Kallan.”

He was Hilderlocke’s administrator, a slightly obese, middle-aged man with a robust stature and an amicable expression.

"Greetings, adventurer from Calore. You’ve come a long way. How may I help you?”

"I’d like to purchase some property in Hilderlocke.”

"I see. Then please follow me.” Administrator Kallan led Nie Yan inside.

After entering the office, he was presented with a holographic model of the city which listed all available properties.

"We have a total of twelve properties listed for sale distributed here, here, and furthermore, here… We offer excellent quality service to those who would like to do business in Hilderlocke. Not to mention, we also have laws to protect your interests. However, since you’re not from this city, we have a regulation that you must follow. If a resident from another city wishes to purchase a piece of property here, they will need to pay an additional 60% in fees. When reselling a property, there is also an additional exorbitant transfer fee,” Administrator Kallan explained.

Nie Yan examined the twelve properties. The cheapest was two gold, but since he wasn’t a resident of the city, it would cost 60% more. It would be best if he found a resident to help him purchase property in his place, but unfortunately, he didn’t have a trustworthy contact here.

He glanced over the model of the city and quickly found the property he wished to purchase. It was located in an intersection by the southern gate of the city. The price was about eight gold, and it was a considerably large property, perfect for a large auction house. Even if he had to pay 60% more, it would still be well worth the purchase.

In the future, the southern part of Hilderlocke would become its most bustling area. This was because players would have to pass through this city to reach many of the soon to be major dungeons such as City of Gold. Not only that, but the southern gate was also to become a hot spot for players forming teams to run nearby dungeons. One could well imagine the potential for development in the future.

"I want to purchase this property,” Nie Yan said as he pointed at the property near the southern gate.

"The price of this property is eight gold. Since you’re not a resident of the city, the total will come to twelve gold and eighty silver.”

After paying the money, he received the title deed for the property from Administrator Kallan without any problems. With this piece of paper in his hand, he suddenly felt much more confident. As someone who experienced firsthand what it was like to be miserable and destitute, he understood that owning a piece of property was the best form of reassurance.

Chapter 126 – Battle Crazed Alliance

The true worth of the property would only manifest itself in the future. So long as it was left there, its value would rise astronomically with each passing day.

Going off whatever funds were remaining, the number of things Nie Yan could purchase became severely restricted. Now, even buying one or two plots would place him in dire straits. As such, his goal was not to buy up whatever he could but rather to attempt to gather as much money as possible. After all, a single person was limited in what they were capable of. He could accomplish only so much by relying solely on himself.

"Hilderlocke is a beautiful city, and its residents are kind and friendly. On behalf of the city, I’d like to extend my warmest greetings. Feel free to come here if you wish to purchase more properties, and I sincerely hope you have a pleasant time during your stay,” Administrator Kallan said. He smiled in a heartfelt manner and appeared rather affable.

Nie Yan’s eyebrows raised as Kallan’s words suddenly reminded him of a certain piece of information. According to rumours, the administrator of Hilderlocke was the most good-natured out of all the administrators in the empire. What he loved the most was to hear players praise his city.

"I love Hilderlocke. It truly is the most beautiful city I’ve been to. I would even go as far as to say that it’s the most brilliant jewel of the empire…” Nie Yan was by no means stingy with his praise as he glorified the city to no end, so much so that he was inwardly cringing at the words coming out of his mouth.

Nonetheless, Administrator Kallan seemed very enthused. As his eyes curved into crescents, his gaze became all the more friendly.

「System: You have received a favourable impression from Administrator Kallan. Your Influence in Hilderlocke has increased by 7.」

Nie Yan never expected a few lines of flattery to produce such a result. He had actually obtained seven points of Influence!

"Hilderlocke is indeed a beautiful place. This fact is undisputed. Let me tell you the story of how it came to be known as the City of Jadeite…” Administrator Kallan grabbed a hold of Nie Yan’s hand and took advantage of the opportunity to tell him a few entertaining anecdotes. In the beginning, Nie Yan was only playing along, but then, as he listened more and more to the content of these stories, he became increasingly shocked.

Kallan told him about a golden city located south of Hilderlocke. Although its fame spread far and wide across the continent, what very few people knew was that in the sea to the east of Hilderlocke, there was a golden island. This zone was restricted to players above Level 60, and it produced all sorts of precious gems in abundance. Reportedly, it was also the last known location of where the Legendary-grade weapon, Staff of the Adjudicator, was spotted.

Kallan also spoke of a mysterious Master Blacksmith named Krusch, who took up residence in the northern district of the city. On Mondays and Wednesdays, he would put a selection of magical equipment up for sale. With Administrator Kallan’s introduction, he would be able to go over and take a look. Naturally, Kallan also informed him of the coordinates to this place. If he was lucky, then he might even be able to snag one or two pieces of top-quality equipment!

Apart from this, Kallan also informed him of several locations he could visit to purchase uncommon low and intermediate level items. Nie Yan felt he had scored big time as he soaked in all of this valuable information.

Suddenly, in the middle of their conversation, he picked up the sound of someone entering the building. He raised his head and saw a Berserker heading toward them.

He was wearing a full set of dark golden plate armour etched with pitch-black grooves and studded with metal sawtooth spikes. With a massive two-handed sword strapped to his back, he made his way across the crystal floor. Every step he took made his armour shake with a rhythmic beat. For all intents and purposes, this man was armed to the teeth, and with his tall stature and heavy armour, he radiated a powerful and domineering aura.

The Berserker revealed a hint of shock when he spotted Nie Yan. After pausing momentarily, he walked straight over to them.

The Metal Storm Set, presently the best set for Berserkers! Nie Yan’s eyes narrowed as he activated Transcendent Insight to examine the other party.

He took it out to examine.

Kill Love: Level 11

Profession: Berserker

With such good equipment, there was no way he would believe the other party was some sort of no-name, run-of-the-mill player, but never in his wildest dreams did he expect it to actually be him!

Kill Love was the leader of Hilderlocke’s number one guild, Battle Crazed Alliance. During the peak of their power, they reportedly occupied five of the six strongholds in Hilderlocke. He was fully deserving of his title as one of Hilderlocke’s overlords because, in the entire Viridian Empire, his strength was ranked in the top five. It was only after a certain incident occurred that he withdrew himself from the power struggle. Apart from his resounding title in the game, as the owner of the Battle Crazed gaming organization, he was a famous figure in reality as well. At present, he was ranked fifth on the leaderboards for Berserkers, and it seemed he was only going to keep rising.

In the previous timeline, Kill Love was an influential figure that Nie Yan had no hopes of interacting with. If he were to sign up for the leaderboards, he would probably be ranked in the top two hundred at best. He had only been a step away from advancing to a Shadow Dancer, but who knows how many valiant adventurers before him had failed while taking that final step? In contrast, Kill Love was ranked as one of the top three Berserkers. Never once had he fallen lower, and in his prime, he had held the number one position for over an entire year.

It was his influence that had helped Hilderlocke become so incomparably splendid.

The gaming organization known as Battle Crazed was always very powerful with six players in the top thirty of their respective class. With unshakable dominance and a reputation for battle, they used their guild to sweep across all of Hilderlocke. Later on, they were even able to secure two strongholds in Moonlight City.

When Victorious Return began their quest to take over the continent, Battle Crazed Alliance had single-handedly resisted a combined assault from Victorious Return and Bloodlust Blades, causing them to suffer disastrous losses. With less than a hundred thousand members, they had beaten back the combined forces of Victorious Return and Bloodlust Blades which totalled six hundred thousand players. For a short time, they were completely unrivalled, but under the influence of Cao Xu’s meddling, they slowly began collapsing from within. Very quickly, close to twenty key players left the gaming organization, leaving Kill Love and his Battle Crazed Alliance to face their eventual defeat. After that, many players began leaving the guild until only a little over half of the members remained.

However, Kill Love and these sixty thousand remaining members firmly held onto their last stronghold in Hilderlocke. Even while being besieged by over three hundred thousand enemies, they remained unyielding and endured the assault, beating back the forces of Victorious Return and Bloodlust Blades countless times over. In the end, after being unable to make any progress, the two guilds ceased their assault and withdrew.

With his unshakable willpower and determination, he succeeded in creating a legend out of his name.

Although Battle Crazed Alliance only had sixty thousand players remaining, those members were unified and held a deep, unwavering loyalty toward the guild akin to a kind of firm and deep-rooted belief. As for those deserters, whenever the guild was mentioned, they would all feel deeply ashamed. When they should have been fighting with their comrades on the stronghold walls, they had instead abandoned them and ran way. Compared to those members who had stuck with the guild to the very end, they were seen as nothing more than despicable traitors and cowardly trash.

Fighting together against a powerful enemy, living and dying together, this was true camaraderie!

Nie Yan deeply admired this type of sentiment, so toward Kill Love, he felt nothing but respect.

"Nice to meet you. I’m Kill Love,” the man smiled and said in a forthright manner, pulling Nie Yan out of his reminiscing. His bearing and manner of speech made it very difficult for others to associate him with the violence loving guild leader of Battle Crazed Alliance.

"Hi, I’m Nirvana Flame.” Nie Yan nodded his head in acknowledgment. An enemy of his enemy was a friend. In his past life, Kill Love definitely wouldn’t have had a battle to the death with Victorious Return and Bloodlust Blades for no reason. There was probably some previous conflict that carried over from another game.

"We haven’t met before, have we?” Kill Love asked. He would recognize any player in Hiderlocke so long as they held even a little fame. Even if he hadn’t met them yet, he would have at least heard of their name. Hence, Nie Yan’s unfamiliar appearance and name filled him with curiosity.

"That’s correct. I came here all the way from Calore,” Nie Yan responded. He didn’t feel the need to conceal this information. Besides, with a little digging, Kill Love would have eventually found out anyway.

"Oh, Calore? Quite a few big guilds are based there, right?” Kill Love said. Although Hilderlocke was one of the six major cities, compared to Calore, it could only be considered a small city or big town. "You don’t seem to be part of any guild.”

"I’m a solo player. So… no, I’m not part of a guild.”

"You bought that plot of land over there…?” Kill Love asked in a surprised tone. He pointed at the southern part of the model. While walking over, he had happened to spot the model of the city through the office door.

"Yes.”

"I’ve actually had my eye on that property for quite some time now. It was really hard for me to scrape together all the funds to afford it. Who knew that by the time I arrived, it would have already been bought by someone else. You have pretty good foresight,” Kill Love said with a wry smile. One must know, he had spent three entire days scrounging for enough money to buy that property.

"Ah, what are the chances…”

"Haha, it’s nothing. I’ll just buy a different plot of land,” Kill Love said while waving his hand, choosing to drop the matter entirely. In that respect, he could be considered quite magnanimous.

"Excuse me, may I ask which property you would like to purchase?” Administrator Kallan smiled at Kill Love and asked.

"This one should be fine.” Kill Love walked up to the model and pointed at a plot of land after which he and Administrator Kallan completed the transaction. Even though the property he selected was a bit lacking compared to Nie Yan’s, it was still in a prime location that would tremendously appreciate in value over time. Evidently, Kill Love had a very good eye for real-estate. His high rank signified that he was quite proficient in the game. His strategic foresight probably didn’t lose out to Nie Yan’s by much.

Encountering Kill Love this time around gave Nie Yan a wake-up call of sorts. Amazing players were everywhere in the game. If he had been a little bit later, the property he was eyeing would have been bought up by Kill Love instead. Moreover, since Kill Love was making a move, this meant the other guild leaders were probably beginning to purchase land as well. As these notable figures made their moves, the properties would be eaten up at a frightening pace. If he didn’t hurry and secure a few more properties for himself, then he would very likely lose the chance in the near future.

"How about we add each other as friends? Another ally means another path. Also, are you interested in joining my guild? Considering your financial resources, it would be very beneficial if the both of us were to join forces. At least in Hilderlocke, there won’t be any guild that will be able to oppose us,” Kill Love said. This was his true objective. Although Nie Yan’s background was a mystery, he was a lone player who was able to afford a sum unimaginable to the vast majority of the playerbase. This in itself was worthy of paying attention to.

"Adding each other as friends is fine, but I’m a player who enjoys freedom. I’m not used to being tied down by a guild.” Nie Yan tactfully declined his invitation.

"No problem, I understand,” Kill Love replied. He didn’t have high hopes in the first place. However, making a new contact wasn’t too bad either. Since Nie Yan purchased a property in Hilderlocke, they were almost certain to interact quite frequently with each other in the future. Whether they ended up as friends or enemies, it was better to know a little more about the other party first. After all, know thyself, know thy enemy. That was the only way to emerge victorious in any battle.

「System: Kill Love has sent you a friend request. Do you wish to accept?」

Yes!

「System: You have added Kill Love as a friend.」

Nie Yan only had one thought in his mind when he added Kill Love. Although the two parties weren’t in conflict with each other for the time being, if there ever came a day when Battle Crazed Alliance decided to take up arms against Victorious Return, then Kill Love would become a potential ally he would try to win over.

Chapter 127 – Krusch’s Scam

"Hey, I don’t know when you plan to start developing your property in Hilderlocke but I’m hoping when that time comes, we can meet as friends rather than enemies.”

Kill Love noted down the name Nirvana Flame in his mind. He planned to do a little investigating on this new friend of his from Calore and find out what powers he was affiliated with. If Nie Yan was an enemy, then he would abandon all pretense at politeness and do everything in his power to prevent him from establishing a presence here. For instance, if Nie Yan only planned to resell the property once it appreciated in value, then he would have nothing to say nor would he interfere. However, if Nie Yan wished to open up a business, he would guarantee that establishment would receive no customers. A strong dragon would not be able to suppress a snake in its burrow. Even if Nie Yan was a powerful and ferocious dragon, Kill Love had nothing to fear because Hilderlocke was his home turf.

Nie Yan understood that every city had its big shots, and without the appropriate strength or backing, it would be nearly impossible for him to gain any influence. He would find it very difficult to do business here if Kill Love were to become his enemy. However, since it was only a single plot of land, even if he didn’t start a business, he would at least be able to make a fruitful return on his investment when the property’s value appreciated in the future.

"I also hope we don’t become enemies.” Nie Yan faintly smiled. Although he and Kill Love had no reason to come into conflict nor were they likely to become enemies, no one knew for certain what fate would have in store for them.

"I still need to bring my team for a dungeon run, so let’s chat again some other time. Hopefully our next conversation can be as friendly as this one.” Kill Love wasn’t willing to forge any sort of deep friendship. After all, if they were to get along now but became enemies in the future, it would complicate matters more than necessary.

"Alright, I’ll see you later.”

A thought popped into Nie Yan’s mind as he gazed at Kill Love’s departing figure. Perhaps I should stroll around Hilderlocke first, maybe visit that Master Blacksmith Krusch and see if there’s any good gear I can buy. Then, I should probably go off and level again. He had spent more than two days exploring Hems. Given the levelling speed in Sosil Valley, those elites probably rose quite a bit in level as well.

There’s already a player with the Metal Storm Set… It seems my actions so far still aren’t enough. I’m still too slow… The Metal Storm Set wasn’t actually just one set but rather a line of Warrior equipment sets that shared the same label. They were the Iron Storm Set, Black Iron Storm Set, Gold Storm Set, Black Gold Storm Set, Lumidium Storm Set, and Black Lumidium Storm Set. Each of these sets had Strength prerequisites, and the lowest ranked, the Iron Storm Set Kill Love wore, already required the player to have 120 Strength.

Nie Yan had only been able to reach 130 Strength because of the Chapter of Freedom, five passive skills, and Strength Gems.

Yet Kill Love, on the other hand, was able to attain 120 Strength without the added benefit from socketing his equipment. Moreover, when he equipped the Iron Storm Set, his Strength was increased by another thirty percent. That was a little too terrifying.

Kill Love had the best gear out of all the players he had encountered so far. He was a player capable of being placed at the very top of the leaderboards, and Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder how many others out there were just as monstrous as him.

It seems I’ll have to speed up the pace on both levelling and gathering better equipment! Nie Yan no longer dallied as he bid farewell to Administrator Kallan before heading off toward the northern region of Hilderlocke. Returning to Calore would cost him another gold. Besides, since he was already here, he might as well give Master Blacksmith Krusch’s place a visit. There was no harm in doing so, and today just happened to be Wednesday!

The buildings in Hilderlocke were magnificent as ever as he walked along the emerald green streets paved with jadeite. While observing the sights, he distinctly noticed that the city seemed to be identical to the one in his memories. As he looked up toward the sky, he saw a bright halo formed by magical energy revolving over the city. Its presence added to the enchanting nature of this place that seemed to come out of a storybook.

After walking around for ten or so minutes, Nie Yan eventually came across a forked road. He glanced at the directions Administrator Kallan gave him before taking the road on the left. He made twists and turns, and as he got farther, the streets became progressively more narrow. If not for having the exact coordinates, he would have believed himself to be lost.

Yet truthfully, he really had no idea where he was. All he knew was that he had arrived at the outer reaches of the northern district, and that without Administrator Kallan’s aid, it would have been impossible for him to come here.

As he proceeded forward, he strolled past several mage towers into a narrow alleyway that was only wide enough to fit a single person. Three minutes later, he walked out from the other side and entered a wide clearing. There, he was greeted by an exquisite garden filled with various kinds of wildflowers in full bloom, many of which he didn’t even know the names of. Even when being surrounded by numerous buildings, rays of sunlight still managed to reach them. The garden’s location did not detract from its beauty, and on the contrary, it actually further added to the mystery of this place.

At last, the long, narrow, and winding path led him here.

Just past the garden, he saw an odd little cabin with a distinctive appearance.

This should be the place. It really is hidden quite well… Nie Yan thought before walking over to the cabin.

As he drew close, the door gently opened and a silhouette emerged from the cabin, following which an intoxicating fragrance invaded his nose.

Nie Yan paused to stare at the figure. It was a female NPC. She wore a splendid dress with her hair coiled up into a tall fanciful bun. Her footsteps were graceful and elegant, and she radiated the airs of a person belonging to the higher class. This NPC should be a noble…

This is Master Blacksmith Krusch…? She doesn’t really fit the appearance though.

Then again, Administrator Kallan had never actually informed him of Master Blacksmith Krusch’s gender.

With Transcendent Insight, Nie Yan inspected the NPC’s information.

Delina: Countess of Hilderlocke

The Countess of Hilderlocke…! Nie Yan immediately stood off to the side to let her pass. Nobles enjoyed a high degree of privileges in their respective city. If a player were to offend them, then they would have no hopes of living comfortably in that city.

A player would only be able to enter the ranks of nobility, and thereby enjoy its associated privileges, by accumulating a great deal of Honour and Influence in a city. Even then, there was a strict system of hierarchy from Lords, Barons, Marquises, and so on. For those who weren’t, provoking a noble was basically a death wish since the city guards would not hesitate to do their dirty work.

In passing, the Countess gave him a sideways glance.

A brief moment later, two more nobles exited the cabin in succession, brushing past Nie Yan as they walked by.

This place is more lively than I thought… Nie Yan thought as he set foot inside. In the very center of the room, he saw a round table with several dozen of the same pieces of equipment on display.

There were also a dozen NPC nobles, both young and old, inside the cabin, all of whom wore extravagant clothing. One of them in particular stood out. It was an old man in an ash gray robe standing beside the round table. With a tall and thin stature and a long flowing white beard, he very much resembled a wise old mage. If not for his careless slips, revealing his true wretched nature, then a person might not have noticed he was only keeping up a facade. This guy, he can’t be a swindler can he…?

Nie Yan raised his guard. Swindlers didn’t only exist among players but NPCs as well. There wasn’t always a reward for a quest. In some of them, if a player was careless and failed to see the main objective, they would end up falling into a false ending set up by the system. When that happened, the player would have no choice but to resign themselves to their bad luck. Putting aside that they accomplished nothing, they had also carelessly walked into a trap.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today’s sale will be the same as the last. The first batch consists of twenty items, all with the exact same appearance. None of them have been appraised. Each one will cost sixty silver, but only one is real. The rest are counterfeits I created. If the genuine item is bought, then we’ll move onto the next batch. There are only three batches remaining. Customers are limited to three purchases each. The best pieces of equipment are on the verge of being born. Among them, there’s no lack of Legendary-grade equipment fragments. Are we all ready to begin?” After the old man named Krusch finished speaking, his eyes narrowed and he began tapping on the table with his fingers.

The crowd of nobles stirred with excitement as each and every one of them was eager to give their luck a try.

Krusch shot a glance at three middle-aged nobles in the crowd, then continued, "Alright, let’s begin. Ladies and gentlemen, I wonder… Who among you will obtain the favour of Lady Luck?”

Nie Yan sneered. Such a low level trick, yet so many people are falling for it… He swept his gaze over these pampered and gullible nobles. This event was probably a trigger for a hidden quest where a player’s critical thinking was tested. If a player were actually stupid enough to spend sixty silver to play an obviously rigged game, the quest would not trigger and the player would be guaranteed to lose their money.

One noble took out a gray pouch from his pockets that was filled with silver coins. After giving the money to Krusch, he said, "I want this, this, and that!” His expression seemed delirious as sweat dripped down his forehead.

The crowd of nobles followed in succession, taking out their pouches of silver coins to buy the pieces of equipment.

Afterwards, the crowd began appraising the items they selected. Nie Yan fixed his gaze on the three middle-aged nobles in the crowd. Under the cover of the first two, the third middle-aged noble threw a piece of equipment into his bag before taking out another piece of equipment that looked identical to the first. Then, he became shifty-eyed as he ran his gaze over the crowd to assure that the other nobles hadn’t noticed. Nie Yan coldly smiled. So, these three are his accomplices.

"Damn, mine’s fake.”

"Mine’s also fake.”

Many sighs of disappointment could be heard from the crowd of nobles.

After a moment, the middle-aged noble that had exchanged his piece of equipment with another yelled in a pleasantly surprised tone, "Oh my God! Lady Luck is on my side! I actually got the real one, Kars’ Golden Necklace! Bless the heavens!”

The nobles all glowed with admiration and rubbed their palms together, anticipating and preparing for the next round of purchases.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, let’s proceed with the remaining two batches. The next item is very precious, the Radiant Gem of Acass! Is everyone ready?!”

Now knowing it was all a scam, Nie Yan considered his next step of action. Should he leave discreetly, or rip apart their lies?

If he chose the latter option and exposed the truth now, he would be offending all of the nobles who were present by revealing their foolishness. That was tantamount to trying to be clever only to end up with egg on one’s face.

Chapter 128 – Eye of Truth

Whether or not he should go up and expose this swindler was a dilemma worth contemplating over. Nie Yan couldn’t resolve it simply by relying on emotion and impulse, but rather, he needed to analyze it with logic and reason. Just what were the intentions of this quest’s designer?

While pondering, he happened to glance over his own character information and noticed a new status effect—Administrator Kallan’s Referral.

Administrator Kallan’s Referral: Increases Influence in Hilderlocke by 30 points. Duration: 30 minutes.

He immediately came to a decision upon seeing this.

During the thirty minutes Administrator Kallan’s Referral was active, his Influence in Hilderlocke would reach a staggering thirty-seven points, more than enough to deal with these common nobles.

If I successfully trigger and complete this hidden quest, I might be able to obtain a decent reward. On the other hand… if I fail, then I should still be able to get out without any problems as long as I leave the city walls within thirty minutes.

After determining his plan, he began walking over to Krusch.

He would be a rash fool if he simply announced to all the nobles in the room that Krusch was swindling them. Instead of believing him, these arrogant nobles would probably mob him to death. He was a genuine human being, not some NPC with preprogrammed behavioural patterns. It would be disgraceful for him to fail at such an important juncture.

"Greetings Master Blacksmith Krusch, I was referred here by Administrator Kallan. He sends you his regards,” Nie Yan said as he approached Krusch.

Whispers could be heard among the crowd after hearing Administrator Kallan’s name. None of the nobles dared to be presumptuous in front of someone who had such a backing. Administrators were important dignitaries of the government in charge of a city’s finance and taxes, government and army, law and order, and so forth. They held absolute authority in their respective city. At the very least, they would be a duke in the ranks of nobility. Yet of the nobles currently present, the highest were no more than earls.

Seeing Nie Yan stepping forward, all of the nobles silently took a step back.

Krusch’s narrow eyes lit up, revealing a proud expression as they swept over the crowd.

"Please send my regards to Administrator Kallan and thank him for his care and kindness. Sir, would you also like to give your luck a try? There are twenty identical items here, but only one of them is the genuine Radiant Gem of Acass. If you pick out the real one, then this legendary item will be yours to own,” Krusch said with a smile.

Nie Yan glanced at the gems on the table. They looked identical to each other as if they had come from the same mold. They were truly dazzling and beautiful to behold.

"A master’s workmanship is really a cut above the rest,” Nie Yan praised.

Krusch faintly smiled before revealing a haughty expression. He seemed quite pleased at the quality of his counterfeits.

"These fakes really do resemble the real thing, but I can still tell that they have some flaws. Just like when a piece of ice is placed next to a gemstone, although both are similarly dazzling to the eye, the ice cube will melt under the sunlight while the gemstone will remain as dazzling as before,” Nie Yan said in a thoughtful manner. He was planning to slowly draw Krusch into his trap. NPCs were merely AI created by the game developers, hence they had set behaviours, manners of speech, and so on. As long as the player took things slowly, it would be fairly easy to discover their flaws.

Sure enough, as soon as he spoke out these words of provocation, Krusch’s expression gradually turned cold.

"Nirvana Flame, sir, your claims are quite bold. If that’s the case, then please guide us in pointing out which one is real,” Krusch said in an indignant tone. He knew for certain that Nie Yan would be unable to find the real one.

"Master Blacksmith Krusch, how about we make a little bet?

"What kind of bet?” Krusch coldly asked.

"It’s fairly simple. From these twenty gems, I’ll single out the real Radiant Gem of Acass. If I fail, then the title deed to the property in my hands will be yours. However, I can only be certain if you allow me to carefully inspect each and every gem,” Nie Yan explained. His motive was simple, to expose this swindler. Naturally, since the opponent was a swindler, he never believed they would honour the bet in the first place.

"Fine, I agree to the bet. If I lose, I’ll give you an amount of gold equal to the value of that deed in your hands. How does that sound?” Krusch exposed a greedy expression after peeking at the details of the deed.

Nie Yan had formulated a plan and created a trap for Krusch after more or less figuring out how the events of this quest should progress, and almost immediately, Krusch had foolishly stepped into that trap.

"Master Blacksmith Krusch, allow me to inspect these gems. I trust with your reputation, you’ll do nothing to interfere, right?”

Krusch coldly snorted before taking a step back.

The nobles crowded around the table, leaving about a two-meter gap, and inquisitively stared at Nie Yan. They wondered just how this youngster would be able to determine which gem was the real one.

Noticing their reactions, Nie Yan confirmed that he had indeed taken the correct course of action to progress this quest. He then picked up one of the gems and began examining it in a very thoughtful and earnest manner.

"Clumsy craftsmanship, the Radiant Gem of Acass possesses a pure and bright radiance, yet this one is muddled and dull. This definitely isn’t the real Radiant Gem of Acass. Am I right, Master Blacksmith Krusch?” Nie Yan asked as he turned to Krusch who was standing among the crowd. Truthfully, he had no way of distinguishing real from fake, but he still spoke in a smooth and unhurried fashion.

Krusch snorted again and turned his head away.

"Master Blacksmith Krusch, I’ve already learned an appraisal skill. Will you allow me to appraise this gem to confirm my judgement?” Nie Yan inquired with a smile.

Almost as if guided by a script, the crowd began clamoring and shouting, imploring Krusch that he should allow Nie Yan to appraise the gem.

Unable to refuse, Krusch could only remain silent.

Nie Yan appraised the gem with Transcendent Insight. Almost instantly, with a brilliant flash of light, the item’s properties were revealed.

Counterfeit Gem (Fake)

Properties: None

Afterward, he handed the gem over to one of the nobles within the crowd who, after observing it, gave it to the noble next to him.

"He was right. This really is a fake!”

"Too amazing… It looks just like the real thing. How was he able to figure it out?”

"Alright, let’s move on to the next one.” Nie Yan faintly smiled as he picked up another gem from the table. He then put on an act of thoroughly examining it before shaking his head in a disappointed manner. "This one’s no good either. There are minute blemishes on the edges of the gem. The Radiant Gem of Acass has no such flaws. This gem taints the name of the legendary gem by simply existing! This one is a counterfeit as well, right?”

Krusch remained silent, making the crowd around him sound all the clearer as they implored Nie Yan to appraise it already.

Hearing their shouts, another brilliant flash of light appeared as Nie Yan appraised the item. As expected, it was yet another fake.

Counterfeit Gem (Fake)

Properties: None

The crowd stirred into a hushed discussion while the gem was being passed around between them.

Appraising one gem after the other, Nie Yan became even more certain of his suspicions that none of the gems on this table were real. Since it was like this, so long as he gave a believable explanation, he would be able to claim that any gem in his hand was fake.

The number of gems on the table quickly decreased until only three were left.

Another gem was appraised after which Nie Yan shook his head.

All of the previous gems were fake!

However, there were still two gems remaining. The crowd of nobles was watching the conclusion of this event with tense nerves, wide eyes, and expressions of shock.

Nie Yan exposed a smug smile as he picked up one of them. After putting on an act for so long, he was mentally exhausted as his complexion had long since become ashen.

"There are a few impurities in the center of this gem, and the quality of this material isn’t even on the same level as the Radiant Gem of Acass. Therefore, this one is also a fake!” Nie Yan confidently declared as he stared at Krusch.

He then began the process of appraising once again.

The crowd focused their attention on the gem in Nie Yan’s hands. This was already the nineteenth gem. If it also turned out to be a fake, then the remaining one had to be real, right?

The brilliant light of the appraisal skill enshrouded the gem before it began emitting a rainbow-coloured radiance.

However, despite the pretty light show, the outcome of this appraisal was already predetermined.

This gem was yet another fake!

The numerous nobles all let out muffled gasps of surprise and expressed their deep admiration for this young man’s ability.

Nie Yan stared at Master Blacksmith Krusch before picking up the final gem. In that moment, Krusch’s expression became a little panicky and he began slinking towards the door.

"Master Blacksmith Krusch, you aren’t thinking of reneging on our bet, are you? Or could it be that you’re simply trying to run?” Nie Yan asked with a cold smile. He finally had him cornered!

Krusch awkwardly smiled and let out a dry laugh. All of the nobles in the room now had their attention fixed on him. He wouldn’t be able to leave even if he wanted to.

"Master Blacksmith Krusch, or should I just say Mr. Krusch? This final gem in my hand should be real, right? However… why is the workmanship on it so poor? In fact, with a single glance, I can already determine that this one is also a fake!” Nie Yan coldly smiled as he stared at Krusch before appraising the final gem in his hand. After a flash of brilliant radiance, its properties were revealed, and just like before, this one was also a fake. He sneered at Krusch and said, "Therefore, Mr. Krusch… you are nothing more than a dirty swindler!”

「System: After appraising 20 Counterfeit Gems, you have received Eye of Truth.」

Nie Yan was stunned as he stared blankly at the system announcement. He couldn’t help but become excited. It’s actually the Eye of Truth skill!

In the meantime, the crowd of nobles stared blankly for quite a while, seemingly unable to accept the truth.

At that moment, Krusch and his three accomplices bolted for the door.

"Stop them! They all colluded together to swindle you!” Nie Yan pointed at Krusch and the three middle-aged men.

Awakened from their stupor, the crowd quickly reacted and rushed after the four criminals. Very soon, they were caught, bound, and then thrown to the floor.

"We have to take these swindlers to Administrator Kallan and make them face trial!”

"Right, we need to punish these bastards and take back our money!”

The crowd of nobles loudly shouted and cursed as they brought the four over to the administrator’s office.

Nie Yan thought for a moment before deciding he would follow behind. Since he had progressed this far into the quest and managed to expose Krusch, then he would definitely be able to obtain some sort of reward. Administrator Kallan had only mentioned Krusch offhandedly. Never did he expect that it would lead to a quest to uncovering Krusch’s scam.

An outraged crowd of nobles entered the administrator’s office with Nie Yan casually following from the rear. That was the best spot for him to try out his new skill.

He examined Eye of Truth’s information.

Eye of Truth (Instant Cast): After activating this ability, there’s a certain probability of seeing through disguises and stealth. The success of this skill depends on the level difference between the player and their target.Cooldown: 120 seconds.

If Nie Yan activated the skill against an equal level Thief, he would have a sixty percent chance of seeing through their stealth. Not to mention some players and monsters also had the ability to disguise their appearance or create illusions such as clones. Although these were formidable deceptive abilities, he had a certain chance of seeing through them as well.

This skill was extremely useful and ranked near the top out of the numerous support type skills. It held an enormous restraining effect on professions similar to the Thief, and it was very useful while doing quests as well.

Chapter 129 – Solitary Wanderer’s Leather Armour

Nie Yan followed the crowd of nobles as they marched into the administrator’s office. Here, they found Administrator Kallan to whom they began to express their dissatisfaction and outrage, turning the formerly quiet hall into a place of clamour.

"Administrator Kallan, we’ve caught swindlers!”

"Krusch was scamming us this whole time!”

An outraged noble emotionally walked up to the tied-up Krusch, grabbed ahold of his long flowing beard, and tugged at it to vent some of his anger. Surprisingly, the beard along with a mask came off, revealing a shifty-eyed, fair-faced young man in his twenties. This Krusch was never an old man to begin with!

"Wait, he’s not Master Blacksmith Krusch! I’ve seen his face somewhere before. He’s that thief!” the noble exclaimed in shock as he came to a sudden realization. "He isn’t Krusch! This guy is just pretending to be him!”

"So, it all makes sense then… Master Blacksmith Krusch has always been a kind and respectable fellow after all. Everything he creates is of high-quality and sells for a premium in auction houses across the empire. Among his creations, there’s no lack of Legendary-grade equipment. I should’ve known there was no way he would run such a shameless scam!”

"So he was actually an imposter…” The nobles finally understood.

"You wretched bastard!” The crowd began beating up the fake Krusch who started to wail and beg for forgiveness.

Administrator Kallan was incensed as well. He pointed at the young man writhing on the floor and shouted, "You wretched cur! Because of you, not only has Hilderlocke received a vile mark on its reputation, but you’ve also sullied Master Blacksmith Krusch’s good name! Your actions are absolutely unforgivable. Guards, send them to jail!”

Afterward, two fully armed guards came forward, apprehended the young man and his three accomplices, and then escorted them away.

"Administrator Kallan, it was this young gentleman who uncovered that swindler’s dastardly plot!” an old noble said as he pointed to Nie Yan.

Following which the crowd began expressing their admiration and praise.

Administrator Kallan’s expression revealed a hint of surprise as he walked over to Nie Yan and said, "Youngster, thank you for exposing that impostor and redeeming Hilderlocke’s reputation. I will make sure those four are punished to the full extent of my authority. And to you, on behalf of all the residents of this city, I would like to express my deepest gratitude. Your foresight and judgement are very admirable. Please take this as a token of our appreciation.”

You have successfully completed the quest, "Exposing the Imposter Master Blacksmith Krusch.”

You have received 38,297 experience points.

Your Influence in Hilderlocke has increased by 13 points.

Your Intelligence has increased by 20 points.

You have received Solitary Wanderer’s Leather Armour.

These quest rewards are pretty good! Nie Yan glanced at his experience bar and noticed it had already risen to twenty-three percent. Moreover, since his Influence had now reached twenty points, he would be able to receive preferential treatment in this city. How could he not feel happy over such a development? As for the twenty-point increase in Intelligence, although it didn’t have much of an effect for Thieves, it still had some influence on the success rate of the Lockpicking skill. Not to mention it would also be useful when he wanted to use special scrolls that had Intelligence requirements.

Afterward, he took the leather armour in his hands and examined its properties.

Solitary Wanderer’s Leather Armour (Gold)

Requirements: Level 10

Properties: Defense 51–57, Resilience +9, Awareness +15, Dexterity +13

Weight: 5 lb

Restrictions: Thief; can be equipped by all factions.

In the current progression of the game, rewards like this piece of Gold-grade equipment were already quite generous. Even in the hardest dungeon available right now, Sosil Valley, unless a team was running it on Specialist, it was fairly rare for Gold-grade equipment to drop. The many rewards, as well as the Eye of Truth skill, left him feeling very satisfied.

After putting the armour on, Nie Yan began admiring its light blue colour and sleek design, which made him feel as if he were nimbler by simply wearing it.

He then walked around in all directions in order to get used to the sensation of wearing it.

Hmm… not bad.

"Thank you for your generosity, Administrator Kallan,” Nie Yan smiled as he expressed his gratitude.

Since he had no more business here, he expressed his thanks once more before leaving Administrator Kallan’s office. While walking out of the building, he felt his mood was much improved from when he had first arrived. Despite having a sudden quest being thrown at him, he had managed to adapt fairly well. Moreover, a hint of his old questing rhythm and game sense seemed to have returned. In his past life, he had relied on this combination of know-how to gradually catch up from being a minor character to becoming an elite player himself.

However, the one gold transfer fee for his return trip still made his heart ache a bit. "Hah… I really shouldn’t travel to other cities too much this early on. Still, this trip to Hilderlocke was quite fruitful…” Nie Yan faintly smiled while muttering to himself.

Having stepped out of the transfer point in Calore, his thoughts drifted to Gato the Lion King and the Ogre Devourer which both should have respawned by now. However, at his present level, it wasn’t really worthwhile to farm them anymore. The little experience he’d receive wouldn’t make up for the time spent killing them, and the equipment they dropped no longer caught his eye.

As he pondered on his next move, the Steal skill that he obtained from Sulgata’s Boots came to mind. There was a suitable quest at this early stage of the game which made the skill’s usage almost a necessity. After such a long time, he no longer remembered the exact details of the quest; however, he knew that aside from the Steal skill he would also require Tang Yao’s cooperation. Unfortunately, Tang Yao was still training in Hems, so he would have no choice but to put it off for now.

In the end, Nie Yan decided he would go off and train in a Level 10 zone. As for the zones that were suitable for his level, there was no place better than Black Gold Mines. The Level 10 Leader-class Zombies there gave relatively high experience and dropped good items, including several pieces of Level 10 Thief Equipment. On top of that, there were also numerous gems and ores for the pickings that he could sell for a favourable price.

The current level of his gear was simply too low, and it would be hard for him to find Level 10 equipment in the marketplace at present. The high-level players able to find Level 10 equipment generally wouldn’t sell them, as they would rather exchange with other players because they themselves lacked Level 10 equipment as well. Thus, it wasn’t a bad idea for him to go over there and check it out. After all, he knew the general locations of every Leader, Sub-Elite, and even Elite monster that spawned there.

While preparing to set out for this trip, he realized he should also use this opportunity to restock on Flash Powder and other items. Hence, he headed over to Trembling Milo’s where he bought Flash Powder, Web Scrolls, and Sheep Transformation Scrolls which were all very effective against monsters of Level 10 and lower.

Once he completed his preparations, he exited the city gates and activated a Haste Scroll and Shadow Dance before dashing off toward Black Gold Mines. The thirty-point increase in movement speed from Shadow Dance combined with the Haste Scroll made him seem like the wind as he rapidly flitted across the path within the forest.

Ten or so minutes later, he exited the forest and was greeted by the sight of black mountains stretching out as far as the eye could see. This was Black Gold Mines. In about half-a-month’s time, various guilds would send their mining teams, consisting of both escorts and Miners, here. This was effectively killing two birds with one stone, since the escorts would be able train here by clearing out the surrounding monsters while the Miners would be free to mine for gems and ores. Despite the surrounding Zombies, mining in this location was quite profitable. In a single day, a Junior Miner would be able to earn approximately two silver. However, at present, there was not a single trace of player activity.

Nie Yan ran across the rocky surface and leaped onto a large boulder where he perched and muttered to himself.

"If I remember correctly, it should be somewhere in the east, but dammit, I forgot the exact location…” Nonetheless, he had trained here for quite a while in his past life, so he still had some vague impressions of this place. After a short while and coming across several familiar landmarks, he spotted a group of roaming Zombie Miners.

Zombie Miner: Level 10

Health: 560/560

Unwilling to waste his time on these ordinary Zombie Miners, he quickly moved on. After searching for five or six minutes, he finally spotted another group of Zombies. This group was nearly identical in appearance to the first save for a lone Zombie a good distance away that appeared much bulkier and larger than the others. It had a large black metal plate on its back, and the common Zombies nearby seemed much sharper.

Nie Yan inspected this Zombie with Transcendent Insight.

Zombie Foreman (Leader): Level 10

Health: 1600/1600

This was his target! Nie Yan entered stealth and began slowly making his way toward the Zombie Foreman’s back who was completely unaware of his approach. With the bonuses from the Chapter of Freedom, Sulgata’s Boots, and his other gear, his present stealth ability, having reached a terrifying level, was most likely unrivalled. Even if the Zombie Foreman were five levels higher, it would still be unable to sense his approach.

After getting into attack range, Nie Yan exploded forth as Blood Pact’s blade coldly streaked toward the back of the Zombie Foreman’s head.

Smothering Strike!

He then took advantage of its dazed state and struck it with Assassinate followed by Vital Strike.

−93, −110, −107

Impressive damage values rose up above the Zombie Foreman’s head. After suffering his surprise attack, the Zombie Foreman spun around and furiously clawed at him with its razor-sharp nails.

Having been in Abraham’s Tomb before, where he faced similar attacks, Nie Yan was well-aware of how terrifying these claw strikes could be, especially when it was from a Level 25 Vampire Baron. If he was even struck once, he would probably lose the greater half of his health. Comparatively, this Level 10 Zombie Foreman was no more threatening than an equal level Warrior with decent gear.

Nie Yan sidestepped the attack as a bloody claw streaked past his previous position before countering with Concussive Blow, dazing the Zombie Foreman once more. After which he took advantage of the time to circle around and lash out with Backstab and Eviscerate, chunking the Zombie Foreman for another 200 health.

After losing more than half of its health in a short period of time, the Zombie Foreman’s skin began transforming into an odd shade of red before exuding a faint bloody mist.

This was the Zombie Foreman’s ability, Plague. If a player foolishly came into contact with this mist, they would lose at least 20 health every second. Unless a Priest who could cast Lesser Heal and Dispel was on hand, that player would gradually lose more and more health until they died!

This was also the reason why it required the cooperation of multiple players when taking on an equal level Leader-class monster. The few who were able to overcome such obstacles and solo these monsters were existences that were already overpowered to a perverse degree.

Nie Yan activated Swift Retreat and disengaged from the melee. He then pulled out a Web Scroll from his bag and activated it upon which a giant net of webbing entrapped the Zombie Foreman, leaving it unable to budge an inch.

After which he pulled out his crossbow and fired off a volley of bolts.

「Put! Put! Put!」

−21, −23, −21…

A string of damage values rose up above the Zombie Foreman’s head.

The Zombie Foreman incessantly struggled before finally breaking free and charging toward Nie Yan. Just as it was about to reach him, he retrieved a pouch of Flash Powder from his bag and lobbed it at the Zombie Foreman’s eyes.「Poof!」The bag exploded into a cloud of blinding glitter.

Taken aback by the sudden loss of vision, the Zombie Foreman let out a blood-curdling roar and clawed wildly at its surroundings, leaving visible marks on the nearby walls and boulders.

Nie Yan took advantage of the opportunity to retreat ten meters where he unceasingly fired out volley after volley of crossbow bolts. As the Zombie Foreman’s health approached zero, with a wobbly stagger and mournful moan, it finally collapsed, falling face first on the ground.

"It’s done.” Nie Yan faintly smiled. Although the Zombie Foreman had over fifteen hundred health, he was able to make short work of it without even breaking a sweat. He walked over to the Zombie Foreman and bent down to pick up the item that dropped. It was a piece of Silver equipment, a pity that it wasn’t for a Thief. He got back up and then headed off to his next target.

Chapter 130 – Collaboration

When Nie Yan levelled in Black Gold Mines in his past life, he had required the cooperation of at least three other Level 10 or higher players, including both a tank and healer, to be able to bring down a single Zombie Foreman.

This time around, he hadn’t only come here to level, but also to try his luck at finding some decent Silver-grade equipment. Generally, Level 10 Silver-grade equipment would be slightly worse off in terms of stats to Level 5 Gold-grade equipment. If he were able to snag a piece of Level 10 Gold-grade equipment, then it would be even better. In addition, if equipment for other classes dropped, he would be able to sell each piece in the auction house for a sizable profit.

After three hours or so of exploring the wide open rocky terrain of the mines, he managed to kill sixteen Zombie Foremen. From them, he was able to obtain a few decent items: several gems that he could sell for a good price and the fairly uncommon Berserk Pill Recipe. While moving around this area, he had also encountered two groups of players training in the area, both of which he took a long detour around since he couldn’t be bothered to deal with the hassle if a conflict were to arise.

As he sat down to recover his stamina, he opened up the notification window for his shop. After a quick glance, he could tell the shop was gradually going on the right track while under Bird’s supervision. Over the past few hours, he managed to hire over thirty Alchemists, who one after the other began producing goods. In this fashion, the variety of goods for sale in the shop gradually grew, so much so that even the Junior Magic Resonance Potion was already available for purchase.

While managing a potion shop, simply lowering the price of goods didn’t necessarily mean customers would flock over. Common consumables, for instance, Anti-Paralysis Potions, Antidotes, and so on, wouldn’t earn the shop much money. Since these items were readily available everywhere, it was hard to sell them for a good profit, and a business couldn’t simply raise their prices and expect players to still purchase from them. As for the comparatively uncommon items such as Magic Resonance Potions, Berserk Pills, etc… since their recipes were fairly hard to find, as long as the shop produced high-quality products while other shops couldn’t keep up in quantity, they would be able to see money flow in. Even if the prices of these items were set a little high, as long as they could afford it, players would nevertheless come to the shop to buy them.

The tactic of lowering your own prices to undercut the competition so you can attract customers was a foolish business practice. You would be purposefully lowering your own profits! In Conviction, the only way for a business to stand out was to procure and sell goods that weren’t available in other shops! That way, as long as these items were readily available, even if you didn’t want your shop’s popularity to explode, it would do so anyways.

Nie Yan examined a breakdown of the shop’s sales. For now, Black Phenol and Black Phenol Recipes were still the best selling items. In the last few hours that he hadn’t checked up on it, the shop even managed to earn yet another twenty-five gold. Unfortunately, this sort of momentum would soon come to an abrupt halt because of his quickly dwindling stock. However, with the new potions and pills as a base, attracting a great amount of player attention, there was nevertheless still quite a bit of money to be made in the days to come.

Since the shop seemed to be doing fine on its own, Nie Yan stood up and continued seeking out Zombie Foremen.

During the time spent exploring the area, what seemed to puzzle him most was that he had yet to encounter a Sub-Elite Zombie. Although there was no guarantee, there was at least a good chance of him bringing one down.

And so, he spent the whole day training in the mines. By the time he went offline, he had filled up his experience bar by 57%, and his bag was filled with all sorts of items.

Back in the real world, Nie Yan spent the whole day at home studying and tempering his body. He was able to bring out his potential as a shut-in to its absolute peak. However, this was all for the sake of breaking out into prominence in the future while the foundations he laid in the game slowly grew.

While looking at the calendar, he recalled that this should be around the time when his parents would return. Just the thought of being able to see their faces once more made him feel quite sentimental.

As all the tragedies of the past involuntarily flooded his mind, he was overtaken by a mini panic attack. These memories were simply too much, and it took him a long while before he was finally able to calm down. Focus on the more important matters at hand, then deal with the rest later… he calmly reminded himself.

Time seemed to quickly fly by as he spent two days hunting Zombie Foremen in Black Gold Mines. On the third day, he finally hit Level 11.

"It’s about time I head back,” Nie Yan muttered as he looked in his bag. It was now filled to the brim with pieces of equipment. Almost all of them were Silver-grade save for one, a piece of Gold-grade Warrior equipment. He also saw the large quantity of ores, gems, and other miscellaneous items. At present, these ores and gems would fetch a good price on the marketplace, but if he waited for the playerbase to rise in level, then they would gradually diminish in value. Last but not least, he also found three recipes, two Berserk Pill Recipes and an Intermediate Health Potion Recipe.

Intermediate Health Potions were still quite rare as they had yet to appear on the marketplace. If he were to offer them up for sale in his shop, he imagined the players would probably go frantic over them.

Two days ago, Medusa’s Lair finally opened, and the demand for Anti-Petrify Potions rose accordingly, causing their price to skyrocket before finally stabilising at five times its original price. Under Nie Yan’s guidance, Bird placed all of their Anti-Petrify Potions up for sale. Even though the demand wasn’t as explosive as the Black Phenol had been at its peak, they would still be able to make a considerable profit.

According to Bird, business was booming. Every day, an endless stream of players would flood into the shop to purchase potions, pills, and other goods. The shop was doing very well, so much so that its employees couldn’t keep up with all the customers, leading Bird to hire an additional two clerks to help with the influx, with Nie Yan’s permission of course.

Since business was so fiery, the Alchemists on the second floor were invigorated and exerted their uttermost effort in producing concoctions. For every concoction they produced and sold, they would be able to receive their share of the profits immediately. This form of encouragement proved to be extremely effective. They were practically producing concoctions non-stop as a steady flow of goods went down to the first floor. Since most of the items the shop sold were high-end potions, pills, and such, the earnings were equally astonishing. They were even making more than those Alchemists from the major guilds who received a twenty percent share.

Furthermore, following Nie Yan’s instructions, Bird spent an entire two gold to purchase several recipes for high-level concoctions along with the ingredients required to produce them. Thanks to this, the several Junior Alchemists under him were rapidly improving their Alchemy skill. Both Quiet Nannan and Still Grieving were close to advancing to Intermediate Alchemists while Bird had at long last achieved his dream of becoming a Junior Alchemist.

With such promising talents under him, his future prospects were limitless, not to mention the many more Alchemists that would be joining in the near future.

If he managed to get a hold of Calore’s market, Nie Yan planned to expand and open potion shops in other cities in the future as well. However, in order to do so, he would need to gain the support of at least one of the major figures in those cities. Otherwise, if someone pulled an underhanded trick, it would negatively influence his business. If not that, he would need to gain at least thirty points of Influence in the city he wished to expand to, because then, very few entities would be able to take action against him.

「Your friend’s business is doing pretty well,」Nie Yan suddenly received a message from Sleepy Fox.

「Yeah, the Starry Night Potion Shop took a step on the right track,」Nie Yan replied. Sleepy Fox finally took the initiative to contact him after all this time. With the shop’s popularity being as explosive as it was, it would be a real wonder if he managed to restrain himself any longer. He felt certain Sleepy Fox was seeking him out to find out some behind-the-scenes information about the shop. This was the perfect timing to raise the matter of collaboration.

「I’ve heard they hired many Junior Alchemists. I was wondering if they could secure me a batch of Flamescorch Potions. Can you help me ask?」Sleepy Fox asked.

「Flamescorch Potions? Don’t you have Alchemists over on your side? 」Nie Yan asked, sounding a bit puzzled. This was a little unexpected. Sleepy Fox was actually contacting him to purchase potions.

「Sigh… don’t bring that up. My guild only has twenty Alchemists, and only two of them have advanced to Junior Alchemists. Earlier, I was in contact with several Junior Alchemists and invited them to work for my guild, but they kept playing wait and see. Just when we were negotiating salary, their cut of the profits, and so on, the Starry Night Potion Shop started hiring, and they all ran off there instead. The few potions and pills my Alchemists make definitely aren’t enough to keep up with the demand…」Sleepy Fox bitterly explained.

Nie Yan never expected for such a situation to occur, though a moment later, he broke into a faint smile. This was also a good illustration of the Starry Night Potion Shop’s allure. While the benefits of joining a guild were obvious, it came at the cost of the Alchemist’s freedom. From then on, they would have to satisfy the requests of their guild members before they could freely concoct on their own. If a guild member wanted a certain potion or pill, then they would be forced to create it. Even after advancing to the more prestigious rank of Junior Alchemist, they would still be made to produce simple low-level concoctions. Hence, the free time of a guild Alchemist was extremely limited. Then came in the Starry Night Potion Shop, a revolutionary business that turned convention over its head and catered primarily to high-end players. It was a place where they would be able to rapidly improve their Alchemy skill, and although they wouldn’t receive as high of a cut, the quantity of goods they would produce and sell more than made up for this discrepancy, earning them much more than they would in a guild. Not to mention as an owner that would spend two gold to purchase high-quality ingredients for their subordinates to quickly improve, something which was rarely if ever seen, Nie Yan had effectively captured the hearts of all of Calore’s Alchemists in one fell swoop.

「My friend was wondering if you’d like to collaborate with him.」

「What kind of collaboration?」Sleepy Fox asked in surprise.

「The Starry Night Potion Shop will purchase Alchemy ingredients from you at market rate. In exchange, you can’t sell them to others. However, you’ll have priority over others when buying goods from them, and depending on how much you purchase, you’ll receive upwards of a 10% discount.」

「So it was like this…」Sleepy Fox suddenly understood. The Starry Night Potion Shop was looking for a supplier to provide them with raw materials and ingredients. This was to ensure stability so that they wouldn’t be subjected to the fluctuations of the auction house. As for what this deal entailed for him, there were really no downsides. Hence, he nodded and said,「Sounds good, I’m willing to collaborate…」

「Head over to the Starry Night Potion Shop and look for a player named Bird Leaves No Eggs. He’ll handle everything and explain the details of the collaboration with you. As for the Flamescorch Potions, just hand the ingredients for it over to Bird, and he’ll handle the rest,」Nie Yan replied.

「Alright.」

Nie Yan hung up the call. Having settled this matter, his mind was free of one more worry.

「How are things on your side?」Nie Yan sent a message to Tang Yao.

「My Arcane Fairy reached Rank 3 two days ago. I think I’m going to stay here for another hour before heading back,」Tang Yao replied. Then he continued in an excited tone,「Levelling here really is amazing! All I have to do is cast magic nonstop, and I’ll see my experience bar fill up like crazy! I really want to stay here until I’m Level 11 or 12!」

「Hurry back when you hit Level 10. We still have some important things to do.」Nie Yan felt a sense of indescribable excitement in his heart. If they were able to complete the next quest together, then both of their levels and the quality of their gear would improve by a large margin again.

「What are we going to do?」Tang Yao asked in surprise.

「A quest.」

「Sure!」Taking on a quest together with Nie Yan, that was what he had been looking forward to the most!

Chapter 131 – Encounter

After returning to the city, Nie Yan planned to head to the auction house and get rid of all the equipment in his bag. His bag only had seven spaces left and would be completely full if he randomly chucked in a few more items. He stood up and was prepared to begin channeling a Return Scroll.

However, a deep muffled roar cut through the air as it reverberated from the distance. He halted for a moment before putting away the scroll in his hand. This roar, it’s from a Sub-Elite Zombie or possibly… an Elite Zombie King! Reigning over a certain region of space, these monsters would occasionally roar to announce their presence to potential intruders. As for weak players, this was a sign that they should depart the area immediately.

After killing countless Leader-class monsters over the course of two days, he was finally going to meet a truly strong opponent.

He headed toward the source of the sound. After passing through a mound of rubble, he entered a wide open area and was greeted by the sight of an enormous Zombie. Towering over its surroundings, it was three meters tall and entirely pitch-black in colour while a fishy-smelling pus oozed out of its body. Its nails were extremely long and sharp, resembling steel swords. Even more odd was the dark scarlet aura that faintly enshrouded it.

He activated Transcendent Insight.

Zombie King (Elite): Level 10

Health: 3,200/3,200

"It’s an Elite!” Nie Yan muttered as he surveyed the terrain for features he could take advantage of, causing his eyes to fall on the scattered mounds of rocks. "Sigh… killing this guy shouldn’t be a problem, but I’ll have to use my Flash Powder, Web Scrolls, and Sheep Transformation Scrolls.” His heart ached at the thought of how expensive each one was. "But… the items it drops should cover the costs!” He faintly smiled before leaping onto a large boulder where he retrieved his crossbow and took aim.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Three bolts flew in a straight line towards the Zombie King.

「Put! Put! Put!」 All of the bolts struck the Zombie King in the back.

−13, −12, −15

The Zombie King angrily roared as it turned around and searched for its aggressor among the mounds of rocks.

Nie Yan turned tail and fled toward the cover of the scattered mounds while firing bolts non-stop from his Crossbow of Blood. I’ll wear it down with ranged attacks first.

The Zombie King furiously clawed at its surroundings while seeking out Nie Yan, sending rubble flying everywhere as it quickly closed in on him.

「Poof!」Just as the Zombie King was about to reach him, he lobbed a pouch of Flash Powder which promptly exploded upon impact with its eyes.

The cloud of dazzling powder temporarily blinded the Zombie King as it let out a roar of anguish from the intense burning sensation in its eyes.

Seeing the Zombie King helplessly flailing around, Nie Yan faintly smiled before circling behind and attacking it with Eviscerate followed by Lacerate. The two skills dealt 120 damage, and afterward, it was struck by the bleed status effect which caused it to lose 10 health every second.

The blinding effect from Flash Powder would only last for so long. In fact, against an Elite monster, he would be lucky if it lasted more than a few seconds. Hence, after finishing his combo, he activated Swift Retreat and quickly withdrew from melee range. Having created some distance, he glanced at the Zombie King’s health bar. The bleed damage from Eviscerate and Lacerate was quite potent and would gradually accumulate with each passing second.

He took a stance and resumed firing crossbow bolts. Against an equal level opponent, he received no negative modifiers; thus, the damage he dealt was fairly significant.

Soon after regaining its vision, the Zombie King charged after him again. However, just as it was about to reach him, he crushed the Web Scroll he had prepared beforehand, whereupon a giant spider web emerged out of thin air and firmly bound it in place.

He then dashed toward the Zombie King and leaped into the air before stabbing it in the neck with Vital Strike. After gracefully landing on the ground, he circled behind it and used Backstab to plunge his dagger deep into its spine.

After two more attacks, he didn’t dare to stick around any longer and quickly created some distance again. Just like before, he retrieved his crossbow and began peppering it with bolts.

With his pitiful health and weak leather armour, he wouldn’t be able to endure even a single strike from such a monster. Normally, an Elite monster like the Zombie King required a team of five or more players to effectively bring it down. Of the members in the team, a strong healer and a powerful tank were an absolute necessity, as well as having all members carry several Antidotes; otherwise, if they were struck by the acute poison in the Zombie King’s claws, they would lose 30 health every second until either the player died or the poison was cured. As such, Nie Yan had to take extreme caution in avoiding the Zombie King’s attacks.

The battle between them persisted as the Zombie King’s health was gradually being chipped away. Even now, it was still unable to land even a single hit. He had effectively sealed off all methods for it to attack. No matter how angry it got, its struggling was futile in the end.

"I think the sound came from there.”

"Let’s go over and take a look.”

A party of three arrived near the mounds of rocks where Nie Yan and the Zombie King were battling. They were all members of Victorious Return, and as players who could level in Black Gold Mines at this stage of the game, they definitely weren’t simple. In fact, among their guild’s ranks, they were considered the crème de la crème.

The party consisted of a Battle Thief, Berserker, and female Arcane Mage. They were farming mobs relatively close by when they heard roars, so they rushed over to check out what was going on.

"Night Shadow, hurry up! Go take a look at what’s happening,” the Berserker called out to the Battle Thief.

"Fine, fine, I’m going! Sigh, why do I always have to do the tedious work…” Night Shadow replied in a begrudging manner. Of course, if he didn’t want to scout, who told him to pick a Thief? As one of the nimbler classes, they were twenty percent faster than Warriors on average, and this was without taking skills into account. Hence, there was no one more suited than him for scouting up ahead.

Haste!

Night Shadow suddenly became much faster, leaving after-images behind him as he dashed toward the source of the sounds.

"I think there’s an Elite up ahead. Tangerine, if it really is one, Night Shadow and I will draw its aggro, then the rest will be up to you,” the Berserker instructed. As a Berserker, tanking an Elite-class Zombie would be rather difficult. Fortunately, he had learned a new skill, Life Actuation, which had a 20-minute duration, 2-day cooldown, and improved his survivability significantly. With it, it was possible for him to endure an Elite-class Zombie’s hits.

"Should we ask the guild leader to send a Priest over? An Elite Zombie seems like a very hard monster to deal with,” Tangerine asked while knitting her elegant brows. She had an average appearance that couldn’t be regarded as first-rate. However, her status in the guild was nevertheless very high.

"Nah, I think we’ll be fine. Besides, who knows how long it’ll take for a Priest to get here? Can you still cast Arcane Reset?”

"I can, but it has a two-day cooldown… and I still need to run dungeons with the team tomorrow.”

"Forget it then, I guess. Let’s see how it plays out.”

Nie Yan was still whittling away at the Zombie King’s health, which by now had already fallen to twenty percent. Even though everything seemed to progress smoothly, he felt a slight tingling sensation in the back of his mind, warning him of danger. At his present level, his Awareness had already reached a terrifyingly high degree. So, if anything were to occur within his vicinity, he would be able sense it fairly quickly. Immediately, he pulled out another Web Scroll and activated it, causing a giant spider web to emerge out of thin air and fall over the Zombie King, leaving it temporarily immobilized.

Earlier, Night Shadow had arrived in the area and was observing the scene from a distance with an expression of indescribable shock. He, Tangerine, and Hidden Blade were regarded as prominent figures in Victorious Return. Even if they weren’t in the top ten, they were at least among the twenty best players in the guild. However, as elites belonging to the prestigious Victorious Return, they were repeatedly hesitating over facing off against an Elite monster. Yet this Thief before his eyes had single-handedly taken out more than eighty percent of an Elite monster’s health, and it looked like he was going to kill it soon and without even breaking so much as a sweat! This really was too unfathomable…

After inspecting him, Night Shadow discovered this player was called Nirvana Flame!

It’s him!

Night Shadow recalled a certain incident. About a week ago, when their guild was sieging the Fishmen Village, one of their Elementalists, Violet Flame, had been killed by a Thief named Nirvana Flame. Not only that, but he had also managed to easily escape despite being completely surrounded by their members. Afterwards, this event became a huge topic of discussion among their guild members. Even if he wished to forget such a ferocious figure, he still wouldn’t be able to!

He never imagined that he would encounter this person here!

As members of Victorious Return, they would always act unbridled without the slightest restraint. If anyone were to even slightly inconvenience them, the entire guild would have them pay back a hundredfold, to say nothing of a player who had safely escaped after killing one of their members and left them with no face!

Night Shadow faintly smiled. If he killed Nie Yan, aside from snatching all the experience and items from the Zombie King for his party, he would also be able to collect on the bounty from his guild! Just what kind of player wouldn’t take advantage of such an opportunity!

Besides, the Zombie King was fully aggroed onto Nie Yan!

「Hurry over, I’ve found a big fish!」Night Shadow excitedly sent out a message to Tangerine and Hidden Blade in the party chat.

"Night Shadow found something. Let’s meet up with him,” Hidden Blade said after looking at the chat. After exchanging glances, they both rushed over.

It would be too much of a waste if he were to allow Nie Yan to finish off the Zombie King. So, while Hidden Blade and Tangerine had yet to arrive, Night Shadow entered stealth and gradually approached Nie Yan from the rear. Even as he closed in, his target’s back remained completely exposed. Seeing this lack of response from his target, he reaffirmed the quality of his own stealthing ability.

Never did he expect, in the instant he was about to attack, Nie Yan would suddenly turn around.

Eye of Truth!

Nie Yan’s eyes became bloodshot as they turned a deep scarlet red and blossomed with a frightening radiance. With Eye of Truth’s assistance, he spotted a faint silhouette from the corner of his eye. As it gradually approached, the corner of his mouth curved into a disdainful sneer. You want to sneak attack me? It’s not going to be that easy! He spun around and chucked a pouch of Flash Powder directly at the Thief’s face.「Poof!」The glittering powder released a dazzling light and completely enshrouded the surrounding area in a bright radiance.

As Night Shadow approached, he suddenly found his target facing him with bloodshot eyes and shining with a unnerving light. It was as if this light could reveal everything, leaving him bare-naked and exposed. He was inwardly alarmed. C-could he have noticed me…?

He then saw a strange pouch appear in Nie Yan’s hand, and before he was even able to react, a brilliant radiance blinded him as if a thousand needles were stabbing into his eyes.

S-shit-shit-shit, not good! Night Shadow felt an intense and imminent sense of danger. He quickly pulled back by activating Swift Retreat. However, since the terrain here was rocky and uneven and he had been completely blinded, he lost his footing after tripping over a rock.

Nonetheless, he was a top expert within his guild for a reason. He quickly realized that his sudden loss of vision was caused by the opponent’s item. He regained balance of his body mid fall, and with his right hand as a support, he did a backflip and landed firmly on his feet. Though, in the same instant, he found himself directly staring at the cold edge of a blade.

His opponent’s movements were as fast as lightning!

So fast!

As if he had fallen into a pit of despair, Night Shadow gave up all hope of surviving. When faced with such a sharp and decisive attack, it was impossible for him to dodge. Only now did he understand why Nie Yan was able to kill Violet Flame and escape their encirclement unharmed.

Chapter 132 – To Bully Intolerably

Calling Nie Yan fast was an understatement. In one fluid movement, he had thrown the Flash Powder and made his way behind Night Shadow.

Nie Yan knew, from his experience playing as a thief for so many years, exactly which factors would allow him to deal a fatal blow. The first was crowd control, incapacitating the enemy by either stunning, blinding, or doing anything to render them incapable of retaliating in general. The other was speed, speed so astonishingly fast the enemy would be unable to dodge.

After getting behind Night Shadow, Nie Yan stunned him by striking him on the back of the head with Concussive Blow.

Only then did he notice that this Thief actually belonged to Victorious Return. "Tch, it’s them again…” Judging from the style of the dark leather armour he wore, Nie Yan recognized it as the Blackwing Set, the best Battle Thief set currently in the game. "He’s probably ranked pretty highly in their guild.”

However, no matter how big their influence, how skilled they were in battle, or how experienced they were in other VRMMOs, they still wouldn’t be able to compete with him!

As for those who might try to mount a sneak attack against him, Nie Yan absolutely wouldn’t hold back. Though, before he could finish off Night Shadow, a black ball of fire suddenly emerged out of thin air and flew directly towards Nie Yan.

It’s an Arcane Flame Burst!

Shit, he has backup! Nie Yan’s mind rang out in alarm. If he continued attacking Night Shadow, then he would have to take a scorching explosion to the back. Since his opponent had teammates interfering, even if he hoped to kill Night Shadow right now, such a thing was now nothing more than wishful thinking. He rolled out of the way to avoid the Arcane Flame Burst. Then, in that same moment, he looked toward the source of the spell and saw a female Arcane Mage at the end of her casting animation. Suddenly, while still in mid-roll, he was hit by Demoralizing Shout.

After regaining his footing, he glanced at his status bar and noticed a new debuff: Attack -30%, 20 second duration. With his attack having been reduced to such an extent, he could no longer output enough burst damage to kill Night Shadow even if he wanted to.

This is bad!

Right now, his attack being crippled was the least of his worries. The Zombie King had broken free from its restraints and was charging him from the rear. Meanwhile, a Berserker wearing the Rock Solid Defense Set was rushing at him from another direction.

The Zombie King let out an angry roar as it closed in and slashed at Nie Yan with its bloody claws.

"Let’s see how you’ll get out of this!” Hidden Blade hollered. From his point of view, Nie Yan was already a dead man.

This situation, a three versus one, was quite troublesome for Nie Yan. Plus, from what he saw of their coordination earlier, they wouldn’t be easy opponents to deal with. Adding to that, the Zombie King was fully aggroed onto him. As long as they didn’t accidently attack it, its aggro would never shift.

He had effectively been cornered!

To make matters worse, the nearby Night Shadow had finally awoken from his dazed state.

"Don’t let him escape! He’s that Nirvana Flame the guild leader told us to hunt down!” Night Shadow exclaimed, still feeling traces of fear. If Tangerine and Hidden Blade hadn’t arrived in a timely manner, then he would have been a goner for sure.

In his last encounter with Victorious Return, Nie Yan had killed Violet Flame who held a high status in the guild as a member of the main dungeon running team. Since every member was quintessential, Violet Flame dropping a level had set back the entire team’s dungeon progression by a day. Not only had he been easily dealt with by a no-name player, but the culprit had also managed to escape! This was no different from the entire guild receiving a ruthless slap to the face! As such, Victorious Return’s guild leader, Heaven Breaker, became extremely aggravated and put a bounty on the culprit’s head. This was Heaven Breaker’s nature. He would follow his ruthless desires without any fear of repercussion and would allow no one to stand in the way of his plans.

"Gotcha! Don’t worry, there’s no way he can escape.” Hidden Blade charged forward with Vanguard Rush and swung his claymore at Nie Yan.

After suffering the enemy’s ambush, even though he didn’t want the Zombie King to be snatched away by them, he had no choice but to retreat for the time being. Preserving his life always came first; as long as he had his life, he could figure out what to do next later. He activated Shadow Dance and disappeared from their view. Thanks to the speed increase from Shadow Dance, he was able to safely retreat far away.

Hidden Blade never expected Nie Yan would suddenly disappear. By the time he swung his claymore, Nie Yan was already far gone, and so his attack hit nothing but air.

"Be careful, he entered stealth!”

"He’s too fast. I wasn’t able to stop him!” Night Shadow felt extremely nervous. Facing off against an expert like Nie Yan was exciting but dangerous at the same time.

After losing sight of its original target, the Zombie King’s aggro shifted and it charged at the nearest target with the lowest defense, which happened to be Night Shadow.

Taunt!

After pulling the Zombie King’s aggro, Hidden Blade activated Life Actuation. Immediately, his health increased by 300, his defense by 36, and his poison resistance by 13, making him durable enough to firmly hold off the Zombie King.

"Be careful. Don’t let yourself be ambushed,” Night Shadow warned.

"Relax, that Thief might’ve run off, but this Zombie King will definitely be ours!” Hidden Blade said in a tone full of confidence. In his current state, what sort of tricks could Nie Yan possibly pull?

Generally, a Thief would have no choice but to retreat whenever they came into conflict with a Warrior outside of the city. After all, there was nothing they could do. Warriors had much higher health and defense, so the damage a Thief could deal to them was limited. On the other hand, a Warrior’s attacks could easily pierce through a Thief’s weak leather armour.

This was also why Thieves usually targeted Mages, who only had cloth garments to protect themselves with.

After activating Life Actuation, Hidden Blade’s health, defense, etc., had risen to an all new level. If a Thief attempted to ambush him while he was in this state, they would basically be courting death. This was the privilege of the strong looking down on the weak! Even if he allowed that puny Thief to freely attack for the next fifteen seconds, he still wouldn’t be able to leave even a scratch.

In combat, many things could happen within the span of fifteen seconds. A single Tendon Break, for example, would lead to Nie Yan being completely crippled.

After witnessing Hidden Blade redirecting the aggro onto himself, Night Shadow jumped into the fray as well and aided him in taking down the Zombie King. However, he didn’t dare to be as unbridled as Hidden Blade, since even though Nie Yan disappeared without a trace, he might still be lingering around.

Meanwhile, Tangerine was in the rear bombarding the Zombie King with magic. Every spell she cast caused over a hundred damage, sending its health in a downward spiral.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. This Arcane Mage’s damage was quite terrifying!

"Drink an Antidote!”

"Give it your all! It’s almost dead!” Hidden Blade shouted out in excitement. They were quite lucky this time around since they would be able to reap the rewards of killing an Elite without having to put in much effort.

They were completely unscrupulous, planning to snatch away the Zombie King for themselves.

Nie Yan was infuriated as he watched this. The Zombie King he worked so painstakingly hard to wear down was about to be taken by someone else. He originally wanted to save some of his skills for a particularly hard quest, but now it couldn’t be helped since he had encountered something which absolutely couldn’t be tolerated!

After glancing at his skill bar, he gradually approached the Arcane Mage. He planned to take her out before doing anything else since her damage was simply too ferocious. Once she was out of the picture, dealing with Night Shadow and Hidden blade would be much easier.

"Tangerine, stay alert,” Night Shadow reminded her. He didn’t feel safe knowing that Nie Yan could be lingering around somewhere nearby. He was too strong, even moreso when compared to the several Thieves in their team.

"No need to panic, it’s just a Thief. This little lady might not have killed several hundreds of them, but she’s certainly killed several dozens!” Tangerine replied in a boastful manner.

Hearing her response, Night Shadow felt his worries subside as he realized they might have been unfounded. After all, Tangerine’s skill placed her in the top three of their entire guild. She also had a flawless game sense and the best Arcane Mage equipment currently in the game, which meant that there were very few players capable of rivalling her.

"Still, it’s best if we remain on guard. He has some really strange skills, so watch out. We can’t let a moment of carelessness lead to our downfall.”

"I get it already, stop worrying!” Tangerine activated Keen Perception and then glanced over her shoulder.

In that same moment, Nie Yan crushed a Web Scroll he had been holding in his hand, whereupon a giant net of webbing emerged out of thin air, entrapping her. Mages had high resistance against transformation magic such as Sheep Transformation, making it very likely for her to ignore the spell altogether, which was why he chose to use the Web Scroll instead.

Seeing the web had successfully entangled her, Nie Yan rushed up to her with his dagger raised.

He still had to keep in mind that although Web rooted a player in place, it wouldn’t prevent them from casting spells.

Nie Yan closed in, intending to use Concussive Blow which would render her incapable of escaping. If he were to succeed, then she would undoubtedly die!

Before he could close in, however, she waved her staff and cast Repel!

Following which Nie Yan suddenly found himself being pushed back by a powerful force as a protective screen was formed between them, preventing him from reaching her. After another wave of her staff, dazzling arcane energy began rapidly converging on her location. She was using Arcane Flame Burst!

The ball of black fire headed straight for Nie Yan, streaking through the air!

This woman actually had Repel! It was an uncommon skill that was a huge headache for many Thieves. It could prevent an opponent from approaching within ten meters of the caster for five seconds.

A Thief that was unable to get close wouldn’t be able to unleash their crucial attacking skills. Hence, they would become nothing more than target practice for the Mage.

Nie Yan rolled to the side and dodged her incoming Arcane Flame Burst.

"Tangerine, focus over here! Kill the Zombie King first, then we’ll deal with that guy together!” Hidden Blade called out in a tense manner. Since the Zombie King was nearing the end of its life, it entered an enraged state causing its attacks to become even more powerful. If they were able to kill the Zombie King, then Nie Yan would have no hope of turning the situation around. After all, Tangerine had plenty of methods to deal with Thieves, so toying with Nie Yan until he died would be a rather simple affair.

"Hmph!” Tangerine shot a disdainful glare at Nie Yan who had been pushed back ten meters, then returned to shooting spells at the Zombie King. For the time being, she completely disregarded his existence, showing nothing but blatant contempt.

If he wanted to close in on her, then he would have to wait several more seconds. This posed quite a problem since by that time, she would have plenty of crowd control spells ready to deal with him.

Nie Yan originally wanted to get rid of Tangerine first before proceeding to take care of Night Shadow and Hidden Blade, but now it seemed like there wouldn’t be enough time for that.

Most of Victorious Return’s resources were funnelled into their elite team, of which included Tangerine, Night Shadow, and Hidden Blade. Their equipment and skills were clear evidence of Victorious Return’s powerful and deep foundation.

Although the equipment Nie Yan wore was decent, the superiority of the Chapter of Courage and Chapter of Freedom would only begin to manifest itself in the later stages of the game. As for Sulgata’s Boots, even though they weren’t bad, they were still only a single piece of equipment. Therefore, if he were to compare his gear to theirs, stat for stat, he would find himself somewhat lacking.

Worst of all, it was a three versus one! With a skilled Arcane Mage glaring at his back like a tiger, it would be incredibly difficult for him to act freely.

If they were to truly go at it, then Nie Yan wasn’t afraid of Tangerine. The real problem was that he wouldn’t be able to deal with her in a short period of time. Moreover, at this moment, the Zombie King was already very close to dying.

From his perspective, if the Zombie King was stolen and the equipment went to them, then it would be tantamount to slapping him across the face. This was a matter of pride; such an outcome was absolutely intolerable!

Having been left with no other choice, Nie Yan crushed a Haste Scroll before dashing toward Hidden Blade. Closing the distance almost immediately, his dagger flashed with a cold ray of light. Dammit, I don’t care if you’re a Berserker! Just because you have some armour, you think I can’t deal with you!?

Chapter 133 – Murder!

Even now, Nie Yan still didn’t wish to use Sacrificial Gambit. Its two-day cooldown wasn’t trivial since he wanted to have this skill in his arsenal for the quest he planned to embark on after returning to the city. However, since he had been forced into a corner, he was left with no other choice. He firmly believed that a person should live their life with steadfast resolve. As such, if he were to back down now, without even putting up a fight and allow the Zombie King to be taken away by someone else, he would be nothing more than a spineless coward!

Seeing Nie Yan dash over, Night Shadow withdrew from the battle with the Zombie King and raised his daggers to intercept him.

Battle Stance!

When a Battle Thief activated Battle Stance, they would receive a 30% increase in Attack Speed and a 20% increase in Attack, allowing their damage output to even surpass some Berserkers’. Its only flaw was that, even though their offensive abilities saw a sharp rise, they were still protected by merely leather armour.

「Klang!」Two pairs of daggers clashed together.

Amidst their deadlock, Nie Yan suddenly switched over from a reverse grip to a forward grip as his dagger slipped through Night Shadow’s guard like a snake before a fatal strike. Everything was over in an instant, and before Night Shadow even knew what was going on, he found himself in a dazed state.

Nie Yan’s mysterious action was actually a technique from his past life which Shadow Dancers often displayed in featured videos on Conviction’s official website. During the animation for switching grips, there was a very precise timing window where a Thief would be able to slip through an opponent’s guard and stun them with the pommel.

Back then, for the sake of mastering this technique, he had practiced these movements over several hundred thousand times. Perhaps this little trick wouldn’t be effective against the experienced Shadow Dancers of his original timeline, but it was more than enough to deal with players in the present day.

But, before he could proceed any further, a streak of arcane magic came flying his way.

Tangerine’s spell was perfectly timed. If he rolled out of the way now, the outcome would be the same as last time; Night Shadow would be allowed a moment to catch his breath.

However, the circumstances this time were substantially different from the previous encounter. For one, he was no longer the target of the Zombie King’s aggro, which was why he previously hadn’t dared to be rash and chose to avoid the oncoming spell. Yet now, the Zombie King was entirely aggroed onto Hidden Blade. If Tangerine believed she could shoo him away with just a single spell, then she was living in a dream!

Nie Yan mentally braced himself to endure the impact.「Bang!」He felt the Arcane Fireball explode on his back as it depleted 120 of his health.

What ferocious damage! His gear was considered good, but he had still lost so much health.

Afterward, Nie Yan struck Night Shadow with Assassinate followed by Lacerate and chunked him for 180 health. Aside from this initial damage, Night Shadow was also inflicted with the bleed status effect which caused him to lose 10 health every second.

Even though this number was frighteningly high, it didn’t kill him since Battle Thieves were generally more durable than Tempest Thieves. Night Shadow, for instance, had as much as 520 health.

However, when matched against Nie Yan’s damage, it still wasn’t nearly enough to save him!

Nie Yan followed up by circling behind Night Shadow and hitting him in the back of the head with Smothering Strike. Afterward, he brought out a Sheep Transformation Scroll and began channeling it. His target for the spell, surprisingly, wasn’t Night Shadow but Hidden Blade instead!

Smothering Strike - Strike an enemy from behind, putting then in a dazed state for six seconds. Target will awaken from dazed if attacked. This skill has a cooldown of 30 seconds.

Just as Hidden Blade was about to strike the Zombie King with Flame Slash, a bright radiance enshrouded him and his skill was interrupted as he transformed into a small sheep.

Currently, the Zombie King had only 8% health remaining. After falling below 20%, it would enter an enraged state and gain a life drain modifier on all of its attacks, making it noticeably more difficult to kill if a party was fighting against it the standard way. Therefore, as soon as both Night Shadow and Hidden Blade stopped dealing damage, its health would soon begin to recover.

For the sake of rescuing Night Shadow, Tangerine changed the focus of her firepower onto Nie Yan while Hidden Blade was still hopping around as a sheep. As a result, the Zombie King’s health stagnated after falling down to 3% before recovering back up to 5% upon successfully swiping the sheep in front of it several times.

Consequently, Hidden Blade’s transformation was forcefully cancelled by these attacks.

Nie Yan chugged down a health potion and then applied a Combat Bandage.「Bang!」Tangerine’s spell struck Nie Yan again, chunking him for 130 health.

However, Nie Yan endured the pain and struck Night Shadow with Backstab and Eviscerate, causing 253 health to disappear in an instant.

Night Shadow was awoken from his dazed state by Backstab, but he wasn’t given the time to drink a health potion.

"Die!” Nie Yan activated Vital Strike, his dagger flashing brilliantly before streaking across Night Shadow’s neck.

The last of Night Shadow’s health was instantly taken away, and with a plop, he collapsed onto the ground.

Tangerine stared blankly at the scene. She never expected that Nie Yan’s damage would be so terrifying. It hadn’t even been several exchanges, yet Night Shadow was already down for the count. She hadn’t even finished casting her third spell yet!

Hidden Blade, whose transformation was broken, was left in shock when he saw the party notification of Night Shadow’s death. However, he didn’t have much time to process this information when the Zombie King struck out with yet another swipe of its claws. He did his best to resist, but his health had already fallen by over 200 points while enduring its assault.

"Flame Slash!”

Hidden Blade finally got his skill off, and as his claymore ignited with flames, he slashed down on the Zombie King who in turn let out a mournful cry. As its lumbering body collapsed to the ground, a wisp of light floated up from its corpse before dissipating in the sky.

Shortly after Nie Yan finished off Night Shadow, he turned around to find that Hidden Blade had already slain the Zombie King. He was still a step too late… In the end, it was snatched away!

Nie Yan was absolutely indignant when he saw the experience from the Zombie King, that he had worked so hard on to wear down, go to someone else.

Hidden Blade was also briefly taken aback by the death of his teammate. However, he soon recovered and dashed toward Nie Yan with Vanguard Rush.

If Hidden Blade was allowed to get in range to use Tendon Break, then Nie Yan would be done for.

Meanwhile, Tangerine’s Arcane Fireball was also flying over. Suffering an attack from both sides, Nie Yan would undoubtedly die!

It’s either you or me! He had to finish Hidden Blade off in this instance; otherwise, he had no hope of surviving this predicament!

Sacrificial Gambit!

Nie Yan’s health bar plummeted as he sacrificed 30% of his current health. The missing health transformed into energy which converged at the tip of his dagger where it began radiating a murderous aura. As streaks of sparks danced in the air, the dagger was instantly propelled forward and plunged into Hidden Blade’s chest, causing the volatile energy to wreak havoc inside his body.

−193

As the damage value rose up above Hidden Blade’s head, an inconceivably shocked expression was plastered all over his face. He believed that his 193 remaining health was more than enough to deal with Nie Yan. In fact, none of the Thieves he had encountered so far were capable of dealing more than 30 damage to him in a single hit. Protected by his heavy plate armour that was capable of brushing off any attack from a dagger, he was confident that, as long as he could cripple Nie Yan with Tendon Break then follow up with Violent Slash, Nie Yan would undoubtedly die!

His overconfidence in his defensive abilities and gear was the main factor leading to his untimely death.

At the same time, Nie Yan’s Sacrificial Gambit was truly an anomaly!

Never could he have predicted, not even in his wildest dreams, that Nie Yan would be able to deal such explosive burst damage!

Both Night Shadow and Hidden Blade were killed within seconds of each other. Now, the only remaining member of the party was Tangerine. Even though she had experienced countless battles in her life, she could never have foreseen this one coming to a conclusion such as this. Even in life and death battles on the front lines of large-scale guild wars, she would be able to maintain a calm and collected heart. Yet at present, she couldn’t help but feel a chill run down her spine.

After killing Hidden Blade, Nie Yan rolled out of the way and dodged another one of Tangerine’s Arcane Flame Bursts.

「Bang!」Upon impact with the ground, the spell exploded into a shower of black flames.

After regaining his footing, he fished up the equipment that Night Shadow, Hidden Blade, and the Zombie King dropped upon their deaths. A moment later, he shifted his attention to Tangerine whom he stared at with an icy expression.

In that moment, Tangerine finally revealed a trace of panic. Dropping a level was a small matter, but if she died, she would also drop a piece of equipment and lose the set bonus from her gear.

Out of the three members in the party, only she was left. The mental blow from such a realization was intense.

"I thought you were so strong. What now? Are you finally getting scared?” Earlier, Tangerine had completely disregarded his existence. He still hadn’t forgotten her arrogant expression that was full of contempt. Step by step, he began to walk toward her.

"It’s not over yet. Don’t be so eager to count your chickens before they hatch!” Tangerine shouted in a flustered manner. She then brandished her staff to show that she had yet to give up. However, the high and aloof sense of superiority that she felt toward him had been completely shattered by the death of her two comrades.

Spells like Repel, although effective against Thieves, would only be able to keep them away for a short time and posed no real threat to their lives.

Tangerine had overestimated her ability. In a true one-on-one battle, Nie Yan could effortlessly toy with her to death!

If she believed Nie Yan was one of those Thieves she could kill by simply relying on her high damage, then she was in for a surprise.

Tangerine raised her staff and began chanting the incantation for her magic. As a halo of magical energy began converging at the tip of her staff, it started emitting an azure radiance that was magnificent to behold.

This woman actually has Arcane Reset!

Obscurus Magic was similar to Elemental Temple Magic and Templar Magic in that they possessed formidable might. Arcane Reset, for example, when cast successfully, would set the cooldowns of all the caster’s other spells to zero for three minutes. In other words, during that period of time, she would be able to fire off however many spells she had in her arsenal without worrying about their cooldowns. This spell was absolutely terrifying in duels! Of course, there were still cast times. However, as long as they had enough mana, the caster would be able to cast several dozen spells in the span of thirty seconds.

He couldn’t allow her to finish casting that spell! Even a tanky fighter would not dare to rashly confront such a formidable magic. Nie Yan retrieved a pouch of Flash Powder and lobbed it at her.「Poof!」The pouch exploded into a shower of blinding rays that pierced into Tangerine’s eyes like a thousand needles, causing her to temporarily lose vision.

"Drop dead!” Tangerine’s expression turned incomparably ugly to behold as she sent a wave of Arcane Fireballs flying over to him.

「Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!」Like tongues of flame, countless fireballs streaked through the air and chaotically peppered the earth with craters.

"Stupid girl, where do you think you’re aiming at?” Nie Yan coldly smiled. The area where he stood was completely untouched; however, just a little to the left of him, the earth was no longer recognizable.

A brief moment later, Tangerine finally regained her vision.

"Already out of mana, eh?” Nie Yan coldly chuckled. This arrogant woman had finally taken a bite from a bitter fruit. Although the utility of Arcane Reset allowed her to explode with all her damage in but a split second, it didn’t provide her with an endless pool of mana.

Tangerine was just like a rooster that lost a fight. She bitterly glared at Nie Yan and shouted in a fierce tone, "I’ll get my revenge!”

"I welcome it at any time. Here, let me make things easier for you. I’ll send you back to the city for free.” Just in case Tangerine still wanted to pull any dirty tricks, Nie Yan dashed forward and stunned her with Concussive Blow before finishing her off with Lacerate followed by Vital Strike, sending her back to the graveyard in Calore. As a Mage, she was much frailer than other classes.

After getting rid of Tangerine, Nie Yan bent down to pick up the item she dropped, a Level 10 Arcane Mage Staff.

Chapter 134 – Red Name

Nie Yan glanced at his status bar and was disappointed to find his name branded red. Though, now that he thought back to earlier, he was indeed the one who had drawn first blood. However, the circumstances at that time were very tense. He had no time to thoroughly consider the consequences of his actions. After all, if Night Shadow got the first attack in while he still held the Zombie King’s aggro, then he would be sandwiched between two enemies and it would without a doubt mark his death.

Sadly, there was nothing he could do about this since the system rules for player interaction were as such. Truthfully, the act of PKing, or player killing, was a form of recreation unto itself. To effortlessly dispose of an opponent while staying within the boundaries set by the game, now that was the highest level of play very few could achieve.

In his earlier predicament, it was impossible for him to yield the first attack to the enemy. As for cutting his losses and leaving, that was even more of an impossibility! However, he had to admit he did have such an urge at the back of his mind, but in those circumstances, who would possibly submit to such humiliation!?

Though, after killing those three players, his name had been branded in a deep crimson red.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t anything so alarming that it would make him worry. In his past life, he had been branded red at least several dozen times over. In especially chaotic battles, being branded red two or three times in a single day was a fairly regular occurrence. Even though his name was branded red, based on his current gear, if other players wished to kill him, it would be as difficult as ascending the heavens. If he wanted to escape, there was no one who would be able to bar his way! This was why he wasn’t feeling the least bit anxious.

However, based on his current Influence in Calore, while his name was still branded red, he would immediately be attacked by the guards upon being spotted.

Nie Yan suddenly recalled, if his name was red, he could simply hunt Scaled Frogs!

They were especially great monsters for reducing the PKer status effect. Not to mention they gave increased experience and higher drop rates while under a red name. Sometimes, if a player was lucky, they would drop a special present known as the Killer’s Demonic Medallion!

Perhaps there’s still some good that can come out of this.

His battle with Tangerine, Night Shadow, and Hidden Blade was a wake-up call. The two chapters from the Book of Order and the fragment of Sulgata’s Shadow were items that would benefit him greatly in the future. After all, he would receive four more stat points than the average player every five levels. However, since he had spent so much time gathering them, the rest of his gear became lacking as a result, a reminder that he needed to be faster with levelling and collecting better equipment; otherwise, he might not be so lucky in his next encounter.

After reaffirming his resolve, he examined the Level 10 Arcane Mage Staff in his hands.

Blackwind Staff (Gold)

Requirements: Level 10

Properties: Magic Power 62–68, +30 Explosion Damage, +30% damage against Beast-type monsters

Weight: 2 lb

Restrictions: Arcane Mage; can only be equipped by members of the Righteous Guardians of Order.

It turns out that woman actually had this sort of weapon! No wonder she dealt so much damage. No matter how high my defense was, it would have still been useless… I should give this staff to Tang Yao, just in time too since he’s about to hit Level 10. Then, after switching his gear, we can leave to do the quest. But without Sacrificial Gambit, I’m not sure we can still succeed. I ought to get him some better spells to increase our chances.

Nie Yan proceeded to examine the equipment the two other players dropped. Night Shadow dropped the Blackwing Cloak. Since it could only be equipped by Battle Thieves, there was nothing Nie Yan could do about it. Meanwhile, Hidden Blade dropped a piece of Warrior armour.

Finally, he moved on to the item the Zombie King dropped which gave him a pleasant surprise.

Zombie King’s Leather Leg Guards (Gold)

Requirements: Level 10

Properties: Defense: 29–35, Resilience +12, Movement Speed +16

Weight: 2 lb

Restrictions: Thief; can be equipped by all factions.

「How are things on your side?」Nie Yan popped Tang Yao a message.

「I just hit Level 10, so I’m about to head back to Calore. Are we going to do the quest next?」Tang Yao asked. Now that he had a Rank 3 Arcane Fairy by his side, he really wanted to test it out against some stronger mobs.

「We’re having a slight change of plans. I’m branded with a red name…」Nie Yan let out a forced smile as he helplessly replied.

Tang Yao was momentarily left speechless. After pulling himself together, he exclaimed,「R-red name? Did you just PK someone!?」

「Three, actually. Members of Victorious Return, they tried kill stealing an Elite from me. In the end, I finished them off.」

「Holy crap! You’re amazing! You were actually able to take on all three of them at once? What level were they? 」Tang Yao didn’t seem disappointed at all by the fact that Nie Yan was branded with a red name and had to delay their plans. On the contrary, it was actually quite the opposite; he was elated—not because Nie Yan had to delay their plans or because he was branded as a PKer, but because he had single-handedly fought three opponents at once… and won! That was an incredible accomplishment!

「They were all Level 10.」

「Dear Lord…! Level 10!? And here I thought they were all low-level trash!」Tang Yao was given quite a shock. He knew exactly what a Level 10 player in a major guild signified. It meant they were the elites of the guild, members of the main dungeon running team, and certainly not someone like him who had relied on grinding mobs endlessly in a single area to level up! Yet this brother of his had actually managed to deal with—not one, but three such frightening existences! At a time where the vast majority of players were still levelling in low-level zones, this sort of achievement was simply inconceivable!

A lone player had PKed three members of Victorious Return’s elite team… Such a fact was still hard for him to accept.

After a moment of silence as he processed this information, he finally spoke.「Alright… I understand! Tell me where you are, and I’ll meet you there. Don’t get killed by other players in the meantime. If you do, you’ll end up dropping all your gear.」This matter was Tang Yao’s sole worry. Though, after giving it a second thought, he believed he might have been overthinking things. With Nie Yan’s ability, the fact that he wasn’t purposefully causing trouble for other players was already a godsend for the entire community. If other players wanted to kill his brother, then they better start reconsidering their own life choices!

「I’m at Black Gold Mines. I’ve thought of a good way to remove my PKer status, but I’ll need you to help me prepare a few things first. Head back to Calore and talk to Bird Leaves No Eggs at the Starry Night Potion Shop. He’ll give you some money. After buying all the consumables I need in the city, I want you to teleport over to Tasoyi Village in Plague Canyons and help me buy some Smoke Powder, 」Nie Yan instructed before he began explaining his relation with the Starry Night Potion Shop. By the end of it all, Tang Yao couldn’t be more amazed if he wanted to. The business that made such a huge uproar all over Calore was actually opened by Nie Yan? Though, after thinking over these matters some more, he became thoroughly convinced. Who knew just how many more secrets this brother of his was keeping? However, one thing was certain; he would do his utmost to keep the ones that Nie Yan shared with him.

「Smoke Powder? What kind of item is that?」Tang Yao asked in bewilderment.

「You’ll find out when you get there. By the way, bring some extra money with you. They sell for five gold a batch over there, and there’s twenty in a batch. I’ll tell Bird to give you six gold.」

「The hell, what kind of item is that expensive!? And five gold can only buy twenty of them? That’s way too much! Are they trying to rob people blind!?」Tang Yao sucked in a breath of cold air.

「Don’t ask so many questions. I’ll explain everything when you get back.」

「Alright, I’ll get it done as quickly as possible.」

「Good, I’ll be grinding some mobs. When you’re almost done, just pop me a message,」Nie Yan said. For the time being, he could only hunt some of the ordinary Zombie Miners in the area and do his best to reduce his PKer status albeit if only slightly.

And so, while following Nie Yan’s instructions, Tang Yao urgently purchased all of the items he requested from the NPC shops, including the batch of Smoke Powder that could only be purchased exclusively in Tasoyi Village. Just like that, five gold went down the drain. Tang Yao’s heart ached sorely, as if it were being stabbed by a thousand daggers, when he thought about the money that had been spent. Five gold, if were to turn all that into Health Potions he would have enough to last him three entire months. If he were to use it to buy equipment, then he would be able to put on an entire set of Gold-grade gear. Yet in Nie Yan’s hands, it became twenty strange pouches of powder that he still knew nothing about! Gaaah, what a waste!

「I’m there, tell me your coordinates,」Tang Yao messaged.

「I’m at 23838.23828.」Nie Yan sent over his coordinates to Tang Yao.

「I’m near the area. I’ll be there in a bit.」

After a while, a fatty could be seen approaching from the distance, panting for air as he ran. Sticking close by was a ball of blue light following from behind.

"Ha… ha… ha… I’m so tired, give me a second to catch my breath…” A brief moment later, Tang Yao looked up and got a better inspection of Nie Yan’s name. "Ahh, why is it so red!?” he gasped in shock.

"Go find three players to kill, and yours will be just as red too,” Nie Yan bitterly replied.

"Well, aren’t you fierce?” Tang Yao chuckled.

"Alright, stop standing there and poking fun at another’s misfortune. Help me bring these things back to the city. I’ll give you access to my personal storage, so deposit them in there,” Nie Yan said.

"Eh, I have to run there and back again!?” Tang Yao exclaimed in a dejected tone.

"My bag is packed to the brim with items. Or are you telling me you’d rather have me throw them all away? I guess you won’t be needing the Gold-grade staff that’s inside there then.”

"Gold-grade staff? Show me!” Hearing a Gold-grade weapon being mentioned, Tang Yao’s eyes lit up with a hint of greed.

"Here,” Nie Yan sent Tang Yao a trade request. Then, he opened up the trade window and placed the Blackwind Staff inside.

"Awesome! If you had a Gold-grade staff for me, why didn’t you just say so earlier?” After examining the staff’s properties, his face immediately lit up, and without raising any further complaints, he said, "Good sir, I am wholeheartedly at your service. I promise I’ll have these items inside your storage within three minutes and be back here in twenty at most.”

"Then go already!” Nie Yan jokingly scolded before giving him the rest of the items.

Tang Yao teleported back to the city with a Return Scroll before hurrying back to Nie Yan’s side after depositing the items.

"So, what are we doing next?”

"We’re going to hunt Scaled Frogs. I’ll send you the party invite.”

Young Sparrow Hawk has joined your party.

With their party formed, the pair set out to the area that spawned Scaled Frogs.

After exiting Black Gold Mines, they continued south until they arrived in a large of forest lush with greenery. Occasionally, between the gaps in the trees, they would be able to spot a few cowlike monsters grazing on the grass while passing by.

"Whatever you do, stay hidden. If we encounter any monsters, just circle around them, and absolutely do not draw any of their aggro.” Nie Yan gave Tang Yao a reminder.

"Where are we going? Why do I get the feeling that we’re in a very dangerous area?” Tang Yao whispered back.

"We’re in a Level 30 area, so we need to be a bit careful. Thankfully, the monsters here are pretty docile. As long as we don’t get within five meters of them, they won’t aggro onto us.”

"Level 30 area!?” Tang Yao was so shocked his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Coming to a Level 30 zone at their level, weren’t they just seeking death? Though, after considering things over, he voiced no further complaints. Several days ago, Nie Yan had brought him over to the Level 25 zone, Hems Wasteland. With that being the case, what difference was there in going a little higher?

After traversing the dense thickets for some time, they would occasionally come across one or two cowlike monsters. They were big and robust, possessing long, sharp horns and thick hides covered in pure black coats. Their appearances were quite daunting.

Tang Yao in particular was left especially panic-stricken by their presence. Unlike Thieves who had a good chance of escaping whatever dangers they encountered, he was a slow, cloth-armoured Mage. If he were to be targeted by any of the monsters in this area, he would undoubtedly meet his demise.

After passing through the cow monster zone, Nie Yan and Tang Yao finally arrived at the Scaled Frog area.

Chapter 135 – Smoke Powder

Domineering and covered in black scales, these huge Scaled Frogs appeared particularly terrifying as they lumbered across the forest floor. Tang Yao, upon spotting them, nearly received a heart attack from fright. Are you serious? Are these supposed to be the mobs we could handle!?

"Your Arcane Fairy’s Ignore Level Difference is at +7 now, right?” Nie Yan asked. Ignore Level Difference was a fairly useful property, especially when engaging higher level mobs—while in PvP, its advantages were obvious. With it, Tang Yao would be able to inflict effective damage against opponents up to 12 levels higher than him. When facing opponents above that, there was a chance of ignoring the level difference.

"Yeah.” Tang Yao nodded.

"Good, we can hunt these Scaled Frogs then. As long as one in five of your spells procs the Ignore Level Difference effect, you’ll be able to whittle their health down. Also, with the Arcane Fairy around, you won’t have to worry about conserving your mana because you’ll never run out in the first place!” Only after factoring in this minor detail did Nie Yan realize that it would be beneficial to bring Tang Yao along. After all, who knew what sort of goodies these mobs would drop while hunting them at their current level? Not only that, but they gave plenty of experience as well. Hence, this was the perfect opportunity for the pair of best friends to do some levelling together!

Nie Yan glanced at the leaderboards. At present, the highest ranked player in the entire Viridian Empire was Victorious Return’s guild leader, Heaven Breaker, who had already reached Level 15. After the opening of Sosil Valley and Medusa’s Lair, he had soared to the top of the leaderboards. As a testament to his guild’s power, the third and sixth positions belonged to Victorious Return as well. Second place was occupied by a Level 14 member of Holy Judgement, while Sleepy Fox, who was already Level 13, was ranked fourth. Fifth place belonged to a member of Radiant Sacred Flame, and seventh place belonged to Battle Crazed Alliance’s very own Kill Love.

As for the top-ranked guild of the Righteous Faction in his previous timeline, Angel Corp, their scope of influence was limited to the Satreen Empire, which had their own leaderboards separate from the Viridian Empire’s.

Five formidable powers had risen to prominence in the Viridian Empire: Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, Holy Judgement, Holy Empire, and Battle Crazed Alliance. The other guilds struggling for power were relegated to second-rate positions.

Naturally, many more formidable powers would emerge in the future; however, in the initial stages of the game, there were only these five. Their influence was still relatively minimal for the time being—not yet enough to shake the empire as a whole—but when they started partitioning the empire’s strongholds and receiving its respective taxes, they would grow immensely in power to the extent of obtaining seats in the empire’s parliament. From then on, they would truly be able to reshape the policies of the empire.

If forthcoming events proceeded as they had in the previous timeline, then Cao Xu would bring Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, and three other major guilds under his control, gaining a vast number of strongholds and ascending to the position powerful overlord. Afterward, he would secure seven seats in the empire’s parliament and become such a domineering existence that the other three powers—Holy Judgement, Battle Crazed Alliance, and Holy Empire—would go to great lengths to avoid his crosshairs. If such events were to recur, then Nie Yan would be unable to live his days in peace.

If he wanted to avert this worst-case scenario, it wouldn’t do to remain forever complacent in the shadows, unwilling to step into the spotlight. As a single person, no matter how many players he could take on by himself because of his growth in level or the gear he obtained, there was no way he could match the might of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of men.

As he anticipated the possibilities of the future, Nie Yan sank into deep thought. Even though he had collected several items that would greatly aid his growth in the future, these still weren’t nearly enough to achieve his ambitions. He needed to quicken his pace!

"I might not run out of mana, but these things are Level 30! They’re way faster than I am. As soon as I aggro one of them, I’m dead…” Tang Yao wryly pointed out.

"No worries, that’s why we brought this powder along.” Nie Yan retrieved a pouch of Smoke Powder from his bag.

"What’s that supposed to do?” Even though he had seen its description, he was never able to figure out how it could prove useful.

Smoke Powder: Covers everything in a thirty-meter range in a dense cloud of smoke and reduces the Sight of both enemies and allies by 15. Effective against all living beings Level 50 and lower. Duration: 2 hours.

"You’ll see in just a moment,” Nie Yan replied in a mysterious manner.

"If this Smoke Powder only affects enemies and not allies, then I could see how it would be somewhat useful. But it doesn’t, so it’s pretty much useless, right? Are you sure you didn’t misread the description? What about in PvP? It’s useless as well! Losing 15 points of Sight is nothing! Does this even work on monsters?” Tang Yao rattled on in bewilderment. In a daylight setting, an average player at this stage of the game had 50–60 points of Sight. In a dark setting like an underground dungeon or cave where vision was reduced by 90%, only then would something like Smoke Powder prove useful. However, who in their right mind would deliberately PvP in such areas?

"Why wouldn’t it affect monsters? They have stats too, right? Everyone starts out with a base Sight of 30. After raising awareness, it might rise to 60 or higher. As for me, I have 57 points of Sight. Every monster has a weakness, and for these Scaled Frogs, it’s their low Sight. At 40 points, it means they won’t be able to see you so long as you stay over 40 meters away from them, but I know your attacks don’t reach that far. That’s why I brought the Smoke Powder. It can reduce their range of vision to only 25 meters. As long as you keep your distance while firing spells, they’ll never be able to catch you,” Nie Yan explained.

"Is that really how it works?” Tang Yao was dumbfounded. He didn’t really feel that it would be so simple, yet Nie Yan’s explanation seemed so clear and logical. Maybe, just maybe, this crazy idea of his might actually work…

"Alright, get ready. We’re going to head deeper into the forest.”

”W-wait, what? We’re still going in deeper? Why can’t we just hunt them from here?”

"Because we’d be wasting the Smoke Powder on ordinary Scaled Frogs… We’re heading deeper to hunt Elites and Sub-Elites.” In this vast zone that covered two entire mountains, Nie Yan knew of three locations, set up similarly to Gato the Lion King’s, where elites would respawn daily. As for Sub-Elites, they were even more plentiful.

Tang Yao stared blankly for a moment before coming back to reality. He already felt that killing ordinary Level 30 mobs was going to be an impossible task. Yet, at this point, Nie Yan pointed out that his interests actually lied with the Elites rather than the ordinary mobs. This was simply too ridiculous! Did Nie Yan suddenly go crazy? Most Level 30 Elites had frightening amounts of health. Would he really be able to even leave so much as a scratch?

"Stop daydreaming already and let’s go,” Nie Yan said.

The pair penetrated deeper into the forest, avoiding any Scaled Frogs they encountered along the way.

***

In a certain guild’s headquarters in Calore, the elite members of Victorious Return were all assembled in a meeting hall, an accommodation that the game provided to every guild upon their creation. Theirs in particular was quite large and spacious, capable of fitting over several hundred people.

Their guild leader, Heaven Breaker, was a man in his forties with a tall, robust build and suntanned skin. His appearance, as well as his vicious tendencies in the game, struck fear into the hearts of many players. He was Cao Xu’s business partner in reality and a well-known figure in the criminal underworld. Were it not for the fact that he’d exhausted all other available means, Cao Xu wouldn’t have been able accumulate such massive wealth. Conversely, without Cao Xu’s support, his influence wouldn’t have risen at such an astronomical rate and he wouldn’t be in the position he was in now. He had over 50,000 subordinates under his control, including quite a few miscreants and criminals. Since he had heard some murmurings behind the scenes, he had entered Conviction early in hopes of taking advantage of its economy to gradually wipe away the records of his criminal past. With the backing of his powerful network, Victorious Return would rapidly expand!

At this moment, Heaven Breaker was akin to a raging lion. The other elite members stayed quiet out of fear; it had been quite a while since their guild leader was this mad.

"Thanks to you three, our dungeon running schedule has been delayed yet again by at least another day! Tangerine, explain what the hell happened out there! How did the three of you end up being killed by a single Thief!? You useless idiots! Is it because things have become too relaxed these past few days? Is that why you decided to screw things up!?” Heaven Breaker furiously cursed.

Tangerine and the other two didn’t dare to utter even a single word. Eventually, they could only obediently explain what had happened during their encounter with Nie Yan.

"I’m also not sure what happened… I just remember us clashing daggers during the fight, and then, before I knew it, he suddenly stunned me with Concussive Blow…” Night Shadow explained in a flustered and confused manner. Their exchange was simply too short, and Nie Yan was too quick. From start to finish, he had been clueless.

After hearing the three recount their details of the event, Heaven Breaker pressed no further and began contemplating with a dark expression.

"Alright, you three can leave now. Go run Medusa’s Lair a few times to replace the gear you lost. We’re heading to Misty Forest tomorrow,” Heaven Breaker calmly instructed, not allowing anyone to see what was going on in the back of his mind.

As if they had just been pardoned of a terrible crime, Tangerine’s, Night Shadow’s, and Hidden Blade’s expressions immediately brightened as they excused themselves before fleeing the hall.

This was the second time such an event had occurred. The first could be chalked up to coincidence since Violet Flames might have died due to carelessness. However, this time, the same player had single-handedly taken down three of his elite members—including Tangerine, who ranked third in the entire guild. In that case, this Nirvana Flame definitely wasn’t simple. An expert Thief with unbelievable skill… this did drum up some interest inside of him.

***

While the pair of friends traversed deeper into the forest, Nie Yan suddenly received a voice call. He checked the Caller ID; it was actually no other than Victorious Return’s guild leader, Heaven Breaker!

Heaven Breaker surely wasn’t contacting him with kind intentions, but Nie Yan answered the call anyway. Although Victorious Return’s association with Cao Xu was kept tightly under wraps, he understood that he would have to confront his enemies eventually, so it might as well be now.

「Nirvana Flame, I presume?」Heaven Breaker’s somewhat hoarse voice rang out from the other end.

「Right, that’s me.」

「You’ve killed four of my members so far: Violet Flames, Night Shadow, Tangerine, and Hidden Blade. I’m now giving you two options: one, you can join my guild, and I’ll be willing to forgive all of your past transgressions. As for number two, I’m sure we’re both very clear on what it is. Victorious Return will never let its enemies off. I’m quite a busy man, so I’ll give you three minutes to consider things over.」Heaven Breaker’s tone carried over his arrogant and menacing nature.

「Well, since the first option seems impossible, I guess I have no choice but to pick option number two. If you have what it takes, then bring it on. I’ll welcome your wrath at any time,」Nie Yan replied coarsely. Considering the interactions he’d had with them in the previous timeline, what could this little enmity between them now possibly count as? He wasn’t the least bit afraid of Victorious Return, whether it be in this life or the previous!

「Then that makes things easier for the both of us, doesn’t it? I do truly appreciate your candidness.」Heaven Breaker grimly laughed before hanging up.

Tang Yao noticed the change in Nie Yan’s expression and asked, "What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

"It’s nothing,” Nie Yan waved his hands before changing the subject. "Hey, Tang Yao. Have you ever thought about creating our own guild?”

"Wait, what?! Starting a guild?” Tang Yao asked in shock. This sudden question caught him completely off guard.

"Yeah, a guild that’s even more powerful than Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame combined!”

Chapter 136 – Level 30 Elite!

Tang Yao stared at Nie Yan with a strange expression of disbelief. A brief moment later, he burst into laughter and said, "You’re joking, right? Why would we ever start a guild?”

"No, I’m dead serious. We’ll be contesting for the top spot,” Nie Yan replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Ehh, that sounds like a pain in the ass… I mean, right now, we get to hunt mobs and chase after girls to our heart’s content; isn’t that enough already…?” Tang Yao perplexedly asked.

Nie Yan sank into thought after hearing Tang Yao’s words then burst out into laughter as well. Apparently the grand ambitions of others actually meant nothing to this brother of his. After contemplating a while longer, he concluded that the timing did seem a little too early for establishing a guild. He still didn’t have enough trustworthy people by his side, and there was no way he could handle the task of running an entire guild all by himself.

Even though Nie Yan’s father was presently smuggling goods at the borders of the country, the man had already long set out plans for his future company from its name, how it would operate, to the types of machinery needed for manufacturing. In fact, he had already struck several undisclosed deals with neighbouring countries on the western and northern border. As a result, the profits reaped would be immense, but the risk was all too high. If any of these deals ever fell through, then the company would be toast because the trade contracts he owned were extremely coveted after by others. Hence, in order to mitigate some of this risk in the previous timeline, Nie Yan’s father had heavily invested into the game known as humanity’s second world, Conviction. After recruiting experts for his newly established gaming organization, he had founded a guild that became immensely popular for a time called the War God Tribe.

Thanks to the enormous financial backing from his father, the War God Tribe nearly rivalled Victorious Return in power and influence, and the elites under his control were numerous beyond compare. However, as a consequence of the guild becoming powerful enough to contest their position as overlord of the Viridian Empire, Victorious Return began an intense string of counterattacks. They besieged land under the War God Tribe’s control, seizing two Strongholds in quick succession, and ruined many of their businesses. Having set foot in the game so late, their foundation was severely lacking which was shown by the fact they owned only one influential property, an auction house opened by one of Nie Yan’s cousins. Thus, they eventually crumbled under the fierce attacks launched by their enemy.

Truthfully, after the War God Tribe’s initial strikes, Victorious Return had actually shown visible signs of decline. If they had pressed on a little further and organized several more powerful counterattacks, Victorious Return might have ended up on the losing side instead. In fact, were it not for several other guilds joining the fray, such as Radiant Sacred Flame, Bloodlust Blades, and so on, the War God Tribe wouldn’t have fallen. Under their combined assault, his father’s wealth became meaningless.

Reality was harsh and cruel. If his father’s guild hadn’t lost their strongholds and defeated Victorious Return instead, they would have seized thirteen strongholds—each of which would generate astronomical revenue—numerous shops, auction houses, and other properties, and the resulting wealth would have been enough to allow his family to prosper for many generations to come.

In the end, the company his father had built from the ground up through painstaking efforts suffered a crushing defeat, an outcome that could only be attributed to fate not being on their side. In this lifetime, however, Nie Yan would make sure that the War God Tribe wasn’t built atop a shallow foundation which was the main factor for their defeat. The several properties he had purchased so far were enough to allow the guild to gain a firm foothold in Calore. With this source of income, they would expand even more ferociously than before, letting the War God Tribe grow into an unshakeable oak that would reach new heights.

Nie Yan originally wanted to wait for his father to establish the War God Tribe before entering the spotlight and merging his assets with his father’s because—after his father pulled in his old comrades, colleagues, trustworthy friends, and hired talented management staff—he would have no need to worry about running the guild. However, considering recent developments, if he waited any longer, wouldn’t it already be too late?

Even though he was given a second chance, he was still subject to the tides of fate. He could only slowly build his influence a step at a time because if he rushed things too quickly, he was prone to failure. After all, he was only one person and the power he possessed was limited.

Nie Yan smiled at Tang Yao before shaking his head, and said, "You don’t understand. Often when you’re alone, you won’t be able to protect yourself nor those close to you. An individual’s strength, no matter how powerful, is meaningless in front of many.”

"I don’t understand. I’ve never gotten into a serious conflict with any guild. Why would they go after me?”

"At times, even if you don’t go looking for trouble, trouble will come looking for you.” Nie Yan shook his head, a bitter smile on his face, and then continued, "Establishing a guild is tedious and difficult work. How about we put this discussion off for some other time? For now, we can still afford to hunt monsters at a leisurely pace.”

"Oh, alright. Let’s keep levelling then…” Tang Yao replied, sounding a bit distracted. Why did he suddenly bring up the topic of creating our own guild when we were happily going about our business?

Nie Yan knew that Victorious Return now had their sights on his head. However, as long as he stayed careful, then they probably wouldn’t be able to do any harm to him. After all, spotting and surrounding a lone player in the wilderness was an extremely difficult task, to say nothing of a Thief as skilled as him who only hung around high-level zones.

Although Scaled Frogs appeared clumsy because of their large size, once they spotted an enemy, they would act with incomparable speed. Of course, that was only if they had a target to go after. If they didn’t, then even if they were attacked for half-a-day, they would be helpless to react.

Scaled Frog (Elite): Level ??

Nie Yan still wasn’t able to fully inspect its level, but he knew from his previous life that this monster was Level 30.

"Are you ready?” Nie Yan inquired.

"As ready as I’ll ever be…” Tang Yao gulped down a mouthful of saliva.

"Don’t worry. As long as you stay over 25 meters away from them, they’ll be no different from motionless target dummies. Just focus on casting spells, and you’ll be fine,” Nie Yan assured with a smile as he patted Tang Yao on the shoulders.

"Alright, if you say so. I’m ready.” Tang Yao raised his Blackwind Staff. This newly acquired staff improved his magic power significantly. However, against a Level 30 Elite, he didn’t have the least bit faith in his damage.

Afterward, Nie Yan retrieved a pouch of Smoke Powder from his bag before slinking toward the Scaled Frog while in stealth. When he approached within ten meters of the Scaled Frog, it suddenly trembled, apparently sensing his presence.「Poof!」The bag of Smoke Powder burst in his palms, causing a dense cloud of smoke to proliferate outward, enshrouding everything within a 30-meter area for a predetermined period of time.

Then, he hastily retreated from the area. At the same time, the Scaled Frog didn’t seem to react as it was still leisurely roaming around.

「You can start now. Be careful, don’t get too close.」

After Nie Yan gave the go-ahead, Tang Yao gradually approached the Scaled Frog. After nearing within 30 meters of the Scaled Frog, it was finally within range of his spells.

Arcane Flame Burst!

After Tang Yao recited the spell, a sphere of black fire emerged from thin air and then shot toward the Scaled Frog.「Bang!」The spell exploded on its body and shaved away 10 health.

The Scaled Frog revealed an alert expression after being struck; its round eyes vigilantly searched for its aggressor. However, after being unable to find Tang Yao, it returned to its passive roaming state.

Seeing the Scaled Frog turn vigilant as it made several steps in his direction, Tang Yao felt extremely nervous, but when he noticed it rather quickly settling back down, he felt his fears quickly disperse. Sending several more spells to test the waters, he found his presence was yet to be noticed.

Everything was progressing smoothly. Of course, this was all thanks to Nie Yan wracking his brains until he finally came up with this method. Normally, killing a Level 30 Elite Scaled Frog wasn’t nearly as simple as shooting fish in a barrel.

Tang Yao finally felt reassured. As long as he didn’t approach within 25 meters of the Scaled Frog, he was completely safe!

They really could rely on this method to take down an Elite Scaled Frog! This was simply amazing! He couldn’t help but get excited as he began wondering what sort of items such a high-level Elite would drop.

The Arcane Fairy never stopped replenishing Tang Yao’s mana as he continued to fire spells while constantly repositioning himself to keep the Scaled Frog within the range of the cloud of smoke.「Blub! Blub! Blub!」The mana in the atmosphere converged toward him as the fairy blew an unending stream of bubbles by his side.

Arcane Fireball! Arcane Missile! Arcane Flame Burst!

Firing spell after spell, Tang Yao seemed to have limitless mana as their cost didn’t even put a dent in his mana bar.

"My Arcane Flame Burst advanced by a grade!” Tang Yao exclaimed after a system notification appeared. He began to recall the Elementalist from Radiant Sacred Flame, Dian Cang, who had been able to wipe out one of his party members with a single spell. At that time, he had been badly frightened by Dian Cang’s damage. Yet now, he was also capable of killing an opponent with just a single spell.

Watching Tang Yao firing off spells like a Gatling gun, Nie Yan began to recall that player who had a Rank 5 Arcane Fairy. At the moment, Tang Yao really did seem to somewhat resemble him.

−10, −11, −10, −132….

A string of damage values rose up above the Scaled Frog’s head, many of which were fairly low. However, on occasion, a spell would proc the Ignore Level Difference effect and deal a terrifying amount of damage.

In the meantime, Nie Yan didn’t have anything left to do. He could simply sit back, relax, and enjoy the free experience and loot.

Tang Yao decided to liven things up as he began chanting a long line of syllables.

"Meteor!”

Wave after wave of meteors rained down from the sky, all without exception bombarding the Scaled Frog. As the area was being carpet bombed, the ground was quickly reduced to scorched black craters.

After casting the spell, Tang Yao’s mana fell by one-fifth, but it quickly recovered soon afterward. In the past, when Tang Yao used Meteor, it would at least consume the greater half of his mana. However, thanks to his Rank 3 Arcane Fairy increasing his mana by 300%, the mana cost of casting Meteor could no longer be regarded as anything taxing.

The damage Tang Yao dealt was just too monstrous; even Nie Yan was left speechless.

The drop rate of an Arcane Soul Crystal was extremely low, not to mention 90% of all Arcane Fairies would end up dying before reaching Rank 3. That was why, even in a group of ten thousand Arcane Mages, it was hard to find one. Tang Yao really had struck gold, finding one so early on in the game.

"Did your Arcane Soul Crystal drop when you were farming monsters with Yu Lan (Blue Feather) and the others?”

"Yep!” Tang Yao replied as he fired off another round of spells.

"None of the Arcane Mages in their team fought with you for it?” Nie Yan asked in surprise. For others to not covet after such a priceless item was quite strange.

"None of them felt comfortable fighting with me over it, but I still thanked them anyway for letting me have it by giving everyone in the team two silver. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been so broke when you told me to come over to Hems Wasteland.”

After the seemingly unending volley of magic persisted for thirty minutes, the Scaled Frog could no longer support itself as its right side gave way and it ended up on the ground belly up.

You have successfully slain a Scaled Frog (Elite). +700% experience for killing a monster above your level. You have received 98,290 experience points.

Nie Yan watched as his experience sharply rose from Level 11, 83% to 92%.

As for the other member of his party, Tang Yao, he was enveloped in a bright radiance, and having just recently hit Level 10, he stood foolishly, staring into empty space as he levelled up once again to Level 11.

Chapter 137 – Leaderboards

Since Tang Yao had contributed the most to slaying the Scaled Frog, he received a much larger share of the experience. As such, the generous amount of experience granted by a Level 30 Elite caused him to immediately level up.

In an effort to encourage people to challenge themselves, players would receive more experience if they killed a monster above their level. Depending on how high the monster’s level was, the experience they would receive could be as much as several times or higher. However, at the same time, the higher the monster’s level, the more difficult it was to hunt due to the level penalties. Players like Nie Yan, who relied on special methods to hunt higher level monsters, were especially rare. So even if he didn’t focus all his energy into training, he would still be able to gradually overtake the vast majority of players in level.

"Holy crap, amazing! I levelled up!” Tang Yao exclaimed. He had never seen such a huge jump in `experience before. Even though he had just recently reached Level 10, with just one kill, his experience bar had gone from 1% all the way up to 100%—resulting in him levelling up to Level 11 with 7% already filled! If he kept levelling at this speed, then even attaining the top position on the leaderboards wouldn’t be a problem!

Nie Yan leisurely walked up to the Scaled Frog’s corpse.

"Let’s see what it dropped.” Saying that, he bent down and picked up the drops from the ground: 26 silver, a Fortune Gem, and Thief Leg Guards.

Shadow Wind Leg Guards (Gold)

Requirements: Level 30

Properties: Defense 133–135, Balance +12, Jump +15, Resilience +23

Weight: 12 lb

Restrictions: Thief; can be equipped by all factions.

The Shadow Wind Set, one of the better Level 30 Thief sets, consisted of three pieces of gear: leg guards, shoulder guards, and bracers. When a player equipped all three pieces, they would gain a set bonus of +30% Movement Speed and the Annihilating Edge skill. As he wasn’t Level 30, he still couldn’t equip it yet. Although he might’ve already gone off and found something better by the time he did reach Level 30, he planned to hold on to these leg guards nonetheless. Just in case he didn’t find anything, the Shadow Wind Set would serve as a decent stand-in.

"A piece of Thief equipment dropped along with 26 silver and a Fortune Gem,” Nie Yan looked back over his shoulder and informed Tang Yao.

"Huh…? Oh! Well, let me know if any Mage equipment drops. You can take everything else.” Still in amazement, Tang Yao was a little slow to respond.

Just as the pair was about to move on, an important announcement appeared in the chat.

System Notice: Victorious Return has placed a 50-silver bounty on the head of player Nirvana Flame. The amount will be paid out each time to whoever kills the designated player and forcing them to drop a level. To claim the reward, provide sufficient evidence at Victorious Return’s guild headquarters.

Tang Yao, stunned by the announcement, turned to Nie Yan and asked, "Why did Victorious Return put out a bounty on your head? Was it because of those three players you killed?” Just who in the world did Nie Yan piss off for Victorious Return to go after him in such a way?

Even Nie Yan himself didn’t expect Victorious Return to place such a large bounty on his head. This meant he would need to be a bit more careful when setting foot outside of the city in the future. He smiled at Tang Yao and said, "Ah, it doesn’t matter. It’s just a bounty. They’d have to kill me for it to mean anything. Besides, I’m a Thief. What’s so scary about having a bounty on my head?”

Nie Yan’s carefree and relaxed appearance was a stark contrast to Tang Yao’s anxious and brooding expression. The latter recalled the words of the former, about forming their own guild and how a single person’s power was meaningless in the face of a larger enemy. Taking these things into consideration, it seemed obvious his brother’s true feelings weren’t as laid-back as he made them out to be on the surface.

A lone player going up against an entire guild, surely the pressure they’d be facing would be immense…

"If you’re seriously planning to face them alone, I guarantee you’ll be the one coming out of it on the losing end. Come on, let’s establish a guild together and fight them head-on. It’s better than being chased around everywhere and hiding for your life,” Tang Yao suddenly declared in a resolute tone.

"Hoh… Didn’t you say earlier that you were only interested in leisurely training and chasing girls?” Nie Yan chuckled in response. "Don’t worry, they won’t be able to do anything to me, at least not for the time being”

"What kind of man would I be if I still had the leisure to train and chase girls after hearing my brother is being hunted down?” Tang Yao spat on the ground. "God dammit! What’s so amazing about them? You only killed three of theirs, yet they’re sending the entire gang after you! Let’s form a guild and tear them a new one! When we get back, I’ll immediately start recruiting!”

"Are you certain about this?” Nie Yan asked.

"What? Would you be better off if I wasn’t?” Tang Yao replied. He never was someone who cared for something useless to him like power. Him establishing a guild was purely for the sake of helping Nie Yan out of this pickle.

Nie Yan stayed silent for a brief while. Establishing a guild was going to be a little difficult, but what kind of task wasn’t when starting completely from scratch? Even the tallest skyscrapers were built from the ground up. He was planning to establish a guild anyway, so now was as good a time as any. It was still too early for him to be stepping foot onto the stage, but thankfully Tang Yao was going to take his place. With him personally guiding things from behind the scenes, what heights wouldn’t they be able to achieve?

After some deep contemplation, he finally came to an answer, stored all the drops in his bag, and then said, "Let’s go, we’re heading to the next target.”

"There’s more Elites in this zone?”

"This zone is pretty large. It covers two entire mountains. Thanks to that, there are still two more areas where we can find Elites. After we’re done with them, we can go hunt the Sub-Elites.”

"Awesome, let’s go then!” Tang Yao felt invigorated after seeing all the experience he gained from the Elite Scaled Frog. After hearing there were two more, he couldn’t help but get a little excited.

Meanwhile, Nie Yan continued to ponder some more. If he wished to rally the support of the playerbase and get others to join their guild, then fame would be extremely crucial. After all, who would join the guild of some nobody they’ve never even heard of? And what better way to gain fame than the through the level leaderboards? Toppling Heaven Breaker from his number one position would deal a heavy blow to Victorious Return. Moreover, with enough fame and prestige, players would blindly flock over to their side. As long as there was an initial push, the number of people applying to their guild would snowball as they became progressively more popular. Regardless of what the future had in store for them, they would still need to take the first step to make anything happen.

As the pair ventured forth, Nie Yan suddenly received a call from Sleepy Fox.

「How did you end up butting heads with with Victorious Return?」Sleepy Fox asked. He was flabbergasted when he read that Victorious Return had placed a bounty on Nie Yan’s head. An entire guild going after a single person—this was definitely a first.

「I killed four of their players.」

「Who were they?」

「I think they were all members of their elite team.」

Sleepy Fox didn’t respond immediately, instead he pondered in silence for quite a while before finally replying.「You really are amazing, you know that? Being hunted down by an entire guild isn’t something you can lightly brush off. Right now you’re completely outnumbered, and if you get caught, you’re done for. With how high of a bounty they put on your head, I bet many players will be seeking to claim the reward. If you ever encounter trouble, you can always come find me. Holy Empire might not be as big as Victorious Return, but we still have tens of thousands of members.」

「Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.」Nie Yan expressed his gratitude, but he had no intention of taking Sleepy Fox up on his offer. In the most crucial moment, he didn’t believe for a second that Sleepy Fox would be willing to have a falling out with Victorious Return for his sake. After all, as the leader, he had an obligation to consider the wellbeing of his own guild over personal feelings. Nonetheless, Nie Yan still appreciated the sentiment.

After he finished chatting with Sleepy Fox, he received a whole slew of messages from his other acquaintances: Shenfa Wangxi (Past Destroying God), Resplendent Bladelight, Leader Young Seven, and so on.

Godslayer of Yore is a Holy Mage that Nie Yan encounters in chapter 66.

Resplendant Bladelight is first encountered in chapter 59. His history is explained in chapter 60.

Leader Young Seven and his group were first encountered by Nie Yan in chapter 75 then later on in chapter 82.

「Nie Yan, how did you get a bounty placed on your head? You’ll have to be more careful when going out of the city,」Yao Yao anxiously warned.

「Brother, there’s a bounty on you! That mean’s you’ve become famous now. Next time we meet, please give me an autograph, haha! I hate those rotten bastards from Victorious Return. If you ever plan to take them on again, please bring me along!」Godslayer of Yore informed. In both this life and the last, he had always despised the likes of Victorious Return.

「Hey, I was just reminded. Are you still planning on forming a team? If you are, then hurry up. The Level 10 dungeons have already opened,」Resplendent Bladelight said. It seemed he didn’t care much for Victorious Return’s influence.

「Be careful when you step outside of the city. If things get tough, you can always come to us,」Leader Young Seven said. He didn’t belong to any guild, but as a professional player, he still had his own circle of trusted contacts. Even though Victorious Return was powerful and overbearing, his group still didn’t hold them in high regard.

Nie Yan had met all these players by coincidence. Godslayer of Yore, Resplendent Bladelight, Leader Young and his group in particular were all people that he thought could be potential teammates down the road, which was why he set his mind on recruiting them. Truthfully, when Victorious Return announced the bounty on his head, he expected them to avoid him so as to avoid getting dragged into this mess. After all, their friendship wasn’t all that deep.

A person’s nature was as such. Whenever trouble came knocking at the door, only then would their true selves be revealed. It was an opportunity to judge whether they were people worth associating with. If they had chosen to shun him instead, then whatever mutual friendship they held prior would have all but vanished. In any case, he had no interest in fraternizing with people who would abandon him at the drop of a dime.

However, this time around, their stances were clear proof that they still held a sense of comradery.

Nie Yan replied to everyone and informed them that he was still alive.

Soon, the pair arrived at their destination and began to hunt the second Elite Scaled Frog.

Once the Smoke Powder was laid down, the Scaled Frog became no different from a practice dummy for Tang Yao to bombard with wave after wave of magic.

"We should get you some better spells. Pretty much every elite Mage from the major guilds have a high-level spell,” Nie Yan said to Tang Yao who was still firing spells at the Scaled Frog. Right now, Tang Yao’s most powerful spell was Meteor, and none of his other spells came even close to comparing with it in regards to area-of-effect damage.

"I heard some of the Arcane Mages there have Obscurus Magic. I wonder where we can find that kind of magic since it seems pretty rare.”

"Obscurus Magic can be obtained after completing a quest from the Arcane Shrines. Naturally, the difficulty for such a quest is pretty high, but you should be able to do it now. Why don’t you head over there when you have some free time? As for ordinary area-of-effect spells, we probably won’t be able to find any in the marketplace. Even so, there are a few we can get by running dungeons, so we’ll do that next time we get a chance,” Nie Yan explained. All of the best items seemed to be found inside of dungeons, so they would have to embark on a few expeditions if they wanted to obtain them.

Once they finished all their business, he ought to set about gathering a team to run a dungeon. Conveniently, this would also give Tang Yao some time to establish a guild.

Tang Yao unloaded an unending stream of magic at the Scaled Frog. As his spells exploded upon impact with its body, the Scaled Frog’s health was gradually chipped away. Thirty minutes later, it finally collapsed to the ground.

Afterward, both Tang Yao and Nie Yan levelled up.

You’ve reached Level 12. Do you wish to enter the leaderboards?

No!

At present, Nie Yan didn’t plan on joining the leaderboards. Tang Yao, on the other hand, was wild with joy as he chose to join, causing both his name and level to appear at the tenth position.

"Are we gonna continue levelling?” Tang Yao asked. He was slightly worried that he was levelling a bit too quickly.

"If you want to establish a guild, then we keep levelling. Though if you’ve had a change of heart, then we can just go back,” Nie Yan replied. The faster Tang Yao levelled, the more famous he would become. In other words, when the time came for him to establish a guild, if he was a high level, then even more players would flock over to join.

"Of course I’m establishing the guild!” Tang Yao firmly exclaimed. "What’s so good about Victorious Return anyways? I’m going to enjoy slaughtering all of them! Even if I’m killed in retaliation, I can easily gain my level back. With such amazing levelling speeds, what do I have to fear? I’m basically an undying cockroach!”

Chapter 138 – Beat Heaven Breaker!

Having killed yet another Elite Scaled Frog, Nie Yan walked up to its corpse and picked up the drops, a Level 30 Gold-grade Mage staff and an Intermediate Alchemy Recipe.

Elemental Convergence Potion Recipe

Requirements: Intermediate Alchemist

Properties: Elemental Magic Cast Time −10%

Materials: Windspirit Grass, Congealing Gel, Diffusing Agent, Quicksilver

If Still Grieving, Quiet Nannan, or Bird—whoever reached Intermediate rank first—learned this recipe, he would be able to put Elemental Convergence Potions up for sale in his shop for 2 silver a bottle, a considerable price for today’s playerbase. He had already given Bird permission to access his personal storage, so all of the recipes he picked up from the Zombie Foremen earlier should have already been withdrawn by now. Presumably, Bird had already put them to good use and was now well on his way to stocking the shop up with new goods.

With this potion recipe dropping, his shop would gain another source of income. The potion would attract plenty of player interest, and at the same time, it would also bolster the sales of the other goods in the shop. Aside from the experience, another benefit of hunting high-level monsters was that he would be able to obtain the recipes for potions, pills, and other concoctions that had yet to appear on the marketplace.

After storing the recipe into his bag, Nie Yan handed over the Gold-grade Mage staff to Tang Yao.

As the pair ventured forth, Tang Yao suddenly began receiving calls. He furrowed his brows but would answer them anyway, and more often than not, an awfully grating high-pitched voice would come out from the other end.

「Young Sparrow Hawk, bring me levelling with you!」

「Can’t be bothered, I’m busy training in a Level 50 zone right now.」In an unprecedented event, Tang Yao flatly rejected the advances of a girl.

「Wow, training in a Level 50 zone must be really fast! Come on, take me with you!」

「No, I already told you, I’m busy.」Tang Yao hung up the umpteenth call. Women really were a conundrum! When he boasted of levelling in a Level 20 zone, none of them believed him. Yet now that he entered the leaderboards, they suddenly began begging to come along even after he told them a ridiculous lie. They really were too fickle! He still had his sense of reason when dealing with these type of women. When there were no important matters to attend to, he was fine with playing along with them. However, if they actually believed he would let them leech off of him, then they were wasting their breath.

Tang Yao had always been this way.

From when they were kids until they were full-grown adults, Nie Yan had always had a good understanding of Tang Yao’s personality. Even though Tang Yao appeared fickle-natured on the surface, he was never someone to blindly fall for a woman’s manipulation. In this life or the previous, he more or less remained the same.

Tang Yao was happily whistling to himself. After raising his level, he felt quite at ease. When friends of his, like Yu Lan (Blue Feather), inquired about his recent levelling speed, he simply told them that he was training together with Nie Yan, and then, they would no longer consider it to be out of the ordinary. After all, an existence such as Nie Yan couldn’t be judged using the logic of an ordinary player. In the end, they could only feel envious of his position.

As Tang Yao’s level rose, the damage he dealt to the Scaled Frogs became much more noticeable.

As flames danced in the air, the third Elite Scaled Frog breathed its last. After glancing at his experience bar, Nie Yan noticed he still had a bit to go before hitting Level 13. Since Tang Yao received most of the experience, he was gradually surpassing Nie Yan in level. With such an event occurring, Nie Yan couldn’t help but sigh with regret. Mages were simply faster levellers than Thieves whether it be in solo grinding or dungeon runs. Even though Scaled Frogs gave additional experience to players branded with red names, he was still falling behind his brother.

After killing all of the Elite Scaled Frogs in the zone, they would have to wait for the daily reset for them to respawn. Thus, Nie Yan and Tang Yao went after the Sub-Elites which didn’t slow down their levelling speed in the slightest.

"Hm, the item I want still hasn’t dropped.”

"What are you looking for?”

"An accessory called Killer’s Demonic Medallion. It only has a chance of dropping when a player is branded as a PKer. So we can only find it while my name is still red.”

"Killer’s Demonic Medallion? What does it do?”

"Killer’s Demonic Medallion is one of the best accessories you can obtain in the early levels. It increases all of your stats by quite a bit,” Nie Yan answered. If he had the Killer’s Demonic Medallion, levelling and PvPing in the future would become much easier.

His current gear wasn’t good enough, and he didn’t have enough skills. The main cause for this was that he wasn’t running dungeons often. Hence, he needed a rare item like the Killer’s Demonic Medallion to improve his overall stats.

Tang Yao’s levelling speed was quite ferocious, and many players began to take notice. Not long after reaching tenth place on the leaderboards, he had suddenly levelled up again, and then, a little later, he levelled up yet again. By the time the servers were about to shut down, he was already Level 14 and only a small step away from toppling Heaven Breaker from his number one position. Nie Yan had also managed to keep up, but he declined to reveal his level on the leaderboards.

In the Viridian Empire, Tang Yao was currently the talk of the town.

「This Young Sparrow Hawk guy… is he on drugs? How is he levelling so fast!?」

「It looks like he’s going to snatch away first place from Victorious Return’s guild leader, Heaven Breaker.」

「Go Young Sparrow Hawk! Knock him out of first place!」

At a time when most players were slowly levelling step by step, Tang Yao’s progress was absolutely terrifying.

Although Victorious Return was a rich and powerful guild with many connections, they had disgruntled many players by cornering off entire zones for their private use. This arrogant behaviour of theirs was also why so many players were supporting Tang Yao.

Things over at Victorious Return’s side were also quite hectic. Under Heaven Breaker’s orders, they began investigating the background of the player known as Young Sparrow Hawk. However, the only information they managed to dig up was that before this event, this player was completely unknown. Thus, they came to the conclusion that his fast levelling speed was only due to a stroke of good luck such as finding a very suitable levelling spot. As such, Heaven Breaker didn’t consider this newcomer a serious threat. Without true power, that Young Sparrow Hawk’s levelling speed would gradually start to decline. There was nothing to worry about. At the moment, no one was able to shake Victorious Return’s dominance nor would they be able to shake his. After all, being number one in level didn’t necessarily equate to being number one in power.

From his perspective, his rivals were Sleepy Fox, Kill Love, and a few others, but definitely not this nobody named Young Sparrow Hawk!

After slaying their last Sub-Elite Scaled Frog, Nie Yan and Tang Yao both decided to call it a day when they were just a hair away from hitting Level 15. Right now, there was still half-an-hour before the servers would shut down.

"I’m gonna head back to Calore. It’s too dangerous for you to be here by yourself, so you should go offline. Then, we’ll meet here again when the servers come back up.”

"Alright. Oh, do you have any plans for today?” Tang Yao asked.

"Not really. Why, what’s up?”

"A few of our friends from middle school told me they want to meet up. They also play Conviction. If we’re going to establish a guild, we might as well get them to join too,” Tang Yao explained. Those several friends were upperclassmen. They, Tang Yao, and Nie Yan used to all fool around together, so they were pretty close to each other. Even after entering university, they always made sure to contact each other every so often.

Nie Yan thought for a moment and then replied, "I have no problem with meeting up. When I think back to those days, they sure were carefree and relaxing. It makes me feel all nostalgic…”

"I’ll give you a phone call later. Anyway, I’ll be heading off first, see ya!”

"Later!”

As Tang Yao went offline, his silhouette gradually faded away before disappearing entirely. Afterward, Nie Yan retrieved a Return Scroll from his bag and began channeling it. As a brilliant radiance enveloped him, he was teleported back to Calore. His bag was now filled to the brim with equipment, but almost all of them were for Level 30s. Thus, at least at present, no players would buy them. He planned to use all this equipment to pad their guild warehouse. After all, if a player saw that their guild’s warehouse was full of high-level Silver- and Gold-grade equipment, they surely wouldn’t doubt their guild’s strength.

Depositing the gems and other miscellaneous items from his bag, he did a little organizing in his personal storage. Afterward, he headed toward the Starry Night Potion Shop. It had been a long time since he had last checked up on the shop, so he had a lot of catching up to do.

His first impression after entering the shop was that it was incredibly crowded. There was a constant stream of people coming and going. Especially now that the servers were about to shut down, everyone was doing their last minute shopping.

His eyes scanned over the shelves of the shop. It seemed Bird had done a pretty good job while he was away. They were stocked with potions, elixirs, pills, and all sorts of concoctions. The vast majority of them were commonly seen goods, but when his eyes passed over the front counter, he also noticed quite a few that were fairly rare.

After coming down from the second floor, Bird noticed Nie Yan among the crowd. He quickly whispered,「Boss, you’ve come.」

「How are things going? From the looks of it, business seems to be booming,」Nie Yan replied. After looking at the shop’s revenue, he was given quite a shock. It had already earned 56 gold in his absence. These profits were considerably good. It could be best described as an endless stream of money. No matter how much he spent in a day, more would flow in. Nonetheless, the sudden influx of customers had much to do with the opening of Medusa’s Lair, since the majority of the shop’s sales came from selling Anti-Petrify Potions.

「Work is fairly normal. In the last few days, we’ve recruited many Alchemists. Now we have twenty-seven Junior Alchemists and over a hundred and thirty Apprentice Alchemists. We’re already running out of space on the second floor, not to mention the first floor is too small. Sometimes it’s so crowded that new customers can’t even squeeze in!」Bird explained in a troubled tone.

Nie Yan began contemplating. If I want to upgrade the shop to Tier 3, it’ll cost me at least 20 gold. Hmm, that should still leave enough money for me to buy one or two prime real-estate properties in other cities.

Many of Calore’s properties had already been bought up. Although there were still a few left, they weren’t likely to appreciate in value very much in the future, so investing in them wouldn’t be all that worthwhile. Good steel needed to be used on a proper blade; his money would be better spent in other cities.

「I’ve heard that Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, and Holy Judgement have also opened potion shops, but theirs are still only Tier 1. Also, it seems like they’re getting as many customers as they have Alchemists,」Bird proudly informed. They were such large guilds, but they had only recently opened a potion shop. Meanwhile, their Starry Night Potion Shop was already far ahead of the pack.

「Be cautious of the Alchemists under you. You have to look out for the ones that have malicious motives,」Nie Yan cautioned. It would be a huge blow if the Alchemists he painstakingly nurtured were poached by someone else.

「Understood, I’ll keep that in mind! I’ve made all the Alchemists on the second floor sign contracts. If they want to leave to work somewhere else, they’ll have to pay back at least five times what was invested into them. We’ve already given them so much, they won’t even dare to think of job hopping.」Bird really did seem to have the mind of a businessman.

「I’ll upgrade the shop,」Nie Yan said. Since Bird seemed to be doing well in managing the shop, he had nothing to be anxious about.

Are you certain you wish to upgrade Starry Night Potion Shop to a Tier 3 Shop? The upgrade will cost 20 gold.

Yes!

The shop has been upgraded.

Shortly after the system notification appeared, the Starry Night Potion Shop began rapidly expanding, becoming more than twice as large as before. It was now a three-story building with the second floor dedicated as an Alchemist workshop and the third floor as a warehouse. The first floor suddenly grew much more spacious, and the overall appearance of the shop was even more grandiose.

The Starry Night Potion Shop grew at a rapid pace. It was well on its way to dominating Calore’s alchemy market and becoming the kingpin of the industry.

Chapter 139 – Taiga Black

In the present day, several gold was an immense sum for a team or guild, to say nothing of a lone individual. After all, even when an elite team was clearing dungeons, they would earn no more than several dozen silver a run. When that money was divided among numerous team members, there wouldn’t be much left for the team itself. Not to mention most players weren’t all all that wealthy in the first place; they would need to spend their money on equipment, skill books, potions, and other consumables. More often than not, these players were strapped for cash themselves, so what money would they have left to be donating to their guilds? Every guild-related affair came with considerable expenses, especially so in building the warehouse. So even after being squeezed out of all their wealth, these guilds would still have to occasionally visit black market websites to exchange real-world money for in-game currency to supplement their funds lest they fall to ruin from the burden of their daily expenses.

Establishing a guild so early in the game was an incredibly costly affair in both the real and virtual world. Black market dealers were constantly running low on supply due to the high demand, resulting in a premium on in-game currency. Even then, although guilds were willing to buy, these dealers would often have nothing to sell. The average player didn’t even have enough money for themselves, so how could they possibly be willing to sell their in-game currency for some pocket change in real-life? A guild was basically a giant sinkhole that swallowed funds and caused endless headaches for the guild leader. If the flow of money ever stopped, the whole guild would quickly collapse. However, in spite of all this, as long as these guilds persevered, their prospects would be exceedingly optimistic. Further down the road, when the Path to Power patch was implemented, strongholds in every city would be open for guilds to contest over. If a guild successfully besieged a stronghold and occupied it for a period of time, then that stronghold would belong to them, meaning they would receive the taxes from every property, shop, and any sale that was conducted within the stronghold. When that time came, the wealth these guilds would amass would be quite astonishing.

It was precisely because of these prospects that so many guild leaders were willing to pour such a great deal of resources and energy into the game, but at the same time under this immense burden, they didn’t have much money left over for purchasing properties let alone opening up a shop. If it weren’t for the pressure they felt from the flourishing business of the Starry Night Potion Shop, they would have never rushed to open a potion shop themselves. However, due to insufficient funds, they could only afford properties in remote locations, and the shops they opened were merely Tier 1. Moreover, most of the concoctions created in-house would be used for themselves, and only the surplus would be given to stock the shops. As a result, their businesses were doing very poorly.

Alchemy wasn’t the only lucrative crafting profession. There was also Tailoring, Tinkering, and Blacksmithing, but for the time being, they weren’t very popular. In the early ranks, the items they created were garbage that no one had any interest in. Take for example a Blacksmith, at Apprentice rank, the weapons they created were all around Novice-grade. After advancing to Junior Blacksmiths, their creations would still only be Bronze-grade at best. Even if they sold them in the marketplace, they wouldn’t earn much money. This was why Alchemy was currently the most popular crafting profession in the game. After all, even low-level concoctions would have some effect when used at higher levels.

Tailoring, Tinkering, and Blacksmithing… Nie Yan certainly had ambitions of stepping into these markets, but for the time being, he didn’t possess the resources. Right now, most of his money was being invested into buying land. After settling his current affairs, real-estate in other cities and the Starry Night Potion Shop, he would then be ready to expand to other markets. He figured that at that point many Blacksmiths, Tinkerers, and Tailors would still be uncontracted. And if he truly couldn’t find anyone suitable in the future, he could simply headhunt them from other guilds or shops by offering a much higher salary. After all, this was how Cao Xu frequently handled affairs in the previous timeline.

After upgrading the Starry Night Potion Shop to Tier 3, Nie Yan withdrew the remaining money, which amounted to 36 gold, and teleported to the second largest city in the Viridian Empire, Nisode. Calore, Nisode, and Hayson, City of Radiance were where Cao Xu had held the most influence. Back then, Cao Xu had owned over 50% of all properties in these three cities. So in order to prevent him from achieving such dominance again, Nie Yan was purchasing land in these cities for the express purpose of ruining Cao Xu’s foundation for growth.

Upon arriving in Nisode, he discovered that nearly all of the smaller plots of land had already been purchased. However, the larger plots, which costed upwards of 10 gold or more, remained untouched.

He was eyeing a specific property located at the heart of the city that costed 28 gold. With such an expensive price tag, no matter how big the guild was, they still wouldn’t be able to gobble it up for the time being. The population of Nisode was much lower than Calore’s, so although commerce here was still flourishing, the number of players who were wealthy was comparatively lower.

It would be an understatement to say that the property at the city center was the best in Nisode. If he built an auction house in this location, then in the future it would become the landmark building of the city. Purchasing this plot of land was equal to purchasing half of Nisode!

Nie Yan bought this property without the slightest hesitation. However, simply buying an expensive property wouldn’t guarantee success. When it appreciated in value in the future, the monthly property tax would become a considerable expense. The system AI was clever. Although the original price of a property wasn’t high, its property tax would rise correspondingly as it rose in value. There was a set amount of tax that would need to be paid every month, acting as a constant stream of money flowing outward. So, if the player was bad at managing their business and couldn’t pay their property taxes, then they would be forced to sell their land, thereby preventing regional development from stagnating by transferring the property to a hopefully more competent owner.

Aside from this, Nie Yan also bought a few relatively cheap plots of land. With only 1 gold remaining in his pockets, he teleported back to Calore.

Nie Yan checked his own status bar. The Level 30 Elite Scaled Frogs proved extremely effective at reducing his PKer status. Now, his name was no longer branded red but rather yellow instead. While his name was yellow, NPCs would be wary of the player and treat them rudely. But aside from negatively influencing a player when they were receiving quests, it had no significant impact on anything else.

A Killer’s Demonic Medallion had a chance of dropping from Scaled Frogs when the player was branded with the PKer status effect. Sadly, Nie Yan’s luck wasn’t great this time around and it didn’t drop. Although it was quite a pity, he had no other choice but to suck it up and try again tomorrow. If it still didn’t drop, then there was nothing he could do. It could also be due to his PKer score not being high enough. Conjecture aside, it wasn’t unusual for an accessory with excellent properties such as the Killer’s Demonic Medallion to have an abysmal drop rate.

He then checked his skill bar. The Adjudicator of God skill that he received from the Chapter of Courage finally shifted from being greyed out to brightly lit, signifying that it was now active and available to use.

This skill on a 10-day cooldown timer had made him wait for quite some time!

Nie Yan felt incredibly excited. If he used Adjudicator of God in conjunction with Sacrificial Gambit, then his damage would be astonishing, especially if his luck was good. These two skills along with Steal should even allow him to meet the requirements to clear the next quest.

A strike from Sacrificial Gambit when Adjudicator of God was activated would be quite frightening. Adjudicator of God would increase Nie Yan’s health by 500 points, allowing him to reach nearly 900 health. 30% of that would be 270, so that meant as long as Sacrificial Gambit didn’t miss, it would be able to instantly kill most players.

After ten years of playing this game and countless days of theorycrafting, this was the completely brand new style of Thief that he had aspired toward!

In this life, he wouldn’t leave behind any regrets. He wouldn’t merely stop after Shadow Dancer; he would advance even higher and become a godly existence!

Looking at the time, Nie Yan hastily finished his business and gave Bird a short briefing before logging out of the game.

Removing the game helmet, he got out of bed and headed to the washroom to brush his teeth and wash his face. Afterward, he ran to the kitchen and drank a tube of nutrition tonic from the fridge before setting out on his daily routine.

Some time later, while he was in the middle of tidying up his room, the phone suddenly rang.

「Nie Yan, I’m in front of your house. Come open the door.」The voice belonged to Tang Yao.

「Hold on, I’ll be there in a second.」Nie Yan put on his clothes and headed downstairs to meet Tang Yao. After opening the door, he spotted a black sportscar parked on the street right next to his gate.With a fairly large body and a streamline design that made it resemble a metal feline on wheels, it was one of the hottest models of hover sportcars right now in China, the Taiga Black. Domestically, it represented the highest level of achievement in modern engineering. With a price tag that exceeded many foreign cars, it was powered by a miniature nuclear reactor and could go as fast as 1,800 km/hr, making it faster than most commercial airliners from the past. It was completely made out of bulletproof material that was able to withstand almost any impact and possessed durability equivalent to that of a half-meter thick steel wall.

Right after stepping out of the car, Tang Yao patted the hood and said, "What do you think? Amazing, huh?”

Giving it a look over, Nie Yan nodded his head and replied, "Not bad… This car isn’t really yours, is it?” He recalled that his father had also ordered a Taiga Black before in his past life. It was truly quite a flashy car.

"Tsk! Aren’t you even the tiniest bit surprised? Ah, how disappointing… but you’re right. This fella doesn’t belong to me. It’s my old man’s. Rich people really are different! He even made me pay $20,000 just to take it out for the day!” Tang said as he rubbed the car’s hood. When he reached the age of sixteen, any money that he spent would have to be earned by himself first. His father didn’t even give him a single cent allowance. So, him speaking about his father in that kind of tone really wasn’t anything. "But you know… being able to drive such a flashy car around really is awesome! Even if I hit a tree or a cement wall, I’d still drive on through!”

Nie Yan chuckled and said, "If your dad knew that this was what you were doing to his precious car, you’d be dead.”

Tang Yao shrugged his shoulders and said in an indifferent tone, "Can’t be helped, not my fault I can’t find parking. Besides, what use is an expensive car if no one’s driving it? Alright, enough gawking. Let’s go, everyone’s waiting.”

In the past two weeks, Tang Yao had gradually noticed a shift in their roles. He had always been the one in the dominant position, acting as an older brother of sorts, but recently, it seemed things had subtly changed. However, he strangely didn’t find their current relationship uncomfortable. The perception he had of Nie Yan in his mind was slowly transforming.

After Nie Yan got into the car, Tang Yao turned on the ignition as it started up without making a sound. It gently floated up, and then they instantly sped away.

Their meeting place was outside of town at a restaurant in the provincial capital. After the car switched over to self-driving mode, it would take them half an hour to get there at most.

The Jaderiver Dining Hall was known as the crown of the provincial capital. In fact, it was a high-class club. Covering an area of over 20,000 square meters, it contained all sorts of entertainment facilities which were readily available. It was the ideal location for parties and get togethers.

The Taiga Black stopped at the dining hall’s parking plaza which was lined with cars stretching out as far as the eye could see. Although the Taiga Black was a very good car, it wasn’t the best. In this entire plaza that contained over several thousand cars, there were at least several dozen that were even more valiant than it.

"Sure are a lot of rich people, huh.” Tang Yao turned to Nie Yan and said, "Come on, let’s go.”

"I definitely can’t afford to visit a place like this. You’ll have to cover for me, okay?” Nie Yan said.

"Stop acting like you’re poor. If you sold off your in-game gold through a blackmarket site, who knows how much money you’d earn? Yet you still have the nerve to freeload off me!”

"I definitely won’t sell my gold. Inside the game, I can use it to make even more money. Every single coin can be turned into even more coins,” Nie Yan shook his head and replied.

Tang Yao stared at him pensively before nodding his head. "I understand. It’s the same as the money I have invested into the stock market. Even if I do spend it, I won’t take out more than $30,000 a month. When I’m working for my dad, I won’t even touch it all. Alright, since I freeloaded some gear off you inside the game, everything today is my treat.”

Chapter 140 – It’s Always The Quiet Ones

As the pair walked into the Jaderiver Dining Hall, they were greeted by a fairly spacious and luxurious lounge. The ceiling, constructed out of a special glass, refracted the incoming sunlight in a peculiar way, causing the various plant life surrounding the rock garden fountain to flourish with vibrant colours.

After passing through the lounge, they walked across a winding hallway before arriving at the meeting place.

It was an outdoor tea garden specially designed to host gatherings of this sort. Right now, a large group of people were lounging in the area, drinking tea and chatting among themselves. They all appeared to be eighteen or nineteen years old, youthful and full of energy. Nie Yan scanned over the crowd with his eyes and recognized several familiar faces, Hao Cheng, Zhao Li, and Guo Huai. Even when he had hit rock-bottom in his past life, these three were among the few who didn’t abandon him, which was why he never forgot them. Along with Tang Yao, they were inseparable during their time in middle school.

"Tang Yao, Nie Yan! You two finally arrived.” Hao Cheng was the first to spot them and immediately walked over to greet them. As his eyes fell on Nie Yan, a trace of surprise flashed across his face as he bumped his fist into Nie Yan’s chest. "Wow, Kiddo! You’ve grown sturdier, taller as well! I remember you were such a shrimp back in middle school. Have you been working out recently?”

The Nie Yan in front of him barely resembled the frail and timid boy he knew from the past. Be it his height, figure, or temperament, everything seemed to have undergone a drastic change. He couldn’t help but feel somewhat startled.

Nie Yan smiled and said, "And you haven’t changed at all. You’re still built like an ox.”

Hao Cheng was very tall and quite robust as well. Back when the both of them were in middle school, he had earned a reputation for himself as a fighter by putting quite a few arrogant fellows in their places and served as the captain of the school’s mixed martial arts team.

Glancing back at Tang Yao, Hao Cheng broke into a smile and said, "Tang-boy! You’ve gotten even fatter! Haha!”

"Damn, can’t you be a little more tactful,” Tang Yao jokingly cursed.

A short while later, Zhao Li and Guo Huai walked up as well. Zhao Li was a little shorter than Hao Cheng. He had a slightly darker complexion and a square chin but was still passable in terms of appearance, making him quite popular among the ladies to the point where he had no lack of admirers during middle school. Guo Huai was the type of person who appeared outwardly cold but cared deeply for others on the inside. With a cold gaze that pierced through his glasses, he looked like a refined intellectual.

"Nie Yan, you came.” Guo Huai smiled.

"Hey, Nie Yan, long time no see! The gang’s finally back together, eh?” Zhao Li exclaimed in excitement.

Guo Huai pointed at a nearby sofa and said, "Come, let’s sit over there.”

They sat comfortably on the sofa and resumed their conversation.

While they chatted, a nearby group of girls were constantly shooting glances in their direction. A bit of their chatter leaked out and entered Nie Yan’s and the others’ ears.

"Ah? Is that really Nie Yan?”

"Seems so.”

"Wow, he’s really changed.”

"Right? He looks a lot more handsome now. I remember he used to be so scrawny.”

Nie Yan glanced over at the girls who appeared vaguely familiar and then acknowledged them with a smile. They were caught off guard by this gesture but soon regained their composure; slightly blushing, they smiled and nodded back. It seemed he was no longer the timid and quiet boy they remembered.

He had once been completely oblivious to the world and only knew how to study and go to school. As for when exactly his disposition began changing, he himself was unsure. Nonetheless, the him at present already possessed the wisdom of an adult. He would no longer get nervous over such trivial matters.

As their group chatted along, the conversation gradually progressed to the game that was taking the entire country by storm, Conviction.

"Are you guys playing? Where did you all start out? We should get together next time and train together! You remember the guys from Class 2? A lot of them entered the game together. I heard they’re pretty amazing now. Their best player is already Level 12. Also, a guy from Class 11 started his own guild. It already has several hundred people in it now.” Hao Cheng talked about the game with great enthusiasm.

"Hao Cheng, what class are you playing, what level too?” Zhao Li asked.

"I’m a Warrior, and I’m already Level 11. I usually tag along with a small group of players. Sometimes, we run dungeons together, but we always end up wiping because of the noobs in our team; otherwise, I’d be a bit higher levelled,” Hao Cheng replied.

"I’m a Level 10 Paladin. I ended up joining Radiant Sacred Flame. Sadly, they assigned me to a second-rate team. I’m not good enough to enter their elite one,” Zhao Li said with a wry smile.

Nie Yan was a little shocked by this revelation. He didn’t expect Zhao Li to join Radiant Sacred Flame.

"Screw Radiant Sacred Flame! I was nearly killed by those bastards two weeks ago. They kill stole a monster my party found first, then barricaded me and my party in a zone and hunted us down. I was the only one who survived.” Tang Yao’s expression soured upon mention of Radiant Sacred Flame.

"Hey, I had nothing to do with that!” Zhao Li hurriedly tried to smooth things over.

"Sigh, I know,” Tang Yao replied. It wasn’t worth taking out his anger on a good friend.

"When I log back on, I’ll leave the guild. I wasn’t enjoying myself there anyway,” Zhao Li said as he patted Tang Yao’s shoulder.

"Good Brother!” Tang Yao smiled. This was what being a good friend was all about.

"What about you guys? What level are you three?” Hao Cheng asked. He looked at Guo Huai, Tang Yao, and Nie Yan. Zhao Li’s level was high but still within the realm of his expectations. As for the other three, if not outright beginners, he figured they were mediocre players at best.

"I’m also Level 10. I’m a Holy Mage,” Guo Huai replied. His level was also nothing to scoff at.

Hao Cheng’s eyes lit up after hearing his response. Guo Huai was Level 10, not to mention a Holy Mage too. Being able to hit such a level signified that he was a decently skilled player. If three strong players were present, then they shouldn’t have any problems training as a party of five no matter how much of a burden Tang Yao and Nie Yan might be.

"Tang Yao, what about you?” Hao Cheng asked. He didn’t have high hopes for Tang Yao and Nie Yan. After all, these two never gamed much back in middle school. When he had heard earlier from Tang Yao that Nie Yan was also playing Conviction, he was quite amazed.

"Cough, cough…” Tang Yao gave Nie Yan a sideways glance. After seeing Nie Yan give a slight nod of approval, Tang Yao faintly smiled and said, "Arcane Mage, Level 14.”

"What, say that again? Level 14…?”

"You’re not joking around, right?”

After Tang Yao announced his level, the atmosphere of the conversation suddenly took a strange turn. Hao Cheng, Guo Huai, and Zhao Li were all staring at him with expressions of shock. Considering the average level of the playerbase, reaching Level 10 or 11 was a fairly impressive feat, no doubt, but even then, there were still many players around that range. Level 14, however… now that was a little mind-boggling. At present, such a level would place you right in the top three of the leaderboards.

After for what seemed like half an eternity, they finally regained their composure.

The reaction of these three friends satisfied Tang Yao’s vanity. He felt quite pleased with himself.

"Tang-boy, you really are good! You even managed to hide it from us for so long!” Hao Cheng patted Tang Yao on the shoulder.

"Right!? This is so awesome! Wow, Level 14, I still can’t believe it. Tang Yao, what’s your in-game name?”

"Young Sparrow Hawk,” Tang Yao answered.

"Wait, so you’re Young Sparrow Hawk? And I was wondering who could be so ferocious at levelling! From now on, we’ll just tag along with you. Brothers, what do you say? By the way, do you have any extra equipment lying around that you can pass on?”

"Wait guys, don’t misunderstand! I didn’t get to that level by myself. I’m also just tagging along with another person,” Tang Yao awkwardly cut in.

Hao Cheng stared blankly for a moment, then asked in a tone full of surprise, "You’re tagging along with someone else? At your level!? Bullshit! More like others tag along with you! Whatever guild you’re a part of, you should leave it immediately.”

"Right? Anyone that good can start a guild by themselves,” Guo Huai chimed in. "Look at the type of people who fill the top of the leaderboards: Heaven Breaker, the guild leader of Victorious Return; Sleepy Fox, the guild leader of Holy Empire; and then there’s the guild leaders of Holy Judgement and Battled Crazed Alliance…” He listed all of them out. Only then did everyone discover that excluding Tang Yao, everyone else in the top ten of the leaderboards was currently the leader of a major guild.

"Out of everyone I know, you’re the most amazing! If you make a guild, you can count me in! With your rank on the leaderboards, tons of people will come flocking over! Shoot, I’ll even pull in some of my friends!” Hao Cheng exclaimed.

"Same here,” Zhao Li added.

"In the first batch of people signing up, we’ll be guaranteed to at least get two to three thousand players!” Guo Huai exclaimed. For being known as a person of few words, seeing him talk so much in one sitting was quite amazing.

"Is it really that amazing?” Tang Yao asked in surprise.

"Of course! You’re already in the top three of the leaderboards. Can you imagine how much rallying power you have? With just our classmates, we’d be able to pull in two to three thousand people. The only problem is getting the funds to establish a guild. If we can’t build the guild treasury, then things will be a little troublesome. Without it, we won’t be able to recruit many players beside our friends and schoolmates. If we have it, it’ll show others that we have the resources to support the guild. After the first batch joins, they’ll pull others in, and then the number of people applying will skyrocket.” Guo Huai’s reasoning seemed fairly sound.

Nie Yan slightly nodded his head. Guo Huai’s words did indeed make a lot of sense.

Seeing Zhao Li and Hao Cheng looking at him with amazed expressions, Guo Huai felt slightly embarrassed as he adjusted his glasses and explained, "I’ve always wanted to establish a guild with some of my friends, but we chose to give up on that dream in the end. We had zero rallying power, and in terms of resources, we were nowhere near the level of those large guilds that have financial backers supporting them from behind the scenes.”

At this moment, Nie Yan suddenly recalled a certain piece of information. During their days in middle school, he had once heard that Guo Huai’s father owned a supermarket chain. With over two hundred large-scale super markets under one company, their financial resources were solid. So Guo Huai having such an ambition was fairly normal. After all, with Conviction growing ever popular by the day, it had the potential to bring about enormous economic benefits for his father if he started a large successful guild.

"Wow, Guo Huai… You’ve never once spoken about this in the past. It’s just like you to always do things without telling us.”

"So, Young Sparrow Hawk, what do you say? Let’s start a guild. You can be the leader. Just let me have some stake in the guild. As for funding, you can just let me handle it,” Guo Huai asked with an eager expression. If Tang Yao was able to stay at the top of the level leaderboards, their rallying power would be astonishing. By raising their banners, a steady stream of followers would join their guild. Even if they couldn’t grow into a guild as large as Victorious Return or Holy Empire, they would at least be able to expand it to a respectable size.

Tang Yao shook his head and said, "I am creating a guild, but I’m not going to be the leader. As for giving you a stake in the guild, that’s not my choice to make.”

"Wait, you’re not going to be the leader? Then who?” Guo Huai asked in surprise.

"Oh, I’ll probably be the leader of the guild in name, but the real leader will be… Nie Yan, because he’s the reason why I could level up so quickly,” Tang Yao said with a smile. For Guo Huai, Hao Cheng, and Zhao Li, this revelation was even more shocking than Tang Yao being Level 14.

"Nie Yan?”

With amazed expressions, the three shifted their gazes toward Nie Yan who had been silent this whole time. Only then did they realize that, in their excitement, they had completely forgotten to ask Nie Yan about his level. It couldn’t possibly be higher than Tang Yao’s, could it?

The previously unassuming Nie Yan had suddenly become the focal point of attention.

"Nie Yan, what class do you play and what level are you?”

"That’s right! We never got around to asking you!”

"Alright, stop keeping us in suspense. Hurry up and tell us already!”

Seeing their expressions filled with eager anticipation, Nie Yan chuckled and finally said, "Thief, Level 14.”

"Shoot, even a Thief can reach Level 14? That’s really impressive, but… why don’t I see your name on the leaderboards?” Hao Cheng asked. He knew full well just how difficult it was to level as a Thief. Even the highest level Thief on the leaderboards was only Level 12, and there wasn’t a single Thief in the top ten.

"He chose not to join the leaderboards, so no one knows,” Tang Yao explained.

"No wonder… it’s always the quiet ones that take you by surprise.”

Chapter 141 – Asskickers United

Fortunately, the surprise Tang Yao had given them before acted as a cushion now; otherwise, the shock Hao Cheng, Zhao Li, and Guo Huai received would’ve been much more severe. Evidently, Nie Yan’s level was a result of him levelling together with Tang Yao.

Today was quite eventful. Hao Cheng, Zhao Li, and Guo Huai were able to meet two experts that ranked at the very top of the leaderboards. Not only that, but these experts were also fellow students from the same school. Most surprising of all was that one of them was Nie Yan, a kid who had been mediocre at everything but studying. To their surprise, in the time that they didn’t see him, he had transformed into such an outstanding person. They could barely wrap their heads around this fact.

"Back in middle school, we always knew you liked to keep a low-profile. Even when we took tests, you would usually be around tenth or eleventh place, but after the final exams, you suddenly shot up to the top three. It really is in your style to do this kind of stuff. I should’ve known it was you earlier when Tang Yao said he was just following someone around. Still, we never really thought of you as a gamer, and rightfully so since you never played any in the past. Who could’ve known that, as soon as you got your hands on one, you’d be so good at it. Yet, even when you can place in the top three, you still choose to stay hidden. I guess compared to you, we brothers just aren’t as restrained or skilled,” Guo Huai shook his head and said in a dry manner.

Guo Huai himself was pretty low-key as well. That was why, out of all his schoolmates, only his four best friends—Nie Yan, Tang Yao, Zhao Li, and Hao Cheng—knew that his family was wealthy. Normally, he was considered the most unassuming out of the bunch, but now, it seemed that title belonged to Nie Yan.

"Since it’s like this, I guess the five of us are pretty strong. So what do you say, shall we make a guild?” Hao Chen eagerly asked. His old man ran a martial arts center that plenty of patrons frequented, meaning if they were to start a guild, he would be able to pull in quite a few people.

"I’m up for it. How about we give it a try? I can probably recruit most of my classmates,” Zhao Li said. Although he didn’t have much to offer, he was a natural smoothtalker. There was almost no one he didn’t have a good relation with, particularly with those of the opposite gender.

"If we’re making a guild, then we’ll have to do it properly. At the very least, we need to make a big splash in the game’s community. As for having a stake in the ownership of the guild, you guys can discuss among yourselves and come to me with a proposal,” Nie Yan said after thinking for a while. If he shared the burden of management with his brothers, he would no longer have to worry about being overwhelmed by guild affairs, leaving him free to focus on his own matters. Guo Huai, Hao Cheng, and Zhao Li all showed promising potential. They were young and full of drive, not to mention they had all chosen the same starting point. Their first step was to bring all of their friends and schoolmates into the guild, since there would be a sense of familiarity if everyone already knew each other. And even though it would be impossible to prevent moles from infiltrating their guild, this would at least ensure that their ranks would remain pure for a little while. Besides, as youths in their prime, they were generally better at playing video games than older adults.

Zhao Li quickly waved his hands and said, "No, it’s fine. I don’t want any stakes in ownership. I’m okay with just helping out. We’re all brothers here anyway, right?”

Rebuking Zhao Li’s statement, Guo Huai shook his head and said, "It’s exactly because we’re brothers that we’re all deciding these things now.” Since his own family owned a large business chain, he himself had seen too many situations where entire families fell apart because shares weren’t properly divided up, siblings becoming sworn enemies, feuds lasting for decades…

"Guo Huai, tell us. How should we divide up the guild?” Nie Yan asked. In the field of business, Guo Huai seemed a tad bit more knowledgeable.

"I’ve thought this over for a bit. Since we’re relying on your and Tang Yao’s popularity to establish the guild, the both of you combined should hold 85% of the shares while the three of us receive 5% each. When the official in-game currency exchange begins, I can then invest some funds into the guild… but probably not too much. If this whole thing ends up dead in the water, then you won’t have to worry about paying me back. If it does succeed, you can pay me back through the return on investment,” Guo Huai explained. He wasn’t asking for much and was content with only a 5% stake in the guild.

"If they’re fine with 5%, so am I. Just please, for the love of all that is holy, don’t make me manage the guild affairs,” Tang Yao said. He was inherently a very lazy person, and the mere thought of all the work that came with managing a guild nearly scared him half to death.

After pondering for a moment, Nie Yan finally spoke up. "Alright, guild management will be handed over to Guo Huai while Hao Cheng and Zhao Li can provide assistance. Tang Yao and I will be responsible for creating the guild’s main dungeon running team.” Guo Huai and the others had no way of knowing just how much their 5% would be worth in the future. Moreover, there were still many areas where he would need to rely on them, and only by having a personal stake in the project would they strive to give it their full effort. Considering how much he interacted with them in his past life, he had long since fully understood each of their natures. Most important of all, compared to two lifetimes of friendship, a 5% stake in the guild was nothing.

"I’m fine with this.” Tang Yao nodded in approval.

"Then, this is what we’ve all agreed upon? Alright. Our first focus is to quickly raise our levels, especially Tang Yao’s. So long as he firmly holds onto his position at the top of the leaderboards, there’ll be a constant stream of players looking to join us. So, Tang Yao, for now, all you need to do is focus on levelling,” Guo Huai said. This point was extremely crucial; otherwise, the rest of their plans would end up falling through.

"Don’t worry. When the servers reopen later, I’ll climb even higher in the leaderboards and knock Heaven Breaker out of first place,” Tang Yao confidently said.

"Really? That quickly?” Hao Cheng asked, sounding a little startled.

"Just where the hell are you grinding?!” Hao Cheng, Zhao Li, and Guo Huai were quite puzzled.

"Now that, you’ll have to ask Nie Yan to find out. Don’t worry though, after this whole guild thing has settled down, I promise I’ll take you guys levelling with me. I guarantee all of you will be able to reach Level 15 in one day,” Tang Yao confidently boasted while patting his chest. He then turned to look at Nie Yan who didn’t seem to oppose his idea.

"Alright, these are your words, not mine!”

"Don’t break your promise. If it’s like this, I won’t have to worry about raising my level. I’ll start recruiting first thing when I log back on!” Hao Cheng excitedly exclaimed.

"You all can go recruit members. After Tang Yao and I finish levelling, I’ll set up the guild treasury,” Nie Yan said. After establishing a guild, having a proper treasury was very important.

The guild treasury was a symbol of a guild’s might. Containing hundreds if not thousands of pieces of gear for every class and level, skill books, and other items, it would be open to any member of the guild. After accumulating a certain amount of contribution, these members could redeem their merit points for these items. When they eventually outgrew their current set of gear, they could simply return the pieces to the treasury and exchange them for higher level replacements. However, if a piece was lost, then a certain amount of merit points would be deducted. At the same time, donating to the guild treasury would increase a member’s contribution to the guild.

Whether the treasury was overflowing or desolate would directly impact the growth of the guild. As a consequence, every guild leader would need to pour in an immense amount of resources when establishing it; otherwise, if the treasury wasn’t up to snuff, a mass exodus of members was very likely to occur. On the other end of the spectrum, the larger the treasury and the better the quality of items within it, the easier it would be to convince new recruits to stay. When these new recruits spent a certain amount of time in the guild, they would start developing a sense of belonging. After which they themselves would start donating to the treasury to increase their contribution within the guild. At the end of the day, everything in the treasury belonged to the guild, and it was simply loaned out to its members.

Whether a guild would prosper or die was heavily dependant on the state of its treasury.

"You have the resources to set up the treasury right now?” Guo Huai asked in surprise.

"Pretty much. Bronze and Silver-grade equipment aren’t particularly expensive, so I should be able to gather plenty.” If the guild had several thousand pieces of Bronze-grade equipment and several hundred pieces of Silver-grade equipment, then it should be enough to incentivize most of their members to increase their contribution within the guild.

"Right, getting Bronze and Silver-grade equipment is a good start. Right now, most players are still wearing White or Bronze-grade equipment while Silver-grade equipment is rare. How much can you gather?” Guo Huai asked.

Everyone focussed their attention on Nie Yan because his following words would determine the future of the entire guild.

"I’m willing to spend 20 gold on purchasing equipment. I also have several hundred pieces of Silver-grade equipment and a few dozen pieces of Gold-grade equipment in my storage that I plan to add to the treasury. That’s the best I can do,” Nie Yan said. He had the potion shop as a steady source of income. As for the equipment, it was everything that he had accumulated from hunting Leaders, Sub-Elites, and Elites, and it was safe to say that many more such items would keep coming in.

Hearing Nie Yan say 20 gold, even Tang Yao was taken by surprise. They all sucked in a breath of cold air. They knew Nie Yan was amazing, but they never expected him to be this amazing. Even if it was a large guild, they still wouldn’t be able to bring out that kind of money, let alone so many pieces of Silver and Gold-grade equipment. Nie Yan’s resources were truly profound.

"Awesome! With that kind of money, you can buy plenty of high-quality Silver-grade equipment. If our treasury is filled with high-quality items, it’ll be much easier to convince our members to contribute to the guild. If the first batch of recruits stay, we’ll be able to attract even more player interest. Then, once we form the main dungeon running team and the secondary teams, we’ll be able to get a steady stream of items into the treasury. We’ll use the items the main team collects to develop the secondary teams, then the items the secondary teams collect will develop the rest of the guild members,” Guo Huai said. He had already researched many things pertaining to managing a guild, so he was extremely knowledgeable about these things.

"It seems we’re going to have a better start than expected.” Hao Cheng took a deep breath, feeling slightly overwhelmed. He originally believed they were going to start off dirt poor. Never did he expect that Nie Yan was actually filthy rich.

"Alright, now we have to decide the guild’s name,” Guo Huai said.

"Leave that to me, I’m pretty good at naming! How does Phoenix Bathed in Fire sound?” Tang Yao suggested in high spirits.

"Won’t do. That name’s probably already taken.”

"Shameless! How could some scoundrel steal the guild name I thought up!”

"Ha,” Zhao Li snorted. "You’re calling them shameless?”

"Well, let’s keep thinking.”

The four scratched their ears, not knowing what to name the guild.

"Let’s call it Unhindered Through the Heavens!” Tang Yao suggested.

"That’s already been taken.”

"…”

"How about Asskickers United? Anyone who joins our guild can kick ass! When we sweep through Calore, and then the entire Viridian Empire, we’ll really kick ass!” Tang Yao said in excitement. "I don’t believe for a second that this name has already been taken!”

"That sounds a bit tacky, but I guess that’s fine too,” Guo Huai said.

"At least it’ll make us stand out.” Hao Chen was in favour of it but wasn’t completely convinced.

Hearing their discussion, Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise. In his past life, his father had also made a guild, the War God Tribe, and now, Tang Yao had come up with Asskickers United. Like with his father’s guild, the name was overbearing, but it was definitely suitable considering Tang Yao’s personality.

"We’ll call it Asskickers United then,” Nie Yan decided.

"Alright, I guess that’ll be our guild name then.” Guo Huai supported the decision.

In a time where many firms were hungrily eyeing for opportunities to expand, on a table in a restaurant, five unassuming youths were enthusiastically discussing their plans for the future. They all came from the same impoverished backgrounds, having absolutely nothing and starting from scratch. However, after several years apart, they had gathered once again. Their days of gloom would soon be coming to an end. The stillness in their lives would wash away. Experiencing meteoric success, they would be able to laugh proudly under the heavens.

Even though everything was so average and mundane and many people were the same, what the future had in store for them would be quite eventful.

Chapter 142 – Sent Flying

Guo Huai, Hao Cheng, and Zhao Li were in high spirits as they discussed the future of Asskickers United. In the meantime, Tang Yao became increasingly full of hot air, proclaiming, "What’s Radiant Sacred Flame? I’ve never heard of them before! Victorious Return? We’ll wipe their assess off the floor and become the top guild in the empire!” Listening to his rampant boasting, the others couldn’t help but roll their eyes. They hadn’t even enacted any of their plans, yet he was already acting like they had accomplished everything.

Nie Yan chuckled. This was just part of who Tang Yao was. His carefree and happy-go-lucky personality would always liven the mood wherever he went.

While they happily chatted, a tall and slender woman with an enchanting appearance walked over. With skin as fair as jade, she wore a beautiful qipao that did well to accentuate her elegant figure. Her name was Shen Yue, their class president back in middle school. She was also fully deserving of being called the prettiest girl in their class, having no less than ten secret admirers. Among the five in their group, Guo Huai also happened to be one of them.

"Oh? Class Pres, is there anything you need?” Zhao Li smiled at Shen Yue after noticing her coming over.

Just a moment ago, Guo Huai was perfectly fine, but as soon as he raised his head and saw her walking over, his face blushed red all over and he grew timid and reserved. Noticing his reaction, the rest of the guys laughed and smiled. Nie Yan was also sympathetic. The feelings a person had for their first love were usually the hardest to forget.

"Haven’t you five been hiding in this corner for long enough? We have at least thirty classmates gathered here, yet none of you are going over to talk to them. Look over there. You can’t keep our young ladies waiting forever, can you? They’re starting to get impatient. Nie Yan, you’ve sure grown tall and—Oh? Guo Huai, what’s wrong? Your face is all red. Do you have a fever coming on?” Shen Yue asked in a concerned manner.

"Ah, don’t worry. He was just happy to see everyone again after such a long time, including you, Class Pres, so he drank a bit of alcohol.” Nie Yan and the guys replied in his place. How could they abandon him in this kind of situation?

Guo Huai shot over a grateful glance at his four brothers. This was what being true friends was all about. Even though they constantly poked fun at one another in private, if trouble ever arose, they would have each other’s backs. If one of them encountered a powerful foe, then they would all band together to fight that foe.

Their strong bond was formed by persevering through many hardships together.

"Guo Huai, don’t drink so much,” Shen Yue scolded half-heartedly.

"Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.” Guo Huai was flustered but still managed to somehow get his words out smoothly.

"Anyway, you guys should get off that couch and talk with everyone else. The gathering is about to start. It’s better if we don’t dally any longer since many people here still have to work in the afternoon,” Shen Yue said. Although they were still high schoolers, many of them worked part time or even held multiple jobs to earn money, so their free time was quite limited.

Nie Yan was the first to stand up and said, "Come on, let’s go over right now.”

"Sure.”

The other four also stood up.

"Hey, Nie Yan. If those girls over there surround me, you’ll help pull me out, right?” Zhao Li asked with a wry smile.

"Eh, now how could I do that? There’s no way I can deprive those young ladies of your presence. You can handle this one by yourself. Who told you to be so popular?” Nie Yan chuckled. Back in middle school, there was no shortage of assertive and lively girls. Even Zhao Li’s social prowess couldn’t save him from being overwhelmed by all these girls.

"Nie Yan, please don’t hang me out to dry like this!”

"Hey, you don’t know how well you have it. Some of us can’t ever be this popular with the ladies. Just take a look at Tang Yao,” Nie Yan replied.

Their small group chatted while they walked toward the others. In the past, their group of five only hung out together because they seemed to get along well. However, now, a subtle change had occurred. Nie Yan seemed to have become the core of the group.

Guo Huai, Zhao Li, and Hao Cheng were amazed to discover that their group dynamic had changed. The atmosphere surrounding Nie Yan had completely changed. He was now able to easily influence those around him, and they were starting to take note of his suggestions and opinions. Although he had also been a person with strong viewpoints back in middle school, he never really conveyed them and rather kept to himself instead.

Having not seen them in over ten years, Nie Yan only had vague impressions of his classmates from middle school, so he could only recall them by going off of brief interactions. Nevertheless, being as well-versed as he was, he was able to converse with them with ease.

His classmates were amazed by his transformation. In the past, he was scrawny, an excellent student, and had a personality that could be regarded as good-natured, but he was often lost in his own world and rarely interacted with others. However, now, he was much more robust. They could even faintly discern the outlines of his muscles underneath his shirt. This led to many of his female classmates, who were normally quite bold and daring, being struck in a daze. Moreover, he was chatting with others in a carefree manner, and his temperament appeared to have completely changed.

Such a stark contrast caused even Guo Huai, Hao Cheng, and Zhao Li to view Nie Yan in a new light. With this change, they began believing that their plan of establishing a guild might actually succeed.

"Hey, Guo Huai! Long time no see.” A muscular youth in a white jersey with somewhat handsome features walked over to Nie Yan and his group while carrying two glasses of orange juice.

Upon seeing the person that called out to him, Guo Huai’s expression immediately darkened.

When Nie Yan saw this person, although they seemed a little familiar, he just couldn’t recall who they were.

"Who is he?” Nie Yan asked Tang Yao in a low voice.

"You forgot him? He’s Chu Zhenfei from Class 11. He was part of the basketball team. I heard he learned some Muay Thai. He’s also one of the guys chasing after Class Pres. When he heard she was organizing a class reunion from some of our classmates, he decided to invite himself in,” Tang Yao whispered back.

Nie Yan suddenly remembered that there was such a person. If he recalled correctly, Chu Zhenfei’s family owned a car dealership. Even though he was somewhat wealthy, he was far from being anywhere near Guo Huai’s level. Only, no one knew this because Guo Huai didn’t like to reveal his family background.

He also recalled that a certain incident had occurred during the class reunion in his past life because of Chu Zhenfei. Ever since catching wind that Guo Huai liked Shen Yue back in middle school, Chu Zhenfei would always give him a hard time for it. Fast forward to the class reunion, Chu Zhenfei had asked around and found out that Guo Huai had been allergic to oranges since childhood. So, for the express purpose of making trouble for Guo Huai, Chu Zhenfei had sought him out and forced him to toast to a glass of orange juice.

At that time, for the sake of not losing face in front of Shen Yue, Guo Huai had downed the whole glass. Even though he appeared fine for the rest of the reunion, after returning home, he fell seriously ill and ended up hospitalized for two full days. However, Guo Huai wasn’t the type of person to take grievances lying down. He didn’t let Chu Zhenfei off lightly either. Immediately after being discharged from the hospital, he brought some hired help to ambush Chu Zhenfei and beat him so badly that he had to lay in a hospital bed for several months. That was when Chu Zhenfei finally came to learn of Guo Huai’s background. Even though their son had been beaten half-to-death, Chu Zhenfei’s family didn’t dare to let out so much as a fart for fear of further retaliation, and Chu Zhenfei himself developed a deep fear of Guo Huai. Whenever they encountered each other after that incident, Chu Zhenfei would always make himself scarce. The most dangerous dogs tended to be the ones that didn’t bark before biting. Even though Guo Huai was normally quite reserved and easy-going, that definitely did not mean he was easy to bully. When he truly got angry, everyone should be afraid.

Nie Yan actually admired Guo Huai’s temperament because it somewhat resembled his own. In his past life, Cao Xu had brought his family to ruin. Both of his parents passed away, and even after that, Cao Xu continued to suppress him. Under those circumstances, it was reasonable to believe that Cao Xu would never allow him to rise back up. So, he endured everything and secluded himself. He pretended to have given up, boozing himself up by day without a care for his own health and loitering around bars by night. He gradually got Cao Xu to lower his guard, and then finally, on that fateful day, he bit back and ended Cao Xu’s life with a bullet through the head.

What was the method of a truly formidable character? It was the ability to patiently bide their time for that perfect moment, seek out an opportunity to launch a counterattack, and then finish off the enemy with a single strike!

Tang Yao, Hao Cheng, and Zhao Li didn’t know Guo Huai was allergic to oranges. They only knew that he generally did not eat or drink anything with oranges in it. Otherwise, when they saw Chu Zhenfei walking over with a glass of orange juice to give Guo Huai trouble, to say nothing of Nie Yan, none of them would have let him make that toast.

Knowing their history together, Hao Cheng frowned when he saw Chu Zhenfei walking over and was looking for an appropriate time to take action.

"Guo Huai, I know we’ve had some conflicts in the past, but we’ve both already graduated. Let bygones be bygones. What do you say? I came here today to apologize to you. Here, let’s have a toast,” Chu Zhenfei offered the glass of orange juice. "Alcohol is bad for our health, so we’ll substitute with orange juice instead,” Chu Zhenfei said as he pretended to act in a sincere manner.

"Right, it’s better to drink less alcohol. Other beverages are perfectly fine to toast with,” Shen Yue chimed in. She knew Chu Zhenfei had feelings for her, as did Guo Huai, so she was worried a conflict might occur. She never expected Chu Zhenfei had actually come over to apologize to Guo Huai. Honestly, she was a little impressed, and her unfavourable impression of him began to somewhat change.

"Chu Zhenfei, are you sure you want to make me drink this orange juice?” Guo Huai coldly stared at him.

Seeing the expression in Guo Huai’s eyes, Chu Zhenfei suddenly felt a slight chill run down his spine. However, he wasn’t willing to back down as he said, "I came here to sincerely apologize to you. I don’t wish for the both of us to linger on our past grievances even after graduating.”

"Guo Huai, since Chu Zhenfei is apologizing, I think you should just forgive him,” Shen Yue said while standing by Guo Huai’s side. Even though they hadn’t met in a long time, she still had a favourable impression of him in her heart. From her memory, he was a gentle person who was always willing to forgive others.

Nie Yan had been observing everything this whole time. In the end, Guo Huai was only a teenager. Regarding matters of affection, he was still too young and inexperienced. For the sake of preserving Shen Yue’s opinion of him, he wouldn’t refuse this toast.

"Fine, I’ll toast.” Guo Huai reached out and grabbed hold of the glass of orange juice.

Just as he was about to drink it, Nie Yan stepped in and stopped him. After taking the glass from his hand, he smiled at Chu Zhenfei and said in an unhurried manner, "I’ll drink this glass on Guo Huai’s behalf. You know perfectly well that he’s allergic to oranges, yet you’re still trying to make him drink it. Aren’t you being a little too insincere?”

"Who are you? Mind your own goddamn business!” Chu Zhenfei cursed. He didn’t expect his true intentions to be seen through so accurately.

"Guo Huai, is this true?” Shen Yue stared at him with a surprised expression.

"Of course. He’s been allergic to oranges since childhood,” Nie Yan replied.

Shen Yue wasn’t dumb. After this fact came out, she was pretty quick on the uptake. Stamping her feet, she berated Guo Huai. "Guo Huai, how could you be so dumb? If you can’t drink orange juice, then wouldn’t it be fine if you just refused?” She then turned around and coldly stared at Chu Zhenfei. "Chu Zhenfei, you’re no longer welcome here. I ask that you kindly leave.”

"Dammit, you bastard! This is all your fault!” Chu Zhenfei only wanted to mess with Guo Huai. He never expected to be caught in the act. With his plans backfiring on him, he flew into a fit of rage and pinned everything on the one who had stopped him. In his anger, he sent a kick to Nie Yan’s head. Chu Zhenfei was a pretty big guy, so the power coming from such a kick would be absolutely terrifying.

When Hao Cheng saw Chu Zhenfei act, he was about to intervene and beat him up. However, he was halted in his tracks as he saw an amazing scene suddenly occurring before his eyes.

Nie Yan effortlessly dodged Chu Zhenfei’s kick and countered with a spinning back kick. As his foot planted itself into Chu Zhenfei’s stomach, he sent Chu Zhenfei’s body flying into the air before it finally crashed into the liquor table half-a-room across from him.「Crash!」The sound of bottles shattering and wood breaking filled the air. The table had split in half from the force of Chu Zhenfei’s body crashing into it. Suddenly, the entire place turned deathly silent.

Everyone wore shocked expressions.

"Holy crap!” Hao Chen was astonished by Nie Yan’s kick. To send a man of that weight flying halfway across the garden, just how much force was required? Even he, who had trained in mixed martial arts for so long, found such a scene inconceivable!

Chapter 143 – Basic Magic Bomb

That single kick shook the hearts of everyone present. Despite the drastic change in his appearance and temperament, most of Nie Yan’s former classmates still viewed him as that same scrawny kid that looked like he could be toppled over by a gust of wind. However, now, they had just witnessed him send a 100 kg man flying. This huge discrepancy shattered any such notions they held of him.

Even Hao Cheng, who had trained in mixed martial arts since childhood, couldn’t say with absolute confidence that he would be able to throw out a kick with such force. Sending an average man flying with a kick was already quite difficult, to stay nothing of a tall, muscular basketball player like Chu Zhenfei who also trained in Muay Thai. Nie Yan had been so fast that Hao Cheng felt that if he had been on the receiving end of that kick, he wouldn’t fare much better than Chu Zhenfei and would have likely also been sent flying.

All of his former classmates stared blankly at the scene, their minds shaken by indescribable shock, and the same thought emerged in their collective mind. Was this person really Nie Yan?

As for Chu Zhenfei, after crashing into the table, he attempted to stagger back to his feet but soon collapsed back down. He felt as if his organs and bowels had been shifted by the force of that kick as he lay on a bed of shattered wine glasses and liquor bottles gasping in pain.

"Don’t bother trying to get up. You won’t be able to for the next half-hour anyway.” Nie Yan’s voice cut across the courtyard while carrying over a tone of cold indifference.

If it had been an ordinary person, his kick would have resulted in broken ribs and internal bleeding. More shocking was that he had actually held back. Chu Zhenfei frequently exercised, so his physique was pretty durable, not to mention he also trained in Muay Thai. If there was one thing Muay Thai practitioners were known for, it was the ability to withstand powerful blunt force impacts. Even then, Chu Zhenfei was lucky to get off with just minor bruising. For him to be able to stand up after thirty minutes was simply leniency on Nie Yan’s part.

A brief moment later, wait staff along with security came hurrying over.

Nie Yan turned to Guo Huai and patted his shoulder. "The way you and I handle matters is a bit different. With a small fry like him, it’s better to be direct and efficient. As for Shen Yue, if you don’t have the courage to start pursuing the woman you love now, how do you expect to accomplish anything in the future?”

He had spoken these words quite clearly, so the whole crowd was able to hear his advice.

Standing next to him, Shen Yue was at a loss. Even though she had a good opinion of Guo Huai, she had never once thought of the two of them being a couple.

Guo Huai glanced at her before contemplating these words in silence.

Nie Yan faintly smiled, then stared at the security and staff members who were coming over. "I’ll leave those guys to you.”

"It’s the least I can do,” Guo Huai nodded his head. He had been enlightened by Nie Yan’s advice as if a strong gust had blown in and cleared away all of his doubts. If he truly wished to become a formidable character, silently enduring wasn’t always the best course of action. Sometimes, he needed to be able to act unabashed and freely seize opportunities without a care for social trivialities. If he already knew what he wanted and needed to do, then he should simply go forth and do it already.

The security and staff members were initially walking toward them in an aggressive manner, but their attitudes instantly turned one hundred and eighty degrees when they noticed Guo Huai among the group,

"Young Master, when did you arrive?” one of the security personnel bowed and asked with a fawning expression.

"I came here with my former classmates for a reunion. Deal with the mess here, and help us change locations. As for him over there, send him over to the infirmary,” Guo Huai ordered in a deep tone that gave the impression of a lofty figure ordering a subordinate.

"Right away, sir. We’ll immediately prepare some new arrangements,” that security personnel replied.

All of his former classmates stared on with widened eyes. What kind of place was this? It was the Jadewater Dining Hall, the crown of the provincial capital and the most luxurious entertainment establishment of the city! Nearly every celebrity and high official would come here to host their gatherings. Just this place alone was worth well over several billion yuan while the financial powers behind it couldn’t even be assessed. They never expected that this dining hall was actually run by Guo Huai’s family. No wonder they had been able to host their gathering here! In the past, Guo Huai had never revealed his background and was usually quite reserved, so everyone always believed that he came from an average household. Who could have known that his family’s background would actually be so frightening!

"It’s fine. The reunion’s already ruined, and I assume everyone here is no longer in the mood to stick around much longer. Tang Yao and I should probably get going too. Let’s meet again inside the game. You can get in touch with me by messaging Tang Yao.” Nie Yan didn’t actually seem all too surprised. Then again, he had known this since long ago. In his past life, Guo Huai had attempted to use his family’s influence to protect Nie Yan. Unfortunately, even though his family was one of the most powerful in the province, they were nowhere near capable of resisting Cao Xu who had amassed an immense fortune in both the real world and Conviction. However, Nie Yan had still received Guo Huai’s favour.

"Alright.” Guo Huai nodded.

Since Nie Yan and Tang Yao were leaving, there was no meaning in making the rest of his former classmates stay, so many of them said their goodbyes and left one after another. A few snobbish classmates took advantage of the opportunity to approach Guo Huai and curry some favour. There were also several brazen female classmates who sought out Nie Yan before he left because his performance today was simply too shocking.

He had no interest whatsoever in these girls. However, for better or worse, they were still former classmates, so he put up an agreeable front and chatted with them for a while.

"We’re leaving.” Finally, Nie Yan and Tang Yao bid their farewells and left the dining hall as well.

They both entered the car, and after starting it up, the Taiga Black drove out of the parking plaza and took the exit to the highway where they sped along home.

Back at the parking plaza, several remaining classmates had seen the pair enter the Taiga Black and drive off.

"Wow, that’s a Taiga Black. I heard they cost upwards of several hundred million yuan. Not only Guo Huai, but it turns out Tang Yao and Nie Yan were rich too!”

"No kidding. How could we have missed this in the past!”

"Besides Hao Cheng, who likes to fight, and Zhao Li, who likes to make friends, I guess the rest of them really kept to themselves.” In fact, Zhao Li and Hao Cheng were the only two to catch their eye back in middle school. As for Guo Huai, Nie Yan, and Tang Yao, they were people that none of them ever bothered paying attention to until now.

"Nie Yan’s kick back there was really too fierce. Chu Zhenfei was actually sent flying. I’ve met several Taekwondo black belts before, and even they aren’t as amazing as he is.”

The group of girls continued chatting about what had happened today. For what should’ve just been a normal class reunion, the events that unfolded were simply too shocking.

What these former classmates thought about him was of no importance to Nie Yan. When he had been in dire straits in his past life, these people avoided him like the plague for fear of bringing trouble upon themselves. So, in this life, why would he pay heed to them? Nonetheless, he didn’t regret attending this reunion today. Not only was he able to reunite with his other brothers, they were also able to get together and finalize their plans for establishing a guild.

Tang Yao dropped Nie Yan off before heading off to work. After returning home, he spent the next few hours working out and studying. When the clock struck five, he put on his gaming helmet and entered the game once more.

Since he had almost depleted his supply from the day before, Nie Yan first headed through the transfer point to Tasoyi Village to restock on Smoke Powder.

After stepping out of the transfer point, he walked along the main street before stopping at a certain tree where he climbed up a wooden ladder. After reaching the top, he saw the entrance of a tree house and walked up to it. Its appearance wasn’t much different from how he remembered. After decades of erosion by wind and rain, the wooden door was filled with numerous cracks and marks. At the very top, hanging from a wooden nail, a sign read:「Tinkerer Mulberry Sandford’s Shop」

Tinkerer Mulberry was an eccentric old fellow. He always wore a black robe and often hid himself in the back of his shop, completely engrossed by his research. Among Intermediate Tinkerer NPCs, the items he created were unmatched. The Smoke Powder Nie Yan had made Tang Yao purchase yesterday was also created by him.

Most players would be Level 20–30 by the time they discovered this place. Moreover, the items sold here were excessively expensive, costing anywhere from several gold to upward of several dozen. These luxury items could only be afforded by a select few in the playerbase who were wealthy enough.

Nie Yan pushed the door open and entered the building. At the corner of the shop behind the counter, the door to the back room was open. There, he saw Tinkerer Mulberry working at his research desk. He couldn’t actually see the old man, only a pair of aged haggard hands resembling tree bark tinkering away.

"Excuse me, do you need anything?” A hoarse voice rang out from the back room. Instead of getting up to welcome his new customer, he stayed in the back unwilling to distract himself from his work.

Afterwards, a shop window appeared in front of Nie Yan’s eyes. After scanning through the list of goods, he saw that he could only afford several items on the first row. Smoke Powder and Intermediate Flash Powder, two relatively useful items, were among them. The former cost 5 gold for a batch while the latter cost 3. Intermediate Flash Powder was nearly identical to Basic Flash Powder except it was effective against monsters Level 30 and below. He bought a batch of each, setting aside the Flash Powder to use in case of emergency. As for the rest of the items he could afford, he wasn’t able to make use of them for the time being.

He took one more look at the window before his eyes fell on the last item on the list. It was a set of black metal balls. At first glance, they appeared completely ordinary, but he knew they were an item that would make levelling much easier.

Basic Magic Bomb

Requirements: 10 Intelligence

Description: Deals 200 damage in a 3-meter radius and applies the Tinkerer’s Curse. Effective against Ordinary, Leader, and Sub-Elite monsters Level 50 and under. Deal 300% bonus damage on Machine-type monsters. Warning: Do not use against other players. Otherwise, the user will receive the Painful Death Curse (Inflicts instant death. −10% All Stats Permanently).

Basic Magic Bombs dealt substantial damage, but they were quite pricey at 10 gold for a batch of twenty. For the time being, very few players were capable of affording such an expensive item. Even Nie Yan would be prudent about using them. He couldn’t afford them now, but when he had more money, he would come back to buy them. Even though using them on common mobs was a bit of a waste, they were quite effective against Machine-type mobs, especially if he was going to Everlasting City to level.

As for the Painful Death Curse, if these Magic Bombs were used to attack players, then the user would eat a bitter fruit like no other because the curse would never fail to activate. This was also a type of restriction; otherwise, if this item could be used in PvP, it would be too overpowered.

After purchasing the Smoke Powder and Flash Powder, Nie Yan left the shop and headed back to Calore through the transfer point.

Upon stepping out, he received a call from Tang Yao.

「They’ve contacted me. Hao Cheng is called Violet Berserk Blade, Zhao Li is called Little Worm, and Guo Huai is called Watchful Snail. I had them establish the guild. We put it under your name, while I’ll be the guild leader. After creating the guild, they immediately started recruiting members. Oh, and I already managed to convince Yu Lan and her team to join.」

「Guo Huai is good at handling this kind of work, so it’s fine if we let him take care of it.」

「Go check the forums on the official website. Guo Huai already made a post.」

Hearing this, Nie Yan immediately opened the forums on the Conviction website, then entered the board for the Viridian Empire. There, he saw the top viewed thread was surprisingly for their guild. The title read:「Arcane Mage, Young Sparrow Hawk, Soars to the Heavens with the Sudden Emergence of His New Guild, Asskickers United」

There was a ton of discussion in the thread, many asking where Young Sparrow Hawk was levelling or if he would be able to overthrow Heaven Breaker on the leaderboards. It quickly reached several hundred thousand views, and many of them showed their support for Tang Yao in the comments section. Quite a few were tired of the endless injustices caused by Victorious Return. Even if they occupied the number one position in the Viridian Empire, there were countless players who suffered grievances under them, causing a resentment among the playerbase to bubble forth. If someone was able to gather these players, then they would be able to challenge Victorious Return’s rule.

「What’s our next step?」Tang Yao asked.「Are we going to go back and meet up with Guo Huai and the others? After all, we just created the guild, so there’s a lot of work to be done.」

「None of that is important to us right now. We’re going to focus on levelling first and foremost. The best way you can support them is by constantly raising your level and knocking Heaven Breaker off of first place on the leaderboards,」Nie Yan replied in a calm tone.

Chapter 144 – Lord-Class Scaled Frog

Nie Yan left Calore and sprinted back toward the Scaled Frog zone. Those Elites should have respawned.

「Be careful, don’t get yourself accidently killed while I’m not around,」Nie Yan cautioned. Tang Yao being all alone was extremely dangerous.

「Don’t worry. I haven’t seen any monsters nearby. I’m perfectly safe.」

「Give me your coordinates.」

「23828.23875.385」

Heading for these coordinates, Nie Yan eventually met back with Tang Yao in the forest.

"Did you buy more Smoke Powder?” Tang Yao asked. After using so many pouches yesterday, there probably wasn’t much left.

"Yeah, I did,” Nie Yan replied.

"Hah, killing Level 30 Elites is pretty costly.” Tang Yao sighed in sorrow at the thought of how much gold was spent solely on Smoke Powder.

"Well, we can make it back by killing them. Remember those recipes that dropped yesterday? After giving them to the Alchemists on the second floor, they’re earning the Starry Night Potion Shop at least several gold a day. It’d be even better if we could find some top-quality gear that we can equip.”

"Your shop really makes that much?” Tang Yao asked in an amazed tone. Could a few recipes really bring in so much gold?

"Of course.”

"We should find some more recipes then! We’ll be rolling in money!” Tang Yao exclaimed in excitement. Elites already had a pretty high drop rate, not to mention Beast-type monsters like Scaled Frogs were the most likely to drop Alchemy Recipes. He did some calculations. If they spent the whole day farming Elites and Sub-Elites, then they would be able to obtain at least three recipes.

The pair headed to the nearest Elite. After arriving at their destination, they still used the same method from yesterday. Nie Yan laid down the Smoke Powder, and then, Tang Yao would barrage the Scaled Frog with magic from a distance.

Thirty minutes later, the Scaled Frog collapsed to ground.

"How far are you from levelling up?” Nie Yan asked. He was surprised to see Tang Yao not immediately levelling up after killing the Elite.

"I’m still 1% away,” Tang Yao said after glancing at his experience bar.

"Ah good, then you’re not far off. Come on, let’s go find the next one,” Nie Yan nodded and said. Tang Yao reaching Level 15 would be a heavy blow to Heaven Breaker. At the very least, it would signify to the rest of the playerbase that Tang Yao had the ability to overthrow Heaven Breaker from his throne. With this happening, Guo Huai and the others would have a much easier time recruiting members for the guild.

Nie Yan had cautioned Guo Huai and the others that they had to be very selective of who they recruited into their guild. Otherwise, they would run a much higher risk of being infiltrated by moles. It would be quite a pain if their internal movements were being monitored and reported back to the major guilds, especially since they were still in the initial stages of establishing themselves. When they actually had the ability to defend themselves, only then would it be okay to fully open the doors for new members.

As they travelled through the gaps between the trees and headed for the next Elite, they were suddenly brought to a halt by a strong gust of wind that came from deep within the forest.

「Croak! Croak!」The deep sound reverberated through the air. This was the call of a Scaled Frog, but it wasn’t from an Elite. It was possibly even higher!

"W-what was that?” Tang Yao asked with a shocked expression.

Nie Yan attempted to recall where he had heard this sound before. A brief moment later, his face suddenly lit up with joy and he exclaimed, "It’s a Lord-class Scaled Frog!

A Lord-class Scaled Frog did exist in this zone, but its spawn location wasn’t predetermined, so encountering it was a matter of luck. However, it could be found roaming around the central region of the forest near either mountain. If it was slain, it would only respawn after three days.

"A Level 30 Lord!?” Tang Yao’s face turned a few shades paler. Just a day ago, he thought a Level 30 Elite was far out of his reach. Yet, now, they had actually encountered a Level 30 Lord! The only Lord-class monster he ever faced was the Treant King. Even then, it was simply a Level 5 dungeon boss.

The pair moved toward the source of the sound. Eventually, after nearing an opening in the forest, an enormous crimson Scaled Frog entered their sight. Covered in giant warts and emitting a faint red aura, it dwarfed even the Elite Scaled Frogs in size.

In his past life, Scaled Frogs were notorious for their poison damage among the players levelling in this zone. Even a Level 30 Fighter with over 2000 health would eventually succumb to the poison if they didn’t drink an Intermediate Antidote quickly enough after being inflicted. The poison of a Lord-class Scaled Frog would presumably be even more potent.

Like its weaker counterparts, the Lord-class Scaled Frog was also lazy and slow in a passive state. After moving around a little, it would stay in place for quite a while.

Nie Yan activated Transcendent Insight. With his level being higher than the day before, he was now able to fully inspect them.

Scaled Frog (Lord): Level 30

Health: 50,000/50,000

What a frightening amount of health!

"Can we still deal with it the same way?” Tang Yao asked. If the Smoke Powder was still effective, regardless of whether it was an Elite or Lord, it would still be a stationary target.

"It’ll be difficult. It has a Sight of about 50. Even if we reduce that to 35 with the Smoke Powder, your cast range still won’t be enough.” Nie Yan shook his head. If Tang Yao attacked the Lord-class Scaled Frog, it would immediately aggro onto him.

"I have a necklace that increases my cast range by 10%,” Tang Yao said, pointing to the necklace on his neck.

"Hmm, still a bit short. That only increases your cast range to 33 meters.” Nie Yan shook his head again. Still, he never expected Tang Yao to be carrying such an item.

"Is there no other way?” Tang Yao asked, sounding rather disappointed. He used to believe that a one or two-meter difference in cast range was negligible, but who could have thought that this difference would play such an important role now?

Sinking into deep thought, Nie Yan finally replied, "It’s not impossible, but it’s going to be a little difficult. We’re gonna need to find some suitable terrain to pull it off.”

"Say it, I’m willing to give it a try.”

"We’ll have to lure it near the base of a hill. You’ll be attacking it from the top of that hill. When there’s a difference in elevation between caster and target, your spells will gain an additional 10 to 50% range depending on that difference,” Nie Yan replied.

"Oh, that’s all? And here I thought we were gonna do something crazy. We’re in a mountain area right now. Finding a hill should be easy,” Tang Yao said with a relieved expression.

"You’re oversimplifying things too much. It’s not going to be that easy. If the hill isn’t high enough, you’ll only get a 10% increase in cast range. That’s 36 meters while the Elite Scaled Frog’s range of vision is 35 meters. Under that circumstance, can you guarantee you won’t accidentally get too close… and what if it suddenly moved? You only have a one-meter margin for error. Even I can’t say with full confidence that I could pull it off. In order to minimize the risk of you getting aggroed onto, we need to find a hill that will give you a cast range bonus of at least 20%.”

Tang Yao nodded after listening to Nie Yan’s explanation. He did indeed lack the skill to pull something like that off. If he got too close, he would be discovered. If he was too far and his spells failed to reach their target, then he would be giving time for the Scaled Frog to regenerate its health. Such a small margin for error made hunting it too difficult. Best case scenario, they would eventually succeed in slaying it, but who knows how much time they would waste. Worst case scenario, they would end up dying mid-way into wearing down its health.

"You keep an eye on it for now. I’ll go look for some suitable terrain nearby,” Nie Yan said. Since they encountered a Lord-class monster, they absolutely couldn’t let it get away. Aside from the experience, it would also drop 10 gold or more in money and items.

"Alright.”

"Here, take this Intermediate Flash Powder. If you come across danger, you can use the Flash Powder to run away.”

Nie Yan activated a haste scroll and sprinted into the forest before disappearing among the trees. Even though this mountainous area had plenty of slopes, the location he was going to select couldn’t be too far away; otherwise, they ran a much higher risk of dying while luring the Lord-class Scaled Frog over there.

Sweeping through the twisting and winding mountain paths, Nie Yan found several hills, but because either their incline was too gentle or their size was too small, he directly ruled them out.

After five or six minutes of searching, he finally arrived at the base of a rocky hill. Its incline was reasonably steep, and it was around nine meters tall. If Tang Yao stood at the very top, he would for certain gain at least an additional 30% in cast range.

「I found a suitable location. Hurry over to these coordinates: 23228.23375.285.」

「Alright, I’ll be there as soon as possible,」Tang Yao answered. After arriving at the coordinates and meeting up with Nie Yan, he stared blankly at the rocky hill in front of him. "This is the place?”

"Yep.”

"How am I gonna get up there?”

Nie Yan unequipped his Crawler Ring and tossed it over to Tang Yao.

"Put this on.”

Tang Yao caught the ring and eyed it with a curious expression. After checking its properties, he emotionally exclaimed, "This ring is amazing! I can easily cross over any obstacle with it like it’s nothing!”

"Start climbing. I’m gonna lure it this way. When I bring it to those trees over there, I’ll lay down the Smoke Powder, and then, you can start attacking,” Nie Yan said before sprinting back to the Lord-class Scaled Frog.

After he left, Tang Yao activated the Crawler Ring’s ability. Immediately, a strange attractive force emerged on the palms of his hands. As soon as he placed them on the rock wall, they firmly stuck on.

"Sweet!” He began climbing up. After reaching the top, he pulled himself up and began surveying around. At such a high elevation, he could take in much more of the surroundings.

Meanwhile, Nie Yan found the Lord-class Scaled Frog, and after getting into range, he retrieved his crossbow and fired off a round of bolts.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Even though they all firmly struck their target, due to the large level discrepancy, they were unable to deal any damage, and instead, they all showed as a miss. He wasn’t like Tang Yao who had an Arcane Fairy to help him overcome the level difference and deal damage.

Even though they all missed, the Scaled Frog still got agitated by them and subsequently noticed him. It let out a deep croak before bounding toward him like an arrow released from a bow.

He activated Swift Retreat and fled for his life.

Even though the skill was suitable for fleeing while in combat, it would likely reduce the amount of aggro on the player, so it was best not to use it while pulling mobs.

However, Nie Yan had no choice in the matter. A Level 30 Lord-class monster was simply too fast. If he didn’t activate it, it would basically be impossible for him to get away.

After the Scaled Frog’s leaping strike failed to hit its target, it opened its mouth and spat out a jet of scarlet sludge at him.

He quickly activated the Silk Spinner Ring’s ability as a line of webbing shot from his left hand onto a nearby tree. With a hard tug, he was pulled away to safety.

The sludge flew past his previous location and landed on the trunk of a tree. Almost immediately, upon making contact with the wood, it began sizzling and emitting white smoke.

Nie Yan dashed through the forest with the Scaled Frog in hot pursuit. It would shoot jets of sludge at him non-stop, leaving him with no choice but to duck behind the cover of nearby trees.

Two minutes later, while it was still aggroed onto him, he was finally able to bring it over to the designated location.

The Scaled Frog suddenly leaped high into the air as it hurled itself at him again.

Nie Yan rolled to the side and evaded the attack. Retrieving a pouch of Intermediate Flash Powder from his bag, he then threw it at the Scaled Frog behind him.「Poof!」It exploded into a cloud of blinding light, taking away the Scaled Frog’s sight. As it let out an aggrieved croak from the pain in its eyes, flailing around helplessly, he grabbed the Smoke Powder and laid it down, whereupon a dense cloud of smoke spread outward and enveloped the area.

While the Scaled Frog was still blinded, Nie Yan took advantage of the opportunity to retreat and signalled to Tang Yao who was standing at the top of the hill.

「You can begin.」

After getting the go-ahead from Nie Yan, Tang Yao began casting his magic. The first spell he cast was Meteor and soon, waves of meteors rained down on the Scaled Frog, causing a string of damage values to rise up above its head. He immediately followed it up with his other spells. Arcane Flame Burst! Arcane Fireball! Arcane Missile!「Bang! Bang! Bang!」The Scaled Frog was set alight by the barrage of spells.

Chapter 145 – Explosive Levelling

Occasionally, when Ignore Level proc’d, Tang Yao’s spells would deal over 100 damage, but they usually didn’t exceed 10. Even then, his DPM (damage per minute) was still quite significant because he was making up for the low damage per hit with the sheer number of spells he was outputting.

The Lord-class Scaled Frog’s health fell at a constant pace. Even though it wasn’t by much, it still gave Nie Yan and Tang Yao hope of seeing an eventual end.

This was a Level 30 Lord!

It couldn’t be compared to an Elite!

In his past life, when a player encountered a Lord-class monster in the wilderness, they would immediately notify their guild. Hundreds of members would then be mobilized to deal with it because Lords were often the sparks for many major guild battles. Lords would usually drop Dark Gold-grade equipment upon death. However, if the player was lucky, then Legendary-grade equipment fragments might drop. Even with terrible luck, they were guaranteed equipment of at least Gold-grade which could be sold for quite a bit of money.

Now, under Tang Yao’s intense barrage of spells, the Lord-class Scaled Frog’s health was being gradually chipped away, 99.9%, 99.8%…

Even though the battle was progressing at a snail’s pace, Tang Yao and Nie Yan were nonetheless in high spirits.

If they successfully killed it, then everything would be divided between just the two of them. Just how much experience would they receive?

For the time being, Nie Yan wouldn’t know the answer to that question. Even back in his prime, he had never killed an equal level Lord-class monster with just two people, let alone one that was of a much higher level than him. Now, however, he was accomplishing feats that he would have never dared to attempt or imagine were possible in his past life!

"Nie Yan, do you know how much experience a Lord-class monster will give? This guy is so tanky. He has more than ten times the health of an Elite,” Tang Yao asked, his mind trembling from excitement. He just couldn’t imagine it.

Would he level up once, twice, or maybe even more?

"You’ll probably go up two or three levels. Focus on attacking. If you slow down, its health will start recovering,” Nie Yan answered. Thankfully, Tang Yao’s magic power was high enough. Adding the Ignore Level Difference procs, his damage was quite impressive. If it were any other Mage, they probably wouldn’t even leave so much as a scratch on this Lord-class Scaled Frog’s health.

"Don’t worry. My damage output won’t stop.”

Compared to before, Tang Yao had shown remarkable improvement. As for a relatively mindless task like this, he absolutely wouldn’t make any mistakes.

I should prepare some Magic Power Potions for next time, Nie Yan thought. If Tang Yao’s Magic Power was increased, hunting monsters would go by much faster. However, they were relatively expensive. A batch of potions with Magic Power +20 would sell for at least 3 silver per bottle. If their effects were more potent, they would fetch an even higher price. For him, though, money was not the issue. It was the fact that, at this point in time, they were rare and thus difficult to obtain from the marketplace.

While contemplating, he continued to carefully monitor the movements of the Lord-class Scaled Frog. Thanks to Tang Yao casting spells from higher ground, it was currently still in a state of confusion with no idea of where the attacks were coming from, leaving it with no choice but to blindly move around in the hopes of spotting its aggressor. He had a higher attack range than Tang Yao with the crossbow, being able to shoot from almost 40 meters away, so if it wandered out of Tang Yao’s cast range or approached too closely to Tang Yao’s position, he would be able to immediately fire at it from a safe distance and lure it back. His crossbow bolts were shot from level ground, so the Scaled Frog would always move toward whichever direction he fired from. However, since there were no follow-up shots, it would eventually stop investigating after moving several steps. As a result, the Scaled Frog was never able to wander off too far or too close.

While they were still chipping away at the boss’ health, Nie Yan suddenly received a call from Hao Cheng.

「Hey, how are things over at your side? How long till Tang Yao reaches Level 15?」Hao Cheng asked.

「If I were to give an estimate, probably in around three hours.」

「Really, it’s still going to take that long? Well, I guess that makes sense. At your levels, you guys probably need a lot of experience to level up. Anyway, we’ve finished establishing the guild. We’re just recruiting by the auction house right now. We’ve already brought in over a thousand members, and there’s still a steady stream of players coming in, but the treasury is still completely empty, so some of them are already starting to worry. I’ve assured them that it’s going to be filled up soon, so they’re all waiting to see… but if nothing changes, I’m worried a lot of them are going to start leaving over the next few days,」Hao Cheng explained. The first batch of members were extremely important. If they felt the guild was worth being a part of, they would recruit their friends to join them. After all, even though having strong elites was an important factor, the foundation of a guild was laid through the efforts of its ordinary members.

Nie Yan thought for a moment before replying,「You can tell them they’ll be seeing more benefits soon, and right now, they can go to the Starry Night Potion Shop to receive a discount. Members with up to 100 merit points will get 5% off purchases with a 30 copper limit. Members with up to 500 merit points will get 5% off purchases with a 1 silver and 50 copper limit…」In this fashion, he would be driving business to his potion shop, and by limiting how much they could purchase with the discount, he would prevent other guilds from buying large quantities of goods through proxy, but above all, he would be incentivising the members of his guild to increase their contribution.

「You know the owner there?」

「That’s the explanation you can give to our guild members.」

「Alright, this should convince a lot of people to stay,」Hao Cheng excitedly said. Getting a discount from the Starry Night Potion Shop was an incredible boon for their guild. Right now, it was the most influential potion shop in all of Calore. With over a hundred Junior Alchemists and several hundred Apprentice Alchemists working there, it produced more than 60% of the concoctions circulating in Calore’s market. This building that towered over its surroundings had in a short time become a holy place for Alchemy. Any Alchemist with half a brain would apply there, and some contracted Alchemists would leave their guilds to join through a recommendation from a friend. Hao Cheng had never once heard of the Starry Night Potion Shop offering a 5% discount to any guild. This move would undoubtedly inform all their members that they had the Starry Night Potion Shop supporting them from behind-the-scenes. With such a powerful backer, who would dare doubt their guild’s ability to provide?

Hao Cheng quickly notified the others of the good news.

Back in the forest, Nie Yan and Tang Yao were still busy wearing down the Lord-class Scaled Frog.

Elsewhere, Heaven Breaker had just returned to Victorious Return guild headquarters after finishing a dungeon run.

"How’s the progress? Did you find out more about Young Sparrow Hawk?” Heaven Breaker asked Tangerine who stood beside him.

"Yes, he’s a member of a pretty mediocre team. They haven’t even run Black Flame Forest yet. He was last spotted in that team two days ago. Recently, he’s been nowhere to be found, so we still don’t know how he’s been levelling so quickly.”

"I see, then he’s probably just an ordinary player who got lucky. When you find him, force him to reveal where he’s been levelling.”

"We also received another interesting piece of information from a player named Chen Bo. Apparently, Nirvana Flame and Young Sparrow Hawk are close friends.”

Just in case you forgot him, Chen Bo is first mentioned in Chapter 17. He makes his first real appearance in Chapter 42.

"Nirvana Flame…” Heaven Breaker’s expression turned icy upon hearing this name.

"According to the reports, Young Sparrow Hawk had also come into conflict with members of Radiant Sacred Flame in the past.”

"Eh? What was the outcome?”

"Radiant Sacred Flame had several dozen members blockading Young Sparrow Hawk and his party members inside Levin Hills. All of his party members were killed, but he somehow managed to escape. Later on, Nirvana Flame emerged and rescued him. In the process, he killed six or seven of their members, including Dian Cang who lost his Fire Chaser Set,” Tangerine replied with trepidation. It seemed her party wasn’t the first to fall by his hand.

"All by himself?” Heaven Breaker asked with a look of surprise. His guild had some degree of friendship with Radiant Sacred Flame, so he had learned of this incident before. However, back then, he had only heard that Dian Cang died to a player and lost all his gear. Who would have thought that that player was actually Nirvana Flame?

"Yes, all by himself. At that time, Radiant Sacred Flame had no way of dealing with him, so they had no choice but to call off their manhunt.”

Heaven Breaker sank into deep thought. If this was all truly related to Nirvana Flame, then he would need to pay serious attention to this Young Sparrow Hawk from now on.

As Tangerine was about to speak, she suddenly hesitated.

"If you have something to say, just say it.” Heaven Breaker shot her a glance.

"I think it’s best if we withdraw the internal bounty on Nirvana Flame. If our guild members encounter him, I’m afraid they won’t be his match.”

Tangerine felt frightened when Heaven Breaker’s expression darkened in response to her words.

"Erm… Also, I believe Young Sparrow Hawk is with Nirvana Flame right now.”

"Tell me, do you think their levels are about the same?” Heaven Breaker asked. After hearing her words, he knew exactly what she was about to say.

"Y-yes. I think the only reason he hasn’t shown up on the leaderboards is because he’s hiding himself. When we met him last time, he was already Level 11.”

Heaven Breaker fell silent for a short period of time, then said, "Withdraw the internal bounty on Nirvana Flame. After that, go find me that player named Chen Bo.”

"Find him? For what reason?”

"You don’t need to know.”

"Understood.”

At a muddy meadow deep within a remote forest, Nie Yan and Tang Yao were arduously working on the same repetitive task. The Lord-class Scaled Frog was being worn down extremely slowly. It was so slow they felt like an eternity was passing them by as they waited for its health bar to fall by the tiniest of a fraction.

Lord-class monsters were formidable to a degree that many players couldn’t imagine. With the normal method of hunting mobs, even if there were over several thousand Level 10 players, they still wouldn’t necessarily be able to kill a Level 30 Lord.

Almost ten hours later, Nie Yan had exhausted pouch after pouch of Smoke Powder and the arm Tang Yao used to raise his staff felt like it was about to fall off, but the end was almost in sight. The Lord-class Scaled Frog had only a sliver of health remaining.

「Oh my god… we’ve been at this for almost ten hours now and this bastard still hasn’t croaked. If he doesn’t die soon, then I will!」Tang Yao wore a bitter expression on his face.

「It still has 2% left. Come on, we’re at the final stretch.」

When the Scaled Frog’s health had fallen below 20%, it had entered a berserk state and unleashed several large-scale area of effect spells. However, aside from the trees, none of them hit their intended targets. In fact, since the start of the battle, it had never even been able to spot where the enemy was.

Hearing Nie Yan’s words, Tang Yao accelerated his pace, his heart beating rapidly and his mind focused on only one thing. Let me level… Let me level… Let me level…

With a final Arcane Flame Burst, the Lord-class Scaled Frog finally lost its last bit of health. It let out a mournful croak before collapsing, dying the ground in crimson.

A gorgeous radiance enveloped Nie Yan and Tang Yao.

「Ding dong!」

「Ding dong!」

Nie Yan heard two jingling sounds, signifying that he had levelled up twice. The Lord-class Scaled Frog gave him enough experience to go from Level 14 directly to level 16. As for Tang Yao, since he had contributed the most, he received even more experience and directly rose to Level 17.

Seeing how much he had levelled, Tang Yao was struck in a daze.

Thinking he had misread his own level, he asked,「Nie Yan… am I really Level 17?」

「Yep.」 Nie Yan faintly smiled before walking over to the Scaled Frog’s corpse. A Level 30 Lord-class monster, who knew what sort of items it would drop. After poking around the corpse, he found a ring, some leather armour, a recipe, and 2 gold.

Chapter 146 – Empire

The fruits of their labour could be regarded as sizeable. To see two pieces of equipment drop was quite rare, but then again, the game system would always reward players generously for slaying monsters above their level, especially when felling a higher class monster such as a Lord.

Nie Yan examined the properties of the ring.

Scarlet Poison Ring: (Dark Gold)

Requirements: 120 Strength, 160 Dexterity

Properties: Attack 53–57, +20% Poison Damage, Poison Resistance +20, Ignore Level +1

Weight: 0.1 lb

Restrictions: Can be equipped by all factions.

It was crafted from a ferrous metal and adorned with a large ruby that emitted a bewitching tint. A ring that was able to raise attack was truly a rare sight indeed. Moreover, it had the Ignore Level property and increased poison damage and poison resistance as well. Such an accessory was an extremely amazing existence even for a Level 30 player. Then again, any piece of equipment dropped from a Lord-class would never be lacking in any respect, to say nothing of this ring that was Dark Gold-grade. Nie Yan felt it quite a pity that accessories could not be upgraded with Fortune Gems; otherwise, he would have definitely raised it by at least five stages.

By having such a ring in his hands at this stage of the game, he was practically defying the heavens.

However, with such high stat requirements, it wasn’t something an average player under Level 30 could hope to equip.

Nie Yan glanced at his character information. After recently levelling up to Level 16, he gained an additional 2 Dexterity from the Chapter of Freedom, so his Dexterity was currently 110. Thanks to the Chapter of Courage, he also received an additional 2 stat points on top of the 5 that were given every 5 levels. Allocating everything into Dexterity, he brought his to a total of 117. However, he was still short by 43 points. When I get back to Calore, I should go and find a few skill books to raise it some more, he thought.

Description: The sixth chapter from the first volume of the Book of Order, an incomplete piece of the legendary book.

Properties: Receive 2 Dexterity and 1 Skill Point every 5 levels. Stealth +15, Cloak +15, Reflex +15, Strength +30

Disappear: Allows the player to stealth in the middle of combat. Has a certain probability of avoiding the enemy's attack

Passive: Stealth +20

Sacrificial Gambit: Sacrifice 30% of current health for a 50%, 20%, or 10% chance to deal 200%, 300%, or 500% of the amount sacrificed as damage respectively

Cooldown: 2 days (1/2)

Restrictions: Can only be used by a member of the Righteous Guardian of Order

Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player's bag

Description: The third chapter of the first volume of the Book of Order, an incomplete piece of the legendary book. Whoever shall possess this chapter will receive the inheritance of the God of Light. Your mission is to spread the glory of light.

Properties: Receive 2 Stat Points and 1 Skill Point every 5 levels. Focus +15, Willpower +15, Resilience +16, Jump +15, Reflex +15, Speed +16

Transcendent Insight: Gain the ability to see through your enemies. Allows you to view enemy character information. Also grants the ability to appraise items.

Passive: Awareness +10

Adjudicator of God: When activated, become immune to all magic, gain 500 health, and summon an advanced life-saving shield that absorbs sixty percent of all incoming damage for five minutes. (this skill cannot be used in instances)

Cooldown: 10 days (1/10)

Restriction: Can only be bound by a member of the Righteous faction who protects the light

Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player's inventory

If he could equip the ring, then his attack would reach an even more frightening level.

Finished examining the ring, he then shifted his attention to the leather armour.

Scarlet Scaled Leather Armour (Dark Gold)

Requirements: Level 30

Properties: Defense 268–272, Physical Damage −10%, Resilience +32, Defense Level +1

Weight: 27 lb

Restrictions: Thief; can be equipped by all factions.

Its properties were pretty good, but with it requiring the player to be Level 30, it was useless to him for now. And just like the ring, it was also an item meant for a Thief. Tang Yao was out of luck.

Finally, he took a look at the recipe that dropped. It was an Intermediate Mana Potion Recipe which could only be learned by an Intermediate Alchemist.

"What a stroke of luck!” Nie Yan fully understood the worth of an Intermediate Mana Potion Recipe. It was several hundred times rarer than an Intermediate Health Potion Recipe. Due to how difficult it was to obtain, its was incredibly valuable.

For Mages, their mana bar was like a second health bar, so if it ran out, their lives would be in danger. This was why having good mana potions was vital. In dungeons, it would allow them to continue dealing damage at a steady pace. Even more so, if an unexpected situation occurred, it could indirectly allow them to save a teammate from death!

In his past life, the manufacturing costs of an Intermediate Mana Potion was about 1 silver, while it was usually sold for around 60 silver. If there were plenty of materials and ingredients, an Intermediate Alchemist would be able to produce up to fifteen bottles every hour. By rough estimations, he could easily imagine how much profit this would bring in.

The primary ingredient for concocting Intermediate Mana Potions, Windletter Herb, could be found in any Level 1–50 map, and they had already started appearing in the marketplace. However, medicinal plants such as the Windletter Herb grew sporadically. The lower the level of the map, the less likely they were to appear. Often times, the same type of plant could be an ingredient in numerous recipes, so despite not being needed immediately, many large guilds would frequently purchase and stockpile them. Hence, even if a player camped out at the auction house all day, they still wouldn’t be able to acquire much.

Like many other guilds, since Holy Empire wasn’t able to match the behemoth that was the Starry Night Potion Shop, many of their guild Alchemists ended up leaving their ranks, and their consumption of medicinal plants fell accordingly. However, thanks to the deal Nie Yan had negotiated with them, they were able to sell their surplus to his shop. As a result, he was able to acquire vast quantities of medicinal plants every day, which was why he wasn’t too worried about lacking ingredients. Besides, it would soon have Asskickers United as a supplier as well.

It was a bit unfortunate that Intermediate Mana Potions were currently still out of reach to most players. For the time being, only a few of the more wealthy players would be able to afford them. Even then, they would likely only be used in case of emergency.

Climbing down from the rocky hill, Tang Yao walked over to Nie Yan and handed back the Crawler Ring before asking, "What did it drop?”

"Only Thief equipment.”

"… Is my luck really that bad today?” Tang Yao was left almost speechless. Nonetheless, the type of equipment a field boss would drop was always random, so he could only reluctantly accept this outcome.

"You’ve already outlevelled most of your gear. I have a few pieces of Level 10 Mage equipment back at my storage that you can use for the time being. Then, when I have the time, we’ll get you a set of Level 20 gear,” Nie Yan said. If they continued at their current pace, Tang Yao would reach Level 20 in no time.

After killing the Lord-class Scaled Frog, Nie Yan’s PKer status had completely disappeared. In the end, he still wasn’t able to find a Killer’s Demonic Medallion. He could only sigh in regret and wait for the next time to try again.

"Wow, red names really do go away pretty quickly when killing Scaled Frogs.”

"Yeah, it’s one of the fastest ways,” Nie Yan answered reluctantly. He didn’t actually want his red name to disappear just yet. Perhaps, if he had been red for just a little while longer, a medallion would have dropped.

Never expecting it to take them ten hours just to kill a single Lord-class monster, Nie Yan and Tang Yao hastily made their way over to the two remaining Elites. Considering that Elites only spawned once a day, they definitely couldn’t let them go to waste. After all, though not as much as a Lord, they still gave generous amounts of experience.

At this moment, the pair were completely unaware of just how much of an uproar they created among the players when Tang Yao suddenly leaped to Level 17. With Heaven Breaker being cleanly knocked out of first place, the forums were booming with discussion.

Guo Huai, Hao Cheng, Zhao Li, and a few other friends all received the news; after which Tang Yao’s chat was being overrun with messages.

「Young Sparrow Hawk, how did you suddenly level up so quickly? Too frightening!」

「Level 17 already… Heavens, you’re too amazing.」

「Tang Yao! You’re so awesome. You actually beat Heaven Breaker! We even thought you guys weren’t going to make it today. Who could’ve known you were going to jump so many levels at once!」

「Quick, go look at the forums!」Guo Huai said.

Both Nie Yan and Tang Yao opened the forums. The Viridian Empire board was almost exploding with activity as the title of every post was highlighted in bright red.

「A player suddenly went up 3 levels at once. Is this a bug?」

The official response from a staff member on the Conviction website was:「We’ve already done an investigation and verified that the player in question has levelled up in a legitimate way. If a player kills a monster above their level, the system will reward them with additional experience. We’ve also verified that this system is working as intended.」

The Conviction staff were quite responsive. They would always answer within five minutes of a player raising an issue.

Below the official response, the commenters were all expressing their amazement and shock. Tang Yao’s accomplishment was inconceivable. To level up three times at once… just how much experience was required? Just what kind of monster would you have to kill to suddenly jump from Level 14 to level 17?

…

「Viridian Empire’s Most Godly Player! Levelled 3x at Once to Destroy Heaven Breaker!」

「A Legend is Born. The God-like Player, Young Sparrow Hawk.」

「A Surprise For All Players. God Sparrow Hawk Has Beaten Heaven Breaker!」

The rest of the threads were all along the same lines. In a short while, Tang Yao was pushed to the forefront and became an instant celebrity!

…

I wonder what their reactions would be if they knew this godly player was still wearing the Fire Chaser Set… I bet they wouldn’t know whether to laugh or cry! Tang Yao sighed as he thought in a self-mocking manner. Even though the Fire Chaser Set was by no means bad, it was completely unsuitable for someone of his level.

「My heavens! Amazing… this is too unbelievable.」Guo Huai gasped.

「Huh? What’s up? Did something happen?」

「Just a moment ago, we started receiving more players applying to our guild. And instead of slowing down, it’s actually still going up! There are so many people applying that I can’t even go through all of them. The guild headquarters is packed. There’s already several thousand of us in there. Any more, and it’s going to collapse!」Guo Huai informed excitedly. Never in his wildest dreams did he expect for such a grand occasion to occur.

「How many members do we have right now?」

「More than five thousand, and that number is still rapidly increasing. Right now, even though we’re only accepting players over Level 9, we’re still getting plenty of people applying. It’s going to take me at least a day to go through all of them, and I think four or five days to get all the guild affairs in order. At the rate we’re going, I think, by tomorrow, we’ll break through to ten thousand members at the very least.」

Listening to Guo Huai’s description, Nie Yan and Tang Yao could roughly imagine how the situation was going over at their guild headquarters.

The guild headquarters was an instanced area given by the system. Starting out, it would be quite modest with only a small courtyard and a very narrow building. Both could be expanded by spending money on upgrading the headquarters’ tier. The building was designed to fit around two hundred people, while the courtyard could hold about eight hundred. Yet, right now, over several thousand players were crowded in there with Guo Huai.

「We’re a success!」 Tang Yao exclaimed.

Nie Yan shook his head before saying in a cool-headed manner,「It’s still too early to be celebrating. Right now, we don’t know how many players from other guilds have infiltrated our ranks. We still need to gradually sift through them, carefully monitor them, and do some deeper background checks. If we find these moles, we immediately kick them. As for the other players, it’s still hard to say how cohesive we’ll be as a guild and how effective we’ll be in guild battles. We’re at the most critical juncture in our development. We need to take things slowly, step by step. If we go too fast, we might end up tripping and falling over without any way to get back up.」

Tang Yao and Guo Huai fell silent. They had let their excitement get the better of them. Thankfully, Nie Yan’s words were sobering.

「Find a few more people we can trust to help manage the guild and have them carefully comb through the members. We’ll divide our ranks accordingly. The higher level the player and the more contribution they have, the more access we’ll give to some of our resources. I’ll fill up the treasury as soon as I get back,」Nie Yan continued.

「Yeah, you’re right. We got a bit too excited,」Guo Huai said. It seemed Nie Yan had grown much wiser than them.

「You guys aren’t in the wrong. Today’s occasion is still worth celebrating over. After all, we’ve finally taken our first step. We might not be comparable to those famous guilds now, but given time, as long as we set about our tasks diligently and gain a strong foothold, we’ll still have a chance of expanding much more in the near future.」

「If our members grow over ten thousand, our treasury might not be enough,」Guo Huai said anxiously.

「Don’t fret, I have a method,」Nie Yan replied. For the sake of developing his guild, he would turn to the place that he had always relied on to earn money, the auction house. Last time, after gathering a great deal of equipment with Petrify Resistance and Anti-Petrify Potions, he had sold them for a decent profit. In a few days, a Level 10 dungeon called Blazing Ravine would open. It was important because that was where he would be focusing his attention on next. In preparation for its opening, he would start gathering equipment with Fire Resistance, potions, and so on. There were also items such as Basic Flash Powder, Sheep Transformation Scrolls, and Web Scrolls from Trembling Milo’s Shop to think about. Right now, most players were under Level 10, so the market for them was at its peak. Players were finally starting to have some more money in their pockets, so they could actually afford to start buying more expensive things, which meant the timing was ripe for him to start flooding the marketplace with these items!

If the guild was to expand, then the treasury would have to keep up. Not only that, but it had to be better than anyone else’s!

Nie Yan wasn’t simply establishing a guild; no, he was setting the foundation for an empire!

Chapter 147 – Establishing the Guild Treasury

Nie Yan glanced over his masteries, Intermediate Marksman, Beginner Dual Wielding, Beginner Adept Hands, Beginner Dagger, and Beginner Cloaking. With 3 mastery points to allocate, he raised both Dual Wielding and Adept Hands to Intermediate and put his final point into Beginner Cloaking which increased his Cloak stat even further.

While equipped with two daggers, Intermediate Dual Wielding would now increase his attack by 13 points. Its effects were quite significant.

His damage was growing increasingly powerful. If he was able to equip the Scarlet Poison Ring, then even a tanky Fighter would be easily cut down by his blade.

Accessories and Legendary equipment usually had stat requirements. So long as they were fulfilled, the player would be able to immediately equip them regardless of their level. On the other hand, regular equipment had strict level requirements. Hence, obtaining a defense or attack that vastly exceeded the norm was very difficult. However, though incredibly rare, rings that increased attack or necklaces that increased defense did exist. In fact, they could even be found in the auction house. It was just that on the rare occasion they appeared, they were often excessively expensive.

Nie Yan had never stopped thinking about how he was going to get enough Dexterity to equip the ring. After all, 160 Dexterity wasn’t an easy hurdle to overcome. Thief skill books that increased Dexterity, for instance, were scarce in the marketplace because players would generally set aside these types of skill books for their acquaintances or friends. Very rarely would they ever be put up for sale. When such a skill book did appear, however, entire auction houses would go into uproar as players entered bidding frenzies to snatch it for themselves. The demand for them was simply too high. Just like how Warriors sought skill books that increased Strength or how Mages sought skill books that increased Intelligence, skill books that increased Dexterity were highly coveted by Thieves. This was why being able to obtain one was simply a matter of luck.

Although Sleepy Fox had gladly agreed to finding him a few skill books in the past, they were Thief skill books that increased Strength. If he had asked for ones that increased Dexterity instead, then he would have put Sleepy Fox in an awkward position. With so many Thieves in Holy Empire, which one didn’t want more Dexterity? For what reason should they be given to an outsider like Nie Yan? Even if the guild leader himself personally agreed, the Thieves in his guild definitely wouldn’t.

As for Dexterity Gems, there was no longer any space because he had already socketed all of his gear with Strength Gems.

For now, 160 Dexterity was too difficult of a barrier to cross. Were it not for him gaining more stat points than other players every level and wearing Sulgata’s Boots that gave him 30 Dexterity, his Dexterity would have had a hard time even breaking through 100. If he really couldn’t find the skill books, then he would simply have to wait until he was higher levelled.

"We should head back,” Nie Yan said. With their guild rapidly expanding by the second, they had plenty of business to attend to.

"Alright.” Tang Yao nodded. He also wanted to take a look at what was going on back at their guild headquarters.

After channeling their Return Scrolls, Tang Yao and Nie Yan were enshrouded by a bright radiance before being teleported back to Calore.

"Let’s check out our headquarters first. Then, I’ll set up the guild treasury,” Nie Yan suggested.

"Sure.”

The pair began walking over to their guild headquarters which was located in the southeast side of Calore. It was established there by the system. When creating a guild, the player couldn’t choose the location of their guild’s headquarters as they were set up in fixed locations. For example, Holy Empire’s was in the south side of Calore and Victorious Return’s was located in the north. They were usually placed far away from one another. Furthermore, several NPC guards were often stationed at their entrances to keep the peace and prevent conflicts from occurring.

To prevent themselves from being recognized, Nie Yan and Tang Yao set their character profiles to private.

Before even nearing the entrance, they saw a bustling crowd of people trying to force themselves through the gates to no avail. Players of all classes were gathering from everywhere.

"Looks like we won’t be able to get in,” Tang Yao noted with a wry smile. He never thought the entrance to their guild headquarters would be packed with so many people. Who knows how long it would take for such a lively spectacle to calm down?

"If we can’t squeeze in, then forget it. I’ll be making a trip to the auction house to start setting up the treasury.”

"Ah, alright. Yu Lan (Blue Feather) and the others sent me a message. They want to head to a Level 10 zone to hunt monsters and then give Black Flame Forest a try. I’ll go check it out. Plus, I can add them to the guild while I’m there,” Tang Yao said. Yu Lan and her team could be regarded as decent. Even though they couldn’t become the main team, as long as they were developed, they were guaranteed to be among the front ranks in the guild.

"After I finish up my business, I’ll meet up with you guys and we can run Black Flame Forest together,” Nie Yan said after giving it some thought. Black Flame Forest was still a difficult dungeon to a certain extent, especially for inexperienced players. But with him leading the team, he would at least save them a couple of attempts.

"I couldn’t ask for more! When will you be done?”

"It won’t take too long, probably an hour tops.”

"Alright, I’ll go farming with them first then. Hopefully, I can find some Level 10 equipment during that time.”

Separating from Tang Yao, Nie Yan’s first stop was at the Starry Night Potion Shop where he withdrew 30 gold from the till. While there, he left the Intermediate Mana Potion Recipe as well as the other recipes that they found while hunting Scaled Frogs in the hands of Bird. After which he made his way to Trembling Milo’s Shop and bought 100 Basic Flash Powders, 50 Sheep Transformation Scrolls, and 50 Web Scrolls. With his preparations done, he finally arrived at the auction house where he would enact his plan. Every 20–30-second interval, he began listing 2 Basic Flash Powders, 1 Sheep Transformation Scroll, and 1 Web Scroll for auction.

At the same time, he opened the window for the equipment section and began browsing the list of items up for sale that reached in the excess of tens of thousands. After filtering them to the quality he desired, he started purchasing equipment en masse. If the piece of equipment was at a suitable price, he would purchase it right away. If it was too expensive, he would skip over to the next item. His bag gradually began filling up with piece after piece of equipment. Aside from the equipment for the treasury, he also snagged any item with Fire-Resistance and stored it inside his bag.

And so, as if it were running water, 30 gold went straight from his pockets down the drain. 10 of that was spent on Fire Resistance equipment while the remaining 20 was spent on 200 or so pieces of Silver-grade equipment. Paying 10 silver each on average for Silver-grade equipment was a little on the expensive side, but their properties made them worth the expense. With regard to today’s playerbase, they were definitely at a quality an ordinary player would drool over.

Finished buying what he needed, Nie Yan opened the warehouse manager and began establishing the guild treasury and its rules. All members would be able to deposit medicinal plants, equipment, and money into the treasury. According to the quality of the equipment or the amount of money donated, they would receive 1–2 merit points. After accumulating enough contribution, they would be able to withdraw equipment from the treasury. For example, a piece of Silver-grade Thief equipment with Strength +7 and Dexterity +8 required 200 merit points, and returning it would earn them back 120 merit points. The system worked in a sort of similar way to a bank except a guild treasury was designed to constantly grow, allowing the guild to prosper even more over time.

Of course, depositing items and money into the treasury wasn’t the only way to earn merit points. Another way to earn them was by doing dungeon runs with the guild. When splitting the spoils of battle, players who didn’t obtain a piece of equipment would be rewarded with some merit points. Completing quests assigned by the guild was also another option.

In this fashion, as a player contributed more to their guild, they would be able to withdraw progressively better items from the treasury.

Piggybacking off the knowledge of those major guilds in his past life, Nie Yan wrote down each rule in detail. After running through them once more, carefully scanning line by line, to ensure no exploitable loopholes existed, he finally declared the guild treasury open.

He had sole ownership of the treasury. Hao Cheng, Zhao Li, and Guo Huai were given 1000–2000 merit points each while Tang Yao was given a little more at 3000 to freely distribute as they pleased. Of course, if they felt the amount still wasn’t enough, they could simply ask him for more.

The guild treasury could be accessed by members at their personal storage as well as at the guild headquarters.

With everything settled, Nie Yan sent a message to Guo Huai and the others.

「Hey, guys. I just finished setting up the treasury. Go take a look.」

Back at the guild headquarters, Hao Cheng, Guo Huai, and Zhao Li were all heavily preoccupied with handling all of the applications to join the guild. Despite a deluge of members flooding their ranks, the crowd gathering outside their headquarters didn’t diminish at all. In fact, it was growing ever larger.

After Guo Huai and the others received Nie Yan’s message, they opened the guild treasury with eager haste. What awaited them was 200 pieces of Silver-grade equipment arranged neatly inside, truly a magnificent sight to behold. There were even 30 pieces of Level 10 Gold-grade equipment. Lastly, they saw some Silver and Gold-grade equipment that required the player to be Level 20 or 30 to equip. Their cost was staggering, requiring 3000 merit points or more to acquire.

Nie Yan had carefully considered the matter. Even though adding Level 30 equipment into the treasury might seem a little ostentatious, it was no longer a secret that Tang Yao had levelled up through killing monsters above his level. By having them in there, not only was it guaranteed to shake the minds of the ordinary members, it would also thoroughly convince them of the guild’s strength.

Hao Cheng stood there in a daze, staring blankly at the treasury. The neatly sorted display of equipment truly gave him quite a shock. Not a single one wasn’t good in one way or the other. When his gaze eventually fell on the Level 30 equipment at the back, he saw an even clearer sign of their strength. Just what did having such equipment right now signify? It would undoubtedly let their members know, as long as they brought their contribution up, while others were still worrying about finding equipment at Level 30, they would be able to wear Silver and Gold-grade equipment!

"Everybody, please calm down!” Guo Huai shouted at the players, who were lining up to be added, at the back.

As soon as they and the bustling crowd of players squeezing in from the entrance heard Guo Huai, all of them quieted down in order to hear what he had to say.

"You’ve all already seen for yourselves. The guild leader of Asskickers United, Young Sparrow Hawk, is currently the number one player on the leaderboards. Thanks to that, we’ve received everyone’s enthusiastic support, and for that, we are deeply honoured. I know you’ve all seen many guilds rise and fall. It’s a fairly regular occurrence… but I want to assure you that our guild will definitely prosper long into the future! Naturally, various benefits will follow accordingly. I wish for more players to join our ranks, to expand ourselves into a major power that’s equal in footing with the likes of Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, and Holy Empire! We’ve already let all our players know, as members of Asskickers United, they may enjoy a 5% discount at the Starry Night Potion Shop. Well, now, I am happy to announce that we’ve finally established our guild treasury! Everyone, please feel free to take a look. I hope that many more of you strong players will join us in our endeavor!” Guo Huai shouted at the top of his lungs.

"The treasury is set up already…? Wow, that’s pretty fast!”

"So much Silver-grade equipment! They even got a few for Level 30s!”

The numerous new recruits went into an uproar. The Silver and Gold-grade equipment glistening ever so brightly caused their mouths to water and their eyes to fill with greed.

"Big Bro Watchful Snail, can you please tell us what kind of relationship our guild has with the Starry Night Potion Shop?”

"Yeah, please tell us!”

"Sorry, everyone. That’ll have to remain a secret for a little while longer,” Guo Huai replied in a calm and collected manner. He was finally starting to have the bearing of a superior.

Chapter 148 – Ambush

The news of the treasury opening soon spread like wildfire, sparking another massive surge in new players wishing to join their ranks.

Guo Huai, Zhao Li, and Hao Cheng’s hands were practically going limp with exhaustion from accepting all the join requests. Even though they were letting anyone who fit the level requirements in, they would have to carefully comb through every one of them in the coming several days to ensure that the entire guild could function smoothly. As such, they still had plenty of work ahead of them.

With Guo Huai and the others at the helm, Nie Yan felt he could safely leave guild management to them. As for himself, it would be fine for him to simply focus on levelling and improving his gear.

「Nirvana Flame, where are you right now? We’re already by the entrance of Black Flame Forest. Yao Zi (Young Sparrow Hawk) is here too. Do you remember Moon Child from last time? She came as well. Everyone’s just waiting for you now,」Yao Yao sent Nie Yan a message. They were all eagerly looking forward to running a dungeon with him.

Moon Child is one of Yao Yao’s classmates in real life. She makes her first appearance in Chapter 102.

"Hmmm, there’s no harm in running it with them. Besides, it’ll only take an hour at most, and if we do it on Specialist, I can get my hands on some treasure…” Nie Yan muttered to himself.

「Alright, I’ll be there in a moment.」

Nie Yan walked over to the transfer point and teleported over to Tanbeto Town.

Located somewhere east of Calore, the town had an ancientness to it with many of its features dating back to the Era of Shared Governance. The carvings on the town wall, after centuries of corrosion from wind and rain, could barely be made out. With dilapidated building and age-old streets that had somehow persisted through the ages, it left players with a feeling that could only be experienced from visiting a historical site.

The clothing of the NPC guards here was also quite strange. They had a somewhat ancient air about them too. Wearing short, robed armour and horned metal helmets, they resembled the barbarian warriors of old.

As he walked along the main street, he came across a group of around seventeen players walking in his direction. Their gear was excellent. He recognized many pieces that could only be found from running Sosil Valley. He was flabbergasted. If they were already capable of clearing Sosil Valley, why would they be hanging around here?

Some were tall and sturdy while others were slightly built. There were players of every class. However, one trait they all shared was the same air of domineering arrogance that caused Nie Yan to furrow his brows. Just who were these people?

"Skinny Dog, your blade needs to be a bit faster when PKing,” a tall Elementalist in an ash gray robe said with a cold smile. His eyes fell on Nie Yan, but it was only a quick glance.

"No need to worry. At the very least, my dagger is much faster than your staff,” a short, scrawny Thief replied as he skillfully played with the dagger in his hand. His face was covered with a black cloak that made it hard to make out his appearance.

The group of players were chatting and laughing loudly as they walked. When they approached Nie Yan, they sized him up with a quick glance before brushing past.

This group of players seemed a little familiar, but their names were all hidden. His memory wasn’t so great that he could remember every player that had crossed paths with him in his past. If they didn’t possess any particularly notable features, he wouldn’t be able to recall their name.

He probably didn’t have many interactions with these players in his past life.

Nie Yan walked out of the town gates. Black Flame Forest was located north of Tanbeto Town. That place was a scorched ruin. Everything there was burned as black as soot. Legends told that during the Dark Era, the Black Flame Phoenix, Soros, fell over this place and transformed it into a region of endless black fire that would never be extinguished. After entering the dungeon, players would even be able to spot the massive skeleton belonging to Soros located inside the forest.

After burning non-stop for centuries, the place attracted a great number of fire elementals who took up residence there, becoming an important dungeon for players in the early levels.

Surrounding Black Flame Forest was a vast, rocky wasteland where very few plants could grow. The monsters that inhabited this zone were Level 3 Kobolds. Just outside the entrance of Black Flame Forest was a vacant piece of land that served as a gathering spot for players to form teams. However, today the place seemed a little desolate. Almost no players were there. It was a little strange.

However, Yu Lan (Blue Feather) and the others were there waiting by the entrance.

Nie Yan walked up to them and greeted them with a smile. "Long time no see, everyone.”

"You’re finally here. We’ve been waiting forever. You sure are busy these days, huh?” Yao Yao’s pursed lips relaxed into a smile. It so beautiful that it would always brighten the mood wherever she went.

"Boss Nirvana Flame, everyone’s been waiting a long time for you to arrive.”

Nie Yan faintly smiled as he acknowledged them with a slight nod. He also greeted Moon Child, who was standing by Yao Yao’s side.

Having not seen them for several days, their gear was much improved and their levels were also a lot higher, averaging around Level 10. The sole reason they had waited for so long was because they hoped Nie Yan would lead them through this dungeon on Specialist.

"We’ll be troubling you to guide us again,” Yu Lan stared at Nie Yan and said in a somewhat troubled tone. She felt guilty for inconveniencing him again.

"You guys are already part of our guild. So taking you all on a dungeon run should be expected.” Nie Yan nodded his head before scanning over the group. Aside from him, there were nineteen other players, many of their faces he still recognized. Surprisingly, among them was also Dusk.

Dusk is Sleepy Fox’s subordinate. He first appears in Chapter 44.

"Your guild isn’t doing anything today?”

Dusk let out an awkward laugh. "No, nothing for today. We do have plans for tomorrow though. I’m just here to mooch for equipment.”

Since Dusk was currently wearing the Guilt Domain Set, and with Medusa’s Lair already open, his true intention probably wasn’t so simple as merely obtaining gear. The most likely scenario was that Sleepy Fox had figured out that Nie Yan was behind Tang Yao establishing a guild. And so, he sent Dusk here with the special purpose of investigating. However, he and Nie Yan could be regarded as having some friendship. He was a sensible fellow and knew better than to start a pointless conflict. After all, compared to the other major guilds, he knew a bit more about the cards in Nie Yan’s hands. There was the Starry Night Potion Shop and Nie Yan’s mysterious background. He wouldn’t rashly ruin their relationship. If anything, there was a chance of seeing a possible alliance between Asskickers United and Holy Empire in the future.

"I disbanded the team. You can create a new one now,” Yu Lan said.

Nie Yan nodded and began sending invites to everyone.

Yao Yao has joined your team.

Young Sparrow Hawk has joined your team.

…

"Nirvana Flame, you’re already Level 16!? So fast!” Yao Yao said after receiving quite a shock. Without his consent, Tang Yao didn’t dare to tell others, so Yao Yao and the rest had remained completely unaware of Nie Yan’s current level. Even though everyone figured it was pretty high by now, they never expected him to be Level 16.

"Why aren’t you on the leaderboards?” Moon Child slightly knitted her brows as she asked in a puzzled manner.

"He hid it. That’s why he isn’t on the leaderboards,” Guo Huai answered. Thanks to this, he confirmed his guild leader’s suspicions which were the same as his own. It appeared Nie Yan wished to keep a low-profile.

A thought suddenly popped into the minds of almost everyone present. What if first and second place on the leaderboards were both occupied by members of Asskickers United? What kind of shock would this give to the other guilds? They could hardly imagine.

Soon, everyone entered Nie Yan’s team.

"Just like last time, I want everyone to report their relevant stats,” Nie Yan ordered. He already knew that Yu Lan’s team met the requirements to enter the dungeon, but just to be on the safe side, he needed to know the individual stats of each team member as well. If it turned out one of them failed to reach the bar, then they definitely couldn’t go forward with the run.

Everyone would have to be serious when running a dungeon. Otherwise, even the smallest lapse in judgement could lead to their team being wiped. Wiping once might not be a serious setback for a team, but losing 20% of your experience bar was enough to cause any player to feel pain in their heart.

Yu Lan, Bai Kaishui (Plain Boiled Water), and the rest all began announcing their stats one after the other, defense, magic power, health, etc…

"520 health, 180 defense…”

"320 health, 158 magic power…”

…

After everyone finished, Nie Yan nodded his head. It seemed Yu Lan and her team had spent a lot of effort in improving their gear, especially Bai Kaishui. Having 520 health and 180 defense at this stage of the game was pretty good.

Just as Nie Yan and company were about to set off on their run, a huge group of players emerged from the nearby boulders and began quickly surrounding them from all directions.

There were roughly three hundred of them. They had completely sealed off any routes that Nie Yan and his team could escape from.

Nie Yan’s expression turned cold. These players obviously weren’t coming with good intentions.

What’s going on? Nie Yan sank into deep thought after glancing at the group of approaching players. They certainly came well-prepared. Their equipment was excellent, and all of them looked to be around Level 10.

"Who are these players?” Tang Yao tightly clenched his staff. He sensed that they were hostile.

Yu Lan and her team quickly assumed a battle formation with all the frontliners forming a circular wall.

"I’ve met a few of the players over there. They’re part of Victorious Return,” Dusk whispered as he stood by Nie Yan’s side.

Nie Yan’s gaze fell on the two players taking the lead, a tall Elementalist and a slim Thief that resembled a monkey. Among them was surprisingly the group of players he had seen earlier in Tanbeto Town.

"We’re completely surrounded. They have at least three hundred players on their side!” Bai Kaishui nervously said. Their team only consisted of twenty players while the other side had over three hundred, and the equipment they wore wasn’t the least bit lacking compared to theirs!

The difference in manpower was too large. As soon as the other side acted, their entire team was guaranteed to be wiped out!

Worst of all, they weren’t inside a dungeon. If they died in a dungeon, they would only lose 20% of their experience bar, plus they wouldn’t drop any equipment. However, if they died here, they would drop an entire level and lose a piece of equipment!

Who could stay calm in a situation like this!?

At this moment, Nie Yan suddenly realized that dropping a level and a piece of equipment wasn’t the main issue. It was him losing the two chapters from the Book of Order in his bag and Tang Yao losing his Arcane Fairy!

Before he was even able to achieve his goal, could it be that everything he worked so painstakingly hard for would come crashing down at this very moment?

It was already too late to use a Return Scroll to escape. These players had already gotten too close. They would be able to cancel it as soon as they began chanting!

"Hey, Skinny Dog. There’s a saying called, ‘like shooting fish in a barrel.’ I think this perfectly describes the situation right now!” The tall Elementalist began laughing wildly. "No matter how strong that Nirvana Flame is, it won’t matter. They’re all as good as dead!”

The Thief called Skinny Dog licked the blade of his dagger as he eyed Nie Yan and the others like lambs to the slaughter.

"They’re acting like cornered rats. Kekeke… with only twenty of them, do they really think they stand a chance against us?” Skinny Dog mocked.

"Remember, don’t let your subordinates attack first. Just send a couple of people up. We gotta make Nirvana Flame get a red name first. The boss made it clear that he wants that guy to lose all his equipment. Just one piece won’t do!”

"No worries, I understand!” Skinny Dog began playing with the dagger in his hand. What he loved to do the most was to make others bleed. The feeling of stabbing flesh and blood gushing out was simply the best.

These players were aiming for him. Nie Yan stared at the scrawny Thief, who was only about one and a half meters tall, and seemingly recalled there being such a person in his past. Despite not being a Shadow Dancer himself, that guy had actually managed to kill one. Ranked number six in all of Victorious Return, his reputation definitely preceded him.

Chapter 149 – A Sentiment Known As Comradery!

Among the many famous Thieves from Nie Yan’s past, Skinny Dog was the most brutal and cunning. With his treacherous methods of mounting sneak attacks, he was known for being as annoying to deal with as a giant wad of gum. As soon as he found a target, he’d latch on and never let go. Willing to chase an opponent to the ends of the earth if it meant he could kill them, it was precisely such tenacity that had allowed him to hunt down a Shadow Dancer in the previous timeline.

As for the Elementalist, he was called Underworld Flame. He couldn’t quite seem to remember, but if he recalled correctly, he was a Great Mage in his past life. Anyhow, since he had a little fame, then his skill couldn’t be too lacking either.

Five balls of fire condensed on the tips of Underworld Flame’s fingers. Just as you would with a toy, he began playing around with them as they spun and danced above his hand.

"Now how should we play with them?” Underworld Flame’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Nie Yan who was less than thirty meters away. The atmosphere suddenly became incredibly tense.

"I heard that Nirvana Flame is an expert. It’d be such a shame if he was killed just like that. I really wanted to have a go at him,” Skinny Dog said with slight regret.

Yu Lan ((Blue Feather)) and her team had already gotten into formation, but they didn’t dare to rashly act lest the enemy penetrate their defensive line. Under an assault from over three hundred players, they would die without leaving so much as their ashes, much less a complete corpse.

This was an unavoidable defeat!

They were outnumbered fifteen to one. Not even God would be able to save them from their imminent demise!

"Nie Yan, what are we going to do?” Tang Yao anxiously asked. He never thought they would come across such a calamity. This was facing almost certain death. Even if they were stronger, how could they possibly break out of an encirclement of this scale?

No matter how amazing the player was, it would still be impossible!

The players in front of them weren’t like the common fodder that could be seen walking everywhere around the city streets and low-level zones. No, they were Victorious Return’s elites!

Since they found a chance to surround Nie Yan and Tang Yao, why would they possibly let them get out of this alive?

Even individually, Yu Lan and her team might not be able to go toe to toe with the players on the other side. As for Nie Yan and Tang Yao, they could probably take on more than ten of them by relying on their skill and level advantage; several dozen—now that would be as hard as scaling the heavens; however, to take on over a hundred each? Unless godly equipment sets were to somehow fall out of the sky and land right in front of them, they wouldn’t stand a chance!

An individual player might be able to outlevel, outskill, or outgear other players, but they would never become invincible.

"There’s far too many of them,” Bai Kaishui (Plain Boiled Water) said as beads of cold sweat dripped from his forehead.

"Heaven Breaker sure thinks highly of us. These guys are all top-ranking members of Victorious Return. Just a hundred would’ve been enough to deal with us, but he actually sent three times that to be safe. I guess our reputation really does precede us,” Nie Yan said in an unperturbed manner.

As Yao Yao stared at Nie Yan, she couldn’t make out the slightest hint of worry in his expression. She couldn’t help but admire that about him. In such an abysmal situation, he was still able to keep a cool head.

Any and all escape paths were entirely blocked off. It seemed Heaven Breaker really wanted them dead!

Nie Yan had never forgotten that Victorious Return was after his head. It was just that he didn’t fear them while in the wilderness. Even if over several hundred of their members were chasing after him, he was still confident that he would be able to make his escape. However, he had been too cocky. Today, this wasn’t a pursuit but rather an encirclement!

Evidently, these Victorious Return members had been lying in ambush for quite a while, waiting for him to take the bait; otherwise, it would have been impossible for them to corner him in such a way!

His expedition to Black Flame Forest was only a small excursion. Just how did this information leak out?

Nie Yan could only think of one possibility.

He had been sold out! But, by who…? Just who could have sold him out? Anyone in this team could be the perpetrator. Tang Yao? Absolutely not! Yao Yao? Based on his understanding of her personality from his past life, that wasn’t likely either. So aside from them, Dusk, Yu Lan, Bai Kaishui, and the rest were all possible suspects!

No one could truly see into the intentions of a person’s heart!

Regardless of his suspicions, the true blame laid in his own carelessness. He had vastly underestimated what Victorious Return was capable of. He never thought they would be able to bribe Yu Lan and her team into setting up an ambush like this.

Based on his impression of them from his past life, they were all decent people. For him to make such an gross error in judgement… With him changing his own destiny in this life, who knows how this could have affected the people around him? If Heaven Breaker had promised them a reward large enough to sway their hearts, it was quite possible that they would agree to setting up this ambush!

Nie Yan coldly swept his gaze over the faces of each member on the team, pausing slightly on Yu Lan herself, before moving on.

All of this was merely suspicion. As of now, he didn’t have any conclusive evidence.

However, even if it was just suspicion, he could no longer trust them. He couldn’t say for sure whether or not someone here wouldn’t suddenly stab him and Tang Yao in the back while they were busy tangling with the members of Victorious Return.

If Yu Lan and her team had truly betrayed him, then he was surrounded by enemies on both sides. In that case, it was useless, no matter how hard he and Tang Yao struggled.

「Tang Yao, if we don’t do anything soon, it looks like we’ll be dying here. Prepare to lose your Arcane Fairy. We’re going to make a break for it. If we don’t succeed, then we’re going to die for sure…!」Nie Yan sent a whisper. He was also prepared to use Adjudicator of God and Sacrificial Gambit. It was a shame that he would have to delay the quest he’d planned to do with Tang Yao yet again, but if he didn’t, then there would no longer be a next time…

If today was really going to be the day of his demise, then the least he could do was give them a proper challenge! He would die while bathing in the blood of his enemies! When he had put that bullet through Cao Xu’s head, he had done so with the exact same conviction!

Tang Yao paused for a moment. Were they really going to die here? Then, he turned to look at the chubby fairy that only knew how to idiotically blow endless bubbles while floating over his shoulder. He really couldn’t bear to see it go away. He had long since gotten used to this blue ball following him around and making ‘blub blub’ sounds wherever they went, Even though it couldn’t speak, and was a bit stupid too, it had always been by his side and had never once left.

「Blub blub blub!」The simple-minded little fairy was completely oblivious to its impending fate.

Tang Yao felt a sinking feeling in his chest and the tip of his nose sour. He turned to Nie Yan with a sad look on his face and asked,「Is there no other way…?」

「No, there isn’t. We don’t have any alternatives. But if your Arcane Fairy dies, we can just find you a new one! Tang Yao! What matters is that we both live to take our revenge another day…!」Nie Yan tightly grasped the grip of his dagger, his expression serious and brooding. Shit, I’ve really fallen head-first today… But it doesn’t matter, in the future, I’ll pay you back ten—no, a hundredfold for this, Heaven Breaker… Just you wait!

Standing by the side, Yu Lan had noticed Nie Yan glancing over her and her teammates, and she was a little taken aback. Why was his expression so cold, as if it could slay demons and gods? It was a stark contrast to his usual gentle demeanor. Even though she hadn’t interacted with him too often, she was still able to roughly determine what kind of person he was. He always wore an amiable smile when with those on his side, and he would only use this sort of icy expression when viewing an enemy. Then, after a moment, it suddenly hit her. He probably suspected that she and her team sold him and Tang Yao out! This notion really wasn’t too far fetched. After all, this group of Victorious Return members didn’t just pop out of thin air; they had obviously been here for some time now. How else could they have known he was coming? If he wasn’t betrayed, then how could he and Tang Yao possibly fall into Victorious Return’s trap? Hence, it was completely within reason for him to suspect them!

Yu Lan pushed down her feeling of being wronged. She wasn’t afraid of death, but she absolutely could not allow herself nor her team to be dishonored! In a single breath, she said in a cold and solemn tone, "Everyone in the Blue Feather Team, listen up. Nirvana Flame and Young Sparrow Hawk got dragged into this mess because of us. If we hadn’t asked them to help with Black Flame Forest, they would’ve never been surrounded by Victorious Return. Today we’ve let down the both of them. As a way to make amends, so long as any one of us remains alive, we will protect them while they attempt to break out of this encirclement!”

No one expected Yu Lan to suddenly speak out these words at a time like this.

Bai Kaishui stared at Yu Lan, and after a moment, he finally understood what was going on. He scanned over the crowd and yelled, "Do we have cowards in our team!?”

The rest yelled back in unison, "No!” Each one of them was brimming with valor.

"Big Bro Bai, Captain Yu Lan, you’ve seen for yourselves. Since when have any of us been afraid of dying? It’s only a level, what’s there to fear?!”

"Our Blue Feather Team might not be the best, but we will never let down our comrades! Today’s affair was caused by us calling Nirvana Flame and Young Sparrow Hawk over. So we will bear the full consequences! Show me some courage everyone! Even if we all have to die, we’ll still make sure that the both of them get out of here alive!” Bai Kaishui shouted. As the main tank of the team, he also held quite a bit of influence over them.

They all shouted in unison, "Yeah! Let’s go all out!”

Hearing Yu Lan and Bai Kaishui’s words, the hand Nie Yan used to grip his dagger slightly trembled. As he looked at these teammates who were all prepared to meet their deaths for him, his frigid heart that had long since lost faith in the good of people began feeling a touch of warmth.

There was a type of feeling that could only be felt by people who fought and died together.

That sentiment was known as Comradery!

It far surpassed level, equipment, and stats, and mattered above all else!

In Battle Crazed Alliance, Kill Love had such honor! Even if he was about to face extermination, he would never abandon his comrades! This was also why Battle Crazed Alliance would never perish, because he had a band of brothers that would pledge their lives for him!

Now, there was also such a group of people by his side! Even if they were going to die, they would still preserve their honor by helping him and Tang Yao escape!

A flash of guilt appeared in his eyes. Perhaps it was wrong of him to suspect Yu Lan and her team. Victorious Return might have found out that he was coming here from somewhere else. When he looked at their determined expressions, he started to feel despicable. After going through two lives, he had forgotten that sense of honor and unyielding pride.

"Moon Child, I’m sorry for getting you involved with this. I shouldn’t have invited you to come along with us," Yao Yao tugged at Moon Child’s robe and said in a remorseful tone. If she hadn’t convinced her to join, then Moon Child wouldn’t have gotten caught up in such a dangerous situation.

"It’s fine, Yao Yao. We’re sisters who’d go through the nine hells for each other!” Moon Child said with a gentle smile. Like a calm lily swaying in the wind, she was beautiful and pure.

Nie Yan took a deep breath as he began calming his mind. In this state, he would be able to think quickly and clearly. The enemy had many experts on their side. Getting out of their encirclement would be incredibly difficult. It would be best if they could minimize their losses. However, if he couldn’t figure out a plan and Yu Lan’s team were exterminated, then he could only go out with a fight!

Victorious Return’s frontline was slowly approaching, seemingly waiting for an opportune moment.

Skinny Dog and Underworld Flame were coldly staring at Nie Yan and company. They appeared to be whispering to someone.

Chapter 150 – Reinforcements

Back at Victorious Return’s guild headquarters, in their conference room of over several hundred seats, all but two at the very front were empty. In one of them was Heaven Breaker. The other seated person was Chen Bo, who had previously left Yu Lan’s team in anger after being repeatedly humiliated by Nie Yan and Tang Yao.

They were currently watching a live video feed, provided by Skinny Dog and Underworld Flame, of the situation right outside the entrance to Black Flame Forest.

Chen Bo’s expression was deeply warped as he tightly clenched his fist; his hatred, already seeped deep into the marrow of his bones. Ever since he had been disgraced by Nie Yan in front of Yao Yao and Yu Lan (Blue Feather), he couldn’t hope for anything more than to see him die!

"They’re dead for sure!” He was relishing in their misfortune as he eagerly watched Nie Yan and company getting surrounded.

On the other hand, Heaven Breaker’s expression was tranquil. He didn’t merely want Nie Yan dead nor for him to simply lose all of his equipment. No, he wanted to crush him so badly that he wouldn’t even be able to raise his head again! He didn’t believe for a second that the newly created Asskickers United guild could survive with Nie Yan and Tang Yao taken out of the picture.

"This is thanks to the inside line you provided us,” Heaven Breaker praised as he lightly sipped on a cup of tea.

"No, no, all of this would’ve never been possible if you hadn’t given me the chance,” Chen Bo flattered. He knew the person before him was an influential figure in Calore.

"From now on, you can follow us as part of Victorious Return.”

"Thank you, sir!” Chen Bo was wild with joy.

As the pair continued watching the feed, they focussed their vision on an Arcane Mage at the rearmost of Yu Lan’s team who started chanting a spell. Soon, clumps of arcane flame gradually converged in the air, all the while going almost completely unnoticed by the rest of the team.

So far, everything was going according to Heaven Breaker’s plan.

Just who are they talking to the on the other end? What are they waiting for…? Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder. Then, his mind trembled as he began scanning the faces of everyone around him. Finally, his gaze fell on an Arcane Mage called Banana who wore a pained expression while seemingly whispering to someone in private chat.

For Nie Yan, everything suddenly became clear. In truth, most of Yu Lan’s (Blue Feather) team was probably innocent in this matter, but they couldn’t avoid having a dirty traitor appear amidst their ranks. However, to destroy a bond forged from going through life-and-death struggles together was no trivial matter. Hence, no matter how much such a person struggled internally to justify their actions, after betraying those who held their trust dear, it was nearly impossible to prevent the shame in their heart from showing!

They were only caught because Banana was bribed by Victorious Return and colluded with them in setting up this trap.

As the Arcane Fireball formed in his palm, Banana launched it at the Victorious Return members approaching them.

"Banana, what the hell are you doing!?” the teammates beside him shouted.

In the split-second that Banana had cast the spell, Nie Yan tried to disband the team, but just as his finger was about to hit confirm, a loud bang rang in his ears as the Arcane Fireball struck a Victorious Return member square on.

His heart sank. He was still a step too late!

Skinny Dog checked the system notification that appeared.

Banana has attacked a member of your team. Since the opposing player is part of another team, your team is free to retaliate in self-defense. Duration: 30 minutes.

He revealed a sinister grin, then pointed forward and said, "Kill!”

A swarm of spells blotted the sky, heading straight for Nie Yan and the others.

Since a member of their team had drawn first blood, Nie Yan and his group had no hope of being protected by the system!

Bai Kaishui (Plain Boiled Water) brandished his greatsword and slashed Banana, then followed with a Flaming Slash, killing him instantly. His expression was very unsightly. Never did he think that a friend, who he had spent so much time levelling with, would actually turn traitor.

"Kill! We’re going to open a path for Nirvana Flame and Young Sparrow Hawk to escape!” Bai Kaishui took the vanguard and charged forward. Soon after, he was followed by the rest of the team.

Yu Lan also bravely charged forward with Nie Yan and Tang Yao in tow.

As Victorious Return launched their first wave of magic, nearly a hundred spells bombarded the area, creating a spectacular sight to behold.

Two of the Mages in Yu Lan’s team moved forward to shield Nie Yan and Tang Yao.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」After the barrage subsided, the team’s numbers were instantly reduced by five as the fallen members turned into rays of light which floated up into the sky.

Just a few seconds ago, these teammates had been perfectly fine, and yet, almost in an instant, they were turned into unrecognizable corpses.

"God dammit!” Tang Yao angrily cursed as he began shooting out Arcane Fireballs like crazy. In that moment, all the players around him were able to witness his firepower.

Sparks flew everywhere as one of these Arcane Fireballs struck a Victorious Return member head-on. −438 That player died in an instant.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」As Tang Yao’s spells exploded across the battlefield, he managed to reduce the number of players on Victorious Return’s side by five as well.

In a short while, Tang Yao’s name became crimson red. However, lost in his bloodlust, he didn’t stop firing.

Bai Kaishui was the first to enter the melee. He struck out with a Shield Bash, knocking an enemy Warrior aside, and charged forward.

"Kill!”

The little over a dozen remaining players on their side were surrounded by almost three hundred enemies.

In this situation, even Nie Yan was fired up. If he continued hiding by the sidelines, then he would be letting down these comrades who were staking their lives just to get him out!

Adjudicator of God!

When activated, become immune to all magic, gain 500 health, and summon an advanced life-saving shield that absorbs sixty percent of all incoming damage for five minutes. (this skill cannot be used in instances)

Nie Yan immediately gained 500 extra maximum health as a faint, blue shield enveloped him. As a Fighter charged at him from the front while two nearby Mages were chanting their magic, he suddenly exploded forth with power. Sparks danced around his dagger, and he struck forward like a lightning bolt, stabbing at the Fighter.

「Clang!」The dagger collided with the Fighter’s armour, which offered little to no resistance, and a split-second later, it pierced through and planted itself deep into the Fighter’s chest.

−540

With an expression of indescribable shock on his face, the Fighter saw his health plummet to zero before he collapsed to the ground.

He could have never imagined that Nie Yan would be able to gib him in an instant.

The Chapter of Freedom and the Chapter of Courage… as two Legendary item fragments, their combined skills were bound to be terrifying. At this stage of the game, they were unrivalled in their capacity for slaughter!

The two Mages behind the now fallen Fighter were shocked. They didn’t think a Thief would be able to so easily break through their frontline. They were still in the midst of chanting their spells, and it was already too late for them to cancel.

Nie Yan had already dashed forward and struck one of the them, an Elementalist, with Concussive Blow, putting them into a dazed state, and then, with Vital Strike, his dagger flashed across their throat as blood splashed into the air.

Assassinate!

−189

They didn’t even have time to react before dropping dead on the ground.

Nie Yan’s movements were lightning-fast and efficient. After finishing off the Elementalist within seconds, he moved on to their companion, an Arcane Mage, who attempted to flee, but before they could get very far, he struck them in the back of the head with Smothering Strike, then followed up with Backstab and Eviscerate, tearing a large hole in their back.

Like the Elementalist and Fighter before, the Arcane Mage also collapsed to the ground without putting up much of a fight.

Not pausing for even a second, he charged into a crowded area and threw down a pouch of Intermediate Flash Powder.「Poof!」It was almost as if a second sun had appeared right in the middle of the battlefield as blinding rays of light enveloped the surroundings.

The strong radiance stabbed into the eyes of about fifty or so Victorious Return members.

Dusk also burst into action. No longer caring for the consequences of dying while branded with a red name, he let loose with an Arcane Flame Burst and instagibbed two Victorious Return members in quick succession. His damage was also nothing to be scoffed at.

A second wave of spells came flying over from Victorious Return’s side and killed another five members of the team. Now, there were only nine teammates left, yet none of them so much as slowed for half a breath as they continued to push forward.

"Kill!!!” Tang Yao frantically shouted. In spite of the danger he would be putting himself into, he chugged down a low-level potion and began chanting Meteor.

With the support of a Rank 3 Arcane Fairy, he would only need to spend three seconds to cast it.

However, in such a hectic battle, he could easily be killed off in these three seconds. If he was interrupted, then he’d be done for!

Spotting Tang Yao starting the chant for Meteor, Nie Yan retrieved another pouch of Intermediate Flash Powder.「Poof!」The members of Victorious Return felt scorching pain burn in their eyes as a brilliant flash of light enveloped the battlefield once more.

With everybody in the vicinity losing their vision, Tang Yao was able to freely cast Meteor. Soon, wave after wave of meteors began to fall down from the sky like a torrential downpour.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」It bombarded the area most concentrated with Victorious Return players.

A deluge of damage values floated up into the sky. None of the players caught in the radius of the spell were able to withstand his damage. And before long, thirty players or so collapsed to the ground, all dead, like souls being harvested by the reaper’s scythe!

The area was in a complete mess after being scorched black by the barrage of meteors.

Back at Victorious Return guild headquarters, Heaven Breaker’s eyelids twitched as he watched this scene unfold from the live video feed. The several dozen players Tang Yao had just killed weren’t some ordinary players. No, they were the cream of the crop, some of the finest elites that Victorious Return had to offer! Yet in front of Tang Yao’s frightening damage, they were simply pigs to the slaughter.

Nie Yan recklessly threw down several more pouches of intermediate Flash Powder, causing a massive disturbance to the Victorious Return members in the area. At the same time, his attacks were also ferocious. As he circled round their backs, with a sharp flash of his dagger, an enemy would collapse to the ground every few seconds!

None of them had ever encountered a Thief with such terrifying damage!

After taking down six Victorious Return players, aside from Shadow Dance and Disappear, the rest of his skills were now all on cooldown.

Even though a Thief’s burst damage was astonishing, as soon as they used up all their skills, they were like a tiger without its teeth, a leather-armoured target that could be easily taken out!

A Thief dashed toward Nie Yan with the pommel of their dagger aimed right at his head.

Concussive Blow!

Nie Yan sidestepped the attack, and then, he switched to a reverse grip and plunged his dagger into the Thief’s back.

The Thief was left stupefied when his attack missed. A blur passed his eyes, and to his shock, he noticed Nie Yan had already gotten behind him.

−180

A damage value floated up above the Thief’s head.

Even if all my attack skills are on cooldown, I’d still have no problem killing you!

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Three spells arrived from the nearby Mages and landed on Nie Yan’s body. Yet none of them were able to deal any damage because they were nullified by Adjudicator of God’s shield!

"Holy shit! He’s immune to magic!”

"Use arrows and crossbow bolts! Warriors, charge at him!” Skinny Dog ordered. He never thought Nie Yan would have a skill that made him immune to magic.

The Thieves with bows and crossbows all took them out before taking aim and firing at Nie Yan.

Enduring these attacks, Nie Yan slashed down with his dagger.

−250

Another damage value floated up above the Thief’s head.

It was a critical hit! The Thief crumpled to the ground.

That’s the eighth… Nie Yan checked his status bar. His name only turned a deeper shade of red as he killed more players, but now, there were even tinges of violet.

However, he didn’t have the most severe PKer status. No, that would go to Tang Yao or Dusk whose names had long since turned violet and were now already turning black.

Nie Yan glanced at his team window. Excluding him, there were only five teammates left alive: Dusk, Tang Yao, Yao Yao, Moon Child, and Yu Lan. Since Bai Kaishui had taken up the vanguard, he had eaten up most of the damage, but his health could only hold out for so long, and he had just recently fallen. The remaining six of them had little health remaining and were on their last legs.

After attracting too much attention from his reckless use of Flash Powder and daringly charging into enemy lines, even Nie Yan who had the shield from Adjudicator of God only had a fifth of his health remaining.

Worst of all, there were still over two hundred enemies standing! Like an endless tide, they kept pouring in from all sides!

Nie Yan quickly made up his mind. If they hoped to survive, then they would have to clear a path by making Tang Yao’s Arcane Fairy self-destruct!

"Kill!” Tang Yao shouted at the top of his lungs. He had never stopped casting magic, and his health was already falling in the double digits. Nie Yan grouped back up with him and wrapped him up with an Intermediate Combat Bandage.

+20, +20, +20…

After enduring Victorious Return’s assault, Tang Yao’s Arcane Fairy only had a sliver of health remaining.

"Goodbye, buddy…!” Tears ran down Tang Yao’s eyes. This was his very first familiar. He really couldn’t bear to make it self-destruct.

"Comrades, today… we kill!” Suddenly, a deafening roar rang out across the battlefield, drawing the attention of everyone present and causing them to pause.

Chapter 151 – Self-Destruct!

In Nie Yan’s team, none of the six members who were still clinging to life had a name that wasn’t branded deeply crimson. For them to die here would represent a serious setback to their progression. All of the equipment they had painstakingly collected piece by piece would fall into enemy hands, to say nothing of the several levels they would lose as well. The effort they had expended since starting this game would also go down the drain. Such an outcome would prove an extremely depressing conclusion to this battle.

Nonetheless, it was too late for regrets. Their eyes were already heavily bloodshot as they lost themselves in a murderous frenzy.

Nie Yan had killed six Victorious Return players in quick succession, and then, by relying on his sharp instincts and deadly reflexes, he was able to cut down another five. His name was bright red as if it had been washed in the blood of those he had slain.

Among the six, Nie Yan, Tang Yao, and Dusk were the most terrifying. All of their kill counts were already in the double digits.

「Nirvana Flame, just hold on a little longer. My boss will be arriving soon with backup!」Dusk shouted in the team intercom. He was already giving it his all.

Suddenly, a dozen spells arced through the sky and exploded in the area around him, sending him flying. After crashing to the ground, he struggled to no avail as his health bar finally plummeted to zero before all of the equipment dropped from his body.

Will Holy Empire really be coming? A sudden thought popped up in Nie Yan’s head. If Holy Empire really did involve themselves with this matter, then it would be tantamount to them breaking off relations with Victorious Return. Would they truly be willing to wade into these turbulent waters?

At that moment, a shocking rallying cry came from the far ends of the battlefield followed by the emergence of three hundred players, dressed in mediocre equipment, charging forward from every direction.

"Violet Berserk Blade, you said it yourself. When we get back, you definitely have to give us merit points!”

"Watchful Snail, you promised us, so don’t go back on your word!”

"Rest assured, I stake my honour as a senior officer of the guild. Today, everyone here will become honorary members of Asskickers United!”

"Long live Violet Berserk Blade! Long live Watchful Snail! Long live Asskickers United! Leave none of those bastards from Victorious Return alive!”

"Charge!”

Nie Yan originally didn’t hold high hopes of receiving any reinforcements whatsoever from their newly established Asskickers United. After all, it was full of new recruits who didn’t yet feel any sense of belonging to the guild. So why would they suddenly be willing to put their lives on the line just to save a few people? Even if they were, would they really be willing to offend Victorious Return? What if Asskickers United ended up collapsing in the near-future, then what would become of them? Would they be hunted down like dogs, cowering in the shadows? The risk was simply too high.

Nevertheless, even though Nie Yan didn’t have much faith, thankfully Tang Yao did, contacting Guo Huai, Hao Cheng, and Zhao Li almost as soon as they were surrounded. After being informed of the situation, worry overtook the trio as they hastily gathered a host of players for a rescue mission, promising honorary membership and a certain amount of merit points in return.

When a portion of the players at the guild headquarters heard the guild leader was in trouble, and that they would be able to earn membership and merit points by joining a rescue mission to save him, they immediately flocked forward to volunteer. They were hot-blooded youths who still felt a sense of romanticism toward the game, and besides, many of them only wished to join the guild because they disliked the tyranny of Victorious Return. Their levels might not be high, with most of them averaging around Level 7 or 8, but they were all full of spirit! Hence, out of the over six thousand players there, Guo Huai and Hao Cheng managed to bring nearly three hundred to their cause. After anxiously rushing over to the battlefield, they charged into battle as soon as they saw Nie Yan and company still barely hanging on.

"Save the guild leader!”

"Victorious Return, you sons of bitches, I’ll kill all of you!”

Skinny Dog, Underworld Flame, and the other Victorious Return members sneered when they saw this ragtag band of players with mediocre gear. They slaughtered the oncoming players without breaking a sweat and demolished any semblance of a formation they had.

Truthfully, this result didn’t come as a surprise. The Victorious Return members were all at least Level 10 while the reinforcements Guo Huai brought over were only around Level 7. It was practically the same as throwing eggs at a brick wall.

During their first collision, the reinforcements from Asskickers United lost over thirty players, but those who survived kept pushing forward, disturbing the enemy’s formations and rhythm as they displayed the zeal of undying cockroaches. With six or seven of them swarming a single player, they were also able to overwhelm quite a few Victorious Return members, most of whom were Mages.

Even though they were trading five, six, seven lives or more to take down a single enemy, it was still well worth it. After all, their foes were the elite members of Victorious Return!

Losing two thousand or so ordinary members might not mean anything to a formidable guild such as Victorious Return, but if over a hundred of their elites died, then they would’ve truly been dealt a heavy blow.

In fact, this battle illustrated a certain truth in life. Even if someone was a powerful elite, they could still be defeated with numbers.

After the reinforcements arrived, the pressure on Nie Yan’s group lessened significantly. With Yu Lan (Blue Feather) at the lead, Nie Yan in the middle, and Yao Yao, Moon Child, and Tang Yao following from behind, they redoubled their efforts to break through the encirclement.

When Skinny Dog and Underworld Flame saw Nie Yan and his group attempting to escape, they anxiously shouted in the team intercom,「Don’t let Nirvana Flame and Young Sparrow Hawk escape! Kill them!」

After which Skinny Dog dashed straight for them.

Several spells accompanied by a volley of arrows whizzed past Skinny Dog as they flew in Nie Yan’s direction.

Nie Yan would be dead if these arrows struck him! And in such a crowded space, he had no hope of effectively evading. He chugged down a Basic Health Potion and resigned himself to his fate. If he had an Intermediate Health Potion, then perhaps he’d be able to safely endure the damage. Regrettably, however, the Starry Night Potion Shop had yet to produce any.

Yu Lan (Blue Feather) suddenly moved to cover his flank.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」The slew of arrows and spells bombarded her body. As her corpse was sent flying, her equipment fell to the ground.

Nie Yan was surprised. He never expected for Yu Lan to sacrifice herself to protect him.

The group of Warriors from the reinforcements bravely charged into enemy lines. Even though they were like ants that could be easily crushed to these members of Victorious Return, they gritted their teeth and pressed forward.

As a wave of spells fell over them, five of them were instantly turned into rays of light.

Finally, Guo Huai, Hao Cheng, and the other reinforcements managed to make their way to Nie Yan and the surviving members.

"Nirvana Flame, Young Sparrow Hawk, we’re here!” Placing himself in front, Hao Cheng’s large frame immediately shielded almost all of Nie Yan.

"Protect Nirvana Flame and Young Sparrow Hawk! Help them get out of here!” For the fledging guild, Asskickers United, these two existences were simply too invaluable!

Under the constant barrage of magic, quite a few more of their members fell.

Now, only about eighty out of the nearly three hundred reinforcements remained. They were all simply too weak. Not even a few moments later, their numbers were yet again reduced to about sixty. However, Victorious Return had also suffered disastrous losses with about a hundred fifty or so troops still standing.

Skinny Dog brought a group of a dozen Thieves with him as he rapidly approached Nie Yan and the others in a bid to sneak lethal attacks in from all sides.

"Die!” Skinny Dog swept his dagger across a Warrior’s throat, then circled behind and stabbed them in the back with Eviscerate.「Thud!」That Level 7 Warrior collapsed dead on the ground.

These Thieves were exceptionally fierce, capable of finishing off an opponent within seconds of engaging them. The reinforcements around Nie Yan were dropping like flies.

When he and Tang Yao entered the edge of the enemy’s encirclement, Yao Yao and Moon Child were able to safely escape while protected by a group of players.

"Stop them! Don’t let them escape!” Skinny Dog shouted. A dozen Thieves quickly surrounded Nie Yan and Tang Yao.

Skinny Dog pounced forward with his dagger stabbing toward Nie Yan’s face.

Nie Yan tilted his neck to the side and avoided the attack, but Skinny Dog quickly followed up with a backstab.

He was already like a dried up oil lamp. All of his skills were on cooldown, and he only had 120 health remaining. It was impossible for him to match Skinny Dog in this state, so all he could do was dodge to the best of his ability.

Not only had those Thieves launched deadly sneak attacks, they also once again barred the path forward.

Of course, none of that mattered if he was still tangling with Skinny Dog, leaving him incapable of fleeing in the first place.

Tang Yao only had around a little over 60 health left while his Arcane Fairy still had a small sliver. It appeared that at any moment now they would become corpses on the battlefield.

Even though he couldn’t bear losing his Arcane Fairy, Tang Yao quickly came to a resolve after seeing how the situation was developing. He brandished his staff and cast Dreadful Howl!

"Nirvana Flame, I’ll send you out of here!”

As the ear-ringing screech coming out of Tang Yao entered the ears of the surrounding Victorious Return members, they were inflicted with the fear status and couldn’t help but begin to disperse.

"Paladins, Divine Word!”

"Priests, Dispel!”

As Underworld Flame gave out these orders, the Paladins and Priests in the rear quickly removed the fear status caused by Tang Yao’s Dreadful Howl.

「Poof!」Nie Yan threw down another pouch of Intermediate Flash Powder. The glaring radiance pierced into the eyes of the surrounding players, causing them to temporarily lose vision. Having just cast Divine Word and Dispel, the Paladins and Priests were temporarily unable to remove the blind status.

Dreadful Howl was ineffective in the faces of so many enemy Paladins and Priests. However, Nie Yan’s Intermediate Flash Powder would allow the spell to show its fullest effect. Inflicted with both the fear and blind status, a path outward was immediately opened.

"Young Sparrow Hawk, we have a chance!” Nie Yan shouted upon spotting the opening.

"Nirvana Flame, go without me! I won’t be able to escape!” Tang Yao’s eyes were completely bloodshot. Even if he made a break for it, the thing near and dear to his heart, his Arcane Fairy, wouldn’t be able to make it out alive!

He had given it his best, but in the end, his best just wasn’t good enough. As magic rained down from above, he awaited the moment when his Arcane Fairy would meet its irreversible fate!

"Kill!” Tang Yao shouted with a furious expression. As he ordered his Arcane Fairy to self-destruct, it began expanding like a balloon, the energy inside rapidly condensing as it drew in mana from its surroundings. Finally, when it reached a critical mass, the giant blue ball gave a slight tremble…「BOOM!」All of the stored energy was released in an instant, creating an ear-splitting explosion that swiftly engulfed all of the Victorious Return members in the vicinity.

As if a tornado was passing through, the shock wave reached a level of power that could destroy everything in its path!

The Arcane Fairy’s self-detonation swept up over thirty Victorious Return players in a flash, disintegrating everything within the explosion’s radius.

After the battlefield settled down, the Arcane Fairy vanished into the air and the Arcane Crystal in Tang Yao’s bag gradually lost its shimmer, becoming nothing more than a lifeless rock.

Tang Yao brandished his staff with a crazed and murderous glint in his eyes. Seeing his Arcane Fairy die, he felt as if a hole had been carved out of his heart.

"Young Sparrow Hawk, let’s go!” Nie Yan anxiously yelled. Even though eight of the Thieves had died, there were still quite a few left and the fear status inflicted upon them was about to wear off. If they didn’t escape now, they would no longer have the chance to.

However, lost in grief, Tang Yao didn’t listen to Nie Yan’s urging. His Arcane Fairy dying had been too big of a blow to his heart. At this moment, he wanted nothing more than to murder all of the bastards who caused its death!

The Victorious Return members still standing were badly frightened by the explosion of the Arcane Fairy. In the blink of an eye, over thirty of their members had been wiped out.

Skinny Dog and the rest of the surviving Thieves awakened from their feared state. After which two of them pounced on Tang Yao while the rest dashed toward Nie Yan.

Nie Yan didn’t have much health or skills left. He could only use Shadow Dance to evade. For Tang Yao, after casting Dreadful Howl and ordering his Arcane Fairy to self-destruct, all of his offensive spells were now on cooldown. Even though he had plenty of defensive spells at his disposal, they would be useless in getting him out of this predicament.

The elite battalion of over three hundred Victorious Return players were thrown into complete disarray. Now, barely a third of their troops remained, scattered about across the battlefield.

Suddenly, a massive, dense cloud of fire spread across the sky, creating wisps of flames that rose into the air.

"It’s Scorching Meteor!” Underworld Flame cried out in alarm. As he searched around for the caster, his gaze fell on a Mage standing among the piles of rubble in the far distance chanting the magic. The spell truly did live up to its fame. He was able to recognize it instantly as the Templar Magic, Scorching Meteor!

As for the Mage casting it, they seemed a little familiar. If he recalled correctly, this was Cold Maple from Holy Empire! His chest tightened. Why was Holy Empire suddenly entering the fray!?

Chapter 152 – Glaring Red Name

Back at Victorious Return guild headquarters, Heaven Breaker was so infuriated that he could no longer calmly stay seated on his throne as he watched the live video feed. If those reinforcements hadn’t arrived, no matter how much stronger Nie Yan and Tang Yao were, they would have still succumbed to death in the end. Even though he was bound to suffer enormous losses, enough to feel as though his heart was bleeding, he only had a single objective in mind, to completely crush the pair… because he had an inkling of a feeling that they truly posed a threat to him like no other before. Truthfully, even when the reinforcements from Asskickers United arrived, he had still been as steady as Mt. Tai. After all, those mediocre forces were nowhere near the level of the elites of his guild. However, with the sudden emergence of Holy Empire, his plans had truly gone awry.

"Dammit! It’s Holy Empire!” Heaven Breaker’s expression turned hideous. He now regretted not being there to personally lead this operation himself. To lose three hundred elites and still not accomplish his objective, such a bitter pill was simply too hard to swallow.

Lost in the fervour of battle, Nie Yan and the others didn’t expect a new force to jump into the fray. Holy Empire had actually decided to involve themselves! With more reinforcements coming to his aid, Nie Yan felt the tension in his mind easing significantly. I suppose I owe Sleepy Fox a favour this time.

When Scorching Meteor appeared, all of the Victorious Return players were quivering in fear at the might of such a formidable spell. In the face of its frightening damage, even a high-health Fighter would be unable to endure, to say nothing of squishier classes.

As the sky was covered in blazing clouds of fire, the magic energy in the atmosphere stirred restlessly, growing ever stifling and oppressive.

"Paladins, quickly silence him!” Skinny Dog shouted in a panic. He had experienced the might of Templar Magic, Elemental Hall Magic, and Obscurus Magic before. If that Holy Mage was allowed to successfully cast Scorching Meteor, it would spell disaster for what little remained of his forces.

Five Paladins charged toward the pile of rubble and boulders where Cold Maple was standing.

But just as they were closing in, a dozen Warriors from Holy Empire leaped out from behind the boulders and intercepted them. Each of the warriors sought out a target as they blocked the Paladins from advancing. How could they possibly let these players do as they pleased?

When they saw their Paladins getting intercepted, Skinny Dog and the others’ faces fell.

"Everyone, fall back! Holy Empire, you dogshit-eating bastards!” Skinny Dog and the other Victorious Return members bolted away in a bid to get out of the spell’s range. They would have to delay killing Nie Yan and Tang Yao for now. After they were all safe, they could regroup and act from there.

After escaping the encirclement, Moon Child was finally free from being obstructed. She cast Lesser Heal on Tang Yao, raising his health by a good amount as a gentle radiance enveloped him, and then followed up with Divine Radiance Shield.

Earlier, she didn’t receive much damage, but her spells would constantly be silenced by the enemy Paladins. With so many silencers focusing their attention on her, she hadn’t be able to cast even a single Lesser Heal.

She had no idea why they were mainly focusing on her, but perhaps it had to do with Dusk and Tang Yao’s resistances being too high, particularly the latter’s. With such a large level disparity between them and their target, their silences were pretty much ineffective, hence they threw all their Silences on her.

Moon Child brought Tang Yao back from the brink of death to being somewhat healthy again, saving his life.

"Young Sparrow Hawk, quickly escape!” Nie Yan anxiously shouted. Scorching Meteor was about to finish casting. If he didn’t run now, then he would definitely die!

Prior to Holy Empire’s emergence, Tang Yao had fired off spells like a madman, but without his Rank 3 Arcane Fairy, his damage had dropped noticeably and his cooldowns and cast times rose back to their original values. Nevertheless, by relying on his level superiority alone, he had still been able to inflict some serious damage.

And so, after being caught off guard by the Arcane Fairy’s explosion, the Victorious Return players were scattered and in disarray, and before they could reorganize and launch a counterattack, several more of them were annihilated by his spells.

With that, Tang Yao’s kill count had risen to ninety-two!

Such a number was enough to terrify anyone on the battlefield! From when he first opened with Meteor to ordering his Arcane Fairy to self-destruct, he inflicted massive casualties on the enemy’s forces. Those he killed weren’t ordinary schmucks that could be found off any city street either; no, they were the elites of Victorious Return! Yet he was picking them off like clay pigeons at a shooting range!

After falling on deaf ears for so long, Nie Yan’s words finally got through to Tang Yao, and he soon regained some clarity. He absolutely could not afford to die! With how heavy his PKer status was, he’d drop by at least five levels if he died now!

Fortunately, the Arcane Fairy’s explosion had wiped all of the Victorious Return members in his immediate vicinity, and adding the threat of Scorching Meteor, there were no longer any enemies trying to prevent Tang Yao from escaping.

Tang Yao hastily began running to Moon Child and the others. He’d be done for if he didn’t get out of Scorching Meteor’s range in time!

"You still want to leave after killing so many people!?” Skinny Dog shouted from a distance away. His eyes flared with anger. Among those ninety-two players who died, how many had been brothers that he’d gone through life and death battles with? As soon as he saw Tang Yao attempting to run, his eyes became bloodshot and he turned around and dashed toward him in a bid to prevent his escape. In spite of the looming danger of Scorching Meteor, he did it all for the sake of avenging his fallen brothers.

Noticing Skinny Dog pursuing Tang Yao, Nie Yan turned around to stop him.

"I’ll cover for you! Quickly, run!” Nie Yan shouted after Tang Yao. Crushing a Basic Haste Scroll in his hand, he rapidly closed in on Skinny Dog.

Tang Yao didn’t dare to dally as he began to run for safety.

Sadly, a Mage was no match for the speed of a Thief.

Closing the gap in no time, Skinny Dog lunged forward and aimed his dagger at the back of Tang Yao’s head.

In that instant, Nie Yan leaped forward and intercepted Skinny Dog from the flank.

「Clang!」Sparks flew everywhere as the daggers clashed together.

Skinny Dog wished to prevent Tang Yao from getting away, but now with Nie Yan firmly blocking his path, getting to him was going to be near impossible!

Roughly five to six hundred more Holy Empire players emerged in a nearby open space. The Priests from Holy Empire began to cast Heal on Tang Yao, causing his health to almost instantly rise back to full.

With Adjudicator of God running out just now, Nie Yan stopped tangling with Skinny Dog when he saw Tang Yao had gotten a safe distance away and began to flee himself.

Everyone wanted to get out of the immediate range of Scorching Meteor. Nie Yan, Skinny Dog, and the others were near the edge of the spell’s range, so they still had a chance of making it out unscathed, but for the many others at the center, all of whom were part of Victorious Return, they didn’t have the slightest hope of surviving.

After Cold Maple finished chanting the long set of invocation syllables, scorching-hot meteors of divine fire began raining down from the sky.

As if they would purge the world of everything, the tyrannical flames engulfed the land.

Those directly struck by the meteors lost over two hundred health in an instant. Collapsing one after the other, several dozen more Victorious Return members died. Just like that, the strike force consisting of three hundred elites, tasked with killing Nie Yan and Tang Yao, was reduced to almost nothing. The ten or so that actually survived had only been able to do so because they were lucky enough to be on the outskirts when the meteors began falling.

Nie Yan, Tang Yao, and Skinny Dog, however, were still within the spell’s range.

"Quickly heal those two over there!” Sleepy Fox, who was clad in silver-white armour, shouted as he pointed at Nie Yan and Tang Yao.

After hearing Sleepy Fox’s command, the over a hundred Priests on Holy Empire’s side began casting their heals.

And then, countless rays of gentle light fell on the pair.

−270, −290, −260… A string of damage values floated up above their heads as they were baptized in the sea of raging flames, but their health bars were completely stable thanks to being constantly topped up by the endless heals.

Over a hundred Priests were simultaneously healing Nie Yan and Tang Yao. So long as none of the meteors killed them instantly, they would be able to safely get out of this ordeal alive!

Having given up all hope, Nie Yan and Tang Yao were caught by surprise when they suddenly pulled away from the grim reaper’s grasp. Bathed in gentle light, the pair traversed the shower of meteors before eventually managing to safely come out on the other side.

Skinny Dog, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky. Not long after taking several steps, he let out a blood-curdling scream and collapsed on the ground.

After surviving that calamity, Nie Yan and Tang Yao felt like they had been given a new lease on life. To run across a field of falling meteors, perhaps there were no others in the world who would dare to attempt such a foolish feat.

Yao Yao and Moon Child were gasping for breath as they ran up to the pair.

"You guys made it out okay! That’s great!” Yao Yao rejoiced.

"Whew… that was quite thrilling. Thankfully, you two are alright.” Moon Child was still feeling a bit of an adrenaline rush.

"Hey, thanks for healing me and giving me a shield back there. If it weren’t for you, I would’ve died long ago,” Tang Yao gratefully said. He had acted too rashly back then by letting the death of his Arcane Fairy get the better of him. However, when he thought back to its sacrifice, he couldn’t help feeling depressed.

"It’s nothing. I know your Arcane Fairy died, but you can still get another one. So don’t feel too down,” Moon Child comforted.

Tang Yao showed a faint smile, but anyone could tell he was forcing it.

Yao Yao stared at Nie Yan and said, "Nirvana Flame, you didn’t die even in a situation like that. You’re too amazing! But ughh…. There’s something that’s been really bugging me. What are we going to do about our names? They’re already so red! I’ve already killed five players. I think I’d have to hunt down about 6,000 ordinary mobs before I can get rid of it…”

"I killed eleven, so I’d have hunt down about 20,000,” Nie Yan glanced at his status bar and said with a wry laugh. He was truly fortunate to have lived. Thanks to that, he was able to prevent the chapters from the Book of Order from dropping out of his bag.

Yao Yao stuck out her tongue. He had killed eleven people all by himself. For a Thief, that was a pretty terrifying feat.

"Hah, let me see… I killed… ninety-two…? Wai-what!? There’s no way! This can’t be real… Did the system miscalculate!?” Tang Yao was given quite a shock when he checked his status bar. However, thinking back to the recent battle, perhaps he really did kill ninety-two players… He had been lost in his grief and rage, so he couldn’t say for sure. However, if that was really the case, then how many months, or even years, would it take for him to get rid of his red name…?

As for Moon Child, she was much better off. Putting aside the notion of a Priest being able to kill anyone, she had been silenced so much that she couldn’t even get a proper Heal off. As such, she didn’t have a red name at all.

"You can tag along with Tang Yao and I to hunt Scaled Frogs together then,” Nie Yan suggested. At the moment, that was the fastest way to get rid of their PKer statuses.

"Without my Arcane Fairy, can we still even kill Scaled Frogs…?” Tang Yao asked in a somewhat pessimistic manner.

"You’re Level 17, so we should be able to. If it still doesn’t work out, then we can just hunt the ordinary ones.”

"It’s too bad my Arcane Fairy died,” Tang Yao mopped. From just a moment ago when he was reminded, he had continued feeling sad.

"When your Arcane Fairy died, the Arcane Crystal in your bag didn’t disappear, right? It should just be a lump of rock now. Take it out, and let me see if there are any cracks on it.” Nie Yan suddenly recalled a story he had heard of from his past life. There was a player who had been able to revive their fallen Arcane Fairy, but the road they had walked to accomplish this task had been extremely arduous. In the end, their journey led them to Everlasting City where they had found a way to breathe life back into their Arcane Crystal.

"Yeah, the crystal is there. Before, it was shiny and glistening, but now, it’s completely dim,” Tang Yao replied after taking the crystal out of his bag. Right now, the crystal seemed like nothing more than a dull and ordinary mineral without the slightest shimmer of life. He couldn’t help but ask, "What’s this thing useful for?”

Nie Yan took the crystal from Tang Yao’s hands and began examing it. After determining that it was completely intact, he faintly smiled and said, "Fortunately, it didn’t break.”

"Tell me, is there a way?” Tang Yao asked, a glimmer of hope shining in his eyes.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment, then said, "It should be possible, but I can’t make any promises.”

Chapter 153 – Ambitions

Nie Yan only knew that a player had collected an Energized Arcane Crystal Core from Everlasting City and used it to resurrect their Arcane Fairy. The only problem was that Everlasting City was a Level 40 zone! The Magic Golems there were machine-type monsters that had very high defense and were extremely tough to deal with. Even though Tasoyi Village had Magic Bombs for sale which were especially effective against machine-type monsters, such expensive items weren’t something ordinary players could afford. Even he felt hesitant about using them.

"Nirvana Flame, please tell me how I can resurrect my Arcane Fairy! I need to know!” Tang Yao asked somewhat emotionally. He didn’t expect that he’d suddenly see a glimmer of hope in his despair.

"It won’t be possible for the time being. We’ll have head to Everlasting City to search for an Arcane Energized Core, but the monsters there are Level 40. We’re too weak right now, so there’s no way we can go there.”

"A Level 40 map?” Tang Yao was a bit taken aback. "How do you know all this?”

"The library and the official website. A quick search on the official forums should get you the answer on how to revive an Arcane Fairy.” Since Nie Yan couldn’t exactly reveal himself as a reincarnated person, he pinned everything on the library and the forums. Conviction was true to life in the sense that players would often find themselves growing attached to their familiars after spending every waking moment in the game with them. Hence, when these familiars died, many players would try to employ a method to revive them. However, these methods were often more difficult than obtaining the familiar in the first place. So generally only a few foolhardy and determined players would go on to attempt the arduous task. Even if they couldn’t find what they were searching for in the short term, they would still see a shining glimmer of hope, and given enough time, if they still failed to succeed, they would calm down and move on.

Tang Yao did a search on the official forums, and indeed, three methods came up for reviving an Arcane Fairy. The first method was using an Energized Arcane Crystal Core. As a very rare form of crystal, it had a wide range of applications but was mostly used in manufacturing Magic Golems. It could be found in Level 30 maps or above, but it was exceedingly rare with only a few crystals existing within certain specials maps. The second method was using a Revival Stone, a stone that could revive any familiar, but it only started dropping from Level 60 maps onward. Due to its rarity, a single Revival Stone was worth far more than an Arcane Fairy. In fact, it was only worthwhile to use a Revival Stone on a Rank 5 Arcane Fairy. Anything less would simply be too much of a waste. To illustrate, in Nie Yan’s past life, a single Revival Stone could be traded for over a hundred Rank 3 Arcane Fairies. The third and final method was using a Divine Wish Stone. It was so priceless that there didn’t even need to be a discussion on how laughably wasteful it would be to use on an Arcane Fairy.

Of course, these methods were the ones achievable in the Viridian Empire. Other places such as the Spring of Life in the Sacred Land of the Fairies in the Satleen Empire, or the mysterious Fate Items in the Land of the Undead all had the ability to resurrect Arcane Fairies and other familiars.

Even though there were so many ways available, out of all of them, Nie Yan’s was the most reasonable. At the very least, he knew where he could find an Energized Arcane Crystal Core laying around.

"Wait until we level up some more, then I’ll help you revive your Arcane Fairy!”

Having these words, Nie Yan patted him on the shoulder. Tang Yao felt touched and nodded his head.

At that moment, Guo Huai walked up to them. Of the reinforcements he had brought along, only he and three others survived.

"You guys didn’t die! That’s great,” Guo Huai said as his face lit up with joy. It didn’t matter how many of their players died as long as Nie Yan and Tang Yao survived, especially the latter. If Tang Yao died, it would be an absolutely devastating blow to their fledgling guild.

"We were lucky Holy Empire arrived in time to save us,” Nie Yan said with a faint smile.

"You also have connections with people in Holy Empire?” Guo Huai asked. He glanced at the Holy Empire troops across from them. They wore excellent gear, with most of them clad in complete sets. Their orderly ranks and solemn atmosphere left him with quite an impression. A top five guild in the entire Viridian Empire really was a cut above the rest. As he recalled the mediocre quality of his own reinforcements, he couldn’t help but feel ashamed.

"You could say that. We were saved by them this time, so we owe them a favour,” Nie Yan nodded. He then glanced at Guo Huai who seemed a little dejected. "Don’t mind it too much. We’re still a new guild, of course we aren’t close to their level. But you know… even if they’re well-known and established names, we’ll definitely surpass all other major guilds in the future, including Victorious Return, and become the most powerful guild in the Viridian Empire.”

"Alright.” Guo Huai earnestly nodded his head. He also had great ambitions in his heart. Although Asskickers United was only recently established, they had already created a reputation for themselves and their initial expansion could be considered frighteningly fast.

"I’m gonna head over and have a chat with the guild leader of Holy Empire.” Nie Yan informed Guo Huai, Tang Yao, and the others.

After which he walked over to where Sleepy Fox was standing. As he drew closer, he waved his hand and greeted, "I really have to thank you this time. If you hadn’t appeared in time, my friends and I would have definitely died here today.”

"It’s nothing,” Sleepy Fox replied with a light smile.

Although Sleepy Fox seemed relaxed on the surface, he was actually deeply worried. How he was going to handle relations between his own guild and Victorious Return was a top priority at the moment. Were they to completely fall out with Victorious Return, then the ramifications would be inconceivable. If Victorious Return started an all-out war with them with no regard for the consequences, then the losses for both guilds would be equally disastrous. However, having taken all of this into consideration, he had still chosen to help Nie Yan.

Firstly, even if Victorious Return held grievances with Holy Empire over this matter, their guild leader, Heaven Breaker, wouldn’t likely take it so far where the two guilds would diametrically oppose one another. After all, this wouldn’t benefit either of them. Secondly, Nie Yan most likely had a mysterious backer supporting him. Add on the Starry Night Potion Shop, he was definitely worth roping in! Lastly, whether it be dungeoneering, level, or personal ability, Nie Yan was amazingly talented in all respects.

If it weren’t for these last two points, he would have never braved the dangers of incurring Heaven Breaker’s wrath for the sake of saving Nie Yan.

After giving it a little thought, Nie Yan also roughly understood what led to Sleepy Fox’s decision. Everyone here was intelligent, so there was no need for him to lay the facts bare. Regardless of intentions, Sleepy Fox had saved his life, that was without a doubt, so he owed him a favour.

There was no such thing as eternal allies—only eternal interests. He and Sleepy Fox already had a favourable foundation for cooperation. For him and his fledgling guild, having Holy Empire as an ally was extremely advantageous.

When Guo Huai, Tang Yao, and others saw Nie Yan laughing and chatting with Sleepy Fox, they were all quite amazed. The person he was talking to was the very guild leader of Holy Empire! In all of Calore and even in the entire Viridian Empire, he was a figure who could topple mountains and overturn the seas! Was this really the Nie Yan they all knew? Guo Huai, Tang Yao, and the rest now felt Nie Yan was suddenly deeply wreathed in mystery.

"What are you guys going to do about your red names?” Sleepy Fox asked. He couldn’t help glancing over at Tang Yao in the distance. A player that held the number one position on the level leaderboards, to say nothing of the sheer number of Victorious Return’s elites they had slain, how could such a figure not attract his interest?

The Holy Empire players behind Sleepy Fox also look over at Tang Yao and began commenting in hushed tones.

"Look at his name. It’s so red, it’s pretty much black. Say, how many people do you think he killed?”

"I’m not sure, I’d say at least thirty.”

"It’s hard to estimate.”

In the eyes of these players, Tang Yao was equal to a god or a figure of legends. Little did they know that he was simply a vulgar, lecherous fatty who hated doing any kind of work.

"Of course we plan to get rid of it by hunting mobs, but it’s probably going to take quite a while,” Nie Yan replied.

"You guys will have to be careful while in the wilderness. We can’t say for sure Heaven Breaker won’t keep on coming after you.”

"Don’t worry. After this run-in, we’ll be a lot more careful.”

Besides, they wouldn’t be hunting mobs in low-level zones, so there was no real need to fear Victorious Return catching them off guard again.

"That’s good then.”

"You should worry more about how you’re going to deal with the fallout. I doubt Heaven Breaker will simply forgive you guys for involving yourselves with this. It might even be the trigger for a large-scale guild war.”

"I’m not too worried about that. Heaven Breaker might act like a tyrant, but he does have some rationality. Victorious Return might be big, but there’s nothing they can do to my guild,” Sleepy Fox answered. He had confidence in the strength of his own guild. He then hesitated for a moment but eventually spoke up, "I have a request for you.”

"Speak. What is it?”

"I’d like to custom order a few high-level concoctions from the Starry Night Potion Shop,” Sleepy Fox said. He actually felt quite embarrassed. Even though Holy Empire was considered a major guild, it actually didn’t have many Alchemists. They were simply too difficult to nurture, and more importantly, very few were willing to join their guild. After all, an Alchemist’s role in a guild was basically no different than a full-time nanny’s. This put Holy Empire in a predicament. Buying concoctions from the auction house was too expensive, and the Starry Night Potion Shop held dominance over more than half of the market in Calore. Even if they were a major guild, they could only succumb to the pressure in the end.

Nie Yan was in a pretty good mood. Bird’s business tactics were extremely effective. He had allowed Bird flaunt their wealth and snatch away the Alchemists of all other shops. He had basically poached every Alchemist that was notable in his past life. Of the ten most famous Alchemists in the Viridian Empire, eight of them were in the Starry Night Potion Shop, while of the remaining two, one was in Victorious Return and the other was in Radiant Sacred Flame. Those two Alchemists were simply too devoted. No matter how much he enticed, they still wouldn’t budge.

Nonetheless, there were already two Alchemists in the Starry Night Potion Shop that had advanced to Intermediate rank. There were even more that broke through to Junior Alchemists at about one hundred and sixty. As for Apprentice Alchemists, they had well over five hundred. Every day, they would rake in massive amounts of money for the shop.

Right now, Holy Empire’s daily expenditure of potions, pills, and other concoctions was mostly provided for by the Starry Night Potion Shop. The amount that came from their own in-house Alchemists was almost insignificant. Even though they were putting in all their effort, nurturing an Alchemist was an extremely costly and time-consuming affair. Moreover, many Alchemists lacked talent and often ended up using enormous amount of resources without showing any results.

"I’d like a few batches of Cure Charm Potions. It requires an Intermediate Alchemist to manufacture. I’ve heard the Starry Night Potion Shop already has two Alchemists at that rank,” Sleepy Fox said.

"Cure Charm Potions? Are you guys preparing to clear the Succubus Den?” Nie Yan narrowed his eyes. Holy Empire was quite ambitious.

Chapter 154 – Dispute

The Succubus Den was a large Level 15 map. The administrator of Calore had issued a large-scale guild quest to investigate this place in search of "The Amnesiac’s Brain.” Generally, 2,000 Level 15 players was the recommended number to attempt this quest, but with great difficulty also came great rewards as the guild’s grade would be promoted upon completion. If Holy Empire became a Grade 2 guild, their status in Calore would increase, and even more guild quests would become available to them in the future. Furthermore, they would also attract more expert players to their ranks, allowing their strength to rise to another level.

Holy Empire was constantly suppressed by Victorious Return, but if they were able to complete this quest, they would leap over them and take the position of top dog in Calore which they could then attempt to gradually consolidate.

However, all of this was only possible under the assumption that they were able to amass enough Cure Charm Potions.

A trip to the Succubus Den needed at least thirty bottles, but naturally, since that was only the minimum requirement, a guild would generally prepare a little more. The Cure Charm Potion Recipe was an Intermediate Alchemy Recipe. Even when working together, it would take two Intermediate Alchemists at least an entire day to concoct that many potions.

Since Intermediate Alchemists were such a scarce resource at the current stage of the game, Sleepy Fox could only turn to Nie Yan for help.

Him not hesitating to save Nie Yan and risk a potential falling out with Victorious Return was also potentially due to this reason.

As Holy Empire’s guild leader, Sleepy Fox would always act based on the guild’s interests. If it didn’t benefit the guild, then he absolutely wouldn’t do it!

"Do you have a Cure Charm Potion Recipe?” Nie Yan asked. If Sleepy Fox didn’t even have the recipe, then he was powerless to help.

"We have two Cure Charm Potion Recipes, and we can also provide the ingredients required to concoct the potions. I’d like to request a batch of fifty potions. Afterward, we can pay you 3 gold in labour fees,” Sleepy Fox replied. The price he offered was fairly generous, an indication of just how important this quest was to him. After the batch of potions was ready and their other preparations were completed, they should also have enough players at the right level to attempt this quest.

Nie Yan gave it some thought. If it was like this, then his two Intermediate Alchemists would make quite a killing. With recipes and ingredients already provided for, they’d get to improve their proficiency in Alchemy while also receiving a cut of the 3 gold in commision. This was already quite generous. At the same time, him helping Holy Empire was basically the same as helping himself because when Holy Empire toppled Victorious Return, the latter would definitely focus all their energy on taking back their position. In this way, Asskickers United could freely expand their own influence.

Nie Yan stood in silence, pondering over the matter. While facing him on the other side, Sleepy Fox actually believed he was contacting the Starry Night Potion Shop.

"Then the deal is set. Just send the recipes, ingredients, and whatever else to the Starry Night Potion Shop,” Nie Yan finally said to Sleepy Fox.

With the deal being finalized, Sleepy Fox couldn’t help but feel a little excited. After all, the project he had been planning for so long could finally start being carried out. He faced Nie Yan and said, "Then our next step is seeing you guys off. You all have red names, so you can’t return to town, and this area is filled with Victorious Return players. So if you guys try to leave by yourselves, you’ll definitely get surrounded again.”

"Alright, then we’ll be troubling you guys.”

"While you guys are hunting mobs in the wilderness to clear your red names, message me if you need any supplies. I’ll immediately send a person over to your coordinates,” Sleepy Fox said. All in all, he was being quite considerate.

Nie Yan and Sleepy Fox had to consider their own interests above all else, so it was unavoidable that they also schemed against each other. Perhaps if the both had some free time and were free of their commitments, then they could become good friends in private.

Nie Yan turned around and called Tang Yao and the others over, "We’re leaving. Let’s get rid of our red names first, then think about what we’ll do after.”

Guo Huai and the other survivors would be returning to the city first. Guo Huai walked up to Nie Yan and said with a mysterious smile, "There’ll be a nice surprise waiting for you guys tomorrow.”

Nie Yan also specifically instructed Guo Huai that the over two hundred players that had come to rescue him and Tang Yao, regardless of their intentions, whether it be loyalty or for their own benefit, would be given ample rewards. This would let all the members of their guild know that as long as they exerted themselves for the guild, the guild would generously reward them for their efforts. He had Tang Yao give all of the reinforcements 50 merit points each. For those that reached Level 10, they could even earn an additional 100 merit points.

The players had already done the calculations. In Asskickers United, 50 merit points was the equivalent of 2 and a half silver. This was already quite an amazing reward. 2 and a half silver could purchase several pieces of first-rate Bronze-grade equipment. It could even purchase one or two pieces of slightly inferior Silver-grade equipment. For the average Level 7–8 player, if they tallied up all their money, it would already be amazing for them to come up with 1 or 2 silver, considering many of them were usually in debt. Of course, 50 merit points wasn’t the only reward. Guo Huai had already recorded down the names of all the players that participated in the rescue mission. In the future, when the guild was giving out benefits, they would be the lucky ones to receive additional rewards.

Those that had died in the battle all received a message that the guild leader, Young Sparrow Hawk, had rewarded them with 50 Guild Contribution Points. And when they glimpsed at the level leaderboard, they noticed Tang Yao was still at the very top of the standings, leaving all of them stunned as to how he managed to stay alive through the seemingly fatal entrapment. This feat only built on their existing admiration of Tang Yao, which was further intensified when they recalled him gibbing Victorious Return players each time he fired off a spell. It was simply amazing.

As the players passed down their recollections of the event to each other, they practically elevated Tang Yao to the status of a god. At the same time, among the ones that didn’t go, upon hearing the stories and seeing the 50 merit points that were given as a reward, they couldn’t help but feel a sense of regret. To those many Level 7–8 players, even if they died and dropped a level and a piece of equipment, they would probably only be losing about 1 silver at most.

Currently, some players had already accumulated enough contribution and took out Silver-grade equipment from the guild treasury to wear. The vast majority of players were wearing White-grade equipment, having Bronze-grade equipment was decent, and owning even a single piece of Silver-grade equipment was enough to make many players endlessly envious.

Under Guo Huai and Hao Cheng’s leadership, their clash with Victorious Return didn’t have too much of a negative influence on their guild members. Add on the fact that Tang Yao didn’t die, still holding firmly onto the number one spot on the leaderboards, many of the members were actually in admiration of them. Against three hundred Victorious Return elites, they were able to wipe out nearly all of the enemies and still manage to escape unscathed from the battlefield. Tang Yao was practically a god! Earlier, the players joining the guild were mostly lower levelled, but now, some of the high-level players were also starting to apply. They were flocking over after hearing of Tang Yao’s feats.

Guo Huai had also already edited together all the videos from different perspectives of Tang Yao recklessly massacring the players of Victorious Return, and then, he shared it on the official forums. Thanks to this, many eye-catching titles popped up such as: "Killing a Hundred Players, Featuring God Sparrow Hawk!”, "1 vs. 100, God Sparrow Hawk Still Didn’t Lose!”, "Asskickers United and Victorious Return’s Elites Battle!”, and so on. Very rapidly, it garnered a ton of player interest. Probably by tomorrow, the forum moderators would be overwhelmed by the flood of discussions. This video basically pushed Tang Yao’s popularity to an all new peak. It could even be said that it had helped Asskickers United as a whole to become even more famous.

Since they had already been targeted by Victorious Return, Asskickers United could no longer sit idly by and continue slowly developing on the sidelines. Otherwise, they would inevitably end up crushed by their enemy. So they needed to implement an extreme method to give them a huge boost in their expansion!

Just when Sleepy Fox and his troops were about to escort Nie Yan, Tang Yao, and the others away, a player who had been placed on look-out duty suddenly sent a message,「Boss, I’ve spotted a massive group of Victorious Return players coming from the east.」

「How many are there?」Sleepy Fox asked while furrowing his brows.

「At least five thousand.」

"Did something happen?” Nie Yan asked after seeing Sleepy Fox’s grave expression.

"Another group of Victorious Return players are marching over here. They really do seem to think highly of you. They’ve brought at least five thousand members this time,” Sleepy Fox glanced at Nie Yan and replied. He felt a bit puzzled. Just what could Nie Yan and Tang Yao have done for Victorious Return to go to such lengths?

As Sleepy Fox brooded over this question, he suddenly figured it out, and his expression instantly turned into a sneer. With how the situation had developed so far, Heaven Breaker probably wasn’t merely leading these five thousand troops to take care of Nie Yan and Tang Yao, it was also for the sake of teaching him a lesson!

"Five thousand players? That’s going to be a little tough to handle. You guys only have around six hundred,” Nie Yan said with a faint smile.

"We only landed in this difficult situation because we came here to save you. Yet here you are gloating over our misfortune.”

"Well, with so many Victorious Return players appearing, I’m afraid this time they aren’t here to simply deal with Young Sparrow Hawk and I.”

"You know, it really is unpleasant sometimes, chatting with someone who’s too smart for their own good,” Sleepy Fox replied with a wry smile.

"So, what are you planning to do about this?”

If Sleepy Fox handed them over now, then Holy Empire’s reputation would suffer a huge blow. Whether it was for the sake of preserving face or their future cooperation, he definitely had to protect Nie Yan and Tang Yao!

"Ying Gangbai, call for reinforcements!” Sleepy Fox then sent a message through the guild chat, calling for all members Level 10 and higher to come to Black Flame Forest near Tanbeto Town.

In Solanto Ravine, a group of over thirty Level 10–11 players were in the middle of grinding mobs when they suddenly received the order to mobilize from Sleepy Fox.

"The Boss is about to battle Victorious Return. Wrap everything up, we’re going!”

"Damn, it’s those Victorious Return bastards!”

"The Boss is finally going to teach those brats from Victorious Return a lesson. Let’s massacre them till they need barrels and suspenders to get around!”

None of the players in the group voiced any objections. They all retrieved their Return Scrolls, and after teleporting back to the city, they hurried through the transfer point to Tanbeto Town.

Violetdream Forest, Gloom Gull, Vast Prairie, Holy Empire members from everywhere, after receiving Sleepy Fox’s call to arms, immediately took out their Return Scrolls and returned to the city. Seemingly all of them were heading in the same destination as more and more emerged out of Tanbeto Town’s transfer point, causing the whole area to be crowded with Holy Empire players. The number of players gathered here didn’t merely amount to five thousand. Sleepy Fox wasn’t willing to back down and look weaker, so he had called over even more players than Heaven Breaker had!

"What’s going on? Why are there so many Holy Empire players gathering at Tanbeto Town?”

"Apparently, Victorious Return and Holy Empire are having a dispute. Heaven Breaker brought a large group of players to surround Sleepy Fox. In response, Sleepy Fox summoned almost all of Holy Empire’s main force. This time a good show is about to play out!”

Victorious Return was the top dog in Calore while Holy Empire was right behind them. If both sides had a frontal clash, the outcome would truly be hard to predict.

Chapter 155 – Ceasefire

A lot of unnecessary conflict could be avoided if Holy Empire were able to simply escort Nie Yan and Tang Yao out of the map, lest their presence be the fuse to ignite a feud with Victorious Return, but that just wasn’t possible with so many enemy scouts lurking around. It was quite likely that as soon as they attempted to bring the pair out, they’d be intercepted mid-way since their bright red names made them too conspicuous in this barren, rocky landscape.

"Boss, we’ve collected over 80 pieces of equipment. Most of them are pretty good quality,” a Holy Empire player approached Sleepy Fox and informed. There should’ve been 300 pieces dropped, but he figured the Victorious Return players had managed to recover quite a few, hence why only 80 or so pieces remained.

In fact, there had actually been more equipment with even better properties left on the ground, but they were all collected by Guo Huai and the others. Shortly after their group returned to Calore, Nie Yan had received a system message that Guo Huai had deposited 30 or so pieces of equipment into the guild treasury. They had acted covertly, so the players from Holy Empire were probably wholly unaware.

After a moment of silence, Sleepy Fox looked to Nie Yan and asked, "How do you think we should handle these drops?” This equipment, all of which had once belonged to Victorious Return’s elites, was akin to a big slab of tantalizing, juicy meat. A pity that his guild hadn’t done enough to justify taking it all for themselves, since Holy Empire only arrived in time to finish off the stragglers which amounted to about ten percent of Victorious Return’s total force. Of course, his guild could simply choose to swallow everything, but when all was said and done, they’d still be slighting the other party, an act that could damage the cooperation of both sides down the line. Unable to come to a decision, Sleepy Fox threw the ball in Nie Yan’s court.

"Let’s take half each. We’ll divide it up according to properties. A portion of the equipment came from my team members, so I have to do my best to help them get it back,” Nie Yan replied. If Holy Empire received the short end of the stick, then Sleepy Fox probably wouldn’t be satisfied. After all, he had saved their lives. Nevertheless, the vast majority of the equipment was indeed obtained through their efforts, so if it was divided up evenly, Sleepy Fox wouldn’t have any grounds to object, and that was ignoring the almost certain possibility that he had taken advantage of the situation to fill his own pockets first. As for whether they truly did only find 80 pieces of equipment lying on the ground, Nie Yan had no way of knowing.

Sleepy Fox nodded his head and said, "Then, we’ll do as you suggested.” After which, he had his subordinate hand over 40 pieces of equipment to Nie Yan.

Dividing equipment was the easiest time for disputes to arise. Fortunately, Nie Yan and Sleepy Fox were players who didn’t lack money. The former was the owner of the Starry Night Potion Shop while the latter was the guild leader of a major guild. Neither of them could be bothered to fuss over a few pieces of equipment.

Nie Yan planned to pad the guild treasury with this equipment. It required constant investment for them to truly succeed. Take, for example, a major guild like Holy Empire, their treasury was still far from being enough even after putting at least 100 gold into it. He still had a long road ahead of him since Asskickers United’s treasury had only recently started being built up.

"Heaven Breaker won’t do anything too rash,” Sleepy Fox said after thinking for a bit. Both guilds would come into conflict sooner or later, but it was still too early right now. If they did clash, it would only end up benefiting others.

Soon, the five thousand troops from Victorious Return arrived. The dense crowd of players headed by their guild leader, Heaven Breaker, formed a crescent formation, then gradually began surrounding Sleepy Fox’s group.

Tang Yao stared in shock as this vast crowd closed in on them, appearing as if they could topple mountains and overturn the seas. Now this was truly a guild. When thousands of players gathered together, just how much power would they be able to burst out with? He suddenly recalled Nie Yan’s previous words. A single player really was insignificant in the face of a guild!

"Nie Yan, tell me, will our guild be like them in the future, gathering tens of thousands of players with just a single call?” Tang Yao’s eyes flashed with a strange light.

"Definitely, sooner or later, there’ll be a day when we’re even more powerful than them,” Nie Yan seriously replied.

"When that day comes, I’ll be able to step on whoever I want to! If an eyesore appears, I can just call over ten thousand little brothers to directly crush them! Then, we’ll see if they still dare to act arrogant again.”

"… You really need to grow up a little.” Nie Yan was momentarily left speechless before breaking into laughter.

"Heaven Breaker, I trust you’ve been well since we last met,” Sleepy Fox greeted with a smile, acting as if the tension between the two groups didn’t exist.

On the other hand, Heaven Breaker was in no mood to engage in idle banter with Sleepy Fox. He swept his gaze over Holy Empire’s ranks and spotted Nie Yan and Tang Yao among them, then said in a cold voice, "Those two killed too many of my subordinates. Hand them over, and there’ll be no trouble. If not, I don’t mind getting into a full-blown guild war with you.”

Sleepy Fox still wore a smiling expression, but his eyes flashed with an almost undetectable glimmer.

"Sorry, but no. They’re under my protection. So I won’t be handing them over. Heaven Breaker, you’re welcome to do whatever you like. Just know that my Holy Empire isn’t afraid of going to war with you. Even though we aren’t as big as Victorious Return, we’re not so easily trifled with,” Sleepy Fox replied with a calm smile.

Heaven Breaker felt puzzled. Was Sleepy Fox actually going out of his way to protect Nie Yan and Tang Yao? It seemed this matter wasn’t simply about face. Just what did those two have that would even move him?

If they belonged to Holy Empire, then that would explain things, but clearly they didn’t.

"Boss, forget it! Let’s just get rid of them! Who cares about Sleepy Fox?”

"We’ll slaughter all of them!”

The Victorious Return players behind Heaven Breaker began clamoring and making outbursts. Due to their superior numbers, their self-confidence swelled like a balloon. Only a few Victorious Return players, who were more level-headed, understood that even though the other side merely had around five hundred players, they were all Holy Empire’s elites. Wiping them all out in a short period of time would be too difficult, and their reinforcements were definitely rushing over.

Heaven Breaker also understood the consequences of starting an all out war with Holy Empire. His main purpose for coming here was to intimidate and force them to hand over Nie Yan and Tang Yao. An added benefit was that he’d also get to trample Holy Empire’s honour and show them who the real top dog was around Calore.

"I told you… I only want those two, and the rest of you are free to go. Right now, there’s still time to change your mind before you regret it,” Heaven Breaker threatened.

As soon as Heaven Breaker gave the signal, the five thousand troops began gradually closing in on Sleepy Fox and his group. All of a sudden, the atmosphere became extremely hostile.

Sleepy Fox calmly ordered his subordinates to get into a defensive formation. If a fight really broke out, they would be able to hold out at least until reinforcements arrive. As a few Victorious Return players entered the attack range of the Holy Empire casters, the smell of gunpowder rapidly disseminated through the air.

However, neither side had taken the initiative to attack.

They were all waiting for their respective guild leaders to give out their commands. As soon as either group attacked, a chaotic battle of a rarely-seen scale would occur.

"Are they really going to start a fight?” Tang Yao asked.

"Right now it’s still too hard to tell,” Nie Yan replied. He knew Victorious Return was simply putting up a bold front in the hopes of intimidating Sleepy Fox to hand him and Tang Yao over. He didn’t believe Heaven Breaker would rashly start a war with Holy Empire, but the human mind was hard to anticipate.

"I’m giving you this final warning. Hand those two over, and I can let everything pass.” Heaven Breaker’s expression was dark. His eyes were sharp like a hawk’s, and he emitted an icy, murderous aura.

Sleepy Fox faintly smiled, then said, "That won’t be possible. Holy Empire is a guild of honour. We’ll never abandon our friends.”

"Since it’s like so, don’t blame me for what happens next.” Heaven Breaker gave the signal to attack. Immediately, Victorious Return’s troops began to act. Leading the vanguard were Warriors in full sets of battle armour. Formed in a line, they encroached on Holy Empire’s players.

A conflict was about to occur at any time.

Nie Yan saw the determined look in Heaven Breaker’s eyes. If he were to retreat now after giving all those threats, then it would be tantamount to slapping himself in the face. Who knows, a prideful man like him might not back down.

"If a fight really does break out, then we won’t be able to guard you, so you guys will have to fend for yourselves. If you find an opportunity to escape, then take it. If not, help us kill as many of them as possible,” Sleepy Fox said to Nie Yan and Tang Yao.

"Don’t worry about us,” Nie Yan replied with a light smile. Today he would kill to his heart’s content. Even if his name became a little redder, what did it matter to him?

Five thousand versus five hundred, Sleepy Fox’s group was outnumbered ten to one, so they were feeling a lot of pressure.

Just as everyone thought the fight was about to start, a player rushed to Heaven Breaker’s side and whispered into his ear. "Boss, Holy Empire’s reinforcements are approaching fast.”

"How many are there?” Heaven Breaker asked with furrowed brows.

"We’re not too sure at the moment, but they shouldn’t be any smaller than us.”

Heaven Breaker never expected them to be so quick. Sleepy Fox had managed to mobilize all of Holy Empire’s members, who were out levelling in different places, here in such a short period of time. If he were to call the rest of his players to this battle, then this conflict would evolve into a full-scale guild war.

A company of a hundred Holy Empire players came rushing over from behind Victorious Return’s troops. The player leading the group shouted toward Sleepy Fox, "Guild Leader, we’ve arrived!”

Subsequently, more and more Holy Empire players emerged. Some groups were only several dozen players in size while others were several hundred.

"Boss, we made it in time!”

"Our other brothers are about to arrive here soon too!

"Good!” Sleepy Fox nodded. His troops had actually arrived in quite a timely manner.

As more players arrived to merge into Sleepy Fox’s troops, his ranks rapidly expanded. Soon, their numbers broke through to a thousand, two thousand, three thousand, and so forth.

"Hey, Fox, been a while. You seem to have stirred up quite some trouble.” A youth wearing the Iron Storm Set approached Sleepy Fox with a smile. Shockingly, Nie Yan had met this very same player in Hiderlocke before.

"I’ve really poked the hornet’s nest this time around. I suppose I won’t be having it easy these coming days,” Sleepy Fox replied with a bitter smile. Then, he looked to the player and asked, "So, Kill Love, what made you decide to spend so much money to come all the way to Calore?” As fellow owners who ran gaming orgs, they were at least somewhat friendly with each other in private.

"I’m in Calore to do a quest. I heard things were quite lively over on your side, so I came here to take a look.” As Kill Love happened to spot Nie Yan standing beside Sleepy Fox, a look of astonishment spread across his face, and he blurted, "It’s you…?”

"Huh? Do you two know each other?” Sleepy Fox asked in surprise.

"We happened to encounter each other in Hilderlocke.” Kill Love smiled mysteriously, declining to explain in detail the exact circumstances of their meeting.

Sleepy Fox glanced at Nie Yan, then turned back to Kill Love with a pensive look on his face.

Chapter 156 – Sapphire Shrine

Nie Yan didn’t expect Kill Love to appear here. Was it possible that Holy Empire and Battle Crazed Alliance were working together? As he searched through his memories, he recalled that Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, and the rest of Cao Xu’s guilds did indeed clash with Battle Crazed Alliance, Holy Empire, and other guilds on numerous occasions. While facing the pressure of their superior might, it was quite feasible for Battle Crazed Alliance and Holy Empire to have forged a secret alliance. Honestly, he hadn’t acquired much knowledge regarding these matters in his past life. Back then, he was simply a player who minded his own business. Even during the War God Tribe’s most flourishing period, he was merely enjoying the life of a young master and had never once even so much as thought of leading his father’s guild to contend for rule over the empire.

He was suddenly snapped out of his daydreaming when a fifty-something-year-old man in white robes strolled toward Sleepy Fox and Kill Love. If not for the fact that they were nowhere near a town or city, and that he was dressed like a player, some people might even mistake him for an NPC.

His cheeks were somewhat thin and dry, almost sunken in like a skeleton’s, but his expression was lively as he radiated a healthy glow. Overall, he perfectly suited the description of a kindly old man.

Nie Yan had a vague impression of this person. If he wasn’t wrong, then he should be the guild leader of Sapphire Shrine. Although not as large as Holy Empire or Victorious Return, Sapphire Shrine was still a well-known guild, and their combat strength wasn’t lagging that far behind them. In the previous timeline, Sapphire Shrine, which primarily focused on nurturing Mages, had produced three Magisters among their ranks. One had to know, during a conflict even a single Magister was a strategic resource. Having three represented a force that could intimidate any other power. Therefore, even when Victorious Return was at the peak of their influence, they still didn’t dare to rashly declare war against Sapphire Shrine, and the origin for this lay in their Magisters that possessed the power to heavily influence the outcome of a battle.

He seemed to remember this old man’s name as well. If he recalled correctly, it was Fa Lan (Blue Mage). In spite of his old age, it would be a grave mistake to underestimate him. In his past life, this old man had managed to advance into a Great Mage, becoming a formidable player to be reckoned.

"You came as well?” Sleepy Fox asked. Agewise, Fa Lan was old enough to be in his father’s generation, so proper manners dictated that he ought to address him as senior. However, seeing as both of them led a major guild, making them equals, he wasn’t willing to lower his standing. As such, this was a source of endless headache for him. Why was a man in his fifties so insistent on mingling with youths several decades younger than him? What a crazy old coot!

"Oh, don’t mind little old me. I’m just passing by.” Fa Lan chuckled, then said, "What? Am I not welcome here? You should be thanking me. If I didn’t come, Holy Empire and Victorious Return would have really fought today.”

Sleepy Fox thought for a bit before coming to a realization. Sapphire Shrine was also a formidable entity. So long as Fa Lan was present here, Victorious Return probably wouldn’t dare to take any action. If that was the case, then naturally, no battle would occur.

"Why are you helping me? If Holy Empire and Victorious Return go at it, then wouldn’t Sapphire Shrine benefit from the fallout?”

"Nonsense, if you guys really went at it, then Radiant Sacred Flame will also step into the fray. At that point, you’re guaranteed to get the worse of it,” Fa Lan replied. There was an old saying, "United we stand, divided we fall.” He wasn’t just being considerate, he was also thinking of what’s best for his own guild.

"Is your information reliable?” Sleepy Fox asked in shock. Did Victorious Return really form an alliance with Radiant Sacred Flame? How is this possible? When did this happen? Several questions ran through his mind. Why was Victorious Return always so overbearing to the extent that they seemed to be willing to go to war with anyone…? He finally came to the conclusion. It was precisely because they had the support of Radiant Sacred Flame!

"If the information was unreliable, do you think this old man would still bother coming here?”

Even Nie Yan showed a hint of surprise. He hadn’t expected Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame to already be cooperating so early on.

Sleepy Fox was quite alarmed after listening to Fa Lan’s words. If Radiant Sacred Flame truly intervened in this conflict, then the situation would turn more serious than he initially thought.

At this time, Nie Yan spotted yet another acquaintance walking toward them. It was Splendid Star.

"How’s it going, Fox? Do you need a hand?” Splendid Star asked. After the incident with the Guardian of Order, he had already become rather familiar with Sleepy Fox. He was a person who valued loyalty and didn’t fear danger which was why he came here to support him.

In the previous timeline, these people were figures that could topple mountains and overturn the seas. Who would think they’d all gather here in the same place today? This was truly an unprecedented event.

As they witnessed Holy Empire’s forces growing ever larger, the Victorious Return players anxiously awaited Heaven Breaker’s orders. However, their guild leader was focused on the several players chatting by Sleepy Fox’s side. Although he wasn’t too familiar with them, he had still encountered them several times in the past. Then, he finally recognized their faces: the guild leader of Sapphire Shrine, Fa Lan; the guild leader of Battle Crazed Alliance, Kill Love; and lastly, the guild leader of Splendid Temple, Splendid Star. It seemed he had underestimated Sleepy Fox’s capabilities.

Battle Crazed Alliance’s forces weren’t based in Calore, so he could safely ignore them. Sapphire Shrine, however, wasn’t an existence he could simply overlook.

"Guild Leader, we should attack.”

"I agree. Guild Leader, they’ll have even more reinforcements rushing over soon. Should we also call more of our guys over?”

Heaven Breaker shook his head before saying in a gloomy tone, "We’re withdrawing!”

"P-pulling back? Why?”

"What!? Guild Leader, why are we retreating?”

When Heaven Breaker swept his gaze over his dissatisfied guild members, they immediately shut up. His orders were absolute. Once he decided on something, no one could disobey.

Victorious Return’s troops gradually retreated, and under Sleepy Fox’s instructions, Holy Empire didn’t try to pursue them. Due to Fa Lan’s presence, an explosive standoff that was about to erupt into violence at any moment dissolved without a trace.

"I’ll assign some people to escort you guys out of here,” Sleepy Fox said after turning back to Nie Yan, Tang Yao, and Yao Yao.

"Sure, sorry for the trouble.” Nie Yan nodded his head. With their safe exit, the pressure on Sleepy Fox would lessen significantly.

Just to be on the cautious side, Sleepy Fox ordered his subordinates to bring over two hundred black garbs from Calore that could hide their appearance. After having Nie Yan and his group, as well as a portion of his own troops, wear the garbs, he divided them into several dozen groups and made each one set out in different directions.

And so, two hundred players enshrouded in black garbs scattered in every direction.

"Fox, why did you insist on saving them?” gazing at the backs of their fading silhouettes, Kill Love asked in a doubtful tone.

"I made a deal with them,” Sleepy Fox answered briskly. "Now, tell me how exactly you and Nirvana Flame met. What was he doing in Hilderlocke? Don’t tell me he was there to do a quest too.”

"I met him there at the administrator’s office. Just moments before, he managed to snag away the best plot of land in the city,” Kill Love replied in a dejected tone. He had been eyeing that property for quite awhile.

"He went to Hilderlocke to purchase property? But, why…? It doesn’t make sense. Aside from the properties in the eastern district, with all of them already being bought up because they were relatively cheap, the western and southern parts of the city still have quite a few places open for sale. There’s no reason for him to waste so much money to go all the way to Hilderlocke just to purchase a single property. With just the 2 gold he spent on the round trip alone, he’d be able to buy a small plot in Calore, even if the location is slightly unfavourable.”

"Not necessarily, I can guarantee you the properties in Calore won’t be as valuable as the properties in Hilderlocke in the future. How many plots are listed for purchase in Calore? Adding them all together, Hilderlocke only has about a dozen or so,” Kill Love rebuked. From his perspective, if Nie Yan’s sense for real-estate was anything like his own, then the properties he purchased would absolutely spike in value in the coming months.

With Conviction’s real-world currency exchange slowly approaching, snagging up plots of land became an increasing concern for many guilds. However, setting up the treasury and the expenses needed just to keep the guild running on a day-to-day basis left many guild leaders with almost nothing to spare. Even if they could scrape up enough gold to buy some land, they wouldn’t be able to acquire much. Take Holy Empire for example, in the last few days they bought up six plots in Calore, but all of them were relatively cheap and in unfavourable locations. On the other hand, Victorious Return was slightly better off as they had managed to snatch up the largest piece of land in the southern district for over 30 gold. At the same time, the eastern district had also become a hotly-eyed area as of late due to the Starry Night Potion Shop’s popularity. However, by the time many guild leaders had arrived at the administrator’s office, they discovered all of the plots there had already been mysteriously sold. Such a strange matter left them all bewildered.

Yet Nie Yan actually had enough money to burn to run off all the way to Hilderlocke to purchase properties. Whatever entity was backing him, their financial resources were truly astonishing.

Sleepy Fox pondered for a moment. All signs pointed to the Starry Night Potion Shop. From his estimates, it probably made at least 20 gold or more a day. Even for the major guilds, such an income would leave them far behind with no hope of competing. In Calore, only this entity had enough financial capital to be eating up land all over the place. Could Nie Yan really be the owner of this shop? Thinking back to what he knew of Nie Yan’s tendencies, the notion didn’t seem all that farfetched. He always acted in a very low-key manner. Even when he was high enough to place at the front of the leaderboards, he still chose to maintain his anonymity. As for his background that was shrouded in mystery, still no one had uncovered what it was. He really could be the owner of the Starry Night Potion Shop!

With this realization, Sleepy Fox felt a chill run down his back. If Nie Yan was the owner of the Starry Night Potion Shop, then just how much capital did he control? Perhaps the number of plots he already owned far outstripped that of any major guild’s. It seemed from now on, not only did he have to work together with Nie Yan, it was also best that he deepened their relations! Because from Sleepy Fox’s point of view, he was really too deep and unfathomable.

With Victorious Return’s forces retreating, after receiving Sleepy Fox’s commands, Holy Empire’s troops also scattered. They all felt a deep sense of regret that they didn’t get to battle, but they were merely ordinary members, unaware of the implications of such a conflict. If they had really clashed, then a huge calamity would have befallen their guild.

Nie Yan, Tang Yao, and Yao Yao along with a group of escorts arrived just outside of the entrance of some woods. It was a Level 13 monster zone, making it impossible for Victorious Return to mobilize a large force to pursue them. So, now, they were finally safe.

"You guys can go back now. Thanks again,” Nie Yan said to the few Holy Empire players that had escorted them here.

"No need for thanks. You’re our guild leader’s friend, so it’s only natural that we spare no effort,” the Holy Empire players replied.

Looking at the expressions in their eyes, Nie Yan could tell that they all held immense respect for Sleepy Fox.

After saying their goodbyes, the Holy Empire players teleported away with Return Scrolls.

"Nie Yan, where are we going now?” Yao Yao asked. They weren’t safe hunting mobs in low-level zones because it would be fairly easy for others to spot them. Thus, they could only head to high-level zones, but hunting high-level monsters also held its own risks.

"We’ll grind on high-level mobs to get rid of our red names, but wait a bit first… I’m going to have a few things brought over to us,” Nie Yan answered after thinking for a moment.

Chapter 157 – Heaven-Acclaimed Genius

Nie Yan informed Guo Huai that he had his eye set on some of the equipment dropped by the elites of Victorious Return, a few of which were even better than his own. They were all Sosil Valley and Medusa’s Lair-quality. Aside from the Thief equipment for himself, there also happened to be some Arcane Mage and Holy Mage gear that were perfectly suited for Tang Yao and Yao Yao to equip. With their gear improved, hunting monsters would become much more efficient. At the same time, he also had a few things that he wanted to send back to make space in his bag.

The best items on him were his accessories and special items which couldn’t be found on the marketplace. However, as for his more replaceable pieces of equipment such as gloves, shoulderguards, and so on, they were actually inferior to the gear of the elites from Victorious Return.

「The Starry Night Potion Shop should’ve already produced a couple Intermediate Health and Mana Potions by now. Find someone to retrieve some, then assign a trustworthy person to deliver them here, preferably a Thief.」Nie Yan instructed Guo Huai. A Thief was most suited for the role of a courier; plus, they were fast as well.

「Alright, just tell me your coordinates. I’ll send someone from the guild to deliver the things you want.」

「Here’s my coordinates: 38528.59683.」

「Good, they’ll be coming over with your stuff soon. The player I’m sending is named Sun, so be wary if anyone else approaches you. Besides that, don’t stay in one place for too long; otherwise, you guys might be spotted by Victorious Return’s scouts,」Guo Huai replied. He was quite concerned about Nie Yan and Tang Yao’s safety. After all, if something bad happened to them, then their fledgling guild wouldn’t be able to bear the loss.

「Wait, right before the part about staying in the same place for too long, what did you say?」Nie Yan asked in shock.

「I’m sending Sun over to deliver the items to you. Also, I want you guys to be careful and not get spotted. Why, what’s up?」

「Tell me again. Are you sure that that player is named Sun?」

「Yeah, I’m sure. He joined our guild right after we were established. If it’s a question about how reliable he is, he has the highest contribution out of all our members with 600 merit points. He’s also only fiteen years old, and he told me that he’s a big fan of Tang Yao and really wants to meet him. The kid really worships him for being able to hunt Level 30 mobs. More importantly, he’s pretty skilled too. He was originally Level 10, but he dropped down to Level 7 after volunteering on our mission to save you guys. What’s more, he was actually able to take out three Victorious Return elites with him before dying. I definitely think he’s worth nurturing. Why, is there something wrong?」Guo Huai asked in a puzzled tone. Sun was only a fifteen-year-old boy, still naive and innocent. It was unlikely that he was the spy of some other guild, especially considering how much he had already sacrificed to save their guild leader.

「No, there’s nothing wrong. You’re fine sending him over,」Nie Yan answered after finally calming down. He wasn’t sure whether this was the same brilliant player he knew of from his past life. As a legendary Shadow Dancer and three-time consecutive arena champion, Sun was praised as a genius Thief. After pondering a bit more, the timing did seem about right; Sun’s age should only be around fifteen at the time of Conviction’s release. Nevertheless, such a young boy would display astonishing talent a few months down the line. Many videos of his PvP battles would surface on the official website. After which they would lay the groundwork for dueling as a Thief, becoming recommended learning material, a digital canon of sorts, for anyone who wished to play the class. In fact, Nie Yan himself had learned many of his basics through watching them. Yet right now, Guo Huai was telling him that this legendary figure was actually a little brother of their guild who would be delivering the things he requested in just a moment. A heaven-acclaimed genius being reduced to the role of a mere porter, this was just too inconceivable…

He never expected Sun to join their guild. Thankfully, he was quickly noticed by Guo Huai because of his excellent performance during the rescue mission.

There was a saying that went something like: "A true gem would shine wherever it went.” Who knew that this gem would fall right into his pocket.

Sun was merely a fifteen-year-old boy right now, seemingly ordinary at a glance, but sometimes… talent was an inherent trait that would naturally manifest itself regardless of how circumstances changed. Sun was precisely that kind of person.

There was no lack of young geniuses that could make even the most experienced of experts marvel at their skills. They were heaven’s darlings: an eighteen-year-old Magister, a nineteen-year-old Guardian Paladin, and of course, the Shadow Dancer, Sun… Many such geniuses had left their tracks in Conviction’s ancient history books.

These extraordinary geniuses would grow into supreme existences that couldn’t be overlooked by anyone. If he was able to secure Sun’s loyalty, then it would become an absolute boon for their guild in the future.

As they awaited Sun’s arrival, Nie Yan, Tang Yao, and Yao Yao hid themselves behind some bushes and began chatting to pass the time.

"I saw two pieces of equipment in the treasury that had Ignore Level +1. They’re nowhere close to comparing to your Arcane Fairy, but they’ll still be a little helpful. When we’re hunting Scaled Frogs later on, I want you to put them on,” Nie Yan said before suddenly having an idea. Should he get himself a set of Ignore Level gear in the future, specifically for grinding certain mobs?

In the later stages of the game when progression slowed down to a crawl, usually around Level 100 and onward, players would start to gather various pieces of equipment to create sets specifically for hunting mobs, dueling players, Fire Resistance, Lightning Resistance, and so forth.

"Mhmm…” Tang Yao simply nodded his head. He was still depressed after losing his Arcane Fairy, so for now, it was hard for him to return to his usual happy-go-lucky mood.

"Yao Yao, how are Yu Lan and the others doing right now?”

"Some of them ended up losing all their equipment. Most of them lost quite a few levels too, so they’re pretty depressed. They also wanted me to apologize on their behalf,” Yao Yao answered.

"Apologize? What for?” Nie Yan asked with a hint of surprise.

"When all’s said and done, we were the main cause for the incident. After all, the player who sold you out was still a member of our team. We’ve already kicked them by the way.”

"That still can’t be blamed on your entire team. That player was acting on their own devices,” Nie Yan replied with a faint chuckle. They were overthinking things too much. However, many players placed extreme importance on the reputation of their team. They were like a single entity, if a member gained glory, then the entire team would thrive. If a member fell from grace, then the entire team would take on the burden. "I’ve given your team 3000 merit points. If there’s anything they need in the guild treasury, then they can go ahead and take it.”

"Ah… thank you, Nie Yan,” Yao Yao said in a grateful tone. If it was like this, then Yu Lan and the others wouldn’t have to worry about finding new equipment. Training normally, they would be back to their previous levels in several days.

Nie Yan waved it off. Yu Lan’s team was currently an important force within the guild. Only by treating them well would they have the desire to stay in the guild and return the kindness.

While chatting with Yao Yao, he was suddenly struck by a peculiar feeling.

There’s a Thief!

His gaze scanned over the distant underbrush before going into stealth. His high awareness allowed him to quickly lock onto the opponent’s position.

When the player’s Awareness was equal to a rival Thief’s Cloaking, they would be able to vaguely sense the Thief’s approach. A relatively cautious player might even be able to guard against their sneak attack, but they would never be able to sense the Thief’s location. If the player’s Awareness was a bit higher than a rival Thief’s Cloaking, then they would be able to vaguely sense which direction they were coming from. However, in the event that the player’s Awareness vastly exceeded a rival Thief’s Cloaking, then they would be able to pinpoint that Thief’s exact location.

Nie Yan had already discovered the general area where the rival Thief was located, but he still wasn’t quite able to see them clearly.

Eye of Truth!

His eyes suddenly emitted a mysterious glow as they turned bloodshot. Soon, an indistinct shadowy figure materialized in the nearby vegetation.

He slowly approached it, his silhouette completely hidden within the shadows.

The Thief seemed to be looking for something. He quietly circled behind them. The opponent’s Awareness was far below his Cloaking, so they had no chance of discovering him unless he made an egregious mistake or purposefully revealed himself.

Nie Yan aimed a Smothering Strike at the back of that Thief’s head.

That Thief’s reaction was pretty quick. As soon as they sensed something was off, they attempted to roll to avoid the attack. However, Nie Yan’s dagger resembled a viper as it pursued after them, and before they could even complete their roll animation, his Smothering Strike had already struck them in the back of the head and put them into a dazed state.

Knocking the rival Thief out of stealth with his attack, he circled back to the front to get a good look at their appearance. He found their face a little familiar. Actually, after watching so many videos of this person in the past, he was able to recognize them at a glance. This was Sun! Although he still looked a little young and immature, his facial features didn’t differ much.

Nie Yan put away his dagger and waited for Sun to awake from his dazed state. When Sun finally did and discovered him, he raised his dagger and was about to attack.

"I’m Nirvana Flame,” Nie Yan abruptly introduced himself as he sized Sun up. He had a clean complexion, and his hair was cut pretty short. With just a single glance, anyone could tell he was still a young kid.

"Oh, so it was you, sir. Watchful Snail told me to deliver a couple pieces of equipment to you,” Sun replied with a somewhat reserved tone.

Many people would find it hard to believe that this somewhat shy and reserved kid, in the next seven to eight years, would actually grow up into a peerless Thief that countless players would look up to.

"Thank you,” Nie Yan said with a faint smile.

"Don’t mention it. Nirvana Flame, sir, your Smothering Strike just now was really too amazing! Can you teach me how you did that sometime?” Sun asked as he gazed at Nie Yan with a somewhat revering expression. Ever since he entered the game, Nie Yan was the only Thief that he had felt completely powerless against.

"My Awareness and Cloaking are pretty high. That’s why I was able to discover you and track you down.” Nie Yan laughed.

Sun shook his head, then said in a serious tone, "If it was simply you having higher Awareness and Cloaking, then I wouldn’t have been caught so completely off guard. It’s impossible for a Thief to fully conceal their presence while in stealth. We’re not gods. When you attacked me earlier, you were able to predict where I was going to escape to as soon as I moved and adjusted your aim accordingly. I feel that takes a lot of skill.”

When Nie Yan fought other players, he subconsciously employed a few of the positioning and attacking techniques from his past life. A Thief required finesse down to the smallest actions, but it was precisely these minute details that made it the hardest class to master. He didn’t know how many grueling hours he spent in order to master it. These PvP instincts had already long permeated into the marrow of his bones. After all, practice makes perfect. In the previous timeline, there were at least 30 Thieves on equal standing with him. However, to these new players in the present, he seemed completely unrivalled.

Nie Yan faintly noticed the same graceful bearing of the Thief he knew from his past life coming from Sun. It was precisely his astonishing observational ability and serious attitude that had allowed him to grow from his experiences in duelling other players and become a peerless talent.

He had an inkling of a feeling that Sun’s emergence might be an opportunity for him to improve. In his past life, he was only a step away from becoming a Shadow Dancer. In terms of skill, he had a hard time making even an inch of progress. Without being able to take that step, he was unable to cross the final barrier. However, Sun was a natural talent that could become a Shadow Dancer. Sooner or later, there would be a day when he would mature into an unequalled Thief that everyone would admire. If he improved along with Sun, then he might be able to learn many more new things.

Chapter 158 – Master

For fear of others surpassing them, a person might try to stifle their peers out of jealousy. Such behaviour was foolish. If a person truly wished to make progress, then they must adopt the attitude of always striving to better themselves, just like Sun when he had released the videos of his duels to announce that he was seeking new opponents. He had endlessly challenged stronger people while stubbornly pursuing the goal of improving himself even further. Only then was he gradually acknowledged for his talent by the rest of the playerbase.

Even geniuses had to take a step at a time if they wished to reach the apex.

By exchanging pointers with Sun, Nie Yan might find the flaws in his own techniques while also learning many new ones and slowly progress.

Whatever the case, he definitely had to keep Sun in their guild, but at the same time, he also had to give him enough space to grow so that he could walk a similar path as his counterpart in the previous timeline.

There was one more point to consider. Beside being incredibly skilled in his past life, Sun also possessed unrivalled popularity to the extent that he could gather tens of thousands with just a single call. A simple wave of his hand was enough for Innumerable expert Thief players to rally to his cause. It was hard to imagine the benefits a guild would receive if a player like this were to emerge in their ranks.

Asskickers United would require the efforts of countless talents to forge its path to glory!

"Nirvana Flame, sir… please let me become your disciple and teach me how to play the Thief class,” after what seemed like half a day, Sun finally drummed up enough courage to ask as he looked at Nie Yan with an expression filled with hope. Compared to his current self, Nie Yan and Tang Yao’s levels were frighteningly high. Furthermore, he had been able to personally witness their prowess as they rampaged through the battlefield, slaying a foe every ten steps. To him, Nie Yan was practically a deity-like figure who was set up on a high pedestal and exceedingly far out of reach. Take, for example, today, when they exchanged blows for the first time, he had felt utterly powerless against him and was swiftly incapacitated. Taking all these points into consideration, it was quite clear why he wished to take Nie Yan on as his master. However, he felt somewhat nervous, and he was already mentally preparing himself for refusal. After all, why would such a lofty figure bother wasting their time on a nobody like him?

Nie Yan never thought Sun would make this kind of request. The unparalleled genius Thief in his past life wanted to make him their master… Honestly speaking, he couldn’t help but feel a little underqualified because, in his mind, it wasn’t him who was placed on the pedestal, no, it was the Sun in his memories who took that spot.

"I know this is a very big request, but I promise you that I’ll try my hardest. I definitely won’t tarnish your name! Master, please accept this lowly one as your disciple!” Sun stared at Nie Yan as he begged in a sincere tone.

Nie Yan saw an intense desire to learn coming from Sun’s eyes as well as an unyielding resolve that welcomed any and all challenges. Aside from his natural talent, Sun also possessed an intrinsic quality about him that an ordinary person would find difficult to reach.

Was he worried that Sun would tarnish his reputation? Of course not! As he looked at Sun who still appeared visibly immature with his boyish looks, he recalled that Sun was actually said to be quite a sentimental person. In the previous timeline when his friend had been unjustly killed, he snuck into the offending guild’s stronghold all by himself and murdered several dozen players before escaping unscathed. This event was also one of his many brilliant feats. Although gaining a genius’ loyalty through material benefits was incredibly difficult, just like any other person, they were bound to their sentiments. It was very possible that he could start fostering a relationship with Sun right now. And in the future, if Sun really did come to recognize him as master, then that would be perfect.

But was he really qualified to be Sun’s master?

At least within the next three years, it absolutely wouldn’t pose a problem. After all, for a Thief to truly attain the level of a Great Thief or higher, apart from talent, they were also required to have perseverance and willpower that surpassed all others. Even a legendary player like Sun would require at least three years to reach that level. As for his own growth, now that would depend on his talent. Within the next three years, if he found more skilled experts to compare notes with, then it was unlikely that he would stagnate. Perhaps, with some difficulty, he would even be able to extend the time that he was superior to five or six years. After that, if Sun really grew to an inhumane realm, then wasn’t it only natural for a student to eventually surpass their master? However, if he was able to comprehend the essence of what it meant to be a Shadow Dancer, allowing him to maintain his superiority, then that would be the most ideal.

Sun felt anxious when Nie Yan didn’t give an immediate reply.

"Master, please accept me as your disciple!” Sun begged once more.

"Accepting you isn’t impossible… but I don’t want you calling me Master. I’m not that much older than you. From now on, just call me Big Bro,” Nie Yan answered with a light smile. Accepting Sun as his disciple… if anyone from his past life heard of this, they would be shocked out of their minds.

"Yes!” Sun exclaimed in joy. He still had the temperament of a child. Seeing him unable to hold back his excitement, Nie Yan couldn’t help but break into a smile.

"Before we do anything, hand over the items I asked for first. Then, I want you to deliver a few things back to Watchful Snail, so he can deposit them in the treasury. Afterward, hurry back here. I plan to take you levelling with us,” Nie Yan said. He could use this trip as a pretext to do some master-disciple bonding with Sun. At the same time, it also solved the problem of their group lacking a courier who could bring drops back to the city or deliver potions, pills, and whatever else they needed back to them. With how severe their PKer statuses were, he didn’t know how long it would take for them to finally clear their red names… three or four days if they were fast and probably twice as long for Tang Yao.

Previously, he had been awaiting the time when Adjudicator of God and Sacrificial Gambit would both be off cooldown so he could do the quest that required Steal. In fact, if things had gone according to plan, then he would’ve been able to set off the moment the servers reopened tomorrow. Unfortunately, after getting caught up in Heaven Breaker’s trap, his plans had gone awry.

He had come to realize one of the small truths of life. Even if he was given a second chance at his past, no matter how perfectly he planned the road ahead, something outside his control would come along and mess it up. When that happened, he had no other choice but to rely on his own efforts as well as all that he had accumulated up to that point to keep moving step by step regardless of how much things went off course. Then, as long as he advanced with unwavering confidence, everything would eventually fall back into place.

"Big Bro, you’re going to take me levelling with you? Awesome!” Sun jumped up in excitement. "Wait for me, I’ll be back in no time!”

On the side of temperament, Nie Yan had a really hard time linking Sun to the unequalled Thief that could call forth the winds and summon the rain. As a result, he subconsciously overlooked the matters of his past life and treated Sun as he would any other boy at that age.

"This kid’s pretty amusing,” Yao Yao walked up to Nie Yan and commented. She initially believed that Nie Yan was going to coldly reject him. Who knew that he would actually take him on. Perhaps, he really did have a soft heart.

Aside from being a peerless Thief in the previous timeline, his personality was also another factor for why Nie Yan was willing to take him on. If he had been the type of treacherous person who forgot favours and repaid kindness with enmity, then no matter how talented he was, Nie Yan would have still told him to scram.

Sun began shoving all the pieces of equipment that Nie Yan wanted to send back into his bag. Due to him being overly excited, he even dropped a couple of pieces as he haphazardly stuffed his bag full. Hastily picking them back up, he then sorted his bag to make space, and with an embarrassed laugh, he took out a Return Scroll and teleported back to the city.

Beneath the exterior of this up-and-coming genius, it seemed he was also a cheeky little imp.

After Sun left, a thought suddenly crossed Nie Yan’s mind. Not knowing how long it would take to clear his red name, in his present circumstances, he would be unable to return to the city for the next few days. During that time, wouldn’t the money in the Starry Night Potion Shop start to accumulate? At the very least, there would be several dozen gold just sitting there. If it wasn’t invested into something soon, then it would be too much of a waste because the value of gold depreciated with each passing day!

Nie Yan quickly thought up a solution. He could instruct Guo Huai to occasionally withdraw some gold from the Starry Night Potion Shop and visit Moonlight City and other major cities to purchase a few properties with high-return potential in his place, then have all of them transferred over to his name. Like this, he would no longer have to worry about his money losing its value. At this point in time, investing in real-estate was a stable way to make a guaranteed profit.

When Guo Huai heard that Nie Yan wanted him to go to other cities to purchase land, he couldn’t help but ask in a completely flabbergasted manner,「Why don’t you just buy land in Calore? Aside from the expensive travelling fees, you also have to pay an extra tax when buying properties in other cities! That’s just too wasteful! 」

「Who says I haven’t bought land in Calore yet? No need to worry, just follow my instructions. In the future, we’ll have to expand to other cities anyway. It’ll be more convenient if we already own land there,」Nie Yan rebuked with a faint smile. He had already purchased twenty-two plots of land in Calore. Not only that, but twelve of them were guaranteed to spike immensely in value in the future while the remaining ten would also appreciate considerably. The only reason he had so much money was mainly due to his foresight, like prior, when he had bought large quantities of items that would appreciate and then sold them at a suitable time, earning him vast profits. Outsiders estimated the daily income of the Starry Night Potion Shop at roughly 20 gold, but in reality, Nie Yan’s capital was far from limited to being only that. As for how much money it truly made, he would have to wait to find out when Bird calculated it at the end of the week.

Guo Huai was quite taken aback after listening to these words. So it turned out that Nie Yan had already long since purchased property in Calore. Although he didn’t know the exact number of properties Nie Yan owned, he was sure that with Nie Yan’s backing, their guild would receive even more opportunities to expand, and most of the work for this major undertaking was happening right now.

After talking to Guo Huai, Nie Yan also contacted Bird. Now was about the right time to gather the market’s Tinkerers, but it wouldn’t be a mass recruitment. It would be best if he recruited a few covertly first. He handed over a list of players to scout for to Bird. With actual targets, the task would become a lot simpler. Even though the major guilds were also fostering Tinkerers, they weren’t attaching much importance to them yet, so they weren’t as restricted as Alchemists. Even then, it would be quite strange if these Tinkerers could resist the temptation of the Starry Night Potion Shop’s offer. After all, the shop’s name was being mentioned left and right. With the promise of benefits, many Tinkerers would definitely be willing to abandon their guilds to join them.

After recruiting enough Tinkerers, when the items they produced actually began having value in the marketplace, he would open another shop that specialized in selling them. If this happened, then he was certain to reap large profits. The amount of money he would earn would be no less than what he made from the Starry Night Potion Shop.

A while later, Sun finally returned. Gasping for breath, he announced, "I’m back.”

With all members accounted for, Nie Yan said, "Alright, let’s set off. Let’s take full advantage of the time left before the servers shut down and clear up our red names a bit.”

The group of four passed through zone after zone as they set out for a distant forested mountain region where the Scaled Frogs spawned. As they passed through higher and higher level zones, Sun became increasingly excited. Were they really heading to a Level 30 zone to train? Wasn’t that dangerous? However, this type of risk made him even more eager.

Perhaps every player that chose to play the Thief class had a bit of a thrill-seeking side inside of them.

Chapter 159 – Godly Video

Save for the occasional chirp of insects among the trees, shrubbery, or foliage laden earth, all was quiet in the forest where a gloomy bleakness permeated the atmosphere. Here, signs of player activity were almost nonexistent, and for now, this wouldn’t change since almost no one dared to venture forth into this region. When Nie Yan levelled here in his past life, he would often see parties of twos and threes forming teams to grind mobs, among which there was no lack of players with red names. Once in a while, when an Elite or Sub-Elite spawned, the players nearby would frantically fight over it, often resulting in chaotic clashes that littered the place with countless bodies.

In fact, even though levelling in Conviction was rather difficult, if a player focused solely on levelling, they would be able to hit Level 180 in three years’ time while the faster ones might even reach Level 200. Though, for many players, between PvPing, exploring new dungeons, taking on bosses above their level, besieging strongholds, and so on, dying was no different than eating breakfast. As such, making any net progress in level was quite challenging. But it was precisely these numerous setbacks that allowed them to grow into genuine experts. In the later stages of the game, it was fairly common for a high-level player with good equipment, however not the skill to match, to be easily defeated by a lower-level but more skilled opponent.

After traversing vast stretches of forest, Nie Yan and company finally heard croaking sounds in the distant, signaling they had arrived at the depths where the Scaled Frogs spawned.

"What’s your mana at now? Also, how many potions did you bring along?” Nie Yan turned to Tang Yao and asked. Without the Arcane Fairy, running out of mana mid-fight became a serious concern.

"Including the few Sun brought over, I have 30 Mana Recovery Potions and 10 Basic Mana Potions,” Tang Yao answered. Although it seemed to be quite a bit at first glance, if they encountered an Elite, it would be far from enough. Mana Potions had set cooldowns, so he wouldn’t be able to chug them down continuously. If he had to stop for even a moment to recover his mana when fighting an Elite, then his mobbing speed would slow down significantly.

Suddenly thinking of a solution, Nie Yan turned to Yao Yao and asked, "Have you learned Mana Transfer?” It was a Holy Mage spell that allowed the caster to transfer a portion of their own mana to a target. Regrettably, with a transfer rate of around 50%–60% it proved to be rather inefficient.

"Yes, I’ve learned it.” Yao Yao nodded. As a Holy Mage who often ran dungeons with her team, Mana Transfer was an indispensable spell. When the situation called for it, she had to be ready to transfer over some of her mana to a Priest. Even though Holy Mages possessed the most raw damage, surpassing even Elementalists and Arcane Mages, to the extent that mobbing would slow down noticeably if they stopped attacking, a large dip in damage in exchange for the whole team’s survival was generally well-worth the trade.

"Nice, that makes things a lot more convenient. Later on, when you see Young Sparrow Hawk running low on mana, you can just transfer some of yours over to him,” Nie Yan stated. Mana Transfer’s cooldown was around two minutes, while without it being interrupted, it could transfer up to 200 mana. If that was the case, they would no longer have to worry about Tang Yao running out of mana. With the support of Yao Yao and the mana replenishing items, so long as he didn’t cast any especially mana intensive spells such as Meteor, maintaining a consistent damage output wouldn’t be a problem.

"You don’t need me to attack?” Yao Yao asked in a confused manner.

Shaking his head, Nie Yan replied, "No, your level isn’t high enough, so you won’t be able to deal any damage to these Scaled Frogs.”

"How long do you think it’ll take us to take down an Elite Scaled Frog now?” Tang Yao asked.

"I’d say at least an hour. If it’s a Sub-Elite, then probably around half an hour.”

Seeing Tang Yao droop his shoulders in response, Nie Yan patted him on the shoulders and said, "Pull yourself together, we need to level up quickly; otherwise, we’ll be overtaken by Heaven Breaker on the leaderboards. Victorious Return is keeping a watchful eye on us. Even now, our guild members don’t dare to openly wear their guild emblems when they’re out levelling for fear of getting stopped. All because we aren’t powerful enough. If we grow stronger, then we won’t have to fear them or anyone else!”

He was even more profoundly aware that the only reason Victorious Return was willing to take such bold actions against them today was because they knew their targets lacked the strength to retaliate. If Asskickers United possessed formidable might, would they have still dared to act so brazen without the slightest hesitation?

Hearing these words, Tang Yao’s expression flickered with deep determination. All of the grievances that he suffered today… he would make sure to pay them back to Heaven Breaker manyfold!

He was finally out of his state of dejection. Shaking his head vigorously, he gave himself a couple of hard slaps to the face, then howled, "Fuck your mother, Heaven Breaker!”

If Tang Yao had stayed depressed, then the guild might have really started to suffer. So, seeing him reignite his fighting will, Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

Some time later, the party arrived at the spawn point of their first Sub-Elite. After Nie Yan set down the Smoke Powder, Tang Yao began bombarding the Scaled Frog with spells.

"It’s that easy?” Both Yao Yao and Sun were stunned. They never expected Nie Yan and Tang Yao to be employing this kind of method to take down mobs far above their levels.

For ordinary players, challenging a monster above their level was an extremely risky affair. They would never dare to engage any monster above them in level that was Leader-class or higher simply because it was just too dangerous. Yet right now, Tang Yao was effortlessly killing a Level 30 Sub-Elite-class Scaled Frog without even receiving so much as a scratch. The scene unfolding right before their eyes went against all common sense!

To put it plain and simple, Yao Yao and Sun were only here to leech experience. The former’s only role was to act as an auto-refiling mana potion for Tang Yao while the latter was simply a delivery mule that collected anything that dropped. Meanwhile, Nie Yan made use of his time by scouting the vicinity for more Elites and Sub-Elites. After confirming their location, he arrived back in time to receive experience just before the monster was killed. In this way, they maximized efficiency.

Roughly half an hour later, the Sub-Elite Scaled Frog collapsed to the ground, whereupon the generous amount of experience caused Sun to level up twice, going from Level 7 directly to Level 9. As for Yao Yao, she went from Level 10 to Level 11. Nie Yan and Tang Yao, however, didn’t level up, but their experience bars did fill up by a good margin.

"Wow, levelling here is so quick! I actually levelled up twice!” Sun exclaimed in pleasant surprise. He still found the situation a little hard to wrap his head around. Before dropping several levels, it had taken him nearly two days of mindless grinding to get from Level 7 to Level 9. Yet now, it had been compressed down to the span of half an hour!

Yao Yao was also amazed by this levelling speed. So it turned out Nie Yan and Tang Yao were actually levelling like this. No wonder Tang Yao was able to rise up to the number one position on the leaderboards so quickly. There was no way the levelling speed of others could compare to them!

"Nie Yan, how did you come up with such a way to level up?” Yao Yao looked inquisitively at Nie Yan as her sharp-witted eyes brimmed with suspicion.

"The library contains detailed bestiaries on all sorts of monsters. It’s pretty easy to find their weak points. Sun, what did it drop?” Nie Yan could only reply with his go-to excuse before quickly changing the subject.

"A piece of battle armour and a Paladin’s hammer. They’re both unappraised.”

"Hand them over to me, I’ll appraise them.”

"Alright.”

After receiving the items, Nie Yan appraised them with Transcendent Insight. The armour was Silver-grade while the hammer was Gold-grade, both with decent properties but they could only be equipped at Level 30. Since no one could use them for the time being, they would be stored in the treasury to await the day when a player took their fancy.

A guild member was required to pay 1000 merit points to withdraw a piece of Level 30 Silver-grade equipment out of the treasury, while a piece of Level 30 Gold-grade equipment would cost at least 3000 merit points. Hence, for now, they were certain to be left untouched, but for the members of the guild, the simple knowledge of so many pieces of high-level equipment being available was enough to boost their morale considerably.

After putting away the drops, Nie Yan and the group set off for the location of an Elite.

"Nie Yan, why do you think that Killer’s Demonic Medallion still hasn’t dropped?” Tang Yao asked in frustration. Logically speaking, shouldn’t the severity of their red names have already long met the requirements?

"I’m not sure. The medallion’s drop rate is pretty low. Let’s keep trying. It would be great if it dropped, but if doesn’t, then so be it,” Nie Yan answered. The Killer’s Demonic Medallion had amazing properties that made it the best accessory in the early levels of the game. In his past life, the value of one was equivalent to a Sub-Legendary item. Back then, it had long since attracted the eyes of all players. So it was only natural that such a godly accessory couldn’t be obtained so easily.

"Alright, let’s keep searching then.”

…

The conclusion of the standoff between Victorious Return and Holy Empire became a topic of discussion among players. However, there was another matter currently attracting their attention, and that was a clip being shared en masse on the Viridian Empire’s forums. Several threads discussing it were at the top of the board, overshadowing even Tang Yao’s popularity.

Nie Yan and the others casually glanced at the titles of these threads.

「What a Godly Player!」

「Who is this God?!」

「Look at this Awesome Thief!」

…

After seeing the titles of these threads, Nie Yan and Tang Yao couldn’t help but smile. Fortunately, when Guo Huai released the video of the battle, he had edited out the portions that directly showed Nie Yan. So all that could be seen of him was his silhouette successively slaughtering quite a few Victorious Return players in the background. Even then, how could anyone not notice such an amazing scene. As a result, many were inquiring about this matchless Thief who was cutting down Victorious Return players like chopping spring onions. However, their questions remained unanswered. Victorious Return wouldn’t divulge it; Holy Empire didn’t reveal it; and Asskickers United was radio silent as well. Thus, Nie Yan’s identity remained a riddle. In this way, he kept true to his style of always staying low-key. However, all members of Asskickers United now knew that aside from their valiant, unparalleled guild leader, Young Sparrow Hawk… there was also another supreme figure among their ranks, and he was a Thief! Sadly, he had yet to appear to them in public, so he was shrouded in mystery.

The battle between 20 Asskicker United players versus 300 Victorious Return elites was quickly becoming a legend among players. There were even many elite players that decided to apply to Asskickers United after watching the video, causing the guild to rapidly expand. Consequently, after enlisting so many elites, their numbers finally broke through the ten thousand mark. Although they still couldn’t compare with those major guilds, they could already be considered somewhat famous among the second-rate guilds. If Heaven Breaker wished to trample over them again, he wouldn’t find it so easy as last time. Furthermore, due to the video being released, Victorious Return’s prestige had suffered a serious blow. Along with so many things piling up because of upcoming events, they had even less time to pay attention to Asskickers United. At this moment, their elite team was frantically levelling, resulting in Heaven Breaker finally breaking through to Level 16 as he attempted to reclaim his spot on top of the leaderboards from Tang Yao. At the same time, he had also dispatched numerous Thieves to track down Nie Yan and Tang Yao in the hopes of inconveniencing them while they trained. However, all of his efforts were futile as none of the players he sent out would ever think to search in a Level 30 zone.

Chapter 160 – Seeking Shelter

After two hours, three more Sub-Elite Scaled Frogs had fallen to the ground.

"The Starry Night Potion Shop is gathering ingredients to create Intermediate Mana Potions right now. When the first batch is made, I’ll give you guys a few,” Nie Yan said. A pity that these potions couldn’t be used as freely as their lower-ranked counterparts. After all, concocting them was just too expensive for now. It was fine to keep one or two in case of emergencies, but to down them frivolously as they grinded mobs? At present, very few, if any, could bear the burden of such a cost.

Even though Tang Yao’s mana was now in short supply, without the support of his Arcane Fairy, he was still able to deal with Sub-Elites without much effort. As for Elites, for the time being, killing them was a bit inefficient. They took much more effort and time to kill. Nevertheless, the drop quality from the Sub-Elites wasn’t too bad and they still gave a good amount of experience.

Apart from Tang Yao who had to focus on the Scaled Frogs, the rest of them had very little to do. Nie Yan took advantage of this time to message a few people.

「Godslayer, you there?」

Godslayer of Yore first appears in Chapter 66.

「Yeah, what’s up? I saw the video of Young Sparrow Hawk on the forums. Is he your friend? That Thief in the background should be you, right?」Godslayer of Yore asked in pleasant surprise after noticing the sender was Nie Yan,

「Yep, he is. We just established a guild. Are you interested in joining? I plan to pull a few others to form the guild’s elite team,」Nie Yan replied. Although the quality of the team would be far from his ideal, rounding up twenty decently skilled players was nevertheless a good start.

「Phew… after not hearing anything back from you these past couple of days, I was starting to get worried, but now you’ve finally established a guild!」

「My name is red at the moment, so you’ll have to wait a few days for me to get it back to normal. In any case, join our guild first.」

「Sure, sure, Asskickers United, right? If I still didn’t hear about it by now, then I’d have been living under a rock this whole time.」

Nie Yan notified Guo Huai and the others in advance that Godslayer of Yore and his friends would be coming over to join their guild. Then, he hit up Leader Young Seven and his group, informing them he was finally forming a team. They were simply ecstatic upon hearing this, but why wouldn’t they be? Ever since meeting him, they had been eagerly waiting for this day to come.

Leader Young Seven and his group first appear in Chapter 75, but only have any real meaningful interaction with Nie Yan in Chapter 81.

Nie Yan valued their group quite highly. In his past life, Young Leader Seven was one of the Seven Grand Priests, so his prospects weren’t something to be looked down upon. The two most important roles in a team were without a doubt the main healer and main tank. They were very literally the life of the team, with a huge influence on whether a run would succeed or prematurely end in a wipe. Aside from Young Leader Seven, there was also Forgotten, a Shadow Dancer in the previous timeline. Although he wasn’t as dazzling as Sun, among the vast ocean of players, he was definitely a figure that was hard to come by. Then, there was Yi Yan. He could also be considered as noteworthy among Fighters.

Finally, Nie Yan contacted Resplendent Bladelight. If he were able to get him to join their guild, then the team would be perfect.

Resplendent Bladelight first appears in Chapter 59. He’s the co-founder of the guild, Unhindered, but was betrayed by his friend, Hei Zhou.

A Fighter ranked in the top three, one of the Seven Grand Priests, two Shadow Dancers, the rank eleven Fighter, and Godslayer of Yore and his friends were all notable players in the previous timeline. Add Nie Yan with his ten years of gaming experience, and where could you find a guild that was able to assemble such a stacked lineup?

Even Victorious Return, Holy Empire, and Radiant Sacred Flame combined wouldn’t be able to pull it off!

When he thought of Sun, he couldn’t help but wonder… if Asskickers United was able to attract a legendary player like him, then perhaps there were a few more good seedlings that had yet to be found.

Because of Nie Yan and Tang Yao, Asskickers United was no longer considered a third-rate guild as experts started to trickle in. After noticing the guild had yet to form an elite team, some of the shrewder ones joined with the intention of trying out while they still had a chance, hoping to ride on the coattails of their success. After all, it was better to grab ahold of a chicken’s neck than a phoenix’s tail. With godly experts like Nie Yan and Tang Yao at the helm, anyone who joined their team was guaranteed to have a bright future.

With Young Seven, Resplendent Bladelight, and the others joining, Nie Yan would finally have the framework for an elite team. All he had to do afterwards was recruit a few passable, temporary fill-ins with clean backgrounds and the team would be pretty much established.

Naturally, for them to genuinely mature into a formidable force, everyone would have to persevere through many trials and hardships.

As for Yu Lan’s team, Nie Yan had no intention of disbanding them. The strength of the auxiliary teams was just as important to the growth of a guild, and generally, there would be at least ten or more of them.

「You established a guild?」Resplendent Bladelight asked after receiving Nie Yan’s message. His brows were knitted in contemplation.

「Not bad, right? So, after leaving Unhindered, have you found another guild yet?」Nie Yan asked.

「Can’t say that I have…」

「If that’s the case, then why not join mine?」

「If I join your guild, I have a group of brothers that will also want to follow me. They’re a rowdy bunch that don’t like authority. Are you willing to take them in?」

「As long as they don’t break any of the guild’s rules, I’m more than willing to welcome them. If they really get unruly, then I can only rely on you to control them. How many of them are there?」Nie Yan asked. He didn’t believe for a second that merely a few dozen players could create much of a ruckus in the guild.

「At least a thousand,」Bladelight replied.

Nie Yan nearly jumped up in fright. He couldn’t help but ask,「You’re not trying to take all of Unhindered with you, right?」

「No, not really. It’s less than half of the guild. All of them left voluntarily. They insist that I start a new guild with them, but I’ve no interest in managing guild affairs, and they refuse to follow anyone else. Some of my brothers are still in Unhindered, but if I join your guild, they’ll definitely come over as well. I sincerely hope that if I join, you’ll let them in too,」Bladelight requested. During these bleak times, what moved him the most was his band of brothers. No matter how disheartened he felt, they still never left his side. So even though he didn’t wish to be restricted, for the sake of giving them a place to settle, he was willing to give Nie Yan’s offer a go.

Nie Yan considered the pros and cons. Bladelight’s brothers made up nearly half of Unhindered’s strength. It would be a chance for more growth if such a force were to join Asskickers United. But at the same time, these players were only loyal to Bladelight and wouldn’t necessarily be under his and Tang Yao’s control. Therefore, there was a certain factor of risk at play. If Bladelight sincerely wished to join, reigned his brothers in, and told them to assimilate, then they would slowly be absorbed into the guild. However, if Bladelight’s heart wasn’t fully into it and he decided to leave later on, bringing his brothers along with him, it would be a huge loss for them.

To accept or reject… this was actually a bit difficult to decide. From what Nie Yan recalled of Bladelight’s personality, he was a trustworthy person, and he was never a wildly ambitious person to begin with.

「Fine, I’ll let them in. I’ll treat them just the same as ordinary members,」Nie Yan finally gave his reply. Asskickers United was already ten thousand strong. What difference could another thousand make? Besides, players tended to interact and befriend one another quite frequently, so Bladelight’s brothers would surely be digested quite quickly.

「You don’t have any doubts?」

「What doubts?」

「You’re not worried about me trying to seize power?」

Nie Yan chuckled and calmly replied,「If you truly cared for power, you would have never left Unhindered. With your prestige there, I don’t believe for a second you had no chance of vying with Hei Zhuo for control of the guild. If you two truly fought it out, perhaps right now, Unhindered would no longer have him as the guild leader. Yet, you still left of your own volition. Even though he betrayed you so heinously, you still valued what was left of the friendship between you two. I think this is why so many of your brothers were willing to follow you. After joining my guild, you’ll still be as you were before, Bladelight, but I definitely won’t be Hei Zhuo!」

Bladelight was struck by his words. He emotionally replied,「Thank you for putting your trust in me. After joining your guild, I’ll make sure my brothers don’t cause any trouble.」His mind relaxed as he breathed a sigh of relief. Giving them a place to belong to was one of his most pressing concerns, but he had never found a suitable guild. A few guild leaders had contacted him before, but none of them were worthy of his respect. Nie Yan, however, had more than earned it.

Bladelight joining was a great boon for Asskickers United. It would allow their strength to have another substantial spur. With his prestige, he would attract even more players to the guild. In this way, they would truly start to rival those top-ranked, second-rate guilds that were only beneath Victorious Return, Holy Empire, and the other major guilds.

「I’ve been thinking for a bit. Asskickers United will probably need a few vice-leaders. How about it, I can give you the position.」

「No need, I have no interest in managing the guild.」

With one of his worries relieved, Bladelight was finally starting to get over his falling out with Hei Zhuo.

「I can let you not do any work, but you must accept the position of vice-leader. Even if you don’t mind, I’m sure your brothers will,」Nie Yan said. If he assigned Bladelight the position of vice-leader, he would be able to appease the brothers following him.

Bladelight thought for a moment before finally relenting. He nodded his head, then said,「Fine.」He acknowledged that Nie Yan’s words were quite reasonable.

「You can head over to our headquarters. Right now the acting leader is a player called Watchful Snail. I’ll inform him that you and your brothers will be arriving, then he’ll deal with the task of adding you guys in,」Nie Yan said.

「Alright.」

「I’ll let Watchful Snail handle the matters regarding the elite team. I’ve already informed him of the few players I have in mind. You should form a team with them first and start running dungeons. After you clear all the low-level dungeons and accumulate some guild Honour, we’ll make some adjustments. With the average skill, level, and equipment of the team, I’m sure clearing Sosil Valley won’t be a problem,」Nie Yan said. A guild had to clear all the Special Instances in order to gain a certain amount of Honour. After accumulating enough honour, they would be able to receive certain rewards from the administrator that would aid them in their growth such as an upgrade to the guild headquarters. Besides money, a certain amount of Honour was required as well. The lowest level guild had a maximum size of 20,000 players. After that, they would need to accumulate enough Honour to advance to a Level 2 guild.

「No problem, I’ll start running dungeons. You should hurry and focus on clearing your red name,」Bladelight replied.

「Right.」Nie Yan nodded. When Bladelight was running the dungeons with Leader Young Seven, Godslayer, and the others, he could give them some simple guidance. With their strength and skill, and his guidance, they would have no problems clearing these dungeons on Expert or even Specialist!

Chapter 161 – Locked Dark Gold Chest

When they arrived at the next location, Nie Yan employed the usual method by popping a pouch of Smoke Powder near the Sub-Elite Scaled Frog. Then, after the smoke enveloped it and the immediate surroundings, he would hand over the reins to Tang Yao.

Aside from the impacts of Tang Yao’s spells, all was tranquil in the forest. Every so often, soft, rustling noises could be heard from the nearby underbrush as small animals passed through.

In the distance, the faint and almost indiscernible sound of flowing water softly reverberated in the background.

"Is there a lake or stream nearby?” Yao Yao asked. Akin to a zither, the gentle sound floated amidst the trees and stretched far across the forest.

"Lake?” Nie Yan’s mind trembled. He suddenly recalled that there was indeed a lake near the Scaled Frog zone. It was a small forest lake, hidden from view by tall, exuberant trees. At its very center was a small isle where rumours told was the location of an abandoned Dark Elf shrine. Supposedly, ancient crafting recipes could be found there.

It’s close by anyway… can’t hurt to go check things out. If there’s nothing there, I can just head back.

Not much later, server closing time approached. At this moment, Tang Yao killed his last Scaled Frog for the day, and as he did, a bright radiance enveloped Nie Yan followed by a crisp, system jingle.

Nie Yan checked his status bar. He was now Level 17, the same as Tang Yao; however, Tang Yao’s experience bar was nearly filled to the top, so he would soon be levelling up to Level 18.

"There’s still about eighteen minutes left. You guys should find a safe place, preferably hidden from view from any mobs, to log off from,” Nie Yan said. He looked at the day’s harvest; three pieces of equipment, a Level 30 Silver-grade Armour Blueprint, an Intermediate Potion Recipe, and several Fortune Gems.

He and the others currently received a huge increase in drop rate since they were hunting monsters far above their level. Furthermore, the Scaled Frogs they killed were all Sub-Elites, so the profits they reaped were immense. If they were hunting here in the previous timeline, then it would be very difficult for them to run into an Elite or Sub-Elite. Even if they did, many nearby players would attempt to snatch the kill away. It was a classic case of too many monks and not enough gruel. As such, the average yield from a day’s worth of grinding would merely amount to one or two pieces of Silver or Gold-grade equipment. Most of the time, any group that could secure even a Leader-class monster for themselves would be considered very lucky. However, Nie Yan and the others had gone far ahead of others by hunting in this map when most players would never yet dream to. Moreover, Nie Yan knew exactly where to find the Elites and Sub-Elites, so it was clear to see the advantage he held over others.

Sun was now Level 11 while Yao Yao had risen to Level 12; she was only a smidgen away from Level 13. Both were shocked by their levelling speeds. It was simply too fast!

"Big Bros, Big Sis, I’ll see you guys tomorrow!” Sun waved goodbye before logging off.

"I’m heading off as well. See you guys later,” Yao Yao said before going offline.

"You’re not getting off?” Tang Yao asked as he felt Nie Yan didn’t seem like he wanted to log out just yet.

"There’s still around fifteen minutes left. I’m going to explore around a bit. Here, take these five pouches of Smoke Powder. Also, these are the spawn locations of a few Sub-Elites, record them down. If I’m not back by the time you get back online tomorrow, give Sun the Smoke Powder and you guys can continue on without me,” Nie Yan said before handing over the items to Tang Yao.

After thinking for a moment, Tang Yao nodded his head and said, "Fine,” before taking the Smoke Powder. If Nie Yan didn’t wish to tell him, then he wouldn’t pry. Besides, he held complete confidence in him. After all, with his skill and elusiveness, there was no need to worry about him encountering any real danger.

"It’s about time you get off too.”

"Well, see you tomorrow,” Tang Yao said. His body gradually turned illusory before disappearing completely.

After Tang Yao left, Nie Yan followed the sound of flowing water, eventually coming across a small stream where he walked along its bank. He encountered many Scaled Frogs on his trek that he would avoid by stealthing and making detours around them.

Along his path, he stumbled upon a wooden treasure chest. After opening it, he retrieved a piece of Level 30 White-grade equipment. It was a disappointing find. Was his luck really that poor? Nevertheless, he could still receive 5 silver or more by selling it to an NPC merchant, and there was also the option of recycling it into raw materials. The latter might be a bit more expensive, but it was better than nothing.

As he travelled further down the stream, reaching the yet to be explored depths of this forest, he eventually exited the Scaled Frog area and arrived at an opening where he was greeted by the sight of a lake in the distance. It wasn’t all that large, covering maybe a tenth of a square kilometer, but still gave home to a very small piece of land.

You’ve discovered Forest Lake Stratyn.

In his past life, there were rumours that a player had uncovered several recipes from the isle in the middle of this lake. Uncommon recipes found in Level 30 maps would usually be at least Intermediate-rank, making them quite valuable. For a person like Nie Yan who owned a thriving potion shop, every new recipe was of great importance.

He stood at the edge of the lake. It was serene without the slightest ripple. Even so, he recalled that monsters spawned in its depths, among which included Elites and Sub-Elites. Right now, his life was far too valuable. If he died, he would drop too many important items. Thus, he was increasingly vigilant when undertaking any risk.

He didn’t believe himself capable of soloing a Level 30 Sub-Elite on land, let alone underwater where he was much less mobile. Even encountering a common monster would be extremely dangerous in such a scenario.

Nie Yan observed the isle in the distance which was about 30 meters away. Numerous willows dotted the shore, each reaching about fifty or sixty meters in height, casting shadows over the lake as their slender, drooping branches lazily hung just above the water’s surface.

He even noticed how the willows’ lush foliage intertwined with its branches in a seemingly chaotic manner.

He suddenly had a thought. Even if he couldn’t directly swim over from the shore, he still had a chance of reaching the isle!

Walking up to a nearby willow, he activated the Crawler Ring ability. Then, as if he were a spider, he nimbly clambered up its trunk before perching on a thick and solid branch near the top. As he surveyed his surroundings, he estimated the tree branch across from him was about ten meters away.

"Should be about right,” he silently muttered to himself while judging the distance. A second later, he suddenly leaped forward.

He was still at least twenty meters away from the water’s edge. Borrowing the forward momentum of his jump, he barrelled toward the lake.

As he fell, he activated the Silk Spinner Ring’s ability, shooting out a line of silk which adhered to the branch he had been eying prior. Soon, the web line tensed, converting the potential energy from his fall into kinetic energy that flung him forward like a child on a swing.

Nearing the peak of his momentum, he withdrew the web line and continued soaring through the air.

On his rapid descent toward the isle, he went into a landing roll before regaining his footing.

−23 A damage value floated up above his head.

Patting the dust off of his clothes, a faint smile emerged on his face as he glanced back at the opposite shore. He had succeeded in his attempt. Owning both the Silk Spinner Ring and Crawler Ring really was quite advantageous.

In the distance, a Water Snake gradually broke through the water’s surface. It was about five to six meters long with yellow and white scales dotting its body. As it swam about, ripples spread out across the lake. It was probably a Level 30 or higher monster. He didn’t dare to be careless as he entered stealth, then proceeded to take cover behind a nearby patch of shrubbery.

Being unable to find any trace of Nie Yan, the Water Snake dived back down into the water and disappeared into the lake’s depths.

Nie Yan’s tension eased as he breathed a sigh of relief. If he had chosen to swim across the lake instead, rather than jumping over, then he could hardly imagine what could’ve happened.

The isle was merely nine hundred square meters across. As he explored around, he found no monsters roaming about. In fact, other than several trees, there really didn’t seem to be anything on this isle. At its center was a very large tree that towered above the rest. Sadly, it had long since died, its trunks hollowed out by insects, but hidden within was a faded black treasure chest. Many ancient treasure chests, after not being uncovered for who knows how long, had corroded over time, collecting dust as they lost even the faintest shimmer.

He walked up to the treasure chest which permeated a timeworn air. Its design dated back to the Dark Era when the Dragon race reigned supreme. It was far more ancient than any chest he had encountered thus far. Older, historically rich chests tended to contain better items. This was common knowledge among players.

As he wiped off the mud and dirt that stained the chest, a dark golden lustre caught his eye.

Dark Gold!

His eyes twinkled in excitement.

To this date, he had never come across a Dark Gold treasure chest before. Even in his past life, he had only heard rumours of their existence. They were guaranteed to produce an item of at least Dark Gold-grade. Most of the time, they contained Sub-Legendary items. There was even a chance of obtaining a Legendary item fragment. Naturally, the likelihood of that was very low.

I hope it’s not locked… Nie Yan bent down as he attempted to open the chest. As his right hand came in contact with a lock, an immense sense of disappointment welled forth inside him. It was sealed by a small, delicate lock. Its intricate design was worthy of praise.

It was by far the most sophisticated lock he had ever come across. At the very least, it would require Specialist Lockpicking to unlock or possibly a Specialist Key since an ordinary key absolutely wouldn’t work.

He let out a bitter chuckle. Truthfully, this was to be expected. How could a chest of such rarity be sitting so freely in the open, almost as if it were just waiting for him to unlock it?

Even though he knew there were hidden treasures on this isle, what he ended up finding greatly disappointed him.

Just as he was about to reluctantly move on, after some more reflection, he suddenly found this situation very strange. Logically speaking, a player would only have Specialist Lockpicking after they advanced to a Great Thief. In other words, it would take at least five to six years, seven or eight at most, for a player capable of unlocking this chest to appear. However, considering how popular this area was in his past life, that meant numerous players would’ve long since found it. The discovery of a Dark Gold chest would have definitely rapidly spread across the playerbase. Yet why was it that he had never heard of such a chest appearing in this place before?

Unless a player arrived here before anyone else had and furthermore possessed the Specialist Lockpicking skill required to remove the items inside the chest, subsequently causing it to disappear, there was no way players would not know of its existence.

Even most Great Thieves didn’t possess Specialist Lockpicking. It wasn’t a skill that could be obtained as one simply pleased, but rather, it required the player to pick open tens of thousands of locks to achieve such a level.

There was only one possiblity. There was another method to open this chest! Perhaps, he would be able to find a special key.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan stood up. The answer was definitely located on this isle! This place was also the location of an abandoned Dark Elf shrine. Maybe the two were connected!

As he glanced at the in-game clock, he noticed the servers were just about to shut down. Right now, there wasn’t enough time. He’d have to continue when he logged back on.

Chapter 162 – Shrine

Some time after disconnecting from the game, Nie Yan contacted Guo Huai, Hao Cheng, and Zhao Li. He learned from them that the matter regarding Resplendent Bladelight joining the guild had already been settled. Furthermore, Asskickers United had grown to a staggering 16,000 members before the number of players applying slowed to a trickle. Even so, a guild of that size was rarely seen in the present day. No longer completely preoccupied with adding new players, Guo Huai and the others began dividing up the task of investigating the backgrounds of each individual who had already joined. Anyone they found suspicious would be booted from the guild. Although they wouldn’t be completely mole-free, it would at least ensure their ranks were a little purer.

After tallying up the guild members, the proportion of players above Level 9 reached just under 20%. It was a little on the low side, but it still wasn’t bad.

When Bladelight, Leader Young Seven, and the others formed the elite team, according to standard convention, they were all required to sign a contract. It stated that if they wanted to leave the team, they would have to return everything given to them as well as pay a huge penalty fee. An elite team wasn’t something you could just join or withdraw from as you pleased. Every guild would invest heavily into them, so each member was quintessential. If any of them were to suddenly resign, it would be an immense loss for the guild, so that was why it was necessary that they were all bound by contracts.

Naturally, there were benefits as well. Joining the elite team meant that the player would receive much more resources from the guild, letting them grow considerably faster than ordinary players. So given the opportunity, many would still sign the contract.

After the elite team was established, the guild’s sole Revive skill book was given to Young Seven.

At this point in time, a Revive skill book was almost priceless. Even if someone offered several dozen gold, they still wouldn’t necessarily be able to obtain one because it was just so rare. Right now, nearly none of the major guilds had it, as it was only starting to become more prevalent when the player base neared Level 20.

Revive could only resurrect a fallen teammate outside of combat. When running a dungeon, sometimes, before even clearing half of it, a team would suffer too many casualties to proceed forward. But with Revive, they could be brought back to life. Furthermore, when facing the final boss, it would be very difficult for a team to get through unscathed. Often times, many team members would be sacrificed before it could finally be killed. With revive, however, these losses could be averted.

As such, for Bladelight, Young Seven, and the other members of the elite team, Revive would significantly reduce the stress of doing dungeon runs.

So far, everything was going according to plan. Even though there might be a few snags along the way, Nie Yan was convinced that with their skills, when everyone got more familiar with one another, they would definitely display incredible ability.

Finished chatting with Guo Huai and the others, Nie Yan proceeded to go through his usual routine of working out, practicing martial arts, and studying. Recently, he felt his body was brimming with strength. His reflexes had also become even sharper than before. Moreover, he had grown about three centimeters taller while his physique also turned more muscular.

As the day when his parents would return home drew near, he grew increasingly eager as an intense sense of yearning welled up inside him.

Around noon, his aunts and uncles had come for another visit. After discovering his parents still weren’t back, they could only leave in disappointment. Ever since becoming aware of him being a very good candidate of passing the entrance exam for the top-ranked military school in the country, even if they were rather reluctant to treat him with courtesy, even to the point of smiling and fawning over him, they had no choice but to do so. But in their minds, they were still resentfully mulling over the money his parents owed them.

Nie Yan really didn’t want to utilize his in-game gold since every coin held incredible value before the real world currency exchange opened. Sadly, the black market conversion rate for in-game gold was far below its actual worth. Furthermore, some powerful figures could lower the conversation rate more by manipulating the market, so selling his in-game gold was tantamount to letting himself be swindled. Besides, each copper coin in his pocket would represent a slight advantage over Cao Xu in the future.

Nie Yan gave Tang Yao a phone call.「Hey, Tang Yao. Do you have some money right now? Lend me some, I’ll pay you back later.」

「How much do you need?」Tang Yao asked in a confused manner. Very rarely did Nie Yan ever ask to borrow money.

「Probably ¥500,000 or so,」Nie Yan answered after giving it some thought. This was the first time he had outright asked Tang Yao to borrow money. However, when his parents returned in a few days, he would be able to pay it back it in full.

「So much!? Alright, just give me your bank info. I’ll wire the money over.」

「You’re not going to ask why I’m borrowing so much money?」

「You almost never ask me for money, so when you do, not to mention so much at once, I know it’s something important. You definitely have a good reason for asking. But if you don’t wish to say it, I won’t try to pry. No matter how much you need, I’ll still help you get it even if I have to go around begging others; otherwise, how could I possibly call myself your brother!? We’ve known each other since we were both in diapers!」Tang Yao replied. When his family became well-off, he had an increasing number of people trying to curry favour with him as the number that treated him sincerely quickly declined. The overwhelming majority of people that approached him had underlying motives which caused him to treasure the relation he had with Nie Yan even more. From his perspective, friendship was priceless. He was in no shortage of money, but true friends were hard to come by!

「Before my dad left, he borrowed some money from a few people. Well, they’ve been hounding me recently, trying to collect the debt. I don’t want to convert my in-game gold to pay it back, so I can only go to you,」Nie Yan explained.

「Oh, you mean those snobby relatives of yours? Don’t worry, sooner or later, there’ll come a day when they regret how they treated you!」Tang Yao sneered. Knowing how well Nie Yan was expanding in Conviction, when the real world currency exchange opened, his personal wealth would definitely skyrocket to frightening levels. Then, he’d have no reason to mind such trivial pocket change.

A while later, he received a text message from Tang Yao.「Alright, the money should be in your account now. I’ve wired it over.」

Nie Yan headed to the bank to withdraw the money before walking over to the homes of his relatives. They didn’t live all that far from his house. They were actually all in the same district, close enough to meet on a daily basis, but he had never felt the slightest hint of affection from any of them to the extent that he felt more familial love from his next door neighbours.

He conked on the metal gates of his Uncle Luo Ming’s home.

"Who’s there?” A loathsome voice that resembled a duck being strangled answered the knocks. It belonged to his uncle’s wife.

"It’s me.” Nie Yan’s cold voice echoed out without the slightest trace of anger. He couldn’t bother wasting his emotions on people he planned to have nothing to do with in the future.

Upon seeing him after opening the gate, his uncle’s wife revealed repulsed expression, but after recalling a certain something, her face turned rigid. In a stiff tone, she asked, "Oh… W-why if it isn’t Little Yan? Do you need something? Would you like to come in…?” However, she made no effort to move out of the way to let him in.

"No thanks. I have a question. How much money do my parents owe you?”

"¥170,000. Adding interest, it’s about ¥220,000. Why, something the matter?” Luo Ming’s wife glanced at him and asked.

"I have the money. Go fetch the loan agreement my parents signed.” Nie Yan’s tone became even icier. What was this interest rate!? They were practically loan sharks! He could only imagine how much humiliation his parents endured when they asked to borrow money. For his relatives to only agree to the loan with such a high interest rate… his parents would have been better off asking strangers! If his father’s business had failed, what then? Not even in a lifetime would they have been able to recover from this debt!

He lost himself in deep thought. Back when he was naive, not only had he been unaware of the pressure his parents were under, but he even resented them for abandoning him! He had even constantly reminded them of it, leading them to feel guilt and self-loathing. They couldn’t even live a single day of their lives in happiness. In this life, however, he wouldn’t allow such tragedy to repeat itself. He would grow strong enough to protect his friends and loved ones!

"Brat, where did you get this money…?” Luo Ming’s wife couldn’t but ask in a daze after seeing Nie Yan take out so much cash.

"Cut the crap! Bring out the damn loan agreement!” Nie Yan’s expression turned glacial.

Seeing him flare out in anger, Luo Ming’s wife immediately reigned in any of her attitude. With how things have changed now, if he really did get angered, then it’d be very hard to predict what sorts of troubles might arise in the future! She hastily ran back into the house and returned to him with the loan agreement.

After Nie Yan confirmed that the handwriting on the agreement was indeed his father’s, he couldn’t be bothered to converse with his aunt any further and directly turned to leave.

"Really strange… just how did that brat get so much money? Could it be…?” As Luo Ming’s wife got to this point in her line of thought, she felt a chill run down her spine and she hurriedly closed the metal gate.

Nie Yan went from house to house, knocking on his relatives’ doors to pay back the money his parents owed. He was finally done with the matter by the time it was afternoon.

「You paid them all back?」Tang Yao asked on the phone.

「Yeah, the matter is settled. Thanks again. Wait a few days for me to pay you back the money I borrowed,」Nie Yan replied. As he compared Tang Yao with those relatives of his, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of warmth in his heart.

「No need to rush. It’s nothing.」Tang Yao waved his hands. It wasn’t as if he was in urgent need of money. Then, he was suddenly reminded of something.「You might as well pay me back in-game.」

「That’s fine too.」Nie Yan nodded. Even though the current black market conversion rate was terrible, in-game gold was still pretty valuable. After all, gold was still very scarce right now.

「I’ll probably be busy when I get back online. You guys should go ahead without me.」

「Ah, alright.」

After hanging up the call with Tang Yao, he worked out for the rest of the day. When evening arrived, he returned to the world of Conviction.

For the sake of finding the key for the dark gold chest, he began scouring every inch of the isle, not leaving the slightest rock unturned. His search eventually led him near the ruins of a shrine, more than a dozen meters away from the shore, where he reaped an unexpected harvest. Tucked away in the corner of a ruin, he found a silver treasure chest which contained two recipes.

He examined both—Dark Elf’s Borer Toxin Recipe and Dark Elf’s Arrow Poison Recipe. The former was the recipe of a poison used to coat blades, swords, daggers, and other sharp-edged weaponry. The latter was the recipe of a poison used specifically to coat bolts and arrows. Both were Intermediate-rank. The Borer Toxin dealt 30 damage per second for 20 seconds, and its ingredients included a certain type of larvae that was very difficult to obtain. At least a Level 30 player was required to gather it. As for the Dark Elf Arrow Poison, it dealt 50 additional on-hit poison damage. Its ingredients, on the other hand, were relatively easy to acquire consisting of over seven different types of common plants. The manufacturing cost for each vial was at least 10 silver, and it could be used three times. Arrow poisons generally sold the worst out of all stocked goods, so there wasn’t much financial benefit to putting them up for sale in the shop. But to Nie Yan, it was actually very useful. When he returned, he definitely had to make the Alchemists back at the Starry Night Potion Shop produce some.

Weeds grew all over the ruins, leaving him barely able to make out the silhouette of the shrine. Could the key for the dark gold chest really be found over there? Nie Yan couldn’t help but hold some doubts.

Chapter 163 – Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow

Loose chunks of rock lay scattered across the ruins of this shrine. The scripture of the dragons could be seen engraved on their surfaces, though barely discernable with the passage of time. In the distant Dark Era, the dark elves were the servants of the dragons. They regarded them as divine existences. Even their sacred texts which were written in the language of the dragons reflected as such.

Their history and culture were deeply entrenched in their subservience to the dragons. Even a millennium later, they still regarded themselves as lowly vassals that didn’t dare to go against the will of those from the dragon race.

Around the shrine altar lay the skeletal remains of different creatures, some of which were the skulls of humans, piled together in heaps.

Nie Yan could imagine how the chiefs of small dark elf tribes would offer the lives of various creatures in ritual sacrifices to the dragons. During the Era of Shared Governance, when the reign of the dragons was finally toppled, the dark elves suffered retaliation from the humans, high elves, and the other races for their heinous acts, ensuing in a mass genocide that resulted in the dark elves completely disappearing from the continent. Numerous of their tribes sought refuge in the isolated Underworld, but many places on the continent still held traces of their past.

When he approached the shrine, more than a dozen chunks of rock flew up from the ground. Each stone emitted a strong aura of darkness while the characters engraved on them glowed with an eerie light.

Relying on his knowledge of Dragon Tongue, he was able to decipher the meaning of some of the characters, "god of destruction,” "denizens of the remote darkness,” "secluded dimension of evil…” but he found it difficult to piece them all together.

Just what sort of message were these dozen or so floating pieces of rock trying to convey?

There are still remnants of dark magic left over from the Dark Era in the abandoned dark elf shrine. After some cautious interaction, you discover that it opens a portal to another dimension. This is a powerful magic!

You silently muse to yourself. The dark elves were the servants of the dragons. What could these despicable creatures have been doing in this place?

While reading the system notifications, from the corner of his eye, Nie Yan suddenly noticed the stones converging at the center of the altar before a dark portal slowly emerged.

Being only a few feet from the portal, he took a prudent step back when it emerged. Where it led to or whether it posed a threat to him were still unknowns!

I can’t take any chances!

Conviction had way too many strange maps that were fraught with danger. For the sake of preserving his Chapter of Courage and Chapter of Freedom, he firmly decided to renounce this opportunity.

However, just as he was about to turn to leave, he felt a powerful suction force pulling on his body. His face turned ashen with fright. He wanted to retreat, but the powerful force coming from the portal was simply too hard to resist!

"Ah!” Nie Yan lost his footing.

And like the mouth of an enormous demon, the dark portal gobbled him up in one fell swoop.

Inside the darkness of the portal, everything went black as he lost consciousness.

After he was pulled into the portal, the stones suspended in midair around the altar slowly dimmed. Losing the energy powering them, they fell back to the ground.

…

"Did Nirvana Flame go offline?” Sun turned to Tang Yao and asked in a puzzled tone. Nie Yan’s name had just gone dim on his friends list.

"I don’t know,” Tang Yao replied, sounding just as confused. When he tried sending Nie Yan a message just now, he got a system prompt telling him that the player wasn’t on the same map. Could Nie Yan have gone to a map that was inaccessible by others?

"Did something happen to Nirvana Flame?” Yao Yao asked worriedly.

"Whatever happened, I’m sure he can deal with it. C’mon, let’s continue.” Tang Yao’s confidence in Nie Yan almost resembled blind faith.

The Viridian Empire was a large, stand-alone map comprised of numerous and various zones. Players could whisper each other as long they were within the same map, but they weren’t able to make contact with players from different maps such as the Satleen Empire or the neutral territory of the giants. If Tang Yao couldn’t get a hold of him, then that meant Nie Yan wasn’t in the Viridian Empire right now. But how was that possible? The empire was vast and boundless and spanned at least several hundreds of miles across. Because they were still in the central area of the map, leaving its borders would still require five days or more, even with the fastest running speed! The other way was to teleport, but the only place in the entire empire with a transfer point connecting to the Satleen Empire was Calore.

Although his sudden disappearance left the group perplexed, they could only suppress their doubts for the time being. Right now, their main priority was clearing their red names. With the slight increase in damage output after reaching Level 18, Tang Yao felt confident in moving on to stronger mobs. So he took out the list of coordinates Nie Yan had given him the day before. After which they set out in search of Elite Scaled Frogs.

…

Not knowing how much time had passed, Nie Yan slowly regained consciousness. He was currently lying on the ground. A pitter-pattering sound gradually grew more audible as he felt raindrops hit his face, carrying a chill that seemed to pierce through his skin.

A certain thought jolted him into sobriety as he quickly sat up and rummaged through his bag. After seeing that the Chapter of Courage and Chapter of Freedom were still there, he let out a sigh of relief.

You’ve discovered the Illusory Realm of the Dullahans.

When he saw the system message, he understood that he was in an instanced quest map.

He found himself in a vast region of wilderness. The sky above him was dark and gloomy. A constant drizzle fell to the earth, and the wind whistled loudly, carrying an otherworldly chill.

After surveying around, Nie Yan noticed this was a sealed off area. He wouldn’t be able to use a Return Scroll to leave.

There were several knights riding ghastly, skeletal war-horses roaming around the wilderness. They wore full suits of black armour and carried three-meter long pikes. However, what stood out the most… was the fact that they lacked heads!

Nie Yan entered stealth before slowly approaching one of them.

Headless Horseman (Undead): Level 30

Health: 1,200/1,200

Task 1 – Kill 20 Headless Horsemen

I wonder what happens if I die here on this map… Either way, I don’t want to find out, but these Headless Horsemen aren’t going to be easy to deal with. With his current strength, slaying a monster so far above his level was truly too difficult of a task.

He opened the official website to search for information regarding these Headless Horsemen, but to his dismay, nothing came up. He let out a dejected sigh. For now, he had no choice but to drop the matter and figure out a way himself.

Since his own stats were severely lacking, he could only try to figure out the monster’s weak point.

After thinking for a bit, he decided to probe things out. He first approached within 70 meters of a Headless Horseman, then took out his crossbow. Employing the same method he had used back at Agmota Muddy Wetlands, he would fire at the ground near the Headless Horseman to see whether or not it would be alerted. In this way, he would be able to figure out its aggro range.

After observing the Headless Horseman for a while, he noticed its movements were actually pretty clumsy, especially when trying to turn.

「Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!」Three crossbow bolts struck the ground within 30 meters of the Headless Horseman. It suddenly reacted, prompting its skeletal horse to charge 20 meters toward the direction of the sound. Its powerful charging speed kicked up a whirlwind of dust.

This bastard’s explosive speed is at least 120 or higher!

Who knew this clumsy monster would actually charge at such speed upon discovering an enemy!

Nie Yan nearly jumped up in fright. He quickly activated Swift Retreat and withdrew far into the distance.

With an aggro range of about 35 meters and a charge speed of 120, Headless Horsemen definitely weren’t the kind of monster he could take on in a direct confrontation at his current level!

He stared at the Headless Horseman from afar, growing increasingly vexed. The faster the enemy’s charge, the more bonus damage it would deal. With the Headless Horseman being so far above his level, if it discovered him, then there was a chance that he would be taken out in a single hit!

After failing to discover an enemy, the Headless Horseman stood in place for a moment before urging its horse to turn back. As an undead, their joints were extremely stiff. Therefore, when turning around, their movements were slow and difficult.

Seeing the Headless Horseman struggling to turn, Nie Yan suddenly had an idea. He circled behind it and used the same method as before to probe it out.

After ten minutes of firing bolts to figure out what the Headless Horseman’s aggro range was from behind, he was finally able to confirm that it was only about 3 to 4 meters, far less than was it was from the front. Moreover, even if he alerted it from behind, it would take ages for it to turn its horse around to face him.

Nie Yan faintly smiled. Now this would be much easier to deal with. Propping up the crossbow in his hand, he fired at the Headless Horseman.

「Put-put-put!」The three bolts struck the Headless Horseman.

−26, −29, −31 Three damage values floated up above its head

Upon being attacked from behind, the Headless Horsemen urged its horse to turn around.

Seeing this, Nie Yan naturally wouldn’t stay motionless. He constantly circled around it, mirroring its movements as he shot it from behind.

No matter how the Headless Horseman moved, it was unable to turn to directly face Nie Yan. All it could do was continuously turn in place. From beginning to end, it was never able to discover Nie Yan’s position. With its low intelligence, it simply had no idea how to respond!

「Put-put-put! Put-put-put!」Nie Yan fired an unending stream of bolts at the Headless Horseman. The continuous damage caused its health to rapidly fall. Three minutes later, it finally collapsed to the ground.

Task 1 – Kill 20 Headless Horsemen. (Progress: 1/20)

Perfect! Nie Yan walked up to collect the items that the Headless Horseman dropped, 2 silver and a damaged blueprint which was filled with various diagrams.

Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow Blueprint: Pieces: 1/10

Requirements: Advanced Blacksmith

Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow (Sub-Legendary)

Requirements: 800 Strength

Properties: Attack 307–327, 30% Critical Rate, +100 Fire Damage, 5-Shot Burst

Weight: 56 lb

Restrictions: Thief, Paladin, Warrior

I never thought it would be a Sub-Legendary weapon blueprint. The properties are amazing! Nie Yan inwardly exclaimed. However, the 56 lb weight and 800 Strength requirement were really quite intimidating. He probably wouldn’t be able to equip it until around Level 60–70.

So if I collect all ten pieces, I’ll be able to craft a Sub-Legendary cavalry crossbow?

He examined the materials required to create it: 10 top-quality Magic Redwood Logs, 3 top-quality Fire Source Crystals, 3 Enchanted Blackvein Gold, 3 Enchanted Runestones, and 1 Fire Essence Extract.

Seeing the materials listed, Nie Yan was left speechless. Top-quality Magic Redwood Logs and Fire Source Crystals were a bit easier to find, but they were expensive because they were treasured materials. As for Enchanted Black Rune Gold, Enchanted Runestones—or any materials that had the word "Enchanted,” in the prefix of its name for that matter—were extremely hard to come by. As for Fire Essence Extract, it was an item of legends. In any case, in his past life, he had never come across it in any which way.

Even if he was able to find all the materials required to craft this Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow, he wouldn’t be able to equip it at his current level. Nevertheless, he could collect all the blueprint pieces right now, then figure out a way to craft it later on.

Chapter 164 – Undead Slayer

Nie Yan felt bewildered after taking a look at the system notifications. He hadn’t receive the slightest bit of experience for killing the Headless Horseman.

Monsters on this map don’t give experience…?

While he was pondering over this problem, he happened to glance at the quest bar positioned at the corner of his vision. I should focus on completing the quest first. Who knows… there might be some sort of reward at the end.

After grasping hold of a suitable strategy, slaying Headless Horsemen became as easy as one-two-three. Without receiving even so much as a scratch, they fell victim to the constant line of bolts firing from his crossbow in quick succession.

About an hour later, he checked his quest bar again.

Task 1 – Kill 20 Headless Horsemen (Progress: 16/20)

From the bodies of these Headless Horsemen he had also managed to pick up two more blueprint pieces. Considering they were for a Sub-Legendary Crossbow, the drop rate wasn’t all that bad. At the very least, he saw hope of completing the full blueprint.

Eventually, after grinding them for so long, Nie Yan had grown confident enough to make an attempt at controlling one with Undead Rite.

After figuring out their weakness, he had already confirmed he was in no danger so long as he stayed behind them, giving him a sense of reassurance as he boldly cast the spell.

Undead Rite’s success rate might be a little low, but inevitably there’d come a moment when it would work. Following repeated failures, he eventually prevailed in assembling a full party of five Headless Horsemen, whereupon he directed his minions to attack any monster wandering about, thus improving his mobbing speed significantly. Not much later, he cleared the quest.

Task 1 complete! You have received the Junior Undead Slayer title.

Task 2 – Kill 200 Headless Horsemen

Nie Yan gazed at the new title which had appeared in his status bar. It would increase his Influence by 1 in all human nations.

Every player could receive numerous titles. Among them were titles such as Great Thief, Shadow Dancer, Divine Priest, and so on… which were class-related titles, but there were some special titles as well. Believer of the Holy or Undead Slayer, the title he had just received, were part of the latter category. Each title gave special property bonuses. For example, Undead Slayer raised Influence… not a bad reward, especially considering how widespread humans were across the continent, so even the slightest boost in Influence would come in quite handy later on.

After clearing Treant Forest and purchasing so much property in the city, plus gaining a certain amount from establishing a guild as well, Nie Yan’s Influence in Calore had already reached 19. Now, with the additional point from this new title, it had risen to 20.

Raising Influence in a city was very difficult. Doing it in towns and villages was relatively easier in comparison. As for entire nations, he had only done so once in his past life, and that was when he received the title of Great Thief which gave him an additional 5 Influence in all human nations. The title naturally held other benefits, but nevertheless, he never expected the Undead Slayer title to similarly increase his Influence in all human nations as well.

After checking the next quest, Nie Yan didn’t expect it to still be making him kill Headless Horsemen. Moreover, the amount required this time was ten times more than the last. This quest line was really strange…

However, with the aid of his five minions, he was killing Headless Horsemen at a much faster pace than before. He continued doing this quest because he wanted to see what sort of rewards lay ahead.

After a long time, he finally gathered all ten pieces of the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow Blueprint. They emitted a dazzling light in the palm of his hands before slowly merging into an intact blueprint. This was a heavy crossbow. If he didn’t have enough Strength, then it would be truly difficult for him to even lift it up. Not to mention, with how much it weighed, it would dramatically reduce his movement speed while equipped which was why he couldn’t carry it with him at all times. He would have to keep it in his bag and only take it out when absolutely necessary. That was probably the most sensible method of handling it.

Storing away the blueprint in his bag, he checked the rest of the harvest he obtained since entering this realm. Outside of a few pieces of Level 30 equipment, he also found three more equipment blueprints, two of which were Bronze-grade while the other was Silver-grade. The drop rates of blueprints were rather low, making each one found very valuable. Especially considering there was a huge market for Bronze and Silver-grade equipment among ordinary players. After all, they couldn’t afford Gold-grade equipment, so they had to get by with equipment of lower grade. In the future, if he opened an equipment shop and hired a few Advanced Blacksmiths and Advanced Tailors, then he would be able to craft the weapons and armour from these blueprints. Since their properties were pretty good, they would be able to earn him quite some gold.

The equipment drop rate here was rather high. In Nie Yan’s eyes, these drops were basically sparkling mounds of gold!

In the future, aside from a potion shop, other business, such as an equipment shop, were also necessary to thrive. As commerce in the game grew even more prosperous, achieving market dominance like he was doing right now would be much more difficult. However, as long as he secured a good chunk of the market, he would still be able to earn a lot of gold, and he could already start slowly preparing now.

When he spotted another Headless Horseman, he would order his five minions to surround and attack it. After it was killed, he would search for his next target.

About two hours later, he cleared the second quest.

Task 2 complete! You have received the Intermediate Undead Slayer title.

He checked the property bonuses of this title. It increased Influence in all human nations by 2!

He didn’t think it would still raise his Influence. With more Influence, he would receive better benefits when expanding into other cities and taking on quests in the future.

Task 3 – Kill 2,000 Headless Horsemen

This quest line was starting to become more and more frightening. However, for the sake of finding out what the reward was at the end, he decided to persevere through.

As he explored further into the map, he gradually discovered that this Illusory Realm of the Dullahans was far more vast than he originally imagined. It could even be described as vast and boundless. After walking in a straight line for several hours, there was still no end in sight.

After three hours or so, Nie Yan spotted a shrine in the distance. It was extremely wide and quite imposing, and with its lofty pillars towering high, it resembled a Greek temple. He observed this place. His eyes first fell on the carvings of lions that covered the pillars. Then, he looked at the flight of stairs that led to the main hall. The entrance to this main hall was sealed off by tall, six-meter high metal gates. Even though they were corroded and rusted over time, they were still awe-inspiring to behold.

Lingering just outside the shrine entrance, there were at least several hundred Headless Horsemen in full suits of black armour guarding the gates.

Despite being awfully curious about what was inside, he didn’t dare to take any risks. Making a detour around it, he proceeded to safely hunt the Headless Horsemen nearby. Even though they didn’t give any experience, the items they dropped were quite decent and somewhat made up for it.

The only thing confusing him somewhat was that despite him killing countless Headless Horsemen his PKer status seemed to go down extremely slowly. In fact, he hadn’t even seen it budge in the longest time.

This map was seriously odd.

When server closing time approached, a bag dropped after he killed a mob. At the time it appeared, he didn’t think much of it, but when he finally took a look, he was surprised to discover that it was actually a 32-slot bag.

Magic Rune Bag: 32 slots

In other places, even an ordinary 24-slot bag was quite hard to come by. A 28-slot bag was even more uncommon. He never thought he would actually obtain a 32-slot bag here. Even at Level 40–50, they were quite expensive. At present, the first of them had yet to appear on the marketplace.

After sorting out his items, he swapped out one of his 20-slot bags for the 32-slot bag which immediately opened up a lot of space in his inventory. If he found more Magic Rune Bags, he could increase his inventory space even further!

Since he obtained a Magic Rune Bag from them, it meant these Headless Horsemen had a certain chance of dropping it.

Maybe he’d be able to find a second. He felt even more of an incentive to grind them now. If he had five 32-slot bags, then he wouldn’t have to swap them out even after reaching Level 50–60. Every time he set out on an adventure, he’d be able to stock up on even more things, so he could avoid wasting his time on making return trips to the city.

While Nie Yan was farming Headless Horsemen, a huge disturbance was happening back outside.

Tang Yao had hit Level 18 and was fast approaching Level 19. Heaven Breaker didn’t relax either as he ascended to Level 17. Sleepy Fox and his group weren’t willing to fall behind either, so they were quietly levelling away as well.

"Why hasn’t Big Bro Nirvana Flame returned yet?” Sun asked worriedly.

"He should still be in the game. The fact that he hasn’t died and returned to the city means that he’s safe for now. No need to worry too much,” Tang Yao replied. Although he himself was a little worried, he didn’t reveal it on the surface.

Yao Yao would send Nie Yan a few messages every now and then, but she would never get a reply.

Elite after Elite fell by Tang Yao’s hands, but the Killer’s Demonic Medallion never dropped. Nevertheless, his experience was soaring madly. The three of them were quickly levelling up as their red names gradually cleared. Because Tang Yao refused to relax for even a moment, their supply of Smoke Powder quickly ran dry. So he ordered Sun to make a run to the Starry Night Potion Shop to get a loan. When he pooled enough money to buy some more, they would decide what to do from there.

Nie Yan had already mentioned to Bird that if Tang Yao should ever ask to borrow money, then Bird should promptly lend it. After all, considering how many Intermediate recipes the Starry Night Potion Shop had received from Tang Yao alone, the value of his contributions far surpassed what little amount he was withdrawing. Sun had also deposited all the equipment they had obtained from the Sub-Elites and Elites into the guild treasury. After which he headed over to restock on the party’s consumables.

Scarlet Dream Forest was the spawn zone of Level 20 Dodos. A few days prior, there actually weren’t many players here, but recently, the area was bustling with eighty or so Victorious Return players.

Heaven Breaker had a difficult time trying to gather a dozen Mages who had small-scale, area of effect spells, but his efforts were rewarded as the mobbing efficiency of his group improved greatly.

Around thirty Thieves were shuttling through this forest, pulling groups of Dodos into an opening between the trees. After which the Mages would cast their area of effect magic. As the spells fell over the area, an endless stream of damage values rose up into the sky. Area of effect spells were extremely mana intensive, so their mana wouldn’t be able to hold on for long. For this reason, behind them, a huge group of Holy Mages walked up. They were responsible for transferring mana over to the Mages who were dealing damage, ensuring that their mana bars were always topped up. If they were still running low, then they would drink a mana potion!

With a dozen or so area of effect spells layered over one another, groups of Dodos collapsed to the ground one after another while Heaven Breaker’s experience bar was rapidly filling up. Thus, his levelling speed couldn’t be considered slow either. He was actually managing to keep pace with Tang Yao. In fact, he was almost right on his heels.

As for Sleepy Fox and his group, they had also found a method of levelling up that was relatively quick. With their frantic levelling, they rapidly surged upward on the leaderboards from the lower ranks. However, from beginning to end, no one was ever able to shake Tang Yao’s throne on first place.

Chapter 165 – Demon Hunter

Nie Yan grinded Headless Horsemen for the entire day. Failing to complete Task 3 by the time server closing approached, he began musing to himself about how he was going to leave. Should I let myself die to see if I get teleported out…? Maybe the key to getting out is in that shrine I saw earlier. But if I try to barge in there with my current strength, I’m practically asking for a death wish…

Without being able to come up with a solution, he decided to put off such thoughts for later and logged off with a dejected sigh.

Shortly after taking off the game helmet, the house phone rang.

「Hey, you finally answered your phone! I’ve been trying to reach you for ages. You punk, where the hell did you go off to? How come I can’t get in touch with you inside the game?」Tang Yao anxiously asked.

「I ran into some trouble, ended up getting sucked into a special map.」

「No wonder we couldn’t reach you! Is it dangerous?」

「I’m fine for now. I just don’t know how to get out.」

「Ah, I see… It’s good that you’re not in any danger though. It’d suck pretty bad if you died with your name still being red… By the way, Heaven Breaker’s already Level 17. That guy’s really going at it, trying to overtake me on the leaderboards.」

「Hmm… he’s levelling up pretty fast, but for the time being, he still won’t be able to catch up to you.」

「I know, but who knows if that’ll be the case later on. It’s really tough levelling without the support of my Arcane Fairy…」Tang Yao said rather dejectedly. Heaven Breaker’s perseverance truly was worthy of praise. At the same time, without his Arcane Fairy, his levelling speed had indeed slowed quite considerably. He couldn’t say for sure Heaven Breaker wouldn’t reclaim his throne some day.

「Have you found a Killer’s Demonic Medallion yet?」Nie Yan suddenly asked.

「Nope, still haven’t…」Tang Yao let out a disappointed sigh.

Nie Yan wrinkled his brows. Tang Yao’s name was already so red that it definitely passed the threshold. He had to be seriously down on his luck if he still wasn’t able to find one.「Well… just keep soldiering on. It’s not that big of a deal if Heaven Breaker passes you. Everyone expects it since he’s the guild leader of Victorious Return. Besides, even if he takes first place from you, we can just snatch it back later on.」

A flash of determination swept across Tang Yao’s face. Clenching his fist, he said「No! I won’t give him the chance! I don’t care through what method, but I won’t be going down without a fight! I’ll make him suffer for sure. A real man always takes his revenge!」It seemed Tang Yao still felt quite a bit of resentment toward Heaven Breaker for the ambush which led to his Arcane Fairy perishing.

Tang Yao’s outburst reminded Nie Yan of the past. Back when they were in middle school, he and Tang Yao had been stopped by a bully outside the school gate and beaten up. Later on, Tang Yao had found that bully and returned the beating several fold. From that day forward, the bully didn’t dare to trouble them again. The teachers at school taught students to requite grievances with kindness and tolerance. However, ever since he was small, Tang Yao’s father told him that teaching was wrong. "If you suffer any injustices, you’ll have to rely on your own ability to claim retribution. They teach you how to behave with integrity, but I’m teaching you how to survive! It’s not a matter of who’s in the right or who’s in the wrong. Because in the real world, those beliefs are as flimsy as the paper you and I write on!” he would always say.

As a result, Tang Yao grew up to be a petty and vengeful person down to the core of his being. Of course, that was only towards the people he disliked.

「Before Level 25, you shouldn’t encounter any problems preserving your lead, so you can keep training on Scaled Frogs for a while longer. Anyways, just wait for me to get out,」Nie Yan said. There were a myriad of things he couldn’t do while stuck inside this quest map.

「Well, alright then… Try to find a way out quickly. I think I’ll be around Level 23 or 24, maybe even a little higher, by the time I fully clear my red name,」Tang Yao said. He had really killed way too many players.

「I’d say around Level 26 or 27 is more likely and that’s assuming you’re training efficiently.」Nie Yan gave his own assessment. With a kill count of nearly a hundred, Tang Yao’s red name was truly rather difficult to clear. Few players could achieve something similar so early on in the game. In the future, Mages would have much more powerful group target spells. Some would even be able to wipe out hundreds of enemies in a single siege. Generally, such players wouldn’t be able to clear their PKer status effect before getting into another battle, so their names were constantly shifting between different shades of red. Regardless, so long as they possessed enough Influence, they would be able to walk freely in any city, town, or village.

He spoke with Tang Yao a while longer before hanging up the phone.

Soon, another day quietly passed by, and as the clock struck five, he put back on his game helmet.

After returning to the game, he proceeded to complete Task 3, whereupon he received the Advanced Undead Slayer title. It raised his Influence in all human nations by 5. Although the reward was great, he was already going half-insane from mindlessly killing Headless Horsemen for the second day in a row.

What drove him even madder was that he received yet another quest.

Task 4 – Kill 6,000 Headless Horsemen

As if he were stuck in a never ending nightmare counting twisted sheep, Nie Yan was on the brink of a mental breakdown from seeing Headless Horsemen every waking hour of the game.

He had toyed with the idea of just killing himself to return home many times. If an ordinary player were stuck in his circumstances, then they would have chosen to commit suicide long ago rather than continue on with this quest line. You couldn’t even level on this map! Oh, how he wished he could just die. He’d gladly accept the experience penalty. At least he’d be able to make appreciable progress after recouping his losses.

But, he couldn’t. Even if this was a quest map, he wasn’t confident his Chapter of Courage and Chapter of Freedom wouldn’t drop upon death.

As for the affairs that required his attention in the Viridian Empire, he was able to convey them through Tang Yao. And so, everything was progressing smoothly. Hence, there wasn’t much to worry about.

Another two days passed by before Nie Yan finally managed to complete Task 4 which gave him the Junior Demon Hunter title as a reward. He examined the title’s bonuses.

Junior Demon Hunter – Increase Influence in all human nations by 8. Reduce the stats of every creature of darkness within 5 meters of the player by 10%.

What a terrifying title!

Aside from the Influence boost, the debuffing aura that reduced the stats of all creatures of darkness around him was beyond amazing!

In regard to his future growth, two days of his time for the Junior Demon Hunter title was certainly well worth the trade.

However, no matter how much better the bonuses of this title were, Nie Yan could only remain speechless as he had received yet another quest.

Task 5 – Kill 12,000 Headless Horsemen

Although the Junior Demon Hunter title would make mobbing a bit faster for him, 12,000 Headless Horsemen was no small number. If they were ordinary Level 30 mobs, the experience he’d receive would bring him directly from Level 17 to Level 25!

He checked the leaderboards. Tang Yao was Level 23; Heaven Breaker was Level 22; and the rest were all around Level 20. Meanwhile, he was still stagnating at Level 17.

Even though he wasn’t progressing in level, he still had some parts of him that wanted to proceed with this quest line. As long as he could find a way out, overtaking those players at the top of the leaderboards would be a simple task anyway.

He had lingered around the shrine many times over the last several days. On several occasions, he had barely restrained his urge to go in. Even if he died, he’d finally be able to escape this god-forsaken place; however, without fail, the thought of the potential consequences would bring him back to his senses.

When the servers shut down, he took off the game helmet and placed it on his bed. The nonstop grinding over the past few days had left him completely burnt out.

「How come you’re still not out?」Tang Yao phoned him again today as he asked in confusion.

「Ugh… Don’t bring it up. I think it’s gonna be a while before I can actually escape,」Nie Yan gloomily replied. He had vastly underestimated how much time he would be spending on this quest line.

「Just what kind of quest line takes this long to finish…?」Tang Yao said in shock.

「One that makes you go around killing Headless Horsemen nonstop. They’re Level 30 undead monsters,」Nie Yan replied. Not knowing how much longer it would take until he could finally come out, he had no choice but to attempt and finish the quests.「What’s the situation like on the outside?」

「It’s not bad. Guo Huai said he’s already bought sixteen properties in seven different cities with the money from the Starry Night Potion Shop. They’re all places you suggested, but some of them were already taken, so he could only move on. We’ve also smoothly advanced to a Level 2 guild. As for that elite team of yours, where in the world did you find such amazing players? They cleared ten dungeons in only two days, many of them on Specialist, and at minimum, it would be on Expert. I heard they just beat Medusa’s Lair this afternoon. My Lord… are these guys gods!?」Tang Yao exclaimed. He was thoroughly amazed by Resplendent Bladelight, Leader Young Seven, and the others.

Nie Yan faintly smiled.「It’s within my expectations.」Bladelight and Young Seven’s gear was already top-notch even among peak experts, to say nothing of their skill. When they were all grouped together, they had the potential to explode forth with devastating might!

Tang Yao began to inform Nie Yan of some of the going-ons in the guild. For example, Bladelight, Young Seven, and the rest of the elite team’s achievements weren’t immediately revealed to the rest of the guild. As you could well imagine, when it was, it sent waves of shock across the entire guild. Ten dungeons on Specialist or Expert difficulty in only two days, what kind of crazy idea was that!?

Bladelight and the others had no use for most of the equipment they came across during their runs, so they were set aside for the auxiliary teams like Yu Lan’s as well as the decently skilled players Guo Huai had organized together. With this, the auxiliary teams were also developing at a speedy pace.

Asskickers United had grown rapidly since it was established. Even though not everything was perfect, with a true guild treasury already taking shape, the Starry Night Potion Shop as a backer, and the incredible performance of the elite team… the players became even more profoundly aware of just how much potential this guild had. Those who were already members all called out to their friends, trying to get them to join. So when the guild advanced to Level 2, allowing space for more members, there was another wave of players lining up at the headquarters.

Asskickers United showing great momentum, along with the knowledge that they were working together with Holy Empire, left Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame feeling extremely restless. Hence, some minor friction was bound to occur.

On Wednesday afternoon, several Asskickers United players levelling in the wilderness were ambushed by a group of Victorious Return players and sent back to respawn at the Calore graveyard. After which those Victorious Return players began bragging that sooner or later Asskickers United would be crushed.

On Thursday, Asskickers United players were being harassed in various places. By the end of the day, more than sixty members had died.

On Friday, the harassment continued. The accumulated deaths over the course of that day exceeded one hundred.

Although the members of Asskickers United were fuming, Guo Huai managed to temporarily quell their anger. At such times, they had to remember Victorious Return’s status as the number one guild of Calore. For now, Asskickers United simply couldn’t afford to provoke them too much. After all, if a large-scale guild war broke out, they were certain to get the worst of it. Besides, with Holy Empire placing their own interests first, they wouldn’t necessarily be willing to enter the fray. Guo Huai warned all guild members, while they weren’t strong enough yet, they would have to silently endure. He even advised them to hide their guild emblems when they were levelling outside. However, some foolhardy members, who felt a sense of belonging to the guild, would proudly wear their emblems anyway, resulting in them being ambushed by Victorious Return players. However, they would at least take out a few with them before they died.

The frequent conflicts gave rise to huge tensions, as if they were building up to something major. Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame were already itching for a full-scale war. Given the chance, they absolutely wouldn’t miss the opportunity to deal Asskickers United a fatal blow.

As for Nie Yan, he was still stuck inside that quest map. He exerted all his effort in killing Headless Horsemen. He didn’t receive any experience, nor was he able to reduce his red name. The only consolation was that he was getting decent item drops.

Chapter 166 – Intermediate Demon Hunter

As per his usual routine, Nie Yan took off the game helmet, went downstairs to the kitchen where he grabbed a tube of nutrition tonic, and then headed back to his room to start his morning workout. He had just begun walking up the stairs when he heard knocking on his front door.

Wondering who would come by so early in the morning, he went to answer the door, whereupon he was greeted by a pair of familiar faces. It was his mother and father!

His father very much resembled himself. Yet despite only being in his forties, his hair was already streaked with gray. He was dressed in a neatly pressed suit, but his broad shoulders and intimidating stature matched with his stern, clean-cut appearance easily gave away his military background. As for his mother… you could tell she had been quite beautiful in her younger years, but the ravages of time caused wrinkles to appear on the corners of her eyes. However, what had been lost with age was replaced with an elegance and grace that set her apart from those of the lower class, which explained why she was disliked by some of their extended family.

His parents were weary from travel, their faces ashen from fatigue. It appeared as if they hadn’t gotten a good night’s rest in weeks.

"Mom, Dad…!” Nie Yan’s nose turned sour as tears began freely flowing from his eyes. Too many things had happened in his past life that had left him with more than just a few regrets. When he was finally able to see them again after so many years, he could no longer hold back the flood of emotions.

"Oh, Little Yan… I’m so sorry we left you all alone for so long without even calling!” His mother immediately embraced him, her voice stifled with emotion. They had been compelled by circumstances which had left them with no other choice. "But, we’re finally back…”

"Mom, Dad… It’s fine, I understand. You both came home safely, that’s what matters the most…” Nie Yan replied, sounding all choked up. He was all too aware of the difficulties his parents had braved these past few months. After waking back up in the past, he was no longer that ignorant brat whose selfishness did nothing but cause them misery. Just being able to see them again left him feeling immensely grateful to the heavens.

"Little Yan, you’ve grown up! You’re taller too…” his mother affectionately said.

"Mom, Dad, you both look like you haven’t slept in days. Come in quickly so you can rest!”

His father normally wore a serious and unsmiling expression, but when he witnessed how much his son had matured, he couldn’t help but gaze at him warmly.

"I told you, boys need to learn how to be independent. You coddle him too much. See, in the time we were away, our son has grown up.” His father laughed heartily.

Nie Yan’s father was a rigid man who rarely expressed his feelings which led to few words exchanged between father and son. As a result, he had felt distant from his father in the past. However, as he grew older, he came to understand that his father cared for him just as deeply as his mother, only that his love was shown differently.

When noon arrived, his mother was amazed to discover that her son had learned how to cook. The taste of the food was quite good too. It seemed he had indeed grown independent. He even seemed much more confident than before. She felt very gratified to be blessed with such a son.

As everyone enjoyed a peaceful meal, the warm feeling from having his parents back allowed Nie Yan to experience a happiness he hadn’t felt in ages, causing a powerful desire to slowly well forth from deep within him. I must acquire enough power to protect my family!

"We should invite Ah Chen over to have a meal with us. He’s really done us a favour,” his mother suggested. The Ah Chen she spoke of was an older cousin from his father’s side. Since childhood, he had always been close to their family. He had even accompanied Nie Yan’s parents on their trip.

"Don’t be so meddlesome. You saw how reluctant he was at that time to part with his family. Let him spend some time with them,” his father chided.

His mother gently laughed in agreement.

"We should probably return the money we borrowed from Luo Ming and the others first thing tomorrow,” his father said. Even though Luo Ming and Nie Yan’s other relatives had no qualms about making things difficult for them when they asked to borrow money, this time around, Nie Yan’s parents had returned home with honour. At long last, they would be able to hold their heads up high. The money earned from smuggling near the border was enough to allow the family to live without worry as well as pay back what they had borrowed. Furthermore, thanks to the many connections he had built up during his time near the border, he would be able to start up his own company soon. The Nie household had a very bright future ahead of them.

"I’ve already paid back the money you borrowed from them,” Nie Yan interjected. His heart brimmed with disdain when he thought of those relatives. From this day forward, he would make sure to sever all connections they had with that part of the family.

"What did you just say…?” his father asked blankly. Nie Yan had paid back the loans in full!?

"When you guys were gone, they banged on our door at least several times a week, hounding me for the money. Without any other option, I could only turn to Tang Yao. He lent me the money to pay them back,” Nie Yan answered in an almost indifferent tone.

「Bang!」

"Lowlives! Luo Ming and the lot… they’ve really fallen to a new low!” Slamming his fist on the table, his father’s expression frosted over. Even though Nie Yan sounded calm when he recounted the events, he could imagine just how many grievances his son had suffered. When they had left him at home, they had done so partially because it was too dangerous to have him by their side, but also to give some assurance that they weren’t running off with the money. Yet while they were away, Luo Ming and the lot actually had the gall to harass their young son who had been left all alone at home—even more so, to the extent where his son had no choice but to turn to his friend for help!? They had crossed the line! Even Buddha’s tolerance could be tested!

His mother was also infuriated. Luo Ming was her big brother. How could he treat his nephew like that!?

"Since you’ve returned all the money, so be it! From now on, we sever all ties with them. Our family no longer has those sorts of relatives! Still, we need to return the money you borrowed from Yao’zi. Find some time when you can invite him over for a meal. We need to thank him properly for extending a helping hand to our family,” his father said apologetically. Thankfully, his son had matured; otherwise, who knows the sort of trauma a fragile child at his age would have suffered. They would have been ridden with a lifetime’s worth of guilt.

"Right, I’ve already given him a phone call. He’ll be coming over tomorrow,” Nie Yan replied. These last few weeks, he had been wondering why Luo Ming and the others were bothering him so much to return the debt, even more than they had in his past life. Perhaps, it had something to do with that woman, Lin Jia, spreading rumours around town. In any case, the matter had been settled. There was no point in holding onto past grudges. Luo Ming and the others’ actions had led to his father directly breaking off all relations with them. If not, those so-called relatives would have attempted to force their grubby hands on his father’s company. In that respect, Lin Jia had actually done him a great favour.

"We’ll have to invite Old Lin and Old Liu over some time as well. They’ve also done us a great favour,” his father said. It seemed some relatives couldn’t even compare to those old comrades whom he had gone through life and death with.

"Yes, we should.” His mother nodded.

The family then chatted all the way to evening.

"Mom, Dad, you guys should rest early. Then, you’ll have the energy for tomorrow!” Even though he had the experiences of his almost thirty-year-old self, because he was still in his eighteen-year-old body, he had no choice but to play the role of a thoughtful son to please his parents.

"You should get some rest too,” said his mother affectionately after kissing his forehead.

Although his father didn’t say anything, Nie Yan could tell he was very happy.

Going from the living room back to his own room, Nie Yan reclined on his bed. With his father and mother back home, he felt very happy. Today was the most peaceful he had ever been since waking up in the past. As he glanced at the game helmet beside him, he knew that there were still many things he had to prepare for in the future. However, so long as everything developed at a steady pace, no matter what, he wouldn’t allow the tragedies of his past to befall his family again.

For three days straight, Nie Yan entered the game at night to clear the quest, then visited his parents’ friends and other family during the day. After all, people like Luo Ming and the other relatives who hounded him were in the minority. There were still many extended family members who had given a hand when his family was in dire straits. When Tang Yao visited their house for a meal, he was warmly welcomed by Nie Yan’s parents. Their family had stayed at Uncle Lin’s home for a while and visited his cousin Ah Chen as well.

On the third day, Nie Yan’s father nervously began the preparations for his company. He had created those connections with great difficulty. If he didn’t hurry up and establish his company, then those connections were very likely to be lost.

Registering a company was never a cumbersome task. With the company registered and staff hired, his father’s business was officially off the ground, and it was quite lucrative indeed. There was no need to worry about the market. When the goods were shipped over from foreign countries, they would immediately be sold domestically for a high price. Otherwise, how else would his father have amassed such a massive amount of wealth in the short span of one to two years? Naturally, as the company grew, his father started branching out to more proper business endeavours to fool people of their dubious origins.

With everything going smoothly on his father’s side, Nie Yan could put his mind at ease as he focused his attention solely on the game.

Shortly after logging back on, he checked on his quest progression.

Task 5 – Kill 12,000 Headless Horsemen (Progress: 11,997/12,000)

Nie Yan was only three away from completing the quest. Without batting an eyelid, he continued on the grind since, in any case, he had already grown numb to it.

Three Headless Horsemen later…

Task 5 complete! You have received the Intermediate Demon Hunter title.

Doing these quests was truly a test of willpower. If there was a Task 6, he felt like he’d absolutely lose his mind.

He examined the new title’s effect.

Intermediate Demon Hunter – Increase Influence in all human nations by 12. Reduce the stats of every creature of darkness within 10 meters of the player by 20%.

Intimidate: Inflicts the target with fear for 2 seconds. Range: 3 meters.

Deterrence: Disperse all monsters within the surrounding area for 10 minutes. Not valid if the monsters’ level exceeds the player’s level by over 20.

Even though Intimidate was a short range skill, it was still pretty good. It was perfectly suited for PvP. As for Deterrence, it was also pretty useful when hunting mobs. More importantly, it would allow him to enter that shrine in the center of the map.

Though the Junior Undead Slayer, Intermediate Undead Slayer, and Advanced Undead Slayer titles gave decent effects, they were merely token rewards. It was only when the title changed to Junior Demon Hunter and Intermediate Demon Hunter that the rewards for this quest line were becoming generous!

Nie Yan checked his status page. Adding the 12 points from his new title, his Influence in Calore reached 31. Now, even if he returned to the city with his name still red, he wouldn’t be attacked by the guards!

While he was inwardly celebrating, he suddenly received a system prompt.

Congratulations on clearing the first five tasks! You have received Strength +10, Dexterity +10, and Intelligence +10.

Task 6 – Kill 50,000 Level 30 or higher Undead Monsters.

Upon reading the second prompt, he nearly had the urge to commit suicide right there and then. However, when he saw the quest wasn’t making him kill Headless Horsemen, he breathed out a sigh of relief. This quest only required him to kill 50,000 Level 30 or higher Undead Monsters. It didn’t necessarily mean he had to complete it here. He could finish it anywhere outside as well. He felt curious as to what sort of effects the Advanced Demon Hunter title had… or if that was even the end. Perhaps there were more?

Chapter 167 – Key

Since the Illusory Realm of the Dullahans was a sealed off map, Nie Yan wasn’t able to use a Return Scroll to escape. However, now that he had Deterrence, he would finally be able to explore the final unexplored area of the map, the shrine!

He headed toward the majestic, ancient shrine in the distance while accompanied by five Headless Horsemen servants which he had successfully bent to his will not long ago. Arriving at his destination, he spotted the several hundred Headless Horsemen in an orderly formation guarding the gates. If anyone were to approach, they would unhesitatingly charge forward with their lances directed at the intruder.

The firmly-shut, six-meter high gates appeared grand and imposing.

He cast Deterrence as he cautiously approached the group of Headless Horsemen.

After making contact with this skill’s sphere of influence, their skeletal mounts trembled before parting way to either side in quick succession.

The formation was split apart like a wedge being driven into a block of wood, opening up a path that led directly to the shrine. It almost resembled a group of soldiers waiting for inspection.

When he saw Deterrence was effective, he sauntered toward the entrance while passing through the crowd of Headless Horsemen.

As he walked up, step by step, he saw on both sides of him a dense cluster of menacing lances. The aura they gave off was thick with murderous intent.

As he ascended the stairs, his five servants followed closely from behind.

Arriving at the entrance, he felt a heavy pressure bearing down on him from the towering gates. He placed both hands on their cold, metal surface and pushed forward.「CREAAAAK!」A groaning sound echoed out as they slowly gave way, allowing for light to flood into the shrine, illuminating the stifling darkness inside.

You’ve discovered the Shrine of Dulla.

To his knowledge, such a being didn’t exist at all in the annals of Atlanta’s history. Just who or what was Dulla… perhaps a deity of an uncommon race worshipped by a small tribe? Either way, he wasn’t going to find an answer by just standing around.

With a sense of curiosity, he walked forward into the shrine where he was greeted by an incomparably spacious hall, lined with white stone slabs on which were engraved ornate patterns. It was strikingly vast, covering an area of about 250,000 square meters which could even accommodate a hundred-knight unit holding drill practice indoors. In the center was a towering pillar that would take three grown men to wrap their arms around. It was so tall the top couldn’t be seen, almost as if it were extending into an endless void.

He strolled toward the central pillar with his five ghastly servants in tow. The only audible sound in the empty hall was their footsteps, echoing into the empty space. Directly ahead was an altar on which were rows of candles, emitting a pale, yellow glow, their flames swaying gently as if they would flicker out of existence at any moment.

Along the way, he noticed a bookshelf beside a nearby column holding thick books. The covers were bound with leather hide and embellished gold leaf, but after the passage of several centuries, they became drab and covered in dust. A few were written in the human language, containing titles such as, "Proof of Sir Dulla’s Guilt,” "The Tale of Sir Dulla,” and so on… while two others were written in an unknown language.

You have uncovered lost records left behind from the ancient Era of Shared Governance. They tell the tale of the famed knight, Sir Dulla.

Removing "Proof of Sir Dulla’s Guilt” from the shelf, he slowly flipped over to a random passage.

"Sir Dulla, do you admit your sins? I judge you in the name of God. May the divine light cleanse your corrupted soul…”

"I do not, you may send me to hell to suffer in eternal damnation…”

From what he gathered, Sir Dulla was once a legendary knight of the Viridian Empire. In the war to banish the dark elves, he had braved through many battles, slaying countless foes before he eventually grew weary of the senseless slaughter. During one of his later campaigns, he spared the lives of two young female dark elves. Later on, it was discovered the blood of dragons coursed through his veins which led to him being summarily executed by the Temple of Light. After taking his head, the bishop had then ordered to have it hung over the city gates. However, no one imagined that soon after… his headless body and dead steed would resurrect and subsequently disappear from the temple grounds. From then on, the legend of the Headless Horseman was passed down through the Viridian Empire with many residents reporting sightings of his silhouette roaming the land.

Nie Yan skimmed through many books before arriving at the last two. As he reached out his hand and took one of them from the shelf, a mysterious energy flowed into his body, followed by a series of words appearing in his mind.

"Sir Dulla, may your soul rest in peace”

– Dark Elf Girl, Sally.

You have learned the dark elf language.

He examined the book’s cover. It was a eulogy to appease the restless soul of an undead. He placed it back down after flipping through its contents. It didn’t actually hold any real importance, its worth only to expand upon the lore, but he had learned the dark elf language which was a fruitful reward nevertheless.

He then reached out for the other book. When he grabbed hold of it, he felt a bone-chilling coldness run down his spine. It was as if this book contained a powerful aura of death that seemingly wished to devour all life.

You’ve learned the vanbiya language.

The vanbiya were only a small branch of the undead. They were a group of Necromancers that resided in the Underworld beneath the Viridian Empire. All day long, they slept in gloomy cemeteries that had not the slightest hints of life. They manipulated corpses to spread death and pestilence wherever they passed.

He examined the book.

Sir Dulla’s Book of the Dead (Sub-Legendary)

Description: Give tribute to the dead!

Properties: Reduce the stats of all living creatures within 50 meters by 50% (owner included). Players who die within the book’s sphere of influence will receive the undead curse (stats −10%) for two days. The owner will also suffer a curse: Strength −2, Physique −2, and Intelligence +10 every 10 days.

The book could be binded after being picked up.

Do you wish to bind this item?

Nie Yan quickly put down the book which was obviously for Necromancers because only they would dare to use such a frightening item. Any Necromancer that became the owner of this book would be walking down an extremely perverse path that would eventually lead them to a very wretched end. Nevertheless, whether or not it could lead to success was very hard to say. The player would lose Strength and Physique every ten days; this definitely wasn’t a joking matter, but their Intelligence would rise considerably. There was a chance it could give rise to an abnormal freak.

Although he had learned the vanbiya language, it wasn’t of any use to him for the time being. However, that might not be the case later on. Knowing a language of the undead would become very useful if he ever encountered a group of hostile undead.

After putting down Sir Dulla’s Book of the Dead, he searched the bookshelf for more books but didn’t find anything else. After which he continued toward the altar.

While slowly making his way over, just below the candles, he saw a black box neatly placed on the center of the altar, its surface finely engraved with exceptionally elegant dark elf characters that resembled a line of finely stitched flowers. Illuminated by the pale candlelight, it gave off a fascinating lustre.

What a strange box!

It was as if a mysterious force was beckoning to him to open it.

He ordered one of his servants to step forward and probe the path ahead. After ensuring there was no danger, only then did he cautiously approach. Upon reaching the altar, he carefully opened the box. After a moment of tense silence, he breathed out a sigh of relief. Fortunately, no trap mechanisms were triggered.

Lined with a deep-crimson cloth, the interior housed a dark golden key. Though only the size of a pinky finger, its design was extremely elaborate, engraved with various bewitching patterns that would make a person exclaim in admiration.

It’s a key! After seeing it, he immediately thought back to the chest outside!

It was most likely the matching key for the treasure chest!

He stored the key away into his bag. A dark gold treasure chest was an incredibly valuable thing. After all, no matter how bad your luck was, it would at least contain a Dark Gold-grade item!

Just at this moment, the gates to the shrine were slammed wide open with a thunderous crash. A towering figure in a full suit of black armour entered into the hall on his steed. It was much larger than the ordinary Headless Horsemen. Its enormous, five-meter-long lance emitted a chilling aura of death.

He inspected this figure with Transcendent Insight.

The Headless Horseman, Sir Dulla (Lord): Level 30

Health: 28,000/28,000

Nie Yan drew in a breath of cold air. He had actually encountered a Level 30 Lord in an enclosed building! He would undoubtedly die if he tried facing off against it. He quickly fetched a Return Scroll out of his bag, so he could escape, but to his dismay, he found that the map was still sealed.

Sir Dulla brandished the lance in his hands and charged forward with his steed, radiating a murderous aura.

Against a Sub-Elite, Elite, and Lord-class monster, Deterrence’s effect was very limited.

Dammit, I’m done for… He quickly ordered his five servants to rush at Sir Dulla to stop his charge.

He was well aware that his servants were absolutely no match for Sir Dulla, but he hoped they would at least buy him some time. However, just as he was about to make a run for it, bony hands erupted out of the floor and firmly grabbed hold of his legs, rendering him incapable of fleeing.

He struggled furiously, but these bony hands had a tight grip on him, leaving him unable to move an inch.

In the next moment, a scene unfolded which caused him to be overtaken by shock. Sir Dulla passed right through his five servants and continued charging at him unhindered. This was simply too strange. Was it merely an illusion?

Sir Dulla was fast approaching. With a lance pointed directly at him, it seemed he was going to be skewered at any moment.

Are you willing to believe that Sir Dulla was innocent?

Option 1: Yes, Sir Dulla was innocent.

Option 2: I need more information to make a decision.

Option 3: No, even death cannot wipe away Sir Dulla’s sins.

Nie Yan didn’t need long to think as his keen intuition allowed him to come to a decision within seconds. He chose Option 2. Only it embodied the true intention of Conviction… fairness, honour, freedom, courage, wisdom, and so on.

「Shunk!」Sir Dulla’s lance stabbed through his heart as blood splattered everywhere.

Did I make a mistake? Those were his final thoughts before he blacked out.

Not knowing how much time had passed, he awoke in a daze to find that he was laying on the cold stone floor of the shrine ruins. His surroundings were empty and silent. Like he had just come out of a dream, it was as if everything that happened before was never real. Searching through his bag, he breathed a sigh of relief after confirming the Chapter of Courage and Chapter of Freedom were still there. As he checked his status page, he saw the Intermediate Demon Hunter title was there as well. Furthermore, there was a new property, "Just.” Although he didn’t know its uses, since it didn’t seem to give any stat bonuses, he was sure there was no harm in having it.

It seems Sir Dulla’s appearance was just part of the storyline in the quest map….

What made him excited was that he had finally escaped the quest map. He had probably spent six to seven days inside there!

His body felt a little stiff as he crawled back to his feet. Glancing back inside his bag, he spotted the shimmer of a dark golden key!

Chapter 168 – Entering The City With A Red Name

Nie Yan arrived at the hollow tree where he first discovered the dark golden chest. He dropped down to one knee. Absolutely giddy with anticipation, he inserted the key into the chest.

It fit perfectly. As he turned the key, he could feel the complexity of the lock’s internal mechanisms. He feared even a Specialist Key might not be able to open it.

Opening… Estimated Completion: 1%… 10%…

A moment later, the chest opened with a light click.

After rummaging through, he noticed there were quite a few things inside. Indeed, it certainly deserved to be called a treasure chest. He took the items out to examine.

Fire Essence Extract x3

Enchanted Blackvein Gold x6

Enchanted Runestones x6

The three were materials for the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow which would have taken him ages to gather by himself. He didn’t expect to have them handed to him right after leaving the quest map. As for the two other materials required to craft the crossbow, Fire Source Crystals and Magic Redwood Logs… though they were expensive, they weren’t particularly hard to find, appearing every now and then in the auction house.

Excluding the materials, he also obtained a gem and a skill book.

Gem of Darkness (9): Socketable Item

Properties: Convert 10% of Attack to Piercing Dark Damage, 1% Defense Ignore, −10% Equipment Requirements

It actually had a quality rating of 9! In the entire game, it was one of the highest quality gems! Nie Yan bitterly chuckled. Although he obtained an incredible gem, he didn’t have any pieces of equipment worthy of pairing it with. Socketing it into a low-quality piece was tantamount to throwing a beautiful bouquet of flowers into a pile of cow manure, so only something Sub-Legendary or above was suitable. It seemed he would have to wait until the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow was successfully crafted.

He examined the skill book. His mind trembled when he read the name. It was actually a Lockpicking skill book, moreover, the best kind—Lockpicking Specialist! It had two special properties: every time he opened a chest, he had a 10% chance of receiving an additional point of proficiency and Ignore Treasure Chest Level +1.

Although Lockpicking Specialist was only at Junior-rank right now, he felt improving its proficiency wouldn’t pose a problem. After all, he knew plenty of locations with hidden chests. At worst, he would have to set aside some time for ranking up the skill to ensure that he’d be able to access some of the higher grade chests he wished to open later on.

Nie Yan was finally ready to return to Calore after another search around the isle failed to turn up anything new. His bag was nearly filled to the brim. Were it not for him finding a second Magic Rune Bag, he would have run out of inventory space long ago.

Well, it’s time to go back. I should be fine for now… considering my Influence there is over 30.

From his bag, he took out a black garb to hide his appearance. As for his red name… he could only let it be since he had no way of veiling it.

After channeling a Return Scroll, he teleported back to Calore as a flash of light enveloped him.

Back in Calore, the area around the transfer point was full of players setting out to train, waiting for others, or looking to form groups. When Nie Yan stepped out, they all looked at him with sluggish expressions.

"What the hell? Returning with a red name…? Does this guy not want to live anymore? Hey, buddy, if you wanna die just say the word! I’ll gladly send you to the graveyard!”

"Just how many players did he kill? His name’s already so red…”

"Is he not afraid of the guards attacking him?”

Everyone cleared a path for him as he passed by, discussing in hushed tones. With his black garb and deep crimson name, he was shrouded in mystery. Though no one could make out his appearance, their first impression of him was that he was extremely dangerous!

When he swept his gaze over the crowd, they felt their hearts tighten and hastily retreated several steps further.

Even though player killing was prohibited in the city, they still felt an oppressive pressure from Nie Yan’s red name.

As a squadron of fully equipped city guards in silver armour approached, the players quickly made way for them.

"Look, they’ve come! That guy’s dead for sure…”

The crowd all wore expressions of schadenfreude. They didn’t believe for a second that he would be capable of putting up a fight. The city guards were all Level 100 Elites at least. Even the standard equipment assigned to them radiated a frightening aura.

However, what happened next shook the minds of everyone present. Their jaws dropped as they reeled back in shock.

Not only did the guards not attack, their captain even walked forward to greet him quite respectfully.

"Greetings, Sir Demon Hunter,” the guard captain said in a deferential manner.

After nodding his head, Nie Yan no longer paid attention to them. The guards were tasked with maintaining law and order. They had no real influence in Calore, so it was fine to just ignore them.

Brushing past them, he headed directly for the Asskickers United guild headquarters.

Nothing had happened. Surprisingly, the city guards didn’t dare to lay a hand on that red name player. Such a scene practically defied common sense!

"Holy crap… Amazing! Even the guards don’t dare to touch him!”

"He even ignored them! What a god!”

"Look, he’s leaving! Let’s see where he goes!”

"He just entered the Asskickers United guild headquarters! Do you think he’s a member?

"Wow… their guild was only established recently, but I heard their elite team cleared over ten dungeons on Specialist or Expert in only two days. Their guild leader is the top asskicker, first place on the leaderboards, Young Sparrow Hawk! He’s even better than Heaven Breaker. Dammit, if I knew earlier, I would have joined their guild when I still had the chance.”

Very soon, a few videos appeared on the official forums with eye-catching titles such as…

「A Red Name Player Enters Calore!」

「Godly Red Name Player Intimidates the City Guards!」

…

Nie Yan gave players a big shock as he passed through the streets. Without fail, all of them retreated a few steps to let him by.

His red name was a powerful deterrent. Only after stepping back did they recall they were in the city! A player like that shouldn’t be able to wander freely around here! Logically speaking, they should be dead shortly after stepping out of the transfer point. It never took the city guards more than one hit to slay a red name player!

A while later, he finally arrived at the entrance of the guild headquarters.

"Hey, who’s that guy!? What a badass! He actually has the guts to walk around the city with a red name!”

"Didn’t you see the emblem on his chest? He’s one of us. I think he’s one of our guild heads.”

The nearby guild members conversed quietly, their minds filled with amazement as they followed after him into the building.

Nie Yan’s first stop was the guild treasury. He dumped all the equipment he had obtained from the quest map inside. As for the recipes, he planned to deliver them to the Starry Night Potion Shop.

"You’re finally back… but damn, you nearly gave me a heart attack. How come your red name still isn’t cleared?” Guo Huai exclaimed in amazement.

"Don’t worry. As long as my Influence in Calore is over 30, I’ll be able to freely enter and leave the city,” Nie Yan replied. Seeing a red name player freely walking around blew everyone’s minds. It wouldn’t be until later on, when more players with high Influence emerged, especially after the release of strongholds, that such a sight would become fairly commonplace.

"No wonder you dared to return…” Guo Huai said, suddenly understanding.

"How are things right now?”

"It’s going good. We’re already 30,000 strong. The largest guild in Calore, Victorious Return, only has 80,000 members, so we’re quickly catching up. Of course, their requirements for joining are a lot more stringent, so the quality of their players is much higher than ours.”

Every guild had certain size limits. A Level 2 guild had a limit of 50,000 members. A Level 3 guild had a limit of 100,000 members. As a guild grewer larger, the requirements for joining rose accordingly. Recruiting too many low-level members wasn’t an efficient use of the guild’s open spaces. It would place too heavy of a burden on the guild’s resources… to the extent that it would even eat away at the benefits of the stronger members.

"I see, we should probably raise our recruitment criteria…”

"Yes, we’re in the middle of discussing that right now. It won’t do if we let people in solely based on their level.” Guo Huai nodded. The recruitment standards definitely needed to be raised. As for the members who barely participated and constantly skipped out on guild activities, they would certainly be given the boot. With this, the overall quality of the guild would improve.

"What about acquiring the properties I asked for?”

"I’ve already helped you purchase thirty-six properties from eleven different cities. All of them are under your name. Really though… if this information ever gets out, I bet it’ll shake the entire empire. A single person owns more properties than several major guilds combined… even I still have a hard time believing it, and I bought them for you!” Guo Huai said. If those properties were turned into businesses, even if they were merely being rented out, the amount of gold generated would be enough to develop another Holy Empire or Victorious Return.

"Mhm…” Nie Yan didn’t seem all that enthused. "Right now, we’re riding on some good momentum, but we still have to take things a step at a time, and when we do, it’s best they’re planted firmly. So, I hear Victorious Return has been stirring up quite a bit of trouble, huh?”

"In the last week, over three hundred of our members have been killed by those goons at least once. They’re paying pretty close attention to us. Some of our players are being surrounded as soon as they leave the city walls, even if their guild emblems are concealed. That means moles from Victorious Return have infiltrated our ranks. A few days ago, I managed to weed some out, but who knows how many more are still hiding,” Guo Huai explained, sounding incredibly aggrieved. The matter was giving him a huge headache. If it wasn’t sorted out properly, he feared it would lead to members leaving.

Right now, everyone was optimistic about the guild’s future. So even when hundreds of players were being harassed and killed, they were still willing to stay. But that might not always be the case. If they didn’t deal with the problem soon, it would grow into something much more serious.

"If they want to suppress us, we won’t simply have to grin and bear it! If they kill our people, then we’ll just have to return the favour. At the very least, we can’t make them think that we’re pushovers. We also have to enact some countermeasures. Tell our members not to let others know where they’re levelling. That way, with the map being so big, Victorious Return won’t necessarily be able to find them,” Nie Yan replied. This was the only way. Otherwise, if they continued to let Victorious Return walk all over them, sooner or later, Asskickers United would be harassed into the ground.

"But they’re too big. I’m afraid we won’t outlast them!”

"I’ve already thought of a plan,” Nie Yan said. He recalled a certain famous player organization in the previous timeline, the Union of Assassins. It probably wasn’t established yet. With such an organization acting in the shadows, if he made a name there, so long as he was willing to spend a little money, he’d be able to give Victorious Return’s players a huge headache.

Chapter 169 – Union Of Assassins

In the previous timeline, the Union of Assassins was an organization of professional players established by several famous figures. Its area of operations covered the Viridian and Satreen Empires. Its members included six Shadow Dancers, eight Guardian Paladins, eight Dark Berserkers, five Magisters, and more. It was fairly large with over 6,000 members, almost all of whom were elite experts. The members of the union ranged from guild leaders and top-ranking figures from major guilds to even solo players. Both enemies or allies ended up joining. As long as a player met the requirements of the Union, they were more than welcome.

The Union of Assassins was much more flexible than a guild. It wasn’t created to struggle for power in the game but as an additional source of income for professional players. Members could become an agent or a client. Anyone could become an agent, provided they accumulated 60,000 points and paid a membership fee. Agents who were more valuable to the union, like a Great Thief or Shadow Dancer, were eligible for a fixed salary. Of course, that meant they had to accept a mission at least every other week.

As for clients, they issued requests for the agents to complete. Requests could only be issued after putting down a security deposit, which corresponded with the quality of agents available for that request. If a client paid a large enough security deposit, they could even get Shadow Dancers, Guardian Paladins, or other equally powerful players to throw their lives away for them. Clients were differentiated by order of nobility: baron, viscount, earl, marquis, and duke.

In the Union of Assassins’ heyday, receiving the lowest ranking title of baron required a person to donate at least several tens of thousands of yuan. The amount required to receive the highest ranking title, duke, was simply unimaginable. Because at that rank, the client would be able to commission the likes of Shadow Dancers. The Union of Assassins accepted both real life money and in-game gold as forms of payment.

An entity like the Union of Assassins would inevitably appear again in the future. So why not take advantage of the situation and establish such a powerful organization for himself?

For operations to run smoothly, the Union of Assassins had to be flexible. Even if an enemy wished to join as a client or agent, they couldn’t be refused. It was important to preserve the neutrality of the union, along with the ideal of absolute fairness. No restrictions could be placed on agents or clients. They were completely free to issue and accept requests according to their desires. However, the two parties would never be allowed direct contact, ensuring that the union would be acting as the intermediary in all transactions. This would make sure that the Union always received its share of the earnings.

After some consideration, Nie Yan realized such a grand undertaking would require the coordination of multiple people. Furthermore, these individuals had to have very high prestige among the professional gaming circle! He absolutely couldn’t accomplish it by himself. His network of contacts was far from being adequate.

The only suitable candidates that came to mind were Sleepy Fox and Kill Love. He needed professional players of at least their statuses to make it succeed. In the future, the Union of Assassins would inevitably become a giant money-making machine. If Sleepy Fox and Kill Love agreed to help, they would want a share of those profits. Just thinking about the money he’d have to give up made his heart ache. However, without the cooperation of those two, it was impossible for him to properly establish the union.

He weighed the issue in his mind. If he established the Union of Assassins, he would have full administrator control of all its affairs. He could kick anyone, grant the highest authority, and so on. No one else would have that power. Even if Sleepy Fox and Kill Love took a share of the profits, he wouldn’t be losing out on much. In fact, he could even exploit this relationship to bind them closer to him. With that settled in his mind, Nie Yan got to work on establishing the Union of Assassins right away.

The first thing he did was to create a dedicated chat server.

Name: Union of Assassins

Purpose: Connecting clients with requests to professional players.

Leader: Anonymous

Prince: Currently vacant, possesses administrative privileges (5 Max)

He divided membership into clients and agents and created ranks based on the order of feudal nobility, exactly like the previous Union. Once he finished these initial tasks, he sent out invites to Sleepy Fox and Kill Love. Sleepy Fox was levelling in the wilderness when he suddenly received a notification.

Nirvana Flame has invited you to join Union of Assassins (Special Server). Do you accept?

He was quite puzzled at the sudden invite. Just what in the world is he doing now? Nevertheless, he still pressed confirm and entered the server. In another place, Kill Love received the same notification and also accepted.

Inside the server, three players joined the chat.

Sleepy Fox:「Nirvana Flame, what’s this about?」

Kill Love :「Huh?」

Nie Yan faintly smiled, then replied,「You’ll know when you read the description.」

With a doubtful gaze, Sleepy Fox read the server’s information. After only going through a small section, the Union of Assassins’ objective and rules, he soon understood what kind of organization it was.

「It’s a good idea,」Kill Love praised.

「Not bad…」Sleepy Fox nodded in approval.

「Right, so you guys should start recruiting,」Nie Yan said. He assigned Sleepy Fox and Kill Love the role of prince.

Sleepy Fox pondered for a moment before asking,「If this union starts generating profit, how are we going to divide it?」Based on his insight, he could tell with a glance just how much influence the Union of Assassins would eventually have and how much revenue it could potentially generate.

Kill Love:「I’m wondering about that too.」

「Make a suggestion,」Nie Yan answered. He had already registered the Union of Assassins’ symbol, but if Sleepy Fox and Kill Love decided they wanted to withdraw and establish a similar organization of their own together, there was nothing he could really do about it. However, he was confident the two would weigh the risks and benefits. Surely, it was better to stand united than to fall divided.

「Both Kill Love and I get 20% each. How does that sound?」Sleepy Fox offered, trying to test the waters.

The organization was established by Nie Yan, who invited him to join out of trust. He didn’t feel good asking for too much. More importantly, he still wasn’t clear on how deep Nie Yan’s connections went. His mysterious background always acted as a source of deterrence. Back when Holy Empire was struggling to do Agmota Muddy Wetlands on Easy and Normal, the team behind Nie Yan had already cleared it on Specialist. His speculation led to a beautiful misunderstanding at the time.

「You and Kill Love get 15% each. Choose a suitable candidate to become a prince, and they’ll get 10%. As for how the shares are divided, you guys will have to keep that confidential. Within the server, you’ll have to hide your names!」Nie Yan said. Having three big shots in the same place would make sure they would keep each other in check. Eventually, in the future, he could take advantage of the immense benefits from the Union of Assassins to restrict them. If a power decided to withdraw, it wouldn’t have much of a negative impact on the organization.

Nie Yan already set down the rules for the Union of Assassins. He could see the names of everyone in the organization. The princes would be able to see the names of all members below them but not each other. Everyone else would remain anonymous to each other. Nie Yan invited Tang Yao and Guo Huai to the server and quickly set their names to hidden. Including these two, the Union of Assassins would have a total of five princes. Sleepy Fox and Kill Love wanted to know the identities of the two new princes.

「Who are they?」

「That’s a secret,」Nie Yan replied. He had especially reminded Guo Huai and Tang Yao not to reveal their identities on the server. Sleepy Fox and Kill Love stopped asking about the other two princes. Nie Yan clearly didn’t want to reveal that information, and they didn’t feel good about pushing for an answer.

「I think we can get Fa Lan to join,」Sleepy Fox suggested. That old man from Sapphire Shrine was an influential figure. His deep network of contacts would be beneficial for the organization’s growth. The person being recruited would have to at least be worth the 10% they were given.

「I think so too.」Kill Love nodded.

「I guess it’s decided then, Fa Lan it is,」Nie Yan said. Sapphire Shrine’s might indeed couldn’t be overlooked, especially when they were likely to produce three Magisters in the future. They were an ultimate trump card. Fa Lan was sent an invitation for the Union of Assassins, and he joined the server shortly after. After finding out what the union was all about, he praised them for their creativity. He had great expectations for the future growth of the Union of Assassins.

In the previous timeline, the leader of the Union of Assassins’ identity always remained a riddle. The mysterious figure had never divulged his name. Nie Yan decided to follow that example and also keep his identity a secret. Anonymity brought along many advantages, the most important one was avoiding unnecessary trouble. According to the rules of the union, all princes would have to invite a certain number of agents and clients. Sleepy Fox, Kill Love, and Fa Lan all began recruiting people. Under Nie Yan’s urging, Guo Huai also began sending out invites to various well-known individuals. One after the other, professional players continuously joined the Union of Assassins.

The chat server rapidly filled up with people. Among them was no lack of famous players. Initially, they were all confused by the invitation, but they quickly figured out what the purpose of the organization was, followed by a steady stream of praise being issued out. If the Union of Assassins became successful, it would be a huge boon for them. They would get plenty of work without having to look all over for clients themselves.

Sleepy Fox, Kill Love, and the others were well aware that if the Union of Assassins gained a foothold, it would be far more profitable than them starting a gaming organization to accept requests on players’ behalf or selling equipment. So they used all of their influence to pull players in. The Union of Assassins’ clientele also began growing.

In less than an hour, the number of agents in the Union of Assassins reached over 600, and there were over 100 clients. The first set of requests were placed on the server. They consisted of helping players on quests, killing boss monsters, and so on. If a person wanted a famous player to help them level, the amount of money they needed to pay was quite considerable. If a client made a request, they would have to deposit the money in the Union of Assassins’ bank account. When the request was fulfilled and the client was satisfied, the money would be given to the agent. It was equivalent to an online service platform. By fulfilling many requests and earning money for the union, an agent would be able rise up through the ranks and take on more lucrative tasks.

In a short while, the server was bustling with activity. With Sleepy Fox and the others supervising, Nie Yan could simply sit back and relax. Though this was only the beginning, they already recruited so many members. As the business expanded, with its reputation growing accordingly, so would the number of people joining. When the Union of Assassins was fully developed, that was the time they would be able to swim in piles and piles of gold. Its prospects were very bright.

Chapter 170 – Kill Stealing

After finishing his business with the Union of Assassins, Nie Yan checked the level leaderboards. Currently in first place was Tang Yao at Level 25 followed by Heaven Breaker at Level 24. Although Heaven Breaker was consistently a level behind Tang Yao, the gap between them was actually growing wider.

「Eh, you’re out?」Tang Yao sent a message.

「Yep, I’m finally out.」

「Wanna join back up with us to hunt Scaled Frogs?」

「Nah, I’ve got some stuff to do. Go on without me. Besides, the experience should still be pretty good, even at your level,」Nie Yan replied.

Overtaking the top players on the leaderboards wasn’t difficult. It wouldn’t make much of a difference if he put off levelling for a few days. Ranking up his Lockpicking Specialist skill would be a better use of his time. Otherwise, he’d be helpless when he encountered a locked chest on higher level maps.

The guild treasury was filled with no less than five hundred pieces of Level 30 equipment. Some of it was from his time in the quest map, but most of them came from Tang Yao and the others who contributed around four hundred pieces of equipment. They had killed several dozen Sub-Elite and Elite Scaled Frogs every single day for the last week or so on a non-stop grind.

The frightening quantity of high-level equipment in the treasury left the guild members speechless! However, they also felt a little depressed. Though it was nice to see so many pieces of high-level equipment, none of them were even close to Level 30, so they wouldn’t be able to use all of that equipment for a long time. Plus, there was a severe shortage of low-level equipment in the guild!

「What are you busy with?」Tang Yao blankly asked.

「I found a Lockpicking skill recently, but it’s still only at Junior rank. I want to raise it a bit before heading off to a high-level map.」

Nie Yan planned to hop from one place to the next opening chests, mainly to improve his Lockpicking Specialist skill. It would also give him an opportunity to pick up some more low-level equipment for the guild. He felt it was about time he started collecting the other chapters from the Book of Order as well.

「Oh, so it’s like that… Alright, I see then.」

「Did you clear your red name yet?」

「Yeah, it’s cleared, but I still didn’t find a Killer’s Demonic Medallion.」

「Really? I guess you’re pretty unlucky. So be it then…」

Despite his casual reply to Tang Yao, he was confused that the Killer’s Demonic Medallion didn’t drop. There was no mistake, he knew for a fact that Scaled Frogs dropped the Killer’s Demonic Medallion. Was it possibly due to Tang Yao’s red name not being severe enough…? No, that was impossible! He had killed almost a hundred players!

At times, luck came in waves you were helpless to resist. Other times, you could be so down on your luck it was like you were stuck in a deep pit.

Arriving at the Starry Night Potion Shop, Nie Yan upgraded it to a Tier 4 shop. He also found that Bird had hired many Tinkerers, Scroll Makers, Disassemblers, etc. Basically, anyone who had reached the Master rank in their respective crafting profession in the previous timeline was scouted out by the Starry Night Potion Shop. Its formidable financial fortunes swayed the hearts of many. Some of them signed on immediately, while others chose to wait and see. Even though the Starry Night Potion Shop dominated the market for Alchemists, there was no guarantee of similar results in other markets. However, the invitation from the Starry Night Potion Shop did ensure that the ones who didn’t join straight away wouldn’t rashly accept an offer from another power.

Nie Yan was elated at the rapid expansion of his capital, but he also felt a sense of crisis. All of the properties in several cities had been snatched up. His properties accounted for less than three percent of the purchasable land in the Viridian Empire. Luckily, they were all relatively valuable. If he calculated their worth later on, they could possibly make up around thirty percent of the total value of the empire’s real-estate market. Many of his properties had fallen into the hands of the major guilds, top teams, or wealthy individuals.

However, the most lucrative part of Conviction wasn’t in real-estate. No, it laid in the most important military structure that every major power would soon struggle for control over, strongholds! For guilds, a stronghold was equivalent to a base. It also accommodated various business enterprises because ordinary players were allowed to trade inside. Guilds could tax every transaction made within their stronghold. As for management, they could assign housing and various other things to players. As such, many powers would rather focus all their energy on expanding their forces, heavily investing into their guild treasuries, than spend too much resources on purchasing land. Waiting for real-estate to appreciate was a long and slow process. With a powerful force, however, what awaited them in the future would not merely be land but entire cities within strongholds!

Nie Yan sent a message to Guo Huai.

「Did Young Seven and the others get those Unknown Transfer Scrolls I asked for?」

「Yeah, they got two.」

「Good, send them to me through the mail.」

「Alright.」

Nie Yan felt he had way too many things on his plate right now. Although there was so much he could do as a person who had woken up in the past, he could only focus on a few things at a time while doing his utmost to improve his strength.

After withdrawing the Unknown Transfer Scrolls, he teleported to Link Town. Evading the sight of other players, he exited the town gates. He really wasn’t afraid of common players, he just didn’t want to deal with the problems caused by someone following him

His destination was a certain cave in the Peaceful Dream Gill, a Level 20 map. The Chapter of Wisdom was inside, guarded by a Hellfire Guard. The Hellfire Guard would fall asleep for two minutes every two hours. He planned to take advantage of that time to get around the guard and snatch the chapter. Two minutes wasn’t enough to let him safely evacuate, but by using an Unknown Transfer Scroll, he would be able to immediately escape. The scroll made getting the Chapter of Wisdom much easier.

However, the Chapter of Wisdom was mainly for Mages. The bonuses it gave to them were especially powerful. So it wasn’t that useful to Nie Yan. Just like with the Chapter of Courage and the Chapter of Freedom, the former was more suited for Warriors who bravely took up the vanguard, while the latter was more suited for a Thief like him.

The Peaceful Dream Gill was the go-to place for Level 10–20 players to level. Currently, a party of six was grinding mobs there: one Paladin, one Priest, and four Mages.

"Sugar Cane, where do you think our guild leader is levelling? His levelling really is too fierce. Even Heaven Breaker can’t catch up to him. He’s actually pulling farther and farther ahead,” said a Paladin in silver armour who looked to be around twenty-three years old. At a glance, he gave off a very neat and tidy feeling.

Paladin of the Elegy (Asskickers United): Level 16

Guild Contribution: 800 pts

He was nicknamed Water King because he was the most active in the guild chat. He’d flood the guild chat with messages every day, whenever he got bored. Despite this annoying tendency, he was well-liked by his guildmates, which was why Guo Huai had appointed him as a minor group leader.

"Who in the world knows? Our guild leader really is amazing! I heard Heaven Breaker has over sixty players helping him level. They’re casting area-of-effect magic nonstop to hunt mobs. The levelling speed must be extremely fast. Yet they’re still not able to beat our guild leader. Heaven Breaker is actually falling behind even more. Our guild leader is a god! Haven’t you heard that gods act in mysterious ways? If his secrets were so easily revealed, he wouldn’t be our guild leader!” Sugar Cane replied. As a fellow Arcane Mage, he blindly worshiped Tang Yao who was firmly at first place on the leaderboards.

"Let’s hurry up and level. When I reach Level 30, I bet I’ll be able to get Silver-grade equipment from the guild. If I can raise my merit points a little more, maybe I’ll even get Gold-grade equipment. Our guild leader is too awesome! We have a hard time even getting a hold of Silver-grade equipment. Owning Bronze-grade equipment is decent. Yet he’s actually able to find so many pieces of Silver and Gold-grade equipment,” Paladin of the Elegy said.

"He definitely has to be hunting Sub-Elites and Elites! Generally, only monsters around that class regularly drop Silver and Gold-grade equipment. If we encounter a Sub-Elite, we won’t be able to deal with it. We can only circle around. We can barely handle Leader-class monsters. So of course we only find Bronze-grade equipment.” Sugar Cane said. Leader-class monsters only had a small chance of dropping Silver-grade equipment. Even if one did drop, the properties on the equipment wouldn’t be all that great. As a result, many players in the guild greatly desired the equipment Tang Yao had obtained. Right now, the entirety of Asskickers United were putting in their greatest effort to level up and earn merit points.

"There’s a Leader-class Wild Boar!”

"Paladin, quickly!” Sugar Cane shouted. In the entire party, only Paladin of the Elegy could take on its aggro. Fortunately, the Priest in the team had learned Junior Heal. Along with four Mages, dealing with a leader-class monster wouldn’t be a problem.

"Nice!” Paladin of the Elegy gave himself a few buffs before charging in with his sword swinging.

Although Paladins weren’t as good as Warriors at tanking damage, they weren’t weaker by much! However, their aggro attracting capabilities really fell short in comparison. This was also why a Paladin would never be able to replace the role of a Warrior in a team.

After what seemed like half a day, Paladin of the Elegy finally firmly secured the Wild Boar’s aggro.

"Start casting your spells!”

"Heal!”

These players were gradually whittling away the Wild Boar’s health.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」As the magic from four Mages rained down on the boar’s body, a string of damage values rose above its head.

A Level 15 Leader-class Wild Boar wasn’t too difficult for them to handle. As long as they were careful, they’d finish the battle in around two to three minutes, and a piece of Bronze-grade equipment would fall into their hands!

They eagerly anticipated the equipment dropping.

"Damn! It definitely has to drop a piece of Arcane Mage equipment! I haven’t gotten any in the past two days!” Sugar Cane shouted as he furiously fired off spells.

"Hah! In your dreams! It’s obviously going to be a piece of Paladin equipment. My luck has always been pretty good,” Paladin of Elegy giddily replied.

"What the hell, Paladin! You really are ruthless! In the last two days, at least three pieces of Bronze equipment have gone to you!” Sugar Cane angrily exclaimed.

While they were in a cheerful mood and anticipating the drop from the Wild Boar; a party of eight players quietly appeared on a tall hilltop not far from their location. They had been levelling around the area when they received a message from their Thief to rush over immediately.

"It’s a Leader-class monster!” a Mage among the group excitedly shouted.

"But there’s already another party fighting it.”

"What are you afraid of? Let’s just take it!”

Since the decision was made, the Thief activated Stealth and started creeping towards Sugar Cane and the others, hoping to stun one of them before he was noticed.

A chill ran down Paladin of Elegy’s back. He instantly felt something was off.

"Shit! It’s a Thief. Quickly cast Heal!” Paladin of Elegy immediately retreated as a gentle radiance enveloped him, restoring a good portion of his health. He immediately activated Endure, a skill that Paladins and Warriors had in common. This ability blocked stuns. It was exactly for this reason that Warriors and Paladins didn’t fear Thieves!

"Lousy shit-eaters! They’re shamelessly trying to steal our monster!” Sugar Cane roared out when he heard Paladin of Elegy calling out. He switched his focus to the ground, paying careful attention to the nearby grass blowing in the wind for signs of the stealthed Thief. Paladin of the Elegy got farther and farther away from the Leader-class Wild Boar as he withdrew.

When their Thief was noticed, the eight players charged down from the hill towards the Wild Boar.

The Warrior among the eight players charged over and intercepted the Wild Boar.

"God dammit! It’s Victorious Return!” Paladin of the Elegy cursed as he glared resentfully. The Wild Boar they had found and painstakingly brought down to half-health would be taken just like that. How could he not feel indignant!?

Chapter 171 – Guild! Brothers!

There were nine players all together, all of whom were part of Victorious Return. The Fighter among them engaged the Wild Boar, accompanied by a Priest healing from the rear. Out of the remaining seven, the Thief was still cloaked in stealth. The rest positioned themselves to prevent Paladin of the Elegy and his party from interfering. They consisted of three Mages, one Berserker, and two Paladins.

Both sides stared each other down. The tension was palpable, it seemed like a battle was about to erupt at any moment.

The leader of the party was a Berserker known as Broad Blade. He was approaching thirty years old with a rotund stature, narrow eyes, and a nose bent crookedly in the shape of a hook.

"My friends, I think there’s been a misunderstanding. You see, this Wild Boar was discovered by our Thief, and he’s been tracking it for a long time. We were already on our way over when you fellows engaged it. Let’s not make any rash decisions now, alright? We’re from Victorious Return. If we’ve done anything to offend you, I sincerely apologize…” said Broad Blade with a light chuckle and a squint.

"Bullshit! He’s trying to make it sound like we stole the monster from them!” Sugar Cane blurted out.

"Peh! What a lousy excuse! Pretending to act all nice after forcing us off our mob. Do they think we’re pushovers? That we’ll just let it go after an apology? What’s so great about Victorious Return! Are we supposed to be afraid!?”

The other members of Paladin of the Elegy’s party voiced their dissatisfaction.

When Broad Blade overheard them, his eyes filled with murderous intent. His lips curved into a sinister smile, "So what you gonna do about it?”

"Give the Wild Boar back to us!” Sugar Cane furiously shouted.

By this time, Paladin of the Elegy calmed down and analyzed the situation. Their party had fewer people, and the quality of their equipment was severely lacking in comparison to their opponents’. If a fight really did break out, they’d undoubtedly get the worst of it. Not to mention Watchful Snail had repeatedly reminded them to just focus on leveling up. It wasn’t worth getting into a scuffle over for what was likely going to be a single piece of Brozne equipment. Once they leveled up, there’d be no shortage of good equipment in the guild treasury.

"Sugar Cane, forget it, let’s just go. We’ll get back at them some other time…” Paladin of the Elegy ordered.

"We’re gonna leave…? Just like that?” Sugar Cane said in disbelief. He really couldn’t tolerate such bullying. Besides, just how many of his fellow guildmates had Victorious Return killed so far? It was only normal for him to feel angry.

"Oh? So you’re not brainless after all. Good, make sure to remember our guild emblems the next time you set out. If you see members of our guild, be quick about scurrying out of sight,” Broad Blade sneered. He grew even more unbridled when he saw Paladin of the Elegy’s group turning to leave. He took that as a sign of them being afraid.

Paladin of the Elegy trembled at Broad Blade’s taunting. Even a buddha’s tolerance had its limits. He really wanted to fight, but he couldn’t ignore the fact that they were outnumbered and outgunned. He struggled to find a solution, when an idea popped into his mind. He didn’t have much faith in it, but he sent a message in the guild chat anyway.

「Are there any guildmates levelling near Peaceful Dream Valley?」

「I’m there. Why, what’s up?」someone in the guild chat answered back.

Paladin of the Elegy explained the situation, informing everyone in the guild chat of how a group of Victorious Return players had snatched a Leader-class monster from his party.

「… So I want to teach those goons a lesson, but we don’t have enough people.」

More guild members replied in the chat.

「Paladin, where are you guys?」

「Tell us your coordinates. Let’s show those bastards we’re no pushovers! 」

「I’m at Peaceful Dream Valley!」

「I’m heading over there right now! Screw those Victorious Return dogs!」

「I’m rushing over from Blaze Town!」

Soon, the chat was flooded with angry messages cursing Victorious Return.

Paladin of the Elegy’s plea for help sent the members of Asskickers United into a flying rage. They had let Victorious Return walk all over them for far too long! They were fed up with the constant harassment.

「No-no-no, guys, calm down… Don’t all come. I only need a few more people to take them on.」Paladin of the Elegy nearly had a heart attack. He didn’t know how to react, especially after getting responses from several hundred people. All of whom were fellow group leaders with at least half-a-dozen subordinates behind them. If so many people arrived, things might not just end with a small skirmish!

Paladin of the Elegy felt genuinely moved by the fiery responses and show of support from his guildmates as well as a sense of belonging in the guild.

An intense desire rose up in his heart. He wanted to make Asskickers United even more formidable. Only then could they beat back those dog bastards from Victorious Return!

「Everyone, all of you don’t need to come. Just a dozen of us will be enough to butcher those sons of bitches into dog meat!」

「Paladin, quickly tell us your coordinates!」

「I’m at Peaceful Dream Valley: 285.283.3809.」

「Alright, I got it. You’re in the northern part of the map. We’ll be there in three minutes tops!」

「To all those brothers who can’t get there within five minutes, don’t bother coming!」

Paladin of the Elegy, Sugar Cane, and the others smiled. It seemed they would be getting their revenge much sooner than they expected. With such a passionate band of brothers willing to spring to their aid, they felt like shouting, Up yours, Victorious Return! Who the hell is afraid of you?!

"What’s so great about Victorious Return? We’re from Asskickers United!”

"Hey, Victorious Turds! You want me to remember your guild emblem? When this is all over, you’d better remember my assprint on your face!” Sugar Cane vulgarly cursed.

Broad Blade’s expression instantly darkened. Heaven Breaker had issued out an order throughout the guild. If they ever met players from Asskickers United, slaughter them!

"Asskickers United, huh. You’re the runts that are too scared to wear your guild emblems out in the open. I was starting to worry we’d never find any of you… I didn’t think any of you would be be stupid enough to show up right in front of us! Guess I was wrong!”

"Well, what are you waiting for? We’re right here! Come bite me!”

The atmosphere grew incredibly tense. The Fighter from Victorious Return was still preoccupied with the Leader-class Wild Boar, along with a Priest. Broad Blade’s group had their focus split between killing the Wild Boar and holding back Paladin of the Elegy and his men. They were left in a stalemate until the monster fell because it would be difficult to face both enemies at the same time.

The Wild Boar’s health fell very slowly. Even after two minutes, a third of its health still remained.

Both sides remained at an impasse. Paladin of the Elegy’s side intended to stall for time. However, if Broad Blade’s side decided to focus on the Wild Boar, they would have no choice but to attack and force Broad Blade’s group onto the defense.

The Wild Boar’s health dropped to 25%, 20%, 15%, then to critical levels!

「Finish off the Wild Boar! We’ll deal with those punks after!」Broad Blade ordered in chat. The Mages beside him sent out a volley of magic at the Wild Boar.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」A string of damage values rose above its ahead.

The Wild Boar was about to die very soon. Paladin of the Elegy’s group grew anxious. At this rate, the drop would undoubtedly fall into enemy hands!

They might potentially be losing out on a single piece of Bronze-grade equipment, but it was still very valuable to them. It was a Level 15 piece of equipment after all, and they were mostly wearing Level 10 Bronze-grade equipment right now. Paladin of the Elegy was the only one that currently had a few pieces of Level 15 equipment.

"Priest, pay attention to my health!” Paladin of the Elegy shouted before rushing toward the Wild Boar.

"That punk wants to snatch the drop! Kill him!”

A torrent of magic rained down on Paladin of the Elegy.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Half his health disappeared in a single instant. When the Priest at the rear saw this, he hastily cast Heal. As the gentle radiance from the spell enveloped him, Paladin of the Elegy chugged down a Junior Health Potion before pressing on.

"They attacked us first! We get to retaliate in self-defense!” Sugar Cane shouted.

He and the other Mages in the party fired off a barrage of spells at the Victorious Return players from the rear.

Broad Blade and two Paladins sprinted toward Sugar Cane’s group. The three Mages from their group focused their firepower on Paladin of the Elegy.

"Wipe out this group of trash!” Broad Blade activated Charge as he rushed towards Sugar Cane.

The Wild Boar only had a sliver of health left by the time Paladin of the Elegy closed in. The opposing Fighter was about to finish it off with his next attack when a brilliant idea popped into Paladin of the Elegy’s mind, like a divine revelation. He cast Protect on the Wild Boar.

A hazy, translucent screen of white light enveloped the Wild Boar as the Fighter’s sword hacked down.

「Klang!」

−1

The Fighter was taken aback at the pitiful damage value that appeared above the Wild Boar’s head.

The Wild Boar bellowed angrily. It pushed its forepaws deep into the ground and propelled itself forward, ramming into the Fighter’s shield. The attack forced the Fighter to take a few staggering steps back, dizzy.

"Good job, piggy!” Paladin of the Elegy rejoiced. He was only a few meters from the Wild Boar. With a Lesser Dispel, he stripped the Wild Boar of its shield before hacking down on it with his sword. The Wild Boar let out a final, pitiful squeal before collapsing on the ground.

"Hot damn! Who knew he had that in him!” Sugar Cane exclaimed. He never thought that Paladin of the Elegy would react so quickly, or come up with a strategy like that. Was he possessed by a god? He actually managed to snatch away the experience for killing the Leader-class Wild Boar!

Paladin of the Elegy was quite elated with his success, having never felt so pleased with himself before. Just as he was about to bend down and pick up the drop, the Fighter from Victorious Return charged up to him.

"Get that kill-stealing bastard!” shouted an Arcane Mage as he shot an Arcane Fireball at Paladin of the Elegy.

The Fighter slashed down with his sword.

Tendon Break!

Perhaps by instinct or a stroke of amazing luck, Paladin of the Elegy activated Endure just as the Fighter’s sword came down.

「Klang!」Two swords clashed together.

Demoralizing Shout!

The Fighter let loose a furious roar!

Indomitable Will!

Paladin of the Elegy self-cast the blessing, countering the Demoralizing Shout, before kicking the Figher aside and picking up the drop from the ground.

"It’s mine!” Paladin of the Elegy celebrated. He took advantage of the speed boost from Indomitable Will to run away.

"Stop him!”

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Three spells successively hit Paladin of the Elegy’s back and exploded.

「Bean, heal! Quickly heal me!」Paladin of the Elegy angrily hollered in chat. When he glanced back, wondering why he wasn’t getting any heals, the only party members left alive were Sugar Cane and an Elementalist and they didn’t have much health left either.

With a single Berserk Slash from his greatsword, Broad Blade beheaded the Elementalist beside Sugar Cane. His name grew more red from that second kill.

Sugar Cane only had around forty health left at this point, so he started to flee.

Paladin of the Elegy sensed a Thief on his tail, getting closer and closer.

"You want to run? It’s not going to be that easy!”

Broad Blade’s group relentlessly pursued the fleeing Paladin of the Elegy and Sugar Cane.

"You Asskicker United brats! If you have any courage at all, stop running away!” Broad Blade cursed. This was turning into a complete disaster. Not only was his name red now, both the equipment and experience had also been snatched away. He chased after them like an enraged lion, brimming with the desire for blood.

Broad Blade finally managed to catch up to Paladin of the Elegy. Just as he was about to cut him down, he noticed a dense crowd of players emerging from the hills around him. There were almost a hundred players already, and more people continued to arrive. Players of every class, all equipped with different gear, gathered together in one place. The crowd bubbled with excitement and the promise of deadly retribution.

"What are all these people doing here!?” Broad Blade cried out in shock.

"Broad Blade, we have to go! They’re players from Asskickers United!” A few of his party members called out to him.

Broad Blade felt his heart sink. With his name so red, he’d drop a minimum of two levels along with all of his equipment if he was killed.

"Paladin, we’re here to save you!” one of the players in the crowd shouted.

"Kill those Victorious Return dogs! Don’t let them escape!”

Several dozen Fighters and Berserkers from the crowd charged down the hill, like arrows from a bow.

"Kill!”

"Wipe those bastards out!”

The sixty or seventy Mages still standing on the hill brandished their staffs, shining with a deadly radiance. Their spells covered the sky and cast a shadow over the entire area, whistling towards Broad Blade’s group.

Chapter 172 – Hellfire Cavern

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」

Several dozen spells battered Broad Blade’s group, instantly killing five of them as they were transformed into brilliant rays of light. Two of them had red names, so all of their gear dropped to the ground when they died. Only three survived the barrage of spells with just a sliver of health remaining.

The survivors tried to escape from the area, but several dozen Fighters and Berserkers caught up and surrounded them before they could take a single step.

With the sheer disparity in numbers, Broad Blade’s group wasn’t able to put up the least bit of resistance.

They were immediately slaughtered.

"Thank you, brothers!” Paladin of the Elegy shouted to the crowd. Without the timely and enthusiastic assistance from his fellow guildmates, his party would’ve been wiped out by Broad Blade’s group.

"Ah, it feels good to finally blow off some steam after being pushed around by those bastards for so long.”

"Sooner or later, we’ll wipe them all out!”

"There’s a report from our brothers stationed at the East. They say they’ve spotted roughly three to four hundred Victorious Return players heading towards us!”

All of the Asskicker United members’ faces turned ashen. They hadn’t even been here for five minutes, yet Victorious Return somehow already deployed forces to their location. The response was just a little too fast to be a coincidence.

"We definitely have moles in our guild; there’s no way they could’ve reacted so quickly!”

"So what! Let’s take them on!”

"No, we’ll suffer heavy losses if we try to clash with them. Let’s just go back.” Paladin of the Elegy shook his head. Even after that frantic battle, he still managed to remain level-headed. Guo Huai had repeatedly warned them that now was not the right time to start a full-scale conflict with Victorious Return.

"Pick up all the equipment they dropped! We’re withdrawing!” shouted an influential Warrior among the crowd.

Everyone took out a Return Scroll, and after twenty seconds, the crowd disappeared in a symphony of flashing lights.

Several minutes later, a large group of Victorious Return players arrived at the area. They were led by Underworld Flame.

"The bastards ran away!” Underworld Flame cursed in frustration. "These runts have been reacting too quickly lately. I can’t rule out the possibility that we’ve been infiltrated by them…”

"Boss, what are we gonna do now?”

"What are we gonna do…? What do you think we can do!? We’re going back!”

Just because a battle didn’t break out this time didn’t mean that everything would calm down. With so much friction between them, it was obvious to everyone that both sides hated each other. Asskickers United was constantly suppressed in the conflict, and suffered far more than Victorious Return did. There were only a few skirmishes where they got off lightly. Despite all of this, Asskickers United endured patiently. They were slowly raising their strength, waiting for the day when they would finally have the power to fight back.

…

In a vibrant forest—a beautiful paradise, lush with green, where various wildflowers bloomed abundantly, giant Golden Beetles carrying pitchforks whizzed about. The sunlight reflected brilliantly off their glossy carapaces. They flew around the forest, occasionally landing to rest on the ashen-coloured barks of the trees.

Nie Yan activated Stealth, blended into the forest background, and made a detour around the Golden Beetles. He found a certain tree and uncovered a locked silver chest by its roots. He crouched down and started opening it with Lockpicking Specialist.

Opening… Estimated Completion: 3%… 37%…

You’ve unlocked a Silver Chest! Lockpicking Specialist has gained 1 point of proficiency!

The chest popped open with a click. Nie Yan dug around and fished out a Warrior’s chestplate and a Paladin’s spiked hammer, both of which were Level 20 Silver-grade. Not bad… he thought after examining their properties and tossing them into his bag.

Perhaps alerted by the sound of Nie Yan opening the chest or just plain bad luck, several dozen Golden Beetles in the vicinity charged at him, brandishing their pitchforks.

The Golden Beetles were Level 21 mobs. Nie Yan wouldn’t last a second against such a large swarm. Just as he was about to be skewered by the pitchforks, he vanished from their sight by activating Shadow Dance. He fled for his life, while the Golden Beetles looked around for him.

Once they lost sight of their target, the Golden Beetles returned to flying around aimlessly.

Nie Yan ran through the forest for about ten minutes before he reached the base of a mountain. After searching around the rubble for what seemed like half-a-day, he finally found another locked silver chest tucked away behind several boulders. He dropped down on one knee and proceeded to open it.

The chest opened with a click a short moment later.

After rummaging through the contents of the chest, he took out a Lesser Heal skill book for Priests. It was a good find for the guild. Only players that contributed heavily to the guild could obtain skill books and other similar items.

He threw the skill book into his bag.

「Nie Yan, are you there?」Guo Huai sent a message.

「Yeah, what’s up? Need anything?」Nie Yan cloaked himself in stealth before proceeding to his next destination.

「I want to apply for a couple of guild quests. We’ve gathered a little over 10 gold, but it’s still not enough.」

「How much do you need?」

「About 3 gold.」

「You can head over to the Starry Night Potion Shop and withdraw 10 gold.」Nie Yan replied. Applying for guild quests required a huge sum of gold. During the initial phase of a guild’s growth, guild quests were like a black hole where money disappeared. Despite their exorbitant cost, they were quintessential to raising the overall quality of the guild.

「Has there been any activity from Victorious Return lately?」Nie Yan asked.

「Minor skirmishes… they don’t seem to stop,」Guo Huai answered before letting Nie Yan know what had happened with Paladin of the Elegy’s group earlier in the afternoon.「It’s a pity four of them died. They were too rash; otherwise, they would’ve all lived.」

Nie Yan thought about the incident for a minute. These sorts of disputes occurred frequently among the major guilds. If repeated calls for help from a fellow guildmate were ignored in the guild chat, that was a sign that the guild was done for. He was quite pleased that so many guild members joined forces to help out a fellow guildmate, and decided that this was something that should be encouraged. After going through situations like this one, everyone, especially those rowdy players that always looked for a fight, would grow devoted to the guild and each other.

「Four for eight, and three of the enemies even had red names! Not a bad trade!」Nie Yan laughed.

「Reward every member that participated in the battle with 10 merit points!」

「Are you sure? Over a hundred players joined in. That’s more than a thousand merit points!」Guo Huai cried out in shock.

「I actually think 10 merit points is still a bit too stingy. Tell them… since the guild was only recently established, we can’t give out too much. Thank them for their understanding!」Nie Yan said.

Honestly speaking, 10 merit points was quite generous to ordinary members of the guild. They needed 200 merit points to get decent Silver-grade equipment from the treasury, and Nie Yan’s generous gift brought them all much closer to that total.

To earn 10 merit points, they would normally have to contribute many ingredients, materials, and other items to the guild. The alchemy ingredients supplied by the guild members would be given to the Starry Night Potion Shop and turned into concoctions. The profits from selling these concoctions would be spent on buying equipment to stock the guild treasury. The new equipment in the treasury could then be exchanged for even more ingredients, materials, and so on. This created a self-sustaining cycle that allowed the guild to grow.

The guild treasury was rapidly expanding, not through the contributions of guild members, but because Nie Yan was investing extravagant sums of money. It seemed like he could continue investing for a while, but it wasn’t wise to depend on one person to keep the guild afloat. The sooner the guild became self-sufficient, the better it was for everyone.

「I think they’ll be delirious with joy,」Guo Huai said with a smile.

「If that’s all, I’ll close the chat. I’m a little busy right now,」Nie Yan said.

He was near Hellfire Cavern.

…

A crowd of over one hundred players gathered together in a hall at the Asskickers United guild headquarters. They were all discussing what happened today and basking in the excitement of the moment.

"What are we going to do about the equipment that dropped from those Victorious Return players?” Sugar Cane asked.

"We’ll auction all of it off for merit points. Then we’ll split the merit points evenly between everyone that showed up to help us.” Paladin of the Elegy staunchly replied. Without the aid of his guild brothers, his party would have definitely been wiped out. He wasn’t about to forget them now that he was safe. He even planned to auction off the drop from the Wild Boar!

Sugar Cane nodded. "We’ll have to give a bit more to Bean and the others, though. They went down a level and lost a piece of equipment when they died.”

"Yeah.”

A brief moment later.

"Thank you everyone for your help today. We’ll be starting the auction now. The first item up is the Silver-grade Warrior chestplate that dropped from the Wild Boar. As all of you know, there’s only a small chance for Silver-grade equipment to drop from Leader-class monsters!”

The crowd burst into furious bidding.

"I bid 70 merit points!”

…

"96 merit points!”

…

"129 merit points!”

…

The chestplate wasn’t too spectacular, so the bidding hit a ceiling of 130 merit points. Paladin of the Elegy auctioned off the other items after that. The equipment that dropped from the Victorious Return players with red names was fairly decent. All of the equipment was auctioned off for a total of 1,860 merit points, which was then evenly divided between all the members that participated in the battle.

"The amount of merit points everyone receives will be fairly small because there are so many of us, so I’m hoping none of you mind.”

"Nah, it’s not a big deal. We just joined in for a bit of excitement. Besides, I didn’t even get to cast a spell. All I did was show up, and then use a Return Scroll to go back. So you don’t need to give me any merit points.”

"Haha!”

The crowd burst out into cheerful laughter.

"Next time you run into Victorious Return players, if they try to make a move on you, you better not keep it from us. Just give us a holler in the guild chat, and we’ll all come running over to teach those bastards a lesson!”

Paladin of the Elegy had a warm feeling in his heart. Joining this guild was the right choice.

"Did you all have your fill of fun?” Guo Huai entered with a stern expression.

The atmosphere suddenly turned silent.

"It’s Watchful Snail…”

"Boss.”

"You guys acted too rashly today. Four of you died pointlessly for a single piece of equipment!”

The crowd stayed taciturn. From their perspective, if someone died, then so be it. A piece of Silver-grade equipment was worth it. Guo Huai looked furious, so none of them dared to voice their disagreement.

Seeing how he intimidated everyone, Guo Huai continued with a faint smile, "But… a fellow guildmate was in trouble and all of you banded together to help him. That’s something worth commending. So Nirvana Flame has decided to reward all of you with ten merit points each. This guild was only recently established, so don’t think this is too little.”

"Woo! Long live Nirvana Flame!”

"The executive guild leader is the best!”

The crowd burst out in cheers. Ten merit points was already more than they expected. More importantly, it signified that their actions had won the approval of Nie Yan and the other higher ups.

There were over one hundred players in the hall. If Nie Yan was rewarding each of them ten merit points, that was a grand total of over a thousand merit points! With that many merit points, a person could take out five pieces of Level 10 Silver-grade equipment from the treasury. He considered this a small reward? They were all left speechless.

Nie Yan’s actions generated a lot of goodwill towards the guild. In his eyes, gold was of secondary importance. If it could be used to gain a person’s loyalty, then it was well worth it. If this enabled him to create a group of absolutely devoted followers in the guild, even if it was only 10,000 players, it would far surpass the value of 100,000 ordinary guild members. Battle Crazed Alliance was clear proof of that.

The excitement in the guild eventually settled down. Everyone went back to working their hardest to level.

…

You’ve discovered Hellfire Cavern.

Nie Yan examined the area around the cavern. The rock was charred black without any plant life growing on top of it. A scorching wind blew out from the entrance. Every so often, a burst of flame would shoot out of the cave.

Nie Yan drank an Intermediate Fire Resistance Potion he picked up from the Starry Night Potion Shop. He glanced at his status bar to confirm that his fire resistance was increased for the next five minutes. It was more than enough time for what needed to be done. He activated Stealth, his body turning transparent, and snuck into the cavern.

Chapter 173 – Chapter Of Wisdom

Waves of hot air rushed out from the depths of the Hellfire Cavern, the heat baking the surrounding rock a dull red. A player needed fire resistance of 7 or more to explore this map without taking constant fire damage. Without the Fire Resistance Potion, Nie Yan would have been roasted by the heat in a matter of minutes.

The Infyrnal, the zone boss that inhabited the Hellfire Cavern, was a monstrous Rock Golem. Just to survive its Infernal Prison ability, a player had to be level 25 with a fire resistance of 30. The sheer level of difficulty didn’t just come from the strength of the Infyrnal. Players would have to fight it in the narrow confines of the cavern, limiting the total number of people that could engage it at the same time. In the previous timeline, a guild finally managed to extract the Chapter of Wisdom from this map after players reached Level 30.

Hellfire Cavern was also a popular farming zone in the previous timeline. The Infyrnal would re-spawn two days after it was killed, so many guilds and players would camp around the area waiting for it. They would call for reinforcements as soon as it appeared, and countless players died in the struggle to secure the drop from the high-class monster.

Nie Yan cautiously entered the cavern, going over what he knew about Hellfire Cavern from the previous timeline in his mind. He was crouched down low and slowly made his way through the narrow and winding tunnels of the cavern. Nie Yan melded into the shadows of the cavern, using the dim red light from the many red crystals jutting out from the walls to find his path. Despite the tense situation, he couldn’t help but think about what a great mining site Hellfire Cavern could be. This place had the potential to produce an enormous number of Fire Crystals.

Once he made his way out of the tunnels, he found himself looking at the blazing silhouette of the monster stomping around in a giant cave within the Cavern. Nie Yan could barely make out the Infynal’s figure in the hazy red glare. He knew the monster had extremely keen senses while it was awake, and that it could easily detect any player in a 30 meter radius. There was simply no advantage to being rash here. With his current level, there was no possibility of making it out of the cavern alive if the Infyrnal found him. He threw himself behind a boulder, disappearing into the shadows once more. He was going to rest here, observing the Infyrnal and patiently waiting for an opportunity.

Five minutes went by in the blink of an eye and the effects of the Fire Resistance Potion wore off. His health dropped by 8 points every second. He drank a Health Recovery Potion, restoring 5 points of health every second for 120 minutes. The effect of the potion and his base regen negated the damage from the Hellfire Cavern, keeping his health level.

Two hours later, Nie Yan was still behind the boulder. The Infyrnal would fall asleep any minute now. The Health Recovery Potion wore off without him batting an eye. The scorching air burned away at his health. He finally realized that he was almost crispy, quickly drinking an Intermediate Fire Resistance Potion. He only had 20 Health left, so he ate some Barley Bread to recover it. He was literally five seconds away from death.

Nie Yan continued to wait patiently behind the boulder. He should have brought some equipment with fire resistance along. That would have dealt with a lot of the trouble from the Hellfire Cavern. The problem was that Thief equipment with fire resistance wasn’t available to purchase. The equipment was of such little value, even to most Thieves, that players would receive more from breaking it down into raw materials than from putting it up on the marketplace. Even with high fire resistance, it was difficult to sell.

Thief equipment with fire resistance had no long term potential either. That’s why Nie Yan never paid attention to it. Most of the equipment he bought was for Warriors, which had the potential to spike in value with the release of the new dungeon, Blazing Ravine. The equipment didn’t really matter, in any case. He owned the Starry Night Potion Shop, and didn’t mind frivolously using potions. The only cost was the price of the ingredients required to concoct these potions.

It was all worth it for the chance to obtain the Chapter of Wisdom! If Nie Yan missed the window of time when the Infyrnal fell asleep, he’d have to spend two more hours in the cavern for another chance. The Chapter of Wisdom was worth the wait. It was the easiest chapter to obtain from the first volume of the Book of Order.

Thirty minutes later, the blazing flames deep within the cavern dimmed out and the air cooled down. The Infyrnal fell asleep! Nie Yan jumped out from behind the boulder, activating Shadow Dance. He sprinted deep into the cavern. Nie Yan could see the Infyrnal resting in a corner, despite the poor visibility. It was fast asleep, the flames around its body puttered out leaving only flares of blue flame around its joints. It was a giant golem, five meters tall and entirely made of stone. When it was awake, the monster had a corona of bright green flames enveloping its body.

Nie Yan cautiously tiptoed around the sleeping Infyrnal, worried that the slightest noise could possibly wake it up. He couldn’t be too slow either. It would wake up in two minutes regardless of any noise.

Nie Yan paid attention to the ground, every step was carefully placed as he continued sneaking past the Infyrnal. The entire cavern was dotted with crevices that exposed the flowing fiery-red lava underneath. They looked harmless, but a player that carelessly stepped onto one would lose a large chunk of their health. The air above these crevices contained superheated air from the exposed lava.

The cavern shook with every breath the snoring Infyrnal took, the walls trembling.

The second he got past the Infyrnal, Nie Yan bolted towards an opening in the cavern walls. He rushed through the hole and into a smaller cave hidden within the cavern. The tiny cave was filled with Fire Crystals exuding wisps of fire elemental energy. Nie Yan marvelled at the sight! A player mining Fire Crystals in this room would harvest 200% more than they would anywhere outside. Sadly, most miners wouldn’t have access to this cave because the entire Hellfire Cavern was always occupied by various guilds.

The cave was filled with dense fire elemental energy and scorching flames. Amidst all of that, a single radiant page floated in the air. The Chapter of Wisdom! Nie Yan reached out and grabbed at it. The blazing aura around the Chapter dissipated the moment he made contact with it. The page quietly floated down and fell into his hands. Nie Yan stuffed it into his bag.

He now had three chapters from the first volume of the Book of Order!

Nie Yan still had more than a minute to escape, before the Infyrnal woke up. He could escape immediately using the Unknown Transfer Scroll, but it made more sense to save it given how much time he had to spare. Without a pause, he used a Haste Scroll and dashed towards the exit; not wasting a single precious second.

The flames around the Infyrnal reignited, the green glow around it gradually intensifying as its flames started burning more and more fiercely. Nie Yan could feel the scorching heat radiating from its body as he ran. He took a running leap, flying three meters right over the Infyrnal! He landed beyond the Infyrnal and shot a web line out from his Silk Spinner Ring at the ceiling. He used it to swing over ten meters away from the still sleeping Infyrnal, instantly putting a vast distance between them.

The Infyrnal woke up as Nie Yan landed. It opened its eyes to the sight of him sprinting away and immediately started chasing after him, startled into a violent rage.

「GROOOAAGH!」

The Infyrnal let out a berserk roar. It closed the distance between them with every stride, and every step made the entire cavern tremble and shake violently. Nie Yan continued to dash towards the outside, despite the Infyrnal’s efforts to throw him off balance. The monster was significantly faster than him and it wouldn’t be another few seconds before it caught up to him. Nie Yan pulled out a pouch of Intermediate Flash Powder from his bag and chucked it at the Infyrnal behind him without even glancing back.

「Bang!」

The pouch exploded into brilliant rays of light. The green flames in the Infyrnal’s eyes flickered as it roared out in pain. A violent wave of flames surged out from the cavern with its roar, ready to engulf everything in fire!

Nie Yan clutched an Unknown Transfer Scroll in his hand. If the situation got out of control, he would crush it without the least bit of hesitation and escape.

The towering wave of flames surged at Nie Yan. He ducked behind a boulder, taking cover from the onslaught. The flames blasted around and past the boulder. The scorching heat depleted Nie Yan’s health quickly. He saw his health drop down by 200 points, so he took an Intermediate Health Potion from his bag and drank it; instantly returning to full health. The Intermediate Health Potion restored 500 health. These potions were normally only accessible to players when they were around Level 30.

In the previous timeline, this sort of area-of-effect attack wasn’t particularly deadly. As long as you took suitable cover, It would only deal around 50 damage to Level 30 players, as long as they took cover from the blast. Nie Yan guessed that as long as he avoided a direct hit, he would only lose 200 health at most.

Once the heat from the blast of flames subsided, Nie Yan sprinted towards the cavern’s exit.

The Infyrnal was disorientated and confused after channelling its massive area-of-effect skill. It paused for several seconds, shaking off the after-effects of the skill. This was the moment when the monster was most vulnerable, and all the players attacking the Infyrnal would normally unleash their strongest skills; going in for the kill. Nie Yan used the time to run further away from the monster, putting over ten meters of space between them. The Infyrnal roared and resumed chasing him. The chase continued for a brief few seconds, until Nie Yan popped through the exit and out of the cave. The Infyrnal lost interest, there was no longer an intruder in its dwelling. It turned around and returned to its resting place.

Nie Yan was greeted by a refreshing wave of cool air as he came to a halt next to the entrance, gasping for breath. He took the Chapter of Wisdom out of his bag and examined it.

Chapter of Wisdom (Legendary)

Description: The fourth chapter of the first volume of the Book of Order. Whoever shall possess this chapter will receive the inheritance of the God of Light. Your mission is to spread the glory of light!

Properties: Receive 2 Intelligence and 1 skill point every 5 levels. Intelligence +30, Willpower +15, Resilience +15, Jump +15, Reflex +15, Speed +15

Reset: After using this skill, reduce the cooldown of all single-target elemental attack spells to zero and double mana consumption.

Sea of Flame: Summon a sea of flames for a 30 by 30 meter area-of-effect attack. Damage is based on Intelligence.

Restriction: Can only be used by a member of the Righteous Faction.

Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player’s bag.

Nie Yan examined his character information. The Chapter of Wisdom didn’t have much of an effect on him; it was designed for a Mage. The Chapter’s effects provided a substantial boost to Mages. He sighed dejectedly. Even the two skills were meant for Mages.

His main goal was to collect all six chapters and complete the first volume of the Book of Order. So even though the Chapter of Wisdom didn’t do much to improve his effective stats, it still wasn’t that big of a deal. He returned the Chapter of Wisdom to his bag, activated Stealth and disappeared into the forest. With everyone quickly raising their levels, players were already starting to explore this area. It was necessary for Nie Yan to be careful.

His next destination was the Light Monastery. That was the location of the best chapter from the first volume of the Book of Order. The very first chapter, the Chapter of Justice!

The Light Monastery was very far away, so Nie Yan could improve his Lockpicking Specialist skill by opening treasure chests along the way. He examined the proficiency of his Lockpicking Specialist skill.

Lockpicking Specialist: Junior (17/100)

The Lockpicking skill was the hardest to rank up out of all the skills. Not to mention the fact that he couldn’t neglect the skill as a Thief; because what kind of Thief couldn’t pick a lock? With the speed at which Nie Yan found chests, he was able to find twelve locked chests in two hours.

In order to get Lockpicking from Junior to Specialist, he needed to pick open a hundred chests. Ordinary players would take around a month to find and open that many chests. Finding locked chests in the wilderness wasn’t easy. Despite that obstacle, ordinary players still had plenty of time and opportunities to improve their Lockpicking skills before hitting level 30. Many of the chests hidden in dungeons would respawn. A team would be able to find at least three or four locked chests during a run of Medusa’s Lair or Sosil Valley.

Ordinary players would need a month, but not Nie Yan. He transformed into a machine, unlocking every treasure chest under Level 30 he could find. Most of them were ordinary or silver chests. He came across gold chests on a few rare occasions. As for dark gold chests, he didn’t find a single one. Many of the items he found on his chest-grind were quite decent. What excited him the most were a few of the recipes that he found. Every single recipe signified a surge in profit to him!

Chapter 174 – Exchange

Nie Yan didn’t rely on potions too much, but still ended up consuming quite a few of them every day. His use was almost negligible when compared with the groups of players that sought to increase their mobbing speed or take on stronger monsters. Players in Calore consumed a potion every single day, on average. The Starry Night Potion Shop produced 60% of the potions available in the market. How many potions per day was that? It was no surprise that the Starry Night Potion Shop was having trouble accommodating its perpetually increasing clientele, even with all of the recent expansions. Nie Yan planned to open up several branch locations. Now that he found a few more high-end Alchemy Recipes, the Starry Night Potion Shop could further increase its profits and growth.

After spending the entire day running around to find and open chests, Nie Yan’s Junior Lockpicking Specialist was at 67/100. His progress was exceptionally quick. The skill would soon reach the Intermediate rank. Once it advanced, he could finally move on to higher level maps.

Nie Yan took a quick glance at the level leaderboards. Tang Yao recently reached Level 26, but he was showing signs of slowing down. The Scaled Frogs didn’t give him as much bonus experience anymore. Heaven Breaker, on the other hand, was still leveling as fiercely as ever, but he still needed a couple of days to overtake Tang Yao.

I’ll let Tang Yao grind Scaled Frogs for another day or two, Nie Yan thought as he continued his journey towards the Light Monastery.

The Light Monastery was an ancient ruin from the Era of Shared Governance. It was an important stronghold for humanity’s resistance against the dragons during the Dark Era. Countless dragons perished from its purifying light for over two millennia. It was eventually abandoned for some unknown reason, and turned into a bandit stronghold.

A Level 30 zone, the Light Monastery was home to some hostile human NPCs that were a pain to deal with. Despite the hassle, Nie Yan had to go there and poke around in order to retrieve the Chapter of Justice. Once he collected all six chapters and merged them together into the first volume of the Book of Order, they would be permanently bound to him. He would no longer have to worry about the chapters dropping and being claimed by others in the event of his death.

Nie Yan was making his way through a rocky region when he noticed a gorgeous, golden shimmer on top of a cliff in the distance, reflecting the sunlight. His mind trembled once he recognized what that particular shimmer represented.

That’s a gold treasure chest!

Nie Yan had opened 67 chests until now, but very few of them were gold chests. The ones he did find all contained incredibly valuable items. He was passing through a Level 25 zone right now, which meant that the item contained within that chest would be Level 25 Gold-grade at minimum.

Nie Yan dashed towards the shimmering cliff, running over the rugged and uneven terrain. Ordinary players would have a hard time traversing it, but it posed little difficulty for him. His Jump, Balance, Dexterity, and other movement stats were all very high, to the extent that he could disregard the terrain.

He flipped and jumped over piles of boulders and jutting rocks, and finally reached the cliff face where he activated the Crawler Ring’s ability. He stuck to the rock wall like a gecko, quickly climbing to the top. The golden treasure chest was within reach! He pulled himself up over the edge and started walking towards the chest. Right as he took his first few steps, he felt a strange tingling at the back of his head.

Another Thief!

Nie Yan quickly determined the general direction the other Thief was hiding in with his keen senses. Blood quickly filled the whites of his eyes, turning his gaze bloodshot.

Eye of Truth!

He searched the area with the enhanced vision from his skill, but couldn’t discover where exactly his opponent was hiding! The Eye of Truth only gave him a chance of penetrating through an enemy’s Stealth; there were also times it would fail. Nie Yan let the Eye of Truth fade, his eyes returning to their normal colour. He paid close attention to the ground around him for any subtle movements from the other Thief instead of going for the chest.

He’d be immobilized and defenseless while opening the chest, leaving himself open to sneak attacks. If the Thief took advantage of that opportunity to stun him with a Smothering Strike, he was done for. Someone roaming around a Level 25 map wasn’t an ordinary player. Average players wouldn’t enter maps above their level; the risk wasn’t worth it to them. Only expert players, like his opponent, would venture out into higher level maps like this one.

Nie Yan activated Stealth while simultaneously erasing his tracks.

Hapless Frog was a professional gamer—someone who made a living playing virtual reality massive multiplayer online games. With his recent foray into Conviction, although he wasn’t ranked at the very top of the leaderboards, he was still somewhat well-known. Just because a player was skilled didn’t mean they would place on the leaderboards. Strength in the form of a guild, financial resources, and so on also played an important role. Kill Love and Sleepy Fox placed near the top because they fulfilled such factors. But as a solo player who didn’t have an organization behind him, Hapless Frog could only be ranked at the top two hundreds. However, one should not equate ability to statistics; based solely on skill, he was definitely ranked in the top ten. This rascal was pretty amazing at PvPing.

Hapless Frog always played the Thief class in every game, and Conviction was no exception. He had a particular fondness for treasure chests. Seeking them out on high-level maps was both challenging and exciting for him. He sold the items from chests he found for real money. This provided enough income for his happy and simple life. That was how he happily passed his days. Many people were willing to spend real money to buy high-level equipment from him. His customers even included leaders from many of the large guilds. Regardless of what he sold, the quality of the items was high enough to entice many people.

Hapless Frog rarely ran into players that could freely run around Level 25 maps alone. Whenever he did run into other players, they were usually in teams. He just discovered a new gold chest, and was about to open it when he spotted a Thief, off in the distance, heading straight for him. He stood around and watched as the Thief started climbing the cliff. When the Thief reappeared at the top and climbed over the edge of the cliff moments later, his eyes widened in surprise. What? How did he do that? Isn’t this a cliff? How the hell did he get all the way up here from way down there so fast? It looks like he’s here for the treasure chest too. Ugh, it sure is hard earning a meagre living these days. I actually met some competition… Hapless Frog sighed in dejection.

Something else he couldn’t help but notice was that his rival raced across the rugged terrain no slower than he would over even ground. What kind of equipment was that Thief wearing to ignore the terrain to such an extent?

He debated if he should retreat or seize the treasure chest right away. He couldn’t decide what he wanted to do, nor could he stop himself from bemoaning the loss of the chest. It was a gold treasure chest! Up until now, the vast majority of chests he found were ordinary or silver chests. He did come across a few low-level gold treasure chests before, but the allure of a Level 25 gold treasure chest was hard to resist!

Should I kill him and take his stuff?

Hapless Frog was badly frightened by the subconscious thought flitting through his mind. He scratched his head in vexation. No, no! I’m just trying to make a living and get by. There’s no reason to stain my hands with blood. He looked on at the rival Thief who was about to snatch away his gold treasure chest and couldn’t help but feel a little reluctant.

While he hesitated over what to do, the rival Thief’s eyes blazed with a mysterious light. Hapless Frog felt a piercing gaze sweep past him, threatening to reveal his location. His heart tightened, and he held his breath while activating Cover Tracks, which increased his Cloak by 30 points for two minutes.

The other Thief didn’t pinpoint his location yet, but they were definitely aware that he was here and looking for him. A split second later, the Thief faded out of sight. Hapless Frog gazed attentively at the location where the Thief had disappeared, but he couldn’t even find a trace hinting at his existence.

He still felt a sense of deadly crisis, which he used to confirm that the rival Thief wasn’t far away. The truly terrifying part was that his opponent still found his general direction despite the Cloak bonus from Cover Tracks. What kind of Awareness did this guy have? Hapless Frog couldn’t detect his opponent at all!

Just what kind of hole did this guy pop out from? So amazing! Hapless Frog raised an eyebrow. He was seized by a sudden impulse for battle, wanting to cross blades with such a skilled adversary. Coming across another player that made his heart stir was a rare thing, one that almost never happened since he started Conviction. He compared himself to the other Thief, and concluded that he might come out worse in the exchange. He was absolutely confident in his ability to escape though.

Only the best Thief deserves that treasure chest!

Nie Yan glanced in the other Thief’s direction before opening his bag, looking for what he could use. He still had two pouches of Revealing Powder left. This was a rare item that dispelled Stealth in its area-of-effect. It was impossible to find his hidden enemy without it, but did the situation really call for using such a rare item?

As Nie Yan mulled it over, Hapless Frog activated a scroll that enveloped the entire clifftop with a blinding light.

It’s a Blossoming Radiance Scroll!

The Blossoming Radiance Scroll dispelled Stealth from any Thief below Level 21. It was a Junior-ranked scroll that was worth about one silver, and it could sometimes be found in the treasure chests on low-level maps.

The light that radiated from the scroll revealed Nie Yan’s shadow. A hazy silhouette dashed at him, aiming a dagger at the back of his head.

Smothering Strike!

Nie Yan sensed the incoming attack and instantly dodged to the side. The dagger sliced through the empty space beside him, narrowly missing him by a hair. As it flew past, he spotted a bewitching, green lustre on the blade. It was coated with poison!

Nie Yan circled behind Hapless Frog. He activated Intimidate, and followed it with a lightning-fast Smothering Strike! The whirlwind of attacks would be the end of this enemy’s life.

Intimidate: Inflicts the target with fear for 2 seconds. Range: 3 meters.

Hapless Frog saw Nie Yan circle around him and used Swing Slash to deal a surprise attack. His attack was cut short mid-animation. He couldn’t budge an inch. Just what kind of skill is that? He had never met a Thief with such a skill before. Just as he was about to be stunned by Nie Yan, facing imminent death, he activated his cloak’s Shadow Mantle ability.

He was invincible for two seconds!

A short ding rang out! Nie Yan’s Smothering Strike failed.

Hapless Frog made use of the small second Nie Yan left a gap open and struck out with a Concussive Blow.

Nie Yan raised his dagger to block.

「Clang!」

Nie Yan effortlessly blocked the Concussive Blow. His dagger snaked around Hapless Frog’s arm, and he countered with a Concussive Blow of his own. His dagger flashed towards Hapless Frog.

By the time Hapless Frog noticed the surging dagger, it was already in front of his eyes. So fast! With no time to think, Hapless Frog dodged the blow on pure instinct alone.

MISS!

His trained reflexes allowed him to get out of the way just in the knick of time.

Hapless Frog crushed a Haste Scroll and fled the scene. A cold bead of sweat dripped down his forehead. Is this guy a friggin’ ninja? He was a step ahead of me the whole time! All I could do was defend. That last attack was way too quick. I didn’t dodge it in time. Thankfully, it was a miss. If my luck was just a little worse… Hapless Frog didn’t dare to imagine the consequences. He believed himself to be quite skilled at his current level. He never imagined that he’d encounter another Thief as skilled as him, let alone one that was even better than him. That brief battle was more than enough to convince Hapless Frog that he wasn’t a match for Nie Yan, so he chose to retreat. He wasn’t about to die because he got too greedy over a treasure chest. Hapless Frog shook his head with a wry smile.

Nie Yan watched the other Thief retreat into the distance and decided to end the battle here. Both of them wanted the same chest, and he was the one who came out on top. There was no need to pursue the matter any further.

Chapter 175 – Treasure Hunter

Nie Yan glanced at the name of the retreating figure, Hapless Frog. He knitted his brows, thinking it sounded vaguely familiar. If he remembered correctly, Hapless Frog was a professional gamer. He never stepped over the threshold to become a Shadow Dancer in the previous timeline, but that had nothing to do with his skill. It was because he poured all his energy into a different grand undertaking, opening treasure chests! He was a talented, albeit somewhat eccentric Thief. When it came to seeking treasure, however, very few people could match him; he was considered the undisputed champion of treasure-hunting.

There were actually quite a few who held the Shadow Dancer title in the previous timeline, though some of them chose to keep their identities private. On the other hand, very few players earned the Treasure Hunter title. In the entire Viridian Empire, there were maybe two or three—Hapless Frog was one of them!

Nie Yan knew just how difficult it was to earn the Treasure Hunter title. In his past life, he didn’t manage to get the title even after finding and opening close to 6,000 chests. He didn’t find many chests in normal maps back then, but he used to find three to five chests every day, on average, when he explored dungeons. Even so, he was still far from getting the title.

From the rumours he remembered from his past life, over sixty percent of Hapless Frog’s skills were dedicated to helping him escape from dangerous situations; he only had a small number of combat skills at hand. The number of skills available increased as the game progressed. A player might have around 20 to 30 skills on the lower range, or 30 to 40 skills on the higher range. Most players had more skills available than they could possibly use, so they focused on the few handy skills that suited their playstyle the most.

Hapless Frog was no exception, but most of his go-to skills were all meant for fleeing! His style revolved so much around escaping that he dared to explore Level 150–160 maps in search of treasure chests when he was only Level 80–90. He was certainly an oddball. He missed the opportunity to become a Shadow Dancer due to his lack of offensive skills, but by no means was he some unknown player. Many amazing figures, even the guild leaders of large guilds, would contact him with the hope of procuring some of the items he dug up.

Nie Yan received a message. He glanced at the identity of the sender in the chat window and was surprised to see that it was Hapless Frog.

「Hey, hey, not bad! You’re pretty amazing! I lost fair and square, so the gold treasure chest is all yours. Just a quick question. Are you the same Nirvana Flame from Asskickers United?」Hapless Frog could be considered a pretty open-minded individual. Then again, with things like treasure chests, if you missed out on one you could go somewhere else and find another one.

Nie Yan chuckled as he read the question. Hapless Frog probably saw his name before at some point. He didn’t reply to Hapless Frog but sent an invitation to the Union of Assassins instead. Hapless Frog operated as a solo player because he sold to everyone. His business would take a big hit if he chose a side, so an invite to Asskickers United would probably be met with refusal.

Nie Yan didn’t bother recruiting him as he was aware of this fact.

Hapless Frog felt Nie Yan wasn’t going to reply. Just as he was about to move on to the next area to search for treasure chests, a system notification popped up.

Nirvana Flame has invited you to join Union of Assassins (Special Server). Do you accept?

Hapless Frog felt like he’d heard of the name before from his peers in the gaming circle. It was an organization for professional players that was established a few days ago. It became a hot topic of discussion after a large amount of Battle Crazed Alliance joined.

The Union of Assassins was just a chat server. It didn’t have the restrictive nature of a guild, so Hapless Frog didn’t see any harm in checking out what all the fuss was about.

Hapless Frog hit accept and entered the server. He briefly scanned over the Union of Assassins’ introduction and instantly understood what it was about. The organization could become very helpful to his business in the future. Looking at the top of the server’s rankings, he saw five anonymous Princes. He wondered what position Nie Yan held.

Nie Yan confirmed that Hapless Frog had joined the Union of Assassins. He would have to complete several tasks and earn points in order to receive the title of Baron. Nie Yan expected that with his skills, Hapless Frog wouldn’t face any problems advancing in rank.

The combined efforts of Sleepy Fox, Kill Love, and Fa Lan helped the Union of Assassins grow to nearly 2,000 members. Their network of contacts extended far more deeply than the players that founded the Union of Assassins in the previous timeline. Sleepy Fox and Kill Love were influential figures who basically knew everyone of importance in the professional gaming circle. They invited over five hundred members from their respective organizations alone. They also attracted a great deal of clients.

Fa Lan, on the other hand, wasn’t a professional player. He was, however, a towering everwood in other large virtual reality games. The reputation he built up for himself during his time spent playing those games, allowed him to be in close contact with many professional players. Furthermore, he also knew many bosses from various large companies. It wasn’t long before he had invited several hundred people as well, all of whom were potential customers.

Once the Union of Assassins was acknowledged by more and more professional players, it would certainly experience an even more explosive growth in the future.

After adding Hapless Frog to the Union of Assassins, Nie Yan planned to search for more treasure chests while making his way to the Light Monastery.

「Do you mind me asking what you used to get over that cliff?」

Hapless Frog knew his question was rather intrusive, but he couldn’t help himself. As a player who devoted himself to searching for treasure chests, Nie Yan’s abilities truly possessed an irresistible attractive force.

Nie Yan pondered whether or not he wanted to share this information. He concluded that revealing it to Hapless Frog wouldn’t be of any harm to him.

「Crawler Ring, it’s a rare item.」

When Hapless Frog read the reply, he gave up any hope of acquiring one. Rare items were difficult to find; one could only come upon them by chance.

「Your guild is enemies with Victorious Return, right? Don’t head north. There’s around five to six hundred players from Victorious Return hunting the Warlock over there.」Hapless Frog warned.

「Alright, thanks for the tip.」

「No problem.」

Nie Yan bent down and opened the chest. After rummaging inside, he took out a pair of Level 25 Gold-grade boots. It was for a Paladin. Its properties weren’t bad, and it looked expensive.

He stood facing north at the top of the cliff. He saw a lush forest below. The Light Monastery wouldn’t be much farther after he passed through it. However, Hapless Frog had given him an interesting tidbit of information. Victorious Return players were hunting the Warlock over there. Should he go and take a look on the way?

As he looked toward the forest, he spotted a red mage tower poking out between the trees in the distance. There seemed to be quite a bit of player activity below it, with the ocassional spell exploding in the sky. Hapless Frog’s words didn’t seem to be false.

The Warlock was a Level 25 Lord-class monster that was especially ferocious among low-level bosses, possessing both single-target and area-of-effect spells. It was no wonder Victorious Return mobilized over five hundred players to hunt it. When the Warlock was killed for the first time, one of the items it would drop was a Dark Gold Staff. It was one of the very best staffs that could be found early on in the game. If it fell into the hands of Victorious Return, they were likely to produce an extremely formidable Mage.

Nie Yan wasn’t sure he’d make it in time. If he hurried, it would take him at least ten minutes to get there. He didn’t dally any longer and leaped high off the edge of the cliff. As he rapidly approached the ground, he activated the Featherfall Jewel’s ability. With his falling speed greatly decreased, Nie Yan gently touched down on the branch of a large tree. He launched himself forward, flying more than six meters before making a graceful landing on the ground, where he shot out like an arrow and disappeared into the forest depths.

The area up ahead bustled with noise and activity. The sounds of magic exploding cut through the air. Flames rose high into the sky, and lightning danced across the treetops. It sounded like an intense fight was going on. Nie Yan worried about how much of the Warlock’s health they had already shaved away. He was pulled out of his thoughts when he spotted several Victorious Return players up ahead. Nie Yan quietly approached them and listened while they were chatting. Apparently, they were serving lookout duty for the other members of their guild while hunting some nearby monsters.

"I wonder how things are going over there,” one of the Victorious Return players said. They weren’t part of the guild’s main fighting force and were only deployed on menial tasks.

"Hard to say, it’s a Level 25 Lord-class monster after all. Let’s hope they don’t wipe out.”

"Skinny Dog said it’ll take at least two hours to kill that Warlock. There’s too many minions guarding around the tower. It’ll take them about an hour just to force their way in. I think they should be entering right about now actually.”

"No point in overthinking things, guys. We’ll still get our 100 merit points at the end of the day.”

The value of merit points was determined by the leader of the guild. In Victorious Return, 100 merit points was worth about 20 copper. A few weeks ago, it would be great if they got around 5 copper worth of merit points for participating in a guild activity. But following the rise in everyone’s level, they now got around 20 copper worth of merit points for participating in a guild activity.

As the playerbase progressed further into the game, the depreciation of in-game currency was inevitable. They would earn more and more money from killing monsters. Several weeks ago, killing a dozen monsters might produce a single copper. But now that they were killing higher level monsters, the drop rates were a lot better. Sometimes, several copper dropping from a mob was pretty normal.

Nie Yan entered stealth, vanishing as he snuck around these players.

An Arcane Mage in the group whose Awareness was slightly higher than the others felt a fleeting sense of danger, but it was so faint that he wasn’t consciously aware of it. The rest of the group was oblivious and happily chatted away.

Nie Yan passed these players and made his way deeper into the forest. He encountered one or two Victorious Return players on his path every now and then. They patrolled the forest around the Mage Tower to prevent any non-guild players from approaching, as well as hunting any monsters they encountered.

After passing through a break in the trees, Nie Yan spotted a seven-meter tall tower, painted a scarlet-red that greatly resembled blood. Near its base was a large group of players engaged in an intense battle.

"Pay attention to your damage, don’t take aggro!”

"Priests, keep up the heals! Shit! Faster!”

Most of the players in the group were around Level 20. Having them face off against a Level 25 Lord-class monster might be a bit difficult. The situation right now seemed a little chaotic. At the end of the day, however, they were the elites of Victorious Return. Their reactions were fast and they suffered very few casualties.

I wonder if Heaven Breaker is here… Nie Yan mused to himself. He picked up on several conversations on his way here, and confirmed Skinny Dog was here. He and Skinny Dog were destined to become eternal foes. When they last met outside the entrance of Blackflame Forest, their battle was cut short by a rain of meteors. Skinny Dog was obliterated into ashes, while he survived thanks to the healing from the Priests of Holy Empire.

Maybe I’ll bump into a few more faces I recognize here, Nie Yan thought while slowly approaching the tower.

Chapter 176 – Warlock

A hectic battle was playing out in the open space below the mage tower, with players of every class scattered all over the place. The area near the back was packed with Mages. Some of them even resorted to standing on top of the branches of the trees surrounding the area. With the glow of magic pulsing from their staffs, they sent a steady stream of spells forward.

A group of several dozen Warriors surrounded the withered old Warlock wearing red robes. His beard frayed from anger, and his entire body ignited with a burning, white soul fire.

He still had a fifth of his health bar remaining. Even so, it would still take the players from Victorious Return more than ten minutes to finish him off.

"Unquenchable Fire of Sodom, your devoted believer beckons you to the distant continent of Atlanta! Let your destructive power consume this land in flames! Wretched heretics, enjoy the embrace of death!” the Warlock let out a cruel, maniacal laugh.

The Warlock waved his staff and summoned a torrent of raging flames that poured forth like a waterfall, instantly engulfing over twenty players. The torrent grew into a giant pillar of fire over three meters high. It was as if it came from the depths of hell. Strings of impressive damage values rose up above the heads of the players caught in the spell. Within three seconds, they were all burnt to a crisp.

Disorder spread among the remaining players. The pillar of flame fiercely burned for five seconds before finally dying down, leaving nothing behind but piles of ash.

The area around the Warlock was immediately cleared of all players.

"What powerful magic!” The person in charge, Skinny Dog, drew in a breath of cold air. Without delay, he adjusted the formation and ordered the Warriors on standby to come up.

"Stay alert!”

"Be quick on your feet!”

A dozen Warriors rushed forward to re-engage the Warlock.

The Warlock unleashed wave after wave of spells that bombarded the surrounding area. The Priests frantically cast Heals as a curtain formed by numerous streams of light gently fell from the sky. There were practically several Priests on one Warrior at all times. The health of the Warriors fluctuated violently, causing anyone who saw them to feel extremely tense.

At their current level, Asskickers United couldn’t dream of employing a reckless tactic such as this. They simply didn’t have that many high-level players to spare. This, too, separated the fledgling guild from an established guild like Victorious Return.

Nie Yan inched over to a tree just outside the battlefield. The closest player to him was a mere two meters away. It was an Arcane Mage, but they didn’t notice his presence. If a Thief could get within two meters of a Mage unnoticed during a battle, that Mage was guaranteed death.

"This Warlock’s a real pain to deal with. Knife Scar, get your group ready!” Skinny Dog shouted at the players to the east. Even at such low health, the Warlock still attacked with terrifying ferocity. Skinny dog would have to use that tactic.

"Boss, we’re ready!” A tall, robust fellow with a scar across his face yelled back.

Nie Yan looked on, bewildered. Just what were they planning to do?

"All Warriors in the center, retreat!” shouted Skinny Dog.

The Warriors tangling with the Warlock hastily disengaged, while Knife Scar’s group each unfurled a scroll. Myriad rays of brilliant light blossomed outward.

Crippling Curse!

Darkness Curse!

Freeze Magic!

….

There were over a dozen scrolls, all of which were Intermediate rank. Seeing so many used one right after another was like watching money being flushed down the toilet. Even Nie Yan felt a pang in his heart as he watched this scene unfold.

Victorious Return was rich and imperious. They didn’t care about the cost. As long as they could kill this Lord-class monster, expending these scrolls was well worth it.

While Knife Scar and his group were wantonly using scrolls on the Warlock, the Mages in the rear all began casting their most powerful spells.

Meanwhile, a familiar figure entered Nie Yan’s vision. It was a Mage that had met death at his hands, Tangerine! She was chanting her spells in a low tone as magical energy rapidly converged at her position. Even after chanting a full set of incantation syllables, she still hadn’t completed casting.

For it to take so long to cast, it had to be a very powerful spell.

An onslaught of debuffs pummeled the Warlock. His stats were in shambles, and he was bound by the spells from the Intermediate Scrolls.

All of a sudden, the attackers withdrew. Every single Warrior and Mage backed away from the Warlock, leaving the area surrounding him clear.

Not a moment later, the magical energy in the sky rapidly combined and surged forth.

Layer upon layer of falling ice chunks struck the Warlock and the ground around him.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Each chunk left a layer of frost after shattering, causing the temperature to plummet. The Warlock himself was encased in a thick block of ice.

Elemental Hall Ice Magic, Frost Hail!

As soon as Frost Hail ended, wave after wave of deep violet fireballs came crashing down. This blazing storm relentlessly struck the Warlock, devastating him and everything around him.

Obscurus Magic, Firestorm!

Immediately after that was a round of Elemental Hall Fire Magic.

These three Mages, capable of casting Elemental Hall Magic or Obscurus Magic, were one of Victorious Return’s hidden cards. Each one had passed through harsh trials in order to learn such magic. They were rewarded with these massive spells that could ravage any battlefield, and were especially deadly during a guild battle. Unfortunately for Nie Yan, Asskickers United didn’t even have one such mage.

This battle served as a powerful reminder. Asskickers United still had a lot of work to do before it could catch up to Victorious Return.

Under the barrage of destructive magic, the Warlock’s health rapidly fell.

17%, 13%, 9%…

Surrounded by raging flames, the Warlock let out a mournful howl. Just as his health was about to hit zero, his body suddenly began morphing irregularly He rapidly grew in size. When his transformation ended, he was a five-meter tall Savage Bear. Covered in crimson fur, he resembled a giant primordial beast of the past.The bear’s health began to shoot upwards.

"It’s transformation magic! Everyone, be careful!” Tangerine nervously shouted. She activated Arcane Reset, allowing her to unleash a deluge of spells at the Savage Bear.

The Savage Bear got up on its hind legs and sent a Warrior flying with a swipe of its paws.

Warriors rushed forward, brandishing their swords, and hacked at the Savage Bear.「Clang! Clang! Clang!」But each and every attack registered as a miss, despite landing square on the giant bear’s body.

"It’s immune to physical attacks! Warriors, retreat!” Skinny Dog immediately shouted after discovering his own dagger had no effect on the Savage Bear.

"His movements are slow! Everyone, create some distance!”

The Warriors surrounding the Savage Bear promptly disengaged.The Mages also made a quick retreat, while still casting spells and dealing damage as they ran. The Savage Bear incessantly roared, but it was too slow, only gradually moving towards the trees.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」

The Mages kept falling back while releasing spell after spell. All manner of energy flew at the bear, causing sparks to fly everywhere.

A string of damage values floated up above the Savage Bear’s head. Although they were only dealing small amounts of damage, Victorious Return had many Mages. The accumulated damage from several hundred Mages had a major impact on the bear’s health bar.

The battle was gradually shifting backwards. It now happened that the crowd of retreating Mages were moving in Nie Yan’s direction.

Some of them even passed right by Nie Yan. But their attention was completely focused on the Savage Bear, so they didn’t notice him hiding behind a tree.

The surroundings were filled with Victorious Return players. Nie Yan’s situation seemed to be extremely dangerous, but actually, he was quite safe. On top of his stealth, he had also worn a black garb that concealed his appearance. Despite there being so many people, such chaotic circumstances ensured that a vast majority of them wouldn’t be able to notice him.

It never even crossed their minds that there was a non-guild member amidst them! With so many Victorious Return players patrolling all around the place, how could someone possibly sneak past them! Besides, even if someone did sneak in, with so many Victorious Return players surrounding them, weren’t they simply courting death?

"It’s almost dead! Everyone, give it your all!” Skinny Dog excitedly yelled.

Tangerine stopped attacking to drink a Mana Potion before continuing to fire a torrent of spells at the Savage Bear.

"I’m out of mana!”

"I’m out too!”

Even after drinking Mana Potions, so many were still low on mana. They hastily disengaged from the battle and drank Spring Water to replenish their mana.

The Savage Bear’s health fell to two percent. It waved its arms furiously, and with a single swat of its paws it snapped a large tree in half, one that would take three full grown men to wrap their arms around. The half went flying, crushing six players to death when it landed.

Although they suffered disastrous casualties, the Victorious Return players didn’t stop fighting.

A crowd of Warriors attempted to approach the Savage Bear. Although their attacks had no effect, they could act as a human wall, blocking the bear’s attacks. But soon after, the Savage Bear’s powerful swipes sent a few of them crashing into trees. They instantly died, and the rest ran away with their tails tucked between their legs.

Nie Yan closely followed from a safe distance. He was only about five meters away from the Savage Bear. While hidden behind a tree, not a single player could notice him!

His excellent camouflage abilities allowed him to completely blend in with the tree bark.

Skinny Dog, Tangerine, and the rest would never imagine that Nie Yan was right by their sides, so close that he was practically breathing down their necks.

Only Tangerine felt that something was off, as if something or someone was close by. But she automatically assumed that the sense of danger was coming from the Savage Bear.

They were all focused on this intense battle with the Savage Bear. Who’d have the time to think of other things in such a situation!?

A final wave of ferocious spells struck the Savage Bear. It let out an anguished roar before falling heavily to the ground. Its body rapidly shrunk and turned back to the form of the Warlock.

"It’s finally dead. How many did we lose?” Skinny Dog asked. In the final phase of the battle, many comrades died in quick succession. He felt quite regretful.

"Didn’t count, I’d say at least thirty or forty!” said Tangerine as she gazed at the corpses strewn across the battlefield. Prior to the Warlock’s transformation, they had lost about twenty or so players. Adding that to the people who died afterwards, then the death count definitely exceeded thirty.

With the battle over, players slowly came out of their respective hiding spots.

The place was a complete mess. Several players ran over to collect the equipment.

Nie Yan activated Shadow Dance and dashed over to the Warlock’s corpse. He was clearly faster than the Victorious Return players. He set his sights on the Warlock’s corpse. Beside it were some tantalizing pieces of sparkling equipment!

Chapter 177 – Snatching Treasure

Watching those players who ran to pick up the drops, Skinny Dog and the other survivors of the battle all had the same thought. Since they were the first players to ever slay the Warlock, a named Lord-class monster, shouldn’t they be rewarded with higher quality drops?

Warlock Hall was a named monster. These types of monsters had their own unique histories and lore. They were more difficult to deal with than the average, unnamed monsters, but they gave better experience and drops.

Victorious Return was willing to expend so much manpower and resources to take down Warlock Hall because they were confident the reward would be well worth it.

To them, sacrificing the lives of a few ordinary members for the sake of helping an elite member grow stronger was absolutely worth the trade-off. Besides, experience could be recuperated, but drops from a Lord-class monster were hard to come by.

Anticipation filled the hearts of every Victorious Return member who took part in the Warlock battle. The higher the quality of the equipment, the happier Heaven Breaker would be. There was a chance they’d be rewarded very generously with merit points.

As the group of players tasked with collecting the drops approached Warlock Hall’s corpse, they felt a gust of wind blow past them, and before they could even comprehend what was going on, they stared in shock as a shadow suddenly emerged beside the corpse, bending down to pick up all of their drops.

Nie Yan activated a game mechanic that had always ticked him off. Whenever a Thief attempted to pick up drops while in stealth, they were instantly revealed as a blurry silhouette. It was meant to balance the game, but at the moment it only did one thing, reveal him to everyone in the surrounding area.

So it was that he exposed himself the moment that he stooped down to collect the drops.

However, the Victorious Return players didn’t immediately recognize him. All they could tell was that he was a red name player from the bloody glow outlining his body. His face was hidden by the black garb, as was his guild emblem, and considering how well-secured the entire forest was, they naturally believed him to be a member of their guild.

Nie Yan nonchalantly picked up the drops beside Warlock Hall’s corpse. He felt ecstatic but kept his composure. Flashing the OK hand sign with his left hand, he casually made his way out of the ring of players from Victorious Return.

They believed his gesture was a signal that the drop was secured. They parted, allowing him to freely leave.

"Do you know who he is?”

"Why does he look a bit unfamiliar?”

Skinny Dog shot a glance at Nie Yan. With the drops retrieved, he thought they could call it a day. Gazing at the retreating figure, he found it somewhat familiar, as though he had seen it somewhere before. He happened to glance at the chat log at that moment, only to discover that it didn’t display any notifications of anything being picked up! A sudden realization dawned on him, as if he was struck by lightning. He urgently cried out, "Fuck! He’s not part of our guild! Stop him!”

Every single one of the Victorious Return players were taken aback.

"It’s Nirvana Flame! It’s that bastard!” Skinny Dog anxiously cursed, finally realizing why the silhouette seemed so familiar.

Hearing that name brought the rest of his guild to their senses. The player who had collected the drops just then wasn’t one of them. The Mages quickly chanted their magic, desperately firing a salvo of spells in Nie Yan’s direction.

Nie Yan was still casually taking his leave, as all of the Warriors around him still hadn’t reacted. Only after hearing Skinny Dog’s call did they finally understand what was going on. They all activated Charge and rushed toward the offender.

Nie Yan was surrounded on all sides, with a deadly hail of several hundred spells fast approaching from behind him.

"Drop dead!” A Warrior hacked down on him with a Flame Slash.

With nowhere left to run, they all believed Nie Yan was done for.

Unexpectedly, Nie Yan shot out a line of silk from his left hand which stuck to the to branch of a tree five meters away. With a sudden jerk of the web line, he pulled himself up into the air and swung right over their heads.

The hail of spells bombarded the area where Nie Yan had previously been, creating a massive explosion that sent dirt flying everywhere and forced back all the surrounding Warriors who had failed to apprehend him.

Nie Yan had such an ability?! Underestimating him was a critical error on their part. When the smoke and dust finally cleared, they saw that he had already escaped out of their encirclement and was bolting away.

"Stop him! Don’t let him get away!”

The Warriors all turned around and frantically charged after him.

Another hail of spells came raining down on Nie Yan. He activated Swift Retreat and zig-zagged between the trees, quickly shaking off the Warriors following right behind him.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Several dozen spells struck the trees around him, leaving black scorch marks on the bark as they exploded.

Nie Yan was hit a few times, but it was nothing serious.

He evaded the lines of sight of the players following behind him and activated Disappear, fading away into the lush forest background.

When Skinny Dog, Tangerine, and a few others caught up, they discovered the area was completely empty without even a single trace of Nie Yan!

"Where did he go?” Skinny Dog sternly asked.

"We couldn’t stop him him. He got away!”

"You idiots! How did so many of you fail to catch one person!?” Skinny Dog cursed. He always had a short temper to begin with. But after sacrificing over thirty players to take down a boss, only to have the drops they worked so painstakingly hard for snatched away, how could he be anything less than furious?

Several of the Warriors beside him felt aggrieved and tried to defend themselves, "He can fly! Many others saw it too! There was no way we could stop him!”

Tangerine quickly tried to mollify the situation. Playing peacemaker, she said, "Skinny Dog, it’s not their fault. Forget it.”

There was nothing to gain from wrongly placing the blame on others. In fact, it would only make things worse.

"Argh! He couldn’t have gotten far! Everyone, spread out and search! I refuse to believe he can keep slipping away!” Skinny Dog angrily ordered. Every nearby member of Victorious Return began searching for traces of Nie Yan. Even the members levelling around the forest were recruited to join in on the search. Their blood boiled with the desire to murder him.

"Skinny Dog, calm down. How do you think he knew we were hunting the Warlock over here?” Tangerine asked. She was angry as well but managed to retain a cool head.

"Who the hell knows… He probably bumped into one of our players while levelling around here. He wouldn’t have come alone otherwise, and we’d have already been completely surrounded by Asskickers United players,” Skinny Dog replied. By now, his anger had faded. All the remained was a feeling of dejection. Even if they did find and kill Nie Yan, what did it matter? It was still impossible for them to retrieve the equipment that they worked so hard for. With a sigh, he said, "Let’s figure out how we’re going to explain ourselves to the boss.”

"All we can do is clearly explain what happened,” Tangerine replied. Knowing Heaven Breaker’s temper, she couldn’t help but feel her scalp go numb. ”By the way, just now they said Nirvana Flame had flown. What did they mean by that?” She couldn’t see things clearly since she was all the way in the back with the other Mages and Priests. Otherwise, even if Nie Yan grew wings, they could’ve put a marking sigil on him to ensure he’d never get away.

"I’m not sure either. I’ll ask a player to send a recording,” Skinny Dog answered. A moment later, he received a video from the perspective of one of the players who was close to Nie Yan. After watching it, he stared in shock. "What was that line of silk?”

"I’ve seen it from a friend before. It’s the Silk Spinner Ring!” Tangerine answered. She never considered Nie Yan even had an item like that.

Nie Yan had hidden among some thickets. He knew he wasn’t out of danger yet. There were Victorious Return players searching for him everywhere. He’d have to expend quite a bit of effort if he wanted to run. However, for a Thief as skilled as him, he was basically safe.

He had escaped despite being surrounded by all those players. Now that he was hidden among the trees, he was basically a fish in the water. Even if Victorious Return mobilized all of their forces to search for him, they’d still come up short.

He had come here wanting to teach Victorious Return a lesson on behalf of his guild. After all, several hundred Asskickers United players had died by their hands.

Asskickers United and Victorious Return had already reached the point where coexistence wasn’t an option. For the time being, Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine definitely weren’t willing to enter this conflict. Asskickers United had no choice but to confront Victorious Return alone. Although they were a fledgling guild, they couldn’t show any weakness. Besides, since strongholds had yet to release, they didn’t have to worry about contesting for territory. With their guild headquarters still being in the city, what kind of tricks could Victorious Return possibly pull?

If he sent Guo Huai a video of him killing several members of Victorious Return, it would act as a huge morale boost for the players of his guild.

The Victorious Return players searched the forest for traces of Nie Yan in groups of four or five. The distance between each group wasn’t very far. With this, if one group was attacked, another group would be able to immediately react and provide assistance. Because of this, the players from Victorious Return felt absolutely safe.

However, from Nie Yan’s point of view, they were simply moving prey.

Nie Yan took out the equipment that he had snatched to examine. There were three in total, among which was the Soulfire Staff, the Dark Gold weapon he had been looking for!

Soulfire Staff (Dark Gold)

Requirements; Level 25

Properties: Magic Power 106–119, Intelligence +12, Ignore Level +2, 10% Soulfire Piercing Damage

Attack Speed: 5.5

Weight: 5 lb

Restrictions: Elementalist, Arcane Mage; can only be equipped by members of the Righteous Faction.

Nie Yan marveled over the staff’s properties. At this stage of the game, they were practically the best, especially the Ignore Level +2 and 10% Soulfire Piercing Damage. It was an amazing staff for Arcane Mages and Elementalists. Previously, when he and Tang Yao had taken down a Lord-class Scaled Frog, Tang Yao hadn’t received a single piece of equipment that he could use. This time around, Tang Yao was extremely blessed. With this staff, Tang Yao could hunt monsters above his level much more easily.

As for the other two pieces of equipment, both were Gold-grade. One was for a Warrior while the other was for a Paladin. Their properties were quite good. Nie Yan stuffed the equipment back into his bag. Victorious Return really did suffer a huge loss this time around. The Soulfire Staff alone was worth at least 6 gold, while the other two pieces of equipment were worth about 1 gold. If that money was divided up between the Victorious Return players who participated in killing the Warlock, they would all receive a littler over a silver each.

Yet these items fell into the hands of a hated enemy, Nie Yan. It could even be said that they suffered double the losses.

A group of five players walked past where Nie Yan was hidden. The Priest among them raised their right hand and sent an orb of light into the sky as a bright radiance illuminated everything beneath it, making the area especially clear.

Nie Yan was hidden behind a tree, so the Priest’s Illuminate had absolutely no effect.

"How long do you think we’re gonna keep searching like this?” said a Thief in the group as he frowned. He understood that as long as there were trees for cover a Priest’s Illuminate was completely useless!

"It would be so much easier if one of us had learned Eye of Truth. Illuminate is practically useless in a dense forested area like this,” a Paladin in the group complained.

"Do you really think Skinny Dog actually expects us to find Nirvana Flame? He’s obviously waiting for Nirvana Flame to show himself!” rebuked the Priest as he gazed at the two players with contempt.

"As long as he takes cover somewhere and stays hidden, no one will be able to find him. What’s the point of searching around like this?” The two players shot the Priest a puzzled look. An ordinary player would never understand an expert’s train of thought.

"The reason we’re only in groups of four or five is because we’re acting as bait. Generally, experts have a lot of self-confidence. Who knows if he’ll ambush one of our groups. Even if we die, we have to protect the Priest. At the very least, we have to give them enough time to put a marking sigil on him. After that, he’ll be toast!” the captain of the group, a Warrior, said sternly. This was the key to catching the hated Nie Yan, at least as Skinny Dog had explained it.

Chapter 178 – Kill

The Holy Priest class’s Glimmer Mark skill was the mortal weakness of any Thief. Once marked, a Thief could be easily spotted by the enemy, even during Stealth. Because of this, Holy Priests were often the prime targets for a Thief’s ambush. They were also extremely frail, being a class that wore cloth armor. On top of that, they had the lowest health pool of all the cloth-armored classes. Although they did possess a few attack skills, Holy Priests generally weren’t proficient in dueling like Arcane Mages, Elementalists, Holy Mages, or even Shadow Priests, all of whom were particularly thorny to deal with.

The group of players near Nie Yan were entirely oblivious to the imminent danger. Since he had erased all traces of himself, unless one of them had especially high Awareness or sharp reflexes, they were completely incapable of sensing his approach.

The higher a player’s Awareness, the faster they’d be able to react to danger. If a player’s Awareness was pitifully low, they’d only feel a fleeting sense of danger. It wouldn’t be enough for an ordinary person to notice. To counteract high Awareness, Thieves focused on raising their Stealth and Cloak. Nie Yan’s were already quite high. As long as he paid careful attention to his movements, save for the few players with exceptionally high Awareness, none would be able to detect his presence. Even if they did sense danger, they’d be incapable of pinpointing his position.

They’re trying to lure me out? The corner of Nie Yan’s mouth curved into a faint smile. They’re playing a dangerous game… Skinny Dog and the other players from Victorious Return hated him with a burning passion. It seemed they were determined to take his head regardless of the cost.

Nie Yan closely shadowed them, his movements extremely light.

He loved this type of feeling, sneaking in the shadows while observing the opponent’s movements. As soon as they exposed the slightest flaw, he’d rush in for the kill.

The group consisted of a Warrior, Paladin, Thief, Arcane Mage, and Priest, a typical arrangement. It was mostly melee focused. While lacking in burst damage and offensive power, it held certain advantages over other group compositions, specifically endurance. Without expending any mana, the frontliners could keep hacking away at the enemy while simultaneously tanking attacks, allowing the group to preserve important cooldowns and deal consistent damage.

They were still chatting while searching for traces of Nie Yan. This forest was the spawn area of Black Bears. They’d occasionally encounter one or two, and they’d have to stop what they were doing to deal with them.

"I’ll go draw the monster’s aggro. You guys be careful. That Thief might be near!” said the Warrior as he charged toward a nearby Black Bear, opening with a Heroic Strike.

The Warrior would be under too much pressure tanking a Black Bear alone, so the Paladin followed to support him.

"Understood.” The remaining group members all showed somewhat nervous expressions. It was an extremely nerve-wracking situation whenever they encountered a Black Bear because they had to worry about Nie Yan lurking about. They had no idea whether he would take advantage of that opportunity to ambush them. Only when they saw other groups occasionally pass by did they feel a sense of security.

Seeing the Warrior and Paladin leave to deal with the Black Bear, Nie Yan slowly approached the Priest from behind.

The Priest was on high alert. Every time he finished healing the Warrior, he’d reposition himself by a few steps to confirm that he was safe. Unfortunately, his senses weren’t sharp enough because this trick didn’t deter Nie Yan at all.

The Priest was merely delaying the inevitable. His actions were more or less useless. His movements were too predictable. Nie Yan had long since figured them out. He moved to intercept the Priest on his path. As the Priest approached, he raised his dagger, preparing to stun him with a Smothering Strike!

The Thief and Arcane Mage stayed close by to guard the Priest. They were no more than two meters away. When they sensed the danger, it was already too late. A cold light flashed toward the Priest.

"Not good!” the Thief hoarsely cried out.

Before any of them could react, Nie Yan’s Smothering Strike struck the Priest on the back of the head, stunning him.

He stabbed the Priest in the back with his dagger, then followed with Eviscerate.

−224

−229

The Priest collapsed to the ground. His defense was pathetically fragile, with only cloth armour to protect him. So the damage Nie Yan dealt was frighteningly high.

Seeing the Priest fall, the Thief loudly cursed and rushed at Nie Yan with a Concussive Blow.

Nie Yan sidestepped the attack as the enemy’s dagger streaked past him. With another swift flash of his blade, he struck the Thief in the forehead with Concussive Blow. He followed up with a Vital Strike to the neck, circled around and finished with a Backstab.

Each of Nie Yan’s attacks dealt over two hundred damage. The previously full-health Thief collapsed to the ground, dead in only a few short seconds!

The nearby Arcane Mage stared in shock. The battle had barely just begun, yet he’d already lost two party members just like that.

Protect the Priest? He didn’t even get to do anything before he died! How the hell was he supposed to cast Glimmer Mark!? The Arcane Mage felt incredibly bitter. He buffed himself with Mage Armour. Just as he was about to cast Arcane Flame Burst, he suddenly felt his body go rigid, leaving him unable to move an inch.

This was the effect of Nie Yan’s Intimidate skill!

Intimidate: Inflicts the target with fear for 2 seconds. Range: 3 meters.

A look of despair appeared in the Arcane Mage’s face as Nie Yan closed in on him. After being struck by Assassinate and Lacerate, his health dropped from full to a little over ten points. By then the effects of Intimidate had worn off. He quickly retreated and drank a Health Potion.

Everything had happened way too quickly. There was barely any time to react at all. By the time the Warrior and Paladin turned around to see what was going on, only having heard some commotion, the Priest and Thief were already dead. The only person left alive was the Arcane Mage who was barely hanging on.

"He’s over here!”

The nearby Victorious Return players were alerted. They all came rushing over.

Nie Yan picked up the two pieces of equipment that fell from the Priest and Thief. He couldn’t be bothered to finish off the Arcane Mage. He turned around and disappeared among the trees.

The Arcane Mage blankly stared at his health bar; he had been inflicted with the bleed status. Despite drinking a Health Potion prior, his health was still gradually falling. A few ticks later, his health hit zero, and he collapsed to the ground.

Three players had fallen in the blink of an eye while Nie Yan vanished without a trace. No one even got a decent glimpse of what he looked like. The survivors felt a chill run down their backs. Skinny Dog had told them to chase down the culprit, but he never informed them that the Thief was so terrifying.

When Nie Yan’s cooldowns refreshed, he would proceed with the next ambush.

Nie Yan was like a specter of the forest. He mounted continuous sneak attacks on the groups from Victorious Return, taking two to three of their members each time before vanishing into thin air. Skinny Dog repeatedly warned everyone to protect their Priests. However, whenever Nie Yan materialized, they were always the first to die.

There wasn’t a single exception, nor did Nie Yan ever make a mistake.

Victorious Return lost thirteen players, six of which were Priests. To add insult to injury, Priests were the hardest of any class to level.

Skinny Dog was fuming with anger.

"Skinny Dog, we can’t keep going on like this. We should withdraw!” Tangerine was well-aware of the severity of the situation. Even top-elites like them had already died by Nie Yan’s hands. It would be strange if they weren’t suffering losses by sending ordinary members after him! Up until now, they hadn’t even caught sight of his coattails. If this kept going, they would surely suffer heavier losses.

"We have over five hundred players! He’s completely alone!”

"So what if we have over five hundred players!? Look how big this forest is! Do you honestly think we can catch him!?” Tangerine berated.

Skinny Dog was loath to admit it, but this was truly more difficult than he had originally imagined. If these five hundred or so players were chasing after him instead, he felt he’d have a thirty percent chance, maybe a little higher, of escaping. However, based on the information he received from his subordinates, it seemed that Nie Yan’s fleeing abilities were even greater than his own.

At that moment, Skinny Dog received yet another report that several more members had died by Nie Yan’s hand. He reluctantly gave out an order for everyone to assemble. They were abandoning the manhunt for Nie Yan.

Hidden among the trees, Nie Yan let slip a faint smile when he saw the Victorious Return players withdrawing. The dagger in his hand was soaked in blood, flickering with a dazzling crimson. After doing a little tallying in his head, from start to finish, he estimated that he had killed no less than seventeen players.

Nie Yan understood the principle of not prodding a cornered beast. Now that they had assembled, he would end up paying quite dearly if he tried biting off more than he could chew.

His thoughts happened to shift to the Killer’s Demonic Medallion. After hunting Scaled Frogs for so long, why did it still not drop? Could Tang Yao’s kill count really not be high enough?

Nie Yan suddenly recalled a certain NPC who happened to be a celebrity of sorts. He was a deserter of the Viridian Empire army. His name was Bordello, a Level 160 Elite as well as a Thief. He carried with him the Sub-Legendary Thief weapon, Godo’s Dagger of Fleeing. Before his departure, he had killed over a hundred Calore city guards, and received the title Killing Demon Bordello. Was there a connection? Was it possible that the Killer’s Demonic Medallion required a kill count of at least a hundred to drop from the Scaled Frogs?

Kill over a hundred players to become a Killing Demon?

Information regarding the Killer’s Demonic Medallion was too sparse. Nie Yan only knew that it dropped from Scaled Frogs. In his past life, players who had really red names would occasionally find one after killing a Sub-Elite or Elite. The redder the name the higher the drop chance. Both Sub-Elites and Elites had a chance of dropping it, but a Lord-class Scaled Frog had the highest drop rate.

On a typical day, Tang Yao killed three Elites and a whole bunch of Sub-Elites. However, even now, he hadn’t found a Killer’s Demonic Medallion. At this point, it probably wasn’t simply a matter of bad luck.

After some consideration, Nie Yan decided it was better to retrieve the Chapter of Justice first. He no longer paid attention to Victorious Return. He dashed through the forest, heading toward the Light Monastery.

On the side of Victorious Return, after receiving a report from Skinny Dog, Heaven Breaker ruthlessly chewed out Skinny Dog and Tangerine. The equipment they had expended so many resources to retrieve, with so many people present, had somehow been snatched away. Victorious Return had practically lost all face.

Meanwhile, on the side of Asskickers United, a certain video was being widely passed around between guild members. It showed Nie Yan snatching away the equipment of a named Lord-class monster from right under the noses of over five hundred Victorious Return players. He had even killed seventeen of their players afterwards. A glorious matter such as trampling all over Victorious Return was an enormous boost in morale for the players of Asskickers United.

Asskickers United had been oppressed for far too long. They faced constant harassment from the players of Victorious Return which dampened their spirits. Yet the higher-ups of the guild never took action. They even seemed somewhat indifferent. Naturally, this caused some unrest to spread amongst the ordinary guild members. But Nie Yan’s actions this time served as retribution for all the humiliation they had endured. It was a message to the guild members that the higher-ups weren’t apathetic, nor were they afraid of Victorious Return. They were simply biding their time, saving up strength as they awaited the right opportunity to strike.

Chapter 179 – Light Monastery

As Nie Yan traversed the dense forest region, he spotted a Kamirun building up ahead beyond the shade of the trees.

Kamirun meant purity and light in the Ancient Common Language. It was a style of architecture widely seen on the holy shrines spread across the various regions of the empire. Its most notable characteristic was the expensive Kamirun white stone, the primary material used in the construction of buildings of this style. It was far more dazzling than ordinary white stone, reflecting bright halos under the sun’s rays while giving off a feeling of incorruptible sanctity. Apart from this, Kamirun buildings generally had round rooftops that were deep crimson.

The Light Monastery had fallen into disrepair after centuries of neglect, its white stone walls covered in mud and grime, failing to reflect even the faintest glimmer. It had once been a sacred place of pilgrimage, but now it was in ruins, its years of splendor having long since passed. In front of the monastery was an open square where at the center stood the statue of an angel. It had a pious expression on its face, though it was now barely discernible under the corrosion and wear.

Nie Yan trod lightly as he made his way toward the entrance of the monastery. The gates were wide open, allowing him to peer inside. He could make out humanoid figures cloaked in red skulking around the courtyard. They had crooked backs, carrying a dagger in each hand; they were bandits.

Red Cloaked Heretic: Level 30

Health: 1,200/1,200

Generally, Thief-type creatures had small health pools, but their attacks were quite fierce. They were even capable of stunning players with a Concussive Blow every so often. On another note, as human monsters, money and items could be pilfered from their pockets. So Level 30 Thieves that had learned Steal would find training here to be quite profitable.

Red Cloaked Heretics were classified as evil creatures. So Nie Yan’s Intermediate Demon Hunter title could weaken their stats by twenty percent, making them easier to handle. He’d be able to deal around three hundred damage with every attack.

Nie Yan was still only Level 17, so fighting these Red Cloak Heretics would take up a lot of his time . He decided to simply sneak around them.

Nie Yan stepped through the gate, where he discovered a tablet of stone protruding from the ground. It was inscribed with characters from the Ancient Common Language. As it was badly damaged by corrosion, he could only make out a few words.

「Ten Holy Paladins. As the Dark Era is about to pass, we await the descend of light.」

The Legend of the Ten Holy Paladins was an old folktale passed down from generation to generation in the Glennin province. Its origins stretched back to the Dark Era. It told of a group of unyielding heroes who fought against the tyranny of the ruthless dragons while spreading faith in the Light. They founded the Light Monastery, Glennin’s most important stronghold of resistance that lasted all the way until the eve of the Dark Era, when the reign of the dragons was overthrown. The monastery was suddenly abandoned, and the Ten Holy Paladins vanished without a trace. Some say that after serving out their purpose, they left for the kingdom of heaven to accept God’s blessings. Others claimed they brought their beloveds with them to live out their lives in peace and solitude, free from worldly affairs in the northern prairies of the province.

The Light Monastery was later occupied by Red Cloaked Heretics who drove out the nearby residents, and transformed this place into a bandit den.

Just what kind of untold mysteries were hidden within the Legend of the Ten Holy Paladins? The history of Conviction was always so intriguing that people couldn’t help but want to seek out the truth.

After entering the Light Monastery, Nie Yan heard the sound of battle.

"Tuoba, we were doing perfectly fine before. Why the heck do you want to monkey around in a hellhole like this? There’s way too many mobs here, and all of them are Level 30. If we meet an Elite, we’re toast!”

A crass voice entered Nie Yan’s ear. It sounded somewhat familiar.

"If we don’t do this now, we probably won’t get a chance in the future. The Legend of the Ten Holy Paladins is such a famous story! I’m certain this place is related to it. Maybe we’ll receive a Paladin related quest!” The other voice sounded a bit listless.

Nie Yan furrowed his brows. It seemed there were people who had arrived here before him. After entering the monastery’s courtyard, there was only one path forward. It would be very difficult to go around them.

Activating stealth, he slowly made his way forward. As he looked up ahead, the scene that entered his eyes left him baffled.

Since people only dared to explore high-level maps in groups, Nie Yan thought he was going to find at least five or six players in front of him. Never did he expect that he was only going to encounter two.

One of them was a Berserker who resembled a metallic titan that could rend the earth apart. Six foot three and brimming with muscles, he wore a full set of armour that sparkled with dark golden lustre and carried a pitch-black greatsword, socketed at the hilt with three blue gems.

Nie Yan’s heart leaped at the sight of this person. He really was too perverse. He actually got himself a Dark Battle Armour Set! It was a set that only dropped from Undead Blacksmith Kalu, a Level 25 Elite, in Darkwind Canyon. Kalu took a day to respawn after being killed while the Dark Battle Armour Set consisted of five parts—Sword, Chestplate, Helmet, Gauntlets, and Greaves—which meant it would take at least five days to grind out the full set, and that was only if you were very lucky.

Nie Yan shifted his focus to the other, a Paladin in azure armour. He wore the Aqua Holy Light Set, another Level 25 set. The difficulty of obtaining this set wasn’t far off from the Dark Battle Armour Set. It would require the player to expend quite a bit of effort, at least seven to eight days of work.

The backs of these players looked a little familiar. He inspected the both of them with Transcendent Insight.

Tuoba Time: Level 25

Class: Paladin

Very Forthright: Level 25

Class: Berserker

Nie Yan was shocked. Both these players were Level 25, yet their names didn’t show on the leaderboards. They were just like him, players who wished to stay anonymous. He now recalled why he found them a bit familiar. He had met them before, outside the entrance of the Starry Night Potion Shop right after establishing it! Back then, they didn’t make much of an impression. Who could’ve imagined they’d appear so high-spec the next time he encountered them! Taking into account their levels and gear quality, they surely had astonishing backgrounds!

No wonder they dared to explore the Light Monastery with only two people.

Although Nie Yan had never heard of these two players before in his past life, there were actually many experts he wasn’t aware existed. These kinds of players generally weren’t professional gamers. They simply played for pleasure, not caring for fame or profit. However, most of these players were just as skilled as professional players. They usually came from wealthy backgrounds, so gains and losses in the game were of no importance.

Nie Yan could also obtain a full set of equipment like theirs if he spent six or seven days farming. But for him, putting in all that effort for some gear that he’d switch out after five or ten levels anyway wasn’t a cost-effective use of his time. On the other hand, collecting the six chapters from the first volume of the Book of Order would benefit him far into the future. Even seeking out the last fragment needed to fully repair Sulgata’s Shadow was a more efficient course of action.

Forthright and Tuoba had just finished their battle. Beside their feet was the corpse of a Red Cloaked Heretic.

After picking up the drops, the two didn’t pause for rest. Forthright charged forward and taunted over a dozen Red Cloaked Heretics in the vicinity, forcing them to pounce at him.

Whirlwind Slash!

Forthright’s greatsword swept through all the Red Cloaked Heretics, causing damage values of over two hundred to float up above their heads. Inversely, they only dealt thirty to forty damage to him each.

Although the Dark Battle Armour Set was an offensively focused set, its defensive capabilities couldn’t be overlooked.

Warriors also gained a damage bonus when attacking leather-armoured opponents, so Forthright’s damage was truly impressive.

Tuoba Time cast Lesser Heal on Forthright, then slashed a nearby Red Cloaked Heretic with a Divine Strike.

−430

The holy light of Paladins was quite potent against evil creatures. After landing the Divine Strike, Tuoba Time activated Divine Decree. The holy aura around him radiated outward. Resembling tiny needles, they stabbed into the bodies of the Red Cloaked Heretics who lost twenty health every second under the brilliant radiance.

Forthright activated Whirlwind Slash once more. As his greatsword swept in a full circle, he caused a blanket of damage values to rise into the air. It wasn’t long before the group of Red Cloaked Heretics collapsed to the ground as the courtyard became littered with corpses.

Tuoba Time picked up all the items that dropped on the floor and sorted them out. Afterwards, he and Forthright found a corner where they could sit down. They ate Barley Bread to recover their health, all the while chatting.

"That Legend of the Ten Holy Paladins or whatever, it’s just background lore to pad the game! For all we know, there might be nothing here! Is it really worth risking our lives!?” Although it was only the two of them, Forthright’s voice was still as loud as a bullhorn.

"Who knows? We’re just here to take a look. If we don’t find anything, then so be it. Besides, even if we meet an Elite, I’m pretty sure we can handle it. If we encounter more than one, we can just run for it,” Tuoba Time answered lackadaisically.

Forthright knew no matter what he did, he wouldn’t be able to convince Tuoba to leave. This rascal seemed like a lazy fool who’d give up after encountering the slightest bit of resistance, but in actuality, he was impossibly stubborn; once his mind was set on something, even ten oxen couldn’t hold him back. Originally, there were six members in their party. They were supposed to go off somewhere to level together, but Tuoba kept insisting on going to the Light Monastery even though the others didn’t want to. In the end, the only people left were him and Forthright.

"How did I ever end up befriending a guy like you? Hah… what choice do I have. We were in this together the moment I decided to follow you,” said Forthright with a wry smile.

Tuoba Time faintly smiled. Forthright was a brash individual, but his personality wasn’t bad.

As for Tuoba, although he was usually lost in his own world, he was also very loyal. This was why these two seemingly entirely different people got along so well.

The two stood up after their health bars were restored to full, ready to take on the next group of monsters.

Forthright took up a battle stance.

Tuoba Time gave himself and Forthright multiple blessings. Their Strength, Dexterity, Awareness, and other stats received a significant boost. With these blessings active, Tuoba felt a slight tremor in his mind.

"Watch out, there’s a Thief!” Tuoba Time cried out, activating Eyes of the Divine. His pupils shone with a golden light as he scanned the surroundings. He discovered Nie Yan lurking in the shadows around ten metres away from them. Not too far away, but it didn’t seem like he had any intention of attacking them.

Forthright stared blankly. As a Warrior, his Awareness was much lower than a Paladin’s. It didn’t help that he had a restless nature either. He was fine blindly charging into battle and beating up foes, but when it came to a task that required a sharp mind, like detecting an enemy in stealth, his performance was rather poor. Then again, he was a Warrior with great equipment. Even if he didn’t pay attention to his surroundings when levelling outside, no Thief would be stupid enough to attack him. Although he could be immobilized for a few seconds with a Concussive Blow, he was too tanky to be bursted down from full health. As soon as he recovered and struck out with a Tendon Break, any ordinary Thief would drop like a wet rag.

Chapter 180 – Recruitment

If not for the substantial boost in Awareness from the blessings, Tuoba wouldn’t have noticed Nie Yan even if he had snuck up right behind him. Even then, he had merely felt a slight chill behind his neck, something the ordinary player wouldn’t notice.

"Hey, buddy! I know you’re there! Why don’t you come out?” Tuoba stared at the blurry figure beside the wall and couldn’t help but be taken aback. Just how high was this fellow’s Cloaking? His Eyes of the Divine could see through the stealth of most Thieves. Yet all he saw of Nie Yan was a hazy outline, almost as if he were looking at a mirage that would wink out of existence with a simple blink of the eye.

Nie Yan knew he had been exposed when he saw the light shining from Tuoba’s eyes.

He deactivated his stealth, revealing himself to them.

"It’s you?” Tuoba stared in shock, recalling the time he had met Nie Yan outside the Starry Night Potion Shop. He never expected they’d meet again here, of all places.

He estimated around two weeks had passed since they’d last met. Back then, the Starry Night Shop had just barely opened its doors. Now, it was a colossus in the concoction market of Calore. Truly no one could’ve predicted this was how things would turn out.

If they had met again in Calore, Tuoba wouldn’t have thought much of it. However, since Nie Yan had appeared in the Light Monastery, he had no choice but to take note of him. He was brazen enough to storm such a high level map all by himself, to say nothing of the fact he was only Level 17!

Nie Yan lightly shrugged his shoulders, and said, "I’m just passing through.”

He wished for nothing more than to avoid coming into conflict with Tuoba and Forthright. As Paladins and Berserkers, they greatly inhibited his ability to deal effective damage, especially with the thick plate-armour protecting them. On top of that, the quality of their gear was quite high, and they were a good deal higher level than him. Although he felt confident in guaranteeing his own safety, it was impossible for him to take down the both of them.

"Hey! Didn’t think we’d run into you here!” Forthright heartily laughed as he walked up to greet Nie Yan without thinking. "Looks like you’ve got a red name! …Crap! It’s that red!?” he cried out in shock. "Just how many people did you kill?”

Nie Yan brought up his guard. His name was currently branded a deep crimson, resembling the colour of blood. He couldn’t discount the possibility that Forthright might act against him, especially if he was one of those greedy types who coveted the equipment of others.

Tuoba quickly stopped Forthright from getting any closer to Nie Yan. With a faint smile, he apologetically said, "My friend here didn’t mean any harm. He just doesn’t think when he acts. Please don’t mind him.”

Nie Yan’s name was red, so a misunderstanding was bound to occur if Forthright rushed up to him.

Forthright realized the blunder he’d just made. He scratched his head and let out an embarrassed chuckle.

"Would you be interested in joining our party?” Tuoba offered. Nie Yan greatly intrigued him. He wanted to find out what exactly Nie Yan was doing here, and the simplest way to dispel any doubts between both sides was to form a party, since players within the same party, team, or guild were disallowed from attacking each other. This was a rule set by the game developers to ensure some trust during any activities that required cooperation. Otherwise, what was the point behind a partying system if anyone with vile intentions could force a run to fail by attacking fellow teammates during a dungeon run?

Nie Yan considered for a moment, then asked, "Are you guys planning to hunt mobs on the outskirts or explore inside?”

Entering the Light Monastery by himself posed a certain degree of difficulty. He could only rely on the Silk Spinner Ring and Crawler Ring to help him get past the hordes of Red Cloaked Heretics. However, with Tuoba and Forthright’s help, he could probably directly rush into the inner hall. As for the central hall, those two wouldn’t be able to enter; only he could access it.

"Of course we’re going inside,” Tuoba replied, though he couldn’t help but wonder. Why exactly did Nie Yan want to enter the Light Monastery?

"Good, then we can all enter the inner hall together,” Nie Yan said. He was trying to figure out the backgrounds of Tuoba and Forthright. Based on their gear and level, they definitely weren’t ordinary solo-players. Besides, having a few more powerful friends would only be beneficial to the growth of his guild in the future.

"Great, then it’s settled!” said Tuoba before sending him a party invite.

Nie Yan hit accept.

You have joined Tuoba Time’s party.

After joining, the wariness between both sides almost all but dissipated.

"Let’s hunt some monsters. We can chat while we fight,” Tuoba said. With a Thief in the party, they could leave aggroing the mobs to him.

"What’s the most you guys deal with at once?” Nie Yan asked. By getting a clear read of Forthright and Tuoba’s strength, he would know how to proceed.

"Around dozen or so, I’d say,” Tuoba answered.

Nie Yan was slightly startled. Based on their current level, being able to take on a dozen Red Cloaked Heretics at once was an extraordinary feat. Such ability would allow them to effortlessly rise into the upper ranks of the leaderboards.

"Alright.” Nie Yan nodded before he walked up to a nearby pillar. He spotted around thirty or so Red Cloaked Heretics up ahead. Normally, Tuoba and Forthright would have to split a crowd of this size into three smaller, more manageable groups. However, now that he was in the party, he felt they could cope with just a few more.

Nie Yan took out his Crossbow of Blood, propped it up against his shoulders, and fired.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Three bolts shot out toward the crowd. After some of them were struck, all of the Red Cloaked Heretics discovered his presence, and they came rushing after him.

"Oh my God! You aggroed so many of them! Pal, do you actually know how to pull mobs!?” Forthright paled in fright when he saw over thirty Red Cloaked Heretics swarming toward them. He and Tuoba were already at their limits dealing with a dozen of them. Even with the addition Nie Yan, maybe they’d be able to cope with six or seven more. Who could’ve imagined that he’d aggro all of them in one go?!

Any person with half a brain would consider whether Nie Yan was trying to kill them with a borrowed knife.

"Go up and attack them, then you’ll understand,” Nie Yan replied as he regrouped with them.

"Listen to him,” Tuoba said after a brief moment of hesitation. He felt Nie Yan probably had his own reasons. Besides, if they really couldn’t cope, he and Forthright both possessed fleeing skills. So escaping wouldn’t be a problem.

Although Forthright felt a bit apprehensive, he trusted in his friend’s words. In any case, even if they ended up being surrounded, they could simply bulldoze their way out. He rushed forward to meet the crowd and activated Taunt, forcing the Red Cloaked Heretics to aggro onto him. As soon as he saw so many of them pouncing on him, he felt a cold bead of sweat drip down from his forehead.

「Clink! Clink! Clink!」Their daggers struck him quick succession but dealt less ten damage each, not even half of what it had been earlier. Quickly recovering from the shock, he brandished his greatsword.

Whirlwind Slash!

−310, −305, −312…

A blanket of damage values floated up into the air.

What the hell? Why’s there such a huge difference? Forthright was flabbergasted. Previously, the damage per hit from the Red Cloaked Heretics ranged from the high tens to the low twenties. Yet now, they could barely deal ten damage. His attacks as well—earlier, he had dealt around two hundred damage, but now, he was was hitting in the three hundreds.

As he examined the maximum health of the Red Cloaked Heretics, he noticed they had been reduced to a little under a thousand. Three Whirlwind Slashes would be enough to finish them off.

Tuoba was also shocked beyond belief by this development. He glanced at the nearby Nie Yan who was also in the middle of combat. He was almost certain the sudden change in the Red Cloaked Heretics had to do with him. Just what kind of perverse ability could cripple a group of monsters so badly? The question lingered on in his mind.

Tuoba activated Divine Strike, chopping down on a Red Cloaked Heretic that had rushed up to him.

−960!

An instant kill! It was a critical hit! The Red Cloaked Heretic collapsed to the ground.

Prior to this, such damage was inconceivable!

Nie Yan took down a Red Cloaked Heretic after two or three hits. Turning to look at how Forthright was holding up, all he saw was a large pile of corpses lying on the ground around his feet. He couldn’t help but feel a little envious of Warriors with their AoE attacks like Whirlwind Slash.

"Haha, this is great! These Red Cloaked Heretics are so much weaker than before! Even if you threw thirty or forty more at me, I’d still have no problem dealing with them!” Forthright happily exclaimed as he relentlessly swung his greatsword at the surrounding mobs.

As the battle drew to a close, Forthright had killed the most with almost twenty Red Cloaked Heretics slain. Tuoba had also dispatched half-a-dozen or so himself.

Corpses littered the ground around them.

The harvests from this battle were quite generous. Nie Yan collected all the drops from the ground and set them aside in a separate bag. When the time came for the party to dissolve, they’d be divided up evenly between the three of them.

"What kind of skill was that? It’s so powerful, and the duration is so long as well. It should be an aura-type skill, right?” Tuoba asked. The effects of Nie Yan’s skill were simply too stunning. Even he couldn’t help but feel a hint of envy. With this sort of skill, levelling would be significantly faster. Out of any skill in the game, skill books for aura-type skills were the hardest to obtain.

"You’re right. It does have an aura effect.” Nie Yan nodded. "It reduces the health and defense of all evil creatures.”

As for the exact details of the skill, that was the other side’s business. Tuoba didn’t feel good about prying any further either.

The three players cleared out the monsters in the area as they slowly penetrated deeper into the monastery. An hour or so later, Nie Yan levelled up to Level 18.

As the two sides became more familiar with one another, the topics of their conversations gradually became more intimate.

"What guild are you two from?” Nie Yan finalled asked. If they weren’t part of a guild, he had a hard time imagining how solo-players could get their hands on such good equipment, unless they were people who had reincarnated into the past just like him?

"What guild are we from?” Tuoba chuckled, and said, "You must be very curious about why Forthright and I have such good equipment, right?”

"Right.” Nie Yan nodded.

"I was wondering when you were finally going to ask that! You couldn’t stand it in anymore, eh? ” Forthright chimed in, revealing a big wide grin. "We’re not part of a guild. Tuoba’s family owns a gaming org, so we have a pretty easy time finding people to party up with.”

"Which gaming org?” Nie Yan asked in surprise. Just which gaming organization of was capable of grinding out the full Dark Battle Armour Set so early on in the game’s life?

"Withered Leaf.”

Nie Yan was taken by surprise once more after hearing the name of the organization. Withered Leaf was a top five gaming organization, on the same level as Battle Crazed. It was founded by a family financial group, more precisely the Tuoba Financial Group. According to hearsay, they had their hands in over twenty different markets, including hotels, boutiques, and virtual reality businesses. It was one of the few domestic entities that had the financial capital to rival Cao Xu’s Century Financial Group.

Tuoba carefully eyed Nie Yan. When he noticed that Nie Yan didn’t show much of a reaction, he revealed a faint smile. After finding out about his family’s wealth, if he saw any traces of greed in Nie Yan’s eyes—like those snobbish associates who fawned over him at his family’s financial group—he would unavoidably have a lower opinion of him.

"Well, what I got out of this is that you guys aren’t part of any guild! So… would you be interested in joining mine?” Nie Yan asked Tuoba and Forthright with a light smile.

"Asskickers United?” Tuoba examined the guild emblem on Nie Yan’s chest. Its logo was a tribal minotaur head. It was simple yet elegant.

It’s a pun on the guild’s name in Chinese, 牛人部落, which literally translates to "Cow People Tribe.” 牛人 in Chinese, however, is also slang for Badass, Asskicker, Amazing Person, and so on.

Chapter 181 – Withered Leaf

The guild emblem for Asskickers United had been personally selected by Nie Yan. He was fond of flavourful things that were rich with cultural references.

"I’ve already heard of the bad blood between your guild and Victorious Return. From what I know, it’s only a matter of time before you guys get swallowed up,” Tuoba said. The professional players from Withered Leaf had all been puzzled over something. Granted the recent expansion of Asskickers United was indeed worthy of praise, but it was still a fledgling guild, yet to establish a firm foundation. To dare to confront an esteemed behemoth like a Victorious Return? This was clearly a case of the newborn calf not fearing the tiger.

There’s actually a pun here that’s hard to translate into English. The characters for Asskickers United, 牛人部落, are literally translated as Cow People Tribe. So fledgling Cow People Tribe… newborn calf not fearing the tiger.

Nie Yan felt a slight hint of anger at Tuoba’s words, but he couldn’t deny that his concerns were quite reasonable. Any player would naturally have to consider these things before joining a guild. Siding with his guild meant becoming enemies with Victorious Return, so why would Tuoba willingly enter into such a disadvantageous situation?

But Nie Yan disagreed with Tuoba’s assessment. Just as he was about to refute, Tuoba continued, "However, I’m still willing to join your guild. I just want to let you know, though. My matters don’t reflect the stance of Withered Leaf. Although my family owns the gaming org, I’m still removed from them.” Even though he could get Withered Leaf players to party up with him, he wasn’t a member of the organization. So he had no jurisdiction over anyone there. Withered Leaf’s sole purpose was to generate a profit, whether through in-game businesses, selling merch, or other venues for revenue, while he simply played for leisure.

"You guys are the only ones crazy enough to duke it out with them to the death, but what I admire most is precisely that sort of foolhardy bravery, Besides, I’m also fond of a good challenge!” said Tuoba with a faint smile.

"Well since Tuoba’s joining, you can count me in as well,” Forthright said. He knew Tuoba’s personality pretty well, but even he was baffled as to why his friend had agreed to join.

Truthfully, Tuoba didn’t much care for the fame of Asskickers United. He’d accepted the invite simply because he found Nie Yan to be a person worth befriending, with a very agreeable temperament. What he treasured most was a person that he could sincerely interact with.

Nie Yan was a little astonished. He didn’t expect the sudden shift in attitude from Tuoba. After a second thought though, he began to understand Tuoba’s intentions.

"It seems I was small-minded,” Nie Yan said with an apologetic smile. "But I still have to disagree with your judgement. Sooner or later, the guild that’s going to be wiped from Calore will be Victorious Return, not mine.”

Tuoba’s expression flickered with a hint of surprise. Just where was this self-confidence coming from?

"Alright, let’s drop the subject. I’m getting a headache listening to you guys. As far as I’m concerned, joining a guild isn’t a bad thing. Hey, do you think I’ll be the top Berserker in the guild?” Forthright interjected. To him, this matter was far more interesting.

"Yeah, I’d say so. As for being the top Warrior though, I think you still fall a little short,” Nie Yan replied. If he had to compare Forthright and Bladelight, he felt the latter was a bit stronger. Bladelight had recently obtained the best armour set from the Sorens Dungeon on Specialist, and although he was slightly behind Forthright in level, he could overcome that difference with skill.

"Damn, there’s actually a Warrior who’s stronger than me? I want to meet him when we get back!” Forthright boiled with competitive spirit.

Tuoba pondered in silence. Maybe Asskickers United really did have quite a few strong players; otherwise, Nie Yan wouldn’t have such confidence.

Tuoba had met the top-ranking players in Victorious Return before. Most of them weren’t that impressive, but he couldn’t help but feel dispirited when he thought of Heaven Breaker. That guy’s precise control was simply too formidable. Even he didn’t feel confident going against him.

There was a commonly held belief among players that an individual’s strength didn’t matter in front of the absolute might of a guild. But in the stronghold sieges not too long from now—which would determine the future prosperity of a guild—any powerful individual could greatly influence the tide of battle.

Victorious Return might be powerful, but Asskickers United was rapidly catching up. Nie Yan felt confident that they would overtake them, sooner or later. He had already tasked Guo Huai with sending out invitations to various players who would become Magisters, Guardians, Shadow Dancers, and so on in the future. Although many of them might disdain joining his guild, there were others who just started playing, so their potential still remained untapped. Since they were still nobodies, once they received a gracious invite from Asskickers United, they would almost certainly wholheartedly devote themselves to the guild.

Taotie and Undying Scoundrel, for example—both players with the capacity to become a Guardian and a Magister respectively—though confused as to why Asskickers United would seek them out, they quickly fell to temptation under the lure of superior benefits.

Nie Yan had handed Guo Huai a recruitment list of all of the famous players that he remembered in his past life. Although only a small portion of the people on that list would agree to join, it was still quite impressive. There were already five individuals in the guild that had high chances of becoming Shadow Dancers, Guardians, Magisters, and so on. As for players just a rank lower, there were over several dozen. There were also many players who Guo Huai was still in the midst of negotiations with, hoping to entice them with many favourable conditions. He even spared no effort in trying to headhunt the players who had already joined other guilds.

With the support of Nie Yan’s enormous capital, Asskickers United would eventually become a mecca for godly players.

After that, the guild would not just be full of asskickers in name but also reality.

There were actually many strong players in the previous timeline that didn’t reveal themselves to the public. Forthright and Tuoba were such players, not only in terms of level and gear but also skill. With their addition to the guild, Asskickers United would undoubtedly gain two more top-ranking experts.

Nie Yan could clearly sense that as Asskickers United slowly developed under his control, the guild would inevitably grow into a mighty oak, towering over all below the heavens.

Tuoba Time has joined your guild.

Very Forthright has joined your guild.

"I have a full set of Thief equipment you can have, but it belongs to Withered Leaf. If you can take out a few items to exchange for it, I can call up some people up,” Tuoba offered. He actually felt a bit awkward. Even though the organization belonged to his family, he had no authority over it. So he had no right to just give away their equipment unless he returned with something of equal value.

"What level?” Nie Yan asked. He didn’t expect them to have any extra sets of high-level equipment lying around.

After thinking it over, it didn’t seem so strange. Withered Leaf was just like Battle Crazed, a well-established gaming organization. Out of the top one hundred professional players domestically, over ten were from Withered Leaf. There were also around forty or fifty in the top five hundred. Such a powerful gaming organization was highly efficient in gathering resources.

Nie Yan was suddenly reminded of the past. The War God Tribe gaming organization backed by his father had once surpassed Withered Leaf and Battle Crazed for a time. It seemed his thinking was still too small-scale.

"Level 20, one of the members from their elite team hit Level 25 recently, so they’re switching their old set out. Right now, who it goes to hasn’t been decided. So if I want it, they’ll definitely give it to me, but I’ll also have to hand over some things in exchange; they won’t be able to make up for the loss otherwise,” Tuoba explained. Since his family owned Withered Leaf, the higher-ups there didn’t dare to ignore him if he wanted equipment from them. "Aside from my gear, I’m actually quite poor.” Tuoba wryly smiled.

"Ah, I see…” Nie Yan nodded. After considering the offer, he said, "I can take out a full set of Level 30 Gold-grade equipment to trade, but I want to check out the properties of the Thief equipment first.” After grinding Scaled Frogs for so long, Tang Yao had collected over several dozen pieces of Level 30 Gold-grade equipment with decent properties. It was absolutely worth Nie Yan exchanging a few pieces for a full set of Level 20 Thief equipment.

"Level 30 equipment…” Tuoba was in shock. Even Withered Leaf didn’t have a full set of Level 30 equipment, only a few odd parts lying here and there. He suddenly recalled, "Right! I nearly forgot! Your guild leader is Level 26. I’ve heard he trains on Level 30 mobs, so it’s not strange for you guys to have a complete set of Level 30 equipment. If you’re willing to exchange a full set of Level 30 Gold-grade equipment, Withered Leaf will give you some money to make it a fair trade.”

"Can I ask you a question? What’s the highest level player at Withered Leaf?” Nie Yan wondered why he hadn’t seen any signs of Withered Leaf on the leaderboards all this time.

"The highest is Level 25. They’re different from us. They spend all day running the main dungeons, but they’re not as high of a level as they could be since they’ve wiped plenty of times trying to clear dungeons on Specialist. It’s fine though. If they level too quickly, their gear won’t be able to keep up, so they’ll eventually slow down anyway. Don’t be mistaken, though, their levelling speed is still pretty fast. It’ll probably take only two or three days for most of them to hit Level 26. They’d rather focus on finding out how to clear certain dungeons on Specialist, so they don’t attach any importance to levelling. I bet the top people on the leaderboards like Kill Love and Sleepy Fox are the same. Even Heaven Breaker probably isn’t focusing everything into levelling,” Tuoba explained. Based on his own ability, he’d probably only rank around the top three at Withered Leaf.

These gaming organizations focused on reaping a profit. Since their goals were different from players like Nie Yan, there was no conflict of interest. They were professional players. That meant if he was willing to spend the money, he could even hire them to do work for him.

Speaking truthfully, all of the Specialist dungeons guides from his past life had come from the efforts of the top gaming organizations. Only these keen-sighted players, who were fully dedicated to the game, could research all the various, meticulous ways to clear a dungeon. If he recalled correctly, it was a Withered Leaf player that had shown everyone it was possible to clear Sosil Valley at only Level 5 in his past life. The video released as proof on the official website had made many people sigh with admiration.

Tuoba gave a call to someone from Withered Leaf. When he finished talking, he turned to Nie Yan and said, "It’s called the Eternal Night of Silence Set. I’ve already asked them to send it over. I told them you wanted to trade with a set of Level 30 Gold-grade equipment. They said that’s fine, and they’ll cover the rest with money.”

The Eternal Night of Silence Set? Nie Yan’s mind trembled. It was a top-notch Level 20 Thief set that could only be found by running the Sorens Dungeon on Expert. If he put it on, his levelling speed would improve by a considerable amount. After retrieving the Chapter of Justice, it was about time he started focusing on raising his level again anyway.

"One more thing, the guy I’m talking to also said he wants to meet you. He’s the head of Withered Leaf,” Tuoba said, taking Nie Yan by surprise. What did the head of Withered Leaf want to do with him?

Chapter 182 – Fierce Person

The head of Withered Leaf was called Aqua Smoke Stub. He ranked third among all professional players, even higher than Kill Love. For the vast majority of players, such an esteemed figure could only be heard about, never seen. Unlike other famous players like Sleepy Fox and Kill Love, he always stayed relatively low-key, but that didn’t mean he was any less ambitious. He simply walked a different path from them.

There’s actually a pun here. His name, 水色菸頭 , literally translates to Water Color Smoke/Cigarette Head. The "smoke” character (菸) in his name can also be read as "withered leaf.” So his name can also be read as Aqua Withered Leaf Head.

His operations in Conviction didn’t expand beyond creating a top-tier elite team, which took on various tasks from large financial groups, including completing quests and clearing dungeons.

They didn’t discriminate between enemy and ally. As long as the employer was willing to spend the money, they were willing to take on any task. According to hearsay, the Withered Leaf gaming organization generated immense sums of money for the Tuoba Financial Group every day.

"Tell him not today. We can chat when I get back to the city,” Nie Yan said. Logically speaking, a set of Level 30 Gold-grade equipment wasn’t enough to attract the attention of the head of Withered Leaf. Was it possibly something else…?

"Impressive…” Tuoba gazed at Nie Yan with a somewhat dissatisfied look. Any guild leader would be wild with joy if they heard Smoke Stub wanted to meet with them. Withered Leaf was indeed a formidable organization, but its interests lied elsewhere, so they didn’t often come in conflict with the guilds. In a situation where there were only merits and no demerits, who wouldn’t want to rope in such an ally? Yet, he had actually directly refused.

Tuoba told Withered Leaf of Nie Yan’s reply.

Not long after, Nie Yan suddenly received a call from Withered Leaf. Wryly smiling, he pressed accept.

「How are you? I’m Smoke Stub.」An air of dignity lurked within his gentle tone.

From Nie Yan’s recollection, Smoke Stub was a fierce person who was very protective of his own people. In the previous timeline, a guild had killed a member of Withered Leaf. In retaliation, not only did Smoke Stub ruin that guild’s business connections, he also led an army to directly seize their stronghold. The massacre that followed remained fresh in the minds of players even long after the event, as well as the declaration that he made to everyone present: "Whoever touches the people of my Withered Leaf should be prepared to lose not only their life but everything else!” The reputation of Withered Leaf grew immensely after that.

Nie Yan thought Smoke Stub was going to be a bandit-type character like Heaven Breaker, aggressive and overbearing. He didn’t expect him to be so soft-spoken and polite.

「Uh, hello…」Nie Yan answered, trying to guess why Smoke Stub was so impatient to reach him.

「Kill Love and I have some dealings together, so I know about the Union of Assassins. Name a price, I’d like to request a prince role in the union.」Smoke Stub got straight to the point. Even a blind man could easily spot the bright future that lay ahead of the union. If he could enter such an organization, it would be very helpful to the growth of Withered Leaf. Another point of concern was that if he didn’t take the initiative to join now, he couldn’t say for sure that a lot of potential work later on wouldn’t be snatched away from them. No matter how strong Withered Leaf was, there was no way it could contend against such a large syndicate of professional players. Even now, a mere several days after its inception, it had far surpassed Withered Leaf in manpower.

Nie Yan finally cleared the mystery. It seemed Smoke Stub had found out about the Union of Assassins from Kill Love. Smoke Stub could’ve easily joined the organization on the basis that Withered Leaf wasn’t much weaker than Battle Crazed Alliance, but he required the prince role for them to gain any sort of strong foothold later on.

Kill Love knew what Smoke Stub wanted, but the matter was out of his hands. He simply didn’t have the authority to give out the prince role. Even so, Withered Leaf was an important business partner to Battle Crazed Alliance. If they could join, business in the Union of Assassins would rise by at least several fold, not to mention the significant boost in manpower. Kill Love would never go as far as to reject Withered Leaf, so he threw the ball in Nie Yan’s court.

「Don’t worry, I promised Kill Love I wouldn’t leak your identity,」Smoke Stub added, hoping to dispel any potential doubts.

「I can assign you the prince role, but I’d like you to listen to my request,」Nie Yan answered after some deliberation. Since the head of Withered Leaf had sought him out, why not take advantage of the opportunity to make them fight for him?

「Speak, I’ll accept if I think the request is reasonable,」Smoke Stub replied. Withered Leaf operated on the principle of equivalent exchange. They never made a loss in any business deal.

「I want Withered Leaf to become a part of my guild.」 Nie Yan purposely made a ridiculous demand in order to gauge Smoke Stub’s reaction.

「Impossible,」 Smoke Stub directly refused. Withered Leaf only had so much business because they didn’t join with any camp, even if they had relations. They would lose many clients if they entered Asskickers United.

「There’s plenty of clients in the Union of Assassins. The business you’d lose from joining my guild would be negligible at that point,」Nie Yan pointed out, as if he knew exactly what Smoke Stub was thinking. The gap between him and Heaven Breaker would instantly close by a wide margin if he could recruit such an influential figure to his side. However, he also understood that his guild was too weak right now. It didn’t have any appeal to Smoke Stub. Withered Leaf might be a neutral entity for the time being, but he knew several years from now, they would become an important force under Cao Xu’s control. In this life, he was determined to prevent that from happening. Instead, he planned to bind them to his ship, bit by gradual bit.

「It’s temporarily impossible.」Smoke Stub shook his head.

「Fine, have Withered Leaf join Asskickers United for one month. We’ll buy any surplus equipment you wish to sell at market price. In exchange, any Honour that Withered Leaf earns from running dungeons on Specialist will go to my guild. We won’t interfere with your business either. After the month is over, we can discuss any further cooperation. How does that sound?」Nie Yan proposed. Since it was contracted work, and they could keep doing business the same as before, Smoke Stub would probably have a bit of an easier time agreeing.「One other thing, I want to have some promising individuals in my guild accompany your team during dungeon runs. Naturally, there’ll be compensation.」

A lot of players in his guild showed great potential. If they could gain experience by observing the seasoned professional players in Withered Leaf, they would develop even faster.

Smoke Stub silently deliberated for a good while. The offer wasn’t bad. Withered Leaf’s business could continue unimpeded, and Asskickers United would also settle the problem of excess equipment. From an objective standpoint, the deal was only beneficial. Although it would be slightly inconvenient babysitting newcomers—especially if they didn’t understand anything and ended up dragging the team down—he understood that he needed to make some concessions for the other side to agree to giving him the prince role in the Union of Assassins. Besides, he could just tell the players Nie Yan sent his way to stay in the back and do nothing but watch.

The matter was crucial to the future of Withered Leaf; Smoke Stub naturally had to ponder over it carefully.

A while later, Smoke Stub finally decided,「I agree to your proposal. Let’s sign a contract.」He had consulted the opinion of the person directly above his head in the Tuoba Financial Group.

The Tuoba Family seemed interested in the power behind Asskickers United’s sudden rise to prominence.

「Head to the Asskickers United guild headquarters. Watchful Snail will process you guys into the guild,」Nie Yan replied. He was pleasantly surprised. Smoke Stub had agreed to the proposal. This was a great stroke of luck for his guild

Both parties signed and stamped their fingerprints on the contact. With the agreement taking effect, Nie Yan added Smoke Stub to the Union of Assassins. And so, the organization gained another prince.

It seemed the number of princes would increase in the future. There were many influential figures on the professional player rankings, so the Union of Assassins would definitely attract more organizations like Withered Leaf. However, aside from the founders, the people who followed wouldn’t receive any shares.

Not long after Smoke Stub entering, a string of notices of other players joining appeared in the chat.

Withered Leaf Fashionable has joined the Union of Assassins.

Withered Leaf Paper Sheet has joined the Union of Assassins.

…

More than six hundred players from Withered Leaf joined the Union of Assassins, bringing the total number of members to almost four thousand.

The addition of Withered Leaf was a great boon to the Union of Assassins which was already expanding at a rapid pace.

Nie Yan skimmed down the list of clients and agents. There were quite a few who had received the baron title by now. Among them was Hapless Frog, who had been in the organization for less than a day. Yet he was already approaching the rank of viscount. The main factor for his rise was that he had many good things to sell on the union’s trading platform. With clients purchasing them and the union taking a small cut of every transaction, he quickly accumulated contribution points. After becoming a baron, there were clients who were willing to pay great sums of money for him to help them complete quests.

The profits from the Union of Assassins had already reached 50 gold. According to how the shares were divided up, Nie Yan would receive 30 gold, and this huge money-making machine was only beginning to get into gear.

Recently, Nie Yan had heard from Fa Lan, Sleepy Fox, and Kill Love that a venture capital was interested in purchasing the Union of Assassins. Naturally, they refused. They weren’t fools. No matter what price was offered, they wouldn’t hand over this golden goose to someone else. Besides, they needed Nie Yan’s approval first.

After Nie Yan and Smoke Stub finalized the details of their cooperation, Smoke Stub brought all of the players from Withered Leaf to the Asskickers United guild headquarters.

Their headquarters had just recently been upgraded to Tier 2. It was considerably more spacious than before. A steady stream of players flowed in and out of the entrance, with the lively vigour of a newly emerged guild on full display.

"Boss, I’m here to hand in a mission!”

"Me too!”

A group of players surrounded Zhao Li. He was in charge of handing out guild missions and giving out the rewards for completing them. For example, if the Starry Night Potion Shop required a certain type of medicinal herb, he would give out a mission asking members to collect it, with the reward being a certain amount of merit points based on contribution.

"Is Watchful Snail here?” a voice called out from outside the entrance gates of the guild headquarters.

The Asskickers United players all looked over. A crowd of several dozen players stood outside the entrance. The tidy sets of equipment they wore all looked to be least Gold-grade and reflected a dazzling, metallic lustre. The surrounding guild members drew in a breath of cold air. What an intimidating group of people!

Chapter 183 – Ash Cloaked Heretics

The crowd of players stepped through the entrance, promptly arranging themselves in an orderly fashion within the courtyard. They were an entourage of Warriors, all armed to the teeth, with an awe-inspiring appearance. The person at the center was the tallest among them, as well as the owner of the voice who had called out earlier. This was Aqua Smoke Stub, a brawny man in his thirties. He was clad in dark golden armour with a horned helmet over his head. He radiated an imposing aura which made people feel a heavy, oppressive pressure.

If the guild members of Asskickers United encountered one or two people in full sets of Gold-grade armour walking down the streets of Calore, they usually wouldn’t feel particularly amazed, aside from the slight gaze of envy. After all, anyone who could wear a full-set of Gold-grade armour was a top-tier player in the game.

But now, several dozen such players had appeared right on their doorstep! How could they not be surprised?

"Excuse me, may I ask why you’re looking for Watchful Snail…?” Zhao Li stepped out to receive them. He couldn’t help but feel a little apprehensive. He had never seen such a large band of formidable players before. A crowd of players showing up in full sets of Gold-grade equipment… this was practically telling everyone that they were here to pick a fight!

The guild members around Zhao Li also felt nervous. They whispered among each other, trying to guess the purpose of the other party’s visit.

Who knew where this mysterious group of players had cropped up from?

"Hey, Boss. Where do you think these guys came from…?” a guild member beside Zhao Li whispered into his ear in a nervous tone.

Zhao Li shook his head in response. "Your guess is as good as mine.”

"We’re here to join your guild. Tell him to hurry up and come out,” Smoke Stub announced.

As if a single stone had triggered a thousand waves, his words created a huge disturbance among the guild members in the area.

Heavens! This intimidating lot of players had actually come here to join the guild? The guild members closest to Smoke Stub’s group stared on in shock. The armour they wore was so dazzling, it made everyone feel a little faint.

"Please wait a moment. He’ll be with you shortly,” Zhao Li said after finally calming down.

"The commanding leader is here.”

Guo Huai arrived less than a minute later, having rushed over to the guild headquarters from elsewhere in Calore.

"I’m really sorry for not arriving here sooner. I was busy applying for a guild quest,” Guo Huai said apologetically to Smoke Stub.

"It’s fine. You can start adding us to the guild now,” Smoke Stub replied, waving his hand.

"Alright.” Before Guo Huai got to work, he turned to the surrounding guild members and shouted, "What are you all standing around for? Go off and level!”

The crowd of spectating guild members quickly dispersed. Some of them were given yet another shock when they walked out of the guild headquarters, only to see several hundred players on standby in the plaza outside. There were players of every class, all arranged in neat, orderly ranks. The equipment they wore was bright and colourful. Although they couldn’t compare to those people inside, anyone could tell with a glance that they weren’t run-of-the-mill players. Evidently, they were all part of the same group.

What was going on today? Why were so many strong players suddenly joining their guild?

It was as if an exhibition of high-quality equipment was being held in the plaza. As the ordinary guild members squeezed out of the headquarters to check out what was going on, they were all filled with an indescribable sense of joy and amazement.

After a while, notices began popping up in the guild chat.

Aqua Smoke Stub has joined the guild.

Withered Leaf Fashionable has joined the guild.

Before long, notices flooded the entire screen. These new people were all assigned to a sub-group called Withered Leaf. After putting two and two together, some of the more knowledgeable guild members immediately recognized them. Surprisingly, the third-ranked person on the professional player rankings, Aqua Smoke Stub, had decided to join Asskickers United with all of his subordinates in Withered Leaf! This was quite an unexpected development since the reputation of their organization alone was more than enough to establish a formidable guild themselves.

The guild members all began wondering just what sort of background their guild leader possessed. For him to recruit all of Withered Leaf into the guild… this wasn’t something that could be accomplished merely with wealth!

Withered Leaf joining caused a huge stir in the guild. From the moment they entered, they could sense the explosive pace of the guild’s development. As for whether it would grow to rival a goliath like Victorious Return in the future, not only them but every player in the guild was waiting to find out.

After entering the guild, Smoke Stub was surprised to see the treasury filled with so many pieces of Level 30 Silver and Gold-grade equipment. He didn’t expect them to have collected so much high-level equipment.

"Your treasury is pretty well-stocked,” Smoke Stub praised. He didn’t think a fledgling like Asskickers United could establish a treasury that impressed even the likes of him. From his point of view, the quality of this treasury didn’t differ much from those of some larger guilds.

Thanks to the great effort put in by the guild members, along with the continued support from the Starry Night Potion Shop, Guo Huai could hardly imagine the resources and manpower that had to be spent to get the treasury to where it was now. It was full of all types of equipment, with no less than two thousand pieces in total, and at least another three thousand were currently being used by the players in the guild.

"Nirvana Flame told me he would buy all of the equipment you don’t need at market price to bolster our guild treasury,” Guo Huai said. Withered Leaf and Asskickers United were only temporarily collaborating. With the formidable financial backing of the Starry Night Potion Shop, he spoke in a tone full of confidence.

Smoke Stub sent Guo Huai a trade request, then said, "We only have one hundred and sixty pieces of Silver and Gold-grade equipment for now.” He estimated that the value of the equipment should at least be 30 gold. Very few guilds at this time were able to take out such a sum at once. He was trying to probe out the other side’s financial resources.

"According to the market price, the total comes to 32 gold,” Guo Huai replied. He was startled by the quality of each piece of equipment. The strength of Withered Leaf really couldn’t be looked down on.

Smoke Stub nodded. The price Guo Huai gave could be considered fair.

Guo Huai put in 32 gold in the trade window, and the two people hit confirm on the trade.

Afterwards, Guo Huai stored all the equipment in the treasury. These pieces of high-quality equipment, ranging from Level 15–20, would surely ignite the enthusiasm of the guild members.

Seeing them take out 32 gold at once, and only for the sake of padding the treasury, Smoke Stub gained a newfound awareness of the financial ability of Asskickers United. At least in terms of wealth, he had to concede that Withered Leaf was far behind them.

It seemed that he had seriously underestimated Asskickers United before. Maybe they really did have the potential to rival Victorious Return.

Guo Huai began the process of adding all the Withered Leaf players to the guild. This kept him busy all the way until afternoon, whereupon he notified Nie Yan with a message.

Withered Leaf didn’t let joining Asskickers United affect their business. They only stayed in the guild headquarters for a short while before returning to their own matters. Aside from running dungeons, there was still a lot of other work that needed to be attended to.

With how efficiently Withered Leaf ran dungeons, Asskickers United was sure to be promoted to a Level 3 guild in no time.

Nie Yan was advancing deeper into the Light Monastery with Tuoba and Forthright when he suddenly received the update from Guo Huai. He faintly smiled. With the addition of Withered Leaf, the strength of Asskickers United would rise up another stage, directly closing in on Victorious Return. Although there was the possibility of Withered Leaf leaving after the month was over, when that time arrived, he would naturally have many more methods to keep them around.

"I didn’t think you’d actually pull Withered Leaf into your guild. Impressive!” Tuoba had gotten the information from his contacts in Withered Leaf. He was very surprised because he understood the principles of the organization very well. So them joining Asskickers United was completely outside of his expectations.

"The only goal of Withered Leaf is making a profit. They only joined the guild because I struck a deal with them,” Nie Yan vaguely explained. His involvement with the Union of Assassins had to be kept a secret. "As for what kind of deal, sorry, but I can’t divulge that to you guys,” he said with an apologetic smile.

"It’s fine, we understand,” Tuoba said, nodding his head. As a person who came from the long-standing Tuoba Family Financial Group, he understood that some secrets couldn’t be told to even the closest of friends. As for what kind of closed-door deals Withered Leaf were making, he had no right to be privy to such information, unless his old man was willing to tell him.

The three had cleared out almost a thousand Red Cloaked Heretics on their path. Forthright and Tuoba acted as the core of the group, tanking most of the damage and killing the most monsters. As for Nie Yan, other than killing mobs, he occasionally used Steal on them—earning himself a little extra income. Money aside, he also managed to find a few interesting trinkets.

Green Crystal Fragments

Description: Collect 10 to form a Green Crystal Quartz.

Green Crystal Quartz

Effects: unknown.

Nie Yan recalled that Green Crystals were used in the production of weapons and Tinkerer items. The level of the material was very high. It could only be used at around Level 50 or 60. Green Crystal Quartz was quite valuable, so he had kept all of these Green Crystal Fragments. Checking his bag, he had collected a little over twenty so far. They could be fused to create two Green Crystal Quartz. But he had to find an Advanced Blacksmith in order to do so. He had to pay quite a bit for the processing fee as well.

The three had killed their way to the winding entrance hall which led to the central hall of the Light Monastery. They saw three Ash Cloaked Heretics up ahead. These were Mage-type monsters. Their appearances were concealed under ash-gray robes, so that none could see what they truly looked like. They had crooked spines, and held both hands out in front of them like beggars. But instead of emptiness, their palms were home to hovering orbs of ghastly red flame.

These Ash Cloaked Heretics were high-level monsters.

"They look like Elites. Let me take a look,” Nie Yan said. He was the only person capable of identifying these Ash Cloaked Heretics.

"Be careful.”

Nie Yan showed a calm smile. He remembered that these Ash Cloaked Heretics were Level 32 Elites. This was probably as far as Forthright and Tuoba could go, but he had a way to narrowly slip past them and explore deeper into the Light Monastery.

Nie Yan took cover behind a nearby pillar. He carefully snuck over, concealing his figure. He was roughly twenty meters away from the nearest Ash Cloaked Heretic.

Faintly sensing his presence, the Ash Cloaked Heretics grew a little restless.

Nie Yan activated Disappear, making himself much harder to detect.

The three Ash Cloaked Heretics, no longer sensing an intruder, reverted back to a passive state.

Nie Yan inspected them with Transcendent Insight.

Ash Cloaked Heretic (Elite): Level 32

Health: 3,500/3,500

They didn’t have much health in comparison to other Elites, but as Mage-type monsters, their damage was extremely frightening.

Chapter 184 – Splitting Edge

"Those Ash Cloaked Heretics are Level 32 Elites,” Nie Yan informed. He reappeared in front of Tuoba and Forthright after sneaking back.

"Level 32 Elites…? We definitely can’t deal with them.” Tuoba wrinkled his brows. It was impossible for them to deal with three Level 32 Elites with their current line up. He estimated they’d all be wiped out after a single round of spells.

"Should we head back and find some more party members?” Forthright asked, putting away the greatsword in his hand.

"No, let those bunch of scoundrels be. They definitely won’t come. All of the Withered Leaf players are preoccupied with running dungeons. I’m guessing they probably won’t have any free time until the day after tomorrow. Besides, we’re going to have to log off in thirty minutes anyway. So let’s call it a day. We’ll bring more people with us next time,” Tuoba suggested after checking the server time.

"You’re right. There isn’t enough time left today,” Nie Yan said. Thirty minutes wasn’t long enough for him to explore the central hall. He was better off finding a safe place to log out.

"Are you planning to return to Calore?” Tuoba glanced at Nie Yan and asked.

Nie Yan shook his head. "I’m going to explore a bit deeper before logging off.”

"Really? You still want to go further inside?” Forthright asked in surprise. Exploring the depths of the Light Monastery by himself… was he looking to die?

Tuoba was also bewildered. Although Nie Yan’s strength could be considered decent, he absolutely was not a match for these Elites.

"Don’t forget, I’m a Thief.” Nie Yan smirked.

Tuoba stared blankly, then let out a clear laugh. "You’re right, I almost forgot!”

The Thief class had the innate advantage of being able to go where other classes couldn’t. An ordinary Thief absolutely wouldn’t dare to explore particularly dangerous areas, but Tuoba made the mistake of judging Nie Yan as an ordinary Thief.

Tuoba and Forthright had witnessed Nie Yan’s capabilities for themselves. Maybe he really could sneak into the central hall by relying on his skills.

"If you find any Paladin equipment, save them for me,” Tuoba said. He was a bit impressed by Nie Yan for daring to explore such a dangerous place.

"Me too! I need Warrior equipment,” Forthright loudly chimed in from the side.

"I’m just going inside to take a look. I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to bring anything back,” Nie Yan replied. He was also going there for the sake of retrieving the Chapter of Justice. As for other things, they’d be truly difficult to obtain. But who could know for certain? He might just find some amazing treasure inside.

"No problem, just keep it in mind. We’ll be heading back now,” Tuoba said. There was no point in them staying here any longer.

"Mhm, sure!” Nie Yan nodded. Tuoba and Forthright definitely couldn’t progress any further today, unless they were somehow able to bring some people back here to clear out the Ash Cloaked Heretics in a short span of time.

"See ya later, pal! Remember to get me a few pieces of Warrior equipment,” Forthright said with a wide grin.

"Don’t worry. If I find any Warrior equipment, I’ll definitely save them for you.” Nie Yan chuckled. He felt Forthright’s character truly matched his name, straightforward and without any hidden schemes. He had a good impression of Tuoba and Forthright. They were certainly people worth befriending.

Although Nie Yan had reincarnated, he didn’t feel his skills would allow him to triumph over everyone. Even so, having knowledge of the future possessed one very large advantage—and that was the ability to recruit various heaven-defying talents to his side. With Tuoba and Forthright in the guild, Asskickers United gained two more experts.

Taking out a Return Scroll each, Tuoba and Forthright began activating them. Twenty seconds later, they were whisked away with two brilliant flashes of light.

Nie Yan glanced at the ceiling of the monastery. He spotted wooden beams about five meters above his head. They were carved with all sorts of designs which looked detailed and elegant on closer inspection. If he wanted to get past those three Elites, he had no choice but to climb over them by using the ceiling beams. However, there was too little time, and it was dangerous for him to log off in the central hall. He left the corridor to do a bit of grinding outside. After which he found a safe spot to go offline.

Setting aside the game helmet on top of his bedside table, Nie Yan walked out of his room to discover numerous large boxes sealed with tape blocking the hallway. It seemed much of the furniture and items in the house had already been packed away.

Nie Yan’s mother called out to him after spotting him walk out of the room. "Little Yan, we’re going to move to the city in two days. Your dad just registered his own company, so we’re moving closer to his office. We’re planning to transfer you to a high-class prep school in the city as well. I hear they’ll be able to teach you a few things you can’t learn here, and you’ll get a better education. When you have the time, you should say goodbye to your classmates.”

"Sure, I understand. Mom, let me help you pack.” His mother’s words reminded him of the previous timeline. His father had moved the whole family to the capital around this time as well.

While helping his mother pack, Nie Yan heard his father writing away in the study room. He guessed it probably had something to do with the company.

Summer vacation was coming to an end, and the new school year was about to start. Nie Yan thought of Xie Yao. He’d finally get to meet her again. He wasn’t sure what she was up to lately. An intense sense of longing washed over him, like the pleasant burning sensation of a strong spirit going down his throat as he recalled her pleasant smile in his mind.

It had been ten long years—an entire lifetime for him even, yet the feelings he had for her never faded. In fact, they had only grown stronger over time.

During his last year of high school, his heart had been thoroughly snatched away by her. But back then, he had been a hopeless coward, muddleheaded and incapable of confessing his love. All he could do was hide behind a corner and timidly sneak glances at her. Yet the fact that he could even catch a glimpse of her every day left him content to go about his complacent life.

This life, however, would be different. He would never repeat the same, disastrous mistakes.

Nie Yan helped his mother pack away various household items. Anything that they needed would be stored inside a box.

"Mom, we don’t need to bring these things. We won’t have any use for them anyway.” Nie Yan pointed at a medium-sized box full of antiques. He remembered that in his past life, all they did was collect dust and take up space in the basement of their villa.

"It’s no problem. We can bring a little extra. I’m fine storing them in the basement. We could probably put some of them on display,” Nie Yan’s mother replied with a faint smile, a hint of nostalgia in her voice. She wore an expression full of reminiscence as she took out some of the items from the box to examine.

Spotting the wrinkles that had formed near his mother’s eyes as she smiled, Nie Yan was beset with a feeling of melancholy. His mother had grown old before he even realized. She got engaged with his father when she was in her early twenties, giving birth to him less than a year later. Afterwards, his father left to serve in the army for five years, but she had never once complained. When the family reunited later on, they lived in constant poverty. She toiled endlessly from morning to late evening every day to help support the household. Her youth quickly faded away. Yet despite the bitter hardship, she went about her life with no complaints.

Even when the family became wealthy later on, the relationship between his parents had always stayed strong.

His father very rarely expressed his feelings, but he was a man who deeply cared for his family, an aspect about him that Nie Yan respected the most.

Shabby as those items may be, he now understood why his mother wanted to bring them along. They carried the memories of the past and a lifetime of countless trials and tribulations, when she along with his father struggled to create a family. Even though those times were full of hardship, they represented a simple kind of happiness.

Recalling that his mother had suffered even more hardship in the previous timeline, partially because of him, Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel guilty. A strong desire to take responsibility arose from deep within his heart. Whoever dared to encroach on the happiness of his parents in this life, he’d make sure they would forever disappear from the world.

"Your Uncle Lin and his family will also move with us. We bought a large villa on the outskirts of the city. It’s quite spacious,” his mother warmly explained after noticing that he had gone silent.

"I understand.” Nie Yan nodded and smiled. He carefully packed away all of his mother’s things, wrapping them in cloth to prevent them from getting damaged to some extent before storing them in a box.

"Your father is planning to give some shares of his new company to your Uncle Lin and Uncle Liu, my youngest brother; your cousin, Ah Chen; and some of our other relatives. Although our situation has gotten a lot better, we mustn’t forget those who’ve helped us out. Remember, if it weren’t for them, who knows where our family would be right now?” Nie Yan’s mother earnestly reminded.

Nie Yan’s father was a deeply sentimental man. He always kept in mind those who had treated his family well in the past. When his father had asked Old Lin, Old Liu, and his youngest brother-in-law for money, they insisted on not taking interest. The people who did only agreed to because his father was being stubborn. Even then, it still wasn’t very high.

As for Ah Chen, needless to say, he had done the most for the Nie family. Thanks to Ah Chen running all over the place on his father’s behalf, the company could finally be started. So, naturally, he would receive the largest share of the company. As for Luo Ming and his group, they had acted no differently from loan sharks when his parents had asked to borrow money from them—not to mention they had hounded him on numerous occasions to pay back the debt despite knowing full-well that his parents weren’t home. His parents were greatly disappointed that they had such contemptible relatives.

Suddenly, there was knocking on the front door.

As his mother got up to answer the door, Nie Yan quickly stopped her. Grabbing hold of her wrist, he shook his head and said, "Mom, no need… Let me go answer it instead.”

Nie Yan was now much more thoughtful than he was in the past. His mother showed a gratified smile. She nodded her head and sat back down.

Nie Yan opened the door to the sight of who else but Luo Ming and his loathsome face?

"Little Yan, are your parents home?” Luo Ming asked with an awkward yet somewhat ingratiating smile.

"Scram!” Nie Yan’s expression frosted over. Back then, his father had only given Luo Ming’s group some shares in the company because they had begged shamelessly. Who could’ve guessed that they’d plot against his father later on, leading to him committing suicide out of depression after losing all control of his company? He absolutely wouldn’t allow these events to repeat themselves in this life.

"How can you speak to me like that!? I’m your uncle!” Luo Ming attempted to use his seniority to restrain Nie Yan, but his confidence faltered after seeing the icy glint in Nie Yan’s eyes.

Just as Nie Yan was about to slam the door shut on Luo Ming, his mother’s voice came from behind. "Little Yan, who’s at the door?”

"Sis! It’s your big brother! Little Yan won’t let me in. I just want to talk for a bit. I’ll leave right after,” Luo Ming shamelessly called out.

Nie Yan’s mother furrowed her brows. "Little Yan, let him in.”

Although Nie Yan despised Luo Ming, he didn’t dare disobey his mother and stepped aside.

After Luo Ming entered the house, he was followed by his wife and the other relatives who clung onto him.

Luo Ming took a quick glance at the study room, then let out a forced laugh. "It seems my brother-in-law is pretty busy these days, huh?”

"What do you want? Speak.” Nie Yan’s mother thought back to the time when she and her husband asked them to borrow money. Luo Ming’s group treated them like strangers and even responded with hostility.

"About the matters in the past, we were in the wrong… Little Sister, don’t get angry at us. We came here today to apologize,” Luo Ming’s wife explained. Her grating voice sounded like a squawking duck, making her unpleasant to listen to.

"Sure, we acted coldly, but we still lent you the money. Now that you’ve gotten wealthy, you’re just going to hang us out to dry? How is that reasonable? You can argue your logic with anyone, and they’ll still say it doesn’t make any sense!” Nie Yan’s other aunt sneered.

"Little Yu’s words are a bit crass, but they’re still reasonable. A person mustn’t forget their roots!” Luo Ming’s wife added. It seemed one was tasked to play the role of a villain while the other played the role of the hero.

Nie Yan’s mother frowned. "You were more like loan sharks than family. When we asked you to borrow money, did you act like family?”

Luo Ming’s wife and the other aunt’s expressions flickered with embarrassment.

"Based on your family’s financial situation at that time, who would dare to lend you money? Even real loan sharks wouldn’t take the risk of loaning you money. They wouldn’t believe that you’d be able to pay it back! It all worked out in the end, right? Well, you’re all well-off now. So you suddenly decide to cut all ties with us?” Luo Ming’s wife shouted in a harsh tone.

"Exactly! We can find anyone to be the judge! No one in the world would agree with your reasoning!” Nie Yan’s other aunt pitched in, adding more fuel to the fire.

"How is it fair that outsiders like Old Lin and Old Liu get shares in your company and we don’t!?” By now, Luo Ming started fuming.

Nie Yan’s mother was naturally mild-mannered. She wasn’t a match for the two aunts when it came to quarrelling, nor was she used to dealing with such a stream of slurs. Red-faced and teary eyed, she shouted, "Ask yourselves! Old Lin and Old Liu might be outsiders! But have you people ever treated our family as well as they have…?”

Nie Yan clenched his fists. Staring at their ugly, repulsive mugs, he wanted so badly to rush up and beat the tar out of them.

"Tell your husband to get the hell out here! If he gives us each a three percent share of his company, we’ll drop the matter! If he doesn’t, we’ll find people and let them judge!” Luo Ming threatened, directing his voice toward the study room.

Nie Yan’s father walked out of the study. He stared coldly at Luo Ming’s group.

Luo Ming immediately shut up. He still felt a sense of dread toward this brother-in-law of his who served in the army.

"Are you just about done? Get out of my house! I don’t care how many thugs you bring. You’re not getting a cent out of my company.” Nie Yan’s father walked to his wife’s side and wrapped his arm around her waist. This simple gesture was enough. Her shoulders dropped, relieved from the weight of a crushing burden. Tears rolled down her face as she leaned against her husband.

"Sister, we came here today to have a civil discussion, but your family is simply too out of line!” Luo Ming said, wrinkling his brows.

"Scram! If I hear any more nonsense out of you, I’ll kick you of the house myself!” Nie Yan stared daggers at Luo Ming.

"Look at your son! Is that how you teach him to talk to his elders!?” Luo Ming’s anger had reached its peak. His hand moved to slap Nie Yan’s face. Lost in his rage, he forgot that Nie Yan was no longer the same cowardly boy he knew from the past.

Nie Yan recalled the unhappy experiences that he had with Luo Ming in his childhood. He had been beaten by Luo Ming more times than he cared to remember, quite ruthlessly too. Many times, he’d been left with deep bruises. His mother would always burst into tears, her heart aching deeply whenever she saw the abuse that she was helpless to stop.

Nie Yan grabbed Luo Ming’s wrist like a vice grip and fiercely twisted his arm backwards.

"Let go! Let go now!” Luo Ming screamed out in pain.

Nie Yan carried Luo Ming to the front of the house. Opening the door, he threw him out.

"Well, are you going to get the hell out? Or do I have to throw you out?” Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a hint of ruthlessness as he swept his gaze over Luo Ming’s wife and the others. Ever since he had shot Cao Xu dead, he was no longer the same weak, timid boy.

Luo Ming’s wife and the others were badly frightened by Nie Yan. They quickly vacated the premises while letting loose a stream of curses.

「Bang!」Nie Yan slammed the door shut.

"Mom, don’t cry. They’re not worth your tears.” Nie Yan consoled his mother.

Although Nie Yan’s father found his aggressive actions just a moment ago to be a little strange, he quickly realized something. Presumably, while they were out of town, Nie Yan probably suffered quite a lot under the harassment of Luo Ming’s group. It was only natural for him to change.

Nie Yan’s mother seethed with anger. She felt helpless that she had such a man for an older brother.

Nie Yan spent the entire day helping his mother pack. As dusk approached, she went out to buy groceries in preparation for dinner. Soon, the whole family sat at the table, enjoying a warm meal.

"I’ve heard the prep school we’re sending you to is very nice, but the academic requirements in the capital are much higher. Little Yan, keep up with your studies. You musn’t fall behind your peers,” Nie Yan’s father patted him on the shoulders. His relationship with his father now seemed much closer in comparison to what it was in his past life.

"Yes, I’ll try my best,” Nie Yan replied, simply to please his parents. As for the need to actually study, passing his senior year of high school with full marks wouldn’t be a problem.

"While I was out buying groceries, I heard Little Yu has been going around to our neighbours, telling them that we’ve forgotten our roots, and abandoned the relatives who’ve helped us after becoming rich,,” Nie Yan’s mother said, sounding quite vexed about the matter.

"Hmph! Let them prattle on. Clear is clear, and muddled is muddled. As for who’s in the right, anyone with a discerning eye can tell,” Nie Yan’s father said in an annoyed tone.

"Mom, Dad’s right. Don’t let them get to you,” Nie Yan comforted.

Nie Yan chatted with his parents for a while after finishing his meal. They would be moving to the capital the day after tomorrow. After they settled down in their new home, school would start a few days later. Just the thought of being able to see Xie Yao again left him feeling somewhat excited. A stream of memories flooded his mind. He recalled that Xie Yao should still be single at this time. She wouldn’t enter a relationship with Liu Rui until university. Even so, they were all going to be fellow students in the same school.

In other words, there was still a chance left for Nie Yan to win her heart. As he thought about this matter, Nie Yan’s mood became complex. He entered his room and put on his virtual reality helmet.

As he logged back in the game, Nie Yan found himself near the respawned Ash Cloaked Heretics. Taking advantage of the spawn immunity from the opening of the server, he found a hidden place to blend into his surroundings, activating Stealth. From a safe position, he looked cautiously at the three Elites to confirm that they were still in the center of the hallway.

Nie Yan slowly advanced until he was directly beneath a ceiling beam. He shot a web line from his Silk Spinner Ring which stuck on the beam. Confirming that the line was secure, he jerked his arm back as his body was flung upwards toward the ceiling. Once he neared the beam, he immediately activated the Crawler Ring and clung on. With the combined abilities of his two rings, he was more than capable of climbing under the beam like a spider.

Nie Yan hid behind the ceiling beam while still in stealth. He quietly crept right over the heads of the unsuspecting Ash Cloaked Heretics. Since they were still in their passive states, it was clear that they had yet to notice him crawling above them.

Nie Yan entered the central hall after getting past the Ash Cloaked Heretics. He was greeted by an ornate and magnificent room with a row of massive pillars on each side and a red carpet laid down the middle. The pillars in each row were about six meters apart from each other, with a hundred of them in total stretching far into the distance. Inside the hall were a few humanoid monsters in silver armor. They carried huge swords as they patrolled, and were clearly melee attackers.

On each side of the hall, in the far corners, a dark gold chest quietly flashed with a metallic light. Nie Yan’s pulse suddenly started racing. These were dark gold chests!

He hadn’t expected this hall to provide loot as good as two dark gold chests. This was the benefit of being a pioneer exploring a new area, because a latecomer would never be able to find these treasures. Ordinary chests would respawn after a random period of time, but dark gold chests would disappear forever!

Sadly, each chest had over a dozen monsters guarding it. Ignoring them for now, Nie Yan noticed that one of the patrolling silver-armored monsters was about to reach his hiding spot behind a pillar.

Corrupted Silver Paladin (Elite): Level 33

Health: 5,000/5,000

These things have healing skills… that’s annoying. Nie Yan continued his one-sided assault. This sort of monster usually had limited mana pools that could only sustain two or three spells at most. He’d have to deplete it of all of its mana before he could start dealing any meaningful damage.

If only I had a weapon with the Mana-Siphon property… With such a weapon, he’d be able to deplete the enemy’s mana with every attack. It was the bane of Paladins, Priests, and Mages. Sadly, that sort of property only appeared on weapons of at least Sub Legendary-grade.

As the Corrupted Silver Paladin once again fell to low health, it cast another self-heal, restoring itself to fifty percent health. Apparently, it could only perform a Greater Heal once before only having enough mana to cast a Lesser Heal. Finally, under Nie Yan’s unceasing assault, the monster’s health fell bit by bit down to zero. At long last, the defeated corpse collapsed onto the ground.

Nie Yan had successfully killed a Corrupted Silver Paladin! Elated, he jumped down from his position five meters in the air and collected the loot dropped by the monster. The item was a rather special one.

Splitting Edge (Incomplete): 1/20

The Splitting Edge appeared here?! Nie Yan’s heart thumped in shock and excitement. No one knew better than him just how amazing the Splitting Edge was. In his past life, he had used this exact weapon all the way until Level 60. Even though part of the reason for this was his inability to find a suitable replacement, the great properties of this weapon were still the main reason that he could use it for so long.

This very Splitting Edge was renowned as the best Thief weapon under Level 50!

Chapter 185 – Legend Of The Ten Holy Paladins

The fragment of Splitting Edge was a silver-white, rhombus-shaped shard of metal. Its surface was meticulously scored with shallow grooves, forming Yemos Runes which were named after their creator—Legendary Blacksmith Yemos. According to historical accounts, Yemos was still an Advanced Blacksmith when he first forged the Splitting Edge. Its blueprints would later be copied and passed down to a few, select Blacksmiths across the continent.

The Splitting Edge was a rare, low-level Charge Weapon which came with a supplementary skill. The charge referred to the fact that the weapon had to be charged to a certain extent for the skill to be activated, so the wielder couldn’t abuse it as they pleased. After the skill was released, the weapon would be drained of its energy and the player would have to wait for it to slowly replenish.

While Charge Weapons could be found at higher levels, the Splitting Edge was the only available weapon of its kind for low-level Thief players, and it had amazing properties to boot. Outside of Sub-Legendary and Legendary weapons, it ranked as the number one Thief weapon below level 50. It was no wonder players nicknamed it the best vegetable knife in the game!

The character for vegetable in Chinese is slang for noob. So vegetable knife means noob weapon in this context.

In the previous timeline, Nie Yan at Level 39 had run the Blood Marsh over half-a-dozen times and spent over 3 gold in the loot auction in order to finally obtain twenty fragments of Splitting Edge. He wasn’t nearly as rich back then, so the endeavor had directly transformed him into a penniless wretch.

Under normal circumstances, Nie Yan would have to bring a task force of three twenty-man teams, composed entirely of Level 30 players, in order to clear out all the mobs in the central hall of the Light Monastery. However, since he had the Silk Spinner Ring and Crawler Ring, things were much simpler.

With several teams working together to clear out an area, a player who wanted a certain drop would have to divvy out money to everyone else in the group as compensation. Even then, they might not necessarily end up with it because others would undoubtedly be eyeing the same thing as well.

However, solo-clearing was different. All of the drops would belong to Nie Yan.

Who knows? Maybe after clearing out all the Corrupted Silver Paladins in this place, he’d have a complete Splitting Edge to himself.

Having taken down the Corrupted Silver Paladin, Nie Yan glanced at his experience bar. It had filled up to about 17%. These guys give pretty good experience. I guess this isn’t a bad spot to do some levelling.

Nie Yan began the process of clearing out all the mobs in the area. He employed the same method as before, as a stream of crossbow bolts sent Corrupted Silver Paladins collapsing to the floor one after another.

After killing his fifth Corrupted Silver Paladin, a bright radiance enveloped Nie Yan as he levelled up to Level 19.

He was fast approaching Level 20.

Nie Yan had collected five Splitting Edge fragments so far, one for each Corrupted Silver Paladin killed. He scanned up ahead. Many more were still left, especially around the two dark gold chests. Both chests were surrounded by hosts of monsters.

The drop rate for fragments is decent.

「Thud!」Another Corrupted Silver Paladin collapsed. Walking to its corpse, Nie Yan picked up a piece of equipment and a small book.

Paladin’s Prayer (Quest Item)

Description: Carry the Paladin’s Prayer with you on your journey to seek out the true fates of the Ten Holy Paladins. You will uncover astonishing truths.

Quest 1 – Kavana’s Death

Description: Brewin succumbed to his ambitions after the death of Kavana. He abandoned his faith; and so began a merciless massacre, the former hero turned his blade against his comrades.

Objectives

☐ Find Kavana’s corpse.

☐ Retrieve his Paladin Medal.

The Paladin Medals represented the glory of the Ten Holy Paladins—Kavana, Brewin, Bertrand, Kramer, Crispim, Sandeman, Clive, Hayzelden, Bassil, and Chadwell. When they brought their Paladin Medals together, they could make contact with the Archangel Tallod. According to lore, Tallod was still guarding the Gates of the Death Realm even though he hadn’t made an appearance in nearly a millennium.

Paladin’s Prayer was a slightly dilapidated, one-handed hammer with a seemingly ordinary appearance. However, Nie Yan could feel formidable divine power surging through his arm as held it in his hand.

Any other Paladin weapon paled in comparison to the might that radiated off this hammer.

A quest item… Nie Yan didn’t know who completed the quest related to the Legend of the Ten Holy Paladins in his past life, nor was he knowledgeable of how it concluded. However, since it had to do with the lore in the game, he was certain the grade wasn’t low.

As Nie Yan read through the quest summary, his eyebrows jumped in surprise. It was actually a Legendary quest!

Seems like this quest doesn’t just end with the Light Monastery…

Nie Yan turned his focus to the book. It was somewhat damaged, but he could still make out the words on the cover as belonging to the Ancient Common Language. He deciphered the meaning of the silver-gilded characters.

「Legend of Kavana」

Nie Yan flipped open the book as large segments of ancient text greeted his eyes.

…Kavana revered the will of God, a devout follower of the Light, an Advanced Holy Paladin… Archangel Tallod: "Child, may the Light protect you…” …Kavana encountered Brewin, Bertrand, and many others like him. They fought bravely and valiantly against the atrocities committed by the dragons while enacting the will of Light. So began the Legend of the Ten Holy Paladins in the Glennin province… The appearance of the young dragon girl, Benita, created a rift in the group… Kavana set her free, returning her to Karud… Kavana’s corpse lay in the central hall of the Light Monastery. Even in his eternal rest, he desired everlasting light for all…

The rest of the text was too damaged to read any further.

The book had simply gone too long without proper care. Nie Yan could only make out intermittent sections of the text. His only option was to make an educated guess. Kavana and Brewin were joint leaders of the Ten Holy Paladins. They fought back against the dragons together. The group later captured a defenseless dragon girl. Kavana insisted on releasing Benita, but others in the group opposed this. The disagreement led to the Ten Holy Paladins disbanding. Kavana died later on, and the ambitious Brewin began massacring the other members of the group.

The story goes on from there.

Kavana’s corpse was laid to rest in the central hall of the Light Monastery… Nie Yan climbed up a pillar and surveyed the place from a higher vantage point. At the end of the hall, on top of a white stone platform above a long flight of stairs, he spotted a giant crystal coffin. So Kavana’s final resting place is over there?

I should clear out all the mobs here first. 「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Nie Yan shot at a nearby Corrupted Silver Paladin, drawing its aggro. It rushed over but could only helplessly circle around the pillar as he let loose a steady stream of bolts.

Nie Yan suddenly received a message from Tang Yao.

「Where are you right now?」Tang Yao asked.

「Light Monastery.」

「What are you doing all the way over there!?」Tang Yao was shocked. He remembered that the Light Monastery was a Level 30–35 map. Guo Huai and the other higher-ups had actually played around with the idea of exploring the map with several twenty-man teams. However, the matter was left unsettled in the end. After all, these sorts of expeditions would entail enormous risks. The guild simply couldn’t afford a huge loss in manpower. It was better to wait for all of the Priests to learn Revive first. At that time, they could go there whenever they wanted.

「I’m doing a quest. How’s levelling?」

「After I got to Level 26, my levelling speed slowed down by a lot, and Heaven Breaker is catching up fast…」Tang Yao said, sounding quite vexed. Heaven Breaker was probably going to hit Level 26 soon. He wasn’t confident in being able to preserve his number one spot.

「Wait for me to come out. I’ll take you guys to some other place to train. What about Yao Yao and Sun? What level are they?」

「Both of them are Level 24.」

Yao Yao and Sun had risen in level pretty quickly. Of course, with Tang Yao tirelessly grinding mobs, their levelling speeds naturally wouldn’t be slow.

「How long before you come out?」

「I’d say a few hours or so. I’ll be finished by then,」Nie Yan replied. He estimated two hours would be enough for him to clear out all of the Corrupted Silver Paladins.

「Alright, I hope sooner than later.」

It would be a heavy blow to Asskickers United if Tang Yao couldn’t maintain his position at the top of the leaderboards.

Nie Yan checked the Starry Night Potion Shop’s overview window. He had already accrued over 300 gold, which after accounting for inflation was roughly equal to 100 gold from when the game first released. With the average level of the playerbase rising, players had much more money to spend, so the consumption of consumables also gradually increased. The amount of business the shop received naturally followed accordingly, from earning about 50 gold a day when it first opened to almost 200 gold now. This was a huge step forward. Even though daily operational costs were quite high, the profits raked in every day were even higher!

Since he was in no short supply of gold, there was no harm in buying a few Junior Magic Bombs.

A batch of bombs was priced at 20 gold, slightly expensive, but he was just able to bear the cost.

When Nie Yan got back, he planned to take Tang Yao with him to the Everlasting City. Although it was a Level 40 map, they wouldn’t face any problems levelling there with the help of the Junior Magic Bombs.

Just as Nie Yan was about to continue clearing out the Corrupted Silver Paladins, he received a notification that made his heart sink. The matter he was most anxious about had finally happened!

Black Hell has obtained the fifth chapter from Volume I of the Book of Order, Chapter of Equality. You will be notified of the player’s updated location once every hour.

Coordinates: Link Town, 385.382.582.

A player had gotten the Chapter of Equality!

By coming into possession of the chapter, Black Hell was also able to see Nie Yan’s location. It was the same in his past life as well. Every chapter owner was pitted against each other to determine who all the chapters would belong to in the end.

Nie Yan and Black Hell would inevitably face off!

In the previous timeline, chapter owners resorted to all sorts of unscrupulous means to seize the chapters from their rivals: traps, ganging up, ambushes, assassination, putting up bounties, and so on.

Even so, all six chapters had never fallen into the hands of one person in his past life. At best, two chapters came into the possession of a single person while four others owned a chapter each.

After being left untouched for so long, the dusty history books of the Atlanta continent would open once more to record the feats of the current generation.

Both sides could spy on each other. This was a dangerous game. You couldn’t predict when or where your rival might appear in front of you and launch a surprise attack.

You couldn’t stay in one place for too long. Otherwise, your rivals would lock onto your position.

If it was only one versus one, Nie Yan was confident in winning. However, if the opponent brought a bunch of people to surround him, then it would be hard to say who would come out on top,

Thankfully, Nie Yan was a Thief. He had a certain class advantage when it came to fleeing. As for Black Hell, he still didn’t know what class they played yet.

Anyone capable of retrieving a chapter from the Book of Order wasn’t simple.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. He would focus on retrieving the Chapter of Justice first. As for the remaining two chapters, one was in Black Hell’s hands—giving him a definite target—while the other was still out in the wild. He needed to move quicker. Otherwise, things would become even more troublesome if the Chapter of Honesty also fell into the hands of a player.

Chapter 186 – Holy Priest, Shadow Priest

A certain problem weighed on Nie Yan’s mind; he had never heard of a player called Black Hell before, not even in his past life. He was completely in the dark regarding the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses, and that would pose a risk to him if they ever clashed.

The Chapter of Harmony was reportedly meant for Priests. It substantially boosted the effects of all healing skills, something which was particularly useful for Holy Priests. As for Shadow Priests, it enhanced the effects of curses. Before being found, it was hidden in the Level 25 map, Murky Quagmire.

The Murky Quagmire was an extremely inhospitable map. It was the perfect breeding ground for Sludge Slimes—living beings made out of toxic goop, highly resistant to physical attacks, and reeked of an awful stench. It was also filled with poisonous gases, so players would take constant damage as soon as they entered. The only reliable method of preventing yourself from getting inflicted with the poisoned status was to regularly receive blessings from a Priest. Antidotes would work as well, but their preventive effect only lasted so long, not to mention the cost. As such, a party of five levelling here would generally consist of at least two Priests. Paladins could explore the map by themselves with some difficulty, but it was impossible for other classes.

On top of all that, the Chapter of Harmony was said to be hidden in the heart of the Murky Quagmire, the region where the poisonous gases were thickest. Even Nie Yan didn’t know what lurked in there.

It wasn’t the sort of place a group could explore at the current stage of the game, unless half of its members consisted of Priests. But if that was the case, who would deal all the damage?

Even if someone organized an expedition to explore the map, the group size couldn’t exceed five players. At least two of the members had to be Priests while the stat requirements for everyone were very high.

The person who retrieved the Chapter of Harmony ultimately belonged to one of the following classes: Holy Priest, Shadow Priest, or Paladin. The chances of Black Hell being a Paladin weren’t very high. After all, the Chapter of Harmony didn’t have much of an effect on classes aside from the Priest, while only the Chapter of Justice corresponded to the Paladin class. So it was much more plausible that they played a Holy Priest or Shadow Priest

With the scope narrowed down by a large margin, Nie Yan tried hard to recall the properties of the Chapter of Harmony. Just in case it possessed some formidable abilities, he would be somewhat better prepared.

The first skill of the Chapter of Harmony was called Circle of Healing. It could instantly replenish the health of all team members in a certain range, and naturally, it was extremely useful in group battles. The second skill was called Empower Status Magic. It would bolster the effects of all blessings, while all curses would transform into something much more terrifying.

Therefore, the Chapter of Harmony was also known as Trial of Light and Darkness.

The Chapter of Harmony was fully deserving of being called one of the best items for Priests.

Nie Yan remembered that the owner of the Chapter of Harmony in the previous timeline was a Priest called Black Heaven, one of the Seven Archbishops. He was said to have joined Sapphire Shrine later on, becoming their Chief Priest.

Black Hell, Black Heaven…? These names are pretty close. Are they related to each other?

It seemed the opposing side didn’t consist of just one person. The situation had become a lot more complicated. A powerful Priest could easily influence a bunch of people to join them. Those who were good at socializing would usually find themselves with many friends the moment they entered the game.

Nie Yan rubbed his temples. The only reason he had put off retrieving the Chapter of Harmony for so long was that he had no way of setting foot into the Murky Quagmire. He hadn’t even been there in his past life, so he was completely unfamiliar with the map. Even if he wanted to go, he’d still have to bring a top-notch Priest like Leader Young Seven along with him. However, this undoubtedly entailed its own risks. A single Priest entering a Level 25 map… who knows what sort of trouble might pop up?

Any Priest that could reach that rank of Archbishop was an extremely rare talent! In the stronghold sieges several years from now, an Archbishop would transform into a support machine of war. A single blessing could sharply increase the stats of a crowd of players. A single group heal could restore a crowd of low-health players back to full again. They grew even more perverse after learning the Divine Resurrection skill. It could revive a player without any restrictions or penalties!

Although the normal Revive skill could also bring a fallen comrade back to life, it wasn’t free from drawbacks. Some players would lose experience. Others would revive in a weakened state. However, Divine Resurrection could bring players back from the dead to full fighting strength! Of course, the skill also had its own limits, such as a three-day cooldown for example. Even the fastest variations still needed a full day to come off cooldown.

At this point in the timeline, Black Heaven hadn’t joined Sapphire Shrine yet. He should still be in the Dark Hero guild. If Nie Yan could pull Black Heaven over to his side, it would be largely beneficial to Asskickers United. However, with the emergence of the Chapter of Harmony, both sides were destined to stand at opposite ends.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but let out a dejected sigh. Ahh, an Archbishop… what a pity!

Out of the Seven Archbishops, one of them, Leader Young Seven, was already in Nie Yan’s camp, and Black Heaven might still join Sapphire Shrine later on. As for the five others, he heard that Guo Huai had been in talks with one, but he didn’t know if they came to an agreement or not.

In the previous timeline, one of the Seven Archbishops had joined Sapphire Shrine, another was in Bloodthirst Blades, and three more were in the gaming organization, Azure Falling Sky. The remaining two were solo players. Even Victorious Return and Holy Empire didn’t have a single Archbishop. It was regrettable, but naturally, they had plenty of Bishops.

If Asskickers United had one Archbishop in the future, then they would hold a significant advantage over others. But what if they had two…? Well, one could only imagine.

In any case, if Nie Yan could afford not to offend Black Heaven or Black Hell, then he would try as much as possible to do so. If he could take out something to trade—or purchase the Chapter of Harmony—then that would be the best outcome.

Nie Yan sent Black Hell a message.

The receiver has blocked all incoming messages outside of team or party chat.

During specific moments when a player didn’t want to be interrupted or to avoid harassment, they might close off their chat or create a blacklist, so they wouldn’t receive messages from others.

Black Hell had closed off his chat. It seemed Nie Yan’s plan of negotiating with the opposition had gone up in smoke.

If they ended up meeting in battle, then there was nothing he could do about it.

Link was one of the most prosperous towns around Calore. The area near the transport point was particularly thriving. Thanks to there being quite a few high-level maps in the vicinity of the town, many professional players opened up shops there.

The land wasn’t expensive as it was in Calore. A player only needed to spend 10 silver to purchase a small plot. Opening a shop didn’t cost much money either. It was entirely possible for a few people to scrounge up some money and open one together. A good deal of players set up their shops in Link, so the town’s commerce prospered in an unprecedented manner.

The streets flowed with a steady stream of players. As two Priests—Black Heaven and Black Hell—strolled around the town, they were frequently approached by other players looking to form a party, but they would always bluntly refuse.

Black Heaven was a Holy Priest with the somewhat immature appearance of youth just reaching adulthood. He wore a pure white robe with a golden falcon stitched to the side of his collar. This was the symbol of the Temple of Light. It signified that he had learned Templar Magic for his class. A Priest of this sort was greatly sought after by the large guilds.

As for Black Hell, he was a twenty-six to twenty-seven-year-old man. He wore an ash-grey robe with the symbol of a viper embroidered to his cuffs using dark golden silk, clearly indicating his status as a Shadow Priest!

Shadow Priests were the least played class in the Viridian Empire. They were proficient in curses and crowd control magic on top of being able to heal. However, a Shadow Priest’s healing ability was noticeably lacklustre in comparison to their purely support-focused counterpart. Their damage output was decent but was no match for that of a Mage. A skilled Shadow Priest could still be a very frightening thing. It was just that the learning curve was too high. On top of contributing curses, crowd control, and healing, they were also responsible for dealing damage. A player needed to have over several dozen skills in their skill bar, and the ability to use them smoothly and skillfully, or else they would find it very hard to contend against other classes. This difficult, rarely-picked class was the class of choice for Black Hell.

"Big Brother, who do you think that Nirvana Flame is? He was actually able to get a hold of three chapters from the Book of Order…” Black Heaven asked. While the two of them were training in the Murky Quagmire, they had accidentally stumbled into the centermost region. They were unable to use Return Scrolls there. Only after narrowly escaping death numerous times in a row were they able to retrieve the Chapter of Harmony. He had been instantly killed and sent back, while Black Hell was luckily able to get away because he had happened to obtain a Potion of Nothingness previously from running a dungeon on Specialist.

Yet that Nirvana Flame was surprisingly in possession of three chapters!

After obtaining the Chapter of Harmony, Black Hell suddenly found that three chapters from the Book of Order were actually held by a Thief called Nirvana Flame! He had to admit that the prospect possessed an irresistible attraction. If he could kill Nirvana Flame, he would be able to get another three chapters at once!

"From what I could dig up, he seems to be part of Asskickers United. He’s pretty famous as well. He definitely also knows our location.” Black Hell frowned. Although he could be considered a veteran in Dark Hero, the guild had already declined considerably. Even when organizing a team for dungeon runs, he was forced to recruit players from outside the guild. How could such a guild contend against the newly emerged powerhouse, Asskickers United? Whether they could even protect their own chapter was another problem to consider. In a one versus one, he feared absolutely no one. However, if Asskickers United sent a squadron of Thieves to surround and snatch the Chapter of Harmony from him, there was nothing he could really do to resist.

"So he’s one of the bosses of that guild? That’s going to be a little troublesome…” Black Heaven said worriedly. If Nirvana Flame sent a group of Thieves to watch them every day, they would definitely collapse under the pressure. Against the might of a guild, they were undoubtedly vulnerable. "I hear they have a feud with Victorious Return?”

"What about it? Are you suggesting we seek asylum from Victorious Return?” Black Hell raised his eyebrow. Although he had received invitations from multiple guilds, he had never once entertained the thought of leaving Dark Hero.

Seeing Black Hell’s sharp eyes gaze over at him, Black Heaven hurriedly lowered his head.

"We absolutely cannot let anyone know that we have the Chapter of Harmony. Our only option is to find and kill him, then take away the three chapters from his corpse. That way he’ll have no way of locating us anymore. If worst comes to worst, we’ll pool together 2 gold and use it to run away to another city; then we’ll figure out what to do from there,” Black Hell said. If they could intercept Nirvana Flame in the wilderness, he had absolute confidence in taking him down in a one versus one situation.

"But he’s in the Light Monastery,” Black Heaven said. That was a Level 30 area. Only large expedition groups would go to such a place.

"We’ll just have to wait until after he comes out,” Black Hell replied. They could only patiently wait for an opportunity. Before then, they couldn’t stay in the same spot for too long. Otherwise, they’d be surrounded by Asskickers United players.

Chapter 187 – Paladin Kavana

Nie Yan really didn’t want to form an irreconcilable enmity with Black Hell. He wanted to talk with the other player first, to avoid the use of force if possible. Regardless of how the talks went, however, he would definitely try to get the Chapter of Harmony by fair means or foul. After being merged into a single item, the six chapters in Volume I would be on par with a piece of Legendary-grade equipment. The importance of such an item to his future plans was absolutely critical. Better yet, the completed Volume I was bindable and would no longer drop if he died.

I’ll wait and see, I guess. It’s not like Black Hell can hide when I get hourly reports on his location. Nie Yan continued to pick off the Corrupted Silver Paladins. One by one, they died until the area around the first dark gold chest was completely clear of all monsters.

After killing so many Corrupted Silver Paladins from afar, Nie Yan recognized the need for a good ranged weapon. He still had his eye on the Sub Legendary Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow. Although it had a massive Strength requirement, he could meet it with the use of equipment and skills that boosted his Strength by the time he was around Level 70. Even if he could only equip it by the time he reached Level 80, it wouldn’t be too late. He absolutely had to craft this crossbow!

Nie Yan broke off his reverie, looking at the Level 30 dark gold chest in front of him. Its level would have been a bit too high for him, were it not for Lockpicking Specialist’s +1 level boost to unlocking chests.

System: Opening treasure chest… Estimated Completion: 3%… 7%… 5%… 9%…

It took over three minutes of unstable progress for Nie Yan to finally succeed in unlocking the chest.

System: You’ve unlocked a Dark Gold Chest! Lockpicking Specialist has gained 5 points of proficiency!

Five points of proficiency in Lockpicking Specialist? So many! Pleasantly surprised, Nie Yan opened the chest and took out a thick book and a piece of leather armour. He quickly appraised them to view their properties.

The book was jet-black with a bronze gilt around the edges. Ornate designs decorated the cover, along with some large text written in Ancient Common.

Skill Book: Hellfire (Hell Magic)

Description: Allows the user to manipulate fire from the depths of Hell to attack the opponent.

Requirements: 2 Sets of Gestures, 2 Sets of Syllables, Intermediate Arcane Sigil (Must be Inscribed)

150 Intelligence, 5 Focus, 5 Willpower (Forcefully casting this spell without meeting the necessary stat requirements will result in the player being put in a weakened state, reducing all stats by 80% for 2 days.)

Properties: An area-of-effect spell with a cast range of 3030 meters. Increase Burn Damage. Residual Burn (Scales with Focus and Willpower above 5).

Cooldown: 2 Days.

Restrictions: Arcane Mage, Elementalist.

Hell Magic was just like Elemental Hall Magic, a higher class of spells. Anything conjured from one of these categories had far higher attack power than a common spell.

The great potency of these spells corresponded to their great usage requirements and cooldowns. Casting Hellfire required a significant amount of preparation. The player would have to find a seller and purchase an Intermediate Arcane Sigil. They’d need to spend an hour and two thousand mana inscribing Hellfire into the sigil. Furthermore, they’d often have to drink a potion to make sure they didn’t run out of mana midway. Finally, two sets of syllables and gestures had to be performed before the spell could be cast. After which it would go on cooldown for two days, and the process would have to be repeated once more.

All of these prerequisites were naturally rewarded with an alarmingly powerful spell. An area-of-effect spell with a range over three kilometers was incredible. Aside from the massive damage, the spell even had a residual burn effect that scaled with the caster’s Focus and Willpower.

For a high-level Mage, Focus and Willpower were extremely important stats. They would allow the player to regenerate mana faster, summon more magical energy during a set casting time, and naturally deal more damage. For example, if a Mage put ten points each in Focus and Willpower, they could deal a hundred more damage than a Mage who put zero. So even though a Mage would focus primarily on raising their Intelligence, they still needed to pay attention to their Focus and Willpower, especially when picking equipment.

As Nie Yan looked at the Hellfire skill book in his hands, joy lit up his face. Asskickers United finally had a spell from the high-ranking magics! To any guild, the significance of having such a spell was extremely high.

But who should he give the skill book to? Nie Yan first thought of Tang Yao, but with Tang Yao’s lazy personality he would most likely not want to deal with such a complicated spell. Just to make sure, Nie Yan messaged Tang Yao with Hellfire’s properties and asked, 「Do you want to learn this spell?」

「What a powerful spell! This Hellfire spell of yours is so much stronger than my Meteor!」Tang Yao exclaimed.「But… I’d need to spend an hour every few days to inscribe the sigil… I don’t want it. Also, I recently learned Firestorm, so you should find someone else in the guild to learn Hellfire. Ugh… spending an hour inscribing the spell means that I’m not levelling up during that time. I’m actually better off with just Meteor and Firestorm.」

「Alright then. Since you have Firestorm, I’ll be giving Hellfire to someone else in the guild.」When handing out a benefit like the Hellfire skill book, Nie Yan would obviously prioritize the members of the guild who had signed a contract over those who didn’t. Of those, there were several Arcane Mages and Elementalists. The most skilled player from this group would receive Hellfire.

Although Tang Yao had the highest level, his experience was mainly from grinding and Nie Yan’s advice. In terms of technical skill, the Arcane Mages and Elementalists who had signed the guild contract were probably better than him. He decided to delegate the task of choosing an owner for the skill book to Guo Huai.

Nie Yan put away the skill book and looked at the other piece of loot he had received.

Skywalker Leather Armour (Dark Gold)

Requirements: Level 30

Set Items: Skywalker Leather armour, Skywalker Bracers, Skywalker Boots

Properties: Defense 102–108, Dexterity +19, Defense Level +1, Damage Reduction (Rank 3), Defense Against Magic Attacks +20%.

Weight: 7lb

Restrictions: Thief; can be equipped by any faction.

Nie Yan looked at this Dark Gold Skywalker Leather armour. The Skywalker Set was the best set of armour for level 30 thieves. In his past life, someone had relied on this very equipment set to kill a Mage who had a five-level advantage over them thanks to the boost in survivability.

After all, as a set of Dark Gold equipment, the properties were bound to be good.

Even though the Skywalker Leather armour wasn’t particularly suited for his fighting style, its boost to his survivability was unquestionable. If he could really get himself the complete Level 30 Skywalker Set, he could prioritize on improving his own damage without worry later on, perhaps by socketing the set with Strength Gems and so on.

Since he had found one piece of the Skywalker Set here, the other two pieces of the set were bound to be here as well, considering this entire section of the map was explored by no one else but him.

I can’t wear this for now… Nie Yan put away the Skywalker Leather Armour in his bag. He proceeded to hunt the rest of the Corrupted Silver Paladins in the map, drawing them out one by one.

With everything in order, Nie Yan cleared out the crowd of Corrupted Silver Paladins surrounding the other dark chest. After which he walked over and opened it.

Just like Nie Yan predicted earlier, he found the two remaining pieces of the Skywalker Set in the other chest.

Skywalker Bracers: (Dark Gold)

Requirements: Level 30

Set Items: Skywalker Leather Armour, Skywalker Bracers, Skywalker Boots

Properties: Defense 82–88, Dexterity +12, Strength +15, Damage Reduction (Rank 3), Defense Against Magic Attacks +20%.

Weight: 1 lb

Restrictions: Thief; can be equipped by any faction.

Skywalker Boots: (Dark Gold)

Requirements: Level 30

Set Items: Skywalker Leather Armour, Skywalker Bracers, Skywalker Boots

Properties: Defense 72–85, Dexterity +10, Balance +5, Swift Run (Rank 3), Defense Against Magic Attacks +20%.

Weight: 3 lb

Restrictions: Thief; can be equipped by any faction.

Nie Yan needed to equip all three pieces to see the true effects of the set. He wasn’t knowledgeable of what the set effects of the Skywalker Set were. In the previous timeline, he was still wearing a mix of Silver and Gold equipment at Level 30, while his hope of ever obtaining a set of Dark Gold equipment such as the Skywalker Set was merely a fleeting fantasy. Let alone dark gold chests, back then, he hadn’t opened more than a few gold chests. At that time, he had never been the first to explore any map, nor did he have the ability to search for traces of dark gold chests.

In this life, however, his circumstances were completely different.

Finding the two dark gold chests made Nie Yan very happy. A Hellfire skill book and the full Skywalker Set, not a bad haul! In addition, he also had twenty-six fragments of Splitting Edge in his bag. When he returned to the city, he could find an Intermediate Blacksmith to forge the complete weapon. As for the leftover fragments, he could throw them in the guild treasury. There were definitely going to be others who would want them in the future.

Nie Yan scanned the central hall. The floor was littered with corpses.

The crystal coffin up ahead was the only thing left to attend to.

Although his goal was extraordinarily close, Nie Yan was still on high alert. He couldn’t discount the possibility of a boss emerging in this area.

Nie Yan ascended the flight of stairs. The crystal coffin was right before his eyes, reaching up to his waist as he stood beside it. Sculpted from pure and transparent crystal of the highest quality, sparkling and limpid, it reflected a splendid radiance under the lights of the central hall.

A silver-armoured NPC lay unmoving inside the crystal coffin. Through the transparent crystal, his features could be clearly seen—fair complexion, blonde hair, and a handsome face befitting a hero. His entire body emitted a faint, gentle glow. He appeared divine—dignified, with both arms crossed around his chest. A Paladin’s sword rested right beside his coffin.

Both his eyes were closed. His serene appearance made it seem like he was still alive, as though he could awaken at a moment’s notice.

He was probably the Paladin who had died, Kavana.

According to the history of the Atlanta continent, he was a figure from the end of the Dark Era. In other words, his corpse had been resting here for almost a millennium. Yet there weren’t any signs of rotting.

Nie Yan looked over at Kavana’s legs. A thin piece of paper floated just above his body, emitting a bright resplendence that dazzled the eyes.

This was the item that Nie Yan had been searching for, the Chapter of Justice!

Chapter 188 – Chapter Of Justice

At this moment, two crisp system sounds rang out.

You have discovered Kavana’s crystal coffin.

Quest Progress: Search for clues. Find out the cause of Kavana’s death.

Nie Yan examined the crystal coffin. It was tightly sealed. He was unsure of how he should proceed. If he tried opening the coffin by force, it’d surely trigger a chain of dangerous events. He absolutely wanted to avoid such a risk.

The Chapter of Justice hovered in right front of Nie Yan. It was but an arm’s length away, but he was helpless to retrieve it.

He considered the two system notifications. Find out the cause of death? What? Am I supposed to cut open the body and perform an autopsy…? It doesn’t matter. He shook his head. I’ll get the chapter now, then I’ll try to complete the quest if I can. If I can’t, then so be it.

Let’s see… There should be a special mechanism to open this thing. Nie Yan searched around for a bit, uncovering some inscriptions on the side of the coffin.

Nie Yan examined them. This was some sort of prayer!

Dear Sir Kavana, you have the tolerance and kindness of a saint. I hope you rest in peace… As I face the sea breeze of the Silent Gulf, I often think of you. If I had a choice, I wish I could’ve been born as an ordinary human girl instead. That way I wouldn’t have to stay here all by myself. I’d be able to die peacefully by your side. I’d no longer have to abide by my promise to you of staying in exile for several millennia… I ask that you forgive the sins of my clan. I hope that my people can receive redemption.

-Dragon Girl Venita

Nie Yan’s mind trembled as he read through the text. It mentioned a specific location, Silent Gulf!

If he wanted to uncover the truth behind Kavana’s death, that was the best place for him to look.

Nie Yan recalled a legend of the Silent Gulf he’d heard in his past life. It told of a mysterious girl, possessing an otherworldly beauty, who appeared once every ten days on an isle. She would stand near the reefs just before dawn, silently gazing at the horizon until the morning sun arose, whereupon she would quietly depart.

Many players had attempted to acquire a quest from her, but they would always return with nothing to show for their efforts.

After a while, most players gave up, and the girl’s background became an unsolvable mystery.

She had come to be known as Watcher Venita.

Logically speaking, even a dragon would gradually grow old after a thousand years. Yet according to the rumours from his past life, Venita still appeared as young and beautiful as ever.

Venita regularly appeared on the isle, even up until the time Nie Yan stopped playing. It seemed no one had completed the quest related to Kavana in his past life.

Well, considering it’s a Legendary quest line, I guess there’s a lot of connecting quests. I’ll probably have to unravel many mysteries to progress… Huh? Nie Yan was struck with inspiration as he read Venita’s appeal near the end of the text. In keeping with the highest etiquette among Paladins, he expressed his profound respect to Kavana’s corpse by placing his right hand over his chest.

Once Nie Yan completed the gesture, the top of the crystal coffin gradually melted away, and the Chapter of Justice gently floated up.

Success!

Pleasantly surprised, Nie Yan reached out to grab the Chapter of Justice. Its brilliant glow faded upon making contact with his hand.

At the same moment, Kavana’s corpse dissolved into countless specks of light which gently floated up toward the ceiling before finally fading away. Nie Yan could see Kavana’s spirit within the specks. He was shrouded in a divine radiance. A pair of angelic wings sprouted from his back as he disappeared into the light.

After everything was over, a silver-white object fell into the coffin.

It was the Medal of the Ten Holy Paladins!

Nie Yan stored the medal away in his bag. He didn’t bother examining the properties of the two items he had just obtained. Instead, he eyed the scroll clutched tightly in his hand.

"If at all possible, I really hope I won’t have to waste this Unknown Transfer Scroll…” Nie Yan muttered.

The central hall violently shook the moment he aired his thoughts.

"Dammit! Time to run!”

Without hesitation, Nie Yan sprinted toward the exit. He crushed a Haste Scroll and activated Shadow Dance, giving himself a sudden burst of speed. His figure flitted across the red-carpeted floor, leaving behind after-images, as he covered over thirty meters in a short period of time.

A moment later, a black transfer gate materialized beside the coffin, and a figure shrouded in darkness stepped out of the gate. It was an NPC in black armour. He was incomparably ugly. His skin was pale as ash, and inky tentacles sprouted from his skull. He was like an ancient fiend who had awakened from antiquity.

"Wretched fool, you dared to release the soul of Kavana!?” The black-armoured NPC’s voice seemed to come from the region of the damned, sinister and terrifying.

With a wave of his hand, a black aura fell over him, and he gained an explosive increase in speed. He sprung towards Nie Yan, like an arrow released from the bowstring.

The distance between both sides rapidly shrunk.

Nie Yan felt a piercing chill behind him. It seemed like a sinister, frightful aura of death was about to devour all of his strength.

Deterrence!

Nie Yan didn’t know if the skill would have any effect. In any case, it was worth a try.

The NPC only paused for a split-second. His speed didn’t decrease at all. He slashed down with his greatsword, sending a ghastly swordlight flying toward Nie Yan’s back.

Nie Yan shot out a web line from his Silk Spinner Ring which stuck to a nearby pillar. With a jerk of his hand, his body flung into the air, narrowly avoiding the NPC’s attack. He immediately activated the Crawler Ring’s ability and clung on to the pillar. He quickly skittered toward the ceiling like a spider, looking to escape outside.

The NPC arrived at the base of the pillar shortly after. Only then did Nie Yan get a chance to inspect the son of a bitch that was pursuing him this whole time.

Fallen Paladin Brewin (Elite): Level ?

Health: ?

It was Brewin of the Ten Holy Paladins! However, right now, he looked no different from a monster.

It seems the storyline for this quest is a lot more complicated than I thought…

As a Fallen Paladin, Brewin didn’t have many long-range skills, so he had no way of getting to Nie Yan. He gave a mighty swing of his greatsword.「Boom!」The pillar instantly collapsed.

Nie Yan could see web-like cracks spreading where the pillar connected to the ceiling. Chunks of rock began raining down.

Nie Yan felt something suddenly come loose. The section of the pillar he was on had collapsed. It looked like he was going to be crushed among the the falling rocks in the next moment. He leaped to the side, rolling to break his fall, and narrowly avoided being buried under a pile of rubble. He rushed out of the central hall.

Brewin caught up, then slashed down with his greatsword, sending a gigantic crescent wave of black energy flying toward him.

Nie Yan activated the Unknown Transfer Scroll.

In the next moment, he was engulfed by the surging wave of black energy.

However, as the attack sought to obliterate him, his figure completely vanished.

After activating the Unknown Transfer Scroll, Nie Yan didn’t know where he had been teleported to. He just knew there were several dozen Black Bears in the vicinity. He hastily activated Disappear, then began making his way out. When he found a relatively safe region, he took out a Return Scroll.

A bright radiance enveloped him twenty seconds later, and he was teleported back to Calore. As he recalled his brush with death just moments ago, a bead of cold sweat dripped down from his forehead. However, something worth rejoicing over was that he had obtained the Chapter of Justice. In addition, he had also gotten Kavana’s medal.

Nie Yan glanced at the nearby players walking around. Finally, he felt like he had returned to civilization.

Since he still hadn’t cleared his red name, all the players that had noticed him looked on with amazed expressions.

Nie Yan ignored these gazes as he made his way to his personal storage. While he walked, he examined the properties of the two items he had recently obtained.

Medal of the Ten Holy Paladins (Special Item)

Properties: Strength +20

Holy Descent: Grants 3 seconds of immunity to all magic. Movement Speed +20%. Increases the effects of all Holy Magic by 20%.

Cooldown: 2 days.

Restrictions: Righteous Guardian of Order

Nie Yan had believed that the Medal of the Ten Holy Paladins was only a quest item. He didn’t expect it to be an equipable accessory. It was a piece of Paladin equipment that bolstered the effects of all holy magic. However, anyone could equip it as long as they belonged to the Righteous Faction. Even though he didn’t have any holy magic, the other effects were pretty useful for PvP. Three seconds of immunity to magic would allow him to ignore all crowd control effects. When up against Mages, especially those who had many skills that could lock a player down, the first attack had to be a guaranteed kill. While not long, three seconds was more than enough for him to get close to his target. At his current movement speed, he could close a gap of nine meters in around three seconds, and that was excluding the effects of any speed buffs. Unless the opponent also had an escape skill of their own, they would surely die while he was immune to all magic.

Nie Yan shifted his focus to the Chapter of Justice.

-Chapter of Justice

Description: The first chapter of Volume I of the Book of Order. A fragment of a Legendary item. Whoever shall possess this chapter will receive the inheritance of the God of Light. Your mission is to spread the glory of light!

Properties: Receive 2 stat points and 1 skill point every 5 levels. Focus +15, Willpower +15, Resilience +16, Jump +15, Reflex +15, Movement Speed +16.

Arrival of the Saint: Grants immunity to all debuffs. Increases the effects of all Holy Magic by 200%, and gain 30 Willpower for five minutes.

Cooldown: 10 days (1/10)

Holy Ray Shining: Transforms Holy Ray into a group-target skill, empowering damage by threefold, and increasing cast range to 3030 meters. Purifies all evil creatures.

Cooldown: 2 days (1/2)

Restrictions: Can only be bound by a member of the Righteous Guardian of Order.

Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player’s bag.

Chapter 189 – Elite

After doing what he needed in his personal storage, Nie Yan set out to the Asskickers United guild headquarters. Guo Huai, Zhao Li, and Hao Cheng were still busy with guild business. In fact, ever since the guild was established, they had never found any free time to level. The benefit to that, however, was that they had become quite skillful in handling administrative affairs. Although the guild still required individuals who were especially talented in administration, they wouldn’t feel at ease handing over that responsibility to others.

Aside from that, Guo Huai had also recruited a few people from his family’s firm. He put them in charge of combing through the backgrounds of every guild member. They had managed to weed out countless moles that were sent by Victorious Return and other guilds.

Nie Yan looked over the list of players who had signed a contract with the guild. There were over a hundred individuals in total, each a peak talent in some respect. It could even be said to be a galaxy of talent. Eleven of them had the potential to receive a Shadow Dancer, Magister, Archbishop, or similarly ranked title later on. They consisted of Sun, Leader Young Seven, Taotie, Undying Scoundrel, Blue Yarn Thread, Blowhard Summer Bug, and so on.

Altogether there was one Archbishop, two Shadow Dancers, two Guardians, two Heroes, two Magisters, one Divine Sage, and one Templar. Even right now, they displayed immense talent. Each one of them received generous treatment from Asskickers United. They had access to the best resources in the guild. The Starry Night Potion Shop would supply them with plenty of potions, pills, and other consumables every day. Nie Yan himself had invested over 100 gold into them. They could form teams and find excellent teammates whenever they wanted. As a result, they were growing at a rapid pace.

These players had secured more resources because they entered the game relatively early. The fact that they were talented and hardworking—along with a myriad of other factors working in tandem—allowed them to reach the pinnacle in the previous timeline. And in the present timeline, Nie Yan had bettered their conditions in every aspect.

All in all, given the proper environment, a genius would always rise to the top.

Taotie, Undying Scoundrel, Blue Yarn Thread, and Summer Bug were chatting near the entrance of the guild headquarters. As they were prepared to set out and level, they saw Nie Yan walking over. They all greeted him courteously.

"Hello, Boss Nirvana Flame!” Taotie called out. He was a twenty-odd-year-old man in shiny bright Paladin armour. He had a full set of Gold-grade equipment on, several pieces he had obtained by himself while the rest had been provided by the guild. At the current stage of the game, he was only a slight bit lacking in comparison to the top-elites of Withered Leaf.

"Hello boss!” Undying Scoundrel greeted Nie Yan. As an Elementalist, the Elemental Resonance Set he wore was already the best Level 20 set a player of his class could get.

They were all peak players of Calore in Nie Yan’s past life, Yet they were all gathered here right now.

Nie Yan nodded, acknowledging them with a faint smile. He hung around for a while to chat which made them feel slightly honoured. From the moment they joined the guild, they could tell that the astonishing resources of Asskickers United was in no way inferior to those of behemoths like Victorious Return. Nie Yan and Tang Yao’s identities were shrouded in a dense fog of mystery that no one could see through. Nie Yan rarely showed himself in public. While with Tang Yao, almost none of the guild members had ever seen his face aside from in the videos Guo Huai had uploaded. As a result, they had come to revere these two figures in their minds. They didn’t expect Nie Yan to be so approachable. It was quite a surprise.

"You guys are now the elite members of Asskickers United. The guild has provided you with the best environment and resources it has to offer. So I hope you guys can show the guild your worth in the future. Accomplish great things, and the guild will never mistreat you,” Nie Yan said. He had already spent quite a bit on them. As long as one or two them reached the same heights as they did in the previous timeline, it would be worth the investment.

"Boss Nirvana Flame, you can put your faith in us!” Taotie, Undying Scoundrel, and the rest said in unison.

Afterwards, Nie Yan met up with Guo Huai.

"Here, give this to the person you think is the most suitable out of that lot.” Nie Yan handed the Hellfire skill book over to Guo Huai.

The appearance of the skill book instantly attracted the attention of everyone around them.

It was high-level magic!

Even among the large guilds, high-level magic was extremely scarce and highly sought after. Needless to say, the skill books for them didn’t appear very often. Even if you took out five or six full sets of Gold-grade equipment to trade for the skill book of a high-level magic, the other side might not necessary be willing. It was reported that Victorious Return had mobilized over seven hundred core members to deal with a Lord-class boss for the sake of such a skill book, suffering several hundred casualties before finally obtaining it.

No one in Asskickers United had learned high-level magic. Many guild members felt this matter to be quite a pity.

But the appearance of the Hellfire skill book signified that Asskickers United also had the ability to obtain a high-level magic.

"There are several Arcane Mages and Elementalists who’ve been performing pretty well. Let me think…” Guo Huai said in a slightly distressed tone. Finding a reliable person to learn Hellfire was extremely important. It would be wasted in the hands of an unskilled player.

Nie Yan felt reassured about these members who had signed contracts with the guild. All of them would learn high-level magic at some point in the future. It was only a matter of now or later.

"I’ll let you handle it,” Nie Yan said. He deposited the sixteen pieces of equipment as well as the six extra fragments of Splitting Edge that he had obtained from the Light Monastery into the guild treasury. "By the way, how goes the search for top-quality Magic Redwood Logs and Fire Source Crystals?”

"I’ve already found a seller, they’re from another guild, but the price is somewhat high. We’re still in the middle of negotiations. If you find it suitable, we can immediately purchase them,” Guo Huai answered. He couldn’t help but wonder what in the world was Nie Yan going to do with these materials.

"How much are they asking for?” Nie Yan asked. Top-quality Magic Redwood Logs and Fire Source Crystals were high-level crafting materials. They were fairly uncommon in the today’s marketplace, and most guilds generally wouldn’t be willing to sell them.

"They’re asking 30 gold for 3 Fire Source Crystals and 10 top-quality Magic Redwood Logs,” Guo Huai replied. It was a huge sum of money from his point of view.

"Accept the offer. Send the materials to my personal storage. You can withdraw the money from the Starry Night Potion Shop,” Nie Yan said nonchalantly. Before he had reached Level 60 in his past life, if something had a price of 30 gold, he wouldn’t dare to even consider it. However, his circumstances in this life had completely changed. Besides, he had gotten used to the feeling of being rich and imposing.

It was only 30 gold, nothing more!!

A successfully crafted Sub Legendary crossbow would be worth 200 gold at the very least!

At the later stages of the game—particularly when siege battles were in full effect—every large guild would profit immensely from the taxes they reaped in their respective territories. By then, with so much surplus capital, an ordinary Sub Legendary item selling for 500–600 gold wasn’t an uncommon sight.

Sub Legendary gear was godly in the eyes of all players!

Although he temporarily couldn’t equip the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow, he’d be content with just sneaking a few peeks at it inside his bag every now and then.

"Alright, I’ll make the purchase right now.” Guo Huai nodded, no longer hesitating. Since Nie Yan didn’t balk at spending 30 gold to purchase these materials, he was certain they were important.

The crafting of the Sub Legendary crossbow wasn’t guaranteed to succeed. There was a chance of failure. However, since he already had the necessary materials on hand, he might as well give it a shot. As for who to pick for crafting the crossbow, Advanced Blacksmith Kade was the best choice, but it would probably be expensive.

When requesting an NPC to craft a weapon, all you needed to do was provide the weapon’s blueprint, necessary materials, and pay a fee. If the crafting failed, then the onus was on you, and the blueprint would be returned regardless of the outcome.

As long as Nie Yan still had the blueprint, there was no harm in trying. He had enough materials to make two attempts anyway.

After finishing his business, Nie Yan left the guild headquarters. Aside from the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow, he also needed to forge the Splitting Edge.

In the previous timeline, the highest average market price for the Splitting Edge was more than 30 gold. Many players were already Level 60–70 around the time Nie Yan started playing the game. So the marketplace was filled with Splitting Edge fragments, selling for about 10 silver each. If you ran a dungeon, then you could get them for significantly cheaper. Even then, collecting twenty fragments would still cost around 3 gold altogether.

However, at present, Conviction had only been open for a few weeks at most. Even an offer of 100 gold couldn’t garner a Splitting Edge. Level 30 dungeons still weren’t released yet, and very few teams dared to explore Level 30 maps. So how could there possibly be any to sell?

Nie Yan’s current set of gear consisted of various pieces of equipment he picked up along his journey. If he wanted to get a full set of powerful equipment, he’d have to expend quite a bit of effort. Gearing himself up from head to toe with godly equipment would be very difficult. The various big shots from the guilds of his past life had poured in a lot of blood, sweat, and tears trying to accomplish such. His current achievements could already be regarded as extraordinary. According to the progression of the game in his past life, at around Level 20–30, players shouldn’t even dream about seeing the shadow of piece of Sub Legendary equipment. At best, some lucky ones would be able to find a few fragments. However, out of the thousands upon thousands of fragments, just how many would be fused into a complete piece of equipment? Now that was hard to say. It wasn’t until Level 100 that the leaders of the major guilds were able to wear so-called godly, Sub Legendary equipment. As for Nie Yan, he at least had definite goals: the first was completing Volume I of the Book of Order, the second was crafting the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow, and the third was gathering the remaining two fragments of Sulgata’s Shadow.

"Nirvana Flame added another dozen or so pieces of Level 30 equipment to the treasury. Seems like it’s mostly stuff for Paladins this time.”

"Hey, guys… where do you think the bosses go off to train?” Blue Yarn Thread, Summer Bug, and the others discussed.

"Beats me. But you know, there’s one thing I’m certain of… a Level 30 Gold-grade set I can equip has finally appeared! I’m warning you guys… I want that Soul Judgement Set, so nobody fight me for it!” Taotie shouted in high spirits. He examined the new Gold-grade equipment in the treasury. Each piece cost almost 3000 merit points. However, to an elite player like him, such an amount wasn’t hard to obtain. He could receive 1000 merit points for every piece of Level 20 Gold-grade equipment and 200 merit points for every piece of Silver-grade equipment donated to the treasury. All he needed to do was contribute a bit more to the guild.

"I have a Hellfire skill book with me right here.” Guo Huai approached the group. He shared the information of the skill book with everyone in the chat.

"Boss Watchful Snail, give it to me! I’ll spend 20,000 merit points!” Undying Scoundrel exclaimed in excitement.

Undying Scoundrel had performed pretty well recently. He was also one of the most skilled Mages in the guild. He was quite suited to learn Hellfire. Guo Huai turned to Summer Bug. As a top Arcane Mage in the guild, he was qualified to compete with Undying Scoundrel for the skill book.

Summer Bug shook his head. "Give it to Undying Scoundrel. I have two small-scale spells already. I don’t need a high-level magic for the time being. Besides, I usually level together with him, so it doesn’t really matter which one of us learns the spell.”

"Alright, it’s settled. The skill book goes to Undying Scoundrel.” Guo Huai nodded.

"Thank you, boss!” Undying Scoundrel giddily took the Hellfire skill book from Guo Huai’s hands.

Chapter 190 – Charge Weapon

「How’s the team doing now?」Nie Yan asked Resplendent Bladelight. Aside from providing some important advice every now and then, he didn’t really concern himself with the matters of the elite team because he had full faith in them.

「Everyone’s doing fine,」Bladelight responded.「We’ve recently cleared the Level 20 Shadow Marsh dungeon on Normal difficulty.」With Nie Yan’s guidance, their progress had vastly outstripped that of the major guilds’. They were all curious. Just where did Nie Yan get all his news? Maybe he had an inside source?

「Is everyone working together well? How’s the team synergy?」

「Young Seven is the best right now, but Yi Yan is also very strong. Everyone else on the team can also be considered an elite player of the game. Asskickers United really has a lot of experts!」Resplendent Bladelight couldn’t imagine how Nie Yan had gathered all these skilled players into one guild. Back when he was in Unhindered, him and Hei Zhuo (Black Amazing) were the only powerhouses in the guild. Everyone else was only so-so. However, after joining Asskickers United’s elite team, he found himself with teammates that were his equals. Dungeoning with experts was definitely much more enjoyable!

While the other major guilds were still trying to clear Shadow Marsh for the first time, Asskickers United’s elite team had already cleared it on Normal and were starting on Hard. The equipment they swapped out or didn’t need was all placed into the guild treasury to strengthen the auxiliary teams. These dozen or so auxiliary teams were already trying to clear Shadow Marsh for their first times.

「Another three thousand players from Unhindered have followed me into Asskickers United now. However, there’s no way to tell if any are spies sent over by Hei Zhuo. After all, these people are all latecomers who have worked under Hei Zhuo for a while now. It’s unlikely that none of them came with malicious intentions. Aside from them, the vast majority of these brothers will gradually become loyal members of Asskickers United.」

「Don’t worry about it. I’ll just have Little Worm, Watchful Snail, and the others keep watch over the new recruits. Even if there are some spies, they couldn’t make much of a storm anyways.」Nie Yan laughed off the idea. It’s not like they could get the entire guild to revolt or anything. With just the people who came over from Unhindered, they wouldn’t even be able to make a wave, much less a storm.

There were many players trying to join Asskickers United every single day. Even Nie Yan couldn’t imagine the extent to which his guild would grow in the future. In his past life, Asskickers United would already be considered a large guild. However, because of the stir Nie Yan had been making, the future might end up completely different.

「How many people are left in Unhindered now?」Nie Yan asked.

「About twenty to thirty thousand. I understand Hei Zhuo’s character very well. With his abilities, even though so many people left the guild, it still doesn’t affect Unhindered too much.」Resplendent Bladelight really was too embarrassed to talk about the issues that resulted in his falling out with Hei Zhuo.

The current Unhindered had over twenty thousand players, giving it a respectable amount of strength. However, it paled in comapirson to the current Asskickers United. What’s more, Asskickers United was still in its rapid development phase, so it would vastly outstrip Unhindered in the near future.

「You guys keep playing, then. If you need anything, just let Watchful Snail know.」Nie Yan knew that with the financial clout held by Asskickers United, any reasonable request made by the elite team would be as good as fulfilled.

Edgeless has deposited Fire Source Crystals x3 and top-quality Magic Redwood Logs x10 into your personal storage.

The materials I asked Guo Huai to purchase have arrived! Nie Yan ran to his storage to retrieve the materials, then made a trip to the Starry Night Potion Shop to withdraw 50 gold, before finally heading over to the smithy of Advanced Blacksmith Kade.

As he walked through the familiar streets of Calore, he thought back to when he used to buy Bat Teeth from players and sell them to Blacksmith Kade for his first significant profits. Back then, he’d busied himself going back and forth many times just for a few silvers. Now, after less than a month, he was the secret owner of the Starry Night Potion Shop, the founder of the Union of Assassins, and the true leader of Asskickers United.

For things to change so rapidly was truly unfathomable.

Snapping himself out of his reminiscing, Nie Yan walked into the Kade Smithy. It had been upgraded to Tier 2 since his last visit, so it was much more spacious than before.

"Sir Demon Hunter, what have you come to my humble shop for?” When Kade saw Nie Yan, he immediately became respectful. The hierarchy system within Calore was extremely strict. As a mere Advanced Blacksmith, Kade was not permitted to show even the slightest disrespect to a Demon Hunter like Nie Yan. If he did, he would immediately be hauled out to trial and punished, even if he was on good terms with the offended.

"I would like to have two items forged. First, I would like to have a Splitting Edge forged from these fragments.” Because of the status that accompanied a Demon Hunter, Nie Yan had no need to appease or haggle with Kade the way an ordinary player might.

"Combining a Splitting Edge from its fragments would normally cost 50 silver. You only need to pay sixty percent of the listed price, so that would be 30 silver.” Blacksmith Kade took the twenty Splitting Edge fragments and began to forge.

A Warrior who had been standing in the Kade Smithy saw this exchange. Witnessing Advanced Blacksmith Kade treat Nie Yan with such reverence, he was shocked into a momentary daze.

Nie Yan eyed the Warrior who looked to be in his mid-twenties. He wore a pretty good set of armor. The Warrior was reserved but still showed signs of a noteworthy bearing. Nie Yan used Transcendent Insight and saw that his name was Reborn. The name was unfamiliar to Nie Yan.

"Hello there.” Reborn walked over to greet Nie Yan.

"Hello.” Nie Yan nodded indifferently. He wasn’t really interested in making connections with players he didn’t know.

"You’re here to have something forged right? Blacksmith Kade treats you very respectfully. I have a set of materials with me that I want him to forge into a weapon. Do you think you could help me negotiate a price?” Reborn asked. In Conviction, players could get up to a ten percent discount by haggling with an NPC. The success of the negotiations depended on both the player’s ability to haggle and their Influence in the area.

Haggle? Nie Yan revealed an uncomfortable expression. He had always hated negotiating with NPCs for anything.

"My weapon would require 7 gold to forge. If you can get me a discount of at least 70 silver, I can give you half of it.” Seeing Nie Yan’s somewhat impatient look, Reborn quickly offered him a bit of profit.

Generally, a piece of equipment that would require 7 gold to forge would be considered one of the highest quality. However, to Nie Yan, this bit of money didn’t count for much.

Nie Yan replied, "If you trust me enough to give me the materials, I can immediately obtain a 40% discount.”

Reborn looked at Nie Yan doubtfully. This person shouldn’t be trying to con me out of these materials, should he?

Nie Yan didn’t want to talk more than was necessary, so he watched Kade work at his forge for a while. After working himself into a sweat, the blacksmith finally finished forging the Splitting Edge. Holding the completed weapon, Blacksmith Kade walked over to Nie Yan.

"Sir Demon Hunter, the Splitting Edge has been completed.” Kade handed the weapon over to Nie Yan. It was a sharp dagger about seven inches long, with jagged teeth lining its sharp edge. Its shape allowed it to easily penetrate an enemy’s armor and cause residual bleed damage.

Its weight felt just right in Nie Yan’s hand, giving a very familiar feeling. After all, he’d used this very dagger from around Level 30 all the way to Level 60 in his past life.

Splitting Edge (Dark Gold): Charge Weapon

Requirements: 120 Strength, 100 Dexterity, 20 Willpower

Properties: Attack 206–299, +10% chance to pierce armour, +10% chance to inflict bleed damage for 5 seconds

Explosion (Innate Skill): Once fully charged, the weapon will blast the energy out when inside an opponent’s body, dealing extra damage. Charge: 0/100.

Attack Speed: 2.9

Weight: 5lb

Restrictions: Thief; can be equipped by all factions.

This dagger was truly one of the most overpowered weapons before Level 50. Both the armour-piercing and the bleeding abilities were extremely deadly. The Explosion skill was especially helpful, and it even did a lot of damage to bosses because it ignored defense.

Charge Weapons generally had a Willpower requirement. If a player’s Willpower was not high enough, forcibly using the weapon would result in a backlash. Willpower would also affect the charging speed: a higher stat value would allow the weapon to charge faster.

With Nie Yan’s 37 Willpower, for example, he’d be able to charge the weapon by roughly 20 points every day.

The max energy capacity for Explosion was 100 points. The more energy that was stored up, the higher the damage of the skill. With only 20 energy, the skill would do roughly twice his attack power as damage, not to mention it would ignore all armour. It was effective against both players and monsters, regardless of how high their defense was.

Once the skill was activated, all of the energy in the weapon would be emptied at once, no matter how much was stored up.

Now that he possessed a Charge Weapon, as long as it had enough energy stored up, he would even be able to effortlessly kill some particularly tanky Warriors.

For an ordinary player, having 10 Willpower was already considered impressive. But Nie Yan far exceeded the average player by having 37 Willpower, thanks to the stat bonuses he gained from the chapters of the Book of Order. He could draw out even more might from the Splitting Edge.

Nie Yan equipped Splitting Edge to his primary weapon slot while switching Blood Pact to his secondary. His attack power shot up explosively. His total attack power wasn’t calculated by simply adding the attack of his primary and secondary weapon together but rather with a special formula. Around 20% of the attack power of his secondary weapon would be added to that of his primary weapon.

Blood Pact +7 (Dark Gold)

Requirements: Level 7

Properties: Attack 93-96, Dexterity +11, Critical +12, Lifesteal 3%

Attack Speed: 2.3

Weight; 3 lbs.

Restrictions: Thief. Can be equipped by all factions.

Nie Yan checked his current attack power. It was almost 430. For a Thief player, such a value was incredibly frightening. It wouldn’t even have any trouble dealing with plate-armoured Warriors.

Reborn prudently observed Nie Yan. His figure seemed familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before. He suddenly remembered. He had seen Nie Yan before in the video of Asskickers United battling Victorious Return. This person was considered a celebrity. He recalled once more how respectfully Blacksmith Kade had treated Nie Yan. Was there any reason for such a person to swindle him?

Reborn called out, "Brother, I’ll give these materials to you. Please help me get this sword forged.”

Chapter 191 – Heavy Crossbow!

"Aren’t you afraid I’ll try to swindle your materials?” Nie Yan asked with a raised eyebrow. He was slightly surprised. The other party was willing to hand over their precious materials to a total stranger?

"What do I have to be afraid of? That dagger in your hand should be worth more than my weapon, so why would you care about the few materials I have?” Reborn had quite the discerning eye. Nie Yan’s Splitting Edge was worth at least 30 gold. He could tell the dagger wasn’t ordinary with a simple glance. What’s more, he felt that a person of such high status would surely care about their reputation. If his materials really did end up being swindled, he could just upload the video online to the official forums, and Nie Yan would lose all standing in the game.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. At the current stage of the game, anyone that could take out this much money to forge a weapon wouldn’t be lacking in personal resources or strength. Besides, it didn’t require much effort on his part to lend Reborn a helping hand, and he’d also be sowing some good karma for the guild.

"Alright, give me the materials,” Nie Yan said. He wondered just what kind of weapon Reborn wanted to forge for it to cost so much.

"Sure.” Reborn sent Nie Yan a trade request, then placed all the materials in the trade window.

Nie Yan’s screen began filling up with all sorts of materials, around a dozen items altogether. He scanned through them, estimating their total value to be at least 10 gold.

Now that he had seen the materials, he knew exactly what Reborn wanted to forge.

"It’s for the Flamecross Sword?” Nie Yan interrupted. It was regarded as one of the very best among procurable Level 30 weapons. He gazed at Reborn meaningfully. In order to obtain so many expensive materials, you either had to possess a certain amount of influence or be filthy rich.

"You know what I want to forge?” Reborn was taken aback. He hasn’t even seen the blueprint, how does he know? Did someone else forge it before me…? A trace of doubt lingered in his mind as he placed the blueprint inside the trade window. "It’s for a greatsword.”

"It’s not a bad weapon, but the Strength requirement is quite high.”

"I know. 280 Strength. I have to socket some of my gear with Strength Gems, then I should be fine when I hit Level 30.”

Nie Yan pressed confirm on the trade window. He walked back to Blacksmith Kade, handing over the materials and blueprint for the Flamecross Sword.

Blacksmith Kade looked over the blueprint, then began forging the weapon.

"Are you the boss of Asskickers United?” Reborn asked.

With how the situation had developed so far, Nie Yan knew that even if he wanted to stay low-key, it just wasn’t possible anymore. He nodded his head. "Yes, I am.”

"Is your guild’s elite team still looking for members?”

"No, the elite team is currently full. Guild members can only try their hand at joining one of the auxiliary teams. If their performance is good, maybe they’ll get a chance to join the elite team. Our auxiliary teams aren’t bad either though. They’ve already moved on to the Shadow Marsh dungeon,” Nie Yan answered. "Why do you ask? Are you considering joining?”

Reborn was shocked. Let alone auxiliary teams, even the elite teams from most large guilds were only starting to run Shadow Marsh. He didn’t expect the progression of Asskickers United to be so frighteningly fast! Wow, they’re already so far ahead! He had only asked the question on a whim, but now he was actually tempted to join.

"I’m going back to discuss this with some of my friends. If they’re willing, maybe we really will join your guild,” Reborn announced. He had started the game together with his friends. This wasn’t a decision he could make by himself.

"Sure.” Nie Yan nodded. While they were still chatting, Blacksmith Kade finished forging the Flamecross Sword. It was a gorgeous, two-meter greatsword that reflected a flame-red lustre.

"It costs a total of 4 gold and 20 silver,” Nie Yan informed. He opened up a trade window and placed the Flamecross Sword inside.

The two players confirmed the trade.

"Thanks, you’ve saved me so much money. How about I give you half?” Reborn expressed his gratitude.

Nie Yan waved his hand. "No need.”

Reborn looked at Nie Yan thoughtfully. He decided not to force the issue. It might be that 1 gold was nothing in the eyes of the other party. He wondered if he should persuade his friends to join Asskickers United. It seemed like a very formidable guild.

Reborn’s group could never come to a decision on which guild to join. Some of them had their eyes on Victorious Return. Others liked the idea of joining Holy Empire. Still others wanted to wait and see. As for the newly established Asskickers United? Although they had scouted out the guild, they never had any real intention of joining. No matter how meteoric the rise of a newcomer, they could never shake the solid foundations of the well-known, established powerhouses.

After handing the Flamecross Sword to Reborn, Nie Yan gave Blacksmith Kade the blueprint and materials necessary to craft the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow.

"Sir Demon Hunter, I have to warn you that I’m not fully confident in crafting this crossbow. There’s a 5% chance of failure. Are you sure you wish for me to craft it?” Blacksmith Kade informed, a trace of hesitation discernible in his voice.

"Yes.” Nie Yan nodded. The odds of success were greatly in his favour. If the crafting really did fail, he could only blame his poor luck.

"Sir Demon Hunter, the labour fee is 30 gold. This is the most sophisticated crossbow blueprint I’ve ever seen. I ask that you wait a while. Crafting it may take up to an hour,” said Blacksmith Kade after receiving the blueprint and materials.

Just as Reborn was about to bid farewell to Nie Yan, he overheard the conversation between him and Blacksmith Kade. His mind reeled in shock. Demon Hunter? What kind of title is that? At the current stage of the game, players with titles were few and far between. No wonder Blacksmith Kade acted so respectfully to him. On a different note, just what kind of crossbow had a labour fee of 30 gold? Not to mention Nie Yan received a 40% discount with the Demon Hunter title. It meant the original cost was 50 gold! So how valuable was this crossbow? It was probably worth upwards of several hundred gold! Even 100 gold could get you quite a few sets of Dark Gold equipment!

Reborn drew in a big breath of air. He originally believed himself to be quite extraordinary for commissioning a greatsword with a labour fee of 7 gold. Thinking of it all, he revealed a self-mocking smile. An ordinary player would be doing quite well for themselves if they had 10 silver in their pockets. Who could’ve known that as soon as he compared himself with Nie Yan, 7 gold would suddenly become nothing more than chump change!

Nie Yan couldn’t just sit around the smithy for an hour. That would be a huge waste of time. He informed Blacksmith Kade that he’d be back later to pick up the crossbow. He turned to Reborn and said with a faint smile, "Well, I’ll be taking my leave.”

"Oh, right.” Reborn snapped out of his daze. He nodded. "It’s about time I go back as well. My friends are waiting on me to run a dungeon.”

Both of them walked out of the smithy. Nie Yan headed straight for the Starry Night Potion Shop.

Gazing at Nie Yan’s gradually receding figure, Reborn had a thoughtful expression on his face.

The Starry Night Potion Shop had grown. Every day, it received the business of a tremendous number of players. Even though the front of the shop had been expanded several times over, there still wasn’t enough space. Nie Yan eventually selected two plots of land from other locations, where he opened two more Tier 2 shops which would become branch locations. The players arriving to purchase potions were diverted to the two other shops. Nie Yan opened a Tier 2 Tinkerer Shop on the plot adjacent to the Starry Night Potion Shop. It would sell all sorts of Tinker goods.. Although the market was still in its infancy, it had great potential for growth in the future.

After finishing his business at the Starry Night Potion Shop, Nie Yan withdrew another 100 gold. He teleported to Tasoyi Village and purchased ten batches of Magic Bombs in preparation for his trip to the Everlasting City with Tang Yao.

Although it seemed excessive to spend 100 gold on Magic Bombs, by the time they went through all of them, they would make back 50-60 gold from all the loot they would pick up from leveling there. They wouldn’t use up too many other supplies either, so he could make everything back and then some if they picked up one or two top-quality items.

Nevertheless, in the whole of Calore, only Nie Yan dared to be so frivolous.

The daily income of the Starry Night Potion Shop was ever increasing with no signs indicating anything but a more prosperous future. It would become an ATM machine with an inexhaustible supply of money for Nie Yan.

After Nie Yan finished preparing some of the essentials, the hour was almost up. He walked back to Blacksmith Kade’s smithy.

"Sir Demon Hunter, I’ve fulfilled your request. Here’s your newly-created heavy crossbow.” Blacksmith Kade placed a large crossbow on the table.

The Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow was about 1.5 meters long. Its main body was crafted out of Magic Redwood Logs. In the eyes of any player, it was a very sophisticated piece of equipment. The surface of its limb engraved with all sorts of magic runes made the crossbow look all the more impressive. A thin metal thread, stretched very tautly, acted as the string. It was created from the Enchanted Blackvein Gold, which was known for its resilience. Embedded at the core was the Fire Essence Extract. A ball of scarlet-red flame endlessly burned within. If a bolt passed through, it would be enchanted with the blazing element of fire.

The Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow also required a higher grade of bolts. Ordinary ones would disintegrate when they passed through the small flame. At the very least, Nie Yan would have to purchase a tube of bolts priced at 1 gold or higher from an NPC shop.

If this heavy crossbow was any bigger, it would start to resemble the ballistae used to defend the towns and cities. Its immense size was frightening.

Nie Yan exerted all his strength to lift up this crossbow, but he could barely get it off the table. It actually weighed 56 lb! With his current Strength, there was no way he could use it.

He examined the properties.

Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow (Sub Legendary)

Requirements: 800 Strength

Properties: Attack 307–327, 30% Piercing Damage, 30% chance to deal 3x Critical Damage, +100 Fire Damage, Penta Bolt Shot

Range: 52 Meters

Firing Rate: 25

Weight: 56 lb

Restrictions: Thief, Paladin, Warrior

The attack power was good, and the range reached impressively far. If he camped out in one place with this crossbow, he’d be like a mobile archer tower. Better yet, its killing power was extremely astonishing.

Too bad it had a steep requirement of 800 Strength.

A pure Strength-build Berserker, after putting all their points into Strength, learning a bunch of Strength boosting passive skills, and equipping themselves with a full set of Strength boosting equipment on top of socketing them with Strength Gems, would still have to wait until they were Level 50 to reach 800 Strength.

As for a Thief aiming to reach 800 Strength at Level 50? It was next to impossible unless the player lucked out by getting a full set of godly equipment.

Nie Yan put away the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow in his bag. Let’s leave it in here for now. I’ll figure out some way of equipping it later on. He retrieved the blueprint for the crossbow from Blacksmith Kade.

Nie Yan left the smithy. His mood was no longer the same. He had finally obtained his own Sub Legendary weapon. In the previous timeline, he had never owned even a single piece of Sub Legendary equipment. Back then, he could only gaze enviously at those people showing off the properties of their godly equipment on the official forums.

Chapter 192 – Large-Scale Mobbing

With the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow crafted, Nie Yan proceeded to his personal storage to retrieve the Level 20 Thief set, the Eternal Night of Silence, that he’d gotten in his trade with Withered Leaf. He sent a message to Tang Yao.「Come back. I’ll take you to level.」

「Finally! I’ve been losing my mind over here grinding Scaled Frogs!」Tang Yao immediately grew excited after hearing that Nie Yan wanted to take him somewhere else to level. He hastily activated a Return Scroll to go back to Calore.

A short while later, Nie Yan met up with Tang Yao at the transfer area.

"Where’s Yao Yao and Sun? Didn’t they come with you?” Nie Yan asked after seeing that Tang Yao was alone.

"No, they said they didn’t want to drag us down. The both of them can hunt Scaled Frogs by themselves now,” Tang Yao answered.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. If Yao Yao and Sun did tag along, the experience shared between four players would be pretty meagre. They really might be better off hunting by themselves. At their current levels,the experience from Scaled Frogs was still pretty good. Although the drain on supplies was very high, with them constantly having to spend money to restock on Smoke Powder, the value of the loot they’d pick up would more than make up for the costs. Besides, if they sold the surplus equipment to guild, Guo Huai would surely compensate them fairly.

"That’s fine too. It’s not like levelling on Scaled Frogs is slow either.”

"Yao Yao wants to bring Yu Lan (Blue Feather) and them along with her. She wants to help them get their levels up as well.”

Nie Yan nodded. After the matter with Victorious Return outside Blackflame Forest, Yu Lan’s team had already become loyal members of Asskickers United. Bringing their overall level up was the same as increasing the strength of the guild.

"Go prepare. We’ll set off soon,” Nie Yan said. The leaderboards showed that Heaven Breaker was already Level 26. He wasn’t sure how far behind Heaven Breaker was in experience, but he definitely couldn’t be allowed to pass Tang Yao.

"Right! I’ll be all good in just a moment!” Tang Yao deposited all of the loot he picked up into the guild treasury. He made a trip to the Starry Night Potion Shop to restock on consumables, and then to the general shop to buy a few Return Scrolls.

Once Tang Yao was back, the two of them stepped into the Calore transfer point. They each spent 15 silver to teleport to Kemento Town.

The town was almost completely empty when they arrived. There were only a few NPCs walking on the main street. All of the maps in the vicinity of the town were quite high level. So very few, if any, players had a reason to come here at present.

In the previous timeline, Kemento was the most prosperous place for gem trade. There were several high-level maps nearby that were rich with gems, particularly Everlasting City. It produced the greatest quantity of high-quality gems. Almost every day, Jewelcrafters would arrive here in hordes to purchase gems.

Both of them left Kemento, heading south where they entered a region of plains. After travelling for ten minutes, they saw a magnificent golden castle up ahead.

Tang Yao gasped in astonishment. This golden castle was even more striking than the central district of Calore! It took up an enormous area, while at the center was a tall, majestic dome that reflected a dazzling splendor.

The Everlasting City was a remnant of the Dark Era. The atrocities committed by the dragons forced many races to find ways to defend themselves. They constructed unassailable fortresses and powerful automatons to protect their people. Even at the peak of the dragon race’s dominance, the main forces of the dragons failed to take this castle. As a result, it became known as the Everlasting City.

With the passing of the Dark Era, humans gained control of this land. The goblins, who were the original inhabitants, suffered banishment because of their ugly appearances. Although the Everlasting City had never fallen, the ingenuity of the human mind was boundless. They took to the skies on griffons, spraying a poisonous fog over the land until every last goblin was wiped out.

When one race conquered another, there was only a cruel loss of lives. Savage acts weren’t limited to only dragons but other races as well.

Such was the history of the Everlasting City.

To the players, however, it was simply a Level 40 map. What spawned there were Mechanical Golems, machine-type monsters.

Nie Yan and Tang Yao arrived just outside the entrance of the Everlasting City. The six-meter tall iron gates which were tightly shut emanated a heavy, stifling pressure.

Nie Yan slowly pushed open the gates. Inside the city were open streets that were about ten meters wide. He occasionally spotted one or two skeletons, roughly the size of a child, sprawled out across the ground. They were the remains of the goblins that once lived here. In their eternal rest, they silently cursed the humans who murdered them.

"You stay here. I’ll do all the aggroing and mobbing,” Nie Yan instructed. He could only rely on the Magic Bombs to take down the Mechanical Golems. Tang Yao’s slow speed made him unsuited for the task, and his spells wouldn’t leave so much as a scratch on them. Simply put, his only purpose here was to leech experience.

Basic Magic Bomb

Requirements: 10 intelligence

Description: Deals 200 damage in a 3-meter radius and applies the Tinkerer's Curse. Effective against Ordinary, Leader, and Sub-Elite monsters Level 50 and under. Deals 300% bonus damage on Machine-type monsters.

Warning: Do not use against other players, otherwise, the user will receive the Painful Death Curse (inflicts instant death. -10% All Stats Permanently)

"How do we get that Energized Crystal Core you talked about?” Tang Yao asked.

"It doesn’t drop from the regular Mechanical Golems. Every now and then, a blue one will appear among them. They’re Level 50 instead of Level 40. They drop Energized Crystal Fragments. We need to collect a hundred to make an Energized Crystal Core. "

"Isn’t that too simple?”

Nie Yan shook his head. "There’s a total of one hundred and thirty blue Mechanical Golems in the outer ring of the Everlasting City. They won’t respawn after being killed. Finding a hundred will be difficult. We also have to take into account that blue Mechanical Golems have three times more health than ordinary Mechanical Golems. We can only get so many Energized Crystal Fragments in a given day. As for whether we can find one hundred, that’ll depend on our luck.”

The other option was to kill a Legendary Mechanical Golem, but that was equivalent to a Lord-class existence. He temporarily put aside that thought for now.

Nie Yan activated Stealth before setting out. Before long, he spotted six groups of Mechanical Golems in the distance, each about twenty to thirty members in size.

Almost all of them were made out of a greyish metal. Built in a shape that somewhat resembled a drum, they were the automatons of a far-gone age. They were tall, clumsy, and walked fairly slowly. Mixed among them were a few blue coloured ones.

He inspected them with Transcendent Insight.

Gray Iron Mechanical Golems: Level 40

Health: 3,000/3,000

Blue Armoured Mechanical Golem: Level 50

Health: 8,000/8,000

Blue Armoured Mechanical Golems could only be encountered if you were one of the first to set foot into the Everlasting City. The loot they dropped was fairly good. However, they would be gone after the map was explored. The Legendary Mechanical Golem would drop an intact Energized Crystal Core after being killed for the first time. It would no longer do so in successive spawns. So there were only two Energized Crystal Cores altogether in the entire map.

All of them were machine-type monsters. Furthermore, Elite Mechanical Golems would only appear in the central district. So the outer district was the best place to train by using Magic Bombs.

Nie Yan cautiously approached the group of Mechanical Golems until he was within shooting range. He took out his crossbow and fired at one of them.「Ding! Ding! Ding!」All three bolts struck the same target.

−1

−1

−1

Nie Yan’s sudden assault alerted all twenty plus Mechanical Golems in the group. They charged at the offender, looking to pummel him into meat paste. They were still Level 40 monsters after all. Although they were considered slow and clumsy relative to other similarly levelled monsters, they were only somewhat slower than him.

Nie Yan hastily fled. As he passed by a different group of Mechanical Golems, he shot another round of bolts, aggroing them as well.

In this fashion, Nie Yan continuously aggroed monsters. Eventually, he had almost three to four hundred Mechanical Golems in a densely packed mob chasing after him from behind.

"Mother of God!” Tang Yao shouted as he stared at the enormous mass of metal barreling toward Nie Yan.

Nie Yan led these Mechanical Golems through the open streets. He turned around and threw an object from his hand which resembled a black metal ball. It flew high up, creating a parabola, then fell from the air into the crowd.

「Boom!」The Magic Bomb exploded, wreaking havoc as an enormous tongue of flame rapidly engulfed the surrounding hundred Mechanical Golems. As soon as it appeared, it departed just the same, forming a cloud of black smoke. The scene was quite spectacular.

−600, −600, −600…

A dense swath of damage values blanketed the sky. The Mechanical Golems caught in the blast radius were scorched completely black, as if they had been covered in soot.

The aggro of these Mechanical Golems grew more concentrated. They furiously pursued their target. Nie Yan noticed the Magic Bombs had come off cooldown. He turned around and threw another.

The Magic Bomb fell from the sky.「Boom」Yet another explosion swept through the crowd of Mechanical Golems.

After a while, Nie Yan threw a third, fourth, then eventually a fifth Magic Bomb fell into the crowd.「Boom!」The explosion blasted the Mechanical Golems into piles of scrap metal littering the ground.

Roughly seventy or so Mechanical Golems died. Nie Yan gained a surge of experience. Two bursts of bright light enveloped him, accompanied the ringing of two crisp system sounds. He looked at his character information. He had levelled up twice to Level 21

"Holy crap! So much experience!” Tang Yao exclaimed in excitement. He directly went from Level 26 to Level 27, 37%.

Mechanical Golems had very high health and defense, and they were already high-experience monsters to begin with. Now, with Nie Yan and Tang Yao killing them at such low levels, the experience they received was even more ludicrously high. On top of that, they were killing them in large groups. A person could hardly imagine the explosive pace they were levelling at!

Bomb after bomb was thrown into the sky to fall back to the earth.「Boom! Boom! Boom!」Explosions shook the outer district of the Everlasting City. As if the autumn gale had swept up the fallen leaves, what remained of the mob of Mechanical Golems were only bits of broken scrap metal.

Nie Yan had risen to Level 23. Tang Yao had hit Level 28.

"Go pick up the loot,” Nie Yan said to the dumbstruck Tang Yao. He checked his bag. He had only gone through thirty-nine Magic Bombs. He still had plenty more left. That was merely the first wave!

Tang Yao stared at his level. Given that he had already seen many crazy things with Nie Yan, he still found the situation hard to believe. He had grinded Scaled Frogs for two days straight without levelling up even once. Yet in a short span of time, he had directly gone from Level 26 to Level 28? What a fierce levelling speed! He could almost imagine the reaction on Heaven Breaker’s face. As he desperately tried to level up, right as he was about to reach his goal, the opponent suddenly shot up by two levels, widening the gap again. Just how demoralizing of a blow would that be?

Chapter 193 – Evolution Crystal

"You can start first. I’m going to allocate my points,” Nie Yan said as he surveyed his handiwork. Destroyed Mechanical Golems filled the streets, stretching out for fifty to sixty meters in front him, with all sorts of items scattered out on the ground.

"Alright,” Tang Yao replied. He flipped over the frames of the Mechanical Golems, picking up the loot that had dropped.

Nie Yan looked over his character page. He had 9 stat points and 5 mastery points to allocate.1 Without the slightest hesitation, he put all 9 points into Dexterity, bringing it up to 137 points. Now, he was only 23 points away from 160 Dexterity. Soon, he could equip the Scarlet Poison Ring, and then he’d receive another significant boost in attack power.

Scarlet Poison Ring (Dark Gold)

Requirements: 120 Strength, 160 Dexterity

Properties: Attack 53-57, +20% Poison Damage, Poison Resistance +20, Ignore Level +1

Weight: 0.1 lb

Restrictions: Can be equipped by all factions

Socketing a couple of Dexterity Gems should be enough…

As for the 3 mastery points, Nie Yan allocated them into Intermediate Cloaking, Advanced Marksman, and Advanced Dual Wielding. The effects of masteries grew more pronounced at higher ranks. Cloaking made him much harder to detect by weakening the effects of an opponent’s Awareness. Generally, players with only 20–30 Awareness would be completely incapable of sensing him through stealth. Dual Wielding added 30% of the attack power of his secondary weapon to his primary weapon, allowing him to deal even more damage. Finally, Marksman boosted his attack power by 10% and increased his firing rate when he wielded a crossbow or bow.

After allocating his stat and mastery points, Nie Yan joined Tang Yao in picking up the loot on the ground. The two of them were like scavengers as they searched through piles of debris, occasionally bending down to pick something up.

Before long, all of the loot had been collected.

"I found five Energized Crystal Fragments. How about you?” Tang Yao asked. He was noticeably anxious about how many fragments were collected.

"I’ve got two fragments,” Nie Yan replied. Adding them together, they had a total of seven Energized Crystal Fragments.

Nie Yan traded his fragments to Tang Yao. In merely one wave, they had already gathered seven fragments. It was pretty decent progress. However, fragments would become harder to find the more they collected because Blue Armoured Mechanical Golems wouldn’t respawn after death.

"Nice! We already have seven!” Tang Yao said in excitement. He finally saw hope.

Nie Yan sorted through the drops. They had made quite the haul, a few Life Gems (2) and Strength Gems (2), several pieces of Level 40 Silver-grade equipment, and so on. He estimated the total worth of all these items to be around 15 or 16 gold.

He had used up about 19 gold’s worth of Magic Bombs in dealing with the first wave of Mechanical Golems. All in all, he was down about 3 or 4 gold. But then again, spending that much had allowed him and Tang Yao to level up four and two times respectively. It could be considered quite cost efficient.

"Get ready. I’m going to aggro the next wave,” Nie Yan said. He could only clear four more waves with the remaining Magic Bombs in his bag. Even so, it was more than good enough for him.

As Nie Yan and Tang Yao frantically levelled, an uproar erupted outside. Young Sparrow Hawk, who had stagnated for a while, had yet again explosively risen in level, leaving Heaven Breaker behind in a trail of dust. However, the community’s reaction was relatively subdued compared to the last time. Everyone was already accustomed to Tang Yao’s perverse levelling speed. Even though people were surprised, no one was foolishly running to the official forums to accuse him of cheating on behalf of Heaven Breaker. As for what the other players on the leaderboards thought? Well, that was their own business.

Tang Yao had triggered another levelling frenzy among the high-level players. The difference this time was that many of them had done their research on how to go about taking down much higher level mobs. Granted, it was costly, but there was also the potential for significant profits. Even some players on the leaderboards began setting their sights on power-levelling through hunting monsters way above their level. The bonus experience was simply too hard to pass up. With Tang Yao serving as the role model, they were extremely enthusiastic. However, many of them ended up dying and consequently dropped out of the level leaderboards. Others found success, surging up the rankings.

Nie Yan simply didn’t care what other people thought. He continued mobbing Mechanical Golems with Tang Yao.

Nie Yan aggroed four to five hundred Mechanical Golems into an imposing horde behind him. He threw Magic Bombs into the sky, one after the other, as they fell into the crowd.「Boom! Boom! Boom!」The Mechanical Golems were swept up in the blasts. Like harvesting wheat, they collapsed to the ground, more than a hundred at a time, until none were left.

The ample experience caused Nie Yan to soar to Level 26, and Tang Yao to reach level 29.

Nie Yan again put all of his free stat points into Dexterity, bringing it up to 146. He was still 14 points away from his goal. However, he could easily reach it by replacing a piece of equipment or socketing one or two Dexterity Gems.

With the Mechanical Golems disposed of, Nie Yan and Tang Yao began picking up all the loot again. They found six fragments from the second wave of Mechanical Golems.

"Hey, Nie Yan! Look here, what do you think this is?” Tang Yao asked in shock. He had picked up a brightly glowing blue crystal, about the size of a thumb, from the body of a Mechanical Golem. Because of the Energized Crystal Fragments, he paid special attention to anything that remotely resembled a crystal.

Nie Yan stared blankly at the crystal between Tang Yao’s fingers for a moment, then suddenly became ecstatic.

Every type of energy crystal was exceedingly uncommon and precious. Often, they had some rather unique applications, like the Energized Crystal Core.

The drop rate of energy crystals was only around one in fifty thousand in the whole of Everlasting City. With tens of thousands of players hunting in the map, an energy crystal might drop once every few weeks. However, whichever lucky player that got their hands on it would instantly turn rich. The money they’d earn from selling it was enough to let them purchase a full set of Dark Gold equipment with some change to spare. It was the same as someone winning ¥5,000,000 in real life!

Energy crystals were classified by colour, red being the lowest grade and the more commonly seen kind. As for blue energy crystals, they were extremely uncommon, valued at several times higher than red energy crystals. Above that were purple energy crystals. However, they were even rarer than Legendary-grade equipment.

They had only cleared two waves of Mechanical Golems. Who would’ve thought a blue energy crystal would drop?

Nie Yan couldn’t help but let out an appreciative sigh. Being the first to explore a map really was great.

"Let me see,” Nie Yan said.

Tang Yao handed the energy crystal over. Nie Yan examined its properties.

Evolution Crystal (Single Use): Allows a summoned creature to permanently possess evolution energy.

Below was a whole bunch of information pertaining to the crystal, including an explanation on its use.

It was actually an Evolution Crystal! Nie Yan couldn’t help but sigh at his luck. It was one of the rarest types of energy crystals. It could make summoned creatures undergo a change, granting them low-level intelligence and a persistent summon duration.

For example, feeding an Evolution Crystal to an Arcane Fairy would trigger a transformation, giving the creature an evolved ability which was selected at random. However, using it this way was clearly a waste because an Arcane Fairy already had a persistent summon duration.

If Nie Yan used Undead Rite to take control of an undead monster and fed it the Evolution Crystal, it would become a permanent summon. Since the level of summoned creatures couldn’t be raised, it wasn’t a good idea to use an Evolution Crystal at lower levels. It was best to find a pet that could level up.

In the previous timeline, someone had fed an Evolution Crystal to their mantis-type pet. That catalyzed its evolution into the infamous Phantom Mantis which could stealth and ambush like a Thief. It was very formidable.

The price of an Evolution Crystal would remain high, even at the later stages of the game. There was no need to ever worry about it depreciating in value.

"Can this thing revive my Arcane Fairy?” Tang Yao asked with a hint of expectation. He hoped that the Evolution Crystal was the same as the Energized Crystal Core, possessing the ability to revive a summoned creature.

"No.” Nie Yan shook his head.

"Ah, forget it then. You can keep it,” Tang Yao said. He wasn’t the least bit interested in the Evolution Crystal, let alone have any thoughts of feeding it to his Arcane Fairy.

Nie Yan wondered if he would even get a chance to use the Evolution Crystal in the future. After all, things like pets were too rare. Out of thirty to forty thousand players, maybe one or two of them would own one. He didn’t have any thoughts about using it on a summoned creature for now, since most of them couldn’t be levelled up, unless he could find some extremely rare summoned creature.

Nie Yan stored the Evolution Crystal away in his bag. Even though he had spent 100 gold on this trip, there was nothing to feel regretful about because the value of the Evolution Crystal far surpassed that amount. It was in no way inferior to a Sub Legendary item.

After clearing three more waves of Mechanical Golems, Tang Yao broke through to Level 30. Before reaching Level 60, he would add 4 points into Intelligence and 1 point into Focus.

As for Nie Yan, he just hit Level 29. Because he was responsible for most of the damage, he received a larger share of the experience.

He had completely used up all 200 Magic Bombs. Not a single one remained.

Apart from the Evolution Crystal, the estimated value of all the other stuff they looted was around 80 gold. Of course, it couldn’t all be transformed into money at once.

"Are we going to keep buying Magic Bombs to level up?” Tang Yao asked. This kind of levelling was undoubtedly fast, but it was also very costly!

If they continued going at this pace, the Starry Night Potion Shop would quickly run out of money because of them.

"How many fragments have we found so far?” Nie Yan asked.

"Thirty-six,” Tang Yao replied after looking into his bag. He was still a long ways off.

"Of course we’re going to keep going. I’m going back to shop. There should still be enough money left to support us for today, ” Nie Yan replied. Reviving Tang Yao’s Arcane Fairy was also an important matter. The money spent could always be earned back. In fact, they had made quite a bit from levelling so far. As for a potential lack of funds later on, he still had plenty of ways to reap a profit.

Just as the two of them were about to go back to buy Magic Bombs, they received an urgent message. Something had happened over at the guild! Nie Yan suddenly had a very uneasy feeling in his heart.

Chapter 194 – Decision!

Nie Yan and Tang Yao took out Return Scrolls, then teleported back to Calore. Stepping out of the transfer point, they hurried to the Asskickers United guild headquarters.

Guo Huai and many other important members of the guild were sitting in the meeting hall. They all stood up when the two arrived.

A dozen or so members gathered together, including Resplendent Bladelight, Leader Young Seven, Undying Scoundrel, and Azure Yarn Thread. All of them wore grave expressions. It was clear they had been discussing something grim beforehand.

"You guys are back!” Guo Huai stepped forward to greet them.

"What happened?” Nie Yan asked. Guo Huai would’ve never called them back so anxiously were it not something urgent.

"It’s Unhindered. I don’t know how, but they discovered the location of our elite team and sent a force of over a thousand players to surround them. We suffered eighteen casualties. Luckily, Bladelight and Young Seven were on guard. They managed to escape, thanks to the rest of the members shielding them,” Guo Huai explained. As soon as he found out that the elite team had been ambushed, he hurriedly notified Nie Yan and Tang Yao. On top of that, he sent out a large number of guild members to rescue Bladelight’s group, but it was already too late. A team of twenty players surrounded by over a thousand enemies stood no chance. The battle ended quickly and without any fanfare. Bladelight and Young Seven surviving was purely a fluke of luck.

Nie Yan’s expression turned gloomy. Losing ninety percent of the elite team was a devastating blow. Every single member was a precious treasure to the guild! They had splendid achievements under the leadership of Bladelight and Young Seven. However, this incident would set them behind by at least half a week.

"Were any of the members killed branded with red names?” Nie Yan asked. If one of them died while under the PKer status, consequently dropping all their gear, then that would be even more depressing. It would basically be the same as losing a member of the elite team!

"No. Luckily, Bladelight and Young Seven showed restraint. They didn’t let the other team members attack first.”

It was good that no moles had snuck their way into the elite team. Otherwise, if a situation like what happened outside of Blackflame recurred, they would’ve taken an even heavier hit. But even so, the losses they’d suffered were still considerable.

Nie Yan was fuming with anger. He hadn’t gone to Unhindered to look for trouble, but they had come banging on his door. He would not let them off lightly!

"It’s our fault. This wouldn’t have happened if we had noticed the signs earlier,” Young Seven said, referring to himself and Bladelight, the two leaders of the team. As he recalled the teammates who had died for his sake, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pain in his chest. They had put in great effort to suit each member up with the best gear available. Who could’ve known that it would end up falling into the hands of Unhindered? He blamed himself for not staying more alert.

"This matter arose because of me. I didn’t expect Hei Zhuo (Black Amazing) to act against us,” Bladelight said. He should’ve anticipated such an outcome sooner. He had taken away so many people from Unhindered. How did he think the other side was going to react? It would be strange if Hei Zhuo didn’t already hate him to the bone. However, because Asskickers United was far stronger than Unhindered, he mistakenly believed that Hei Zuo’s common sense would prevent him from doing something like ambushing them. So he had never considered the threat seriously.

"What’s happened has happened. Nothing will come out of blaming yourself. However, this matter isn’t as simple as it seems!” Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a cold light. Whoever acted against his people shouldn’t expect to keep their heads! As the boss of the guild, it was imperative that he settle this grievance.

"I’ve just received word that Unhindered has joined Victorious Return as a branch guild!” Guo Huai announced to everyone.

"No wonder they acted so arrogantly!” No longer able to hold himself back, Undying Scoundrel blurted, "Boss, we should go after those bastards!”

He was good friends with several members of the elite team. All of them had been killed in the ambush!

"Calm down. Let’s hear what the boss has to say,” Azure Yarn Thread, sitting beside him, placated in a cool voice.

Nie Yan wrinkled his brows at the new revelation. Even at a conservative estimate, Unhindered had at least 20,000 members. Although they weren’t very powerful, in part because Bladelight had taken away almost all of the guild’s top rankers with him, a force of 20,000–30,000 players couldn’t be looked down on. If all of them went over to Victorious Return, it would definitely have an impact on the future.

Guo Huai and the others stared at Nie Yan, waiting for his decision.

Only then did Azure Yarn Thread and Undying Scoundrel sense the atmosphere in the meeting hall change. It seemed that the person who called the shots in the guild was Nie Yan all along.

"What are we going to do? Should we declare war on Unhindered?” Guo Huai asked. The guild’s elite team had been essentially wiped out. If they didn’t respond, it would be seen as a sign of weakness to the outside world. However, declaring a full-on war meant that they would have to invest a significant amount of resources and manpower to deal with the forces of Unhindered. He felt with utmost certainty that Victorious Return would take part as well. In such a scenario, the growth of the entire guild would slow to a complete halt.

Even Victorious Return didn’t dare to rashly war with another guild, to say nothing of Asskickers United. Now was the time for rapid expansion. By starting a war, they would be crippling the future of the guild! Besides, even if they did win the war, they still wouldn’t be able to eliminate Unhindered.

All of the members of Asskickers United were anxiously awaiting the decision of the higher-ups. After being bullied to such an extent, they were no longer willing to suffer in silence. This matter could not simply be ignored!

If the person that had moved against them was Heaven Breaker, they would’ve still been able to endure. After all, Victorious Return was currently the top guild in Calore. They had great influence. Everyone was in collective agreement that by showing restraint now, there’d inevitably be a day when they would take them down. However, what was Unhindered? It was nothing more than a small guild! If even small fry like them could wantonly piss and shit on their heads without fear of retaliation, then what reason would they have left to still stay in the guild!?

Nie Yan’s decision would directly influence the future direction of the entire guild.

"We were infiltrated by moles from Unhindered. It’s because we didn’t take enough precautions to guard against something like this that they were able to lock down our positions. Should we give that explanation to the guild members?” Young Seven asked. He understood that going to war with Unhindered was a fruitless endeavor. It would only drag them into a deeper hole. A group had gone out to surround Unhindered’s forces. Very soon, their levels would plummet.

"No need!” Nie Yan shook his head. This wasn’t the best solution. Victorious Return was monitoring the situation closely. If Asskickers United tried to weather out the storm, they would go on the offensive, making sure that their cowardice was known to all corners of the community. There would only be one conclusion. The low-ranking members of the guild would lose all respect for the higher-ups.

"Everyone, look at the forums!” Guo Huai said. Following the incident, he had been paying close attention to the forums. A new thread had popped up with a video of Unhindered’s forces surrounding and killing the elite team of Asskickers United. There was even a caption under the video with the following words of provocation:

「Asskickers United, do you have the balls to fight us? 」

"Fuck! Nirvana Flame, let’s destroy them!” Tang Yao could no longer hold himself back.

"Where’s Unhindered right now?” Nie Yan inquired.

"According to the information I received, Unhindered’s forces are at Kiln Fire Woods doing a group clear to level up. They’re likely waiting for us to arrive! Our members won’t be able to endure any longer, especially those who were previously a part of Unhindered. They’re hollering for us to let them go there to settle the score. I’ve told every group captain to pacify the members under then, settle down for now, and await your orders,” Guo Huai replied.

"Take note of the people who are trying to stir the pot. When all of this is over, boot them from the guild,” Nie Yan said. They were definitely sent over by Hei Zhuo to incite the guild members into taking action. However, it wasn’t suitable to deal with them at such a sensitive time. That would have to wait until the matter was settled.

"This is probably a scheme made by Heaven Breaker,” Bladelight said. He knew Hei Zuo’s personality well. He wasn’t the type to do something unless there was something in it for him. If Victorious Return hadn’t promised him some sort of benefit, he definitely wouldn’t have gone out of his way to offend Asskickers United.

"If Victorious Return is pulling the strings from behind the scenes, it’ll all be useless no matter how much of our forces we send. Instead, we might actually end up falling into a trap,” Guo Huai expressed his concerns. However, if they didn’t respond to the provocations, with Unhindered making such a scene at Kiln Fire Woods, it was a clear indicator that Asskickers United had chosen to submit to humiliation. From then on, the members of Asskickers United would never be able to lift their heads in public again.

This was a naked insult!

Nie Yan coldly smiled. Heaven Breaker was truly deserving of his reputation for coming up with such a heinous plot. However, Asskickers United wouldn’t stand idly by, waiting to be plucked off like sitting ducks.

Nie Yan analyzed the situation. As it currently stood, Asskickers United was stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they declared war, the forces they mobilized were guaranteed to be eaten by Victorious Return in one gulp. However, how could they not fight? With Unhindered getting so cocky at Kiln Fire Woods, all eyes were on them.

Maybe Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, and Battle Crazed Alliance were also watching how Asskickers United was going to handle this matter. Asking them to join the fray was definitely impossible. Their relationship with Nie Yan wasn’t at that level yet.

Asskickers United didn’t have any outside support!

"Kiln Fire Woods, let me think…” Nie Yan muttered. He couldn’t be any more familiar with that map. It had karst topography, rock formations everywhere. It was a forested region full of iron trees, and Level 25 Rock Monsters spawned there. Beneath the map was a huge underground world known as the Dark Dead Zone. It was inhabited by Level 25 Viper Flies. Hidden in dark crevices and corners, they often attacked in groups, appearing when least expected. If you were bitten, your whole body would become paralyzed. As a result, very few players dared to go there to level. The underground world had a total of seven entrances, all of which were well-hidden.

Nie Yan suddenly had a very dangerous thought.

Kiln Fire Woods.

Nie Yan turned to Guo Huai, and said, "Have some people go to the Starry Night Potion Shop to retrieve some Anti-Paralysis Potions. Tell them to hurry!”

"How many do we need?”

"A hundred bottles should do.”

"Is that really enough?” Guo Huai asked in surprise.

Nie Yan nodded. "It’s enough.” He turned to the rest of the people in the room and asked, "Any of you interested in massacring Unhindered with me?”

"Me!” Tang Yao shouted.

"I’m willing!” Undying Scoundrel also joined in.

"Me too!”

More than a dozen members in the room volunteered enthusiastically.

Chapter 195 – Hundred Thief Task Force

Nie Yan swept his eyes over the fired up crowd. They were the cream of the crop, the best of the best, and suited with the best gear the guild had available. Even when compared to the top-elites of Victorious Return, they wouldn’t be found lacking in any respect. They were some of the most highly-skilled players in Calore!

A group like this was enough!

Nie Yan turned to Guo Huai and said, "Beside the Anti-Paralysis Potions, tell Bird hand over anything else, Intermediate Health Potions, Intermediate Mana Potions, Intermediate Invisibility Potions…” He continued, "Today, we’re going to spill a river of blood!”

Guo Huai nodded. "Alright, I’ve informed the subordinates making the errands.”

"What exactly are you planning to do?” Zhao Li asked.

"With too many people going, our forces will end up getting dragged into a quagmire. We’re better off sending a select few,” Nie Yan replied. There were certain advantages in smaller numbers, particularly in the aspect of mobility. He was going to oppose Unhindered by employing guerrilla tactics. It would allow him to properly teach them a lesson.

"With only you guys?” Zhao Li stared at Nie Yan in shock.

"Yep, just these people are enough,” Nie Yan said. Instead, too many people would make them larger targets.

"A lot of guild members are still levelling outside. Do you want me to call them back?” Guo Huai asked, slightly worried the number of people in Nie Yan’s group wasn’t enough.

Nie Yan shook his head. "No need. Let them continue levelling.”

Seeing that Nie Yan had made his decision, Guo Huai knew any further attempts at dissuading him would prove fruitless. With a helpless sigh, he said, "Alright, please be careful then. I still feel it’s extremely dangerous for you to go with such little numbers.”

Nie Yan turned around and said in a strict tone, "There won’t be many of us on this operation, and it’ll be very dangerous. Those of you who don’t want to take part can leave now. Those who are willing to stay, state your names!”

"Blowhard Summer Bug!”

"Leader Young Seven!”

"Undying Scoundrel!”

"Young Sparrow Hawk!”

"Blue Yarn Thread!”

…

Nie Yan looked over the crowd. None of them had shrunk away from the task. He gave a satisfied nod. "Good! I’m glad to know that we don’t have cowards in my guild!”

"Boss, what are we going to do?” Undying Scoundrel asked.

"Go prepare first. We’ll be getting a delivery of potions soon. I’ll explain my plan then. If you need to resupply before we set off, make sure to buy extra. We’re going to have a very long and hard battle ahead of us!” Nie Yan said. He wanted to stock up on Intermediate Flash Powder and other items that might be of use as well. On a different note, he could now wear the set of Level 25 Gold equipment he’d gotten from Withered Leaf. Its stat bonuses would give him enough Dexterity to finally equip the Scarlet Poison Ring.

Scarlet Poison Ring (Dark Gold)

Requirements: 120 Strength, 160 Dexterity

Properties: Attack 53-57, +20% Poison Damage, Poison Resistance +20, Ignore Level _1

Weight: 0.1 lb.

Restrictions: Can be equipped by all factions

"Young Sparrow Hawk, stay here. You don’t need to take part in this operation,” Nie Yan said to Tang Yao.

"But why?” Tang Yao asked in an unwilling tone.

"We can’t afford to have you dying and dropping levels,” Nie Yan replied. He was a Thief. Under normal circumstances, he felt confident in his ability to survive. He couldn’t say the same for the players who played other classes in the group, especially the Mages. The difference was that if the other members died, their equipment could be replaced, and their levels could be grinded back without suffering many repercussions. However, if Tang Yao died, it would shake the entire guild!

Tang Yao stayed silent for a moment, then let out a reluctant sigh. "Fine, I understand…”

Nie Yan did a headcount of the people here: Resplendent Bladelight, Leader Young Seven, Undying Scoundrel, Monochrome, Blue Yarn Thread, Blowhard Summer Bug, Miracle Dancer, and Edgeless Including him, there were nine members altogether. Bladelight was a Fighter. Young Seven was a Priest. Undying Scoundrel was an Elementalist. Blue Yarn Thread was a Paladin. Blowhard Summer Bug was an Arcane Mage. Miracle Dancer was a Holy Mage. Finally, both Monochrome and Edgeless were Berserkers.

Guo Huai, Zhao Li, and Hao Cheng definitely couldn’t take part. They weren’t high enough level. Even if they did go, they’d only be throwing their lives away.

Nine people were already enough.

In the previous timelines, they were all players who had received the peak titles for their respective classes!

Just as Nie Yan had finalized all of the members of the strike force, a person burst through the doors of the meeting hall.

"Big Brother! I heard we’re going to duke it out with Unhindered!” Sun asked, panting for breath.

"Right, we’re going to give them a taste of their own medicine!” Nie Yan said with a faint smile.

"A taste of their own medicine? Are all of the guild members going?” Sun asked in surprise.

"Nope, just us few.”

"Let me go too! I promise I won’t drag you down!” Sun said.

Although Sun couldn’t compare to his peak self in the previous timeline, he was already displaying astonishing skill. After receiving Nie Yan’s personal guidance for so many days, he had shown remarkable improvement. Previously, he was able to take on three equal-levelled players from Victorious Return before dying. Now, he could manage that without even breaking a sweat. On top of that, he was a Thief, so his self-preservation abilities were definitely passable. Nie Yan nodded his head. "Alright, you can come.”

"Is there anything else you need me to do?” Guo Huai asked. Asskickers United had always been forced on the defensive. The players of the guild had been bullied for far too long. Nie Yan’s group had no choice but to dive into danger to settle the matter.

Nie Yan’s eyes filled with a frigid coldness. He originally wanted to avoid directly coming to blows with Victorious Return, to wait until the guild had grown enough to deal a decisive strike. However, since they’d moved against him repeatedly, he had no qualms about executing his plans ahead of schedule. Otherwise, they really would start to believe that his guild was easy to bully. He turned to Guo Huai and said, "I want you to monitor Victorious Return and Unhindered’s forces closely. So long as you discover any movement, immediately report it back to me. Other than that, I want you to pick a hundred of the most skilled Thief players in the guild. They have to be completely reliable. Assign them the best equipment, and order them to repeatedly launch ambushes on the players from Victorious Return!”

Nie Yan had a special purpose for setting up such a task force. Thieves held an absolute advantage when mounting sneak attacks, engaging and retreating as they pleased. Even if there were many of them, they were still extremely adaptable. They could be split up into smaller groups to take on multiple operations at once, as well as gathered back together to deliver a frontal assault on the teams of Victorious Return and Unhindered. It would be even better if they could locate the main team of Victorious Return. More often than not, a thousand players wasn’t necessary to annihilate a rival guild’s main team. A hundred Thief players could do the same job!

Guo Huai’s eyes lit up. "We can turn this hundred-Thief task force into the ultimate weapon of the guild! By providing them with the best skill books, equipment, and other resources and benefits, the players will treat joining the task force as an honour!” He really was worthy of his family’s business background. Despite Nie Yan only briefly touching on the subject, he immediately realized the benefits of this proposal.

"I’ll let you handle the arrangements. In the future, they’ll have priority on all the Thief equipment in the guild. If they end up dying during an operation, make sure to handle the matter properly by giving them enough compensation,” Nie Yan said. He had a lot of confidence in Guo Huai’s ability to handle the tasks given to him.

"Don’t worry. I already know what must be done. I’ll make sure that other guilds will cower in fear whenever our guild’s hundred Thief task force is mentioned!” Guo Huai confidently declared. Asskickers United might be small in size, but they weren’t inferior to any major guild in the number of experts. Even if other guilds followed suit and created similar task forces later on, he’d make Asskicker United’s the most renowned!

Nie Yan made his decision. In the future, Asskickers United wouldn’t become the largest guild, but it would definitely become the guild with the most top players! It was only because they had focused their efforts on recruiting talented individuals into the guild that they were now able to form a powerful hundred Thief task force and still have some manpower to spare.

The group began making their preparations. Nie Yan headed to Tasoyi Village to buy several batches of Flash Powder. He gave at least five pouches each to every member. Furthermore, the potions from the Starry Night Potion Shop had arrived.

Intermediate Health Potions, Intermediate Mana Potions, Junior Magic Amplification Potions, Anti-Paralysis Potions, etc… there were six to seven hundred bottles in total. The sheer number of expensive potions was enough to daze everyone in the room. Nie Yan divided the potions equally among the group, with everyone receiving sixty to seventy bottles each.

Each member of the group had already finished their own preparations, stocking up an excess of consumables. Nie Yan got Guo Huai to give skill books to everyone, the two Mages in particular. They received a few long-range spells that would definitely prove useful.

Nie Yan also put on the set of Gold equipment. It was an agility-based set that consisted of gloves, leg guards, cloak, and leather chest armour. It boosted his speed considerably and added 37 points to Dexterity, allowing him to equip the Scarlet Poison Ring without a hitch. His attack power soared to 502 points. It had reached such a terrifying degree that he’d be able to deal almost 400 damage against cloth-armoured classes. Even against thick plate-armoured Warriors, he’d still be able to deal 200–300 damage.

He also received a set bonus—Erase Presence +10%, Movement Speed +20%, Critical +12. It could be considered very formidable.

Even the members of the guild were unaware that Nie Yan had quietly set off with his special strike force. Each of them moved separately. Twenty minutes later, they converged just outside of Link Town.

The party of ten quietly advanced toward Kiln Fire Woods, staying completely out of sight of other players.

At present, Kiln Fire Woods was unusually lively. Around eight thousand players from Unhindered had set up camp here, driving away all other players. Their members could be seen levelling everywhere in groups of fifty to sixty, or a hundred.

Back in Calore, everyone was paying close attention to the movements in Kiln Fire Woods to see the response of Asskickers United. After all, Unhindered had struck a nerve with this newly-arisen superpower by ambushing their main team!

With them being so arrogant, would Asskickers United dare to answer their provocations?

Everyone was watching intently, but there were no movements from the other side. Reportedly many players from Asskickers United were still levelling outside. None of them had been recalled to the guild headquarters.

If Asskickers United truly did turn coward, all of its members would suffer the disdain of the playerbase, and in the future, not a single person would want to join the guild.

There was a lava cavern just outside of Kiln Fire Woods. Its entrance was shrouded in a pitch-black darkness, allowing no one to peek inside. It emanated a sinister feeling.

As of late, no players dared to enter this cavern. It was labeled as a region of death because of the players that had ventured inside, not a single one made it out alive.

Nie Yan’s group entered the lava cavern. They travelled further along the tunnel, occasionally hearing odd noises echoing from deeper within.

"Boss, are you sure we can get to the Kiln Fire Forest from here?” a somewhat hesitant voice rang out.

Chapter 196 – Yu Long

"Are you sure they’ll come?” Hei Zhuo turned to the three players who were sent over from Victorious Return to act as supervisors.

All the preparations were set. If the forces of Asskickers United emerged, regardless of whether they arrived in thousands or tens of thousands, they would find themselves immediately surrounded and ambushed by a force that dwarfed them by at least several-fold.

If Asskickers United ignored the provocations, Victorious Return would spread word of their cowardice to all facets of the internet so that they’d never be able to raise their heads out in public again. Inversely, if they tried to retaliate, no matter how many players they sent, Kiln Fire Woods would become their burial place. In either scenario, their reputation would still suffer a heavy blow.

Asskickers United had nowhere left to retreat!

The group from Victorious Return was led by a Paladin called Yu Long. Clad in the Level 25 Holy Knight Radiance Set, he emanated the aura of a soldier. His face was calm and tranquil, making it difficult for anyone to ever know what he was thinking.

Even Hei Zhuo, the guild leader of Unhindered, didn’t dare to slight him.

He was the second-in-command in all of Victorious Return. He was originally the leader of the Dragon Drive gaming organization. However, after some financial investments, Heaven Breaker eventually brought them under his banner, and Yu Long himself benefited by gaining a 20% share of Victorious Return. It was precisely because of the elite members of Dragon Drive propping up the entire guild that Victorious Return was able to reach the apex. Even Heaven Breaker treated Yu Long with an air of politeness.

In terms of skill, Heaven Breaker was somewhat inferior to Yu Long, though that was par for the course considering he wasn’t a professional player. In fact, much of his game knowledge actually came from Yu Long. In order to preserve his prestige in the guild, it was necessary for him to be higher than Yu Long on the level leaderboards. Yu Long naturally knew his own position, which was why he always lagged behind Heaven Breaker by a step. Even Heaven Breaker didn’t know Yu Long’s true strength. Every time they sparred, Yu Long would purposefully hold back, letting him win. Of course, Heaven Breaker understood the meaning of such a gesture, so he never questioned it. The two men maintained an extremely delicate balance. In the eyes of the guild members and the outside world, however, Yu Long was much less well-known than Heaven Breaker.

"Does it matter?” Yu Long faintly smiled. "However, I don’t believe they’ll just sit and do nothing. If they don’t come, they’ll be mocked as weaklings. If they come, even though they’ll be annihilated by the combined forces of Unhindered and Victorious Return, they can still preserve their honour. If I belonged to the higher-ups of Asskickers United, I’d choose the latter option.”

Hei Zhuo naturally understood this logic. But at present, Asskickers United hadn’t shown any signs of movement. He truly couldn’t tell what exactly they were intending to do.

"Just wait patiently. They won’t be able to last past today. Even if their higher-ups can stick it out, I’m afraid the lower ranking members aren’t nearly as steadfast. It’s only a matter of time before they riot. When that moment comes, I want to see exactly how they’ll clean up the mess!” Yu Long said. The situation developed as planned. Everything was under full control.

There was a reason why they were targeting Asskickers United in such a way. Their growth had surpassed all expectations. It was starting to become a huge cause for concern for both Yu Long and Heaven Breaker. At the rate at which things were developing, if they didn’t suppress them now, Victorious Return would soon be overtaken by them. Furthermore, the relationship between Asskickers United and Holy Empire was far too close for comfort. Add Sapphire Shrine and Battle Crazed Alliance into the mix, and even the joint forces of Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, and the several other guilds they were secretly allied with could only play second fiddle to the combined strength of those four guilds.

However, Asskickers United was truly too low-key, to the extent that it was incredibly difficult to find any information that could be used against them. Even members of the guild never wore guild emblems when going out to level. It gave people a feeling of not knowing what to do. Now, Victorious Return had finally found an opportunity, and they would not easily let it go. After meticulously laying out a trap, they succeeded in forcing the enemy into a position where they were unable to advance or retreat. The next step was to see how they were going to respond.

Yu Long was slightly curious about the guild leader of Asskickers United, Young Sparrow Hawk. Just what was it that allowed his guild to soar so quickly to prominence? Victorious Return had fought for dominance in every popular virtual reality game. Only after six years of development were they able to reach their current level of achievement, possess a foundation that would make others sigh with admiration, and become an undisputed powerhouse. Yet Asskickers United, despite the fact that no one had ever heard their name before, somehow attracted enough experts to establish an elite team. One that could clear over a dozen of the main scenario dungeons in a single day. Did this occur just because their guild leader had risen to the top spot on the level leaderboards?

Yu Long shook his head. It would never be that simple. He had a premonition that Asskickers United would become Victorious Return’s greatest obstacle on the road to dominance.

While Nie Yan and the other players in his group travelled through the dark tunnels of the lava cavern, they found themselves suddenly besieged by a horde of Viper Flies lunging at them from every nook and cranny. These creatures hidden in the darkness were the perfect ambush predators!

The cave was densely packed with such monsters.

"So many monsters!” Undying Scoundrel cried out in alarm.

Just as they got into a defensive formation to fight off these Viper Flies…

Deterrence!

After Nie Yan activated the skill, the Viper Flies quickly retreated one after the other, opening up a path forward, no longer daring to approach his group again.

"Woah! What kind of skill is that!? It’s so miraculous!” Blue Yarn Thread, Blowhard Summer Bug, and the others stared at Nie Yan in shock. It seemed like he was a never-ending box of surprises, always bringing out one amazing thing after the other.

"Deterrence, it’s a supplementary skill from the Demon Hunter title,” Nie Yan replied.

"A title?”

They hadn’t yet obtained even the lowest-ranking of titles, let alone some flashy, advanced one like Demon Hunter.

"Not just Young Sparrow Hawk, but Nirvana Flame is super high-level as well! The two of you level way too quickly! After all of this is over, you should take us levelling with you!”

"Yeah!” Edgeless and the others in the group echoed off one another.

Edgeless was a fairly quiet person for someone who played a Berserker. He normally wasn’t fond of talking, but even he gradually opened up to everyone in the group. In the previous timeline, his distinguished name rang like thunder in the ears of all players. He was one of the strongest Sword Saints!

These players were going to be the pillars of strength for the guild in the future!

Nie Yan thought for a moment, then said, "After we settle this matter, I, your selfless boss, will take a big hit by helping each of you reach Level 30! Afterwards, you’ll be on your own.”

"Yay! Long live the boss!” cheered the crowd.

If they trained together with Nie Yan and Tang Yao, it wouldn’t merely be experience grinding but rather all-out power-levelling! No one would believe that you could go from Level 26 to Level 28 in only half an hour. But Nie Yan and Tang Yao accomplished such a feat!

As the group of players fraternized more and more, Nie Yan gradually found himself becoming their beloved and respected leader. Towards their almost fanatical gazes of reverence, Nie Yan truly felt a little flattered. After all, they were future Shadow Dancers, Guardians, Sword Saints, Magisters, and so on.

These dazzling titles were something an ordinary player could never hope to reach!

Nie Yan suddenly had an idea. What if he brought these elite players with him to level in Everlasting City? That way Tang Yao could gather 100 Energized Crystal Fragments in no time! What’s more, the top of the level leaderboards would be overrun with players from Asskickers United! How spectacular of a sight would that be?

These contracted players were closely tied to the interests of Asskickers United. They were very reliable. So long as he had them sworn to secrecy, it was unlikely that they would leak any information about Everlasting City.

However, there was a slight problem. Even if Nie Yan withdrew everything from the Starry Night Potion Shop down to the last copper, he still wouldn’t have enough money to afford the Magic Bombs needed to get all these players to Level 30. He could only let them think of a way themselves. Several of them could form a party, sharing the burden equally. If they sold whatever they find, they could just barely scrounge up enough gold to make do.

He only feared that by the time that they got their levels up, they would have already become poor wretches saddled with unseemly amounts of debt.

Which was why this would remain an idea for the time being. His main priority was dealing with the current matter at hand.

Nie Yan and company finally reached the exit. Stepping out of the cavern, they hid themselves behind some boulders.

There was a lot of player activity in the distance. Presumably, they belonged to Unhindered.

"Sun and I will scout ahead!” Nie Yan said. Naturally, the task of finding a safe path would go to the two Thieves.

"Boss, be careful. You too, Sun.”

Nie Yan nodded. While his body gradually turned illusory, he gave a faint smile before departing.

Sun set out in a different direction.

The woods were dead silent. The Unhindered players hadn’t the slightest inkling that a group from Asskickers United had silently arrived. The way they saw it, this was the hinterlands of the Kiln Fire Woods. If a fight did break out with Assskickers United, the first signs of activity would surely be near the borders of the map. They felt completely safe.

However, at present, Nie Yan’s group noiselessly appeared among them.

There were at least two hundred Unhindered players in the vicinity, divided into three groups. All of them were located in different locations, clearing out mobs in their respective areas. One group was one hundred members in size, while the other two were fifty each.

Nie Yan and Sun scouted further ahead. About seventeen minutes later, they had a clear picture of the surroundings. Even if they alerted Unhindered’s forces by attacking one of the groups, it would still take the nearest groups at least five minutes to reinforce them.

Simply put, they had to finish the fight and retreat all within five minutes!

Nie Yan and Sun regrouped with the others.

"Boss, how’d it go?”

"Prepare to move out. We’re going to take down the hundred-man group in the east first! We’ll have to make it quick!” Nie Yan said. They were outnumbered ten to one. It might be a little challenging, but it definitely wasn’t impossible. The ten players who arrived were the elites of the elites. Meanwhile, the players on the opposing side were nothing more than ordinary players. He estimated that even the strongest players among them were still Level 20 at most!

But even so, Nie Yan’s group still had to properly plan things out. It was essential for the area-of-effect spells of the two Mages to cover the as many targets as possible for the battle to quickly end.

"Are you guys prepared to be branded as PKers?” Nie Yan asked, sweeping his gaze over the faces of the group members. Some were still juvenile. Others were mature. However, all of them showed firm resolve.

"It’s just a red name. With you supporting us, we have nothing to be afraid of!” Edgeless said in a straightforward manner.

"Yeah! In any case, we’re already eating your food and drinking your wine, so what’s there to fear?” Undying Scoundrel’s words made the rest of the group to burst out in laughter.

"I guess it’s settled then. Let’s go get some exercise, stretch our legs, and cut down some fools!” Nie Yan revealed a cold, murderous smile. "Anyone who offends our guild… dies!”

Chapter 197 – Ten Men Massacre!

Bubbles of volcanic gas trapped beneath the Kiln Fire Woods would occasionally find their way to the surface, erupting forth into the atmosphere as scorching jets.

The temperature here was much higher than in other regions. It was similar to arriving near the crater of an active volcano. Only the hardiest of plant life could grow in this harsh environment, such as the resilient iron palm trees, lush with dense canopies that seemed to cover the earth and hide the sky.

It was said that magma regularly flowed beneath the Kiln Fire Woods, ever-ready to erupt.

Level 20 Molten Rock Monsters spawned inside the Kiln Fire Woods. They possessed high health and defense. A player would even take fire damage if they got near them. However, they were relatively slow and lacked long-range attacks. Add this to the fact that they gave good experience, and it became clear why they were the perfect mobs for Mages to level on.

Molten Rock Monsters were covered in thick plates of stone, roughly two meters in height, and resembled bulldozers when they moved.

A dense cluster of one hundred Unhindered players was currently battling over twenty Molten Rock Monsters in a corner of the map. With the Warriors forming a human wall, the Mages in the rear let loose a wave of spells which arced through the air before bombarding the group of monsters.「Boom! Boom! Boom!」

The concentrated shelling of magic killed over ten Molten Rock Monsters.

Before long another wave of spells rained down from the sky, annihilating the survivors.

The Mages who were low on mana took out various consumables or sat down to recuperate. Those who didn’t expend as much prepared for the next bout.

Roughly five seconds later, about twenty Molten Rock Monsters appeared in the previously cleared area.

The spawn rate of these mobs was astonishing!

Evidently, Unhindered didn’t lack people with good taste; they secured such a top notch levelling spot.

Five Mages sat on the ground, resting and chatting together. They were at the very end of the backline, far away from any action.

"Boss, our former brothers over at Asskickers United are telling us to join them. Should we go?” a skinny Arcane Mage with a slightly wretched appearance asked the Holy Mage beside him.

The Holy Mage called Bird Person shook his head. "Joining Asskicers United? That’s suicidal! Didn’t you see that Hei Zhuo joined forces with Victorious Return to deal with them? Unhindered doesn’t amount to much, but do you think Victorious Return is a good guild to provoke? Asskickers United is doomed. Skinny Strip, we might not mind you talking about this since we’re a tight-knit group, but under no circumstances should you bring it up to other members in the guild!

The characters for Bird Person is "鳥人” which is also slang for "Fucker,” but I’d much rather a Rick and Morty reference than getting vulgar on you guys though.

Skinny Strip awkwardly chuckled. "You definitely won’t find me doing something that stupid. Forget it, let’s rest some more. We still get experience either way.”

They chatted in a relaxed manner, completely unaware of the imminent danger.

Nie Yan and Sun snuck up on the group. Their daggers flickered with a cold light while hidden within the shadows.

The Unhindered players in the distance were leisurely fighting the mobs.

Following the plan Nie Yan drew up earlier, Edgeless, Monochrome, Undying Scoundrel, and the others were already in position.

Seeing that everyone was ready, Nie Yan shouted in the party intercom.「KILL!」

All ten players moved in unison.

Nie Yan pounced on Bird Person. His actions were lightning-quick, and his dagger pierced through the air, streaking towards the back of the target’s head in a brilliant flash of light.

Smothering Strike!

Bird Person suddenly felt something odd, as if an alarm bell was going off in his head. It was an enemy attack!

But before he could even get up, it was long over. After stunning him, Nie Yan ended his life with a slash to the throat.

Bird Person went limp and collapsed to the ground!

In a panic, the Mages in the group stumbled to their feet.

Nie Yan turned, dashing towards them. With a Vital Strike, he stabbed one of them in the neck.

It was a critical hit! The target was instagibbed!

Another Mage fell to the ground. Nie Yan moved on to his next target. He activated Assassinate, stabbing the third Mage in the stomach, and promptly followed up with Lacerate, disemboweling him. The Mage let out a shocked gasp, mouth wide open in horror as two huge damage values floated up above his head. He crumpled to the ground like a wet rag.

On the other side, Sun’s movements weren’t slow either. He took down one of the Mages with a Dashing Strike, then pounced on the last member of the group that wanted to escape. With a Smothering Strike followed by Assassinate, his dagger pierced through the cloth armour protecting the Mage’s chest, causing him to drop dead!

From the moment Nie Yan and Sun emerged to them taking down all five Mages, no more than a few seconds had passed. It was practically like a flash of lightning or the strike of a matchstick! They were direct and efficient.

Nie Yan and Sun reactivated Stealth and dashed towards the next group of squishy targets. In particular, they aimed for the Priests!

Meanwhile, from every direction, Monochrome, Edgeless, Blue Yarn Thread, and Resplendent Bladelight were each charging down a slope. Clad from head to toe in thick plate armour, they resembled tanks as they steamrolled through all obstacles.

"Heroic Strike!” Edgeless roared. The blow sent a Mage flying outwards. Flame Slash! His blazing greatsword transformed a Priest into rays of light. He resembled a god of slaughter, tearing through everything in his path. In the blink of an eye, he had already killed six players. Who could’ve imagined that this normally reserved boy would release such a formidable, murderous aura in the middle of battle!

The others weren’t weak either. As they slaughtered a path open, unimpeded, a head would roll with every ten steps taken. They swept up everything before them!

Numerous spells ruthlessly bombarded them, streaking through the air like tongues of fire. Yet they were fearless, radiating an awe-inspiring aura.

Blue Yarn Thread fetched an Intermediate Health Potion from his bag. Drinking it, his health instantly restored to full. Divine Strike! His sword lit up, shining with a brilliant light, as he cleaved a Priest in half. He also cast a Lesser Heal on Monochrome.

All the while, Leader Young Seven never stopped supporting them from the rear. Rays of gentle light fell over them. On top of the healing from the Health Potions, they didn’t lose the slightest bit of momentum under the concentrated bombardment of magic.

In a short span of time, more than twenty Unhindered players died!

Seeing these ten players that seemed to resemble living embodiments of death, the nearby Mages felt their insides churn in horror, as they frantically turned tail and fled.

"The enemy is attacking!”

"It’s Asskickers United!”

As the Mages in the backline cried out for help, the Warriors who were holding off the Molten Rock Monsters hastily turned back to rescue them.

Charge! Charge!

With no one locking the Molten Rock Monsters down, they charged out into the fray. It was a scene of utter chaos. A few Molten Rock Monsters sent several Mages flying with a sweep of their enormous forelimbs.

The players moved about the area hectically. While the Mages wanted to flee, the Warriors wanted to rush in. On top of that, the Warriors had unintentionally brought several dozen Molten Rock Monsters with them.

On a nearby hilltop, Miracle Dancer killed a Mage who ran over in his direction with a Holy Smite and a Holy Strike. He turned to Undying Scoundrel beside him and asked, "Are you done yet? It’s been so long already. How are you still not finished!?”

A horrifying, boundless amount of fire elemental energy was gathering around Undying Scoundrel. It was enough to make anyone pale with fright.

Blowhard Summer Bug cast an Arcane Flame Burst followed up with an Arcane Fireball at an enemy in the distance.「Bang!」They were sent flying. He made short work of them!

Witnessing the deluge of fire elemental energy flooding towards Undying Scoundrel, the nearby Unhindered Mages wore blank expressions. Giving up all hope, they turned tail and ran, despising the fact that they couldn’t grow another pair of legs.

Just where did these bunch of killing gods come from!?

Undying Scoundrel was still in the middle of casting a frightening area-of-effect spell, and at this point, no one was capable of stopping him. The Unhindered players were running around like headless chickens. Most of them didn’t have the mind to notice Undying Scoundrel on the hilltop. Some Paladins more mindful of their surroundings charged over, wanting to kill him, but they were all blasted away by the magic of Miracle Dancer and Blowhard Summer Bug.

Nie Yan and Sun also gave a hand, clearing away any player who drummed up enough courage to try and stop Undying Scoundrel.

「Edgeless, Monochrome, get out of the way!」

「Bladelight, Blue Yarn Thread, quickly retreat!」

After the four of them received the early warning, Edgeless, Monochrome, and Bladelight activated Charge, fleeing the area. Blue Yarn Thread activated Indomitable Will. He wasn’t the slightest bit slower than the three Warriors. The four quickly withdrew from the battlefield.

In that moment, Undying Scoundrel finished making two sets of incantation gestures and chanting two sets of incantation syllables. An enormous sphere of fire emerged over the battlefield. It churned and rolled before smashing down to the ground like a giant meteor.「BOOM!」A massive explosion engulfed the several dozen Warriors from Unhindered caught at the center of the spell. After the giant sphere of fire struck the earth, it blossomed into countless embers that rained down on the players in the surroundings.

It was gorgeous like a display of fireworks in the evening.

The scattered embers were the same as Fireballs, killing over sixty Unhindered players at once and scorching the earth clean of any life.

The raging fires of hell would devour every creature in its path.

After the flames subsided, only ten or so players remained, somehow surviving by a lucky fluke. Staring at the land swept clean of life, they wore foolish expressions.

Almost nothing was left, save for a giant crater that was made by the impact of Hellfire. The nearby surroundings were burnt black. Over sixty players were killed all at once. Not even the twenty or so Molten Rock Monsters were spared. They were turned into ashes, swept up by the blowing wind. Not a single trace of them could be seen.

What a dreadful spell!

If this sort of spell was used in a large-scale battle, as soon as the giant sphere of fire fell, at least six to seven hundred players would perish!

From being completely white, Undying Scoundrel’s name was instantly branded a deep crimson. It was breathtaking.

His kill count was sixty-seven!

"Damn! You’re going to be famous! That Hellfire brought you to a whole new level of red names!” Blowhard Summer Bug cried out.

"What an awesome spell…” Miracle Dancer was almost speechless. Hellfire was simply too frightening. It was his first time witnessing the destructive might of an advanced magic.

The ten or so survivors wanted to run, but Nie Yan and the others quickly caught up to them. Blood-curdling screams rang out, filling the air. Most of them died trying to escape. They were simply no match for Nie Yan’s group in terms of speed.

In just two to three minutes, nothing was left of the group of one hundred Unhindered Players.

They had killed a ghastly number of people. Besides Leader Young Seven, everyone else had red names!

"How many escaped?” Nie Yan asked.

"Two!”

"Did you record the video?” Nie Yan asked Blowhard Summer Bug. He had the best view up on the hilltop. There, he was able to get a clear picture of the events on the entire battlefield.

"Recorded!” Blowhard Summer Bug nodded.

"Good! Now we can post a reply to those Unhindered players calling us out on the forums.” Nie Yan coldly smiled. This was the most effective way to strike back at Victorious Return and Unhindered!

Only a hundred players were killed. This was merely the beginning!

Chapter 198 – Field Of Corpses

The official forums were abuzz with activity because of the provocative video released by Unhindered.

The players from Unhindered frequently jeered at Asskickers United in discussions related to the video. Even though the members of Asskickers United would attempt to refute, they simply lacked the ammunition to fire back. Numerous members expressed dissatisfaction over how the executives of the guild handled the situation, or rather the lack thereof. Many of them were so riled up that they were itching to start a massacre in Kiln Fire Woods.

But very soon, a response was posted to the video. It was another video along with a few brief sentences.

It was a recording of Nie Yan and the other nine members slaughtering a large group of Unhindered players.

「10:09, Players Killed: 153. Asskickers United doesn’t rely on an advantage in numbers. Ten of us are enough to massacre Unhindered!」

A hair-raising video followed by a domineering reply! It sent shock waves rippling through the community. It depicted Warriors and Paladins sweeping through everything before them, Thieves taking lives like they were reaping wheat, and Mages dealing damage that would make people faint from fright! Most awe-inspiring of all was the part where Undying Scoundrel annihilated over sixty players in a flash with Hellfire. It was truly breathtaking!

Nie Yan’s group mowed through the players from Unhindered like they were chopping up fruits and vegetables!

They displayed an unprecedented degree of skill in PvP! It couldn’t help but draw sighs of admiration.

What a powerful group of individuals!

Was that really the might of Asskickers United?

The words paired along with the video carried a bit of suspense. It ignited even further discussions among the players on the forums.

10:09, 153 players killed… Did that imply that the vengence of Asskickers United was far from over?

The line that followed got many people fired up. Asskickers United doesn’t rely on an advantage in numbers! It was a brutal slap to the face of Unhindered. So what if they ambushed the main team of Asskickers United? It took a thousand of them to deal with twenty players! Even then, some of their targets still managed to get out alive. Was that really worth bragging about? The opinions on the forums quickly changed. Asskickers United retrieved its honour.

The implication was clear: Just 10 of our members killed over 150 of your players! Let’s see if you can still act so arrogantly now!

Finally, there was the overbearing declaration at the end. Ten of us are enough to massacre Unhindered!

Could ten people really massacre all of Unhindered?

Everyone was eager to find out.

The community immediately brought the reply video to the top of the forums with their lively discussion. It was shared and posted elsewhere countless times, often labeled with various eye-catching titles.

…

「The Ten Slaughter Gods!」

「Ten Massacre a Hundred, Piling up a Field of Corpses!」

「The Might of Asskickers United!」

…

Such posts were by no means an uncommon sight.

The players of Asskickers United were very demoralized. Many of them couldn’t even bear to check the official forums anymore. Every once in a while, a few people had the urge to go and sling some insults back but they just couldn’t bring themselves to actually do it. They felt consumed by sadness, and the inaction of the guild executives served to dishearten them further.

All of that changed in this moment. The video released by Nie Yan and the others was a cool breeze blowing through their hearts, sweeping away all the bitterness and disappointment. In its place, they found indescribable excitement. Some of them were so moved that they started shedding tears of joy. The higher-ups finally made a move!

The members of Asskickers cared greatly for their guild. They didn’t wish for it to become the laughing-stock of the community.

When the guild members watched the video, their hearts burned with an even more ardent fervor. This was because Guo Huai told them that Victorious Return and Unhindered had laid out a trap in Kiln Fire Woods. The entire guild mobilizing to retaliate was exactly what the enemy wanted. So Nirvana Flame and the other higher-ups came to a decision. They would massacre Unhindered with only ten people!

The players of Asskickers United firmly imprinted the images of Nie Yan and the other nine members into their minds. These ten people, without help from any outside force, restored their faith in the guild.

The guild chat flooded with words of support for Nie Yan and the others.

「Nirvana Flame is awesome!」

「We’re going to duke it out with Victorious Return and Unhindered. Whoever’s afraid is a son of a bitch!」

「We should all go there! Let’s massacre Victorious Return and Unhindered!」

The guild members were impassioned. The guild had so many people levelling outside, yet they sent ten members out on a suicide mission. How could they just sit still and watch?

「Enough! Are you guys idiots!? Do you want to die? Did you all just forget what I told you? I want you to settle your asses down! No one’s going anywhere. Keep levelling where you are. When you’re needed, Nirvana Flame will naturally call on you!」Guo Huai scolded in the guild chat. He managed to quell them for the time being, but he could still sense their smoldering enthusiasm.

Players would regularly check the official forums, paying close attention to any new developments. No one knew whether Nie Yan’s group would end up dying or actually succeed in massacring all of Unhindered. Regardless of the outcome, their feats would be talked about for a long time to come.

Near the borders of Kiln Fire Woods, Hei Zhuo was getting jittery. His heart was welling up with an indescribable feeling of nervousness. It didn’t make sense that there were still no signs of movement. It was at this moment that he received an update from a subordinate. He was informed of the over a hundred casualties they suffered. Asskickers United had retaliated!

「How many of them are there?」Hei Zhuo asked, feeling a hint of uneasiness.

「There were only ten!」

「Are you telling me over a hundred of you were killed by only ten people!?」Hei Zhuo yelled, sounding extremely flustered.

Standing beside him, Yu Long said, "Check the forums.”

Hei Zhuo opened up the forums. Posted at the top was a response from Asskickers United. Playing the video, he recognized Bladelight on the screen at a glance. He was familiar with the faces of Nie Yan and the others as well. However, what surprised him was that they were just as skilled as Bladelight. When did Asskickers United get so many amazing players!?

Yu Long was also taken aback. If any of those ten were pulled into Victorious Return, they would easily rank among the top five players in the guild! He was astonished. It seemed he had vastly underestimated the clout of Asskickers United.

「Report the coordinates of where you last saw them! I want all forces over there immediately! Exterminate them!」Hei Zhuo was enraged after reading through some of the comments below the video.

Yu Long wondered how Nie Yan’s group got past the Unhindered’s tight blockade to enter the inner regions of Kiln Fire Woods. Did they have some sort of secret route or special method?

Don’t tell me they made their way through the underground lava caverns!? No, it’s not very likely. Yu Long shook his head. Not many players dared to enter that place. Several guilds had sent out scouting teams to explore the underground map before, but all of them were wiped out without exception. He felt confident that no one was foolish enough to throw their lives away by entering such a dangerous, unexplored area.

Did Nie Yan’s group get past them unnoticed by drinking Invisibility Potions? That was the more likely possibility.

"Tell the Priests to cast Illuminate. They probably have Invisibility Potions!” Yu Long said to Hei Zhuo.

Hei Zhuo thought for a moment, then nodded, passing down the orders to his subordinates.

The seven to eight thousand members of Unhindered at the outskirts of Kiln Fire Woods all moved towards the inner region.

In the deepest parts of Kiln Fire Woods, the annihilation of the hundred-man group immediately alerted the two other groups in the vicinity, causing them to become restless. Some of the players wanted to retreat until backup arrived. Others wanted to hunt Nie Yan’s group down. However, before any of them could come to a decision, several figures appeared in their vision.

After picking up all the spoils of battle, Nie Yan and the others had rushed to the next target.

The first to take action were obviously the two Thieves, Nie Yan and Sun.

Nie Yan snuck up behind a Level 20 Paladin who was at the edge of the fifty-man group. Near him was a small group of six melee-class players. They were about to withdraw from the area with a larger group of players.

The Awareness of the Paladin clearly wasn’t very high. He was oblivious to Nie Yan’s approach.

Nie Yan struck the Paladin in the back of the head with Smothering Strike, stunning him.

Vital Strike! Nie Yan slashed his throat.

−253

−428！

The Paladin didn’t even get a chance to react before collapsing to the ground.

Nie Yan smirked. After getting his attack power up, he could even handle plate-armoured classes with ease.

"Shit! It’s a Thief!”

"Surround him!”

The six nearby melee-class players finally reacted. Charge! They rushed forward, wanting to murder Nie Yan. A silver-armoured Berserker among them led the charge.

Nie Yan pulled back. However, bolstered by the speed boost of Charge, the Berserker quickly caught up.

Tendon Break! Afraid of being stunned by this Thief with terrifying damage, the silver-armored Berserker tried to cripple his movements. But who could’ve anticipated that the opponent was already one step ahead of him.

Concussive Blow! Nie Yan stunned him with Concussive Blow, then circled behind to avoid the Tendon Break. Backstab! Eviscerate! The Berserker’s health disappeared in an instant.

The Priests and Paladins behind the Berserker didn’t even get a chance to cast a Heal!

One fighter rushed up to Nie Yan from the front, and two Berserkers flanked him from both sides. They were attempting to surround him. Nie Yan activated Shadow Dance, disappearing from their sight.

"Did he run?”

The three Warriors were at a loss after failing to intercept Nie Yan. They vigilantly surveyed their surroundings a while longer before finally turning around and giving up. Within a second of them putting their weapons down, Nie Yan reappeared behind one of the Berserkers and stabbed him in the back. Blast! 「Bang!」 Splitting Edge exploded with energy, sending the Berserker flying out like a ragdoll.

Splitting Edge (dark gold): Charge Weapon
Requirements: 120 Strength, 100 Dexterity, 20 Willpower
Properties: Attack 206-299, +10% chance to pierce armour, +10% chance to inflict bleed damage for 5 seconds
Blast (Innate Skill): Once fully charged, the weapon will blast the energy out when inside an opponent's body, dealing extra damage.
Charge: 0/100
Attack Speed: 2.9
Weight: 5lb
Restrictions: Thief, can be equipped by all factions.

Although there wasn’t much energy stored up, Nie Yan’s attack power had reached a terrifyingly high degree. Even a weak Blast would instantly kill the average Berserker.

Before any of the Berserker’s companions could react, Nie Yan melded into their surroundings and disappeared.

Several of them nearly wet their pants from fright. Fearing Nie Yan would appear again, they quickly retreated. Only when they joined up with the main group did they feel a little bit safer.

"Big Brother, how many did you kill?” Sun also returned safely after carrying out an ambush.

"Three.”

"I killed three too!” Sun exclaimed. However, after looking over at the three corpses in the distance, his face was tinged with a bit of red. Nie Yan took down Warriors and Paladins while all his targets were Mages and Priests.

"Not bad!” Nie Yan nodded in approval.

Monochrome, Edgeless, and the others blew the battle horn on the other side of the battle. They charged into the group of players and started a unilateral slaughter.

"Divine Strike!” Blue Yarn Thread sent a Berserker Flying. Clad in silver-white armour, he could even crush a Warrior.

"Whirlwind Slash!” Monochrome spun around like a top, knocking down the six players surrounding him. Wearing armour that boosted damage and carrying a greatsword that increased critical rate, he was like a heavy-duty tank, tearing across the battlefield. He was invincible.

Undying Scoundrel cast spell after spell, causing explosions to go off everywhere, littering the ground with corpses. Blowhard Summer Bug cast the area-of-effect spell, Firestorm. Immediately, a raging cyclone of fire appeared over the area, swallowing up over ten players.

A group of over fifty players was reduced to a little more than ten. None of the survivors had the willpower to resist. They all fled in every direction.

Nie Yan and Sun gave chase, killing another five players. In the end, six players got away through a fluke of luck.

Nie Yan updated the post on the forums:

「10:17, Players Killed: 201」

Chapter 199 – Names Red As Blood

The last of the three groups in the vicinity, which had 60 Unhindered players, rushed over while Nie Yan’s team was still picking off the survivors. They were here to provide support, confident that the other group would be able to hold out for a while against the attack. However, they didn’t expect that by the time they arrived, the situation would be completely different from what they expected. Over fifty members of Unhindered had been utterly annihilated by ten people.

The names of Nie Yan and the others were branded a deep, blood red. It was like walking into a murder scene.

Nie Yan suddenly disappeared. With his fastest speed, he dashed toward the group of reinforcements like a lightning bolt before emerging among their ranks. Under the gaze of over sixty pairs of eyes, he streaked the blade of his dagger across a Priest’s throat with a Vital Strike. The victim’s health bar plummeted to zero as they collapsed to the ground.

The crowd of players were badly frightened. Nie Yan was previously several dozen meters away. In the blink of an eye, he closed that distance and killed one of their Priests. It all happened way too quickly!

What shocked many of them was the deep crimson of his name. Just how many people did he kill!?

The immediate reaction of the nearby players was to retreat. The Mages cast a shower of spells, whizzing towards Nie Yan.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」They battered him ruthlessly, exploding on impact.

However, Nie Yan held an overwhelming advantage in both level and defense. The spells from the Mages couldn’t put a dent on him, dealing only ten or so damage each.

Nie Yan didn’t retreat in the slightest, enduring the concentrated bombardment of spells. He dashed forward and mowed down two Mages with the slash of his dagger. At this point, only a sliver of his health remained. Just as he was about to pull back to recuperate before reentering the fray, a Heal from Leader Young Seven enveloped his body, restoring his health to full.

Nie Yan was too accustomed to playing alone. He forgot that a powerful Priest was supporting him from the rear. With the aid of this limitless health pack, what was there to be afraid of? Giving his cooldowns a quick glance, he stunned a Warrior with Concussive Blow, then finished them off with a Backstab followed by Eviscerate.

Nie Yan’s damage was simply too ferocious. Was he really a Thief?

Edgeless, Monochrome, and the others finally caught up with him. Like a wedge, they drove themselves into the group of enemies, and commenced a slaughter.

When the Warriors of Unhindered ran into Edgeless, Monochrome, or Bladelight, they could only scatter!

Blowhard Summer Bug, Undying Scoundrel, and Miracle Dancer bombarded the enemy with spells, blasting numerous Unhindered players into the air.

"How many have you guys killed?” Blowhard Summer Bug asked as he fired an Arcane Flame Burst at a Warrior.「Boom!」The Warrior didn’t know what hit him as he was sent flying.

"22!” Monochrome replied, cutting down a Mage.

"I’m on 27!” Edgeless said after taking a glimpse at his kill count.

"I’ve killed 89! Haha! I’m the king of killing!” Undying Scoundrel proudly exclaimed. Freeze! He froze a nearby Warrior in place, then moved to finish him off with another spell. However, a Holy Smite blasted the him away.

"Fuck! Boss, they’re kill stealing me!” Undying Scoundrel whined.

Miracle Dancer shrugged his shoulders. With a smug look, he said, "You’ve already killed the most out of all of us. One or two less isn’t going to make a difference.”

Blue Yarn Thread cast Heal on Monochrome. He didn’t particularly care about who had the higher kill count. As a Paladin, he was fine with taking down the enemy while providing the occasional support with blessings and heals.

The tankiest member of the group, Bladelight, didn’t take down as many players. However, he more than made up for this by being a near immovable object, grabbing the attention of many Unhindered players. The more attacks he absorbed, the less pressure there was on his companions.

Nie Yan and Sun killed fewer players in comparison, but both of them still had kill counts of almost twenty.

After the slaughter was over, the battlefield was littered with the corpses of Unhindered players, and those who were lucky enough to survive had all already fled. It was now eerily empty.

"Boss, what are we going to do next?” Edgeless asked. The players they’d encountered so far were not part of the main force. They were stomping on weaklings. It was as simple as slicing vegetables.

"Pick up the loot and then we’ll leave!” Nie Yan said. Unhindered’s main force would definitely be arriving soon. They needed to withdraw quickly.

They moved across the battlefield, collecting the spoils of battle. Although the drops were all Level 15–20 equipment with mediocre properties, the lower-levelled guild members badly needed them. Asskickers United had plenty of high-level items, but it sorely lacked low-level ones, leaving the guild unable to satisfy the needs of the ordinary members.

The loot was quickly picked up, and Nie Yan’s group reentered the lava caverns.

Not much later, the post on the forums was updated.

「10:25, Players Killed: 257」

The ten-man strike force of Asskickers United was still killing. Moreover, the number of people they killed was steadily climbing higher and higher. Every time the kill count was updated, the players on the forums would be filled with shock and fear. It was truly too eye-catching.

Although Asskickers United was expanding at a rapid pace, they were still widely regarded as a newly established guild without a stable foundation. No one believed they could hold up against a behemoth like Victorious Return. However, today’s developments caused them to be seen in a new light. Asskickers United really did have quite some formidable players. They probably weren’t even all that far off from large guilds like Victorious Return.

Aside from Leader Young Seven who was a Priest, everyone else in the group was branded with appallingly red names. They were practically a bunch of killing gods!

The guild leader of Unhindered, Hei Zhuo, was burning with unimaginable fury. After Nie Yan’s group had forcefully taken back the initiative, he found himself in a very precarious situation.

Now the one stuck in a difficult dilemma was Unhindered!

They had no means of an out. If they abandoned their chase on Nie Yan’s group and returned to Calore, then Asskickers United could arrogantly proclaim that Unhindered had been scared into retreat by a mere ten players. Unhindered would lose all face!

Hei Zhuo’s only hope was to track Nie Yan’s group down and kill them to rid themselves of the disgrace. His anger reached sky-high levels. Under his orders, the area where Nie Yan’s group was located was completely sealed off and surrounded. Not even an ant would be able to pass through.

Since Nie Yan’s group was branded with red names, they wouldn’t be able to return to the city. If they were killed, they would drop all their equipment and many levels. Hei Zhuo’s eyes flashed with a cold light. Only with such an outcome would his hatred be abated.

The players from Unhindered quickly gathered at the inner regions of Kiln Fire Woods. They left no stone unturned, doing a thorough sweep of the area.

Almost eight thousand players gathered here. No matter how valiant Nie Yan’s group was, if they encountered such a large mob of bloodthirsty players, they would be exterminated.

These players inspected every inch of land, but after a full thirty minutes, they still came up empty. All they found were the remnants of the earlier battles. Most distinctly, the large crater created by Hellfire that had yet to recover.

The entire area was empty, lacking any trace of Nie Yan’s group.

"Where are they!?” Hei Zhuo roared in anger. His guild members cast fearful glances in his direction, none daring to reply.

They had undoubtedly scoured through every inch of the area. What did they miss? Where did Nie Yan’s group disappear off to?

Hei Zhuo was like an enraged lion, roaring at everyone around him, when he received a message Nie Yan’s group had appeared to the north. They fled after killing ten players.

"Surround them! I want them all dead! Tell the Thieves to follow them. No matter what, do not let them get away!” Hei Zhuo immediately led the large crowd of players north.

Nie Yan’s group travelled through the tunnels of the lava caverns, evading Unhindered’s forces. They would ambush an unsuspecting group, then quickly retreat, easily shaking off any pursuers.

"You guys go first. Wait for me up ahead! Sun, act as a lookout for me. If you see anyone approach, immediately report back to me,” Nie Yan instructed.

"Alright!” Sun nodded.

"Boss, what about you?”

"I’ll join up with you guys in a bit. Let me take care of those Thieves trailing us first!” Nie Yan replied before entering stealth.

Nie Yan looked at Young Seven who nodded his head in response.

Eight of them ran ahead, leaving Nie Yan and Young Seven behind to deal with the Thieves.

Nie Yan immediately sensed seven Thieves approaching. He quickly locked down on their positions.

When the group of Thieves arrived, they found a Priest, Young Seven, all alone. They stealthily moved toward him.

「To the left at 7 o’clock!」Nie Yan said to Young Seven in the intercom.

Young Seven cast illuminate. A shining ball of light floated up into the air. The dazzling radiance covered the sky like a pool of mercury. Under the flood of light, it revealed three silhouettes.

"Shit, we’ve been discovered. Kill him!”

Nie Yan suddenly appeared behind them. With Smothering Strike followed by Assassinate, he instantly killed one of them, then pounced onto his next target. A Backstab and Eviscerate made short work of them.

His methods were direct and efficient.

The third Thief rushed toward Young Seven. However, they came to a halt five meters from their target.

Nie Yan activated Shadow Steps. He was much faster than the enemy Thief. Within the blink of an eye, he caught up and plunged his dagger deep into their back.

The Thief didn’t expect Nie Yan to be so fast. They activated Stealth, disappearing from Nie Yan’s view. However, seconds later they reemerged as a body collapsing to the ground.

Both Nie Yan’s Splitting Edge and Scarlet Poison Ring inflicted debuffs that dealt damage over time. Even though they were merely DOT effects, these Thieves couldn’t endure them.

At this moment, four Thieves pounced toward Young Seven. Young Seven activated Illuminate, revealing their locations. He cast Fear, causing the closest Thief to involuntarily retreat. He cast Cripple and Ache, cursing one of the other Thieves whose speed was immediately reduced.

「Peng! Peng!」Two light arrows struck the Thief, chunking away half of their health.

The two other Thieves were still closing in on Young Seven. Very soon, he was going to suffer the attacks of both of them. Concussive Blow! Nie Yan arrived in time, stunning one of the two Thieves whom he finished off with Vital Strike.

Young Seven put up a Radiant Barrier, then self-cast a Resistance Blessing, blocking the fourth Thief’s Concussive Blow. With a Holy Flame Burst, he sent them flying.

Nie Yan raised his dagger, cleaning up the feared Thief.

The last remaining Thief wanted to run but Young Seven didn’t give them the chance. He handled the Thief quickly.

"Your PvP skills are pretty good,” Nie Yan praised. He was genuinely surprised. He didn’t expect Young Seven to be so strong. Who said Priests couldn’t PvP?

"It’s nothing.” Young Seven smirked, scratching his nose.

Chapter 200 – The Master Emerges

Nie Yan thought highly of everyone he recruited, but he still underestimated the skill of the players under him. Leader Young Seven, for example, was normally consigned to the role of a support and rarely ever seen engaging in direct combat. Nie Yan was never clear on how good Young Seven was at PvP. Today, however, he witnessed Young Seven’s prowess first-hand.

In the face of imminent death from an ambush by four Thieves, Young Seven hadn’t shown the slightest trace of panic. He feared the closest Thief, crippled the second with curses, and resisted being incapacitated by the third with a shield and blessing. Relying on skill alone, he had effortlessly dealt with three Thieves.

Nie Yan felt Young Seven even rivalled some Mages who were experts at PvP. He previously believed that as long as Young Seven could hold out for at least ten seconds, he would be able to take out those several Thieves and rescue him. However, Young Seven had shown that he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. Only now did Nie Yan gain a better understanding of what Young Seven could truly do. He was one of the Seven Archbishops in the previous timeline after all. It would be strange if he didn’t have the ability to defend himself.

Only when a Priest reached the same as stage as Young Seven, where they were not afraid of PvP, would they start to truly grow. If they had to rely on someone to save them whenever they encountered danger, they would forever linger in mediocrity.

"There’ll be more of them arriving soon. Let’s run while we still can,” Nie Yan said. There was no time to pick up the equipment from the ground. The players from Unhindered weren’t likely to drop anything good anyway.

By relying on his understanding of the terrain, Ne Yan and the others passed through the underground lava caverns periodically, popping out of the woods to launch ambushes. They were playing a game of cat and mouse, and Unhindered was helpless to stop them.

Nie Yan and the others were in a murderous frenzy, slaughtering countless players from Unhindered.

The post on the official forums was constantly receiving updates:

「10:29, Players Killed: 278」

「10:58, Players Killed: 308」

「11:27, Players Killed: 323」

…

Although the number of players dying in the recent updates wasn’t as terrifying as the first two, it was still extremely astonishing. While the kill count was steadily rising, Nie Yan’s group had yet to lose a single member. If the players on the forums only felt slight admiration for them before, now many of them came to genuinely revere Nie Yan and the other members of the group. Ten people were actually able to force an entire guild into such a powerless situation. Asskickers United truly struck dread into the hearts of all.

The players of Unhindered grew paranoid after every successive ambush. They were filled with fear and trepidation, not knowing when or where the enemy would strike next.

Nie Yan and the others were like spectres, taking out anywhere from ten to twenty plus players every time they appeared. When more forces arrived to surround them, all traces of them would disappear.

"Shit! How do they keep escaping?!” Hei Zhuo cursed. He was consumed by unending fury, while also feeling utterly helpless as he watched the number of casualties continue to rise.

Yu Long calmly pondered over the question. What Nie Yan’s group had done couldn’t simply be accomplished with Invisibility Potions. The answer probably laid beneath the ground. Could they have found some method to pass through the lava caverns?

The forces of Unhindered were too weak and spread too thin, leaving them incapable of controlling the entire map. From the start, they had no way to resist the ambushes of Nie Yan’s group. Unhindered was in a precarious position, unable to retreat or advance. If they withdrew from Kiln Fire Woods, they would become even more of a laughingstock.

Since this matter was plotted by Victorious Return, they would undoubtedly be humiliated as well. Even a blind person could tell that they were pulling the strings from behind the scenes. After this was all over, the reputation of Victorious Return would reach the lowest point, while their enemy would benefit greatly. If enough time was given to Asskickers United, then Victorious Return really might be forced to abdicate their throne as the top guild in Calore.

Yu Long thought for a moment. If he continued to allow Unhindered to be tormented like this, the number of people killed by Nie Yan’s group would only rise higher and higher. Once the total casualties surpassed a thousand, it would undoubtedly be a victory for Asskickers United! A thousand players dead! He could scarcely imagine what sort of reaction the players on the forums would have.

Yu Long consulted with Heaven Breaker. When the time came for Victorious Return to act, even if Nie Yan’s group couldn’t be surrounded, they would at least have to be driven away. They couldn’t be allowed to run rampant in Kiln Fire Woods any longer!

…

Nie Yan and the others killed around ten more players before withdrawing. The safety of every member of the group took the highest precedence. They never lingered around for long, leaving shortly after picking up all the loot.

Suddenly, Nie Yan received a message notification.

「You guys need to get out of Kiln Fire Woods, quickly!」Guo Huai warned urgently.

「What’s the matter?」Nie Yan asked. Unless something big happened, Guo Huai would never sound so anxious.

「A large force of players from Victorious Return is mobilizing in Kiln Fire Woods. They’re moving towards your direction!」Guo Huai sounded flustered. Right now, he couldn’t help but be anxious about the safety of Nie Yan’s group. Whatever happened to them would affect the entire guild.

Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a desire to commit murder. It wasn’t easy for him to create such a large stir, but he finally forced Victorious Return to act. Unhindered was nothing more than a lackey, merely an appetizer before the main course. No matter how many of them he killed, it would never deal a serious blow to Victorious Return. Now that the dog was beaten, the master had emerged.

「Don’t worry. We won’t be caught so easily.」Nie Yan coldly chuckled. He casually glanced at the guild chat. It was filled with the messages of countless members showing their support for him and the others, as well as telling them to all come back.

「Boss! Please, all of you should return! To everyone in the guild, the safety of you and the others is the most important thing. You’ve already killed over 500 of the bastards from Unhindered. You guys are the glory of our guild!」- Paladin of the Elegy

「Boss, please come back soon. We all miss you…」- Sugar Cane

…

Although the guild members no longer had any thoughts of charging into Kiln Fire Woods thanks to the repeated reminders from Guo Huai, they were all still extremely concerned about the safety of Nie Yan’s group.

As Nie Yan looked through all these messages, the corner of his mouth curved into a smile.

"Victorious Return’s forces are coming?” Young Seven asked.

Nie Yan nodded.

"How many?” Bladelight asked. He didn’t expect them to arrive so soon.

"Around 20,000 to 30,000,” Nie Yan replied. With such a large force arriving, he estimated they would be able to cover all of Kiln Fire Woods. It would basically become impossible for his group to launch any more sneak attacks.

There were so many enemy players securing the map. If they dared to mount another ambush, the nearby forces would quickly arrive to surround them. Where could they possibly run then?

He wasn’t foolish enough to use a chicken’s egg to crack a stone.

"Should we go back now?” Young Seven asked. Taking a step back was also a type of strategy. They had already achieved great results. Withdrawing now would still be a win for them. However, if all ten of them were wiped out, then the outside world would view such an outcome as Victorious Return turning the tables on them.

Each of them killed at least 50 players, some even over 100. If they died now, they would all drop at least five or six levels. It was a loss they couldn’t afford to take.

"I’ll send you guys back,” Nie Yan said with a smile. They were the top elites of the guild. Asskickers United would suffer a tremendous blow if they died.

Young Seven and the others wrinkled their brows at the meaning behind those words. Nie Yan wouldn’t be going back with them? He was planning on staying behind?

"What are you going to do?” Bladelight asked. Nie Yan wasn’t planning on dealing with Victorious Return all by himself, right?

"Don’t worry about me. I won’t treat my level and equipment as a joke,” Nie Yan reassured. He had long since formulated a plan. His previous actions were merely a precursor to the main event.

Victorious Return would truly feel the wrath of Asskickers United!

「Nie Yan, we’ve located their main team! They’re doing the Shadow Marsh dungeon right now!」Guo Huai said in an excited tone. It wasn’t easy for him to grasp the movements of Victorious Return’s main team, but he had discovered them just as they were about to start Shadow Marsh.

「Has the task force been formed yet?」Nie Yan asked. He didn’t think Guo Huai was able to work so quickly.

「No, not yet. But I’ve already gathered over fifty players. They’re all Thieves who’ve shown decent skill in the past. Although the task force still isn’t fully formed yet, I think they should be more than enough to deal with Victorious Return’s main team. Even if we can’t completely annihilate them, we can still peel off a layer of skin. That’ll let them know that we aren’t so easy to bully!」Guo Huai said with confidence. Every single one of these fifty-some-odd Thieves was a top ranking player. All of them signed contracts with the guild, and were already outfitted with the very best equipment the guild had to offer. Their PvP abilities absolutely were by no means weak either.

「Don’t be rash. If you can’t find a suitable opportunity, then so be it. We don’t want to alert the enemy too early,」Nie Yan reminded him. Since Victorious Return dared to move against them, it was safe to assume that the main team of Victorious Return was already on high alert for any counter-offensives. They wouldn’t be an easy target to surround, let alone annihilate. If Asskickers United was going to deal a blow to Victorious Return, it needed to be decisive!

「Alright, I understand,」Guo Huai replied.

Nie Yan’s group entered the lava caverns, then headed toward an exit outside of Kiln Fire Woods.

"You guys have to be careful. You’ll probably encounter Victorious Return players on the road. It’s best if you guys found a safe spot to hide first,” Nie Yan cautioned Young Seven and the others. Then he turned to Sun and said, "You have to pay extra attention to your surroundings. You’re the only Thief in the group, so it’s your job to guide them safely. Be extra cautious when you scout ahead!”

Sun nodded, a resolute expression on his face. "Big Brother, you can put your faith in me!”

"If all of us get out alive, I bet the people from Victorious Return will be fuming so much that smoke will come out of their heads!” Blowhard Summer Bug said with a smile. The atmosphere around them lightened significantly.

"We did great on this operation. We killed 567 enemies without a single casualty!” Undying Scoundrel exclaimed.

As the group travelled through the dark tunnels of the lava caverns, the heat from the churning magma below the ground they walked on boiled the very air around them.

"This place is too damn hot!” Monochrome and the others grumbled.

"It’s a great spot.” Nie Yan smiled mysteriously but didn’t explain any further.

The many Viper Flies backed away as Nie Yan’s group passed through. Soon, they left the vicinity of Kiln Fire Woods and arrived near the exit just outside of the map.

Chapter 201 – The Secret Of Kiln Fire Woods

Travelling through the dark tunnels of the lava caverns, the group finally arrived at their exit.

"Boss, let’s take a photo!” Undying Scoundrel suggested. What they had just accomplished was a historic moment for the entire guild. Of course he’d want something to commemorate it with.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. "Sure, but only release the photo after all of this is over.” It was best if Victorious Return temporarily didn’t know that they had already left Kiln Fire Woods.

"The people from Victorious Return definitely won’t be happy when they see the photo. I can already see their ugly expressions! Victorious Return has twenty to thirty thousand players digging three feet deep into the ground across every inch of the map right now, searching for us. I bet they’re not expecting that we’re already gone!” Undying Scoundrel let out a wicked cackle.

"Heaven Breaker will be so furious! He’ll definitely vomit out blood!”

Blowhard Summer Bug and the others gleefully imagined Heaven Breaker’s reaction in their heads.

"Everybody, gather around! Let’s make sure our red names are in plain view!”

Everyone was in high spirits.

Ten people stood together, all of whom were branded red. It was a spectacular sight. Even the name of Leader Young Seven was tainted red, although his was the lightest shade out of the entire group. Everyone else was a deep, soul-tremoring crimson.

Undying Scoundrel, Sun, and the others made rude poses, as if to mock the people of Victorious Return.

「Snap!」A camera shutter sound rang out. The picture was taken. After this was all over, it would be uploaded to the web. They would invariably go down in history for the events of today, remembered by the players for a long time to come.

"Alright, everyone should run along now. Go clear your red names,” Nie Yan said. It was too dangerous to stay branded as a PKer for long.

"Big Brother, I’ll go scout the path ahead.” Sun set off to investigate the situation outside. He would immediately report back if he encountered enemy forces. The number of players patrolling the outer perimeter of the map definitely weren’t few. So when retreating, they would have to be extra cautious to avoid being discovered.

"Get in contact with Yao Yao. You guys should join up with her to clear your red names. When I’ve settled the matters over here, I’ll take you all levelling with me in Everlasting City,” Nie Yan said. With how high all their kill counts were, maybe one of them would get lucky and find a Killer’s Demonic Medallion.

"Alright, you be careful too,” Young Seven said.

"Boss, be safe.”

"We’ll be leaving. Take care, Boss.”

The members of the group said their farewells to Nie Yan one after another.

"Stay safe on your journey!” Nie Yan smiled. He felt more or less reassured about them. Even if they encountered a patrol group, as long as the number of players on the enemy side didn’t exceed a hundred, Victorious Return would be helpless to stop them.

While the group of nine players set out, Nie Yan turned around and returned to the lava caverns. Taking advantage of the remaining duration on Deterrence, he rushed back toward Kiln Fire Woods.

In the depths of the lava caverns, the scalding hot air churned and roiled and tongues of flame billowed upward from deep underground.

In the previous timeline, only after many players reached Level 40–50 did the first group of people dare to explore these lava caverns. With the Viper Flies no longer posing a threat, they travelled through the long and narrow tunnels to the deepest parts of the lava caverns, where they finally uncovered the secret of Kiln Fire Woods.

Nie Yan smirked. The next phase of his plan would bring disaster to Victorious Return. But to proceed, he would have to lure their forces to the center of the map.

Nie Yan left the lava caverns. He activated Stealth, then began investigating the surroundings where he found a group of players from Victorious Return. He slowly approached them.

The players were currently chatting. They consisted of five members, an Elementalist, a Berserker, a Paladin, a Holy Mage, and a Priest.

All of them wore decent gear, and were around Level 20.

"Say, how many strong players do you think Asskickers United has? Those guys in the video are really strong. I feel like they aren’t any weaker than Yu Long, Skinny Dog, and them!” the Berserker said in a slightly fearful tone. Such a terrifying group of players had a chance of appearing before them at any moment!

"Who knows? Maybe those ten are all they have,” the Elementalist replied. He found it almost inconceivable that a newly-emerged guild would have so many top-notch experts.

"Why do you think the guild leader keeps insisting on making trouble for Asskickers United? Isn’t that just asking for trouble?” the Berserker asked in a puzzled tone.

"Are you stupid? What do you know? Asskickers United has only been around for a few weeks at most, yet they’ve already grown so powerful! Can you imagine how strong they’ll get in the future if we don’t do anything about them now? It’s basic guild strategy!” said the Holy Mage who was the leader of the group.

"You’re saying Asskickers United will pose a threat to our guild in the future?” the Berserker asked in a startled manner.

Several members in the group sank into deep thought. Looking at the current momentum of Asskickers United, there really was such a possibility. If Asskickers United did surpass them to become the top guild in Calore, then they would lose all feeling of superiority. Currently, every time they set out, they would hold their heads up with pride. Some of them even loathed the fact they couldn’t scribble the words—We, Victorious Return, are the number one guild in Calore!—on their faces. However, if Asskickers United took away that position, the glory of Victorious Return would be all for naught. What else would they have left to take pride in? On that day, many members would definitely start having thoughts of departing the guild.

And so would begin the demise of Victorious Return

Nie Yan slowly crept up behind them. He was only a five meters away from the Priest. All of them were incognizant of the imminent danger to their lives.

By allowing a Thief to approach so closely, they had basically sealed the fate of their Priest. How a Thief ambushed a target was similar to the way a cheetah stalked its prey on a hunt. With a cheetah’s explosive sprinting power, as long as it could get within a certain distance of its prey, the prey would be taken down in a flash.

The Priest felt a cold breeze brush the back of his neck. However, the feeling was so faint and fleeting that he simply didn’t pay heed. He leisurely chatted with the others, oblivious to the nearing threat.

With only three meters separating them, Nie Yan leapt into action. Smothering Strike! His dagger struck out toward the back of the Priest’s head.

The Priest finally sensed the danger. Taking into account the abruptness of it all, he reacted pretty quickly. Just as he was about to dodge, Nie Yan’s blow landed and he was stunned.

No matter how much faster the Priest’s reaction speed got, it still couldn’t match the speed of Nie Yan’s dagger.

Nie Yan followed through with Backstab, then ruthlessly finished him off with Eviscerate. The Priest went limp, collapsing to the ground.

The four remaining players were momentarily dazed. The Elementalist was the first to snap out of the shock, firing off an Ice Shatter at the ambusher.

The Berserker rushed at Nie Yan with Charge. The Paladin cast Indomitable Will on the Berserker, bolstering his speed even further.

The Holy Mage activated Holy Judgement. An imposing radiance poured down from the sky.

Nie Yan could clearly sense this group was much more difficult to deal with than the players from Unhindered. They were probably some of the more highly skilled players in Victorious Return.

Nie Yan could kill two or three more of them and escape, but he didn’t linger. He activated Shadow Dance and disappeared from sight.

The attacks of the Berserker, Holy Mage and Elementalist all missed. There wasn’t a single trace of Nie Yan in the surroundings. He was gone!

Nie Yan’s appearance was abrupt and short, so quick none of them were able to react. However, in that brief moment, he had left behind a corpse on the ground.

"I got a good look at him. It was that Thief from Asskickers United!” All four of them felt a cold chill running down their spines. They huddled close together with their backs facing each other, afraid that when Nie Yan emerged again, the next person to drop dead on the ground would be them!

A Thief could actually be so terrifying!

They reported the information back to Yu Long.

「Boss, we’ve discovered the group from Asskickers United…」The Berserker went on to explain the encounter with Nie Yan.

「Where? Give me the coordinates.」

「2885.285.332.」

Yu Long thought for a moment. He immediately instructed the first and second squadron which consisted of 6,000 players in total to move toward that area.

Nie Yan’s movement didn’t simply end there. Yu Long soon received reports of Nie Yan appearing at 2885.285.279, 2885.285.239, and 2885.285.202. It was just like with the first group. Right as he emerged, he would kill a player, then disappear. No one could predict where he would pop up next.

"What is he planning…?” Yu Long muttered to himself. He was struck by an indescribable sense of foreboding. What was the meaning behind Nie Yan’s actions? Did he just want to kill the players of Victorious Return, or was there a different, more sinister and heinous purpose?

It would truly prove a bit difficult to lock down a top-tier Thief in such complex terrain.

Yu Long had no choice but to mobilize more of his forces to that general location, especially the Priests. He had them cast Illuminate to search for traces of Nie Yan.

Nie Yan could clearly feel the number of players in his vicinity gradually increasing. Several times he had been exposed by the light from a Priest’s Illuminate. Luckily, he was always able to get away in time before he was surrounded.

"Almost there…” Nie Yan’s mouth curved into a faint smile. He returned to the lava caverns. When he entered the area where Viper Flies spawned, he activated Deterrence, then dashed toward the deepest region unimpeded.

The ambient temperature grew increasingly hotter the deeper down he travelled. Nie Yan drank a Fire Resistance Potion as he darted through scorching blasts of torrid air, venturing even further into the depths.

He saw the glow of flames leaping up high into the air, and massive columns of smoke surging towards the ceiling from the magma flowing down below.

No Viper Flies wandered around this area due to the extreme heat of the environment. Even Nie Yan was losing ten health every second while staying here, as damage values floated up above his head.

The effects of the Fire Resistance Potion weren’t potent enough to completely nullify the heat damage. If a player didn’t have at least 30 Fire Resistance, they shouldn’t even think of exploring any further.

Nie Yan scoured through every rock in the area, periodically drinking an Intermediate Health Potion and Recovery Potion. It wasn’t easy for him to maintain his constantly falling health.

Three minutes later, he found what he was searching for. It was a dark gold treasure chest tucked away in a dark corner, embedded deeply among some large rocks. Were it not for him searching so carefully, there was no way he would’ve found it.

Finally! Nie Yan’s face glowed with excitement as he laid eyes on the chest. He dropped down on one knee and started opening it.

Opening treasure chest… Estimated Completion: 2%… 17%… 29%… 37%…

As seconds turned to minutes, the chest finally opened with a light click! Nie Yan glanced at his health bar—only 27% remaining. He stood up and applied a Combat Bandage to himself, whereupon his health gradually began recovering.

He bent down and started rummaging through the chest. He fished out two items. The first was a blood-red pearl, sparkling and limpid. It emitted a bright red glow in the darkness, resembling a ball of burning flame. The second item was a black skill book.

Chapter 202 – Grimmar Soul Staff!

Nie Yan appraised the red pearl between his fingers. It was precisely what he had been searching for all along, a Kiln Fire Heart!

The legendary Elementalist, Countess Alicia, created ten Kiln Fire Hearts out of the lava from the world’s core. A Kiln Fire Heart wasn’t an inherently magical item, but it did provide some useful effects such as enhancing the player’s Fire Resistance. It was a rare, special item.

In the distant past, Countess Alicia utilized the Kiln Fire Hearts as catalysts to summon a powerful Lava Titan to kill several tens of thousands of invaders from the Underworld, writing down an eternal legend in the Kiln Fire Woods. However, since the Lava Titan was nigh impossible to control, she herself ended up being devoured as well, buried deep beneath the earth where the lava flowed.

Kiln Fire Heart (Special Item)

Properties: Fire Resistance +50, Fire Magic Amplification +20%

Kiln Fire: Allows the player to possess the strength of the Kiln Fire, becoming immune to all fire damage for 30 seconds. The player can survive in lava.

Cooldown: 20 minutes

Restriction: Cannot be used by creatures of darkness.

The Kiln Fire Heart was an accessory, and so it had to be equipped in an accessory slot to take effect. Although it was best on Elementalists and Arcane Mages, it was also a treasure that was hard to come by for Nie Yan. Whether in PvE or PvP, becoming immune to fire damage would give him a huge advantage. Almost a third of all Elementalist spells were Fire Magic, and many relied on Fire Magic as their primary source of damage. If Nie Yan activated Kiln Fire while battling an Elementalist, a third of the opponent’s spells would instantly become useless. Such an advantage grew even more pronounced against Arcane Mages. More than half of all spells at an Arcane Mage’s disposal dealt fire damage. He would essentially be cutting down the opponent’s offensive power by over fifty percent.

The boost in Fire Resistance was also considerable. It signified that Nie Yan could travel to any map below Level 50 that had requirements for Fire Resistance, and he would gain an advantage when hunting fire-type monsters.

The Fire Magic Amplification property, however, was pretty much useless to Nie Yan. He was a Thief, not a Mage.

Nie Yan examined the skill book.

Skill Book: Cut Throat

Requirements: Level 35

Description: Slash open the throat of a target from behind with an increased chance of a critical hit. Chance of dealing a fatal blow if the target is lower levelled than the user. Only effective against humanoid creatures.

Properties; Deal 130% damage. 20% chance of dealing 200% critical damage. 10% chance of dealing 300% critical damage.

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Restriction: Thief; can be learned by any faction.

Cut Throat was a rare, advanced skill with high damage multipliers.

Nie Yan still wasn’t at a high enough level to learn Cut Throat. He stored away the skill book in his bag, then equipped the Kiln Fire Heart, whereupon his Fire Resistance increased by a large margin. He no longer needed to be afraid of taking heat damage. He continued travelling deeper down. Two to three minutes later, he arrived beside a sweltering pool of lava.

A scalding heat rose up from the pool which covered about 3030 square meters. As Nie Yan looked toward the center, he saw a woman floating motionlessly in the lava. She wore a fiery red robe. Clasped in her hand was a staff with a fist-sized, flame-red ruby embedded at the top. It was the famed, sealed Grimmar Soul Staff. Her face was above the surface of the lava. She had smooth, delicate features with skin as white as jade. She was so beautiful it was almost stifling.

This woman was Countess Alicia, the legendary Elementalist.

She was only sleeping, not dead. The Lava Titan didn’t kill her. It was said that the Lava Titan she summoned grew sentient. It possessed at least some capacity for thought, albeit not much. The simple-minded creature deeply loved the countess. It only wanted to embrace her closely, protecting her within its own body, and not allow anyone else to touch her.

And so, Countess Alicia had been lying dormant ever since. She would only awaken if the Lava Titan was killed. Most notably, on the body of the countess was a quest related to the Sealed Grimmar Soul Staff.

Its final reward was a Legendary set!

At the peak of its glory in the previous timeline, Holy Empire once formed a 3,000 man force consisting of only players over Level 100 to take down the Lava Titan. They had a Thief lure the creature above ground to the Kiln Fire Woods where they slew it. However, Holy Empire suffered one of its heaviest losses in that battle. Of the 170 teams, over a third of them were wiped out. Victorious Return took advantage of that opportunity to lay siege to the strongholds of Holy Empire, forcing them to withdraw from Kiln Fire Woods. Afterward, Radiant Sacred Flame swooped in and snatched the reward away for themselves. However, even though Radiant Sacred Flame received the quest line from Countess Alicia, they were never able to finish it in the end. Not a single member of the 1,000 man force they sent to a city in the Underworld came back alive.

It subsequently became known as one of the most difficult Legendary quest lines to complete.

In the previous timeline, coming within two meters of Countess Alicia or touching any part of her body would cause the Lava Titan to emerge. However, this posed a bit of a problem to Nie Yan because the countess was more than ten meters away from him. If he tried leaping over, thirty seconds was enough time for him to swim there and back, but it was still very dangerous.

If he was still in the lava when Kiln Fire’s duration ended, he would be instantly incinerated into ashes.

Nie Yan looked upward, noticing the large columns of rock hanging down from the ceiling. The nearest one was only three meters away from Countess Alicia. He suddenly had a brilliant idea. Activating the ability of the Crawler Ring, he leaped off the edge of the pool and clung onto the ceiling. He nimbly crawled toward the column closest to the countess where he slowly slid down until he reached the end.

Countess Alicia held her magnificent staff in the center of the pool. Her eyes were tightly closed, a sign that she was in a deep sleep, black hair floating just above the surface, gently drifting along the gradual currents.

Countess Alicia was truly a nation-toppling beauty. No wonder even the creature she summoned ended up being entranced by her good looks.

The staff in her hands was crafted out of blue crystal which emitted a reserved glow. It was engraved with all sorts of mysterious, runic patterns, and embedded at the top was a fist-sized translucent orb with a ball of scarlet-red flame burning within.

The Grimmar Soul Staff possessed powerful flame magic. Even though it was sealed, it still possessed unrivalled power. It was fully deserving of being a called a godly weapon!

The Grimmar Soul Staff was only one part of a Legendary set. However, even though it was only one part, it was still frighteningly powerful!

Such an item was right within reach.

Nie Yan shot out a line of webbing from his Silk Spinner Ring which stuck to the Grimmar Soul Staff. With a jerk of the line, he flung the staff out of Countess Alicia’s hands and caught it.

A powerful wave of uncontrollable elemental energy surged up Nie Yan’s arm, causing him to almost drop the staff.

However, Nie Yan was able to endure. He didn’t dare to waste any time appraising the staff. Storing it away in his bag, he crawled to the top of the column where he leaped off and landed safely on the ground outside the pool of lava.

The entire place started shaking violently. The lava in the pool rose up like a tornado, rapidly condensing before taking the form of a titan. Its lower half was steeped in lava while its upper body was large and intimidating. It was composed entirely of lava and emitted a terrifying heat.

Nie Yan rushed out of the lava caverns. In one or two minutes, the Lava Titan would bring the entire place down.

The Lava Titan discovered someone had stolen Countess Alicia’s Grimmar Soul Staff. It let out an enraged roar as the walls of the lava caverns cracked and started collapsing. All the rock surrounding the Lava Titan rapidly melted before being absorbed into its body. It continuously grew in size as it charged toward the surface.

Almost twenty minutes had passed since Yu Long last received any information about Nie Yan. His subordinates scoured through every area that Nie Yan had passed through, but they hadn’t found a single trace of him. A sense of dread gradually seeped its way into his heart.

「Boss, we found a cave over here. It’s an entrance to the lava caverns.」

Yu Long furrowed his brows. Could Nie Yan have already escaped from Kiln Fire Woods through the lava caverns? What was the point of them staying here to search for him, then?

As Yu Long brooded over the matter, the earth beneath him started shaking violently as cracks began opening up. His complexion paled. What was going on!?

About a minute earlier, the several hundred players gathered around the entrance saw a figure rushing out of the lava caverns at top speed.

"It’s that Thief! Stop him!” some players shouted, only to see Nie Yan disappeared from sight. He flitted past several of them while in stealth.

Several dozen orbs of light flew up into the air from Illuminate. Under the penetrating radiance, Nie Yan’s figure was revealed.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」A shower of spells bombarded Nie Yan. He activated Swift Retreat, increasing his movement speed while escaping by 30%. He tightly clutched an Unknown Transfer Scroll in his hand. In case anything went wrong, he would teleport away immediately. No matter how much health he had, he still wouldn’t be able to endure such a concentrated barrage from so many Mages.

Seeing that his health was running low, Nie Yan chugged an Intermediate Health Potion, restoring it back to full.

He still had many life-saving measures on him such as the Chapter of Courage which would make him temporarily immune to all magic or the Unknown Transfer Scroll which would teleport him away. However, unless he was backed into a corner, he wouldn’t rashly use them.

At this moment, the ground suddenly started fiercely trembling. The group of players from Victorious Return started to turn ashen with fright, as they saw red-hot molten rock surging toward them from the lava caverns. With unstoppable momentum, a dozen-meter wave threatened to swallow them whole.

"It’s lava! Quickly run!”

"Shit! Everybody, run!

The entire group fled for their lives. Reflected in their eyes was the torrent of lava, framed by their horror as they watched it come toward them. In the next moment, they were all engulfed.

Chapter 203 – Unrivalled Titan

Before the five to six hundred players camping outside the entrance of the lava caverns could understand what was going on, they were swept up by the surging tide of lava, letting out blood-curdling screams as they transformed into rays of light.

Lava flowed out rapidly like a ferocious fiery beast engulfing everything in its path. If it was allowed to continue flowing unimpeded, all of Kiln Fire Woods would be transformed into a sea of flames in just a few hours.

The seven entrances to the caverns spewed out tons of lava into air, resembling a volcanic eruption. The molten chunks of rock flew for several hundred meters before raining down on the map like a meteor shower.「BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!」They carved out giant craters into the earth, lighting the immediate vicinity on fire and creating a red glow in the sky.

Over two thousand players from Victorious Return and Unhindered died during the first few moments of the eruption. The lava flow was spreading too quickly. Most players didn’t even get a chance to react before they were consumed in the fiery inferno. A few perceptive individuals noticed the danger early, but even that couldn’t save them. The lava had already gotten too close. It was too late to run, let alone use a Return Scroll.

「Return Scrolls! Everybody, use your Return Scrolls!」some players who were escaping the lava frantically called out in their guild chats.

Many players didn’t understand what was going on. When they tried to get an answer out of the people panicking in the guild chat, they found that the other side had suddenly gone silent.

The lava rapidly merged together to form a forty to fifty-meter tall giant. It was sturdy, resembling a small mountain. Even the Guardian of Order that Nie Yan awoke after grabbing the Chapter of Courage was dwarfed by the Lava Titan.

The Lava Titan was a Level 200 Lord-class monster with almost three million health! It possessed a few notable skills: Lava Field, Lava Breaker, and Lava Roar.

Lava Field transformed the earth in a 500-meter radius around the Lava Titan into a sea of lava. Any player with under 120 Fire Resistance would be instantly burnt into a crisp. Those with 120 Fire Resistance or higher would constantly lose health every second.

Lava Breaker sent out a massive wave of lava that would bury every creature in the vicinity of the Lava Titan.

The most terrifying was Lava Roar! If the magical energy in Kiln Fire Woods fluctuated too violently, the skill could silence all Mages as well as prevent the activation of any magical item for a short period of time. Even teleportation scrolls weren’t exempt from this. It was the same as a silencing field. In the entirety of Kiln Fire Woods, the Lava Titan reigned supreme!

In the previous timeline, players discovered the existence of the Lava Titan when they were only around Level 40–50. However, it wasn’t until later when many players surpassed Level 100 that a group dared to challenge the Lava Titan. Even then, it still required the cooperation of several thousand players to make an attempt. At that time, very few Fighters could endure the attacks of the Lava Titan. Resplendent Bladelight was one of them. Aside from him, there were two other such Fighters known to the public. One was in Holy Empire, and the other was in Radiant Sacred Flame. Many guilds fought over the Lava Titan because of some information released on the official forums. The Lava Titan was related to the Grimmar Set, and it was the key to removing the seal on the Grimmar Soul Staff. It would also drop some highly sought after materials such as Fire Essence which could be used to craft Legendary items.

There were many bosses that had already been discovered and even more that were yet to be discovered in the Atlanta continent. Each one was incredibly difficult to deal with. The Lava Titan was no exception. No matter how great the force, it wasn’t an existence that could be touched by players under Level 100.

Nie Yan was sprinting through Kiln Fire Woods at top speed.

The enraged Lava Titan moved in the direction that Nie Yan had fled. It wanted to retrieve Countess Alicia’s Grimmar Soul Staff.

「Guo Huai, can you tell me where the players from Victorious Return and Unhindered are the most densely concentrated? Hurry up, it’s urgent.」Nie Yan sent a message to Guo Huai who was back at headquarters.

「Alright, give me ten seconds.」Guo Huai hastily gathered the information after receiving Nie Yan’s request.

Nie Yan madly dashed across the map. Wherever he passed, the surrounding players would discover the Lava Titan trailing closely after him, and they would scatter in all directions. There wasn’t enough time to use a Return Scroll. Some foolish people would madly flee in the direction of the several other entrances of the map, only to be met with a surging tide of lava.

After a brief moment, Guo Huai replied with the information Nie Yan wanted.「328, 108, and 028, several thousand people are gathered at those coordinates. The guild leader of Unhindered, Hei Zhuo, is at 2385.225.132. He’s together with a high-ranking member of Victorious Return. I think he is called Yu Long.」

Hei Zhuo, huh…? Nie Yan remarked before sprinting toward where Hei Zhuo and Yu Long were located. He would arrive there in two to three minutes at most.

Yu Long and Hei Zhuo were currently chatting while surrounded by over a thousand Mages. The Mages were gathered in groups of three or four. Like the stars cupped around the moon, the Mages crowded around the two leaders to protect them. Almost all the Warriors and Paladins were escorting the Priests as they searched for signs of Nie Yan’s group. Only two to three hundred Warriors remained behind to guard the area around the Mages.

The earthquakes from a moment ago calmed down after just a short while. Although Yu Long’s heart was a little uneasy, it wasn’t enough to give rise to any alarm.

Mere seconds later, however, the guild chat was flooded with frantic messages.

「Boss! There’s Lava!」

「What are you talking about? Speak clearly.」Yu Long knitted his brows.

「The lava beneath Kiln Fire Woods is erupting onto the surface. Several hundred of our brothers have already died!」The player explained what happened, but what he saw was only a small slice of the bigger situation. In fact, the number of Unhindered and Victorious Return players who died had already surpassed three thousand.

Soon, Yu Long received information from other locations of the map—two to three hundred people dead over here, five to six hundred dead over there… Adding them together, the number of casualties was already ever so close to three thousand.

「I want all Victorious Return troops to withdraw!」Yu Long realized that the people from Asskickers United were probably responsible for this mayhem. The situation right now was anything but reassuring. He hastily told all his subordinates to withdraw. Afterward, he turned to Hei Zhuo. "Quickly tell your forces to return to Calore!”

"Why?” Hei Zhuo asked. He had yet to receive any information from his subordinates.

"Don’t ask questions! Just do as I say!” Yu Long told Hei Zhuo in a practically snarling tone. He was feeling incredibly anxious.

Hei Zhuo was angered at the sudden outburst. However, seeing how restless Yu Long seemed, he soon realized that the situation might have taken a turn for the worse. He quickly messaged his subordinates.

Teleportation circles began activating across Kiln Fire Woods one after another. Swaths of players numbering in the thousands were using them. It was quite spectacular to behold. Numerous flashes lit up the sky. Many Victorious Return players were the first to go back.

The magical energy in the atmosphere began fluctuating violently, almost as if some grand, forbidden magic was being cast.

At this moment, an earth-shaking roar echoed out from the depths of Kiln Fire Woods. A shock wave of energy swept out across the entire map at an unbelievable speed. It was declaring ownership of this territory. All the natural laws that governed this region were under its rule.

Countless teleportation circles that had just lit up were interrupted. The crowd of players gathered around the teleportation circles all took several hundred damage from the shock wave as a blanket of damage values rose up into the sky. The players who were a bit closer to the source of the roar were wiped out in an instant.

The number of fatal casualties on the side of Victorious Return and Unhindered instantly skyrocketed. Kiln Fire Woods was littered everywhere with the corpses of their players.

Hei Zuo’s teleportation circle was interrupted, and he was knocked flying back by the shock wave. −378 A terrifyingly high damage value floated up above his head. He was badly frightened. "What the hell was that!?” He hastily chugged down a Junior Health Potion and an Intermediate Recovery Potion.

Yu Long’s teleportation was also interrupted, and he suffered similarly. His face turned unsightly. The furious roar just now seemed to come from the depths of hell, proclaiming the advent of their destruction. Of the thousand plus Mages around him, five to six hundred dropped dead on the ground. He didn’t know how many casualties the other locations suffered, but it definitely wouldn’t be small.

"Everyone, quickly get out of here!” Yu Long shouted. They had to leave this place as soon as possible, lest they face utter annihilation.

Nie Yan was darting toward Yu Long and Hei Zhuo’s location as a shock wave of energy hit him. He almost lost balance but made a quick recovery. −105 A damage value floated up above his head. He was slightly surprised. He didn’t expect a Lava Roar to emerge so soon.

If a special condition wasn’t triggered, the Lava Titan wouldn’t activate Lava Roar.

Even though the Lava Roar of the Lava Titan only dealt a little over a hundred damage to him, an ordinary player from Victorious Return would probably be instantly killed. He wondered how many people Victorious Return had lost this time.

As Nie Yan closed in on Yu Long and Hei Zhuo, he saw corpses littering the ground. It was an amazing sight. The players that survived were almost all tanky classes with high health and defense like Warriors and Paladins. The Mages suffered disastrous casualties, and practically all the Priests died. He never stopped recording.

Nie Yan finally reached his destination, appearing at the top of a slope. His eyes scanned over the crowd of players below him before finally locking onto Hei Zhuo and the Paladin beside him. The two of them were clearly calling the shots.

"It’s that Thief!” Before Nie Yan could stealth, a sharp-eyed Warrior discovered him at the top of the slope.

In a split second, all eyes collectively moved toward the top of the slope and locked onto Nie Yan.

"So I’ve been noticed, huh,” Nie Yan calmly remarked from atop the slope. Under the scrutiny of eight hundred players from Victorious Return and Unhindered, he pointed his dagger at Hei Zhuo. With his free hand, he made the cutthroat gesture using his thumb, then revealed a cruel smile on his face.

Not only was Nie Yan blatantly provoking Hei Zhuo and the crowd, he was also expressing the contempt Asskickers United had for them and declaring war!

Bladelight, I’ll be getting some revenge on your behalf, Nie Yan thought. If he succeeded in taking out Hei Zhuo, Resplendent Bladelight, a top three Fighter in the previous timeline, would be completely loyal to him!

"Fuck! Kill him!” Hei Zhuo turned livid with rage from Nie Yan’s taunting. His expression was warped.

Yu Long stared at Nie Yan’s smiling expression. He didn’t know why, but he felt a slight chill run down his spine. Despite being grossly outnumbered, Nie Yan declared Hei Zhuo’s death. Under the gazes of almost eight hundred pairs of eyes, could he really kill Hei Zhuo?

Yu Long shook his head. It was impossible!

Yu Long raised his greatsword. Clad in silver-white armour, he resembled an iron tower standing beside Hei Zhuo. A Thief, huh? Come and try! Let’s see if you can get through a mountain pass like me!

The players from Victorious Return and Unhindered moved to surround Nie Yan. However, in the blink of an eye, they discovered that the top of the slope was empty without a single trace of Nie Yan!

Nie Yan had vanished into thin air. With all the Priests dead, the only people remaining who could deal with him were the elite Paladins who learned Eyes of the Divine.

"Protect the guild leader!” a player shouted. The survivors gathered tightly around Hei Zhuo.

Chapter 204 – Birth Of The Mad Rogue!

Nie Yan was like a specter walking among the shadows. He left his pursuers unable to discover his whereabouts; they had lost all sight of him.

Eyes of the Divine!

Eyes of the Divine!

Five Paladins from Victorious Return activated Eyes of the Divine at the same time, releasing rays of holy light into the area. But even after activating the skill, they were unable to spot even a trace of Nie Yan. Logically, their Eyes of the Divine should be able to see through Nie Yan’s stealth, or at the very least reveal a hint of his silhouette—unless his stealthing capability was above the range where they could detect him.

As they searched in the direction they thought Nie Yan had gone, a sound came from behind. Their minds trembled. Did Nie Yan already circle behind them?

"He’s behind us!” cried out a Paladin who spotted Nie Yan after turning towards the source of the sound.

Meanwhile, Nie Yan judged the distance and headed for Hei Zhuo and Yu Long, his body light and his silhouette blurry as he swept past.

What an incredible movement speed! In just under five seconds, Nie Yan’s elusive figure moved over fifty meters! These players, who had not seen such speed in the game before, couldn’t wrap their heads around it.

There were still over seventy Mages alive after Lava Roar. They wanted to bombard Nie Yan with spells, but as they began chanting, they found their magic disappear before it could even take shape. The magical energy in the area was too unstable! There was no way for them to gather enough for a spell.

The Warriors didn’t stand idly by as they led the charge, only to find that they couldn’t keep up with Nie Yan. He was just too fast! With his astounding base speed boosted by Shadow Dance and a Haste Scroll, he could even outrun Warriors that used Charge.

Even with so many players trying to stop him, Nie Yan thought nothing of the blockade. To him they might as well not be there.

It wasn’t long before he stood in front of the two leaders. The only thing standing between him and Hei Zhuo now was the Paladin, Yu Long!

Yu Long activated Eyes of the Divine, locking on to Nie Yan and firmly blocking the way to Hei Zhuo.

"Nie Yan, is it? Come, let me see just how skilled you are!” Yu Long roared. Because the magical energy in the air was so unstable, he couldn’t activate any Holy Magic or buff himself with blessings. Radiating an imposing aura, Yu Long fiercely chopped at Nie Yan with Radiant Slash.

Meanwhile, Hei Zhuo hadn’t expect Nie Yan to arrive so quickly. He tried to cast a spell but found that the magical energy in the area was still too chaotic. He felt powerless. There was nothing he could do but place his hopes on Yu Long, praying that the Paladin could cut down Nie Yan.

Yu Long saw his strike easily dodged by Nie Yan who stabbed a dagger at his forehead in response. To him, Nie Yan was just a flashing silhouette as his strike hit nothing but air. His mind trembled. My attack missed? What incredible speed!

Yu Long’s eyes were blinded by the cold glimmer of Nie Yan’s dagger as it rapidly neared. He expected this frontal attack to be a Concussive Blow, so he quickly entered a defensive stance and moved his sword to block. Since he couldn’t activate Indomitable Will, he didn’t dare to take such a blow from Nie Yan head on. After he took only a single step back, Nie Yan disappeared from his line of sight. His heart clenched in worry.

Not good! Hei Zhuo!

With an elegant twist of his body, Nie Yan brushed past Yu Long. His speed reached the peak!

It was as if he had become one with a deity.

He was using footwork that could rival a professional dancer. It was on the level of a Shadow Dancer!

Nie Yan thought back to when he was a Level 180 Great Thief, recalling the feelings of unrivalled speed and life and death in his grasp.

In that moment, the experiences of two lifetimes merged into a whole!

The resonance formed by the collision of both lives brought together through space and time allowed Nie Yan to enter a deep trance of self-reflection. The shackles which prevented him from breaking through to a Shadow Dancer in the previous timeline finally melted away. Only after a sudden flash of insight did he finally realize what he was lacking. It was that graceful agility, that preeminent tenacity, and that relentless momentum!

This was a Shadow Dancer!

Nie Yan’s thoughts were very clear. He completely ignored Yu Long, as though the Paladin didn’t exist. No one could block his movements, not the Paladin in front of him nor anyone else!

As Yu Long felt Nie Yan brush past him in a blur, a feeling of humiliation arose within him. With a horizontal sweep he tried to redeem himself but was only presented with another miss.

Nie Yan was like a shadow, intangible and uncatchable.

A sense of frustration flooded through Yu Long. Even though the inability to cast Holy Magic was a major handicap to him, Yu Long wasn’t confident in his ability to stop Nie Yan even without a disadvantage. Nie Yan was just too fast and agile to catch up to.

Hei Zhuo noticed Nie Yan rushing towards him and hurriedly tried to retreat. However, the dagger aimed at him was like grim reaper wielding his scythe, creating a looming sense of despair.

It was undodgeable!

Hei Zhuo’s mind went blank as the dagger pierced his forehead. In the blink of an eye, Nie Yan circled around to his back and landed a Backstab and Eviscerate. His actions were crisp and controlled, showing no signs of sloppiness.

As his eyes dimmed, Hei Zhuo fell to the ground with a thud.

After dealing the final blow to Hei Zhuo, Nie Yan finally stood still, creating a visual contrast with his speed-blurred form from before.

Seeing this, the hundreds of players still alive stared blankly at Nie Yan and the corpse of Hei Zhuo. Many of them even forgot to keep moving.

Hei Zhuo… died?

From the time they first noticed Nie Yan to the time Hei Zhuo died, only fifteen seconds had passed. It had passed by in just a flash!

Nie Yan truly performed an unimaginable deed. Under the noses of nearly five hundred players, he had slain Hei Zhuo!

By the time Yu Long turned around, Hei Zhuo was already dead. It was far out of his expectations for Hei Zhuo to drop so quickly. This speed left a person without time to even think, much less react!

For a brief moment Yu Long and Nie Yan faced off, staring straight in each other’s eyes. Lifting the greatsword in his hands, Yu Long issued a challenge, "I’m next. Let’s see you finish me off!”

Nie Yan faintly smirked in reply before vanishing into thin air.

He couldn’t be found anywhere.

What did the smirk signify? Disdain? Contempt? Or something else completely?

Nie Yan’s final actions deeply struck at Yu Long’s soul.

Yu Long suddenly felt the strength drain from his body. He felt cold sweat on his back as he realized that he had lost, completely and utterly. He was cowed by Nie Yan’s immense speed. If the two of them crossed blades again, would he even be able to last more than a few seconds?

Nie Yan had used a single stunning blow, as if to tell the world he was unmatched!

"Boss, he left.” A Paladin walked up to Yu Long. He looked at Nie Yan’s silhouette dashing in the distance before disappearing among the trees.

No one tried to pursue him because they knew it’d be futile.

They finally learned just what a Thief truly was today. In the face of a massive army, they could effortlessly behead the general and the soldiers would scatter. Even though this saying was normally used to describe valiant generals of the past, it was quite befitting of Nie Yan.

"Huh?” Yu Long awoke from his stupor.

"What do we do next?” the Paladin asked.

His voice had barely faded before the blazing Lava Titan appeared behind them. It roared angrily, giving off an aura of intense power. With a wave of its arm, massive waves of lava rushed forth. It had used Lava Breaker to cover Yu Long’s remaining forces.

With a crashing boom, the lava swallowed everything in its path, including the five-hundred-plus players who had survived the first Lava Roar.

Over several thousand meters away, Nie Yan looked back at the angrily roaring Lava Titan. No one caught within its lava skills would be able to escape its merciless wrath. As he looked in the distance, he saw that surrounding the Lava Titan was a sea of lava. Only a few lonely boulders poked out like islands above the water.

If he activated an Unknown Transfer Scroll here, he might end up being teleported back into the lava. To avoid this, Nie Yan jumped on a boulder to wait. Lava Roar’s silencing effect still had around twenty seconds to go before it expired.

As the ground beneath him was covered by the surging lava, Nie Yan quietly sat on his boulder waiting for time to pass. Watching the roiling waves of molten rock flowing beneath him and the monster raging in the distance made Nie Yan sink into deep thought.

He believed the achievements of today would become a legend, retold countless times in the future.

Kiln Fire Woods had turned into a sea of lava, with all the trees burning up and falling in.

Just how many corpses were buried under the lava?

Nie Yan didn’t have any way of knowing. He figured only Unhindered and Victorious Return would have access to these statistics. Of course, they would never reveal it to the public.

But was there really a need to know?

After a while, Nie Yan stood up and lazily stretched his body. He had a pure smile on his face and muttered in a pleased tone, "I did pretty good.”

If Yu Long saw Nie Yan’s expression right now, he would definitely be taken aback. It was vastly different from the cruel smile Nie Yan had shown atop the slope.

Above the rolling lava, Nie Yan activated a Return Scroll. With a flash of radiance, he disappeared from the area.

A video was published on the official forums, titled: ‘The Destruction of Unhindered and Victorious Return!” In the second round of the battle, both Victorious Return and Unhindered were defeated. Looking back at Asskickers United, aside from all ten members of the strike force being branded with red names, they didn’t suffer a single casualty.

A picture was released as well. It was the group photo of Nie Yan and the others. The image would forever be preserved in the minds of all players. Because of the demise of over 20,000 players from Unhindered and Victorious Return who transformed into brilliant rays of light, the players on the forums would remember the ten faces in the picture. These ten people had created a legend!

From now on, Asskickers United would rise to even greater heights, becoming a mighty entity that none would dare to offend!

All players in the Viridian Empire would know the name of Asskickers United.

The Viridian Empire discussion board of the official forums saw more and more of the events as new videos kept emerging. Players were able to watch through the entire course of events. The emergence of the frightening Lava Titan left everyone breathless. However, what truly captivated them was that unrivalled, graceful strike by Nie Yan. They were thoroughly shocked by such a godly person.

「Godly Thief, Nirvana Flame!」

「Viridian Empire’s Number One Thief, Nirvana Flame!」

「Mad Rogue, Nirvana Flame」

Maybe the final nickname was just a bit more resounding, maybe the arrogant cutthroat gesture Nie Yan made toward Hei Zhuo left a deep impression players, or maybe everyone just felt that Nie Yan was completely out of his mind for daring to charge into a crowd of five hundred players for a single kill. Whatever the case, the name stuck and spread like a wildfire across the forums.

The name of the Mad Rogue would become the glory of Asskickers United.

Chapter 205 – The Hero Returns Triumphant

Nie Yan returned to Calore. Even though such a large commotion occurred in Kiln Fire Woods, the city was still tranquil without the slightest ripple. Yet discussion of the recent events in Kiln Fire Woods could occasionally be heard along the bustling streets.

A large crowd of players were gathered around the transfer area. When Nie Yan emerged, the players all stopped what they were doing and stared at him blankly. His appearance was now very familiar to the public after the release of the video. The crowd immediately identified him as the Mad Rogue, Nirvana Flame. Some people subconsciously took a step back. His name was a deep shade of crimson just like in the video, and he was still enveloped in a dense murderous aura. The arrogant gesture he made atop the slope along with his cruel smile were still fresh in the minds of the players who saw him.

Seeing the reaction of the crowd, Nie Yan knew he had been recognized.

Under the heavens, who does not know of the King? Nie Yan knew that he would no longer be able to stay low-key even if he wished to do so. With that being case, he didn’t see the point of trying to hide himself anymore. He confidently unblurred his name, revealing it to the public.

Under the stares of the players, Nie Yan strolled out of the transfer point area toward the guild headquarters of Asskickers United.

Calore was flourishing as before with players passing Nie Yan to-and-thro on the streets.

On the way to the guild headquarters, many players cleared the path for Nie Yan when they spotted him. However, they didn’t go away. Instead, they followed behind him some few meters away and discussed in hushed tones.

"That’s the Mad Rogue, Nirvana Flame! He’s one of the top executives of Asskickers United!”

"I watched the video. I heard over 20,000 players from Unhindered and Victorious Return died in Kiln Fire Woods!”

The scene of Nie Yan killing Hei Zhuo was deeply engraved in the mind of these players. It was almost impossible to forget.

"What a strong Thief!”

Since the release of the video on the forums, the name of the Mad Rogue had a profound impact on the players of the Viridian Empire!

Many people recalled the declaration Nie Yan made on the official forum:「Ten of us are enough to massacre Unhindered!」Who would’ve thought that even Victorious Return would be massacred as well! It was precisely Nie Yan who lured out that frightening Lava Titan!

The trailing onlookers stared at his deep crimson name. Just how many players did he kill? They were filled with even greater reverence.

Nie Yan rubbed his nose. He didn’t expect to gather such a large crowd of admirers.

「I’m almost at the guild headquarters,」Nie Yan sent a message to Guo Huai.

「Huh, so fast? Just wait. We’ll be ready in a moment!」Guo Huai replied in a rushed tone.

「…?」Nie Yan was taken aback. Guo Huai was normally pretty measured in his speech. Why did he suddenly become so incoherent?

A long street about five to six meters wide ran parallel to the guild headquarters. It was lively on most days, filled with the voices of players from the guild. Quite a few non-guild players passed through the area as well, since the location wasn’t too far away from the Starry Night Potion Shop.

At this moment, the pedestrians dispersed one after another. A procession of players from Asskickers United walked out and sealed the area off.

More and more players emerged, lining themselves up neatly on either side of the street. Between them was a path that led directly to the entrance of the guild headquarters.

Familiar figures began entering Nie Yan’s eyes: Tuoba Time, Very Forthright, Yu Lan, Bai Kaishui, Natural Fiend, Beginner Student, One Strike Vow, and a lot of people from Withered Leaf. Many among them signed contracts with the guild. Very Forthright and Tuoba Time could be considered guild members as well. Yu Lan and Bai Kaishui were part of the auxiliary teams. Natural Fiend was a Sword Saint in the previous timeline. He only recently joined the guild. Beginner Student was a Magister in the previous timeline. He was already a long-time member of the guild, joining close to its inception. He was relatively reserved. One Strike Vow was a beautiful female Thief player. She was invited to the guild by Resplendent Bladelight. According to rumours, the two of them were very close. At that time, Nie Yan was given a big shock because One Strike Vow was the sole female Shadow Dancer in the previous timeline. She was a goddess in the hearts of countless players. Who would’ve thought that she and Resplendent Bladelight were actually friends. Nie Yan was more than happy to welcome such a player into the guild.

The first row was composed of a thousand Fighters and Berserkers, all of whom were clad in brilliant sets of Gold or Silver equipment. Grasping greatswords in their hands and covered head to toe in heavy armour, they gave off a powerful, stifling pressure. Behind them were groups of Mages and Priests.

They stood in an orderly fashion to welcome Nie Yan’s return. Their dazzling equipment was stunning to behold.

Nie Yan looked on thoughtfully before understanding what was going on. Guo Huai, that sly fox, wanted to take advantage of his return to show off the might of Asskickers United to the public. Since this was all arranged by Guo Huai, he wanted to make sure everything was perfect.

Nie Yan had only recently taken out over twenty thousand players from Victorious Return. Such an ostentatious display would almost certainly strike a nerve with them.

Not bad! This was what you called showing off your own might. If Victorious Return wasn’t convinced of their loss, then they were free to bring everything they got!

Nie Yan strolled over, hearing whispers behind his back.

"Damn! They’re all wearing full sets of Gold and Silver equipment! Asskickers United sure is rich!” Some players sighed in admiration. This was their first time seeing so many sets of high-grade equipment.

"They really have high-spec equipment!”

"Isn’t that Beginner Student? When did he join Asskickers United? I heard he’s really amazing. He’s ranked third on the Mage leaderboard!”

"That’s One Strike Vow! I’ve seen her before! I saw a video of her wiping out a ten-player party all by herself on the forum. She’s in Asskickers United too!?”

…

The players began to inquire about how many known experts were in Asskickers United. Some individuals even compiled a detailed list of all the powerful players in the guild, then shared it on the forums, so netizens could add anyone that might’ve been overlooked. Slowly but surely, an unprecedented colossus was revealed to the public. It came to light that the apex of Asskickers United far outnumbered that of several major guilds.

Only now did everyone become truly aware of the strength of Asskickers United.

Even now, Asskickers United had no more than 50,000 members while major guilds like Victorious Return were approaching 100,000. It seemed Asskickers United held true to the declaration made on the forums. They wouldn’t rely on an advantage in numbers!

The elites of Asskickers United wouldn’t lose out to any major guild!

The position of Victorious Return in the minds of all players was quietly being lowered as Asskickers United ascended the altar.

As the crowd of bystanders looked on, the entire street was lined with Asskickers United players. They displayed discipline and might like a giant military parade!

As Nie Yan passed by, the Warriors all held their greatswords to their chests. Their movements were timed accordingly. A martial aura filled the air. This was how the Viridian Empire welcomed the return of a hero!

"We welcome Boss Nirvana Flame on his triumphant return!”

"Glory! Might!”

…

The players of Asskickers United cheered so loudly even the deaf could hear them.

Nie Yan was the hero of Asskickers United. He had brought glory to the guild!

The cheering grew more and more frenzied. The deafening voices caused Nie Yan to become fired up.

It was a grand occasion. The guild members all wore stunning equipment. Powerful players appeared one after another, allowing onlookers to directly experience the strength of the guild. This kind of shocking feeling was just like the scene when Nie Yan’s group of ten massacred the forces of Unhindered and Victorious Return.

All of Calore was shaken!

All the Asskickers United members proudly displayed the guild emblem on their chests. It was their glory. From now on, they would share the guild’s honour and disgrace.

Seeing Nie Yan approach, Guo Huai and a few others greeted him.

"So how did I do?” Guo Huai asked. With this display of might, from now on, no one would dare to look down on the guild!

"You did a good job. It’s too bad Bladelight, Young Seven, and them can’t be here to see this,” Nie Yan said with regret.

"It can’t be helped. They’re barred from entering the city.” Tang Yao sighed.

"It’ll probably take them at least three or four days to clear their red names,” Nie Yan said. Excluding Young Seven, the kill counts of the others were all above fifty.

"Boss Nirvana Flame is formidable!” shouted the guild members on either side of the street after seeing Nie Yan. All of them were quite emotional.

Watching this group of impassioned players, Tang Yao smiled. "It’s better if I hand over the position of guild leader back to you. My so-called title of Number One on the Leaderboards isn’t nearly as resounding as your Mad Rogue.”

Nie Yan’s original intention of letting Tang Yao become the guild leader was so that he could keep a low-profile. However, he was now already known to everyone because of the nickname of the Mad Rogue spreading like wildfire on the official forums. It was no longer possible for him to stay hidden.

"I also feel that it’s more appropriate for you to be the guild leader. Your name is already known to everyone, anyway. The name of the Mad Rogue has more rallying power. It’ll be beneficial to the guild’s growth in the future. Besides, it’s the same no matter which one of us brothers take on the role of guild leader. It’s just a position, nothing more,” urged Guo Huai as well.

Nie Yan thought for a moment, then nodded his head. "Alright, I’ll be the guild leader.”

Tang Yao transferred over the position to Nie Yan.

When the rest of the guild members discovered that the guild leader changed to Nie Yan, they let out loud cheers.

"Boss Nirvana Flame is formidable! The guild leader is formidable!”

Nie Yan becoming the guild leader was only natural.

The entire course of events of Nie Yan’s welcoming ceremony was recorded and posted online, giving the people on the forums another huge shock. This was Asskickers United flaunting their strength. Truthfully, the formidable strength Asskickers United revealed was extremely stunning!

Netizens started to get into heated discussions about Asskickers United. Their position in the eyes of players had already surpassed established major guilds like Victorious Return and Holy Empire. Many experts even expressed their intentions of joining Asskickers United. For them, a guild filled with powerful experts was extremely attractive. They would have more strong guildmates to compare notes with, so they could improve themselves. Otherwise, the gap between them and the top ranking players would grow wider and wider. Even some professional players who had no interest of being tied down by a guild starting having thoughts of joining Asskickers United. The people who inquired about entering the guild included relatively famous players like Hapless Frog and Aria Sorrow, the rank sixteenth player on the professional leaderboards.

Guo Huai was responsible for negotiation with these players. Asskickers United had very lax restrictions for players of such caliber, offering them extremely generous terms. Because the guild had attracted so many well-known players, thereby bolstering its presence, the recruitment of ordinary players was also progressing smoothly. Due to the number of members slots in the guild being limited, Guo Huai found himself continuously raising the minimum requirements. However, the guild headquarters was still packed as ever, being flooded with an endless stream of new applicants.

Expand! Expand! Expand! After which they would ruthlessly crush Victorious Return!

Asskickers United was growing into a powerful entity that no one dared to offend. Meanwhile, their sworn enemy, Victorious Return, was unusually silent. They didn’t release a single statement. In the past, their players would frequently hurl abuse at those from Asskickers United on the forums. However, now, they had completely disappeared. Even their presence in the game became extremely scarce.

However, beneath this tranquility lay a strong undercurrent ready to surge forth. It was simply the calm before the storm. Even though Victorious Return had been ruthlessly beaten down, and they wouldn’t do anything for the time being, Nie Yan knew that they would never let this matter go so easily.

Chapter 206 – Unrivalled Godly Staff

While celebrations at the guild headquarters kicked into full gear, Nie Yan was leisurely attending to his own affairs. He glanced at his kill count—155. Before he sent Bladelight, Young Seven, and the others away, it had already surpassed 80. Later on, in order to draw the forces of Victorious Return to the center of Kiln Fire Woods, he killed no small number of players. At that time, he was consumed in a murderous frenzy. Coupled with his frightening attack power, almost no one from Victorious Return or Unhindered could survive more than three exchanges with him.

Nie Yan’s biggest harvest from the war with Victorious Return and Unhindered was the flash of insight which allowed him to finally understand the fundamental difference between a Great Thief and a Shadow Dancer. He broke through that layer of restraint, improving greatly in skill.

In order to become the first to receive the Shadow Dancer title in the future, he would have to lay down a solid foundation. The first Shadow Dancer would receive additional rewards.

It’s about time I start clearing my red name… Nie Yan mused. He still had to fulfill his promise of getting Bladelight, Young Seven, and the others to Level 30 as well.

Nie Yan sorted out his inventory. He tossed any unneeded equipment into the guild treasury, then took out the Grimmar Soul Staff to appraise.

Sealed Grimmar Soul Staff (Legendary)

Requirements: 1,000 Intelligence, 100 Strength, 100 Dexterity

Description: The sealed Grimmar Soul Staff still possesses incredible destructive power. You must find all other pieces of the set to remove the seal.

Set Items: Grimmar Soul Staff, Grimmar Necklace, Grimmar Ring, Grimmar Elemental Robes

Properties: Magic Power 3,602–3,703, Willpower +50, Focus +50, Ignore level +30, Mana +300%, Mana Recovery Rate +300%, Skill Cooldowns -80% (Excludes: Forbidden Magic)

Elemental Remerge: Activate to increase all Elemental Magic Damage by 300%. Consume mana to summon an Elemental Familiar. The capability of the summon is determined by the caster’s Willpower.

Note: The owner must have the approval of Countess Alicia to take full advantage of the staff; otherwise, the properties of the staff will be reduced by 50%. Countess Alicia has the right to retake the staff.

It was exactly what you would expect out of a Legendary staff. Even Mages with above-average stats would still have wait until they were Level 70–80 before they could equip it. A thousand Intelligence was no joke! Its Magic Power was equally frightening too! However, so long the Lava Titan wasn’t slain, the staff’s properties were greatly reduced, making it no better than an ordinary high-level weapon.

The final line was also something to take note of: "Countess Alicia has the right to retake the staff.” In other words, whoever awakened Countess Alicia would be able to obtain the Grimmar Soul Staff. Nie Yan couldn’t truly be considered the owner of the staff.

It couldn’t be equipped by anyone for now. Even the strongest Mages at present were a far cry away from meeting the 1,000 Intelligence requirement.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. He placed the staff in the guild treasury, then set its price to 3,000,000 merit points.

As soon as the Grimmar Soul Staff entered the treasury, it was plastered right at the top, available for everyone in the guild to see.

The players immediately went into an uproar when they saw the properties of the staff.

"What the hell!? You can even get something like that!? My God! That’s a Legendary item!”

The Grimmar Soul Staff had a frightening requirement of 1,000 Intelligence. It was simply looking down on all Elementalists with contempt! As for the sky-high price, the players were rolling their eyes so much they could practically see inside the back of their heads! Just how much would they have to donate to amass 3,000,000 merit points?

The guild chat flooded with complaints.

「Boss! You’re really too much! A person really shouldn’t behave so shamelessly! You put up such a godly staff in the treasury, knowing full well that none of us can come up with the merit points to afford it! Isn’t that just plain bullying?」whined an Elementalist in the guild chat.

「Yeah! Boss, where did you get an item like that?」

「What a godly staff!」

「Guild Leader, you really can’t tease us like this!」

Ever since Nie Yan returned, the atmosphere in the guild showed drastic improvement. Add this to the fact that Guo Huai had swept through and booted out a bunch of people who harboured malicious intentions from their ranks, and the guild as a whole reached an unprecedented degree of unity. "After a nation weathers a storm, its people will grow ever stronger and united!” These words were perfectly suited for describing the current state of Asskickers United.

Nie Yan chuckled before replying.「I didn’t put the Grimmar Soul Staff in the treasury simply to tease you guys. It was to tell you all that if any Elementalist in the guild becomes a Magister, the staff will go to them. Getting the approval of Countess Alicia shouldn’t be anything difficult either. When the guild grows more powerful, we’ll even help that person collect the entire Grimmar Set. You have my word!」

The Grimmar Soul Staff was a Legendary Item, and despite being sealed its properties were still much higher than those of an ordinary Sub-Legendary Item. It fully deserved to be called a godly staff! If the seal was removed, it could unleash even more devastating might. Any Elementalist wielding it would possess the power to annihilate an entire city!

Geared up with a set of Legendary equipment, just how amazing would that be?

The properties of the Grimmar Soul Staff were seen and shared by the players of the guild.

The Elementalists couldn’t help but feel their hearts throb. Their new goal was to become the first Magister in the guild!

「Boss! These are your words! You better keep your promise!」

「I’ve already remembered the boss’ words. Magister, eh? Piece of cake!」

「…」

The players in the guild chat cracked jokes with one another.

「My word doesn’t only apply to Elementalists. As your guild leader, if any of you can reach the peak of your respective class, I will help that person obtain a set of godly equipment!」Nie Yan said in the guild chat. He understood full well the gravity of his statement. Although he knew where to get godly equipment, actually obtaining them was a different story.

If Nie Yan waited until players in the guild developed into Templars, Sword Saints, Magisters, Archbishops, Shadow Dancers, and so on, it still wouldn’t be too late for them to slowly amass godly equipment.

The potential of the players in Asskickers United was much higher than those in any of the other guilds. Back then, it was precisely because Holy Empire had a Templar and Sword Saint that they dared to challenge the Lava Titan. When Asskickers United truly grew into a powerhouse in the later stages of the game, why would they fear not being able to deal with a mere Lava Titan?

「Nie Yan, should we organize an expedition?」Guo Huai asked. Now was the best time to start a guild activity. The conditions were ripe. Although they would probably suffer some damage, they would still make some decent gains, not to mention tighten the bonds between the guild members and improve everyone’s cooperation.

Every so often, large guilds like Victorious Return and Holy Empire would set out on an expedition to hunt a Lord-class monster. Lord-class monsters often dropped decent Dark Gold-grade equipment or skill books which could greatly increase the strength of the guild’s top players. An expedition was also a good excuse for the guild leader to dish out some merit points.

Asskickers United still hadn’t carried out a large-scale guild activity. So far, every time someone suggested one, they would immediately be shot down due to lingering fears of being ambushed by Victorious Return. However, at the present moment, the morale of the guild members was at its highest and new recruits were constantly flowing in. Their rising momentum simply couldn’t be contained! It would be a little inappropriate if they didn’t start a guild expedition now.

「Mhmm… No, not yet. Don’t worry, I’ll consider the matter. Tell the guild members to focus on levelling for now. Those who haven’t reached Level 25 by the time we set out won’t be able to participate. We start when 600 guild members have reached Level 25 or higher. Every participating player will receive 500 merit points. I’ll be taking part in the expedition as well,」Nie Yan replied. He already had an idea of which Lord-class monster the guild would hunt. As for giving out so many merit points, thanks to the efforts of the guild members, the treasury had grown to become as abundant as mother nature. The current Asskickers United didn’t lack gold or resources.

「That’s a pretty good method. It’ll encourage the guild members to diligently level. When they find out you’re going to be participating in the expedition, they’ll definitely go wild with excitement!」Guo Huai smiled. He passed down Nie Yan’s words to the rest of the guild.

Guo Huai’s announcement immediately triggered shock waves throughout the guild.

「The boss is participating too!」

「The guild leader is taking part in the expedition. I can’t miss it!」

At present, very few players in the guild were Level 25 or higher. Even though many low-level guild members were far from reaching the cut off mark, they still held a little bit of hope in their hearts. As a result, the entire guild sank into a levelling frenzy.

「I’m still six levels away from Level 25! Which big brother wants to carry me!?」

「…」

The players of Asskickers United began levelling like madmen. Right now, the guild was far from having 600 players who were Level 25 or higher. It would take at least three or four days before the expedition could be carried out.

「What about Victorious Return’s main team? Did we catch them?」 Nie Yan asked. If Asskickers United could deal them another decisive blow, not even a large guild like them could recover from such a huge setback.

「No. After they were defeated in Kiln Fire Woods, they grew even more cautious. Our Thief Task Force had an almost perfect opportunity to surround them. But we still chose not to act in the end. We still aren’t at full fighting strength yet,」Guo Huai replied. They were still in the recruiting phase, and the entire framework for the Hundred Thief Task Force wasn’t completed yet. It wasn’t too suitable to act at this time. He was extremely prudent regarding this matter. If they didn’t act, they could always continue waiting. However, if they did act, they had to achieve their goal perfectly!

「Not acting right now was the correct decision. If we can’t ensure success, we’re better off waiting for another opportunity. Asskickers United is on an upward trend while Victorious Return is on a decline. Just hold in our resentment and keep waiting. Sooner or later, we’ll crush them. It’s not necessary for us to go at them with everything we’ve got right now,」Nie Yan said. Guo Huai was still quite reliable at handling affairs.

While chatting with Guo Huai, Nie Yan entered the Starry Night Potion Shop. Its size had grown larger and larger. Under his directions, Bird spent another 60 gold to upgrade the shop to Tier 5, adding another floor to the shop for a total of five floors and greatly expanding the size of every floor. It now resembled a magnificent mansion. The main floor was capable of holding 600–700 players. The second floor was turned into a warehouse. The third, fourth, and fifth floors were filled with workshops. There were now over 800 well-known Alchemists working at the Starry Night Potion Shop. Each one was given a 50 square-meter workshop. For the time being, it was already more than enough for them to use.

Nie Yan looked at the money inside the Starry Night Potion Shop. According to the report in the information window, the shop had made more than 500 gold over the past few days. He thought for a moment before withdrawing 300 gold from the shop. If he wanted to honour his promise to Bladelight, Young Seven, and the others, he would need to spend at least this much.

Chapter 207 – Killer’s Demonic Medallion

Upon seeing Nie Yan, Bird promptly came over to greet him. He wore silvery-white Alchemist robes with an ornate design on the collar–a golden redbud beneath a silver feather. This special symbol was the mark of an Intermediate Alchemist.

"Boss, you’ve come!” Bird said with pleasant surprise.

"You’ve been promoted to Intermediate Alchemist?” Nie Yan was slightly surprised as well. Bird had plenty to do every day just managing the Starry Night Potion Shop, but he somehow still found the time to raise his Alchemy skill to become an Intermediate Alchemist.

"My Intermediate Alchemist proficiency is already at half. In the entire shop, only three people are ahead of me,” Bird proudly reported. Considering he had less time to practice than the dedicated Alchemists in the shop, not falling behind the pack would’ve already been a remarkable achievement.

The Alchemy King’s rise had finally begun. Maybe he would give Nie Yan a nice surprise in the future.

"Business seems to be booming,” Nie Yan commented as he looked around at the hundreds of players crowding the Starry Night Potion Shop.

"Potion sales have been especially high these past few days, netting around 300 gold in profits daily. We’ve also provided over 600 gold’s worth of potions to Asskickers United in that time. Our three branches in Calore have also begun to earn over a hundred gold a day. According to your instructions, we’re working on opening thirty-two Starry Night Potion Shop branches in six other cities. After we contacted the local bosses of those cities, they’ve all agreed to not disrupt our business for now. We’ve already started recruiting Alchemists, but those branches won’t be bringing in profits for quite some time.” Bird diligently reported on the profits and expansions of the store.

Nie Yan nodded and praised, "Very good!” He was extremely satisfied with Bird’s work managing the store.

"You’ve given me everything, Boss, so I naturally have to produce good results,” Bird replied seriously. Solely due to Nie Yan’s benevolence, he had completely reversed his previous situation. The complete turnaround from being cast out from Dark Hero as a failed Apprentice Alchemist to his current position as both an Intermediate Alchemist and the manager of the Starry Night Potion Shop caused Bird to feel deeply grateful toward Nie Yan. Just a few days ago, Dark Hero’s guild leader even came in person to invite him back to the guild, but Bird flatly refused his very generous offer. People should not forget their benefactors, after all.

"How many Intermediate Alchemists do we have now?” Nie Yan asked.

"We have eleven now. According to my best estimations, there’s only sixteen Intermediate Alchemists in all of Calore, so we employ two-thirds of them,” Bird responded. Calore was currently the frontrunner in both the number of players in the Viridian Empire and the most robust economy. Even from the perspective of the entire Viridian Empire, the Starry Night Potion Shop was the undisputed leader of the potion industry. "Do you want to meet our Intermediate Alchemists? They’re all extremely curious about the secret backer behind the Starry Night Potion Shop.”

"Not right now,” Nie Yan answered. Bird was good at doing business. So long as Asskickers United provided high-level recipes, the Starry Night Potion Shop would continue to grow. "When I have some spare time, I’ll meet with them.”

"Alright,” Bird nodded.

After chatting a bit more, Nie Yan left the Starry Night Potion Shop. He withdrew 200 gold from his share of the Union of Assassins’ profits and headed to Tasoyi Village, where he bought a thousand Basic Magic Bombs and some Smoke Powder. This time, they would grind Mechanical Golems in Everlasting City to their hearts desire.

「Damn! Undying Scoundrel just got a Killer’s Demonic Medallion! Why is my luck so bad?」Tang Yao sent a message to complain to Nie Yan. He had farmed Scaled Frogs for so long without any luck, but Undying Scoundrel got one to drop almost immediately. How could Tang Yao not feel frustrated? It could even be said he was saltier than the Dead Sea!

「I think your kill count might not have been high enough. Undying Scoundrel killed over a hundred players.」Nie Yan was finally certain that the Killer’s Demonic Medallion required a red named player to have killed over a hundred players in order to drop. Of course, even then, luck still played a factor.

「Had I known that earlier, I would’ve just killed a few more of those bastards from Victorious Return!」Tang Yao sighed. Back when he unleashed a massacre outside the Black Flame Forest dungeon, his kill count had only been a little short of a hundred. Thinking back now, it was really a pity.

「Share the properties of Killer’s Demonic Medallion for me to look at.」Killer’s Demonic Medallions were different for each class. Because Undying Scoundrel was an Elementalist, his medallion should be for a Mage.

「Mhm.」Tang Yao grunted as he shared the properties of the medallion.

Killer’s Demonic Medallion (Mage)

Rank: Junior (Kill 1000 players 2 Levels higher than you to upgrade to Intermediate.)

Description: The Killer’s Demonic Medallion can be upgraded by killing players. But with each subsequent upgrade, the owner will suffer a stronger curse that reduces defense.

Properties: Magic Power +20%, Defense -20%, Willpower +5, Ignore Level +3, Armour Pierce

Junior Elemental Blast: Fire an elemental missile that deals three times your Magic Power as damage. Cooldown: 10 minutes.

Junior Elemental Drain: Drains 60 mana from a single target each second, up to 50% of their maximum mana. Cooldown: 3 minutes.

Restrictions: Can only be used by the original owner. Automatically bound after being picked up. Cannot be traded or dropped. Can be destroyed.

The Killer’s Demonic Medallion would bind itself automatically, so only the player who got it to drop would be able to use it. Other players could only look on in envy. It counted as an accessory, and took up an accessory slot. This item was very good, and considered by many to be one of the absolute best.

「What a perverted item! Willpower +5 and Ignore Level +3, with an armour-piercing property that deals 120% damage to light armored units to boot! Such a pity.」Tang Yao was green with envy over this item.

A Thief’s Killer’s Demonic Medallion would be different from that of a Mage. Nie Yan looked at his own killcount. It’s more than enough. I’ll first go hunt some Scaled Frogs to get my own Killer’s Demonic Medallion, then.

「Just form a party with other guild members and hunt down some Victorious Return players before you try again at getting a Killer’s Demonic Medallion. Killing them is nothing to you anyway. We can’t let Unhindered off either. They ought to be slaughtered until they never dare to show their faces again.」After a bit of consideration, Nie Yan advised Tang Yao to go after this highly useful item. The boost to Ignore Level was especially important to him. If Tang Yao could equip more items with Ignore Level, they could continue to jump levels and fight more high-level monsters.

「That works too. Anyways, Heaven Breaker shouldn’t even dream about taking me over anytime soon.」To Tang Yao, the Killer’s Demonic Medallion was the devil’s fishhook.

「You be careful then. I’m about to go grab myself a Killer’s Demonic Medallion.」

「Your kill count is high enough?」

「I killed over a 150 players in Kiln Fire Woods.」

「You sure are vicious. A shame I wasn’t there,」Tang Yao sadly complained.

Nie Yan laughed.「That was for safety’s sake. We still have to go do a quest.」He had been planning this operation, which required the use of both the Adjudicator of God and Steal skills to complete, for quite some time. Now that he had the Kiln Fire Heart, he had even more confidence. It was also a Legendary item fragment, but the Grimmar Soul set was even better. He couldn’t possibly let this opportunity go! As for the Silent Bay and the Ten Holy Paladins Legendary questline, those had to wait until he was a higher level. Trying to complete it now would just be suicide.

Nie Yan exited the city, heading towards the area where Scaled Frogs spawned. While walking through the forest, he got another message, this time from Sleepy Fox.

「Your actions this time were insane! You sure are amazing, burying over twenty thousand Victorious Return players under Kiln Fire Woods,」Sleepy Fox exclaimed. He had expected Asskickers United to be suppressed because of Victorious Return’s absolute advantage. He hadn’t expected Nie Yan to find a Lava Titan from who-knows-where to completely massacre Victorious Return. It instantly flipped the situation, silencing Victorious Return and setting Asskickers United on track to grow even more prosperous with each passing day.

「We got lucky, is all.」Nie Yan lightly chuckled.

「What are you saying? How could it just be luck? I really admire your ability, especially the part where you dove into that crowd of 600 players to kill Hei Zhuo. You displayed a godly level of skill!」Sleepy Fox gave his heartfelt praise. He wasn’t trying to butter up to Nie Yan. He sincerely believed what Nie Yan had accomplished in Kiln Fire Woods could be performed by no other.

「With all this flattery, it can’t be that you have some kind of hidden motive can it?」Nie Yan laughed. From his understanding, Sleepy Fox was an extremely cunning figure who would never visit a temple without a cause.

To "never visit a temple without a cause” is an idiom meaning to have a hidden motive. Instead of going to a temple to worship, one would go for some other, secular reason.

Sleepy Fox blushed as he coughed to hide his embarrassment before continuing.「I came with good intentions to tell you about some news I got. Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame have been making frequent movements lately. Their leaders are often in contact with each other, and there’s even hints of them being in contact with Angel Corps from the Satreen Empire. Do not look down on Victorious Return.」

Nie Yan, after hearing Sleepy Fox’s information, wrinkled his brows. He wasn’t worried about Angel Corps because the Satreen Empire was just too far from the Viridian Empire. It was simply impossible for them to mobilize a large-scale force here. Radiant Sacred Flame, on the other hand, was truly worrying because it was a major guild comparable to Victorious Return or Holy Empire.

「I contacted you today to talk of an alliance. If Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame make a move, we can stand united, both advancing and retreating together.」Sleepy Fox finally brought up the real purpose behind his words.

Advancing and retreating together, huh? Nie Yan’s cunning eyes gleamed as he questioned,「Could it be that you’re on bad terms with Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame and are now trying to drag Asskickers United into the mess?」

Having been exposed, Sleepy Fox chuckled wryly and admitted,「Only a minor conflict. Asskickers United can’t just passively defend itself forever, right? I heard they’re going to open a small stronghold soon. Are you guys interested in it?」

Sleepy Fox had taken the initiative to contact Nie Yan about an alliance, showing that Holy Empire recognized Asskickers United’s strength.

After carefully considering for a bit, Nie Yan responded,「I agree that Holy Empire and Asskickers United should cooperate, but we need to flesh out the details of such an alliance.」

Although Asskickers United was on the rise, the guild was only a single entity. If it could find some trustworthy allies, not only would morale be boosted but their future development would also be smoother.

Chapter 208 – Mutual Defense Pact

Nie Yan needed to find some reliable allies, and the interests of Asskickers United and Holy Empire were already intertwined due to the existence of the Union of Assassins. On top of that, both guilds had faced pressure from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame in the past. He had similar thoughts. In order to stand a chance against Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame, Asskickers United and Holy Empire would inevitably have to form an alliance. The crucial point was what kind?

「There’s many ways we can cooperate in, and we can form mutual trust by exchanging shares in our guilds,」Sleepy Fox suggested. He was probing Nie Yan’s attitude toward an alliance.

An exchange of shares? When Cao Xu started investing in Conviction during the previous timeline, he was able to seize control of Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Bloodlust Blades in a short time specifically because he owned a stake in all of them. This brought the five major guilds all under the umbrella of the Cao Xu Century Financial Group, giving birth to an unparalleled colossus. Because Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, and the other major guilds weren’t willing to become Cao Xu’s puppets, they were forced to take a passive stance.

Owning a stake in each other’s guilds really was the best way to establish trust!

Feeling that Nie Yan was taking his time to reply, Sleepy Fox continued,「The Victorious Return you’ve encountered so far is merely the tip of the iceberg, nothing more. They aren’t isolated to Calore. They have many other branches in other cities. It’s just that it isn’t feasible to mobilize those forces from so far away. However, when everyone gets mounts later on, they’ll be able to quickly reinforce each other from various locations. At that time, the strength of Victorious Return will increase by several-fold. The same also holds true for Radiant Sacred Flame. As for how many members they really have spread over the Viridian Empire, even I can’t say for sure. It isn’t simply because of luck that these large guilds can exist for so long without being toppled by others.」

Sleepy Fox’s words contained an element of warning. No doubt, Asskickers United had become an almost unrivalled existence in Calore by defeating Victorious Return at Kiln Fire Woods. However, if Nie Yan believed Asskickers Uniteed could suppress Victorious Return right now, then his way of thinking was too naive, and he would bring about the destruction of his own guild.

Nie Yan naturally understood the point Sleepy Fox was trying to get across. He had experienced for himself just how overbearingly arrogant Victorious Return could get during the previous timeline. However, he was confident that Asskickers United would surpass them in the future.

「How do you propose we form this alliance?」Nie Yan asked. He wanted to listen to what Sleepy Fox had to say.

「I’m willing to exchange a 10% stake in Holy Empire for a 30% stake in Asskickers United,」Sleepy Fox replied, pausing slightly before continuing,「When I say a 10% stake in Holy Empire, I don’t just mean the main branch in Calore but rather the entire guild spread out across the Viridian Empire.」He was reminding Nie Yan that Holy Empire possessed a deep foundation in the game. Taking a 30% share of Asskickers United wasn’t him trying to short-end Nie Yan.

Nie Yan faintly smiled.「How many branches does Holy Empire have? How many members?」

「33 branches. Altogether there are over 300,000 members scattered throughout various cities; they won’t be mobilized until some time in the future,」Sleepy Fox replied. These branches were the reserve forces of Holy Empire, and he could call on them when the scope of conflict inevitably expanded later on. Then there was Asskickers United. Aside from their dominance in Calore, they didn’t have a presence anywhere else.

Nie Yan naturally had his own considerations. Calore was the capital of the Viridian Empire, the focal point of most conflicts. Over 90% of the elites were gathered here. What he wanted for Asskickers United wasn’t frantic expansion like Victorious Return or Holy Empire. So what if the other side had more people?

On the path to dominance, what was it that ultimately mattered? It was which side had the greater number of elites! How else could 50,000 members of Battle Crazed Alliance have resisted the onslaught of 600,000 players from Victorious Return and Bloodlust Blades during the previous timeline? In the future, 100,000 members were enough for Asskickers United to contend against all the other guilds.

Nie Yan didn’t express any opinion on the information Sleepy Fox provided. Instead, he smiled, changing the subject yet again,「You don’t feel like you’re losing out? Asskickers United only has 50,000 members while Holy Empire has over 300,000. Even down the road, we’ll have 100,000 members at most, but I assume Holy Empire’s force will surpass 1,000,000.」

Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, and the rest would all eventually become massive guilds with over 1,000,000 members. However, Nie Yan’s end goal was to temper 100,000 players into a mighty elite force that could rival a million players! This was what he wanted to accomplish!

「Asskickers United isn’t planning to absorb a large number of players?」Sleepy Fox asked in shock. Based on the current development speed of Asskickers United, he believed they would soon break through the 70,000 member threshold. Amassing 1,000,000 players a few years from now would be no problem for them at all.

「The future Asskickers United absolutely won’t surpass 100,000 members. In fact, it might even have fewer. Guild size doesn’t necessarily equate to strength,」Nie Yan replied. Fewer members meant everyone could enjoy more of the guild’s resources. And fueled by his strong financial backing, every member would become elites among elites.

Sleepy Fox paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. Asskickers United had the perfect opportunity to greatly expand, but why were they not taking it? Just what was Nie Yan planning? He had a hard time understanding what was going through Nie Yan’s mind.

「In my opinion, you alone are worth a 5% share of Holy Empire. I’m willing to take a step back. A 10% stake in Holy Empire for a 20% stake in Asskickers United. What do you think?」Sleepy Fox didn’t know why, but he got the feeling Nie Yan was confident in defeating Victorious Return. Although he didn’t know where this confidence originated from, he was willing to make a gamble on Nie Yan.

Nie Yan shook his head.「You still don’t get what I’m trying to say. In the future, Asskickers United will be an unrivalled and unique existence among the major guilds. I’m not willing to sell a large number of the guild’s share. Even if you offered me a 30% stake in Holy Empire for a 10% stake in Asskickers United, I still wouldn’t agree. As for the topic of exchanging shares, I’m willing to transfer over a 3% stake in my guild to you at most, nothing more. We can still discuss an alliance. After all, our guilds already share numerous interests. We go through adversity and prosperity in tandem.」

Sleepy Fox didn’t expect his offer to be turned down. Did Nie Yan really have that much confidence in his guild? He began reexamning the worth of Asskickers United. After a while, he finally made a decision.「Since you’re not willing to transfer over too many shares of your guild, I can offer a 5% share of Holy Empire for a 3% share of your guild. Other than that, you’ll have to take an honorary executive position in Holy Empire. How does that sound? 」An exchange of 5% and 3% shares in each other’s guilds was merely a token gesture. What would take place next was the most important. Sleepy Fox wanted to borrow the name of the Mad Rogue to give a boost to Holy Empire’s prestige. He felt Nie Yan’s reputation was worth more than a 5% share of his guild.

Nie Yan considered the offer for a moment. Since he wouldn’t have to assume any responsibility, he didn’t mind accepting the position of an honorary executive.

「Alright, I agree.」Nie Yan nodded. They ironed out the details for the proposed cooperation of the two guilds, including things like a mutual defense pact: If one side suffered an attack from an enemy, the other side had to intervene.

In order to avoid provoking a response from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame, they didn’t reveal the alliance to the public for the time being. However, news of Nie Yan holding an honorary executive position in Holy Empire would definitely spread rapidly.

On a different note, Nie Yan also exchanged some information with Fa Lan and Kill Love, the respective leaders of Sapphire Shrine and Battle Crazed Alliance. However, no substantial talks toward cooperation were made.

Nie Yan took a quick look at the Union of Assassins chat server. It had grown quite large with over 5,000 members—of whom more than 3,000 were barons and over 20 were viscounts—generating over 100 gold a day! He, Sleepy Fox, Fa Lan, and Kill Love all received a decent profit. His own earnings already surpassed 300 gold in total. He had withdrawn 200 gold for himself. The rest was given to Guo Huai to develop the guild.

Guo Huai got started on the relevant arrangements after being informed of the alliance with Holy Empire.

Nie Yan arrived at the Scaled Frog spawn area where he met up with Yao Yao, Yu Lan, Undying Scoundrel, and the others.

"Boss, you’ve finally come. We were all waiting for you to take us levelling!” Undying Scoundrel said after spotting Nie Yan.

"Nirvana Flame, you’re here.” Yao Yao’s mood brightened. She didn’t know why she felt so happy when Nie Yan was around.

Yao Yao’s rosy cheeks were bright like red clouds at sunrise. For some inexplicable reason, whenever Nie Yan saw Yao Yao’s brilliant smile, he couldn’t help but think of Xie Yao. He fell into an absentminded daze. It was almost as though Xie Yao were standing in front of him right now. Shaking his head, he dispelled his mind of such strange thoughts. Recalling that he would be able to see Xie Yao again in a few days, his heart was steeped with longing and anticipation.

"I watched the video of you guys in Kiln Fire Woods. You were really amazing! Moon Child even told me that you’re her new idol. Many of my classmates also recognize you. You’re famous!” Yao Yao exclaimed. She couldn’t help but feel proud of Nie Yan. The Mad Rogue was renowned in the Viridian Empire!

Nie Yan felt a tinge of warmth at seeing Yao Yao’s enthusiasm.

"What level are you now?”

"I’m Level 25 now. The experience here is really great!” She raised an eyebrow in surprise after noticing Nie Yan’s calm expression, and exclaimed "Hey! Now that you’re so popular, aren’t you even a little proud?

"What’s there to be proud about?” Nie Yan smiled.

Yao Yao immediately pouted. "Bah! You’re just as boring as an old uncle!” she berated him in a dissatisfied tone.

What Yao Yao didn’t know was that while Nie Yan had the appearance of an immature adult, he really did have the mind of an old uncle nearing his thirties! He truly didn’t feel this matter was worth getting excited about.

Blowhard Summer Bug and the rest arrived. They had dropped what they were doing after hearing Nie Yan was in the area. One by one, they came up to greet him.

"Boss!”

"Hey, Boss!”

"Good to see you guys,” Nie Yan greeted back with a smile.

With her limpid eyes, Yao Yao stared at these players, then back at Nie Yan in surprise. When she first met up with Blowhard Summer Bug, Undying Scoundrel, and the others, she could tell that they were competitive individuals who weren’t willing to submit to others. After seeing Nie Yan, each one of them had a sparkle in their eyes; clearly they respected him deeply. How else could Nie Yan have taken in such a group of unyielding characters as subordinates? He was truly a mystifying person. She felt another twinge of curiosity toward him in her heart, as well as a growing admiration.

Chapter 209 – Skill Of A Shadow Dancer

"You guys should stay here a while longer to clear your red names. When we’re all good, I’ll take everyone to go levelling with me,” Nie Yan said. He could only wait until they were no longer branded as PKers to bring them to Everlasting City; otherwise, they would be besieged by guards as soon as they set foot in Calore.

There weren’t enough Sub-Elite and Elite Scaled Frogs to go around, so most were left hunting ordinary Scaled Frogs.

"Boss, your name is also red. How come you can enter the city without being attacked?” Summer Bug voiced out his doubts.

"When your Influence in Calore reaches 30 points, you can walk around freely with a red name,” Nie Yan replied. A player had to complete many high-difficulty quests to accumulate that much Influence. He felt such an undertaking was too difficult for the vast majority of player base at the current stage of the game.

"It’s that difficult…? My Influence in Calore is only at 2 points. I got them from helping an NPC in a quest, but completing that damned thing nearly drove me mad!” Undying Scoundrel couldn’t help but lament, rolling his eyes back in shock.

The others also felt exasperated at Nie Yan’s revelation. Unless they encountered some sort of quest with amazing rewards, getting 30 Influence was temporarily out of the scope of their ability.

"Keep farming Scaled Frogs. We’ll set off when you’ve all cleared your red names,” Nie Yan said. He specifically bought 1,000 Magic Bombs to power level them directly to Level 30. It was enough to let them level up to their heart’s content.

Most of the group dispersed to continue grinding Scaled Frogs, leaving behind Nie Yan, Yao Yao, Yu Lan, and Bai Kaishui.

Nie Yan chatted with them for a while about the previous incident outside of Black Flame Forest. Back then, they fought side by side, killing many enemy players. Yu Lan wasn’t able to make it to the end, however, dropping several levels and losing all her gear. The guild was able to provide her with a new set of equipment, and she was now Level 23 thanks to the efforts of Yao Yao. With this, the strength of the Blue Feather Team also slowly recovered.

"I still haven’t personally thanked you for last time,” Nie Yan said to Yu Lan and Bai Kaishui.

"It’s nothing, Boss. The incident last time only happened because a member of our team sold you out. Even though that person is gone, it was still our fault to some degree,” Bai Kaishui said in a serious tone.

Yu Lan nodded in agreement. The calamity that befell her team—especially the betrayal—caused her to be deeply aggrieved. Fortunately, her team had fully recovered by now, and with the backing of Asskickers United, they achieved even more success than before. Joining Nie Yan’s guild could also be considered a good outcome birthed from a setback.

"Alright, let’s not linger on unpleasant matters.” Nie Yan laughed. He glanced at the surroundings, then turned to Yao Yao and asked, "Why didn’t I see Sun?”

"He went scouting for Sub-Elites and Elites. I’ll send him a whisper,” Yao Yao replied. Only now did she realize that she hadn’t seen him in quite a while.

"It’s fine. Let’s go hunt Scaled Frogs for the time being,” Nie Yan said. He wanted to see if he could get a Slaughter Fiend Medallion to drop.

The group of players scattered around the map to hunt monsters. With their strength, they were picking off the ordinary Scaled Frogs like it was child’s play. However, this was only to be expected. After all, the quality of their equipment wasn’t any bit inferior to that of the top players from the large guilds!

Nie Yan found a corner where he holed himself up in to fight Scaled Frogs. After comprehending the mysteries of a Shadow Dancer, he started applying some of the techniques he remembered from his past life in combat.

Under the frightening onslaught of Nie Yan’s attacks, Scaled Frogs collapsed to the ground one after another. He was simply too fast, leaving behind only after-images whenever he attacked. None of them could even get close, let alone land a hit on him.

After downing his sixteenth Scaled Frog, Nie Yan moved toward a clearing up ahead where he discovered five Scaled Frogs gathered in close proximity. He pondered for a moment before revealing a fearless smirk. With a flick of the wrist, he switched to a forward grip with the dagger, then dashed toward them.

Out of the blue, Nie Yan reemerged behind one of the Scaled Frogs. He struck it in the back of the head with Smothering Strike, then followed up with Assassinate and Lacerate. The Scaled Frog let out a miserable croak, as a huge chunk of health was shaved away, before turning around and pouncing on its assailant

Alerted by Nie Yan’s presence, the other four Scaled Frogs sprung on him as well.

Nie Yan’s silhouette was ethereal like a ghost as he passed through the opening between the five Scaled Frogs. With a Vital Strike followed by a combo of stabs and slashes, he took down the already less than half-health Scaled Frog.

"One down!” Nie Yan spun around, dodging the attacks of the four remaining Scaled Frogs in quick succession as he darted forward. Locking onto the next target, he smashed one of them in the forehead with a Concussive Blow. His silhouette blurred into motion, then reappeared behind the stunned Scaled Frog. Backstab! Eviscerate! He sped back a few paces without pause, avoiding the tongue lashes of the other Scaled Frogs.

Despite being surrounded on all four sides, Nie Yan effortlessly evaded the attacks of the Scaled Frogs. His face showed no trace of panic. It was almost as though he were merely taking a leisurely stroll.

The four Scaled Frogs hadn’t landed a single hit on him. He was as slippery as a louch, perfectly taking advantage of every opening between each attack to evade.

The difference between a Shadow Dancer and a Great Thief was that while a Great Thief could display 100% of their ability, a Shadow Dancer could display 200% or even 300%. They were able to utilize every single stat point to its fullest to bring about the greatest effect.

Even with the same speed, level, stats, and gear quality, a Great Thief couldn’t hold a candle against a Shadow Dancer!

Damage values continuously floated up above the Scaled Frog’s head until only a small chunk of health was left. The creature collapsed to the ground as Nie Yan finished it off with a few attacks.

"Two down!” All of Nie Yan’s skills were already on cooldown. He employed simple steps to avoid the attacks of the remaining three Scaled Frogs, simultaneously stabbing and slashing as he left behind several wounds on them before rapidly retreating again.

The three Scaled Frogs continuously lunged at Nie Yan as a string of damage values rose over each of their heads. However, regardless of how hard they tried, they couldn’t touch so much as a single hair on his body. It was like a player with only 10 Accuracy trying to land a hit on an opponent with over 100 Evasion. Even if they pulled out all stops, all they’d end up seeing would be a continuous row of MISS.

Nie Yan finally understood why the Magisters of his past life looked down on Great Thieves but were so deathly afraid of Shadow Dancers. It was simply that the latter belonged on a whole nother plane of skill! He had heard of many cases where a Magister ended up dying to a Shadow Dancer on the battlefield, even under the protection of several hundred players. However, he had never heard of a Great Thief accomplishing a similar feat.

The boundary between a Shadow Dancer and Great Thief was like the difference between heaven and earth!

When the bleed and poison effects wore off, Nie Yan reapplied them by attacking again, causing the three Scaled Frogs to continue losing health every second.

After a while, the Scaled Frogs couldn’t endure the torment any longer. Succumbing to the continuous damage, they dropped dead on the ground.

Yao Yao, Yu Lan, and Bai Kaishui rushed over to Nie Yan’s location. As they reached the clearing, they all stopped dead in their tracks. They arrived just in time to witness the Scaled Frogs collapsing to the ground. Unexpectedly, all three died from being bled out by continuous damage! It was already considered incredible for a Warrior to come out on top after taking on five equal-levelled monsters at the same time. However, a Thief pulling this off? That was basically impossible… unless they possessed some really top-notch equipment.

Yet not only was Nie Yan somehow alive after such a battle, he was still at full health! Did he really only rely on simple sidesteps to evade the attacks of five Scaled Frogs?

Yu Lan and the other two could hardly contain their shock. Although Nie Yan was widely renowned as the Mad Rogue, until now they had never personally witnessed him accomplish something so outrageous with their own eyes. The feeling they got was completely different from watching a video.

Employing the techniques of a Shadow Dancer to deal with Level 30 monsters was practically akin to having an adult fight a six-year-old child. There was no challenge at all.

After killing the five Scaled Frogs, Nie Yan bent down to pick up the drops. He saw Yao Yao and the others walking over to him. "What’s the matter? Did something happen?”

"Sun said he accidentally bumped into a Lord-class Scaled Frog while scouting for Elites and Sub-Elites. It chased him for a long time, and he nearly died to it. He barely managed to escape just a moment ago.” Yao Yao was also amazed by what Nie Yan had done, but she was already more or less accustomed to these kinds of occurrences. He was precisely the type of person who achieved the impossible.

Nie Yan’s mind trembled. After so long, they finally found another Lord-class Scaled Frog. He wondered just what kind of good items would drop this time around.

"Where’s the Lord-class Scaled Frog now?”

"238.282.287, Sun is watching over it. He’s telling us to get over there quickly.” Yao Yao paused before asking in an anxious tone, "Do you think we can kill a Lord-class Scaled Frog?”

"Tang Yao and I have killed one before. Let’s go over and take a look,” Nie Yan replied.

They rushed over to Sun’s location.

As for exactly how Nie Yan killed a group of five Scaled Frogs without taking any damage, no one asked. It was a mystery best kept unprofaned, like never asking a Magician to reveal his secrets.

Before long, Nie Yan and the others met up with Sun who was in a very sorry state. With only a sliver of health remaining, he was recovering by eating a bread loaf under the shade of a tree.

Noticing Nie Yan’s arrival, Sun hastily stood up to greet him. "Big Brother, you guys came!”

Nie Yan patted Sun on the shoulder. "You did well. In all of Calore, I can count on one hand the number of players around your level that can survive such an encounter with a Lord-class Scaled Frog.”

"Where is it?” Bai Kaishui asked after looking around.

"Over there.” Sun pointed at a place in the distance.

There, Bai Kaishui and the others spotted an enormous, crimson Scaled Frog towering above the dense forest, even while crouched. Although it looked slightly different from the Lord-class Scaled Frog that he faced before, Nie Yan could confirm that the monster before them was still just a regular Lord. It was only natural to be wary, though. The skills of Variant Lords did differ from their ordinary counterparts to some extent.

"Can we use the Smoke Powder to deal with that Scaled Frog?” Sun asked. He believed they could take down the Lord-class Scaled Frog in a similar fashion to the Sub-Elites and Elites.

Nie Yan shook his head. "The vision range of a Lord-class Scaled Frog is greater than Elite or Sub-Elite.” If they adopted the same strategy he and Tang Yao used before, it would be just as effective. However, he had a different plan in mind. He wanted to kill the Lord-class Scaled Frog by employing the techniques of a Shadow Dancer! It was much slower than him, so he definitely felt this was feasible. So long as he took care to avoid its skills, he would be all right.

"What should we do then? Do we call Big Brother Bladelight over?” Sun asked. In the entire group, only Bladelight was capable of enduring the attacks of the Lord-class Scaled Frog. They were all in the same general vicinity anyway. If everyone fought together, they could definitely kill it.

"No need. Let me give it a shot,” Nie Yan said. After comprehending the mysteries behind a Shadow Dancer, he had the utmost confidence in being able to dispatch this Lord-class Scaled Frog.

"Just you alone?” Sun, Yao Yao, Yu Lan, and Bai Kaishui stared at him in shock.

"Yeah, I’ll be fine by myself.” Nie Yan turned to Sun and said, "Watch my actions closely. It’ll definitely be helpful to you.”

If Nie Yan demonstrated the techniques of a Shadow Dancer in this battle, Sun’s naturally high aptitude for playing the Thief class might allow him to comprehend them to some extent.

Chapter 210 – Slaughter Fiend Medallion (Thief)

Nie Yan was absolutely confident in his ability to kill Scaled Frogs. Especially since leveling up, his speed had increased a lot, and he could disregard even a Lord-class Scaled Frog. Now that there was only a one-level gap between them, he would no longer need to rely on anything but the blade in his hand.

Under the cover of stealth, Nie Yan crept up to the Lord-class Scaled Frog until he was only ten meters away. The monster still hadn’t noticed Nie Yan, who then scanned it with Transcendent Insight.

Scaled Frog (Lord): Level 30

Health: 50,000/50,000

Nie Yan estimated that it would only take him twenty minutes to whittle down this Scaled Frog’s health. Back when Tang Yao had first taken down one of these, it had taken him a full ten hours. Although his lower level and damage output at the time was part of this disparity, no Mage’s cast speed could compare to the rapid-fire offense of a Thief. Additionally, Nie Yan could now induce high amounts of continuous damage using Splitting Edge to cause bleed and the Scarlet Poison Ring to inflict poison. With these items, just a casual attack could cause an enemy to lose 50 hitpoints per second, which would increase to over 70 or even 80 health per second when stacked with a bleed skill like Eviscerate. Just the continuous damage alone would take a huge chunk of the boss’s health. Unlike attack damage, continuous damage ignored defense. This made it especially effective on high-level monsters with tough defenses.

Splitting Edge (Dark Gold): Charge Weapon
Requirements: 120 Strength, 100 Dexterity, 20 Willpower
Properties: Attack 206–299, +10% chance to pierce armour, +10% chance to inflict bleed damage for 5 seconds
Explosion (Innate Skill): Once fully charged, the weapon will blast the energy out when inside an opponent’s body, dealing extra damage. Charge: 0/100.
Attack Speed: 2.9
Weight: 5lb
Restrictions: Thief; can be equipped by all factions.

Scarlet Poison Ring (dark gold)
Requirements: 120 Strength, 160 Dexterity
Properties: Attack 53-57, +20% Poison Damage, Poison Resistance +20, Ignore Level +1
Weight: 0.1lb
Restrictions: Can be equipped by all factions.

"You be careful then,” Yao Yao fretted. She was worried about Nie Yan’s safety.

"Don’t worry.” With a faint curve of his mouth, Nie Yan snuck up behind the Lord-class Scaled Frog. The monster had just felt something and was about to turn around to investigate when Nie Yan suddenly rushed at him with a burst of speed and struck out with a Concussive Blow.

The Scaled Frog froze in place, having been stunned for a couple of seconds.

Nie Yan’s dagger stabbed into the monster’s back with an Eviscerate, cutting it open and causing blood to spurt out.

-151

-32

-12

-20

-32

…

A continuous stream of damage values floated up from the Scaled Frog’s head. First came the damage from his attack, followed by bleed from Splitting Edge, then poison damage, and finally Eviscerate’s bleed damage. This frighteningly high damage output even put a Mage wearing a high-damage set to shame. Continuous damage was extremely terrifying, especially against monsters like the Scaled Frog with strong defenses.

With Nie Yan’s current damage output, he could rightfully look down upon anything equal to his level. Even fighting creatures above his level wouldn’t pose much of a challenge.

The Lord-class Scaled Frog turned its head, and looking almost like a massive tank, charged toward Nie Yan. Accurately predicting where its attack would land, Nie Yan’s figure flashed as he circled behind the giant frog once more. The dagger in his hand easily pierced the frog’s hard scales as he quickly used Backstab.

Nie Yan’s dagger stabbed into the Scaled Frog’s back repeatedly despite its attempt to turn around and face its foe. Damage values continued to stream into the air above its head.

Nie Yan’s movements were as moving clouds and flowing water. He was so fast that each time his adversary tried to attack him, he could immediately predict the trajectory of its attack from its starting movements and dodge with minimal effort to avoid the attack.

These flexible maneuvers weren’t any worse than what a true Shadow Dancer could do.

This was what shadow dancing was all about. This level of skill allowed a thief to look down upon all magic users. Even Fighters without impact skills that did area-of-effect knockbacks would only die when facing a Shadow Dancer.

Whereever his dagger released a dazzling light, blood gushed out into the air like flowers blooming

The Lord-class Scaled Frog’s health quickly fell, chunk by chunk. Nie Yan’s damaging capabilities were simply too fierce. Even though the boss was recovering 20 hit points per second, that measly healing ability was no use in the face of massive bleed and poison damage.

As Sun watched Nie Yan’s actions closely, his eyes took on a wolfish glint. This level of skill was exactly what he needed to achieve! Such accurate judgement! Such perfect dodges! His mind had a flash of inspiration as he saw what a true Thief was supposed to be!

The master opened the door, but the step was his to take. Nie Yan had already shown Sun what shadow dancing looked like. It was now up to him to comprehend it for himself.

Nie Yan’s damage output alone was plenty to kill this Lord-class Scaled Frog. There was no need for the others to intervene.

However, Yao Yao still waved her staff and cast Holy Smite. The spell struck the Scaled Frog’s body, dealing 15 points of damage to its health. Although this bit of peanut damage wasn’t much, any bit helped. With Nie Yan doing so much damage, she had no fear of accidentally shifting aggro onto herself.

Yu Lan, Sun, and Bai Kaishui also took out their weapons and began attacking the boss. Even though they could only do 1 or 2 damage per hit, it was still better than doing nothing.

Ten minutes later, the Lord-class Scaled Frog was still furiously struggling to land its first hit on Nie Yan. It was now that the frog opened its mouth and spat out a scarlet cloud of toxins, which quickly billowed through the air.

When Nie Yan saw this poisonous cloud, he quickly retreated. Because of his excellent timing, the toxin didn’t affect him in the slightest.

Despite the Lord-class Scaled Frog being obscured by the toxic red fog, continuous damage values could still be seen floating up nonstop from its head. Its recovery speed increased somewhat in the toxic fog, but it still couldn’t keep up with the incredible continuous damage inflicted by Nie Yan.

Backing up ten meters, Nie Yan put his dagger away. He took his Crossbow of Blood out and began to shoot a flurry of bolts. With a succession of sounds, three bolts found their mark. However, their damage was minimal. Each bolt only did 5 or 6 damage to the monster, which now had only 23% of its health left. This had gone even faster than Nie Yan had expected.

The cloud of poison quickly spread to cover a fifty-foot radius around the boss, albeit somewhat diluted. During the time, the continuous damage effects wore off and the boss’s natural regeneration began to slowly restore its health. If this was allowed to continue, their efforts for the last ten minutes would go to waste.

With a bottle of Junior Antidote in his hand, he stepped forward to test the venomous cloud. Five points per second. It seems that it has truly diluted after spreading this far. However, even though the effect was greatly weakened, 5 points per second was still alarming. At that rate, Nie Yan would lose 300 points in a minute and die in two if he let it freely tick away at his health. Seeing this, he chugged the bottle in his hand. Because it had a cooldown of five minutes but only lasted for thirty seconds, the Junior Antidote was not particularly effective against sustained poisons like this one.

It was fortunate they hadn’t called over Resplendent Bladelight and the others. Otherwise, they would have had trouble dealing with this powerful poison released by the Lord-class Scaled Frog. After all, Resplendent Bladelight wasn’t high enough level yet. It wouldn’t be until he was around Level 30 that he could safely tank this boss.

Nie Yan did a roll to evade the attack of the Lord-class Scaled Frog, then darted through the poisonous fog to continue his assault.

The Lord-class Scaled Frog rushed fiercely at Nie Yan whose body flashed to the side. His movements were like the wind as he once more arrived behind the frog and attacked it with a Backstab followed by Eviscerate.

The giant frog leaped but missed yet again. It’s bulky body just couldn’t keep up with Nie Yan’s agility.

Nie Yan instantly unleashed his strongest attacks, bursting the Lord-class Scaled Frog down to five percent in two minutes. The boss became enraged, increasing its speed greatly. Now the that monster’s speed was higher than Nie Yan’s, he could definitely feel the difficulty spike. He couldn’t just casually run circles around the boss anymore.

The Lord-class Scaled Frog tried to ram sideways into Nie Yan, who could only hastily dodge. He retreated backward at full speed with Swift Retreat.

The Scaled Frog angrily chased after Nie Yan. Although his flight through the woods seemed dangerous, he was always careful over the distance between them. Even at its closest, the frog never had a chance to land a hit on Nie Yan.

Yao Yao and the others didn’t slack behind, stepping up their attacks. Although their damage didn’t increase, the previously insignificant attacks now began to take chunks out of its remaining health. After all, the boss only had less than five percent of its health left.

Nie Yan’s continuous damage effects also continued to chip away at the monster’s health.

It was almost dead!

The Lord-class Scaled Frog suddenly leapt high into the air and descended toward Nie Yan. Just as it was about to crush him, Nie Yan used Shadow Dance and disappeared.

With a massive thud, the gigantic frog slammed heavily into the ground. Everyone held their breaths, until Nie Yan reappeared behind it with a blur, striking out with Assassinate. Immediately, he added yet another Eviscerate to its back and watched the monster’s health fall from 4% to 3%.

By the time the Lord-class Scaled Frog turned around to attack Nie Yan, he had already retreated over five meters away. His plan was exactly to chip away at the boss’ health with continuous damage until it died!

With only 1% health remaining, the creature still furiously stormed after Nie Yan. Yao Yao’s spells and the others’ arrows continued to land on the massive frog.

The Lord-class Scaled Frog chased after Nie Yan, catching up bit by bit until he was almost able to attack him.

-12

Finally, its final sliver of health was drained away. Its plump body, having lost support, hit the ground with an immense thud.

"It’s dead,” Sun said.

During the entire fight, the others hadn’t done much at all. The fight was basically carried entirely by Nie Yan. A Level 29 player soloing a Level 30 Lord was truly hard to believe, but Nie Yan had done it right in front of them.

Nie Yan looked at his experience bar. It had risen by 12%. While this was still a significant sum, the gains were clearly incomparable to the ridiculous levelling speed brought about by killing monsters many levels above him.

「Look at what it dropped.」Bai Kaishui curiously sent over through team chat.

What would a Lord-class monster drop?

Nie Yan bent down to pick the items up. There were two gems, a skill book, and a blood-red medallion. The metal medallion was unadorned, with only a Fiend Totem engraved on it. It looked extremely eerie and exuded a bloody stench.

Nie Yan’s heart leapt. He got a Slaughter Fiend Medallion?!

In the previous timeline, he had seen pictures of the medallion as well as its properties, so he had a vague recollection of it. Once he picked it up, a crisp system tone rung out. He opened the message.

Are you sure you would like to bind the Slaughter Fiend Medallion?

There were two options below it. He could either hit confirm or destroy. Only he could use this particular Slaughter Fiend Medallion. Nie Yan naturally picked confirm without any hesitation.

Chapter 211 – Invincible

After so long, I’ve finally gotten my hands on a Slaughter Fiend Medallion! Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel a little excited. The two supplementary skills for the Thief version of the medallion were both really good.

Slaughter Fiend Medallion (Thief)

Rank: Junior (Owner must kill 1,000 players at least 2 levels above them to upgrade to Intermediate.)

Description: Can be upgraded through slaughter. However, the owner will grow more vulnerable with each subsequent upgrade.

Properties: Attack +20%, Defense -20%, Dexterity +20, Ignore Level +3, Armour Pierce

Junior Berserk Transformation: Enter a berserk state when health drops below 50%. Increases Attack and Movement Speed by 30%. Gain 10 Attack for every enemy slain.

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Junior Mind Immune: Defends against all Mind Magic for 3 seconds.

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Restrictions: Can only be used by the original owner. Bound after being picked up. Cannot be traded or dropped. Can be destroyed.

The Thief version of the medallion was a bit different from the Mage version. Its properties weren’t bad, but it was the two supplementary skills that really made the item so great. Berserk Transformation would give a substantial boost to the player’s offensive power when their health fell below 50%. However, the most important was Mind Immune. Any Thief who frequently engaged in PvP was very clear on what type of skills posed the greatest threat to them—crowd control skills! In the previous timeline, the official website once did a study of what Thieves died the most to during PvP: 52% Warrior’s Tendon Break, 35% Mage’s Control Magic, 9% high burst damage…

The Tendon Break skill of a Warrior ranked at number one. Warriors restrained Thieves, this was without a doubt. Whenever a Thief suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of a Mage, it was almost always because of Control Magic which posed a far greater threat to them than frightening burst damage.

Whether in large-scale wars or group battles, Priests were a favourite target of Thieves. As a cloth-armour support class, they were the most vulnerable. Not to mention they possessed annoying skills like Glimmer Mark and Illuminate. It was no surprise the vast majority of Thieves chose to take them out right off the bat.

The type of Control Magic that Priests were most proficient with was Mind Magic. So having something like Mind Immune would give an immense advantage when dealing with them.

Another reason Nie Yan wanted the Slaughter Fiend Medallion was that between Black Heaven and Black Hell, one was a Holy Priest and the other was most likely a Shadow Priest. He couldn’t discount the possibility of them having Mind Control Magic. With Mind Immune from the Slaughter Fiend Medallion and Holy Descent from the Medal of the Ten Holy Paladins, he didn’t believe the two of them could pose any sort of threat to him.

Medal of the Ten Holy Paladins (special item)
Properties: Strength +20
Holy Descent: Grants 3 seconds of immunity to all magic. Movement Speed +20%. Increases the effects of all Holy Magic by 20%.
Cooldown: 2 days
Restrictions: Righteous Guardian of Order

Nie Yan had already made preparations for his encounter with Black Heaven and Black Hell. Since Black Heaven was one of the Seven Archbishops in the previous timeline, he still hadn’t abandoned his goal of recruiting them into Asskickers United. Although they were currently members of Dark Hero, it was in a state of decline, so that would probably change soon. However, if he mobilized a force to snatch the Chapter of Harmony away from them, it was the same as gifting an Archbishop to another guild. He assigned some subordinates to track Black Heaven and Black Hell down, but those two were exceedingly cautious, changing location every hour or so. His subordinates had no way of finding them at all.

Since Black Heaven and Black Hell couldn’t be found, Nie Yan could only wait for them to come knocking at his doorstep. He had already prepared a response for them, and the Slaughter Fiend Medallion emerged at an exceedingly opportune time.

The two gems that dropped were both Fortune Gems. Nie Yan examined the skill book—Poison Mist Cloud. It was an area-of-effect spell for Arcane Mages. All creatures caught within the spell would take 10 damage every second. With a range of 3,030 meters, its effects were very potent.

This skill book would definitely be given to a guild member who signed a contract.

"Aside from the Thief version of the Slaughter Fiend Medallion, a skill book dropped,” Nie Yan announced before sharing the properties of the medallion for everyone to see.

Sun’s eyes sparkled. "If I kill over a hundred players, will I be able to get a Slaughter Fiend Medallion too?”

"You’ll have to spend a long time getting your kill count up to 100, then coming back here to farm a Slaughter Fiend Medallion. Even then, it’s not a guaranteed drop, and if you don’t get it, you’ll have to start all over again. Can you imagine how much time you’d be wasting? You’re better off levelling up some more and collecting better equipment during that time.” Nie Yan poured cold water on any ideas Sun might have gotten in his head.

"Oh, I guess that’s true. Forget it…” Sun said in disappointment.

"The guild has many sets of Level 30 Gold equipment for Thieves. You’ll get to wear them when you hit Level 30, so you should hurry and level up!” Nie Yan said. Although Sun was a bit childish, his talents were absolutely unmatched. Even so, he still needed careful guidance.

When Sun watched how Nie Yan killed the Lord-class Scaled Frog by himself, he had a profound realization. Deep in his heart, Nie Yan became even more of a goal he secretly strived toward. He wanted to be a godly Thief just like Nie Yan!

"Alright, everyone, let’s get in a bit of extra levelling before the servers shut down for the day,” Nie Yan said. They still had about half-an-hour of game time remaining.

Nie Yan and the others returned to hunting the Scaled Frogs.

…

Calore Transfer Area, two figures stepped out of the transfer point.

Both of them wore black cloaks to conceal their appearances. They were precisely the owners of the Chapter of Harmony, Black Heaven and Black Hell.

Black Hell checked the system notification and said, "Nirvana Flame’s last location just updated. He’s south of Calore, probably clearing his red name. I don’t think he’ll be moving too far for now.”

"Big Brother, do you think we can beat that guy?” Black Heaven said with a hint of nervousness. He recalled the video of Nie Yan killing Hei Zhuo. It had really left a deep impression on him. He previously had absolute confidence in Black Hell. Out of everyone he had met so far, none of them were stronger than his big brother. However, after watching the video, his heart started to waver ever so slightly. Mad Rogue, Nirvana Flame… he really did seem awesome. Now, if people heard someone was preparing to find Nirvana Flame to look for trouble, they would definitely think that person was overestimating themselves.

If you asked what type of person Black Hell was, not many people could give you an answer. However, if you brought up the name Invincible, then plenty of people would know. Invincible was very famous in the popular virtual reality games of the past. When Dark Hero was considered one of the best guilds, it was under his leadership. He once ranked number one on the professional player leaderboards for three years in a row. Later on, however, the Dark Hero gaming organization disbanded and Invincible disappeared. From then on, the guild went on a steady decline. The top experts of Dark Hero left one after the other, scattering to other guilds. With so many people gone, only a few long-time members chose to remain. None of them knew that Invincible, the former leader who had brought them to glory, was actually Black Hell. Unfortunately, he was already an entirely different person from the Invincible of long ago. What’s more, he had chosen to renounce the Warrior class to play a Shadow Priest.

I’ve decided to translate the name Walking Alone Under the Heavens (獨步天下) to just Invincible for short.

However, no one forgot the heyday of Dark Hero. Quite a few experts among the major guilds were former members of Dark Hero. Many of them would still frequently reminisce about their former glory, only to start endlessly sighing. Whenever they chatted with someone new, a certain question would still occasionally be asked. "I used to be part of Dark Hero. Do you know what ever happened to our guild leader, Invincible?” However, no one knew the answer, causing them to feel deep regret.

Black Hell’s eyes glowed with determination. "I want to test out just how strong that guy is.” The current him no longer pursued money and fame. All he wanted to do was use his own unique method of playing to enjoy the game. From his perspective, Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame was an interesting opponent, nothing more.

Black Heaven knew Black Hell’s competitive spirit was reignited. His big brother’s nature was always like so.

Although Invincible had changed his name, in some respect, he was still walking alone under the heavens. One can only imagine just how brash, just how amazing he considered himself, when he first picked the name.

Black Hell knew just what kind of opponent he was going to face. He wasn’t suicidal. His goal was to defeat Nie Yan, then seize all the chapters from the Book of Order in his possession.

"Let’s go to the Starry Night Potion Shop to buy some potions,” Black Hell said. Before he faced off against Nirvana Flame, he had to make ample preparations, and good potions were absolutely necessary. As for buying potions from other places, he could think of a few other shops, but none of them surpassed the Starry Night Potion Shop.

"When are we going to find him?” Black Heaven asked. Since his big brother had made his decision, he wouldn’t say any more superfluous words.

Black Hell thought for a moment before replying, "Early tomorrow morning, we’ll go find that guy together."

Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame, let’s see if your skills really match the name…

The two chatted as they walked into the Starry Night Potion Shop together.

After Nie Yan and the others levelled for a while, they checked the server clock. It was almost time to log off.

"Nirvana Flame, I’m logging off now.” Yao Yao bid farewell to Nie Yan, waving her hands.

"Let’s meet tomorrow.”

"Boss, we’re leaving.”

"Big Brother, I’m getting off.”

…

Listening to these simple, ordinary farewells, Nie Yan couldn’t help but give rise to a melancholic sigh. He recalled how he spent almost all of his time alone in his past life. His daily routine had consisted of hunting monsters for most of the day, returning to the city just before the servers shut down to put all the unneeded drops in the auction house or maybe convert some of his ingame gold to credits, then silently logging off. Only very occasionally would a few people go out of their way to say goodbye to him, like Yao Yao, Tang Yao, or strangers he levelled with on that day.

This life was far different from his past one. Nevertheless, he rather liked the feeling of his present circumstances.

Nie Yan logged out of the game. He could hear a few relatives, who were on fairly good terms with his parents, helping pack stuff downstairs. From what he could gather from the conversation downstairs, since they were about to move away to the capital, his parents had invited these relatives for dinner at a restaurant tonight. Afterward, the Nie family would be living in their new villa by tomorrow.

"Little Yan, we’re going to move to the capital. Go say goodbye to your classmates,” Mother Nie stroked Nie Yan’s head and said in an affectionate tone.

Nie Yan didn’t have many friends in his hometown highschool. Although he got along fine with many people, he wasn’t particularly close to anyone. "They’re probably busy with their own things. I’ll give them a phone call to let them know.”

"That’s fine too.” Mother Nie nodded.

I’m finally moving to the capital. Nie Yan was looking forward to his reunion with Xie Yao.

Chapter 212 – Amassing Funds

Nie Yan called up several classmates, informing them that he was transferring to another school in Huahai City. All of them were quite surprised. From what they recalled, Nie Yan’s family wasn’t particularly well off. Could his family’s finances even support a move to the big capital, let alone transferring him to a school in the city? Nie Yan didn’t bother explaining. In any case, they were only nodding acquaintances. It was fine to just let them know he was moving and say goodbye.

Nie Yan spent most of the day visiting a couple of relatives with his parents. Afterwards, the whole family moved everything to their residence in the suburbs of Huahai City. They still had a lot of unpacking to do.

Nie Yan’s new home was a luxurious villa beside a crystal-clear lake near the mountains. It had an enormous courtyard filled with all sorts of plant life with numerous flowers in full bloom. The scenery was beautiful. The villa in his memories, however, wasn’t this one but rather a different place a few hundred meters away from here.

The situation in this life somewhat differed from his past one, so there were bound to be minute changes.

His rebirth produced a tiny butterfly effect which gradually proliferated outward, altering the world in a distinct but subtle way. He suddenly had a strange thought. Was it possible for his tampering with events to even influence the upcoming election?

Maybe so… No one could predict the future.

Even as a reincarnator, he could only drift along the currents of time. The future was forever out of his control, just like the unpredictability of the stock market. All Nie Yan could do was slowly raise his personal strength, to let himself wield some power to ruthlessly strike at the rails of destiny in the face of an uncertain future, altering the direction of history. At the very least, he couldn’t allow the events of his past life to recur. That much would be enough.

Nie Yan enjoyed the warm happiness of being together with his parents.

To him, having a dull, ordinary life like this again was a gift from Heaven.

Nie Yan gave Guo Huai a phone call.

「Your family moved to Huahai? Where?」

「27 Ping’an District,」Nie Yan replied. In his past life, he had once ridiculed the name of this district for being so lame and boring. Only later on would he come to realize just how precious the words safe and peaceful were to him.

The two words mean safe and peaceful.

「That’s a neighbourhood with all villas, right? Even the cheapest place in that area is at least ¥50,000,000! Wow! Not bad, brat! You’re a rich and loaded prodigal son now! By the way, my old man assessed various places in Conviction. The valuation of a single plot of land in Calore is ridiculously expensive! You know those properties you had me buy on your behalf in the other cities? Their value can’t even be estimated!」Guo Huai said. Nie Yan’s current net worth was high enough to leave people speechless. As for exactly how many properties Nie Yan owned, even Guo Huai was unclear.

「When stronghold sieges start in the future, if we can occupy a stronghold and create our own city, you’ll find out what it really means to be rich in the game!」Nie Yan laughed.

「I’ll wait for that time to come, then. I heard in-game currency conversion will be released in five or six days. Reportedly, an auction of virtual properties is going to begin soon. A portion of them will be auctioned off on the transaction platform. The time still hasn’t been announced yet,」Guo Huai informed. Many powers would definitely be looking to invest into Conviction in the future. Even his old man was starting to get a little restless.

Only now did Nie Yan recall such a matter. His heart turned cold. Financial bigwigs like Cao Xu were finally about to enter the playing field.

The auction houses, NPC potion shops, and so on of every major city would be auctioned off. Many financial institutes would definitely convince players to sell all their in-game currency for real world money, then divide up the virtual assets among themselves.

When Nie Yan’s father entered Conviction during the peak of its craze, he sadly discovered that he had already missed the best time to join. Sometimes, opportunities were fleeting. Once missed, they would never appear again.

What Nie Yan wanted to do was purchase as many virtual properties as he could. During the next few weeks or so, he would no longer dare to be so extravagant as to spend 500 gold on Magic Bombs. The 1,000 Magic Bombs he had now were enough to power level Undying Scoundrel, Sun, and the others to Level 30.

「Make an announcement to the guild members that we’ll be exchanging in-game currency with guild contribution for the next few days. 1 silver for 25 merit points will be the rate. This will tentatively last for three days. In addition, for every silver contributed to the guild, the player will receive an additional 20 merit point discount when exchanging Level 30 equipment. If a player contributes 10 silver in one go, when they reach Level 30, they can redeem one piece of Level 30 Silver-grade equipment—30 silver and it’ll be Gold-grade,」Nie Yan said after thinking for a moment. He wanted to rely on this method to quickly amass in-game currency.

「1 silver for 25 merit points? Aren’t we taking too big of a loss?」Guo Huai asked in shock. In Asskickers United, 1 silver was roughly equivalent to 20 merit points. If they went with Nie Yan’s conversion rate, wouldn’t the guild’s treasury be swept clean in no time?

「It’s fine if we take a bit of a loss in the short term. Besides, during this time, the value of in-game currency will definitely increase. We’re gathering gold now in preparation for the upcoming virtual property auction. After it’s over, we can replenish the guild treasury,」Nie Yan said. This was a tactic to get all the guild members to give their money to the guild. After the virtual property auction was over, the future profits from the properties Nie Yan acquired would be used to help give back to the guild members.

「Those contribution incentives are pretty good,」Guo Huai said. He was a natural businessman. With a simple glance, he could tell how good those incentives were. For the sake of having good equipment to wear when they reach Level 30, the guild members would definitely do their best to raise money to give to the guild. The guild wouldn’t have to expend too much effort to obtain a great amount of gold. When the virtual property auction ended and the real world currency exchange opened, the profits they’d earn would definitely be at least a thousandfold. When the guild members reached Level 30, the guild would naturally be able to provide them with Silver and Gold equipment.

「I’ll leave you to handle this matter. Let’s see how much gold we can gather in the next few days,」Nie Yan said. The property he was eying the most was the auction house at the heart of Calore. Even though other auction houses had been established in all parts of Calore, fragmenting player attention, it was still a landmark structure. It was the most prosperous auction house in the entire Viridian Empire! If he wanted to purchase it, he would need to bring out at least 2,000 gold. In the previous timeline, it was sold for a final bid of close to 3,000 gold.

If Nie Yan could buy the auction house at the center of Calore, it would have an extremely far-reaching impact on the future of Asskickers United.

The various financial institutes were also amassing funds. Their network of contacts went far deeper than Nie Yan’s. While the bigwigs were fighting with each other, if he could cut out a piece of juicy meat for himself, it would already be considered a success.

「Don’t worry. I’ll definitely help you manage this matter well,」Guo Huai said, full of confidence.

「There’s one other thing I want you to help me with. How deep are your contacts in Huahai? Can you help me look into a certain person?」Nie Yan hesitated for a moment before asking.

「Who?」Guo Huai asked in surprise.

「A girl called Xie Yao. She’s a second year in Class 3 at University of Huahai’s Affiliated High School,」Nie Yan said. He decided that it was still best for him to find out about Xie Yao’s background first. Know thy self, know thy enemy, or a crush in this case… In the previous timeline, he didn’t know anything about Xie Yao’s family circumstances. All he knew was that her family was well-off. In this life, he was finally enlightened. He knew where to start.

「Oh? A blockhead like you has finally fallen in love, huh? So this is going to be my future sister-in-law, I see. Don’t worry, I’ll immediately help you investigate. Even if I have to go down a meter deep, I’ll still help you dig the information up.」Guo Huai chuckled. It was quite rare for Nie Yan to have his eyes set on a girl. How could he not help out?

「Don’t trouble her.」

「Of course, I know that,」Guo Huai said.

「What about you, huh? How goes your progress with our former class pres?」Nie Yan teased.

Guo Huai dryly coughed to cover up his embarrassment.「It’s still more or less the same. I only took her out on a date once.」

Nie Yan laughed.「You dared to ask her out. That’s already good progress!」

「Haha…」Guo Huai awkwardly laughed.

The two chatted for a while longer before hanging up.

Nie Yan’s father had already left to manage the company, while Nie Yan accompanied his mother as they walked around Huahai. Around evening, his relatives from Ninjiang would come over to have dinner. The travel time between the two places wasn’t that long anyway, only around thirty minutes. Everything had already been unpacked in the villa. They had finished one day earlier than expected.

Nie Yan’s room was located at the southern part of the villa. If he opened up the curtains, he could see a beautiful landscape outside. His father had already had some people deal with the formalities of transferring to a new school. He would start classes in two days.

The gorgeous red clouds on the horizon caused by the setting sun were quite dazzling.

A cool breeze blew in from outside the window, clearing Nie Yan’s head.

Nie Yan took a deep breath of air. His mood had gotten a lot better lately for some indescribable reason. He was about to relive his final year of high school. It was something he was really looking forward to.

In the previous timeline, he was basically a nobody in his class. At least half of his own classmates weren’t even able to recognize him. In this life, he wanted to genuinely fit in with everyone.

「Damn! You’ve moved to Huahai? Which school?」Tang Yao asked in excitement.

「University of Hauhai’s Affiliated High School,」Nie Yan replied. Tang Yao went to school at Huahai High School 1. The two schools were quite far from each other.

「University of Hauhai’s Affiliated High School?」Tang Yao paused for a moment to think.「Let me ask my old man, and see if I can transfer over.」

Nie Yan recalled his past life. Tang Yao had also said similar words back then, but later on, nothing came out of it.

「We’re both only a year from graduating. Forget it, save yourself the trouble,」Nie Yan said with a light laugh.

「Do you still remember that brat, Wei Kai?」Tang Yao suddenly asked.

「Yeah, why? What about him?」Nie Yan asked. Wei Kai was a person who walked the path of a criminal. The less contact made with such a person, the better.

「He just took over a guild called Shattered Gale. It’s a decent sized guild with around 5,000 to 6,000 members. That guy knows I’m Young Sparrow Hawk and you’re Nirvana Flame, and that we both established Asskickers United. He says he wants to rely on us for help!」Tao Yao said in high spirits. He recalled just how insufferably arrogant Wei Kai had been in the past. Now, he was like a subservient dog as he approached them for help.

Shattered Gale… Nie Yan had heard of such a guild in his past life but didn’t really have an impression of it. 5,000 to 6,000 members could be considered not bad. Wei Kai had actually sleazed his way to a bit of success with 2,000 subordinates who were willing to throw their lives away for him. However, from what happened to him in the previous timeline, evidently that still wasn’t enough. Before he could bask in the limelight for long, he ended up disappearing to who knows where, while his fate was unknown.

Nie Yan weighed the matter over. A person like Wei Kai was a double-edged sword. If he took Wei Kai in, there was a chance he might bring some unsavoury trouble with him. However, at an essential moment, having the power of someone from the criminal underworld would still prove useful, just like the relationship Cao Xu had with Heaven Breaker. Heaven Breaker was a somewhat infamous criminal, after all.

「Let me carefully think this matter over. Don’t give him a definite answer for now,」Nie Yan said. This sort of thing had to be carefully deliberated before making a decision.

Chapter 213 – Honour

Nie Yan decided it was best to first have Guo Huai thoroughly investigate Wei Kai and understand his circumstances before making a decision. Wei Kai was like a ferocious tiger cub. When carefully groomed, he would prove to be a highly useful helper. However, if they weren’t careful, he might come back to bite them in the ass. Nie Yan had to hold enough over Wei Kai to ensure absolute loyalty. He left Guo Huai in charge of this matter.

Looking at the time, he saw that it was almost time to log in. He put on his game helmet, then entered the game.

Yao Yao, Sun, and the others were already online.

"Mornin’, Nirvana Flame.”

"Good morning, Big Brother!”

"Boss Nirvana Flame, Morning.”

After greeting them, Nie Yan suggested, "Let’s continue farming Elites.” With the new day, all the Elites and Sub Elites in the area had respawned. For this group of people, killing Elite Scaled Frogs was an easy task. Taking care of all of them only took half an hour, after which the group split up to go farm ordinary Scaled Frogs on their own.

After killing a Scaled Frog, Nie Yan’s head suddenly snapped up to look around the forest. He had felt something looking at him for a while now, and the feeling had gotten stronger after the group split up. However, despite scanning the forest multiple times, he hadn’t seen anything of note.

He understood that he was being targeted. He had both a good sense for danger and a high Awareness stat, which allowed him to vaguely feel the other party watching him.

Since he hadn’t seen anything, the other person was probably in stealth. It might be a Thief!

Nie Yan’s left hand subconsciously touched the hilt of his dagger as he delved deeper into the woods, further and further from the rest of his team.

Nie Yan guessed that whoever it was probably was afraid to appear if his teammates were nearby. Therefore, he left the group to try and lure the snake out of its hole.

Looking down at his skills, he made sure they were all off cooldown.

As he made his way through the forest, he eventually wandered a few thousand meters from the rest of his team.

Save for some croaking, the forest was silent. The morning mist drifted slowly, adding a graceful feeling to the tranquil woods. A cold morning breeze blew gently, gradually clearing the fog.

Seeing a Scaled Frog in front of him, Nie Yan snuck up behind it and attacked, but refrained from using his skills. He absentmindedly fought the frog as his focus remained on the tree line, scouring for movement.

Their stealth is rather high. Even with my high Awareness, I still haven’t been able to locate them.

After a while, the Scaled Frog fell to Nie Yan’s ordinary attacks and weapon bleed damage, collapsing onto the ground.

Still not going to act?

Nie Yan headed toward another Scaled Frog. The stalker still refused to attack, despite Nie Yan leaving some false openings on purpose. They just kept following behind him, unshakeable but also not doing anything.

Their patience is amazing. They’re probably going to be a strong opponent.

As Nie Yan searched for more Scaled Frogs, he suddenly became alert. The presence behind him was gone.

Could he have left already?

Nie Yan told his suspicions to his teammates, instructing them to be careful and reminding the red named players not to move about on their own. Additionally, he told Guo Huai about this development and asked him to keep watch on Victorious Return’s forces. They had to be prepared well in advance in case Victorious Return sent people to the Scaled Frog spawn zone.

However, according to the current average level of Victorious Return’s troops, they probably wouldn’t take the risk of coming to this Level 30 area.

Nie Yan also might’ve simply come across a random player.

Thinking that his stalker might’ve gone away, Nie Yan loosened up a bit. Shifting his thoughts, he once more went through the motions of trying to send Black Hell a message. He hadn’t expected it to actually go through this time.

「Hello,」Nie Yan sent.

「Hello,」Black Hell sent back, secretly thinking that Nie Yan was obviously after his Chapter of Harmony.

Black Hell had a rather deep voice. Nie Yan took his age to be around thirty years old.

「I want to purchase the Chapter of Harmony from you. What do you think is a reasonable price?」Nie Yan got straight to the point. Having played the game for a while, everyone could be considered to have come to a common understanding. Instead of exchanging pleasantries, it was better to just cut to the chase.

「I refuse to even consider selling the Chapter of Harmony unless you can beat me in battle.」Even with Nie Yan’s background as the guild leader of Asskickers United, Black Hell didn’t even consider the trade.

From his words, Nie Yan realized what kind of person Black Hell was. He seemed to be one of those conceited types.

Beat him in battle, is it? Nie Yan toyed with the dagger in his hand for a bit, his eyes glinting coldly.

「I don’t want to sour our relationship too much. Gaining a friend is better than making an enemy.」As the guild leader, strength was a prerequisite, but he couldn’t make too many enemies either. This was especially important for a fledgling guild like Asskickers United. He still had thoughts of recruiting both Black Heaven and Black Hell. After all, Black Heaven would become an Archbishop with equal fame to Leader Young Seven in the future! He had no choice but to consider things from the guild’s perspective.

After a moment of silence, Black Hell proposed,「How about we make a bet?」 He wasn’t afraid of Nie Yan, but he just wanted to quietly play the game. Having to fend off wave after wave of Asskickers United players would make that impossible. That would completely defeat the point.

「What kind of bet?」Nie Yan asked.

「I think the winner of our duel should get the chapters. Afterwards, we wouldn’t be allowed to find each other about this matter,」Black Hell suggested. He believed this to be the best solution: if they couldn’t come to an agreement, just have a bet! With the system overseeing the bet and forcibly enforcing the terms, there wouldn’t be any worries about the other side refusing to pay up afterwards.

Nie Yan chuckled,「Yeah, right. Don’t you think that such a simple bet is unfair when there’s four chapters in my hands and only one in yours? Plus, you’ve restricted me from using my guild while not limiting yourself in any way.」Their strengths were not equal. Nie Yan could potentially send Asskickers United players to look for Black Hell afterwards and retake the chapters, but Black Hell wouldn’t be giving up anything. This bet was clearly not balanced.

「You tell me what you think is fair, then.」Black Hell wanted to hear what Nie Yan wanted out of a bet. If this matter could be settled with a gamble, all the better. If not, then he wouldn’t hesitate to fight. He never feared anyone!

「Do you have a companion called Black Heaven?」Nie Yan inquired. Black Heaven and Black Hell would theoretically be together.

Black Hell’s heart turned cold. In a chilly voice, he demanded, 「How did you know?」He and Black Heaven had been extremely discreet, with almost no one knowing their habits. Even most of their fellow guildmates had no idea who they were. For Nie Yan to be able to investigate them was truly no easy feat.

「I naturally have my own sources.」Nie Yan was very satisfied with the effect he had created. 「How about we change up the stakes a bit. If I win, the two of you have to quit Dark Hero and join Asskickers United as well as hand over the Chapter of Harmony. In return, if you win, I will give you all four of the chapters I hold. Additionally, I won’t use my guild to get them back, and will even help you complete Volume I in the future. This should be fair for both of us.」

Although he felt that Nie Yan’s offer was already pretty generous, Black Hell still refused, 「Leaving Dark Hero is unacceptable.」

「Dark Hero has long since been declining. With your skills, is staying there even worth it?」Nie Yan was puzzled as to why Black Hell was so adamant about staying in his guild.

「It’s not a question of worthiness,」Black Hell answered.「Although I refuse to leave Dark Hero, I can agree on behalf of Black Heaven to have him join your guild as part of this bet.」

Nie Yan considered the counter-offer for a bit before deciding that Black Heaven was enough. Black Hell might have some kind of trouble that prevented him from leaving Dark Hero. Plus, he had never heard of Black Hell in the previous timeline. In contrast, Black Heaven’s name rang like thunder with his status as one of the Seven Archbishops. For the latter to join Asskickers United was enough.

An Archbishop! That was a character with utmost power in the game, someone who could single-handedly change the course of a battle. Nie Yan had to recruit Black Heaven no matter the cost!

If Black Hell is able to decide for Black Heaven, does that mean that, of the two, Black Hell is more powerful?

But even if Black Hell was stronger, he was still just a Shadow Priest. In terms of what he could do for the guild as a whole, a Shadow Priest couldn’t hold a candle to a Holy Priest.

「I accept.」Although he would only get Black Heaven, that was enough for him. This ought to be amusing: putting an Archbishop and five chapters of the Book of Order on the line in a single PvP duel.

Nie Yan sent over a copy of the betting contract, and both parties signed the agreement. Since they had signed a system-enforced contract, both sides were at ease and didn’t need to worry about the other party reneging.

「I’ll go find you. I’ll be there within twenty minutes,」Black Hell said as he cut off the call.

Within twenty minutes? It seems like he’s already in the area. Nie Yan continued to wander the forest, killing a Scaled Frog every so often as he waited for Black Hell to arrive.

Deep in the forest, a Shadow Priest and a Holy Priest were currently in the midst of a conversation.

"Big Brother, if you lose, will I really have to join Asskickers United?” Black Heaven asked. His heart was filled with sadness as he understood that Black Hell agreed to do this in order to not hinder his future progress.

"Remember this: no matter where you go, you must be a person who keeps his word. The current Dark Hero is no longer the guild we remember. Those who left are all wretched bastards. Every single one of them! Alas, back then, I should never have left Dark Hero to Murky Gray,” Black Hell lamented.

Murky Gray’s name in Chinese is "Hui An” (灰暗 = Gray Dark) which is similar to the Dark in Dark Hero, which is "Hei An” (黑暗 = Black Dark)

Black Heaven sighed lightly. He understood how Black Hell truly felt about Dark Hero as it was right now. However, within Dark Hero there was still a certain someone. Although she was already a married woman now, Black Hell had still sworn to protect her for a lifetime.

Whether it was the promise or just his emotions was already a moot question.

"Little Brother, you deserve more room to grow, like a dragon soaring into the heavens. You shouldn’t limit yourself by just following me around,” Black Hell encouraged as he patted Black Heaven’s shoulder. However, his lonely voice just sounded bleak.

Chapter 214 – Black Hell

After felling two more Scaled Frogs, Nie Yan detected the peculiar presence yet again. He could clearly sense that someone was trying to approach him. However, when he turned around to look, the forest was tranquil without any signs of activity.

Just as Nie Yan walked over to another Scaled Frog, he felt the violent resonance of magic being cast behind him. In the blink of an eye, a dark power descended on him.

Enfeeble! Grief!

Curses that took effect instantaneously were especially frightening. If caught without a corresponding potion or a Priest or Paladin who could cast Dispel, you would be left in an extremely precarious situation.

Nie Yan’s heart clenched in alarm. It wasn’t a Thief that was after him but rather a Priest! A name immediately popped into his mind—Black Hell!

He’s probably using an Invisibility Potion!

Nie Yan took a quick glance at his character information. His stats were reduced by 60%! What powerful curses! Ordinary curses that could reduce a target’s stats by 20% were already quite dreadful, but these two curses had directly cut down his stats by almost two thirds!

Not giving Nie Yan the chance to activate Stealth, a bright orb of light flew up into the sky, illuminating the ground below with an unveiling radiance. Without delay a ray of light flew out from between the trees and struck him. A bright floating mark appeared above his head, exposing his position completely.

Finally, a Dark Corrosion spiralled toward Nie Yan at a matchless speed.

Dark Corrosion was one of the most formidable spells belonging to a Shadow Priest! A target struck by the spell would suffer damage over time, as well be inflicted with an extremely powerful curse.

Shit! That’s a really nasty combo of spells! Nie Yan inwardly cursed. So many spells were fired off in quick succession. Black Hell wasn’t letting him catch his breath at all!

Nie Yan rolled to avoid the Dark Corrosion.「Boom!」The spell whizzed by him and struck a nearby tree. Its leaves dried up and fell to the ground. Its branches withered and blackened with rot. In almost an instant, the frightening curse power corroded it into a decayed husk.

Nie Yan shot a glance at an area beside a tree about 30 meters away, where he spotted a Shadow Priest in ash-gray robes brandishing a staff and chanting out a line of incarnation syllables at a rapid pace.

The magical energy in the air fluctuated violently for a brief instant.

Before he could get back on his feet, a giant spider web dropped directly out of the sky above him!

It was Web, although clearly a higher rank. He had previously relied on the Junior version of this uncommon spell to trap many an unsuspecting target.

Swift Retreat! Nie Yan gained a sudden burst of speed. He bounded backward like lightning which put him beyond the reach of Web.

The web fell on the ground but failed to ensnare Nie Yan.

"Not just his speed, but his reaction time is pretty fast too,” Black Hell muttered, as he calmly held the staff in his hand. He had to admit… Nie Yan’s speed was really astonishing. Even after being hit with such powerful curses, he was still able to move so quickly. Black Hell recalled the awe-inspiring strike Nie Yan used to incapacitate Hei Zhuo. It was no wonder even Yu Long couldn’t stop him.

If he hadn’t made the first move, it would’ve truly been difficult to get the upper hand on Nie Yan.

Black Hell raised his staff, firing off a Shadow Arrow at Nie Yan.

Nie Yan took advantage of time for Web to end to drink a Cure Potion, removing the status effects of Enfeeble and Grief. Shadow Waltz! He took cover behind a tree to avoid the Shadow Arrow, then darted toward Black Hell.

Even though Nie Yan activated Shadow Waltz, Black Hell could still determine his position thanks to Glimmer Mark. He repeatedly waved his staff, letting loose an unending torrent of spells.

However, Nie Yan’s speed was too great, and Black Hell could only spot the fleeting afterimages he left behind as he darted through the gaps between the trees.

Black Hell calmly retreated until he arrived at a wide open space in the forest where no trees were growing.

The clearing covered about a 100 square meters.

He and Black Heaven had already been tailing Nie Yan for a quite a while. He could’ve engaged Nie Yan at any time, but he didn’t want to fight on disadvantageous terrain. If he failed his ambush in a densely forested area, Nie Yan could take advantage of the cover to dispatch of him effortlessly. This was why he decided to take action just a moment ago, when he discovered there was a patch of open land nearby.

Black Hell had always been prudent. Even if success was almost guaranteed, he would still make sure to take every little advantage he could get.

Truthfully speaking, Black Hell was still much more accustomed to playing a Warrior. He still wasn’t particularly comfortable playing a class like the Shadow Priest. However, if you’ve seen the playstyle of one caster, then you’ve seen the playstyle of all casters. He often PvPed against casters at the professional level in the past, so he still more or less understood how to play one proficiently.

"Let’s see just how strong you are. Come!” Black Hell waved his staff, calling forth a shadow which slowly took the form of a person, devoid of any features.

Nie Yan gasped in alarm when he saw Black Heaven’s actions. This guy’s no joke. He already has a Shadow Familiar!

Shadow Familiars were the summoned guardians of Shadow Priests. They possessed good attack and defense.

Nie Yan left the cover of the forest and dashed into the clearing. He was going straight for Black Hell.

Waving his staff, Black Hell cast the Slow curse on Nie Yan, then quickly retreated before releasing another Shadow Arrow.

Nie Yan immediately grew sluggish. His figure paused slightly as the Shadow Arrow shot directly toward him. The timing of these two spells was practically perfect!

Nie Yan activated Holy Descent from the Medal of the Ten Holy Paladins. The slow debuff on his body disappeared, and he reached top speed in a flash. Without the slightest hesitation, he rushed toward Black Hell.「Bang!」The Shadow Arrow exploded upon coming into contact with him, but it failed to deal the slightest bit of damage or inflict any debuffs.

At the bat of an eyelid, Nie Yan was directly in front of Black Hell. Concussive Blow! His dagger sped toward Black Hell’s forehead like a streak of lightning.

Nie Yan’s speed seemed even faster than in the video where he killed Hei Zhuo. Black Hell was startled. Waving his staff, his figure blurred as the Shadow Familiar moved from the side to intercept.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but secretly admire his opponent. Black Hell really did have some ability. In such a short span of time, he was able to smoothly control his Shadow Familiar to block.

Shadow Familiar (Summoned Creature)

Health: 1,200/1,200

As Nie Yan struck the Shadow Familiar, it tenaciously clung to him. The 3 seconds of Holy Descent were almost up.

Nie Yan’s dagger pierced into the Shadow Familiar. With a ruthless slash, he activated Lacerate.

The Shadow Familiar’s health fell by over 500 points. It clawed out with both arms, striking out at Nie Yan. His body blurred into motion, evading the attack. Just as he wanted to sidestep the Shadow Familiar to get to Black Hell, he felt a dark power bind him.

It was Shadow Bind!

Shadow Bind only lasted for a second, but that brief respite gave Black Hell the opportunity to retreat several meters. A bright radiance washed over him. His robes fluttered violently, and his entire body emanated an incomparable radiance, as if a god had descended down to earth.

Black Hell brandished his staff which shone with a dazzling brilliance.

It was the Empower Status Magic from the Chapter of Harmony!

All blessings would be bolstered, while all curses would transform into something much more terrifying!

That guy is finally taking out his trump card. Nie Yan’s gaze turned solemn. Would he be forced to activate Adjudicator of God? If so, it would go on cooldown for ten days.

Nie Yan was struck by the Shadow Familiar.

−106 A damage value floated up above his head.

Ignoring the Shadow Familiar, Nie Yan dashed toward Black Hell. Just as Black Hell was about to wave his staff to cast a Curse, Nie Yan threw a pouch of Intermediate Flash Powder directly at him.「Poof!」An intense, glaring radiance stabbed at Black Hell’s eyes like a million tiny needles.

Inundated by the intense light, Black Hell was temporarily blind.

Nie Yan rolled to the side, evading the Enfeeble curse Black Hell had just cast.

Under normal circumstances, Black Hell’s powerful curses could already reduce a target’s stats by 60%. He could scarcely imagine the consequences if he were struck by them while Empower Status Magic was active.

After suffering the effects of the Intermediate Flash Powder, Black Heaven lost all ability to see. However, thanks to his excellent mental fortitude, he didn’t sink into a panic. With both hands brandishing the staff back and forth, he shot out curses one after the other according to his judgement. After which he lowered his staff, then took out a bottle of Eyedrops.

Black Hell’s curses were simply too frightening. If Nie Yan was hit, his stats would be reduced by at least 90%.

To top it off, even while in a state of blindness, Black Hell’s movements hardly slowed down at all. He cast curse after curse, each one more terrifying than the last. His judgement was truly exceptional. If Nie Yan was slow by even half-a-step, he would have been struck down by a hail of curses!

Nie Yan activated Shadow Waltz as his speed reached the apex. He evaded Black Hell’s attacks, quickly circled behind him, then struck toward the back of his head with Smothering Strike.

Howl of Terror!

An ear-piercing shriek escaped from Black Hell’s throat.

Just as Nie Yan’s Smothering Strike was about to hit Black Hell, he suddenly felt something off as a strange resonance passed through him. It was Howl of Terror!

Howl of Terror was the most frightening skill of a Shadow Priest. It was Mind Control Magic. The number of Thieves who had died to the spell were by no means few. It was simply too hard to defend against, and its cast time was very brief. If a Thief was struck by Howl of Terror, they would lose all control over their body, allowing the Shadow Priest to easily dispatch them.

Nie Yan hastily activated Mind Immune from the Slaughter Fiend Medallion. As the eerie shriek entered his ears, his mind swam with numerous chaotic illusions. His movements halted, and the dagger stopped mid-strike.

Fortunately, Nie Yan activated Mind Immune just before the spell could fully wrest away control of his body. As the illusions in his mind disappeared, he plunged his dagger into Black Hell’s body.

However, Smothering Strike was no longer active.

Nie Yan followed up with Backstab and Eviscerate. Black Hell’s health instantly fell to critical levels, as a steady stream of poison and bleed damage floated up above his head.

Waving his staff, Black Hell self-cast a Lesser Heal, restoring a large chunk of his health, before hastily fleeing.

Nie Yan effortlessly caught up to Black Hell, then struck him in the back with Vital Strike. As Black Hell’s health finally plummeted to zero, he collapsed to the ground.

Black Hell was truly a difficult opponent. Were it not for the fact that Nie Yan possessed several skills that countered the skills of a Shadow Priest, it would’ve taken a lot more effort to take him down.

"I win,” Nie Yan muttered. He bent down to pick up the items Black Hell dropped—the Chapter of Harmony and the Dark Priest’s Shadow Robes. He would unabashedly take the former for himself. But as for the latter, after thinking for a moment, he decided it was best to just return the item to its original owner.

Chapter 215 – Chapter Of Harmony

A rustling sound came from the trees beside Nie Yan, who spun around just in time to spot a player in white robes stepping out from behind the undergrowth.

"I’m Black Heaven,” Black Heaven explained, after seeing Nie Yan tightly gripping his dagger. He walked up to Black Hell’s corpse. He never thought his big brother would lose. Because in his mind, his big brother had always been invincible. He couldn’t help but spend a little while longer observing Nie Yan. The Mad Rogue, whose name was renowned across the entire Viridian Empire, didn’t look much older than him.

Because his big brother had told him not to interfere in the duel, Black Heaven had stayed off to the side, observing as a spectator.

Black Heaven had watched the entire battle, and he had to admit Nie Yan was really strong, one of the very few people that was a match for his big brother. The only thing that left him feeling puzzled was why Nie Yan remained unaffected despite having been plainly struck by Howl of Terror.

In such a short span of time, just what could Nie Yan have done to block the effects of Howl of Terror?

Black Heaven didn’t bother taking any precautions as he directly got to work on resurrecting Black Hell. Because of the bet his big brother made with Nie Yan earlier, he was confident Nie Yan wouldn’t act against him.

A gentle radiance gradually poured out of Black Heaven’s palm.

Nie Yan sheathed his dagger, then stepped off to the side before sizing up Black Heaven. This person was a revered Archbishop in the previous timeline.

Black Heaven still looked a little immature, with the appearance of a seventeen or eighteen-year-old. Clad in pure-white robes, he carried a redwood staff which glowed with a dull radiance.

Nie Yan took particular note of the golden falcon stitched to the side of Black Heaven’s collar. It was the symbol of the Temple of Light, which signified that the owner had learned the Templar Magic for their class. Almost all Templar Magic for the Priest class were blessings. Only at the later stages of the game could they learn other skills like formidable group revival spells.

Black Heaven was a Priest who could cast Templar Magic!

If Black Heaven really was willing to join Asskickers United, then Nie Yan would have truly picked up a treasure. The rarity of a Priest who could cast Templar Magic even surpassed that of a Mage who could cast advanced magic.

Due to a limited cast range, most Mages would have no choice but to get close to the action when they wanted to cast advanced magic. All advanced magic required at least one set of incantation gestures and syllables to cast, with many even requiring two or three sets. Who knows what might happen during that time? A Paladin could rush up to the Mage with a low-level silencing spell and stop the advanced magic mid-cast.

Priests were different as they could cast Templar Magic in the relative safety of the backline or under the protection of numerous players. Even the lowest-ranking Templar Magic blessing would be able to raise the stats of an ally by 30%. At the later stages of the game, if a Priest learned rank 6 Templar Magic, they would be able to increase the fighting strength of their allies by over 200%, allowing even the most average of Warriors to transform into unstoppable tanks.

As such, Priests who knew Templar Magic were highly sought after by numerous large guilds.

If Nie Yan wanted to win the loyalty of a Priest like Black Heaven, he would have to do much more than winning a simple bet.

Let’s wait for him to join first… Nie Yan thought it might be a good idea to have Black Heaven mingle with Young Seven’s group. Once he grew closer with everyone, he would naturally become more willing to serve the guild’s interests.

As Nie Yan gazed at Black Hell’s corpse, a sense of regret overtook him. It was a pity Black Hell wasn’t willing to join Asskickers United. His usage of anti-Thief spells had reached the cusp of perfection, and his overall PvP ability was truly deserving of admiration. If he hadn’t honed his reaction speed over two lifetimes, he would’ve definitely fallen today.

Black Hell was certainly an expert among experts. For such a player to appear only several weeks after the game’s release was really rare. He might have been an obscure figure in the previous timeline, but it absolutely wasn’t due to a lack of skill.

Nie Yan felt confident Black Hell would go on to accomplish many amazing things in the future. As for why Black Hell wished to stay low-key, he had no way of knowing.

Since Black Hell was unwilling to leave Dark Hero, Nie Yan was helpless in the matter. All he could do was sigh with regret.

As a bright radiance descended on Black Hell, he was returned to life.

Black Hell opened his eyes and got back on his feet. Spotting Nie Yan off to the side, he said, "I lost. You’re really strong.” He was magnanimous in defeat.

"You as well,” Nie Yan said with sincerity

"I’ve fulfilled one part of our bet. The Chapter of Harmony is already yours. As for Black Heaven, I’ll let him withdraw from Dark Hero to join Asskickers United.”

"Big Brother…” Black Heaven wanted to say something.

However, Black Hell waved his hand, cutting him off. "You’ll have a much better future in Asskickers United. I’ll continue staying in Dark Hero. Besides, we can still level together, even if we’re in different guilds.” He’d been wanting to find a guild for his little brother for quite some time now, and he originally settled on Sapphire Shrine as well, because he had an old friend there. However, with Nie Yan’s intervention, it seemed that was no longer possible. Nevertheless, Asskickers United wasn’t a bad option either.

Seeing as nothing would be able to change his big brother’s mind, Black Heaven could only drop the subject. Even if he joined Asskickers United, he could still meet with his big brother often.

"I’m entrusting Black Heaven to Asskickers United. I hope you guys won’t mistreat him; otherwise, no matter how powerful your guild grows, I, Black Hell, will personally annihilate it. I’m a man of my word.” Black Hell’s eyes flashed with a cold light. He absolutely possessed the ability! Even though Dark Hero was in decline, so long as he revealed himself, he could immediately gather a powerful force that was capable of uprooting any guild.

"Don’t worry, I’ve never treated any of the people under me unfairly,” Nie Yan said with a faint smile.

Black Hell didn’t respond with words but simply nodded his head.

"This is your Dark Priest’s Shadow Robes. I’m returning it to you,” Nie Yan said before handing over the piece of equipment to Black Hell.

"I have a question. How did you escape my Howl of Terror?” Black Hell asked. He couldn’t figure out where he had gone wrong.

"I have an item called the Slaughter Fiend Medallion. It has a supplementary skill that allows me to become immune to Mind Magic for three seconds,” Nie Yan explained.

"No wonder…” Black Hell nodded. So that was where he had miscalculated. When he PvPed in the future, he would definitely have to take note of such skills. However, for Nie Yan to be able to use a skill like that to counter his Howl of Terror was really impressive. His Howl of Terror lasted for two seconds. If Nie Yan’s timing had been off by even a little bit, the battle would’ve ended very differently. The reputation of the Mad Rogue was well deserved.

At the urging of Black Hell, Black Heaven withdrew from Dark Hero, and Nie Yan invited him into Asskickers United.

"If there are any guild expeditions, you can whisper me.” Black Heaven understood that his big brother valued honour above everything else. He also couldn’t do anything to go against his big brother’s principles.

Nie Yan nodded. "Aside from the occasional guild expedition, we don’t restrict the freedom of our guild members.” When they held a guild expedition later on, he would invite Black Heaven, so he could get more familiar with his fellow guild members.

Black Hell and Black Heaven bid farewell and departed. Staring at Black Hell’s back, Nie Yan couldn’t help but sigh. Just what sort of background did Black Hell have? Why was he so low-key? It was truly a mystery.

The duel with Black Hell was quite exhilarating for Nie Yan. Black Hell really did have a lot of curses. On top of several crowd control skills, he was really difficult to deal with. With skills like that, it would definitely be a cinch for Black Hell to class advance into a Shadowmancer.

Nie Yan reminded himself there were still many powerful players in Conviction. Just because he comprehended the mysteries of a Shadow Dancer didn’t mean he could look down on all the outstanding heroes of the world.

After settling his mind, Nie Yan examined the Chapter of Harmony.

-Chapter of Harmony

Description: The fifth chapter of Volume I of the Book of Order. A fragment of a Legendary item. Whoever shall possess this chapter will receive the inheritance of the God of Light. Your mission is to spread the glory of light!

Properties: Receive 2 Intelligence and 1 mastery point every 5 levels. Focus +15, Willpower +15, Reflect +15, Strength +15, Dexterity +15.

Circle of Healing: Heal surrounding allies, up to a maximum of 100 players, by 1000 health.

Cooldown: 5 days

Empower Status Magic: Increase the effects of all Curses and Blessings by 200%. Ignore all stun, paralysis, petrify, and similar crowd control effects.

Cooldown: 2 days

Restrictions: Can only be bound by a member of the Righteous Guardian of Order.

Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player’s bag.

The Chapter of Harmony was most useful on Priests.

Nie Yan checked his bag. It had a total of five chapters from the Book of Order. He now only needed the Chapter of Honesty, and he’d have collected all six chapters from Volume I of the Book of Order.

He already knew the exact location of the last chapter. However, he could delay retrieving it until after he finished powerlevelling Young Seven, Undying Scoundrel, and the others in Everlasting City. It was hidden in a Level 35 map, so he didn’t have to worry too much.

「How’s the progress on clearing your red names?」Nie Yan inquired in the party chat.

「Very good. At our current pace, we’ll be able to return to Calore by tomorrow morning at the latest,」Undying Scoundrel replied.

「That fast? How?」Nie Yan asked with a hint of surprise. Back then, it had taken Tang Yao quite a few days to fully clear his red name.

「We’re rounding the Scaled Frogs up into a giant horde, then killing them all at once. Our red names go down pretty fast,」Summer Bug explained.

Nie Yan almost forgot. With several Mages using area-of-effect spells to kill large numbers of Scaled Frogs at once, of course their red names would be cleared pretty quickly.

After Nie Yan and the others spent a day mobbing Scaled Frogs, the entire group finally cleared their red names.

All of them activated Return Scrolls and returned to Calore.

"Is everyone here?” Nie Yan asked.

Everyone did a headcount. Off to the side, Undying Scoundrel said, "Everyone’s accounted for.”

With the nine brothers who participated in the Kiln Fire Woods operation, plus Nie Yan, Yao Yao, and Tang Yao, there were twelve people altogether.

Nie Yan nodded. "Since everyone is here, we can all set off. The goal this time is to get you all to Level 30!” It was about time he fulfilled the promise he made back at Kiln Fire Woods. Their destination was Everlasting City!

The group of players all let out excited cheers. They would finally get a taste of what it was like to level up, Nie Yan style.

Chapter 216 – Everlasting Silver Set

Everlasting City was still as tranquil as before, with Mechanical Golems in groups of several dozen wandering aimlessly through the streets. However, that tranquillity was broken when a group of players entered the city through the main gates.

"Sun and I will go round up the mobs, then take care of them. The rest of you can just sit back and enjoy the free experience,” Nie Yan said. The two of them were the most suitable for the task. A few Warriors could fill the role as well. However, Mages were simply too slow.

"Boss, we don’t have to do anything at all?”

"Yeah, nothing?”

"You guys can be responsible for picking up the drops,” Nie Yan lightly replied before dashing towards a group of Mechanical Golems in the distance.

Sun also followed behind, only a tad bit slower than Nie Yan.

「Boss, Heaven Breaker withdrew from the level leaderboards!」Summer Bug informed in the group chat after noticing the change on the leaderboards.

Nie Yan checked the rankings. Heaven Breaker had indeed disappeared.

「What was his level before?」

「28,」Summer Bug replied before taking a final glance at the leaderboards.

「Level 28?」Nie Yan knitted his brows. He didn’t expect Heaven Breaker to level so quickly. As the guild leader of Victorious Return, Heaven Breaker enjoyed the luxury of having his subordinates find fast levelling spots on his behalf. Even though he made his level private, he wouldn’t easily give up on trying to reclaim his throne. In fact, he might be trying to overtake Tang Yao with even greater fervour.「Forget it, it’s nothing to worry about.」

Nie Yan and Sun ran while simultaneously throwing Basic Magic Bombs.

「Boom! Boom! Boom!」As the Basic Magic Bombs detonated over the crowd of Mechanical Golems, powerful blasts swept through the surroundings. Their destructive power was nothing short of breathtaking.

「Boss, where did you get those bombs? They’re so powerful!」

「I got them from an NPC shop in Tasoyi Village,」Nie Yan replied.

「They’re so awesome! Next time, I’m gonna buy some too!」

「Boss, how much do they cost?」Edgeless interjected. He saw through the crux of the problem. With how great the Basic Magic Bombs were for powerlevelling, they could easily get a player up to at least Level 35 in two or three days. However, Nie Yan and Tang Yao didn’t bring too many people with them to Everlasting City. There was probably a very good reason for this.

「Two for 1 gold,」Nie Yan replied before throwing another Magic Bomb.「Boom!」It unleashed a fiery explosion that wreaked havoc on the Mechanical Golems.

「…」The group drew in a cool breath of air.

Just what did 1 gold signify? Even Level 20 Gold-grade equipment, save for one or two pieces of very specific Warrior and Priest equipment, generally couldn’t be sold for 1 gold! Didn’t that mean tossing out two Basic Magic Bombs was the same as tossing out a piece of Level 20 Gold-grade equipment?

Even rich tycoons couldn’t afford to be so frivolous!

Although this method of levelling was very quick, the price was too steep!

Watching Nie Yan chucking Magic Bombs like tossing pebbles, the group members couldn’t help but feel intense pain gripping at their hearts, like flesh being flayed off, piece by piece. Just how much money did he waste!?

The boss had spent so much money all for the sake of helping them level up. They were extremely touched. Many guild leaders were extremely miserly. They would detest doling out even the tiniest amount of merit points, for fear of depleting their guild’s treasury. In stark contrast, Nie Yan was as magnanimous as the god of fortune.

Nie Yan understood that money was secondary. Young Seven, Sun, and the others were all figures who could call the wind and summon the rain in the previous timeline. The money that he spent on them now could be considered an investment to ensure their loyalty down the road. As for the other promising individuals in the guild, as long as they were willing to serve the guild, he would also think of ways to help them soar in level.

The effectiveness of the Magic Bombs was evident as close to 400 Mechanical Golems collapsed to the ground. Quite a few members in the group lit up with a flash of radiance.

Of the twelve members in the group, Nie Yan and five others levelled up. Nie Yan glanced at his status bar—Level 30. He didn’t need to switch out his equipment just yet. He didn’t touch his free stat points for now. If he obtained a piece of equipment with high stat requirements in the future, he could just allocate them then. As for his mastery points, he learned two new masteries—Magic Item Proficiency and Kicking.

Nie Yan raised Magic Item Proficiency to Junior, the highest rank he could go at his current level. It gave him +20% effectiveness on magic items, which meant he could now expect to deal an extra 120 damage on top of the 600 base damage from every Basic Magic Bomb. The benefits of having such a mastery were as plain as day, allowing him to cut down on costs by a significant margin. He spent the rest of his mastery points raising Kicking to Intermediate. It was a useful mastery that allowed him to delay an enemy mid-cast, with a chance of directly disrupting them.

By the time Nie Yan finished allocating his mastery points, the members of the group had already found the drops among the debris on the ground. They stored all the loot into one place.

"Boss, you can store all these items in the treasury. We haven’t contributed at all, yet we’ve already cost the guild so much money. We don’t need anything,” Undying Scoundrel said on everyone’s behalf. He was normally pretty carefree, but even he understood it was improper for them to take the drops. If Nie Yan sold these items or stored them in the treasury, then at least he would be able to recuperate some of his losses.

"We don’t need any of these items. Use them to build up the guild treasury,” Bladelight said. Out of everyone in the group, he was only second to Nie Yan in terms of prestige, so his words carried quite a bit of authority.

Nie Yan nodded. "All these items will be stored in the treasury. If you need any of them, don’t hesitate to ask Guo Huai. As for the Energized Crystal Fragments, collect them and set them aside for Young Sparrow Hawk.”

Nie Yan’s group arrived at a public square which connected to various streets.

"The Warriors should start helping out as well. We’ll gather the Mechanical Golems in the surrounding area in this square,” Nie Yan said. This was the best location to do all the mobbing.

Bladelight, Edgeless, and the other Warriors also went to aggro the mobs. From all directions, Mechanical Golems were gathered at the heart of the plaza.

Nie Yan continuously threw Magic Bombs, causing explosions to sweep through the entire plaza. Mechanical Golems collapsed left and right, littering the ground with scrap metal and various pieces of equipment.

The members of the group rose rapidly in level, as the crisp, melodic jingles turned into a regular occurrence.

"Boss, this is awesome!”

"We’re levelling up so quickly!”

Nie Yan looked at the levels of the members in the group. They soared to Level 26 or 27. Two people already reached Level 28 even!

Edgeless, Monochrome, and the other Warriors started pulling the next wave of Mechanical Golems with even more fervour, while the other members began picking up all the loot off the ground.

Nie Yan checked the harvest. They already had 32 Energized Crystal Fragments. Soon, Tang Yao would be able to resurrect his Arcane Fairy.

"Boss, do you know what kind of equipment this is?” Summer Bug asked after picking up a very dark piece of plate armour covered in runes. Its design was simple and unadorned. With one look, you could tell it was an artifact from a bygone era. It emitted a cold, ancient aura.

"I found something similar over here too. It’s a pair of gauntlets.” Off in the distance, Miracle Dancer picked up a similar piece of equipment.

The group members really did have a sharp gaze. They could immediately tell these pieces of equipment were out of the ordinary.

Nie Yan stared at the chest armour in Summer Bug’s hands. It was covered in forbidden magic runes. It’s part of that set, no mistake.

"They’re part of the Everlasting Set. Bring them over,” Nie Yan said, unable to hold back his emotions.

After receiving the gauntlets and chest armour, Nie Yan appraised both of them.

Everlasting Chestplate (Silver)

Requirements: Level 30, 270 Strength, 160 Dexterity

Set Items: Chestplate, Gauntlets, Leg Armour, Shoulder Guards, Cape, Horned Helmet, Greaves, Heavy Shield

Properties: Heavy Armour, Metal Defense, Defense 330–339, Damage Absorption +5%, Magic Resistance +10%, Maximum Health +10%, reduce the level requirements of the other set items by 10 when this armour is equipped.

Restrictions: Fighter

Everlasting Gauntlets (Silver)

Requirements: Level 40

Set Items: Chestplate, Gauntlets, Leg Armour, Shoulder Guards, Cape, Horned Helmet, Greaves, Heavy Shield

Properties: Heavy Armour, Metal Defense, Defense 220–238, Damage Absorption +2%, Magic Resistance +3%, Maximum Health +5%

Restrictions: Fighter

The Everlasting Series was produced in Everlasting City. It was divided into three sets: Silver, Gold, and Dark Gold. The Gold and Dark Gold sets only dropped from Elites, while the Silver set could be found on ordinary monsters.

Due to how many parts this set comprised, completing it posed some difficulty. Nonetheless, Its properties were great, even better than the Level 35 Gold Storm Set. It was an exceptional defensive set for Fighters at the early stage of the game. If all the set items were gathered, the player would receive a set bonus in the form of a Rank 6 Shield.

More often than not, the difficulty of obtaining something determined how much it was coveted. Not only was defense focused Fighter equipment simply too rare, they were also in great demand. So if a good piece of equipment for a Fighter were put up for auction, even the most miserly of guild leaders wouldn’t hesitate to break the bank.

"This is something for you. Let’s see if we can gather the full set. Since we have the chestplate, it means you can equip the other parts of the set at a much lower level,” Nie Yan said before handing the chestplate and gauntlets to Bladelight. If they could help him gather all the parts of the Everlasting Silver Set, which would allow him to tank high-level Lords, then during the upcoming guild expedition, they could try their luck at challenging much higher level Lords.

Bladelight looked over the two items, then exclaimed in a slightly surprised tone, "The properties are pretty good. What about the set bonus?”

"There’s a description of this set online. The set bonus is a Rank 6 Shield,” Nie Yan replied. It was precisely the Rank 6 Shield that made the set so great. Without it, the set’s value would be much lower. The Rank 6 Shield allowed a Fighter to tank the hits of a Lord in an enraged state. To any team, this was extremely important.

"Wow, that’s pretty good,” Bladelight’s heart was swayed. The notion of equipping a Level 40 defensive set at only Level 30 was very attractive to him.

"How far are you from meeting the stat requirements?”

"I’m a bit short from fulfilling the Dexterity requirement,” Bladelight replied.

The difference in Dexterity could be made up by socketing Dexterity Gems. If they could complete the Everlasting Silver Set, an unrivalled Level 30 Fighter would be born!

Chapter 217 – Defeat Of Holy Empire

"If we clear out the Mechanical Golems in the area, we might be able to cobble together an entire Everlasting Set. The drop rates are higher when exploring new maps,” Nie Yan encouraged the team. Although the pieces of the Everlasting Silver Set were rare, their drop rate wasn’t outrageous. Adding onto this was the fact they were the first to clear this map, so there was a definite hope of them collecting all the pieces of the set.

If Asskickers United had an extremely powerful Fighter, the entire guild would be able to obtain equipment an entire tier better than what they had now. The main team’s gear was already lagging behind their level at this point.

With the knowledge that the Everlasting Set could drop from this area, everyone worked even harder. Sun and the Warriors ran deeper into the city, luring wave after wave of Mechanical Golems over to the square.

Nie Yan just sat there, launching one Basic Magic Bomb after another almost non-stop. Mechanical Golem corpses piled up almost as fast as they disappeared.

The group’s levels continued to soar.

Nie Yan glanced at the level leaderboards. Asskickers United occupied the first, third, fifth, sixth, and seventh spots. Of course, there were also the players like Nie Yan who kept their levels hidden from the leaderboards. To have a single guild occupy half of the top 10 was already shocking enough. Taking up the entire top ten would truly be too brash.

The playerbase was going wild. Asskickers United was too powerful. Almost the entire upper half of the level leaderboards belonged to them.

Countless players flooded toward the Asskickers United headquarters, even more frenzied than before. Many of the new applicants held thoughts of freeloading in their minds. Perhaps, Nie Yan would be in a good mood one day and decide to take everyone on a group power-leveling session, allowing them to instantly level up several times over without having to grind. Guo Huai continued to raise the bar for new applicants, even requiring them to pass a series of tests now. For every hundred players wanting to join Asskickers United, perhaps only a mere five or six of them would actually get the chance to join.

There had never been such a guild before. One that imposed harsh requirements on potential members and still had skilled players lining up to join. The ones that didn’t make the cut weren’t just sent on their way. For them, Guo Huai established two branch guilds, Mages’ Division and Warriors’ Division, which absorbed members from the crowd of rejected players. Despite being branch guilds, they shared a collective treasury with Asskickers United.

Asskickers United had a slow and controlled growth, as each and every member could be considered amongst the elites of an ordinary guild. The sheer concentration of experts would leave any onlooker utterly speechless.

At first, the players who joined Asskickers United early on sighed in relief. Many of them had no confidence in passing the entrance test. However, Guo Huai quickly made their hearts sink to rock-bottom with the announcement of mandatory testing for all members a week later. Those who could not pass would be relegated to a branch division. They would have to work hard and pass the test if they wanted to rejoin the main guild. On the other side of the coin, those that did pass the test would receive far greater benefits than before. With both harsh penalties and abundant rewards on the line, all members desperately tried to improve themselves in preparation.

Additionally, the in-game currency collection was a spectacular success. In order to wear strong gear at Level 30, the members of Asskickers United donated a large sum of money to the guild. The average guild member could find over a dozen Silver to spare, while the richest players donated up to one or even two Gold. It was only now that Guo Huai realized just how filthy rich the members of Asskickers United were. Even the poorest of them scraped together enough Silver to take advantage of the good merit point exchange rate, redeeming their points for various pieces of equipment.

There was already 1,200 Gold in the guild’s treasury, but the frenzied donations had only just begun.

「You’re certainly impressive. I was wondering why so many players came all at once to our headquarters to apply to the guild. I took a break and checked the leaderboards… like half of it is ours! It took us until now to handle this wave of applicants,」Guo Huai messaged. Asskickers United had such a spectacular lineup on the level leaderboards!

「How much Gold has the guild collected so far?」Nie Yan inquired.

「We’re already at 1200 Gold, and it’s still going up. I predict we’ll have two to three thousand Gold by tomorrow.」

Nie Yan sank into thought. Even Guo Huai’s higher estimate of three thousand Gold might not be enough for the auction house at the center of Calore. He needed to prepare some extra money from other sources. Fortunately, the Starry Night Potion Shop had also accumulated quite a bit of profit.

「There’s something important I have to tell you about. Radiant Sacred Flame and Holy Empire both just upgraded to Level 5 guilds, and fought a major guild war,」Guo Huai informed. He received this information only moments ago.

Nie Yan responded in surprise,「Wow, they’re fast. They’re even a step ahead of Victorious Return on that front.」

「Victorious Return really took a hit during your escapade at Kiln Fire Woods. They fell flat on their faces, losing more than half of their elites. It’ll take them some time and effort to catch back up before they can push for Level 5.」

「How did the war between Radiant Sacred Flame and Holy Empire go?」Nie Yan urgently inquired. Asskickers United agreed to an alliance with Holy Empire not long ago, while Radiant Sacred Flame was affiliated with Victorious Return. The outcome of this conflict would directly affect the interests of Asskickers United.

「Holy Empire lost–miserably. They sent an army of fifty thousand to the battlefield, only to have two-thirds of them die. Radiant Sacred Flame barely lost ten thousand people.」Guo Huai sighed deeply. If Holy Empire was dealt a fatal blow, Asskickers United would lose a trustworthy ally.

「How did Holy Empire lose that badly?」Nie Yan was shocked.

「No one expected Radiant Sacred Flame to be so strong. They have a unit of a thousand Berserkers, all armed to the teeth with terrifying equipment. That group alone slaughtered Holy Empire to the point where there was nothing they could even do. Here, I’ll send you a video of the battle,」Guo Huai explained as he forwarded the video to Nie Yan.

At first, Holy Empire and Radiant Sacred Flame fought each other to a standstill. Although casualties were high, neither side suffered meaningful losses. That changed when Radiant Sacred Flame struck out with their thousand Berserker battalion. Like a sharp dagger, it cut through Holy Empire’s front line and began massacring the players in the rear. Holy Empire could only sound a full retreat. Despite using immense efforts to kill the thousand Berserker battalion, they couldn’t. Holy Empire was unable to salvage the situation as over a hundred Berserkers got out unscathed.

Holy Empire was dealt a crippling blow, but Radiant Sacred Flame hadn’t gotten off lightly either. Taking a breather, both sides set up camp and began to recuperate.

Nie Yan understood why the two guilds were in such a bitter conflict. Holy Empire and Radiant Sacred Flame had simultaneously risen to Level 5 guilds. With two guild promoting to Level 5, a small stronghold would open in Calore. The competition to control the stronghold made the guilds’ fight to the death finally make sense.

He predicted that a few days later, both guilds would send out an army of two thousand for another bout. Before the stronghold’s owner was decided, one final battle would erupt.

Both guilds would certainly ask for aid from other parties. Nie Yan expected Holy Empire to come to Asskickers United for help. He also felt certain that Sleepy Fox would also beseech the help of Sapphire Shrine and Battle Crazed Alliance. He might even try to hire some experts from major gaming organizations. Radiant Sacred Flame would definitely be doing the same with its allies.

The war of the guilds was far from over. Before the stronghold had an owner, both guilds were fated to clash. For now, the first round was won by Radiant Sacred Flame, putting Holy Empire at a disadvantage. In the previous timeline, Holy Empire had been able to hold its own despite constantly being inferior to both Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return.

「Give our guild members a heads up, telling them to earn more guild Honour in preparation for our upgrade to Level 4,」Nie Yan instructed. Asskickers United was simply established too late. Because of that, they were far behind Holy Empire, Radiant Sacred Flame, and the other major guilds. Asskickers United needed to pick up its pace. Strongholds were a guild’s true foundation for progress.

「I’m currently arranging it. We’re not far off from Level 4. You gotta return Bladelight and Young Seven to us soon, though.」Resplendent Bladelight and Leader Young Seven were needed because they were the leaders of the guild’s main team.

「They’re almost Level 30, so they’ll head back soon,」Nie Yan said. The people who hit Level 30 had already voluntarily left the party to avoid leeching experience. Even so, Nie Yan’s supply of Basic Magic Bombs dwindled rapidly, and as they did, Bladelight and Young Seven got ever so close to Level 30.

「Another group is here to join the guild.」

「Alright then, you go deal with them,」Nie Yan said. The guild’s affairs came first.

Over the course of killing nearly 3,000 Mechanical Golems, their group found pieces of the Everlasting Set here and there. They actually managed to grab six parts of the set: the Heavy Shield, Chestplate, Gauntlets, Cape, Horned Helmet, and Leg Armour. They even got a spare Cape and Horned Helmet. Their luck was good, and they only lacked two pieces now.

As another batch of Mechanical Golems was blasted into smithereens, Resplendent Bladelight finally reached Level 30. He put five points into Dexterity, which gave him just enough to equip the Everlasting Set. The dark metallic gear flashed with an impressive luster. With it on, Bladelight seemed immoveable and incredibly well-armoured. Mysterious runes shone on the surface, radiating a frigid aura.

"Just gotta grab the Greaves and Shoulder Guards now,” Nie Yan commented. Once they got the final two pieces, the set would be complete. "What are your stats now?”

"I have 1653 Defense, 35% Block Rate, 43% Magic Resistance, and over 1,200 health,” Resplendent Bladelight answered. Fighters already had higher defense and health than other classes, but Bladelight’s current stats were insane. With this set equipped, he could be said to be ridiculously overpowered.

Nie Yan frowned and asked, "What about your attack?”

"Three hundred and seventy,” Bladelight replied. He also felt that something was off here. "My defenses make me an impregnable fortress, but I can’t hold aggro with such low attack. It’s a huge problem if a boss’s aggro doesn’t concentrate on me.”

"Get a bunch of high-aggro skills, I guess. Have Guo Huai find some skill books for you. Next time we do a guild activity, we’ll find a good one-handed sword for you to use,” Nie Yan promised. Just his defense alone made Resplendent Bladelight worthy of being called the number one Fighter in the game. If his stats were leaked to other Fighters, they would probably go crazy with shame and envy.

With such an overpowered Fighter, the guild could do a lot of things that it couldn’t before. Nie Yan suddenly had an idea. After we finish leveling here, we could go look for a Super Variant Lord to test ourselves, and pick up a Sub Legendary item while we’re at it.

Chapter 218 – Vying For The Stronghold

Super Variant Lords are too powerful. I’m not sure if Bladelight can hold up against one… Nie Yan weighed the matter seriously. It’s better not to bite off more than we can chew for now. He filed away the dangerous thought at the back of his mind. A Sub Legendary item wasn’t something a person could just obtain on a whim. He didn’t want his own reckless nature to cause the death of countless guild members. Regular Lords for now… After everyone has risen in level and gotten better equipment, I’ll consider whether or not we should take on a Super Variant then.

Nie Yan checked his status bar. He was now Level 33. The group members left the party upon reaching Level 30. Undying Scoundrel, Monochrome, Edgeless, and three others were the first to leave. Although they left the party, they still stuck around to help round up the mobs. Resplendent Bladelight was the most recent player that hit level 30. He also left the party, leaving more experience for the others. There were still four more members at Level 29, but it wouldn’t be long before they gained that last level.

Another wave of mobs was aggroed over. Seeing the hordes of Mechanical Golems surge into the square from every street, Nie Yan was taken aback. How are there are still so many left? Did they aggro all the Mechanical Golems in the outer district? Because of his repeated warnings, none of the group members dared to venture into the central region of Everlasting City.

An endless shower of Magic Bombs rained down from the sky.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Mechanical Golems collapsed to the ground, several dozen at a time.

Before long, the square was covered with mounds of scrap metal.

The group members began picking up the loot.

"Did the greaves and shoulder guards drop?” Nie Yan asked. The most pressing matter right now was helping Bladelight complete the Everlasting Silver Set.

"Found the shoulder guards!” Summer Bug exclaimed after picking up a piece of equipment.

"The leg armour dropped over here.”

"We already have the leg armour!”

"Let’s try a few more waves. The greaves should drop.”

Nie Yan checked his bag. He only had a little over 300 Magic Bombs remaining. Nearly 700 Magic Bombs disappeared in the blink of the eye. This expenditure was truly staggering!

After doing some calculations, the group realized Nie Yan spent 500 gold to help them on this trip to Everlasting City, and this fact struck all of them with guilt. They never expected the cost of power levelling to be so steep. In retrospect, the request they made back at Kiln Fire Woods was more than a little excessive.

"Boss, we’ve let you down by squandering so much of the guild’s wealth,” Undying Scoundrel said apologetically. After all, he was one of the main culprits who pestered Nie Yan to take them levelling.

"I wouldn’t really call getting you all to Level 30 squandering, but if we can collect the entire Everlasting Silver Set then this trip will have been well worth it. It’s only 500 gold. Money spent can be still earned back later,” Nie Yan said with a smile. Even though 500 gold was a great sum, a significant boost in the strength of the guild’s core elites wasn’t a bad trade-off.

"Boss, you really know how to touch a person’s heart. From now on, I’ll follow you no matter what the future holds. Just say the word, and I’ll definitely be at your beck and call!” Undying Scoundrel half-jokingly declared.

Nie Yan chuckled. "Alright, enough with the flattery. You guys can equip the sets of Level 30 Gold equipment in the guild treasury now. Just give Guo Huai a holler when you get back, and he’ll let you withdraw them.”

"How is that fine? We can’t keep freely taking stuff from the guild. That won’t be fair to the other guild members! I already have over 6,000 merit points. If I donate a few more pieces of equipment, I’ll have enough for a full set of Level 30 Gold equipment. I’ll just exchange the set I have equipped right now,” Summer Bug said. He understood that the guild was still in the initial stage of its development. Every player had to contribute their fair share. A rising tide would lift the boat. Only then could the entire guild grow stronger together.

The rest of the group nodded in agreement with Summer Bug. They would be reimbursed with merit points for donating their old equipment anyway. The guild treasury existed to benefit everyone in Asskickers United, not just the top ranking members.

If every member only thought for their own interests, the guild would never grow.

Three more members levelled up. Only Young Seven still hadn’t reached Level 30. As a Priest, he had the most difficult time levelling, so he always lagged behind the others by a bit.

Nie Yan thought for a moment, then turned to Young Seven and said, "I still have some Magic Bombs left. Let’s get you to Level 32, alright?”

Since Priests were the slowest class at levelling, Young Seven would inevitably be overtaken by the others. By helping him get in a few more levels now, he wouldn’t fall as far behind.

"That’s a little wasteful, isn’t it…?” Young Seven asked, sounding a little hesitant.

"It doesn’t matter. Levelling will be super fast with just the two of us,” Nie Yan replied. Without having to share the experience among all the other members, he would be able to get Young Seven to Level 32 in no time.

"I guess it’s fine.” Young Seven shrugged after thinking for a moment. As a Priest, he knew how important he was to the main team, so he didn’t decline the offer.

Another wave was aggroed over to the public square. A series of blasts buffeted the Mechanical Golems, decimating sections of the crowd at a time as they exploded into scrap metal.

「Ding dong!」A crisp system jingle rang out as Nie Yan hit Level 34. He didn’t expect to be approaching Level 35 so soon. The Skywalker Set was still sitting in his bag. Who knew before he could even find a suitable opportunity to equip this defensive Thief set, he would already have to start searching for Level 35 and Level 40 equipment? However, with the stats of the Skywalker Set, he would be fine wearing it all the way to Level 40. At worst, he would have to socket it with gems. Even then, since it was Dark Gold-grade, upgrading it was pretty cost effective.

A bright radiance descended on Young Seven as he reached Level 30, with his experience bar filling up until it stopped at 86%. Since the experience was shared with two instead of twelve, his levelling speed increased by sixfold.

After the last Mechanical Golem fell, the group scattered around the square in search for drops.

"I found another Everlasting Chestplate,” Summer Bug said with pleasant surprise. It was the most important piece of the set, allowing the player to equip all the other pieces at Level 30 instead of Level 40.

"Not bad.” Nie Yan was pleased. Even if they couldn’t complete the Everlasting Silver Set, the properties of the individual pieces weren’t bad. Especially when worn at Level 30, it would bolster the player’s defensive capabilities by a significant degree. With another chestplate, the other spare pieces could be more easily equipped.

"The greaves dropped!” Edgeless cried out as he held up a piece of equipment. At last, the Everlasting Silver Set was complete.

The last two parts were traded to Bladelight. After equipping the Everlasting Silver Set, Bladelight’s entire body was clad in solid, metal armour. This set was not one bit inferior to a full set of Level 30 Dark Gold equipment. Its formidable defensive capabilities allowed a Fighter to look down on any Level 30 Lord. Even going up against a Level 30 Super Variant Lord was possible.

With Young Seven reaching Level 30 too, we’re almost set for the guild expedition, Nie Yan thought.

As everyone helped Young Seven power level to Level 32, Nie Yan’s chat rang. He checked the caller ID; it was Sleepy Fox. You couldn’t resist any longer, huh? Let’s see what you have to say, he mused before answering the call.

「You guys sure are impressive. The entire top of the leaderboards is filled with players from your guild!」Sleepy Fox praised, unable to hold back his envy. It would be great if he could have so many experts under him.

The current situation was that Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame were the strongest, while Asskickers United had the greatest number of experts. As for Holy Empire, the only thing they could do was to place all of their hopes on the stronghold. If they successfully occupied it, they would undergo a meteoric rise. If it was snatched away by Radiant Sacred Flame, they would have no choice but to lay low for a while because Radiant Sacred Flame would definitely try to beat them further while they were down.

「You wouldn’t be contacting me just to talk about the leaderboards, right?」Nie Yan chuckled. He was much more relaxed and carefree than Sleepy Fox.

「How about you send that group of experts in your guild to help me capture the stronghold?」Sleepy Fox finally cut straight to the chase. The upcoming battle for the small stronghold would be conducted under the supervision of the Viridian Empire. Both sides would have a maximum of 2,000 players. Whichever side captured the stronghold would have ownership of it for five months, after which it could be freely fought over again. Even if Holy Empire could only control the stronghold for five months, the amount of gold they would gain from collecting taxes during that time was extremely enticing. It was enough to allow them to flourish.

No other guild came close to having as many experts as Asskickers United did.

「We only signed a defense pact. Asskickers United is under no obligation to help you seize that stronghold, right?」Nie Yan asked. Dispatching his own experts to help Holy Empire win the stronghold battle entailed a huge risk. If the compensation wasn’t satisfactory, he wouldn’t act. As a guild leader, it was necessary for him to consider the guild’s interests first.

「I want to employ the services of just the ten of you. 200 gold, are you interested?」Sleepy Fox said. What he meant by just the ten of you was precisely Nie Yan and the other nine who had massacred over 500 players from Unhindered in Kiln Fire Woods. A 200 gold commission fee was an exorbitant amount. It was truly enough to leave people speechless.

「Wow, you really are putting us on a pedestal,」Nie Yan replied. He estimated 200 gold was enough for Sleepy Fox to hire a top-notch 200-player gaming organization to throw their lives away for him, while the same amount was offered just to hire the ten of them. Truthfully speaking, however, 200 gold was nothing to Nie Yan. He was simply too rich, to the extent that he wasn’t even the slightest bit swayed by the amount Sleepy Fox offered.

「You guys are worth the price,」Sleepy Fox said. He believed that with the current working relationship between both guilds, his offer should be enough to get Nie Yan to act.

Unfortunately, Nie Yan had something different in mind.

「I can dispatch 100 players that will boost your chances of capturing the stronghold to 80% or higher. However, 200 gold won’t cut it. If I help your guild in the upcoming siege battle, I want a 30% ownership stake in the stronghold,」Nie Yan said. It seemed he wanted a much bigger piece of the pie.

「How are you so sure of the outcome?」Sleepy Fox asked. He had hired experts from everywhere, but he still didn’t feel assured about seizing the stronghold. Why was Nie Yan so confident?

「Just think it over by yourself.」 Nie Yan was still calm after Sleepy Fox called him into question. The number of experts in Asskickers United was beyond Sleepy Fox’s imagination. It was far greater than all the several major guilds combined. If Sleepy Fox had asked him to participate in a larger scale battle in the tens of thousands, he wouldn’t be able to guarantee anything. However, since it was only a 2,000 player battle, Asskickers United dispatching 100 players to join forces with Holy Empire should be enough to wipe the floor with Radiant Sacred Flame.

Chapter 219 – Gathering Of Elites

Sleepy Fox hesitated for some time. A 30% share of the stronghold was no insignificant sum. It was the same as asking him to carve out a large piece of his own flesh. However, Nie Yan wasn’t the type of person who spoke carelessly. If he didn’t have the confidence, he wouldn’t speak such big words.

「Can’t you be a bit more generous? Do a friend a favour?」Sleepy Fox wryly smiled. Nie Yan was truly a ruthless negotiator. Holy Empire had put in all the painstaking effort of ranking up to a Level 5 guild in order to finally gain the qualifications to vye for the stronghold. It wasn’t even Asskickers United’s battle, yet they wanted to bite off almost a third of the profits in one fell swoop!

「If you just asked for my personal help, I would’ve agreed, even for free. However, since you’re requesting the aid of my guild, the interests of my guild brothers naturally takes precedence,」Nie Yan said in a sincere tone. As the guild leader, he couldn’t concede the slightest inch in matters related to the guild’s growth.

「Hah, that much I understand.」Sleepy Fox deeply sighed. He was also a guild leader, so he understood the sentiment well. Sometimes, even if an action ran the risk of offending people, he would still force himself to go through with it for the sake of the numerous brothers in his guild. Nie Yan had already given his offer, and both sides didn’t hold any apprehensions toward each other.

「If you agree, I’ll send 100 players over to you. If not, then so be it,」Nie Yan said. Even though 30% was a little excessive, he genuinely believed the brothers under his command were worth that price.

「Let me give it some more thought. 30% isn’t a small amount after all. Other than that, I want to further assess the strength of the people under you. Prove to me that they’re worth what you’re asking for,」Sleepy Fox replied. He couldn’t simply take Nie Yan’s words at face value, lest he be so foolish as to give away 30% of the profit for nothing. However, if the people under Nie Yan really were strong enough to help him seize the stronghold, then what harm was there in accepting the offer? The other 70% would still belong to him, and it was better than having nothing.

「No problem. Wait for me to finish levelling, then I’ll send them to the arena to show off their skills. You should bring a few people to watch,」Nie Yan replied. If they wanted to earn 30% of the profit, then it was only natural for his guild to bring out some real ability.

「How much longer till you guys are done levelling?」

「An hour at most.」

「Alright, send me a whisper when you’re done,」Sleepy Fox said. He wanted to see just how strong the players of Asskickers United were for Nie Yan to dare to boast that a hundred of them could ensure an 80% chance of successfully seizing the stronghold.

「How goes the battle with Radiant Sacred Flame?」Nie Yan asked. The current scale of the conflict probably wasn’t large enough for Holy Empire to receive any serious damage.

「One word. Disastrous. We’ve already suffered over 50,000 casualties,」Sleepy Fox replied with a bitter smile. In order to secure the stronghold, both sides didn’t hesitate to go all out, no matter the price they had to pay.

「That much?」Nie Yan asked in shock.

「We lost over 30,000 players in the previous battle, and another 20,000 or so from minor skirmishes that broke out in various places. However, Radiant Sacred Flame isn’t fairing that much better either. They’ve lost at least 40,000 players,」 Sleepy Fox explained. Holy Empire had previously always held the advantage. The number of Radiant Sacred Flame players who died by their hands wasn’t small. However, the crushing defeat they suffered caused the number of casualties on their side to soar and exceed that of Radiant Sacred Flame.

「The difference in casualties between both sides actually isn’t all that bad,」Nie Yan said. However, Holy Empire probably came out of the battle a little worse off. The loss in equipment definitely wasn’t insignificant.

「Not bad? It’s a difference of over 10,000 players! I got to see some of the true strength of Radiant Sacred Flame in that battle. Those bastards really hid it well, like that thousand Berserker battalion. Those players were previously all members of Asura. However, the moment the battle started, all of them joined Radiant Sacred Flame! God knows if they still have any other branches in reserve,」Sleepy Fox said gloomily. This time, Radiant Sacred Flame had truly beaten him black and blue.

Asura? Nie Yan recalled that Asura was currently a Level 2 guild with 20,000 members. Their strength wasn’t bad. He wasn’t all too familiar with many guilds in his past life. He didn’t think he would reincarnate ten years into the past, let alone become the leader of one; otherwise, he would’ve researched this sort of behind the scenes information a bit more. He was much more knowledgeable on things like where to find the best grinding spots, but even then, he definitely didn’t know everything.

In the previous timeline, the fact that Holy Empire, Battle Crazed Alliance, and Sapphire Shrine couldn’t do anything to Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return wasn’t without logic.

Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame were like the blade of a guillotine hanging over Nie Yan’s neck. As soon as Cao Xu entered the playing field, the future would become very hard to predict. If Asskickers United was able to defeat Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame, he would have a bright road ahead of him. However, if it went the other way around, the events of the previous timeline would very likely repeat themselves.

I’ll help Holy Empire seize the stronghold first, then decide what to do from there. Weakening Radiant Sacred Flame also benefits Asskickers United.

「Let me focus on levelling for now. I’ll whisper you when I return to Calore,」Nie Yan said after spotting Bladelight, Sun, and the others bringing in another wave of Mechanical Golems.

「Alright,」Sleepy Fox said before hanging up the call.

Nie Yan continued raining down Basic Magic Bombs on the square as Mechanical Golems collapsed to the ground in droves. Checking his bag, he counted over 80 Energized Crystal Fragments. Add those to the over 30 fragments in Tang Yao’s possession, and they had enough for a Energized Crystal Core. The revival of Tang Yao’s Arcane Fairy was also important in helping Holy Empire seize the stronghold. When Tang Yao would find out they could finally resurrect his Arcane Fairy, he would absolutely be brimming with joy. Pair this to the fact that he had just recently obtained a Slaughter Fiend Medallion, and it could even be said that he was as pleased as punch.

Nie Yan informed Guo Huai he would be needing the elites of the guild, the members who formed Asskickers United’s core, and asked him to make a selection. He definitely couldn’t allow Sleepy Fox to look down on them.

The number of strong players in Asskickers United was as numerous as the trees in a forest. Almost 70% of all the top-notch elites in Calore belonged to them, so picking out a hundred was like searching for sand at the beach, it couldn’t be any easier. Holy Empire and Radiant Sacred Flame were currently evenly matched, but the people Nie Yan planned to dispatch to the battle would definitely greatly tip the scale in Holy Empire’s favour. However, the enemy still couldn’t be underestimated. Radiant Sacred Flame would definitely be able to find many strong players as well.

After clearing two more waves, Young Seven finally levelled up to Level 32, reaching their goal faster than originally expected.

"We’re returning to Calore. Holy Empire is waiting for us,” Nie Yan said to the group members after they picked up all the drops from the ground.

Everyone activated Return Scrolls and returned to Calore. When they arrived back at the guild headquarters, Nie Yan deposited their harvest from this trip into the treasury. With the sudden influx of new Level 40 equipment, the guild members were given another shock.

"I’ve already sent the players. I kept everything under wraps by reserving the entire arena,” Guo Huai said. The meeting of the two guilds absolutely couldn’t be leaked.

"How much was the reservation fee?”

"Not much, only 5 gold,” Guo Huai replied. In order to maintain secrecy, it was necessary to spend this sort of money.

"Just send the bill over to Sleepy Fox. Let him pay for the reservation fee. If we can save a little, then why not?” Nie Yan said. There was no need to act polite by paying for the arena reservation fee. Besides, this exhibition between the two guilds was only happening because Sleepy Fox cast doubts on the strength of the players from Asskickers United.

"…” Guo Huai had no words to describe Nie Yan at this moment. He didn’t bat an eyelid when he spent 500 gold on levelling. However, in a major affair such as the experts of two powerhouses duelling, he wasn’t even willing to fork up 5 gold, shamelessly wanting Sleepy Fox to shoulder the cost instead.

"Alright, if you say so… I’ll let him know.”

Guo Huai could imagine just what kind of expression Sleepy Fox would have on his face when he received the bill. He probably wouldn’t know whether to laugh or cry. However, before long, he received 5 gold from Sleepy Fox through the mail without complaint. It seemed everything between Nie Yan and Sleepy Fox was pretty cut and dry.

"If we don’t owe the other side anything, then we shouldn’t have to pay a single cent. Especially with the guild leaders from the large guilds, there’s absolutely no need to be courteous to them. It’s not like they’re lacking in money anyway,” Nie Yan laughed before patting Guo Huai’s shoulders.

Guo Huai learned a new lesson from Nie Yan.

Nie Yan brought Bladelight, Undying Scoundrel, Young Seven, and the others with him to the arena.

Calore’s arena was a round building that resembled a colosseum. It had a wide open space in the center encompassed by countless spectator seats. It was capable of accommodating several thousand players. When there were no events going on in the city, reserving the entire place cost 5 gold which wasn’t too steep of a price.

Nie Yan’s group entered the arena. Close to a hundred players were already there waiting. They belonged to Asskickers United. Nie Yan saw several familiar faces: Tuoba Time, Very Forthright, Natural Fiend, One Strike Vow, and many others were all present. With their skills, they naturally ranked in the top hundred of the guild.

When One Strike Vow spotted Bladelight among Nie Yan’s group, she went over to greet them.

One Strike Vow wore light blue leather armour which perfectly hugged the contours of her body. She was charming and elegant but didn’t lack any sex appeal. In terms of looks, she wasn’t any inferior to Yao Yao or Yu Lan. Add in her potential to become a Shadow Dancer, and it was no wonder she was worshipped by so many as a goddess in the previous timeline. Her gaze swept everyone in the group before finally falling on Bladelight. The two smiled at each other.

An affair? When Undying Scoundrel and a few others watched this scene play out, they couldn’t help but feel their hearts turn sour. This beautiful maiden only spared them a simple glance before focusing her attention on Bladelight. She even smiled at him, and it was the affectionate kind too! Even a fool could spot that she was in love!

"Boss Bladelight, is she your girlfriend?” several members asked.

One Strike Vow’s face immediately blushed red, but she didn’t offer up an explanation.

Bladelight faintly smiled before shaking his head. "No, we’re just really good friends.”

Disappointment flashed across One Strike Vow’s face but only for the briefest instant before resuming her brilliant smile.

"We’re like brother and sister.”

Like brothers and sisters? Everyone showed confused expressions.

Nie Yan could actually see through the type of relationship they had. It was a pity that Bladelight couldn’t tell that One Strike Vow had feelings for him. However, these sorts of matters were best resolved by the two parties involved.

"Boss, you guys finally arrived.” Natural Fiend and many others came up to greet Nie Yan.

"Hey, buddy! You’re here!” Forthright’s loud voice rang out, instantly drowning out the others in the crowd.

Tuoba Time revealed a lazy smile.

There were one hundred elite players!

Nie Yan greeted all of them. As he looked over each of their faces, he felt a sense of heroic spirit bursting from his chest. This was a galaxy of talent! With so many elites gathered together, why would he worry about being defeated by Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame?

Chapter 220 – Dueling Holy Empire

With so many people present, Nie Yan couldn’t possibly be familiar with every single face. But of the individuals he did recognize, he knew them as some of the very top elites of the game in the previous timeline. He naturally didn’t believe his charisma was enough to convince all of them to willingly serve him without complaint. However, so long as they integrated into the tight-knit community of the guild, they would inevitably turn into comrades who would go through thick and thin with him. Beyond the sentiment, they were also bound by contracts so none of them would dare betray the guild.

The crowd of players quietly discussed among themselves about their guild leader, Nirvana Flame. They had long since heard of the Mad Rogue whose name rang through the ears of all players like thunder. Even so, as top elites in the game, none of them felt they were lacking in ability. Yet when they recalled the scene of him killing Hei Zhuo, all of them had no choice but to admit that they were not his match.

Just as Nie Yan wanted everyone to introduce themselves so he could get more familiar with each of them, over a hundred players from Holy Empire entered through the arena entrance. They were led by none other than Sleepy Fox who was clad in golden armour.

Holy Empire had arrived!

Nie Yan evaluated the crowd of new arrivals. Even the weakest among them wore equipment that was Level 20 Gold-grade. Impressive… It seems like that guy brought over all the elites of Holy Empire.

Although this was only an exhibition match between two allies, the smell of gunpowder could still be smelt wafting through the atmosphere. The top hundred players of both guilds were entering the stage, after all.

The guild leaders of Holy Empire and Asskickers United brought over a hundred players to meet in the arena. How could the intentions of both of them not be more obvious?

Nie Yan swept his gaze over his own players, only to see every single one of them rubbing their palms with eager expressions.

The clash between the elites of Holy Empire and Asskickers United was drawing near!

Bladelight walked over to Nie Yan’s side, then said in a low voice, "I recognize several familiar faces over on Holy Empire’s side. Do you see the two players standing beside Sleepy Fox? The one to the left is a powerful Elementalist called Eternal Phoenix. He belongs to the Holy Empire gaming organization. The one to the right is called Undying Battle Fervor. He’s the Chief Fighter of Holy Empire.”

Nie Yan heard of them before in the previous timeline. Battle Fervour was the Champion who tanked the Lava Titan for Holy Empire, while Eternal Phoenix was a Magister who ranked among the top three of all Magisters in the game.

Sleepy Fox brought with him numerous other elites along with these two.

"Guild Leader, are we going to fight Holy Empire?”

"Of course we’re going to fight! Why else would we be in the arena?” several other members in the crowd chimed in.

"No, not really a fight,” Nie Yan replied. "More like a friendly exhibition match. But that doesn’t mean you guys should hold back. If everyone performs well, I’ll reward you all when we get back.” If he truly was able to get a 30% stake in the small stronghold, he could obtain enough funds to improve the equipment of these guild members.

"Don’t worry, Boss! We’ll definitely do well!”

The crowd of Asskickers United players was instantly fired up. Almost all of them were fiercely competitive individuals who loved to PvP; how else could they have honed their skills to such an extent? They were more excited about the upcoming match with Holy Empire than the reward Nie Yan promised them for excelling.

Sleepy Fox met eyes with Nie Yan as he walked up to greet him with Battle Fervour and Eternal Phoenix in tow. Not to be outdone, Nie Yan had Bladelight and Young Seven follow closely behind him as well.

"You’ve finally arrived.” Nie Yan revealed a faint smile.

Sleepy Fox nodded in acknowledgement, then scanned the crowd of players behind Nie Yan and judged that their equipment wasn’t bad. When his gaze fell on Bladelight who wore the Everlasting Silver Set, he couldn’t look away.

"Is that a Metal Storm Set?” Sleepy Fox asked in surprise, mistaking the Everlasting Silver Set as being part of the Metal Storm Series.

From shield, chestplate, helmet, cloak, gauntlet, and so on, every piece of armour on Bladelight’s body shared the same design; they were clearly part of a set. The mysterious runes engraved into their surface emitted a strange, stifling aura. With a glance, anyone could tell this gear was extraordinary.

"No, it’s the Everlasting Silver Set. So what do you think of our Fighter?” Nie Yan asked with a light smile. At the current stage of the game, where could you find a Fighter stronger than Bladelight?

The Everlasting Silver Set was mediocre at best among Level 40 equipment sets. However, what was so great about this set was that you could equip it at Level 30 as long as you owned the chestplate. If you were to compare all the equipment sets that could be worn at Level 30–35, the Everlasting Silver Set was one of the very best, better than even the Gold Storm Set!

"Everlasting Silver Set?” Sleepy Fox asked with a vacant look. He opened the official website to search for the properties of the Everlasting Silver Set, only to discover it was a Level 40 set which could be equipped at Level 30. Its properties were absolutely outrageous for players at their level range. "You really never fail to impress. You’re actually able to get a hold of such high-level equipment!”

"I can get you a set for the price of 700 gold. Interested?” Nie Yan joked. The actual cost for him to farm an Everlasting Silver Set was 200–300 gold at most.

"Lower the price by 200 gold, and I’ll be willing to buy. If you can help me secure the stronghold, even paying the full 700 gold isn’t a problem,” Sleepy Fox replied in an earnest tone. Holy Empire didn’t lack gold, so he didn’t mind spending a few hundred to improve Battle Fervour’s gear. With a much beefier main tank, they would be able to challenge even stronger Elites and Lords, ensuring that their profits wouldn’t merely stop at 700 gold!

Sleepy Fox could actually afford such a steep price? Nie Yan suddenly had the idea of allowing Holy Empire to pay for his powerlevelling expenditures! How could he not go through with a deal as sweet as this?

Sleepy Fox looked at Nie Yan and asked, "So do you have another set?”

Nie Yan shrugged his shoulders. "I was only joking. Do you think I can just pull another full set out of nowhere?”

"…” Sleepy Fox was speechless. Nie Yan was just toying with him?

Nie Yan took back the offer right after whetting Sleepy Fox’s desire.

Sleepy Fox could clearly tell Nie Yan was holding out for a higher offer. However, he couldn’t beg Nie Yan to just sell the Everlasting Silver Set to him, and Holy Empire wasn’t really in a position to be spending 700 gold either; he only had about 900 gold available to him. It seemed the matter of buying the Everlasting Silver Set would have to wait until after he seized the stronghold, when the guild’s financial stability was secured. Besides, Battle Fervour was only Level 26 right now. He was still a long ways off from Level 30.

"Let’s talk about the upcoming stronghold battle.” Sleepy Fox changed the subject.

This cunning fox… Nie Yan thought. However, he wasn’t worried. When Sleepy Fox wanted to buy the Everlasting Silver Set, he would naturally send a whisper. At that time, they could decide which one of them could endure the longest.

"I’ll let my subordinates test out the skills of the players from your guild,” Sleepy Fox said. This matter was directly related to the outcome of the stronghold battle. He couldn’t be careless.

"Follow me, then,” Nie Yan replied.

Everyone walked over to the spectator seating area.

As Sleepy Fox and the other Holy Empire players followed behind, Battle Fervour whispered near his ear, "They have some really strong players.”

"How do you know?” Sleepy Fox asked.

"I’m acquainted with a few of them. You know that Fighter with the Everlasting Silver Set from earlier? His name is Resplendent Bladelight.” Battle Fervour couldn’t help but recall some past events.

"Who’s stronger? You or him?”

"We’re roughly the same in terms of skill. But if we were to truly compare, then I’m probably slightly weaker. With his current level and gear, I’m definitely not his match,” Battle Fervour said with a wry smile.

Sleepy Fox was taken aback. Very few Warriors in Calore were capable of rivalling Battle Fervour. As for those who could make Battle Fervour himself acknowledge his inferiority in skill, there were even fewer; perhaps, the only such person was Resplendent Bladelight.

"You see that girl walking beside Bladelight? She’s called One Strike Vow. She’s a very strong Thief player. I nearly died to her once. I didn’t expect her to join Asskickers United,” Battle Fervour said. As he looked over the crowd ahead, to his amazement, he found there were many more familiar faces.

It appeared Asskickers United was truly the gathering place of the strong!

Suffice to say, Undying Scoundrel, Blowhard Summer Bug, Blue Yarn Thread, Monochrome, Edgeless, and the others who took part in the Kiln Fire Woods operation didn’t need introductions.

Just what sort of influence did the guild leader of Asskickers United have to be capable of gathering so many top-notch players?

Would he still have boasted so confidently if he didn’t have so many strong players by his side? Sleepy Fox mused. However, he couldn’t help but feel unwilling at the thought of having to concede a 30% share of the stronghold. Nevertheless, he would let his subordinates test the players of Asskickers United first.

Standing beside Nie Yan, Bladelight said, "Want me to go up?”

"Of course! If we give them a huge shock, we can sell off the spare Everlasting Silver Set!” Nie Yan laughed. Even at the peak of its price in the previous timeline, the Everlasting Silver Set didn’t sell for more than a little over 100 gold. Later on, its price fell down to 40 gold. After all, its drop rate couldn’t really be considered low. Many Level 40 players could grind out a full set in five or six days. However, since even the vast majority of the top players in the game were currently below Level 30, there was basically no one capable of levelling in Everlasting City. This was why the Everlasting Silver Set appeared so precious.

Since they could obtain one to two Everlasting Silver Sets after a day of grinding Mechanical Golems with Basic Magic Bombs, selling off one or two of them was extremely cost efficient. The profit could then be used to fund more powerlevelling trips for other guild members.

Bladelight couldn’t help but admire Nie Yan’s cunning.

"I can handle seven Holy Empire players by myself. Even ten won’t be a problem,” Bladelight said in a confident tone. He was already Level 30, while the players on the other side were only around Level 25. Add this to his frightening defense, magic resistance, and health, along with his Rank 6 Shield, even if he stood out in the open and allowed the Mages from Holy Empire to freely hit him, it would still take them at least two minutes to shave away all his health.

"Why not ten then?” Nie Yan chuckled. He had full faith in Bladelight. Beyond that, he had a very devious idea. One versus ten, even if they lost, it wouldn’t be considered a humiliation.

"Alright, I’ll try my best. It shouldn’t be a problem,” Bladelight replied. He wasn’t the boastful type. He would only say such words if he had a card up his sleeve.

Chapter 221 – Strength Of The Bull

Nie Yan and Sleepy Fox headed up to the viewing balcony along with their experts, while the players streamed into the arena below. They would fight however they wished to. An endless string of one-on-one bouts of single combat would end up taking forever, and there was plenty of space available in the open area. It made more sense to have everyone fight in whatever way they deemed appropriate, be it single or group combat.

Nie Yan and Sleepy Fox chatted as they watched the fighting below.

Nie Yan had given Resplendent Bladelight a Level 30 Gold one-handed sword with a life-steal property, one that Tang Yao had just recently obtained while grinding. Although Bladelight’s attack power wasn’t as overwhelming as his defense or enough for him, it was considered one of the highest in the game. Especially after factoring in the fact that he was four or five levels higher than his opponents, every slash from his sword would end up dealing massive damage. It was a shame that Nie Yan couldn’t trade the Chapter of Courage around and lend it to Resplendent Bladelight. With the Chapter of Courage, he’d be able to toy with these players from Holy Empire.

Nie Yan continued his idle conversation with Sleepy Fox for a short time before finally suggesting, "How about we have Resplendent Bladelight spar with your people for a bit?”

An awkward expression flitted across Sleepy Fox’s face before he protested, "Nie Yan, are you trying to bully us? Just look at Bladelight’s level! And his equipment! You want my subordinates to line up and die?”

"How about you send out ten players against him?” Nie Yan countered. Bladelight would be hard-pressed in this battle. Nie Yan didn’t know if Bladelight could actually defeat ten elites from Holy Empire.

Sleepy Fox started before asking, "You want him to fight in a 10 vs.1 battle?” Is it even possible? In this arena, with such limited space, no player of any class should be able to take out ten other players around their level. This Resplendent Bladelight is only a Level 30 Fighter, not some Level 40 or 50 monstrosity.

"He loses neither equipment nor experience from dying in the arena, so why not?” Nie Yan said as he laughed. Despite his confidence in Bladelight’s ability, it wouldn’t be proper to brag excessively.

Sleepy Fox stared oddly at Nie Yan for quite some time. After realizing that the other was actually serious about this, he nodded in consent, "Alright.”

Sleepy Fox began picking out a few of his subordinates. Eternal Phoenix and Battle Fervor obviously couldn’t go up, because sending his best to participate in a 10 vs. 1 fight would be a sign of weakness. Everyone else was roughly on the same skill level, so he casually chose ten of the stronger players at his disposal.

Ten players from Holy Empire, five Berserkers and five Mages, made their way into the arena after Sleepy Fox called them out. The classes of the players he picked were all solo-focused, deliberately choosing not to put a support class like a Priest into the group. After all, this was the arena! Sending a group of ten players that included a Priest just to deal with a single person was beyond bullying. That would absolutely be a team capable of fighting bosses in the wild! A team composed of five Berserkers and five Mages would be more than enough to make Resplendent Bladelight suffer.

The ten players, on the other hand, thought their leader sent them out to engage in battle with an opposing team, so they began preparing accordingly.

Nie Yan said to Bladelight, "They’re already in place. You should go over too.”

Resplendent Bladelight nodded and started walking. As the Holy Empire players saw him making a move, their hearts all tightened. They were all painfully aware that none of them could beat him in a duel.

Here, in this arena, Bladelight was invincible! He stood tall, towering over the area in a sturdy-looking suit of metallic armor, a gleaming Silver shield on his left arm and a glimmering Gold sword held aloft in his right hand. He radiated an aura of oppressive domination. No one knew who his opponent would be.

"Boss Bladelight went up!”

Several of the players from Asskickers United let out pent-up sighs of longing that couldn’t be held back anymore as they watched him. Resplendent Bladelight, in his Everlasting Set, was truly unmatchable, and this was only the Everlasting Silver Set. If they could get their hands on, and equip, the Gold set or even the Dark Gold version that would be a dream come true!

Unfortunately, the set Resplendent Bladelight was wearing wasn’t completely in its final form. If he could socket a bunch of good gems into the armor, Resplendent Bladelight’s stats would significantly increase. Bladelight gallantly threw himself into the arena, bounding over the enclosure and directly opposite to the ten players in the battlegrounds.

Seeing that Bladelight was now looking intently at them, the ten Holy Empire players tensed up. If the first player to enter was this powerful, how could they possibly stand a chance in this team fight? However, even after waiting for a while, no one else looked like they were coming up. The players from Holy Empire couldn’t help but look at each other doubtfully.

Sleepy Fox looked at the players he had picked. In line were Ruined Maple, Reflected Crane, Windswept Clouds, and several other players. Although they weren’t the top elites of Holy Empire, they were still excellent players.

"You may begin,” Sleepy Fox proclaimed. He really did want to see just how strong Resplendent Bladelight was.

Just him alone? The ten Holy Empire elites were stunned. Even if he’s ridiculously overpowered, that shouldn’t be enough to take on all ten of us, right?

With a full ten players on one side and only a lone powerhouse on the other, this unbelievable matchup suddenly drew the attention of everyone else. An almost incomprehensible line had just been uttered. Resplendent Bladelight was going to fight one on ten?

"Begin,” Bladelight repeated. His deep voice caused his words to carry a majestic air.

After seeing that Resplendent Bladelight actually intended to fight the ten of them on his own, the Holy Empire players looked at each other and split up, surrounding him from all sides.

"Out of respect for your prowess, we won’t hold back,” warned Reflected Crane. Although it was a stretch for a peak expert like Resplendent Bladelight to take on ten players at once, it wouldn’t be much of a problem for him to take out four or five of them.

"Whatever you have, throw it at me. Let’s start!” Bladelight answered them by raising his sizeable sword.

Charge!

Opening the fight with a Charge, Bladelight blitzed towards one of his opponents. He needed to take out a couple of his opponents as quickly as he could to weaken his opponents from the onset. After all, health potions and other such consumables were unusable in the arena. His opponents could potentially fight him into a stalemate and slowly chip his health down to zero.

Seeing that Resplendent Bladelight was charging towards him, the Berserker Ruined Maple let out his own battle cry as he also rushed forward.

The other four Berserkers moved around Bladelight, working together to flank him. They moved into a classic combat formation, composed of five Berserkers in a circle of slaughter.

Bladelight himself also understood the ramifications of being surrounded by a circle of Berserkers. Once he was caught in their attacks, he would be headed straight to his death!

Shield Bash!

Resplendent Bladelight roared as he suddenly used another skill. Holding his heavy shield in front of him, he rammed forward like a heavy tank.

Ruined Maple hadn’t expected Bladelight to suddenly cancel his Charge and activate Shield Bash. Unfortunately, it was already too late to react. The sturdy shield was about to slam into him. As shields had a blocking property, he knew that his attack wouldn’t do anything. Instead, he hastily tried to move his sword into a defensive position. Before he could, however, the shield smashed into his body with a crash. Ruined Maple was sent flying by the enormous force.

The four Berserkers had been late by just a step, but Bladelight had already escaped their encirclement. Instead, he rushed straight for the Mages behind, locking in on an Arcane Mage.

Each of the Mages produced flashes of light as they cast spell after spell. Every single one was a crowd control spell.

Repel!

The Arcane Mage quickly cast a Repel, trying to stop Bladelight’s onslaught. With a wave of his staff, he began casting the spell. Unfortunately, Bladelight was able to read the gestures and predict what spell was coming.

Strength of the Bull!

Bladelight’s muscles bulged out explosively, and his aura began to rapidly climb. With domineering momentum, he ignored the effects of Repel and rammed into the Arcane Mage. After activating Strength of the Bull, he wouldn’t have to fear mind magic, repels, and binds, and the effects of all Elementalist crowd control spells would be greatly reduced.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」A hail of icicles fell from the sky and covered Bladelight in a layer of frost.

Although Bladelight was somewhat slowed, he was still able to rely on his unparalleled strength to break free of the ice with a Charge.

That Arcane Mage didn’t expect Bladelight to be able to predict his Repel in advance just from the movement of his staff and counter by activating Strength of the Bull.

Bladelight’s charging speed was quite fast. It basically gave him no time to react.

The Arcane Mage raised his feet in preparation to run. He waved his staff and was just about to buff himself with Gale to make a quick retreat.

However, Bladelight let out an angry roar and slashed down on the Arcane Mage with Tendon Break, incapacitating him. A damage value displaying over 300 floated up above the Arcane Mage’s head.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Several spells bombarded Bladelight’s body. A string of 30s floated up above his head. Some of the spells barely dealt a little over 20 damage.

"Shit! Why are we doing so little damage!?”

These Mages from Holy Empire didn’t expect themselves to deal so little damage. Compared to the single slash from Bladelight which dealt over 300 damage, it was practically like the difference between heaven and earth!

Bladelight endured the attacks of the four other Mages, and with a Divine Strike, he sent the Arcane Mage flying.

The Arcane Mage fell limply to the ground, never to get up again.

"One down!” Bladelight coldly announced. Without pause, he rushed toward another Mage.

A Berserker charged up from behind Bladelight, about to intercept him. In the next moment, it seemed the two were going to collide. However, Bladelight raised the heavy shield in his left hand, then lightly swept out with his left foot.

It was a trip!

The Berserker’s leg was hooked, but his body couldn’t stop the powerful momentum. Combined with the fact that he had missed his attack, he ended up falling to the ground with a loud crash and slid more than three meters.

After evading the Berserker, Bladelight activated a Charge of his own and rushed toward a nearby Mage.

Everyone was looking on with foolish expressions. Those who could proficiently use the trip action were very few. The trip Bladelight pulled off just a moment ago was practically perfect! Whether in timing or grasp of the opponent’s movements, he wasn’t lacking in any respect! In a short period of time, he was able to use a simple trip action to temporarily incapacitate the charging Berserker who had caught up to him by making the opponent take a heavy fall.

The players from Asskickers United below the stage erupted out into cheers and cried out with praise.

"Boss Bladelight is amazing!”

"Too awesome!”

One Strike Vow, who was among the crowd, had her eyes sparkling in splendor.

Even the players from Holy Empire next to them couldn’t help but let out sighs of admiration at Bladelight’s performance.

Bladelight let out an angry roar. Taking advantage of the remaining duration on Strength of the Bull, he charged up to a Holy Mage. Arriving in front of the opponent, he slashed down with his sword.

With decisive momentum, he weighed down with a pressure that was akin to the weight of Mt. Tai, leaving the Holy Mage unable to resist.

Chapter 222 – Rank 6 Shield

It was too late for the Holy Mage to defend. His several crowd control spells were all on cooldown. Even if they were up, they would be rendered useless by the effects of Strength of the Bull, just like the Sheep Transformation he had panic-cast a moment ago.

Bladelight had run high-difficulty dungeons for so long, so how could he not own a single gap closer? He possessed a myriad of skills, far more than even Nie Yan, not to mention many of them were obtained from clearing dungeons on Specialist. At the current stage of the game, he was tyrannical to the extreme, and his Strength far surpassed that of any other Warrior.

When players engaged in PvP, the outcome couldn’t be determined by simply comparing the technical abilities of the players. It depended on which side possessed the deeper foundation. For example, imagine a battle between two players at Level 30, where one player got to that level through the hunting of regular mobs, while the other through running countless dungeons on Specialist. Whether in terms of skills, gear, or stats, the former would be far outclassed by the latter. Even if both players were equal in technical ability, the second they crossed blades, the battle would be completely lopsided.

Nearly all the skills at Bladelight’s disposal carried the marks of various major dungeons; his Strength of the Bull for example was obtained from clearing Bovine Prairie on Specialist.

Bladelight struck the Holy Mage, then followed up with Flame Slash, sending the opponent collapsing to the ground. As a Warrior, he could deal serious damage to cloth-armoured opponents like Mages, as long as he could get close to them.

Two of the ten players from Holy Empire fell after barely setting foot into the arena. The eight remaining players couldn’t help but suck in a breath of cold air.

The Berserkers charged forward to surround Bladelight.

Shield Bash!

Bladelight slammed his greatshield into the chest of a Berserker, as the tyrannical power sent his opponent staggering back several steps. He activated Nimbleness of the Cheetah, giving himself an explosive burst of speed, then broke out of the encirclement with Sudden Assault.

Bladelight rushed toward a nearby Elementalist.

The Elementalist frantically buffed himself with Ice Armour, then raised his staff, about to cast Immobilize. But he had hardly voiced the first syllable when Bladelight entered his cast range…

Suppressing Roar!

Bladelight’s Suppressing Roar struck all the Elementalists, interrupting their spells mid-cast.

Nearly all of Bladelight’s skills were activated at pivotal moments in the battle; combined with his valiant defensive capabilities, he gave people a feeling of being untouchable.

As Bladelight closed in on the Elementalist, he activated Tempest Slash, unleashing a wild stream of sword light which pierced the opponent’s chest before sending him flying.

−563!

Instant kill!

Bladelight’s Tempest Slash was truly domineering without compare. At present, he was akin to an unshakeable deity!

"Three down,” Bladelight coolly announced, like a death sentence from King Yama.

Everyone was stunned by how easily the Elementalist died. Bladelight’s actions were simply too fast. From the moment he activated Nimbleness of the Cheetah and broke away from the encirclement of Berserkers to instantly killing the Elementalist with Tempest Slash, not more than three seconds had passed. How could anyone retaliate in such a short amount of time!?

Just as Bladelight killed the Elementalist, he spotted another Elementalist from the corner of his eye casting a spell. It was Immobilize!

Before the Elementalist chanted the last incantation syllable, Bladelight activated the Rank 6 Shield.

A brilliant barrier enveloped Bladelight, protecting his body from any and all outside attacks. Just as he was about to turn to face the Berserker who was rushing at him, his body turned stiff. He was struck by Immobilize! For the next five to six seconds, he wouldn’t be able to budge even an inch!

"He’s been immobilized! Quickly take him out!” shouted the Elementalist. It wasn’t easy for him to get off this crowd control spell. They couldn’t let this opportunity go to waste!

The Berserkers didn’t miss a beat. Charge! They rushed up to Bladelight.

Flame Slash!

Berserk Slash!

A concentrated barrage of attacks landed on Bladelight.「Thud! Thud! Thud!」Muffled sounds rang out as the immobilized Bladelight was continuously pushed back by the powerful strikes, while a shower of spells bombarded his body.

"Shit! We can’t break his defenses!” Ruined Maple cursed gloomily.

Tendon Break was useless against heavily armoured targets like Fighters, so the Berserkers could only rely on regular attacks.

Bladelight’s defenses were akin to an impregnable fortress. When layered on top of his formidable physical defense and magic resistance, the Rank 6 Shield was able to absorb a great amount of damage. For a moment, the players from Holy Empire had no choice but to watch on helplessly as their attacks barely did anything to him. They could only slowly chip away at his health.

Even though Bladelight’s health quickly fell below 80% under the concentrated onslaught of attacks, this wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy the players from Holy Empire. They were with seven after all, each of them throwing everything they had at the immobilized Bladelight. Yet they barely shaved off 20% of his health, how was this possible!?

At this moment, Sleepy Fox, who was watching the battle from the spectator stands, couldn’t help but stand up with an excited expression. He knew better than anyone just what a Fighter with high defense signified. It meant an unending flood of good equipment. In a short period of a time, the equipment of almost all of the guild’s elites would be raised by a tier.

"That shield is a set bonus from the Everlasting Silver Set?” Sleepy Fox asked. The effects of this shield were simply too amazing. It seemed he had still underestimated the properties of this equipment set.

Nie Yan also didn’t expect the Rank 6 Shield to be so formidable. Its persistent effects were impressive as well. "Yes, it’s the set bonus of the Everlasting Silver Set.”

"Sell me an Everlasting Silver Set. I’ll pay the 700 gold,” Sleepy Fox said in an earnest tone. At the current stage of the game, the value of the Everlasting Silver Set definitely exceeded 700 gold! If Radiant Sacred Flame or Victorious Return knew they could use 700 gold to obtain such a set, they would definitely pounce on the opportunity without the slightest hesitation. Of course, Nie Yan would never sell to them.

Bladelight was already ample proof of the Everlasting Silver Set’s worth.

"I don’t have another complete set at the moment, " Nie Yan replied. Even if Sleepy Fox was more patient, he still couldn’t gather a second set so soon. He understood that selling the Everlasting Silver Set to Holy Empire was worth it. If Holy Empire was at a disadvantageous position when they crossed swords with Radiant Sacred Flame and ended up defeated, then Asskickers United would bear the brunt of the combined power of Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return. By selling the Everlasting Silver Set to Holy Empire, he would be increasing their strength.

"It doesn’t matter if it takes a little while. As long as you can get me the set by the time Battle Fervour reaches Level 30, it’ll be fine,” Sleepy Fox said. Although 700 gold was a considerable sum, enough to severely hurt his wallet, when compared to the formidable defensive capabilities of the Everlasting Silver Set, it was still worth every coin. At worst, when Battle Fervour got to Level 30, they would have to hunt a few more Lords to earn back their expenses.

"Well, if you really want it. Give me a down payment of 300 gold first.” Nie Yan was unrelenting. If he could get 300 gold from Sleepy Fox, he would have even more money for the upcoming virtual property auction.

"You’re even going to bicker with me about this…?” Sleepy Fox asked in a dejected tone. Nie Yan was really too much of a miser!

"Even sworn brothers must cleanly settle their accounts. Do you want it or not? If you don’t hand over a down payment, then when the time comes, I don’t know if I’ll have an Everlasting Silver Set to sell to you. Aside from Bladelight, my guild has other Fighters that would want such a set,” Nie Yan said in an indifferent tone. He didn’t think Sleepy Fox was truly a Mr. Moneybags, even willing to hand over 700 gold. If he had known earlier, he would’ve raised the price a little higher. However, he couldn’t completely empty Sleepy Fox’s pockets. After all, they were still allies.

"Fine, let’s sign an agreement… you know, to avoid you robbing me of 300 gold,” Sleepy Fox relented. He gave Nie Yan an agreement to sign.

"If I can’t deliver an Everlasting Silver Set after five days, I’ll have to pay an additional penalty fee of 200 gold. You really are too sinister!” Nie Yan said after looking at the agreement. In other words, if he didn’t give the Everlasting Silver Set to Sleepy Fox, he would basically have to hand over 500 gold!

"We’ll both be in the same boat.” Sleepy Fox let out a sinister laugh.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. As long as he had the money, endlessly farming the Mechanical Golems with Basic Magic Bombs to gather an Everlasting Silver Set was very doable. After all, the drop rate of the set pieces was relatively high, not to mention they had already gathered a bunch of spare pieces. He signed the agreement without further hesitation. If there was money to be earned, he would be a fool not to take advantage of the opportunity.

At this moment, a new development occurred on the arena stage.

Bladelight regained control of his body by the time his health dropped down by about 40%.

Bladelight originally believed that after being struck by Immobilize, his health would fall by at least 60% when he regained control. Like this, he would still have a chance to make a comeback. He didn’t expect that after he regained control of his body, his health only fell by 37%. He was now even more confident in beating the remaining seven to win this battle.

Blind!

An Arcane Mage cast Blind on Bladelight, causing his vision to go dark.

However, with so much health remaining, what was there for Bladelight to fear!?

Although Bladelight was blinded, he could still sense the Berserkers beside him from their attacks. With a Whirlwind Slash, a string of damage values displaying over two hundred floated up above their heads.

It was the lifesteal property!

Bladelight instantly regained 5% of his health!

The surrounding Berserkers were dumbfounded. They had put in painstaking effort to shave away a bit of Bladelight’s health, only to have him regain a huge chunk of it with only one attack! Was he trying to drive them into bashing their heads into a wall and committing suicide!?

Suppressing Roar!

Knockback!

The Berserkers went ballistic. They frantically attacked Bladelight, slowly pushing him back. The powerful impact of their attacks nearly knocked him off balance.

Bladelight let out a ferocious roar. With a wide-arcing slash, he sent a Berserker flying outwards, then activated another Whirlwind Slash.

Punishing Blow!

Bladelight’s sword slash sent yet another Berserker flying.

Despite being blinded, Bladelight’s attacks were exceptionally accurate. After all, these Berserkers were all moving within melee distance of him, he could easily determine their positions.

「Bang! Bang!」Two Flame Bursts struck Bladelight and fiercely exploded on his body. The devastating power of the Flame Bursts pushed him back several steps.

However, although the two Flame Bursts had a huge visual impact, they only dealt a little over 30 damage each to Bladelight! It was barely a scratch!

Bladelight recovered his vision. Of the five Berserkers, four were on low health!

Chapter 223 – Complete Victory!

"It appears that I’ve underestimated my own defensive capabilities and the Rank 6 Shield,” Bladelight mused after glancing through his character information. It felt invigorating to have such formidable defense! He was practically a raid boss!

The Rank 6 Shield was teetering on the verge of collapse after bearing the brunt of the attacks of the players from Holy Empire for so long. It looked like it was moments away from shattering into pieces, but the outcome of this battle was already written in stone.

Bladelight was indomitable beyond compare! He stood unscathed, like an iron tower, despite the barrage of attacks he received. Seeing he still had over 60% of his health left, the several players still alive on the stage felt a profound sense of powerlessness rising up in their hearts. Dammit! This Fighter is way too tanky, isn’t he!?

「Bang! Bang!」Two Fireballs blasted Bladelight, sending a shower of embers flying everywhere. The Rank 6 Shield collapsed, shattering into countless fragments that dissolved into the air.

"His shield broke!” Ruined Maple exclaimed, believing they still had a chance at victory.

Although the three other Berserkers understood Ruined Maple’s excitement, they glanced at their remaining health which ranged between 300 to 400 points each. Even if they surrounded Bladelight, two hits from his Whirlwind Slash would finish them off with ease.

Bladelight’s damage was simply too ferocious. In contrast, the damage they dealt him was simply too pitiful. Even without the Rank 6 Shield, they could only deal 30 to 40 damage to him with each attack.

Being fully aware of this fact, who among the four of them still dared to approach Bladelight?

Bladelight took advantage of this moment of hesitation to chase down the last two remaining Mages. The Elementalist made a futile attempt at casting Repel, only for Bladelight to cut him down with two skills. The Arcane Mage also failed to escape his grasp. Bladelight incapacitated him with Tendon Break, then sent him flying with Flame Slash.

At last, Bladelight turned to the four remaining Berserkers. After a brief stare-down, they summoned up the courage to charge at him.

They activated all their skills while fiercely lunging at Bladelight.

Cleave!

Thunderous Blow!

Sword-light from the barrage of attacks flew all over the arena. The Berserkers, in an effort to pull themselves out of the perilous situation they found themselves in, ruthlessly hacked at Bladelight and forced him back step by step.

−39

−36

−35

…

A string of damage values floated up above Bladelight’s head as his health dropped at the speed of molasses.

Under the frantic attacks, every step Bladelight retreated was stable. His movements didn’t show the slightest trace of panic. With his formidable defense, he could disregard their attacks entirely.

Seizing an opening, Bladelight brandished his sword.

Whirlwind Slash!

Bladelight’s sword whirled through all four berserkers as damage values displaying over 200 floated up above their heads, leaving them with only a sliver of health away from death.

Bladelight activated Shield Bash and sent a Berserker flying. The berserker’s health dropped to zero mid-air, and by the time he fell on the ground, he was long dead.

Flame Slash!

Bladelight cut down another Berserker.

Of the initial ten, only two were left standing!

Frenzy Slash!

The sword aura emanating from Bladelight’s blade resembled a violent storm as he stabbed out at the two Berserkers in front of him, blasting them away.

With a little over half his health left, he stood tall over the corpses which littered the arena stage, evidence of the bitter struggle that occurred just moments ago.

A lot easier than I thought, Bladelight mused. He didn’t expect the Rank 6 Shield to absorb so much damage. What surprised him the most was that he still had 52% health remaining! Didn’t that mean he could’ve still taken on a few more opponents? This battle was a complete one-sided slaughter!

He had relied on his superior equipment and level to suppress them, but relying on such an advantage to slaughter players like chopping vegetables really did feel great!

Warriors were the most gear-reliant out of all the classes. No matter how skilled of a Warrior a player was, if their equipment was garbage, they were nothing but dregs. That being said, the equipment on a Warrior generally reflected the strength of the player. A good Warrior could absolutely rely on their skills to improve their gear quality.

The battle was over, and the audience was dumbstruck by Bladelight’s performance. What shocked them the most was that Bladelight still had over half his health remaining. This was astonishing! To win a 1 vs. 10 so easily, he was probably the only person who could pull off such a feat.

Bladelight’s defeat of the ten players from Holy Empire was further validation of the Everlasting Silver Set’s formidable properties. This ignited Sleepy Fox’s desire of obtaining this set more than ever. If he had a few more Fighters on Bladelight’s level, then the upcoming battle for the stronghold would be a cinch; Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return would have no choice but to step aside!

Sleepy Fox took a deep breath to calm down the shock in his heart. He finally said in a calm tone, "Let’s see your other players.”

Nie Yan shot a glance at Sleepy Fox. Don’t try and hide it from me. I know you’re not as calm as you’re pretending to be.

When Bladelight jumped off the arena stage, One Strike Vow walked up to meet him.

"Wow, nice equipment. Where did you get it?” One Strike Vow asked with a brilliant smile which left several of the surrounding players dazed.

Even Bladelight wasn’t immune to her charms. Rubbing his nose to hide his embarrassment, he said, "You’ll need to ask Nirvana Flame.”

At this moment, the ten Holy Empire players on the stage resurrected. Every one of them had bitter smiles.

Bladelight chatted with One Strike Vow for a while before walking up the spectator stands.

"You worked hard.” Nie Yan nodded to Bladelight.

Bladelight laughed, then sent a whisper,「It was a piece of cake.」

「If you say that out loud, you’ll enrage Sleepy Fox half to death.」Nie Yan chuckled. Killing a Fighter such as Bladelight required a special method. Many powerful crowd control spells were a must. He’d have to be locked down with crowd control while everyone bombarded him with attacks. It might require the participation of players, of classes such as the Shadow Priest or Paladin, who could do well in PvP and also heal.

In this battle, aside from showing off the might of his equipment, Bladelight displayed his formidable judgement. He had taken out a few of the Mages first so as to alleviate the pressure on him while he fought the Berserkers.

Even if it was Nie Yan, he could do nothing more than battle Bladelight to a draw. Bladelight’s defense was too solid. Taking him out would be no easy task. If a Thief met a Fighter such as Bladelight in the wilderness and still insisted on ambushing him, it was the perfect example of an idiot. The sensible thing to do was to just ignore each other and go their separate ways.

「What about the other matches?」Sleepy Fox asked Eternal Phoenix beside him.

Eternal Phoenix looked at the statistics and said,「There were over 70 matches in total. Most of our skilled players have fought.」

「And the results?」Sleepy Fox asked.

These conversations could only be done in chat. He certainly didn’t want Nie Yan hearing him.

「We’ve won 10 matches and lost over 60,」Eternal Phoenix said with a wry smile.

「Why is it so low?」 Sleepy Fox knitted his brows and asked in a grave tone. It must be understood that the players he brought with him today were the best Holy Empire had to offer!

「I don’t know… These guys are too strong!」Eternal Phoenix sighed. He didn’t know where this group of such powerful players popped up. He couldn’t help but praise them. Asskickers United was deserving of its name. It was full of asskickers!「Those players who appeared in Kiln Fire Woods still haven’t fought. Aside from them, One Strike Vow and a few others haven’t gone up either. Everyone on their side that has fought so far have no prior achievements that would’ve made them noteworthy.」

Sleepy Fox glanced at Nie Yan with a complicated expression. In a clash against Asskickers United’s elites, Holy Empire had suffered a complete and utter defeat! He somewhat envied Asskickers United. With such a powerful bunch of players, why worry about any major events? It was no wonder Victorious Return viewed them as their greatest rival!

Sleepy Fox thought of Asskickers United’s mysterious background. After considering the matter over and over again, he decided that no matter what happened later on, he would avoid becoming enemies with them at all costs. He felt such a thing was far more terrifying than offending both Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame.

It appeared that Holy Empire was far from being strong enough. Only by working on their own strength could they weather through future storms.

Eternal Phoenix, Undying Battle Fervour, and a few of the other best players still hadn’t acted. But even if they acted now, it would be meaningless.

Nie Yan was enjoying the battles. After a Berserker from Holy Empire defeated two Asskickers United players in a row, a Holy Mage from Asskickers United got up on the stage.

The Holy Mage’s face was vaguely familiar. Nie Yan felt he had seen it somewhere before in his past life.

"Who is he?” Nie Yan asked Young Seven standing beside him. He was more familiar with the other top players in the guild.

"His name is Fond of the Sunny South. He’s a strong Holy Mage, ranks in at least the top 20 of the guild,” Young Seven replied. He wasn’t too familiar with this person, but Sunny South’s skills still left somewhat of a deep impression on him, which was why he gave such an evaluation.

In a guild like Asskickers United where talented players were numerous, ranking in the top 20 was an amazing feat!

Fond of the Sunny South… Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel a little emotional. Sunny South was one of the players he had asked Guo Huai to scout. Later on, he didn’t know what the outcome of the recruitment was, nor did he bother to ask. In his past life, he had dueled Sunny South and suffered a crushing defeat. Just like him, Sunny South was also a step away from receiving the ultimate title for his class. The difference, however, was that while he had given up, Sunny South continued to diligently attack that final barrier. Later on, he heard Sunny South was successful in becoming a Sage, but the information wasn’t too reliable.

In the previous timeline, Sunny South was one of the few players who refused to join a team. He was a Mage who relied only on himself and slaughtered his way to the peak. According to rumours, he was a former member of Radiant Sacred Flame. But because the guild leader angered him, he cursed up a storm in the guild chat, and as a consequence, he was booted from the guild. From then on, he never joined any other guild. He even flatly turned down the generous offers of Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine

He dared to curse the guild leader in the guild chat. This guy has quite a reckless personality. Nie Yan’s mouth curved into a faint smile. If a guild member cursed me out, how would I react? He briefly pondered over the question before shaking his head. He’d probably deal with the person in a calm manner. If they made good points, he wouldn’t hesitate to admit his faults. After dying once, such matters had long since become trivial to him.

On the arena stage, Sunny South bombarded the Berserker with spell after spell, then activated Repel, temporarily holding the opponent at bay. After Repel wore off and the Berserker closed in, he cast Sheep Transformation, turning him into a sheep, and sped back several meters. Following several more exchanges, he concluded the match by blasting the Berserker to death.

"He’s strong. He’d have no problem entering the top 15 of the guild,” Nie Yan said. The guild leader of Radiant Sacred Flame must’ve bashed his head on a door to expel such a powerful player from the guild. But in this timeline, Sunny South was a member of Asskickers United.

Chapter 224 – Upcoming Storm

Even Nie Yan was surprised at the veritable sea of talents within Asskickers United. The names that he could remember from the previous timeline probably numbered around six or seven hundred. Since most of those players had not been recruited into major organizations yet, Nie Yan had Guo Huai send out invitations to them. After seeing the generous terms offered by Asskickers United, these players were one by one lured into the guild. This situation was the source of their complete victory.

Guo Huai thought these were all people who Nie Yan had interacted with before deciding to have him to recruit them. He hadn’t expected so many of them to be so talented. He could only sigh at Nie Yan’s amazing vision. He had no way of knowing about Nie Yan’s reincarnation. Of course, there were also those who seemed rather mediocre. Guo Huai suggested kicking these people out, but Nie Yan decided to allow them to stay.

Most of the talented players right now had played virtual reality games before to some degree. After starting Conviction, they showed high levels of skill right from the onset. Undying Scoundrel, Blowhard Summer Bug, and many of the other skilled elites were in this camp. Then there was another set of players, late bloomers, who only showed extreme talent in later stages of the game. For now, players like the Fighter Aristocratic Shadow, the beautiful Priestess Twinkling Snowfall, and many like them had not shown anything spectacular in the guild. Later on in the game, they would prove themselves to be capable players, rising up and bursting out with terrifying ferocity. For the time being, they were still learning more about the game one step at a time. Aware of the situation, it was only natural that Nie Yan did not dismiss them and instead provided them with excellent conditions to grow in. If they developed into powerhouses in the future, he would’ve made an amazing profit. If not, then at least he deprived a rival guild of a potential elite. Guo Huai would never be able to understand Nie Yan’s train of thought.

In the battles against each other, Asskickers United achieved many more victories than Holy Empire. Sleepy Fox eventually came to realize that Nie Yan’s words from earlier were not spoken in vain. If these players assisted in the upcoming battle for the Stronghold, they could take out at least five or six hundred players from Radiant Sacred Flame, if not many more. If that occurred, then Holy Empire would come out on top and win the battle for the Stronghold.

After thinking about it for a while, Sleepy Fox realized that giving up 30% of the stronghold’s profits in exchange for a much greater chance of winning the other 70% was a worthwhile tradeoff. After all, if they lost the entire stronghold to Radiant Sacred Flame, they would have nothing at all.

"Let’s sign the contract then!” Sleepy Fox decided, clenching his teeth.

Nie Yan smirked at this. If we win, we’d get a share in a stronghold’s profits even though we’re not a Level 5 guild. What could be better?

The two of them signed the contract, which went into effect and was enforced by the game’s system.

"I don’t think it’s necessary to let them continue with these battles any longer,” Nie Yan said, glancing at the guild members fighting below. It was clear that the players from Holy Empire were beaten, and unable to endure any longer. In all the battles that had occurred until now, the losses far outweighed their handful of victories.

Sleepy Fox was slightly embarrassed as he replied, "I think it’s best if we stop now.”

Nie Yan commanded all of the players from Asskickers United to end their battles and withdraw from the arena.

Since Sleepy Fox had agreed to purchase the Everlasting Silver Set, he felt there was no harm in continuing to bring guild members to Everlasting City to level. By allowing his guild members to gain a few more levels right before the battle for the Stronghold, they would have a better chance of victory. Nie Yan’s gaze fell on Resplendent Bladelight. He intended to fully socket every piece of Bladelight’s Everlasting Silver Set with Evasion Gems. After that, he was going to add a couple of Stat Amplification Gems to the Level 30 Gold one-handed sword. If he managed to find a powerful Enchanter, his plan for Bladelight would become that much better.

In addition to this, Nie Yan planned on raising Bladelight several levels higher. Once the battle for the Stronghold erupted and Resplendent Bladelight led the charge with his formidable defense, was there an enemy that could endure?

Powerful Fighters and Berserkers belonged in the heart of the battlefield, where the innate advantages of their class shined. Their role was to charge and break through the enemy line.

There was also Yi Yan to consider. He could have Yi Yan wear the Everlasting Silver Set before it was handed over to Holy Empire, if he managed to raise Yi Yan to level 30.

Nie Yan had an important task to complete before the battle for the Stronghold started, and that was to obtain the Chapter of Virtue. Once this was done, he wouldn’t be anxious about someone else obtaining it during the battle for the Stronghold.

Once the six Chapters were combined into the First Volume of the Book of Order, he had no idea what the properties would be for this Legendary item. No one in the previous timeline collected all of the Chapters, so Nie Yan couldn’t help but anticipate getting his hands on the treasured First Volume of the Book of Order. In this lifetime, Nie Yan put blood, sweat, and tears to finally seize five Chapters from the Book of Order. Now the final chapter was within his sights, off in the distant horizon.

Nie Yan and Sleepy Fox were chatting and planning out their next move, when suddenly, a series of notices started popping up in the guild window.

Aqua Smoke Stub has left the guild!

Cold Peak Absolute Blade has left the guild!

Wood Grace has left the guild!

Samsara Lord has left the guild!

…

Nie Yan’s face turned dark. It’s all players from the Withered Leaf gaming organization! Have they decided to renege on our contract with them? Do they not have any fear of us seeking reparations from them?

This was the first group ever to betray Asskickers United. If Nie Yan found out that they had sided with some other guild, he would definitely make them pay a heavy price! This matter concerned the dignity of Asskickers United, after all. With just the clauses from the contract, he could already make them suffer a severe consequence.

Puzzled by Nie Yan’s gloomy expression, Sleepy Fox asked, "What’s happened?”

Nie Yan said calmly, "Some things have happened within the guild. One moment please.”

Sleepy Fox nodded. He could somewhat guess what had happened within Asskickers United.

「Guo Huai, what’s going on?」Nie Yan messaged.

Guo Huai could feel the angry undercurrents in Nie Yan’s question, like thunder rumbling before a storm.「It’s very complicated. I’m still trying to pacify the rest of the guild right now. Withered Leaf’s withdrawal has a reason behind it. Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell you the whole story later.」He was evidently exhausted from trying to deal with the guild.

Nie Yan looked at the guild chat and was puzzled by what he saw. It was filled with members voicing their fervent support for Withered Leaf and Aqua Smoke Stub.

"Executive Guild Leader, we can’t ignore Withered Leaf’s plight! They’re our brothers too!”

"Yeah! Withered Leaf is full of our good brothers! They’ve brought us levelling with them so many times! People cannot repay kindness with evil. Even if I lose my equipment and drop a bunch of levels, we can’t stay out of this!

"Executive Guild Leader, you have to talk to the boss!”

Guo Huai posted in the guild chat, "Everyone, please, calm down. We’re still looking into what exactly happened. Don’t do anything rash! The guild will definitely not just let this matter go. I’m going to talk with Nirvana Flame. He will have the final say. Before then, anyone who quits the guild shouldn’t even think about coming back!”

Left with no other options, Guo Huai dropped the twin bombs of Nie Yan’s name and banishment from the guild. Only then did the guild members calm down enough to stop spamming the guild chat and wait for Nie Yan’s verdict.

「Guo Huai, tell me, what actually happened?」Nie Yan whispered. He still wasn’t sure about what was actually going on.

Guo Huai was already soaked with sweat. The mobbing guild members were really too hard to deal with.

「It’s like this: Withered Leaf and Azure Falling Sky had a conflict as a result of a previous grudge. Since they’re both major gaming organizations, they’re naturally rival competitors. This time, Azure Falling Sky killed a group of over fifty Withered Leaf players outside of Bovine Prairie, infuriating Aqua Smoke Stub. As you know, because the Azure Falling Sky guild was established by their parent gaming organization, they started off with over twenty thousand players. That could already be considered a formidable force in the game. Since Withered Leaf was temporarily part of Asskickers United, their status was rather sensitive. Aqua Smoke Stub was worried that if they got into a conflict with Azure Falling Sky, that would drag us into the mess and provoke an enemy we didn’t want. Part of their modus operandi is to not create any inconveniences for their customers, so Aqua Smoke Stub asked me to pass on a message to you. He said that this is Withered Leaf’s conflict and has nothing to do with Asskickers United. He also promised to pay us back for any losses that this event might cause. After this battle, they will rejoin our guild and continue the previous agreement. Before I had a chance to say anything, he’d already left the guild. I hear he’s already brought his people to attack Azure Falling Sky,」Guo Huai explained in a single breath. He was fully aware of how difficult it would be to resolve this matter, especially with the guild members’ attitudes. At Nie Yan’s request, Withered Leaf had often brought Asskickers United players with them on levelling parties. The guild members were more than a little grateful for their generosity. With Withered Leaf headed off to battle against Azure Falling Sky, many of them were so frenzied that they’d been spamming about leaving the guild instead of staying out of the fight.

Having explained the situation, Guo Huai asked,「So what do we do?」

「What else do we do? Gather the people! We’re going to eliminate Azure Falling Sky.」After hearing the entire story, Nie Yan didn’t hesitate at all.

Guo Huai was startled by Nie Yan’s lightning-fast reply. He hadn’t expected Nie Yan to come to a conclusion so quickly.「Azure Falling Sky has been neutral this whole time. With over twenty thousand players in their ranks, they count amongst the strongest of the second-tier guilds. Azure Falling Sky is one of the top gaming organizations in the country, and is in no way inferior to Withered Leaf. It might even be stronger than Withered Leaf! Do you think it’s really worth it for us to become enemies with such a powerful organization just for a single Withered Leaf?」

As the leaders of the guild, they had no choice but to consider things from the guild’s perspective and make cost-benefit analyses. If Asskickers United meddled in the fight between Withered Leaf and Azure Falling Sky, that would be the same as pushing the latter into the enemy camp.

Withered Leaf withdrew from the guild, thereby severing the relationship of both parties, so Asskickers United wouldn’t have to get embroiled in this matter. This was part of their ethics as professionals.

「This isn’t about whether it’s worth it or not. Before Withered Leaf joined Asskickers United, they could’ve been beaten like dogs by Azure Falling Sky, and I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid. But after Withered Leaf joined us, even if it was just a temporary contractual relationship, they became sworn brothers of our guild. They were attacked while part of our guild. Anyone who attacks the members of our Asskickers United, be it Azure Falling Sky, Radiant Sacred Flame, Victorious Return, or even our allies like Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, or Battle Crazed Alliance, we’ll retaliate in full force! Make no mistake! 」Nie Yan’s said in an unyielding tone.

Chapter 225 – Soaring Murderous Aura

Nie Yan normally didn’t have such a bad temper since it would negatively affect the way he dealt with affairs. But when something crossed his bottom line, he wasn’t willing to concede even a single step! And that was the people on his side should not be bullied! No exceptions!

「Tell the guild members to show their spirit! Show their might! If Azure Falling Sky kills ten of our own, then we’ll kill a hundred of them! If they kill a hundred of our own, we’ll massacre their entire guild!」Nie Yan declared as he brimmed with killing intent. He felt it was only proper for the people under him to show the guts of a bandit as well as a willingness to shed some blood. If they cowered at the smallest matters like a flock of timid sheep, then when trouble occurred for the guild or the guild leader, they would be the first to flee as soon as there were signs of something going wrong.

Not only that, but all the guild members were waiting on the answer of the executives. If Nie Yan abandoned Withered Leaf, leaving them to their fate, then who knows many players would decide to withdraw from the guild? Such a scenario would deal a huge blow to the morale of Asskickers United!

The executives of the guild could not cower back in fear!

Nie Yan had to show that the guild was willing to stick its neck out for its own; how else could he expect the guild members to give it their all in a time of crisis?

What was important? What was unimportant? It was a very easy choice to make.

So what if they offended Azure Falling Sky? By doing so, they could obtain the unwavering loyalty of Withered Leaf! It was definitely worth the trade-off!

「Although reason tells me that you’re being way too reckless, and that we can find a better way to settle this matter, I still fully support your decision. I’ll immediately start assembling our forces!」Guo Huai said before passing on Nie Yan’s words to the rest of the guild.

「Whoever attacks the members of our Asskickers United, no matter which guild, be it Azure Falling Sky, Radiant Sacred Flame, Victorious Return, or even our allies like Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, or Battle Crazed Alliance, we’ll retaliate in full force! Make no mistake! Show your spirit! Show your might! If Azure Falling Sky kills ten of our own, then we’ll kill a hundred of them. If they kill a hundred of our own, then we’ll massacre their entire guild!」

Nie Yan’s declaration immediately fired up the guild members. As though a single stone created a thousand waves, they erupted out into thunderous cheers. With a guild leader like this, even if they were killed back to Level 0, it would still be worth! No matter what the future had in store for them, even if it was outside the game, they could puff out their chests with their heads held high and tell everyone, "I belong to Asskickers United!”

「Long live the guild leader!」

「Screw those bastards! Let’s slaughter Azure Falling Sky!」

The guild chat exploded with a sense of camaraderie as morale grew to an all-time high. The guild members showed an unprecedented amount support for Nie Yan!

Guo Huai didn’t expect Nie Yan’s words to give rise to such a big reaction. He sensed the surging emotions of all the guild members. At this moment, these players were truly a part of the guild! Their hearts were completely swayed. From now on, they would share both the honour and the disgrace of Asskickers United!

Guo Huai clearly sensed the difference between before and after! He pondered over a question for a long time. Just what was he lacking compared to Nie Yan? And now he finally figured it out! It was precisely that unyielding attitude! Maybe only Nie Yan could be considered a genuine leader, since he was able to raise the morale of the entire guild!

If you were to liken Asskickers United to an army, then this army now had a mighty general to make up its soul!

As long as Nie Yan gave the word, these guild brothers would move mountains and create new seas! Wherever they pointed their spears, everything blocking their path would be swept clean!

They were linked together through the guild. They addressed each other as brother. They were all players of Asskickers United, and they grew even closer.

In this moment, Guo Huai felt that Nie Yan’s decision was correct! He started assembling the players under him and issuing out orders at a speed never seen before.

「Where are Aqua Smoke Stub and the rest of Withered Leaf right now?」Nie Yan asked. He needed to control the movements of Withered Leaf.

「They’re at Twilight Forest. Azure Falling Sky’s forces are there too. They’ve already killed over a hundred players from Azure Falling Sky. Both sides are still in the middle of a brawl. Almost 9,000 enemy players were spotted moving in their direction. I assume they want to wipe out Withered Leaf in one fell swoop,」Guo Huai informed. Azure Falling Sky had reacted faster than he imagined.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. Smoke Stub was probably being held up. He wasn’t foolish enough to wait for enemy reinforcements to arrive. If they were completely surrounded by Azure Falling Sky’s forces, they would no longer have the chance to escape!

「I’ll lead some people to Twilight Forest first. Gather up our forces as quickly as possible,」Nie Yan decided. Saving people was akin to putting out a fire. If they were late by even a single step, it would deal a huge blow to the morale of the rescuers.

All the Asskickers United players in the arena below gathered around Nie Yan in the spectator stands.

"Boss, what are we going to do?”

"Boss, let’s slaughter a path there!”

The players voiced their opinions one after another. All of them had been paying attention to the guild chat, so they knew what was going on. They too were impassioned by the sense of camaraderie.

Sleepy Fox evidently knew what had occurred in Asskickers United. He stared at Nie Yan with a complicated expression. Although large guilds like Holy Empire, Victorious Return, and Radiant Sacred Flame were enormous enough to inspire fear among the playerbase, how many of them possessed so many loyal players? How many of their members were just there to scrounge up some benefits, running away as soon as the going gets tough? These sorts of players comprised at least 90% of the large guilds!

Such circumstances weren’t at all rare for large guilds; you could even say they were extremely common. While with Asskickers United, to say the unity of their players was shocking would be an understatement. Nie Yan’s previous words suddenly had a profound impact on Sleepy Fox. Even down the road, Asskickers United won’t surpass 100,000 members!

If you equipped 100,000 players with the best gear, then you could move trek through the whole world unhindered!

There was a very appropriate saying, "A flock of sheep led by a lion can defeat a pride of lions led by a sheep!”

Only an unyielding general like Nie Yan could lead an army of invincible soldiers with heroic spirits that soared through the clouds!

"Do you want my help?” Sleepy Fox asked. Asskickers United and Holy Empire were already bound to the same ship. If one of them sank, so would the other.

"Yeah. If you can help me monitor the movements of Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame, it would be appreciated,” Nie Yan replied. He needed to guard against them taking advantage of the opportunity to come into play.

"No problem. You can leave it to me.” Sleepy Fox nodded.

Nie Yan’s eyes swept over the crowd of Asskickers United players. "Those of you who aren’t spineless cowards, follow me to Twilight Forest! We’re going to massacre Azure Falling Sky!”

"Massacre Azure Falling Sky!” the crowd roared together, their thundering voices ringing out across the entire arena.

This was only the thunder before the storm! This was their declaration of war on Azure Falling Sky!

The players from Holy Empire were flabbergasted by the sheer fighting spirit that erupted from Asskickers United, especially from Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, Blue Yarn Thread, and the others. They returned to the time when they were the very embodiment of the spirit of vengeance, when the nine of them followed Nie Yan out of the guild headquarters and painted the Kiln Fire Woods with the blood of every player in Unhindered. It was precisely during that battle that they proved the mettle of Asskickers United, and defeated both Unhindered and Victorious Return. They went through blood and fire together in that battle, watching each other’s backs, and sharing in the trials and tribulations.

A true sense of camaraderie that was forged through the heat of the battlefield!

Undying Scoundrel choked up as he stared at Nie Yan’s back, emotion overcoming him as he thought about Nie Yan’s declaration in the guild chat.

Over a hundred players from Asskickers United followed behind Nie Yan as he headed for the transfer area.

"Boss, what’s going on with them?” a Holy Empire player asked Sleepy Fox.

"There’s a bit of trouble over on their side. When Holy Empire goes through a crisis, I’ll be satisfied if you guys can even have half as much fighting spirit as them,” Sleepy Fox replied with a thoughtful expression. After thinking for a while, he decided that he also ought to find out for himself what allowed Nie Yan to receive such unwavering support from his guild members. Was it simply because of the name of the Mad Rogue? No, absolutely not!

"There’s some movement over on the side of Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame. What do we do?” Eternal Phoenix asked. He had just received a report from their spies.

Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return planted moles in Asskickers United. After becoming aware that Asskickers United was planning to go to war with Azure Falling Sky, they immediately started gathering their troops. With such a perfect opportunity in front of them, they absolutely wouldn’t let go of it easily.

"Mobilize all players in Holy Empire Level 20 or higher. We’re going to play with Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame for a while!” Sleepy Fox’s eyes flashed with a cold light. If Holy Empire’s mettle wasn’t as formidable as Asskickers United’s, then from today onwards, that would slowly begin to change!

Eternal Phoenix discovered that Sleepy Fox had suddenly gone through a drastic change. After a long time, he earnestly nodded his head. "I’ll immediately start convening our brothers!”

Holy Empire was like a giant machine as it rapidly went into full gear.

Nie Yan and over a hundred players teleported to Link Town, then set out to Twilight Forest with their fastest speed. No one knew what the situation was like over on Smoke Stub’s side, or how much longer he could hold on for. However, the strength of Withered Leaf wasn’t to be underestimated. It wouldn’t be so simple for Azure Falling Sky to wipe them out in a short amount of time.

Countless Asskickers United players assembled from all directions to Link Town. From several thousand to tens of thousands, they were all led by Tang Yao. After withdrawing the Energized Crystal Fragments from the treasury, he had already resurrected his Arcane Fairy. Right now, he was even more full of spirit. He was hollering that they would massacre Azure Falling Sky until not even a single piece of the enemy’s equipment remained

Numerous groups of Asskickers United players clad in high-quality equipment emerged in Link Town. Afterwards, they assembled outside of the town, causing the bystanders to feel the tense atmosphere of an approaching war.

"What’s going on?”

"I heard some players from Asskickers United were killed by Azure Falling Sky, so Asskickers United is gathering and planning to massacre Azure Falling Sky in retaliation!”

"Azure Falling Sky is finished!”

Nearly all of the several major battles that occurred in Calore had to do with Asskickers United, from the battle that occurred outside of Black Flame Forest to the absolute massacre of Unhindered and Victorious Return in Kiln Fire Woods. No matter how strong Azure Falling Sky was, could they match Victorious Return? This time, they were very likely going to be wiped out by Asskickers United.

Asskickers United should not be provoked!

Chapter 226 – Berserk Power

As the sun set, Twilight Forest would go through a long period of twilight during which a large number of Level 80 ghosts would spawn. At this point in the game, these ghosts were completely undefeatable. Because of their power, no one ever dared to linger in Twilight Forest when the sun was down, giving it its name.

Despite the danger of Twilight forest at night, it was very safe in the daytime. Only Level 25 monsters would spawn under the sun.

A crowd of over five hundred Azure Falling Sky players were busily farming mobs in Twilight Forest. Most of them were around Level 25 and could be considered elites within the guild. Moreover, about a hundred of them were even stronger, being from the Azure Falling Sky gaming organization. Theoretically, such a large force of players farming in the wilds was completely safe. After all, only the major guilds would be able to do anything to their group.

Unfortunately, over five hundred Withered Leaf Gaming Organization players clad in full sets of Gold equipment were heading their way to show them what a massacre was. Like a massive metal monster, their group slammed into the mob of Azure Falling Sky players with incredible momentum and instantly took out almost a hundred enemies. Then, they proceeded to viciously slaughter the remaining enemies.

The remaining four hundred people, with the professional players in the lead, began to fight back against Aqua Smoke Stub’s force. Both sides continuously suffered casualties, but Azure Falling Sky had over a dozen times more losses than Withered Leaf.

The people of Withered Leaf demonstrated extremely coordinated teamwork. A squad of Thieves circled around to the back unnoticed and took out the Priests in an ambush. At the same time, the Warriors in the front lines once more charged with renewed ferocity as they were bathed in the holy light of Indomitable Will. Despite the best efforts of the enemy, the Azure Falling Sky players were pushed back again and again in retreat.

According to Aqua Smoke Stub’s plans, their first move would be to quickly wipe out this group of five hundred players. Then, they would immediately retreat from Twilight Forest and look for a place to clear their red names before once more looking for opportunities to take care of Azure Falling Sky.

However, just as they had killed around two hundred players, something completely unexpected happened.

The moment he heard the news, Azure Falling Sky’s leader, Clear Sky, had immediately notified his nearby subordinates to rush over in a rescue mission. He had been lucky, as over a thousand players had been grinding in the area and were close enough to help.

These people had originally been scattered in small teams ranging from five to fifteen players each. When Withered Leaf’s scouts first probed the area, they had ignored these small teams of players. After all, each group was just a small team and they couldn’t possibly go through the entire forest with a fine-tooth comb. However, even though they were split into small teams, there was a great number of Azure Falling Sky players spread across the map, and they kept flooding in to reinforce the group. As almost a thousand people amassed in the area, they were even able to hold off Aqua Smoke Stub’s attack, stopping his momentum and completely foiling his original plans.

More Azure Falling Sky players kept streaming into the battle with every passing second, which caused Aqua Smoke Stub to become increasingly anxious about the situation.

"Boss, there’s more and more of them! We’ve killed over five hundred of them but lost fifty of our own as well,” Cold Peak Absolute Blade said as he repelled an incoming Azure Falling Sky Berserker with a well-placed Cleave. The Berserker, struck by his powerful blow, was sent flying.

Aqua Smoke Stub calculated the time that had passed. If they stayed there for long, Azure Falling Sky’s main forces would arrive soon. Even though each member of their strike force was an elite who could take out multiple Azure Falling Sky players, they still weren’t enough to eliminate an unending tide of thousands of players on their own.

"We’re moving out! Everyone keep up!” Aqua Smoke Stub roared. He slammed into two enemies and knocked them flying with Charge. Then, he took a second two-handed greatsword out of his bag and activated Berserk Power. With this boosted strength, he wielded a greatsword in each hand as he fought.

Whirlwind Slash!

Swinging the two swords horizontally at the eight Berserkers surrounding him, he burst out with over five hundred damage to each.

This terrifying damage made them unable to do anything but look on in horror.

Aqua Smoke Stub stood tall, clad in an intimidating suit of spiked armor. Like a steel giant, he wielded the fearsome greatswords in his hands like one-handed swords, sending an opponent flying with each strike.

The Berserk Power skill allowed Aqua Smoke Stub’s strength to increase several times in one go. This skill was a set bonus from his War God’s Doctrine Set. A while back, five hundred people had gone together to explore the Level 30 Temple of the Dark God map, but he was the only one to come out alive with this extremely powerful set of armour as his reward. This set, which could be worn at Level 25, boasted absolutely incredible properties. Just the set bonus of Berserk Power was enough to make it extremely powerful. Berserk Power drastically increased Aqua Smoke Stub’s strength as well as allowing two-handed swords to be wielded with one hand. Other skills’ cooldowns would shortened, but his defense and health would be decreased by 30%. The skill lasted for five minutes and had a cooldown of two days.

The effects of this skill were shocking. A two-handed greatsword often had around 60% higher stats than a one-handed sword of the same level. As a warrior, he could add 50% of his secondary weapon’s attack to the weapon in his primary hand.

A greatsword in your dominant hand would automatically have massive attack. Once the 50% boost from an auxiliary weapon with similarly high attack was added to it, the primary weapon would rise to insane heights. No one would withstand such a ferocious attack!

With another Whirlwind Slash, another circle of sharp sword-lights flew out, causing another half dozen Berserkers and Fighters to collapse simultaneously.

There were already no Priests left in the back of Azure Falling Sky’s forces, and the scattered Priests that had arrived later were nowhere near enough.

Having taken down the Warriors in the front, Aqua Smoke Stub moved on to the Mages behind. Cutting his opponents down as if he were a merciless meat grinder, the Berserker looked to be completely undefeatable.

A barrage of spells rained down on Aqua Smoke Stub’s body, splattering around him in a multitude of colors. With both his health and defense decreased, his health points quickly approached zero. However, right when he was about to die, a ray of white light shined down on his body and restored his health. His health bar fluctuated heavily, and he even fell down to just a couple of health points a few times. Fortunately, the Priests were always able to save him and he was able to continue his onslaught.

"Die!” Smoke Stub boomed as he carved a line of blood through Azure Falling Sky’s Mages. The frail magic users fell to the ground one after another under his brutal offense.

Powerful Berserkers and even tanky Fighters couldn’t survive two hits from his greatswords, so these cloth-armored Mages naturally were decimated within seconds.

Corpses piled up like mountains as blood flowed like rivers.

Aqua Smoke Stub’s name was so red that anyone who looked at it would shiver in fear. Azure Falling Sky players watched in horror wherever he went, and some were even terrified to the point of pissing their pants. Those in his way scattered like flies lest they be cut down like so many before them.

Who could possibly fight this sword-swinging behemoth?

Cold Peak Absolute Blade simply followed in Smoke Stub’s wake like a third greatsword. Azure Falling Sky’s Mages also fell like dominoes under his attack.

"Boss, there’s even more of them coming now! There’s tons of players rushing over from both the East and the South!

"We charge to the North!” Aqua Smoke Stub checked his team roster again, only to see that dozens more of his subordinates had died. Smoke Stub’s heart clenched in pain at the loss, because each and every member of his attack force today was one of Withered Leaf Gaming Organization’s strongest elites. In a fit of rage, he had ignored the warnings from his managers and brought troops here to unleash a slaughter. Now, however, he wasn’t sure if he had made a fatal error.

After all, the gaming organization’s only purpose was to generate a profit for its parent company, not avenge the deaths of its players. However, those who had been slain by Azure Falling Sky outside Bovine Prairie were all brothers he interacted with on a daily basis. These people had been surrounded and killed by sheer force of numbers, partly because of carelessness. Those brothers who would lose money due to this incident were all coworkers with families to feed, so how could Smoke Stub possibly swallow his anger?

「Today’s matter was a result of my own reckless actions. I’ve led everyone into being surrounded. All of the losses of our brothers, I, Aqua Smoke Stub, will take sole responsibility for them!」Smoke Stub declared in the voice chat. The savings he had accumulated over the years should be enough to compensate these brothers for the losses they incurred.

「Boss! We followed you of our own free will! You don’t have to feel guilty. Us dying has nothing to do with you!」

「At worst, we’ll lose our bonuses. We dropped a few levels and our equipment, so what?!」

All of the players who had died spoke out one after another in the Withered Leaf group chat.

「Even if all of us have to die, we still have to get the boss out of here safely! His War God’s Doctrine Set absolutely cannot be dropped!」 Cold Peak shouted. With a Berserk Slash, he sent an enemy Berserker flying.

Who among them hadn’t gone through great hardships to finally obtain the gear they were currently equipped with?

If they died while branded with a red name, they would drop every single piece of equipment on their body. It was tantamount to their efforts being all for nought. If they lost all their equipment now, their earnings in the future would definitely be severely reduced.

Aqua Smoke Stub now regretted his own impulsiveness. He hadn’t gathered enough information and considered enough possibilities before taking action. He hadn’t expected there to be so many Azure Falling Sky players farming in nearby regions.

「Boss, there’s almost 9,000 Azure Falling Sky players headed your way! You better get out of there fast!」a player who had died and respawned back in town frantically shouted in the guild chat.

Aqua Smoke Stub felt a chill run down his back. He hadn’t expected Azure Falling Sky to assemble its forces so quickly. It could be seen that Clear Sky was very experienced in leading his guild.

「Brothers, we’re going to break out of here! Hurry up!」

Smoke Stub swung his greatswords and sent several Mages from Azure Falling Sky flying. When he looked at the forest edge in the distance, he saw a group of brightly armoured Azure Falling Sky players moving to surround them, completely cutting off all route of escape!

Leading them was the guild leader of Azure Falling Sky, Clear Sky!

Clear Sky had a tall stature that was not the slightest bit inferior to Smoke Stub. He was a Paladin, clad in bright, silver-white armour which emanated a faint radiance. When he spotted Smoke Stub, his countenance flashed with a hint of sinister cruelty.

The hatred between Clear Sky and Smoke Stub ran very deep.

Smoke Stub was actually one of the founders of Azure Falling Sky. He used to own a 30% stake in the gaming organization. However, something happened that caused the two people to part ways, with Smoke Stub bringing a whole bunch of people away from Azure Falling Sky and founding Withered Leaf, which would then receive the financial support of the Tuoba Family.

Later on, because the two gaming organizations were competing rivals in every popular virtual reality game, the animosity between them only further solidified and deepened.

When enemies met face to face, their eyes would blaze with hatred!

The appearance of Clear Sky’s group completely brought Withered Leaf’s powerful momentum to a halt.

"Shit! It’s Clear Sky!” Smoke Stub stared at Clear Sky. He was grasping the greatswords in his hands so tightly that the veins in his arms were exposed, and his eyes were bloodshot like an enraged lion.

"Boss! All of our escape routes have been cut off, and several of our Priests are running low on mana!” Samsara Lord, the main Priest responsible for healing, yelled. Azure Falling Sky players were streaming in from all directions.

In a while, almost 9,000 Azure Falling Sky players would arrive. When that time came, it would be certain calamity for Withered Leaf!

Chapter 227 – Killing Intent!

The enmity between Aqua Smoke Stub and Clear Sky started when several members of Azure Falling Sky wanted to transfer over to a different gaming organization. To Smoke Stub, this request couldn’t be any simpler. Moving between organizations was common in the industry. Everyone would part without any hard feelings, and things would be less awkward if they crossed paths again in the future. However, Clear Sky evidently didn’t share these feelings. He ruthlessly swore at those who wished to leave and threatened to break their legs. Even so, they still chose to withdraw from Azure Falling Sky, with Smoke Stub receiving information later on revealing that they really did end up coming to bodily harm.

This matter resulted in Smoke Stub feeling that Clear Sky was too ruthless. No longer wishing to be associated with a person like this, he led his brothers out of Azure Falling Sky and created Withered Leaf. However, the establishment of his own gaming organization was filled with numerous twists and turns. Many of the people under him were hounded and assaulted; one even had their leg broken and ended up hospitalized for nearly half a year. All of this was orchestrated by Azure Falling Sky.

Only then did Withered Leaf and Azure Falling Sky become irreconcilable enemies. For a long time, Withered Leaf couldn’t run their operations smoothly because of the constant meddling of Azure Falling Sky. It wasn’t until Withered Leaf accepted the investment of the Tuoba Family Financial Group that Azure Falling Sky backed off, fearing the influence of this backer. However, such protection came at a heavy price, as every last member of Withered Leaf entered what basically amounted to a slave contract with the Tuoba Family.

The amount of effort Smoke Stub and his brothers poured into the gaming organization all this time was nothing short of remarkable. It was the only reason Withered Leaf had achieved its current successes, carrying a slew of impressive accomplishments.

The struggle between Withered Leaf and Azure Falling Sky never ceased. Both gaming organizations were generally evenly matched across the various virtual reality games they fought in. However, the reason Withered Leaf currently found itself at a disadvantage laid in the fact that it didn’t establish a guild immediately upon entering Conviction, though that was through no fault of Smoke Stub. After all, Azure Falling Sky was an autonomous entity, while Withered Leaf was subsidiary of the Tuoba Family.

As Smoke Stub recalled the brother who had his leg broken, his expression turned ferocious like a vicious beast, wishing for nothing more than to tear Clear Sky apart.

"Tuoba Family dog, today, I’m going to have you die in front of me! I bet losing your cherished War God’s Doctrine Set will pain you dearly!” Clear Sky sinisterly chuckled.

"A debt of blood will be repaid in blood! Today’s hatred won’t be forgotten!” Smoke Stub gritted his teeth as he tightly gripped his greatswords. He calmly calculated the likelihood of killing Clear Sky if he were to rush up and attempt to behead him right now, only to discover to his disappointment it was basically impossible unless Clear Sky remained motionless, letting him move and act as he wished.

"Hmph! Before worrying about revenge, you better start thinking about how you’re going to explain yourself to the Tuoba Family. If they find out you lost the War God’s Doctrine Set, they might really drive you away. You’ll truly become a stray mongrel!”

「Cold Peak, Wood Grace, cover me!」Smoke Stub commanded through the voice chat in a heavy tone. He was preparing to take on Clear Sky!

「Boss, don’t be rash. I just received word that Asskickers United is rushing over to back us up.」 Cold Peak put his hand over Smoke Stub’s arm, making him lower his sword.

Asskickers United? What are they coming here for? Smoke Stub knitted his brows. From the perspective of a guild leader, in the best interest of the guild, it absolutely wasn’t necessary for Nie Yan to help out Withered Leaf. After all, their relationship was purely that of contractor and contractee, and the duration of the contract was only one month. Withered Leaf joining Asskickers United temporarily was merely for the sake of obtaining a prince title in the Union of Assassins, and to scout out the true strength of the guild.

Was it worthwhile making an enemy out of Azure Falling Sky for a collaborative partner like them? No, it wasn’t! You could even say it was needlessly reckless!

Smoke Stub didn’t expect Nie Yan to bring all of Asskickers United with him on his arrival, so much so that he didn’t hesitate to offend Azure Falling Sky. His heart was filled with complicated emotions, as a few subordinates shared the declaration Nie Yan made in the guild chat, as well as the outcry of support from the players of Asskickers United demanding that the guild help Withered Leaf.

Smoke Stub sighed. He never thought the players of Asskickers United would truly come to view Withered Leaf as brothers who they were willing to rescue no matter the cost!

It was like if you didn’t even consider a person a friend, but they treated you like a sworn brother!

Smoke Stub couldn’t help but feel ashamed.「Everyone, defend! Try to stay alive while our brothers from Asskickers United make their way over! Even though we’ve only been in the guild for several days, they’re willing to offend Azure Falling Sky to rescue us! We can’t let their efforts go to waste! From this day onward, all the players of Asskickers United are brothers of our Withered Leaf, and we’ll never do anything to make them enemies. If this oath is ever violated, may the heavens strike us down!」

「Yes!」The players of Withered Leaf roared in unison.

The over three hundred surviving players of Withered Leaf formed a wide circle as they resolutely defended against the barrage of attacks from Azure Falling Sky.

As more enemies gathered in the area, the shower of spells raining down from the sky intensified, causing the players of Withered Leaf to gradually fall one after the other.

"Boss, forces from Asskickers United are moving in our direction. There’s at least ten thousand of them!” a subordinate whispered into Clear Sky’s ear.

Clear Sky’s expression darkened. Wasn’t Withered Leaf simply hire labour for Asskickers United? Why were they willing to help them out? Could it be that the information he received was wrong?

The Tuoba Family declared long ago that Withered Leaf joining Asskickers United was business, and that Withered Leaf wouldn’t be participating in any guild wars!

Clear Sky swept his gaze over Smoke Stub and the other surviving Withered Leaf players. They had already formed a tight, defensive circle. They would definitely be able to hold out for a while.

If they dallied any longer, Asskickers United’s forces would arrive. If he let Smoke Stub go now, it would be next to impossible to get another chance as good as this in the future.

Clear Sky hardened his resolve, then shouted to the elites beside him, "Everyone, break their defensive formation. Annihilate Withered Leaf!”

Just as his voice fell, everyone felt a violent fluctuation of magical energy in the distance before spotting scorching, red clouds congregating in the sky. Before long, raging flames began raining down, battering the numerous players from Azure Falling Sky.

−207, −230…

Even though it wasn’t advanced magic, the spell still dealt astonishing damage. Soon, an empty section of space opened in the middle of the crowd of Azure Falling Sky players. Everything there was burned away!

Hordes of Asskickers United players rushed over from every direction. Several Warriors clad in full sets of Gold equipment charged straight out of the forest.

"Kill!” The players from Asskickers United let out thunderous battle cries. Resplendent Bladelight led the vanguard, enduring the impact of several hundred spells as he charged into the crowd of Mages. While his health fell bit by bit, a gentle radiance descended on him, restoring it back to full.

All the Mages from Azure Falling Sky paled with fright. Just where did such a perverse Fighter come from?

Bladelight attracted the attention of a great number of Mages. The Warriors behind him finally caught up, as they charged forward, sweeping away the enemy Mages.

Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, Miracle Dancer, and the other Mages from Asskickers United rained down a dense torrent of spells.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Explosions rang out across the Warriors from Azure Falling Sky. A blanket of damage numbers with sky high values rose up into the air, as enemy players began toppling to the ground.

Undying Scoundrel rubbed his nose with a cheerful smile. "Such a lively gathering, how could we be left out?”

The elites of Asskickers United carried out a one-sided slaughter on Azure Falling Sky. Swaths of enemy players were annihilated without the ability to resist in the slightest. In terms of cooperation and judgement, the players from Azure Falling Sky simply couldn’t hold a candle to the Asskickers United players who were as brave as tigers!

"Hey, Smoke Stub, you really are no fun. With such a lively party going on here, how could you not invite us brothers from Asskickers United?” Almost like a ghost, Nie Yan materialized beside Smoke Stub with a faint smile.

Clear Sky, who was about to charge over, suddenly felt his blood run cold at the sight of Nie Yan. How did this Thief get in here? His forces outside were still engaged in fierce combat. With so many of his subordinates locking down the area, the fact that this player still somehow snuck past them was astonishing!

This appearance… the Mad Rogue, Nirvana Flame!

All of the surrounding Azure Falling Sky players felt like a heavy blow was dealt to their hearts, as their faces tightened with fear.

When the name of the Mad Rogue was mentioned, what almost everyone recalled was that unrivalled strike in Kiln Fire Woods!

Nie Yan’s presence on the battlefield was an immense deterrent. As long as he acted, anyone that he wished dead would almost certainly die. That was what was the most frightening!

With regards to the struggle between Withered Leaf and Azure Falling Sky, Nie Yan was knowledgeable about the history, albeit not by much. However, based on how Smoke Stub and Clear Sky conducted themselves, he could easily distinguish between who was unscrupulous or principled.

Smoke Stub’s group also didn’t expect Nie Yan to appear. He really was like a specter.

Listening to Nie Yan’s teasing words, Smoke Stub replied with an apologetic smile, "I was wrong in this matter. When we get back, I’ll apologize again to our brothers in Asskickers United!”

Brother—what a warm and sentimental way of address! Smoke Stub couldn’t help feel this way.

"Well, it seems things blew up. Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, and Holy Empire are about to arrive as well. Who knows whether or not more guilds will join in. This matter isn’t simply between Withered Leaf and Azure Falling Sky anymore.” Nie Yan’s gaze fell on a Paladin clad in silver-white armour among the crowd of Azure Falling Sky players. His eyes narrowed, while his lips curved into a thin smile. "That’s Clear Sky, I presume?”

"Right, that’s him.” Smoke Stub nodded. His eyes flashed with a cold light like the tip of a sharp blade.

Nie Yan examined the equipment on Smoke Stub’s body. It’s only been a few days, but this guy’s already got himself a War God’s Doctrine Set. Hmmm? Even dual-wielding greatswords, not bad. Quite valiant, indeed.

"How much time do you have left on Berserk Power?” Nie Yan asked.

"About a minute,” Smoke Stub replied. He was a little confused. Why did Nie Yan suddenly ask such a question?

"That Clear Sky seems pretty full of himself. What say you and I kill him together? He’s quite an eyesore just standing there,” Nie Yan offered in a casual tone as he played with the dagger in his hand.

The Withered Leaf players felt their hearts tremble. Clear Sky was protected by so many people. Perhaps, only Nie Yan would dare to utter such bold words.

"Are you confident?” Smoked Stub stared at Nie Yan, his eyes reflecting the stirred emotions in his heart.

Was the Mad Rogue about to bring about another legend?

Nie Yan waved his hand, then laughed in a helpless manner. "Of course not! We Thieves have very weak attack power. A hit from my dagger will only help a Paladin scratch an itch at best. He’s too tanky!”

Smoke Stub immediately understood the meaning behind these words. Nie Yan wanted his assisstance in killing Clear Sky!

"Help me kill Clear Sky, and from today onward… you, Nirvana Flame, will be my sworn brother!” Smoke Stub declared in a solemn tone.

"Oh? I’m a bit saddened that you don’t already think of me as a brother. Don’t worry, though. I’m the type who’s used to unreciprocated love.”

Smoke Stub knew Nie Yan was simply playing a joke. He let out an embarrassed laugh. Right at this moment, Nie Yan’s figure disappeared, signalling that he was making his move. Smoke Stub tightly gripped the greatswords in his hands, while his eyes beamed with killing intent!

Chapter 228 – Killing Clear Sky

When they saw Nie Yan disappear, Clear Sky and his men felt their hearts tighten.

With his ability to hide under stealth, Nie Yan was undoubtedly worthy of his reputation. Trying to keep track of him was truly a difficult task. This was the Mad Rogue, after all! If he took action, he definitely wouldn’t fail!

"Everyone, attack!” Clear Sky roared. His men charged at their enemies, but he was still worried. Nie Yan’s abrupt disappearance left him rather unsettled. He couldn’t help but suspect that Nie Yan was coming after him.

Clear Sky had hundreds of Azure Falling Sky players in close formation around him, creating a solid line of defense. Plus, Clear Sky himself was in the densest part of this massive army. Even the Mad Rogue wouldn’t be able to threaten him here!

"Priests, Illuminate!”

"Paladins, Eyes of the Divine!”

The Azure Falling Sky players nervously called out for skills that would reveal a player in stealth. Rays of light pierced through various parts of the battlefield as they tried to locate Nie Yan.

Right there!

A Priest noticed an approaching silhouette five meters away from himself, but had no time to react. His comrades didn’t notice a thing as the shadow passed by him. He felt a dagger stabbing into his throat and reflexively jumped back in horror.

Terrified by the thought of having lost his life just now, the Priest instinctively grabbed at his throat, finding neither the dagger nor the blood he was expecting. His throat was fine. It was just his imagination fueled by fear. The dagger had swiped within centimeters of his throat as Nie Yan passed by.

Nie Yan had missed on purpose to scare him as he brushed past. Had he really attacked, then his stealth would’ve broken.

This intimidation tactic proved to be extremely effective. The Priest, despite having noticed him, didn’t dare to wantonly draw attention to Nie Yan. If the Mad Rogue was irked by him, he could die without ever seeing where the attack came from!

Nie Yan threaded through dozens of players in a blur. He flashed by so quickly that none of them even had the time to breath, much less attack. His speed reached frightening heights as he left the Azure Falling Sky elites he passed far behind.

This was the speed of a Shadow Dancer!

When one’s speed and evasion reached a certain point, they would form a certain resonance. By complementing each other perfectly, both would soar to even higher levels!

This was the ultimate manifestation of the system’s data. When an object was in movement, it could enter a state of resonance. The system used its unique method to simulate a virtual universe that closely resembled reality. The laws of physics within were all determined by its calculations. Gravitational acceleration, kinematics, the rules of magic, and even one’s strength, intelligence, and dexterity all followed the directives of the system. Additionally, it even defined an extremely rich history, the detailed Atlanta Continent, and the rest of the game’s universe. This was the mesmerizing world of Conviction.

When a player advanced into their ultimate class title, they would have an opportunity to comprehend the natural laws of this virtual world.

All these laws were manifested from immense amounts of data.

After comprehending these laws, you could utilize the virtual world’s data to bring about absolute power. Where a regular player might only be able to add two statistics to show off their powers, an ultimate class player could use a connection between the two in the laws in order to multiply those statistics. These multiplications would result in far greater results than mere additions could possibly achieve.

Different classes would unravel different mysteries. Warriors pursued the peak of strength, Mages sought the greatest magic resonance, Paladins prayed for the holy light, and Shadow Dancers moved toward ultimate speed.

An expert player had to calculate the most optimum method with data! Only by using data could you maximize your power!

This was the mystery Nie Yan had comprehended about Shadow Dancers!

Nie Yan, having sidestepped another line of Azure Falling Sky players, closed in on Clear Sky like a shadow. The feeling of speed transforming into more under the soles of his feet gave him a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment.

However, even after comprehending the skills of a Shadow Dancer, there were still higher mountains to climb.

Nie Yan recalled the videos he’d seen of Shadow Dancers running rampant in the past. One after another they flashed through his mind, their footsteps superimposing onto his own as he ran.

Such a thrilling feeling!

Nie Yan suddenly recalled a move the Shadow Dancers of the past liked to flaunt: Dance of Death!

While running swiftly, they would lighten their breathing and perfect their hiding. While the opponent was still completely unaware, they would strike from behind to deal massive damage! Just like the scythe of Death, quietly reaping the foe.

Nie Yan slowed down a little. Although he was no longer running at top speed, his movements became more erratic and evasive.

"He’s there! Stop him!”

A couple of Paladins saw a faint figure with their Eyes of the Divine. Activating Indomitable Will, they moved forward to intercept him. However, by the time they had taken their first few steps, they found they were no longer looking at their target.

By the time they charged over, he was long gone.

Nie Yan smirked to himself as he easily escaped the Paladins’ vision.

"Where’d he go?”

"I dunno.”

Clear Sky himself activated Eyes of the Divine as well. From the corner of his left eye, an indistinct blur registered about sixty meters. When he turned his head to look more closely, it was already gone. Having seen that Nie Yan still had to cross such a large distance layered with Priests and Paladins, Clear Sky looked away as his shoulders loosened a fraction.

Just as Clear Sky relaxed, one of his subordinates gave a startled shout from the right. A figure could be seen ramming through Azure Falling Sky players on his way towards him.

Aqua Smoke Stub’s eyes flashed murderously as he advanced with his twin greatswords in hand.

Whirlwind Slash!

Damage values exceeding five hundred blotted out the sky.

The swords murderously struck as Smoke Stub’s violent momentum slammed him into player after player. The Warriors struck by his greatswords were knocked back, afraid to come near him. None of them had enough health to tank another blow.

Behind him, Cold Peak Absolute Blade and Wood Grace cleaned up the stragglers without mercy. Blood splattered all over the place as the two of them finished off everyone in their path.

Ball after ball of fire fizzled out on Smoke Stub’s body, swiftly draining his health. However, the heals from behind came just as quickly, bathing him in rays of white light.

The matter of Smoke Stub’s survival was really just a race between Azure Falling Sky’s Mages and Withered Leaf’s Priests.

Withered Leaf’s Priests clearly held the lead. Their heals made the enemy’s spells look weak. A single Priest could cover the damage of three, sometimes even four Mages. Because of this, they managed to maintain a solid advantage.

Azure Falling Sky players parted like the Red Sea before Moses as they cleared out of Smoke Stub’s way. Anyone who tried to stop him got simply shredded!

Out of nowhere, a few Warriors wearing Gold armour sets held up Cold Peak. A barrage of spells blasted his health to smithereens while Withered Leaf’s Priests were all focused on Smoke Stub. They didn’t notice his plight until it was too late. He was blasted off his feet and crashed into the ground.

Cold Peak was one of Withered Leaf’s best players, as well as a good brother to Smoke Stub. Seeing his close friend die just like that, Smoke Stub became even more enraged.

Charge!

Smoke Stub smashed through another dozen people trying to surround him, continuing his onslaught.

"Boss, I got this group!” Wood Grace yelled as he rushed toward the next half dozen Gold-clad Warriors in a nigh-suicidal attack.

Clear Sky’s right there! Having just slaughtered a path through the heavy encirclement with incredible momentum, Smoke Stub sprinted the final stretch toward Clear Sky.

Seeing Smoke Stub in front of him, Clear Sky felt no fear whatsoever. He buffed himself with a few blessings, increasing his stats and greatly boosting his damage reduction. He raised his sword, ready to take on Smoke Stub.

"Clear Sky, go to hell!” Smoke Stub abruptly leapt into the air, slicing down with Cleave to produce a massive sword-light akin to a rainbow.

Clear Sky took a quick step back, raising his guard to block. If they clashed head-on, he knew that his strength would be on par with Smoke Stub’s. The other’s path of retreat had already been cut off, so if he could stall for just a little, Smoke Stub would be dead for sure.

Clear Sky had just readied himself to stop the attack when he felt a cold chill behind his back.

A certain person popped into his mind, Nirvana Flame!

How did Nie Yan avoid being revealed by so many Priests and Paladins? This was impossible, like something out of a legend!

If he was stunned from behind by Nie Yan, then received the full brunt of Smoke Stub’s ferocious attacks, he would undoubtedly die!

So it seemed the two of them had already planned things out. Under the protection of so many Azure Falling Sky players, Clear Sky believed he was safe. However, he never expected his subordinates to be powerless as Smoke Stub and Nie Yan easily broke through them and arrived in front of him.

"Mad Rogue, huh? Let’s see what you’ve got!” Clear Sky roared, giving himself another blessing, then striking out at Nie Yan with a Rending Blow while moving to evade Smoke Stub’s attack.

His movements were extremely quick!

Intimidate!

Intermediate Demon Hunter - Increase influence in all human nations by 12. Reduce the stats of every creature of darkness within 10 meters of the player by 20%
Intimidate: Inflicts the target with fear for 2 seconds.
Range: 3 meters
Deterrence: Disperse all monsters within the surrounding area for 10 minutes. Not valid if the monster's levels exceed the player's level by over 20.

Before Clear Sky could get off his skill, Nie Yan forcibly cancelled it by activating Intimidate.

Clear Sky halted in place, and at this critical moment, Smoke Stub’s Cleave landed on his body and sent him skidding backwards.

Just as the nearby Priest who was responsible for supporting Clear Sky raised his staff to cast a Heal, a silhouette appeared behind him. It was Nie Yan!

Nie Yan interrupted the casting of the spell with a kick, then struck out with Vital Strike, slashing open the Priest’s throat.

−556!

A damage value floated up above the Priest’s head before he collapsed to the ground.

Just as Clear Sky regained his footing from being hit by the Cleave, Smoke Stub rammed into him with a Charge and sent him staggering quite a few steps back. Thanks to Smoke Stub’s precise use of the skill, he was pushed exactly to where Nie Yan was standing.

Clear Sky, who was buffed with blessings, already had a health bar of over 1,000. Smoke Stub’s ferocious attacks had caused him to drop down to 300 health.

Normally, Clear Sky always had a dedicated Priest by his side, while the other Priests were tasked with healing the other Azure Falling Sky players. However, that Priest was just killed by Nie Yan. So when the other Priests realized Clear Sky’s health had fallen low, it was already too late.

Just as Clear Sky was about to cast a Lesser Heal on himself to buy himself some precious time for the other Priests to heal him, Nie Yan’s dagger cleanly cut across his throat.

−302!

Clear Sky’s pupils suddenly constricted with an incredulous look on his face. He never imagined Nie Yan would quietly emerge behind at this time and deal him a fatal blow.

Nie Yan and Smoke Stub’s teamwork was flawless. From the time Smoke Stub rammed into Clear Sky with Charge to Nie Yan delivering the finishing blow, only a few seconds had transpired. Many people had yet to process what just transpired. When everyone finally stopped what they were doing to look over, they saw Clear Sky’s corpse lying beside Nie Yan and Smoke Stub’s feet.

Chapter 229 – Meeting Of The Big Shots

Nie Yan and Smoke Stub’s actions plunged the Azure Falling Sky guild into chaos.

The Charge executed by Smoke Stub just a moment ago was perfect, whether in timing, power, or direction, as it delivered Clear Sky right to Nie Yan, who finished him off with a decisive blow from Cut Throat. The coordination between them was impeccable. If someone posted a video of this battle online, the final moments would inevitably become a classic.

Skill Book: Cut Throat
Requirements: Level 35
Description: Slash open the throat of a target from behind with an increased chance of a critical hit. Chance of dealing a fatal blow if the target is lower levelled than the user. Only effective against humanoid creatures.
Properties: Deal 130% damage. 20% chance of dealing 200% critical damage. 10% chance of dealing 300% critical damage.
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Restriction: Thief, can be learned by any faction.

"It was a pleasure fighting together,” Nie Yan said with a light smile before going back into stealth.

Smoke Stub also found battling alongside Nie Yan to be extremely enjoyable. With a wide smile on his face, he exclaimed, "Likewise!”

Both Cold Peak and Wood Grace had sacrificed their lives in order to give them the perfect opportunity to kill Clear Sky. A hint of sorrow emerged in Smoke Stub’s eyes, but he quickly regained his composure. This was a battlefield; he didn’t have any time to be wasting wallowing in grief. He charged back into the fray with his greatsword raised. It was time for Withered Leaf to strike back!

"Brothers of Withered Leaf, slaughter these bastards!” Smoke Stub roared. He was the living embodiment of the reaper’s scythe. Wherever he passed, heads would fall.

Nie Yan’s actions left people breathless as he materialized behind unsuspecting Priests, and killed them with lightning-fast efficiency before disappearing again like a phantom in the battlefield. Numerous players ended up dying by his hands.

The elites from Asskickers United broke through the enemy lines. Azure Falling Sky players dropped like flies while the survivors were slowly forced into retreat.

Undying Scoundrel unleashed a torrent of fire on a crowd of Azure Falling Sky players. As a blanket of damage numbers floated up into the sky, more than half the players were immediately annihilated.

Monochrome, Edgeless, and the others steamrolled through the enemies before joining up with Nie Yan and Smoke Stub’s group.

"Boss, we’re here!” Monochrome greeted. He as well as the others were branded with deep red names. It was evident they had killed many players along the way.

Nie Yan nodded. "How are our losses?”

"Only eight casualties so far, and we’ve retrieved all the equipment they dropped,” Edgeless replied. Such losses in a large-scale battle were very small, negligible even. Before they launched their assault, they had gone through careful preparation. With the protection of the Warriors and Paladins, Summer Bug, Undying Scoundrel, Miracle Dancer, Sunny South, and the other mages swept away the enemy with group magic. The results were excellent.

As a consequence, the kill counts of Summer Bug and the other Mages skyrocketed upwards.

By now, the guild leader of Azure Falling Sky, Clear Sky, resurrected in Calore. He had actually died to Smoke Stub. This was his greatest disgrace!

「I don’t care what it takes, I want Smoke Stub’s head!」Clear Sky roared. His eyes were bloodshot, and the veins on his forehead bulged out.

Clear Sky’s hatred for Smoke Stub was engraved into the core of his very being. Even though he knew the forces of Asskickers United were rushing over, he still chose to take the risk of eliminating Smoke Stub instead of retreating.

Clear Sky’s orders were carried out efficiently as the players under him quickly gathered together. Despite his explosive temper and callous nature, to the extent where every minor grievance had to be paid back manyfold, he was still a competent commander. His forces soon moved to surround Smoke Stub’s group.

There were almost 9,000 players from Azure Falling Sky altogether. Even if every last one of them had to be sacrificed, he would make certain that Smoke Stub died!

「Boss, at least 8,000 Azure Falling Sky players are moving in to surround us!」

「Boss, our Priests and Mages are running low on mana, and we’ve already gone through all of our mana-recovery items.」

Nie Yan listened to a litany of reports from various leaders commanding over the battlefield.

The battle was still in full swing. The forces from Asskickers United had already mowed down almost 800 players from Azure Falling Sky, but more and more kept pouring in to fill the gaps! When confronted with a seemingly endless wave of enemies, no matter how strong the elites of Asskickers United were, they couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of helplessness.

Nie Yan surveyed the surroundings and noted that the forest to the south was denser. If they could get there and hold out a little longer, Tang Yao’s forces would arrive to reinforce them.

「We’re moving south!」

Nie Yan led his group southward, cutting down any Azure Falling Sky player who stood in their path. After they arrived, the Warriors hunkered down between the trees, while the Priests and Paladins took turns providing support for them. The Mages separated into groups, alternating between firing spells at the enemy and sitting down to recover their mana.

The Azure Falling Sky players arrived like an unending tide, but Nie Yan’s forces firmly resisted and beat them back.

The flames of war enveloped the battlefield as magic rained down from the sky. Every now and then, a player from Withered Leaf or Asskickers United would collapse to the ground.

The hordes of players around them were all from Azure Falling Sky. They arrived wave after wave with no end in sight.

"I’m sorry for dragging you guys into this mess,” Smoke Stub said in a guilt-ridden tone. Every single member of Nie Yan’s group was branded with a red name, meaning they were barred from returning to Calore and effectively trapped here. If reinforcements didn’t arrive soon, they would be completely overwhelmed.

"Aren’t you treating us a bit too much like outsiders? Ask any of our brothers from Asskickers United. None of them blame you. Even though Withered Leaf hasn’t been a part of the guild for very long, you’re still our brothers through and through! When a brother is in trouble, with how much we value loyalty, how could we just heartlessly leave them to their fate?” Undying Scoundrel turned to Nie Yan and asked, "Isn’t that right, Boss?”

"Mhmm, right.” Nie Yan nodded with approval. Undying Scoundrel’s words were very sensible.

Smoke Stub was visibly moved as he gazed at the Asskickers United players around him. Saying anymore at this point would be meaningless. Withered Leaf wouldn’t fail to reciprocate the sincerity of these brothers.

"Boss Sparrow Hawk has already arrived at Twilight Forest with reinforcements! He’s going to be here very soon!” Summer Bug exclaimed after reading the guild chat.

Tang Yao’s forces were about to come to their rescue!

"Everyone, persevere! Reinforcements will be arriving soon!”

Withered Leaf still had over 200 members alive while Asskickers United still had over 70. Considering they had been holding off almost 9,000 enemies all this time, this was quite amazing.

"Boss Smoke Stub! We’re all out of mana!” Samsara Lord anxiously called out.

The attacks of the enemy Mages were too ferocious. For the sake of keeping the Warriors in the frontline alive, the Priests had burnt through all their mana. Because the healing couldn’t keep up, several Warriors died.

The onslaught of attacks from the Azure Falling Sky players was relentless. If Tang Yao’s reinforcements didn’t arrive within the next few minutes, there would be no one left to save.

At this moment, there was a huge disturbance among the Azure Falling Sky players.

Red clouds converged in the distance, followed immediately by a shower of meteors. With how quickly that magic was cast, likely the only person who could pull such a feat off was Tang Yao.

"Brothers! Kill!”

"Kill!”

Thunderous battle cries shook the air, as Tang Yao’s reinforcements surrounded and attacked the forces from Azure Falling Sky. In terms of individual player ability, no guild could match Asskickers United! Once the two sides clashed, a one-sided massacre began unfolding as Azure Falling Sky players collapsed in droves. Because they were surrounded on all sides, there was nowhere for them to escape.

While Twilight Forest was filled with the sound of battle, things on the outside weren’t so tranquil either. Over 60,000 players from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame had arrived outside of Twilight Forest. Just as they were about to storm the map, countless players silently emerged from the edge of the forest, ready to obstruct their advance.

It appeared Holy Empire was faster than them by a step at arriving in Twilight Forest.

These players from Holy Empire were well prepared. Groups of Warriors and Paladins blocked the gaps between the trees. Behind them were a great number of Priests and Mages. On top of this, they occupied the high ground. Even though Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return had greater numbers, it wouldn’t be easy for them to break through this blockade.

Sleepy Fox proudly stood atop a large protruding boulder.

As the players behind Sleepy Fox stared at the densely packed crowd of players from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame, they couldn’t help but feel their scalps turn a little numb.

"Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame have arrived. Those who are afraid can activate a Return Scroll right now. Holy Empire doesn’t need weaklings. As for the brothers who are willing to stay behind, I’ll reward you with 50 merit points for every bastard you kill from Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return. If you kill more than 10, I’ll allow you to enter the Holy Empire Knight Regiment! Today, we’ll show these Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame mongrels that 20,000 of us are enough to beat them back yelping with their tails tucked between their legs!” Sleepy Fox declared, full of bravado. He had learned a thing or two from Nie Yan. When trouble arrived on your doorstep, you had to be decisive. It was important not to show any weakness.

Sleepy Fox’s passionate speech stirred the spirits of the players from Holy Empire.

"Boss, these are your words. You can’t go back on them! What luck. I was just considering trying out for the Knight Regiment!” a Holy Empire player shouted.

Sleepy Fox jokingly scolded. "Since when have I failed to keep my word? Brat, I’ve remembered your name. If you can’t kill at least ten players, I’ll send you off on your way so you can repent to God himself!”

"W-w-wait! No, Boss, I was just joking! You might as well just dig a hole and bury me inside. I’d rather repent to you instead!” that player cried out in a panic.

The crowd burst into laughter. The previously heavy atmosphere lightened up quite a bit.

Sleepy Fox looked ahead and spotted two figures walking over to him. He was very familiar with these two individuals. The player wearing azure robes was Heaven Breaker, while the other player clad in violet armour was the guild leader of Radiant Sacred Flame, Nightbreak Trickster.

Nightbreak Trickster rarely showed his face to the outside world, so few people ever knew his whereabouts. Because of this, he was a mysterious figure in the eyes of all players. Very little was known about him, aside from what was publically available.

"The guild leaders of Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame have arrived. You guys stay put. I’ll go have a chat with them.” Sleepy Fox leapt off the boulder, then went over to meet Heaven Breaker and Nightbreak Trickster.

Damn! This son of a bitch is already Level 30! Sleepy Fox gloomily cursed after examining Nightbreak Trickster’s level.

This was the first time since Conviction’s release that the guild leaders of three major guilds met.

"I didn’t expect to see you here,” Heaven Breaker said. When he led his troops here, he never would’ve imagined Holy Empire would make a full-out effort to block their path.

"Oh? But I’ve already been waiting quite a while for the two of you to show up,” Sleepy Fox curtly said.

Sleepy Fox could be considered an old rival to Heaven Breaker and Nightbreak Trickster. Both of them were very familiar with his personality, so they were a little surprised when he acted so differently from his usual self. He was normally all smiles, handling all matters with a glib tongue. Even if he was upset, he would never reveal it on the surface.

The swords were already drawn on both sides.

Chapter 230 – Soaring Morale

Aside from the incident that occurred outside of Black Flame Forest, Holy Empire didn’t have any conflicting interests with Victorious Return. As for Radiant Sacred Flame, the war between them had already developed to the extent where both sides were willing to do whatever necessary to win, no matter the price.

Occupying a stronghold was equal to receiving the taxes of a small city. This was extremely critical to the growth of a guild.

Neither Holy Empire nor Radiant Sacred Flame were willing to back down!

Even the always low-key Nightbreak Trickster crawled out of the woodwork in preparation for the upcoming stronghold battle. And the biggest supporter on his side was his closest ally, Heaven Breaker. Although Victorious Return couldn’t participate in the stronghold battle because they weren’t yet a Level 5 guild, their strength couldn’t be looked over.

Since Radiant Sacred Flame required the assistance of Victorious Return to capture the stronghold, when Victorious Return wanted to cause Asskickers United some trouble this time, Radiant Sacred Flame would naturally follow. However, they didn’t expect Holy Empire to be a step ahead of them!

The smell of gunpowder floated in the air as soon as Sleepy Fox and Nightbreak Trickster locked gazes.

Holy Empire and Radiant Sacred Flame could be described as eternal foes, with numerous battles spread across various popular virtual reality games. So whenever they met, sparks would fly, emotions would run high, and conflict would be unavoidable.

"So what if you’re here? I’d like to see just how your 20,000 players can stop our force of over 60,000!” Nightbreak Trickers narrowed his eyes as his killing intent flared.

"Well, we’re right here. What are you waiting for? You’re free to try. Let’s see if you really can get through us!” Sleepy Fox coldly responded. So long as Holy Empire held steadfast at the border of Twilight Forest, let alone 60,000 players, he would even dare to clash against a force of 100,000!

In any large-scale battle, having a terrain advantage was extremely important. By having the high ground, the enemy’s ranged units would have a harder time hitting your forces. If there were natural obstacles such as boulders or trees, your forces could rely on them to take cover.

The trees in Twilight Forest were the best obstacles.

Nightbreak Trickster surveyed the topography up ahead. It was densely forested with large boulders scattered all around. Holy Empire players were positioned all along the forest edge. Even if he had a Mage cast advanced magic, it would have a very limited effect. The area was a natural stronghold. No wonder Sleepy Fox boasted such confidence.

Nonetheless, the combined forces of Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame were more than triple that of Holy Empire! With such an overwhelming advantage in numbers, if they coordinated their attacks well throughout the battle, they could nullify the opponent’s terrain advantage.

「What’s the situation in Twilight Forest?」Nightbreak Trickster asked Heaven Breaker through chat.

Heaven Breaker looked through the information provided by his subordinates.「Azure Falling Sky is collapsing. It’s a one-sided slaughter over there.」

「Asskickers United is that powerful?」Nightbreak Trickster asked in shock. Although Azure Falling Sky wasn’t a large guild, its members were not weak. According to his judgment, they should’ve had no problem holding out for a while. However, reality proved otherwise.

「The guild leader of Azure Falling Sky, Clear Sky, was sent to the graveyard early in the battle by Aqua Smoke Stub and Nirvana Flame. They’ve hidden themselves well. In every battle leading up to this one, they’ve never displayed their full fighting strength.」Heaven Breaker furrowed his brows. Logically, it was impossible for Clear Sky not to have people guarding his side, so how did Nie Yan and Smoke Stub make such quick work of him?

Heaven Breaker had a pensive look on his face as he recalled the scene of Nie Yan killing Hei Zhuo in Kiln Fire Woods. It seemed the main problem was still Nie Yan! It was just like when he reversed the situation in his battle with Yu Long. This Thief was too terrifying. You simply couldn’t let your guard down around him!

"Even if you had brought along more people, your journey would’ve still ended here. So you mangy mongrels, how about you save me the effort by scramming back home right now?” Sleepy Fox gave Heaven Breaker and Nightbreak Trickster a disdainful gaze. This was an obvious provocation to goad them into ordering their forces to attack. He was confident Holy Empire could hold firm at least for a short time. When Asskickers United cleaned up all the players from Azure Falling Sky, they would definitely rush over to provide assistance. From the information he received from Nie Yan, Asskickers United had brought over 30,000 players. If they combined forces, they wouldn’t be the slightest bit weaker than Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame. Furthermore, Sapphire Shrine was also on the move. When Fa Lan found out two powerhouses like Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return teamed up, he naturally understood the severity of the matter. Sapphire Shrine might be able to defend itself right now, but what about in the future?

"So what if you have the terrain advantage? You still won’t be able to stop us. Brothers of Radiant Sacred Flame, wipe out every last one of these fools from Holy Empire! Kill!” Nightbreak Trickster roared, as he commanded his troops to launch an assault. Before long, a group of 4,000 Warriors charged toward the area where Holy Empire’s defenses were the weakest. The Mages raised their staffs, which glowed with brilliant rays, as they began chanting spells.

Holy Empire didn’t stay motionless either. They held fast to their positions and began trading fire with Radiant Sacred Flame.

Magic exploded into the sky like a dazzling display of fireworks.

Since Radiant Sacred Flame had acted, Victorious Return naturally followed suit. The players Heaven Breaker commanded charged toward Holy Empire’s forces with overwhelming momentum.

The battle started off in a very one-sided manner as the forces of Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame drowned the players from Holy Empire with an unrelenting barrage of attacks.

However, Holy Empire remained unyielding, reinforcing their defenses everywhere as they withstood the assault.

The flames of battle erupted out with no signs of waning.

Back in Twilight Forest, Azure Falling Sky’s forces couldn’t endure the assault from the players of Asskickers United, especially Tang Yao who was sweeping through them with his frightening damage and cast speed. With a Meteor, he completely cleaned out a large area. Then with a Firestorm, he took out another several hundred players. He was wildly reaping the lives of the Azure Falling Sky players like harvesting wheat.

Nie Yan and the others also carried out a massacre. As they worked in concert, Azure Falling Sky players toppled wherever they passed.

Before long, the battle was over. Nie Yan, Smoke Stub, and the others were safe. This incident was the catalyst which allowed the bond between Asskickers United and Withered Leaf to grow much deeper. A sense of camaraderie was forged through the fires of the battlefield!

There were corpses piled up like small hills everywhere around Nie Yan and the others.

"How many casualties did we suffer?” Nie Yan asked Tang Yao. He noticed a few of the corpses lying on the ground belonged to the members of Asskickers United. He couldn’t help but feel his heart ache a little.

"Of the 30,000 members that arrived here with me, around 2,300 died,” Tang Yao replied. He felt the outcome of this battle was extremely good. They hadn’t even lost 10% of their total forces.

Nie Yan genuinely didn’t expect the guild to gather so many players in such a short time. Even major guilds like Radiant Sacred Flame or Victorious Return didn’t have such frightening rallying power.

"When we return, everyone will be rewarded 100 merit points, and the brothers who died today will receive triple that amount.”

Tang Yao looked over the list of equipment picked up from the battle. "After returning all the equipment our brothers dropped, we still have over 8,000 pieces of equipment remaining. Many of them have great properties too. Our treasury is going to explode!” He finally understood why people in ancient times loved to go to war. It was because the spoils of battle were great! It was the tactic of using battle to support battle. In a single battle, Asskickers United went from being nearly impoverished directly to being rich again! The guild’s resources suddenly became ample!

"We’re not finished yet. Holy Empire is currently in a battle with Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame. We have to hurry over; otherwise Holy Empire won’t last much longer!” Nie Yan said, allowing the members who were low on health and mana to rest in preparation for the next battle.

After a while, seeing that almost all of the players had fully recovered, Nie Yan shouted, ”Alright, everyone, get up! We’re going to slaughter Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame!”

Hearing Nie Yan’s words, the players had blank looks on their face. They were going to directly clash with Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame?

Not so long ago, Asskickers United was just a small guild while VIctorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame were frightening behemoths. Nearly half of all the players present were long-time members, and what they were proudest about was that they got to witness the incredible growth of the guild into a formidable powerhouse with their very own eyes. They received just as much respect, if not more than a player from any of the major guilds. This was because each of them was an elite selected out of the player base.

Not so long ago, Asskickers United suffered the suppression of Victorious Return. Even though there were countless casualties, they didn’t fight back, instead choosing to endure silently. It wasn’t until the incident in Kiln Fire Woods where Nie Yan’s group of ten humiliated Victorious Return and Unhindered that Asskickers United’s prestige spread out to all corners of the Viridian Empire. That battle earned them much honour and glory. Today, yet another guild—Azure Falling Sky—suffered a crushing defeat at their hands, with them discovering that the opponent couldn’t even withstand a single blow. Without anyone realizing, Asskickers United had grown into an unrivalled colossus!

Just a moment ago, when Nie Yan suddenly informed them they were going to slaughter Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame, everyone felt like they were in a dream. Within just a few weeks’ time, Asskickers United came to possess the strength to defeat these two major guilds!

However, at the same time, Nie Yan’s words also filled their hearts with bravado!

"Damn! What’s so amazing about Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame!?”

"Yeah, let’s massacre them!”

"Asskickers United is the best!”

The players from Asskickers United roared as their fighting spirits were ignited. After defeating Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame, they could freely walk around Calore with their heads held high! And those Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame players who previously jeered at them would shirk away in shame!

They would let every player in Calore know the strength of Asskickers United!

Seeing the fiery appearances of these guild members, Nie Yan nodded in approval with a faint smile. With such a formidable drive to do battle, who would fear Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame? No matter how many players arrived from their side, Asskickers United would slaughter them all!

"Let’s go!”

The large crowd of players moved toward the border of Twilight Forest, brimming with the desire to wipe out their enemies.

Chapter 231 – Taking Lives Like Reaping Wheat

Sleepy Fox soon felt the overwhelming pressure of Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame’s relentless assault. Wave after wave of their players threw themselves at Holy Empire’s defensive line as though there were no end to their numbers. Sleepy Fox could only look on helplessly as his people killed and killed only to see more opponents rushing forward.

"Heaven Breaker and Nightbreak Trickster! What the hell did those two maniacs promise their people? They’re just lining up to throw their lives away!” Sleepy Fox cursed vehemently.

One section after the other fell as Holy Empire’s defensive lines were overwhelmed by the crushing numbers.

Sleepy Fox immediately directed his reserve forces to fill in the gaps. With hundreds of players dying every minute, they were in drastic need of reinforcements. If Asskickers United’s troops didn’t arrive soon, Holy Empire would be wiped out.

Although their enemies’ attacks were fierce, Holy Empire’s players were also wantonly spilling blood. Disregarding the consequences, they stubbornly held their line as they fought back.

"Hmmph! Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return aren’t anything special after all. Even the two of them together can’t take us out!”

"Boss, I’ve killed 23 of them! I must have earned my way into the Knight Regiment now!”

"Brothers, stay strong! Let’s send Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return home crying to their mommies! Let’s see if those cowards still dare to look down on our Holy Empire after today!”

The majority of the players in Holy Empire, Radiant Sacred Flame, Victorious Return, and even Asskickers United weren’t really irreconcileable with each other. In fact, quite a few of them secretly had friends in rival guilds. After all, each person was their own master, and none of them would be foolish enough to treat guild rivalries as private grudges. That didn’t take away from their pride in their guilds. These people would share both glory and shame with their guilds. If their guild was strong, they would naturally look good as well.

The area outside Twilight Forest had long since become a chaotic battlefield, and the scope of the conflict was still growing.

Holy Empire, having held on for so long, was just about to fall when Asskickers United troops arrived. They circled around their enemy before beginning to slaughter their way through the opponents’ eastern flank.

"Brothers, attack! Massacre Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return!”

The 30,000 Asskickers United players surged in like a mountain-toppling tsunami, charging towards their enemies as howling war cries filled the skies.

The Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return players in the eastern portion of their army began feeling the ground beneath their feet rumble. Looking around suspiciously, they quickly noticed a dark swarm of Asskickers United players like ants on the horizon. Their expressions changed drastically as they saw the vast swathes of approaching foes. If those enemies charged straight over, they would be bearing the brunt of the attack!

"Tang Yao, don’t forget to have our Thieves focus on collecting dropped equipment,” Nie Yan specifically reminded Tang Yao of this important task.

"Don’t worry, I’ve already issued the orders, telling them not to miss a single piece.”

With Asskickers United’s current momentum, slaughtering their way through wouldn’t pose any difficulties at all. Just by charging straight forward, they could collect countless pieces of equipment from their fallen foes. This effect would only be accentuated by the fact that many Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return players were already branded with red names.

When a red-named player died and dropped all their equipment during a battle such as this one, their guild would usually provide a replacement set as well as hand out additional rewards to compensate for their losses.

Nie Yan thought sinisterly, Even if we can’t deal crippling blows to Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return today, we’ll bleed them out!

With a final round of excited roars that thundered ominously into their opponents’ ears, Asskickers United’s Warriors finally smashed into Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return’s armies. Leading the charge were Fighters, among them Resplendent Bladelight and Yi Yan. Brandishing their massive swords, they slammed into their enemies and commenced the bloodbath.

The sky was filled with a holy brilliance, gently falling like spring rain from a cloud. The blessing increased their stats, allowing the 500 Warriors in the vanguard to fight as fiercely as a tiger.

"Damn, this is too awesome! What skill is this?”

"My Strength increased by 60 percent! I’m invincible!”

Most of these Warriors usually couldn’t even deal 200 damage in a single hit. However, with these buffs, many of them had a chance to hit for over 300! With even the weaker ones chopping down people like cutting melons, there wasn’t any need to discuss those who boasted high attack power even before the blessings.

With such range, this spell was obviously some form of advanced magic. Nie Yan’s gaze scanned his guild’s forces before landing on a white-robed Priest. His heart lurched as he recognized him. It’s him!

Who else could it be other than Black Heaven? He appeared to be sincerely fulfilling Black Hell’s agreement, integrating himself as a member of Asskickers United and participating in guild activities. He just displayed a Templar Magic from the Priest-class, Boon of Power.

Like a monstrous beast, Asskickers United’s army ripped through Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return’s front line. One after the other, groups began trying to retreat, only to find out they couldn’t outrun the charge of the enemy Warriors.

"We’re invincible!”

As the Asskickers United players once more let out roaring battle cries, their morale soared to an all new high. Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return’s players were all struck by terror. Some of them even forgot to resist as Asskickers United made short work of those in their path.

"Kill!” Tang Yao repeatedly shot out tongues of flame, each flying towards an enemy with a bang. His high level coupled with his massive magic damage made it so that very few people could survive more than two hits from him.

Nie Yan single-handedly infiltrated the opposing army’s rear, making a beeline for the Priests. His dagger never stopped moving as he efficiently exterminated any Priest in sight.

Nie Yan was like a god of death harvesting these Priests’ souls. His horrifying killing power left others traumatized.

Priests were the lifeline of a guild. With hundreds of Warriors and Mages in the surroundings, no one had a clue how Nie Yan had gotten to them.

In an instant, the spells of all the nearby Mages were focused on Nie Yan.

A barrage of magic landed on Nie Yan in succession, exploding on him and causing a stream of damage values to float into the air above him.

However, Nie Yan’s level was too high. He was Level 35, while almost all of these players were around Level 25. Some were even lower. This was a level difference of over 10! Without Level Ignore of some kind, their damage would be extremely limited. Add this on top of the fact that he wore the Skywalker Set, which greatly boosted his survivability, their attacks could barely hit him for double digits.

However, under the concentrated attacks of so many players, Nie Yan’s health rapidly drained to half. He drank an Intermediate Health Potion, which instantly brought his health bar back to full.

From his vantage point, Heaven Breaker noticed something was wrong. Unexpectedly, a Thief had snuck into the ranks of his Priests and had already killed almost thirty of them. Looking closely, he could see that it was his hated rival Nirvana Flame. He raged, "Skinny Dog! Go grab a squad of Thieves and destroy Nirvana Flame! Mad Rogue, let’s see just how mad you are!”

Several dozen Thieves dashed toward Nie Yan, brimming with killing intent.

Nie Yan killed another six Priests. Because he caused such havoc in the backline, the Priests were too anxious to properly heal. The frontline of Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return, which now lacked the support of the Priests, quickly collapsed. The Warriors of Asskickers United were bathed in holy light and advanced with great fervour.

The Thieves from Asskickers United finally arrived at the backline. One Strike Vow, Sun, and the others were present. As elites of the guild, their combat strength was extraordinary, and the Mages from Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return immediately dropped like flies, causing the concentrated barrage of spells on Nie Yan to subside.

Nie Yan’s lips curved into a cold smile when he noticed a familiar silhouette approaching under the cover of stealth.

The stealthed Skinny Dog, seeing Nie Yan’s smirk, felt as if his heart was just smashed by a sledgehammer. His scalp tingled as he recalled the several times he had gone up against Nirvana Flame. He had come out on top a grand sum of zero times, resulting in a subconscious fear of Nie Yan despite the numerous Victorious Return elites he had by his side. He didn’t have any sense of security, and his movements were slightly stiff as if his body had suddenly become powerless.

Turning his head, Nie Yan looked in Skinny Dog’s direction, then locked onto his position whereupon his eyes blossomed out with a strange glow!

Eye of Truth!

A hazy silhouette entered Nie Yan’s vision. He immediately activated Stealth, disappearing before the eyes of the surrounding players, and dashed toward Skinny Dog with his dagger raised.

Seeing Nie Yan’s bloodshot eyes which resembled those of a demon, Skinny Dog grew extremely nervous. Before he could react, Nie Yan’s figure disappeared right before his eyes, causing him to feel the blade of the reaper inching ever closer to his neck. Just as he tightly gripped his dagger, raising it in preparation to repel any oncoming attack, he felt a cold chill behind his neck. Before he could even react, it was already too late!

What terrifying speed!

Skinny Dog felt a sense of despairing helplessness in his heart. Nirvana Flame was an insurmountable wall! Even if he greatly improved in the future, he knew he could never defeat this opponent who had already thoroughly shattered his self-confidence.

Employing the Dance of Death, Nie Yan circled around Skinny Dog, who didn’t even have a chance to react. He struck him in the back of his head with a precise hit, successfully inflicting a stun.

"Shit! Stop him!” one of the nearby Thieves shouted as he saw Skinny Dog being stunned. He lunged forward.

Before any of the Thieves could reach him, Nie Yan struck out with a Backstab, and then swept the blade of his other dagger across Skinny Dog’s neck, dying the ground red.

Skinny Dog collapsed onto the ground.

Nie Yan, using Shadow Waltz, disappeared from the Thieves’ sights.

When the Thieves finally arrived, the area was already empty. Nie Yan was nowhere in sight. They stared at each other, feeling the blood in their veins turn to ice. Only now did they comprehend why everyone online called Nie Yan the Mad Rogue. He was truly deserving of this title! They didn’t even hold a candle to him!

A group of almost three hundred Priests had just been annihilated by Nie Yan before they could even respond. By the time Sun and the others had gotten there, there were only corpses left on the ground. Asskickers United’s Warriors quickly pushed their frontline over as well, taking out a large swath of Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return’s players in one fell swoop.

Tang Yao looked at the counts provided by his people, his eyebrows dancing in delight. As Asskickers United’s frontline pushed forward, the Thieves in the back picked up over 8,000 pieces of equipment. Even after returning the equipment dropped by Asskickers United players, they still gathered almost 6,000 pieces of equipment.

Chapter 232 – Fleeing After Making A Killing

Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame suffered over 8,000 casualities, while Asskickers United only lost around 2,000. Just based on the number of losses, it was crystal clear which was the superior force.

Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame were progressively beaten back. Several of their players attempted to cast advanced magic, but all of them were interrupted mid-cast. In this sort of chaotic clash, unless the person was protected by numerous powerful individuals, it truly wasn’t easy to use spells with such long cast-times.

So long as Nie Yan remained on the battlefield, no Mage from Victorious Return or Radiant Sacred Flame would be allowed to cast advanced magic. Before they could finish chanting a set of syllables, he would’ve already materialized behind them. After all, the fluctuation of magical energy given off by advanced magic being cast was extremely distinct. Unless the caster possessed something like a Legendary-grade Illusion Ring, these fluctuations were nigh impossible to conceal. Combined with the fact that all advanced magic had base cast times of at least 20–30 seconds—requiring two to three sets of incantation syllables and gestures or more—he had ample time to stop them from being cast.

This was one of the reasons why Magisters were so afraid of Shadow Dancers in the previous timeline. These players who could vanish and reappear unpredictably would frequently interrupt them while in the middle of casting advanced magic. No matter how many Warriors, Paladins, and Priests a Magister had by their side, Shadow Dancers were impossible to defend against assuredly. Not only this, but after a Shadow Dancer got off an ambush, they could immediately retreat, and no one could stop them. Just like that, a Magic Talisman which took an hour or more to inscribe would completely go to waste.

Under the leadership of Nie Yan and the others, the players from Asskickers United were bursting with morale. With unstoppable momentum, they routed the forces of Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return, causing the spectating Holy Empire players to be left speechless. Asskickers United’s advancing speed was too frightening. They were like bulldozers plowing through enemy lines.

As long as an army was well-coordinated, even defeating a rival army several times their size wouldn’t be anything difficult. Whether in terms of individual player strength or synergy between players, Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame fell far short of Asskickers United.

"Damn! Are these guys on steroids!?” a Holy Empire player exclaimed. He could only use these sort of words to describe how he felt right now. The players from Asskickers United were valiant beyond compare. This fighting spirit was too overwhelming!

Seeing that Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return were retreating, Asskickers United’s players displayed even more might and mettle as they ruthlessly pursued the enemy.

Half an hour later, Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame lost over 10,000 players, while Asskickers United only lost around 4,000. Even Heaven Breaker and Nightbreak Trickster couldn’t help but gasp in alarm at the frightening fighting strength of their opponent.

「Boss! We can’t hold them off any longer!」

「We can’t either!」

「What the hell are you all shaking in your boots for!? In ten minutes, 100,000 players will arrive to reinforce us! Do you really think we’ll lose to these bastards?」Heaven Breaker loudly berated.

Both Heaven Breaker and Nightbreak Trickster found themselves being overwhelmed by the players of Asskickers United, so they had no choice but to call in reinforcements from the outside. The two major guilds could rally an earthshaking force.

「You guys sure are fierce. The 30,000 players of your guild are beating 60,000 players from Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return so badly they can barely fight back,」Sleepy Fox whispered to Nie Yan through chat. If the people under him were even half as valiant as the players from Asskickers United, he would be satisfied.

「Over 100,000 players from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame have set out toward our location. What do we do?」Nie Yan had just received word from Guo Huai. Only Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame could mobilize so many people.

「I just summoned over 30,000 players from my side, and Sapphire Shrine is arriving with over 50,000 players. What’s there to be afraid of!? They want to duke it out? We’ll duke it out with them!」Sleepy Fox was full of hot blooded vigour. Looking at the current progress of the battle, he believed they had a good chance of obtaining a complete victory over Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return.

「Are you sure Sapphire Shrine will help us?」Nie Yan asked. He remained cool-headed. If Sapphire Shrine continued to be indecisive, it would have a huge impact on the outcome of this battle.

「With a cunning old fox like Fa Lan, it really is hard to say. Knowing him, he won’t enter a conflict so easily.」Sleepy Fox calmed down somewhat. Sapphire Shrine was most likely just putting on a show of force in an attempt to deter Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return. Fa Lan’s position was still unclear. If a full-blown war broke out and Sapphire Shrine remained on the sidelines, the final outcome for Holy Empire and Asskickers United would be disastrous.

「I say we forget it this time. There’s too much risk involved. We should engineer a plan to have Sapphire Shrine fall out with Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame some other time. Make it so that old fox will have no choice but to stand on our side,」Nie Yan said. He couldn’t help but act with caution. At least for now, Fa Lan wasn’t a reliable ally because they had nothing important enough to fully bind Sapphire Shrine to their side.

Listening to these words, Sleepy Fox could only stay silent. Nie Yan was too sinister. However, that really was the best method to deal with a cunning old fox like Fa Lan.

「What do we do now?」

「Wait for us to finish off this final batch of players. We’ll retreat into Twilight Forest,」Nie Yan said. So long as Asskickers United retreated into the forest, the outcome of this battle would no longer be settled just because the other side possessed more numbers.

「That’s fine, but hurry up. Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return’s reinforcements are about to arrive. Be careful when you’re retreating and—」Just as Sleepy Fox wanted to warn Nie Yan not to let the enemy take advantage of them while they retreated, something unimaginable occurred before his eyes.

The Warriors from Asskickers United halted their pursuit and started retreating, leaving the players from Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return stunned and wondering why their enemy suddenly stopped the chase. Before any of them could react to what just transpired, countless area-of-effect spells rained down from the sky between the two forces. After which the players from Asskickers United retreated to the forest like a rapidly receding tide.

Coming and going like the wind!

Some players from Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return wanted to pursue. But none of them dared to approach the curtain of destructive magic; to go up meant facing certain death. Not to mention many of them were cowed after receiving such a severe beating. They were fleeing with all their might just a moment ago. Who among them were willing to give chase knowing full well they would only be throwing their lives away?

They just stood there with vacant looks on their faces. By the time the shower of area-of-effect magic subsided, the players from Asskickers United had already retreated over 20 meters away.

「Chase them!」Heaven Breaker shouted through the voice chat. If he allowed Asskickers United to get away just like that, wouldn’t all of his efforts have gone to waste, to say nothing of the over 100,000 players already on the way here? So long as he stalled them until reinforcements arrived, they would definitely be crushed beneath his feat!

The players from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame rushed forward, but the enemy had already long retreated into the forest. The members of Asskickers United weren’t disorganized like those from other guilds. Under the coordination of every squad leader, they were completely in sync.

They set up solid defensive lines along the forest edge in preparation to repel the forces of Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame, while the remaining players dispersed into the forest.

Heaven Breaker was fuming with anger. They suffered such a great loss at the hands of Asskickers United. Because their frontlines were constantly forced back throughout the battle, they weren’t able to retrieve any of the equipment dropped; the enemy pocketed every last piece of it! Now, after not suffering any real damage, they retreated just like that? How could he not feel infuriated!?

Nightbreak Trickster quickly prevented Heaven Breaker from doing anything rash. "If we chase after them in the forest, we definitely won’t be their match!” He noticed early on that the players on the opposing side were far stronger than his own. The stark difference in ability left him shocked. Just where did Asskickers United find so many talented individuals? He knew when to advance, and when to retreat. If they entered the forest, they would assuredly suffer even more severe losses!

"We’re going to let them go…? Just like that?” Heaven Breaker sounded a little unwilling. He experienced the bitter taste of defeat yet again at the hands of Asskickers United.

"What else can we do? Do you want us to charge into Twilight Forest?” Nightbreak Trickster rebuked. He was clearly aware of the immense risks of such a foolish act. Who knew how many more men they would lose?

After cooling his head, Heaven Breaker also understood such a charge would end up disastrously. If they had successfully held up Asskickers United until reinforcements arrived, there was a good chance of defeating them by relying on the superiority in numbers. However, now that they had retreated into the forest, let alone defeating them, even catching them would be as hard as scaling the heavens. Do not rashly enter the forest for there are hidden dangers lurking everywhere. He still understood this most basic reasoning.

"Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine have gathered almost 80,000 players. If we enter the forest, those forces will move to surround us,” Nightbreak Trickers said. If Sapphire Shrine entered this conflict, the outcome would be hard to predict. If they won, they would gain success overnight. If they lost, they would be pushed to the brink of hopelessness. No one would dare to brave such risk. It was better to just forget it, take the loss, and withdraw for the time being.

"Sapphire Shrine hasn’t joined their side, has it?” Heaven Breaker knitted his brows and asked in a gloomy tone.

"That’s hard to say. After all, that old bastard Fa Lan did interfere during the incident outside of Black Flame Forest.”

Heaven Breaker angrily gnashed his teeth. He could only silently accept Nightbreak Tricker’s decision as he ordered his forces to withdraw.

"Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame are leaving,” Sleepy Fox said as the tense look on his face finally relaxed. He never expected Asskickers United to be able to get away so cleanly from such a chaotic melee. Using the cover of magic to quickly withdraw from a battle, this method was worth borrowing for himself. However, this sort of thing could only be pulled off when your own side held the advantage; otherwise, if your frontline was constantly being pushed back, the Mages in your backline would never get the opportunity to cast their area-of-effect spells.

Nie Yan also heaved a sigh of relief. This time, they had lost over 5,000 players but killed over 18,000 players from Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return. All the dropped equipment also went to his side. He dealt the enemy a small blow while also earning a significant profit. Most importantly, though, this conflict greatly boosted the morale of his guild. Many guild brothers were still stirring with excitement from their most recent victory.

"How come they’re retreating so quickly? I still want to kill more of them!”

"Right! We got to kill those Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return bastards to our heart’s content. Many of them didn’t even dare to fight back. All they did was run. I killed six of them!”

"I killed three. The Warriors on the frontlines killed the most. Some people even broke past a hundred!”

These players discussed with great fervour. Listening to their conversations, Nie Yan couldn’t help but smile. When they were fighting it out with Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return, he’d held a bit of worry in his heart. However, after they won, that worry completely disappeared.

Chapter 233 – Snatching Food From The Tiger’s Den

"Now, having finally seen what Asskickers United is capable of,” Sleepy Fox admitted, "I really did underestimate your guild. I’m sure that Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame have realized that too, but it’s too late for anything now.”

Videos of today’s battle would spread far and wide, marking the start of Asskickers United’s path to the top. The rankings of the major guilds would begin to reorder itself as this battle brought Asskickers United to new heights.

Contrary to expectations, however, Nie Yan didn’t appear to be quite that excited. He replied simply, "Asskickers United merely took a tiny step forward. For entities the size of Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame, they can just dismiss these losses with a shrug.” Asskickers United’s victory in this battle would also greatly influence Azure Falling Sky to ally with those two massive guilds, adding one more sizable opponent to his list of enemies. Due to that, there was a certain downside to this victory as well.

"From this day onwards, we’ll be in the same boat. I hope the best for our future,” said Sleepy Fox, his arm extended. The fates of Holy Empire and Asskickers United were now intertwined—any glory would be shared, and similarly, any adversities would be weathered through together.

"Likewise.” Nie Yan reached for Sleepy Fox’s hand and shook on it. Holy Empire had expressed their sincere wish for cooperation by genuinely following through with the mutual defense pact. They alone had held off Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame long enough for Asskickers United to demolish Azure Falling Sky. It now went without saying that Nie Yan had to return the favour—he would help Holy Empire in taking down the stronghold, and by then, both guilds would have truly shared both adversities, and glory.

"Well, I’ve gotta go and take care of some guild matters. Unlike you, I can’t just sit back and relax as guild leader,” said Sleepy Fox, his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Take care.” Nie Yan smiled.

Sleepy Fox finished up with Nie Yan and left to arrange plans to deal with the remnants of the guild battle. The aftermath left him with many red-named guild members, so the first order of business was to clear those. As for the players that had died, they, too, would require some sort of reimbursement. The crowd could only be appeased with absolute fairness in treatment.

「First, let’s get our red-named brothers cleaned up, then we’ll head back and discuss contributions,」 Nie Yan said in the voice chat. There was certainly no shortage of rewards after this battle.

The chat exploded in cheers; they had undoubtedly long awaited that announcement and now, they were calculating how many merit points they would each receive. By the guild’s set of agreements, each kill in a guild battle would net the player 30 to 300 merit points, determined by their class. For instance, Priests received 200 merit points on the spot, and more depending on the part they played in the battle. There was also compensation for those who had died in battle, as it would have resulted in a loss in level and gear. The ones in the top earnings bracket could even receive several thousand merit points!

Nie Yan formed a few groups of guild members without red names, and had them escort their red-named brethren over to hunting zones suitable for clearing red names. The rest returned to the city.

Nie Yan threw all the equipment taken from the players of Azure Falling Sky, Victorious Return, and Radiant Sacred Flame into the guild treasury, then had Guo Huai distribute merit points. Several million points were soon appropriately allocated to the players, who began divvying up the equipment in the treasury based on what they needed. Before long, over 15,000 pieces of equipment were swept clean from the treasury and equipped by the players, significantly boosting the quality of their gear.

Not only had Asskickers United avoided enormous damage in this battle, it had even brought tremendous growth for itself. The practice of increasing battle strength by undergoing battle had been extremely effective this time around.

"Profit!” Tang Yao exclaimed. This time, all members of Asskickers United experienced the sweet taste of victory. Although the battle was long over, the entire guild was still in a state of ecstasy.

"Have them quiet down a bit and stay alert,” Nie Yan said to Guo Huai, knitting his brows. It was very dangerous if the entire guild submerged itself in an overly conceited atmosphere; after all, the battle was far from over.

There were many guild matters that had to be taken care of. Nie Yan handed off as much work as he could to others to deal with, but even if internal guild affairs were completely dealt with, he still had plenty of matters to attend to: bringing some guild members to level in Everlasting City, searching for the Chapter of Virtue, and completing the quest that required the Steal skill.

"Nie Yan, I’ve heard that the bidding for a bunch of places like NPC potion shops and auction houses has already started online. Here, take a look,” Guo Huai said. Unfortunately, he was just a bit over Level 10, so he wasn’t able to help much during the battle and could only worry on the sidelines. When Nie Yan and his army behind returned in full victory, he breathed a huge sigh of relief and went straight to work. The spoils of this battle also resolved the guild treasury’s desperate empty state: save for a few pieces of Level 30 equipment held for raising funds, the treasury was bare of any low-level equipment.

"The auction started a few days earlier than I expected. How much gold do we have?” Nie Yan asked. He hadn’t been paying too much attention to the guild’s treasury, and it did seem to be about that time when the auction began to put up virtual assets for sale. He needed enough gold to have a chance of purchasing the auction house in the heart of Calore!

"We’ve accumulated over 3,000 gold.”

"We got more than I expected,” Nie Yan said. With over 3,000 gold, securing the auction house at the heart of Calore wouldn’t be a problem. He opened up the page of the official Conviction website. The bids for virtual properties in various major cities began showing up.

Nie Yan looked over the list of properties available for auction in Calore—around 30 or so altogether. They included the auction house at the center of Calore, the Mercenary Auction House, the auction house at the south side of the city, the Kelis Potion Shop, the Ever Grand Smithy, and so on. Players were already making their bids. The most expensive property listed was the auction house at the center of Calore. Its current bid was already just over 1,200 gold. The minimum increment a bid could be raised by was 100 gold. If no one bid on a property for five hours, it would go to the highest bidder. The duration of the virtual property auction was three days.

With virtual properties starting to go up for auction, the major guilds and large gaming organizations would immediately be interested. They would quickly begin to amass money to fight for the various properties. However, trying to collect money on such short notice would obviously be less effective. Because of the sky-high prices, no matter how much money they gathered, it still wouldn’t be enough.

In the previous timeline, the auction house at the center of Calore was sold for 2,300 gold. The bidding had lasted all the way to the final second of the auction. According to rumours, many large financial groups had amassed large funds to snatch the auction house at the center of Calore. However, 2,300 gold truly wasn’t a small sum. Even if you sold all the belongings of every single player in a major guild, you would barely be able to scrape up that amount.

Nie Yan considered his options, thinking that if he greatly increased the bid right now, even the richest players wouldn’t be able to gather so much money within five hours and would just give up on Calore’s main auction house.

"1,700 gold!” Nie Yan raised the bid. His extremely fierce bidding gave many people a huge fright. The bid for the auction house at the center of Calore skyrocketed! This new development caused several financial groups to give up on the bidding for the auction house, setting their sights elsewhere.

Nie Yan hoped that no other financial groups would raise the bid within the next five hours.

He checked the other properties. Most of the other auction houses had a current bid of 700–800 gold. Several had their bids break past 1,000 gold. Because auction houses were guaranteed to be the most profitable industry in the future, many people wanted to snatch one up so they could have a share of the pie.

After this auction ended, the several tycoons of the Viridian Empire would be determined. The first was Cao Xu. In the previous timeline, he had gathered up funds from five large guilds, wantonly converted real life money to gold, and bought several dozen virtual properties to cement his position as an overlord in the game.

The Tuoba Family Financial Group was another. Outside of Withered Leaf, they pooled together gold from the three large guilds they controlled to purchase six golden properties in Brightmoon City, Nisode City, and so on.

There had also been over a dozen financial bigwigs dividing the properties between themselves. By the time they were done, smaller groups could only fight for their leftovers. For example, people like Sleepy Fox, Kill Love, and Fa Lan would be lucky just to get a property or two.

The circumstances in this timeline were a little different from the previous one. Since Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame had suffered some heavy setbacks, they would have to spend a lot of gold to compensate the losses of their players. Most likely in the short term, they wouldn’t be able to raise much money.

As for Nie Yan, he would definitely snatch up one or two properties in this auction, particularly the auction house at the center of Calore. This was the most profitable auction house in the entire Viridian Empire! He had to have it!

He contemplated for a moment. He might just be able to snatch another property with the leftover gold from buying the auction house at the center of Calore, the gold from the Starry Night Potion Shop, and the gold from the Union of Assassins.

Nie Yan walked to the Starry Night Potion Shop to check how much gold had accumulated. Bird Leaves No Eggs, according to Nie Yan’s instructions, had saved up the profits from the last few days. Seeing over 1,600 gold in the till, Nie Yan was surprised at how much there was. Added to the several hundred he could retrieve from the Union of Assassins, this would be enough to purchase a second property.

Nie Yan had his eyes set on another auction house in Calore, the Mercenary Auction House! In the future, it would also be a gold mine, one of the most popular auction houses in Calore. In the previous timeline, it had auctioned off for 1,900 gold. If he could successfully purchase it, he would be extremely content.

Nie Yan withdrew all the gold from the Starry Night Potion Shop and the Union of Assassins and deposited it into his personal storage. He paid close attention to any changes in the current bids of the various virtual properties up for auction online, with him mostly eying the auction house at center of Calore and the Mercenary Auction House. For the time being, no one came out to compete with him.

With the virtual property auction pushed forward unexpectedly, Nie Yan could only postpone his previous plan to take people powerleveling in Everlasting City. At this time, every bit of gold could mean the difference between success and failure in the auction. He couldn’t afford to use any right now.

Thinking things over, Nie Yan decided the guild didn’t really need him, with Guo Huai in charge. Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return were unlikely to make any big movements right now. He should set his sights on the Chapter of Virtue first and complete Volume I of the Book of Order. If he got that over with, he wouldn’t need to worry about his chapters dropping if he died in a guild war.

Chapter 234 – Tuoba Family Head

Nie Yan stocked up on some consumables while still in Calore, taking whatever potions that he thought might come in handy from the Starry Night Potion Shop. Items that players couldn’t bear to use under normal circumstances were all stuffed into his bags.

Walking out of the Starry Night Potion, Nie Yan headed over to the Jewelcrafter, where he socketed the Skywalker Set with Defense Gems before upgrading it to +5.

Nie Yan wrapped up his preparations and was about to set out for the transfer area when he received a call from Aqua Smoke Stub.「About today’s matter, I’d like you to thank all the brothers in the guild on my behalf. If not for your help, Withered Leaf would’ve been wiped out in Twilight Forest, and it would’ve been even more difficult to give my boss an explanation.」

Nie Yan chuckled lightly.「You’ve already thanked those who should be thanked.」

「My withdrawing of Withered Leaf without giving any prior notice was indeed a bit rude as well as unprofessional. I still have some matters to sort out, so returning today is probably out of the question. But I can promise we’ll be back in Asskickers United by tommorow at the latest.」

「No problem. I’m sure everyone over here will be happy to welcome you guys back. The entrance to the guild headquarters is always open to you.」Nie Yan found Smoke Stub speaking in such a solemn tone a bit odd but nothing too concerning. Having weathered through this storm, he felt confident Withered Leaf would never betray Asskickers United.

Nie Yan chatted with Smoke Stub for a while longer before hanging up. After arriving at the transfer area, he stepped onto the transfer point and teleported to Sonia Town where he departed from the north gate.

A dim glow blanketed the Sonia Moonlit Woodland. It was the former homeland of the white elves which later became the territory of the humans. Although its original inhabitants had migrated long ago, traces of their civilization could still be found if one looked hard enough. It was now home to wild beasts, such as the Moon Bear, which were all Level 35 monsters.

The magical energy enveloping the Moonlit Woodland was much denser than on the outside, so Mages levelling here would receive a 30% boost to their magic power. Of course, the creatures that inhabited such an environment would similarly possess formidable magic capabilities as well. Even at Level 35, those who could level here were limited to only the strong, top-class players.

After going through several major battles, Nie Yan grew all the more aware of the importance of gear quality. Although his Skywalker Set and Splitting Edge were still passable, the rest of his equipment could only be plainly described as mediocre. With his status as the guild leader of Asskickers United, it was indeed a bit shameful if everything he wore wasn’t the best.

However, to piece together a full set of godly equipment which could be worn even at end-game was truly no simple task!

One step at a time, I suppose… Nie Yan helplessly shook his head.

Everything would start from completing the first volume of the Book of Order!

Nie Yan entered the woodland where he spotted the silhouettes of several Moon Bears roaming between the trees. They were particularly tough to deal with when they were allowed to buff themselves. Even though he was strong enough to deal with several at once, he’d rather not waste his time.

He activated Stealth before heading straight for the heart of the Moonlit Woodland.

Nie Yan spotted all sorts of magical plants growing in his surroundings, but unfortunately, the rank of his Gatherer skill was nowhere near high enough to harvest them.

He flitted past one Moon Bear after another. They were giant white bears with distinct blue moon and star patterns covering their chests. Possessing naturally robust, towering frames, they emanated an aura of unrivalled strength.

Moon Bear: Level 35

Health: 2,200/2,200

The most powerful tool at a Moon Bear’s disposal was Seismic Slam, a knockback skill which stunned the opponent. Very few Warriors would dare to confront them head-on without the support of a Priest.

Nie Yan followed the ancient trails left behind by the white elves as he travelled further into the woodland. He could practically feel the Chapter of Virtue beckoning to him. Of course, this was simply all in his head, but he couldn’t help but get excited with the final chapter from the Book of Order almost within reach.

…

Holy Faith Cathedral, a place of worship where some residents of Calore would often go to pray.

Aqua Smoke Stub, clad in the War God’s Doctrine Set, arrived outside of the cathedral’s entrance. Stepping through the doorway, his gaze swept over everyone in the hall before finally falling on a player seated among the dense rows. He was dressed in adorned white robes with the appearance of a middle-aged man in his 50s. Though he was somewhat getting on in his years, he was still healthy and full of vigor.

"Boss,” Smoke Stub greeted. Because of the contract between them, even someone as prideful as him had no choice but to lower his head in front of this person.

This man was the head of the Tuoba household, a legendary figure. He alone brought the family to the peak by establishing the Tuoba Family Dynasty.

"Good, you’ve arrived. I heard you took everyone in Withered Leaf with you to confront Azure Falling Sky. Do you know the consequences of your actions?” Tuoba Hongye’s dignified voice carried a trace of anger.

"I do.”

"Then, tell me, why did you still do it?”

"I had to… for the sake of all the brothers in the guild! Although how this matter developed was outside of my expectations…” Smoke Stub wore a resolute expression as he stared at Tuoba Hongye.

"You must remember that Withered Leaf is a business. And the sole purpose of a business is to earn money, not engaging in feuds left and right.” Tuoba Hongye coldly stared at Smoke Stub. Out of all his subordinates, only Smoke Stub dared to show him such attitude. That proud, unyielding look really aggravated him.

"You’re right, the sole purpose of Withered Leaf is to earn a profit. But the people there aren’t your money-making machines! Nor do I have to remind you of the fact that all the members of Withered Leaf are free after fulfilling their obligations!” Smoke Stub replied in a solemn tone.

"Hmph! Your behaviour negatively influences the operations of Withered Leaf. I have the right to manage an organization I own. Also, since you’ve already withdrawn from Asskickers United, don’t bother returning. I recently signed a cooperation agreement with the Cao Xu Century Financial Group. Withered Leaf will be entering Victorious Return for the contracted period of time,” Tuoba Hongye informed. He had attempted countless times but always failed to rein in Smoke Stub’s prideful nature.

"Why? We’ve signed a contract with Asskickers United. We’ll incur severe penalties if we violate it!” Smoke Stub asked in shock. Tuoba Hongye wanted Withered Leaf to betray Asskickers United for Victorious Return? He would never allow such a thing!

"The Cao Xu Century Financial Group is willing to pay the penalty fee. Withered Leaf will be joining Victorious Return first thing tomorrow. This is related to the Tuoba Family’s interests,” Tuoba Hongye curtly replied, leaving no room for questions.

"I will not withdraw from Asskickers United, nor will I join Victorious Return! Asskickers United saved the brothers of Withered Leaf today. I, Aqua Smoke Stub, will never let down a friend!” Smoke Stub stubbornly declared. Before arriving at this meeting, he mentally prepared himself to receive Tuoba Hongye’s thundering fury, but he never expected that he would be ordered to join Victorious Return. This development caught him off guard.

"You want to go against my orders? Don’t forget your position!” Tuoba Hongye’s eyes narrowed. Smoke Stub was nothing more than one of the countless employees under the Tuoba Family Financial Group. How dare he talk back in such a manner!?

"I solemnly declare that even if it means quitting Withered Leaf, I will never let down a friend!” Smoke Stub said unwaveringly. If he abandoned Asskickers United to join Victorious Return right now, what kind of person would he be!?

"According to our contract, if you quit Withered Leaf within a ten-year period, you’ll have to pay an early termination fee of ¥50,000,000. I reckon all the money you’ve painstakingly earned over the last five or so years only amounts to that much. And don’t forget. Without the protection of the Tuoba Family, do you think you can continue working as you are?” Tuoba Hongye sneered. Letting Withered Leaf join Victorious Return concerned a cooperative relationship between the Tuoba Family and the Cao Xu Century Financial Group. Smoke Stub couldn’t refuse even if he wished to!

"If that’s the case, I can only choose to withdraw from Withered Leaf. From now on, I have nothing to do with the organization! The ¥50,000,000 fee I owe will be paid in full. Tuoba Hongye, even if you take away everything I have, I will never betray a friend’s trust!” Smoke Stub’s eyes flashed with a cold light as though he were a man-eating beast.

"You ungrateful bastard! Scram from my sight!” Tuoba Hongye roared in anger. He refused to believe for a second that Smoke Stub could still get by after leaving Withered Leaf!

Smoke Stub no longer paid attention to Tuoba Hongye who was hurling out an unending barrage of abuse. As he made his way to the door, he softly said, "No need to remind me. I’ll be returning this War God’s Doctrine Set to Withered Leaf!”

Stepping out of the Holy Faith Cathedral, Smoke Stub raised his head to look up at the sky and revealed a genuine, childlike smile. It felt truly freeing to be unshackled from such a heavy burden. Even though he lost six years’ worth of savings… good or bad, that was the price he paid for freedom. Besides, he felt the idea of operating as a free agent didn’t sound so bad.

Since he was going to be departing from Withered Leaf, Smoke Stub genuinely hoped that every single one of his brothers would go on to lead fruitful careers.

Smoke Stub glanced at the Withered Leaf group chat. The brothers there were still excitedly discussing today’s events. They were looking forward to returning to Asskickers United.

He really didn’t wish to rain on their parade by being the bearer of bad news, but he had no choice but to inform everyone of the latest development.「I’m sorry, guys… Withered Leaf won’t be returning to Asskickers United. Tuoba Hongye just decided that the organization will be joining Victorious Return first thing tomorrow!」

Smoke Stub’s words was akin to a stone evoking a thousand waves, giving rise to the displeasure of these brothers.

「Boss! Join Victorious Return? How can we do that!?」Cold Peak cried out.

「Right! We’ll really be letting down the brothers in Asskickers United by doing this!」Wood Grace chimed in.

All the other Withered Leaf players immediately echoed Cold Peak and Wood Grace’s words.

「The Tuoba Family is working together with the Cao Xu Century Financial Group. One of the conditions is that Withered Leaf joins Victorious Return. I, Aqua Smoke Stub, will never let down any brother, including those in Asskickers United. Because of this, I’ve decided to quit Withered Leaf. So, everyone, this is goodbye. I wish you all the best as well as a bright future,」Smoke Stub said. Although he spoke in a calm tone, to the players of Withered Leaf, these words rang like thunder in their ears.

「Boss! Have you gone mad!? Aren’t you afraid of the penalty fee? You’ll have to fork over ¥50,000,000. That’s almost six years’ worth of income!」Cold Peak asked in shock.

「It’s just money, that’s all. What’s there to be afraid of? As long as I have both my hands and feet, I’ll never starve to death!」Smoke Stub let out a light-hearted laugh. He had come to accept that he could only keep moving forward.

Chapter 235 – Weary Dragon Soaring To The Heavens!

「Boss, have you thought this through properly? Without the Tuoba Family’s protection, do you think Clear Sky is just going to let you be?」Cold Peak asked worriedly. Those who had split from Azure Falling Sky knew exactly what kind of person Clear Sky was.

「I’ve already made up my mind. I definitely cannot stay here anymore. I’ll just hide somewhere down South,」Aqua Smoke Stub confirmed. He refused to believe that Clear Sky could track him down after he moved.

「With the boss gone, what’s the point of staying here? I’m also leaving Withered Leaf! Hmph! I’m through working here as well.」Cold Peak had followed Smoke Stub out of Azure Falling Sky. Both of them had endured the same persecution and exploitation over the last six years, and had formed a completely unshakeable friendship.

「I’m done too! Isn’t it just a measly early termination fee? I’ve long since saved up enough to pay for it. If not for the boss, I would’ve left Withered Leaf long ago!」Wood Grace agreed.

「I’ll leave as well,」Samsara Lord echoed.

「Me too!」

A bunch of Withered Leaf players immediately joined the tide of leaving members, speaking up one after another to declare their position. Many of them were also from the original group that split off from Azure Falling Sky together.

To Smoke Stub’s surprise, over a hundred of his five hundred plus brothers in Withered Leaf wanted to quit with him. What’s more, most of the others were only staying because they couldn’t afford the sky-high penalty fee.

「Cold Peak! And you, Wood Grace! The hell are you doing? Both of you are already breadwinners for your families, so how could you have a tantrum like a little kid?」Smoke Stub scolded. It was already painful enough for him to leave Withered Leaf. He didn’t want his brothers to go through the same troubles. Leaving the organization was a personal matter that he didn’t want to drag others into.

「This isn’t a tantrum! Boss, do you remember what you told us as we left Azure Falling Sky together? You said we’d start over from scratch, and that people can lack money but not ambition. You promised that even if you had just a single bite of food, you would never let us brothers go without. Do you remember how hard it was when you first founded Withered Leaf? We had absolutely zero business, and could only rely on selling equipment online. We were on our own every step of the way. Also, we got regular threats from Clear Sky, and our headquarters even got smashed multiple times! Despite all that, we still pulled through, didn’t we? Everyone had to go through terrible struggles before we got to where we are today. Now that everyone has their share of riches and glory, almost everyone has saved up a million yuan. Some of us have even have ten million to our names! Why can’t you let us share some of your burdens again? You insult us! You think that you can just leave Withered Leaf without us brothers following you?」Cold Peak said resolutely. A friend in need is a friend indeed. Was it even possible to count all the things Smoke Stub had done for them back when they were still struggling? They all knew just how much they owed him. A person mustn’t forget their roots!

「Cold Peak is right. Even if we end up as beggars, so what? So what if we end up being cleaned out of house or home? Haven’t we worked our way up from nothing once already? As long as we’re together, we can just do it again! How much money have we tirelessly earned for Tuoba Hongye over the years? Did he even consider our thoughts before telling us to leave Asskickers United for Victorious Return? Props to him for having the face to say such a thing, but returning kindness with evil? That’s just petty!」Wood Grace spat.

「He’s right, boss! You promised never to let us down, but isn’t telling us to stay in Withered Leaf the same as telling us to become petty villains?」Cold Peak added.

「Think of your wife, your children! Do you really want to drag them down with you on this thorny path?」Smoke Stub was touched by the words of Cold Peak and Wood Grace. But to quit Withered Leaf was a major decision, one that shouldn’t be made so hastily!

「Standing firm in the face of adversity is good fortune for the family. Only by weathering the storm together will we truly learn to treasure what we have and each other.」

「We only have one boss, and that’s you. If you withdraw from Withered Leaf, what is to become of us?」

「Yeah, boss!」

「Screw this! I’ll go get a loan from the bank to pay this fee. I refuse to believe that I can’t pay it off as a professional gamer. Plus, there’s always the option of taking missions as an agent for the Union of Assassins.」

As he listened to his brothers speak, Smoke Stub’s nose became stuffy and his eyes glistened with moisture.

「Boss, just say the word. Us brothers are here. Even if we leave Withered Leaf, we could just start Red Leaf or Purple Leaf or something. After quitting Azure Falling Sky, we vowed to brave the storms, side by side! After sharing great fortune, we naturally have to share such hardships as well. No matter how hard it is, we still have each other!」Cold Peak shouted desperately, worried by the lack of response from Smoke Stub.

「Yeah boss, money can always be made but a person cannot lack camaraderie. Wherever you go, we will definitely follow. As long as you don’t think we’re holding you back, we will follow!.」Wood Grace proclaimed as well. With their group’s strength, so long as Smoke Stub didn’t lose hope, it wouldn’t be a problem to once more rise from the ashes. Even if they never regained the splendor of their peak, they would each be able to scrape together a living. However, from Smoke Stub’s current expression, Wood Grace couldn’t tell if his boss still had the old resolve.

Smoke Stub’s heart trembled. He took a deep breath to steady himself before announcing,「I, Aqua Smoke Stub, feel that just having you guys as my brothers makes everything we’ve gone through worth it. If any of you wish to follow me, the promise is still the same: as long as I have just a single bite of food, I will never let you go without!」

「Boss, with these words of yours, we can finally feel confident. With the skills of our group, there’s absolutely no fear of failing to earn food and board for ourselves,」Cold Peak answered emotionally. Having heard those words, his eyes teared up as he realized he was once more looking at the same valiant boss who’d quit Azure Falling Sky in disgust all those years ago.

「My most cherished memories are of the times when we brothers had nothing to our names, just trying to get us from one day to the next. Those were the good old days, when instant ramen was a rare delicacy to us. Now that we all have loads of money, I’m actually not enjoying myself as much since we rarely get trouble thrown our way. Recently, life’s been boring without any real struggle. Quitting Withered Leaf could let us go back to those days,」Wood Grace chimed in after a moment of sorrowful reminiscence.

This bunch of old brothers hadn’t changed a whit. Since they were still standing strong, how could he, Aqua Smoke Stub, back down now?

「Those of you planning to leave with me, first return your equipment to Withered Leaf and then gather at the Calore transfer point. Then, leave Withered Leaf and we’ll head south tomorrow.」Suddenly, Smoke Stub felt a moment of deja vu. He could see himself saying much the same all those years ago when he’d first quit Azure Falling Sky to start up Withered Leaf.

「Boss, you guys will go first. I still have some difficulties of my own. I’m afraid it’ll be quite some time before I can join you.」Some of these players’ families were living paycheck to paycheck, so they really couldn’t afford to pay such a huge fine.

「If any of you don’t have enough money, my family still has some capital. We’ll just call it a loan,」Wood Grace offered.

「Hey, since when has your family had a rich background?」

「This…」Wood Grace chuckled with embarrassment.「I’ve been investing my money and managed to earn a decent return.」

With this, he had solved quite a few of his brothers’ dilemmas.

「Since this kid seems to have a pretty good eye for business, how about we have him invest the money we get in the future?」Smoke Stub asked the group. He knew from experience that what they lacked the most right now was money.

When Smoke Stub got to the transfer point, Cold Peak and Wood Grace were already there and others were slowly trickling in. There were already around a hundred people gathered, which was more than he expected on such short notice. Besides the old brothers who had come from Azure Falling Sky together, there were also some recent recruits who had entered Withered Leaf later.

「Why isn’t that scrub Samsara Lord here yet? Did he go offline or something?」Wood Grace asked.

「His damn granny is offline! Lemme go drag him here!」Cold Peak cursed. Samsara Lord was part of the group who came from Azure Falling Sky. If he didn’t show up for this, those assembled here would see it as a betrayal.

「Samsara Lord might’ve logged off because he had something to do,」Smoke Stub interjected. The three people he had the most trust in were Cold Peak, Wood Grace, and Samsara Lord. Even if he was offline, there was no questioning his sense of brotherhood. Samsara Lord would definitely show up!

As even more people began showing up, it seemed as if their group would eventually amass over two hundred people.

After a while, Samsara Lord sprinted over haphazardly. Trying to catch his breath, he apologized,「Sorry, I had to go run an errand for my mom. There was nothing I could do. Thank god I’m not too late.」

「If you had dared to not come, I would have gone over to your house and pinched you to death!」Cold Peak threatened with a straight face. Samsara Lord had been with them from the onset, so it would’ve been a massive blow to their morale if he truly hadn’t shown up.

「How could that be? You have way too little faith in me. With the boss gone, how could I stay? You insult me!」Samsara Lord glared at Cold Peak.

「Ok, ok! I was wrong!」Cold Peak apologized as he broke into laughter, unable to maintain his straight face.

Aqua Smoke Stub, grateful that Samsara Lord had indeed shown up, clapped his friend’s back. His words had truly been prophetic.

「Oh right, Samsara Lord, I seem to recall that your early termination fee was thirty million yuan, almost as much as our boss’,」Wood Grace suddenly asked. Samsara Lord was one of the top three Priests in the game, so his contract was worth a lot. Plus, as a Priest, his salary wasn’t very high, so it might be difficult for him to come up with that much money.

Aqua Smoke Stub also thought about this problem before turning towards Samsara Lord.

Samsara Lord chuckled awkwardly as he scratched his neck.「Although it’s somewhat bothersome, it’s not enough to bankrupt me. Don’t worry about it.」

Aqua Smoke Stub and the others suddenly realized something. When Samsara Lord had gone offline, it was to gather money!

「Good brother, always feel free to tell us if you have any difficulties.」Smoke Stub knew full well that even if Samsara Lord said nothing about it, collecting so much at once would definitely prove to be a burden.

「For sure, Samsara Lord. If anything’s wrong then say so. There are enough of us here to overcome anything,」Wood Grace reassured as he patted his friend’s shoulder.

「Don’t worry about it,」Samsara Lord repeated.「It’s already done, but I might have some trouble in the future. I put up my house for mortgage, and borrowed some from my friends and family. For the time being, could I go and room with you boss?」Samsara Lord asked with an embarrassed chuckle.

「Why did you go and make yourself so miserable? You could’ve just borrowed from me, you know,」Wood Grace said.

「Who knew you were such a tycoon? I thought everyone would be near-broke after paying their fees,」Samsara Lord sadly sighed.

Aqua Smoke Stub looked at the brothers standing before him. They were all eagerly looking back at him. They had all been willing to bankrupt themselves and give up on comfortable conditions in order to follow him. He had to make sure he remained worthy of them. Even if Withered Leaf let them down, he could never do so! Starting from today, the weary dragon would soar to the heavens! As the head of this dragon, he would lead them to the highest heavens!

Chapter 236 – Dark Immortal

The ruined altars and other desolate structures of the Moonlit Woodland gave off a mysterious, ancient feeling.

The white elves who belonged to the Satreen Empire were allies of mankind. However, conflict broke out between the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire over territorial rights. A peace treaty was signed, and the branch of white elves residing in the Moonlit Woodland were forced to vacate their homeland for the distant Satreen.

Since white elves hadn’t appeared in this land for over hundreds of years, they were but a distant legend to the people of the Viridian Empire.

Around the time Nie Yan advanced to a Great Thief—not long after the release of the Buried History expansion—white elves and beastmen began popping up in Calore, though not very many. After all, the cost of teleporting between the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire was exorbitant. Only the executives of large guilds were capable of making a round trip. On the day before Nie Yan assassinated Cao Xu, the Viridian Empire started to sell griffons to the players, who could ride these mounts to travel between the two empires. However, it was something that Nie Yan never got a chance to experience.

This was the development path of Conviction. The area between major cities was extremely vast, so players started out the game being restricted to only the maps around their starting city. After the release of land mounts, players could travel much more easily between cities. However, it was only after the release of flying mounts that players could truly travel the world.

Every empire had different governing rules, classes, religions, social customs, and cultures. The system gradually revealed this beautiful world to the players, piece by piece, captivating them as they exclaimed in admiration.

Although Nie Yan was still restricted to the territory around Calore, but from the ruins left behind in various maps by the white elves, dark elves, and beastmen in the past, he could peek a bit into their long history.

Nie Yan suspected that if he completed the first volume of the Book of Order, the release of the Buried History expansion would probably have to be shifted to an earlier date. He didn’t know whether this was good or bad, but he could be sure of one thing. He would benefit greatly far into the future after obtaining this Legendary-grade item.

After passing through a dense patch of thickets, Nie Yan approached a clearing where he spotted six Moon Bears roaming around aimlessly. They were much larger than the average Moon Bear. There were also ruined walls surrounding the area. Carved on their surface were ancient designs and Elven characters. This place was where the white elves made offerings to the goddess of the moon.

These Moon Bears look like Elite monsters. Nie Yan stealthily crept behind a wall, then activated Transcendent Insight.

Rocky Moon Bear (Elite): Level 35

Health:11,000/11,000

These Rocky Moon Bears were unmatched existences to melee-class players. Without the support of a priest, no one under Level 40 would dare to attack them.

However, Nie Yan’s path forward was blocked by these Rocky Moon Bears.

Nie Yan observed the movement paths of these Rocky Moon Bears for a while before taking out a Haste Scroll. Crushing the scroll in his hand he activated Shadow Waltz, then blurred into motion as he rapidly approached them.

One of the Rocky Moon Bears discovered Nie Yan through stealth. It let out a deep roar and swatted at him with an enormous paw.

Nie Yan accelerated. With a twist of his body, he brushed past the Rocky Moon Bear while dodging the oncoming paw by a hair’s breadth.

With its sweeping attack hitting nothing but air, the Rocky Moon Bear staggered several steps before regaining balance. When it turned around to search for its target, Nie Yan was already several meters away.

It was almost effortless for him to avoid the attack of the Rocky Moon Bear by relying on the techniques of a Shadow Dancer.

After Nie Yan outfoxed the first Rocky Moon Bear, the other five charged at him. It looked like he wasn’t going to be left with a complete corpse in the next second. One of the Rocky Moon Bears stood tall on its hind legs, then heavily struck down with a Seismic Slam.

「BOOM!」Nie Yan sped back several paces. A large depression formed on the ground where he previously stood.

Nie Yan nimbly avoided the attacks of the Rocky Moon Bears, performing all sorts of acrobatic feats as he slipped through the gaps between them.

Nie Yan let loose as his speed reached the pinnacle.

Just as these Rocky Moon Bears attempted to charge over, Nie Yan threw out a pouch of Flash Powder.「Poof!」It exploded into a blinding flash of light.

The Rocky Moon Bears were all blinded. Letting out furious roars, they chaotically rammed into their surroundings. Nie Yan took advantage of the opportunity to escape, hopping over a nearby wall before disappearing into the trees. When they finally regained their vision, he was nowhere to be found.

Because this region was still unexplored, there was an alarming number of Rocky Moon Bears roaming around. Nonetheless, Nie Yan was slowly able to make his way to the depths of the Moonlit Woodland by relying on his superior evasive techniques.

Getting Bladelight to explore this region when he reaches Level 35 doesn’t sound like a bad idea. With his tankiness and Young Seven’s support, leading a team here shouldn’t be a problem, Nie Yan thought.

Nie Yan was pleasantly surprised when he encountered two gold chests and several silver chests while searching for the Chapter of Virtue. One of the gold chests even contained a Junior Magic Conduit Potion Recipe.

The Magic Conduit Potion was one of the highest quality potions. It was divided into four ranks: Junior, Intermediate, Advanced, and Specialist. Although the alchemy ingredients required to concoct it were fairly common, its recipe was extremely rare. In the previous timeline, the Intermediate version of this recipe was auctioned off for even more than the price of Sub-Legendary equipment. He had never seen the Advanced or Specialist versions before. It was almost impossible to estimate the value of a Junior Magic Conduit Potion Recipe at this stage of the game, when the player base was nowhere near Level 50.

Magic Conduit Potion: Advanced Magic Damage +20%, Advanced Magic Cast Time -10%, Talisman Inscribing Speed +20%

The effects of the Magic Conduit Potion were truly rarely seen.

Since the recipe was so hard to find, the price of a single potion was as high as several dozen gold. Most Mages could only afford to use such an expensive potion after they advanced to Great Mages.

The manufacturing cost of a Magic Conduit Potion was relatively cheap, around 50 silver per bottle. It required over 30 different types of alchemy ingredients which fortunately were fairly common. The only slight drawback was that it took an Intermediate Alchemist 10 minutes to concoct a Junior Magic Conduit Potion with a 30% success rate, so the average production time of a single potion was around 35–40 minutes.

Every minute of an Intermediate Alchemist’s time was precious.

However, the effects of a Magic Conduit Potion were exceedingly valuable to a Great Mage or even a Magister casting advanced magic. The advanced magic at the later stages of the game, although unrivalled in power, would require Magic Talismans that took over almost two hours, sometimes even up to four hours, to inscribe. A Magic Conduit Potion could help them save a lot of time. It was effectively trading an Intermediate Alchemist’s time for the time of a Great Mage or Magister, a clearly exceedingly worthwhile trade. At the same time, drinking a Magic Conduit Potion significantly reduced the cast time of advanced magic, which was exceptionally useful on the battlefield where every second was crucial.

"I’ve struck it rich!” Nie Yan excitedly exclaimed. Only now did he realize why large guilds always wanted to be the first to explore a map no matter the cost.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but think that he lost out big time for not participating in any pioneering expeditions in the previous timeline. When he returned to the guild headquarters, he would have Guo Huai organize pioneering expeditions to various large, high-level maps.

「Nie Yan, where are you right now?」Just at this moment, Guo Huai gave him a ring.

「I’m in the Sonia Moonlit Woodland. Why, what’s up?」Nie Yan asked. For him to be contacted at this time, Guo Huai definitely wanted to inform him about something important.

「Azure Falling Sky has been absorbed by Radiant Sacred Flame.」

「Oh.」Nie Yan nodded.

「Aren’t you worried?」Guo Huai didn’t think Nie Yan’s reaction would be so calm. After all, Azure Falling Sky was a guild with over 20,000 players!

「What’s there to be worried about? I already figured this would happen. If it wasn’t Victorious Return, it would be Radiant Sacred Flame,」Nie Yan replied. Although he had never once regretted the decision of helping out Withered Leaf, he imagined the hatred Clear Sky bore for him definitely wasn’t shallow. It was inevitable that Azure Falling Sky would side with the enemy.

「Since it seems you have some countermeasures in mind, I won’t say anymore. There’s also one other thing I need to inform you about. Victorious Return recently hired someone from the Dark Immortal gaming organization. I heard they’re going after you, so be careful,」Guo Huai said. Dark Immortal was the number one gaming organization in the nation.

「Shadow Killer?」Nie Yan muttered in a surprised tone. It seemed history had deviated from the previous timeline. He never expected Heaven Breaker would hire the services of the Dark Immortal gaming organization to deal with him. Just what sort of price was offered to tempt that person into agreeing to help Victorious Return?

In the previous timeline, there were two legendary characters in the world of Shadow Dancers. One was Sun, a young boy who matured at a startling pace to become an unrivalled genius that was absolutely dazzling as his namesake. And the other was Shadow Killer, a mysterious figure who rarely appeared out in the public. He didn’t even take part in the Shadow Dancer competition. Everything about him was a riddle. However, before Sun was ever known, he was already famous. As the boss of the largest gaming organization in the country, Dark Immortal, his name had long since rang like thunder in the ears of players. However, the vast majority of people only knew the name, not the person.

Shadow Killer generally only took on assassination requests, and his services were always excessively expensive, to the extent that almost no one could afford them. A person like him only killed the most difficult targets, as though he was only doing it for the thrill. He never once slipped up. In the previous timeline, the list of people he successfully assassinated included figures like the guild leader of Victorious Return, Heaven Breaker; the guild leader of Radiant Sacred Flame, Nightbreak Trickster; and the guild leader of Battle Crazed Alliance, Kill Love. He was a person who didn’t care about sides, only moving for money. He would only take on a request if you gave him a tempting enough offer. Back when Victorious Return was at the peak of its might in the Viridian Empire, Heaven Breaker, who was presumed to be untouchable at the time, still ended up dying at his hands.

「Yes, him,」Guo Huai said in a somewhat heavy tone. In every popular virtual reality game that came before Conviction, Shadow Killer was always an existence that countless people could never hope to reach for.

「Have you dug up any recent news about him?」

「No, only that the Dark Immortal gaming organization joined Victorious Return, and Heaven Breaker and Nightbreak Trickster have met up with him.」

「Are you sure his target is me?」

「I’m 90% certain, so that’s why I’m warning you to be careful.」

「To be a target of Shadow Killer’s assassination request, I truly feel honoured.」Nie Yan revealed a calm smile. He wasn’t the slightest bit worried.

Chapter 237 – True Illusion

Nie Yan recalled the list of people Shadow Killer assassinated in the previous timeline. Who among them wasn’t an extraordinary figure? He didn’t expect that Shadow Killer’s first assassination target in Conviction was very likely himself! This was a testament to the fact that he as well as Asskickers United were starting to shine on this stage, and were now the subject of much attention. Although he faced a certain degree of danger with this target on his back, the threat remained solely on him. Even if he was assassinated, Asskickers United would still remain standing strong!

「You’re still in the mood to laugh?」Guo Huai asked in a dejected tone.

「You should be happy. Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame hiring the services of Shadow Killer just to deal with me is a reflection of the fear in their hearts. They’re afraid Asskickers United will shake their positions. What should we be anxious about? The ones who should be worried are them!」Nie Yan replied.

「Alright. I admit your words do make sense,」Guo Huai said helplessly. How did Nie Yan always somehow spin every troubling new development into a good piece of news?

Nie Yan chuckled.

「Let’s not linger on the bad for too long. I have some good news to report as well. Firstly, the players on the forums recently created a ranking of the top guilds based on battle strength, and Asskickers United placed in front of Radiant Sacred Flame, Victorious Return, and Holy Empire. They’re calling Asskickers United a mecca of experts. Thanks to this exposure, a lot of strong players are starting to flock to our side. Secondly, both our branch guilds—Mages United and Warriors United—due to the joining requirements being relatively more lax, have reached the maximum capacity for Level 1 guilds, 20,000 players. I’ve also taken the liberty of establishing three more branch guilds, Paladins United, Thieves United, and Priests United. I plan to have the elite members of these branches rank up their guilds to Level 2.」Guo Huai was shocked by the expansion speed of the branch guilds which far exceeded his expectations.

「Mhmmm… things are developing at a good pace. We should transfer the strongest members of the branch guilds to the main guild,」Nie Yan said. The creation of branch guilds was an inevitability. Even though weak players couldn’t join Asskickers United, it was a waste to squander free manpower.

「Lastly, we’ve been approached by several guilds about merging into Asskickers United,」Guo Huai said.

「Make sure to take the necessary precautions before letting any of them join,」Nie Yan reminded. It was very possible they harboured malicious motives.

「This, I understand. I’ll do a thorough investigation. I won’t be letting them in the guild any time soon anyway.」Guo Huai nodded. He was extremely prudent in handling this matter.

Even though Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return were rapidly expanding, Asskickers United wasn’t sitting still either; it was thriving—developing at breakneck speed. After winning several major battles, their reputation benefited tremendously and the morale of their players skyrocketed. And their closest ally, Holy Empire, also got to share in some of the glory. Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return suffered a huge blow to their prestige after their recent defeat. With this shift in the balance of power, Asskickers United no longer had to fear them.

Nie Yan could now take a laissez faire approach to managing the guild. Asskickers United’s rise to the top was a foregone conclusion. So long as enough time was given, they would crush Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return beneath their feet.

The players of Asskickers United were starting to enjoy the glory brought along by the rise of the guild. This sort of feeling would unite them even further. An undivided force was an impregnable stronghold that could never be destroyed!

「Is that everything?」Nie Yan asked.

「Yeah, that’s everything,」Guo Huai replied. He understood Nie Yan was probably doing something important right now, so he didn’t want to disturb him too much.

Nie Yan hung up the call before continuing to explore the heart of the Sonia Moonlit Woodland. He still hadn’t found anything even after an hour of search.

He had only heard the Chapter of Virtue was found in the Moonlit Woodland. He didn’t actually know its exact location, so he could only go bumbling around the area like a housefly.

In the previous timeline, countless players came here to retrieve the Chapter of Virtue only to wind up dying. In the end, a Mage who possessed very powerful control magic cleared all the monsters in the Moonlit Woodland, and took away the Chapter of Virtue. As for the name of this player, Nie Yan had already forgotten since they lost the chapter shortly after obtaining it.

Nie Yan evaded numerous Moon Bears before reaching a heavily forested region. The dense canopy blocked out most of the sky, leaving only a few rays of sunlight to penetrate the foliage and touch the ground.

These rays were gentle like the moonlight, releasing a faint purifying glow.

Nie Yan’s eyes locked onto a certain object up ahead.

At the center of the clearing up ahead, a pure white beam of light shined down on a delicately carved round stone platform covered in exotic elven runes. Floating above the platform was a crescent moon-shaped stone which emitted a faint white glow.

「You’ve discovered a bizarre stone while exploring in the heart of the Moonlit Woodland. According to the old Mage living in the slums of Calore, the stone is called the Stone of Moonlight. Capable of transforming the stars and changing night to day, it was this stone that allowed the white elves to have such long lifespans. A relic like this can supply a Mage with boundless magical power.」

Nie Yan’s mind trembled when he read through the narration dialogue. Is this a quest related to the Chapter of Virtue? I’ve searched around this area for so long without any success. Maybe this Stone of Moonlight is the key to finding what I’m looking for?

Nie Yan approached the Stone of Moonlight which seemed to emit a mysterious attractive force. Slowly, he reached out his hand and touched the stone. A gentle energy permeated his entire body.

With his hand still pressed on the stone, Nie Yan saw his surroundings undergo endless transformations. The trees quickly withered before disappearing altogether. The sun and moon raced across the sky at an astonishing speed, chasing after each other faster and faster. As light and shadow intertwined, it was like he was travelling through time.

It was as though several thousand years was passing by in front of his eyes; all that remained was an endless wilderness that stretched out into the horizon. A full moon hovered in the dark sky above, illuminating the land in its light.

Nie Yan lowered his head, only to discover that the stone platform in front of him had disappeared. Oddly shaped boulders towered above the dark wilderness. His vision was limited, but he could spot the flickering of flames in the far distance.

You’ve entered the Hidden Realm of Moonlight.

Just what kind of place was this Hidden Realm of Moonlight? Nie Yan guessed that he was probably transported into a quest map. After carrying out a self-inspection, he confirmed that he couldn’t activate any teleportation items, including the Random Transfer Scroll.

This meant a life-saving trump card of his was sealed!

The far away flames appeared to be a guide marker. Nie Yan entered the pitch-black wilderness, advancing in that direction.

The surroundings were deathly silent. Not even the sound of insects could be heard.

Afraid there might be unknown danger lurking in the darkness around him, Nie Yan slowed his pace; every step he took was exceedingly cautious.

Just at this moment, a peculiar sensation arose in the back of his mind, as though he was being watched by something. He searched for the source of this feeling.

Nie Yan closed his eyes, sharpening his other senses to the utmost limit as he felt for movement. A brief moment later, he abruptly turned to face a certain direction. Eye of Truth! His eyes turned bloodshot, while the veins around his eyes bulged out, emitting a light which pierced through the veil of darkness. All he saw was a shadowy silhouette blur by.

He discovered the enemy!

Upon being spotted, the shadow melted into the darkness and vanished without a trace. No matter how hard he tried, he could no longer detect its presence.

However, the split-second before the shadow disappeared, Nie Yan had activated Transcendent Insight.

He examined the information from the inspection.

True Illusion (Nirvana Flame): Level 35

Health: 963/963

Nie Yan’s heart shook. Just what was that? His own shadow?

He finally had a vague understanding of the gimmick of this hidden realm. It was using a copy of his character to test him! The goal was to prevail over his AI-controlled fake, with the main catch being that the stats of his fake were higher than his own!

"Fighting myself? Bring it on!” Nie Yan tightly grasped his dagger before going into stealth.

His eyes pierced through the darkness, searching for traces of the opponent, while he slowly made his advance

Nie Yan suddenly sensed danger from behind him. His heart tightened. Shit! It can see through my stealth!

The stats of the True Illusion eclipsed his own. His position was completely exposed, allowing the enemy to mount an exceptionally fierce sneak attack.

The True Illusion aimed his dagger at the back of Nie Yan’s head with a Smothering Strike. Its blade flickered with a sharp light, edging ever closer.

Sensing the danger in advance, Nie Yan whipped back and struck at the True Illusion’s forehead, but he didn’t activate any stunning skills.

The True Illusion retreated several steps before melting into the darkness again, vanishing right in front of Nie Yan’s eyes.

It was just as he imagined. The True Illusion was feeling him out, searching for a weakness while trying to bait him into wasting his skills!

The combat AI of the True Illusion was in no way inferior to a human!

After fending off the ambush, Nie Yan was just about to enter stealth when the True Illusion suddenly materialized beside him and launched another sneak attack. Its dagger stabbed toward his back like a lightning bolt.

This speed clearly exceeded his own by quite some!

Parry!

Just as the True Illusion’s attack was about to reach him, Nie Yan turned around, parrying it with his off-hand dagger which was held in a reverse grip.「Ding!」The two daggers briefly clashed, causing sparks to fly. At the same instant, his other dagger struck out toward the True Illusion’s forehead like a viper.

The True Illusion disappeared.

Nie Yan slightly trembled when his attack struck air. The True Illusion had clearly used Shadow Waltz to dodge!

He tried to look for the True Illusion, but it had already gotten away.

Nie Yan had heard about quests with similar gimmicks in his past life. When players encountered these sorts of quests, they would recount them on the forums. Although he never paid careful attention to these posts, he had seen enough to know that less than 1% of the players who received these quests were able to beat them. However, those who cleared them would always receive astonishing rewards! Some received a great deal of additional stat points. Others received powerful skills. And still others received Sub-Legendary equipment.

Nie Yan wondered what kind of reward he would receive for clearing it. Let’s see just how wily my AI controlled copy is. He revealed a hint of an expectant smile.

At the end of the day, the True Illusion was still controlled by an AI. Although a computer could handle an enormous flow of data, it was still incapable of matching the deviousness of the human mind.

Chapter 238 – White Elves

Nie Yan’s mind raced as he considered various scenarios in search of a way to ambush the True Illusion. He needed to trick it into walking into the trap of its own accord.

Standard traps reliant on common skills had no chance of catching the True Illusion off guard. He could only look for a more unorthodox strategy.

The system used precise calculations to allowe the True Illusion to maximize efficiency and act with precision accurate to several decimal points. By doing so, it could maximize the True Illusion’s combat abilities in a way no human could. However, the system still had to maintain some semblance of fairness, so the True Illusion didn’t know Nie Yan’s stats. Otherwise, if it possessed Nie Yan’s skill and stat data on top of maximum combat efficiency, it wouldn’t even be possible to damage it, much less beat it.

After careful consideration, Nie Yan concluded that his best chance would be to change his attack speed and patterns to trick the True Illusion’s relatively rigid algorithms.

Nie Yan calculated the combat power brought to him by his stats, especially his movement and attack speed. His calculation speed was obviously nowhere near the system’s, and he was only able to come up with a rough estimate. Hmmm… I’ll only use 95% of my attack speed to scout him out.

Before Nie Yan knew it, ten minutes of quick exchanges had passed. Both of them made sure to disengage after every single move, conserving their strength as they gauged their opponent. For a Thief in head-on combat, trading blows in this tentative manner served an incredibly important purpose. It allowed him to learn more about his opponent before launching a fatal blow. The ancient practice of gathering information on an enemy before launching the real attack worked for Thieves as well.

Additionally, Nie Yan began purposely leaving a peculiar false opening for his opponent. Even when it would be easier to use a forehand move to block, he manoeuvred his hand to perform a backhand block.

Nie Yan’s act was world-class. His lowered attack speed and defensive quirk flowed seamlessly as though they were naturally ingrained instincts.

Almost everyone had some odd quirks in combat. A skilled player knew to look for such tells in order to abuse them, and the AI was no different. Under Nie Yan’s meticulous trickery, the True Illusion finally decided to act on what it saw as Nie Yan’s biggest weakness: he only blocked with backhands.

After yet another strike and parry, the True Illusion entered stealth. It didn’t reengage, choosing to stay hidden among the shadows. Nie Yan didn’t think anything of it until two minutes had already passed. Feeling that something was off, he took a deep breath and readied himself. The storm is coming! It’s probably just waiting for its cooldowns to run out now.

He couldn’t afford to mess up here at the final stretch! Nie Yan double-checked his skill bar to make sure his skills were all up before looking up again.

Right at that moment, the True Illusion appeared behind him, aiming its dagger at the back of his head. Before Nie Yan could turn around, the True Illusion launched its attack, lunging forward and plunging its dagger at its target.

Nie Yan activated Shadow Waltz to dodge the attack, reappearing behind the True Illusion. He performed the exact same move he had just dodged, stabbing at the back of the opponent’s head with lightning speed.

The True Illusion immediately turned around and blocked Nie Yan’s strike with its own dagger. This was the first time the two crossed blades repeatedly instead of retreating after the first sparks flew up in the air. Since neither of them were proficient in control skills, they could only spam their attack skills again and again.

Finally, Nie Yan managed to land a Vital Strike followed by Eviscerate. The True Illusion took over 100 damage, but quickly struck back with a Backstab for over 300 health.

The True Illusion’s attack and defense were both higher than Nie Yan’s. After trading just a few hits, Nie Yan was already down to 15% health. He hastily backed up before chugging an Intermediate Health Potion, recovering his health.

No matter how they clashed, Nie Yan maintained his facade of only blocking with backhands. He also made sure to keep key skills such as Intimidate and Concussive Blow in reserve

The True Illusion’s health was slowly chipped away at in their clashes, but Nie Yan wasn’t the only one with health potions. His copy also drank an Intermediate Health Potion, instantly refilling its health bar.

Damn it, I had him down to 30%! This thing can use health potions too! Nie Yan felt more than a little frustrated seeing the True Illusion shrug off all the damage he’d done to it. He suspected that it had some mechanism to prevent wearing it down in a battle of attrition, but he hadn’t expected it to be as direct as a health potion. As he’d thought, the only way to beat it was to control the flow of battle and make it fall for a trick.

Nie Yan continued to wait for an opportunity to strike. Neither of them had used Intimidate or Concussive Blow yet, nor any other major skill. They had both been using low-cooldown skills just to wear the opponent’s health down.

Of course, in such a battle of attrition, Nie Yan’s health wore down much faster than the True Illusion’s.

After a while, Nie Yan began applying Combat Bandages to himself to keep his health up. As the True Illusion watched Nie Yan use yet another method to heal himself, it finally ran out of patience. It actived Shadow Waltz, closing the gap in an instant, and used Intimidate.

Nie Yan’s body stiffened. He was momentarily immobile!

Before being struck by Intimidate, Nie Yan made sure to keep his dagger in a forehand grip.

Noticing the forehand position of Nie Yan’s dagger, the True Illusion’s AI decided that this was a prime opportunity to attack. It immediately sped its dagger toward Nie Yan’s forehead.

The dagger quickly closed the distance, striking as fast as a gale with the momentum of lightning.

If Nie Yan tried to do as he had done before and switch to a backhand before parrying, he would definitely be too late.

Instead, he squinted deviously and swung out for a forehand, blocking the True Illusion’s attack.

The True Illusion’s eyes narrowed. A puzzled expression appeared on its face as it went over its data again. However, despite multiple recalculations, it couldn’t figure out where the original calculation had went awry.

Right then, the effects of Intimidate wore off.

"My turn.” Nie Yan grinned sinisterly as he activated Intimidate, causing the True Illusion’s body to stiffen.

Nie Yan used Shadow Waltz to circle behind the True Illusion. Before it could turn around, Nie Yan pierced its heart with Backstab. He instantly followed up with an Eviscerate that left the illusion spurting geysers of blood.

Vital Strike!

Nie Yan used another Vital Strike before stepping back to watch the damage rack up. Various damage values floated up above the True Illusion’s head: his attack damage, his poison damage, and his two bleed damages.

When the effects of Intimidate finally wore off, the True Illusion tried to move away. But before it could do anything, Nie Yan struck from behind with a Smothering Strike and stunned it. Smothering Strike’s stun effect would wear off if the target was attacked, so Nie Yan took the time to nimbly circle back in front of the True Illusion. He continued his attack with Concussive Blow, followed by Assassinate and Lacerate. Nie Yan stepped to the side of the True Illusion, his dagger flashing across his opponent’s throat. Slicing out one last time, he slit his opponent’s throat with a well-placed Cut Throat.

It was a perfect stun lock!

A stun lock (also called stunlocking) is the act of using multiple stuns and immobilizing effects in succession to prevent an enemy from fighting back or escaping. As a result, a stunlock sacrifices a large amount of DPS in exchange for keeping the opponent "locked down", but that doesn't matter because it is extremely annoying and in the act of stunlocking, provides other players to freely attack the enemy as he stands there unable to do anything. Although typically and most easily accomplished by a rogue, it can also be achieved to lesser degrees by other characters.

He hadn’t even given the True Illusion a chance to react!

Although his control skills only affected the opponent for a second each, they became highly lethal when chained together. Although he didn’t have many such skills, Nie Yan’s timing and efficiency in chaining them already reached the peak of stun locking for Thieves.

The True Illusion swayed oddly for a second until its health finally drained to zero. Its corpse collapsed miserably before fading into a shadow and dissipating into nothingness.

Nie Yan grinned with giddy relief. He finally beat his copy, but it had been even harder than he’d expected. He looked down where the corpse had disappeared and saw a black cloak laying on the ground.

This should be a great piece of Thief equipment!

Nie Yan bent down to pick up the cloak.

Nirvana Flame’s Cloak of Void (Special)

Description: A True Illusion’s cloak woven from the owner’s shadow. A player’s trophy for beating their True Illusion.

Properties: 120-139 Defense, +30 Strength, +30 Dexterity, +10 Speed, +10 Stealth, +10 Cloaking, +10 Reflex

Void Concealment: Stay completely hidden among the shadows. Stealth Effect +300%. Movement Speed -50%. Cannot be seen through stealth for the first nine seconds upon activation. Unable to attack for the first 20 seconds while this skill is active. Duration: 60 seconds.

Cooldown: 2 days

Restriction: Only the named player may equip this item.

It was a piece of special equipment marked with his name! Only Nie Yan could equip this item. Its properties were pretty good, but it was the supplementary skill that really made his heart throb. Void Concealment was simply too useful. When he came across a life-threatening adversary, he could use it as a life-saving skill. Even more importantly, he could use this skill to gain access to at least five Sub Legendary and over a dozen Legendary fragments!

It was precisely this that made the skill so valuable!

The item bound itself automatically, so it could neither be traded to others nor dropped upon his death. If there came a day when he no longer wanted it, he could discard it and it would disappear forever.

The Void Concealment skill had a cooldown of two days, but for some reason it was ready the moment Nie Yan got it.

After thinking it over, Nie Yan figured that it probably meant he needed it to complete this quest map. Do I have to make use of this Cloak of Void to complete the Hidden Realm of Moonlight quest?

The contents of some special quests would change according to the class of the participant. Nie Yan was a Thief, so for an item like this to drop now, it made sense that it would be needed to complete the quest.

Nie Yan decided to wait and see. He crept through the darkness toward the distant flames. After the True Illusion, he encountered no other enemies. As he got closer, he could see a white tent contrasted against the night. Outside the tent, several NPCs were sitting around a leaping bonfire.

Nie Yan didn’t dare to be rash. He slowly crept forward to get a better view. Hidden within the underbrush, he could finally see the faces of the NPCs. There were five white elves, three males and two females. All of them were Mages. They had beautiful appearances and fair skin, but their ears weren’t pointed like those of true elves. They appeared to be half-elves.

Nie Yan thought for a moment before slowly approaching the white elves with Disappear, whereupon he activated Transcendent Insight.

Traitor Kasa (Elite): Level 35

Health: 5,000/5,000

It was a Level 35 Elite! The others were probably of similar strength. Seeing that these half-elves were all humanoid creatures with individual names, Nie Yan expected them to be difficult to deal with. Nie Yan looked through the open flap of the tent, only to see a girl lying in a bed. He couldn’t make out her features, but there was a thin sheet of paper floating in a circle around her. Magical elements of all colours glowed around her. Nie Yan was extremely familiar with these things! He had finally found what he was looking for, the Chapter of Virtue!

He had worn through iron shoes with no success, only to acquire it through no effort of his own!

Nie Yan was just about to show himself when the half-elves’ ears twitched as if they had heard something.

Nie Yan quickly held his breath as the four elves looked around cautiously. However, not seeing anything, they resumed their chatter.

Nie Yan slowly backed up. There was no need for him to get into a fight with these half-elves. All he wanted was the Chapter of Virtue.

However, based on his previous experiences with the other chapters from the Book of Order, he knew there couldn’t be just these five Elites guarding the chapter!

Chapter 239 – Chapter Of Virtue

Nie Yan seemed to melt entirely into the darkness as he spied at the white elves’ every move. As he did so, he also noticed a complete absence of any creature, save for them and himself.

He waited patiently in the shadows as he searched the forums for terms like "Hidden Realm of Moonlight” and "traitors.” Every now and then, he’d stumble on some background information about the quest—but, of course, it was only background information. The task of finding the specific details of the quest still fell onto the players’ shoulders.

The Hidden Realm of Moonlight was a region created by the ancient white elves to seal away demons. With the power of the Stone of Moonlight, the white elves distorted spacetime and created an entirely new dimension space.

There were white elves that had traces of dark elf and human bloodlines due to intermarriage during the Era of Shared Governance. Their greed and violence betrayed the beliefs of the elves’ Moonlight Goddess, and some had even become demons—ruthless killing machines that murdered even their own.

The white elves were forced to expend large amounts of energy to deal with these deviated elves and seal them within the Stone of Moonlight.

Let me see if there’s anything on Sonia Moonlight Woodlands.

Sonia Moonlight Woodlands: Long ago, Sonia was the queen of the white elves within the territory of Calore. Her kindness and gentleness deceived the white elves at this division and led them astray, slowly turning them into bandits. At first, the progress was very slow, but when the demon buried deep within herself awakened, everything took a turn for the worse. She became vicious, bloodthirsty, and even slaughtered the elders residing in a village. The remaining white elves had no choice but to seal Sonia into the Stone of Moonlight.

Amid the changes that inevitably came with time, several hundred years passed by in the blink of an eye.

Demonification was a transformation of sorts. The ancient legends spoke of a demon hidden within the hearts of every living being on the Atlanta continent. If one’s faith were swayed to the point they lost their footing, that demon would engulf their soul and turn them into powerful demons.

Elites and Lords after Demonification were much more powerful than their predecessors. They all held immense power far more terrifying than Super Variants.

Don’t tell me… there’s a Demonified Elite or Lord in this map? Maybe even Queen Sonia herself?

Nie Yan’s gaze found its way back into the tent, once again onto the Chapter of Virtue.

Perhaps there was a special way to trigger a quest—starting a conversation with the white elves up ahead for instance—but he did not want to risk it. His eyes were fixed on the colourful page hovering silently in the air, and a fiery desire burned ablaze in Nie Yan’s mind…

I have to take it!

With the Cloak of Void, it would be a breeze to snatch the Chapter of Virtue past those white elf mages.

The first volume would essentially be complete the moment he got his hands on it, and the fabled item would be his forever!

But then, Nie Yan slid his gaze to the young lady sleeping nearby; she was probably Elf Queen Sonia—a Demonified Lord!

Nie Yan immediately weighed the potential benefits and losses of the attempt.

Snatching the Chapter of Virtue would awaken Elf Queen Sonia, and any form of teleportation was barred within the Hidden Realm of Moonlight. The sole thing awaiting him would be death.

Nie Yan glimpsed at the red name practically glaring at him, courtesy of 327 player kills. Such an intense colour implied he’d lose a minimum of ten levels if he died.

He wore a smile tinged with a hint of regret as he thought, I should have gotten rid of this red name before coming here!

His eyes remained locked on the Chapter of Virtue so close ahead while his mind briefly struggled with the decision. Should I go for it? Soon, however, he made his choice. Quests? Who cares! I’ll care after taking the Chapter of Virtue. Levels? Who cares! I’ll grind them back up later!

Nie Yan crept toward the tent, beyond the five white elf mages. As he neared them, one of them pricked his ear and quivered slightly, as if he felt something.

Without hesitation, Nie Yan activated the Cloak of Void. The effect of stealth soared threefold, and in turn his speed was cut in half.

The white elf mage didn’t spot anything out of the ordinary and returned to his earlier conversation.

Enhanced with greater stealth, Nie Yan inched toward the white elf mages. Finally, he could make out their words.

"I don’t know how much longer the Chapter of Virtue can maintain its holy power,” Traitor Kasa said as he glanced toward the tent. "But more than anything, I hope Queen Sonia can continue to rest as peacefully as she is now.” His apprehension still remained from the time the queen had been awakened.

"We have to find the Water of Purification. It’s the only thing that can remove our Queen’s seal, and help us break out of the Hidden Realm of Moonlight.”

Traitor Zira sighed, shaking his head. "It’s simply impossible to find the Water of Purification with our power. It’s in the Dark Ravine, and unless we find a human Great Mage… but then again, they would kill her.”

"We can only hope for a miracle to happen,” said Traitor Kasa.

The conversation closely resembled a quest initiation of some sort, but nonetheless it brought Nie Yan quite a bit of information. If he were to follow the standard procedure of the questline, he would have to ask for the quest from the five white elf mages and complete it before he could safely leave with the Chapter of Virtue. One of the conditions of the quest was clearly to find the Water of Purification!

The quest sounded rather difficult even without the resurrection of a Demonified Lord. With it? The risk was far too great.

If any other player came here, they would have no choice but to follow the quest line. They would only be able to retrieve the Chapter of Virtue after completing the entire quest. Otherwise, even if they managed to grab it, they would get killed without even having a chance to escape. However, Nie Yan already had the other five chapters of Volume I of the Book of Order. Once he got his hands on the Chapter of Virtue, he could finally combine the six chapters into the complete Volume I. When that happened, it would automatically be bound to him. He could completely skip the quest line. What did a single death matter?

So long as he retrieved the Chapter of Virtue, it would all be worth it!

Nie Yan took a detour around the white elves while creeping towards the tent. As he snuck into the tent, his nose was immediately assaulted by a strong flowery fragrance, which was strong enough to shake his mind. He scanned around the tent before stopping in front of a female white elf reclined on a bed, whereupon he held his breath.

She was beautiful in a distinctly inhuman way. Her alluring cheekbones made her seem like the statue of a siren, lacking any trace of imperfection. Her pointy ears were the icing on the cake of her charm, mesmerizing all who saw her. Further down was an image that made one’s blood boil. She wore only a chestpiece and a skirt, both woven from tree vines. Her clothes, which were of a type exclusively worn by White Elves, revealed vast expanses of snowy white skin. Her crystal-smooth skin emitted a luster unique to jade-skinned beauties.

Nie Yan inspected her with Transcendent Insight.

White Elf Sonia (Demonified Lord): Level 35

Health: 120,000/120,000

It was just as he predicted, a powerful Demonified Lord!

Nie Yan withdrew his gaze after a brief look. No matter how beautiful an NPC was, it was still just a game, to say nothing of the fact that Sonia was a Demonified Lord-class boss. A person with a mature mind would never lose their head over such a thing.

The Chapter of Virtue was almost within reach. Nie Yan could practically feel the intense magic radiating off of it.

Such divine power! Such powerful magic!

Nie Yan readied himself to flee the moment the Chapter of Virtue was his, before reaching for it. When his outstretched hand touched the sheet, it slowly retracted its brilliant radiance. The now ordinary-looking sheet fell into Nie Yan’s hand.

Nie Yan quickly scanned the properties of the Chapter of Virtue.

Chapter of Virtue

Description: The second chapter of Volume I of the Book of Order. A fragment of a Legendary item. Whoever shall possess this chapter will receive the inheritance of the God of Light. Your mission is to spread the glory of light!

Properties: Receive 2 Intelligence and 1 mastery point every 5 levels. Focus +15, Willpower +15, Resilience +16, Jump +15, Reflex +15, Movement Speed +16.

Decree of Reckoning: Invoke the magical power in your surroundings to attack the opponent, dealing (3x Magic Power + 2x Focus + Willpower) as magic damage.

Cooldown: 10 days (1/10)

God’s Judgment: Grants Magic Power +200%, +500 health, and a magic barrier that absorbs 60% of all incoming damage.

Cooldown: 10 days (1/10)

Restrictions: Can only be bound by a member of the Righteous Guardian of Order.

Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player’s inventory.

The Chapter of Virtue was only second to the Chapter of Justice. Decree of Reckoning was a skill that was guaranteed to kill the opponent, and God’s Judgement was even more powerful. The only flaw was that the cooldowns of these two skills were extremely long.

Sonia awoke the moment Nie Yan grabbed hold of the Chapter of Virtue. A baleful, demonic aura flooded out of her body, and her eyes were pitch-black as though a demon had taken possession of her body.

Nie Yan’s chest tightened in alarm. She was awakening! Without delay, he stuffed the Chapter of Virtue away into his bag, then bolted out of the tent.

The further away he got from here, the better. He didn’t know if he could even escape the Hidden Realm of Moonlight!

Just at this moment, the five white elves cried out in alarm.

"A despicable bastard! That Thief snatched away the Chapter of Virtue!”

"Kill him!”

The five white elves searched for Nie Yan’s whereabout. They were prepared to surround and kill him, but his Cloak of Void allowed him to completely avoid their detection as he fled from the campsite. Red clouds gathered in the sky up ahead, then scorching hot balls of fire rained down.

As soon as Nie Yan noticed something was off, he halted his footsteps before going around, safely avoiding this large area-of-effect spell.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Fireballs poured down from the sky, causing embers to fly everywhere.

Nie Yan fled into the endless wilderness at top speed before disappearing into the darkness. He understood that the danger was far from over because he didn’t know where the exit was, nor could he use any teleportation items!

Just as this moment, the chapters from the Book of Order in his bag let out a faint radiance and began resonating with each other

Do you wish to merge the Chapter of Justice, Chapter of Virtue, Chapter of Courage, Chapter of Wisdom, Chapter of Harmony, and Chapter of Freedom into the Volume I of the Book of Order?

"Yes!”

Nie Yan pressed confirm without the slightest hesitation, causing a blinding radiance to blossom outward. It was as though the sun had emerged in this realm of endless night. He quickly averted his eyes.

The first volume of the Book of Order was now complete! Nie Yan couldn’t help but get excited!

Chapter 240 – Volume I: Glimpse Of Darkness

A blinding radiance blossomed outwards in a flash. The six chapters merged into a whole, transforming into an unassuming black book. The cover was exquisitely manufactured, with a single line of Ancient Common characters written on top. The words, inscribed with tadpole-like strokes, gave off an aura of elegance and wisdom.

The book in his hands seemed rather thick, almost as though it was composed of more than the original six pages. A mysterious yet powerful force emanated from it. Nie Yan traced his fingers over the cover, and as he did, he felt the odd energy become stronger, giving him a feeling of calmness in his soul.

Looking closely at the words on the cover, Nie Yan read, "Book of Order, Volume I: Glimpse of Darkness.”

Do you wish to bind this item?

Yes! Nie Yan didn’t hesitate before immediately pressing confirm. He would bind it before thinking about anything else, so it wouldn’t drop if he died. So long as it was bound, he wouldn’t have to worry about losing it ever again.

Item has been successfully bound.

Once the book was bound to him, Nie Yan felt an immediate increase to his stats, as if they’d increased by over 50! At the same time, a smaller line of characters wriggled into being in the air before imprinting themselves onto the lower right corner of the book’s cover: "Owner: Nirvana Flame.”

This legendary item was now truly and completely Nie Yan’s. It was even marked with his name! No one else would ever possess Volume I of the Book of Order.

However, he was still being hunted by the half-elves, and the light from fusing Volume I had given away his position. He had no time to look closely at this new item of his; he first needed to find a way out of this realm.

Nie Yan activated Shadow Waltz, bursting forwards with incredible speed. However, this quest map was just too vast. No matter how far he ran, it seemed like there was no end in sight. Making matters worse, Nie Yan could sense that the five Mages following him were quickly closing in on him.

The five figures behind him were somehow even faster than he was. Slowly but steadily, they closed the distance toward Nie Yan.

Another figure soared high into the sky, and time seemed to stop. Nie Yan could see even from far away that it was the Demonified Lord Sonia. A pair of fleshy wings sprouted from her back, holding her aloft with an occasional mighty flap. She hung from the sky with the moon behind her back.

She scanned through the darkness and instantly locked onto the fleeing Nie Yan.

Nie Yan, feeling a piercing pain in his heart, slowed to a stop. He was caught by surprise when he saw the Demonified Lord Sonia flying through the sky. Facing a creature with the ability to fly at his current level was a disaster waiting to unfold. Only Mages could contend with such creatures at this stage of the game, and even they would be at a disadvantage. However, that was still many times better than engaging a flying monster in a melee. The outcome of such a fight held no suspense.

That girl has Demonic sight. Ugh… I guess I can’t hide anymore. Nie Yan thought things over, then put all of his unbound equipment into his bag and sprinted off.

Sonia waved her staff and chanted in a demonic language until her spell was complete. A looming darkness enshrouded Nie Yan, sending out tentacles of darkness to bind him in place. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t break free from the prison of shadowy tentacles.

Sonia steadily flapped her wings as she floated toward Nie Yan. Her slow flight speed betrayed her unfamiliarity with her wings.

"It was that Thief! He’s over there, caught in the Queen’s Shadow Bind!”

The five white elves quickly moved to surround Nie Yan. As they faced him, balls of magic began to shine from their hands.

Nie Yan looked around him, in every direction, but there was no path of escape left. Realization of his impending doom dawned on him.

The glowing orbs arced through the night, leaving behind streaks of light as they blasted into Nie Yan, bursting apart with successive loud bangs. Each spell did over 300 damage to Nie Yan, who collapsed under the elves’ barrage.

Sonia spread her wings as she landed, a puzzled expression on her face. She had no idea why Nie Yan’s corpse didn’t have the Chapter of Virtue on it.

A long time passed before Nie Yan opened his eyes. When he finally did, he found that his soul was in a cemetery.

Despite having struggled against it for so long, he still couldn’t avoid the fate of death.

Do you wish to revive?

There were three ways for a player to revive. The first was to run back to the place you were killed and search for your corpse. Upon resurrection the player would lose 50% of their experience bar. They would also be in a weakened state for five minutes, during which all stats would be lowered by 80%. If the player died with a red name, these penalties would scale with the redness of their name. Choosing this option in PvP made it too easy for an enemy to spawn camp you.

The second way was to wait for a Priest to revive you. This method came with the smallest penalty. The player would lose between 0-50% of their experience bar, and they would be in a weakened state for one minute. If the player had a red name, those penalties would be doubled.

The third and final method was to directly revive at the cemetery. This came with the biggest penalty. The player would drop a full level and be in a weakened state for half an hour. Like with the first method, dying with a red name would result in a penalty increase proportional to how red the name was. Although this option came with the heaviest penalties, it was clearly the safest of the three.

Nie Yan chose to directly revive. He looked sadly at his current level: Level 23. After working so hard for so long, he now had to climb back up from rock bottom. Fortunately, he could still head to Everlasting City and throw Basic Magic Bombs to grind back up.

Since he was in a weakened state right now, Nie Yan knew that it was not a good time to go level. Instead, he returned to Calore while itching to take a closer look at what Volume I of the Book of Order had in store for him. After all, he’d lost over 10 Levels and almost even lost all his equipment for this!

Nie Yan had to find a quiet, secure place to do this. He made his way to the Starry Night Potion Shop, walked in, and found an empty workshop.

He took out Volume I: Glimpse of Darkness, placed it on the desk, and examined its properties.

Volume I: Glimpse of Darkness (Legendary)

Rank (1): Can be upgraded by slaying evil creatures.

Description: The owner of this item will receive the inheritance of the God of Light. Your mission is to spread the glory of light!

Properties: Receive 5 stat points and 3 mastery points every 5 levels. Strength +100, Dexterity +200, All Stats +30, All Stats +50%. Gain 500 phantom stat points. Unlock the Glimpse of Darkness Skill Tree.

Restrictions: Permanently bound to Nirvana Flame.

Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player’s bag.

The item gave outstanding bonuses. He received a ton of extra stat points, and he even got the Glimpse of Darkness skill tree; although he did not yet know what this was. But the thing that really made him raise his eyebrows, were the 500 phantom stat points he was given.

The book actually gives 500 phantom stats!

Phantom stats were different from his real stats. They wouldn’t actually affect you, hence the name. Otherwise, it would be far too overpowered if he could just add 500 Strength on a whim. However, phantom stat points did count for equipment restrictions. Even if his real stats didn’t meet the requirements to wear a piece of equipment, his phantom stats would be able to make that up for him, allowing him to wield a wide variety of equipment.

Nie Yan immediately thought of his Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow. If he used a portion of his phantom stats on Strength, he would be able to meet the requirements for that item. The ability to use such a powerful crossbow at this point in the game was sure to bring him countless benefits.

Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow (sub legendary)
Requirements: 800 strength
Properties: Attack 307-327, 30% critical rate, +100 fire damage, 5-shot burst
Weight: 56lb.
Restrictions: Thief, Paladin, Warrior

Flipping to the second page, Nie Yan found a skill tree consisting of over 20 skills. All of them appeared to be extremely powerful. Several skill icons at the base of the tree were lit up. They included Disappear and Sacrificial Gambit from the Chapter of Freedom, and Adjudicator of God and Transcendent Insight from the Chapter of Courage. Surprisingly, such skills were placed at the very bottom, and they were all already unlocked!

Higher up on the skill tree were a bunch of greyed-out skill icons including skills such as Hurricane Ambush and Umbra Slaughter. The grey icons each had a requirement attached to it. Some of them required him to kill a hundred thousand undead monsters, while others needed him to kill a thousand demon Elites at or above his level.

Each of the skills left Nie Yan dazed. They were all on par with skills such as Adjudicator of God and Sacrificial Gambit. However, the requirements to unlock them were equally ridiculous.

Chapter of Courage

Description: The third chapter of the first volume of the Book of Order. A fragment of a legendary item. Whoever shall possess this chapter will receive the inheritance of the God of Light. Your mission is to spread the glory of light!
Properties: Receive 2 stat points and 1 mastery point every 5 levels. Focus +15, Willpower +15, Resilience +16, Jump +15, Reflex +15, Speed +16
Transcendent Insight: Gain the ability to see through your enemies. Allows you to view enemy character information. Also grants the ability to appraise items.
Passive: Awareness +10
Adjudicator of God: Grants immunity to all magic, gain 500 health, and summon an advanced life-saving shield that absorbs 60% of all incoming damage for 5 minutes (this skill cannot be used in instances).
Cooldown: 10 days (1/10)
Restrictions: Can only be bound by a member of the Righteous Guardian of Order.
Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player's inventory

Chapter of Freedom

Description: The sixth chapter from the first volume of the Book of Order. A fragment of a legendary item. Whoever shall possess this chapter will receive the inheritance of the God of Light. Your mission is to spread the glory of light!
Properties: Receive 2 dexterity and 1 mastery point every 5 levels. Stealth +15, Cloak +15, Reflex +15, Strength +30
Disappear: Allows the player to stealth in the middle of combat. Has a certain probability of avoiding the enemy's attack
Passive: Stealth +20
Sacrificial Gambit: Sacrifice 30% of current health for a 50%, 20% or 10% chance to deal 200%, 300% or 500% of the amount sacrificed as damage respectively.
Cooldown: 2 days (1/2)
Restrictions: Can only be bound by a member of the Righteous Guardian of Order
Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player's bag.

If he wanted to have such powerful skills, he naturally had to pay an equally heavy price.

Nie Yan finally understood what the Book of Order meant when it said, "The owner of this item will receive the inheritance of the God of Light. Your mission is to spread the glory of light!” It seemed that he would have to kill dark creatures en masse. Perhaps after he got strong enough, he could find some time to go on an adventure through Underworld City.

There was no need to doubt the might of Volume I: Glimpse of Darkness, which gave him access to a myriad of powerful skills.

Flipping to the third page, Nie Yan saw the illustrations of an eight piece equipment set which consisted of a leather chest armour, cloak, gloves, pants, boots, shoulderguards, and two different daggers. The design was quite unusual—a deep shade of violet, with a different rune marking each set piece. Just the picture seemed to radiate an aura of ancientness. He was instantly enamoured by this set, especially the pair of daggers whose edges curved in an unusual way. They radiated a stifling murderous aura that would shake the minds of anyone who set their eyes on them.

Ancient Order: Tyrant Abak Set

Abak was a human tyrant from the Era of Shared Governance. He had brutally slain Monarch Agnes to seize the throne, dispelling the parliament. Under his bloody rule, the kingdom fell into a period of darkness. After he was defeated by General Brook later on, his equipment set disappeared into the sands of time.

The Glimpse of Darkness has several clues about this set. Brave adventurer, set forth on your journey to reclaim the long-lost Tyrant Abak Set!

It was a Legendary set left behind by a legendary tyrant!

The Tyrant Abak Set!

This was what you called a godly equipment set!

Nie Yan looked at the clues below the illustrations.

The Tyrant Abak Set has been lost for many years. One of the set items, Abak’s Bloody Dagger, was last seen near Kunlan Town over ten years ago. The old Mage Ligen probably knows some clues about its whereabouts.

The leather chest piece of the Tyrant Abak Set has long since been broken beyond repair. According to rumours, a random wanderer put the chest piece up for auction in the main auction house at the heart of Calore for 2 silver, where it was purchased by Earl Kleinfeld.

….

The list of clues would lead Nie Yan to finding this set. Of course, there would be difficulties along the way.

Because it was a Legendary set, Nie Yan knew he was not yet strong enough to go after it, no matter how simple the clues made it out to be. However, this set was definitely powerful beyond all of his expectations. Back when he was a Level 180 Great Thief, just a Sub Legendary set was good enough to be called godly equipment. Legendary sets were just a myth. After all, even the best players would only have one or two pieces of Legendary equipment. No one dared to even dream of gathering a complete set of Legendary items!

Chapter 241 – Buried History

Nie Yan flipped to the fourth page of the book, wondering what sort of materials were used to create such durable pages. The page densely packed with ancient characters from the Era of Shared Governance was detailed to a rarely seen degree. It contained techniques which allowed a player to advance to a Great Thief and Shadow Dancer, practice exercises to hone those techniques, methods to sharpen the player’s awareness as a Thief, and so on. A person in possession of this information could increase their combat strength at least several fold. Many things on this page couldn’t be found in the videos of his past life. There were even some techniques that he had never seen Sun or Shadow Killer employ.

This was the most comprehensive guide on how to become a Great Thief and Shadow Dancer!

With this guide, there was no longer a need for a player to go about blindly figuring out things for themselves. There were over a hundred techniques altogether, including those Nie Yan was familiar with like the beginner, middle, and advanced footwork of Shadow Dance and Dance of Death. Just mastering two or three of them would allow him to roam around unimpeded, while mastering five or six would allow him to look down on the world from high atop the peak.

Nie Yan had no intention of learning all of these techniques. Just having five or six of them handy was enough. Besides, some of the things described in this guide were simply too difficult for the current him to pull off.

The fifth page contained long forgotten secrets such as the whereabouts of Sage Grant’s equipment set or the origins of the Somodo Greatsword. There were also mentions of the Water of Life and Sacred Potions.

There was information on every mythical item that had ever appeared in the history of the Atlanta continent.

After skimming through, Nie Yan flipped to the next page.

On the sixth page was a mystical star design with an enchanting glow. As soon as Nie Yan set his eyes on the page, the star flashed with a dazzling radiance, and a projection of the star appeared in his mind. A flood of information related to past eras surged into his head, catching him off-guard.

He could only passively accept all of this knowledge. It took quite some time before he had finally absorbed all of it.

You have received All Knowing.

You have received the ‘Grand Scholar’ title.

A skill and a title…? Nie Yan quickly looked at his skill window, and noticed that a new passive skill was added—All Knowing. As he read through the description, he discovered that this passive came with a host of benefits. The first was a 200% boost to his Intelligence; it was unfortunate that he was a Thief and not a Mage, so this was not all that useful to him. The second benefit was that he directly learned the languages of the elves, beastmen, and any other race that belonged to the Righteous Faction of Order. Finally, it granted him the supplementary ability to divine the future of the game world once every ten days, such as major changes in an empire or historical events yet to occur. As for the Grand Scholar title, it raised his Influence in all nations by 50, allowed him the use of any transfer point free of charge, and he would enjoy the protection of any guard within a 50-meter radius while in a town or city. He was also given the privilege of riding a mount inside a city, and he even held the authority to order the guards to punish any character below the rank of viscount!

Any NPC or player with the rank of baron or lower would have to maintain a deferential attitude in front of Nie Yan. If such a person insulted his honour, depending on the severity of the offense and how much Influence the offender held, they could be jailed for anywhere between one to five days! This punishment was especially severe for a player. During this time, they wouldn’t be able to level at all! All they could do was helplessly pass the time in a jail cell!

This was the power of the Grand Scholar title, possessing supreme authority!

From now on, Nie Yan was privileged nobility. The benefits of most titles only had an effect in a specific city or nation. However, Grand Scholar was different; its benefits would always apply whether he was in the Viridian Empire or Satreen Empire.

Even the chief administrators, who held immense authority in their respective cities, didn’t easily dare to offend a person with the title of Scholar. It was because such a figure had the ability to divine the future!

Nie Yan’s lips curved into a sinister grin when he read through the part about being able to throw those who offended him in jail. A devious plot began forming in his mind. So long as he wasn’t the first one to throw out insults, he would be able to watch a good show if he could bait Heaven Breaker into cursing at him.

It was a pity that this trick would only work once. However, Nie Yan felt that was plenty. The resulting psychological blow from such a public humiliation would have a far greater effect than the actual punishment itself.

Any Grand Scholar whose divinations aided the Viridian and Satreen Empires in averting heavy losses in several major battles against the forces seeking to plunge the world into darkness would receive the title of Augur!

Flipping to the seventh page, Nie Yan saw an illustration of a gallant stallion clad in thick, metal barding framed by a magic runic circle. It was a spell which allowed the player to summon this warhorse as a mount.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but be shocked. It was a Faulkner Warhorse, named after the Faulkner Prairies from which they originated. These horses were known as the royal steed, and were as fast as the wind with a movement speed bonus of 300%. In the previous timeline, even the cheapest horse sold for the sky-high price of 50 gold, to say nothing of a luxurious mount like the Faulkner Warhorse, which was exclusively available to those of extremely high status. Faulkners raised in the royal stables sold for more than 50,000 gold. However, gold alone was not enough to purchase one of these mounts. There was an additional requirement, which was that the buyer needed to either possess at minimum the rank of a marquis or have at least 50 Influence in Calore!

Meeting either of these two requirements was as difficult as scaling the tallest peaks. Even the leaders of the major guilds in the previous timeline could only look on with envy at such an expensive mount.

Nie Yan wanted to see what this Faulkner Warhorse was like after summoning it, but this wasn’t the appropriate place.

After looking through the seventh page, Nie Yan realized there was one more page left.

When he flipped to the eighth page, it blossomed out with a brilliant radiance.

Within the light, Nie Yan saw a massive army in an ancient battlefield, countless majestic towers, and demons and angels battling in the sky above… Scene after scene flashed past his eyes, as though he was warped back in time to experience these distant eras firsthand. The very history of the world was recounted to him in great detail. A desolate bleakness…

Everything he witnessed had long since disappeared due to the merciless passage of time.

Announcement: Volume I of the Book of Order has been opened. A hallowed radiance illuminates the world. The Buried History expansion will be released shortly!

Announcement: The game will go down in one hour to undergo patching. Please be advised that all players must be logged off by then.

Below the announcements was a detailed introduction on the Era of Shared Governance. This was the ushering in of a new era. The Viridian and Satreen Empires would allow the unrestricted sale of land-based mounts to players. The knights of both empires rejoiced in triumph as they expelled the creatures of evil.

Following the release of the expansion, several changes would be implemented into the game to give newcomers a chance to catch up. The experience required to level up at lower levels would be dramatically reduced. The drop rate of in-game currency, along with both low-level skill books and equipment ranked Gold and Dark Gold, would be increased. There would also be the successive releases of basic strongholds, with five appearing in the first batch, all of which were guarded by evil creatures. Ownership of these strongholds would be given to whoever cleared them. Aside from this, places like the Elemental Hall and Holy Shrine would allow advanced magic to be learned without going through any tedious prequests, and the difficulty of the associated trials would be reduced, though only slightly. At the same time, a slew of quest lines related to the Buried History expansion, which ranged from Level 60–120, would become available. Even though the speed of levelling was increased, it would still be a long time before anyone could start them.

Nie Yan never expected flipping to the eighth page would trigger the release of the Buried History expansion. He was endlessly vexed. Yet another major deviation in the timeline had occurred! Had he known this would happen, he would have never looked at the last page! That way future events would still be a bit easier to predict! Although he believed the early release of the Buried History expansion was inevitable after he completed Volume I of the Book of Order, he never thought it would happen like this!

The simple action of flipping a page had influenced the course of the entire game!

A huge uproar occurred in the outside world.

"What the hell? Which guy opened the first volume of the book of something?”

"Who knows.”

"I heard levelling is going to become a bit easier after the release of the expansion. I wonder if that’s really true.”

The sudden release of an expansion caught the players off-guard. They were discussing fervently, trying to guess the identity of the person who triggered this. All the teams that were about to run a dungeon had no choice but to turn back, while those already in the middle of a run sped up their pace, though an hour’s time was plenty for a full clear.

Every major city and town was crowded with players. Everyone was talking about the shocking announcement. Since people learned that levelling would become much easier after the release of the expansion, no one was out levelling right now, instead taking the time to relax and stroll around.

「Nie Yan, were those announcements triggered by you?」Guo Huai asked. He knew Nie Yan was in possession of some of the chapters from the Book of Order, but he wasn’t too clear on the details

「Yeah, it was me. When everyone gets back online tomorrow, I want you to quickly gather six hundred of the top players in the guild,」Nie Yan said. Since the release of the expansion couldn’t be stopped, he might as well take advantage of the opportunity to seize some benefits; otherwise, it would be too much of a loss.

「Alright, that won’t be a problem,」Guo Huai replied. He understood that Nie Yan probably wanted to do something important.

「Also, I want you to find Heaven Breaker’s location for me. Is he in Calore right now? If so, immediately report it to me!」Nie Yan said. He was about to carry out his devious plan. Knowing Heaven Breaker’s fiery temper, it would be a piece of cake. As for Nightbreak Trickster, from what he understood of this person’s personality in the previous timeline, it wouldn’t be so easy to dupe him.

「Why are you looking for him?」Guo Huai asked in shock. There was nothing that could be done to Heaven Breaker in the city. Could it be that Nie Yan was planning to negotiate with him?

「I’m going to make him fall flat on his face. Watch carefully.」Nie Yan chuckled. The expansion was a rare opportunity for rapid growth. Especially considering that the stronghold battle between Holy Empire and Radiant Sacred Flame was going to start in a few days, if he could get Heaven Breaker locked up in jail during that time, it would greatly improve their chances of victory.

「Alright, I’ll immediately find out and report back to you,」Guo Huai said. Even though he had no idea what Nie Yan was planning, he knew that Heaven Breaker was probably going to suffer sorely just based on how mysterious Nie Yan was acting. He knew Nie Yan was a person who wouldn’t do something unless it was guaranteed to succeed. He couldn’t help but get somewhat excited. Heaven Breaker was most likely going to walk right into whatever trap Nie Yan had set for him.

Before long, Guo Huai reported back to Nie Yan. Heaven Breaker was currently at the main auction house in the heart of Calore with a group of people.

「Shadow Killer is with him too!」Guo Huai said. He was quite alarmed when he heard this piece of information.

Nie Yan narrowed his eyes before letting out a light laugh.「That’s not a problem. There’s no harm in having an extra audience member to enjoy the show.」

Chapter 242 – City Guards

「What are they doing at the center of Calore?」Nie Yan brainstormed ways of provoking Heaven Breaker as he headed in their direction. Unfortunately, not much came to mind. I’m really not suited for these kinds of things.

「They might be buying something at the auction house,」Guo Huai said, though he too could only guess.

Suddenly, a lightbulb lit up in Nie Yan’s mind: Rather than looking for Heaven Breaker at the auction house, why not instead just run straight to his headquarters?

Needless to say, someone as influential as Nie Yan just showing himself in front of Victorious Return’s headquarters would cause quite a large scene—precisely what he wanted.

A devilish smile formed on Nie Yan’s face. Hehe, I won’t even have to say a word. Just my being there will lead to them firing off a slew of insults. When they do, and the city guards would just happen to be nearby…

Now that would truly be a sight to behold.

「Have someone tell Heaven Breaker that I’m heading over to his guild headquarters.」Nie Yan thought for a bit, then added,「Actually, send Undying Scoundrel and tell him to hold nothing back. Tell him to treat Heaven Breaker like family. The more annoying he is the better.」

「Got it,」Guo Huai replied. He knew Nie Yan had something prepared for Heaven Breaker, and also knew that it would be even better if Undying Scoundrel irked Heaven Breaker.

Guo Huai conveyed these words to Undying Scoundrel while Nie Yan changed directions and marched straight towards Victorious Return’s headquarters.

「That’s all? Ain’t that easy? Just tell the boss to sit back and relax,」Undying Scoundrel said. How could he possibly miss out on such an opportunity? Provoking Heaven Breaker… what could be more exhilarating than this?

「Heaven Breaker’s at the city center’s auction house. Don’t waste any time and do it quick. The Boss is waiting after all.」

「No worries, I got this.」

After delegating the task, he carefully monitored the situation around the auction house at the center of Calore. It was much more active here than before, but the Tier 9 expansion brought about by the auction house lowered the feeling of crowdedness inside.

A few players crowded in a distant corner glanced toward the middle, their voices low as they spoke. Some twenty people forcefully reserved almost sixty of the best seats, driving away anyone that approached them. It went without saying that there were not many who wanted Victorious Return’s ire, so they allowed themselves to be shooed away. None of them enjoyed being stuck in an endless loop of being chased and killed—something well within Victorious Return’s capabilities.

"Look, that’s Heaven Breaker, Victorious Return’s guild leader.”

"Who’s that Thief next to him? He looks pretty strong.”

Shadow Killer, armed with his Shrapnel Set and a glaring red name, drew quite a few curious eyes.

A split second later, he donned a dark cloak, concealing his appearance amid the darkness.

"Don’t know, never seen him before.”

Despite Shadow Killer’s reputation, very few actually knew what he looked like. The reasons were twofold: First, he generally avoided attention, though that wasn’t the main factor. The main reason was the fact he only targeted high-profile personnel. Which one of them would freely send out recordings of their own death? It would do nothing but put shame to their names, particularly so due to their positions. Since there weren’t many recordings of Shadow Killer, it was natural players didn’t recognize him.

"The main targets in this siege are Nirvana Flame and Sleepy Fox, also Fa Lan if he shows up. How confident are you?” Heaven Breaker looked to the person beside him. His eyes were hidden behind a cloak, while his entire being seemed to ooze with killing intent.

"You want all three?” asked Shadow Killer, his tone flat.

"During the stronghold battle, focus on Sleepy Fox and put aside Nirvana Flame to deal with later,” Heaven Breaker instructed. Though he wished the very worst for Nie Yan, he understood that Sleepy Fox was a higher priority target in this siege because of his status as Holy Empire’s guild leader. He also knew that despite having an overall smaller impact, Nie Yan nonetheless commanded a great deal of strength and influence. Leaving Nie Yan alone would no doubt affect the battles as well.

Shadow Killer nodded and said no more.

They hadn’t expected for some Buried History expansion to come out all of a sudden, just days before the stronghold battle. Neither of them knew how this would affect the flow and results of the battle to come.

Heaven Breaker had just received an equipment blueprint that asked for special types of ores. If he could gear up 180 of his members with this equipment before the start of the stronghold battle, it would prove to be a fantastic boost to the guild’s strength. This was one of the reasons he came to the auction house—to purchase large amounts of raw materials. The other was to get ahold of Shadow Killer and discuss some terms. His bounty for Sleepy Fox was 800 gold, while Nie Yan’s reached a whopping 2,000; it was a truly absurd amount.

It was at this very moment that a person with complete disregard of his surroundings walked straight up to Heaven Breaker and Shadow Killer. His expression was one that lacked any sort of seriousness.

Needless to say, it was Undying Scoundrel.

The players of Victorious Return hadn’t reacted in time to stop him, nor did they dare as he hadn’t done anything beyond the usual set of actions that’d allow them to attack him without the city’s guards retaliating.

It was this reason alone that Undying Scoundrel felt no fear despite being surrounded by enemies.

It truly was a feeling beyond compare to irritate none other than the leader of Victorious Return, Heaven Breaker.

"Hai there, my good brother. Wassup?” Undying Scoundrel grinned, trying to be as irritating as possible.

A solemn expression gloomed over Heaven Breaker; there had never been anyone who dared to speak to him like that.

The players from Victorious Return looked at each other, all confused. Is this person Heaven Breaker’s friend? With that thought lingering in their minds, none of them even dared to stop Undying Scoundrel.

"Who’s that guy?”

"I don’t know, but I feel like I’ve seen him before. Just can’t remember where though…”

"I remember! That’s Undying Scoundrel! He’s a player from Asskickers United!”

"Is he a mole the boss planted in their guild?"

"Get lost!” Heaven Breaker never expected some oblivious fool would dare to so rudely disturb him.

"Tsk, tsk… Don’t be like that. I was just passing by, and when I saw you I thought I should say hello to a good friend. My boss told us to think of you guys as our brothers, as though we’re all family. Isn’t it fine to skip the formalities with close relatives? There’s no reason for you to act so coldly, is there?” Undying Scoundrel asked, grinning from ear to ear.

Heaven Breaker also realized what was going on. This person was from Asskickers United! What’s more, he was one of the ten from Kiln Fire Woods!

Undying Scoundrel could be considered a small-time celebrity now.

"Screw off and go back to your boss! Tell him that small fries shouldn’t get cocky. I’ll deal with him sooner rather than later,” Heaven Breaker spat coldly.

"Hey, hey! How can you speak like that? My boss is a kind and tolerant person. His heart is as vast as the ocean, and his handsome, glowing appearance even puts the moon to shame. How dare you treat him like some kind of villain!? This is slander! How can you tarnish the image of my boss, a virtuous soul who receives the affection and reverence of all…?” Undying Scoundrel chattered on. He was a buzzing housefly, putting on a brilliant show as he riled the other side up. The more he spoke, the more carefree his words became.

Seeing that Undying Scoundrel was being ridiculous and had no intention of leaving, Heaven Breaker looked at his subordinates and ordered, "Come, shoo this undying housefly away!”

Heaven Breaker fumed inwardly at what he saw as Asskickers United’s intolerable bullying.

According to the rules of the city, if a player bothered a major figure such as the leader of a large guild, that leader had the right to perform minor disciplinary actions such as having the person dragged away.

Two Victorious Return musclemen immediately came forward, grabbed Undying Scoundrel by his arms, and frogmarched him out of the auction house.

"Oh right! Brother Heaven Breaker, I almost forgot to tell you! My boss is preparing to give your headquarters a visit and enjoy your hospitality. Make sure you have tea ready for him by the time he gets there.” Undying Scoundrel was secretly ecstatic to see Heaven Breaker about to blow his lid like a boiling kettle. He had always been carrying a belly-full of anger knowing that some of the brothers in the guild were actually spies for Victorious Return. What frustrated him even more was that he didn’t know how many there were. But today, he finally got to let off some steam. He had to admit, irritating Heaven Breaker to no end felt even more refreshing than simply cursing at him.

Heaven Breaker, hearing Undying Scoundrel’s words, took on an unsightly expression. Nie Yan visiting the Victorious Return headquarters certainly meant he was up to no good.

"We return to our headquarters!” Heaven Breaker announced. He refused to believe that Nie Yan could accomplish much while in Calore. However, since Nie Yan dared to go to his headquarters, Heaven Breaker couldn’t possibly not show.

Shadow Killer’s eyes flashed with a gloomy, mysterious light as he touched the handle of the dagger strapped to his waist. Mad Rogue, let’s see if you’re really worthy of being my target.

A crowd of fuming Victorious Return players rushed back to their guild headquarters. They wanted to see just what Nie Yan was up to.

"I’m serious. I’m only here because I want to sit down and have a chat with Heaven Breaker,” Nie Yan said with an innocent expression on his face.

"Fuck off! Only a dumbass would believe that. Beat it! Don’t think we’re afraid of touching you!” a Victorious Return player shouted, shaking his fists. So long as Nie Yan dared to enter their guild headquarters which was a private area, they could immediately do with him as they pleased.

"Scram!”

Nie Yan leisurely awaited the arrival of Heaven Breaker, wondering what sort tactic he should employ to infuriate him while still having the laws of Calore on his side. Deep in thought on this issue, he spotted a group of players in the distance aggressively moving in his direction. Leading them was none other than Heaven Breaker.

Nie Yan’s lips curved into a smile. He had been waiting for quite a while. Seeing the crowd storm over, he was just about to open his mouth to speak when Heaven Breaker cut him off," Nirvana Flame, you motherfucker! Don’t think your Asskickers United is invincible! This is the territory of Victorious Return. You think you can just show up here uninvited? Get the fuck out of my sight right now!”

Nie Yan was stunned speechless. He spent nearly half a day without success trying to think up a surefire plan that would provoke Heaven Breaker into cursing at him. After all, quarrelling with others wasn’t his speciality. Little did he know that all that effort would go to waste. Heaven Breaker fell hook, line, and sinker with no effort on his part. He couldn’t help but wonder what Undying Scoundrel did to get Heaven Breaker so riled up, to the extent that he would hurl out abuse immediately after seeing him!

Heaven Breaker was a born gangster. Receiving anything but profanities was as difficult as scaling the heavens, especially after he suffered under Undying Scoundrel’s harassment back at the auction house. Even now, he was still fuming. When he spotted Nie Yan arrogantly idling around his guild headquarters, he couldn’t hold back any longer, venting out all his pent-up anger.

Nie Yan raised up both his hands. "I just came here for a stroll. I didn’t expect you guys to be so unwelcoming.”

The players from Victorious Return were unfazed by Nie Yan’s words, only feeling that he deserved a good beating. They swore at him even more ruthlessly. As people who were unruly by nature, with little to no upbringing, they used increasingly vulgar language.

Nie Yan swept his gaze over Heaven Breaker’s entourage before noticing a person in a black cloak standing far off in the back. He raised his eyebrows in surprise. It was Shadow Killer!

This guy was watching the events unfold from the sidelines!

The two people locked eyes as sparks flew in the air.

Nie Yan averted his eyes, then turned back to face Heaven Breaker along with the crowd and said with a ridiculing smile, "Have you guys had enough fun cursing at me?”

Just as Nie Yan’s voice fell, a deluge of fully armed Calore guards clad in golden armour poured into the street. Most of them were Level 60–70 Elites. Some were even stronger. They surrounded the players from Victorious Return, and gave off an intimidating aura that struck fear into the hearts of all people.

In an instant, the players from Victorious Return were left wide-eyed and speechless. Just what did they do to attract the ire of the city guards?

Chapter 243 – Faulkner Warhorse

A guard in golden imperial armour approached Nie Yan, and asked in a deferential tone, "Sir Demon Hunter and Grand Scholar, Captain Quinn of the Calore guards greets you. How may this lowly one serve you today?” He didn’t dare to neglect the person in front of him in the slightest.

Everyone saw how the guard captain treated Nie Yan with great respect.

The crowd of Victorious Return players dropped their jaws after witnessing the guard captain’s attitude. All of them were stunned on the spot.

Demon Hunter? Grand Scholar? What sort of titles were these?

Although they were aware Nie Yan was formidable—possessing a great degree of Influence in Calore, to the extent he could walk around freely with a red name—they never expected him to hold a title that even let him order around the guards!

With such a large group of high-level guards surrounding them, the players from Victorious Return were scared witless. Quaking in their boots and fearing the worst, they were terrified about what might happen next.

Nie Yan’s icy gaze swept over the crowd of players, sending chills down their spines.

"Captain Quinn, I’ve endured unwarranted verbal abuse from these people. According to the laws of Calore, what is the punishment for insulting a Demon Hunter and Grand Scholar?” Nie Yan asked. Now that he had the enemy in the palm of his hand, how could he possibly let them off lightly?

"Sir, the law states that all accomplices will be thrown into jail for one to five days, while the main offender must serve for at least three days. Harsher penalties may be imposed if they attempt to resist,” Captain Quinn succinctly replied before looking over the crowd, his imposing aura dispelling any thoughts of putting up a fight.

At their current level, facing off against Level 60–70 Elite Guards was simply suicidal.

Even if they logged off right now, they would just be arrested the moment they came back online. If they turned tail and fled, they would be labelled as wanted fugitives. An arrest warrant would be issued out in every town and city, and they would forever be on the lam. It didn’t stop here, they would also be attacked on sight by every NPC belonging to the imperial army.

Under these circumstances, they could only allow themselves to be arrested by the guards.

Only now did Heaven Breaker realize that he had been tricked. This was the enemy’s plan all along. He didn’t expect that even his foul mouth would be used as a weapon against him. His face sank as he stared daggers at Nie Yan with a wolf-like gaze. He hadn’t fully lost his sense of reason. He was aware that opening his mouth right now would only invite further trouble. If he had an outburst, who knew how many more days he would spend locked up in jail? He suppressed the endless rage in his heart.

Nie Yan was extremely satisfied with this outcome. The results were perfect. Heaven Breaker and many of his experts and high level personnel would be thrown in jail. No one who cursed at him was spared! Without the leadership of the higher-ups, Victorious Return would sink into complete disorder!

I should call up Guo Huai and Sleepy Fox after this. If we’re going to make a move, now is the best time!

The war between Asskickers United and Victorious Return was no holds barred from the start. Both sides used any means possible to deal with each other.

When Heaven Breaker was released from jail three days later, the stronghold battle would be long over!

"I request these people be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Throw them in jail,” Nie Yan said. The guards stepped forward, and began arresting almost everyone standing in front of the guild headquarters entrance. Over 160 players were taken away. Who knew if the Calore jail cells could hold them all.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but think he scored big this time.

The street outside the guild headquarters entrance returned to its usual calm after the commotion was over.

Even their guild leader was taken away, so how could the remaining players dare to continue provoking Nie Yan?

Nie Yan turned to look at the cloaked figure in the distance. Shadow Killer noticed his gaze and stared back. He revealed an indifferent smile, as though everything that just transpired had nothing to do with him, before vanishing like a wisp of smoke.

Nie Yan scanned his surroundings, but he could no longer find any traces of Shadow Killer’s presence. It was as if this person had never been there in the first place!

What a formidable stealthing ability!

Shadow Killer never just revealed himself in front of people. This was him provoking Nie Yan!

Nie Yan understood that if he ever encountered Shadow Killer in the wilderness some day, a fierce battle would definitely take place. The boss of the number one gaming organization in the nation… he was eager to see just how strong this mythical figure was.

Nie Yan was inwardly delighted. Heaven Breaker suffered a defeat at his hands yet again. With that explosive temper of his, who knew how long he could last in jail? This time, Victorious Return fell face-first into the mud, leaving them in a wretched state. He cast a glance at their guild headquarters one more time before departing for the Starry Night Potion Shop.

Before long, Nie Yan was bombarded with calls.

「Amazing! You really are something… You actually got Heaven Breaker tossed into jail. It looks like he won’t be able to participate in the stronghold battle tomorrow!」Sleepy Fox exclaimed. It went without saying that Radiant Sacred Flame was going to rely on Victorious Return. Due to the relationship between these two large guilds, Victorious Return would definitely send over their top forces to lend support. But now, over half their elites had been locked up in jail by Nie Yan, with many of them being unable to get out in time to participate in the stronghold battle. This instantly increased Holy Empire and Asskickers United’s chances of victory by over 30%!

「You’re sure it’s tomorrow?」Nie Yan asked. Due to the release of the Buried History expansion, he expected some things would be shifted to an earlier date such as the stronghold battle.

「Yes, I just received confirmation. Tomorrow at 21:00, don’t be late,」Sleepy Fox replied. He now felt more confident than ever about seizing the stronghold.

Nie Yan nodded.「Don’t worry. We’ll be on time.」

Guo Huai was next to contact him.

「Nie Yan, I just received a report from a subordinate. You sure are fierce, getting Heaven Breaker put behind bars like that. The whole guild is practically bursting out in cheers,」Guo Huai said emotionally. He recalled how much they had suffered at the hands of Victorious Return. Nie Yan had done well to settle the score since then.

Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, and the others also lit up his voice com. Each and every one of them was endlessly excited. Getting Heaven Breaker put away, Nie Yan’s actions this time around were simply too satisfying!

Nie Yan broke out into a faint smile when he saw how excited everyone got. He shifted his attention away from the chat to the scene around him as he travelled back and forth through narrow alleyways until he reached a secluded area. He found this place where no player was even remotely close to because he wanted to check out his new mount.

Nie Yan started chanting, calling forth his mount from the Glimpse of Darkness. After a bright flash illuminated the gloomy alley, a towering steed emerged before him.

This Faulkner Warhorse looked just like the ones Nie Yan saw in videos during his past life. It had a reddish brown coat without the slightest blemish, outlining a robust frame which brimmed with power, and onyx-black eyes which sparkled with intelligence. It was a good bit taller than him, and looked ready to charge into battle with its sparkling, silver armour.

The Faulkner Warhorse snorted, blowing out hot air, before bowing its head. It rubbed its muzzle against Nie Yan’s body, as though seeking his affection.

Nie Yan gently stroke the horse’s neck, a sense of familiarity arising in his heart. Since it was his summon, there existed a telepathic link between them which allowed him to command it with a single thought.

"Hey, partner. From now on, you’ll be my mount,” Nie Yan mumbled. This Faulkner Warhorse was quite intelligent.

Nie Yan examined the Faulkner Warhorse’s information. Just like for the vast majority of mounts, this one didn’t allow for mounted combat. Not that this was all that surprising to Nie Yan. There were only a very special few that could. Of course, these types of mounts were even more expensive.

The Faulkner Warhorse increased movement speed by 300% while being ridden. It was precisely this movement speed bonus that made the Faulkner so highly-prized. An ordinary mount that could increase movement speed by even 100% was already considered an extremely rare sight.

A mount allowed a player to save much precious time. Countless hours which would’ve been wasted travelling by foot could instead be spent on levelling, giving the player an edge over others. This held especially true for travel between cities and towns. Owning a mount could save the player a lot on travelling expenses.

This gallant steed was capable of traversing a thousand miles in a single day, providing Nie Yan with fast transport between large maps. As for travel between cities and towns, he had no need for the Faulkner Warhorse, since all transfer fees were waived thanks to his Grand Scholar title. He could even make a visit to the Satreen Empire’s King City to purchase a few exotic items.

Hearing the sound of approaching footsteps, Nie Yan recalled the Faulkner Warhorse. He headed for the Starry Night Potion Shop, passing by many player-owned shops along the way. There were potion shops, equipment shops, general shops, and so on. Although none of them were at a very high tier, it was at least proof that Calore’s commerce was slowly growing.

So far, Nie Yan had opened up several dozen shops in major cities across the Viridian Empire. These included potion shops, tinkerer shops, and so on. Due to the Demon Hunter title, Bird Leaves No Eggs received a great amount of preferential treatment when applying to start a business on Nie Yan’s behalf. Now that Nie Yan held the Great Scholar title in addition to this, who would dare to cause trouble in his place of business? Anyone who did would get dragged away by the guards. No one would be that foolish.

Aside from these several dozen shops, Nie Yan still had a few open plots of land he planned to lease out to people for a decent price. In the last few days, he had over a dozen visitors who approached him about this matter. But they hadn’t moved past the initial negotiations just yet. Nie Yan told Bird to wait until the real-world currency exchange went live before settling anything. This was because the Currency Conversion Hall would be opened near the Starry Night Potion Shop, and all the surrounding shops would soar in value. At that time, the leasing price would definitely rise as well. By just collecting rent, Nie Yan would already be able to earn a huge profit.

Aside from this, his level had dropped to a miserable state. He could only wait until he returned online to get it back up.

After the expansion was fully released tomorrow, it was crucial that Nie Yan finished all his preparations.

The release of the Buried History expansion was akin to opening Pandora’s box. Who knew what the future would have in store for him. Nie Yan could only steadily observe the changes.

Checking the progress of the virtual property auction, Nie Yan found his bids for the auction house at the heart of Calore and the Mercenary Auction House still standing on top. He could still observe any changes to bids with his phone after getting off the game.

This whole time, Nie Yan was still amassing funds. He currently had over 6,000 gold at his disposal. It was enough snatch away the two auction houses he was eying. He wasn’t worried about any competition emerging.

Nie Yan arrived at the Starry Night Potion Shop and finished most preparations. Seeing that it was about time for the servers to go down, he logged off.

Chapter 244 – Meeting Xie Yao Again

Nie Yan put down the game helmet on the side of his bed. Today was the first day of the school year. As a newly enrolled transfer student, he was allowed to start a few days later than everyone else in order to get settled into his new environment. But he badly wanted to see Xie Yao again, so he packed his bag before heading off for school.

Nie Yan’s parents, who had gone off to work early in the morning, left breakfast for him on the table. Since the company was just established, there were a lot of matters to attend to.

In the previous timeline, Nie Yan felt neglected being left in the villa all by himself, causing his juvenile mind to develop a rebellious personality. He vowed he would never repeat his past mistakes with this new life that was given to him.

A 50-year-old chauffeur awaited Nie Yan at the villa entrance and drove him to school.

Huahai Affiliated High School, a place very familiar to Nie Yan; it held many memories he still cherished even after a lifetime.

The school campus was beautiful, a shaded pathway enclosed by dense shrubbery and flowers along with a flowing miniature creek. Osmanthus trees lined both sides in a neat row. Even though they weren’t yet in bloom, Nie Yan recalled how their fragrance filled the school grounds.

Everything was just as he remembered.

Although there were some slight differences, many things were pretty much identical to the previous timeline. History only began to slightly deviate when Nie Yan awoke in the past.

Many students were already milling around in the third-year classroom of Class 3. It was the beginning of the new semester, so everyone was busily reconnecting after the summer break. Gathered in cliques, they were having lively discussions. Only after the bell rang would they finally settle down for class.

This was a multimedia classroom, with computers molded into the shape of desk and seat. Sitting was very comfortable. The facilities here were clearly better than the ones in Nie Yan’s old school back in Ningjiang.

Nie Yan’s eyes scanned through the crowd before finally stopping on a familiar face. She wore a bright yellow blouse and a light blue skirt, and glowed with a youthful radiance. Her beautiful smile was especially dazzling. She was like a crane among a flock of hens.

She was surrounded by eight female classmates. They were happily chatting about what they did over the summer holidays.

Xie Yao’s image resonated with the one engraved in his heart. After seeing her again, Nie Yan could no longer remain calm.

Even though Nie Yan had matured into an adult, the feelings that accumulated over two lifetimes had increasingly weighed on him.

Only after a long while did Nie Yan finally suppress the feelings in his heart. He walked toward Xie Yao.

Xie Yao noticed an inconspicuous young man approaching her and looked at him with a curious glint. She felt he was extremely familiar, as though they had met somewhere before. But when she carefully examined his appearance, nobody came to mind.

"Hi,” Nie Yan greeted.

Xie Yao nodded, then asked with a somewhat doubtful expression, "Hi, have we met somewhere before? You are…?”

"I’m Nie Yan (聶言). That’s Nie with a double ‘ear’ (耳), and the Yan in ‘language’ (語言),” Nie Yan introduced himself.

"Oh! It’s you!” Xie Yao exclaimed. She wore an expression of amazement along with pleasant surprise. She recalled the time they first met in Ninjiang, and how she mistook him for a middle schooler back then. But now, he looked like a completely different person—much taller, and more muscular too.

Nie Yan laughed. "You’ve remembered. I just transferred to this school, and happened to end up in this class. I’m your new classmate, so please treat me kindly.”

"What a coincidence! Welcome!” Xie Yao said in a cheerful tone. When she looked at Nie Yan, another figure popped into her mind—someone she knew from a game, who led a powerful band of experts and took the virtual world by storm. She didn’t know what corner of the planet this mysterious player lived in, but she couldn’t help but feel that these two people were somewhat alike. As her thoughts turned to this person she deeply admired, ripples surfaced in her heart and her cheeks flushed red.

"Thank you.” Nie Yan nodded.

A female classmate standing beside Xie Yao nudged her and asked in a gossipy tone, "Ah? Xie Yao, who is he?

"Right! Tell us! He’s tall, and kinda cute… Wait! Don’t tell us he’s your boyfriend!?” another female classmate chimed in, covering her mouth with one hand as she giggled.

"No, stop speaking nonsense! He’s just a friend I met not long ago,” Xie Yao exclaimed in embarrassment, then turned to Nie yan with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, they always blabber like this. Don’t mind them.”

A student who noticed this scene unfolding from the other side of the classroom walked over.

Nie Yan’s expression turned frosty when he saw this person. Destiny would inevitably force enemies to cross paths again. The grievances between him and Liu Rui weren’t something easily explained in a few short sentences. In the previous timeline, were it not for Liu Rui constantly putting him down, he wouldn’t have developed such a low self-esteem. Whether in terms of background, appearance, or studies, he always lost to Liu Rui. It was only after he matured into an adult that he realized none of these things mattered at all in the face of true love. However, by the time he understood this truth of life, Xie Yao was already taken away from him.

In this life, Nie Yan would take back everything he lost. He would crush Liu Rui beneath his feet, and all the bullying he received in his past life would be paid back in full.

"Hello, who might you be?” Liu Rui offered his hand, revealing what he thought was a bright and elegant smile.

"Hello, my name is Nie Yan. I’m a new transfer student.” Nie Yan shook hands with Liu Rui in a graceful manner. Now that he had a more mature outlook on life, he understood some actions no matter how superficial still needed to be done, even more so since he was in front of Xie Yao.

"No wonder. So you and Xie Yao have met before?” Liu Rui asked. When he looked at Nie Yan, a feeling of crisis arose in his heart. This was a formidable rival!

"We’ve met once prior to this.” Nie Yan chuckled. He wore a natural expression, and didn’t display the slightest bit of hostility.

Liu Rui internally sighed with relief. He initially believed Nie Yan was Xie Yao’s childhood friend or something of the kind. It turned out they were just acquaintances.

Xie Yao revealed an annoyed expression. What right did Liu Rui have to pry into her personal matters? She used to have a somewhat favourable opinion of him, feeling he was a talented individual who could do anything flawlessly. But as her horizons broadened, she realized those more outstanding than him could be found everywhere. His glaring flaws grew increasingly apparent—vain, prideful, conceited, and possessive. All these traits filled her with disgust.

Nie Yan casually chatted with the classmates around him. All of them had a good impression of him. They felt he was charming, humorous, and laid-back.

"Nie Yan, do you practice Taekwondo? You’re really muscular,” a female classmate asked.

"No, I’ve never practiced Taekwondo, though I’ve trained in kickboxing and some other mixed martial arts,” Nie Yan replied. As a young adult, if he had never learned a martial art, he would definitely be looked down on.

"Kickboxing is more focused on real combat. Can you really fight?” the female classmate asked as her eyes sparkled. She felt men who practiced kickboxing were a bit more attractive.

"You do kickboxing? I was taught some of the basics by Teacher Yang, how about we spar some?” Liu Rui interjected. While chatting with everyone, he discovered the spotlight had been snatched away from him, so he was desperate to get it back.

Xie Yao’s limpid eyes curiously gazed at Nie Yan. She felt he was quite mysterious. He was nothing like the scrawny kid she previously met. It was hard to imagine these two were actually the same person.

"Teacher Yang…” several female classmates quietly exclaimed.

After hearing Liu Rui’s proposal, Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a cold light. Brat, I’ve been waiting for you to say that for a long time. In the previous timeline, he was repeatedly provoked by Liu Rui in PE until he finally broke and fought him. Of course, he was beaten miserably and suffered heavy injuries. Liu Rui had knocked him to the ground and stepped on his neck until he admitted defeat, humiliating him in front of everyone. This dealt a huge blow to his psyche, leading to him not appearing in school for almost a month.

Liu Rui was the teacher’s assistant. Whether it was kickboxing or Taekwondo, he was proficient in both. So how could the Nie Yan from back then possibly be his match!? Liu Rui had somehow found out he had a crush on Xie Yao, so he purposefully took the opportunity to humiliate him during that PE class!

Brat, this time, it’s you delivering yourself to me! Nie Yan thought. He was the frequent target of bullying by Liu Rui in his past life. In this one, he would return everything with interest!

Liu Rui was stunned as he happened to notice the brief change in Nie Yan’s expression. However, when he looked again, Nie Yan was happily chatting with everyone like normal.

Did my mind just play a trick on me?

Liu Rui expelled these thoughts. He didn’t think Nie Yan looked all that tough.

While Nie Yan was chatting, he would occasionally glance at Xie Yao. Her bright cheeks were supple yet firm. Her T-shirt was a bit of a tight-fit, and curved around her graceful figure, giving off a feeling that would make a person’s heart palpitate.

In the previous timeline, Nie Yan only dared to sneak glances at her. In this life, his attitude had completely changed. He was able to calmly appreciate her beauty.

Xie Yao felt her heart race as she sensed Nie Yan’s gaze. Feeling her cheeks turn slightly hot, she switched the topic with the female classmates around her. Nie Yan’s gaze made her feel somewhat embarrassed, but she felt he was still much more pleasing to the eye than Liu Rui.

"No need. I’m not that great at kickboxing. I’ll only end up embarrassing myself in front of everyone.” Nie Yan pretended to decline.

This made Liu Rui believe even more that Nie Yan was just another weakling. This was a good opportunity. He would definitely humiliate him!

"No problem. It’s just a spar, swapping a few points. If there’s anything you don’t understand, I can teach you. I was recently appointed the teacher’s assistant of this class by Teacher Yang. Teacher Yang is our teacher this year,” Liu Rui said, sounding quite pleased with himself.

"Just a few days ago, Liu Rui passed the test for the Top Military Academy.” A short male student with a slightly wretched appearance inserted himself into the conversation.

Nie Yan knew this student. He was Liu Rui’s lackey, Han Jun. This person was also one of the people he loathed.

"Wow! How come I’ve never heard Liu Rui talk about this before?” a female classmate exclaimed in surprise.

Liu Rui felt a bit smug. He lightly laughed and said, "That was only an ordinary test, not the official one.”

"Still, that’s pretty amazing!”

"Yeah! This is the test of Top Military Academy we’re talking about!”

"That means I definitely can’t compete with you. I only know a few of the most basic kickboxing techniques,” Nie Yan said. He had accurately grasped Liu Rui’s nature. When this bastard had his eyes set on a target, and discovered they were easy to bully, he absolutely wouldn’t let them off easily. He was waiting for Liu Rui to take the bait!

"No problem. Let’s go find a place,” Liu Rui replied, feigning a magnanimous tone.

Chapter 245 – Cunning

With Liu Rui being so insistent, Nie Yan could only agree with false reluctance.

Liu Rui’s eyes glinted insidiously. You little bastard, I’ll show you! Let’s see if you can be so smug in the future!

Most of the class left the main building, heading for a nearby gymnasium, where there would be a ring for the two to face off.

More than twenty people tagged along just to watch the show. This match became quite the spectacle.

"Nie Yan, don’t force yourself!” Xie Yao fretted anxiously. With her understanding of Liu Rui, she knew he wouldn’t hold back in the slightest..

Nie Yan’s heart melted as he saw Xie Yao’s concerned eyes. Her kindness was exactly what he loved most about her. Even though most of his classmates looked down on him in the previous timeline, she never did. Xie Yao had even tutored him, offering guidance and encouragement for his studies. The memory of this kindness stayed with him for the rest of that life, and this one! Xie Yao occupied the most sacred place in his heart. If anyone dared to hurt her, he would pit his life against them in a heartbeat! Back then, perhaps his biggest regret was distancing himself from her to avoid sullying her reputation.

Every time Nie Yan was forced into a corner, her image would drift through his mind. The memory of her gentle face always brought him a feeling of refreshing warmth. This memory alone carried him through the darkest days of his past life.

"It’s just a quick exchange of pointers,” Nie Yan laughed. He patted his chest and reassured her, "After all my training, if nothing else I at least know how to take a beating.”

Xie Yao forced a chuckle after hearing Nie Yan’s hearty laughter. Although these words weren’t reassuring, her expression loosened somewhat. If it looked like the things would get out of hand, she could just call the match and prevent any serious injuries.

"Don’t worry, little brother! If you’re taking too bad of a beating, I’ll just help you down. I won’t let him hurt you seriously,” a two meter tall, burly student joked.

The towering student admitted awkwardly, "I never liked that kid, but I know I’m not his match.”

How could Nie Yan not recognize this person? Zhai Hao was like a brother to Nie Yan in the previous timeline.

"Thank you, brother. I promise I’ll hold my own against him,” Nie Yan replied. He felt touched by Zhai Hao’s words.

"You seem pretty confident,” Zhai Hao laughed. "However, I must warn you. Liu Rui’s legs are really strong. His record is 130 kg for squats and his leg strength surpasses 300 kg.”

A 130 kg squat and 300 kg leg strength was pretty good for a senior year high school student. But when compared to a monster like Nie Yan, it was nothing.

Nie Yan hadn’t tested out his leg strength or squat weight in a long time. His most recent record squat was 367 kg, while his leg strength was over 700 kg. Liu Rui was nowhere close to Nie Yan. It was like a professional mixed martial artist fighting with a kid who only knew how to bully those weaker than him. Nie Yan could easily make short work of him! This was total domination! Ironically, Liu Rui was still standing there all pleased with himself, thinking that he would stomp on his opponent.

"We’ll see when I go up there and try myself,” Nie Yan replied. Since he decided to play the pig to eat the tiger, he would go through with it all the way!

From Zhai Hao’s perspective, Nie Yan would definitely lose miserably. He already prepared himself to break things up if Liu Rui went too far.

Nie Yan and Liu Rui stood at the center of the open space, facing each other. The others stood off to the side and watched.

"Who do you guys think will win?”

"Liu Rui, obviously. Is there really a need to ask?”

No one was optimistic about Nie Yan’s odds.

"Let’s go all out; otherwise, we won’t be able to enjoy ourselves. Even in a spar there are often injuries. But since we’re all young, we should be able to quickly recover after some rest at home,” Nie Yan said in a seemingly docile manner, almost as if he were a lamb waiting for slaughter.

"Right! Our medical treatments are so advanced these days, there’s no injury we can’t heal! I won’t hold back either. Let’s have a good fight.” Liu Rui narrowed his eyes. He didn’t expect for Nie Yan to willingly deliver himself to his doorstep. Since Nie Yan proposed it, he wouldn’t pull any punches. Even if Nie Yan was seriously injured, he could only blame himself.

The classmates looked on in surprise. None of them expected Nie Yan to cut off all paths of retreat.

"Did this guy go crazy?”

"Who knows. What an idiot. Isn’t he just asking to get his ass kicked?”

Liu Rui’s eyes flashed with a cold light. Since you want to throw your life away, don’t blame me for being impolite!

"No, that’s not alright!” Xie Yao anxiously called out. If Liu Rui acted ruthlessly, with his leg strength, Nie Yan would definitely be seriously injured!

Without waiting for the bystanders to calm down, Liu Rui performed the opening formalities and took a basic stance.

Nie Yan also bowed formally. This was mandatory in any duel. It signified respect for the opponent, though he felt no such thing.

"Let’s start!” Liu Rui suddenly took off, rushing towards Nie Yan. The audience broke into a cold sweat as they saw Liu Rui dashing at his foe.

Liu Rui opened by lifting his leg to kick Nie Yan in the chest. Nie Yan raised his arms to block at first, but decided to nimbly sidestep instead after seeing Liu Rui’s direct assault.

Nie Yan’s sharp eyes stared at Liu Rui. From his perspective, the opponent was full of openings. He could think of over a dozen different ways to knock Liu Rui down flat on his ass with a single strike!

Liu Rui never expected Nie Yan’s movements to be so agile. He seemed to be even faster than Teacher Yang by a good bit. The truth dawned on him. This bastard had been playing him for a fool all along! However, just as he moved to defend, it was already too late.

In Nie Yan’s eyes, Liu Rui might as well not be defending at all!

With a twist of his body, Nie Yan slammed his elbow into Liu Rui’s back. His lightning-fast blow produced an audible thud as it landed. Liu Rui staggered forward from the hit, feeling the blood in his body surge. His bones felt like they were about to break apart, and he could tell he suffered serious internal injuries.

What a heavy strike!

Before he could catch his breath, he felt wind blowing into his ear. When he tried to react, it was already far too late.

Nie Yan executed a gorgeous spinning kick. His foot whipped across Liu Rui’s face with immense force. As a loud crack rang out across the gymnasium, scaring the wits out of the spectators, Liu Rei was sent flying out several meters into the air before falling hard on the ground. He spat out a mouthful of blood, then went limp after uttering a pained groan.

The fight was over just like that!

The entire crowd became slack jawed.

No one ever thought the duel would end so quickly. Even more surprisingly, Liu Rui had lost! It was a complete rout, causing everyone to think that this new student was too fierce!

Everyone looked at Nie Yan appreciatively. The kick that sent Liu Rui flying clearly had hundreds of kg of power behind it!

No one knew in what state Liu Rui was in after taking such a kick to the head. Just thinking about it made people wince in sympathy. They could feel their hair standing on end.

That kick was absolutely ruthless. It may have even been stronger than one from a professional athlete, and Nie Yan was still just a high school student!

Nie Yan released all of the anger and frustration built up from his previous life in the kick. Upon releasing the kick, he realized he used so much strength that Liu Rui would have to be confined to bed for quite a while, and immediately felt a burst of pleasure deep inside. Liu Rui’s reputation of excellence and indomitability was destroyed as his sorry figure lay sprawled on the floor for everyone to see, including Xie Yao.

Nie Yan secretly hid his delight as he turned to his classmates and innocently asked, "Can someone call the school nurse? I didn’t mean to do that, I had no idea he couldn’t even take a single hit.”

Someone hurriedly called over the school nurse, and Liu Rui was carried away on a stretcher. Before the start of the spar, both sides had bowed to each other to express they understood the consequences. As long as neither side died, the participants could get away with almost anything. With how far medicinal technology had advanced, practically anyone could be saved as long as they had a breath of life left in them.

"Damn, bro! That was fierce! You really baited that bastard good,” Zhai Hao whispered from off to the side with a smirk that revealed a hint of schadenfreude.

"Bait him? Did I? I was just being casual. I didn’t expect him to be so weak,” Nie Yan denied, feigning ignorance.

"Didn’t I just tell you Liu Rui’s squat and leg strengths? You didn’t even react, but your kick just then was at least over 500 kg! You can play the pig to eat the tiger, but don’t treat me as a fool!” Zhai Hao chastised disdainfully.

"Haha… I guess I’ve been exposed. Lower your voice a bit. Help me keep this a secret.” Nie Yan laughed in embarrassment.

"You know, that kick of yours was pretty amazing. I fully approve! Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret,” Zhai Hao laughed ruefully. As long as Nie Yan was aware that he knew about this matter, it was fine.

The reason Nie Yan had gotten close to Zhai Hao in the first place in the previous timeline was because of their mutual disgust for Liu Rui. Later, he even introduced Nie Yan to a circle of friends who all disliked Liu Rui.

"You’re so strong, do you happen to have a moment to teach us some of your techniques?” Zhai Hao asked. He was extremely obsessed with martial arts.

"Sure! I’ll definitely give you some pointers,” Nie Yan promised seriously. He wished to keep the brotherhood he shared with Zhai Hao during his past life and continue it on in this one.

"I’ll hold you to that!”

It was then that Xie Yao walked over, her face shrouded with complicated emotions.

"From the very start, you knew Liu Rui would be no match for you! Am I right?” Xie Yao demanded, her words tinted with traces of anger. To think that she had been so worried for Nie Yan. As it turned out, Liu Rui had been the one to be sent flying through the air!

Shaking his head, Nie Yan replied with a deadpan tone, "Nope! No such thing! How should I know who was stronger without first fighting?”

It was Nie Yan’s straight-faced "No such thing!” that pushed Xie Yao over the edge and brought a faint smile to her face. It was mildly infuriating, and yet rather amusing. But then again, Liu Rui was pretty annoying.

"You’re quite sly!” Xie Yao exclaimed as she narrowed her eyes at Nie Yan, who only chuckled in response.

She didn’t seem to be angry that he lied to her, so that, for him, was more than enough. In the end, it was worth it just to be able to kick Liu Rui—and very satisfying.

"So… my good brother, what’s your relationship with our class goddess?” Zhai Hao asked nosily. His sharp senses told him that the banter between Nie Yan and Xie Yao went far beyond the norm. There was definitely something more to this relationship. Could they even be… secret lovers?!

"She’s just a friend,” Nie Yan chuckled. However, he added something else in his mind: my future girlfriend, that is.

Every time she talked with Nie Yan, it felt as if they had known each other for years. Such perfect familiarity and understanding shocked even herself. The possibility that Nie Yan was him creeped closer and closer. They seemed to share a similar cunning, wretched personality, almost as if they had been cast from the same mold. The only thing was… she had no way of verifying whether or not they were the same person, so a layer of doubt could only remain in her heart.

Chapter 246 – New Student

"It’s almost time for class. Let’s head back.”

Nie Yan and the rest of his classmates returned to the classroom.

"Hey, do you play Conviction?” Zhai Hao asked. Almost everybody was talking about this game right now. For many, it was an essential part of their lives.

Xie Yao couldn’t help but perk up her ears as she turned her attention to Nie Yan. She felt he resembled a certain someone she knew inside the game to an uncanny degree. Their names were pronounced the same. They spoke and acted in a similar manner. She also felt that same sense of deep familiarity.

However, Xie Yao reminded herself that some people took on completely different personas in game. For example, she was fairly reserved in reality. But when she entered Conviction, she became livelier and her temperament was also more cheerful. Inside the game, she could release all the stress bottled up inside her after a long day.

Then again, some people behaved the same both in game and reality.

"Of course I play,” Nie Yan replied. The students talked the most about their level and equipment inside the game. High level and good gear equated to face. If they found an amazing piece of equipment, the first thing they would do was show it off to their peers. Although this sort of pissing contest was somewhat childish, it was something that was always brought up.

"What level are you?” Zhai Hao immediately grew excited when he found out Nie Yan played the game.

"Level 23,” Nie Yan replied. After dying, that was his level now.

Xie Yao revealed a disappointed expression. So it’s not him…? The person she was thinking of had reached Level 35 long ago, and was most likely at an even more astonishingly high level right now. But Nie Yan was only Level 23. After thinking it over again, she was reminded of that person’s low-key nature. It was entirely possible that Nie Yan was lying about his true level. As such, she quickly recovered from her disappointment.

However, conflicting emotions arose in Xie Yao’s heart. She hoped Nie Yan was that person since they truly were alike. These underlying feelings affected her mood. At the same time, she also hoped Nie Yan wasn’t that person because she wouldn’t know how to face him.

If Nie Yan and that player she was thinking of were truly one and the same, would she eventually get together with him? Her heart palpitated at the possibility.

She admired the leader of her guild, the heaven-defying Nirvana Flame. But the distance between them was as wide as the vast sky. If that person entered her life, how should she react?

"I’m Level 26. I formed a party with five other friends. I’ll bring you levelling with us the next time you get on,” Zhai Hao said, sounding pleased with himself. His current level could be considered relatively high among the player base. Of the numerous students in the school, there were only a few that surpassed him in level. As a young male, he still had that little bit of vanity. Even though he was a sincere and honest individual, that didn’t mean he was completely immune to such things.

"Sure, just call me up whenever,” Nie Yan agreed in a straightforward manner. Among the people he was acquainted with in the previous timeline, Zhai Hao was a good friend so he saw no reason not to meet up with him inside the game.

"Miss Class Flower, do you play Conviction? Care to tag along?” Zhai Hao asked in a slightly eager tone. If Xie Yao joined up, then those hot-blooded wolf pups in the party would definitely go wild with joy.

Xie Yao pursed her lips into a smile before shaking her head. "No, I’ll have to pass. You should ask Xia Ling and them if they’re interested.”

Very few people in the class knew Xie Yao played Conviction, let alone her level or how good she was as a player. Even her female classmates who were very skilled had never once met her in the game.

"That’s fine too. Do you really think Xia Ling and them will agree to come?” Zhai Hao asked, looking over at a lithe figure on the other side of the room. His expression grew somewhat shy.

When Nie Yan saw how Zhai Hao was acting, he couldn’t help but slightly smile. Zhai Hao and Xia Ling were a couple in the previous timeline. They always kept in touch with each other in university. Later on, their jobs had them moving to two different cities. After enduring a long-distance relationship for eight years, they were finally reunited. Their story was a shining testament to the ideal of love finding a way through any obstacle.

"They’ll definitely agree. But you guys will have to take care of them. Their levels aren’t nearly as high as yours. I can help invite them on your behalf,” Xie Yao replied. She also knew Zhai Hao had a crush on Xia Ling.

"Then you have my thanks, Miss Class Flower!” Zhai Hao was slightly unable to contain his excitement. He turned to Nie Yan and asked, "When are you free? Is tommorow fine? We can meet up when the servers reopen.”

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. Although he desired to foster his friendship with Zhai Hao and the others, he was going to be very busy tomorrow.

"I’m good with tomorrow, but I can only hang out with you guys for around two hours before I have to leave. I already made plans with some other friends,” Nie Yan replied. He felt no harm in sparing some time to mingle with old friends. They were always together during his past life, especially when they were forced to retreat deep into the mountain forest after attracting the ire of Victorious Return. Recalling all the trials and tribulations they went through, he couldn’t help but grow nostalgic. Just because he struck out in this life didn’t mean he could simply forget these good friends. He decided to meet up with them, then attempt to pull them into Asskickers United.

"You’re that busy?” Zhai Hao asked in surprise. Their excuse for asking Xia Ling and the other girls to join them was so that they could get to know the new transfer student better. Nie Yan’s performance today was truly impressive, so everyone was curious about him. If he left, what reason would Xia Ling and the other girls have to stay behind?

"Huh, we’re just meeting up. You guys can still continue levelling together after I leave, right? I’ll join up with you guys some other day,” Nie Yan replied. This was a rare opportunity for Zhai Hao and Xia Ling to get together. He didn’t want to be a nuisance.

Zhai Hao thought for a moment. "I suppose that’s okay too. Since you’re so busy, let’s just get in touch with each other in the game first. We’ll schedule plans for some other day. How do we meet?”

"What’s your IGN (in-game name)?” Even though he already knew what Zhai Hao’s character name was, he chose to ask anyway. If he revealed his own, it would definitely send out shockwaves throughout the school, let alone their class. The Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame was renowned across the entire Viridian Empire.

"It’s Mad Warframe. I play a Berserker,” Zhai Hao replied.

"Alright, I’ll find you tomorrow,” Nie Yan said. He didn’t wish to speak about his circumstances inside the game. Zhai Hao and the others would find out anyway when they met up with him tomorrow, and he could swear them to secrecy about not revealing his identity.

"You still haven’t told me yours,” Zhai Hao said. With Nie Yan acting so secretive, he was a little curious.

Nie Yan smiled and shook his head. "Don’t worry, you’ll know.”

"Okay,” Zhai Hao said helplessly. Was there really a need for this guy to act so mysteriously!?

If Zhai Hao knew who Nie Yan was inside the game, he definitely wouldn’t be thinking this.

Xie Yao looked at Nie Yan, her clear eyes blinking inquisitively. The suspicions in her heart grew even stronger. Why was he unwilling to divulge his name inside the game?

"I’ll go invite Xia Ling and the others,” Xie Yao said. She was feeling a little smug. Hmph! Even if you aren’t willing to say it, the truth will be revealed tonight anyway. Xia Ling is my best friend. She won’t hide anything from me!

Very soon, Zhai Hao received word from Xie Yao; Xia Ling agreed to join them. Tagging along with her would be two other female classmates. All of them were around Level 21, not high but not low either.

The school bell rang, signifying the start of class. Everyone sat in their assigned seats.

Nie Yan pretended to look for his seat before stopping at the desk beside Xie Yao. He turned to her and smiled. "What luck! My assigned seat is right next to yours.”

Xie Yao glanced at the name displayed on the neighbouring computer. It really was assigned to Nie Yan. This spot was previously occupied by a female classmate, but she later transferred schools and it became empty. Who would’ve expected it would be given to him.

Xie Yao pursed her lips. Was there really such a coincidence? There were over a dozen empty seats in the class, so why was Nie Yan placed right next to her?

Nie Yan sat down, resting his elbow on the desk with his hand supporting his head; he gazed at Xie Yao. Pretty desk-mate, looks like we’re neighbours again.

Xie Yao was only a short distance away. He wouldn’t let himself be separated from her ever again.

Nie Yan felt truly blessed. Even though he suffered greatly in his past life, he was receiving ample compensation in this life. There was a suitable saying. The heavens allowed people to suffer so that they learned to truly cherish happiness.

The teacher in charge of this class, Yang Boyi, walked into the room and swept his gaze over the students before stopping on Nie Yan.

Nie Yan didn’t avert his eyes. He recalled Yang Boli was a strict but fair teacher.

"We have a new student joining us today. I assume all of you already know his name by now. As for Liu Rui, I’ve received word back from the school infirmary, he’ll need to spend some time on his recovery. Since this was a spar, not a fight, I won’t say any more on the matter. According to the laws set by the government, Nie Yan won’t be held responsible for this incident. Furthermore, since Liu Rui won’t be able to attend school for a while because of the injuries he sustained, he won’t be able to fulfil his obligations, so the position of teacher’s assistant will be tentatively transferred over to Nie Yan. When Liu Rui returns, the class can decide who they want the position to go to by vote.”

Yang Boyi’s announcement gave rise to a great deal of whispered discussion. Liu Rui really kicked a steel plate this time. Even his position as teacher’s assistant was snatched away. However, most of the class felt the sweet tang of schadenfreude. After all, Liu Rui’s personality rubbed many of his classmates the wrong way.

Teacher’s assistant… Nie Yan couldn’t help but secretly rejoice. In in the future, he could take advantage of this to spend more time with Xie Yao. The teacher’s assistant had the authority to make students with less than stellar grades stay behind for tutoring. Although Xie Yao was by no means a bad student, in fact she was the complete opposite, finding an excuse was a very simple matter. The water on the roof was the first to receive the moonlight.

Yang Boyi glanced at Nie Yan and said, ”Our class has many promising students who have a good chance at entering the Top Military Academy. I hope that you all work hard, and don’t fall behind in your studies. If you want to get in, you’ll also have to pass the academic portion of their recruitment examination. Before you is a sample of one of their entrance tests.”

Everyone let out groans as several pages’ worth of test problems appeared on their screens. There were a total of 1,200 points divided into mathematics, machine theory, physics, and so on. Nothing was left out. These subjects were all very difficult, but almost all of them had practical applications in the real world.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but sigh. This was his life as a senior-year in high school! When he turned to look at Xie Yao, she was already focused on the test problems, scrolling down the screen with her fingers. Sensing his gaze, her long eyelashes faintly trembled and she couldn’t help but become somewhat restless and flustered.

"Focus on your test!” Xie Yao lightly stomped her foot. She didn’t know why Nie Yan affected her mood so easily. It was probably due to that sense of familiarity she got from him. Her tone was much less formal, almost as if she were scolding a lover.

Nie Yan didn’t dare to act presumptuously after hearing the words of his pretty deskmate. He focused his attention back onto the computer screen. Various scenes from the previous timeline flashed through his mind, filling his body with a faint feeling of warmth as though he was soaking in a relaxing hot spring.

Chapter 247 – Planning

Nie Yan answered question after question without breaking a sweat. By the time they were 30 minutes into the exam, he was roughly half-finished. He glimpsed around him and noticed the majority of others had burrowed their heads into their papers in frantic thought. Looking back at his own screen, he guessed he would score just over 700 marks, which should be enough for what he wanted. If he would score significantly higher, he would be thought of as a monster. So, he put in glaring mistakes in the latter half of the exam.

Two hours flew by, marking the end of the examination. The grades were publicly listed on the main screen in front: Xie Yao took first place with a grand total of 763 points, with Nie Yan taking a close second at 731 points. Third seemed to be roughly 590 points, while the greater part of the remaining grades were occupied by the 300s and 400s, quite unbearable to look at compared to the top scorers.

Truth be told, even those marks were nothing to look down on. In fact, incorrect answers did not represent inability; rather, the system evaluated the incorrect solutions and nonetheless gave partial marks. It judged fairly, since each person did have their own strong and weak subjects.

Zhai Hao looked at the list of grades, then looked at Nie Yan sitting a bit farther away. "Damn, what a monster!” he exclaimed, unable to keep the gloom away from his tone. Nie Yan was already so skilled in martial arts, and now his studies were on another level as well! He would likely have no problems being recruited by the Top Military Academy.

Xie Yao glanced at Nie Yan with slightly widened eyes. I didn’t think his academics were this good as well!

Behind the podium, Yang Boyi smiled, pleased with Nie Yan’s results. In his office a bit earlier, he was quite amazed to hear that the new student had defeated Liu Rui. He was also informed that Nie Yan had transferred over from Ningjiang, supposedly squeezed in for a small fee. Quite frankly, he expected Nie Yan to be lacking in all departments, but to his surprise, it was the complete opposite. Without a doubt, it would be worth it to foster his talents. So long as his academics were sufficient, he would have no difficulty entering the Top Military Academy. And now, he was amazed once again. His academics were beyond sufficient—they even matched Xie Yao’s, the top student in the class! He estimated that Liu Rui, on a good day, could probably graze the 600 marks, and even that was pushing it.

"I didn’t expect for your academics to be this good!” Xie Yao exclaimed as she looked at her new desk-mate.

"It was decent.” Nie Yan kept about a modest tone. He felt a tinge of guilt, knowing very well that he scored so highly not because of hard work, but rather his rebirth.

In the eyes of his classmates, Nie Yan did indeed appear humble and collected—an entire world of difference from Liu Rui, who would have been itching to let everyone know the tiniest of accomplishments.

Xie Yao recalled Nirvana Flame, who was similarly collected no matter what he came across. Only when his guild was provoked would he become firm and haughty. As she further recalled such memories, the thread differentiating the two in her mind became all the more thin.

Xie Yao’s thoughts were thrown into shambles. Are they the same person?

Yang Boyi held Nie Yan in an increasingly high regard. From what he had seen of Nie Yan, he was much calmer than Liu Rui, whose arrogant attitude was undesirable.

I really lucked out this time, Yang Boyi thought. The end of the year bonus is pretty much mine already! It was truly a brilliant decision to accept Nie Yan back then.

"All right, we’ll end it here today. You’re free to go. Tomorrow we’ll begin full lessons. First class will be kickboxing, so don’t forget to prepare!” Yang Boyi said, as he explained a good deal of their class work.

He pulled Nie Yan to the side for a quick word; it was no doubt the usual speech about hoping he would become a part of the class soon.

The teacher was a pretty good one. In the student reunions of Nie Yan’s past life, many would mention him with a great deal of respect.

There were no signs of Xie Yao in the classroom by the time Nie Yan returned. He ran to the school entrance, and caught up to her there. She was chatting with a group of other female students, but Nie Yan cared not for any of that. He threw himself immediately into the group and started up a conversation with them as well.

"Xie Yao, do you want me to walk you home?” Nie Yan asked.

"Hey Nie Yan, you seem pretty eager to please her, huh? Are you into Xie Yao? You better step up your game then! There’s probably not a boy, maybe not even a girl in our school alone who isn’t interested in her. At this pace, you’ll never win her heart!” Xia Ling teased.

A few other female students also started poking fun at Nie Yan.

"Your outer appearance isn’t attractive enough. Look at your clothes! Even if you don’t own a Solun, at the very least you should have a Karlna. Otherwise, you’d be hardly presentable to ask our goddess out!”

"Sure, you have good marks, but for a man it’s most important to be kind and gentle!”

The female students let out a slew of criticizing remarks, but they were of course just joking. Even they had to admit that Nie Yan had many attracting features such as his calm demeanor, and more notably, his strength—Liu Rui’s flight through the air continued to be an image deeply imprinted in their memories.

These female classmates held nothing back, and Nie Yan laughed along with them. He was unperturbed. He didn’t care if the fact he was pursuing Xie Yao was out in the open.

"I’ve got to go now!” Xie Yao quickly said, breaking up the embarrassment as she escaped the scene in a hurry. "My family’s here to pick me up.”

Xie Yao bid farewell to her fellow classmates. She met Nie Yan’s eyes, but quickly shifted them away and jumped into the car.

The vehicle drove off.

All traces of her seemed to vanish, leaving nothing apart from a slight emptiness in Nie Yan’s heart.

"With Xie Yao gone, I bet you’re feeling pretty lonely. If you asked to date me right now, I might even consider it!” A moderately beautiful female classmate teased Nie Yan on the side.

"Hey, aren’t you being a bit disloyal? Xie Yao just left, yet you’re already eyeing what belongs to her.” Xia Ling giggled, gently pushing her classmate aside.

"This is called the early bird getting the worm! If I don’t act now, I won’t stand a chance later!” the female classmate retorted.

These classmates of his were simply too intrepid! Nie Yan wanted to find an excuse to go his own way as soon as possible! He looked far off in the distance and said, "My chauffeur is here to pick me up, so I’ll be taking my leave as well.”

His classmates saw a car pull up, after which Nie Yan jumped in. Seeing the car drive off, several female classmates exclaimed in admiration.

"From the way he dressed, I didn’t expect him to be rich too. He actually has his own personal driver. That car was a Model 7 series Vanguard. Even the cheapest package goes for a minimum of ¥3,000,000.”

"A rich person wearing such cheap clothes, now that’s what you call being low-key…”

The female classmates discussed in high spirits. Nie Yan’s exceptional talent in martial arts and academics paired with his decent family background made him the perfect catch in their eyes. In an instant, his popularity surpassed that of Liu Rui.

Nie Yan wiped the sweat from his forehead after getting into the car. Those high school girls were fearless. Nevertheless, the first day of school was very fruitful. He got to take revenge on Liu Rui, leaving him unable to return to school for the next few days, and he managed to leave behind a good impression on Xie Yao.

Nie Yan checked the clock. It was still early. He decided to go get lunch first, then make a visit to his parent’s company which was on the right track and expanding at an astonishing pace. Everything was unfolding the same as it did during the previous timeline. His father used the funds amassed from reselling the smuggled metal to buy a large building. After hiring some talented employees, the company quickly began operations.

Although this sort of business was risky, the profits were sky-high. By investing some funds to purchase raw ores from abroad, then transporting them into the factory for refinement, the company could earn a 900% return by selling them to military enterprises. With the connections Nie Yan’s father developed at the border, a round trip would take no longer than two to three days. This moneymaking speed was even faster than a banknote printing machine!

Furthermore, there was no need to worry about competition since Nie Yan’s father held an exclusive trade contract.

In the previous timeline, the company quickly developed to the greatest heights in its field. Like many other companies with a surplus of money, it eventually expanded into other areas. The first thing to come to mind was the number one trending virtual reality game, Conviction. With Nie Yan’s cousin, Ah Chen, in charge, a report was submitted to his father’s desk.

Nie Yan was unable to dissuade his father. All he could do was pay attention to how the company fared in Conviction. In the future, his father would invest an enormous amount of funds to get the War God Tribe going. It was already in the initial phases of discussion.

Since the competition in Calore was too fierce, the starting point of the War God Tribe would be the second largest city in the Viridian Empire, Nisode City. For the time being, it wouldn’t have any contact with Asskickers United. The guild’s name was still War God Tribe. Nie Yan didn’t know how the guild would develop in this life. But with the strong backing of his father’s company, it definitely wouldn’t be too bad.

When the time was appropriate, Nie Yan planned to hand over everything he had built inside the game to his parents. In the future, Asskickers United and the War God Tribe would join together to defeat Cao Xu’s forces!

Another thing that made Nie Yan feel more at ease was that at his urging, Luo Ming’s group would have no part in the company. Even after they came over and cried and begged several times, his father remained firm on his refusal. Just why were his parents currently working hard to earn money? His mother and father persevered for the sake of giving him a brighter future, especially now that he had matured. They felt extremely gratified.

No matter how flawed Luo Ming and the others were, his parents would’ve still forgiven them because they were blood related. However, when they began hounding Nie Yan, they crossed the bottom line. Nie Yan was their nephew by blood, but the way they treated him was no better than a sewer rat!

So no matter how much Luo Ming and the others begged, Nie Yan’s parents didn’t let them anywhere near the company.

Nie Yan let out a sigh of relief. These hidden dangers were removed. External dangers were nothing to be afraid of. What was truly terrifying was dangers from within! If Luo Ming and the others were allowed to enter the company, it was the same as letting the fox into the henhouse!

After visiting his parent’s company, Nie Yan’s mood improved greatly as he was freed of many of his worries. Furthermore, he had received an update. The auction house at the heart of Calore and the Mercenary Auction House were sold to Nie Yan for 1,700 gold and 1,600 gold respectively. It was much cheaper than the previous timeline, but he still expended quite a bit of funds. Due to his fierce increase in the bid, it was likely he scared off all his competitors. From their perspective, there were other virtual properties that had potential to rise greatly in value, and were no worse than the auction house at the center of Calore or the Mercenary Auction House.

Of course, Nie Yan experienced the growth of this game once already, and he knew they were completely wrong. The auction house at the center of Calore and the Mercenary Auction House were absolutely the most profitable virtual properties!

Nie Yan checked his balance. He still had 2,600 gold remaining. It was enough to bid for another property! However, he would check over all his options first and decide which was most worth it.

By the time Nie Yan returned home and ate dinner, it was almost time to get back online. He wondered what sort of changes he would see after the new expansion was implemented.

Chapter 248 – Shocked

Logging back into Conviction, Nie Yan checked the changelog for the Buried History expansion. Just like in the previous timeline, the experience required to level up had been significantly reduced. If the top players were over Level 100 when this expansion was implemented, those at the bottom of the ladder could slowly close the gap but would never be able to truly catch up. However, the game was still in its early stages and everyone’s levels were still low. With the lowered experience requirements, the level leaderboards were sure to see drastic reshuffling.

In addition to easier levelling, a change in the game mechanics was implemented. Previously, the player’s damage was limited with most hits being registered as misses by the system when fighting enemies over six levels above them. This was the level suppression effect. But with the new expansion, this same effect would now only occur if there was more than a ten-level difference between the combatants.

The main classes also saw adjustments to their skills. The most notable change was a buff to the Warrior’s Guard Stance skill. With a big boost to its defensive capabilities, players could now tank higher levelled bosses. At the same time, a portion of the named Lord-class bosses received buffs to compensate for the power creep.

Furthermore, quite a few dungeons received a bit of balancing with their Expert and Specialist difficulties retuned to be more challenging. The drop rates for certain equipment sets were also lowered, while the properties of some equipment received buffs by varying degrees.

Nie Yan headed to the Asskickers United headquarters to rearrange their short-term strategies. The most pressing matter at hand was to assemble a batch of players somewhere ideal for a mass levelling session. Later in the afternoon, they would be helping Sleepy Fox seize the small stronghold. As he ruminated over this matter, he realized Asskickers United was at the point where they would have to start capturing strongholds as well!

The difficulty of capturing strongholds in the wilderness was extremely high, so the first thing Nie Yan wanted to do was bolster the strength of his guild members.

After finishing all his preparations related to guild, Nie Yan contacted Zhai Hao by adding Mad Warframe to his friends list.

"Say, Zhai Hao, do you think Nie Yan stood us up? How come he still hasn’t shown up?” asked a female classmate.

"No, I don’t think he’s that kind of person. He seems like someone who keeps his promises,” Zhai Hao said, though he wasn’t too sure himself. They had been waiting for quite a while now, and still no word from Nie Yan. Worst of all, there was no way of making contact because he didn’t know Nie Yan’s character name!

"Why else would he keep his IGN secret?”

The nine of them were already gathered, including Xia Ling, so Zhai Hao began to feel somewhat irritated. Did Nie Yan really bail on them?

"How about we just go off by ourselves if we still don’t hear from him in 5 minutes? We have 5 Mages, 2 Warriors, a Paladin, a Priest, and a Thief, so levelling should be pretty fast,” Xia Ling proposed, rescuing Zhai Hao from his predicament.

"I suppose that’s all we can do.” Zhai Hao nodded. He couldn’t help but feel grateful toward Xia Ling for being considerate.

Just as everyone agreed to this, Zhai Hao received a new notification. He was given a big shock when he glanced at it.

Nirvana Flame has sent you a friend request.

"Holy shit!” Zhai Hao cried out in alarm. Who wasn’t familiar with the name Nirvana Flame? Back in Kiln Fire Woods, this person had single-handedly wiped out over 20,000 players from Victorious Return. The guild leader of Asskickers United, a legendary existence in Conviction!

Just how many players steeled their will in an attempt to worm their way into the ranks of Asskickers United, all for the sake of a few words of advice from Nirvana Flame? Thousands? Hundreds of thousands? He and his friends were among the many who applied for membership but were flat-out rejected. They could only join one of the branch guilds like Warriors United, becoming the most ordinary of members.

Who was Nirvana Flame? He was the boss of their boss! The Big Kahuna!

If any of them saw Nirvana Flame on the street, they could only gaze at him from afar while sighing in admiration. He was a deity in the eyes of the player base!

And such a godly figure sent him a friend request! How could he not be astonished?

Zhai Hao rubbed his eyes before looking again. No doubt, the friend request really did read Nirvana Flame! It was unmistakable! A mythical-like existence really sent him a friend request. He looked at the notification again and again, but it still felt like a dream.

"Nie Yan, Nie Yan (Nirvana Flame), Nie Yan…” Zhai Hao muttered repeatedly. His body trembled. Oh, fuck! It really is him!

"Hey, Zhai Hao, did you lose your head? Why do you keep repeating Nie Yan’s name?” asked a female classmate

"Do you guys know who Nie Yan is?” Zhao Hao asked, sounding clearly flustered.

"What do you mean? He’s the new transfer student in our class…” that female classmate replied in a puzzled tone.

Xia Ling also gave Zhai Hao an odd look. She was very bewildered.

"You’ll find out in just a moment,” Zhai Hao said, trying to hold back his excitement, before checking the name on his friends list again for the umpteenth time.

「Where are you guys right now?」Nie Yan asked.

「We’re at Link Town,」Zhai Hao replied. They had just transferred there, and were about to set off to level.「Nie Yan, you’ve really kept us waiting…」

「I’m sorry. I had to take care of a few things first,」Nie Yan said apologetically but didn’t offer up any further explanation. He arrived at the Calore transfer area and teleported to Link Town.

Nie Yan checked the coordinates Zhai Hao provided him, then headed over to meet up with them.

"Nie Yan’s here!” Zhai Hao exclaimed. He felt somewhat nervous at the prospect of meeting one of his heroes. Who wouldn’t be excited?

"Where?”

As several others echoed these words, everyone noticed a familiar figure approaching them, as though they had seen him somewhere before. The group racked their brains trying to figure this out before someone finally remembered.

"Woah! It’s the ‘Mad Rogue’ Nirvana Flame!”

"Nie Yan?”

A feeling of immense shock overtook the group. Nie Yan’s fame was too much for them. As they watched Nie Yan walk over, they couldn’t help but shiver as the terrifying scene of him holding his dagger with a merciless grin on his lips in Kiln Fire Woods flashed past their eyes.

"Is Nie Yan really Nirvana Flame…?” someone asked in disbelief. Even though the reality was right in front of them, they still found this hard to believe.

Only Xia Ling remained relatively calm. She was best friends with Xie Yao, so they would often discuss some private matters. She had long since known there was a person Xie Yao deeply admired inside the game, and that was Nirvana Flame!

Xia Ling had once teased Xie Yao, joking that she was living in a fairy tale. Who was Nirvana Flame? He was a mythical figure that led Asskickers United into a new era, carving out a space for them in the history books of the game. He was an untouchable existence for millions of players. However, meeting such a person was only possible in the virtual world. It would be impossible to encounter someone like him in the real world, so any fantasies she had of getting together with him were doomed from the start.

When Xie Yao had called Xia Ling up in the afternoon to talk about her suspicions of Nie Yan, she actually laughed at Xie Yao for her silly delusions. Although she knew Xie Yao had a favourable impression of Nie Yan, was there really a need to speculate he was Nirvana Flame?

But Xie Yao was extremely serious, imploring her to confirm whether or not her suspicions were true.

Even though Xia Ling had her doubts, she still took on the task entrusted to her by Xie Yao. Who would’ve known that this best friend of hers had hit the nail on the head. The corners of her mouth curved into a mischievous smile. Just how would Xie Yao react when she learned she was right all along?

Nie Yan eyed the nine people in front of him. Zhai Hao was there of course, as well as six others with whom he was acquainted with, especially Li Rui and Liu Xuchen. They were his diehard brothers in the past life. Although they were in different homerooms, they often hung out together. The entire group was composed of people with pretty good personalities. As the saying went, birds of a feather flocked together. A person could be judged based on the people close to them.

"Shit! I didn’t expect the new classmate Zhai Hao wanted to introduce us to was the guild leader of Asskickers United, Nirvana Flame. Am I really not dreaming? Li Rui, pinch me!” Li Xuchen cried out, finding it all way too incredible.

"I don’t think we’re dreaming…” Li Rui replied in a daze. Nirvana Flame, Heaven Breaker, and Sleepy Fox were famous names that only appeared in stories. They were often the topics of everyone’s discussions. He couldn’t even imagine himself meeting one of these distinguished players, let alone chat with them.

Zhai Hao and his friends wanted to join Asskickers United. But they were rejected because they failed to meet the bar. In their eyes, every single member from that guild was an apex existence they could never hope of approaching, to say nothing of the one who led them all!

But now, this person was standing before them.

This was equivalent to someone who burnt incense to Buddha every day in hopes of a miracle suddenly blessed with a face-to-face meeting.

The unimaginable shock!

"Bro, I didn’t expect you to be so famous!” Zhai Hao was about to lightly punch Nie Yan on the shoulder, but he suddenly recalled the large disparity in their status and withdrew his fist in embarrassment.

"I’m sorry. There were too many things I had to attend to in the guild, so I ended up being late. Let’s go, I’ll take you guys levelling with me! We’re all classmates, there’s no need to be so reserved,” Nie Yan said with a bright smile which was as pleasant as a spring breeze. He didn’t want to alienate these good brothers from his past life because of the difference in their status.

Nie Yan’s wide smile broke the ice and set the group at ease.

"I didn’t expect the Mad Rogue to be Zhai Hao’s classmate! This is incredible!”

"Yeah, it’s unbelievable!”

Discovering that Nie Yan was pretty easy-going, Li Rui and the others circled around and began chatting with him animatedly.

"I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you guys in advance. The fewer people who know my true identity, the better. I hope you guys can keep this a secret for me.”

"For sure! We’ll definitely keep this under wraps for you.” A few of them even patted their chests in assurance. Suddenly, they felt even closer to this hero.

Nie Yan felt a sense of warmth in his heart as he looked at all these familiar faces. These people had accompanied him through the darkest times in his past life. Even those things happened in another reality, the friendship between them could be slowly rebuilt from the ground up.

The two female classmates also approached closer.

"I didn’t think you were Nirvana Flame! This is too amazing!”

"Hey, do you have a girlfriend?” the more brazen of the two boldly asked.

"Not right now, but I’m hoping to get with Xie Yao,” Nie Yan answered directly.

"Wow! She’s our class goddess, you know? But I think you’re definitely her match!” If even Nie Yan wasn’t good enough, who was?

"Yeah, Xie Yao is the lucky one. I’m so jealous!” the other girl sighed. If there were someone like Nie Yan pursuing her, she would date him in a heartbeat.

Nie Yan smiled meaningfully at Xia Ling. He knew she was going to inform Xie Yao of his words.

Xia Ling evaluated Nie Yan from the viewpoint of Xie Yao’s best friend and judged his character to be pretty good. Even though he was an extraordinary individual, he was laid-back, humble, and possessed an otherworldly sort of self-confidence rarely seen in others. More importantly, however, Xie Yao already liked Nie Yan. Taking all of this into consideration, the two were practically a match made in heaven. She sent a whisper to Xie Yao.

Chapter 249 – Bringing To Level

Yao Yao was farming Hyenas in the depths of Violetdream Plains with Yu Lan and the rest of their team.

"Yao Yao, what’s wrong? You look worried,” Yu Lan asked, a concerned expression clearly visible on her face.

Yao Yao shook her head. "It’s nothing, I’m fine.” Her voice chat lit up as she replied. It was Xia Ling!

"Sorry, Big Sis. I have to take this call.” Yao Yao gave Yu Lan an apologetic look before answering the voice chat.

Seeing Yao Yao being so tight-lipped, Yu Lan’s curiosity was piqued. Just what was going on?

「Xia Ling, how did it go?」Yao Yao asked in a pressing tone. Her heart was filled with a mixture of anticipation and restlessness. This kind of complicated emotion was hard to describe.

Xia Ling initially wanted to tease Xie Yao a little before telling her the news. But after hearing the anxiety in her best friend’s voice, she discarded the thought.「You were right: he’s Nirvana Flame. He probably doesn’t know your in-game name though.」

Xie Yao felt like a huge weight was lifted off her chest, but her mind turned into even more of a chaotic mess as she struggled to resolve the conflict in her heart. She was at a loss for quite a while after finding out Nie Yan was precisely that Nirvana Flame who she so deeply admired.

「Xia Ling, what do you think I should do?」

「Since he’s right there for the taking, why don’t you just snatch him up yourself? I think he’s a good catch. He’s talented, and his personality is much better than Liu Rui’s. I’m telling you now, Nie Yan is being eyed by almost every girl in our class. If you’re slow now, don’t regret it after he gets taken by another girl,」Xia Ling teased.

Xie Yao’s cheeks started to burn up. She still held some reservations. What if Nie Yan didn’t like her back? As she got to this point in her train of thoughts, a faint ripple surfaced in her heart, though she didn’t know what it signified.

「He said he wants to be your man,」Xia Ling said with a laugh, accurately guessing what was going through her best friend’s mind right now.

「Really? Me?」

「Yes, you! Xie Yao! Are you willing? Do you want me to tell him that you’re Yao Yao?」Xia Ling asked. She was in favour of seeing Nie Yan and Xie Yao becoming a couple.

Xie Yao considered for a moment before shaking her head.「No, it’s better he doesn’t know. Don’t tell him for now.」

Xia Ling didn’t attempt to force Xie Yao in any direction. She felt that too much outside interference would make things worse.

「I’ll let you deal with this by yourself. Luckily for you, none of our classmates know you play Conviction; otherwise, your secret would’ve already been revealed,」Xia Ling said, sympathizing with her friend. On the one hand, Xie Yao could spend time with Nie Yan both in game and reality. On the other hand, Xie Yao would probably worry things would become awkward between them if he found out her identity.

「If I can, I’ll keep it a secret for a while longer. Hopefully, I’ll get to reveal it to him one day under the right circumstances,」Xie Yao said. She felt a little happy that Nie Yan wanted to woo her in real life. But when she recalled how distant he seemed in-game, she couldn’t help but feel at a bit of a loss.

Xie Yao had discovered some time ago that Nie Yan was purposefully keeping his distance from her, which was a source of sadness for her.

Nie Yan had no idea that Yao Yao and Xie Yao were the same person. In his eyes, Yao Yao was an intoxicating poison. He would never forget that night they spent together in that secret chamber. The memory crossed his mind from time to time. Her pure-white body laid completely bare before him—bewitching, like a goddess who had fallen down to earth. He was worried he would fall to this temptation again. He had a favourable impression of her, to the extent you could say he liked her very much. After all, they had been friends for so long. However, his love for Xie Yao was carved into his very being, so deeply that it would forever remain!

If Nie Yan was given a choice, he would always choose Xie Yao over Yao Yao, to say nothing of the fact that nothing had occurred between the two of them yet. As a result, he subconsciously distanced himself from Yao Yao, so as to maintain their friendship and avoid hurting her.

Xie Yao had no way of knowing all this.

「He probably won’t be tempted by other girls in our class. With a beauty like our Xie Yao by his side, all other girls will pale in comparison,」Xia Ling comforted.

「Hah, you’re still in the mood to tease me,」Xie Yao softly scolded, but it did lift her mood up.

「I’m only speaking the truth. Anyway, Nie Yan is bringing us somewhere to grind. We’re setting out now. It’ll only take two hours, so I’ll contact you then,」Xia Ling said. She was looking forward to see where a legendary existence like Nie Yan would take them to level.

「Mhm, let’s talk later.」Xie Yao hung up the call. She couldn’t help but worry about what the future had in store.

In Link Town, Nie Yan put on a large black cloak which hid his appearance.

"Do any of you guys have AoE magic?” Nie Yan asked. If he was going to power-level them, he would require a player who could wipe out large groups of mobs.

"Nope.”

"No.” All five Mages shook their heads.

As ordinary players, they had already done well for themselves by obtaining a few pieces of Silver-grade equipment, apart from their mostly Bronze-grade gear. At best, they had a few high-damage single target spells between them. The current market price for an area of effect skill book was at least 50 silver. So how could they afford it?

Nie Yan thought for a moment. "Hold on, I’ll call someone over.”

「Tang Yao, come help me power-level a few classmates.」

「Sure, tell me the coordinates. I’ll be there in a jiffy.」Tang Yao was just about to go off to level with some guild members. But when he received Nie Yan’s call, he immediately backed out and hurried over.

Just as Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and the others were chatting in high spirits about how they were looking forward to levelling with Nie Yan, a player with a chubby blue fairy floating behind him walked toward them. His slightly rotund appearance was greatly overshadowed by the amazing equipment on his body.

The group was shocked after recognizing his identity.

They had just been wondering who Nie Yan called over to level with them. None of them expected they would meet another amazing figure, Young Sparrow Hawk!

Before the events that transpired in Kiln Fire Woods, the most famous player from Asskickers United was Young Sparrow Hawk. He was someone who had firmly held the top spot on the level leaderboards ever since snatching it away from Heaven Breaker. His popularity among the player base was also extremely high.

Young Sparrow Hawk was also a legend!

"These guys are your classmates?” Tang Yao asked. After receiving a nod of confirmation from Nie Yan, he extended his hand and said, "It’s nice to meet you all. I’m Young Sparrow Hawk.”

Zhai Hao and the others were dumbfounded and flustered. The thought of someone as famous as Young Sparrow Hawk going out of his way just to greet them was so unexpected and flattering that they were rendered speechless. When they finally overcame the initial shock, they gathered themselves and returned the greeting.

"The pleasure is all ours!”

The group conversed while making their way to the Rocky Plains, a Level 30 map filled with Stone Giants.

This was the first time Zhai Hao and the others faced such high-level monsters, so they were a little nervous. However, what happened next left them completely stupefied.

They were stunned on the spot as they saw Nie Yan disappear into the forest. Before long, he returned with a long train of Stone Giants pursuing him like a massive tide.

Tang Yao started casting his magic, finishing the chant in an incredibly short period of time. The skies were blanketed with red clouds, and the skies were immediately filled with streaks of red as fireballs hurtled down.

Zhai Hao and the others felt cold sweat drip down their foreheads. Nie Yan was right in the middle of the spell’s range! As soon as it landed, he would definitely be annihilated. How could Tang Yao do this? How was this not team killing?

However, the group saw Nie Yan suddenly disappear, vanishing without a trace.

「Boom! Boom! Boom!」One after another, fireballs crashed down on the mobs, causing a sheet of damage values to rise up into the sky. A few seconds later, a pile of corpses littered the ground.

These Stone Giants stood no chance against the unrivalled destructive might of Tang Yao’s magic damage.

Zhai Hao and the others were still looking for traces of Nie Yan, worried that he had been caught in the blast. At this moment, Nie Yan suddenly appeared in the distance, leading another wave of Stone Giants towards them.

Just as the group started picking up all the loot from the first wave, Tang Yao unleashed another destructive AoE spell and wiped out the second wave, then moved on to an area with more Stone Giants.

Levelling became much easier after the release of the expansion. Add this to the fact that Stone Giants gave a generous amount of experience, and Zhai Hao and the others heard level up jingles almost non-stop. A person in the group would level up one moment, and the moment after, another person would level up. This sort of speed was terrifying.

This method of leveling up was ridiculously effective. So it was no longer a mystery how Young Sparrow Hawk was consistently able to maintain first place in the standings.

Zhai Hao and the others were happy beyond belief. Previously, they would have to spend at least two or three days grinding just to level up once. But now, all of them had levelled up twice in just half an hour. This was partially due to the experience required to level up being reduced, but Tang Yao’s terrifying mobbing speed definitely contributed greatly as well.

The entire area was piled high with the corpses of Stone Giants.

Seeing Tang Yao’s terrifying cast rate that never seemed to end, Zhai Hao and the others were astonished. Did Tang Yao’s spells not cost mana? The sight of him shooting out spells like a machine gun was simply too shocking.

The player who firmly held his position at the top of the level leaderboards, so this was how his legend was born!

With such a terrifying casting speed, Tang Yao would easily be able to maintain first place on the rankings if he trained like this normally.

Two hours later, Zhai Hao and the others had enjoyed the feeling of power-levelling like a rocket. Zhai Hao had reached Level 30, while the rest were around Level 28 and 29.

Nie Yan got back to Level 27. He allocated all of his free stat points to Dexterity. As for Strength, he had already used his 500 phantom stat points to get his strength up to 800. He could now equip the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow, so for the time being, not allocating any stat points into Strength was no problem.

"We still have a lot of things to do, so we’ll be leaving first. We’ll bring you guys levelling again some other time,” Nie Yan said to Zhai Hao and the others. He had already set aside two hours out of his incredibly busy schedule. After this, he and Tang Yao would have to lead a guild expedition.

"Alright, you guys go ahead.” Zhai Hao and the others clearly understood that people like Nie Yan and Tang Yao were extremely busy. They were extremely lucky to have gained these two hours due to the benevolence of Nie Yan, and they had no right to ask for more given the the fact they had already gained a lot of levels.

"Some of you guys have already entered Warriors United. If you want to join Asskickers United, you’ll have to get in like everyone else; otherwise, it wouldn’t be fair to others. I have to be impartial; friends are no exceptions. However, I can still gift you guys some merit points,” Nie Yan said. As the guild leader, he definitely had to uphold the rules of the guild, so he could only do this much for these old brothers of his.

Nie Yan rewarded each of them with 500 merit points. Afterwards, he and Tang Yao bid farewell to Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and the others. He had just received a notification from Guo Hai. The 600 elites of the guild had all been gathered!

Chapter 250 – Return Of Aqua Smoke Stub

Even after they were gone, Nie Yan and Tang Yao were the subjects of fervent discussion for Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and the rest of their group. Those two competed at the highest level!

"Xia Ling, do you think Nie Yan is really going after Xie Yao?” Zhai Hao questioned thoughtfully.

"How couldn’t he? They even know each other from outside of school!” As Xie Yao’s best friend, Xia Ling naturally had to insist on her preferred outcome.

"Looks like everyone else is out of luck!” Zhai Hao laughed. None of their classmates could even compare with Nie Yan in terms of qualifications.

"Nie Yan is so awesome! He can casually give out 500 merit points to each of us. That’s enough to exchange for several pieces of good equipment!” Li Rui exclaimed. The best equipment they owned was only worth around 200 merit points at most.

But the gear was secondary. The fact that they got to meet two legendary figures, their idols, was the best thing to come out of this get together. If not for Nie Yan swearing them to secrecy, they would’ve definitely blabbed about today’s events to all their friends.

"That bastard Liu Rui is only Level 28, and he thinks he’s such hot shit. Now that I’m Level 30, I think it’s a good time to step on his ego a little. There’s always a sky above the sky! If we compare him to Nie Yan, he won’t even amount to dregs!” Zhai Hao said, the memory of his crushing defeat to Liu Rui flashing before his eyes. He definitely wanted a rematch, so he could get back some face!

Zhai Hao recalled the scene of Nie Yan sending Liu Rui flying with a kick. It was simply amazing! No wonder he was so good at the game. On top of this, his personality made people very convinced. Even though he was in such a high position, he didn’t behave ostentatiously in the slightest. He was actually quite modest, low-key, and easy-going, albeit a bit devious at times.

The group continued to chat in high spirits.

At this moment, Nie Yan and Tang Yao rushed back to the guild headquarters. A large crowd had assembled around the plaza in front of the Asskickers United guild headquarters. These players were the elites of the guild, and they all wore equipment of at least Gold-grade, with practically nobody sporting around Silver-grade equipment any more. They discussed fervently.

"Say, what do you think the boss gathered all of us here for?”

"I don’t think anyone knows. Let’s just wait for him.”

The best players of the guild were all gathered in one place. This kind of manpower could accomplish almost anything!

"The guild leader is here!”

The crowd grew excited, as they parted to two sides, opening up a path in the middle.

"Greetings to the guild leader!”

"Welcome back, boss!”

Everyone greeted in unison. Any bystander would be able to tell the sincere respect they held for Nie Yan.

The name Nirvana Flame carried the glory of Asskickers United, a moral pillar responsible for creating the legend of the guild and guiding them to a momentous rise. From having nothing to owning everything. From being small and fragile to becoming the most powerful behemoth. From less than 500 members to over 50,000. From being viewed as an ant in the eyes of the player base to being the hot topic through all corners of the game. He swept through all obstacles to make them the strongest guild in Calore! In return, they were filled with devotion and reverence toward their guild leader.

Nie Yan acknowledged the greetings of the guild members.

Nie Yan spotted Yao Yao, Moon Child, Yu Lan, Plain Boiled Water, and the rest. He walked up to greet them.

"Good to see you guys again.”

"Hello, guild leader!” Plain Boiled Water and the rest hurriedly responded.

Yao Yao appeared to be a bit off as she met eyes with Nie Yan, who showed her a simple smile. Her heart raced as the two figures in her mind merged together.

It was worth noting that Yao Yao, who was dressed in pure-white robes, put in a considerate amount of effort into her appearance—her long hair tied in a ponytail behind her back, her pure and innocent expression which evoked urges in the hearts of all men, and a pair of limpid eyes that sparkled with intelligence. She pursed her lips into a smile, shallow dimples exposed on her fair cheeks. Her beauty was simply too dazzling.

Moon Child and Yu Lan stood off to the side and quietly gossipped about how Yao Yao acted different from her usual self today.

Nie Yan quickly averted his gaze, afraid that he would be ensnared if he looked directly into her eyes any longer.

Nie Yan turned to Moon Child and Yu Lan with a smile before moving on.

Yao Yao felt a sense of emptiness in her heart as she gazed at Nie Yan’s back. In the game, he received the admiration of tens of thousands of players. Standing high above the clouds, how would he ever take notice of an insignificant person like her? However, she could still take solace in the fact that she would get to see him every day since they were deskmates.

"Everyone is here,” Guo Huai reported. Even he was in the dark on Nie Yan’s plans.

Nie Yan took a headcount. Including him, there were 600 players altogether. Split into groups of 20, that was 30 teams. This was quite an imposing force.

Guo Hai returned with the potions Nie Yan requested from the Starry Night Potion Shop and began distributing them. Everyone received at least two Intermediate Health Potions. The Fighters and Berserkers at the front all received at least five in addition to a ton of other potions, in case something happened.

They also restocked on some general items.

"How many Priests in our guild have Junior Revive?” Nie Yan asked. This spell was extremely important. It would help them avoid significant losses.

"We have four in total. Leader Young Seven, Black Heaven, Ten Li Painted Muslin, and Moon Child. I’ve assigned all of them to different teams,” Guo Huai said. They were currently the four best Priests in Asskickers United. Priests with Junior Revive were truly too hard to come by.

Nie Ya was startled at the name Ten Li Painted Muslin. Guo Huai also managed to recruit her?

As one of the Seven Archbishops in the previous timeline, Ten Li Painted Muslin had been one of the most famous professional players in the game. However, she operated differently from most professionals. She sold her services to various guilds, temporarily joining their elite teams in exchange for a hefty sum. Rumour had it that she would charge anywhere between tens to thousands of gold for a single dungeon run. Plus, she got priority on any Priest equipment that dropped. Although her prices were exorbitant, many guilds were still willing to pay the price to invite one of the Seven Archbishops.

Nie Yan was elated at the fact that three of the Seven Archbishops belonged to Asskickers United! If they weren’t unrivalled already, they definitely would be so in the future!

Thanks to Asskickers United growing increasingly powerful, becoming a place where elites converged, Guo Huai was finding it easier and easier to recruit people, bringing more elites into the guild every day. This effectively created a positive feedback loop of skilled recruits.

Even Guo Huai was deeply moved by how things had developed. When he went to recruit players in the past, people wouldn’t necessarily pay attention to him even if he whispered them. But now, talented players were willing to consider an offer as long as the terms were reasonable. On average, most players were willing to accept the offer and join. Some even abandoned their previous guild without a second thought.

The bar to join was incredibly high. Those the guild went out of its way for to recruit were elites amongst elites, and any player that received an invitation would instantly skyrocket in value. Many guilds would descend on them and try to snatch them away with generous offers. But of course, Asskickers United was still the first choice for anyone with half a brain, even if there were slightly better offers from other guilds.

As such, Guo Huai could now stand proudly with his back straight when he was out recruiting.

These six hundred players could be considered the cream of the crop. No other guild could field such a lineup!

Nie Yan took a final look at the team compositions. Since the Priest’s Revive skill was only effective within the same team, he decided to do a bit of rearranging.

"We’re going to make some adjustments to the teams. Those who I call up, withdraw from your current team, then create a new one!” Nie Yan issued out order after order as the ranks were reshuffled.

After taking on the role of guild leader in Asskickers United, Nie Yan noticed a few subtle changes in his temperament, such as subconsciously speaking in an imposing tone. If he wanted the brothers under him to listen to his commands, a figure of authority was needed.

Nie Yan had the 600 players under him remake their teams. Young Seven, Black Heaven, Ten Li Painted Muslin, and Moon Child’s teams especially underwent great changes. Each of them now had at least 10 Warriors—most of them being Fighters, along with one or two Berserkers—5 Paladins, and the rest were Priests.

Although this sort of composition had very weak attack power, a team filled with tanks and support classes possessed incredible resilience and sustainability. It was practically an impregnable steel fortress. Nie Yan planned to have these four teams escort the Mages in the center. If they encountered a boss, he would naturally have them go up to tank!

Nie Yan lightly nodded his head. Everything was more or less settled. He also joined one of the teams.

"Our expedition today is to clear the entirety of Everlasting City!” Nie Yan announced. They had previously only levelled in the outer district of the map. But now, they were going to kill their way to the very core! They would have to face countless Level 40 Elites and even some Lords.

As long as they could obtain the Energy Core of Everlasting City, it would be worth it no matter how many losses they suffered!

Undying Scoundrel and the rest couldn’t help but get excited. This time, the boss decided to clear a Level 40 map! Almost all the elite members of the guild were only around Level 27. That was more than a 10 level difference. Would their attacks even deal any damage to the Mechanical Golems?

Nie Yan had already included this level disparity in his calculations. In the past, these players had no hope of clearing the map of Mechanical Golems at their current level. However, after the recent level suppression changes from the expansion, they had nothing to fear.

The equipment that dropped in Everlasting City was extremely enticing, to stay nothing of the fact that the drop rate was increased manyfold when exploring the map for the first time! Gearing up the guild members with a few pieces of Dark Gold-grade equipment would become an easy feat. On top of all this, the map still held an extremely precious item that would move the hearts of any player, and that was the Energy Core of Everlasting City! Something like this would be very helpful to the guild’s growth!

With this expedition, Nie Yan would improve the teamwork of his top players while also helping them level. This would prove vital in helping them conquer strongholds. After helping out Holy Empire, Asskickers United would be about ready to capture a Basic Stronghold for themselves.

Right at that moment, Guo Huai turned to tell Nie Yan, "Smoke Stub is back. According to reports, Withered Leaf has split up, with only 200 leaving with him.”

Nie Yan furrowed his brows. "What happened to Withered Leaf?”

Guo Huai could only shake his head. "It’s still unclear. Let’s wait until Smoke Stub returns, and we can ask him then.”

Chapter 251 – Plasma Core Golem

Nie Yan asked Tang Yao to buy 200 gold’s worth of Basic Magic Bombs over at Tasoyi Village as a safety precaution. Although this was a bit wasteful, it couldn’t be helped. Not long after Tang Yao departed, a crowd of players in plain clothing walked into the Asskickers United guild headquarters. Leading them was Aqua Smoke Stub with several familiar figures closely in tow—Cold Peak Absolute Sword, Wood Grace, and Samsara Lord. There were over 200 people in the group, consisting of almost all the core elites of Withered Leaf.

In stark contrast to the swaggering manner these players displayed when they first showed up at the Asskickers United guild headquarters, they looked rather sullen.

Smoke Stub immediately walked up to Nie Yan.

"What happened?” Nie Yan asked, concerned by the bedraggled figures before him. Smoke Stub was noticeably different from his normal self. His powerful equipment was gone, but so were many of the crease lines on his forehead. He seemed to give off an air of carefreeness and self-confidence.

"The Tuoba Family head ordered Withered Leaf to merge into Victorious Return. That didn’t sit well with me, so I quit and my brothers decided to leave with me. We had to return our equipment to the organization,” Smoke Stub replied, the forced smile on his face failing to hide the bitterness underneath.

Tuoba Time walked up, flabbergasted by Smoke Stub’s disheveled state.

"What happened to you?” Tuoba Time asked as well. He had just missed the story behind their departure, so he was rather puzzled.

Smoke Stub recounted the entire sequence of events in detail.

When Tuoba Time heard about Tuoba Hongye forcing Smoke Stub to pay the full early termination fee—despite the latter only quitting due to the unwelcome merger of Withered Leaf into Victorious Return—he grew infuriated. "He’s really gone too far this time! Smoke Stub, I’ll see what I can do for you!” Even though Smoke Stub had worked day and night over the past six years to earn the Tuoba Family a great profit, Tuoba Hongye was perfectly fine booting him out the door with nothing to his name? This was too cold-hearted!

"Forget it. No point crying over spilled milk. I’ve already cut all ties with Withered Leaf anyway,” Smoke Stub dissuaded. In the entire Tuoba Family, the only person he got along with was Tuoba Time. He turned to Nie Yan and asked,”We had to give up our equipment. You won’t turn us all away, right?”

"How could I possibly? There’s plenty of equipment in the guild treasury. You guys can take your pick. The silver lining to this is that you’ve regained your freedom. Money lost can still be earned back. And you all still have your skill, right? So what’s there to be afraid of? Asskickers United will always have your backs. We never mistreat our own,” Nie Yan replied in a sincere tone. Smoke Stub and the others withdrawing from Withered Leaf was proof that their hearts stood with Asskickers United. How could he not accept them?

"You have my gratitude, brother!” Smoke Stub exclaimed, sounding a little emotional. Any more words would be superfluous.

"Tuoba, what’s your family’s situation like?” Nie Yan asked. He noticed Tuoba Time wasn’t particularly fond of the Tuoba Family head.

Tuoba Time pondered for a moment. "The Tuoba Family is divided into many factions. Each one owns shares of the family business. Tuoba Hongye controls 26% of the shares, and Tuoba Fengyuan controls 22%. The two factions are like oil and water. The remaining shares are scattered among the various members of the family. For example, I control 15% while most don’t control more than 10%. Tuoba Hongye’s faction holds a majority of the shares and sits firmly on the seat of family head. I belong to a neutral faction.” He gave a brief summary. The internal affairs of a large influential family like his couldn’t be fully explained in just a few lines.

Nie Yan nodded. No wonder Tuoba Time could maintain such an aloof position, unencumbered by the disputes within his family, where he could wander around inside the game, hunting mobs and levelling up at his leisure. Otherwise, there was no way he could be so carefree.

"In short, I have nothing to do with this matter. So you guys can’t go putting it on my head, alright?” Tuoba Time laughed. Aside from speaking out on Smoke Stub’s behalf, he would rather not get involved in the internal struggles of his family.

Nie Yan observed Tuoba Time closely. Was he really the unambitious sort? This was hard to believe. His inaction was probably only temporary. With 15% of the shares, though nowhere close enough to compete for the position of family head, he could easily deal a fatal blow to one faction by joining the other. By remaining neutral, neither faction dared to actively provoke him. Instead, they would offer all sorts of generous terms to rope him in. It was clear this was the wisest decision.

Nie Yan wasn’t too clear on the circumstances of the Tuoba Family. However, based on the information he just received and his understanding of Tuoba Time’s character, his intuition told him that the final victor of this struggle wouldn’t necessarily be Tuoba Hongye or Tuoba Fengyuan, but rather Tuoba Time who had been silently gathering strength.

Nie Yan decided he would have to conduct a proper investigation before making a judgment on the matter. The Tuoba Family allying with the Cao Xu Century Financial Group posed an immense threat to him. It was imperative he found a way to prevent this from happening.

The combined power of the Cao Xu Century Financial Group and the Tuoba Family would create a terrifying colossus the like of which has never been seen before.

With Withered Leaf splitting up, Smoke Stub led his most loyal brothers to join Asskickers United. These players were the former elites of Withered Leaf! So long as they were given decent gear, they would return to their former strength. They would be a huge boon to the guild.

"You guys can feel at ease staying in Asskickers United. If there’s anything you need, just speak up,” Nie Yan said. He promised Smoke Stub’s group that they could still operate as professional players like before.

Smoke Stub nodded. "In ten days at most, I’ll be able to get the gear quality of these brothers back to what it used to be!”

Nie Yan added Smoke Stub and the others back to the guild, then left Guo Huai to deal with the rest. All the best items in the treasury were made available for them to select from. After all, without decent gear, how could they run dungeons to grind out better equipment?

"We’re about to set off on an expedition. If anything comes up, just contact me,” Nie Yan said. The current gear quality of Smoke Stub and the others was lacking, leaving them unable to participate in the expedition. This could only be described as regrettable.

Smoke Stub nodded. His present goal was to regear the brothers that followed him out of Withered Leaf. Without decent equipment, they wouldn’t be able to progress, let alone participate in any guild activities.

Nie Yan bid farewell to Smoke Stub, Cold Peak, and the others, then led the crowd of players he had assembled to Everlasting City.

Even though Nie Yan’s group cleared the Mechanical Golems crowding the streets of Everlasting City during their previous visit, all of them had respawned following the daily reset.

The group of 600 players arrived in Everlasting City and started clearing out the mobs in an orderly fashion.

Resplendent Bladelight led a vanguard of Warriors forward to attract the aggro of the Mechanical Golems, while the Mages in the backline unleashed a storm of magic which rained down mercilessly on the mobs, causing a blanket of damage values to rise up into the air.

These Mages only dealt about 50–60 damage per hit to the Mechanical Golems. But with such concentrated firepower, the mobbing speed was still extremely quick.

The golems collapsed as their lifebars depleted. Before long, the street was piled high with mountains of scrap metal.

These ordinary Mechanical Golems weren’t Nie Yan’s goal. Instead, he was aiming for the inner district of Everlasting City!

"If anyone dies, just revive at your corpse. Our destination is 7,000 meters south of here. Running there will take about 15 minutes. Remember the coordinates, so you don’t end up getting lost trying to regroup with us,” Nie Yan said.

All the players nodded in assent.

Everyone here was part of Asskickers United, so there was no need to worry about equipment being stolen. But the experience penalty for dying was pretty harsh. Fortunately, there were many people to provide support. As long as there weren’t any large mishaps, they would be able to deal with Elite-class monsters or below without suffering any casualties.

Nie Yan led the crowd of players through twists and turns from street to street. This was a shortcut which would lead them directly to the inner district of the city. If they followed the regular path from the main gate, it would take them at least five hours. However, with this shortcut, they could crawl to the inner district and still be there within 20 minutes.

Tang Yao fired out spells like a machine gun, clearing away the final group of mobs, then asked, "Where are we going?” His sense of direction was atrocious, so after all these twists and turns, he was completely lost.

"We’re going to the inner district of the city. There’s probably going to be a Lord there. I want everyone to prepare themselves. Be mindful of your coordination,” Nie Yan warned. If they weren’t careful when dealing with a Lord, they would very likely be wiped out.

Just at this moment, the Thieves scouting the path ahead reported back with new information. They had encountered eight Elites!

Nie Yan arrived at the front of the group. Gazing into the distance, he saw eight enormous golems in a small plaza. They were over five meters tall, and were covered in thick azure metal plates. Each step they took shook the ground, as they lumbered around.

Nie Yan activated Transcendent Insight and inspected one of them.

Plasma Core Golem (Elite): Level 40

Health: 12,000/12,000

These were Plasma Core Golems. They were ranked relatively high among Machine-type monsters. They were pretty tough to deal with. Furthermore, Nie Yan remembered that the Plasma Core Golems in Everlasting City possessed a Quake skill which would stun all enemies around them. Combined with their frightening combat strength, they were fearful foes.

"Bladelight, you take care of the three on the right. Yi Yan, take the two on the left. The other Warriors will have your backs.” Nie Yan passed down commands one at a time. The 30 teams of 20 started advancing into the plaza, with the Mages moving to disperse all around while trying to finds suitable vantage points to attack from. The Warriors slowly encircled the Plasma Core Golems. Once Nie Yan gave the order, they would charge into battle.

Under Nie Yan’s instructions, the players moved to their assigned positions.

Even veterans like Bladelight and Young Seven couldn’t help but admire Nie Yan’s commanding ability.

This was the first guild expedition for these guild members, so they were a little disorderly. But they were still elites, after all, and so were quick to adapt. They performed extremely well, all things considered. When they got more accustomed to working together after a few more guild expeditions, they would definitely be moving as a single unit.

Chapter 252 – First To Explore The Map

"Attack! Fighters, secure the aggro!” As soon as Nie Yan gave out the order, several Fighters roared and charged at the Plasma Core Golems.

「Klang! Klang! Klang!」The heavy sound of metal meeting metal rang out as shields and swords collided with the bodies of the Plasma Core Golems.

Bladelight and Yi Yan took action almost simultaneously, leading away five of the Plasma Core Golems, while the other Fighters firmly locked down the remaining three.

"Split them up!” Nie Yan ordered tensely. Despite his wealth of experience in Conviction, this was his first time commanding such a large force. He had never taken part in these sorts of expeditions in his past life, but he had seen them in videos. Although he had never eaten pork, he did have the fortune of seeing a pig run. So no major problems arose.

It’s an idiom describing someone who lacks personal experience doing a task such as driving a car, skateboarding, etc., but has some knowledge of it through watching others.

The Fighters split the Plasma Core Golems into three different groups, three or four players on each enemy. While shielded by others, Bladelight unleashed a relentless barrage of attacks on one of the golems, slowly pulling it toward an empty area nearby.

Shield Bash!

Bladelight dealt a heavy blow to the Plasma Core Golem with his shield, staggering it back several steps. It immediately charged at him in a fit of anger.

「Klang! Klang! Klang!」Bladelight activated Guard Stance as a flurry of powerful blows rained down mercilessly on his shield.

Bladelight let out a Demoralizing Shout, interrupting the Plasma Core Golem for a brief instant, giving several Fighters the opportunity to surround the golem in a pincer attack.

Seeing the golem’s aggro firmly locked onto Bladelight, Nie Yan issued the next set of orders. "Mages, attack!”

Spell after spell flew through the air, converging onto the Plasma Core Golem. The unrelenting barrage exploded on its body with loud bangs, causing a long string of damage values to float up from its head.

"Sparrow Hawk, mind the aggro!” Nie Yan reminded after seeing Tang Yao unleash an endless stream of spells. The damage he put out was too ferocious!

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Three critical hits landed in succession.

−202，−229，−203

What terrifying damage!

Most of the Mages were dealing around 40–50 damage, with some of the stronger players hitting in the low 90s. Although a spell would occasionally crit for relatively high damage, it would still do no more than 120 damage.

The Plasma Core Golem’s aggro immediately shifted. It wanted to charge past Bladelight and go after the Mages in the backline

The crowd of Mages showed signs of panic. If the Plasma Core Golem’s aggro got out of control and it rushed into their midst, a one-sided massacre would be the inevitable outcome.

Tang Yao stopped attacking. If he continued, he might even single-handedly cause the entire expedition to fail.

The moment he noticed the golem’s aggro shift, Bladelight slammed a Shield Bash into the golem’s body and followed up with a Taunt.

The Plasma Core Golem’s aggro was back on Bladelight. After several successive attacks, he finally managed to the pull the golem back to the previous spot.

Tang Yao wiped the bead of cold sweat from his forehead. That was a close call. Were it not for Bladelight rescuing the situation in the nick of time, he reckoned he would’ve been the target of everyone’s condemnation. He no longer dared to act in such an unbridled manner, instead controlling his damage output.

After ensuring the aggro was under control, Nie Yan turned to the Mages and ordered, "Continue!”

Plasma Core Golems weren’t particularly difficult opponents. It was just that today was their first time working together, so they were yet to familiarize themselves with each other’s capabilities. Fortunately, they were all skilled players, so nothing major came out of the mistake.

Under the ferocious barrage of spells, the Plasma Core Golem’s health was gradually whittled away. With a clanking sound, it collapsed into a pile of scrap metal.

"What dropped?” Nie Yan asked eagerly. Since it was a Level 40 Plasma Core Golem, anything it dropped was bound to be exceptional.

"A Level 40 Gold-grade Azure Staff, and some Level 40 leg armour from the Everlasting Set Series, Gold-grade as well,” Bladelight replied, picking up two pieces of equipment off the ground.

The Plasma Core Golems had a 20% chance to drop a piece of equipment from the Everlasting Gold Set. That chance was increased to 50% for the first people to explore the map. This was why Nie Yan specifically chose this place for their first expedition.

Glancing at the Everlasting Gold Set’s properties, Nie Yan noticed that everything, including defense, was roughly 10% higher than that of the Everlasting Silver Set. On top of this, the set bonus was a Rank 8 Shield. It was good enough to make even the non-Fighter players drool.

Nie Yan gauged the properties of the two pieces of equipment and decided to reward everyone with 10 merit points.

Bladelight proceeded to pull the next Plasma Core Golem.

Having experienced their first fight as a group, everyone’s teamwork became much smoother. The Mages stuck to a tempo that dealt damage without accidentally shifting the aggro, and the Priests acted in tandem to keep the frontline healthy.

The health bars of the Fighters fluctuated up and down constantly. Several of them even came close to dying a few times. Fortunately, the Priests were led by Leader Young Seven, Black Heaven, and others whose skills were on point. Together, they managed to save everyone on the brink of death and heal them back to full.

After a while, the Plasma Core Golem they were fighting fell to 30% health. It let out a massive roar and unleashed a Quake, stunning everyone in its range.

The Warriors couldn’t budge an inch.

A single blow from the Plasma Core Golem sent Bladelight staggering several steps back. After which a gentle radiance fell over him, restoring his health back to full.

Another blow from the Plasma Core Golem sent a nearby Berserker flying out. After falling limply to the ground, that player didn’t get back up. The golem moved on to its next target, slaughtering three Warriors in quick succession.

"Keep attacking with your spells, don’t panic!” Nie Yan calmly commanded the Mages.

Spells rained down on the Plasma Core Golem without pause.

When the Plasma Core Golem finally broke through the frontline and charged toward the Mages, Bladelight regained control. He brought the golem’s advance to a firm halt.

The Plasma Core Golem collided with Bladelight’s heavy shield, causing a deep metallic klang to reverberate out.

The concentrated rain of magic continued to bombard the Plasma Core Golem. The golem finally could no longer endure assault. Its health fell to zero, and it collapsed to the ground.

Bladelight let out a sigh of relief, then proceeded to pick up the drops—a Level 40 Gold-grade Leather Chest Piece and a Tinkerer Recipe. Even though three Warriors had died, it could still be considered a decisive victory.

Nie Yan gave 100 merit points to each of the three Warriors who had just died. Everyone else received 10 merit points.

Bladelight rested for a bit before moving on to aggro the next Plasma Core Golem.

One after the other, Plasma Core Golems collapsed to the ground. After finishing off all eight, they had gathered five pieces of the Everlasting Gold Set.

The eight Plasma Core Golems gave an extremely generous amount of experience. Nie Yan looked at his experience bar. It had grown by 17%. He reckoned everyone else also received a similar amount. This kind of levelling speed couldn’t be considered quick, but it was still decent.

The group took a short break, during which Ten Li Painted Muslin and Moon Child began reviving the members who had died.

"I noticed we sure have a lot of pretty girls in our group.” Nie Yan chuckled. Yao Yao, Yu Lan, One Strike Vow, Moon Child, Ten Li Painted Muslin… every single one of them was a rarely seen beauty. As for beauties a level below them, there were almost 30. The rest were all relatively ordinary-looking.

Out of 600 players, almost 80 were female. This sort of female-to-male ratio could be considered pretty high.

Nie Yan led the group toward the inner district. After passing through a thick metal gate, they were greeted by a completely different scene. The buildings in the inner district were constructed out of metal, with steel bars and bolts everywhere. It resembled an impenetrable steel fortress.

There were Mechanical Golems roaming the streets. Occasionally, one or two Elite Plasma Core Golems could be spotted among them.

There was a total of five Lords in Everlasting City. If Nie Yan’s group could clear them all, they would obtain five Energy Key Fragments. After combining the fragments together to form the whole key, they would get the chance to obtain the Energy Core of Everlasting City. In addition to this, according to the information on the official websites, the first group of players to explore Everlasting City could obtain some other items that would make countless people drool. One such item was the Shattered Sword, a Dark Gold-grade weapon. A total of three were scattered throughout the map. Even though it could be equipped at Level 30, its attack power exceeded that of ordinary Level 50 Gold-grade weapons. It was extremely domineering. Another such item was the Level 40 Staff of Divine Rites. It was one of the best staffs for support-type Priests, giving a 130 point boost to Heal. Only two could be obtained in this map.

If Nie Yan’s group obtained the Shattered Sword, it would definitely be given to Warriors like Monochrome or Edgeless. As for the Staff of Divine Rite which greatly boosted the healing capability of a Priest, it was of unimaginable use to any team.

Everything here was extremely familiar to Nie Yan. As he carefully recalled his memories of Everlasting City’s inner district from his past life, he remembered that there were two treasure chests near the entrance. However, he didn’t know their exact locations.

"You guys keep exploring deeper. Young Seven, take command for a bit,” Nie Yan said. He wouldn’t feel too assured handing this task over to Tang Yao due to his lack of self-control. As for Bladelight, he already had his plate full by being the main tank for the group.

After handing over command to Young Seven, Nie Yan went off to find the treasure chests. He estimated it would only take him 15 minutes at most, so no problems should occur during that time.

"Alright.” Young Seven nodded. He took up the role of commanding everyone.

The group advanced deeper into the inner district, sweeping away all the Mechanical Golems and Plasma Core Golems in the streets. Their progress was slow but stable.

Nie Yan entered an ancient building. He recalled that it was around here where the treasure chests were found, and started searching. There were signs that intelligent creatures used to live here such as chairs, tables, pots, etc., but they had long since disappeared. All that remained were these relics. He found books written in the goblin language scattered across the floor.

Since goblins weren’t creatures that belonged to the Righteous Faction of Order, Nie Yan didn’t understand their language. Without the aid of some sort of special magical item, he wasn’t able to read these characters, so he could only move on.

He also saw some half-completed Mechanical Golems put out on display. After searching around the room, Nie Yan finally found what he was looking for. It was a locked dark gold chest cover in exquisite runes which flickered a dark luster.

Nie Yan remembered that the chest that spawned here was silver. Who could’ve known that when he finally found it, it was dark gold. This was probably due to him being one of the first to explore the map. He was extremely excited.

Chapter 253 – Leaper Ring

It was universally agreed by the major guilds that the rewards for being the first to clear a map far exceeded those from regular grinding. It was simple to see why; the equipment drop rate was greatly increased, as was the chance of encountering gold chests. Even the much rarer dark gold chests were a lot more common. Though the allure of Gold and Dark Gold equipment was great, the difficulty of being the first to clear a map was similarly great, which made many guilds think twice before taking such a risk.

The challenges of clearing a map for the first time lay in the increased number of Elites, and at times even Lords. Entire forces getting wiped out was a common sight, and if such failures repeated themselves several times over, even top elites would degrade into no more than average players. The risk of falling so far behind was a tall hurdle for most guilds, so only the best of the best would dare to organize a pioneering expedition. But even then, they only chose maps suited to their level. A single word described those who attempted high-level maps—suicidal!

This caused the vast majority of dark gold chests to land in the hands of the top few guilds, while everyday players and smaller guilds would find it tough to acquire even one. There were also tragedies that often occurred, like finding a dark gold chest only to discover that your Lockpicking skill was insufficient to open it. You could do nothing but allow that wondrous opportunity to slip through your fingers.

Nie Yan rested his hand on the chest. He fortunately had a Lockpicking Specialist skill that could open chests beyond his level, though it was just barely enough.

Looks like I’ll have to find a few more low-level chests to train my Lockpicking skill. Nie Yan bent down and began to unlock the chest. The progress bar inched ever so slowly forwards; it appeared that this would take a bit of time.

Nie Yan pulled up the game’s website and browsed the ongoing property auctions. By now, there was an extremely high volume of bidders, and the bids for some properties were as high as 1,500 gold. What’s more, they were trending ever higher! He decided to hold off from bidding until near the end of the auction. By then, he could swoop in and snatch away whatever property caught his fancy.

Written in large and bright text, there was a piece of news listed on the website regarding credit conversion. The system of credit conversion would be set up similar to a financial exchange. For instance, if you wanted to sell gold or a piece of equipment for credits, you could do so based on current rates, or talk privately with the equipment holder and negotiate prices. The buyer would be using real-life credits to purchase the seller’s in-game equipment or gold.

These exchanges were all monitored by federal regulatory commissions. Due to regulations, it was prohibited to directly purchase goods in reality with in-game currency. To do so, a person would have to first convert in-game currency or equivalent to credits through official channels and then purchase the goods. This was done to prevent in-game currency from replacing credits and disrupting the natural flow of the market.

The credit conversion system would be released as soon as the property auctions came to an end, and it would immediately introduce a surge of capital into Conviction. This surge would continue to push the prices of equipment and in-game currency upwards as large investors built up their structure and strength.

It would also greatly stimulate the development of player businesses in the game, and this was clear from the recent performance of the Union of Assassins. Through the attention brought by Sleepy Fox, Kill Love, and Fa Lan, their numbers spiked. The number of professional players broke through 12,000 and the number of clients broke past 8,000. Every day, the union received over 500 requests and acted as the intermediary for thousands of trades. More importantly, Nie Yan’s net income was over 300 gold a day.

Under Nie Yan’s control were two of the most profitable auction houses, countless properties, the Starry Night Potion Shop and its numerous branches scattered across most major cities, and of course, Asskickers United’s full strength. He’d be able to hold his own even when Cao Xu entered the playing field.

Nie Yan had enough money on hand to purchase at least one more property. He needed to make sure to get himself a stronghold before the credit conversion went live, so at least he’d have something to fight against Cao Xu’s vast wealth.

It had only been a month or so since the game’s initial release, but Nie Yan had already set up a stable business by laying down each path with care and reached his current position. He was very satisfied with these results.

The dark gold chest clicked open, interrupting Nie Yan’s train of thoughts and prompting him to reach around the chest. He fished out two items.

Staff of Dark Rite (Dark Gold)

Requirements: Level 40

Properties: Damage 332–338, Intelligence +20; Dark Bloom (Rank 5): 50% Increased damage against Undead or Machine types

Restrictions: Mage; can only be equipped by a member of the Righteous Guardians of Order.

The Staff of Dark Rite was currently one of the best weapons for a Mage. Dark Gold staffs were quite rare as well, but unfortunately this had a level restriction of 40.

Nie Yan posted the stats into the guild chat and asked, "Anyone want this staff?”

"Boss, how many merit points?” asked Undying Scoundrel. It was a rule to purchase all equipment with merit points, and Nie Yan couldn’t be the one to pick who to give it to since that would complicate matters a bit. The fairest way was to set a price, and let the guild members decide among themselves.

"Level 40 Dark Gold—8,000 points; 20 Intelligence—6,000 points; Rank 5 Dark Bloom—10,000 points; Extra damage—10,000 points,” Nie Yan said. He based the price on the weapon’s properties.

"34,000! Let me see here… I don’t have enough. Any one of you want it?” Undying Scoundrel looked at his teammates. If there wasn’t someone who’d take it, then his team all together should have enough for it.

In the guild, elite members were able to gather equipment and gold very quickly, so they could exchange them for merit points by donating to the guild. Dark Gold equipment was rare, and Dark Gold equipment at their level was even rarer. Even now, they as elites only wore Gold equipment. So when a Level 40 Dark Gold staff appeared right in front of them, how could they let this opportunity pass by? Its properties were far too good, and they would soon reach the level requirement as well.

"I have enough here,” said Summer Bug. He hadn’t even touched his merit points, so he now had a total of 51,000.

"Damn, what a guy. You’ve saved up so many points!” Undying Scoundrel flinched, glancing at Summer Bug’s points in the guild chat. Who could possibly compete against him? "Ahh, whatever. It’s all yours.”

Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, and Resplendent Bladelight were some of the wealthiest players in the guild. Typical elites had over a thousand merit points, and that was on the high end already. A great number of guild members only had a few hundred in store and would only look for ways to gather more if they needed equipment. It was quite staggering to see people like them deal with merit points in the tens of thousands.

Such were the strong!

Since there didn’t seem to be any disagreements, Nie Yan left the chat and looked at the other piece of equipment. His eyes widened; it was another fantastic item!

Leaper Ring (Dark Gold)

Description: Reduce the player’s weight by 90%, allowing them to leap as far as 10 meters. Cannot be used in combat. Cooldown: 10 minutes

Restrictions: Can be equipped by any faction.

This was most certainly a rare and great item. Perhaps through the lens of a normal player it would not seem all that useful, but in Nie Yan’s eyes it was superior even to a Sub Legendary.

Chapter 254 – Trapping The Boss

The abilities from both the Silk Spinner Ring and Crawler Ring had allowed Nie Yan to benefit tremendously. If not for these two items, completing Volume I: Glimpse of Darkness of the Book of Order would still be a wishful dream. And now, he had just obtained the Leaper Ring. Although he lacked a ring slot to equip it in, he could just keep it in his bag for the time being and take it out when needed.

With this Leaper Ring, the range of options at his disposal grew all the more varied, allowing him to tackle obstacles he wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.

Now that Nie Yan had so many treasures on him, including the Sub Legendary Cavalry Crossbow, he felt confident enough to snag himself a full set of godly equipment! Of course, the ‘godly’ in this case was simply referring to Sub Legendary gear. As for a true Legendary set, that was temporarily beyond the scope of his ability.

It might be a good idea to put some Sub Legendaries up for display in the treasury as well. Any self-respecting guild should have a few amazing items that stand out above the rest.

Nie Yan searched around for a while longer but failed to find anything else, so he left the building and went to regroup with the expedition team.

Before long, Nie Yan found his way back to the others. They had made good headway advancing deeper into the city. What left him pleasantly surprised was that they hadn’t suffered a single casualty during his absence.

Assuming the role of commander once more, Nie Yan led the team to a public square large enough to fit tens of thousands of players let alone six hundred, where they saw an eight-meter tall golem roaming the center. Its bolted metal carapace was mottled with rust. Its left hand was a giant metal cudgel while its right was an enormous buzzsaw. Its lower half resembled a tank with giant treads on both sides, rumbling loudly as it moved about.

This terrifying mechanical behemoth resembled a ferocious beast baring its fangs.

It was one of the five Lords that spawned in Everlasting City, Goblin Eviscerator!

It was undoubtedly a powerful foe! Countless teams ended up wiping at its hands in the previous timeline. After being defeated, it would take three days to respawn. It was guaranteed to drop at least Dark Gold-grade equipment, with a 1/1000 chance for a Sub Legendary to appear.

"I’ll go take a closer look,” Nie Yan said before stealthly approaching the hulking Goblin Eviscerator which radiated a stifling pressure.

Nie Yan arrived behind the golem and activated Transcendent Insight.

Goblin Eviscerator (Lord): Level 40

Health: 100,000/100,000

The Goblin Eviscerator possessed several powerful abilities. The first was Machinery Evisceration, a three-hit attack that was guaranteed to crit on every hit. No matter how tanky a Fighter was, if a Lord landed three critical hits in a row, it was virtually a certainty they would die. The second was Dash Charge. Anyone hit by this ability would be sent flying away. Finally, there was Steamroll, an attack that dealt massive area-of-effect damage to every unit in a three-meter radius.

In the previous timeline, Nie Yan had joined up with others to hunt the Goblin Eviscerator. It wasn’t until their third attempt that they didn’t wipe, slaying the behemoth instead.

Back then, Nie Yan was with over 100 other players, all of whom were at least Level 40. They checked online guides on how to defeat the Goblin Eviscerator, while also attempting to put what they learned into practice. Only after wiping twice did they finally figure out the tricks to defeat it.

Although Nie Yan had 600 players at present, their levels were comparatively much lower. He wasn’t sure if they could succeed.

「Bladelight, come with me. I need another Thief and a Priest too!」Nie Yan said in the team chat.

Bladelight scanned over the players, hesitant on who to pick.

"I’ll go,” One Strike Vow volunteered herself, stepping out of the crowd.

"Me too.” Young Seven came forward as well.

「Painted Muslin, Moon Child, and Black Heaven, join the party as well, though you guys don’t need to follow. If we end up dying, come over and revive us,」Nie Yan added. This was a necessary precaution.

Bladelight, Young Seven, and One Strike Vow went over to Nie Yan’s side.

Nie Yan nodded in approval. He had full trust in the ability of these three players. He turned to Bladelight and said, "You don’t have to attack in this battle. Just block the Goblin Eviscerator’s way. Take note of your positioning, and keep your Guard Stance up at all times! Its frontal charge is fast, but it can’t change directions. As long as you stand in front of it like an immovable boulder, it won’t be able to get past you easily.”

Nie Yan ordered the rest of the team to hide far away to avoid any mishaps.

Nie Yan turned to One Strike Vow and said, "When Bladelight engages the Goblin Eviscerator, listen to my commands. We’re going to slowly lure it to the fountain garden at the center of the square.”

"What do I do?” Young Seven asked.

"You keep Bladelight alive,” Nie Yan replied. Young Seven had the easiest job out of the four of them.

Inside the fountain garden were several large sculptures which made excellent obstacles for limiting the Goblin Eviscerator’s movements. If they were to try fighting it out in the open, it could easily break out of the Warrior encirclement with a Dash Charge or Steamroll. What awaited them then would surely be a massacre!

There was a special method to deal with the Goblin Eviscerator!

Nie Yan explained the process of luring the Goblin Eviscerator to Young Seven, Bladelight, and One Strike Vow. Although they understood in principle, they felt actually pulling this off would be incredibly difficult. They wouldn’t necessarily succeed on the first try. It was very likely they were going to end up dying once or twice.

"Alright, let’s start. Don’t worry if we end up failing the first time,” Nie Yan said, staring at the Goblin Eviscerator up ahead.

"I’m going up,” Bladelight said. He raised his heavy shield and ran up to engage the Goblin Eviscerator. Nie Yan and One Strike Vow didn’t dally either, dashing towards the east and west side of the square respectively.

Bladelight appeared before the Goblin Eviscerator, prompting the golem to rev into action and charge at him.

He quickly activated Guard Stance, holding up his shield to face the oncoming attack.「Klang!」The Goblin Eviscerator heavily collided with him.

Bladelight instantly lost over 300 health. But his health bar soon recovered after a gentle radiance fell over him. It was Young Seven’s Heal!

Bladelight quickly stabilized himself as he maintained Guard Stance. He firmly withstood the Goblin Eviscerator’s blows. But during this whole time, he never attacked back.

In the distance, Nie Yan took out the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow. He took aim and fired「Whoosh whoosh whoosh!」Five bolts flew out in quick succession and struck the Goblin Eviscerator.

−23

−24

−21

−25

−22

A string of damage values floated up above its head.

The Goblin Eviscerator’s aggro immediately switched over to Nie Yan. It clumsily turned around before charging towards him at full speed. However, Bladelight appeared in front of it like a roadblock.「Klang!」It collided heavily with his shield, treads still rotating rapidly. But he staunchly barred its way, digging his feet into the ground as he was slowly pushed back.

The Goblin Eviscerator gradually advanced, but it couldn’t get past Bladelight.

On the other side of the square, One Strike Vow shot out arrow after arrow, attracting the Goblin Eviscerator’s attention. It slowly changed directions yet again, then charged toward her.

Following Nie Yan’s prior instructions, Bladelight continued to block the Goblin Eviscerator’s path, only allowing it to press forward bit by bit.

Just like this, the Goblin Eviscerator was slowly led closer to the fountain garden at the center of the square.

If it were only Bladelight luring the Goblin Eviscerator, with all of its aggro focused on him, he would undoubtedly be turned into mincemeat. However, with Nie Yan and One Strike Vow splitting the aggro, Bladelight didn’t need to tank as many attacks.

Only now did Bladelight, Young Seven, and One Strike Vow comprehend the ingenuity of Nie Yan’s plan.

After setting the cadence, the party grew extremely focused, not allowing the slightest mishap.

With Nie Yan and One Strike Vow controlling its movements, the Goblin Eviscerator was slowly led into the fountain garden.

"382.278.285! Go to that point with your Guard Stance up!” Nie Yan anxiously yelled.

Bladelight blanked for a moment, taking several steps back as he moved toward the coordinates Nie Yan called out. However, he was half-a-step too late. Before he could get his Guard Stance back up, he was sent flying by a Dash Charge.

The Goblin Eviscerator charged toward Nie Yan with its buzzsaw spinning menacingly.

Nie Yan turned tail, fleeing for his life.

However, the Goblin Eviscerator was simply too fast. With a sweep of its enormous buzzsaw, Nie Yan was struck in the back.

−723! It was an instant kill!

As Nie Yan’s corpse collapsed to the ground, the Goblin Eviscerator switched targets to One Strike Vow, who died just as miserably. The next to follow was Young Seven. A moment later, Bladelight was cut down as well.

With all the enemies dead, the Goblin Eviscerator resumed a passive state.

After the Goblin Eviscerator roamed far enough away, Black Heaven, Ten Li Painted Muslin, and Moon Child ran over and started reviving everyone.

As rays of holy light descended on their corpses, Nie Yan and the others were revived.

Nie Yan picked up his equipment, then glanced at his experience bar. It had dropped by 30%. The experience penalty was pretty harsh.

The four convened in a vacant area near the edge of the public square.

Nie Yan gazed at Bladelight and asked, "So how was it? Did you get a feel of things?”

Bladelight replied in an apologetic tone, "My bad, I lapsed for a moment. I think I know what to do now.”

Nie Yan nodded. In the previous timeline, each of the seven Fighters in his team had died five or six times before reaching this point. He could imagine the difficulty of repositioning himself on such short notice. Bladelight only had to die once to understand what he needed to do.

"The Goblin Eviscerator normally only attacks with the buzzsaw. All you have to do is guard against attacks coming from that side, and you’ll reduce the damage you take by over two-thirds. After we lead it into the fountain garden, just hold down that point I shouted out earlier, and the rest will be a piece of cake,” Nie Yan said. This advice came from the accumulated experiences of countless players in the previous timeline. It made the Goblin Eviscerator’s Machinery Evisceration and Dash Charge completely ineffective. In this way, they could defeat a Level 40 Lord without breaking a sweat!

Chapter 255 – Divine Right Set

The party sat down to recover. After their weakened states wore off, Nie Yan stood up and said, "Let’s give it another go.”

Nie Yan, Bladelight, and the others lured the Goblin Eviscerator back toward the sculptures in the fountain garden. With the experience of their previous attempt, their teamwork and coordination became a lot smoother.

They gradually led the Goblin Eviscerator into the center of the public square.

"Don’t rush, we’re almost there…” Nie Yan said, wiping the perspiration from his brow. This was a crucial moment. If the slightest mishap occurred, all their hard work would go to waste, and they would end up dying again.

The Goblin Eviscerator’s movements were greatly encumbered by the statues. With almost no room to maneuver, it activated Dash Charge in an attempt to escape. But Bladelight reacted instantly, rushing to the coordinates Nie Yan mentioned previously and hunkering down with Guard Stance.

「Klang!」The Goblin Eviscerator collided with the nearby statues. However, these statues which were cast from metal only trembled slightly, otherwise unfazed.

Bladelight repositioned himself behind the Goblin Eviscerator, slightly off to the right.

"Nirvana Flame, I found a better position!” Bladelight exclaimed in excitement. If he stayed in this position, the Goblin Eviscerator would be completely immobile. Its front was blocked by the statues, while its back was firmly blocked by Bladelight’s heavy shield. It couldn’t turn around to attack Bladelight, nor could it charge through the statues. It was reduced to nothing more than a stationary target dummy!

Although luck admittedly played a factor in getting the Goblin Eviscerator stuck, it was Bladelight’s keen awareness that played a decisive role. His position as a top three Fighter in the previous timeline wasn’t an empty title!

"Bring the rest of the team over,” Nie Yan ordered. With the Goblin Eviscerator trapped, there wasn’t even a need for healing. It would be fine to just order everyone to attack.

The players who were hiding far away came rushing over. When they saw how the Goblin Eviscerator was stuck, they all became slack-jawed. Fuck! You can even do it like that? A Level 40 Lord is going to die in such a tragic way?

"I want several Fighters to go up and assist Bladelight. Don’t let the Goblin Eviscerator break free!” Nie Yan instructed.

Yi Yan and several other Fighters rushed up, forming a human wall.

The Mages spread out across the square and started chanting. Before long, spells streaked across the sky and rained down on the Goblin Eviscerator, causing sparks to fly everywhere.

Most of these Mages were only doing a little over 10 damage a hit to the Goblin Eviscerator. Even the strongest among them, Tang Yao, only dealt around 60 damage. The Ignore Level property from his Arcane Fairy proved to be a great boost to his damage.

Nevertheless, over 200 Mages were bombarding the Goblin Eviscerator with spells. It was experiencing death by a thousand cuts.

"God damn! The health regeneration on this bucket of bolts is too crazy!” Tang Yao exclaimed. Although they were doing a lot of damage, the Goblin Eviscerator’s health was falling at a snail’s pace. It took over 10 seconds just to shave away a sliver of its health!

"All Machine-type monsters with energy cores have passive regeneration!” Nie Yan raised his Cavalry Crossbow.「Whoosh whoosh whoosh!」Five bolts streaked across the sky, emitting a dazzling light, and struck the Goblin Eviscerator.

−25

−21

−23

−24

−25

"Holy shit! Such high damage!” Tang Yao exclaimed. Even he was hard-pressed to deal so much damage!

Tang Yao looked over to Nie Yan, only to see him carrying an enormous crossbow. It was exquisite with a sleek design, covered in all sorts of mystical runes. It resembled the siege crossbows mounted atop the city walls of Calore. Even with its visual effects concealed, it was extremely eye-catching.

When Nie Yan had previously shot at the Goblin Eviscerator, he actually wondered why his damage was so low. However, after seeing how little damage the Mages were dealing, he quickly realized he had erred.

The might of the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow was unquestioned!

The metal carapaces of Machine-type monsters substantially reduced the piercing power of arrows and bolts and ignored effects like bonus on-hit fire damage. Despite this, the Cavalry Crossbow still dealt an incredible amount of damage!

"Boss, what’s that crossbow in your hands? It’s really powerful!” Summer Bug asked. While he and the others Mages unleashed an unending stream of spells, they couldn’t help but notice that Nie Yan was dealing much more damage than them individually. This was too shocking!

After all, a Thief wasn’t some powerful ranged class!

With a simple glance, they could tell why. The crossbow in Nie Yan’s hands definitely wasn’t simple! This was their first time seeing one that large! That fierce! That domineering! How was he even able to carry it around?

Its design was extremely elaborate. The five bolts it shot out in quick succession emitted a chilling light.

Penta Bolt Shot!

None of them had ever seen a crossbow with the Penta Bolt Shot property. Those with just the Triple-shot property were already considered extraordinary!

The five bolts let out a continuous hum as they flew through the air, their pointed ends emitting a piercing light.「Ding ding ding!」 They struck the Goblin Eviscerator practically at the same time. Some of them even pierced through its thick metal carapace.

−25

−23

−66!

−23

−21

One of the bolts critted for three times the normal damage!

What a terrifying crossbow! Its valiant properties made people exclaim in admiration!

A whole bunch of team members forgot what they were doing as they looked over at Nie Yan in awe. How could he not attract everyone’s attention after something like that?

"Boss, what kind of crossbow is that?”

Since everyone was asking about his crossbow, Nie Yan could no longer keep silent. "It’s the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow.”

Everyone was shocked. The names of every piece of equipment were determined from a finite list. Items such as the Staff of Divine Right, Shattered Sword, Valor Shield, and so on were generally all Dark Gold-grade or lower. But items whose names were related to an NPC, such as the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow or Grett’s Sovereign Staff, were exclusively Sub Legendary or even Legendary-grade. The more prominent an NPC was in the annals of Conviction, the more powerful the equipment they left behind.

Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow, as soon as everyone heard the name, they knew it was at least Sub Legendary-grade.

At present, players found it extremely difficult to obtain Dark Gold-grade equipment. A single piece would bankrupt the vast majority of players. As for Sub Legendary-grade equipment, who knew how many there were in the entire Viridian Empire? They hadn’t even shown up on the official forums yet. This was telling of how rare they were.

To everyone’s surprise, Nie Yan had actually gotten his hands on a Sub Legendary item. However, after recalling the Legendary-grade Grimmar Soul Staff sitting high atop a pedestal in the guild treasury, they felt this was easier to accept. Obtaining two pieces of Godly equipment, their guild leader was simply too amazing!

"Boss, share the properties of the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow with us!” Undying Scoundrel exclaimed, no longer able to hold back his curiosity.

"Yeah! Let us see it!” Numerous people in the crowd echoed Undying Scoundrel’s request. They really wanted to find out just what sort of properties this crossbow had.

There was no harm in publicizing the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow. At the behest of the crowd, Nie Yan shared its properties in the chat, whereupon everyone let out sighs of admiration.

"Dang! What an amazing crossbow!”

307–327 Attack, 30% Piercing Damage, 30% chance to deal 3x Critical Damage, +100 Fire Damage, and Penta Bolt Shot, these sorts of properties on a crossbow practically broke the game! It fully deserved to be called a Sub Legendary-grade item.

30% Piercing Damage meant the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow could effectively ignore the vast majority of armour types that weren’t heavy armour! The other properties were arguably even more powerful.

"Boss, you have 800 Strength?” Edgeless, who was currently providing support to Bladelight, couldn’t help but ask in shock. Even as a Berserker, he only had 370 Strength!

Only now did everyone notice the Strength required to equip the crossbow. This was a staggeringly high bar to meet!

"I have a special method that lets me equip this crossbow,” Nie Yan replied. Even though Volume 1: Glimpse of Darkness was already bound to him, there was no need to reveal it if he didn’t have to.

In the minds of everyone, the so-called ‘special method’ was definitely something that lowered the requirements of equipment. Such items were actually relatively common if you looked hard enough. For example, Bladelight’s Level 40 Everlasting Silver Set could be equipped at Level 30.

No one inquired any further. It wasn’t good to force Nie Yan to reveal everything. There would be disastrous consequences if an enemy somehow got their hands on such information. Nevertheless, his Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow really did give everyone a big shock.

Bladelight and the other Warriors were firmly blocking the Goblin Eviscerator. No matter how it struggled, it was unable to break free. It was irrevocably stuck even after becoming enraged. The Mages continued shelling it with magic. Two minutes later, its health finally fell to zero, and it collapsed to the ground.

A wave of players shined with a brilliant light. The Goblin Eviscerator gave a generous amount of experience. More than half of the expedition team members levelled up. Nie Yan checked his experience bar. It was now 70% of the way filled. This was quite considerable.

Bladelight searched through the pile of scrap metal. Surprisingly, he found five pieces of equipment, several gems, and one Energy Key Fragment.

The Goblin Eviscerator had dropped a ton of loot. Their luck was pretty good!

"What dropped?” Nie Yan asked.

Some of the team members helped appraise the items.

"Staff of Divine Right, Radiant Sword, Robes of Divine Right, Boots of Divine Right, and Everlasting Chestplate (Dark Gold)!”

They shared the properties of all the equipment in chat. Because they were drops from a Lord-class monster, all of them were Dark Gold-grade!

Three pieces of the Divine Right Set dropped. If the expedition team killed all five Lords, they might be able to complete the full set. It was one of the best Level 40 Holy Priest sets out there.

"Radiant Sword for 20,000 merit points. Do any of the Paladins want it?” Nie Yan asked.

"I’ll take it. I have enough,” Tuoba Time said. The properties of this Dark Gold-grade sword were outstanding. Even he was moved.

Nie Yan handed over the Radiant Sword to Tuoba Time, then turned to Young Seven, Black Heaven, Painted Muslin, and Moon Child and asked, "Which one of you wants the Divine Right Set?”

"I’ll concede it to the ladies,” Young Seven said in a very gentleman-like tone. The Divine Right Set was farmable in Everlasting City, so they could just grind out another one in the future if necessary.

Chapter 256 – Plot

"I don’t have enough points.” Moon Child shook her head. It was still a bit too early to be thinking about Level 40 equipment. After all, she wasn’t even Level 30 yet, and Priests were generally much slower at levelling up compared to other classes.

"How about we leave it in the treasury for now? It can go to whoever gets to Level 40 first,” Ten Li Painted Muslin suggested.

Only now did Nie Yan get a chance to examine this recent recruit. She wore light blue Priest robes, and had a graceful and gentle bearing. In terms of appearance, she didn’t lose out in the slightest to beauties like Yao Yao, Yu Lan, and Moon Child.

"I suppose we’ll keep it in the treasury then. If any of you want it, just let me know.” Nie Yan nodded. Top quality Dark Gold–grade equipment such as the Divine Right Set definitely couldn’t be treated like regular items in the treasury. They were obtained through the combined efforts of the expedition team members who braved all sorts of dangers with potentially disastrous outcomes, after all. It would be a great loss if an enemy spy managed to smuggle one out of the guild, so such equipment would be restricted to contracted elites only.

In the previous timeline, a Lord dropping two pieces of Dark Gold-grade equipment was very rare. If not a single piece of equipment dropped, then you could only blame your bad luck. However, as the first group to explore this map, Nie Yan’s expedition team got to reap greater rewards. They had really lucked out, obtaining five pieces of Dark Gold-grade equipment from a single Lord!

Nie Yan led the group deeper into Everlasting City, clearing away all Mechanical and Plasma Core Golems in their path. Besides six members dying in combat, no other mishaps worth mentioning occurred. Two were revived by the Priests, while the remaining few didn’t get to enjoy such luxury. But on the whole, everything was progressing pretty smoothly.

During this time, they managed to complete the Everlasting Gold Set. Bladelight put on the new set, improving his stats significantly, then handed down his old set to Yi Yan. They also obtained another Everlasting Silver Set, which Nie Yan planned to hand over to Sleepy Fox as per their previous agreement.

They were having a tremendous harvest on this trip in Everlasting City, obtaining all sorts of high-quality equipment. Nie Yan had rewarded everyone with at least 500 merit points each so far. Some even earned up to a thousand. The average level of the team also increased by one since setting foot inn the map.

Nie Yan quickly set about making his preparations for taking on the next Lord—the Goblin Flame Manipulator, a Machine-type monster that could employ Fire Magic. Its combat power was extremely formidable. However, with the Everlasting Gold Set, Bladelight was ready to take on the challenge.

There was also a unique way or defeating the Goblin Flame Manipulator. Its damage was extremely high, and there was a chance the whole expedition team would be wiped out if they were hit by one of its area-of-effect spells. When it started casting large-scale magic, it was imperative that the players got out of its range in time. As for predicting when it was going to cast an area-of-effect spell, Nie Yan had a special method. It was something which the players on the forums of the previous timeline had come up with. On top of this, he also had some prior experiences with this boss, since he had taken part in expeditions to defeat it before.

The team was still not perfectly in sync, so they couldn’t perform group dodges very quickly yet. They wiped twice before finishing off the Goblin Flame Manipulator on their third attempt. It dropped three pieces of Dark Gold-grade equipment.

Greatly relieved, everyone sat down scattered across the square and began to heal up from the fight.

"Compared to the Goblin Eviscerator, this one was way too hard!” Bladelight wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead. Killing the Goblin Flame Manipulator had barely given them enough experience to make up for the losses they sustained after wiping twice.

"The next few will be much easier,” Nie Yan assured. The Goblin Flame Manipulator was a special case, since there were very few bosses with the ability to cast area-of-effect spells at long range. It was just too hard to deal with!

"Thank God.” Bladelight sighed with relief. It would be extremely depressing if they had to die twice every time they faced off against a Lord-class monster.

"It’s a pity. Aside from a few pieces of Dark Gold-grade equipment, nothing else good dropped,” Undying Scoundrel said dejectedly.

"You’ve really been spoiled, huh? Just look at Victorious Return and Holy Empire. Do you think those guys can get their hands on Level 40 Dark Gold-grade equipment?” Bladelight rebuked. Without Nie Yan’s strategies there would be no way to defeat these bosses. No matter how large of a force arrived, the end result would still be a complete wipe, every time.

"The next Lord we’re going after is the Goblin Disintegrator. There’s a good chance it’ll drop an advanced magic skill book, so everybody liven up!” Nie Yan announced.

After resting back up to full health, the team stood up and began to reorganize themselves.

Their clearing speed was pretty fast. At their current pace, Nie Yan estimated they could be out of Everlasting City before the start of Holy Empire’s stronghold battle with Radiant Sacred Flame. If their luck wasn’t too bad, they might even be able to complete the Everlasting Dark Gold Set. Like this, Bladelight’s combat power would be upgraded by another step.

If Bladelight were to go into the stronghold battle wearing that kind of equipment, he would be able to effortlessly crush ordinary players like bugs. He would have an enormous influence on the final outcome.

One of the reasons Nie Yan chose this place for Asskickers United’s first guild activity was to improve the quality of Bladelight’s gear. This goal could be considered accomplished when they got him the Everlasting Gold Set. However, if they could fit him with the Everlasting Dark Gold Set, it would be even better! Thus far, they had gathered three pieces of the set—gauntlets, chest plate, and leg armour—so they were a long shot from completing the full set. They might even have to revisit this place in three days for a second run.

While Asskickers United was rushing to clear Everlasting City, several battles broke out between Holy Empire and Radiant Sacred Flame. This time, Radiant Sacred was really under a lot of pressure. They were initially confident in their success thanks to the support of Victorious Return. However, a certain incident caught them completely off-guard. Almost all the Victorious Return elites slated to appear were thrown in the Calore jail cellars! Suddenly having the rug pulled out from under them, on the eve of the battle no less! They were thrown into utter panic and disarray.

Radiant Sacred Flame began to ambush Holy Empire’s elites anywhere they could, trying to weaken them before the battle. Additionally, they mobilized forces from other cities to reinforce their lineup. Although it pained them to pay 1 gold per player for the transfers, they had no choice but to do so.

Holy Empire lost quite a few elites to Radiant Sacred Flame’s attacks, but once reports reached the higher-ups, they retaliated in full force. Since neither side was willing to yield, another large battle ensued between the two guilds.

Aside from their attacks on Holy Empire, Radiant Sacred Flame also sent out forces to various popular levelling spots to search for traces of Asskickers United’s elites. However, what left them dejected was that they found no traces of their target, almost as if they had vanished into thin air. Radiant Sacred Flame’s scouts were extremely confused. Was Asskickers United not going to do any last-minute levelling? Little did they know that Nie Yan’s group was currently clearing a Level 40 map!

Victorious Return also wanted to avenge themselves, so they too sought out Asskickers United players to slaughter. With their involvement, the four major guilds once more became embroiled in chaotic warfare. The war continued to exponentially expand in scope. More and more guilds were dragged into the mess as both sides called for allies and attacked their enemies.

Not long after the fighting erupted, Sleepy Fox and Nie Yan jointly carried out a devious plot. They had 25 players from both their guilds invite 15 relatively famous Sapphire Shrine players to go out levelling together. Afterwards, Asskickers United secretly leaked this group’s location to Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame. The two guilds quickly surrounded them with hundreds of assailants. The result was obvious: all 40 players were promptly sent to their graves.

Where Asskickers United and Holy Empire began mobilizing people to hunt down the forces of Radiant Sacred Flame, Sapphire Shrine stayed silent. The people from Holy Empire and Asskickers United mocked the players from Sapphire Shrine for being gutless cowards. Although the 15 Sapphire Shrine players who died had been quelled by Fa Lan, they really could endure no longer. They each led over a hundred players to massacre the players of Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame.

Before long, Sapphire Shrine was also pulled into the fray. As the casualties on both sides increased, the players from Sapphire Shrine grew enraged. Although they had been neutral all this time, Victorious Return’s rampant nature had long since left them dissatisfied. Those 15 players dying was simply the straw that broke the camel’s back. Fa Lan could no longer hold his people back. If he insisted on forcing them to stay their hand, it could very well culminate into a mass exodus.

Fa Lan looked closely at the entire affair, noticing that there was something fishy about the whole ordeal. It was really odd, how Asskickers United and Holy Empire had suddenly invited his players to level together. What’s more, the players that had been invited were all pretty popular within the guild. Less than an hour after they began, they were completely surrounded by Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame. After the party with the 15 players from Sapphire Shrine were killed, Asskickers United and Holy Empire took the lead in a furious vengeance. As they fought, they also barraged Sapphire Shrine with unceasing taunts about their cowardice in quietly swallowing this insult. There were even a bunch of players within the guild who fanned the flames and clamored for action. Each of the fallen 15 were popular enough to have a sizeable following within the guild, so how could they swallow this insult? They brought their friends to avenge themselves, thoroughly entrenching Sapphire Shrine’s involvement in the chaos.

By the end, the people under Fa Lan had mobilized without his approval. He had lost control of them, so he could only turn a blind eye. With no choice but to accept this fact, he endlessly cursed in his heart. This time, he had fallen for Nie Yan and Sleepy Fox’s plot. These two sly bastards were far too despicable!

With the forces of Sapphire Shrine fighting them so fiercely, how could Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame not believe they had joined sides with Holy Empire and Asskickers United? There was no way to step out of these muddy waters. Sapphire Shrine was effectively forced aboard the same ship as Holy Empire and Asskickers United. If those two collapsed later on, Sapphire Shrine would be forced down with them.

Fa Lan secretly cursed Nie Yan and Sleepy Fox to hell and back again, but he could only reluctantly accept this fact.

From today onwards, how could Sapphire Shrine still remain neutral? They could only grit their teeth and join Asskickers United and Holy Empire’s alliance.

Chapter 257 – Xie Yao

Everything progressed swimmingly under Nie Yan and Sleepy Fox’s careful supervision.

Fa Lan yielded in the end, allowing his guild members to join the conflict. The players of Sapphire Shrine fought Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame with extreme ferocity. Considering they were fighting a force which numbered over 5,000, their losses were of course substantial.

Fa Lan was powerless to stop the enmity that had sparked between Sapphire Shrine and both Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame

Sleepy Fox brought news of this development to Nie Yan the instant it occurred, laughing heartily in the voice chat.「That old dog Fa Lan tried hard but couldn’t escape boarding our pirate ship in the end! Let’s see if he can still remain so laid-back like before!」

Nie Yan was satisfied as well. With Sapphire Shrine being forced to ally with them, they had the manpower to rival Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame.

The overall balance of power now vastly differed from the previous timeline. Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame were no longer untouchable superpowers.

「Don’t celebrate too early. We’ll have to iron out the details of our alliance with Fa Lan first,」Nie Yan said.

「When the duck is thoroughly cooked, is there a need to worry about it flying away? I’ll get him to send some elites to join the stronghold battle,」Sleepy Fox chuckled sinisterly. If Fa Lan were to join, victory was virtually assured; Radiant Sacred Flame would crumple beneath the three-pronged assault of Asskickers United, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine.

「Go ahead.」Nie Yan was slightly distracted when his voice chat lit up with a call from Guo Huai.「Let’s talk later.」

「No problem.」Sleepy Fox started up his own call with Fa Lan.

「How are the losses?」Nie Yan asked after picking up. He was wondering how Asskickers United was doing, since they were in an ongoing battle with Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame.

「Not too bad, though things could be better. We’ve had about 10,000 casualties on our side, but the enemy has suffered three times as much. Our forces are quite fierce. We’ve looted so much equipment that our treasury is almost full!」Guo Huai replied. They maintained a constant 3:1 kill-death ratio against the enemy. All that could be said was that the players of the guild were simply too strong!

「Good! When you dole out the merit points, give everyone a little extra!」Nie Yan nodded in approval. The members of Asskickers United were the creme of the crop among the player base. Coupled with the boost in morale from their recent successes, this was the least he expected.

「One other thing. Cao Xu, the chairman of Century Financial Group, contacted me. He said he wishes to purchase shares in Asskickers United, and if we agreed, the Century Financial Group was willing to let us set a price we would be satisfied with. How should I respond?」Guo Huai asked. It would be a huge help to the guild’s development if they received an investment from such a large financial group.

Nie Yan’s expression darkened. In the previous timeline, Century Financial Group employed this exact method to take out any potential rivals, controlling guild after guild through their massive capital. And now, they wanted to get their grubby hands on everything that he had built up.

「Asskickers United will not sell any shares to the Century Financial Group, under any circumstances. Reject their offer!」Nie Yan spoke in a grave tone.

「Understood.」Guo Huai nodded. He was slightly puzzled by the traces of anger he detected in Nie Yan’s voice. Why did he sound so emotional when I mentioned Century Financial Group? Is there some history between them?

「Pay close attention to the movements of Century Financial Group from now on! Take note of which guilds have been bought by them!」Nie Yan instructed. He had no choice but to prepare some countermeasures now that Cao Xu had set his eyes on Asskickers United.

「Alright. Don’t worry, you can leave this to me,」Guo Huai replied.「On a final note, about that thing you asked me last time… Well, I’ve gathered some information on Xie Yao.」

Nie Yan’s heart skipped a beat.「Tell me.」

「You know, she’s got quite the background. Have you heard of the name, Xie Pei?」

「Xie Pei… the business tycoon, the chairman of the Zheng Rong Financial Group?」Nie Yan replied after blanking for a moment.

「Yeah. Xie Pei is Xie Yao’s uncle, and her mother is the daughter of the Leaping Dragon Financial Group’s chairman. That’s definitely quite the lineup. It’s also been reported that on the day she was born, she was given 12% and 28% of each respective company’s shares, bringing her net worth to nearly ¥10,000,000,000. This young lady was born with a diamond spoon. That said, her family doesn’t seem to be living very extravagantly. Her parents don’t keep a high-profile, rarely interacting with the administrative staff of their companies. They’re currently living in a villa at Huahai,」Guo Huai informed. He had no idea what he was getting into when he first agreed to Nie Yan’s request. As soon as he started his investigation, he nearly shit his pants in fright. Such a deep background even left someone like him speechless.

Nie Yao was stunned as well. Zheng Rong and Leaping Dragon were top financial groups in the country, only second to Cao Xu’s Century Financial Group. Why didn’t he hear anyone mention Xie Yao’s background in his past life?

Most of Nie Yan’s classmates knew Xie Yao was from a wealthy family. But he doubted they knew to what degree. Even during its peak, his father’s company was still easily dwarfed by the Zheng Rong and Leaping Dragon financial groups—this was the sheer size of these two titans!

「I’ve heard Xie Yao’s parents donated all their shares to charitable organizations, save a portion for Xie Yao herself. They don’t particularly care who their daughter marries so long as she likes him. So cheer up! You still have a shot!」Guo Huai comforted. It was truly impressive for Xie Yao’s parents to give up so much wealth.

Although Xie Yao’s background shocked him, Nie Yan wasn’t deterred. True love knew no boundaries, definitely not monetary one. Even after two lifetimes, Xie Yao’s silhouette still remained deeply engraved into his heart.

Memories of the previous timeline floated in Nie Yan’s mind. Regardless of Xie Yao’s background, he knew one thing. He wouldn’t ever let her go again.

「Don’t sell yourself short! I have faith in you!」Guo Huai reassured. If this brother of his wasn’t good enough for Xie Yao, who was?

Nie Yan’s mood couldn’t help but perk up at Guo Huai’s encouragement.「I’ll be cheering you on too.」Of course, he was referring to their former class president.

「Hey? Can you not always bring up this embarrassing thing?」Guo Huai laughed.

The two chattered on for a while longer before hanging up, whereupon Nie Yan refocused his attention on the expedition.

While Nie Yan was directing everyone, Yao Yao walked up to him.

"Nirvana Flame, I have a Priest quest I’m stuck on half-way. After we finish the stronghold battle, can you help me?” Yao Yao asked, her bright eyes sparkling with anticipation—a pair of glittering diamonds with a captivating tint.

Nie Yan slightly averted his gaze. "What quest?”

"Karsi’s Blessing. The reward is a Templar Magic skill book,” Yao Yao replied.

"You received the Karsi’s Blessing quest?” Nie Yan asked in shock. In truth, he really didn’t have the heart to refuse Yao Yao. Besides, with what he knew, helping her complete the quest would be a simple effort. He nodded. "Sure, just remind me later.”

Chapter 258 – Goblin Cannoneer

Karsi was a powerful Holy Mage who led the Templar Crusaders. Nie Yan never thought Yao Yao would receive his quest, let alone get through half of it all by herself. It was the first of a series of quests related to the Holy Shrine, each exponentially more difficult than the last. The reward for completing the first quest was a Rank 1 Templar Magic skill book, while the reward for completing the fifth and final quest was a Legendary set. However, even in the previous timeline, the furthest anyone progressed was the third quest. So in the eyes of the players, obtaining this set was nothing more than a pipe dream.

Karsi’s Blessing had harsh requirements which very few could meet.

Asskickers United sorely lacked players who could cast advanced magic. It didn’t help that between the recent guild war, expedition, and stronghold battle, none of the members had any time to acquire them. Add this to the fact that this process was rather rigorous, and the only few in the guild that knew advanced magic were the likes of Undying Scoundrel and Black Heaven.

If Nie Yan helped Yao Yao complete the quest, it was tantamount to Asskickers United having another player who could cast advanced magic.

As Nie Yan’s friendship with Yao Yao gradually deepened, he couldn’t help but remember the erotic night they spent together in that secret chamber beneath Fenarte City. His mind was bewitched as those seductive scenes flashed before him. Although Yao Yao was not as voluptuous as Yu Lan, her flawless and elegant beauty was the forbidden fruit that filled his heart with an unquenchable ardor. Her figure was exquisite–not a hint of excess fat on her body; a pair of soft, perfectly round mounds; and jade-white skin without the slightest blemish.

Nie Yan’s heart raced in his chest. When he recalled Yao Yao was still untainted at that time, he felt even more guilt about pushing her away in this life. But there was nothing else he could do, for he knew himself all too well; if he were to spend time together with her, temptation would overcome him.

Nie Yan bitterly smiled. No matter how strong-willed a person was, some desires couldn’t be outrun. He was only a man, after all. Knowing he could never get rid of the carnal urges buried deep inside his heart, he chose to distance himself from Yao Yao.

During the darkest moments in Nie Yan’s past life, it was Yao Yao’s tenderness that pulled him out of that deep quagmire of gray. With her asking him for help, how could he be so heartless as to refuse?

Nie Yan felt very conflicted deep inside. He truly didn’t wish to hurt Yao Yao.

Seeing Nie Yan’s distant expression, Xie Yao’s heart welled up with a sense of loss. She felt a deep sense of sadness. She could tell he was only helping her out of a sense of obligation.

Staring at the outline of Nie Yan’s cheeks, Xie Yao also sunk into deep thought. Just what kind of person was Nie Yan? He was at times low-key, at others reserved, and still others fearless. He dealt with most matters calmly. But when the members of Asskickers United were killed, he would explode with rage as well, calling for the slaughter of Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame. What left the deepest impression on people, though, was when he killed Hei Zhuo under the eyes of almost a thousand enemies. His icy-cold gaze and arrogant smile shook the hearts of all players.

From a sense of familiarity in the beginning to deep admiration later on, Xie Yao was always paying attention to the things happening around Nie Yan. She wanted to know everything about him, partially from her delight at his success but also because she wanted to find out why he was so distant with her.

"Nirvana Flame, since you’ve agreed, you better not go back on it.” Yao Yao revealed a brilliant smile akin to warm sunshine on a cold winter’s day.

Yao Yao wore pure white Mage robes with her hair tied in a ponytail. Her charming appearance dazed all the surrounding players for a while.

"Mhmm, I won’t.” Nie Yan nodded. Helping Yao Yao out with this quest counted as repaying the kindness from his past life. It didn’t violate any of his principles. Besides, the happiness on her face was heart-warming.

Every minute, fewer golems roamed the streets of Everlasting City. After defeating four Lords in a row, all that remained was the final Lord, the Goblin Cannoneer. It was the strongest boss in Everlasting City. Even when the player base averaged Level 40 in the previous timeline, very few people were able to beat it.

The heart of Everlasting City was a wide open space enveloped by a curtain of light with a towering spire at the very center. At the top of this lofty structure hovered an enormous spherical crystal which emitted a faint glow. It was this crystal that powered Everlasting City.

An eight-meter-tall golem clad in a gold metal carapace roamed around at the base of the spire. What stood out the most was the cannon that sat on top of its shoulder. It was a Magic Cannon, a weapon that rarely saw use outside of siege warfare. Thankfully this one was a smaller model. Were it full-sized like those seen on top of city walls, Nie Yan’s group would have no hope of surviving.

The Goblin Cannoneer radiated a dazzling golden radiance. It was a metallic giant. Every step it took shook the ground.

Nie Yan cautiously approached the Goblin Cannoneer after entering stealth. Taking cover behind a nearby bunker, he got within three meters of it and activated Transcendent Insight.

Goblin Cannoneer (Lord): Level 40
Health: 200,000/200,000

Aside from being the strongest, the loot the Goblin Cannoneer dropped was also the best among the five Lords. In the previous timeline, someone reportedly obtained the Sub Legendary-grade Solas Battle Armour after defeating it. Of course, this was dogshit luck. Although these Lords had a chance of dropping a piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment, the drop rate was extremely low. Most players would already be beyond themselves if a Legendary-grade item fragment appeared.

The mini Magic Cannon mounted on the Goblin Cannoneer’s shoulder couldn’t launch projectiles very far. It shot out cannonballs which rolled along the ground, eventually exploding and dealing devastating area-of-effect damage. Squishier classes like Mages would be blasted to smithereens if hit. Its most powerful ability was firing three cannonballs in quick succession, dealing massive wide-scale damage. It was terrifying. Countless teams were wiped out by this skill in the previous timeline.

The Goblin Cannoneer’s eyes suddenly started glowing red. It let out a low-pitch steaming whistle and aimed the cannon on its shoulder in a certain direction. A scorching-hot iron ball shot out of the cannon and landed on the ground with a thud, then gradually picked up speed as it rolled toward Nie Yan.

The cannon ball was red-hot, as if it had just come out of a furnace!

"Not good!” Nie Yan cried out in alarm. He activated Shadow Waltz and quickly retreated.

「Boom!」 The cannonball exploded after arriving at Nie Yan’s previous position. Flames surged up into sky as shrapnel flew everywhere.

Although they were powerful, these cannonballs had a long detonation time. Coupled with the fact that Nie Yan was fast, he escaped the blast-radius without so much as a scratch. The Goblin Cannoneer lumbered over to the bunker. Not finding any trace of an enemy, it resumed a passive state.

Nie Yan returned to the expedition team.

"My god! That Lord is way too scary! Boss, how are we supposed to fight that thing?” Undying Scoundrel asked. Seeing the power of the cannonball’s explosion, he shuddered in fear.

"The only Fighters in our group who can tank its attacks are Bladelight and Yi Yan. I’m not so sure about the others,” Nie Yan said. Due to the Goblin Cannoneer’s attacks being area-of-effect, everyone within the explosion radius would receive damage. The Mages in the backline definitely wouldn’t survive such a blast. However, the trick to defeating this boss lay in the fact it could only fire its cannon once every ten seconds, and the cannonballs it shot out didn’t explode on collision.

As such, Nie Yan only needed to predict where the Goblin Cannoneer was going to attack and warn the Mages to get out of the way in advance. If everything worked out smoothly, they would eventually defeat the boss.

However, even though this sounded easy in theory, the team would have to make several attempts to finally defeat the Goblin Cannoneer. Needless to say, the prospect of wiping so many times was extremely depressing. If they didn’t succeed after the third try, they were better off calling it a day. After wiping, it would take about an hour to run back to their corpses. This meant it would take at least three hours to defeat the boss.

"Boss, do you have a special way to beat the Goblin Cannoneer, like you did with the Goblin Eviscerator?” Summer Bug asked. Their battle with the Goblin Eviscerator was extremely pleasant. They had practically suffered no casualties.

Nie Yan’s eyes lit up, realizing he was adhering too rigidly to the standards of the previous timeline. Why couldn’t he just think up a completely new method to defeat the Goblin Cannoneer?

Nie Yan scanned the surroundings, noticing six buildings to the left of him. They were at least a dozen meters tall, and were all constructed out of thick steel. They were extremely sturdy. There were pipes all over the sides and top of the buildings, with plenty of footholds for players to stand. He had a fantastical idea. Since there were so many buildings in the vicinity, why not take advantage of them?

By lending out his Crawler Ring and Silk Spinner Ring, Nie Yan could get all the Mages atop these buildings where they wouldn’t have to worry about getting blasted by the Goblin Cannoneer’s cannonballs.

As for the Fighters, they could simply attract the Goblin Cannoneer’s aggro.

Like this, they could easily defeat the Goblin Cannoneer!

Moreover, the possibility of everyone wiping was nullified by the fact the Goblin Cannoneer’s cannonballs couldn’t affect any targets so high up.

"Boss, what are you doing?” All the guild members were staring at Nie Yan in bewilderment. Why was he constantly staring at the surrounding buildings?

"Sparrow Hawk, get over here!” Nie Yan said. Tang Yao had some experience with this tactic, so he should know what to do.

"What’s up?” Tang Yao asked.

Nie Yan handed over the Crawler Ring to Tang Yao and said, "Climb up on top of that building, then throw the Crawler Ring back down!”

Tang Yao’s mind trembled. He realized what Nie Yan was planning and said in an excited tone, "Damn! Why didn’t I think of that? If we do it this way, we won’t ever wipe!”

The crowd was baffled, not understanding the exchange between Nie Yan and Tang Yao.

Tang Yao ran over to the side of a nearby building. He equipped the Crawler Ring, activated its ability, and started crawling up the wall like a spider. He finally stopped after reaching a spot five meters high with a good vantage point.

All the players widened their eyes in shock. Even this was possible!?

Tang Yao threw the Crawler Ring back down. Nie Yan nimbly caught it in his hand, then turned to the crowd and shouted, "Next!”

Chapter 259 – Darkbright Leather Armour Of Solga

Nie Yan’s body was a treasure trove, brimming with all kinds of wonderful items. The Crawler Ring would absolutely fetch a sky-high price if listed up for auction. As a matter of fact, it was something that couldn’t be bought even if the player had the gold. The crowd couldn’t help but wonder how he got his hands on such a trinket.

It was difficult to determine how useful this sort of item was, an irreplaceable tool to some but dead weight in the hands of others.

The players scaled the buildings one after another until all six were jam-packed, forming a peculiar sight.

With this, the area between them turned into the focal point.

Only Nie Yan, Bladelight, and Yi Yan stuck to the ground. The rest of the Warriors retreated off in the distance.

Nie Yan turned to Bladelight and Yi Yan after reequipping the Crawler Ring. "I’ll go draw the Goblin Hunter’s aggro.”

"Alright, be careful,” Bladelight cautioned. This was a Level 40 Lord, after all. It wouldn’t be easy to lure the Goblin Hunter out of its spawn, all the way to the center of the six buildings.

Nie Yan stealthily approached until he was within some 30 meters of the Goblin Hunter, whereupon he took aim with his Cavalry Crossbow.

「Whoosh whoosh whoosh!」Five bolts flew out toward the Goblin Hunter.

−24

−21

−22

−21

−23

After being struck, the Goblin Hunter fired out a red-hot iron ball that quickly picked up speed as it rolled toward the assailant.

Nie Yan activated Shadow Waltz and dodged to the left.

The cannonball detonated with a loud explosion, spewing out flames into the sky and sending shrapnel flying everywhere.

Even though Nie Yan hid himself in stealth which was further amplified by the cloud of smoke from the explosion, the Goblin Hunter quickly located him and gave chase.

Every step the Goblin Hunter took shook the ground heavily.

Another cannonball was fired out.

Nie Yan ducked to the side, only to notice the cannonball still on his heels.

It was homing in on him!

Seeing the cannonball was about to explode, Nie Yan shot out a web line from his Silk Spinner Ring which stuck to the wall of a nearby building and swung away.

「Boom!」Not a second later, Nie Yan felt a sweltering shock wave ruthlessly slam his back as a piece of shrapnel brushed past his arm.

A frighteningly high damage value floated up above Nie Yan’s head. Luckily he wasn’t at the center of the blast radius; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been left with a complete corpse!

Nie Yan let go of the web line and made a graceful landing, whereupon he bolted toward the area at the center of the six buildings with the Goblin Hunter in hot pursuit.

"That was a close call!”

"The boss almost died there!”

"What kind of skill is that? Since when could Thieves shoot out webs?”

"That’s obviously his secret, of course! Amazing! He even dodged an attack like that!”

The players were able to get a clear view of Nie Yan being chased by the Goblin Hunter from atop the buildings. It was nerve wracking, like a good thriller. There were many times where they thought he was toast, only to see him somehow survive by the skin of his teeth.

It was an exciting game of cat and mouse. No matter the danger, Nie Yan always found his way to safety.

Atop of one the buildings, Xie Yao felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest. She couldn’t help but break out into a cold sweat whenever the Goblin Hunter closed in on Nie Yan. But he would deftly evade its attacks every single time. His speed was unmatched, his silhouette resembling a cheetah sprinting through the savannah.

Seeing Nie Yan was in no real danger, Xie Yao calmed down. No longer hers to control, her mood was subconsciously linked to his wellbeing.

Nie Yan finally arrived at the designated location. Letting out a deep roar, Bladelight charged forward and struck the Goblin Hunter with a Shield Bash.

「Klang!」The Goblin Hunter was knocked back a step by the impact.

Drawing only partial aggro, Bladelight activated Taunt.

The Goblin Hunter finally focused all its attention on Bladelight.「Klang!」It swung a fist at Bladelight’s shield, sending him staggering several steps back.

Bladelight charged back up after steadying himself.

"Everyone, attack! Give it your all!” Nie Yan shouted at the top of his lungs. Even if these players attracted the aggro of the Goblin Hunter, there was nothing it could do to them!

The Mages started casting their spells.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」They bombarded the Goblin Hunter’s body. A long string of damage values floated up above its head.

None of the Mages held back in the slightest. It wasn’t every day they could completely let loose like this without fear of suffering retaliation. They unleashed every high-damage single-target spell at their disposal.

Tang Yao was especially thrilled. Under normal circumstances, he would force himself to hold back out of fear that he would be the sole reason for the team wiping. But this time, he could go all out!

Magic rained down from the sky as the Goblin Hunter furiously fired out cannonballs.「Boom! Boom! Boom!」Every explosion sent Bladelight recoiling back.

Every cannonball that hit Bladelight took away almost 70% of his health. Fortunately, the Goblin Hunter’s attack speed was rather slow, and the intervals between them were long. The Priests had ample time to cast Heal.

A curtain of light descended on Bladelight, restoring his health directly back to full.

Shield Bash!

Bladelight charged back up and slammed his shield against the Goblin Hunter.

The Goblin Hunter couldn’t attack Tang Yao, Undying Scoundrel, and the other Mages, so it could only vent out its anger on Bladelight.

"All Warriors, block off the Goblin Hunter’s path of retreat!” Nie Yan ordered. All their efforts would go to waste if the Lord lost aggro and returned to its spawn.

The Goblin Hunter’s health was quickly shaved away, finally falling to 20% under the concentrated barrage of spells.

The Goblin Hunter turned to escape but was stopped dead in its tracks.

"Want to run? Not so fast!” Bladelight took up Guard Stance to protect himself from the boss’s powerful attacks.

The Mages never let up, not even for a moment.

The Goblin Hunter bellowed out in rage, letting out a steaming whistle. Energy converged at the tip of its Magic Cannon which started to shine brilliantly.

"Priests, keep the Heals coming!” Nie Yan shouted anxiously.

Three cannon shots rang out in quick succession as several red-hot iron balls dropped to the ground and started rolling towards Bladelight.

Sensing the danger, Bladelight took out an Intermediate Health Potion while maintaining his Guard Stance.

Bladelight’s sense of awareness was by no means dull, but he was still a beat too late.

「Boom boom boom!」The three cannonballs exploded almost simultaneously, sweeping everything away. Bladelight was blasted away like a ragdoll and landed on the ground with a heavy thud.

The Goblin Hunter immediately took this opportunity to flee. However, Yi Yan rushed up to take Bladelight’s place and prevented its escape.

The Goblin Hunter couldn’t charge past Yi Yan no matter how much it struggled. When its health fell to 10%, its cannon began to charge again.

Three cannonballs exploded in quick succession, blasting Yi Yan away.

"Don’t let it flee! Go up one by one!” Nie Yan ordered, knowing that he had no choice but to sacrifice some players to prevent their target from escaping.

Charge!

Edgeless led the charge. None of the Warriors alive could take a single hit from the Goblin Hunter. They were going into this knowing full well they would die. However, they hoped to buy enough time for the Mages to finish the boss off in this final stretch.

Edgeless stalled the Goblin Hunter for a brief moment, only to be blown away by a cannonball.

The next to go up was Monochrome, though he didn’t last long either. It was a tragic scene. The Warriors rushed up one after the other, meeting miserable ends, all for the sake of preventing the Goblin Hunter from running away. Their deaths only bought a few seconds each. But even so, they advanced dauntlessly in an endless wave. As soon as one died, another would rush up to take their place.

Seeing the Warriors dropping like flies, the Mages couldn’t help but feel their hearts ache. They intensified their barrage. They understood the sooner they killed the Goblin Hunter, the fewer lives would be lost.

Because their expedition team had Priests who could cast Revive, the death penalty was reduced to only 30%. However, this was still valuable experience lost. It would take them at least six hours of nonstop grinding to get it back!

The Mages frantically bombarded the Goblin Hunter with spells. Its health fell to 3%, 2%, 1%….and finally, 0%!「Boom!」It died in a fiery explosion, collapsing into a pile of scrap metal.

Looking at the ground, Nie Yan saw 36 corpses forming a long line. The Goblin Hunter had taken out a Warrior with every step.

The only reason the Goblin Hunter couldn’t escape was thanks to the sacrifices of these players.

"Priests, come down from the buildings and start reviving them,” Nie Yan said. Even the tallest of the six buildings was only about 12 meters high. The fall damage wasn’t enough to kill them at that height.

All the Mages and Priests jumped down from the buildings.

The Priests began reviving the fallen Warriors.

One Warrior gathered up all the loot from the Goblin Hunter. There were three pieces of equipment in total—one for a Warrior, one for a Mage, and one for a Thief.

"Boss, some leather armour for a Thief dropped! Holy shit! What luck! It’s a Legendary item fragment!” a team member exclaimed in excitement. Even though it was only a fragment, it was still extremely rare!

"Legendary item fragment?” Nie Yan asked in surprise. This was the first time he heard of a Thief Legendary fragment dropping on this map. However, a thought struck his mind. Could it be the Darkbright Leather Armour of Solga? "Quick, let me see it!”

Chapter 260 – Golden Dragon

The most drool-worthy item that dropped from the five Lords in Everlasting City was the Sub Legendary Winterthaw Dagger of Molag. Its attack power was rarely seen among one-handed weapons. Even some Sub Legendary two-handed greatswords paled in comparison. It was one of the most sought after weapons by both Thieves and Fighters.

Each possessing unique properties, only three Winterthaw Daggers existed in the game. When all of them were obtained, no more would appear.

Another notable item that dropped from Everlasting City was the Darkbright Leather Armour of Solga. Its drop rate was even lower than the Winterthaw Daggers.

Of course, this was due to it being one of a kind!

Since this was only a fragment of the Darkbright Leather Armour of Solga, its properties were inferior to a piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment. Only when all the fragments were gathered together would its true power be restored.

But even after many years, no players in the previous timeline had ever restored the Darkbright Leather Armour of Solga. So the existence of this Legendary item was eventually forgotten.

Nie Yan didn’t expect for something like this to drop on the guild’s first pioneering expedition.

The properties of the Darkbright Chestpiece were shared in chat.

Darkbright Leather Armour of Solga (Legendary)

Requirements: 290 Dexterity, 360 Strength

Darkbright Chestpiece (Fragment)

Requirements: 130 Strength

Description: This chestpiece still contains strong remnants of magic power. Seek out the other fragments—Darkbright Fine Feather Silk and Darkbright Rune Cloth—to restore the Darkbright Leather Armour of Solga.

Properties: Defense 370–386, Dexterity +20, Speed +20, Jump +10, Stealth +10, Cloaking +10, Reflex +10

Darkbright Barrier (Rank 3): Absorb 30% of all incoming damage up to a maximum of 1200 points for 3 minutes. Cooldown: 1 hour.

Restrictions: Thief; can be equipped by any faction.

What high defense! The properties of the Darkbright Chestpiece were undeniably great, especially the supplementary Darkbright Barrier (Rank 3). This piece of equipment was better than some Level 50 Dark Gold-grade Thief armour!

But the rather high Strength requirement made the Thieves in the expedition team shrink back. An anomaly like Nie Yan was perhaps the only one who could equip this Darkbright Chestpiece.

"Anyone want this chestpiece?” Nie Yan asked.

Nearly all Thieves shook their heads. With such an intimidating Strength requirement, how could any of them equip it?

Nie Yan looked at One Strike Vow and asked, "What about you? Want it?”

These players formed the core of Asskickers United, and a future Shadow Dancer like One Strike Vow was naturally no exception. If any of them wanted a certain piece of equipment, Nie Yan as their guild leader would do his best to provide. There were numerous other opportunities for him to obtain better equipment anyway.

One Strike Vow shook her head. "I only have 80 Strength, but all of that is from equipment and gems. There’s no way I can equip it.”

One Strike Vow still only had 80 Strength at her current level? This meant she had put all of her points into Dexterity!

When a Thief reached 500 Dexterity, a portion of it would be added to their attack power. At 1000 points, this bonus was doubled. Almost every Thief liked to focus on this stat, but very few actually chose to go all in. Although a full Dexterity Thief was very nimble with high attack speed, their fatal flaw was that they sorely lacked damage. So many players who attempted this difficult build would eventually end up abandoning it, having no choice but to add some points into Strength.

If One Strike Vow reached 500 Dexterity, keeping up her gear quality to compensate for the lack of damage, she could be considered to have achieved some minor success with the build. After reaching 1000 Dexterity, she would be all in the clear.

A few other top Thieves also shook their heads when asked. Only Nie Yan met the requirements for the Darkbright Chestpiece. He could even equip it right away.

"I guess I’ll take it then,” Nie Yan said. When he no longer needed the Darkbright Chestpiece, he could simply toss it in the treasury. By then, many players in the guild would meet the requirements to equip it.

Nie Yan checked his stats after equipping the Darkbright Chestpiece. They had increased significantly. It gleamed with a dark luster, resembling a black jewel—bizarre and mysterious.

The other two pieces of equipment were Dark Gold-grade. Both were snatched up by for around 20,000 merit points each.

After calculating the price of the Darkbright Chestpiece, Nie Yan distributed 500 merit points to every member of the team, causing them to rejoice.

Nie Yan wasn’t the least bit miserly when distributing merit points. This made the players respect him all the more.

On a different note, the Goblin Hunter gave an extremely generous amount of experience. This allowed for almost all of the players to rise up by a minimum of 80% of a level, and so many people levelled up.

Aside from the three pieces of equipment, Nie Yan’s group obtained the fifth Energy Key Fragment.

When all five Energy Key Fragments were gathered together, they started shining brilliantly before gradually merging into a complete glowing key.

Everlasting City Energy Key (Special Item)

"Boss, what’s that thing good for?”

"According to the official website, it’s used to open the gates to the Inner Sanctum of Everlasting City. What’s that?”

Nie Yan didn’t offer up an explanation. "Let’s go take a look.”

Nie Yan led the way to the center of the square. Carved throughout the towering, faintly glowing spire were murals narrating the golden age of the goblin civilization as well as their eventual decline. The remnants of their race was this city which had survived the ravages of time. It was thusly named Everlasting City.

The others followed closely behind Nie Yan. The broken brick floor beneath their feet sported cracks reminiscent of a turtle shell, which branched outwards in a bizarre, circular pattern.

Nie Yan’s group arrived at the base of the spire, where they were greeted by ancient gates whose surfaces were mottled by rust. Still standing firm in spite of the passing of centuries, they were impossible to push open regardless of the force employed.

At the center of the gates was a giant lock with a keyhole. Constructed of intricate metal parts interlinked with one another, it exuded a rather remarkable impression.

Nie Yan held the Energy Key.

"These are the gates?”

"They don’t really look like much. But I heard you can obtain the Energy Core of Everlasting City by opening them.”

"What’s that for?”

"Who knows? It probably has something to do with strongholds.”

The players chattered among themselves.

Nie Yan turned around to face the team members and said, "Wait out here for now. I’ll be out in a bit.”

Nie Yan didn’t have second thoughts about entering since there were no monsters in the Inner Sanctum. He slowly inserted the Energy Key into the keyhole, feeling strong currents of magical energy surge out from the lock’s tiny apertures before dispersing into the air.

Once the key was fully inserted, a blinding radiance shone from the ancient doors. Their previously mottled surfaces shone with brand-new splendor, as if they had never rusted at all.

Nie Yan slowly pushed open the door, then stepped inside where he was welcomed by nothing but darkness.

"Just run if you encounter any trouble,” Bladelight shouted from behind, sounding a bit uneasy.

"Don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” Nie Yan replied. There were no monsters inside the Inner Sanctum. He had nothing to be concerned about.

Nie Yan proceeded forward with nothing but darkness around him until he arrived at a meter-high stone platform, on top of which sat a metal basin collecting light-green droplets trickling down from above.

The basin was filled to the brim with the falling green liquid.

Looking down, Nie Yan saw a glowing crystal at the bottom of the basin. It was the size of a goose egg, elliptical in shape and jade-green in colour.

It was the Energy Core of Everlasting City!

With it and a few NPC Barrier Masters, Nie Yan could construct a barrier powerful enough to hold off even Rank 5 advanced magic. That would be sufficient until players reached Level 150. Even in the previous timeline around when Nie Yan assassinated Cao Xu, there were only two Magisters who had learned Rank 6 advanced magic.

Barriers were immensely valuable to the defense of a stronghold, blocking incoming spells from the enemy while allowing outgoing spells to pass through. However, players could freely enter or leave.

This property alone made the Energy Core priceless.

Nie Yan reached into the basin and fished out the Energy Core. The green liquid that filled the basin turned impeccably clear as if its essence was drawn out along with the crystal.

He looked at the properties of the Energy Core.

Energy Core of Everlasting City (Junior): Generate 1 Megacycle of energy per day, maximum storage of 50 Megacycles of energy.

A Megacycle was a unit used by goblins to represent the intensity of energy. The energy released by a Rank 1 advanced magic spell was approximately 0.1 Megacycle. This meant a Barrier put up at a stronghold at maximum energy capacity could hold off at least 500 such spells!

It would take at minimum ten days before a second Energy Core was produced. I’ll tell them to come here by themselves next time, Nie Yan thought. He wouldn’t need to personally come back here again.

Nie Yan stored the Energy Core inside his bag, then headed back outside. Bladelight and the others walked up, welcoming him back.

"How’d it go? You got it?” Bladelight asked. He had looked up the uses of the Energy Core on the official website and now knew the importance it held.

"I got it.” Nie Yan nodded. This trip to Everlasting City was well worth the time spent.

"What are we doing next?” Bladelight asked.

"Tell everyone to return to the headquarters. We’ll stay here with a few to grind a bit outside Everlasting City,” Nie Yan said. It wasn’t too efficient to have so many people levelling together.

At this moment, Nie Yan received a call from Guo Huai.

「Nie Yan, I heard a Level 40 Golden Dragon spawned east of Calore in Sinful Gorge. I checked the website and it says the Golden Dragon’s Horn can summon a Golden Dragon! Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine are heading there right now. Should we go as well?」Guo Huai asked.

The Golden Dragon was a rare, top-grade summon!

「Of course! Why wouldn’t we go? We have to join in on the fun as well!」

Chapter 261 – Setting Out For Battle

Golden Dragons were higher order creatures comparable to Super Variants or even Demonified Lords, with sightings of them popping up every once in a blue moon. Everyone would be notified of its appearance through the official website, where it would be frontpage news. Such a rare existence would inevitably attract the attention of all the large powers.

The five major guilds of Calore were mobilizing to seize this good fortune. A great spectacle was bound to unfold!

Nie Yan remained rather aloof, contrary to expectation. He hoped Asskickers United could snatch away the Golden Dragon. But there was no need to force things in the event they failed. He would be satisfied as long as they could reap some benefits. After all, the primary goal was still to suppress Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame.

Whether in terms of average level or gear quality, the top players of Asskickers United were a step above the rest. Although they were ranked number one on the forums, there were many people who still held doubts. This event was the perfect opportunity for them to cement their position as the top dog in Calore.

"Are we going to fight for the Golden Dragon?” Bladelight asked. This would throw their initial plan of levelling in the outer regions of Everlasting City astray.

"Let’s see what kind of trouble we can stir up for Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame,” Nie Yan replied. There was no harm in setting aside levelling for another time. The expedition team had already benefited greatly from this trip to Everlasting City. Bladelight was currently sporting the Everlasting Dark Gold Set while his previous Everlasting Gold Set was passed down to Yi Yan. On top of that, they still had three surplus Everlasting Silver Sets. They were more than capable of crushing the now isolated Radiant Sacred Flame in the upcoming battle for the minor stronghold.

After news hit the official website, fervent discussion exploded in the guild chat.

「Watchful Snail, quickly inform the guild leader! Let’s slaughter Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame in Sinful Gorge!

「After we stomp on them a few more times, let’s see if they still dare to act so brash! 」

The players of Asskickers United were in high spirits. Their recent victories filled them with satisfaction and confidence. Morale was at an all time high, and the might of the guild was on full display. Now it was their turn to act unbridled, while the enemy was on the back foot.

However, Asskickers United’s arrogance was different from that of Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return. While the latter two held contempt for the average player, not hesitating to close off entire maps and indiscriminately slaughter others during their peak, Asskickers United’s disdain was solely directed toward them. The players of Asskickers United always loved to repeat a certain line when out levelling in the wilderness, "Hmph! Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame aren’t worth a fart! This daddy is from Asskickers United!”

This line alone spoke of the impressive might of Asskickers United.

A group of hardworking analysts on the forums evaluated the strength of Asskickers United, Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine by comparing several important factors. They created an easy-to-understand table for the other forum visitors.

Guild Name: | Asskickers United | Holy Empire | Sapphire Shrine | Victorious Return | Radiant Sacred Flame
Guild Level: | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5
# of Players: | 52,000 | 103,000 | 82,000 | 165,000 | 150,000
# of Players > Level 25: | 23,200 | 10,800 | 11,000 | 12,200 | 12,800
Avg. Player Level: | 23.8 | 17.9 | 17.6 | 18.1 | 17.8
Gear Quality: | 267 | 156 | 196 | 185 | 186

When comparing these stats, people discovered that Asskickers United had about as many Level 25 or higher players as Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame combined. This density of high-level players left people speechless. Moreover, they were far ahead of the pack in terms of gear quality. Although Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame greatly outnumbered them, if a fight truly broke out, a single Level 25 player could kill at least 3 Level 20 players.

Taking this into consideration, Asskickers United was truly powerful enough to make the other guilds quake in fear.

As a result, Asskickers United became the unofficial leader in the alliance between them, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine. When the ordinary players of these three major guilds formed teams, any random player from Asskickers United would be superior in level or gear quality. This directly led to the players of Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine attaching themselves to Asskickers United.

When Sleepy Fox and Fa Lan noticed this situation, they could only reluctantly accept it. They simply couldn’t afford a falling out with Asskickers United, since there was too much they needed them for. If it wasn’t for Nie Yan, and subsequently Asskickers United, they would’ve never been invited to become shareholders of the Union of Assassins, which netted them great profits. In fact, it was a significant source of income which directly supported the growth of their guilds. Not to mention they needed the support of Asskickers United if they wished to contend against Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame. Only with the support of Asskickers United would they dare face their enemy head on. But in the end, it mostly came down to their mindset of hiding behind a big tree where the shade was plentiful.

Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return already suffered dearly at the hands of Asskickers United. This led to the fighting spirit of the players from Asskickers United to rise with unstoppable momentum. Under Nie Yan’s influence, these players developed a certain way of thinking. They believed Asskickers United was unstoppable and whoever remained unconvinced would receive a beating!

There were only two guilds unwilling to accept this, Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return!

It wasn’t every day that the players of Asskickers United were given the opportunity to teach Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return a lesson. They were itching for battle.

「It seems like the guild leader is still off levelling somewhere.」

「What about Young Sparrow Hawk?」

「I think he’s with the guild leader as well.」

「Ah, this isn’t good! We can’t let the Golden Dragon get snatched away by Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame!」

The guild members anxiously awaited the return of their leader. Asskickers United’s rules were very strict. Anyone that mobilized without permission would receive severe disciplinary action. In extreme cases, the offender would even be expelled from the guild. No one was willing to risk banishment from the top guild in Calore, so they could only patiently wait for Nie Yan’s orders.

「What’s there to be anxious about? Didn’t Holy Empire and Sapphire Shirine already assemble? Haste makes waste,」Nie Yan spoke out in the guild chat.

The guild chat exploded with activity.

「The guild leader is finally here!」

「Greetings, guild leader!」

「Boss, What’s the plan? Just one word, and all of us brothers will mobilize!」

…

The guild members chattered on in a lively discussion.

「Everyone, calm down! Listen to what Nirvana Flame has to say!」Guo Huai shouted.

Not another word was spoken by the guild members. They showed complete respect for Guo Huai’s authority.

「It’ll be inconvenient with too many. We’ll send a small force, 2,000 players should do it. All players Level 27 or higher should come. The rest of you should go about your business. Don’t even think about participating if your level isn’t high enough!」Nie Yan instructed.

The Level 27 or higher players all cheered in celebration, while the players under level 27 all become deflated.

Nie Yan’s orders were law. The unqualified could only stifle their breath and hurriedly increase their level. They received a harsh wake-up call. If they wished to participate in future guild activities, they would have to work hard and catch up to the top players of the guild. If they were to miss more opportunities like today, that would be too unfortunate.

The Level 27 or higher players returned to the guild headquarters, totalling a little over 2,000. It was quite impressive. The vast majority was Level 27, many of them hitting that level only today. There were very few Level 29s, while there were practically no Level 30s. After the implementation of the Buried History expansion, levelling became much easier, so their levels all rose.

Nontheless, Asskickers United was perhaps the only guild that could assemble over 2000 Level 27 or higher players.

Nie Yan, Bladelight, and the other members of the expedition team returned to Calore.

As soon as Nie Yan’s group stepped foot into the guild headquarters, they invoked a huge commotion. Seeing that the guild leader had returned, a large crowd of players excitedly gathered around to greet him.

Nie Yan was extremely popular among his subordinates. It was he who led Asskickers United to create legend after legend. Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame wasn’t only associated with Nie Yan, but it was the entire guild’s symbol of glory.

"I’m a little envious of you.” Tang Yao sighed with deep emotion. The unconditional support he received from so many people really showcased his class as guild leader. He couldn’t help but be a little envious.

Back when Nie Yan showed off his strength in Kiln Fire Woods, he merely earned the admiration of his guild members. It wasn’t until that speech he made when he led a band of brothers to save Withered Leaf that they truly accepted him in their hearts, earning their respect. Ever since then, they devoted themselves wholeheartedly to Asskickers United.

Whoever messed with the brothers of Asskickers United, whether it be Victorious Return or Radiant Sacred Flame, Asskickers United would retaliate in full force!

Nie Yan’s speech was still fresh in their minds.

Nie Yan silenced the crowd of players who were in high spirits with his hands, then said, "A Golden Dragon has spawned in Sinful Gorge. Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, and our allies Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine have set out. According to reports, each of them mobilized at least 10,000 players. We will join the fray with a mere 2,000. You might be puzzled, wondering why I, your guild leader, am being so miserly, only mobilizing such a small force.”

The guild members chuckled lightly.

Nie Yan’s teasing eased their hearts by quite a bit. Who would have expected that the normally reserved and solemn Nie Yan could also crack such jokes. These few simple words brought him much closer to these brothers of his.

"I’ll tell you. It’s because it’s only a Golden Dragon. We’re only going there to get some small benefits. Why would we bring more people? Such an effortless task doesn’t require us to act so urgently. I ask of you all, calm down. We’re going there to take a look and see if we can stir up trouble for Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return, while also getting some easy benefits. However, this doesn’t mean we can slack off, and dim Asskickers United’s glory. From the moment we set out, I’d like you all to keep track of your kill counts. Whoever kills the most people, I’ll reward them with a full set of Dark Gold equipment!”

Chapter 262 – Strongest Champion

"How is that fair? We’re competing against people like Young Sparrow Hawk! We don’t stand a chance!” someone complained. Tang Yao, Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, and the others were simply too powerful. It was almost impossible for ordinary members to compete against them.

"That’s why all contracted guild members are excluded from this competition. The top 10 will receive a full set of Gold equipment while the top 100 will receive a full set of Silver equipment, all of which are Level 30. The rewards do not stack. All participants will receive 200 merit points,” Nie Yan replied. He didn’t bat an eyelid after promising so many rewards. His pockets were more than deep enough to bear the cost.

Asskickers United was no longer a fledgling guild. Its treasury had grown immensely after experiencing several guild wars. If Nie Yan didn’t dole out more merit points, the spoils of war would gather dust.

"Boss! You promised! Don’t go back on your word!” a guild member exclaimed, invoking the laughter of the surrounding players. Nie Yan chuckled lightly. He knew this player was only acting cheeky.

"Alright, let’s set out,” Nie Yan ordered. The 2,000 players from Asskickers United teleported from Calore to Soren Town, then headed for Sinful Gorge.

Nie Yan recalled the general topography of Sinful Gorge, a long passageway between two cliff walls about as wide as 30 players standing side by side that led into a wide open plain.

According to legend, Sinful Gorge was created during the Dark Era when the Dragon King Zennarde shattered the God of War Kelo’s divinity with a mighty blow from his sword, marking the first of mankind’s gods to fall in battle. The slash left behind a long gash on the land, unleashing a powerful explosion of dark power that carved out a deep basin. Even to this day the remnant energy lingering in the gorge prevented any vegetation from growing while nurturing countless creatures of darkness.

There was a cave in Sinful Gorge enshrouded in darkness where many powerful monsters resided. Even when the average player was over Level 100 during the previous timeline, It was labelled a forbidden zone no one dared to explore.

Nie Yan recalled a few other rumours, but he couldn’t verify their authenticity.

Dragon King Zennarde’s Sword was rumoured to be located in the deepest region of Sinful Gorge. Legends told that only a Paladin with a Holy Spirit Heart could pull this sword out, lest the wielder’s soul be devoured by the undying demon spirit sealed inside.

Stories like these weren’t verified on the official website. They were probably dug up from old lore books.

Sinful Gorge was a Level 20–25 map. It primarily gave habitat to undead, such as Bone Devils and Bone Beasts.

A Golden Dragon was undoubtedly a foreign existence to Sinful Gorge. This one had most likely undergone a demonic transformation. Why else would it relish in the dark energy permeating the area?

Golden Dragons were generally high level creatures at minimum in the 200 to 300 range. Players in the previous timeline could occasionally encounter them besieging a city or stronghold. Nie Yan had no idea why such a low level one appeared all of a sudden.

「What’s the situation like in Sinful Gorge right now?」Nie Yan asked Guo Huai who had been constantly gathering information.

「Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame’s forces number around 30,000 to Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine’s 20,000. Both sides have already fought many times, with Holy Empire suffering the heaviest losses so far, losing over 5,000 players. The enemy is purposefully targeting them, and they’re pretty much getting steamrolled. Thank god for Sapphire Shrine’s support; otherwise, they would’ve been wiped out long ago,」Guo Huai replied.

「Any other movements from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame?」Nie Yan asked. With the appearance of a Golden Dragon, he felt the enemy might have something up their sleeve.

「Not that I’m aware of. Just those 30,000 players I mentioned earlier are fighting. I haven’t received any reports of strange movements,」Guo Huai replied. He also felt apprehensive. Things were strangely calm over on the enemy side. Over a hundred moles were planted among enemy ranks, but none of them reported back on anything out of the ordinary.

「Keep a close eye on things. They’re probably biding their time for a big catch!」Nie Yan’s expression turned frosty. Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame would have definitely taken note of the special topography of Sinful Gorge. It would be foolish to believe they had no plans of sealing off the passageway.

Of course, Nie Yan had long since thought up a countermeasure. He wondered what sort of disappointed looks the higher-ups of Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame would have when they found out Asskickers United had only sent out 2,000 players.

「One other thing. I heard Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors along with several other guilds have dispatched people to Sinful Gorge. Be careful!」Guo Huai warned. These were all major guilds. They were in no way inferior to Victorious Return or Radiant Sacred Flame.

Both Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame’s growth had far outstripped that of Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors in the previous timeline. This was due to them starting out in Calore which had the highest player density out of all the cities in the Viridian Empire.

However, Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame’s growth was greatly hindered by Asskickers United this time around, to the extent it wasn’t even half of what it was in the previous timeline. This was why they were roughly on par with Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors.

More than half of the elites who were supposed to join Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return were among the ranks of Asskickers United!

In this timeline, the most powerful of the five major guilds under Cao Xu’s control were no longer Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame but rather Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors.

This was precisely the butterfly effect brought about by Nie Yan’s reincarnation into the past!

Bloodlust Blade’s base of operations was Glory City, Alliance of Mage’s was Moonlight City, and Divine Protector’s was Kelond City. They had zero competition in their respective cities, so they grew virtually unimpeded. When more strongholds were released, their strength would rise by yet another level.

In this life, Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors would be far bigger threats than Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame.

Since these guilds operated so far away from Calore, they could only afford to send several hundred people at most. At a rate of 2 gold per round trip for a single player, they simply couldn’t bear the cost of sending a large force.

When land mounts were more universal later on, only then would these three guilds start posing any real danger to Asskickers United.

「How many players did Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors send over?」Nie Yan asked. He had no choice but to start paying attention to these three guilds. After all, with the addition of the Buried History expansion, land mounts were just around the corner.

Nie Yan estimated all the major guilds would control strongholds by then. That was when the most intense struggles would commence!

「Bloodlust Blades dispatched around 20 players. According to reports, Bloodlust Mad Blade is personally leading them. As for Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors, both of them also sent out small groups. But I’m not too sure on their exact numbers.」

Bloodlust Mad Blade was a player who had a master class title in the previous timeline. He was extremely famous, and was known as the Strongest Champion. Although many disagreed with this title, that didn’t matter because no one capable cared enough to challenge him anyway. Very few players with master class titles cared for the moniker of ‘strongest.’ They understood that at the top none of them could truly be titled the strongest. The vast majority of them were on the same plane of skill. Those who could absolutely dominate were practically nonexistent. This was why such a title was unsuitable on any of them.

Nie Yan felt it would be a little troublesome if he encountered a player like Bloodlust Mad Blade. However, after looking at his fellow guild members, he couldn’t help but think, Hmph! So what if he’s a Champion? There’s a ton of players with master class titles in Asskickers United. I could randomly pick out a whole bunch with my eyes closed! Champions, Sword Saints, Guardians, Archbishops… we don’t lack any of them! Even if you’re the Strongest Champion, all I have to do is send a bunch of other players with master class titles after you, and you’ll end up getting crushed just the same!

Using a group of players with master class titles to gang up on a single person was definitely more awesome than simply using ordinary players.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan’s mood improved greatly.

Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame had called these people over to help them. There was a good chance he would meet them again in the upcoming stronghold battle between Radiant Sacred Flame and Holy Empire.

「Nie Yan, remember when you told me to pay attention to the Cao Xu Century Financial Group? Well I received some information today. It’s related to Radiant Sacred Flame,」Guo Huai informed him after recalling this matter.

「What kind of information?」Nie Yan asked, his tone turning much more serious when he heard it was related to the Cao Xu Century Financial Group and Radiant Sacred Flame.

「I got a report that Century Financial Group wanted to acquire Radiant Sacred Flame. But after only three days, negotiations fell through and both sides parted on bad terms.」

This was an extremely shocking piece of news!

「Wait, what happened? Why did they fall through?」Nie Yan asked in surprise, especially since he knew Radiant Sacred Flame was successfully acquired by Century Financial Group in the previous timeline.

「I heard Nightbreak Trickster was given an insultingly low offer, the reason being that Century Financial Group judged Radiant Sacred Flame had no potential for further growth. With the existence of our guild, they felt Radiant Sacred Flame’s chances of victory in the upcoming stronghold battle were slim to none. There was also the possibility that Radiant Sacred Flame would end up getting crushed by our guild somewhere down the line. Since Century Financial Group failed to acquire Asskickers United, they’ve decided to abandon most of their business efforts in Calore.」

This was an unprecedented development!

Nie Yan never expected that his interference would lead to such a huge chain reaction. He had directly caused Century Financial Group to give up on acquiring Radiant Sacred Flame. In the previous timeline, they had acquired both Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return. Didn’t this mean they had no plans of acquiring Victorious Return as well?

Nie Yan felt cold sweat drip down his forehead. He believed that crushing Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return was simply the first step. He never expected his plans would go completely awry after completing it! Things had gone in an unknown direction. From now on, the future would be much more uncertain!

Chapter 263 – Sinful Gorge

Nie Yan sank into deep thought. With Century Financial Group withdrawing their presence from Calore, he felt some slight concern toward the uncertain future. But beyond that, he couldn’t help but wonder what would change. Where would Cao Xu inject his capital? Which guilds would he end up buying? Would he still continue setting his eyes on Asskickers United and the War God Tribe?

But regardless of what unfolded, raising his strength was the top priority. So long as Asskickers United reached a certain level of power in the game, there would be no reason to fear Century Financial Group.

Nie Yan no longer lingered on this thought, turning his attention on dealing with Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame.

"I’m going to head over to Sinful Gorge. You guys stay safe. Don’t move without my word,” Nie Yan ordered. Like this, they wouldn’t fall into any ambushes the enemy set up ahead.

Nie Yan was the first to leave town. He summoned the Faulkner Warhorse and rode off, leaving behind a trail of dust.

The players stared at his departing figure in shock.

Nie Yan was riding a mount?

None of them had ever seen a mount before, let alone see a player ride one! Those found in NPC stables sold for at least 50 gold, some for even as much as several hundred gold. And they weren’t even that great! Nie Yan’s horse clearly belonged to a superior breed.

Clad in silver plate armour, Nie Yan’s Faulkner Warhorse was gallant and brimming with power. It was fast enough to frighten players walking along the road. Just what was the movement speed bonus on that mount?

"Oh shit, the boss has a mount! Why did he never mention this before?”

"That horse looks pretty awesome! I wonder where he got it? Did he buy it?”

"No way! Even if he bankrupted the guild, I still doubt he’d have the gold to afford a mount like that.” Undying Scoundrel shook his head. "He must’ve gotten it from a quest.”

Even the most affordable mounts which increased movement speed by only 50% were currently beyond the reach of an average player. Those with movement speed bonuses of 100% cost upwards of several hundred gold, while the faster ones at 200% or higher were worth several thousand gold. As for the Faulkner Warhorse? Its movement speed bonus was clearly much higher than 200%! Nie Yan would have to empty out the entire guild treasury if he wished to purchase such a mount!

The envy in the atmosphere was palpable. Not only did Nie Yan have all sorts of amazing equipment, but he also owned such a kickass mount!

Nie Yan galloped along the main road as the surrounding scenery blurred past him. Before long, he arrived at the outskirts of Sinful Gorge. He scouted around and discovered the presence of players from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame as well as Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine. They were keeping watch.

Just as Nie Yan was passing through a patch of forest, he spotted a Thief from Victorious Return walking out onto the trail from some trees up ahead.

The Thief’s eyes widened in astonishment.

Fuck! Why is my luck so shit!? Why is the Mad Rogue here of all places? He’s even riding a goddamn mount! What a guy!

Even from over ten meters away, the Thief still recognized Nie Yan at a glance. His appearance was familiar to countless players.

At this moment, a shadowy figure jumped out from between the trees and dashed toward the Thief with blinding speed.

The Thief was about to raise his dagger to defend when he was struck in the back of the head. He felt sharp pain piercing through his back, followed by a cold blade sliding past his throat. The last thing he saw was his blood splattered across the dirt before blacking out.

The new arrival bent down over the corpse and picked up his spoils of battle.

Nie Yan stopped the Faulkner Warhorse to observe the battle. Not bad, I wonder which guild he belongs to. This mysterious Thief seemed to be around Level 23 or 24. Besides the dagger, the rest of his equipment was mediocre, perhaps Silver-grade at best.

On closer look this Thief was a member of Asskickers United! His name was Tyrannical, which sounded vaguely familiar to Nie Yan.

"Hello Boss!” Tyrannical greeted. He never expected Nie Yan to show up in this place.

"Mhmm.” Nie Yan nodded. He glanced at the corpse on the ground. "Good technique.”

The assassination of that Victorious Return player was well-executed.

"I’ve been reviewing your videos recently and practicing your moves. It’s been pretty effective!” Tyrannical was absolutely gushing over Nie Yan’s praise. It was a seal of approval from the Mad Rogue himself. This would be a lasting memory he would reflect on with pride!

"You’re levelling right now?” Nie Yan asked. Why was Tyrannical near the outskirts of Sinful Gorge?

"I’m a member of the Hundred Thieves,” Tyrannical explained. "I’m scouting this area on Watchful Snail’s orders.”

To ensure the safety of Nie Yan’s group, Guo Huai had dispatched members of the Hundred Thieves to scout ahead. Apart from surveying the neighbouring areas, they were given another task, taking out enemy scouts! They had cut down quite a few of so far.

"If you’re from the Hundred Thieves, what’s the deal with your equipment?” Nie Yan asked in bewilderment. Why was an obviously skilled player wearing such garbage gear? Guo Huai had spared no expenses with the Hundred Thieves, giving them access to the best equipment the guild had to offer. There should be no reason for Tyrannical to appear so wretched.

"A few days ago I got into a fight with a group of seven players from Victorious Return. After killing three of them, I got careless and died, dropping all my equipment. I still haven’t fully geared back up yet. I guess I bit off more than I could chew.” Tyrannical let out an awkward laugh, conveniently forgetting to mention that he was trying to show off in front of a girl.

Tyrannical was currently Level 25. He should have been at least Level 27 before dying, a fairly decent place to be at this stage of the game. The drop in level due to the red name death penalty was indeed quite tragic.

"Go grab some suitable equipment from the treasury. If you don’t have enough merit points, you can pay the difference back later. Let Guo Huai know I told you that,” Nie Yan said. It was a bit of a shame for a such a good player to wear trash gear.

"Thanks Boss!”

"Be more careful next time. Don’t lose all your equipment again.”

"I won’t…” Tyrannical scratched his head with an embarrassed smile.

"I’ll be off then.” Nie Yan spurred the Faulkner Warhorse towards Sinful Gorge.

"Take care Boss!”

Nie Yan galloped away on the Faulkner Warhorse while muttering, "Tyrannical, Tyrannical, why does this name seem so familiar? I just can’t put my finger on it!” He racked his brains for a while before giving up. After all, it was impossible to remember every face he had come across in the past.

Nie Yan arrived at the entrance of Sinful Gorge. A good place to set up an ambush, he couldn’t help but remark. Before him was a narrow passageway enclosed by two steep cliff walls whose surfaces were remarkably smooth, resembling a clean cut from a blade.

Looking up, he could only see a thin strip of sky above him because of the massive cliffs on either side.

As Nie Yan took in the odd geography, he started to give credence to the ancient rumours claiming this gorge had been hacked open in the distant past. After all, all legends had a basis in fact. Maybe the rumours had been spread by a player who found some source of information? Like how he had learned many lost secrets when he completed the Glimpse of Darkness.

This gash in the earth extended several hundred meters. This was the perfect chokepoint!

Quickly scanning the cliff faces, Nie Yan could already see seven or eight caves leading into the rock. Sinful Gorge had incredibly complex terrain, so there were naturally many caves snaking around.

「Guo Huai, how many Featherfall Jewels do we have in the treasury now?」Nie Yan asked. He had previously mentioned to Guo Huai that the guild should start stocking up on them.

「Only two, It can’t be helped. Treant Forest on Specialist takes fives day to reset after being cleared, and most of our members are too high-level to run that dungeon now. All we can do is organize the low level players in the branch guilds,」Guo Huai replied. What did Nie Yan want with so many Featherfall Jewels?

With only two Featherfall Jewels in hand, Nie Yan’s plan would have to be scrapped.

Nie Yan thought for a moment and formed a new plan on how to deal with Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame.

Nie Yan galloped through the passageway on the Faulkner Warhorse, arriving at the center region of Sinful Gorge where he was greeted by an extremely chaotic battlefield. The players from Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine were duking it out everywhere. Both sides were virtually piling on each other.

「Enter Sinful Gorge!」Nie Yan ordered the Asskickers United players in the rear.

The chaos of the battlefield ignited Nie Yan’s fighting spirit. He unsummoned the Faulkner Warhorse, then jumped into the fray and slaughtered several players from Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return in quick succession

「I’m at Sinful Gorge. Where are you right now?」Nie Yan asked Sleepy Fox.

「Hmmph! So you finally decided to show up? My guild has already lost over 7,000 players!」Sleepy Fox was clearly upset about his losses. If Asskickers United had continued to be absent, he would’ve cussed Nie Yan out even harder.「We’re in the center of Sinful Gorge, at 673. We’ve already started attacking the Golden Dragon. Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame are both here as well.」

From Sleepy Fox’s tone, Nie Yan could roughly imagine how hectic the situation was!

「I’ll be there in a moment,」Nie Yan said after looking at the coordinates. The ‘673’ Sleepy Fox gave weren’t the full coordinates, only the last three digits. But since they were all in the same general vicinity, that much would suffice. As a matter of fact, a single digit was enough to give an exact position in some smaller areas.

Nie Yan immediately rushed toward the location given by Sleepy Fox.

It wasn’t long before Nie Yan spotted a massive figure in the distance. This was a Golden Dragon! A ferocious creature that stood almost ten meters tall, with a bulky abdomen, four thick limbs, razor-sharp claws, menacing teeth, and a gigantic pair of wings. An oppressive aura permeated the air around the dragon.

Nie Yan noticed this Golden Dragon’s wings were corroded. It was clear they wouldn’t generate enough lift for flight.

Golden Dragons were normally completely gold in colour. But there were strange black veiny runic patterns all over this one. Nie Yan’s heart shook in alarm. This was a sign of demonification!

It was a Level 40 Demonified Golden Dragon!

Chapter 264 – Jack The Ripper

The Golden Dragon let out a deep roar and breathed out a wide cone of fire, wreaking havoc on the surrounding players. The unlucky souls in front of the dragon perished immediately.

A single Dragon Breath cleared out a large swath of players.

Spells rained down from the sky like a dazzling display of fireworks. But they were merely hitting in the single digits while the Golden Dragon had well over 500,000 health. Killing this Level 40 Demonified Lord truly wouldn’t be an easy feat.

The players were divided into several camps with each monitoring the movements of the others closely.

Not just Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, Sapphire Shrine, and Holy Empire, but many other guilds were attracted by the emergence of the Golden Dragon as well, including the likes of Splendid Temple, Unhindered, and Dark Hero.

Several tens of thousands of players from other guilds had gathered in Sinful Gorge. There was no way to distinguish who belonged to which side.

It was a chaotic scene.

Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, Radiant Sacred Flame, and Victorious Return grew cautious when the other guilds arrived. Although these newcomers were all second-tier guilds, their strength couldn’t be underestimated. For fear of inadvertently making enemies out of everyone, the four major guilds began exercising some restraint. If not for this, they would’ve continued their all-out brawl until either side was completely wiped out.

All the guilds were after the loot that dropped from the Golden Dragon!

The Golden Dragon’s Horn was especially coveted!

Many players were well-aware that they were too weak to compete in this playing field, but they still arrived nonetheless to scrounge whatever they could get. Who knows? They might even snatch away the drops by some miraculous stroke of luck.

Nie Yan employed the Silk Spinner Ring to ascend to the top of a large tree, where he quickly spotted the players from Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine occupying a corner of the battlefield in the northeast from the higher vantage point. Sleepy Fox was together with several others Warriors at the forefront while the Mages behind them released a constant stream of spells at the Golden Dragon.

Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame’s forces were all the way in the southwest. At the center of map was a large crowd of players from other guilds. Even if the two sides wanted to fight, they had no way of reaching each other.

Under the intense barrage of spells from the Mages of all the guilds, the Golden Dragon’s health fell to around 40%.

"How many brothers have died to the Golden Dragon in the last 10 minutes?” Sleepy Fox asked, turning his head to Undying Battle Fervour beside him.

"Over 600,” Battle Fervour replied.

Sleepy Fox felt his blood run cold. These casualties were far too terrifying.

The Golden Dragon was simply too domineering. Holy Empire’s forces had gone out of their way to attract as little attention as possible, yet they still lost so many people.

Even though every guild was trying their best to avoid being targeted, playing a dangerous game of hot potato with the Golden Dragon’s aggro, none of them escaped suffering losses. If all of them stopped attacking or the damage fell below a certain threshold, however, its health would start quickly regenerating. So everyone kept attacking; otherwise, their previous efforts would go to waste.

As for how these guilds were dragged into the fray, nobody knew.

The Golden Dragon’s Horn was simply too alluring to pass up. This item was something everybody wanted. A whole crowd of Warriors and Thieves had gathered around the Golden Dragon. When it died, they would immediately jump into action to seize the loot.

Furthermore, many small battles broke out across the battlefield. The players of the four large guilds had skirmished countless times, while the smaller guilds got into scuffles with each other as well.

「How long have you guys been fighting for?」Nie Yan asked Sleepy Fox.

「Around two hours ago, not long after the Golden Dragon was discovered. We’ve clashed with Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return five times so far, with everyone suffering heavy losses. When the second-tier guilds arrived, all sides decided to call a temporary truce where we’d settle our grudges after killing the Golden Dragon. We’ve been cooperating for close to half an hour now,」Sleepy Fox replied. So long as he obtained the Golden Dragon’s Horn, he would be satisfied. It was an item all players drooled over.

Nie Yan looked over to the forces of Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame. He spotted a few familiar faces such as Tangerine and Skinny Dog. However, many of Victorious Return’s elites were missing from this battle since they were locked up in Calore’s jail cellars. As he shifted his attention to Radiant Sacred Flame’s side, someone caught his eye—Nightbreak Trickster!

Although they had never personally met, Nie Yan could recognize Nightbreak Trickster’s appearance thanks to a video Sleepy Fox had shared of him.

Nightbreak Trickster wore azure robes covered with all kinds of mysterious runes. He gave off a strange feeling.

Nie Yan recognized the robes as they belonged to the Extorter Set, one of the best Level 30 Mage sets. While squatting atop the tree branch, the corner of his lips curved into a devious smile. Just how would the players of Radiant Sacred Flame react if their guild leader was cut down right in front of them?

Nie Yan wasn’t sure how skilled Nightbreak Trickster was as a player, but he could ascertain one thing: any person capable of leading a large guild wouldn’t be weak!

In the previous timeline, Nightbreak Trickster was a very enigmatic figure. He never revealed his name on any leaderboard, and he was rumoured to be a very formidable Magister. But no one knew for sure because he was so reclusive and rarely ever took action himself.

With so many Radiant Sacred Flame players nearby, Nie Yan didn’t dare to claim with absolute confidence that he could assassinate Nightbreak Trickster. Such a task would prove incredibly difficult, especially since his target this time was very skilled.

However, that didn’t deter Nie Yan in the slightest. He inherently liked to take risks, so he was itching to give it a shot.

Nie Yan shifted his attention back to the center of the battlefield. The Golden Dragon was undoubtedly a formidable foe, laying waste to everything at close range while incinerating players with Dragon Breath from afar.

An idea popped into Nie Yan’s mind. He would take advantage of the Golden Dragon!

Since all the Mages were dealing pitifully low damage individually, Nie Yan would be able to instantly attract the Golden Dragon’s aggro if he hit it in the double or even triple digits!

Nie Yan’s lips curved into a faint smile. He now had a course of action!

Just as he was about to execute his plan, Nie Yan spotted around 60 figures from Radiant Sacred Flame’s side entering stealth while moving in the direction of Holy Empire’s forces!

These Thieves were planning to ambush Sleepy Fox!

Radiant Sacred Flame had provided these Thieves ample cover, so Sleepy Fox had no knowledge of what just occurred.

A player targeted by so many Thieves would surely die!

While Nie Yan was thinking of a way to kill Nightbreak Trickster, so that he could deal a heavy blow to the spirits of Radiant Sacred Flame’s players, Nightbreak Trickster had aimed his sights on Sleepy Fox who was fighting at the forefront.

If Sleepy Fox died, Holy Empire’s morale would plummet!

「Sleepy Fox, watch out. Radiant Sacred Flame dispatched Thieves to ambush you!」Nie Yan jumped down from the tree. As soon as he touched the ground, he shot out like an arrow toward the direction of Holy Empire’s forces.

Nie Yan’s speed was extremely astonishing, especially on this rugged terrain.

Holy Empire had just finished their preparations for snatching away the Golden Dragon’s drops from the other guilds, and Sleepy Fox was occupied with directing the Mages in the backline when he received Nie Yan’s warning.

Sleepy Fox’s heart trembled. "Priests, cast Illuminate!”

Dazzling orbs of light shot up into the air one after the other, casting a flood of radiance over the battlefield which revealed several dozen approaching silhouettes sticking close to the Golden Dragon for cover.

The Golden Dragon’s aggro was focused solely on the Mages in the distance, spewing out a constant stream of flames which wiped out player after player, so it didn’t take notice of the Thieves dashing past its body.

Just at this moment, the Golden Dragon slammed down on the ground and struck a Thief who happened to be nearby.

−723!

Of the 60 Thieves in the group, only this unlucky fellow was crushed to death. The others safely passed the Golden Dragon and pounced toward Sleepy Fox.

The route Nightbreak Trickster had these Thieves take was extremely crafty. They closed in on their target without a hitch, resembling sharp daggers with only a single aim.

When the Priests lit up the surroundings with Illuminate, the Thieves had already arrived.

Even though Sleepy Fox wished to engage the enemy, he understood the impact his death would have on the players of Holy Empire. Not allowing his emotions to affect his judgement, he retreated.

"Battle Fervour, Violent Waves, protect me!” Sleepy Fox shouted. Both Battle Fervour and Violent Waves ran up and attempted to hold the enemy off.

But there were too few players guarding Sleepy Fox. How could they possibly hold off the assault of nearly 60 Thieves?

Over a dozen Thieves pounced on Violent Waves and Battle Fervour. Faced with so many enemies, they could only do their best to defend.

A silhouette dashed past the action and arrived where Sleepy Fox retreated. The dagger in its hand struck out at his forehead, piercing through the air like a lightning bolt!

What a fast attack! Sleepy Fox raised his greatsword to block.

「Klang!」The two blades clashed.

Fortunately, Sleepy Fox was also a heaven defying figure. Even though his role as guild leader left him always busy, his skills hadn’t declined in the slightest.

Only now did Sleepy Fox get a good look at his opponent: a man in his thirties with a horizontal scar extending across his nose. He radiated an aura of desolation, leaving a profound impression on anyone who saw him.

This was the number one Thief in Radiant Sacred Flame, Jack the Ripper!!

He was a military veteran who became a professional player. After joining Radiant Sacred Flame, he quickly became their top Thief. His skills were absolutely at the peak!

Sleepy Fox never expected to encounter him like this!

Jack the Ripper locked Sleepy Fox down, leaving him unable to flee while a swarm of Thieves approached. No matter how good he was at defending, he would still die just the same.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」The Holy Empire Mages in the rear blasted away several of the Thieves gunning for Sleepy Fox.

However, even more Thieves rushed forward to take their place.

Shockwave!

Sleepy Fox swept his greatsword in a wide arc, unleashing a wave of force that sent over a dozen Thieves flying back. Just as he turned to flee, a cold light flashed and he was struck in the back of the head!

Chapter 265 – However Many Arrive, However Many Die

With so many Thieves pouncing on him, Sleepy Fox was hard-pressed to resist no matter how much of a heaven-defying figure he was. A pair of fists was no match for four hands!

When Sleepy Fox sent the Thieves flying away with Shockwave, Jack the Ripper took advantage of the opportunity to stun him with Smothering Strike.

A nearby group of Warriors from Holy Empire rushed forwards in an attempt to rescue Sleepy Fox, but they were intercepted by several dozen Thieves from Radiant Sacred Flame.

Sleepy Fox endured the combined assault from five Thieves. As a tanky Warrior clad in heavy armour, he wouldn’t go down too easily.

"Kill him, quickly!” Jack the Ripper shouted somberly. Time was short. He circled back to the front, stunning Sleepy Fox once again with a Concussive Blow.

Before he could follow up with another attack, his pupils constricted as he spotted the unmistakable sheen of a dagger stabbing toward his forehead. This attack was incomparably domineering, sharp and executed with pinpoint precision, resembling the strike of a viper! He cancelled his attack mid-animation, activated Swift Retreat, and rapidly pulled back.

What a fast attack! Jack the Ripper inwardly remarked, raising his dagger to block as a metallic ‘klang’ rang out. After retreating several meters, he felt cold sweat wash over him as he recalled the sensation of the dagger barely grazing his forehead. This was fear in its most primal form. He didn’t dare imagine the consequences if that attack landed.

Jack the Ripper focused on his opponent only to see a translucent silhouette dart past at a speed too fast for even his eyes to follow.

The Thieves ganging up on Sleepy Fox were flabbergasted. Why did their leader pull back all of a sudden? Before they could register what happened, a dagger materialised across the neck of one of their companions. It was a phantom blade appearing without warning, the very scythe of the Grim Reaper!

Splitting Edge was covered in sawtooth serrations, a queer design meant to inspire fear and intimidate.

Cut Throat!

Within the span of a breath, Splitting Edge effortlessly cut through the vulnerable flesh on the Thief’s neck as a spray of blood blossomed out like a bewitching rose.

−630!

It was an instant kill!

That Thief’s health bar emptied out, and he collapsed to the ground.

Everything happened too quickly, no one could react in time. While they were still reeling in shock, Sleepy Fox finally regained control of his body. Spinning Slash! He swung his greatsword in a wide arc, unleashing a sword beam that radiated outward in every direction.

The Thieves were knocked back several steps. When the figure supporting Sleepy Fox revealed itself, they looked as though they had seen a ghost.

After killing the Thief, Nie Yan’s stealth wore off.

The Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame!

The Thieves sucked in a collective gasp, forgetting they were in the middle of combat. When Nie Yan emerged, one Thief was forced to retreat, another died a miserable death, and the remaining four were scared out of their wits.

Sleepy Fox breathed out a sigh of relief after drinking an Intermediate Health Potion. "Thanks, you saved my life just in the nick of time. A few seconds slower and I would’ve died.” He was down to only 39% health before Nie Yan arrived. The attacks of those Thieves really packed quite a punch.

"No problem. Since when haven’t I been timely?” Nie Yan smiled. He coolly surveyed his opponents before settling his gaze on Jack the Ripper who had retreated far away. Out of all the Thieves present, perhaps only this player was barely a match for him.

Radiant Sacred Flame’s ambush was a disaster. The Warriors from Holy Empire finally broke through the blockade; the Thieves tasked with holding them back were all killed.

"Boss, we’re here!” A Fighter clad in a full set of Gold equipment led the group of Warriors as they charged at the four Thieves surrounding Sleepy Fox and Nie Yan.

The group of 60 Thieves from Radiant Sacred Flame suffered a catastrophic defeat. Determining that the situation could no longer be salvaged, Jack the Ripper activated Stealth and turned to escape.

He knew the title of ‘Mad Rogue’ was not just for show!

Although the exchange between them was brief, maybe a few seconds at most, Jack the Ripper could clearly sense the gap in skill between him and Nie Yan. It was like the difference between a pebble and Mt. Tai! Simply recalling that awe-inspiring attack sent shivers down his spine.

Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a cold light when he noticed Jack the Ripper attempting to flee. You want to run? It won’t be that easy!

Eye of Truth! Nie Yan’s eyes turned bloodshot while the veins near his temples bulged out. He instantly located the fleeing silhouette of Jack the Ripper.

Shadow Waltz! Nie Yan disappeared.

Shortly after sensing a pair of eyes lock onto him, Jack the Ripper felt a cold nip behind his neck. It’s the Mad Rogue! No one else could catch up this quickly! A suffocating pressure bore down on him the moment this thought crossed his mind, causing his breathing to turn ragged.

The name ‘Mad Rogue’ alone was enough to give the vast majority of players goosebumps. Add this sort of mental pressure to Nie Yan’s absolutely domineering combat style, and most of his opponents would be defeated long before he touched them!

Not only was this title Nie Yan’s glory, but it was also a form of deterrence.

Dance of Death! Nie Yan slowed down somewhat as his footwork grew more complex. He started leaving behind a trail of after-images. Afterwards, he vanished; all traces of him disappeared with the wind.

Those who had never performed the Dance of Death would forever be unable to grasp this phenomenon.

Jack the Ripper was fleeing with all his might, but he could still sense Nie Yan hot on his tracks as though the footsteps of the reaper were approaching ever closer. But that sensation faded away all of a sudden, and he could no longer detect the slightest presence. His mind was filled with doubt. Why did he disappear? Did he give up…?

No! He’s still here!

The deadly premonition in his heart grew even more intense. He swung around to face the enemy head-on, only to be met with a serrated dagger stabbing toward his forehead; the ghastly aura surrounding the blade froze his blood and very soul.

Just as Jack the Ripper attempted to parry the attack, the dagger disappeared. A split second later, he realized he couldn’t move, as though his body was nailed down in place.

This was the effect of the Intimidate skill!

Nie Yan emerged behind Jack the Ripper and struck him in the back of the head with Smothering Strike.

Jack the Ripper fell into a stunned state. Nie Yan’s attack was simply too fast. He had no chance to resist.

Nie Yan followed up with a Backstab and Eviscerate. As three damage values floated up into the air, Jack the Ripper’s corpse collapsed to the ground.

"I say, Nirvana Flame, why haven’t the players from your guild arrived yet?” Sleepy Fox turned around only to discover the person he was talking to had disappeared. He blanked for a moment, then spotted Nie Yan cutting down Jack the Ripper some 20 meters away. "Shit! Isn’t he way too fast?”

Sleepy Fox only turned his back for ten or so seconds at most. But during that time, Nie Yan had killed a Thief more than 20 meters away!

"Hey, who’s that Thief lying on the ground over there?” Sleepy Fox asked. He felt the player Nie Yan had just killed looked very familiar.

"I-I-I think that’s Jack the Ripper, the top Thief in Radiant Sacred Flame!” a Holy Empire player stuttered.

"Oh…” Sleepy Fox nodded his head listlessly. A moment later, he finally processed what happened. Just what kind of person was Jack the Ripper? He was extremely difficult to deal with! Holy Empire had suffered many times at his hands. Yet he was killed by Nie Yan just like that? What kind of preposterous turn of events was this!?

"Holy shit! When did that guy become such a demon?” Sleepy Fox couldn’t help but exclaim in exasperation. Was this person still even human? Just how did he train?

Jack the Ripper dropped two items. One was a Dark Gold leather chestpiece. Although its properties weren’t bad, it couldn’t compare to the Darkbright Chestpiece. The other was a somewhat damaged, ancient parchment scroll.

Cahill’s Parchment Scroll (Damaged): Seeker’s Memories, 1/3.

Many lines of eccentric characters were written on this old, sheepskin scroll.

Cahill was a legendary Thief. She was a Treasure Hunter who loved exploring. It was rumoured she discovered a peerless treasure buried deep in a region in the remote underworld. However, she later vanished after being pursued by the demons of the underworld, only leaving behind a few clues.

These sorts of items were difficult to find. Despite there being so many fragments in the previous timeline, very few players actually restored a Legendary-grade item. The same was true for treasure maps.

After tossing the scroll in his bag, Nie Yan walked back to Holy Empire’s forces. He gazed at Radiant Sacred Flame’s side in the distance where he was met with the icy cold gaze of Nightbreak Trickster. About a hundred meters separated both groups.

Nie Yan’s emergence shook the hearts of all the leaders from the other guilds present within Sinful Gorge. He was perhaps the only player with such a powerful deterring effect.

"You really are a piece of work. Even Jack the Ripper couldn’t escape your dagger. I bet Nightbreak Trickster is boiling over with anger right now.” Sleepy Fox chuckled. None of the 60 Thieves dispatched by Radiant Sacred Flame had survived. The previous battle was quite thrilling. If Nie Yan hadn’t arrived in time, he would’ve died for sure.

Nie Yan revealed a calm smile. It was a trivial effort for him to deal with the players of the present by relying on the techniques of a Shadow Dancer. It would be quite a while before they started posing a real challenge.

Nie Yan observed the attack patterns of the Golden Dragon, then began setting about the preparations to execute his plan.

"I just received some information. Bloodlust Blades just captured their first stronghold. Alliance of Mages rose to a Level 6 guild. Their numbers have broken through 300,000. Finally, Divine Protectors are about to fight over a stronghold as well. We have to hurry. We can’t fall behind,” Sleepy Fox said as he gazed in the distance. Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame were obstacles in their path. Only by removing them could they thrive. Holy Empire had branches in other cities, so their information network was better than that of Asskickers United.

Nie Yan nodded. After analyzing a bit, he understood why Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors dispatched people over here. Calore was the largest city in the Viridian Empire. If a guild was allowed to expand in this city without any competition, it was easy to imagine what kind of monster would be born. The strongest guild in the city was currently Asskickers United, and the only thing holding them back was Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return. As the big shots in their respective cities, Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors definitely didn’t wish to see a united Calore, so they naturally tried to hinder Asskickers United’s growth.

The only reason Sleepy Fox informed Nie Yan about this was that Asskickers United appeared much too lax in dealing with Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame. If Asskickers United’s players came out in full force, Holy Empire absolutely wouldn’t be in such a weak position right now, to the extent that he was almost killed.

Nie Yan was aware of the current situation. He turned to Sleepy Fox and replied with a smile, "No worries, I understand what you’re trying to say.”

Sleepy Fox nodded. Since Nie Yan understood, there was no need to say more.

Nie Yan checked back with his forces. The 2,000 players had already arrived in Sinful Gorge, and they were currently making their way towards Holy Empire’s forces. The players from Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return exploded with killing intent and charged toward them.

However, these players were all steamrolled. The domineering display from the players of Asskickers United left the people of Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine dumbstruck. These 2,000 players were a match for 10,000!

Bathed in the blessings of the Priests, the Warriors of Asskickers United all roared into battle, showing off exceptional valor.

As long as the Priests kept up the healing, these Warriors wouldn’t break a sweat even if they were outnumbered one to ten. Even the quality of the Priests in Asskickers United was much higher than their counterparts in Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return.

「Boss Nightbreak Trickster, Asskickers United’s forces have arrived,」Skinny Dog informed.

「How large is their force?」Nightbreak Trickster asked. His heart was stirred. Their main enemy had finally shown up.

「Around 2,000, all of them are Asskickers United’s elites. They’ve already killed over 3,000 of our players.」

「Only 2,000!?」Nightbreak Trickster was slightly disappointed. But his mood quickly recovered after thinking for a bit. These players were all elites of Asskickers United. If they were all wiped out, it would still deal them a heavy blow.「We’ll proceed with our original plan. Mobilize 20,000 players here. Gear all of them up in novice equipment. When Asskickers United’s players kill them and get branded with red names, we’ll trap them here in Sinful Gorge. Let’s see how they’ll escape then!」

Nightbreak Trickster originally believed Asskickers United would at least send over 10,000 players. If all of these players were trapped in Sinful Gorge after being branded with red names and prevented from teleporting back to the city, they would be like turtles trapped in a jar. It would be easy pickings. Who could’ve imagined Nie Yan would be so prudent, only bringing 2,000 players over. Even so, wiping out 2,000 elites was better than nothing.

A horde of players from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame swarmed into Sinful Gorge. They were all wearing novice equipment, and their levels weren’t high either, around Level 10 or so, each dispatched with the express purpose of dying to the enemy.

After Nie Yan was informed of this by Guo Huai, he immediately understood what Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return were trying to do.

「What are we going to do?」Guo Huai asked anxiously. If those 2,000 players kept killing the fodder sent by Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return, their kill counts would rise to ludicrous levels and so would the severity of the red name penalties for dying. They had fallen directly into the enemy’s trap.

「We let our players kill to their hearts’ content. However many arrive, however many die!」Nie Yan declared as his killing intent soared to the sky. If the heavens were dropping meat pies, why wouldn’t they take a bite? Although these players were all relatively low-level, for them to agree to go on a suicide mission, Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame would’ve definitely had to pay some heavy compensation. He wondered just how many merit points they they would be forced to dole out per death.

Chapter 266 – Golden Dragon’s Massacre!

Each major conflict was a significant financial test imposed on all participating guilds, particularly so for Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame whose repeated defeats and catastrophic losses, combined with the ceased investments from Century Financial Group, marked the end one of their reign in the game. Their finances continued to be hammered away by Asskickers United, with each strike driving these two guilds further and further down into the abyss.

Even if it took all of their available capital, Nie Yan would continue to whittle down Radiant Sacred Flame. After all, Asskickers United could afford the price!

Victorious Return was in a slightly better position. They weren’t under as much pressure as Radiant Sacred Flame, whose war with Holy Empire never settled down. Thousands of conflicts both minor and major had occurred between the two guilds, with casualties reaching in the excess of hundreds of thousands according to various reported battlefield statistics. Radiant Sacred Flame had long since emptied their treasury, accruing heavy debt for their extended survival. The basis for this struggling lay in a single hope: the upcoming stronghold battle! As long as they were victorious, they would outlast this crisis—maybe even renew enough confidence to receive resumed funding from Century Financial Group. The stronghold was their last hope. If they failed, their guild was destined to collapse.

The conflict in Sinful Gorge would be the last before the upcoming stronghold battle. If Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame wiped out the elites of Asskickers United and Holy Empire, it would be a decisive moment in reversing their declining fortunes!

It was a solid plan to use the Golden Dragon as bait to deal a heavy blow to the forces of Asskickers United, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine. However, Nie Yan wasn’t some helpless fool who resigned himself to fate.

If these 2,000 players from Asskickers United could slaughter their worth in gold, it wouldn’t be a bad trade-off.

Falling down to a quarter health remaining, the Golden Dragon bellowed out a series of words chanted in the dragon language and summoned a blazing black meteor which crashed down from the sky. It exploded in an ocean of flames which engulfed the several hundred players within the impact zone, causing them to vanish into motes of light as their equipment dropped to the ground.

The destructive power of the black meteor was even greater than that of advanced magic. Yet at the same time, its cast time was clearly much shorter.

The havoc wreaked by the Golden Dragon caused many people to go pale.

Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise. In the previous timeline, he had never been in this sort of situation before. Such spectacles were rare. This was his first time experiencing the might of a Golden Dragon. He wondered how powerful the pet summoned from the Golden Dragon’s Horn would be. Higher-rank creatures would generally possess special innate abilities.

Nie Yan initially hadn’t been all that concerned with the Golden Dragon’s Horn, but his interest was piqued after this attack.

Even if the summoned Golden Dragon was inferior to the current one, Nie Yan had an Evolution Crystal in his bag, an item that vastly increased a pet’s stats!

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan’t couldn’t help but get excited. Having a Golden Dragon as a pet does sound like a pretty good idea…

The crater created by the impact remained wreathed in flames for a while longer before eventually extinguishing.

With a whole region cleared by the dragon’s spell, Mages from all over the place swarmed back in and resumed attacking.

They were not willing to give up when the Golden Dragon was so close to death!

As the Dragon Breaths started increasing in frequency, players never seemed to stop evaporating into motes of light in the face of the blazing attacks.

The Golden Dragon’s corrupted scales which were covered in strange vein-like patterns reflected a dark luster. Its massive body brimmed with unrivalled power as it wildly massacred the players surrounding it.

Since nearly all the damage it received was from spells, the Golden Dragon would spew out a mouthful of Dragon Breath in the direction of any Mage that attracted too much aggro, clearing out a wide area, and then move on to the next target. Outside of turning around every once in a while, it generally stayed in the same place.

Subjected to the relentless barrage of spells, the Golden Dragon’s health pool dipped below 15%.

"Everyone, keep it up! We’re at the final stretch! Prepare to fight for the loot the Golden Dragon drops!” Sleepy Fox shouted. As he turned around to speak to Nie Yan, he noticed the person had disappeared yet again. Just where did that guy run off to now? As he pondered over this, a certain name crossed his mind. Nightbreak Trickster! He waited with baited breath for the spectacle that was about to play out.

Seeing the Golden Dragon’s health falling lower and lower, Nie Yan decided it was time to act. He activated stealth and disappeared from everyone’s sight.

Nie Yan avoided being spotted as he made his way toward Radiant Sacred Flame’s forces.

Nightbreak Trickster anxiously directed the Mages under his command. He was still brooding over his failed ambush, especially since the Thieves he had dispatched were so close to succeeding. And they would’ve too were it not for Nie Yan’s intervention. So he was one of the first to notice when the target of his hatred had suddenly disappeared from the battlefield.

"Priests, cast Illuminate!”

Dazzling orbs of light flew up into the sky, illuminating the ground below. However, no trace of Nie Yan was to be found.

"Shit, where’s that bastard!?” Nightbreak Trickster cursed. Out of nowhere, five bolts tore through the air, shining with a frightening glint, straight towards the Golden Dragon.

Those bolts had been fired behind Radiant Sacred Flame’s forces, and all of them struck the Golden Dragon square on, dealing over 20 or so damage each.

What high damage!

All the Mages in Sinful Gorge could only hit the Golden Dragon for single digits. Virtually none of them hit in the double digits. So the string of damage values in the low 20s floating up into the sky were extremely conspicuous.

For a crossbow to deal so much damage, this was an inconceivable matter!

Crossbows were generally only used to lure mobs, having no impact when dealing with a boss. However, the damage of this crossbow was way too perverse!

Nightbreak Trickster and the rest of Radiant Sacred Flame’s forces looked back. As a preventative measure, every Mage reserved a meter or two of empty space between one another for free movement and dodging attacks. However, a single person appeared in one of those exact spots: a man with dark leather armour, armed with a double-handed crossbow so big it was half the size of the ones mounted on city walls during sieges. The taut bowstring and five deathly bolts exuded an image so powerful it would remain deeply rooted in their memories.

They were most certainly familiar with this person.

Nirvana Flame!

The Mages had never expected Nie Yan to just pop up among them without so much as a peep. They were in utter shock.

"Kill him!”

Only now did the surrounding Mages react. They all targeted their spells at Nie Yan.

Nie Yan activated the Darkbright Shield as a faint curtain of light enveloped him before over a dozen spells rained down on him.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」He immediately lost 53% of his health.

When Nie Yan noticed Nightbreak Trickster coldly glaring at him, he revealed a strange smile.

Seeing Nie Yan’s expression, Nightbreak Trickster suddenly had an uneasy premonition.

Nie Yan activated Shadow Waltz, disappearing from everyone’s sights.

"Don’t let him escape,” Nightbreak Trickster shouted, ordering all the nearby Priests to cast Illuminate.

Glowing orbs shot up into the sky.

However, Nie Yan’s Shadow Waltz prevented him from being seen through stealth for the first six seconds after its activation. By the time his silhouette was revealed by the piercing light of Illuminate, he had already broken out of their encirclement. It was too late to stop him.

Before anyone had a chance to give chase, a world-shaking roar reverberated through the air. The faces of the players from Radiant Sacred Flame paled from fright. When they turned around, they spotted the Golden Dragon charging toward them. In an instant, they understood this was Nie Yan’s plan all along!

All the Mages were only dealing damage in the single digits. However, Nie Yan’s crossbow had hit in the double digits, not to mention five times in a row. He had instantly attracted the aggro of the Golden Dragon.

The Golden Dragon let out an enraged roar and spewed out a mouthful of Dragon Breath, scorching over 20 players from Radiant Sacred Flame to death in an instant.

However, Nie Yan had long since memorized the attack patterns of the Golden Dragon. He easily avoided the Dragon Breath.

The outcome was the surrounding forces of Radiant Sacred Flame becoming Nie Yan’s scapegoats.

The Golden Dragon had yet to land a single attack on Nie Yan, and its aggro still remained on him. It knew where he was heading to and blasted its breath in that direction.「Bang!」The scorching fire engulfed that patch of ground.

Nie Yan quickly dashed through a group of Radiant Sacred Flame players. His speed was extremely quick. By relying on the footwork of a Shadow Dancer, none of them were able to stop him. He was extremely crafty, running wherever enemy players were most densely concentrated. He was a walking calamity for Radiant Sacred Flame.

The Golden Dragon became increasingly enraged as its attacks failed to land on Nie Yan. It plowed through the forces of Radiant Sacred Flame, spewing out Dragon Breath endlessly.

It was like a scene out of the apocalypse. One Dragon Breath after another cleared out wide swaths of players from Radiant Sacred Flame.

When the Golden Dragon charged through Radiant Sacred Flame’s ranks to get to Nie Yan, it left a path of utter carnage, creating chaos everywhere.

Nie Yan dashed toward a dense group composed of a hundred casters from Radiant Sacred Flame. He wondered if they would be able to survive a blast of Dragon Breath.

Sensing Nie Yan’s approach, a Shadow Priest let out a sharp howl.

Howl of Terror!

In that instant, Nie Yan activated the Mind Immune skill from the Slaughter Fiend Medallion, rendering the Howl of Terror completely ineffective. He closed in on the Shadow Priest and slashed his throat.

Blood sprayed out into the air, and the Shadow Priest collapsed to the ground.

As the nearby Mages in the group were about to rain down a shower of spells on Nie Yan, they discovered their target had disappeared.

At this moment, a blazing black meteor came crashing down on them.「Boom!」The resulting explosion engulfed a 20 meter area, leaving behind a sea of embers that continued to burn away at the earth.

The ground was paved with the corpses of Mages.

Over half of Radiant Sacred Flame’s forces were annihilated, suffering over 3,000 casualties. The remaining were all scattered about. Their combat strength had diminished greatly.

The leaders of the guilds participating in this battle looked at each other as chills went down their spine. Had Nie Yan lured the Golden Dragon to their player formations, they would be the ones being slaughtered by the monster! How many Dragon Breaths and spells could they possibly take on? They came to a silent consensus on one thing: never, ever, make Asskickers United their enemies!

The Golden Dragon’s massacre pained Nightbreak Trickster so much he felt as if his heart were bleeding. These players were Radiant Sacred Flame’s elites!

The 5,000 or so Radiant Sacred Flame players in the vicinity had been mowed down to just over 1,000.

Chapter 267 – Magic Ignition

Thieves held many advantages over Elementalists. They were known as the kings of the wilderness as well as experts of the battlefield. They could stealth at a moment’s notice, hide in plain sight, and travel to every corner of the battlefield unobstructed. Even the speed at which they ran far outshined any other class. Although an Elementalist had a fair chance against an equal-level Thief in battle, they were terrible at pursuit. If a Thief wished to flee, a slower class like the Elementalist would generally be helpless to stop them.

Seeing his own forces drop like flies, Nightbreak Trickster was boiling with anger.

What’s so damn great about a Thief!?

Nightbreak Trickster rarely ever took action. But this wasn’t to say he was weak. He simply understood that a guild leader who was only valiant and good at fighting wasn’t enough. Even if they were a god of war, they still wouldn’t be immune to defeat. Every class had its counters, it just happened his was a Thief.

Although Nightbreak Trickster was skilled, he knew he wasn’t invincible.

A guild leader who emerged victorious in every battle was undoubtedly an immense morale boost to the members of his guild, just like Nie Yan. Even now, he had yet to suffer a single defeat. This was why the fighting spirit of Asskickers United was so unprecedently high!

But in reality, Nie Yan was walking on a very thin tightrope!

There were many capable people in the world!

When someone killed Nie Yan, breaking the undefeated streak of the Mad Rogue and shattering his legend, his zealous followers would be brought back to reality, and their morale would plummet.

In this aspect, Nightbreak Trickster felt he was wiser and acted with more prudence. What a guild leader needed to do wasn’t to be an unstoppable battle god but rather maintain their dignity and mystique.

He would normally never personally step into action, unless he was guaranteed to succeed. But after seeing so many of the brothers that he hand-picked himself being slaughtered, he could no longer hold himself back!

Even a saint felt anger!

"Mages and Paladins, buff me!” Nightbreak Trickster shouted, while buffing himself. He waved his staff as magical energy frantically converged on him, his robes fluttering violently.

Every last Priest and Paladin in Radiant Sacred Flame began casting their buffs on Nightbreak Trickster.

His stats rose explosively!

Indomitable Will! Paladin’s Might! Haste! Power Transfer! Holy Blessing! …

In an instant, Nightbreak Trickster received over 20 buffs. It didn’t matter whether or not they had minimal impact on him. Intelligence, Strength, Dexterity, etc, they were all greatly enhanced. Although only six of these buffs raised his Intelligence, Magic Power, or other Mage related stats, his combat power was still greatly bolstered.

He was radiating a faint white aura. This was the visual effect of so many buffs stacked on top of him.

Nightbreak Trickster waved his staff, causing halos of magical energy to descend and revolve around him.

Magic Ignition!

The mana cost of all Elemental Spells were doubled in addition to consuming 2 mana every 3 seconds. The duration of this magic was 3 minutes while the cooldown was 5 days.

Nightbreak Trickster felt a scorching energy smoldering in his abdomen as his mana began to slowly drain. His stats increased by roughly 30%.

Elemental Spell Effect +300%. Intelligence +100%. Cast Speed +100%.

Advanced buffing magic. This type of spell was harder to come by than ordinary Elemental Hall Magic. It was hard to say which was superior.

Magic Ignition was similar to some of the skills found in Nie Yan’s Glimpse of Darkness.

This sort of state was difficult to maintain since the player would burn through their mana much quicker on top of bleeding mana every three seconds. Even a Mage with a mana pool of over 2,000 points would be hard-pressed to sustain this sort of expenditure for long.

Speed of the Windwalker!

Speed of the Windwalker was a common Elementalist spell which increased the player’s movement speed by 30%, giving them somewhat of a leg up when fleeing or kiting. But even with this boost, an inherently slow class like the Mage still couldn’t outrun a Thief’s pursuit or Warrior’s Charge!

But right now, Speed of the Windwalker was transformed into an entirely different beast. With Magic Ignition in effect, its movement speed bonus was quadrupled to 120%, rivalling the speed of some of the better mounts!

Nightbreak Trickster’s movement speed rose dramatically. This spell really was worthy of its name.

After buffing himself, Nightbreak Trickster went in pursuit of Nie Yan. He was only a few steps from the Golden Dragon, but he acted bold and daring, disregarding its existence completely.

With its aggro solely focused on Nie Yan, Nightbreak Trickster had no need to worry about the Golden Dragon suddenly switching targets

Icicle Shower!

Nightbreak Trickster determined Nie Yan’s rough location by going off the Golden Dragon’s line of sight. With a wave of his staff, he unleashed a shower of icicles from the sky.

These icicles resembled tiny needles, and were densely packed, covering an area of 30 by 30 meters. As they rained down on the ground, a curtain of 2s and 3s rose up into the sky from the heads of the hundreds of players caught in the storm.

This Icicle Shower wasn’t meant to deal heavy damage.

An icy fog slowly expanded outward, causing tiny ice particles to cling onto each and every player. Everyone was affected without exception, including Nie Yan who was stealthed.

Icicle Shower slowed the movement speed of all affected players by 20%. But when Nightbreak Trickster cast the spell in his buffed state, the slow was increased up to 80%!

Nie Yan noticed the Icicle Shower coming down on him early on. But he knew that no matter how fast he was, he couldn’t evade it. He quickly drank an Ice Resistance Potion. After the spell fell, the temperature of the surrounding area plummeted and a dense icy fog permeated the air. Even with the support of his resistances, his movement speed still fell by 60%. What a potent effect!

Nie Yan was alarmed. This was the most formidable Icicle Shower he had ever witnessed! He looked over his shoulder, only to see Nightbreak Trickster waving his staff with many rings of magical energy revolving around him. It took only a single glance for Nie Yan to understand what was going on.

It was Magic Ignition!

In the previous timeline, despite seeing its power reduced with every successive patch, this perverse spell still remained one of the most powerful at an Elementalist’s disposal!

At the later stages of the game, around 1% of all Elementalists had this spell in their arsenal. As for the present, those who knew Magic Ignition could probably be counted on one hand!

Before the first set of nerfs, Magic Ignition was an extremely terrifying spell.

Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with killing intent. Magic Ignition still had one fatal drawback. After it wore off, the player would enter a weakened state for one minute where all their stats were reduced by 80%.

Even so, while Magic Ignition was active, Nie Yan didn’t dare to face Nightbreak Trickster head-on.

Truthfully, he would become immune to all of Nightbreak Trickster’s attacks if he just activated Adjudicator of God. However, this skill was a last resort. He wouldn’t easily reveal it or any of his other trump cards.

Absolute Zero Ice Spikes!

Nightbreak Trickster waved his staff, after which ice spikes erupted from the ground at a terrifying speed.

Anyone hit by these ice spikes would be frozen in place. They were truly terrifying!

When cast without the buff of Magic Ignition, this spell wasn’t all that powerful. The enemy would be given ample time to dodge as there was a delay before they erupted from the ground. But with Magic Ignition active, this delay was practically taken out of the equation.

Nie Yan rolled out of the way while ice spikes broke through the ground beneath him. They were over a meter long, and were sparkling and clear.

Even though these ice spikes missed, more came shooting out of the ground.

Absolute Zero Ice Spikes synergized well with Magic Ignition as it had a short cooldown, low mana cost, fast attack speed, and a powerful crowd control effect. Any target struck would be immobilized!

The last time Nightbreak Trickster activated Magic Ignition, he had killed an extremely tanky Fighter by freezing him in place using these very same ice spikes. This was what was so terrifying about Magic Ignition. Even low-level spells which were otherwise harmless would become lethal after being enhanced by its effects!

Due to the increased casting speed, there was very little delay between attacks, leaving Nie Yan dodging frantically. There were multiple close calls where he had nearly been hit. In the previous timeline, he had died a total of five times to Elementalists with Magic Ignition. However, this was the first time he experienced someone utilizing the spell with such ferocity.

While Magic Ignition was active, low-level spells such as Ice Spikes, Small Fireballs, and Magic Missiles could be cast with little to no downtime.

Nightbreak Trickster’s performance made it abundantly clear that he understood how to take full advantage of Magic Ignition.

Nie Yan rolled out of the way to dodge another set of ice spikes, only to notice the ground beneath him trembling faintly just as he regained his footing. More ice spikes erupted from the ground. He quickly sidestepped, but was still a step too late as one of the ice spikes brushed his leg, transferring a cold energy through his body.

"He’s over there! Kill him!”

At this moment, the Mages of Radiant Sacred Flame disregarded their safety and rained down a shower of magic on Nie Yan.

Nie Yan’s eyes quickly searched around until he spotted a nearby tree. Extending out his arm, he shot out a web line at a branch and jumped.

After swinging five or so meters, he landed on top of the branch.

Everyone was shocked. None of them expected Nie Yan to have such a skill!

Just what was this, a web line?

At this moment, the Golden Dragon breathed out a mouthful of flames.「Boom!」Gravel and sparks flew out in all directions as the scorching heat wave roiled.

Nightbreak Trickster was surprised such an intense barrage of attacks still couldn’t lock Nie Yan down. Magic Ignition was rapidly expending all his mana. He took out an Intermediate Mana Potion from his bag and drank it, immediately recovering a good chunk.

It appeared killing Nie Yan with these sorts of tricks wouldn’t work.

The magical power around Nightbreak Trickster began surging as his robes fluttered violently. The staff raised in his hands radiated a dazzling light, it was as though a deity was descending upon this world.

Nightbreak Trickster and Nie Yan locked gazes, fighting spirit burning intensely in their eyes.

At this instant, Nie Yan who was sitting atop the tree branch revealed a sinister smile. He pointed his thumb downwards, then aimed his dagger at his neck and made a cutthroat gesture.

The dagger in Nie Yan’s hand shimmered with a sharp light, while his killing intent chilled the air around him.

Just like the time he killed the guild leader of Unhindered Hei Zhou, when Nie Yan revealed that ice cold smile, resembling the face of a smiling devil, the temperature on the battlefield seemed to plummet several degrees.

Chapter 268 – Divinity

The battle in Kiln Fire Woods which made Nie Yan an overnight sensation had become an unforgettable memory in the minds of the players.

Ever since, the popularity of the Mad Rogue spread like wildfire.

After so long, Nie Yan revealed this gesture yet again. What did it mean? Was it a death sentence?

The guilds in Sinful Gorge were all watching the scene unfold from the sidelines. They had looked on as Nie Yan lured the Golden Dragon to the forces of Radiant Sacred Flame, plunging their ranks into chaos. In the same fashion, they witnessed him directing the cutthroat gesture towards Nightbreak Trickster.

This was a declaration of war! It was pure provocation!

Was Nie Yan planning to repeat the events of Kiln Fire Woods?

Radiant Sacred Flame wasn’t Unhindered, and Nightbreak Trickster wasn’t Hei Zhuo!

When Nie Yan was still relatively unknown, Nightbreak Trickster was already an illustrious figure, a publically acknowledged expert! The only reason he wasn’t the topic of every conversation was that he rarely stepped into the limelight!

From the moment he activated Magic Ignition, Nightbreak Trickster had put on a dominant display. He always kept his opponent on the backfoot. And on more than one occasion, he was only inches from killing Nie Yan.

Although Radiant Sacred Flame had suffered disastrous losses, Nightbreak Trickster still had a good number of people by his side. Among them there was no lack of Warriors and Paladins. With so many people protecting him, he had nothing to fear.

Did Nie Yan really have the confidence to turn the tide under these circumstances?

It was easy to talk the talk, but what about walking the walk?

No one believed Nie Yan would succeed, especially not the target of his provocation.

Nightbreak Trickster’s expression turned even colder. This arrogant gesture was the final tipping point. He began gathering power as magical energy surged around him. His body slowly levitated until it was about half-a-meter off the ground, whereupon the surrounding players felt a heavy pressure descend on them.

The Warriors and Paladins guarding Nightbreak Trickster’s side subconsciously retreated several steps. Their hearts shook in alarm. It was that spell! Even they weren’t quite clear on the specifics of this buff magic.

"You want to kill me, Mad Rogue? Give it your best shot!” Nightbreak Trickster thundered. He resembled a divine being overlooking the world with contempt!

Divinity!

Nightbreak Trickster chanted out a series of deep and resounding syllables as all magical energy within a hundred meter radius surged toward him.

Nie Yan’s expression paled. This son of a bitch even knows Divinity…? Magic Ignition and Divinity were rewards that could only be obtained by completing the first two quests of a six-part quest chain, similar to Karsi’s Blessing. It was rumoured in the previous timeline that those who could complete the second quest were few and far between.

Divinity temporarily granted the player unlimited mana on top of removing the cast time and greatly reducing the cooldown of up to three non-advanced magic spells. Just like Magic Ignition, there was also a heavy backlash for activating this spell.

The magical halos around Nightbreak Trickster vibrated in resonance, producing an audible hum.

Nightbreak Trickster’s body was like a whirlpool, rapidly drawing in the surrounding magical energy in the atmosphere.

He waved his staff, Blizzard!

Storm clouds instantly blotted out the sky, evoking a bone-chilling tempest that plunged the world in ice and snow.

Shit! What the hell? He made Blizzard an instant-cast spell!

Seeing the ice and snow crashing down on the battlefield, Nie Yan jumped down from the tree and melted into his surroundings. He attempted to escape the spell’s range by maneuvering around with Dance of Death.

The howling blizzard swept over the tree behind Nie Yan, instantly turning it into an ice sculpture.

Nie Yan never imagined Nightbreak Trickster to have another powerful trump card at hand. He was heavily considering activating Adjudicator of God right about now. Only this spell could counter Nightbreak Trickster’s relentless barrage of magic! If he had known he would be dealing with this sort of situation, he would’ve taken the time to unlock a few skills from the Glimpse of Darkness! After all, there was no such thing as too many aces up your sleeve!

Nightbreak Trickster’s barrage of attacks was far from over. Countless spells rained down onto the battlefield, freezing everything in their path!

He was unable to detect Nie Yan’s exact position, who had deaggroed the Golden Dragon after entering stealth. All he could do was rely on his high Awareness to determine where to attack.

A pair of icy hands shot out in the direction Nie Yan was fleeing. He quickly pivoted to the side and rolled away.「Boom!」A layer of frost expanded out like a blooming ice lotus, freezing everything it touched in a 5-meter radius.

Thankfully, this spell was slightly off-target and missed Nie Yan by a hair’s breadth. It was clear that Nightbreak Trickster had still underestimated his opponent’s speed.

Nightbreak Trickster sped up his attacks, unleashing one ice spell after another like a gatling gun.

Off to the side, the guild leaders who were dealing with the Golden Dragon while also enjoying the spectacle had dull looks on their faces. They never imagined that the usually low-key Nightbreak Trickster could explode with such ferocity.

Nie Yan was perhaps the only player who could endure such an intense barrage of spells for so long.

Ice Wolf!

Nightbreak Trickster chanted several syllables in a deep tone, invoking the surrounding ice elements to rapidly condense into an enormous wolf, standing 2 meters tall and sparkling translucently. It let out a deep howl, revealing its sharp teeth.

The Ice Wolf bounded toward Nie Yan, leaving behind a trail of ice.

「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Dazzling orbs of light shot up into the sky, revealing Nie Yan’s silhouette under their piercing radiance. The light bouncing off the Ice Wolf’s crystalline body refracted the colours of the rainbow.

The Golden Dragon no longer paid any heed to Nie Yan. It was currently attacking the nearby players of Unhindered and Dark Massacre.

The area the Golden Dragon laid waste to had become Nie Yan’s arena.

Nie Yan quickly pulled back after seeing the massive Ice Wolf going straight for him. It had 600 health, and its ice armour granted it high resistance against physical attacks. He didn’t dare to underestimate it.

Nightbreak Trickster was actually this low-key. He had so many powerful spells up his sleeve, some that no one in the previous timeline had ever seen him use. He was even more formidable than the top Mages in Asskickers United! Were it not for Nie Yan’s provocation, it would’ve been very difficult to make him reveal his true strength.

"Today, this place will be the burial ground of the Mad Rogue!” Nightbreak Trickster declared in a cold tone that seemed to originate from the depths of the underworld.

If Nie Yan died, would he still be the Mad Rogue?

A fallen legend was nothing but a shell of its former glory.

The Ice Wolf leaped high into the air and pounced on Nie Yan, blasting him with a frigid frost aura. Its sharp claws radiated with a soul-shaking sharp light and swiped toward his throat at a lightning-fast speed. It looked like the ice and snow were about to be dyed red with his blood.

Chapter 269 – Kill!

Nie Yan swiftly retreated. His eyes flashed with a sharp light. The Ice Wolf’s claws inched ever closer to his throat, signalling imminent death. In that instant, he activated Shadow Waltz and gave himself an explosive burst of speed, dodging the claws by a hair’s breadth.

His figure blurred before disappearing without a trace.

The Ice Wolf missed its pounce and landed on the ground. It quickly sniffed around in an attempt to find traces of Nie Yan, but it was to no avail.

Nie Yan retreated a good distance away. He had no intention of facing the Ice Wolf head-on. He pulled out the Cavalry Crossbow and fired at the Golden Dragon.

「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Five bolts flew out and struck the Golden Dragon in quick succession.

The Ice Wolf bounded toward Nie Yan after spotting him again.

Due to Nie Yan’s damage being far above what others could deal, the Golden Dragon reaggroed onto him. It let out an angry roar, chanting several syllables in the dragon language, and breathed out a surging torrent of Dragon Breath.

However, Nie Yan didn’t try to evade. In that instant, the Ice Wolf leaped high into the air and pounced in front of him.「Boom!」An explosion rang like a clap of thunder. The Dragon Breath struck the Ice Wolf mid-air with unmatched power, instantly blasting it into smithereens as a shower of ice crystals gently fluttered down from the sky, glistening beautifully under the sunlight.

It was a scene straight out of a winter wonderland.

The Ice Wolf was blasted apart by the Dragon Breath!

Seeing his plan come to perfect fruition, Nie Yan revealed a satisfied smile.

It would’ve been a real headache to take out the Ice Wolf by regular means, even more so with Nightbreak Trickster glaring at his back like a tiger stalking its prey. In such a scenario, it was hard to say who would come out on top.

Nie Yan borrowed the Golden Dragon’s power to effortlessly kill the Ice Wolf. With this obstacle taken care of, his hands were freed up to deal with Nightbreak Trickster.

Nightbreak Trickster was alarmed by the sudden death of the Ice Wolf. It appeared he had played right into the opponent’s hands. Both Nie Yan’s timing and ability to grasp the situation and adapt were superb. He had no time to call the Ice Wolf off.

Witnessing the Ice Wolf’s miserable death, the various guild leaders dropped their jaws in shock. Even this was possible? They previously believed Nie Yan was dead for sure when they saw the Ice Wolf pouncing on him. Who could’ve predicted the situation would be reversed in an instant?

A nimble mind and sharp insight were crucial for becoming an expert. Outside of relying on your own strength, it was also pivotal to learn how to seize an opportunity, just like how Nie Yan was exploiting the environment and everything within to gain the upper hand.

It was a brilliant strategy to bait the Ice Wolf into the path of the oncoming Dragon Breath!

While the various guild leaders were still mesmerized by the death of the Ice Wolf, Nie Yan’s silhouette blurred into action as he dashed toward Nightbreak Trickster, causing all eyes to refocus.

Would Nightbreak Trickster fall today, just like Hei Zhuo? Everybody was eager to find out. They previously believed Nie Yan had no way of succeeding. But now, they weren’t so sure anymore. There was a very real possibility he would exceed expectations yet again.

At this moment, the players of Radiant Sacred Flame felt immense pressure. The Warriors and Paladins closely guarded Nightbreak Trickster, not leaving any cracks in their ranks. They were confident nothing could get past them.

Eyes of the Divine!

The eyes of the Paladins emitted a dazzling radiance as they scanned their surroundings for signs of Nie Yan.

The Priests cast Illuminate nonstop as dazzling orbs of light shot up into the sky. However, Nie Yan was simply too fast. They had no time to tag him with a Marking Sigil before losing track of him.

Very few Priests could cast Marking Sigil in less than 3 seconds.

Leader Young Seven and Ten Li Painted Muslin required 2.6 and 2.7 seconds respectively to cast Marking Sigil, while those slightly slower such as Black Heaven and Moon Child required around 3.1 seconds. Every individual had areas they excelled at; Young Seven and Painted Muslin’s just happened to be PvP.

Ordinary Priests required four seconds or longer to cast Marking Sigil, while those who took five or six seconds could be found everywhere. The Priests in Radiant Sacred Flame were far from being as skilled as Young Seven, Painted Muslin, and the others, so Nie Yan wasn’t pressured by them.

Seeing their iron-tight defenses, Nie Yan couldn’t help but sneer. You think this alone can stop me?

A dazzling orb shot up into the sky and revealed Nie Yan’s silhouette. Within two seconds, ice spikes erupted from the ground beneath him at breakneck speed.

Relying on his sharp senses, Nie Yan rolled out of the way. He felt the ground tremble as more ice spikes erupted around him. It appeared Nightbreak Trickster wanted to rely on his enhanced state to overwhelm his opponent.

At this moment, Nie Yan was also feeling the pressure as he constantly leapt and rolled out of the way, while ice spikes erupted out right under him every time he touched the ground. Out of nowhere, ice spikes erupted out right in front of him. He was going to collide with them in the next moment. If he was hit by them and stopped for even a second, he would be skewered by endless ice spikes.

This was exactly why Nightbreak Trickster’s skill was so dreadful.

Nie Yan suddenly accelerated and spun himself around to evade. He could feel the ice spikes brushing against his back, transmitting a frigid aura through his body.

While dodging them, Nie Yan came to a realization. Blindly relying on speed was no good. It made his movements too linear, allowing the opponent to preemptively strike. He began varying his tempo, constantly shifting directions as he pressed closer toward Nightbreak Trickster.

Around 20 meters separated both players. Nightbreak Trickster was guarded by a ring of players at the 10 meter mark.

When some of his attacks started going way off mark, Nightbreak Trickster’s mind slightly trembled in alarm. He noticed Nie Yan’s movements gradually becoming harder to predict until he had no idea where to attack anymore.

Nie Yan had already memorized the Golden Dragon’s attack pattern. He estimated it was going to attack with another Dragon Breath very soon.

Nie Yan made a beeline for the wall of Warriors and Paladins protecting Nightbreak Trickster.

"There he is!”

"Kill him!”

Nie Yan simply swept past. He was too fast.

A brilliant orb flew into the sky, revealing Nie Yan’s silhouette. Just as the Priests raised their staffs to tag him with a Marking Sigil, something occurred that made their eyes widen in shock and terror. The Golden Dragon opened its maw and spewed out scorching hot Dragon Breath in their direction.

"Run!”

"Shit, Dragon Breath!”

The players of Radiant Sacred Flame cried out in alarm, panicking as they tried to save their own skins.

Nightbreak Trickster slightly raised an eyebrow in surprise and quickly retreated far away. With the buff from Speed of the Windwalker, he made it to safety with ease.

「Boom!」The Dragon Breath crashed into the crowd of players from Radiant Sacred Flame, causing gravel and flames to fly everywhere. A wide area was scorched black, and over 20 players died on the spot.

A large crack was opened up in Radiant Sacred Flame’s defenses.

It was total mayhem!

The Golden Dragon charged over, plowing through Radiant Sacred Flame’s forces. The air tight wall of Paladins and Warriors that took great effort to form was destroyed beyond recognition.

In order to evade the Golden Dragon, Nightbreak Trickster had no choice but to retreat far into the distance, arriving in an empty area without any other players.

Divinity and Magic Ignition were about to end, while he was struggling to keep his nerves in check.

He gazed into the distance, only to see Nie Yan staring back at him with a cold smile before disappearing into stealth.

Nightbreak Trickster had lost the protection of his players. From this point forward, it would be a one versus one.

Seeing Nie Yan disappear, Nightbreak Trickster’s heart trembled. He finally felt the domineering pressure coming from the threat his opponent posed to him.

He recalled Nie Yan’s cruel smile atop the tree branch, a biting cold killing intent that made a person’s blood run cold.

Death was slowly encroaching in on him.

Before long, he felt an intense sense of danger from behind him. This bastard’s quick!

Nightbreak Trickster waved his staff, Repel!

He quickly turned around, but there was no sign of Nie Yan.

Nie Yan had baited him into wasting Repel!

Hidden in the shadows far off in the distance, Nie Yan let out a faint snicker. The psychological attack he launched on Nightbreak Trickster had already begun showing its effect. All he would have to do was put on the pressure to instill a sense of foreboding into the enemy, causing them to make lapses in their judgement. Their defeat would follow.

No matter how skilled a person was, they still had their weaknesses.

Nightbreak Trickster’s weakness was that he cared too much about defeat since it would mean a heavy blow to Radiant Sacred Flame. So when he was truly put in danger, he couldn’t maintain his normally calm mindset.

As for Nie Yan, he had gone through two lifetimes. These sorts of things had long since become meaningless to him. So what if he was defeated? What was important was an unbreakable and unbendable will! With this kind of will, even if you were stomped into the ground, you could still climb back up and give the other person a good punch. In the previous timeline, Nie Yan had patiently endured for so many years waiting for Cao Xu to lower his guard before dealing the fatal blow. If he couldn’t accept something as simple as defeat, his two lifetimes would’ve been wasted.

Even if Nie Yan was placed into the most dangerous situation, he would still maintain absolute calm. This was one of the things that allowed him to finally break through the barrier of a Shadow Dancer in this life.

Nie Yan was continuously taunting Nightbreak Trickster from a distance, occasionally launching feints and directing his killing intent at the opponent. Nightbreak Trickster’s heart was already stretched extremely taut. Even the slightest breeze would cause him to cast a spell.

While the two were still fighting, the Golden Dragon roared in anger. Under the concentrated barrage from the Mages, its health finally bottomed out. It let out a mournful cry before crashing heavily to ground, giving rise to a cloud of dust.

"We killed the Golden Dragon!”

"Go, grab the loot!”

Chapter 270 – Dividing Up The Loot

Everyone in Sinful Gorge cried out in alarm. Hundreds of players from various guilds scrambled toward the Golden Dragon’s corpse in an attempt to snatch away the drops. All hell broke loose as not a single guild was willing to give up on the most important drop, the Golden Dragon Horn!

Which lucky player would get their hands on this coveted item?

Several fleet-footed Thieves were merely feet away, only to be flanked by a group of charging Warriors.

Another group of Warriors rushed past them and made a grab for the drops.

Within the chaos, no one could differentiate between ally or foe. Not that it mattered. Everyone wanted the loot for themselves anyway!

Roaring Flames!

A Mage finished chanting as a large blazing cloud condensed in the sky. A torrent of fireballs rained down over the battlefield, wiping out a huge swath of players in a 20 meter radius around the Golden Dragon’s corpse. Their bodies transformed into motes of light as they were sent back to the graveyard.

Everyone looked toward the center, spotting a golden horn shimmering among the glow of the flames. Enthralled, they almost missed the pieces of equipment nearby.

A Demonified Lord was guaranteed to drop at least Sub Legendary-grade equipment. Even Legendary-grade equipment wouldn’t be a rare sight.

Such equipment was undoubtedly of immense allure. But anyone who wanted to obtain them would have to stake their lives!

No one dared to approach while the flames raged wildly, lest they wished to throw their lives away!

The loot was so close, yet so far away.

It would be a while before the winner and the losers were determined.

Over on the other side of the battlefield, Nightbreak Trickster was momentarily distracted by the death of the Golden Dragon. But in that brief period of absent-mindedness, Nie Yan took action and closed in on him from behind with Dance of Death.

Nightbreak Trickster’s heart shook when he felt the unmistakable tingle of a dagger mere inches from his neck. He cast Repel and clad himself in a suit of Ice Armour.

Nie Yan ducked to the side, evading the repelling force wave.

Ice Wall!

While a thick slab of ice rose up from the ground between him and Nie Yan, Nightbreak Trickster relied on his quick speed to retreat into the distance.

Nie Yan agilely leapt over the wall and dashed toward Nightbreak Trickster.

With Eyes of the Divine activated, the nearby Paladins moved to surround Nie Yan.

At the same time, Nightbreak Trickster waved his staff and prepared to fire an Ice Rupture at the rapidly approaching Nie Yan, only for his figure to flash before vanishing into thin air at the very last moment.

Target lost.

The instant his cast was interrupted, Nightbreak Trickster’s pupils constricted as he felt a cold chill run down his spine.

Nie Yan’s speed was unmatched. Regardless of how godly they were, without any crowd control magic like Repel at hand, any Mage that allowed a Thief like him to get this close would be resigned to death.

Nightbreak Trickster wanted to run, but it was too late. Nie Yan reappeared behind him like a phantom and struck him in the back of the head with Smothering Strike, then followed up with Cut Throat.

Blood sprayed into the air.

A large portion of Nie Yan’s damage was absorbed by the Ice Armour. He would have to break it first if he wanted to kill Nightbreak Trickster.

Spells like Ice Armour weren’t all that powerful under normal circumstances. But because Nightbreak Trickster’s Magic Ignition increased the effectiveness of all Elementalist Magic by 300%, its defensive capabilities rose dramatically, making him as durable as the tankiest of Warriors.

"Quick! Save the boss!”

The nearby Priests and Paladins all cast their heals on Nightbreak Trickster as a curtain of gentle light descended on him.

Backstab! Eviscerate! Nie Yan’s sharp attacks stabbed into Nightbreak Trickster’s back, whereupon the Ice Armour finally shattered.

At this time, the Warriors and Paladins charged up to Nie Yan while a shower of spells whizzed toward him.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」He clenched his jaw through the intense barrage that depleted his health to only 20%, and drank an Intermediate Health Potion.

Assassinate!

Nie Yan plunged Splitting Edge deep into Nightbreak Trickster. Afterwards, he activated its innate skill—Blast! A powerful explosion of energy erupted forth, sending his opponent flying away like a ragdoll.

The Priests had no time to react!

Nightbreak Trickster landed on the ground with a thud, a single piece of equipment dropping from his corpse. But before Nie Yan could collect his spoils, a shower of magic rained down on him while the Warriors and Paladins moved in to surround him, leaving him with no choice but to retreat.

Nie Yan activated Shadow Waltz and disappeared from sight.

Several Warriors were about to charge forward, when they felt a slight breeze brush past them. Not a single player from Radiant Sacred Flame could prevent Nie Yan’s escape. They were only left with the corpse of their guild leader, whom they slowly gathered around with disheartened expressions.

Seeing this scene, the guild leaders spectating in the distance were frozen in shock. Nightbreak Trickster died, just like that? Even after putting on such a domineering display of power, he was still cut down like a dog in the end!

When they recalled Nie Yan’s cruel smile atop the tree branch, each of them felt the blood in their veins run cold.

They searched for signs of Nie Yan, only to discover he had fled the scene long ago. While he was stealthed, he was akin to an invisible guillotine ready to drop down at a moment’s notice, instilling a sense of soul-piercing dread in whoever crossed his path.

News of Nightbreak Trickster’s death rang heavy in the hearts of the players of Radiant Sacred Flame spread across the battlefield, while Nie Yan’s legend still stood tall. It appeared the might of Asskickers United was unshakable! Even their guild leader wasn’t a match for the Mad Rogue! This was a huge blow to their morale.

At this moment, a group of players plowed through the forces of Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return to reach the center of Sinful Gorge.

"Boss, we’re here!”

The players from Asskickers United finally arrived. All of them were branded with deep crimson names, frightening the various guilds in Sinful Gorge. No one dared to bar their path.

Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, Edgeless, Monochrome, and so on, many of these famous players were among the group. Even more shocking was that they all had blood-red names! Who knew how many kills were required to reach such a state? The very sight made everyone swallow their breath.

As soon as they showed up, they engaged the players of Victorious Return. It was a one-sided slaughter!

The surrounding guilds couldn’t help but shudder in fear. The players from Asskickers United were simply too ferocious!

"How many players did we lose?” Nie Yan asked Undying Scoundrel.

"Around 600, but their deaths weren’t in vain. We’ve taken out tens of thousands of players from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame, so far!”

Nie Yan looked over at his forces. Not a single player from Asskickers United wasn’t branded with the PKer status. Even the Priests had red names. From this, it was clear they had killed no small number of players.

Nie Yan gazed over at the Golden Dragon’s corpse.

The scramble for the drops was still going strong as not a single drop was successfully looted so far. The perimeter of dead bodies surrounding the Golden Dragon’s corpse was growing ever higher, even while the game was continuously despawning them. Anyone that got too close would be instantly obliterated by a dense bombardment of spells.

The situation sunk into a deadlock.

With more than a dozen guilds present, no side could obtain the Golden Dragon Horn or any of the other drops without being stopped by the others.

"No one has picked up the Golden Dragon Horn yet. What do we do? Five items dropped, the Golden Dragon Horn and four pieces of equipment that are at least Sub Legendary-grade! How about we clear the place out, then go for the loot after?” Sleepy Fox asked. Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame were beaten into a full retreat, so they had lost their main competitors. With only three of the major guilds still in play, if they were to combine their forces to carry out a full sweep, none of the second-rate guilds could hope to resist them. However, there were simply too many. Together these guilds could still put up a good fight.

"The cost of carrying out a full sweep is too high. It’s not worth it. We’ll be making enemies out of over a dozen guilds!” Nie Yan replied. The combined strength of Asskickers United, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine hadn’t yet reached a point where they could annihilate all the other guilds in Calore.

"Then what do we do?” Sleepy Fox asked, gazing helplessly at the drops from the Golden Dragon. They were so close, but yet so far. This was extremely depressing.

"If we get the loot, I want the Golden Dragon Horn. The rest can be divided up evenly between you guys. But if there’s any Legendary equipment, it’ll go to the highest bidder. How does that sound?” Nie Yan proposed. It wasn’t like he didn’t have any methods. If he activated Adjudicator of God, he could easily snatch up the loot without a scratch. Even though it would be a slight waste, ten days was nothing compared to the Golden Dragon Horn and Sub Legendary or possibly even Legendary-grade equipment.

The Golden Dragon Horn itself was equivalent to a Legendary-grade item. Although he didn’t know the stats of the summon, it absolutely wouldn’t be weak! As for the other items, it was hard to say. However, anything Sub Legendary-grade wouldn’t be too terrible.

"You have a plan?” Fa Lan asked in surprise. With so many guilds covetously eyeing the drops, it would be extremely difficult not to earn the ire of everyone if they took everything for themselves.

"I do, actually.”

"If you have a way for us to obtain all the loot, I’m willing to agree to these terms,” Sleepy Fox replied. At least something was better than nothing.

"I as well,” Fa Lan echoed. This was a very easy choice to make. All the spoils would generally go to whoever obtained them. Nie Yan willing to share them was a show of consideration to their alliance. As for the Golden Dragon Horn belonging to him, neither of them raised any objections.

It would be too outrageous if Nie Yan swallowed up everything himself. After all, Asskickers United hadn’t partcipated in the battle against the Golden Dragon. Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine had put in most of the work and suffered considerable losses. If they weren’t given fair compensation, no matter what excuse was provided, a crack would inevitably form in their alliance.

At times, a small sacrifice had to be made to obtain a larger profit!

Chapter 271 – Golden Dragon Horn

"Follow my instructions. Order all your Mages who have area-of-effect magic, especially those with the Fog spell, to target that place over there!” Nie Yan pointed at the location of the Golden Dragon Horn.

Sleepy Fox was slightly taken aback. Just what was Nie Yan planning? If they unloaded all their area-of-effect magic over that area, wouldn’t they stand even less of a chance at snatching the loot? Even so, neither he nor Fa Lan had the slightest hesitation. They passed down Nie Yan’s orders.

The Mages from Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine cast their area-of-effect spells as the magical energy in the atmosphere fluctuated violently. Fire and lightning fell from the sky, causing embers and sparks to fly in all directions, while a dense fog expanded outward.

The area surrounding the Golden Dragon’s corpse was submerged in flames, lightning, and fog, shrouding the center from view.

None of the players from the second-tier guilds understood what was going on. But after seeing such a frantic bombardment of magic, all of them backed off in a scurry.

With the loot out of view, these players couldn’t help feeling restless in their hearts.

Nie Yan stealthed and activated Adjudicator of God before dashing straight into the the fog of lightning and flames.

The raging flames and crackling lightning disappeared upon touching the barrier around Nie Yan, unable to harm him.

This was the magic immunity effect of Adjudicator of God!

Nie Yan’s vision was greatly limited in the fog, occasionally blinded temporarily by flashes of light. He couldn’t get a clear view of his surroundings. All he could do was go off his memory, stumbling his way through until he believed to be in the right spot, then crouching down to search.

He was pleasantly surprised when a golden shimmer caught his eye. This was the twinkle of an item drop! He reached out his hand and picked up what felt like a horn. It was slightly curved, and he could feel its rough texture.

It’s the Golden Dragon Horn!

Nie Yan placed the Golden Dragon Horn in his bag and continued his search. After a while, he found all four pieces of equipment on top of some other item he couldn’t identify. But there were quite a few of scattered about, and he didn’t hesitate in taking everything.

Demonified Lords usually dropped a lot of items. This time, he had earned big.

After doing a second sweep to confirm he hadn’t missed anything, he quickly made his way out. He didn’t wish to risk dying by dallying until the duration of Adjudicator of God was almost up.

Nie Yan emerged from the dense fog and regrouped with Sleepy Fox and Fa Lan without attracting any unwanted attention.

"I’ve collected the loot,” Nie Yan informed.

Sleepy Fox and Fa Lan wore incredulous expressions. They were still waiting to receive further instructions from Nie Yan. They believed he wouldn’t take action until after the barrage of spells ended.

The bombardment of area-of-effect magic had never ceased, not even for a single second!

"I have a skill that grants immunity to magic,” Nie Yan casually explained.

Sleepy Fox and Fa Lan finally understood why Nie Yan had asked them to order their Mages to cast area-of-effect magic. It was for the sake of cover, allowing him to secretly take away all the drops. Like this, they wouldn’t attract everyone’s ire.

"What dropped?” Sleepy Fox asked. Nie Yan had previously agreed to leave the four pieces of equipment for him and Fa Lan to divide up evenly.

Demonified Lords were guaranteed to drop at least Sub Legendary-grade equipment, after all!

"A Golden Dragon Horn, four pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment, and some miscellaneous items. As per our agreement, the equipment is yours. As for the other drops…” Nie Yan stared at his bag as he trailed off.

"Forget about that, just show us the equipment,” Sleepy Fox said impatiently. He was itching to see the properties of the four pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but inwardly snicker. If Sleepy Fox knew the value of these drops, he wouldn’t have passed up on them. Anything that dropped from a Demonified Lord was bound to be good, including the miscellaneous items.

Fa Lan couldn’t help but wryly smile. Sleepy Fox really was a bit too impatient. But since he had effectively been spoken for, he didn’t raise the issue. Besides, two pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment was already extremely good. He had nothing to complain about.

Nie Yan shared the four pieces of equipment in chat. All of them were Level 40. One piece was for Warriors, two for Mages, and one for Paladins. Their properties weren’t bad, roughly on par with his Blackbright Chestpiece.

With the equipment given to Sleepy Fox and Fa Lan, all sides could be considered to have received their fair share.

Apart from the Golden Dragon Horn, Nie Yan also obtained 60 Golden Dragon Scales which was a crafting material. He could use them to create Legendary-grade equipment or enhance the defense and magic resistance of existing equipment. A single Dragon Scale was worth no less than a single piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment!

Nie Yan examined the Golden Dragon Horn in his hand. Except for the gold colour, it greatly resembled a goat horn. It had a very coarse texture, and was covered with a delicate, veined pattern.

Golden Dragon Horn (Legendary)

Requirements: 600 Strength, 30 Willpower

Description: This item allows the player to form a contract with a Golden Dragon.

Properties: Summon a Baby Golden Dragon. It has a chance of learning Dragon Magic when levelling up.

Baby Golden Dragon

Level: 0

Attack: 32–33

Attack Speed: 21

Defense: 30

Strength: 30

Dexterity: 20

Intelligence: 2

Movement Speed: 22

Growth Rate: 15

Restrictions: Can only be used by a member of the Righteous Faction. Bound to owner.

Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player’s inventory.

The owner of the Golden Dragon Horn could summon a pet Baby Golden Dragon. This type of pet could level up. The Growth Rate determined the potential of the pet; 5 was ordinary, 10 was very rare, and 15 was heaven-defying.

A pet with a Growth Rate of 10 would generally be sold for upwards of 3,000 gold. As for those with a Growth Rate of 15, they usually couldn’t be bought. If your Influence in Calore reached 50, you would be given the opportunity to buy such a pet. However, it was very expensive. Even 10,000 gold wasn’t nearly enough.

Pets with an Innate Ability like the Baby Golden Dragon were even more expensive.

Levelling up a pet was an extremely time-consuming affair. Nie Yan decided he would think of a way to level it up later on.

Nie Yan recalled the Evolution Crystal in his bag. He wondered what would happen if he fed it to the Baby Golden Dragon.

He shifted his attention to the Golden Dragon Scales.

Golden Dragon Scale (Legendary Crafting Material): This item can be used to create Legendary-grade equipment. An Advanced Tailor can sew this item into a piece of armour to increase its defense by 20%, magic resistance by 30 points, and poison resistance by 30 points.

An item that boosted a piece of equipment’s defensive capabilities by so much was very rare. After all, it was only a supplementary item. It would be a waste to use it on any gear lower than Sub Legendary-grade.

Nie Yan had 60 Golden Dragon Scales altogether. He planned to slowly use them as he needed.

He calculated his earnings. Despite not participating in the battle against the Golden Dragon, Asskickers United had still come out with the Golden Dragon Horn and 60 Golden Dragon Scales. This trip to Sinful Gorge was extremely worthwhile. As for Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine, they had over 500 players each die to the Golden Dragon. So at best, the Sub Legendary-grade equipment they obtained would make up for their losses.

The barrage of magic settled down and the fog cleared out. The players from the second-rate guilds looked toward the center, only to discover it was completely empty. There was no trace of the Golden Dragon Horn or equipment.

"What the hell, is this a bug!?”

"Where did the Golden Dragon Horn go?”

The players were in an uproar and cursed up a storm.

The loot had vanished under everyone’s watch. How could they not feel unwilling?

Confused and puzzled, they momentarily stood in a daze. The Golden Dragon Horn and equipment were right there just a moment ago. There was no way someone could’ve snatched away the loot under the bombardment of spells, right?

Yet the drops had disappeared, leaving not even a single trace.

This was too depressing.

Could Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine have been the culprits behind the disappearance of the loot? After all, they were the ones who suddenly started bombarding the area around the Golden Dragon’s corpse for seemingly no reason.

However, the problem was that there was no proof! Not to mention they were far weaker than Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine. Even if they wanted to make the accusation, none of them had the guts. All they could do was acquiesce.

"Over 200,000 players from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame are heading towards Sinful Gorge!” a subordinate quietly informed the guild leader of Dark Hero.

The Dark Hero guild leader’s eyes widened in alarm. He quietly withdrew his forces from Sinful Gorge.

The second-rate guilds began withdrawing one after the other. They understood another huge battle was about to break out. In order to avoid being caught in the crossfire, they quickly left.

Guo Huai updated Nie Yan with a piece of important news. 200,000 players from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame had just arrived at the boundary of Sinful Gorge. They were just outside the passageway!

"This fast?” Nie Yan muttered in surprise. This vastly exceeded his expectations. He previously believed any signs of movement from Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return would be immediately noticed and reported to him by Guo Huai. This was why he didn’t feel too anxious. However, it appeared they had somehow managed to stay under the radar.

Chapter 272 – Sealed Off

「Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame finally wisened up. Heaven Breaker and Nightbreak Trickster kept information under tight lock. None of our moles caught wind of them mobilizing their forces in other maps near Sinful Gorge. Many were even directly booted!」Guo Huai informed. It was too late by the time he noticed any movements.

It appeared Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame were staking everything on this ambush. With such a large force flooding into Sinful Gorge, no matter how strong the players of Asskickers United were, they would still be smothered to death just the same!

Nightbreak Trickster and Heaven Breaker were finally pushed past their breaking points. After being surpressed and surpassed by the likes of Asskickers United, and to a lesser degree Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine, they couldn’t sit back any longer. Today, they bared their teeth in an attempt to reverse their fortunes!

「How many of their players are entering Sinful Gorge?」Nie Yan inquired.

「Around 30,000, and even more will be arriving in a few minutes!」Guo Huai replied, a tinge of remorse in his tone. If only his information network were better, he could’ve given Nie Yan ample time to prepare.

Nie Yan scanned over the crowd of guild members. "Sparrow Hawk, Scoundrel, Monochrome, Edgeless, Young Seven, Painted Muslin, Black Heaven… I want all of you to follow me!”

A total of 30 followed Nie Yan as he dashed toward the sole passageway in Sinful Gorge.

"Players from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame are arriving at Sinful Gorge in droves. What do we do?” Sleepy Fox muttered somewhat anxiously. Like Guo Huai, he didn’t receive word from his spies until it was far too late.

Sleepy Fox was puzzled when he spotted Nie Yan leading a small group of players towards the passageway. What were they planning? That was where the enemy forces were located.

He never imagined Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame would be so efficient in mobilizing all their players towards Sinful Gorge. It was clear they had been planning this out for a long time.

「How many players do you and Fa Lan have left?」Nie Yan asked Sleepy Fox through voice chat.

Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame had stationed close to 50,000 players in the maps neighbouring Sinful Gorge, while another 100,000 were on standby in various locations. Since each group received direct orders from their respective guild leader, all information channels were isolated. Heaven Breaker and Nightbreak Trickster had planned and prepared meticulously for a long time, employing all sorts of measures to prevent leaks. Thanks to this, they bought themselves a 10 odd minute window where their actions would go unnoticed. Many things could be done in the game during that time. Almost 30,000 players were making their way through the passageway, while a large crowd had gathered outside the entrance. In a little over 20 minutes, more than 200,000 players would be crammed into the map. At that time, the only path leading outside would be sealed, along with the fates of the elites from Asskickers United, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine.

Nie Yan’s initial plan was to seal off the passageway from the other side before the enemy could reach the valley. That way, the players in the passageway would be trapped, while those outside would be helpless to provide to aid. At that time, Asskickers United, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine could slowly chip away at the forces of Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame, no matter how great their numbers.

But even a wise sage could make mistakes! He never expected the enemy to move so quickly! From his perspective, it was as though 30,000 players had emerged out of thin air!

「I still have about 8,000 players while Fa Lan has a little over 6,000,」Sleepy Fox replied. Both Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine were sending reinforcements to Sinful Gorge right this moment.

They were preparing to clash against the forces of Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. Altogether they had roughly 15,000 players, all of whom were elites. Taking this into consideration, they still stood a fighting chance. At the very least, the enemy would have to pay a hefty price in order to take them all down.

He led the group to a concealed cave close to the mouth of the passageway. It was pitch black inside, leading to who knew where, while a damp chill permeated the air.

"Boss, where are we going?” Undying Scoundrel asked.

"You’ll know in a moment,” Nie Yan replied. He knew the secret cave system in Sinful Gorge like the back of his hand.

The group traversed through many winding and twisting tunnels, advancing ever deeper into the cave, before arriving at a steep incline which they started to ascend. No one knew where Nie Yan was guiding them, but they had full faith in him and so didn’t raise any doubts.

In these narrow tunnels the group walked in pairs of two as they followed a passage that led to a cliff ledge. From there, they could get a clear view of the beautiful landscape of Sinful Gorge. It was a popular sightseeing destination in the previous timeline.

After traveling for a while, Nie Yan and the others finally saw light up ahead.

The brilliant rays pierced through the darkness of the cave.

When the group walked out of the cave, they were greeted by a wide open view of the valley down below. They stood about 10 meters off the ground. Nearby were several similar cave exits, each with ledges that could fit around a dozen or so people.

A dense crowd of players were flooding into the valley. It was similar to watching a travelling colony of ants. The sheer number of people gathered in one place formed a spectacular sight to behold. A virtually endless sea of people filled the passageway from one side to the other.

Almost 60,000 players from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame were crowding into Sinful Gorge!

With such a large force arriving, the red-named players from Asskickers United, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine trapped in Sinful Gorge were faced with a calamity! Nie Yan had made a drastic oversight by underestimating how quickly the enemy could mobilize their forces. Had he been aware of this before, he would’ve stationed people to watch the passageway!

Nie Yan got careless after putting too much trust in Guo Huai’s information network. He knew Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame were eyeing an opportunity to get back at them, and he also knew Sinful Gorge was the perfect place for them to enact their revenge!

Nie Yan reflected on his lapse in judgement. He was still new to leading a guild, so some blunders were bound to occur eventually. The crucial part was not to repeat them, especially ones that were so elementary.

After reprimanding himself, he hardened himself for the upcoming battle. Even if he was defeated today, he would still try his hardest to take Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame to the cleaners!

"Boss, let’s ambush them!” Undying Scoundrel exclaimed. If they cast an area-of-effect spell over the large crowd, they could instantly take out 300 players at minimum. This sort of thrill was impossible to match!

"Scoundrel, cast Hellfire!” Nie Yan ordered. He was going to cut down a large swath of players in one go!

Undying Scoundrel waved his staff and started chanting the syllables for Hellfire, causing the magical energy in the atmosphere to stir. Red clouds rapidly condensed in the sky above the cliff ledge while a stifling pressure descended on the valley.

"Huh? Someone’s casting magic?”

"What the hell? Who’s casting, where?”

The players from Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return were in an uproar as chaos spread through their ranks. They searched for a long time, only to discover no one among them was casting a spell!

"Over there!” someone pointed to a cliff ledge above them. There, they spotted the silhouettes of a few people. Just how did they get all the way up there?

It was some 10 meters above the ground. How were they supposed to climb up?

The players could only look on helplessly as Undying Scoundrel cast Hellfire. After he finished chanting the last syllable, the blazing cloud trembled before flames rained down from the sky like a torrential downpour.

Numerous fireballs smashed into the cliff wall, sending debris and embers flying out in every direction. The valley was instantly transformed into a sea of flames. A blanket of damage values rose up into the sky as the raging inferno cleared out a large area, killing over 300 players.

The crowd was in shambles. A portion of them escaped into Sinful Gorge while the rest were cut off by the flames.

After a while, the flames slowly died down, leaving behind heaps of scorched corpses scattered all over the ground.

"Mages stay here. The rest of you, follow me. We’re going to drive those bastards away from Sinful Gorge!” Nie Yan said before jumping down the ledge. Monochrome, Edgeless, and the others followed after him.

The five Mages stayed on the cliff ledge. If any of the players who entered Sinful Gorge tried to escape, they would be obliterated by area-of-effect spells.

Nie Yan immediately dashed toward the mouth of the passageway upon landing on the ground. As the blade of his dagger fell, he cut down several players in quick succession. They were all low-level cannon fodder, their equipment subpar, so he mowed through them with ease.

Closely behind him, Monochrome, Edgeless, and the others also charged into the fray.

Monochrome let out a deep battle cry and sent a Victorious Return player flying with a Heroic Strike. He plowed through another six players in quick succession with Charge, then took out eight more with a Whirling Slash. He left behind a trail of bodies in his wake.

Edgeless also went all out, cutting down player after player.

On another part of the battlefield, an unfamiliar Fighter was also performing remarkably. He was called Aloof Shadow, a newly recruited member of Asskickers United. He quickly rose up the ranks of the guild, distinguishing himself as a top talent. He used his heavy shield to steamroll through the players of Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return.

Based on his actions, he wasn’t the least bit inferior to Yi Yan while he was only slightly behind Bladelight in terms of skill.

Nie Yan felt gratified that some of the promising players were also showing growth! Asskickers United had gained another powerful Fighter!

Bladelight and the other Warriors fiercely pressed forward. Bolstered by the support of Young Seven, Painted Muslin, and the others who were supporting them from behind, they had no need to pay attention to their health. They advanced single-mindedly, overrunning the enemy at a frightening pace.

No one could stop them!

The Mages who stayed behind on the cliff ledge were worry-free since the only way to reach them was through the narrow tunnels. When facing an equal number of opponents, they were invincible!

Back in the passageway, Bladelight was especially eye-catching. No matter how many spells struck him, since they were only hitting in the single digits, his enormous health bar was barely getting scratched. It was like picking a hair from nine oxen. This was excluding the fact he had Priests constantly healing him from the rear. Clad in the Everlasting Dark Gold Set, he was an unstoppable killing machine.

Chapter 273 – Declaration

Nie Yan’s group of 25 pushed the forces of Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return back into the mouth of the passageway between the cliff walls.

Monochrome, Aloof Shadow, Edgeless, and the others sucked in a cold breath of air as they stared at the vast crowd up ahead stretching as far as the eye could see. Over 100,000 players gathered together, this was truly a breathtaking sight!

Even if Nie Yan’s group were as domineering as the Golden Dragon, they would only be throwing their lives away by engaging the enemy head-on. They retreated into a narrow passage instead, where they stood their ground about eight meters from the entrance with weapons at the ready.

The ground of the passage was littered with the corpses of players from Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return. They flooded in in an attempt to take down Nie Yan’s group, only to quickly discover their efforts were futile. The frontline consisted of Bladelight, Yi Yan, Aloof Shadow, Monochrome, Edgeless, and a few other Warriors and Paladins; the backline was composed of a line of powerful Mages; and supporting all of them further in the rear were Young Seven, Painted Muslin, Black Heaven, Moon Child, and the other Priests.

A lineup like this was invincible, especially in the narrow confines of the passage! No one should even think about defeating them!

The forces of Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return were massive. However, their forces were stuck in the passageway, unable to advance even the slightest!

Nie Yan overflowed with heroic spirit while the rest of the group were filled with the desire to do battle.

Just the 25 of them were holding off over 100,000 players! What kind of magnificent sight was this!?

Any player from Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return that arrived at this narrow passage would have no choice but to allow themselves to be obediently cut down!

"If any of you punks have any guts, then charge right in! I’ll let my blade do the speaking!” Monochrome laughed heartily as he taunted the players from Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return.

"We’re right here, what are you waiting for? Suddenly feeling weak in the knees? Spineless? Weren’t you all supposed to be unbeatable? Bring out some of the attitude you guys always show after closing off entire maps to other players! I’m telling you lot, I’m from Asskickers United! If you ever bump into any members of my guild in the future, you better play filial like the bunch of grandsons you are!”

Due to Nie Yan’s influence, the group acted completely unbridled, showing not a hint of politeness in their speech.

The taunts echoed like thunder throughout the narrow passage allowing almost every player from Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return to hear them.

The players from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame were fuming with anger. They launched several more assaults at Nie Yan’s group, only to be thoroughly beaten back each time. They suffered almost 600 casualties in the process. A force 100,000 strong was being held back by only 25 players from Asskickers United. They couldn’t set a single step over the line drawn by Nie Yan. What kind of face did they have left to respond? Would they really be forced into retreat in such a humiliating fashion?

No matter how unbridled they normally were, they couldn’t help but feel helpless right now.

What else did they have left to say? They had lost all face! A small group who refused to accept this situation organized around 500 players to launch another frontal assault on Nie Yan’s group. However, they were soundly defeated. This 25-player blockade set up by Nie Yan was iron tight, enduring wave after wave of attacks without showing any signs of collapse.

Nie Yan walked up to the front of the group and scanned over the vast crowd of players from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame. He said, "I am the guild leader of Asskickers United, Nirvana Flame…”

Nie Yan’s deep voice rang far through the passage. Hearing the name of the Mad Rogue, these players from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame immediately settled down and looked over in his direction. Many of them could only see a blurry silhouette standing over the corpses of their fallen comrades.

When Nie Yan’s cold gaze swept over the players at the front of the crowd, all of them retreated a step.

At this moment, Nie Yan was like an untouchable god, a lofty aura that held the common people in contempt.

"On behalf of Asskickers United, I speak to you today, members of Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame. Withdraw! Scram back to Calore! If your guild is so determined to duke it out to the bitter end, be prepared to be completely and utterly crushed by Asskickers United!” Nie Yan said in a heavy tone. Asskickers United’s formidable strength gave him ample lung power.

Nie Yan’s words struck the hearts of every player from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame. Only Nie Yan could make such a declaration. He would personally lead Asskickers United to wipe their names from the history books!

This was a declaration from all of Asskickers United!

It was filled with unrivalled contempt for Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame.

Over 100,000 players were prevented from entering the valley of Sinful Gorge by a mere 25 players. How could these players from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame retort?

…

The Calore dungeons were filled with cell blocks. Outside of a few NPCs, many players from Victorious Return were locked up in these cells. These players were all thrown in here by Nie Yan.

Although the environment here wasn’t bad at all, these players from Victorious Return were dispirited. They couldn’t do anything while stuck imprisoned within these cells. As for just not logging into Conviction, they would end up feeling empty, as if something were missing in their life since the game had become an integral part of their daily routine.

Heaven Breaker was watching the videos sent by his subordinates with a gloomy expression. Listening to Nie Yan’s declaration, he stood up in anger and slammed the wall. "Fuck that bastard! Who does he think he is, daring to boast about trampling Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame!? Fuck!”

He was boiling with anger. He pounded the iron bars of the cell with his fists. If he wasn’t locked up, he would personally lead a group of people to wipe out Nie Yan!

Fuming with rage, he ordered all the Victorious Return players in Sinful Gorge to wipe out the players of Asskickers United, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine. This was Victorious Return’s repressed anger!

Very soon, the around 60,000 players from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame that managed to enter Sinful Gorge finished wiping out the players of Asskickers United, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine. Only a small number managed to slip past them and escape. However, they also suffered heavy losses as over 30,000 of their players died. Over a third of them were killed by the 1,000 or so members of Asskickers United alone!

Asskickers United’s might was truly stunning!

「Boss, what do we do about the people waiting outside Sinful Gorge?」a subordinate asked Heaven Breaker.

「Tell them to withdraw,」Heaven Breaker gloomily replied. After going through this battle, although Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame managed to wipe out Asskickers United, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine’s forces, the losses they suffered in return were even larger.

However, Heaven Breaker had no choice but to go through with the battle. Based on the number of Asskickers United, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine players they killed, they would be compensated by Century Financial Group. Century Financial Group had already secretly acquired Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors. Their biggest rivals were Asskickers United, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine. Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame were only stage props used to weaken their opposition. Even though they were well aware they were being exploited by Century Financial Group, Heaven Breaker and Nightbreak Trickster had no choice but to act this way, since the alternative was being swallowed up by Asskickers United, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine! It would be better to go out with a fight!

The conflict in Sinful Gorge settled down, signaling the retreat of Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame. Nie Yan’s group of 25 who were holding down a passage were an obstacle the players from Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame would be eternally unable to overcome!

After an entire day of ruckus, Sinful Gorge finally regained its calm.

News of the magnificent display by Nie Yan’s group spread like wildfire through Asskickers United, then all of Calore.

The declaration Nie Yan made at the passage in Sinful Gorge shook the hearts of countless players. The once weak and small Asskickers United had undergone an astonishing rise to power! It was even starting a war to unify Calore!

Nie Yan returned to Calore with the members who weren’t branded with a red name and received admirative stares from countless players. The 25 figures would forever be cemented into the minds of the players.

Kilnfire Woods, Twilight Forest, and now Sinful Gorge, Asskickers United had turned the tides over and over again, gaining a splendid victory each time.

Each victory brought the glory of Asskickers United up to an even higher level!

Asskickers United once more became the focus of attention for the entire player base. This was a foreordained rise of a major power that would compete for dominance in the game, a holy land for countless experts!

Even if players couldn’t join Asskickers United, they would be satisfied by just joining one of the branch guilds: Mages United, Warriors United, Priests United, Paladins United, and Thieves United.

All players came to the same conclusion in their minds: Calore would belong to Asskickers United and them alone!

The guild headquarters exploded with cheers the moment Nie Yan entered. Now upgraded to a Level 4 guild, the courtyard outside the headquarters could hold as much as several thousand players.

"Long live the guild leader! That declaration was awesome!”

"Long live Nirvana Flame! Crush Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame!”

The players of Asskickers United roared with everything they could muster. The excitement from Nie Yan’s declaration was still fresh in their memories. With him as their leader, Asskickers United created moment after moment of glory. The 25 that stood their ground in the narrow passage would remain eternally engraved in the memories of every single guild member.

The passionate Asskickers United players brought a hint of a smile to Nie Yan’s face. Back when he, Tang Yao, Guo Huai, Zhao Li, and Hao Cheng first got together to establish Asskickers United, could they have possibly imagined seeing something like today? A guild with just several hundred now soared to be one of several tens of thousands—one that assembled the strongest elites in all of Calore!

This was by far the most resounding statement made by Asskickers United to date. It was a declaration of war against two well-established powerhouses!

All of the players in Calore were shocked.

The rise of Asskickers United was impossible to stop. This was the birth of another hegemony!

Chapter 274 – Dragonsoar Financial Group

The guild was still in a frenzy, with everyone incessantly discussing the events that unfolded at Sinful Gorge.

Although Nie Yan’s group had only succeeded by exploiting the winding terrain, such a paltry excuse couldn’t cover up the immense humiliation suffered by Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return.

Nie Yan gathered the elite figures of his guild together in the headquarters to deal with the administrative affairs.

"What were our guild’s losses like?” Nie Yan inquired, turning his head towards Guo Huai.

"They were in the acceptable range. 300 of our brothers managed to hole up in a cave and hold off their attackers. In addition to that, another hundred or so found hideouts and rode out the storm that way. We did loot tons of equipment, far more than what we lost. The only real losses were our players’ levels, but luckily the Buried History patch made leveling up much easier. They’ll be able to grind back up in no time,” Guo Huai answered. Asskickers United could definitely afford these losses. After all, just killing so many Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return players already far outweighed any losses they suffered.

"What about Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine?” Nie Yan asked. His allies’ casualties were definitely not so light.

"Not many of their people survived, but such losses shouldn’t be too bad for them. Their foundations shouldn’t be shaken at all,” Guo Huai judged. A guild that went into an uncertain conflict like the one in Sinful Gorge would obviously know there was a high chance of failure. Major guilds like them had deep pockets and oceans of people. So what if a bunch of them died once?

"Properly compensate the players who died. We can’t let them lose out,” Nie Yan instructed. Fair and just post-battle arrangements were critical, leaving no one with reasons to complain. As for distributing the merit points everyone had earned, Nie Yan simply tasked Guo Huai with doling them out.

"Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered,” Guo Huai promised. The current Asskickers United had quite a few administrative personnel. The guild’s ability to run smoothly was in no small part due to them. When divvying out rewards, the system would provide a lot of helpful data. Coupled with additional oversight from these managers, problems of unfair distribution rarely surfaced.

"Before I forget, you should also hand out the equipment prizes I promised,” Nie Yan added.

"That reminds me, there was something I had to tell you. While you were fighting in Sinful Gorge, some of our members came into conflict with Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors.”

"What was the result?”

"We lost over 200…”

Nie Yan’s heart sank. He thought for a bit before giving his verdict. "If you can get me their exact coordinates, report it immediately. If not, don’t worry about it. They’re not a threat to us for the time being, anyway.”

"I understand, but don’t brush them off. We’ve always been competing with Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return, and our losses haven’t been small. If we’re dragged down by our current rivals, the gap between us and those three will only increase. They’ve already started to take control of strongholds and they’re close to or already Rank 6 guilds. If we don’t develop faster, and they bring the fight to us, we’ll be the ones to suffer a loss.”

Nie Yan nodded solemnly, fully aware of the grim reality. Guo Huai’s thoughts weren’t alarmist paranoia, but the truth.

"I also heard Century Financial Group and the Kalon Fund teamed up to acquire 36% of Angel Corps. Even though that’s not a controlling share, it’s enough for Century Financial Group to have some say in their affairs,” Guo Huai reported. He was aware Nie Yan had some kind of conflict with Century Financial Group, so he thought his brother might be interested in this piece of news about them.

Angel Corps? Nie Yan was surprised. After Century Financial Group failed to purchase Radiant Sacred Flame, they had withdrawn from Calore. Although he knew they were bound to invest somewhere else, he hadn’t expected them to turn to the Satreen Empire.

The Angel Corps of the previous timeline was even stronger than Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame! Against this number one guild of the Righteous Faction, even at its peak Victorious Return couldn’t hold a candle to them.

During its strongest hour, Angel Corps had in their ranks well over 30 players who stood at the very peaks of their respective classes. Below them was a veritable sea of experts, allowing them to hold an extravagant 526 strongholds! Their glory was in plain sight, for all to see.

Although Angel Corps was in the distant Satreen Empire, this new development sprouted a sense of danger in his heart. That was a monstrous behemoth!

With this distant foe added to the Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors in front of them, Asskickers United clearly had their work cut out for them.

"However strong Angel Corps is, they still can’t just fly here willy-nilly.” Guo Huai, noticing Nie Yan’s troubled expression, tried to pacify him. At least until flying mounts became prevalent, Angel Corps had no way of sending troops into the Viridian Empire.

The Satreen Empire’s beastmen used different classes and skills from the humans of the Viridian Empire, so Nie Yan was now clueless as to how the future would unfold.

"Keep me updated on every move the Century Financial Group makes. No matter how small, I want to hear about it!” Nie Yan ordered firmly. He would never underestimate the Century Financial Group. But since they had shifted their focus to the Satreen Empire, Asskickers United finally had a little breathing room. After all, the two empires were so far apart that it would be a long time before their respective powers met.

After settling the guild affairs, Nie Yan received some information from Sleepy Fox.

「I was just told by the chief administrator of Calore that the stronghold battle will be pushed back by five days,」Sleepy Fox said. Even though Holy Empire had also suffered heavy losses, the stronghold battle was an absolute must for the growth of their guild. He didn’t expect it to be delayed so suddenly.

「Were you given a reason why?」Nie Yan asked with a hint of a surprise.

「Apparently a Paladin from Radiant Sacred Flame received the position of Red Garbed Chaplain from the Holy Shrine, and requested for the stronghold battle to be postponed due to his ceremony. Chief Administrator Telus agreed,」Sleepy Fox replied. He didn’t know what sort of significance this title held.

「Oh? So be it, we wait five days then,」Nie Yan replied. Red Garbed Chaplain was a title granted by the Holy Shrine. It was somewhat inferior to his own Demon Hunter title, and was far from being comparable to a Grand Scholar. But since it signified a member of the Holy Shrine, it held a lot of sway in Calore. He didn’t anticipate Nightbreak Trickster would take advantage of this development to postpone the stronghold battle.

「There’s word going around that Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return don’t dare to stir up trouble for us any longer. I guess those bastards finally learned their lesson,」Sleepy Fox added. The sudden delay of the stronghold battle wasn’t enough to influence his mood. There was no harm in waiting a few days.

Nie Yan figured that the players from Asskickers United should take some time to recoup after going through such intense battles of late. After all, their enemies weren’t merely limited to Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame. If they wished to stay on top of things, they would have to properly allocate the time they were given from now until the start of the stronghold battles

He chatted awhile longer with Sleepy Fox about future matters before hanging up.

Nie Yan checked up on the Starry Night Potion Shop and Union of Assassins. Seeing that both were growing steadily, he felt reassured. The other virtual property he had bid on was the auction house to the north of Calore. So far, three of the four auction houses in the city were owned by him. As for who the remaining one belonged to, he wasn’t privy on such details.

The day the real-world currency exchange went live was fast approaching, and with this would inevitably follow sweeping changes to the entire game. Nie Yan had already finished his preparations. The large financial groups entering the playing field would definitely bring about changes to the future structure of Calore. The guilds that received their investments would undergo a brand new period of unprecedented growth.

"Nie Yan, Nie Yan, wait up!” Guo Huai ran up to Nie Yan in all haste.

"What is it?” Nie Yan asked. What sort of matter would make Guo Huai so nervous?

"Do you remember what I told you about the Dragonsoar Financial Group?”

"I do, what about it?” Nie Yan asked. Wasn’t it the financial group owned by Xie Yao’s grandfather?

"Dragonsoar Financial Group just contacted us and inquired about investing in our guild. I don’t know how to respond. What are your thoughts?” Guo Huai asked. The initial offering price given by Dragonsoar Financial Group was very alluring. By gaining such a strong backer, the future of Asskickers United was all but secured. This was an incredible opportunity for immense growth!

Dragonsoar Financial Group was an entity that rivalled the likes of Century Financial Group!

When Nie Yan previously declined the investment offer of Century Financial Group, Guo Huai felt a tinge of regret. Who could’ve known that just a few days later, they would be approached by Dragonsoar Financial Group. Those with quality goods would never lack buyers!

"What are their terms?”

"They want at minimum a 30% stake in the guild. If we’re willing, they’d like to enter a 10-year cooperation agreement where they’ll provide us continuous financial support and help us reach the peak! In addition to this, they want to dispatch a person over to supervise the affairs of the guild,” Guo Huai replied. Dragonsoar Financial Group’s terms were extremely generous. This made him endlessly excited. If they signed into an agreement, Asskickers United’s future was guaranteed to be bright.

"Let me think it over,” Nie Yan responded. Asskickers United was established single-handedly by him, so he had absolute shares. There was no harm in selling some shares off to Dragonsoar Financial Group. Since he, Guo Huai, Tang Yao, and Zhao Li would still own a majority stake, he wasn’t worried about a hostile takeover. Besides, with Dragonsoar Financial Group’s support, Asskickers United would be heading towards a glorious future.

There was also a faint indescribable feeling in Nie Yan’s heart. If he accepted Dragonsoar Financial Group’s investment, there would be another connection between him and Xie Yao.

"Start up negotiations. We’re willing to sell 30% at most, nothing more. As for how much they’re willing to invest, try to fight for as much as possible. Draft up a contract for me to see,” Nie Yan ordered. Haggling in business wasn’t his strong point, so he would leave everything to Guo Huai. The final draft of the contract would have to go through him before it could be signed anyway.

Guo Huai became exhilarated after receiving Nie Yan’s approval. He immediately went about negotiating with Dragonsoar Financial Group.

This new development didn’t come as a surprise to Nie Yan. With the previous accomplishments of Asskickers United, even if Dragonsoar Financial Group didn’t show interest, other financial groups would definitely approach them. The only worry on his mind was the supervisor Dragonsoar Financial Group wished to send over.

I hope they won’t be too difficult…

Chapter 275 – Father And Son

Nie Yan checked the time. Seeing that the servers would shut down in roughly five minutes, he logged off.

When Nie Yan walked downstairs, he noticed his father and mother had already left for work. This was the usual scene he was greeted with in the morning. For the sake of the business, his parents would leave home at the crack of dawn and wouldn’t return until late at night. Nevertheless, his family’s circumstances were greatly improved. Furthermore, thanks to his parents offering them jobs, many close relatives and friends were able to break away from poverty. As for Luo Ming and the others, they were still stuck back in Ningjiang. Although they were far from barely scraping by, it was impossible for them to live as extravagantly as they did in the previous timeline. Without these vermin mucking things up, his parent’s company would definitely expand with greater momentum

Nie Yan was awoken from his thoughts by the sound of his phone ringing.

「Nie Yan, what’s this about you stirring up trouble on your first day of school?」Father Nie asked gravely. Even early into his twenties during the previous timeline, Nie Yan was still very much afraid of provoking his father’s anger.

The reverence Nie Yan held for this stern father of his was marrow deep. Like many people, he wouldn’t bat an eyelid in the face of a powerful adversary. But the moment his father raised his hand, he would scurry away like a timid mouse.

「I heard you seriously injured a classmate, and they have to stay in the hospital to recover for quite a few days.」

「It was a fair duel both of us agreed to. We bowed to each other and everything. We were responsible for own injuries. He even passed the entrance test for the Top Military Academy. How should I have known he would be so weak? I only gave him a single kick…」Nie Yan mumbled in a half-hearted attempt to justify himself. But in truth, Liu Rui really had been baited by him.

「Hmmph! You dare to talk back to me!?」Father Nie asked coldly.

Nie Yan instantly shut up. He had no intention of further inciting his father’s anger.

「When that classmate of yours returns to school, I want you to apologize to him. Do you realize how big of a mess you’ve made? That kid is the son of an important shareholder in Dragonsoar Financial Group, one of the most powerful corporate entities in all of southern China!」

「Did they come to you looking for trouble?」Nie Yan asked, his eyes flickering with a cold glint. He wouldn’t stand idly by if Liu Rui dared to go after his parents.

「No. Fortunately, the chairman of Dragonsoar Financial Group intervened on our behalf. Since the injuries were sustained during a fair match, the other side has no leg to stand on anyway. But don’t let that be an excuse, I never want to see this happen again! Think before you act!」Father Nie sharply admonished

「Yes, sir…」Nie Yan responded in a crestfallen manner.

Nie Yan hung up the call. He felt wronged, but there was nothing he could do. This matter gave him a lot to think about. Like in the game, he realized that solely relying on himself in reality wouldn’t do as well. He required his own foundation. But where would he take his first step? His thoughts immediately shifted to Wei Kai. In the previous timeline, Wei Kai had done quite well for himself, albeit for a short stint, before he vanished without a trace. Wei Kai had previously contacted them about joining Asskickers United, but Nie Yan had instructed Tang Yao to delay giving an answer.

Nie Yan figured it was about time to have a chat with Wei Kai. He would decide what to do after school was over.

…

The layout and furnishing in the office of Nie Yan’s parents looked elegant while the desk was covered in all sorts of documents.

Father Nie’s frosty countenance immediately thawed as the corners of his lips cracked into a faint smile.

"What are you so happy about? You can barely keep that smile from plastering all over your face.” Mother Nie gently poured some coffee into his mug.

"You gave me a good son. That smelly brat beat up a classmate so badly they had to be hospitalized, on the first day of school no less!”

"You’re actually proud of this?” Mother Nie shot him an incredulous glance.

"It was a fair duel! Both sides are responsible for their own injuries. There’s no qualms about it. Like father, like son. That Liu Rui kid or whatever is the son of the second-ranked shareholder in the Dragonsoar Financial Group, Liu Ding. I heard he already passed the test for the Top Military Academy, but our son took him down with a single kick! Doesn’t that mean Lil’ Yan is even stronger than him? Our son’s entrance into the academy is cinched! How could I not be happy? This calls for some alcohol!” Father Nie heartily laughed. He felt gratified from the bottom of his heart. As for Nie Yan beating another classmate up, which youngster didn’t show off a little bravado by trying to prove themselves on the fighting stage? That was simply a matter of course!

"Lil’ Yan was too hot-headed this time. We’ve offended Liu Ding, won’t that be a problem?” Mother Nie asked in a worried tone.

"What’s done is done. Even if the sky falls, this old man will always shield him. If worst comes to worst, I’ll ask my old comrades for help. There’s no need to be afraid of Liu Ding, even less so after the chairman of Dragonsoar Financial Group himself spoke out,” Father Nie said brightly. He was a military veteran. He had experienced hails of bullets and people dying in front of his eyes. This sort of trivial matter wasn’t enough to cause him any concern.

Father Nie was a military man through and through. Mother Nie could only remain silent. Even though her husband was strict, not hesitating to give out a scolding or beating if their son misbehaved, he did truly love Nie Yan.

"Even though those two old comrades of yours are regional officers, they won’t necessarily be willing to help you!” Mother Nie exclaimed. After such a long time, no matter how close the relationship, it had probably degraded.

"We went through life and death together. That kind of bond lasts a lifetime. If they were the types to turn their backs on a fellow comrade, I would’ve long since given them a good beating. Not only me, but Old Liu and Old Lin as well!” Father Nie retorted.

Although Mother Nie was deeply worried, after hearing her husband speak in such a way, she felt somewhat reassured. She grabbed her phone and called Nie Yan to remind him not to cause any more trouble at school. After all, he was attending a school for elites. Any random student there had at least some background!

…

Nie Yan wore a wry smile on his face when the phone call with his mother ended. Nevertheless, he couldn’t help but feel a cold sweat after recalling his father’s words. Liu Rui was actually the son of the second-ranked shareholder of the Dragonsoar Financial Group. It was a wonder how that snobbish bastard concealed his background so well. In the previous timeline, Xie Yao had informed him that Liu Rui was very close with her family. It turned out they were all part of the Dragonsoar Financial Group! It appeared he had severely underestimated his opponent.

Even though that kick felt refreshing as hell, it wasn’t worth provoking the hornet’s nest. I really should act more carefully next time and not let my emotions get the better of me.

Since Nie Yan had created this mess, he should resolve it. He needed to start building up his own influence. Otherwise, he would be devoured without a trace. His best shot was to get a spot in the Top Military Academy’s entrance exam. Very few people dared to lay hands on the students enrolled there.

Liu Rui would be staying in the hospital for a couple more days, so Nie Yan wouldn’t be seeing him anytime soon.

When Nie Yan arrived in the classroom, there weren’t many people there. Xie Yao was sitting at her desk, scribbling something. She looked very pretty in her pink, short-sleeved shirt and white skirt. Her hair was tied into a simple ponytail. She wasn’t wearing any jewelry. Bathed in the light of the morning sun, she resembled an angel.

This beautiful deskmate of his was knitting her brows, pondering over who knew what. From Nie Yan’s angle, her face was spotless and as white as jade while her appearance was picturesque.

Nie Yan sat down in his seat beside hers. As he gazed at Xie Yao from the side, he couldn’t help but inwardly remark she was as beautiful as ever. He had very deep feelings for her, developed over two lifetimes. In the previous timeline, he only had the courage to sneak glances at her. In this one, he was a changed man.

"Xie Yao, good morning,” Nie Yan greeted.

"Good morning!” Xie Yao turned her head and greeted back with a smile. As she stared at Nie Yan, she became somewhat absentminded, noticing there were some subtle differences between him and his alter-ego inside the game. She suddenly hatched a devious plot. She would use two different identities to get close to Nie Yan. In the end, when he found out those two people were one and the same, how would he react? She giggled sinisterly in her heart.

"It seems like we’re having kickboxing class today,” Nie Yan said after noticing Xie Yao was a bit distracted.

"Ah, yeah. There’s still 20 minutes before class starts.” Xie Yao snapped out of her daze.

Nie Yan recalled that Xie Yao was always the most energetic during kickboxing class. In the previous timeline, he was somewhat weaker than her. As a male, he should obviously be much stronger than her in brute strength. But back then, he didn’t even dare to look at her directly, let alone fight her.

Class was about to start. Nie Yan was filled with anticipation. He recalled how beautiful and heroic Xie Yao looked in her fighting uniform.

At this moment, Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and the others walked into the classroom. Spotting Nie Yan, they immediately went up to him in high spirits.

"Hey! I heard about what happened. You guys sure were awesome yesterday!” Zhai Hao exclaimed. He was absolutely dumbstruck when he heard about the events in Sinful Gorge. He was thoroughly impressed by Nie Yan. He had never met anyone more badass than him. The guild leader of Asskickers United, this was a legendary figure! The fact that the real, living person was standing right in front of him was still hard to believe. When he got up this morning, he had to pinch himself a few times just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.

Zhai Hao purposefully spoke in a vague manner so as not to reveal Nie Yan’s identity.

Li Rui and the others also greeted Nie Yan. Seeing Xie Yao sitting right beside him, they pulled Zhai Hao away.

Zhai Hao finally realized he was intruding and said, "Let’s talk another time.”

In those 20 minutes before class started, they would give Nie Yan and Xie Yao some alone time. They would chat with Nie Yan later during kickboxing class.

Each of them went to their respective seats.

A male classmate scooted up next to Zhai Hao and bragged, "Zhai Hao, I recently levelled up to Level 27 and also got myself a piece of Silver-grade equipment. Next time we log on, duel me?”

"I don’t want to PvP you.”

"Why not, chicken?”

"My ass, who would be afraid of you?”

"Care to make a bet?”

"If we’re gonna bet, let’s bet,” Zhai Hao replied indifferently. Fool, what’s so amazing about being Level 27. This elder bro will teach you a hard lesson in life about what happens to those who brag!

Overhearing their conversation, Nie Yan broke into a smile. In the previous timeline, he would often PvP with his classmates. He would even occasionally win a few things.

Nie Yan turned around, only to see Xie Yao had turned her head away. She was currently writing something on the computer. Sensing Nie Yan’s gaze, her beautiful eyelashes involuntarily jumped up, giving away the tremors in her heart.

Chapter 276 – Seductress

It wasn’t often that Nie Yan got to have some alone time with Xie Yao, so he savoured every moment, making some small talk every now and then. He felt very content. Love was something that needed to be slowly nurtured. It couldn’t be rushed.

"Class starts soon! Let’s head over to the locker room to get changed,” a student said after looking at the clock.

The students stood up and started streaming out of the door while they chatted.

Kickboxing class was being held in the gymnasium next door. It was quite large, covering around 600 square meters, and could hold hundreds of people. It was more than capable of accommodating the 30-odd-some students in their class.

There were many faces Nie Yan didn’t recognize, some he was confident he hadn’t even seen in his past life. In any case, the school gave its students a lot of freedom, allowing them to attend classes as they pleased. There were even those who would only show up during tests, choosing to spend their time working instead.

"Let’s go together,” Nie Yan suggested to Xie Yao.

"I still need to get changed. Let’s meet in the gym,” Xie Yao tactfully refused after a brief moment of hesitation.

She could just imagine what sort of commotion would erupt if the two of them were seen walking together.

As Xie Yao stood up, Nie Yan’s eyes automatically followed her fine figure. With long slim legs and jade-white arms, she wasn’t quite sexy-hot but rather exuded a curvaceous charm that invited endless fantasies. Especially with the suggestive words get changed still hanging in the air, Nie Yan’s imagination went wild as he pictured the beautiful scene of Xie Yao undressing.

Xie Yao trembled when she sensed Nie Yan’s half-teasing, half-admiring gaze. She felt a peculiar feeling in her heart. Did he have no intention of disguising his thoughts?

"I’ll be going first!” Xie Yao exclaimed in a flustered manner. Her cheeks were slightly tinged with red.

Never before did she feel such a burning hot gaze from another male student she was close to.

Seeing Xie Yao’s helpless appearance, Nie Yan cracked a faint smile.

"Mhmm, alright. See you in the gym,” Nie Yan replied. The sweet fragrance of her perfume drifted up his nose.

As she headed out the door, Xie Yao noticed another female classmate, Jiang Yingyu, walking up to Nie Yan. She pouted silently and paused, feeling a twinge of annoyance rise up within her. But, having just left in a fit, she couldn’t possibly just turn around and head back! Huffing angrily, she marched out of the classroom.

"Hey! You’re the new transfer student, right? How are you settling in?” Jiang Yingyu greeted with a bright smile.

Jiang Yingyu was a member of the cultural recreation committee. In terms of appearance alone, she was only slightly inferior to Xie Yao. However, since she was a seasoned dancer, she had a very flexible body on top of a flourishing figure. Best described as an alluring seductress, she was the subject of countless adolescent fantasies in the class.

A person like Jiang Yingyu would never take the initiative to seek him out for a conversation in his past life, so Nie Yan found her actions right now a bit baffling. It was rumoured she married a rich businessman more than twice her age after graduating from high school. At that time, many of the boys in their class mourned it as a huge pity. Just how amazing would it feel to push down a beauty like her in bed? They would even be willing to lose ten years of their lives for such an opportunity. Every last one of them cursed their luck that they weren’t born several decades earlier.

Nie Yan felt no special feelings for a gold digger like Jiang Yingyu. Even back then, his heart had already been stolen by Xie Yao. Although he had spoken with Jiang Yingyu on several occasions in his past life, they were passing acquaintances at best.

"Pretty well. Everyone has been very kind and friendly,” Nie Yan replied with a faint smile. The other side had taken the initiative to greet him, so he had no reason to treat her coldly. Besides, they were fellow classmates. It would be best if they got along.

Spotting Xie Yao walking out of the classroom from the corner of his eye, Nie Yan felt a twinge of disappointment.

"Hmm? It seems our class goddess has already left. You know, there’s so many pretty girls in our class. Why limit yourself to her? Look at Xia Ling, Zhong Xin, and the others, you could probably pick any of them up without much effort. I can’t say I’m not interested either,” Jiang Yingyu teased coquettishly after noticing Nie Yan glancing at the door. She purposefully leaned forward on his desk to give him a better view of her assets which were without a doubt unrivalled. Nie Yan was everything she was looking for in an ideal man: handsome, tall, strong, talented, and—most importantly—rich! She had originally set her sights on Liu Rui. Who would’ve thought someone even better would show up!

Nie Yan smiled in response but offered no further explanation. "You’ll have to excuse me. Class is starting soon, and I’ve got to get changed. I’ll be taking my leave now.”

"Oh, right… Let’s talk some other time.” Jiang Yingyu’s smile turned sluggish, a hint of embarrassment trailing in her voice.

Nie Yan stood up and strode out of the classroom.

Witnessing this scene from the other side of the classroom, Xia Ling couldn’t help but let out an audible snicker. That succubus was finally served a taste of her own medicine. Despite having charmed an endless string of boys, she was flatly rejected this time around in the most embarrassing way possible. Who knew Nie Yan had such character? He actually possessed the willpower to resist her temptation!

Xia Ling’s impression of Nie Yan improved even further. Hmm… I should tell Xie Yao about this.

Jiang Yingyu humphed unhappily, then turned around and walked away.

Nie Yan stepped out of the classroom. He was very much looking forward to kickboxing class since he would finally get the chance to exercise his body. Improving your own strength was a very satisfying feeling.

The gymnasium was across from the female changing area. Every student was provided with private changing rooms, fitted with various security features like interference with all recording devices. Xie Yao’s room was roughly 60 square meters in size. Its walls were lined with rows upon rows of elegant cabinets that were filled with freshly washed and dried clothes. There was also a simple bed in the corner where the weary student could rest.

Xie Yao stepped into the changing room and closed the door behind her. She grabbed a kickboxing uniform from one of the cabinets and started undressing. She examined herself in the mirror. Wearing only a bra and a pair of pink panties, her slim figure was unstained by any blemishes while her chest was well-developed and plump.

I shouldn’t lose out to Jiang Yingyu by much, right?

When Xie Yao recalled Nie Yan’s burning gaze, a trace of annoyance and bashfulness arose in her heart. This peculiar sort of feeling was impossible to get rid of. She pursed her lips. That guy is definitely a pervert. I’ll have to do a proper investigation to make sure nothing happened between them!

After giving this some thought, Xie Yao became a little anxious. She had no choice but to admit that Jiang Yingyu’s figure was exceptional, enough to woo the hearts of countless men and make them go mad with lust, especially when she was dancing. Those seductive and alluring movements could instantly bewitch with a single glance.

Xie Yao changed into her uniform and bound her hair tightly. Her previously maiden-like appearance was nowhere to be found. In her white kickboxing uniform, she was brimming with valiant and youthful vigor.

After tightening the cloth belt around her waist, she was just about to walk out when her cellphone rang.

「Grandpa!」Xie Yao happily exclaimed.

「Yao Yao, remember that matter you asked me about earlier? Well, I’ve already put my subordinates on it. We’re currently in the middle of negotiations,」Liu Hongze informed. He couldn’t help but feel content from the bottom of his heart when he heard his granddaughter’s voice. Xie Yao always loved to cling to him when she was younger, so the two of them were very close. On top of this, she was his only granddaughter. How couldn’t he love her dearly?

Thanks to his daughter being filial by giving birth to a granddaughter, even a lonely old man like him in his seventies could still feel a bit of familial affection. His love for Xie Yao was so great that he wouldn’t even hesitate to gift her the moon and stars. When he passed away, all his assets would be passed down to her.

Although they were exceedingly wealthy, Xie Yao’s family didn’t consider money to be of much importance. After all, there were things money couldn’t buy you, like love.

「Thank you, Grandpa!」

「Yao Yao, why did you want me to invest in Asskickers United so badly?」Liu Hongzhe asked affectionately.

「Uhh… it shows a lot of promise! How long ago was Asskickers United first established? Yet it’s already grown so big! If our Dragonsoar Financial Group invests in them, aren’t we guaranteed to make a huge profit?」Xie Yao replied in a fluster, afraid her grandfather would see through her.

「Is that really all there is to it…?」Liu Hongzhe meaningfully asked.

「Of course! It’s only for the benefit of the company, nothing else! Investing in Asskickers United definitely isn’t a mistake!」Xie Yao answered with a somewhat guilty conscience. Her cheeks burned hot when she recalled the actual reason.

Liu Hongzhe naturally saw through his granddaughter’s lies, but he didn’t question any further. Young people should be allowed to handle their own matters. Although Liu Ding’s son wasn’t bad, that wouldn’t matter if Xie Yao didn’t like him. If she liked someone else, he wouldn’t interfere.

「This has nothing to do with our Dragonsoar Financial Group, I’ve decided to invest in Asskickers United personally,」Liu Hongzhe chuckled. He would be met with too much internal resistance if he tried to invest on behalf of the company. But if this was a personal project, no problems should occur.「As for the person supervising…」

「Let me do it,」Xie Yao blurted out.

「Alright, I’ll let you go. I hope your future husband doesn’t squander my precious granddaughter’s dowry!」Liu Hongzhe teased.

「Grandpa!」Xie Yao bashfully stamped her feet. When she heard the word dowry, tremors surfaced in her heart.

「Alright, alright. I won’t say anymore.」Liu Hongzhe laughed heartily. His normally dignified appearance completely melted away in front of his precious granddaughter.

「You definitely won’t regret investing in Asskickers United! The virtual industry is currently expanding at a rapid pace. Add this to Conviction’s popularity, and it’s already become the number one destination for recreation! With it influencing so many people, the market definitely has a lot of potential for growth. Not to mention Asskickers United is currently the top guild in Calore. In the future, when they capture a few strongholds and start establishing places where people can sink their money, it will definitely become a gold mine. At that time, Grandpa, your pockets will definitely be overflowing!」Xie Yao exclaimed.

「What do you mean, pockets overflowing? Your grandpa is already one foot in the grave. As for Asskickers United, do as you please. So long as you don’t break this old man’s heart, everything will be okay.」Liu Hongzhe laughed brightly. He was confident Xie Yao could properly lead this little project. After all, she had learned many things over the years by following him. Even though it was only a guild in a virtual reality game, its management was roughly the same as running a company in the real world. This was a good opportunity for her to learn.

The two of them chatted for awhile about things in the family, with Xie Yao mostly concerned about Liu Hongzhe’s health, before hanging up.

Xie Yao cheerfully walked out of her changing room. She couldn’t wait to see Nie Yan’s reaction once he realized she was the supervisor from the Dragonsoar Financial Group. Her face lit up with a mischievous grin. While he was still unaware of her identity, she had to thoroughly mess with him!

Chapter 277 – Teacher’s Assistant

Students gathered in groups of threes and fives inside the gym. By their sides, Yang Boyi guided their training. This teacher of Huahai Affiliated High School was the runner-up in the 70th kickboxing championships, a testament to his expertise and skill. Nie Yan was no less experienced skill-wise in kickboxing, but his physique was nowhere close to Yang Boyi’s be it in punching or kicking power. Of course, Nie Yan was still in the phase of training and growth. When his body reached maturity, his strength would easily reach a stage higher.

"Interested in a quick spar?” Yang Boyi asked after noticing Nie Yan’s arrival.

It was rumoured Nie Yan struck down Liu Rui with a single kick, but Yang Boyi hadn’t personally witnessed this. He wanted to test out Nie Yan, so he could get a general understanding of his student’s skill.

Teacher Yang was going to spar with Nie Yan? The nearby students immediately grew excited. Several classmates who were part of Liu Rui’s circle of friends were secretly delighted. They were confident Nie Yan would suffer a miserable loss. He might not even last more than several exchanges.

Nie Yan understood that Yang Boyi meant no harm. His teacher was simply doing his job, which among other things entailed understanding his students’ abilities.

"Please, guide me.” Nie Yan bowed.

Yang Boyi nodded slightly. Nie Yan left a good impression on him just from this show of manners.

Nie Yan and Yang Boyi faced off at the center of the gymnasium. After giving the standard salutation, they took up their stances.

Xie Yao who had changed into her white kickboxing uniform stood among the crowd of spectators. A flicker of astonishment crossed her face. With his resolute expression, Nie Yan didn’t appear the least bit inferior to Yang Boyi. One had to know his opponent was someone who held a lot of clout in the kickboxing world! The runner-up in the 70th kickboxing championships was no joke!

Nie Yan took a deep breath; the man standing before him was absolutely one of the strongest he had ever faced!

"Come, I’ll let you have the first move!” Yang Boyi said in a domineering tone.

"Understood,” Nie Yan replied. Without hesitation, he darted straight toward Yang Boyi.

The two exchanged blows back and forth, so quickly nearby observers could barely process what was happening. Nie Yan struck out with a side kick to the neck, but Yang Boyi raised his arm to parry. A loud impact rang out as the both of them retreated several steps.

Yang Boyi was slightly taken aback by the force behind Nie Yan’s kick. He previously believed half his strength would suffice, but he was actually forced to go all out.

This was already very impressive for a child who was still in a stage of growth, with plenty of room for improvement. Furthermore, Nie Yan’s moves were fierce, and he already possessed the sense of a fighter. Yang Boyi felt passion ignite in his heart. He’s an amazing talent! If trained well, he wouldn’t even have any issues taking first in the kickboxing competition! He’s just lacking in muscle right now…

The crowd watched the fight with widened eyes. For Nie Yan to have held out for this long was simply unbelievable. They had assumed he was only somewhat stronger than others their age. The vast majority of them only knew about fancy moves and the sort but nothing beyond that. Nie Yan’s knowledge and ability had already far surpassed their superficial level. He was not merely a little bit stronger than Liu Rui.

Even Liu Rui and his friends were at a loss for words.

"You have plenty of spice and flair, but you’re lacking in raw power and momentum,” Yang Boyi judged after blocking an axe kick. He felt slightly apprehensive as his arm went a little numb. If this kick struck an average person in the chest, it would definitely break their ribs. Of course, it was still severely lacking when facing off against professional fighters.

Yang Boyi struck out with a kick to the chest. Nie Yan hurriedly raised both arms to block. With a loud bang, he was sent staggering five or six meters back before regaining his footing.

Nie Yan felt the air forced out of his lungs. The power behind that kick was truly fierce. It was worthy of someone who placed second in the kickboxing championships. Nie Yan would require at least another two years to reach that level of expertise. Although his recent growth was impressive, he was still far from matching those top professional athletes.

"But to have reached this level at your age is extremely impressive. Let’s stop here for today. We can spar again some other time,” Yang Boyi praised, then turned around to face the rest of the class. "When I’m not around, Nie Yan will be your instructor. If there’s something you’re having trouble with, you can consult him for advice.”

Yang Boyi had approved of Nie Yan’s strength.

"Nie Yan, follow me,” Yang Boyi instructed.

Nie Yan followed Yang Boyi to his office.

"Would you be interested in participating in fighting competitions?” Yang Boyi asked enthusiastically. "I can help you sign up. You should even be able to compete for the top spot!”

Nie Yan shook his head. "I’m still a student, I don’t believe I’m suitable for such tournaments.” He wasn’t interested in this sort of fame.

"You don’t want to compete?” Yang Boyi was surprised at first. But after some thinking, he realized all students of Huaihai Affiliated High School possessed at least some background. Why would they care about competing in a random kickboxing competition?

Nie Yan nodded.

Even so, Yang Boyi’s mood immediately deflated.

Seeing this, Nie Yan was about to say something to console him. After all, he felt Yang Boyi was truly a good teacher who cared dearly for his students.

Yang Boyi waved his hand. "It’s fine, go back. Help your fellow classmates. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can look for me.”

Nie Yan returned to the gymnasium in high spirits. Yang Boyi had handed over the responsibility of instructing the class to him. He could take advantage of this position to spend more time with Xie Yao during class!

After the spar with Yang Boyi, all of Nie Yan’s classmates were convinced they weren’t his match. What else did they have left to say? Some of them even took the initiative to seek him out for guidance. He patiently answered each of their questions one after another. Seeing how amiable and approachable he was, more of them were willing to approach him for help. Even though he was strong, he wasn’t haughty like Liu Rui. He quickly won the approval of many of his classmates. As for Zhai Hao and the others, they had long since subconsciously become his followers.

None of these classmates possessed shallow backgrounds. It wasn’t a bad idea to develop a good relationship with them.

These students benefited greatly from Nie Yan’s guidance.

After a while, Nie Yan walked over to the female section.

"How are you guys doing?” Nie Yan greeted.

"Hello, Teacher’s Assistant.” Most of them reacted in a reserved, formal manner.

Nie Yan looked up ahead. Xie Yao was currently sparring with another female classmate.

It was pleasant to watch the female classmates spar, especially Xie Yao, as their lithe figures maneuvered about like a choreographed dance.

Noticing Nie Yan observing her, Xie Yao became distracted as her movements slightly faltered.

"Your movements need to be more precise. Put more power behind your strikes. Stay light-footed!” Nie Yan advised from the sidelines.

However, Xie Yao fumbled even more. She was caught off-guard by her opponent’s kick and fell to the ground.

Xie Yao got up and dusted herself off. She was inwardly fuming. Were it not for Nie Yan showing up, she would’ve never lost! She wanted to give him a piece of her mind. But when she searched around for him, he had conveniently made himself scarce. Hmph! You sure know how to run!

Nie Yan spent the entire day going around helping out the other students and socializing with them.

Seeing that the class was running smoothly in Nie Yan’s hands, Yang Boyi happily relaxed. He left everyone to their own devices during self-practice.

When the last bell finally rung in the afternoon, everyone changed back to their regular clothes and were preparing to leave.

Nie Yan had everyone gather around. All his classmates stared at him intently, wondering what kind of speech he was going to give to end the day off.

Nie Yan pretended to mull over what to say for half a day before finally opening his mouth. "It was pleasant working with everyone today. Ummm… that’s all. Enjoy the rest of your day!”

"Tsk, here I thought you had something important to say. Don’t keep us waiting for so long over just a few words!”

"Teacher’s Assistant, goodbye!”

Everyone bid farewell, packed their bags, and got ready to leave.

Nie Yan approached Xie Yao and asked, "How about I send you off?”

Xie Yao hesitated for a long time before eventually nodding in agreement.

Nie Yan never thought Xie Yao would actually agree. An immense sense of happiness welled up inside of him. This was proof that Xie Yao had accepted him to some extent!

Xia Ling in the distance gave Xie Yao a teasing smile. She grabbed the rest of their friends and left.

Students walked in twos or threes along the tree-shaded walkway of the campus grounds. Some threw curious glances at two figures passing by. They never expected that the unattainable goddess, Xie Yao, would be seen walking together with a boy. If this news got out, who knew how many hearts would be broken?

The campus grounds were tranquil and peaceful.

As the two of them walked together, they would occasionally say a few words to break the silence. A subtle but intimate atmosphere developed between them.

It was the sort of feeling that made you wish this moment would last forever.

Nie Yan looked at Xie Yao whose figure was deeply carved into his heart. After experiencing two lives, it became all the more unforgettable. In his past life, he could only silently gaze at her from afar. But now, he could finally walk with her side by side.

When he recalled how depressed Xie Yao seemed during their reunions in the previous timeline, Nie Yan hoped to change her fate, under his protection of course!

In the blink of an eye, the two arrived at the pickup location in front of the school entrance. Xie Yao’s family car was already waiting.

Xie Yao turned to Nie Yan and sweetly smiled. "Nie Yan, thank you.”

Nie Yan fell into a daze for a brief moment. Even after two lifetimes, her smile never failed to enamour him.

"No problem,” Nie Yan replied. The time he spent together with Xie Yao caused his restless heart to turn unprecedentedly serene as all the noise and clamor of the past slowly melted away. Xie Yao’s smile was like the hint of dawn in an endless night.

"Nie Yan, today was fun.” Xie Yao waved goodbye before getting into the car.

Nie Yan waved back. Seeing the car disappearing around the corner of the street, he felt an inexplicable sense of loss. But beyond that, he felt boundless excitement for what the future would hold. He could sense the distance between him and Xie Yao slowly closing as they grew more and more intimate.

Chapter 278 – Summoning the Golden Dragon

During the evening, Nie Yan logged back into the game and started sifting through the updates sent over by Guo Huai.

The Credit Exchange had officially gone live! All kinds of items were being listed for sale, and an unprecedented spike in the trading of in-game gold and equipment occurred. But with both buyers and sellers deciding their own exchange rates, creating volatility in the market, it was temporarily impossible to get a firm grasp of things.

Several new types of establishments were introduced into the game. However, they couldn’t be built yet. Some of them like virtual bars and inns could directly take real-world credits. After all, Conviction was simply a platform for them to provide a service. Others allowed the customer to receive their purchase in reality shortly after paying for it in the virtual world. This experience was somewhat similar to online shopping, but it was so much more! The customer could evaluate a perfect replica of a product in the virtual world, searching for defects and so on, before confirming their purchase.

Only a certain type of venue could host these businesses—strongholds!

Guilds would have to scramble for the next stronghold in order to establish a special district, where they could rent out the land and collect taxes. It was tantamount to moving the various businesses from reality into the virtual world.

This was a major innovation. People could assess the quality of a product before deciding on a purchase without having to step a foot outside the comfort of their homes.

The ingenuity and worth of a stronghold were on display for the world to see and enjoy.

In the previous timeline, a Basic Stronghold generated hundreds of thousands of credits and up to 1,000 gold in taxes every day. The gold was used to fund guild wars, while the credits would generally be distributed among loyal members who contributed to the guild’s growth. The profit from a single stronghold was incapable of sustaining the expenditure of a guild war. However, as the number of strongholds under their control grew, the financial resources at a guild’s disposal would rise exponentially. At the later stages of the game, the income of the guild would become quite substantial.

If Asskickers United genuinely wanted to expand, capturing a stronghold was crucial.

After the opening of the Currency Exchange, all 13 strongholds in Calore were released: 1 Super Stronghold, 1 Advanced Stronghold, 1 Intermediate Stronghold, and 10 Basic Strongholds. All of them were guarded by a great number of creatures of darkness. The respective strongholds would belong to whoever cleared out all these monsters. There was only one stronghold that wasn’t under the control of creatures of darkness. In a couple of days, Radiant Sacred Flame and Holy Empire would engage in war to decide who may lay claim on this stronghold.

Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame quieted down since their defeat in Sinful Gorge. Asskickers United, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine didn’t wish to continue wasting resources and manpower fighting them either. They were all recovering in preparation to clear the new strongholds. Otherwise, if the other guilds snatched away those strongholds, their own growth would start lagging far behind.

When the battle for strongholds broke out, Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors would be the biggest threats to Asskickers United! Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame were currently slowly being pushed out of the ranks of the first-rate guilds.

Nie Yan looked over his recent gains. The three auction houses he had acquired were already beginning operations and business was flourishing. At this rate, they would generate around 1,000 gold every day. Nie Yan’s daily gross profit for his other business ventures were staggering. The 11 branches of the Starry Night Potion Shop brought in around 700 gold, and his other businesses like the Alchemist Shop raked in roughly 200 gold. Finally, after he finished renting out the remaining 33 plots of land he owned across the various cities in the Viridian Empire, they would generate at least 300 gold.

These were merely conservative revenue projections. In the future, the money earned would only be more, not less.

The profit Nie Yan would receive in the future would be quite substantial.

At the moment, Nie Yan had a surplus of around 1,200 gold. He used some of it to restock the guild treasury, while another part was used to socket the equipment of some of his guild members with gems. All in all, it cost quite a pretty penny.

However, Nie Yan understood these were necessary investments if he wished to see his guild members ascend to the highest stage of the game.

After these guild members received their upgraded gear back from Nie Yan, they all went to level. The stronger they were, the higher the odds of clearing the strongholds.

Nie Yan walked into an empty workshop in the Starry Night Potion Shop and took out the Golden Dragon Horn from his bag. He drew blood on his finger with his dagger, then dripped the blood onto the Golden Dragon Horn.

Do you wish to summon the Golden Dragon? The summoned creature will be permanently bound to you.

Yes!

The Golden Dragon Horn immediately emitted a dazzling radiance, flooding the room with light. The magical energy in the room fluctuated violently while a powerful force emerged, causing space to tremble.

After a long time, the Golden Dragon Horn slowly dimmed before finally becoming completely inert.

Reading the system notification, it would take roughly 30 seconds to summon or unsummon a pet.

After Nie Yan finished the summon, a Golden Dragon appeared before him. It resembled a miniature of the one they faced off against in Sinful Gorge, and was only about the size of a penguin. The golden scales that covered its body emitted a dark lustre. Its belly was big and round, forcing the Golden Dragon to waddle as it moved around, while the wings on its back were practically non-existent.

The Golden Dragon spoke gibberish in the dragon language, somewhat resembling a whining child, causing Nie Yan to be baffled. Even though he was fluent in the dragon language, he didn’t understand a word of what it was saying.

Before Nie Yan could move a single step, the Golden Dragon waddled toward him. As soon as he stopped moving, it would stop, too. After letting it remain motionless awhile longer, it used its stubby arms to hold its head and sat down. Nie Yan watched the Golden Dragon scratch its head, then randomly roll around the floor.

This chubby and funny miniature Golden Dragon was Nie Yan’s pet.

Nie Yan checked the Golden Dragon’s stats.

If the Golden Dragon died, it could only be summoned again after 10 days, and furthermore, it would lose experience and its loyalty would drop. Loyalty could slowly be raised by regularly feeding it. Pet food could be bought at an NPC store.

The Golden Dragon was currently very weak. However, in the future, its strength would reach astonishing heights. The caveat was that levelling it up was very difficult. The experience required after every level increased exponentially. Getting the Golden Dragon to a high level was truly no simple matter.

Fortunately, the player could divert all the experience they obtained to their pet. Like this, levelling would become much faster.

Nie Yan took out the Evolution Crystal from his bag. He was going to use it to raise the Golden Dragon’s strength. This type of item was best used when the summoned pet was still an infant to bring out the greatest effect.

"Kuu! Kuu!” The Golden Dragon’s big round eyes stared intently at the Evolution Crystal in Nie Yan’s hands. Its gaze followed wherever he moved his hands.

Nie Yan placed the Evolution Crystal on the Golden Dragon’s head. Am I supposed to insert it in or something?

The Golden Dragon was so small that its head was roughly the same size as the Evolution Crystal.

Nie Yan felt helpless. He had never done something like this before. He had to admit he was a little reluctant.

He squatted down and gazed at the Golden Dragon, then teased, "Hey, Little Guy. What do we do? Am I going to insert this Evolution Crystal into your head, or are you going to swallow it?”

Nie Yan thought for a moment. If he couldn’t figure out how to use the Evolution Crystal, so be it. He didn’t want to end up accidently killing his first pet.

Nie Yan gazed at the helpless look in the Golden Dragon’s eyes. He found its pitiful appearance slightly amusing. Even though a pet didn’t possess higher intelligence like humans, the system would still give it a basic level of comprehension.

The Golden Dragon suddenly opened its mouth wide and swallowed the Evolution Crystal. Nie Yan only saw a giant lump go down its throat, and with a gulping sound, it had swallowed the entire thing whole.

"Shit! You actually swallowed it!” Nie Yan blurted out. He never thought the Golden Dragon would move so quickly. By the time he reacted, it was already too late. He glared at the little glutton.

The Golden Dragon sat down on the ground to rest as its full belly started making gurgling noises. It gently patted its belly and let out a satisfied burp. Before long, it had digested the Evolution Crystal and the little horn on its snout began to grow. Surprisingly, it was translucent like a crystal and emitted a bright radiance.

The Golden Dragon’s dark golden scales gained a brilliant lustre.

Nie Yan could clearly see that the Golden Dragon had grown by a stage. This was probably how the Evolution Crystal was used. Even though it was an accident, it was still a success!

Nie Yan looked over the Golden Dragon’s new stats.

There was already a change in the Golden Dragon’s stats. Most noticeable of all was the change in its Growth Rate. This was the most important part! Sacrificing a rare Evolution Crystal to create a one-of-a-kind pet was absolutely worth it!

A Growth Rate of 20, this was unheard of!

Although pets were introduced with the release of the Buried History expansion, not many players actually had them. In a group of tens of thousands of players, you would be lucky to find one with a pet. Furthermore, most of these pets had trash Growth Rates, and were incomparable to Nie Yan’s Golden Dragon.

Golden Dragons didn’t only appear around Calore. They would also spawn near other cities. This meant the guild leaders of other guilds would probably also obtain something similar.

However, even they most likely wouldn’t have a pet enhanced by an Evolution Crystal.

No other pet in-game could hold a candle to Nie Yan’s Golden Dragon!

Nie Yan unsummoned the Golden Dragon. He would attract too much attention by allowing it to walk beside him in the streets.

First things first. Let’s find a place to level this little fellow up.

Chapter 279 – Shadow Slaughter

Everlasting City. Some of the richer members of Asskickers United were starting to show up. By pooling together their funds, they could afford enough Magic Bombs for a brief power-levelling session in the outer district. Due to the sky-high costs, levelling there for any extended period of time was impractical.

As the average level of the player base rose, the existence of Everlasting City would inevitably be revealed to the public. With this being the case, it was in the best interest of Asskickers United to take advantage of their monopoly while they still could.

Nie Yan found a relatively secluded area and summoned the Golden Dragon. He jumped into the settings and diverted all incoming experience to his pet. Afterwards, he fed it some steak and ordered it to stay put.

Dashing away, Nie Yan used his Cavalry Crossbow to aggro the several hundred Mechanical Golems in the vicinity. After he built up a large enough wave behind him, he began sweeping through with Magic Bombs.

「Boom! Boom! Boom!」A magical blaze enveloped the area.

Magic Bombs arced through the sky, one after the other, before falling to the ground and exploding as a blanket of damage values rose up into the air.

Swaths of Mechanical Golems collapsed to the ground.

Nie Yan saw the Golden Dragon’s experience skyrocket as the special effect for levelling up played over and over again. It directly ascended to Level 9. Its health rose to 260 while its attack and magic power rose to 63–67, while all its other stats also rose considerably. Its growth rate was truly frightening. If the Golden Dragon kept growing in this fashion, its stats would far surpass Nie Yan’s by the time it reached Level 23.

The Golden Dragon also acquired its first skill.

Dragon Breath (Junior): Spray out Dragon Breath, dealing (20 + Magic Power) Fire Damage in a 5-meter cone. Cooldown: 3 minutes. Ranks up at Level 20.

Dragon Breath was an outstanding area of effect skill. It was only Junior-rank for now, but it could already deal so much damage. If he brought the Golden Dragon’s level up, clearing mobs would definitely become much easier. One Dragon Breath could scorch an entire area down to ashes.

Let’s level here for now. I’ll find a better place some other time.

Not just the Golden Dragon, Nie Yan also needed to level up. After the release of the Buried History expansion, the levels of players were skyrocketing. If he didn’t quickly start levelling, he would soon be left behind. It would be ideal if he found a map with evil creatures. Like this, he could level up while also unlocking some of the skills in his Glimpse of Darkness.

Nie Yan looked over the skills in Glimpse of Darkness before focusing his attention on a single one—Shadow Slaughter. To unlock this skill, he only needed to kill a single monster. But looks could be deceiving, as the monster he had to kill was a Level 50 Lord that was an evil creature.

Shadow Slaughter: While active, deal 30% splash damage to up to 10 targets in a 10 meter radius. Duration: 2 minutes. Cooldown: 2 days.

This was a skill any Thief would drool over.

Area-of-effect Thief skills were extremely rare. Even if one showed up in the marketplace, its price would be staggering.

What Nie Yan currently lacked was precisely this type of skill. With such a skill in his arsenal, whether in PvP or PvE, it would be extremely useful. The only downside was its fairly long cooldown.

An increasing number of players obtained new high level skills every day. If Nie Yan wanted to maintain his superiority, it was imperative for him to raise the quality of his skills.

Nie Yan had his sights set on a new goal. He glanced at the Golden Dragon beside him. I’ll get this guy up to at least Level 20 first.

Nie Yan noticed the Golden Dragon had grown quite a bit. It now reached up to his waist. He wondered how big it would get in the future. Would it grow as large as the one in Sinful Gorge? If that happened, it would be too frightening.

Nie Yan dashed off to aggro another 500 Mechanical Golems. After rounding them up, he cleared them away with Magic Bombs.

Another wave of Mechanical Golems collapsed to the ground, and the Golden Dragon ascended to Level 13. The higher its level, the more experience it needed to level up.

Nie Yan did some calculations. The Golden Dragon required at least three times as much experience to level up compared to him. If he wanted to bring it up to a truly high level, it would be no simple matter. If he wished to keep the Golden Dragon’s level close to his own, he would be forced to put endlessly more effort into levelling than the average player.

Far off in a secluded corner, the Golden Dragon was wriggling about, bored to death.

Because Nie Yan ordered it to stay put, it couldn’t leave.

At its current level, there was no way it could handle the Mechanical Golems.

As Nie Yan started collecting the loot, an ash-gray skill book beside the corpse of a Mechanical Golem caught his eye. He bent down and picked it up.

Skill books dropping wasn’t all that rare, so Nie Yan wasn’t too surprised. But after reading the name, a flash of joy crossed his face.

Gale Step (Junior): Become invincible for the first 3 seconds after entering stealth. Movement Speed +20%. Stealth Effect -60%. Cooldown: 3 minutes. Requirement: Level 20. Ranks up at 500 Dexterity.

Gale Step was an essential skill for all Thieves. The boost to movement speed while in stealth, and especially the 3 seconds of invincibility, would allow the player to evade many dangers. It was a rare skill book that was highly sought after. The only downside was that the player’s ability to stealth would be greatly reduced, allowing enemies to more easily spot them.

If the player reached 500 Dexterity, it would upgrade to Intermediate-rank, and its effects would be greatly enhanced.

Since Gale Step was an essential skill, it could be found in any map above Level 20. However, its drop rate was extremely low. It was still pretty rare in Level 30–40 maps and only started to become more common in maps over Level 60.

In the previous timeline, Gale Step was one of Nie Yan’s bread and butter skills. Having gone without it until now truly felt a bit uncomfortable.

Nie Yan was filled with incomparable joy now that he had Gale Step back at hand. Although Shadow Waltz was a decent skill, it just wasn’t Gale Step.

Nie Yan learned Gale Step as a new skill icon popped into his skill bar. This sort of feeling was indescribable. It was as though a missing piece of his soul had been restored. He could easily use this skill with the highest mastery.

Apart from the skill book, Nie Yan also accumulated a giant pile of equipment, all of which were Level 40. However, since the Mechanical Golems were all ordinary mobs, their quality wasn’t that great, averaging around White and Bronze-grade.

Nevertheless, even though he didn’t need this equipment, the guild was in dire need of it. The ordinary members generally couldn’t afford to wear high quality equipment right after breaking a level milestone, so they could only settle for White and Bronze-grade equipment as they transitioned.

Nie Yan did a breakdown of all the loot. He noticed he had two pieces of equipment from the Everlasting Silver Set. His luck wasn’t bad. If he sold a full Everlasting Silver Set for 700 gold, it would almost completely cover his expenditure. The Everlasting Silver Set Sleepy Fox bought had already been delivered by Guo Huai, causing Sapphire Shrine to feel like they had been left behind. So they also asked to purchase an Everlasting Silver Set. If he sold two, that would be an easy 1,400 gold.

The number of Asskickers United players levelling in Everlasting City had increased substantially, so naturally the number of Everlasting Silver Set pieces dropping rose as well. They currently had a total of seven sets in their guild. Bladelight wore the Everlasting Dark Gold Set, both Yi Han and Lofty Shadow had an Everlasting Gold Set, and the remaining four Everlasting Silver Sets were given to relatively outstanding Fighters. So far, Asskickers United had 7 Fighters that made up an impregnable wall!

The number of quality Fighters in a guild was closely connected to its future!

Nie Yan placed the two pieces of equipment into his bag. Let’s see if I can get a few more to drop.

After grinding for another 2 hours, he had finally gotten the Golden Dragon up to Level 20. It was already as tall as him. Looking at its stats, it had 550 health, 380–393 attack and magic power, and its other stats also saw substantial growth.

Its stats growth every level up wasn’t fixed. The higher its level, the more stats it would gain. At its current level, the Golden Dragon could already fend for itself.

It had also learned two new skills:

Haste Aura (Junior): Increase the movement speed of allies within a 20 meter radius by 5%. Ranks up at Level 30.

Sharp Scales (Junior): Reflect 5% of all physical damage received back at the enemy. Ranks up at Level 30.

Haste Aura was a passive skill. It was always active and didn’t expend any mana. It was an amazing skill, especially at the higher ranks. Even though the speed bonus was small, it was still significant considering it affected all allies within the aura’s influence.

Nie Yan recalled a player who obtained a pet with a high-ranking thorns skill in the previous timeline. They started crazily increasing the pet’s tankiness, using all sorts of methods to raise its health and defense. The end result was a valiant, walking fortress. It was a Level 180 pet with over 80,000 health. Anyone who attacked it would die miserably from having their attacks reflected back at them. It also excelled at PvE as monster corpses would pile up from where it stood as they killed themselves attacking it. During group battles, no melee-based class would be crazy enough to attack it.

All thorns skills when brought up to a high rank would be terrifying.

Finally, Dragon Breath had upgraded to Intermediate-rank.

Dragon Breath (Intermediate): Spray out Dragon Breath, dealing (100 + Magic Power) Fire Damage in a 5-meter cone. Cooldown: 2 minutes. Ranks up at Level 60.

After rising to Intermediate-rank, Dragon Breath was greatly enhanced.

Nie Yan could feel the Golden Dragon’s rapid growth. At its current state, it could take on 2 or 3 Level 26 monsters at once without a problem.

Chapter 280 – Black Sea Devil Banmu

Seeing that Lil’ Gold had finally reached Level 20, Nie Yan unsummoned him and departed from Everlasting City.

It’s about time I unlock the Shadow Slaughter skill from the Glimpse of Darkness!

Nie Yan headed east on horseback, toward the Endless Sea. The tall grass and the wide open plains blurred past him as he galloped through. He occasionally came across a party or two, players who were in the middle of leveling. The mere sight of his Faulkner Warhorse charging towards them sent these players into a flurry of fright and panic. They would fall into defensive formations to repel this mysterious and fearsome enemy, only to discover that he had long since charged right through them and disappeared into the horizon.

The Glimpse of Darkness was extraordinary. But much of its potential still remained untapped, such as the skill tree with over several dozen different skills. Six or seven belonged in the Shadow category alone. Shadow Slaughter was but one of them.

Nie Yan finally arrived at a cliff edge. Ahead of him was a vast body of water, stretching out as far as the eye could see.

The clear sky and blue waters gave for a relaxing sight. He spotted some seabirds flying through the air, which added a scenic touch to the overall view.

You have discovered the Endless Sea.

Nie Yan galloped along the shore edge for about ten or so minutes. Thankfully, he didn’t encounter any monsters during this time. After all, this was a level 50 zone!

Although the monsters in the outer regions of the Endless Sea were already quite terrifying, those who dared to dive into the depths of the core region would find themselves faced with creatures with levels in the several hundreds! Of course, a high-grade underwater-breathing potion or skill was required to reach such locations.

Nie Yan arrived at the top of a cliff and looked down. It was about a hundred meter drop to a shallow cove below. The waters were murky black as if they had been contaminated with ink.

Not far from the base of the cliff were three flat rocky islands that stood about 30 meters above the water’s surface. They could hold about 60 people altogether.

A creature called Black Sea Devil Banmu occupied this cove. It was one of the few Level 50 named Lords among Sea-type monsters. It was incredibly difficult to deal with, but its drops were phenomenal. It also possessed ranged attacks. Only a team full of Level 50+ players would stand a chance at defeating this boss.

Players would generally use an item with the Featherfall ability to land safely on one of the rocky islands, so they could fight the boss on solid ground.

Nie Yan scanned the cliff wall below before locking his gaze on a small crack in the distance. It was about 50 meters above the water’s surface. At this distance, Banmu’s tentacles wouldn’t reach, but its ranged attacks would still pose an immense threat.

He leapt off the cliff toward one of the rocky islands, the smell of sea salt rushing into his nostrils as the air brushed past his face.

Just as Nie Yan was about to go splat, he activated the Featherfall Jewel and his falling speed slowed to a crawl. He landed gently on one of the rocky islands.

Nie Yan looked down at the murky waters below. He could detect an enormous creature lurking in the depths.

「Caw! Caw! Caw!」Nie Yan looked up at the sky and spotted a flock of large seabirds flying overhead, just as a jet of black liquid shot out over 60 meters into the air and struck one of the birds. It let out a miserable squawk, falling listlessly into the waters below.

Nie Yan felt slightly apprehensive about his odds since he had never attempted such a risky feat before. It was rumoured in the previous timeline that a Thief had single-handedly defeated Banmu by taking advantage of an item called the Levitation Ring. Unfortunately, he didn’t own it. But even so, he had done his research. The boss’ tentacles had a reach of about 30 meters. As for its ranged attacks, they would put his reaction time to the test! If he reacted in time, he could dodge them.

He had previously seen videos of players fighting Banmu, so he had that much of an impression of the boss at least.

Nie Yan only dared to come here because others had accomplished defeating the boss alone in the previous timeline. If he was forced to walk an untrodden path, who knew how many times he would have to die before finally succeeding.

He was ready to give it a go. If he defeated the boss, he would unlock the Shadow Slaughter skill on top of receiving several pieces of high-quality equipment!

Black Sea Devil Banmu took three days to respawn.

If he succeeded on his first try, he could come here to farm it regularly in the future.

Nie Yan summoned Lil’ Gold and hid him in a well-concealed spot where Banmu’s attacks couldn’t reach.

He activated the Crawler Ring and started nimbly ascending the cliff face.

Nie Yan was quite accustomed to using the Crawler Ring by now. He climbed over 10 meters in no time. After retrieving his Cavalry Crossbow, he shot at the waters below.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Five bolts flew out in a straight line and struck the water’s surface, creating small splashes.

The water trembled before great waves rose and a giant kraken-like creature broke through the surface.

Nie Yan quickly began climbing higher. After reaching an elevation of about 50 meters, he found some shrubbery growing out of the cliff wall to stand on, then turned around and shot at the creature down below.

「Put! Put! Put!」Five bolts struck the target in quick succession, causing damage values to float up into the air.

−50

−100

−51

−53

−100

Although Banmu was a Level 50 Lord, it didn’t have any armour plating to protect its body like Machine-type monsters, so the Piercing Damage of Nie Yan’s Cavalry Crossbow was extremely effective. There was also the additional 100 Fire Damage.

Seeing the Cavalry Crossbow’s damage, Nie Yan felt a little relaxed. With such potent firepower, it was possible to slowly grind down Banmu’s health bar.

Nie Yan could finally make out Banmu’s appearance.

It was a massive, pitch black meatball floating just above the water’s surface, resembling a hill with countless tentacles extending outward. As soon as it spotted Nie Yan, it sent a tentacle lashing towards him.

「Boom!」That thick and solid tentacle slammed into the cliff face.

But with an attack range of only 30 meters, it couldn’t even scratch Nie Yan who was over 50 meters above the water. Due to him being at a higher elevation, his attacks also gained additional range, so he could even further increase the distance between them.

Nie Yan inspected Banmu with Transcendent Insight.

Black Sea Devil Banmu (Lord): Level 50

Health: 99,301/100,000

Far from having super-high health or an impenetrable defense, what made Banmu the 6th most dangerous Level 50 Lord in the game was its terrifying attack power. It possessed an extremely deadly skill which could kill a player instantly by wrapping them up with its tentacles and flinging them away. Even Fighters were no exception. With the tank gone, the rest of the team was doomed for failure.

Its health regeneration wasn’t all that high, but its tentacle attacks also possessed a life draining effect. Any damage it dealt to players would directly restore a portion of its own health.

Fortunately, Nie Yan was outside the range of these frightening tentacles, so none of that was of concern to him. The only thing he had to worry about was dodging its Toxin Jet skill which contained a highly-potent poison that could easily kill a player.

For these reasons, Nie Yan selected Banmu out of the numerous Level 50 Lords. It was the only one he could handle at his current level!

Hanging off the cliff face, Nie Yan shot out a steady stream of bolts at Banmu as a continuous line of damage values floated up into the air.

The amount of damage Nie Yan dealt every second barely surpassed Banmu’s health regeneration. Nevertheless, its health was being slowly chipped away.

Banmu furiously lashed its tentacles at the cliff face. However, Nie Yan was far out of its range, so none of its attacks connected. It was resigned to passively take a beating.

Nie Yan continuously fired his Cavalry Crossbow from the cliff face.

At this moment, Banmu’s eyes which were as large as saucer plates flashed, and it shot out a jet of viscous black liquid.

Seeing Banmu’s eyes flash, Nie Yan shot out a web line from his Silk Spinner Ring and swung away to a different patch of shrubbery nearby.

The vicious black jet struck his previous position and splashed out in all directions. It let out a sizzling noise as smoke arose.

It was a successful dodge!

Banmu’s Toxic Jet skill had a one minute cooldown while Nie Yan’s Silk Spinner Ring had a 20 second cooldown. This meant he could dodge these attacks indefinitely.

After successfully dodging, Nie Yan found the last missing piece of confidence. He fired a continuous volley of bolts at Banmu.

Nie Yan slowly wore away at Banmu’s health. With nothing to do, Lil’ Gold was sleeping soundly in his hiding spot on one of the rocky islands below.

Slowly, seconds turned into minutes.

During this time, Nie Yan received a call from Yao Yao asking if he was free to help her with the Karsi’s Blessing quest. Since he was currently busy dealing with Banmu, he had to slightly push this back.

「I did a bit of research and found some information related to Karsi’s Blessing. Do you want me to send it over?」Yao Yao asked. For the sake of clearing this quest, she had made ample preparations.

「Sure, why not? So, what do you need to collect to complete this quest?」Nie Yan inquired. Each quest that Karsi handed out would differ slightly from one another. The first was always a collection quest, however. The higher the player’s level during the time they received the quest, the more difficult the item they would be tasked to retrieve. After handing the requested item over, the player would go through a trial. It was at this stage Nie Yan knew of a special method that allowed Yao Yao to pass through more easily.

「I need to collect a Black Sin Lotus,」Yao Yao replied. This item could be found in the depths of Sinful Gorge. She was pleasantly surprised. It was evident that Nie Yan was familiar with the Karsi’s Blessing questline. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have known she had to collect something.

「Black Sin Lotus?」Nie Yan asked with a hint of surprise. Obtaining this item posed quite the challenge. Ordinary players would have to form a large party to have a chance of gathering just one.

「Is it that hard to find? If it’s too difficult, just forget it,」Yao Yao said in a slightly disappointed tone.

「No, it’s fine. Let me take a look at the information you sent over first,」Nie Yan replied. He only knew some general advice and tricks to help make clearing the quest easier. He wasn’t too knowledgeable about the specifics.

Chapter 281 – Karsi’s Teachings

【Karsi’s Blessing】Background Information: Karsi was born to a poor household with a deformed left hand. Unable to hold a staff, he was deemed incapable of learning magic. However, since childhood he dreamed of becoming a renowned Holy Mage. And so, after experiencing countless failures and tribulations he finally learned—through sheer willpower and perseverance—how to wield a staff, and cast his first spell with only four fingers. Roughly 80 years later, he developed a miraculous Life Magic and became one of the scant few Holy Mages to gain eternal life. He was granted the illustrious position of Grand Archbishop by the Holy Shrine.

Karsi’s Teachings: Only by enduring through suffering will a person truly thrive. Some will taste the final joys and sorrows of life. Others are fated to be buried beneath cold-hard gravestones. Hero! Be grateful of the trials bestowed to you by the heavens, for the path to glory is paved with hardship!

Nie Yan’s heart quivered as these words resonated with him. He recalled the hardships of his past life, the bankruptcy of his family and the death of his parents; it felt as if it were but a hazy dream. Yet it was precisely these experiences that made him the person he was today.

Time washed away his muddle-headedness and inferiority complex. His spirit slowly settled, and his mind gained inner purity.

Karsi’s life resembled the rebirth of a phoenix. It ultimately led him to gain immortality as well as his current fame.

As he read deeper into the background information, Nie Yan found that Karsi had received the blessing of the Ten Holy Paladins. He even participated in the war against the dragon race! Since the start of that ancient era, he had lived all the way to the present. This was a legendary figure!

With Karsi’s power and experiences, he was fully qualified to be a Cardinal. Yet he was content with his title of Grand Archbishop.

Nie Yan revealed a look of excitement and expectation. Maybe I can find some clues about the Ten Holy Paladins from Karsi!

To think that someone who lived through that era was still alive today. It was next to impossible to meet such a person. He absolutely wouldn’t let go of this opportunity!

Nie Yan’s heart filled with burning anticipation.

The Ten Holy Paladins were some of the most famous figures of the ancient era!

They led the resistance against the dragon race, and an archangel even graced them with a visit!

Back then, the Glennin province encompassed the northern part of the Viridian Empire, the western part of the Satreen Empire, and the current Geliro Barrens. Its total size was roughly half that of the Viridian Empire. The influence of the Ten Holy Paladins spread that far!

Just what sort of riches would await him if he dug up all the clues related to them? For now, Nie Yan could hardly imagine. However, any reward related to such a crucial part of the game’s lore couldn’t be small!

Although Nie Yan possessed two lifetimes’ worth of game experience, this was his first time delving into unexplored lore. He had experienced many firsts in this life, such as this Legend of the Ten Holy Paladins quest line.

Nie Yan continued reading. It appeared Karsi had participated in every important military campaign. He had interacted with the Ten Holy Paladins regularly. He could even be described as one of the people closest to them.

If I meet with Karsi, perhaps he’ll have some information that can help me!

After looking through all the information, Nie Yan chatted with Yao Yao for a bit longer before hanging up. At his current pace, he would have to push back his plans with her to tomorrow. Black Sea Devil Banmu’s health was just dropping too slowly.

Only moments after ending his call with Yao Yao, Nie Yan received another call. This time, it was Guo Huai.

「Are you busy right now?」Guo Huai asked.

「What do you need? Speak up.」

「I’ll send you a video.」

「I don’t have the time right now. What is it about?」Nie Yan asked. This video definitely contained something important. Guo Huai would have never disturbed him otherwise.

「It’s a video of Bloodlust Blades capturing their first stronghold. You can watch their core members all riding horses!」Guo Huai replied. It appeared Bloodlust Blades was faster than them by a step. It couldn’t be helped they fell behind, since they were held back in their growth by the combined efforts of Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame. However, they could still catch up!

「Did Bloodlust Blades receive an investment?」Nie Yan asked in surprise. According to his knowledge, the only way for a guild to suddenly have the surplus funds to purchase mounts was by receiving the investment of a financial group.

「I don’t know, yet,」Guo Huai replied.

Nie Yan sank into deep thought. It was very likely Bloodlust Blades had received an investment, and the entity backing them from behind the scenes was almost certainly Century Financial Group. This put him on high-alert.

「How are the negotiations proceeding with the Dragonsoar Financial Group?」Whether they received an investment was crucial to the guild’s growth. He had previously planned to ask his father for help. But after considering, if his father invested into Asskickers United, what would be the fate of the War God Tribe? This was a problem he had to solve himself. He couldn’t always rely on his father to bail him out. Only then could he lead both guilds to glory!

There were no major downsides in Asskickers United receiving financial support from the outside. After redistributing the shares, Nie Yan would hold a 56% stake, Dragonsoar Financial Group would hold a 30% stake, and Guo Huai and the others would hold a 14% stake, meaning absolute control of the guild would still fall to Nie Yan. Although all the shares would no longer remain inhouse, their value would skyrocket following the investment. With a powerful financial backer, Nie Yan could rapidly raise the strength of his core guild members as well as alleviate any concerns they had for the future, allowing them to focus solely on serving the guild.

Obtaining Dragonsoar Financial Group’s investment also meant obtaining their backing. As rivals, there was definitely no small number of conflicts between Dragonsoar Financial Group and Century Financial Group. If Nie Yan pitted these two financial powerhouses against each other, he would gain a powerful ally. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend!

No matter how strong Asskickers United was, it had no chance competing against an entity like Century Financial Group. This was why Nie Yan had to exploit every avenue available to him!

This was what you called seizing the opportunity!

「We’ve pretty much finished negotiations. These are the fruits of our final talks. Take a look. They’ve already said this is the best they can offer.」Guo Huai sent the final draft of the contract to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan looked over the terms. Dragonsoar Financial Group would provide support to Asskickers United in many ways, such as giving all contracted members a monthly salary of 5,000 credits paid out in Nie Yan’s name. Dragonsoar Financial Group would start acquiring gold from the marketplace and invest 300,000 gold into Asskickers United. This gold would be divided into 50 payments over the course of two months. It would be used to improve the equipment quality of the guild members. Dragonsoar Financial Group would send over a supervisor to manage how the gold was utilized.

There were so many players in the entire Viridian Empire that several hundred gold would be traded over the Credit Exchange every single day! It wasn’t too far-fetched to say the Dragonsoar Financial Group could accumulate 300,000 gold in just two months. After all, such a massive consortium would naturally have various supply chains such as employing gaming organizations, buying from professional players, and much more. Their resource-amassing capabilities were far beyond what Nie Yan could even dream of. They wouldn’t just gather gold from Calore but also other cities, including even the headquarters of Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors! Gold from all over the Viridian Empire would gather into one place, the pockets of Asskickers United!

If they could secure such a massive investment for themselves, they wouldn’t have to fear hitting a brick wall in their growth!

Cao Xu’s Century Financial Group would also operate similarly.

Nie Yan could imagine how difficult it would be for Asskickers United to resist Century Financial Group if they didn’t receive the investment of another powerful financial group.

After reviewing the conditions of the contract, they could be best described as extremely generous!

However, Asskickers United did indeed possess such negotiating power!

Nie Yan thought for a moment, then decided it’d be best to add a few more conditions. For example, he wished to include that Dragonsoar Financial Group was not allowed to interfere with Asskickers United’s commands. This clause allowed the guild leader to make a major mistake leading to severe losses, but he would be forced to compensate the Dragonsoar Financial Group for any damages suffered. He sent the contract back to Guo Huai, avoiding any possible dangers that might arise from any loopholes.

Guo Huai sent the revised contract to the Dragonsoar Financial Group.

The contract stipulated an initial investment of 20,000 gold, which Nie Yan could use for various purposes. He could buy horses and other items for Asskickers United’s core elites, fund the money-burning undertaking known as leveling up in Everlasting City, or boost their players’ strength as quickly as possible. After all, these elites were the true backbone of Asskickers United!

Dragonsoar Financial Group showed great sincerity allowing Nie Yan to feel reassured. Their requirement was for Asskickers United to capture a Basic Stronghold within the next five days and 5 Basic Strongholds within the first month. From Nie Yan’s perspective, this was a trivial matter.

If Nie Yan used the 20,000 gold to create a valiant 500-man team composed of all Level 40 or higher players, clearing out a Basic Stronghold would be a piece of cake!

As for the video Guo Huai sent over, he would watch it some other time. Nie Yan hung up, then focused his attention back on dealing with Banmu. When 2 PM came around the corner, he received an update from Guo Huai. Dragonsoar Financial Group had agreed to the additional terms.

Nie Yan signed his name, the person over on the side of Dragonsoar Financial Group and Guo Huai also signed their names, and the contract was complete.

Tomorrow, the first payment of 20,000 gold would be deposited into their account!

Nie Yan was somewhat excited. By partnering up with Dragonsoar Financial Group, only now was Asskickers United taking its very first step on the path to hegemony!

After waiting for a full seven hours, Nie Yan finally heard the despairing wails of a dying Black Sea Devil Banmu. It was finally dead! Looking down, he could barely see past the turbulent waves caused by the boss’ death throes. As the waters slowly settled, the monster’s red eyes dimmed and it sank to the bottom of the cove.

Chapter 282 – Chapter of Peace

When Black Sea Devil Banmu finally fell to Nie Yan, Lil’ Gold lit up with a brilliant radiance and levelled up six times, all the way to Level 26. Since Nie Yan had changed his experience settings, Lil’ Gold received full experience from Banmu.

Nie Yan jumped down from the cliff face and landed on one of the three rocky islands. He called Lil’ Gold out of his hiding spot, then checked his upgraded stats: 1,030 health and 730–757 attack and magic power. As Lil’ Gold’s level rose, his frightening growth rate would start showing an increasingly greater effect. His stats would soon reach ludicrous heights!

Nie Yan could scarcely imagine just how powerful Lil’ Gold would become down the line.

Lil’ Gold also grew another head taller, making him about as tall as Nie Yan.

Nie Yan recalled Lil’ Gold in a brief flurry of excitement. He still hadn’t collected the loot that dropped from Banmu!

He jumped off the rocky island, falling roughly 30 meters before plunging into the water with a loud splash.

Nie Yan activated his Underwater Breathing Pearl and dove down. Swimming ever deeper, he followed the columns of light that bore down from above the water’s surface until he arrived at the bottom of the cove, where they could scarcely reach. By now, Banmu’s corpse had despawned. He searched around the seafloor for a while before eventually finding the drops. A certain item among the pile drew his attention, a pearl that emitted a faint glow in the surrounding darkness.

Nie Yan’s heart quivered. Could it really be…? No, I’ll get back up to the surface first.

Stuffing all the items into his bag, Nie Yan was about to swim back ashore when a shimmer in the far distance caught his eye.

Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise. He was familiar with this sort of light. This gentle yet piercing radiance without a doubt belonged to a chapter from the Book of Order!

He immediately started swimming towards the light. I’ve never heard of there being a chapter in this area…

Swimming through the murky waters, Nie Yan was suddenly caught by a strong current which nearly swept him away.

An intense feeling of foreboding surfaced in his heart. Aside from Banmu, was there another powerful monster lurking in these waters?

Nie Yan took out an Unknown Transfer Scroll. If he encountered any danger, he could use it to escape at a moment’s notice.

After much struggling, he regained control of his body and continued swimming forwards. About five minutes later, he could almost touch the source of the light. Only a few meters away, he saw its origin—a golden scroll floating calmly in the darkness, giving off a dazzling radiance.

Nie Yan’s heart shook in excitement. It really was a chapter from the Book of Order!

He wondered if anyone had found this chapter in the previous timeline. He never knew there was one here. This encounter was purely coincidental!

If he hadn’t noticed that faint shimmer in the distance, he would’ve never come searching in this area.

Nie Yan pondered on the information he collected in his past life. Every chapter from the Book of Order was discovered by players exploring maps for the first time. Only 31 were ever found. As for the remaining five, no one knew of their locations.

There weren’t many chapters near Calore, only about 12 in total. The other 24 were scattered in maps around other cities. Some were even located in the distant Satreen Empire. Nie Yan knew the rough locations of many of them. However, acquiring them was but a wishful dream for now. They were either guarded by extremely terrifying existences or hidden in almost impossible to reach places. Him completing the Glimpse of Darkness at this stage of the game was already an extraordinary accomplishment.

Nie Yan was overjoyed at finding another chapter from the Book of Order. The Glimpse of Darkness was already overpowered. If he could complete another volume, just how much power would he wield?

Nie Yan vigorously swam toward the chapter.

A strange, captivating melody drifted over from somewhere far out in the abyss.

Nie Yan’s vision swam as illusions of scantily clad maidens, showing off their bare-naked skin, appeared before him. His eyelids grew heavy, his body relaxing as drowsiness took over him. It was as if he were atop cloud nine!

At the very last moment before he lost consciousness, Nie Yan’s mind shook in alarm as he quickly regained his senses. His intuition told him he fell subject to the Song of the Siren!

Legends told of Sirens living far out at sea that sung bewitching melodies which invoked the deepest desires of men. Anyone who heard their songs would fall fast asleep, only awakening after what felt like an eternity.

Only those with an especially firm will could resist their song.

The Siren’s melody was otherwise impossible to escape.

Nie Yan was done for if he waited for the Siren to come closer. It was a Level 100+ monster!

He struggled to maintain a semblance of clarity as he swam closer to the chapter. However, a surging current knocked him about a meter back.

Nie Yan spotted a faintly glowing figure swimming towards him in the far distance. Its upper half was a young naked woman while its lower half resembled the tail of a fish covered in dark scales! It wielded a large golden trident which flickered with a sharp light.

It had simply wandered here from further out at sea. Nie Yan felt incomparably nervous. Although the Siren was only the size of a human, it was still an unrivalled existence, especially at his current level!

Perhaps the Siren had swam all the way over here after hearing the commotion Nie Yan caused by fighting Banmu.

Nie Yan felt a sense of drowsiness wash over as the Siren’s song drifted into his ears. Feeling his eyelids become heavier, he forced himself awake and swam faster toward the chapter.

The Siren brandished its trident and sent a crescent-shaped beam flying towards Nie Yan.

Nie Yan quickly did an underwater tumble as the beam brushed past his body.

The Siren charged toward him, resembling an arrow piercing through the water.

Seeing the Siren about to reach him, Nie Yan reached out and grabbed the chapter, then performed some underwater acrobatics to create space.

The Siren’s trident swept toward him. Nie Yan could feel a cold chill behind his neck. If he was hit, he would be a dead man for sure!

The Siren arrived beside him and slashed down with its trident.

In this life-or-death moment, Nie Yan activated the Unknown Transfer Scroll just in time to see the trident coming down on him.

The surroundings blurred, and Nie Yan was teleported away.

The Siren looked around in confusion. It could no longer sense Nie Yan’s presence.

Nie Yan reappeared on land as he hit the ground with a thud. With his head still spinning, he looked around and discovered he was in a dense forest. He could hear the roars of monsters in the distance. As he felt a heavy drowsiness overtake him, he found a concealed spot between two trees to hide in before losing consciousness.

High Willpower and Focus stats would grant greater resistance to abnormal status effects. But the Siren’s song was simply too powerful. After holding out for a good while, he still eventually succumbed to it.

About 30 seconds later, Nie Yan woke up.

There were many Level 50 monsters roaming around the area. Thankfully, none of them discovered him while he was sleeping. Otherwise, he would find himself waking up in the Calore cemetery.

Seeing several Demon Bears wandering over in his direction, Nie Yan shot out a web line from his Silk Spinner Ring and climbed up a tree. He felt they wouldn’t pose a threat to him this high up.

Nie Yan impatiently took out the chapter and looked over its properties.

-Chapter of Peace

Description: The second chapter of Volume V of the Book of Order. A fragment of a Legendary item. Whoever shall possess this chapter will receive the inheritance of the God of Light. Your mission is to spread the glory of light!

Properties: Chance to nullify an incoming enemy spell. Receive 5 additional health every level up. Endurance +30, Resilience +20, Physique +30, Movement Speed +20.

God’s Blessing: Grants immunity to all magic and gain 30% extra health for 60 seconds.

Cooldown: 2 days (1/2)

Restrictions: Can only be bound by a member of the Righteous Guardian of Order.

Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player’s bag.

The Chapter of Peace was just like any other chapter from the Book of Order. It couldn’t be traded and would drop upon death. It wouldn’t be inferior to other chapters. He still had to do some investigating to find out how useful the first property was. But he could tell that the second property which granted 5 additional health every level up was perplexingly powerful. If he held onto it, at level 100, he would have several hundred more health than other Thieves! As for God’s Blessing, its shorter cooldown made it much more practical than Adjudicator of God, which had a cooldown of 10 days.

Right after binding the Chapter of Peace, Nie Yan received two system notifications.

Cigarette Ash is in possession of the third chapter from Volume V of the Book of Order, Chapter of Compassion. You will be notified of the player’s location once every hour.

Coordinates: Moonlight City, 38535.38532.35582.

Faded is in possession of the fifth chapter from Volume V of the Book of Order, Chapter of Knowledge. You will be notified of the player’s location once every hour.

Coordinates: Radiant City, 58535.53582.582.

Moonlight City and Radiant City were respectively the headquarters of Alliance of Mages and Bloodlust Blades. I wonder if these two players belong to those guilds. A sense of vigilance immediately arose in Nie Yan’s heart.

It would be troublesome if he got ambushed. After thinking for a bit, he decided to ask Guo Huai for more Unknown Transfer Scrolls since he had run out.

Nie Yan planned to have Guo Huai track these two players down. It would be best if he could obtain their chapters without much fuss. Otherwise, if it turned out they belonged to Bloodlust Blades or Alliances of Mages, things could get dangerous with his exact coordinates being reported hourly.

Chapter 283 – Pearl of Disguise

As more higher level maps started getting explored, more chapters from the Book of Order would be discovered. All chapter holders that had yet to complete their respective volumes would be pitted against each other until one final victor emerged!

Nie Yan, who had just obtained the Chapter of Peace, was about to start his hunt to complete yet another volume!

Every hour from now, he would be reminded of who his rivals were, and where they were.

But as the owner of the Glimpse of Darkness, Nie Yan definitely held the advantage. There was no harm in him participating in the fight for the other chapters.

Nie Yan checked his other spoils, specifically that pearl!

He rummaged through his bag and took out the pearl which was about the size of a dove egg. It glistened beautifully with a light blue radiance under the rays of the sun.

Pearl of Disguise (Dark Gold): Special Item

Disguise: Within 10 hours of killing a target (player or NPC), the user may assume their appearance for up to 30 minutes. Attacking will dispel the disguise. Can be seen through by certain skills.

Cooldown: 1 day

It really was the Pearl of Disguise!

The Pearl of Disguise was an extremely rare drop from Black Sea Devil Banmu that took up an accessory slot. It was an irreplaceable treasure to those who could take advantage of its unique ability.

It had limited use to the members of the Righteous Faction. However, over in the Evil Faction, this item was highly coveted.

The Pearl of Disguise, along with the Silk Spinner Ring, Crawler Ring, and Leaper Ring, were treasures of immense value to Nie Yan.

However, the Disguise skill had its limitations. It was pivotal Nie Yan acted with caution when using it. His Eye of Truth skill, for example, could see right through the disguise!

Nie Yan looked at the remaining two pieces of loot. One of them was a golden scroll. It was covered in runes and patterns. With a glance, he could tell these runes originated in the Dark Era. They gave off a strange and gloomy air.

It wasn’t a magic scroll but rather another type of item. Nie Yan slowly unfurled the scroll, causing a golden radiance to blossom out. After the radiance dimmed down, he discovered a fully intact map.

Several characters on the top right corner of the map were written in the Vanbiya language of the undead: "Lich King Saul’s Secret Treasure!” The eccentric brush strokes of these characters radiated a gloomy, corrosive power.

It was a Legendary-grade Hidden Treasure Map, and it was even fully intact!

It was extremely rare to find an undamaged treasure map. Normally, they would be divided into many fragments. Very few could piece together a whole map. Looking over this map, Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise. He examined the drawings on the map, its mountains, plains, and rivers, as well as icons denoting the underworld. All types of scenery appeared before his eyes.

Nie Yan carefully examined the map. After some time he identified a few familiar landmarks. The mountains, plains, and rivers probably belonged to the Level 60 map, Sonier Valley. There’s actually a passage in Sonier Valley leading to the underworld? How come I’ve never heard of this before?

Lich King Saul’s hidden treasure was located in the underworld. As for where exactly it was hidden, he would have to reference back to the map once he arrived in the underworld.

Nie Yan read over a summary about Lich King Saul. He was once a pirate who collected vast amounts of wealth and treasures. Later on in his life, he became fascinated with necromancy and started learning its arts of raising the dead. Gifted with immense talent, he became a powerful lich. At the last stretch of his life, he buried the treasures he had amassed and drew up a treasure map, enchanting it with an undead curse; it was the key to opening his treasure. After entering eternal sleep, some of his subordinates stole the treasure map, eager for its riches. But they fell to its curse, and the map was lost in the sands of time ever since.

Liches were known as the most powerful beings among Necromancers. Naturally, the treasures they left behind would be exceptional!

Nie Yan suddenly felt somewhat weak and lightheaded. Looking at his status, he was affected by a curse that reduced all his stats by 30%.

The effect of this curse was truly enough to frighten a person. Thankfully, this map didn’t bind to its owner. After putting it into his personal storage, it would have no effect on him at all. When he wanted to find Lich King Saul’s treasure, he could simply take it out.

Nie Yan could confirm the hunt for this treasure would be fraught with danger! This was why he decided to put it off until he was higher level.

Putting away the treasure map in his bag, Nie Yan looked at the remaining piece of loot, a Dark Gold heavy shield. It was perfect for a Fighter, with a defense of 622. However, it had a level requirement of 50. No guild member could equip it, for now.

His harvest this time around was quite fruitful. In the future, he could come here every 3 days to farm Black Sea Devil Banmu. It was tantamount to him finding an exceptional levelling spot.

The system created all kinds of unique terrains as well as various environmental objects and special items in an effort to let players think for themselves. There were endless ways to best Elites and Lords, and many of them didn’t require a large team. If a player used their head, studying the boss’ attack patterns and the environment, they could easily think of ways to outsmart and kill the boss.

Using the Crawler Ring and Silk Spinner Ring was only one of those methods. After all, a player had used the Levitation Ring to achieve the same in the previous timeline. Of course, there were many more methods.

Conviction contained countless special items, giving players plenty of room to utilize their creativity and imagination.

It was only because Nie Yan had watched so many videos in the previous timeline that he could think of all sorts of unique ways to level. If he levelled up like ordinary players, spending all day long grinding mindlessly in one spot, he would be using his time too inefficiently.

After killing Black Sea Devil Banmu, Nie Yan used a Return Scroll to teleport back to Calore. He put away the treasure map in his personal storage. Looking at the clock, there wasn’t much time left to the day.

Nie Yan went to Everlasting City for some last minute levelling before logging off.

As usual, he left for school, where he occasionally chatted with Xie Yao, building their friendship. Although they never discussed love, he had already made some good headway. For him who had the experiences of two lifetimes, these types of days were the most blissful.

The school day flew by, and before he knew it he was back at home.

As soon as Nie Yan logged back into the game, he received an update from Guo Huai. The first payment from Dragonsoar Financial Group had been deposited. It was 20,000 gold in total.

"Did the person they sent to supervise come?” Nie Yan asked. As the leader of the guild, he would naturally have to meet them.

"Yeah, she’s already here. I’ll take you to meet her.” Guo Huai led Nie Yan into the guild headquarters.

Around 40 or 50 players were scattered about in the guild headquarters.

After entering Guo Huai’s office, Nie Yan saw a woman in her 30s seated in a chair. She wore purely decorative civilian clothing. Her attire was simple, yet professional. Although she wasn’t a heaven-toppling beauty, she still exuded a mature charm.

"Hello, my name is Yu Rui. I’m the supervisor the Dragonsoar Financial Group sent over,” Yu Rui greeted with a faint smile. She extended her hand toward Nie Yan.

"Hello, I’m Asskickers United’s guild leader. It’s nice to meet you. I hope we can have a pleasant time working together,” Nie Yan politely replied as he shook Yu Rui’s hand. He previously believed Dragonsoar Financial Group would send over a middle-aged man in his 40s. Never had he expected their representative to be a woman.

Nie Yan briefed Yu Rui on the various guild affairs. She earnestly listened while recording down some details in her notes.

The three chatted a bit longer to get more familiar with one another. Like this, their cooperation down the line would go smoother.

Yu Rui was easy to get along with. She gave Nie Yan a few conditions. As long as the request wasn’t too excessive, she would accept. She didn’t have the slightest bit of arrogance that you would expect from someone belonging to such a large financial group. This allowed Nie Yan to relax. It was evident that Yu Rui’s superiors had explained a thing or two to her; otherwise, she wouldn’t treat the guild with such courtesy. With her mindset, it would be much easier to handle affairs.

Nie Yan distributed the recently received 20,000 gold between the guild members. 500 players were divided up into 25 teams, with each team receiving around 300 gold. In addition, all of them received a 20-gold horse. They were dispatched to level in Everlasting City. Their objective was to get to Level 40 as quickly as possible! Only then could they start capturing strongholds.

Nie Yan checked the level leaderboards. It had completely changed from the last time he saw it. Some people had risen up to the top, most notably the guild leader of Bloodthirst Blades. He was ranked third at Level 35. There were also a few unfamiliar names which he had never heard of. It appeared he would have to investigate them.

Tang Yao, who was Level 37, was still firmly seated at the top of the leaderboards. Ever since reviving his Arcane Fairy, he had been levelling much faster. After experiencing so much, he had also matured. He was starting to transform into a genuine expert. Even though Nie Yan wasn’t by his side guiding him, he was still able to learn and stand by himself.

Nie Yan’s unique way of thinking had begun influencing the people around him. Many of them were levelling up at an astonishing rate. Some people who had never reached their full potential in the previous timeline, after receiving Nie Yan’s guidance, were enlightened and started rapidly improving.

Under his leadership, just how many miracles would emerge from Asskickers United?

After settling the matters in the guild, Nie Yan went to meet up with Yao Yao at the Holy Shrine.

The Holy Shrine, also known as the Temple of Light, was the headquarters of the most powerful religion in the Viridian empire. Even the council members of the empire had no choice but to avoid their spears. The Holy Shrine had a very deep foundation, lasting for several eras. Every successive pope could even have an audience with god.

At the Holy Shrine, Nie Yan stood before a grand building constructed with the architecture of the Shared Era of Governance. It was about 60 meters tall and completely white. There were ancient stairs leading to the main square.

Yao Yao was currently standing on one of the stairs. Her pure white robes gave off a holy, otherworldly air. She was like a goddess from the ancient past. She looked extremely beautiful under the light of the sun. Nie Yan couldn’t help but quiver as buried feelings resurfaced in his heart.

Chapter 284 – Legendary Quest

"You’ve come.” Yao Yao revealed a brilliant smile. Her bright eyes resembled glittering gemstones.

Nie Yan fell into a daze. For an instant, Yao Yao’s appearance overlapped with Xie Yao’s in his mind. But he quickly shook his head in self-ridicule. How could there be such a coincidence in the world? He met Xie Yao long before Yao Yao in his past life. It wasn’t until after graduation that he started playing Conviction, where he eventually met Yao Yao. Interestingly enough, his meeting with her was purely coincidental. They had become acquainted through the girlfriend of one of Zhai Hao’s friends. Yao Yao was invited to play with their group, and they started running dungeons and levelling together.

At that time, Nie Yan was downtrodden with life and lonely. As he gradually got closer to Yao Yao, the two of them formed a special relationship. Her genuine concern for his well-being touched him deeply. It was a short-lived happiness, however. They took it a step too far in a secret chamber beneath Fenarte City, after which Yao Yao started avoiding him and their friendship slowly returned to being platonic. He felt remorseful toward Yao Yao. Back then, he had indeed been at fault for taking their relationship down that path. But Yao Yao never rejected him. So in a moment of weakness, he gave in to his carnal desires and committed a grave sin of the virtual world.

Nie Yan walked up to meet her on the stairs. "Come on, let’s go in.”

"Mhm.” Yao Yao nodded before following behind Nie Yan. Her lips curved into a crafty smile as she stared at his back. He behaved more seriously inside the game, a stark contrast from how exasperating he was with his constant teasing in reality.

The two arrived at the entrance of the Holy Shrine, where they were greeted by two large gates crafted from towering, ancient trees. They were mottled with cracks and exuded an archaic air.

Nie Yan slowly pushed them open, revealing a massive hallway.

Rows upon rows of candles lined the walls, their flames swaying ever so gently from the slight draft. A crimson-red carpet lay spread out before them, with over 20 NPCs standing on either side in a line that stretched out to the far end of the hallway. Nie Yan recognized almost all of them by name. He settled his gaze on a certain individual among them.

This NPC wore ash-gray robes. His left sleeve was empty while the hand he held his staff with was missing a forefinger. This was the legendary Holy Mage, Karsi!

Karsi watched as the two walked over to him.

"It’s an honour to meet your Holiness,” Nie Yan greeted in a respectful matter.

"Sir Demon Hunter and Grand Scholar, greetings.” Karsi nodded.

Nie Yan’s current status was far from comparable to the other side’s, so he had to abide by noble etiquette.

Seeing Karsi address Nie Yan in such a manner, Yao Yao was slightly taken aback. But then she remembered just what kind of person Nie Yan was inside the game, someone who created a miracle wherever he went.

Nie Yan glanced at Yao Yao, then faced Karsi and respectfully asked, "I’m here to request permission to help this young lady with her quest. Your Holiness, are you willing?”

Karsi looked at Yao Yao. "She is as beautiful as the stars. I naturally see no problem in allowing you to help this little miss.”

"Thank you, your Holiness.”

A player was permitted to enlist the help of up to two others if they couldn’t finish a quest by themselves. However, the levels of the helpers couldn’t exceed their own by more than three.

Ever since dying to the Demonified Lord Sonia, Nie Yan still hadn’t gotten his level back up. Yao Yao was currently Level 31 while he was only Level 29. So he definitely fulfilled the requirements to be her helper.

Karsi’s gaze slightly trembled as he noticed the medal on Nie Yan’s left shoulder.

"Pardon me, Grand Scholar. Is that not the Medal of the Ten Holy Paladins?” Karsi asked as he stared at Nie Yan with an intense gaze. His right hand was slightly trembling. He was clearly agitated.

"Yes, your Holiness. This is indeed the Medal of the Ten Holy Paladins. May I ask if you know the history behind it?” Nie Yan curiously asked. He had to be very deliberate with his wording when trying to fish out a quest from such an important NPC.

A peculiar light flashed across Karsi’s tranquil gaze. He revealed a wistful expression and let out a deep sigh. "This is an ancient matter.”

Nie Yan inwardly celebrated after seeing Karsi’s reaction. He had successfully triggered the quest dialogue!

"I am retracing the events of that era because of a task entrusted to me. Your Holiness, could you recount some of what transpired back then?” Nie Yan asked. He still had a quest regarding the Legend of the Ten Holy Paladins that remained unfinished. It was to seek out the truth behind what happened to them.

"I’ve lived for almost a thousand years, so long that I don’t even remember exactly how old I am anymore. Humanity is destined to never overcome their desires. Everything is as fleeting as a cloud of smoke, while time passes in the blink of an eye. I know I’m not a great record keeper. But I’m confident that I’ve looked back on the path I’ve trodden more than anyone else. I reminisce, constantly, every waking day. I try to stand still, but the vicissitudes of time continually pushes me forward. The things I’ve witnessed over the years are as countless as the stars in the night sky. However, I still haven’t forgotten the events that took place during the time we now call the Dark Era. I followed Sir Kavana across the vast land of Glennin in his campaign against the dragon race. Swearing blood oaths, reading out the Will of Light…”

From the pledge of the Ten Holy Paladins to the betrayal of Brewin, Karsi narrated these events in chronological order.

"After the death of Sir Kavana, Brewin betrayed the Will of God. He imprisoned the other eight members inside the Roth Swamp and the hidden caverns of the Laurent Mountains. They are guarded by the Hellhound, Cerberus. Brave Adventurer. If you save them, I, Karsi, am willing to become your servant and swear eternal loyalty to you!” Karsi declared emotionally.

Nie Yan was caught off-guard. He didn’t expect Karsi to have been the servant of Kavana. Karsi was an extremely influential figure in the Holy Shrine. His words held as much weight as the Cardinals’. With the seat of Supreme Pontiff currently vacant, Karsi’s support was crucial to the three Cardinals who wished to ascend to this position.

This was the backdrop of Conviction. Nie Yan naturally knew a bit about it.

It was rumoured only the person who collected all 36 chapters of the Book of Order was qualified to become the Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Shrine.

Karsi played such a crucial role back then, and even now. It was hard to imagine that this prominent figure could be obtained as a servant.

When a guild reached Level 8, the guild leader had a chance to obtain an NPC servant. This servant was often a hired NPC mercenary, but could also be any other kind of NPC.

As a legendary Holy Mage, a single cast of forbidden magic from Karsi could easily wipe out an entire stronghold!

However, Nie Yan also understood this quest wasn’t something he could handle at his current level. Leaving Brewin aside, just the Hellhound, Cerberus, was more than enough to wipe him out instantly. As a Level 300 Lord, it was terrifying beyond imagination. Only a 1,000-man team of Level 170+ players stood a chance against it.

Not only this, but there were some inconsistencies in Karsi’s description of the events. Brewin wasn’t the only one who betrayed the Ten Holy Paladins. There were many accomplices who aided him in capturing the other members. This was probably a clue leading to a branching quest.

There would probably be more events down the road. This quest line was only beginning to unravel.

Yao Yao was baffled as she listened to the conversation between Nie Yan and Karsi. Something about betrayal, the Ten Holy Paladins, and even a little girl from the dragon race was involved, all of it was too convoluted!

Nie Yan continued to chat with Karsi about matters related to the Legend of the Ten Holy Paladins. In the end, Karsi provided him with a single lead—seek out the Dragon Girl, Venita, in the Silent Gulf for more information!

"Did you understand any of that?” Nie Yan asked Yao Yao with a smile after finishing his conversation with Karsi.

"More or less, you received a Legendary quest?” Yao Yao asked. This was a bit frightening. Legendary quests didn’t simply fall from the sky, not to mention this one in particular involved the events of the Dark Era.

Nie Yan nodded. "I guess it could count as one. Too bad I need to be over Level 100 to carry it out. That’s why I’ll help you do Karsi’s Blessing first.”

Nie Yan turned back to Karsi. "Your Holiness, I’ll continue pursuing the truth. I won’t stop until I rescue the eight imprisoned members of the Ten Holy Paladins.”

Karsi showed a grateful expression. "You have my gratitude, Nirvana Flame. Just what I expected of a Demon Hunter and Grand Scholar!”

Nie Yan felt incredibly awkward every time Karsi called him a Demon Hunter and Grand Scholar. But it couldn’t be helped since it was something set by the system. Titles represented status!

Nie Yan had obtained plenty of useful information from his conversation with Karsi. He was more motivated than ever to see this quest through to the end. Let alone the other rewards, just obtaining Karsi as a servant would make Asskickers United practically invincible!

As as a matter of fact, after the release of the Buried History expansion, Level 100 wasn’t all that far away, probably 6 months at most. This was completely different from the previous timeline.

After bidding Karsi farewell, Nie Yan and Yao Yao walked out of the Holy Shrine.

"Let’s head to Sinful Gorge,” Nie Yan suggested. He had a very simple method to obtain the Black Sin Lotus. "Have you learned Divine Protection yet?”

"Yes.”

"What rank?”

"Rank 3, why?” Yao Yao asked curiously. Was Divine Protection required for this quest?

"Good, that’ll makes things a lot easier. Divine Protection is one of the most useful skills to have in Sinful Gorge since it’s perfect for repelling the miasma in the air,” Nie Yan explained. Aside from Divine Protection, a Featherfall Jewel was also required to employ his plan. But he already had one, so he didn’t bring it up.

After stocking up on some necessary consumables in Calore, the two headed toward the transfer area. Their destination was the depths of Sinful Gorge!

Ordinary players would only wander around the entrances of the caves in Sinful Gorge. Its depths were full of legends. Nie Yan and Yao Yao’s goal was one of the many mysterious items rumoured to be found in that place, the Black Sin Lotus!

Chapter 285 – Sinkhole

"Nirvana Flame, it’s been a long time since we last played together,” Yao Yao remarked. She deeply cherished her time with him, but she understood he was a busy person. Apart from levelling, he had to constantly attend to guild affairs as well. How could he have the free time to adventure with her like the old days?

"Ah, yeah… It has been a while,” Nie Yan murmured, a hint of guilt in his voice. His mind trembled as he noticed the forlorn expression in her eyes. Could it be that despite his best efforts, he had left a mark in her heart?

Yao Yao was beautiful, kindhearted, and thoughtful. Maybe in another world, where his heart didn’t already belong to someone else, he would’ve fallen in love with her instead. However, it was best not to linger on these matters.

When they arrived in the wilderness, Nie Yan turned to Yao Yao and asked, "Do you have a mount?” They would have to run to Sinful Gorge if she didn’t.

"Yep!” Yao Yao replied. She called forth a gallant steed with a crimson red coat. It wasn’t as valiant or imposing as his Faulkner Warhorse, but it was still quite the sight to behold.

Kohls Horse! Nie Yan didn’t expect to see such a high-quality mount.

It had a movement speed bonus of 200%!

If it wasn’t obtained from a quest, it would cost at least several thousand gold!

Since this was her first time riding a mount, Yao Yao climbed on top of her Kohls Warhorse with an excited expression. When her grandfather decided to invest in Conviction, she became the representative of the Dragonsoar Financial Group inside the game. After slowly familiarizing herself with their network of contacts, collecting a few thousand gold was a trivial matter.

It was only after taking charge of Dragonsoar Financial Group’s affairs that Xie Yao learned there were many other organizations inside the game aside from the guilds, such as gold farmers. They ranged in size from a few dozen members to several thousand. These players generally didn’t join a guild. The game was work for them rather than entertainment. They would camp out in one area, endlessly grinding weak mobs for drops. They were even reluctant to part with consumables, gearing themselves up with the most basic equipment necessary for the job. At the end of the day, they would sell off any equipment and items they obtained, then head to the Credit Exchange to sell their gold or have a friend sell it for them.

This was all they did inside the game. The amount of money they earned from selling gold could at most be used to supplement some daily expenses. They were a bunch of low-class workers everybody looked down on. But it was precisely these players that generated a vast amount of gold every day. If you were to add it all up, it was enough to support several dozen guilds the size of Asskickers United!

Xie Yao ordered all her subordinates to go through various channels to purchase from these gold farmers. She had a kind heart. With their lack of skill, these gold farmers couldn’t be counted as professional players, and they generally lived difficult lives. She instructed her subordinates to buy their gold at a slightly higher rate. For a behemoth like the Dragonsoar Financial Group, this bit of money was like a drop in the ocean. However, this little act of kindness was greatly appreciated. In return, more and more gold farmers were willing to do business exclusively with the Dragonsoar Financial Group. Xie Yao quickly accumulated an inconceivable amount of gold, her funds even surpassing Nie Yan’s. So acquiring a high-quality mount was naturally no issue for her. But even with money, the vast majority of players still couldn’t purchase a royal mount like the Faulkner Warhorse.

Nie Yan was startled by Yao Yao’s mount, but he quickly regained his composure. If someone like him could get a Faulkner Warhorse, why couldn’t others obtain similarly high-quality mounts?

Nie Yan summoned his Faulkner Warhorse.

Xie Yao’s Kohls Horse immediately appeared a lot smaller while standing beside Nie Yan’s Faulkner Warhorse.

"Let’s go,” Nie Yan said.

The two steeds rose into the wilderness, kicking up a cloud of dust. Nie Yan lowered his speed to match Xie Yao’s.

From time to time, Nie Yan and Xie Yao would pass by a team or two in the middle of levelling and leave them dumbstruck. Even ordinary horses were a rare sight. So one could imagine their shock after spotting two high-quality mounts blazing through the wilderness.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao only felt the wind whistling past their ears as the scenery blurred around them. After galloping for about 6 minutes, they arrived inside the valley of Sinful Gorge.

The war from the other day was still fresh in Nie Yan’s mind.

"You’re back here again. Do you feel anything?” Yao Yao asked.

Nie Yan shook his head as a calm smile surfaced on his face. "No point lingering over the past. What’s most important is seizing the present.” This was mostly a reminder to himself that he should move on. In this life, he and Yao Yao were simply good friends.

"Where are we going?” Yao Yao asked. Nie Yan was guiding them away from the cave entrances she was familiar with.

"Just follow me. I know the terrain of this place better than anyone else,” Nie Yan replied. He had a special method to reach the region where the Black Sin Lotus grew.

Although Yao Yao had her doubts, she followed him anyway.

Several minutes later, Nie Yan and Yao Yao arrived at the base of a mountain. Before them was a pitch-black, bottomless sinkhole. It emitted a foul miasma that gave a sinister feeling.

Nie Yan jumped down from his Faulkner Warhorse with Yao Yao following suit.

"Right here.” Nie Yan looked down at the sinkhole, then turned to Yao Yao and asked, "Do you have an item with the Featherfall ability?”

"I do! I have a Featherfall Ring,” Yao Yao replied. All her equipment was top-notch. How could she not have an item with the Featherfall ability! It was an essential item for any high-level player!

"Good, that makes things easier. Let’s unsummon our mounts first,” Nie Yan said, recalling his Faulkner Warhorse. Only now did he notice that Yao Yao was wearing some really high-end gear!

Yao Yao unsummoned her Kohls Horse. She looked down at the sinkhole and couldn’t help feeling a tinge of dread. There’s nothing scary down there, right?

Even though she didn’t know what was exactly in the sinkhole, dark places like these usually reminded her of vipers and other creepy crawlies.

"Let’s jump together. We’ll activate Featherfall after about 10 minutes!” Nie Yan instructed. He had been down this sinkhole before. It led directly to the depths of Sinful Gorge!

Yao Yao nodded after some slight hesitation. But she couldn’t fully shake off her anxiety.

"Don’t worry. Nothing bad will happen while I’m here,” Nie Yan comforted. He extended out his hand.

Yao Yao grabbed ahold and felt a sense of warmth wash over her as her heart gradually settled.

"3, 2, 1, jump!” The two of them jumped down, disappearing into the abyss. All they could hear was the wind rushing past their ears as they rapidly descended.

Nie Yan started counting down the time. He turned to face Yao Yao. Looking through the darkness, he could see the hazy outline of her silhouette.

Their falling speed quickly reached terminal velocity.

All they could see around them was a pitch-black abyss.

Nie Yan suddenly felt someone hugging him tightly. It appeared Yao Yao had instinctively grabbed onto the first thing she could reach when they jumped down, and that happened to be him. He felt an explosion go off in his head as a delicate fragrance wafted up his nose. With his arm wrapped around her waist, he could feel the silken-smoothness of her skin through her robes, and he felt something akin to a pair of puffy clouds pressing against his chest. The sensations running through him were simultaneously familiar yet strange.

A seductive scene instantly flashed before Nie Yan’s eyes. It was of Yao Yao’s gorgeous body which was as delicate as a piece of china. On that passionate night, it was as though they had tried to meld their bodies together.

Nie Yan shook his head, calming his mind. It was simply a lingering memory of a world that no longer existed, like the captivating yet fleeting red clouds far out in the horizon during sunset.

While hugging onto Nie Yan, Yao Yao felt a sense of warmth and security even though her cheeks were burning hot with embarrassment. This was her first time being so intimate with a boy. She never planned for this to happen.

"Yao Yao, activate your Featherfall Ring,” Nie Yan said. He activated his Featherfall Jewel as his falling speed slowed to a crawl.

Hearing Nie Yan’s muffled voice in her ears, Yao Yao activated her Featherfall Ring in a fluster.

The two slowly floated down and gently landed on the ground.

Even though it had taken them roughly 15 minutes to reach the bottom of the sinkhole, it wasn’t all that dark down here. Their surroundings were illuminated by strange ores that emitted a faint glow.

"Let’s go down a little deeper. We’ll reach the Black Sin Lotus in no time,” Nie Yan said. After a moment of silence, he clenched his teeth and turned away, heading towards a tunnel.

Staring at his back, Yao Yao felt her heart turn sour. Whenever she felt they had gotten closer, he would push her away. This sort of feeling hurt her deeply.

Yao Yao took a deep breath. She could at least take comfort in the fact she knew why he was acting so coldly toward her. If he could restrain himself in these circumstances, it signified his character was trustworthy. It appeared what Xia Ling told her about him rejecting Jiang Yingyu’s advances was true.

Yao Yao silently followed.

The winding and twisting passageways were like a labyrinth. A bone-chilling gust would occasionally blow through them while the distant sound of monsters could be heard further in the depths. Nie Yan could detect the thick miasma in the air. If a Holy Mage, Priest, or Paladin were to cast magic in this place, its effects would be greatly reduced.

Nie Yan and Yao Yao reached the end of the tunnel and arrived at a large underground lake whose waters were as black as ink. Sitting at the center was a black lotus in full bloom. This was the item Yao Yao required for her quest, the Black Sin Lotus!

Chapter 286 – Black Sin Lotus

The Black Sin Lotus was a precious alchemy ingredient and the vital ingredient to concoct the Legendary Black Sin Potion. Its value was astronomical!

The monsters lurking below the water’s surface were at minimum Level 40 while the Black Sin Lotus sprouted roughly 60 meters away from the shore. It was much more difficult fighting in water than on land, so obtaining it wouldn’t be easy.

"Should we swim?” Yao Yao asked. With the Black Sin Lotus sitting far off in the middle of the lake, she believed the only way to reach it was by treading into these calm waters.

Nie Yan shook his head. "Hold on a second.” He walked over to the lake’s edge and looked down, whereupon he saw a shadow in the water swimming towards him. His heart shook, and he quickly recoiled back.

With a large number of powerful monsters lurking below the surface, obtaining the Black Sin Lotus would prove quite the challenge.

It would’ve taken them over 6 hours just to get to this place if they hadn’t taken a shortcut by jumping down the sinkhole. On their journey, they would’ve been delayed time and time again by the monsters that lurked around every corner.

Nie Yan summoned his pet Golden Dragon. Right now, Lil’ Gold was already quite strong. Enough so, to help him hunt monsters.

As a brilliant beam of light descended, a large Golden Dragon appeared before them.

"This is the Golden Dragon pet?” Yao Yao asked in amazement. She gently rubbed Lil’ Gold’s scales with her slender hands.

Lil’ Gold’s scales had a rough texture with a metallic shine. These scales were even more resilient than metal armour!

"Mhmm. I’ll go lure some mobs,” Nie Yan said. He walked up to a wall with his Cavalry Crossbow, then took aim at a shadow swimming in the lake.

He accounted for the refraction and fired.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Five bolts flew out in quick succession and struck the shadow, causing a gush of blood to dye the water red.

The shadow charged toward Nie Yan and leapt out of the water with a giant splash.

Nie Yan could finally see the appearance of the monster. It was about the size of a large grizzly bear with a muscular upper body. It was covered in black scales, had two sharp horns growing out of its head, and wielded a 5-meter onyx-coloured pitchfork.

Black Horned Devil (Leader): Level 40

Health: 9,000/9,000

Even though it was only a Leader-class monster, Nie Yan didn’t relax. This monster was a far greater adversary than one might think on first glance.

Nie Yan quickly opened some distance and fired out another round of bolts from his Cavalry Crossbow.

「Put! Put! Put!」Another five bolts struck their target in quick succession.

−121

−112

−100

−115

−106

A string of damage values floated up above the Black Horned Devil’s head as it lost a sizeable chunk of its health.

Lil’ Gold opened his maw and spewed out a mouthful of Dragon Breath at the Black Horned Devil.「Boom!」It left a large scorch mark on the Black Horned Devil’s chest.

−529

A frightening damage value floated up into the air! Even Nie Yan was taken aback. He never expected Lil’ Gold’s damage to have already caught up to his own.

On second thought, Nie Yan understood why Lil’ Gold’s damage was so high. It was because Dragon Breath was a skill that ignored armour! The formula the system used to calculate damage was extremely complicated. It included several factors such as the type of attack, armour type, level disparity, and so on.

For example, Nie Yan’s crossbow dealt 160% bonus damage to cloth and leather-armoured targets. Against plate-armoured opponents, this bonus was reduced to 50%. Lil’ Gold’s Dragon Breath was classified as a Chaos-type attack. It dealt 200% true damage to all targets. This was why the Black Horned Devil took so much damage despite the large level discrepancy.

Dark Binding!

Shadows crept up from the ground, tightly locking down Nie Yan. The Black Horned Devil had bound him, leaving him unable to move an inch.

Just as Yao Yao was about to come to the rescue by casting Dispel, Nie Yan shouted, "Cast Radiant Barrier on Lil’ Gold!”

Yao Yao waved her staff, casting Radiant Barrier on Lil’ Gold as a pure and holy membrane of light enveloped him.

Yao Yao’s reaction speed was comparable to a top-ranking expert’s.

Not a moment later, the Black Horned Devil charged straight for Lil’ Gold and stabbed at him with its giant pitchfork.

「Klang!」Lil’ Gold was pushed back several steps as the pitchfork struck the scales on his belly, causing sparks to fly everywhere. Thanks to the protection of the Radiant Barrier, Lil’ Gold’s defenses were bolstered considerably and he only took around 170 damage.

If it wasn’t for Yao Yao’s Radiant Barrier, Lil’ Gold would have suffered far greater damage.

Lil’ Gold was unfazed. He charged forward and swiped at the Black Horned Devil. Although this was only an ordinary attack, its damage was nothing to scoff at.

Yao Yao unleashed a barrage of spells at the Black Horned Devil, causing a string of damage values to float up above its head.

After Shadow Bind wore off, Nie Yan blurred into motion and reappeared behind the Black Horned Devil, striking out with Backstab followed by Eviscerate.

The Black Horned Devil roared out in anger and rammed itself against Lil’ Gold.

Soon the battle reached its climax. Yao Yao rapidly condensed a ball of light in her left palm. When it could no longer get any smaller, she waved her staff and sent it flying at the Black Horned Devil.「Bang!」It stumbled back several meters.

−607 An astonishing damage value rose up above its head.

With a miserable screech, the Black Horned Devil collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.

Yao Yao’s last attack even shocked Nie Yan.

"Was that Holy Blast?” Nie Yan asked, dazed. Holy Blast had some distinctive traits, so he could barely recognize it.

Yao Yao nodded affirmatively. This was a skill she bought from a professional player for a hefty fee.

Holy Blast was one of the most powerful skills available to a Holy Mage at lower levels. It was something that would still be useful up until Level 50! But it was very hard to find a Holy Mage with this skill due to the low drop rate for its skill book.

Nie Yan never thought Yao Yao would even have Holy Blast. This aroused his suspicions. Without a deep background, ordinary players would be hard-pressed to collect such good equipment and skills. He had a thorough understanding of Yao Yao’s abilities. Although she was an excellent player in her own right, she wasn’t skilled enough to obtain gear and skills of this quality by her lonesome self. He began wondering what sort of background she possessed.

However, Nie Yan quickly threw it to the back of his mind. It was best he focused on the matter at hand, the Karsi’s Blessing quest, before letting his mind be clouded with curiosity.

Nie Yan walked up to the Black Horned Devil’s corpse to pick up its drops. There was a blueprint for a piece of Level 40 Gold equipment and a Gold headband. To his surprise, it had the rare level requirement reduction property, allowing it to be worn at Level 30!

Dark Ceremonial Headband (Gold)

Requirements: Level 40

Properties: Defense 32–38, Health +30, reduces level requirement by 10 if the user’s Intelligence is over 260.

Restrictions: Female Holy Mage, can only be equipped by a member of the Righteous Faction.

Head ornaments were pieces of equipment that could only be worn by female players. This was the system giving them some preferential treatment. Thanks to this extra equipment slot, they usually had slightly higher defenses than their male counterparts.

However, because they were auxiliary equipment, their attribute bonuses were low by default. This Dark Ceremonial Headband’s bonuses were already fairly high.

"It’s better than the one I’m wearing,” Yao Yao observed. It was quite rare to encounter a head ornament with such high properties.

"Take it,” Nie Yan said as he sent a trade request.

Yao Yao equipped the Dark Ceremonial Headband. She spun around in a circle, then asked, "Nirvana Flame, how do I look?”

She wore her new head ornament as a decoration, sticking it into her hair to give the black hairband some stripes. It added an extra layer of mysteriousness to her charm, giving her a rather distant aura.

Nie Yan slightly nodded. "Not bad.” Yao Yao was so pretty that no matter what she wore, she would never look bad.

Hearing Nie Yan’s compliment, Yao Yao’s face brightened with a smile.

"I’ll go lure the next mob.” Nie Yan hurriedly excused himself. He had to admit that Yao Yao was an outstanding beauty.

Nie Yan walked to the lake’s edge. He raised his crossbow and took aim. One Black Horned Devil after another was lured out of the water, and were subsequently killed by the three of them.

After buffing Lil’ Gold with Radiant Barrier, he could even tank Level 40 Leader-class monsters like the Black Horned Devils. This allowed Nie Yan to have an even greater sense of appreciation for Lil’ Gold’s power. Although Lil’ Gold required four times as much experience to level up as him at the same level, this was to be expected for such a powerful pet.

With Lil’ Gold’s terrifying growth rate, Nie Yan could hardly imagine how terrifying he would be at Level 100.

Noticing that Nie Yan was avoiding looking at her, Yao Yao revealed a sly smile. She felt the current him was quite amusing.

After half an hour or so, the trio cleared the entire lake of Black Horned Devils and confirmed there were no other monsters in the vicinity.

"Let’s swim there together,” Nie Yan suggested. Although it looked like they could just harvest the lotus after swimming there, he couldn’t shake off this uncomfortable feeling in his mind. He had Yao Yao go with him as a precaution, so they could deal with any surprises together. For example, if another Black Horned Devil popped up, they could fight it together. After all, Nie Yan couldn’t kill them by himself.

"Okay.” Yao Yao nodded.

After Nie Yan unsummoned Lil’ Gold, the two of them jumped into the ice-cold lake.

A cold gust of wind blew over the lake, causing ripples to form over the previously tranquil surface. It was as though a terrifying beast could pop out and swallow them whole at any given moment. However, as they looked down, all they could see was a pitch-black darkness. There was no way to get a clear view of what possibly lurked at the bottom. That was exactly why it instilled so much dread.

As the two of them swam through the lake, the Black Sin Lotus’ pleasant aroma wafted over, causing them to subconsciously relax.

Chapter 287 – Zennarde’s Domain

The Black Sin Lotus was an important item to Yao Yao. It was related to whether she could obtain Templar Magic.

Asskickers United was sorely lacking in Advanced Magic. Even though Nie Yan had tasked his guild members to acquire them, those who were successful could be counted on his fingers. This undertaking required time. The guild’s foundation had to be slowly built from the ground up.

Every Advanced Magic was incredibly precious and vital to the growth of any guild!

Nie Yan helping Yao Yao with Karsi’s Blessing was also helping out himself.

Asskickers United required Advanced Magic!

Nie Yan and Yao Yao approached the Black Sin Lotus. It was in full bloom and floated calmly atop the water’s surface. Every petal was akin to a piece of finely carved obsidian, covered in streaks of pink that spread out like wisps of blood.

Nie Yan swam forward to harvest the Black Sin Lotus. He would worry about any possible danger after it was in his possession!

Yao Yao was treading the water roughly 2 meters away from Nie Yan. She was afraid of straying too far from him. As a Mage with fragile defense, she would be in grave danger if she was ambushed by a monster.

The calming fragrance of the Black SIn Lotus gently wafted through the air.

As Nie Yan was about to reach for the Black Sin Lotus, an ice-cold current surged forth from the bottom of the lake, creating a whirling vortex that almost swept him away.

"Shit!” Nie Yan cried out in alarm as a sense of dread washed over him.

He felt a presence that previously lurked in the depths of the lake rushing up toward him. Perhaps this was the guardian of the Black Sin Lotus!

No time for regrets! Nie Yan reached out and plucked the Black Sin Lotus from its stem.

"Let’s get out of here, now!” Nie Yan shouted to Yao Yao after putting the Black Sin Lotus in his bag. They could escape with Return Scrolls after getting back on dry land!

In that instant, the entire lake started churning violently as a giant wave swept toward them.

"Hold on to me!” Nie Yan yelled. He wrapped his arms around Yao Yao’s waist and swam toward the shore with all his might.

But his efforts were in vain as the wave crashed into them, sending them tumbling through the water as they desperately tried to keep their heads above the surface.

"Nirvana Flame, go on without me! You’re faster, you can swim to safety!” Yao Yao shouted. Mages were dreadfully slow swimmers. In the time it took her to swim 5 meters, Nie Yan could swim almost 10 times that distance.

Nie Yan remained silent. Abandoning a woman to save his own hide? He might as well throw away all his face as a man!

Nie Yan and Yao Yao could only tightly hold on to each other as the wave threatened to pull them under. They were completely at the mercy of the turbulent currents, having long since lost the ability to control where they were going.

Nie Yan and Yao Yao were completely caught up in the current. All they could do was try their best not to get separated. Nie Yan frantically held on to whatever part of Yao Yao was in his grasp, terrified of letting her loose. More than once, he thought he failed and lost her. In such a disorienting situation, he had no idea what was what.

Yao Yao was struggling to breathe, and was starting to panic as she grew light-headed. But when she felt Nie Yan’s arm around her, a wave of calmness washed over her.

A strong current battered Nie Yan, dragging him and Yao Yao ever closer to the bottom of the lake.

Yao Yao couldn’t hold her breath for much longer. If Nie Yan didn’t get them back to the surface, she would drown!

Nie Yan started becoming anxious. The terrifying pressure at the bottom of the lake left him unable to speak. He could sense something swimming towards them. It was eyeing them closely like prey.

Nie Yan struggled to open his eyes and saw a shimmer on the lakebed. Gritting his teeth, he swam toward it with Yao Yao in his embrace.

Nie Yan didn’t know where the light came from, only that it grew brighter. In the end, his entire vision turned white as a feeling of passing through time and space came over him.

A spell of dizziness washed over Nie Yan. Even so, he firmly held Yao Yao in his embrace until his consciousness slipped away.

Nie Yan eventually awoke in a cold, barren desert, not knowing how much time had passed. A gust of wind blew by him, sending sand flying into the air.

Where are we?

Nie Yan tilted his head up at the sky, but only saw an endless sandstorm.

You have discovered Zennarde’s Domain.

Zennarde? Wait, Zennarde the legendary Dragon King!?

Nie Yan recalled what he knew. Zennarde had relied solely on himself to establish the Hiberyth Empire. He had ruled over humanity and the other races for over 2,900 years, a period of time better known as the Dark Era. Could the rumours be true? Does this desert hide Dragon King Zennarde’s Sword?

If the famous NPCs throughout history counted as legends, Zennarde was absolutely a mythical, deity-like existence! Other NPCs trying to compare with him was akin to a firefly trying to compete with the splendor of a full moon. Just his name alone would make people shudder in fear during his tyrannical reign. He was fully deserving of his reputation as the Dragon King.

Even though this place might hold Zennarde’s Sword, Nie Yan didn’t believe he had the qualifications to obtain it. As a godly existence, Zennarde naturally wielded a weapon deserving of his reputation!

After accidently arriving in Zennarde’s Domain, Nie Yan felt slightly apprehensive. He didn’t know just what sort of dangers awaited them.

Nie Yan struggled for a while, but he couldn’t budge an inch. Yao Yao was lying right on top of him.

"Yao Yao, wake up.” Nie Yan nudged her gently.

Yao Yao was slowly roused awake.

"Nirvana Flame, where are we?” Yao Yao rubbed her eyes drowsily. "Is this the graveyard?” She distinctly remembered them being swept up by a rogue wave which dragged them to the bottom of the lake. "How did we get here?”

"We’re in a quest map!” Nie Yan answered. Located deep down at the bottom of the lake, the entrance to this realm was truly well-hidden. For information about Zennarde’s Sword to have leaked out, he wondered which player stumbled upon this place in the previous timeline.

Nie Yan had never heard of anyone obtaining Zennarde’s Sword, so its properties remained a mystery.

However, there were rumours that only a Paladin with a Holy Spirit Heart could wield Zennarde’s Sword.

Nie Yan searched for information related to Zennarde on the official website. But the only information that came up was about his reign as the Dragon King, his various achievements, and so on. Nothing about Zennarde’s Sword was found.

Nie Yan grew all the more curious.

This was an unknown area. Its secrets and treasures were just waiting to be unearthed.

Yao Yao crawled to her feet. Recalling how Nie Yan’s hand had groped all over her body, her cheeks blushed with embarrassment.

Seeing Yao Yao’s pitiful appearance, Nie Yan didn’t know how to explain himself. An awkward atmosphere developed between them.

"Teleportation scrolls don’t work here. Let’s see what’s up ahead. In any case, we’ve got the Black Sin Lotus. If worse comes to worst and we can’t find the exit, we’ll just die and return to Calore that way.” Nie Yan broke the awkward silence. In order to prevent Yao Yao from feeling guilty, he didn’t mention anything about his chapter from the Book of Order. If he dropped the Chapter of Peace, so be it.

"Mhm.” Yao Yao nodded in agreement.

The two avoided making eye contact, only making small talk every now and then. When Nie Yan recalled Xie Yao, his heart slowly settled.

Nie Yan summoned Lil’ Gold. Two people and one dragon set out toward the north, not knowing when they would find the exit. Before long, they encountered monsters roaming in the distance.

"I’ll go take a look,” Nie Yan said. After activating stealth, he slowly approached them under the shroud of the blowing sand.

Nie Yan inspected one of them with Transcendent Insight.

Undead Bone Hunter: Level 40

Health: 3,000/3,000

Good, they’re just ordinary Level 40 monsters. Nie Yan breathed out a sigh of relief.

These Undead Bone Hunters somewhat resembled cheetahs with sharp spikes protruding from their backs. They were quite fast. Nie Yan observed them occasionally sprinting around before slowing down to a passive state.

Nie Yan climbed up a steep mound and breathed in the cold air. He saw Undead Bone Hunters stretching out as far as the eye could see. If he and Yao Yao wanted to get past them all, how long would it take?

This place was just like the Illusory Realm of the Dullahans. Would they only be allowed to exit after completing the quest in this map?

"Let’s start clearing the mobs,” Nie Yan suggested. It wasn’t a bad idea to grind here for a while, at least until he got his level back to where it used to be.

If Nie Yan lost the Chapter of Peace here, it truly would be a pity. Although it was only a single chapter, if he collected the other five in the future, he would obtain another item on the level of the Glimpse of Darkness!

The Book of Order was composed of six volumes. Each one gave different stat bonuses and benefits, and would trigger the release of an expansion. Anyone who collected all six volumes would become the Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Shrine! Of course, this wasn’t a realistic goal. But if Nie Yan could obtain a few more volumes, he could roam the world as he pleased.

Nie Yan raised his Cavalry Crossbow and fired at one of the Undead Bone Hunters in the distance.「Put! Put! Put!」Five bolts struck the target in quick succession, causing a string of damage values to float up into the air. Almost 60 Undead Bone Hunters immediately charged toward him.

Holy Ardent Blaze!

Yao Yao waved her staff, causing beams of light to descend from the sky and bombard the Undead Bone Hunters. A blanket of damage values rose up into the sky. She dealt at least 500-600 damage to each of them.

This was an area-of-effect spell!

Holy Mages were better known for their single target damage. There weren’t many area-of-effect spells available to them, not to mention they were quite rare. However, the few they had possessed formidable might.

At this moment, Lil’ Gold spewed out a cone of Dragon Breath, dealing another 900 or so damage to the group of Undead Bone Hunters. Lil’ Gold’s Dragon Breath was even more terrifying against ordinary mobs.

Lil’ Gold acted as the tank while Yao Yao cast spell after spell from the back. Nie Yan also joined the fray. Swaths of Undead Bone Hunter collapsed one after another, littering the ground with piles of bone fragments.

Nie Yan checked the quest he received back in the Illusory Realm of the Dullahans.

Task 6 – Kill 50,000 Level 30 or higher undead. (progress: 62/50,000)

His mind trembled in excitement. It would be great if he could complete task 6 and upgrade his Demon Hunter title while he was here.

Aside from this, the Glimpse of Darkness also required him to kill a certain amount of undead to unlock some skills.

Taking this into consideration, Nie Yan started feeling being trapped here wasn’t all that bad. All they had to do was search around for some clues. Who knew what they might uncover?

Chapter 288 – Zennarde’s Cenotaph

It was difficult to determine the true value of a title. Even the lowest ranking ones provided the player some benefit in the form of preferential treatment from NPCs, to say nothing of high-ranking titles such as Demon Hunter and Grand Scholar. Demon Hunter greatly raised Nie Yan’s Influence, albeit only in human cities, while Grand Scholar granted him an even wider host of privileges.

Nie Yan wondered what sort of benefits he would receive by upgrading his Demon Hunter title from Intermediate to Advanced.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan diverted all his experience to Lil’ Gold whose mobbing speed far exceeded his own. It would only become faster with every level Lil’ Gold gained.

Nie Yan’s intuition told him that he and Yao Yao would most likely be stuck in Zennarde’s Domain for at least the next several days.

These Undead Bone Hunters were seemingly endless. Nie Yan didn’t know how long it would take to get through them. They dropped about 1 silver upon death but pretty much nothing else. Even so, the profit from grinding them wasn’t too bad since it was impossible to encounter such drop rates in ordinary maps.

Nie Yan continued drawing aggro, while Yao Yao rested on the sidelines, drinking Spring Water to restore her mana. He fired out an endless stream of bolts and built up a large group of Undead Bone Hunters behind him.

After Nie Yan rounded them up, Yao Yao and Lil’ Gold would unleash their magic. Lil’ Gold with his Dragon Breath and Yao Yao with her Holy Ardent Blaze. Swaths of Undead Bone Hunters collapsed to the ground.

Nie Yan’s progress bar steadily rose. He discovered a kill only counted if he got the last hit. So he asked Yao Yao if she could leave the kills to him and Lil’ Gold. Like this, his quest would progress at a much faster rate.

Lil’ Gold charged into the fray and swept through the Undead Bone Hunters.

Before long, Lil’ Gold rose to Level 28 and learned two new skills:

Meteor Drop (Junior): Summon a giant meteor, dealing 200% damage to all targets in a 20 meter radius and persisting burn damage for 20 seconds. Cast Time: 10 seconds. Cooldown: 30 minutes. Ranks up at Level 60.

Explosive Counter (Junior): When attacked, has a chance to retaliate against the enemy, dealing 200% damage. Ranks up at Level 50.

These two skills were quite formidable.

Even though it became harder and harder to raise Lil Gold’s level, he became increasingly stronger with every level.

Seeing Lil’ Gold learn two new skills, Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise. Somehow, Lil’ Gold’s growth kept exceeding his expectations.

Nie Yan made a decision. Even at the cost of himself, he would definitely make Lil’ Gold skyrocket in level.

Nie Yan used his Cavalry Crossbow to aggro about 60 Undead Bone Hunters, the screeching mob surging forward like a tide. A scorching hot meteor descended from the sky and smashed into them with a loud bang, causing flames to fly everywhere. Under the raging flames, the Undead Bone Hunters collapsed in droves.

Nie Yan checked his progress.

Task 6 – Kill 50,000 Level 30 or higher undead. (Progress: 1,223/50,000)

The number of kills rapidly accumulated.

"How much Spring Water do you have left?” Nie Yan asked. A Mage’s sustainability was far too lacking. At regular intervals, they would be forced to take large numbers of Mana Potions, Spring Waters, and so on to replenish their mana.

"I prepared plenty before we set out. I still have over 60 stacks left,” Yao Yao replied after checking her bag.

Because Yao Yao bought the Premium Spring Water, she could restore her mana to full with a single pouch, whereas others would be forced to chug down five or six ordinary Spring Waters. She wouldn’t be running out of them anytime soon!

Since each stack contained 20 pouches, that meant she had over 1,200 pouches of Premium Spring Water which could last her at least six days.

Nie Yan was speechless. Each pouch of Premium Spring Water cost 1 silver. This meant she had spent over 1,200 silver or 12 gold! Even he would think twice about spending so much gold on something like this. In all of Conviction, Yao Yao might be the sole person who could behave so lavishly.

Since it appeared Yao Yao had prepared well in advance, there would be no problem with them levelling here for a few days.

Nie Yan and Yao Yao spent the next few days in relative peace. Nie Yan would occasionally deal with outside affairs such as Asskickers United’s growth, movements from Bloodthirst Blades and Alliance of Mages, and so on.

It was a period of rapid growth for large guilds. Asskickers United also quickly expanded, ranking up to a Level 5 guild with almost 60,000 members. The five auxiliary guilds also grew to around 10,000 members each, for a grand total of about 110,000!

Thanks to the investment of Dragonsoar Financial Group, more and more guild members reached level 40. Many of them were provided with mounts, causing about 10% of the guild to get around on horseback. This signified the start of a new era. Players were no longer restricted to their starting cities. They could start travelling throughout the Viridian Empire.

Nie Yan was clearer than anyone else about what this signified!

Guo Huai received reports that players from Bloodthirst Blades had started appearing in maps that bordered Calore’s territory. Because Calore and Radiant City were relatively close, the two guilds had already made some contact. However, both sides acted with restraint for the time being, so no conflicts had broken out yet. Nevertheless, the smell of gunpowder was in the air.

Due to the future competition for strongholds, the two guilds would inevitably become enemies.

But apart from these matters, Nie Yan spent the remainder of his time with Yao Yao, levelling up on the Undead Bone Hunters.

Yao Yao especially enjoyed these dull days.

On the second day of grinding in Zennarde’s Domain, Nie Yan completed Task 6 and received the Advanced Demon Hunter title, increasing his Influence in all human cities by 30.

Nie Yan’s goal was to reach 100 Influence. When a player reached 100 Influence in a city, they would receive special rewards, among which included the Glory Set.

Among all equipment, the Glory Set was only second to Sub Legendary sets. In the eyes of players, it counted among godly gear. In the previous timeline, not many people possessed it. Even giving an optimistic estimate, they would number no more than several thousand in the entire Viridian Empire.

The vast majority of players would be over Level 100 by the time they obtained this set.

Nie Yan also received another quest.

Task 7 – Kill 200,000 Level 30 or higher undead. (Progress: 0/200,000)

Nie Yan was curious as to what came after Advanced Demon Hunter. During this time, he and Yao Yao grinded in Zennarde’s Domain nonstop.

On day five, Nie Yan was more than three quarters of the way to complete Task 7.

Task 7 – Kill 200,000 Level 30 or higher undead. (Progress: 162,832/200,000)

After killing countless undead, Nie Yan also unlocked a skill from the Glimpse of Darkness:

Gale Ambush: Dash toward a target at 300% movement speed, ambushing them and dealing 160% damage while ignoring armour and level difference. Cooldown: 5 days.

The number of powerful skills at his disposal kept increasing, but Nie Yan’s level was lagging further behind every moment. Although he got back up to Level 30, it still fell well short of Yao Yao, who had already climbed to Level 42. On the leaderboards, players who were Level 45–46 could be found everywhere. However, the top of the level leaderboards didn’t mean anything to Nie Yan. He could catch back up at any time. What made him most excited was that after sacrificing his own level growth, Lil’ Gold had risen to Level 35! With over 3000 health and over 1000 attack and magic power, Lil’ Gold was an extremely formidable opponent. When there was such a strong pet by his side, why would he have to worry about his level not keeping up?

It was a pity he had no stat points to add after levelling back up to 30. In Conviction, if a player dropped levels, they wouldn’t lose their stat points. So after gaining those levels back, naturally they wouldn’t receive any.

On another note, because he was stuck in Zennarde’s Domain, Nie Yan couldn’t personally participate in the stronghold battle between Holy Empire and Radiant Sacred Flame. However, he sent over 100 of his strongest players to represent Asskickers United in the battle. With Resplendent Bladelight and the others there to help out, there wouldn’t be any problems in securing the stronghold. After all, Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors didn’t send people to fight. They were all busy trying to secure strongholds for themselves! Where would they find the time to help a futureless Radiant Sacred Flame?

During the fight, a minor incident occurred when Shadow Killer assassinated Sleepy Fox out of nowhere, almost causing Holy Empire to collapse. Fortunately, Asskickers United’s powerful forces stood strong and carried the day, turning the tide back against Radiant Sacred Flame. Shadow Killer disappeared after his single kill, leaving only a single sentence for Asskickers United: "Tell Nirvana Flame to wash his neck, lest I dirty my blade!”

Shadow Killer’s provocative words set all of Asskickers United into a murderous frenzy.

Nie Yan, who was still stuck in Zennarde’s Domain, cracked out a faint smile after hearing these words. If Shadow Killer really dared to come, he wouldn’t mind toying around with him for a bit.

In the previous timeline, Nie Yan had no hope of competing with a player on the level of Shadow Killer. But after reincarnating, Nie Yan had undergone a complete transformation, breaking free from his cocoon and becoming a butterfly, an obscure nameless figure to the illustrious leader of Asskickers United. The present him had already long since surpassed his past self! Fearless and unrivalled, this was Nie Yan’s motto in this life.

While paying attention to what was happening in the outside world, Nie Yan and Yao Yao continued pushing forward. The Undead Bone Hunters here didn’t respawn. They finally found some clues when Nie Yan discovered a guidestone. It was covered in cracks and was already heavily eroded by the elements. Nevertheless, he could still clearly make out an arrow pointing toward a certain direction, below which were several characters written in the dragon language: Zennarde’s Cenotaph.

Chapter 289 – God’s Blessing

Zennarde’s Cenotaph was where some of his belongings were buried, including the sword he wielded during the Dark Era. The tyrannical weapon tasted the blood of countless lives, leaving an everlasting mark on history.

It was simply impossible for a person without a Holy Spirit Heart to subdue this godly weapon which brimmed with an aura of slaughter.

Nie Yan didn’t know much about Holy Spirit Hearts except for they were difficult to obtain. Only three players were rumoured to have ever received them in the previous timeline. However, he didn’t know what methods they used. Holy Spirit Hearts weren’t class-exclusive, but Paladins did have a somewhat easier time acquiring them. This was because it was reported a Holy Spirit Heart could be gained after purifying a certain number of undead, and at the later stages of the game, Paladins possessed an aura skill which had a chance of purifying any weak undead that entered their sphere of influence.

No matter how difficult, Nie Yan wanted to at least get a look at Zennarde’s Sword. He knew wanting to obtain it was a fool’s errand. But just seeing it was still within the realms of possibility, right?

Nie Yan and Yao Yao moved in the direction the guidestone pointed.

Still barring their path was the endless sea of Undead Bone Hunters. However, Nie Yan discovered they were a lot easier to deal with than before. He quickly realized why after checking his status:

Advanced Demon Hunter – Increases Influence in all human nations by 30. Reduces the stats of every creature of darkness within 20 meters of the player by 30%.

Intimidate (Enhanced): Inflict the target with fear and cripple their movements for 3 seconds. Range: 5 meters.

Deterrence (Enhanced): Disperse all monsters within the surrounding area for 15 minutes. Not valid if the monsters’ level exceeds the player’s level by over 30.

Advanced Demon Hunter didn’t give anything new, but all of the existing properties received a substantial boost. Nie Yan would probably have to raise the title’s rank again or maybe upgrade it to an even higher tier to receive a new skill.

The greater the debuff to the surrounding undead, the faster Nie Yan and Yao Yao shredded through them.

In the distance, a massive grave gradually revealed itself to them. It was made of ashen gray rocks and piled several tens of meters high. The highest stone, which showed clear signs of weathering, sported a dark entrance that led deep underground.

With his sights set on Zennarde’s Sword, Nie Yan planned to explore the depths of this Cenotaph. Regardless of what happened to him down there, his journey here could be counted a success.

"I’m running out of Spring Water,” Yao Yao said with furrowed brows after checking her bag. Even over 60 stacks couldn’t hold up to so many days of non-stop grinding.

Nie Yan thought for a bit, then suggested, "How about you return to Calore with the Black Sin Lotus without me? I’ll explain to you how to proceed with the next step of Karsi’s Blessing. Go find Blacksmith Kade and ask him to craft you a Silver-grade Rosary. Wear it during the next stage of the quest.”

Yao Yao thought for a moment. Without any mana recovery items, she would only be a burden to Nie Yan if she stuck around.

Her only choice was to die to return back to the city.

"Alright, I’ll go finish Karsi’s Blessing by myself.” Yao Yao nodded. Nie Yan appeared quite interested in this quest, to the extent that he wouldn’t be satisfied until he saw it through to the very end.

Nie Yan traded the Black Sin Lotus to Yao Yao. He only needed to give her a bit of guidance for the next stage, and she would be fine. With the Silver-grade Rosary, the difficulty would become a lot more bearable.

"Alright, Nirvana Flame, I’ll take my leave.” Yao Yao’s eyes flashed with deep reluctance as she began taking her equipment off.

"Ok.” Nie Yan nodded. He planned to explore the interior of the grave. If he was going to die anyways, he might as well try to get something out of it.

It took over 20 seconds for Yao Yao to finish unequipping her gear, after which she found a way to commit suicide and return to Calore.

After she left, Nie Yan looked at Lil’ Gold. Without the support of Yao Yao’s area of effect magic, their mobbing speed would drop considerably.

Nie Yan redirected his attention to some guild affairs. This afternoon signalled the end of the five-day deadline between Asskickers United and Dragonsoar Financial Group. He ordered Bladelight, Young Seven, and the others to capture a Basic Stronghold by themselves. With a force of 500 strong, they succeeded after wiping seven times. Although the evil creatures guarding the strongholds gave ample amounts of experience, it still wasn’t enough to cover their losses. On average, each member dropped by 2 levels. But compared to the worth of a stronghold, this was a decent trade-off.

It wasn’t just Asskickers United. Other guilds were also hard at work clearing strongholds, but the losses they suffered in the process were far steeper.

Nie Yan looked at the vast sea of bones before him, waves of them moving around seemingly without purpose. Directing Lil’ Gold, who could massacre entire groups of Undead Bone Hunters with his Dragon Breath, he steadily advanced.

Nie Yan arrived outside the entrance of Zennarde’s Cenotaph. He could detect a dark energy radiating from its depths, giving a cold and gloomy feeling. Before him was a long flight of stairs that led deep underground.

Nie Yan descended the stairs along with Lil’ Gold.

Carved into the walls on either side of the passage were simple murals depicting the history of the dragon race, from their abrupt rise in the Kanasi Mountain Range to their rapid occupation of the territories of other races, then finally the establishment of their empire, ruling over the entire Atlanta Continent.

As the saying went, nothing lasts forever. After dominating the continent for 2900 years, even King Zennarde grew old. In the fight for his inheritance, the ruling class tore itself apart. On top of that, the various races revolted against the dragons’ atrocities, causing the Hiberyth Empire to fall into a sharp decline and never regain its former glory.

In the end, the nobility of the dragon race had no choice but to place Zennarde’s Cenotaph in Zennarde’s Domain. Otherwise, it would be destroyed by the other races.

The dragon race was nearly slaughtered to extinction while the survivors were scattered all over the continent!

Even a powerful existence like the dragon race was ultimately wiped away from the slates of history.

As ancient legends like the one before Nie Yan seeped into both the civilization and various quests, they joined together to form the mystical world of Conviction.

Seeing these simple yet clear murals, Nie Yan felt like he was wandering through the rivers of history.

As Nie Yan travelled deeper into the tomb, the passage gradually grew more spacious. He guessed the ceiling was about 10 meters high, while a couple of meters to either side he was met with bones and skeletons along the wall. Some were human, others were elves, and still others were giants. All of them had fallen victim to a one-sided slaughter. Glowing pearls on the side of the walls lit up the passageway. Under the dim light, he saw several silhouettes flash by.

Nie Yan didn’t know what sort of monsters lurked here. He entered stealth and went forward to investigate. Several figures appeared before his eyes—skeleton mages. Besides their black robes, all he could make out was the eerie green flames flickering in their otherwise empty eye sockets.

One of the skeleton mages suddenly turned around and stared in Nie Yan’s direction.

Nie Yan held his breath. His entire body was hidden and merged with the darkness.

The skeleton mage searched around. But after not finding anything, it continued on its way.

Nie Yan inspected the skeleton mage with Transcendent Insight.

Skeleton Dragon Priest (Elite): Level 50

Health: 5,000/5,000

There were roughly 16 Skeleton Dragon Priests in this area. Could it be that his journey would end here?

Nie Yan wasn’t willing to give up yet. He had already come so far. Besides, even if he decided to stop here, he would still have to die to escape this quest map. He might as well give it a shot. He unsummoned Lil’ Gold, then walked into the room.

After Nie Yan activated the Crawler Ring, he began slowly climbing the walls like a house gecko. He hid in a corner that was the furthest away from the Skeleton Dragon Priests and slowly made his way to the other side with careful control over his every move.

While surrounded by so many enemies, Nie Yan didn’t dare to behave rashly. He looked up ahead and saw two groups of Skeleton Dragon Priests. Although this room was spacious, avoiding them would be extremely difficult.

A Skeleton Dragon Priest suddenly turned its head, staring straight at Nie Yan.

Nie Yan’s heart jumped in fright. He had been discovered!

Then again, in a closed environment like this, it was hard not to be discovered.

The Skeleton Dragon Priest waved its staff and cast Ensnare!

If Nie Yan was immobilized, he would fall down.

However, he couldn’t use any skills right now because he was on the wall!

Miss!

Nie Yan was caught off-guard but overjoyed by this unexpected development. However, why did the Skeleton Dragon Priest’s Ensnare not work on him? He suddenly recalled a certain item, the Chapter of Peace! It had a passive skill that had a chance of nullifying any spell targeted at him!

The Chapter of Peace actually had such a life-saving use. Its value in his heart increased immensely. Sometimes this item could act as a timely life-saver! Targeted spells like Ensnare or Petrifying Gaze from both players and monsters were very difficult to deal with. Because he possessed the Chapter of Peace, when encountering such dangers, his life could potentially be saved!

But he understood there was only a chance for it to activate. In all likelihood, he wouldn’t be so lucky next time! Nie Yan flipped over and jumped off the stone wall. Landing gracefully on the floor, he perfectly executed Shadow Waltz to suddenly rush forward.

The Skeleton Dragon Priests sent over a dozen spells whizzing towards Nie Yan.

Nie Yan leaped out of the way in an attempt to dodge. While midair, he activated the Darkbright Barrier skill from his Darkbright Chestpiece.「Bang! Bang!」Two fireballs still managed to hit him.

−236

−224

What terrifying damage!

Fortunately, Nie Yan managed to avoid the vast majority of the attacks. Otherwise, this barrage would’ve easily sent him to his grave.

He quickly dashed toward the passage. Since he had already been discovered, he might as well make a break for it. The group of Skeleton Dragon Priests attempted to intercept him, sending numerous spells flying in his direction.

Fireballs flew all over the place with dozens of projectiles being launched in each wave!

As Nie Yan made his escape, nasty sizzles sounded out repeatedly as he was hit by one fireball after another. However, he wasn’t instantly killed by the barrage but instead bravely withstood the Skeleton Dragon Priests’ spells to make his way to the next room.

In the instant before the next barrage of spells hit him, marking his imminent demise, Nie Yan activated the God’s Blessing skill from the Chapter of Peace, becoming immune to all magic!

Chapter 290 – Zennarde’s Sword

Since the Chapter of Peace was guaranteed to drop upon death, Nie Yan decided to take advantage of its God’s Blessing skill while he still could. He might even come out of here alive by some stroke of luck!

God’s Blessing had a duration of 60 seconds. During this time, Nie Yan wouldn’t have to fear any magic.

After downing a Haste Potion he got from the Starry Night Potion Shop, Nie Yan fled for his life while brushing off the bombardment of spells. With only 10 seconds remaining on God’s Blessing, he bolted past the last group of Skeleton Dragon Priests and escaped through the passage to the next room. He found a dark corner to duck into and disappeared into the shadows.

The Skeleton Dragon Priests chased after Nie Yan into the passageway. But after finding no signs of him, they turned around and left.

Nie Yan breathed out a sigh of relief. He left his hiding spot and continued travelling deeper into the tomb. Much to his dismay, the next room he arrived at contained nearly six times as many Skeleton Dragon Priests. He had no idea how to deal with so many Elite-class monsters.

These Skeleton Dragon Priests completely barred Nie Yan’s path forward.

"How do I get past this room…?” Nie Yan muttered. He surveyed his surroundings and confirmed that this room didn’t differ much from the last in design, meaning sneaking past these Skeleton Dragon Priests would be next to impossible. Taking them out one by one was another route he could take. After all, with his outstanding gear and wide array of skills, disposing of a Level 50 Skeleton Dragon Priest would be a piece of cake.

However, in front of him were over 70 Skeleton Dragon Priests with even more further up ahead.

Even with the Silk Spinner Ring and Crawler Ring in his possession, Nie Yan had no way of sneaking past them.

While Nie Yan was pondering his next step, one of the Skeleton Dragon Priests split off from the group and began wandering in his direction. In its idle state, it alternated between moving around and stopping to survey its surroundings.

It got closer and closer to Nie Yan. Only a few more steps and it would discover him!

There was a large crowd of Skeleton Dragon Priests only 20 meters up ahead. If they were all alerted of his presence, Nie Yan would be left without a corpse!

His only option was to take out this Skeleton Dragon Priest as quickly as possible!

Nie Yan gritted his teeth and activated Gale Ambush. He dashed forward with an explosive burst of speed and plunged his dagger deep into the Skeleton Dragon Priest’s chest. After which he circled around and followed up with Cut Throat.

Nie Yan’s speed reached its absolute limit thanks to the 200% bonus from Gale Ambush.

Gale Ambush increased damage by 60% and ignored armour and level difference. Combined with the Advanced Demon Hunter title which reduced the stats of all nearby undead by 30%, Nie Yan dealt massive damage.

Before the Skeleton Dragon Priest could react, Nie Yan had brought it down to almost half health.

The Skeleton Dragon Priest began casting, a sphere of light condensing in its palm. But before it could retaliate, Nie Yan temporarily delayed it with a swift kick to the shoulder.

Nie Yan threw himself back at the Skeleton Dragon Priest and struck out with Backstab and Eviscerate.

Just as the Skeleton Dragon Priest was about to unleash its magic, Nie Yan activated Blast and finished it off with a loud explosion.

The ruckus alerted the crowd of Skeleton Dragon Priests up ahead. As they turned their heads to look over, all they saw was a black robe and scattered bone fragments on the ground. Nie Yan was nowhere to be found.

These undead lacked the intelligence to wonder how their comrade ended up in such a state. Without a target, they would remain idle, leaving Nie Yan safe for the time being.

Nie Yan returned to the corner. He relaxed his breathing after seeing the Skeleton Dragon Priests turn their gazes away. Had he not acted with such resolve, he would be facing a calamity right now!

Taking down a single Skeleton Dragon Priest wasn’t enough to allow Nie Yan to get through this area, nor did he have the luxury of waiting all day for them to split off from their groups, allowing him to pick them off one at a time.

"Is there nothing else I can do?” Nie Yan scanned through the list of skills and items available to him before his gaze settled on the Pearl of Disguise. "Maybe I really can sneak past these Skeleton Dragon Priests if I disguise myself as one of them!”

After a moment, Nie Yan made his decision. He could think of no other way.

Nie Yan activated Disguise, and his body was instantly shrouded by a black robe. His face concealed beneath the robe turned skeletal while flickering green orbs emerged in his eye sockets.

He looked identical to a Skeleton Dragon Priest!

The Disguise skill was quite impressive. Nie Yan examined his body and confirmed that the transformation was complete. Every part of his body had turned into a skeleton!

Nie Yan didn’t know if the Skeleton Dragon Priests could see through his disguise, or if there was a safe distance and what it was. So he decided it best to stay as far away from them as he possibly could.

What awaited Nie Yan if he was caught was an endless barrage of spells. Later, he would awake in the Calore graveyard.

Nie Yan took a deep breath, then began walking towards the Skeleton Dragon Priests in the distance. He even perfectly mimicked their gait. This way, his cover was less likely to get blown.

Nie Yan silently prayed that the Skeleton Dragon Priests didn’t possess any skills like Eye of Truth; otherwise, he was toast.

Nie Yan slowly approached the Skeleton Dragon Priests. At about five meters, he could clearly make out their faces under the robes. Their bone-white, skeletal appearances were extremely off-putting.

Even though Nie Yan couldn’t see his own face. He reckoned it didn’t differ much from these Skeleton Dragon Priests.

This was the effect of Disguise!

Nie Yan lowered his head. He saw a pair of hands that were mostly bone with a bit of mummified muscle and tendons attached to them.

These were his hands!

He firmly grasped his staff as he advanced. He was only a short distance away from the Skeleton Dragon Priests.

Nie Yan felt like his heart was going to jump out of his chest as he got closer and closer to them. I’m done for if I expose myself now! Calm down! He forcefully composed himself, then continued onward.

Several Skeleton Dragon Priests looked over at Nie Yan. They stared at his face for what seemed like an eternity before finally turning away.

None of the Skeleton Dragon Priests noticed anything off about Nie Yan.

Nie Yan felt reassured as he slowly snuck past the groups of Skeleton Dragon Priests without being noticed. When he reached the end of the room, he breathed out a sigh of relief. This sort of activity truly tested the limits of a person’s mental fortitude.

Nie Yan took advantage of his disguise to travel deeper into the tomb. He bumped into Skeleton Dragon Priests in every room and corridor. If a player hadn’t reached Level 70 or didn’t possess any special methods, there was no way they could make it this far by themselves!

Nie Yan used the Pearl of Disguise to make it through the areas that were littered with Skeleton Dragon Priests. After travelling for another half an hour, he exited a long, narrow passageway and arrived in a room significantly hotter than the others. Below was a lake of boiling lava while ahead was a stone arch bridge that stretched past the haze of volcanic gas.

Nie Yan spotted a statue towering over the lava in the distance. It was roughly 70 meters tall and resembled a titan of antiquity. Clad in golden armour and sporting a pair of giant wings, it was a spectacular sight to behold.

This was a statue of Dragon King Zennarde in his prime! Brimming with muscle, he appeared domineering with a murderous countenance that inspired fear to all.

Slaughterer of all beings, the indisputable tyrant throughout the ages!

His establishment of the Hiberyth Empire and subsequent reign was known as the Dark Era! For all other races, it was the darkest time in their history!

The statue’s right hand was placed in front of its chest with its palm facing upward. Its immense palm was large enough to fit six people. Floating just about a meter above the center of the palm was a pitch-black short sword. It was covered in a blazing black flame.

Zennarde’s Sword was roughly the same size as an ordinary one-handed sword. It was entirely black, shrouded in an otherworldly flame.

Since Zennarde’s Sword was so high up, Nie Yan couldn’t get a good look at it. However, it immediately drew his attention. In this expansive room, it was undoubtedly the focal point.

This was a frightening weapon that took millions of lives, but also a legendary weapon that countless people drooled over.

Nie Yan stared at the treasure that was so close, yet so far away. Even though he was fully aware of the danger, he had an urge to charge up ahead.

Nie Yan walked over the stone bridge. A dense noxious cloud of smoke rose up from the boiling pit of lava below, carrying along with it waves of heat and even smoldering flames. The burning smoke enveloped him, lingering for a long while, before gradually extinguishing.

Despite being burned by the smoke, Nie Yan was still unscathed.

Nie Yan possessed the Kilnfire Heart, making his fire resistance extremely high. Even a Level 80 player wasn’t necessarily a match for him in this regard. So the environmental hazards here had no effect on him. These clouds of smoke only dealt 50 points of damage at most.

Ahead of him was a 10 meter wide river of lava. Nie Yan searched for a long time but he couldn’t find a bridge to the other side.

The lava below boiled and roiled. From time to time, gas bubbles would explode, sending waves of heat rising into the air.

After considering his options, Nie Yan equipped the Leaper Ring. He leaped over the lava and landed safely on the other side

Nie Yan gazed into the distance. He was one step closer to the statue at the center.

There was still roughly 60 meters to go!

There was a vast sea of lava ahead of him. Wanting to obtain Zennarde’s Sword wouldn’t be an easy task.

Nie Yan wondered how the people in the previous timeline reached Zennarde’s Sword or how many of them were engulfed by the boiling lava.

Nie Yan felt his expectations for Zennarde’s Sword soar. It was definitely on par with the Grimmar Soul Staff!

Nie Yan’s eyes swept over the ground in the distance. To his shock, he discovered a person hung up on a giant cross, about eight meters above the lava. The hanged man looked quite large and muscular.

Because it was so far away, Nie Yan couldn’t see this person clearly. However, for an NPC to appear in this place, and to be strung up on a cross no less, they were definitely related to Zennarde’s Sword and the quest in this map.

It was hard to tell if this NPC was still alive.

Nie Yan thought for a moment before decisively walking over.

Chapter 291 – Barbarian Kelowitz

Nie Yan trekked over to the NPC strewn up on the cross and examined him. He was far taller than an ordinary person, with a robust physique that glowed a healthy bronze. The lower half of his body was covered by a pair of ragged fur trousers while his upper body was bare. Despite his sorry appearance, he brimmed with power akin to a ferocious beast.

From these distinctive traits, Nie Yan identified this NPC as a Barbarian!

Barbarians were a race of humans gifted with immense physical strength. They specialized in melee combat, often wrestling with beasts in the forest to hone their various techniques. Battle was practically in their blood.

Barbarians were a famous group of people. Although their population never exceeded 2,000, countless Champions were birthed from their tribe, some of whom even became legendary existences such as the God of War Kelo.

Nie Yan stood roughly 30 meters away from this Barbarian. It appeared he had been hung up on the cross for quite a while. His hair fell well past his shoulders, covering his face and preventing others from making out his expression.

Nie Yan had encountered a few Barbarians in his past life. They were powerful and well-respected NPCs who acted as the cornerstones of strength in every battle, slaughtering numerous creatures of darkness. Their feats were often spoken highly about in the Hilton Stronghold.

Nie Yan discovered this Barbarian was firmly nailed in place by metal spikes through his hands and feet, leaving him unable to move an inch. As if that wasn’t enough, his wrists and ankles were bound in chains and shackles.

It was impossible for this Barbarian to break free in such a state.

Sensing another presence, the Barbarian raised his head to stare at Nie Yan. His deep black eyes were piercing and full of life.

Nie Yan inspected the Barbarian with Transcendent Insight.

Barbarian Kelowitz (Lord): Level 360

Health: ???

Nie Yan was shocked. Generally, NPCs over Level 300 were existences similar to legendary figures like Karsi. But he feared even Karsi might not necessarily be a match for this fellow in level.

"Youngster, what are you doing here?” Barbarian Kelowitz asked. His deep, husky voice carried a serenity unlike any other.

"I was just exploring,” Nie Yan replied innocently. He remained unflinching under Barbarian Kelowitz’s intent gaze, which was akin to a sharp blade.

Even while bound to the cross, Barbarian Kelowitz still radiated matchless might.

Barbarian Kelowitz cracked an appreciative smile. "Youngster, you’re still but an infant, but you have great willpower.” He lazily glanced at the flowing lava around him. "I’ve been imprisoned in here, this damned place, for close to 1000 years.”

Nie Yan’s expression flickered in surprise. This was probably a trigger for a quest!

"Do you need my help?”

Barbarian Kelowitz gazed at Nie Yan for a moment. With a faint smile, he gently shook his head. "Youngster, you’re far too weak. It’s impossible for you to free me. It would require someone with a Holy Spirit Heart to pull out Zennarde’s Sword to unlock these restraints.”

Nie Yan’s mind trembled. In the previous timeline, a player had probably reached this place and heard something similar from Barbarian Kelowitz. Subsequently, the information about Zennarde’s Sword leaked to the outside.

However, these rumours were never corroborated by the official website.

This quest probably had a very high level requirement and involved buried secrets of the Atlanta continent, neither of which the players had obtained in the previous timeline. So the official website never made any relevant information public.

"What must I do to obtain a Holy Spirit Heart?” Nie Yan asked. In the previous timeline, a Holy Spirit Heart was a distant legend. Those in possession of one could be counted on a single hand.

"Paladins are gifted beings with a straightforward path to obtain a Holy Spirit Heart. For other classes, although it isn’t impossible, it would be as difficult as ascending the heavens,” Barbarian Kelowitz answered. He gazed at Nie Yan’s resolute expression, then revealed a self-mocking smile. "I don’t know why—maybe because I’ve gone senile from being holed up here for far too long—but my gut tells me you can do it. Youngster, are you willing to unseal Zennarde’s Sword and use it to sever these accursed chains?”

Will you accept Barbarian Kelowitz’ request? Time Limit: 5 months. Failure will result in the loss of 10 levels.

Nie Yan thought for a moment, then pressed confirm. The penalty was nothing particularly grave in his opinion. There was no harm in accepting this quest. However, he still had some doubts regarding Zennarde’s Sword. Could he really obtain it?

Even if he had to die again and again, it would all be worth it if he could obtain Zennarde’s Sword! A mythical treasure like this was simply too great to pass up on.

You have accepted Barbarian Kelowitz’ Request.

You have received Barbarian Kelowitz’ Blessing.

Barbarian Kelowitz’ Blessing: Suppress the might of evil. Duration: 5 months.

Why did I get this blessing? What is it for? Nie Yan was dazed for a moment. He gazed up at Zennarde’s Sword floating above the palm of the statue. This godly weapon had been sealed there for nearly 1000 years. It contained a mysterious power that appeared to transcend both space and time. Suppress the might of evil… could it be referring to Zennarde’s Sword?

"But how do I obtain a Holy Spirit Heart?” Nie Yan hurriedly asked. The Holy Spirit Heart was the most important part.

"No need to worry.” Barbarian Kelowitz chuckled. He chanted a series of syllables as a blaze of light enshrouded Nie Yan. "I once received the blessing of God, making me the only Barbarian who can wield magic. With it, I blessed you. As for whether you can obtain a Holy Spirit Heart, that will depend on yourself.”

Nie Yan checked his status and discovered a new skill.

Purifying Aura: Wield the power of light to purify all evil creatures within a 5-meter radius.

A Holy Spirit Heart could be obtained by purifying countless evil creatures. As for the exact number, Nie Yan had no clue. However, he was certain it wasn’t low. How else could there have been only three Paladins with Holy Spirit Hearts in the previous timeline?

"Kelowitz, sir, thank you for the blessing,” Nie Yan said. It appeared it would be a long time before he could come back here to rescue this barbarian.

Barbarian Kelowitz appeared slightly out of breath after granting the blessing. "Please remember the task I entrusted you with. If you would like to leave this place, I can still muster open a teleportal for you.”

"Hold on, please. Kelowitz, sir. Would it be possible for me to take away Zennarde’s Sword?” Nie Yan asked. He gazed at the sword hovering in the distance.

"Go fetch Zennarde’s Sword first,” Barbarian Kelowitz replied.

An ordinary person couldn’t reach such a high place. Nie Yan reckoned that the lucky fellow who stumbled upon this place in the previous time initially had no way of reaching the sword. So they could only return to the city and think of a way to overcome this obstacle. When they returned with an item such as a Levitation Ring, they could take Zennarde’s Sword away.

"Sure, I can climb up there,” Nie Yan said. He grew excited after Barbarian Kelowitz agreed to his request.

"Zennarde’s Sword was sealed after the death of Zennarde. Its current power isn’t even a fraction of what it once was,” Barbarian Kelowitz said.

From Nie Yan’s experience, the properties of legendary pieces of gear like this one were unmatched even when sealed.

Nie Yan conjectured the reason Barbarian Kelowitz granted him a blessing that suppressed evil was precisely so that he could wield Zennarde’s Sword!

Aside from daggers, Thieves could also equip short swords!

Nie Yan thought for a bit before becoming impatient. He glanced at his Crawler Ring. Since he hadn’t used it in a while, it was off cooldown.

Nie Yan bid farewell to Barbarian Kelowitz, then made his way to the distant statue. He jumped on the statue, his body bracing against it as he climbed. After a few minutes, he had gone from the feet to the chest. From there, he shot out a web line from his Silk Spinner Ring and swung himself over 15 meters through the air before smacking into the arm. He wrapped himself tightly around it before hastily crawling towards the statue’s palm.

Before long, he reached its hand. Standing on a relatively flat part of its palm, he could see Zennarde’s Sword right before him. A black flame covered the sword, its tongues leaping wildly into the air.

Nie Yan approached Zennarde’s Sword.

The slender short sword was about a meter long and pitch-black. A lifelike serpent was engraved in the hilt, almost as if it were about to strike. The blade itself was like black crystal, pure and translucent, with a razor-sharp barb curving out from each side. The whole thing glinted with a bloody light, exuding a baleful sword aura.

You have discovered Dragon King Zennarde’s Sword. It possesses an extremely powerful evil energy. Legend has it that users who cannot suppress the evil energy will be devoured by the sword instead.

It was just like Nie Yan had surmised. If a player wanted to take away Zennarde’s Sword, they would need to have Barbarian Kelowitz’s blessing!

Nie Yan walked up to Zennarde’s Sword and wrapped his hand around the hilt. A powerful dark energy surged up his arm and into his body, causing him to feel a chill. However, immediately after, his body radiated a brilliant light. A warm, holy energy permeated his body and forced the dark energy back.

Chapter 292 – Sword of Slaughter

The black flames around Zennarde’s Sword flared erratically, causing Nie Yan to feel like his hands were burning up. He heard a voice whispering in his mind. But when he tried to listen closely, it disappeared without a trace.

Most Legendary weapons represented the legacies of powerful ancient figures, sometimes even developing a spirit of their own.

Nie Yan didn’t find this strange at all.

For example, Zennarde’s Sword carried the memory of its original owner and experienced the Dark Era.

Just as Nie Yan brought Zennarde’s Sword closer to check its properties, ghastly cries rang in his ears. His vision swam as countless malignant souls swarmed toward him. A cold and gloomy energy invaded his body and sought to devour him, causing him to narrowly fall into a panic. However, he quickly realized they were just illusions, accumulated resentment given form after the slaughter of millions of lives. So long as his mind was resolute, he wouldn’t be affected.

Nie Yan took a deep breath, then calmly gazed at his surroundings. The spirits lingered around for a while. But after realizing they could do nothing to him, they vanished like a wisp of smoke.

As Nie Yan firmly grasped onto the rough textured handle of Zennarde’s Sword, it let out a low hum and struggled for a while before finally settling down.

After swinging Zennarde’s Sword around a few times, Nie Yan felt it was a bit too large for his liking. But as soon as this thought surfaced, the sword shrunk to a more comfortable size, its black flames still burning ever so vigorously.

The faint runes engraved along the fuller of Zennarde’s Sword sealed much of its power. He would need to obtain a Holy Spirit Heart before hoping to remove them as well as the corrosive miasma surrounding the sword.

Before removing the seal, Barbarian Kelowitz’s Blessing sufficed in suppressing the evil energy. As Nie Yan gazed at Zennarde’s Sword, he whispered, "I finally have a godly weapon of my own.”

Nie Yan examined the properties of Zennarde’s Sword.

Sealed Zennarde’s Sword (Godly Legendary)

Nightmare Curse of the Dead: Reduces the player’s stats by 50%. (Effect halved by Barbarian Kelowitz’s Blessing)

Description: A godly weapon created by Kallander and imbued with the dark magic power of Dragon King Zennarde. Failing to subdue to the evil energy within Zennarde’s Sword will result in a fatal backlash. Six Divine Seals were placed on this sword by the God of War Kelo.

Properties: Attack 630–636, Critical +30, 10% chance to deal 500% Critical Damage, Ignore Level +12, Ignore Armour.

Hell Execution: Chance to instantly execute an enemy when their health falls below 20%. Success rate is determined by level difference and defense. Energy Cost: 100 Cooldown: 5 seconds.

Apocalyptic Extinction (Junior): Inflict the enemy with 5 types of Curses: Weaken, Cripple, Disease, Fear, and Corrode. Duration: 3 minutes. Cooldown: 1 hour.

Restrictions: None

-Creator: Kallander

Despite being suppressed by the six Divine Seals of the God of War Kelo, Zennarde’s Sword was still ludicrously powerful. Its attack power was even higher than that of a Level 50 Dark Gold weapon. Its other properties were nothing to scoff at either, especially the two skills: Hell Execution and Apocalyptic Extinction.

The Nightmare Curse of the Dead wasn’t something an ordinary player could bear. Even with Barbarian Kelowitz’s Blessing halving the effects of the curse, a 25% reduction in all stats was still quite harsh. It was tantamount to the player sacrificing a large portion of their health and defense to wield great power.

Fortunately, Nie Yan possessed the Glimpse of Darkness which greatly increased his stats, so a 25% reduction in all stats was no skin off his back. Even though he wouldn’t be as durable, his damage would soar, allowing him to take down opponents even quicker.

For every seal Nie Yan removed, more of Zennarde’s Sword’s power would be unlocked until it was restored to its original state, a true godly weapon!

However, what exactly was a Godly Legendary item?

Nie Yan searched the official website and found an information page regarding the topic. It explained that Godly Legendaries were a sub-category of Legendaries. There were several types of Legendaries. The most common were ordinary Legendaries; items like Nie Yan’s Shadow of Sulgata belonged in this category. Less common were Legendary Sets such as the Grimmar Set. These generally had somewhat better stats than ordinary Legendaries. Finally, above them were Godly Legendaries. These were often created by Legendary Blacksmiths, and had their creator’s name labelled on them. Throughout the history of the Atlanta continent, there were only a handful of Blacksmiths who could create items of such quality: Kallander, Bloem, Hilda, Klump, and Talmacs. These Blacksmiths belonged to the Elves, Humans, Dwarves, and Dragons. The Godly Legendaries they created were used by countless powerful figures throughout history, changing hands from person to person. Zennarde’s Sword was one of them.

Nie Yan recalled how Zennarde’s Sword obtained its reputation because it was used by Dragon King Zennarde. He started dreaming of the unimaginable power he would hold when he removed the final seal on the sword. But even now, it was hard to imagine that any player could find a weapon to rival his.

Nie Yan equipped Zennarde’s Sword as his primary weapon while switching Splitting Edge to his off-hand. Zennarde’s Sword had shrunk quite a bit. It was roughly the size of an ordinary dagger, so it didn’t stand out.

From his past life to the present, this was Nie Yan’s first time using a short sword.

Combat-orientated Thieves generally favoured short swords because their attack was higher and they had a bit more range, while stealth-orientated Thieves preferred daggers. Nie Yan belonged to the latter group. However, with a powerful short sword like Zennarde’s Sword in his possession, it would be a waste not to use it.

With Zennarde’s Sword in hand, Nie Yan leapt off the palm of the statue and activated the Featherfall Jewel, whereupon he gently landed on the ground.

As Nie Yan walked back, he felt Barbarian Kelowitz somewhat resembled the God of War Kelo. Was there some sort of connection? After all, their names did have some similarities.

"You’ve retrieved Zennarde’s Sword. I hope you use it well. Remember, a weapon, no matter how powerful, is merely a tool. It is neither inherently good nor evil. That is decided by the owner.” Barbarian Kelowitz glanced at the weapon in Nie Yan’s hands, then continued, "I hope you’ll purify this sword of slaughter.”

Nie Yan nodded in understanding. Gazing at Barbarian Kelowitz, he asked, "Kelowitz, sir, there’s something that’s been bugging me in the back of my mind ever since you introduced yourself. I hope you can answer my question.”

"Ask away,” Barbarian Kelowitz replied with a smile. Despite being bound by chains and nailed to a cross, he still maintained a calm bearing. Were it an ordinary person, they would’ve long since lost their mind.

"The God of War Kelo, that’s you, isn’t it?” Nie Yan asked. It was highly likely that Kelowitz was called the God of War Kelo in the outside world. To be imprisoned here for nearly a thousand years without dying, even if he wasn’t a god, he should be pretty close to one.

"God of War Kelo is but a mundane title. When you reach a certain threshold, the masses will start worshiping you as a god,” Barbarian Kelowitz answered with a mild expression.

Hearing these words, Nie Yan understood that Barbarian Kelowitz had implicitly admitted to being the God of War Kelo!

"Zennarde captured me, but he had no way of destroying my Divinity and killing me, so he ended up imprisoning me here instead. If I count how much time has passed, I’d say It’s been almost a thousand years,” Barbarian Kelowitz said.

"Divinity?” Nie Yan asked in a puzzled tone. This was his first time hearing about such a term. Then again, God-like existences in Conviction were pretty rare in the first place.

"Divinity is a gift bestowed by God. No matter how many times you die, you will always revive,” Barbarian Kelowitz explained.

Nie Yan chuckled. Going by that description, wouldn’t it mean all players possessed Divinity? Of course, the rules for NPCs and players were different.

Barbarian Kelowitz was the God of War Kelo. With this, everything made sense. He was locked up here because he had lost to Zennarde in that decisive battle during the Dark Era.

The only thing that left Nie Yan puzzled was why the God of War Kelo didn’t die. Why was it that Dragon King Zennarde, who was much more powerful, ultimately passed away because he couldn’t escape the corrosion of time.

However, this would forever remain a mystery, and Nie Yan couldn’t be bothered to inquire. After all, these matters had no relation to his direct benefit.

Barbarian Kelowitz created a magical circle with a wave of his hand, causing a portal that stood about three meters tall to appear out of thin air. It would send Nie Yan directly back to the outside world.

"This portal will send you to a human city. When you obtain a Holy Spirit Heart, return. Hurry up and leave this place. Every 7 days, this volcano will erupt with lava. The next eruption is probably just a few hours away. Youngster, I wish you a safe journey!” Barbarian Kelowitz said.

Seeing as he probably wouldn’t be getting anything else, although obtaining Zennarde’s Sword was already amazing enough, Nie Yan bid farewell to Barbarian Kelowitz, then stepped into the portal.

Chapter 293 – Stronghold Infrastructure

When Nie Yan opened his eyes, he was back in the outside world. After sweeping his eyes over the nearby buildings, he recognized his current location as Glory City. Why was I teleported here? He noticed a teleportation mark on his wrist which pulsed with a mysterious power. It would allow him to open up a portal and return to Barbarian Kelowitz’s location at any time. However, it was only one-time use.

Nie Yan suddenly noticed a crowd of players staring at him in shock.

Nie Yan followed their gazes to Zennarde’s Sword in his hand. Gleaming with a gaudy light, its black flames burned fiercely. This was a fire enchanted sword! Even if Nie Yan hid the special effects, the reaction would still be the same. The pitch-black blade was translucent like crystal with a sharp barb curving out from the side.

This was the first time they had ever seen such a striking short sword.

"Damn, what kind of sword is that?”

"Who knows? I’ve never seen one like that before!”

"Wait! Isn’t that the guild leader of Asskickers United, Nirvana Flame? Why would he be all the way out here in Glory City?”

"I don’t know. Isn’t his guild Asskickers United at odds with Bloodlust Blades? Why did he walk into the lion’s den?”

Nie Yan remained unperturbed by these comments. This wasn’t his first trip to Glory City, nor would it be his last. He strapped Zennarde’s Sword to his waist, then started walking towards the transfer area.

「You’re finally out.」Guo Huai messaged Nie Yan after seeing his current location appear as Glory City.

Nie Yan chuckled.「How’s the growth of our guild been lately? What about the other guilds?」

「We’ve cleared out three strongholds so far, but haven’t yet decided on how to arrange them since we’ve been awaiting your input. As for the others. Holy Empire is in control of two while Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, and Sapphire Shrine have one each. Bloodlust Blades has already captured five, and both Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors have three. Meanwhile in Hilderlocke, Battle Crazed Alliance has occupied two,」Guo Huai replied. With great difficulty, Asskickers United had caught up to the middle of the pack. However, since their strongholds were still undeveloped, they were lagging further behind Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors every second.

「Did you watch the video I sent you?」Guo Huai asked.

「Yeah,」Nie Yan replied. It was a video of one of Bloodlust Blade’s recently captured strongholds which was quickly taking shape. With many merchants settling down, business was starting to flourish. Their operations were quite successful.

「We should speed things up on our side too,」Guo Huai urged. Bloodlust Blades was stationed in the neighbouring Glory City. They would definitely be setting their sights on Calore next. It would mean serious trouble for Asskickers United if they allied with Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame!

Guilds would generally relocate their headquarters to a stronghold they captured. From then on, their actions would be closely tied to that stronghold. If they failed to defend it, letting the enemy run amuck in their headquarters, the guild would drop by two levels.

Asskickers United would have to put up solid defenses to protect their strongholds, especially the one they chose to house their guild headquarters. Later on, if the Dragonsoar Financial Group earned enough profit from Asskickers United, they would invest even more capital into the guild. This would create a continuous cycle that would cement their shared interests; Asskickers United would receive their money, while the Dragonsoar Financial Group would rake in money from businesses they opened in the strongholds. Once that happened, they would be so intertwined that if Asskickers United fell, the financial consortium would also have their supply chains cut off by other corporations.

The political atmosphere of the game was slowly taking shape with various factions and alliances starting to solidify.

「I’ll be at the stronghold in just a moment,」Nie Yan said. After capturing strongholds, most guilds would spend their time fortifying them, so war wasn’t likely to break out for the time being.

Nie Yan teleported to Calore, then departed the city.

Asskickers United’s first stronghold was located on the border of Violet Dream Forest halfway up a mountain. It was perched high atop the land, making it easy to defend. After receiving Nie Yan’s permission, Guo Huai had relocated their guild headquarters here.

Nie Yan decided to name the stronghold United City, taking the second word from their guild’s name.

Nie Yan rode through the wilderness on horseback. He could see United City in the distance. It was perched high atop a mountain, covering roughly 2000 by 2000 meters. The perimeter of the stronghold was fortified by over 30 meter tall walls. Although there weren’t many buildings inside, he could foresee it becoming a grand fortress city in the future.

In the previous timeline, this had been Radiant Sacred Flame’s primary stronghold. It was incredibly difficult to siege, repelling the attacks of Holy Empire time and time again.

But in this life, the stronghold had a different owner. Nie Yan planned to make it a genuine impregnable stronghold!

Nie Yan rode his Faulkner Warhorse into the stronghold. As he gazed around, he saw a few tattered buildings scattered here and there. Merely used for resting by the previous monster occupants, the buildings looked like a simple breeze could knock them over. All of this would have to be torn down if they were going to remodel this place.

There were several thousand guild members guarding the stronghold. When they noticed Nie Yan, they came forth to greet him.

"Guild Leader!”

"Hey, Boss!”

Nie Yan gazed up ahead. Several people were walking towards him, Guo Huai, Resplendent Bladelight, Aqua Smoke Stub, and a few others.

"You’re here. Come, take a look at the blueprint we drew up,” Guo Huai said.

Nie Yan smiled at the group of players, then gazed at Smoke Stub who appeared to be in high spirits. He had risen to Level 45 and was clad in silver armour.

"Back to where you were at before?” Nie Yan asked. It seemed Smoke Stub had been doing pretty well for himself.

"Yep. With Bladelight, Painted Muslin, and the others helping, I got my gear quality back to what it was before in no time!” Smoke Stub replied with a smile. During this time, the former members of Withered Leaf had slowly raised their strength. Even though they were no longer members of the Tuoba organization, employees with a steady income, they could still accept jobs through the Union of Assassins and earn a decent living.

"How’s the financial situation of your new organization? If there’s anything you need, feel free to ask for help,” Nie Yan said. Smoke Stub was already a loyal member of Asskickers United. If he was in a pickle, the guild wouldn’t just stand idly by.

"We’re doing okay. After we got some decent gear, it was business like usual. We gave all the money we earned to Wood Grace to invest. We’ve made quite a bit. Right now, our financial situation is already greatly improved. I estimate in the next five or six days, we can pay back our debts in full, then we’ll be back in the black,” Smoke Stub said. After being cleaned out of everything they owned, they didn’t have that much debt remaining, only that all the money they had saved over the years had vanished like a puff of smoke. Despite this, it wasn’t the end of the world. It just meant they would have to start over from scratch.

"That’s good to hear.” Nie Yan nodded. He received the blueprints from Guo Huai. It showed where all the various shops, roads, and districts were going to be placed, including the location of the guild headquarters.

Nie Yan compared the blueprints with some successful stronghold layouts from his past life, then made a few adjustments.

"Since this stronghold is tied to the prosperity of our guild, a single wall won’t suffice. There need to be at least three placed side by side with some space in between them. The gates can’t be located in the same spots either. Otherwise, the enemy can just charge in.” Nie Yan proposed his first change.

If the enemy broke through the first gate, they would only run into a wall. They would have to travel a long way to reach the second gate. After breaking through the second gate, the enemy would be met with the third wall, and then they would have to go all the way back around to get to the third gate. Like this, the time it would take the enemy to break into the stronghold would be greatly extended. Large crossbows would be set up on the top of the walls, along with Mages, and the passages between the walls could be filled with Warriors. If the enemy didn’t have siege weapons like catapults or trebuchets, it would be impossible for them to invade the stronghold.

Guo Huai’s eyes lit up. "Great idea, like this our defenses will be bolstered quite a bit!”

"These ideas are pretty creative.” Smoke Stub nodded in admiration.

Bladelight and the others also greatly approved of Nie Yan’s ideas.

"Furthermore, the transfer point needs to be relocated. Turn the rear of the stronghold into a business district. After all, the Dragonsoar Financial Group is our backer. We need to ensure their benefits inside the game. Also I have a Junior Energy Core from Everlasting City. It can be used to create a barrier for the stronghold,” Nie Yan continued. Like this, the stronghold would be incredibly difficult to lay siege to.

After finalizing the plans, everyone got to work.

After the Dragonsoar Financial Group’s investment, Asskickers United had ample gold to spare for construction. Nie Yan began remodeling the stronghold. Three walls were erected around the perimeter of the stronghold, each taller than the last. This way, the players on top of the walls could all fire toward the outside.

If a fourth or even fifth wall were erected, not only would it be ineffective, it would also reduce the space available for them to use.

A towering building was erected at the center of the stronghold. This was the guild headquarters. The transfer point was placed here. It was connected to the guild branch in Calore. If there was any problem, guild members could teleport to the headquarters and quickly provide assistance. Afterwards, a network of streets and paths were built, branching out all the way to the walls of the stronghold. The business district was established in a safe area in the rear. A Tier 1 Siege Machine Factory, Mage Tower, and War God Statue, and a few other structures were constructed near the front of the stronghold. The Siege Machine Factory could make various siege weapons such as heavy crossbows. At higher ranks, catapults could be crafted. The Mage Tower gave Mages a boost in magic power. The War God Statue provided Warriors an increase in attack power, though it was only 3% at Tier 1. In the later stages of the game, there would be even more useful buildings. In addition, there was also housing to take care of. Each house could support a certain number of people. During a siege battle, the number of houses determined the amount of players that could participate in protecting the stronghold.

Under Nie Yan’s guidance, rows upon rows of buildings were erected, stretching out as far as the eye could see. Soon there were several hundred buildings in the stronghold. All that was lacking now was people.

Chapter 294 – Faded

Nie Yan installed about 10 Lookouts on top of the walls. When the Siege Machine Factory was up and running, the Lookouts could be mounted with Crossbow Turrets. A Tier 1 Lookout could be fitted with more than a dozen of them, and since they could be operated by anyone, it was ideal to man them with low-level players. They were a formidable line of defense.

As the primary stronghold of Asskickers United, United City’s strategic benefit far outweighed anything else. So long as it remained standing, Asskickers United would never fall.

Nie Yan estimated he had spent roughly 6,000 gold on remodeling United City. Luckily, he had just received another payment from the Dragonsoar Financial Group, which was enough to cover these costs.

"We’ll leave the handling of the business district to Yu Rui. I want to open up a Starry Night Potion Shop branch here as well. Also, start leasing out the empty shops,” Nie Yan instructed. For United City to grow, a thriving commerce was necessary. As a guild grew more powerful, so did investor confidence, making it easier to attract prospective businesses to set up shop in their strongholds. Considering Asskickers United’s prestige and rallying power in Calore, it would be a piece of cake to develop the stronghold.

With the real-world business district being handed over to them, the Dragonsoar Financial Group had received their first return on investment from Asskickers United.

"I’ll get right on to it. I’ve already appointed 15 supervisors to oversee the economy of this stronghold. Furthermore, I want you to go over our contingency plan. In case of emergency, who will arrive to defend the stronghold, how many will come, all of that needs to be decided beforehand. We only have 100 Tier 1 Barracks, so if war breaks out, we can only accommodate 5,000 players at most. I estimate with our construction of the walls, and the Lookouts on top of them, we’ll have roughly 30 minutes to get reinforcements into place,” Guo Huai said as he handed over some plans to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan skimmed through them, then asked, "How many of the Mages assigned to defending the stronghold can cast Advanced Magic?”

"We have five in total: Summer Bug, Undying Scoundrel, Sunny South, Beginner Student, and Nimbus,” Guo Huai replied. It was evident they sorely lacked Mages who could cast Advanced Magic.

Nie Yan wondered how Yao Yao was doing with the Karsi’s Blessing quest right now. If she could learn Templar Magic, Asskickers United would gain yet another Mage who could cast Advanced Magic. Summer Bug, Undying Scoundrel, Sunny South, Beginner Student, and Nimbus were the cream of the crop. In future guild wars, highly-skilled experts, especially Mages, would be crucial.

"We’ll need to up that number. I’ve installed some concealed defensive points on top of the walls. We must take advantage of every Advanced Magic at our disposal,” Nie Yan noted. Advanced Magic was highly effective at repelling invaders.

With the contingency plan set in place, Nie Yan chit-chatted some more with Smoke Stub and Bladelight, while Painted Muslin, Young Seven, Yi Yan, and the others walked over.

Tang Yao was hurrying over to the guild headquarters as well.

This was a gathering of the top-ranking members of Asskickers United.

While everyone chatted about the guild’s future, Nie Yan received a notification.

Faded has obtained the third chapter from Volume V of the Book of Order, Chapter of Compassion. You will be notified of the player’s location once every hour.

Coordinates: Glory City, 23535.23532.36582

Casual has obtained the the sixth chapter from Volume V of the Book of Order, Chapter of Tolerance. You will be notified of the player’s location once every hour.

Coordinates: Glory City, 23535.2532.36582

On top of receiving updated coordinates hourly, as a Grand Scholar, Nie Yan also possessed the ability to predict an opponent’s position once every day.

Nie Yan was surprised by how quickly the chapters were being found. Over the last five days, they had changed hands multiple times, with Faded in possession of two and and Casual in possession of one.

Most notably, two players were in the same location! Nie Yan’s imagination ran wild. Were they trying to snatch each other’s chapters? Were they working together?

Out of all the chapters of the Book of Order, the first six in the Glimpse of Darkness were the most important. The remaining chapters were slightly inferior, but they were still amazing nonetheless.

Nie Yan turned to Guo Huai and asked, "About that player I asked you to investigate the other day, Faded, what did you dig up on him?”

"He’s the best Fighter in Bloodlust Blades and part of their core elite. Their group of 10 regularly hunts Elites together. I’ve dispatched our Hundred Thieves to ambush them with the coordinates you’ve provided, but they’ve repelled all of our attacks so far, killing many of our members in the process. Not only is he incredibly strong, but he’s also on high alert. We’re being closely monitored, so our forces can’t make any large movements; otherwise, we might fall into a trap,” Guo Huai replied. After all, the Hundred Thieves were a core force of Asskickers United. It would be disastrous if they were wiped.

"Faded…” Nie Yan muttered to himself. He wasn’t too knowledgeable about players outside of Calore in his past life. Save for some extremely famous figures, the rest were completely unfamiliar to him, so the name Faded didn’t ring a bell. Back then, he would sell a large heap of gold and equipment every few days for cash. He was dirt poor. Teleporting to another city cost 1 gold at minimum. Unless it was absolutely necessary, he would never be willing to agree to such a lavish expense, so he rarely travelled to other cities.

Seeing Nie Yan racking his brain over this matter, Smoke Stub interjected. "I know a little about Faded. He’s rank 30-something on the professional player leaderboards. In the past, he wasn’t affiliated with any group. But recently, he joined Bloodlust Blades after they gave him an offer he couldn’t refuse.”

"How would you rate him?” Nie Yan asked. A large force was too eye-catching, and would easily be noticed by Bloodlust Blades. If it came down to it, he would have to make the trip down to Glory City and take action himself. He was confident the enemy had no way of holding him down.

"Pretty highly, he’s a Fighter who excels at PvP,” Smoke Stub replied honestly.

"Oh…? Who would win in a duel, him or Bladelight?” Nie Yan asked half-jokingly. After all, Bladelight was a top 3 Fighter in his past life. There was no way he could lose.

"Hard to say. If we’re just talking solely about who’s better at tanking, I’d give the win over to Bladelight. Faded is more of a bandit-like fellow. He wears equipment geared toward PvP. His favourite pastime is picking random fights with players in the wilderness and extorting them out of their gold and equipment. His name is almost always branded red. He’s pretty infamous in our circle,” Smoke Stub answered. He was quite familiar with the matters of the professional gaming world.

"Well, I guess it’s up to me to deal with him then,” Nie Yan concluded. Even if he failed his assassination attempt, he could simply slip away with stealth. If he wished to flee, very few people could stop him.

Besides, it was about time he tested out the might of Zennarde’s Sword!

"Be careful. Don’t let them turn the tables on you.” Smoke Stub chuckled. Even though Faded was a top-notch expert, he could only blame his own misfortune for encountering a freak like Nie Yan.

Nie Yan turned to Guo Huai and asked, "Do we have any Unknown Transfer Scrolls in the treasury?”

"Around 10 or so,” Guo Huai replied. Thanks to the hard work of the lower-ranking guild members, the treasury was well-stocked with such items.

"Get me three,” Nie Yan ordered. He would keep them with him in case of emergency.

"We initially planned on inviting you to run dungeons with us today, but it seems that’s gone up in smoke now. We’re still lacking a Thief,” Bladelight helplessly remarked. He had pretty much gathered everyone. The only person missing was Nie Yan.

"What about One Strike Vow? I don’t see why she can’t fill my spot.” Nie Yan chuckled. Any person with a discerning eye could tell the relationship between Bladelight and One Strike Vow was not shallow.

When Nie Yan presented him with such an obvious solution, a rarely-seen embarrassed smile surfaced on Bladelight’s face.

Following the activation of the transfer point which connected United City to Calore, more and more Asskickers United members arrived. All of them went up to greet Nie Yan.

"Hello, Boss!”

"Long time no see!”

Nie Yan swept his eyes over these players as one familiar face after another entered his gaze. Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, Natural Fiend… all of them arrived

"You’re running dungeons together, right? Why don’t I see Black Heaven with you guys?” Nie Yan asked. He naturally didn’t want to see Black Heaven, someone who would become an Archbishop, being isolated from the group.

"We tried, but that kid is too damn anti-social! We’ve already tried inviting him to level with us a couple of times, but he always declines,” Undying Scoundrel gloomily replied.

"You guys are the elites of the guild! It’s important you all get along with each other.” Nie Yan solemnly said. He wasn’t joking. A guild was only as strong as the cohesiveness and unity of its members!

"We know. Back in Twilight Forest, that kid’s Templar Magic Blessing was amazing. It was like we gained several hundred more Bladelights. A Priest like that, we could hardly wait to get closer to him,” Summer Bug explained on Undying Scoundrel’s behalf.

The others also nodded in agreement. Black Heaven’s Templar Magic had left a deep impression in their minds.

These players also understood the importance of bonding with fellow guildmates. It was probably due to a personal reason that Black Heaven didn’t wish to play together with them. However, it would still be good if they could become a close-knit group. Black Heaven and Black Hell were people who kept their promises, so Nie Yan wasn’t worried about the possibility of Black Heaven leaving the guild.

Guo Huai read over a recent reconnaissance report, then turned to Nie Yan and said, "The Hundred Thieves scouted out the coordinates you just provided. They’ve spotted Faded!”

"Good.” Nie Yan narrowed his eyes. This time, he was going to duke it out with Bloodlust Blades.

Chapter 295 – God-Slaying Sword

Nie Yan looked over his gear: Darkbright Chestpiece, Skywalker Set, Zennarde’s Sword, and Glimpse of Darkness. When he first started out, collecting the chapters from the Book of Order, everything was still at an initial stage of development. But now, the quality of his gear far surpassed that of the vast majority of players, Zennarde’s Sword in particular. He doubted any other player at present possessed a weapon with over 600 attack power, Level Ignore +12, and Ignore Armour. Not to mention his stats were already staggering. Even the tankiest of Fighters couldn’t avoid being cut down by him!

Nie Yan was curious about how many players were by Faded’s side. If he encountered a group of peak elites, he would have to tread carefully.

Nie Yan naturally had no plans of throwing his life away. When outnumbered as a Thief, tactics were of vital importance.

"Be careful. I just received a report that Faded has over a dozen players by his side,” Guo Huai warned. But after recalling Nie Yan’s past feats, he laughed it off. "I guess I’m just being a worry-wart. Since when has being outnumbered ever mattered to you?”

From the perspective of Guo Huai, Smoke Stub, and the others, Nie Yan was skilled enough to breeze through any obstacle he encountered.

"Hurry back after you take care of those guys and retrieve that chapter or whatever. We still need you to finalize the building plans of the other strongholds. Also, we need you to guide us in the new Level 40 dungeon, Dragon Bell Valley, tomorrow,” Bladelight said. With Nie Yan’s help, they could avoid a lot of unnecessary suffering and hardship.

"No problem. Just contact me when the time comes,” Nie Yan replied. This team was formed from the peak experts of the guild. Even dungeons on Specialist difficulty wouldn’t pose a challenge to them.

Apart from those several chapters from the Book of Order, Nie Yan figured it was about time to retrieve the next fragment of Sulgata’s Shadow from the Level 30 map, Karon Gorge. It was hidden in a remote location, so he wasn’t worried about it being snatched away by someone else. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have put it off for so long.

When Yu Rui of the Dragonsoar Financial Group arrived, she was given control of the real-world business district in United City. Thanks to this contribution, the Dragonsoar Financial Group upped their investment and rewarded Asskickers United with an additional 50,000 gold.

Nie Yan immediately put this gold to use by outfiting the members of Asskickers United with high-end auxiliary items such as larger bags. Furthermore, the number of players with mounts increased to 3,000, all of whom were elites nurtured by the guild with the utmost care.

After capturing the strongholds, Asskickers United ascended to Level 5 and was steadily progressing towards Level 6.

Asskickers United rapidly expanded thanks to the financial support of the Dragonsoar Financial Group, causing more and more players in Calore to flock to them.

"I’ll be going to take a look around Glory City. All the major guilds are seizing strongholds and developing them. Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame don’t pose a threat to us for the time being. The guilds we should be watching out for are Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and especially Bloodlust Blades since they’re the closest to us. We have no choice but to be on our toes,” Nie Yan reminded.

"Don’t worry. Even though we haven’t really started construction on the other strongholds yet, their walls have been reinforced and they’re guarded by plenty of our guild’s members. Even if the enemy tries to mount a sneak attack, we can hold out long enough for reinforcements to arrive!” Guo Huai assured. He had long since thought this through. Although the Glory City-based Bloodlust Blades was the closest to Calore, even if they took over one of Asskickers United’s strongholds, they lacked the resources and manpower to hold it for long. After all, Calore was Asskickers United’s territory!

Nie Yan nodded. Since Guo Huai had already accounted for such a scenario, he felt reassured.

"Bloodlust Blades have been seeking contact with Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return. It seems like they want to join forces to deal with us. They’ve even tried to woo some of our players over to their side, like Summer Bug and Natural Fiend. Even though the invitations were rejected, it’s hard to say a few weren’t tempted,” Guo Huai added. These matters had left him swamped with work.

"I’m sure the vast majority of our players realize those offers aren’t genuine, and are only meant to sow discord. By staying in Asskickers United, they’ll definitely grow in the future. But if they turn-coat, no matter how skilled they are, they’ll always be looked down on by others,” Nie Yan said. In Conviction, if a player betrayed their guild for material gains, they would forever be labeled a traitor in everyone’s minds. From then on, who could possibly trust them?

When an outstanding player joined a guild, they would generally be made to sign a contract in exchange for preferential treatment. If they wished to leave, they would be presented a hefty bill. Combine this with the fact that a bad mark would follow them after breaking an agreement, most contracted players rarely withdrew from their guilds. As for ordinary, bottom-ranking members, if they wanted to leave, nothing could stop them.

Of course, there would always be a greedy few who didn’t care about reputation.

"I fear many of our players will be swayed by their offers,” Guo Huai said. Recently, he had seen a slight increase in the number of players withdrawing from the guild.

"What’s there to be afraid of? If they’re trying to woo away our players with generous offers, why don’t we do the same? In fact, we can even offer them better terms! It’s not like Asskickers United is lacking money. However, those that do jump ship have to be monitored closely. Give them the best treatment, but insert the most air-tight clauses in their contracts to prevent them from jumping ship again,” Nie Yan ordered. The competition between guilds didn’t only happen out in the open. There were also constant battles occurring in the shadows.

Asskickers United wasn’t afraid of any challenge. Although they didn’t hold the numerical advantage, each member received larger benefits, to the extent that they were several times higher than that of other guilds’. Many players wanted to join the guild but would never get the chance no matter how hard they racked their brains. So there were very few guild members who wished to leave.

It was precisely this tactic of prioritizing elites that made the members of Asskickers United stronger than the average player. This also fostered the honour of being a member of Asskickers United. Add this to the fact that the guild members were already a close-knit group, although the poaching tactics of Bloodlust Blades might produce some results, its impact would be minimal and would fail to shake the foundation of the guild.

"I’ll get right to it. I want to see just who’ll come out on top, us or Bloodlust blades!” Guo Huai said, his eyes brimming with spirit. Giving the enemy a taste of their own medicine, what a clever strategy!

With Guo Huai handling the affairs of the guild, Nie Yan felt reassured. Guo Huai was always earnest with his work. Plus, with him directing everything from the back, as long as no major problems occurred, everything would be fine.

Bladelight and the others had formed their team. They were ready to set out.

"Be careful you guys. Don’t let yourselves be surrounded and ambushed,” Nie Yan warned. When they were out levelling in ordinary maps, they could easily become targets for the enemy. Even though recently Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame had settled down quite a bit, Asskickers United still had many other enemies, including none other than Bloodlust Blades!

"You don’t need to worry about us. We’re going to train in a Level 50 map. There’s usually no players there,” Bladelight replied.

Nie Yan gazed at his guild members: Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Aloof Shadow, Painted Muslin, Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, Sunny South… they were the top elites of Asskickers United. If they encountered trouble, with their strength, the players from other guilds would have a hard time taking them down.

While Nie Yan chatted with them, a few of the members repeatedly glanced at his waist.

Smoke Stub finally asked on their behalf, "Some of us are wondering about that sword on your waist. It looks pretty awesome. Where did it drop?”

Zennarde’s Sword had a very distinct appearance. With its raging black flames which were impossible to conceal, for it not to attract attention would be a miracle.

Nie Yan chuckled. Did they believe Zennarde’s Sword was like Splitting Edge or the Everlasting Set, where if they grinded long enough, it would eventually drop? They couldn’t be more wrong!

"This weapon is called Zennarde’s Sword,” Nie Yan replied with a smile. If he didn’t reveal this now, these guys would probably keep pestering him about where it dropped.

At these words, everyone revealed a shocked expression.

"Zennarde? Isn’t that the name of the tyrant from the Dark Era?” Smoke Stub gulped. The name of this sword gave him too great of a shock. After all, Dragon King Zennarde wasn’t simply an ordinary legendary figure!

"Damn! No wonder it looks so awesome. It’s Dragon King Zennarde’s weapon!” Bladelight exclaimed. He was eager to find out the weapon’s properties.

Zennarde’s Sword! Anyone who heard this name would know it referred to a one-of-a-kind weapon!

"A Legendary weapon?” Smoke Stub asked. Items with names were usually Sub Legendary or Legendary-grade, especially one that carried the name of the undisputed tyrant, Dragon King Zennarde! It should at least be Legendary-grade. Its properties were definitely off the charts!

"It’s a sealed Godly Legendary. Its properties are roughly on par with a Level 50 Dark Gold weapon,” Nie Yan explained. Since everyone was curious, it wasn’t necessary for him to hide the properties of Zennarde’s Sword. He directly shared its information in chat.

In an instant, the properties of Zennarde’s Sword spread among the guild members like wildfire. Seeing its properties, all of them were astounded. This was the weapon used by the boss of Asskickers United, Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame!

Even though Zennarde’s Sword was currently only as powerful as a Level 50 Dark Gold Weapon, it was still matchless at the current stage of the game! A weapon with such valiant offensive properties, no one would have any qualms about calling it a powerful tool of slaughter, a god-slaying sword!

Chapter 296 – Shocking

Zennarde’s Sword quickly became a legend within Asskickers United, just like the Grimmar Soul Staff.

These were two pieces of unrivalled equipment!

Zennarde’s Sword was nothing more than a large beatstick to Nie Yan. However, since he could raise the influence of Asskickers United by waving it around, he would. He just had to make sure no one snatched it away from him.

A picture of Zennarde’s Sword was posted online. Its valiant properties immediately shocked the players on the forums.

It was a piece of equipment every player would drool over.

The description of the six seals placed on Zennarde’s Sword had people’s imaginations running wild. This sword was equivalent to a growth-type weapon. For every seal that was removed, its properties would increase dramatically!

A picture of Nie Yan posing with Zennarde’s Sword also circulated around. He looked intense with both his dark leather armour and brooding expression illuminated under the flickering glow of the sword’s black flames.

When this picture hit the forums, it spread like wildfire. Although Nie Yan couldn’t be described as handsome, his icy demeanor paired along with his breathtaking equipment made for a stunning sight.

Even though there was no caption, the players recognized Nie Yan almost immediately as the guild leader of Asskickers United, Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame!

Nie Yan was practically synonymous wtih Asskickers United right now. He was an unshakeable legend! Any respectable player would’ve at least heard of him. His appearance had long since been seared into everyone’s minds after accomplishing so many spectacular feats.

There was a lively discussion ongoing below the picture.

「Holy shit! Look at his gear! And here I am still using Silver-grade trash, fuck… Orz.」

「Poster above, don’t feel too bad. The player in the picture is a god!」

There were countless similar comments spanning across many pages.

Nie Yan rarely ever paid attention to the forums. Save for some posts related to the major guilds, he ignored everything else.

Nie Yan returned to Calore through the transfer point in the guild headquarters, then teleported to Glory City.

「Who’s keeping an eye on Faded?」Nie Yan asked Guo Huai as he rode out of the city gates on horseback and headed for the location.

「Tyrannical, he’s a member of our Hundred Thieves,」Guo Huai replied.

Tyrannical? Didn’t I see him back in Sinful Gorge? He wasn’t too shabby if I recall correctly… Nie Yan felt slightly reassured.

Nie Yan galloped through the rocky wastelands that surrounded Glory City. His destination was the mountain range in the distance. The scenery here was very different. While Calore’s territory was full of fertile plains and grasslands, this place was bone dry like the Gobi Desert. The mountains up ahead were also barren. The only signs of flora were a handful of plants sporadically sprouting here and there.

After entering the mountains, Nie Yan unsummoned his Faulkner Warhorse and started making his way towards Tyrannical.

「Where are you?」Nie Yan contacted Tyrannical.

「Boss, you’re here?」Tyrannical exclaimed in a daze. He never thought Nie Yan would personally come.「I’m at 238.289.280!」

As Nie Yan moved toward the coordinates, he soon found Tyrannical hiding behind a large boulder.

A group of 15 players were hunting Level 50 Desert Pythons up ahead. Their mobbing speed was pretty fast. The Fighters pulled aggro while the Mages in the backline bombarded the Desert Pythons with magic, clearing them quickly and efficiently.

Nie Yan glanced at Tyrannical. He looked much better off compared to the last time they met. He was Level 41, and the quality of his gear had risen greatly. For him to be able to snag himself a Level 40 Pursuer Set was quite impressive.

With Nie Yan right beside him, Tyrannical couldn’t contain his excitement. Nie Yan was without question a godly existence in the eyes of every Thief. Each of his battle videos was an instant classic that everyone referred to for guidance. But so far, not a single player could mimic his ghostly movements.

Tyrannical often studied videos of Nie Yan’s battles. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Nie Yan was his idol!

"What’s the situation over there? How many players are there?” Nie Yan asked. His eyes narrowed like a hawk’s as he observed the players in the distance.

Even though this sharp soul-piercing gaze wasn’t directed at him, Tyrannical gulped down a mouthful of saliva and broke out in a cold sweat. It was precisely this type of domineering air that allowed Nie Yan to shake countless hearts.

Tyrannical took a deep breath. "They have 13 players in total: 2 Fighters, 1 Berserker, 1 Paladin, 5 Mages, 2 Priests, and 2 Thieves. All of them are highly skilled, especially that Fighter named Faded. The Arcane Mage called Casual is no pushover either. 11 of our brothers have fallen at their hands!” His voice trembled with anger and grief near the end.

Tyrannical had closely bonded with his fellow members in the Hundred Thieves. Even a slightly eccentric fellow like him found a spot among them. They regularly carried out missions together, with everyone working towards the same goal. Add to that all of them shared the honour of belonging to this exclusive force within Asskickers United, and it was no surprise they developed a strong sense of comradery among themselves. Their hearts stung when one of their companions fell.

Nie Yan understood Tyrannical’s feelings. This sort of brotherly bond was forged after countless battles together. It was the deepest sentiment a person could experience in their lifetime, created from facing off against a greater foe, keeping watch over each other’s backs, developing an understanding that transcended words, and the confidence to entrust their lives into the hands of their companions!

Nie Yan patted Tyrannical’s shoulder. "Remember their names. Learn from these setbacks and boldly face the challenges ahead, so that you can avenge them later on!”

This was a principle Nie Yan personally adhered to. It was the moral backbone of a man!

Tyrannical nodded with a determined expression.

"Let’s take them on together,” Nie Yan suggested. He wasn’t sure how skilled the 13 players up ahead were. But for them to kill multiple members of the Hundred Thieves, they definitely couldn’t be weak.

"Yes!” Tyrannical enthusiastically exclaimed. Fighting alongside Nirvana Flame was the dream of countless players in Asskickers United.

Nirvana Flame has sent you a party invite. Will you accept?

Yes! Tyrannical hurriedly accepted.

Nie Yan received a notification.

Tyrannical has joined your party.

"Let’s go,” Nie Yan said. His body merged into the surroundings as he entered stealth. He slowly slunk toward the group of players up ahead.

Tyrannical quickly followed suit. His heart was beating with excitement as he tagged behind Nie Yan.

Gusts of wind regularly blew over from the mountainside, blotting out the sky and carrying an ocean of sand across the rocky landscape. This type of environment was advantageous to Thieves. Nie Yan was completely untraceable within the blowing sands.

…

A Fighter clad in crimson armour charged into a crowd of Desert Pythons. He activated Taunt, instantly drawing their aggro, then hunkered behind his shield. Right then, an Arcane Mage in the backline finished a chant. With a wave of his staff, he rained down a shower of fireballs on the Desert Pythons.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」 A curtain of damage values floated up into the sky.

The Priests shielded the Fighter with a Radiant Barrier, then kept his health topped off with Heals, allowing him to brush off the damage from the fireballs.

The Desert Pythons quickly shifted aggro and pounced toward the backline. Right on cue, the Fighter roared out with a Demoralizing Shout and halted them dead in their tracks. After which a second volley of fireballs rained down from the sky and swept them all away.

When the dust and smoke settled, only the Fighter remained standing. Scattered across the ground were the corpses of over 60 Desert Pythons. Web-like cracks spread throughout his Radiant Barrier before it shattered into shards of light. The teamwork displayed just now was impressive, to say the least.

"Faded, Casual, you guys are awesome!” the group members praised in a flattering tone.

"Mhmm, it wasn’t too much trouble,” Faded replied in a haughty tone.

Faded appeared to be around 25 years old. He was a large, burly man clad in crimson armour. His name was branded a deep red, signifying he had at minimum killed 60 players. He held his single-handed sword while walking back to the group.

"It was fun,” Casual said to Faded with a smile.

Casual was an Arcane Mage. He was dressed in dark robes covered in mysterious runes which gave off a strange aura. He was about the same age as Faded. After playing together for so many years, the two of them could be considered old partners.

Casual sat on the ground drinking Spring Water to restore his mana, while the two Thieves departed to lure in the next wave of mobs.

"Say, why did those morons over at Asskickers United stop sending people over? My hands are getting itchy. I’m right here waiting for them. I’ll kill as many as they send!” Faded arrogantly exclaimed.

They knew the Chapter of Peace was in Nirvana Flame’s hands. However, his recent locations had been quite odd, so they had no way of predicting where he was going to be. Over these last few days, they had suffered repeated ambushes from Asskickers United. However, they successfully repelled the enemy every time, killing over 10 from the Hundred Thieves in the process.

"Don’t let your guard down. That Nirvana Flame guy is pretty strong,” Casual warned, though his tone didn’t contain a hint of seriousness.

"That coward? He’s a turtle hiding in his shell. All he dares to do is send people after us. Do you really think he has the guts to come over himself?” Faded sneered.

Chapter 297 – Powerful Foe

"With the guild leader closely monitoring the situation, Asskickers United won’t dare to send a large force after us. So long as we’re not outnumbered more than 10 to 1, they’re pretty much easy pickings, like those garbage Thieves from before. We just don’t know if Nirvana Flame will show up,” Casual lazily said as he sipped his Spring Water.

"So that’s what the boss’s intentions were! It’s best if that fool believes he can take us on all by himself!” Faded exclaimed with an arrogant smile as he picked up the loot off the ground.

Their group consisted of the top elites in Bloodlust Blades. With an average level of 44, they were geared with some of the best equipment currently available. More importantly, all of them were scouted out for their talents in PvP!

Based on his analysis of the enemy’s personality, Bloodlust Mad Blade believed Nie Yan would definitely take the bait and come after the chapters from the Book of Order. Nie Yan was a lone wolf, so all Bloodlust Mad Blade had to do was present him with a seemingly beatable situation, like a group of 13 farming away.

These 13 players were incredibly skilled at PvP. Each of them could easily take on five or six ordinary experts with ease.

Even Bloodlust Mad Blade had no choice but to acknowledge Nie Yan’s skill. If they fought, it was hard to say who would come out on top. However, Nie Yan was just a single person. There was a limit to how heaven-defying he could be!

Nie Yan gazed beside him. Tyrannical was clenching his dagger while his other hand was balled up into a fist and trembling.

「Tyrannical, what’s the matter?」Nie Yan whispered through voice chat.

「That bastard! Even though we lost, my brothers in the Hundred Thieves aren’t trash! Fucking asshole, I’m going to make him swallow those words!」Tyrannical’s eyes were bloodshot like those of an enraged beast.

Tyrannical couldn’t care less if others insulted him, but Casual’s snide remark had struck a raw nerve! Although his fallen brothers ultimately failed in their task, their sacrifice should be worthy of respect. It wasn’t something to be dishonoured!

A staunch man would never yield to adversity! Father Nie had once passed these words down to him, and Nie Yan always kept them in his mind. He looked at Tyrannical with a hint of admiration.

「Boss.」Tyrannical gazed at Nie Yan with a determined expression.

「What is it? Speak,」Nie Yan said. He already had an idea of what Tyrannical wanted to say.

「Leave Casual to me. I’ll show him just who’s the real trash!」Tyrannical proclaimed in a firm tone.

Nie Yan thought for a moment before nodding in agreement.「Alright, I won’t touch him. It’ll be up to you.」

「Mhm! I’ll definitely avenge my brothers!」Tyrannical gritted his teeth as he gazed at Casual in the distance. His eyes flashed with killing intent.

Tyrannical was clearly no match for Casual. But since he was this determined, there was no harm in letting him give it a shot. It might prove to be a learning experience for him. On top of that, so long as he didn’t waver, he would definitely retrieve the honour of his comrades in time!

Nie Yan started making his plans. With Tyrannical acting as a distraction, he could take advantage of the confusion to assassinate Faded!

Over on Faded’s side, the two Thieves came back with a group of Desert Pythons in tow. Their group continued clearing mobs.

Nie Yan could determine these players weren’t simple from the smooth and leisurely way in which they dealt with the Desert Pythons. To assemble such a lineup, the intentions of Bloodlust Blades were as clear as day!

They were waiting for Nie Yan!

It was no big loss to Bloodlust Blades if these players died. But if Nie Yan died, it would be a big blow to Asskickers United.

However, Nie Yan had Unknown Transfer Scrolls in his bag. So if he encountered any real danger, he could immediately escape.

Nie Yan gave Tyrannical the signal, then began creeping his way towards Faded.

…

Faded charged into a Desert Python, then knocked it back several feet with a Heroic Strike.

"Faded, the guild leader said we’re going to run Dragon Bell Valley in an hour!” a nearby Paladin said, then cut down a Desert Python with Divine Strike.

"Alright.” Faded nodded.

In this instant the Paladin suddenly felt an uneasy premonition. His gaze blossomed with divine light as he locked onto a boulder in the distance, whereupon he saw a shadow dart by.

"There’s a Thief over there!” As soon as the Paladin spoke, a Priest threw an orb of light into the sky, illuminating the ground below and revealing the shadowy silhouette of a player.

Faded’s group caught a glimpse of Tyrannical’s retreating figure as he bolted away.

"It’s that idiot again. Is he suicidal?” the Paladin sneered as he gave chase with the others in tow. They were clearly experts with excellent awareness. Even when in pursuit, they didn’t break formation, always maintaining a distance no more than six meters apart.

They understood that the enemy wasn’t alone. It was highly probable there were others.

Indomitable Will! The Paladin’s speed sharply increased as he quickly closed the distance.

Meanwhile, Nie Yan’s cold gaze was locked onto Faded. He went into pursuit after activating stealth.

While chasing Tyrannical with his teammates, Faded suddenly felt a cold chill at the back of his neck.

So fast! Faded inwardly cried out in alarm. He quickly buffed himself with War God’s Protection as his body became enshrouded with a faint golden radiance, making him resemble a golden armoured celestial god.

Smothering Strike! Nie Yan’s dagger struck the back of Faded’s head like a lightning bolt.

Just as Nie Yan was about to follow up with another attack, he was surprised to discover Faded wasn’t stunned.

Shit! It’s War God’s Protection!

"Whirlwind Slash!” Faded spun his sword around like a top with sword energy streaming out in every direction.

Nie Yan hurriedly pulled back and activated the Blackbright Barrier, then raised his dagger to parry.「Klang!」He negated some of the damage, but the attack still chunked him for over 100 health.

When Faded saw Nie Yan’s appearance, his lips curved into an arrogant smile.

"You’re finally here, Mad Rogue! You’ve kept me waiting for far too long!” Faded charged forward and slashed down at Nie Yan.

「Boom!」The sword erupted out in flames as a four-meter-long tongue of fire chopped down from the sky.

It was the Advanced Skill, Blazing Cleaver!

Faded really was a bit too eager, bringing out such a powerful skill almost right off the bat!

Even though Faded appeared calm on the surface, his heart was pounding like a jackhammer against his chest. The opponent in front of him wasn’t an average player, but rather the famous Mad Rogue! It would be a miracle if he didn’t feel the slightest pressure. Beyond this, he felt a fever-pitch excitement. If he cut down Nie Yan, his name would become known throughout the entire game!

In the instant the scorching heat blasted his face, Nie Yan revealed a sneer. Shadow Waltz! His body turned into a blur as he vanished into thin air.「Boom!」The Blazing Cleaver crashed into the ground, sending flames flying everywhere.

Nie Yan reappeared behind Faded and unleashed a flurry of attacks with Zennarde’s Sword.

−521

−121

−182

…

Faded’s health was immediately cut down by half.

Crap! Faded broke out in a cold sweat. He never expected his health to drop so quickly.

Flaming Upheaval!

Faded plunged his sword into the ground as web-like cracks spread out on the surface and erupted with flames. He resembled a flame god as he stood at the epicenter of the terrifying inferno, radiating an awe-inspiring might.

One of the Priests pursuing Tyrannical noticed Faded being ambushed at the back. He quickly cast Heal, then gave him a Radiant Barrier.

The Priest’s reaction was incredibly quick!

Soon after, the Mages also noticed the commotion and sent fireballs and ice bullets flying in Nie Yan’s direction.

Seeing as he lost his opportunity, Nie Yan activated Gale Step and charged out of the inferno created by Flaming Upheaval. By the time the rest of Faded’s companions rushed over to surround him, he had already disappeared from sight.

"Was that Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame?” the Berserker asked. He swept his gaze over the surroundings but couldn’t find a trace of the opponent!

"Yea…” Faded nodded with an ashen face. He had been too careless just now, and it nearly cost him his life! He didn’t dare to imagine the consequences if he hadn’t activated Flaming Upheaval in time.

"Your fight was too quick. It was already over by the time we turned our heads. How skilled is the Mad Rogue?”

"Just so-so!” Faded replied with a grunt, having somewhat calmed down by now. Just a moment ago, he had allowed his thirst for fame to cloud his judgement. Those attacks were simply too fierce! He was a tanky Fighter, yet Nie Yan had taken him down to half-health almost in an instant. The high damage coupled with the additional bleed and burn effects were enough to make his blood run cold. He had to admit he was no match for Nie Yan in a duel, but he had many strong companions by his side! He refused to believe Nie Yan could be so heaven-defying in this sort of circumstance! The scene of Nie Yan killing the guild leader of Unhindered, Hei Zhuo, in Kiln Fire Woods had no effect on them!

"Everyone, pay attention. Don’t be careless!” warned the Holy Mage in the group. He appeared to be in his thirties. His face was calm when he spoke, yet his words inspired respect and authority.

Faded opened his mouth to speak, but then swallowed his words back down. This Holy Mage was the only person in the group he thoroughly conceded to. He was the second most skilled player in Bloodlust Blades. He was normally quite low-key and rarely ever spoke. He didn’t hold any position of power in the guild either. But in terms of raw skill, even Bloodlust Mad Blade had to show him respect.

Holy Mage, Maple Blazeheart! He was a fellow with two Advanced Magics, and was one of the supporting pillars of Bloodlust Blades!

Maple Blazeheart had witnessed the battle between Faded and Nie Yan a moment ago in its entirety. If it wasn’t for the timely support from the Priest, Faded would’ve long become an ice-cold corpse on the ground. It was actually absurd how this fool didn’t realize just how close he was to death, still believing it was his Flaming Upheaval that scared the opponent off.

At this moment, Maple Blazeheart looked at his chat and announced in a heavy tone, "Withered found him!”

Chapter 298 – Gale Ambush

Nie Yan was simply testing the waters a moment ago, which was why he only used his most basic skills. In fact, he could have bursted Faded down to zero health during the invincibility period of Gale Step. However, that would’ve left him open to the retaliation from the surrounding Mages. Even he didn’t dare to take a bombardment from them head-on, so he opted for a strategic retreat.

Nie Yan had a cautious nature. Whenever he encountered an expert, he would first gain a feel for their skill. He would then attempt to bait out as many of their trump cards as possible to minimize the possibility of them surprising him when he fought them for real.

A Thief who was quick to reveal their cards probably wasn’t an expert. Advanced Skills easily had cooldown timers of up to a week or longer. If a player wasted one, they would be without it for the next several days. If they encountered a truly life-threatening situation during this period, what awaited them would most likely be an extremely tragic end.

Every powerful skill was pivotal and not to be used lightly. Save trump cards for extraordinary circumstances: this was one of the lessons Nie Yan had learned from his 10 years in Conviction.

After his first exchange with this group of players, Nie Yan could tell that none of them were amateurs from how quickly they came to Faded’s rescue. Each of them was a seasoned expert in PvP!

Even though Nie Yan was ahead of these players by years in terms of game experience, he didn’t dare to underestimate them. He would have no problem fighting such players one on one, but there were 13 of them!

With how the skills of the various members mixed and matched with each other, the combat strength they could display wasn’t simple addition!

Nie Yan received a message from Tyrannical at this moment. He had gotten away from the players pursuing him. He was currently on standby in the area, searching for another opportunity to attack.

Just as Nie Yan was preparing to launch another ambush, he felt a cold chill at the back of his neck.

A Thief!

Nie Yan’s high Awareness allowed him to instantly lock onto the opponent’s position. While the pommel of a dagger was smashing towards the back of his head, his figure blurred into motion like a ghostly shadow. He raised his dagger and parried the opponent’s attack.

Nie Yan never expected to be seen through stealth. He quickly followed up by striking towards the Thief’s forehead with a Concussive Blow.

When the Thief was knocked out of stealth, Nie Yan was shocked to see their appearance. No wonder they discovered him!

The Thief’s pupils were rhombus-shaped and emitted a dark blue glow, resembling a dazzling gemstone. This was Sapphire Gaze, a special skill that allowed the player to see through stealth!

Just how long has he been watching me? His teammates are probably arriving soon! Nie Yan never expected to encounter such a mishap. Even the most experienced expert could still make mistakes!

The Thief panicked and raised his dagger in an attempt to parry Nie Yan’s attack.

At this time, four figures appeared on top of a slope. They were Faded, Maple Blazeheart, and the others!

Nie Yan took advantage of this opportunity to retreat. He activated Disappear and vanished from sight.

The Thief used Sapphire Gaze to scan for traces of Nie Yan, but he was nowhere to be found!

Disappear couldn’t be seen through in the initial seconds after activation!

「I can’t see him anymore!」the Thief informed through voice chat. Even Sapphire Gaze couldn’t locate Nie Yan! Just what kind of skill did the Mad Rogue use?

At this moment, the Thief discovered a silhouette almost 20 meters away. Sapphire Gaze was finally working! Nie Yan was incredibly fast. He had already made so much distance in such a short amount of time.

「He’s over there!」The Thief pointed in Nie Yan’s direction.

A glowing ball of light flew up into the sky, illuminating the ground below, and revealed a shadow dashing away.

Maple Blazeheart waved his staff as a beam of light descended from the sky.

Nie Yan quickly tumbled away. Several spells from the other Mages were flying his way, too.

「Bang!」A Holy Smite struck Nie Yan head-on, shaving away over 100 health. His Blackbright Barrier shuddered under the impact and grew dimmer.

Maple Blazeheart kept firing one spell after another at Nie Yan. His cast speed was frighteningly fast, and his timing was extremely precise, aiming every attack at the end of Nie Yan’s rolls. There was no way to guard against it!

The Warriors and Paladins quickly moved in to surround Nie Yan. They evidently came prepared, how else could they already be in position to intercept him?

Nie Yan quickly dodged to the side, avoiding the shower of spells flying at him from behind. However, he still couldn’t avoid all of them.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」

−163

−137

−156

−142

A nearby Priest waved his staff and tagged Nie Yan with a Glimmer Mark, causing a small glowing cursor to appear above his head. It revealed his exact position for some time.

The two Fighters, Berserker, and Paladin converged on Nie Yan, blocking off all paths of escape.

Charge!

Charge!

"Nirvana Flame, forfeit over your dog life!” Faded shouted with a sinister smile. He chopped down at Nie Yan with a Flame Slash, while the Paladin charged forward with a Divine Strike.

In this seemingly perilous situation, Nie Yan’s lips pursed into a sneer. Do you really think this is enough to kill me? Quit dreaming!

Demoralizing Shout!

Faded and another Warrior opened their mouths as a deep roar surged out from their throats like a great tide.

Nie Yan activated Mind Immune just as the powerful sound penetrated his eardrums.

Miss!

Faded and the other Warrior were stunned. Why did Demoralizing Shout have no effect?

Nie Yan took advantage of their momentary stupor to down an Intermediate Health Potion. With a side step, he avoided their attacks and dashed past them.

Faded swung his shield to the side in an attempt to stop Nie Yan, but he was a step too late.

Nie Yan activated Swift Retreat, crushed a Haste Scroll, and simultaneously performed the Dance of Death while dashing away.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Several spells struck his retreating figure, causing his Blackbright Barrier to finally shatter into tiny shards before disappearing into the air.

Nie Yan endured the damage as he melted into the surroundings. Faded and the others immediately gave chase by following the Glimmer Mark. However, he kept getting farther and farther away before eventually going out of range.

Faded, Maple Blazeheart, and the others gave up after realizing it was impossible to catch up to Nie Yan, and looked on with sullen expressions at his retreating silhouette.

"Dammit, he’s too fast!” Faded cursed. They were no match for Nie Yan’s speed. The only reason they could corner him just now was purely that their Thief spotted him with Sapphire Gaze, giving them ample time to prepare in advance.

"He’ll be back!” Maple Blazeheart declared. From start to finish, Nie Yan had never used any Advanced Skills. With such great gear, his dazzling fame as the Mad Rogue, and not to mention his status as the guild leader of Asskickers United, it would be foolish to believe he wasn’t in possession of any. The only conclusion he could reach was that Nie Yan had still only been testing them this whole time.

Faded, Maple Blazeheart, and the others tried searching around for Nie Yan. But he had already disappeared into the vast rocky wasteland.

Even after five minutes, they still found no trace of him.

"Mad Rogue, you’re sure quick to turn tail! If you have the guts, come out and fight like a man!” Faded yelled into the surroundings, his voice travelling quite a distance.

A hot-headed fellow might really be baited out by Faded’s insults.

Nie Yan was hidden within the blowing sands. After such a long time, the Glimmer Mark had already disappeared. He snickered when he heard Faded’s shouting. Dumbass! Although he was never one to back down from a challenge, he wasn’t an idiot who would get lured out by such petty insults either.

「Boss, I failed to draw out those two Priests. They regroup too quickly, and that Paladin keeps stopping me,」Tyrannical reported. It had originally been decided that he would lure away some of their players, particularly their Priests, allowing Nie Yan to mount another ambush. However, Faded’s group was on high-alert.

「No problem,」Nie Yan replied. He understood that dealing with such a group of players wouldn’t be easy.

While Faded and the others waited for Nie Yan to reveal himself again, they began hunting a few of the monsters in the surroundings. However, they didn’t dare to aggro too many at once.

Nie Yan and Tyrannical were lurking nearby, searching for the perfect opportunity to attack. Just at this moment, the Arcane Mage Casual ran out of mana and sat down to recover. The 13 players were split into 3 groups not too far from each other.

「Tyrannical, I want you to prepare to launch an ambush on Casual.」

「Okay!」

After a while, Tyrannical got into position while in stealth.

Nie Yan gazed at Faded in the distance who still hadn’t stopped shouting at the air. He wouldn’t be so lucky in this next exchange.

With Flaming Upheaval on cooldown, let’s see what other skills you’ve got!

Nie Yan made a mental note of the positions of the players in the surroundings. He revealed a cold smile as he tightly gripped his dagger. There were 13 enemies in total, not one more, not one less! It was about time to end this battle. What was about to happen next was a festival of death, a feast of slaughter!

Gale Ambush!

Nie Yan eyed Faded like prey as he started accelerating towards him. Gale Ambush increased his movement speed by an additional 200%. He was like a cheetah on the hunt, leaving after-images behind him as he dashed forward.

"Shit, it’s the Mad Rogue! He’s here again!” a Paladin noticed Nie Yan rushing out.

"You finally decided to show yourself again. I’ve been waiting!” Faded arrogantly exclaimed.

Charge!

Indomitable Will!

The Warriors and Paladins drew their swords and rushed forward to surround Nie Yan, while Maple Blazeheart, Casual, and the other Mages fired one spell after another.

"Kill!”

Chapter 299 – The Might of Shadow Slaughter

In the face of near imminent death, Nie Yan activated God’s Blessing from the Chapter of Peace, after which a barrier of light enshrouded him.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」The shower of spells rained down on him mercilessly as crackles of light ricocheted off him like a dazzling display of fireworks. Even so, he dashed out of this shelling completely unscathed.

God’s Blessing granted immunity to all magic!

Faded and his group were left absolutely gobsmacked. Perhaps Nie Yan was the only Thief bold enough to charge head-first into a hail of spells.

Did Nie Yan plan on slaughtering all 13 of them by himself!?

"Shit! It’s magic immunity! Everyone, use physical attacks!” Faded welcomed Nie Yan’s assault head-on. A deep grunt escaped his mouth as he swept forward with his heavy shield.

Nie Yan’s figure blurred as he employed Shadow Dance to slip past the attack.

While in the middle of Gale Ambush, Nie Yan was almost too fast for the naked eye to follow.

The Shield Bash struck air as Nie Yan’s figure vanished like a phantom before Faded’s eyes, causing his heart to tighten. He swung around in a panic, just in time to see Zennarde’s Sword stabbing towards his head at lightning speed.

Faded quickly raised his shield to block.

「Klang!」

Faded slightly recoiled under the impact, then retaliated with a Heroic Strike.

Maple Blazeheart waved his staff. A three meter tall Light Giant wielding a claymore materialized out of thin air and charged toward Nie Yan’s location.

At this time, the Paladin, Berserker, and Fighter came to Faded’s rescue. They charged at Nie Yan with their swords raised, wanting to chop him into mincemeat.

Nie Yan sidestepped the Heroic Strike, then activated Shadow Slaughter in combination with Apocalyptic Extinction and slashed down on Faded with Zennarde’s Sword.

−562

−100

−126

…

A string of damage values floated up from Faded’s head while the surrounding five players also received over a hundred damage each.

Even though Nie Yan was at a far lower level than these players, the Ignore Level +12 property on Zennarde’s Sword allowed him to bridge the gap. So the damage he dealt was still quite fierce.

The surrounding players were all scared out of their wits. They had clearly seen Nie Yan only attack Faded, yet why did they receive damage too!?

The Priest cast Heal on Faded, followed by a Radiant Barrier.

Faded attempted to retaliate by swinging his sword, only to discover his movements had turned sluggish. He glanced at his status and noticed a Cripple Curse! It was during this brief delay that Nie Yan struck him in the forehead with Concussive Blow.

Truthfully, Faded’s exchange with Nie Yan had lasted no more than a brief moment. However, he had already been incapacitated before the Warriors and Paladin could even arrive to reinforce him.

Nie Yan’s dagger slashed down once more. A string of damage values floated up above Faded’s head as his Radiant Barrier shattered with a loud bang. Streams of light continuously fell over him and restored his health.

Nie Yan’s burst reached upwards of over a thousand damage. He unloaded all sorts of hard-hitting skills on Faded like Blast and Vital Strike.

Before Faded’s companions could even get close, they had already lost two-thirds of their health to Shadow Slaughter!

What a terrifying skill! It could deal splash damage to surrounding enemies!

"Fuck! What kind of overpowered skill is this!?” the Paladin cursed. This was his first time encountering an area-of-effect Thief skill. He quickly cast a Heal on himself, then leapt into the air and chopped down at Nie Yan with his sword.

Severing Light!

Faded’s health bar fluctuated up and down, but he was still relatively safe thanks to the continuous healing from the Priests. However, the same couldn’t be said about his nearby companions who were almost dead. Each of them drank an Intermediate Potion and restored some of their health.

Nie Yan circled behind Faded, placing him right in front of the Paladin’s Severing Light, and struck him in the back of the head with Smothering Strike.

Seeing this, the Paladin quickly withdrew his attack.

"My god! Everybody, kill him! Quick!” The Berserker charged froward. He resembled a human tank with his heavy plate armour.

−187

−163

−172

…

The five players quickly dropped below half health. Nie Yan’s attacks were simply too fierce, to say nothing of the fact that Zennarde’s Sword ignored all armour. They were hemorrhaging health too quickly!

The two Thieves pincered Nie Yan from behind, their daggers stabbing toward his back with Smothering Strike.

Nie Yan’s dagger suddenly appeared around Faded’s throat.

Cutthroat!

−1283!

−100

−221

…

It was a critical hit for three times damage, an instant kill!

Despite being constantly topped off by the healing of the Priests, Faded was still one-shot by Nie Yan!

A smile formed on Nie Yan’s face. This was precisely what he had been aiming for!

He had a certain probability of landing a critical hit. As long as he kept attacking, it would eventually come!

At the same time, both of the Thieves received almost 500 damage from Shadow Slaughter and collapsed dead on the ground.

Even the 30% splash damage from a critical hit was extremely terrifying!

Nie Yan had killed three people with a single attack!

Of the six melee-class players, only three remained.

The Priests in the distance were in shock. Faded was clearly at full health just now! How did he suddenly die?

Shadow Slaughter also left the nearby two Warriors and Paladin as well as the Light Giant at critical health.

The Paladin quickly cast a Heal on himself, while the two Priests healed the Berserker and Fighter.

Nie Yan hacked down at the Light Giant with Zennarde’s Sword, landing a critical hit for two times damage and killing it. It dissolved into motes of light before disappearing into the air.

Seeing the Paladin buffed by Indomitable Will chopping down at him, Nie Yan took the hit head-on without the slightest bit of fear, then retaliated with a heavy slash from Zennarde’s Sword.

The Paladin’s health fell to zero and he collapsed to the ground.

Previously, the Paladin had restored his health back to over 600 with Heal. However, this was nothing to Nie Yan.

After finishing off the Paladin, Nie Yan was knocked flying by a Charge.

In the end, it was impossible for a single person to cope with the attacks of so many players. Nie Yan regained his footing with a flip. Seeing the Berserker charging over again, Nie Yan employed Shadow Dance to slip past him.

"Shit!” the Berserker cursed after glancing at the corpse of his Paladin companion. He quickly gave himself several buffs. His muscles bulged out violently, making him resemble an enraged grizzly.

Strength of the Bear!

"Die!” The Berserker charged at Nie Yan.

The other side clearly didn’t possess as many Advanced Skills as Nie Yan. After seeing the Berserker activate Strength of the Bear, Nie Yan coldly snorted. He readied his stance and prepared to face off against the opponent.

The Mages in the distance were the most depressed. They were basically the popcorn gallery. Outside of Maple Blazeheart summoning the Light Giant, which ended up dying without doing anything useful anyway, the rest of them were completely powerless! Nie Yan’s magic immunity skill nullified all their damage. They could only wonder where he obtained a piece of equipment with such an overpowered ability.

The Mages gazed on helplessly as their companions were slaughtered by Nie Yan with his unrivalled momentum.

Only around half a minute had passed since the start of the battle. Yet during this time, Nie Yan had taken out Faded, the two Thieves, and the Paladin. Everything had happened too quickly. There was no time to process these events.

While God’s Blessing was still active, none of their spells had any effect on Nie Yan.

Nie Yan glanced at the remaining Fighter and Berserker. Both of them were at around half health, but they would quickly be healed back up to full.

Nie Yan turned around and dashed toward the casters.

He had only dealt with the melee-class players first because they were all relatively close together, allowing Shadow Slaughter to display the greatest effect. As for the Mages, God’s Blessing was more than enough to render them useless.

After killing four of them, the remaining melee-class players wouldn’t be able to make any great waves.

With the 200% movement speed bonus from Gale Ambush, Nie Yan quickly reached the two Priests, causing them to scatter like rats.

Casual waved his staff, sending an Arcane Bolt flying Nie Yan’s way in an attempt to stop his assault. But just at this moment, a shadow pounced at him from behind, a dagger stabbing towards the back of his head.

Casual was nearly caught off-guard. He quickly protected himself in the nick of time as a black barrier enshrouded him.

The player ambushing him was Tyrannical!

Just as Tyrannical’s Smothering Strike was about to land, Casual activated Blink and reappeared about 4 meters away, causing Tyrannical’s attack to miss.

Casual turned around to look at his assailant and saw a familiar face. He coldly laughed. "And here I was wondering who it was. You actually dared to show yourself again, trash!”

Casual condensed an Arcane Fireball in his palm, then shot it at Tyrannical.

Tyrannical rolled out of the way to avoid the Arcane Fireball. After regaining his footing, he pounced toward Casual once more.

Tyrannical was like a feral beast. He gave Casual a fierce look, expressing that he would never stop until his opponent was dead. He was a wolf stalking his prey, waiting for the perfect opportunity to go in for the kill!

Seeing Tyrannical’s expression, Casual felt his blood run cold. His gaze turned somewhat grim. With a wave of his staff, he waylaid Tyrannical’s assault with a Repel.

Tyrannical’s ambush had attracted the attention of three people. On the other side of the battlefield, Nie Yan had already arrived beside a Priest. With a slash of Zennarde’s Sword, he cut down the opponent instantly.

The Priest’s cloth armour was easily cut through by Zennarde’s Sword.

Chapter 300 – Chapter of Compassion

Nothing could match up to the sharpness of Zennarde’s Sword!

It was an amazing weapon even at Level 60, let alone right now.

Although the Priest had cast a shield on himself beforehand, he was still killed just like that. The surrounding players felt a sense of dread fall over them.

Within the span of a minute, Nie Yan had turned the tables on them and shattered their morale!

Nie Yan was a reaper from hell, pouncing towards the remaining Priest who turned to flee. But the Priest was no match for his speed while Gale Ambush was active. He caught up and cut down the opponent in an instant!

It was like pigs to the slaughter!

With his unrivalled speed and supreme attack power, Nie Yan was a god-like existence.

While the casters scattered, the Berserker and Fighter charged toward Nie Yan in an attempt to intercept him. However, Nie Yan slipped past them with a simple sidestep.

Nie Yan dashed toward Maple Blazeheart and chopped down with Zennarde’s Sword, shaving away more than half his health. Just as Nie Yan was about to follow up with another attack, Maple Blazeheart’s body became illusory while the space around him twisted and warped, whereupon he vanished without a trace.

It was Illusion Blink!

Nie Yan looked in the distance. There, he spotted Maple Blazeheart 50 meters away.

When their gazes met, Maple Blazeheart gave Nie Yan a calm smile, as though this battle had nothing to do with him, before disappearing again. Who knew if he used some kind of skill, Invisibility Potion, or something else altogether.

Under these circumstances, Maple Blazeheart knew he was no match for Nie Yan, so he withdrew.

After all, magic immunity was quite rare, and it was generally found in Advanced Skills with cooldowns of two or three days. After waiting out the duration, Nie Yan’s combat ability would drop dramatically.

In fact, it wasn’t simply the magic immunity. Nie Yan’s Gale Ambush, Shadow Slaughter, and God’s Blessing were all Advanced Skills. Upon activation, they would make the user explode with power. But after their duration ran out, they posed far less of a threat.

However, right now, Nie Yan who still had all these skills active was practically invincible. He could run down the enemy as he pleased.

While wielding Zennarde’s Sword, Nie Yan was a supreme avatar of death, capable of slaughtering gods and slaying devils!

The remaining Fighter bent down to pick up the two chapters from the Book of Order that Faded had dropped. Just as he stood back up, Nie Yan had emerged behind him and attacked with a Backstab followed by a Vital Strike, killing him.

The two chapters dropped back to the ground. Hmph… Don’t touch what doesn’t belong to you!

Nie Yan turned his gaze to the nearby Berserker. Seeing Nie Yan’s gaze lock onto him, the Berserker nearly wet his pants in fear. He made use of the speed bonus from Strength of the Bear to flee for his life. What fool would want to fight Nie Yan in his current state? It was practically suicidal!

They really couldn’t figure it out. Just where did Nie Yan find so many amazing skills?

In the blink of an eye, 7 out of 13 players had fallen to Nie Yan’s blade.

Over on the other side of the battlefield, Tyrannical stuck to Casual like a wad of gum. Casual had taken him down to low health several times, but he would just escape through stealth to recover before reengaging. It appeared Tyrannical wouldn’t give up until either one of them died.

It was only after Casual used all his skills that he turned to flee. However, Tyrannical stuck to him like a bone-borrowing maggot, pursuing him from behind.

"Shit!” Casual cursed after seeing the names of his fellow party members go dim one after another. He could no longer keep true to his namesake. As he looked up ahead, he was terrified to see Nie Yan blocking his path.

In that brief moment of distraction, Casual felt a cold chill at the back of his neck. Tyrannical launched his attack at this time.

"Dammit!” Casual was about to swing around to meet the opponent head-on. Just as he was midway through his chant, he was struck in the back of the head by Tyrannical with a Smothering Strike.

The dagger was fast and ruthless. Casual had no way of dodging it.

Tyrannical unleashed a chain of regular attacks, then circled to Casual’s front and struck him in the forehead with Concussive Blow, stun locking Casual who was about to reawaken from the attacks. He finished things off with Eviscerate followed by Lacerate, causing Casual to collapse on the ground.

Before Casual died, he heard a word whispered into his ear, "Trash!”

Tyrannical had vented out all his anger. The battle just now was an emotional rollercoaster, causing a strong desire to surface in his heart. He had to get stronger! Otherwise, he would forever be stepped on by others!

…

Red River Stronghold.

This stronghold stood tall in the Red River Valley, an easily guarded location. It was the guild headquarters of Bloodlust Blades, as well as the most flourishing stronghold in Glory City’s territory. Players were flooding in from all over. It was a gold rush for merchants.

Bloodlust Blades had long since relocated from Glory City to here.

A magnificent building stood at the center of the Red River Stronghold. The large meeting hall inside was filled with all sorts of lavish decorations.

The battle between the five major guilds in Calore was still going strong, and the main benefactors from this conflict were Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors. These three guilds developed rapidly, leaving the guilds in Calore racing to catch up. However, what worried them was the possibility of Calore becoming united. Such a scenario would pose an immense threat to them, because Calore’s population was the largest out of any city in the Viridian Empire. If the guilds there were allowed to grow unimpeded, it would be hard to imagine what heights they would reach.

Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors were all closely paying attention to the situation over in Calore.

Bloodlust Mad Blade, who was clad in dark golden armour, was seated in a large hall watching a video. He had the appearance of a man in his 40s. He had a large build, and his expression was solemn. Furthermore, the armour he wore made him appear quite imposing.

"Boss, Maple Blazeheart and the rest have retreated. Nirvana Flame is too strong,” a player who was watching the video beside Bloodlust Mad Blade informed. What they saw in the video was truly shocking. A single Thief had come out on top against 13 of Bloodlust Blade’s elites. They could’ve never imagined such an outcome, even in their dreams.

When the player glanced beside him, he discovered Bloodlust Mad Blade was surprisingly calm, as if what he had just seen didn’t matter.

"Instruct Old Eight and his men to take what they need from the war stockpiles and engage Nirvana Flame! He’s red named. There’s no way he can escape! Take note of whether he has items like Unknown Transfer Scrolls. Also, pay attention to the movements of Asskickers United. If there’s anything strange, report it immediately!” Bloodlust Mad Blade said in a heavy tone. He bursted with killing intent as he gazed at the image of Nie Yan in the video.

Nie Yan was definitely a person who could pose a threat to Bloodlust Blades. Such a calamity in the making couldn’t be allowed to grow!

As soon as Bloodlust Mad Blade gave the order, the guild took action. Over 3,000 players were dispatched to Nie Yan’s location. Their goal was to surround and kill him!

Nie Yan and Tyrannical had killed eight people. The other five had already escaped.

Because of Nie Yan’s repeated reminders, Tyrannical didn’t touch the chapter Casual dropped on the ground.

They had to leave quickly. Since this place was the territory of Bloodlust Blades, they couldn’t act too unbridled. Nie Yan picked up the chapter. Combined with the two chapters he picked up from Faded earlier, he now owned the Chapter of Peace, Chapter of Tolerance, Chapter of Knowledge, and Chapter of Compassion. He also picked up several pieces of equipment, including all of Faded’s equipment.

"You should take these two pieces of Thief equipment,” Nie Yan said. Their properties were pretty decent. Although Tyrannical’s skill didn’t reach the peak, his talents weren’t bad. It was absolutely worth nurturing him. He might even grow to become a top player that could contend with the best.

Nie Yan planned to place the remaining equipment into the guild treasury.

Nie Yan looked at the properties of the four chapters from the Book of Order. Only the Chapter of Peace and Chapter of Compassion were useful for Thieves. The other two were meant for other classes.

-Chapter of Compassion

Description: The third chapter of Volume V of the Book of Order. A fragment of a Legendary item. Whoever shall possess this chapter will receive the inheritance of the God of Light. Your mission is to spread the glory of light!

Properties: Chance to nullify an incoming spell of the Darkness-type. Receive 5 additional health every level up. Strength +30, Resilience +20, Physique +30, Movement Speed +20.

God’s Grace: Increase health by 60%, Magic Resistance +30, Immune to Piercing Damage, Rank 6 Radiant Barrier. Duration: 60 seconds. Cooldown: 2 days (2/2)

Restrictions: Can only be bound by a member of the Righteous Guardian of Order.

Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player’s bag.

Nie Yan looked over the properties of the Chapter of Compassion. This chapter was extremely useful, increasing the player’s survivability. The Rank 6 Radiant Barrier was also quite useful, reducing all damage by 60% with a damage absorption shield of 1,500.

The chapters from the Book of Order were originally set items. The more chapters a player gathered, the more likely some hidden effects would be revealed.

There was no harm in collecting more chapters from the Book of Order. The more chapters Nie Yan owned, the greater the stat bonuses, and carrying the chapters would improve his character’s growth.

Nie Yan scanned the surroundings. Aside from a few corpses, there was nothing else left.

"Let’s go back. It’s too dangerous to stay here,” Nie Yan said to Tyrannical. Tyrannical didn’t have a red name, so he could teleport back. As for Nie Yan, he could go back regardless, and no restrictions would be imposed on him.

"Yea!” Tyrannical nodded. He gazed in the distance. The corpses were still laying there.

Nie Yan and Tyrannical walked to a quiet area. The two activated Return Scrolls. The scrolls in their hands lit up with a bright radiance.

Activating Return Scroll… 5%… 15% … 25%…

As the seconds passed, a killing intent suddenly locked onto Nie Yan and Tyrannical.

Nie Yan detected the presence of people in the area dashing towards them. He forcefully halted the Return Scroll. Just at this moment, a cold light flashed, and several daggers stabbed toward him and Tyrannical.

Nie Yan raised his dagger to parry, blocking the incoming attack.

「Klang!」

Eye of Truth!

The veins around Nie Yan’s eyes bulged out while his eyes turned bloodshot and blossomed with a mysterious light, locking onto silhouette after silhouette, one, two, three… There were seven Thieves in total!

Chapter 301 – Fighting like a Caged Beast

Just as a Thief darted toward Tyrannical, Nie Yan emerged beside him and slashed down with Zennarde’s Sword.

−721

−100

…

The Thief collapsed dead on the ground. Nie Yan could even deal fatal damage to a Fighter, to say nothing of a weak, leather-armoured Thief!

The remaining Thieves all pounced toward Nie Yan.

They’re fast! Nie Yan couldn’t help but remark.

At this moment, Tyrannical also cancelled the activation of his Return Scroll.

"Escape, you idiot! Why the hell did you stop your Return Scroll!?” Nie Yan cursed with a frown. The enemy had obviously come prepared. He could cover Tyrannical’s escape, then teleport away himself with an Unknown Transfer Scroll.

"Abandon the boss and escape myself? If word got out, how could I face my brothers?” Tyrannical laughed. He raised his dagger and dashed toward the enemy.

Back in Calore, the Agmota Muddy Swamplands dungeon on Specialist difficulty almost exclusively belonged to Asskickers United. Since Unknown Transfer Scrolls dropped at a fairly low rate and Asskickers United generally kept such information under wraps, a guild member like Tyrannical wouldn’t be privy to the knowledge that Nie Yan was in possession of an Unknown Transfer Scroll. Nor would Nie Yan casually disclose such a thing.

So naturally, when Tyrannical saw Nie Yan besieged by a squadron of Thieves, he cancelled the activation of his Return Scroll.

"Boss, you leave first. I’ll cover you,” Tyrannical declared. Nie Yan was the face of Asskickers United. His death would be a heavy blow to the guild’s prestige. On the other hand, Tyrannical was a nobody, a guild member who ranked somewhere in the middle of the pack, a random statistic in a guild war or siege. No one would bat an eyelid if he died.

But even nobodies still had their pride and a set of principles they followed!

Although their fame would never be as eclipsing as Nie Yan’s, they weren’t petty and low!

This was for honour!

Tyrannical worshiped Nie Yan, but his loyalty was still to Asskickers United because that was his family!

Suddenly, Nie Yan felt an extreme discomfort as if something was clutching at his heart. He gazed into the distance and saw a black-robed Shadow Priest standing atop a hill with a sinister smile on his face.

It wasn’t easy for him to land this spell on Nie Yan. He had the seven Thieves distract Nie Yan and Tyrannical while he hid in a corner chanting. After six seconds, he finally succeeded in casting the spell!

Dark Magic—Shackles of Strife!

Out of all spells, this one was definitely useful for ensnaring someone. When Shackles of Strife was activated, both the caster and target would be unable to teleport away until either one of them died.

Nie Yan could still move. However, he couldn’t use items like the Unknown Transfer Scroll or Return Scroll.

After the Shadow Priest finished casting Shackles of Strife, a large horde of Bloodlust Blades players emerged from the surrounding hilltops, completely entrapping Nie Yan.

Nie Yan never thought someone in Bloodlust Blades would have Shackles of Strife. This was a gross error in judgement!

The skills in Conviction were always full of surprises! Just when he thought everything was settled, the tables had been flipped yet again!

Tyrannical’s life was in constant danger as he fought off the six Thieves. Nie Yan appeared behind one of the Thieves and struck them down with a slash from Zennarde’s Sword.

When the remaining five Thieves saw Nie Yan approaching them, they quickly retreated in a panic.

What terrifying damage!

Nie Yan turned to Tyrannical with a calm gaze. "It seems this is the end of the line for me. Here, take this Unknown Transfer Scroll and get out of here.”

"Leave? Boss, if I abandon you here to save my own skin, all the brothers in our guild will look down on me!” Tyrannical directly refused. A person only lived one life. It was better to live it with honour!

After thinking for a brief moment, Nie Yan didn’t argue any further. He gazed at the Bloodlust Blades players who had completely sealed the area off. It appeared they planned to slowly whittle him down until he died.

"Boss, give me some face. Let me die before you. At least that way I can brag to our brothers that I went out protecting you from these bastards,” Tyrannical said.

"Alright, I’ll give you this bit of face.” Nie Yan turned to face the thousands of Bloodlust Blades players, then revealed a proud smile. "I started playing the game a week after its launch. From starting out with nothing to becoming the guild leader of Asskickers United, I’ve never died once to another player. For the sake of killing me alone, Bloodlust Blades has mobilized several thousand players. Even if I die here, it should be fine, right?”

"Yes, there’s nothing disgraceful about it, at all!” Tyrannical nodded vigorously as his nose turned sour.

Nie Yan was the hero of this generation. In the entire game, who could kill him 1v1? Even if he died here today, it wouldn’t be a blemish on his reputation!

"Even if I die here, I’m still the guild leader of Asskickers United. I definitely won’t dishonour the guild’s name! I’ll take out as many of them as I can with me!” Nie Yan declared. Since things had reached this point, it wouldn’t be in his style to just sit back and resign himself to fate!

"I, Tyrannical of the Asskickers United’s Hundred Thieves, also won’t let down the boss or the guild!” Tyrannical bravely declared. Even if he died, he had no regrets following his leader, Nie Yan.

The players from Bloodlust Blades gradually approached, sealing off the surrounding area. Players of every class formed a human barricade with the Fighters holding heavy shields at the very front, while the Mages and Priests were at the back.

Despite being surrounded by several thousand players and locked down by Shackles of Strife, they were still worried Nie Yan might escape.

To go to such lengths for a single Thief, it was definitely a first.

Nie Yan swept his gaze over the crowd of Bloodlust Blades players, then said in a clear voice, "You bunch of dogs, I’m right here where you want me. Any of you who aren’t convinced, come up and have a taste of my sword!”

Even though Dragon King Zennarde was a Tyrant, very few people were actually aware of his backstory. His sudden rise from obscurity only started with 10 people. After conquering several dozen tribes neighbouring his territory relying on nothing but himself, he embarked on his journey for world domination. One time he was ambushed in the Karu Plains, one against 100,000, and he fought for 10 days and 10 nights.

While wielding Zennarde’s Sword, a feeling of one man against the world also surfaced in Nie Yan’s heart.

His blade would cut down anyone who dared to approach him!

Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar. Adjudicator of God, God’s Grace, and a few other of his trump cards were still there. The rest had all been used. He didn’t have many skills left that could be used, so what did it matter if he used a couple more?

As for unequipping his equipment and going forward to commit suicide, Nie Yan had no such plan. Perhaps he might do this if he were a solo player. But as the guild leader of Asskickers United, he absolutely wouldn’t do anything of the sort!

Despite being trapped, Nie Yan’s domineering attitude still caused the players from Bloodlust Blades to tremble. Although Nie Yan was their enemy, this didn’t influence the respect they had for him.

Among the crowd, Maple Blazeheart gazed at Nie Yan with a hint of admiration. No wonder the players of Asskickers United held him in such high esteem! As things stood, even if the Mad Rogue died here today, it would be a hero’s death.

「Everyone, hold!」Maple Blazeheart ordered through voice chat. Everybody halted and looked toward Maple Blazeheart, awaiting his command.

Maple Blazeheart’s word undoubtedly carried a great influence in Bloodlust Blades. Even Bloodlust Mad Blade had to show him respect.

Nie Yan looked at Maple Blazeheart in the crowd. He was surprised. Why did these players suddenly stop? But realization quickly daunted on him. So it was because of him!

As Maple Blazeheart gazed at Nie Yan, who didn’t show the slightest bit of fear despite being surrounded on all sides, a feeling of respect surfaced in his heart.

「To show respect to the guild leader of Asskickers United, Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame, I want only Squad 25 to go forward! Everyone else, remain on standby!」Maple Blazeheart ordered through voice chat. A group of players walked forward from the crowd. They numbered around 60 or 70. All of them were ordinary players, their levels only being around Level 40.

Maple Blazeheart counted the number of people in this group. There were 62 players in total!

「Engage!」

The 62 players rushed toward Tyrannical and Nie Yan. A group of 30 or so Fighters led the charge.

Nie Yan narrowed his eyes. He never expected this turn of events. His impression of Maple Blazeheart improved greatly. This person wasn’t the type who regularly schemed and backstabbed others.

The way a person conducted themselves was important.

"Boss, I’ll go up first!” Tyrannical entered stealth and dashed toward the group of players.

Truthfully, whether he was stealthed or not didn’t make the slightest bit of difference.

Balls of light shot up into the air, illuminating the area below. Nothing could be hidden from this radiance!

Nie Yan activated God’s Grace as a barrier of light enveloped him. He entered stealth and dashed toward a Mage at lightning speed.

The Fighters wanted to intercept Nie Yan. But he was too fast. He easily slipped through the gaps between them and pounced toward the Mages in the backline.

With a slash of his sword, the first Mage was instantly cut down.

The terrifying damage caused the surrounding players to reel back in terror.

A shower of spells rained down on Nie Yan, exploding on impact.

Nie Yan slashed down yet again. The blazing attack of Zennarde’s Sword struck another Mage, killing them instantly!

Under the intense bombardment of spells, Nie Yan’s Radiant Barrier shattered into shards of light.

At this moment, Nie Yan activated Adjudicator of God and drank an Intermediate Health Potion. He charged through the hail of spells and pounced on the Priests further in the back, throwing the group into complete chaos.

「Boss, it seems I’ll be leaving first.」 After cutting down a Mage, Tyrannical was feared by a Thief. He had lost complete control of his body. Six Fighters moved in to surround him.「Klang! Klang! Klang」He was pummeled to death with one Shield Bash after another.

With Tyrannical dead, Nie Yan made his last stand and fought like a caged beast!

Chapter 302 – Reinforcements

Nie Yan brushed off the spells bombarding him as he killed a Priest with every slash of Zennarde’s Sword, slaughtering over seven in the blink of an eye!

Nie Yan appeared incredibly valiant. Heads would roll wherever he stepped! No one was his match, especially not these cloth-armoured casters who fell after a single attack.

The spectating crowd of players from Bloodlust Blades was left breathless. It would be a nightmare to face off against a Thief like this.

Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame really did live up to his reputation!

Who in the entire world would dare to challenge him?

"If possible, I’d like to try facing him one day. That is, without the magic immunity,” Maple Blazeheart mused. Nie Yan was absolutely a worthy opponent.

Maple Blazeheart might stand a chance against Nie Yan if he didn’t activate God’s Blessing or Adjudicator of God, but otherwise it would be impossible for him to achieve victory.

At this moment, Maple Blazeheart received a call. It was from Bloodlust Mad Blade.

「Blazeheart, what the hell are you doing!?」Mad Blade asked gravely.

「I’m paying tribute to the Mad Rogue!」Blazeheart replied. A Thief who could reach such heights should be given the utmost respect.

「Cut the crap! I want him dead within the next 2 minutes. I refuse to believe he can survive getting swarmed by several hundred Fighters. He’ll be dead in no time!」Mad Blade ordered in a sinister tone.

「3,000 people ganging up on a single person, is there really any meaning to it? Even if we win, it’s nothing to be proud about,」Blazeheart rebuked, not backing down in the slightest. He was the principled sort.

「I don’t give a shit if there’s any meaning to it! I’ll sweep away those who dare to block my path! No matter what method I have to employ, assassination, ambush, or ganging up! Take out Nirvana Flame, right now! Fuck! There’s movement over on the side of Asskickers United! Hurry up!」

「No, It’s disgraceful. You can pass down the order, but I won’t be the one doing it!」Blazeheart replied in a resolute tone. He refused to betray his principles. It wasn’t the first time these two butted heads over such a matter.

「Get the fuck out of my sight!」Mad Blade erupted with fury. Stubborn bastard! What are principles worth in a war? Squat!

Maple Blazeheart has been demoted from Vice Guild Leader.

Mad Blade gave the order to all members of Bloodlust Blades present on the scene: Kill Nirvana Flame immediately!

Nie Yan stood his ground while holding Zennarde’s Sword. With only about 500 health remaining, he had used everything on him. Even the Combat Bandages were gone. Bloodied corpses littered the ground beneath his feet. He had slaughtered 26 players altogether, almost all of whom were Mages felled with a single slash!

Nie Yan looked quite terrifying. His name was branded a bright crimson while his gear appeared to be dyed red with the blood of his victims. He had sunk into a killing frenzy, mowing down everyone in his path. A dense murderous aura emanated from his body, causing him to resemble a god of slaughter who struck fear into the hearts of all those that saw him.

The remaining players didn’t dare to get close. Nie Yan’s attacks were too frightening. Even tanky Fighters would fall victim to his blade.

At this moment, the spectating crowd started making a move. Several hundred Fighters with their heavy shields raised moved in to surround Nie Yan, forming a tighter and tighter encirclement.

Nie Yan would have no chance of making it out alive if he was swarmed by these Fighters. Even moving his body would be difficult, let alone getting off an attack.

Watching the enemy slowly tightening the noose, Nie Yan knew the end was nigh.

The wall of shields gradually closed in on Nie Yan, coming to a halt at roughly 5 meters away. If not for Adjudicator of God, he would have long since died. For him to have survived this long was already an impressive feat. He had at least taken down several dozen others with him.

Nie Yan forced a wry smile onto his face. All of a sudden, he felt like he could somewhat empathize with the ancient Warlord Xiang Yu as he committed suicide. A lifetime of glory, yet in vain he died.

Nie Yan thought he was safe because he had the Unknown Transfer Scroll at hand. His defeat was all due to the Shackles of Strife! He believed very few Shadow Priests, if any at all, had already obtained this skil at the current stage of the game. However, mishaps were inevitable!

Ever since things were set into motion, it appeared Mad Blade had always planned to use Shackles of Strife to deal with Nie Yan!

He was thoroughly outsmarted this time!

Death was fast approaching. However, just as Nie Yan closed his eyes in acceptance of his fate, the enemy ranks were suddenly thrown into chaos.

Nie Yan opened his eyes in confusion. Did something just happen?

Dense clouds of magic blotted out the sky. A heavy pressure descended on the players from Bloodlust Blades, causing them to panic.

"Shit! Who’s casting that spell?”

"Advanced Magic! Reinforcements from Asskickers United!”

The mob of Bloodlust Blades players almost instantly lost all sense of unity as they trampled each other in search for safety.

Elsewhere, a group of over a dozen players charged into the forces of Bloodlust Blades, killing them left and right as they made their way to the center.

Bladelight and Smoke Stub led this group. With a Charge, Bladelight barrelled through six players. Smoke Stub followed suit and chained his Charge with a Whirlwind Slash, sending another seven players flying away.

Cold Peak, Yi Yan, and the others followed close behind, paving their path with blood. They took care of the players on the side, causing blood to fall like rain. Sun’s figure also emerged on the battlefield. He had just finished killing six players.

"Boss!”

"We’re here to save you!”

"Big bro, we’re here!”

The team was all here. As Nie Yan looked at the mass of friendly faces, he couldn’t help but feel moved.

"Such a lively event and you didn’t invite us, aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” Smoke Stub smiled. This world was truly full of coincidences. Back then, Nie Yan had led a group of players to rescue him and the other members of Withered Leaf from Azure Falling Sky. Now their positions were reversed.

This was just how relationships between people worked: Give and receive. If not for Nie Yan’s efforts to save Withered Leaf from Azure Falling Sky back then, they wouldn’t have become faithful members of Asskicked United.

"No matter the circumstances, remember that you’re not alone. You still have all of us in Asskickers United!” Bladelight faintly smiled.

Nie Yan was touched by Bladelight words. It was true. He was never alone. He still had his brothers in the guild! This held true just as much for him as it did for them!

"I’m sorry,” Nie Yan sincerely apologized. He had grown so accustomed to solving problems on his own that he didn’t want to trouble others. Bladelight’s words reminded him that he had created a guild for just this reason! He couldn’t possibly face every danger alone!

The black cloud finally condensed as a torrent of fireballs poured down from the sky. The blaze wreaked havoc over the battlefield, instantly turning over 600 players from Bloodlust Blades into rays of light. The destructive power of Advanced Magic was terrifying.

One after another, area-of-effect spells rained hell upon Bloodlust Blades, quickly crippling most of them. The raging inferno voraciously devoured the previously vast crowd.

"How many of you came?” Nie Yan asked Smoke Stub.

"Not many, a little over 20. These guys aren’t so tough.” Smoke Stub swept his gaze over the crowd of players from Bloodlust Blades, an expression of contempt on his face.

No one could withstand the might of Advanced Magic. Let alone 3,000 players, even a force of 10,000 players would be thoroughly wiped out by such an intense barrage!

Recently, Bloodlust Blades had created no small amount of trouble for Asskickers United, causing them to suffer some losses. However, this was only the case because Asskickers United’s elites had never gotten involved. But now that the peak players had shown up, Bloodlust Blades could give up any dreams of killing Nie Yan. Numbers advantage? No problem: just throw Advanced Magic at it!

Sun chained several skills to cut down a Mage, then walked up to Nie Yan.

"You smelly brat, where have you been these days?” Nie Yan gazed at Sun with a smile. The players from Bloodlust Blades were fleeing like rats. Asskickers United’s Advanced Magic combined with Tang Yao’s area-of-effect spells were simply too fierce.

In an instant, 3,000 players were reduced to just a few hundred.

"I went to outfit myself with better gear. Big bro, check out this sweet set I have now!” Sun veritably bubbled with excitement as he showed off his new Level 45 armor. His azure leather outfit was truly a treasure for control thieves.

Sun was already Level 47. He could even rank near the top of the leaderboards. During this time, he had vastly improved his combat techniques. His movements were much smoother than before.

Looking at everyone’s levels, Nie Yan figured he should start raising his level again. Although he wasn’t likely to lose to any of them, he would still be at a huge disadvantage facing a Level 40+ player at Level 30.

Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Cold Peak, and a few others began to clean up the surviving stragglers. Slowly but surely, they picked off the rest of the fleeing players.

After the area-of-effect spells stopped, a group of players made their way over from a distant hilltop. They were Tang Yao, Painted Muslin, Summer Bug, and the other casters.

Clad in a flowing white robe, Painted Muslin stood in the center and was by far the most eye-catching.

"Hey, pretty lady, how about you give me a Heal?” Nie Yan laughed. Since joining the guild, Painted Muslin had also familiarized herself with everyone.

"500 Merit Points, no exceptions!” Painted Muslin cheekily replied with a smile.

"So expensive!?” Nie Yan faked a bitter look.

"You’re the guild leader. Don’t tell me you can’t even take out this much?”

"Fine, fine. 500 points it is.”

These team members didn’t actually care about such a small amount of Merit Points. They were just joking around with each other.

A ray of white light landed on Nie Yan’s body, restoring his health to full. He looked around. The 3,000 attackers from Bloodlust Blades were now almost completely wiped out, with only a handful remaining.

"Let’s clean up the survivors and go home,” Nie Yan said. There was no telling when more players from Bloodlust Blades would arrive. He suddenly vanished. A moment later, he reappeared over 10 meters away and slashed down with Zennarde’s Sword, killing a stray Priest from Bloodlust Blades.

A reference to Chinese history/mythology.

Chapter 303 - Shadow Killer

With his decade’s worth of experience in Conviction serving as a solid foundation, Nie Yan’s skills only improved further after his numerous breakthroughs in this life. Add this to the ever increasing quality of his gear, and he was quickly becoming an unapproachable existence. Save for some godly-level characters, no ordinary players would even dream of challenging him.

The 20 or so players from Asskickers United were invincible as they swept away the remnants forces of Bloodlust Blades, especially Tang Yao, Undying Scoundrel, Natural Fiend, and the other Mages whose area-of-effect spells wiped out numerous fleeing groups.

Each of them was strong in their own right, but their outstanding teamwork allowed them to explode with even more astonishing power.

The players from Bloodlust Blades were completely routed, and were fleeing with their tails tucked between their legs.

Nirvana Flame, Young Sparrow Hawk, Aqua Smoke Stub, Resplendent Bladelight… they were some of the most famous names in the game. An appearance from just one of them would already be a huge deterrent, let alone when the whole gang was brought together.

Clad in their heavy plate armours, Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the other Warriors resembled tanks, steamrolling through everything in their path and leaving a trail of corpses behind them.

Nie Yan felled another player from Bloodlust Blades with a slash of Zennarde’s Sword. At this moment, he felt a pair of eyes on him. Although the feeling was fleeting, he still took notice.

His high Awareness could help him detect even the faintest trace of a threat!

A Thief! This was the first thought to surface in Nie Yan’s mind.

However, Nie Yan couldn’t determine the other party’s position. Conviction was full of different skills. Encountering a Thief with a skill that enhanced their stealthing ability was nothing out of the ordinary. Since he was being watched, he just had to be vigilant.

A Thief who could remain undetected while in Nie Yan’s presence was definitely no slouch.

Nie Yan stretched out his senses to their limit in preparation to deal with a sneak attack at a moment’s notice.

Now!

Nie Yan’s pupils shone with an enigmatic light while the veins around his eyes bulged out. His gaze swept over every corner of the vast wasteland, but he failed to find any trace of the opponent even after a long time. So, he could only give up his search.

Not too far away, a Shadow Priest gazed anxiously in Nie Yan’s direction.

This Shadow Priest appeared to be around 30 years old. His lanky figure was garbed in black robes, his nose curved downwards like a hook, and his narrow eyes constantly shifted from one side to the other. In fact, he quite closely resembled a rat.

It was precisely this Shadow Priest who had cast Shackles of Strife earlier. Nie Yan naturally had no intention of letting this fellow off after spotting him. For the past two hours, he couldn’t use Return Scrolls or Unknown Transfers Scrolls. This was the terrifying effect of an Advanced Magic, and it would continue to persist until either one of them died.

As the Shadow Priest turned to flee, Nie Yan disappeared into stealth and went into pursuit.

Nie Yan shortened the gap in an instant, with only about five meters separating them.

Just as Nie Yan drew close, the Shadow Priest suddenly turned around and threw an orb of light up into the air. Beneath the piercing radiance, Nie Yan’s silhouette was revealed.

Nie Yan was no more than two meters away!

A sinister smile surfaced on the Shadow Priest’s face.

"I’ve been waiting for this moment!” the Shadow Priest cackled as he waved his staff and targeted Nie Yan with a Slow Curse, reducing his speed by a slight fraction.

Despite this, Nie Yan was still rapidly closing in on the Shadow Priest.

Seeing the Shadow Priest’s scheming expression, a thought flashed across Nie Yan’s mind. He quickly activated Mind Immune from the Medal of the Ten Holy Paladins.

The Shadow Priest opened his mouth as an ear-piercing screech escaped his throat.

Howl of Terror!

You’re practically right in my face. Let’s see you escape this! The Shadow Priest sneered. However, he was shocked to discover that his Howl of Terror had no effect on Nie Yan. His terrified eyes reflected the dark glow of black flames as Zennarde’s Sword came slashing down on him.

Blood splattered the ground as Nie Yan killed the Shadow Priest.

Nie Yan suddenly started running around aimlessly like a headless chicken, feigning as if he was actually under the influence of Howl of Terror.

Nie Yan’s acting was very realistic, his timing flawless.

From the point of an observer, it appeared Nie Yan was struck by Howl of Terror while in mid-slash. This was why the Shadow Priest still died.

A silhouette emerged out of nowhere beside Nie Yan and struck at his forehead with a Concussive Blow.

The assailant was precisely the Thief who had been stalking Nie Yan this whole time!

This Thief’s actions were quick and ruthless. With a glance, Nie Yan could tell his opponent this time around was a tough cookie!

Nie Yan’s lips curved into a cold smile. Got you!

The only reason he pretended to be under the effects of Howl of Terror just now was to lure out this Thief. It was a success. His performance had fooled the eyes of the other party.

However, Nie Yan didn’t dare to be careless. His opponent’s attacks were lightning-fast and carried an overbearing killing intent.

Nie Yan quickly raised his dagger to parry.

「Klang!」

He immediately retaliated with a Concussive Blow of his own.

The Thief’s expression flickered with surprise. He never expected that Nie Yan could still defend himself.

Nie Yan instantly recognized his opponent who was clad in a set of ash-gray leather armour. It was Shadow Killer! Despite being caught off-guard, Shadow Killer’s countenance was tranquil, as if this exchange was nothing more than a small diversion.

Shadow Killer’s eyes beamed with killing intent. He vanished into thin air, causing Nie Yan’s attack to miss.

A brief moment later, Nie Yan felt a biting cold at the back of his neck. He’s fast!

Just as Nie Yan was about to react, he discovered his body was completely paralyzed. A dagger came stabbing towards the back of his head.

At this life-or-death moment, Nie Yan used Gale Step. He took advantage of its first three seconds of invincibility upon activation to nullify Shadow Killer’s attack.

Two seconds later, Nie Yan finally regained control of his body. He quickly pulled back to open up some distance. When he looked back, Shadow Killer had disappeared like a wisp of smoke.

Nie Yan swept his gaze over the surroundings. He could no longer detect the slightest trace of Shadow Killer’s presence.

Even though this was only their first exchange, Nie Yan still felt great pressure. It appeared Shadow Killer’s motto was to kill on the first strike, immediately retreating upon failure. He was an assassin through and through. Unlike many others who respected a set of unspoken rules, he would use any means, fair or foul, to achieve his goals. This was why so many people fell at his hands in the previous timeline.

Nie Yan broke out in a cold sweat. If it wasn’t for his quick use of Gale Step, he would’ve lost his life.

Nie Yan greatly envied this kind of position, an assassin who constantly tested his limits by targeting one expert after the next. But unfortunately, he would never be able to take on such a role because he was already the guild leader of Asskickers United.

Despite confirming that Shadow Killer had left, Nie Yan still remained vigilant. He had already been ambushed once. Who knew when Shadow Killer would show up again. Perhaps next time he wouldn’t be so lucky. Being targeted by such a player was no pleasant matter. I need to find a way to deal with him. His stealthing ability is too frightening!

Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the others were hunting down the remaining survivors from Bloodlust Blades. When they noticed Nie Yan had encountered trouble, they rushed over to him.

"Are you okay?” Bladelight asked. He had just seen a Thief stab Nie Yan in the back of the head. However, Nie Yan was unharmed. This left him a bit curious.

"Who was that Thief? He looked familiar,” Smoke Stub asked. As a professional player, how could he not know Shadow Killer’s appearance? It was just that the situation was too hectic, and he couldn’t get a good look.

"It was Shadow Killer!” Nie Yan replied. This was their first exchange. Even though it was brief, it was a wake-up call for him. If not for his quick reactions, by the time Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the others arrived, he would’ve already become an ice-cold corpse. Not to mention Shadow Killer had used a crowd-control skill similar to Intimidate. He would definitely have to watch out for that the next time around.

"No wonder! So it was him!” Smoke Stub exclaimed in shock. He felt his blood run cold. Shadow Killer was definitely one of the most difficult professional players to deal with. He was a master at stealth. Once he took action, he would always be going in for the kill. If he didn’t succeed in one move, he would immediately retreat and await the next opportune moment to strike again. So long as you didn’t die, he would continue biding his time.

Just at this moment, Nie Yan received a message. It was from Shadow Killer!

「Not half-bad, but you won’t be so lucky next time.」

When Nie Yan wanted to reply, he discovered Shadow Killer had blocked off all communications.

Shadow Killer, huh… Nie Yan faintly smiled. It would be a good opportunity to hone his skills by duking it out with such a legendary figure. I won’t let you get away so easily next time!

With these two Thieves facing off against each other, one would inevitably end up on the floor!

Nie Yan withdrew from his daydreaming. He swept his gaze over the surroundings. Many players from Bloodlust Blades had died at their hands, while those that survived had long since fled away.

"Pick up whatever loot you can,” Nie Yan ordered. "We only have about a minute. Then we immediately set out for the south!”

「Forces from Bloodlust Blades are currently moving towards you from the north. Hurry up and escape before it’s too late!」Guo Huai frantically informed.

「Got it,」Nie Yan replied.

Chapter 304 – Pursuit

「Do you want help?」Guo Huai asked. He had several thousand guild members on standby. Nie Yan only had to give the word, and they would teleport over. Even though the transport fee was steep, around 1 gold per player, they could easily bear the cost thanks to the support of the Dragonsoar Financial Group.

「No need. Glory City is the territory of Bloodlust Blades. No matter how much help arrives, we’ll always be outmanned and outgunned. It’s best if we minimize our losses. Besides, Smoke Stub, Bladelight, the others, and I should be able to get away. Just closely monitor the enemy’s movements for now,」Nie Yan replied. As long as he knew the position of Bloodlust Blades’ forces, there should be no worry of being surrounded in such a large map. He quickly gathered everyone together.

Glory City was to the north, so the safest option would be to head south.

"Everyone, get on your mounts!” Nie Yan ordered. Being the strongest members of Asskickers United, everyone in the group naturally had the best horses the guild could offer.

They summoned their mounts one after another, all of which were high-quality warhorses with movement speed bonuses of 200%. This was one of the perks provided by the guild. With a good mount, players could save a lot on travel time which would otherwise be better spent on levelling.

Mounts made things much more convenient. The group galloped away on horseback, leaving a cloud of dust behind.

Nie Yan swept his gaze over these team members. Aside from Young Seven, Painted Muslin, and the other Priests, the rest all had bright red names. If they died to the forces of Bloodlust Blades, it would be a huge blow to Asskickers United!

The group sped across the wasteland as the scenery blurred past them.

…

Back in Red River Stronghold, Bloodlust Mad Blade flew into a fit of rage after finding out Nie Yan had escaped. He couldn’t believe such a setback had occurred in his previously flawless plan. It was now almost impossible to prevent Nie Yan and the others from fleeing!

However, these were more than 20 elites from Asskickers United, not to mention most of them were branded with red names! How could Mad Blade willingly abandon this thick, juicy slab of meat dangling just out of reach?

Even Mad Blade had to admit that most guilds couldn’t match Asskickers United’s elite line-up. For a large guild to have a dozen or so top-notch players was already impressive. But Asskickers United had more than 60 such players, a fact that left him greatly depressed. Finding an expert generally involved picking out someone with promise, then spending a ton of resources to provide them with the environment to grow. This heavily relied on a guild leader’s eye for talent. There were many instances where a guild would go through all this effort only to end up with a player that was just so-so.

Up until now, Mad Blade had only discovered around 10 talented players whose skill ranked among the top 500 within the entire Viridian Empire. But according to his investigations, Asskickers United had at least 70 such players, about seven times that of Bloodlust Blades! Almost all of Calore’s elites were congregated in Asskickers United. The difference was like night and day.

It was no wonder why Bloodlust Blades treated Asskickers United with such hostility. If a guild like that was allowed to grow, there would be no place left for anyone else to stand in the future!

"Boss, they’re fleeing south!”

"We must kill them, at all costs! Send our squadron of Thieves to hold them up so that our forces can catch up!” Mad Blade ordered in a harsh tone. Nie Yan’s group should’ve already used up all their Advanced Magic to wipe out those previous 3,000 players, meaning they were currently at their weakest. Now was the most suitable time to take action!

Bloodlust Blades also had a Thief squadron of their own. It was established after witnessing the success of Asskickers United’s Hundred Thieves. Naturally, they couldn’t hold a candle to the Hundred Thieves. But what they lacked in quality, they made up in manpower with over 500 members in total. Not to mention they were still hand-picked from the guild, and highly mobile with the mounts provided to them. When such a large force carried out missions, their success rate was quite high.

Mad Blade dispatched a large number of people after Nie Yan’s group. Furthermore, players from Bloodlust Blades levelling in various maps also dropped what they were doing to join in on the pursuit.

Glory City was the territory of Bloodlust Blades. How could they allow players from Asskickers United to do as they pleased?

Mad Blade guided the overall situation from the guild headquarters, mobilizing guild members from all over to chase after Nie Yan’s group.

More and more players came together to form a giant encirclement. It wouldn’t be easy for Nie Yan’s group to slaughter their way out.

Nie Yan’s group fled south out of the barren wasteland. A wide open plain appeared before them, resembling a sea of green gently swaying in the wind. They occasionally spotted one or two Level 40 Dark Bulls grazing on the grass.

At this moment, a horde of Bloodlust Blades players emerged up ahead. The Warriors and Paladins were at the front while the Mages and Priests were in the back. The players quickly moved to surround Nie Yan’s group.

"Dismount, we’re engaging the enemy!” Nie Yan ordered. After which he recalled his Faulkner Warhorse and disappeared from sight with Shadow Waltz.

The group members dismounted one after another.

Sun and One Strike Vow also disappeared into stealth. A Thief was the deadliest while in the shadows! They were the most unpredictable force on the battlefield!

"You bastards. No matter how many of you come, you’ll end up dead just the same!” Undying Scoundrel exclaimed after seeing the enemy’s numbers. He had already used up his Advanced Magic. He condensed a blazing sphere in his palm.

Scorching Flame Explosion!

A fireball streaked across the battlefield like a meteor.「Bang!」It blasted a Fighter in the chest, killing him instantly and sending his corpse flying away.

Undying Scoundrel wore the Flame Dancer Set. As soon as he took action, it badly frightened the players from Bloodlust Blades.

In the blink of an eye, Smoke Stub, Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and the other frontliners clashed with the 60 Fighters from Bloodlust Blades, while the Priests on both sides frantically provided healing.

Bladelight let out a war cry and sent three Fighters staggering back with a Shield Bash.

These Fighters were simply no match for Bladelight!

Lofty Shadow also faced multiple opponents at once. Spells bombarded his body, but they only dealt around 20-30 damage each. While bathed in holy light, his health bar kept fluctuating up and down. However, he never came close to death.

The group from Bloodlust Blades had more than 30 Priests supporting them from the rear. With the ample healing they provided, the amount of casualties on their side was similarly kept to a bare minimum.

At this moment, a silhouette emerged beside one of the Priests. It was Nie Yan. These Priests had no idea when he snuck his way into the backline!

Nie Yan slashed down with Zennarde’s Sword, felling a Priest instantly. He immediately pounced toward another Priest and cut him down too.

Due to his terrifying damage, Nie Yan mowed down the Priests with impunity.

Nie Yan’s appearance sparked mass panic in the backline. The Priests scattered like rats, fleeing away in every direction. How could they afford to worry about others when they were getting slaughtered left and right themselves?

At this moment, Sun emerged. He stunned a Priest with Smothering Strike, then finished them off with a Backstab followed by Eviscerate. Even though his damage didn’t match Nie Yan’s, his attacks were quick and efficient.

One, two, three… Sun was like a phantom, killing players left and right as he popped in and out of the battlefield. Nie Yan was shocked when he looked over at Sun. Sun’s movements were already starting to carry the essence of a Shadow Dancer.

It took Nie Yan two lifetimes to comprehend the mysteries of a Shadow Dancer. He had only demonstrated the techniques of a Shadow Dancer once, yet Sun was already beginning to understand them. This genius Thief was slowly blossoming into a dazzling figure.

Elsewhere, One Strike Vow had also killed three Priests. Dressed in skin-tight leather armour, her lithe figure danced across the battlefield. She was beginning to show traces of what made her a goddess in the previous timeline. She was the dream lover in the minds of countless Thieves, both because of her beauty and astonishing skills. Back then, her popularity among Thieves even eclipsed that of Sun. A simple smile of hers could topple cities, it wouldn’t be overboard to call her a femme fatale.

The three of them were like sharp daggers, piercing through the defenses of Bloodlust Blades and wreaking havoc on the Priests in the back.

The situation over on the frontline was just as grim for Bloodlust Blades. No longer receiving heals, their Warriors started dropping like flies.

Tang Yao was especially conspicuous. He was firing out spells like a gatling gun, taking out numerous Warriors in quick succession.

When the frontline collapsed, Smoke Stub, Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and the others charged forward and started slaughtering the Mages.

Bloodlust Blades’ force was routed. They could no longer put up the slightest bit of resistance.

Smoke Stub swept through six Mages with a Whirlwind Slash. He raised his sword and charged forward, felling an Arcane Mage. These Mages were ordinary players. Their reactions and awareness were far inferior to that of Smoke Stub and company. Most of them were cut down before they even got the chance to cast a spell.

Smoke Stub, Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and the others left a trail of corpses in their path. Soon, they met up with Nie Yan, Sun, and One Strike Vow in the back.

Under the assault of Nie Yan’s group, around 80% of the over 300 players from Bloodlust Blades were slaughtered in a matter of minutes. The remaining 20% had all fled.

Chapter 305 – Crystal Caverns

This was usually the end result when ordinary players faced off against elites, a one-sided slaughter. According to convention, Warriors tanked at the front while the Mages behind them focused their firepower on two or three individuals at a time. Which in turn was offset by the healing from the Priests. These battles tended to drag out for a long time before reaching their conclusion.

This was also the strategy of Bloodlust Blades, keep the battle in a deadlock until reinforcements arrived. The enemy would have nowhere left to run. But who could’ve predicted Nie Yan’s group would topple all expectations. Nie Yan, Sun, and One Strike Vow through their outstanding skill bypassed multiple layers of defenses and ambushed the Priests in the backline. Following which the defensive line at the front crumbled due to the lack of healing, leaving the Mages completely exposed. It was this series of decisive blows that led to the more than 300 players from Bloodlust Blades being soundly defeated in just under six minutes.

The might of Nie Yan’s group was clear for all to see.

The surviving players from Bloodlust Blades lost all will to fight and fled for their lives, lest they lost the chance.

Piles of corpses littered the ground. Only Nie Yan’s group remained on the battlefield.

"How many did we lose?” Nie Yan asked. It would be wishful thinking to hope they suffered no casualties after such a battle.

"Three. We’ve recovered their equipment. But if we revive them here, they’ll suffer an even heavier experience penalty. Plus, we have even more difficult battles up ahead of us. So I decided it was best to let them respawn in the cemetery,” Smoke Stub replied.

Nie Yan nodded in approval. Fortunately, they only lost three members. These losses were within an acceptable range.

"Everyone, get back on your mounts. We’re leaving!” Nie Yan ordered. They couldn’t dally in one place for too long.

If they kept skirmishing with the forces of Bloodlust Blades, with their numbers slowly being shaved away every time, there would eventually be none of them left! Although Nie Yan could go back to Calore with a Return Scroll, the others who were branded with red names didn’t have that luxury. After they risked their lives to save him, how could he just abandon them to save his own skin?

Everyone got back on their horses and continued galloping south. Before long, a dense forest came into view at the edge of the prairie. Nie Yan’s eyes lit up. It would be much easier to get out alive under the cover of the forest. No matter how large of a force Bloodlust Blades brought, it would be difficult to surround them.

Just as Nie Yan was inwardly celebrating, he received a warning from Guo Huai.「Don’t go there! Over 6,000 players from Bloodlust Blades are lurking in ambush. It’s too dangerous without Advanced Magic! Flee to the Crystal Caverns in the east. It’s a Level 50 map. When you’re there, Bloodlust Blades will have no way of catching you no matter how many people they send. All of you can hole yourselves up there, then come out when you’ve cleared your red names. Just be careful. Crystal Caverns is an unexplored map, so there’s bound to be a lot of high-level Elites and Sub Elites.」

Even Nie Yan was flabbergasted by how Guo Huai obtained this information. Ever since the incident that occured in Sinful Gorge, Guo Huai started doing his utmost to expand Asskickers United’s intelligence network. With the support of the Dragonsoar Financial Group, resources were no issue. Now, all that effort was finally paying off.

It took many capable individuals for Asskickers United to reach this stage!

After receiving Guo Huai’s warning, Nie Yan immediately led the group away from the forest and toward the Crystal Caverns in the east.

…

Red River Stronghold.

Back in the guild headquarters of Bloodlust Blades, Mad Blade’s face turned dark after receiving the news that 300 or so of his players had been wiped out by Nie Yan’s group. However, he still had many troops stationed in front of their path, ready to intercept them. At this moment, he received another update. Their target had abruptly changed directions and was moving toward the east!

A thought suddenly crossed Mad Blade’s mind. "Shit, they’re escaping to the Crystal Caverns! Stop them!” The Crystal Caverns were similar to a labyrinth. His troops had no hope of chasing them down if Nie Yan and the others were allowed to reach that place. His plans of killing them would go up in smoke!

Mad Blade had no way of knowing what would happen inside the Crystal Caverns. A Level 50 map was extremely difficult to explore. However, Nie Yan’s group was simply too strong. They might really be capable of pulling it off! If they walked out of this unscathed and with a huge pile of loot to boot, wouldn’t that be pouring more salt on the open wounds of Bloodlust Blades?

Crystalline Molemen spawned in the Crystal Caverns. It was rumoured on the forums that a Level 50 Lord and many Elites lurked there. Bloodlust Blades had dispatched an expedition group to explore this map before, but they returned with their heads hung in defeat. A certain region inside the caverns contained seven Level 50 Elite Crystalline Molemen. This was an incredibly difficult obstacle they couldn’t overcome.

If even their 60 player expedition team failed, Mad Blade doubted Nie Yan’s group could actually succeed. However, he couldn’t simply eliminate the possibility from his mind.

Regardless of the method, Mad Blade absolutely didn’t wish to see Nie Yan’s group reach the Crystal Caverns!

While riding on horseback, Nie Yan’s group spotted a large cave at the base of a mountain in the distance. Scattered outside the entrance were many crystal-covered boulders that glistened brilliantly under the sunlight.

The Crystal Caverns was a primary location for ore production.

When they reached within 30 meters of the Crystal Caverns, Nie Yan suddenly had an uneasy premonition. He quickly activated Eye of Truth and located several groups lurking in the vicinity: 30 players to the left, 50 to the right, while more and more were arriving from behind. Every single one of them was a Thief, and they were all hiding in the shadows. The fate of anyone ambushed by them was obvious.

When Nie Yan first decided to form the Hundred Thieves, he felt the characteristics of the class were most suited for ambushes. Their tactics in a group, which were similar to that of a pack of wolves, achieved great success. He had seen this sort of model successfully pulled off several times in the previous timeline. He never expected that today he would get a taste of his own medicine.

「Everyone, dismount! Rush into the Crystal Caverns!」Nie Yan ordered. After which he and the others jumped down from their horses and unsummoned them.

Painted Muslin and Young Seven both tossed out illuminates in different directions. The piercing radiance poured down from the sky and revealed the silhouettes of every Thief in the vicinity.

Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the others charged toward the enemy.

Whirlwind Slash!

Sword beams flew out in every direction.

The Thieves quickly divided themselves into smaller groups, with five or six of them taking on each person. The remainder all swarmed toward the Mages in the back like a surging torrent.

The Thieves were like a pack of hungry wolves, their eyes locked solely onto their prey.

Facing off against a group like this was a huge headache. If any one of these Thieves managed to stun you, your fate was sealed. It was just too easy to get stun locked.

Repel!

Repel!

Tang Yao, Summer Bug, and the other Mages did their best to keep the enemy at bay. As they repelled the Thieves, more and more would swarm forward from the back. They cast crowd control spells in quick succession, occasionally killing one or two Thieves. However, it felt like herding cats.

Tang Yao and the others unleashed a flurry of spells, blasting swaths of Thieves away.

"Fuck, is there no end to them? There’s so many!”

Nie Yan’s group pressed forward toward the Crystal Caverns with much difficulty.

Bladelight charged into six Thieves, sending them flying away. However, more Thieves rushed in to fill the gap. A Thief managed to land a Smothering Strike on the back of Bladelight’s head. In that instant, all the Thieves swarmed toward him and unleashed their full burst, causing his health to plummet.

Painted Muslin threw out a Heal and restored Bladelight’s health back to stable levels. Tang Yao cast Repel, forcing the Thieves back.

Only then did Bladelight break free from the crowd control. The others weren’t faring much better. The frontliners engaged the Thieves in close-combat, so it was almost impossible to dodge every stun. Another two members died.

Nie Yan’s group was getting closer and closer to the Crystal Caverns, 10 meters, 5 meters…

The enemy’s attacks were getting fiercer. The number of members at low health steadily rose. Young Seven, Painted Muslin, and the other Priests all broke out in the cold sweat. They were struggling to keep up with the healing. If this went on for any longer, the number of casualties would rise dramatically. They would likely collapse before reaching the entrance of the Crystal Caverns.

At this moment, Tang Yao who was under the protection of the surrounding members finally finished chanting a spell.

Obscurus Expulsion!

A powerful burst rammed into the Thieves and swept them away.

They were forced to retreat over 20 meters away, creating a large clearance between the two parties.

Everyone charged into the Crystal Caverns. Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and Lofty Shadow blocked off the entrance and bunkered down with their shields raised.

"Here I thought this Obscurus Magic was useless. Who knew it had such effect,” Tang Yao exclaimed in an incredulous tone. This Obscurus Magic’s cast time wasn’t all that long at roughly 3 seconds, yet its effect was quite powerful. It surprisingly repelled the opponents by over 20 meters. In a battle, this was definitely a useful skill!

The Thieves from Bloodlust Blades were blocked from entering the Crystal Caverns. Nie Yan and the others turned around and looked inside. So far as the eye could see there were rocks of various shapes and sizes protruding from the ground and walls. They were covered in crystals that emitted a faint light within the cave. No one knew where these deep, winding passages led.

Chapter 306 – Marquis

The surroundings were dimly lit by crystal ores. From time to time, Nie Yan and the others saw shadows dance along the cavern walls. They likely belonged to the monsters that lurked inside these caverns, Crystalline Molemen!

Crystalline Molemen dropped rare ores upon death!

Nie Yan’s group retreated deeper into the Crystal Caverns while the Thieves from Bloodlust Blades spared no effort in chasing after them. Up ahead was a large open chamber. It would be troublesome if they were allowed inside.

There were Crystalline Molemen to the front while the Thieves from Bloodlust Blades were hounding them from the back. Nie Yan’s group was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"They just won’t give up. What do we do?” Smoke Stub and the others looked toward Nie Yan. It would be hard to deal with the Crystalline Molemen up front with the constant threat of being ambushed looming over them.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. "Let’s lure the Crystalline Molemen into blocking up the entranceway.”

"That sounds good and all, but we can’t guarantee the Crystalline Molemen will do what you want. It’ll be troublesome if they end up turning on us instead,” Smoke Stub said.

Smoke Stub’s worries weren’t unfounded. There was no way all the Crystalline Molemen would stay on the Thief that pulled them. They would surely split up and attack the other group members. Add this to the fact that the Thieves from Bloodlust Blades were nipping at their heels, and it would most likely lead to a wipe.

"The crux of the problem is aggro. Do any of you have Blizzard?” Nie Yan asked. His plan would be much simpler with this spell.

"I do,” Undying Scoundrel replied. Blizzard was one of the very first area-of-effect spells an Elementalist learned. How could he not have it?

"Good. Do any of you have a Basic Invisibility Potion?” Nie Yan asked. With this item, he would have everything he needed for his plan. Otherwise, he would have to think of another way.

Basic Invisibility Potions temporarily put the player in a state of invisibility. They would turn into a ball of mist, becoming immune to physical attacks. However, they would take 300% bonus damage from magic attacks and their movement speed would also be greatly reduced. This sort of potion was fairly rare. It would only show up occasionally in the hands of top-class experts.

"I have one,” Bladelight replied. His gaze fell on an azure bottle in his bag.

"I do too. I got it as a reward from a class-related quest,” Lofty Shadow pitched in. Luckily, he also had an Invisibility Potion. He kept it in his bag just in case it might be of some use one day.

"Give your Invisibility Potions to Undying Scoundrel. Scoundrel, follow me. The rest of you stay put,” Nie Yan ordered. Just the two of them sufficed to enact his plan.

Undying Scoundrel received the Invisibility Potions from Bladelight and Lofty Shadow, then followed behind Nie Yan.

Nie Yan and Undying Scoundrel quickly approached the large chamber.

"Stay put for now. I’ll go aggro the mobs…” Nie Yan explained his plans to Undying Scoundrel before darting off.

Nie Yan activated Shadow Waltz and dashed into the large chamber, passing one group of Crystalline Molemen after another.

Crystalline Molemen were covered in dark green crystals. Their heads were oversized while their appendages were wiry. They wielded pikes, and they moved around in groups of 50–60.

Crystalline Moleman: Level 50

Health: 8,000/8,000

From what Nie Yan recalled, these mobs were naturally resistant to physical damage. Physical attacks couldn’t do much damage to them, but they were vulnerable to magic. For every strength, there was also a weakness. Because of this, it was easier for Mages to attract their aggro. An Elite or Lord-class Crystalline Moleman abruptly shifting targets mid-battle would spell disaster for any team facing it. This was why no guild had cleared the Crystal Caverns yet.

Nie Yan travelled to the far edge of the chamber. When he saw a group of Crystalline Molemen up ahead, he took aim with the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow and fired a round of bolts at them.

「Put! Put! Put!」Five bolts struck a Crystalline Moleman, immediately attracting the aggro of the entire group.

Nie Yan quickly turned around and fled back toward the chamber entrance. He attracted the attention of multiple other groups along the way. He was like a railroad engineer, and the train he was leading quickly grew to almost 300 Crystalline Molemen in size.

Seeing the surging tide of Crystalline Molemen, Undying Scoundrel’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest.

"Start casting Blizzard!” Nie Yan shouted.

Undying Scoundrel immediately began chanting. An icy mist formed around him as he gathered ice elemental energy, causing the surrounding temperature to plummet.

Before long, a few snowflakes turned into a blinding blizzard that swallowed everything in the immediate vicinity.

When the Crystalline Molemen entered the spell’s range, a blanket of damage values rose up into the air. Although they were only taking 10–20 damage with every tick, it was enough for them to shift their aggro onto Undying Scoundrel.

Undying Scoundrel abruptly turned tail and fled into the passageway.

「The Crystalline Molemen are aggroed onto Undying Scoundrel. Don’t attack them!」Nie Yan informed through the voice chat. He placed himself in the path of the fastest Crystalline Moleman.

The Crystalline Moleman stopped in its tracks to swing at Nie Yan with its pike, only for him to sidestep and vanish into the shadows. Just as it was about to resume its chase, he reappeared in front of it again.

Nie Yan kept intercepting the Crystalline Molemen at the front of the group. Like this, their overall speed was greatly reduced.

The horde of Crystalline Molemen were slowly led to the entrance of the Crystal Caverns.

The Thieves from Bloodlust Blades were still lingering around. When they saw the mob of Crystalline Molemen coming towards them, their eyes widened like dinner plates.

"Holy shit! So many Crystalline Molemen!”

Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the others hurriedly stepped aside. These Crystalline Molemen ran past them without batting an eye. All of their aggro was concentrated on Undying Scoundrel.

Crystalline Molemen flooded into the entranceway of the Crystal Caverns. Several of them pounced onto Undying Scoundrel who quickly downed a Basic Invisibility Potion. He transformed into an incorporeal form and immediately lost all aggro.

Undying Scoundrel ran back to the others. Although he was sprinting with all his might, he was moving at roughly walking speed. It appeared as if he was running in slow motion.

After a while, the effects of the first Basic Invisibility Potion wore off. He quickly drank the second one. Luckily, the cooldown for this item was short.

By relying on these two Basic Invisibility Potions, Undying Scoundrel finally regrouped with Nie Yan and the others.

Looking back at the entrance, it was filled to the brim with Crystalline Molemen. Without clearing them away, it would be impossible for Bloodlust Blades’ forces to enter the Crystal Caverns! By that time, Nie Yan and the others would’ve long reached the deepest regions of the map, and all the monsters along the way would’ve already respawned.

Nie Yan could only imagine the faces of the higher-ups of Bloodlust Blades when they received this news. Despite stirring up so much trouble in their territory, he still got away without so much as a scratch, and there was nothing they could do about it. Bloodlust Mad Blade was definitely going to blow his lid!

Nie Yan’s lips curved into a satisfied smile. "Alright, the entrance is plugged. Let’s go and clear our red names.” Like this, there was nothing more to worry about.

Smoke Stub and the others couldn’t help but admire Nie Yan for his quick thinking. If it wasn’t for his idea, they would’ve been stuck at the entrance of the Crystal Caverns without any way to advance or retreat.

Nie Yan and the others started heading further into the Crystal Caverns. They definitely had to completely explore this map before Bloodlust Blades cleared out those 300 Crystalline Molemen at the entrance.

Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan engaged the monsters ahead. With three powerful Fighters tanking at the front, the Mages at the back could cast spells without worry. They left a trail of corpses behind them as they traveled through the twisting and winding tunnels.

At some point, Nie Yan received a message from Sleepy Fox.「Check the Union of Assassins. You’ll be in for a big surprise!」

Did something happen in the Union of Assassins? Nie Yan checked the organization’s page to look for Sleepy Fox’s so-called surprise. A Marquis and three Earls had emerged in the list of professional players. This was unbelievable! In order to reach the rank of Marquis, it required a member to complete three missions with commission fees of 1,000 gold or higher. When he went to check the identity of this Marquis, he was given an even bigger shock to see a familiar name, Shadow Killer!

He had just completed these three missions recently.

Mission: Assassinate the guild leader of Holy Empire, Sleepy Fox.

Commission Fee: 1,200 gold

Status: Completed

Mission: Assassinate the guild leader of Alliance of Mages, Ardent Blaze.

Commission Fee: 2,200 gold

Status: Completed

Mission: Assassinate the guild leader of Sapphire Shrine, Fa Lan.

Commission Fee: 1,800 gold

Status: Completed

Mission: Assassinate the guild leader of Asskickers United, Nirvana Flame.

Commission Fee: 3,900 gold

Status: Incomplete

Damn! Shadow Killer actually joined the Union of Assassins! Nie Yan was greatly taken aback. Not only that, but there was a bounty for his head on the mission boards as well! This was definitely something he had never accounted for!

However, he had insisted from the start that the Union of Assassins wouldn’t discriminate against any client no matter the content of their request. He never expected this would come back to bite them in the ass so quickly.

Shadow Killer was really worthy of admiration. Besides Sleepy Fox, Ardent Blaze, and Fa Lan, he had assassinated countless others. Regardless of the target’s affiliation, so long as he was given the money, he would assassinate them without question. Of course, only experts were qualified for him to personally take action! Nevertheless, his first attempt on Nie Yan’s life had failed.

Chapter 307 – Super Alliance

So long as Nie Yan stayed vigilant, Shadow Killer couldn’t do anything to him. He had taken great strides along the path of a Shadow Dancer, significantly improving both his awareness and technique. Add to this his outstanding equipment such as the Glimpse of Darkness and Zennarde’s Sword, and he wouldn’t lose out to anyone!

Nie Yan was undeterred by Shadow Killer’s provocation.

Nie Yan chuckled lightly at the staggering bounty of 3,900 gold on his head. He never expected to be held in such high regard. It was more than double that of Sleepy Fox for example. This was testament to his position in the hearts of the players. And with Shadow Killer’s recent failure, this bounty was set to increase.

Nie Yan noticed that the current membership of the Union of Assassin had finally broken through to 20,000. Almost every notable player in the professional gaming circle had joined, including even those from other cities. Such a gathering attracted clientele from all walks of life, who issued requests with rewards ranging from just a few gold to upwards of tens of thousands. This incited the members to furiously raise their own rank within the organization.

The Union of Assassins currently had 1 Marquis, 3 Earls, 1,200 Viscounts, and 7,000 barons. All these players generated a mountain of gold for the Princes every day.

The Union of Assassins’ profit would only rise as it gained more recognition among the players. Yesterday’s total revenue was more than 5,000 gold. Today it broke through to over 10,000 gold. An enormous money-making machine had taken form, and it was currently displaying its might!

10,000 gold every day was a lot, even when divided among the shareholders.

Some players with backing tried to establish organizations to rival the Union of Assassins. But the vast majority of them ended up failing. Some even attempted to embezzle the commission fees from their players, raising even more doubt over these upstarts. The professional players soon came to a consensus. Outside of the Union of Assassins, the vast majority couldn’t be trusted. The Union of Assassins controlled an overwhelming 98% of the market. In this sort of environment, it was almost impossible for another organization to emerge. Even if one did manage to pop out of the woodwork, under the suppression of Sleepy Fox and Fa Lan, they would have no chance to grow.

Naturally, the Union of Assassin’s development wasn’t without its bumps. Some people accused the organization of stealing money from commissions, trying to cast doubt over them. However, Sleepy Fox came out with the records of every transaction, which had all been noted down by the system. All those who were trying to stir the pot immediately shut up.

The Union of Assassins had experienced numerous incidents. For it to have grown to this stage wasn’t easy.

Nie Yan looked over the list of top-ranking members in the Union of Assassins. Some of them were familiar names. In the previous timeline, they were all famous professional players. He sent each of them an invitation to join Asskickers United, promising them a host of benefits. It would be a win even if just one or two of them accepted.

In fact, many of these players were elated after receiving Nie Yan’s invitation. A lot of them had yet to make a name for themselves. Although some had a tiny bit of fame, it was nothing compared to his prestige. He had personally sent them an invitation! This action held significant meaning. It meant they had gained his recognition!

As for how many of them would join Asskickers United, Nie Yan could only wait and see.

Nie Yan glanced at the mission boards. There were over 60,000 missions available. Professional players could sort through the categories and pick whichever one interested them. When the Union of Assassins first started up, there were maybe a dozen or so missions every day. It was a stark difference.

Nie Yan issued several requests on the mission boards.

Mission: Assassinate the guild leader of Bloodlust Blades, Bloodlust Mad Blade.

Reward: 2,300 gold

Mission: Assassinate the guild leader of Victorious Return, Heaven Breaker.

Reward: 1,200 gold

Mission: Assassinate the guild leader of Radiant Sacred Flame, Nightbreak Trickster.

Reward: 2,100 gold

Their bounties naturally wouldn’t be higher than his own. Otherwise, wouldn’t that be admitting they were above him in status?

Nie Yan dealt with a few administrative tasks, then closed out of the Union of Assassins chat server. He didn’t know if anyone would take up his requests. He would check back and see later on.

At this moment, Nie Yan received an explosive piece of news from Sleepy Fox. He was currently in a secret meeting with Nightbreak Trickster, who expressed interest in joining the alliance with Asskickers United. The relationship between Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return was never that great in the first place.

Nightbreak Trickster didn’t wish to become a puppet of Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors. But circumstances forced him to their side. He was more than willing to make peace with Asskickers United, especially if it meant that the strongholds Radiant Sacred Flame controlled in Calore would no longer be under threat. However, as a guild leader, he naturally had his own considerations. He first needed Asskickers United to make a few promises.

Nie Yan snapped out of his daze midway through listening to Sleepy Fox’s narration. He realized his previous way of thinking was flawed! In his past life, Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return only became Cao Xu’s lackeys after being acquired by the Century Financial Group. He subconsciously classified them as mortal enemies. But in this life, Century Financial Group was forced to abandon their plans in Calore due to the emergence of Asskickers United. Heaven Breaker and Cao Xu were business partners in reality, so it would be hard to shake up their relationship. But what sort of relationship did Nightbreak Trickster have with Cao Xu?

The answer was simple, absolutely none! None of their interests were tied together, nor did they share any sort of friendship!

If Radiant Sacred Flame jumped ship, Victorious Return would be left to suffer all alone in Calore. They would no longer have any hope of making a comeback. It was entirely possible they would even disband. From then on, Calore would only consist of Asskickers United and its allies. Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors’ plans of using Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return as chess pieces to deal with Asskickers United would be ruined!

「Don’t spare any effort to try and win Radiant Sacred Flame over. Show them our sincerity. Let them put forward their conditions. As long as they’re reasonable, agree to all of them. We have to get Radiant Sacred Flame on our side!」Nie Yan replied to Sleepy Fox.

Radiant Sacred Flame definitely had a price. They wouldn’t easily betray their allies. Since it was like this, all Nie Yan had to do was agree to their conditions. Their defection would have far-reaching effects on the power balance of the Viridian Empire!

「Sleepy Fox, invite Fa Lan to this call. I have something important to talk about,」Nie Yan said to Sleepy Fox. He had come to a few realizations.

At present, Asskickers United was far and away the top guild in Calore. Both Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine heavily relied on them. Not just their top brasses, but also the average player in their guilds had become blind followers. Asskickers United had already firmly established its position. Sleepy Fox and Fa Lan understood it would be impossible to have a falling out with them. However, if things continued on like this, Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine would inevitably be swallowed up. To counter this outcome, they would exclude Asskickers United too at times to ensure some semblance of independence. The relationship of the two sides was extremely complicated.

Before receiving the support of the Dragonsoar Financial Group, Asskickers United’s position was already secure. Their growth after receiving the support of the Dragonsoar Financial Group made others even more envious.

Nie Yan understood this logic.

「Alright,」Sleepy Fox replied. He invited Fa Lan to join the voice call.

「I want talk to talk about our alliance. Previously, the Dragonsoar Financial Group purchased shares in Asskickers United. I’m sure you all already know of this by now. For a guild, receiving a backer will aid in their growth. The supervisor from the Dragonsoar Financial Group recently told me they wish to invest in your guilds, and have me act on their behalf. What do the two of you think? Would you be interested?」Nie Yan asked. He planned to borrow the name of the Dragonsoar Financial Group to acquire Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine. It was stealing a rafter and replacing it with a column. Like this, he could fully control Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire.

As for why he was borrowing the Dragonsoar Financial Group’s name, it was to prevent a negative reaction from Sleepy Fox and Fa Lan. After all, both sides had their own personal disagreements.

He currently made more than 7,000 gold a day from the auction houses, Starry Night Potion Shop, Union of Assassins, business estates, and other sources of income. He had almost 60,000 gold saved up in his private account. There was also an additional 40,000 gold he could withdraw from the guild at any time. Add to this his daily income, and he had more than enough to buyout Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine.

Sleepy Fox and Fa Lan pondered for a moment.

「What are their requests?」Fa Lan asked. In reality, it was really difficult to get by as a guild without the support of a financial group. For example, Sapphire Shrine only made roughly 2,000 gold a day. The guild’s daily upkeep was high, not to mention having to constantly spend gold on strengthening their strongholds and providing guild members with mounts. In comparison to Asskickers United who had received the investment of the Dragonsoar Financial Group, the gap between them was growing larger and larger. It would be impossible for him not to feel a little anxious.

「The Dragonsoar Financial Group wants a 35% stake in your guild under the name of their supervisor, and another 25% in my name. You guys will still be the leaders of your respective guilds. They won’t interfere with your decisions either,」Nie Yan said with a straight face. Sleepy Fox and Fa Lan would definitely suspect him of having his own motives. After all, asking for 60% right off the bat was quite ruthless. However, this was a financial group acquiring a guild. Of course it would at least be 60%, just like with how Century Financial Group acquired the five major guilds in the previous timeline. The Dragonsoar Financial Group only requiring 30% shares in Asskickers United was a special case.

Fa Lan’s eyes flashed.「The 35% stake, will it really be controlled by the Dragonsoar Financial Group?」

Chapter 308 – Super Trade Channel

「Of course. Or do you really think I’m that rich?」Nie Yan chuckled. No merchant could become successful without a bit of cunning. Both Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine would inevitably fall under his control. Borrowing the name of the Dragonsoar Financial Group simply made the pill easier for them to swallow. Truthfully, it didn’t matter whether the investment came from Asskickers United or the Dragonsoar Financial Group. A guild without a powerful backer could only last so long. With Sleepy Fox and Fa Lan’s financial abilities, it was only a matter of time before their members would move on to greener pastures. Just having a powerful ally wasn’t enough to keep a guild afloat.

Many financial groups recognized the current climate in Calore. Asskickers United held tremendous sway over the decision making of both Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine. Even if you did invest in these two guilds, their fates were subject to the whims of an outside party. There would be no way to safeguard your interests. Given the situation, who would be willing to throw in their money just to watch it float away?

Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine were stuck in an awkward predicament.

Fa Lan couldn’t help but feel dejected after thinking to this point. But what other choice did he have? It wasn’t like he was swimming in a sea of options. So what if Asskickers United acquired Sapphire Shrine? All it would do was solidify their alliance!

Sleepy Fox also clearly understood his current position. As a professional player, his prime focus lay in securing the best deal. By allowing Asskickers United to invest in Holy Empire, it would remove the final barriers between them. And with him still owning 40% of the guild, he would continue to receive benefits well into the future.

Asskickers United would surely also have to depend on Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine at times. When the several of them joined forces, they didn’t lose out in the slightest to Bloodlust Blades, Divine Protectors, and Alliance of Mages.

「What’s their offer?」Fa Lan asked. Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire currently had four strongholds between them. This was their leverage!

Finances were tight for both Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire. Developing their strongholds required tens of thousands of gold. Currently, the vast majority of their income came from the contributions of guild members. This amounted to roughly 2,000 gold a day, which wasn’t anywhere near enough to meet their demands. They would only have a reliable source of income after their strongholds were developed. This is what led to the current situation where they were struggling to make ends meet. If they ran out of capital mid-way through, what awaited them was bankruptcy. They attempted to find funding through the Credit Exchange before, but practically all of the gold on the market had been snatched up by the large financial groups. There was nothing left for them!

Nie Yan was also aware of their situation. He carefully thought things over, only to find that he had been too kind in how he dealt with these matters. When Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine allied with Asskickers United, he didn’t intefere with their plans out of principle. But in reality, he should’ve put them firmly under his grasp from the start. This would’ve been beneficial for both sides.

Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire brought in several thousand gold a day at most. All they could do was tighten their belts and hope their days of hardship would quickly come to pass. They weren’t like Nie Yan, who had mountains of gold flowing in from his various properties like the Starry Night Potion Shop, along with other sources of income.

「We’ll invest 150,000 gold into your guilds over two months spread out across 20 installments, with the first installment being 30,000 gold for each guild. It will be delivered immediately after signing the contract. Naturally, all expenditures will be recorded. We’ll appoint a supervisor to both your guilds to handle all administrative affairs related to Asskickers United and the Dragonsoar Financial Group. We’ll also subsidize the costs of your contracted members, up to 5,000 credits per person with a quota of 500 players for each guild. Control over the development of the real-world business districts in your strongholds will be handed over to Asskickers United. Finally, we’ll continue to support you financially after the initial investment by paying out a bonus of 100,000 gold for every additional stronghold you capture,」Nie Yan replied. 150,000 gold was a monumental sum to both Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine. It was like a bright light at the end of a dark tunnel.

Both Sleepy Fox and Fa Lan were pleasantly surprised by Nie Yan’s generous terms, especially the subsidy for their contracted players. This was timely assistance for Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine. Like this, they could secure the loyalty and devotion of their elites.

The vast majority of players joined Conviction with the aspiration of making a living out of it. If Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine were slow on providing them with benefits, and there were no other gains for being in the guild, players would seek their fortune elsewhere. This held true not just in the game but also in reality. With a monthly salary of 5,000 credits, who in their right mind would leave?

Nie Yan wouldn’t lose out either. The Dragonsoar Financial Group highly valued every real-world business district. For each one he acquired, they would pay him a tremendous sum. He would make a killing selling four real-world business districts to them.

Each group got what they wanted out of this deal. Nie Yan obtained control over Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine. The Dragonsoar Financial Group obtained four real-world business districts. Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine obtained the investments they so desperately needed, and their players received a significant boost in salary. And last but not least, Fa Lan and Sleepy Fox’s shares would rise in value, which meant they would net a larger profit. Everyone was happy.

Nie Yan had settled the matter of face. On the surface, it looked like Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine simply received the investment of the Dragonsoar Financial Group instead of being swallowed up by Asskickers United.

Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine would have an incredibly difficult time developing without an investor. On top of this, their real world business districts would be rotting away without buyers. Wanting to support a guild’s expenditures with just the daily taxes from their strongholds was wishful thinking.

「I agree to these terms, but I want to add in another clause. Sapphire Shrine will remain independent. It won’t be forced to merge with Asskickers United,」Fa Lan said. Even though he sold 60% of the guild’s shares to ensure its prosperity, he wasn’t quite willing to see the name disappear.

「No problem. But if war breaks out, I hope Sapphire Shrine will have Asskickers United’s back.」

「Naturally, so long as it doesn’t harm our interests,」Fa Lan agreed.

「Then I guess we’re more or less done. All that’s left to do is iron out the finer details. Sleepy Fox, what are your thoughts?」Nie Yan asked. The business world was cutthroat. Everyone only looked out for their own interests as they tried to navigate this complex landscape. Things that weighed you down like friendship had no place here.

「I’m fine either way. I’m an organization owner, after all. I only established Holy Empire to secure the livelihoods of the people under me. It doesn’t matter who we receive an investment from. As long as my brothers can comfortably put food on their tables, I’m satisfied,」Sleepy Fox replied. He was quite open minded about the offer. In fact, Nie Yan mentioning the subsidy for his contracted players was what sealed the deal. He didn’t care where the money came from, only that his brothers could put food on the table.

「Well, I suppose that settles it. I’ll have Watchful Snail draft up the contracts, then send it over for you guys to look at. I hope we can continue to get along for a long time to come,」Nie Yan said. He began his preparations for the signing of the contracts, relaying everything back to the guild headquarters.

When Sleepy Fox and Fa Lan signed the contract, Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire would truly be bound to Asskickers United. Their alliance was previously shaky at best, with very few interlinked interests. But now, these three guilds were inseparable allies, becoming an unprecedented powerhouse. Even conquering the entire Viridian Empire wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities.

Nie Yan chatted a bit more with Fa Lan and Sleepy Fox about the particulars of the buyout, then hung up. This time, he had come out with a considerable harvest.

…

Nie Yan and his group continued to travel deeper into the Crystal Caverns. For the time being, they didn’t require him to personally take action. These members easily dispatched the monsters they came across.

Nie Yan withdrew to the back of the group, his attention on another matter of importance. He was starting a new chat server, different from the Union of Assassins but similarly an amazing money-maker. Its foundation was based in auction houses, a Super Trade Channel!

He first made a directory with various filters which included: chest armour, gloves, shoulder guards, weapons, crafting materials, and so on. Numerous pages were created, each filled with various items that showed a detailed description and a price. It aggregated all the data from the three auction houses he owned in Calore. Anything listed there would show up in this channel, and anything sold would automatically disappear.

The system’s amazing computing ability was seemingly limitless!

Nie Yan planned to open this chat server to the public. Players could freely enter and browse through a wide selection of items. If something caught their eye, they could simply hit purchase and however much it cost would be deducted from their account. After which the staff in the auction house would mail the item to the buyer’s personal storage to complete the transaction.

The chat server allowed players to shop while out levelling in the wilderness. Anything they purchased would be waiting for them in their personal storage when they returned to the city. This was extremely convenient. With the help of this trade channel, Nie Yan could exponentially increase the amount of sales in his auction houses. At the same time, he also got to collect an additional service charge.

The Super Trade Channel would never gain the same market dominance as the Union of Assassins. But with the support of the three largest auction houses in Calore, he believed no other auction house could match his catalogue. As the channel gained recognition among the player base, it would increase the number of transactions made by his auction houses, which in turn would encourage more players to list their items up for sale in them, forming a virtuous cycle. From then on, the gold would keep pouring in from all sides!

Chapter 309 – Great Thief

Setting up the Super Trade Channel was actually pretty easy. Aggregating all the data from the auction houses was no problem. The other steps were just as simple. Nie Yan hid his name to maintain anonymity, while at the top of the announcement board he wrote a simple welcome message: For convenient trading between players. In addition, he specified the origin of goods—all came from the three auction houses in Calore. That way, the channel also served as a form of advertisement. Of course, goods from the Starry Night Potion Shop would be sold here too.

「What’s this?」Guo Huai asked in a daze after Nie Yan invited him to the channel.

「A channel for trading,」Nie Yan replied, then explained his plans for the Super Trade Channel.

Guo Huai’s eyes lit up. Nie Yan’s idea for a Super Trade Channel was most certainly doable, its potential endless. It was similar to online shopping in the sense that players could browse for goods to purchase without ever needing to return to the city. This would have a significant effect on the entire game. Advertising the trading channel wasn’t anything difficult either, a few server announcements would suffice.

「Hire some staff to make the deliveries, and also get a supervisor,」Nie Yan instructed. Since he lacked the time to manage the Super Trade Channel himself, he could only delegate the job.

「Got it, I’ll put Zhao Li in charge. I’ll assign him and his staff to help you manage the Super Trade Channel,」Guo Huai said. Both he and Hao Cheng were supervising an overwhelming amount of other work, leaving only Zhao Li available.

「Then it’s decided. Zhao Li will be responsible for this,」Nie Yan nodded.

「This is a great idea! If this channel starts gaining traction early on, it’ll have enormous potential!」Zhao Li exclaimed.「Should we also contact the owners of other auction houses and pull them into this channel? We could even ask for an entrance fee and a fixed commission for each successful sale.」

「Sharp thinking! Keep working on it and get back to me in a bit.」Nie Yan smiled. Zhao Li has a rather bright mind.

「What’s the channel called?」Zhao Li asked.

「The Super Trade Channel. It’s easy to remember and rolls nicely off the tongue.」

「That works,」Zhao Li nodded.

By the time Nie Yan left the call, Zhao Li had started on perfecting the trading system in the channel. On the other end, Guo Huai had also begun working on the logistics of the delivery staff, such as their wages.

Back in the Crystal Caverns, Nie Yan followed behind the group as they cleared the mobs up ahead. After an hour or so, they suddenly received several server announcements—advertisements from Guo Huai which provided a basic introduction to the Super Trade Channel. They included basic information such as its purpose, the convenience of purchasing items anytime and anywhere, and so on.

The Super Trade Channel immediately attracted a tidal wave of attention once the announcements were out. Before long, Nie Yan’s traffic charts exploded as players flooded into the channel. To their astonishment, they discovered that the Super Trade Channel was actually connected to the three biggest auction houses in Calore! Goods were well stocked, and the prices were nearly identical to the auction houses’!

Players started testing out the system, purchasing some items they needed. After just several minutes, they received a system announcement informing them that the item they purchased had been deposited into their personal storage.

The first transaction was completed successfully. The second transaction was completed successfully. The third transaction… In a mad frenzy, the players in the Super Trade Channel began purchasing everything they wanted. Traffic in the channel soared in a flash from thousands to tens of thousands, the number of sales increasing accordingly.

The hysteria in the Super Trade Channel rid Nie Yan of the last bits of doubt in his mind. His experiment was successful: the profitability of the Super Trade Channel vastly outperformed the Union of Assassins. Then again, the Union of Assassins only involved a small subsection of the playerbase, while the Super Trade Channel was relevant to every player. Online shopping was something everyone enjoyed, so they naturally flocked to the Super Trade Channel to purchase a large variety of goods. This much was apparent from the soaring traffic numbers.

Once players became completely accustomed to navigating, browsing, and purchasing items, the number of sales per day would grow beyond imagination. Even charging a miniscule commission for each transaction would accumulate to a vast sum.

With this new stream of income, Nie Yan could attract players from all over and bring more and more experts into Asskickers United. Most guilds warred for resources. But with a booming treasury, who could compete with him?

Although other auction houses might also start their own variation of a trade channel, the Super Trade Channel would always remain at the forefront since it was the first to appear.

With it fully operational, funding the salaries of the delivery staff would pose no problem.

The Super Trade Channel had processed several hundred items in a matter of minutes, and the transaction volume just continued rising exponentially. It was truly an astonishing speed.

Even Nie Yan hadn’t expected results to bloom so quickly. It seemed that the system announcement had quite the effect. But then again, after investing 2,000 gold, it was only natural there would be some sort of result. They could continue investing more into advertisements to spread the word when the Super Trade Channel became even more profitable, allowing it to become the go-to place for all shopping players.

Nie Yan instructed Zhao Li to make sure no issues occurred in the delivery process, and also ran over each segment of the system in detail with him.

The Super Trade Channel would become one of his largest sources of income, so of course he had to be careful with it.

After settling everything, Nie Yan closed out of the voice chat. Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the others turned their gazes toward him.

"Are you behind this Super Trade Channel?” Smoke Stub asked. They had been killing mobs for just a short while, yet Nie Yan had already started another huge commotion. This was quite impressive.

"Yep,” Nie Yan replied with a light smile. "How is it? Any trouble so far?”

The Super Trade Channel was a revolutionary idea that would change the way the game was played. It gave way to an entirely new way of trading.

"Not bad,” Smoke Stub answered. "I picked up a few consumables just now. It’s pretty convenient. I received them just a few minutes after purchasing them.” The Super Trade Channel was welcomed by Smoke Stub with open arms, and one could imagine that other players felt the same. In fact, it would be strange if this were not the case.

In less than 10 minutes, Nie Yan’s income had reached an astounding 20,000 gold, all of which was pure profit! He was looking forward to seeing how much the Super Trade Channel would grow in the future.

A while later, Guo Huai finished drafting up the contracts for the buyout of Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine. Nie Yan, Sleepy Fox, and Fa Lan verified the terms before signing it. After which Nie Yan ordered Guo Huai and Bird to deposit the first 30,000 gold installment into their guild treasuries.

From now on, Nie Yan would be the largest shareholder in Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire. The future development of this alliance was just around the corner.

Sleepy Fox and Fa Lan went back to their guild headquarters to announce the news to their members. A guild obtaining an investor was something worthy of celebration. It signified the start of a period of rapid growth!

Nie Yan and the others pressed forwards into the Crystal Caverns. There were seven Level 50 Elite Crystalline Molemen in an opening up ahead. It would already be an impressive feat if they could deal with two or three of these elites at once, to say nothing of all of them.

This was the exact point where the expedition team of Bloodlust Blades wiped.

These Elite Crystalline Molemen completely blocked off their path.

"What should we do?” Everyone was brainstorming for ways of dealing with the group of monsters barring their way.

Nie Yan recalled the information gathered on the forums regarding Crystalline Molemen, then said, "I’ll lure five of them away. You guys take care of the other two.”

"Big Bro, let me join in,” Sun said.

"Do you want us to help too?” One Strike Vow chimed in.

"No need. More people will just complicate things. Who here has Shadow Arrow?” Nie Yan looked over the group. Shadow Arrow was a rather special skill that didn’t generate much aggro.

"I do,” Natural Fiend said.

"Good, that makes things a lot easier. I’ll go lure the mobs. When I have their attention, use Shadow Arrow to split the aggro,” Nie Yan said and set up the entire mobbing process.

Crystalline Molemen moved rather slowly. So long as he wasn’t cornered, there would be no problem. But to do this in the confines of the Crystal Caverns posed a bit of a challenge.

Bladelight and the rest of the group finished up preparations, while Nie Yan entered stealth and used Transcendent Insight to investigate the Crystalline Molemen

Crystalline Moleman (Elite): Level 50

Health 120,000/120,000

These Crystalline Molemen were roughly three meters tall, not much larger than the typical Elite. Covering their bodies were crystalline lumps that protruded out like stakes. In combination with the two-meter long thick pikes they wielded, these Molemen appeared quite fearsome.

It was a mystery what items would drop from killing a Level 50 Elite.

At Level 50, players could attempt a Class Advancement Quest. Their stats would rise exponentially if they successfully completed the quest. To accommodate for this sudden increase of the average player’s strength, the mobs also received a buff at Level 50. This led to Level 50 becoming somewhat of a special number in the minds of the players.

Nie Yan glanced at his current level, 31. After dealing with these Elites, he would still have to keep on working on his level. After reaching Level 50, he could undertake the Class Advancement Quest for a Great Thief; the reward for completing this quest was something he already looked forward to.

Typically, one or two in every one hundred Level 50 Thieves that attempted the Great Thief’s Class Advancement Quest would succeed. In the previous timeline, Nie Yan had only done so when he was nearly Level 70.

Chapter 310 – Molelord

Nie Yan had failed the Great Thief class advancement quest numerous times in the previous timeline, so much so that he memorized it by heart. He was confident in passing it at Level 50 this time around, especially with his recent breakthroughs on the path of a Shadow Dancer.

A class advanced player was worlds apart from ordinary players with great changes in both stats and skills, and could kill them with ease. This sort of suppressing effect was clear as day. The moment players reached Level 50, the battlefields would belong to class advanced players. It would take as many as eight ordinary players to deal with a single equal-levelled class-advanced player.

Nie Yan organized the information related to class advancement in his mind. When the elites of the guild were ready to class advance, he would pass it onto them. This way, he could greatly increase their chances of succeeding.

The future was ruled by players who class advanced. So long as they successfully broke through this hurdle, they would be taking their first steps towards becoming genuine elites.

Nie Yan originally intended to retrieve the next fragment of Sulgata’s Shadow after snatching away Faded’s chapters from the Book of Order. But he never expected for such a large mishap to occur. It appeared he would have to put this off for another time, most likely some time after reaching Level 50.

Asskickers United currenly wasn’t powerful enough. It was too dangerous for them to enter the territory of Bloodlust Blades.

Glory City was Boodlust Blade’s base of operations. How could they allow players from other guilds to act unbridled in their territory?

Nie Yan also felt conflicted. He knew there was only so much he could accomplish alone, but a large force would make a prime target for Bloodlust Blades to surround. Even a mighty dragon couldn’t repress a snake in its burrow.

The transport fees between cities was too expensive at 1 gold per player. Otherwise, Nie Yan wouldn’t mind bringing Asskickers United’s forces to duke it out with them.

Their losses this time around couldn’t be considered too bad. They had only lost 5 members despite being chased down a rabbit’s hole. Even then, they had more than made up for it by slaughtering hundreds of enemies! Although nearly all the group members were prevented from returning to Calore due to their red names, they were relatively safe hiding in the Crystal Caverns.

Naturally, this didn’t mean they could lower their vigilance. In order to avoid Bloodlust Blades from catching up to them, they had to keep travelling deeper into the Crystal Caverns. Only like this could they ensure their safety.

For the next couple of days, they would be confined to these caverns as they were clearing their red names. Only afterwards could they return to Calore.

Nie Yan approached the Crystalline Moleguards and took aim with his Cavalry Crossbow.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Five bolts flew out and struck one of them.

The seven Crystalline Moleguards were immediately alerted of Nie Yan’s presence and charged toward him.

「Fiend, use Shadow Arrow!」Nie Yan ordered through voice chat.

Nie Yan had barely finished speaking when a black bolt shot out from Natural Fiend’s hand, smashing into a Crystalline Moleguard with a soft pop. Its aggro shifted to Natural Fiend, and it charged toward him. As planned, the other monsters’ aggro remained on Nie Yan so they continued their chase.

Now that a Crystalline Moleguard had split from the group, Bladelight charged forward to intercept it with a Shield Bash. The monster thrust its pike at him, dealing over 800 damage with a single crushing blow. Even though Bladelight had close to 2,000 health, such high damage was still extremely dangerous to him.

Cold Peak and Lofty Shadow also jumped into the fray. The three Fighters firmly blocked the Crystalline Moleguard from advancing.

Seismic Slam!

The Crystalline Moleguard sent Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan staggering several meters back while also stunning them. Young Seven and Painted Muslin quickly cast Heal, restoring their health bars back to full.

After breaking free from the encirclement, the Crystalline Moleguard charged toward the players in the backline.

The Crystalline Moleguard was a tough nut to crack. It barely took any damage from the Warriors, only around 50 damage. Its aggro shifted to the Priests who were healing.

Taunt!

Smoke Stub forced the Crystalline Moleguard to target him. He rammed into its large frame with a Charge, causing it to stagger several steps back. At this moment, Bladelight and the others regained control of their bodies and immediately moved to surround it again.

The Crystalline Moleguard stabbed out with its pike and struck Smoke Stub for over 1,000 damage.

After losing almost two-thirds of his health, Smoke Stub quickly fled for safety.

Just as the Crystalline Moleguard waved its pike and was about to give chase, Bladelight intercepted it and roared.

Demoralizing Shout!

Taunt!

Bladelight activated the skills back to back, causing the Crystalline Moleguard’s aggro to shift back onto him.

"Everyone, keep it locked down! Mages, fire away!” Bladelight shouted as he unleashed a flurry of attacks on the Crystalline Moleguard.

The Crystalline Moleguard repeatedly struck Bladelight, causing his health bar to plummet. However, Young Seven and Painted Muslin provided timely healing, binging him back from the brink of death as a gentle radiance washed over him.

"If an Elite Crystalline Moleguard already hits so hard, what do we do if we meet a Lord?” Smoke Stub asked. The attacks of these Crystalline Moleguards were simply too fierce!

"I have a Rank 8 Shield. I don’t know if it’ll be of any use,” Bladelight said. If he activated the Shield, his survivability would increase several fold, to the extent he could possibly tank a Crystalline Molelord.

However, none of them were completely confident.

Tang Yao and the others bombarded the Crystalline Moleguard with spells. It furiously flailed and thrashed about, but its health rapidly fell.

Nie Yan was also constantly on the brink of death. The six Crystalline Moleguards were hot on his trail, and in such a narrow space it was difficult to keep dodging.

The Crystalline Moleguards surrounded Nie Yan, and it appeared he would be killed at any moment. Sun and the others broke out in a cold sweat. But at this moment, he shot out a webline from his Silk Spinner Ring at a nearby wall and swung away to safety.

As Nie Yan flew over the heads of the Crystalline Moleguards, Natural Fiend struck one of them with a Shadow Arrow, causing its aggro to shift onto him.

Sun and One Strike Vow also seized this opportunity to lure away two Crystalline Moleguards, greatly lessening the burden on Nie Yan. With his Shadow Dance footwork, he could easily avoid the remaining three Crystalline Moleguards. His only worry was accidently colliding with Sun or One Strike Vow. This area was simply too small.

A minute later, the first Crystalline Moleguard finally fell. Natural Fiend immediately used Shadow Arrow to lure another one over to Bladelight and the others, who proceeded to attack without pause. They were all players with exceptional awareness, so their cooperation was extremely smooth with few mistakes. Even when someone did, the others could make up for it.

From their teamwork and synergy, you could easily tell the difference between an ordinary and elite team. Ordinary teams would often wipe with the slightest mistake, while elite teams could quickly adapt to the situation. This didn’t mean elite teams never wiped, just that the chances of it happening were far lower.

"Did the Crystalline Moleguard drop anything good?” Smoke Stub asked Bladelight.

"No.” Bladelight shook his head. "A Level 50 Gold-grade Shadow Priest Robe, two gems, and… I think a quest item?” He shared the item’s information in chat.

Crystalline Molelord Bennet’s Journal Page (Quest Item): 1/5

This journal page was extremely tattered. The writing on it was from the Ancient Common Language.

The beautiful Empress Finas kissed my forehead on this cold, lonely night. I feel as though I could melt under the warmth of her gentle lips… The cold from the blizzard split open the rock of the Crystal Caverns on the night… Empress Finas draped her warm leather robe over me, something she personally knitted… (Too damaged to continue.)

It was an extract from a tale told on a wintry night of Molelord Bennet and Empress Finas’ love. His words were broken and incomplete without much continuity, but Nie Yan could still feel the general gist of it.

Everyone gazed and turned to look at each other, clear shock in their eyes. What sort of clues did this journal page contain?

They learned a few things.

The Crystal Caverns was probably where Crystalline Molelord Bennet resided. This Molelord wasn’t an ordinary Lord but rather a named one, which was often much tougher to deal with. This most likely meant clearing the Crystal Caverns would be much more difficult than they originally anticipated.

In addition, who was Empress Finas? Why would she be important enough to appear in this journal? The page raised so many questions, but without any further information they could only make simple guesses.

"Let’s just keep it for now. There’ll probably be more clues later on,” Nie Yan decided after quickly reading through the page Bladelight passed him.

Nie Yan tried to recall what he knew about Crystalline Molelord Bennet. But to his disappointment, he didn’t remember anything. The vast majority of things he memorized were related to Calore, to the extent he could recall every nook and cranny. But when it came to Glory City, he was a bit helpless. He knew the general layout of the land because it was still pretty close to Calore, but he had truly been too poorly off in the previous timeline. He knew practically nothing about the lore surrounding Glory City.

Chapter 311 – Necklace of Deception

Nie Yan opened up the official website and searched up a few keywords such as Bennet and Empress Finas.

He found an information page on Empress Finas. She was the leader of an ancient tribe of spider worshipers that resided in the Underworld. The tribe was classified as a neutral evil faction, often attacking other races indiscriminately. Humans or even fellow inhabitants of the Underworld like Dark Elves and Fallen were all regarded as food. They were called Arachne for their distinctly sharp jaws.

Nie Yan skimmed through this brief background information.

The Crystalline Moleguards collapsed to the ground at a steady pace.

The group’s teamwork was extremely smooth as they whittled down the enemies.

After 20 minutes, only a single Crystalline Moleguard remained. This one was also a Level 50 Elite. But unlike the others, its skin was crimson instead of bluish-green.

"It looks different from the others,” Bladelight pointed out. ”It might be related to the quest!” He rammed his shield into the Crystalline Moleguard’s massive frame, then bellowed out with a Demoralizing Shout, firmly attracting its aggro.

The Mages unleashed a hail of spells while Nie Yan circled around and slashed down on the Crystalline Moleguard’s back with Zennarde’s Sword.

−534

Spells ruthlessly bombarded the Crystalline Moleguard as sparks flew out everywhere.

Bladelight slowly pulled the Crystalline Moleguard to a nearby open area. The group members were scattered in the surroundings. There were 7 Warriors, 1 Paladin, 3 Thieves, 6 Mages, and 2 Priests for a total of 19 players. They had a bit too many Warriors, but it was still a balanced team composition. Besides, there were advantages in having a larger number of frontliners.

The Crystalline Moleguard struggled and thrashed about ceaselessly. But the Warriors firmly held their ground, not giving it any chance to break out of the encirclement.

When the Crystalline Moleguard’s health fell to 20%, it let out an angry roar. Its body swelled in size and its skin glowed hot red.

The Crystalline Moleguard slammed down with its pike, pushing Bladelight and the other Warriors back with Seismic Slam.

In the same instant, Nie Yan avoided the attack with Gale Step.

After breaking free of the encirclement, the Crystalline Moleguard charged toward the Mages.

Nie Yan suddenly emerged out of nowhere and tossed out a pouch of Intermediate Flash Powder.「Poof!」A flash of blinding light enveloped the surroundings, causing the Crystalline Moleguard to cry out in pain. Its vision was adapted to the poor lighting of the Crystal Caverns, so the Flash Powder was even more effective. It ran around frantically like a headless chicken.

Nie Yan had used the Flash Powder at the perfect moment. Were it not for his quick reaction, the Crystalline Moleguard would’ve already started wreaking havoc on the Mages in the backline.

This red Crystalline Moleguard was a tough nut. It was much harder to deal with than the others. The Mages quickly retreated.

Just as the blindness was about to wear off, another pouch of Flash Powder exploded in front of the Crystalline Moleguard’s eyes. Two pouches of Flash Powder was the limit. The third would most likely have no effect whatsoever.

The Mages went all out, especially Tang Yao who practically never stopped firing spells. They threw caution to the wind, no longer caring about aggro.

Only now did Bladelight and the other Warriors come out of their stuns. They quickly moved to surround the Crystalline Moleguard.

The Crystalline Moleguard’s health rapidly plummeted. It only had a tiny sliver remaining.

"It’s almost dead! Everybody, give it that final push!” Nie Yan shouted.

Everybody stepped up the pace. When Tang Yao landed the killing blow, the Crystalline Moleguard let out a mournful cry. Its entire body was giving off steam while its head started swelling up like a balloon.

"Everyone, get out of the way!” Nie Yan called out as he suddenly had a bad premonition.

Nie Yan, Bladelight, and the others quickly fled as far away as possible.

The Crystalline Moleguard kept swelling up before finally reaching a critical point.「Boom!」It exploded in a rain of blood and gore that splattered all over Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the other five Warriors.

Even the faraway Mages felt the shockwave of the explosion.

A naked imp-like creature suddenly emerged from the corpse of the Crystalline Moleguard. It had hands resembling claws, arms covered in fine bristle-like hairs, and a pair of appendages that protruded out of its cheeks like fangs. Aside from these features, it looked just like an ordinary person!

It was actually living inside of the Crystalline Moleguard! Nie Yan, who hadn’t been hit by the Crystalline Moleguard’s explosion, was closest in proximity to this creature. It immediately pounced toward him.

Its hands were the sharpest weapons.

This was an Arachne like the ones mentioned in Empress Finas’ information page!

It was extremely fast, appearing in front of Nie Yan in the blink of an eye!

Nie Yan instantly activated Shadow Waltz and disappeared without a trace.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」The Mages bombarded the Arachne with spells to attract its attention.

While hidden within the shadows, Nie Yan inspected the Arachne with Transcendent Insight.

Arachne Finnie (Elite): Level 50

Health: 2,200/2,200

It wasn’t very tanky at only 2,200 health, but for every weakness there was also a strength. Just as it was about to shift targets, Lofty Shadow rammed into it from the side with a Shield Bash.

The Arachne was sent flying by the impact but landed gently on the ground, whereupon it pounced toward one of the Mages.

With a stab of its claw-like hands, the Mage’s more than 900 health was instantly reduced to 0. He collapsed dead on the ground.

Before it could move onto another target, Nie Yan threw out a pouch of Intermediate Flash Powder.「Poof!」It was temporarily blinded by the dazzling radiance.

Nie Yan circled behind it and slashed its neck with Cut Throat as a dazzling streak of red blossomed in the air.

−502!

−86

−93…

Nie Yan then followed up with Backstab and Eviscerate. Meanwhile, Tang Yao and the other Mages never stopped bombarding it with spells. The Arachne’s health instantly plummeted by more than half.

It swung around and swiped at Nie Yan. However, he avoided the attack with the Shadow Dancer’s footwork and activated Disappear to vanish into stealth.

A string of damage values floated up above Arachne Finnie’s head. It let out a growl as it scanned its surroundings. It suddenly locked onto a silhouette and pounced toward the stealthed Nie Yan.

Crap! He found me! Nie Yan quickly fled for his life. For every bit of distance he covered, he would be giving more time for his teammates to attack and for the burn and bleed damage to continue chipping away at its health.

The Arachne’s health continuously fell.

It quickly caught up to Nie Yan and stabbed toward his back with its right hand.

The Arachne only had about 500 health remaining. Just as its attack was about to land, Nie Yan avoided it with a sharp pivot of his body.

Vital Strike!

Nie Yan’s dagger slashed the Arachne’s neck as their bodies crossed. His movements were sharp and decisive.

The Arachne far out-classed Nie Yan in both movement speed and attack speed. But he could rely on his experience to predict its movements, allowing him to dodge while simultaneously retaliating with an attack of his own. This was something unimaginable to ordinary players.

Nie Yan’s Vital Strike dealt over 300 damage to the Arachne.

Thanks to the Ignore Level property of Zennarde’s Sword, Nie Yan could still deal massive damage even against Level 50 Elites. He could hit much harder than his Level 40 teammates.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Six spells bombarded the Arachne’s body and finally shaved away its last bit of health, causing it to collapse on the ground.

"Whew, that was tough.” Nie Yan breathed out a sigh of relief.

Seeing the Arachne’s corpse laying on the ground, Tang Yao and the others whose nerves were stretched taut finally relaxed.

Everyone was watching nervously when the Arachne was chasing Nie Yan. None of the Warriors could provide help. Several times they even believed he was a goner for sure. However, he somehow miraculously survived. Not only this, but he also accounted for nearly half their total damage!

Young Seven and Painted Muslin walked over.

Nie Yan glanced at the corpses of their comrades on the ground. "Go ahead and revive them all.”

Only after reviving these teammates could they continue exploring deeper.

"It definitely wasn’t easy taking down that Arachne. I wonder what sort of stuff it dropped,” Tang Yao said. It would only be a matter of course for such a strong monster to drop high-quality equipment. There was also a high likelihood of it dropping a quest item.

Nie Yan spotted three pieces of equipment beside the Arachne’s corpse. He bent down to pick them up.

There was an Arcane Mage’s accessory and surprisingly a necklace.

This was a strange necklace. It was made out of ash-gray metal while three sharp fangs were attached to it. It was simple an unadorned.

Nie Yan glanced over the necklace’s properties.

Necklace of Deception (Dark Gold): Special Item

Requirements: Focus +50, Cloaking +30

Description: This item is divided into two states: Righteous and Evil. In the Righteous state, the player will show up as part of the Righteous Faction. In the Evil state, the player will show up as part of the Evil Faction. All stats -30% upon activating this item for 3 hours. Cooldown: 1 day. (Can be seen through by some skills.)

Restrictions: None

Nie Yan raised an eyebrow when he saw the Necklace of Deception’s properties. It was definitely a useful thing. He clearly understood the value of such an item.

Chapter 312 – Great Thief Skill Book

Two nations represented the Evil Faction in the Underworld. When Righteous Faction players entered their domain, they would suffer from heavy stat penalties. Not only this, but they would also be attacked on sight by players of the Evil Faction.

The two factions were constantly at war. All sorts of magical trinkets and baubles from the Underworld would appear in the Hilton Stronghold every year.

Aside from the Hilton Stronghold, players could also reach the territory of the Evil Faction through the numerous tunnels leading to the Underworld.

Many of the high reward quests issued in Calore required travelling to the Underworld.

One could imagine the difficulty of completing a quest in the territory of the Evil Faction as a player from the Righteous Faction. Apart from being pursued by hordes of Evil Faction players, you would also have to be wary of crossing paths with an Evil Faction NPC, some of whom could kill you in an instant.

But with the Necklace of Deception, that all changed. Nie Yan could use it to disguise himself as part of the Evil Faction.

Of course the Necklace of Deception could be seen through with skills such as Eye of Truth.

The Necklace of Deception was similar to the Jewel of Disguise. But its duration was much longer which made it more practical for questing in the territory of the Evil Faction.

The Necklace of Deception might be of little use to ordinary players. But Nie Yan knew many quests that required him to travel to the Underworld.

Nie Yan would definitely be travelling there often in the future. He never thought a Necklace of Deception would drop here. What luck!

Nie Yan looked at the other group members. "Does anyone need this?” Even though he had use for the Necklace of Deception, as their guild leader, he couldn’t simply take it without saying anything.

"No, I don’t think any of us can use it.” Tang Yao shook his head. He almost felt a headache coming on after looking at the complicated description of the Necklace of Deception. It might allow the player to switch factions, but it didn’t give any stats. In fact, it actually reduced them! Who would have any use for such an item?

Nie Yan shifted his attention to Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the others.

Smoke Stub shook his head. "We don’t have any use for this item right now. We’ll just borrow it from you if we ever do.”

Although they could see the use of the Necklace of Deception, opportunities to travel to the territory of the Evil Faction didn’t just drop from the sky. They might not necessarily be able to use this item effectively either.

"Alright, I’ll be taking this Necklace of Deception then. If you guys ever need it, just let me know.” Nie Yan was about to compensate the group members with guild merit points when he was interrupted.

"No need.” Smoke Stub stopped Nie Yan. What need would contracted members like them have for guild merit points? Their equipment was directly given to them by the guild, even their mounts were.

At the strong refusal from the group members, Nie Yan gave up trying to compensate them.

"What’s the last thing that dropped?” Bladelight asked. Aside from the Arcane Mage accessory and Necklace of Deception, there was one final item left!

Nie Yan picked up the item. It was a ruined journal page with a few things written on it.

I am deeply in love with Empress Finas. Her face is deeply imprinted into my mind… She’s so compassionate… Her flawless angelic body appears to be carved out of the most brilliant crystal… It’s a pity she’s an empress while I’m just a lowly slave, a Moleman… Even the wretched can still feel love…

Nie Yan was especially touched by the last line. Wasn’t he also a wretch in his past life? Back then, he deeply clung onto his love for Xie Yao. Only after reincarnating did he break out of his cocoon and emerge as a dazzling butterfly.

Nie Yan roughly gathered a few clues from this journal page. It appeared the plot of the story revolved around Molelord Bennett and Empress Finas. As for what happened next, he would have to look for the remaining journal pages to find out. He wondered how this quest concluded.

"Do you think we can handle a Lord-class Crystalline Moleman?” Bladelight asked. If they almost wiped against Elites, what did this say about their chances when facing a Lord?

"We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. If we wipe, so be it. Just make sure we don’t drop all our equipment,” Nie Yan replied. They could only give it their best shot, even if it meant facing the possibility of wiping at the final stretch.

"I guess that’s all we can do.” Bladelight nodded.

"You guys keep advancing. I’m going to explore further ahead.” Nie Yan wanted to scout out the Molelord’s position, so they would have some time to prepare. The consequences would be dire if they ended up unwittingly bumping into it.

"Will you be fine all by yourself?” Bladelight asked.

After all, this was a Level 50 Map! Everyone’s attention was focused on Nie Yan.

Nie Yan confidently smiled. "Don’t worry. I have quite a few tricks left. If I end up meeting danger, I’ll have no problem escaping.”

These words contained no arrogance. On top of owning all sorts of escape skills, he still had the Unknown Transfer Scroll! No one was better than him at staying alive!

The group members also realized this. Since the founding of Asskickers United, Nie Yan had survived dangerous situations numerous times by relying on his outstanding skills.

By now, the fallen teammates were revived. They sat down to recover their health and mana.

"Alright, just be careful,” Bladelight said. They had faith in Nie Yan, so they didn’t try to stop him.

"Mhm, let me know if anything happens.” Nie Yan bid everyone farewell, then disappeared into stealth.

Nie Yan departed from the group. He planned to open up the path ahead and search for more clues related to the quest. The Crystal Caverns was a huge map. It was filled with winding and twisting paths that connected with each other. Crystalline Molemen were everywhere, roaming every passageway and chamber.

Nie Yan snuck past numerous Crystalline Molemen along the path. His Cloaking and Stealth were very high, allowing him to completely ignore these Crystalline Molemen. He travelled through the snaking tunnels and headed deeper down.

When Nie Yan turned back, he could no longer see the others.

This area was full of crystal ores. Nie Yan guessed that in his previous life this was a prime mining site.

The vast majority of players would learn one or two gathering skills. They would earn a decent profit by selling the materials they collected in the marketplace.

Nie Yan had learned the Mining skill in the previous timeline. He knew the feeling of holing himself up in a mining site and digging day in, day out. He understood the type of soul-sucking loneliness that seeped into a person’s marrow! Back then, he had no family and could only patiently endure. His hatred was the only thing that kept him going. This was a sorrowful memory. But the tragedy of his past life was what tempered his heart. In this life, no matter how much suffering and hardship he faced, he would definitely become a dragon amongst men!

Nie Yan arrived at a fork in the path. One tunnel was a bit more spacious than the other. He reckoned the former led to Molelord Bennett.

Based on Nie Yan’s experience, the other tunnel led to a branching line in the quest.

Nie Yan entered the narrow tunnel and saw eight Crystalline Moleguards up ahead. However, there were many environmental obstacles in the vicinity. This group was much easier to deal with than the previous one.

These Crystalline Moleguards completely blocked off the path forward. Nie Yan surveyed the surroundings. Getting past this area won’t be that difficult. He activated the Crawler Ring and started climbing up the wall to the ceiling and made his way forward.

Before long, Nie Yan got past the Crystalline Moleguards. He let go of the ceiling and landed back on the ground.

After walking through the narrow tunnel for a while, Nie Yan’s eyes locked onto a shimmering treasure chest in the distance. It was carved from translucent dark crystal and was covered in all sorts of runic designs.

It was a Dark Gold Chest!

A Level 50 Dark Gold Chest! Nie Yan’s heart skipped a beat. He quickly walked over, bent down, and started opening it.

Opening Treasure Chest… Estimated Completion: 3%… 5%… 3%… 7%…

The chest was opening at a snail’s pace. As the seconds turned into minutes passed, a Crystalline Moleman wandered over to Nie Yan’s area, forcing him to move away from the treasure chest. He circled behind the Moleman and stunned it with Smothering Strike, then finished it off with several quick attacks.

Nie Yan walked back and continued trying to open the chest. Crystalline Molemen would often pass through this area. Many times he was forced to stop and deal with them.

But eventually, the chest opened with a click.

A crisp system notification popped up.

Lockpicking Specialist has ranked up to Advanced.

Lockpicking Specialist ranked up? Nie Yan remembered Lockpicking Specialist was still a ways off from ranking up. It shouldn’t have reached Advanced this quickly. He checked his system messages. It appeared successfully opening the Dark Gold Chest gave his Lockpicking Specialist 35 mastery points, allowing it to instantly reach Advanced.

Nie Yan rummaged through the chest before fishing out a thick skill book.

The skill book was lettered in gold. It was covered in peculiar runes. Nie Yan’s eyebrows jumped. This was an Adept Skill Book! But on second thought, he was already in a Level 50 map, not to mention he opened a Dark Gold Chest. Finding an Adept Skill Book wasn’t all that strange.

Chapter 313 – Empress Finas’ Fate Pearl

Adept Skill Books were different from ordinary or Advanced Skill Books. Being combat focused and possessing the special characteristics of their associated Adept Class, they tended to be far more powerful than ordinary skills while lacking the disadvantage of having long cooldowns like Advanced Skills.

Nie Yan continued rummaging through the Dark Gold Chest but found nothing else. He examined the Great Thief Skill Book.

Reverse Grip Backstab（Freedom Skill）

Description: Become invincible for 2 seconds after evading an enemy’s attack, circle behind them and retaliate with an attack. Enhances Backstab damage.

Requirements: Action (Weapon), 50 Rage

Properties: Deal an additional 100%–300% damage. Ignores armour.

Cooldown: 30 Seconds

Restrictions: Great Thief; can be learned by any faction.

The Thief class was divided into Thief, Great Thief, and Shadow Dancer. With each class advancement, they gained more flexibility in combat. Especially after reaching Shadow Dancer at which point all skills could be used at will. With a wider range of freedom, their combat power increased exponentially.

Players could start learning Freedom Skills after reaching the Adept class, and Reverse Grip Backstab was precisely one of them.

This skill was quite powerful. It provided invincibility after evading an attack and enhanced his Backstab damage. Not to mention its cooldown was only 30 seconds.

But since Reverse Grip Backstab was a Freedom Skill, Nie Yan would have to spend some time gradually mastering it.

Freedom Skill Books were far more expensive than most mounts and Advanced Skill Books, regularly selling for over 10,000 gold in the previous timeline. This was testament to their popularity among the player base. Add this to their scarcity, and it explained why you might not even find 1 in 10,000 players with a Freedom Skill.

Most Thieves wouldn’t have more than five or six Freedom Skills by the time they stepped into the ranks of a Shadow Dancer.

Nie Yan had once obtained a Freedom Skill Book after becoming a Great Thief in his past life, but his poor financial situation at the time forced him to sell it to a Shadow Dancer.

In this life, Nie Yan naturally wouldn’t repeat such a shameful act. He put the Reverse Grip Backstab Skill Book in his bag. He could learn it when he advanced to a Great Thief at Level 50.

Nie Yan continued searching around in the hopes of finding other treasures. After passing through numerous tunnels, he arrived at the entrance to a room with man-made structures. The walls were polished smooth and engraved with tadpole-like characters that he couldn’t read.

The lighting here was dark and a bit eerie.

Nie Yan hesitated for a moment before cautiously proceeding forward. As he stepped on a floor tile, a biting cold travelled up his feet. Suddenly, there was a slight tremble as some sort of mechanism activated underground.

"It’s a trap!” Nie Yan cried out in alarm, only to see sharp arrow tips emerge out of the walls around him.

These arrows densely lined the walls and emanated a murderous aura.

Nie Yan didn’t dare to move even an inch. As soon as his foot broke contact with the tile, the arrows would fire and he would be transformed into a human pin cushion!

With death staring him in the face, Nie Yan sucked in a breath of cold air.

Thankfully, his gut instinct was correct, allowing him to detect the trap in time.

However, he couldn’t stand here forever!

Nie Yan looked up ahead. The arrows lining the walls stretched out for the next 10 meters.

That’s right! I still have the Leaper Ring in my bag!

Nie Yan equipped the Leaper Ring. He determined his landing spot, then leaped high into the air like a grasshopper. The sound of arrows firing rang out behind him as he flew across the danger zone.

Nie Yan landed safely on the other side. When he turned around, countless arrows covered the ground, protruding out like stalks in a rice paddy. Seeing this scene, he felt as though he had gained a new lease on life.

Nie Yan continued exploring further, being especially wary of any traps. Although most of them were extremely well-hidden, not a single one escaped his sharp senses. Nevertheless, it was a thrilling experience. He had nearly died quite a few times!

Nie Yan eventually arrived at the entrance of a sealed off chamber after travelling through a narrow passageway. He let out a gasp when he looked up ahead. Before him was a terrifying, 10-meter black spider hanging in the center of a massive web!

This was Nie Yan’s first time seeing such a monster in both lifetimes. He quickly retreated back into the narrow passageway to avoid being attacked. He observed the spider from a safe distance. It was incomparably ugly, with eight enormous beady eyes, and its body covered in fine, steel-like hairs. Upon further observation, he discovered it didn’t move whatsoever. Its eyes were hollow and vacant.

Is it dead? Nie Yan was dazed for a moment. He cautiously crept around and discovered that the spider’s back was split open. It was just an empty shell!

Even if it wasn’t alive, it was still terrifying.

Nie Yan saw a pearl shimmering on a web-covered stone platform below the spider. It was entirely black, perfectly round, and about the size of his fist.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but be attracted to it.

What is that?

Nie Yan took out his crossbow and started randomly shooting in search for booby traps.

The arrows struck the ground, wall, and ceiling of this chamber in quick succession. Some of them even pierced through the spider’s carapace. But nothing happened.

After confirming there was no danger, Nie Yan carefully walked over to the stone platform, still cautious of any traps below his feet.

Nie Yan took a deep breath, then reached out and grabbed the pearl, whereupon he felt a cool sensation travel up his arm.

The pearl was smooth and glossy without the slightest blemish.

Nie Yan held the pearl in his palm and examined it.

Empress Finas’ Fate Pearl: Special Item

Properties: Night Vision +12, Darkness Awareness +12, Dark Magic Effect +100%.

Additional Quest Property: Weaken Empress Finas’ stats by 30%.

Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player’s bag.

Nie Yan reckoned this Empress Finas’ Fate Pearl was worth well over 10,000 gold. In the Righteous Faction, equipment that increased Night Vision was extremely rare. Its value could be well-imagined since even a piece of equipment with only Night Vision +1 sold for a bare minimum of 10 gold in the marketplace. Darkness Awareness was also extremely valuable, allowing the player to detect an opponent’s position more easily in the dark. Not to mention its effects were active while in the player’s bag. It was very difficult to appraise the value of these properties. As for the Dark Magic Effect +100%, it was also useful to him since it would increase the success rate of Undead Rite!

Nie Yan’s eyebrows jumped after seeing the Night Vision property on Empress Finas’ Fate Pearl. A thought flashed across his mind.

Night Vision Equipment!

Equipment with Night Vision +1 only cost around 50 silver in the Evil Faction, but their value skyrocketed to more than 10 gold in the Righteous Faction! Nie Yan could already imagine how much profit could be made off this difference.

With the Necklace of Deception in his possession, there wasn’t much of a challenge for him to travel to the Evil Faction and buy whatever he pleased in their marketplace. Loaded with items he could sell at a premium in the Righteous Faction, he would return and stock his own auction houses!

In the previous timeline, many players attempted to sell items from the Righteous Faction to the Evil Faction and vice-versa from players in the Evil Faction. But all of them would end up failing. The reason was simple. Righteous Faction and Evil Faction players were not allowed to communicate, trade, or have any form of contact with each other whatsoever. If a player was found to be smuggling items, they would be punished by the NPCs of their respective side.

Righteous Faction items were not allowed to be transported to the Evil Faction. Even if they were deliberately abandoned for Evil Faction players to pick up, as long as the sum value of the items exceeded 10 gold, it was treason by Calore’s law. The law enforcements would track down the perpetrator and arrest them.

However Nie Yan’s plan of selling items from the Evil Faction to the Righteous Faction was allowed. But if he attempted to do the opposite, regardless of the method, Calore’s law enforcement would immediately come looking for him as soon as he stepped foot in the city. These actions were tantamount to treason. Even the title of Grand Scholar couldn’t protect him at that time. Due to this, it was very hard for items to circulate on both sides.

One could never have too much money. Nie Yan reckoned if he went over to the Evil Faction and brought back five bag fulls of high-level equipment, he could easily make a profit of 50,000–60,000 gold.

It was possible to sell 50 gold worth of equipment from the Evil Faction for up to 1,000 gold in the Righteous Faction, especially if it was Night Vision Equipment.

If Nie Yan could transport items from the Evil Faction over to this side, he would definitely sell them across the various cities in the Viridian Empire. Besides that, he would also stock up Asskickers United’s treasury.

Naturally, this was only a plan. He didn’t know if it would actually succeed. But with so much potential for profit, it was worth giving a try.

Nie Yan put Empress Finas’ Fate Pearl in his bag. This item would probably have a use in the quest later on. He searched the room for other items but came up empty. He retraced his steps as he went to regroup with the others.

「How’s things on your side?」Nie Yan asked in voice chat.

「Sun found the Molelord,」Bladelight informed. Now, they were just waiting for Nie Yan.

Chapter 314 – Undying Soul

Nie Yan glanced at Empress Finas’ Fate Pearl in his bag, wondering when it would come in handy. Let’s deal with the Molelord first. He withdrew his gaze.

「Have you found the other journal pages?」Nie Yan asked. Those pages also contained clues to the quest.

「We’ve found three pages. Combine those with the two on you, and we’ll have the complete journal,」Bladelight replied. They only obtained these three pages after killing numerous Molemen and opening several chests.

Bladelight shared what was written on the last three journal pages.

Even though I’m well aware Empress Finas only wants my body as a tool, I’m still happy to become her vessel… I’m just a lowly Crystalline Moleman, but I’m willing to offer up both my life and this useless body for the sake of showing her my love… My dear Empress Finas, during those long winter nights, when both my soul and body have long since faded into dust, will you still recall the silly love of this lowly Crystalline Moleman…?

Although the journal pages were easy to collect, it appeared there was still a secret hidden within them that had yet to be uncovered.

「I’ll be there right away,」Nie Yan said. He travelled through numerous winding tunnels and arrived back at the fork in the path. There, he spotted Bladelight and the others who were recovering their health and mana.

"Where’s Sun and One Strike Vow?” Nie Yan asked after not seeing them.

"They’re scouting out the path ahead,” Bladelight replied. Sun and One Strike Vow had discovered the Molelord’s location before Nie Yan.

"Take out the other three journal pages for me,” Nie Yan said. He wondered what kind of transformation would occur when all five pages were brought together.

Bladelight handed over the journal pages to Nie Yan.

After completing the trade, the three journal pages fell into Nie Yan’s bag. With the five pages gathered together, they emitted a flash of brilliant light and combined into a complete journal, albeit still badly damaged like before.

Bennett’s Journal: Undying Soul, Love of a Lowly Moleman (Quest Item)

Description: It possesses boundless mysterious power. The owner of this journal will be guided by a soul. Search for traces of Empress Finas. Weakens Molelord Bennett’s stats by 30%.

Empress Finas left the Crystal Caverns for the Underworld 1,000 years ago. She completely drained the life of Molelord Bennet, leaving behind a corpse with an Undying Soul. No matter how many times he is killed, he will revive when night descends.

The journal appeared extremely old. A halo of light containing the power to pierce space revolved around it.

Nie Yan’s intuition told him that this journal wasn’t simple. It was probably connected to a larger quest chain.

"It seems like this quest requires you to go the Underworld. You should think of a way on your own. I’m afraid we can’t help you.” Smoke Stub helplessly smiled. At the current stage of the game, only Thieves could travel to the Underworld. With their stealthing abilities, they could still get around without instantly being ganged up on by players of the Evil Faction.

At present, the fight between the warring factions was still limited to the borders. Very few players dared to enter the enemy’s territory. The deeper in they were, the heavier the stat penalty. Someone had once done the calculations in the previous timeline. When a player was roaming near the capital of an enemy faction, their stats would be reduced by as much as 60%.This wasn’t a trivial matter. Under such circumstances, a Level 50 Righteous Player probably wouldn’t even be a match for a Level 40 Evil Player.

Out of everyone in the group, Nie Yan was the most suited to do this quest. Sun had made decent progress, but he was still too wet behind the ears. As for One Strike Vow, she wouldn’t be willing to stay in a gloomy Underworld city for a prolonged period of time.

"We’ll see after things settle down,” Nie Yan replied. He would definitely visit the Underworld, if not only to at least check out the situation there.

At this moment, Sun and One Strike Vow returned. Bladelight stepped slightly off to the side.

"How did things go?” Nie Yan asked.

"We found the Molelord. It’s guarded by several dozen Moleguards and 600 Crystalline Molemen,” One Strike Vow replied, then glanced at Bladelight.

Nie Yan patted Bladelight’s shoulder. "Man up, don’t keep the pretty girl waiting.”

What kind of figure was Bladelight? He was a top 3 Fighter in the previous timeline. In this life, he had also gained fame as a core elite of Asskickers United. He was normally the stoic and no-nonsense type. But just as Achilles had his heel, Bladelight turned timid as a mouse in front of One Strike Vow. This was quite a marvel.

"Let’s go take a look together,” Nie Yan said. Afterwards, they would decide their course of action.

The group set out for the Molelord. They eventually arrived at a large chamber with a 60-meter high ceiling and a diameter of 1,000 meters. It was like entering an underground world.

An enormous Crystalline Moleman appeared in everyone’s vision. It was 6 meters tall and completely red, resembling a titan from antiquity. There were also more than 30 Crystalline Moleguards in the vicinity.

It would be troublesome to lure them out one by one, especially considering their numbers and how close they were to each other.

"What do we do?”

Everyone tried to think of a strategy to deal with the Molelord. Nie Yan surveyed the surroundings. There were many stalactites hanging from the ceiling which looked like a good vantage point. But using his crossbow to whittle away at the numbers of these Crystalline Molemen simply wasn’t practical. Who knew how long it would take? Not to mention there was no way this tactic would work against the Molelord. Its health regeneration was too high, and it was resistant to piercing damage.

A thought suddenly crossed Nie Yan’s mind. If he wouldn’t do, he could just send Tang Yao! Although Tang Yao didn’t possess the damage to kill the Molelord, he could still clear away the mobs surrounding it.

After Nie Yan explained his plan to the group, Tang Yao’s eyes lit up. "I don’t know if this will work, but I’ll give it a try.”

Nie Yan handed over the Crawler Ring and Silk Spinner Ring to Tang Yao. Tang Yao was already familiar with the Crawler Ring while the Silk Spinner Ring was merely a form of insurance.

Tang Yao accepted the trade, then equipped the two rings. He activated the Crawler Ring and started climbing towards the ceiling.

Nie Yan and the others watched as Tang Yao nimbly climbed up the wall like a spider.

"Even this is possible?” Everyone was speechless.

Tang Yao secured himself between two stalactites. As for his Arcane Fairy, it was ordered to stay beside Nie Yan.

「How are you feeling?」Nie Yan asked in voice chat.

「It’s a little high up, but I think I’m good!」Tang Yao replied. He started chanting and gathering fire elemental energy at a rapid pace.

A large red cloud loomed menacingly over the heads of the Crystalline Molemen. A second later, it started pouring down fireballs.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」A blanket of damage values rose up into the air.

The Crystalline Molemen were in an uproar, but they couldn’t find the enemy.

"Awesome!” Tang Yao couldn’t help but exclaim. He cast one spell after the other, all of which were area-of-effect and rained down ruthlessly. Before long, a large section of the crowd was cleaned out. The ground was littered with corpses.

Tang Yao’s damage was terrifying. Very few monsters could withstand a shelling from one of his area-of-effect spells. The damage was equivalent to that of other peoples’ Advanced Magic!

The spells never stopped falling. After five or six of them, their destructive range far surpassed that of Advanced Magic. This unrivalled barrage of magic left everyone stupefied.

Swaths of Crystalline Molemen collapsed to the ground. Even several dozen Moleguards couldn’t hold on any longer. The Molelord also lost a bit of health but recovered it after just a few seconds.

Everyone was stunned by the sight of these Crystalline Molemen dropping like flies. They previously believed it would take at least five hours to whittle down their numbers. This was a tremendously tedious task. Who could’ve predicted Nie Yan’s strategy would cut down this time to just 30 minutes!

The Crystalline Moleguards fell in quick succession.

The ground was littered with piles of sparkling equipment. The sight was enough to make ordinary players go mad with greed.

When Tang Yao stopped casting spells, only the Molelord and a few low-health Moleguards remained standing.

Tang Yao used his single-target spells to kill the remaining Moleguards.

Like this, only the Molelord was left in the chamber, which made things much easier.

Only then did everyone recognize the usefulness of Special Items, whereupon a single thought surfaced in their collective mind. I definitely need to get my hands on a few of them in the future!

Special Items were fairly rare. But due to their bizarre natures, it was difficult to determine their true value. So, one or two would occasionally pop up in the marketplace for a low price. If you were to be so lucky as to find one, you should buy it immediately, lest you be filled with endless regret for missing the opportunity later on.

Perhaps Nie Yan was the only person who could put a Special Item to full use.

"I’ll go draw the aggro. Get ready, you guys,” Nie Yan said. He sprinted off toward the Molelord.

Bladelight and the others spread out and moved into formation.

Nie Yan took aim with the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow and fired.

「Put! Put! Put」Five bolts flew out and struck the Molelord, whereupon it let out a earth-shattering roar, causing the entire chamber to tremble violently. It was as if it wanted to bring the whole place down. It charged toward Nie Yan with bounding strides.

Chapter 315 – Molelord Bennett

Nie Yan quickly turned tail to flee. Trying to fight the Molelord was suicidal. Probably only Bladelight could tank a hit.

Bladelight raised his heavy shield and charged forward to intercept the Molelord.

Shield Bash!

The shield slammed into the Molelord with a heavy thud.

Heroic Strike!

Bladelight chopped down on the Molelord.

−56

At this moment, the others took the time to inspect the Molelord.

Molelord Bennett (Lord): Level 50

Health: 110,000/110,000

Everyone sucked in a breath of cold air. Molelord Bennett’s stats were still so terrifying despite being reduced by 30% by the journal.

After being blocked by Bladelight, the Molelord swept its pike at him.

「Klang!」The pike struck the heavy shield as Bladelight felt an enormous force travel up his arm. He dug his feet into the ground and used both arms on his shield to brace against the impact. However, he was still blown back.

Bladelight was forced backwards 5 meters before finally regaining his balance.

At this moment, Lofty Shadow and Yi Yan rushed forward to cover for Bladelight.

Lofty Shadow was provided high-quality equipment by the guild. Add this to his impressive talent and skill, and he overtook Yi Yan to become the number two Fighter in Asskickers United. He was just a step behind Bladelight in terms of tankiness.

Lofty Shadow was naturally the next one up after Bladelight was blown back.

Taunt! Lofty Shadow bellowed out, forcing the Molelord to target him.

The Molelord sent the three Fighters flying away repeatedly, but they stubbornly rushed back up every time.

All the while the Mages bombarded the Molelord with spells.

The Molelord’s health started falling bit by bit.

"Bladelight, pull it toward the right,” Nie Yan ordered. The uneven ground in that direction would heavily impact the Molelord’s charging speed, reducing the danger it posed to the Mages in the backline.

"Got it.” Bladelight nodded. He started moving towards the right, pulling the Molelord along with him.

The three Fighters worked in tandem to pull the Molelord to the right, then surrounded it and hunkered down behind their shields.

Demoralizing Shout!

Taunt!

It instantly became much harder for the Molelord to maneuver. Although it was three times their size, it was still blocked in by Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan who were like immovable boulders. Even slightly turning was a challenge.

As The Molelord swung down at Bladelight with its pike, the Priests and Paladins quickly buffed him with multiple blessings.

「Klang!」The pike smashed down on Bladelight’s shield, instantly shattering the Radiant Barrier protecting him.

The Molelord’s attacks were imbued with corrosive dark energy, which made them extremely effective against Light-type protective spells.

Radiant Barrier could only endure a single hit from the Molelord!

Seeing the Molelord swing down again, Bladelight activated the Rank 8 Shield from his Everlasting Gold Set.

「Klang!」He withstood the heavy blow from the Molelord.

Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan stood their ground as they fiercely slashed down at the Molelord with their swords.

The Mages were spread out in a circle, with the Molelord at the center, as they unleashed a steady stream of spells.

Edgeless, Monochrome, and the other Berserkers jumped into the fray after the Molelord was locked down by the three Fighters. Another source of damage was added to the fight.

The Molelord’s health was gradually being chipped away. It kept trying to break free of the encirclement. But Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan were like nails in the ground, refusing to budge even an inch.

Nie Yan circled around and plunged Zennarde’s Sword into the Molemord, after which he activated Blast.

−288

−756!

−76

−82…

Blast landed as a critical hit and armour broke the Molelord! Furthermore, it was inflicted with burn and bleed damage!

Everyone’s jaws dropped in shock. Nie Yan’s attacks were simply too frightening! It was already impressive if they could deal more than 40 damage to the Molelord, while perhaps only the strongest among them could deal 100 damage. Let alone Blast, they couldn’t even compare to his bleed damage!

The Molelord’s aggro instantly shifted to Nie Yan. It attempted to attack him, but Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan prevented it from turning around.

At this moment, Nie Yan unleashed a flurry of ferocious attacks, causing the Molelord’s health to rapidly drop.

The Ignore Armour property from Zennarde’s Sword, his high critical rate, and the attack power bonus he gained when attacking an enemy from behind allowed Nie Yan to deal shocking damage.

Nie Yan knew full well that his explosive tempest of attacks would lead to the Molelord’s aggro shifting solely on him. However, he had long since stopped paying this any mind.

Nie Yan relentlessly slashed away, unloading all his high-damage skills on the Molelord.

The Molelord’s health finally fell to 20%. It let out a furious roar and slammed its pike into the ground, causing a massive shockwave to sweep out.

Nie Yan had already guessed this would happen. He activated Gale Step in the nick of time and avoided being stunned.

Nie Yan’s years of experience allowed him to react to danger almost instantly. Coupled with the fact that Gale Step was his most familiar skill, he was already prepared the moment he saw the subtle cues that the Molelord was about to unleash a special attack.

While Nie Yan could flawlessly avoid the Molelord’s attack, there was no way the others could do the same.

「Boom」Bladelight and the other Warriors were all blown back and stunned.

All the frontliners were struck by the shockwave.

After breaking free of the encirclement, the Molelord let out a furious roar. It locked on the fleeing Nie Yan and immediately charged toward him.

All the Mages quickly retreated while Nie Yan ran to an area with no people.

At this moment, the Molelord stabbed at Nie Yan with its pike.

"Careful!” Tang Yao and the others cried out in alarm.

Just as Nie Yan was about to be skewered, almost as if he grew eyes at the back of his head, he dodge-rolled off to the side.

The Molelord’s pike struck air, and it continued to chase Nie Yan.

After noticing the Molelord’s aggro was completely focused on Nie Yan, the Mages started bombarding it with spells again.

"We can do it, guys! It’s almost dead!”

"Keep at it!”

All the Mages let loose, especially Sunny South. This fellow rarely ever uttered a word. No one knew when he learned the Metamagic mastery. He was firing out spells continuously like a machine gun. When he ran out of mana, he immediately drank an Intermediate Mana Potion and continued.

Every member in the group was an elite among elites. Which one of them didn’t have a trump card or two tucked away? In this critical moment, they no longer held anything back. All of them used their most powerful skills.

The Molelord quickly caught up to Nie Yan and swung down at him with its pike. If this attack hit him, he would be crushed into a meat patty.

Nie Yan threw out a pouch of Intermediate Flash Powder.「Poof!」A dazzling radiance blossomed outward, blinding the Molelord and causing its attack to go off-target.

Nie Yan seized this opportunity to dash past the Molelord.「Bang!」Its pike smashed into the ground, causing debris to fly out everywhere.

Some of the debris struck Nie Yan, dealing between 10 to 100 damage.

Nie Yan used the Shadow Dancer footwork to circle behind the Molelord, then ruthlessly slashed down with Zennarde’s Sword. He followed up with Lacerate, cutting open a gaping wound across its flesh, causing blood to spurt out into the air.

The Molelord swung its pike in a full circle. However, its surroundings were empty.

Nie Yan had immediately bolted away after executing Lacerate.

At this time, the stun on Bladelight and the other Warriors finally wore off. They rushed forward to intercept the Molelord.

The Molelord only had around 5% health remaining. It already entered a berserk state. Its skin was blood red, while its body swelled several times in size.

The Molelord struck Bladelight with its pike, sending him flying away. His health instantly emptied, and he collapsed dead to the ground.

The Molelord was unstoppable. It killed everything in its path and left behind a trail of corpses.

Seeing the Molelord’s rampage, the Mages intensified their barrage as. Spells were fired out continuously.

The Molelord’s health was about to hit zero.

Nie Yan noticed something was off about the Molelord. "Young Seven, stay behind! Painted Muslin, quickly get out of here. Find somewhere to hide!”

The group members immediately understood Nie Yan’s intentions.

Nie Yan and Young Seven gave each other meaningful smiles.

Painted Muslin hesitated as she looked at everyone, then finally turned away and left.

A Priest was the lifeline of a team. Even if Nie Yan and the others wiped, Painted Muslin could still bring them all back.

"Everyone, one final push. It’s almost dead!” Nie Yan said. His life was in constant danger while being chased down by the Molelord. However, he relied on his Shadow Dancer footwork to avoid its attack. Several times he had only survived by a hair’s breadth.

Only Nie Yan was still alive out of all the melee-class players.

Seeing the Molelord with only a few hundred health remaining, Nie Yan went for broke. He used the Shadow Dancer footwork to circle behind it. He leaped into the air and stabbed down with Assassinate, then activated Eviscerate.

「Pu!」A fountain of blood gushed out as the Molelord let out a mournful cry.

"It’s over! Nie Yan exclaimed.

Chapter 316 – Windfall

The Molelord’s health hit zero, and it heavily crashed to the ground, causing the entire cavern to shake.

Nie Yan quickly ducked for cover. When he saw no changes in the Molelord’s corpse, he breathed out a sigh of relief. He believed it would explode like the Moleguard they previously encountered. This was why he ordered Painted Muslin to retreat. It appeared he was just being a worrywart.

The Molelord’s corpse laid motionless on the ground. It resembled a large whale.

Nie Yan lit up with a brilliant radiance as he directly ascended to Level 35. The other members also gained at least a level.

"Boss, did anything drop?” Summer Bug asked.

Nie Yan was about to bend down to rummage for loot when he suddenly noticed the Molelord’s corpse starting to swell like a balloon. Its veins were pulsating violently with a force that couldn’t be restrained.

Nie Yan’s face paled. "Everyone, duck!”

This was Corpse Explosion!

There were next to no monsters with this ability!

Everyone turned to flee.

「Boom!」At this instant, the Molelord’s corpse exploded, sending out a powerful shock wave that swept out in all directions.

None of them had a chance to reach safety before the explosion enveloped them.

It was a complete wipeout.

Nie Yan was no exception. The Corpse Explosion was simply unavoidable. However, he didn’t immediately take on astral form. Instead, the scenery around him shifted into a white void. There were brilliant rays of light all around him as though he had arrived in the kingdom of heaven.

Nie Yan was flabbergasted. Just where the hell am I? He looked around and saw a lonely figure crouched down on its knees. He couldn’t make out its appearance. It was shrouded in a blurry mist of light.

It wandered through this vast void, occasionally stopping to stare into space. Noticing the new arrival, it stared at Nie Yan in confusion.

At this moment, a strange feeling surfaced in Nie Yan’s heart as various scenes of Empress Finas flashed across his mind. He could feel the boundless sorrow in the Molelord’s heart.

Nie Yan’s heart skipped a beat. These scenes were most likely clues on how to find Empress Finas!

The figure transformed into a ball of light and flew into Nie Yan’s bag. It danced around Bennett’s Journal for a while before entering inside.

Nie Yan examined the journal and noticed a few changes.

Bennett’s Journal: Undying Soul, Love of a Lowly Moleman (Quest Item)

Properties: The owner of this journal is allowed to open a Dark Portal to a random location in the Underworld. A portal can be opened once every 5 days and lasts for 20 minutes.

Restrictions: Bound to Nirvana Flame. Cannot be traded or dropped.

The Dark Portal was an unpredictable skill. It could teleport you to the Underworld, but the location was random. On top of this, you would have to wait for five days if you didn’t enter the portal within the 20 minute duration.

Nie Yan didn’t know when he would visit the Underworld. He could conveniently check if this quest was doable while looking for items to buy over there.

After an unknown amount of time, a system notification appeared.

Ten Li Painted Muslin has revived you. Do you accept?

Yes!

With a flash of light, Nie Yan was brought back to life. He opened his eyes to see Painted Muslin and Young Seven reviving the others.

When Painted Muslin returned, she was stunned to see all of their corpses. She revived Young Seven first, after which the two of them began reviving the rest of the members together.

Nie Yan collected the loot from the Molelord’s corpse. There were three items in total: a robe, a pair of gloves, and a gem, all of which were Level 50 Dark Gold-grade.

Both the robe and gloves were Arcane Mage equipment. They were part of the Dark Follower Set, an offensive-type set. The robes gave 250 magic power while the gloves gave 120 magic power.

The stats on these two pieces of equipment were superb. Out of all the level 50 sets, the Dark Follower Set gave one of the largest boosts to magic power.

A complete Dark Follower Set would probably increase magic power by over 1,000!

Nie Yan shared the information of the two pieces of equipment in the chat.

"The Molelord respawns every day. Should we collect the full set before we leave?” Smoke Stub asked. He understood just how valuable this set was.

"We’ll be staying here for the next several days, so I don’t see why not,” Nie Yan replied. It would take quite some time to clear away their red names.

With the Molelord dead, all they could do was kill ordinary Molemen until it respawned.

There were simply too many Arcane Mages in Asskickers United. A single Dark Follower Set obviously wasn’t enough to go around. So, they could only satisfy one player for the time being. Nie Yan would have to carefully consider who would receive this set. These sorts of situations arose pretty often. If handled unfairly, it could easily lead to discontent among the guild members.

Besides the two pieces of equipment from the Dark Follower Set, there was also a Dexterity Gem (7) which increased Dexterity by 35. Nie Yan planned to socket it to his own equipment.

The group sat down to recover their health and mana. Afterwards, they started farming the regular Molemen.

Nie Yan was at the back of the group, leeching experience while managing the affairs back in Calore.

Just at this moment, Nie Yan received a call from Yao Yao.

「Nirvana Flame, I’ve completed the quest. I received a Templar Magic as a reward. Thank you!」Yao Yao informed. If it wasn’t for Nie Yan’s guidance, she could’ve never done this quest.

「No problem. You’re a member of Asskickers United. It’s only natural I help.」Nie Yan chuckled.

Yao Yao felt somewhat disheartened. Besides being a guild member, was there really no other reason for him to help her? From when they first met in Lake Rando to their recent adventures in Zennarde’s Domain, did all of that mean nothing? She wished Nie Yan would like her inside the game more.

Xie Yao had only met Nie Yan a few times in real life, so there was still a bit of unfamiliarity between them. However, she felt very comfortable with him inside the game. Levelling, running dungeons, and going on adventures together, could all of that really not compare to a few encounters in real life?

「What kind of Templar Magic did you get?」

「Holy Purification.」

Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise. Holy Purification was one of the better Advanced Magics.

「Not bad.」

「The servers are going down soon. I’m heading off first!」Yao Yao pouted. Nie Yan only cared whether or not she was an asset to the guild!

「Alright, see you later.」Nie Yan didn’t say anything else despite picking up the discontent in Yao Yao’s voice. He checked the clock. It was about time for him to log off as well.

Seeing Yao Yao’s name go dim on his friend list, Nie Yan sorted through the day’s profit. He had made over 1,000 gold from the Union of Assassins, 5,000 gold from the Starry Night Potion Shop, 2,000 gold from leases, and 5,000 gold from his auction houses and the Super Trade Channel. That was over 13,000 gold in total! Even the Dragonsoar Financial Group only brought in roughly 30,000 gold a day through their various channels! What’s more, all these projects were still developing. In the future, they would rake in even more gold!

Besides these earnings, Nie Yan had also sold several real world business districts to the Dragonsoar Financial Group. A portion of the gold was given to Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine, but most of it went into his back pocket.

Asskickers United no longer required Nie Yan’s financial support. The Dragonsoar Financial Group’s investments sufficed. He averted his attention to other guilds. His next target was Battle Crazed Alliance in Hilderlocke!

In the previous timeline, Battle Crazed Alliance had received the backing of the West Pool Financial Group, the sixth largest financial group in Asia. However, they eventually withdrew their investments due to Cao Xu’s actions. His unbridled spending and massive bribes had poached away many of Battle Crazed Alliance’s professional players. Add to this the pressure from Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, and Bloodlust Blades that put the guild’s very existence at stake, and withdrawing had been the only logical course of action for the financial group.

Battle Crazed Alliance mostly likely hadn’t been acquired by a financial group yet. Since that was the case, it was the perfect time for Nie Yan to take action.

Nie Yan told Guo Huai to talk to Kill Love about the matter of investment since it wouldn’t be appropriate to do this personally. If Kill Love agreed, he would invest in Battle Crazed Alliance under his own name. The details of their cooperation could be discussed at that time.

Just as Nie Yan finished arranging these matters, he received a call from Tuoba Time.

「Do you have any gold? I’m short on funds.」Tuoba Time got straight to the point.

「How much do you need?」Nie Yan asked. Tuoba Time was quite a rich fellow. He would have no problem obtaining 50,000 gold. If he was asking to borrow money, it definitely wouldn’t be a small sum.

「I need 600,000 gold in a month’s time,」Tuoba Time replied.

Nie Yan gasped.「What do you need so much gold for?」600,000 gold was easily more than enough to acquire a large guild! He thought about it for a moment. Based on how much he made every day, although it would be difficult, it was still possible.

「If you help me get this gold, I’m willing to give you 30% of the Tuoba Family’s assets in Conviction. This includes 11 shops, 21 plots of land, and 3 auction houses!」Tuoba Time dropped another bomb on Nie Yan.

These assets might only be worth 20,000 gold right now. However, their value would skyrocket to 80,000 gold in just a month’s time and who knew how much more further down the line. Yet Tuoba Time was willingly sell them to Nie Yan for the measly price of 600,000 gold!

Chapter 317 – War God Tribe

Tuoba Time approaching Nie Yan at this moment signified he was about to take action. As one of the Tuoba Family’s shareholders, he absolutely wasn’t willing to fall under Tuoba Hongye. The power struggle between the two sides was only just beginning.

The 600,000 gold would be a starting capital to oppose Tuoba Hongye.

「If you have the 600,000 gold, we can sign a contract right now. Otherwise, just tell me how much you can spare. I need at least 50,000 gold by today,」Tuoba Time said. This matter was of extreme urgence.

「I can do it,」Nie Yan said. He would regret it for a lifetime if he missed this opportunity!

Aside from developing Asskickers United, Nie Yan also wished to become a rich tycoon in the real world. When the profit from his auction houses, leases, shops, and strongholds grew to a certain point, he would convert a huge portion of it into credits.

He absolutely couldn’t pass up Tuoba Time’s offer!

With Nie Yan’s current capital, it absolutely wouldn’t be a problem for him to gobble up these auction houses, plots of land, and shops.

「Where are your auction houses, shops, and plots of land located?」Nie Yan asked. These assets were probably not in Calore. After all, there was only one auction house in Calore that wasn’t his.

「Nisode City,」Tuoba Time replied.

Nisode City was the second largest city in the Viridian Empire. A portion of the Tuoba Family’s capital was concentrated there. They owned a large number of auction houses, plots of land, shops, and three guilds in that region.

Nie Yan’s eyes lit up. The War God Tribe operated in Nisode City in his past life!

In the previous timeline, the majority of Nisode City was controlled by the Tuoba Family. But they were suddenly beaten black and blue by the recently established War God Tribe. Back then, Nie Yan’s father had acquired over 20 of the top 100 gaming organizations across the nation. Furthermore, he had also invited many veterans who started working as professional players after retiring from the army. Although the War God Tribe had swept away the Tuoba Family’s three guilds with unrivalled momentum, they were always plagued by a lack of in-game currency since their only source of income was a single auction house in Nisode City. If Nie Yan took over the Tuoba Family’s businesses in Nisode City and used them to support the War God Tribe, its rise to power would be even more spectacular this time around.

If Asskickers United and the War God Tribe worked together to deal with Victorious Return, the only ones that could contend against them in the entire Viridian Empire were Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors!

Nie Yan could tell Tuoba Time was different from his usual lazy and casual self. It appeared as if he was a sword drawn of its scabbard. Nie Yan was looking forward to see if he could drag Tuoba Hongye off his pedestal.

「I have a request. Is it possible for you to transfer those auction houses, shops, and plots of land to me first? I’m willing to pay an extra 6,000 gold a day.」Nie Yan asked. He could connect the three auction houses and shops in Nisode City to the Super Trade Channel. While they remained under the control of Tuoba Time, they likely wouldn’t net more than 5,000 gold a day. But if he could get his hands on them, he was confident he could boost that number to at least 8,000.

「Let’s sign a contract. I’ll have someone draft one up,」Tuoba Time replied. All he needed was gold. He was more than willing to give up his businesses in Nisode City if it meant he would gain control of all the Tuoba Family’s operations in Conviction! All of Tuoba Hongye’s efforts would’ve gone to waste! Afterwards, he would find a way to swallow up Tuoba Hongye’s shares in the real world!

It didn’t take long for Nie Yan to receive the contract. After confirming the terms, he signed his name.

「I’ll immediately tell someone to deposit the first payment of 60,000 gold into your account,」Nie Yan said. Meanwhile, he had Guo Huai take over management of the auction houses in Nisode City, then connected them to the Super Trade Channel.

Guo Huai had also persuaded the owner of the remaining auction house in Calore to join the Super Trade Channel. With this, the Super Trade Channel held a complete monopoly in Calore as well as a majority market share in Nisode City.

Over the next three days, Nie Yan would go to school during the day and level with Smoke Stub and the others in the Crystal Caverns during the night. After clearing the map, they discovered the Molelord had become easier to deal with. The difficulty had dropped by a significant amount.

During these three days, the business in his auction houses was booming thanks to the Super Trade Channel. Furthermore, the Starry Night Potion Shop had also greatly expanded its influence, especially in Nisode City where branch stores popped up all over. Adding all his revenue streams together, Nie Yan’s daily profit had risen to over 20,000 gold. This kind of growth was unprecedented. If the large financial groups were to catch wind of this, they would start breaking out in a cold sweat. After all, they had to invest an enormous sum to acquire their gold, but Nie Yan hadn’t spent a single cent in real life! His achievements were nothing short of a miracle!

Like clockwork, Nie Yan took off his game helmet and headed downstairs. Mother Nie originally planned to eat breakfast with him today, but she rushed out the door after being called into work for an emergency meeting. He vaguely overheard a few things about the War God Tribe and Nisode City. He thought for a long time. His businesses in Nisode City were already flourishing. He also heard that his father had recently acquired more than 10 gaming organizations. It appeared the War God Tribe was finally about to make its debut in Conviction, which also meant it was time for him to lay out all his cards.

Nie Yan would make sure the War God Tribe would never decline like it did in the previous timeline!

Nie Yan drove to the company. His father had recently bought him a sports car. It was maroon with a sleek design. He finally had his own car! Although he didn’t care about the brand, it was apparently a Sorong which was known to be expensive.

The company wasn’t that far from home, only about a 10 minute drive away. Because he lived in the suburbs, there was a lot of greenery. Both sides of the road were shaded by trees.

A modern white building came into Nie Yan’s view. It looked recently constructed. This was the office building his father had bought.

When Nie Yan walked through the doors, he saw many people busily at work. They all wore the same uniform. Everything appeared neat and orderly.

Nie Yan relied on the memories of his past life to navigate through this building.

Nie Yan was deeply moved when he spotted a familiar face walking over to him. This man was tall and robust, and from his muscular and tone body, it was evident he worked out regularly. Although he couldn’t be considered handsome, he exuded a type of stalwart and courageous charm. He should only be about 27 years old right now.

He was Nie Yan’s cousin. All his relatives called him Ah Chen. Nie Yan and him used to play together back when they were still children. When Nie Yan’s parents went to the border for their smuggling venture, they had brought Ah Chen along with them. As such, he was fairly intimate with the entire Nie household.

Because Ah Chen was busy helping Father Nie handling company affairs, this was Nie Yan’s first time seeing him since returning to the past.

Ah Chen’s eyes also flashed with emotion, and he quickly walked over to Nie Yan.

"Little Rascal! You’ve grown! I almost didn’t recognize you.” Ah Chen patted Nie Yan’s shoulders and laughed. "You’ve been working out! Your parents recently told me you’re pretty strong now, and could even win against your Uncle Lin! But I didn’t believe them. Who knew they were actually telling the truth!”

Ah Chen suddenly threw out a punch without warning.

Nie Yan caught the fist with a loud smack. Ah Chen revealed an expression of surprise when he realized he couldn’t struggle free. "Not bad. We should go for a round next time!”

Ah Chen was only playing a joke. He never expected Nie Yan to possess such strength. This ignited his fighting spirit.

Nie Yan rolled his eyes. This fellow was a fighting maniac. He would look for someone to spar a couple rounds with every day; otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to stay still. However, Ah Chen was an extremely kind and loyal person. In the previous timeline, when he discovered what Uncle Luo Ming and those relatives did, he beat them half to death and ended up going to prison for it.

Back then, Nie Yan would visit Ah Chen regularly. When Nie Yan saw him, his condition had already deteriorated greatly. He was as frail as a matchstick. But whenever he saw Nie Yan, he would reveal a big smile and laugh heartily. Seeing this pained Nie Yan deeply.

After seeing Ah Chen again, Nie Yan’s nose grew sour, and he almost burst out in hot tears.

Nie Yan took a deep breath to calm his heart. "Where are my parents?” He asked with a faint smile.

"They’re in the boardroom. Follow me,” Ah Chen replied. Needless to say, it wasn’t a place that could be freely entered. But he didn’t care.

Nie Yan followed behind Ah Chen, passing by all sorts of security equipment along the way before entering the boardroom.

The boardroom was filled with around 40 people, all of whom were higher-ups in the company or the owners of gaming organizations.

Nie Yan swept his eyes over the boardroom. His gaze locked onto five people. They were big shots in the domestic gaming scene.

Sitting to the far left at the front was a 25-year-old man. He was dressed in a casual attire. He was the owner of Icewind, Frozen Prose. Icewind was the rank fifth gaming organization in the country.

Next to Frozen Prose sat a square-faced man in his 40s. He was the owner of Azure Dragon, the rank ninth gaming organization in the country.

There were also the owners of Thunder God, Nightmoon, and Blaze. All these gaming organizations were ranked within the top 30 in the country.

To get the owners of so many large gaming organizations in the same room wasn’t something that could be achieved with money alone. It also required connections. Father Nie’s contacts were definitely solid for him to make a business out of reselling metal.

Just what kind of gargantuan effort did it take to gather all these famous figures inside the game together?

For the War God Tribe to be able to threaten Victorious Return’s position in the previous timeline definitely wasn’t without reason.

But when Nie Yan saw these people, his gaze contained a hint of arrogance. This was because he was Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame!

Chapter 318 – Gathering Funds

A young female presenter was currently up on stage detailing the War God Tribe’s development plans to the people from the gaming organizations. Nie Yan’s parents and Uncle Lin sat far off in a corner listening as well. The War God Tribe’s development was important. Right now, Nisode City was the Tuoba Family’s domain with three guilds under their banner. For the War God Tribe to rise to prominence here would prove difficult. Father Nie had laid out the groundwork, investing a vast sum in preparation for the guild’s establishment.

The War God Tribe was gathering strength and waiting for the opportune moment to strike!

The only thing they lacked right now was gold. Their only source was a single auction house, and the rest would have to be bought through the Credit Exchange. But purchasing gold was unreliable, and supply could be cut off at a moment’s notice by a third party.

The only solution was to capture a few strongholds the moment they could. When the strongholds were developed, only then would the War God Tribe have a reliable source of gold.

Father Nie was at his wit’s end trying to amass gold, but none of his ideas were feasible.

The War God Tribe had just recently been established. They had gathered numerous experts, and their popularity was flourishing. They absolutely couldn’t end up dead in the water!

Conviction had long since stopped being a simple game as it had become an important place for relaxation and leisure. People spent nearly half of their lives in the virtual world. It was obvious what kind of economic effect this produced.

Conviction had already become a money-making tool for many people. For the War God Tribe to get a piece of the pie this late in was an uphill battle.

Ah Chen brought Nie Yan to where his parents were. Many higher-ups were seated next to them.

"Why are you here? This is a boardroom meeting. If you need something, it can wait,” Father Nie said in a strict tone. But when he glanced at Nie Yan, there wasn’t a hint of anger in his expression. This was simply how he behaved in front of his son.

"I just came to take a look,” Nie Yan replied, then took a seat beside his parents. He wasn’t as afraid of his father compared to his past life.

"It’s fine. Little Yan can listen to this meeting.” Mother Nie gently smiled at her husband.

Ah Chen gave Nie Yan a wink.

Father Nie didn’t reply. He wasn’t at all opposed to Nie Yan joining the meeting. Everyone continued listening to the female presenter.

"… Although the War God Tribe has recently attracted some unwanted attention from the Tuoba Family’s three guilds, it’s just a minor bump. After all, we still don’t have any strongholds. During the initial protective period, the Tuoba Family can’t do anything to us. Our main goal for the future is the guild’s growth. We need to seize a stronghold as soon as possible. Furthermore…” The female presenter turned to look at Father Nie way off in the corner.

Father Nie nodded.

With Father Nie’s approval, she continued, "The guild gravely lacks funds. We hope that everyone present can provide a channel to purchase gold, which will be used to fund our future wars. We will offer a fair price.”

The owners of the gaming organizations sunk into heated discussion. A single question surfaced in their minds. If the War God Tribe couldn’t even collect gold, how would it grow? Gathering all these large gaming organizations together was a good idea no doubt. But even the best housewife couldn’t cook without rice. Without a reliable source of gold, would the War God Tribe really have a future to speak of?

"What the hell do we do without any gold? Why even bother establishing a guild?”

"This is ridiculous…”

"What a waste of time.”

…

Father Nie knitted his brows and revealed a somewhat unhappy expression at these comments. He had huge plans for the War God Tribe; otherwise, he wouldn’t have invested so much resources into Conviction. However, the lack of gold really was a big problem.

There were boundless business opportunities in Conviction. Everyone wanted a share of the pie. Father Nie was no exception, only that his connections inside the game couldn’t compare to the financial groups with deep foundations. He still hadn’t found a reliable channel to purchase gold. The services of several groups he had previously contacted were already bought by other financial groups. Those gold farming groups would only consider selling to the War God Tribe if they offered 20% above the market rate.

"I can probably help the War God Tribe with its gold problem,” Nie Yan suddenly said to his father and everyone else in earshot. He decided to no longer conceal things.

Mother Nie, Father Nie, Ah Chen, Lin Ya, and the others shifted their focus to Nie Yan, expressions of confusion and bewilderment in their eyes.

Although Nie Yan’s parents knew he played Conviction, they didn’t even know his ingame name, let alone the fact that he was the guild leader of Asskickers United.

"The War God Tribe’s problem can’t be solved with just a few gold.” Father Nie waved his hand, cutting Nie Yan off. In his opinion, his son was just an ordinary player at best. For him to take out a few gold would already be impressive. But the development of the War God Tribe required tens of thousands of gold. Not to mention they still had to organize their troops to attack the Tuoba Family’s strongholds, which would eat away even more at their finances. There was no way Nie Yan could possibly resolve their problems.

"I can give you 60,000 gold right now and continue providing around 30,000 gold every week,” Nie Yan said.

Nie Yan’s words immediately caused an uproar.

"Little Yan, this is a boardroom meeting. You can’t play jokes like this,” Lin Ya gently reminded.

They had poured vast sums of money into Conviction without any luck. Yet Nie Yan suddenly informed them he had such immense wealth? It was no wonder no one believed him!

"I’m not joking around. Ah Chen can withdraw the gold when he gets online later today,” Nie Yan earnestly replied.

Nie Yan didn’t look like he was joking. Even though it was hard to imagine, Father Nie and the others who knew him decided to believe him. Nie Yan wasn’t the type of person to lie.

Father Nie gazed at Nie Yan in shock. Ever since returning home, his son had been full of surprises.

Just how did Nie Yan come about so much gold? A person could live the rest of their days in leisure if they sold 60,000 gold to the large financial groups!

Father Nie gave Nie Yan a meaningful gaze. Just what was his son doing every day in the game?

Both doubt and shock could be found on the faces of the higher-ups seated beside Father Nie. Did Nie Yan really have so much gold? This amount was more than enough to acquire an established guild.

"Ah Chen, go fetch Little Yan’s gold in the game,” Father Nie said. Although he was suspicious of where Nie Yan acquired so much gold, he still decided to put his trust in his son.

"No problem. Little Yan, what’s your name in the game so that I can get in touch with you?” Ah Chen casually asked.

"It’s Nirvana Flame,” Nie Yan replied. After which everyone looked at him in complete shock and disbelief.

The atmosphere turned dead silent, to the extent you could even hear a pin drop.

Just what was the significance behind the two words Nirvana Flame? It was the name of a godly player in Conviction, whose videos were plastered at the top of every large video sharing site and whose achievements garnered the reverence of all players! He was a legend that surfaced during the battle in Kiln Fire Woods!

"N-n-nirvana Flame… the guild leader of Asskickers United?” Ah Chen asked, his throat somewhat parched.

"Yes.” Nie Yan nodded. He had long since predicted this reaction. After all, the reputation of Nirvana Flame was simply too shocking. Since they would find out sooner or later, rather than keeping it hidden, it was better to reveal it now. Like this, he could help out the War God Tribe conquer Nisode City.

Father Nie was stunned for a moment before coming out of his daze. He glanced at Nie Yan, then turned back to the front of the boardroom, "Someone should have Little Su come down from the stage. It seems we’ll have to revise our development plans. We’ll have Little Yan and Ah Chen come up with a proposal, which we’ll look over before approving.”

"Good rascal! You sure are amazing! Do you know how many people would have a heart attack if it was spread that you’re Nirvana Flame?” Ah Chen happily patted Nie Yan’s shoulders. Nirvana Flame didn’t just represent a single person but also the entirety of Asskickers United. His position as their guild leader was one of the most revered in the game. With but a single order, he could have their more than 60,000 elites sweep away everything before him. Not to mention he could also rally hundreds of thousands of players from Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire to his cause.

Just what kind of backing did Asskickers United have to reached its current dominance? This was a question many people had in their minds.

Players would definitely find it hard to believe that the guild leader of Asskickers United, Nirvana Flame, was still just a student in high school. It was difficult to connect the two together.

When everyone regained their senses, the higher-ups seated near Father Nie rushed over to Nie Yan and asked him how he raised Asskickers United to such heights. He was assailed with questions. But when they learned Asskickers United had arisen from the musings of him and a couple of his schoolmates, they all looked at each other in dismay. How many people had gone through painstaking efforts to establish a guild, pouring in countless hours and resources, only for it all to go to waste? Yet Nie Yan and a few former classmates in middle school had turned Asskickers United into an unrivalled existence in Calore! This was truly hard to believe.

Nie Yan and Ah Chen consulted for a bit and drew up a development plan for the War God Tribe. Asskickers United would provide support where they could. All that was left was for Father Nie to look over it.

"Little Yan, tell me. How many properties do you own in Conviction?” Ah Chen asked. He was quite curious. Even if Nie Yan was the guild leader of Asskickers United, there was no way he could bring out so much gold. After all, strongholds hadn’t yet begun making a profit. The only answer was that the gold was coming from elsewhere!

Nie Yan thought for a moment. Since they were family, there was no harm in letting Ah Chen know. "I have 6 auction houses, over 30 shops, and 50 plots of land.” As for the Union of Assassins and the Super Trade Channel, those didn’t count as properties.

Ah Chen’s eyes widened like saucers plates, only recovering from his shock after a long time. "Holy crap, that many!?” They had spent a fortune just to acquire a single auction house and a few shops and plots of land. But Nie Yan actually had acquired far more by himself. This was simply too shocking!

Chapter 319 - Laying Cards Out on the Table

Father Nie had been eavesdropping on Nie Yan and Ah Chen’s conversation while pretending to be busily chatting with the people around him. His hand which was holding his teacup trembled, unable to conceal the shock in his heart. 6 auction houses, over 30 shops, and 50 plots of land, he never thought Nie Yan would own so many properties. Just how high was their total valuation? None of the people present could give an estimate.

The War God Tribe had exhausted all their connections and paid a sky-high price just to acquire a single auction house in Nisode City. Father Nie understood just how difficult it was to obtain an auction house in Conviction. Even plots of land and shops were listed up in the Credit Exchange for sums scarce few people could afford.

Father Nie gazed at Nie Yan with an expression of pride and gratification.

The people seated near Father Nie were his trusted confidantes. As for who was trustworthy and who was not, Nie Yan who had returned to the past could tell at a glance. Fortunately, Luo Ming and those relatives were booted to the curb. Otherwise, he wouldn’t so casually reveal his identity as Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame. Just what kind of consequences would there be if this information was leaked to the outside? He didn’t dare to imagine.

The people close to Father Nie were all trustworthy.

Nie Yan looked around. His mother, Lin Ya, and the others were still recovering from their shock. None of them could have imagined he would have such achievements in Conviction!

"None of you are to reveal Little Yan’s identity inside Conviction or anything related to him to the outside. Otherwise, I’m sure you're all aware of the consequences,” Father Nie declared in an imposing tone after sweeping his eyes over his employees. Drastic measures had to be taken to ensure the confidentiality of this piece of explosive knowledge.

"Yes, Chairman!” everyone agreed in unison.

None of them dared to oppose Father Nie. Just like in the previous timeline, his word was absolute law in the company.

"Tell us. How much gold do your auction houses bring in every day? It’ll better help us draw up a development plan for the War God Tribe if we know.” Ah Chen nudged Nie Yan with his elbow.

Not just Ah Chen, but everyone wanted to know the answer. As more of Nie Yan’s foundation came to light, it became increasingly difficult to suppress the shock within their hearts.

Nie Yan had already become the focal point of attention. Everyone was eagerly awaiting his answer. The earlier heavy atmosphere had lightened considerably.

Everyone was previously anxious about the War God Tribe’s future. If they couldn’t find a reliable source of gold, they would have no choice but to continue hemorrhaging funds to purchase some at a marked up rate. Not to mention they were all alone. Whether or not they could truly rise up and sweep away the competition in Nisode City still remained to be seen.

This was a huge risk! If the company suffered a crushing setback while expanding their virtual business, all the money they invested would go down the drain!

But now, it felt as though a weight had been lifted from their shoulders. With Nie Yan’s support, what did the War God Tribe have to fear? Conquering Nisode City would no longer be a problem. Their rise to glory was imminent!

In the previous timeline, the War God Tribe had still risen to prominence thanks to the perseverance of Father Nie. It was only after they encountered Victorious Return later on that they suffered a series of crushing setbacks. Nie Yan’s actions had changed history. With the threat of Victorious Return neutralized, the War God Tribe would have even brighter prospects!

Looking at the crowd’s anticipation-filled gazes, then back at his parents, Nie Yan straightened his posture.

"Three of the six auction houses I own are located in Calore. They are the Central Auction House, the Mercenary Auction House, and the Northern Auction House. The other three are the Zeran Auction House, the Waker Auction House, and the Westbell Auction House in Nisode City. As for my shops, you might have heard of my famous one since it recently gained a bit of attention. It’s called the Starry Night Potion Shop. We’ve opened many branches across the Viridian Empire. My other shops like the Crafting Material Shop and Tinkerer Shop have yet to expand to such a scale. But we aren’t lacking talent, so I expect them to develop smoothly as well…” Nie Yan listed off all his businesses in Conviction.

The more everyone listened, the more fearful they became. Of the auction houses mentioned, which one wasn’t eyed like a thick slab of meat by countless financial groups? Their value several years down the line would be incalculable! All of these golden geese had surprisingly been snatched away by Nie Yan. He controlled more than 60% of the assets in Calore and Nisode City! This sort of capital was enough to throw down with even the largest of heavyweights. Additionally, he tried to downplay the fact that he was the owner of the Starry Night Potion Shop. However, its current growth was nothing short of astonishing! There were no less than several dozen branches opened across every major city, all of which were in prime real estate locations. What’s more, they were still feverishly recruiting! Waves of Alchemists flocked to join under the banner of the Starry Night Potion Shop. No one would be surprised if it became the largest potion shop chain in the entire Viridian Empire! It was extremely valuable just by itself!

For a single person to be behind all these things, it was simply too frightening!

"With Little Yan here, the War God Tribe can expand worry-free.” Lin Ya smiled. His old comrade’s son had grown up. He also felt gratified.

Nie Yan glanced at the people by his father’s side. They no longer dared to regard him as as a useless brat. They had met him several times in the past. But since he appeared quite ordinary, they had somewhat looked down on him. The only thing they feared about him was his identity as the chairman’s son. But now, they looked at him in a new light. Everything he achieved in Conviction was gained through hard work alone! Nothing was given to him by his parents. Without any real ability, it was impossible to establish powerhouses like Asskickers United and the Starry Night Potion Shop, let alone snatch away so many auction houses and plots of land right under the noses of countless financial groups.

"A tiger father will not beget a dog son. Who knew the chairman’s son was so amazing?”

"Right? I wish my son was even half as capable.”

Father Nie was filled with satisfaction after hearing the numerous compliments aimed at his son.

Nie Yan had never gotten the respect of these people in the previous timeline. They had mocked him countless times for his incompetence and mediocrity. From this day forward, he would no longer be seen as a wastrel!

Seeing the reverence in the eyes of these people, Nie Yan sighed with emotion. A person required ability to be acknowledged. And nothing could better convince them than his reputation as Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame!

Nie Yan held his head up high, his heart brimming with pride. All of Conviction was his stage!

"I’d also like to mention Asskickers United previously received an investment from the Dragonsoar Financial Group in exchange for 30% of our shares. However, I still hold absolute leadership in the guild. As for our strength, I don’t think I need to speak on it. Furthermore, I control a majority stake in both Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine. So if the War God Tribe requires it, I can mobilize the strength of all three guilds,” Nie Yan said. These three guilds could clear away all the obstacles in the War God Tribe’s path!

Nie Yan dropped another huge bomb, causing everyone to feel light-headed. Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine were also famous guilds. Although they were overshadowed by the brilliance of Asskickers United, they were still untouchable existences in the minds of players! But it suddenly came to light that these guilds actually fell under his control? This information was too shocking!

Calore, the capital of the Viridian Empire, was Nie Yan’s domain. It was a place where he could call the clouds, summon the rain, and blot out the sky with a wave of his hand!

Who in Calore could possibly oppose Nie Yan?

Heaven Breaker? Nightbreak Trickster? All of them were beaten into retreat!

Calore was Nie Yan’s backyard!

Father Nie and company were still digesting the information. It took them a long while to recover from their shock.

"Aside from these three guilds, I also control a professional player organization called the Union of Assassins, which currently has over 30,000 members. Although it isn’t the same as a guild, they can still play a big role in the future if we mobilize them. That’s everything."

Everyone had already grown somewhat numb to the shock. But when Nie Yan informed them that the Union of Assassins also belonged to him, they were left reeling yet again.

This kind of strength was probably unrivalled in the entire Viridian Empire!

Everyone spiritedly discussed the matters Nie Yan revealed. It was hard to contain the excitement in their hearts. The future of the company looked brighter than ever. Their foray into the virtual reality business was guaranteed to be a success!

"From now on, Nie Yan will also be involved in the company's affairs. When I’m absent, he can speak on my behalf. His position is equal to mine!” Father Nie announced. His words were undoubtedly a show of acknowledgement. No matter how much money they earned, it was all for their son’s sake anyway. Since Nie Yan had shown such ability, he could feel at ease handing everything over.

With Father Nie’s words, Nie Yan’s status in the company instantly soared to the top!

Father Nie’s words held enormous weight. As soon as he made the announcement, everyone looked at Nie Yan with hints of flattery. In the future, the company would definitely be handed over to him. A single thought surfaced in their minds. If they wanted to continue working here, it was crucial to get into his good books!

Nie Yan was also taken aback. After thinking for a bit, he understood that his father was using this as a way for him to gain experience. His heart was moved. His father had never shown him this much approval in the previous timeline.

Chapter 320 – Surrender

Nie Yan revealed almost all of his assets, allowing everyone to feel a burst of reassurance. The future of the War God Tribe was no longer filled with uncertainties.

The female staff member named Little Su was still explaining the War God Tribe’s development plan. The people from the big gaming organizations below the stage, unaware of the Nie Yan’s big reveal, were starting to kick up a ruckus.

"What the fuck are we supposed to do without gold? What a waste of time! Everyone, let’s go,” a bald man in his 30s jeered.

"Right! How do you expect to develop a guild without gold!?”

One person after another expressed their dissatisfaction.

"A large company like this can’t even come up with 50,000 gold? What a joke,” a professional player in his 20s sneered.

The crowd started raising their voices. The heads of the five large gaming organizations didn’t speak up, but they shared the same concerns. They wanted to see how the company’s higher-ups would solve this problem.

Nie Yan’s gaze locked onto the five at the front. Just what are they discussing? He feared these fellows didn’t have the War God Tribe’s best interests at heart. The only thing keeping them here was the generous salary offer.

"Please, calm down.” Little Su clearly lacked experience as she struggled to quell the crowd. She was on the verge of bursting out in tears. So when she saw Father Nie signalling for her to come down, she breathed out a sigh of relief. "Sorry, everyone. We’ll address your concerns after a short break.”

Little Su quickly got off the stage as the crowd’s heckling grew even louder. Things were starting to go off kilter.

"Chairman.” Little Su bowed to Father Nie.

Father Nie nodded. "We’ve come up with a new development proposal. The previous one will be scrapped. Here, have a look.”

"Let me go up,” Nie Yan interrupted. Little Su lacked the necessary experience. Where she would probably fail to handle this matter adequately, he could succeed with ease. After all, it was his proposal. And having dealt with much bigger situations before, he felt confident in shutting down these troublemakers.

Nie Yan walked up to the front of the podium and swept his gaze over the crowd.

Following this, the people below revealed expressions of disdain.

"Don’t tell me you guys are short on staff too? You’re actually having a brat go up?” a professional player mocked.

The heads of Icewind, Azure Dragon, Thunder God, Nightmoon, and Blaze remained silent.

"What are they planning?” Azure Dragon’s owner lowered his head and asked.

"Who knows. Let’s keep watching,” Frozen Prose replied. Their real names had long since taken a backseat to their ingame aliases.

They couldn’t for the life of them understand why Nie Yan had got up on stage. He only appeared to be around 18 years old, his face containing hints of immaturity.

Nie Yan’s cold gaze swept over the audience.

"You, you, and you are all dismissed!” Nie Yan pointed at the troublemakers. He didn’t know if these fellows came here with malicious intent. But regardless, they couldn’t be allowed to stay.

"And who the hell are you supposed to be? Tell the person in charge to come out!” one of the troublemakers shouted in indignation.

At this moment, Father Nie stood up and said in a cold tone, "He is my son. His words represent mine.”

Since the chairman had spoken, the crowd had nothing to say. Some of the troublemakers kicked up an even bigger fuss but were still escorted out by security, kicking and screaming.

Nie Yan understood these people were most likely members from the large gaming organizations who wanted to put pressure on the War God Tribe.

After the troublemakers were given the boot, the audience finally settled down.

"The War God Tribe was just recently established and still has barely gotten off the ground. This much is true. Those of you who wish to leave, please do. We won’t bar your way! We don’t need troublemakers here. The door is right over there!” Nie Yan swept his gaze over the audience, briefly pausing on the five heads of the large gaming organizations.

The head of Thunder God stood up. He was a man in his early 30s. Dressed in a black blazer, he was tall and had sharp eyes with thick brows. His name was Zhang Song, a famous figure in the professional gaming circle. He was an Elementalist called Mad Thunder Blaze, and he was nicknamed Thunder God by the players. He had over 600 players in his gaming organization, all of whom were powerful experts. Beyond this, he was most well-known for his arrogance and explosive temper.

The War God Tribe had originally spent a great deal of effort to invite this fellow over, promising him all sorts of benefits. His arrogance created countless difficulties for the higher-ups. But for the sake of the guild’s development, they acquiesced to his every demand.

Players naturally flocked to strong guilds, whereas weak guilds would have to beg players to join.

"You snot-nosed brat. Your so-called War God Tribe can’t even do something as simple as gathering gold, lagging behind before you’re even out the gates. I’m declaring this now. If the War God Tribe becomes successful, I’ll eat my own words,” Zhang Song sneered. He turned to the heads of the other gaming organizations. "My apologies, everyone. I’ll be taking my leave.”

In the previous timeline, the War God Tribe was always deferential for the sake of their growth. No longer would this be the case! Those who lorded it all over the place would be booted without question! These types of people had egos that soared to the high heavens. If they weren’t quickly brought down a peg, they would be impossible to control in the future!

Nie Yan coldly laughed. "Trust me, that day will come, and it will arrive much sooner than you think. Not long from now, Nisode City will belong to the War God Tribe! By then, even if you fall to your knees and beg, you won’t be welcome!”

Zhang Song coldly harrumphed, then turned around and left. A dozen or so people in the audience also stood up and followed him out. Presumably, they were members of Thunder God.

Things settled down considerably after Zhang Song and his lackeys left the room. The heads of the other gaming organizations remained in their seats. They weren’t as bull-headed as Zhang Song. Each of them was offered a generous salary for joining the War God Tribe. Why would they unnecessarily throw something like that away?

If it were the past, the higher-ups would definitely be panicking at the sight of Zhang Song bringing his people away. The War God Tribe was lacking gold, so all they could do was offer higher salaries and think of any means possible to get these people to stay. All else could wait. But now, the circumstances were different. They had the backing of Asskickers United. With a steady source of gold, they could raise incentives for joining. After which players would come flocking to their door. Headhunt a few powerful experts on top of that, and the War God Tribe would quickly grow to become a powerful guild.

With the crowd finally quiet, Nie Yan looked around at everyone. "Now, I think everyone still here should be planning to stay and help develop the War God Tribe. As long as you have the guild’s back, we’ll have yours. I’m sure you’ve already discussed the issue of salary, so I’ll just focus on the guild’s development.”

When he mentioned the word development, the few remaining whispered conversations died down as everyone’s attention locked onto Nie Yan. If the situation was still as dire as Little Su had described, with the guild bottlenecked by a lack of gold, they would be pretty disgruntled. If the War God Tribe didn’t have enough ingame currency, and couldn’t even provide their elites with the most basic requirement of mounts, what development was there to speak of?

"Regarding the development of the War God Tribe, we’ll be providing an initial investment of 60,000 gold to outfit everyone with mounts, followed by a weekly injection of 30,000 gold. Furthermore, we’ll be allying with Asskickers United over in Calore. Each and every one of you will also receive a 5% discount when purchasing items at any branch of the Starry Night Potion Shop. The War God Tribe is currently recruiting many gaming organizations. I predict we’ll have 10 to 20 more top ranked gaming organizations in the country joining us a little further down the line. Our current goal is to capture two or three strongholds from the guilds under the Tuoba Family’s control within a week,” Nie Yan announced. He appeared cool, confident, and at ease while speaking on the podium.

After hearing his words, everyone in the audience, including Icewind and the other large gaming organization heads, were in shock. The War God Tribe was actually so filthy rich, directly investing 60,000 gold and an additional 30,000 gold every week on top of that? This was unthinkable. Except for a handful of the most wealthy consortiums, no one could gather so much gold! The War God Tribe had found a secure channel to acquire gold? This was a major surprise, but even though they had some doubts in their hearts, they knew that there was no reason for such a wealthy company to lie to them. Having already spent so much money, ruining their reputation would only bring unnecessary harm.

With so much funding, not to mention after recruiting so many gaming organizations, it would be a joke to think the War God Tribe would fail! Zhang Song would definitely regret the words he spoke today!

The previously contempt and uninterested expressions in their eyes disappeared. They were now seriously listening to Nie Yan. To gather so much gold in such a short amount of time, this person’s connections were definitely shocking. This wasn’t something that could be bought with money! The War God Tribe had just been established, but it had already formed an alliance with the mighty Asskickers United, not to mention receiving a deal from the owner of the Starry Night Potion Shop. These were all major powerhouses! They couldn’t help but wonder what sort of background this company possessed.

No one had the nerve to cause any more trouble. Thinking back to what just happened a moment ago, everyone broke into a cold sweat. Which large financial group or company didn’t possess powerful influences behind the scenes? If they had really kicked up a ruckus a minute ago, that would’ve been like courting death!

Nie Yan didn’t overlook anything while explaining the War God Tribe’s development plan. He calmly swept his gaze over the audience as if he were a god high atop the clouds looking down on the world. Then again, considering his status in Conviction, he was genuinely qualified to look down on these people!

Chapter 321 – Daze

It was rumoured that this company ran a metal business, smuggling ores into the country with the military’s backing. The heads of the gaming organizations originally didn’t pay much attention to these rumours. But thinking about it now, their minds descended into shock.

They looked up at Nie Yan, their expressions completely different. Their gazes were now full of resolve.

After Nie Yan got off the stage, Little Su stepped in to replace him. She began explaining the finer details of the War God Tribe’s development plan. The audience was much more receptive to her words compared to before.

"I didn’t know you were such a charismatic speaker!” Ah Chen teased when Nie Yan returned.

Nie Yan faked a laugh, but inwardly thought, after so many years of experience, how could something as insignificant as this rattle me?

Father Nie faintly nodded. Nie Yan’s performance had thoroughly satisfied him. My son has grown up. He continued to chat with the group for a while before something occurred to him. "Wait, son, doesn’t the Tuoba Family own the Nisode auction houses you mentioned?” Father Nie asked.

Nie Yan began explaining how he acquired the auction houses as well as the Tuoba Family’s internal turmoil. All signs pointed toward Tuoba Time preparing to take action against Tuoba Hongye!

Father Nie thought of something. He looked toward the back of the crowd and ordered, "Little Li, give me an updated report on the Tuoba Family’s situation.”

"The Tuoba Family controls a total of seven companies. They’ve recently encountered some financial problems due to the Century Financial Group attempting a hostile takeover of two of their companies. Tuoba Hongye and Tuoba Fengyuan are currently scrambling to stop this by dumping shares into their less important companies and liquidating their assets…”

With the Tuoba Family and Century Financial Group going at each other so fiercely, there were definitely sharks circling around, smelling the stench of blood.

"It’s a good opportunity.” Father Nie’s eyes lit up. With Nie Yan settling the War God Tribe’s gold problems, they had a huge surplus of real world capital to invest. Why not take this opportunity to fish in troubled waters? Who knew what kind of benefits they could reap from this struggle between two large financial groups, especially if they played their cards right!

While Father Nie went to arrange these things, Nie Yan remained to delegate some of the War God Tribe’s more pressing matters.

When everything was settled, the day was almost over. It appeared Nie Yan had unwittingly played hooky all day. However, it couldn’t be helped. He drove home. After dinner, he would log back into Conviction.

…

Huahai High School.

The day had passed in the blink of an eye. As the sun set, the final rays of orange light shone through the classroom windows.

Xie Yao sat in her seat, staring at the empty desk beside her. Every time she noticed the void where he should be, she felt a sense of loss. When she logged off, she had been quite annoyed with him. However, when he didn’t show up at school, the annoyance in her heart slowly faded away, leaving behind only emptiness.

Xie Yao absent-mindedly glanced out the window.

"Xie Yao, school’s over. Let’s go.” Xia Ling walked over.

"Hmm? Oh, alright. Let me pack my things.” Xie Yao snapped out of her daze and began tidying up her desk.

Xia Ling looked at Xie Yao with a teasing smile on her face. "Nie Yan didn’t come today?”

"Yeah.” Xie Yao nodded.

"That’s too bad. He usually walks you to your car at the end of the day,” Xia Ling quipped.

Xie Yao took one last glance at Nie Yan’s computer, her emotions in turmoil. "Let’s go.”

Seeing Xie Yao’s moody expression, Xia Ling quickly changed the subject.

At this time, a young man in a white tracksuit walked over to the two girls. It was Liu Rui. The bruises on his face were already healed, and he appeared quite dashing.

"Oh my! Liu Rui, you’re back? How’s your face? Nothing wrong, right?” Xia Ling feigned pleasant surprise, her voice carrying a noticeable hint of sarcasm. Truthfully, she couldn’t stand the guy. She used to think he was alright. But with Nie Yan’s appearance, his shortcomings became all the more apparent. He was far too arrogant, his ego bruised over the smallest of things. Even though Nie Yan was far from being flawless, he was much more pleasing to the eye.

"I’m doing fine. Yao Yao1, it’s been too long!” Liu Rui hid his embarrassment and greeted Xie Yao.

"Mhm.” Xie Yao nodded. She wore an indifferent expression.

"Are you still playing Conviction? How strong are you now? I’ve recently hit Level 42 and outfitted myself with a full set of Gold-grade equipment,” Liu Rui proudly announced. "I’ll take you levelling with me in Grand Drum Gill. it’s a Level 45 map! But don’t worry, I’ve convinced some of my brothers in Victorious Return to take us. We’ll level up really fast!” he said enthusiastically. He hadn’t seen Xie Yao in Conviction in a long time, so he had no idea what her current level was.

"Pfft!” Xia Ling involuntarily giggled. Liu Rui really was a frog living at the bottom of a well. Xie Yao was currently Level 47, and she was decked out in top quality Level 45 Gold-grade equipment, with even a few pieces of Dark Gold-grade equipment mixed in.

Liu Rui furrowed his brows, rather displeased by Xia Ling’s response. However, Xie Yao was right there, and the girls were close friends, so he wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Don’t mind me. I’m just thinking of something else.” Xia Ling waved her hand while stifling her laughter.

"Sure, I’ll tag along. But can I invite a friend?” Xie Yao replied after suddenly having a mischievous idea. It was about time Nie Yan got out of the Crystal Caverns. She wondered just what kind of reaction Liu Rui would have when he met Nie Yan’s character inside the game. Stupefied? Scared silly?

"Is your friend a guy or a girl? If it’s a girl, my brothers will certainly welcome her,” Liu Rui joked with what he thought was a bright and sunny smile.

"Sorry, I’ll have to disappoint them. It’s a guy,” Xie Yao replied insipidly.

Liu Rui’s smile froze on his face, but he forced a new one on in a pretentious show of generosity. "That’s also fine. What level is this guy?”

"I think he’s Level 30 something.”

"Oh? That’s a bit low. I don’t know if my brothers will be willing to take him. But don’t worry, it should be fine if I talk to them.” Liu Rui patted his chest.

"Then we’ll have to trouble you. Where should we meet up?” Xie Yao asked, mentally rubbing her hands and cackling maniacally. Someone actually wanted to help powerlevel Nirvana Flame? And even thought his level was too low for their standards? Ha!

"Let’s meet 30 minutes after the server opens. How about Calore’s east entrance?” Liu Rui suggested.

Xia Ling was inwardly dying from laughter to the side. Xie Yao was simply too mean! She was normally gentle and refined. But she was perfectly capable of concocting up some devious schemes.

"Xie Yao, let me send you off.” Liu Rui glanced at Xia Ling. He wanted to get rid of this unwanted third wheel and spend some quality time with Xie Yao.

"It’s more exciting if everyone goes together.” Xie Yao grabbed Xia Ling’s hand. "Xia Ling, let’s go!”

The two girls walked out the classroom, happily chatting away.

"Little Yue said she’s coming back to see us.”

"Really? When?”

"I don’t know. I heard she’s been very busy helping at her family’s company. She’s only able to come online every once in a while.”

Xie Yao and Xia Ling gossiped happily while Liu Rui quietly tagged behind. He was effectively turned into the third wheel. His expression was dark because his underlings had kept him updated on everything that happened in school, especially anything related to Xie Yao. She had been spending a lot of time alone with Nie Yan, and she was always smiling when they were together. It had caused a feeling of unease to sprout in his heart. He was intimidated by Nie Yan’s talent and ability. He only dared to show himself today because he heard Nie Yan was absent.

"I’m going home now,” Xie Yao bid farewell to Xia Ling as she got in her family car. She didn’t spare Liu Rui so much as a glance.

Liu Rui got the message of Xie Yao’s cold shoulder loud and clear. Stupid bitch! You’re nothing but a pretty face. What’s there to be so arrogant about? He was more interested in her wealth than anything else. The world was full of beauties. He could easily pick them out as he pleased.

…

As Nie Yan drove home from his parents’ company, Xie Yao’s dial tone began playing on his phone.

He pressed the answer button, and Xie Yao’s beautiful face showed up on screen. What made him almost veer off the road, however, was the fact that she was lying on a couch in a lacy pink nightgown. The tantalizing sleeveless outfit, decorated with cute polka-dots, revealed her jade-white arms all the way up to her alluring shoulders. Her pretty cheeks were dazzling, with a slightly shy blush that made her appear somewhat drunk. Xie Yao looked charmingly naive, her tight skirt and protruding chest exposing hints of white skin on both sides.

Nie Yan racked his brain, but couldn’t fathom why Xie Yao would wear such a sexy outfit to video call him. Nevertheless, his eyes were immediately glued onto the screen and refused to look away.

Xie Yao looked at Nie Yan’s face through the video screen, her pulse racing. Her face blazed as she felt his gaze roaming her body. A strange feeling arose in her heart, and she suddenly felt ashamed of the bold whimsy that led to this scene. Nie Yan had been gone for just a day, yet she already felt empty inside as if she were incomplete. She had no idea when she had become so reliant on Nie Yan.

Her parents had gone on vacation and wouldn’t be back for months. Being home alone, her sense of loss had bred a fervent desire to call Nie Yan.

「Nie Yan, why didn’t you come to school today?」She finally mustered up the courage to start a conversation.

「Something came up at my parents’ company, so I went over to help out,」Nie Yan explained. Xie Yao’s sincere concern made him feel incredibly touched. This was the first time he had felt so close to the goddess of his heart. This video call connected them to each other much deeper than ever before.

Looking at Xie Yao gave Nie Yan a feeling that an entire lifetime had passed since he’d seen her. Her sexy yet charming figure seemed too picturesque, almost like a porcelain doll. Nie Yan’s affections from both lifetimes merged together, everlasting yet impossibly distant.

「Anything happen at school?」

「Not much. Liu Rui finally came back to school today. It seems he made a full recovery.」

Nie Yan’s eyes glinted with a sharp light as he calculated how much time had passed. That kid should’ve recovered long ago, but he only returned the one day I’m not there? Hmph! Does he think people won’t see through the coincidence?

1. This is not her IGN. Repeating a person’s "first” name twice is used as a term of endearment in Chinese.

Chapter 322 – Placing Bounties

Nie Yan had instilled a deep sense of dread into Liu Rui during their spar. He didn’t dare to show his face at school when Nie Yan was there.

As Nie Yan and Xie Yao chatted, the topic eventually drifted over to Conviction.

「Xie Yao, have you heard of Conviction?」Nie Yan asked.「We could play together some time.」It would be great if Xie Yao played Conviction. That way they could spend even more time together.

「Of course! But I’m busy with a quest right now. How about we play later?」Xie Yao really wanted to tell Nie Yan she was Yao Yao, but she still managed to keep her lips tightly sealed. She planned to delay the reveal for a little longer.

「Mhm… Just let me know when you want to meet up.」Nie Yan nodded.

「I need to go to the bathroom. Nie Yan, let’s chat again some other time,」Xie Yao said. With Nie Yan’s scorching hot gaze staring at her through the video screen, she could no longer endure that peculiar feeling in her heart.

「Alright.」

「Goodbye, Nie Yan.」

「Take care.」Nie Yan hung up the call with a hint of disappointment, wondering when he could see this seductive and bashful side of Xie Yao again.

Nie Yan realized his relationship with Xie Yao had progressed much further than it ever had in the previous timeline. Love couldn’t be rushed. It had to be nurtured one step at a time. Didn’t the fact that she was comfortable enough video calling him with such a risque appearance represent that he held a special place in her heart?

Xie Yao’s appearance in her nightgown was just as alluring as her mature businesswoman self in the previous timeline, but with added hints of youthful immaturity. Her flushed red cheeks which didn’t settle down even after a long time resembled an early morning rose, brimming with a captivating vitality.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan’s mind turned chaotic.

Nie Yan finished dinner and jumped back into Conviction. Everyone had already cleared their red names. They used their Return Scrolls and teleported to Glory City.

Nie Yan and the others emerging from the Glory City transfer area immediately stirred up waves of commotion. The conflict between Asskickers United and Bloodlust Blades had long since been publicized. Everyone knew they were forced to retreat into the Crystal Caverns after being chased by the forces of Bloodlust Blades. Who would’ve expected all of them to make it out alive? These players from Asskickers United were truly a godly bunch.

Nie Yan’s group emerging from the Crystal Caverns without so much as a scratch was a fierce slap to the face of Bloodlust Blades. A group of players from a rival guild had run amok in their territory and still managed to escape safely. What face did Bloodlust Blades have left?

News of Nie Yan and the others’ return immediately spread out like wildfire, mostly thanks to the efforts of the smaller guilds which were repeatedly stepped on by Bloodlust Blades. They posted a thread with a provocative title on the Glory City section of the forums:「Bloodlust Blades can’t even guard their own territory! What right do they have to be called the top guild in Glory City?」

Of course they were only throwing a little bit of dirty water. None of them dared to actually oppose Bloodlust Blade which held an unshakeable position in Glory City.

Nie Yan and the others strolled around Glory City for a bit, just to rub it in the faces of Bloodlust Blades some more, before returning to the transfer area and teleporting back to Calore.

After a while, Ah Chen contacted Nie Yan.

「Where are you?」Ah Chen asked.

「I’m near the entrance of the Calore Central Auction House,」Nie Yan replied. He first had to deliver the gold to Ah Chen.

Nie Yan patiently waited at the Central Auction House. It had become several times more spacious since he upgraded it to Tier 7. It appeared quite magnificent with walls constructed out of white stone, 30 meter tall pillars supporting the ceiling, and a long flight of steps which led from the entrance to the square below. A player looking at it would be filled with a sense of grandeur.

The Central Auction House was bustling with activity. Numerous players walked up and down the steps every minute.

This entire place is mine! Nie Yan couldn’t help but well up with pride. His achievements in this life were nothing short of extraordinary!

Before long, Ah Chen arrived at the coordinates Nie Yan gave him.

Nie Yan recognized Ah Chen at a glance. His IGN was still Don’t Call Me Bro Chen like in the previous timeline.

Ah Chen stood in front of Nie Yan in a daze for what seemed like an eternity. Even though he knew the player before him was his cousin, he didn’t dare to speak up because he still found all this hard to believe.

"I brought the 60,000 gold with me. Let me trade you,” Nie Yan finally spoke up after noticing Ah Chen fidgeting around nervously for the longest time.

Nie Yan sent a trade request.

"Holy crap! It really is you, kiddo! I was afraid I made a mistake!” Ah Chen patted Nie Yan’s shoulder. He finally relaxed, returning to his usual carefree self. Nie Yan was a legendary figure in Conviction, an existence that all players revered. To be cousins with such a person, he worried he was dreaming.

Nie Yan smiled. Now this is the Ah Chen I know!

Nie Yan put 60,000 gold into the trade window.

"60,000 gold, a 6 followed by four 0’s! This is my first time seeing so much gold!” Ah Chen exclaimed. The War God Tribe had never gathered so much gold at once despite pouring in a fortune. The few thousand gold they did manage to acquire every now and then would be instantly spent developing the guild.

The reason the War God Tribe’s development had stalled wasn’t that they lacked funding, but rather a channel to purchase gold. They couldn’t find any gold farming groups that hadn’t already sold their services to others. As for establishing their own, that was still a work-in-progress.

The establishment of a gold farming group was different from that of a guild. Generally, only wealthy financial groups could establish gold farming groups. The players that worked in them were usually poor, receiving a daily wage of 50 credits on average. They were provided replaceable equipement and ordered to farm low-level mobs every day. They made the rest of their money by selling the gold and equipment they collected to their employers at market rate.

Gold farmers generally picked melee classes since they required fewer consumables. At most, they might eat the cheapest loaf of bread to recover their health faster, allowing them to get back to the endless grind. This was the life of a gold farmer. It was monotonous and tedious, with little to no variation. But many people still chose to this kind of work to make a living.

In the previous timeline, the War God Tribe had tens of thousands of gold farmers working under them. It took Father Nie an exuberant amount of time and resources to establish this gold farming group.

The War God Tribe would always be short on gold without their own gold farming group. Only after establishing one would they become self-sufficient. Nie Yan’s aid was only a temporary solution to their problem.

"I’ll send someone over to the auction house you own in Nisode City and have them connect it to the Super Trade Channel. You should see sales increase by quite a bit,” Nie Yan said. Like this, the Super Trade Channel would comprise eight auction houses and enjoy a monopoly in both Calore and Nisode City!

Nie Yan confirmed the trade with Ah Chen.

"About the auction house, send that person over to talk to me. One more thing, do you have any equipment to spare? Our treasury is basically empty.”

"No problem, I’ll immediately send some over,” Nie Yan said. He could probably spare around 30,000 pieces of equipment. Asskickers United’s treasury was practically bursting at the seams. Taking out 30,000 pieces of equipment wouldn’t be a problem. If he wanted to take out more, he would have to receive the permission of the Dragonsoar Financial Group.

"It seems things will be smooth sailing from now on,” Ah Chen happily said. All the conditions were met. The War God Tribe’s rise was imminent! Just as he finished speaking, he received a call from guild headquarters. "It seems like there’s business for me to take care of. We’re still a new guild, you know. I’ll be taking my leave. Come visit us in Nisode City some time!”

"Alright.” Nie Yan nodded.

Nie Yan ordered his subordinates to take care of some things related to the War God Tribe. Just at this moment, he received a piece of news from Guo Huai.

「Check the Calore section of the forums!」

He immediately opened the forums, where he found a post in the Calore boards that dampened his mood considerably.

Bloodlust Blades declares war on Asskickers United! You will be rewarded 2 gold for every member of Asskickers United killed.

Kill Count: 32

The kill count was rapidly rising.

A reward of 2 gold was already incredible, and that was just for killing an ordinary member. A top ranking member would give even more gold, with Nie Yan’s bounty at the very top. He was worth over 5,000 gold!

After doing some calculations, if Bloodlust Blades wished to kill all 60,000 members of Asskickers United, they would have to spend roughly 200,000 gold! What lavish spending!

Aside from investing a bit of gold, Bloodlust Blades suffered no losses. This announcement was made on the Calore forum boards in any case. They could simply sit back, relax, and enjoy the show all the way from Glory City.

Seeing this announcement, Nie Yan boiled with anger. Asskickers United wouldn’t take this lying down! For Bloodlust Blades to be willing to part with so much gold, who knew how much money the Century Financial Group had invested.

"Want to see who has deeper pockets? Let me show you!” Nie Yan snarled. He immediately thought of the Union of Assassins. It had currently developed to the point where they had over 30,000 professional players, including some of the best in the business.

Nie Yan wrote an announcement in the Union of Assassins.

You will be rewarded 2 gold for every member of Bloodlust Blades you kill. There is no upper limit.

This announcement was a golden opportunity for these professional players. It was the same reward, but the players of Bloodlust Blades were much easier to deal with than those in Asskickers United. They would naturally pick the easier of the two.

Chapter 323 – Awed

Countless players applied to Asskickers United every day, but only a tiny fraction of them were accepted due to the stringent screening process. This was why Asskickers United had far fewer members than other major guilds. But what they lacked in numbers they made up for in quality. Every member of Asskickers United was an elite. So other than experts, ordinary players generally weren’t a match for them.

It remained to be seen whether the bounty notice Bloodlust Blades put up would have any effect. But with such high rewards offered, it would undoubtedly tempt many players.

With Bloodlust Blades acting so aggressively, Nie Yan obviously had to fight back with even greater ferocity. In the previous timeline, he had been repeatedly hunted down by major guilds, especially the five under Cao Xu’s command. He was absolutely reviled by them, because he often popped up out of nowhere to launch sneak attacks and kill their players. With his hit-and-run tactics, he had killed hundreds of their guild members, an extraordinary accomplishment that had garnered their hatred. Of course, such a deed had its price: he had died five times during his ambushes. Because of this, Nie Yan absolutely abhorred this kind of large-scale bounty hunting. Now that he had the money, he would definitely take back every inch of skin he had lost!

This sort of bounty notice was a war of resources, a competition to see who had more gold.

Nie Yan added further details to the bounty notice he released in the Union of Assassins. The reward would differ depending on the player’s level. The higher the level, the better the reward. The leadership and strongest members had larger bounties put on their heads, upwards of several hundred gold. Bloodlust Mad Blade was at the very top with 3,000 gold. Level 30 or below players netted no reward because Bloodlust Blades didn’t accept anyone that weak. The vast majority of their players were around Level 35. Killing the same player repeatedly would net diminished rewards: 2 gold for the first time, 1 gold for the second, 50 silver for the third, and so on. Furthermore, the reward for killing a red named player and making them drop all their equipment was 5 gold. A kill didn’t count if the nearby enemy Priests weren’t all eliminated.

When Nie Yan passed down this bounty notice to the Union of Assassin, it immediately garnered the attention of the entire organization. Such high rewards were extremely enticing, much more lucrative than the usual leveling missions.

The Union of Assassins had gathered professional players from all across the nation. All of them showed great interest in the mission. The transfer points in Calore lit up brilliantly as waves of professional players flocked to Glory City.

It was impossible to predict how much success the Union of Assassins would have. But one thing was certain. The vast majority of professional players were highly skilled experts. Nie Yan’s bounty notice even caused some professional players who joined Asskickers United to depart for Glory City.

It would take a while for the Union of Assassins to show some results. Meanwhile, back on the thread Bloodlust Blades issued out on the forums, the kill count was still rapidly rising. Over 300 players from Asskickers United had already been killed. Bloodlust blades was only required to pay out 600 gold for this while Asskickers United had suffered several thousand gold in damages. Seeing how effective it was, Bloodlust Blades issued out the bounty notice in every city’s forum.

Nie Yan quickly issued out an order for the players of Asskickers United to conceal their identities while going out levelling.

Even Asskickers United couldn’t deal with being pursued by so many ordinary players!

Nie Yan also released the bounty notice he put on Bloodlust Blades out to the public.

The two guilds entered a war of attrition as gold flowed out like water, seeing which side could hold out the longest.

Nie Yan didn’t know if Asskickers United’s finances could support this war for very long. The entire guild nervously got to work, preparing for any dangers that might arise.

All the players in the Viridian Empire could smell the gunpowder in the air. The forums were full of heated discussion regarding the conflict.

「I think Bloodlust Blades is only pulling this kind of gambit because they want to reclaim some face for the ruckus Asskickers United caused in Glory City.」

「Who do you guys think will win?」

「I don’t know. But if I had to pick a side, I would go after the players from Bloodlust Blades. I’m not willing to antagonize Asskickers United. I heard they’re all quite ruthless. With a single word in their guild chat, you’ll be instantly swarmed by thousands of their players. That kind of guild unity is too terrifying.」

「It’s hard to say. Bloodlust Blades is really wealthy. They already have six strongholds, three of which are up and running while the other three are still under construction. I heard the Century Financial Group gave them a ton of money. Not to mention they have virtually no rivals in Glory City, so they grow unimpeded. Each one of their members have a lot of gold. If we’re comparing resources, Asskickers United isn’t necessarily a match for Bloodlust Blades.」

…

Out of these numerous discussions, two consensuses were reached. The first was that if this conflict lasted for more than 20 days, Asskickers United and Bloodlust Blades would have to personally get involved. The other was that from the very beginning, Bloodlust Blades planned to see this war of attrition against Asskickers United through to the very end!

Which side was going to collapse first?

Nie Yan thought for a moment. If this conflict was going to last beyond a few days, he would have no choice but to prepare a few countermeasures to subsidize the cost, such as expanding Asskickers United’s funding source, acquiring a few more strongholds, and expanding his businesses.

While Nie Yan was handling a few administrative affairs in the auction house, he received a message from Yao Yao. After reading it, he rushed over to Calore’s east entrance.

…

Calore’s east entrance.

This was a wide open street with store fronts lining both sides. There were all kinds of shops selling a large variety of items, such as potions, equipment, and so on. The number of people who passed through the east entrance were numerous, flowing in and out like a continuous stream.

Five youths were gathered here. There were four guys and a girl. One of them was Liu Rui. They were currently chatting while waiting. Liu Rui was a Level 42 Arcane Mage called Sky Piercer. As for the others, one was Level 43, two were Level 44, and one was Level 45. They were considered some of the strongest among ordinary players. There were two Warriors, one Priest, and two Mages. All their equipment was Level 40 Gold-grade. Of course, none of them wore sets.

"God damnit, Sky Piercer, your girlfriend sure is full of herself. She’s made us wait for this long!” a young man who looked like a thug exclaimed. He was called Sky Pivot. He and Liu Rui had met at a bar. He was the type who wandered the streets late at night.

"What level is your girlfriend?” the short girl in the group asked. Her face was pretty, but she was short and chubby, making for a weird contrast. She was called Heavenly Silk.

"I think she’s around Level 35. Her friend is also Level 30 something,” Liu Rui replied. From his memory, Xie Yao’s skills weren’t half bad. But compared to Victorious Return elites like them, she was far too lacking. After all, he was ranked in the top 100 players of all of Victorious Return! This position was a huge source of pride and something he had always liked to show off. Among his classmates, there was no one better than him!

"So low? Don’t invite trash like that over next time. All they do is sit around and leech experience. If it wasn’t for us giving you face, we wouldn’t even bother bringing her along. Not to mention she’s inviting another guy with her,” Sky Pivot said with great annoyance.

"Xie Yao is my woman. If the levelling is too slow, I’ll make it up to you guys some other time. As for the guy she invited, we can think of a way to get rid of him,” Liu Rui said. He didn’t know who Xie Yao invited, but because it was a guy, there was no need to be hospitable.

"It’s fine, we’re doing this for you after all. Otherwise, we wouldn’t bother bringing them along.” Sky Pivot’s eyes lit up as he feigned compromise after hearing Liu Rui’s words.

"I understand, thank you Seventh Bro,” Liu Rui said in a fawning tone.

The group waited for a long time. Just when they were about to break out in curses, they saw Xie Yao walking towards them from the distance.

Xie Yao wore whites robes and held an azure staff in her hand. She was beautiful and elegant, resembling a goddess who had descended down to earth. She didn’t carry the slightest bit of arrogance. All of the players on the streets halted in their tracks to stare after her. When their gazes fell on her face, it was difficult to look away.

Sky Pivot and the other guys felt their breathing turn ragged. Xie Yao carried a type of noble air around her. Even for people like them, who had seen their fair share of beauties, their hearts were still moved. They inwardly muttered, I’ll be damned. That kid’s luck with women isn’t half bad.

Seeing the tall and beautiful beyond compare Xie Yao, Heavenly Silk felt an intense surge of jealousy. In front of this dazzling beauty, she immediately felt her own radiance dim to nothing. She felt like she was the firefly’s glimmer to the radiance of a full moon, or rubble to fine jade.

Seeing Xie Yao walking over, Liu Rui happily went up and greeted, "Yao Yao, you’re here!” When he inspected her level, he petrified. He rubbed his eyes and checked again to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. She was Level 47!

At this moment, a hard to describe emotion surfaced in Liu Rui’s heart. He felt a sense of inferiority combined with shame welling up inside him. Previously, he had bragged to Xie Yao that he would take her levelling. But looking at the situation now, wasn’t it the other way around?

Looking at Xie Yao’s equipment, she was wearing the full Radiant Samsara Set, a top-tier Level 45 Gold-grade set. Even the strongest Holy Mage in Victorious Return, Fresh Fish, had only gathered three pieces of this set, a testament to its rarity.

At this time, Sky Pivot and the others also noticed Xie Yao’s level and equipment. They were stupefied.

What the hell!? Level 47 with the full Radiant Samsara Set, just where did this powerful woman pop up from!?

Sky Pivot stiffly turned to Liu Rui and asked with his voice a bit hoarse, "She’s Yao Yao? The one you want us to take levelling with?” He was already cursing in his heart. What the hell was that brat Liu Rui pulling!? A Level 47 player with the full Radiant Samsara Set was an unapproachable existence! Even if you gave them the most generous evaluation, there was still no way they could compare to her. Yet just a moment ago, they were calling her trash that could only leech experience?

Chapter 324 – Utterly Eclipsed

"Yao Yao, y-y-ou… When did you reach Level 47?” Liu Rui asked, practically dying from embarrassment. He had been bragging to Xie Yao all day about being Level 42 and wanting to take her levelling with him, only to discover that she was actually Level 47 with a full Radiant Samsara Set. He felt like a buffoon. He wanted to dig a hole and bury his head in the ground.

"I’ve been Level 47 for a week now. I was busy completing a quest called Karsi’s Blessing, so I had no time to level,” Xie Yao replied. Her cold and indifferent expression caused Liu Rui to become restless. An intense feeling of inferiority sprouted in his heart. He could accept being beaten by Nie Yan in a spar since losses occurred in competition. But now he was completely eclipsed by Xie Yao in terms of level and gear! He couldn’t even compare to a girl! What face did he have left?

Sky Pivot and his group were awed when Xie Yao mentioned Karsi’s Blessing. This was an incredibly difficult quest chain. Even their strongest Holy mage, Fresh Fish, failed to clear the first part!

Just obtaining the qualifications to attempt this quest was out of reach for the vast majority of players.

"God damn, what a powerful woman! She’s actually doing Karsi’s Blessing!” Sky Pivot restrained himself a little. It was highly likely such a skilled player had an equally powerful background. He didn’t wish to accidentally poke the bear.

The others also stepped off to the side. Liu Rui told them Xie Yao was his woman. But no matter how they looked at it, she didn’t seem to be.

"Yao Yao, I didn’t think your level was so high. I-”

"We aren’t that intimate. Please, call me Xie Yao,” Xie Yao interrupted.

"But, our families are long time friends. We’ve grown up together! Our parents and grandparents wish to see us together…” Liu Rui tried to persuade Xie Yao from a different angle.

"You’re wrong. My family has never expressed such wishes,” Xie Yao angrily rebuked. She hated it when Liu Rui played the family card.

Seeing the revulsion on Xie Yao’s face, Liu Rui didn’t dare to say more for fear of angering her further.

At this time, Sky Pivot and the others noticed the guild emblem on Xie Yao’s chest. It was Asskickers United’s!

In their minds, Victorious Return was no match for Asskickers United. They always felt a sense of inferiority whenever they encountered players from Asskickers United. How many times had Victorious Return suffered defeat at the hands of Asskickers United? They had lost all sense of confidence.

"So she’s a member of Asskickers United? I was just wondering which guild could acquire such a strong player,” Sky Pivot muttered.

"Didn’t you say you were going to take me levelling? My friend will be arriving here any minute now.” Xie Yao looked at Liu Rui who no longer dared to meet her gaze.

With his head lowered, Liu Rui’s eyes flashed with traces of bitterness. He was on the brink of erupting out in anger because of the humiliation he just received. Xie Yao had made him lose a great deal of face. But after thinking it over, his expression grew sullen. His family was far from being comparable to hers. It was impossible for him to take any action against her. Although his father was a shareholder in the Dragonsoar Financial Group, the largest shareholder was still Xie Yao’s maternal grandfather. At the same time, she was also a shareholder in the Glory Financial Group. The influence of her father’s side of the family wasn’t to be underestimated either. In terms of background, status, and wealth, he was far inferior to her. This was also the reason why he kept trying to court her.

Not only were Liu Rui’s efforts fruitless, but Xie Yao was also fed up with his antics. She only resorted to this tactic because he refused to take a hint.

After today’s events, would Liu Rui still have the face to pester her?

"Little Rui, she’s just a bitch. So what if her level is high? Why are we even bothering with her!?” Heavenly Silk sneered. She was incredibly envious. Whether it was background, looks, or temperament, she couldn’t hold a candle to Xie Yao. It was like comparing a piece of slag to a diamond.

Xie Yao gently laughed it off. The best way to deal with these types of people was to ignore their very existence. Nevertheless, she didn’t feel very comfortable. Sky Pivot was staring at her intently, not at all concerned to mask the perverse look in his eyes.

"Her figure isn’t bad,” Sky Pivot said to Liu Rui. Evil thoughts surfaced in his mind. Since that kid knows her in real life…

Liu Rui was fidgeting around nonstop. His previous good impression with Xie Yao had disappeared, and the two people beside him were only making matters worse.

Liu Rui glared at Heavenly Silk, but he was somewhat afraid of Sky Pivot.

Yao Yao looked over in the distance. Nie Yan had arrived and was currently walking over.

"Yao Yao, I’m here. What did you need me for?” Nie Yan greeted Yao Yao, then looked at the several players beside her. His eyebrows slightly trembled when he recognized Sky Piercer.

It’s Liu Rui!

He didn’t expect to run into his old enemy here.

Liu Rui looked completely different from his real self. But Zhai Hao would often challenge him to PvP matches in the previous timeline. So, Nie Yan had seen him a couple times before and remembered his appearance.

Liu Rui had stolen Xie Yao away from him in his past life! Even if he was burnt to ashes, Nie Yan would still recognize him!

Why is Liu Rui here? Why is Yao Yao with him? Do they know each other? Doubt surfaced in Nie Yan’s heart. Scenes from his past past life flashed before his eyes. As he gazed at Yao Yao’s back, her silhouette and Xie Yao’s began to merge together. Could Yao Yao actually be Xie Yao?

The thought threw Nie Yan for a loop. He carefully recollected his experiences with Yao Yao.

He had met Yao Yao through a friend. But he didn’t think Yao Yao was someone he was already acquainted with in real life. His friend also never mentioned anything about her identity.

In the previous timeline, Yao Yao said she was from Longjiang which was over 1,000 miles away from where he lived in Huahai. So they never met. If Yao Yao was Xie Yao, why did she pretend to be someone else?

Xie Yao and Yao Yao roughly had the same build. But due to the appearance scrambler in Conviction, it was difficult to say the two looked alike.

He only met Yao Yao in Conviction after graduating from high school. At that time, he had lost all contact with Xie Yao, except for the occasional class reunions where he only dared to steal glances at her from afar.

Back then, Nie Yan was depressed, depraved, and debaucherous. Even though Xie Yao had called him once, he only spoke a few words before hanging up. He didn’t wish for her to see him in such a state, for his dirty self to profane the goddess of his dreams. He wanted to preserve the few good memories they shared together.

When he met Yao Yao in the game, her concern was like the gentle beam of sunlight that brought some warmth to his gloomy life. However, his heart already belonged to Xie Yao. He recalled the time he was trapped with Yao Yao in the secret chamber. Her beautiful naked body was deeply engraved into his mind. The memory of that night was something he could never forget. If Xie Yao and Yao Yao really were the same person…

Then why would Xie Yao…?

Nie Yan’s mind was thrown into disarray.

He had no evidence to support this revelation. He could only seek out the truth later on. He halted his steps for an instant before walking over to Yao Yao and Liu Rui’s group.

Since his appearance was different in Conviction, Liu Rui most likely wouldn’t recognize him.

Nie Yan’s eyes narrowed. Whether it was in real life or the game, he wanted to crush Liu Rui beneath his feet.

Liu Rui’s group turned their heads when they heard Nie Yan’s voice, whereupon their gazes immediately turned sluggish.

This player was unmistakably Nirvana Flame!

Who in Calore hadn’t watched Nie Yan’s videos? Just about everybody recognized his appearance. Liu Rui’s group was no exception! They found it hard to swallow their saliva. Just who was Nirvana Flame? He was an existence that reigned supreme in Calore! Even Victorious Return’s guild leader, Heaven Breaker, had no choice but to step aside!

Fuck! Why is our luck so bad today? Why did we have to bump into such a godly existence? Liu Rui, Sky Pivot, and the others glanced at each other in dismay.

Nie Yan was currently only Level 30 something, but did they have the ability to take him levelling? This was the joke of the century!

With Nie Yan’s current equipment, he could dispatch all of them with a casual strike. The short sword glowing with dark flames strapped to his waist was especially frightening. Even if he was only Level 30 something, he was still unrivalled!

Liu Rui’s group recalled the words they spoke before Yao Yao and Nie Yan had arrived. Looking at things now, it was ridiculous. Just who was the trash? They were, of course!

Liu Rui stared at Nie Yan with a vacant expression. He never expected that the Level 30 something friend Yao Yao invited was actually Nirvana Flame!

"What are we standing around for? Let’s leave!” Sky Pivot shouted. They were simply losing face staying here. Taking those two levelling? What a joke! One was a Level 47 Holy Mage with the Radiant Samsara Set while the other was the guild leader of Asskickers United!

Only now did Liu Rui understand what Xie Yao was telling him. He should remove any notion he still held of marrying her from his mind!

Liu Rui’s so-called excellence was nothing but dregs! He had been taken down by Nie Yan with a single kick in real life during their spar. He couldn’t even compete with Xie Yao herself in the game. Every person around her was far more outstanding than him!

Liu Rui sunk into a daze as a deep sense of failure engulfed him.

Sky Pivot and the others felt a bitter taste in their mouths as they left.

Liu Rui stared at Nie Yan venomously before taking his leave.

Any more words at this point would be wasted.

Nie Yan was slightly stunned. "What was that all about? Why did they leave after I arrived?”

Unaware of what just transpired between Liu Rui and Xie Yao, Nie Yan was completely baffled.

"Just a bunch of annoying flies. Don’t mind them,” Xie Yao replied. When she gazed at Nie Yan, her cheeks burned hot as she recalled her video call with him.

Nie Yan nodded. His eyes flickered with killing intent as he gazed at Liu Rui’s back.

Chapter 325 – Declaration of War

Liu Rui was a fellow who would take revenge for the smallest slight to his pride. Nie Yan had already sowed the seeds of hatred with him during their spar. Who knew when that fellow would try to settle the score? If this threat wasn’t thoroughly eliminated, Nie Yan wouldn’t have any peace of mind. With recent revisions to the law, anyone connected to the murder of a citizen would be prosecuted, including the mastermind. No one could escape their punishment! Thanks to the advancement of satellite technology, investigating a murder case was simpler than ever!

This was also why the crime rate saw a steep decline over the last several decades.

Nie Yan only dared to assassinate Cao Xu in the previous timeline because he was prepared to die himself.

Nie Yan had to carefully think of a way to deal with Liu Rui while still staying within the realms of the law. What put his mind at ease was that Xie Yao probably wouldn’t end up with Liu Rui in this life. He was making steady progress with her. At this pace, she would sooner or later become his girlfriend.

Nie Yan passed down an order to Guo Huai.「Keep watch over a player called Sky Piercer from Victorious Return. Send the Hundred Thieves to take care of him. I want him PKed back to Level 0. So long as he steps foot out of the city, I want you to send him back to the graveyard!」

Perhaps it was due to his father’s influence, but Nie Yan had always possessed this sort of fiery temperament. If he considered something his, no one else was allowed to touch it, especially if this thing was his woman! Father Nie used to be an army ruffian in his youth, getting into all sorts of escapades. Only after meeting Mother Nie did he mellow down. But that rowdy nature was passed down to Nie Yan. This was the so-called dragon begets a dragon and phoenix begets a phoenix.

Nie Yan was fine being called petty and selfish. He never claimed to be a good person in the first place. He believed in an eye for an eye. All the preaching about turning the other cheek was utter nonsense!

「Understood, I’ll get right to it!」Guo Huai nodded. This was the first time Nie Yan had ever given him such an order. This Sky Piercer fellow must have done something really awful to piss Nie Yan off this much.

Guo Huai naturally understood Nie Yan’s temperament. His brother was quite terrifying when provoked.

A scout from Asskickers United quickly tracked down Liu Ru and his group after following the directions Nie Yan provided. As soon as they stepped out of the city, they would be ambushed by a squadron of Thieves. A total of ten highly skilled Thieves were dispatched, three of whom were specifically assigned to Liu Rui!

When Nie Yan’s gaze fell on Yao Yao, he suddenly felt her and Xie Yao’s expression were awfully similar!

How wonderful would it be if Xie Yao and Yao Yao were one and the same? Nie Yan felt his heart race as several seductive scenes floated into his mind. He resolved to find out the truth no matter what!

Only now did Yao Yao notice the announcement post on the guild page. She turned to Nie Yan and asked, "Are we going to war with Bloodlust Blades?”

"Yeah.” Nie Yan nodded. "But this war is different from the ones before. Victory will be decided by who has the deeper pockets, and I’m afraid we’ll be the ones to collapse first. They have the backing of the Century Financial Group.” Asskickers United was currently hemorrhaging gold at a frightening rate. Between the time it took for him to get from the Central Auction House to Yao Yao, more than 2,000 players from Asskickers United had died due to being ambushed in the wilderness. However, these players couldn’t just stop going out to level; otherwise, the losses would be even greater!

Asskickers United couldn’t allow Bloodlust Blades to just do as they pleased. Giving them a taste of their own medicine was undoubtedly the best way to retaliate.

It was a competition of wealth! Which side would collapse first?

Over 16,000 players from the Union of Assassins had accepted the bounty notice issued out by Nie Yan. They all successively left for Glory City. He didn’t know how much success they would have. But considering their skills, they would definitely kill quite a few players from Bloodlust Blades. Nie Yan only worried about what to do when it came time to pay them.

Besides the bounty rewards, Nie Yan also had to provide monetary support to fallen guild members. If he didnt, they would be crushed under the pressure.

Asskickers United simply couldn’t catch a break. Right after settling one conflict, the next would arise.

Asskickers United was on the verge of a financial crisis. But they couldn’t afford to back out even if it meant bankruptcy. They absolutely couldn’t be the first to pull out in this game of chicken, lest they fell into a perilous situation where they were surrounded on all sides.

At this moment, a new post from Bloodlust Blades appeared on the forums.

「Asskickers United, do you dare to fight?」

Below were more provocations followed by Bloodlust Mad Blade’s declaration of war.

「Let everyone be witness to my words. Whoever is the first to remove their bounty notice is the other’s grandson. Mad Rogue, do you have the guts? Kill Count: 2,382」

This was a provocation from Bloodlust Blades! Only two hours had passed since they released their bounty notice!

Within seconds of the post going up, the guild chat of Asskickers United erupted out in a rage.

「Fuck those bastards! If they want a fight, we’ll give them a fight! Who the hell is afraid of them!? We’ve wiped the floor with Azure Falling Sky, Unhindered, Radiant Sacred Flame, and Victorious Return! What’s another name to the list!?」

「Boss, we’re not afraid of them! Let’s slaughter a path to Glory City!」

「The transfer fee to Glory City is 1 gold. We’d just be increasing the burden on the guild. Not to mention Glory City is the territory of Bloodlust Blades. Their guild has over 100,000 players. Combined with their branch guilds, they have at least 400,000 players in total! Do you think they’re easy pickings? We’d get completely overwhelmed! Listen to what the boss has to say!」

「Boss, isn’t this just a battle of who’s got more gold to burn? We have so many brothers in our guild. What’s there to be afraid of? Let’s just pool our gold together! We’ll drain their treasury down to the last copper! I have 3 gold! 」

「I have 2 gold!」

「I also have 2 gold!」

「The guild has done so much for us. It’s time for us to return the favour!」

…

One player after another chimed in, further igniting everyone’s emotions. Before long, the whole guild wanted to donate for this cause.

Seeing the fervent support in chat, Xie Yao gazed at Nie Yan. Just what was it that made him so charismatic? So many players were willing to empty out their pockets without the slightest hesitation for the sake of the guild. Even though Asskickers United did have some selfish players, those who watched on without lifting a finger were a miniscule minority.

Nie Yan looked at the guild chat. Every player firmly had his back! What was there for him to be afraid of? Even if Bloodlust Blades was 10 times more powerful, could they match this solidarity? No, of course not! The sense of camaraderie in Asskickers United was built up through countless battles. After facing one crisis after another, they only grew more united! It wasn’t something a guild like Bloodlust Blades which had expanded without facing the slightest hardship would understand!

This sort of tenacity allowed Asskickers United to only grow stronger with every war!

Would the ordinary players of Bloodlust Blades step forward bravely like the brothers in Asskickers United when faced with a similar situation? The answer was a resounding no! They would flee like rats!

Nie Yan’s eyes began to water after witnessing the passion of these players. He took a deep breath to settle his mind.

「What the hell? I take my eyes off the chat for a second, and you guys are already holding a donation rally. You’re planning a disaster relief for yourselves? Aren’t you putting the cart before the horse?」Nie Yan scolded in a joking manner.

「Boss, you’re here!」

「Boss, Bloodlust Blades has gone too far! We’ll pool our gold and see who lasts longer!」

The guilds members grew excited when Nie Yan showed himself.

「We receive support from the Dragonsoar Financial Group every few days. I can also still take out a few hundred thousand gold myself. Put away your gold for now. If we really can’t hold out any longer, I won’t stop you guys,」Nie Yan said. He had no idea how much gold Bloodlust Blades had in reserve.

「Wow, the boss is so rich!」Nie Yan’s revelation shocked them. Even though the Dragonsoar Financial Group had invested a lot of gold into them, most of it had been spent on providing them with mounts. They believed it would be impressive if he could even take out 50,000 gold. Who knew he actually had this much gold saved up!

Truthfully, Nie Yan didn’t actually have that much gold. However, his auction houses, the Starry Night Potion Shop, and his other businesses brought in a lot of gold every day. In a short amount of time, he could pool together quite a bit. If he added this to the support from the Dragonsoar Financial Group, he could barely scrape by.

Nie Yan did some calculations. The 20,000–30,000 gold he made every day wasn’t enough. He could sell off one or two plots of lands. However, this was a last measure since their value would only rise in the future.

Unless absolutely necessary, Nie Yan wasn’t willing to touch the gold of his guild members. After all, the 1 or 2 gold they had was their blood and sweat! In case something happened, they wouldn’t have any emergency funds!

Nie Yan was wracking his brain over how to make gold quickly. Capturing more strongholds was probably their best bet.

Seeing Nie Yan’s helpless expression, Yao Yao bit her lips. Only she could help him at a time like this! She sent a message to Yu Rui.

After a while, Nie Yan received an excited message from Guo Huai.「The Dragonsoar Financial Group has agreed to provide us 100,000 gold to tide us over during these difficult times.」

Nie Yan blinked. How did the Dragonsoar Financial Group react almost instantly after he came across a problem? He glanced skeptically at Yao Yao beside him. His suspicions that she was actually Xie Yao only grew. All the signs pointed to this being the case, and many inexplicable events would suddenly make sense!

「Send my thanks to the Dragonsoar Financial Group’s supervisor.」

「I’ve already passed it on,」Guo Huai replied.

This 100,000 gold couldn’t have come at a better time. Nie Yan felt reassured in winning this war of attrition against Bloodlust Blades!

Chapter 326 – Unprecedented Unity

「How should we respond to Mad Blade?」Guo Huai asked. Not responding to the post meant Asskickers United was taking this humiliation lying down. No matter what, they couldn’t back down!

「It’s fine. I’ll do it myself.」Nie Yan opened up the forums and prepared a response to Bloodlust Mad Blade’s post.

「Alright.」Guo Huai nodded, then focused on another matter of importance. After killing some members of Bloodlust Blades, players were arriving to collect their bounties. He began distributing the rewards according to the criteria Nie Yan set.

When Nie Yan opened up the forums, the players from Bloodlust Blades were still in the midst of mocking Asskickers United. They were clearly hoping to goad their enemy into taking rash action.

Truthfully, such meddling wasn’t necessary. With Bloodlust Blades declaring war, Asskickers United would naturally take up the challenge.

Nie Yan wrote a reply to Mad Blade’s post.

「Azure Falling Sky, Unhindered, Radiant Sacred Flame, Victorious Return… Asskickers United has never been afraid of anyone. This time is no exception. Why go through all these hoops just to declare war? We’ll sweep through Glory City and flatten Bloodlust Blades!」

The Mad Rogue responded! The forums erupted with excitement. Many players were deeply moved after reading the reply. Nirvana Flame was just as domineering as ever!

When Nie Yan’s reply was shared in guild chat, the fighting spirits of the players from Asskickers United were ignited, and they roared out in cheers.

「Sweep through Glory City! Flatten Bloodlust Blades!」

「Fuck those dog bastards from Bloodlust Blades!」

…

Below Nie Yan’s declaration was also a number.

# of Bloodlust Blades players killed: 1,563

Asskickers United’s bounty notice was put up over an hour after Bloodlust Blades released theirs, so for their kill count to be lower was nothing strange. However, it was rising at a frightening rate!

Of course, the victor wouldn’t be decided by whose kill count was higher but rather who could hold out until the very end!

No one was clear on the wealth of Bloodlust Blades. Asskickers United could only fight them with all their strength!

In just a short hour, Nie Yan already had to pay out over 3,000 gold.

Knowing the guild was facing a financial crisis, the players from Asskickers United who were ambushed and killed refused to accept any form of compensation.

At this time, Paladin of the Elegy appeared in guild chat.「Looking for more to form a Level 40 gold farming group. We’re going to grind in the Level 40 map, Flowing Gold Plains!」

Gold farming group! It was as if the entire guild shared the same epiphany.

「Forming a Level 35 gold farming group!」

「Forming a Level 40 gold farming group!」

「Tough Jerky, where are you? Hurry up over to the Calore transfer area!」

「Liu Shu, let’s gather at Calore’s south entrance!」

…

The chat was flooded with messages from players looking to form gold farming groups. One team after another departed from Calore and set off for easy farmable maps. Although the experience gain was pitiful, the consumable costs were kept at a minimum, and the drop rate for both money and items was decent. All the loot they collected would be donated to the guild!

As elite players, they normally disdained this sort of work. But right now, with the guild facing a huge crisis, everybody was trying their best to pitch in.

Nie Yan was deeply moved by the actions of these guild members.

「Thank you, everyone!」Nie Yan said in guild chat. As long as Asskickers United had such loyal players, it would never fall!

「Boss, you’re treating us like outsiders. We’re family. We rise and fall together. When the guild is in trouble, it’s only natural for everyone to share the burden!」Paladin of the Elegy replied. His words were quickly echoed by others in the chat.

「Elegy is right! Boss, don’t worry! With all of us working together, Bloodlust Blades can only flee with their tails tucked between their legs! Let’s see which side falls first!」

Transfer points all over Calore lit up brilliantly as 20-player teams set out in every direction. All of them were burning with determination and were not the slightest bit discouraged.

The rest of Calore was amazed by this sight.

"What’s Asskickers United doing?”

"I heard from a friend the players in Asskickers United are forming gold farming groups to support the guild. They’re planning to see this conflict with Bloodlust Blades through to the very end!” a player explained.

Seeing the soaring morale of these players, everyone shared the same thought: Do not provoke Asskickers United! With this kind of resolve, it would be strange if they didn’t achieve victory!

60,000 players grinding in Level 40 maps could generate roughly 30,000 gold a day. This was purely from the money that dropped! If you added in the value of the equipment, the number might even double or triple! But if unexpected trouble occurred, the profit would be somewhat smaller.

One gold farming group after another departed from Calore.

Back at Bloodlust Blades’ guild headquarters in the Red River Stronghold, Bloodlust Mad Blade was monitoring the situation over in Calore. His gaze was a bit distracted. He never expected that the players from Asskickers United would take such action. He asked himself if his players would do the same when faced with a similar situation? The answer was a resounding no!

If he asked his players to sacrifice themselves for the guild, it would be impressive if they didn’t revolt!

When Mad Blade looked at the video of the Asskickers United players setting out from Calore, he saw them brimming with fighting spirit. Every single one of them carried the resolve to fight to the bloody end!

Just how did Nirvana Flame do this?

Even though Asskickers United only had 60,000 players, Mad Blade became painfully aware of their strength. This sort of power didn’t come from numbers but rather unshakable unity! Outside of Asskickers United, could another such guild be found? Perhaps not even Angel Corp in the Satreen Empire could pull this off.

Mad Blade didn’t have to worry about gold thanks to the Century Financial Group. However, if all 60,000 players of Asskickers United continued farming gold like this, it would truly be difficult to tell who would emerge victorious.

Mad Blade had a vague feeling that Bloodlust Blades would fail to swallow up Asskickers United. He still had two allies. If worse came to worst, he could call in the support of Divine Protectors and Alliance of Mages.

A hint of fear emerged in Mad Blade’s heart. A guild like Asskickers United was simply too dangerous. With this sort of unity, they could sweep through everything in their path. They shared an eerie resemblance to the Dark Hero guild during its prime.

The Dark Hero guild had fallen, its glory no more. However, the present Asskickers United was just like a newly arisen Dark Hero guild!

If Asskickers United was allowed to grow, there would be no place left for Bloodlust Blades in the Viridian Empire!

No matter the method or price, Asskickers United had to be eliminated!

Mad Blade busily got to work.

For the time being, it was hard to determine who would come out on top in this war. Nie Yan began making some preparations. He would make some adjustments to his money-making businesses and raise the rent on his shops. Recently, business was booming. They had made a lot of profit, so it was only natural for them to share some of the good fortune.

Nie Yan raising the rent on his shops would definitely upset some merchants. However, there was nothing they could do. Calore and Nisode were his domain. He simply owned too many properties, not to mention all of them were in prime real estate locations. He had complete market dominance. If he chose to take back his shops, their losses would be even greater! For the sake of earning money, they had no choice but to concede to his demand.

Nie Yan chatted with Yao Yao for a while. She still had to do the second part of Karsi’s Blessing. The beginning of the quest wasn’t difficult, only a bit tedious. The two of them separated, and he went to stock up on some basic consumables. After checking his character information, he noticed his Intermediate Combat Bandages was only a few points away from ranking up. He went to buy some Silk Cloth.

Nie Yan was a lot more restrained when buying items, unlike before where he would practically empty out an auction house of something he needed. He simply had too many expenses and not enough gold.

Nie Yan sent Tang Yao a message.「Want to help me do a quest?」

「Sure. Where are you?」

「I’m waiting at the Calore transfer area.」

Tang Yao quickly met up with Nie Yan.

"What kind of quest are we doing?” Tang Yao curiously asked.

Nie Yan glanced at the Arcane Fairy floating beside Tang Yao and asked, "Is your Arcane Fairy Rank 4 yet?”

"No, it’s still a ways off. Rank 4 is too hard to get. I estimate it’ll take at least another month,” Tang Yao replied.

"In that case, it’ll be a bit difficult but still doable. It’s a pretty simple quest and doesn’t take a lot of time. Follow me. We’re teleporting to Soyu Town.”

"That’s a Level 60 map!” Tang Yao blurted out in surprise. Did Nie Yan go mad? Why were they going to such a place to do a quest?

"It’s fine. Just follow me. I’ve investigated and discovered some good things in that map. It’ll be a quick trip,” Nie Yan said as he began walking towards the transfer point.

Tang Yao quickly followed behind him. Since the start of the game to now, had Nie Yan ever lied to him? If his brother said it was fine, it was fine! This was the sort of unwavering faith that came from their bond!

Nie Yan proved time and time again that he was trustworthy, so Tang Yao had no reason to doubt him.

As the two stepped onto the transfer point, they teleported away with a brilliant flash of light. Before them appeared a deserted town with only a few buildings scattered here and there. As gusts of wind blew in, the entire town was shrouded in granules of yellow sand.

"Let’s go,” Nie Yan said as he walked toward a fairly eye-catching building. It was a slightly dilapidated mud house which had been badly damaged by the elements. It was teetering on the verge of collapse.

Chapter 327 – Twisting Vines Scroll

Nie Yan and Tang Yao walked into the building. The walls which were covered in cracks looked like they could collapse at any moment. Many NPCs were stationed inside. All of them wore desert clothing with hoods that draped over their faces. They sold a variety of consumables and crafting materials, all of which were local specialties.

Nie Yan led Tang Yao past these NPCs to a remote corner in the back, where they stopped in front of a shabby wooden door. Behind it was a narrow underground passageway.

"Let’s go,” Nie Yan said as he walked down.

"Where are we going?” Tang Yao asked. The passageway was so dark he couldn’t even see his feet. He could only rely on his other senses to follow Nie Yan.

"We’re going to an NPC to buy a few scrolls,” Nie Yan replied. His ability to see in the dark had greatly improved thanks to Empress Finas’ Fate Pearl. His pupils narrowed into vertical slits and emitted a faint blue glow. Everything in the passageway became as visible as day.

"Oh! So we’re just buying scrolls!” Tang Yao breathed out a sigh of relief. However, he couldn’t help but think this NPC was too secretive. Without prior knowledge, this place was almost impossible to find. Perhaps only one or two players would occasionally stumble across it.

Secret NPCs were abundant in Conviction. They could be found in remote locations across every town and city. Trembling Milo back in Calore and Scroll Master Davina, who Nie Yan and Tang Yao were currently visiting, were examples of such NPCs. They often sold goods that couldn’t be found in regular shops.

Scroll Master Davina was an eccentric woman. There were many rumours related to her floating around in this desert town. But little did everyone know that she was actually living below the town! Her temperament was odd. No one wanted to associate with her. She restricted the number of scrolls a player could purchase from her to 10 a day. If they tried to buy more, she would shoo them away with a nasty attitude. The items she sold were quite rare. Occasionally, some amazing items would emerge. Players were often able to get many good things from this place.

After walking through the passageway for several minutes, they saw a dim light up ahead.

"We’re here,” Nie Yan said, his pupils returning to normal as he walked toward the light. He surveyed the surroundings and saw a cramped room roughly 3 by 5 meters in size. The walls were lined with shelves filled with different kinds of scrolls, many of which were only half finished or incomplete. A desk and chair stood in the middle of the room. The remaining space could only accommodate two or three people at most. Scrolls were chaotically scattered across the floor.

Sitting behind the desk was a person in black robes which hid her appearance. All that could be discerned was that she was a woman. Her pale white hand was holding onto a slender ash-gray pen. She was scribbling on a piece of parchment, inscribing all sorts of strange runic patterns.

She was buried under a pile of scrolls. Her figure was solitary as if she was cut off from the rest of the world.

"She sells the scrolls?” Tang Yao asked. He was about to take a step forward.

Nie Yan quickly reached out his arm and stopped him. "Wait! Don’t move!”

Stopped by Nie Yan, Tang Yao’s foot remained hovering midway through a step.

Nie Yan bent down and started picking up the scrolls on the floor. With a pile of scrolls in his arms, he walked toward the shelves and started putting them away in an earnest manner.

Scroll Master Davina continued scribbling on the piece of parchment, ignoring Nie Yan.

In the previous timeline, when players discovered this place they boorishly stepped atop these scrolls. Not only did Scroll Master Davina refuse to sell them anything, she even drove them out of her dwelling. This was a hidden requirement. Players had to show Scroll Master Davina enough respect to purchase her scrolls.

Picking up the scattered scrolls on the floor was Scroll Master Davina’s test for Nie Yan and Tang Yao.

Tang Yao quickly picked up on what was going on. He began helping Nie Yan clean up.

Before long, all the scrolls were neatly ordered on the shelves, and the room looked a little tidier.

Only now did Nie Yan and Tang Yao approach Scroll Master Davina.

"What do you need?” Scroll Master Davina asked in a hoarse voice.

Nie Yan browsed through the list of goods she had for sale. There were over 60 types of scrolls, including single-target spell scrolls, group-target spell scrolls, and all sorts of rare magic scrolls.

There was no lack of quality. Some scrolls which sold for several hundred gold in the marketplace could be found here for under 50 gold.

Scroll Master Davina sold a maximum of 10 scrolls a day, limiting Nie Yan’s choices. His eyes quickly locked onto a certain scroll.

Advanced Twisting Vines Scroll: Summon vines to bind enemies and inflict them with a weakening effect for 30 seconds. Range: 30 meters. Cast Time: 10 seconds (1 set of syllables)

Price: 20 gold

Nie Yan directly bought 10 of them for 200 gold.

Spending so much money at this time slightly pained Nie Yan’s heart. However, this quest couldn’t be solved by just spending 200 gold.

"What scrolls did you buy?” Tang Yao asked. Looking at all the scrolls up for sale made his head spin. Every single one of them was a good item, only that their prices were a bit expensive. Some of them even cost upwards of several hundred gold!

"I bought 10 Advanced Twisting Vines Scrolls,” Nie Yan replied. He bought these scrolls primarily to complete the quest.

"Only 10 Advanced Twisting Vines Scrolls? Nothing else?” Tang Yao asked in surprise. There were so many scrolls here. Every single of them was quite useful. Why only buy Twisting Vines Scrolls?

"Let’s go, we can buy more scrolls next time,” Nie Yan said as he brought Tang Yao out of Scroll Master Davina’s dwelling.

In the previous timeline, very few people knew of Scroll Master Davina’s existence. He had only learned about her from a friend. Due to Davina only selling 10 scrolls a day, some people would scramble to get here at the start of the day to buy them. There were too many monks and not enough gruel, so most would fail at buying a scroll.

Nie Yan had only managed to snag a few scrolls in his past life, so his impression of Scroll master Davina wasn’t that deep. Only after having to do this quest did he recall he could buy what he needed from her.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. Should he have Guo Huai send someone to buy scrolls from here every day? He would make quite a profit by selling them in the marketplace. For example, an Advanced Twisting Vines Scroll could easily net 60 gold. The only problem was that if these things were put up for sale, it would attract a lot of trouble. If an enemy bought these scrolls, only to use it against them, that would be quite depressing.

He could first store these scrolls in the treasury. If Asskickers United was really hurting on funds, he could take them out to sell.

Nie Yan notified Guo Huai about purchasing scrolls from this place. He and Tang Yao exited the town and got on their mounts. The two of them galloped away, leaving behind a trail of dust.

"Where are we going now?”

"The center of the desert, Colin Gobi,” Nie Yan replied.

The Colin Gobi was a region of death in the desert. Nie Yan had learned some background information about this place in the previous timeline. It was originally just an ordinary desert, but became a haunted wreckage site after a Colin Airship was shot down by a squadron of Viridian Empire Griffon Knights over this place. The airship fell from the sky and crashed into the desert, spreading wreckage and debris everywhere. All sorts of broken frames could still be found to this day.

There was a famous boss in this area called Phantom Princess Ina, a Level 60 Lord-class monster. She didn’t have any attacks, but she could summon powerful Evil Mages, ranging from 20 to 30 at a time. She respawned once a day. In the previous timeline, many people came here to fight her. If you passed this place, you would often see a vast ocean of players.

Looking ahead, large pieces of debris were scattered about. Some of them were over 30 meters high. Some wreck sites only covered a small area, but this one covered an entire desert. One could imagine how magnificent the Colin Airship was!

You have discovered the Colin Gobi.

"We’re here. Let’s dismount,” Nie Yan said. "I remember you had a haste-type skill, what does it do?”

"Windchaser. It increases movement speed by 80% for 120 seconds. I can only use it on myself though,” Tang Yao replied. This was his only speed boosting spell.

Haste-type spells for Mages gave a relatively large boost. However, an 80% speed boost for a Mage wouldn’t even equal a 30% speed boost for a Thief. Nevertheless, Windchaser was good enough.

"Windchaser? Not bad, follow me. Drink an Invisibility Potion,” Nie Yan said before entering stealth.

Tang Yao drank an Invisibility Potion and followed Nie Yan.

After moving for a while, they spotted swarms of phantoms in the distance. They were in a shadowy state. Their faces weren’t clear. Nie Yan was only 20 meters away from them. He didn’t dare to use Transcendent Insight to inspect them. The level difference was too high, so they might discover his existence if he did.

After passing through this area, Nie Yan spotted seven large phantoms up ahead. They were roughly 3 meters tall and held large iron mallets. They appeared valiant and fierce.

They were famous Phantom-type monsters in the previous timeline, Phantom Berserkers, Level 60 Elites that ignored physical attacks.

Phantom Berserker (Elite): Level 60

Health: 8,000/8,000

They didn’t have much health. But since they were immune to physical attacks, Warriors couldn’t hold their aggro. They would often shift targets and start madly pursuing the Mages. After killing all the Mages, the remaining melee class players were doomed because their attacks were useless against the Phantom Berserkers.

In the previous timeline, countless teams were wiped out by these Phantom Berserkers.

Chapter 328 – Standardized Equipment

"I just need you to help me kill 2 groups of Phantom Berserkers. I can handle the rest from there,” Nie Yan said. This was the first main obstacle in the quest.

These seven Phantom Berserkers resembled immovable titans, blocking Nie Yan and Tang Yao’s path.

"Are you kidding me?” Tang Yao stared at Nie Yan with an incredulous expression. Had this brother of his gone mad? How could they possibly deal with these seven Level 60 Elites!?

"I’m dead serious. Don’t worry, just follow my instructions. These Phantoms Berserkers don’t have any armour or magic resistance, so there’s no level suppression effect against low-level players. You basically deal true damage to them. They ignore physical attacks, but take an extra 30% damage from magic attacks. I’ll lock them down with Advanced Twisting Vines, then you wipe them out with a group-target spell,” Nie Yan explained. He wouldn’t have brought Tang Yao here if he didn’t have some form of assurance.

Tang Yao nodded. "Since you’re confident, tell me what I have to do.”

Nie Yan explained his plan to Tang Yao in detail.

"Alright, I’ll go draw their aggro according to your instructions,” Tang Yao said. He approached within 30 meters of the seven Phantom Berserkers.

Nie Yan got into position and gave the signal. Tang Yao waved his staff and shot out a ball of black flames.

「Boom!」The fireball struck one of the Phantom Berserkers, its flames scorching the surroundings black.

All seven Phantom Berserkers immediately locked onto Tang Yao. They swung their hammers and charged toward him.

Charge!

Charge!

After activating Charge, the Phantom Berserkers were several times faster than Tang Yao.

Holy shit! Tang Yao hurriedly activated Windchaser and bolted toward Nie Yan.

Seeing Tang Yao leading the Phantom Berserkers towards him, Nie Yan started activating the Advanced Twisting Vines Scroll as it lit up with a brilliant radiance.

The Phantom Berserkers quickly closed in on Tang Yao. He was simply too slow, and the level difference was too great.

Nie Yan, who was in the middle of activating the Twisting Vines Scroll, also broke out in a cold sweat. He never expected the Phantom Berserkers would be so fast after activating Charge. They could even outrun players on mounts which gave a movement speed bonus of 150%.

One of the Phantom Berserkers swung down its hammer at Tang Yao. It looked like he was about to be smashed into a meat patty.

In the last second, Tang Yao transformed into a seagull and desperately flapped away.

「Crash!」The hammer struck empty ground, leaving a small crater and sending sand flying everywhere.

Tang Yao actually managed to escape! After flying for about 30 seconds, he returned to human form and continued running towards Nie Yan.

Nie Yan never expected Tang Yao to have such a trick up his sleeve. He could immediately tell this was the effect of the special item, Ring of Transformation!

The Ring of Transformation allowed a player to transform into an animal of their preference, whereupon they would gain innate skills based on the animal they transformed into. For example, the seagull Tang Yao just transformed into gave the player an enormous boost in movement speed as well as the ability to fly. However, they weren’t allowed to attack, and getting hit would knock them out of the transformation. Furthermore, the Ring of Transformation’s duration was extremely short at only 30 seconds.

In a dire situation like the one Tang Yao was just in, the Ring of Transformation was extremely useful.

After barely escaping by the skin of his teeth, Tang Yao breathed out a sigh of relief. Work like pulling mobs and drawing aggro really wasn’t his cup of tea.

Seeing Tang Yao lead the group of Phantom Berserkers toward him, Nie Yan waved and activated the Twisting Vines Scroll.

Thick and solid vines shot out of the ground and tangled the feet of the charging Phantom Berserkers, stopping them dead in their tracks.

Tang Yao, who was previously fleeing for his life, turned around and waved his staff. After chanting several unintelligible syllables, a black cloud of flames condensed in the sky and started raining down flames on the Phantom Berserkers.

−276

−312

−298

−305…

A blanket of damage values floated up into the air.

The Phantom Berserkers had no magic resistance, so Tang Yao basically dealt true damage. He continually retreated as he cast area-of-effect magic nonstop.

The Phantom Berserkers struggled ceaselessly, roaring and yelling in the blaze, but the vines firmly locked them down. Their health fell by roughly 30%.

"Nice work!” Nie Yan faintly smiled.

The seconds ticked away.

"Get back 30 meters!” Nie Yan anxiously shouted. Tang Yao immediately retreated to a position 30 meters away from the Phantom Berserkers.

Before the vines released their grip on the Phantom Berserkers, Nie Yan began activating the second Advanced Twisting Vines Scroll.

After 30 seconds, the Phantom Berserkers broke free of the vines and charged toward Nie Yan.

They were getting closer and closer, 10 meters… 6 meters… 3 meters…

The Phantom Berserkers were like lions pouncing on their prey. When they were only 2 meters away from Nie Yan, the Twisting Vines Scroll in his hand disappeared with a flash of light. Vines shot out from the ground and began wildly growing.

The Phantom Berserkers were firmly bound right in front of Nie Yan.

Tang Yao let loose with another area-of-effect spell. Thanks to the support of his Arcane Fairy, he could fire spells without break.

The health of the Phantom Berserkers rapidly dropped.

Advanced Twisting Vines would only be effective three times. Afterwards, the Phantom Berserkers would become resistant to its effects.

However, three Twisting Vines bought enough time for Tang Yao to kill them.

Just like before, Nie Yan used the third and final Advanced Twisting Vines Scroll while Tang Yao continued attacking. When the last barrage of spells fell, the seven Phantom Berserkers let out mournful roars before collapsing on the ground.

"Is it over?” Tang Yao asked in a daze. They had killed the Phantom Berserkers without a hitch thanks to Nie Yan’s strategy. Seven Level 60 Elites were dead just like that, he found this hard to believe.

Nie Yan once more proved with his actions that his judgement was correct.

The seven corpses of the Phantom Berserkers disappeared, leaving behind a pile of loot on the ground.

Nie Yan collected it all. Most of it was Level 60 equipment, ranging from Silver to Gold-grade. These pieces of equipment couldn’t be used for the time being. He continued rummaging around and found 3 gems with quality ratings of 7. Each one was worth over 120 gold. All at once, he had made back the money he spent on the Twisting Vines Scrolls.

A few other items also caught Nie Yan’s eye.

One was an Intermediate Revive Skill Book which currently couldn’t be found in the marketplace. It had an extremely low drop rate and only appeared in Level 50 maps or higher. With an Intelligence requirement of 580, he didn’t know if any Priest in the guild could learn it yet.

Furthermore, there were two Advanced Alchemy Recipes which were also quite valuable.

Out of the 7 Advanced Alchemists in Calore, 5 were currently in the Starry Night Potion Shop. Both Bird Leaves No Eggs and Quiet Nannan were about to break through from the Advanced rank to become Master Alchemists.

These two Alchemy Recipes would be very beneficial to both of them.

The final item caught Nie Yan’s attention the most, a Standardized Equipment Blueprint!

It was the Level 60 Gold-grade Sinister Light Set, a set of equipment for Arcane Mages. It could only be crafted by an Intermediate Tailor or higher. It required 3 Magic Rune Cloths, 2 Raging Flame Cloths, and 3 Golden Silk Threads. The Sinister Light Set wasn’t the best Level 60 set available, but it was still pretty decent. Top experts probably wouldn’t need it, but to mid-ranked players, this was definitely a treasure. Standardized Equipment Blueprints were different from regular blueprints in that they could be learned by up to 20 players. As long as there were enough crafting materials, these 20 Tailors could continuously craft this Level 60 Gold Set.

The Sinister Light Set was easily mass manufactured since the blueprint could be learned by Intermediate Tailors and the crafting material weren’t that precious.

It was even possible to outfit guild members on a large scale with Standardized Equipment.

In the future, there would definitely be more and more Standardized Equipment.

After picking up all the loot, Nie Yan turned to Tang Yao and said, "Let’s go onto the next group!”

In the next area, there was a group of 9 Phantom Berserkers. Employing the same method as before, Nie Yan and Tang Yao cleared these Phantom Berserkers. After picking up the loot, they found another Sinister Light Set Blueprint. With 2 of these blueprints in their possession, they could have 40 Tailors craft Sinister Light Sets at the same time.

Seeing the corpses of the Phantom Berserkers on the ground, Nie Yan turned to Tang Yao and said, "You can go back now. You won’t be able to go to the next area.”

Tang Yao looked up ahead. The monsters in the distance were densely concentrated. He nodded. "Alright, be careful.”

Chapter 329 – Magical Device Book

Tang Yao didn’t know what kind of quest Nie Yan wanted to do, but he understood it was difficult. He decided not to pry any further and started reading out a Return Scroll. With a brilliant flash of light, he teleported away.

The Phantom Berserkers could see through stealth, so it was crucial for Nie Yan to get rid of them to proceed. This was also why he bought the Advanced Twisting Vines Scrolls, which would bind phantoms and inflict a weakening effect on them.

Nie Yan surveyed his surroundings, closely observing the countless wandering Phantom Mages up ahead. They were much smaller than the Phantom Berserkers, only about the size of an ordinary person, and wielded staffs with flickering black flames floating above the tip.

Phantom Mage: Level 60

Health: 2,000/2,000

Phantom Mages were ordinary monsters. However, they possessed a special characteristic. They were immune to magical attacks but took double damage from physical attacks.

Nie Yan paced back and forth at the outskirts of the area for quite some time. Seeing a lone Phantom Mage ambling towards him, he fired at it with his Cavalry Crossbow before quickly pulling back.

「Put! Put! Put!」Five bolts struck the Phantom Mage in quick succession.

Since Nie Yan was outside of its attack range, the Phantom Mage chased after him.

Nie Yan kept retreating, pulling the Phantom Mage along with him. When he felt they were far enough away, he activated Shadow Waltz, disappearing into stealth, and dashed forward like a bolt of lightning.

The Phantom Mage’s eyes lit up with a green glow. It quickly locked onto Nie Yan’s position.

However, Nie Yan was simply too fast.

The Phantom Mage waved its staff. Soul Pierce! An eerie energy rippled outwards. This sort of attack was undodgeable!

The Soul Pierce struck Nie Yan and penetrated deep into his body.

−626

What frightening damage!

With a level difference of over 20, it was only natural for the Phantom Mage to deal serious damage to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan immediately drank an Intermediate Health Potion to recover his health. In the blink of an eye, he circled behind the Phantom Mage and plunged his dagger into it with Backstab before activating Blast.「Bang!」It violently trembled as the powerful explosion wreaked havoc inside its body.

−543

The Phantom Mage waved its staff.

Soul Shockwave!

A powerful soul energy blasted out toward Nie Yan.

It was impossible to dodge at such a close range. Nie Yan wasn’t quite sure what category of magic Soul Shockwave belonged in, but he bit the bullet anyway and activated Mind Immune from the Medal of the Ten Holy Paladins.

The wave of soul energy slammed into Nie Yan’s body and shaved away half of his health. He felt as if his body was tightly bound by a rope, leaving him unable to move even the slightest.

The Phantom Mage retreated a good distance away, then started chanting as a black fireball condensed above its palm.

Time appeared to come to a standstill as the Phantom Mage continued to mutter out one strange syllable after another.

It chanted for a full five seconds!

If the Phantom Mage’s instant-cast spells could chunk Nie Yan for half his health, this was a sure-fire kill!

The black fireball whizzed through the air toward Nie Yan.

At this moment, Nie Yan regained control of his body.

Soul Shockwave dealt both Soul and Mind Damage, so Nie Yan managed to negate a portion of the damage with Mind Immune.

No matter how powerful Soul Shockwave’s crowd control effect was, it couldn’t lock him down forever.

Just as the black fireball was about to hit Nie Yan, he activated Gale Step, taking advantage of the invincibility to avoid taking damage. He pounced toward the Phantom Mage.

The Phantom Mage began condensing another fireball.

Nie Yan arrived in front of the Phantom Mage and slashed at its neck with Cut Throat, then followed up with a flurry of attacks. Hearing the final syllable being chanted, he delivered a powerful kick to its head and interrupted it.

Nie Yan circled around and finished off the Phantom Mage with another flurry of attacks.

Seeing the Phantom Mage collapse on the ground, Nie Yan breathed out deeply. The level difference was simply too large. Any powerful skill was lethal.

Only 3 silver dropped from the Phantom Mage’s corpse.

Nie Yan gazed at the area up ahead. It was filled with roaming Phantom Mages. From time to time, a group of them would pass by.

Nie Yan activated the Pearl of Disguise. His body gradually turned incorporeal while his appearance transformed into that of the Phantom Mage he just killed.

"Alright, so far so good,” Nie Yan muttered as he gazed at his ghostly hands.

Nie Yan lowered his head and started moving forward while mimicking the gait of the Phantom Mages.

The effectiveness of Disguise was also related to his ability to mimic the movements of his target. If he failed to properly imitate the Phantom Mage, he would be easily seen through.

Nie Yan was barely covering any ground. He would wander aimlessly for a while before inching towards his destination, one step at a time.

Like this, Nie Yan brushed past numerous Phantom Mages. He eventually encountered some ruins in the distance, where he spotted a figure that stood out from the masses.

This phantom had the appearance of a beautiful woman. She wore white robes and held a long scepter in her hand.

She was the Level 60 Lord, Phantom Princess Ina!

She was one of the few Lords that didn’t possess any direct offensive skills. However, if she was attacked, she would summon multiple Evil Mages to her side.

Phantom Princess Ina was difficult to kill due to the sheer number of them she could summon at once.

She was precisely Nie Yan’s target!

In the previous timeline, it was widely known that Thieves could steal precious items from Phantom Princess Ina. But the number of Thieves who could actually pull this off were few and far between. More often than not, a Thief making the attempt would be killed by a horde of Evil Mages. This led to Thieves having a love-hate relationship with her.

Nie Yan relied on his disguise to approach Phantom Princess Ina. He passed by one Phantom Mage after another. He could clearly see their faces. None of them looked alike, They kept their appearance from before they died.

Nie Yan was slowly made his way to Phantom Princess Ina. She glanced at him for a second but didn’t notice anything strange, so she remained in a passive state.

Nie Yan was drawing ever closer to his target. His heart was racing. If she saw through his disguise, he would be doomed!

There were still several Phantom Mages around him when he finally approached within 2 meters of Phantom Princess Ina.

Nie Yan activated Steal.

Steal was unsuccessful.

Shit, I failed!

Phantom Princess Ina grew a little restless.

After a while, Phantom Princess Ina settled down and returned to a passive state. Nie Yan activated Steal again.

Steal was unsuccessful.

Crap! Another failure!

Phantom Princess Ina became restless. After a while, Nie Yan activated Steal yet again.

You have obtained Ina’s Prayer Gloves (Sub Legendary).

Nie Yan’s eyes widened in surprise. He had gotten a Sub Legendary item just like that? This was too amazing!

But on second thought, perhaps this was the system giving him a Luck bonus due to the level difference. After all, he was a Level 30-something roaming around in a Level 60 map.

At this moment, Nie Yan noticed Phantom Princess Ina glaring at him.

"Despicable human! Wretched thief!” Phantom Princess Ina cursed Nie Yan. She had seen through his disguise. The nearby Phantom Mages started surrounding him.

Shit! I was discovered! Nie Yan noticed all the Phantom Mages in the surroundings staring at him. They waved their staffs and unleashed a shower of spells on him.

Just as Nie Yan was about to be blown to smithereens, he activated God’s Blessing from the Chapter of Peace.

Adjudicator of God was still on cooldown, so he could only use God’s Blessing.

A barrier of light enveloped Nie Yan.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」The spells rained down mercilessly on Nie Yan, but he didn’t suffer any damage.

All the while Nie Yan kept using Steal nonstop on Phantom Princess Ina.

Steal was unsuccessful.

Steal was unsuccessful.

You have obtained a Soul Gem.

You have obtained a Soul Gem.

Steal was unsuccessful.

You have obtained Della’s Magical Device Book (Legendary).

…

Nie Yan finally obtained the item he had been looking for, a Legendary item! In the previous timeline, a player had stolen Della’s Magical Device Book from Phantom Princess Ina. It appeared this book was something for players to study. As for its uses, he had no idea. It was a pity he didn’t obtain a piece of Legendary equipment.

The book entered Nie Yan’s back. It was scarlet coloured with all sorts of geometric shapes drawn on the cover, making it appear distinct.

However, Nie Yan didn’t have the luxury to examine it right now.

One item after another was stolen from her, causing Phantom Princess Ina to become furious. She waved her scepter and summoned over 20 Evil Mages. They wore black robes with hoods that completely covered their faces.

Level 60 Elites!

However, they were Mages, so they couldn’t do anything to him. Furthermore, he had an Unknown Transfer Scroll in his hand, ready to teleport away the moment God’s Blessing wore off.

As the seconds passed, Nie Yan was bombarded with all kinds of magic.

Nie Yan appeared valiant, using God’s Blessing to endure such a concentrated barrage. God’s Blessing had a duration of 60 seconds. When it was over, the damage from any of these Evil Mages could kill him in an instant.

Nie Yan kept plunging his hand in-and-out and all through Phantom Princess Ina’s dress with Steal, trying to pilfer as much loot as he possibly could. All the while he tightly held onto an Unknown Transfer Scroll in his other hand and ignored the spells raining down on him.

Steal was unsuccessful.

Chapter 330 – Abak’s Gloves of Sealing

Steal had an extremely short cooldown, but it came paired with a pitifully low success rate. For it to succeed in 1 out of 30 attempts on ordinary monsters would already be quite impressive. However, Phantom Princess Ina was a well-known treasure trove, so the chances of obtaining something from her were relatively high. Then again, due to her ability to regularly summon hordes of Evil Mages, it was nigh impossible for ordinary Thieves to steal from her.

Nie Yan could only steal so many items from her because of the magic immunity from God’s Blessing.

You have obtained 102 gold.

Seeing this notification, Nie Yan was given a great shock. Phantom Princess Ina was truly deserving of her royal title, giving 102 gold all at once.

The seconds passed as spells continued to bombard Nie Yan, doing absolutely no damage. However, the splashes created enough dazzling colors to rival a firework show, making it hard for him to see. He could only cover his eyes and repeatedly reach toward where he thought Phantom Princess Ina was.

Nie Yan kept careful track of the time remaining on God’s Blessing. The moment it wore off, he would activate the Unknown Transfer Scroll gripped tightly in his hand without hesitation.

Steal!

Steal!

Nie Yan continuously pilfered items from Phantom Princess Ina, obtaining an Advanced Area-of-Effect Magic Scroll and two more Soul Gems.

Such a scroll would be sold by Scroll Master Davina for over 500 gold. The value of the Soul Gems was about 50 gold each. With this, Nie Yan had made quite a profit.

It was a shame there was only a set number of items in Princess Ina’s inventory. New things would only be added every so often. Repeatedly coming over to steal things from her would only end up depleting her stock, making it harder and harder to get anything from her.

Nie Yan was the first one to loot this treasure trove and her bag was currently filled to the brim. The success rate right now was the highest it would ever be, so he could snag multiple expensive items from her in a short amount of time.

Yet another successful theft notification appeared.

Nie Yan didn’t have the chance to see what it was before time ran out. The Evil Mages cast another wave of spells, and he knew this barrage would spell the end for him if it landed.

Just as Nie Yan was about to be obliterated, he crushed the Unknown Transfer Scroll in his hand.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」A series of explosions engulfed the area where Nie Yan previously stood.

His upright figure dissolved into nothingness, leaving not even a corpse behind.

As the scenery around him warped and twisted, Nie Yan reappeared in a vast desert. Within the blowing sands, it was impossible to tell which direction was which.

Giant lizards were everywhere, freely roaming the place. They were protected by a thick and rough skin that almost looked like a layer of hard metal. Their bulging eyes, which oddly resembled brass bells, glinted eerily.

Seeing these giant lizards, Nie Yan’s face paled. They were the Level 300 monsters, Steel Armoured Monitors!

Crap! Just where the hell did I end up?

Nie Yan never expected to emerge in such a dangerous place!

Steel Armoured Monitors had very high Awareness. The closest one was more than 50 meters away, yet it instantly locked onto Nie Yan when he appeared. It started charging towards him immediately.

Its speed could only be described as monstrous. It was only 10 meters away in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, its entire body ignited and became a high-speed heavy fireball on course to slam into Nie Yan. His only impression as he quickly pulled up his inventory was a blast of heat so hot he felt like he was being barbecued.

Nie Yan was badly frightened by this Steel Armoured Monitor. Back when he was Level 180 in the previous timeline, he had once hunted an ordinary Level 300 monster with his friends. It took 20 players almost half an hour to kill it.

Nie Yan was currently nowhere close to being the Steel Armoured Monitor’s match!

Just as the Steel Armoured Monitor arrived in front of Nie Yan and was about to swallow him whole, he used another Unknown Transfer Scroll and teleported away.

The Steel Armoured Monitor blinked and looked around in confusion. Since it couldn’t find a trace of its ephemeral free meal, it returned to roaming the desert.

Nie Yan once more opened his eyes. This time, lush green vegetation appeared before him. He was clearly still in the desert, but this looked to be an oasis. A crystal-clear lake sat in the center, sparkling brightly in the sunshine.

Looking carefully to make sure there weren’t any monsters nearby, he moved under a tree and took out a return scroll so he could go home.

System: Activating Return Scroll… 3%… 12%…

With a flash of white light, Nie Yan was back in Soyu Town. Seeing the familiar buildings around him, Nie Yan felt like a new man. He was finally safe! He hadn’t expected to need two Unknown Transfer Scrolls to get out of danger this time. His luck really was a bit too poor.

Nie Yan took a look at his harvest and noticed a pair of dark violet gloves glistening brilliantly in his bag. Golden silk patterns were sewn into them with small gems embedded in between. They were covered in various runes, and their design was reminiscent of the Era of Shared Governance. Sharp barbs protruded out from the sides, giving the gloves a flashy look.

Rings of eerie energy circled the violet gloves, almost like a series of perverse halos.

It’s these! Nie Yan’s eyes lit up with joy.

He could search high and low to no avail, but in the end they came to him of their own accord! It turned out this was part of the Tyrant Abak Set!

Nie Yan quickly examined the pair of gloves.

Abak’s Gloves of Sealing (Legendary): Unequippable

Requirements: 1,500 Strength, 1,200 Dexterity, Level 180

Description: This item can only be worn by the owner of the Glimpse of Darkness. It is only equippable when the owner has gathered the full set. Abak held strength in high regard. Only the powerful can become tyrants. Eliminate all traitors!

Properties: Attack +1,200, Defense +520, Strength +500, Dexterity +320, All Stats +100, Ignore Level, Chaos Damage.

Sealing Hand: Seal a target, leaving them unable to move, attack, or cast magic for 20 seconds.

Cooldown: 2 days.

Death’s Touch (Toggle): Your attacks destroy armour, inflict Corrosive Damage, and have a chance to instantly kill the enemy.

Cost: 5 Energy per second.

Set Completion: 1/8

This item is automatically bound to the owner of Volume I of the Book of Order. It cannot be traded or dropped.

(Wandering Princess’s Mark: Phantom Princess Ina will hunt you down at all costs to retake Abak’s Gloves of Sealing).

The violet aura around Abak’s Gloves suddenly lit up. A powerful energy surged through Nie Yan’s arms and forcibly bound itself to his soul.

Adventurer, you have found Abak’s Gloves of Sealing. Pursue the remnants of history to unearth the glory of the past. Seek out Earl Kelfide. He might have some clues. Hurry, Adventurer! You only have 10 day before trouble comes knocking at the earl’s door!

It was a bound piece of equipment, causing Nie Yan to be taken aback until he saw the gloves’ properties. Just looking at this alone made it clear that the Tyrant Abak Set was insanely powerful. The set could only be worn at level 180, so it stood firmly at the peak of Legendary equipment. It didn’t matter that it was bound since there would never be a need to replace it!

Nie Yan was flabbergasted as to why Abak’s Gloves of Sealing would drop from the Level 60 Lord, Phantom Princess Ina. But after seeing the Phantom Princess’s Mark, he bitterly chuckled. This piece of equipment was a hot potato. There was nothing funny about being pursued by a Level 60 Lord.

Nie Yan would have to wait for Smoke Stub and the others to reach Level 60, whereupon they could set up a trap and kill Phantom Princess Ina. Before then, he would have to be careful since he didn’t know where or when she would show up. He searched the official website for some information and learned that Phantom Princess Ina would deviate from ordinary Lords when her hidden quest was triggered. She would grow increasingly powerful every time she was killed, reviving after 30 days until she reached her final form which was a Level 180 Demonified Lord.

This was probably both the reason Abak’s Gloves of Sealing were in her inventory and the result of pilfering them.

If Nie Yan could acquire all eight pieces of the Tyrant Abak Set, and fully unseal Zennarde’s Sword, he would have a set of godly equipment! The whole world would bow at his feet!

Dragon King Zennarde was a legendary existence in the Era of Darkness. Tyrant Abak wasn’t inferior in the slightest. The Era of Shared Governance was humanity’s golden age. If he completed this set by the time he reached Level 180, no one would be his match.

However, collecting the full Tyrant Abak Set was no easy feat. Not to mention if Nie Yan wanted to get to Level 180, even if he focused all his attention on levelling up, it would take at least a year if not more. Who knew what sort of trouble would occur during that time? It still remained to be seen if he could even keep Abak’s Gloves of Sealing secure in his bag.

Phantom Princess Ina could take Abak’s Gloves of Sealing back. They weren’t officially his yet! Obtaining the gloves could only be considered the first step.

Nie Yan would have to continuously defeat Phantom Princess Ina until she reached her final form as a Level 180 Demonified Lord. Only then would Abak’s Gloves of Sealing truly belong to him!

Nie Yan contemplated for a moment before putting the gloves back in his inventory. He looked at the rest of his spoils and pulled out Dela’s Magical Device Book. This thick book, meant for Tinkerers, had a torn cover and was in a generally shabby condition. After all, having existed for so long, it would be strange if it hadn’t suffered any wear.

Dela’s Magical Device Book (Legendary): Special Item

Requirements: Advanced Tinkerer

This Legendary book had been left behind by the fabled Dela, a goblin Tinkerer who had been captured by humans and put to work in the prisons of Calore. The goblins tried and failed multiple times to rescue him before sending a full-blown Colin Airship that finally managed to bring him away. However, the ship was shot down and crashed in the desert. Later, the humans found the goblin’s corpse but Dela’s Magical Device Book had disappeared without a trace.

Dela’s Magical Device Book was a Tinkerer item.

Nie Yan wondered what was written in this thick Magical Device Book. He opened it up, causing a cloud of dust to rise up into his face and send him into a brief coughing fit. All kinds of exquisite design schematics entered his eyes.

One in particular immediately attracted Nie Yan’s attention.

Chapter 331 – Tinkerer

It was a design schematic for Magic Bombs!

Magic Bombs were divided into Junior, Intermediate, Advanced, and Specialist ranks. Intermediate Magic Bombs could be crafted by Advanced Tinkerers. Advanced Magic Bombs required Master or even Grandmaster Tinkerers. As for Specialist Magic Bombs, no one knew what rank was required.

Even the best Tinkerer in the previous timeline was only a Grandmaster. Tinkerer was one of the hardest crafting professions.

Nie Yan also recognized a design schematic for Goblin Muskets, which served the same purpose as bows and crossbows but had a longer range. They were by far the favourite tool for drawing aggro. There were other design schematics for things such as Goblin Golems and Goblin Shrinkers as well.

These marvels were created by goblin civilization with their splendid magitech.

Dela’s Magical Device Book was definitely a priceless treasure!

Today’s harvest far exceeded Nie Yan’s expectations and left him incredibly excited. He finally examined the first item he successfully pilfered from Phantom Princess Ina, the Ina’s Prayer Gloves.

Ina’s Prayer Gloves (Sub Legendary)

Requirements: 630 Intelligence

Properties: Defenses 520–532, Dexterity +30, Movement Speed +30, Balance +20, Radiant Flame Explosion (Rank 12), Scorching Holy Smite (Rank 12)

Restrictions: Holy Mage

Yao Yao immediately popped into Nie Yan’s mind. The Intelligence requirement for Ina’s Prayer Gloves were a bit steep, so she probably couldn’t equip them yet. But even if she wasn’t Xie Yao, he couldn’t think of a better owner for this item. Besides, equipment was meant to be worn.

Nie Yan teleported back to Calore and got into contact with Bird Leaves No Eggs.

「Boss, what’s up?」Bird was in the middle of concocting potions.

「Who are our top Tinkerers?」Nie Yan asked. He wanted a skilled Tinkerer to learn Dela’s Magical Device Book, so they could craft items exclusively for him.

Dela’s Magical Device Book was a Legendary item. He would only give it to a Tinkerer who was loyal and trustworthy.

「Tinkerer?」Bird blurted out in surprise, wondering what Nie Yan wanted with a Tinkerer.「The Starry Night Tinkerer Shop currently has over 60 contracted Tinkerers. Among them, there are 3 Advanced Tinkerers, 5 Intermediate Tinkerers, and the rest are Junior Tinkerers.」

「Who are the 3 Advanced Tinkerers?」

「Calm Root, Violet Mist, and Left Hand Attained the Dao,」Bird replied. Of the seven Advanced Tinkerers in Calore, three belonged to the Starry Night Tinkerer Shop! Nie Yan had personally sought out two of them while the third joined on their own accord.

Nie Yan’s heart shook. All three were famous Tinkerers worth well over ￥100,000,000 in the previous timeline. They were legendary existences that could rally tens of thousands with a single call. Even items casually crafted by them in their spare time would be fought over by countless players!

They were currently only Advanced Tinkerers. Even though they ranked among the top in their profession, their influence still wasn’t that great.

It would be impressive if you could recruit even one famous Tinkerer. These three represented almost half of the top Tinkerers in Calore.

「Let them know I’m looking for a personal Tinkerer. I naturally won’t be stingy with benefits. But everything they produce is for Asskickers United alone, and they’ll have to sign a contract,」Nie Yan said. Calm Root, Violet Smoke, and Left Hand, any one of them met his qualifications.

「Alright, I’ll go talk to them,」Bird replied. He quickly ran over to the adjacent Starry Night Tinkerer Shop.

Both the Starry Night Potion Shop and Starry Night Tinkerer Shop were managed by Bird.

Inside a workshop of the Starry Night Tinkerer Shop, Violet Mist, Calm Root, and Left Hand were busy at work.

Violet Mist was an 18-year-old lass with her hair tied back in a ponytail. She had an adorable face with soft and supple skin. If she were out walking in the streets, it would be hard to associate her with one of the top Tinkerers in Calore.

Calm Root had the appearance of a 23-year-old woman with a slim build. Her skin was fair and delicate. She possessed a unique charm, appearing elegant in her beige tinkerer coat.

Violet Mist and Calm Root were chatting while working.

A slightly cold-looking youth sat off in a corner, completely absorbed in crafting an item. He was Left Hand Attained the Dao.

At this moment, Bird walked into the workshop.

"Drop what you’re doing for now. I have an announcement. The boss is looking for a personal Tinkerer. Of course, you’ll be generously rewarded. This is the contract I just drafted up. Take a look.” Bird showed the contract to Violet Mist, Calm Root, and Left Hand.

Calm Root frowned. No matter how she looked at it, this contract was akin to a wealthy man lavishing gifts on a younger woman. The contract owner promised crafting materials and design schematics in return for everything the contractor produced. Nevertheless, the salary was quite decent at ￥20,000, with opportunity for raises in the future. These were generous terms for an Advanced Tinkerer.

Left Hand glanced at the contract with disinterest before returning to his work.

Violet Mist was tempted. ￥20,000 truly was generous. But it was precisely this generosity that made her wary.

Ever since they joined the Starry Night Tinkerer Shop, the identity of the owner remained a complete mystery, only knowing that he was low-key and never showed his face. They were curious about him, but that was about it. They figured he was probably an employee of some financial group.

Bird grew anxious after no one stepped forth. How could he face Nie Yan if he couldn’t even complete a trivial task like this!?

"Violet Mist, what about you? are you willing to become the boss’ personal Tinkerer?” Out of the three of them, Bird was the closest with Violet Mist. She was lively, energetic, and easy to get along with. Calm Root’s beauty made her difficult to approach, not to mention she was around the same age as him. His interactions with her were limited. As for Left Hand, this fellow was so engrossed with work that he barely talked to his own colleagues, let alone others.

"Big Brother Bird, who is our boss?” Violet Mist asked. She was worried the owner might have malicious intents.

"Our boss is Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame,” Bird revealed.

Violet Mist’s eyes widened in shock. She asked in a disbelieving tone, "Big Brother Bird, are you for real? Our boss is the guild leader of Asskickers United, Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame?”

Even though Violet Mist knew the Starry Night Potion Shop was collaborating with Asskickers United, never in her wildest dreams did she think their mysterious owner was actually Nirvana Flame!

The Starry Night Potion Shop was a flourishing business with branches in every city across the Viridian Empire. Asskickers United was the unshakable overlord of Calore.

Both of these entities were actually owned by the same person! What revelation could be more shocking than this!?

Even though they had their suspicions, they never dared to entertain the possibility.

Calm Root was reeling in shock. Left Hand, who had retreated back into his corner and was known for his indifference regardless of the situation, trembled and nearly dropped the metal component he was fiddling with.

It turned out the owner of the Starry Night Potion Shop was one of the most influential players in Conviction.

"Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame, he’s a legendary figure in Calore. Big Brother Bird, which financial group does he belong to?” Violet Mist asked. In her opinion, Nie Yan was definitely part of a financial group. How else could Asskickers United rise from obscurity to become the ruler of Calore in such a short time?

Calm Root was also curious. She awaited Bird’s response with anticipation. If it turned out Nirvana Flame had the backing of a financial group, there would be nothing to be suprised about.

"He doesn’t belong to any financial group. The boss started out from scratch. I first met him when he was still a solo player. He established the Starry Night Potion Shop first. Later on, he founded Asskickers United with several of his friends. Their rise to glory was nothing short of a miracle, always coming on top even when things looked grim!” Bird’s expression was filled with reverence. From starting out with nothing to contending for hegemony over the Viridian Empire, the story of his boss was extraordinary.

Kiln Fire Woods, Sinful Gorge, and the plains outside Glory City, every battle was a classic!

Nirvana Flame’s story would last for a long time to come, never to be forgotten by the countless players of Conviction!

Nirvana Flame was revered as a god!

"Big Brother Bird, I’ll go!” Violet Mist said. She was incredibly excited to meet such a legendary existence.

Calm Root and Left Hand were much more level-headed. Bird basically wanted them to enter into what amounted to a slave contract. Their freedom would be severely limited, and they might not even make as much as they currently did crafting and selling Tinkerer items every day.

"What I revealed to you guys today is confidential. Got it?” Bird solemnly said. He inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Since he managed to convince Violet Mist, he wouldn’t have to go back to Nie Yan empty-handed.

"Yes.” Calm Root nodded in agreement. Nirvana Flame truly kept a low profile. Even up until now, players were still unaware he was the owner of the Starry Night Potion Shop.

Left Hand also nodded.

"Let’s go, Violet Mist.”

"Mhm!” Violet Mist vigorously nodded. Her cheeks were rosy red. She looked quite adorable.

Suddenly, Bird felt like he was a dirty uncle selling his young niece into slavery.

The two walked out of the workshop.

Chapter 332 – Brothers!

Nie Yan knew it would take a while for Bird to get back to him, so he checked the situation in the forums in the meantime. The discussion had already reached a tipping point. Due to the war between Asskickers United and Bloodlust Blades growing increasingly intense, the moderators intervened and placed the kill counters next to each other on a stickied post. Since the data was obtained from the system, there was no misrepresentation.

With the official website getting involved, the numbers were 100% accurate!

Bloodlust Blades orignally led Asskickers United by over 2,000 kills with their kill counter surpassing 8,000 kills. But after Asskickers United’s bounty notice circulated around, the gap was shortened to just 300 kills. The biggest contributor to this reversal was the Union of Assassins, which accounted for around 4,000 kills. From this, it was clear they were a force to be reckoned with.

The conflict was far from reaching a conclusion. Bloodlust Blades increased their bounty reward to 3 gold, for fear of Asskickers United making them lose face by surpassing them.

This was Bloodlust Blades’ only strategy to level the playing field.

For the sake of reaping some rewards, more and more ordinary players participated in this conflict between Asskickers United and Bloodlust Blades.

This was the so-called, the law is powerless in the face of the masses! Even though Asskickers United was the local hegemon, they were merely a drop in the bucket compared to the entire population of Calore. The reward of 3 gold was simply too tempting. With so many players fishing in troubled waters, Asskickers United couldn’t possibly retaliate against all of them!

The players of Asskickers United were still ferverently discussing today’s events in the guild chat.

「Boss, should we also increase the bounty reward?」

「Watchful Snail, can you ask Nirvana Flame if we should match Bloodlust Blades’? 」

…

Nie Yan showed himself in chat.「Calm down, guys. Bloodlust Blades upping their bounty reward is a sign they’re losing confidence. Even if they were richer, I refuse to believe they can outlast us while hemorrhaging gold at a 3 to 2 rate. We won’t raise our bounty rewards! We’ll continue going at it with them and see who collapses first! Brothers, Asskickers United never falters!」

Nie Yan’s words raised the spirits of the guild members. What was there to be afraid of? With so many brothers, even if the sky were to collapse, they would shoulder the burden together!

「Let’s continue gold farming!」

「Hell yeah! Let’s bankrupt those bastards!」

…

Nie Yan contacted Guo Huai.「Did the gold from the Dragonsoar Financial Group arrive?」

「Yep, the 100,000 gold was delivered to our account. They even gave us an additional 60,000 gold, no strings attached,」Guo Huai said with a knowing smile. Why would the Dragonsoar Financial Group show such support? There was obviously something going on behind the scenes! Did Nie Yan succeed in wooing that girl Xie Yao?

「I see… How are our losses?」Nie Yan asked. A thought surfaced in his mind. If Yao Yao really was Xie Yao, she would definitely help out after knowing the guild was in dire straits.

「Over 30,000 gold,」Guo huai replied. The bounty rewards only accounted for a little over half of that sum. The rest was spent on helping those who died to ambushes. Even though many guild members outright refused compensation, not everyone could afford to ride out this storm by themselves.

In such a short amount of time, Asskickers United had already lost 30,000 gold, and it would only get harder from here on out. Nie Yan still had a large variety of money-making methods in mind. It was about time he decided which one could net the greatest profit in the shortest amount of time.

「Do you have an estimate of Bloodlust Blades’ losses?」Nie Yan asked. He figured Guo Huai probably had a rough understanding of their situation.

「Probably somewhere in the ballpark of 50,000 gold. The guild members in Bloodlust Blades are demanding heavy compensation, and they’re hemorrhaging gold even faster after raising their bounty rewards,」Guo Huai replied. It was impossible for Bloodlust Blades to be as united as Asskickers United.

Nie Yan always followed a certain set of policies to build as much goodwill as possible with the players under him, such as never reducing their benefits under any circumstances and aiding them whenever they were in a pinch. He hoped to lead by example and create a guild with a strong sense of comradery.

Asskickers United was widely-known to provide their players the best benefits out of all the major guilds. On top of this, Nie Yan, Guo Huai, and the other higher-ups were easy-going and approachable, which made them well-liked by the players under them. So when the guild encountered a calamity, everyone was willing to pitch-in.

On the other side, Bloodlust Blades was bloated with over double the members of Asskickers United. Outside of the investment they received from the Century Financial Group, they didn’t have many other sources of income. How could they compete with a tycoon like Nie Yan? They regularly changed their benefits policy to cut costs, which was one of the reasons for their many ongoing internal struggles. Those who had complaints with the guild could be found everywhere. When everything around them was burning, who would be willing to give it their all for nothing?

「How much gold do you think they have in reserve?」Nie Yan asked. This piece of information was vital for predicting the course of this war. For every 30,000 gold Asskickers United spent, Bloodlust Blades would lose 50,000 gold. If they could guess roughly how much gold the other side had, it would be easier to make adequate preparations.

「At least 300,000 gold. They wouldn’t dare to provoke us otherwise. Furthermore, for the sake of destroying us, the Century Financial Group will definitely invest more gold!」Guo Huai though for a moment, then continued,「The Dragonsoar Financial Group probably can’t amass gold as quickly as the Century Financial Group. After all, the Century Financial Group has deep roots since they’ve been in the virtual reality game market for a long time. The Dragonsoar Financial Group is bound to be inferior to them in some respects. As for the rest, we’ll have to wait and see.」

The Starry Night Potion Shop, Union of Assassins, and the Super Trade Channel were all incredibly profitable. The one to collapse first might not be Asskickers United but rather Bloodlust Blades! Nie Yan didn’t particularly mind engaging this conflict with Bloodlust Blades because their backer was the Century Financial Group whose financial resources were robust. If the Century Financial Group were allowed to develop their business in Conviction without a hitch, they would pose a fatal threat to him. This was why he begrudgingly paid a heavy price to weaken them. In any case, his auction houses, shops, and properties would continue to generate gold for him.

With so many sources of income, Asskickers United wouldn’t lose!

「Let me show you something.」Guo Huai shared an image.

It was a record of the guild’s finances. There was currently a balance of 190,000 gold followed up by a long list of contributions.

Paladin of the Elegy has donated 7 gold.

Radiant Scroll has donated 3 gold.

Falling Leaf Flying Snow has donated 5 gold.

Aqua Smoke Stub has donated 329 gold.

Undying Scoundrel has donated 129 gold.

Blowhard Summer Bug has donated 157 gold.

Asskickers United Gold Farming Squad #1 has donated 2,832 gold.

Most Kickass Gold Farming Squad has donated 3,289 gold.

…

Nie Yan’s mind turned turbulent like a stormy sea. Behind these contributions was the blood and sweat of his guild members!

It was impossible for Nie Yan not to feel deeply touched. Regardless of whether the contribution was large or small, he knew this gold came from players who had been saving up for a long time or was recently earned from farming.

None of their feelings were lost on Nie Yan. He heard them loud and clear. He didn’t know how many players such as these there were. But if they accounted for even 10% of the entire guild, Asskickers United would never fall!

Chapter 333 – Dark Portal

Nie Yan’s auction houses and shops generated a lot of gold. Combined with the numerous contributions of the guilds members, Asskickers United could persevere for a long time. Thanks to recent events, the profit of the Union of Assassins took a sharp decline since the professional players would rather be participating in the bounty notice than carrying out regular missions. Calculating everything, he earned roughly 50,000 gold a day.

「Guo Huai, I want you to note down all their names. When this war is over, we’re going to reward them properly. They’re the lifeblood of Asskickers United!」Nie Yan said. The loyalty these players displayed far exceeded that of ordinary guild members. Of course, their effort didn’t go unnoticed. He planned to grant them benefits befitting of their merits.

At this moment, Bird walked over to Nie Yan with a girl in tow. She was quite cute.

Nie Yan glanced at the young lady, and she stared back at him with an inquisitive gaze. Her eyes were bright and full of spirit.

Violet Mist gazed at Nie Yan. He looked just like the figure she saw in the videos online. This was Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame!

"This is Violet Mist. She’s willing to become your personal Tinkerer. She’s one of our Advanced Tinkerers,” Bird said as he introduced Violet Mist to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan nodded in acknowledgement. Violet Mist looked no older than 18 years old. It was hard to believe someone so young would become a reknowned Tinkerer worth over ￥100,000,000 in the future. Even though he was a little surprised, he had seen many young talents by now, so he didn’t show too much of a reaction.

"Have you shown her the contract?” Nie Yan asked. Most players wouldn’t be willing to be bound by such a stringent contract, but the benefits he offered in return were ample. Just his name alone was a big attraction, to say nothing of the fact that he planned to invest an immense amount of resources to foster his personal Tinkerer.

"Yes, she’s already signed the contract,” Bird replied. Even Bird didn’t know what Nie Yan’s goal was.

Nie Yan turned to Violet Mist. "Since you’ve decided to become my personal Tinkerer, I’m sure you’ve read through the contents of the contract, including the confidentiality clause.”

Seeing Nie Yan’s solemn expression, Violet Mist became flustered. The person before her was the legendary guild leader of Asskickers United, Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame! She felt immense pressure.

Who hadn’t watched videos of Nie Yan’s feats online? He was a heaven-defying figure who commanded her respect. Add this to the fact that she just found out this person was her boss, and it was no wonder she felt nervous.

"I understand.” Violet Mist vigorously nodded.

Seeing Violet Mist’s flustered appearance, Nie Yan chuckled. "I’m not some scary monster. No need to be so nervous. Just abide by the terms of the contract and you’ll be fine.”

A young lady like Violet Mist was still pure. She was much more trustworthy than those sly foxes who bounced from guild to guild.

"Here, take this.” Nie Yan handed over Dela’s Magical Device Book. "I’ll provide you with all the necessary materials. You’ll be crafting the items described inside this book, specifically the Magic Bombs. I need a lot of Intermediate Magic Bombs, the more the better!” With a large supply of Magic Bombs, a lot of problems could be easily resolved, such as raising the levels of the players in the guild.

The materials required to manufacture Magic Bombs were fairly cheap, at least compared to the price of buying Magic Bombs from NPCs. Nie Yan still felt deeply pained when he recalled how much gold he spent on them.

Violet Mist curiously flipped open the book Nie Yan handed her, whereupon her eyes widened in shock.

This was a Legendary-grade Tinkerer Manual!

Just where did he get this!? Violet Mist was blown away. But on second thought, she felt this wasn’t all too strange. After all, Nie Yan was the guild leader of Asskickers United.

"Work hard. I hope you’ll meet my expectations. If your performance is good, I’ll give you a raise,” Nie Yan said. Most production class players didn’t come from wealthy backgrounds. Since crafting professions were generally monotonous and boring, the vast majority of players who selected them did so to earn money. Those who could earn salaries like Violet Mist ranked among the top of their respective professions.

Violet Mist hastily nodded. "I won’t let you down!” As a high schooler, it was amazing she could earn such a salary by playing Conviction. Even her parents would be shocked. She naturally wouldn’t pass up on such a lucrative job.

"I’ll leave you guys to it.” Nie Yan bid farewell after explaining the relevant affairs.

Bird called for someone to prepare the necessary crafting materials for Violet Mist.

Nie Yan wondered about Violet Mist’s production output. As an Advanced Tinkerer, she should have no problem manufacturing several dozen Magic Bombs a day. He could let them accumulate for a few days, then use them all at once to level up.

Bird led Violet Mist away.

Nie Yan had a headache trying to think of a method to earn gold quickly. Doing quests was out of the question. Even the most difficult ones within the scope of his abilities would only reward him around 50 gold. Such a pitiful amount was like trying to douse a house fire with a cup of water.

Nie Yan reshuffled a few things in his auction houses and shops. The Level 50 dungeon, Roth City, was going to be released in a few days. He had his subordinates stock up on items he knew would be in high demand. With six auction houses, his hoarding ability was unmatched. After the release of every new dungeon, he made a profit of thousands to tens of thousands of gold.

The war with Bloodlust Blades didn’t show any signs of ending soon. It might even drag on for over a week. Nie Yan felt confident Asskickers United could last for 10 days. He didn’t know if the other side could do the same.

Nie Yan went off and explored some secret areas in high-level maps, obtaining rare items which he listed up for sale in the auction house. He also spent a lot of time running around in the wilderness hunting for treasure chests. This was his way of earning a bit of extra gold while also conveniently training his Lockpicking Specialist skill.

While Nie Yan was in the middle of treasure hunting, the Dark Portal from Bennett’s Journal was about to open.

The Dark Portal opened once every five days and only lasted 20 minutes. Nie Yan would have to wait another five days for it to open again if he missed it. He pondered for a long time. Should he go and visit the Underworld? He might even make some unexpected harvest. It was also a good opportunity to earn a lot of gold!

Nie Yan finally came to a decision. He would have Sun retrieve the next fragment of Sulgata’s Shadow while he took a trip to the Underworld. The territories of the two factions were in the same dimension, so he could still remotely direct things back in Calore.

「You want to go to the Underworld!?」Guo Huai blurred out in shock after Nie Yan informed him of his plans.

「Yes, I’m going to the Underworld,」Nie Yan said decisively.

「When will you be back?」Guo Huai asked. He was worried something might happen during Nie Yan’s absence.

「Five days.」

「That long?」Guo Huai frowned.

「Keep the bounty notice up. We can hold out for at least a week and a half. Don’t fret, nothing will happen. Even if Bloodlust Blades keeps making taunts, tell our brothers to stay calm. With the way things are developing, we’ll definitely be the ones to come out on top!」

「Alright.」Guo Huai nodded. He should be able to manage the situation by himself for the next five days.

「Help me get a few bags, the bigger the better. Ask the brothers in the guild chat. I want the largest bags!」Nie Yan said. Since he was going to be staying in the Underworld for the next five days, he would need to stock up on plenty of consumables. Besides this, the more bagspace he had, the more items he could bring back.

「I’ll get right to it!」Guo Huai said. He began asking in the guild chat for large bags. As a guild full of elites, the players from Asskickers United regularly obtained bags from levelling and dungeon runs.

The players in the chat replied in droves when they heard Nie Yan needed bags with a lot of slots.

「How large of a bag does the boss need?」

「I have a 30-slot bag.」

「How could a 30-slot bag be good enough for the boss!?」

「I have a 36-slot bag!」

「I also have one!」

「I have a 40-slot bag!」

…

Guo Huai compensated the players who donated their bags with an equivalent value of merit points. After tallying everything up, he collected two 40-slot bags and two 36-slot bags. They were the best bags available at the current stage of the game!

After finding how many bags Guo Huai collected, Nie Yan quickly whispered him,「That’s enough, I already have a 40-slot bag on me as well. Deliver everything to my personal storage.」

Before long, Nie Yan received the bags Guo Huai sent over and switched out his old bags.

Nie Yan stocked up on a ton of consumables, including some necessary scrolls. His Combat Medic skill had also ranked up.

Combat Medic (Advanced)

Requirements: 10 Runic Cloths

Description: Craft Advanced Combat Bandages which can be used in the middle of combat. Each bandage replenishes 200 health every second for 10 seconds and cannot be interrupted for the first 3 seconds. (Cooldown: 5 minutes)

Nie Yan bought enough Runic Cloths to craft three full stacks of Advanced Combat Bandages, which should be enough to last him five days.

Aside from the Combat Bandages, Nie Yan filled all five of his bags with full stacks of consumables. Out of the 172 slots in his inventory, only 5 were left empty. He definitely had to leave some empty space; otherwise, he would be forced to throw stuff away to make space when he found valuable items in the Underworld.

After settling his affairs in Calore, Nie Yan found a secluded corner and opened the Dark Portal.

A portal emerged in front of Nie Yan. It emitted a dark energy that appeared to pierce through space.

This Dark Portal led to the remote Underworld!

As Nie Yan gazed at the portal, a mysterious force guided him. He lifted his foot and stepped inside. The surrounding space trembled as his figure disappeared into the Dark Portal.

Chapter 334 – Underworld

"Violet Mist, all the materials are here. The boss has some matters to take care of, so he’ll be back in 5 days. During this time, manufacture as many Magic Bombs as possible, especially the Intermediate-ranked ones!” Bird instructed. He had tasked his subordinates to gather enough materials for over a thousand crafting attempts, the cost of which nearly made him keel over. A single Junior Magic Bomb had a material cost of roughly 1 gold. But this paled in comparison to the 15 gold material cost of an Intermediate Magic Bomb. He had only managed to secure enough materials for 30 Intermediate Magic Bombs. Like this, 1,500 gold went down the drain. He felt spending so much gold on crafting material was a waste, especially when finances were so tight. However, Nie Yan’s orders were clear, so he would naturally carry out his task to a tee.

As the average level of the player base rose, so would the number of players using Magic Bombs. Tasoyi Village had already become a player hotspot, so the Junior Magic Bombs sold there regularly ran out of stock.

A Junior Magic Bomb would sell for 5 gold or higher in the auction house. Advanced Tinkerers were capable of manufacturing 200 Junior Magic Bombs a day. Subtracting the material costs, this was a net profit of 800 gold!

This was the most lucrative business Nie Yan could think of for the time being, so he wasn’t stingy about the material costs. Even if he kept more than half the Junior Magic Bombs for himself and put up the rest for sale, he would still make profit!

Violet Mist’s personal workshop was filled to the brim with crafting materials.

"Violet Mist, work hard. If your perform well, I’ll let the boss know, so he’ll give you a raise,” Bird encouraged.

"Yes! I’ll do my best!” Violet Mist nodded. She gazed at the piles of crafting materials. It appeared she was going to be very busy for the next few days.

She got to work right away, her nimble fingers constantly moving as she produced one Magic Bomb after another.

Violet Mist was a talented Tinkerer. Bird nodded in satisfaction after seeing her completing Nie Yan’s task in earnest.

With news of the conflict between Asskickers United and Bloodlust Blades spreading to the four corners of the Viridian Empire, more and more players started participating in the bounty notices, the majority of whom were powerful experts. The ordinary players were lucky if they didn’t throw their lives away in vain attempts to take down a player from Asskickers United or Bloodlust Blades.

Since battles often occurred in Level 40 maps or higher, it was difficult for ordinary players to participate.

On the other end of the spectrum, some individuals even achieved kill counts of over 100, leaving the major guilds scrambling over each other to recruit them. However, they were extremely rare exceptions.

This kind of hectic situation probably wouldn’t end anytime soon.

…

Seven players were gathered together in a small house in the west district of Calore. They wore shabby equipment, except for the leader who appeared somewhat decent with a full set of Silver-grade equipment.

"Boss, Are you sure you want to go to Glory City? Why don’t we just hunt the Asskickers United players in Calore?” asked one of the players.

The leader was a short-haired man in his 30s with a slim build. He wore ash-gray leather armour and carried two dinky-looking daggers. He was a Thief called King of the World.

"I agree. You have to pay 1 gold to teleport to Glory City. It’s too expensive.”

"We also don’t have much gold. After selling all the equipment in our storages, we’ve only managed to pool together 2 gold. That’s just enough for a round trip,” said a player with the appearance of a 20-year-old youth.

"A round trip costs 2 gold. If you fail to kill a player from Bloodlust Blades, won’t we go broke?”

"Yeah! We’ll be rewarded 3 gold for a killing a player from Asskickers United, and we won’t have to take any financial risks,” persuaded another player.

King of the World turned to the Priest beside him and asked, "Ol’ Three, do you know why I insist on going after Bloodlust Blades?”

"Why?”

"It’s because of Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame!” King of the World replied. "I studied his videos religiously to get to where I am today, so I consider him half my master. One other thing, the players from Asskickers United are far stronger than those from Bloodlust Blades. The safer bet is for me to go to Glory City. Even if we have to spend 2 gold, I think it’ll be worth the investment.”

With King of the World saying his piece, the others stopped trying to persuade him.

"Since you’ve made up your mind, I guess it can’t be helped.”

"We can’t accompany you there, so be careful.”

King of the World confidently smiled. "Even though it’s impossible for me to make a big splash, I should have no problem taking out the lower-ranking players from Bloodlust Blades. As long I can kill more than one, we’ll have made a profit, and this trip won’t be in vain.”

King of the World gazed at the players in the room. They had sold all their old equipment to outfit him with a set of decent gear. For the sake of helping out these poor brothers, he would definitely give it his all. He accepted the bounty notice mission in the Union of Assassins. His goal was to assassinate two or more players from Bloodlust Blades!

Their group walked toward the transfer area.

King of the World was the strongest among them at Level 37. Everyone else was around Level 25. It was too big of a contrast. When they walked through the streets, players gazed at them with expressions of disdain.

With such poor equipment, they still had the face to show themselves in public?

"I’ll be going.” King of the World heartily laughed before stepping into the transfer point.

"Take care, Boss.”

"Stay safe. We believe in you!”

Before they finished speaking, King of the World’s silhouette disappeared into the transfer point. They felt a sinking feeling in their hearts, not knowing what the future had in store for them. Only a single ray of hope laid ahead. They prayed for his success.

…

The space around Nie Yan warped and twisted as he was transported to a completely new region.

It was a world without sunlight. Nie Yan found himself in a rocky wasteland with small patches of black vegetation scattered about. He gazed upwards. But instead of the sky, all he saw was an endless patch of darkness which gave off an oppressive feeling.

Thanks to the Night Vision +12 property of Empress Finas’ Fate Pearl, Nie Yan’s range of vision was roughly 10 meters. Everything past this distance was pitch black.

The monsters in the Underworld had an extremely high chance of dropping Night Vision enhancing equipment. It was to the extent that every item here was almost guaranteed to raise the player’s Night Vision by a minimum of 1 or 2 points. Such items were as prevalent as those that increased Strength, Dexterity, or Intelligence on the surface.

Night Vision enhancing equipment was extremely common in the Underworld. But on the surface, they were highly-valued and precious.

Generally, wealthy players in the Viridian Empire would keep one or two pieces of equipment that increased Night Vision in their bags just in case. However, due to the scarcity of such equipment on the surface, there was no set market rate.

Nie Yan could hardly imagine how much equipment with Night Vision +7, +8, or higher would sell for on the surface! It was bound to net him a massive profit. At the same time, equipment with other stat bonuses which were rare on the surface like Focus was also common in the Underworld.

Nie Yan wondered if there was a city nearby. He explored around and found spike-covered porcupines roaming around. Their bodies were silverish-gray, and they looked like giant hedgehogs.

Nie Yan snuck behind one of the porcupines and inspected it with Transcendent Insight.

Bloodthirsty Porcupine: Level 45

Health: 2,000/2,000

It was only a Level 45 monster which meant this area was a Level 45 map. The destination of the Dark Portal was random. Nie Yan didn’t want to imagine the consequences if he was teleported to a Level 300 map again.

There were herds of Bloodthirsty Porcupines roaming everywhere.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment before summoning Lil’ Gold.

Lil’ Gold appeared before Nie Yan and greeted him with a puff of hot breath.

Nie Yan took out his Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow and fired at one of the Bloodthirsty Porcupines in the distance, immediately attracting the aggro of the entire herd.

The ground shook as dozens of Bloodthirsty Porcupines charged at Nie Yan.

At this moment, Lil’ Gold sprayed out a mouthful of Dragon Breath, blasting the herd of charging Bloodthirsty Porcupines for over 700 damage.

Lil’ Gold’s Dragon Breath almost completely shrouded the Bloodthirsty Porcupines.

Nie Yan circled behind a Bloodthirsty Porcupine and stunned it with Smothering Strike. After which he followed up with Assassinate and Lacerate, shaving away almost all its remaining health.

Nie Yan no longer paid attention to the Bloodthirsty Porcupine and moved on to his next target.

The Bloodthirst Porcupine awoke from the stun and charged toward Nie Yan. But before it could even take several steps, it collapsed to the ground with a heavy crash, dying to residual burn and bleed damage.

The Bloodthirsty Porcupine’s corpse dissolved into motes of light before completely disappearing.

Nie Yan had a chance of purifying an evil creature’s corpse.

Purified: 1

In the blink of an eye, Nie Yan took down another Bloodthirsty Porcupine.

At the same time, Lil’ Gold breathed out another mouthful of Dragon Breath, bringing down the nearby Bloodthirsty Porcupines to low health. They rammed into him and knocked him back several steps. He immediately retaliated with a swipe of his claws, killing another one of them.

Chapter 335 – Glory Kills

Lil’ Gold and Nie Yan quickly cleared the herd of Bloodthirsty Porcupines, littering the ground with corpses. Like the first one, each of their corpses dissolved into motes of light before disappearing.

Nie Yan checked the Holy Spirit Heart quest. He had purified a total of 56 corpses.

As long as Nie Yan continued purifying evil creatures, he could eventually unlock all seals on Zennarde’s Sword. It was the best weapon he had ever seen, much better than those so-called godly equipment posted on the forums in the previous lifetime. When it was fully unlocked, its properties would be beyond astonishing.

Tyrant Abak’s Set and Zennarde’s Sword were the pinnacle pieces of equipment Nie Yan would work toward in this life!

Nie Yan had Lil’ Gold tank at the front while he repeatedly cast Undead Rite from the back. He eventually caught five Bloodthirsty Porcupines: two ordinary, two Leader, and one Elite. Their damage was negligible, but they had high health and tough armour, making them decent meat shields.

Nie Yan continued to aggro herds of porcupines while using his meat shields to tank the damage. When one of them died, he would just capture another one.

The Dark Magic Effect +100% property of Finas’ Fate Pearl greatly increased the potency of Undead Rite. Its success rate was much higher than before.

Nie Yan, Lil’ Gold, and his five Bloodthirsty Porcupines swept away everything in their path, leaving a trail of corpses behind them.

「Ding!」Following a crisp jingle, Nie Yan lit up with a bright radiance and finally reached Level 37.

Nie Yan checked the level leaderboards. Tang Yao and Bloodlust Mad Blade occupied the top two positions at Level 53 and 52 respectively. They were practically neck and neck. Many players from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were also quickly rising up in the ranks.

Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors only caught up on the leaderboards because of the nonstop conflict in Calore, leaving the players from Asskickers United little free time to level. However, Asskickers United still held an unshakeable position with 6 players in the top 10, and 27 players in the top 50.

Everyone’s level was already so high. Nie Yan was truly a bit lacking in comparison.

I really need to catch up quickly, Nie Yan resolved. Afterwards, I’ll find a town or village and ask around about the nearest city.

While Nie Yan was in the middle of grinding mobs, he noticed bright explosions of magic in the plains up ahead. It was activity from players of the Evil Faction!

I should go take a look first. It’ll be troublesome if they discover me while I’m grinding here, Nie Yan thought before starting to make his way over there. He ordered Lil’ Gold and the five Bloodthirsty Porcupines to continue grinding.

Nie Yan’s body melted into the darkness as if he were a spirit of the night.

Nie Yan approached within 10 meters of the players. Several figures entered his vision. They looked completely different from anyone he’d seen on the surface, with pale white skin lacking a single trace of life, blonde hair, and incorporeal bodies.

This appearance… they’re ghosts! Nie Yan inwardly exclaimed. It seems I’m in the Undead Empire… The class system of the Undead Empire was on the simpler side compared to other empires in the Underworld, comprising Dark Shaman, Spectral Knight, Undead Raider, Dark Incantist, Necromancer, and Spectral Thief.

Out of these six classes, the Necromancer was the main force of the Undead Empire. With the ability to summon all sorts of undead creatures and monsters, they could deal just as much damage as a Mage.

Undead Shamans were similar to Priests in the sense that their primary job was healing. Dark Incantists were known as the most frightening class. They could render players helpless with debilitating curses and cast powerful magic.

Spectral Knights tanked in front with sword and shield similar to Fighters, while Undead Raiders were more offense orientated like Berserkers.

Last but not least, Spectral Thieves were quite notorious.

Among all Thief classes, undead and elven Thieves stood out above the rest. The former were experts at crowd control while the latter were experts at stealth, both of which were essential aspects for a Thief.

Furthermore, undead Thieves possessed the unique racial skill, Undead Will, which allowed the player to ignore Mind Magic to a certain degree. Even though its duration was short, it was quite useful in PvP.

This was exactly why players viewed the undead and elven races as the most suited for the Thief class. Humans were a close second thanks to their ability to disarm traps and use magical tools.

However, racial traits didn’t determine strength, skill did. If you wanted to become genuinely strong, you would have to rely on your own ability; otherwise, it would be useless no matter what race you picked.

Nie Yan observed the six players from the shadows. Their group consisted of a Dark Shaman, a Necromancer, two Dark Incantists, a Spectral Knight, and a Spectral Thief. The Necromancer had summoned a Skeleton Fighter. It wore tattered armour, supported a rusty helmet on its head, and carried a broken hatchet in its hand.

There were seven enemies in total.

Nie Yan activated Transcendent Insight. They were all around Level 45, which counted as above average among the player base.

This was Nie Yan’s first encounter with players from the Evil Faction. He didn’t know how skilled they were. Even though he had been to the Underworld in his past life, the place he visited back then was the Demon Tribe.

The Undead Empire and Demon Tribe were allied nations, just like the Viridian and Satreen Empires.

Nie Yan couldn’t hear what they were talking about. Only after moving a little closer did he realize they were speaking in the Vanbiya Undead Language which was one of the main languages in the Undead Empire.

Thankfully, he had learned the Vanbiya Undead Language.1 Otherwise, it would’ve been a pain for him to move around in the Underworld.

They were chatting about various topics. Nie Yan only heard bits and pieces of their conversation.

"Wily Six, what’s the range of your Night Vision?” the Necromancer asked. He conjured up a black fireball in his palm and shot it at a Bloodthirsty Porcupine.

"65 meters, it’s still too low to comfortably move about,” replied the Thief called Wily Six.

"Hah… If I knew it would be like this, I would’ve bought that piece of equipment with Night Vision +12 for 30 gold,” the Necromancer said in slight vexation. Too bad that ship had already sailed.

A piece of equipment with Night Vision +12 only costs 30 gold!? Nie Yan inwardly cried out in surprise. Such a piece of equipment would sell for upwards of 3,000 gold on the surface!

Their names were highlighted black, signifying they belonged to an enemy faction. Not only could Nie Yan freely attack them, but he also wouldn’t be penalized with a red name for killing them. Instead, he would be rewarded with a Glory Kill.

A player in the Viridian Empire could receive military ranks based on their Glory Kills: 10-man Commander, 100-man Commander, 1,000-man Commander, 10,000-man Commander, General, Great General

A player with a military rank could enjoy special privileges such as purchasing a set from the Glory Sets Series at a reduced price. Of course, the sets which were available differed according to military rank. A General could purchase a Sub Legendary Glory Set while a Great General could purchase a Legendary Glory Set. Glory Sets generally had properties that focused on PvP.

Outside of the Glory Set Series, players with high ranks could also become a member of the Viridian Empire’s parliament and take part in government affairs. They could wield enough power to shroud the skies. If Nie Yan could become a member of parliament, he would have dozens of methods available to squash Level 7 or lower guilds.

The higher the military rank, the better. However, you couldn’t become a Great General just by mindlessly killing however many people. You would also have to complete SSS-grade quests. In the previous timeline, there were a few Generals and only a single Great General, who nobody knew the identify of. All people knew was that the Great General never revealed themselves in public. Generals and Great Generals were existences that had slaughtered countless enemies, both players and NPCs. They would be constantly pursued and surrounded by the enemy and still come out alive in a hopeless situation. They stood proudly at the pinnacle of power!

Nie Yan wondered just how high of a rank he would reach by the time he unlocked all the seals of Zennarde’s Sword.

There was no harm in trying to raise his military rank. Maybe he could really become a General or Great General.

Nie Yan locked onto the six players in front of him. In the wilderness, Evil Faction Players would generally use any means to kill their opponent.

Nie Yan had no enmity with these people. However, they belonged to different factions, so it was inevitable they became enemies. If they discovered him first, they would do the same.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan ordered Lil’ Gold and the five Bloodthirsty Porcupines to surround these six players.

"Wily Six, go pull some more mobs,” the Necromancer said.

"Alright.” Wily Six who was wearing ash-gray leather armour entered stealth, disappearing from sight.

Nie Yan looked around but he couldn’t detect the position of Wily Six anymore. His Darkness Awareness was too low, and his range of vision was too small. He could only clearly see things within 10 meters of him. Everything past that was darkness.

In this sort of dark environment, Thieves were an extremely frightening class. Unless you had sufficient Darkness Awareness, you would be killed before you even knew what happened.

1. Nie Yan learned the Vanbiya Undead Language back in Chapter 167.

Chapter 336 – One Hit Kill

This was a world without light, and the Thief was the king of darkness who danced in the shadows!

"Ghost Wolf, do you feel anything off?” the Dark Shaman whispered in the Necromancer’s ear.

Ghost Wolf vigilantly swept his gaze across the surroundings but failed to find anything amiss, even after activating Undead Perception.

Undead Perception could detect the presence of nearby undead, which was useful in guarding against Spectral Thieves. However, the player targeting them wasn’t an undead but rather a human!

Their group had yet to encounter their first human. The Underworld was sealed off and rarely saw visitors from the surface. As for the one or two that did appear, they would be met with a quick death.

"Did you discover anything?” the Dark Shaman asked.

Ghost Wolf shook his head. "Nothing.”

"I guess it’s just my imagination.” The Dark Shaman thought he had detected a presence, if only for a brief instant. This fleeting sense of crisis left him feeling uneasy.

"No worries. We just have to stay on guard,” Ghost Wolf comforted. With the six of them, handling one or two Thieves would be a piece of cake.

Just at this moment, Wily Six sent a frantic message in the voice chat.「Guys, I discovered something strange. Hurry over here and take a look!」

Ghost Wolf and the others were flabbergasted. What could possibly be so strange to get Wily Six so worked up? They rushed to his side.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled when he saw the direction they were headed. They discovered Lil’ Gold! He followed closely after them. At the same time, he ordered Lil’ Gold and the five Bloodthirsty Porcupines to act like regular mobs.

These undead players met up with Wily Six in a dense thicket.

"What do you think that is?" Wily Six asked after emerging out of stealth. He pointed at a chubby dragon in the distance. It was harassing the surrounding Bloodthirsty Porcupines, taking them down in only a few attacks. It appeared majestic with dazzling golden scales.

"Is that a dragon?” one of the players asked in surprise. Why did a dragon appear here of all places?

"It still looks young,” Ghost Wolf observed. Adult dragons were usually the size of three-storey buildings or larger.

"What do we do?” Wily Six asked. "Should we kill it?”

"What level is it?” Ghost Wolf asked.

"I don’t know.” Wily Six shook his head. "I was too afraid to approach it, so I called you guys over first. If I’m in danger, Small Imp can rescue me.” When he confirmed the monster up ahead was a dragon, he felt a bit anxious.

A dragon was simply too frightening!

The most powerful monster they had encountered so far was an Empress Medusa which had destroyed an entire village. However, a dragon was an even higher level existence, even if the one before them was only a fledgling.

Small Imp was the name of the Dark Shaman. He had a skill called Rescue Teleport which could teleport an ally from 40 meters away to the caster’s side. It was a skill that only appeared in the Underworld. It had a cooldown of roughly 1 hour at Junior rank.

Wily Six was afraid of dying, so he called Small Imp over. In case he encountered any danger when scouting the dragon, Small Imp could pull him out to safety.

"Go inspect the dragon. If you’re in danger, just call out for help and I’ll teleport you out immediately,” Small Imp said.

Wily Six nodded. He entered stealth and headed toward the dragon. He had faith in Small Imp. The six of them always played together, so their teamwork was impeccable.

Wily Six came to a halt 10 meters away from the dragon and activated Inspect.

Golden Dragon: Level 36

Health: 3,200/3,200

Wily Six was startled. Why is it so weak? He double-checked to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. Shouldn’t a Golden Dragon be at least a Lord or Elite?

「So, what did you find out?」Ghost Wolf asked in voice chat.

「It’s a Golden Dragon, but…」

「Hmm?」

「It’s only a Level 36 ordinary monster. What do we do? Should we try and kill it?」

Ghost Wolf was also bewildered. How could a Golden Dragon only be an ordinary monster?

"Let’s go for it!” Ghost Wolf decided. He could only think of one possibility; the Golden Dragon was an event mob! Maybe something special would drop after killing it.

The group of six started moving to surround the Golden Dragon. The Spectral Knight, who was at the front, slowly advanced with his shield raised.

Seeing their movements, Nie Yan instantly understood they were preparing to slay Lil’ Gold. This was precisely what he wanted!

Nie Yan ordered his five Bloodthirsty Porcupines to slowly encircle them. He was ready to take action the moment they attacked Lil’ Gold.

The Spectral Knight let out a roar and charged at Lil’ Gold.

Lil’ Gold turned to face the oncoming enemy.

The Spectral Knight rammed into Lil’ Gold with his shield and dealt 50 or so damage. Lil’ Gold immediately retaliated with a swipe of his claws.

−623

The group was badly frightened by Lil’ Gold’s terrifying damage. Small Imp quickly healed the Spectral Knight.

"It’s a melee-only monster. Everyone can attack freely,” Ghost Wolf said. If this Golden Dragon had ranged attacks, it would’ve already used them long ago. Little did they know that it was actually someone’s pet!

If the owner of a pet belonged to an opposing faction, it would appear the same as a regular monster.

This was why Ghost Wolf and the others believed Lil’ Gold was just an ordinary monster.

As Lil’ Gold’s health gradually dropped, he followed Nie Yan’s commands and slightly shifted his position so that the Dark Shaman was within the range of Dragon Breath.

That Dark Shaman called Small Imp was able to detect me earlier. He’s the biggest threat. I should take him out first, Nie Yan thought.

The Spectral Knight and Skeleton Fighter were tanking at the front, while the Mages dealt damage from the back. The Dark Shaman provided support from the sidelines, and the Spectral Thief had circled around and started attacking Lil’ Gold from behind. This was a standard battle formation.

While focusing on healing the frontliners, Small Imp spread out his senses every 10 seconds. Just at this moment, he felt a cold nip at the back of his neck.

Not good! A Thief! Small Imp inwardly cried out in alarm. He quickly protected himself with a Life Barrier.

「Bang!」Nie Yan struck the barrier, instantly shattering it.

Life Barrier could block one attack. However, it would shatter immediately afterwards, not to mention it consumed a lot of mana.

Small Imp quickly pulled back and waved his right hand. A cage of bones erupted out of the ground and enveloped him like a cocoon.

Small Imp’s movements were pretty quick. He was no slower than players like Undying Scoundrel or Summer Bug.

Nie Yan was struck by some of the bones erupting out of the ground as damage values floated up above his head. He quickly retreated.

Small Imp was startled when he saw Nie Yan’s appearance through the gaps of his protective bone cage. This Thief wasn’t an undead but a human!

There was a human in the Underworld!

Nie Yan revealed a taunting smile. At this moment, Lil’ Gold blasted the bone cage with Dragon Breath, causing flames to pour in through the gaps and turn it into a furnace.

Small Imp let out a blood-curdling scream and collapsed to the ground. It was an instant kill.

The bone cage could block physical attacks and ordinary single target spells, but it was useless against area-of-effect spells. This was the so-called, ensnared in a trap of one’s own devising.

Even a single attack from Lil’ Gold was fatal to these casters.

Small Imp was suddenly killed by the Golden Dragon? Ghost Wolf and the others were dazed. Up until now, it had only been using melee attacks. Why did it suddenly use a ranged attack?

While they were still recovering from their shock, Nie Yan had already arrived in front of Ghost Wolf and slashed down with Zennarde’s Sword which shone with a devouring light.

"Boss, be careful!”

"Careful!”

Wily Six immediately stopped attacking Lil’ Gold and pounced toward Nie Yan in the hopes of intercepting him.

At this moment, Lil’ Gold swiped down on the Spectral Knight with his tail and dealt over 1,200 damage. It was a critical hit! As an undead who didn’t have much health in the first place, the Spectral Knight immediately collapsed to the ground. Without the healing from the Dark Shaman, there was no way he could tank Lil’ Gold’s ferocious attacks!

In the blink of an eye, two of their players were killed.

They were all skilled players. Unfortunately, the player they encountered was Nie Yan! They had fallen head first into his ambush. No matter how quick they reacted, they would die in a single hit!

Everything happened too quickly. There was practically no time for them to react.

In this moment, Nie Yan’s five Bloodthirsty Porcupines finally arrived and started charging towards the remaining players.

Chapter 337 – Underworld Trip

Ghost Wolf and the others were dumbstruck. They never expected the surrounding Bloodthirsty Porcupines to also turn against them. Everything far exceeded their expectations.

Were these Bloodthirsty Porcupines also the pets of that Thief? They were like hills with legs as they thundered toward Ghost Wolf’s group.

The four players were surrounded with nowhere left to hide.

There was no way they stood a chance against the lineup of a Golden Dragon and five Bloodthirsty Porcupines.

"Wily Six, save yourself. Go on without us,” Ghost Wolf anxiously ordered. The only player in their group who could escape was Wily Six. It was impossible for the rest of them.

"No! I won’t go!” Wily Six solemnly declared.

"Y-y-you fool! Get out of here!” Ghost Wolf glared at Wily Six. If he delayed any longer, all of them would die here. What was the point of throwing his life away when he could survive?

Wily Six gritted his teeth. He entered stealth and slowly melted into the darkness.

At this moment, a Bloodthirsty Porcupine rammed into Ghost Wolf and sent him flying.

The five Bloodthirsty Porcupines under Nie Yan’s control were far more terrifying than ordinary mobs. These cloth-armoured casters had no hope of surviving.

Bloodthirsty Porcupines normally didn’t pose much of a threat. But after becoming Nie Yan’s pets, they would move according to his will. They could flank, encircle, ambush, and use all sorts of battle tactics.

Ghost Wolf used a blink skill and reappeared over 30 meters away, only to be greeted with another Bloodthirsty Porcupine. It launched a hail of quills which resembled steel needles toward him.

「Put! Put! Put!」Ghost Wolf was turned into swiss cheese as the quills pierced his body. A string of damage values floated up above his head, and he was also inflicted with the poisoned status effect.

Ghost Wolf collapsed dead on the ground. The remaining Undead Raider and Dark Incantist also failed to escape. One was trampled to death by the Bloodthirsty Porcupines while the other was incinerated by Lil’ Gold’s Dragon Breath.

Glory Kill! You have obtained 5 Glory for killing an enemy civilian.

Glory Kill! You have obtained 3 Glory for killing an enemy civilian.

…

The amount of Glory a player gained differed according to the strength of the opponent. An equal levelled opponent granted 1 Glory, a higher levelled opponent granted more, and a lower levelled opponent was worth nothing. If a downed opponent was revived in the middle of combat, a corresponding amount of Glory would be deducted.

Nie Yan gained quite a bit of Glory since his opponents were higher levelled than him.

Only the Spectral Thief remained alive. Nie Yan didn’t know where that fellow ran off too, but he could still sense him in the vicinity.

Wily Six wasn’t willing to just leave after his comrades were slaughtered. So he lurked in the area, waiting for the perfect opportunity to avenge them!

Nie Yan suddenly sensed something as he turned his head toward a certain direction.

Eye of Truth!

Nie Yan’s eyes blossomed out with a mysterious light. His piercing gaze locked onto a silhouette in the darkness, whereupon he pounced forward like a bolt of lightning.

Shit! I was discovered! Wily Six was frightened by the sudden change in Nie Yan’s eyes which made him resemble a demon. He immediately crushed a Haste Scroll and fled for his life. He knew he was no match for this opponent in a direct confrontation.

Despite Wily Six’s best efforts, Nie Yan caught up to him in a mere 7 seconds and struck out toward the back of his head with Smothering Strike.

He’s fast! Wily Six inwardly exclaimed.

Gale Step!

Wily Six avoided the stun with the initial seconds of invincibility from Gale Step as he activated all his speed buffing skills.

The two players were like cheetahs sprinting through the wilderness. No matter how much Wily Six increased his speed, Nie Yan kept up with him.

How is this guy so fast!? Wily Six was badly frightened by Nie Yan’s speed. He was one of the top Thieves in the Night Empire guild. His amazing equipment and speed boosting skills allowed him to look down on all his peers.

But in front of Nie Yan, his speed became a joke.

When Wily Six recalled Nie Yan also had that Golden Dragon as a pet, he couldn’t help but admit that this human Thief was truly astonishing.

Nie Yan was also somewhat amazed by Wily Six’s speed. This Thief was actually quite fast. He had no choice but to activate Shadow Waltz, whereupon his speed immediately eclipsed that of this Spectral Thief.

Nie Yan closed the gap in an instant and stabbed Wily Six from behind with Backstab, causing blood to gush out like a fountain.

−737

What the hell! Wily Six was scared out of his wits. He had lost nearly half of his health in only a single attack. Just as Nie Yan was about to follow up with Lacerate, he drank an Intermediate Health Potion and turned around to parry.

「Klang!」The two daggers clashed.

The moment Wily Six parried the attack, Nie Yan slashed out with Zennarde’s Sword in his other hand.

Vital Strike!

Wily Six had no time to react before a red line streaked across his neck.

Nie Yan’s Vital Strike struck Wily Six’s throat without the slightest suspense.

Wily Six’s pupils fiercely contracted as he revealed an expression of disbelief. He had no idea how he died since he failed to see Nie Yan’s movements.

His body limply fell to the ground.

Nie Yan bent down and picked up a piece of Gold-grade equipment with Dexterity +52, Strength +56, and Focus +7 from Wily Six’s corpse. Unfortunately, it could only be equipped by players from the Evil Faction. After thinking for a moment, he put it away in his bag.

Nie Yan returned to Lil’ Gold’s side and collected the equipment Ghost Wolf and the others dropped.

He had to leave quickly or risk getting caught. These players probably belonged to a guild. He would be in danger if they sent a large force over for revenge. After all, he was all alone in the Underworld.

Nie Yan’s journey in the Underworld had only just begun. He continued levelling with Lil’ Gold and his Bloodthirsty Porcupines while trying to search for a village. During this time, he encountered around 70 players from the Evil Faction of whom only a few managed to escape from him.

He accumulated a ton of loot, the vast majority of which he discarded. He only kept a few pieces of equipment with decent properties in his bag for the time being.

Nie Yan was unrivalled. Legends of a powerful human Thief who massacred countless players began rapidly spreading in the Undead Empire. Weak players didn’t dare to roam in areas with reported sightings of him, while experts began seeking him out and searching for his traces. Furthermore, the Mercenary Guild put up a bounty on his head.

Mission: Kill the human player, Nirvana Flame, that appeared in the Fesso Cold Wasteland.

Reward: 200 Gold

A 200 gold reward was quite tempting to many players. Some teams were even more eager to give it a try as they set out for the Fesso Cold Wasteland.

Most players didn’t know Nie Yan’s exact position. He emerged sporadically in different places, killing two or three players before disappearing. Otherwise, they would’ve long since hunted him down.

Although no one could locate Nie Yan, there were already players specifically tasked with collecting his information.

Nirvana Flame (Thief): Level 38

Health: 2,300

Equipment: Unknown, top quality weapons

Attack Power: 600–800, high critical rate

Highest Critical Damage: 1,700

Pets: Golden Dragon, Elite Bloodthirsty Porcupine, 2 Leader Bloodthirsty Porcupines, and 2 Bloodthirsty Porcupines.

These stats were quite shocking. Perhaps only a 20-man team could handle him.

Everyone in the Undead Empire wanted to see who would send this unwelcome intruder back to the surface and just how long he could last!

Before long, the day was over and it was about time to log off. Nie Yan glanced at the five Bloodthirsty Porcupines beside him. They would be gone by the time he logged back on. Even though it was a pity, there was nothing he could do about it.

Nie Yan unsummoned Lil’ Gold and released the five Bloodthirsty Porcupines before logging off.

Nie Yan finished breakfast and made a trip to his father’s company. The War God Tribe was able to get off the ground in part thanks to the 60,000 gold from Asskickers United. Furthermore, Father Nie invested a large amount of funds to absorb over 30 well-known gaming organizations. Just like in the previous timeline, their debut was as dazzling as ever. Not long after their establishment, they captured their first stronghold.

What Father Nie required was precisely strongholds. Their real world business districts were priceless. He could open recreational facilities, shopping malls, and so on. Players who didn’t play the game like children and the elderly would visit these places for leisure. What’s more, they paid to use these facilities with real world credits.

This was also why so many financial groups sought to invest in Conviction.

The War God Tribe had begun to expand their operations. The gold farming groups Father Nie employed were also starting to get into gear. They no longer needed to rely as much on Asskickers United’s support. Under Ah Chen’s leadership, they could already start lessening the burden over on Nie Yan’s side.

Nie Yan received a notice that the enrollment for the Top Military Academy would start in two hours. If he passed their evaluation, he could receive an acceptance letter from them in advance.

Such an important event would be attended by many people, including Xie Yao and Liu Rui.

In the previous timeline, Nie Yan had participated in the enrollment exams, but his performance was appalling. He still remembered the disappointed look on his father’s face when he returned home. It was something that would forever stay in his mind.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh. That was one of the many regrets in his past life.

Chapter 338 – Exam

Huahai University’s Affiliated High School was bustling with activity today, with many unfamiliar faces walking around campus. Students from the various high schools in the region all flocked here to participate in the Top Military Academy’s enrollment exam.

As humanity continued expanding outward towards the stars, the importance of fostering the new generation became increasingly clear. Anyone who could enter the Top Military Academy would be recognized by the government as a rare talent. Their status in society would be elevated, and they would receive special protections.

The Top Military Academy offered many courses also available in other universities, but with a focus on military affairs, science, and technology. Its position in the nation was unshakeable after producing many senior government officials. It wasn’t mandatory for graduates to join the military, and just the prestige of being an alumni made many things in life much more convenient and straightforward.

Three girls were chattering near the underground parking lot entrance. They were students of Class 3, the same as Nie Yan and Xie Yao.

"I heard Liu Ze drives a Nisu. Don’t those cost like ¥2,000,000?”

"Who knew Liu Ze’s family was so rich?”

Expressions of envy surfaced on their faces. At this moment, one of the girls happened to catch a glimpse of Nie Yan stepping out of his Thrawn. She rubbed her eyes in disbelief. Even the cheapest model cost more than ¥20,000,000!

Just at this moment, an even more conspicuous car drove into the parking lot. With a sleek design resembling a fierce beast, it was the Taiga Black! The eyes of the girls widened in shock.

Isn’t that Tang Yao’s car? Nie Yan mused when the Taiga Black parked right next to his Thrawn.

As if to answer his question, Tang Yao got out of the car.

"Tang Yao, you came too?” Nie Yan asked.

"I was forced to by my old man. He told me if I can get into the Top Military Academy, he’ll help me out from behind the scenes and have a good job lined up for me when I graduate,” Tang Yao replied, shrugging his shoulders in a helpless manner. He took advantage of this opportunity to take out his father’s Taiga Black for a spin.

Nie Yan nodded in understanding. Tang Yao wasn’t someone who spoke without thinking. His father really did possess this bit of ability. Sadly, his father was a businessman. At the end of the day, the status of a businessman could never compare with that of a government official. This was why his father wished for him to enter the Top Military Academy, making him the first to do so in their family.

"Let’s go.”

Nie Yan and Tang Yao chatted while making their way to the elevator.

"Isn’t that Nie Yan from our class?”

"Who’s the fatty next to him?”

"No clue.”

"He was driving a Taiga Black. He must be really rich. There’s only a handful of students in our school who can afford one.”

The eyes of the three girls followed Nie Yan and Tang Yao until their figures disappeared behind the elevator doors.

"That Nie Yan is pretty low-key. He rarely ever talks. Who knew he drove a Thrawn.”

"Too bad he only has eyes for Xie Yao,” the taller of the girls said in an envious tone.

"I wonder who the fatty beside him is.”

"I didn’t recognize him. Maybe we have a chance.”

Nie Yan and Tang Yao seperated after passing through a long corridor since the exam area for students from other schools was held in a different area. Nie Yan swiped his identification card through the ID scanner to receive an examination number, then walked into the exam hall for Huahuai High School students. There were roughly 600 people inside.

Nie Yan looked around and found Xie Yao, Xia Ling, Zhai Hao, and his other classmates gathered off in a corner. There was also the unpleasant face of Liu Rui among them.

Xia Ling and Zhai Hao stood between Liu Rui and Xie Yao to stop him from pestering her.

Nie Yan suddenly felt this couple was too lovely.

Xie Yao appeared to be anxiously waiting for someone. A smile immediately surfaced on her face when she spotted Nie Yan walking over.

"You’re finally here! I was just about to give you a call,” Xie Yao cheerfully greeted.

Liu Rui’s face darkened after seeing Xie Yao’s expression turn bright. He balled his hands into a fist. He hated Nie Yan, wishing for nothing more than to beat him up. However, their match was still fresh in his mind. It had planted a deep seed of fear in his heart, and he simply couldn’t muster up the courage to confront him.

Nie Yan nodded at Xie Yao, then turned to Liu Rui with a friendly smile. "Oh! Liu Rui, you’re back! I’m truly sorry about what happened last time. I really thought you could handle that simple kick, but I ended up injuring you heavily instead.” He appeared quite sincere. Those who didn’t know him might actually believe he was genuinely remorseful.

Liu Rui subconsciously took a step back before recalling they weren’t in the fighting ring. "It’s nothing. I’m fine now.” He awkwardly chuckled with an ugly expression on his face. He inwardly gnashed his teeth in anger. Nie Yan’s words pierced his heart like daggers.

Nie Yan wrapped his arm around Liu Rui’s neck and patted his chest. "Haha! You’re right! We’re all in the same class. We can’t take such trivial things to heart.”

Trivial? Is that what you call trivial, hospitalizing me for weeks? Liu Rui felt his blood roil at the heavy pats to his chest. He wanted to cuss Nie Yan out. But with Xie Yao and his other classmates present, it wouldn’t look good for him if he turned hostile out of nowhere. He forced a smile on his face with great difficulty. "No problem. I’ve already put it behind me. It’s my turn for the examination, I’ve got to go. I’ll see you guys later.”

Lui Rui pushed Nie Yan aside and hurried over to the examination area.

Nie Yan’s lips cracked into a mischievous smile. Xie Yao looked at him with a hint of admonishment. How could she not see through his actions? However, she detested Liu Rui, so she didn’t speak up.

Nie Yan, Xie Yao, Zhai Hao, Xia Ling, and their other classmates continued chatting.

A while later, Nie Yan and Xie Yao looked over toward the examination area. Liu Rui was starting his exam. His results were posted up in real time for all participants to see.

Punch Force: 230 kg

Kick Force: 260 kg

Squat: 320 kg

Lat Pulldown: 220 kg

…

Each of these results far exceeded the Top Military Academy’s standards, causing the surrounding students to exclaim in shock.

"That’s the strongest student in Class 3, Liu Rui. I heard he can compete with Class 7’s Zhao Long. Amazing, he’ll surely make it into the Top Military Academy.”

"I heard the new transfer student in Class 3 is even stronger than Liu Rui.”

"No way, right? That can’t be true.”

…

Liu Rui had endured a bit of hardship ever since his defeat to Nie Yan, using the best nutritional supplements and rigorously training every day. As a result, he rapidly improved in many areas.

Nie Yan and the others overheard these discussions. Zhai Hao walked up to Nie Yan and patted him on the shoulder. "Brother, when it’s your turn, give it your all. I’m confident you’re stronger than Liu Rui.” Even though he knew Nie Yan was strong, so much so that he could defeat Liu Rui with a single kick, he didn’t know to what extent.

Liu Rui’s performance was a bit surprising. He was much stronger than in the past.

Nie Yan simply smiled, not bothering to waste words on that performance. Liu Rui’s results were like child’s play in his eyes.

Before long, it was Xie Yao’s turn. Her results lacked far behind Liu Rui’s. But as a girl, she had already passed the Top Military Academy’s standards. The academic portion of the exam would also be a piece of cake for her.

Zhai Hao and Xia Ling both went to take their exams. Nie Yan and Xie Yao were left chatting together when several voices entered their ears.

"There’s no point in waiting to see the remaining results. No one can beat Liu Rui’s.”

"Right, each one after is more disappointing than the one before.”

These students were intentionally speaking loudly. Liu Rui glanced over at Xie Yao from the other side of the exam hall. Since Nie Yan was there, he didn’t dare to approach.

Xie Yao frowned when she heard their words.

"It’s my turn. I’m going up. If I beat Liu Rui, you should give me a reward,” Nie Yan said with a playful smile.

"A-a reward? What kind?” Xie Yao asked with a hint of nervousness. Nie Yan’s smile caused her heartbeat to speed up.

Nie Yan’s words were a bit vague. He simply laughed and headed for the examination area.

Only then did Liu Rui dare to approach Xie Yao. "It’s Nie Yan’s turn? I hope he does well.” But in reality, he was waiting with giddy anticipation for Nie Yan to fail.

"Mhm,” Xie Yao gave a curt reply, then turned away to find her friends.

"My results weren’t that great today. I would’ve done even better if I was in peak condition. Xie Yao, are you entering the Top Military Academy too? We’ll be fellow students, then,” Liu Rui said while trying to gauge Xie Yao’s reaction.

Xie Yao gazed at the examination area with a hint of impatience. Liu Rui was just asking to be rebuffed.

Nie Yan walked into the examination room and was greeted by a familiar scene. He had taken this same exam in his past life and failed miserably. According to his memory, both Xie Yao and Liu Rui would enter the Top Military Academy. How could he not go!?

Nie Yan glanced at the punching bag in front of him. It was loaded with sensors that could detect the minutest changes in force.

Nie Yan took up a stance and breathed in deeply. "Hah!” His fist heavily struck the punching bag, causing it to fly up in the air as a loud pah reverberated through the exam hall.

Punch Force: 511.3 kg

The number on the screen immediately created a huge disturbance.

"What the hell? Impossible! The machine has to be broken, right?”

"Yeah, the machine is definitely broken. How can such a result be real!?”

Never once had a high schooler’s punch force reached such a frightening level.

A slim exam proctor walked up to inspect the machine. When he confirmed it wasn’t broken, he looked up at Nie Yan in shock. He signalled the other proctors to continue with the examination.

The machine wasn’t broken. Nie Yan’s punch force of 511.3 kg was a valid result.

Another commotion occured.

"Shit, who is that freak?”

"I think he’s the new transfer student in Class 3, Nie Yan.”

"I heard he sent Liu Rui flying with a single kick and hospitalized him for weeks.”

"Did something like that happen?”

"What a terrifying fellow. With a punch force like that, he can compete professionally!”

"Keep watching. Let’s see how he does in the other tests.”

Chapter 339 – Freak

"Yao Yao, our families are long time friends. Uncle and Aunt wish to see us going to the same school, so we can look after each other. As for Nie Yan, he’s only a slightly skilled fighter. I only lost to him last time because I was too careless. Do you really believe he’s qualified to enter the Top Military Academy? I don’t think his character is good either. You should stop associating with him,” Liu Rui said as he glanced at Xie Yao.

Xie Yao’s expression distorted in disgust and loathing. She was fed up with Liu Rui’s constant badmouthing of Nie Yan in front of her. If it weren’t for the friendship her parents built up, she would’ve long since cut him out of her life.

"I don’t need you sticking your nose into my affairs. Look after yourself,” Xie Yao coldly replied.

"I’m only saying this for your own good,” Liu Rui said somewhat impatiently. He was irritated by Xie Yao’s cold attitude, but he understood she was the precious darling of both the Dragon Soar and Glory Financial Groups. He didn’t dare to imagine the consequences if he tried to lay a finger on her.

A short student with a crew cut approached Liu Rui and whispered, "Boss, the results for Nie Yan’s punch force are up.”

"How did he perform?”

"511.3 kg.”

"W-wait, what did you say?!” Liu Rui’s eyes widened in shock as an incredulous expression flashed across his face.

At this moment, a huge ruckus erupted in front of the examination area. The results displayed on the screen caused everyone to cry out in shock.

"Fuck! 511.3 kg? Is he still human?”

"Is he really only a high school student? He’d probably rank at the very top even in the Top Military Academy! I reckon as long as he passess the background check, he can graduate there two years early!”

"Shit! How are we supposed to compete with that? I can only hit for a little over 100 kg!”

"I bet he could send a person flying with that fist of his!”

Liu Rui had a vacant look on his face as despair seeped into his heart. If the difference was only 30 kg or so, he might still have some hope of catching up. However, Nie Yan’s punch force was over twofold that of his own!

Who was the real trash? Nie Yan’s results showed the best proof.

Xie Yao, Zhai Hao, and Xia Ling were ecstatic.

"Damn! That brat is too low-key. Who knew he was actually this amazing? 511.3 kg, is he even human?!” Zhai Hao exclaimed in disbelief.

"You can rest easy now. With that kind of result, he’s guaranteed to get into the Top Military Academy.” Xia Ling smiled. Just a moment ago, Xie Yao was grabbing her hand so tightly that it started to hurt. It was clear Xie Yao wished to go to the Top Military Academy with Nie Yan.

Xie Yao’s furrowed brows finally relaxed. After thinking for a bit, she realized that this level of exam was nothing to Nie Yan.

"What would you have done if Nie Yan failed to get into the Top Military Academy?” Xia Ling suddenly asked with a teasing smile.

"I would’ve followed him to whatever university he chose to go to,” Xie Yao replied without a hint of hesitation. She had long since thought this answer through.

Xia Ling gazed at Xie Yao for a long time before eventually letting out a sigh. "I see. Your family is so rich it really doesn’t make a difference whether you go to the Top Military Academy or any other university.”

Just at this moment, there was another disturbance in front of the examination area.

"The rest of Nie Yan’s results are up.”

"What are they?” The surrounding students immediately perked up their ears. His updated results had yet to show up on screen, so most people still didn’t know.

Punch Force: 511.30 kg

Kick Force: 563.23 kg

Squat: 835.78 kg

Lat Pulldown: 582.21 kg

…

Nie Yan was an accomplished fighter in the previous timeline. The Top Military Academy’s exam was a cakewalk for him.

"My God. He could probably kill me with a single kick!”

"No kidding. A kick force of 300 kg can already directly break bone. If you took a hit in a vital area, you’d be dead!”

"How many years of training would I need to reach such a level?”

"This relies on talent and good genes. With a matchstick body like yours, you’ll never reach that level in a lifetime.”

Nie Yan instantly became the subject of heated discussion.

He was satisfied with his own results. With the first portion of the exam over, the slim exam proctor approached him with a smile. "Your results aren’t half bad. You’ll definitely pass on the physical fitness portion. The academic portion is up next. Let’s see if you have what it takes to enter the Top Military Academy as an Ace. My name is Li Yue. I’m one of the military instructors. If you have any problems, feel free to contact me.”

Nie Yan sized up Li Yue. He was quite short with a lean figure. For a person with this kind of build to be an instructor at the Top Military Academy was a little odd.

It was rumoured that the Top Military Academy accepted only around a dozen or so Aces every year. Anyone that could become one was recognized by the federation as an extraordinary talent. As long as you passed the yearly assessment, you would keep your special status. There was only one caveat—in the event of war, you would be drafted. During periods of peace, however, you were free to do as you pleased. Fortunately, war hadn’t broken out in centuries.

"Yes! When will I be taking the academic portion of the exam?” Nie Yan asked. He had no intention of serving in the military after graduating from the Top Military Academy. However, the special status of an Ace greatly tempted him. He would be granted special privileges such as the right to carry a firearm. If someone posed a threat to him, he would be allowed to act first to neutralize them. He understood these kinds of favouring would always exist in the world. Rather than cry out about the injustices, it was better to grow strong enough so he could protect those he cared about.

In the previous timeline, Tang Yao was murdered by the son of a senior government official and his case ultimately remained unresolved. What use was hatred? What use was grief? If he had entered the Top Military Academy back then and graduated as an Ace, he could’ve prevented all of that from happening!

While Nie Yan was lost in thoughts, Li Yue’s palm suddenly stabbed out toward his throat.

Li Yue’s actions were decisive and ruthless. It didn’t look like he was playing a joke.

Nie Yan finally reacted as he raised his left arm to block on reflex.「Bang!」He suddenly felt a numbing sensation as a heavy blow struck his right arm.

Li Yue didn’t stop. With a sidekick, his foot swept past Nie Yan’s cheek.

"Hah!” Nie Yan shouted as he caught Li Yue’s foot. He retaliated with a full strength kick to the chest which was capable of breaking at least a few ribs.

Li Yue quickly crossed his arms to block.「Bang!」He was sent skidding several meters back before regaining his footing.

Nie Yan didn’t follow up. There was something strange about Li Yue’s attacks. They were sharp but didn’t carry any killing intent. Seeing that the exchange was over, he put his guard down.

At this moment, Li Yue looked over at the other exam proctors, who nodded in satisfaction.

"Alright, your examination is over. You’ve earned the qualifications to enter the Top Military Academy. As for whether or not you can become an Ace, that’ll depend on the performance of your academics,” Li Yue said.

Sure enough, Li Yue really was just testing him. Nie Yan bowed before leaving the examination area.

All the nearby students had witnessed this exchange. With expressions of both fear and reverence on their faces, they stepped aside for Nie Yan. This guy is crazy! He can even beat back an instructor from the Top Military Academy!

Nie Yan became a freak in their minds. His awe-inspiring display left them shocked and speechless.

It was the sudden emergence of a dark horse who could overlook all of them like a lofty god high atop the clouds.

Liu Rui learned about Nie Yan’s performance from the students around him. He was left completely slack-jawed. Compared to Nie Yan, he was no better than refuse!

When Liu Rui spotted Nie Yan walking over, he glanced at Xie Yao before quickly leaving with his tail tucked between his legs. Although he felt reluctant, he understood he would only be inviting further disgrace by staying around.

Nie Yan coldly stared at Liu Rui’s retreating back. This fellow’s fate was destined to be a tragic one after encountering him in this life. He wouldn’t allow any chances for a comeback!

Xie Yao no longer had any trace of Liu Rui in her heart.

Zhai Hao walked up to Nie Yan and patted him on the shoulders. "Brother, I never expected you to be so strong! You have my admiration.” When he noticed all the nearby students looking at Nie Yan with the same peculiar gaze, he laughed. "You’ve really put yourself in the limelight this time!”

Nie Yan and Xie Yao simply smiled at each other, sharing a mutual understanding that evolved beyond words.

"Let’s all go celebrate together,” Xia Ling proposed.

"That’ll have to wait. I need to take the academic portion of the exam,” Nie Yan said after looking at the time. He was informed by the military instructor, Li Yue, that the academic exam for Aces was going to begin in an hour. It was several times harder than the ordinary exam.

"What? Isn’t that not for another five days?” Xia Ling asked in surprise.

"It’s a different exam for those who want to become an Ace,” Nie Yan replied. This exam was just for him.

"Ace…!” Everyone was completely stunned. It had to be understood that Huahai University’s Affiliated High School had only produced two Aces in its over 100 years of history. From today forward, Nie Yan could become the third!

"Is it for commanding or interstellar travel?” Xia Ling asked. The Top Military Academy only had these two department for Aces.

"I don’t know yet.” Nie Yan shook his head. He wasn’t too interested in these things. His aim was only the privilege and special status brought by being an Ace. As for which department he would join, it made no difference to him. The last thing he wanted was to actually enter a real battlefield.

Chapter 340 – Drunk

Nie Yan walked out of the academic examination room and let out a long sigh of relief. The maximum score on this hour-long exam was 720 points. But the questions were so hard he’d be happy with just 500. There were even a bunch of concepts he knew practically nothing about.

"How’d you do?” Zhai Hao asked. He and Xia Ling had been fretting endlessly this whole time.

"I heard the benchmark for an Ace in both command and interstellar travel is 600 points,” Xia Ling added.

"Don’t worry about it. If I get in, I get in. If not, so be it.” Nie Yan laughed off their worries. Getting into the Top Military Academy was good enough for him. Being selected as an Ace was simply too much to hope for. With the Top Military Academy’s admission notice in hand, he could already be considered a part of certain powerful influences. Others would have to think twice before making a move against him, because acting against the academy’s students would be provoking the Top Military Academy’s prestige. Even if major consortiums had some background, they had to tread carefully around the academy. If they went too far, the academy’s alumni could easily take them down!

This was the main reason he wanted to join the Top Military Academy. The identity of a student there would be an extra layer of security for him. His status alone would deter his enemies from using underhanded means to rough him up.

Nie Yan immediately informed his parents about his admission into the Top Military Academy. Father and Mother Nie were both ecstatic, especially his father. One of Father Nie’s greatest regrets in life was not getting into the Top Military Academy. So, when he heard his son had succeeded where he had not, he almost burst into tears. At long last, he saw this dream of his fulfilled through his son.

Nie Yan could clearly hear his father’s voice quivering on the other side of the call. He thought back to when he got rejected in the previous timeline, and the utter disappointment on his father’s face at the time. The contrast between the sad memory back then and the now-reversed situation filled Nie Yan with an indescribable emotion.

This time, he had no regrets.

Nie Yan joined his friends for a celebratory meal. They ate, sang, and drank heartily under the restaurant’s red lighting. He and Xie Yao were both pushed into drinking more and more until they got more than a little tipsy.

After the meal, Nie Yan stared at Xie Yao. The alcohol flushed her skin, giving her cheeks an additional redness that only added to her charm. She didn’t have an overcoat on, only a white wool jumper that perfectly accentuated her curves. She was like an enchantress who drew men’s eyes wherever she went.

Including Tang Yao, there were nine of them there. Tang Yao had to leave early, but the rest of them kept having fun until around one in the afternoon. That was when four more people left, leaving only Nie Yan, Xie Yao, Zhai Hao, and Xia Ling. With just the four of them, the atmosphere suddenly became a lot more intimate.

Zhai Hao looked pointedly at Nie Yan before nudging Xia Ling and whispering, "Let’s go. Nie Yan can take Xie Yao home. He’s parked just downstairs.”

Xia Ling looked meaningfully at Nie Yan and Xie Yao, a knowing grin on her face. "Alright, let’s stop bothering these two lovebirds.”

Zhai Hao and Xia Ling quickly made themselves scarce.

Nie Yan looked at Xie Yao, who lowered her head in embarrassment and nervously pushed her hair behind her shoulder. The red light bounced off her face, creating a charming halo around her head. As Nie Yan looked at Xie Yao, he thought she couldn’t be any less beautiful than the goddess Aphrodite.

"I’ll send you home,” Nie Yan offered with a courteous bow to his lady.

"Yes,” Xie Yao answered, a little too quickly. She could feel Nie Yan’s heated gaze on her as she became increasingly aware that the two of them were alone in a fairly small private room. How could she not be nervous?

Nie Yan’s looked once more at Xie Yao in the dim light, his thoughts clouded by alcohol. His mind suddenly conjured a picture of that night with Yao Yao in the secret chamber under Fenarte. That exquisitely charming figure! Her beautiful jade-white body! Yao Yao’s silhouette overlapped with Xie Yao’s as he drunkenly entertained the possibility that the two were one and the same. His blood began to boil and an intense heat arose in his lower abdomen. The physical sensation abruptly snapped him back into the present.

"Xie Yao,” Nie Yan whispered gently. He quietly slid one arm around her slender waist, holding her within his embrace. He could feel her body instinctively tense, lightly struggling against his touch.

A familiar feeling overwhelmed Nie Yan’s drunken senses. It felt so distant, yet so close.

Perhaps it was the wine, but Nie Yan’s mind became foggy with nothing but a loud buzzing noise. He hugged Xie Yao even more tightly and pressed her down against the couch. He leaned in toward her and pushed his lips on hers. Instantly, the buzzing fog was replaced with an overload of silky softness.

Nie Yan could think of nothing but that night as a primal desire filled his body.

Xie Yao hadn’t known Nie Yan’s feelings for her were so strong, and had no way to know how deeply rooted they were.

Everything happened too quickly. Xie Yao hastily tried to shove Nie Yan away with both hands, but she couldn’t budge him at all. Nie Yan was far stronger than her in the first place, and her body had become soft and powerless the moment his arm circled around her.

Nie Yan’s hand roamed her body, from her tall, perky chest to her thin, taekwondo-trained legs before slipping beneath her jumper and continuing to explore.

Xie Yan could feel Nie Yan’s large hand exploring her every curve, but she still jumped when it made skin contact with her belly. As his hand continued to inch upwards, she began squirming in protest, but it was just a token resistance.

With no idea how far Nie Yan was going to take this, Xie Yao felt her heart race as her emotions bubbled turbulently within her.

The moment Nie Yan reached behind her smooth shoulder and touched the clasp of her bra, Xie Yao’s struggles suddenly gained strength. Although her heart already belonged solely to Nie Yan, she wasn’t quite ready to take the next step yet. It was just too soon.

The frenzied protest snapped Nie Yan out of his drunken haze. He instantly realized he had gone too far. Sitting up, he shook his head to try and clear it. Still somewhat dizzy, he looked at Xie Yao. Her clothes were a mess and her snow-white belly was still exposed.

Xie Yao hurriedly sat up as well and hastily straightened out her clothes. She felt extremely shy about what just happened. When she thought further to what might have been, she was too embarrassed to even look in Nie Yan’s direction.

"…I’m sorry,” Nie Yan sincerely apologized. The thought that Yao Yao and Xie Yao might be the same person really had too big of an impact on him. If today’s events offended Xie Yao and caused her to have a bad impression of him, he would never forgive his own stupidity!

With her face burning red, Xie Yao looked at him mutely for a bit before quietly saying, "Drive me home, please.” She had been rather upset by Nie Yan’s audacity, but she couldn’t stay angry at him after seeing the sincere look on his face. Her discontent vanished completely after hearing his heartfelt apology.

"Okay.” Nie Yan stood up.

Xie Yao fussed with her clothes one last time before standing up as well. As she stood, she felt a sudden weakness in her knees and almost collapsed back onto the couch.

Nie Yan immediately put his arm behind her to keep her from falling.

"I think I drank a little too much,” Xie Yao said awkwardly. She couldn’t muster up even an ounce of strength.

"Don’t worry. I’ll carry you to my car. I keep sobriety pills in the glove compartment,” Nie Yan said. Once they took sobriety pills, the alcohol’s effect would be gone in no time.

"No!” Xie Yao vehemently shook her head. It was the middle of the day, so there were bound to be people out and about. A strong guy carrying a drunk girl to his car in broad daylight would surely cause a large commotion.

Nie Yan twisted his neck to look at her swaying figure. After a moment, he smiled brightly at her before turning around to lift her into a piggyback ride.

Xie Yao let out a startled yelp when she felt herself rising into the air. Her heart raced in panic before quickly settling down again. For some reason, being supported by Nie Yan’s sturdy back made her feel safe.

Nie Yan carried Xie Yao to his car. After both of them took a sobriety pill, they felt much better.

The two of them sat wordlessly in the car, creating a tranquil silence as they tried to avoid thinking about the embarrassing events inside the restaurant.

"Let’s go,” Xie Yao said softly. Even now, she had no idea how she could face Nie Yan ever again.

Nie Yan started his car and drove out of the parking lot. "Where do you live?”

"Cloudwater District.”

Cloudwater District? Nie Yan jumped in his seat. Wasn’t that where he lived? However, it made sense. Built around the lake with excellent view and refreshing air, Cloudwater was ranked the number one neighbourhood in Huahai. It had the largest concentration of wealthy elites in all of the city. Given Xie Yao’s background, it was no surprise her family lived there.

However, Cloudwater was huge. Since Nie Yan had never bumped into her in the previous timeline, he figured she probably didn’t live very close to him; otherwise, he would have definitely seen her at one point or another.

The congregation of wealthy families was the main reason Father Nie decided to settle in the Cloudwater District. He subscribed to the famous saying, Live near wealth, be near wealth. In fact, Cloudwater residents would often hold events exclusively for their neighbours. Being invited to these banquets was an incredible opportunity for the Nie Family because it opened the door to influential connections and wealthy contacts.

"Oh wow! I also live in Cloudwater.”

"Really?” Xie Yao asked in surprise.

"You should stop by my house to take a look sometime.”

"Alright. It’ll be a good chance to meet your parents as well.”

As Nie Yan and Xie Yao continued to chat, the car sped toward the address Xie Yao provided. It was just as Nie Yan had thought: she lived pretty far away from him. They lived on different sides of the lake, and even used different entrances to the neighborhood. Since one family used the South Gate and the other used the West Gate, it was no wonder they never came across each other.

Nie Yan stopped the car in front of Xie Yao’s house and watched her enter the front door before finally heading home.

When Nie Yan got home, he walked into his surprise party. His parents had invited friends and family for this grand occasion. They watched happily as everyone praised their son, proudly basking in his glory.

The lively festivities continued for two hours before the guests left.

Father Nie, still exuberant about Nie Yan’s acceptance, began talking about company matters with his son. As the Tuoba Family and Century Financial Group fought each other and both sides took hit after hit, he took the opportunity to use a large amount of capital to buy as many of Tuoba Hongye’s shares as he could. By now, Father Nie’s total capital was staggeringly massive, almost enough to be alarming.

Nie Yan thought it over. His father’s actions against Tuoba Hongye would also indirectly help Tuoba Time. It seemed as if the Tuoba Family’s problems were far from over.

"Say, son, what do you think we should do next?” Father Nie looked at Nie Yan and asked. He wanted to see if his son had any thoughts about the situation.

"The Tuoba Family suffered huge losses, but the Century Financial Group didn’t get off easy either. They’ve sponsored quite a few guilds in Conviction, and will probably be a major competitor in the near future. Why don’t we take this chance to grab some of their shares too? Perhaps, it’ll come in handy one day.”

Father Nie thought about it for a while before slowly nodding in agreement. Nie Yan’s words made sense, but the specifics still required careful research and planning.

Chapter 341 – Devil Slayer

Nie Yan reminded Father Nie that the War God Tribe and Asskickers United would inevitably touch upon the interests of the Century Financial Group. It would be troublesome when such a big player took notice of them. So before then, it was crucial to prepare as many hidden cards as possible!

Father Nie left since he still had business to attend to back at the company. Nie Yan finished up dinner and headed upstairs to his room, where he put on his game helmet and entered Conviction.

When Nie Yan logged back on, he was greeted by nothing but darkness. This would continue to be an issue until he increased his Night Vision.

Players on opposite factions were barred from viewing each other’s forums, so there was a veil of mystery between the two sides. The game developers added this to spice up the gameplay. However, players could still obtain information on the opposing faction through various other channels. During the server’s downtime, the players from the Undead Empire had gathered some intel on Nie Yan.

It was impossible for Nie Yan’s identity as the guild leader of Asskickers United to remain a secret. Furthermore, some of his videos had also been dug up and disseminated among the players of the Undead Empire.

Nie Yan’s bounty was consequently raised to 500 gold. This was the limit for the players who died to him.

Nie Yan was all by himself, and even though he was a guild leader, he couldn’t mobilize any of the members under him. 500 gold was a fair reward. It was enough to entice quite a few experts into tracking him down. After all, such profitable opportunities were few and far between.

Nie Yan naturally understood his own situation, which was why he never stayed in one location for too long.

Nie Yan still hadn’t found a village this whole time. As he continued travelling west, a system notification popped up.

You have discovered Falling Gully.

Nie Yan was somewhat familiar with Falling Gully. Before travelling to the Underworld, he had searched up some information about the maps in the Demon Tribe and Undead Empire. He recalled that just a few kilometers from here was a village called Valitin Graveyard Village.

It had a transfer point connecting to the nearest city!

Nie Yan immediately started making his way through Falling Gully. There were piles of rubble everywhere. He saw Level 50 Miner Zombies and an occasional Elite Zombie Foreman roaming around.

Level 50 mobs were a bit difficult to deal with for Nie Yan. But before long, he successfully took control of four Zombie Miners with Undead Rite. He used them to capture a Zombie Foreman, losing three of them in the process.

The Zombie Foreman was a two meter tall hulk of rotting flesh. It was covered in chains and carried a large hammer. It was a bit slow since it moved with a limp, but it was quite powerful.

With one Zombie Foreman, capturing successive ones would be much easier. Nie Yan used Undead Rite to take command of two more. With Lil’ Gold and three Zombie Foremen, his mobbing speed increased exponentially.

As Nie Yan swept through the monsters in his path, he suddenly received a system notification.

You have received the Junior Devil Slayer title.

A title advancement! Nie Yan quickly checked the properties of his new title.

Junior Devil Slayer – Increases Influence in all human nations by 22. Reduces the stats of every creature of darkness within 20 meters of the player by 30%.

Extreme Intimidate: Inflict the target with fear, and cripple their movements for 5 seconds. Range: 5 meters.

Extreme Deterrence: Disperse all monsters within the surrounding area for 20 minutes. Not valid if the monsters’ levels exceeds the player’s level by over 30.

Divine Recruitment: Summon a Paladin mercenary whose stats are proportionate to that of the player. Requires an hourly fee. Cast Time: 30 seconds.

Rank 1 Paladin Inez: 60% of the player’s stats

Fee: 10 gold/hr

Rank 2 Paladin Redmayne: 80% of the player’s stats

Fee: 30 gold/hr

Rank 3 Paladin Clementine: 100% of the player’s stats

Fee: 50 gold/hr

Rank 4 Paladin Fern: 120% of the player’s stats

Fee: 100 gold/hr

Rank 5 Paladin Khalisi: 150% of the player’s stats

Fee: 300 gold/hr

…

It went all the way up to a Rank 16 Paladin with an hourly fee of 500,000 gold. This kind of cost wasn’t something an ordinary player could bear. These Paladins could buff the players with the most basic blessings. They also had basic attack, heal, and shield skills that corresponded to their rank. The only exception was the Rank 16 Paladin who could use high rank Templar Magic. If a hired Paladin died, the player was required to pay 200% of the total fee.

Nie Yan was a little perplexed by why the Devil Slayer title gave such a skill.

Any holder of the Devil Slayer title was undoubtedly a heaven-defying figure. Outside of pursuing balance, Conviction also generously rewarded the truly powerful. This was because when the federation first created the game, besides using the game helmets to enhance humanity’s physique, they were also trying to scout the best elites.

Elite players could obtain extremely powerful skills. Not only Nie Yan, but other players also had the same opportunities. In the previous timeline, there were hundreds of players with the Junior Devil Slayer title. However, they all obtained this title when they were well over Level 100. Perhaps Nie Yan was the first player to receive it at such a low level.

Nie Yan would have to carefully consider if he wanted to use Divine Recruitment. The hourly fee was a bit expensive. It probably wouldn’t be worthwhile to summon a Paladin unless he was backed into a corner.

Intimidate and Deterrence also received an upgrade. Overall, the rewards of the Junior Devil Slayer title were pretty good.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. With the Junior Devil Slayer title, it was rumoured he could access a secret shop in Calore and purchase items that were unavailable to ordinary players. The vast majority of goods sold there were for hunting evil creatures. Many of them were quite useful.

Nie Yan planned to check out the secret shop after returning to Calore. He wondered what sort of benefits he could reap from the place.

Nie Yan brought his three Zombie Foremen and Lil’ Gold to a thicket in the Falling Gully. He saw a flash of magic light up the darkness far in the distance like twinkling stars.

Nie Yan entered stealth and went over there to investigate.

Under his control, the three Zombie Foremen and Lil’ Gold followed closely behind him.

Nie Yan was hidden in the darkness. After running for about a minute, he finally got close enough to see over 60 players fighting a giant five meter tall zombie. It had a disgusting appearance, looking like a rotund mass of rotting flesh. It was unceasingly slashing away with the giant machete in its hand.

Nie Yan activated Transcendent Insight.

Zombie Overseer (Lord): Level 50

Health: 173,852/320,000

What a huge amount of health!

It was a Level 50 Lord. No wonder there were so many players!

Nie Yan gazed at this group of 60 players. The frontliners surrounded the Zombie Overseer while the casters in the back fired magic at it nonstop. They were quite organized, with their levels ranging from Level 40–47. He didn’t know if the players from the Evil Faction were roughly around the same level as the players from the Righteous Faction. However, he felt these before him were probably regarded as elites. He quickly spotted their leader, a Necromancer who was issuing a steady stream of commands.

The Necromancer wore a black robe with three golden medals on his chest, which dazzled brilliantly under the flashes of magic. He looked to be around 25 years old. He had fair skin and blonde hair, making him resemble an aristocrat. He was probably of foreign descent. Under his command, their teamwork was near flawless. It appeared this fellow was a natural leader.

Nie Yan inspected the Necromancer.

Dark (Necromancer): Level 47

Necromancers were notorious for being a difficult class to level early on. Only after reaching Level 60 and learning the Soul Splitting skill, which allowed them to control more undead, would their levelling speed increase. For Dark to have reached Level 47 at this stage of the game was quite the feat.

Nie Yan was hesitating on what he should do next. Kill these players? For him, this was actually possible!

Since they were in the middle of dealing with a Level 50 Lord, he could probably wipe them all out if he took action. When players from the Righteous Faction and Evil Faction encountered each other, it was usually a case of if I don’t kill you, you’ll kill me!

Chapter 342 – Launching a Sneak Attack

Nie Yan commanded Lil’ Gold and the three Zombie Foremen to approach from a relatively safe path with plenty of cover to avoid detection.

None of the players noticed Nie Yan’s presence since they were too preoccupied with the Zombie Overseer. It sent a large portion of the frontline flying with every sweep of its giant machete. However, there were already Spectral Knights on standby to plug in the breach with impeccable coordination. It appeared they were quite experienced fighting this boss.

Many guilds hunted a Lord multiple times to farm for rare drops or parts of a set. They would station players to level nearby and wait for it to respawn, which usually took a day or two, after which a team would be dispatched to kill it.

Asskickers United also followed this method to farm Lords. With Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, Yi Yan, and the other powerful Fighters each leading a team, their efficiency was phenomenal.

Nie Yan wondered which guild this group of players belonged to. When he saw the dark eagle crest on their chests, his mind trembled. It was the emblem of Fallen Angel, the top guild in Necropolis City, which was the capital of the Undead Empire! He had learned about them during his research. Their guild leader was a Dark Incantist called Plenty, a master of curses and black magic and a hegemon of the Underworld!

Controlling Necropolis City was tantamount to ruling the entire Undead Empire. This absolutely wasn’t an exaggeration. Despite having over 31 cities in total, over 35% of the Undead Empire’s population was concentrated in Necropolis City. Guilds that rivalled Fallen Angel could be counted on one hand.

Due to the limited interaction between the Righteous Faction and Evil Faction, players rarely paid attention to what happened outside of their respective sides, with only a few guild leaders receiving the occasional update. Nie Yan’s knowledge of Fallen Angel was limited. And since the sources of his information were difficult to confirm, it was hard to judge their authenticity.

Nie Yan would be attracting the ire of Fallen Angel by ambushing this group. After thinking for a moment, he decided to go through with it. Their paths weren’t likely to cross again. He would probably end up somewhere else the next time he opened the Dark Portal. His goal for coming to the Underworld was simply to stock up on equipment which increased Night Vision. He would be leaving after five days anyways. Although Fallen Angel was powerful, it would be incredibly difficult for them to kill him, especially in this dark environment which bolstered his stealthing abilities even further.

As for the quests related to the Underworld, Nie Yan didn’t plan on attempting them yet. Their difficulty was simply too high for the current him.

Nie Yan no longer hesitated. The Zombie Foremen and Lil’ Gold were in position. He waited for the perfect opportunity to strike.

At this moment, the Zombie Overseer’s health fell to 5%. Its skin started changing into a peculiar black colour.

"The Zombie Overseer is enraged! Be careful! Casters, spread out!” Dark shouted. As soon as he gave the command, the nearby casters fanned out and took up suitable vantage points to cast spells from.

"Casters, maintain your damage!”

"Blood Scar, lock down its foot!”

After the Zombie Overseer became enraged, the frontline almost instantly collapsed. With a single kick, it sent several Spectral Knights flying. As it started moving towards the casters, a Spectral Knight clad in black armour charged forward and intercepted its foot.

After encountering an obstacle, the Zombie Overseer chopped down with its machete on the Spectral Knight called Blood Scar.

Blood Scar quickly raised his shield to block.

A shower of spells bombarded the Zombie Overseer’s body.

The casters were tensely firing their magic.

These players were dealing with the Zombie Overseer quite methodically. Without any outside interference, they could easily kill it.

Dark had a look of anticipation on his face. Blood Scar executed his orders flawlessly. Victory was right around the corner!

However, something completely unexpected occured. Three Zombie Foremen suddenly came barrelling towards them when they were in the middle of fighting the enraged Zombie Overseer. They swung down their hammers and took down a Dark Shaman each.

"Shit! Zombie Foremen!”

"Warriors! Get the Warriors to stop them!”

The group descended into panic.

Dark was taken aback. Prior to engaging the Zombie Overseer, he had personally seen to it that all the Zombie Foremen in the vicinity were cleared, so what hole did these three crawl out from? Not to mention their emergence was simply too abrupt! There was no time to react at all when they charged out of the darkness! Even stranger was them coordinating perfectly to take out three Dark Shamans at once. He felt his blood run cold. The chances of his team wiping increased significantly for every Dark Shaman that died.

Everything happened too quickly!

"Warriors, intercept them!” Dark quickly ordered his summoned undead to charge toward the Zombie Foremen.

The Zombie Foremen pounced toward the six remaining Dark Shamans, who scattered in every direction.

A silhouette emerged behind one of the fleeing Dark Shamans. He felt a searing heat as a blade shrouded in black flames appeared around his neck.

Cut Throat! A cold light flashed as Zennarde’s Sword streaked across the Dark Shaman’s throat.

The Dark Shaman wore an expression of disbelief before collapsing dead to the ground. His staff was half-raised in preparation to activate Life Barrier. A pity he was a beat too late.

Nie Yan’s critical hit instantly killed the Dark Shaman.

Dark happened to witness this scene. He was briefly dazed before shouting out, "It’s that human Thief! Catch him!” He waved his staff and cast Shadow Bind.

The shadows around him shot out toward Nie Yan.

Nie Yan activated Gale Step to avoid the Shadow Bind, then melted back into the darkness, disappearing in front of Dark’s eyes.

Dark was surprised his spell missed. For this fellow to have survived in the Underworld for this long, even after stirring up so much trouble, he definitely wasn’t normal.

"Be careful of his sneak attacks!” Just as he gave out the warning, he suddenly felt the magical energy in the atmosphere violently fluctuate. He scanned his surroundings and spotted Lil’ Gold hidden in the darkness. Less than half his body was visible. It was next to impossible to spot him in such a chaotic situation. However, it was already too late. Lil’ Gold finished chanting Meteor Drop.

A giant blazing meteor lit up the sky, crashing down towards the players.

"It’s an area-of-effect spell. Everybody, run!”

Piercing screams rang out from the crowd. The panicking players scattered outward, but even the fastest of them couldn’t outrun a falling meteor.

「Bang!」Flames splashed in every direction.

Everything in a 20 meter radius was engulfed in a raging inferno.

Pitiful wails sounded out within the blazing region but were soon cut short. Everyone within the blast radius was dead.

Glory Kill! You have obtained 3 Glory for killing an enemy civilian.

Glory Kill! You have obtained 5 Glory for killing an enemy civilian.

…

Nie Yan glanced through the notification log. Over 20 players had died.

However, since the Meteor Drop hadn’t touched the Zombie Overseer, its aggro was still firmly locked on the remaining Fallen Angel players.

"Retreat! Everybody, retreat!” Dark screamed after seeing the situation getting out of his control.

The surviving players scattered like rats.

Seeing his comrades hastily retreating, Blood Scar also gave up on fighting the Zombie Overseer and quickly pulled back. However, how could the Zombie Overseer allow him to leave just like that? It delivered a powerful kick to his shield with unmatched momentum and sent him flying away.

Blood Scar flew out for over 10 meters before crashing into the ground. He staggered back to his feet, with only a sliver of health separating him between life and death. Unfortunately, the Dark Shamans were running for their lives. They had no time for him.

A silhouette suddenly emerged behind Blood Scar.

Blood Scar was alarmed. He tried to swing around and guard with his shield. But his opponent’s movements were too quick. Before he could even comprehend what happened, his vision blanked as he felt a sharp pain in his back.

At Level 47 with the full Dark Aegis Set, Blood Scar was among the top three Spectral Knights in Fallen Angel. This was quite impressive considering the number of talents in Fallen Angel was no less than in Asskickers United. His reaction speed was top-notch. It was a pity he encountered Nie Yan.

After being kicked by the Zombie Overseer, Blood Scar had been inflicted with a dizzy status effect. His Reflex and Speed were at rock bottom. Every small move was difficult. Even if he was a godly player, it would still be impossible for him to guard himself in this situation.

Nie Yan had an accurate grasp of the overall situation. He naturally wouldn’t pass on such an easy target, especially when it was the enemy’s main tank.

Nie Yan appeared behind Blood Scar and delivered a precise blow to the back of the head with Smothering Strike, then followed up with Backstab and Lacerate, shaving away the remainder of his health.

Blood Scar collapsed to the ground and dropped a black greatshield when he died.

With an expression of pleasant surprise on his face, Nie Yan picked up the shield and put it away in his bag.

Chapter 343 – Black Kingsnake Shield

Nie Yan was curious about the properties of a greatshield dropped from a top ranked Spectral Knight from Fallen Angel. It would be great if it had no faction restriction. The shield of a main tank was usually the most precious piece of equipment on them. For example, Bladelight’s current shield would go for over 4,000 gold in the marketplace.

Just as Nie Yan put away the shield in his bag, a shower of spells came raining down on him. He quickly activated his Darkbright Barrier as a membrane of light enveloped him.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」The bright flashes of magic blinded Nie Yan as his health rapidly plummeted.

Nie Yan hurriedly drank an Intermediate Health Potion. There was no time to examine the properties of the greatshield. He activated Disappear and vanished like a puff of smoke in front of these players from Fallen Angel.

At this moment, the Zombie Overseer swung down withs its machete and sent one of Nie Yan’s Zombie Foremen flying. It didn’t differentiate between friend or foe, attacking anything within sight.

Nie Yan hurriedly commanded his minions to withdraw. He had lost a Zombie Foreman to the Zombie Overseer. But the players from Fallen Angel suffered far heavier losses, with more than 10 of them dying to the Zombie Overseer, while several fleeing survivors were picked off by him.

Nie Yan inspected the Zombie Overseer’s health. It had recovered from 5% to 15%. It sauntered over to the Zombie Foreman’s corpse and took a huge bite, whereupon its health started recovering even faster.

This was the Corpse Eater skill of the Zombie Overseer!

Nie Yan could’ve finished the Zombie Overseer off by himself if it had remained at low health. But now, it was impossible. He was forced to give up and retreat with Lil’ Gold and his two remaining Zombie Foremen.

While the Zombie Overseer pursued the fleeing players from Fallen Angel, Nie Yan took advantage of the opportunity to pick up all the loot of the ground. He had burned through a lot of his consumables the day prior, so he had plenty of free space in his bag. He obtained quite a few pieces of Level 45 Gold and Dark Gold-grade equipment. Sadly, only a chestplate and a mage hood could be brought back to the surface. The rest of the equipment was restricted to players of the Evil Faction. However, both these items were Dark Gold-grade with decent properties. He planned to store them in the guild’s treasury.

Nie Yan’s heart skipped a beat when he examined the shield dropped by Blood Scar.

Black Kingsnake Shield (Sub Legendary)

Description: The undead Blacksmith Ini used the scales of a Black Kingsnake to create this greatshield with superb defensive capabilities.

Requirements: 620 Strength, 520 Dexterity

Properties: Defenses 1039–1051, Defend Rate 32%, Resilience +37.

Full Guard: Nullify the damage and effects of any attack targeted at the player. Cooldown: 1 day

Weight: 52 lb

Restrictions: Spectral Knight; can only be equipped by players of the Evil Faction.

What high defense! It was a piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment. Sadly, it wasn’t worth much on the surface due to the faction restriction. Even though it could be broken down into about 600 gold’s worth of crafting materials, this was a piddling amount compared to its true value of 6,000 gold!

Nie Yan thought for a moment. He wasn’t allowed to sell items from the Righteous Faction to the Evil Faction. But he was free to do as he pleased with items from the Evil Faction. He could earn quite a bit of gold by selling the Black Kingsnake Shield in an auction house. However, this required him to infiltrate a city in the Underworld first.

This method was also applicable to the other items Nie Yan couldn’t bring back to the surface!

It was a pity Nie Yan didn’t have enough bagspace. He had to leave behind a few things to make room for more valuable equipment.

Nie Yan headed in the direction Dark and his group fled.

Dark rounded up the scattered survivors after escaping the Zombie Overseer. There were still around 30 of them left, but all the Dark Shamans had died. He was still recovering from his shock that a single human Thief had wiped out more than half of them in the blink of an eye.

"Dark, Blood Scar lost his Black Kingsnake Shield,” a subordinate informed dejectedly after receiving word from Blood Scar who had revived in the graveyard.

"Shit! That bastard! We’re screwed!” Dark couldn’t help but curse. The Black Kingsnake Shield was the most precious piece of equipment in their group. It was a Sub Legendary item worth at least 6,000 gold! How were they going to explain themselves to the guild leader?

Nie Yan’s timing was just too perfect. He had ambushed them at the most crucial moment during the battle with the Zombie Overseer. Otherwise, given the level of their skill, even if they couldn’t kill him, they wouldn’t have suffered such heavy losses.

"Aren’t the players from the Righteous Faction supposed to suffer a 30% stat penalty in the Underworld? Why the hell is he so powerful?” a player asked in bewilderment. "I saw him one-shotting people with full health!” No matter how squishy Dark Shamans were, they should at least be able to take a few hits! However, that Thief killed them instantly! What kind of attack power was this!?

"Did you not see the weapon in his hand? Someone offered 20,000 gold for it as long as it isn’t restricted to only the Righteous Faction!” a nearby Necromancer replied. Many players were curious about the properties of Zennarde’s Sword.

However, even if Nie Yan was killed, Zennarde’s Sword wouldn’t necessarily drop.

"Dark, what do we do now?” asked a Spectral Knight. "Should we chase down Nirvana Flame after we rest and regroup? We’ll get all our equipment back if we kill him! If we return like this, we’ll definitely be punished by the boss.” He sounded a bit desperate.

"Fuck! If you want to die, don’t drag me down with you! Do you think we can find him in this wilderness? Even if we did, so what? He can escape whenever he wants!” Dark cursed. If Nie Yan wanted to run, they had no way of stopping him. With him appearing and disappearing like a ghost, who knew if they could handle him with just their numbers? Dark understood the temperament of the boss. He could tolerate mistakes, but he absolutely wouldn’t condone stupidity!

Everyone nervously scanned the darkness around them. Even if they went looking for Nie Yan, it was impossible to find him. At best, they might find his Zombie Foremen or Lil’ Gold. But that still wouldn’t be useful in catching him.

Everyone was dispirited. They could only return and endure the anger of the boss.

"I’ve reported sightings of Nirvana Flame in Falling Gully on the forums. I’ve also added that he has over 7,000 gold worth of Evil Faction equipment on him. Even if we don’t do anything, I trust many people will come looking for him. Persimmon, have all the Thieves gather here. There’ll soon be a large number of players coming to look for him. Go scout around. It’ll be best if you find his Zombie Foremen and Golden Dragon. Let’s see if we can retrieve that Black Kingsnake Shield. But remember, don’t engage him. You guys aren’t his match,” Dark instructed.

The Thief called Persimmon nodded. "Alright, I’ll follow your plan.”

Six Thieves entered stealth and melted into the darkness.

"Everyone else, we’re returning to Necropolis City,” Dark said. The players around him began channelling Return Scrolls.

Following a series of flashes, one player after another teleported away.

When Nie Yan caught up, Dark and his group had already departed. He couldn’t help but feel these players were smart. He was more than satisfied with his harvest this time. There was no need to kill them down to the very last man. He checked his own rank. He wasn’t far from becoming a commander.

It was quite hard hard to ascend in military ranking. No wonder so few players in the previous timeline could reach the rank of General in the previous timeline, despite spending so much time on the battlefield. Not to mention you could also drop in rank. If a General died several times, they would be demoted to a 10,000-man Commander. 1,000-man Commanders were a common sight.

The players who reached the rank of General generally spent at least two or three years roaming around battlefields. Nie Yan had no delusions about raising his military rank quickly.

Nie Yan entered stealth. He hunted monsters in his path with his Zombie Foremen and Lil’ Gold while searching for a nearby village. During his journey, he took control of three more Zombie Foremen. Like this, the number of minions following him increased.

With Lil’ Gold and the Zombie Foremen clearing the path, Nie Yan killed countless Zombie Miners and reached Level 39, with Level 40 not being too far away. He had purified a total of 3,201 evil creatures. He wondered how far he was from unlocking the first seal of Zennarde’s Sword. He could only take things one step at a time.

Nie Yan noticed that player activity in the area suddenly spiked. He regularly bumped into large groups of high level players with decent gear. He figured they were here for him. He increased his vigilance.

In the event of trouble, Nie Yan would unsummon Lil’ Gold and escape with an Unknown Transfer Scroll.

Just at this moment, Lil’ Gold encountered a group of 100 players, all of whom were at least Level 40. They were slowly starting to surround Lil’ Gold and the Zombie Foremen.

Trouble had come knocking at the door. Nie Yan stopped scouting ahead and started making his way back to Lil’ Gold and the Zombie Foremen.

Nie Yan saw silhouettes moving in the wilderness. They were players from the Evil Faction. He slowly approached them until he was only 10 meters away, observing them silently from the darkness.

Chapter 344 – Three Hammers, Instant Death

"Let’s deal with his pets first, then have the Thieves search around. Nirvana Flame must be in the area!” instructed a Dark Shaman garbed in gray robes. He was called Obsessed, a veteran gamer who had squandered a fortune into popular virtual reality games over the years. He could only spend so lavishly thanks to his family’s wealth. However, he did leave his mark on every game he played, so many people remembered him.

Nie Yan observed Obsessed from in the shadows. He looked to be around 30 years old with a square jaw and thick eyebrows. He handed out orders to the players under him like a seasoned leader.

"Everyone, let’s do our best. We’ll all receive 50 gold each for killing that human Thief and looting his corpse!” Obsessed declared. The crowd immediately erupted into loud cheers.

50 gold was a wealth of riches to these players. Very few of them weren’t tempted.

They started rapidly carrying out Obsessed’s orders. Nie Yan instantly understood from observing their actions that they were merely a ragtag bunch who had temporarily teamed up together for a shared goal. Although they mostly comprised professional players, their skill were middling. True experts disdained from gathering in groups like this.

Nie Yan spotted at least a dozen different guild emblems, while even more weren’t affiliated to any guild.

Nie Yan figured information about him being in Falling Gully had already been disseminated to the outside. This was why this group of players had come here looking for him.

It appeared heading to the nearest village wouldn’t be as easy as he originally thought. If he had to constantly deal with players chasing after him, he would end up harassed to death.

The best way to keep these pests away was to give them a show of pure strength!

Think you can kill me with numbers alone? Wishful thinking! Nie Yan observed the Spectral Knights nervously moving to surround his five Zombie Foremen with their shields raised.

"Kill!” Obsessed shouted.

The Spectral Knights immediately charged toward the Zombie Foremen.

Nie Yan snickered. You think my Zombie Foremen will just behave like regular mobs? Too naive!

At this moment, two of the Zombie Foremen stepped out to act as obstruction while the other three singled out one of the Spectral Knights and simultaneously swung down with their hammers.

−785

−833

−812

It was direct and efficient with flawless teamwork. The Spectral Knight had a look of disbelief on his face as he collapsed dead on the ground.

The Dark Shamans in the back were speechless. These Zombie Foremen were simply too coordinated! They didn’t get a chance to heal that Spectral Knight before he died.

The group of players couldn’t help but wonder if this was just a coincidence.

As if to give them an answer, the three Zombie Foremen singled out another Spectral Knight and swung down their hammers.

−828

−793

−806

It was another instant kill!

These Zombie Foremen were already Elites. But their stats were bolstered even further after coming under the influence of Undead Rite. Each of their attacks could shave away over a third of the health of these Spectral Knights. The three of them coordinating their attacks perfectly together made for a shocking sight.

The Zombie Foremen straightened their backs and started moving towards another Spectral Knight with their bloody hammers raised.

Seeing the actions of the Zombie Foremen, the crowd quickly realized this wasn’t a coincidence!

"Shit! T-t-these Zombie Foremen, t-t-they…!”

Even the tankiest Spectral Knight among them was still instantly killed by the three-pronged attack of the Zombie Foremen.

The Dark Shamans were at a complete loss. What use was all the healing in the world if it couldn’t bring a player back from the dead?

Everyone was stupefied.

The Spectral Knights started ignoring orders and retreating in fear.

"I want two Spectral Knights on each Zombie Foreman. Don’t retreat! Stop panicking!” Obsessed cried out in rage. He ordered the casters to start firing their spells.

Unfortunately, this group was nowhere near as organized as one led by a guild. These players had only gathered for their own selfish interests. They wouldn’t just throw their lives away for nothing.

"I’ll compensate everyone who dies with 50 gold!” Obsessed announced after noticing everyone was still running away. "Now all of you get the fuck back in there! Hurry up and lock down those Zombie Foremen!”

These players thought for a moment. Even if they died to the Zombie Foremen, all they would be losing was a bit of experience. It could be easily grinded back. As for their equipment, it wasn’t worth much in the first place. What was losing one piece compared to gaining 50 gold?

The Spectral Knights stopped retreating. They followed Obsessed’s orders and formed a solid wall.

The three Zombie Foremen limped toward the wall and slammed down with their hammers, instantly killing one of the Spectral Knights.

The three Zombie Foremen breached the wall of Spectral Knights, giving the two other Zombie Foremen and Lil’ Gold access to the casters in the back.

The five Zombie Foremen and Lil’ Gold were an unstoppable force, carrying out a one-sided slaughter as blood-curdling screams filled the air.

Nie Yan meticulously commanded the Zombie Foremen and Lil’ Gold from in the shadows. He couldn’t afford to pay attention to anything else.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」A dense hail of spells bombarded one of the Zombie Foremen and shaved away its last bit of health. It let out a mournful moan and collapsed to the ground.

The first Zombie Foreman had died.

Lil’ Gold blasted over 10 casters in the distance with Dragon Breath and roasted them to death.

They had lost over a third of their forces within minutes. Obsessed never expected events to develop in this way. The strength of these pets far exceeded his expectations.

The perfect coordination of the three Zombie Foremen was especially frightening.

A shower of spells rained down on the Zombie Foremen. Nie Yan ordered the remaining four Zombie Foremen to hold off the Spectral Knights while Lil’ Gold massacred the backline, with corpses littering the ground.

Another Zombie Foreman died. The three remaining Zombie Foremen didn’t have much health left either. However, Nie Yan didn’t appear particularly heartbroken. They were only temporary minions and would disappear after some time anyway.

Lil’ Gold wildly charged forward. As spells and weapons battered his scales, Explosive Counter activated and took out six nearby players.

These pets were too powerful. Obsessed estimated they would soon completely wipe if things continued down this path. He started ordering the players to retreat into an area filled with piles of rocks and boulders.

Since the complex terrain would greatly hinder the movements of the Zombie Foremen and Lil’ Gold, Nie Yan ordered them to return back to his side.

Even after seeing Lil’ Gold and the Zombie Foremen retreat, these players still had some lingering fear in their hearts. Obsessed looked at the players around him and let out a deep sigh. At the end of the day, a ragtag group was too unreliable.

These players could be considered decently skilled among the player base. They were familiar with ordinary battles. However, when they encountered Nie Yan’s unconventional tactics, they immediately descended into panic.

Obsessed recalled the battle just now. The combined attacks of three Zombie Foremen could instantly kill even the tankiest Spectral Knight among them, to say nothing of squishy casters like him!

To be able to control Zombie Foremen in such a way, this player from the surface definitely wasn’t simple. If there was an opportunity, Obsessed hoped to befriend Nirvana Flame.

The Thieves from Fallen Angel had witnessed the entire course of the battle from the shadows. They were waiting for Nie Yan to appear, but he unexpectedly never showed up. Everything ended not long after it started. They gazed at each other with lingering shock and fear in their eyes. The combined attacks of the three Zombie Foremen was too frightening!

When they recalled how Nie Yan had previously wiped out half of their team, it didn’t seem that strange anymore.

Nie Yan walked out of the darkness. He had Lil’ Gold and the surviving Zombie Foremen rest and recover their health.

He checked his own status. He had risen to the rank of a 10-man commander. It gave him 3% defense bonus and 5% health bonus, which wasn’t too bad.

Just at this moment, Nie Yan sensed someone gazing at him from within the darkness.

Thief?

Nie Yan activated Eye of Truth. The veins around his eyes bulged out while his pupils blossomed out with a profound light. He started scanning his surroundings.

Persimmon and the other Thieves hidden in the darkness were badly frightened by the change in Nie Yan’s eyes. His gaze appeared to pierce through the darkness, carrying a terrifying killing intent. They didn’t dare to move an inch from their current positions.

Persimmon and the other Thieves held their breaths at the sight of these demonic eyes.

This was an eye skill!

Most eye skills could see through things like stealth. They were toast if Nie Yan caught them!

As time passed, Persimmon and the other Thieves felt like their backs were soaked in cold sweat.

Nie Yan withdrew his gaze after failing to discover anything. He led Lil’ Gold and the Zombie Foremen away.

Seeing Nie Yan’s retreating figure, Persimmon and the other Thieves breathed out a sigh of relief. Their hearts had been stretched taut. It felt like they had a brief encounter with death.

"Holy shit! I nearly pissed my pants. What was that eye skill just now?”

"It kind of looks like Demon Eyes.”

"It’s not Demon Eyes.”

"Did any of you record a video of the Zombie Foremen massacring those Spectral Knights?”

"I did.”

Persimmon collected the video. Everything that just happened would forever remain in their minds.

Chapter 345 – Slaughter God

Breaking Cliff Crypt Stronghold, the territory of Fallen Angel, was constructed out of giant stone structures with numerous towering spires.

A Dark Incantist sat solemnly in a spacious hall within the Fallen Angel guild headquarters. He held a bonewood staff with a dark blue orb embedded at the tip in his hand. His coal-gray robes embroidered with gold embellishments overflowed with magical energy. Stitched to his collar was a crimson shadow vine coiled around a white skull.

He was a 27-year-old man with a tall stature and somewhat of a heroic appearance. His gaze flickered with a frosty and imposing light.

He was Plenty, the guild leader of Fallen Angel.

Dark, Blood Scar, and several others were trembling in front of Plenty, not daring to utter a single word. They could sense his fury from losing the Black Kingsnake Shield.

Dark wanted to speak up but hesitated. He didn’t dare to challenge the authority of the guild leader.

"Dark, explain yourself,” Plenty said in a heavy tone.

Dark gulped before taking a deep breath. "Everything was originally going according to plan, the Zombie Overseer was almost dead. But then, we were suddenly caught off guard by several Zombie Foremen and that Golden Dragon. That human Thief, he was too fast. He wiped out all our Dark Shamans before we could even react. Blood Scar was incapacitated by the Zombie Overseer’s kick. He had no way of defending himself…”

Plenty cut off Dark. "I’m not looking into who was at fault. However, I want the Black Kingsnake Shield back at all costs. Did Persimmon report back with anything?”

Dark breathed out a sigh of relief after knowing Plenty wasn’t going to punish anyone. He hurriedly replied, "We last heard from Persimmon when he reported spotting that human Thief’s pets. I’ll ask him for an update right now.”

Before long, Persimmon sent back a video.

"Boss, Persimmon sent over a video. I’ll play it for everyone to watch.”

The video started off with five Zombie Foremen and a Golden Dragon crushing a group of 100 players. The Zombie Foremen were especially eye-catching as they swept everything before them with their perfectly synchronized three-pronged attacks. Even though Nie Yan never appeared during the actual battle, one could imagine the mental drain of controlling six minions at the same time. Nie Yan finally revealed himself walking out of the darkness near the end. He seemed to sense something off and swung his head around, staring directly at the viewer. The veins around his eyes were visible, and his pupils shone with a soul-piercing light.

Dark, Blood Scar, and the others gasped.

Plenty tapped on the armrest of his throne. "This fellow is a bit interesting. Have Persimmon continue tailing him!” He debated whether or not he should dispatch a few hundred to a thousand players to surround Nie Yan. Catching a Thief, especially a highly skilled one, was no easy feat in the eternal night of the Underworld.

Dark inwardly rejoiced after seeing Plenty’s mood lighten up. Persimmon’s video had undoubtedly saved their hides. It wasn’t due to their incompetence that they almost wiped, but rather the enemy was simply too powerful!

"Boss, what do we do now?” Dark asked.

"Keep a watch over him. The Black Kingsnake Shield isn’t worth much on the surface, maybe a few hundred gold in raw materials. Its value in the Underworld is more than tenfold higher. He surely know this as well. I doubt he’ll be so foolish as to bring it back to the surface. Find someone to get in touch with him,” Plenty ordered. He was determined to retrieve the Black Kingsnake Shield at all costs. It was best if he could achieve this without force. But if things went down that path, so be it.

No matter how strong Nie Yan was, Necropolis City was his domain. Even a dragon would fail to repress a local snake.

Dark immediately passed down Plenty’s orders to Persimmon.

Persimmon’s group was no match for Nie Yan, but they were still elite Thieves. Tailing someone without being noticed, especially in this dark environment, was a relatively simple matter. They probably couldn’t shadow Nie Yan directly, but tracking his Zombie Foremen and Golden Dragon was no problem.

Bits and pieces of the battle between Nie Yan and the 100 players surfaced on Necropolis City’s forums. Seeing everything had basically been revealed, Persimmon posted up the full video, which immediately rose up to the top.

The three pronged attacks of the Zombie Foremen and Nie Yan’s Eye of Truth left a deep impression on the players of Necropolis City. Even after slaughtering around 300 players in total, he was still running amok.

His icy gaze brimming with killing intent and glowing eyes that pierced through the darkness were deeply imprinted into their minds.

The players of Necropolis City began referring to Nie Yan as the Slaughter God. Only this nickname properly conveyed the reverence they felt for him. It was an apt description of a fierce character like him who had single-handedly repelled hundreds of Level 40 and over players.

Nie Yan’s bounty subsequently rose to 1,000 gold. Add this to the more than 7,000 gold’s worth of Evil Faction equipment known to be on him, and the players of Necropolis City viewed him as a walking treasure vault. Many guilds were starting to grow restless. But they all restrained themselves because Fallen Angel had yet to take action!

Fallen Angel was the top guild in Necropolis City. All the other guilds naturally followed their lead.

Nie Yan continued travelling through Falling Gully. Following the defeat and subsequent retreat of Obsessed’s group, he saw a dramatic decline in the number of players looking for him. Even though he encountered a few fools every now and then, he easily dispatched them with Lil’ Gold and the Zombie Foremen.

Nie Yan was like a phantom, sporadically revealing himself near Lil’ Gold and the Zombie Foremen. Very few players were able to catch a glimpse of his silhouette.

Nie Yan finally left Falling Gully. He saw a towering lighthouse in the distance. It was over several dozen meters tall. Its flame gently flickered in the wind as if it could go out at any moment.

This was a sign of civilization!

It was quite easy for people to lose their way in the Underworld, so many villages, towns, and cities created lighthouses to serve as landmarks.

Nie Yan had finally found a settlement in the Underworld!

It was risky for Nie Yan to infiltrate an Evil Faction settlement. The place might end up as his burial ground if he made the slightest mistake.

Nie Yan was forging a completely new path. Success would equate to another huge source of capital!

Some risks were worth taking.

Nie Yan no longer hesitated and started heading in the direction of the lighthouse.

As Nie Yan drew closer to his destination, he unsummoned Lil’ Gold and ordered the Zombie Foremen to go off grinding mobs on their own. Afterwards, he entered stealth and dashed toward the settlement.

Persimmon and the other Thieves were taken aback. They had completely lost sight of Nie Yan after he unsummoned Lil’ Gold.

They didn’t dare to get too close to Nie Yan. They could only rely on their Night Vision to keep track of him from afar. When they saw him disappear, they initially thought he had discovered them. But after a brief moment of tension, they found out he was no longer in the vicinity.

They had lost Nie Yan!

The several Zombie Foremen scattered in different directions and started hunting mobs on their own, as if they had been abandoned by Nie Yan.

「Boss! Nirvana Flame unsummoned his Golden Dragon and disappeared,」Persimmon reported to Plenty. When he learned the guild leader had decided to personally handle this matter, he was terrified. Now that he had lost the person they were supposed to be tracking, he began panicking and was at a loss at what to do.

「Where did you lose him?」Plenty asked with a frown. He doubted Nie Yan would disappear for no reason. From his observations, the Zombie Foremen were minions that could be discarded at any time. Only the Golden Dragon was his real pet.

「We lost sight of him near Valitin Graveyard Village. I saw him heading there,」Persimmon replied. He couldn’t help but wonder if Nie Yan was really going to Valitin Graveyard Village. But that was a settlement of the Evil Faction! It was filled with players, and the NPCs there were at least Level 50 Elites. He recalled there even being two Level 100 guards. Going there was suicidal for a player from the Righteous Faction!

Logically speaking, players from the Righteous Faction would do their utmost to stay as far away as possible from places like this. What could be gained from throwing their life away?

「I think Nirvana Flame might have unsummoned the Golden Dragon to avoid drawing attention from the NPCs and players from Valitin Graveyard Village,」Persimmon tried to give a plausible explanation.

Plenty was deep in thought, so he didn’t pay attention to Persimmon’s ramblings. He was trying to guess Nie Yan’s objective for coming to the Underworld. He doubted a player would wander around aimlessly in the wilderness for days and brave so many dangers for leisure, especially considering Nie Yan was also a guild leader.

"I should make a trip to Valitin Graveyard Village…” Plenty muttered. He stood up and began walking towards the stronghold’s transfer point.

The Fallen Angel players he passed in the hallway would immediately greet him with respect.

"Hello, Boss!”

"Good day, Guild Leader!”

…

Plenty slightly nodded in acknowledgement. He entered the stronghold’s transfer point and set his destination to Valitin Graveyard Village before teleporting away with a flash of light.

Chapter 346 – Graveyard Village

You have discovered Valitin Graveyard Village.

Valitin Graveyard Village was surrounded by dilapidated tombstones, the words engraved on them having long since become unrecognizable. The earth was littered with the bones of the dead. The village was enclosed by wooden fencing and contained only around a dozen buildings, the most conspicuous of which being the lighthouse. However, its foundation was slowly sinking into the ground, and even appeared to be on the brink of collapsing.

The graveyard surrounding Valitin was its most effective defense against attackers. With a nearly inexhaustible supply of corpses, NPCs could summon an army of skeleton soldiers whenever a battle broke out. This was why Valitin didn’t require walls.

Near the outskirts of the village, Nie Yan put on some black garbs and covered his face with a cloak. He used the Necklace of Deception to alter his alignment to the Evil Faction and drank a Potion of Illusion concocted by Bird to change his appearance.

The Necklace of Deception’s effect lasted for 3 hours. Only certain special skills could see through it.

In towns and cities, no one would randomly use an eye skill to inspect another player.

Nie Yan was also a madman. Very few people would dare to do what he was doing right now.

Of course, Nie Yan wasn’t a reckless fool. He hid an Unknown Transfer scroll in his pocket, so he could teleport away at a moment’s notice if he was recognized by an NPC.

A Necromancer and a Dark Incantist passed by Nie Yan on the road. They glanced at him for a moment before turning away with disinterest.

Little did they know that Nie Yan was prepared for a fight. He couldn’t confirm whether or not the Necklace of Deception was effective. Seeing these two players hadn’t recognize him, he breathed out a sigh of relief.

Nie Yan walked toward the village entrance, which was littered with all sorts of junk.

Two guards clad in tattered armour and wielding shabby halberds stood at either side of the entrance. Beneath their rusty helmets were skeletal faces. They inspected every player that entered the village.

Skeleton Guardian (Elite): Level ???

Health: ???

Nie Yan couldn’t see the levels of these Skeleton Guardians. He feared they would see through his disguise. He gritted his teeth and walked forward, bracing himself for the worst.

The Skeleton Guardians looked in Nie Yan’s direction. The green flames in their eye sockets flickered as they stared at his face for a long time.

Nie Yan’s nerves were stretched taut. These Skeleton Guardians were capable of dispatching him in a single hit. He clutched the Unknown Transfer Scroll in his hand. He planned to teleport away at the slightest sign of danger. If he was slow by a beat, he was dead meat.

The Skeleton Guardians stiffly turned away their heads. An odd groaning sound escaped from their jaws. They no longer paid attention to Nie Yan and started inspecting the next player in line.

Only then did Nie Yan’s grip on the Unknown Transfer Scroll relax. He passed the Skeleton Guardians and walked into the village.

Valitin was a run-down village. Several of its buildings were teetering on the verge of collapse. No one knew how long it had existed. However, its bluestone streets were bustling with activity. There were many Level 40–50 maps nearby, so many players came here in droves every day, which of course brought in a lot of trade. There were many player owned stalls set up along the sides of the street, selling all sorts of equipment and materials. The sound of players haggling over prices could be heard everywhere.

The liveliness here was not the slightest bit inferior to that of the towns and villages surrounding Calore.

Nie Yan gazed at the village center, where there stood an ancient stone transfer point which could teleport him to the nearest city.

Nie Yan was in no rush to head over to Necropolis City. The danger there was much greater than in Valitin. After all, it was the capital of the Undead Empire. The NPCs there were much stronger than the ones in Valitin. The chances of him getting recognized would also skyrocket. It was probably best to save visiting Necropolis City for his fifth and final day in the Underworld.

Nie Yan found a corner and set up a stall, taking out all the equipment he had obtained over the past two days.

There were 26 pieces of equipment in total. Each one was worth at least 100 gold. On the surface, they would only be worth a few gold.

He didn’t take out the Black Kingsnake Shield. It was too eye-catching and easily recognizable.

Nie Yan leisurely sat behind his stall, watching players walk up and down the street. He began chatting with a neighbouring vendor, a Level 40 Necromancer with the appearance of a 26-year-old man. His equipment was shabby, and he seemed like a person who wore his heart on his sleeve.

"Friend, let me asking you something,” Nie Yan said.

"What is it? Just speak, I’m all ears,” the Necromancer replied in a friendly manner. His eyes widened in shock when he saw the goods Nie Yan had up for sale. Any of those 26 pieces of equipment was something he couldn’t afford, even if he sold everything he owned. He was naturally flattered when Nie Yan took the initiative to greet him.

Since Nie Yan hid his level and name and his face was covered in black garbs, the Necromancer could only wonder about his identity.

"What’s your name? Nie Yan asked. He felt the Necromancer was pleasing to the eye.

"I’m Life’s a Drama,” the Necromancer replied.

"Ah, I like your name! Life’s a Drama, can you tell me what the market price for Night Vision equipment is these days?”

"Sure sure. Equipment with Night Vision +1 usually goes for around 5 silver. Equipment with Night Vision +2…” Life’s a Drama answered without thinking. He began listing out the prices in order from lowest to highest.

"Stop stop stop! Just tell me the prices from +7 and up,” Nie Yan interrupted. It wasn’t worthwhile for him to bring back Night Vision +1 and +2 equipment to the surface.

Life’s a Drama gazed at Nie Yan meaningfully. To only care about equipment with Night Vision +7 and up, the rich were truly different. "I’m not too knowledgeable, but I think equipment with Night Vision +7 sells for 30 gold, +10 for 100 gold, and +15 for 300 gold.”

The prices of such equipment would be over 10–20 times higher on the surface!

Nie Yan had a vision of gold coins pouring from the sky. Night Vision equipment was simply too rare on the surface, while the demand for them was excessively high, to the extent equipment with Night Vision +7 and higher had no set market price. They were a necessity for any player braving dangerous environments like caves. Thieves might be fine since they could stealth when they encountered danger. However, Mages would probably die without so much as knowing what killed them.

"Hey, the equipment you’re selling looks pretty valuable. I don’t see any piece worth less than 100 gold,” Life’s a Drama couldn’t help but remark. All the equipment in Nie Yan’s stall combined was probably worth several thousand gold.

"Pick one that catches your eye. I’ll gift it to you.” Nie Yan chuckled. Life’s a Drama failed to see the cunning glint in his eyes. He had suddenly thought of a brilliant idea. Why should he brave the dangers of Necropolis City when he could just get someone else to go there for him? It just so happened he had a suitable candidate right in front of him.

Nie Yan could trade with players of the Evil Faction thanks to the Necklace of Deception.

This was a wonderful loophole. When Nie Yan was disguised, players of the Evil Faction who unwittingly traded with him wouldn’t be held accountable. If he was exposed, the authorities of the Evil Faction would investigate every player who had made contact with him to track down any traitors.

"No no no, it’s fine.” Life’s a Drama hurriedly waved his hand.

Nie Yan faintly smiled without saying anything. He was currently figuring out how he could bring his plan to fruition.

Before long, a large crowd gathered around Nie Yan’s stall. The reason was simple. The goods he was selling were of really high quality, something rarely seen.

A tall Spectral Knight squeezed through the crowd and crouched down in front of Nie Yan’s stall. He pointed at a chestplate and asked, "How much?”

The chestplate had decent properties. It increased Defense Level by 1 as well as Strength and Endurance.

"Make an offer,” Nie Yan replied. He just wanted to get rid of all this equipment as quickly as possible, so he planned to just take any reasonable offer.

"How about 300 gold?”

Nie Yan looked at the properties. He reckoned the price was fair, and he wasn’t in the mood to haggle. Just as he was about to nod in agreement, Life’s a Drama interrupted, "Your offer is too low. The Defense Level +1 alone increases the value by 200 gold. This chestplate is worth at least 500 gold!”

The Spectral Knight wanted to jump up and give Life’s a Drama a beating. Why would a wealthy person like Nie Yan care about a measly 200 gold? It was obviously he only set up a stall here because he wanted to get rid of the equipment quickly. He was just about to get a good deal on that chestplate, but that neighbouring stall owner ruined everything!

The Spectral Knight glared at Life’s a Drama, but Life’s a Drama didn’t back down in the slightest.

"He’s my friend,” Nie Yan said as he lightly glanced at the Spectral Knight. He couldn’t help but feel this Life’s a Drama fellow was quite interesting.

The Spectral Knight’s anger immediately smothered. Nie Yan’s background was a mystery, but he knew offending him was definitely a death wish.

"Expert, we really don’t have that much gold, even if my six teammates and I pooled all our funds together. Please, give us a discount,” the Spectral Knight sincerely pleaded.

Chapter 347 – An Invitation to Chat

Life’s a Drama felt like he was on cloud nine after hearing Nie Yan refer to him as a friend. He proudly held his head up high and stuck out his chest.

Many of the nearby stall owners had expressions of envy on their faces. Life’s a Drama really was a lucky bastard, to have befriended a mysterious expert like Nie Yan. They wondered when they would get to be so lucky.

"Alright, how much do you have?” Nie Yan asked the Spectral Knight.

The Spectral Knight felt a little guilty being stared at by Nie Yan. He finally answered after a long time, "360 gold is all we have. Can you hold onto that chestplate? I’m going to ask my friends for the gold. I’ll be back in a minute, I promise. Please wait for me!”

"Fine, bring the 360 gold over, and I’ll sell you this chestplate,” Nie Yan said after thinking for a moment.

"R-really? You’re not joking?” the Spectral Knight asked with an expression of disbelief. He was wondering if he had misheard.

"Gold only,” Nie Yan said. He had no interest in taking collateral.

"Yes, yes, of course! Thank you brother! I’ll immediately contact my friends to bring the gold over!” The Spectral Knight was giddy with excitement. How could he not be? Nie Yan agreed to sell him a chestplate worth at least 500 gold for just 360 gold!

The onlookers, including Life’s a Drama, stared at Nie Yan in awe and surprise. 500 gold and 360 gold, this was a whopping difference of 140 gold!

The Spectral Knight was over the moon with excitement.

"Wait!” An Undead Raider stepped out of the crowd. "Friend, can you sell me that chestplate? I’m willing to offer 500 gold.”

Nie Yan glanced at the Undead Raider. His chestplate was a set item, so he clearly had no need for this one. Then why was he willing to offer 500 gold for it? Maybe for a friend?

The Spectral Knight glared at the Undead Raider. Just when he had finally negotiated a price with Nie Yan, someone stuck their nose in and wanted to snatch the chestplate right out of his hands. How could he not feel unresigned? However, any thoughts of fighting back were immediately snuffed out after he saw the Fallen Angel guild insignia on the Undead Raider’s chest. It wasn’t like he could stop others from competing with him, especially when the other side was willing to pay much more than him! He had no one to blame but himself. Who told him to be so poor?

Nie Yan didn’t bat an eyelid. "The chestplate has already been sold. Pick something else.”

"No. I want that chestplate,” replied the Undead Raider in a heavy voice as he gazed at Nie Yan dead in the eye.

The onlookers started slowly backing away. The players of Fallen Angel normally didn’t behave in such a forceful manner. Did this stall owner somehow offend them? Is that why this Undead Raider was purposefully stirring up trouble?

Nie Yan coldly glanced at the Undead Raider. "Did you not hear what I just said? This chestpiece has already been sold. I never go back on my word.”

The Spectral Knight was moved. He never expected Nie Yan to be still willing to sell the chestplate to him, even after someone else offered a higher price.

The onlookers couldn’t help but admire Nie Yan for sticking to his guns. It wasn’t something everyone could do.

Life’s a Drama also had a look of respect in his eyes.

The atmosphere was somewhat tense.

The expression of the Undead Raider suddenly relaxed into a bright smile. "Brother, don’t take offense. I was just kidding. Give me a price for the remaining items, I want all of them. I hope we can be friends.”

Nie Yan could tell the Undead Raider was being sincere. It appeared he really wasn’t looking for trouble.

Nie Yan turned to Life’s a Drama. "Hey, can you do me a favour? Give me the total for the remaining items according to market price.”

"No problem!” Life’s a Drama began calculating the value of the items, one after another.

Before long, the friend of the Spectral Knight arrived with the gold and completed the trade for the chestplate with Nie Yan.

"I really can’t thank you enough for selling me this chestplate. How about we add each other as friends? If you ever need anything in the future, just let me know!!” the Spectral Knight sincerely said. He really admired Nie Yan’s character.

"No need. Just tell me your name. If that day ever comes, I’ll come looking for you,” Nie Yan said. There was no harm in making a few more contacts in the Underworld.

"I’m called Street Wanderer.” The Spectral Knight introduced himself.

Nie Yan nodded. "I’ll remember your name.”

The Spectral Knight turned to Life’s a Drama. "I’m sorry about earlier. I was really anxious about getting that chestplate. Please don’t take it to heart.”

Life’s a Drama waved his hand and smiled. "No problem. I’ve already forgotten about it.”

Street Wanderer added Life’s a Drama as a friend before happily departing with chestplate in hand.

Life’s a Drama quoted the remaining items at around 3,900 gold.

"Just give me 3,500 gold.” Nie Yan looked at the Undead Raider. Since Life’s a Drama wasn’t an objective third party, it would be difficult for him not to slightly lean in his favour when evaluating the worth of these items. Given their quality, he felt 3,500 gold was a fair price.

"Alright, deal.” The Undead Raider didn’t bother haggling and confirmed the trade with Nie Yan right away.

Nie Yan glanced at his bag. He had finally made his first real profit since arriving in the Underworld.

The Undead Raider smiled and held out his hand for a handshake. "Let’s be friends. I’m Proud Warlance. What should I call you?”

Nie Yan sized up Warlance. Given he wore a full set of Level 45 Dark Gold-grade equipment, he should be pretty strong. He looked to be around 22 years old and gave off the feeling of a lone wolf.

Undead Raiders were similar to Berserkers in that they specialized in PvP. Undead Raider was probably a top notch player, on the same level as Monochrome and Edgeless.

Nie Yan extended out his hand and was just about to invent a name.

「Actually, no need to introduce yourself. I already know who you are,」Warlance whispered.

Nie Yan’s heart shook. His eyes narrowed and flashed with a frightening glint. However, he didn’t take any action. How did his cover get blown, and why hadn’t Warlance outed him to the NPCs despite knowing his identity?

Nie Yan wondered why Warlance got into contact with him.

Nie Yan remained vigilant. He was ready to crush the Unknown Transfer Scroll in his hand and teleport away at a moment’s notice.

「Some of the equipment you’re selling used to belong to my fellow guild members, including the chestplate you sold to that Spectral Knight! Since I bought them all from you, I naturally didn’t come with malicious intent. My guild leader wants to meet you,」Warlance explained as if he already knew what was on Nie Yan’s mind. He was surprised to see Nie Yan had snuck in here by using a skill to alter his alignment and admired such courage. There was no way he himself would dare to infiltrate a settlement in the Righteous Faction.

The guild leader of Fallen Angel? Nie Yan pondered to himself. He was trying to guess the intentions of the other party.

「Even though Fallen Angel and Asskickers United belong to different factions, we don’t have any conflicting interests. It would be mutually beneficial for both of us to work together,」Warlance said. Unless the Righteous Faction and Evil Faction became embroiled in an all-out war, Fallen Angel and Asskickers United would probably never directly clash. With this being the case, there was an opportunity for cooperation.

Logically speaking, it was impossible for players from opposing factions to cooperate. However, things were different since Nie Yan could alter his alignment.

「Where is your guild leader?」 Nie Yan asked. Since the other side could locate him within a sea of people, they definitely weren’t lacking in ability. He was somewhat interested in the prospect of working together.

「Please remember, we don’t know you,」 Warlance stressed.

Nie Yan nodded. This was necessary in order for Fallen Angel to not be implicated if his dealings in the Underworld were ever exposed one day. Their cooperation would also have to remain a secret.

"Nice to meet you. I’m called Blaze.” Nie Yan shook Warlance’s hand. He used a fake name, but it was fine since Warlance was aware of his real identity.

It was always pleasant to associate with smart people. Warlance gave Nie Yan a knowing smile.

"Follow me, my guild leader is waiting.”

"Hold on a moment.” Nie Yan turned to Life’s a Drama.

Life’s a Drama stood up nervously. He was in shock after hearing Undead Raider introduce himself as Proud Warlance. This was the Vice Guild Leader of Fallen Angel! Yet such a figure had only come as a messenger. He was utterly convinced Nie Yan was also an amazing figure!

"Life’s a Drama.”

"Y-yes! What do you need?”

Nie Yan handed over 100 gold to Life’s a Drama. "Here’s your reward for helping me out today. Thanks to you I was able to make a killing.”

"No, how can I accept this?” Life’s a Drama hurriedly refused. Even all his assets combined still wouldn’t amount to 100 gold. However, he couldn’t just take Nie Yan’s gift for nothing.

"Don’t be such a sissy. Take it. I’ll come looking for you when I need help in the future.” Nie Yan patted Life’s a Drama on the shoulders. He appreciated Life’s a Drama’s sincerity. A person like this was reliable and worth befriending.

Warlance smiled at Life’s a Drama. "Just accept it. 100 gold is nothing to people like us.”

Life’s a Drama no longer refused. He nodded and accepted the 100 gold from Nie Yan. "If you ever need me in the future, just send a whisper. I’ll be there immediately, come hell or high water!”

"No need to go that far,” Nie Yan chuckled. He then turned to Warlance. "Come on, let’s go.”

"Alright, follow me.” Warlance led Nie Yan away.

Life’s a Drama stared at Nie Yan’s retreating figure before packing up his stall. Since he was no longer short on funds, he planned to level up and upgrade his equipment. It would be disgraceful if he wasn’t of any use the next time Nie Yan called for his help

Chapter 348 – Smuggling

Nie Yan and Warlance walked past many streets before arriving at a small tavern. The furnishings were old-fashioned, and the lighting was a dim yellow. An old fat man stood behind the counter muttering something under his breath.

Rows of shabby-looking chairs and beaten-up tables filled the tavern. There weren’t many players about, as only those with a specific purpose came here. No one would choose to waste their time sitting around such a dingy place.

A man who looked to be in his late twenties sat quietly at a table in the corner. He wore an ash-grey robe and his hand rested on a bonewood staff. The man raised his glass in greeting as Nie Yan approached.

Nie Yan’s gaze immediately sharpened. The familiar figure before him brought back yet another tide of old memories.

This was the head of Fallen Angel!

During the interfaction conflicts of the previous timeline, Plenty had personally led an army of tens of thousands on a slaughter in Calore. They kicked off their campaign by steamrolling Lincoln Village before seizing control over 6 strongholds near Calore. At first, Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame tried to avoid fighting them, but public outrage forced them into waging a massive war between factions. Fallen Angel managed to hold out for over a month before finally succumbing to Calore’s war of attrition. They retreated to the Underworld, but their conquest would forever be a stain on the Viridian Empire’s history.

Many images of Fallen Angel’s guild leader had been taken and shared, leaving an extremely deep impression on the players of Calore.

At the time, Nie Yan had been a complete nobody. Legendary figures such as Plenty wouldn’t take note of him. He never expected to one day sit down at a table with this man.

Nie Yan activated Transcendent Insight.

Plenty: Level 51

Health: 2,112/2,112

Level 51…! Damn!

Nie Yan was finally certain. It was him! There was a joke in the previous timeline: "Plenty of money, Plenty of people.” Fallen Angel at its peak was an existence even Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return could only look up to. With over 100 master-class players, six major branches with a total of 600,000 members, and over 300 strongholds to their name, they were a true behemoth. Their influence reached across the entire Underworld. This was why Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame were hesitant to go to war against them, and why they ended up resorting to a war of attrition.

"Hello,” Nie Yan greeted, calmly observing Plenty.

"Sit,” Plenty replied, unfazed by Nie Yan’s gaze.

Nie Yan sat across from him, inwardly marveling about how things had changed. Having seen so much in his two lives, he naturally wasn’t fazed by Plenty’s status. He was confident Asskickers United would grow to be no weaker than Fallen Angel at their prime!

"I didn’t expect you to hide in plain sight by pretending to be a member of the Evil Faction! I’m surprised you managed to get past the guards. I assume you used some sort of alignment-concealing accessory?” Plenty asked. His knowledge of the Mad Rogue was limited to only a handful of videos, However, it was enough recognize Nie Yan as an important personage of the Viridian Empire. Only a few members of the Righteous Faction were worthy of his attention: Angyi Tianshi from Angel Corps, Mad Blade from Bloodlust Blades, and Nirvana Flame from Asskickers United.

"A necklace.”

"How long does the disguise last?”

"Three hours.” Nie Yan decided there was no need to conceal this information.

"Three hours! Yours is much better than mine,” Plenty exclaimed as he took out a black ring. It featured a nail-sized black gemstone that gleamed with a dark light. "Here’s mine. It only hides my alignment for half an hour.”

Nie Yan was startled for a moment when Plenty admitted he possessed a similar item. Even when most players were over Level 100, very few had faction-disguising items. However, it made sense. Even if equipment with such effects were rare, it wasn’t too far-fetched for the guild leader of the Undead Empire’s biggest guild to have one already.

Nie Yan knew better than anyone what two pieces of faction-disguising equipment meant!

It was easy for the NPC guards to track illegal trade between factions, but this didn’t account for the ability to change one’s alignment. With two pieces of faction-disguising equipment, a pair of business partners could easily make trades free of oversight. However, they would still have to be careful when making the transaction. People had done this in the previous timeline, to mixed results. Some made a fortune and got off scot-free, while others were imprisoned and had their illegal assets seized.

However, under the allure of immense profit, many still took the risk. It wasn’t easy to go from the surface to the Underworld or vice versa. Players had to traverse the Gates of Hell and Endless Caverns. It was extremely dangerous, living up to the saying that great rewards came with great risk.

"How about we form a partnership?” Plenty asked knowingly. As he waited for Nie Yan’s reply, he sipped his drink with a carefree smile on his face. In the face of such potential riches, he refused to believe Nie Yan could resist his offer.

Nie Yan took a deep breath and paused for a moment. Exchanging equipment from the two factions would be an incredibly lucrative business. The possible profit was utterly incalculable! He replied, "I can think about it.”

Asskickers United and Fallen Angel certainly wouldn’t clash with each other anytime soon. Even if a war between factions broke out, such behemoths with shared interests would naturally avoid each other.

A partnership would be a win-win situation!

"How long does it take for you to go through the Gates of Hell and Endless Caverns? I tasked people with finding a route through once, but they couldn’t do it. They estimated that players would have to be around Level 100 before even being able to make a serious attempt.

Plenty looked intently at Nie Yan, genuinely curious this time. Just how did he get here?

"I didn’t take that route, but I’m afraid I’ll have to keep my means of transportation a secret for now.” Even if they were partnering up, Nie Yan couldn’t lay all his cards out on the table.

"So you didn’t go through those danger zones. No wonder!”

"I can probably make a trip every 10 days,” Nie Yan said. The Dark Portal could be used every 5 days, so if their partnership went through he could trade five bags’ worth of equipment every 10 days.

The two of them fleshed out a rough outline of their cooperation and exchanged contact information. Nie Yan gave Plenty his phone number, since real-life phones couldn’t be traced to either faction. Every time he came to the Underworld, he would use it to call Plenty and inform him of his location. Fallen Angel would immediately send someone disguised as a member of the Righteous Faction to take the surface equipment from Nie Yan. Then, Nie Yan would receive the Underworld equipment from a separate individual while disguised as a member of the Evil faction. Finally, Nie Yan would return to the surface to sell the smuggled goods for a massive profit.

Most smugglers from the previous timeline did things this way. Because faction-disguising equipment was simply too rare, it was very difficult to run into someone from the opposing faction who had one. Plus, it was far too difficult to pass the Gates of Hell and go through the Endless Caverns. Usually, only a massive team could make this journey with any sort of reliability, so the expenses were sky-high. Topping off all these hardships was the sheer danger of the act itself. If even the slightest mishap happened with their trade, the whole operation could get exposed and both sides would be in deep trouble.

Because Nie Yan could go through the Dark Portal, the transaction costs were practically negated. However, they still had to be extremely cautious when making the trades.

This wasn’t unlike what Nie Yan’s parents did in the real world. Harsh government regulations and strictly enforced customs still couldn’t eliminate the problem of smuggling, so people took the risk to smuggle rare goods for sky-high prices.

Nie Yan and Plenty began discussing the details of their partnership. Plenty ordered his men to go gather items for Nie Yan to bring back to the surface. Night Vision equipment and similarly specialized equipment weren’t all that valuable in the Underworld, but were worth hundreds of times more on the surface.

"You should give that Black Kingsnake Shield you picked up back to us. After all, it’s not that useful for you,” Plenty tried to persuade Nie Yan. To Fallen Angel, that shield was still of vital importance.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. Even if the Black Kingsnake Shield was valuable, it was still only around 5,000 gold. If his trade deal with Fallen Angel went through, he would make far more than just that amount.

"Once your men come back with all the equipment, I’ll take that chance to trade them the shield,” Nie Yan replied. Trading equipment was much safer than dealing with money.

Plenty thought for a moment before understanding Nie Yan’s meaning. He nodded in understanding. "Sure.”

He raised his glass and toasted, "A pleasure doing business with you.”

"And with you too,” Nie Yan smiled. Making direct contact with the leader of Fallen Angel saved him a ton of trouble.

"You have to be careful. Don’t get exposed, or the Evil Guards will be after you.”

"I know my limits,” Nie Yan reassured. If he got on the Evil Guards’ watchlist, he would have no place in the Underworld from then on out. Even worse, they would carefully monitor any transactions dealing with him.

"To avoid suspicion, I’ll leave first. We can communicate further outside the game.”

"Alright.”

Plenty stood up and left the tavern as Warlance followed closely behind.

Watching Plenty’s back disappear through the doorway, Nie Yan mused about his ignorance of Plenty’s background. He would have to ask Guo Huai and Ah Chen to look into him. Someone who could gather so much power in the Underworld certainly wouldn’t have a simple origin.

As Nie Yan sat in the tavern, he tried to remember as much as he could about the previous Fallen Angel. Suddenly, he recalled a tidbit that made him chuckle: Fallen Angel and Angel Corps weren’t on good terms in the past. With Angel Corps’ Angyi Tianshi and Fallen Angel’s Plenty both leading an Angel guild on opposite factions, things were going to get interesting.

Finally, quite some time after Plenty left, Nie Yan got up and exited the tavern. He went in search for a market of sorts to buy some basic consumables. Since he would be in the Underworld for three more days, he needed to restock on supplies.

Chapter 349 – Soul Pendant

Nie Yan relied on his experience to navigate the village. He quickly found the general store and stepped inside.

He was greeted by an old goblin shopkeeper in a black gown, who stood about half as tall as the average person. His skin was green and wrinkly. His back was so badly hunched even taking a single step was physically taxing.

Nie Yan was surprised this old goblin’s faction alignment was neutral.

Neutral NPCs also appeared in many high-level towns in the Viridian Empire. They sold a variety of goods and even gave out quests every once in a blue moon. And when war broke out between both factions, they would stand on the sidelines.

Goblin Garnes (Elite): Level 60

The old goblin glanced at Nie Yan, a fathomless light flashing in his eyes.

Nie Yan felt like his every secret was completely exposed. He clutched the Unknown Transfer Scroll in his pocket. This old goblin wasn’t simple. He felt a slight tremble from Bennett’s Journal in his bag, whereupon a gray ball of light rose up from the pages and hovered beside him.

"Dear Customer, how may I help you?” asked Goblin Garnes.

A shop window appeared in front of Nie Yan’s eyes and displayed a variety of goods which included potions, spring water, and bread. He stuffed one of his bags to the brim with consumables, then turned his attention to an item that caught his eye from the start, a blue potion with a strange open-mouthed bottle design. The liquid inside was turbid with chunks of mystery matter floating above its surface.

Nie Yan inspected the potion.

Soul Potion: Unknown Effect

Price: 600 gold

Noticing Nie Yan’s eyes on the potion, Goblin Garnes said, "This is a Soul Potion. Rumours say it allows you to peer into the deepest memories of a deceased soul. It’s sold in many potion shops.”

Nie Yan met eyes with Goblin Garnes whose gaze seemed to pierce his soul.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment before buying a Soul Potion. It was worth the price if it could help him progress in Empress Finas’ quest.

"Objects with souls contain powerful magical power. Necromancers often use them to create sinister magical tools. Youngster, make sure no Necromancer catches sight of that journal of yours,” Goblin Garnes advised.

"Thank you, wise sir,” Nie Yan said respectfully. He reached out and held the ball of light in his palm.

Nie Yan bid Goblin Garnes farewell. He browsed around the other shops in Valitin to see if there were any special items for sale. The goods sold here couldn’t be found on the surface, after all.

Nie Yan found a few other items that caught his eye after browsing through six shops and numerous player-owned stalls.

Soul Pendant (3)

Requirements: 300 Strength

Properties: Adds 50 extra slots of inventory space (consumables only), Night Vision +2, Dark Awareness +3.

Nie Yan bought the Soul Pendant from a Level 45 player. It appeared such trinkets were widespread in the Underworld and could be crafted by Dark Shamans. Since players frequently lost their way in the Underworld, often going days without finding a town to resupply at, the need for inventory space was a lot greater than on the surface. This led to players from the Evil Faction having larger bags and an additional pendant that further increased inventory space.

This Soul Pendant was quite useful. It would free up a lot of inventory space for equipment.

When Nie Yan stepped into a scroll shop, he found Junior Death Wave Scrolls for sale at 2 gold a piece. They required 100 Intelligence to use and dealt 1,000 damage to all living creatures in a 20 meter radius. Naturally, they were ineffective against machine and dark-type creatures.

Fortunately, Nie Yan’s Intelligence had long since surpassed 100 points. These Death Wave Scrolls were of little use in the Underworld because the vast majority of creatures here were of the dark attribute. Despite being sold so cheaply, no one ever bought them. However, if he could bring them back to the surface, they would definitely be useful for levelling, maybe even more so than some high-level scrolls. He planned to stock up on them before returning to the surface.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but lament after learning that bags in the Underworld were much larger than on the surface. If he had known this earlier, he would’ve long since gotten someone to get him some.

Life’s a Drama came to mind. However, Nie Yan didn’t dare to directly contact him. He could only deliver a message by proxy.

"I’m here! What do you need?” Life’s a Drama said while still panting for breath. He had rushed over in a great hurry.

Nie Yan asked Life’s a Drama to head over to Necropolis City and buy him five 50-slot bags. With them, he would have a lot more inventory space. He was a little apprehensive when handing over the gold because he would have zero recourse if Life’s a Drama just took the money and ran. However, Life’s a Drama didn’t betray his trust and returned with the bags shortly after.

Nie Yan’s trust in Life’s a Drama increased. When the opportunity presented itself, he could have Life’s a Drama run small errands for him.

Even though Life’s a Drama was puzzled why Nie Yan didn’t just go and buy the bags himself, he didn’t pry.

Nie Yan chatted with Life’s a Drama for a bit. When he saw the three hours were almost up, he bid Life’s a Drama farewell and followed the stream of players out of the village.

Nie Yan melted in the darkness and headed north.

Nie Yan released his hand to find the ball of light had disappeared. He searched around and and saw it hovering around him.

It had become a lot more active after meeting Goblin Garnes.

"I should go levelling,” Nie Yan mused. At this moment, a mysterious voice rang in his head. The ball of light was constantly urging him north, as if it was trying to guide him somewhere.

Nie Yan followed the ball of light as it led him farther and farther north. It would never stray too far away for him, waiting for him to catch up if he lagged too far behind.

Quest Progress: Under the guidance of Bennett’s Soul, the brave adventurer searches for traces of Empress Finas.

Nie Yan sank into deep thought after seeing this notification. Empress Finas wouldn’t be weak. It probably wasn’t suitable for him to track her down at his current level. However, there was no harm in taking a look. If he encountered danger, he could just teleport away with an Unknown Transfer Scroll. He had brought a full stack of them with him on this trip to the Underworld.

Nie Yan passed through the vast wilderness and arrived at a mountain range, where he wandered aimlessly about for a long time, having lost all sense of direction.

You have discovered Spider Gorge.

Nie Yan looked up ahead and spotted giant spiders roaming around. One of them was crawling in his direction.

Nie Yan activated Transcendent Insight.

Rum Spider: Level 60

Health: 2,000/2,000

Spider-type monsters had relatively low health. However, their paralyzing venom was extremely frightening, so many players tended to avoid them if possible. They were some of the most difficult monsters to deal with.

Nie Yan summoned Lil’ Gold, then fired his crossbow at one of the Rum Spiders.

「Put! Put! Put!」Five bolts struck the Rum Spider in quick succession, whereupon it immediately aggroed onto Nie Yan.

Lil’ Gold intercepted the Rum Spider and blasted it with Dragon Breath.

−823

Nie Yan stood safely behind Lil’ Gold and repeatedly used Undead Rite on the Rum Spider.

Undead Rite has failed!

Undead Rite has failed!

…

The Rum Spider spat out a glob of venom at Lil’ Gold. It sizzled and let out smoke, but it failed to corrode his golden scales.

Thanks to Lil Gold’s strong poison resistance, the Rum Spider’s venom only dealt 321 damage.

Before long, the Rum Spider collapsed dead on the ground.

Nie Yan continued hunting Rum Spiders. He finally succeeded in taking control of one of them with Undead Rite after killing over several dozen. He quickly started expanding his army of spiders.

His levelling speed immediately skyrocketed.

Level 60 mobs surely gave generous experience.

About an hour later, a crisp jingle rang out. Nie Yan had finally reached Level 40. He put all his stat points into Dexterity, then allocated his mastery points into Adept Hands, Dual Wielding, and Dagger Mastery. His health also rose to just over 2,500.

Ever since obtaining the Chapter of Peace and Chapter of Compassion, Nie Yan received a noticeable increase in the amount of health he gained every level.

Lil’ Gold led Nie Yan’s squad of Rum Spiders deeper into Spider Gorge, sweeping away everything in their path.

Nie Yan arrived at the top of a raised rock formation after killing 200 odd Rum Spiders. He looked down at the valley below and saw a dense crowd of Rum Spiders. It was as if a hairy carpet covered the ground.

At times like this, Nie Yan wished he had Tang Yao around. A nicely placed area-of-effect spell was just what he needed, preferably fire magic since it dealt bonus damage to spider-type monsters.

Nie Yan looked around. There were cliff walls all around him. Ordinary players would be forced to clear away these Rum Spiders to get past. However, he could just use the Crawler Ring.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. It wasn’t every day he encountered such a good grinding spot. It would be a waste to leave just like this.

Nie Yan rummaged through his inventory and took out two Advanced Scrolls and five Intermediate Scrolls. I should stock up on more Advanced Scrolls with area-of-effect magic next time.

Chapter 350 – Conjuring Skull

The cold winds howled as sharp cries rang out in the darkness. Nie Yan created a huge commotion by ordering his Rum Spiders to start wantonly attacking their own in the valley below.

Nie Yan hurriedly gave the order to retreat. His Rum Spiders started running back to him, with a swarm of hostile Rum Spiders lagging not too far behind.

He took out an Advanced Scroll and started chanting series of cryptic syllables as magical energy swirled around him.

Nie Yan had 122 Intelligence, something hardly seen among Thieves. This was thanks to humans having higher Intelligence than other races, and a host of items on him that boosted his Intelligence, such as the chapters from the Book of Order.

Nie Yan’s high Intelligence allowed him to use the vast majority of scrolls and magical tools without a problem.

The hostile Rum Spiders were getting ever closer. There were hundreds of them within a radius of 30 meters.

At this moment, Nie Yan finished chanting out the last syllable as a blazing cloud emerged in the sky and started raining down fire.

Everything within a 20 meter radius was engulfed in a raging inferno, resembling a scene straight out of hell. The Rum Spiders let out miserable shrieks as damage values rose up into the sky. Half a minute later, most of them lay dead on the ground.

Nie Yan saw his experience bar fill up to 73%. This was impressive given that he had levelled up just recently!

The blaze eventually died down, unveiling a tableau of devastation with charred corpses strewn everywhere. Nie Yan had lost two of his own Rum Spiders in the process. He finished off the remaining Rum Spiders in the vicinity, then started picking up the loot.

Nie Yan collected a total of 3 gold and a mountain of junk. He kept the valuable drops and left behind the rest to avoid bloating his inventory.

A certain piece of loot in particular caught Nie Yan’s eye.

It was a black skull roughly the size of a fist. A sapphire gem was embedded into its forehead, and green flames flickered from its eye sockets.

Conjuring Skull (Medium)

Requirements: 500 Intelligence

Description: This Conjuring Skull is a medium for summoning undead creatures and spirits as servants. It can also be used to call forth a Bone Mammoth (Damaged).

Nie Yan didn’t know the use of this Conjuring Skull. It seemed to be a special item meant for Necromancers. He wondered how valuable it was. After thinking it over, he tossed it into his bag.

Except for the Conjuring Skull, there was nothing else of interest. Nie Yan began purifying the corpses of the Rum Spiders. They dissolved into motes of light before disappearing into the air.

Nie Yan continued hunting the Rum Spiders. Time slowly passed by.

When it was time to log off, Nie Yan had reached Level 43. Lil’ Gold reached Level 39, and wasn’t far off from levelling up again. Lil’ Gold also learned a new skill, Flame Shroud, which wrapped him in flames and inflicted burn damage to all enemies within a five meter radius.

Although pets would become more and more common as time passed, most of them would be low-level and possess terrible growth rates. Lil’ Gold was definitely a unique existence among them.

Even Nie Yan couldn’t estimate Lil’ Gold’s full potential.

Nie Yan spent the next two days levelling. When he used up all his scrolls, he had Lil’ Gold blast the Rum Spiders with Dragon Breath. The levelling speed was decent to say the least. He had reached Level 47 and obtained quite a bit of loot.

Checking the level leaderboards, Tang Yao was still in the lead at Level 53. Bloodlust Mad Blade was also Level 53, but he was still lagging a bit behind. The Underworld was an unfamiliar place to Nie Yan. Back on the surface, his levelling speed would surely be several times faster.

Nie Yan had killed several thousand Rum Spiders without finding another item like the Conjuring Skull. He confirmed it was a precious drop that probably wasn’t meant to be sold in a stall on the street.

Unsummoning Lil’ Gold, Nie Yan looked in the distance. He didn’t know what sort of secrets Spider Gorge contained. He had spent the past two days levelling in the outskirts, never once exploring deeper inside.

Nie Yan activated the Crawler Ring and began scaling the cliff walls. He occasionally encountered a spider den while advancing, whereupon he would hurriedly make a lengthy detour.

After passing through a narrow stretch of valley, Nie Yan could make out a few buildings in the distance. Their lights were faint in the darkness.

The ball of light hovering around Nie Yan seemed to sense something and started trembling in excitement.

You have discovered the Karasi Arachne Tribe.

It could be related to Empress Finas’ quest. Nie Yan continued crawling and encountered a 10 meter wide river that cut through the valley. A dense layer of algae coated the water’s surface and gave off a noxious stench. It was probably highly toxic! He put on the Leaper Ring and jumped over to the other side, sticking to the cliff wall like a gecko.

Nie Yan crawled back to the ground. He entered stealth and began making his way towards the settlement in the distance.

This village appeared to be closed off from the rest of the world. It was surrounded on all four sides by cliff walls and a highly toxic river. It was impossible to reach the opposite bank without a special item like the Leaper Ring or Levitate Ring.

Nie Yan crossed a patch of trees and encountered an Arachne up ahead. He slowly drew closer and activated Transcendent Insight.

Arachne: Level 60

Health: 3,000/3,000

There were no others in the vicinity. Nie Yan approached the Arachne from behind.

The Arachne was hunting insects when Nie Yan launched a sneak attack with Zennarde’s Sword.

The Arachne panicked and tried to run away. However, Nie Yan landed a Smothering Strike squarely on the back of its head. He followed up with Backstab and Eviscerate. Immediately, its corpse collapsed in front of his feet.

Nie Yan couldn’t allow that Arachne to escape. It would have alerted the village to his presence.

Nie Yan activated the Pearl of Disguise, his appearance transforming into that of the Arachne he had just killed. He continued toward the village.

He encountered many Arachne along the way. They were either hunting insects or crafting various tools.

"Du-du-du, Darude…” Nie Yan heard strange sound coming from their mouths, as if they were saying something. However, he didn’t understand any of it.

Conviction’s language system was wonderful, containing a variety of different languages with hundreds of dialects. For example, the Undead Language contained six dialects each with subtle differences. The players from the Undead Empired communicated in the Undead Language. If Nie Yan hadn’t learned the Vanbiya Undead Language, he wouldn’t have been able to understand a single word they said. The system automatically translated any language the player learned. When Nie Yan was talking to the players in Valitin Village, he was naturally speaking in the Undead Language. If a player visited a library to learn the language of another race, particularly one from an opposing faction, it would cost tens of thousands of gold.

This was an additional barrier to players from different factions communicating.

Nie Yan didn’t know the language of the Arachne. It was simply too uncommon. He could only keep silent; otherwise, his cover would be blown.

The ball of light was still floating by Nie Yan’s side. He had already spotted Elite-class Arachne in the vicinity. He was afraid of being discovered and clutched an Unknown Transfer Scroll in his hand, planning to teleport away at the first sign of trouble.

Nie Yan discovered the Arachne couldn’t see the ball of light floating next to him. It was a faint light fluttering by his side just like a fairy. He guessed it was Bennet’s soul. He wondered if it still had any of its memories. Was it possible to retrieve some clues by using the Soul Potion?

Nie Yan entered the village. Some of the the Arachne were chatting together in groups. Their ugly appearances were quite frightening in the darkness.

It was a village of horrors.

Some of the Arachne greeted Nie Yan when they spotted him. However, he didn’t understand what they were saying, so he could only pretend he didn’t hear them.

Nie Yan brushed past many Arachne on the muddy roads. He spotted a fairly grand building up ahead. It was three storeys tall with a flight of stairs connecting to the second floor. It looked a bit old, but it was the most conspicuous thing he had seen so far. He suspected it contained something important.

Nie Yan hesitated for a moment before sneaking into the building. He carefully searched around on the first and second floor but failed to find anything. When he climbed up to the third floor, he discovered two Arachne in plate armour guarding a Dark Gold-grade treasure chest tucked away in a corner. It was made out of some unknown material and was covered in mysterious runes and designs.

The two Arachne seemed to sense something. Their gaze swept over the staircase, but they failed to find anything and returned to their idle state.

Nie Yan inspected the two Arachne with Transcendent Insight.

Arachne Ilvitch (Elite): Level 60

Health 12,000/12,000

Arachne Israel (Elite): Level 60

Health: 11,700/11,700

Nie Yan frowned. It would be difficult for him to deal with two Elites all by himself. Furthermore, he couldn’t create too much noise; otherwise, he would attract other Arachne to the scene.

Chapter 351 – Pygmy Ring

Nie Yan couldn’t summon Lil’ Gold in such a confined space, fearing his immense weight would cause the wooden building to collapse.

Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar. Killing one of the Elites in a short time was no problem, but he was afraid the second would alert the other Arachne over. Then, he would be completely surrounded.

It was mandatory to kill both Elite Arachne before they could rally their comrades!

Nie Yan’s eyes lit up when his gaze fell on Divine Recruitment. He had a plan!

Nie Yan returned to the second floor. He opened Divine Recruitment and chose to employ the Rank 5 Paladin Khalisi, who had over 3,600 health and 150% of his other stats. With an employment fee of 300 gold/hr, he had to make every second count!

A silver-armoured Paladin wielding a greatsword emerged before Nie Yan. She was taller than him by a head with a lean and muscular build.

"Greetings, sir Devil Slayer! How may I be of service?” Khalisi asked in a respectful tone. Her mission, like the other Paladins from the Divine Recruitment skill, was to serve the Devil Slayer with absolute loyalty.

Nie Yan’s party size increased by one. His newest member, Khalisi, would do anything he tasked her with. Her combat strength was unquestionable, in part thanks to the powerful skills at her disposal. There were over 20 blessings and 10 basic attack skills, including Holy Strike, Divine Punishment, and Purification.

Nie Yan had Khalisi cast five blessings on him, increasing all his stats by roughly 20%.

Nie Yan entered stealth and climbed back up to the third floor. He carefully hid in a corner.

The two Arachne Guards patrolling the third floor didn’t detect Nie Yan’s presence.

Nie Yan ordered Khalisi to climb up to the third floor. Her steps were purposefully loud to alert the two Arachne Guards. They immediately charged toward this intruder.

Khalisi greeted them with a swing of her greatsword, Holy Strike! Her blade lit up with a brilliant radiance.

At this moment, Nie Yan took action.

Gale Ambush!

Shadow Slaughter!

Apocalyptic Extinction!

Nie Yan dashed toward Arachne Ilvitch like a gust of wind and struck it in the back of the head with Smothering Strike.

The flames around Zennarde’s Sword flared as Nie Yan followed up with Backstab, Eviscerate, and Lacerate.

−928

−939

−923…

Arachne Ilvitch was also inflicted with bleed, poison, and burn damage along with numerous other debuffs from Apocalyptic Extinction. Its health rapidly plummeted. The nearby Arachne Israel also took 30% splash damage from Shadow Slaughter.

Nie Yan’s nerves were stretched taut. He absolutely couldn’t allow these two Arachne to call for help!

Just as Arachne Ilvitch was about to break free from the stun, Nie Yan activated Extreme Intimidate, causing it to freeze in place.

Khalisi had also taken Arachne Israel to half-health by launching all the basic attack skills in her arsenal.

Nie Yan repeatedly slashed and stabbed with Zennarde’s Sword. He activated Blast, blowing Arachne Ilvitch several steps back, and then circled around and slashed its neck with Cut Throat.

−1656

−2478!

Arachne Ilvitch collapsed to the floor.

A cry escaped Arachne Israel’s throat when it saw its companion die.

At this moment, Khalisi briefly immobilized Arachne Israel with a Charge, creating the opportunity for Nie Yan to dash in and stun it with Concussive Blow.

Nie Yan’s Shadow Slaughter and Khali’s attacks had already shaved away most of Arachne Israel’s health.

Nie Yan unleashed a final flurry of attacks on Arachne Israel’s back, while Khalisi slashed away at the front. Her attacks weren’t to be underestimated. She was fully capable of dealing over 1,000 damage with each blow of her sword.

When the stun from Concussive Blow wore off, Arachne Israel stumbled a bit before falling to the floor.

Nie Yan collected the equipment that dropped on the ground. Sadly, they were restricted to the Evil Faction, so he could only sell them when he returned to Valitin Village.

Looking out the window sill, Nie Yan breathed out a sigh of relief. The sound of fighting hadn’t alerted the other Arachne.

Nie Yan walked toward the Dark Gold treasure chest, hoping it would give him something useful. He bent down and started opening it.

About a minute later, the chest popped open with a click.

Nie Yan reached inside and felt two items. He pulled out the first which appeared to be a ring.

Pygmy Ring (Dark Gold): Special Item

Properties: Cloaking +20

Pygmy Transformation: Shrinks the player to one-third of their original size, greatly increasing their hiding ability and preventing them from being detected for 1 hour. Cooldown: 1 day

Restrictions: None

Nie Yan’s eyebrows jumped in pleasant surprise. It was a special item which allowed him to shrink down to a third of his normal size. He imagined it would come in handy in some very specific situations, allowing him to hide in places people would never think of. Not to mention it enhanced his hiding ability and prevented him from being detected by a player’s Awareness.

Nie Yan could already figure out some of the obvious uses for this Pygmy Ring. Its more unconventional uses would be revealed with time and research. He tossed it into his bag.

Nie Yan jumped up in fright when he examined the second item he pulled out of the chest. It was a skeletal hand!

Cursed Arachne Hand (Fate Item)

Description: Summons a 16-sided die. 1–8 will inflict the player with a curse. 9–16 will reward the player with a blessing.

Note: This item will disappear if it isn’t used within 20 seconds.

It was a Fate Item!

Fate Items were more commonplace in the Underworld. This was because Necromancers had a skill that could affect the rolls of Fate Dice. Many Necromancers liked to take a gamble with Fate Items since the rewards were usually well worth the risk.

Nie Yan felt a headache after seeing another Fate Item. He recalled his painful experience with the Cursed Skull.1

It was easy to invite disaster when testing your luck!

A middle roll was bearable since both the curses and rewards wouldn’t be too severe. However, a low roll like a 1 or a 2 would instantly consign a player to their doom.

Nie Yan would be more inclined to try his luck if he had a skill like the Necromancers that could influence the roll of a die. Coin tosses were much less fun. Even some Necromancers would be forced to delete their characters and start over after a particularly unlucky encounter with a Fate Item.

The Cursed Arachne Hand pulsed with a strange energy as if it was beckoning something.

Just as Nie Yan was about to give up on the Cursed Arachne Hand, the ball of light beside him began dancing excitedly around the skeletal hand.

Nie Yan suddenly recalled a rumour he heard in the previous timeline. Apparently, souls could affect the tides of destiny. This was why Necromancers, the class with the closest ties to the occult, could influence the outcome of Fate Dice. Looking at the ball of light, he began to wonder if Bennett’s Soul could help improve his odds.

Just as the Cursed Arachne Hand was about to disappear, Nie Yan gritted his teeth and activated it. Time suddenly froze to a standstill as a giant bone-white die with 16 sides emerged floating in the air before him. The ancient characters carved into its facets glowed with a bewitching red light.

Bennett’s Soul was still floating around Nie Yan. It was unaffected by the frozen time.

Nie Yan’s mind trembled. It appeared the rumour he heard about souls being able to affect Fate Items was true!

The white Fate Die began spinning at a dizzying speed. The rapidly changing numbers turned into a blur.

Nie Yan took a deep breath as he stared at the Fate Die. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous.

Nie Yan suddenly had an idea. He let out a shout and activated Eye of Truth.

His eyes flashed with a profound light. The numbers were still a blur. However, he could vaguely make some of them out. It appeared the die was spinning a bit slower.

Fate Dice really couldn’t be controlled. Players could only use a variety of methods to increase the odds of a favourable roll.

Relying on his intuition, Nie Yan reached out his hand to touch the die.

"Stop!” Nie Yan shouted, whereupon the spinning die immediately came to a halt.

Nie Yan focused on the number displayed in front of him.

15, it was a shocking roll!

Nie Yan’s heart was beating rapidly. He was incredibly excited.

The die melted into the air.

You have been rewarded by destiny, Health +20%.

What a frightening increase!

Nie Yan checked his health. It had risen to over 3,000! He could be considered quite sturdy among Thieves. It was a pity he was a leather-armoured class. If he were a heavy-armoured class like a Fighter, he would be unparalleled at his current level.

Time started moving again as everything returned to normal. Nie Yan couldn’t calm down for a long time. He had gained 500 health without having to level up at all! Just how wonderful was this?

1. Nie Yan finds the Cursed Skull at the end of Chapter 77. He rolls the Fate Dice it summons in Chapter 78.

Chapter 352 – Empress Finas’ Fang

Disguise was dispelled the moment Nie Yan attacked the two Arachne Guards. He would have to wait a day for it to go back off cooldown. As such, he could only rely on his stealth skills from now on.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment before replacing his Crawler Ring which was still on cooldown with the Pygmy Ring.

After recalling Paladin Khalisi, Nie Yan snuck out of the building while in stealth. He carefully tread through the shadows, occasionally encountering Arachne in his path. Without a skill like disguise, it was almost impossible to pass through such a monster dense region undetected.

Nie Yan took every step with caution for fear of slipping up in even the slightest. He turned a corner and spotted seven Elite Arachne with sinister appearances up ahead. They carried giant scythes and tightly patrolled the area.

This block of the street was sealed off by them. Nie Yan spotted the dancing light of a bonfire with the shadows of figures swaying in the distance. It appeared the Arachne were holding some grand event like a ritual sacrifice.

The Elite Arachne had blocked off the path ahead, leaving a single gap guarded by giant scythes whose blades were ready to come down at any time.

Nie Yan wondered if the Pygmy Ring could prove its use right now. He activated Pygmy Transformation as his body rapidly shrunk to a third of its original size.

What a fascinating skill!

Everything around him appeared much larger, including the huts, piles of junk, and seven Elite Arachne up ahead, who looked even more frightening than before. It was like Nie Yan was transported into a world of giants!

Nie Yan was a little disoriented, but he quickly adapted to this new perspective. He leaped over a massive boulder and stuck to the nooks of the huts as he made his way toward the bonfire.

A large mouse popped out of a hole in the side of a hut while chewing on something in its front paws. It looked around warily before returning from where it came.

Nie Yan was frightened by the appearance of this mouse. From his perspective, it was as large as a wolf!

With his shrunken size, Nie Yan’s speed saw a steep decline.

Nie Yan slowly approached the Elite Arachne. He lamented at how large they were compared to him. He couldn’t even reach to their shoulders even if he jumped with all his might. Meanwhile, they could send him flying with a simple sweep of their scythes.

The Arachne started to stir as if they sensed something. Nie Yan quickly halted his steps. They looked around but failed to find anything, and then returned to their passive states after muttering some unintelligible words.

Little did they know Nie Yan was actually right beside their feet! He slipped through the gaps between their legs and ducked out of their sight behind a corner.

It was easier than Nie Yan expected!

Nie Yan passed through a narrow alley and arrived at an open square. There was an altar with a blazing bonfire at the center surrounded by a dense crowd of Arachne. An Elder Arachne stood high atop a platform. His skin was old and wrinkled like tree bark, and his back was so badly hunched even taking a single step was difficult. He held a wooden staff in one hand and in the other a crimson thorn, which glittered brilliantly under the glow of the flames.

A young Arachne girl was bound to a wooden pole above the bonfire. She wore a fatigued expression on her face.

The Elder Arachne mumbled out some gibberish and waved its staff as magical energy began swirling around his hand.

They seemed to be performing some sort of ancient ritual.

Nie Yan could hear voices speaking periodically, but he sadly couldn’t understand their meaning.

Bennett’s soul started to bounce around wildly. It immediately flew toward the thorn in the Elder Arachne’s hand.

Nie Yan’s gaze focused on the thorn. It was roughly five inches in size and looked like the fang of a creature, with veiny patterns on its surface. It emitted a red lustre, as if it were sculpted out of ruby.

A voice seemed to clamor in Nie Yan’s mind: "Get it! Get it!”

The Elder Arachne emitted a loud hiss before mumbling out a series of strange syllable. He suddenly lifted the thorn and stabbed down in the young Arachne girl’s arm. The thorn seemed to come alive, its veins pulsing wildly as it sucked her dry of her blood while emitting a bright red glow.

Around 15 minutes later, the ritual ended. The dying young Arachne girl was carried down from the platform. The Elder Arachne inserted the thorn into the center of the altar.

Bennet’s Soul was circling around the thorn.

Quest Progress: Acquire Empress Finas’ Fang.

It turned out the thorn was the fang of Empress Finas!

It should be a quest item, Nie Yan thought. It wouldn’t be easy to obtain Empress Finas’ Fang with so many Arachne around. He confirmed he could still use the Unknown Transfer Scroll and felt reassured.

Still in his diminished form, Nie Yan tiptoed toward the altar while avoiding the spiders all around him.

An Arachne walked in his direction, but Nie Yan hurriedly rolled behind a rock. He proceeded with even more care, hiding behind rocks and patches of grass wherever possible.

The crowd of Arachne began celebrating after the ritual was over. Nie Yan had no clue what was going on because of the language barrier, nor did he really care. He had his eyes set on Empress Finas’ Fang and nothing else.

The Elder Arachne sat several meters from the altar. His withered husk of a body looked like it could collapse at any moment. However, Nie Yan knew this old bag of bones was absolutely the most dangerous being among them.

Nie Yan suspected the Elder Arachne was a Lord-class monster. Not daring to be negligent, he activated Shadow Waltz to further increase his stealth.

Nie Yan’s stealth was extremely high, almost on the level of Great Thieves at Level 70. However, he still couldn’t afford a single lapse of judgement.

Prudence allowed a ship to sail for 10,000 years!

It seemed the Elder Arachne had gotten bored as he stood up from his heat and startered wandering farther and farther away from the altar.

An opportunity! Nie Yan took the chance to creep closer to Empress Finas’ Fang.

The Elder Arachne suddenly turned back to look at the fang. Reassured it was still there, his expression relaxed a bit as he looked around carefully.

Nie Yan froze in place as cold sweat dripped down from his neck. The Elder Arachne’s gaze was piercing like a dagger, causing his hair to stand on end.

Discovering nothing, the Elder Arachne finally turned and slowly walked farther away from the altar.

When the Elder Arachne had wandered more than 10 meters away, Nie Yan rushed toward the altar and grabbed Empress Finas’ Fang. At this moment, he felt an intense burning sensation in his palm. He heard a sizzling sound and saw smoke rise up from his glove.

The unexpected sensation caught Nie Yan off guard, causing him to reflexively let go of the fang, which fell onto the ground.

A damage value of over 1,000 floated up above his head and his figure slowly became visible.

Not good, I’ve been found!

The surrounding Arachne began clamoring angrily, pointing at him and making enraged screeching noises. Several of them even furiously charged toward him.

The Elder Arachne turned around and let out a deep hiss. He waved his staff and spat out a few syllables as black magical energy started swirling around him. The shadows surrounding Nie Yan seemed to come alive and shot toward him. A heavy pressure descended on him, threatening to crush his very being.

Nie Yan activated Gale Step, relying on the first three seconds of invincibility to avoid the Elder Arachne’s spell. He tossed Empress Finas’ Fang into his bag. If it wasn’t for this skill, he would’ve immediately released his grip!

The venom on Empress Finas’ Fang was simply too potent. Just a few seconds of skin contact was enough to kill him.

The Elder Arachne let out a string of curses and sent a wave of black lava surging in Nie Yan’s direction.

With a loud bang, half the altar was destroyed. However, Nie Yan was already gone.

The moment he secured Empress Finas’ Fang, Nie Yan crushed an Unknown Transfer Scroll. His vision blurred for a moment before yet another gloomy scene revealed itself to him. It seemed to be a desert of some sort, but Nie Yan disregarded it. He opened his map to check his coordinates and set out toward Valitin Village.

Nie Yan checked his status bar and noticed something strange.

Fury of Elder Arachne Kasil: You have incited the wrath of Elder Arachne Kasil. He is searching everywhere for your trail.

After reading this debuff, Nie Yan didn’t dare to take any risks. He immediately crushed a Haste Scroll and began sprinting towards safety.

Nie Yan dashed through the wilderness. He was extremely far away from Valitin Village. It would take him at least half an hour to get there. After passing through a stretch of barren wasteland, a silhouette appeared in his path less than 15 meters away. It was Elder Arachne Kasil!

Kasil waved his staff, blotting out the sky with black clouds which rained down torrent of flames.

Nie Yan had no idea how this damn spider fogey caught up to him so quickly.

Just as he was about to be engulfed by Kasil’s spell, Nie Yan once again crushed an Unknown Transfer Scroll and teleported away.

Nie Yan reappeared in a dense jungle. He ascertained his location before immediately running towards Valitin Village at maximum speed. Using all the speed boosting abilities at his disposal, he dashed out from the trees and flitted across a vast grassland.

Chapter 353 – Departure

Nie Yan was forced to use Unknown Transfer Scrolls again and again in an attempt to escape Elder Arachne Kasil’s pursuit. Finally, he was sent to a location only three minutes away from Valitin Village. He immediately sprinted toward the town like a madman, practically flying over the ground.

Nie Yan would be out of luck if he couldn’t get away this time. His supply of Unknown Transfer Scrolls was rapidly dwindling.

In the distance, specks of light began to appear in Nie Yan’s vision, growing brighter and more numerous as he approached. The twinkling lights were a relief to him, like a lifeline for a drowning man.

Nie Yan once more burst forth at maximum speed during this final stretch, zipping closer and closer to Valitin Village.

Suddenly, a large shadowy figure appeared before him, hovering a meter off the ground. It waved the staff in its hand, conjuring a black fireball that shot out at Nie Yan before he even got a good look at it.

Nie Yan grimaced under the pressure of the black fireball cast by Elder Arachne Kasil as he considered his options. He activated Gale Step and slammed into the projectile, causing it to explode into a firework of cinders.

Nie Yan threw out a pouch of Flash Powder and blinded Kasil. He then slid under him and sprinted past.

Nie Yan hastily swapped factions as the entrance to Valitin Village entered his sight, hoping to dear god no one had noticed him.

Luckily, the nearby players were distracted by the appearance of Kasil. Why would a Level 60 Lord appear so close to town? Several Necromancers quickly reacted by summoning swaths of skeletons.

Elder Arachne Kasil waved his staff in annoyance, summoning a sea of black fire that instantly evaporated the mass of skeletons around him. The Necromancers stared in shock, almost unwilling to believe their eyes. This old man was way too strong!

"Shit! It’s a Lord-class Level 60 monster!”

"Everybody, run!”

However, their shouts came too late. By the time people were able to react, Kasil had already cast an area-of-effect spell to rain down black flames on the entire area. Like the skeletons before them, these players were quickly melted away and their bodies dissolved into motes of black light.

Having brushed aside the players in his way, Kasil continued chasing after Nie Yan.

More and more Evil Faction players gathered near the entrance, and several Spectral Knights already began advancing. They prepared to block the boss.

"Everyone, attack this Lord-class monster!”

The Spectral Knights engaged, stepping up to stop Kasil as the Mages in the back began casting spells at it. However, Kasil continuously waved his staff, one-shotting players left and right. Finally, he cast another area-of-effect spell laying waste to the entire front-line and causing the backline to fall into a panic. This boss was too powerful!

Kasil carved a path of blood toward Nie Yan, massacring players like pigs in a slaughterhouse. Wave after wave of Evil Faction players collapsed onto the ground.

Finally, someone realized Kasil was no ordinary Lord, but rather a Variant Lord! The crowd quickly scattered, not wanting to die pointlessly.

Fortunately for Nie Yan, they had bought him quite a bit of time. He finally reached the gates of Valitin Village, where he slowed down to a walk and hid his face with a long cowl before approaching the guards.

Kasil was still rushing angrily towards him, causing Nie Yan to be distressed. However, if he tried to rush into the village, he would certainly draw a lot of unwanted attention from the guards.

Two of Valitin Village’s skeletal guards suddenly noticed Kasil rushing towards the town. Brandishing their massive halberds, they charged at him in perfect harmony.

Alarm bells started ringing across the entire village. Several NPC Necromancers rushed out, summoning countless skeletons to form a dense wave of bones that blocked Kasil’s path into the town.

The tide of skeletons quickly grew and wrapped around Kasil to completely surround him.

As Nie Yan quietly entered the village, he could see many groups of players rushing towards the source of the commotion.

"I heard a monster is attacking Valitin Village! Apparently it’s a Level 60 Variant Lord!”

"Let’s go take a look. Maybe we can get lucky and snag some of its drops!”

The flood of players began to fill the area, enclosing Kasil in a flood of summons and players. Kasil continued waving its staff to instantly clear entire groups of skeletons. The Necromancers, not to be outdone, waved their staffs in response and counterattacked by summoning more and casting their own spells.

Flashes of light lit up the darkness as various spells took form and bombarded Kasil.

The outskirt of Valitin Village was transformed into a chaotic battlefield!

Nie Yan couldn’t help but find this situation a little similar to the time he lured the Guardian of Order to Link Town. It wouldn’t be long before Elder Arachne Kasil was killed. And no one would know he was behind this event. Checking the time, he could open a portal and return to the surface in about an hour.

Nie Yan started cleaning out his bags, first by selling off all his potions and other consumables to the NPC shops. Afterwards, he had Life’s a Drama head to Necropolis City in his place and auction off all the equipment he picked up during his travels. To compensate him for his hard work, Nie Yan offered him a portion of the profit.

The only items remaining were the Black Kingsnake Shield and the mysterious Conjuring Skull. Even his Soul Pendant was emptied out, though not for long. Nie Yan made a trip to the Scroll Shop and filled it up with 50 full stacks of Death Wave Scrolls.

A while later, Nie Yan and Plenty met up in the run-down tavern at the appointed time.

Plenty and Proud Warlance were both present. They also brought along two other members of Fallen Angel, their confidantes.

"Did you bring everything?” Nie Yan asked, wondering what sort of items Plenty prepared for him.

Plenty glanced at Warlance and the two other Fallen Angel players, who promptly showed the items to Nie Yan. "Take a look, there’s 270 pieces of equipment in total. Just in case you didn’t have enough space, we’ve also brought along five 56-slot bags.”

Nie Yan never expected Plenty to prepare bags for him as well. Looking over the items, there were 180 pieces of equipment with at least Night Vision +10, 60 pieces of equipment with Focus +30 or higher, and 30 pieces of equipment with other stat bonuses which were hard to find on the surface.

"This is about 20,000 gold’s worth of equipment. I’m sure you’ll earn a staggering amount by smuggling them back to the surface.” Plenty gazed at Nie Yan, then continued, "I hope you don’t forget our agreement. I’m expecting to hear word from you in five days.”

"Rest assured I won’t bail out. I’m confident there’ll be many more opportunities for cooperation to come,” Nie Yan replied with a smile. A cooperative relationship with Fallen Angel was absolutely beneficial to the growth of Asskickers United.

Nie Yan estimated he would earn 1,000,000 gold, maybe even more, by selling all this equipment on the surface!

Nie Yan handed back the Black Kingsnake Shield to Plenty and further compensated him with 10,000 gold. Like this, all debts were fairly settled. Even if the guards of the Undead Empire discovered his identity, they could simply deny knowing he was a player from the Righteous Faction since he was disguised as a member of the Evil Faction when they traded with him. The system had no way of reading their minds.

As long as Nie Yan made sure he wasn’t exposed, they could continue carrying out their smuggling trade.

"You’re the one who brought that Level 60 Variant Lord here?” Plenty asked. He had a vague suspicion Nie Yan was the one behind this mess.

"How’s the situation outside?” Nie Yan asked with a faint smile, not denying anything.

"That Elder Arachne is pretty strong. He’s killed three of the NPCs in Valitin Village and over 180 players. However, he won’t last much longer.” Plenty couldn’t help but view Nie Yan in a new light, wondering just how he managed to lead such a powerful Variant Lord from deep in the wilderness all the way to Valitin Village.

During this time, Plenty had done a thorough investigation of Nie Yan’s background. He more or less had an understanding of Asskickers United.

The Evil Faction and Righteous Faction didn’t have any contact. The frontier wouldn’t open up until the players were at least Level 100. For the time being, no one could spare any attention for the opposing faction. However, right now Asskickers United and Fallen Angel were collaborating together. This was truly unprecedented in both timelines.

"That Variant Lord should have some pretty good drops. Don’t miss the opportunity,” Nie Yan reminded Plenty.

Fallen Angel’s forces had already assembled in Valitin Village. Monsters killed by NPCs wouldn’t drop any items, unless players also dealt some damage. But with the NPCs helping out, it saved them a lot of trouble.

"This is only thanks to you leading that Variant Lord to the village,” Plenty said with a faint smile.

This matter had led to both sides benefitting.

"Oh, one more thing. Can you take a look at this?” Nie Yan placed the Conjuring Skull on the table.

"A Conjuring Skull!?” Plenty blurted out in surprise, failing to hide his shock. It was actually one that summoned a Bone Mammoth too! "Where did you get this?”

"It dropped while I was hunting Rum Spiders,” Nie Yan replied. He could instantly tell the Conjuring Skull wasn’t simple based on Plenty’s intense reaction. It was definitely a precious item worth at least 10,000 gold.

"You really have some amazing luck, to actually get something like this from hunting Rum Spiders. I can assure you the drop rate is at best 1 in 500,000. Sell this Conjuring Skull to me. I’ll give you 30,000 gold for it, which is the market price. Ordinary Conjuring Skulls only sell for a few thousand gold. But since yours can summon a Bone Mammoth, it’s worth a lot more,” Plenty said straightforwardly. The price he offered was fair. Since they were going to cooperate in the future, he wouldn’t damage their relationship over something small like this.

"What’s the Conjuring Skull used for?” Nie Yan asked curiously. He was blown away by why this ordinary looking skull was so precious.

Chapter 354 – Akeph’s Hand of Knowledge

"It’s a medium that allows Necromancers to summon one or two additional undead,” Plenty explained.

Nie Yan naturally understood how an item which bolstered the size of an undead army would be highly sought after by Necromancers, especially if its drop rate was abysmally low. Furthermore, the Conjuring Skull in his possession was one of the rarer kinds.

The price Plenty offered should be fair. However, Nie Yan felt it’d be a waste to sell an item like the Conjuring Skull for gold.

"How about we exchange for equipment instead?” Nie Yan suggested. "A large guild like Fallen Angel, I’m sure you have plenty of Sub Legendary-grade items…”

For guild leaders like Plenty and Nie Yan gold was simply a means to an end. What they required more was better equipment to strengthen the players under them.

"I have a decent pair of mage gloves without faction restrictions. Take a look,” Plenty said after a moment of consideration.

A short while later, a subordinate arrived with the gloves.

Akeph’s Hand of Knowledge (Sub Legendary)

Description: Akeph was a Great Incantist that sought out the profound, learning every type of magic on the way.

Requirements: 529 Intelligence

Properties: Defense 336–369, Magic Power +32, Intelligence +58, Magic Amplification +10%

Cursing Light: Light magic additionally inflicts the enemy with 3 seconds of confusion and exhaustion. Cooldown: 3 hours.

Life Corrosion: Spells corrode 20% of the enemy’s defense and deal additional damage over time based on the player’s Intelligence. Cooldown: 3 hours.

Restrictions: None.

Plenty supplemented Nie Yan with 13,000 gold on top of Akeph’s Hand of Knowledge for the Conjuring Skull. Like this, it was a fair trade.

"That about wraps things up. You’ll be back in five days?” Plenty asked.

"Yeah.” Nie Yan nodded.

Plenty set off to lead the Fallen Angel players in dealing with the Level 60 Variant Lord.

Nie Yan waited for the Dark Portal to come off cooldown in the tavern. He glanced at Empress Finas’ Fang in his bag, helpless to bring it out since it was coated in a highly corrosive toxin. He could only examine it from his inventory window.

Empress Finas’ Fang (Quest Item): Psychic Object

Description: Converts 30% of the damage from regular attacks into poison damage.

The term Psychic Object was unfamiliar to Nie Yan. However, he could feel a dense aura of darkness radiating from the fang.

Nie Yan was blown away by the description. His regular attacks currently dealt around 1,600 damage. For 30% of that to be converted into poison damage, which ignored all defenses except for poison resistance, was astonishing to say the least. According to his experiences from the previous timeline, attacks with more varied damage compositions generally dealt more damage to bosses. An alteration to the properties of an attack was far more effective than a simple increase in attack power.

Nie Yan checked on the status of his quest.

Quest Progress: Search for Empress Finas’ Eye, Psychic Objects (1/3).

It was nowhere close to being finished!

Nie Yan glanced at Bennett’s Soul floating beside him. He could only continue searching for the other Psychic Objects some other time.

As the minutes passed, Nie Yan received news that Fallen Angel had taken down Elder Arachne Kasil and obtained a piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment from his corpse. The drops from a Variant Lord naturally wouldn’t be lacking.

It was finally time to leave. Nie Yan left Valitin Village, his silhouette disappearing into the darkness as he dashed east. He found a secluded area and opened up the Dark Portal.

A portal radiating ominous energy appeared before Nie Yan. He stepped forward and disappeared inside.

Just outside of Valitin Village, hundreds of Fallen Angel Players were cleaning up the battlefield. There were corpses strewn about everywhere. Everything within a hundred meter radius was devastated. One could imagine the sort of bitter battle that took place.

"Nirvana Flame returned to the surface?” Plenty asked Proud Warlance who stood beside him.

"I think so.” Warlance nodded. Truthfully, when Nie Yan stepped foot outside the village, they already had Thieves on standby to trail him. How he was going to return surface greatly intrigued them. However, they feared it would negatively impact their relationship with him if they were caught, so they dropped the matter in the end. Aside from this, none of the Thieves in Fallen Angel could realistically keep up with him anyway.

"He probably used some sort of teleportation item,” Plenty guessed.

"Do you think he can be trusted, that Nirvana Flame?”

"Who knows? In any case, we’ll have our answer in five days. A collaboration would be beneficial to both sides. Assuming he does return, make sure the players you dispatch to meet him are courteous. Remember he holds all the cards in his hand. He can always find other partners to cooperate with,” Plenty reminded. Nie Yan was probably the only player who could currently freely travel between the surface and Underworld.

"I understand.” Warlance nodded. Just a single successful trade would be immensely beneficial to Fallen Angel. But if Nie Yan chose to back out, there was no recourse since the in-game contract system was unavailable to them due to faction restrictions. They could only rely on good faith.

Nie Yan’s pupils sharply contracted as the scenery flashed around him. His vision was shrouded by a vast expanse of bright white.

After who knows how long, Nie Yan opened his eyes to be welcomed by a blue sky and white clouds. His mood immediately improved.

He was finally back in his own world!

Nie Yan checked his coordinates. He was actually in the wilderness surrounding Hilderlocke, the City of Jadeite! He teleported to the city with a Return Scroll, then took a transfer point to Calore.

The streets were even more bustling than before. Nie Yan walked to Asskickers United’s office in Calore.

When the Asskickers United players saw Nie Yan, they rubbed their eyes to make sure they weren’t seeing things.

"Boss, you’ve returned!”

"Hello, Boss!”

The players all excitedly ran up to greet Nie Yan.

The last five days had been some of the roughest in Asskickers United’s short history. The conflict with Bloodlust Blades raged on, with both sides unwilling to back down. The players of Asskickers United could only patiently endure. Nie Yan’s absence during this time was a hard blow to morale. It was as if the guild had lost a supporting pillar. Fortunately, Guo Huai and the other higher-ups didn’t neglect their duties. Furthermore, Smoke Stub stepped up to help out where he could since he also had experience with administration. Thanks to this, everything was still running smoothly.

The guild chat immediately exploded in activity when word of Nie Yan’s return spread.

「Boss, welcome back!」

「The guild leader is finally back!」

「Welcome home! We missed you so much!」

…

News of Nie Yan’s return spread like wildfire. All of Asskickers United celeberated. The previous damp mood was nowhere left to be seen.

Nie Yan was deeply moved. He had spent what felt like a lifetime in the Underworld. He was glad to finally be back. Asskickers United was his home, and the Viridian Empire his sky!

「Where’s Watchful Snail. Tell him to get in touch with me,」Nie Yan said in guild chat.

Before long, Guo Huai, Zhao Li, Smoke Stub, and the others all rushed over to the Calore office.

"You’re finally back! A day later and we would’ve packed up our bags and left,” Smoke Stub jested as he patted Nie Yan’s chest.

"How are things?” Nie Yan asked. He estimated after so many days the guild’s financial situation was akin to a creek during a long drought.

"I’m not the one you should ask.” Smoke Stub forced a smile as he glanced over at Guo Huai.

"Grim would be the best description. We’re on the verge of collapse. Here’s a report of our financials. Take a look,” Guo Huai said with a helpless expression.

Nie Yan looked over the expenses. They had spent a total of 536,268 gold, of which 360,000 gold was bounty payouts while the rest was compensation for struggling guild members. This was a terrifying figure! Before he left for the Underworld, the guild had just barely 200,000 gold in the bank. They really were running on empty!

"How much gold do we have left?” Nie Yan asked.

"A little over 2,000.” Guo Huai bitterly smiled.

For a guild the size of Asskickers United to only have 2,000 gold in the bank, Nie Yan could imagine how severe things had gotten.

"What about the gold from the Starry Night Potion Shop and other businesses?” Nie Yan asked. He had given Guo Huai permission to withdraw gold from these places.

"I’ve withdrawn as much as I could.” Guo Huai shook his head helplessly. "We’ve received support from our allies, the War God Tribe, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine as well. The Dragonsoar Financial Group has provided us with 170,000 gold in total. Our guild members have also donated 160,000 gold. However, it’s just not enough.

"Our only solace is that Bloodlust Blades aren’t fairing much better. They’ve burned through at least 700,000 gold. Their finances are teetering on the verge of collapse. If it wasn’t for the Century Financial Group, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors helping them out from behind the scenes, they would’ve been finished long ago. I’ve also heard that Angel Corps has thrown themselves in the mix.”

Nie Yan nodded. He roughly understood the situation. Even a guild that had lost several wars in a row wouldn’t easily collapse. Victorious Return was a perfect example. Even though they had suffered so many setbacks, including a huge blow to their prestige, they were still continuing to operate. But an issue with finances was another matter altogether. All guild activity required expenses, not to mention members would require compensation for any damages they incurred. If something as basic as compensation couldn’t even be provided, who would be willing to stay!? It would be a wonder if a guild like this didn’t collapse! Both Asskickers United and Bloodlust Blades were currently on the edge of a deep abyss.

Chapter 355 – Offloading

Asskickers United had spent all gold available to them. The guild treasury was completely empty. The guild members also suffered disastrous losses. They were hunted down by other players every time they stepped foot out of the city. What little gold they did manage to earn would be eaten up by the cost of recovering from their losses. They couldn’t even get any levelling done.

This was simply too much of an ordeal. Some players could no longer endure and withdrew from the guild. Even though they were willing to become members, they had no real attachments to the guild. They were far from optimistic about coming out on top in this conflict against Bloodlust Blades, feeling Asskickers United would be the first to fall. Such occurrences were common in intense wars of attrition. Roughly 6,000 players had left the guild, with only 60,000 remaining. However, that number was still dropping.

"Let them leave if they want. We can’t rely on such players to grow the guild. We’ll just recruit new people later on. This is an opportunity to weed out the coattail riders. The members staying behind are the ones who truly make up the heart of the guild, so make sure to reward them properly after all this is over,” Nie Yan said after Guo Huai briefed him on the situation.

"The problem is, how are we going to get through this crisis? Our guild treasury is empty. We’re basically running on fumes,” Guo Huai said with an anxious look. The situation had developed far beyond his expectations. Asskickers United and Bloodlust Blades had become the targets of everyone. However, there was nothing that could be done. It was their own fault for putting up such lucrative bounties! The number of players participating was constantly increasing, meaning more and more gold had to be spent every day paying out rewards and compensating losses.

Guo Huai initially thought they could hold out for at least 10 days. Who could have known they would be on the verge of collapse before even five days! After managing the guild for so long, he had deep attachments to it, even using his own personal funds to purchase gold so he could support the guild. He really didn’t want to see the guild he painstakingly built from the ground up fall in such a way.

Nie Yan chuckled. "Leave it to me. For now, take this 50,000 gold to tide us over.”

"50,000 gold isn’t enough.” Guo Huai shook his head. "It’ll probably keep us afloat for the afternoon, and even that’s uncertain…” He was all too familiar with how fast their gold was draining away.

"Don’t worry, I also brought a lot of equipment with me back from the Underworld,” Nie Yan said with a confident smile. His bags were all filled to the brim. To borrow the words of Plenty, they would certainly earn a staggering amount from selling everything he had smuggled back.

"I see, that’s good. Let’s cope as best as we can.” Judging from his confident appearance, Guo Huai believed Nie Yan had secured around 100,000 gold’s worth of equipment, which would last them a day or two.

Bloodlust Blades was also suffering. It was possible this 100,000 gold was just what Asskickers United needed to come out on top in this war.

Never in his wildest dreams could Guo Huai have imagined that Nie Yan hadn’t secured 100,000 gold’s worth of equipment but rather 1,000,000!

Guo Huai couldn’t be blamed for his faulty conjecture. Even in the best case scenario, Nie Yan could have only secured 100,000 gold’s worth of equipment working by himself in the Underworld. However, thanks to the assistance of Plenty and all of Fallen Angel, he had come back with five bags full of top quality equipment!

While Nie Yan and Guo Huai chatted, Bladelight, Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, and the rest of the gang arrived as well. They showed excited expressions when they saw Nie Yan.

"Boss! When we heard you returned, we rushed back to see you!”

Seeing this familiar group of faces, Nie Yan’s lips parted into a warm smile. He noticed Undying Scoundrel was only wearing Level 40 equipment. His level was only 43.

Nie Yan patted Undying Scoundrel’s shoulders with a faint smile. "How did you end up in such a miserable state?”

"I was ambushed and surrounded while levelling outside. I lost all my equipment and dropped a few levels. I still haven’t gotten the chance to recover,” Undying Scoundrel replied with an awkward chuckle.

Nie Yan’s expression slightly trembled. Since the guild treasury was empty, it was impossible for Undying Scoundrel to recover from such a setback. Without decent equipment, levelling up became much harder. Given he had dropped down to Level 43, it appeared he dropped quite a few levels after dying.

"Boss, ignore him. Who told him to be so reckless? When he got surrounded, he started going on a player killing rampage instead of running away. It would be strange if he didn’t die,” Summer Bug interjected.

It wasn’t just Undying Scoundrel. Nie Yan noticed lower-quality equipment here and there on all of them. Their levels had also stagnated. It was only Tang Yao who appeared relatively unaffected. Thanks to recently acquiring a few special items, he started levelling by himself in high level maps, where few players could follow.

"Boss, now that you’re back we can rest easy. Bloodlust Blades is losing guild members even faster than us every day. I refuse to believe they’ll outlast us!” Undying Scoundrel said optimistically.

Nie Yan was moved as he looked at this group of players. He had reviewed the guild logs. Since the guild couldn’t compensate them according to the terms of their contract, many contracted members had left. The ones who still remained behind despite these hardships were the most faithful brothers of the guild! Their loyalty was without question!

Nie Yan showed a bright smile. "You guys can put your worries to rest. Our lack of funds will be resolved soon enough. Asskickers United will always stand strong. We’ll never lose! No matter how rich Bloodlust Blades is, they’ll still fall before us!”

"Boss, we believe in you!”

Everyone had complete faith in Nie Yan. He definitely had a way to resolve this issue; otherwise, he wouldn’t have spoken with such confidence. The worry in their hearts vanished like a puff of smoke. Even though they were loyal to Asskickers United, they couldn’t help but feel nervous deep down. The past few days had been some of the most trying for the guild. Even their group was worried the guild would collapse, to say nothing of the lower ranking members!

Nie Yan gazed at Smoke Stub who smiled back at him. It was clear he was determined to stick with Asskickers United through thick and thin. Any further words would simply be superfluous.

Sometimes words weren’t required to communicate.

"Guo Huai, Smoke Stub, go sort through the guild’s records and calculate how much each player has lost,” Nie Yan ordered.

"Alright!” Guo Huai nodded.

Nie Yan turned to Undying Scoundrel and the others. "You guys should go off levelling. I’ll call for you guys if I need you.

When everyone departed, Nie Yan also got to work. He bought a large cloak to prevent himself from being recognized, then prepared to head to various large auction houses to offload the equipment he acquired in the Underworld. He first visited the Calore Central Auction House and listed three pieces of equipment with Night Vision +10 or higher up for auction, setting the starting bid for each of them to around 2,000 gold.

Equipment with Night Vision +10 or higher was considered high-end. The number of players who could afford them weren’t many, but they absolutely weren’t few either. It was fairly normal for wealthy players to have upwards of 20,000 gold. Some of them were whales who frequently spent exorbitant amounts of real world cash to purchase in-game gold. A subset of them were experts. If something caught their eye, especially if it was rare, they naturally wouldn’t hesitate to buy.

Beyond this, many players had profited immensely off the conflict between Asskickers United and Bloodlust Blades, with some earning upwards of 30,000 gold. They would naturally use these recently obtained funds to upgrade their gear, and equipment that increased Night Vision was some of the most useful!

Nie Yan’s actions immediately stirred up waves, inciting players into an unprecedented bidding war. Pieces of equipment with Night Vision +10 or higher were basically never seen. Ones that increased Night Vision at all were already considered quite good.

Players generally only swapped out their regular equipment for Night Vision equipment when they had to enter dark environments like caves. Even though this increased their chances of survival, there was usually a trade-off in other stats. A piece of equipment with Night Vision +10 would greatly mitigate this issue!

It wasn’t every day three pieces of equipment with Night Vision +10 or higher appeared in the marketplace, so the players naturally lost their minds.

The bids on the three pieces of equipment started rapidly climbing, increasing by increments of at least 5 gold every time.

Many players were flooding into the Central Auction House. All of them were there for the Night Vision equipment.

"I heard some equipment with Night Vision +10 popped up in the Central Auction House.”

"Night Vision +10? I wonder where you can find equipment like that.”

…

News of the Night Vision equipment spread like a wildfire in the streets. Nie Yan never imagined word would get around so fast.

The Central Auction House was crowded even more than usual with players. The first piece of equipment with Night Vision +11 sold for over 3,000 gold after there’d been no new bidder for five minutes. The two other pieces of equipment with Night Vision +10 sold for 2,300 gold and 2,200 gold respectively.

When the three pieces of Night Vision equipment were sold, everyone became a bit downtrodden. As they were about to leave, another three pieces were listed up for auction, immediately causing an uproar. Just when did equipment with Night Vision +10 or higher become as common as cabbage?

"Fuck, who’s the person behind this? Why did so much Night Vision equipment suddenly appear?”

Everyone looked around, but the auction house was a sea of players. Who could find anyone in such a densely packed crowd?

The mad scramble was far from over. There were still many people who needed Night Vision equipment. Although the competition was still fierce, the rate at which the bids increased slowed down noticeably. They were worried the person selling the Night Vision equipment was sitting on a large stockpile. If they were patient, maybe they could snag a piece for cheap.

Nie Yan stood up and walked out of the Central Auction House. Staying any longer would only lead to less profit. Even when offloading equipment, it was important to pay attention to strategy.

Chapter 356 – Windfall

A while later, Nie Yan arrived at the Calore Mercenary Auction House. He listed up several pieces of Night Vision and Focus increasing equipment, immediately inciting a mad scramble among the players present. It wasn’t every day such highly sought after equipment appeared in the marketplace, so how could they let this opportunity slip by?

All of Calore’s attention was suddenly focused on these pieces of equipment. The competition was fierce, the prices rocketing sky high.

Nie Yan visited every large auction house in Calore, selling over 20 pieces of equipment in total. Afterwards, he made his way to the auction houses in other cities, such as Hilderlocke, Glory City, and so on. The appearance of Night Vision equipment stirred up huge waves in these places.

Thanks to perks of the Grand Scholar title, Nie Yan freely travelled to the 30 plus cities across the Viridian Empire, selling more than 100 pieces of equipment in total. Although this seemed like a lot, it was a mere drop in the ocean compared to the deluge of items that circulated through the empire every day.

The equipment Nie Yan listed up sparked fierce competition in every city. The bids increased less frequently in the smaller cities, but in some of the larger ones the equipment would sell for a premium.

This lively spectacle persisted as the items were sold throughout the empire. Nie Yan checked his trade logs.

Your Disintegrator Gloves have been successfully auctioned off for 2,820 gold!

Your Light Source Cuisses have been successfully auctioned off for 2,305 gold!

…

One notification after the other popped up in Nie Yan’s trade logs while gold poured into his personal storage by the thousands. His balance rose up from 50,000 gold to 100,000 gold, 200,000 gold, and finally 360,000 gold.

As the last item auctioned off, the first round of offloading was over. Nie Yan checked his bag, which still contained roughly 180 pieces of equipment. He had saved the best for last, planning to get rid of them later when the players were hungry for more.

When the six pieces of Night Vision equipment were auctioned off, the bidding frenzy in the Calore Central Auction House finally calmed down. However, the crowd didn’t disperse; they were waiting for Nie Yan to continue listing up more items. Only after a long time with nothing happening did they realize that the ship had already sailed. Those who failed to get anything were endlessly vexed, cursing themselves for not taking action sooner.

"I guess it’s over. Let’s leave.”

"Dammit! If I knew this would happen, I wouldn’t have held back. I thought that guy was going to continue dumping equipment. I was too hopeful.”

"This world has no potion for regret. So be it. Get someone to keep watch over the auction house. Who knows if he’ll be back with more.”

Only now did the crowd in the Central Auction House finally disperse.

Nie Yan glanced at the 360,000 gold in his personal storage. He could do many things with this gold, at the very least restore the gear quality of Asskickers United back to its previous state prior to the war with Bloodlust Blades.

「Guo Huai, you finished with the calculations? How much gold do we need to spend?」Nie Yan asked. He wanted to fully compensate every member in Asskickers United for all the losses they suffered. He planned to reward them for their loyalty in the future as well.

"At least 120,000 gold, which averages to about roughly 2 gold per player. A lot of our guild members have suffered setbacks due to the loss of their gear, with their average level dropping by at least three, so we’ll need to compensate them for that as well,” Guo Huai replied. He knew they owed quite a bit in restitution, but with their current finances being so tight, this matter could only be put off for the time being.

「Including the loss of equipment and levels, how much does it come out to?」Nie Yan asked.

「I suppose around 200,000 gold,」Guo Huai replied.

「Alright, I’ll give you 200,000 gold. Start handing out the restitution, and make sure you don’t miss anyone!」Nie Yan ordered. The players who had stuck with Asskickers United untill now were absolutely the most loyal members of the guild! Stiffing any of them was unacceptable!

「What…? Just where did you get 200,000 gold from?」Guo Huai asked in sheer disbelief.

「I just sold some of the equipment I got from the Underworld and netted about 360,000 gold. I still have quite a bit left to sell,」Nie Yan replied with a faint chuckle. He had tested out the waters with the first round of offloading, and the market had responded well. He was confident he could sell the remaining equipment for an even greater profit!

「Really, that much!? How much do you think you’ll earn selling all the equipment?」Guo Huai couldn’t help but ask in a trembling voice. With 360,000 gold, they could take down Bloodlust Blades. He refused to believe they could last much longer! Perhaps even more shocking was that Nie Yan claimed to still have a lot left to sell!

「I’d, say around 1,000,000 gold,」Nie Yan replied. His real estimation was closer to 1,200,000 gold, but he didn’t dare to make any guarantees.

"You’re not pulling my leg, right?” Guo Huai felt his head spinning. Just what kind of sum was 1,000,000 gold? Asskickers United had been pushed to the verge of bankruptcy after only spending 60% of that amount! With this gold, he was confident they could fully recover from this war and come back even stronger! They would become the richest guild, especially with Bloodlust Blades out of the picture!

「Quickly come over so I can give you the 200,000 gold. Also bring along some trustworthy people, preferably those you know in real life. I want to rebuild the guild treasury!」Nie Yan boldly declared. The current guild treasury of Asskickers United looked quite unsightly, with only a thousand items scattered here and there. Rebuilding it was their top priority!

「I’ll be there right away!」Guo Huai said, barely containing his excitement. He immediately got to work.

Before long, Guo Huai arrived with more than 100 players in tow. He took the 200,000 gold back with him to the guild headquarters and started paying out restitution. Meanwhile, Nie Yan brought the 100 players with him as he visited various large auction houses, purchasing suitably priced equipment which would then be delivered to the guild treasury. He didn’t feel at ease leaving the job to others, so he wanted to personally handle it himself. The estimated cost of restoring the guild treasury to its previous state was at least 200,000 gold. However, there was no harm in getting started.

When word got around that Guo Huai was paying out restitution, the players voiced their bewilderment in the guild chat. Wasn’t the guild on the verge of bankruptcy? Where did this gold come from?

「Executive Guild Leader, you’re not playing a joke, are you?」one player asked.

「Watchful Snail, forget it. We understand finances are tight right now. Let’s wait for the storm to pass over first. When everyone is suffering like this, how could we have the face to take the guild’s gold?」

This opinion was echoed by many others in the chat.

「Enough with the nonsense. You don’t think I know that? Hurry up and take the gold before I start embezzling it,」Guo Huai jokingly scolded.「The guild isn’t lacking funds anymore. We’re going to compensate everyone for all the losses they suffered. Those of you that donated to help keep things afloat will be rewarded doubly. We won’t mistreat any of the members who chose to stick with us.」

The guild wasn’t lacking funds anymore? Just where did this gold come from? The players were flabbergasted and started bombarding Guo Huai with questions.

「Nirvana Flame recently managed to secure some funds. Don’t worry. If the guild’s finances were truly tight, we wouldn’t hesitate to do what’s needed,」Guo Huai assured. His words immediately dispelled their doubts, giving them renewed confidence. In that case, didn’t this mean Asskickers United would win the war?

A few astute players did the calculations. The cost of compensating every single member in the guild would total at least 150,000 gold! For the guild to take out so much gold, they sure were rich!

The restless players who feared the collapse of Asskickers United immediately had their minds put at ease.

The guild members hurriedly flocked to the guild headquarters in United City. Everyone received at least 1 gold in restitution. Those who had suffered large losses received 5 or 6 gold to upwards of 50 gold. The stronghold was bustling with activity.

Aside from paying out restitution, Guo Huai under Nie Yan’s orders started distributing medals to the guild members. The medals were divided into bronze, silver, gold, and dark gold. They represented a member’s status in the guild. Every player who had stuck with the guild through this ordeal would at least receive a bronze medal, which signified their status as veteran members who were willing to risk life and limb for the guild. The silver medal was given to members who had made outstanding contributions to the guild during the war with Bloodlust Blades, such as donating vast sums of gold. Gold medals represented the most important members of the guild. There were many players with bronze and silver medals, but those who received a gold medal numbered only around several dozen.

When Asskickers United recruited new players in the future, these veteran members would be treated much better than the new recruits. Otherwise, if any new recruit could receive the same treatment as them, they would start feeling resentment.

This initiative by Nie Yan received all round approval. These players had stuck with the guild during its most trying times, never leaving. Compared to receiving compensation, they were much happier about earning the recognition of the guild. These medals were their glory which proved they had gone through the many trials and hardships together with the guild!

When everyone was receiving compensation in the stronghold, some keen-eyed players noticed the guild treasury rapidly filling up with several hundred items at a time. These items weren’t just trash meant to fill up space either. All of them were useful with decent properties.

First was the 200,000 gold in compensation, then the guild treasury filling up with over 100,000 gold’s worth of items right after. Nie Yan’s show of wealth shocked everyone, causing them to confirm one thing in their minds. Bloodlust Blades had kicked a steel plate. Asskickers United’s victory was right around the corner!

Chapter 357 - Death Wave Scroll

Deep within Red River Stronghold, the upper echelon of Bloodlust Blades led by Mad Blade anxiously discussed the issue of gold. At the start of the war, they felt assured of their victory. After all, they had ample capital after receiving over 500,000 gold from the Century Financial Group. This was why they dared to declare war against Asskickers United. No one had attempted something so audacious as putting up a bounty on a whole guild before.

A few thousand gold was generally the upper limit for a bounty on a single player. However, there was no such thing for a guild. Even so, Mad Blade was confident since he had almost 1,000,000 gold at his disposal. He refused to believe Asskickers United could match such a terrifying sum, even with the support of the Dragonsoar Financial Group. When it came to amassing gold, no one could compare to the Century Financial Group. The virtual reality industry was their bread and butter!

Calore was the domain of Asskickers United. Bloodlust Blades couldn’t do anything to them on their home turf. Just the same, Asskickers United wouldn’t throw caution to the wind and besiege Glory City. However, war by proxy was a viable alternative.

Mad Blade had first provoked Asskickers United on the forums, sealing off all paths of retreat for both sides. He believed Bloodlust Blades could easily outlast Asskickers United. However, he never expected them to show such resilience, lasting for so long. He believed victory was guaranteed, but his understanding of the overall situation was too shallow. He could never imagine Nie Yan owned the Starry Night Potion Shop, let alone numerous plots of lands, shops, and auction houses, which generated a wealth of gold for Asskickers United every day.

With every day Asskickers United still stood strong, Mad Blade started to feel increasingly anxious. Bloodlust Blades was struggling to make ends meet. Even though the Century Financial Group was sending over gold on a daily base, it was like trying to put out a house fire with a cup of water. Mad Blade was forced to sell a portion of the equipment in the guild treasury, earning them enough funds to hang on for another day or two. However, this move quickly incited the discontent of the guild members since it was tantamount to cutting their benefits. Add this to the fact that they were being hunted down like dogs in the wilderness, leaving them unable to level in peace, many of them believed this war with Asskickers United was a mistake and left the guild. It appeared Bloodlust Blades wasn’t having it easy either.

"Boss, I just received some news. Asskickers United obtained hundreds of thousands of gold from who knows where. They’re providing compensation to all their players and starting to rebuild their guild treasury,” an Elementalist informed Mad Blade.

"Hundreds of thousands? Just where did they get so much gold from? Are you sure?” Bloodlust Blades asked in utter disbelief. It was too strange. This was like something straight out of a story book. How did Asskickers United suddenly obtain enough gold to not only compensate their players but also rebuild their guild treasury?

"It’s the truth. I had someone investigate. Asskickers United has obtained at least 300,000 gold,” the Elementalist replied.

Mad Blade’s eyebrows started twitching erratically. 300,000 gold was no small sum. Since Asskickers United was willing to take out this much for their guild members, didn’t this signify they still had more gold sitting in the bank?

"Was it the Dragonsoar Financial Group?”

"Absolutely not. The Dragonsoar Financial Group’s gold farmers are being constantly monitored by the Century Financial Group. There’s no way they could take out that much gold.”

"Then where did it come from?” Mad Blade asked in bewilderment.

"Boss, are you aware of the Night Vision equipment that’s been popping up in auction houses lately?” a Fighter interjected.

"Yes, it’s a pity our finances are so tight; otherwise, we would’ve bought one or two pieces,” Mad Blade replied. He was at least up to date on this much.

"I’ve heard they appeared in every city across the Viridian Empire. Whoever’s behind this is a high roller. They’ve earned at least a couple hundred thousand gold selling all that Night Vision equipment,” the Fighter said.

Mad Blade understood what the Fighter was getting at. Could Nie Yan be the person behind the sudden emergence of Night Vision equipment? After thinking it over, it was the only logical explanation. How else could Asskickers United obtain so much gold?

"We don’t know how much Night Vision equipment he still has left. I estimate the current market will have no problem gobbling up 500 to 600 pieces. That’s an estimate worth of 3 to 4 million gold.”

The Fighter’s words were a bit sensationalist. However, Mad Blade understood this 3 to 4 million was absolutely the most conservative estimation. If Asskickers United really obtained so much gold, Bloodlust Blades might just as well surrender right now. However, he recalled the words he put on the forums. Whoever backed out first was the other’s grandson!

Mad Blade’s expression turned gloomy. "Send word to the people over at the Century Financial Group. We need more gold. If Bloodlust Blades falls, they’ll take a hit too!”

"Boss, they won’t like to hear that,” warned the Elementalist, who remained relatively coolheaded.

Only then did Mad Blade calm down. He knew they couldn’t afford to irritate the Century Financial Group. Helplessly waving his hand, he ordered, "Go. Discuss it over with them. See if they can provide us with more funds or some other method to deal with Asskickers United. If things continue on like this, we won’t last for much longer.”

Mad Blade’s mind was a mess. He couldn’t help but feel that Nirvana Flame would be the death of him someday.

The situation had progressed in a way where Asskickers United had seized the initiative. Their guild treasury had more than 100,000 gold, which was enough to last them for another day. They would be fine as long as Nie Yan sold the remaining items he brought back from the Underworld within the next five days.

Gold was no longer an issue, so Nie Yan wasn’t worried. He predicted Bloodlust Blades would collapse any time now. The resources Bloodlust Blades spent was the Century Financial Group’s, meaning he was also shaving away the Century Financial Group's strength.

Nie Yan was perfectly content with going at it with the Century Financial Group like this. He could freely travel back and forth between the surface and the Underworld. When the market in the Viridian Empire was saturated with Night Vision equipment, he could simply switch over to selling equipment that increased other properties such as Focus. In any case, there were a million other things he could smuggle. This was one of the perks of working with a large guild like Fallen Angel. They could easily amass almost any type of item. If he had to do such work all by himself, it would be incredibly challenging.

With this source of income, Nie Yan could just watch the gold roll in. No matter how wealthy the Century Financial Group was, there was no way they could compete.

Aside from shaving away at the Century Financial Group, Nie Yan also planned to use the remaining gold to upgrade the equipment of his players or help them power-level.

It was important that the levels of the players in Asskickers United didn’t stagnate. As the opponent got weaker, they would grow stronger!

When money wasn’t a problem, many things could be easily resolved. In the previous timeline, the Century Financial Group had used their wealth to dominate the Viridian Empire, sweeping over all competition with the five major guilds under their control. In this life, Nie Yan wished to duplicate their success for his own benefit!

Nie Yan had starting laying out the foundation of his grand vision by acquiring both Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine as well as investing in the War God Tribe. Furthermore, he had held initial talks with Battle Crazed Alliance and Radiant Sacred Flame, who both expressed interest in an alliance. However, all negotiations were halted when Bloodlust Blades declared war. Battle Crazed Alliance and Radiant Sacred Flame were watching from the sidelines. If Asskickers United was defeated, all his hard work would go up in smoke!

Nie Yan planned to amass a large amount of wealth, enough to acquire both Battle Crazed Alliance and Radiant Sacred Flame. This way, his alliance would comprise six major guilds. If he supported them with investments and allowed them to grow unimpeded, there would be no place left for Victorious Return in Calore. After this war was over, Bloodlust Blades’ strength would also drop by half. As for Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors, although they were strong they couldn’t compare to Asskickers United, Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, War God Tribe, Radiant Sacred Flame, and Battle Crazed Alliance in terms of growth potential. It was because these six guilds were situated in the top three most populated cities in the Viridian Empire. Surpassing Alliances of Mages and Divine Protectors was only a matter of time.

Nie Yan’s ultimate end goal was to create an invincible powerhouse by unifying the entire Viridian Empire! He already had a roadmap in his head. All he had to do was carry it out!

Nie Yan buried these thoughts deep in his heart. He wouldn’t reveal them until the day he achieved his aim.

Asskickers United had another source of gold. After the guild treasury was replenished, the guild members all started exchanging for new equipment. After going through a long period of hardship, everything was right back on track.

Everyone was surprised. Asskickers United was like a phoenix rising from the ashes, reinvigorated with new life.

The shocking news that Asskickers United had begun refilling their treasury and compensating its members spread like wildfire. Where had the guild gotten all that money from? Many people saw this as a sign: Bloodlust Blades would fall while Asskickers United stood tall. Some professional players who had hunted Asskickers United’s players even left Calore, moving to Glory City to earn their fortune there. Such was the world. The strong reigned over the weak. Many bounty hunters targeted Asskickers United when Bloodlust Blades put on an aggressive front, but now that Asskickers United seemed to have the upper hand, they knew better than to stick around and continue poking this massive bear.

It was as if a heavy rock had been lifted from the shoulders of the players from Asskickers United. However, the same couldn’t be said for the players from Bloodlust Blades.

Nie Yan deposited the Evil Faction equipment into his personal storage, then went to restock on consumables. He checked his Soul Pendant which had all 50 slots filled with Death Wave Scrolls. Each stack contained 20 scrolls for a total of 1,000 scrolls. He wondered how many levels he would gain by using up all of them!

Chapter 358 - Legend of the Assassin

Nie Yan was just about to set off when Guo Huai brought him some exciting news! Five players in the guild had successfully class advanced: Sun, Smoke Stub, Sunny South, Summer Bug, and Lustboy.

Sun had become a Great Tempest Thief, Smoke Stub a Great Berserker, Sunny South a Great Holy Mage, and Summer Bug a Great Arcanist.

The four of them were within his expectations. However, he didn’t recognise the name Lustboy, nor had he ever heard of it in his past life. This player seemed to have popped out of nowhere!

「Who’s Lustboy?」Nie Yan asked. Given how large Asskickers United was, for one or two players to suddenly shoot up in the ranks was nothing out of the ordinary.

「I’m not too sure either. Bladelight’s group brought him with them on their recent dungeon runs and gave him a few pointers. Who knew he would be such a quick study? He’s even better than some veteran members,」Guo Huai replied. Asskickers United encouraged the older members to guide newer recruits. Only like this could the guild grow stronger as a whole.

This was also a butterfly effect produced by Nie Yan. Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Young Seven… in his past life, these experts were seldom ever in the same place, and no one could ever imagine the results of them working together. Their rate of advancement was much faster than their previous timeline counterparts. Any casual piece of advice they gave out was of immense value to the ordinary members of the guild.

Players unfamiliar to Nie Yan in his past life like Paladin of the Elegy and Tyrannical were starting to garner attention in recent times. Among them Lustboy was the most remarkable. They were nameless in the previous timeline. But after Asskickers United provided them a suitable platform to grow, they were quickly blossoming into dazzling figures! Paladin of the Elegy, Tyrannical, and more were also tackling the barrier of the first class advancement!

Right now, Asskickers United was a nebula of shining stars! Especially the brightest ones like Lustboy left Nie Yan feeling gratified.

「Is Lustboy contracted to the guild?」Nie Yan asked. As long as a player showed potential, he wouldn’t hesitate to offer them a generous contract.

「We still don’t have the funds for that. We’re currently in the middle of negotiations. However, Lustboy has already agreed to sign, saying he wouldn’t have gotten to where he is today without the guild giving him a place to grow or the guidance of Smoke Stub and Bladelight. He didn’t seem to particularly care about the terms of the contract, but I plan to give him the best treatment. I just wanted to get your opinion first.」

「Go ahead. You have my approval. Also, make an announcement saying the guild won’t hesitate to give those who show potential the best treatment!」Nie Yan said. In any case, gold was no longer an issue. The guild members would see a rise in their benefits, especially those who contributed greatly to the guild; they were the pillars of the guild. He couldn’t allow them to feel like they were losing out by staying.

If it wasn’t for the recent war with Bloodlust Blades, Asskickers United would’ve already had more than a hundred Adept Class players. Thankfully, the guild’s foundation was still intact. When the situation calmed down, the number of players class advancing would quickly rise.

Nie Yan chatted with Guo Huai for a bit longer before hanging up.

Nie Yan glanced at his character bar. He was only Level 40. It was pathetically low given his status as the guild leader of Asskickers United. Reaching Level 50 and class advancing to a Great Thief was priority number one. He racked his brain for a suitable levelling spot.

The Death Wave Scroll was one of the few magical items that dealt fixed damage regardless of resistances and defense, but it was only effective on living creatures. Nie Yan had to find relatively low health monsters that gave ample experience. It was also best if they were slow, so he had sufficient time to activate the scrolls.

Nie Yan departed from Calore and found a secluded place, where he summoned the Faulkner Warhorse and galloped away into the wilderness.

Nie Yan just happened to encounter a group of a hundred players on their way to a high-level map in his path. Based on their numbers, they were probably going to hunt a Lord-class monster. Most of them were solo players, but he saw various guild emblems scattered among them.

Nie Yan recalled participating in these sorts of expeditions in his past life. They were usually organized by one or two individuals who kept the drops from killing the Lord. However, they would compensate the players that took part with gold or credits.

These sorts of expedition teams were quite common. Back when Nie Yan was broke and penniless, he frequently joined them to make some quick cash. If the organizer was a high roller, he could earn up to 600 credits in a single expedition, which was enough to last him for a while.

Nie Yan started reminiscing after seeing this group of players. However, he quickly snapped back to reality. There was no point in sulking over the past events of a different world. He sped away on his Faulkner Warhorse.

Seeing Nie Yan’s silhouette, a commotion broke out among this group of players.

"That’s Nirvana Flame! I’ve watched so many of his videos, there’s no way I’d mistake him! That mount he’s riding... isn’t that a Faulkner Warhorse!?”

"Should we chase after him? I heard Bloodlust Blades put up an 8,000 gold bounty on him, not to mention any piece of equipment that drops from him is guaranteed to be worth at least several thousand gold.”

"We could earn at least 10,000 gold by killing him!”

"We definitely stand a good chance. Just look at our numbers. How about we give it a shot?”

"Going after Nirvana Flame? Were you people dropped on the head as kids? Let’s set aside how we’d be hunted down like dogs by Asskickers United for now. Several thousand of the top players in Bloodlust Blades couldn’t even catch him. Do you really believe our little group will be enough?”

The several players who suggested going after Nie Yan immediately lowered their heads in shame and shut their mouths. They were so blinded by greed that they had forgotten their target was an existence that couldn’t be provoked. Killing ordinary members was fine. After all, practically every expert in Calore had dabbled in this feud. It was impossible for Asskickers United to retaliate against everyone. But anyone who attempted to go after their guild leader shouldn’t even think about setting foot anywhere near Calore again. Although they were powerless to stop the masses, dealing with a handful of players was a fairly simple matter.

When the players looked back, Nie Yan had disappeared into the horizon.

Nie Yan continued galloping south, passing through a vast stretch of prairie. He had spent a total of 20 minutes. It would’ve taken an ordinary player more than an hour and a half to cover the same distance.

Nie Yan passed through a Level 50 map, a Level 60 map, and even a Level 70 map. However, he showed no signs of stopping. He passed by numerous different giant monsters as the scenery blurred past him.

During this time, Nie Yan checked his quest log. He still had to do the quest related to the Tyrant Abak Set. This quest had a 10 day time limit. He had received it just before his trip to the Underworld, so he had about 5 days left to finish it.

Nie Yan knew he would trigger a major questline by meeting Earl Kelfide, so it was best if he raised his level first.

Nie Yan also took a look at the Union of Assassins. A staggering 250,000 gold had been paid out for the bounty he put on Bloodlust Blades. They had killed a total of 128,382 players.

This was a terrifying figure, especially given that Bloodlust Blades only had around 360,000 players in total.

Nie Yan glanced at the top participants.

Rank 1: King of the World

Kill Count: 1,328

Rank 2: Hapless Frog

Kill Count: 1,021

…

There were also 60 others with kill counts ranging from 700 to 800.

Nie Yan wasn’t surprised the top two participants were Thieves. After all, the class was most suited for assassination.

King of the World… [1] Nie Yan suddenly recalled such a person in his past life. He was rumoured to be a former soldier. No one knew for sure, but he was undoubtedly a famous Thief. He guild hopped from Dark Hero to Holy Empire and then finally Victorious Return, where during that time his reputation surpassed even that of Sun and Shadow. Later on, he had a falling out with them and left the guild. Victorious Return didn’t respond to this well and placed a bounty on his head. However, he was unfazed, killing anyone who came after him by relying on his remarkable assassination skills. Over the course of this event, he racked up a headcount of more than 1,000 players, causing Victorious Return to lose a great deal of face. For whatever reason, all news of him disappeared after that.

It was rumoured King of the World was betrayed, his identity in real life leaked to Heaven Breaker, who then sent foreign hitmen after his life. Several of his close brothers ended up dying during the attempt, with only him escaping.

However, things didn’t end just there. Later on, Heaven Breaker and a person nicknamed Night Cat were found dead in their villas. There were no signs of damage on their bodies except for a bloody hole in their necks, which were determined to be puncture wounds created by a sharp object, presumably a dagger. The murderer was thought to have had special assassination training of some sort. When the authorities went to review the satellite data, they discovered it had been hacked, with the surveillance video of everything near the two murder scenes being wiped clean. The culprit was never found. Many people had a good idea of who was behind these two murders. But no one had proof. From then on, control of Victorious Return was handed over to Heaven Breaker’s son, and King of the World never appeared again.

This was one of the most contentious and sensational developments that had occurred since the release of Conviction. So of course the media had reported on it extensively.

Heaven Breaker and Cao Xu were in the same boat, so Nie Yan had naturally paid close attention to this news. After the disappearance of King of the World, many players felt great sorrow at the loss of this legendary Thief who stood side by side with figures like Sun and Shadow Killer. If King of the World hadn't shown up in the Union of Assassins, Nie Yan would’ve completely forgotten about him.

[1] King of the World was first introduced in Chapter 334. He considers Nie Yan half his master. He set off to Glory City to hunt the players of Bloodlust Blades to help his close friends earn gold.

Chapter 359 - Power-Levelling With Death Wave Scrolls

A legend would always be a legend no matter the circumstances. Just like how a piece of gold would always shine, nothing could contain their brilliance!

Take Sun, for example, his reputation among Thieves soared after successfully advancing into a Great Thief. He was hot on Nie Yan’s heels. King of the World slaughtering over a thousand players from Bloodlust Blades also garnered a great deal of attention, and his radiance was starting to blossom.

Nie Yan contacted Guo Huai straight away to recruit King of the World and accept all his conditions so long as they weren’t too excessive.

With the addition of King of World, Asskickers United would have another Shadow Dancer added to the roster, which comprised Nie Yan, Sun, and One Strike Vow. Add this to the dozen other players who showed potential of becoming Shadow Dancers, and Asskickers United was turning into a holy land for Thieves.

The Thief was a heavily skill reliant class which clumsy players would find difficult to play. Many Thieves held skill in far higher regard than players of other classes, frequently scouring through videos of top-ranking Thieves on the forums. Any half-decent Thief would yearn for the opportunity to receive personal guidance from any one such figure. This was why existences like Nie Yan and Sun would inevitably attract the most talented Thieves to Asskickers United.

Of course this didn’t merely apply to Thieves but other classes too. If it wasn’t for the war with Bloodlust Blades, Asskickers United would have even more experts in their ranks. However, the recent raise in player benefits did aid in renewing confidence in the guild. Those who previously left couldn’t help but feel a tinge of regret. Many didn’t have the face to return. Others were begging to be taken back. However, their loyalty couldn’t help but be put into doubt.

Guo Huai immediately set to task after receiving Nie Yan’s order.

Nie Yan also gave Bird a call and instructed him on the next steps of development for the Starry Night Potion Shop. It had already become a household name, so slowly expanding out absolutely wasn’t a problem. Furthermore, thanks to the Grand Scholar title, his properties received the protection of the Viridian Empire. Even if he opened up a branch in the heart of Glory City, there was nothing Bloodlust Blades could do about it.

The surroundings gradually transformed into a muddy marshland as Nie Yan continued galloping on his Faulkner Warhorse. It wasn’t long before he encountered monsters, fairies roughly the size of a child with pale green skin. They slowly fluttered around with wings on their backs, wielding three-pronged spears in their hands.

The marshland was filled with this particular type of creature.

They were a hybrid between goblin and fae with violent natures. Their hostility toward humans led to them being classified as monsters. Their attacks were powerful, over several times that of ordinary monsters. They could probably kill Nie Yan in a single hit. However, they only had a little over 5,000 health, which was rare among Level 80 monsters. Their Awareness was also low, so a Thief in stealth could easily escape from them. Lastly, they were slow.

Nie Yan carefully approached one of them from behind and activated Transcendent Insight.

Faelin: Level 80

Health: 5,200/5,200

Nie Yan took out his Cavalry Crossbow and fired out five bolts at the Faelin, which let out a sharp howl and alerted the other Faelin to his presence. He immediately had an angry swarm of Faelin descend on him from all around.

Nie Yan turned tail and fled. He fired his Cavalry Crossbow every time he came across a group of Faelin, who came rushing after him one after another.

The mass of mobs behind Nie Yan quickly grew to an astonishing size.

Nie Yan glanced back at the hundreds of Faelin chasing him. He took out a Death Wave Scroll which radiated a profound dark energy.

One second, two seconds, three seconds, potent death energy began spreading outward like ripples on the surface of a pond and sweeped over everything in a 20 meter radius.

The death energy surged out like a tidal wave, swallowing up every Faelin in the vicinity.

−1,000, −1,000, −1,000… A blanket of damage values rose up into the sky.

All the Faelins halted in their tracks and shuddered violently.

Nie Yan maintained the aggro of the Faelins while running a giant loop around them. When the Death Wave Scrolls went off cooldown, he activated another one. A second tidal wave of death energy surged out and engulfed the Faelins.

Whenever the Faelins caught up to him, Nie Yan would escape with Disappear. Afterwards, he would reappear by activating another Death Wave Scroll.

One scroll, two scrolls, three scrolls… after Nie Yan used the sixth Death Wave Scroll, swaths of Faelins let out mournful moans and fell dead to the ground. Their corpses were strewn everywhere while loot glittered across the landscape.

More Faelins rushed up from the back. Nie Yan used one Death Wave Scroll after the other.

The Faelins were being harvested like wheat, collapsing in droves.

Nie Yan heard series of crisp jingles. Checking his character status bar, he had already reached Level 49. It was much harder to level the higher you climbed. However, you were rewarded generously for hunting monsters far above your own level, and his was rising by leaps and bounds.

Nie Yan picked up all the loot that dropped from the Faelins. He collected a total of 36 pieces of equipment. However, all of them were Level 80, so they were only good for padding the treasury. He also found two Junior Revive skill books which left him pleasantly surprised.

Junior Revive skill books were still rare, with perhaps only 1 in 50,000 Priests knowing the spell. The current price of a single Junior Revive skill book had inflated to several thousand gold.

Junior Revive skill books would only start becoming widespread when players reached Level 60, at which point monsters started dropping them at a dramatically increased rate. By then, all Priests would know the skill, and the price of the skill book would drop down to just 1 gold. However, that was still a bit of a ways off.

Farming Junior Revive skill books here wasn’t a bad idea. Right now, Asskickers United only had nine Priests who knew Junior Revive. For every additional Priest that learned the skill, another 20-player team in the guild would have the chances of them wiping during a difficult dungeon run substantially reduced. A dungeon that might have previously taken over a dozen attempts to clear would now only take a few at most.

Ordinary players couldn’t hunt monsters over Level 60 yet. Nie Yan was perhaps the only player who dared to level in a Level 80 map, let alone one with such a high mob density.

Besides the two Junior Revive skill books, nothing else worth mentioning dropped.

Nie Yan continued levelling as groups of Faelins fell one after the other. He left a long unbroken trail of corpses behind him.

The Faelins weren’t respawning fast enough, so Nie Yan had no choice but to set off deeper into the map.

Nie Yan would receive a 50% increase to all stats by class advancing. The category of his attack and defense would change from Ordinary to Enhanced, making them almost 80% higher than equal-levelled players who hadn’t class advanced. His Cloaking and other class-related stats would also receive bonuses.

Class advancement to an ordinary Thief was like adding wings to a tiger. When a player normally reached Level 50, they would elect to attempt their class advancement first. Like this, their levelling efficiency would greatly improve. But since Nie Yan was using Death Wave Scrolls to level, class advancement wouldn’t speed up the process. So what was the harm in grinding out a few more levels?

Nie Yan’s level continued skyrocketing. By evening, he had reached Level 54, the same as Tang Yao and Bloodlust Mad Blade. He checked his inventory. He had only used a little less than 200 out of 1,000 Death Wave Scrolls!

Tang Yao happened to see Nie Yan’s level while checking his friends list. His eyes practically popped out in shock, clearly recalling Nie Yan was only Level 40 the last time he checked earlier in the day. How did Nie Yan jump a total of 14 levels in the span of just a few short hours? This levelling speed was simply too frightening!

「Nie Yan, where the hell are you levelling? I’ve been searching everywhere for a good spot to grind. That bastard Mad Blade is still right on my tail and catching up fast. This pressure is driving me nuts! Yet here you are are jumping 14 levels in just a few hours!」Tang Yao exclaimed. Bizzare was the most apt description for this situation.

「Open up the greater map of Calore and search for the coordinates: 18295.23829.38920. I’ll help you level up. You should do your class advancement too. I bet Mad Blade has already succeeded his,」Nie Yan replied. The only explanation for Mad Blade’s unusual levelling speed was that he successfully class advanced.

「I understand. Guo Huai told me not to lose the number one position to Mad Blade no matter what. I’m afraid I’ll be overtaken if I try to class advance. That would be a blow to our guild’s prestige,」Tang Yao explained. He was also a prominent public figure of Asskickers United.

「Sharpening the axe won’t delay the chopping. I’ll quickly help you get your level up, then you can go class advance.」

Nie Yan checked the harvest from these past several hours of grinding. His mobbing speed was nothing short of monstrous. Thanks to the increased drop rates from hunting monsters above his level, he filled up three entire bags with equipment. On top of this, he also picked up seven Junior Revive skill books. He had really made a killing.

Chapter 360 - Sulgata’s Runic Cloth

Nie Yan estimated the market price of Death Wave Scrolls on the surface was at least 200 gold. Few people could use such a precious item as lavishly as him. In this levelling session alone, he had gone through 40,000 gold’s worth of Death Wave Scrolls. Not even the Century Financial Group would dare to burn gold away so audaciously. However, the price of a Death Wave Scroll was only 2 gold in the Underworld. So in reality he had only spent 400 gold in exchange for 7 Levels and over 20,000 gold’s worth of equipment.

Nie Yan had Guo Huai send over a Thief to deliver all the loot he collected back to the guild.

「I recently picked up seven Junior Revive skill books. Make sure they go to talented Priests,」Nie Yan informed. A sharp blade required good steel. It was important these seven skill books didn’t go to waste.

Guo Huai was stunned. A Junior Revive skill book was worth at least several thousand gold. Every time one appeared up for auction, there would always be a mad scramble, with wealthy players frequently raising the bidding price to ludicrous levels. Asskickers United naturally wouldn’t acquire Junior Revive skill books for such overinflated prices. However, due to their abysmally low drop rates, the guild had only accumulated nine thus far, finding one or two every five to six days. So of course Nie Yan collecting seven in just one afternoon was mind boggling!

「Just where did you get so many Junior Revive skill books?」Guo Huai couldn’t help but ask.

「I’m grinding in a Level 80 map, so I’ll probably be finding more,」Nie Yan replied. He thought for a moment, then added,「Tell Sun, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the rest to get over here. I’ll help them level up a bit.」It was meaningless to just raise his own level. He had to raise the levels of the core guild members as well!

Guo Huai quickly got to work.

Nie Yan stopped levelling up further after reaching Level 54. Instead, he diverted all his incoming experience to Lil’ Gold, whose level quickly soared to Level 45 and was fast approaching Level 50.

Lil’ Gold reached over 6,000 health, his attack power and defense increasing considerably as well. This Golden Dragon was starting to become an unrivalled hegemon among pets.

A while later, Tang Yao arrived. Nie Yan brought him to do some quick levelling. When Tang Yao saw groups of Level 80 Faelins collapsing one after another, he could hardly contain his shock. With this kind of method, how could someone possibly not level quickly!? He had previously been farming monsters above his level too, but at most they were Level 60. He would never dare to venture in a Level 80 map.

It wasn’t long before Sun, Smoke Stub, Bladelight, Young Seven, and the others arrived as well. There were 20 players in total, all of whom elites of Asskickers United.

"The journey here was really dangerous. We passed by so many Level 60 and 70 mobs! How did you end up stumbling into a place like this?” Smoke Stub asked. It seemed like there was no place Nie Yan didn’t dare to go!

Nie Yan chuckled. "Well, the mobs here are all Level 80 Faelins. You should be careful.”

Nie Yan divided up his Death Wave Scrolls among the group. Everyone would set off in different directions to grind. The Warriors and Thieves would do all the hunting while the Mages would stay on the sidelines leeching experience.

Nie Yan estimated everyone would at least be Level 50 by the time all the Death Wave Scrolls were used up.

Sun approached Nie Yan. "Big Brother, I got that fragment of Sulgata’s Shadow you wanted me to find. Here it is.”

Sun took out a drabby and ancient-looking roll of cloth from his bag. Sulgata’s Runic Cloth was located in a Level 30 map, hidden in a labyrinth filled with various deadly mechanisms not just anybody could get past. There were some traps that could easily kill a Level 70 Thief.

Nie Yan accepted the cloth and examined its properties.

Sulgata’s Runic Cloth (Legendary Fragment)

Description: A fragment of Sulgata’s Shadow. This cloth is brimming with a mysterious magical power.

Properties: Focus +20, Cloaking +20

Nie Yan placed Sulgata’s Runic Cloth in his bag along with Sulgata’s Boots. Following a flash of light, the cloth melted into the boots before vanishing entirely.

Nie Yan examined the boots which glistened with a peculiar luster, a clear contrast from before.

Sulgata’s Cloth Boots (Legendary Fragment)

Requirements: 330 Strength

Description: These boots can be equipped due to the remnant magical power contained within. The player must seek out all fragments (Sulgata’s Boots, Sulgata’s Feather, and Sulgata’s Runic Cloth) to restore Sulgata’s Shadow.

Properties: Dexterity +50, Speed +20, Jump +20, Cloaking +20, Reflex +20

Steal (Rank 7): Allows the player to steal money or items from players and monsters.

Shadow Waltz (Rank 7): Stealth +50, Cloaking +50, Speed +50; 2 seconds of invincibility upon activation; cannot be detected through stealth for the first 12 seconds.

Restrictions: None

Sulgata’s Cloth Boots had undergone a massive transformation. This was especially true for Steal and Shadow Waltz, both fairly rare skills, which went up from rank Rank 3 to Rank 7. Shadow Waltz also gained 2 seconds of invincibility, putting it above Gale Step in terms of usefulness.

Sun had truly helped Nie Yan out a great deal.

Nie Yan wondered how much Sun had improved since their last meeting. He remembered passing down all the Shadow Dancer techniques that Sun had displayed in his past life.

Nie Yan was confident Sun would master them quickly, especially since he was their original inventor in the previous timeline.

"So, how’s your progress with the techniques I taught you from before?” Nie Yan asked in anticipation.

"Out of the seven techniques you showed me, I only learned two of them, Shadow Steps and Illusion Steps. These Shadow Dancer techniques are too difficult. I still can’t pull some of them off even after practicing hundreds of times. I guess I’m just too stupid…” Sun rubbed his head. He was worried about being scolded, since he believed Nie Yan had mastered all the techniques while he could only use two at an elementary level. In reality, his comprehension ability already far surpassed ordinary players.

Nie Yan himself had only mastered Shadow Steps and Death’s Dance. Although Illusion Steps was somewhat easier than Death’s Dance, it still required remarkable comprehension ability. He was truly in awe of Sun’s talent for having gained basic mastery over Shadow Steps and Illusion Steps in such a short time. Some people were just born to play the Thief class.

Nie Yan had only been middle of the pack in his past life. He was like a clumsy idiot compared to the outstanding geniuses, having only picked up a few things through watching their videos religiously. Even though he ultimately failed to become a Shadow Dancer, he still left behind a colourful mark! A nobody like him took down Cao Xu, a mighty overlord whose influence spanned the entire Viridian Empire!

Even though Nie Yan enjoyed the benefits of reincarnation in this life, it was only a temporary advantage. Someone would eventually surpass him. Perhaps one day, there would be many players superior to him. However, he was still the guild leader of Asskickers United. This was an undeniable fact. He was looking forward to seeing the talents he recruited pass him one after the other. When that time came, he could rest easy. Whenever something came up, he wouldn’t need to personally take action.

"Mhm, not bad. You should show me the Illusion Steps later, I still haven’t mastered it,” Nie Yan said openly. If he couldn’t, he couldn’t, simple as that. There was no need to hide this to save face. His talent was inferior to Sun’s, a fact he had long since accepted. He could only continue improving by learning from others; otherwise, he would just fall further and further behind—and that would be the true shame.

"Even big brother hasn’t mastered the Illusion Steps?” Sun asked in surprise.

"I’ve only mastered Shadow Steps and Death’s Dance of the seven techniques,” Nie Yan answered. Shadow Dancer techniques were simply far too difficult. Most Shadow Dancers in the previous timeline could only perform two or three of them, making Sun’s rapid mastery over two of them absolutely absurd.

"I thought Big Brother had already mastered all seven of these techniques.”

"Nobody excels at everything. Learning Shadow Dancer techniques requires talent, and yours is better than mine. Keep working hard.” Nie Yan smiled. Sun was already both hardworking and talented. He was destined for success.

"Of these seven Shadow Dancer techniques, I felt that Shadow Steps was the easiest and Death’s Dance the hardest. I still can’t get the pacing right for that one. I only mastered the Illusion Steps by accident, so I thought my inability to learn all seven was a sign of my stupidness,” Sun admitted with a clearly relieved look on his face. The fact that Nie Yan hadn’t mastered all seven techniques didn’t lower Sun’s regard for him at all. His big brother would always be the true number one in his heart. After all, the seven techniques were only supplementary, not an all-encompassing measurement of strength.

When Bladelight and the others witnessed Nie Yan confessing his inferiority to Sun, they couldn’t help but feel a tinge of admiration. Nie Yan being the leader of Asskickers United absolutely wasn’t due to luck. Strength wasn’t the only thing required in a leader. Humility was important too.

A guild was a reflection of its leader. Asskickers United’s tenaciousness, unyielding attitude, and unwavering loyalty were all influenced by Nie Yan!

Nie Yan and the others started spreading out, using the Death Wave Scrolls to clear the Faelins. By the end, all of them would be around Level 52–53. More importantly, if Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Young Seven, and the others successfully class advanced, they could capture the stronghold at the heart of Greater Calore.

Chapter 361 - Blaze Step

The rest of the evening was spent levelling, which continued when everyone logged back on the next day. Lil’ Gold reached Level 50. He had already grown far larger in size, with Nie Yan only reaching his waist. Such a large Golden Dragon appearing in front of ordinary players would surely elicit cries of shock and terror.

Lil’ Gold’s health increased to almost 9,000, and he also learned two new skills.

Dragon Fireball: Ranged Single-Target Chaos Attack. Range: 50 meters. Attack Interval: 3 seconds.

Dragon Fireball was a long-ranged attack. Few casters had attacks that could reach over 50 meters, so it was definitely useful.

Blaze Step (Junior): The Golden Dragon ignites everything it passes through within a 5 meter radius ablaze, leaving behind a trail of fire which continues to burn for 20 seconds. Duration: 3 minutes. Cooldown: 30 minutes. Ranks up at Level 100.

Blaze Step was an area-of-effect skill. Lil’ Gold’s Speed had reached 378, which was only slightly slower than Nie Yan.

With these two new skills, Lil’ Gold’s strength greatly increased. As a Golden Dragon, he was already a top-tier pet. But thanks to the effects of the Evolution Crystal, he became all the more amazing, to the extent his growth far surpassed anyone’s imagination. Even Nie Yan would find it difficult to take him down.

Nie Yan’s mind trembled when he read over Blaze Step’s description. This skill was made for mobbing! It wouldn’t lose out to any area-of-effect spell!

Nie Yan didn’t use the Death Wave Scrolls like before, instead ordering Lil’ Gold to attract the aggro of the mobs. Following a Dragon Breath, a group of Faelins immediately descended on him. Lil’ Gold quickly turned back and ran but not before activating Blaze Step, leaving a trail of fire in its wake.

Several dozen Faelins chased after Lil’ Gold and dove headlong into the flames, causing damage values to float up above their heads. The flames only dealt 100 or so damage due to the level difference. But since they continued to burn, the Faelins took damage every second, which accumulated quickly. As time passed, their health bars slowly drained until they finally collapsed dead on the ground, leaving behind a trail of corpses.

It appeared Nie Yan could use Blaze Step to level, which would save him a lot of Death Wave Scrolls. The mobbing speed wasn’t too bad either.

「What’s everyone’s levels at now?」Nie Yan asked in voice chat.

「I’m Level 53,」Smoke Stub said.

「I’m Level 52,」Sun said.

「I just hit Level 50.」

...

Everyone had at least reached Level 50. Many were a high enough level to storm the top 10 on the level leaderboards. But almost all of them had chosen to remain anonymous, so their names didn’t appear.

Tang Yao had reached Level 56. He was once more far ahead of Mad Blade. The amount of experience between a single level past Level 50 was enormous. Mad Blade would have to spend at least several days grinding nonstop to catch up.

A little earlier. Mad Blade, clad in a full set of Level 50 Gold-grade equipment, was currently levelling in the middle of the wilderness. He had already class advanced to a Great Berserker. He was going all out, cutting down one Level 60 Elite after another. He was quickly closing the gap between him and Tang Yao. Obtaining the number one position would be a great morale boost for the dispirited guild members of Bloodlust Blades. Just after he finished taking down a Level 60 Elite, he glanced at the leaderboards, only to see Tang Yao had reached Level 55.

Seeing Tang Yao pulling further ahead, Mad Blade increased his pace. But to his dismay, the gap was only growing wider. It was almost as if his opponent was on steroids. Not long after reaching Level 55, Tang Yao levelled up again.

Mad Blade stared at the leaderboards with a look of disbelief on his face. He had put in so much blood and sweat to catch up. But when he had almost achieved his goal, Tang Yao opened the gap again. How could he not find this hard to accept?

Tang Yao’s levelling speed shocked many players. He could even level this quickly beyond Level 50? This guy was from another world!

Despite Tang Yao holding his position for over a month, everybody was expecting Mad blade to overtake him. Who could’ve expected the tides to turn so abruptly.

Although Tang Yao wasn’t as famous as Nie Yan, he was still ranked number one on the leaderboards, not to mention he had held that position for so long. He could be considered one of Asskickers United’s gold signboards. If he fell, the guild’s reputation would surely take a hit. But for now, his legend remained firmly standing, showing no signs of collapse. Mad Blade’s efforts had all been but futile.

If Tang Yao was only pulling ahead bit by bit, Mad Blade might still have a chance by changing up his levelling methods. However, Tang Yao’s level had skyrocketed at a speed that could best be described as inhuman. This struck a fatal blow to Mad Blade’s confidence. Even if he spent several more gruelling days catching up, who was to say Tang Yao wouldn’t just do the same thing again? In that case, what was the point?

Nie Yan and the others were still grinding Faelins.

「Have you guys found any Junior Revive skill books?」Nie Yan asked.「Given how long we’ve been grinding, I’m sure we’ve obtained quite a few.」

「I found one.」

「I picked up two.」

Nie Yan counted 10 Junior Revive skill books in total. Their drop rate here was astonishing. Thanks to these skill books, they would have another 10 Priests who could cast Junior Revive!

「I’m out of Death Wave Scrolls, so I’ll be returning to Calore to do my class advancement. You guys should do the same as well,」Nie Yan said after checking his bag.

「Later, Boss!」

「Bye, Big Brother!」

...

Nie Yan activated a Return Scroll. With a flash of light, he returned to Calore. Since it was a new day, he visited the various auction houses and listed up 90 pieces of equipment in total, all of which were much higher quality than the ones from the day prior. He only dropped by the auction houses that showed the fiercest competition on the first batch. As for the auction houses where the equipment sold for a low price, he didn’t bother visiting them again.

The second batch of sales immediately stirred up several cities. Those who had the wealth immediately rushed to the auction houses or opened up the Super Trade Channel to fight over the equipment.

"He’s finally selling again! Thankfully, that guy still has Night Vision equipment left. No matter what, I have to get a piece today! If he runs out, I won’t even have time to weep!”

The vast majority of players didn’t lack money. Especially the whales who had purchased a large amount of gold in preparation for exactly this moment. As soon as Nie Yan put up the equipment for auction, they started a frantic bidding war, raising the prices to frightening heights.

Add this to the fact the equipment today was of a much higher quality, and Nie Yan was sure to make a killing!

The chaotic scene in the auction houses left the players of Calore speechless. This was the largest spectacle they had ever seen, with wealthy players frantically fighting over only several pieces of equipment.

All 90 pieces of equipment were sold in no time. Each one went for more than 4,000 gold, some even over 5,000. The total profit was 420,000 gold, a shocking figure!

When the commotion finally settled down, Guo Huai sent Nie Yan a message.「How did it go? How much gold did we make?」

「420,000 gold,」Nie Yan replied. This was only the beginning. The Viridian Empire’s market was far from being saturated!

Guo Huai was blown away. This was amazing! With that much gold, not only could they resolve their current problems, it would even aid in the guild’s development!

「I’ll leave 200,000 gold to payout any bounties that might come up. I’ll also leave 120,000 gold to restock the treasury, increase the number of guild expeditions, and pay out more merit points. I’m going to invest the remaining 100,000 gold into the Starry Night Potion. I want to upgrade every branch to Tier 7!」

Upgrading to Tier 5 only required a few hundred gold, whereas upgrading to Tier 7 required several thousand. With so many branches in need of upgrading, Nie Yan would definitely have to spend a lot of gold. After upgrading the shops, he planned to hire a large amount of Alchemists, Tinkerers, Enchanters, and so on, cornering every market!

Nie Yan already had a blueprint in his mind. He also planned to acquire more auction houses and link them all up with the Super Trade Channel!

Since funds were ample, Nie Yan could fulfil his ambitions without worry. He deposited 320,000 gold into Guo Huai’s personal storage. Afterwards, he headed to the Starry Night Potion Shop and handed over 100,000 gold to Bird, telling him to expand the business according to the plans they previously discussed.

The main branch of the Starry Night Potion Shop in Calore was already a Tier 7 Shop. He would have to upgrade it to at least Tier 10! Not to mention he would have to increase the number of NPC employees to 30 at minimum! This place was packed with customers every day. Not upgrading wasn’t an option!

With the recent popularity of Night Vision Equipment, and Asskickers United’s money troubles suddenly disappearing, many people could deduce the person behind this all was Nie Yan. The upcoming massive expansion of the Starry Night Potion Shop would also likely be attributed to him. But so what? This was the time for Asskickers United to show off their strength!

Chapter 362 - Great Thief Class Advancement Quest

The rapid development of the Starry Night Potion Shop naturally drew the attention of many eyes. Every branch was upgraded to Tier 7, while the main store became Tier 10. Just how much gold did all this cost? Thanks to this demonstration of wealth by the Starry Night Potion Shop, not to mention the salaries they offered were much higher compared to the past, Alchemists once more flooded their doors.

Besides the Starry Night Potion Shop, which was an unrivalled hegemon in the Viridian Empire’s alchemy industry, Nie Yan was also rapidly developing his businesses in other industries such as Tinkering, Blacksmithing, Enchanting, and Salvaging. However, since these markets were relatively small, there was no widespread recruitment campaign. He only hired enough players to open up two or three shops, but they were all notable in his past life.

For the Starry Night Potion Shop to achieve its current dominance was already impressive. The competition in other markets was fierce. Just gaining a foothold was extremely difficult. You needed absolute assurance for such an undertaking, or you were better off not trying at all. Better slow and steady than quick and rash. Many companies frequently failed because they expanded too rapidly from the start.

After every branch of the Starry Night Potion Shop was upgraded, Nie Yan predicted daily profits would rise to over 30,000 gold. As player demand for potions continued to grow, so too would the profits.

With the Starry Night Potion Shop and Asskickers United both recently making large movements, many players suspected they belonged to the same group, which explained their close relationship. If Asskickers United had the support of the Starry Night Potion Shop, it was no wonder they could last against Bloodlust Blades for so long.

The name Nirvana Flame garnered so much reverence in part because of his outstanding skill but more so his powerful background.

…

Nie Yan headed to the Thief Association to start his class advancement quest, which was divided into five difficulties: Easy, Normal, Hard, Expert, and Specialist. Clearing it on Hard difficulty or higher gave an additional item reward; otherwise, everything was the same. It was rumoured the reward for beating the Specialist difficulty was a Legendary item. However, he didn’t dare to confirm this. In the previous timeline, countless experts including Sun had tried, but none succeeded.

Specialist was simply too difficult and the penalties for failing too severe, which included being barred from attempting the class advancement quest again for 10 days. Nie Yan didn’t dare to take this risk. At most, he would try it on Expert.

Before long, Nie Yan arrived outside the doorsteps of the Thief Association. The wooden building with a steeple at the top looked worn-down as though it had weathered many centuries. It carried a unique architectural style.

Nie Yan stepped inside and was greeted by a dark hall, filled with rows of shabby desks and chairs and without a single source of light. There were several cloaked NPCs standing up ahead. Their appearances were hidden, with only sharp pairs of eyes revealing their presence in the darkness.

NPC Thieves generally liked to wear cloaks. This was due to a legend passed down by the Thief Association.

One day long ago, a cloaked traveller encountered three Death Custodians carrying out a slaughter while passing through a village. With nothing but his bare hands, he killed one of them and obtained a sharp dagger called Hades’ Nail. He used the dagger to kill the second Death Custodian and obtained a technique to turn invisible. He finally snuck behind the last Death Custodian and pierced its heart, obtaining the power of the shadows.

This action angered the death god. So in order to avoid being hunted down, the cloaked traveler never revealed their appearance again.

This was the origin of the Thief. However, it was only a folktale and not something people took seriously.

Nie Yan walked forward and spotted a slim player sitting in a chair, listening to one of the NPCs. They were probably attempting their class advancement quest too.

There currently weren’t many Thieves who could attempt class advancement. The slim player looked somewhat familiar.

Nie Yan recalled this fellow was Skinny Dog, a player from Victorious Return. It seemed enemies were destined to cross paths time and time again. They could even meet in a place like this.

Nie Yan glanced at the five NPC Thieves up ahead. All of them could give out the class advancement quest.

Nie Yan directly walked forward.

When Skinny Dog heard footsteps behind him, he turned to see Nie Yan. He quickly stood up and greeted in a nervous manner, "B-b-boss Nirvana Flame!” Realizing his slip of the tongue, his face flushed red with embarrassment.

Ever since he had died twice at the hands of Nie Yan, Skinny Dog would repeatedly review the recordings of their battles among others while frantically honing his skills. But every time a new video of Nie Yan appeared, he would feel a deep sense of powerlessness, telling him he would never reach this person’s level no matter how much he practiced. Nie Yan was practically a god-like existence in his heart.

Nie Yan’s techniques were extremely profound. The more Skinny Dog researched them, the more fear and admiration he felt.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but be amused by how Skinny Dog referred to him. After musing the thought, he felt there was no point in making things difficult for the guy. After all, the two of them weren’t even on the same level.

"Ah, you’re here too?” Nie Yan smiled faintly at Skinny Dog before walking up to one of the NPC Thieves.

Seeing Nie Yan’s smile, Skinny Dog gawked as his heart trembled. He never expected Nie Yan to greet him back. Such an esteemed figure could easily ignore a small character like him. Suddenly recalling their hostile relationship, he silently left the Thief Association after receiving his class advancement quest.

Skinny Dog no longer had the face to take revenge. He was nothing more than a speck of dust on the road compared to Nie Yan.

When Nie Yan turned around, Skinny Dog had already departed. He sat down in front of one of the NPC Thieves.

Great Thief Featherston: Level 60

Featherston turned to Nie Yan and asked, "Dancer of the shadows, Nirvana Flame, do you have the determination to advance to a Great Thief?

Do you wish to accept the Great Thief class advancement quest? Difficulty: Expert.

Yes!

You have accepted the Great Thief class advancement quest.

"Avarice leads to depravity. The Nilan Colosseum, situated in the north of the Ishberg Mountains, is a famous gambling establishment. They’ve hoodwinked countless people out of their money. Many rich merchants from the big cities visit and gamble their gold away recklessly. But business came to a stop two months ago, when a group of Thieves from the Evil Faction raided the place. They slaughtered more than 10 civilians and took 100 hostages, locking them up in cages and demanding ransom from their families for their release. Those wishing for quick riches will inevitably fall to evil and suffer the punishment of the temple. Brave Adventurer, are you willing to help us save the hostages?”

"Yes, Sir Featherston. I’m willing!”

Rescued Hostages: (0/100)

The Great Thief class advancement quest was random for everyone. Nie Yan never expected to receive a hostage rescue mission.

"Here, take these 100 Instant Transfer Scrolls. The Evil Faction Thieves are extremely powerful. Remember not to fight them head-on under any circumstances. Just hand the scrolls to the hostages, and they’ll be able to safely escape,” Featherston instructed.

Nie Yan accepted the 100 Instant Transfer Scrolls and stored them in his bag. He had obtained an important clue from Featherston. It appeared the Evil Faction Thieves were far stronger than him, meaning killing them was likely impossible. He would have to rely on stealth to solve this quest.

Stealth was indisputably the most useful tool in a Thief’s arsenal! So the Great Thief class advancement quest testing his stealth proficiency was no surprise.

Nie Yan continued chatting with Featherston to inquire more information about the quest.

Afterwards, Nie Yan left the Thief Association and headed to a general store to stock up on consumables.

「Nirvana Flame.」Yao Yao sent Nie Yan a message.

「What’s the matter? How’s your progress with Karsi’s Blessing?」Nie Yan asked. Yao Yao’s sweet voice was like a spring breeze in his mind. He immediately thought of Xie Yao, despite their voices sounding nothing alike since Conviction changed that aspect too.

These past few days, Nie Yan had been escorting Xie Yao to and back from school. The two were much closer than before. However, they deliberately avoided mentioning the embarrassing incident from several days before. Nie Yan was gradually beginning to feel that Xie Yao and Yao Yao were the same person. However, it was only a vague feeling, and he had no way of confirming. Every time he chatted with either of the two girls, he made zero progress in finding out. Directly asking her would also be rude, since she might be keeping it from him for a reason.

「I’ve already finished the second part in the quest chain. Now I’m doing the third,」Yao Yao replied. She had been in a sealed map the last few days, so she had no way of contacting the outside world. As soon as she got out, she messaged Nie Yan.

「Nice! What level are you?」Nie Yan asked. He was surprised Yao Yao actually completed the second quest in the Karsi’s Blessing questline. Its difficulty was extremely high, and many top experts failed it in the previous timeline.

「Level 52.」

「You can do your class advancement quest now,」Nie Yan said. Given she completed the second quest in Karsi’s Blessing, Yao Yao could be considered one of the top players in Asskickers United.

Nie Yan recalled the previous timeline. Although Yao Yao was skilled, she was in no way a peak expert, or even an expert. He never expected his butterfly effect to be so great. She had joined the ranks of top experts because of his influence. This could only mean her talent was in no way inferior to the likes of Bladelight, Young Seven, Undying Scoundrel, and the others.

Yao Yao was slightly annoyed. Nie Yan seemed to only care about matters regarding the game whenever they chatted.

「How’s the guild doing?」Yao Yao asked. She had already ordered the Dragonsoar Financial Group to amass gold nonstop. During this time, they had provided Asskickers United with well over 200,000 gold.

「The crisis has passed. The ones who should be worrying now aren’t us but rather Bloodlust Blades,」Nie Yan said with a faint chuckle.

Chapter 363 - Contempt

During his conversation with Yao Yao, Nie Yan recalled the items he had obtained in his recent adventures. He decided to gift her Akeph’s Hand of Knowledge, sending it to her through the mail. He deposited the other piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment, Ina’s Prayer Gloves, into his personal storage.

He knew this gesture was only a pittance compared to everything she had done for him in his past life—and this one if his suspicions about her being Xie Yao were confirmed true.

Yao Yao’s voice was like a clear running stream, washing away all the worries in Nie Yan’s mind.

She felt relieved after learning that Asskickers United’s troubles were resolved while she was stuck in the sealed map.

The Dragonsoar Financial Group could match the Century Financial Group’s gold gathering speed for a day or two without any issue. But any longer and they would almost certainly burn out.

Including himself and Yao Yao, Nie Yan counted more than 60 players who were currently eligble to class advance in Asskickers United. He believed these players had a high chance of advancing even further in the future. This kind of growth potential could only be matched by a handful of guilds in Conviction, such as Angel Corps in the Satreen Empire and Fallen Angel in the Undead Empire.

Nie Yan teleported to Ishberg, a peaceful town near the Ishberg Mountains. There were newly built homes with well-kept lawns and flourishing flower beds everywhere. One could imagine how wealthy the residents of this place were.

The NPC residents on the streets walked with hurried footsteps, the expressions on their faces filled with worry.

Nie Yan recalled visiting Ishberg at Level 60 during his past life. Any NPC resident you randomly encountered would give you a quest to hunt Evil Faction Thieves after chatting with them for a bit. The reward was quite generous, so many players would come here in teams to farm gold.

Nie Yan was surprised he had received this hostage rescue mission as a class advancement quest. He walked out of town and summoned his Faulkner Warhorse before galloping away towards the northern part of the Ishberg Mountains.

Nie Yan encountered Level 60 Thorny Treants in his path. They were covered in ash gray bark, resembling giant stumps with sharp thorns growing out of them. Their attack power and defense were formidable.

Advancing through the rugged mountain path on horseback, Nie Yan heard the intense crackling of magic in a ravine off in the distance. This is a Level 60 map. I wonder which guild sent a team here to level?

Nie Yan recalled that a Level 60 Lord spawned in that specific ravine. Any group of players that could hunt such a powerful monster definitely wasn’t simple. He pondered for a moment before ultimately deciding to head over there to investigate.

Standing above a steep cliff, Nie Yan looked down and spotted a coal-black Thorny Treant in a heated battle against a group of 70 players. The Fighters were at the front while the Mages were raining down magic from the back.

Only a few guilds in Calore were capable of taking on a Level 60 Lord: Asskickers United, Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, Radiant Sacred Flame, and Victorious Return. The rest were all too weak.

Nie Yan discovered this group of players was an expedition team from Victorious Return. They were quite powerful, with all of them around Level 45.

They were battling the Thorny Treant Lord in a half-moon formation. A squad of Thieves relentlessly assaulted the monster from behind.

The Mages were scattered further in the back, perched on top of boulders, trees, and ledges; any place that gave a suitable vantage point.

Victorious Return... Eh? Nie Yan’s lips parted into a devious smile. He didn’t have the time to tangle with these players. But it wasn’t his style to just leave quietly, not to mention he was the guild leader of Asskickers United. People would laugh at him!

At minimum Nie Yan had to let these players know he was here!

Nie Yan jumped off the cliff and started descending down to the ravine below. His fingers danced around in the air, and he mumbled a series of incantations. A moment later, Lil’ Gold appeared in front of him. Man and dragon walked side by side.

"Worldly, the Thorny Treant Lord will summon vines soon. Make sure you’re prepared after it howls. You have to guard your position no matter what!” a Holy Mage calmly instructed. He was called Fresh Fish, the top Holy Mage in Victorious Return. He was in charge of leading this expedition team in taking down the Thorny Treant Lord.

"Sky Piercer, Magic Booster!”

"Alright!” Liu Rui answered. He buffed Fresh Fish with Magic Booster, which increased casting speed.

Liu Rui’s character was called Sky Piercer. He was currently Level 44 and ranked among the top 50 in Victorious Return. He used to be proud of this achievement, but now it was just a constant reminder of his humiliation. He had just received word from Feiyun that Xie Yao had already reached Level 52. This was simply too shocking. What’s more, she wore at least 3 pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment, which was viewed as godly equipment by players!

Liu Rui felt a deep sense of inferiority when he compared himself to Xie Yao. Were she only one or two levels ahead of him, perhaps he still stood a chance of catching up. However, the current eight-level gap was like an uncrossable chasm.

Liu Rui knew he could never catch up to Xie Yao, no matter how hard he tried. This held doubly true for that man behind Xie Yao the other day—Nirvana Flame, an immortal legend. How could he possibly contend against such an existence? He was having nightmares of Xie Yao nestled in that man’s embrace every time he closed his eyes, which caused him to boil with rage. You’re supposed to be mine, Xie Yao! If I can’t have you, no one will!

Everything was going smoothly under Fresh Fish’s command. The Fighters had firmly locked down the Thorny Treant Lord.

"Keep at it, everyone! The Thorny Treant Lord is almost dead! Priests, pick up the pace. Heal faster!” Fresh Fish tensely shouted. The Thorny Treant Lord had fallen to only 2% health.

Just at this moment, a huge commotion erupted.

"Boss, someone’s coming!”

"It’s Nirvana Flame. He’s with his Golden Dragon!”

Fresh Fish looked at where his players were frantically pointing. He saw a player leisurely descending the slope with a Golden Dragon. His heart shook. Nie Yan’s appearance was like a proclamation from the reaper.

Seeing Nie Yan unhurriedly walking towards them, the players from Victorious Return held their breaths.

"What the hell are you guys doing! Kill the Thorny Treant Lord, quickly!” Fresh Fish hollered. Even if Nie Yan took action, they had to secure the drops no matter what!

Nie Yan indifferently glanced at the Thorny Treant Lord. Its drops were of little interest to him. He was simply passing by. Taking action against these players would be a bit beneath him.

Nie Yan was only 50 meters away. The players from Victorious Return nervously glanced at him while trying to focus on the battle. As they ruthlessly bombarded the Thorny Treant Lord with spells, its skin started turning red.

"Be careful, the Thorny Treant Lord is summoning vines! Protect against it!”

"Hurry up!”

The Thorny Treant Lord let out a deep roar as giant vines erupted out of the ground, ensnaring the players from Victorious Return. Only a few Fighters who were protected by spell shields escaped unscathed.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」A dense shower of spells rained down on the Thorny Treant Lord. It let out a mournful howl before collapsing on the ground.

Two Fighters rushed forward and secured the loot that dropped.

Fresh Fish breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as if a heavy weight was lifted from his shoulders. He glanced back at Nie Yan, who was slowly walking towards them. What happened next was out of their control.

The players from Victorious Return were bound by the vines of the Thorny Treant Lord. They gazed at Nie Yan slowly approaching them. He was only 10 meters away. Lil’ Gold, whose immense size caused them to shiver in fear, snorted out a few flames from his snout. When his bell-sized eyes swept over the crowd, they felt their hearts tighten in their chests.

In stark contrast, Nie Yan was completely carefree. He arrogantly gazed at them before continuing on his way.

"Heed my order! No one is allowed to attack first!” Fresh Fish feared Nie Yan was baiting them, trying to get them to make the first move so the game would think he was acting in self-defense. He refused to bite, deathly afraid of being hooked by Nie Yan’s lure.

However, Nie Yan’s presence gave them a lot of pressure. Was he planning to slaughter them?

These 70 players were all staring at Nie Yan. The vines ensnaring them slowly unraveled. As he arrived in front of them, like a prophet parting the sea, the members of Victorious Return stepped off to the side one after another to let him pass.

Nie Yan’s indifference weighed heavily on their minds. He was but one man surrounded by 70, yet they were too scared to make a move. They could only nervously form a loose circle around him.

This was a type of undisguised contempt!

Even if all of them attacked, Nie Yan wouldn’t fear them in the slightest.

Nie Yan along with Lil’ Gold walked through them, as if he was enjoying a casual stroll.

Fresh Fish raised his staff before lowering it back down. With a single word, he could order all 70 or so players under his command to simultaneously attack Nie Yan. However, the scene of Nie Yan slaughtering dozens of players from Bloodlust Blades flashed through his mind. He trembled. If they really took the initiative to attack, the only corpses on the ground would be theirs!

Nie Yan swept his eyes over the crowd. No one dared to meet his gaze. He was practically a god in the flesh in Conviction. His gaze suddenly fell on on a certain player, Sky Piercer!

Nie Yan never expected to see Liu Rui here as well. It appeared enemies were destined to cross paths!

Chapter 364 - Super Alliance

Liu Rui watched Nie Yan arrogantly strolling over and felt like an insignificant speck of dust as he stood among the crowd. He recently lost two levels in a row due to being targeted by Thieves from Asskickers United. Only after spending a fortune to acquire a large supply of Unknown Transfer Scrolls did he dare to venture out of the city again, quickly teleporting away at the slightest sign of danger. Every day was miserable, never knowing when the next ambush might happen. He of course knew who the perpetrator behind all this was!

Liu Rui’s pride was deeply wounded. He gritted his teeth in anger and humiliation. He already hated Nie Yan to the bone and could barely hold himself back after seeing such a cocky display.

Now the shoe was on the other foot. Liu Rui had used even nastier methods in the previous timeline. Nie Yan planned to thoroughly pay everything back!

Nie Yan’s lips curved into a smile of contempt. Liu Rui would never again have the qualifications to compete with him!

Seeing the look of disdain in Nie Yan’s eyes, Liu Rui’s fury erupted like a volcano. There was only so much he could take. A blazing Arcane Fireball condensed in his palm.

Liu Rui felt confident his teammates wouldn’t stand idly by if he took action. At worst the situation would devolve into a full-out battle. It was much better than taking this humiliation lying down!

"Shit! What the fuck are you doing, Sky Piercer!? Stand down, now!” Fresh Fish hollered. But it was too late. Liu Rui shot the Arcane Fireball at Nie Yan.

Lil’ Gold stepped forward and blocked the fireball, which exploded into a shower of embers on his golden scales.

Fresh Fish felt his stomach drop like a stone. They had attacked first, meaning Nie Yan could retaliate against them without facing any repercussion. He raised his staff in preparation for an imminent slaughter.

"Nirvana Flame, I’ll crush you beneath my feet one day!” Liu Rui flared as his face distorted with fury and vitriol.

"You’re welcome to try. Let’s see if you have the skill.” Nie Yan couldn’t even be bothered to spare a glance at such a hollow display. Liu Rui was all bark and zero bite.

At this moment, Lil’ Gold turned his head and shot out a Dragon Fireball. Before Liu Rui could even react, the blazing attack engulfed him in flames.

How could a cloth-armoured Mage withstand a single hit from Lil’ Gold?

Naturally, it was an instant kill!

Liu Rui fell dead to the ground. His clothes were burnt black, and smoke rose up from his corpse.

Lil’ Gold snorted a few flames from his nostrils after making short work of Liu Rui, then looked around, almost as if he were asking if there were any other takers.

The players from Victorious Return felt their blood run cold. Only now did they have an understanding of Lil’ Gold’s terrifying power.

Nie Yan’s expression remained unchanged after killing Liu Rui. However, the players from Victorious Return were shaking in their boots.

Still no one else dared to attack Nie Yan. They were all waiting for Fresh Fish’s command.

Liu Rui actually thought he could instigate everyone into battle. This was simply wishful thinking!

Nie Yan was almost 10 levels above them at Level 54 and geared out in amazing equipment. Add this to the fact he also had a powerful Level 50 Golden Dragon by his side, and it was no wonder they were hesitant to act.

The Warriors and Berserkers were prepared to rush forward.「Everybody, remain calm. Don’t attack without my orders!」Fresh Fish commanded in voice chat.

Fresh Fish’s forehead seeped with cold sweat. He felt like he was walking on a knife’s edge. It was still possible to maintain a standoff at this moment. But if things escalated any further, all hell would break loose, at which point no one could predict what might happen. Nie Yan was simply too frightening. Fresh Fish had no idea how to guard against such a Thief.

Everyone’s nerves were stretched taught. They would dogpile Nie Yan as soon as he took action.

Fresh Fish raised his staff before lowering it down again in the end. As long as everyone simultaneously attacked Nie Yan, they could obliterate him. He predicted the Golden Dragon wouldn’t fare much better off against such an intense barrage of attacks.

But Fresh Fish ultimately didn’t dare to take action. Nie Yan was bound to have some aces up his sleeve. Why else would he act so brazenly?

Nie Yan always had assurances. He would never allow himself to fall into a dangerous situation.

Fresh Fish feared they might end up similar to Liu Rui, getting crushed like ants.

Nie Yan and Lil’ Gold continued walking forwards as the players from Victorious Return stepped aside and let them pass.

The tension in the air was palpable. They were ready to attack at a moment’s notice.

However, Nie Yan didn’t show any signs of making a move. From his perspective, thoroughly destroying the fighting spirit and confidence of the enemy was far more effective than simply killing them.

There was no need for him to take action.

Nie Yan and Lil’ Gold leisurely strolled past the crowd, getting further and further away before disappearing into the horizon. Fresh Fish and the others breathed a sigh of relief. Their backs were drenched with cold sweat.

This was the deterring power of Nirvana Flame. His presence alone on the battlefield caused players to feel chills at the back their necks. No one knew where his Zennarde’s Sword would come down next.

Fresh Fish’s expedition team could boast about being elites in Victorious Return. But in Asskickers United they didn’t amount to anything!

Level 45 players were nothing rare in Asskickers United; there were at least 2,000 of them. Victorious Return would be hard-pressed to find even 300.

At Level 54 Nie Yan was already an untouchable existence.

Their confidence was thoroughly crushed. All of them had dispirited looks on their faces.

"Come on, let’s go home.” Fresh Fish sighed and started to understand why Nie Yan walked through them but didn’t attack. He did something far more cruel than slaughtering all of them. Once a person’s spirit was crushed, there was no getting back up.

Everyone started teleporting back to Calore with their Return Scrolls, feeling as if they had just escaped the jaws of death.

Many of the players in the expedition team quit Victorious Return, including Liu Rui. They no longer saw a future in staying there, save for being the targets of ridicule.

Before long, a video of this incident was posted up on the forums. It spread like wildfire.

This was the arrogance of the Mad Rogue, looking down on the whole world in disdain! He could even frighten an elite expedition team from Victorious Return into submission! The scene of Liu Rui being instantly killed by the Dragon Fireball from Lil’ Gold was also hotly discussed.

There was a flood of comments below the video.

「I prostrate myself in worship! What a god!」

「Does anyone know the stats of that Golden Dragon? It’s so strong!」

…

Players with nothing better to do with their time started guessing Lil’ Gold’s stats. Just what sort of attack power was required to instantly kill a Level 44 Mage at full health?

The video became another classic, forever remaining in the minds of the players. Were there ever a day where they could act as brazenly as Nie Yan, they could die happily!

Liu Rui became the biggest laughingstock on the forums. He was ridiculed for overestimating himself, an ant trying to topple a great oak. This fellow actually dared to attack Nirvana Flame. He was practically asking to die!

Players also started taking notice that Victorious Return’s glory days were long over. Their players were more cautious and reserved, no longer daring to act as unbridled like in the past where they would close off entire maps to the public. Could this once prestigious guild survive such a fall from grace?

Many players quietly withdrew from Victorious Return. Only the weaker low level players that no other guild would take stayed. The experts left. Since they were once sworn enemies, they couldn’t join Asskickers United, so they would try their luck in Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire. At worst, they would spend a bit of gold to migrate to another city. They might join the newly arisen War God Tribe or a well established guild like Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, or Battle Crazed Alliance. Bloodlust Blades was teetering on the verge of collapse, so no one in their right mind would go there.

Nothing could stop Asskickers United’s rise to power. They crushed every enemy in their path without exception.

Even Victorious Return and Bloodlust Blades had become stepping stones for Asskickers United.

Nie Yan took a look at the video while on the road and couldn’t help but smile. He wasn’t actually the person who had posted it to the forums. Rather it was a disgruntled player over on their side who still felt Victorious Return hadn’t lost enough face. Heaven Breaker was probably seething with rage right now.

Victorious Return had eaten a bitter fruit. At this moment, Guo Huai informed Nie Yan that Radiant Sacred Flame and Battle Crazed Alliance had taken the initiative to restart negotiations about a collaboration. They could no longer sit still after recent events, with Asskickers United raising their benefits and the Starry Night Potion Shop upgrading all their branches. After displaying such wealth, it was obvious Bloodlust Blades would be the one to lose!

If they waited for Asskickers United to defeat Bloodlust Blades before reopening negotiations, it would already be too late, and they would have lost all leverage. Asskickers United would recover from their losses far stronger than before, and their position as the overlord of Calore would be even more unshakeable. This was especially true for Radiant Sacred Flame. Since they were based in Calore, they could only beg Asskickers United to show mercy. It would be extremly easy for Asskickers United to devour them.

After receiving the news from Guo Huai, Nie Yan gave his word. They could decide the terms of their alliance right now, but the investment wouldn’t come until at least half a month later. Furthermore, Asskickers United would control a 60% stake in both guilds, not any bit less! There were also finer details that needed to be discussed, but he left that in the hands of Guo Huai.

Guo Huai was more than willing to negotiate with these terms. Asskickers United was absolutely in a stronger position, so they held much of the sway during talks. Even if the other side wasn’t willing, they had no choice but to accept!

By acquiring Radiant Sacred Flame and Battle Crazed Alliance, Asskickers United would have a super alliance which also included the War God Tribe, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine. They would be an unstoppable powerhouse in the Viridian Empire!

Chapter 365 - Mana Storage Jewel

The Nilan Colosseum, a grand amphitheatre constructed out of ashen-white stone, was situated halfway up a mountainside. It was built in the year 921 during the Era of Shared Governance and so featured the architectural style of that particular time period. This was represented in the delicate carvings covering the walls. It stood over 30 meters tall with more than several dozen layers, some parts having collapsed due to the passage of time. The interior resembled a labyrinth, with various rooms and corridors connected together. At the center was a large arena flanked on both sides by grandstands which could hold up to 50,000 people.

This was a place where the wealthy squandered their money. The colosseum frequently hosted gladiatorial shows, earning the lion’s share of their revenue from patrons gambling on the fights.

The Nilan Colosseum was taken over by a group of Evil Faction Thieves, who had to be defeated for everything to return to normal. Their leader was a Level 70 Variant Lord, an existence which at minimum required a massive expedition team of Level 70 players to deal with. Until then this place would stay under their control.

There were Thieves cloaked in black garbs patrolling the public square up ahead. Their eyes glowed an ominous red as they sporadically popped in and out of sleath.

Theses Thieves looked tough to deal with. Enemies that could stealth were always troublesome.

Nie Yan activated Eye of Truth. Scanning his surroundings, he discovered a faint silhouette. Suddenly, he felt a strange heat flowing to his pupils as his eyes briefly flashed with a piercing red light.

An observer would notice Nie Yan’s pupils had turned blood red!

Nie Yan discovered everything seemed a lot clearer; he could make out the finer details of objects nearby, while the ones faraway no longer appeared as hazy. Another 18 silhouettes popped into sight. Out of the 20 something Thieves stealthed in the vicinity, not a single one could evade his eyes!

It turned out the Thief he discovered before was only one of many. Nie Yan would’ve likely ended up in combat if he had rushed forward just now. These Evil Faction Thieves were Level 70 monsters. There was no way he stood a chance against them!

Thankfully, Eye of Truth had ranked up!

Eye of Truth couldn’t be improved solely with frequent use. It required actively uncovering opponents in stealth in and out of combat. This was to prevent players from grinding proficiency in a cheap manner. The system also had other restrictions in place regarding the target of the skill.

Eye of Truth (Enhanced): See through an opponent’s disguise or stealth. Success is dependent on the level of the target. Cooldown: 120 seconds.

Nie Yan would have an 80% chance of detecting an equal-level Thief through stealth with the enhanced version of Eye of Truth. His ability to see through a target’s disguise was also increased to 70%!

The effectiveness of Eye of Truth greatly increased after ranking up, but there was still a high chance of failure against high level targets.

Nie Yan was always worried about Eye of Turth’s effectiveness. Now his prayers were finally answered!

Nie Yan guessed the Thieves he currently spotted with the enhanced version of Eye of Truth probably weren’t all of them. There might still be more that had escaped his detection.

I need to rely on my other senses too, not just my sight!

Nie Yan entered stealth and approached the colosseum.

The Evil Faction Thieves were Level 70 monsters. They were powerful in combat, but their stealth detection abilities were very weak. This allowed Nie Yan to sneak past them using stealth.

Nie Yan observed the movements of these Evil Faction Thieves for a while before figuring out a path forward and bypassing a group of them. He continued on and spotted several Thieves passing close to him. He could detect their bloody auras.

After bypassing several more Thieves, Nie Yan suddenly sensed something approaching him from the left. He activated Shadow Waltz and dashed 7 meters forward.

Nie Yan looked back to see an Evil Faction Thief pop out of stealth from his previous position and look around. It failed to discover anything and disappeared again.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Nie Yan looked up ahead. He was only a hundred meters from the entrance to the colosseum, two dark and foreboding metal gates. Thankfully, it wasn’t guarded by any monsters. Not too far away was a Gold treasure chest tucked away in a corner.

Nie Yan advanced another 50 meters, whereupon the number of Thieves in the vicinity lessened dramatically. After bypassing a small group of them, he arrived in front of the Gold chest without any problems. He bent down and started opening it.

Opening treasure chest… Progress: 2%… 7%...

A while later, the chest popped open with a click. Nie Yan bent down and fished around before taking out a blue pearl. It was as big as his fist and ice-cold to the touch, resembling a large sapphire as it sparkled with a soft blue radiance. It was perfectly round and smooth, except for a small, pinky-sized hole at the top.

Nie Yan appraised the pearl with Transcendent Insight.

Mana Storage Jewel (2): The player can store mana inside this jewel, which can be used later on to cast magic. Capacity: 0/5,000 mana. Cooldown: 1 day.

It’s a Mana Storage Jewel with a quality rating of 2! Not bad! Nie Yan thought in pleasant surprise.

A Magic Storage Jewel was basically a refillable Mana Potion. And this one could store up to a whopping 5,000 mana! This was equivalent to an Advanced Mana Potion. Since it didn’t share a cooldown with Mana Potions, a Mage could use it at a crucial moment to save their life!

At the later stages of the game, Magic Storage Jewels became an essential item to Mages. Players with even a little bit of wealth would carry one. Magic Storage Jewels with a rating of 1 were fairly common while ones with a rating of 2 were rarer. Magic Storage Jewels could only be found starting in Level 70 maps. Such items still hadn’t appeared in the marketplace. However, they would probably go for around 9,000 gold.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. It was probably best to give the Magic Storage Jewel to a Priest. Young Seven, Painted Muslin, Black Heaven, any one of them would do. It didn’t matter whom since they were all three contracted members. He would give the Magic Storage Jewel to them and let them decide by themselves. These three players had already become the top Priests in Asskickers United. No one else even came close. It was no surprise since they were Archbishops in the previous timeline.

With a Magic Storage Jewel, they would have one more assurance during expeditions.

I always find something nice every time I explore new maps. Nie Yan tossed the Magic Storage Jewel into his bag, then continued making his way forward.

When Nie Yan arrived in front of the entrance, he placed his hands on the metal gates and pushed with all his might.

The metal gates finally gave way with a loud groan, allowing Nie Yan to step inside. The surroundings were dark, and he felt a cold draft blow in his face. In front of him was a winding corridor filled with entrances leading to other rooms on both sides.

Nie Yan entered stealth and started exploring the corridor. He scanned around with Eye of Truth but didn’t discover any monsters roaming around.

It was too dangerous to summon Lil’ Gold in a place like this.

The corridor was decorated lavishly with a golden rug that stretched out far into the distance. There were crystal lamps on the walls, their flames rocking back and forth with the draft.

All the doors connecting to the corridor were tightly shut. Nie Yan approached one of them and hesitated for a moment before pushing it open.

Suddenly, a cold light flashed before Nie Yan as a dagger stabbed out toward his face.

Nie Yan hurriedly activated Gale Step to avoid the attack and retreated several steps back. A cloaked figure emerged in front of him.

It was an Evil Faction Thief! It wielded a sharp dagger in its hand, and there was a substance on the blade which flickered with a green light.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. The dagger was coated in poison!

Transcendent Insight!

Dusk Thief (Elite): Level 70

Health: 13,000/13,000

Humanoid creatures generally had low health pools. However, they were one of the most difficult monsters to deal with. Elite humanoid creatures often possessed rudimentary intelligence, making them far more dangerous than ordinary Elites.

The Dusk Thief pounced toward Nie Yan, striking at his forehead with a Concussive Blow.

Nie Yan sidestepped the attack. He retaliated with a Vital Strike, slashing the Dusk Thief’s neck as he brushed past and bolted away.

Nie Yan wasn’t confident he could kill the Dusk Thief even if he used all his skills. Without any skills, he would be left extremely vulnerable.

When the Dusk Thief was hit by Vital Strike, a damage value of more than 300 floated up above its head followed by a string of poison and bleed damage values ranging from 100–200.

Nie Yan kited the Dusk Thief around the corridor, slowly whittling away its health with poison and bleed damage.

Before long, the Dusk Thief fell to 2,000 health!

Nie Yan paused for a split second, leading the Dusk Thief to instantly dash forth with dagger in hand.

With Shadow Waltz, Nie Yan ducked around the Dusk Thief and then stabbed it in the back with a Lacerate and Eviscerate. Blood spurted into the air. After which he immediately ran, not daring to linger for even a second.

Chapter 366 - Thief Treasure Hoard

Nie Yan dashed away with all his might, allowing the bleed and poison damage to shave away at the Dusk Thief’s health. He was no match for the enemy in a direct confrontation, but this method was also quite effective. It just took a bit more time.

The Dusk Thief eventually cornered Nie Yan into a dead-end. There was nowhere left to run.

As the Dusk Thief pounced in for the kill, Nie Yan suddenly leaped up in the air and kicked off the wall into a backflip, landing gracefully behind the opponent. He struck the Dusk Thief in the back with Assassinate and Blast.

Nie Yan’s dagger lit up brilliantly, unleashing an explosion that sent the Dusk Thief crashing into the wall with a heavy thud before falling to the ground.

By the time the Dusk Thief struggled back to its feet, Nie Yan had already run far off into the distance.

Nie Yan continued kiting the Dusk Thief, slowly chipping away its health until it finally died.

A dark gray chestpiece lay glittering on the floor beside the Dusk Thief’s corpse. It was a piece of equipment from the Level 70 Dark Gold-grade Ashen Punisher Set. By completing the full set its level requirement could be reduced by 10. However, pieces from this set only dropped in certain maps.

The Ashen Punisher Chestplate greatly increased Strength and allowed the player to deal an additional 120 Shadow Damage with every strike. It was best suited for Berserkers following an offensive build path.

These Dusk Thieves didn’t respawn after being killed. Nie Yan wondered if he could acquire a full Ashen Punisher Set. It would be perfect for Berserkers like Smoke Stub, Edgeless, or Monochrome.

Nie Yan searched under the Dusk Thief’s corpse but found nothing else. He looked around the room he had just entered. It was very cramped, lacking even basic furnishings. He exited back to the corridor and continued exploring.

The rooms in the corridor frequently had Dusk Thieves lying in ambush. Nie Yan used the same method as before to deal with them. Then he would continue exploring the rooms which usually contained one or two chests, with Silver and Gold-grade being more common and Dark Gold-grade rarer. During this time he also acquired the gauntlets and leg armour for the Ashen Punisher Set. Now he was only missing the shoulder guards, helmet, and greaves.

Nie Yan opened the door to a room with his guard raised. But to his surprise he wasn’t greeted by a Dusk Thief lunging at him. The room layout was similar to the others. However, a fat middle-aged man dressed in gray robes sat at the bedside. His blonde hair was disheveled.

Nie Yan inspected him with Transcendent Insight.

Noble Ferbrazes: Level 0

Health: 200/200

"Sir Demon Hunter! Please get me out of here!” Noble Ferbrazes pleaded with a mournful expression after seeing Nie Yan.

"Here, take this Instant Transfer Scroll. You can use it to leave this place,” Nie Yan said as he handed over an Instant Transfer Scroll to Noble Ferbrazes.

"Oh, Sir Demon Hunter, thank you! Thank you!” Noble Ferbrazes said gratefully.

Nie Yan was a bit fed up with NPCs constantly addressing him with his titles. However, their dialogue was tightly restricted, and title address settings couldn’t be tampered with.

Noble Ferbrazes used the Instant Transfer Scroll and teleported away.

Rescued Hostages: 1/100

Nie Yan swept his eyes around the room but found nothing interesting. Only rooms guarded by Dusk Thieves seemed to contain chests and other loot.

Nie Yan passed through one room after the other, rescuing a total of 8 hostages. After going through all the rooms in the corridor, he entered a large hall. There were rows of pillars on both sides with a red rug running down the center, leading to a magnificent throne. The hall looked empty and devoid of any people, but this only served to make him all the more wary.

Eye of Truth!

Nie Yan’s pupils turned red as his eyes blossomed with a mystifying radiance. Silhouettes gradually started appearing in his vision. He counted at least 60 Dusk Thieves! A cold sweat drip fell down his forehead. There were dangers lurking everywhere in this hall! Thankfully he had used Eye of Truth; otherwise, he would’ve died without even knowing what killed him.

If Expert was already this difficult, Nie Yan couldn’t even begin to imagine what Specialist was like. He reaffirmed his decision to take a step back was the correct choice. In the previous timeline, the vast majority of Thieves did their Great Thief class advancement quest on Easy. A few hundred Thieves passed it on Normal, a few dozen on Hard, and only one on Expert. He had forgotten that player’s name, but it was rumoured they simply got lucky. Sun, King of the World, and other famous Thieves completed their class advancement quests on Hard.

Nie Yan accepting his class advancement quest on Expert was already the limit. He didn’t dare to think about challenging it on Specialist. It would be tantamount to throwing his life away!

The Great Thief class advancement quest could be started at Level 50. However, the success rate at that level was less than 1 in 2,000, so most players chose to wait until they were much stronger. Beyond this was the Shadow Dancer class advancement quest, which could be started as early as Level 100. But this was a hurdle that couldn’t be brute-forced. Those who went on to become Shadow Dancers could be counted on both hands. Shadow Dancers were godly existences in the eyes of the players.

Nie Yan’s level in the previous timeline was quite high at Level 180. Only two or three players surpassed Level 200 back then, and all of them were world-shaking existences who possessed godly equipment. He was firmly in the middle of the pack among top-tier players.

Nie Yan didn’t know if there was anything above Shadow Dancer. But it was rumoured that after Level 200 progressing became much more difficult. Every mob gave very little experience. Even several weeks of non-stop grinding would barely fill up your experience bar by 1%. It appeared Level 200 was the soft cap.

Levelling at the later stages of the game was simply too difficult. This was why Nie Yan put in so much effort on raising Lil’ Gold’s level. Levelling generally became much slower for melee classes at higher levels. They would have to rely on their pets to grind effectively. Every pet that had powerful area-of-effect abilities would sell for sky-high prices. Lil’ Gold’s level had to keep up; otherwise, it would be too troublesome to go to low-level maps to grind weaker mobs.

Nie Yan had already planned out his own development. When the war with Bloodlust Blades came to an end, he planned to level during his free time as he travelled back and forth between the surface and Underworld every 10 days.

Too many matters required Nie Yan’s attention. If he had devoted all his time to levelling, he would’ve already reached Level 90.

Seeing the crowd of Thieves up ahead, Nie Yan thought for a moment. He activated Disguise and transformed into one of the Dusk Thieves he killed, complete with the black garb.

Nie Yan entered stealth and started making his way towards the throne.

Nie Yan felt several dozen gazes fall on him while he was in stealth. But none of them saw through his disguise.

Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. He used Eye of Truth to look around as he bypassed one Dusk Thief after another. After a while, he arrived in front of the throne. It was crafted from pure gold. A Thief in dark gold leather armour patrolled around the throne.

The Thief carried two short-swords. It appeared they specialized in battle rather than assassination.

Nie Yan hid behind a pillar and inspected the Thief with Transcendent Insight.

Bloodthirsty Thief (Lord): Level 70

Health: 150,000/150,000

Expedition teams would generally avoid hunting Lord-class Thieves. They were simply too difficult to deal with. Their movement speed was very high, and they had gap closers, stuns, and other annoying abilities.

Among the Lord-class monster an expedition team might face, they would have the highest chance of wiping against Thief-types.

As for soloing a Level 70 Lord-class Thief, this was simply wishful thinking.

Even though this hall had many pillars, it wasn’t possible for him to take advantage of them to kill the Bloodthirsty Thief. Crossbows were an essential item for Thieves. This wasn’t an exception for NPC Thieves. If he clung on top of the pillar and shot at them, the Dusk Thieves and Bloodthirsty Thief would probably take out crossbows to shoot at him too.

This method was out of the question.

Nie Yan had come to this hall in the previous timeline. But by then the Thieves here had already been defeated. He remembered there was an entrance to an underground dungeon behind the throne. This was probably where most of the hostages were held.

This passage was fairly well hidden. Thankfully Nie Yan was familiar with the map. Were it any other player, they wouldn’t make any progress even after searching around the colosseum for multiple days.

Nie Yan looked around the hall. He discovered a large chest tucked away in a corner not far from the Bloodthirsty Thief. It wasn’t a treasure chest but an ordinary one.

It was different from a treasure chest, which was unmovable, indestructible, and would disappear after being opened. It was just like a chest from reality.

This chest was made out of bamboo. Above it was a carving of three daggers.

When Nie Yan came here in the previous timeline, this chest was here too. However, it was empty, the items inside having long since been taken.

The chest wasn’t locked. Nie Yan wondered what was inside.

Opening this chest without being detected by the Bloodthirsty Thief would be extremely difficult.

Nie Yan inspected the chest with Transcendent Insight.

Thief Treasure Hoard: All the money and loot the Thieves stole are in here.

Nie Yan’s heart shook. In the previous timeline, everything in the hoard chest had already been taken. In this life, he was the first person to arrive here. No player had laid their hands on this chest yet!

Chapter 367 - Animorph Necklace

Nie Yan ducked out of the Bloodthirsty Thief’s vision. Getting close to the chest wasn’t a problem, but snatching away the loot inside without being noticed? Now that would prove difficult.

It’s impossible. Should I just give up? But that’s not my style! Nie Yan mulled over this dilemma for quite some time. If I want to reach the underground prison behind the throne, I’ll have to sneak past the Bloodthirsty Thief anyway. How about I try my luck with the chest on the way back?

The chest was woven from strips of bamboo. The furnishings here really were crude.

Given furniture here behaves like it does in reality... Nie Yan suddenly thought of something. The Bloodthirsty Thief is only 20 meters away. It’ll definitely notice if the chest’s lid is flipped open. But what if the lid isn’t moved? Is there another way to loot the things inside that chest?

As Nie Yan racked his brain over the problem, the Bloodthirsty Thief sensed something and turned in his direction.

Nie Yan quickly ducked behind the pillar.

After what felt like an eternity, the Bloodthirsty Thief finally withdrew its gaze and continued patrolling near the throne.

Nie Yan broke out in a cold sweat. The Bloodthirsty Thief’s perception was too frightening. He was more than 30 meters away, but they still detected his presence. He feared the Bloodthirsty Thief would close the gap in an instant if he touched the chest.

A light bulb suddenly lit up in Nie Yan’s mind as his lips parted into a delighted smile. He equipped the Pygmy Ring and activated Pygmy Transformation. His body rapidly shrunk to a third of its original size as everything in his surroundings appeared much larger, including the Bloodthirsty Thief.

Nie Yan who was still in stealth looked just like a small child. He started making his way to the chest.

The bamboo wicker chest appeared enormous to the pygmy-sized Nie Yan. He just happened to be the same height as the chest.

After transforming into a pygmy, Nie Yan’s cloaking ability far surpassed normal, making him extremely difficult to detect. He went completely unnoticed while making his way from the pillar to the chest.

Nie Yan arrived in front of the chest. It was placed in the corner but not directly against the wall, leaving a one-meter gap.

Nie Yan squeezed into the gap behind the chest, where he was completely hidden from view thanks to his shrunken stature.

There were also advantages to being small!

Nie Yan recalled an interesting anecdote related to the Pygmy Ring. The goblin Mages from the Demon Tribe in the Underworld highly prized this item. It allowed them to shrink down from their already diminutive size, about one-third that of an ordinary player, to only eight inches. They would scurry around the battlefield, bombarding the enemy frontline with magic. Since they were so small, it was nearly impossible to catch them. This was the most shameless and unrivalled tactic of the goblins.

As for what other clever uses the Pygmy Ring had, this required further investigation.

Many special items in Conviction were shrouded in a cloud of mystery. Only someone with a rich imagination could hope of putting them to full use.

The Bloodthirsty Thief gazed at the chest for a moment before turning away.

Nie Yan noticed that the Bloodthirsty Thief would look this way every 3 minutes. It was crucial that he didn’t make any movements during this time, lest he be caught.

Nie Yan tried pushing the box. It was quite heavy, indicating there were many items stored inside.

Nie Yan sat down in the nook behind the chest. No one could see him. He took out Zennarde’s Sword and started making an incision into the chest.

Things like furniture could be altered and damaged!

Zennarde’s Sword easily cut through the bamboo, reaching a layer of wood. Of course the wood offered little to no resistance, and was cut through just the same. This was when he reached a layer of dark steel.

Another layer! This chest is thick! Nie Yan puckered his lips. He was fooled by the outer appearance of the chest!

He wondered if Zennarde’s Sword could cut through steel. It was a godly weapon, after all.

Nie Yan tried making a cut in the steel but only left behind a small nick roughly half a centimeter in size.

Even though it was only a tiny bit, Nie Yan confirmed he could cut through the metal layer of the chest!

For the first time Nie Yan felt like an actual thief as he tried looting treasure!

Once three minutes passed, Nie Yan stopped what he was doing and held his breath.

The Bloodthirsty Thief looked over at the chest, which appeared completely fine. It couldn’t see the damaged parts of the chest, nor Nie Yan who was hiding behind the chest.

After a while, the Bloodthirsty Thief looked elsewhere.

Nie Yan relaxed his breathing and continued his work. He completely cut away the bamboo wickerwork and wood, leaving the shavings on the ground beside him. All that remained between him and the loot inside the chest was the layer of steel. He used Zennarde’s Sword to start nicking away.

Metal was pretty hard, so Nie Yan was having some trouble cutting through it. However, he was still cutting away tiny metal shavings with Zennarde’s Sword.

Nie Yan dropped what he was doing every three minutes. After six minutes, he finally opened up a hole, where a single gold coin tumbled out. In the instant it hit the ground and made a light ding, he quickly grabbed it in his hand.

However, the sound still rang out.

When the Bloodthirsty Thief heard the sound, it immediately started walking over towards the chest.

Nie Yan who was hidden behind the chest felt his nerves stretched taut. If he was discovered by the Bloodthirsty Thief, he would lose the opportunity to loot the chest. His only choice would be to escape with an Unknown Transfer Scroll!

Unless absolutely necessary Nie Yan refused to leave! He curled up his body, trying to make it as small as possible.

The Bloodthirsty Thief gradually approached, stopping at six meters away from the chest. It carefully examined the area around the chest.

Nie Yan could feel the Bloodthirsty Thief’s sharp gaze sweep over him. He forcefully calmed himself and held his breath.

The Bloodthirsty Thief stood there for a long time. The chest completely blocked Nie Yan from view.

With the Bloodthirsty Thief’s rudimentary intelligence, it probably recognized no normal person could fit in the gap behind the chest.

After failing to discover anything, the Bloodthirsty Thief turned around and returned to a passive state.

Sensing the Bloodthirsty Thief’s footsteps getting farther and farther away, Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. His stretched taut nerves started relaxing. He continued using Zennarde’s Sword to expand the hole in the chest as one gold coin after another tumbled out and fell into his bag.

One gold coin, two gold coins...

Gold coins flowed out of the chest like a mountain spring directly into Nie Yan’s bag.

Before long, Nie Yan finally opened up a hole about two inches in diameter, allowing him to reach inside with his hand. He started fishing around the chest for items. At first it was only gold, handful after handful being stuffed in his bag.

Nie Yan obtained more than 3,000 gold from the chest. As he fished around some more, he felt a round object that appeared to be a jewel.

He took the object out to examine it. It was indeed a sparkling jewel.

It emitted a golden radiance and was slightly translucent.

It was a Radiant Gemstone!

Nie Yan’s hand trembled. A normal gem wouldn’t warrant such an intense reaction! He had experienced many things in Conviction, with hundreds of thousands of gold passing through his hands. However, this Radiant Gemstone made him feel incredibly excited.

This item was pretty common at Level 70–80, selling for around several thousand gold. But right now it didn’t exist in the marketplace! Even if someone offered 20,000 gold, he still wouldn't be willing to sell it!

Nie Yan wondered if there were more of them in the chest. He continued feeling around, fishing out one item after another until he had completely emptied one corner of the chest.

Nie Yan made the hole in the chest big enough for him to fit through. Once he was inside, he didn’t hesitate to loot everything there. He obtained a total of 7,000 gold, 5 Radiant Gemstones, and a necklace.

Looking at the Necklace’s properties, Nie Yan’s heart trembled. It was another special item!

Animorph Necklace (Dark Gold): Special Item

Description: Transform into a selected animal and gain additional stats and abilities for 5 minutes. You are unable to attack while transformed. Getting attacked will break the transformation. Cooldown: 1 day.

For example, a cheetah would grant additional Dexterity, a bear would grant additional Strength, and a seagull would grant the ability to fly.

Nie Yan thought for a moment and selected a lynx which would increase his jumping ability.

Nie Yan chose a lynx because it was relatively small, agile, and good at evading danger. His jumping ability would be increased by 300%, meaning he could cover a distance of nine meters in a single leap and jump as high as five meters in the air.

This kind of item had a large variety of uses. But very few people could use them to their utmost potential.

Nie Yan recalled Tang Yao had a similar item. However, the animal he selected was a seagull. Since the chosen animal was different, the function was naturally different too.

After selecting the lynx, Nie Yan checked the necklace’s stats again.

Animorph Necklace (Dark Gold): Special Item

Description: Transform into a lynx and receive Dexterity +300% and Jump +300% for 5 minutes. You are unable to attack while transformed. Getting attacked will break the transformation. Cooldown: 1 day.

Restriction: Nirvana Flame.

Note: This item cannot be traded.

Chapter 368 - Underground Dungeon

Nie Yan’s assortment of special items could practically fill a museum exhibit by this point. These accessories didn’t need to be worn all the time, so he could just leave them in his bag until he needed them. He certainly wasn’t short on inventory space!

Radiant Gems were special materials used to craft or upgrade special items. Some of Nie Yan’s special items were due for an upgrade, but he would first need to find a suitable Jewelcrafter.

After quietly looting everything in the chest, Nie Yan snuck out of the hole and proceeded toward the throne.

Pygmy Transformation lasted an hour. He still had ample time.

He stuck close to the wall while slowly making his way towards the throne.

When Nie Yan saw the Bloodthirsty Thief walking over in his direction, he immediately halted his footsteps and ducked into a corner, not daring to make even the slightest movement. The Bloodthirsty Thief swept through the surroundings with an ominous gaze, then turned around and walked further and further away.

Seeing the receding figure of the Bloodthirsty Thief, Nie Yan took advantage of the opportunity to rush to the back of the throne. There he saw a hole with a staircase leading downwards.

Descending down the stairs a damp coldness suffused the air along with the foul stench of blood.

The dungeon was dark and gloomy.

You have discovered the Underground Dungeon.

The floor of the dungeon was a mess with hay bails scattered about. A narrow passageway ran down the center, surrounded on both sides by rows of prison cells. Guarding them were Evil Hounds, Level 70 Elites that could spit out Soul Fire.

Every cell was filled with commoners and nobles. Their clothing albeit dirty and unkempt was made out of high-quality materials.

Saving all the hostages via the normal method—taking down the Evil Hounds one by one while coping with their Soul Fire—would take a minimal of 12 hours to upwards of several days. But none of that was necessary with Pygmy Transformation still active.

Nie Yan easily snuck into one of the prison cells by slipping through a gap between the bars. He saw a commoner in tattered clothes anxiously pacing back and forth. He tossed an Instant Transfer Scroll onto the floor.

When the commoner happened to look down during a sad sigh, he noticed the Instant Transfer Scroll beside his feet. A joyous expression appeared on his face. He cautiously surveyed his surroundings but saw no one around. He activated the scroll and teleported to safety with a flash of light.

Nie Yan took advantage of his small size to slip past the Evil Hounds and deliver Instant Transfer Scrolls to every cell.

The hostages quickly teleported away after receiving an Instant Transfer Scroll.

A while later Nie Yan checked his quest progress.

Rescued Hostages: 56/100

Nie Yan was steadily approaching his goal. His movements were light and agile as he bypassed the Evil Hounds undetected. With their low intelligence, they had no idea how the hostages in the prisons cells were mysteriously disappearing.

Saving one person after another, Nie Yan finally reached the end of the dungeon. His quest progress was at 99 out of 100 hostages rescued, missing only a single person. However, he couldn’t find them even after scouring the entire place.

After searching around some more, he eventually discovered a damp tunnel with a staircase which led deeper underground.

Just when he was about to descend the stairs, his body started growing until he returned to his original size.

The hour is up. Nothing I can do except continue exploring… Nie Yan gradually proceeded deeper into the narrow tunnel, with nothing in his vision save for darkness and mud walls.

He had no idea where this tunnel led to.

Nie Yan thought back to the Ashen Punisher Set. He believed the only way to obtain the remaining three pieces was by clearing out all the Dusk Thieves in the throne room. But it was impossible for him to accomplish this by himself.

An expedition team composed of Bladelight and his team would have no problem clearing out those Dusk Thieves. It would prove troublesome to deal with the Dusk Thieves using conventional tactics, but Nie Yan had thought of a suitable plan. By using a combination of vines and ice walls to guard the entrance of the throne room, they could freely bombard the enemy with area-of-effect spells.

Asskickers United currently had 17 Mages capable of casting Advanced Magic. Nuking these Dusk Thieves to oblivion would be easy. As for the likely sole survivor, the Bloodthirsty Thief patrolling around the throne, he would figure out a way to deal with it when the time came.

Given the gear quality of Bladelight and the others, Nie Yan was confident they could handle a Level 70 Lord.

Generally, a Fighter with average gear could tank an equal-level Lord, a Fighter with somewhat decent gear could tank a Lord up to 10 levels above them, and a Fighter with top-quality gear could tank a Lord as much as 30 levels above them. This was why outstanding expedition teams could regularly hunt down much higher level Lords. Furthermore, all the top Priests in Asskickers United could cast Junior Revive, and three of their Paladins had learned Protect, a skill which allowed the Priests to leave the combat zone without attracting any aggro. Like this they could avoid wipes. Of course they would still suffer some losses.

Nie Yan passed down his coordinates to Guo Huai. Bladelight and the others were currently hunting a different Lord, so they would come over a little later.

The players of Asskickers United were still too weak. When they were a bit higher level, Nie Yan planned to take them to hunt a Level 100 Lord.

「How’s your class advancement quest going?」Guo Huai asked. He knew beforehand Nie Yan had chosen to do his class advancement on Expert. He couldn’t help but admire the courage Nie Yan displayed. Most players didn’t even dare to do their class advancement on Normal, let alone Hard or Expert.

「I’m one hostage away from finishing it,」Nie Yan replied.

「Already?」Guo Huai blurted out in surprise. Most players took at least several days to complete their class advancement quest.

In fact, Nie Yan’s class advancement quest would take other players more than two weeks to finish, if not longer. Finding the hidden entrance behind the throne alone was already difficult, requiring players to blindly search around the Nilan Colosseum for at least 5 days.

「Mhmm. Has there been any movements on the side of Bloodlust Blades?」Nie Yan asked.

「I heard the Century Financial Group handed over another 700,000 gold to them, so they’ve started paying out compensation to their players too. They also made an announcement saying if we were willing to admit defeat, they would let bygones be bygones.」Guo Huai chuckled.「Although I do believe the Century Financial Group gave them some gold, I don’t think it’s anywhere near that much. I refuse to believe the Century Financial Group has 700,000 gold just lying around!」

「They definitely won’t last much longer. Reply on the forums saying as long as Bloodlust Blades stands, Asskickers United will never take down the bounty on them!」Nie Yan said. Bloodlust Blades was already running on fumes. This was the perfect opportunity to take them down; otherwise, they would cause endless trouble in the future after fully recovering from this war.

「You sure are ruthless!」Guo Huai remarked「I bet the players from Bloodlust Blades will despair after seeing this announcement, and any remaining thoughts of staying in the guild will vanish. It’ll be Bloodlust Blade’s largest mass exodus of players to date!」

「Be careful of Bloodlust Blades making a final desperate attempt at a reversal. Pay attention to their every movement. If they come to Calore, immediately report back to me. After all, we need to show our guests some proper hospitality!」Nie Yan’s lips curved into a faint smile. If an intercity war broke out, Bloodlust Blades would be at a huge disadvantage. Asskickers United’s position in Calore was unshakable. Even if they encountered trouble, they still had Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, Radiant Sacred Flame, War God Tribe, and Battle Crazed Alliance to back them up!

「Understood!」Guai nodded. He wasn’t worried at all about Bloodlust Blades coming to Calore.

Nie Yan continued chatting with Guo Huai for a bit before hanging up.

Guo Huai posted up Nie Yan’s announcement on the forums.

「As long as Bloodblust Blades stands, Asskickers United will never take the bounty down!」

All the players on the forums sucked in a breath of cold air. Asskickers United had basically cut off all paths of retreat. How ruthless! Everyone could sense the absolute confidence in these words. Could Bloodlust Blades withstand this fierce counter from Asskickers United?

At this time, everybody was reminded of Bloodlust Mad Blade’s words: Whoever backed down first was the other’s grandson!

Bloodlust Blades was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Were they really going to continue competing with Asskickers United? The number of players hunting them had recently increased dramatically. Over 6,000 players had died in just 2 days. This was a huge blow to the moral. At this rate, more and more people would withdraw from the guild. Add Nie Yan’s announcement to the mix, and their situation was becoming exceedingly grave.

Nie Yan felt relaxed. After the guild’s funding issue was resolved, they no longer had to worry about paying out the rewards for the bounty. He had the free time to complete several quests. In a few days, he would return to the Underworld. The profits from the second round of trades with Fallen Angel would completely transform Asskickers United!

As he traversed the dark tunnels, Nie Yan began noticing a distant rhythm that seemed like breathing. Waves of searing-hot wind flowed through the tunnel in sync with the rhythm, bringing wisps of white steam out of the depths.

As this heatwave brushed over Nie Yan’s skin, he felt a scalding heat. Thankfully he had the Kilnfire Heart which greatly increased his Fire Resistance and could even make him immune to fire damage for a certain time.

Chapter 369 - Last Hostage

When Nie Yan passed through the fog, he saw a giant hound in the distance. It was as large as a grizzly bear with thick black fur. Its scarlet-red tongue radiated an intense heat.

It was a creature capable of using flames!

The hound paced back and forth in the cave restlessly. A thick and solid chain was tied to its neck with the other end spiked deep into a large boulder. Its range of movement was extremely limited, but it still had a ranged attack that was deadly to players. It would spit out flames at any intruder that entered its line-of-sight.

Nie Yan gradually approached until he was roughly 30 meters away from the hound and inspected it with Transcendent Insight.

Black Flame Hound (Lord): Level 70

Health: 320,000/320,000

Another Level 70 Lord, and this one had 320,000 health. With this Black Flame Hound guarding the only path forward, there was no way Nie Yan could pass, nor could he see an end to this cave.

Given Nie Yan’s current strength, it was impossible for him to kill the Black Flame Hound. He estimated the chain around its neck was roughly 12 meters long.

The only option was to make a run for it! Too bad this was easier said than done.

Nie Yan gradually approached, inching ever closer to the Black Flame Hound. At around 20 meters away the Black Flame Hound noticed him. It belched out scorching hot flames in his direction.

The flames were fierce and oppressive.

Nie Yan activated God’s Blessing and braved the attack head-on.

The flames surged toward Nie Yan like a raging torrent but quickly dissipated upon making contact with the thin membrane surrounding him and produced a sound that resembled the crackling of firecrackers. He was completely unharmed! God’s Blessing granted immunity to all magic!

The flames were so bright Nie Yan couldn’t open his eyes.

At this moment, the Black Flame Hound pounced into the air and swiped down at Nie Yan, wanting to tear him to shreds.

Just as the Black Flame Hound’s claws came down on him, Nie Yan activated Gale Step. A loud klang rang out as he took advantage of the first three seconds of invincibility to avoid taking damage.

Nie Yan slid under the Black Flame Hound’s legs, nearly being squashed in the process, and came out the other side. Crushing a Haste Scroll and activating Swift Retreat, he sprinted away with all his might.

The Black Flame Hound’s claws missed and struck the cave floor, blasting mud and debris into the air. It swung around and leaped after Nie Yan.

Nie Yan was no match for the Black Flame Hound in terms of speed. It quickly caught up to him from behind and ruthlessly swiped down on his back.

Shadow Waltz!

「Klang!」Taking advantage of the initial two seconds of invincibility from the enhanced Shadow Waltz, Nie Yan blocked the Black Flame Hound’s attack yet again. The powerful blow still blew him away like a ragdoll.

Nie Yan pivoted his body mid-air and planted his right hand on the ground, causing him to flip over and land back onto his feet.

Before Nie Yan could do anything else, the Black Flame Hound had already caught up behind him. He didn’t dare to linger even for a millisecond and fled for his dear life.

With both Gale Step and Shadow Waltz on cooldown, he had nothing left to block the Black Flame Hound’s next attack.

The Black Flame Hound was several times faster than him. Its attacks couldn’t be dodged with just a simple sidestep or roll.

A single attack from the Black Flame Hound would probably kill him.

Nie Yan was already at the limit of how fast he could go. He constantly changed directions and ran in a zig-zag pattern to avoid the Black Flame Hound’s attacks. It would only be delayed for a slight moment before quickly catching up to him again.

When the Black Flame Hound was about to pounce directly on top of Nie Yan, he shot out a web line at a stalactite five meters away and swung away to safety.

The Black Flame Hound still refused to let Nie Yan go. Its sharp claws were only a few inches from his back.

Nie Yan flew for more than 10 meters before letting go of the web line and landing back on his feet.

The Black Flame Hound caught back up in a flash and swiped down at Nie Yan, who looked dazed and caught off-guard.

Just when Nie Yan’s death seemed imminent, the chain around the Black Flame Hound’s neck tightened and fiercely jerked it back.

The Black Flame Hound tried to pounce on Nie Yan again, but it was once again jerked back by the chain. No matter how hard it tried, it couldn’t reach him.

The chain had already been pulled to its maximum length. The Black Flame Hound indignantly blasted Nie Yan with flames to no avail. God’s Blessing was still active.

Nie Yan’s lips parted into a faint smirk. Sure enough he had correctly guessed the length of the chain. Despite nearly losing his life on several occasions, he was happy he made it through this harrowing experience without any mishap.

He quickly turned and left the Black Flame Hound behind as he hurried forward. Only after moving more than 50 meters away from the Black Flame Hound did he finally feel safe enough to slow his steps.

Nie Yan looked back and saw the Black Flame Hound standing there panting away non-stop, occasionally breathing out flames in his direction.

After getting past the Black Flame Hound, Nie Yan continued travelling through the winding and twisting tunnels of the cave. He advanced several hundred meters before encountering a prison cell up ahead. It was very small, only covering an area of three by three meters. The cell door was crafted out of a peculiar dark golden metal which exuded rich magical energy and was sealed shut by a giant metal lock.

This prison cell looked extremely secure.

Nie Yan gazed through the bars and spotted a slim old man bound up inside. He was reclined on the wall with both his wrists and ankles tied up in shackles. He could only slightly hobble around in the cell.

The old man’s robes were starting to become faded, but he still had a healthy appearance. He wasn’t all that tall, but his body brimmed with explosive power.

Nie Yan’s brows raised in rejoice. It was the last hostage!

He inspected the old man with Transcendent Insight.

Pallot (Lord): Level 70

Titles: Thief Association Elder, Marquis

This old man’s background wasn’t shallow! He was actually an Elder of the Thief Association and a Marquis! Thinking about the journey here, he truly wasn’t an easy person to find!

Nie Yan examined the cell door. Each bar was engraved with tiny runes that could be easily overlooked if one wasn’t paying close attention to them.

Chapter 370 - Truth Revealed

Pallot finally took notice of Nie Yan who stood outside the cell and turned his gaze toward him.

"Sir Pallot, hello. I’m here to rescue you,” Nie Yan greeted.「Klang! Klang! Klang!」He attempted to break the bars of the cell door with Zennarde’s Sword, but he couldn’t leave so much as a scratch.

Nie Yan was startled. It seemed cutting off these bars was impossible.

He tried other methods like tossing an Instant Transfer Scroll to Pallot, but discovered the runes engraved on the bars prevented the scroll from passing through.

"Greetings, Demon Hunter. That won’t work, the cell is guarded by magic. The only way to open it is by retrieving the key from the Black Flame Hound’s body,” Pallot said with a sigh.

I’ll have to kill the Black Flame Hound to get the key? Nie Yan felt a headache coming on. Unless he had some sort of special method, he was nowhere near a match for the Black Flame Hound. After all, it was a Level 70 Lord!

Nie Yan couldn’t possibly kill the Black Flame Hound in such a cramped space!

He shifted his attention back to the cell door. Guarded by magic? It’s probably some sort of magic circle! I wonder if there’s a method to bypass it?

Looking at the time, there were still 20 minutes remaining before server shutdown. Nie Yan pondered for a moment. He would search through the official website to see if there was any information on breaking magic circles, then come up with a plan for tomorrow.

"Sir Pallot, I’ll return later. I’ll try to think of a way to free you.”

"Alright. Thank you, Demon Hunter. I pray for your safe return.”

Nie Yan could tell Pallot was a figure of high status. The difficulty of this class advancement quest was a bit high. He wondered what sort of reward he would receive for saving Pallot and completing the quest.

Nie Yan put down his gaming helmet. After taking a shower and eating breakfast, he headed off for school.

Even though it was already 8:00 a.m., the morning mist had yet to dissipate due to him living by the lake side. The air was fresh and clean. A blanket of white hung just above the lake as the morning sun refracted beautifully off the water’s surface.

Cars drove past his villa every now and then.

Nie Yan drove for 20 minutes to pick up Xie Yao. Her property was a two-storey villa enclosed by a metal fence. Inside was a lush garden with a variety of blossoming flowers vying for attention within the morning mist. It was a scenic view. A bending stone path led from the house to the road.

Nie Yan stepped out of his car. Taking a glance at the villa in the distance, he walked up to the entrance gate and rang on the intercom.

Before long, Xie Yao’s face appeared on the display. She wore a pink sleeveless nightgown that exposed her delicate shoulders and pajama shorts which showed off her long and slender thighs. She was currently in the middle of brushing her teeth, with bits of foam from toothpaste covering her lips.

「Nie Yan! Wait a moment, I’ll be right down! Just a second!」Xie Yao said, a little flustered.

Nie Yan chuckled. This was his first time seeing Xie Yao so unkempt. It seemed she had just woken up.

A warm feeling surfaced in Nie Yan’s heart. After going through so many hardships in his past life, he had finally achieved a bit of happiness in this one.

After waiting for a while, he saw Xie Yao in a blue tracksuit rushing out to meet him. She looked youthful and energetic.

Xie Yao’s tight tracksuit perfectly accentuated her curves. Nie Yan couldn’t help but recall the recent incident where they both got drunk, his hands grabbing every inch of her soft and supple body. Simultaneously, he was also reminded of that unforgettable night with Yao Yao in the underground chamber. Her beautiful and flawless figure was like a strong spirit. A light sip and he was already intoxicated.

"How come I’ve never seen your parents?” Nie Yan asked. Ever since he started picking Xie Yao up, he had never once seen her parents.

"They’re out travelling,” Xie Yao pouted, a hint of discontent on her face.

Nie Yan found her pouting expression extremely cute. "C’mon, let’s go. I heard we’re getting our academic test results back today,” he said with a smile as he stepped back into the car.

"Mhm.” Xie Yao opened the front door on the passenger side and got in.

The car zoomed away down the street.

The two soon arrived at school. Nie Yan parked the car in the parking lot, and they both got out and walked through campus, hand in hand.

The sight immediately attracted the attention of their fellow students. Regardless of whether it was Nie Yan or Xie Yao, both were well-known in the school. The two of them walking together would naturally raise some eyebrows. Sensing these odd gazes, Xie Yao whispered in Nie Yan’s ear, "Can we walk a bit faster?” She still wasn’t fully used to this feeling. Her walking together with Nie Yan would inevitably arouse questions of their relationship.

At this moment, a female student walked up to them. Dressed casually she had a beautiful appearance with long flowing hair.

Seeing this girl come over, Xie Yao immediately felt her face burn up. She wanted to find somewhere to hide.

The girl looked at Xie Yao with a teasing smile before turning to Nie Yan and sizing him up. "Yao Yao, is this your boyfriend?”

Nie Yan was a bit dazed. Even though he clearly knew Yao Yao was a nickname, he almost misheard it as the Yao Yao from Conviction. The Yáo in Xie Yao was pronounced with the second tone in Mandarin, while the Yǎo in Yao Yao was pronounced with the third.

"Hello, I’m Nie Yan,” Nie Yan greeted.

"Nirvana Flame...?” the girl asked in surprise, then glanced at Xie Yao.

"No! He’s Nie Yan, the Nie written with a ‘pair’ (双) and ‘ear’ (耳), and the Yan (言) in ‘language’ (語言),” Xie Yao explained in a fluster. Her mind was a bit chaotic. She wouldn’t know what to do if Nie Yan found out she was Yao Yao in-game.

"Oh, so it’s like that? Nice to meet you. I’m Tang Yue.” Tang Yue held out her hand for a handshake. Her smile was like a cool spring breeze.

Nie Yan shook Tang Yue’s hand. Her name was somewhat familiar to him. He recalled someone saying Moon Child’s real name was Tang Yue. Glancing at the slightly nervous and embarrassed Xie Yao beside him, he finally confirmed she was indeed Yao Yao with almost absolute certainty. He also figured she was the person behind the Dragonsoar Financial Group investing in Asskickers United.

Nie Yan’s mind turned chaotic. All of sudden many little clues in his past life started connecting together.

Shortly after graduating high school and parting ways with Xie Yao, he had met Yao Yao through Xia Ling’s friends inside Conviction. He felt a strange bond and sense of closeness to her from the start. She must have already known his real identity back then but still chose to keep it a secret, silently accompanying him for the better half of a decade. Thinking about this, he wanted to ruthlessly slap himself in the face for not realizing the woman of his dreams was right beside him all along.

Back then, he refused to commit to a relationship with Yao Yao. After the incident in the secret chamber beneath Fenarte, he treated her coldly and distanced himself from her. It was him who wounded her heart and pushed her away.

Yao Yao had shown the utmost concern for him, still keeping him company even during the lowest point of his life. It was a pity that at that time his heart belonged only to Xie Yao.

Nie Yan was wracked with shame and guilt. Just how many mistakes did he commit in his past life? One after another, there were simply too many to count!

He took a deep breath, then gazed at the beautiful Xie Yao to his side. She was as pure as a snow lotus. He vowed to never wrong her again!

Tang Yue and Xie Yao happily chatted while Nie Yan followed closely behind. The three entered the classroom together.

Tang Yue turned to Nie Yan and smiled. "Yao Yao and I are going to chat some more. I hope you don’t mind me butting in on your time together?”

"It’s fine, you two keep chatting. I’ll go look for Zhai Hao and the others,” Nie Yan replied with a smile.

Zhai Hao and 10 other students were chatting at the back of the classroom. There were also some students from other classes mixed in. Nie Yan recalled Zhai Hao didn’t have that many friends outside of their class in his past life.

Seeing Nie Yan walk over, Zhai Hao immediately walked up and greeted him with a wide grin. "People saw you walking together with the class goddess this morning. Not bad, bro! You only transferred here recently, and you’ve already made such a big catch!” His voice carried a hint of admiration.

Nie Yan chuckled. "Let’s not talk about me. How are things going with you and Xia Ling? Made any progress?”

Zhai Hao immediately became reserved. "Eh, you know. It’s going...” He was the same as ever. This fellow was normally carefree and chatty. But the moment Xia Ling was mentioned he would become as timid as a mouse. Nie Yan couldn’t help but recall the time they spent together in his past life both in and outside of the game. Even though Zhai Hao was a bit reckless, he was a loyal friend.

Thanks to Nie Yan’s influence, Zhai Hao had also shown some improvement in this life. It was rumoured his academic test results weren’t bad. Other universities also paid attention to the Top Military Academy’s entrance exams. As long as a student scored decently, even if they failed to get into the Top Military Academy, they would immediately be accepted by other famous universities.

Nie Yan didn’t know what university Zhai Hao wanted to enter, but his chances of getting in were probably better this time around.

There was a large group of students behind Zhai Hao. Seeing Nie Yan come over, all of their attention focused on him.

Nie Yan was the man of the hour. Everybody wanted to get to know him. Many of these people previously couldn’t give a rat’s ass about Zhai Hao. But after hearing he was friends with Nie Yan, all of them gathered together to befriend him.

Zhai Hao gave Nie Yan a helpless smile. Nie Yan instantly understood the situation. There was no lack of people with influential backgrounds in a prestigious school like this.

Nie Yan knew exactly how to handle these types of people. He didn’t have the slightest intention of getting too friendly with any of them.

Chapter 371 - Romantic Invitation

"Zhai Hao. He’s your friend, right? Why don’t you introduce us?” a short-haired male student asked. Obviously he knew who Nie Yan was. He only pretended not to know to get things rolling.

"I’d like you all to meet Nie Yan. He’s a good friend of mine,” Zhai Hao introduced Nie Yan with a bright smile, then pointed at the male student. "This is Liu Wei from Class 5, the son of the head of the Tianhua Enterprise. He also passed the fitness portion of the Top Military Academy’s exam. Now he’s waiting for the results of the academic portion.”

"The academic portion is nothing.” Liu Wei waved his hand with a confident smile on his face. "We should all stay in touch once we graduate.”

"Certainly.” Nie Yan nodded in agreement. He could tell six people in the group were part of Liu Wei’s clique. The rest were acquaintances of Zhai Hao.

Seeing Nie Yan’s courteous and approachable attitude, Liu Wei’s expression softened. His old man had instructed him to do his utmost to befriend Nie Yan, or at the very least never antagonize him. Anyone could see Nie Yan’s potential. Not to mention Father Nie, whose financial capital made even them feel wary, was also a force to be reckoned. With their current rise, the Nie Family was set to become the next powerful financial group. It was crucial to build good relations with them early on.

Zhai Hao introduced the people in the group one by one. Nie Yan only casually listened, memorizing their names without much effort.

These students felt Nie Yan wasn’t overbearing at all but rather quite easy-going and approachable. He was a million times more likeable than that fellow Liu Rui.

Nie Yan had lived through two lives, having experienced a myriad of situations. Giving a favourable impression to these kids couldn’t be simpler. He was at the same time well aware that anyone capable of entering Huahai High had at least some background. There was no harm in being on friendly terms with everyone. Earning people’s ire would only incite plotting and scheming that was difficult to defend against.

As everyone chatted the topic eventually shifted to Conviction.

"Speaking of Conviction, Liu Wei is the strongest of our group at Level 51. He’s the top player in Burning Heaven, and one of the top 1,500 players in the Viridian Empire,” someone called Ge Baiyu said as he glanced at Liu Wei. He was a member of Liu Wei’s squad. Naturally he had to give his leader some face.

Liu Wei felt pleased with himself after having his ego stroked. "It’s nothing really. After the buried history expansion patch, levelling became much easier. Players over Level 50 are a dime a dozen.”

"No need to be so modest. Given how many players there are in the Viridian Empire, getting into the top 1,500 is amazing! It’s not something that can be achieved through luck alone!” another one of Liu Wei’s lackeys chimed in.

"Since there aren’t any guild activities scheduled today, I’ve got some time to kill. How about I take you guys levelling with me? I recently obtained three new area-of-effect spells, so it’ll be a breeze.” Liu Wei turned to Nie Yan and Zhai Hao. "Why don’t you two join us as well? I don’t mind helping you raise your levels, no strings attached of course.”

Liu Wei was implying he would take care of everyone.

Nie Yan and Zhai Hao had helpless smiles on their faces.

Zhai Hao couldn’t help but laugh to himself. This fellow actually wanted to help the Mad Rogue level. Could his area-of-effect spells match Lil’ Gold’s?

Burning Heaven was a small guild in Calore with only 10,000 or so players. Their average level was pretty low too. Compared to Asskickers United, they were a speck of dust on a country road.

Nie Yan politely declined, "I’d love to but I probably can’t make it since there’s a guild expedition coming up.”

"Ah, what guild do you guys belong to?” Liu Wei asked. Lost in his complacence, he had completely forgotten to ask Nie Yan and Zhai Hao’s levels. He had never met anyone in Huahui High above him in level. Everyone he knew just followed his heed.

"I’m from Warriors United,” Zhai Hao replied on their behalf. He knew Nie Yan didn’t want to reveal his identity. "I’m busy as well. A friend promised to take Xia Ling and me levelling.”

Hearing this, a hint of jealousy surfaced on Liu Wei’s face. He really couldn’t understand how a numbskull like Zhai Hao managed to snag a beautiful girl like Xia Ling. It was simply sticking a bouquet of flowers in a pile of manure. He somewhat looked down on Zhai Hao, but he naturally wouldn’t show it.

"Zhai Hao, why don’t you bring Xia Ling and your friend along with us? The levelling will be quick, so one or two more people won’t make much of a difference,” Ge Baiyu said with a smile before secretly stealing a glance at Liu Wei. He knew Liu Wei wanted to flaunt his skills in front of a pretty girl like Xia Ling.

Zhai Hao shook his head. "It’s fine. Maybe some other time. The class goddess doesn’t like levelling with other people.”

"Class goddess...?”

"Xie Yao?” Liu Wei’s face lit up. Xie Yao was one of the girls in Class 3 he secretly lusted after. She was hands down the goddess of Class 3, and maybe even the prettiest girl in the entire school. Another was Jiang Yingyu. Her figure was simply stunning! Her lovely dancing filled men with lust and desire and made their hearts palpitate. Who knew how many male students fantasized about Jiang Yanyu in their dreams. The last was Xia Ling, who was pretty in her own right, only somewhat paling in comparison to Xie Yao and Jiang Yingyu.

"Why not invite Xie Yao along as well?” Ge Baiyu suggested. "The more the merrier, am I right?”

From their point of view, Xie Yao couldn’t possibly be high level since she was a girl.

Zhai Hao glanced at Nie Yan and noticed his expression remained unmoved.

"I don’t think the class goddess will agree. Let’s just forget about it,” Zhai Hao said. These people were a real riot. Them taking the class goddess levelling? More like the other way around!

"Isn’t she a bit too full of herself?”

"Yeah! What’s so wrong with everybody happily levelling together? There’s no need to be so stubborn,” several of Liu Wei’s lackeys added in one after another. However, they didn’t dare speak too rudely. They couldn’t afford to offend someone of Xie Yao’s status.

"It’s fine if they don’t want to come. We’re inviting you with sincerity. Forget it. Let’s talk about something else.” Liu Wei acted as mediator, though he was inwardly a bit peeved.

Just at this moment, a female student walked over to them. Seeing her appearance, their hearts trembled as they held their breaths.

The female student was Jiang Yingyu. She wore a dancer’s silk skirt, her slender and supple waist swaying seductively as she walked. Her chest was abundant and plentiful like a rich harvest. Everyone’s attention instantly focused on her, their hormones running wild.

"Nie Yan, we meet again,” Jiang Yingyu greeted. Her soft and melodic voice appeared to make Liu Wei and his group go limp.

Everyone gazed at Nie Yan with jealousy in their eyes, asking why they couldn’t be the one Jiang Yingyu greeted instead.

"Hello, it’s rare to see you in school,” Nie Yan calmly greeted back. He and Jiang Yingyu were merely nodding acquaintances.

Jiang Yingyu’s brows slightly furrowed at Nie Yan’s distant attitude.

Nie Yan was undoubtedly the most outstanding person not just in the class but the entire school. He could potentially become the third student in the school’s history to enter the Top Military Academy as an Ace. His fitness results met the mark. Now everyone was waiting for his academic results to be revealed.

Jiang Yingyu knew Nie Yan only had eyes for Xie Yao. But considering they had only known each other for a little less than a month, she refused to believe she didn’t have a chance. She and Xie Yao always competed in secret.

"I passed the Top Military Academy’s entrance exams too, so we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other in the future. Maybe we should get to know each other better some time?” Jiang Yingyu asked.

Only now did Nie Yan recall that Jiang Yingyu had barely failed to get into the Top Military Academy in the previous timeline. But thanks to his outstanding performance in this life, the dean of the academy had increased the quota of students that would be accepted from Huahui High, with a focus on those who majored in the arts.

Huahai High’s university acceptance rates were renowned. This year’s batch of students was especially remarkable.

"Of course,” Nie Yan politely replied.

"Here’s a ticket for the Huahai Theatre. I’ll be doing a show there this afternoon. So, classmate Nie, will you do me the honour of watching my performance?” Jiang Yingyu asked.

Everyone gulped at Jiang Yingyu’s charming smile.

This was a romantic invitation!

"This afternoon…” Nie Yan hesitated as he glanced at Xie Yao at the front of the classroom.

Dammit! This guy is unbelievable! A pretty girl wants you to watch her perform, and you’re taking so long to answer her! Everyone stared at Nie Yan with frustration and jealousy raging in their eyes, loathing the fact they couldn’t just run up and snag the ticket for themselves.

"What’s wrong, classmate Nie? Is the afternoon not good...?” Jiang Yingyu asked in a slightly awkward tone.

"If Nie Yan is too busy, I’m sure others would love to come and watch your performance!” Liu Wei interjected, then signalled Ge Baiyu with his eyes.

"Right! All of us here would love to cheer you on. Why don’t you give us the tickets?” Ge Baiyu shamelessly suggested.

Jiang Yingyu gazed at Nie Yan with a hint of bitterness in her eyes. She took out a second ticket from her pocket and handed both to Ge Baiyu. "Take them. They’re for adjacent seats. You can bring your girlfriend with you to watch.”

Ge Baiyu accepted the tickets with a bright smile. Even his thick skin couldn’t protect him from feeling slightly embarrassed.

Liu Wei and his group were a bit dejected. They naturally understood Jiang Yingyu’s intentions. They looked at Nie Yan with complicated expressions. Why couldn’t they be the target of such a beautiful woman’s affections?

Nie Yan pretended not to see and turned to Zhai Hao. "Xie Yao’s planning to take you guys levelling? What level is she?”

Zhai Hao hesitated for half-a-day before looking at Xia Ling in the distance. He didn’t know how to respond. Xia Ling had specifically instructed him not to reveal anything about Xie Yao’s identity.

Zhai Hao this fellow definitely knew Xie Yao was Yao Yao. Likely this was also true in the previous timeline. Nie Yan had an inkling to rush up and give him a good beating, though the fault couldn’t be placed entirely on him. Zhai Hao back then had no way of knowing the complicated relationship between him and Yao Yao. He could only blame his own thick headedness for being kept in the dark for so long.

"Don’t worry. I’ve actually known for a while now.” Nie Yan helplessly waved his hand. He could tell Zhai Hao was henpecked.

"Huh, so you already knew. You should’ve said so earlier. It would’ve saved me a lot of stress!” Zhai Hao’s expression instantly relaxed. Since Nie Yan already knew, he no longer had to keep it a secret.

Chapter 372 - Monstrous Achievement

Nie Yan was a bit nervous as he awaited confirmation from Zhai Hao.

"The class goddess just finished handing in a quest. She’s already Level 53. I heard she recently obtained 3 pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment too,” Zhai Hao said off-handedly as he glanced at Liu Wei’s group. He wanted to see the reactions on their faces.

Nie Yan took a deep breath as a faint smile surfaced on his face. He had suffered a lot of hardships due to Xie Yao’s secretiveness! Every time they chatted about Conviction, she would always brush past the subject. Only now did he finally receive confirmation.

Liu Wei, Ge Baiyu, and their group dropped their jaws in shock. Xie Yao was Level 53? What a truly shocking revelation! A player at that level was most likely in the top 20 of the level leaderboards. On top of this, she also had three pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment. This was simply too frightening! Any piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment would sell for at least several thousand gold in the marketplace, while those with good properties would sell in the excess of 10,000 gold. However, the key point was that this sort of equipment often couldn’t be bought. Generally only top ranked players could acquire Sub Legendary-grade equipment, and they wouldn’t put them up for sale, usually using it for themselves or giving it to a friend.

Three pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment, this was something unimaginable to Liu Wei.

At this moment, Liu Wei started to become fidgety. He had previously forgotten to ask Nie Yan and Zhai Hao what levels they were. He would be incredibly embarrassed if they were higher level than him.

Xie Yao, who was chatting with Tang Yue at the front of the classroom, repeatedly glanced over in Nie Yan’s direction. She felt anxious not knowing what Nie Yan and Jiang Yingyu were talking about. Seeing their cheerful appearance, a tinge of jealousy surfaced in her heart. The person she normally couldn’t stand the most was Jiang Yingyu. The two of them were often at loggerheads. Jiang Yingyu’s figure even made her a little jealous. The girls were like oil and water. When she saw Jiang Yingyu getting close to her man, it was only natural she became restless.

"It’s fine, just go over there,” Tang Yue said with a teasing smile. She naturally understood her friend’s thoughts of worry.

Xie Yao’s face instantly blushed red like a ripe tomato.

Seeing Nie Yan shift the conversation topic to Xie Yao of all people, a flash of disappointment crossed Jiang Yingyu’s face, only to be immediately replaced by a most brilliant smile. "Since you seem busy, forget it. I also play Conviction. I’m called Sparkling Song. If there’s an opportunity, I’d like to play together with you some time. Nie Yan, what’s your in-game name?”

Suddenly all the attention was focused on Nie Yan. Everybody wanted to know his in-game persona.

Nie Yan hesitated for half-a-day. He really didn’t wish to reveal his identity as Nirvana Flame to these people. It would surely attract too much attention.

"If you’re looking for someone to help you level, you can come to me. My ID is Yao Yao, the same yao (杳) that means dark and mysterious.” Xie Yao walked over and held Nie Yan’s hand.

Everyone widened their eyes in surprise. Xie Yao was a goddess in the hearts of numerous students. In spite of the rumours about Xie Yao and Nie Yan being a couple, they refused to believe there was actually anything going on between them. Given what they knew about Xie Yao’s personality, she absolutely wouldn’t be the one actively pursuing the relationship. Even if Nie Yan was trying to woo her, he could very well be left stranded on a sandy beach the very next day.

But reality proved otherwise. This was only their wishful thinking, nothing more.

Everyone witnessed Xie Yao taking the initiative to grab Nie Yan’s hand. This was a huge mental blow, each and every one of them were shocked speechless. Countless hearts shattered like glass. Of the 10 male students present in the group, 9 of them had feelings for Xie Yao. They felt their hopes and dreams shatter into a million pieces. Who knew how many young men would drink themselves silly tonight in an attempt to wash away their heartache.

Xie Yao’s action just now was undoubtedly a declaration to Jiang Yingyu. But it also served to help Nie Yan out of his pickle.

Xie Yao’s faint fragrance wafted into Nie Yan’s nose like a fresh spring breeze. He felt her soft and tender touch in his right hand. Despite being seperated by clothes, he could still feel her well-developed figure which wasn’t as fiery as Jiang Yingyu’s but more well proportioned.

Nie Yan swept his gaze over the male students around him. When he saw the expressions of jealousy in their eyes, a sense of satisfaction welled up in his heart.

After enduring so many hardships, Nie Yan’s mind had matured a lot. But he still found it hard to remain calm in this situation. This was because the person beside him was Xie Yao, the love of his life both past and present!

Nie Yan saw Zhai Hao secretly giving him a thumbs up. He couldn’t help but break out into a smile.

"Umm, the next time I need to level I’ll definitely look for you Xie Yao.” Jiang Yingyu bit her lips, feeling a bit unresigned. "I’ll be leaving first. I still have a rehearsal to attend. If you have the time, the two of you should come and watch my performance.”

"Of course! We’ll definitely come watch if we have the time!” Xie Yao replied. At this moment she was also in a bit of a daze. She never imagined she would do something so brash either. But when she saw Jiang Yingyu with Nie Yan, an intense sense of crisis arose in her and she forgot everything else. She felt Nie Yan’s arm lightly brushing against her bosom as a sense of annoyance and helplessness washed over her. He used this opportunity to take advantage of her! She gnashed her teeth in anger, but she couldn’t let go right now.

Even Tang Yue never imagined Xie Yao would do something so hot-headed.

Jiang Yingyu gazed at Nie Yan.

Nie Yan was about to say goodbye. However, he felt a painful pinch on his arm. He turned to see Xie Yao’s innocent smile paired with a frosty gaze. He instantly swallowed his words back. The sweet and gentle Xie Yao could become quite terrifying when she wanted to be.

Seeing Nie Yan was not going to say anything, Jiang Yingyu turned around and quietly left.

The two girls were rivals in love. The other people were only spectators. It was none of their business.

Liu Rui, who was sitting at the other side of the room, had witnessed the whole course of events. His balled fists were violently trembling as he tried to contain his anger with great effort.

"The academic test results are out. Let’s go take a look.” Xie Yao tugged at Nie Yan, then said to the others, "We’ll be going. See you later, everyone.”

Nie Yan hurriedly bid everyone farewell before being dragged away by Xie Yao.

"Ah, what a lucky guy. I wish I could be like him,” Liu Wei said with a sigh, then turned to the several students beside him. "After seeing our results, let’s go out for a drink. We’re going to rock ‘till we drop!”

"Rock ‘till we drop!”

Liu Wei’s words immediately received the approval of the group. For the first time Zhai Hao’s circle of friends viewed Liu Wei in a positive light. This was because they were comrades in heartbreak, degenerates in arms!

Xie Yao dragged Nie Yan to a quiet corner.

"Nie Yan, you and I need to have a serious discussion!” Xie Yao angrily exclaimed.

Nie Yan immediately showed an attentive expression.

"If I ever catch you flirting with Jiang Yingyu again, you better watch out I don't…” Xie Yao raised her fist and made a menacing gesture.

Seeing Xie Yao’s appearance, Nie Yan couldn’t help but burst out into laughter. He could never imagine her doing something like this in the previous timeline. He felt incredibly blessed at this moment.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao sat down in their respective seats, side by side. The students started searching for their results on the Top Military Academy’s website. Over 30,000 students from all over the country were on the list. Xie Yao ranked in the top 700 in the academic portion of the exam. She had passed with flying colours!

Seeing Xie Yao’s results, Nie Yan felt relieved. Even though he knew Xie Yao was definitely capable of entering the Top Military Academy, he was worried his interference in this life would negatively impact her academics in one way or another.

Nie Yan’s results were a bit special. He was one of 300 students vying to become an Ace in the Top Military Academy.

After checking her own results, Xie Yao immediately moved her seat beside Nie Yan. "Nie Yan, did you check your results yet?”

"No, not yet,” Nie Yan replied. He entered his student number into the website and was redirected to his results. He scored 503 points which was roughly what he predicted.

Seeing this score, Xie Yao felt her heart drop. The lowest cutoff score for becoming an Ace was 600 points in previous years.

At this moment, Nie Yan checked his rankings to see how he compared to the others. He was rank three in the academic portion, rank one in the fitness portion, and rank one overall.

Seeing the rankings, Xie Yao was shocked. Why did Nie Yan rank so high after only scoring 503 points? She found this hard to believe. She checked the note at the bottom of the rankings. The passing mark for this year was merely 301 points! Nie Yan had surpassed it by a full 202 points!

There was also a small explanation for why the cut-off score was so low this year. The Ace exams this time around emphasized practical knowledge more and was several times more difficult than previous years.

At this moment, Zhai Hao and the others walked over.

"So, Nie Yan. Did you pass?”

Almost everyone in the class was waiting for Nie Yan’s reply. When they saw the rankings on his computer screen, along with the explanation, they all sucked in a breath of cold air.

"Holy shit! He passed by over 200 points!”

"Fuck! How the hell are we supposed to compare! You’re making all the other guys look bad!”

Following shortly after were deep sighs. Nie Yan’s results immediately spread like wildfire throughout the entire school. The students from other classes were also deeply interested in how well he performed. So the students in Class 3 quickly shared the news to their friends and peers.

Once everyone in the school learned of Nie Yan’s results, they were struck speechless.

What frightening results! This was monstrous! It was practically inhuman!

Nie Yan never expected this outcome either. Since the Ace exam was so difficult, he never had any real hope of passing. After all, talented people were as numerous as the hair on nine oxens. Even if he had the advantage of living a second life, having studied many more years than others, talented people existed everywhere. To rank in the top 3 was truly something special.

He recalled hearing something about this year’s Ace exams being especially difficult in the previous timeline. However, it was only in passing, and he didn’t bother with it since he was so far removed from anything related to the Top Military Academy back then.

Xie Yao was also happy for Nie Yan. His future would surely be bright. At the same time she also worried. Nie Yan was so outstanding. Once he expanded his horizons and experienced more of the world, would she still have a place in his heart?

Chapter 373 - Magic Introduction

Nie Yan became the topic of conversation for the whole school. He was the third student in the history of Huahai High to enter the Top Military Academy as an Ace. This was an incredible honor!

Yang Boyi rushed over to congratulate Nie Yan whose results exceeded his expectations by a country mile. All the teachers and administrative staff were shocked. The school quickly got into action to celebrate this joyous event. It was crucial to publicize this news. A role model student like Nie Yan would undoubtedly increase enrollment numbers!

Yang Boyi pestered Nie Yan to no end, informing him that he would be attending interviews, giving speeches, and so on. Huahai High’s foundation was formidable, so he didn’t dare to not give face. He would accomplish every task they handed him with utmost perfection.

After being run ragged for three hours, Nie Yan was exhausted. However, the matter of the school’s reputation had been taken care of.

Nie Yan had become a legend in Huahai High. This sort of achievement was the first of its kind in the school’s history. Just a few hours later, word of his accomplishment had reached all the way to his hometown of Ningjiang. Likely there were other students in the school who also came from Ningjiang.

Back in Nie Yan’s old high school, when his former classmates learned of his achievements, each and every one of them was completely flabbergasted. Nie Yan’s grades in their class ranked in the top five at best. How did he suddenly become so amazing after transferring to Huahai High? When they asked around and confirmed it really was Nie Yan, they were speechless. This kind of transformation was too dramatic! They were starting to question reality.

After settling all his matters at school, Nie Yan drove Xie Yao back home before making a trip to his father’s company. Once Father Nie learned Nie Yan had entered the Top Military Academy as an Ace, he was so elated he draped the halls in red silk and threw a company wide party.

Father Nie laughed heartily as he was surrounded by relatives, employees, and friends giving their congratulations. His face radiated like the spring sun. Seeing his father’s gratified appearance, Nie Yan felt happy too. Recalling how much his parents had suffered in the previous timeline, he held back the urge to cry.

After two hours of celebrating, the atmosphere in the company finally settled down.

Nie Yan chatted with Ah Chen about the War God Tribe’s development. Although everything was on the right track, the lack of funding still remained a vital issue. They required at least several hundred thousand gold to fully expand their base of operations.

Second to only Calore, Nisode was an ideal place to set up a foundation. It was the territory of the Tuoba Family. However, there were undercurrents of change flowing beneath the city. After falling victim to the machinations of the Century Financial Group, the Tuoba Family showed signs of withdrawing from the virtual reality industry altogether as they sold off a large portion of their virtual assets. All the while the several guilds under the Tuoba Family were in chaos as the administrative layer which oversaw them splintered and collapsed. In this environment, the War God Tribe thrived. With several dozen gaming orgs serving as the framework, they rapidly established themselves as the new dominant force in Nisode.

It was just like in the previous timeline. The Nie Family’s immense capital was put on full display. With money serving as a weapon, they would naturally sweep away everything in their path.

The War God Tribe’s growth potential was unrivalled. Even with their development stunted in the previous timeline, they still reached a point where they could rival Victorious Return at the peak of their glory, even holding the advantage over them at some point. One could imagine just how glorious the War God Tribe was back then!

"No need to worry about the gold. I’ll settle the issue by tomorrow,” Nie Yan said. He would have plenty of gold after selling off the remaining Night Vision equipment. It would be used to invest in the War God Tribe, Sapphire Shrine, and Holy Empire. It was crucial these several guilds grew as well!

Nie Yan roughly understood the War God Tribe’s situation after chatting with Ah Chen. Even though they had some minor setbacks, they were much better off compared to the previous timeline. After all, they had just started expanding their operations.

Thanks to the information Nie Yan provided, Father Nie participated in the Tuoba Family’s dispute. He secretly bought a large amount of shares from several subsidiary companies owned by the Century Financial Group. Although the rate of acquisition was slow, it was nearly impossible to detect.

Father Nie understood this had to be done covertly, or the consequences would be severe if the Century Financial Group found out.

Nie Yan felt confident in his father’s ability to properly run the company. The failure of the previous timeline was in part due to the War God Tribe requiring too much resources, and in part due to the rampant misuse of funds as well as the betrayal of Luo Ming’s group. The danger of the latter was eliminated early on, and with him backing the War God Tribe, the burden on his father needing to purchase gold was greatly reduced. Like this, the crisis that befell them in the previous timeline wouldn’t see itself repeated.

Thanks to the success of the company, Father Nie’s net worth surpassed ¥1 billion. Although this was nothing compared to those large financial groups, he could still be considered an accomplished businessman. With the rapid expansion of the company, they would inevitably branch out to other industries.

The future power structure of the Viridian Empire was already set in stone.

"There’s been new movements from the Century Financial Group. They’re currently investing a large amount of resources into Conviction and rapidly expanding their gold farming operations. I know you’re at war with Bloodlust Blades, be careful,” Ah Chen warned. This was news he had received not long ago.

"No worries. I have a pretty reliable source of income. I want for nothing more than to see the Century Financial Group go at it with me. We’ll see who lasts until the end. Either way, in the long run, they’ll be the ones losing out the most,” Nie Yan said. His trade deal with Fallen Angel was extremely profitable.

"Huh? Really?” Ah Chen was a bit surprised. No matter how profitable Nie Yan’s businesses were, several auction houses and the Starry Night Potion Shop couldn’t possibly generate enough gold to compete with the Century Financial Group, right?

Nie Yan proceeded to explain his dealings with Fallen Angel in the Underworld, leaving Ah Chen speechless. No wonder Nie Yan could obtain so much Night Vision equipment! Every 10 days he would receive a terrifying sum of wealth. If the Century Financial Group truly took the step to compete with him, they would find they had fallen into a never-ending quagmire.

Bloodlust Blades was doomed to become the next abandoned child of the Century Financial Group. The Century Financial Group was currently pouring most of its resources into Angel Corps, who was also looked favourably upon by two other powerful entities. Their growth far exceeded all other guilds. The Century Financial Group mainly backed Angel Corps. Guilds like Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors were disposable, and the Century Financial Group wouldn’t hesitate to abandon them if their interests were truly threatened.

Before the release of flying mounts, Angel Corps was stuck in the Satreen Empire. They posed no danger for the time being, so Nie Yan could deal with Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors without fear. He was currently chipping away at the Century Financial Group’s capital in preparation to deal with them in the future.

"Since you’re confident about taking on the Century Financial Group, I guess I don’t have to worry.”

Ah Chen let out a deep sigh in his heart. The War God Tribe was truly blessed. With Nie Yan, they would never have to worry about gold. They could freely grow and expand their domain without restraint. They could take their time with building an in-house gold farming organisation and put all their energy into the guild.

Ah Chen informed Nie Yan of the War God Tribe’s plans to capture strongholds while coordinating with Asskickers United.

Nie Yan looked over the plans and saw no problems. It was the correct choice to leave Ah Chen in charge of handling the War God Tribe’s affairs.

Ah Chen was also tasked with running the War God Tribe in the previous timeline. He performed remarkably given the bad hand he was dealt. But sadly the enemy was too powerful. They had to fend off the combined power of Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, Bloodlust Blades, Alliances of Mages, and Divine Protectors. At the same time, The Century Financial Group was constantly manoeuvring against them in reality. These threats were neutralized for the most part in this life, so the War God Tribe naturally wouldn’t have to worry about them.

Nie Yan returned home from his father’s company. Looking at the clock, it was almost time for the servers to come back online. After finishing supper, he headed upstairs to his room and put on his game helmet. There were still 20 minutes left, so he couldn’t log into the game yet. But he could browse the web.

Nie Yan started looking up information related to magic barriers.

Magic barriers were a type of formation created out of magical energy. They required a catalyst such as a magical array, runes, or a scroll.

Seeing this, Nie Yan recalled seeing the runes engraved on the bars of the cell door. He guessed they were what was powering the magic barrier which prevented anything from passing through.

Nie Yan continued reading the information. There were all sorts of formations used to create magic barriers, along with many different classifications. He would have to investigate the runes engraved on the bars to identify the magic barrier surrounding the prison cell.

After looking through other related topics, Nie Yan still failed to find anything useful.

Don’t tell me the only way to open that cell is by killing the Black Flame Hellhound? Nie Yan despaired. He was nowhere near strong enough to do that!

Nie Yan suddenly recalled a short passage pertaining to magic immunity at the beginning of the page. It was an introduction to magic published on the official website.

「Magic is an undying spirit. The world has the sharpest sword as well as the sturdiest shield. When the flow or circuit of magic is broken, magical energy can no longer be guided.」

This was referring to magic immunity!

In other words, magic immunity from the angle of element formation could completely isolate magical energy from the rest of the world!

Chapter 374 - Great Thief

Magic immunity isolates magic energy. Formations are created out of magic energy. Can I penetrate the formation with magic immunity? Nie Yan carefully pondered on the matter. This theory is worth giving a spin.

Since magic immunity could interfere with the flow of magic energy and isolate it from the rest of the world, there was no reason it couldn’t do the same to something created out of magic energy such as the barrier. Nie Yan recalled encountering similar situations in the previous timeline, specifically during stronghold wars.

Nie Yan wondered if his idea would really pan out.

Ten minutes later, Nie Yan entered the game. He was still in the corner he logged off at in the narrow dungeon under the colosseum. The smell of decay wafted into his nose.

Nie Yan looked into the prison cell and saw Pallot reclined in the corner sleeping. Sensing Nie Yan’s presence, Pallot opened his eyes which flashed with a sharp light.

Pallot gazed at Nie Yan. "Devil Slayer, you’re back. Have you made any progress?”

"Hold on a moment, Sir Pallot.” Nie Yan faintly smiled. He crouched down an examined the bars on the cell. Each one was thick and sturdy and inscribed with mysterious runes which radiated magic energy.

This was a Dark Barrier, a high-level protective formation. The skill capable of breaking through this type of protective formation could be learned at Level 100 at the earliest.

The gap between the bars was roughly 5 inches wide, not even big enough for a person to squeeze their head through.

When Nie Yan reached out his right hand and touched the thin membrane protecting the cell, a powerful jolt of energy forced him back. He was almost sent flying. Only after being pushed back several steps did he regain his footing. A numbing sensation coursed through his arm.

What a strong repelling force!

It took a long time for Nie Yan to regain feeling in his arm.

Pallot wondered what in the world Nie Yan was doing crouched down beside the barrier. When he saw Nie Yan getting blown away, he hurriedly warned, "Devil Slayer, do not attempt to break this barrier! It contains over 600 Megacycles of magic energy. Only a Level 180 Great Mage can break it!”

Nie Yan simply shook his head with a faint smile. "Just sit back and watch.” He walked back up to the prison cell. Even though he had to go through that unpleasant experience just now, he confirmed that the energy powering the barrier was no different from regular magic energy.

Pallot’s eyes widened in surprise. Did Nie Yan really have a method to get past the barrier? This was beyond his expectations.

Pallot stared intently at Nie Yan, observing his every action.

At this moment, Nie Yan put on the Animorph Necklace and Pygmy Ring.

Animorph!

Nie Yan shone with a brilliant light as he morphed into a back lynx. He had shrunk to less than a third his original size. His Dexterity and Jump increased by 300%, and he became more suited to running in mountains and woodlands.

Even after becoming a lynx, he was still too big.

Pygmy Transformation!

Nie Yan rapidly shrunk to the size of a small housecat. He was now small enough to fit through the five-inch gaps between the bars.

Pallot was shocked by Nie Yan’s transformation. "Devil Slayer, you have some very rare magic items!”

Nie Yan finally activated Adjudicator of God, giving himself magic immunity. He sucked in his chest and slowly approached the barrier. He was extremely nervous. If this idea didn’t work, he would be blown back again.

As Nie Yan walked forward, the thin membrane protecting the cell warped and twisted before gradually giving way.

Nie Yan’s body passed through the barrier as he slowly made his way into the cell from a gap between the bars.

Any part of the barrier that touched Nie Yan would dissipate into nothing.

Magic energy was a type of particle that was omnipresent in the world of Conviction with its own unique laws governed by the system. Those who could comprehend and manipulate these laws would become powerful existences. Those who attempted to challenge these laws or destroy them altogether would inevitably be wiped into nonexistence.

By using the magic immunity from Adjudicator of God to bypass the barrier, Nie Yan was making use of the already present laws in the world of Conviction.

When Nie Yan finally passed through the gap between the bars and entered the cell, the barrier returned to normal.

Nie Yan cancelled his active skills and rapidly returned to his original size.

Witnessing how Nie Yan got into the cell, Pallot was completely blown away. He never imagined someone could use this sort of method to bypass a barrier.

"What did I say, Sir Pallot? And look, here I am!” Nie Yan greeted with a smile.

"Sir Devil Hunter, out of the numerous mysterious and outstanding people I’ve met in my life, you definitely rank among the very top!” Pallot praised. He viewed Nie Yan in a new light, evident by how he added a ‘Sir’ to his address.

Nie Yan naturally detected the change in Pallot’s speech.

He took out an Instant Transfer Scroll and handed it to Pallot. "Here, take this. With it, you can leave this damned place.”

Pallot accepted the Instant Transfer Scroll. "Thank you, Sir Devil Hunter. I’ll be taking my leave. We’ll meet again in Calore’s Thief Association.”

"Alright.” Nie Yan nodded.

Pallot used the Instant Transfer Scroll and disappeared into a ray of light.「Klang! Klang! Klang!」The shackles and chains that bound him dropped to the floor. He was no longer in the cell.

Nie Yan checked his quest progress.

Rescued Hostages: 100/100

Quest completed! Return to the Thief Association to receive your reward!

I’ve cleared my class advancement quest! Nie Yan’s cracked into a faint smile. The difficulty of this quest had somewhat exceeded his expectations, especially the last part where he had to get past the barrier. If he hadn’t thought of using Animorph, Pygmy Transformation, and Adjudicator of God together, he would have no choice but to fight the Level 70 Blackflame Hellhound, dropping his chances of success to almost zero.

Thankfully, he had freed the final hostage without a hitch.

Nie Yan took out a Return Scroll and started channelling. Instant Transfer Scrolls were quest items and couldn’t be bought. Players could only settle for scrolls that took 20 seconds to activate.

With a bright flash of light, Nie Yan returned to Calore.

Calore was still as bustling as ever. Thinking about the reward he would receive for completing his Great Thief class advancement quest, Nie Yan couldn’t help but become excited. He recalled how much effort it took him just to complete his class advancement quest on Easy in the previous timeline. When he finally succeeded, he was brought to tears with elation.

Back then, Nie Yan wore the Fabulous Set, which wasn’t all that amazing in spite of its name. It was only a Level 60 Silver-grade set, but it was decent among ordinary players at the time. All his valuables added together amounted to roughly 60 gold.

Nie Yan had turned his luck around in this life. Even with a conservative estimate, the value of all his equipment, including Lil’ Gold, was no less than 100,000 gold.

This was a monumental difference!

This was also why Nie Yan dared to do his class advancement quest on Expert.

During those dark times, Nie Yan spent every day in hardship. In spite of this, he clenched his teeth and persevered. This was the most valuable thing he had taken with him in rebirth!

Nie Yan walked through the bustling streets and arrived at the entrance of the Thief Association. He pushed open the door and stepped inside.

Nie Yan saw Pallot sitting in a seat up ahead, wearing the unmistakable cloak that represented an Elder of the Thief Association. Pallot immediately got up from his seat after seeing Nie Yan enter.

"Thank you, Sir Devil Slayer, and congratulations in advance on becoming a Great Thief. You’ve performed remarkably. In addition to the title of Great Thief, we’ve decided to also confer to you a Medal of Honor. You’re the first to receive this reward in the history of the Thief Association!” Pallot exclaimed.

The Thief Association’s Medal of Honor? Nie Yan had never heard of this item before, nor had he ever seen anyone talking about it online.

Great Thief Class Advancement Quest (Expert) completed! You have received 532,918 experience and 300 gold.

Nie Yan lit up with a white light as he directly levelled up to Level 55. The experience was great, but the 300 gold reward was negligible to him.

You have received the title of Great Thief.

Nie Yan checked his character information. All his stats were increased by 30%, his health rose to over 4,000 points, and the category of both his attack and defense had changed from Ordinary to Enhanced.

Nie Yan didn’t know the complex formulas that went into calculating attack and defense. But it was rumoured that Leather Armour (Enhanced) would reduce damage by at least 60%.

After becoming a Great Thief, players were given a bit more freedom to express themselves. They were allowed to integrate some real-world fighting techniques into the in-game combat. Of course, it was still limited by the system.

Stepping into the Adept Class was when many players started to truly shine. Nie Yan understood that he would have to face many new challenges in the future. The Adept Class players weren’t nearly as easy to deal with as ordinary players.

Even after reaching his peak at Level 180, Nie Yan still hadn’t mastered every single Great Thief technique.

Every player played the game their own way, so they were bound to develop a style of combat unique to them.

For Nie Yan, becoming a Great Thief was the beginning of a brand new journey. He was walking on a strange yet familiar path.

Chapter 375 - Preparations for Capturing an Intermediate Stronghold

Great Thief, this title bore the weight of Nie Yan’s past memories.

There were many Great Thief skills. Every player had their own unique understanding of these skills and would use them to different effect. Given that Nie Yan’s comprehension of the Thief class had grown a layer deeper, he would surely be a much deadlier Great Thief in this life.

Nie Yan took out the Great Thief skill book he had previously looted to examine.

Reverse Grip Backstab（Freedom Skill）

Description: Become invincible for 2 seconds after evading an enemy’s attack. Circle behind them and retaliate with an attack. Enhances Backstab damage.

Requirements: Action (Weapon), 50 Rage

Properties: Deal an additional 100%–300% damage. Ignores armour.

Cooldown: 30 Seconds

Restrictions: Great Thief; can be learned by any faction.

Great Thief skills generally carried the label of Freedom Skill. If used well, a player could display up to three times their normal combat strength; otherwise, they would be no different from regular skills.

Nie Yan learned the skill and glanced at his skill bar. Reverse Grip Backstab required Rage, which could be generated through combat.

Reverse Grip Backstab was a Combo Skill which built up combo points. The higher the combo, the more damage a Finisher Skill would deal.

Nie Yan would have to acquire the Combo and Finisher Skills for Great Thieves a step at a time. His skill bar would undergo a massive transformation in the time to come. Most regular skills would start being replaced by Freedom Skills while others could be upgraded to Freedom Skills through quests.

Nie Yan was excited to finally be a Great Thief again. There were many facets of the new class he was familiar with, while some would pose brand new challenges.

"Sir Devil Slayer, let me congratulate you once more on becoming a Great Thief. Here is your Medal of Honor. We hope you’ll bring glory to the Thief Association,” Pallot said in a formal tone.

Nie Yan accepted the Medal of Honor. It was crafted out of a dark metal with many mysterious engravings from the Era of Shared Governance. He examined its properties.

Great Thief Medal of Honor (Nirvana Flame)

Properties: Stealth +20, Awareness +30

Phantom Assassination (Freedom Skill): Slash the enemy’s throat after dodging an attack, dealing additional critical damage for every combo point. Cooldown: 60 seconds.

Death Exemption: Become immune to all crowd control effects and gain 10% movement speed for 2 seconds.

Restrictions: Nirvana Flame; cannot be dropped or traded.

Phantom Assassination and Death Exemption were undoubtedly two powerful skills. Phantom Assassination was similar to Reverse Grip Backstab in the sense that it was also a Freedom Skill he would have to take the time for to properly master. Death Exemption wasn’t any less useful. It could save his life at a crucial moment.

Nie Yan equipped the Great Thief Medal of Honor.

"Sir Nirvana Flame, I wish you glory on your journey.”

"Thank you, Sir Pallot,” Nie Yan said. He bid farewell to Pallot and left the Thief Association, deep in thought. It was crucial for him to master Great Thief skills if he wanted to grow. He would gather more Freedom Skills one by one and learn to use them skillfully. Only then would he become truly strong.

Nie Yan walked through the busy streets of Calore and headed to the auction house.

Draped in a large cloak, Nie Yan easily blended into the mass of people flowing down the street. He would attract too much attention without it.

Nie Yan happened to open the Super Trade Channel. The number of concurrent visitors had ballooned to more than 1,000,000. Every day there was a frightening amount transactions. Thanks to the convenience of the Super Trade Channel, the auction houses in Calore saw a 70% increase in sales. His daily profit from the six auction houses under his control rose from just several thousand gold to over 30,000 gold.

Countless players were paying close attention to the Super Trade Channel for the off-chance Night Vision equipment were put up for sale again.

After a while, Nie Yan arrived at the auction house. He offloaded his final batch of Night Vision equipment, which was of even higher quality than the previous, into the marketplace. The auction house immediately erupted into a bidding frenzy, attracting the attention of every player in Calore. The rich players were frantically bidding over each item while the poor could only look on in envy, praying something within their range of affordability, like equipment with Night Vision +2 or +3, would appear.

The bidding frenzy drove Bloodlust Mad Blade crazy. He understood that all the profits generated from the Night Vision equipment would flow into Nie Yan’s pockets. Even with a conservative estimate, Nie Yan was set to make at least 400,000 gold. How was Bloodlust Blades to survive?

Nie Yan didn’t care. As long as Bloodlust Blades was standing, he would never take down the bounty!

Nie Yan made a trip to the guild office. The players there were smiling from ear to ear. There was nothing more satisfying than knowing their enemies were suffering.

Seeing Nie Yan walking in, all of them rushed up to greet him. His appearance sent waves through the entire office.

"Where’s Bladelight and them?” Nie Yan asked Guo Huai.

"They headed to the Nilan Colosseum like you asked. They’re preparing to clear the whole map. I estimate they’ll be back in about an hour,” Guo Huai replied.

"Alright. When they get back, let them know we’re going to capture an Intermediate Stronghold,” Nie Yan informed. He believed the time was ripe.

"Today?” Guo Huai asked in surprise. He originally wanted to wait a few more days.

"We won’t disturb the people who are in the middle of their class advancement quest. Those under Level 50 will level two or three times by participating in this expedition, much faster than levelling outside. Start looking for people. We need at least 5,000 players over Level 45,” Nie Yan instructed. Capturing an Intermediate Stronghold was a huge undertaking.

Nie Yan started making his preparations. He took out 60,000 gold to purchase a large amount of potions, scrolls, and various other consumables.

Violet Smoke sent over a batch of Magic Bombs. There were more than 6,000 Junior Magic Bombs and 1,000 Intermediate Magic Bombs. Intermediate Magic Bombs dealt 500 area-of-effect damage, and 300% bonus damage to Machine-type enemies.

All of Asskickers United stirred into action. Guo Huai started assembling players as the administrative team busily got to work, spreading Nie Yan’s words to the players of the guild.

When the players of Asskickers United levelling in the various maps surrounding Calore received word that Nie Yan was organizing a guild expedition, they immediately used their Return Scrolls without a second thought. Many abandoned their quests midway, and those who couldn’t contacted the guild higher-ups to let them know.

The transfer points in Calore lit up brilliantly as players from Asskickers United returned in large numbers. All of them rushed to the guild office. A crowd was slowly building outside the entrance as more and more players arrived. Guo Huai and the others were busily doing a headcount. Those who were marked down were told to gather in United City.

Nie Yan was giving orders in the guild office as he received reports from Guo Huai.

On the side, he was also receiving notifications from the auction houses.

Your Frost Condensing Cloak has been successfully auctioned off for 5,200 gold!

Your Boulder Battle Armour has been successfully auctioned off for 5,880 gold!

The equipment Nie Yan listed up for sale today was the best out of the lot. Besides the Night Vision, the other properties were also good. Even without the Night Vision, they would be considered decent pieces of equipment. This sort of equipment was highly sought-after by high-end players.

Before long, Nie Yan received 510,000 gold, more than he expected. He had Ah Chen come over and take away 250,000 gold for the development of the War God Tribe. With this gold, they would have no funding issues for the time being. He also gave 50,000 gold each to Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire. They had helped out a lot in the conflict with Bloodlust Blades.

Besides this, 60,000 gold was previously used to buy consumables.

Of the 510,000 gold only 100,000 gold remained, which Nie Yan planned to leave in the guild treasury for daily guild expenditures. With all his revenue sources combined, he made over 80,000 gold a day.

Asskickers United currently had about 500,000 gold in the bank. Add this to the profits from the various virtual properties, lasting six or seven days was no problem. By then, Nie Yan would be back with more equipment from the Underworld to sell.

Asskickers United would have no funding issues in the foreseeable future. As for Bloodlust Blades, they were already running on fumes. How much longer they could last, no one knew.

After settling all these matters, Nie Yan relaxed. He glanced at his skill bar. He really had to find some time to master Reverse Grip Backstab and Phantom Assassination, or these two powerful skills would go to waste.

A while later, Bladelight and the others returned. There were over 500 players gathered outside the entrance of the guild office. All of them were either squad leaders or important figures in the guild. The rest of the players were already waiting on standby at United City.

Chapter 376 - Cripps Stronghold

Nie Yan walked out of the guild office. There was a vast crowd of players from Asskickers United gathered in the square outside. They excitedly greeted him in large waves.

"We’re going to capture an Intermediate Stronghold, right? How confident are you?” Smoke Stub walked up to Nie Yan and asked. He was puzzled by Nie Yan insistence on taking on an Intermediate Stronghold when there were so many Basic Strongholds available. They didn’t even know what sort of monsters guarded an Intermediate Stronghold. However, Nie Yan had done his research. He wouldn’t make a rash decision.

"Don’t worry,” Nie Yan reassured with a smile. He had read up on Intermediate Strongholds in the previous timeline. It shouldn’t be too difficult for them to clear one.

Seeing the look of confidence on Nie Yan’s face, Smoke Stub didn't say anything further. Nie Yan wasn’t the type to act on impulse.

"Guo Huai, tell Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire to closely monitor Victorious Return. We don’t want them pulling anything funny while we’re trying to clear the stronghold,” Nie Yan ordered. Although Victorious Return’s glory days were long over, even a dying viper could still deliver a nasty bite.

"Relax. I don’t think Victorious Return will try anything. Even Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire are stronger than them now. With so many guilds joining forces to take them down, they won’t even know what hit them,” Guo Huai reassured. Since Victorious Return had gone radio silent, with their members steering clear of trouble, Asskickers United couldn’t be bothered to deal with them any longer. But if they tried anything funny, they would instantly face the combined wrath of Asskickers United, Sapphire Shrine, and Holy Empire. No matter how much of a fight Victorious Return put up, they would be crushed all the same.

"What’s our headcount?” Nie Yan asked.

"5,020 players in total, with 532 of them here and the rest on standby in United City,” Guo Huai answered. This was the most elite force Asskickers United had ever gathered together.

Nie Yan ordered Guo Huai to divide the players into 26 companies. He assigned at least one Priest with Junior Revive and a capable leader to each company. He also decided on some rules to follow when clearing the Intermediate Stronghold. All he had to do was pass down his orders to the company leaders.

There was also a special 20-man task force composed of 12 Fighters and 8 Priests, which included the likes of Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, Yi Yan, Black Heaven, Painted Muslin, Young Seven, and Moon Child.

This task force would serve as the shield of the expedition team. It was their job to engage powerful bosses.

It took an hour just to get everyone organized, but it couldn’t be helped since there were so many players participating.

Nie Yan stood off to the side, waiting for the administrative team to finish sorting everything out.

Nie Yan was chatting with the others when Yao Yao dressed in her light blue robes walked over to him.

"Nirvana Flame, do you need my help with anything?” Yao Yao asked.

Nie Yan turned around to look at Yao Yao. Her equipment ranked among the top in Asskickers United. He had only gifted her one piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment. She had gotten the other two all by herself. Furthermore, the rewards for completing the first two quests in the Karsi’s Blessing quest line had probably raised her stats significantly.

Nie Yan had confirmed earlier in the day that Yao Yao and Xie Yao were one and the same. He couldn’t help but think back to his past life. Yao Yao’s previous timeline counterpart was nowhere near as strong as her present self. He recalled she kept her level roughly close to his, only ever really doing any levelling when he invited her to play, nor did she really care about her equipment. Given the Dragonsoar Financial Group’s resources, she could’ve easily left him in the dust. But instead she chose to stay by his side.

Nie Yan started to realize how deeply Xie Yao cared about him in the previous timeline. Yet all he had given in return was grief and pain. Thinking about how sad and lonely she looked during their class reunions back then, he was wrought with guilt, his heart aching.

"Share your stats and gear with me for a second.” Nie Yan dook a deep breath to settle his mind. Xie Yao, let me atone for my past mistakes in this life!

"Alright.” Xie Yao nodded.

Nie Yan scanned through her character information. All of her Sub Legendary-grade equipment had pretty good supplementary skills, one with area-of-effect, one with crowd control, and one with high single-target damage. She had also learned Rank 1 and Rank 2 Templar Magic.

Rank 1 Advanced Magic was pretty common, with many players in Asskickers United knowing one or two skills. Rank 2 Advanced Magic was much rarer. Yao Yao was perhaps the only player in Asskickers United to know one. Her Rank 2 Advanced Magic was called Radiant Fetters. It could bind a single target for 15 to 30 seconds and had a cooldown of two days. Since it could be interrupted midcast, the player had to stay focused!

Nie Yan was shocked by the description of Radiant Fetters. It was definitely an extraordinary team assisting skill. It would be extremely useful against bosses.

"Yao Yao, you don’t need to go anywhere. Just stay by my side,” Nie Yan said. He planned to use Radiant Fetters to its full potential!

"Nirvana Flame, you’re not abusing your authority, are you?” Moon Child giggled. She already new Nie Yan was Nirvana Flame. Staring at Xie Yao and then Nie Yan, she felt the two looked like a match made in heaven. After being close friends with Xie Yao for so many years, she had a good understanding of her friend’s personality, so she was shocked by what occurred earlier in the afternoon.

Xie Yao looked a little embarrassed.

Nie Yan chuckled. Even if he was, so what?

The expedition team was finally ready to set out. "We’re making a stop at our guild headquarters in United City first!” Nie Yan announced.

The crowd of players entered the transfer point in the guild office and returned to United City.

United City. Thanks to the efforts of Guo Huai working alongside the Dragonsoar Financial Group, this stronghold city flourished. Rows and rows of shops lined the main road as players crossed and weaved and pushed past each other, browsing through the goods on display behind the windows.

Such a large crowd gathering outside the plaza of the main guild headquarters naturally caught the attention of the regular players visiting United City.

"Is Asskickers United about to make a move on Bloodlust Blades?”

"It’s quite possible. They look like they’re all elites of Asskickers United.”

"An inter-city battle? Glory City is Bloodlust Blade’s domain!”

"Is there anything Asskickers United doesn’t dare to do? Remember when Nirvana Flame and his 20 companions ran amok in Glory City and still got away unscathed? Well now it’s not just 20, it’s 5,000!”

The news spread like wildfire and soon reached the ears of the enemy. Mad Blade anxiously dispatched forces to prepare for the incoming assault as all of Bloodlust Blades geared up for battle. Only a minute later, it was revealed that Asskickers United wasn’t going to war at all but simply setting off to capture an Intermediate Stronghold. Bloodlust Blades had gotten all worked up for nothing.

Nie Yan ran some drills with the expedition team. It was crucial that each company could execute his orders without delay. Ony like this could they function as a whole.

Nie Yan found several capable players, such as Smoke Stub, Paladin of the Elegy, and Lustboy, and put them in charge of a company each. He also further divided the companies into squads. Like this, it would be easier to give out orders.

Only after running drills for roughly two hours did the expedition team set out for the Intermediate Cripps Stronghold.

The earth rumbled as more than 5,000 players streamed out of the gates of United City on horseback into the valley below.

Nie Yan rode ahead of the expedition team. As a Thief he could scout out the circumstances around the Cripps Stronghold before the others arrived. His Faulkner Warhorse was also fast enough to give him an hour’s lead over ordinary players.

The Cripps Stronghold was constructed during the Era of Shared Governance to guard against a possible counterattack from the dragons. It was later abandoned, falling into ruin through years of neglect, and then occupied by creatures of darkness.

This was the only information about the Cripps Stronghold given on the official website. Not much could be discerned. However, Nie Yan knew this stronghold was close to many well-known levelling spots such as the Lamia Lair, Spider Hole, and Infernal Everglades, all of which were Level 60–70 maps, and a little further were multiple Level 80 maps. In the previous timeline, the Cripps Stronghold became the go-to destination for players ranging between Level 60–80. And at the peak of its popularity, when the player base had reached Level 60, it was dubbed Mini Calore for rivalling the largest city in the Viridian Empire in commerce.

Capturing the Cripps Stronghold would be extremely beneficial to Asskickers United and the Dragonsoar Financial Group. To the former it was an endless source of gold, and to the latter there was no better location to set up a real-world business district.

In the previous timeline, Cao Xu had profited immensely from the Cripps Stronghold. In this life, Nie Yan planned to snatch it away for himself. The Century Financial Group would have no business here.

Chapter 377 - Phantom Assassination

The ancient walls covered in cracks and moss, with many regions having collapsed into ruins, served as a testament to the bleak history of the Cripps Stronghold.

This square-shaped stronghold which covered an area of 5,000 by 5,000 meters still showed traces of its former glory. In the previous timeline, after clearing out all the monsters, Victorious Return rebuilt it from the ground up.

Back then, the Cripps Stronghold with its renewed life and flourishing commerce was a marvel worthy of players’ admiration.

It was important for Nie Yan to continue making both himself and Asskickers United stronger. Only then would they stand a chance against the Century Financial Group. Securing the Cripps Stronghold was a must.

In this life, the Century Financial Group had withdrawn most of their capital from the Viridian Empire and redirected all their time and energy on Angel Corps in the Satreen Empire. However, Nie Yan still felt an impending sense of crisis. The Century Financial Group was a behemoth of an existence no one could rival in the virtual reality industry.

Nie Yan galloping like the wind on his Faulkner Warhorse arrived outside the Cripps Stronghold. He dismounted and slowly approached. From memory its interior was akin to a vast labyrinth with many buildings spread out in a complex fashion. Investigating such a place was going to be a huge pain.

Nie Yan entered the Cripps Stronghold, where he was greeted by a bluestone paved street about 100 meters wide, big enough to allow 100 people to walk side by side. On both sides were broken down shops, a small reminder of a once bustling populous.

Black armoured swordsmen roamed the street. Nie Yan inspected one with Transcendent Insight.

Phantom Swordsman (Elite): Level 50

Health: 35,000/35,000

Even the weakest monsters in the Cripp Strongholds were Elites. Lords were far from rare, and Super Variant and Demonized Lords appearing was possible too. The only way to deal with such powerful monsters was with numbers!

Nie Yan entered stealth and proceeded forward. The numerous wide-open streets weaved and crossed with each other. He occasionally encountered small squares big enough to fit 600 players. These plazas were often occupied by Lords ranging from Level 50–60.

Marking down all the bosses he encountered, Nie Yan started creating a map of the Cripps Stronghold. His stealth ability was unrivalled. Not a single monster spotted him.

Nie Yan slowly made his way to the center of the map, successfully avoiding the Phantom Swordsmen roaming the streets. As he passed by a run-down street, he happened to notice the unmistakable sparkle of a gold treasure chest not far away. It was tucked away in a corner patrolled by a Phantom Swordsman.

Only a single Phantom Swordsman, dealing with it will be a piece of cake! Nie Yan thought. How could he pass up on this treasure chest?

Nie Yan slowly crept up behind the Phantom Swordsman. It passively wandered about, occasionally stopping to look around.

The Phantom Swordsman as a Level 50 humanoid Elite possessed high Awareness.

Nie Yan was extremely careful with his steps as he approached from behind. He adjusted his grip on Zennarde’s Sword and pounced forward with a Smothering Strike aimed at the back of the Phantom Swordsman’s head.

Nie Yan was as fast as lightning. But even so, the Phantom Swordsman lit up with a golden radiance at the very last moment. Although the attack landed, the Phantom Swordsman wasn’t stunned and retaliated with a sweeping slash.

"Crap!” Nie Yan cried out in alarm. He never expected the senses of the Phantom Swordsman to be so sharp. He hurriedly raised Zennarde’s Sword in an attempt to parry. A loud klang! rang out as a powerful force travelled down his arm and pushed him back several steps.

−831

The Phantom Swordsman didn’t let up and charged after Nie Yan.

Nie Yan activated his Blackbright Barrier while quickly falling back.

The Phantom Swordsman slashed down its sword at Nie Yan. Its blade radiated a sharp sword light.

Nie Yan suddenly shifted his footwork.

Reverse Grip Backstab!

Nie Yan stumbled mid-execution as he attempted to avoid the attack. The Phantom Swordsman struck him squarely, causing his Blackbright Barrier to shudder.

−307

Reverse Grip Backstab was a difficult skill to pull off. There seemed to be some sort of a trick he had yet to grasp. Clumsy movement would only lead to the skill failing.

The Phantom Swordsman refused to let up and hacked down at Nie Yan once more.

Nie Yan activated Gale Step to block the attack and countered with a Concussive Blow to the Phantom Swordsman’s forehead.

With the Phantom Swordsman stunned, Nie Yan circled around and unleashed a flurry of attacks.

Backstab!

Eviscerate!

Blood spurted out into the air like a fountain.

−539

−538

−255

−100...

A string of damage values floated up into the air. Nie Yan continued his ruthless assault, dealing massive damage to the Phantom Swordsman.

When the Phantom Swordsman was about to break free from the stun, Nie Yan plunged Zennarde’s Sword into its back and activated Blast.「Bang!」It flew out like a loose kite before crashing into the ground with a heavy thud, only struggling back to its feet after a long time.

The Phantom Swordsman charged at Nie Yan yet again.

In order to avoid attracting the attention of other Phantom Swordsmen nearby, Nie Yan couldn’t use items like Flash Powder. Seeing the Phantom Swordsman closing in, he activated Gale Retreat and pulled back as fast as he could.

This alleyway was too narrow, but he ran the risk of attracting other monsters if he fled too far. He could only summon up the courage to duke it out with the Phantom Swordsman in here.

Just as the Phantom Swordsman arrived in front of him, Nie Yan’s footwork changed yet again.

Phantom Assassination!

Nie Yan transformed into a blur as his body started moving in an unpredictable manner. He slashed the Phantom Swordsman’s neck in the blink of an eye as blood splattered on the ground.

Despite Nie Yan’s erratic movements, the Phantom Swordsman still managed to graze him.

−239

Phantom Assassination: 35% Completion, 52% damage, 0 Combo

Every Freedom Skill required some technique to execute. Without properly grasping these movements, even a seasoned Shadow Dancer would look clumsy. For Nie Yan to perform this well on his first try was an impressive achievement.

Chapter 378 - Foreign Players

On top of dealing 321 damage, Nie Yan’s Phantom Assassination also inflicted the Phantom Swordsman with continuous poison and bleed damage.

Nie Yan only attempted Phantom Assassination and Reverse Grip Backstab to get a feel for these two Freedom Skills which were unfamiliar to him. Even at his peak during the previous timeline, he had only learned three Freedom Skills in total.

Back then, Nie Yan had holed himself up in one spot for two months practicing non-stop just to gain a basic mastery of a Freedom Skill. This was a gradual process that took time and dedication.

To execute a Freedom Skill without any prior experience was incredibly difficult.

Thanks to his comprehension of Shadow Dancer techniques, along with his many years of experience, Nie Yan figured out the basic principle behind Phantom Assassination on his first attempt. Although he had barely gotten his foot in the door, this first step was crucial. From this point forward, he could slowly familiarize himself with the skill until he was fully proficient.

The Phantom Swordsman rushed at Nie Yan with Charge, a skill that stunned the enemy upon collision. It was extremely deadly when paired with something like Cleave.

Just as the Phantom Swordsman’s blade hacked down, Nie Yan evaded with Shadow Waltz. He dashed forward and slashed the enemy’s chest with Zennarde’s Sword.

Nie Yan brushed past the Phantom Swordsman and continued running.

At this moment, the Phantom Swordsman let out a deep and low roar. It was Demoralizing Shout, a skill that briefly immobilized all surrounding enemies.

Sensing something off when the Phantom Swordsman didn’t immediately give chase, Nie Yan activated Death Exemption.

A heavy sound wave swept through Nie Yan, but all that happened was a Miss floating up above his head.

Death Exemption was a skill granted by his Medal of Honor that negated the effects of Demoralizing Shout.

Nie Yan glanced at the Phantom Swordsman. He had already shaved away 70% of its health bar. Perhaps he was the only player who could solo a Level 50 Elite.

The Phantom Swordsman’s combat ability was too powerful. It had too many crowd control skills at its disposal. Even a party of peak players would have a tough time dealing with it.

The Phantom Swordsman brandished its sword once more and pursued the quickly retreating Nie Yan.

As Nie Yan continued kiting the Phantom Swordsman, his health fell to 22%. He quickly drank an Intermediate Health Potion.

Nie Yan refused to directly tangle with the Phantom Swordsman. He would immediately retreat every time he landed a successful attack, letting the bleed and poison damage do all the work. The opponent’s attacks were sharp and overbearing, putting him under heavy pressure.

Slowly but surely, the Phantom Swordsman’s health fell to 20%, with roughly 7,000 health remaining.

The Phantom Swordsman lost its mind and fell into a berserk state, an ominous aura overflowing from its body. Its muscles bulged outwards and its speed increased dramatically.

Nie Yan rapidly pulled back. Looking at his remaining 13% health, he wrapped himself with an Advanced Combat Bandage.

+200

+200

+200...

Gale Step happened to come off cooldown right at this moment.

Charge!

Decimating Blow!

The Phantom Swordsman chopped down on Nie Yan with a mighty sword of raging flames.

Gale Step! Nie Yan blocked the Decimating Blow, then slashed the Phantom Swordsman’s throat with Zennarde’s Sword.

Cut Throat!

−1,735! Blood sprayed out into the air as a frightening damage value floated up above the Phantom Swordsman’s head.

It was a critical hit!

The Phantom Swordsman let out a deep roar. slamming its sword into the ground and sending out a powerful shock wave that engulfed everything within a two-meter radius.

However, Nie Yan had already opened a distance of several meters thanks to the speed boost granted by Gale Step.

All the while Nie Yan’s health continued to rise. Advanced Combat Bandages were potent healing items.

The Phantom Swordsman swung around. It had already fallen to around 2,000 health. However, that didn’t stop it from madly charging at Nie Yan yet again.

−328

−100

−218...

The ticks of bleed and poison damage slowly stacked up, leaving the Phantom Swordsman with only 600 health.

Nie Yan quickly retreated, seeing the Phantom Swordsman getting closer and closer. As its large sword slashed down on him, his pupils suddenly shrunk.

Phantom Assassination!

Nie Yan’s body blurred into many different illusory figures. He brushed past the Phantom Swordsman’s blade and stabbed it in the neck with Zennarde’s Sword.

Phantom Assassination: 39% Completion, 63% damage, 0 Combo

−568 The Phantom Swordsman staggered unsteadily before collapsing on the ground and disappearing into motes of light.

This was the effect of purification.

The Phantom Swordsman dropped two pieces of loot. The first was a piece of Level 50 Gold-grade Berserker equipment. Its properties weren’t bad, but such an item naturally wouldn’t hold Nie Yan’s interest. The other was an Alchemy Recipe.

Advanced Health Potion Recipe

Requirements: Advanced Alchemist

Nie Yan was pleasantly surprised. From now on, he could use Advanced Health Potions.

Nie Yan tossed the Advanced Health Potion Recipe in his bag. The Starry Night Potion Shop already had five Advanced Alchemists. Giving the recipe to any one of them would be fine.

After putting away the loot, Nie Yan walked over to the gold treasure chest. He bent down and started opening it.

Opening Treasure Chest… Progress: 10%... 30%... 55%....

The chest popped open with a click. Nie Yan dug around and fished out two skill books.

Nie Yan examined the first book which looked somewhat shabby.

Skill Book: Fireball Downpour

Description: Bombard everything within a 20 meter radius of the targeted area with fireballs, dealing 200% magic damage. Cast Time: 10 Seconds. Cooldown: 10 minutes.

Restrictions: Arcane Mage, Elementalist

This was a decent skill for clearing away large numbers of mobs. It would be perfect to hand over to the Arcane Mages and Elementalists in the guild.

Nie Yan turned to look at the other skill book. The edges were gilded with gold, and the workmanship was excellent. It was definitely a valuable item.

Examining the cover, Nie Yan was surprised. It was actually the Thief skill book for Quick Reset.

Quick Reset was an extremely rare skill. In the previous timeline, it would appear in the marketplace once every blue moon. Back then it was something he could only hope for in his dreams.

Skill Book: Quick Reset

Description: Reduce the cooldown of one of a selected skill (excluding Advanced Skills) to 2 seconds. Cooldown: 15 minutes.

Restrictions: Thief

Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar. It was already completely full. More than 20 of his skill slots were taken up by passive skills that increased Dexterity and Strength. If he wanted to continue learning new skills, he would have to clear out some space.

The passive skills that only added 3 Dexterity or Strength were disposable to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan learned Quick Reset, then continued exploring the stronghold, using any lone mobs he encountered on the way as training dummies to practice Phantom Assassination and Reverse Grip Backstab. These two Freedom Skills were fairly difficult to get the hang of. It would be impossible for him to completely master them any time soon.

All Freedom Skills generally required a long time to fully grasp. Nie Yan was in no rush.

Nie Yan gradually made his way to the center of the stronghold. He hid atop a 10-meter tall building, peering down at a public square up ahead. It was spacious enough to fit several thousand players, and roaming around in the center was a 6 meter-tall bear that resembled a small hill.

Nie Yan recalled hearing in the previous timeline that the final boss of the Cripps Stronghold was Level 70.

The expedition team should be arriving right about now, Nie Yan thought after checking the time. He jumped off of the building, gently landing on the ground using the Featherfall Jewel. After which he sprinted off to meet them.

When Nie Yan returned to the entrance of the Cripps Stronghold, he received word from Guo Huai that the expedition team had arrived.

Gazing far into the horizon, Nie Yan saw a large mass of players on horseback riding towards him. They stopped in the field outside the Cripps Stronghold, dismounted from their horses, and started organizing into their ranks.

Nie Yan issued out orders which were carried out immediately. Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and the others entered the Cripps Stronghold first and stood at the center of the street. With Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan tanking at the front while the Priests supported them from the rear, they started warming up by clearing away the first few Phantom Swordsmen in their path.

The other teams followed suit, entering the stronghold one after another.

Asskickers United’s large movements naturally attracted the attention of other guilds, who all received the news they were planning to capture the Cripps Stronghold. Asskickers United was perhaps the only guild right now that dared to take on an Intermediate Stronghold.

Although Victorious Return wanted to interfere, they were powerless against the might of Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine. Calore no longer belonged to them. Bloodlust Blades was too busy trying to put out the fire on their side, and Divine Protectors and Alliance of Mages were too far away. Dispatching players to Calore was simply suicidal. Asskickers United was basically invincible within Calore. Without several hundred thousand troops, it was impossible to stop them.

Under Nie Yan’s command, the over 5,000 elites from Asskickers United started clearing the Cripps Stronghold.

Calore was exceptionally tranquil, with not a speck of dust being kicked up despite Asskickers United clearing the Cripps Stronghold.

At this moment, five figures stepped out of Calore’s transfer point and immediately attracted the attention of the surrounding players. One of them was tall, green, and rippling with muscles, resembling a ferocious beast. This was an orc from the Satreen Empire. Another had delicate features, jade-like skin, and two long ears. It was an elf!

Chapter 379 - War Preparations

This was the first time players from the Satreen Empire had stepped foot in the Viridian Empire. Their strange appearances immediately attracted many curious gazes.

The player standing at the front of the group was the tallest among them. He had a sturdy stature, dark green skin, and was fully clad in plate armour. He held a heavy shield in one hand and a large sword in the other. A metal helmet covered most of his head, only showing his face which appeared extremely fierce.

He was an Orc Warrior!

Orcs with their innate strength were the race most suited for the Warrior class.

The orcs had given birth to many outstanding Warriors throughout history.

Standing beside the Orc Warrior was a slim player with pointy ears. He wielded two daggers and wore leather armour, signifying he was an Elven Thief. The innate cloaking ability of elves made them extremely suited for stealth.

There were three more players. One of them looked somewhat portly. He wore ash-gray robes covered in ancient charms. He was a Shaman Doctor, a frightening class that could cast healing magic and wield the power of nature. His friendly and approachable appearance made it easy for a person to lower their guard. But the sharp killing intent radiating from his eyes suggested this was only a facade.

As for the other two players, one was an Elven Mage and the other an Elven Druid.

It would be strange if this group didn’t attract the attention of everyone around them. The lowest level among them was Level 51 while the highest was the Elven Mage at Level 55.

"So this is Calore, eh? It’s a lot less lively compared to our Orc King City,” the Orc Warrior remarked with a hint of disdain.

The portly Shaman Doctor gazed at the players walking up and down the street. "Don’t be so quick to judge. The map layout here is different from the Satreen Empire. Orc King City is surrounded by many Level 30–60 maps. It’s not strange the city is at the height of activity right now. All of Calore’s players are spread out over several hundred surrounding towns and villages. Even though at a glance Calore seems quiet and empty compared to Orc King City, their population is at least two times larger than ours.”

The Orc Warrior lightly grunted while the others nodded in acknowledgement. Although they each had their pride, they showed respect to the Shaman Doctor. It appeared this portly player was the de facto leader of the group.

"Flying Cat, I heard you have a classmate in Victorious Return. Why don’t you call them over to show us around? I have no problem compensating them for their time,” the Shaman Doctor said. They were travellers in an unfamiliar city. It would be best if they found a guide.

Flying Cat, who was the Elven Thief, thought for a moment before nodding in understanding. "Alright, I’ll get in touch with him.”

"Love Guru, do you know when the Elite Knight Corps are recruiting again?” the Orc Warrior casually asked as he looked around at the sights.

The Elite Knight Corps was the strongest group of Warriors in Angel Corps. They currently comprised 50 members.

"I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Angel after we return,” the Shaman Doctor replied indifferently as he looked around at the nearby shops. Their mission for coming to Calore was to gather intel on one of their potential rivals, Asskickers United. It would be great if he could bring back some useful information.

"How could I ask the guild leader?” The Orc Warrior gave a bitter smile.

"You’re a veteran member of Angel Corps. How can we help you if you’re failing to meet the mark? If you really want to join the Elite Knight Corps that badly, figure out a way to enter the top 50 first,” Love Guru said. He was a high-ranking member who held significant sway in Angel Corps.

The Orc Warrior was the weakest in the group. The rest of them all ranked within the top 100 of Angel Corps. Love Guru was ranked 7th, but his influence was only second to Soaring Angel. His connections were deep. Angel Corps wouldn’t be what it was today without him.

"Give me a break! All those players in the top 50 are a bunch of freaks! It would be easier to scale Mt. Everest!” the Orc Warrior exclaimed dejectedly. Back when Angel Corps was running around in other virtual reality games, he had always been in the top 50. But things changed after entering Conviction. Angel Corps had gotten ahead of the competition and secured a lion’s share of the real-estate market in Orc King City. They received the support of two giant companies and later on the favour of the Century Financial Group. Their popularity soared overnight, with a large number of new recruits joining every day. After crushing all the other guilds in Orc King City beneath their feet, they stood at the top unrivalled. The Orc Warrior gave it his all, competing with the galaxy of talent in the guild, but gradually lost his top 50 ranking. Due to him being a long-standing member, he could still run dungeons with Love Guru and the other veteran members frequently. But his ranking in Angel Corps had already dropped down to the top 700.

Love Guru laughed and comforted the Orc Warrior. "You’re a veteran member of Fallen Angel. All of us know how many years you’ve toiled for the guild. As long as the guild stands, you will never be mistreated. But you also need to shape up. It would be shameful if we veterans lose to those new recruits. We’re eventually going to control the entire Satreen Empire and even expand into the Viridian Empire. You better be there too! Don’t fall behind.”

"Yes, Love Guru!” The Orc Warrior nodded emotionally.

Love Guru and his group visited the Starry Night Potion Shop, the several auction houses in Calore, and a few NPCs. All the while Love Guru was carrying out his mission as he recorded down any information related to Asskickers United that entered his ears.

...

Cripps Stronghold. Asskickers United’s arrival destroyed the tranquility of this place. There were players on every street, clearing away the Phantom Swordsmen, as they slowly pressed forward.

Nie Yan led a group of 500 players through the main street as he advanced toward the heart of the Cripps Stronghold. Only now did he truly understand the strength of numbers!

All Nie Yan had to do was pass down an order whenever they encountered an elite, and a shower of spells would rain down from the sky, blasting the enemy into smithereens. Although some accidents occurred, such as Phantom Swordsmen managing to reach their backline and slaughtering the Mages, they were quickly dealt with.

Thanks to the large number of Priests with Revive, their losses were greatly reduced. At most players who died would lose a bit of experience.

Nie Yan spotted a giant creature in a plaza up ahead.

Black Mammoth (Lord): Level 50

Health: 230,000/230,000

This Black Mammoth stood over four meters tall. Taking on a level 50 Lord directly was extremely difficult. This was a flat plaza, there were no environmental obstacles to take advantage of. All they could do was allow the Fighters to tank it head on. This Black Mammoth was also guarded by more than 60 Phantom Swordsmen. Before dealing with the Black Mammoth, they would have to clear out the Phantom Swordsmen first.

"Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, Yi Yan, take the right flank. Listen to my command, charge straight for the Black Mammoth. Young Seven, Painted Muslin, Heaven, each of you will be supporting one of them. Don’t let them die!” Nie Yan examined how the Phantom Swordsmen were spread out and immediately passed down his orders.

"Isn’t that too dangerous?” Young Seven asked worriedly. He was the cautious type that preferred to minimize risk. In his mind it was too risky to face the Black Mammoth without first clearing away the Phantom Swordsmen. If Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan were surrounded, it wouldn’t matter how many Priests there were to heal them.

"It’s fine, I have a plan. Who here can cast Frost Rain?” Nie Yan asked the Elementalists.

"I can,” Lustboy answered. Today was his first time seeing Nie Yan in person. Before this he had only seen him in videos. He couldn’t help but bubble with excitement.

Nie Yan glanced at Lustboy who looked to be around 18 years old. It was amazing such a youth could enter the top ranks of Asskickers United. In the entire guild perhaps only Sun was younger than him.

"I can also cast Frost Rain,” Undying Scoundrel said. Even though Frost Rain dealt pitiful damage, its ability to slow the enemy to a crawl was highly valued by top-ranking players.

Two players with Frost Rain, it was enough.

Seeing Nie Yan asking for players who could cast Frost Rain, Young Seven faintly smiled. He finally understood the plan.

Nie Yan had planned everything out step by step. He stationed the players who could cast area-of-effect spells in suitable vantage points.

After finishing his preparations, Nie Yan turned to Bladelight and the others. "You guys can start now. Be careful. We’ll provide cover fire for you. You must reach the Black Mammoth and secure its aggro at all costs.”

Bladelight chuckled and gave a thumbs up. He was completely confident.

These teammates were all outstanding players. All Nie Yan had to do was explain once and they would immediately understand his thoughts. On top of this, they weren’t afraid to raise their concerns and share their opinions. As for teamwork, they were always running dungeons together, so there was no problem in that respect.

"Alright, let’s begin,” Nie Yan ordered.

Before long, the players all got into position. Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan drank Invisibility Potions and started heading towards the Black Mammoth.

Seeing them leave, Nie Yan gave his orders. Looking around, all the Mages who could cast area-of-effect magic were in position and had finished their preparations.

Chapter 380 - Coordination

Bladelight and the others arrived at their designated positions. Three Phantom Swordsmen barred their path to the Dark Mammoth.

Undying Scoundrel and Lustboy were also on standby.

Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan awaited their orders as they looked over in Nie Yan’s direction.

After confirming everyone was ready, Nie Yan gave the signal. Several silhouettes burst into action and rushed toward the Black Mammoth.

Charge!

Charge!

Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan were like arrows loosed from their bows and aimed directly at the Black Mammoth.

The nearby Phantom Swordsmen immediately moved to surround them!

"Scoundrel, Lustboy, now!” Nie Yan exclaimed.

Undying Scoundrel and Lustboy raised their staffs and started chanting a series of incantations as the surrounding temperature rapidly plummeted.

Frost Rain had a cast time of roughly 10 seconds. A group of Phantom Swordsmen in the distance noticed the magic fluctuations and started rushing towards the source.

"Warriors, stop them!”

Edgeless, Monochrome, and several other Warriors charged forward and intercepted the Phantom Swordsmen, blocking them from advancing by even half-a-step.

Meanwhile, Bladelight and the other two had charged through one Phantom Swordsmen after another and arrived in front of the Black Mammoth.

"Shield Bash!” Bladelight bellowed, slamming his heavy shield into the Black Mammoth with a loud klang!

Staggering several steps back, the Black Mammoth let out an angry roar and charged at Bladelight.

Defense Stance!

Bladelight dug his feet into the ground and braced both arms against his shield.

A loud metallic klang rang out like a clap of thunder as the Black Mammoth rammed into the shield and shoved Bladelight back several meters before stopping.

Bladelight stood firm as a boulder, even with the Black Mammoth’s aggro fully focused on him.

Young Seven hurriedly healed Bladelight and cast a damage absorbing shield on him.

Bladelight held the Black Mammoth’s attention while Lofty Shadow and Yi Yan guarded his flanks.

Almost 40 Phantom Swordsmen closed in on the three of them from all directions. They felt their scalps go numb. With so many Level 50 Elites surrounding them, they were basically sitting ducks. It wouldn’t matter how tanky they were since the enemy AI was capable of chaining crowd control effects.

"Don’t attack! Don’t unnecessarily generate aggro!” Bladelight hollered in a tense tone. He couldn’t help but wonder if Nie Yan’s plan was really viable. As long as they didn’t attack, the others could draw these Phantom Swordsmen away.

At this moment, Undying Scoundrel and Lustboy finished chanting the last syllable. A dense mist of ice descended on the area, plummeting the surrounding temperature below zero. A downpour of hail and sleet followed.

Ice crystals bloomed everywhere accompanied by the sound of pitter-pattering on the ground.

Everything within the range of the Frost Rain was pelted with ice. Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan were no exception.

−130

−130

−130...

A string of damage values floated up above their heads. They looked like frozen ice sculptures, their movements greatly hindered.

Frost Rain wasn’t a high-damage spell, but its slowing effect was potent.

Young Seven, Painted Muslin, and Black Heaven immediately increased their efforts in healing Bladelight’s group, preserving their health above 80%.

The Phantom Swordsmen were a step away from surrounding and attacking Bladelight’s group. But when the Frost Rain descended their movements slowed to a crawl, and under the constant peppering their aggro finally shifted onto Undying Scoundrel and Lustboy.

Bladelight continously attacked the Black Mammoth with his sword and shield. He didn’t dare to use skills like Demoralizing Shout and Taunt for fear of aggroing the nearby Phantom Swordsmen.

Bladelight remained unyielding in the face of the Black Mammoth’s unrelenting assault. He had the best defensive gear in Asskickers United. So long as the healing kept up, let alone a Level 50 Black Mammoth even a Level 80 Lord couldn’t faze him.

The Phantom Swordsmen moved to surround Undying Scoundrel and Lustboy.

"Mages, let loose your area-of-effect magic 20 meters ahead!” Nie Yan ordered. All the Mages started chanting their spells.

When the Phantom Swordsmen arrived in the designated area, Nie Yan activated an Advanced Twisting Vines Scroll as giant tendrils shot out of the ground and bound the Phantom Swordsmen in place.

The Phantom Swordsmen wildly struggled and thrashed about, but their restraints showed no signs of loosening.

The Mages finished chanting as fire, lightning, and ice poured down from the sky creating a cacophony of destruction. No one could count how many area-of-effect spells were layered on top of one another. But such a violent bombardment would surely leave no survivors!

The Phantom Swordsmen collapsed in droves. Not a single one was left alive!

The barrage of area-of-effect magic finally subsided about 12 seconds later, revealing a scene of utter carnage. The ground was littered with the corpses of Phantom Swordsmen with the glitter of loot sparkling in between.

The surrounding players gazed at Nie Yan in awe. For him to have achieved his current success absolutely wasn’t through sheer coincidence and luck. From calling forth the Frost Rain, to the activation of Twisting Vines and the bombardment of area-of-effect spells, all of it took place in the span of roughly two minutes, the timing of every move counted to perfection.

"Everyone, focus on the boss!” Nie Yan commanded. The several hundred players behind rushed toward the Black Mammoth.

A group of Warriors rushed forward and surrounded the Black Mammoth, hindering its movements greatly. It furiously bellowed and attempted to break free of the encirclement. But its struggling was futile.

Bladelight immediately felt the burden on his back lessen greatly.

The Mages in the rear spread out and bombarded the Black Mammoth with magic.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Spells rained down on the Black Mammoth. Explosions of flames and lightning flew out everywhere.

A string of damage values floated up above the Black Mammoth’s head.

About a minute later, the Black Mammoth’s health dipped below 20%. Its entire body started glowing red. Letting out a thunderous roar, it slammed into Bladelight with its long tusks and ruthlessly sent him flying.

Its tusk had also sent six others flying away, immediately opening up some space.

The Black Mammoth charged out of the encirclement, crushing six Warriors to death in the process.

Besides the Fighters, no one else could stop the berserk Black Mammoth!

Seeing that the Mages in the rear were in danger, Lofty Shadow rushed forward and struck out with a Shield Bash before hunkering down in front of the Black Mammoth.

Lofty Shadow was like a boulder barring the Black Mammoth’s path forward. It let out an angry roar and whipped its trunk at him.

「Bang!」Lofty Shadow was sent flying like a loose kite.

Young Seven, Painted Muslin, and Black Heaven were frantically providing support. When Bladelight was sent flying, they immediately healed him. Seeing Lofty Shadow get knocked away too, they rushed to heal him. Before they even hit the ground, their health was restored to full!

The healing meant there was no pressure!

Be it Young Seven, Painted Muslin, or Black Heaven, any one of them was a first class healer. Their reaction speeds were top-notch. A Priest’s worth was based on how quickly they could respond with their eyes and hands. So long as the Heals, Dispels, and so on were timely, everything was fine.

Most teams only had one Main Healer on the account of excellent Priests being hard to come by. But Nie Yan’s group had three Priests who could play the role in the form of Young Seven, Painted Muslin, and Black Heaven. As long as they were around, anyone not instantly killed by the Black Mammoth could be brought back to full health in no time!

Such Priests greatly reduced the risk of wiping. Their prompt healing would transform any Warrior into an undying cockroach!

Just as Lofty Shadow was sent flying, a full health Bladelight jumped in to take his place.

Chapter 381 - Magic Tower

Bladelight and Yi Yan worked together to lock down the Black Mammoth. It bellowed furiously but all of its struggling was futile.

Since the Fighters were coordinating perfectly and the Priests had no trouble keeping up with the healing, the Mages could let loose without worry. Tang Yao in particular was firing out spells like a gatling gun and dealing an astonishing amount of damage.

Nie Yan was thoroughly impressed. This sort of team was practically unrivalled. He couldn’t help but recall his experiences in the previous timeline, where Fighters would fail to properly secure the boss’ aggro, Mages would carelessly generate too much aggro, and Priests would fail to keep up the healing when the boss went berserk. All of these scenarios would lead to a wipe. It would take five or six attempts to defeat a Lord-class boss on a good day.

However, this team was making it look like child’s play!

About half a minute later, the Black Mammoth bellowed out mournfully before crashing down to the ground.

Flawless!

Nie Yan gazed at the 11 corpses scattered on the ground, all of which were Warriors and Thieves who had been instantly killed by the Black Mammoth.

"Priests, start reviving the fallen. Everyone else, rest up!” Nie Yan ordered as he walked toward the Black Mammoth’s corpse.

Bladelight picked up a total of five pieces of equipment. It was a huge harvest.

"Find anything good?” Nie Yan asked. He was looking forward to seeing what kind of loot the Black Mammoth dropped since the drop rates were much higher than normal when capturing a stronghold.

"Yeah, take a look,” Bladelight replied with a smile, then shared the drops in chat.

As Nie Yan scanned through the pieces of loot, a greatshield caught his eye. It was rectangular in shape and covered in mysterious runes.

Mammoth Greatshield (Sub Legendary)

Requirements: 520 Strength

Properties: Defense 1293–1392, 57% Block Rate, Shield Bash Level +2, Demoralizing Shout Level +1, Damage -10%, Magic Resist +50

Greatshield Bash: Bash the enemy with your greatshield for 120% damage, and generates additional aggro. Cooldown: 60 seconds.

Restrictions: Fighter

This Mammoth Greatshield was worth well over 10,000 gold. No one expected such a superb shield to drop from the Level 50 Lord-class Black Mammoth. The supplementary skill, Greatshield Bash, was especially useful for Fighters whose main role was to secure aggro. It could greatly reduce the risk of wiping to a boss.

The Mammoth Greatshield was undoubtedly a piece of top-quality Fighter equipment. It would naturally be given to the best Fighter in the guild.

"Are you satisfied with the shield you have right now?” Nie Yan asked. He recalled Bladelight was using a Dark Gold-grade shield.

"Although my current shield is a bit worse than the Mammoth Greatshield, it’s part of the Everlasting Dark Gold Set. I’ll lose out on some important set bonuses if I switch it out, so I don’t think the trade-off is worth it,” Bladelight considered. "Give the Mammoth Greatshield to Lofty Shadow. He just so happens to be lacking a good shield. It’ll put him roughly on par with me in terms of tankiness.”

Needless to say the competition between Fighters in any guild was fierce. The position of Main Tank was especially coveted since they received priority on Fighter equipment. It wasn’t strange for Fighters to end up bruised and battered striving for this goal. Some of them for the sake of hindering their rivals would even go so far as to snatch away equipment they didn’t need. However, Bladelight wasn’t blinded by greed and selflessly gave the Mammoth Greatshield to Lofty Shadow.

"This Mammoth Greatshield is too important. There’s no way I can accept!” Lofty Shadow hurriedly refused. He was deeply moved by Bladelight’s kind gesture. This was a Sub Legendary greatshield, the only one of its kind in Asskickers United!

Lofty Shadow was an outstanding Fighter, and only second to Bladelight in terms of importance to Asskickers United. During the battle with the Black Mammoth he had saved everyone from a potential crisis when Bladelight was sent flying back.

"Don’t be modest, Shadow. You’ve definitely earned it,” Nie Yan said. After giving it some thought, he believed Lofty Shadow was indeed the most suitable candidate to receive the Mammoth Greatshield.

Fighters generally didn’t get a final say on what equipment they wore, so Lofty Shadow had no choice but to accept the Mammoth Greatshield for the benefit of the guild.

The other four pieces of equipment were all Dark Gold-grade.

Nie Yan’s group slowly recuperated. The fallen comrades were being revived, and the others were recovering their health.

The other groups were still busy clearing away the Phantom Swordsmen on their streets.

While Nie Yan sat to the side waiting for everyone to finish resting, he received word from Guo Huai that several players from Angel Corps had arrived in Calore. They were probably doing a quest since they were spotted talking to several NPCs.

「Keep an eye on them. Find out what quest they’re doing,」Nie Yan said. These five players were probably doing an extremely important quest; otherwise, they wouldn’t have come all the way to Calore. The cost of teleporting from the Satreen Empire to the Viridian Empire was 500 gold per person. A round trip for five players would instantly eat up 5,000 gold, so the reward to whatever quest they were doing had to be worth at least this much.

「I’ve already dispatched people to monitor them. They probably understand Calore is our domain. Trying to be sneaky under our watch is impossible,」Guo Huai said. He had everything under control.

Given only five players had come, they could at most make some discreet inquiries. There was nothing for Asskickers United to fear.

「One other thing, Radiant Sacred Flame has agreed to a buyout. This is the contract we drafted up after our talks. Take a look and let me know if you want to change anything.」

Radiant Sacred Flame had agreed to transfering over a 60% stake of their guild. This was good news.

「We don’t have any surplus funds to invest into Radiant Sacred Flame right now,」Nie Yan said. He couldn’t afford to squander his gold, or else it would be troublesome if they found themselves short on funds again.

「They’ve agreed to putting off the gold investment until the matter with Bloodlust Blades has concluded. As for the money investment, we can start right away. They’ve requested a subsidy of ¥5,000 a month per player for up to 500 players.」

「That’s fine with me,」Nie Yan replied. After all, Radiant Sacred Flame was in control of two Basic Strongholds. He could receive the funds for the investment by selling the real world business districts to the Dragonsoar Financial Group, or he could just hand them over to the War God Tribe and let Ah Chen send people over to handle the matter. Then, the money he earned wouldn’t be limited to only this.

Nie Yan looked over the contract. It was pretty much identical to the one with Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine. After confirming there were no issues, he signed his name.

Before long, a 60% stake of Radiant Sacred Flames was transferred over to him by the system. With no one the wiser, Radiant Sacred Flame had switched sides.

Like this, the hostile relationship between Radiant Sacred Flame and Asskickers United finally came to an end. In the best interests of everyone, all past grievances vanished like a wisp of smoke.

Nie Yan’s train of thought didn’t end here. To the outside world Radiant Sacred Flame and Asskickers United are still sworn enemies. I wonder if I can make use of this somehow…

Nie Yan’s lips curved into a faint smile.「Tell Radiant Sacred Flame not to announce they’ve been acquired by us! This information has to be kept under tight lock! It’ll be as if nothing has changed!」

「Huh? Why?」Guo Huai asked in confusion before a light bulb suddenly lit up in his head.「Alright, I understand. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure nothing gets out.」

Radiant Sacred Flame was an enemy of Asskickers United. An enemy of an enemy was a friend. Guilds like Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors might try to recruit them in the future. At that time, Radiant Sacred Flame could display their worth!

Were it not for Nie Yan, Guo Huai would’ve never thought of this!

At the behest of Guo Huai, Nightbreak Trickster didn’t announce the alliance between Radiant Sacred Flame and Asskickers United. As for the guild members receiving salaries, he simply told them he was paying out of his own pocket. To the outside world nothing had changed.

The pitfall was set. Now all that remained was to see who would fall into it.

For the time being all of Asskickers United’s energy was focused on clearing the Cripps Stronghold.

The group members finally started getting up one after another, their health fully recovered.

"Alright, let’s continue advancing to the center of the stronghold!” Nie Yan said.

The players quickly found their companions and reorganized back into their respective squads before setting off.

Many ancient and mysterious buildings lined both sides of the main street. Nie Yan’s gaze fell on a stone tower poking into the sky up ahead. Standing almost 60 meters tall with six floors, it was in much better shape than the surrounding buildings. A rainbow-coloured radiance swirled around the top floor and brought an even greater sense of awe to those who caught sight of it.

This was a Magic Tower, a place where Mages could study advanced magical knowledge. It was rumoured that each one was protected by a powerful guardian.

Chapter 382 - Reward Building

There were numerous buildings in the vicinity, with the Magic Tower being the tallest and most conspicuous.

When a Mage completed their class advancement, they were eligible to learn at least one Advanced Magic from a Magic Tower. They could also study different types of magic here.

The vast majority of Great Mages would choose to discard many of their old spells after entering the Magic Tower and elect to learn new ones based on their needs.

Magic Towers generally contained thousands of spells, so most Great Mages would come out completely different from before.

It was rumoured there were a total of 10 Magic Towers in the Viridian Empire. Three were located in the Remote Tundra, Sea of Endless Perils, and Wild Marsh, and were home to countless powerful spells. Two were fairly close to each other in Calore and Nisode. But they only held around 600 spells, and the most common ones at that.

The locations of the remaining five Magic Towers had remained a mystery for quite a while in the previous timeline. It wasn’t until later on that the one in the Cripps Stronghold was discovered. But it was controlled by Victorious Return, and only their guild members were permitted access. If outsiders wanted to enter, not only would they have to be on friendly terms with Victorious Return, they would also have to pay an entry fee of 6,000 gold.

The Magic Towers in Calore and Nisode were too lacking. When players heard the Cripps Stronghold had a Magic Tower, they rushed over one after another. Even if they had to spend a bit of gold, the spells inside were well worth the cost of admission!

Magic Towers generally didn’t collapse due to the passing of time because they were protected by a powerful magic formation. Even if the Cripps Stronghold was destroyed, this Magic Tower would still be standing tall.

So long as Asskickers United maintained ownership of the Cripps Stronghold, this Magic Tower would become a strategic resource of theirs!

This Magic Tower was a reward for capturing the Cripps Stronghold. The Intermediate Strongholds near Nisode, Moonlight City, and the other cities also had similar buildings as a reward, such as a Warrior Arena, Priest Prayer Hall, Paladin Holy Shrine, or Thief Hideout.

"Our Mages are really lucky,” Nie Yan said. A Magic Tower would serve as a great boon to the Mages of Asskickers United.

Intermediate was the highest rank stronghold Victorious Return had captured in the previous timeline. At Level 100 they had once attempted to capture an Advanced Stronghold but were annihilated. After that, they never tried again. The Buried History expansion was released much earlier in this timeline, so there were bound to be some changes.

Needless to say the Cripps Stronghold was crucial to the growth of Asskickers United. Its geographical location also contributed to its importance, since it was surrounded by four allied strongholds. Travel between any of them would only take 20 minutes. It would become the anchor that held everything together and facilitate the quick mobilization of troops.

If they succeeded, Nie Yan would definitely relocate the main guild headquarters to the Cripps Stronghold and make it Asskickers United’s new homebase.

Of the four strongholds, one belonged to Asskickers United, two to Holy Empire, and one to Sapphire Shrine. With the Cripps Stronghold guarded at the center, the region would be impenetrable.

The Magic Tower’s importance was unquestioned. Asskickers United would naturally exploit it to its full potential.

Nie Yan approached the Magic Tower, only to be stopped by a faint screen of light. When he tried touching it, he felt a strong repelling force.

A bluestone path led straight to the entrance. The magic energy in the air was dead still, making the ash-gray tower look deep and tranquil.

Only Great Mages are allowed to enter.

Nie Yan turned his head and said, "Those of you who’ve succeeded your class advancement, feel free to check out this Magic Tower.”

Lustboy, Summer Bug, and Sunny South had all successfully advanced to Great Mages, so they were allowed to enter the tower.

"Boss, we’re going in to take a look.”

The three walked up to the barrier. They reached out and felt their hands easily pass through the screen of light. Stepping onto the bluestone path, they started walking towards the entrance of the Magic Tower. If they could successfully study the spells inside, they would come out much stronger than before.

After the three of them entered the Magic Tower, everyone else continued clearing away the mobs in the stronghold.

Nie Yan was quite relaxed. Bladelight and the others didn’t even need him to give orders to do their jobs.

At this moment, Guo Huai reported to Nie Yan that the people he had assigned to watch over the five players from Angel Corps had lost sight of the Elven Thief.

Thieves had various skills allowing them to enter stealth, so a skilled one could easily throw off any trackers.

Guo Huai had been extremely diligent in tracking the five visitors. Only the slippery Thief managed to escape his clutches.

What did Angel Corps intend to do with just one Thief?

"Does he want to rush over to interfere with your attack on the Cripps Stronghold?”

"Even if he is, it doesn’t matter. It’s just an Elven Thief,” Nie Yan replied. With so many of Asskickers United’s elites present, a single Thief couldn’t make many waves.

"Hopefully it’s nothing.” Despite his optimistic words, Guo Huai felt a twinge of unease.

Nie Yan smirked. He was confident in his abilities and had the skill to back it up. He obviously wouldn’t fret over something so small.

The team methodically advanced until they reached an open plaza. There, they saw several thousand Phantom Swordsmen patrolling around. In the center stood a gigantic bear that resembled a walking fortress.

Everyone sucked in a sharp breath. It was the Level 70 Variant Lord, Blackett Grizzly!

Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame had wiped countless times trying to take down Blackett Grizzly and accumulated unimaginable casualties. It was only later on when they figured out a trick to deal with it that they finally took this big lug of a bear down.

The Blackett Grizzly had a special ability that allowed it to absorb health from any corpse nearby. Before it could use its Corpse Eater ability, it was vital the corpses were cleared from the plaza, even at the cost of levels. The fallen would have to revive at the cemetery and rush back to rejoin the fight.

The Blackett Grizzly also had a skill called Dark Roar that dealt damage to all nearby enemies. Warriors with their high health and defense could survive the attack, but any Mage standing within a 100 meter radius would be instantly killed! Priests were a bit better off since they could cast Radiant Barrier on themselves to mitigate some of the damage.

Its last skill was called Dark Burgeoning, which dealt continuous damage to all enemies within a 30 meter radius. During this time, it was important the main tanks were protected by the Paladin’s Repel Evil or else their deaths were guaranteed. As for the other Warriors, they would have to be sacrificed and replaced by a new batch of frontliners; otherwise, the main tanks couldn’t possibly hold off the Blackett Grizzly. A large amount of cannon fodder was required for them to survive.

In the previous timeline, in order to show off their achievement, Victorious Return released the video of their almost 7,000 players taking down the Blackett Grizzly. Nie Yan had seen the video and memorized how the battle went.

Back then, the Blackett Grizzly had dropped three pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment after being defeated. Their properties were shared online, causing players to gasp in awe and envy, Nie Yan included. But in this life they were merely interesting trinkets. After all, his current set of gear was even better, and was already viewed as godly equipment by the players.

Nie Yan looked around. The public square was surrounded by rows of buildings. Most of them were short, with only five or six being relatively tall.

It was important they cleared away all the Phantom Swordsmen in the vicinity of the Blackett Grizzly first!

"Mages, get on the roofs of the buildings!” Nie Yan ordered.

The Mages made their way to the top of the buildings by using the stairs where possible or by relying on special items. Those who didn’t possess such items would be helped up by their peers. Mages had a skill called Rescue which allowed them to teleport an ally in danger to their side. But it could also be used in other ways like right now.

All the Mages were spread out across the rooftops of the surrounding buildings.

"Sun, One Strike Vow, follow me to aggro the mobs. Everyone else, wait here,” Nie Yan said, then proceeded to explain his plan to them. With their help, aggroing the Phantom Swordsmen would be easy.

The three Thieves dashed out in different directions.

Nie Yan arrived in the middle of an open area. Taking out his Cavalry Crossbow, he fired out bolts at all the nearby Phantom Swordsmen, aggroing almost 300 of them onto him.

Nie Yan quickly turned tail and fled with the Phantom Swordsmen in hot pursuit. All of them activated Charge, brandishing their swords as they chased after him.

Phantom Swordsmen were difficult to deal with. If they were allowed to get too close, they would use all sorts of crowd control skills. Thankfully, Nie Yan was quite fast.

Before long, the first group of Phantom Swordsmen was brought to the designated location, whereupon a barrage of spells rained down from the sky, wreaking havoc and destruction. Nie Yan used Gale Step to avoid taking damage. He quickly retreated out of the combat zone and hopped over a short wall.

Under the dense shower of magic, the Phantom Swordsmen let out mournful cries before collapsing on the ground one after another.

The heavy deluge of area-of-effect magic completely shrouded their vision. About half a minute later when the smoke and dust settled, a scene of destruction with corpses strewn everywhere, along with the sparkle of loot entered their eyes. There were only a few Phantom Swordsmen at the edge of the bombardment that managed to survive.

Chapter 383 - Blackett Grizzly

The Mages finished off the surviving few Phantom Swordsmen with single-target spells. After which the Thieves ran up to collect the loot. Asskickers United sorely lacked Level 50 equipment. With all the players hitting Level 50, there simply wasn’t enough to go around.

In that sense, the Cripps Stronghold was a treasure trove. Level 50 Elites were rare in other places and difficult to deal with. It was impossible to hunt them in large numbers elsewhere like they were doing right now!

After the area-of-effect magic fell, Level 50 equipment littered the ground.

Level 50 equipment was currently extremely expensive in the marketplace due to the short supply and high demand. Every day numerous groups of Level 40+ players set out to high level maps in hopes of finding decent equipment. Of course most of the equipment they found was White or Bronze-grade.

Nie Yan’s group had really hit it big this time by killing all these Phantom Swordsmen.

They slowly cleared away the Phantom Swordsmen in the area. After a while, Lustboy, Sunny South, and Summer Bug reported they had left the Magic Tower. They had replaced many of their old spells with brand new ones.

Nie Yan returned to base camp just in time to see the three of them arrive.

"How was it? Learn anything good?” Nie Yan asked before having them share their skill lists. If the new spells didn’t work out, they could just relearn their old ones but for a fee.

"Learning new skills is expensive. I watched 600 gold go down the drain in an instant.” Lustboy chuckled bitterly. But he couldn’t deny every spell was worth the price.

The Magic Tower in the Cripps Stronghold contained more than 1,000 spells, many of which were of decent quality.

Lustboy had only recently joined the ranks of top players. He didn’t have much gold saved up, unlike Summer Bug or Sunny South who wouldn’t bat an eyelid over several hundred gold.

"Talk to Guo Huai, and he’ll reimburse you guys,” Nie Yan said. He would spare no expense to provide for these top players. They were the future pillars of Asskickers United, so they were worth the investment.

Nie Yan listened to Sunny South, Lustboy, and Summer Bug describe the Magic Tower.

"The Magic Tower has a total of six floors. We could only enter the first and second floor. There were rows of bookshelves packed with thick and heavy books. There were many books that described magic and also many ones about history. The administrator of the Magic Tower is an Old Scholar. He’s in charge of passing down the skills. As long as you give him the appropriate amount of gold, he’ll give you access to the spells.”

Nie Yan skimmed through Lustboy’s skill list. He had learned over 30 spells: Ice Rend, Freeze, Exploding Ice Bullet, Icicle, Ice Spike...

It appeared Lustboy was walking down the path of an Elementalist who specialised in Ice Magic. Nie Yan noticed these spells were all of the most basic kind and shared similar characteristics: short cast times, quick cast speeds, and crowd control.

Nie Yan glanced at Lustboy. It seemed he had some unique ideas.

Such a combination of spells would be effective in both PvP and PvE, granted the player could utilize them properly.

"Lustboy, I like what you’re going for, but you’re lacking damage. After locking the opponent down, you should immediately follow up with high burst damage; otherwise, you’re giving them the chance to turn the tables on you,” Nie Yan gave his two cents.

Lustboy scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "I only had enough gold for these spells. The high damage ones were too expensive.”

"So that’s why. No worries, just talk to Guo Huai. The guild will naturally foot the bill. You’re a contracted player, after all.” Nie Yan smiled. Only now did he recall there would be many other members class advancing in the near future and they would all need to learn new skills too. The expenses just kept piling up. After all, Asskickers United had more than 60,000 players in total! Besides smuggling equipment from the Underworld, he had to expand to other areas of business. He could try capturing a few more strongholds. After developing them, the gold generated should be enough to support the guild.

Nie Yan checked the skill lists of Sunny South and Summer Bug. They too were walking down their own unique paths. Sunny South was a Great Holy Mage. All the spells he learned focused on high damage, which usually came along with long cast times and high skill requirements. Spells with long cast times could easily be interrupted by others. The caster had to have good judgement, awareness, and grasp of timing.

As for Summer Bug, this fellow was far off the beaten path. He was actually learning Shadow Arcane Magic; no crowd control, no high damage, only additional shadow corrosion damage. It behaved similarly to a curse, corroding the enemy’s defense and health. The longer a battle lasted, the more the shadow corrosion damage would accumulate.

Any build was viable as long as you knew how to play to its strengths.

There was no weak skill or weak class, only a weak player.

Mages would become incredibly powerful after visiting a Magic Tower. Even Nie Yan would feel wary encountering such a foe.

These several players all had their unique playstyles and understood their own skills better than anyone else. Not to mention they were famous figures in the previous timeline. Nie Yan could only rely on his experience to give a word of advice here and there.

When they matured and familiarized themselves with their respective skills, Nie Yan wanted to try challenging them in PvP. In the previous timeline, he was definitely no match for existences like Sunny South, Lustboy, and Summer Bug. But in this life, he had long since surpassed his previous limits.

Nie Yan had an almost 10 year lead on them in terms of game experience, so it was only natural he was superior. But as time passed, they would slowly catch up to him and likely surpass him one day.

Nie Yan continued to aggro mobs after the Mages on the rooftops had their area-of-effect spells come back off cooldown.

After roughly three hours, all the Phantom Swordsmen near the plaza were cleared away.

The only monster remaining in the public square was the Blackett Grizzly. When Nie Yan, Sun, and One Strike Vow were aggroing mobs, they had drawn its attention multiple times. Thankfully, they were fast at fleeing.

Nie Yan reorganized the troops. This public square could only hold 800 players at most. When someone died in battle, those on standby could quickly replace them.

This was where all the streets in the Cripps Stronghold intersected, so every group that finished clearing the Phantom Swordsmen in their respective routes would eventually end up here.

"I want 100 Warriors, 300 Mages, 50 Priests, 30 Paladins, and 20 Thieves!” Nie Yan said. He allowed Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the others to help with the selection.

500 players were going to be at the front. If there was enough space at the back, adding a few more Mages wouldn’t hurt.

Finally the group of 500 entered the public square.

Bladelight led 20 of the best Fighters in Asskickers United in surrounding the Blackett Grizzly.

The Blackett Grizzly quickly noticed the approach of Bladelight’s group. It let out a thunderous roar that shook the earth.

Bladelight advanced step by step, slowly approaching the Blackett Grizzly. The surrounding Warriors were also circling in.

The Mages had already spread out and gotten into position. They were waiting for Bladelight and the others to secure the Blackett Grizzly’s aggro.

When Bladelight and his group approached within 15 meters of the Blackett Grizzly, they had already encroached on its limit of patience. It let out an enraged roar and charged toward Bladelight.

Shield Bash!

A nearby Fighter rushed up from the side and ruthlessly slammed his heavy shield into the Blackett Grizzly.

「Bang!」The Fighter was sent flying like a ragdoll.

It was an instant kill!

However, he had still done enough to somewhat slow the Blackett Grizzly’s charging speed.

At this moment, Bladelight bellowed out and used Taunt on the Blackett Grizzly. He stepped up to intercept the barrelling bear, requiring the combination of Shield Bash and Barbarian Strength to stop its charge.

Seeing the Blackett Grizzly’s health, Bladelight sucked in a cold breath of air. It had more than 1,000,000 health!

What a powerful Variant Lord!

After being stopped, the Blackett Grizzly swiped at Bladelight with its massive paw.

Bladelight quickly activated Defense Stance and raised his shield to block.「Klang!」He was pushed back several steps as a damage value of −1573 floated up above his head.

A gentle radiance shrouded Bladelight and immediately restored his health back to full.

Bladelight stood firm and charged forward once more.

While Bladelight and the Blackett Grizzly traded blows, the surrounding Fighters closed in. The 20 Fighters locked the Blackett Grizzly, greatly limiting its range of movement.

The Blackett Grizzly swiped with its paws, batting away any Fighter unlucky enough to get struck.

Some of the Fighters were instantly killed. The ones that weren’t staggered back to their feet, and after receiving healing, they jumped back into the frey.

"Mages, attack! Those of you with high damage, make sure you don’t pull aggro!” Nie Yan ordered.

The Mages who were spread out in a circle rained down magic from the sky and bombarded the Blackett Grizzly, causing a string of damage values to rise up into the air.

60% of the spells were misses while the rest did around 300–400 damage. However, the Blackett Grizzly’s health regeneration was astonishing, healing for over 10,000 health a second.

After what felt like ages, the Blackett Grizzly’s health finally fell by a miniscule sliver.

It wasn’t surprising that Victorious Return had wiped to this Variant Lord so many times in the previous timeline.

Chapter 384 - Corpse Eater

Furiously roaring, the Blackett Grizzly swiped away with its massive paws. A Fighter was sent flying with every sweep, only to be immediately replaced by those waiting on standby in the back.

A few Thieves were also active on the battlefield. They were in charge of picking up the equipment of their fallen comrades. Every now and then they would circle round the Blackett Grizzly and attack it with skills that inflicted continuous bleed damage before immediately backing off.

Nie Yan didn’t dare to join in since his high damage would lead to the Blackett Grizzly shifting aggro. He suddenly recalled seeing Threat Null in Sunny South’s skill list.

Threat Null was a Holy Mage spell that nullified all aggro generated by a targeted ally for a set period of time, allowing them to dish out damage to their heart’s content.

Sunny South had learned Threat Null from the Magic Tower. It was a fairly useful spell in boss fights.

"Sunny South, cast Threat Null on me!” Nie Yan ordered before circling behind the Blackett Grizzly.

Sunny South raised his staff as a ray of light shrouded Nie Yan in a faint radiance.

Nie Yan checked his status bar.

Threat Null: Your attacks and skills generate no aggro. Duration: 30 seconds.

It was more than enough time!

Backstab!

Nie Yan plunged Zennarde’s Sword into the Blackett Grizzly’s back. After which he ruthlessly slashed down as blood sprayed out of the gaping wound.

Eviscerate!

Assassinate!

Blast!

Nie Yan exploded out with an onslaught of high damage skills, inflicting the Blackett Grizzly with a myriad of debuffs such as bleed, burn, and poison. On top of this, his attacks also dealt additional piercing and chaos damage.

The Blackett Grizzly's thick, steel-like hide was no match for the sharp blade of Zennarde’s Sword.

−1525, −425, −356

−1473, −396, −381

−1429, −372, −320….

A string of damage values floated up above the Blackett Grizzly’s head.

The 30 seconds of zero aggro generation from Threat Null was extremely precious. Nie Yan wanted to make every second count!

Even though Nie Yan was doing far more damage than the players around him, the Blackett Grizzly couldn’t be bothered to spare him so much as a glance.

Nie Yan looked at his damage stats and saw he had dealt over 32,000 damage in total! He immediately retreated once the 30 seconds were over, not daring to linger a second longer.

No one else in the group had an aggro removal skill. Nie Yan would have to wait 20 minutes for Threat Null to come back off cooldown.

At the back, Yao Yao gazed at the battle with a thoughtful look on her face. This sort of aggro removal skill appeared to be useful to Nie Yan. Learning Threat Null would only take up one skill slot, and the 1,000 gold fee was pocket change in her eyes.

The Corpse Eater skill of the Blackett Grizzly was frightening. It would immediately heal back to full health if there were more than five corpses nearby, making all their efforts go to waste.

The Blacket Grizzly barreled forward, sending Fighters flying. Corpses were strewn about the battlefield.

Every time the Blackett Grizzly tried to break out of the encirclement, one or two Fighters would rush forward into certain death to obstruct its charge.

These sacrifices were necessary. If Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, or Yi Yan died, the situation would turn grave fast.

The Mages never stopped bombarding the Blackett Grizzly, and the Priests never stopped providing support.

Time ticked away. After roughly 20 minutes, the Blackett Grizzly’s health fell under 50%. At this moment it let out a deep roar that shook the entire plaza.

"Priests, purify the corpses on the ground! Quick!” Nie Yan hoarsely ordered. He barely gave them any time at all!

There were at least 10 corpses within range of the Blackett Grizzly.

Nie Yan had already reminded them prior, so the Priests immediately raised their staffs. The corpses were bathed in a purifying radiance and disappeared into motes of light.

The battlefield was cleared of all corpses!

Corpse Eater!

A bloody aura enveloped the Blackett Grizzly as a strong devouring force emerged in the air, but there were no corpses nearby to absorb.

The Blackett Grizzly lashed out in fury, catching a nearby Warrior off-guard and killing them instantly. Its health immediately recovered by 5%.

"Warriors, retreat. Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan, lock the boss down. Priests, protect them with Radiant Barriers. Paladins, buff them with your blessings!” Nie Yan calmly ordered. He was simply relying on the fuzzy memories of the video from his past life to command the team.

Even if this was his first time conducting a boss battle, Nie Yan couldn’t show it! He was their leader and backbone. If he panicked, the entire team would fall apart!

Wiping was a common occurrence. Even if they wiped once or twice, they could simply revive and try again.

The levelling system of Conviction was interesting, only giving players allocatable stat points once every five levels. Even if the team dropped one or two levels, their overall strength wouldn’t be heavily impacted. This was exactly why they could keep on going.

The duration of Corpse Eater was short. And with there being no corpses nearby, it had basically gone to waste.

Everyone wondered how Nie Yan knew about the Corpse Eater ability of the Blackett Grizzly beforehand. He simply claimed he happened to learn about it while searching for information.

There were many strange and fantastical rumours circulating around in Conviction. Sometimes they were simply interesting tidbits related to the history of the continent. Other times they were clues to quests. So, Nie Yan happening to find information related to the Blackett Grizzly was quite plausible.

"The Blackett Grizzly will activate Corpse Eater again once its health drops below 20%. Priests, pay close attention!” Nie Yan informed. The team’s coordination was decent. They had breezed through the first phase of the battle without suffering heavy casualties.

Once the danger was over, the Warriors rushed back to support Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan. The three of them were under heavy pressure facing the Blackett Grizzly alone.

After roughly 10 minutes, the Blackett Grizzly’s health fell to 23%. Everyone was tensely playing their respective roles. At this moment, the Blackett Grizzly let out a deep roar, signalling the coming of something ominous. A powerful force started building up, like a volcano about to erupt.

The Priests believed the Blackett Grizzly was activating Corpse Eater again, so they quickly started purifying the corpses.

Seeing the Blackett Grizzly’s movements, Nie Yan’s heart tightened. It was Dark Roar!

"Mages, pull back! Get more than 100 meters away from the boss! Priests, use Radiant Barrier on yourselves!” Nie Yan commanded. The Mages had to retreat because they would be dead if they were caught in the skill. The Priests couldn’t leave, or else the frontline would collapse. Thankfully Radiant Barrier could mitigate the damage of Dark Roar.

The Mages didn’t dare to linger and immediately retreated.

The Priests protected themselves with Radiant Barrier as a faint membrane of light surrounded each one of them.

The Warriors had also made their preparations.

Bladelight and Lofty Shadow were locking down the Blackett Grizzly. Suddenly, it let out a heavy roar that carried a powerful sound wave attack, sweeping through everything within a 100 meter radius. A handful of Mages failed to get out of range in time and were instantly killed.

The Warriors at the front all lost around 50% of their health. The Priests protected by Radiant Barriers lost around 70%–80%. A few of the squishier ones were even killed instantly.

The Blackett Grizzly sweeped away with its massive paws, sending a large group of Warriors flying and killing another ten or so of them.

Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan, who received the majority of the support, were somewhat better off. After losing half their health from the Dark Roar, they immediately received healing. When they were hit by the Blackett Grizzly’s swipe, they had lost 70% of their health. However, they were still alive. The Priests immediately healed them back up to full health.

The Blackett Grizzly had decimated its surroundings!

At this moment, the Blackett Grizzly started activating Corpse Eater again!

"Priests, quickly purify the corpses!” Nie Yan anxiously yelled.

The Priests quickly started clearing away the corpses. However, it was too little too late. There were simply too many corpses. Several corpses were still on the ground by the time the Blackett Grizzly activated Corpse Eater. Its health immediately recovered back to 83%.

All the team members gazed at each other in despair. They had worked so hard to take down the Blackett Grizzly to 20%, yet now all of that effort was wiped away in an instant. If it kept doing what it just did every time it reached low health, did that mean they could never kill it?

The team had suffered a heavy blow to their morale.

At this moment, Nie Yan’s voice roused everyone’s spirits, "Good work, guys! We only gave the Blackett Grizzly three corpses to absorb. Let’s continue. Have the Warriors on standby replace the fallen. Mages, come back! We’re only getting started. The Blackett Grizzly is running low on mana. Its mana only replenishes once a day!”

Only now did everyone recall that the Blackett Grizzly had a limited mana pool. If it had an endless supply of mana, they would truly despair. However, Nie Yan just said the Blackett Grizzly’s mana only replenished once a day. As long as they could force the boss to waste all its mana, they could kill it!

They immediately regained their confidence. The Warriors rushed forward and surrounded the Blackett Grizzly. The Mages were also back in position and resumed their bombardment of magic.

They once more started gradually chipping away at the Blackett Grizzly’s health.

Chapter 385 - Execution!

Another 20 minutes passed as the team whittled down the Blackett Grizzly’s health.

This was the toughest boss Asskickers United had ever faced. The Warriors at the front suffered heavy losses. The backline didn’t remain unscathed either. The Blackett Grizzly’s Dark Roar was too hard to avoid, and although the damage wasn’t high, it was more than enough to sweep away the fragile casters.

Several Priests were busily working away. They weren’t tasked with healing but rather purifying the corpses scattered on the ground. They simply had to, lest they wanted the Blackett Grizzly to keep healing from Corpse Eater.

Even if levels had to be sacrificed, there was no other alternative.

Finally, the Blackett Grizzly’s health had fallen to 12%.

Everyone on the battlefield felt mentally drained. The tense and strenuous battle with the Blackett Grizzly wore heavily on their nerves.

The Blackett Grizzly was still as vigorous as ever. Without warning, it charged past Resplendent Bladelight, knocking him aside and rushing towards the backline.

The Mages quickly scattered, but several of them failed to get out of the way in time. In their final moments, they watched the Blackett Grizzly’s giant paws coming down on them.

The Blackett Grizzly slaughtered Mages left and right with its reckless charge, leaving a trail of corpses in its wake.

Nie Yan quickly ordered the Mages to retreat, calling for a squad of reserve Fighters to block the boss.

There were already almost 70 Mages dead on the ground. If things continued at this rate, they would be wiped out completely!

The Fighters charged up one by one to stop the boss. The Blackett Grizzly slowed down, but continued to slap every challenger into the distance.

It was useless no matter what Nie Yan did. Trying to come back from this hopeless situation was nearly impossible. He could only pray the Fighters could stop the Blackett Grizzly.

Bladelight had suffered heavy injuries. He was still in an incapacitated state after being sent flying by the Blackett Grizzly.

The Blackett Grizzly was unstoppable! No one could take even one hit!

At this moment, Lofty Shadow rushed up from the side and slammed his Mammoth Greatshield into the Blackett Grizzly.

Greatshield Bash!

Heroic Strike!

Demoralizing Shout!

Lofty Shadow let out a deep penetrating roar. He repeatedly struck the Blackett Grizzly to get its attention.「Klang!」A paw swipe sent him skidding back.

Just as the Blackett Grizzly was about to resume massacring the Mages, Lofty Shadow rushed back up with a Charge.

Taunt!

Lofty Shadow had finally attracted the Blackett Grizzly’s aggro.「Klang! Klang! Klang!」It repeatedly battered his shield with savage zeal.

Lofty Shadow bought enough time for Yi Yan to catch up. Bladelight had also recovered and immediately charged back into the fray. The three of them worked together to secure the Blackett Grizzly’s aggro once more. Even though it was slowly recovering its health, they weren’t anxious. Eating the tofu hot would only scald the tongue. When they built up enough aggro, it would be safe for the Mages to resume dealing damage.

The Warriors once more started encircling the Blackett Grizzly.

The Mages breathed a sigh of relief. With their lives no longer in danger, they hurried back into position.

Nie Yan also thanked his lucky stars that he had three such outstanding Fighters. Most guilds and teams would be fortunate to have one reliable main tank, who stood far above their peers whether in terms of skill or gear quality. This was why whenever the main tank encountered a mishap, there was little that could be done to salvage the situation and a wipe would become inevitable.

For ordinary guilds and teams, having so many top-ranked players gathered together was simply unimaginable.

Lofty Shadow’s quick reactions had rescued the team from disaster.

After the situation was back under control, the Mages started dealing damage again.

Dark Burgeoning!

A dark aura radiated outward from the Blackett Grizzly like a blossoming lotus flower and enveloped all the surrounding Warriors.

−500

−500

−500…

A blanket of damage values rose up into the sky.

All the Warriors were shocked and hesitated mid-attack. At this moment, the Blackett Grizzly lashed out with a ground slam and sent more than 20 of them flying out, instantly killing the ones who hadn’t received healing yet.

Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan received full support. A top Priest was assigned to each of them, with at least three other backup Priests providing assistance. They were enjoying the treatment of a distinguished guest. Although Dark Burgeoning put a lot of pressure on the Priests, it wasn’t to the point where they couldn’t keep up with the healing. As for the Warriors who didn’t enjoy this luxury, they weren’t so lucky and died miserable deaths. The Priests couldn’t afford to pay any heed to them.

The Priests in the back raised their staffs and started casting Heal.

"Paladins, cast Repel Evil!” Nie Yan anxiously reminded.

The Paladins quickly raised their hands and cast Repel Evil on Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan.

When the 20 Warriors at the front collapsed, the reserve team quickly rushed up to replace them as they surrounded the Blackett Grizzly.

The Blackett Grizzly’s health fell lower and lower. Nie Yan understood the lower the boss’ health, the more dangerous it would get.

Nie Yan turned to Yao Yao beside him. "Yao Yao, start casting Radiant Fetters!”

"Alright!” Yao Yao nodded. She raised her staff and started chanting.

The Blackett Grizzly angrily roared and charged into Bladelight and the others, sending them flying out like loose kites. Its body was burning with a dark fire. It had already entered a berserk state and was wantonly slaughtering any and everyone in its vicinity.

Yao Yao finally finished chanting the last syllable. A giant ray of light descended from the sky and locked the Blackett Grizzly in place.

The Blackett Grizzly roared and struggled wildly, but it couldn’t break free from the light.

Ordinary binding magic wouldn't work on the Blackett Grizzly. After all, It was a Level 70 Variant Lord. But Yao Yao’s Radiant Fetters was Rank 2 Templar Magic!

Spells ruthlessly bombarded the Blackett Grizzly’s body. Before long, it’s health dropped to the 3% mark.

"It’s below 3% health!” the Warriors exclaimed excitedly as they attempted to finish off the Blackett Grizzly.

Execution!

Execution!

A string of misses rose into the air as the skill failed numerous times. However, that didn’t deter their spirits.

At this moment, Bladelight roared and slashed down with his own Execution!

−27,538!

The Blackett Grizzly let out a miserable roar, staggering unsteadily before crashing into the ground and shaking the entire public square.

Chapter 386 - Earl Kelfield’s Worries

Execution was a Warrior exclusive skill that could instantly kill a target once their health fell below a certain threshold. At the higher ranks it reached upwards of 10%. But the success rate was exceedingly low against Elites and Lords.

The Blackett Grizzly dropped two pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment, Paddock’s Blazing Sword and Langdon’s Necklace of False Death.

Paddock’s Blazing Sword (Sub Legendary)

Requirements: 630 Strength, 350 Dexterity

Properties: Attack 830–936, Strength +50, Critical +20, 10% chance to deal 300% Critical Damage, Ignore Level +11

Blazing Cleave: Deal 150% Fire Damage and inflict an additional 100 Burn Damage every second for 10 seconds. Cooldown: 20 minutes.

Blazing Sword: Shroud your sword in flames, converting 50% of your attack damage to Fire Damage. Duration: 3 minutes. Cooldown: 1 day.

Restrictions: Warriors; can only be equipped by members of the Righteous Faction.

Nie Yan shared the stats of Paddock’s Blazing Sword in chat. "Whoever wants this sword, start bidding.”

"50,000 merit points!”

"90,000 merit points!”

...

Edgeless snatched up Paddock’s Blazing Sword in the end with a final bid of 610,0000 merit points, which was then evenly distributed among all the expedition members. Since there were more than 5,000 players, everyone received roughly 120 merit points.

Nie Yan examined the other piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment.

Langdon’s Necklace of Fake Death (Sub Legendary)

Requirements: 50 Focus, 50 Willpower

Description: Langdon was a legendary Thief who faced numerous godly existences. This was his necklace, with which he escaped from countless dangers.

Properties: Defense 52–56, Night Vision +11, Dark Awareness +9, Cloaking +30, chance to nullify Mind Magic

Fake Death: Reset all aggro by entering into a state of suspended animation. This skill is only effective against creatures with low intelligence.

Restrictions: Thief; can only be equipped by a member of the Righteous Faction.

Langdon’s Necklace of Fake Death was definitely one of the better necklaces out there, granting Night Vision, Dark Awareness, and a useful skill.

Nie Yan decided to keep the necklace for himself, then gave every expedition member 200 merit points.

He unequipped his Necklace of Deception and stored it in his bag until he needed it. After which he equipped Langdon’s Necklace of Fake Death.

Even though the Blackett Grizzly only dropped two pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment, one less compared to the previous timeline, he was still satisfied with this outcome.

Nie Yan had Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others begin distributing the merit points. Excluding the compensation for the fallen, every member received roughly 1,000 merit points.

As the value of gold gradually depreciated, the value of merit points rose. Currently, 100 merit points was equal to 1 gold in Asskickers United. In a sense, every member had received 10 gold.

The expedition team searched the remaining areas of the Cripps Stronghold and discovered a few more treasure chests.

Nie Yan began restoring the various structures in the Cripps Stronghold, first by connecting its transfer point to the other strongholds and Calore. The more than 10-meter tall outer walls of the stronghold sprang back to life, and were reinforced with several dozen smaller walls. He placed the guild headquarters right next to the Magic Tower and also repaired a large number of the residential houses.

The Cripps Stronghold was equivalent to a medium-sized city. With many decent levelling spots nearby, Nie Yan felt confident this place would only become more popular in the future. He designated a large stretch of land as the downtown area. He would have Bird and the others come over and start building the shops here.

As for the real world business district, Nie Yan planned to leave it to the Dragonsoar Financial Group to develop.

A guild provided salaries and other benefits to assist in their players’ growth to create a force powerful enough to capture a stronghold. They would receive gold and credits by handing over the stronghold’s real world business district to a large financial group. As the number of strongholds under their control increased, so too would their income. Thanks to the increased benefits they could offer, their players would grow stronger, allowing them to capture even more strongholds. This was a virtuous cycle.

After selling the Cripps Stronghold’s real world business district to the Dragonsoar Financial Group, the benefits of the players in Asskickers United would rise by yet another level.

Nie Yan spent roughly 100,000 gold repairing the Cripps Stronghold to make it look at least somewhat presentable. It was no longer the run-down ruins of before.

The players from Asskickers United started flowing into the Cripps Stronghold, instantly making the place a lot livelier.

The Cripps Stronghold had yet to open shops. The residential area was also lacking. It still needed to be improved bit by bit. However, there was currently no one in Calore capable of posing a threat to Asskickers United, so Nie Yan could take his time developing the Cripps Stronghold.

News of the Cripps Stronghold being successfully cleared spread like wildfire, along with the information of there being a Magic Tower, which greatly piqued the interest of every Mage. The Magic Tower in Calore was too lacking. The number of spells that could be learned there was low, and none of them were especially good.

Membership in Asskickers United soon became the goal of every Mage. Every one of them wished they could enter the Magic Tower in the Cripps Stronghold after finishing their class advancement.

Nie Yan placed restrictions on the Magic Tower, requiring non-guild members to pay a fee. Players from Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine only needed to pay 300 gold while ordinary players needed to pay 3,000.

As the number of class advanced Mages grew, the Magic Tower in the Cripps Stronghold would become an important source of income for Asskickers United.

After settling all of his obligations in the Cripps Stronghold, Nie Yan took a stroll around the place. The wide streets, the rows upon rows of buildings and shops, although there weren't any business set up yet, he could envision the flourishing future of this place. The Magic Tower situated at the center of the stronghold became an ever present landmark. Aside from this, branches of the Starry Night Potion Shop, Starry Night General Shop, Starry Night Equipment Shop, and so on had already been built.

As for the real-world business district, a representative from the Dragonsoar Financial Group had just arrived to handle the transaction.

Asskickers United had profited immensely from capturing the Cripps Stronghold. The players in the guild were brimming with smiles. All of them understood the significance of an Intermediate Stronghold. They had just received an announcement that the guild was planning to raise the salaries of some 2,000 long-time members to 10,000 credits, while the other members also received an increase to their benefits. This bill was being footed by the Dragonsoar Financial Group. However, this was nothing compared to the profit they would earn from the Cripps Stronghold’s real world business district.

Nie Yan left the remainder of the matters related to the Cripps Stronghold to Guo Huai.

Asskickers United’s sucess made the other large guilds in the Viridian Empire turn green with envy. Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors also started mobilizing troops to tackle the Intermediate Strongholds in the territories of their own respective cities. Asskickers United’s quick clear of the Cripps Stronghold gave them the illusion that clearing an Intermediate Stronghold was a cakewalk, a mistake they would sorely pay for in the near future.

Nie Yan checked the time. There were still two hours before the server shut down. He made plans with Xie Yao to celebrate her birthday today. She had invited many people over for her birthday party, and he naturally couldn’t be absent. Given her background, the party would surely be grand.

Nie Yan glanced at his quest log.

Quest Progress: Talk to Earl Kelfield. He might have some information regarding the Tyrant Abak’s Set.

The time limit on the quest was quickly running out. He had to start it soon or it would disappear forever.

"I’ll leave the Cripps Stronghold to you guys. I need to go do a quest,” Nie Yan said to Bladelight and the others. The important work related to the Cripps Stronghold was already handled by him personally. All that was left to do was to watch over things.

"No problem. Don’t worry. With us here, there’ll be no trouble,” Bladelight assured. Everything in the Cripps Stronghold was basically settled. There were only trivial matters still in need of attention.

Nie Yan bid farewell to Bladelight and the others and teleported back to Calore to stock up on supplies.

He rode out of Calore’s northern entrance on his Faulkner Warhorse.

About half an hour north of Calore was the Marcos Mountain. Situated at the base was an ancient castle built during the Era of Shared Governance. At some point, it was bought and renovated by Earl Kelfield, who planted a beautiful garden around the walls.

Calore’s Mercenary Association gave a quest related to Earl Kelfield called ‘Earl Kelfield’s Worries’.

The description of the quest went roughly like this:

Earl Kelfield hasn’t been able to sleep peacefully for the past two months. Skeletons are frequently emerging in his garden, destroying the tranquility of his home. The earl has already lost three servants to these vile undead. Brave adventurer, are you willing to help the earl get rid of these damned skeletons?

Skeletons: 0/30

This was a fairly simple quest. However, the reward was quite generous. After completing it, the player would receive 1 gold. This was quite a lot to ordinary players.

Chapter 387 - The Earls Ancient Castle

Earl Kelfield’s Worries was only a normal quest. Could its contents possibly be related to his current quest?

Nie Yan had attempted to do Earl Kelfield’s Worries in the previous timeline to earn some easy money. But due to running into some trouble with Victorious Return, he had no choice but to abandon it. He never had another chance to return to it in the end.

Nie Yan could only make wild assumptions. He galloped across the plains on his Faulkner Warhorse like a gust of wind.

After passing through several maps, Nie Yan noticed a lot more players around compared to a few weeks ago, a sign that more and more people were joining Conviction.

Based on Nie Yan’s memory of the previous timeline, Conviction would only continue to grow larger. It would still be popular more than 10 years from now.

A half hour trip took only 10 minutes on the Faulkner Warhorse. Nie Yan spotted the ancient castle in the distance. It resembled an impenetrable fortress, built out of stone and situated halfway atop Marcos Mountain. Even though it looked old, one could still see hints of its former glory. Near the top were openings with dark and foreboding metal cylinders sticking out. These were Magic Cannons. Crafted by the elves, they possessed incredible destructive power. However, they had long since fallen into disrepair.

The castle was surrounded by a lush garden, which resembled a swaying sea of violet as the wind blew past, carrying over a flowery fragrance far into the distance. However, some regions were mysteriously wrecked and destroyed.

The flower garden was protected by a metal fence. There was a gate with a narrow winding path that led directly to the castle.

Nie Yan rode up to the gate and dismounted from his Faulkner Warhorse. He surveyed his surroundings but didn’t sense the presence of any monsters. It seemed peaceful. He took a step toward the garden.

You have discovered Earl Kelfied’s Castle

Nie Yan received an update to his quest.

Quest - Talk to Earl Kelfield

Earl Kelfield’s Castle is brimming with danger. Ever since the undead started appearing in his garden, his servants no longer dared to stay and left, leaving him with no choice but to hire outside help. But if that wasn’t strange enough. Recently, the Earl left his castle in the dead of night. The next morning he was found lying in his garden sound asleep covered in mud and dirt. Since that incident he’s been adrift in delirium, constantly mumbling, "Ina, Ina, Ina…”

Phantom Princess Ina!? Nie Yan’s mind trembled. What a strange coincidence!

It appeared this was a series of related quests!

I have to talk to Earl Kelfield to find some clues! Nie Yan calmly strode forward down the path toward the castle in the distance.

The walls surrounding the castle were crumbling apart, looking as if they had weathered many centuries. The wind blowing across the field of flowers brought along a gloomy cold mixed with the faint scent of decay.

Nie Yan furrowed his brows. This was a telltale sign that undead were nearby.

Skeletons would usually start spawning in the garden after the player accepted the Earl Kelfield’s Worries quest.

Nie Yan arrived in front of the castle entrance, a pair of solid and thick metal gates rusted over due to age. Feeling a cold and dreary breeze nip at the back of his neck, he slowly pushed open the gates and entered a dimly lit lounge. It appeared as if some inexplicable force was preventing the sunlight from coming in.

At this moment, two silhouettes stepped out from the shadows.

Nie Yan was startled and grabbed onto the hilt of Zennarde’s Sword, ready to enter combat at any time. He made out the appearance of the two people in front of him. They wore leather armour and held wooden round shields in their left hands and shabby axes in their right. When they didn’t attack him outright, he realized they were NPCs.

Nie Yan activated Transcendent Insight.

Militiaman Breckon: Level 45

Militiaman Bernard: Level 46

Breckon was tall and as sturdy as an ox. He appeared honest and simple, not giving off the slightest bit of killing intent. Bernard was somewhat shorter. He looked like your run-of-the-mill youth.

"S-s-sir Devil Slayer, Great Thief, Grand Scholar! N-nice to meet you!” Bernard stuttered nervously after seeing all of Nie Yan’s titles.

"Greetings, Sir…” Breckon finally spoke up after what seemed like half-a-day. It appeared he wasn’t the talkative type.

Nie Yan nodded in response. "Hello, I’m wondering if you two can bring me to Earl Kelfield. I believe I can help with his problem.”

"Yes! Right away, sir. Please follow me!” Bernard said in a respectful tone.

These two militiamen brought Nie Yan deeper into the castle.

"Earl Kelfield is a good man. He’s already lived in this castle for more than 60 years. After those evil creatures appeared, many people urged him to leave. But he refused to go. All of his servants left his side. Only the two of us stuck around until now,” Bernard narrated. He then turned to Nie Yan with a sad look in his eyes. "Sir Devil Slayer, please help the Earl!”

"Of course. God will protect all those who are good and righteous,” Nie Yan assured. He started sifting through the information Bernard provided in his head. It appeared there was a reason for Earl Kelfield refusing to leave the castle, probably related to Phantom Princess Ina. He could ask the Earl in person to find out.

Following the two militiamen, Nie Yan passed through many hallways and winding corridors before arriving in a large room, where he saw a long table with a candelabra in the center and a luxurious red carpet running along the floor.

Nie Yan looked up ahead at the old square windows hidden behind crimson red curtains. A ray of sunlight barely shone through between the gaps. An elderly man sat next to the window sill reclined on a chair behind an old wooden desk, rocking back and forth as he gazed outside with a bleak and forlorn expression on his face.

This was Earl Kelfield!

Nie Yan shifted his attention from the elderly Earl Kelfield to a large, worn-out painting hanging on the wall. It was a striking portrait of Phantom Princess Ina, the same one he had stolen Abak’s Gloves of Sealing from in the Colin Gobi!

Earl Kelfield turned toward Nie Yan. Draped in an ash-gray fur coat, he looked old and withered. His hand resembled tree bark, lacking the slightest hint of vitality.

Nie Yan could see the deep sadness contained within the Earl’s eyes.

"You came.” Earl Kerfield’s dry lips cracked into a warm, child-like smile, as though he was about to be unburdened from his worries.

Seeing Earl Kelfield’s appearance, Nie Yan was taken by surprise. The Earl hadn’t greeted him with any of his titles. Given the strict way in which Conviction handled title addresses, this was definitely odd.

"It’s nice to meet you, Earl Kelfield,” Nie Yan greeted respectfully, then walked up to the Earl’s desk.

Bernard and Breckon respectfully withdrew from the room.

Earl Kelfield turned back to window. His gaze was distant, as if he were looking somewhere far away.

Nie Yan looked at the painting. Judging from the dust gathered on its surface, he speculated it must be at least half-a-century old. "Is that your wife? She looks beautiful.” He had to find some way to gather information on this quest, and this painting hanging on the wall was a readily-available clue!

"Yes…” Earl Kelfield gazed at the painting on the wall before letting out a deep sigh. "Youngster, are you willing to listen to my story?”

"Of course.” Nie Yan nodded. Everything played out as expected. He had guided Earl Kelfield into progressing with the quest.

"I was quite wealthy back in the day. The castle and nearby fields all belonged to me, and every villager worked for me. This castle was built during the Era of Shared Governance. It was bought by my grandfather and passed down to me. I was always told this castle was cursed, but I never believed their ill words. That was, until the year when bandits raided the castle, killing my parents and snatching away much of our wealth. I started becoming suspicious.” The Earl shook his head. "Ina, my wife, she was an orphan who grew up in the Grendol Orphanage. She was good friends with another girl called Patience. I happened to hire the two of them as my maids. Her sweet and pure smile was like that of an angel and could make all your worries disappear in a flash. It was love at first sight. I fell for her, deeply infatuated with that enchanting smile. It was God’s blessing to the world. If only I was allowed to see it again, I could die peacefully,” Earl Kelfield narrated as he lost himself in his memories.

Nie Yan quietly listened without interrupting. He could feel Earl Kelfield’s deep love.

"Ina and I eventually got married. I wanted to make her the happiest woman in the world. Her love allowed me to get past the grief of losing my father and mother. Our first child was born three years later. It was a girl, and I named her Nia. She was just as beautiful as her mother. I believed those happy days would last forever, until the Marcos Mountain eroded into flat plains, until this very castle collapsed into ruin, becoming as ancient as the history of the continent. Alas, it was not meant to be, and everything changed. The passion slowly dimmed into embers, and I could feel a demon growing in my heart. Patience, that seductress, was just like a siren from the folktales, bewitching my mind. I squandered our money lavishly until our savings ran dry. Finally, one day, Ina discovered our scandalous affair. Her weeping and grief-stricken appearance deeply stabbed at my heart. It were as if my very soul was being ripped apart! I snapped out of my spell. Only then did I realize just how much of a wretch and scoundrel I was. But by then, it was already too late. What had I done…?” Earl Kelfield closed his eyes as tears started flowing out.

Chapter 388 - Holy Stone

Nie Yan felt his emotions stir. Even though he had experienced a myriad of things in his past life, it was impossible to remain indifferent in this moment. A sympathetic expression surfaced on his face as he continued to listen in silence.

"I left the castle to drown my remorse in drink. I wanted to say, ‘Ina, I was wrong… Please, forgive me. I’m willing to repent with this worthless life of mine!’ But by the time I came home, I saw her motionless body hanging under a beam, as though she were fast asleep. I vividly remember the look on her pale and lifeless face, the tear stains that had yet to dry... She took her own life as a way of silently denouncing me! Why? Ina! Why couldn’t you just wait for me to come back home! We still have Nia! We still have our family! But no matter how much I shouted, Ina didn’t wake up, carrying her grief along with her as she left this world. Oh, God! How do I redeem myself!? At that moment, I felt a gentle tug on my sleeve. It was Nia. She asked, ‘Daddy, is mommy asleep…?’” Earl Kelfield’s face was full of anguish as he broke down and sobbed with bitter tears.

Nie Yan’s heart ached as he stared at the Earl’s mournful and decepit figure. If he had known earlier, he wouldn’t have asked this old man to relive such painful memories.

"It wasn’t much later, days maybe, when Patience came to me with a blood-soaked dagger. That mad woman! What did she do? I rushed out of the room, and to my horror I found Nia lying on the floor, the life rapidly draining from her body. I felt a light touch on my shoulder as Patience whispered into my ear, ‘From now on, no one will get between us ever again! We can finally be together! You can bear my child, start a new family!’ That woman, she had already lost her mind. She had committed such a cruel and savage act! In my rage, I turned the dagger on her. That vile woman!” The Earl trembled in anger before weakly slumping back into his chair. "I did everything I could. But in the end, Nia left me as well. She was a pitiful and guiltless child! It was only many years later that I realized there was no righting any wrongs the moment I crossed that line. I destroyed everything I loved and cared for with my own hands. This is my sin to bear. Ever since then, I’ve been all alone in this world, destined to live on with this pain and guilt.”

Earl Kelfield’s words resonated deeply with Nie Yan. Every person had their own demons. You would stray further and further away once you crossed a certain line, making one mistake after another before ultimately living a life full of regret.

"Why didn’t you abandon the castle? Leave this place behind and start your life anew?” Nie Yan asked. He had just unearthed a clue.

"Both Ina and Nia are buried in the garden. I want to guard their graves,” Earl Kelfield replied. "Beyond that, a cloaked stranger visited my residence one night. I was handed an item, then told if I handed it over to a certain person, my sins would be forgiven and the curse placed on this castle would be lifted. I tried to ask who but received no reply. I’ve waited for over 30 years, though it’s felt more like a thousand, for this person to show up. Then, today you arrived.” The Earl fished around in his pocket with his wrinkled hand before taking out a curious-looking stone. It was pure white, shaped like a tooth, and roughly the size of a thumb. "This is the item I was entrusted with. Take it. I’m sure it will help you find what you’re looking for.”

Nie Yan reached out his hand and accepted the stone. It was translucent like jade and emitted a soft, gentle radiance that soothed the heart.

Nie Yan examined the stone.

Holy Stone (Quest Item)

Requirements: 60 Willpower

Description: Brave Adventurer! You who pursues buried history set foot on your journey to seek out the Tyrant Abak Set and show the world the glory of the Empire once more! Properties: Illuminate everything in a 30 meter radius.

Holy Illumination: Disperse the surrounding darkness and banish all evil creatures nearby. Duration: 30 seconds. Cooldown: 2 Days.

Search: Reveal the position of any nearby item belonging to the Tyrant Abak Set. Range: 5,000 meters. Cooldown: 2 hours.

Restrictions: Owner of the Glimpse of Darkness

"Earl Kelfield, thank you for sharing your story with me,” Nie Yan said. It was time for him to move on with his quest.

The Glimpse of Darkness was a prerequisite for triggering this quest. The Holy Stone would lead him to more clues!

Earl Kelfield broke into a relieved smile. "With the item delivered, my mission is complete. I have no more attachments to this world. Adventurer, may you journey forth with courage and conviction.”

Nie Yan could feel Earl Kelfield’s life gradually leaving his body after he handed over the Holy Stone. His condition rapidly deteriorated.

Breckon and Bernard started shedding tears as grief filled their faces. They knew the Earl was not long for this world.

The light in the Earl’s eyes dimmed. "I can hear my family calling to me. Friends, do not grieve my passing for my sins are absolved. I can finally be at peace. I will exit like a gentle breeze. May the light shine upon the world, and you all live without regrets.”

Earl Kelfield’s body melted into motes of light as his spirit floated and flew out the window.

Following the disappearance of the Earl, all that remained in his chair was a dusty old book.

Nie Yan picked it up and flipped through the pages. It was a prayer book. Over the last several decades, Earl Kelfield had constantly recited the litanies inside to atone for his sins.

This book was written in the Ancient Common Language. Written on the cover in a large bold font was Holy Prayers.

It was just an ordinary book. Suddenly, a small necklace with a sapphire pendant fell out between the pages. It looked quite beautiful. Some words were engraved on the back of the pendant.

「 May the repentant receive the salvation of the Light.

May everyone obtain happiness.」

Nie Yan examined the necklace.

Necklace of Holy Radiance (Dark Gold)

Requirements: 30 Focus

Properties: Health +500, Holy Magic Skill Level +1

Restrictions: Holy Mage

Seeing the Holy Magic Skill Level +1, Nie Yan’s mind trembled. This Necklace of Holy Radiance was definitely more valuable than ordinary Sub Legendary-grade equipment. Many properties in equipment were randomized. The chance of the All Skill Level +1 property appearing was next to zero.

Since the necklace was a Holy Mage item, Nie Yan planned to give it to Xie Yao.

Xie Yao’s gear was practically unrivalled in Asskickers United. With unsurpassed strength and beauty, she became one of the goddesses in the guild. The most beautiful girls in the guild were Xie Yao, One Strike Vow, Painted Muslin, Moon Child, and Blue Feather. Each had their own merits, and it was hard to decide who took the crown.

Thinking about Xie Yao, Nie Yan felt his heart stir.

Nie Yan tossed the Necklace of Holy Radiance into his bag. It was about time for him to get going. He wondered where this quest would lead him next.

Suddenly, Nie Yan felt the Holy Stone in his bag vibrate. He quickly took it out and activated Search as a marker appeared in the middle of his map. A piece of the Tyrant Abak Set was nearby!

"Bernard, Breckon, can you show me around the castle?” Nie Yan asked. He wasn’t familiar with the layout, so having them lead him around would definitely save him a lot of work.

"It’d be our honour, Sir Devil Slayer.” Bernard replied. "Follow me.”

Breckon and Bernard started showing him around. Nie Yan could feel the reaction of the Holy Stone growing stronger the deeper they went inside the castle. When they arrived at an intersection, he looked down the hallway and saw a long corridor with many rooms on both sides. The walls and doors looked poorly maintained, and the floor was covered in a layer of dust. It was evident this place hadn’t been visited by people in a long time. Even stranger was the fact that the area was sealed off by a metal fence.

Just as Bernard was about to bring him elsewhere, Nie Yan stopped and asked, "Why can’t we go there?”

"It’s the cursed corridor. Two servants died horrible deaths there. That’s why the Earl sealed it off. No one has dared to enter that forbidden area since,” Bernard explained.

Nie Yan examined the fence. It was made out of ordinary metal, and without magic protection. He lightly struck it with Zennarde’s Sword. With a loud klang, the bars shattered and fell to the ground.

Breckon and Bernard were frightened by Nie Yan’s actions. This sword’s might was too fierce!

"Like this, we can go in.” Nie Yan sheathed Zennarde’s Sword and stepped into the corridor. But Breckon and Bernard didn’t follow. He turned to them and asked, "What’s wrong, guys? Come on!”

"Earl Kelfield forbade us from entering that area. Even now after he’s passed away, we still can’t go against his word,” Bernard replied in an awkward tone.

"I see, you guys stay here then,” Nie Yan said. He understood the quest wouldn’t allow Breckon and Bernard to guide him any further.

Nie Yan’s quest senses were extremely sharp. He could instantly determine the requirements and contents of a quest from an NPC’s words.

The floorboards groaned as Nie Yan stepped over them. The more he walked, the longer this corridor seemed, almost as though it had no end.

Nie Yan kicked up clouds of dust as he walked past, slowing down when he noticed bloodstains on the floor. They had already turned black. He didn’t know how many decades they had been there.

From these bloodstains, Nie Yan judged the victim had been ambushed from behind, bitten and dragged away.

A dense miasma lingered in the air. Nie Yan could determine there was most definitely a powerful monster lurking in the shadows.

Chapter 389 - Abak’s Bloody Dagger

Nie Yan cautiously trod forward, prepared to face any unknown danger, while the reaction of the Holy Stone in his hand grew all the more intense.

He discovered a bloodstain in front of a half-closed door. He took a deep breath, then stepped forward, ready to activate Gale Step at a moment’s notice.「Bang!」He forced the door open with a kick and entered inside. But contrary to his expectations, he wasn’t ambushed.

Nie Yan was a greeted by a simple and crude room, roughly 5 by 5 meters in size. The floor was covered in a layer of dust. There was a small bed against the wall with several neatly folded blankets stacked on top, a few cabinets that had long fallen into disrepair, and a couple of old pots sitting in the corner. He also saw some books lying on top of a desk, but they were just miscellaneous items.

Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. As he searched around, something on the desk caught his eye. He walked forward and discovered some pages of a diary. He picked them up and gave them a quick lookover. Blood had seeped into them and smudged much of the writing.

He organized the pages and started reading.

"Like a pale winter sun, his charm bewitched me and drove me mad. Ina, please forgive me. I believed I could take care of the both of you. But those filthy thoughts gradually invaded my mind, and those delusional well-meaning wishes of the past had long since been buried under a pile of rot. When he held me, how could I resist? I was rapt with ecstasy. I wanted to melt in his embrace. When you decided to leave us, I was filled with a warped sense of happiness. I thought I could replace you, but I was wrong…(Too badly damaged to continue)”

This was Patience’s diary. Nie Yan knitted his brows. He recalled Patience was stabbed to death by Earl Kelfield.

Suddenly, several lines surfaced where there was previously blank space.

"I’m willing to become an undying spirit, not to avenge my death at your hands, but to stay by your side and watch over you in this ancient castle, ‘till the very end…”

Nie Yan’s mind trembled. He nervously glanced around but detected no other presence in the room.

A cold breeze swept through the room and carried the diary pages away as they vanished without a trace.

Nie Yan sank into deep thought. The monster that killed the two servants must have been Patience. He continued searching around the room but didn’t find anything else of interest.

He wondered where the piece of the Tyrant Abak Set was located.

Nie Yan left the room and returned to exploring the corridor. He encountered several skeletons on the floor.

Shadows slowly crept toward Nie Yan unnoticed. As soon as they touched his feet, they shot forth and wrapped around him.

By the time Nie Yan noticed and wanted to run, it was already too late. The shadows resembled incorporeal hands, holding him in place.

What’s going on!?

Nie Yan was ready to activate Gale Step at any time, but he patiently waited.

At this moment, a shadowy figure appeared before him. It had a sinister and frightening appearance, radiating evil energy. It was a Wraith!

Ghosts were divided into two categories, Phantoms and Wraiths. The former were passive unless provoked while the latter would attack any living creature in the vicinity.

Nie Yan activated Transcendent Insight.

Patience, Wraith of the Ancient Castle (Lord): Level 50

Health: 120,000/120,000

It was a Level 50 Lord!

Patience charged toward Nie Yan and swiped at him with her claws.

Nie Yan activated Gale Step, blocking the attack and freeing himself of his bindings. He circled behind Patience and attacked her with Backstab followed by Eviscerate.

Wraiths couldn’t be afflicted with bleed or poison. Even so, Nie Yan still dealt 1,600 damage to Patience. It was a pity this was barely a scratch to a Level 50 Lord. The only positive was that her health regenerated fairly slowly.

Patience was enraged after her ambush failed. Her attacks became even fiercer as she charged forward.

Nie Yan attempted to evade with a side step. However, Patience’s claw elongated and slashed him across the chest.

−1,283!

Shit! What kind of damage is this? Nie Yan inwardly cried out in alarm. At this rate, he wouldn’t last more than three hits!

Patience let out an ear-piercing screech and charged forward once more. Nie Yan quickly pulled back. At this moment, he didn’t have many evasive skills at his disposal, only two Freedom Skills and Shadow Waltz. Disappear might work too. However, he still hadn’t mastered the two Freedom Skills, particularly Reverse Grip Backstab; he had yet to successfully pull it off.

It appeared normal evasive maneuvers were ineffective against this Level 50 Lord-class Wraith!

When death seemed inevitable, Nie Yan suddenly thought of something and took out the Holy Stone and Necklace of Holy Radiance from his bag. The two items in his hands released a brilliant light that dispersed the surrounding darkness.

This was the holy power of the Holy Stone and Necklace of Holy Radiance.

Patience let out a miserable screech as she tried blocking the light with her hands. However, her body started burning and releasing smoke.

Nie Yan was ecstatic. The Holy Stone and Necklace of Holy Radiance were actually effective against Patience!

Items obtained during a quest often had a relevant use.

Patience endured the burning light and charged at Nie Yan, her speed noticeably slower than before.

Mangle!

Just as Patience slashed down with her claws, Nie Yan’s figure blurred as he activated Phantom Assassination.

His movements were sharper and faster than before. His body flashed past as the blade of Zennarde’s Sword drew a clean arc across Patience’s throat.

−6,082

Phantom Assassination: 59% Completion, 83% damage, 0 Combo.

Nie Yan could only deal such high damage thanks to the weakening effect the Holy Stone and Necklace of Holy Radiance had on Patience!

Seeing Patience rushing towards him again, Nie Yan turned tail and fled. He couldn’t fight her head on, so his only option was to kite her. He also needed to drag out the battle as long as possible, lest he wanted to be left in the awkward situation where none of his life-saving skills were off cooldown.

Nie Yan used Shadow Waltz to close the distance and slash Patience.

−6,792

He didn’t stop and kept running while Patience gave chase, continuing their game of cat and mouse.

Nie Yan was extremely fast. As he reached the end of the long corridor, he bolted up a flight of stairs and entered a large hall. Suddenly, the Holy Stone in his hand started vibrating intensely. He looked up and saw a dagger mounted to the wall on the other side of the room. The oddly curved blade had a sleek design and emitted a stifling murderous aura.

Abak’s Bloody Dagger, it was here!

Chapter 390 - Defeating the Wraith of the Ancient Castle

This room in the basement was oddly shaped like an oval. A table sat in the center littered with all kinds of gold oddities and bobbles. Tucked away in a corner were many earthen pots and jars, having collected a couple decades’ worth of cobwebs and dust. Some of them were broken with black powder leaking out.

Nie Yan detected the unmistakable scent of gunpowder as he breathed in through his nose.

Nie Yan recalled an incident in his past life where a medium-sized guild called Moon Wolf had discovered valuable treasures and crafting materials in this ancient castle. But before they could dispatch people to transport the goods away, Victorious Return ambushed them and snatched everything away for themselves.

It seemed there was some basis to that rumour.

On top of an adjacent table were piles of mysterious scrolls. However, Nie Yan couldn’t be bothered to spare them a glance. His attention was wholly focused on Abak’s Bloody Dagger. It was rumoured that due to the countless lives Tyrant Abak reaped with this dagger, a powerful curse was placed on it which prevented ordinary people from approaching.

The dagger was mounted to the wall. A bloody aura slowly leaked out of it, emanating an ominous presence.

The Tyrant Abak Set was Nie Yan’s ultimate goal. With this set, he would need nothing else. He would have to keep progressing through the questline, finding one clue after another, completing the set one piece at a time. This endeavor would probably take at least three years to complete.

Since he had discovered Abak’s Bloody Dagger, he absolutely had to have it!

At this moment, Patience floated down the stairs and charged after him.

"You wretched human and your holy light!” Patience’s appearance was frightening as she stabbed at him with her claw-like hands.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. It appeared Patience had some rudimentary intelligence. These kinds of monsters were the toughest to deal with. They didn’t fight blindly. If they couldn’t beat you, they’d call for back-up. If they saw your health drop low, they’d pursue you relentlessly to the end of the world. And if you dropped their health below a certain threshold, they’d try to flee.

Nie Yan glanced at Patience. She still had over 110,000 health.

Defeating her would be no easy task.

Since Nie Yan couldn’t beat her by himself, there was only one option left. Call for help!

Nie Yan took out a pouch of Flash Powder from his bag and chucked it at Patience.「Poof!」A dazzling radiance engulfed the surroundings.

Patience let out a miserable shriek. She was blinded by the intense brilliance.

Nie Yan quickly ducked into a corner. He activated Deterrence, then opened up the skill window for Divine Recruitment. After a quick glance at the list, he made up his mind and summoned the Rank 7 Paladin Keo who had 200% of his stats and an hourly fee of 1,000 gold.

For the sake of obtaining Abak’s Bloody Dagger, Nie Yan went for broke.

Keo materialized beside Nie Yan, wielding a sword and shield.

"Sir Devil Slayer, it is an honour to serve you. May the holy light forever be with you.” Keo stared at Patience up ahead and shouted in a righteous tone, "For the sake of spreading the faith of Light, by God’s will, I will exterminate all evil creatures! This is the duty of a Paladin!”

All Paladins summoned by Divine Recruitment were pious followers of the Light. They also had a rudimentary level of intelligence.

When Patience regained her vision, she resumed her pursuit of Nie Yan but halted in her tracks after reaching within six meters of him. This was the effect of his improved Deterrence! The emergence of Paladin Keo also filled her with a sense of dread.

Keo should be able hold his own against Patience, for a short while at least. Nie Yan immediately began chanting as one syllable after another flowed out of his mouth. He was preparing to summon Lil’ Gold as the space around him started to warp and fluctuate.

With the addition of Lil’ Gold, the three of them combined could definitely take down Patience.

At this moment, Patience let out a piercing shriek which spread out as a destructive sound wave and struck Nie Yan.

−32 A damage value floated up above Nie Yan’s head. He was interrupted mid-cast.

Nie Yan clicked his tongue. He didn’t expect Patience to have a ranged control skill that could interrupt his cast.

Bosses with intelligence were truly tricky.

Nie Yan failed summoning Lil’ Gold! Even so, it was still possible to defeat Patience with just the help of Keo. He checked the most important skill in Keo’s skill window, Heal! It had a cooldown of roughly 20 seconds and could restore over 2,000 health.

Good! It’s enough! Nie Yan dashed toward Patience.

Patience floated forward and greeted him with her sharp claws.

Nie Yan activated Gale Step, blocking the attack, then circled behind Patience and slashed her in the back with Zennarde’s Sword.

Patience turned around and retaliated by slashing him across the chest.

−1,357

Nie Yan was bathed in a gentle radiance as Paladin Keo healed him for over 2,000 health!

In the next moment, Keo charged forward and struck Patience with Divine Strike as a holy radiance burst forth from his blade.

−15,928! Patience screamed in pain as a frightening damage value floated up above her head.

Holy light was effective against the undead!

This was why Paladins loved to grind on undead mobs.

Even Nie Yan was frightened by Keo’s high damage. He inwardly rejoiced. Like this, dealing with Patience would be a piece of cake!

Keo let out a roar and bathed Patience in the cleansing light of Purify. Her face warped in pain as she started releasing smoke. However, a bloody aura was slowly building up around her.

Nie Yan was wary, but he threw caution to the wind. He furiously stabbed and slashed at Patience with reckless abandon. Keo was much the same.

−6,738

−1,2957

−7,023....

In a short while, Patience’s health fell below 10%.

She was only one or two attacks away from being defeated!

Just at this moment, Patience let out a blood-curdling screech.

Howl of Terror!

Nie Yan had no time to react at all. Fear permeated into every cell of his being, his mind blanked as he started unwillingly fleeing.

Paladin Keo reacted in the same manner,.

Patience charged after Keo. She was completely aggroed on to him, given that he was dealing the most damage and the undead had an innate loathing of anything holy.

She relentlessly attacked Keo, slashing away with her sharp claws, shaving away his more than 5,000 health in the blink of an eye.

Keo collapsed dead on the ground.

Patienced shifted her attention to Nie Yan.

Fortunately, Mind Magic generally didn’t last long. The first six seconds of Howl of Terror was hard crowd control. But after that, he was free to use his skills again, even if he still didn’t have control of his body.

Mind Immune!

After six seconds passed, Nie Yan immediately freed himself from the effects of Howl of Terror. Seeing Patience pounce at him with her sharp claws, he activated Shadow Waltz to block the attack and circled behind her.

Patience only had 6,783 health left. Nie Yan’s muscles swelled as Zennarde’s Sword sped toward her neck.

Cut Throat!

At this moment, Patience activated Three-Hit Flurry!

Her claws slashed across Nie Yan’s chest.

−1,356

−1,287

Just as the third hit was about to land, Nie Yan’s blade streaked Patience’s neck.

−6,788! Patience let out a dying wail.

Nie Yan, wary that Patience might try to pull something funny, immediately drank an Intermediate Health Potion and prepared an Advanced Combat Bandage.

Patience exploded into a pile of ashes, from which a white ball of light floated out and flew away.

Her evil spirit was exorcised.

It’s finally over… Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

Patience dropped two pieces of Dark Gold-grade equipment. One was for a Shadow Priest and the other for an Arcane Mage. Nie Yan stored them in his bag, then approached Abak’s Bloody Dagger. The Holy Stone in his hand vibrated intensely and released a brilliant light. With a hard tug, he dislodged the dagger from the wall.

Nie Yan could feel a powerful corrosive energy surrounding Abak’s Bloody Dagger. If it weren’t from the purifying light of the Holy Stone, he would’ve long since died.

This dagger could only be obtained through the quest from the Glimpse of Darkness!

Nie Yan turned his attention to the pile of sheepskin scrolls piled on one of the tables. He didn’t know how long they had been sitting there, but they had already turned grey.

They appeared to be recipes!

Just as Nie Yan was about to walk over to check them out, he felt a slight nip at the back of his neck. It was extremely faint, almost indiscernible, but it was still picked up by his sharp senses.

It’s a Thief! Nie Yan’s mind trembled.

Given how high his Awareness was, it was surprising that he couldn’t sense the opponent’s location.

Nie Yan surveyed his surroundings, but it was completely empty. He couldn’t find a single trace of the enemy Thief!

Since this was a Level 50 map, his opponent had to at least be Level 50. Furthermore, their Cloaking had to be extremely high as well! How else could they go unnoticed by him in this relatively cramped space?

Nie Yan judged that the opposing Thief must have just arrived; otherwise, they would’ve already attacked him while he was dealing with Patience.

Nie Yan’s eyes narrowed, flashing with killing intent. He walked over to the table and reached out his hand to pick up the sheepskin scrolls.

Are these what you came here for? Let’s see what you do when I try to take them...

At this moment, the unmistakable glint of a dagger emerged behind Nie Yan.

You’ve finally shown yourself!

Chapter 391 - Elven Thief

「Klang!」Nie Yan swung around and parried just as the enemy’s blow was about to land on the back of his head, sparks flying as the two daggers clashed.

Concussive Blow!

The other Thief reacted pretty quickly. He switched grips on his dagger and stabbed toward Nie Yan’s forehead.

Phantom Assassination!

Nie Yan’s figure blurred as he evaded the attack and stabbed toward the enemy’s throat.

Seeing dodging was impossible, the Thief activated Gale Step to neutralize Nie Yan’s attack.

Since activating Gale Step reduced the effectiveness of stealth by 60%, Nie Yan could finally sense the location of the enemy Thief.

Eye of Truth!

Nie Yan’s pupils turned blood red as the veins around his eyes bulged out. He quickly discovered a silhouette rapidly pulling back, putting six meters between them.

Decent skill, fast reactions, tsk… He’s a tricky one.

Nie Yan immediately noticed the opponent’s long ears, which he almost mistook for horns, and slim build. It was an elf!

It was rumoured the length of an elf’s ears was closely related to the amount of magic power their bodies contained. The longer the ears, the stronger the elf. This was something implemented by the system. But the difference wasn’t usually visible to the naked eye.

It’s an Elven Thief! Nie Yan never expected to encounter one here!

Nie Yan’s lips curved into a faint smile. Guo Huai had reported they had lost track of the Elven Thief from Angel Corps. Wasn’t this clearly him?

Nie Yan wondered if he was followed or this just happened to be a coincidence. He inspected the Elven Thief with Transcendent Insight.

Bodhi Skybright (Elf): Level 52

Class: Great Thief

Nie Yan’s mind trembled. It was him! He didn’t know many experts from the Satreen Empire, nor did he watch videos of their battles in the previous timeline. After all, their respective skills and racial talents were different, so there was no meaning to it. But there were a couple of foreign players whose fame reached even the Viridian Empire. Whether they came for leisure or questing, their shocking feats had left deep and lasting impressions. Bodhi Skybright was one such figure.

After becoming a Shadow Dancer, this fellow had teleported to Calore and took out six other Shadow Dancers in a row before finally being defeated by Sun. It was an extremely close match, with several dozen exchanges. Bodhi Skybright had nearly won, but Sun had made a huge comeback and dealt a finishing blow. Even though Bodhi Skybright had lost, he was never forgotten. In the Viridian Empire, the only other player that could rival Sun was Shadow Killer, and perhaps King of the World if he hadn’t already disappeared from Conviction. Some people believed there were no more than five Shadow Dancers in the Viridian Empire that could go toe-to-toe with Bodhi Skybright.

Bodhi Skybright’s combat style focused on agility and speed. As soon as his attack failed, he would retreat, never tangling with the opponent for too long.

Nie Yan didn’t know how the current Bodhi Skybright compared to his previous timeline incarnation. But given that he already advanced to a Great Thief, he shouldn’t be weak.

Many top rank players hopped from one popular virtual reality game to the next. Their comprehension abilities were high. As soon as they familiarized themselves with a game, they could display impressive combat ability.

Nie Yan didn’t take action, buying himself some time. Bodhi Skybright had arrived late, so he wasn’t aware Nie Yan had put several important skills on cooldown during the battle with Patience; otherwise, he would’ve already charged forward.

The longer the battle dragged out, the more advantageous it was for Nie Yan.

Bodhi Skybright, who was hidden in the shadows, felt a chill run down his spine when he saw Nie Yan’s demon-like eyes staring right at him.

It was an eye skill! And it appeared Nie Yan’s was a higher rank than most!

Bodhi Skybright had decided to tail Nie Yan after learning from Victorious Return that he was headed for this location. However, he had arrived a step too late. Nie Yan’s battle with Patience had already concluded, so he failed to get one over on him.

He ranked fifth among all the Thieves in Angel Corps. As an Elven Thief, his racial talent was extremely suited for his class. Not to mention he had many skills that increased his Cloaking. However, his stealth was still seen through by Nie Yan.

Bodhi Skybright recalled Love Guru’s warning. As the guild leader of Asskickers United, Nie Yan absolutely wasn’t to be underestimated. It was best to ambush him while he was busy dealing with a monster. If the assassination attempt failed, he should immediately retreat.

However, Bodhi Skybright never expected to be noticed as soon as he arrived. Nie Yan’s Awareness had to be at least twice as high as his own Cloaking to discover him so easily! His stealthing ability which far surpassed his peers was something that he had always been proud of. But it meant nothing in front of Nie Yan!

Bodhi Skybright couldn’t possibly understand how overpowered Nie Yan was. If this information was revealed, he would probably ram his head into a wall. If he knew how high Nie Yan’s stats were or how many powerful skills he possessed, he would’ve already tucked his tail between his legs and fled.

It was just that Bodhi Skybright didn’t wish to leave quite yet. The amount of Black Gunpowder in this room caught his attention. He wanted to transport it all away. But since the jars were too big, he couldn’t store them in his bag.

If the Black Gunpowder couldn’t be transported away, so be it. However, he could tell from a glance that those sheepskin scrolls on the table were valuable.

They were definitely treasures!

This was why he couldn’t hold back any longer and took action when Nie Yan was about to reach out and grab those scrolls.

His first ambush attempt had failed, and his stealth had been seen through by Nie Yan. However, he didn’t feel good just giving up on these items and fleeing.

Bodhi Skybright made up his mind. He calmed himself, then glanced at Zennarde’s Sword in Nie Yan’s hands. His opponent’s gear quality was extremely high, probably to an unimaginable extent. But at the end of the day, a Thief’s worth was in their speed and reaction time. He still had a chance, but only if he used a Great Thief skill!

The battle was in a deadlock. Nie Yan’s composed appearance caused Bodhi Skybright to feel anxious.

Thanks to the countless harrowing experiences both in real life and the game, Nie Yan had learned how to stay composed even in the tensest of situations. He glanced at his skill bar. Shadow Waltz and Gale Step were both off cooldown. With these two skills, he felt assured. In all of Conviction, there was no Thief that could kill him. His familiarity with Gale Step was already marrow-deep. As soon as he encountered danger, he could immediately evade. Shadow Waltz was similar to Gale Step, so with these two skills, he had nothing to fear.

Nie Yan turned around and reached out his hand to grab those sheepskin scrolls on the table. He was determined to snatch them for himself!

Chapter 392 - Goblin Magic Cannons

Seeing Nie Yan reach for the scrolls, Bodhi Skybright immediately shot forth like a bullet.

Lock Down!

Lock Down, similar to Intimidate, paralyzed a target in place. Nie Yan felt a powerful force binding him, preventing him from moving.

Skewer!

Bodhi Skybright’s blade drew a graceful arc through the air as he aimed for Nie Yan’s back.

Skewer was a Great Thief skill that increased movement speed by 300%, pierced armour, and dealt high burst damage!

Die! Bodhi Skybright was brimming with confidence. His dagger was only inches away from piercing Nie Yan’s heart. It was impossible for an ordinary person to dodge at this range!

This guy’s got some pretty decent skills… Nie Yan activated Gale Step, taking advantage of the invincibility to neutralize Bodhi Skybright’s attack as he reached out to grab the scrolls on the table.

Dammit! Bodhi Skybright was surprised. Seeing Nie Yan about to grab the scrolls, he took out a Web Scroll from his bag and crushed it in his hand.

A giant web fell from the sky and trapped Nie Yan within.

Hah! They’re mine now! Bodhi Skybright broke out into a victorious smile as he reached out his hand to grab the scrolls.

At this moment, Nie Yan fired out a web line from his Silk Spinner Ring. It accurately hit the scrolls as he pulled them into his grap.

Nie Yan smirked. Trying to compete with me? Dream on, kid!

Bodhi Skybright’s eyes widened in shock. He never expected Nie Yan to suddenly turn the tables on him, and with spider webs no less!

Nie Yan swung Zennarde’s Sword and destroyed the giant web trapping him. Activating Intimidate, he paralyzed Bodhi Skybright in place.

Nie Yan dashed toward the immobilized Bodhi Skybright and slashed down with Zennarde’s Sword.

Just as it seemed like Bodhi Skybright was about to die a miserable death, he suddenly crushed a scroll in his hand.

Nie Yan slashed through Bodhi Skybright as his body turned illusory and disappeared.

Bodhi Skybright had used an Unknown Transfer Scroll!

It appeared Bodhi Skybright had come well prepared, planning to teleport away the moment danger struck.

Nie Yan sheathed Zennarde’s Sword. It appeared Angel Corps was also starting to target him. In the Viridian Empire, Asskickers United was the only guild that could oppose Divine Protectors and Alliance of Mages. Angel Corps, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors were all backed by the Century Financial Group, so they were naturally on the same side. These three guilds were all fearsome opponents. As for Bloodlust Blades, their collapse was inevitable, so there was no need to worry about them any longer.

Bodhi Skybright reappeared in an open field about 1,000 meters away from the castle. He breathed out a sigh of relief. If he had been a second slower, he would’ve been a dead man. Sure enough, Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame was a tough nut to crack. What filled him with the most regret was that he had almost obtained those scrolls!

With the danger gone, Nie Yan finally had time to examine Abak’s Bloody Dagger.

Abak’s Bloody Dagger (Legendary): Unequippable

Requirements: 1,500 Strength, 1,200 Dexterity, Level 180

Description: This item can only be worn by the owner of the Glimpse of Darkness. It is only equippable when the owner has gathered the full set. Abak held strength in high regard. Only the powerful can become tyrants. Eliminate all traitors!

Properties: Attack +2,200, Life Steal +5%, Strength +700, Dexterity +320, All Stats +100, Ignore Level, Chaos Damage, Attacks inflict the following curses: Exhaust, Fate Lock, and Thorns

Set Completion: 2/8

This item is automatically bound to the owner of Volume I of the Book of Order, Glimpse of Darkness. It cannot be traded or dropped.

Exhaust lowered the target’s defense; Fate Lock summoned a Fate Die that inflicted the target with a random debuff, the duration of which depended on the roll; and Thorns returned a portion of the damage the target dealt back to them.

Like this, Nie Yan had another piece of the Tyrant Abak Set.

Nie Yan checked his quest progress.

Find the Tyrank Abak Set: Travel to the Golden City. You may find some clues there.

Nie Yan could only enter the Golden City after reaching Level 60, so he had to put this quest aside for the time being.

Finally, Nie Yan took a look at the sheepskin scrolls he had just obtained.

Goblin Magic Cannon Blueprints (Rank 1)

Requirements: 5 Advanced Tinkerers, 1 Advanced Alchemist, 2 Advanced Runecrafters, and 1 Advanced Enchanter

They contained the blueprints for a Goblin Magic Cannon! The information was divided between many scrolls, with each one describing every component in great detail.

This was an extremely destructive cannon, with a 3-meter long barrel, rotating base, and hole at the side to pour in magic energy. It fired out 10 lbs cannon balls which would turn red hot due to heat generated from the detonation of gunpowder and magic energy.

The Goblin Magic Cannon had an astonishing range of 500 meters, which could be increased even further by firing from a tower or another elevated position. One could imagine the effects it would have when fired into a large crowd. If the ground was solid, the cannonball would even bounce and roll.

Looking at the crafting materials on the blueprints, the Goblin Magic Cannon required Black Gunpowder, various metals, enchanted runestones, and so on. There were over several hundred different items listed in total.

Crafting a Goblin Magic Cannon was an incredibly difficult task. It required a great deal of time and the combined effort of many different talents from various crafting professions. A cannon like this was more than enough to defend a city wall. If he could put a few on top of the Cripps Stronghold, it would become as unshakable as Mt. Tai, capable of repelling any invaders.

Nie Yan contacted Guo Huai and asked him to send people over to transport away the gunpowder.

「Just what could be so important to make you want to completely empty out a castle?」Guo Huai asked in surprise.

「Black Gunpowder!」Nie Yan replied. No matter how strong a player was, in the end they were no match for these powerful tools of war. With these cannons, Asskickers United would gain an additional card in their hands.

Thankfully, Nie Yan had managed to snatch the Goblin Magic Cannon Blueprints for himself during his exchange with Bodhi Skybright.

「Black Gunpowder…」Guo Huai no longer dared to dally. He immediately deployed over 2,000 players to Earl Kelfield’s Ancient Castle.

「Contact Bird, and tell him we need 5 Advanced Tinkerers, 1 Advanced Alchemist, 2 Advanced Runecrafters, and 1 Advanced Enchanter.」Nie Yan shared the Goblin Magic Cannon Blueprints with Guo Huai.

「It seems like we’ll be building cannon towers in the Cripps Stronghold.」Guo Huai’s eyes lit up. Even though the blueprints were only for Rank 1 Goblin Magic Cannons, their destructive might was not to be looked down upon. Not to mention with a range of 500 meters, they would be indispensable during a siege.

「Our time is limited, so you should hurry. Make sure this matter doesn’t leak out. We must keep it a secret,」Nie Yan instructed. The Goblin Magic Cannons would have an even greater effect when they were brought out with the enemy clueless to their existence.

The stronghold sieges of the previous timeline was the stage of these large-scale war machines and peak class players. Ordinary players were reduced to cannon fodder.

Before long, 2,000 players from Asskickers United arrived at Earl Kelfield’s Ancient Castle. They guarded the perimeter while a group of players entered inside. Paladin of the Elegy and his group met up with Nie yan.

"We're here, Boss!” Paladin of the Elegy excitedly greeted.

"Good, take these jars of Black Gunpowder away. Make sure to clean out the entire castle. Don’t leave a single speck behind!” Nie Yan ordered in a dignified tone.

"Yessir!” Paladin of the Elegy replied, his eyes sparkling with reverence.

Nie Yan was normally friendly, but he would turn quite imposing during serious matters. Paladin of the Elegy immediately understood the importance of this task as he ordered his group to transport the gunpowder away.

Nie Yan stayed to supervise since he didn’t feel at ease leaving such an important matter alone. The players from Asskickers United turned the whole castle upside down in their search. They found over 20 jars of Black Gunpowder and a large amount of materials required to craft the Goblin Magic Cannons. Fortune seemed to be on his side. It would’ve taken a great deal of time and resources for him to gather these things by himself, especially the Black Gunpowder. He would have to find a Black Gunpowder Recipe, and the amount produced every day would be limited. Thankfully, there was a large stockpile readily available here. By the time they burned through it, Asskickers United would have enough Advanced Tinkerers to produce a steady supply.

Such large movements from Asskickers United naturally didn’t go unnoticed, especially by Victorious Return. Sadly, they were powerless. They could no longer compete with Asskickers United. It was already impressive they could hold onto their single stronghold. They soon learned from Bodhi Skybright that Asskickers United had discovered a large cache of Black Gunpowder. Unfortunately, they could only helplessly watch on as it was transported away.

2,000 players departed from Earl Kelfield’s Ancient Castle and set out for the nearest Asskickers United stronghold in a grand and majestic fashion.

The jars of Black Gunpowder were too large to fit in player bags, so Asskickers United could only use the risky method of transporting them away physically. It would take roughly 30 minutes for them to reach the nearest stronghold, United City.

Chapter 393 - Ransack and Ransack

A tense atmosphere loomed over all of Asskickers United as Nie Yan and 2,000 players escorted the Black Gunpowder to United City. Such an important matter had to be handled with the utmost care. Mistakes wouldn’t be tolerated! It was at this moment that Guo Huai put his intelligence network to good use. Every movement from every hostile guild no matter how small was reported back to him immediately.

Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine kept a close watch over Victorious Return. From time to time, their players would appear on the border of Victorious Return’s sole stronghold to mock them, leading to skirmishes breaking out.

Heaven Breaker’s hot temper prevented him from taking these insults lying down, so he stationed squads on the walls of the stronghold to attack all who dared to mock him.

Being watched so closely by Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine, it was impossible for Victorious Return to take action against Asskickers United’s transport group.

Guo Huai and the other higher-ups had already made ample preparations. If the group transporting the Black Gunpowder was attacked, troops would be immediately dispatched to rescue them. Of course, it was best if the procession reached United City without any disturbances.

Guo Huai believed there shouldn’t be any issues. Nie Yan’s group consisted of 2,000 players, after all.

...

At this moment, six Level 50 plus players donned in amazing Shaman equipment emerged on a hilltop, dashing between the trees. They were all class advanced Shamans!

Shamans were the most mysterious and difficult to deal with class of the orc race.

Mages were the main force of the humans, Necromancers for the undead, and Shamans for the orcs.

Shamans were divided into Shaman Doctors and Elemental Shamans. The former specialized in healing while the latter specialized in controlling the elements. The Shamans on the hilltop had lightning symbols on their collars, signifying they were Elemental Shamans! Although their healing capabilities were weaker, they could deal devastating damage!

Besides Elemental and Healing Magic, Shamans would often dabble into other mysterious magics such as Totemic and Shadow Magic. Shamic Temples, similar to Magic Towers, contained unfathomable spells. Any Elemental Shaman that visited one would come out much stronger.

Up ahead were several dozen Level 50 Boas. One of the Elemental Shamans waved their staff and summoned a one-meter long totem covered with ashen flags. It floated in the air and discharged streaks of electricity into the surroundings.

Totemic Flags were NPC shop items that Shamans could buy to enhance the potency of their totems, greatly increasing the stats of all nearby allies.

The Shamans started chanting cryptic syllables. With a wave of their staffs, the streaks of lightning surrounding the totem shot out toward the group of Boas, bouncing from one Bao to the next.

Every streak of lightning bounced and bounced and bounced. Not a single Boa remained unscathed.

This was the Chain Lightning spell of Elemental Shamans. It was a different type of area-of-effect magic that could attack more than 10 targets with a single cast.

After these Boas were struck by the streaks of lightning, they collapsed to the ground, their corpses scorched and releasing smoke.

"Love Guru and his group are in Calore. I wonder how they’re doing,” said a slim Shaman. He was called Nevernight, and ranked third among all Shamans in Angel Corps. The others in the group weren’t weak either, having all class advanced together.

Since there were only six players in their group, they easily avoided the sights of Asskickers United’s scouts, especially in such a large map.

"It’s good that Love Guru and them are attracting all the heat from Asskickers United. But you know what I don’t understand? We’re so far away from the Viridian Empire, why does Angel want to make enemies out of them?” Blood Wolf asked in a bewildered manner. He always paid attention to matters that related to the guild as a whole.

"The boss must have his own plans. Either way, the growth of Asskickers United is really astonishing. Bloodlust Blades is only a step away from destruction thanks to them,” Nevernight said. Underlings like them wouldn’t be privy to matters of this magnitude.

"This is going to be a joint operation with the top players of Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors. Everyone, stay alert. We have to succeed. Failure is not an option!” Blood Wolf reminded in a grave tone. This was related to the reputation of Angel Corps.

"Of course, we already know.”

"How much longer until the people from Asskickers United arrive?”

"I’d say roughly 10 or so minutes.”

"Alright! Get ready everyone, we’re going to start. Asskickers United might send some Thieves to scout ahead, so let’s find a good place to hide!”

The six Shamans found a relatively flat area in the dense thickets. Standing in a hexagon, they started chanting as line by line a magnificent hexagram formed on the ground. The magic energy in the air vibrated intensely as a gust of wind blew past.

A dark portal appeared at the center of the hexagram. When the magic energy in the area finally settled, players started walking out of the portal.

The first player to come out was the guild leader of Bloodlust Blades, Bloodlust Mad Blade. He wore a full set of Dark Gold grade, silver-black armour which glinted a dark lustre under the sunlight.

A total of 53 players stepped out of the portal, all of whom were class-advanced elites from Bloodlust Blades, Divine Protectors, and Alliance of Mages. Including the 6 Elemental Shamans from Angel Corps, there were altogether 59 Adept Class players.

Due to their uninterrupted growth, Divine Protectors and Alliances of Mages had far more Adept Class playes than Asskickers United. This was only a portion of them. In comparison, Asskickers United only sported a dozen or so Adept Class players.

After a while, the dark portal trembled before disappearing into thin air. The six Shamans immediately sat down on the ground to recover their health and mana.

Mad Blade turned to the Elementalist beside him and asked with a solemn expression, "Did everyone make it?”

The Elementalist did a quick headcount. "Yeah, 12 from our guild, 25 from Alliances of Mages, and 16 from Divine Protectors.”

"Boss, I just received word that most of the top rank players in Asskickers United are doing their class advancement quests right now. There are only five or six players to watch out for in their group, including Nirvana Flame,” a nearby Priest reported.

"We owe you guys for helping us out in this operation,” Mad Blade said as he turned to the players from Alliances of Mages and Divine Protectors.

"It’s nothing. We’re all on the same side after all.”

"Yea, Asskickers United has been acting far too arrogantly. It’s about time we teach them a lesson. Our guild leader told us to listen to your word as if it were their own. So if you need anything of us, don’t hesitate to speak up.”

The rest of the players from Alliances of Mages and Divine Protectors echoed these sentiments.

"Alright, I won’t treat you all as outsiders. A group of roughly 2,000 Asskickers United players transporting jars of Black Gunpowder will be arriving here any moment now. We’ll slaughter as many of them as we can, but our main priority is to snatch away the gunpowder for ourselves. They’ll definitely send support quickly, so we’ll probably only have 15 minutes at most. After that, no matter how well the battle might be going, we retreat immediately!” Mad Blade’s eyes scanned over the crowd of players in front of him. Whether it be in terms of skill or gear quality, they were the best in both aspects. Even without his commands, they would do fine.

"So what if they have the numbers advantage? We can easily sweep them away with area-of-effect magic. We’ve wiped out a 5,000-man force with just six players before,” an Elementalist arrogantly declared.

"Today, is only the start. There’s much more work to be done in the future! We’ll be launching an assault on their strongholds in a few days. After we tear them down, let’s see how much longer they can last in Calore!” Mad Blade ruthlessly announced. Bloodlust Blades was under a lot of pressure recently, especially after Asskickers United refused to rescind their bounty order. They were pushed into a corner with only one option left, and that was to make a decisive counterattack! As for worrying about Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire interfering, he would just have Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame hold them off.

Under Mad Blade’s command, the players split into three groups each heading in a different direction, lying in ambush among the trees.

...

Nie Yan’s transport group arrived in an area with many hills. The terrain up ahead was complicated with a lot of dense thickets. It was the perfect place to set up an ambush.

They were relatively safe travelling in the plains. But in a wooded area, the danger level would rise significantly.

Nie Yan was worried about the jars of Black Gunpowder behind him. If they were hit by Fire Magic, the outcome would be disastrous. This was why he stationed most of the Warriors and Paladins around the gunpowder. He and several other skilled players also stood nearby, ready to deal with any potential danger.

"Paladins, make sure to protect the cargo with shielding magic! We absolutely can’t lose it!” Nie Yan ordered. These jars of Black Gunpowder were extremely important to Asskickers United.

"Boss, should we dispatch some Thieves to scout up ahead?” Paladin of the Elegy asked.

"I want 200 Thieves to sweep the area up ahead. Politely ask any suspicious individuals to leave. If they refuse, you may use force!” Nie Yan ordered. Players would have to show respect to the might of the number one guild in Calore!

In the previous timeline, Victorious Return was the tyrant of Calore. Many players had grievances with them, but there was nothing they could do. As long as a guild had enough power, they would never have to worry about lacking new members. When conducting work, offending a few players was inevitable.

Paladin of the Elegy immediately carried out Nie Yan’s orders. He selected 200 Thieves suitable for the task. The selected Thieves dashed forward and disappeared into the thickets up ahead.

Chapter 394 - Obscurus Magic, Explosion Inferno!

Although 200 Thieves seemed like a lot, it was far from enough to scout out every inch of these forested hills. Trying to find only several dozen people in such an area was no different from fishing a needle out of a haystack.

Nie Yan wasn’t the least bit suspicious. After all, no one in Calore was capable of opposing Asskickers United. Victorious Return was under heavy scrutiny, and Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors were too far away to pose any real threat.

Asskickers United was deeply rooted into Calore, with roughly one out of every ten players having a relation with the guild. The moment anything happened, they would know. Informants were practically everywhere, so it was nigh impossible to escape their sights. This was why 2,000 players sufficed to transport the jars of Black Gunpowder.

The portal those six Shamans opened was a secret spell from the Shamic Temple, which was the hardest type of magic to guard against. Furthermore, they had already made ample preparations, having set up transfer points in Glory City long ago. They could teleport 50–60 players with each portal.

Bloodlust Blades had already been planning to attack Asskickers United’s strongholds for a long time. But with the appearance of the Black Gunpowder, they were forced to slightly alter their plans. They would deal with the Black Gunpowder first!

Black Gunpowder was a military good that took up a lot of bagspace. The amount Nie Yan uncovered in Earl Kelfield’s Castle could fill tens of thousands of bottles, a task which would take at least several days. The only feasible method was to transport it by hand. When transport caravans became available later on, things would become much more convenient.

Black Gunpowder had many applications and could be used to craft a variety of siege weapons, such as magic explosives, incendiary bolts, explosive projectiles, etc.

Although people had heard of siege weapons like Goblin Magic Cannons, blueprints for them were extremely hard to come by.

Nie Yan placed great importance on transporting these goods safely to United City. Even if these materials were only enough to craft one or two Goblin Magic Cannons, they were well worth the effort.

「Boss, it’s safe up here. We bumped into a few players levelling, but we shooed them away.」

「Everything is clear on our side too.」

…

The 200 Thieves reported back one after another after scouting out their respective zones.

This information put Nie Yan’s mind at ease. He glanced behind him and felt that putting all the Black Gunpowder in the same place was a bit too dangerous. After thinking for a moment, he decided to split the people carrying the Black Gunpowder into seven smaller groups and had a large number of Thieves and Warriors patrol the thickets around them to prevent anyone from getting close.

「Nie Yan, I just received word that all the top experts in Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors disappeared. They were gathered together in Glory City only 20 minutes ago. I had people monitor the transfer points in Calore, but we didn’t discover them. Maybe they’re doing a dungeon run or something?」Guo Huai reported at this time. The top experts of three large guilds suddenly disappearing was too strange an occurrence. So, he immediately reported this information to Nie Yan.

Since those players didn’t teleport to Calore, even if they rode on the fastest mounts, it would take them at least seven hours to cover the distance between the two cities and enter Calore. As such, Guo Huai never considered the possibility of them suddenly launching an ambush. However, this news immediately roused Nie Yan’s suspicions. How could it possibly be a coincidence that all the top experts in Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors would disappear at the same time his group was transporting the Black Gunpowder?

Conviction had all sorts of mysterious spells and items. Nie Yan couldn’t eliminate the possibility those people obtained something that allowed players to teleport between cities without the use of transfer points.

「Tell all guild members who’ve finished their class advancement quests to come over here immediately! Also, send over a force of at least 5,000 players as back-up!」Nie Yan ordered in a grave tone.

Guo Huai was taken aback for a moment. But hearing Nie Yan’s tone, he immediately understood the gravity of the situation.「Understood, I’ll get to it right away!」

As the 2,000 players carrying the Black Gunpowder travelled through the forested hills, Nie Yan swept his gaze over the dense foliage. It would be extremely simple to hide several dozen people here!

A sense of unease crept into Nie Yan’s mind.「Everyone, be on guard. We’re preparing for battle!」

At this moment, the magic energy in the air vibrated. Nie Yan looked up ahead and saw a red cloud condense in the sky as flames started pouring down. The players closest to the spell immediately became restless.

"We’re under attack!”

The players in the back were about to rush forward to provide support but were stopped by Nie Yan.

「Stop! Protect the Black Gunpowder!」Nie Yan shouted his orders. The only reason the enemy attacked the front of the group was in hopes of drawing away the players escorting the jars of Black Gunpowder from the back. They definitely had people hidden in other places.

Asskickers United’s procession was extremely long. There were roughly 400 players opening the path up ahead, all of whom were around Level 45. Even though they couldn’t compare to the top ranked members, they were far above ordinary players. Asskickers United didn’t have a single trash player!

Seven players from Angel Corps, Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors suddenly appeared in front Nie Yan’s group. There was an Arcane Mage, Holy Mage, Priest, Berserker, Paladin, and Elemental Shaman.

The Arcane Mage stood proudly atop a clifftop. He waved his staff as a series of cryptic syllables came out of his mouth. He was surging with magical energy as an unimaginably powerful spell condensed in the air.

Obscurus Magic, Explosion Inferno!

A single Advanced Magic could cover everything within a 100 meter radius of a targeted area. It certainly wasn’t as easy to avoid as normal area-of-effect magic, not to mention the terrifying damage which few players could endure for more than a couple of seconds.

The group of Asskickers United players immediately erupted into an uproar. The five Paladins closest to the front activated Indomitable WIll and charged toward the Arcane Mage. They had to stop him at all costs; otherwise, most of the 400 players at the front of the procession would be wiped out.

Another six Warriors followed behind the five Paladins.

Advanced Magic generally required two sets of syllables to cast, or in other words roughly 20 seconds. If one of the Paladins could get within 5 meters of the Arcane Mage to cast Silence, the Advanced Magic would be interrupted.

Seeing Asskickers United’s people charging towards them, the several players beside the Arcane Mage naturally didn’t stay idle.

The Elemental Shaman waved his staff and summoned a Windfury Totem. After which he spat out several words in the orcish language as electricity surged around his hand. He shot three lightning bolts at one of the Paladins.「Bang! Bang! Bang」

−856!

−847!

−889!

The Paladin was sent flying and crashed into a nearby tree.

It was an instant kill!

Windfury Totem increased the critical rate of all nearby allies to 100%.

This Elemental Shaman’s reaction speed was quite quick. The several nearby players from Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors couldn’t help but be surprised. Players from Angel Corps were really something else.

"Lunatic, we can’t let Angel Corps show us! Come on, let’s show off our skills!” a Berserker shouted before charging into the Paladins.

"Understood!” The Holy Mage waved his staff and buffed himself with several spells that increased Holy Magic damage before attacking one of the Paladins with Holy Judgement.

−2,321!

「Bang!」The Paladin was blasted away. It was another instant kill!

The Holy Mage stood there with a blank expression on his face. Even he was shocked by how much damage he dealt. He glanced at the Windfury Totem floating beside him. It only looked like a piece of carved wood. Who knew it had such a powerful effect!

"Sweet! Darkwing, your Windfury Totem is amazing!” the Holy Mage exclaimed. Only a Windfury Totem with a skill level of five or higher could have such an effect. He waved his staff and cast Light’s Judgement.「Bang!」Another Paladin was sent flying.

Lunatic had already class advanced to a Great Holy Mage, so he already dealt a lot of damage to players who hadn’t yet class advanced. With the buff from Windfury Totem, he could directly one-shot them!

Charge!

Charge!

The Warriors from Asskickers United charged up the hill toward the enemy.

The Berserker let out a roar and rushed up to greet them, holding off three of them on his own.

Whirlwind Slash!

"Stop the Paladins, don’t let them silence Starbright!” the Berserker reminded. He roared and activated Seismic Slam, knocking the three Warriors back.

"Don’t worry, we’ve got this!” Darkwing said. He waved his staff.

Polymorph!

A Warrior who had just arrived in front of Darkwing was struck by the spell and shrunk into a frog.

Darkwing no longer cared for the Warrior after turning him into a frog and moved onto his next target.

One of the Paladins managed to get close to the Arcane Mage Starbright. Just as he was about to cast Silence, the Holy Mage activated Repel and forced him several meters back. The Paladin failed to cast Silence!

Although this was the first time these people were cooperating together, as top-ranked players, their senses were top-notch. They could understand their teammate’s intentions even when pressed for time.

The spells from Asskickers United’s Mages started flying over in their direction. The Priest and Paladin immediately started healing Starbright and the others.

"These bastards are tougher than we thought! Be careful, watch your health!” the Paladin said as he healed the Berserker.

The Berserker’s health rapidly fell. The Paladin’s healing couldn’t keep up, forcing the Berserker to down an Intermediate Health Potion. He then struck out with a Crippling Strike, immobilizing one of the Warriors that was charging over before quickly pulling back.

These seven players were like fish in the water during this high-level battle, not slipping up in the slightest.

Twenty seconds was a fairly short amount of time. By the time Asskickers United’s players had noticed Starbright’s presence, eight seconds had already passed. Time had passed in a blink of an eye. They could barely react before they heard the Arcane Mage chant out the final syllable.

Explosion Inferno!

Chapter 395 - Lightning Storm!

Black flames started falling from the sky. What started out initially as a light drizzle of flames quickly turned into a torrential downpour, transforming everything within a 100-meter radius into a raging sea of fire.

A blanket of damage values rose up into the sky as players collapsed in droves inside this hellish purgatory. Everything within Explosion Inferno’s sphere of influence was burned to ash.

Almost all of the 400 Asskickers United players at the front were wiped out, with only a few survivors that happened to be at the very edge of the spell’s radius escaping in time.

The Elemental Shaman Darkwing narrowed his eyes when he noticed silhouettes darting out from the flames to his left. He waved his staff and sent out a bolt of lightning, which arced between the seven low-health players from Asskickers United and killed them instantly.

The Holy Mage blasted out spells in quick succession. Although the Windfury Totem had disappeared, he still had more than enough damage to finish off the straggling low-health survivors.

Explosion Inferno lasted a total of ten ticks before finally ending. Starbright jumped off the ledge and grouped up with his comrades, his name glowing crimson red.

"I killed 288 players. Weaklings! No challenge at all,” Starbright remarked.

The seven of them had mowed down more than 300 players from Asskickers United without breaking a sweat.

Even though these members of Asskickers United were superior to the average player, they were inferior to peak players like Starbright and his group in terms of overall stats, level, gear quality, timing, or skill knowledge. When a top expert took the field, ordinary players could only serve as cannon fodder, regardless of the disparity in numbers.

"Don’t underestimate the enemy. The ones we just faced are the most ordinary out of the bunch. Remember, prudence guides a ship for 10,000 years,” Darkwing warned somberly, not allowing the adrenaline get to his head. He knew the true battle was just beginning!

"So what? The only threat here is Nirvana Flame. All of the top experts in Asskickers United are busy doing their class advancement quests. Let’s see just how strong he really is!” Starbright arrogantly replied, playing around with a ball of black flames in his palm. He was already picturing himself basking in the glory and fame, and collecting the fat reward, for killing the Mad Rogue.

No one could resist the allure of riches and fame. Starbright was no exception.

At this moment, Asskickers United was attempting to fend off attacks on all four sides by groups of class advanced players from Bloodlust Blades, Alliances of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps. Each group contained between 8–12 players.

The players from Asskickers United fell into a panic as the enemy gnawed away at their ranks.

"Protect the Black Gunpowder!” Nie Yan personally took command of 500 players in guarding the seven of the jars.

With Nie Yan’s permission, Paladin of the Elegy started dispatching orders to all of the smaller squads. Nie Yan noticed that he worked surprisingly well under pressure and had a knack for commanding.

He was pleasantly surprised by this development, and remained close by to provide assistance in the event that Paladin of the Elegy slipped up.

Paladin of the Elegy couldn’t help but be nervous with Nie Yan right beside him. But he still issued orders with a cool head.

Nie Yan glanced thoughtfully at Paladin of the Elegy. They had only interacted a few times before this, and Nie Yan didn’t think much of him until recently. Now, it dawned on him that Paladin of the Elegy was a diamond in the rough, and one that was worth polishing.

"Boss, we lost 300 players at the front!” Paladin of the Elegy called out, wiping off the cold sweat that had appeared on his forehead. He was still trying to wrap his mind around that instant where all of those Level 45 players were crushed.

"How many attackers were there?” Nie Yan asked. The actions of the enemy so far were pretty straightforward.

"Seven, they cast an Advanced Magic,” Paladin of the Elegy replied. He had watched a video of Undying Scoundrel using a similarly destructive area-of-effect spell to slaughter the players from Victorious Return. He reveled in schadenfreude back then. Now that the shoe was on the other foot, he fell into despair.

"Ah, no wonder.” Nie Yan calmly patted Paladin of the Elegy on the shoulder. "It’s just one Advanced Magic, nothing to get nervous over. They’ll be a common sight in future battlefields.”

Nie Yan’s calm and confident attitude flowed into Paladin of the Elegy, subconsciously influencing him and calming him down.

Area of effect magic was flying everywhere as the procession received attacks from all directions. The players from Asskickers United gallantly fought back and managed to kill several enemies with their counterattacks.

"Everyone, protect the Black Gunpowder!” Around 200 Asskickers United players stood guard over two jars of Black Gunpowder.

At this moment, the air rippled to reveal the position of an Elementalist hidden nearby. Red specks of light converged around him as he chanted out one incantation syllable after another. He was casting an area-of-effect fire spell!

"Paladins, stop him!”

The Paladins rushed forward, preparing to end the Elementalist’s incantation with a Silence.

Several Warriors from Bloodlust Blades formed a wall to intercept the Paladins and prevent them from reaching the Elementalist. Their barricade proved to be futile, as one of the Paladins activated Indomitable Will and broke through the blockade.

The Elementalist neared the end of his chant, the red light around the tip of his staff glowing ever brighter, signifying that he was a heartbeat away from unleashing his spell.

Silence!

The ominous convergence of the red specks of light at the tip of the Elementalist’s staff dissipated into the void, leaving him impotent, blank-faced, and unable to comprehend how this had happened. He was a mere millisecond away from raining his fire and fury down upon the world before the Paladin stopped him! To make matters worse, more than half of his mana was consumed in that failed casting and his spell was now on cooldown.

"You did it, Lil’ Slick!”

"Slick, you’re awesome!”

The players from Asskickers United cheered. The Silence, just in the nick of time, from the Paladin known as Lil’ Slick had saved them disaster.

However, their celebrations didn’t last long. Five players from Alliance of Mages appeared behind them. An Arcane Mage waved his staff, sending a blazing meteor of arcane fire hurtling down on them. It was also an area-of-effect spell!

Many Asskickers United players collapsed to the ground.

The two jars of Black Gunpowder were also in imminent danger as the wards protecting them groaned and faded in the onslaught. Web-like cracks spread through the surface of the jars. Then they shattered, allowing the flames to make contact with the gunpowder inside.

「Boom!」

A massive explosion enveloped everything within a 100-meter radius, killing any player caught in the blast. All that remained visible were raging black flames, and a direful mushroom cloud in the sky.

Asskickers United lost close to 300 players. Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors also suffered one or two casualties.

Even those not within the immediate range of the blast were almost knocked off their feet. They stared at that mushroom cloud with pale faces.

This was the destructive power of Black Gunpowder!

Every jar contained approximately 20 lbs of Black Gunpowder. Two jars were enough to wreck a city wall!

"Boss, two jars!” Paladin of the Elegy reported. He felt his heart ache. A single jar of Black Gunpowder was worth a minimum of 10,000 gold on the marketplace, more expensive than a piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment!

Nie Yan also felt the loss, even though it was only two jars.

It was impossible for Nie Yan to disrupt the enemy’s momentum and turn the tide by himself. He had to focus all his efforts on protecting the jars of Black Gunpowder. As long as he could hold out until Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Young Seven and the rest of them arrived, everything would be fine.

A chaotic battle raged on on another side of the battlefield. Bloodlust Mad Blade took the lead as he charged into a group of six players from Asskickers United, relying on his superior gear to sweep through everything in his path. He slashed down with Cleave and sent one of them flying out, while knocking the others aside with his Charge.

A distance of more than 50 meters separated Mad Blade from Nie Yan. His eyes brimmed with murderous frenzy.

Nirvana Flame, we finally meet!

The chain of events in the recent past had pushed Bloodlust Blades to the brink of collapse. Mad Blade’s hatred had already seeped into the marrow of his bones. He wished for nothing more than to flay Nie Yan’s flesh and strip his skin, a feeling that only intensified now that he could see the source of his grievances with his own eyes.

Nie Yan lifted his head and instantly saw Mad Blade through the haze of battle. Although they had never met, he knew instantly this player was Bloodlust Mad Blade, the guild leader of Bloodlust Blades!

Mad Blade was large and tall. He was clad in dark armour forged from elven steel, armed to the teeth, and resembled an iron fortress with no visible weakness. He wielded a two-handed greatsword that was roughly five-fingers wide, more suited for smashing than slicing.

He never expected to meet Mad Blade here. Perhaps enemies really were destined to be on a narrow path!

Nie Yan pointed his dagger right at Mad Blade and beckoned him, indicating that he was ready for the fight. There was no opponent he was afraid of!

Mad Blade swung his greatsword out wildly in a Whirlwind Slash, dealing close to a thousand damage to the six Asskickers United players around him. Then he screamed, giving voice to the madness and fury entwined within, before slamming his sword into the ground.

Seismic Slam!

「Bang!」A powerful shock wave erupted from Mad Blade as he sent the players from Asskickers United flying backwards. They crashed to the ground and never rose again.

A white light fell over Mad Blade, healing him back to full health.

Mad Blade began slaughtering a path towards Nie Yan, his eyes were bloodshot as he lost himself in his fury.

Players from Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors rushed to Mad Blade’s side. Including the three Elemental Shamans, there were 11 players in Mad Blade’s group.

Nie Yan had over 500 players by his side protecting seven jars of Black Gunpowder.

Sparks flew as the two sides glared at each other, both ready for the moment that would ignite this battle!

This showdown between Nie Yan and Mad Blade was predestined!

One of them was going to die today!

"Coldflame, do it!” Mad Blade ordered in a deep tone as he stared daggers at Nie Yan. An azure-robed Elementalist raised his staff and started chanting out cryptic syllables. Without a doubt, he was casting Advanced Magic!

Sparks of electricity flickered as specks of light rapidly converged on Cold Flame. It was the Elemental Hall Magic, Lightning Storm!

Lightning could also ignite the Black Gunpowder!

Chapter 396 - Illusion Steps

Lightning Storm was a Rank 2 Elemental Hall Magic with a radius of 75 meters.

Most spells classified as Advanced Magic possessed an immense destructive power and were unparalleled at killing players. Only certain special life saving skills could allow a player to escape from one.

A cryptic chant flowed out of Cold Flame’s mouth as if he were counting down the seconds to the day of reckoning. As soon as the last syllable left his mouth, a cataclysm would descend upon the world!

A sparse 20 seconds remained before Cold Flame completed his incantation. Every second that passed brought Nie Yan’s group one step closer to doom!

"Paladins, stop that Elementalist! Warriors, open up a path!” Nie Yan ordered, his tone grim. He feared the ordinary members of Asskickers United were no match for who they were about to face. 20 seconds simply wasn’t enough time! He swept his gaze over the players on the side of Mad Blade. All class advanced, this will be tough... I guess it’s up to me. He activated stealth, and his silhouette slowly faded into the background.

Charge!

Indomitable Will!

More than 30 Warriors and Paladins rushed out towards Mad Blade and his group with a single purpose in mind. Preventing Cold Flame from casting Lightning Storm!

"All trash!” Starbright snorted. Anyone below Level 50 was nothing more than an ant in the eyes of a class advanced player. He waved his staff and fired out an Arcane Flame Burst.

「Bang!」The Arcane Flame Burst arced in a parabola and smashed into one of the Paladins, blasting him backwards until he crashed into a tree, killing him instantly.

Starbright appeared absolutely domineering with his superior level, gear, and stats.

What a powerful attack!

"Did you already forget about us? As if we’d let you cast Silence so easily!” The three Shamans each placed down a different totem, greatly buffing the stats of Mad Blade and the others.

Chain Lightning!

Three bolts of lightning crackled through the air and struck the Paladins and Warriors from Asskickers United. Thankfully, the Priests in the back provided timely support and prevented them from dying.

Paladin of the Elegy scanned the battlefield before giving out an order in voice chat,「All Mages, take down the Elementalist and Shaman over there!」

The Mages raised their staffs and sent a shower of spells flying towards the Shaman.

Seeing that things weren’t looking good, the Shaman wanted to turn tail and flee, but it was already too late.

Despair filled his eyes as more than 30 spells rained down on him and blasted him into oblivion.

The Elementalist also suffered a similar fate.

Even if they were stronger, they still wouldn’t be able to survive such an intense barrage!

Mad Blade was holding off seven Warriors and Paladins by himself. He let out a deep roar and struck the ground with his sword set ablaze.

Flame Quake!

Fissures spewing scorching flames snaked through the terrain and blasted the Warriors and Paladins back, dealing over 1,000 damage to all of them.

Mad Blade looked around, but he couldn’t find any trace of Nie Yan. An intense feeling of danger arose in his heart.

Mad Blade had watched videos of Nie Yan’s past exploits before. His speed was so breathtaking that a certain phrase started spreading on the forums, "When Nirvana Flame draws his dagger, he’ll never miss his target!”

"Priests, cast Illuminate!” Mad Blade ordered.

Dazzling rays of of light shone down on the ground and revealed a silhouette dashing towards Cold Flame at an incredible speed.

Since Cold Flame started his chant, roughly 10 seconds had passed.

There was no time to dally. Regardless of the cost, Nie Yan had to take down Cold Flame first!

"Protect Cold Flame!” Mad Blade shouted. He tried to run to Cold Flame, but all the Warriors and Paladins from Asskickers United clung onto his feet and dragged him down. He had no way of disengaging!

"Nirvana Flame!” Starbright activated Arcane Gaze. His pupils glimmered with a deep violet flame as a dashing silhouette appeared in his vision. "Die!”

He waved his staff and fired an ominous black beam at Nie Yan. Then he fetched a Junior Shadow Bind Scroll from his bag.

「Poof!」He crushed the scroll, sending shadowy hands stretching towards Nie Yan.

Sensing something off, Nie Yan raised his head and spotted Starbright standing close to Cold Flame. This fellow had timed his attacks pretty well!

"Success!” Starbright cried out gleefully. "I guess the Mad Rogue only amounts to this m-” The smug look on his face immediately froze when he saw Nie Yan block his perfectly timed spell combination with Gale Step.

Seeing Nie Yan fast approaching, Starbright quickly pulled back. He counted down the seconds in his mind, waiting for the invincibility of Gale Step to wear off, before waving his staff and casting Repel!

A powerful repelling force swept outwards.

Starbright could at least count on Repel to push Nie Yan back!

A nearby Paladin activated Eyes of the Divine, then charged towards Nie Yan’s silhouette with Indomitable Will.

There were three players barring Nie Yan’s path, Starbright, a Fighter, and a Paladin.

Cold Flame continued to chant. His voice was slightly hoarse and carried an ominous cadence as if he were beckoning forth spirits from the other realm.

Another five seconds had passed. The lightning elements surrounding Cold Flame grew even denser as sparks flickered around him. Paladin of the Elegy was getting increasingly anxious and ordered everyone to retreat.

Paladin of the Elegy glanced behind him with a pained look. Were seven jars of Black Gunpowder really going to disappear just like that?

Dammit! Paladin of the Elegy’s eyes were red. He knew just how important these jars of Black Gunpowder were to Asskickers United. How would he have the face to return to his fellow guildmates and Watchful Snail? After all, it was Guo Huai who had put him in charge of the group tasked with helping Nie Yan.

Paladin of the Elegy placed all of his hopes on Nie Yan. He prayed a miracle would happen!

It wasn’t over til the fat lady sang!

Just as the force wave from Repel was about to hit him, Nie Yan activated Holy Descent from the Medal of the Ten Holy Paladins, making him magic immunity for three seconds and increasing his movement speed by 20%!

Nie Yan wasn’t slowed down in the slightest as he dashed through the force wave. He was actually so fast that he left behind a trail of afterimages. There were only a few seconds left until Lightning Storm was cast. If he were any slower, he would be too late! In this high pressure moment, where he was utilizing all his stats to their fullest, he had an epiphany.

His footwork suddenly blurred as his speed broke past its limits.

"Why didn’t Repel work!?” Starbright cried out in alarm after seeing Repel fail to push Nie Yan back, let alone slow him down.

Divine Strike!

The Paladin came slashing down at Nie Yan with his sword.

"Haha, it landed!” The Paladin had an elated look on his face, only for it to turn into shock when he realized the Nie Yan he had hit was merely an illusion.

The Paladin only felt a breeze brush past his ears. Nie Yan had already long dashed past him.

Nie Yan had recalled Sun’s demonstration of the Illusion Steps countless times in his head. It was only just now that everything suddenly clicked, allowing him to evade the Paladin’s Divine Strike.

Like a phantom, his movements were illusory and unpredictable, making it difficult for enemies to track him.

By the time the Paladin reacted, it was already too late.

Just as Starbright was about to raise his staff, Nie Yan had disappeared from his vision, having long since dashed past him.

So fast!

This was precisely the speed of the Mad Rogue!

The only obstacle left in Nie Yan’s path was the Fighter. Seeing Nie Yan dashing up, the Fighter let out a roar.

Charge!

Intercept!

He charged up to Nie Yan with his sword raised.

The fact that all these players could successfully class advance immediately upon reaching Level 50 meant they ranked among the very top of the player base. An expert had an expert’s pride! How could he stand for an enemy toying with them like this!

Flame Slash! The Fighter’s sword ignited flames as it chopped down on Nie Yan, combining three skills together to unleash incredible might.

Nie Yan could feel the blazing heat of the blade on his skin. Just as the Flame Slash was about to land on his body, he activated Shadow Waltz and blocked the attack. Then he dashed past the Fighter.

Not good! The Fighter trembled. Cold Flame was right behind him still in the middle of chanting Lightning Storm. If Nie Yan was allowed to get close to him, the outcome was obvious!

By the time the Fighter turned around, it was too late.

Nie Yan had dashed past the three players blocking his way without a scratch, closing the gap between him and Cold Flame in mere seconds. The other nearby players had no time to react.

Three seconds, two seconds, one second… When the last syllable was about to exit Cold Flame’s mouth, Nie Yan’s foot came flying at him.

If Nie Yan had used any other skill, it would’ve been too late. Thankfully, his legs had a longer reach than his arms.

「Thud!」Cold Flame was kicked several meters back. However, the spell hadn’t been interrupted, only slightly delayed. He attempted to continue chanting.

The Kicking mastery had a certain chance of disrupting an enemy mid-cast, but most of the time it would only delay them. Cold Flame’s cast of Lightning Storm had been pushed back by three seconds.

However, Nie Yan was already right in front of him. He simply didn’t have the three uninterrupted seconds required to cast the spell!

Nie Yan dashed forth and struck Cold Flame in the forehead with Concussive Blow, stopping the cast of Lightning Storm.

Success! Nie Yan smirked.

Chapter 397 - Apocalyptic Extinction

The berserk lightning slowly dissipated before disappearing entirely, giving way to a clear blue sky. It was peaceful and calming, like the feeling of respite after a particularly rocky storm. The players from Asskickers United breathed a sigh of relief. They were saved.

If it wasn’t for Nie Yan pulling off a miracle against all odds, an endless storm of lightning would’ve undoubtedly taken all their lives.

None of them held any hope of surviving the unparalleled might of a Rank 2 Elemental Hall Magic like Lightning Storm.

"Fuck!” Mad Blade couldn’t help but curse after witnessing Nie Yan stop Cold Flame from casting Lightning Storm. "Kill that bastard! Don’t let him get away!”

A barrage of spells flew toward Nie Yan. As a group of top elites, how could they allow him to escape so easily?

Cut Throat!

After stunning Cold Flame, Nie Yan slashed him across the neck with Zennarde’s Sword.

−1,702!

Critical hit! Nie Yan emptied all the remaining life from Cold Flame’s health bar, killing him instantly!

Cold Flame collapsed on the ground. He was a squishy cloth-armoured Elementalist, so it was no surprise Nie Yan felled him in a single blow.

At this moment, eight spells rained down on Nie Yan. If he were hit by so many spells, he would undoubtedly be blasted into oblivion!

Nie Yan had just recently used Gale Step and Shadow Waltz, so both of them were on cooldown. Mad Blade refused to believe he possessed a third life-saving skill.

Nie Yan was dead for certain!

Life-saving skills were extremely pricey. For the vast majority of players, obtaining even one would be impressive. A second was a matter of luck. And a third meant that that bastard had to be some kind of cheat character!

Nie Yan was precisely that, a cheat character. Although he didn’t actually have a third life-saving skill, he had Quick Reset, which could directly reset the cooldown of any ordinary skill!

Besides Quick Reset, Nie Yan still had Adjudicator of God at hand!

In terms of skill arsenal, Nie Yan had more than enough to spare!

Nie Yan reset the cooldown of Shadow Waltz.

It looked like Nie Yan was going to be obliterated in the next moment, and his undefeated streak as the Mad Rogue would finally come to an end! Everyone’s hearts tightened.

Mad Blade coldly watched on with a smirk on his face. "Let’s see you try and act arrogant again!”

Shadow Waltz!

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」A hail of spells ruthlessly bombarded Nie Yan.

When the dust and smoke settled, to everyone’s shock Nie Yan wasn’t a corpse lying on the ground.

Their eyes were wide like saucers.

"Fuck! This guy actually has a third life-saving skill?” Mad Blade cursed loudly. This fellow was becoming increasingly ludicrous in his eyes. His visions of killing Nie Yan had gone up in a puff of smoke.

With three life-saving skills and his excellent awareness, killing Nie Yan was practically impossible. The only way was to ambush him with thousands of players like before!

Seeing Nie Yan escape the bombardment unscathed, the players from Asskickers United immediately erupted in cheers.

"Brothers, the boss just showed off his skills! We can’t lose face for Asskickers United either! So what if they’re stronger than us? Let’s mob these bastards to death!” Paladin of the Elegy cried out, then pointed his sword at Mad Blade. "It’s time to return the favour! Mages, blast his ass back to Glory City!”

More than 80 Mages raised their staffs and took aim at Mad Blade. A dense hail of spells whizzed through the air.

Mad Blade’s face paled immediately, and he hurriedly activated God’s Descent. His skin glowed with a lime-green radiance, and his health rose to 3,600. More importantly, his magic resistance increased significantly. He also activated a shielding spell as a black barrier of light enveloped him.

God’s Descent was an Advanced Skill. As the guild leader of Bloodlust Blades, Mad Blade naturally had a hidden trump card or two.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」One spell after another bombarded Mad Blade, dealing roughly 10 or so damage each. Even so, he was still constantly being pushed back. A moment later, the black barrier protecting him violently shuddered before shattering like glass. The damage he received instantly increased by eightfold.

One healing spell after another fell over Mad Blade while one Priest hurriedly gave him a barrier.

"Boss, we need to leave now. It’ll be too late if we don’t! Three Blades and them have spotted several of Asskickers United’s top players heading over here! We also received reports of more than 5,000 of their players moving to surround us!” Starbright shouted anxiously. Right now, he no longer had any delusions of trying to kill Nie Yan. Even if he had more control skills, he knew it would still be a futile effort.

Around 500 players were left to guard the jars of Black Gunpowder while the rest were charging over.

With only around a dozen or so people, even if they were stronger individually, they would still end up smothered to death. A group of 200 players was a force to be reckoned with, especially given the caliber of the enemy. Without powerful area-of-effect magic, they absolutely weren’t a match in a direct confrontation.

It was still possible to cast Advanced Magic in the beginning since they had caught the enemy off guard. But now that the players from Asskickers United had had the time to react, with more than 200 players swarming towards them, it was impossible! After all, there were only so many Paladins they could stop from casting Silence.

The dazzling explosion of spells left Mad Blade unable to open his eyes. It was already impressive enough that he could endure such an intense bombardment for this long.

At this moment, several silhouettes appeared out of the thickets. They were Sun, Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the others! All of them spread out through the battlefield.

Nie Yan surveyed the battlefield before focusing his attention on a figure in the distance. He was determined to make sure Mad Blade didn’t leave this battlefield alive today!

"Everyone, retr-” Mad Blade shouted. But before he could even finish his sentence, a sharp dagger struck him in the back of the head.

Nie Yan had been lurking in the shadows, waiting for his skills to come off cooldown. Seeing Mad Blade blinded and pushed back by the bombardment of magic, he took advantage of the opportunity to circle behind him. He activated Apocalyptic Extinction, then struck Mad Blade in the back of the head with Smothering Strike.

A small jingle rang out. Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar and discovered that his Smothering Strike had finally ranked up!

Smothering Strike was one of the few skills that could rank up. It wasn’t a frequently used skill, so few people knew what happened when it did rank up. Its proficiency could only be increased under very specific circumstances, which didn’t become common knowledge in the previous timeline until many players were well over Level 100. At that time, numerous players would look for places to train their Smothering Strike.

Smothering Strike (Intermediate): Strike an enemy from behind and stun them for seven seconds. The target will awaken from the stun if attacked after the initial 2 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds.

The effects of the upgraded version of Smothering Strike were pretty decent. Nie Yan wondered how powerful it would be at Advanced and Specialist.

Mad Blade’s attention was wholly focused on defending against the barrage of spells, so he naturally failed to sense Nie Yan’s approach. By the time he was hit, it was already too late.

Nie Yan was ruthless. Were it just the Smothering Strike, Mad Blade might have been able to survive. However, Nie Yan had also activated Apocalyptic Extinction and inflicted Mad Blade with a myriad of curses, causing his stats to plummet. His barrier shattered, and he started taking 300–400 damage from each of the spells.

At this point, Mad Blade couldn’t endure no matter how much health he had. Even God’s Descent couldn’t save him.

Although God’s Descent provided some protection, the curses from Apocalyptic Extinction were simply too powerful and cut Mad Blade’s defenses by more than half.

When the several Priests and Shamans saw Mad Blade in danger, they quickly raised their staffs to heal him. But it was already too late.

As the dense barrage of magic ruthlessly pummeled Mad Blade, he could endure no longer and was blasted backwards into the air. When several dozen spells hit him at the same time, dealing 300–400 damage each, it was no different from an instant kill.

Seeing Mad Blade sent flying, Nie Yan’s lips cracked into a satisfied smile. He reentered stealth and dashed toward his next target.

"Hurry! Use your Random Transfer Scrolls!” Starbright shouted. Just as the words left his mouth, he felt a cold chill nip at the back of his neck.

It was Nie Yan! He was taking action again!

Starbright reached into his bag and grabbed for a Random Transfer Scroll as fast as he could while retreating backwards. However, he was still too slow!

Intimidate! Nie Yan pounced toward Starbright like a cheetah hunting its prey.

Starbright immediately felt an intense wave of fear wash over him as his body stiffened. Just as he was about to crush the Random Transfer Scroll, Nie Yan struck him in the forehead with a Concussive Blow.

"Dammit, so fast…” Starbright muttered before his vision turned white. Nie Yan’s speed left him with no time to react. A second or two more, and he could’ve escaped with the Random Transfer Scroll.

His previous thoughts of wanting to PK Nie Yan seemed like nothing more than a joke now. Putting aside the fact that Mages were innately at a disadvantage against Thieves, he was simply no match for Nie Yan in terms of skill or game sense.

Nie Yan circled behind and followed through with a Backstab and Lacerate. Starbright’s body powerlessly slumped onto the ground.

The players from Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps all crushed their Random Transfer Scrolls and disappeared from the battlefield.

They had prepared to great extent for this operation, with every single one of them carrying a Random Transfer Scroll. Such a rare item wasn’t something that would be used casually. Even Asskickers United only had a few hundred stockpiled.

In spite of the enemy’s ambush, Asskickers United had come out on top in this battle. Even though the damage they suffered wasn’t small, they had also killed more than 20 of the enemy’s top elites and looted over a dozen pieces of equipment from their corpses. All in all, it couldn’t be considered too big of a loss.

Chapter 398 - Cao Xu!

Of the equipment collected, more than 10 pieces were Level 50 Dark Gold-grade, each with an estimated market value of at least 1,000 gold. There were another 70 pieces with decent properties that would sell for a significant sum too.

All the equipment the players from Asskickers United dropped had been retrieved.

"What are our casualties?” Nie Yan asked.

Paladin of the Elegy did a headcount. "We lost around 1,000 people. Most of them died to area-of-effect magic.”

"How many jars of Black Gunpowder were destroyed?” Nie Yan asked. He had heard several explosions during the battle.

"Five. the remaining ones are all accounted for,” Paladin of the Elegy replied in a somewhat guilty tone. Even though most of the jars were safe, they had still lost enough of them that he didn’t have the face to report back to Guo Huai.

The remaining jars of Black Gunpowder were all neatly gathered together. Transporting so many of them at once was by no means an easy feat. Each jar contained 20 lbs of gunpowder. Including the weight of the jar, that was 30 lbs altogether. Even the strongest Warriors would eventually get tired after transporting such heavy goods. And since having two people carry a jar at the same time wasn’t really practical, the only solution was to have people take shifts.

"It’s fine, five jars isn’t too big of a loss,” Nie Yan comforted Paladin of the Elegy. There were still 17 jars of Black Gunpowder remaining, enough to last them until they could produce their own.

Sun, Bladelight, and the others approached Nie Yan. There were over 30 top-ranking players from Asskickers United altogether. Were it not for their arrival, the forces ambushing them might not have left so willingly.

"We were late,” Bladelight said apologetically. When they were rushing over on horseback, they had heard the sounds of explosions in the distance. At that time, they were extremely anxious and feared all the jars of Black Gunpowder had been destroyed.

"Better late than never.” Nie Yan chuckled. Even though the loss of five jars pained him, it was still better than losing everything.

Nie Yan decided to have the transport team stay put until reinforcements arrived. They only had around 1,000 players remaining. It would be troublesome if they encountered another ambush.

After a while, the 5,000 players Guo Huai dispatched as reinforcements arrived, immediately bolstering the strength of the transport group. Only then did they resume their trek to United City.

About an hour later, Nie Yan and the others finally arrived at United City. United City was connected to the Cripps Stronghold via a transfer point, allowing them to teleport the jars of Black Gunpowder between both places.

Guo Huai recruited 5 Advanced Tinkerers, 1 Advanced Alchemist, 2 Advanced Runecrafters, and 1 Advanced Enchanter and had them all sign non-disclosure agreements. A secret workshop in the Cripps Stronghold was specially prepared for them, and they were provided with ample resources to help them get settled in.

Nie Yan handed over the Goblin Magic Cannon Blueprints (Rank 1) to them, whereupon they immediately got to work. In an estimated six days, Asskickers United would have their first Goblin Magic Cannon.

Nie Yan looked around the secret workshop. It was located deep underground right behind the guild headquarters with only a single secret entrance. The interior was a gorgeous and spacious hall. There was no sense of claustrophobia at all. All sorts of crafting tools and appliances were placed throughout the hall, along with several hundred kinds of materials which were restocked on the daily. The nine players who had reached the Advanced rank in their respective crafting professions were all busily working.

After everything was prepared, only then did Nie Yan feel at ease. Checking the server clock, it was time to log off.

Nie Yan took off his game helmet and crawled out of bed.

It was a brand new morning. Today was Xie Yao’s birthday. Her birthday party would be taking place at the Dragonsoar Financial Group owned Moro River Banquet Hall at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. All of Xie Yao’s close relatives and family friends would be attending. Nie Yan felt a bit nervous, but he knew he would have to meet Xie Yao’s parents eventually, so he forcefully calmed himself.

Nie Yan pondered on what sort of gift he should get Xie Yao. He made a trip to a jewelry store and finally settled on a necklace.

Driving to his father’s company, memories of old and new filled his mind. He had already received the acceptance letter from the Top Military Academy. He could choose to enter any one of the two Ace departments, Command or Interstellar Travel. This was a privilege allowed only to those who ranked in the top three. In this life, he had fulfilled his father’s only dream. There were no more regrets.

When Nie Yan arrived at his father’s company, he went to chat with Ah Chen. The growth of the War God Tribe was progressing smoothly, having recently captured one of the strongholds belonging to a guild under the Tuoba Family. This was only the start of their campaign to take over Nisode City.

The War God Tribe’s rise to glory was nothing short of amazing. There were several more newcomers rising up in other cities, the most famous of which were the God Punisher Sword and Darkbright Empire guilds.

Nie Yan recalled their names. God Punisher Sword was a guild based in Moonlight City. They were still weak, for now. It would take at least a month for them to solidify their foundation. As for Darkbright Empire, they were a Calore-based guild in the previous timeline. He believed his interference in this life had caused them to disappear from the river of history. Who knew they had run off to Blaze City, and it seemed they were doing even better than they ever had in the previous timeline.

History had deviated greatly ever since Nie Yan returned to the past.

It appeared Asskickers United would have many rivals in the future.

Nie Yan hung around at his father’s company until the clock struck one before driving to the Moro River Banquet Hall.

With a six star rating, the Moro River Banquet Hall was the most famous restaurant in Huahai. It was a sleek building with a total of 167 floors, each floor capable of rotating independently. The floors could also be combined and altered with ease, allowing for the perfect view of the scenery outside. Just below was the biggest commercial street in the world. The moro in the name was taken from a religious scripture and meant dream. Every shop on the street had a unique design and displayed all sorts of fantastical oddities, making one feel as though they’d been transported to a magical world.

This was a place for the rich. Just the Moro River Banquet Hall alone was valued in the excess of several hundred billion. This gave an idea of how powerful the Dragonsoar Financial Group was. Even all of the Nie Family’s assets combined wouldn’t amount to an odd scrap of the Dragonsoar Financial Group’s capital.

Nie Yan arrived at the entrance and showed his invitation. A woman in a qipao came up to greet him.

"Sir, please follow me,” she said in a melodic tone.

"Okay.” Nie Yan nodded before following behind her.

The woman led Nie Yan to an elevator, where they rode up to the 131st floor. After passing through a red carpet lined corridor, he arrived at a large banquet hall. Even though it was still early, there were many people present. They were chatting and smiling with each other. The men were dressed in suits while the women wore gorgeous flower dresses. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that practically all of Huahai high-class elites from both the government and business world were gathered here.

This banquet hall would have no problem fitting several thousand people. Nie Yan walked around but didn’t see any familiar faces. So, he found a secluded corner by a window and sat down.

This was the first time Nie Yan had participated in such an extravagant event. He was a good-for-nothing in his prior life, so his father naturally didn’t bring him to these sorts of gatherings. When his father passed away, he had even less of a chance of going.

Even though he felt a little out of place, Nie Yan remained clam. He ordered a glass of juice and stared out the window. He could see the beautiful sea in the distance, where azure waters met clear blue skies.

Nie Yan’s gaze wandered around the hall. As for how many of these immaculately dressed upper-class elites were gathered here, he couldn’t tell. There was no lack of beautiful women, each alluring figure clothed in skin-tight, low-back halterneck dresses. It was like a field full of blossoming flowers, each vying for your attention.

Some of these women were accompanied by big-bellied men several decades older than them. It was akin to a beautiful rose inserted into a pile of dung.

Nie Yan could understand why so many of his schoolmates were heartbroken, despising that they couldn’t be born several decades earlier, after learning that Jiang Yingyu had married a wealthy older man.

Looking at his watch, it was almost 2 o’clock. Xie Yao would be arriving anytime now.

Nie Yan quietly sipped on his juice. The atmosphere settled down as people stopped chattering and looked toward the front of the hall, where a beautiful young lady had appeared. She wore a strapless white dress which looked elegant and dazzling under the lighting, accentuating her lithe figure and showing off her delicate, pale white shoulders. She looked like a flawless sculpture carved out of the finest jade without a single blemish.

She resembled a beautiful fairy that had descended from the heavens.

As soon as Xie Yao entered the hall, everyone’s gazes focused on her. Many people couldn’t help but secretly let out sighs of admiration. Her presence dimmed the beauty of all other women in the banquet hall, causing jealousy to surface in their hearts. Right now, Xie Yao was only 18 years old. One could imagine how beautiful she would become in a few more years.

Xie Yao was holding the hand of a tall man who looked to be around 40 years old. One could see some of his facial features in her, making it obvious he was her father. Her mother would be arriving a bit later.

There were also a few others nearby. They were Xie Yao’s close kin.

Everyone clapped, and Xie Yao politely responded with a smile. Her gaze scanned through the crowd as if she were searching for someone. When she couldn’t find who she was looking for, a hint of disappointment crossed her face.

The birthday celebrations were beginning.

Seeing so many people crowding around Xie Yao and her relatives, Nie Yan felt It wouldn’t be too suitable for him to approach her right now.

Nie Yan’s gaze swept past all the guests before focusing on a figure sitting across from him on the other side of the hall by a window. His mind trembled, his hand shaking on his glass, betraying the inner turmoil in his heart.

That person was around 40 years old. His tall stature gave him an imposing look. He wore casual attire, making him stand out among the crowd of finely dressed people. Even so, he still had a dignified air about him. Two men in black suits stood on either side of him. Concealed under their clothing were muscular bodies that could burst into action at any time. With but a glance, one could tell they were battled-hardened veterans. These were his two bodyguards.

Nie Yan couldn’t be more familiar with this face. After all, it was the focus of his hatred in his past life!

Cao Xu!

Chapter 399 - Banquet

Nie Yan still vividly remembered the scene of himself camped out on that rooftop, pulling the trigger of his sniper rifle. The bullet shot straight through Cao Xu’s head just as he was about to enter his private car, splattering brain matter all over the ground.

That single gunshot vented out all the rancor Nie Yan had built up for Cao Xu over the years.

Nie Yan’s hatred for Cao Xu was no longer as intense in this life. After all, his parents were still alive. But if Cao Xu dared to harm anyone close to him, Nie Yan would make him pay!

Although Nie Yan was currently no match for the behemoth known as the Century Financial Group, he was slowly amassing more power. Eventually the day would come when he could rival their power!

Roughly 20% of the Century Financial Group’s profits came directly from the virtual reality industry while another 70% were related. If their position as a hegemon in the industry was shaken, it would greatly damage their business.

A youngster who looked to be about 24 years old sat across from Cao Xu. He had an unruly smile on his face which attracted the attention of all surrounding ladies. This fellow was undoubtedly a lady killer with his pretty boy appearance.

A few women in revealing dresses went up to greet him. He greeted them back with a faint smile, displaying elegance and grace.

His eyes swept through the crowd before finally settling on the star of today’s banquet, Xie Yao. Her unmatched beauty would make any man’s heart race.

"So, Young Master Fan, what do you think? Interested?” Cao Xu gazed at the youth across from him with a meaningful smile.

"Not bad, a bit immature. Give it a few more years, and she’ll definitely grow up to be a world-class beauty,” Fan Yuan replied. He had to admit that Xie Yao, who was the focus of attention, was beautiful enough to move even his heart.

"She’s the young lady of the Dragonsoar Financial Group. By obtaining her you’ll receive the support of the Dragonsoar Financial Group, allowing you to crush all your rivals and inherit the Euro Fortune Financial Group. Your prospects will be limitless. Then it’ll be my turn to rely on you, my friend.” Cao Xu chuckled before taking a sip from his wine glass.

"Assuming that day comes, will you still be able to tolerate my presence?” Fan Yuan asked with a teasing smile. He knew better than to trust the word of a sly old fox like Cao Xu. They might be on friendly terms right now, but that was because he was weak, and Cao Xu had a financial interest in supporting him. If he ever came to pose a threat to the Century Financial Group one day, Cao Xu wouldn’t hesitate to eliminate him.

Cao Xu chuckled and placed his wine glass back down on the table.

"What are your thoughts on the Dragonsoar Financial Group supporting Asskickers United?” Cao Xu changed the subject.

"What thoughts? Asskickers United is nothing compared to my Angel Corps. It’s a pity the Viridian Empire is so far away from the Satreen Empire. Otherwise, in just 10 days, I’d crush them so badly they won't even dare to step foot outside of Calore,” Fan Yuan stated arrogantly.

"Don’t underestimate the growth of Asskickers United, especially since they have the support of the Dragonsoar Financial Group,” Cao Xu warned. He had originally planned to sweep through and take over the entire Viridian Empire with the combined might of Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, Bloodlust Blades, Alliances of Mages, and Divine Protectors. However, this plan was foiled by the emergence of Asskickers United. Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame had lost their value, and Bloodlust Blades was on the verge of collapse as well. Although Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors seemed powerful from the outside, unless they captured all the strongholds of their several neighbouring cities, they were still vulnerable. Given the population of Calore, the unimpeded growth of Asskickers United would spell a bleak future for both guilds. Asskickers United had completely disruspted his business operations in the Viridian Empire. Fortunately, the 20 or so properties he owned were enough to support Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. He had diverted most of his capital to Angel Corps and several other guilds in the Satreen Empire. What left him feeling disgruntled was this youth before him—Fan Yuan, the guild leader of Angel Corps as well as one of the heirs to the Euro Fortune Financial Group. He was too cunning, making him harder to manipulate.

Asskickers United’s rise to power and subsequent growth was too astonishing. How could Cao Xu possibly not pay attention to them, especially so after they received the backing of the Dragonsoar Financial Group. With Asskickers United’s assistance, the Dragonsoar Financial Group had gained the business districts of six Basic Strongholds and one Intermediate Stronghold. The Dragonsoar Financial Group’s rapidly growing presence in the virtual reality industry was enough to even threaten the Century Financial Group!

Nie Yan was sitting too far away, so he couldn’t hear what Cao Xu and Fan Yuan were talking about. However, he could tell it was related to Xie Yao, especially with the way Fan Yuan was looking at her. It made him feel extremely uneasy.

At this moment, Fan Yuan and Cao Xu stood up and walked over to Xie Yao and her father.

Although Xie Yao’s father and Cao Xu greeted each other courteously with smiles, Nie Yan could sense the hostility between them. It appeared Cao Xu hadn’t come merely for the purpose of celebrating Xie Yao’s birthday. He clearly had ulterior motives.

"Long time no see.” Fan Yuan raised his glass in a refined manner to greet Xie Yao. "I remember you were only 12 years old the last time we met. The Euro Fortune Financial Group and Glory Financial Group had just finalized an important business deal. Who knew that little girl would grow into such a beauty in a short six years.”

"You’re flattering me. How is Auntie Fan these days?” Xie Yao politely replied.

Sensing the distance in Xie Yao’s voice, Fan Yuan briefly froze up before letting out a small chuckle. "She’s always talking about you. When will you be visiting Europe again? We can meet up, and I’ll show you around.”

Liu Rui was also in attendance at this banquet. But he no longer had the face to approach Xie Yao after recent events. Seeing Fan Yuan talk to her, hostility immediately surfaced on his face. He knew exactly who Fan Yuan was. This fellow’s background wasn’t that much inferior to his own. More importantly, Fan Yuan was one of the heirs to Euro Fortune, one of the largest financial groups in Europe, whose wealth even surpassed that of the Century Financial Group.

Fan Yuan raised his glass to Xie Yao’s birthday, then started chatting with the others around him. He would occasionally include Xie Yao in the conversation, saying a few words to her. All in all, he appeared quite at ease.

Xie Yao was starting to get annoyed with Fan Yuan’s chattering. Although he appeared refined and elegant on the surface, he was nothing but a playboy and a hypocrite. She would often hear about his sex scandals from others. She naturally didn’t have any good feelings toward him.

Why hasn’t Nie Yan arrived yet? Don’t tell me, he forgot…? Xie Yao felt somewhat anxious. She scanned around the banquet hall once more before spotting Nie Yan sitting on a sofa in a corner. Her face immediately lit up like the sun. He was here all along!

Nie Yan noticed Xie Yao looking over at him and greeted her back with a smile.

When he saw Xie Yao chatting with Fan Yuan just now, he felt a bit unhappy. But after seeing the bright expression on her face when she spotted him, his spirits lifted.

Fan Yuan was an experienced playboy. It was a pity Xie Yao wouldn’t give him the time of day.

Just as Fan Yuan was about to say something, Xie Yao interrupted, "Please excuse me. I have something important to do.”

Fan Yuan turned rigid as an awkward expression flitted across his face. However, he quickly recovered with a polite smile. "No problem, go on ahead.”

Xie Yao made a beeline toward Nie Yan as people stepped aside to let her pass.

"Let’s continue chatting, everyone.” Fan Yuan smiled. Nevertheless, his gaze followed Xie Yao’s back as she went to sit down with Nie Yan on the sofa. They were happily chatting together. Fan Yuan could tell Xie Yao’s feelings for Nie Yan were genuine. It was like night and day compared to the polite, distant attitude she kept up with him. His expression turned cold.

The several women near him started gossipping.

"Who’s that?”

"I don’t know. He couldn’t be Xie Yao’s boyfriend, right?”

"Seems like it. Why else would they be chatting so happily?”

An older woman covered in heavy makeup and wearing a revealing dress shook her head. "That boy definitely isn’t Yao Yao’s boyfriend. She’s never once mentioned him to us before. You’re all overthinking things. He’s probably one of her classmates.” She was Xie Yao’s paternal aunt, Xie Yi.

Xie Yi had an incensed look on her face as she gazed at Xie Yao chatting with Nie Yan. This little girl is too much of a troublemaker! How can she do something like this on her birthday? She would often abuse her position as aunt to scold Xie Yao. Their relationship at home was far from cordial.

Xie Yao smiling and being cute with a boy left even Xie Yao’s father baffled. She normally only acted this carefreely at home.

Xie Jun gazed at Nie Yan. I need to have a chat with this boy and see what his personality is like. Sadly, he was short on time right now. With so many people to greet, he couldn’t move away from his spot. It would have to wait for later.

"Why are you sitting all the way over here? I was looking for you for so long but couldn’t find you,” Xie Yao pouted. She looked up and down at the leisure suit Nie Yan was wearing. He looked pretty prim and proper. She had only ever seen him wear casual clothes. "Who picked out these clothes for you?”

"Myself. I bought them at a shop called Rheims. It’s my first time wearing this sort of stuff,” Nie Yan replied with a smile.

"No wonder. Next time I’ll go with you to buy clothes,” Xie Yao declared. Her cheeks slightly flushed red as she thought about the deeper meaning behind her words.

"Alright.” Nie Yan nodded, then dug out a small box from his pocket. "Here, this is for you. Happy birthday.”

"What is it?” Xie Yao opened up the box and saw the necklace inside. "It’s beautiful! Thank you, Nie Yan!”

Xie Yao directly wore the necklace. The gift itself was secondary to her. What mattered was that it was a present from Nie Yan. The delicate necklace sparkled brilliantly under the hall’s lighting, pairing well with her pale white skin. She looked like an angel descended from heaven.

Chapter 400 - Anger

"You look really beautiful today,” Nie Yan complimented as he stared into Xie Yao’s eyes. How she looked today was no doubt charming enough to move countless hearts and drive most men wild with lust.

Sensing Nie Yan’s burning gaze, Xie Yao didn’t dare to look him straight in the face. "You think so? I’m not used to wearing this kind of dress, I feel really awkward.” She was secretly elated by his compliment. If it weren’t for the fact she knew Nie Yan would be here today, there was no way she would’ve agreed to wear such a revealing dress.

Nie Yan started recalling the various events of his past life, becoming lost in a river of memories.

"Nie Yan, what are you thinking about?” Xie Yao asked, seeing Nie Yan with his head in the clouds.

"It’s nothing.” Nie Yan shook his head as a warm smile surfaced on his face.

The two chatted for a while before Xie Yao’s father called her over.

"I have to go. When the banquet ends, do you mind sending me home?” Xie Yao stared at Nie Yan.

"Sure.” Nie Yan nodded, then let out a chuckle. "Many men would kill for the opportunity to chauffeur such a beauty.”

Hearing Nie Yan’s teasing words, Xie Yao cutely pouted before walking back over to her father.

Nie Yan leaned back in the sofa, sipping on his glass of juice. Several women, who could best be described as snobbish, tried to approach him, but he couldn’t be bothered with them. He politely greeted them with a smile before shooing them away. Since they had seen him close to Xie Yao, they wanted to dig up his background and use him to get closer to Xie Yao. He naturally wouldn’t pay them any heed.

A while later, an older woman approached Nie Yan and sat down on the sofa beside him.

"You’re Nie Yan?” she asked.

Nie Yan looked at the woman. She was wearing a low cut dress which was dangerously revealing. Her figure wasn’t bad, but she was what men liked to call a butterface. Although she shared a slight resemblance with Xie Yao, It was akin to comparing a wilted corpse flower to a blooming lotus. She could only use heavy make-up to mask her coarse skin and elapsed youth. Even though she was only in her thirties, there were already numerous wrinkles on her face with noticeable crow’s feet around the eyes.

"And you are?” Nie Yan didn’t recall ever meeting this woman before. She was old enough to be his mother, yet she dressed so gaudily.

"I’m Xie Yao’s aunt, Xie Yi,” Xie Yi replied, then continued on in a haughty tone, "I already know who you are. You’re one of my niece’s classmates, Nie Yan.”

Nie Yan wasn’t happy with the tone Xie Yi was taking with him. But since she was Xie Yao’s aunt, he held his tongue.

"I see… It’s nice to meet you, Auntie,” Nie Yan greeted.

"When did I say you could call me auntie?” Xie Yi sneered.

Returning courtesy and kindness with abuse, huh…? Nie Yan’s eyes narrowed, staring coldly at Xie Yi. If it weren’t for the fact she was Xie Yao’s aunt, he would’ve long since cussed her out.

"Xie Yao is the young lady of the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups. Do you honestly believe you’re good enough for her? I’ve already investigated your background. I know your family only recently came into a bit of riches. You’re nothing but new money. Do you really think you can climb up to the highest rung of society by tricking Xie Yao into falling for you? Don’t get too far ahead of yourself! Remember your status. The Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups will never allow a lowly peasant to marry their precious little princess!” Xie Yi coldly stated, obvious mocking in her tone.

Nie Yan clenched his fists in anger. He normally wouldn’t tolerate this kind of behavior for long, especially from such a noisy person sticking their nose in where it didn’t belong, preferring to shut them up early with more direct and physical methods. But he held himself back. One because she was a woman. Two because she was Xie Yao’s aunt. Retaliating would reflect badly on Xie Yao. He owed her too much, both in his past and present life. For her sake, he endured this humiliation.

"Oh, did I happen to strike a nerve?” Xie Yi coldly smirked. "Do you want to hit me? Don’t think you’re so amazing just because you got into the Top Military Academy! Let me tell you something. The Top Military Academy means nothing to people like me, just another university, that’s all. Compare yourself to some of Xie Yao’s other pursuers. Liu Rui is the son of the second largest shareholder in the Dragonsoar FInancial Group, and Fan Yuan is one of the heirs to the Euro Fortune Financial Group. Then look at you, simply a deluded toad dreaming of eating swan meat.”

Nie Yan naturally knew this wasn’t how Xie Yao felt. But that didn’t make the words sting any less.

"Are you done?” Nie Yan stared at Xie Yi with an icy gaze.

Xie Yi was somewhat scared by the vicious look in Nie Yan’s eyes. But after recalling the promise Fan Yuan gave her, she refused to back down.

"Not backing down, huh? Do you really think you’re qualified to stand on equal footing with the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups? Large financial groups only care about one thing, profit. If Xie Yao marries Liu Rui, the Dragonsoar Financial Group’s executive layer will become more united. If Xie Yao marries Fan Yuan, the Euro Fortune Financial Group will become closely tied to the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups. What can you offer?” Xie Yi gazed at Nie Yan in disdain. "That’s why you should just give up on getting together with Xie Yao!”

「Bang!」Nie Yan shattered the glass in his hand. Xie Yi’s words had ruthlessly stabbed into his heart like steak knives. Venomous as they may be, they did carry a hint of truth. What could he offer Xie Yao? After all, he was a nobody right now.

Even though he had reincarnated in the past, he was still at the mercy of the flow of history. He could only accumulate power bit by bit. Even though he achieved a great many things in these past three months, he was nothing compared to the large financial groups that had weathered decades or even a century.

Xie Yi felt her scalp turn numb as her eyes widened in fear. She knew what Nie Yan shattered wasn’t ordinary glass. Its hardness was comparable to a human skull. Recalling she had just incensed such a ferocious individual, she had an intense urge to bolt out of her seat right now. She couldn’t help but worry if he was really brave enough to assault her here.

Xie Yi summoned up her courage, then continued on, "Fan Yuan is the young heir of the Euro Fortune Financial Group while you’re just the mongrel son of some second-rate, upstart company’s president. Take a look in the mirror. Don’t you have any shame trying to latch on to the Dragonsoar Financial Group’s thigh like some kind of parasite? Hmph!”

Nie Yan narrowed his eyes, flaring with killing intent. "Are you done? If so, get the hell out of my sight!”

"Vulgar brat! You don’t know what’s good for you! I wonder how your parents raised you. With just your lowly background, you should stay far away from Xie Yao! You and her live in different worlds!” Xie Yi didn’t dare to stay any longer, rising up from her seat and skittering away in haste.

Nie Yan sat on the sofa, his chest heaving in anger before gradually calming down. Xie Yao had stayed by his side through two lifetimes, so she clearly didn’t share the same opinion as her aunt. But Xie Yi’s piercing words still lingered in his mind. If he tried to pursue Xie Yao with his current status, he would be seen as nothing but a sponge trying to climb up the social ladder. Xie Yao might not care, but his pride as a man wouldn’t allow it!

Nie Yan had no plans of leaving Xie Yao, since he would only be surrendering to Xie Yi’s evil scheme and giving her what she wanted. He wondered who that vile woman was acting as a mouthpiece for.

When Xie Yi returned to the front of the banquet hall, she secretly exchanged glances with Fan Yuan. This naturally didn’t escape Nie Yan’s eyes. He coldly chuckled. He wasn’t the type to easily let go of grudges.

Send people to sort Xie Yi out? Nie Yan wouldn’t resort to such lowly methods. Not to mention as Xie Yao’s aunt, she still had a bit of status in the Glory Financial Group. It would be tantamount to slapping the Glory Financial Group’s face. Then his chances of getting with Xie Yao would become even more of an impossibility!

The best way to deal with these kinds of people was to one day rise above them, then crush them beneath your feet by throwing their own words back at them!

Nie Yan’s enrollment into the Top Military Academy was equivalent to a protective talisman. All he needed to do was bide his time. He would have plenty of opportunities in the future to make himself stronger!

Nie Yan’s heart softened as he gazed at Xie Yao. She had watched over him for so long in his past life. If he wasn’t strong enough to keep her by his side in this life, he would be an utter failure as a man. If one day the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups refused to let him marry Xie Yao, what could he do? The only option was to force them to yield with absolute power!

Nie Yan didn’t have much time. Nevertheless, every step he took so far was firm and steady.

Nie Yan took out his phone and called up Tang Yao.

「What’s up? Did you get your acceptance letter yet?」Tang Yao excitedly asked after picking up.

「Yep, came in the mail this morning.」

「You sure are amazing. Back in Ninjiang, your grades ranked in the top five at best. Who knew you would be so amazing all of a sudden. My old man even praised me. He said I might be a failure for not getting into the Top Military Academy, but at least I have a good eye for friends. He even gifted me my own Taiga Black!」

Nie Yan chuckled. It seemed Tang Yao’s father was in a really good mood. A Taiga Black certainly wasn’t cheap.

「Do you remember what I told you to do about Wei Kai? Any updates?」Nie Yan asked.

「That brat would love nothing more than to latch onto our coattails. But he’s a wolf. He might be useful to send against our enemies, but I’m worried one day he’ll turn around and bite us in the butt,」Tang Yao said in a somewhat worried tone.

「It’s fine. If he has even half a brain, he wouldn’t dare.」

「Since you’re set on using him, let me know when you're free. I’ll set up the meeting between you two.」

「Tell him he’ll have to stop some of his shadier practices,」Nie Yan said.

「I already have. That brat knows his limits.」

Nie Yan had always been meaning to meet up with Wei Kai. However, he never had the time. In the past, he didn’t have any interest in helping his father operate the family company. But if he wanted to be worthy of Xie Yao, he would have to focus his efforts on growing the business into an entity rivalling the Glory Financial Group, Dragonsoar Financial Group, and Century Financial Group. His father had recently been secretly eating away at the shares of the Century Financial Group. He wondered how that was progressing.

Asskickers United had to put more effort into propping up the War God Tribe too. After all, the War God Tribe was the foundation of the Nie Family’s future. Acquiring more strongholds was the only way they could stably grow their share in the virtual reality industry. The Nie Family’s current resources could support three Basic Strongholds at most. Any more would have to wait until they accrued more capital since the investment required for each real-world business district was steep.

Chapter 401 - Soaring Angel

It was impossible to develop a real world business district in Conviction without real world financial backing. Even getting one off the ground was a costly affair that required significant capital. All the goods displayed in the shops of real world business districts were scanned in from reality. And in turn when bought, it would be shipped to the customer in real life. If a company were found to be scamming their customers, they would have their virtual reality license suspended or even revoked.

The Nie Family company needed to expand in reality before they could support more strongholds. As for where these strongholds would come from, they would be snatched right out of the hands of the Tuoba Family!

Tuoba Time popped into Nie Yan’s mind. With Tuoba Hongye suffering a heavy setback inside Conviction, Tuoba Time had probably already made his move. Nie Yan wondered how that went. Failure meant he would probably never again see Tuoba Time inside the game. Family disputes were often this bitter.

Nie Yan drew a road map in his mind. He planned to expand the Nie Family company into a conglomerate that could stand on equal footing with any financial group, including giants like the Dragonsoar Financial Group, Glory Financial Group, and Century Financial Group. Only then would he be qualified to marry Xie Yao!

A while later, Xie Yao walked over with her father in tow. Nie Yan hurriedly stood up.

"You’re Nie Yan?” Xie Jun greeted with an amiable smile, looking Nie Yan up and down.

"Yes. It’s nice to meet you, Uncle Xie,” Nie Yan greeted back. He was a bit nervous meeting Xie Yao’s father, but he still remembered his manners.

Xie Yao gave Nie Yan a helpless smile from behind her father’s back. She pointed at Xie Jun and waved her hands, expressing it wasn’t her idea to bring him over here.

Seeing Xie Yao’s funny face and weird gesturing, Nie Yan couldn’t help but break out into a faint smile. Only then did Xie Jun realize his daughter had sold him out. He pulled her forward.

"I heard you were recently accepted into the Top Military Academy as an Ace. It’s an impressive achievement. Your future is bright. Make sure to keep working hard,” Xie Jun said. He was a kind and caring parent.

"Yes, Uncle! I won’t slack off!” Nie Yan nodded earnestly. Compared to the contempt Xie Yie treated him with earlier, Xie Jun’s words were like a breath of fresh air.

"I won’t try to stop your relationship with my daughter. The two of you are both adults. You’re in charge of your own futures,” Xie Jun said with a sincere expression. Kids matured much faster these days. It wasn’t strange for them to commit to serious relationships in their early teens. Even so, he wanted to have a proper chat with Nie Yan. If he found anything unscrupulous about Nie Yan’s character, he would have no choice but to use particular methods to intervene.

Xie Yao’s cheeks blushed rosy red. She never expected her father to be so direct.

"I understand, sir,” Nie Yan solemnly said.

Xie Jun nodded. From his impression, Nie Yan seemed like an honest and reliable individual. As for how he really was, Xie Jun planned to send people to Huahuai High to investigate. He had previously heard Nie Yan injured Liu Rui. However, he didn’t have too good of an impression of Liu Rui. His personality was too fickle. Nevertheless, getting accepted into the Top Military Academy proved he had some ability. Xie Jun originally planned to wait a few more years to see if he showed any growth. But it seemed recently Xie Yao was completely ignoring him. Since that was the case, so be it.

Although Nie Yan’s background wasn’t comparable to that of Xie Yao, Xie Jun didn’t particularly care. Didn’t his Xie Family have enough money already? Any more would simply be a bigger number. As long as Nie Yan’s character was good, his mind would be at ease. Furthermore, who was to say Nie Yan wouldn’t catch up to them in standing? After all, he had already proved his ability by getting into the Top Military Academy as an Ace, the third to ever do so in the history of Huahai High.

Xie Jun asked a few questions about their relationship, to which Nie Yan answered promptly, not daring to dally in the slightest.

"I’ll leave you two kids to chat. This old man won’t trouble you any longer. I still have some business to attend to,” Xie Jun said with a smile before heading back to the front of the banquet hall.

Nie Yan nodded, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief.

"Nie Yan, were you nervous?” Xie Yao asked with a cute smile, revealing her two beautiful rosy dimples which looked like the ones found on dolls.

"I’m still okay. Your father is really nice,” Nie Yan said. He was indeed a little nervous, but that was because that man was Xie Yao’s father. It would be bad if Xie Jun didn’t like him.

"My dad is pretty easy to get along with.” Xie Yao told a few stories about her father to help Nie Yan better understand him.

Nie Yan listened attentively.

The banquet hall was packed and bustling, but nobody came to bother Xie Yao. To these high class elites of society, her birthday was nothing more than a gathering to help them network and expand their social circle. There were many bigwigs walking around with net worths in the range of several billion to tens of billions.

Nie Yan looked over at the other side of the banquet hall. Cao Xu and Xie Jun were having a heated discussion, both refusing to back down in the slightest. Nearby were several higher-ups from the Dragonsoar Financial Group. He guessed a problem had occurred, and they were figuring out a way to settle things.

Given the close relationship between the Glory and Dragonsoar Financial Groups, if a conflict broke out, the spearhead would be aimed at the Century Financial Group. Nie Yan naturally wished for nothing more than the Century Financial Group to suffer.

Nie Yan shifted his attention to Fan Yuan. The two happened to lock gazes as sparks flew between them.

When Fan Yuan saw Xie Yao seated beside Nie Yan, he showed an envious expression. He turned his head and continued freely chatting with the several women beside him.

"Xie Yao, can you tell me a little about that Fan Yuan guy?” Nie Yan asked.

"Sure. He’s the second heir to the Euro Fortune Financial Group, but many people think he’s more likely to be picked over his older brother. He’s more famous for his accomplishments in Conviction. He’s known as Soaring Angel, the guild leader of Angel Corps,” Xie Yao replied. She still believed Nie Yan was better than Fan Yuan inside the game.

Nie Yan’s mind trembled as all sorts of information about Soaring Angel from his past life flowed into his mind. Soaring Angel was one of the most skilled players in the Satreen Empire. He had always ranked at the top of the leaderboards in the entire Righteous Faction, even surpassing other similarly talented geniuses. His levelling speed was astonishing to say the least. It was rumoured he played an elven Demon Hunter, a class that specialized in ranged combat. Their range was greater than Mages, but their damage output was slightly weaker. They dealt piercing damage with various enchanted bolts. A skilled Demon Hunter was extremely deadly. It was a powerful solo class.

In the previous timeline, Soaring Angel was extremely famous. Besides his own skill, he also had a large number of top-ranking experts gathered at his side. Angel Corps campaigned across the whole Satreen Empire, conquering one city after another. It was rumoured that at their prime it took the combined forces of Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Bloodlust Blades to stand a chance against them.

Back then, Soaring Angel was a legendary existence.

Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a peculiar light. He wondered what the outcome would be if he took on such an opponent.

"I heard he’s pretty talented. When he was our age, he participated in a Europe-wide karate tournament and took second place. The champion was older than him by almost a decade. Later on, he was accepted into the European Royal Air Force Academy. However, his character is terrible. One of my cousins used to date him, but they broke up after he cheated on her. He’s known for his frequent philandering,” Xie Yao said with a disgusted expression. Even now, Fan Yuan was constantly flirting around with different women.

Nie Yan chuckled. Xie Yao rarely showed such blatant contempt for a person. It appeared she really loathed Fan Yuan.

Xie Yao’s mother and grandfather couldn’t make it to the birthday banquet anymore since something had come up. Xie Yao couldn’t help but feel puzzled. Her mother was usually pretty free, so why couldn’t she make it? As the festivities carried on, people eventually started to disperse.

Fan Yuan shot Nie Yan one last glance before leaving.

As for Cao Xu, Xie Jun, and them, they still had more to discuss. They headed to a conference room in the building to continue.

"Let’s go,” Xie Yao said as she put on her coat.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao went down the elevator together. They arrived in the underground parking lot and got into his car.

After driving past numerous streets and busy intersections, Nie Yan arrived in front of the entrance to Xie Yao’s residence.

"Just drive into the garage,” Xie Yao said.

Nie Yan was taken aback for a moment but obliged.

"Come inside, and keep me company. My mom and dad won’t be home until late tonight,” Xie Yao said. Truthfully, if things really got busy, her father might not come home tonight at all, and she wasn’t sure about her mother either. It was somewhat lonely staying home alone.

Even after driving Xie Yao home every day, Nie Yan had never once entered inside. He parked his car in the garage, then entered the house with her.

The interior of Xie Yao’s home was a bit different from his own. The environment was much more calm and tranquil. There were many plants and flowers placed next to the front door, vibrant and full of life.

The living room was elegant and refined. Xie Yao took off her shoes and put on a large pair of fuzzy slippers before walking in.

"Nie Yan, since you’re a guest at my house, you have to try some of my tea. The barley tea I brew is really fragrant and delicious!” Xie Yao said.

Seeing Xie Yao’s spirited appearance, Nie Yan faintly smiled. "Alright.”

"You sit here for a bit. I’m going to get changed. It’s uncomfortable wearing these clothes.” Xie Yao lifted up her dress and headed upstairs to her bedroom.

"Sure.” Nie Yan nodded as he looked around at all the furniture and decorations in Xie Yao’s house. He could see hues of red, yellow, and orange everywhere, which filled his heart with a sense of warmth.

After a while, Xie Yao came back downstairs with a pink t-shirt and white pajama shorts. She looked quite cute.

Seeing Xie Yao brewing the tea, Nie Yan’s gaze softened.

The two of them were seated on the sofa. For some reason, Xie Yao recalled the previous incident when they both got drunk. Her face instantly flushed red.

Nie Yan picked up the cup and took a sip. A fragrant smell wafted up his nose as the tea warmed his throat and chest.

"Do you like it?” Xie Yao asked with an expectant look.

"Yeah, I love it.” Nie Yan nodded.

Hearing Nie Yan’s praise, Xie Yao’s face lit up with a happy smile.

Chapter 402 - Xie Yao’s Bedroom

Xie Yao guided Nie Yan around the various rooms in her house before finally leading him to her bedroom. This was his first time entering her room. It was clean and tidy with the walls painted in a warm pink while a fragrance that reminded him of spring hung in the air.

The windows faced the water, giving a perfect view of the lake.

Nie Yan walked into the room and looked around. He saw many photo frames set on Xie Yao’s desk with pictures of her when she was younger. Even back then, she looked quite adorable.

Xie Yao stood by Nie Yan’s side and started telling him about when and where each of these pictures was taken with a big smile on her face. She loved this sort of feeling. It was as though the two of them were in their own little world.

Nie Yan looked over at the dresser near her bedside and saw something he shouldn’t have, like the dress Xie Yao had worn to her birthday banquet, her frilly lace bra with a delicate design, and other risque articles of clothing. Her three sizes immediately popped into his mind.

Nie Yan gave Xie Yao a mischievous smile. Following his line of sight, her cheeks immediately flushed red. She rushed over to the dresser to put everything away.

Xie Yao right now resembled a startled rabbit, her mind riddled with chaotic thoughts. When she went to her room to change earlier, she forgot to tidy up. She bent down to store everything away in her dresser, giving Nie Yan a nice view of her butt.

Nie Yan recalled the incident where the both of them got drunk in the restaurant. At that time, Xie Yao was like an irresistible lotus flower just waiting to be picked, filling his mind with overwhelming lust.

As Xie Yao returned to Nie Yan’s side after tidying everything up, he suddenly hugged her. She trembled as her mind turned chaotic. She could feel his solid and thick arms wrapped around her waist and back, holding her firmly.

Xie Yao didn’t offer up any resistance. She had already fully accepted Nie Yan in her heart.

As Nie Yan continued holding onto Xie Yao, he felt an indescribable serenity wash over his heart. In the previous timeline, he was no better than a pitiful mutt at death’s door. But in the biting cold, he was rescued by her warmth. She was the shining ray of hope in a world of eternal misery and darkness. He never imagined he could get this close to her in this life. However, the knowledge that he was currently too weak to keep her by his side nagged at the back of his mind. He needed to get stronger, strong enough to stand above everyone in this world! Only then would he be worthy of her!

Xie Yao pressed her hands against Nie Yan’s chest, all her anxieties and worries scattering away in his embrace. Given her gentle personality, she had a hard time even turning him down. She was normally cool and collected in front of others, her heart only ever wavering around Nie Yan.

A selfish thought crossed Nie Yan’s mind. He wanted to make Xie Yao his own. But he knew it was too early. Xie Yi’s words still lingered in his ears. His background was too low.

Xie Yao awkwardly wriggled in Nie Yan’s embrace, her mind turning hazy from the heat. As she gazed into his eyes, she let out a sigh. Perhaps this was fate. If he wanted to do something at this moment, she would be helpless to resist. Picturing the events that might follow next, her heart couldn’t help but race. She resigned herself to fate. Wasn’t this only natural? They could already be considered a couple, after all.

It might be too early to eat the main dish, but there was no harm in trying the appetizers, right?

"Xie Yao…” Nie Yan gently whispered into her ear, his breath brushing along her neck.

"Hng,” Xie Yao groaned, leaning into Nie Yan’s chest.

Nie Yan lowered his head and pressed his mouth down on Xie Yao’s. He staggered several steps forward before pushing her down on the bed. He recalled their night in the secret chamber in his past life and recently when they both got drunk as he lost himself to lust.

Feeling Nie Yan’s rugged body pressed against her skin, Xie Yao wriggled helplessly. Little did she know that her struggling only further ignited his desire. His right hand reached under her shirt and groped her smooth underbelly, which was akin to a supple flower, before gradually moving upwards. The only thing separating his fingers from the two pillowy mounds on her chest was a thin piece of fabric. She dressed rather casually at home with loose fitting and revealing clothes. He gently lifted her bra as his hand tunneled inside. Xie Yao’s figure was perfect. He had long since known this, but this was his first time experiencing it in real life.

Xie Yao let out a moan as she felt Nie Yan caress her bosom. A numb sensation ran down her spine as pleasure coursed through her very being, draining her of all strength. She was powerless to his touch.

Nie Yan gently kneaded the pair of moons, which were surprisingly too large to fit into his palm. Besides that one time in the secret chamber, he had never truly gotten this intimate with Xie Yao. The incident from his past life, which had long since become a fuzzy memory, once more flashed before his eyes and became all the more vivid.

In the previous timeline, Xie Yao got close to him with her identity as Yao Yao. Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder what sorts of thoughts ran through her mind during that night they spent together.

Perhaps back then Xie Yao had already accepted that the two of them could never be together. She knew that staying by his side was a fruitless effort, but she still watched over him without any regrets.

This realization shook the core of Nie Yan’s soul.

Nie Yan’s hand slid over Xie Yao’s delicate body, past her smooth silky shoulders, then to her sleek back before finally resting on her perky butt. Xie Yao felt his large hand give a firm squeeze as an electric shock ran through her body. With a flustered expression, she struggled to grab onto something, but all she found was thin air.

Xie Yao twisted and squirmed, her body shuddered intensely as she gasped for breath. She finally let out a loud moan before losing all her strength and collapsing weakly into her bed.

Nie Yan was surprised Xie Yao was this sensitive. He slid his hand around to the front and felt a damp sensation.

Xie Yao’s cheeks flushed scarlet with an intense feeling of shame. She pushed Nie Yan off her and quickly crawled out of bed.

"Nie Yan, my parents are coming home soon. Next time, alright?” Xie Yao said in a seductive voice, her face still bright red. Her body felt a little strange, preventing her from fully speaking her thoughts.

Nie Yan gave an apologetic smile. He had overstepped his bounds. Hearing Xie Yao’s gentle voice, he couldn’t help but feel a trace of guilt. "Sorry.”

"I’m going to head to the washroom for a bit,” Xie Yao said. What just happened left her feeling incredibly embarrassed.

Xie Yao walked into the en-suite. Nie Yan could vaguely make out her figure through the frosted glass panels on her door as his mind filled with all sorts of indecent thoughts. He had no clue what she was doing right now.

A little while later, Xie Yao walked back out of the en-suite. She didn’t dare to meet his eyes. Recalling the words she had just spoken to him, she couldn’t help but turn red again. Are we really going to… one day?

Xie Yao’s coquettish figure filled Nie Yan with lustful thoughts. If he continued staying here, he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to hold back any longer and throw himself at her. "Since your parents are coming soon, I should get going. Give them my regards.”

"Mhm.” Xie Yao nodded as she felt a bit disappointed. She actually wanted Nie Yan to stay with her a little longer. Being home alone was dreadfully dull. But she was afraid he might try to do something improper again. It was quite the predicament.

Xie Yao accompanied Nie Yan to the garage and saw him off as he got into his car. Waving him goodbye, she watched him turn on the engine.

"Well, I’m off.” Nie Yan smiled before driving off.

After safely arriving home, Nie Yan received a surprise phone call from Tuoba Time. Only now did he remember giving Tuoba Time his phone number.

「How have you been?」Nie Yan cheerfully asked.

「I don’t want to talk about it,」Tuoba Time replied with a regretful look on his face.

「Did you... fail?」Nie Yan inquired hesitantly. If Tuoba Time had truly lost, he probably couldn’t speak right now.

「I mean, I didn’t fail, but I didn’t succeed either. Some bigwigs popped up out of nowhere and beat me to the punch. They ate their fill, then ran off, leaving me with only the scraps. Tuoba Hongye took heavy losses, but I didn’t profit off of it,」Tuoba Time explained.

The bigwigs Tuoba Time referred to also included Nie Yan’s father, who had made off with a sizable share of the pie. Nie Yan, on the other hand, knew nothing about the intricacies behind such corporate conflicts.

「I think you need to take him out, or else he’s going to retaliate the moment he gets a chance to reorganize. If that happens, you’re doomed,」Nie Yan advised.

「I naturally understand this, but I’m too weak right now. Unless I somehow magically get the funds to deal Tuoba Hongye the finishing blow, I’ll be the one to go down, not him,」Tuoba Time said with a bitter smile. He had found backing in the form of a financial group from North America. But he was extremely wary of them, fearing he was leading a fox into the henhouse. This was why he was paralyzed with indecision.

「How much do you need?」Nie Yan asked.

「Not that much. I think a billion would be enough,」Tuoba Time replied.

¥1 billion really wasn’t that much to a well-established group like the Tuoba Family. However, it was far too much for the Nie Family, whose net worth had yet to top ¥3 billion.

「If you’re willing to give me ¥1.6 billion, I’ll transfer over 12% of the Tuoba Family to you. But I need your guarantee you’ll back me. When I finish dealing with the aftermath, I’m willing to buy back those shares for 30 billion,」Tuoba Time offered.

Nie Yan was in a slight daze by all these numbers. He still didn’t quite understand what was going to happen, but he managed to figure out some bits and pieces. Tuoba Time wanted to borrow the Nie Family’s strength to purge the Tuoba Family of Tuoba Hongye’s influence. Although he had to pay a heavy price, he already had nothing to lose.

「I’ll give you my father’s number. Discuss it with him instead, since I’m not that well versed in the business world. I’ll explain the situation to him. If there’s something in it for him, he’ll probably accept,」Nie Yan said before texting over his father’s number to Tuoba Time.

¥1.6 billion might not mean anything to the large financial groups, but it was enough to bankrupt the Nie Family.

「Alright.」

Nie Yan chatted awhile longer and learned Tuoba Time had already completely withdrawn from Conviction. Everything remaining belonged to Tuoba Hongye. The heavier the losses Tuoba Hongye suffered in the game, the better for Tuoba Time.

What Nie Yan didn’t know was that he had given his father an incredible opportunity. As for how his father would proceed forward to reap the most benefits, he would have to wait and see for himself.

As the sun gradually fell below the horizon, Nie Yan put on his game helmet and once more returned to the world of Conviction.

Chapter 403 - Lava Sea

Nie Yan reappeared in Calore. It was the start of a new day in Conviction. He saw players bustling around the streets, discussing yesterday’s events, especially about how the sound of explosions rocked the surrounding several dozen towns and villages.

"I heard Asskickers United found a large cache of Black Gunpowder yesterday, but they were destroyed after Bloodlust Blades ambushed them.”

"What are you talking about? I have a friend who personally saw Asskickers United transporting at least a dozen jars of Black Gunpowder into United City.”

"Then what about those explosions yesterday?”

"Who knows.”

The players were guessing wildly, while Asskickers United stayed quiet on the matter. Nie Yan felt yesterday’s events were a failure on his part. Even though they only lost five jars, he felt ashamed his negligence allowed for the ambush to happen at all. Bloodlust Blades also kept radio silent. Not only had they failed to achieve their goal, but even their guild leader was killed in the battle. It was too shameful.

Like this, the matter was suppressed. Even if a few bits and pieces of information got out, there was no one to give them credence. So, players believed they were only rumours.

Nie Yan naturally didn’t pay any attention to these rumours. He was satisfied knowing the manufacturing of the Goblin Magi Cannons was fully underway.

Looking over the guild matters for the day, Nie Yan ordered Guo Huai to dispatch some elites to assist the War God Tribe in capturing strongholds. The more strongholds under the War God Tribe’s control, the faster the Nie Family could expand their business.

Asskickers United’s daily expenditures were staggeringly high. Fortunately, the several auction houses, Starry Night Potion Shop, and other shops were profitable enough to offset these costs. But if these establishments didn’t expand quickly enough, they would fail to keep up with the ever growing demand of the market. Upgrading a property, especially at the higher tiers, was extremely expensive. But a lot of the surplus profit was being sucked up by the guild. Although this might not be a problem in the short term, eventually the lack of gold would negatively impact business.

In short, Nie Yan needed to make more money, and do so quickly. The most lucrative method was undoubtedly by smuggling equipment between the two factions.

Several hours from now, Nie Yan could open the Dark Portal again.

With Bloodlust Blades eating such a heavy loss, Nie Yan feared they might make a last ditch effort for a comeback. However, he had no choice but to leave for the Underworld. This was the only way he could earn enough gold to resolve Asskickers United’s problem. No one else could go in his place either, since Bennett’s Journal was bound to him.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. Asskickers United had operated as the leading guild in Calore for so long, not to mention they had the support of Sapphire Shrine, Holy Empire, Radiant Sacred Flame, and five auxiliary guilds. If they were really taken out by the enemy in just five days, they didn’t deserve to have a future!

Besides, even if Nie Yan was in the Underworld, he could still direct the guild remotely!

「I’m heading back to the Underworld soon. Did you prepare the equipment I asked you for?」Nie Yan sent Guo Huai a message.

「Yeah, around 300 pieces altogether. I’ll deposit everything into your personal storage,」Guo Huai replied. He had spent a great deal of effort gathering this equipment, having his subordinates scour through every auction house in the Viridian Empire. Nie Yan’s requirements were extremely strict. All the equipment had to be Level 45 or higher, could be equipped by any faction, and be of high quality with properties uncommon in the Underworld. There were probably only 100 or so items fitting these criteria in circulation on any given day.

It was just as troublesome for Plenty to collect equipment in the Underworld. If it weren’t for him meeting Nie Yan, this sort of trade deal probably wouldn’t be worth the trouble.

After a while, 300 pieces of equipment arrived in Nie Yan’s personal storage. He only had 270 slots of bagspace, so he picked out the best ones and left the rest behind for the next trip. He also filled his Soul Pendant with various potions and other consumables.

Nie Yan didn’t know where in the Underworld the Dark Portal would take him. But he could be certain the soul residing in Bennett’s Journal would guide him to another quest item related to Empress Finas.

Nie Yan’s eyes fell on a tattered piece of parchment sitting in the corner of his personal storage, Lich King Saul’s Treasure Map!

Normally, players would have to be at least Level 100 to pass through the long tunnel separating the surface from the Underworld. Even then, the chances of survival were extremely low. Nie Yan truly was an oddity since he could teleport to the Underworld with the Dark Portal. Lich King Saul’s treasure was buried in a fairly remote and dangerous region. Trying to find it at his current level was suicidal. He would wait until he was at least Level 70–80.

This trip to the Underworld would likely net Nie Yan in the excess of 1,000,000 gold. According to his agreement with Plenty, he would receive a 30% cut of the profits from the Righteous Faction equipment. He had done some research on the market in the Underworld and concluded it should come out to be around 300,000 gold. Back on the surface where he would sell the Evil Faction equipment, he would make another killing.

Nie Yan was free to cooperate with anyone for this deal, while Fallen Angel could only look for him. So, it was only natural for him to receive the larger share. This was the value of the Dark Portal!

After finishing all preparations, Nie Yan went into an empty workshop in the Starry Night Potion Shop. When the time arrived, he activated the Dark Portal from Bennett’s Journal.

Nie Yan stepped into the portal as the scenery around him twisted and warped. When he opened his eyes again, he had already arrived in the Underworld.

A scorching hot gust of wind blew past Nie Yan’s face. He didn’t know where he was. Looking into the distance, all he saw was a vast sea of roiling lava and a crimson sky.

You have discovered the Lava Sea.

It was rumoured the Lava Sea was to the far north of the Underworld. Every year lava would overflow to the south, wreaking havoc on the level of an apocalyptic disaster. This was why the residents of this place wanted to return to the surface, which in turn led to the yearly wars with the Righteous Faction.

This region was still in the Undead Empire. Fortunately, the Dark Portal didn’t bring him to the territory of the Demon Tribe. Otherwise, it would’ve been much harder for the players of Fallen Angel to make contact with him.

Bennett’s Soul once more floated out of the journal. It danced around Nie Yan for a bit before trying to guide him to a certain location.

However, Nie Yan had no plans of doing Empress Finas’ quest right now. His first priority was to complete the trade with Fallen Angel.

Nie Yan summoned the Faulkner Warhorse and galloped south. He unfurled a map as he tried to gather his bearings. Only then could the players from Fallen Angel know where to find him.

He quickly found a landmark, a stone tower that had long since fallen into disrepair at the border of the Lava Sea. There used to be a village located here, but it was destroyed by who knew what. All that remained was the tower.

With this kind of landmark, Nie Yan could inform Fallen Angel of his location.

Nie Yan disconnected from Conviction.

Disconnecting from the game, progress: 3%... 8%...

Players couldn’t disconnect from the game during combat or in the middle of a guild war. Logging off took roughly 30 seconds. If the player was attacked during that time, it would be interrupted. If there was an emergency in real life, the player could simply take off the game helmet. However, their in-game character would still remain, unable to retaliate if attacked and only disappearing when the servers shut down.

Nie Yan took off his game helmet, then dialed the number Plenty gave him. When the call connected, the person to answer wasn’t Plenty himself but a subordinate. Nie Yan reported his rough location.

This person would pass on the information to Plenty.

Nie Yan returned to the game and did a bit of exploring around the area. After thinking it over, he recalled the Faulkner Warhorse and paced around the stone tower.

For the sake of this trade going smoothly, for the sake of 1,000,000 gold, waiting a few hours was no big deal.

After a while, an Undead Thief in black leather armour appeared in Nie Yan’s vision. When he discovered Nie Yan, he waved his hand and began walking over to him.

Nie Yan walked toward the Undead Thief, only to discover that person hadn’t switched his alignment to the Righteous Faction.

"Our Boss…” the Undead Thief opened his mouth and was about to inquire.

At this time, Nie Yan exploded into action and dashed toward the Undead Thief.

Intimidate!

The Undead Thief froze in place with an alarmed look on his face. Nie Yan struck him in forehead with Concussive Blow.

Vital Strike!

Nie Yan’s movements were too quick. The Undead Thief never expected Nie Yan to suddenly take action against him, so he was caught off guard. He had zero time to react.

Nie Yan’s dagger slashed the Undead Thief’s throat as blood sprayed out. After which he slashed down once more and finished the opponent off.

The Undead Thief’s corpse lay unmoving on the ground. He hadn't switched his faction. If Nie Yan had made contact with him or handed over the equipment, the consequences would’ve been extremely severe. For the sake of ensuring his safety and preventing any mishaps from occuring, he dashed forward and directly killed the Undead Thief! Nie Yan knitted his brows. There was no way Plenty could’ve forgotten their agreement, right? Logically speaking, the leader of a top guild like Fallen Angel shouldn’t commit such a low-level mistake! A mishap probably occurred in the middle, or perhaps this Undead Thief was simply too careless, not realizing the importance of his task. It was highly unlikely that Plenty would want to break their alliance.

There couldn’t be any mishaps in the trade between Nie Yan and Plenty. All precautions had to be taken, or there would be severe consequences for the both of them!

Prudence guides a ship for 10,000 years. Nie Yan definitely didn’t want the Calore authorities on his back.

Thinking for a moment, Nie Yan ducked back in his corner. If Fallen Angel wanted to continue their relationship, they would definitely dispatch another person. If no one appeared within the next half hour, he could only find a new business partner.

Chapter 404 - Occult Titan

Back in the Fallen Angel guild headquarters, the Undead Thief was reporting back to Plenty after reviving.

"Boss, I was walking up to greet him, but then he suddenly rushed up and killed me…” the Undead Thief tried to air his grievances. But after noticing Plenty’s cold glare, he shut his mouth halfway.

"Did you follow my instructions and switch your alignment over to the Righteous Faction before approaching him?” Plenty asked in a solemn tone.

The Undead Thief lowered his head. He screwed up. Since he was only instructed to guide Nie Yan to the nearest village and nothing else, he didn’t realize the importance of this matter. He took it as simply another trivial task!

"Leave all your equipment behind. You’re out of the guild,” Plenty coldly stated.

"Why!?” The Undead Thief stared at Plenty, unwillingness in eyes. Why was he being kicked out for such a small blunder?

"I don’t care how skilled you are. I don’t want subordinates who can’t even follow simple instructions!” Plenty replied.

The Undead Thief’s expression sank. He knew Plenty wouldn’t change his mind on this matter.

Plenty attached a lot of importance to the trade agreement with Nie Yan, so much so that he didn’t even disclose it to his closest friends. For every additional person in on it, the risk of danger increased exponentially. Aside from him, the only other person who knew about this deal was Proud Warlance. Since the two of them were busy, he had sent someone over to escort Nie Yan to the nearest village so he could personally complete the transaction there himself. But the Undead Thief’s self-conceit had possibly put his partnership with Nie Yan in jeopardy!

「Nirvana Flame is already here in the Underworld. Come make a trip with me,」Plenty sent Warlance a message.

「Right now? I’m in the middle of...」Warlance hesitated. Right now, Fallen Angel was in a heated conflict with six other guilds. He was loaded with work.

「It’s fine, I’ll take care of it. Nirvana Flame takes priority. If the trade goes smoothly, it’ll be of great help to us. Take 350,000 gold with you and get the equipment from him. We can take our time with the war.」

「Alright,」Warlance replied. He returned to the guild headquarters and took the ring that allowed him to temporarily switch his faction alignment from Plenty.

Nie Yan continued to wait by the ruins of the stone tower. About 20 minutes later, a silhouette appeared in the distance.

Nie Yan approached the figure while in stealth and saw a familiar face, Proud Warlance.

Seeing that Warlance had already switched his alignment over to the Righteous Faction, Nie Yan emerged out of stealth.

"That player earlier, what was that all about?” Nie Yan asked with a frown. He felt Fallen Angel was behaving too carelessly.

"My apologies. A mishap occurred. The offender has already been expelled from the guild. No need to worry. Aside from the guild leader and me, no one else in Fallen Angel knows about this deal. That Undead Thief got careless in his ignorance,” Warlance explained.

Nie Yan nodded, glad that Fallen Angel didn’t take this trade agreement lightly. If he had learned that they failed to implement proper safeguards to keep their alliance a secret, he would’ve immediately abandoned them and looked for a new collaborative partner.

"Did you bring the equipment?”

"Of course.”

Nie Yan requested a trade and placed all the equipment inside the window.

Warlance discovered each piece of equipment was of fairly high quality, with an estimated total value in the excess of 1,000,000 gold. He placed 350,000 gold in the trade window. "Here’s the 30% cut as per our agreement.”

Nie Yan confirmed the trade. By his calculations, he could make at least 1,500,000 gold on this trip to the Underworld. This sort of money-making speed was astonishing, and it was all thanks to the Dark Portal. Normally, carrying out such an operation at his current level was impossible.

"Follow me, I’ll take you to the nearest village. We’ll be meeting there next time.”

"Alright.” Nie Yan nodded.

Nie Yan was guided by Warlance to a nearby village. Thanks to this, he wouldn’t have to waste several days bumbling around through the darkness like last time.

They travelled for about 20 minutes before arriving on a hilltop. Looking past the thickets, they saw a flat plain below, along with the glow of a lighthouse further off in the distance.

"That’s Bessemer over there, the Ivory Village. You can hang around there for the next few days. We’ll come find you after we’ve gathered the equipment,” Warlance said. "If there’s nothing else, I’ll be taking my leave.”

"Let’s set a time and date,” Nie Yan said. All he needed to know was the rough location of the village. He planned to level in nearby maps before their next meeting. After all, lingering inside an Evil Faction settlement was far too dangerous.

"Three days later at 2100,” Warlance said after thinking for a bit.

"Alright. I’ll let you know in advance if I won’t make it on time,” Nie Yan said. In case he couldn’t return because he was in the middle of a quest, he could only push back the date. In any case, he had Plenty’s contact information in real life.

The two discussed a few smaller details about the meeting before parting ways.

Nie Yan infiltrated Bessemer with the Necklace of Deception and did a quick look around before heading off to level on his own.

Warlance switched back to the Evil Faction and returned to the the Fallen Angel guild headquarters, where he immediately ordered his subordinates to sell off most of the surface world equipment. The pieces that were kept would benefit them greatly in their current war.

With Fallen Angel swallowing up their rivals one after the other, the remaining guilds banded together and declared war on them, leading to their daily expenditures rising sharply. This equipment was equivalent to finding extra firewood when running low on a long and cold winter’s night.

The appearance of the surface world equipment on the market sparked a buying frenzy spanning across the entire Undead Empire. All the while gold coins streamed into Fallen Angel’s pockets. The initial investment of 350,000 gold was recuperated in the blink of an eye. By the time everything was sold, they would make an estimated profit of at least 850,000 gold!

It all went according to Nie Yan’s predictions. Fallen Angel had helped him big time, so of course he would return the favour. Besides, their partnership would only stand to benefit from both of them doing well.

Nie Yan checked his quest window.

Quest Progress: Search for Empress Finas’ Eye, Occult Item (1/3)

Nie Yan still had no clue what an Occult Item was. But judging from his previous experiences, he estimated this quest was at least S-grade with a reward matching its difficulty.

Nie Yan did a search for occult on the official website and discovered some shocking information. With a suitable intermediary and the combined power of several dozen Great Mages, Occult Items could summon Occult Titans—existences generally no weaker than a Level 70 Lord. Successfully summoning one was equivalent to obtaining an unrivalled war machine capable of trampling over an enemy’s stronghold.

Nie Yan had never heard of an Occult Titan in his past life, probably because no ordinary player could hope completing this quest.

Nie Yan could only leave behind his desire to summon an Occult Titan in his daydreams for now. He would try his best to complete the quest, and it’d be great if he did. But if he didn’t, so be it.

The previous timeline was far less interesting in comparison. It was only until after the release of the Buried History Expansion that things started getting exciting, with players waiting in anticipation to see how stronghold sieges would turn out.

Bennett’s Soul flew out and went off toward the north.

Nie Yan summoned Lil’ Gold before following behind. He quickly realized that Bennett’s Soul was leading him back to the Lava Sea. That place was a region of lava, which was scarier than any monster.

Nie Yan recalled he still had the Kiln Fire Heart which allowed him to survive in lava for a while.

The surface of the Atlanta Continent was littered with active volcanoes that spewed out lava constantly, but the situation in the Underworld was several magnitudes worse. A Special Item to survive the lava was a necessity here.

As Nie Yan followed Bennet’s Soul, he happened to pass through a graveyard, where large mallet wielding Level 60 Vampire Crushers spawned. He decided to do a bit of grinding for some easy experience and increased his mobbing speed even further by using Undead Rite. With the support of five Vampire Crushers and Lil’ Gold, he swept through everything in his path, leaving a trail of corpses in his wake. Before long, a crisp jingle rang out as he reached Level 56.

The levelling speed here wasn’t too bad. These Vampire Crushers gave ample experience.

After passing through a dark forest, Nie Yan arrived at the border of the Lava Sea. As he walked along the coast, an isle poking out above the lava’s surface caught his eye. It was a large island in the middle of the lava sea. At the center was a large volcano that constantly belted out plumes of black smoke into the sky.

Nie Yan spotted black plants growing unkempt all over the island. Given how isolated it was from the rest of the world, it probably hadn’t been visited by anyone before.

Nie Yan followed Bennett's Soul as it guided him along the duny beach full of coarse, volcanic sand and cracked calcareous rock.

As Nie Yan continued walking without seeing a soul in sight, a group of players suddenly emerged from the thickets behind him. There were roughly 30 of them. When they saw him, they all froze in place.

The frightening appearance of Lil’ Gold and the legend of the Slaughter God Nirvana Flame had already spread far and wide throughout the Undead Empire. He had killed so many Evil Faction players that people feared even he had lost count a long time ago.

Since there was no sign of Nie Yan for five days, everyone believed he had returned to the surface. This group never expected to see him again, and certainly not here of all places!

"Dammit, what kind of shit luck is this!?”

Chapter 405 - 10-Man Commander

This group of Level 45 players was planning to do some levelling near the Flame Bright Archipelago. They never expected to encounter Nie Yan here. His name had long since become famous in the Undead Empire. Numerous Level 40+ expedition teams were wiped out by him alone.

These players didn’t dare to continue forward.

"Boss, what do we do?” a short Undead Thief asked the Necromancer beside him.

"Hold up, let’s just back off,” the Necromancer replied. Given Nie Yan’s speed, there was no way they could escape from him if he really wanted to pursue them.

The immense size of Lil’ Gold left these players shaking in their boots, especially as they recalled videos of him burning swaths of players to ashes with his flames.

Nie Yan heard rustling behind him and glanced back at the group of players. Seeing they weren’t approaching him but actually slowly backing away as though he were some sort of grizzly, he paid them no more heed. He continued to follow Bennett’s Soul at a casual pace with Lil’ Gold in tow.

Nie Yan wouldn’t have minded wiping out these players if they had tried to rush up and attack him. But since they were backing off, he couldn’t be bothered to go through the trouble of chasing after them.

When the Necromancer saw Nie Yan ignore them, the rapid beating in his chest finally settled down. He couldn't help but wonder why Nie Yan appeared so relaxed after being discovered. Did he not care about his location being leaked to the outside? He would once more become the target of players from all over the Undead Empire!

After thinking for a moment, the Necromancer concluded that Nie Yan’s confidence lay in his skill. An apex Thief was an unimaginably powerful existence in the Underworld, the dark environment only further enhancing their already exceptional stealth abilities. Add in the fact Nirvana Flame was known to possess several Unknown Transfer Scrolls on his person, and it was almost impossible to lock him down!

Watching Nie Yan’s receding back, the Necromancer let out a deep sigh. Can I, will I ever be like that?

Nie Yan continued to follow after Bennett’s Soul, encountering more and more Level 40+ players along the way. He figured there had to be a Level 40 map up ahead.

A group of roughly 60 players tried to ambush Nie Yan, but they were quickly taken care of by an area-of-effect attack from Lil’ Gold.

A radius of 30 meters was fairly large, enough so to fit 1,000 people densely packed together. It was generally incredibly difficult to avoid an area-of-effect spell. Not to mention Lil’ Gold’s cast times were especially short, so only the sharpest of players could get out of the way in time.

Nie Yan left a trail of corpses behind him.

Even if some players occasionally got past Lil’ Gold, they would be easily dealt with by the five Vampire Crushers. Few players were capable of enduring their hammer strikes. There were also some who had the idea of testing their own pets against Lil’ Gold. But without exception, they were all trash!

News of Nie Yan being spotted on the shores of the Lava Sea spread like wildfire throughout the Undead Empire. Those with a brain stayed far away from these muddy waters. Those in over their heads were all wiped out. As for the experts, none of them took action. Since Nie Yan was acting so wantonly, he was probably confident in preserving his own life! No matter how many people went, it would be like drawing water from a wicker basket!

Nie Yan swept through everything in his path. He hadn’t encountered a single opponent capable of being his match. It took some time, but finally those hunting him started to wisen up, no longer daring to come within a 60-meter radius of him, lest they had a death wish.

Nie Yan suddenly felt a peculiar change in the air. He focused his senses and immediately detected several dozen Thieves nearby. Their Cloaking was much lower than his Awareness, so none of them escaped his sight. He didn’t even need to activate Eye of Truth.

He ordered the five Vampire Crushers to surround them, after which Lil’ Gold burned more than a dozen of them to a crisp with his flames.

Dealing with these players was as easy as crushing ants.

Just as Nie Yan was about to wipe out the last of these Thieves, he felt an almost indiscernible killing intent lock onto him.

In a distant corner, a pair of eyes were coldly observing Nie Yan.

Before Plenty kicked him out, Les was ranked third among all the Thieves in Fallen Angel, a position he was quite proud of. The two players ranked above him were rare talents that even Plenty had to show respect to. Going by that logic, one could say he was the strongest out of the ordinary Thieves! When he was previously ordered to be Nie Yan’s guide, he felt the task was beneath him. He genuinely believed himself to be one of the higher figures in Fallen Angel and that Nirvana Flame didn’t count for a fart compared to him. So, he naturally felt indignant at the idea of being another person’s guide dog. He was normally well-behaved in front of Fallen Angel’s higher ups. But once he was outside, he would abuse his position to bully others.

Les severely underestimated how important Nirvana Flame was in Plenty’s eyes. However, he was still unwilling to accept his expulsion from the guild for what he viewed as a trivial mistake. But at the same time, he understood that if he dared to divulge any information about Plenty’s dealings with Nie Yan, given Plenty’s powerful background, he wouldn’t live to see another day. So, he placed all the blame on Nie Yan.

Les believed he only died last time because of his own carelessness. He never expected Nie Yan to attack him so suddenly, leaving him with no time to react.

As Les was brooding over his revenge, Nie Yan suddenly turned in his direction.

Eye of Truth!

Nie Yan’s pupils were blood red and blossomed with a dazzling radiance that threatened to completely expose Les.

Les inwardly gasped. He quickly activated Void Shroud as he felt a gaze linger over him for a while before moving away. With his incorporeal body hidden in the shadows, he finally relaxed his breath, though he regretted he was forced to use one of his life-saving trump cards. Void Shroud greatly increased his stealthing capabilities and made him immune to detection for nine seconds, but at the cost of crippling his movement speed and losing the ability to attack. He would have to wait two days for it to come back off cooldown.

Nie Yan was somewhat surprised he didn’t find anyone, even after activating the enhanced Eye of Truth. He had clearly sensed killing intent just a moment ago. With the Cloaking stat of most Thieves at this stage of the game, evading his sight was incredibly difficult.

Nie Yan concluded the other party wasn’t simple. Little did he know that it was actually the Undead Thief he had killed only a little while ago.

Even if the enemy didn’t reveal themselves, Nie Yan felt confident enough in his skills to react in time. He continued ordering Lil’ Gold to wipe out the remaining Thieves in the surroundings.

When the last Thief fell, Nie Yan heard a notification bell ring in his ear.

Congratulations, Soldier! You have been promoted to a 10-Man Commander.

After killing so many Evil Faction players, Nie Yan had finally increased his military rank!

Chapter 406 - Flight Point

Nie Yan checked the stat bonuses for 10-Man Commander—Defense +5% and Health +7%—only marginally better than the Defense +3% and Health +5% for Soldier. But every percent counted, even more so given his base stats were much higher than the average player.

It looks like visiting the Underworld is going to become a regular thing. Maybe becoming a Great General isn’t that far fetched, after all, Nie Yan couldn’t help but muse. The Evil Faction players gave him a wide berth of space as he leisurely strolled forward. His awe-inspiring display of might had thoroughly deterred them, especially after seeing the countless scattered bodies that trailed behind him on the ground.

Just as Nie Yan finished dispatching several more Thieves, the cold light of a dagger flashed behind him.

You’ve finally shown yourself! Nie Yan smirked. This fellow had kept him waiting long enough.

Les dashed up from behind and struck Nie Yan’s head with a Smothering Strike.

Gale Step!

Nie Yan blocked the attack and countered with a Concussive Blow to the forehead.

At this moment, Les spun around to avoid the attack. With a flick of his wrist, he switched to a reverse grip and plunged his dagger toward Nie Yan’s back.

This was the Freedom Skill of a Great Thief, Reverse Grip Backstab!

Whether it was the Undead Empire, Viridian Empire, or any other, the first class advancement of all Thieves was a Great Thief. So, the skills and combat techniques they learned were fairly similar.

Nie Yan finally caught a glimpse of his assailant. It was actually the Undead Thief that Plenty had previously assigned to escort him. Warlance informed him that this fellow was expelled from Fallen Angel as a show of sincerity.

Still not convinced, so you came looking for revenge, eh? Nie Yan smirked. I don’t mind sending you back to the grave again!

Les’ dagger flickered with a green light. It was coated in poison!

Les’ expression was fierce. He had smeared the blade of his dagger with the venom of a Roman Viper, the 36th most venomous snake in the Underworld. Its venom could paralyze a target for three seconds and prevent them from activating any movement skills for the duration of the debuff.

As long as Nie Yan was even nicked by the blade, he would surely die!

Nie Yan never expected Les to know how to pull off Reverse Grip Backstab. Every single movement was carved deeply into his mind.

Ever since Nie Yan started unravelling the mysteries of a Shadow Dancer, his comprehension ability had increased greatly. Although he had witnessed others execute Reverse Grip Backstab in the previous timeline, his memory had grown fuzzy over time. Now that he was witnessing Les using the skill in real time, everything came surging back.

Les’ Reverse Grip Backstab was about to land, but Nie Yan showed no sign of moving. At the very last moment, he raised his dagger to parry while simultaneously the mallet of a Vampire Crusher came out of nowhere and smashed into Les, sending him hurtling several meters backwards.

Les landed back on his feet with a flip, but his face was aghast in horror by the fact that Nie Yan could still control a minion in the heat of battle! This was ridiculous!

Truthfully, this move wasn’t all that special to Nie Yan. By Conviction’s 10th anniversary in the previous timeline, almost every expert was capable of pulling off these sorts of tricks with relative ease.

Conviction could greatly improve the reaction time and thought process of the player. There had never been a virtual reality game in the past that through electrical impulses could alter the player’s physique. But Conviction had succeeded. This was also why the game had obtained the support of the federation.

Nie Yan’s skill at this stage of the game was universally shocking!

Nie Yan gave Les a glance before turning away, pretending as though his opponent no longer existed. He ordered Lil’ Gold to continue wiping out the other Thieves. At this moment, three Vampire Crushers surrounded Les.

Vampire Crushers were slow and clumsy, their attacks from wind-up to swing taking roughly two seconds to fully execute. Even three Vampire Crushers were normally no threat to a nimble Thief. But this situation was very different.

With their large bodies and giant mallets, Vampire Crushers had an attack range of almost six meters.

The three Vampire Crushers started swinging down their mallets in synchronized order, forming a strange rhythm that only left a 0.7 second gap between each attack.

The mallets kept falling one after the other!

Les evaded the first mallet with Gale Step. He tried to turn tail and flee, but his escape route was sealed off by another Vampire Crusher. He panicked and bolted in a different direction, only to be struck by the second mallet and knocked out of stealth.

−546 A damage value floated up above Les’ head.

He quickly chugged down an Intermediate Health Potion. But before he could focus on dodging again, the third mallet smashed him into the air with a dull thud.

Les hung in the air for only a moment, when the first Vampire Crusher’s mallet came around once more and pummeled him back toward the earth. He crashed into the ground, the last bit of his health bar disappearing.

A so-called top Thief was killed just like that!

Nie Yan chuckled as he glanced at the flattened corpse on the ground.

Les was an exceptional Thief for sure, but it was his misfortune to have encountered Nie Yan. Even three Vampire Crushers could be turned into heaven defying existences in his hands!

A Thief in some distant bushes had been broadcasting the scene of Les being toyed with in real time on the Undead Empire forums.

Les was undoubtedly an exceptionally skilled Thief, but he was still utterly decimated by the three Vampire Crushers. The players on the forums were reeling in shock as they felt their scalps turn numb in horror. The in-sync attacks of the Vampire Crushers left Les no room to breathe whatsoever!

「What the hell is up with that Nirvana Flame!? He’s way too overpowered!」

「Does anyone recognize that Thief?」

「I think he’s Les from Fallen Angel.」

「I heard Les recently withdrew from Fallen Angel.」

No one would’ve batted an eye if it were some nobody that had been killed by those three Vampire Crushers. However, Les was a famous Thief that ranked high up on the Undead Empire leaderboards for his class. He was a figure many players looked up to. Even if his gear quality sharply dropped after leaving Fallen Angel, his strength wasn’t to be underestimated! But this revered Thief still suffered such a humiliating death! Nie Yan’s ability to control multiple minions at such a high level was definitely worthy of the utmost praise.

The players of the Undead Empire were now even less inclined to go after Nie Yan. A powerful Thief who had exceptional skills on top of god-like microing ability was definitely not an existence normal players could ever hope to match up to. Even some of the top experts in the Undead Empire were cowed by him.

Nie Yan continued on his trek, with no one daring to block his path. He arrived outside of an encampment full of white tents that stretched out as far as the eye could see. Countless players were moving between the tents, creating for a lively atmosphere. Occasionally, some players rose up to the sky on giant bats which carried them to one of the distant islands in the Lava Sea.

It was a flight point!

Flight points were stations that allowed players to rent out flying monsters to transport them between stations. The fee was cheaper than transfer points. From Nie Yan’s memory of the previous timeline, flight points would only really start taking off in Conviction’s 7th year. They were still fairly uncommon right now.

Players would naturally start setting up stalls near particularly popular flight points, with things like tents following shortly after, gradually turning the area into a place of flourishing commerce.

This flight point was guarded by Evil Faction NPCs. Nie Yan pondered for a moment before recalling Lil’ Gold. He entered stealth and moved out of sight of the players in the vicinity before disappearing into the dark thickets.

Deception was still on cooldown. Although the Pearl of Disguise could alter Nie Yan’s appearance, it didn’t allow him to trade or communicate with Evil Faction players or NPCs, lest he be exposed. He could only wait for the Deception skill from his Necklace of Deception to come back off cooldown.

Nie Yan spent the rest of the day levelling up in the nearby maps before logging off.

The next day Nie Yan used Deception to change into an Evil Faction player before heading towards the flight point.

Many players shuttled in and out of the encampment entrance. This area was flourishing with trade, with rows upon rows of stalls selling various types of goods on the street. Even the small walkways outside the encampment were lined with stalls.

Most of the players here were over Level 40. They were all travelling to the Flame Bright Archipelago.

The Flame Bright Archipelago was a group of 13 islands located in the middle of the Lava Sea. Only the Beast Tamers operating the flight points knew how to get there.

Nie Yan wore a black cloak that hid his face. It wasn’t odd for players in the Undead Empire to wear such attire, so he didn’t attract any suspicion.

The entrance to the encampment was guarded by two Level 70 Skeleton Guards. They failed to notice Nie Yan among the stream of players entering inside.

After infiltrating the encampment, Nie Yan headed directly for the flight point.

"I found two gems yesterday. I really earned big. Let’s go to that same place again today. I heard if we keep grinding in the same spot, some good stuff is bound to drop.”

"Who knows. Maybe you just got lucky yesterday.”

Nie Yan felt a sense of nostalgia as he heard the chattering of the players around him. He used to be like them, frequently grinding in the same spot for several days on end in the previous timeline. Back then, a single gem or piece of equipment dropping would leave him excited for a long time. His past self would never dare to pick fights with elites or explore untracked land like he was doing right now.

Whether in terms of stats or gear quality, the difference between his past and current self was like night and day!

The flight point was already in Nie Yan’s sight. He occasionally saw giant bats flying over him in the sky. They had pairs of fleshy, semi-transparent wings spanning more than three meters. They weighed several hundred pounds and were covered in dense fur. When they took off, they generated gusts of wind that caused the robes of nearby players to flap around wildly. Every now and then, the sound of feminine squeals entered his ears.

Chapter 407 - Leshen

Nie Yan stopped right outside the flight point. Although this place was called a flight point, it was actually just a stable that housed giant bats. The beasts were healthy and well-fed. Several old Nerubians were guarding the entrance. They were thin and frail with ugly appearances.

A system notification popped up.

Quest Progress: Head to Brendor Islet in the Flame Bright Archipelago.

Nie Yan walked toward one of the Nerubians.

The old Nerubian greeted him, "Dear sir, what may I help you with today?”

Nie Yan scanned through the dozen or so of flight destinations for a while before responding, "Please take me to Brendor Islet.”

"Happy to be of service.” The old Nerubian retrieved a giant bat from the stables and saddled it.

"Ready, sir. That’ll be 50 silver.”

Nie Yan paid the fee.

The giant bat approached Nie Yan. It had a very docile appearance.

This wasn’t the first time riding a flying beast for Nie Yan. He had done so multiple times in the previous timeline. But back then he rode the most common flying beast in the Viridian Empire, the Griffon!

Nie Yan got on the giant bat, and it took off with a mighty flap of its wings. It spiralled upwards until the white tent below was just a tiny speck before setting course toward Brendor Islet.

The giant bat flew over the Lava Sea, shuddering fiercely due to the scorching air rising up from below.

Nie Yan firmly held onto the reins of the giant bat. After a while, the bat finally stabilized itself after rising roughly 300 meters above the Lava Sea.

Nie Yan got a clear view of the thick black smoke rising up from a volcano as the giant bat flew past the crater.

He looked further ahead and noticed the Lava Sea dotted with islands scattered in a peculiar pattern.

Nie Yan believed there was definitely some lore behind the Flamebright Archipelago. He did a quick search on the official website and found it was the remnants of the Kirkby Empire, a once powerful Nerubians empire that rivalled the Undead Empire. However, it was ultimately submerged under the Lava Sea. These 13 islands still contained some ruins of this empire, but most of them were occupied by lava monsters and fire spirits.

Lava monsters and fire spirits often dropped gemstones and other similar items, so they were very popular targets for players.

After flying for ten more minutes, the giant bat gradually started descending to one of the large islands below. There were lava rock formations everywhere. Large and small cracks ran throughout, under which Nie Yan could see the lava flowing.

You have discovered Brendor Islet.

At the center of Brendor Islet was a volcano, spewing thick clouds of black smoke into the air like a chimney.

Bennett’s Soul flew straight toward the volcano.

Nie Yan hurriedly followed after. He searched up this area online and discovered it was a Level 80 map. He immediately became more cautious and decided it’d be too risky to summon Lil’ Gold. If he encountered a level 80 Elite, Lil’ Gold would only die for nothing.

He entered stealth and made his way toward the lush-looking forest in the distance.

Shuttling through the forest, Nie Yan eventually encountered some fire spirits. They were roughly three meters tall and had blazing humanoid forms.

Flame Elemental: Level 80

Health: 8,000/8,000

Flame Elementals were a higher class of fire spirits. They didn’t have much health, but they possessed powerful Fire Magic.

Even Nie Yan wouldn’t dare to face more than two of them at once.

The Flame Elementals walked between the trees. The light emitted from their blazing bodies lit up everything within a 30 meter radius.

Nie Yan snuck past the Flame Elementals in his way as he followed Bennett’s Soul, gradually entering the depths of the forest, where a large tree poking into the sky caught his eye. It was roughly six meters tall, its branches forming a giant umbrella. Its trunk was large enough for six people linking their arms together to fully wrap around. A portion of its numerous and densely packed roots was exposed above ground.

Bennett’s Soul flew over to the tree and hovered in place. Nie Yan looked over and spotted several beast bones along a few other things sparkling on the ground. There was also a small treasure chest resting against the trunk. It was covered in a thick layer of dirt and leaves and looked fairly unremarkable.

Nie Yan didn’t know what hidden dangers lurked nearby. He looked around but failed to discover anything out of the ordinary. He walked over to the tree, bent down, and started picking up the items on the ground. He discovered they were lumps of metal roughly the size of his fist.

Nie Yan examined the lumps of metal.

Nightmarium (7): Raw Material

Nie Yan recalled Nightmarium was a crafting material used for making siege crossbows strings. It was well known for its resilience and rarity. Generally, they could only be found near the summit of volcanoes, the closer to the crater, the better the quality. Naturally, the danger level would rise as well.

He found a total of 30 Nightmarium Ores scattered on the ground around the tree. Afterwards, he moved toward the chest. It was firmly embedded into the roots and looked somewhat ancient.

Nie Yan wiped off the dirt and leaves from the chest, revealing the peculiar runes engraved on the surface. The lock had the appearance of a white skull and gave off an eerie feeling.

Nie Yan wasn’t knowledgeable on the history of the Undead Empire, so he had no clue what era this chest belonged to. But judging from its appearance, it was at least several hundred years old.

He was surprised to see this chest was actually Dark Gold-grade.

Nie Yan bent down and started opening the chest. The lock was rather difficult to pick.

Opening treasure chest… Progress: 3%… 5%...

It would take a long time to open this chest. Just as the progress bar increment passed the half-way mark, the tree’s roots lifted themselves silently and wrapped around Nie Yan’s foot.

Nie Yan’s eyes widened in alarm. He never expected the tree to so suddenly attack him as countless more tendrils moved to ensnare him.

The previously unassuming tree suddenly opened its eyes and revealed itself as a tree demon.

Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar. Gale Step and Shadow Waltz were both grayed out, because these skills could only be used when the user wasn’t snared. However, his right foot was firmly rooted to the ground by the tree demon’s tendrils.

The tendrils threatened to wrap around Nie Yan’s entire body. If he allowed this to happen, he would have no hope of escaping. He could feel his health being slowly leached away.

Nie Yan suddenly understood how those bones got under the tree!

However, Nie Yan had no skills that would allow him to escape from these bindings!

Wait! A lightbulb went off in Nie Yan’s head. I do have something!

Nie Yan activated the Pygmy Transformation Ring. His body, including his trapped foot, immediately shrunk in size as the tendrils tightly wrapped around his leg loosened.

He jerked his foot free and sprinted away, narrowly escaping the rest of the tree demon’s tendrils.

The tree demon never expected Nie Yan to suddenly shrink. After its meal escaped, its tendrils shot forward in an attempt to ensnare Nie Yan once more.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」The tree demon’s tendrils stabbed into the ground like falling arrows.

Nie Yan kept zig-zagging as he fled. Just as a tendril was about to hit him, he activated Gale Step and blocked the attack. It was unfortunate his speed was dramatically reduced during Pygmy Transformation.

It was because his legs were short!

Tendrils blotted out the sky above Nie Yan. Before they turned him into swiss cheese, he activated Animorph and transformed into a lynx. He suddenly gained a burst of speed as he bounded six meters in the blink of an eye, passing through the gaps between the tendrils.

The tree demon still had more up its sleeve. As blow after blow hit the ground, it continued stretching its tendrils. They were now well over 20 meters long and still growing.

Nie Yan leaped up toward a nearby tree. His sharp claws dug into the bark as he rapidly clambered up to the top, where he leaped from tree to tree until he completely disappeared from sight. Only then did the tree demon abandon its pursuit.

After running over 60 meters away from the tree demon, Nie Yan found a hidden corner to duck into. He dispelled Animorph and Pygmy Transformation before leaning against a nearby tree, heaving a massive sigh of relief. That was too close! If I hadn’t thought of the Pygmy Transformation in time, I would’ve been screwed!

This tree demon was truly sinister, pretending to be an ordinary tree while using the Dark Gold chest as bait. When a player attempted to unlock the chest, that was when it would deal a fatal blow. Nie Yan was almost done in there. Luckily, he reacted in time.

After the tree demon failed to catch its prey, it slowly retrieved its tendrils before returning to the appearance of a normal tree. Its disguise was so convincing that it even fooled Nie Yan!

Nie Yan got within 20 meters of the tree demon while stealthed and activated Transcendent Insight.

Leshen (Elite): Level 80

Health: 300,000/300,000

This son of a bitch has so much health!

Furthermore, the Leshen possessed magic immunity along with high physical defense that made it impervious to ordinary projectiles!

However, it was completely immobile with a maximum attack range of 30 meters!

Chapter 408 - Nadago’s Staff of Curses

Nie Yan didn’t know the Leshen’s detailed stats. But with the Dark Gold chest only half-way unlocked, he naturally wasn’t willing to just leave. He opened up the official website and searched for information on the Leshen.

The Leshen was a type of immobile tree demon with tendrils capable of extending to upwards of 30 meters. It had magic immunity and high physical defense which greatly reduced or negated the damage of ordinary projectiles, making melee combat the only effective way of fighting it most of the time. Even then, the life-leeching and binding effects of the tendrils were a headache to deal with. This was why players generally preferred to take a detour around it if possible, unless someone brought along a powerful crossbow.

Nie Yan wasn’t sure if his Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow was capable of killing the Leshen, but it was worth a shot. He leaped several meters into the air and grabbed onto a nearby tree branch before flipping himself over and perching on top. He took out his crossbow and lined his sight on the target before squeezing the trigger.

「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Five bolts flew out in a straight line and struck the Leshen’s trunk in quick succession.

−28

−28

−28

−192!

−28

The Leshen opened its eyes to find its assaillant. But since Nie Yan was out of range, it could only let out an angry groan.

Nie Yan’s eyes lit up after seeing his damage. He started reloading his crossbow. But by the time he finished, he was dismayed to discover that the Leshen had regenerated back to full health.

Dammit! What’s with this health regeneration!?

Nie Yan raised his crossbow with a bitter smile. He absent-mindedly shot at the Leshen a few more times and confirmed that its health recovered faster than he could deal damage.

There was no way to kill the Leshen!

Nie Yan was about to put away the crossbow when a thought crossed his mind. Did the Leshen have a weak point?

Some monsters would take additional damage when hit in their weak point.

The official website didn’t have any information on the Leshen’s weak point. But this was fairly common. How could they provide everything to the players?

Hope reignited in Nie Yan’s eyes. He continued firing his crossbow as one bolt flew out after the other.

Nie Yan was confident with the crossbow, having honed his skills with it for more than 10 years in the previous timeline. He could consistently hit a target from over 30 meters away even when blindfolded!

He kept firing out bolts at a rapid pace, shifting his aim constantly to test out various points on the Leshen’s body. But sadly, there was no change. He was still dealing a consistent 28 damage per hit.

Nie Yan refused to give up. From the branches to the roots, he probed every part of the Leshen’s body.

Nie Yan fired his crossbow at the Leshen’s eyes. But it closed them at the last second, causing the five bolts to bounce off its eyelids like they had struck metal.

After this last failure, Nie Yan was beginning to lose hope when a light bulb lit up in his head.

Eye of Truth!

Nie Yan’s pupils turned crimson and blossomed out with an omniscient light. He looked at the Leshen and discovered that many of its leaves, twigs, and branches were merely an illusion, with only a portion of the branches, the main trunk, and the roots being real. But what caught his eye the most was the bright red heart beating just two inches below its eyes.

This was the Leshen’s weak point!

Without Eye of Truth, it would’ve been impossible for Nie Yan to locate the Leshen’s heart, which was only the size of a baby’s fist! He was pleasantly surprised with this discovery.

Over the course of many years, the Leshen had transformed into a creature that was a cross between a plant and an animal.

Nie Yan raised his crossbow and fired at the Leshen’s heart.

「Put! Put! Put!」Five bolts cleanly hit their mark.

−323

−323

−323

−323

−323

Seeing the difference in damage, Nie Yan was elated. He could now kill the Leshen!

Even though the Leshen’s health regeneration was high, it couldn’t keep up with Nie Yan’s damage.

The Leshen angrily roared and lashed out with its tendrils. However, the enemy was outside of its attack range.

Nie Yan continued firing his crossbow without rest, gradually chipping away at the Leshen’s health. After roughly an hour, it could endure no longer and fell to the ground with a loud crash, scattering leaves everywhere

Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Nie Yan levelled up twice as he reached Level 58!

Not bad, two levels for an hour or so of work. Nie Yan wiped the sweat from his brow before jumping off the tree and walking towards the Leshen’s remains.

He had no clue what the Leshen dropped. But he was certain a Level 80 Elite would give something good!

Nie Yan rummaged through the twigs and branches and picked up three items: two pieces of Level 80 Gold-grade equipment and a piece of parchment with the incomplete schematics of a siege crossbow.

It was a Dark Gold siege crossbow blueprint fragment!

Flamespitter Crossbow Blueprint Fragment: 1/5

Nie Yan took a closer look at the crossbow blueprint. It was larger and much more complicated than regular crossbows. It took two people just to lift it, and required three people to operate.

Checking out the properties, the Flamespitter Crossbow had a range of 300 meters, over 3000 attack power, and shot out five bolts in a wide spread.

It would take five Intermediate Engineers working around the clock for two days straight to manufacture the Flamespitter Crossbow. The crafting materials required were also hard to come by.

As the number of captured strongholds rose, so too would the demand for Engineers. More and more players who found themselves unsuited to combat would start switching to this profession. It would definitely become extremely influential in the future of Conviction!

Such a huge crossbow wasn’t suited for grinding mobs. But its effectiveness would significantly increase if placed inside a crossbow tower.

Nie Yan had no idea where he would find the remaining fragments. Maybe there were other Leshens nearby!

Naturally, he didn’t forget he still had a chest to open. He wondered what sort of items lay inside. Taking out Zennarde’s sword, he chopped away the roots and uncovered the chest. This time, there were no monsters to disturb him.

Nie Yan bent down and started unlocking the chest. Its level was much higher than his, but his Lockpicking skill was high enough to manage it. Nevertheless, it would take a very long time.

Six minutes later, the chest popped open with a click.

Nie Yan fished around inside and took out a staff crafted out of sturdy red wood. There was a white skull about the size of a human fist affixed to the tip of the staff. Its eye sockets flickered with two red flames.

Examining the staff’s properties, it turned out to be a Legendary item fragment!

Nagado’s Staff of Curses (Legendary Fragment): Broken

Requirements: 1,200 Intelligence, 130 Focus

Description: Nadago was a legendary Necromancer. Seeking to wield the ultimate power of death, he challenged Empress Finas and attempted to enslave her spirit to increase the power of his curses. Unfortunately, he failed in his pursuit. Collect Nagado’s Staff of Curses, Nadago’s Death Skull, and Nadago’s Jewel of Darkness to restore this Legendary staff.

Properties: Magic Attack 1,028–1,203, Willpower +30. Dark Magic Effect +30%

Vengeful Spirit Possession: Summon a vengeful spirit to possess your body, increasing the effects of all Curse Magic by 200%, and Magic Resistance by 30%. Cast Time: 3 Seconds. Cooldown: 2 days.

Restrictions: Dark Incantist; can only be equipped by a member of the Evil Faction.

It was a staff for Dark Incantists. Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed. Nevertheless, this was the Underworld, so it was only natural for Evil Faction equipment to drop.

The requirements on this staff were a bit high; 1,200 Intelligence wasn’t something ordinary players could attain. Even top ranked Dark Incantists would have to wait until they were Level 70–80 to have the stats to equip it.

Considering how good this staff was, Nie Yan would have no problem exchanging it with Fallen Angel for some decent Thief equipment.

If such a piece of equipment were to appear in the Evil Faction marketplace, it would definitely cause an uproar. Of course, Nie Yan had no plans of selling it. He would only accept another item of equal value in return!

After putting the staff away in his bag, Nie Yan continued fishing around in the chest. Since Bennett’s Soul had led him all the way here and made him kill the Leshen, there definitely had to be a quest related item or two inside!

Nie Yan took out a marble from the chest. Truthfully speaking, it wasn’t a whole marble but just a fragment of one.

Detoxifying Marble Fragment (Special Item): 1/3

Properties: Poison Resistance +10, Poison Immunity (Junior)

Detoxify (Intermediate): Remove any poison Intermediate-rank or lower inflicted on a target.

Restrictions: None

It was a Detoxifying Marble. The effects were pretty good since Intermediate Dexotify was still useful at this stage of the game. But it would become obsolete in another ten levels or so. By then, players would start using Advanced poisons.

Nie Yan wondered what would happen if all the fragments of the Detoxifying Marble were gathered together. At this moment, Bennett’s Soul floated up and guided Nie Yan deeper into the forest. The quest had only just begun. Who knew what awaited him next.

Chapter 409 - Game Capsule

Following Bennett’s Soul, Nie Yan soon encountered a second Leshen. There really were other Leshens on this island!

Armed with the experience of killing the first Leshen, Nie Yan took down one Leshen after another. He failed to find the two other fragments of Nagado’s Staff of Curses. However, he did gradually collect all the blueprint fragments for the Flamespitter Crossbow. After killing the sixth Leshen, he gathered the fifth and final fragment.

These types of blueprints would definitely become more common in the future. This meant the guild would soon require a lot more Engineers. Although Asskickers United was rapidly expanding and originally showed some good results, their growth had stagnated due to recent financial strains. Without any money, even a clever housewife would find it difficult to get the rice to cook food.

Nie Yan’s purpose for coming to the Underworld was also for the sake of resolving Asskickers United’s lack of funds. With money, they could recruit talented Engineers to help build these siege crossbows.

After spending an entire day fighting Leshens, Nie Yan finally found all the fragments of the Detoxifying Marble. When the three fragments were brought together, they released a dazzling light before slowly fusing together and becoming a perfectly round, egg-sized marble which flickered with a faint green lustre.

Nie Yan once more looked at the properties of the Detoxifying Marble.

Detoxifying Marble (Special Item)

Properties: Poison Resistance + 30, Poison Immunity (Intermediate)

Detoxify (Advanced): Remove any poison Advanced-rank or lower inflicted on a target.

Restrictions: None

Both the Kiln Fire Heart and Detoxification Marble could be used in clever ways. They would definitely come in handy whenever he encountered danger.

Over the course of the day, Nie Yan had levelled up from Level 58 to Level 63, surpassing Tang Yao who was at the top of the level leaderboards at Level 60. The second highest level player was only Level 58.

After seeing Nie Yan’s level soar, Tang Yao was left speechless. No matter what he did, he could never compete with Nie Yan’s levelling speed.

Nie Yan had already resolved to leave the rest of the players behind and directly charge to Level 100 so he could become a Shadow Dancer! After getting the Tyrant Abak Set, he would then rush to Level 180!

With a full set of godly equipment, Nie Yan would wipe out any enemy in his path!

As a reincarnator, he had to overwhelmingly crush his enemies beneath his feet, to the extent they would lose all hope of ever standing up to him again!

Of course, this goal would lead him down a long and arduous path. It was precisely because he reincarnated that he knew how difficult it was to reach Level 180!

Nie Yan’s level advantage would never grow too large. If a single player was pulling too far ahead of the rest of the playerbase, the system would make adjustments to experience values to make levelling easier for the lower level players.

But even if the system made adjustments, so what!?

As humanity’s most powerful advanced intelligence, the federation could restrict its activity but had no way of directly accessing and modifying its data.

As long as Nie Yan’s actions remained within the system’s laws, there would be no problem.

Nie Yan took off the game helmet and made a run to his father’s company. Under Ah Chen’s guidance, the War God Tribe began its campaign. Asskickers United dispatched a large number of elites to assist the War God Tribe. With their allies, the War God Tribe captured three strongholds in Nisode. Asskickers United’s top ranked players were strong beyond reason. They took control of the battlefield, giving the enemy no hope for victory. The Tuoba Family was beaten back step by step. Tuoba Hongye was at the end of his wits. However, no one would come to his aid. The Tuoba Family recently had a falling out with the Century Financial Group, so asking for the help of Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors was out of the question. There were basically no other guilds in the entire Viridian Empire that could contend against the combined might of Asskickers United and the War God Tribe. Meanwhile, Tuoba Hongye was even more helpless outside the game since he was being dragged down by the two other powers in the Tuoba Family. It appeared his position as the head of the family would soon be no more.

The sudden rise of the War God Tribe was too shocking, catching many people off guard. After taking over the three real world business districts, Father Nie sought the help of several clients to help develop them. He would do it himself, but he lacked the funds. So, for now he would have to settle with signing lease agreements and collecting the money from them.

Aside from this, Father Nie had formed a partnership with Tuoba Time. When this business deal was over, the Nie Family’s capital would grow several fold!

In the previous timeline, if Cao Xu hadn’t interfered, the Nie Family would have definitely grown into a large financial group. It was a pity the Nie Family’s development at that time was too fast. They lost more than half their business the moment the Century Financial Group took action. Ultimately, they were just too weak.

The development of the Nie Family was different in this timeline. This was at least true in the virtual reality aspect, where with the protection of Asskickers United, the War God Tribe could expand without worry.

When the War God Tribe grew big enough to start providing support back to Asskickers United, Nie Yan’s mind would be at ease.

After the dark portal came back off cooldown, Nie Yan planned to deal the finishing blow to Bloodlust Blades!

Bloodlust Blades was already on its last breath. They had lost more than half their players. The only ones remaining were their core members which accounted for roughly 60,000 players. However, their combat strength was not to be underestimated. If they put all their effort into one last ditch counterattack, they could still deal heavy damage to Asskickers United.

Previously during the war of attrition with Bloodlust Blades, Asskickers United had also suffered heavy damage. They were forced to look at all of their allies for support. But with Nie Yan’s recent investment from his first trip to the Underworld, they had regained their strength. They still needed more time to fully recuperate. But in any case, now that they had money, they could destroy Bloodlust Blades first and worry about other matters later!

After having helped at his father’s company, Nie Yan took Xie Yao for a stroll in the mall to enjoy themselves. Father Nie had also tacitly accepted their relationship.

Nie Yan learned from Xie Yao that her parents would be leaving for Europe in the next few days.

Nie Yan brought Xie Yao home. As he watched her walk up the driveway, he couldn’t help but feel his heart itch at her cute and lovable appearance. But he forced himself to hold back.

Nie Yan had waited so many years in the previous timeline for Xie Yao. What harm was there in waiting a few more? When he was finally worthy of Xie Yao, he would make his move. Rather than waiting for the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups to take pity on him, he would rather make the Nie Family so powerful that no one could say anything about them!

When Nie Yan returned home in the evening, he discovered there was a large game capsule sitting in his room. It was two and half meters tall and was made out of special materials. There were all sorts of complicated apparatuses and computer chips on both sides. It looked quite advanced. By stepping inside and closing the door of the game capsule, one could perfectly transport their mind to the virtual reality world.

There was also a concoction of nutrient liquid inside the game capsule which would supply the player with energy and improve their physique.

Seeing the symbol of a black sword near the bottom of the game capsule, Nie Yan’s mind trembled. It was a Darkblade Game Capsule!

In the previous timeline as a fanatical addict of Conviction, Nie Yan had naturally spent many long nights researching every type of game capsule. Among them, the ones from Darkblade had the best and most stable performances. Even the cheapest model cost over 5,000,000!

There was a slip of paper lying on the desk by his bedside with his father’s handwriting.

「Your mom suggested we buy you this game capsule for getting into the Top Military Academy.」

Father Nie wasn’t a person to wear his emotions on his sleeve. Instead, he would push all credit to Mother Nie. But Nie Yan could still tell how much he cared from this gesture, so he gave his parents a call.

Nie Yan had always been considering buying a better game helmet. The thought of getting a game capsule never once crossed his mind. After all, it was too expensive, and he felt it a bit wasteful. He never expected his parents would buy him one, and a top of the line model at that! His actions inside the game would become a lot smoother and more fluid, especially when using Freedom Skills. The type of hardware the player was using could greatly influence the execution of a Freedom Skill. When a player became a Great Thief, they would generally try to upgrade to a more expensive game helmet. In Nie Yan’s case, it was even better since he now had a game capsule.

Henceforth, Nie Yan could bid his game helmet farewell!

Nie Yan put on a skin-tight body suit that came with the game capsule and entered inside. He felt an electrical current flow through his body. It felt comfortable. With a flash of white light, he entered Conviction.

As soon as Nie Yan reentered the game, he could feel the difference. His surroundings were more clear and real, and he could feel the small differences in texture on surfaces with his hand. His movements were a lot smoother as well. All of this made Nie Yan endlessly excited. Having a game capsule really did make a world of difference!

Nie Yan executed the movement for a Reverse Grip Backstab and discovered it was a lot easier than before.

After familiarizing himself with the game capsule, Nie Yan continued on with his quest. As he followed Bennett’s Soul, he gradually neared the base of the volcano. A river of lava was flowing down from the side of the volcano as noxious sulfuric gases filled the air.

Nie Yan equipped the Leaper Ring and jumped over the river of lava. When he reached halfway up the volcano, he encountered a mysterious cave.

Because this was a high level region, Nie Yan was worried what sort of dangers lurked inside. But at this moment, Bennett’s Soul trembled in excitement and directly flew inside.

Nie Yan hesitated for a moment but still followed behind. Since he had already made it this far, it would be a waste to turn back now.

Scorching hot gusts of wind blew through this cave. If it wasn’t for the Kiln Fire Heart, this boiling temperature would definitely cause him to continuously lose health.

As Nie Yan explored deeper into the cave, he saw all sorts of yellow crystals in the walls. These were Sulfur Crystals and could be used to make Gunpowder. It was a pity he needed a Miner to excavate them.

Chapter 410 - Armoured Catapults

After passing through a long and narrow tunnel, Nie Yan arrived in a spacious lava-filled chamber with a 60-meter high ceiling. Two giant lava monsters guarded the area up ahead. They were six meters tall blob-like creatures composed completely out of lava which regularly oozed out onto the ground.

They looked like miniature versions of the Lava Titan in Kiln Fire Woods. They were immune to fire and had high physical defense. The only way to effectively deal damage to them was with ice magic. Their attacks were also troublesome to deal with since they dealt neither physical nor magic damage, but rather lava damage along with additional fire damage from a burn debuff.

Lava Giant (Elite): Level 80

Health: 120,000/120,000

Level 80 Elites, a lot of health too… It was impossible for Nie Yan to kill these two Lava Giants. He could only try to sneak around them.

Nie Yan checked his surroundings. The ground was pockmarked with pools of bubbling lava. The two Lava Giants completely blocked his way forward. Everywhere they went they left behind a trail of lava that wouldn’t disappear for a long time.

The ceiling was glowing red hot due to the heat coming from the pools of lava below. Thankfully, the yellow Sulfur Crystals appeared unaffected. He could probably get around the Lava Giants by climbing across the walls.

Nie Yan entered stealth and made his way forward. He leaped over some lava flow and started clambering across the wall with the Crawler Ring.

The two Lava Giants were oblivious to Nie Yan’s presence thanks to his high Cloaking.

Suddenly, the Lava Giant closest to Nie Yan stopped and looked in his direction.

Nie Yan froze in his place. He hurriedly activated a few skills that increased his Cloaking.

The Lava Giant stared at Nie Yan’s hiding spot for a long time before swinging its right arm and lobbing a glob of lava in his direction.

Nie Yan’s heart tightened. Did I get discovered?

However, Nie Yan quickly noticed the glob of lava was only aimed in his general direction.「Bang!」It struck the wall several meters to his side, opening up numerous cracks. The tremors were so intense he nearly slipped off.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat. The Lava Giant’s attack was truly frightening!

After not discovering anything, the Lava Giant turned around and returned to a passive state.

Nie Yan continued creeping his way forward. Some of the crevices on the wall were more difficult to climb over than before. Just as he placed his hand over a Sulfur Crystal and put his weight on it, a chunk snapped off and loudly shattered on the ground.

Crap! I’m done for! Nie Yan silently cursed as he saw the two Lava Giants charge toward him.

Nie Yan was out of options. He leaped off the wall and bolted toward the closest exit.

The two Flame Giants slung globs of lava at Nie Yan. They arced through the air and struck the ground around him, splattering flames everywhere.

Before the splashing lava could hit him, Nie Yan activated Gale Step to avoid taking damage without breaking pace.

The two Lava Giants quickly caught up to Nie Yan. They sent their lava fists hurtling towards him from different directions.

When it looked like Nie Yan was going to be turned into a meat patty, he shot a web line from his left hand at the wall up ahead and swung away to safety. With the Crawler Ring still being active, he quickly climbed up the wall before leaping away.

The two Lava Giants slammed into each other, sending their colossal bodies crashing into the ground.

Nie Yan took advantage of this opportunity to bolt far away, escaping his pursuers.

This map was unexplored, so there were many Elites still roaming around. Nie Yan moved deeper into the cave with extreme caution, for fear of attracting any unwanted attention.

After travelling for about an hour, avoiding the detection of numerous Lava Giants, Nie Yan couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh. Just how deep was this cave?

Checking the time, there were about five hours left before the meeting with Warlance. It looked like he was going to be late at this rate. Even now he still hadn’t found his goal. He still had no clue where Bennett’s Soul was leading him to.

After travelling through another rugged tunnel, Nie Yan saw an exit up ahead. It led to a giant chamber of 1,000 by 1,000 meters with a 20-meter high ceiling. Lava flowed over the floor, and there were almost 30 Lava Giants wandering around.

A lone pillar roughly 14 meters tall stood at the center of the chamber. There appeared to be something placed on top of it.

Reaching the top of the pillar was going to be a tall order. The Lava Giants guarding the vicinity would immediately swarm any intruder that got too close. Nie Yan would normally just get past them with the Crawler Ring. However, the ceiling was also flowing with lava, making climbing or even swinging with a web line impossible.

Nie Yan was in deep thought when he suddenly received word from Guo Huai that more than 50,000 players from Bloodlust Blades were moving towards the Blackstone Stronghold. Asskickers United had one Intermediate Stronghold and three Basic Strongholds. Among them the one with the weakest defense was precisely the Blackstone Stronghold. Even though it was developed, there weren’t many NPC archers and zero siege crossbows. The defenses on the walls paled in comparison to those of their other strongholds. The real-world business district inside also wasn’t yet fully developed.

Although the loss of the Blackstone Stronghold wouldn’t be a huge blow to Asskickers United, it was still a stronghold! And perhaps more importantly, who was to say Bloodlust Blades would be satisfied with just one stronghold? They would definitely want a mile after taking taking an inch!

「How did Bloodlust Blades get over there?」Nie Yan asked.

「Around 50,000 set off by horse five hours ago. Another few thousand teleported to Calore. I had Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire hold off the ones that teleported here. They won’t get out of the city,」Guo Huai replied. He had handled things in a timely and appropriate manner.

Riding on horseback took a long time, but it was the most cost effective method. Not to mention if all 50,000 players from Bloodlust Blades teleported to Calore, Asskickers United would keep them locked up within the city walls.

Bloodlust Blades definitely had something up their sleeves since they dared to attack the Blackstone Stronghold.

「Have Alliances of Mages and Divine Protectors shown any sign of movement?」Nie Yan asked. What he was most worried about were these two guilds joining the fray. They had basically grown unhindered in their territories, so it would be troublesome if they participated in this conflict.

「Both of them dispatched a thousand elite players. Angel Corps also sent over 500 players to stir up trouble,」Guo Huai replied in an anxious tone.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. A war wasn’t simply won with numbers alone. A group of 20 elites working together could easily wipe out more than 1,000 ordinary players with area-of-effect magic. Angel Corps, Divine Protectors, and Alliance of Mages had all sent over their elites. This matter had just become a whole lot more troublesome.

「Any other news?」Nie Yan asked before sinking into silent thought. It seemed like war was unavoidable. If Asskickers United was defeated, the enemy would cling onto the momentum and follow up with an even fiercer onslaught. But if Bloodlust Blades lost, it would most likely lead to the guild disbanding. No matter how you looked at it, neither side could afford to lose. It would be a battle with their fates at stake.

「This is a video recorded by our scouts. Take a look.」Guo Huai sent over a video to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan found a safe hiding place and opened up the video.

This video was probably recorded by a Thief. It showed a fairly up close view of the forces of Bloodlust Blades marching onwards. After a while, a giant siege machine came into view. It was made out of wood and covered in metal plates. At the center was a long, solid wooden beam with a bucket at the end large enough to hold boulders and similar sized objects. Its design was intricate.

Nie Yan’s face paled after seeing this giant siege machine. Although he had never participated in sieges in his past life, he had seen these types of contraptions while passing through battlefields before. This thing was called an Armoured Catapult!

There were many types of ranged siege machines, such as trebuchets and catapults. Where trebuchets had a larger range, catapults were more destructive. They could launch six exploding iron balls at a time, wreaking havoc to the enemy lines and walls. Armoured Catapults were true killing machines, even excelling in war on an open battlefield. A single launch could wipe out a huge slew of players.

In the previous timeline, Nie Yan had watched several hundred Armoured Capaults decimate a Tier 6 reinforced wall after just two bombardments.

「What is that thing?」Guo Huai asked. His knowledge in the game was limited. But judging from the appearance, he could guess it was a ranged siege weapon. He just didn’t know how powerful it was.

「It’s an Armoured Catapult. Do you know how many they have?」Nie Yan asked with a frown.

「We don’t know yet, but probably not many.」

「Mobilize the Hundred Thieves to find out exactly how many Armoured Catapults they have!」Nie Yan ordered in a serious tone. This information was critical.

Chapter 411 - Empress Finas’ Eye

Nie Yan refused to believe Bloodlust Blades had more than a few Armoured Catapults. They were extremely costly to manufacture, both in terms of resources and manpower. Although only several of them were enough to destroy the walls of the Blackstone Stronghold, they didn’t pose much of a threat beyond that.

Armoured Catapults were only dangerous in large numbers. A single bombardment could wipe out players in droves. The vast majority of players, save for those over Level 100 with full set equipment, would be instantly killed by the explosive incendiary shells.

Perhaps the Goblin Magic Cannons could destroy the Armoured Catapults before they neared the Blackstone Stronghold by relying on their superior range. However, that would depend on Asskickers United getting them out in time.

This was only the beginning of the siege. Both guilds had brought out their most advanced weaponry.

Aside from manufacturing siege weapons, Asskickers United also had to start focusing on reinforcing the defenses of their strongholds. After provoking the likes of Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps, their future was guaranteed to be full of strife.

War was fast approaching. Nie Yan understood just how important funding was to Asskickers United at this moment.

「Try to hold out for the next two days,」Nie Yan said. When he returned to the surface, Asskickers United would have at least an additional 1,000,000 gold in capital.

「Two days shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll mobilize the five branch guilds. Even if they can’t do much to the enemy’s forces, they can still buy us a precious few hours,」Guo Huai said. Without accounting for travel time, taking down a stronghold generally took at least a day, which meant the most Bloodlust Blades could accomplish before Nie Yan returned was the occupation of the Blackstone Stronghold. If it really came down to it, Asskickers United could just cut their losses. After all, the stronghold wasn’t going anywhere. It would fall back in their hands after they won the war. All it meant was that their initial investment would be lost.

Asskickers United would have no problem delaying the final battle until Nie Yan returned from the Underworld.

Aside from discussing plans on how to deal with Bloodlust Blades, Nie Yan also ordered Guo Huai to start recruiting more Engineers, Tinkerers, Blacksmiths, and Miners. He feared it would be too late if they waited until the war was over. Since Bloodlust Blades had produced Armoured Catapults, Asskickers United also had to step up the pace, or risk facing grave consequences if they lagged too far behind in terms of both scientific advancements and technology.

What Asskickers United lacked the least right now was Alchemists. Branches of the Starry Night Potion Shop could be found all across the Viridian Empire. With over 600 Alchemists employed, 13 of which were at the Advanced rank, they were unrivalled and could fulfill all the needs of the guild. However, when it came to the other crafting professions, they were sorely underdeveloped.

Guo Huai immediately got to work. Developing players for these several crafting professions would cost at least 100,000 gold. Talented Engineers and Tinkerers were especially hard to find. Thankfully, Nie Yan had given him a list of names, so all he had to do was go down the list. As for Miners, that was a far simpler task. He could recruit five or six hundred in a heartbeat. It was just a shame they couldn’t spare the manpower for mining expeditions in the middle of a war.

Generally, a whole map had to be cleared followed by the construction of a mine before operations could commence.

Doing anything required gold. Wars especially were expensive. It was crucial Nie Yan took full advantage of the Dark Portal!

「Hurry back after you’re finished with your business in the Underworld. Also, that Jewelcrafter you asked me to look for, I’ve already found him,」Guo Huai concluded.

「Alright.」Nie Yan had asked Guo Huai to help him find an Advanced Jewelcrafter because he wanted to use the five Radiant Gems in his possession to upgrade his special items.

The two chatted for a while before hanging up. One of the benefits of the game capsule was that it could link both in-game and real life communications. If Guo Huai had something important to report, he could exit the game and give Nie Yan’s phone a call. Like this, they could circumvent the no-communication restriction when players were in the territories of different factions, allowing Nie Yan to control Asskickers United remotely.

Nie Yan returned his attention to the group of Lava Giants ahead of him. He carefully studied their paths in an attempt to figure out a pattern. Even after intently observing them for a long time, he failed to discover an opening. Do I really have to kill all of them to reach the top of the pillar?

Suddenly, Nie Yan heard the faint sound of trickling water. He investigated further and discovered an underground lake hidden beneath the thick layers of rock. The maps in Conviction were always full of surprises. He hid under a crevice and slowly crawled over there before dipping his finger into the water. Surprisingly, it wasn’t hot at all. He dived in head-first and was greeted by a beautiful underwater world, where the only light was the scant rays that slipped through the cracks between the layers of rock.

As Nie Yan passed by a few crevices, he could see the Lava Giants roaming around above him. After swimming for 150 meters, the pillar was within reach.

Climbing back up to the surface through a crevice, Nie Yan discovered several Lava Giants roaming nearby. He hurriedly activated Disappear and took advantage of the increased Cloaking to approach the pillar and start his ascend.

A moment later, Nie Yan reached the top of the pillar. There he saw an eye calmly floating above a one-meter tall pedestal. It looked like a dazzling emerald emitting a brilliant splendor. It occasionally swiveled around as if it were still alive.

This was Empress Finas’ Eye!

This was the second Occult Item in the quest! Recalling the previous experience with Empress Finas’ Fang, Nie Yan equipped the Detoxifying Marble into his accessory slot before reaching out to take the eye. Suddenly, it trembled and locked onto him.

Nie Yan was struck by a powerful force, every nerve in his body firing off all at once as his skin turned deathly pale.

This was the effect of an Advanced poison!

Nie Yan felt stiff all over as his body was paralyzed. Even moving his fingers was difficult.

−342

−387

−403...

Nie Yan hurriedly activated the Detoxifying Marble as he felt a warm energy course through him and slowly expel the poison.

Nie Yan finally regained control of his body. With the Detoxifying Marble still in effect, he grabbed Empress Finas’ Eye. It resisted violently, trying to break free from his palm. However, his grip remained firm. It gradually lost its brilliance and transformed into an ordinary looking marble.

Nie Yan examined the properties of Empress Finas’ Eye.

Empress Finas’ Eye (Quest Item): Occult Item

Description: Attacks inflict the enemy with poison and reduces their movement speed by 30%.

It was the second of three Occult Items, and boasted pretty decent properties. Nie Yan checked his quest log.

Quest Progress: Search for Empress Finas’ Venom Sac, Occult Item (2/3).

One more to go… Nie Yan wondered what sort of reward he would get for completing this quest. As for whether it would end there or continue on into another quest, he wasn’t too sure.

Nie Yan put away Empress Finas’ Eye in his bag. Although he had collected the eye, Bennett’s Soul didn’t look like it was ready to stop. It danced around him and tried to guide him somewhere else.

Surveying his surroundings, Nie Yan spotted a crevice below the pillar. He jumped back down and dove into the water. He started swimming forward, following after Bennett’s Soul.

Gazing down at the serene depths of the lake, all Nie Yan saw was a large span of darkness along with the faint glow of lava here and there. Large clusters of gas bubbles would occasionally rise up and cloud his vision.

Nie Yan was eventually led to an underwater ridge. As he moved along the ridge, he discovered another cave.

I should still have enough breath left. Nie Yan swam into the cave. Travelling deeper inside, he noticed man-made scribblings on the walls. Could someone be living here?

Pushing these doubts to the back of his mind, Nie Yan pressed forward. As he looked around, he noticed all sorts of strange veiny runes drawn into the walls. They were made out of a black substance and stretched all the way into the depths of the cave.

Nie Yan eventually arrived in a stone room, where he could see the flicker of a figure’s shadow. Any monster or NPC that was residing here would at least be Level 80!

Nie Yan became wary. He slowed his movements and entered stealth. The stone room was roughly 50 by 50 meters, and was completely empty save for an NPC in tattered clothes sitting at the center. He was surrounded by black rope-like lines which converged on him and extended out all across the floor and walls.

This was a sealing formation!

Nie Yan looked at the NPC’s face and saw a bare white skull with two red flames flickering in the eye sockets.

It was an undead NPC!

Nie Yan’s heart tightened. At this moment, the NPC raised his head and looked in his direction. He felt like he was completely laid bare under his gaze.

"Human, what are you doing here?” the NPC asked in the Ancient Common Language, his voice hoarse.

The Modern Common Language had replaced the Ancient Common Language in the Viridian Empire hundreds of years ago. This meant the NPC had been around since at least the Era of Shared Governance!

Chapter 412 - Legendary Necromancer Nadago

The Era of Shared Governance, a splendid age that gave birth to countless dazzling talents who would go on to become legendary figures. But within the constant strife, many ultimately failed to escape the hands of fate and became nothing more than sunken bones in the river of time. Those who survived to the modern day could be counted on a single hand.

Of the people Nie Yan had met, Karsi counted as one, War God Kelo as well, and now this NPC before him too.

The general rule of thumb was the longer-lived the more powerful. The level of might these undying existences had reached wasn’t something ordinary NPCs could ever hope to attain.

Since Nie Yan had been discovered, he no longer had any reason to stay hidden. He dispelled his stealth and tried to walk over to an empty corner in the room, only to feel a powerful force pushing him back. There was a protective barrier here!

Nie Yan suddenly saw numerous incorporeal chains stretching out from the walls binding the NPC to this room.

The chains were invisible yet extremely strong.

Nie Yan carefully looked over the undead NPC with Transcendent Insight.

Necromancer Nadago (Legendary): Level 260

Health: ???/???

Nie Yan couldn’t see the NPC’s health and other stats. Nadago’s level was somewhat lower than that of Kelowitz. He evidently still hadn’t reached the realm of a god.

The Legendary staff fragment Nie Yan picked up from that Leshen earlier probably belonged to this very person!

Bennett’s soul trembled restlessly, as if it had sensed something.

The pair of flames in Nadago’s eye sockets pulsed in surprise. "So, it’s the soul of that Molelord. I actually have something on here that might interest you.” He took out a black talisman with a myriad of profound charms drawn on it.

Bennett’s soul shone brilliantly in resonance with the talisman, lighting up the entire stone room.

Nie Yan was convinced the black talisman had some sort of connection with Bennett’s Soul. Why else would it guide him here?

Nadago grinned mysteriously with a rattle of his jaw. "This is an Occult Talisman. It allows you to summon a powerful Molelord from a pocket dimension. However, the summon will just be an empty vessel. If you let this Molelord’s soul merge with it, it’ll become an unstoppable behemoth that can rampage across the battlefield!”

Nadago’s eerie cackle sent shivers down Nie Yan’s spine. It was as if he knew Nie Yan would be interested in this talisman, like a fisherman throwing out his bait.

"Can I see it?” Nie Yan finally asked after a long moment of hesitation.

To Nie Yan’s surprise, Nadago didn’t refuse. Instead, he nodded in agreement. "Sure.”

With a wave of Nadago’s fingerbone, the talisman slowly floated over to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan accepted the talisman and examined its properties.

Occult Talisman (Legendary): Special Item

Description: Summon a Level 100 Molelord with 2,000,000 health for 3 hours. Cooldown: 60 days.

What a terrifying item!

60 days! In both his lifetimes playing Conviction and browsing its forums, Nie Yan had never even heard of something with such a ridiculously long cooldown. Perhaps only an SSS-grade quest could reward such an absurd item.

At this stage of the game, a Level 100 Molelord could absolutely steamroll over any player occupied stronghold.

Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with greed. He wanted this Occult Talisman for himself. Since Nadago was an NPC from the Evil Faction, stealing from him wouldn’t be considered a crime.

Nadago was the enemy!

Just as this thought crossed Nie Yan’s mind, Nadago’s jaws chattered as his eerie cackle filled the room. "Don’t even think about it. Without my permission, do you really think you can take away an item from the hands of me, a Legendary Necromancer? Even if I’ve been sealed in this damned place for almost a millennia, I can still easily snuff out your meagre life with a snap of my finger.”

Nadago dismissively flicked a finger, causing the talisman to shatter into motes of light and fade away.

Nie Yan’s right hand was jolted by the dreadful power. It turned numb and unresponsive.

This was a warning from Nadago!

It appeared things weren’t going to play out as nicely as Nie Yan had hoped.

Since Nadago was an Evil Faction NPC, Nie Yan would suffer punishment from the Righteous Faction if he accepted a quest from him. Not to mention Nadago was a dangerous figure. There was no telling Nadago wouldn’t stab him in the back afterwards, causing all his efforts to go up in smoke.

Nadago’s incorporeal chains shook as he stood up and levelled his gaze at Nie Yan. His eyes flared up, igniting a rising sense of dread in Nie Yan.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He forcefully calmed himself. "May I ask what you want my help with?” There was no harm in listening to the conditions of the quest first.

"It’s simple. All you have to do is follow what I say. Don’t test me. If I sense even a hint of movement from you… Oh. And don’t try to flee either, or I’ll instantly turn you into a corpse.”

Nie Yan felt a wisp of dark magic wrap around his throat, ready to end him at any time.

Nie Yan’s mind raced as he desperately sought a way to save himself and kill Nadago.

Nadago waved his staff as black obelisks erupted from the ground. Nie Yan looked around and noted seven in total. They were arranged in a strange pattern. Each of them carried a glowing white oval stone roughly the size of a fist. Nadago was bathed in their radiance as he cowered back in fear and shielded his eyes, letting out a string of curses in a language foreign to Nie Yan’s ears.

Nie Yan’s eyes shook as he noticed the stone floating on top of the obelisks resembled the Holy Stone in his bag, except these were larger and contained much more holy power. It was precisely these stones that were sealing Nadago!

Nadago waved his hand. Suddenly, the Nadago’s Staff of Curses appeared in Nie Yan’s hands. A powerful miasma gushed out from the skull at the tip, brimming with destructive power.

Nie Yan looked at the staff in his hand. He never expected the item he obtained from the Leshen would come into play this quickly.

The miasma corroded the barrier and tore open a hole. "Now then, enter,” Nadago beckoned.

Nie Yan hesitated for a moment. Right now he was a fish on the chopping block. He could only follow Nadago’s command while hoping for an opportunity to arise.

Nie Yan slowly walked forward while observing the other side’s expression. Even though Nadago’s face was a bare skull, he could still sense the change in mood.

In the instant Nie Yan stepped foot inside the barrier, he caught a trace of anxiousness flash across Nadago’s face.

Nadago was afraid!

Nie Yan confirmed he could threaten Nadago’s life after entering the barrier. Now he just needed to figure out how to kill him. With this knowledge, he calmed himself down. No good would come from being rash in this sort of situation.

Bennett’s Soul floated in front of Nie Yan and fluttered around, seemingly trying to tell him something.

Nie Yan checked his quest log.

Fate of Empress Finas

Follow the soul of Molelord Bennett and help him find out what happened to his beloved Empress Finas.

Objectives

☐ Search for Empress Finas’ Venom Sac, Occult Item: 2/3.

☐ Kill the Legendary Necromancer Nadago and take the Occult Talisman.

Sure enough, the quest objective was to kill Nadago, not save him.

"Destroy the Holy Stone toward the Stellar Fire!” Nadago shouted in a hoarse voice. The Stellar Fire was a direction which roughly pointed north-east. It was terminology used by Mages.

Nie Yan waved Nadago’s Staff of Curses and fired out a Shadow Arrow.「Bang!」The Holy Stone exploded into powder that gently fluttered to the ground.

‘"Good! Now destroy the Holy Stone toward the Stellar Water next!” Nadago ordered with an elated expression. With the first Holy Stone destroyed, he could already feel the illusory chains binding him loosening.

「Bang!」Nie Yan waved the staff again and shattered another Holy Stone.

"After a thousand years, I’ll finally get to leave this damned place. My first act will be to send that old bastard Karsi straight to hell! And then—then I’ll plunge the entire Viridan Empire into darkness and convert everyone there into my army of the unliving!” Nadago cackled hysterically, his sinister voice reverberating through the stone room.

At this moment, Bennett’s Soul absorbed the power from the fragments of the destroyed Holy Stones and released a dazzling light. Nie Yan could feel the power within Nadago’s Staff of Curses weakening. Even though he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do, he understood the staff was crucial to progressing the quest. It was the only thing that could destroy the Holy Stones!

When Nagado momentarily lost himself in his ravings, Nie Yan took advantage of the opportunity to unsheath Zennarde’s Sword. Let’s hope this works out! He slashed down without any hesitation and chopped off the skull at the tip of the staff.

The skull let out an anguished scream before shattering on the floor.

Nadago's Staff of Curses was destroyed!

Chapter 413 - Occult Behemoth, Molelord

Nadago’s soul suffered a heavy blow, putting him in a weakened state.

"Y-you! What have you done? I’ll skin you alive and torture your soul for all eternity!” Nadago furiously cursed. After a millennium of imprisonment, he had finally found an opportunity to break free of the shackles binding him and was only moments away from obtaining the freedom he so desired. But this wretched human ruined everything! He had channeled much of his soul into the Staff of Curses, employing Nie Yan as a proxy to shatter the Holy Stones. Its destruction represented a significant loss of his power.

Nie Yan was elated his gamble paid off. Although he had noticed the changes occurring in the Staff of Curses as soon as he entered the barrier, he was walking on a knife’s edge. Nadago could instantly end his life at the first sign of resistance. So, he could only bide his time, patiently waiting for an opportunity to appear. Had he not complied with the orders, he would be a corpse right now.

Impatience was the greatest enemy to achieving one’s own goals. With freedom right before his eyes, Nadago had dropped his guard, giving Nie Yan the opportunity to turn the tide!

Nevertheless, it was a pity such a valuable staff had to be sacrificed!

Nie Yan burst into action as he activated God’s Blessing and dashed toward Nadago with Zennarde’s Sword slashing down.

Nadago was a caster, so God’s Blessing could nullify his damage!

Nadago chanted out a cryptic incantation and cast a powerful curse on Nie Yan as a dark mist tightly wrapped around him.

However, the curse rapidly dissipated before disappearing entirely upon making contact with the membrane of light around Nie Yan.

After being closed in on by Nie Yan, the flames in Nadago’s eye sockets trembled in panic.

Zennarde’s Sword ruthlessly chopped down on Nadago’s chest, shattering two ribs and revealing a beating heart. This was his weak point! Necromancers were still human, albeit ones that endlessly pursued the power of death and transformed themselves into undead. But before becoming Liches, they still couldn’t entirely shed themselves of their mortal coil.

Still, Nie Yan was surprised Nadago was this weak. It appeared the destruction of the Staff of Curses had dealt him a severe blow.

「Pfft!」Nie Yan plunged his dagger into Nadago’s heart. Blood started gushing out like a fountain.

Nadago roared out in pain and unleashed a powerful blast of death energy which sent Nie Yan flying back.

The remaining Holy Stones shone even brighter, melting away the death energy in the surroundings before eventually reaching their limit and shattering into pieces. The stone room shook violently while web-like cracks spread out across the walls.

As the dust and smoke settled, Nadago, drained of all his power, collapsed on the ground.

Nie Yan glanced at his health, roughly 20% remaining. Fortunately, he wasn’t harmed by the death energy thanks to effects of God’s Blessing. He was only injured by the physical damage portion of the blast.

You have gained 2,186,578 experience for killing the Legendary Necromancer Nadago. Take the broken pieces of Nadago’s Staff of Curses to Great General Breakspear.

As three crisp jingles rang out in his head, Nie Yan went from Level 63 to Level 66. The experience reward was quite generous!

Nie Yan opened up his quest window.

Fate of Empress Finas

Follow the soul of Molelord Bennett and help him find out what happened to his beloved Empress Finas.

Objectives

☐ Search for Empress Finas’ Venom Sac, Occult Item: 2/3.

☑ Kill the Legendary Necromancer Nadago and take the Occult Talisman.

Nie Yan walked over to Nadago’s corpse and picked up the loot. He found the Occult Talisman and a mysterious black scroll.

The Occult Talisman is finally mine! Nie Yan could hardly contain his excitement.

Occult Talisman (Legendary): Special Item

Description: Summon a Level 100 Molelord with 2,000,000 health for a maximum of 3 hours. Cooldown: 60 days.

Requirements: 20 Great Mages, 3 Occult Items, 1 Soul, and 1 Magical Array

Nie Yan already had two Occult Items and Bennett’s Soul. He could probably scrape up 20 Great Mages by asking for the help of Sapphire Shrine, Holy Empire, War God Tribe, and Battle Crazed Alliance. As for the Magical Array, his vision fell on the elaborate hexagram array drawn on the black scroll.

Nie Yan would require an experienced Great Mage to set up the array. Furthermore, he’d also need three more Great Mages with the largest mana pools to hold the Occult Items. Together, the 20 Great Mages would have to chant for roughly an hour without interruption to summon the Molelord.

Afterwards, the 20 Great Mages would have to continuously expend mana to keep the Molelord in this plane. If the supply of mana was cut, it would disappear and couldn’t be summoned again for 60 days.

The Occult Talisman was off cooldown and could be used right away. The only thing missing was the last remaining Occult Item, Empress Finas’ Venom Sac!

Nie Yan tucked these items together in a corner of his bag. They had to be treated with great care. If the Molelord was used wisely, it’d be a game-changing trump card! He couldn’t help but wonder if there were others who had similar items. Although the possibility was infinitesimally low, he still had to remain vigilant.

Nie Yan noticed beside the just in his status window, brave was also added. This was the reward for killing Legendary Necromancer Nadago. He had no idea what these two modifiers meant. They required further research.

After searching around the room, Nie Yan didn’t find anything else. He retraced his steps and left the cave.

Bennett’s Soul didn’t appear again. The shattering of the Holy Stones probably had something to do with this disappearance. Without it guiding him, Nie Yan had no way of finding Empress Finas’ Venom Sac.

Looking at the server clock, it was almost time for his meeting with Warlance.

Nie Yan couldn’t use a Return Scroll. So, he could only make the journey back on foot. It took him about half an hour to arrive back at the flight point on the island. He paid the fee and flew back to the mainland, where he then galloped off toward the Ivory Village on his Faulkner Warhorse.

About 20 minutes later, the Ivory Village came within sight. Similar to Graveyard Village, it was also surrounded by a large plain with tombstones everywhere. This was a massive graveyard. Occasionally, corpse-eating birds could be seen flying overhead in the dark sky.

Nie Yan passed by the two skeleton guards stationed at the entrance and entered inside. This place wasn’t as bustling as Graveyard Village. Only a few players were walking on the narrow streets.

Nie Yan found a corner and set up a stall, putting his wares up on display as he waited for Warlance to arrive.

Since arriving back in the Underworld, Nie Yan had killed hundreds of players and filled several of his bags to the brim with their equipment. He might as well put them up for sale in his little stall and earn a bit of money while passing the time.

There weren’t many people in this village, with most of them only passing by. However, all the players here were at least Level 40 or higher. And more importantly, all of them had money to spend. Add this to the fact that Nie Yan’s wares were cheap and the quality high, they sold out fairly quickly. Tallying up his profits, he made almost 3,000 gold.

Roughly an hour and a half later, Nie Yan had emptied everything from his bag, and Warlance finally arrived.

Warlance quickly spotted Nie Yan. After exchanging meaningful looks, the two of them walked into a tavern.

They sat at a table in a remote corner of the room. "We have to be careful. Recently, we’ve entered a war with several guilds. There are players tailing me. The guild leader couldn’t personally come since he’s too big of a target.”

Nie Yan nodded. As long as they remained discreet, everything would more or less be fine.

At this moment, two Thieves in black leather armour walked into the tavern. They found a table not too far from Nie Yan and Warlance and sat down.

Nie Yan discovered these two players were both Great Thieves.

Warlance glanced at them before returning his attention to Nie Yan. "Those two belong to enemy guilds. Let's use private chat. When you leave the village later, make sure you don’t get followed.”

Nie Yan chuckled. "No worries. If I don’t want to be followed, no one can keep up with me. That aside, back at the Lava Sea, I ended up encountering that Thief you expelled from your guild. Will there be any problems?” He was worried Les would leak his relationship with Fallen Angel to outsiders.

"It’s fine. We have him under our watch,” Warlance said. They naturally wouldn’t leave such a loose end.

"You’ve brought the equipment?”

Warlance nodded. He handed over all the equipment to Nie Yan, along with 50 stacks of Death Wave Scrolls.

"So, how did the equipment I brought you sell?” Nie Yan asked with a smile. He assumed Fallen Angel had made a nice profit.

"We’ve already sold everything. The gold really helped us out of a crisis.”

Since both sides profited, this collaboration could continue smoothly. It appeared Fallen Angel was quite satisfied with their partnership.

Chapter 414 - Rock Giant Stargazers

After completing their transaction, Nie Yan and Warlance bid each other farewell, with the latter leaving first.

Nie Yan looked at the equipment in his bag, several dozen pieces that increased Night Vision, a few that increased Focus, and the rest increased Shadow Damage. The demand for Night Vision equipment on the surface was finite. Since so many pieces had been sold only a week ago, if another batch were to flood the market so soon, the equipment likely wouldn’t sell to their full potential. Additional time was required to allow players to digest. Although equipment that increased Shadow Damage wasn’t as popular on the surface, it would still sell well enough.

After sorting out his inventory, Nie Yan stood up and walked toward the tavern exit. Shortly after, the two Great Thieves also got up and left. Giving up on their pursuit of Warlance, they entered stealth to tail Nie Yan and find out his identity instead.

Nie Yan glanced at his status bar. He had been marked by Pursuit, a Spectral Thief exclusive skill that allowed the tracking of an invisible target. However, the mark would disappear if the target got more than 100 meters away.

Nie Yan looped around the area, using the 20% speed boost from Gale Step to throw off his pursuers, before he exited Ivory Village and sprinted off into the wilderness. By the time the two Great Thieves realized they had been fooled, Nie Yan was long gone. He had faded into the eternal night that shrouded the Underworld.

Nie Yan made his way through the wilderness. Every so often, he spotted players from various guilds wandering about, searching every nook and cranny for him to no avail.

Six different guilds! Looks like Fallen Angel made quite a few enemies this time. But… they still can’t catch me.

Finding a spot hidden away from view, Nie Yan ditched his black cloak and switched back to the Righteous Faction.

Nie Yan started looking for a place to level. When the Dark Portal came off cooldown in two days, he could finally return to the surface.

After grinding for a full five hours, Nie Yan found himself in a dense forested region full of Level 70+ monsters. At this moment, Bennett’s Soul floated out of the journal and appeared before him. To his surprise, it had grown bigger and brighter than before.

Bennett’s Soul drifted through the woods much faster than before. Nie Yan picked up his pace to keep up as it made a beeline toward the south.

Half an hour later, after passing through numerous maps, Nie Yan arrived in a region full of Level 100+ monsters. His scalp turned numb. The monsters here could kill him with a single attack. Level 100 was a watershed like Level 50. An ordinary Level 100 monster was as strong as a Level 90 Elite. Similarly, the equipment at Level 100 became much better as well. For example, the base stats of Level 100 White-grade equipment were equivalent to that of Level 90 Gold-grade equipment. The drop rate also saw a sharp decline, about one in a few hundred. As a result, many players would find themselves stalling at this level.

Nie Yan had first-hand experience of how difficult it was to overcome this barrier. When he had reached Level 100 in his past life, even white-grade equipment cost an arm and a leg. It wasn’t until much later, as Level 100+ players grew more abundant, that prices slowly fell to more reasonable levels.

Trying to fight a Level 100+ monster with Level 50 equipment was nothing short of courting death. Take the Guardian of Order as an example, even if it was a Level 100 monster with inferior intelligence, it was still an immensely powerful existence.

Nie Yan surveyed his surroundings and spotted several Rock Giants roaming around up ahead. They were five meters tall with bulging muscles and marble-like skin, and wielded spiked clubs embedded with wolf teeth.

Nie Yan snuck up to one of the Rock Giants and activated Transcendent Insight.

Rock Giant Hunters: Level 100

Health: 110,000/110,000

Nie Yan looked up the information page for Rock Giant Hunters on the official website.

Though relatively weak for Level 100 monsters, Rock Giant Hunters couldn’t be underestimated. They possessed smart combat AI, strong defensive and offensive skills, and their attacks could stun. They could be best described as caster killers. Their stun in combination with their quick speed allowed them to jump on players in no time. Only those with at least 500 movement speed would have any hope of keeping up with them.

Nie Yan didn’t wish to tangle with these Rock Giant Hunters. But Empress Finas’ Venom Sac was too important to him. Since he was already so close to his goal, it would be a shame to turn back now.

As Bennett’s Soul flew off into the distance, Nie Yan cautiously proceeded forward. He made sure to maintain a distance of no less than 30 meters between him and any of the Rock Giant Hunters. The level discrepancy was too high. Any closer and he would likely be noticed.

Nie Yan eventually arrived at the entrance to a ravine and spotted seven Rock Giant Hunters blocking the path forward.

Bennett’s Soul flew over to Nie Yan and bounced up and down in front of his face. It seemed to be telling him that Empress Finas’ Venom Sac was in this ravine.

Nie Yan touched the rock walls to the side and noticed they were covered in a slippery substance. He couldn’t make use of the Crawler Ring. He had to think of another way.

After observing the movements of the Rock Giant Hunters, Nie Yan activated Pygmy Transformation and started making his way forward while sticking close to the wall. Before long, he was near enough to make out the full appearance of the Rock Giants. Their sinister faces and immense size, especially now that he was a third of his normal size, made them quite frightening.

Nie Yan didn’t know what the safe distance between him and the Rock Giant Hunters was while in pygmy form. He gradually neared the 30-meter mark, his body hidden in the shadows cast by the rock walls.

As the the Rock Giant Hunters patrolled around, the one closest to Nie Yan starting walking in his direction.

25 meters, 20 meters, 15 meters… Nie Yan started growing anxious.

In the end, he wasn’t willing to take the risk and retreated back to his previous hiding spot.

Pondering over the matter, Nie Yan opened up the window for Divine Recruitment. He looked down the list and summoned Keo, the Rank 6 Paladin that boasted 200% of his stats.

It seemed like Nie Yan couldn’t avoid sacrificing Keo this time around. In any case, he could just pay a fee to revive him later.

"Sir Devil Slayer, how may I assist you?” Keo asked respectfully.

Nie Yan took manual control of Keo and made him approach the seven Rock Giant Hunters.

The Rock Giant Hunters started hollering and making threatening gestures. Although Nie Yan couldn’t understand them since they were speaking in the Rock Giant language, the meaning was clear—back off!

Nie Yan directed Keo to use Purification on one of the Rock Giant Hunters.

After the attack struck one of them, all the Rock Giant Hunters charged toward Keo.

Under Nie Yan’s control, Keo turned tail and fled with Indomitable Will, disappearing into the darkness.

As Keo lured the Rock Giant Hunters further and further away, Nie Yan seized the opportunity to pass through the long and narrow passage and enter the ravine.

Several minutes later, Nie Yan received a notification that Keo was killed.

Nie Yan followed Bennett’s Soul through the ravine, eventually arriving in an open space covering 500 by 500 meters. The vegetation here was cleared away, and the ground was smoothed out with gravel.

A large stone platform about three meters tall with an area of 10,000 square meters sat in the middle of the open space. There were flights of stairs on all four sides, leading up to the top, where three Rock Giants in robes could be seen roaming around. They were noticeably bigger than the ones outside.

You have discovered the Cavell Sacrificial Star Platform.

Nie Yan cautiously approached the altar and inspected one of the robed Rock Giants with Transcendent Insight.

Rock Giant Stargazer (Leader): Level 100

Health: 100,000/100,000

Although there were no other Rock Giants in this area, these three Rock Giant Stargazers were more than enough to stop Nie Yan dead in his tracks.

There appeared to be something at the center of the platform. Nie Yan moved to a different side. Peering through the gap between two Rock Giant Stargazers, he saw a peculiar object floating three meters in the air. It was around the size of a fist and let out a resplendent green glow.

Since he was too far away, Nie Yan couldn’t tell exactly what it was.

At this moment, Bennett’s Soul flew to his side and informed him the object was Empress Finas’ Venom Sac.

Nie Yan opened up the relevant information page on the official website for Rock Giant Stargazers.

Rock Giant Stargazers: Even deep in the Underworld, these Rock Giants can still sense changes in the stars. They are servants of darkness that possesses formidable magic power.

Rock Giant Stargazers had a large variety of skills at their disposal. The most notable were Wolf Golem which summoned a giant wolf made out of stone, Lunar Sacrifice which dealt continuous damage to all living creatures within a 50-meter radius, and Howl of Terror which knocked out all targets within a 30-meter radius. Besides this, their physical attacks were even stronger than the Rock Giant Hunters.

These Rock Giant Stargazers were quite frightening. Nie Yan cautiously approached within 30 meters of one of them, whereupon it seemed to notice something and looked in his direction. The gaze hidden behind its hood seemed like it could pierce through the darkness.

Nie Yan held his breath, not daring to move an inch.

After a while, the Rock Giant Stargazer turned away. Only then did Nie Yan dare to slowly step back. Even with the increased stealthing capabilities from Pygmy Transformation, the safe distance was only 30 meters. He estimated that range would increase to at least 50 meters if he returned to his original size.

The Level 100 Rock Giant Stargazers prevented Nie Yan from taking even half a step forward. Empress Finas’ Venom Sac was so close, yet so far away.

Chapter 415 - Star Shrines

Nie Yan wondered if these Rock Giant Stargazers could be lured away from the Sacrificial Star Platform like those seven Rock Giant Hunters guarding the entrance to the ravine earlier. Were that to be the case, he would have to sacrifice Lil’ Gold this time since he had already used Divine Recruitment. Although the loyalty lost would take a long time to recover, it’d be worth it if he could obtain Empress Finas’ Venom Sac.

Nie Yan retreated out of the open space to a secluded area about 300 meters away and summoned Lil’ Gold. He started making his preparations.

Nie Yan entered stealth and returned to the open space. He circled around to the north of the Sacrificial Star Platform, then ordered Lil’ Gold to approach from the south.

Before long, Lil’ Gold caught the attention of the three Rock Giant Stargazers. All of them turned to focus on him.

Nie Yan cautiously approached the platform. He was waiting for Lil’ Gold to lure away the Rock Giant Stargazers, so he could run up and snatch away Empress Finas’ Venom Sac.

Lil’ Gold breathed out scorching hot flames at the Rock Giant Stargazers, only to see a dark membrane of light envelop their bodies at the last moment.「Bang!」The Dragon Breath collided with the Dark Barriers and exploded into embers which quickly faded into the sky.

The flames couldn’t even touch the Rock Giant Stargazers’ robes.

Nie Yan hurriedly ordered Lil’ Gold to flee.

Contrary to Nie Yan’s expectations, the Rock Giant Stargazers didn’t leave the platform. They waved their staffs and summoned three Wolf Golems. Standing over two meters tall with massive builds, they immediately pounced after Lil’ Gold, who was much slower than them. After all, they were Level 100 summons!

Lil’ Gold barely made it about 400 meters before the Wolf Golems caught up and clawed him to shreds.

Nie Yan winced at the tragic fate that befell his pet. Lil’ Gold wasn’t a match for these Level 100 Wolf Golems.

Your pet Lil’ Gold has died.

Nie Yan was just about to rush up the platform when he halted his steps. Slowly, he backed away. His plan had gone up in smoke after failing to lure the Rock Giant Stargazers away from the altar.

Nie Yan paced back and forth at the outskirts of the Sacrificial Star Platform, trying to come up with a suitable plan. But nothing came to mind. He could only wait until the next day for some of his key skills to come off cooldown.

Nie Yan found a safe corner in the ravine and logged off.

Wondering how Asskickers United was holding up without him, Nie Yan called up Guo Huai. Since Guo Huai also had a game capsule, they could talk while he was still in game.

Guo Huai sent over a few videos to Nie Yan, who played them on his cellphone while being briefed on the situation.

It appeared the war was already in full swing. After surrounding the Blackstone Stronghold, Bloodlust Blades had set up their three Armoured Catapults, which launched glowing red-hot iron balls weighing almost 30 lbs into the sky. They flew several hundred meters and crashed into the outer walls. A few even landed inside the stronghold and exploded into crowds of people, killing dozens of players in an instant and transforming them into rays of light.

Asskickers United had suffered heavy losses after launching several raids in an attempt to destroy the three Armoured Catapults. The elites dispatched by Angel Corps from the Stareen Empire had placed down all sorts of obstructions outside the Blackstone Stronghold, Caltrops from the Demon Hunters and Thunderstorm Mines from the Elemental Shamans. The Thunderstorm Mines in particular were spread out quite extensively, dotting the ground in a 500-meter radius. Any player unlucky enough to get too close would be annihilated by an explosion of lightning energy that covered a five-meter radius.

Bloodlust Blades didn’t send any of their players out. They continued using the Armoured Catapults to bombard the Blackstone Stronghold, destroying the outer walls at a rapid pace.

Each of the Armoured Catapults could launch five iron balls at a time every 120 seconds.

Asskickers United’s side had already descended into chaos. Bladelight and Smoke Stub were in charge of the Blackstone Stronghold’s defense. Many of the walls required urgent repairs. They knew the chances of winning this siege were slim to none. Their only goal was to delay Bloodlust Blades for as long as possible.

Almost all the players guarding the Blackstone Stronghold right now belonged to the five auxiliary guilds. Although they numbered over 100,000, they were weak. Even if they died, the loss wouldn’t hurt Asskickers United.

About half an hour into the video, the outer walls finally collapsed, and the forces from Bloodlust Blades flooded into the Blackstone Stronghold like a surging tide.

After an entire day of fierce fighting, it finally came to an end.

The Blackstone Stronghold was lost.

The forces from Bloodlust Blades started marching on towards the Cripps Stronghold, causing Asskickers United to sink into panic. The Cripps Stronghold absolutely couldn’t fall! Asskickers United had poured a vast amount of resources into it, not to mention the capital invested into it by the Dragonsoar Financial Group. If it were to fall, all their efforts would go down the drain. Especially the Dragonsoar Financial Group, it would take them at least 20 days to recoup their initial investment. Yet the Cripps Stronghold had only been captured less than a week ago!

If the Cripps Stronghold was fully developed, it would almost assuredly become a flourishing metropolis second only to Calore. Even if Asskickers United was on the verge of collapse, the Cripps Stronghold couldn’t fall!

It would take Bloodlust Blades’ forces at least three hours to arrive at the Cripps Stronghold. Asskickers United had to stall for as much time as possible!

Asskickers United started mobilizing their forces in Calore. Regardless of whether it was Sapphire Shrine or Holy Empire, they were all preparing for war.

Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine continuously dispatched troops to harass Bloodlust Blades. However, they suffered great losses at the hands of the Armoured Catapults. A single bombardment wiped almost 300 players from over 500 meters away. This destructive power was truly frightening!

After watching through all the videos, Nie Yan had a rough understanding of the situation. If the Cripps Stronghold fell, Asskickers United would suffer a huge blow. He needed to hurry back to the surface.

During most of the day, Nie Yan discussed with Guo Huai about what steps Asskickers United would be taking going forward. As long as he returned to the surface, the 1,000,000 gold could turn the tides.

Later in the evening, Nie Yan logged back into Conviction. He glanced at his skill bar. With the start of a new day, all his skills were off cooldown.

Nie Yan continued trying to find a method to steal Empress Finas’ Venom Sac. He watched the three Rock Giant Stargazers walk to the other side of the Sacrificial Star Platform.

Perhaps this was an opportunity!

Nie Yan slowly snuck over while in stealth. However, when he was only 20 meters from reaching the platform, he was stopped by a faint membrane of light. There was also a barrier here!

He had no way of approaching the Sacrificial Star Platform!

Nie Yan fell into a daze. What the hell! A barrier too? There’s no way I can complete this quest like this!

At his wits' end, Nie Yan was prepared to leave. However, Bennett’s Soul kept lingering near the Sacrificial Star Platform, refusing to leave.

At this moment, Nie Yan happened to look east and spotted a six-meter tall stone tower sitting on a cliff edge 300 meters away. His mind trembled. Maybe it was related to the quest!

Nie Yan made his way over and discovered a black tower. There was a giant black gem at the top which shone with a mesmerizing light. The walls of the tower were carved with all sorts of intricate constellations. It was a star atlas that represented the night sky!

You have discovered a Star Shrine.

Nie Yan opened up his quest window.

Objectives

☐ Destroy all the Star Shrines: 0/6.

☐ Enter the Sacrificial Star Platform.

☐ Obtain Empress Finas’ Venom Sac.

Nie Yan looked around and spotted five other black towers flickering in the darkness. With the Sacrificial Star Platform as the core, they formed a hexagram array.

Nie Yan approached the Star Shrine before him.

After thinking for a bit, Nie Yan took out Zennarde’s Sword. He leaped into the air with the Leaper Ring and slashed down on the black gem at the top of the shrine, shattering it into pieces.

Nothing could stand up to Zennarde’s Sword!

Following the destruction of the black gem, the Star Shrine collapsed on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust into the air.

You have destroyed a Star Shrine.

Following the quest markers, Nie Yan found the five remaining Star Shrines and destroyed each of them.

When Nie Yan destroyed the final Star Shrine, the barrier surrounding the Sacrificial Star Platform shattered like glass before disappearing into the air.

The three Rock Giant Stargazers turned their heads in Nie Yan’s direction. They then left the altar and started moving towards him.

Nie Yan’s eyes widened in alarm. He quickly entered stealth and made a large detour around the Rock Giant Stargazers before fleeing away.

His fate would be sealed if the Rock Giant Stargazers caught him.

Failing to find the perpetrator, the Rock Giant Stargazers turned around and returned to the Sacrificial Star Platform.

After destroying the barrier, it was possible to lure away the Rock Giant Stargazers. With no other choice, Nie Yan once again summoned Lil’ Gold along with the Rank 8 Paladin Rennes.

Finished with his preparations, Nie Yan had Lil’ Gold and Paladin Rennes approach from opposite directions.

Paladin Rennes was the first to attract the attention of the Rock Giant Stargazers. They waved their staffs and summoned three Wolf Golems which immediately pounced after her.

Paladin Rennes immediately turned around and fled.

At this moment, Lil’ Gold emerged from the opposite side and breathed out flames at the Rock Giant Stargazers. After being attacked, they left the Sacrificial Star Platform and moved to surround him.

Chapter 416 - Empress Finas’ Venom Sac

Nie Yan glanced at Lil’ Gold’s stats and discovered he had only lost seven points of loyalty. Since Lil’ Gold had never died until now, his loyalty was quite high. So, dying once or twice wouldn’t have that much of an impact.

Even though Lil’ Gold had lured the Rock Giant Stargazers away, he couldn’t keep their attention for long, maybe half-a-minute to a minute at most. He was simply not their match at his current level.

Nie Yan rushed up the Sacrificial Star Platform. His heart raced, knowing Empress Finas’ Venom Sac was almost within reach.

Paladin Rennes has died.

The Wolf Golems caught up to Renness and ripped her to shreds before she could even reach the 30-meter mark.

On the other side, the Rock Giant Stargazers caught up to Lil’ Gold after 60 meters. They waved their staffs as a powerful force enveloped him.

Strangling Shadows!

Shadowy tendrils shot up from the ground and wrapped around Lil’ Gold, rendering him immobile.

Lil’ Gold let out a miserable cry as the frightening power of the shadows crushed him to death.

Nie Yan was only steps away from Empress Finas’ Venom Sac when the three Rock Giant Stargazers, sensing something, turned around and discovered him. They waved their staffs as a cryptic chant flowed out of their mouths.

Howl of Terror!

A powerful sound wave swept out from the Rock Giant Stargazers. Nie Yan was about to be struck by the Howl of Terror, when he activated Adjudicator of God in the nick of time.

Miss!

Adjudicator of God granted Magic Immunity!

Several curses also fell on Nie Yan. If it weren’t for Adjudicator of God, the Howl of Terror and curses would’ve stopped him dead in his tracks.

Nie Yan pounced forward and snatched away Empress Finas’ Venom Sac. He immediately felt a stinging sensation in his palm. It was filled with potent poison, like the eye and fang!

Nie Yan’s skin rapidly turned a pale shade of green. He quickly removed the poison with the Detoxifying Marble, then tossed Empress Finas’ Venom Sac into his bag.

At this moment, the three Rock Giant Stargazers rushed up and smashed down on Nie Yan with their staffs.

Nie Yan smirked as he crushed the Unknown Transfer Scroll in his hand.

「Crash!」The staffs passed through the phantom image of Nie Yan and smashed into the floor of the Sacrificial Star Platform. He had already teleported away.

A moment later, Nie Yan’s figure appeared in a patch of forest a thousand meters away from the ravine.

I’m safe… Nie Yan breathed out a sigh of relief. He hid in a nook beside a nearby tree and quietly waited for the Dark Portal to come back off cooldown.

Nie Yan used this time to examine Empress Finas’ Venom Sac.

Empress Finas’ Venom Sac (Quest Item): Occult Item

Description: Inflict 30% of the owner’s attack power as a deadly poison that deals continuous damage over 30 seconds.

Nie Yan had finally obtained three Occult Items, fulfilling the conditions required to use the Occult Talisman.

He checked his quest window.

Quest Progress: Search for the Occult Talisman - Arachne Empress Finas.

Another Occult Talisman? And this one seemed to be for summoning Arachne Empress Finas! Sadly, Nie Yan would have to put off the search for another day. After all, he still hadn’t even used the Molelord Occult Talisman.

Nie Yan didn’t move from his hiding spot. After a few hours, he opened the Dark Portal and stepped inside.

Seeing the clear blue sky and breathing in the fresh air, Nie Yan knew he had finally returned home. As a surface dweller, the atmosphere in the Underworld was stifling. The vice-versa was also the same for players in the Underworld.

Teleporting back to Calore with a Return Scroll, Nie Yan arrived to a guild office practically devoid of players. Everyone had left for the Cripps Stronghold. Its preservation was crucial to the survival of the guild!

Nie Yan used the transfer point in the guild office to teleport to the Cripps Stronghold, where he was greeted by a large number of players bustling about.

Nie Yan’s arrival filled everyone with excitement. He was undoubtedly the backbone of Asskickers United.

"Boss, you’re back!”

Almost every player in Asskickers United was called back to the Cripps Stronghold. All of the top elites were gathered here!

Nie Yan quickly made his way to the guild headquarters, where Guo Huai and the other higher-ups were in the midst of a meeting. When they heard he had returned, they all came out to greet him.

"How’s the situation? Where are Bladelight and the others?” Nie Yan asked.

"They’re busy handling the defense of the Cripss Stronghold,” Guo Huai replied. "Bloodlust Blades’ forces will arrive in two hours. They’ve formed a defensive circle around the Armoured Catapults and are advancing step by step. We have no way of stopping them. Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire have already delayed them for a long time, and they’ve suffered heavy losses. Thank god you’re back! I don’t know what I’d do if we lost the stronghold while you were gone!”

"I’ve brought back another batch of equipment from the Underworld. Get some people to put them up for sale on the auction houses. I estimate we’ll make at least 1,000,000 gold,” Nie Yan said before handing over all the equipment in his bag to Guo Huai.

Guo Huai’s eyes widened in shock as he saw his trade window fill up with rare equipment. He estimated that even the cheapest pieces were well worth over 1,000 gold. The gold they would earn from selling off this equipment could resolve their money problems for a good while. Asskickers United simply had too many expenses. Besides covering for the guild members that died, Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire also had to be compensated for their losses.

"One more thing, help me gather all the Great Mages in Asskickers United, Sapphire Shrine, Holy Empire, Battle Crazed Alliance, and the War God Tribe,” Nie Yan said. He planned to summon the Molelord with the Occult Talisman when the time was right. Since it had a cooldown of 60 days, it wasn’t an item that could be used rashly.

Guo Huai was baffled. Why did Nie Yan need so many Great Mages? However, he didn’t pry any further and simply passed down the order to his subordinates.

"What’s the progress with the Goblin Magic Cannon?” Nie Yan asked. A Goblin Magic Cannon would certainly come in handy right about now. Since it had a far greater range than the Armoured Catapults, it was perfect for defending a stronghold.

"We’re at the final stages of the manufacturing process. I don’t know how much longer it’ll take to finish, probably around five to six hours,” Guo Huai replied. Given the solid defenses of the Cripps Stronghold, it would take Bloodlust Blades at least two days to break through.

"Let’s go check ourselves,” Nie Yan said. He had Guo Huai guide him to the secret underground workshop behind the guild headquarters.

The Goblin Magic Cannon would make or break this war.

The two passed through a long, narrow tunnel and entered the workshop.

The Tinkerers inside were rushing to get the Goblin Magic Cannon out, even more so now that they knew Bloodlust Blades was right outside their doorstep.

According to the data Guo Huai gathered, Armoured Catapults were more suited to battles on an open field than siege warfare because their range was only 500 meters. On the other hand, Goblin Magic Cannons had a range of 1,000 meters, or even greater if placed at a higher elevation. Bloodlust Blades currently had no idea Asskickers United was building a Goblin Magic Cannon. With the element of surprise, it would prove even more effective.

The Tinkerers turned their attention to the two visitors. Nie Yan nodded, gesturing for them to continue on with their work. As he inspected their progress, he saw the Goblin Magic Cannon was nearly complete, only requiring a final few touches.

The Goblin Magic Cannon had a three-meter long barrel with a muzzle the size of a water basin. The body was iron-black with a dark gold lustre. Supporting everything was a solid metal stand. The whole thing weighed several thousand pounds.

One could imagine just how much firepower a cannon this large possessed.

Next to the Goblin Magic Cannon was a large stack of cannonballs. Each one weighed 30 lbs. Heated red by the detonation of gunpowder, they would deal enormous damage, especially when fired from high atop the walls of a stronghold.

"How much longer will it take to finish?” Nie Yan asked one of the Tinkerers.

"We’ve already manufactured 50 cannonballs. There’s plenty of gunpowder as well. All that’s left is the mana injection of the barrel. If we’re quick, it’ll take three, maybe four hours at most,” the Tinkerer explained in a respectful tone. He was someone who joined the guild later. Even though they had never met, he knew what Nie Yan looked like. After all, the name of Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame was famous across the entire Viridian Empire.

To have achieved this much in only five days was impressive. After all, this was their first time manufacturing a Goblin Magic Cannon.

"Hurry up. We’ll be needing it soon,” Nie Yan said. With Bloodlust Blades arriving in the next two hours, Asskickers United was in a desperate situation.

"Yes, Boss!” the Tinkerer nodded fervently before urging the other Tinkerers to work faster.

Chapter 417 - Occult Summoning Array

Nie Yan handed over to Guo Huai the 350,000 gold he received from selling the surface world equipment to Fallen Angel. The money was used to reinforce the defenses of the Cripps Stronghold by putting up several more watchtowers. The players assigned with guarding the stronghold were also given a monetary reward. All of this greatly raised their morale. The only thing left to do was to wait for Bloodlust Blades’ forces to arrive.

More than 100,000 players were stationed here, almost all of whom belonged to Asskickers United and their several branch guilds. They were determined to beat the enemy back, even if the defenses of the Cripps Stronghold fell.

Nie Yan took a stroll atop the stronghold’s 10-meter high walls, which seemed impregnable. He gazed at the numerous watchtowers set up further back. The siege crossbows installed inside them could cover everything within a 50-meter radius.

However, this type of wall still couldn’t defend against the bombardments of the Armoured Catapults, which were supposed to only appear at higher levels. At this stage of the game, nothing could withstand their firepower. This was why they couldn’t hole up and weather the storm.

Two hours later, Nie Yan finally saw Bloodlust Blades’ forces approaching from the horizon.

The enemy was finally here!

Nie Yan came down from the stronghold walls. A group of 1,000 stood in the plaza outside the guild headquarters, ready to move out at his command. Bloodlust Blades had already slaughtered their way here. Asskickers United couldn’t shrink back now!

Every elite in Asskickers United was gathered here, even the ones who were previously in the middle of a quest.

Asskickers United’s survival was at stake in this battle!

Nie Yan arrived in front of the crowd.

"Boss, those bastards from Bloodlust Blades are already here! Should we go out and teach them no one messes with Asskickers United?” Undying Scoundrel asked in anticipation. He was really itching for a fight, especially since he had recently raised his level and the quality of his gear.

"What are you in such a hurry for? Just listen to the boss!” Summer Bug scolded. Undying Scoundrel really left him feeling helpless at times.

Nie Yan’s eyes scanned through the crowd. He saw many familiar faces, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Young Seven, Black Heaven, Lustboy, Sunny South... All of them represented the apex of Asskickers United. So far, the losses they had suffered to Bloodlust Blades were only superficial. The talents here before him were the lifeblood of the guild. The real war was only just beginning!

Nie Yan turned to Guo Huai. "Are the 20 Great Mages I asked for all here?”

"Yep, all accounted for. Here’s a list of their names,” Guo Huai replied.

Nie Yan recognised Yao Yao, Lustboy, Sunny South, Summer Bug, Undying Scoundrel, and several others on the list. There were 13 Great Mages from Asskickers United, three from Battle Crazed Alliance, two from the War God Tribe, and one each from Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire.

Almost all the Great Mages in their alliance were gathered here. With just a glance, Asskickers United clearly had the most.

At this stage of the game, every Great Mage was a powerful trump card. Most guilds would only have one or two, maybe three if they were lucky. Even the number of Great Mages in Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors probably didn’t exceed single digits.

"Boss, when will we take action?”

"Boss, let’s duke it out with those bastards outside right now! I can’t stand the smug look on their faces!”

"Yeah! Let’s wipe the floor with them! Just because we’ve been holding back, they’re taking us for soft targets!”

...

The crowd started growing restless. The Blackstone Stronghold was already in ruins. No guild in Calore had ever dared to challenge Asskickers United’s prestige before. With Bloodlust Blades humiliating them like this, every player in Asskickers United was simmering with rage. But Nie Yan had ordered them to stay put and preserve their strength. So, almost all the players on the battlefield right now belonged to the five branch guilds, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine. Even though they had shaved away a bit of Bloodlust Blades’ strength, the results were far from ideal. This was mainly because those Armoured Catapults were too powerful. With the elites from Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps protecting them, no one could get close enough to destroy them.

However, Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire had still served a crucial role. Their actions bought Asskickers United a lot of time.

"Everyone, calm down. Let them keep showing off for a bit longer. We’ll shut their mouths soon enough. It’s just Bloodlust Blades. Even an ant is more intimidating! We’ll decimate them right here today! The Cripss Stronghold will flow with rivers of blood, and their corpses will pile up sky-high!” Nie Yan coldly declared, his eyes brimming with killing intent. Whether it was Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, or Angel Corps, he would erase them from existence one by one!

One more name crossed Nie Yan’s mind—Cao Xu!

What Bloodlust Blades? What Alliance of Mages? Divine Protectors? Angel Corps? Hmmph. All of you are just Cao Xu’s fucking minions!

As long as the Century Financial Group was still standing, Nie Yan couldn’t rest easy. He definitely wouldn’t let the tragedies of his past life repeat themselves.

The Century Financial Group was a voracious glutton with a bottomless appetite. As long as they were given the opportunity, they would swallow up everything within sight!

If Nie Yan didn’t wish to be the prey, he had to become the hunter!

Nie Yan wanted to shave away Cao Xu’s strength bit by bit, starting with Bloodlust Blades right now!

"Yes! Boss Nie Yan, with these words of yours, we brothers fear no one!”

"Fuck those Bloodlust Blades bastards!”

The players in the crowd nodded in agreement. Paladin of the Elegy had voiced out their thoughts. As long as Nie Yan showed his resolve, they would all unite together! None of them were afraid of Bloodlust Blades!

Under Nie Yan’s command, the 20 Great Mages gathered together. Yao Yao, dressed in a conspicuous white robe, caught his eye.

Nie Yan gave Yao Yao an apologetic smile. He was busy commanding Asskickers United’s forces right now, so he couldn’t spare her any attention.

「Don’t mind me. The war is more important,」Yao Yao sent Nie Yan a whisper.

Nie Yan nodded. As Asskickers United’s guild leader he naturally couldn’t place anything above the guild at such a crucial time.

"Bladelight and the others recently obtained several Group Teleport Scrolls when running the Siren Graveyard dungeon. I don’t know if they’ll be of any use,” Guo Huai said, recalling the various rare items sitting in the treasury.

Group Teleport Scrolls? Nie Yan’s eyes widened in surprise. These items were extremely rare. Even if someone offered 50,000 gold for one, others still might not necessarily be willing to sell. It was basically an item without a set market price. The fact that Bladelight and the others had acquired several scrolls left him speechless.

"What rank are they?” Nie Yan asked. There were three ranks of Group Teleport Scrolls: Junior Group Teleport Scrolls could teleport up to 30 players for a maximum of 1,000 meters away; Intermediate Group Teleport Scrolls could teleport up to 200 players; and as for Advanced Group Teleport Scrolls, he had never encountered them before.

"One Intermediate and two Junior Group Teleport Scrolls!” Guo Huai replied.

"Great!” Nie Yan said. The three Group Teleport Scrolls could turn the tide of battle, especially if they were used properly.

Group Teleport Scrolls were different from other teleportation scrolls in that it required someone to already be at the target location for the group to teleport over. Nevertheless, it was still quite useful.

Nie Yan led these 1,000 elites from Asskickers United out of the Cripps Stronghold to a nearby forested mountain area. The cover would aid them greatly. Even if Bloodlust Blades’ force knew where they were, there was nothing they could do!

The rough terrain of a forest greatly reduced the effectiveness of an army.

After a while, Nie Yan arrived at the top of a hill. He looked up ahead and saw the more than 50,000 Bloodlust Blades players gathered in the plains outside the Cripps Stronghold. They stretched out as far as the eye could see, and they were prepared for war!

The three Armoured Catapults were slowly escorted forward, stopping at around 300 meters from the Cripps Stronghold. There they began firing, bombarding the outer walls with explosive shells. Heavy explosions rang out as debris flew everywhere, shaking the entire wall. The elites from Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps had set up defenses around the Armoured Catapults, such as Thunderstorm Mines and Caltrops, to prevent the players from Asskickers United from approaching.

If Bloodlust Blades and their allies tried to storm the Cripps Stronghold right now, they would undoubtedly suffer heavy losses. The Cripps Strongholds was practically an iron fortress, with high walls, numerous watchtowers, and 100,000 players guarding it. They could only rely on the immense firepower of the Armoured Catapults to break through the defenses first.

So far, aside from the Armoured Catapults repeatedly bombarding the Cripps Strongholds, both sides hadn’t taken any action. However, everyone could sense this was only the calm before the storm, and a battle of a massive scale was about to break out.

Nie Yan separated the 20 Great Mages from the main group and led them to a hidden clearing in the forest. Lustboy was the most knowledgeable in magic arrays, so he was given the task of setting up the elaborate hexagram array for summoning the Molelord. Every leyline was drawn in a meticulous fashion, not allowing for the slightest error. Before long, a circular array appeared on the ground, filled with all sorts of complex patterns and formations. It lit up brilliantly and brimmed with mysterious power.

Chapter 418 - The Real Battle Begins!

Chapter 418 - The Real Battle Begins!

The Occult Summoning Array would take a long time to complete. Summoning the Molelord would also require a lot of time. In preparation for that, Yao Yao and another Great Mage worked together to construct a barrier to conceal their presence from the outside world and protect against attacks.

With the perimeter secured, they could begin.

In the meantime, the 1,000 players in the main group had organized into their respective ranks and hid themselves in another region of the mountain. They weren’t allowed to approach the Occult Summoning Array, so they had no idea what the players on Nie Yan’s side were doing.

For the sake of preventing information from leaking out, Nie Yan had no choice but to take such drastic measures.

As a Level 100 monster with 2,000,000 health, the Molelord was an unstoppable behemoth. The only thing capable of posing a threat to it on the enemy’s side were the three Armoured Catapults. That was why, before the Molelord was summoned, they had to be destroyed at all costs!

Without anything capable of threatening its existence, the Molelord could rampage freely on the battlefield!

Under the bombardment of the Armoured Catapults, the outer walls of the Cripps Strongholds were already starting to show cracks. The players stationed nearby also took heavy losses. The situation was chaotic, with loud explosions constantly rocking the walls.

The higher-ups of Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps were observing the siege from atop a hill some distance away. Even they couldn’t help but feel their hearts tremble at the destructive power of the Armoured Catapults.

"Why has there still been no movement from Asskickers United’s side?” Mad Blade frowned.

"Relax, they’re probably just turtling since they don’t have a good way to deal with our Armoured Catapults. No matter how many players they send out, we’ll slaughter them like livestock!” a tall youth declared with a confident smile. He looked to be in his twenties and had an air of grace and aloofness about him. He wore leather armour covered in elven totemic runes which shimmered with an azure glow and carried a two-meter longbow on his back. Surrounded by a fiery aura, one could even see a flaming bird dancing along the shaft and string.

It was the Ichabod Ocean Star Set and the Palente Phoenix Longbow, both of which were Sub Legendary-grade!

This sort of equipment didn’t lose out to Nie Yan’s in any way! But while he focused on quality and raw stats, Nie Yan focused on more special items.

He was the guild leader of Angel Corps—the Elven Demon Hunter, Soaring Angel!

Some of the people here were evidently Soaring Angel’s confidantes. Angel Corps was without a doubt the most powerful guild in the Satreen Empire. They had far more influence than Bloodlust Blades, Divine Protectors, and Alliance of Mages combined.

Thanks to the backing of Cao Xu’s Century Financial Group and two other hedge fund firms, Angel Corps was provided the best environment to grow. Situated in King City, there wasn’t a single enemy capable of posing a threat to them, to the extent they had become an unstoppable leviathan in the entire Satreen Empire. Constantly waging wars in other cities in a bid to expand their own domain and sweeping away everything in their path, they already controlled a total of 17 strongholds.

Even though Angel Corps was based far away in the Satreen Empire, their influence could even be felt here in the Viridian Empire. Add in Soaring Angel’s background on top of that, and Mad Blade along with the guild leaders of Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors could only blindly follow.

Despite most of the players on the battlefield belonging to Bloodlust Blades, Soaring Angel was actually the person calling the shots.

"We just received word from our intelligence that Nirvana Flame along with a large group of elites are setting up an ambush for us in the mountain forest to the north,” Mad Blade said after checking his chat.

"Send people to watch them and report all of their movements,” Soaring Angel calmly ordered. With 500 elites from Angel Corps, and the elites from Bloodlust Blades, Divine Protectors, and Alliance of Mages, he felt they had the power to look down on any guild. Although Asskickers United also had a large number of elites, they simply weren’t on the same level as Angel Corps.

The development of Asskickers United and Angel Corps were different. Asskickers United had grown from weak to strong, from nothing to something, slowly climbing up bit by bit. Since they were established, there had never been a time they weren’t at war. Many times they were even pushed to the brink of collapse. Their journey was full of hardship. On the other hand, Angel Corps had a smooth ride, rapidly growing in strength and never lacking in gold. Their top ranked players were much higher level than Asskickers United’s, and they had many more class advanced players too.

Asskickers United was only so-so in Soaring Angel’s eyes. He couldn’t imagine for the life of him how Bloodlust Blades ended up in such a sorry state.

"Have the Armoured Catapults aim at 3 o’clock!” Soaring Angel said to Mad Blade after observing the situation on the battlefield.

The three Armoured Catapults slowly rotated, taking aim at an area inside the Cripps Stronghold with many watchtowers concentrated together. He could tell at a glance this was a weak point.

The three Armoured Catapults resumed their bombardment. The thick and solid beam at the center suddenly sprung up, launching red-hot explosive shells at the Cripps Stronghold.

More than a dozen metal shells bombarded the targeted area, collapsing one of the watchtowers instantly.

Guo Huai was anxiously giving out commands from the highest point on the wall. Thousands of players charged out of the stronghold gates toward Bloodlust Blades’ forces on the plains.

Swords clashed and magic flew through the air, like this the skirmish ended.

During a guild war, the players participating couldn’t be revived. If someone died, they couldn’t contribute for the remainder of the battle. So, Guo Huai was afraid of losing too many players.

Asskickers United’s forces had tried several times to destroy the three Armoured Catapults, but they were repelled every time. Especially when they got too close, the traps set up on the ground would show their worth as blasts of lightning energy sent countless Asskickers United players to their deaths.

The stalemate continued.

Asskickers United had a certain advantage since they were on the defending side. Under ordinary circumstances, they would be fine just turtling it out. But due to the unrivalled destructive power of the Armoured Catapults, they were forced to leave the safety of the stronghold and charge straight at the enemy’s forces.

The players guarding the Armoured Catapults were all powerful elites. They didn’t lose in the slightest to the top elites from Asskickers United.

The events on the battlefield were all reported to Nie Yan.

「What’s the progress on the Goblin Magic Cannon. Is it finished?」

「Not yet. We’re barely holding on. If this continues, the walls will collapse long before we can get the Goblin Magic Cannon out!」Guo Huai wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He could truly feel the might of the Armoured Catapults, especially when the explosions from the falling shells shook the walls violently like an earthquake.

Under the concentrated bombardment, the weak defenses of the watchtowers simply couldn’t hold up. They collapsed one after another into piles of rubble.

Time! They needed to buy more time!

Nie Yan thought for a moment. Looks like it’s time to really fight back, or else they’ll start thinking Asskickers United is really easy to bully!

A Junior Group Teleport Scroll could teleport up to 30 people. Nie Yan picked out 30 people among the elites. Since the Great Mages were preoccupied with summoning the Molelord, he could only take his pick from the Warriors, Thieves, Priests, and Paladins.

The 30 people were divided into two ranks.

Nie Yan looked at the line-up.

For the Warriors, there was Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Lofty Shadow, Yi Yan, Monochrome, Edgeless, Natural Fiend, Forthright...

For the Priests, there was Young Seven, Black Heaven, Painted Muslin, and Moon Child.

For the Paladins, there was Paladin of the Elegy, Taotie, Blue Yarn Thread…

For the Thieves, there was Sun, One Strike Vow, Hapless Frog, Tyrannical...

There were 30 players total, most of whom were Warriors, some Paladins and Thieves, and only four Priests. However, it would do.

Nie Yan gazed at the group. These 30 players were the strongest in Asskickers United. They possessed some of the best equipment currently available in the game. And many of them, Nie Yan personally knew.

"I’ll go first. You guys will teleport to my coordinates. Wait for my word,” Nie Yan said. Although this group of players weren’t powerful enough to deal a fatal blow to Bloodlust Blades, they could at least give them a huge headache.

"It’s only just begun. Let’s go for a couple of rounds with Bloodlust Blades, and see who comes out on top in the end!”

Monochrome, Edgeless, Forthright, and the others all grew excited once they heard Nie Yan was planning to take action. The flames of war were raging. They had already waited for so long.

"You should choose a spot with plenty of people!” Bladelight chuckled. He was one of Nie Yan’s closest confidantes. Even though this operation was dangerous, he remained calm. This was only the start of the battle. There was also the climax to look forward to as well.

"Yeah! The more, the better! We’ll slaughter all of them!” Tyrannical chimed in.

"Have all of you got your Unknown Transfer Scrolls? Each person should have at least one. Those who don’t, you can get one from me now,” Nie Yan said. They were going to ambush Bloodlust Blades’ forces together. This was an incredibly dangerous task. But given the skill of these players, as long as they had Unknown Transfer Scrolls, they could at least preserve their lives.

"Everyone has one.”

"We need to watch out for the Shackles of Strife from Shadow Priests. We can’t escape if we’re caught,” Hapless Frog reminded. After slowly assimilating into Asskickers United, he had also climbed up to become a core elite. Aside from always searching for treasure chests, he had also greatly improved his skills. With so many top ranked players in the guild, he benefited greatly from them sharing their knowledge and experience.

"I’ll be leaving first, wait for my word,” Nie Yan said again. He entered stealth, then dashed off toward the battlefield outside the Cripps Stronghold.

Chapter 419 - Slaughter!

Descending the mountainside, Nie Yan drew closer and closer to the forces of Bloodlust Blades. He saw their players all over the place, from the plains outside the Cripps Strongholds to the base of the foothills in the far distance. He slowly approached from behind.

Weapons clashing and spells flying everywhere, the fighting at the front was fierce. Meanwhile, the scene at the back resembled an outdoor picnic, with players grouped together in their respective squads sitting on the grass. They were by no means elites, upper middle-tier at best. They were leisurely chatting about the progress of the war while waiting on standby, not the slightest bit wary of an ambush. With the information network of Bloodlust Blades, they would be given ample warning at the first sign of a large enemy force approaching.

Nie Yan surveyed the plains, then headed to the area with the greatest player density.

A group of 20 Bloodlust Blades players were sitting together, conversing with relaxed expressions on their faces.

"Who do you think will win, us or Asskickers United?” a Holy Mage in ashen robes asked. He evidently didn’t have much faith in Bloodlust Blades.

"Hard to say. We might have fewer players and be at a disadvantage as the attacking side. But as long as those three Armoured Catapults with their ridiculous 500-meter range aren’t destroyed, we stand a pretty good chance of victory. See how Asskickers United keeps turtling inside the Cripps Stronghold? It won’t be long before their defenses collapse. I’m not sure exactly how many explosive shells we have stocked up to be bombarding them without reserve like this. But considering we prepared six whole days for this war, I estimate we have enough to last us another three or four more days,” a Berserker in a full set of Gold-grade equipment replied. He was the leader of this group, so he knew a bit more.

He had a more optimistic outlook on this war.

The nearby players also felt their hopes rekindled after listening to his view.

Bloodlust Blades winning? Fat chance! Nie Yan sneered. They were completely oblivious to his presence, still happily chattering away as he snuck past them. With their Awareness, they wouldn’t sense anything strange unless he was right up to their faces.

Nie Yan quickly made his way toward an area where many Priests were gathered. Priests were important resources during large-scale battles. They would usually be assigned together to form a large healing corps.

Nie Yan counted at least 500 Priests in the vicinity. There were likely similarly-sized Priest teams in other areas as well.

These Priests were also chatting about the siege. They were told that if Bloodlust Blades lost to Asskickers United in this war, the guild would have no choice but to dissolve and they would be absorbed into Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. This kind of outcome didn’t sit well with them, so they were prepared to go all out.

Nie Yan slowly infiltrated their ranks, keeping at least two meters of distance between him and any of the Priests. He could clearly make out the details of each of their faces. It was very easy to be spotted in a crowded place like this. He activated Disappear, increasing his stealthing capability even further.

Nie Yan suddenly halted his steps when he saw three Priests walking in his direction, getting closer and closer. 5 meters, 4 meters, 3 meters… Unable to prevent the inevitable, he hurriedly contacted Bladelight and the others.「Now! Teleport to my coordinates!」

...

Back at the mountain, Bladelight was observing the battle. The players moving around below looked like ants.

"I wonder how Nirvana Flame is doing. He should be in position by now.” Bladelight glanced at the other 29 players behind him. They stood together in the middle of a teleport formation on the ground. Their eyes burned with anticipation. They were itching for battle.

Soon, they were going to give Bloodlust Blades some long overdue payback.

Smoke Stub walked up to Bladelight’s side. "Still no word from Nirvana Flame?”

Bladelight was just about to respond. But at this moment, he received Nie Yan’s order. His expression changed. "Get ready! We’re teleporting now!”

Everyone had excited looks on their faces. Bladelight took out the Group Teleport Scroll from his bag and started chanting. With a flash of light, all 30 players were teleported away.

...

The three Priests continued walking in Nie Yan’s direction. When they approached within a meter of him, one of them suddenly sensed something off. "A Thief!”

At this moment, Nie Yan pounced into action and slashed the Priest’s neck with Zennarde’s Sword.

Cut Throat!

−1637! The Priest collapsed dead to the ground.

After encountering an enemy ambush, panic spread among these Priests.

"It’s a Thief!”

"Get him!”

Nie Yan quickly escaped into stealth and dashed away. Among the chaos and confusion, some of the Priests threw up orbs of light into the sky.

Illuminate!

As the brilliant radiance flooded the ground, a shadowy silhouette could be seen dashing through their ranks.

Nie Yan was like a fox let loose in a chicken coop, surrounded by Priests with their weak defenses. All of them were tasty morsels!

A nearby Priest tried to flee, only to meet with a tragic end as Nie Yan’s fiery blade slashed down on his back. His cloth armour was no match for the sharpness of Zennarde’s Sword. It was an instant kill!

A barrage of Holy Smites whizzed toward Nie Yan, about to blast him into oblivion in the next moment.

Gale Step!

Nie Yan took advantage of Gale Step’s first few seconds of invincibility to block the attacks. He dashed toward another Priest and chopped down with Zennarde Sword.

The Priest collapsed to the ground, fear frozen on his face. It was another instant kill!

Nie Yan’s attacks were sharp, decisive, and unrivalled!

"It’s the Mad Rogue!” one of the Priests cried out in alarm after recognizing Nie Yan’s silhouette.

"It’s Nirvana Flame, the guild leader of Asskickers United!”

They never imaged Nie Yan would show up here of all places. This was one of the most secure locations in Bloodlust Blades’ army. How did he get past so many players unnoticed?

Nothing was impossible for the Mad Rogue!

Nie Yan’s terrifying damage shook them to their core!

Some of the Priests fled in panic. Others started retaliating by chanting their spells.

Nie Yan relied on his unrivalled speed to mow through them, a corpse dropping on the ground with every slash!

"Don’t run! Everybody, kill him!” a Priest shouted.

More than 50 Priests set their sights on Nie Yan, some casting Illuminate, others chanting offensive spells. No matter how heaven-defying Nie Yan was, it was impossible for him to survive the concentrated barrage from all of them!

As the Priests chanted their spells, 30 players appeared out of nowhere following a flash of light. It was Bladelight and the others!

Greeted by a lively scene, the 30 players quickly adapted to the situation. The Warriors took action first.

Charge!

Charge!

The Warriors rushed at the enemy in all directions, steamrolling through everything in their paths with their hulking armour, swords, and shields.

The Priests in the vicinity were caught off guard. Before they knew what was happening, the Warriors had already arrived in front of them. One could imagine their miserable state, especially after barely collecting themselves from Nie Yan’s initial ambush.

At this moment, Smoke Stub leaped high into the air like a rising dragon, soaring six meters over the ground, before slamming down his Mikas Stormsword into a crowd of fleeing Priests. A spinning column of howling wind and lightning engulfed everything within a five-meter radius, transforming the several dozen silhouettes trapped inside into rays of light.

"Holy crap! What’s the name of that skill? It’s so amazing!” Edgeless couldn’t help but ask, stars twinkling from his eyes. He had just happened to glance over in Smoke Stub’s direction after cutting down a Priest.

"Descent of the Storm Dragon. Not bad, right?” Smoke Stub chuckled with a satisfied expression on his face. Setting his sights on his next targets, he sent a group of six Priests flying with a Charge.

Black Heaven, Young Seven, Moon Child, and Painted Muslin raised their staffs and cast high-level blessings, bathing all the Asskickers United players in the vicinity in an empowering radiance and greatly bolstering their stats.

Sun, One Strike Vow, and the other Thieves resembled streaks of lightning, leaving only afterimages behind as they dashed after the fleeing Priests.

More than half the Priests were wiped out almost instantly. It all happened too quickly. From the moment Bladelight and the others appeared to now, less than 30 seconds had passed. The surrounding Bloodlust Blades players had no time to react. No one expected such a large group of enemies to teleport right into the middle of their forces.

These 31 players from Asskickers United split up into four groups and started slaughtering a path forward, like four sharp daggers plunging into Bloodlust Blades’ heart.

They went on an unbridled rampage, leaving behind piles of corpses in their wake.

In the distant hills, Mad Blade received news of Nie Yan’s ambush. He looked toward the location of the Priests and saw a large hole torn open in their ranks. Almost 400 Priests dead in less than a minute.

"What’s going on?” Soaring Angel asked. He had also noticed the situation.

"Asskickers United launched an ambush. Nirvana Flame somehow teleported 30 players into the middle of our ranks!” Mad Blade replied in a heavy tone. He was finding it strange that Asskickers United still hadn’t made any movements yet. The appearance of Nie Yan and the others was undoubtedly a declaration Asskickers United was beginning their counterattack!

Soaring Angel gazed at the distant plains. Bloodlust Blades had already lost many Priests. He sank into deep thought. Other than reading over a few reports, he was unfamiliar with the Mad Rogue. All he knew was that Nie Yan was an outstanding figure in the Viridian Empire.

Even then, so what?

"We’re setting out. Let’s see if the Mad Rogue is really deserving of his reputation,” Soaring Angel said with a faint smile.

With the Palante Phoenix Longbow strapped to his back, Soaring Angel sprinted off into the plains toward Nie Yan. His lithe figure resembled a blur. Demon Hunters were well-known precisely for their speed. Mad Blade and several dozen others followed behind.

Chapter 420 - Frightening Might of a Golden Dragon

Of the 500 Priests, more than 300 were killed. The survivors fled to the safety of the surrounding forces of Bloodlust Blades. The players from other classes came rushing towards Nie Yan’s group.

Three Warriors from Bloodlust Blades came charging at Young Seven from the side with their swords raised high, only for Monochrome to catch up to one of them with Intercept. He followed up with a Seismic Slam, stopping all of them dead in their tracks.

Great Cleave!

Monochrome slashed down on a Level 47 Warrior and sent him flying away.

At this moment, a group of Mages at the back finished chanting and sent a shower of spells flying towards Monochrome.

Glorious Barrier!

A golden membrane of light surrounded Monochrome, absorbing a large portion of the damage from the spells with a pitter-pattering sound and sending motes of light flying everywhere like fireworks. Monochrome rushed forward and felled the other two Warriors in quick succession. His attacks were ruthless and resolute.

At the same time, Young Seven raised his staff and cast Heal on Monochrome, restoring his health back to full.

Charge!

Monochrome advanced toward the Mages like a raging bull. With a Whirlwind Slash, five dropped dead to the ground.

The situation on the other sides of the battlefield were just as lopsided. The teamwork and synergy of Nie Yan’s group was seamless.

However, with more and more melee-class players joining the fray, the pressure on Nie Yan’s side increased exponentially. The lack of area-of-effect magic was really hurting their ability to clear the enemy away at a fast enough pace.

Nevertheless, as class advanced players, all of them had powerful close-range skills at their disposal. So, when they faced ordinary players, it was still a bloodbath. Especially Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan, they were Great Fighters geared with some of the best defensive equipment in Asskickers United, which gave them a minimum of 95% damage reduction against ordinary players. Add this to the high block rate of their shields, and even if they were bombarded by a group of 50 Mages, they would come out relatively unscathed.

Despite attracting 80% of the attacks as they pressed forward, Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan still stood firm and resolute.

The damage of the Fighter trio might not be anything special. But their impregnable defenses left the players of Bloodlust Blades feeling helpless. On top of that, their attacks were still deadly to any squishy caster that allowed them to approach too close.

Simply comparing levels, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others were all at least Level 54, with some even reaching Level 60, and Nie Yan who was the highest at Level 66. Meanwhile, the players from Bloodlust Blades were all around Level 45, with none of them reaching Level 50. All their high level players were at the front!

The Paladins from Asskickers United followed closely behind Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the other Warriors, buffing them with a myriad of blessings that raised their combat power by at least 30%. At the same time, the Paladins also provided supplementary healing, which was still quite impactful despite not being as powerful as a Priest’s.

Paladin of the Elegy raised his sword into the air as several rays of light fell over Edgeless.

Indomitable Will!

Holy Blessing!

Divine Conferment!

Edgeless suddenly felt himself overflowing with power. He glanced at his status bar and noticed numerous buffs, including Magic Immunity!

"Holy crap! I’m invincible!” Edgeless exclaimed. He could really let loose now. Taking advantage of his empowered state, he rushed into a group of Warriors and started a massacre.

Frenzied Blitz!

Eight Fighters were hit by a powerful force and collapsed dead on the ground in an instant.

Nie Yan surveyed his surroundings. Bladelight and the others were immersed in battle, rampaging through the enemy’s ranks. He recited a cryptic chant and summoned Lil’ Gold.

A giant Golden Dragon suddenly emerged on the battlefield. This was Lil’ Gold’s first debut in the war against Bloodlust Blades. He had already reached Level 56, with matchless stats that left players breathless. His health and defense were especially frighteningly high.

Lil’ Gold immediately attracted the attention of the enemy. But before they had time to react, he breathed out scorching hot flames, incinerating more than 30 players from Bloodlust Blades.

Lil’ Gold chanted out a series of words in the dragon language and targeted a dense crowd of players in the distance.

Meteor Drop!

A giant meteor crashed into the earth with a deafening bang. A massive explosion engulfed everything within a 25-meter radius as countless fireballs flew out. Within the raging inferno, more than 300 players were burned to ashes.

It looked like a scene straight out of the depths of hell. The surrounding players from Bloodlust Blades had dumbfounded looks on their faces.

What a powerful spell!

Lil’ Gold charged into the enemy’s ranks. The players from Bloodlust Blades retaliated in a haphazard fashion. A shower of spells bombarded his golden scales while several Warriors rushed forward with their swords raised in an attempt to stop him.

At this moment, Lil’ Gold let out a thundering roar.

Explosive Counter!

Everyone within a 20-meter radius of Lil’ Gold was swept up by a powerful force.

Lil’ Gold’s might was awe-inspiring!

Even the players from Asskickers United were left shaken. Although they knew Nie Yan owned a pet Golden Dragon, they never expected it to have grown so powerful.

Nie Yan was extremely satisfied with Lil’ Gold’s performance. Ordinarily, any pet with a Growth Rate of 15 would become a powerful existence at Level 50. Lil’ Gold was already fairly rare with a Growth Rate of 20. Add this to the fact he was fed an Evolution Crystal, increasing his Growth Rate to 25, and he would become a heaven-defying existence!

Bladelight and the others brought out their own pets too. There was a Cheetah, a White Tiger, an Imp, and so on. But all of them paled in comparison to Lil’ Gold.

By the time Nie Yan’s group had killed around 1,500 players, 60 players wearing high-level gear could be spotted fast approaching from the plains in the distance.

「Everyone, get ready to use your Unknown Transfer Scrolls!」Nie Yan said after spotting these new arrivals.

The enemy’s elites had finally arrived. It wouldn’t be wise for Nie Yan’s group to confront them while being so heavily outnumbered.

At this moment, an arrow wreathed in flames flew toward Nie Yan’s back.

Sensing danger, Nie Yan instinctively activated Shadow Waltz just before the arrow struck him, taking advantage of the two seconds of invincibility to block the attack.

A giant flaming bird engulfed Nie Yan in fire. However, he remained unharmed.

Seeing his attack fail, a trace of shock flashed across Soaring Angel’s face. He never expected Nie Yan to successfully block his arrow in this kind of situation. He let out a low grunt.

Spirit Eyes!

His eyes blossomed out with a green light. However, no matter where he looked, he couldn’t find any trace of Nie Yan.

What high Cloaking!

Soaring Angel no longer paid attention to Nie Yan. He nocked three icy arrows and fired at Lil’ Gold.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」A thick layer of ice covered Lil’ Gold’s body. This was the Frost Arrow skill of an Elven Demon Hunter. It could lock down a target in ice!

At this moment, the nearby Mages targeted Lil’ Gold with their magic. His Meteor Drop just a moment ago was too frightening. Such a threat had to be eliminated first, no matter the cost!

Several dozen spells rained down from the sky, with countless more on their way. Just when it looked like Lil’ Gold was about to be killed, he suddenly disappeared with a bright flash of light. Nie Yan had unsummoned him!

Nie Yan looked toward where the Frost Arrows were shot from and saw an Elven Demon Hunter in azure leather armour. He looked quite conspicuous among the crowd. All his equipment was Sub Legendary-grade!

Nie Yan’s eyes trembled. It was the guild leader of Angel Corps, Soaring Angel!

Nie Yan’s knowledge of Soaring Angel was limited to only a few videos. Besides that, Xie Yao had previously told him at her birthday banquet that Fan Yuan was Soaring Angel! Regardless of what Fan Yuan’s relationship with Cao Xu was, he was a target that had to be taken out!

Killing intent welled up in Nie Yan’s heart.

Everyone in Nie Yan’s group was suddenly in perilous danger as Bloodlust Blades began their counterattack. They suffered attacks on all sides from Soaring Angel’s group of elites.

Bladelight and the others crushed their Unknown Transfer Scrolls. They had accomplished their objective. Now was the time to make their getaway!

Following multiple flashes of light, more than half the players from Asskickers United disappeared from the battlefield.

Seeing Bladelight and the others leave, Nie Yan came out of stealth and locked eyes with Soaring Angel from across the battlefield. With a cold smile on his face, he raised his middle finger and made an obscene gesture.

"Shadow Priests, lock him down with Shackles of Strife!” Soaring Angel shouted. Nie Yan still dared to behave so arrogantly under these circumstances? He was infuriated!

But before the Shadow Priests could react, Nie Yan vanished from sight.

Every single player from Asskickers United had escaped. All that remained were the piles of corpses from the players from Bloodlust Blades on the ground.

"Fucking bastards! They sure run fast!” Mad Blade cursed loudly. He hadn’t even arrived before Asskickers United’s players fled.

Chapter 421 - Unity, Comradery, Glory!

Nie Yan reappeared 1,000 meters away from the battlefield. He contacted the scattered group members and had them reconvene.

Everyone returned to the mountain forest, adrenaline still pumping from the recent battle.

At the cost of only a single Group Teleport Scroll, and without suffering any casualties, they had killed roughly 1,500 enemy players. More than 300 of whom were Priests, who could no longer participate in the siege!

"What are your kill counts?” Edgeless asked.

"106,” Monochrome replied.

"12,” Paladin of the Elegy said.

...

The Warriors had killed the most enemies, with the Thieves coming in second, and the Paladins and Priests in last since they were focusing most of their efforts on providing support. Smoke Stub had the highest kill count among the Warriors at 163. Monochrome and Edgeless were the next highest with roughly 100 each.

The person who racked up the most kills was Nie Yan at 503. However, most of the work was done by Lil’ Gold. He had personally taken down only 50 or so players. This was the advantage of area-of-effect magic.

"It’s a pity we didn’t bring any Mages. With Undying Scoundrel, Sparrow Hawk, and them around, we could’ve definitely wreaked a lot more havoc.” Bladelight chuckled.

"It’s a good thing we left so quickly. I briefly clashed with a few Berserkers from Alliance of Mages. They’re skilled. I wasn’t able to gain any ground,” Smoke Stub said in a grim tone.

Smoke Stub was indisputably the most skilled Berserker in Asskickers United, so his assessment carried a lot of weight.

Although Asskickers United had many elite players, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Bloodlust Blades were no slouches either, to say nothing of a leviathan like Angel Corps.

It was no surprise Asskickers United was under immense pressure facing the full might of Bloodlust Blades, along with the elites from Alliances of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps. Although they had more than 100,000 players defending the Cripps Stronghold, their true fighting strength was closer to 50,000. Not to mention Bloodlust Blades had the support of those frighteningly destructive Armoured Catapults.

Nevertheless, even though Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps were powerful, trying to uproot Asskickers United from Calore was no easy task.

The ambush led by Nie Yan had still more or less managed to hinder the enemy’s assault.

A section of the Cripps Stronghold’s walls finally collapsed under the constant bombardment of the Armoured Catapults. The forces of Bloodlust Blade rushed inside like a surging tide.

At this moment, the watchtowers showed their true worth. A dense volley of bolts rained down on the invaders, instantly killing hundreds of them.

The players from both sides clashed at the gap in the wall.

Guo Huai watched the players from Bloodlust Blades flooding inside the stronghold from the highest point atop the walls.「First Division, stop the enemy! Second Division, get ready to go up. Third Division, remain on standby! Hold the breach at all costs! Even if we have to fight ‘til the last man!」

Asskickers United players were rushing over to set up a blockade at the collapsed section of the wall. Every single one of them were giving it their all. Guo Huai had already passed down the order. All of them were naturally prepared for death.

Wave after wave of Bloodlust Blades players charged inside, only to be beaten back every single time.

Led by several elites, the players from Bloodlust Bladess continued surging forward like an unceasing tide. If Asskickers United failed to secure the breach, the entire Cripps Stronghold would become a battlefield!

"Everyone, follow me! Fuck those bastards from Bloodlust Blades!” A tall Fighter brandished his sword and rushed forward to plug the breach in the wall. He held off wave after wave of attacks.

"Samsara needs healing! Somebody heal him!” several players behind the Berserker shouted.

Falling Samsara’s health rapidly fluctuated up and down. Were it not for the more than 20 Priests in the back constantly healing him, he would’ve long since died. His pretty decent gear played a vital role as well. Any other Warrior would not have been able to take so much punishment.

Under the repeated assaults, one Asskickers United player fell after another. Falling Samsara’s eyes were red with bloodlust as he met the enemy head-on.

Falling Samsara was a relatively new member of Asskickers United and hadn’t participated in previous wars. Although he was decently skilled, he still hadn’t entered the core ranks of the guild. He initially joined on a whim. But after bonding with his fellow guildmates, he quickly developed a strong sense of belonging to the guild.

If the Cripps Stronghold fell, the players of Asskickers United would truly become stray dogs. All their previous glory would go up in smoke, replaced by the shame of defeat.

Only now did they realize the true meaning of glory!

Glory was being able to hold your head high above all others! It was being viewed with reverence and not disdain!

It was something borne out of the blood and fire on the battlefield and guarded with your blade!

Falling Samsara took the lead in pushing the players from Bloodlust Blades back. His relentless tenacity took his companions by surprise, igniting the flames of passion in their hearts.

"Brothers, slaughter these sons of bitches!”

Following a cacophony of impassioned cries, the players from Asskickers United charged at the enemy with reckless abandon.

Only moments away from breaching through the defenses of the Cripps Stronghold, the players from Bloodlust Blades never expected the momentum to suddenly reverse as Falling Samsara and his group beat them back. The several elites leading them were surprisingly killed in the ensuing chaos, leading to the remainder of their forces collapsing.

Falling Samsara firmly blocked off the narrow opening. The breach in the wall was already secured.

"Who is that?” Guo Huai asked Zhao Li, who was standing next to him, in surprise. He wasn’t familiar with many of the players below him.

"Falling Samsara, a recent recruit to the guild. He’s decently skilled,” Zhao Li replied. He did have at least this much of an impression of Falling Samsara.

At this moment, Guo Huai received word from the guild headquarters that the manufacturing of the Goblin Magic Cannon was complete.

He immediately contacted Nie Yan.

Nie Yan sent Bladelight and the others back to the Cripps Stronghold to escort the Goblin Magic Cannon up the walls.

Everyone became even busier as access to several roads were sealed off. Bladelight and the others transported the Goblin Magic Cannon to the highest watchtower in the Cripps Stronghold. Its long muzzle was then aimed at the distant Armoured Catapults.

The Goblin Magic Cannon could only be used for defense because of its immense weight and immobility. Now that a Goblin Magic Cannon was defending the stronghold, the three Armoured Catapults would never again be allowed to show their might beneath the Cripps Stronghold’s walls.

At the later stages of the game in the previous timeline, the most common war engines in sieges were Magic Cannons and Trebuchets. Armoured Catapults had no place in such a battlefield because of their short range. A single Goblin Magic Cannon would pose a huge threat to the three Armoured Catapults.

Nie Yan led 1,000 Asskickers United elites to the back of Bloodlust Blades’ forces.

Bloodlust Blades had already positioned some elites there to ward off a potential assault on their backlines.

Nie Yan looked up ahead at the battlefield. The three Armoured Catapults were still bombarding the Cripps Stronghold non-stop. Soaring Angel and his group were leisurely waiting for the stronghold to fall.

「Prepare for a full-on assault! We’re going to paint the Cripps Stronghold red with the blood of our enemies! None of those bastards will leave here alive today! Brothers of Asskickers United, do you all remember that line in the intro of Conviction? ‘From this day forth as one we stand, advancing and retreating, living and dying, till our presence reaches across all corners of the world, for our glory is our life!’ Today, the Cripps Stronghold will be reborn as the new United City!」

After Nie Yan’s speech, the players jointly thought back to the poem recited during Conviction’s introduction.

「Amid the mist before the dawn

By the last glow of the bonfire

Let God be my witness

As the first light shines and the moon and stars fall

As the embers fade and the darkness dissipates

The world is transformed in our wake

From this day forth we stand as one

Bound are our paths

So too our souls

Till our presence is in all

For our glory is our life! 」

Someone started whispering it out loud, and one by one his brothers joined him until the entire guild was chanting in unison. This was the essence of Conviction! It held a profound meaning within it: Unity, Comradery, Glory! That was the theme of Conviction. In this world controlled by gods, users of magic and martial arts shined together. Brotherhood proved by endless battle!

"From this day forth we stand as one. Bound are our paths, so too our souls. Till our presence is in all. For our glory is our life!”

Given this was the greatest trial Asskickers United had ever faced, with the forces of Bloodlust Blades right at their doorsteps, these words resonated deeply within everyone. This was the comradery of the guild!

"Bound are our paths, so too our souls! Our glory is our life! Brothers! Let’s show them just who Calore belongs to! Bloodlust Blades can get the fuck out!”

"Kill them all! For Asskickers United!”

Nie Yan’s speech roused their spirits, lighting the fires of passion and bloodlust as the guild moved as one in the final preparations before battle.

The climax of the war was now!

The gates of the Cripps Stronghold rumbled as they opened. More than 100,000 players from Asskickers United stood behind the gates. In just a few moments, the final decisive battle would begin!

On the highest watchtower in the Cripps Stronghold, the Goblin Magic Cannon was already calibrated and aimed toward the Armoured Catapults.

「The final battle starts now. Everyone, kill!」Nie Yan ordered in the guild chat.

「Boog!」A glowing cannonball soared through the sky, heading straight towards the distant Armoured Catapults. This was the signal to start the battle!

Chapter 422 - Decisive Battle!!!

Soaring Angel, Mad Blade, and the others were chatting leisurely on the hilltop overseeing the battlefield. They were confident no mishaps would occur in this war. Even if they suffered some losses, as long as the Armoured Catapults remained in one piece, they could preserve their superiority.

At this moment, word came that Asskickers United was mounting one last charge inside the Cripps Stronghold. Furthermore, Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire were also showing signs of movement, with roughly 100,000 of their players moving to surround the battlefield.

"Asskickers United is preparing for a final push. Get ready, everyone! What happens next will decide the outcome of the war! Protect the Armoured Catapults at all costs. Make sure they don’t fall!” Soaring Angel ordered.

"Have Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame intercept Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine!” Mad Blade ordered. "Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors are also sending over more reinforcements!” A hint of excitement flashed across his face. Thanks to the pressure from Cao Xu, Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were finally forced to take action.

Before Mad Blade could finish speaking, a deafening explosion rang out all the way over from the highest watchtower in the Cripps Stronghold. It was so loud everything else in the surroundings was drowned out, including the Armoured Catapults.

Soaring Angel’s face paled as he turned to the source of the sound and saw a red hot round shell whistling through the air, heading straight for the Armoured Catapults!

「Sssshblam!」The round shell was slightly off-target and smashed into the side of one of the Armoured Catapults, setting it on fire and sending wood splinters and metal fragments flying everywhere. It then continued rolling and swept up several dozen players.

Mass panic!

The nearby players on the side of Bloodlust Blades descended into chaos.

"Someone put out the flames! Cast water magic!”

A jet of water blasted the Armoured Catapult and doused the fire.

The Goblin Magic Cannon had dealt heavy damage to the Armoured Catapult, which was basically half-destroyed. The wooden frame was badly broken, and one of the wheels was smashed to pieces.

"It’s a Magic Cannon!” Soaring Angel had an ugly expression on his face after spotting the cannon muzzle poking out from the highest watchtower in the Cripps Stronghold. "Dammit! Pull back the Armoured Catapults!”

He never expected Asskickers United to come out with something like a Goblin Magic Cannon. Even the lowest ranking ones had a range in excess of 1,000 meters, greatly exceeding that of any Armoured Catapult!

Nothing was more important right now than getting the Armoured Catapults out of the battlefield as quickly as possible. Any delay might result in their destruction, then the outcome of the war would be a foregone conclusion.

At the command of Soaring Angel, two of the Armoured Catapults were slowly withdrawn from the battlefield. The remaining one was still in good enough condition to fire. But the attack by the Goblin Magic Cannon destroyed one of its wheels, rendering it immobile.

All of Bloodlust Blades’ forces started retreating.

...

At the highest watchtower in the Cripps Stronghold. Bladelight was supervising the players operating the Goblin Magic Cannon.

"Fire another shot! Don’t let the Armoured Catapults get away! Aim for the wheels!”

"Stop! Let the Goblin Magic Cannon cool down for at least 30 seconds, or else it’ll blow up from overheating!” a Tinkerer warned.

Listening to the Tinkerer, they could only helplessly wait.

After 30 seconds passed, two Warriors lifted up a round shell and inserted it into the bore of the Goblin Magic Cannon. They looked toward Bloodlust Blades’ forces. The two Armoured Catapults had retreated quite far away.

"Take aim!”

The players started calibrating the elevation and angle. None of them had operated a Goblin Magic Cannon before, so they looked bumbling and clumsy. Even so, though they were far from being an experienced artillery crew, they were doing pretty well for their first time.

It wasn’t long before they aligned the Goblin Magic Cannon with the second Armoured Catapult.

「Boom!」A long tongue of flame shot out from the muzzle as a round shell flew toward the distant battlefield.

Since the two Armoured Catapults were constantly moving, the round shell was off-mark and landed into the surrounding crowd, instantly killing more than 100 enemy players.

The round shell didn’t simply stop after landing. It continued rolling for about 50 meters, sweeping away everything along the way and leaving behind a trail of corpses in its wake.

Although the Goblin Magic Cannon failed to hit the Armoured Catapults, the attack still served as a heavy deterrent to the forces of Bloodlust Blades. With the Goblin Magic Cannon present, the Armoured Catapults couldn’t approach anywhere within a 1,000 meter radius of the Cripps Stronghold.

As the situation in the Cripps Stronghold settled down, the gates opened and the players from Asskickers United came surging out. Like a tiger descending the mountain, they rushed straight for the enemy.

Charge!

Indomitable Will!

"Slaughter those bastards!”

"Long live Asskickers United!”

"Let’s start a bloodbath!”

A chaotic battle broke out as the forces from both sides collided head-on. Some places were still boobytrapped by Thunderstorm Mines, which exploded with lightning energy when the players from Asskickers United ran over them.

However, Asskickers United’s momentum couldn’t be stopped. They pressed toward the Armoured Catapults without regard for their own lives.

As the two undamaged Armoured Catapults beat a hasty retreat, the stranded one launched five explosive shells into the oncoming forces from Asskickers United, instantly wiping out nearly 100 players.

"Warriors, advance! Mages, destroy that Armoured Catapult!”

The several hundred elites guarding the Armoured Catapult started clashing with the forces of Asskickers United.

"Fuck these suicidal bastards!” a Great Mage from Divine Protectors cried out as he cast one area-of-effect spell after another. He had already killed more than 500 players of Asskickers United, but they just kept swarming forward like an unending horde.

Even a famed general could be overwhelmed by a mob!

The forces of Asskickers United blitzed through the battlefield with unstoppable momentum.

At this time, the Great Mage sensed magic fluctuations in the vicinity. He looked toward the source, spotting a Level 47 Elementalist with their staff raised chanting Meteor Drop.

"Dammit! Stop that Elementalist!”

All his spells were on cooldown, and everyone else was barely fending off the unrelenting assault from the players of Asskickers United! They were helpless to stop the Elementalist!

「Bang!」A giant meteor fell from the sky and smashed into the Armoured Catapult as a fiery explosion engulfed the Bloodlust Blades players in the surroundings. The Armoured Catapult was wrecked.

Even though Armoured Catapults could unleash untold amounts of destruction, they were relatively fragile, made out of wood reinforced with thin metal plates.

The Great Mage guarding the Armoured Catapult was also swallowed up by the inferno.

A famous Great Mage from Divine Protectors had died to the hands of an unknown Elementalist in Asskickers United.

"Good job, Lil’ Dong!”

"Everybody, charge! Don’t leave a single one of them alive!”

...

Morale was soaring.

One of the Armoured Catapults was destroyed beyond repair, and the remaining two were frantically retreating, unable to stop the advance of Asskickers United’s forces.

After another 30 seconds passed, the Goblin Magic Cannon fired once more. The round shell landed just a meter away from one of the Armoured Catapults, burying 30 players in the dirt, among whom six were top ranking elites from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors.

Even if they were elites, no matter how high their defense was, none of them could withstand the might of the Goblin Magic Cannon.

Even a Great Fighter hunkering down with a greatshield would still be blasted into smithereens.

As the forces of Bloodlust Blades were in full retreat, the two Armoured Catapults had finally left the range of the Goblin Magic Cannon.

"First and Second Division, stop them!” Mad Blade anxiously commanded. He never thought they would be overrun so quickly.

At this moment, more than 1,000 elites from Asskickers United led by Nie Yan charged down from the foothills behind Bloodlust Blades’ forces.

The Warriors rushed down the slopes like a tidal wave.

"Brothers, victory belongs to Asskickers United! Bloodlust Blades, Divine Protectors, Alliance of Mages, or Angel Corps, we’ll send all those bastards straight to hell! From this day forth we stand as one. Bound are our paths. So too our souls! Till our presence is in all. For our glory is our life!” Nie Yan’s fighting spirit was also ignited.

The Asskickers United elites rushed forward eagerly, hot on the heels of the retreating forces of Bloodlust Blades.

After noticing they were being pincered, Soaring Angel still remained calm and gave out orders. More than 1,000 elites from Bloodlust Blades, Divine Protectors, Alliance of Mages, and Angel Corps charged forward to meet Nie Yan’s group of elites head-on. Mad Blade also mobilized over 10,000 players into a solid battle formation, repelling the forces coming from the Cripps Stronghold.

The two Armoured Catapults in the distance turned around, firing a volley of flaming projectiles that slaughtered more than a thousand of Asskickers United’s weaker members.

After moving out of the Goblin Magic Cannon’s range, the Armoured Catapults were still frightening existences on the battlefield.

Disregarding their lives, the players from Asskickers United kept charging towards the Armoured Catapults. Even though they were beaten back time and time again, they would still horrifically press forward, unafraid of death, with unrelenting tenacity.

Like this, the battle once more entered a stalemate.

Chapter 423 - Dance of the Thief!

Nie Yan summoned Lil’ Gold, who charged into the fray along with the group of 1,000 elites from Asskickers United. He barrelled through the enemy forces, sending players flying left and right, and decimated them en masse with his Dragon Breath.

Spells whizzed about through the sky, resembling a dazzling display of fireworks.

Smoke Stub took the lead and rushed into the crowd. Swinging his sword with reckless abandon, he slaughtered players like reaping wheat. The ranks of Bloodlust Blades fell into mass panic.

"Boss, reinforcements from Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire have arrived,” Paladin of the Elegy reported. "Also, all Level 40+ players from the five branch guilds are here too.”

"How many?” Nie Yan asked. In this sort of large-scale guild war, numbers also played a critical role. Even an expert could die to a random lucky shot from an ordinary player.

"50,000 from Sapphire Shrine, 70,000 from Holy Empire, and 50,000 from our five branch guilds. The War God Tribe and Battle Crazed Alliance also sent over 5,000 elites.”

"Any movement from our enemies?” Nie Yan asked. He figured Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors wouldn’t be willing to allow their elites to die here for nothing.

"Victorious Return is finally growing restless. They’re going for broke this time. All 70,000 high-level players still remaining in their guild are being mobilized, and they’re frantically trying to rally Radiant Sacred Flame to their side. Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors also deployed more reinforcements. We don’t know the exact number. But given the size of both guilds, we expect around 60,000–70,000. They’ve teleported to Faimon Plains from Roland Town,” Paladin of the Elegy replied. The scope of this war was getting larger and larger, with more and more guilds getting swept up in it.

Nie Yan analyzed the present situation. With how Asskickers United had been supressing Victorious Return all this time, to the extent they were on the verge of being expelled from Calore, Heaven Breaker was definitely fuming with rage and resentment. So, when a rare opportunity like this came by, he naturally wouldn’t pass it up. What he didn’t know was that Nie Yan had already acquired Radiant Sacred Flame. At Guo Huai’s orders, they were currently feigning cooperation, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors weren’t all too enthused about sending their forces over to aid Bloodlust Blades, which was why they previously hadn’t taken any action. The outcome of the war with Asskickers United didn’t have much of an impact on them. In fact, if Bloodlust Blades went defunct, their members would be absorbed into Alliances of Mages and Divine Protectors. It was only because of the pressure they were receiving from Cao Xu that they had no choice but to step into the conflict, first with sending some of their elites over and now with dispatching more reinforcements.

With so many guilds taking part, this war would soon become a lot more chaotic.

While Nie Yan was lost in thought, the 1,000 elites on the sides of Bloodlust Blades charged forward and collided with the 1,000 elites from Asskickers United.

The enemy side was quite powerful and didn’t lack Great Mages, Great Warriors, or any other class advanced players in their ranks. The two sides were evenly matched. As soon as they were locked into battle, a bloodbath occurred.

Nie Yan looked around and saw a Level 60 Great Warrior wearing the Dark Gold-grade Black Blood Set slaughtering a path forward. With a single swing of his sword, he killed six elites from Asskickers United that had yet to class advance.

"That’s Tyrant Sword!” Paladin of the Elegy cried out. "He’s a famous and skilled player from Divine Protectors. He’s only slightly weaker than Mad Blade!”

Seeing his fellow guildmates getting killed left and right, Paladin of the Elegy couldn’t help but feel anxious. He rushed forward with Indomitable Will.

Nie Yan ordered Lil’ Gold to blast Tyrant Sword with Dragon Breath.

Seeing the scorching flames coming in his direction, Tyrant Sword protected himself with a golden barrier.「Bang!」It shuddered slightly under the impact but remained fully intact.

After being besieged by the joint attack of several Asskickers United players, Tyrant Sword was forced to retreat. Several players from Alliance of Mages immediately rushed over to cover him.

At this moment, Paladin of the Elegy arrived on the scene.

Divine Judgement!

As the two players clashed, Tyrant Sword swung his blade at Paladin of the Elegy’s waist with a Tendon Break. His attack was fierce and decisive.

Paladin of the Elegy cast Holy Protection in the nick of time. Even though he still took damage, he didn’t suffer any status effects.

Tyrant Sword smashed down with a Seismic Slam while Paladin of the Elegy hurriedly retreated.

Neither side could gain any advantage.

Just as Lil’ Gold was about to unleash another Dragon Breath, a Great Warrior charged over and locked him down with Intercept.

Three Great Warriors from Alliance of Mages surrounded Lil’ Gold. They struck him with Shield Bashes in tandem, continuously interrupting him whenever he tried to cast magic. However, Lil’ Gold’s Explosive Counter took a great toll on them. If it weren’t for the Priests in the back healing them, they would’ve long since dropped dead on the ground.

Some nearby players from Assskickers United wanted to rescue Lil’ Gold, but their hands were currently tied dealing with the enemies in front of them.

Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, Bloodlust Blades, and Angel Corps currently had three to four times as many class advanced players. So, Asskickers United was on the backfoot.

Nie Yan snuck behind a Great Priest from Alliance of Mages and immobilized him with Intimidate before stabbing towards the back of his head with Zennarde’s Sword.

The Great Priest was focused on healing a Great Warrior up ahead when an alarm suddenly went off in his head. He immediately let out an ear piercing shriek.

Howl of Terror!

This was the go-to life-saving skill of Priests.

At this critical juncture, Nie Yan activated Mind Immune from the Medal of the Ten Holy Paladins. As the sound entered his ears, aside from a little annoyance, nothing else happened.

Nie Yan struck the Great Priest with Smothering Strike before following up with Backstab!

−1536!

Nie Yan dealt an astonishingly high amount of damage, only to discover the Great Priest didn’t die. They had more than 2,300 health! Even Priests gained significant boosts to health and defense after class advancing.

A nearby Great Mage finally took notice of the commotion. He waved his staff and targeted Nie Yan with an Ice Rupture.

Nie Yan would be frozen into a human popsicle if he was hit!

A sphere of pulsating frost whizzed toward him.

Seeing how he failed to instantly kill his opponent, Nie Yan followed up with Eviscerate. Since Smothering Strike’s stun was still in effect, the Great Priest could do nothing to defend.

Gale Step!

Nie Yan vanished from sight just before he was hit.

「Bang!」The Ice Rupture exploded in the middle of the air.

"It’s the Mad Rogue!” the Great Mage cried out. He was shocked by how quickly Nie Yan cut down a Great Priest.

Nie Yan was a bit exhausted after his encounter with these class advanced players. Because top-ranking players like these were quite cohesive in groups, it was difficult to find openings to exploit. However, he could still take out one or two of them.

Sun was a ghostly specter on the battlefield just like Nie Yan. Every time he showed himself, he would reap a life.

Sun retreated behind a dense patch of thickets and observed the battlefield. Asskickers United had already suffered heavy losses. The enemy simply had too many Adept Class players. It was too difficult for players that had yet to class advance to overcome this gap, especially when the other side was evenly skilled.

In a battle between top experts, Mages rarely had the opportunity to get off any Advanced Magic because their cast times were 20 seconds or longer, while a Silence from a Paladin was instant and only had a cooldown of 20 seconds.

This was why players would almost always get interrupted when casting any super impactful spells.

Looking in the distance, Sun noticed Tyrant Sword overwhelming Paladin of the Elegy. It was only natural that a Paladin was a step below a Warrior in melee combat.

"Not good! He’s in danger!” Sun immediately sensed something off after seeing a subtle change in Tyrant Sword’s movements.

Sun was about to rush over to help Paladin of the Elegy, when a cold glint flashed before his eyes. A dagger headed straight for his forehead!

Sun avoided the attack with Gale Step.

The enemy Thief hurriedly activated his eye skill, but Sun had already vanished without a trace.

A hundred meters away, Paladin of the Elegy barely warded off a Quake Smash from Tyrant Sword with a Parry.

"Die!” Tyrant Sword suddenly thrusted his greatsword forward into Paladin of the Elegy’s stomach.

−813! A damage value floated up above Paladin of the Elegy’s head. He was also stunned!

Tyrant Sword was just about follow up with another attack when the glint of a dagger appeared behind him. His eyes widened in alarm. Activating Crusader’s Shield on instinct, he turned around and slashed at the silhouette behind him.

"Just a Thief!” Tyrant Sword sneered. The class he was least afraid of on the battlefield was a Thief. Even if he allowed several Thieves to wail on him non-stop for 10 full seconds, they could only leave a scratch on him. The defense of Great Warriors was too high for most Thieves to pierce through. On the other hand, if they were hit by a Tendon Break, they were toast. The only thing Thieves were good for was dealing with squishy casters.

Got you! Tyrant Sword chopped down with his greatsword. However, the disdainful look on his face froze when he discovered he had only struck an illusion!

A sharp dagger stabbed toward Tyrant Sword’s forehead.

Seismic Slam!

Tyrant Sword slammed his greatsword into the ground, creating a shockwave that struck everything within a two-meter radius of him, including Paladin of the Elegy who was just about to come out of the initial stun.

Believing he had succeeded in landing a hit this time, Tyrant Sword was shocked when the Thief was nowhere to be found.

"Slippery bastard!” Tyrant Sword cursed. He gave up on trying to deal with the Thief. With a sinister expression on his face, he turned around with his greatsword raised and pounced toward the defenseless Paladin of the Elegy. "I’ll finish you off first!”

The full name, 邪皇霸劍, translates to Evil Emperor Tyrant Sword. I decided to shorten it to Tyrant Sword since it was too much a mouthful.

Chapter 424 - Even Female Priests Can Be Deadly!

Tyrant Sword was about to chop down on Paladin of the Elegy’s head with Great Cleave, when a dagger emerged out of nowhere from behind and pierced his heart. Blood sprayed out into the air.

The attack was too quick, leaving Tyrant Sword with next to no time to react.

Tyrant Sword had an incredulous expression on his face. He would normally instantly notice a Thief trying to ambush him and counter appropriately. He never expected one could get within two meters of him undetected. With such a short distance between them, he was caught off-guard and consequently struck by the dagger.

Tyrant Sword lost all strength in his arms, his greatsword slumping to the ground with a thud while his eyes glazed over. He was stunned!

The silhouette of a Thief slowly materialized behind Tyrant Sword. Sun cracked a faint smile. It appeared his ambush was quite effective. When Tyrant Sword used Seismic Slam just a moment ago, he hadn’t actually retreated. Instead, he blocked it with Shroud, which granted two seconds of invincibility upon activation. He continued stalking Tyrant Sword, maintaining a distance of two meters from him while biding his time. The most opportune moment to strike came quickly after, when Tyrant Sword switched his focus back to Paladin of the Elegy.

While Tyrant Sword was still under the two-second stun duration of Heart Piercer, Sun followed up with a Backstab and Eviscerate.

Sun only dealt 300–400 damage per hit. It was nowhere close to threatening the life of Tyrant Sword who had over 3,800 health.

Tyrant Sword was simply too tanky.

It was a difficult task for a Thief’s dagger to penetrate the thick plate armour of a Warrior. Even though Sun wasn’t dealing a lot of damage, he didn’t fret. As the stun was about to wear off, Sun struck Tyrant Sword in the back of the head with Smothering Strike, stunning him again.

Sun circled to the front and attacked Tyrant Sword with Sever followed by Assassinate, which prematurely broke the stun from Smothering Strike. However, Sun didn’t give Tyrant Sword the chance to react. Striking him in the forehead with Concussive Blow, he stunned him again for another three seconds.

The stuns were layered on flawlessly, leaving Tyrant Sword no opportunity to retaliate.

At this moment, the stun from Seismic Slam wore off on Paladin of the Elegy.

"Elegy, let’s kill him together,” Sun said as he circled back behind Tyrant Sword.

Paladin of the Elegy rushed forward and struck Tyrant Sword in the head with Divine Strike. His damage was much higher compared to Sun’s.

When the surrounding Asskickers United players noticed Tyrant Sword getting tied down, they intercepted the Alliance of Mages players rushing to his rescue. Several Paladins from Asskickers United even threw caution to the wind, continuously silencing the opposing Priests and preventing them from healing Tyrant Sword.

Mortal Blow!

With two combo points built up, Sun activated a Finisher Skill for massive damage.

−1,309!

Seeing Sun go all out, Paladin of the Elegy followed suit. He sent Tyrant Sword flying with a Level 6 Holy Slash.

Tyrant Sword collapsed to the ground as his health bar bottomed out.

Paladin of the Elegy breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Elegy, we make a good team!”

"Yes! We do!” Paladin of the Elegy chuckled.

Sun went back into stealth, disappearing from sight.

While everyone was focused on the chaotic battle just now, an Elven Great Thief from Angel Corps snuck around to the back of Asskickers United’s forces, where the casters were located.

Egotistical had only recently joined Angel Corps. Because he was skilled enough to advance to a Great Thief at an early level, he received decent treatment in the guild. But since he was a new recruit and hadn’t participated in many battles yet, he was eager to prove his worth. Relying on his high Cloaking stat, he managed to infiltrate the enemy’s backline. He spotted several Priests in the vicinity working hard to support their frontline.

Thieves in Angel Corps could earn guild contribution for killing priority targets. Mages and Priests netted 200 and 500 merit points respectively, while Great Mages and Great Priests were worth ten times as much.

A Great Priest was as valuable as six Great Warriors in a guild war. Because they could instantly bring a low-health Great Warrior back from the brink of death.

How many Priests a Thief could take down in an enemy’s backline was a determiner of their ability. Some Thieves could escape without so much as a scratch after killing multiple Priests. Others would end up dying before they could even kill one. Nie Yan, Sun, and One Strike Vow were perfect examples. Nie Yan had already killed five Priests, one of whom was a Great Priest. One Strike Vow had killed three Priests, and Sun two.

Asskickers United’s Priests hadn’t suffered many losses so far. Egotistical eyed the eight Priests scattered up ahead. The three Great Priests among them caught his attention in particular.

Young Seven, Painted Muslin, and Black Heaven stood in different areas, roughly 30 meters apart.

Egotistical quickly picked out Painted Muslin among the three.

From experience, almost all female Priests lacked skill. Most of their equipment was given to them by other players. The prettier they were, the more people that were eager to hand them gear. Seeing Painted Muslin, a hint of disdain surfaced in Egotistical’s heart. Since all three were worth the same amount of merit points, he would naturally choose the pushover. Female Priests usually made for easy targets. He didn’t care he was bullying a girl.

Egotistical slowly approached Painted Muslin from behind.

Painted Muslin was diligently healing the players in the frontline. She had already lost count of how many she saved.

Right after casting a Heal, she suddenly sensed something off. She wasn’t like other Priests who panic activated Howl of Terror at the slightest sign of danger. After all, most of the time, this was the only skill at a Priest’s disposal that posed a real threat. If it was used rashly and avoided by the Thief, the chances of survival would plummet. As long as the threat of Howl of Terror was there, a nearby Thief wouldn’t rashly take action.

Painted Muslin calmly pulled back and tossed an Illuminate in the air.

As the ball of light floated up in the sky, a brilliant radiance flooded the surroundings.

Within the light, a shadowy silhouette pounced toward her.

The Thief was quickly closing in on Painted Muslin. She calmly protected herself with a Level 6 Holy Barrier. At higher skill levels, besides increased damage absorption, it also had a chance of negating crowd control effects like stuns.

Ordinary players rarely had the opportunity to obtain powerful skills. Most of them came from Sub Legendary-grade equipment, which was simply too hard to come by. Even obtaining just a few was already extremely lucky. In Asskickers United, with Nie Yan and Yao Yao being the only exceptions, the other top-ranking players had to make do with one or two pieces. Players like Painted Muslin and the rest would instead focus their attention on levelling up their basic skills, which could also become extremely powerful if levelled up properly.

In the instant Illuminate revealed Egotistical, Painted Muslin targeted him with Ache. Ache was equivalent to a curse, causing the opponent to continuously lose health in addition to marking them. This sort of instant cast skill was extremely difficult to avoid. The Thief was immediately struck.

Egotistcal’s heart tightened. This Priest was much more difficult to deal with than he initially predicted. Nevertheless, he rushed up to Painted Muslin and stabbed his dagger toward her forehead.

Concussive Blow!

However, with a flash of light, Painted Muslin dodged the attack by teleporting two meters away. She had used a short distance blink skill.

Painted Muslin struck back with a Holy Blast. A ball of light whizzed toward Egotistical.

Egotistical was forced to halt his pursuit. Seeing the ball of light shooting towards him, he avoided the attack with Gale Step.

Taking advantage of the speed boost from Gale Step, he pounced toward Painted Muslin once again.

When Egotistical arrived in front of Painted Muslin, he stabbed his dagger toward her throat. This was the best he could do given the circumstances.

As the blade of the dagger was about to slash her throat, a cheeky smirk surfaced on Painted Muslin’s lips.

Seeing the change in Painted Muslin’s expression, Egotistical’s mind trembled. He wanted to activate a skill, but Painted Muslin had already targeted him with a Silence. Looking down at his skill bar, all his skills were grayed out. He couldn’t use any of them!

Shit! I’m screwed!

Painted Muslin finally activated Howl of Terror. A piercing shriek rang out and stabbed into Egotistical’s ears. He instantly lost control of his body as it fled in the opposite direction. He was under the influence of the fear status effect!

Seeing Egotistical getting feared, the nearby players naturally all ganged up on him. Several Mages blasted him with Flame Bursts and Holy Judgements, sending him flying.

Egotistical collapsed dead to the ground.

The surrounding players gazed at Painted Muslin with expressions of reverence. After being closed in on by a Great Thief, a Great Priest like her managed to calmly respond and even turn the tables on him. This kind of skill was definitely worthy of praise.

They previously only knew Painted Muslin for her beautiful and graceful appearance. None of them expected this female Priest to possess such skill.

Young Seven glanced over at Painted Muslin and cracked a faint smile. Asskickers United’s beauties weren’t so easy to bully. Whether it was Painted Muslin, Yao Yao, One Strike Vow, Moon Child, or even the slightly weaker Yu Lan, all of these roses had sharp thorns.

Nie Yan assessed the situation on the battlefield. Asskickers United had lost more than 300 players, while Bloodlust Blades’ side had lost over 200. Although at a glance, Asskickers United had suffered more casualties, if one were to only look at class advanced players, Asskickers United came out on top. They had only lost two players while Bloodlust Blades’ side had lost five.

Looking at it this way, the losses on both sides were pretty even. Nie Yan was relatively satisfied with this result, especially given he had yet to reveal his trump card.

Chapter 425 - Death of Smoke Stub

The Asskickers United player wreaking the most havoc on the battlefield was Smoke Stub, who had single-handedly slaughtered a path forward into the enemy’s backline.

With his unrivalled gear and powerful skills, he killed more than 30 players.

At this moment, eight Mages in the vicinity targeted him with their spells.

Smoke Stub quickly activated Divine Bulwark. Spells ruthlessly bombarded the golden membrane of light around him. However, he took no damage because no magic could pass through this barrier.

Taking full advantage of Divine Bulwark, Smoke Stub started killing the Mages with every swing of his greatsword. Three Great Warriors from Angel Corps charged forward to intercept him.

These three players were all orcs. With large towering bodies, green skin, and ferocious expressions, they innately possessed great strength.

Smoke Stub didn’t bother tangling with these three Great Warriors. Seeing two of them trying to pincer him, he charged out through the gap between them. He kept using fleeing, charging, and ramming skills to evade their pursuit while cutting down any Mage unlucky enough to be in his path. He was making them look like fools.

The three Great Warriors tried desperately to lock Smoke Stub down. But he would evade them every time as their attacks struck nothing but air, leaving them feeling endlessly vexed.

Smoke Stub charged toward a nearby elven Great Mage. Since he was immune to all magic while Divine Bulwark was active, the Great Mage was helpless to retaliate. Mages loathed these types of skills the most, since all they could do was keep their distance until the skill wore off.

Just as Smoke Stub was about to catch up, the Elven Mage cast Anywhere Door and reappeared more than 10 meters away. Four Mages stood between him and Smoke Stub, giving him a sense of security.

Assault!

Smoke Sub suddenly rammed through the four Mages with inhuman speed, sending them flying back, and instantly closed the gap. The elven Great Mage had no time to react before he was struck in the back of the legs with a Tendon Break.

Seeing the elven Great Mage getting attacked, the eight Priests in the back hurriedly healed him.

It didn’t matter how powerful Smoke Stub’s attacks were. The elven Great Mage would never die as long as Smoke Stub couldn’t one-shot him!

"Barbarian Strength!” Smoke Stub roared as his muscles swelled with overwhelming power. He had previously spent six days straight getting it to level three, greatly enhancing its effects. He then activated Rage, increasing his attack power even further!

"Die!” Smoke Stub chopped down on the elven Great Mage with a Flame Slash.

Among the ordinary Warrior skills, Flame Slash and Great Cleave dealt the highest damage. Smoke Stub preferred the former. After buffing himself to such an extent and given that he was six whole levels higher than his opponent, he was guaranteed to deal fatal damage.

Smoke Stub’s greatsword landed squarely on the Great Mage’s chest and sent him flying. His cloth armour offered virtually no protection.

−3206!

It was an instant kill!

The Priests were caught off-guard. Like this, it didn’t matter how much they healed. Several rays of light fell over the elven Great Mage, but their healing couldn’t bring back the dead.

Bloodlust Blades’ backline was in chaos thanks to Smoke Stub’s rampage. Their Mages were having a hard time dealing effective damage.

The Asskickers United guild chat exploded with cheer.

「Smoke Stub is too awesome!」

「What a god!」

...

Out of all the Warriors, Smoke Stub was the only one who dared to charge into the enemy’s backline without any support. This showed he had absolute confidence in his strength.

Smoke Stub’s actions lit a flame in the hearts of the players from Asskickers United. Especially the Warriors, they fought even more ferociously.

At this moment, Smoke Stub’s Divine Bulwark wore off. The golden barrier protecting him gradually faded away.

In the distance, a player in dark gold armour appeared from the enemy’s ranks. Sporting multiple pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment, the quality of his gear was equal if not superior to that of Smoke Stub.

Seeing the appearance of this player, Nie Yan’s mind trembled. It was Bloodlust Mad Blade! That fellow had actually personally come over here.

「Smoke Stub, fall back!」Nie Yan ordered in an anxious tone.

Although Smoke Stub had achieved quite a lot by charging so deeply into the enemy’s forces, the risk of dying also increased greatly. After all, he was surrounded by the top Mages of four large guilds. Without the protection of Divine Bulwark, he was basically a sitting duck. It was still possible for someone of his skill to get out alive. But that was only if he didn’t encounter a player of equal caliber like Mad Blade.

When Divine Bulwark was close to wearing off, Smoke Stub had already started preparing his retreat. He had achieved his goal. There was no point in dying needlessly.

Just as Smoke Stub was about to retreat, Mad Blade charged toward him from his blind spot.

By the time he took notice, it was too late.

"Want to run? Not on my watch! You’re dying here today!” Mad Blade shouted as he cut off Smoke Stub’s path of retreat with Intercept.

"Shit!” Smoke Stub deflected a blow with Parry. Activating Charge, he tried to knock Mad Blade aside.

Mad Blade suddenly took up a defensive stance.「Klang!」The two heavily armoured Great Berserkers collided with each other.

Smoke Stub’s Charge failed. Surrounded by hundreds of enemy players without any way of escaping for the next 10 seconds, his death was practically assured.

Nie Yan and the others desperately tried rushing over to save Smoke Stub. But it was already too late.

「Given how many kills I’ve racked up, I have no regrets!」Smoke Stub chuckled.「I leave the rest to you guys, Nirvana, promise you’ll slaughter a couple more of those bastards in my place! Don’t let the Cripps Stronghold fall!」

「Alright,」Nie Yan resolutely replied, his throat a bit hoarse.

Smoke Stub suddenly turned away from Mad Blade and dashed off.

Mad Blade had only blocked off Smoke Stub’s path of retreat. He never expected Smoke Stub would go to where even more enemies gathered.

Whirlwind Slash!

Taking advantage of Barbarian Strength and Rage still being active, Smoke Stub cut down five nearby Mages.

In the blink of an eye, Bloodlust Blades’ side had suffered another five casualties. Mad Blade gnashed his teeth and charged after Smoke Stub from behind.

Just as Smoke Stub was about to cut down another Mage, Mad Blade collided into him.

Smoke Stub staggered several steps back, his head slightly spinning. Charge had a dizzy effect! Before he could recover, Mad Blade struck him with a Tendon Break, crippling his movements.

Several fireballs flew over and bombarded Smoke Stub.

"Great Cleave!” Mad Blade roared.

Smoke Stub was sent flying before crashing into the ground, never to get back up again.

Players didn’t get penalized for killing the enemy during a guild war. Smoke Stub only dropped a single piece of equipment and one level. However, he couldn’t revive until after the war was over.

Mad Blade collected the item Smoke Stub dropped on the ground. "Not bad, Sub Legendary-grade,” he said with an arrogant smirk.

Tossing the piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment into his bag, Mad Blade led the elites he brought with him toward the forces of Asskickers United.

"You worthless ants! If any of you have the guts, I’m standing right here!” Mad Blade arrogantly mocked, giving vent to his pent up anger. Given how Bloodlust Blades had been forced to the brink of collapse, his hatred for Asskickers United was overflowing.

"No! Smoke Stub!”

"Why!”

"Damn that bastard, Mad Blade!”

Many players on Asskickers United’s side were filled with grief, especially Wood Grace, Cold Peak, and the others who followed Smoke Stub from Withered Leaf. Seeing Mad Blade cutting down Smoke Stub, and then his taunting words after, they were unable to hold back their anger.

Smoke Stub’s prestige in Asskickers United was preceded only by Nie Yan and Bladelight. He was friendly and approachable, lacking any air of arrogance, and even occasionally brought the weaker players with him on dungeon runs. He would also frequently give out advice for levelling or PvP. Many players received his tutelage, for which he received their utmost respect. Since he was relatively older than most other players, having already passed the age of 30, he was even affectionately called uncle by some of the young ladies in the guild.

Witnessing the death of Smoke Stub, many players lost their cool and started madly attacking the enemy without any regard for their lives.

Nie Yan entered stealth, silently vanishing without a trace while everyone was distracted.

「Sun, you and I, we’re going to kill Mad Blade!」Nie Yan declared in a solemn, unwavering tone.

「Alright, Big Brother! I’ll follow your lead!」Sun nodded with his fists clenched.

No one noticed Nie Yan and Sun were sneaking towards Mad Blade.

This was the first time Nie Yan and Sun were partnering up. Picking out Mad Blade from the distant crowd, Nie Yan’s gaze was as sharp as a blade. With his and Sun’s strength combined, it’d be impossible for Mad Blade to leave here alive today!

Chapter 426 - Instagibbed!

Nie Yan slowly crept forward, paying careful attention not to get detected. Mad Blade probably never imagined Nie Yan would try to ambush him. After all, Thieves almost exclusively targeted casters like Priests or Mages. No Thief in their right mind would sneak right into the heart of the enemy’s forces to assassinate a Warrior. Either that player was a frightening existence capable of disregarding everything, or a hot-headed fool seeking death.

「Sun, what’s your location?」Nie Yan asked.

「389.676.865,」Sun replied after glancing at his minimap.

After checking his own coordinates, Nie Yan looked to his left. Sun was only six meters away. Though they were standing almost shoulder to shoulder, he couldn’t see Sun who was in stealth.

Mad Blade was about 10 or so meters away from them.

With so many enemies nearby, they couldn’t act rashly.

"Boss, Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine’s forces are only 10 minutes away from arriving here,” a Bloodlust Blades player reported to Mad Blade.

"Ignore those pests. It won’t make a difference no matter how many they send. We’ll deal with Asskickers United first. They’ve been an eyesore for long enough,” Mad Blade said in a disdainful tone.

Eavesdropping on their conversation, Nie Yan sneered. Declaring your victory already? Let’s just see who really comes out on top in the end!

Although Nie Yan as the guild leader of Asskickers United would ocassionally give out orders on the battlefield, he left most of the burden to others. Thieves really weren’t suited for commanding, a role generally taken up by Warriors or Priests. In this instance, Young Seven was the one overseeing the battlefield, while Nie Yan simply provided suggestions. This was why he was free to do as he pleased.

Taking down Mad Blade would be a huge win. But even if Nie Yan by chance failed, he was confident he could escape without any mishap.

Mad Blade was wholly unaware of Nie Yan and Sun’s presence only 10 or so meters away. He busily gave out orders to the players around him. Bloodlust Blades had mobilized another thousand elites, and were starting to overwhelm Asskickers United.

Mad Blade surveyed the battlefield and finally noticed Nie Yan’s absence. Seeing Lil’ Gold still fighting fiercely 500 meters away, he assumed Nie Yan was probably lurking around there. He took several steps forward, then shouted in the voice chat,「Don’t let them catch their breath! Thieves, go around and slaughter their Priests!」

After Mad Blade gave out the order, more than 30 Level 50+ Thieves under the command of two Great Thieves entered stealth and set out for the backliners of Asskickers United.

Mad Blade was unwittingly walking closer towards Sun and Nie Yan, with only five meters separating them. Sun and Nie Yan remained motionless, waiting for the opportunity to strike.

Stationary Thieves were much harder to detect since they received a significant boost to their stealthing capability.

With Nie Yan and Sun’s already high Cloaking stats, if they remained motionless, ordinary players wouldn’t notice them until they were less than two meters away.

Bloodlust Blades players were advancing forward bit by bit. With twice as many elites as Asskickers United, they almost immediately occupied the advantage. As their commander, Mad Blade was also moving at pace with his troops.

Seeing Mad Blade walking closer and closer, Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a cold light. His dagger was like a deadly viper, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.

Nie Yan was fairly calm. After all, this wasn’t his first rodeo.

Sun on the other hand was starting to get restless. This was his first time carrying out such a high risk operation, infiltrating the enemy’s ranks to assassinate their leader. Just thinking about it made his heart race with excitement. He forcefully calmed himself down. For better or worse, after following Nie Yan for so long, a bit of his brazen nature also rubbed off on him.

Sun’s mind flashed with scenes of past events. Nie Yan cutting down Black Amazing in Kiln Fire Woods, as well as his performances in Twilight Wood and Sinful Gorge, were something that Sun had always strived for. It was Nie Yan who had built up Asskickers United’s glory from the ground up. Sun dreamed of the day when his achievements would be just as glorious.

The two Thieves were like cheetahs hiding in ambush, ready to pounce on their prey at any time.

「How long can you last under a barrage of Magic?」Nie Yan asked.

「Six seconds. If I include Gale Step, nine seconds,」Sun replied.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. Six seconds was enough.

「We have five seconds to build up two to three combo points. Then, on my singal, we’re going to use Finisher Skills to instagib Mad Blade! It’s crucial we land the final hit at the same time. The previous attacks won’t matter since Mad Blade has a dedicated healer, and most Great Priests can respond with a Heal in under two seconds. If a Heal slips in between our attacks, Mad Blade won’t die.」Killing Mad Blade was a tall order. This was pushing the limits of Nie Yan and Sun, requiring two Thieves to work together with flawless coordination. There couldn’t be the slightest lapse in judgement, or they’d fail.

Sun was startled.「I don’t think it’s possible, even if we both use Finisher Skills at the same time. He has really high defense, the armour-type advantage, and more than 4,200 health. He’s way too tanky. How are we going to burst down someone like that?」

「It’s fine, just follow my lead,」Nie Yan assured. As long as he and Sun were on the same page, dealing 4,200 burst damage would be no issue. However, his part was a lot trickier since he would have to activate Apocalyptic Extinction in the instant before he and Sun used their Finisher Skills. This was the only way to bypass Mad Blade’s defense and make sure the Priests couldn’t remove it in time with Dispel. On top of this, he had to do all of this while being perfectly in sync with Sun, lest all their efforts go to waste.

Nie Yan didn’t have the time to explain in further detail.

「Alright, I understand.」Though Sun had his doubts, he had faith in Nie Yan. So, he would try his best to carry out the plan.

「In case we fail, immediately use an Unknown Transfer Scroll,」Nie Yan said. For such a high-difficulty assassination attempt to fail was fairly normal. There was no need to throw their lives away as well.

Mad Blade slowly entered their attack range. Two meters, this was a Thief’s domain!

A few Mages were passing through close to Nie Yan and Sun. One of them happened to brush against Nie Yan’s foot, a faint trace of danger suddenly surfacing in his heart. A Thief!

Before the Mage could cry out, Nie Yan and Sun burst into action. They pounced toward Mad Blade. No matter how good his senses were, there was no way he could react in such a short time, especially against two apex Thieves.

Nie Yan and Sun’s speed was unrivalled.

Extreme Intimidate!

Before Mad Blade could make any movements, Nie Yan targeted him with Extreme Intimidate which prevented him from running away.

Seeing Nie Yan dashing over, Mad Blade raised his greatsword to block, only for the glint of a dagger to emerge behind him.

Smothering Strike!

Sun’s dagger pierced into the back of Mad Blade’s skull.

Nie Yan followed up almost instantly with Concussive Blow, striking Mad Blade in the forehead with his dagger.

The teamwork of Nie Yan and Sun was impeccable.

Sun hadn’t ranked up his Smothering Strike yet, so the stun was prematurely broken after the next attack. But Nie Yan’s Concussive Blow had a two-second stun effect.

Reverse Grip Backstab!

With a slight pivot of his foot, Nie Yan twirled around and plunged his dagger into Mad Blade’s back. This was his first time successfully pulling off Reverse Grip Backstab. But thanks to his previous encounter with that Thief in the Underworld, his execution was extremely smooth, achieving a completion rate of 63% which rewarded him with two combo points.

Sun also unloaded several attack skills to build up his combo points.

−588

−532

−519

...

In only two seconds, Mad Blade’s health fell below 60%.

At this moment, a ray of light fell over Mad Blade, restoring his health back to full.

While the Priests worried about Mad Blade’s health, the nearby Mages targeted Nie Yan and Sun with their spells.

Nie Yan and Sun activated God’s Blessing and Glorious Protection respectively as a shower of spells rained down on them. They braved through the bombardment unimpeded as they continued unleashing attack after attack on Mad Blade.

The moment Mad Blade was about to recover, Sun struck him in the forehead with Concussive Blow, stunning him again.

Normally, Nie Yan and Sun could individually keep a target stun-locked for seven seconds or longer, to say nothing of the two of them working together.

Were there no others around, even the tankiest of Warriors would die long before they came out of Nie Yan and Sun’s stun chain.

「How many combo points?」

「Three.」

Nie Yan checked his own combo counter. He had already built up three points as well.「Alright, on my signal. Ready, set… NOW!」

Just before Nie Yan shouted now, he targeted Mad Blade with Apocalyptic Extinction.

Mad Blade’s defense immediately plummeted. His body also entered an exhausted state. The current him was undoubtedly at his weakest!

The more than 10 Priests in the back kept casting Heal on Mad Blade, keeping him permanently topped off. They believed like this he was in no danger of dying.

However, Mad Blade was suddenly inflicted with several frightening curses. Before any of the Priests could react, Nie Yan slashed out with Phantom Assassination!

As Zennarde’s Sword drew a crimson arc across Mad Blade’s throat, Sun’s Mortal Blow pierced through Mad Blade’s back.

「Bang!」The two attacks landed on Mad Blade in the exact same instant.

−3,532!

−2,287!

Nie Yan and Sun’s simultaneous attacks dealt more than 5,800 total damage while Mad Blade only had a little over 4,200 health. Of course he was instagibbed!

Chapter 427 - Emergence of the Crypt Lord

Nie Yan collected the loot Mad Blade dropped on the ground, then dashed past the Bloodlust Blades players with Gale Step before disappearing from sight.

Sun was even more direct, crushing an Unknown Transfer Scroll to immediately escape the battlefield.

The sudden death of Mad Blade left the players from Bloodlust Blades in a state of shock. None of them expected Nie Yan and Sun to succeed in instagibbing him.

One had to understand that Mad Blade was a Great Warrior with more than 4,200 health. On top of that, he had more than 10 Priests constantly healing him from the rear. For him to be killed even under these circumstances beggared disbelief.

Normally a Warrior as powerful as Mad Blade could allow a Thief to wail on him non-stop for half-a-minute and still have health to spare.

Following the death of Mad Blade, Bloodlust Blades’ forces were like a flock of headless chickens. Even though Soaring Angel was commanding everything the whole time, Mad Blade was the intermediary that passed down his orders. With him dying, there was momentarily no leader.

The chain of command in Bloodlust Blades fell into chaos.

Witnessing Nie Yan and Sun successfully assassinating Mad Blade, Asskickers United erupted out in cheer.

"Yeah! The boss avenged Smoke Stub!”

"Don’t forget Sun! He was amazing too!”

...

Even though Asskickers United’s forces were steadily being pushed back due to the enemy’s superiority in numbers, Nie Yan and Sun’s accomplishment reinvigorated their fighting spirits and allowed them to hold firm.

The thousand players led by Nie Yan had suffered heavy losses in the battle so far, but they had also killed more than 800 enemy elites.

Back on the main battlefield outside of the Cripps Stronghold, after withstanding the first wave of attacks, Bloodlust Blades solidified their battleline and relied on their remaining two Armoured Catapults to beat Asskickers United’s forces into a rather sorry state.

In this sort of open warfare, the Armoured Catapults displayed their full might, launching round after round of shells towards the forces of Asskickers United and sweeping up their players en masse.

With corpses scattered everywhere and more than 6,000 of their players having been wiped out by the bombardment of the Armored Catapults, the situation was looking grim for the forces of Asskickers United. Even so, they didn’t appear discouraged in the slightest, still charging towards the enemy with unrivalled ferocity, killing quite a few Bloodlust Blades players in return.

Seeing the Asskickers United players stretching as far as the eye could see, continuously surging forward like an endless tide no matter how many of them were killed, the forces of Bloodlust Blades couldn’t help but recoil in fear.

"Shit! These bastards are crazy!”

Bloodlust Blades’ battleline was gradually forced on the back foot. But under the formidable might of the Armoured Catapults, Asskickers United had to pay a heavy price for every inch of ground gained.

As the fighting between both sides raged on, a thundering noise shook the battlefield as an army of players from Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire emerged from the surrounding hilltops.

Nie Yan suddenly received a voice call. He answered to the boisterous laughter of Sleepy Fox.「Sorry for the delay. I’d say this counts as being fashionably late, right? Fa Lan is here too!」

Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire’s forces charged down the hillsides and clashed with the players from Bloodlust Blades. There was fighting taking place everywhere as the battlefield instantly became a lot more chaotic. It was hard to tell who was who.

Asskickers United, Sapphire Shrine, Holy Empire, and the five branch guilds had at least three times the forces of Bloodlust Blades, allowing them to instantly seize the advantage. The scales of victory were starting to tip in the favour of Asskickers United.

The players from Asskickers United were ecstatic over the arrival of reinforcements and started fighting with even more fervor.

"Everyone, our brothers from Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire have arrived. Let’s slaughter Bloodlust Blades together!”

"Wipe out every last one of those bastards!”

A one-sided massacre occurred as Bloodlust Blades was routed.

「Don’t be so quick to celebrate, everyone. Remember, Alliance of Mages and Divine Protector’s forces will be arriving soon,」Fa Lan warned.

「The more, the merrier! I was starting to worry we’d run out of people to kill!」Nie Yan laughed. Looking at the time, the ritual for summoning the Crypt Lord was probably drawing close to an end.

Fa Lan was taken aback by Nie Yan’s confidence. After all, Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps had gathered a frightening number of elites. On top of this, they had almost 160,000 ordinary players and two Armoured Catapults remaining. Truthfully, the enemy’s strength far exceeded their own.

Sleep Fox broke out into a wide grin.「Since you’re still in the mood to crack jokes, I can put my heart at ease. You have some sort of trick up your sleeve, don’t you?」

Sleepy Fox knew Nie Yan would never do something without being sure of his success.

Hearing Sleepy Fox’s words, Fa Lan didn’t say anymore.

While they were chatting, another large army of players appeared in the distant plains, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had also arrived. They had sent roughly 70,000 players, most of whom were fairly high-level. Furthermore, the average quality of their equipment was better than that of any other guilds.

With so many players entering the fray, the scope of the war became even grander.

The main battle was being fought by Asskickers United and Bloodlust Blades in the large plain outside the Cripps Stronghold. Meanwhile, Sapphire Shrine, Holy Empire, and the five branch guilds were dealing with Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors on the outskirts.

Victorious Return had also dispatched around 70,000 players, all of whom were their long-standing members.

As for Radiant Sacred Flame, they hadn’t taken any action yet. Their troops were still on standby outside the battlefield. This was all Nie Yan’s plan.

There were players fighting everywhere outside the Cripps Stronghold, from the plains to the surrounding hills, stretching far out into the horizon.

At this moment, in the mountain forest behind the Cripps Stronghold, the ritual for summoning the Crypt Lord was reaching the final and most crucial point. 20 Great Mages were positioned in a peculiar way, with Tang Yao standing at the center. He had the largest mana pool out of all of them at over 6,000 points in addition to the support of the Arcane Fairy, making him the ideal candidate for becoming the Crypt Lord's main source of mana.

Yao Yao, Lustboy, and Sunny South stood in a triangle with their right palm facing upwards as magic energy spiralled above their heads. Floating within the eye of the whirlpool were the three Occult Items, Empress Finas’ Fang, Empress Finas’ Eye, and Empress Finas’ Venom Sac!

The 16 remaining Great Mages stood in a circle roughly a meter apart from each other at the perimeter of the array. With their staffs raised, they recited a long series of cryptic chants.

Drawn below their feet was a giant hexagram. An immense amount of magic energy was swirling in the sky above the array. The hexagram array lit up with a dazzling radiance, resembling a sacrificial ceremony from the ancient past. Space warped and twisted.

A dormant existence located inside another world awoke from a long sumber...

It was an ancient and foreign existence possessing unrivalled might.

The power of the hexagram array tunneled through the void and slowly drew it over.

After the 20 Great Mages chanted for more than an hour, Tang Yao finally recited the last syllable.

Due to Alliance of Mages and Divine Protector’s strength, which was allowed to flourish unimpeded in their respective cities, Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine showed signs of faltering.

「We can’t hold on much longer!」Fa Lan cried out anxiously. Nie Yan appeared completely unperturbed while he was at his wits’ end. At this rate, Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine were going to suffer a crushing defeat.

It would be extremely difficult to recover from such a scenario.

「Wait a little longer.」

Nie Yan checked the time again. His lips cracked into a faint smile. It was time for the Crypt Lord to come out.

At this moment, a huge earthquake shook the battlefield. Everyone could feel a peculiar change as the scent of death permeated the air.

This scent originated from a different dimension and brimmed with death and corrosion. Everyone’s faces paled at the powerful miasma.

Many players were alarmed and frightened. They gazed at the earth being rent asunder in the distant mountain forest. The leaking miasma left them feeling uneasy as a sense of foreboding washed over them. The stats of every player on the battlefield suddenly dropped significantly.

"What’s going on!?”

"I don’t know!”

A dark ray of light descended from the sky and struck the mountain forest, causing a giant sinkhole to emerge. A ten-meter sized giant beetle slowly crawled out until its towering figure was in full view. A dark golden carapace dotted in white with a metallic sheen, its body was covered in sharp barbs, including its eight legs. It had a single horn protruding far out from out of its head, resembling a giant beast from antiquity.

It’s finally here! Nie Yan coldly smirked. He wanted to see just how Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors were going to deal with a Level 100 Lord!

Crypt Lord, a Level 100 Lord with 2,000,000 health!

Everyone trembled in fear at the emergence of the Crypt Lord!

Fa Lan turned to Nie Yan with a mix of shock and horror in his eyes. "T-t-this is your trump card?” He never expected Nie Yan to summon such a powerful creature. From the start of the war, the Armoured Catapults had played the role of slaughter machines. Their tremendous might caused Asskickers United to suffer heavy losses. However, in front of this Level 100 Lord, they looked like nothing more than children’s playthings.

The Crypt Lord was an existence that would turn the tide of this war!

Chapter 428 - Crypt Lord Bennett Sweeps the Battlefield!

The Crypt Lord, which was comparable in size to a large hill, immediately became the focal point of the battlefield. A Level 100 Lord, this kind of label was enough to frighten just about anybody.

Soaring Angel was busy overseeing the war, passing down his orders to the higher-ups from Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Victorious Return. Besieged on all sides by his forces, Sapphire Shrine, Holy Empire, Asskickers United, and their five branch guilds were showing signs of wavering. He only required one final push to secure victory.

「From this day forward, there will only be Angel Corps, Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors! Asskickers United, Sapphire Shrine, and Holy Empire will cease to exist! Let this war mark their demise and this battlefield be their burial ground!」Soaring Angel arrogantly declared. He had Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors launch a full-on assault, gradually beating Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine into retreat. Meanwhile, Bloodlust Blades was sweeping through the forces of Asskickers United with their Armoured Catapults.

At this moment, Soaring Angel felt the ground violently quake beneath his feet. He looked toward the source of the commotion and spotted a giant scarab beetle.

A Level 100 Crypt Lord!

Soaring Angel rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Why did a Level 100 Lord suddenly appear here of all places?

An ominous thought popped into his mind. This was Asskickers United’s trump card! The situation was looking grim. Was all the effort and planning he put into this operation going to be ruined by this Crypt Lord?

A Level 100 Lord, an existence capable of single handedly turning the tides of this war!

Once you started riding on a tiger’s back, there was no getting off. Soaring Angel feared if his side started retreating now, the enemy wouldn’t let them off lightly, and they would suffer even more disastrous losses. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, the only option was to fight until the bitter end!

Soaring Angel still had the two remaining Armoured Catapults sitting on the plains, undamaged by the Goblin Magic Cannon. They were his last hope!

From the moment Soaring Angel’s forces attacked the Cripps Stronghold, their fate was bound to the outcome of this war. The attacking side couldn’t use Return Scrolls during a siege. But the defending side could; of course, they would only be returned to their stronghold.

This was one of the rules of a stronghold siege!

"Boss, what are we going to do? It’s a Level 100 Lord!” an elven Great Mage worriedly asked. There was an intrinsic difference between a level 99 and Level 100 Lord. Level 100 was a watershed, similar to Level 50. For players at this stage of the game, any creature at that level was an unrivalled existence, let alone a Lord.

Soaring Angel’s mind was also drawing a blank. He had never faced a Level 100 Lord before. Even if they attempted to overwhelm the Crypt Lord with numbers, it would require the sacrifice of at least 10,000 of their best players. More importantly, this new variable had reversed the momentum of the war, greatly dampening the morale of their troops. Who would want to engage a Level 100 Lord? That was no different from throwing their lives away!

Elsewhere on a hilltop, a silhouette was dashing towards the Crypt Lord at breakneck speed. It was Nie Yan.

Nie Yan could sense that the Crypt Lord was currently waiting for him to awaken it!

The Crypt Lord showed no sign of movement. It was like a gigantic statue, towering over the mountain forest—motionless, as though it had stood there since time immemorial.

Even from far away, Nie Yan noticed the hollowness in the Crypt Lord’s eyes, lacking even the tiniest spark of life. It was clearly nothing but a giant corpse, an empty shell that had been transported here from another world.

Awaken, Crypt Lord!

When Nie Yan arrived within 100 meters of the Crypt Lord, Bennett’s Soul flew out of his bag. It was shining brightly like the zenith sun, emitting a blinding radiance. This was proof it had grown much stronger after absorbing the energy from the shattered Holy Stones.

Bennett’s Soul flew over toward the Crypt Lord and entered its forehead.

The Crypt Lord’s eyes suddenly blossomed with dark light as powerful death energy pulsed out from its body in waves. It was awakened!

The Crypt Lord gently stretched out its limbs.

This Crypt Lord needed a soul to awaken. Bennett’s Soul in Nie Yan’s bag fulfilled this requirement.

Back in the mountain forest behind the Cripps Stronghold, the 20 Great Mages who had completed the summoning ritual could feel Crypt Lord Bennett’s powerful strength as mana rapidly drained away from their bodies. Several of them hurriedly drank Advanced Mana Potions.

They stood in place, legs locked to the ground. This hexagram array couldn’t be broken, or else Crypt Lord Bennett would be unsummoned.

It was only linked to this world by their mana.

Nie Yan could sense Bennett’s excitement through their spiritual connection. The ground quaked as Crypt Lord Bennett took a step forward. Its body was brimming with destructive power! He also discovered he could direct the Crypt Lord through Bennett’s Soul.

Looking up, Nie Yan noticed a flat surface on top of the Crypt Lord’s forehead. He leapt up six meters into the air and swung himself up with a web line.

On top of the Crypt Lord’s head, the sea of players spread out over the plains looked like nothing more than ants.

They stared at Nie Yan with a mix of fear and awe, as though they were facing a god.

Right now, Nie Yan was planning to unleash hell on the enemy alliance led by Soaring Angel. This day would become a nightmare that would forever haunt them!

Under Nie Yan’s command, Crypt Lord Bennett charged into the battlefield.

Each of the Crypt Lord’s steps left depressions in the ground. It was an invincible moving fortress!

Seeing Nie Yan riding this ancient beast toward the forces of Bloodlust Blades, the players of Asskickers United broke out in frantic cheer.

The sight of Nie Yan on the Crypt Lord was truly awe inspiring. This was a declaration of Asskickers United’s invincibility! Victory belonged to them!

Their fighting spirits were once more reignited as countless players rallied behind the Crypt Lord. Their cheers resounded through the sky.

"Long live Asskickers United! Brothers, let’s wipe out those bastards! Bloodlust Blades, Angel Corps, and the rest, we’ll send them straight to hell!”

These players under Nie Yan’s lead resembled an unstoppable tidal wave, surging towards the enemy forces.

Nie Yan was also fired up. He was currently an unparalleled existence on the battlefield, ruling over life and death! "Slaughter the enemy, Crypt Lord Bennett! Let their blood and lives hail the second coming of your undying presence!”

Before long, a group of 5,000 Bloodlust Blades players entered Nie Yan’s sights. They looked especially weak and puny in front of the Crypt Lord.

Nie Yan flashed a sinister smile. You bastards can all die! His appearance was akin to that of a death god to these players from Bloodlust Blades.

Before their alarmed eyes, Nie Yan ordered Crypt Lord Bennett to attack with Impale!

「Crash!」Crypt Lord Bennett slammed his massive claws into the ground, causing sharp tendrils to erupt out and pierce through every player in a 50-meter line.

Like a sacrificial ritual, more than 500 players were instantly killed.

The Crypt Lord was unstoppable, leaving a trail of bodies in its wake. The players on the side of Bloodlust Blades started frantically retreating.

In front of this powerful Crypt Lord, they couldn't summon up any will to resist. Overcome with despair, they fled en masse, for fear they would be the next to lose their lives.

The Crypt Lord’s frightening power also shocked the players from Asskickers United as they slaughtered the retreating forces of Bloodlust Blades unimpeded. At this moment, victory was within their grasp!

A group of 100 Warriors from Bloodlust Blades were prepared to face the oncoming forces of Asskickers United, when tendrils erupted from the ground below their feet. The whole area was transformed into rays of light.

After scraping up a group of players willing to put up a fight, Bloodlust Blades’ pitiful resistance was instantly crushed by the Crypt Lord’s incomparable strength.

Within a minute, Bloodlust Blades’ forces were routed as they were slaughtered left and right.

Nie Yan had slaughtered more than a thousand players in the blink of an eye. His control of the Crypt Lord had also become a lot smoother.

At this moment, the Crypt Lord let out a screech as the corpses on the ground formed into five Carrion Scarabs.

These Carrion Scarabs were roughly the size of a grizzly bear, resembling miniature Crypt Lords. They were ordinary level 80 monsters with 12,000 health. Their defense wasn’t high, but their attacks were extremely powerful.

The five Carrion Scarabs charged forward and opened up a path for Crypt Lord Bennett. Two Carrion Scarabs spotted a Bloodlust Blades player who couldn’t flee in time. They instantly pounced forward and ripped him to shreds. Their attacks dealt more than 1,000 damage each hit.

About 30 seconds later, the Crypt Lord summoned five more Carrion Scarabs.

As time passed and Asskickers United’s forces continued pushing forward, the Crypt Lord had already summoned 25 Carrion Scarabs, and that number was rapidly growing.

The army of Carrion Scarabs steamrolled a path forward. Nothing could stop the Crypt Lord’s advance.

With the Crypt Lord serving as the core, Asskickers United’s forces resembled a steak knife plunging into the heart of Bloodlust Blades, wantonly slaughtering the enemy. They had already killed more than 2,000 players.

It looked like Bloodlust Blades was about to suffer a crushing defeat.

Wherever the Crypt Lord went, even the toughest of defensive lines collapsed with a single hit.

Nie Yan surveyed the battlefield. His eyes locked onto the two Armoured Catapults. They were being slowly towed away from each other before being set up to deal with the Crypt Lord.

The Armoured Catapults were the only things on the battlefield capable of posing a threat to the Crypt Lord.The Armoured Catapults could deal a lot of damage to the Crypt Lord. However, they were cumbersome and could only be used on flat ground. If they encountered rough terrain, it would be difficult to move them or adjust their aim.

The next objective was precisely these two Armoured Catapults!

Chapter 429 - Struggle to the Bitter End

Nie Yan slaughtered to his heart’s desire, making sure he never got in range of the two Armoured Catapults. There would be plenty of time to deal with them later on. Besides, they were too cumbersome to keep up with the Crypt Lord. The enemy had two powerful war machines but no way to use them.

On this battlefield, Nie Yan had thoroughly crushed the enemy’s fighting spirit. All their elites had retreated. The ordinary players who remained couldn’t even withstand the attacks from the Carrion Scarabs, let alone the Crypt Lord.

Soaring Angel’s face was extremely unsightly. He had started gathering all his elites, specifically the Fighters. The main tank from Angel Corps was already on his way. Only Fighters could tank the Crypt Lord, albeit with great difficulty. The level difference was simply too great to overcome. Even so, if they could stall the Crypt Lord for only a brief moment, it would allow the attacks of the Armoured Catapults to land. This was their only hope for victory, no matter how distant and remote.

With the Palente Phoenix Longbow in hand, Soaring Angel was currently dashing between the players on the battlefield. He took out three arrows from his quiver and fired as several crimson streaks of light flew toward Nie Yan.

Nie Yan quickly picked out Soaring Angel from the crowd. He had Crypt Lord Bennett swing around as three arrows brushed past him. Sadly for the enemy, they weren't homing.

In front of Crypt Lord Bennett’s unrivalled strength, Soaring Angel could only rely on his ranged attacks to harass Nie Yan.

Under Nie Yan’s command, Crypt Lord Bennet suddenly accelerated toward Soaring Angel.

Although the Crypt Lord looked large and clumsy, by no means was it slow. After all, it was a Level 100 Lord. It sped up, reaching a terrifying speed, and quickly caught up to Soaring Angel.

Seeing the mountain-like Crypt Lord barrelling towards him, Soaring Angel’s eyes widened in alarm. He never expected such a behemoth to move with such speed!

Soaring Angel sped himself up with a haste skill as he dashed through the battlefield. Elven Demon Hunters were innately quick on their feet to begin with. Add this on top of his excellent equipment, and he could rival even the fastest Thieves. Every now and then, he would turn around and fire a volley of arrows at Nie Yan.

Kiting around like I’m some kind of boss, huh! I’ll show you not to underestimate me! Nie Yan naturally wasn’t going to put up with Soaring Angel’s antics.

Nie Yan had the Crypt Lord continuously swaying back and forth to avoid Soaring Angel’s arrows. It sent countless players from Bloodlust Blades flying during the pursuit. Nothing could obstruct its path.

At this moment, a large group of Fighters rushed over and tried to intercept the Crypt Lord, only to be sent flying away by its spiked carapace. Only then did they realize how insignificant they were.

Soaring Angel seized this brief moment of respite, which was bought through the sacrifice of hundreds of lives, to flee far away.

Soaring Angel had absolute confidence in his skills. He wasn’t afraid of Nie Yan in a one on one duel. But the Crypt Lord was a different matter altogether. The gap in strength was so overwhelming that he couldn’t help but feel a profound sense of helplessness.

Although Angel Corps had many elites, they lacked a being that possessed absolute strength like the Crypt Lord.

Tsk, he flees pretty quickly… Nie Yan grumbled. In any case, Soaring Angel’s attacks couldn’t pose a threat to him. He continued to wantonly slaughter the enemy’s forces. The losses of Bloodlust Blades were severe. At this rate, they would soon be completely wiped out.

The Mages in the vicinity all started chanting their magic, preparing to bombard Nie Yan.

Nie Yan glanced at Crypt Lord Bennett’s skill bar. Impale was back off cooldown. The Crypt Lord sent sharp tendrils erupting from the ground, instantly skewering every Mage within a 50-meter radius.

Even though Nie Yan knew he had entered the range of the Armoured Catapults, he didn’t stop advancing. He planned to let the Crypt Lord tank a hit just to see how much damage they dealt. If it wasn’t too much, he would brave through the assault and destroy them.

The only way for the enemy alliance to kill the Crypt Lord was to lure it into the range of the Armoured Catapults.

As Soaring Angel ran, he ordered the players on his side to ready the Armoured Catapults. Before long, the Crypt Lord entered within 500 meters of one of the Armoured Catapults.

The Armoured Catapult launched five shells into the air.

Seeing the volley of shells flying in his direction, Nie Yan leaped off the Crypt Lord, ordering it to dodge as best as it could while he fled to safety.

「Boom! Boom! Boom!」Five red shells ruthlessly bombarded the Crypt Lord’s thick carapace as flames engulfed its entire body.

−82,727

−81,444

−86,539

−80,106

−80,025

What frightening damage!

The Crypt Lord staggered several steps backwards.

Although the range of Armoured Catapults was only 500 meters, not nearly as great as Goblin Magic Cannons, most of the threat came from the additional fire damage from their shells. Every shell underwent a special manufacturing process, and was inscribed with powerful magic runes that detonated on impact. The explosion radius was quite large, so it was difficult to avoid.

Asskickers United had suffered many casualities precisely to these explosive shells.

The impact of the shell along with the additional fire damage was a double whammy.

When the Armoured Catapult prepared to fire again, a group of 100 Fighters from Bloodlust Blades charged toward the Crypt Lord. Three among them were class advanced players, so their defense was quite high.

They wanted to lock down the Crypt Lord so that the Armoured Catapult could bombard it to death.

Nie Yan naturally wouldn’t allow their plan to go off without a hitch. There was currently no need to brave through the attacks of the Armoured Catapults. The area around them was boobytrapped with Thunderstorm Mines too. If a large number of these went off at once, they could deal considerable damage. It wasn’t worth it to make the Crypt Lord walk through this minefield.

Nie Yan ordered the Crypt Lord to retreat, causing the Fighters to miss their encirclement.

The Crypt Lord was still constantly spawning Carrion Scarabs. More and more of them were scuttling about. The ground was completely littered with corpses anyway, so there were plenty of summoning mediums. It could even be said there was an inexhaustible supply. Furthermore, Nie Yan discovered that the more corpses there were on the ground, the stronger the Crypt Lord became and the faster it recovered health. It was absorbing the death energy from these corpses to replenish its own health.

Under Nie Yan’s command, the Carrion Scarabs pounced toward the group of Fighters, cutting off their retreat.

"God dammit! It can even heal!? Why the hell is it so strong?” Soaring Angel cursed. He was truly feeling helpless.

Since the Crypt Lord was being controlled by Nie Yan, this was equal to it having intelligence. A Level 100 Lord with intelligence was much more frightening than an ordinary one!

The Mages from Bloodlust Blades unleashed a concentrated barrage of magic at the Crypt Lord. However, the damage they dealt was negligible, failing to even exceed its health regeneration.

Soaring Angel was at his wit’s end. It looked like Nie Yan was toying with them, purposefully staying just out of range of the Armoured Catapults while he massacred their forces.

As time passed, the number of casualties on the side of Bloodlust Blades piled up to frightening heights. Of the more than 50,000 players, they had lost more than half.

Every place outside of the 500 meter range of the Armoured Catapults was devoid of any players from Bloodlust Blades. They had all been wiped out. The players from Asskickers United had also found their stride. With morale at an all-time high, they displayed formidable fighting strength. After clearing out all the enemies in the area, some of them headed to the other battlefields to provide support to Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine.

After about an hour, the Crypt Lord had spawned more than 600 Carrion Scarabs. This was a frightening force. One had to remember every Carrion Scarab had 12,000 health and 1,000 attack power.

What’s more, this army was continuously growing in size. Under the Crypt Lord’s lead, there was no enemy left alive in their wake.

Nie Yan turned his attention to the two Armoured Catapults in the distance. It was about time he dealt with them!

The more than 600 Carrion Scarabs spread out and started closing in on the two Armoured Catapults from every direction.

The Carrion Scarabs were expendable units that didn’t fear death. They charged forward one after another, setting off the Thunderstorm Mines in the vicinity.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Successive explosions rang out in the air as they were blasted away and transformed into smoking corpses. However, more would swarm forward to replace them, triggering more of the Thunderstorm Mines further up ahead. In this fashion, more than half of the Thunderstorm Mines were destroyed. What took nearly half-a-day setting up by six Shamans was destroyed in the blink of an eye.

When the Carrions Scarabs cleared away all the Thunderstorm Mines, the Crypt Lord and Asskickers United’s forces in the back could safely advance forward.

After witnessing more than half their defenses being cleared away, the players from Bloodlust Blades could only struggle to the bitter end. They all knew it was too late for regret.

They were surrounded on all sides by the forces of Asskickers United.

One Armoured Catapult launched five flaming shells into a dense crowd of Carrion Scarabs. An explosion swept through and killed close to 30 of them.

At this moment, the Crypt Lord let out a thundering roar.

Soaring Angel’s face paled. What he dreaded the most was finally happening!

Chapter 430 - Even a Nobody Can Make a Huge Impact!

Most of the Thunderstorm Mines surrounding the Armoured Catapults were cleared away, leaving only the 3,000 or so players from Bloodlust Blades to defend. Their defense was extremely frail.

Countless players from Asskickers United charged toward the Armoured Catapults. The Crypt Lord along with hundreds of Carrion Scarabs also swarmed forward. With so many enemies closing in from every direction, the Armoured Catapults had no way of stopping everyone.

Soaring Angel urgently requested for support from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. If the Armoured Catapults were destroyed, what little chance they had at victory would be extinguished.

Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine’s blockade had been broken through. More and more players from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were converging here.

Nie Yan received word about the enemy’s movements from Sleepy Fox and Fa Lan. It would be troublesome if the reinforcements from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors arrived before he could destroy the Armoured Catapults. He needed to hurry up!

Nie Yan had the Crypt Lord charge forward, entering the range of the two Armoured Catapults.

「Boom! Boom! Boom!」Ten red-hot shells fell from the sky and struck the Crypt Lord, engulfing the surrounding area in powerful flames. More than 20 Carrion Scarabs were killed in the inferno. The Crypt Lord was also knocked several steps back by the impact.

The Crypt Lord was stopped dead in its tracks.

The Armoured Catapults were extremely powerful. The 10 shells had dealt more than 700,000 damage total. However, since the Armoured Catapults were focused solely on the Crypt Lord, they had no time to deal with the oncoming forces from Asskickers United, leaving the players of Bloodlust Blades to fend for themselves. They were forced into constant retreat.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Thunderstorm Mines exploded across the battlefield, blasting countless players from Asskickers United into smithereens. However, more players would rush forward to replace the fallen.

Taking advantage of the downtime between attacks, Nie Yan had the Crypt Lord charge directly for the Armoured Catapults.

"Quickly withdraw! Retreat 30 meters back!” Soaring Angel anxiously ordered the players from Bloodlust Blades. As long as they could hold out, a large amount of reinforcements from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors would arrive, and the pressure on them would lessen by a lot. The formidable might of the Armoured Catapults gave him a trace of hope. As long as they were protected, it would still be possible to kill the Crypt Lord!

The Crypt Lord was a nightmare for Bloodlust Blades!

From the moment it appeared, the Crypt Lord was invincible, sweeping through every enemy in its path with its domineering might.

Tallying everything up, Bloodlust Blades had suffered over 43,000 deaths, of which the Crypt Lord was responsible for more than 7,000. More importantly, its presence alone had thoroughly wrecked their morale, causing them to lose all will to fight.

The Crypt Lord was rapidly approaching the Armoured Catapults, only 200 meters away.

"Fifth to Seventh Fighter Division, stop the Crypt Lord!” Soaring Angel shouted. Under his command, three teams of close to 200 Fighters formed a human wall in front of the Crypt Lord’s path.

It would be difficult for even the Crypt Lord to break through this solid blockade.

Nie Yan glanced at the Crypt Lord’s skill bar. Impale wouldn’t be off cooldown for another minute, and it only had roughly 30% mana left. He was spamming skills too much in the beginning. Looking at the other skills, Corpse Eater was still available. He activated it and saw the Crypt Lord swallow several corpses whole in one go, recovering over 300,000 health and 30% mana! What an amazing skill!

Impale was about to come off cooldown soon. With Impale, the Crypt Lord could sweep through the Fighters up ahead. A human wall was useless against Impale!

The Armoured Catapults once more targeted the Crypt Lord.

At this moment, the players from Asskickers United were also making headway, with Bladelight and his group approaching within 30 meters of the Armoured Catapults. They had already entered the safe zone.

Armoured Catapults had a maximum range of 500 meters, but they also had a minimum range of 100 meters. Unable to attack anything within that distance, they could only continuously retreat as Bladelight and the others closed in.

With his excellent equipment and high defense, Bladelight clashed with three Fighters, one of whom was class advanced, from Angel Corp. The three of them had no way of stopping him.

Shield Bash!

Bladelight rammed his greatshield into one of the Fighters, who was sent flying back by the powerful impact. The Fighter attempted to struggle to his feet before ultimately collapsing dead to the ground.

Bladelight was actually this powerful!

Lofty Shadow and Yi Yan were also leading their groups, closing in on the Armoured Catapults from different directions. Even if the Armoured Catapults could stop the Crypt Lord, these players from Asskickers United could also destroy them!

The situation had become extremely perilous. Soaring Angel ordered 300 players from Bloodlust Blades to stop Bladelight and the others. He also had no choice but to join the fray, starting off by taking out three arrows and shooting them at Bladelight.

Bladelight forced back a squad from Angel Corps and beelined toward an Armoured Catapult. He had an extremely powerful skill ready to go. Even if he couldn’t destroy one, he would still deal a ton of damage!

Seeing the Armoured Catapults were only 10 meters up ahead, Bladelight grew excited as he hacked away even more fiercely with his one-handed sword.

At this moment, three arrows flew out from the gap between two Angel Corps players and shot towards him at lightning speed.

Just as Bladelight was about swing his sword, he noticed the three arrows from the corner of his eye. He hurriedly cancelled his skill mid-way and attempted to raise his greatshield to block.「Peng! Peng! Peng!」He was struck!

The three arrows were too fast. Even though he saw them before they landed, it was already too late. Three gouts of flame erupted and quickly engulfed his body.

Flame Shackles!

This was a special skill from the Palente Phoenix Bow. It could bind an enemy for five seconds.

These flames, like thick strands of rope, tightly bound Bladelight and prevented him from moving.

Seeing an opportunity, the several nearby Great Warriors started wailing on Bladelight, crippling him with Tendon Break.

In response, Six Priests hurriedly healed Bladelight, bringing his health back up to a safe level.

Bladelight and his group’s advance was halted by the Fighters from Angel Corps.

There was also a commotion over on Lofty Shadow’s side.

Several Mages from Asskickers United raised their staffs and shot fireballs at the Armoured Catapults.

The fire burst apart into flames after striking the Armoured Catapults, leaving deep scorch marks on the surface. However, they failed to do any real damage. These fireballs were simply too weak.

In order to avoid these spells, the Armoured Catapults were towed around 30 meters back. They once more launched 10 flaming shells at the Crypt Lord.

Impale!

The Crypt Lord slammed its claws into the ground, instantly wiping out almost all the 200 Fighters up ahead. Only three among them survived, and they had the best equipment out of all their peers. One of them was a class advanced player. Their defense allowed them to barely survive a single hit from the Crypt Lord. After being struck by Impale, they fell from close to 4,000 health to only several hundred.

They chugged down Advanced Health Potions and backed away while the several Priests in the back frantically healed them.

The Crypt Lord’s attacks were far too horrifying. The three of them trying to block it was just suicide. Its unrivalled magic attack caused all the remaining players from Bloodlust Blades to scatter in fear.

The Crypt Lord easily cleared the blockade ahead of it and continued its pursuit.

Ten more shells bombarded the Crypt Lord, once more taking out over 700,000 health.

Over on Lofty Shadow’s side, since the opponents trying to intercept them were fairly weak, he and the five other Fighters in his group were completely overwhelming the frontliners from Bloodlust Blades. A bit further in the back among the Mages, an inconspicuous Elementalist in gray robes stealthily raised his staff and started chanting. He wasn’t outstanding, nor was he a famous player.

Because of the chaos around him, not a single person noticed him chanting a fire-type area of effect spell.

He whispered one syllable after another, so quietly that even he could barely hear.

His staff just happened to be hidden behind an Arcane Mage from Asskickers United. He was only 35 meters away from one of the Armoured Catapults. For an Armoured Catapult, it was extremely dangerous to allow an enemy Elementalist to get so close. Under normal circumstances, a Paladin would definitely rush up and silence him. However, with how chaotic things were right now, no one had noticed him.

When his friends noticed him chanting an area of effect spell, and an Advanced Magic at that, they quickly moved to cover him.

"You can do it, Upstart! You’re almost there!” the Arcane Mage cheered. He clutched his staff as his heart was wracked with nervousness. Upstart had already been chanting for 12 seconds. They only needed to hold the enemy off for 8 more seconds!

Wisps of fire elemental energy swirled together, quickly converging in the air. Everyone could feel the heat as they passed.

Chapter 431 - The Crushing Defeat of Victorious Return!

From the early days of Conviction to now, Advanced Magic had gradually become more and more accessible, to the extent where they were even getting into the hands of ordinary players. Upstart ranked roughly within the top 100 Elementalists in Asskickers United. He wasn’t a top player. But any Advanced Magic was extremely powerful, regardless of the caster.

The Armoured Catapult had already been enveloped by a blazing red haze. Only then did the players from Bloodlust Blades realize something was wrong.

"Stop him!”

"Cast Silence!”

One Paladin from Bloodlust Blades after another charged toward Upstart.

Lofty Shadow was at the front dealing with the enemy Fighters. Looking at the commotion in the team chat, he faintly smiled. "Upstart, that kid. Not bad!"

Seeing the Paladins from Bloodlust Blades charging over in his direction, gradually entering within a five-meter range of him, Lofty Shadow bellowed out with a deafening roar.

Demoralizing Shout!

All the surrounding players from Bloodlust Blades were stopped dead in their tracks. Although the effect of Demoralizing Shout wasn’t powerful, what was so great about it was that it was an area-of-effect skill.

At the same time, an Elementalist in the back cast Whiteout. The area was blanketed by a layer of dense icy mist as the temperature plummeted by several degrees. Everyone within the influence of the spell, enemies and allies alike, had their movement speed reduced to a crawl.

The Mages in the back were willing to do anything to protect Upstart. They all had similar resolve. So long as they could destroy the Armoured Catapults, even sacrificing their fellow comrades in arms was acceptable. Because since the start of the war, the Armoured Catapults had killed over 9,000 players from Asskickers United, and indirectly led to the deaths of tens of thousands more. If it weren’t for the Goblin Magic Cannon and Crypt Lord, the Cripps Stronghold would’ve long since fallen.

As such, the players of Asskickers United loathed these Armoured Catapults to the bottom of their hearts.

Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps weren’t guilds that Asskickers United was capable of contending with. Although Asskickers United had many elites with a decent pool of talent, and their potential for growth appeared limitless, even a guild with the most solid of foundations couldn’t come out of so many successive wars unscathed. Though this might not be the case with skill, in terms of level and gear quality, the top elites in Asskickers United were now far inferior to their counterparts in Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps. Some of the former elites, who Nie Yan originally had high hopes for, had dropped to Level 30–40 over the past several wars. For them to catch back up to the rest of the pack would be a herculean task. But before they even got a chance to recover, Asskickers United became embroiled in another war.

If it weren’t for Nie Yan’s enormous financial support and Asskickers United’s unity, any other different guild would’ve long since withered away.

It would be very difficult for Asskickers United to get out of their current situation. If it were only Bloodlust Blades, there would be no problem. But gathered here today was the combined forces of four major guilds. Then add in weapons of mass death like the Armoured Catapults on top of this, and it was miracle Asskickers United hadn’t been defeated already.

It was only the emergence of the Crypt Lord that had nullified the superiority of the Armoured Catapults, allowing the scales of victory to start tipping in Asskickers United’s favour.

At this point, the players from Asskickers United only had one thing on their minds. If they destroyed the remaining two Armoured Catapults, then the war would already be half-won!

For the sake of their fallen brothers!

Area-of-effect magic with relatively short cast times bombarded the space up ahead. These ground-targeted spells only had radiuses of five meters. They couldn’t differentiate between friend or foe either, damaging players from both sides. But at this moment, they were the only things that could stop the charging players from Bloodlust Blades.

Players were dying in droves under this dense bombardment of small area-of-effect spells.

The vast majority of these deaths were from Bloodlust Blades, but a portion also belonged to Asskickers United. Under this intense shower of magic, even Fighters would falter and collapse.

The space up ahead was cleared away, turning into an isolated zone between both sides. These small area-of-effect spells could last seven to eight, even ten seconds.

Fireballs ruthlessly pelted Lofty Shadow. A string of damage values ranging from 500–600 rose up above his head. His health instantly fell to critical levels. The eight Priests in the back frantically tried to keep him alive. All the other Fighters in his group had died. He was the only one that remained standing.

Under the endless inferno, Lofty Shadow charged towards several oncoming enemy Paladins. It was better to go out together than to let them pass!

Soaring Angel couldn't pass through the wall of flames, so he could only repeatedly shoot at Upstart with his arrows. The others Mages from Asskickers United lunged forward one after another, taking the hits at the cost of their lives.

"Protect Upstart!”

"Everyone, persevere!”

The Mages transformed into rays of light after being pierced by Soaring Angel’s arrows.

Three seconds, two seconds, one second… Upstart had finally finished chanting his Advanced Magic!

Ravaging Blaze!

A gigantic column of flames descended from the sky and smashed into the Armoured Catapult. These flames resembled lava erupting from a volcano, possessing incredible might.

The Armoured Catapult was immediately set alight. As the flames raged on, it exploded into fragments of wood and metal.

Soaring Angel lowered his Palente Phoenix Longbow as despair washed over him. It was over. He hatefully glared at Nie Yan riding on the Crypt Lord in the distance. "Nirvana Flame, things between us won’t be over so easily!”

He would come once more when flying mounts were released!

Of two Armoured Catapults, only one remained standing. Their already slim chances of stopping the Crypt Lord had dropped even further.

At this moment, Nie Yan had the Crypt Lord charge towards the remaining Armoured Catapult. Five flaming shells struck its body, shaving away 350,000 health each time. Since the gap between attacks was relatively long, the lone Armoured Catapult didn’t pose much of a threat. The Crypt Lord tramped over all the players in its path and rammed into the Armoured Catapult with its horn, causing it to burst apart and splinter into pieces.

Bloodlust Blades had lost all hope of making a comeback. It wasn’t long before the tens of thousands of troops from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors received word of the destruction of the Armoured Catapults.

"The Armoured Catapults were destroyed. We’re done for!”

Despair loomed over the hearts of these players.

They were just about to turn around and leave this area, when the Crypt Lord appeared before them in the distant plains. Its frightening appearance and imposing aura immediately struck fear into their hearts.

Without the Armoured Catapults, the Crypt Lord became the sole ruler of this war!

「Where’s Soaring Angel?」Nie Yan asked in the guild chat.

「I don’t know. He disappeared.」

「Dammit, he sure fled fast, just like a rat!」

Soaring Angel had vanished without a trace. Victorious Return was currently tangling with Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine. Sensing things weren’t going well, they attempted to retreat in the direction of Radiant Sacred Flame.

「God dammit Trickster! Why the hell haven’t you done anything yet! The war is almost fucking over, and your forces are still just standing there like jackasses!」Heaven Breaker cursed. He had made an agreement with Nightbreak Trickster that they would both take action together. With so many troops, they would at least be able to wipe out Holy Empire and Sapphire Shrine. Meanwhile Asskickers United had suffered heavy losses with only 30,000 players remaining at most. They could swoop in and deal the finishing blow. So what if they had the Crypt Lord! Could it stand up to overwhelming numbers?

Although Heaven Breaker didn’t know the stats of the Crypt Lord, he knew that these types of powerful existences couldn’t stay on the battlefield forever. As long as they stalled and delayed until the summon duration was over, then launched a counter-offensive, it would still be possible to win!

However, Radiant Sacred Flame didn’t follow with their agreed upon plan and just remained on the sidelines doing nothing, even up till now! How could Heaven Breaker not be incensed?

Nightbreak Trickster didn’t get mad over Heaven Breaker’s cursing. Instead, he simply cracked a faint smile.「Oh? Was I supposed to do something? Sorry, but we all have our own interests to follow. Better luck next time, old friend.」

「Trickster, what the hell are you trying to say!?」Heaven Breaker shouted.

Just as these words left his mouth, the huge army of Radiant Sacred Flame let out thundering battle cries and started slaughtering their way through the forces of Victorious Return.

At this moment, Heaven Breaker received a report from his subordinate.

"Boss, Radiant Sacred Flame was acquired by Asskickers United! We’ve been backstabbed!” the player cried out in a panic.

"Shit, that bastard Trickster! Why didn’t we get this information earlier?” Heaven Breaker cursed. He didn’t expect things to turn out this way.

"It seems Trickster even kept it a secret from his own guild. He only revealed this to them just now. Sapphire Shrine, Holy Empire, and Radiant Flame are currently attacking our strongholds!”

They had also just received the news. Nightbreak Trickster had kept Radiant Sacred Flame’s relationship with Asskickers United under lock and key.

At this moment, the forces of Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return had already started clashing.

Furthermore, Heaven Breaker received two notifications.

Dawn Stronghold is under attack.

Victorious Stronghold is under attack.

Sapphire Shrine, Holy Empire, and Radiant sacred Flame were storming the two strongholds. The number of players participating numbered only around 6,000. However, almost all the manpower in Victorious Return had set out to participate in the Cripps Stronghold siege. Only a couple thousand players were left behind to guard the two strongholds, and they were mostly low-level. If their two strongholds were destroyed, Victorious Return would no longer have a place in Calore!

However, their troops were all tangled up in combat outside the Cripps Stronghold. There was simply no way to return!

The undisputed number one guild of the previous timeline’s Viridian Empire would fall today!

Even the most brilliant stars eventually flicker and die.

Chapter 432 - Unification of Calore

A chaotic melee ensued between Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return, two old allies ultimately ending up on opposite sides.

Heaven Breaker had planned to preserve his strength by withdrawing his troops from the main battlefield, while waiting for the Crypt Lord’s summon duration to end. At that time, the battle outside the plains of the Cripps Stronghold would be wrapping up. Although the more than 100,000 players from Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors would be wiped out, Asskickers United, Sapphire Shrine, and Holy Empire would also suffer heavy losses, having at most less than a quarter of their original force remaining. Not to mention they would be exhausted and weary.

Heaven Breaker would take this chance and join forces with Radiant Sacred Flame. With their combined force of over 100,000 players, they could annihilate the weakened Asskickers United, Sapphire Shrine, and Holy Empire and capture the Cripps Stronghold. After divvying up the remaining strongholds with Radiant Sacred Flame, Victorious Return could once more rise to glory!

Sadly, plans rarely worked out that smoothly, and reality was indeed far crueler.

Radiant Sacred Flame had turned traitor at this crucial juncture, catching Heaven Breaker with his pants down. It was revealed that Asskickers United had acquired Radiant Sacred Flame long ago. This wasn’t something he could’ve ever imagined, not even in his wildest dreams. Of course he wasn’t willing to go down like this, but he had been checkmated.

Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame clashed fiercely. It would be a while for an outcome to be reached. By then, the struggle at the Cripps Stronghold would’ve long since concluded.

Nie Yan led the massacre while riding on top of the Crypt Lord. The remaining forces of Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors didn’t stand a chance.

Checking the time, only 30 minutes remained on the Crypt Lord’s three-hour summon duration. After clearing away the stragglers, there would be no time left to help Radiant Sacred Flame. However, the remaining forces of Asskickers United, Sapphire Shrine, and Holy Empire were more than enough. Then they could dispose of the enemy together. The fate of Victorious Return was sealed!

Victory was inevitable!

Nie Yan looked over the casualties. Due to the three Armoured Catapults, Asskickers United’s side had lost close to 80,000 players: 50,000 from Asskickers United and 30,000 from the elites of the five branch guilds. Of the more than 100,000 players stationed in the Cripps Stronghold, only 20,000 remained.

Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire had also suffered heavy losses. Of the more than 120,000 players that arrived, only 30,000 survived. Thankfully, with the assistance of the Crypt Lord, they had finally defeated the enemy. The several thousand remaining from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors fled to the neighbouring maps.

Nie Yan dispatched 3,000 Thieves to collect the spoils of war on the battlefield.

The harvests from such a long war were considerable, enough to cover some of their losses.

With the war over, it was important for Asskickers United to start recuperating. If they were dragged into another war of this scale, even if they didn’t lose, they would be worn down into collapse. The average level of their players had fallen too low.

Nie Yan had the Crypt Lord continue chasing the fleeing players from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors, so he could keep increasing his gains from the war.

The surviving players from Asskickers United gathered together and prepared to set off to help Radiant Sacred Flame defeat Victorious Return.

The players from Asskickers United were all surprised when they heard that Radiant Sacred Flame had joined their side as many conflicts had broken out between them even just recently. Since when did Radiant Sacred Flame become their ally? Nonetheless, all of them were excited since this meant their victory was settled. It appeared that Nie Yan had planned for this long in advance!

Surrounded on both sides, Victorious Return was quickly routed. The betrayal of Radiant Sacred Flame had struck a fatal blow to their morale. One of their oldest allies had sided with an enemy!

With Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors defeated, Victorious Return was completely surrounded. Even if they won by some miracle, so what? They no longer had a place in Calore.

Thus, everyone in Victorious Return lost their will to fight.

Victorious Return’s two strongholds had also been captured in quick succession.

This battle at the Cripps Stronghold had ultimately led to the collapse of Victorious Return.

All of Calore now belonged to Asskickers United!

After 30 minutes, the Crypt Lord’s summon time came to an end. Bennett’s Soul flew out of the Crypt Lord’s body and returned to Nie Yan’s bag.

Without a soul supporting the vessel. the Crypt Lord looked no different from a statue as its vitality rapidly dissipated from its body. Small cracks started spreading along its carapace before it finally collapsed into a pile of dust. Its summoning had been a great success.

At long last, the siege of the Cripps Stronghold came to a conclusion.

The Priests on the battlefield could finally bring back the fallen such as Smoke Stub. Some players, who were on teams that lacked a Priest with a Revive, could only resurrect in the graveyard, meaning the level loss would be a bit more severe.

Nie Yan found to his dismay that the players who died during the war would drop an average of five levels, a measure set by the system to prevent a guild from bouncing back too quickly after a siege. This penalty was far too harsh!

However, the penalty applied to both sides. The fallen players from Bloodlust Blades and the other guilds would also drop five levels.

Before long, Nie Yan received word that Bloodlust Blades had disbanded. Some of their elites entered Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. The ordinary players weren’t so lucky. They were abandoned and left to their own devices.

As for the Blackstone Stronghold, following the dissolution of Bloodlust Blades, it naturally went back to Asskickers United.

Wars were always a coexistence of profits and losses. For example, though Asskickers United had sustained heavy losses this time, they had obtained two strongholds and furthermore cemented their position. Their spoils were quite sizable. There was no longer anyone left in Calore that could threaten them, putting them on the same starting point as Angel Corps. Both guilds stood unopposed in the capitals of their respective nations.

Although Asskickers United was still a far ways off from being seen as equals to Angel Corps, their future was bright!

Nie Yan, Guo Huai, and the others started tallying up their losses from the war. All the loot they collected was placed in the guild treasury, a total of over 26,000 pieces of equipment. Since Sapphire Shrine, Holy Empire, and Radiant Sacred Flame were acquired, they all shared the same treasury. Naturally, the merit points to purchase things would be provided by Asskickers United.

Guo Huai and the other higher-ups started distributing rewards to participants of the war, especially to those that lost five levels. The higher the kill count, the more generous the reward. Upstart, who had destroyed one of the Armoured Catapults with his Advanced Magic, received the largest reward.

Asskickers United had paid out close to 600,000 gold and a large amount of guild contribution after it was all worked out. If Nie Yan hadn’t returned to the Underworld, there was no way they could cover a cost of this level.

However, with the unification of Calore, all the strongholds in the territory now belonged to Asskickers United. The 600,000 gold would be made back in no time.

In the following days, Asskickers United would be consolidating their strength by clearing away all their rivals and capturing the remaining strongholds. Afterwards, they would focus on quickly raising the level of their players to keep Angel Corps from pulling further ahead.

With so many matters that required tending to, Asskickers United’s administrative team was swamped with work. Nie Yan’s job was a lot cushier in comparison. All he had to do was occasionally give out an order or two. What he would focus on next was using his ten years of game experience to make the guild even more powerful.

Right now, Calore was unified. Even if Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors tried to pull anything funny, they would find themselves powerless. To say nothing of Angel Corps who was so far away in the Satreen Empire. At best, they could only dispatch some elites to stir up a bit of trouble. Before flying mounts were released, they posed no threat.

According to the events of the previous timeline, flying mounts would only appear a year and a half after the release of the Buried History expansion. This was a crucial point in time. If Asskickers United failed to catch up to Angel Corps by then, they would be in trouble. The following months would be a period of peace and growth.

Since the release of Conviction, by relying on his previous life’s experience, Nie Yan had obtained powerful equipment, finished a high difficulty quest that earned him the Crypt Lord, and led Asskickers United in the unification of Calore. But no matter how strong he became in the future, he could never be invincible by himself. To have achieved his current success was already remarkably impressive. Beyond Level 100 would be the era of Master-classes, Shadow Dancers, Magisters, Sword Saints, Bishops, Champions, and so on.

The countless Master-class players would be the rulers of this era.

Each one of them was a peerless talent. It would be great if Nie Yan could even rank within the top 10 by relying on his earlier superiority. But for him to maintain his current dominance was difficult. After all, a single person could only do so much. All he could do was make Asskickers United powerful!

Asskickers United had gathered so many elites. Nie Yan planned to use his ten years of gaming experience to guide them. Within the next year and a half, he wanted to transform the guild into a galaxy of shining stars!

Nie Yan needed to go from being a mere skilled player to a true guild leader who would guide all those who looked up to him!

Chapter 433 - Sniper!

After settling the matters on the battle, Nie Yan returned to the Cripps Stronghold. It was bustling with people. Thanks to the recent gold and guild contribution rewards, everyone was outfitting themselves with new gear, either exchanged from the treasury or purchased on the marketplace. The players who had fallen five levels were forming teams and setting off for various levelling spots.

"Hey, Little Su. How about we run the Sulgata Burial Ground together?”

"Sure.”

"We’re still missing a Priest. Know anyone in the guild that would be interested?”

More people than usual were looking to grind or run dungeons together today. Many had dropped levels and were impatient to get them back.

"Boss!”

"You’re back, Boss!”

…

After spotting Nie Yan, the players ran up to greet him one after another. Their faces were filled with reverence and excitement. This was the joy of victory.

Nie Yan entered the guild headquarters. All the elites of Asskickers United had gathered here. They were having a lively discussion about the events of the recent battle. Seeing him walk in, they dropped what they were doing and walked up to greet him.

"Boss, we actually won!” Undying Scoundrel happily exclaimed. It was a hard-fought victory. Almost all the elites in the guild had ended up dying, with the Mages being a bit better off, since they were summoning the Crypt Lord and didn’t actually participate in the battle directly.

Everyone was savoring their victory. This was like the rainbow after a storm. Their hard work finally bore fruit. Asskickers United had weathered through wind and rain and come out the other side still standing strong, defeating all their rivals and furthermore uniting Calore.

This was an indescribable feeling.

"Yeah, we won.” Nie Yan faintly smiled. He could understand everyone’s mood. "You all should focus on raising your levels now. From this day forward, Calore belongs to us! We’re the rulers of everything in this territory. All of our enemies have been swept away. Those who remain obstinate will be killed until they’re convinced! Those who don't will be treated justly without oppression!

As the de facto top guild in Calore, Asskickers United had to estbalish their authority and stamp out all opposition.

Hearing Nie Yan’s words, everyone broke out in cheer. After struggling for so long, they had finally obtained Calore. This was definitely worth celebrating!

It would be smooth sailing from here on out.

All of Asskickers United was celeberating, especially the guild chat. Many people could hardly contain themselves. With Calore unified, they would naturally rise along with the guild.

Nie Yan took advantage of this moment to raise everyone’s benefits. This was only a matter of course since the guild’s position in Calore was secure. With this, the players below would feel appreciated and grateful.

Afterwards, Nie Yan arranged for Bladelight to lead an army of players in clearing out and capturing the remaining strongholds, which would generate considerable profits for the guild. Furthermore, he still had to help the War God Tribe capture more strongholds so that the Nie Family Financial Group could continue expanding.

Nie Yan handed over the Flamespitter Crossbow Blueprint to the Engineers in Asskickers United and ordered them to quickly start manufacturing. These crossbows were essential for siege defense. After setting them up, they could greatly increase the defenses of a stronghold, which would give pause to enemies like Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors who might otherwise try to attack again.

After this brief period of celebration, everyone in Asskickers United immediately got to work. They understood that this wasn’t the time to be relaxing. There was no telling when Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors would attack again. They had to quickly level up, lest they suffer defeat because they were too weak.

Seeing everything running smoothly, Nie Yan felt reassured. In the near future, he could bring the elites of Asskickers United levelling with him. Then, every now and then, he would make trips back to the Underworld to raise funds. Besides this, he still needed to find the last fragment of Sulgata’s Shadow, then he would have his first piece of Legendary equipment.

Sulgata’s Shadow Boots!

After all three fragments were put together, Sulgata’s Shadow would have extremely impressive stats. It could be considered a relatively powerful piece of Legendary equipment.

During this time, Nie Yan spent a long time recalling the locations of Legendary item fragments, Sub Legendary, and Legendary-grade equipment and writing them all down on a piece of paper, which he handed to a select few elites. If they could find a piece or two, the quality of their equipment would be greatly increased.

He also wrote down some of the Shadow Dancer techniques he had previously learned from the Glimpse of Darkness and distributed a few copies to some trustworthy Thieves in the guild. As they grew stronger and stronger, he hoped to give them a better chance of becoming Shadow Dancers in the future.

After settling these matters, Nie Yan could finally relax, whereupon he immediately felt something was a bit off. He hadn’t seen Xie Yao this whole time. Checking his friends list, he noticed Yao Yao’s name was grayed out. She had already logged off.

It was around 2 A.M. right now. It was rather odd for her to be offline at this time.

Nie Yan had a momentary premonition of doom, but quickly shook it off and laughed at himself. Xie Yao probably just had something come up, so she went offline.

Nie Yan really wanted to share in his present happiness with Xie Yao. Thanks to his efforts, the shadows of his previous life had gradually faded away. Victorious Return and Bloodlust Blades had already become relics of the past. He had also weakened the influence of the Century Financial Group inside Conviction. Although the future was still uncertain, he believed everything would be okay as long as he stayed true to himself.

That overhanging cloud was gone, so all that awaited him was a bright future. His future with Xie Yao would also be filled with joy!

Just as Nie Yan’s head was in the clouds, he received a message from Xie Yao.「Nie Yan, there’s strangers in my villa, and they’ve somehow disabled the security system. I’m scared.」

This was a text Xie Yao had sent from her cell phone in real life.

Xie Yao’s parents had been busy, so they hadn’t been home for a while. Xie Yao was currently home alone.

Nie Yan’s heart immediately became wracked with worry. He quickly contacted Guo Huai.「Something came up. I’ll be logging off first.」

「There’s still a lot of matters that need attending to do. I just received a report about the War G-」Guo Huai wanted to inform Nie Yan that the Tuoba Family had organized their five guilds and were preparing to launch a counterattack after the War God Tribe intruded on their interests.

「I don’t care! It can wait until I get back. Even if the enemy comes storming into the Cripps Stronghold!」Nie Yan flared. He hung up before Guo Huai could finish speaking.

Nie Yan got out of his game capsule. He put on some clothes, gathered a few things, then fetched his car in the garage and sped off towards Xie Yao’s villa.

Cloudwater, this villa district, had the best security in all of Huahai. Their security systems were linked up with satellites. It was impossible for dangerous individuals to avoid the detection of these satellites without the help of some very advanced and specialized equipment.

Unless the other side was invisible to satellite detection, Cloudwater’s management would be immediately notified as soon as the security systems were compromised, and the entire district would be placed on lockdown. This was a confrontation of technology. The satellites watching over Cloudwater were some of the most advanced. For the other side to avoid detection meant they had top of the line military-grade technology.

However, with some background, it was still possible to get those types of military-grade equipment.

If something were to happen to Xie Yao...

Nie Yan’s chest felt tight. He immediately pushed this thought to the back of his mind. He would never allow such a thing to happen!

His car sped along the streets of Cloudwater. After turning a corner, he parked about 60 meters away from Xie Yao’s villa. Any closer and he might end up alerting the enemy.

Getting out of his car, Nie Yan stayed low and stuck close to the shadows. This a habit that was ingrained into his very being from playing a Thief for so long. He would naturally gravitate towards cover.

Only now did Nie Yan somewhat understand why the federation was pushing Conviction. It could greatly raise the fighting ability of every player, like military training for the entire world. Ever since he started playing the game, he noticed a drastic improvement to his body in every aspect.

Looking at the security equipment installed in the area, it all appeared to be still working. However, they were probably hacked. He leaped over the wall of Xie Yao’s villa and entered the garden. He hid within the bushes and made his way towards her house.

Before coming here, he had forgotten to bring dark clothes.

Xie Yao’s villa was covered in a shroud of darkness. It was quiet to an eerie degree.

As Nie Yan approached Xie Yao’s house, he noticed two shadowy figures arguing in the courtyard outside her front door. He was a bit flabbergasted. These were the strangers Xie Yao mentioned?

These two had likely come for Xie Yao. But why did it seem like they were only seconds away from coming to blows? Were they actually not on the same side?

Nie Yan put on his night vision goggles, one of the items he had casually brought out of his house. He didn’t expect them to actually come in handy.

A flash of red light on top of a roof a kilometer away immediately caught Nie Yan’s eye. My god! A sniper rifle! The person holding the sniper rifle was currently aiming at one of the people standing in the courtyard.

Just what the hell was happening? Was one of them actually here to save Xie Yao?

Chapter 434 - Hitmen, Mercenaries!

Nie Yan’s heart was filled with endless anxiety. The fact that these people could enter Xie Yao’s villa meant they came prepared. They were even using a dangerous weapon like a sniper rifle. He didn’t know what their object was. Were they here for Xie Yao?

What did they plan to do with the sniper rifle? Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with killing intent. Were they going to assassinate Xie Yao? He would never allow that!

Xie Yao was important to the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups. The actions of these people today were definitely related somehow.

Nie Yan slowly approached them, his movements stealthy and nimble. He had no idea what Xie Yao was doing right now. He switched his phone to silent mode and sent her a text.

「Xie Yao, where are you right now?」

It didn’t take long for Xie Yao to reply.「I’m still hiding in the bathroom. I’m scared to go out.」Her bathroom was bulletproof and had a voice control system.

Nie Yan could sense Xie Yao’s fear and restlessness.「Stay in there. Don’t come out. I’ll be there in a moment!」

The villas in Cloudwater were constructed out of the highest quality materials. Every brick and panel of glass was designed to withstand the strongest impacts. Furthermore, the bathroom doors were controlled by user voice command, so other people couldn’t enter without permission. It was precisely due to these added safety measures that Xie Yao chose to hide here.

「Be careful, Nie Yan. My family’s security will be arriving in three minutes.」

Nie Yan stayed low and crept closer to the two people until he was within earshot.

"Bayonet. You do understand the consequences of your actions, right?” one of the figures asked with a sinister laugh.

"Wisp. There’s not many things we mercenaries won’t do for money, but we have a principle of not harming women, children, or the elderly. Before we came here, you never clearly explained the situation to me! This doesn’t count as me breaking the agreement!” Bayonet firmly rebuked.

"If it wasn’t for your satellite bypassing technology, I would’ve never called a stubborn bastard like you over here. Listen here. You’re a mercenary. I’m a hitman. The client pays us the money, and we carry out the job. To hell with your morals! Don’t forget. Those disabled buddies of yours are still waiting for you to bring back some money so they can provide for their families,” Wisp sneered.

Bayonet sank into silence for a moment. "My buddies were also mercenaries once. They’ll understand my choice.”

"Even if they do, do you think you’ll make it back to see them again?”

"Are you threatening me, Wisp!?”

"Oh, no. Not me. Since the client has tasked us with this job, they’ve naturally made preparations for you backing out.”

"You bastard! Who’s the client!?” Bayonet growled.

"Don’t be silly. You know we hitmen don’t reveal any information about our clients. It’s one of our principles, after all.”

Listening to their conversation, Nie Yan roughly understood the gist of the situation. These two people had come here to either kidnap or kill Xie Yao. Wisp was the one who had accepted the mission and recruited Bayonet for his technology that could bypass the satellites monitoring Cloudwater. But when they got here, they suddenly broke out into an argument. Bayonet held firm to his principle of not harming women, children or the elderly, and Xie Yao was just a 18 year old girl. So, he wanted out.

Nie Yan somewhat admired Bayonet for sticking to his code even in this sort of situation.

At this moment, a red dot hovered over Bayonet’s chest. "I’m sure you should know by now. You don’t get to choose.” Wisp faintly smiled, derision filling his eyes.

Bayonet glanced over at a rooftop in the distance. With the pull of the trigger, he wouldn’t live to see the next moment.

"Let’s go. Where’s the girl at?” Bayonet said after a moment of silence.

"Good, so long as you know your place. Don’t try to pull anything funny either. If I detect the slightest hint of betrayal, you and your buddies will be accompanying each other straight to hell.”

Bayonet’s eyes flashed with a cold light. "I don’t care who the client is. Pass this message on to them. As long as I live, they best not touch my friends. Otherwise, I’ll chase them down to the end of the universe!”

Wisp simply chuckled, not saying anything else. He had worked together with Bayonet a few times before. He was well aware Bayonet was capable enough to carry through with his words.

Even then, so what? He was only in charge of the mission. Once it was over, and he received the rest of his commision, he was free to do whatever he wanted. As for someone else’s life or death, he couldn’t care less.

The two approached Xie Yao’s house. Nie Yan didn’t know whether their objective was to kidnap or assassinate her. But once they got into the house, her life would be in danger. Although her bathroom was bulletproof, considering the enemy was capable of bypassing some of the most advanced satellite technology in the world, the voice control system locking them out would offer little to no protection.

At this moment, eight silhouettes appeared outside the entrance of Xie Yao’s villa. They were her family’s security team.

「Wisp, we have small fries coming your way,」a voice rang through Wisp’s earpiece.

「Kill them.」Wisp laughed as his eyes flashed with a cold glint.

A red beam of light swept through the air. With a muffled bang, a bullet pierced through the heart of one of the bodyguards. He let out a groan before collapsing to the ground.

A brief, chaotic flurry ensued as the security guards dove for cover.

"They have a sniper!”

"Find them, quickly!”

From their reactions, it appeared these bodyguards had also gone through special training.

「You have three minutes to secure the target and get out. I won’t be responsible for anything that happens after!」the sniper informed.

「Understood. Three minutes will do,」Wisp replied.

With that, Bayonet and Wisp broke into Xie Yao’s home.

Nie Yan checked the nearest window and found it already open. He clambered in and used his familiarity with the house to arrive at her bedroom before the intruders.

Xie Yao’s bathroom door remained tightly sealed. Nie Yan looked around before hiding near the bedside.

Seeing a silhouette enter sight of her room’s security cameras, Xie Yao started panicking. Although she knew taekwondo and a bit of mixed martial arts, she held no illusion about being a match for professional hitmen.

"Don’t worry, it’s me,” Nie Yan whispered.

Xie Yao immediately calmed down. Nie Yan’s voice gave her a sense of security.

"Stay hidden, and don’t make any noise. I’ll protect you.” Nie Yan knew he was risking his life by doing this. But he couldn’t allow harm to befall Xie Yao.

Nie Yan didn’t know how skilled the other side was. But from what he gathered from their conversation, one being a professional hitman and the other a professional mercenary, they couldn’t be weak. Best case scenario, he estimated he could take out one of them in an ambush. Two at the same time would be troublesome.

But if they broke into Xie Yao’s bathroom, Nie Yan would have no choice but to fight!

Nie Yan could hear two people quickly making their way over from the corridor. Though their footsteps were light, he could still detect them through the vibrations in the floorboards.

Nie Yan stayed low to the ground, his body half-hidden under the bed. With a flick of his wrist, he pulled out a sharp ornate dagger. He had grabbed it while leaving the house. It was normally left up on display in his room. The blade was only about finger-length and looked completely harmless. But if someone stabbed with enough strength, it could still deal a fatal blow.

Xie Yao’s door opened. Nie Yan immediately tensed up and held his breath.

Bayonet knitted his brows upon entering the room. After surviving through some of the most dangerous environments over the years, he had an acute sense of awareness far above that of an average person. He detected the presence of two people, one a girl and the other a man.

Bayonet briefly paused but didn’t say anything.

Wisp entered the room behind Bayonet. He was an expert at assassination, but his senses for detecting danger weren’t as developed as Bayonet’s.

"Where’s the little miss?” Wisp asked. He looked around for a moment before letting out a sinister chuckle as he found the bathroom door.

Wisp stayed one step behind, letting Bayonet enter first.

Bayonet took out a thin metal chip, which flew up and attached itself to the frosted glass door of the bathroom.

「Bang!」The chip exploded and instantly shattered the glass door into tiny shards which fell to the ground like clinking rain. Xie Yao’s scream could be heard from inside the door.

Xie Yao pretended to act panicked and flustered to attract Wisp’s attention. Even though she was anxious, she tried her best to remain calm since Nie Yan was in the room with her. The martial arts classes and occasional bouts had honed her mental strength.

Bayonet furrowed his eyebrows. "The client wants her alive.”

Wisp snickered. "Relax. She won’t die.”

He ogled the flustered girl inside the bathroom with a wicked smile. Xie Yao’s hair was messy but her beauty was still clear to see. "She’s so pretty! Even more than what the picture showed.”

"Bayonet, do you want to sample a taste with me?” Wisp’s lips bent into an evil perverted grin.

"We’re short on time!” Bayonet’s face was full of disgust and loathing.

Just as Wisp was about the enter the room, Nie Yan sprang up from his hiding spot and lunged at the hitman with his dagger.

Chapter 435 - Bayonet!

Seeing Wisp approach Xie Yao, Nie Yan couldn’t hold back any longer. If she got taken, he would be powerless to do anything.

It was probably due to how much Nie Yan played as a Thief. His stealthing technique seemed ingrained into him. Wisp hadn’t noticed him until the moment he took action.

"Die!” Nie Yan pounced toward Wisp with unwavering ferocity and decisiveness.

Just as the dagger was about to plunge into Wisp’s back, he suddenly whipped around and parried the attack with his hand.

Nie Yan’s dagger missed, but he still managed to land a heavy blow on Wisp’s shoulder joint with his left elbow. With a heavy thud, Wisp’s shoulder was dislocated, his arm weakly slumping to the ground as he grimaced in pain.

What a ruthless attack!

Nie Yan’s emergence was too sudden. Wisp’s attention had been completely focused on Xie Yao. He never expected there to be someone else in the room.

It was incredibly difficult to defend when caught by surprise.

Nie Yan’s attacks were quite fierce, reaching a level seen in fighting tournaments. His actions were sharp and decisive, leaving no room for error. He wasn’t the least bit inferior to professional hitmen, and that was because he was one in his past life, having learned all sorts of assassination techniques. How else could he have succeeded in killing Cao Xu?

With the element of surprise on his side, Nie Yan would have to be completely inept to allow his opponent to get away unscathed.

Wisp received another blow to his chest. As though he had been struck by a sledgehammer, it felt like his ribs were on the verge of shattering. However, he still maintained the clarity to retaliate. His right elbow went slashing towards Nie Yan.

Nie Yan sidestepped instantly, but his shirt was still ripped in two. The blades on the hitman’s elbow glinted with malice.

Nie Yan instantly gauged the opponent’s strength during their brief exchange. Although Wisp was quite strong, he couldn’t be ranked among the top in the world.

Ever since reincarnating, Nie Yan hadn’t stopped training for even a day. He had long since surpassed his past self in terms of strength. Even so, killing Wisp wouldn’t be simple.

After dodging the elbow slash, Nie Yan planted his fist into Wisp’s right shoulder, shattering bones and incapacitating him. He then stabbed toward Wisp’s forehead with his dagger.

At this moment, Bayonet stepped forward and pressed the muzzle of his gun against the side of Nie Yan’s head.

Nie Yan’s mind trembled. What fast movements! He had no time to react at all! This fellow was definitely a weapons and martial arts expert!

Bayonet’s strength far exceeded Nie Yan’s expectations. The opponent was even a step above him.

The two sides were instantly locked in a stalemate.

Nie Yan’s dagger was pressed against Wisp’s forehead while Bayonet’s gun was pressed against Nie Yan’s temple. Neither side was backing down.

The dagger cut into Wisp’s forehead, causing blood to flow out. "Don’t forget I still have a partner. Move your blade away now, or else he’ll blow your brains out!” Wisp threatened with a sharp sinister laugh.

Nie Yan chuckled. This guy was truly ballsy! He pulled away the device from Wisp’s ear and crushed it into pieces.

Bayonet didn’t make a move, allowing Nie Yan to destroy the earpiece. His eyes flashed with a peculiar light. No one could tell what he was thinking right now.

From listening in on their previous conversation, Nie Yan knew Wisp was far from a reliable partner. He glanced at Bayonet. "Put your gun away. I’ll let you go. Aside from you, me, and Xie Yao, no one else will know what happened here today.”

"Let him go? You have a gun pointed at your head! You’re in no position to make any demands!” Wisp roared in anger.

"Don’t play me for an idiot. I bet the one who wants you dead more than anyone else right now is your partner!” Nie Yan sneered.

Listening to Nie Yan’s words, Wisp trembled. He turned to Bayonet in disbelief. Would his partner really betray him?

At this moment, Nie Yan was also extremely tense. Having a gun pointed at your head was far from a relaxing situation.

Bayonet glanced at Nie Yan with an icy gaze. "I don’t like people like you who are too smart for their own good.” He turned to Wisp and continued, "But what I hate even more is when someone manipulates me by threatening my friends! I’ll kill any bastard who tries that!”

Wisp’s face turned ashen. A battle-hardened mercenary like Bayonet had danced with life and death countless times. His way of thinking couldn’t be judged with common sense. These words basically sealed his fate.

"Bayonet, you can’t do this!”

"There’s nothing I can’t do in this world!” Bayonet indifferently replied. Wisp was simply a stranger whose life meant nothing to him.

"I promise I won’t reveal anything that happened here today. Not only that, but if you find yourself out of options one day, you can come look for me,” Nie Yan said.

Nie Yan roughly understood Bayonet’s way of thinking. Mercenary or hitman, anyone with a bit of self respect wouldn’t allow themselves to be manipulated so easily. If he were in Bayonet’s shoes, he would almost certainly kill Wisp first, then deal with everything else after.

Nie Yan guessed right. Bayonet was thinking about killing Wisp.

Bayonet withdrew his gun.

"Bayonet, don’t think this is over. The client definitely won’t let you off!” Wisp exploded in anger.

"Cut the crap! I’ll slaughter the entire family of anyone that dares to touch my friends!” Bayonet sneered. His entire body emanated with icy cold killing intent. Don’t forget, he was a mercenary! How could he cower in fear every time he encountered trouble? He had survived through hails of bullets and dithered on the edge of death countless times. What did he have to fear? His brothers had also climbed out of a mountain of corpses and ocean of blood. Would they fear this kind of danger?

Seeing Bayonet withdraw his gun, Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to Wisp, his eyes flashing with murderous intent. "I know you’re not willing to go down like this, but you can vent out all your grievances to Yama! Anyone that dares to touch my woman will meet a tragic end!”

At this moment, Nie Yan plunged his dagger inward as blood gushed out from Wisp’s forehead like a fountain. The glabella was the one of the vital points of a human. If it was pierced, the brain would instantly stop, leaving no chance for survival.

Blood splattered the floorboards as Wisp collapsed.

This was Xie Yao’s first time seeing such a bloody scene. It was completely different from playing Conviction. The odour of blood permeated the air. She noticed the Nie Yan she was familiar with had transformed into another person. He took a life so easily.

Xie Yao stared at Nie Yan, who looked familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time. He resembled himself inside the game—Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame, the death god that slaughtered countless lives on the battlefield.

Even so, Xie Yao was deeply moved that Nie Yan had risked his life to save her. A complicated feeling arose in her heart, one she couldn’t explain properly.

Even up until his death, Wisp probably didn’t understand why Bayonet would allow Nie Yan to kill him.

Nie Yan could feel that he and Bayonet were the same type of person. Their nature wasn’t something people like Wisp were capable of understanding.

"How do you plan to get out of here?” Nie Yan turned to Bayonet, sizing him up.

Bayonet looked around 28 years old. He wore a black bodysuit. His face was painted in dark camouflage with a scary looking scar on his forehead. A pair of sharp eyes stared back at Nie Yan. His pupils remsebled a hawk’s. It seemed like they could see through a person’s heart.

Nie Yan couldn’t tell what Bayonet was thinking. This fellow was shrouded in mystery. Nie Yan understood he and Xie Yao weren’t in the clear just yet. If Bayonet were a bloodthirsty individual, he might try to get rid of all evidence. But based on Bayonet’s earlier argument with Wisp, when he said he wouldn’t target women, children, or the elderly, Nie Yan could confirm that Bayonet wouldn’t kill without good reason.

"I hope the events that happened here today remain a secret between the three of us. If a fourth finds out, I’m sure you know what the consequences will be,” Bayonet said in a cold voice, his expression still unchanging.

"If you decide to quit the mercenary business one day, you can come look for me in the Nie Family Financial Group,” Nie Yan offered. A person like Bayonet would be a valuable subordinate to have, especially for doing messy work. If he could recruit Bayonet, he would have another safeguard by his side.

The skills of a murderer could also be used to protect. After being on the battlefield for so many years, Bayonet would have no issue dealing with a few hitmen. Furthermore, he was proficient at bypassing satellite technology. The main point was that he could be helpful in a great many situations.

Any financial group would probably spare no expense to hire a mercenary of Bayonet’s caliber.

"You’re willing to hire a killer like me? I have at least 50 homicide cases on my head.” Bayonet lightly chuckled.

"As long as you’re willing to join, I’m willing to accept you,” Nie Yan said straightforwardly. Bayonet was the arrogant type who didn’t easily submit. If he showed any sign of fear, he would end up being looked down on.

As for Bayonet’s homicide cases, Nie Yan planned to have his people investigate to gain a better understanding of the situation.

Nie Yan knew he would one day go up against Cao Xu. When both sides clashed, they would definitely use any means by fair or foul to eliminate the other. At that time, an expert like Bayonet would be invaluable.

Based on Nie Yan’s experience from his past life, Bayonet was definitely a world-class expert. He had originally believed Bayonet and Wisp were roughly equal. But after the previous exchange, he could tell they weren't even on the same level.

Some people would deliberately hide their true ability, only revealing it at crucial moments. Bayonet was one of those people.

Chapter 436 - Entrusted By Father Xie

Of the eight bodyguards outside, three snuck away to find the sniper. The enemy they were after was very skilled. He had already gunned down three of their comrades in quick succession. The remaining two wanted to get to the villa, but the sniper was preventing them from approaching any closer. It became incredibly difficult for them to advance. They were all military veterans. Their strength and combat awareness couldn’t be underestimated, but they were far from being comparable to this sniper.

When the three bodyguards finally found the hiding spot of the sniper, they discovered the person had long fled.

After Wisp died, Bayonet jumped out of the window. Before long, his silhouette disappeared into the darkness, vanishing without a trace.

Watching Bayonet disappear, Nie Yan sank into silence. He couldn’t help but wonder if Bayonet would come looking for him.

"Nie Yan, why do you want to recruit such a dangerous person?” Xie Yao asked with a bit of apprehension. She carefully moved around Wisp’s corpse.

"I don’t know. I just feel like he’s trustworthy,” Nie Yan replied, not knowing how to explain.

Xie Yao’s eyes flashed with a trace of doubt. Although she didn’t really understand, she chose not to ask any further.

A while later, the monitoring satellites returned to normal. Cloudwater quickly dispatched a large security force over to Xie Yao’s villa.

Nie Yan had Xie Yao call her parents to let them know she was safe and sound. He then quietly brought her to his car, away from everyone’s sight, before disappearing into the curtain of night.

The sniper was still at large. That fellow was extremely dangerous.

Nie Yan knew how hitmen operated. They wouldn’t give up so easily after failing to kill their target. The larger the security force that arrived in Cloudwater and the more chaotic things became, the greater the danger Xie Yao was in.

He sped along the streets in his Thrawn and finally returned to his own family villa.

The people targeting Xie Yao would probably never guess that she was still in Cloudwater. Sometimes the most dangerous places were the safest.

After arriving at Nie Yan’s home, Xie Yao called her parents once more and told them everything that happened. The attempt on her life had momentarily thrown both the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups into turmoil. They immediately started investigating the matter. When they found out who dared to lay a hand on their precious princess, they would unleash their combined fury onto the culprit!

"My father wants to speak with you.”

"Alright.” Nie Yan took the phone from Xie Yao. He understood Xie Jun probably wanted to ask him to do something.「Uncle, what would you like me to do?」

「I leave Xie Yao in your hands. Please keep her safe. It isn’t suitable for her to appear in public right now. Having her stay at your place is probably the safest option. After we finish handling this matter, we’ll come pick her up. We’ll be troubling you in the meantime,」Xie Jun said solemnly. Nie Yan could tell from his tone that this matter definitely wasn’t small, or else they wouldn’t be leaving her with him.

「Don’t worry, Uncle. I’ll definitely keep your daughter safe,」Nie Yan declared.

Nie Yan and Xie Jun chatted for a while longer. He learned from their conversation that they had gotten into a business dispute with the Century Financial Group. Furthermore, internal fighting had broken out in the Dragonsoar Financial Group due to Liu Rui’s father.

Nie Yan suddenly recalled such an incident occurring in his past life. Although he wasn’t aware of Xie Yao’s background back then, it was pretty big news. The Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups had fallen into a crisis when a huge argument broke out between Liu Rui’s father and Xie Yao’s grandfather during a shareholder meeting. This matter wouldn’t be resolved until several years down the line.

Nie Yan recalled Xie Yao and Liu Rui’s engagement was announced not long after. Back then, he was overwhelmed with despair and sunk even further into depravity. This was also the period in his life where he carried out his most outrageous antics.

Did Xie Yao’s engagement with Liu Rui happen to be related to this matter?

「Uncle, if you need me to do anything, just say the word. I’ll definitely do my best to carry it out.」Nie Yan was determined to make sure what happened in his past life wouldn’t be repeated.

Xie Jun chuckled.「Do these words represent you or your Nie Family?」

「My words represent the Nie Family!」Nie Yan replied. He understood Xie Jun was trying to tell him that there wasn’t much he could do by himself.

Xie Jun was taken aback. Nie Yan was only 18 years old. Did Father Nie really entrust authority over the whole Nie Family business to his son?

Xie Jun didn’t take Nie Yan’s words to heart. Nevertheless, the earnestness left a deep impression on him. He felt at ease entrusting his daughter to this boy.「Remember my words back at the banquet? Both of you are adults now. I’m fine with leaving the two of you alone together. Just make sure to take responsibility.」

Nie Yan and Xie Yao felt a bit embarrassed since they knew what Xie Jun was alluding to. Xie Yao in particular blushed red.

「Understood, Uncle!」Nie Yan laughed.

Xie Yao took the phone back from Nie Yan and chatted with her father for a while longer before hanging up.

Once Xie Yao realized she would be living in Nie Yan’s home for the next few days, she couldn’t help but turn frantic. Looking at Nie Yan, her cheeks burned hot. "Nie Yan, your parents aren’t home yet?”

"No. I’m not sure when they will be. Sometimes they spend several days at the company,” Nie Yan replied. His home life wasn’t all that different from Xie Yao’s. Both their parents were busy day and night with work.

Xie Yao nodded. It would be best if Nie Yan’s parents didn’t come home while she was there, or else things would inevitably become even more awkward and embarrassing.

Nie Yan showed Xie Yao around his home and prepared her a room next to his own. "I don’t have a spare game capsule. I’ll have someone deliver a decent game helmet you can use for the time being. For your safety, I think it’s best if you don’t leave the house for the next few days. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”

"Alright.” Xie Yao nodded. She was a lot more reserved in this unfamiliar environment.

This was Nie Yan’s first time seeing this side of Xie Yao. It made him want to protect her even more.

"We’ll have to figure out your clothing situation too. Tell me your sizes. I’ll have my aunt deliver some over.” Nie Yan gazed at Xie Yao’s body. She was slim and stood at around 167 cm. She was pretty tall for a girl.

Xie Yao started telling Nie Yan her clothing sizes. When it got to her bra size, she hesitated. It was too embarrassing.

Nie Yan glanced at Xie Yao’s chest, recalling the previous incident in her bed. "You’re probably a 36D, right?” He shamelessly chuckled. Her assets were quite well developed.

Xie Yao was speechless. Nie Yan’s guess was almost spot-on. She couldn’t help but flush red with embarrassment.

Seeing Xie Yao’s flustered appearance, Nie Yan laughed. He didn’t tease her any further, instead calling Ah Chen’s wife and asking her to help him buy some underwear and other daily articles.

By the time Nie Yan finished arranging everything, it was almost dawn. He called up Guo Huai.「How’s the guild doing?」

「You finally called!」Guo Huai breathed a sigh of relief.

Nie Yan’s sudden departure had left Asskickers United in a mess. There were many matters Guo Huai didn’t dare to decide on without approval. Based on the words Nie Yan had spoken before hanging up, Guo Huai understood the matter was urgent. So, he didn’t dare to call despite being worried something bad had happened.

Nie Yan understood Guo Huai’s feelings. The situation came too suddenly, so he couldn’t help but leave on short notice. Thankfully, nothing happened to Xie Yao, or else he would’ve been left with a lifelong regret!

「Things at the guild have calmed down. There’s still a few matters that require your attention. Besides this, I also need to talk to you about the War God Tribe. The five guilds under the Tuoba Family are planning to make their move. The Tuoba Family’s influence in Nisode is still strong. I’m worried the War God Tribe will be defeated. But we can’t afford to get into another war. We suffered disastrous losses during the last one. It’ll take weeks for our players to return to their previous levels and months to catch back up to the rest of the pack. I’m not sure we can survive another major war,」Guo Huai said. Asskickers United couldn’t take any more losses.

Nie Yan thought for a moment.「Radiant Sacred Flame, Sapphire Shrine, and Holy Empire also took heavy losses. How about we have Battle Crazed Alliance go?」

「Not possible. Battle Crazed Alliance is currently at war with several rival guilds. They still haven’t united Hilderlocke yet. They don’t have any troops to spare.」Guo Huai shook his head. He had long since thought this matter through. The situation over at Hilderlocke was far from smooth!

「The War God Tribe won’t fall so easily. Let’s wait and see how the war develops,」Nie Yan said. This was the only thing they could do for now. He couldn’t sacrifice the wellbeing of Askickers United for the War God Tribe.

「The Tuoba Family definitely planned this in advance. That’s why they waited with their attack until our war with Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors was over. We can’t easily provide support to the War God Tribe,」Guo Huai said in a concerned tone.

Nie Yan recalled the events of his past life. Back then, the War God Tribe hadn’t grown this quickly. They were still a small guild unworthy of the Tuoba Family’s interest. It was only later on when the Tuoba Family’s influence waned due to internal fighting that they rose to power and united Nisode.

Meanwhile in the present, the War God Tribe had prematurely attracted the attention of the Tuoba Family. A starving camel was still larger than a horse. If they went to war with the War God Tribe, it was hard to say which side would come out on top.

The War God Tribe probably wouldn’t have any problem holding onto their strongholds. It appeared their only option was to endure for the time being.

Nie Yan handed over a list to Guo Huai with the names of 2,000 Asskickers United elites who hadn’t dropped levels in the battle at the Cripps Strongholds, and ordered him to dispatch as many as possible to aid the War God Tribe in their crisis. As for himself, he definitely couldn’t go to Nisode. There were already too many important things he had to attend to.

Chapter 437 - Bloodshadow Legion

When evening came, Nie Yan and Xie Yao logged back into Conviction. The first thing Nie Yan wanted to do was to upgrade the Special Items in his possession with the Radiant Gems. After talking to Guo Huai about it, he learned Sun was in the middle of a quest given by Master Jewelcrafter Paget. When the quest was completed, he could enjoy preferential treatment on gem upgrades.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. It was probably best to wait. There was a significant difference between the workmanship of a Master and Advanced Jewelcrafter. He wanted to get the most out of those five Radiant Gems. After all, Special Items like the Crawler Ring and Silk Spinner Ring were his treasured darlings. The better their properties, the more use he could get out of them.

With his equipment more complete than before, Nie Yan planned to do a few things to raise the guild’s overall strength. The first thing that came to mind was the Armoured Catapults!

Armoured Catapults had frightening destructive power which was crucial in guild wars. Generally when players obtained a Rank 1 Armoured Catapult blueprint, the guild’s Engineers would have to constantly improve it to raise it to higher ranks, similar to Goblin Magic Cannons.

Armoured Catapults could only be used on flat plains. Their wooden wheels prevented them from traversing rugged mountainous terrain, which put some limitations on them. Furthermore, since they were mechanical units, the monsters they killed wouldn’t give loot or experience, making them unsuitable for grinding purposes. Even so, they were unrivalled existences on the battlefield. They would only start slowly becoming obsolete at Level 100, when Master Classes were unlocked and equipment defense increased greatly.

Nie Yan suddenly recalled the location of an Armoured Catapult Blueprint. Not to mention this blueprint was for one even better than those brought out by Bloodlust Blades during the war, the rarely-seen Armoured Ice Catapult!

Ordinary Armoured Catapults only launched explosive shells that dealt fire damage. However, Armoured Ice Catapults launched ice shells that froze all targets in the impact radius. When dealing with large creatures such as the Crypt Lord, Armoured Ice Catapults were far more effective.

These Armoured Catapults would be slaughter machines on the battlefields prior to Level 100. Especially with how the Tuoba Family was gearing up for war, if the War God Tribe could get their hands on even a few of these catapults, they would achieve victory.

Although Nie Yan always knew about the Armoured Ice Catapult Blueprint, he didn’t dare to go retrieve it before since his level and equipment were too weak. Now, he barely met the requirements, so he could give it a shot. If worse came to worst, he could just flee with an Unknown Transfer Scroll.

Nie Yan teleported to Amore Town and bought two Intermediate Web Scrolls, three Advanced Twisting Vines Scrolls, and five Intermediate Aggro Dispel Scrolls. These would probably come in handy. He also picked up a few Advanced Health Potions and Ice Resistance Potions from the Starry Night Potion Shop in preparation for his journey.

Afterwards, Nie Yan informed Guo Huai and the others of his departure. Even if he was off searching for the Armoured Ice Catapult Blueprint, he could still direct guild related matters remotely.

Nie Yan departed Calore’s gates and summoned his Falkner Warhorse before setting off for the distant mountain ranges in the north.

Some ordinary players saw Nie Yan riding on his Faulkner Warhorse. Their view of Nie Yan and Asskickers United had changed. Before, they only saw him as Calore’s most powerful guild leader. But now he was the ruler of the city!

If these ordinary players wanted to grow in Calore, they’d have to do so under Nie Yan’s watch. No longer would there be anyone talking about killing him for his equipment. Such an act was no different from courting death. All he had to do was call some people, and the player in question would be slaughtered back to Level 0. Although Nie Yan had no desire to actually do this, the possibility alone was a huge deterrence.

Nie Yan rode through the grass plains and entered a Level 90 map. The area up ahead was covered in a sea of white tents. At the center was a two story oval shaped building that stood three meters tall. Its golden roof sparkled brilliantly under the sunlight. This was the encampment of the Bloodshadow Legion.

Within the Karon Prairies lived a group of heathens that abandoned their faith in the light and became apostles of the darkness. They roamed around attacking unwary travellers and were considered evil existences. Their leader was the Bloodshadow Warrior Furblaze, a Level 90 Lord who was capable of summoning Bloodshadow Bone Dragons.

There were also seven Armoured Ice Catapults right next to the central building of the Bloodshadow Legion Encampment. If an expedition team came here, they’d be decimated by the catapults.

The Holy Shrine would frequently dispatch Paladins to assault the Bloodshadow Legion, even succeeding in annihilating them multiples times. However, they would always rise back up from the ashes. There was a specific quest within the Holy Shrine that Paladins could accept, and that was precisely to kill members of the Bloodshadow Legion. Every kill would reward a certain amount of Honour.

Nie Yan wasn’t a Paladin, so he naturally couldn’t accept this quest. However, if he could obtain the Evil Gemstone from the Bloodshadow Warrior Furblaze, the Holy Shrine would recognize his achievement and reward him. It was rumoured the reward was Holy Acclamation. After receiving it, if he was able to advance further into a Shadow Dancer, he could become an even more powerful existence—the Luminous Dancer.

Luminous Dancers were different from ordinary Shadow Dancers in that they were capable of giving themselves blessings and using powerful holy spells. In the previous timeline, a player had completed this quest and became the sole Luminous Dancer out of all Shadow Dancers. His name was Smiling Thief. From what Nie Yan recalled, this player wouldn’t join the game until some time from now.

Nie Yan’s emergence had distorted history. In the previous timeline, even the highest level players were only Level 30–40 at this point in time. But right now, Level 50–60 players could be found everywhere. This was the effect of the Buried History Expansion. He had brought out a huge butterfly effect. Many people became strong while many others were withdrew from the stage of elites. He had changed the fate of many players and even the power balance of the entire Viridian Empire. In this new course of history, he didn’t know when Smiling Thief would appear.

If Nie Yan obtained the Evil Gemstone, he’d also change the fate of Smiling Thief who was originally meant to become a Luminous Dancer.

Nie Yan cautiously approached the tents. Several Bloodshadow Legion guards were patrolling the area more than ten meters away from him. They were wearing brightly coloured crimson armour and wielded dark red greatswords. Their entire bodies emitted a bloody aura. They were berserk slaughterers.

Nie Yan inspected one of the Bloodshadow Legion guards with Transcendent Insight.

Bloodshadow Warrior: Level 90

Health: 32,000/32,000

The attacks of these Bloodshadow Warriors were extremely fierce. When in battle they would buff themselves with Bloodlust, increasing their attack power greatly and adding a lifesteal effect to their attacks. They were incredibly difficult to deal with. But luckily, even though they were humans, their intelligence was subpar at best. They were classified as low-intelligence creatures. Only their leader, the Bloodshadow Warrior Furblaze was a bit smarter as an intermediate-intelligence creature.

However, Nie Yan didn’t plan to tangle with these Bloodshadow Warriors. His goal was the Armoured Ice Catapult Blueprint and Evil Gemstone.

This quest was a bit difficult for his current self, but it was still within the scope of his capabilities.

Nie Yan looked at the tents. There was a perimeter wall up ahead with Magic Cannons set up on them. Their dark muzzles were facing outward towards the plains. The defenses here were evidently extremely strong. If an expedition team came here, they’d first have to find a way through these cannons.

Nie Yan snuck around the Bloodshadow Warriors and arrived beside the perimeter wall. He leaped upward, scaling over the wall, and jumped down the other side.

He hid behind the tents as he slowly made his way toward the central area of the encampment.

In an empty space between the tents up ahead were six wooden pillars spiked into the ground. They stood about one meter tall with small crimson flags stuck at the top. The flags had mysterious red designs drawn on them. That was the most infamous sign of the Bloodshadow Legion, the Bloodshadow Totem!

Players could use certain special methods to destroy a Bloodshadow Totem. However, if they accidently set it off and made it explode instead, they’d be goners. Bloodshadow Totems exploded out with rays of crimson light which would invade anything it came into contact with and inflict a powerful decaying effect. Those affected would see their health and defense plummet. In the previous timeline, Nie Yan had personally experienced the might of these Bloodshadow Totems when he came with two Level 100+ hundred-man teams. Back then, he was nothing more than an ordinary grunt. The outcome was that out of those two hundred-man teams, only a few dozen survived. The losses were disastrous. It was only at the end when the leader obtained the Armoured Ice Catapult Blueprint that the losses were somewhat recouped. With 200 players almost completely wiped out, one could imagine just how bitter the battle was.

Nie Yan’s familiarity with the layout of this encampment came from that battle. He wouldn’t have come here alone this time if it wasn’t for that.

Hearing activity in the distance, Nie Yan hurriedly hid within the shadows at the corner of a tent.

A little after, more than 20 Bloodshadow Warriors walked by. After scanning around and failing to discover Nie Yan, they slowly walked away.

Chapter 438 - Bloodshadow Totems

The open space covered an area of roughly 300 by 300 meters. The ground was uneven with rows of white tents on both sides. Several patrol squads would pass by every two minutes, with each one containing 30 to 40 Bloodshadow Warriors. Nie Yan would have to avoid them if he wanted to get past this place. He would also have to be careful of setting off the Bloodshadow Totems.

Nie Yan gazed past the tents and saw the silhouettes of multiple Bloodshadow Warriors. Some were even gathered around bonfires, seemingly celebrating something.

Nie Yan lingered in the vicinity for a moment. Only by passing through here could he reach the center of the Bloodshadow Legion Encampment. There was no other way.

The six Bloodshadow Totems was also an obstacle he couldn’t get around. Nie Yan would have to get rid of them to get past.

Thinking for a bit, Nie Yan played around with the idea of disarming the Bloodshadow Totems, which would turn them into one-time use consumables similar to scrolls. But the process was difficult, and any mishap could lead to his death. A disarming guide was posted on the official forums in the previous timeline. Back then, many people were eager to give it a try, but those who actually succeeded numbered less than 5%.

The method shown in the guide did actually work.

Nie Yan wasn’t sure if he could disarm them, but the temptation was too hard to resist. After all, having a few of them in his bag wouldn’t hurt, especially for special situations.

In any case, he wouldn’t know until he gave it a try. He cautiously approached one of the Bloodshadow Totems, halting his steps when he was 15 meters away. Any closer and it would explode.

Nie Yan took out his Cavalry Crossbow and loaded up a bolt. He didn’t need the Penta Bolt Shot right now, so a single bolt sufficed. He examined the Bloodshadow Totem. It was about a meter tall and as thick as his arm. It had wings in the middle with crimson flags sticking out on the side. The main body was covered in peculiar mechanics with a deep thumb-sized hole in the center.

Raising his crossbow, Nie Yan took aim at the hole. Hitting a thumb-sized target from more than 15 meters away was a challenge even for him, but it wasn’t impossible. Besides, since he was so far away, he’d have plenty of time to duck for cover if he missed and set it off.

Nie Yan pulled the trigger. A bolt shot out and went perfectly into the hole, jamming the mechanism inside. Like this, the Bloodshadow Totem couldn’t explode.

Success!

Nie Yan picked up the Bloodshadow Totem. It didn’t explode. He looked it over before checking its properties.

Bloodshadow Totem (Special): Totem Item

Description: After being inserted into the ground, this totem explodes if any creature enters its range, dealing corrosion and shadow damage.

Properties: 15,000 Damage; 30 meter explosion radius; ineffective against plate-armoured units; can be disarmed; 15 meter trigger radius. This item is one-time use only and ineffective against members of the Bloodshadow Legion.

This Bloodshadow Totem was a fairly high level totem. Since it was acquired in a Level 90 map this of course didn’t come as a surprise. The damage was impressive too. Mine-type items generally had high killing power because they could only be triggered when the enemy entered their range.

If the Bloodshadow Totem was used well, it could become a powerful killing tool, like the Thunderstorm Mines during the Cripps Stronghold siege.

After disarming the first Bloodshadow Totem, Nie Yan moved on to the next one. Like before, he aimed at the totem’s hole. The target was very small. His eyesight wasn’t good enough to see clearly from this distance, so his vision was somewhat fuzzy. Pulling the trigger, the bolt shot out and struck the totem itself, missing the target by an inch.

The atmosphere suddenly turned chaotic. Almost immediately after Nie Yan’s bolt hit the Bloodshadow Totem, it exploded with crimson rays.

Realizing his mistake, Nie Yan quickly pulled back. Just as the crimson rays were about to sweep over him, he activated Gale Step, taking advantage of the three seconds of invincibility to avoid the attack.

Nie Yan’s silhouette transformed into a blur as he dashed away to safety.

Failure!

There were six Bloodshadow Totems in total, and they only respawned once every two days. It was impossible for Nie Yan to visit this place regularly, so every failure meant one less totem.

The explosion of the Bloodshadow Totem alerted the nearby Bloodshadow Warriors. They started searching the vicinity for the culprit.

Nie Yan entered stealth and snuck past the Bloodshadow Warriors. With his cloaking ability, getting away from their pursuit would pose no problem.

With so many life-saving skills at his disposal, Nie Yan could afford to take risks. He had no need to fear these Level 90 Bloodshadow Warriors.

Six Bloodshadow Warriors were walking past about five meters away from Nie Yan. Suddenly, two of them halted their steps. Despite not finding anything amiss, they didn’t move on. Their eyes lit up bright red, almost as if they had been set ablaze.

Bloodshadow Eyes!

Under their gaze, Nie Yan’s figure slowly materialized.

Dammit! They have eye skills!

It wasn’t that all Bloodshadow Warriors had eye skills. In fact, only a small portion of them did. Nie Yan was incredibly unlucky.

When he was discovered, Nie Yan immediately bolted away. The Bloodshadow Warriors gave chase, pursuing him closely from behind. He threw out a pouch of Advanced Flash Powder that he got from the Starry Night General Shop. With a poof, a blinding flash lit up the sky. He activated Disappear, causing the Bloodshadow Warriors to lose sight of him, and ducked into a corner.

The Bloodshadow Warriors only regained their sight quite some time later. They looked around and discovered Nie Yan was long gone. They could only give up and slowly dispersed.

Only after the Bloodshadow Warriors walked far away did Nie Yan dare to come out of his corner. He continued to collect the Bloodshadow Totems. Of the six totems, he failed three times and only acquired three totems. He stored them in his bag for later use.

With the Bloodshadow Totems cleared away, the path ahead opened up quite a bit. He moved forward while in stealth. Due to his recent activity, the number of Bloodshadow Warriors in the area had increased exponentially, with patrol groups passing by regularly.

There were too many Bloodshadow Warriors crowding the area. Nie Yan had a much harder time advancing than before.

Slowly but surely, Nie Yan left the open field. At this moment, a group of Bloodshadow Warriors were walking towards him from up ahead. They were searching around, blocking his path forward.

Seeing these Bloodshadow Warriors coming towards him, Nie Yan knitted his brows. It appeared hiding would be impossible.

There were around 100 Bloodshadow Warriors in his direct surroundings. If all of them were alerted to his presence, he would quickly be surrounded and chopped into pieces. It was already difficult facing even a single one of these Level 90 monsters, let alone so many gathered together!

The Bloodshadow Warriors gradually approached within seven meters of Nie Yan. At this moment, they sensed something. One of them activated Bloodshadow Eyes and gazed in Nie Yan’s direction.

Once that Bloodshadow Warrior discovered Nie Yan, it immediately let out a thundering roar. The sound alerted the other Bloodshadow Warriors in the area. They quickly rushed over and moved to surround him.

Charge!

A Bloodshadow Warrior rushed at Nie Yan with its greatsword raised. The surrounding crowd of Bloodshadow Warriors also followed suit.

After being completely surrounded, running away became impossible. Since it had reached this point, Nie Yan took out an Unknown Transfer Scroll. He was ready to crush it but wouldn’t unless absolutely necessary.

The closest Bloodshadow Warrior was already right in front of Nie Yan. It brandished its greatsword and chopped down. Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar while swiftly pulling back, only to see the opponent’s slash cut through him.

−2,203!

What high damage! Nie Yan was taken for a scare. There was no way he would dare to face this group of Bloodshadow Warriors head-on!

These Bloodshadow Warriors were Level 90, almost 30 levels higher than Nie Yan. They easily cut through the protection of his leather armour.

All Bloodshadow Warriors were aggroed onto Nie Yan. It looked like he was going to get mobbed to death. Just as another Bloodshadow Warrior charged up, he quickly activated Langdon’s Necklace of Fake Death. He collapsed to the ground. Showing no sign of life, he perfectly resembled a corpse.

Nie Yan’s sudden death left the Bloodshadow Warriors in a daze as they lingered around his body. In the same moment he activated Feign Death, he dropped all aggro.

After activating Feign Death, Nie Yan was extremely nervous. He was completely surrounded by Bloodshadow Warriors. If one of them rushed up and attacked him, he would be toast. He was ready to crush his Unknown Transfer Scroll at a moment’s notice.

Several Bloodshadow Warriors investigated Nie Yan’s body. After speaking some gibberish, they slowly started to disperse.

Chapter 439 - Everwinter Potion

Sensing the Bloodshadow Warriors losing interest and walking away, Nie Yan breathed out a sigh of relief. He dispelled Feign Death, got back on his feet, and entered stealth.

Surveying the surroundings, no Bloodshadow Warriors were coming back around. They had returned to their regular patrol routes.

Nie Yan headed toward the tents up ahead. There were three meter wide paths between the tents. From time to time, a couple of Bloodshadow Warriors would pass by. It would be difficult to stay hidden here. He'd be very easy to notice if he relied on his regular stealth. He activated Pygmy Transformation and shrunk down to a third of his original size. Everything around him suddenly appeared much larger, as though he had been transported into a world of giants.

Nie Yan stuck close to the corners of the tents and carefully advanced forward.

Nie Yan crossed paths with many Bloodshadow Warriors, but none of them discovered him. After shuttling between the tents for who knows how long, he arrived at a fork in the path. Two groups of roughly 80 Bloodshadow Warriors each were walking over in his direction. With so many of them passing through, one of them was bound to discover him.

Nie Yan felt his anxiety rising. He had nowhere to hide. Glancing at a nearby tent, he saw the swaying silhouette of a person inside.

Nie Yan ducked into the tent, hiding behind the door flaps. Bloodshadow Warriors normally didn’t enter inside these tents, so he could lay low here for the time being.

Nie Yan glanced around the tent. It was quite spacious, covering an area of ten by ten meters. At the center were many cabinets stocked with all sorts of wonderful oddities—crystal bottles of various sizes filled with different coloured liquids, which were cloudy and hard to make out under the dim lighting. These cabinets were roughly as tall as two people, dividing the tent into several areas. Further in the back stood a table. It was cluttered with beakers, tubes, and other glassware. Most eye-catching was the alchemy stand, which held a flask with a bubbling blue liquid that appeared to be boiling over with white smoke.

This was clearly the workshop of an Alchemist.

At this moment, Nie Yan heard hurried footsteps coming in his direction. He quickly ducked behind a cabinet. Looking toward the source of the sound, he saw someone that was only half as tall as a normal person. He had a scraggly beard, and his face was covered in wrinkles. He wore ragged red robes dotted with holes and scorch marks from botched experiments. This short old man was probably the Bloodshadow Legion’s Alchemist. As he walked past Nie Yan, he was muttering something in Lochi, a minor and uncommon language foreign to Nie Yan.

The old Alchemist walked over to the table. It appeared he was about to concoct something.

Nie Yan inspected the old Alchemist with Transcendent Insight.

Alchemist Affleck (Protected): Level 90

Bloodshadow Legion Member: Special NPC

Health: 500/500

This was a special NPC. The system automatically took measures to protect NPC Alchemists at Master rank or higher. Any player that attacked them would suffer extremely severe penalties.

Nie Yan recalled attacking a protected NPC was a violation of the Atlanta continent’s Scholar Spirit Treaty, and the offender would be barred from using any magic items, potions, and other consumables. The treaty sought to protect any NPC who reached Master rank or higher in their respective profession.

This NPC was a member of the Bloodshadow Legion. Nie Yan didn’t dare to show himself easily. It would be troublesome if Alchemist Affleck became aware of his presence.

Nie Yan scanned his eyes around this messy Alchemist workshop, searching for anything of value.

Decent loot often appeared in these kinds of settings.

Most of the potions in the workshop weren’t labeled, making things difficult for Nie Yan who didn’t know the first thing about alchemy. His movements were very light as he searched around, not daring to make the slightest sound.

At this moment, a Bloodshadow Warrior in gold armour entered the workshop.

"Master Affleck, are the potions I requested ready?” the Bloodshadow Warrior asked. He was speaking in Ancient Common. His words were disjointed and hard to understand.

"Third cabinet, second shelf from the bottom,” Alchemist Affleck replied.

Their Ancient Common was far from fluent, barely passable for basic communication.

The Bloodshadow Warrior started walking over to the area where Nie Yan was hiding, which happened to be where Alchemist Affleck pointed him toward.

Nie Yan watched the Bloodshadow Warrior getting closer and closer. He estimated this fellow was at least an Elite. There was no way he was a match at his current level.

With nowhere left to run, Nie Yan looked up ahead and noticed some space between the top of the cabinet and the ceiling of the tent. He shot out a web line from his left hand and with a leap swung himself on top.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel somewhat anxious having been forced into such a tight spot. The Bloodshadow Warrior appeared to sense something and started looking around. A trace of confusion surfaced on his face when he didn’t discover anything. However, he threw it to the back of his mind and headed to the third cabinet. After rummaging around the second shelf from the bottom, he found what he was looking for.

He bid Alchemist Affleck farewell and left the workshop.

Nie Yan was just about to jump down when he discovered some sheepskin scrolls resting on the top of the cabinet opposite to him. He didn’t know what they were, but they appeared ancient. Due to this place not being cleaned often, a thick layer of dust had accumulated on top of them.

Nie Yan’s mind trembled. The system usually hid treasure in difficult-to-find places. These several scrolls were certainly suspicious!

Nie Yan leaped over the three meter gap between the cabinets and safely reached the other side. He didn’t make the slightest sound on his landing.

He bent down and picked up the scrolls. He discovered they were alchemy recipes for the Everwinter Potion and Junior Vitality Potion.

Everwinter Potions were a type of potion that boosted Ice Magic by 30% for 30 seconds. It was classified as a high level potion and required an Advanced Alchemist to concoct.

However, the Everwinter Potion wasn’t widely known simply due to its Ice Magic amplification effect. This type of potion was also an exceptionally good tool for tackling the barrier of the Master Alchemist rank. The amount of skill proficiency an Advanced Alchemist could obtain from making an Everwinter Potion was somewhat more than ordinary high level potions. Not to mention the materials required were fairly easy to find. A Level 60 team could gather enough materials for several dozen potions on a single trip to the Bitter Winter Mountains. This was why Advanced Alchemists favoured the Everwinter Potion Recipe.

However, due to the rarity of Everwinter Potion Recipes, very few Advanced Alchemists could afford them.

Seeing this Everwinter Potion Recipe, Nie Yan’s immediate thought was that the Starry Night Potion Shop would soon have its first Master Alchemist!

This Everwinter Potion Recipe could allow an Advanced Alchemist to reach the Master rank within half a month!

As for the Junior Vitality Potion, it was a bit different from ordinary Health and Mana Potions. Junior Vitality Potions instantly restored health and mana. This was extremely beneficial for casters who ran low on both during battles. It took too much time to drink Health and Mana Potions individually. Drinking a single Junior Vitality Potion would restore 35% health and mana, allowing the caster to instantly regain some of their combat strength.

At later stages of the game, players would have upwards of 10,000 health and mana. Using a normal potion would only restore several hundred to one or two thousand mana or health. At that point it would be more cost effective to use Vitality Potions because the amount they healed was percentage based.

Junior Vitality Potions were classified as a Master-rank potion. Master Alchemists were generally very scarce and extremely costly.

Nie Yan recalled running the same Level 100 dungeon more than 20 times just to obtain a single Master Alchemy Recipe. The amount of gold earned from selling it allowed the entire party to raise the quality of their equipment by a step.

Junior Vitality Potions required a Master Alchemist to concoct. Intermediate and Advanced Vitality Potions probably required Grandmaster and Sage Alchemists respectively. Nie Yan did the calculations in his head. The production cost of a single Junior Vitality Potion was around 20 gold, and it could sell on the marketplace for roughly 50 gold.

Generally, Vitality Potions and ordinary Health and Mana Potions were lifesavers only to be used during crucial moments.

Nie Yan stored the two alchemy recipes in his bag, then checked on the Starry Night Potion Shop. Ever since Asskickers United had unified Calore, the number of Advanced Alchemists in the Starry Night Potion Shop had skyrocketed, having already reached more than 37. With future prospects so bright, even more Advanced Alchemists were flocking to join, rapidly expanding the Starry Night Potion Shop’s manpower. What was regretful was that they still didn’t have a single Master Alchemist. Nie Yan confirmed his decision. After returning, he would definitely cultivate a Master Alchemist. This was crucial for the Starry Night Potion Shop’s growth!

Chapter 440 - Evil Gemstone

Nie Yan looked around once more to see if there was anything else of value. But apart from half-finished potions, he found nothing else. He jumped off from the top of the cabinet, landing gently on the ground, and stealthily returned to the tent entrance. He lightly pushed open the flaps and peeked outside. Seeing that the two large groups of Bloodshadow Warriors had left, he breathed out a sigh of relief. As he made his way to the center of the encampment, the round building with a gold roof eventually came into vision.

Outside the building was a wide open square where Bloodshadow Warriors held practice drills from time to time. Nie Yan would have to enter this building to obtain the Armoured Ice Catapult Blueprints, but security here was tight. This would be an enormous challenge.

After sneaking past several Bloodshadow Warriors and approaching the square, Nie Yan spotted another one bigger than the rest. Built like a bear and clad in dark crimson armour, he stood guard outside the entrance of the building.

It’s him! Nie Yan’s mind trembled.

This fellow was the leader of the Bloodshadow Legion—Bloodshadow Warrior Furblaze, a Level 90 Lord!

Sneaking past him and entering the building was going to be incredibly difficult. But before that, Nie Yan would have to get past the more than 100 ordinary Bloodshadow Warriors patrolling the square first.

Thankfully, Nie Yan had already planned ahead.

Nie Yan circled around to the back of the building. It was built out of stone and painted a gold that glittered brilliantly under the sunlight. He inspected the walls with his hands and confirmed they were too solid to break through. The only way inside was the front entrance. However, that was so heavily guarded that even approaching would prove difficult.

Nie Yan opened up Divine Recruitment and summoned Paladin Kreuk. Glancing at Kreuk's stats, he had more than 12,000 health, which was quite substantial.

Paladin Kreuk could also buff himself with blessings, greatly increasing his own strength.

Nie Yan activated the Crawler Ring and slowly started climbing up the wall of the building, evading the sight of the nearby patrols. He arrived on top of the roof and made his way toward the ledge above the front entrance. He stayed there motionless. No one noticed his arrival.

Nie Yan looked down below and saw the leader of the Bloodshadow Legion, Furblaze, standing about eight meters away from him at the foot of some stairs. He could clearly see the back of Furblaze’s head.

Nie Yan instructed Paladin Kreuk to circle back around the building and slowly approach the Bloodshadow Warriors standing on guard at the entrance.

Indomitable Will!

Paladin Kreuk hasted himself with several skills and charged toward the square. He would faithfully carry out Nie Yan’s orders, regardless of what they were.

The Bloodshadow Warriors patrolling the vicinity were caught off guard by the sudden emergence of Paladin Kreuk.

Paladin Kreuk kept running, not stopping to attack anyone. Before long, a large number of Bloodshadow Warriors ran after him.

Furblaze also aggroed onto Paladin Kreuk and rushed forward with Charge. It would only take a brief moment for him to catch up and kill Kreuk.

How could Furblaze allow Kreuk to behave so arrogantly in his presence?

Seeing Furblaze successfully distracted, Nie Yan cracked a faint smile. His silhouette blurred as he jumped off the ledge and dashed into the building.

The interior of the building was far from spacious. There was a lounge that covered an area of eight by eight meters. Further back were rows upon rows of doors leading to various rooms. By the time Nie Yan came to this map in the previous timeline, every nook and cranny had already been explored. So, he had no clue what sort of treasures were hidden here. All he knew was the location of the items he was looking for.

There were several obelisks in the lounge, along with multiple tables and chairs.

Nie Yan made a beeline toward a Dark Gold treasure chest tucked away in a corner of the lounge. He had to open this chest and retrieve the key inside to unlock the cabinet where the Armoured Ice Catapult Blueprints were kept. When he came here in the previous timeline, he was only hired help. Of the more than 200 players brought on for the expedition, only a few dozen remained by the time they cleared the map. As a Level 110+ Great Thief, he barely managed to survive until the end. Back then, he lacked the qualifications to open this chest.

In this timeline, Nie Yan had accomplished many great things people would never dare to imagine.

Nie Yan bent down and started opening the chest.

As the seconds ticked away, Nie Yan checked his progress.

Opening treasure chest… Progress: 5%... 8%...

In the middle of opening the chest, Nie Yan received a notification that Paladin Kreuk had been killed.

Nie Yan never had any hopes of Kreuk surviving in the first place. Kreuk’s only job was to distract Furblaze long enough for him to sneak into the building. In that aspect, Kreuk had accomplished his task wonderfully.

When the progress was at 89%, a giant silhouette appeared at the entrance of the building. It was Furblaze. He had come inside!

This immediately put Nie Yan on edge. He feared Furblaze would notice him, rush over, and stop him from opening the chest.

Nie Yan’s nerves were stretched taut. He discovered Furblaze was gradually moving towards him, his footsteps growing louder and louder.

The several pillars in the lounge blocked Nie Yan from view. Nie Yan stayed low and continued unlocking the chest. Just as Furblaze was about to arrive, the chest popped open with a click.

Nie Yan quickly fished around the chest and retrieved the key.

After getting the key in his hands, Nie Yan activated Shadow Waltz and fled away, disappearing into the corridor.

With its contents gone, the Dark Gold chest started slowly fading away.

A furious roar escaped Furblaze’s throat as his sight finally fell on the disappearing chest. "Which thief stole my key!? I’ll smash them into pieces!” he cursed while heading to the rooms at the back.

Nie Yan bolted toward Furblaze’s private room with all his might and kicked open the half-closed door. His eyes quickly locked onto the golden cabinet. He didn’t have much time. Furblaze would be arriving in just a moment!

Nie Yan immediately ran over and started using the recently obtained key to open the cabinet.

With the matching key, unlocking something was fairly simple. In only a few seconds, the cabinet doors opened with a click. Inside was what he had come here for. The Armoured Ice Catapult Blueprints were divided into 20 scrolls, with each one being necessary.

Nie Yan tossed the blueprints into his bag, then examined the cabinet and discovered a red box sitting in the corner.

Nie Yan opened the box and saw a fist sized black marble. It was black and flashed with a dark lusture. A powerful miasma radiated outward from it.

Nie Yan examined the black marble.

Evil Gemstone (Special): Quest Item

Description: This Evil Gemstone contains extremely powerful evil energy. Only the power of light can melt it away.

Note: The holder of this item cannot use teleport scrolls. This item is guaranteed to drop upon death.

If he wanted to snatch away this item, it was necessary to get away from Furblaze. Being barred from using teleport scrolls made this task a lot more difficult.

Nie Yan put away the Evil Gemstone in his bag.

At this moment, a silhouette flashed through the door. Furblaze had arrived.

After seeing Nie Yan, he let out a sinister laugh. "Damned thief, this is the domain of the Bloodshadow Legion! All that awaits trespassers is death! Hand over the items you stole!”

Furblaze charged toward Nie Yan and slashed down with his greatsword.

Thunder Slash!

Furblaze who was completely covered in muscle was just like an enraged grizzly bear. His blade slashed toward Nie Yan with frightening sword energy.

Since Nie Yan couldn’t use teleport scrolls, he could only test his luck. If worse came to worst, he would have no choice but to abandon the Evil Gemstone. However, he really wasn’t willing to give back something he had already taken.

Nie Yan avoided the Thunder Slash with Gale Step and dashed under Furblaze’s arm.

Nie Yan who was still in pygmy form appeared extremely small compared to the gigantic Furblaze. His movements were nimble. The difference in size was too great. Furblaze was having a hard time catching him.

Furblaze swung around and searched for traces of Nie Yan. As his eyes blossomed out with a crimson light, he almost immediately locked onto the fleeing Nie Yan. He went into pursuit with Charge.

As a Level 90 Lord, Furblaze was much faster than Nie Yan. It only took him a brief moment to catch up and chop down on Nie Yan’s neck with his greatsword.

Sensing the sharpness of the sword energy behind him, Nie Yan’s heart tightened. This bastard was too fast!

Nie Yan had shrunk down to a third of his original size, so his speed was also reduced proportionally. Under these circumstances, Furblaze easily kept up with him.

Nie Yan understood his disadvantage. Right now the only thing he could rely on was his small size, which made him much nimbler and harder to catch. Just as Furblaze’s sword was about to slash down on him, he rolled away.「Bang!」The ground behind him was immediately rent asunder by the greatsword of Furblaze, leaving behind a two meter long sword scar.

Nie Yan sucked in a breath of cold air. What frightening power!

Chapter 441 - King of the World

Nie Yan fled with all his might. He shot out a web line from his left hand and swung away, landing eight meters away from Furblaze. Taking advantage of his miniaturized size, he sprinted through narrow spaces that greatly limited Furblaze’s movements.

Nie Yan crushed an Aggro Dispel Scroll in an attempt to reduce Furblaze’s aggro.

Normally, the higher the aggro, the more determined a monster would be to pursue a target. When the aggro was relatively low, the monster was more likely to lose interest or stop altogether, leaving the player with ample room to get away.

Furblaze paused for a brief moment before recovering almost immediately. His aggro wouldn’t be so easily removed. After all, Nie Yan had stolen something precious from him!

The Evil Gemstone was still in Nie Yan’s possession. Furblaze wouldn’t give up until it was retrieved!

Just as Furbalze resumed his pursuit, a giant web emerged out of thin air and fell over him, binding him in place.

The Intermediate Web Scroll could only trap Furblaze for three seconds at most. Though the effects were limited, every second counted.

Nie Yan’s figure darted through the corridor. He knew it was only a matter of time before Furblaze caught up to him again. He activated Shadow Waltz and rapidly disappeared into the shadows.

Furblaze slashed away the giant web binding him with his greatsword and continued his pursuit, only to discover Nie Yan was nowhere to be found.

He let out a furious roar and started making his way to the building’s entrance.

Before long, Furblaze called over a large number of Bloodshadow Warriors. They quickly gathered together and blockaded the entrance so that not even a mouse could pass through. Meanwhile, a few of them entered the building and started searching for traces of Nie Yan.

After seeing the entrance sealed off, Nie Yan let out a bitter laugh. It appeared he was a turtle trapped in a jar.

Should I just give up on the Evil Gemstone? Nie Yan was conflicted. Furblaze probably wasn’t dumb enough to hide the Evil Gemstone in the same location twice. It was likely he would never get this chance again, which in turn meant he would forever lose the opportunity to obtain the Holy Acclamation and become a Luminous Dancer.

Every master class player could learn skills from other classes to strengthen themselves. Of course the skills available for them to learn were only the most basic. However, there were special cases where a player could learn more powerful non-base class skills by obtaining a prestige class title. There were several such Shadow Dancers in the previous timeline, Luminous Dancer Smiling Thief and Shadow Stalker Sun. Of course those in possession of these titles were few and far between. This was a symbol of the peak!

Obtaining the Evil Gemstone wouldn’t make class advancing any easier. But in order to become a Luminous Dancer, it was absolutely necessary! Without it, everything else was idle chatter!

With the opportunity of becoming a Luminous Dancer on the line, Nie Yan wouldn't easily give up this Evil Gemstone!

Droves of Bloodshadow Warriors entered the building and started scouring around.

Nie Yan ducked into a small storage room and hid in a secluded corner. He needed to weather out this storm first before thinking about anything else.

Nie Yan estimated the Bloodshadow Warriors would continue their search for at least the next one or two hours. He would look for an opportunity to escape when they finally gave up their search. Until then it would be suicidal to go out.

As Nie Yan nervously waited, he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. The door flew open and several Bloodshadow Warriors entered the storage room and started searching around. His body in pygmy form was incredibly small. Relying on the cover of some shabby desks and chairs, he successfully evaded being caught.

After failing to find anything, the several Bloodshadow Warriors left the storage room.

About half-an-hour later, Pygmy Transformation was close to wearing off. However, since the number of Bloodshadow Warriors in the vicinity had decreased a lot, he'd be fine even without being in pygmy form.

Nie Yan patiently waited for another hour before daring to peek out the door.

Nie Yan carefully snuck over to the front of the building. The entrance was still guarded by more than 20 Bloodshadow Warriors. Furblaze was surprisingly nowhere in sight.

An opportunity!

As long as Furblaze wasn’t present, Nie Yan could make his escape. These ordinary Bloodshadow Warriors had no hope of stopping him.

Nie Yan cautiously approached the Bloodshadow Warriors, halting his footsteps when he was around 20 meters away. He hid behind a corner, took out an Advanced Twisting Vines Scroll, and then started chanting away. The pulses of magic energy alerted the Bloodshadow Warriors, and they immediately charged toward his location.

Just as the first Bloodshadow Warrior closed in on Nie Yan, giant vines condensed out of magic energy erupted from the ground and wrapped around them like pythons.

The Bloodshadow Warriors couldn’t break free of the vines, no matter how much they struggled.

Nie Yan activated Gale Step and bolted for the outside. He dashed through the gaps between the Bloodshadow Warriors, taking this opportunity to make a break for it.

The Advanced Twisting Vines persisted for three seconds before slowly disappearing. Only then did this group of Bloodshadow Warriors regain their freedom. They wanted to stop Nie Yan, only to discover he had long since rushed out the door.

Nie Yan crushed a Haste Scroll and fled out of the encampment at full speed. Even a single second could be the difference between life and death!

The square outside the golden roofed building was also filled with Bloodshadow Warriors. They immediately noticed his presence and moved to surround him.

Nie Yan’s silhouette blurred as he employed the footwork of a Shadow Dancer to evade one Bloodshadow Warrior after another. However, some attacks were impossible to dodge, and he would have no choice but to endure. He quickly drank a Health Potion and patched himself up with a Combat Bandage.

Nie Yan quickly fled to where the crowd was least dense and escaped their encirclement.

At this moment, Furblaze appeared in the distance. He quickly charged over like an enraged grizzly bear.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel alarmed. He immediately activated Animorph and transformed into a lynx. He nimbly climbed on top of one of the tents, then started leaping from tent to tent, rapidly widening the distance between him and Furblaze.

At this moment, outside the golden roofed building, the seven Armoured Ice Catapults fired a hail of frost covered shells at Nie Yan’s location.

The shells shot by the Armoured Ice Catapults had a freezing effect. As long as the target was within 20 meters of the shell’s impact radius, they would be transformed into an ice cube by the potent frost energy.

Nie Yan hurriedly activated Holy Descent from the Medal of the Ten Holy Paladins, granting him immunity to magic for three seconds and a 20% speed boost. As the powerful frost energy swept over him, it dissipated upon making contact with the barrier around him.

Nie Yan relied on the nimbleness of the lynx to swiftly evade the falling shells. However, the nearby tents were smashed into pieces. It was a scene of destruction.

After the bombardment was over, the encampment looked like a complete mess with broken tent parts strewn everywhere. Nie Yan’s fleeing figure quickly disappeared from sight.

Nie Yan continued fleeing for another 1,000 meters before glancing back to see no Bloodshadow Warriors pursuing him. He had also left the attack range of the Armoured Ice Catapults. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Finding a secluded and peaceful spot, Nie Yan summoned his Faulkner Warhorse. He climbed on and galloped off toward Calore, passing through numerous high level maps.

During the journey back to Calore, Nie Yan received a notification.

King of the World has obtained the Chapter of Honour. You will be notified of the player’s location every hour.

Coordinates: 293.285.958.

Besides the Glimpse of Darkness, Nie Yan was also in possession of the Chapter of Peace, Chapter of Compassion, Chapter of Knowledge, and the Chapter of Tolerance. If he could obtain the the Chapter of Loyalty and Chapter of Honour, he would have the complete fifth volume of the Book of Order! This was an item on par with the Glimpse of Darkness!

Another player had obtained a chapter from the Book of Order, the Chapter of Honour! Seeing the name King of the World, Nie Yan’s eyes widened in shock. It was actually him!

Based on the coordinates in the notification, King of the World was in the vicinity, only 3,000 meters away at most. Nie Yan didn’t dare to overlook this. The other side knew he had four chapters on him, and that he was close by. There was no telling whether King of the World wouldn’t be tempted to rush over and snatch them away.

In the previous timeline, King of the World wasn’t the slightest bit inferior to Sun and Shadow Killer. If he hadn’t suddenly disappeared, it would be truly hard to say who was the top Thief in Calore.

Nie Yan’s name was a big deterrent. He was the guild leader of Asskickers United, the overlord of Calore. But for players of King of the World’s caliber, something like that wasn’t enough to scare them away. If he was in King of the World’s position, he wouldn’t care if the other side was the guild leader of a number one guild. He still wouldn’t hesitate to take action.

As a top Thief, it was necessary to learn to ignore these trivial things.

South of Nie Yan’s location 3,000 meters away, King of the World was also taken by surprise after reading the location. He had just obtained the Chapter of Honour. He never expected four of the chapters from the fifth volume of the Book of Order were in the hands of a single person. His eyes flashed with a peculiar glint as he broke out into a smile. Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame… What an interesting fellow! He was itching to have a go at Nie Yan, to see if this legendary figure who ruled over Calore was really worthy of his reputation.

Reputation didn’t matter in the least to King of the World. But when faced with an expert, he couldn’t help but boil over with excitement. Due to the chapters from the Book of Order, they were bound to clash sooner or later.

Chapter 442 - Complete Trust

King of the World held Nie Yan in high regard. Only a few short months ago, Asskickers United was nothing more than a small obscure guild. But now, after ousting Victorious Return, they were the de facto ruler of Calore.

When he first started playing Conviction, he had improved by leaps and bounds as a Thief after coming across several of Nie Yan’s videos. Ever since, he considered Nie Yan half his master. That’s why he had refused to act against Assskickers United during their bounty war with Bloodlust Blades. He would never return kindness with enmity.

But the circumstances were different this time around. He wanted to issue out a challenge to Nie Yan. This was him testing himself out against a skilled opponent, not carrying out a vendetta. There existed an intrinsic difference between these two things.

Nie Yan was undoubtedly a mythical figure in Calore.

King of the World’s eyes were ablaze with excitement. As a mercenary who trod the line between life and death, his greatest joy was finding a worthy opponent.

After travelling to Glory City to hunt down players from Bloodlust Blades, he had honed his skills to a whole new level. He had touched upon the true essence of a Thief and learned the class could be played in many unimaginable ways.

As someone who had spent most of his life roaming from battlefield to battlefield, having never touched a video game until recently, Conviction was a completely new experience to him. Nevertheless, as time passed, his frightening comprehension ability for the game became apparent.

He had killed a total of 2,872 Bloodlust Blades players during his time in Glory City, putting him way ahead of the pack on the mission board of the League of Assassins. The person in second place had only recently surpassed 1,000 kills. He was promoted to an earl thanks to his accomplishments and wasn’t that far off from becoming a marquis.

King of the World’s fame had also risen accordingly. Many players knew of him.

Asskickers United had once tried to recruit King of the World but were rejected by him. The reason being that he wanted to bring his close brothers along with him. However, their levels and the quality of their equipment were too low. Guo Huai of course didn’t agree since that wouldn’t be fair. No one had ever joined through a special backdoor. Every member had to go through stringent screening.

Asskickers United had their rules, and King of the World had his principles. Like this, the matter of him joining the guild was indefinitely put on hold.

King of the World dashed across the plains at top speed toward Nie Yan’s location. This was a clash between Thieves where either side could come out on top. He was burning with anticipation for the upcoming battle. He had no quarrel with Nie Yan. But how often did someone get the opportunity to challenge a legendary figure like the Mad Rogue?

...

Nie Yan was a bit more knowledgeable on King of the World than most others. He was still curious about what happened between King of the World and Heaven Breaker back then.

Nie Yan dismounted from his Faulkner Warhorse. This grassland was full of Level 70 Minotaurs. They were three meters tall, brimming with muscles, and wielded giant broad axes.

Hmm… King of the World should be arriving right about now. Let’s grind a bit of experience first… Nie Yan snuck behind one of the Minotaurs and struck it in the back of the head with Smothering Strike. He followed up with Backstab and Lacerate, unleashing blow after blow until the Minotaur collapsed dead on the ground. These monsters were a cakewalk compared to the Bloodshadow Warriors.

Just as Nie Yan bent down and picked up the 3 silver droppped from the Minotaur’s corpse, he felt a slight chill at the back of his neck. The feeling though fleeting didn’t escape his notice. It appeared King of the World had already arrived.

Nie Yan tossed the 3 silver into his bag while trying to detect the other party’s location. He suddenly sensed them and focused on a flat patch of grass ahead of him.

Eye of Truth!

Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a sharp light. He carefully scanned over the area. To his surprise, he failed to discover anything. His enhanced Eye of Truth was fairly high rank. It should easily unveil any Thief at this stage of the game. So, why did it fail?

King of the World felt cold sweat running down his back. He never expected to already be noticed by Nie Yan after only approaching within 13 meters. What high Awareness!

An eye skill! King of the World’s heart trembled after seeing the demonic red light blossoming out of Nie Yan’s pupils. He hurriedly activated Hide, granting him immunity to detection for 3 seconds.

King of the World felt Nie Yan’s sharp gaze sweep over him. When the effects of Hide wore off, he would be laid bare by Eye of Truth.

It was do or die! King of the World dashed in a half moon around Nie Yan before closing in from behind.

Sensing the sharpness of a dagger approaching the back of his head, Nie Yan quickly sidestepped the Smothering Strike. With a flick of his wrist, he retaliated with a Reverse Grip Backstab.

As King of the World’s attack missed, his figure gradually materialized. He couldn’t help but take notice of Nie Yan’s incredible reaction speed!

King of the World’s footsteps blurred as he evaded the attack. This was the Freedom Skill of a Great Thief, Phantom Step! He quickly retaliated with a Puncture to Nie Yan’s flank.

After this initial exchange, all traces of arrogance vanished from King of the World’s mind. Nie Yan’s combat style was quite overbearing. He couldn’t help but feel stifled.

The Mad Rogue really did live up to his reputation.

Nie Yan had an air of absolute confidence about him, as if he could keep his cool no matter what kind of danger he ran into. Like this, he could display even more power.

Nie Yan evaded with Gale Step, then reemerged from stealth 15 meters away. He turned around and glanced back at King of the World. The Phantom Step and Puncture just now gave him a strange sense of deja vu.

This was why he chose to disengage instead of resuming the offensive.

As Nie Yan met eyes with King of the World, something in his mind suddenly clicked. Bayonet?

The similarity of their fighting styles couldn’t help but raise Nie Yan’s suspicions. He recalled that both Bayonet and King of the World had a close band of brothers. It was also rumoured that King of the World’s disappearance in the previous timeline was due to the cold-blooded murder of his brothers at the hands of Heaven Breaker, who was later assassinated by a mysterious assailant. Lastly, based on the dialogue Bayonet had with Wisp during the kidnapping attempt on Xie Yao, Nie Yan clearly remembered that his circumstances were roughly the same as King of the World’s.

He couldn’t help but wonder if Bayonet and King of the World were one and the same.

"Care to make a little wager?” Nie Yan made his decision. He was determined to recruit King of the World to his side, regardless of whether or not he was Bayonet!

"What kind of bet?” King of the World asked warily. What startled him was that the Nie Yan he had met the day prior was actually Nirvana Flame. Of this he was absolutely certain. After their previous exchange in real life, Nie Yan’s movement and subtle habits were still vivid in his mind. This was something he had picked up after more than a decade of fighting in war stricken territories.

Nirvana Flame’s identity in real life had always been a mystery to players. He had never revealed this information to the public, so very few people knew.

In only a brief exchange, King of the World determined Nirvana Flame was Nie Yan!

"We’ll PvP right here. Everything within 100 meters will be our arena.” Bayonet was a mercenary, and every mercenary had a price. Nie Yan was confident the Nie Family Financial Group could afford to hire him.

"What happens if I win or lose?” King of the World asked. He wanted to find out just what Nie Yan was scheming.

"If I win, you’ll have to promise me your loyalty. Furthermore, Asskickers United’s doors will be open to you, and I’ll also give you the four chapters in my possession. As for your brothers, I can let them join the branch guilds first. When their levels and equipment are good enough, they can join Asskickers United. If I lose, not only will the four chapters go to you, but I’ll throw in the Evil Gemstone that allows you to class advance into a Luminous Dancer,” Nie Yan explained with a smile. Just from the expression on his face, anyone could tell he was plotting something.

As long as King of the World agreed to this bet, he would obtain four chapters from the fifth volume of the Book of Order. Who could refuse such an enticing offer?

"What’s in it for you?” King of the World asked. Regardless of the outcome, Nie Yan would still have to hand over his four chapters.

"What’s in it for me? You, of course! As long as I win, you’ll become a part of Asskickers United. So what if I gift you these four chapters? Items are only material at the end of the day!” Nie Yan said in a straightforward manner. He could obtain countless amazing items any time he wanted. Why would he care about four measly chapters? Besides this, he had successfully laid out his trap. King of the World hadn’t noticed the pitfall in his words.

Based on the fact that King of the World had been willing to kill Heaven Breaker to avenge his brothers in the previous timeline, Nie Yan was confident he wasn’t someone who broke his promises.

"Alright. I accept the bet. Don’t forget your words. I’m not someone who holds back. You better not regret it when I take those four chapters and the Evil Gemstone from you. Of course I’ll fulfill my end of the bargain if I lose,” King of the World said. Nie Yan had won him over. He also finally understood why Nie Yan was admired by so many. Even if he ended up beating Nie Yan today, he decided that he would still join Asskickers United.

What King of the World really wanted to know was why Nie Yan trusted him so much. If he went back on his word and fled with the four chapters, wouldn’t Nie Yan be shit out of luck?

Nevertheless, King of the World was still moved by this display of good faith. He naturally wouldn’t throw it back in Nie Yan’s face.

"I’m making my move!” King of the World declared, pouncing towards Nie Yan with his dagger raised.

Chapter 443 - Scammed!

It was a duel against King of the World! Victory was the only option!

Nie Yan had numerous powerful skills at hand, along with unequalled attack power and defense. As long as he didn’t get stunned, he was confident no Thief could match him blow for blow. However, things might get tricky if he were stunned. Every high level Thief could chain stun a target for at least six seconds. Given the quality of King of the World’s equipment, he could probably hundred to zero Nie Yan during this time frame.

Nie Yan activated his Darkbright Barrier, causing a membrane of black light to envelop him.

King of the World pounced toward Nie Yan. The two clashed, exchanging multiple blows. They dodged and weaved in an effort to probe each other out. Neither side revealed any of their trump cards.

Concussive Blow!

King of the World’s dagger stabbed out toward Nie Yan’s forehead.

「Klang!」Nie Yan parried the attack by raising his dagger.

Spinning Strike!

With a pivot of his foot, King of the World’s figure blurred, then reemerged with dagger plunging towards Nie Yan’s back.

Nie Yan might not be a match for Bayonet in reality, but this was inside Conviction! No one could escape the restraints of stats!

Just as the Spinning Strike was about to land, Nie Yan dodged with Shadow Waltz and disappeared into stealth.

Owl Sight!

King of the World immediately locked onto Nie Yan’s retreating figure with his significantly enhanced senses.

Skewering Assault!

King of the World instantly arrived behind Nie Yan and pierced him through his back. Blood splattered the ground as Nie Yan lost more than 1,200 health.

What frightening damage! It truly deserved to be called a Great Thief skill! Nie Yan activated Berserk Transformation from the Slaughter Fiend Medallion, gaining a burst of attack power and movement speed, then slashed out with Phantom Assassination. Zennarde’s Sword drew a cold arc toward King of the World’s throat.

This sort of in-your-face clash between Thieves relied heavily on skill. Even a single moment could decide victory and defeat.

King of the World avoided Nie Yan’s attack with Gale Step, then rapidly retreated to give himself some breathing room.

Three seconds… two seconds… one second, the invincibility from Gale Step finally wore off. Nie Yan quickly locked onto King of the World’s position and targeted him with Intimidate. His fleeing figure froze in place.

King of the World’s heart trembled. What kind of skill was this? His whole body was paralyzed! He was entirely exposed after being struck by Intimidate!

Gale Ambush!

Nie Yan’s figure sped forward as he almost instantly arrived behind King of the World.

King of the World hurriedly protected himself with a barrier skill to offset some of the damage. He also activated the Great Thief skill, Shadow Form, which made him immune to crowd control effects.

−1,208

「Bang!」Nie Yan ruthlessly struck King of the World in the back of the head. However, the stun effect of Smothering Strike was negated by Shadow Form.

So what if the enemy couldn’t be stunned? Taking advantage of the attack boost from Gale Ambush, Nie Yan followed up with Backstab.

−1,392

−279

−334

…

King of the World’s barrier shattered into pieces. A string of bleed and burn damage values floated up from above his head.

At this moment, King of the World finally regained control of his body. He activated Level 3 Swift Retreat and quickly fled to safety. His back was drenched with cold sweat. Nie Yan’s attacks were too frightening. No wonder players regarded the Mad Rogue as a godly Thief. His attacks weren’t something ordinary players could handle. Even the tankiest of Warriors would be cut down!

Believing he could rely on his speed to escape, King of the World was shocked to find Nie Yan rapidly gaining on him. He quickly downed an Intermediate Health Potion.

Nie Yan and King of the World’s battle had been going for about a minute. With both having used up all their skills, they’d have to rely on their regular attacks for now.

Just as Nie Yan was about to close in, King of the World swung around and stabbed him in the chest. Only to realize what he struck was merely an illusion. Nie Yan had employed Illusion Steps! King of the World felt Zennarde’s Sword held across his throat.

King of the World gulped as cold sweat dripped down his forehead.

"It’s my win.” Nie Yan faintly smiled. King of the World only had a little over 1,000 health left. One more attack would finish him off.

"What skill was that?” King of the World asked in surprise. He had clearly felt his dagger pierce Nie Yan’s chest just a moment ago.

"It’s not a skill. It’s a Shadow Dancer technique. If you’re interested, I can teach you.” Nie Yan brightly smiled. He was in a great mood right now. Since according to their agreement, King of the World—no, to be more precise, Bayonet would become his subordinate.

King of the World chuckled. He was thoroughly convinced of his defeat at Nie Yan’s hands. He knew Nie Yan still had a few more tricks up his sleeve, such as the techniques he employed to kill Hei Zhuo (Black Amazing) during the battle at Kiln Fire Woods.

"Alright, I’ll join Asskickers United,” King of the World said. He would accept his loss magnanimously and fulfill his end of the bargain. Although he felt it was a little unfair for his brothers to be put in the branch guilds, the shared treasury would help them grow. When their equipment and levels were up to par, they could join the main guild then.

"Not just Asskickers United, also report in to my family’s company. Here’s the location…” Nie Yan said before sending his address to King of the World.

"Your family’s company?” King of the World stared blankly.

"Did you forget? If you lose, you’ll swear your loyalty to me. That’s what we agreed on.” Nie Yan’s lips curved into a devious grin.

Only then did King of the World recall Nie Yan’s words. Since he didn’t think Nie Yan had figured out his identity as Bayonet, he thought they were only talking about the game when they were making the bet, not real life as well!

Nie Yan had set up a trap in his words, and King of the World had unwittingly walked right into it.

"I figured our agreement didn’t reach outside the game…” King of the World tried to explain. He never thought a small bet would end up with him being bound. However, he had indeed agreed to the bet! He had even told Nie Yan not to regret it if he won!

"Of course I wasn’t just talking about the game. I told you before, if you ever find yourself without a place to go, come and find me. You’re a mercenary. The Nie Family Company will definitely give you a satisfactory offer. You’re not planning to back on your word, are you?” Nie Yan looked at King of the World with a disappointed expression. "Well… if you’re not willing to honour the bet, so be it.”

King of the World was backed into a corner. This situation definitely wasn’t as easy to resolve as it seemed. It suddenly hit him. Nie Yan had scammed him!

Just as King of the World wanted to say something, Nie Yan cut him off. "After I kill myself, the four chapters will be yours. As for the Evil Gemstone and piece of equipment I drop, help me deliver them to the Asskickers United guild office in Calore.”

As soon as Nie Yan finished speaking, he committed suicide and transformed into a ray of light. Left behind on the ground were the four chapters, the Evil Gemstone, and a piece of equipment.

Nie Yan had left too quickly, not giving King of the World the chance to speak at all.

King of the World just stood in place for a while with a baffled expression on his face. He bent down and picked up the items on the ground in a daze. He intended to return the Evil Gemstone and piece of equipment to Nie Yan.

Although he believed Nie Yan was only talking about the game, it was indeed true that he had agreed to the bet. This was something nobody could deny. He couldn't take back his words!

King of the World had an internal struggle. Abiding by the bet meant he would have to swear loyalty to Nie Yan. Reneging from the bet would be going against everything he believed in. The mercenary code required he put his honour above all else, and he was a mercenary through and through.

A trivial bet inside a game had resulted in him being bought in real life. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Truthfully, swearing his loyalty to someone wasn’t that big of a deal to King of the World. He was a mercenary. As long as his employer paid enough money, he would carry out his job faithfully. If Nie Yan could offer enough money to help his brothers recover, he was more than willing to give him his loyalty. The years of roaming war stricken territories had taught him that pride meant nothing. It couldn’t buy food, and it could even cost someone their life at times.

After thinking for a bit, King of the World felt Nie Yan’s character wasn’t too bad. He had angered his previous employer by not carrying out the kidnapping of Xie Yao, putting his life and those of his brothers in danger. Now Nie Yan could shelter them. It was better than bringing them into hiding in Tibet like he originally planned.

King of the World wore a bitter smile. Maybe this wasn’t a bad thing. He could finally put an end to his life as a mercenary, and instead enjoy a calmer lifestyle.

King of the World breathed a long sigh before letting out a chuckle. "Dammit, Nirvana Flame, you really got me good!”

Nie Yan had already revived and was pacing around in the Calore guild office. He trusted his eye for people. With King of the World’s character, he would likely fulfill his end of the bet. As for whether or not he was willing to come to the Nie Family Company, it was hard to say.

Nie Yan was hedging his bets on King of the World being willing to come work for him in real life!

Bayonet was a world class mercenary. He was an expert that survived through hails of bullets. His skills were on a whole other level. Nie Yan estimated if Bayonet went all out, he would be lucky to even last three moves. What he learned was the art of fighting. What Bayonet learned was the art of killing!

Chapter 444 - Upgrading the Silk Spinner Ring

Even if you had the best equipment in the game, so what? Given enough time, any item could be obtained, by anyone. But an expert like Bayonet was an incredible boon for Nie Yan and the Nie Family. Perhaps he could even save a life at a crucial moment.

Investing a few pieces of equipment for an expert at that level? It was definitely worth the trade.

Nie Yan was waiting inside the Calore branch guild headquarters. After a while, Guo Huai entered the office.

"Someone wanted me to return these to you.” Guo Huai handed over the Evil Gemstone and a few other items to Nie Yan.

"Where is he?” Nie Yan asked.

"He already left. But he told me to pass on a message. He’ll be visiting your family’s company during the day. Who is he?” Guo Huai asked curiously.

"A friend.” Nie Yan chuckled. He was happy knowing the gamble had paid off. It seemed he would be paying a visit to his family’s company during the day as well. He took out the Armoured Ice Catapult blueprints. With twenty pages in total, crafting an Armoured Ice Catapult would require 13 Advanced Engineers, 5 Advanced Tinkerers, an Alchemist, and an Enchanter working together for two days straight. Asskickers United didn’t have the required number of Advanced Engineers at this time. They could only think of some other way, first by borrowing the Advanced Engineers from Sapphire Shrine, Holy Empire, and the other allied guilds.

During the siege of the Cripps Stronghold, given Bloodlust Blades’ strength at the time, it was impossible for them to manufacture Armoured Catapults by themselves. Likely Angel Corps, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors had loaned them the Advanced Engineers. Those three catapults had nearly brought Asskickers United to their knees. After Asskickers United recovered, revenge would defnitely be had. The enemy would get a taste of their own medicine, facing the full might of the Armoured Ice Catapults!

"Where did you get that?” Guo Huai asked in shock after looking over the Armoured Ice Catapult blueprints.

Guo Huai had experienced the might of the Armoured Catapults first-hand. Afterwards, he’d instantly ordered some of his subordinates to search high and low for an Armoured Catapult blueprint. Who would’ve thought Nie Yan would be so quick to find them!

The emergence of the Armoured Ice Catapults had filled in one of Asskickers United’s biggest weaknesses. Even if Calore was currently at peace, they couldn’t lower their guard. Siege weapons like catapults were a necessity, or else they would be forced on the back-foot if they were attacked again.

"I got it while doing a quest,” Nie Yan replied. "Hurry up and find people to start the manufacturing process. The sooner, the better.”

"I’ll get on it right away!” Guo Huai said in excitement.

Suddenly recalling something, Nie Yan said, "Have the manufacturing be in one of the War God Tribe’s strongholds. The Armoured Ice Catapults should help them secure victory in the war.”

"Understood.” Guo Huai nodded.

" Oh, right. Has Sun completed Master Jewelcrafter Paget’s quest?”

"Yeah, he finished it. I’ll call him over right now.”

After a while, Sun arrived in the office lounge. "Big Brother, what do you need me for?”

"I have five Brilliant Gems I want to use to upgrade my special items. Bring me to meet Master Jewelcrafter Paget,” Nie Yan said. Anyone that completed Paget’s quest would gain access to his services. They could even request his help to upgrade items for their friends.

Many of those who had completed Paget’s quest in the previous timeline would sell access to his services on the streets, bringing the items that needed to be upgraded to him before collecting an intermediary fee. His workshop was often packed to the brim with visitors. However, the recommended level for this quest was 70–80. The fact that Sun had completed an already challenging quest while below the recommended level was indicative of his skill.

"Sure!” Sun nodded.

Sun and Nie Yan chatted while heading to the center of Calore.

On the busiest street in Calore’s central district stood a shop with a unique appearance. Inside were around 30 Junior Jewelcrafters. They were tasked with helping players upgrade their various items with gems. Few people could meet with Master Jewelcrafter Paget. He rarely showed his face in public.

As Sun and Nie Yan entered the shop, a middle-aged Jewelcrafter walked up to greet them. "Oh, Sirs, how may I help you today?”

"Mister Denny, we’d like to meet Jewelcrafter Paget.”

"Please follow me, Sirs.” Denny turned around and headed deeper inside, with Nie Yan and Sun in tow. The two entered the back of the shop, then walked up a narrow staircase.

They arrived on the second floor and were greeted by cabinets filled with glittering gems of every colour under the sun. Their dazzling radiance lighted the whole room.

These Gems were all valuable resources, but players weren’t allowed to touch them, lest they be thrown in jail by the guards for several days. Of course, the things stolen would have to be returned as well.

After passing through the narrow corridor, Nie Yan and Sun entered a large room. Necklaces, rings, and other accessories were scattered about the floor. In the center of the room stood a shabby work table.

Nie Yan quickly spotted Paget, the Jewelcrafter he was somewhat acquainted with in the previous timeline. Wearing a gray shirt and with disheveled and messy hair, he was currently focused on polishing a gem.

Nie Yan had come here before in the previous timeline to upgrade his equipment. Among all the NPC Jewelcrafters, Paget had the highest upgrade success rate. Paget’s appearance was the same as he remembered.

"Master Paget, Sir Sun has brought a friend here to request your help,” Denny said in a cautious tone.

Paget raised his head. His gaze swept over the three people before settling on Nie Yan. His eyebrows jumped up in surprise. Nie Yan’s titles couldn’t be ignored. Whether it was Devil Slayer or Grand Scholar, they granted him a high position not just in Calore but the whole Viridian Empire.

"Master Paget, can you help me upgrade these pieces of equipment?” Nie Yan brought out five Brilliant Gems, along with the Silk Spinner Ring, Crawler Ring, Leaper Ring, Pearl of Disguise, and Necklace of Deception. As for the Pygmy Ring and Animorph Ring, he would have to wait to upgrade them some other time.

Sun felt dizzy seeing Nie Yan take out so many special items. Each one was extremely rare and valuable. Most players would go through great pains to find even one. Who could be so extravagant like Nie Yan? Sun couldn’t help but wonder how Nie Yan got his hands on so many.

"It would be my pleasure,” Paget replied. He accepted the items from Nie Yan and started polishing the Brilliant Gems.

Nie Yan suddenly recalled Pandora’s Box in his bag. This was a legendary item for Jewelcrafters. He took out Pandora’s Box and showed it to Paget. "Would this be of use to you?”

Paget raised his head. After seeing Pandora’s Box in Nie Yan’s hands, his eyes flashed with a peculiar light. Nie Yan could see the uncontainable excitement in his gaze.

"Heavens! Are my eyes playing a trick on me? That’s Pandora’s Box!” Paget cried out in surprise. "Of course it's useful! This mythical fate item is something every Jewelcrafter dreams about! With it, I only need a minute to finish upgrading these five special items!”

Nie Yan never thought Pandora’s Box would produce such a reaction from Paget. Its value in his heart rose by several tiers. It appeared he still hadn't used this item to its fullest potential.

Paget forcefully calmed his stirring emotions. "Great Thief Nirvana Flame, Grand Scholar and Devil Slayer. May I beseech you with a selfish request. I want to borrow Pandora's Box to create a necklace for my deceased wife. It’s a very dear wish of mine…”

"Of course. I hope it will be of use to you.” Nie Yan nodded. He never expected Pandora’s Box to also unlock a hidden quest. In any case, it was only going to be used to create an item. He wouldn’t be losing anything.

Sun stared in amazement at the item in Nie Yan’s hands. He never thought this strange looking black box was actually something that didn’t lose out to a Legendary-grade item!

"Thank you! You truly are a kind person!” Paget said gratefully. "I’ll need your assistance. Please put Pandora's Box on the work table.”

Paget started upgrading Nie Yan’s special items. He picked up the Silk Spinner Ring and a Brilliant Gem and placed them inside Pandora’s Box. He had Nie Yan activate Pandora's Box, whereupon it flooded the room with a dazzling radiance.

Nie Yan could feel Paget’s movements inside Pandora's Box. After a while, the light gradually dimmed down. The Silk Spinner Ring looked completely different from before, as though it had been coated in a waxy liquid. It sparkled with a brilliant lustre.

The small spider on top of the ring that was previously unremarkable appeared vivid and lifelike. Every fine hair and detail was clear to the eye.

The Silk Spinner Ring had gone through an amazing transformation.

Chapter 445 - Sleeping Beauty

Nie Yan examined the stats of the upgraded Silk Spinner Ring.

Silk Spinner Ring (Silver): Special

Item Description: Shoot out a sticky web line with a range of 10 meters. Supports a maximum load of 300 lbs.Cooldown: 10 seconds.

Weight: 1 lb

Restrictions: None

Its range doubled from 5 meters to 10 meters, its maximum load increased from 200 lbs to 300 lbs, and its cooldown was cut in half from 20 seconds to 10 seconds. Since not long after the start of the game, this ring had always been by his side, helping him avoid countless dangers and saving his life who knew how many times.

The lower the starting point of a special item, the higher the upgrade potential. For example, the Silk Spinner Ring went from Bronze to Silver-grade and could be upgraded even further to Gold and Dark Gold-grade.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder what the properties would be like at higher grades. After all, the greater the range and maximum load the better. But the Silver-grade Silk Spinner Ring would do for now.

Following the same procedure, Nie Yan upgraded the four other special items.

Crawler Ring (Silver): Special

Item Description: Grants the ability to stick to walls, trees, and other similar surfaces for up to 15 minutes. Cooldown: 30 minutes.

Weight: 1 lb

Restrictions: None

The Crawler Ring’s duration had increased by 5 minutes. Its cooldown was also cut in half from an hour to 30 minutes.

The Leaper Ring, Pearl of Disguise, and Necklace of Deception couldn’t rank up any further since they were already Dark Gold-grade. However, they still saw noticeable improvements.

The Leaper Ring’s range was increased from 10 meters to 30 meters, its cooldown was reduced from 10 minutes to 5 minutes, and it could now be used in combat. As for the Pearl of Disguise and Necklace of Deception, their durations were increased from 30 minutes and 3 hours to 1 hour and 5 hours respectively. However, their cooldowns remained the same at 1 day.

These three special items were fully maxed out now. Even though they couldn’t be upgraded any, they’d still play a vital role in his future growth.

Nie Yan accepted his five special items back. Paget would now borrow Pandora's Box to create a necklace for his deceased wife.

Paget took out a red, a blue gem, a green gem, and a dull-looking silver necklace.

He placed these four items into Pandora’s Box and started the crafting process.

After a flash of light, a rainbow-coloured necklace emerged from Pandora’s Box.

Nie Yan examined the newly created necklace. It was called Necklace of Paget’s Deceased Wife, a powerful Legendary item. It increased the rank of the Jewelcrafting skill by one.

Paget put on this necklace, increasing his Jewelcrafter rank from Master to Grandmaster.

Nie Yan never expected Paget to use his Pandora’s Box to create something so amazing. If he had known earlier, he would’ve allowed Paget to make the necklace first. Thankfully, the upgrade attempts on the five special items were all successful. Else he would have wasted a Brilliant Gem for every failure.

"It was rumoured that by combining an Azure Fantasy Sapphire, Scarlet Blaze Ruby, Life Emerald, and Magic Silver Necklace inside Pandora’s Box, an incredible necklace capable of fulfilling one’s desire can be crafted. For the sake of helping me become a Grandmaster Jewelcrafter, my wife, Alaine, braved through countless perils to obtain these four items. It’s unfortunate that she’s already departed this world. I pray her soul found peace in heaven...”

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Paget had just offhandedly provided him with a crafting recipe. As long as he could find the aforementioned items, he could create a powerful Legendary-grade necklace! Something that could increase the rank of any crafting profession by one was practically unheard of. After putting on this necklace, a Master could become a Grandmaster, and a Grandmaster a Sage! It must be known that the higher one climbed in their craft, the harder it became to improve. For example, a Master would have to spend a grueling amount of effort for two years straight to ascend to the rank of a Grandmaster. Moreover, after becoming a Grandmaster, only crafting items above a certain difficulty would give proficiency.

Nie Yan memorized this recipe in his heart. Even though collecting three gems and a necklace didn’t seem like much, he knew these four items were probably extremely rare.

"Thank you! You’ve helped me fulfill a long cherished wish of mine. I can live on without regrets.” Paget turned to Nie Yan with a grateful look in his eyes.

Nie Yan replied in a manner one would expect from standard quest dialogue. What puzzled him was that he had received no reward, though Paget had informed him that he could come here for gem upgrades any time free of charge.

Logically speaking, this was quite a lucrative opportunity. He could upgrade equipment for other players and collect both a service fee and the gold that would normally be paid to Paget. However, given his status as the guild leader of Asskickers United, this was too far beneath him. He had better things to do with his time.

While Nie Yan was wondering why he didn’t receive a reward, he noticed the ‘Benevolent’ property was added to his character window.

Prior to this, Nie Yan had received ‘Just’ and ‘Brave’. Now he also had ‘Benevolent’ as well. He had no idea what these words meant. Perhaps he could find some clue after collecting more of them.

In the previous timeline, Nie Yan had never heard of a person receiving something like this, nor had he seen any discussion of it on the forums. As for how these properties would be useful to him, he would have to slowly continue researching.

After bidding farewell to Paget, Nie Yan and Sun left the shop. Sun still had some quests to do, so he left first.

Nie Yan looked at the broken Nadago’s Staff of Curses in his bag. After killing Nadago, he had received a quest notification telling him to find Great General Breakspear to receive a nice surprise.

He previously had no idea where Great General Breakspear was. So, he had ordered his subordinates in Asskickers United do some digging. They found he was located in the distant Hilton Stronghold.

Going from Calore to the Hilton Stronghold wasn’t too much trouble. He would first have to spend 1 gold and 60 silver to teleport to Kriston Town in Hilderlocke, then ride on horseback for about an hour.

The Hilton Stronghold was surrounded by badlands overrun with vile creatures that had escaped from the caves leading to the Underworld. It was the frontline against the Evil Faction. Who knew what sort of reward he would receive for turning in the broken Nadago’s Staff of Curses. However, there was no harm in making the trip. After all, it wasn’t every day that a figure like the Legendary Necromancer Nadago was slain.

Nie Yan handed over the Everwinter Potion Recipe and Junior Vitality Potion to Bird and dealt with a few guild related matters before setting off with the little time remaining in the day.

Calore was relatively peaceful right now. Even if an emergency happened, he could quickly return.

Nie Yan teleported to Kriston Town, then got on his Faulkner Warhorse and galopped north.

The minutes and seconds ticked away. As the server closing drew close, Nie Yan found a safe spot and unsummoned his Faulkner Warrhorse before logging off.

Nie Yan exited the game capsule to discover Xie Yao sleeping peacefully in his bed. It appeared she had snuck into his room some time during the evening.

Nie Yan walked over to Xie Yao. She had covered herself with a thin blanket. Her eyes were closed, and traces of fear could still be seen on her face. She appeared quite pitiful. The prior incident had probably frightened her far more than he initially thought. She was almost kidnapped and then watched a man killed before her eyes in cold blood. How could she not be traumatized?

Nie Yan’s eyes rested on Xie Yao, her delicate face without a single blemish, her hair that was messy every so slightly, those perky eyelashes and tender sweet lips...

Xie Yao was wearing a lace nightgown. Her collar was a bit low, exposing her slender milky white shoulders. She looked like a goddess. Nie Yan’s imagination couldn’t help but run wild.

The scene of Xie Yao sleeping so peacefully was one Nie Yan could have never imagined in the previous timeline. The joy it brought him was calming, like a whiff of fragrance soothing his heart.

Seeing Xie Yao’s eyebrow lightly tremble, Nie Yan faintly smiled. It seemed she had already woken up but was too embarrassed to open her eyes.

Nie Yan bent down and drew close to Xie Yao’s cheeks with a mischievous smile on his face.

Opening her eyes and seeing Nie Yan’s face so close to hers, Xie Yao’s cheeks burned bright red.

"You’re out?” Xie Yao asked, gently blinking her limpid eyes.

"Why are you sleeping here, in my bed?”

"I got scared. I didn’t want to stay in a room all by myself, so I came here,” Xie Yao explained. She felt a sense of security when she was by Nie Yan’s side. Although the sight of him killing Wisp yesterday was a huge shock to her, her opinion of him didn’t worsen. Though when she recalled Nie Yan’s appearance at that time, a peculiar feeling surfaced in her heart, one she couldn’t explain.

Seeing Xie Yao’s shy and vulnerable appearance, Nie Yan was overcome with desire and made an attack on her lips.

Caught off guard, Xie Yao yelped in surprise. However, that only further ignited the desire buried in Nie Yan’s heart.

Chapter 446 - Bayonet’s Skill

Nie Yan slipped his hand into Xie Yao’s nightgown, groping around until he reached a pair of soft, perky mounds. Frivolously, he started kneading them without restraint.

Xie Yao felt numb all over, the tingling leaving her powerless to resist.

Nie Yan knew all of Xie Yao’s weak spots. She wriggled and squirmed, her soft moans resounding through the room.

Xie Yao glared at Nie Yan, feigning anger to hide her embarrassment.

Nie Yan chuckled, then whispered in her ear, "Alright, I’ll stop here for today, though I’d really like to eat you up. Let’s go brush our teeth and wash up.”

Xie Yao quickly got up from the bed. Nie Yan’s words left her feeling even more frantic, though a trace of happiness sprouted in her heart.

Nie Yan found Xie Yao’s disheveled appearance quite alluring.

"I’ll go to the washroom first.” Xie Yao left in a hurry, not daring to meet Nie Yan’s eyes.

After coming out of the washroom, Xie Yao’s cheeks were still scarlet red. The skin under her lace nightgown glowed a faint pink, appearing all the more glossy and translucent like jade. Nie Yan couldn’t help but want to take a bite.

Nie Yan abided by his agreement to Xie Jun. He also wanted to prove himself worthy first by subduing the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups. Though he would sometimes take advantage of the moment, he would always restrain himself in the end. The two of them were too young anyway. Xie Yao was barely 18! Slight pangs of guilt rippled through his heart.

Xie Yao also understood this. She felt grateful to Nie Yan for it.

After the two of them finished washing up, Nie Yan turned to Xie Yao. "I need to make a trip to my father’s company. I have some business to take care of.”

A sense of fear and anxiety suddenly washed over Xie Yao. After the kidnapping attempt, she subconsciously grew dependent on Nie Yan. Without him by her side, she was afraid something like that might happen again.

"Don’t worry. You’ll be safe here. Things might get dangerous though if you’re seen out in public, so I can’t let you come with me. If something happens, call me immediately,” Nie Yan comforted.

"Alright, hurry back,” Xie Yao said after a hint of hesitation. She knew Nie Yan had urgent matters to attend to.

After bidding Xie Yao farewell, Nie Yan got in his car and sped off to his family’s company.

The Nie Family company was flourishing under Father Nie’s leadership. Having set up three subsidiaries and rebranded to the name World Bloc, business operations were booming, and they were trending to become a large financial group. More recently, thanks to Nie Yan’s introduction, Father Nie and Tuoba Time had cooperated together in taking a large bite out of Tuoba Hongye’s operations, with World Bloc reaping the lion’s share of the benefits. In addition to this, World Bloc had also acquired a 3% stake in the Century Financial Group. Though seemingly insignificant at first glance, it was actually fairly considerable, given Cao Xu, the head of the Century Financial Group, only controlled a 52% stake in the company.

The sudden rise of World Bloc was drawing eyes, especially for their astonishing growth in the virtual reality space, which left many green with envy. The War God Tribe controlled five strongholds, of which three were operated by World Bloc while the rights to the other two were sold to two close business partners. Those real world business districts were raking in a huge sum of money for World Bloc every day.

If the War God Tribe could maintain this explosive growth, as the number of strongholds under their control increased and Conviction became more and more popular, their prospects would be unlimited.

The War God Tribe was directly connected to Asskickers United. As long as Asskickers United didn’t collapse, the War God Tribe’s position in Nisode was secured. Furthermore, since Asskickers United belonged to Nie Yan, the War God Tribe would never have to worry about their alliance falling apart. As Asskickers United captured more and more strongholds, Nie Yan was also planning to give the development rights of some of them to World Bloc. Given five years' time, the World Bloc’s foundation would be extremely stable.

The World Bloc’s reception hall was quite spacious and decorated lavishly. Father Nie and a shareholder happened to be passing through. They were followed by more than 20 bodyguards. At this moment, a young man dressed in casual clothes walked in through the main entrance. He looked around 28 years old and had a scary looking scar on his forehead. His gait was stable, and he had a fierce aura about him.

The person who had come in was Bayonet. He walked up to the reception.

The receptionist was a young woman in her twenties. Her face blanched when she saw Bayonet. She unconsciously took a step back. However, she quickly recovered and greeted him with a polite smile. "Sir, what can I help you with today?” His scary appearance made her feel extremely uneasy.

Bayonet had braved through countless battles. His body was stained with the blood of who knew how many lives. It was to the extent he couldn’t suppress the killing intent coming off him even if he wanted to.

"I’m looking for someone. Is there a person called Nie Yan here?” Bayonet said in a gruff voice. He was loud enough to be overheard by Father Nie.

Father Nie wrinkled his brows. As he glanced at Bayonet, he could instantly tell this was a dangerous individual. He was once a soldier, a profession similar in nature to a mercenary, so he at least had this bit of insight. This youth was definitely no weaker than him. He could even smell the thick scent of blood coming off him from more than six meters away.

Why would such a person be looking for Nie Yan? Father Nie couldn’t help but feel a hint of unease. If the other party had malicious intentions, his son might be in danger. He pondered for a moment before whispering to the several bodyguards beside him, "Don’t let him go anywhere. Subdue him.”

Father Nie wanted to take this person into custody first, then ask Nie Yan about the situation after.

Six muscular bodyguards walked over to Bayonet. They were all seasoned military veterans with ample combat experience.

While Bayonet was inquiring with the receptionist, he detected a small group of people approaching him. He turned around and spotted six bodyguards walking over with obvious hostility in their eyes. He knitted his brows while his eyes narrowed. Did Nie Yan send them to test him out?

Regardless, the solution was rather simple. All Bayonet had to do was put them in their place.

When the receptionist saw things going south, she immediately backed away in fear. She had no idea what was happening.

The six bodyguards surrounded Bayonet, leaving no opening for escape.

"Who are you? What did you come here for?” one of the bodyguards asked. His skin was tanned dark, and he stood around 190 centimeters tall.

"I’m looking for a person called Nie Yan,” Bayonet replied.

"Got any identification on you?” the bodyguard asked in a rude tone. He was clearly looking to pick a fight.

"None.” Bayonet smirked. He had already scanned the surroundings. Nie Yan wasn’t in the vicinity. These six bodyguards were probably sent by someone else.

The bodyguard reached out to grab Bayonet’s shoulder. "How about you accompany us to the police station?”

At this moment, Bayonet reacted with lightning speed. He dodged the hand struck the bodyguard in the armpit. Before the bodyguard could react, he felt a numb feeling as his arm went limp.

Just as the bodyguard wanted to retaliate, Bayonet chopped him in the neck. With a thud sound, the large muscular bodyguard collapsed unconscious on the floor.

Seeing their comrade taken down, the five other bodyguards immediately pounced into action.

Their movements were skilled and decisive. Their military combat experience was clearly put out on display.

Like a nimble rabbit, Bayonet kneed one of the bodyguards in the stomach. The pain from the hit was enough to make the bodyguard break out in tears as he curled up on the floor like a cooked shrimp. A simple knee definitely couldn’t inflict him with so much pain. Bayonet’s movements were too fierce, and the force behind each of his attacks were too powerful.

Palm, elbow, knee, these parts of the body when used by Bayonet resembled sharp weapons. None of Bayonet's actions carried any superfluous movements. He only needed one or two moves to incapacitate a bodyguard. The places he struck them were the weakest spots on the human body. His attacks were simple but effective.

It didn’t take long for all six bodyguards to hit the floor, wreathing and groaning in pain.

Bayonet stood there with a sneer on his face. If he hadn’t taken the identity of these people into consideration, going easy on them, he could’ve finished things much sooner. Taking down six people in 16 seconds, this was by far his slowest record.

Bayonet had long since lost interest in these kind of ordinary fights. What he trained in was murder. One hit, one kill was his true mantra.

Father Nie’s eyes widened in shock after witnessing this scene. He was well aware of the strength of the six bodyguards. If they were to enter a fighting tournament, he estimated they would at least place in the front rankings. Yet they had dropped like flies in front of this person.

Father Nie still had more than 10 bodyguards behind him. However, he understood that no matter how many he sent, the outcome would still be the same. These bodyguards were no match for Bayonet.

Father Nie had only met one person this strong before, and that was his company leader in the army. That man had formerly belonged to a special forces unit called Blood Stingers. Even if Father Nie went up himself, he probably wouldn’t last more than three moves against Bayonet.

Bayonet glanced in their direction, staring at Father Nie and the 15 people around him. His gaze was filled with disdain, conveying it’d be beneath him to take action against them.

Father Nie rang up Nie Yan’s phone and informed him of what just happened.「Son, tell me what’s going on!」

「Oh, that’s a friend of mine. I asked him to become my bodyguard. I’ll be there in a moment.」Nie Yan replied.

Father Nie was taken aback. Someone this skilled would definitely rank as an elite among elites in the army. If they were hired to be a bodyguard for the head of a financial group, their yearly salary would definitely cross ¥100,000,000. How did his son convince such a person to become his personal bodyguard? He was truly stunned.

Chapter 447 - Qualifications

Father Nie had a mind to give Nie Yan a good scolding for his nonchalant attitude over the phone. An expert of Bayonet’s caliber was practically a character on the level of a national treasure. Someone like this couldn’t be sought after, only discovered by happenstance. If Nie Yan’s negligence led to Bayonet leaving, it would be a huge loss for them.

Father Nie looked at Bayonet in a new light. The skills Bayonet displayed just a moment ago were clearly honed on the battlefield. With someone like that as a bodyguard, he could rest assured that his son would be safe. For peace of mind like that, he was willing to pay any price.

Those in the military always held strength in high regard. With strength one could obtain the respect of others. After confirming that Bayonet hadn’t come intending to do harm, a born soldier like Father Nie couldn’t help but be impressed by his skill.

「Son, hire him as your bodyguard. It doesn’t matter how much he asks for! I’ll transfer over ¥300,000,000 to your account right now. If it still isn’t enough, ask me for more.」For the sake of recruiting Bayonet, Father Nie was willing to break the bank.

World Bloc raked in a ton of profit every day from their various businesses. But an expert like Bayonet couldn’t be found even if you had the money. An opportunity like this couldn’t be missed!

Bayonet was absolutely worth the price!

Nie Yan chuckled. He had always intended to give Bayonet the best treatment. Just when he was wondering how he was going to get the money, Father Nie directly transferred over the funds.

By the time the conversation was over, Nie Yan arrived at World Bloc’s headquarters. He entered through the main entrance and walked up to Bayonet.

Several girls from the reception desk had already taken care of the six fallen bodyguards, helping them up and taking them away.

"We meet again.” Nie Yan smiled at Bayonet.

Bayonet held up his palm with an indifferent expression. "Hold up. Before I become your bodyguard, I have a couple of requests. One, prepare a villa for me in the Cloudwater district. Two, I want a yearly salary of ¥100,000,000. Let’s see if you’re willing to agree to these terms first.”

"Sure, no problem. I can prepare it in two days. If you’re still not satisfied, feel free to ask for more,” Nie Yan answered with a straightforward smile. With his father footing the bill, he had no need to worry about these matters.

Bayonet never expected Nie Yan to agree to his conditions so quickly. Although pay as a mercenary was pretty good, the associated risks were also high. More importantly, he had those brothers who were injured in combat to think about. It was fortunate they had evacuated in time during the Xie Yao kidnapping incident. Else who knew what sort of danger would’ve befallen them. He had some concerns in his heart. He had no qualms with throwing his own life away. However, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if his brothers ended up dying because of him. Acting as a bodyguard for Nie Yan was probably the safest choice.

"Alright, it’s settled then.” Bayonet nodded.

"Here’s to a fruitful relationship!” Nie Yan smiled.

Father Nie walked over to Nie Yan. Bayonet returned to his usual stone-faced expression.

"Son, how about having your friend wait in the lounge?” Father Nie said, glancing at Bayonet.

"He’s not big on meeting new people,” Nie Yan replied in a slightly helpless tone.

Father Nie nodded. It was fairly normal for experts like Bayonet to have such a temperament. He didn't touch on the subject any further. "Come to the conference room in a bit. We’re having an important meeting, and I want you to be there.” He turned around and headed to the conference room with a different shareholder following behind him.

After Father Nie departed, Nie Yan brought out a digital contract. The two signed their names. This was proof of Bayonet’s servitude!

A ¥100,000,000 bodyguard contract, Bayonet was perhaps one of the few people in the world skilled enough to justify this kind of price.

Nie Yan looked over the contract. Both of them had signed their names, stamped their fingerprints, and provided their DNA. Everything was recorded digitally. However, Bayonet had simply signed off with his alias instead of his real name.

"I forgot to ask, what’s your real name?” Nie Yan didn’t feel too comfortable calling Bayonet by his alias in everyday life.

"My surname is Wang, no first name. Just call me by my alias,” Bayonet replied. He wasn’t willing to explain any further regarding his name.

Nie Yan thought for a moment, but stopped pursuing the topic any further.

Nie Yan had Uncle Lin help Bayonet find a villa in Cloudwater, preferably one close to his own.

After Nie Yan finished taking care of everything, he turned to Bayonet. "Let’s head to the conference room for a listen.”

Bayonet didn’t object and obediently followed behind Nie Yan. The two walked toward the conference room.

After passing through a long corridor, Nie Yan and Bayonet entered World Bloc’s conference room. It was already packed with more than 100 people. They were currently having a heated discussion about something.

Nie Yan scanned the room. The number of big shots gathered here had increased exponentially. He spotted a few familiar faces such as the leader of Icewind, Frozen Prose; the leader of Azure Dragon, Annihilation; and so on.

Ah Chen was the person in charge of the meeting.

After listening on the sidelines for a bit, Nie Yan roughly understood what they were arguing about. The War God Tribe was in a rough spot right now. The five guilds under the Tuoba Family had launched a fierce assault and nearly captured several of their strongholds. If the strongholds fell, all the money and resources they had invested up until now would go to waste.

At this point, the conflict between World Bloc and Tuoba Hongye had already come to a head. Tuoba Hongye wasn’t sparing any effort to annihilate the War God Tribe. Still recuperating from their previous conflict, Asskickers United was in no position to participate in another war, lest they risk total collapse.

The War God Tribe had only recently risen to power. Facing the combined might of the Tuoba Family’s five guilds was still a bit too much for them.

Some infighting had also broken out within the War God Tribe. A group of people were vehemently demanding Asskickers United take action.

Nie Yan quietly listened to the people arguing in the conference room.

A short, bald man in his 30s with a somewhat heavyset build rose up from his seat. "We have no hope of winning against the Tuoba Family’s five guilds with our current forces. If Asskickers United isn’t willing to take action, we might as well just call it quits. We’re outnumbered six to one. We have a better chance at winning the lottery than this war!” His gaze was brimming with disdain. He felt Ah Chen had no clue about what sort of situation they were in, and was just blindly issuing orders.

This baldy was called Rubble, the leader of a gaming organization with close to 3,000 members. He had brought five people with him to this meeting today.

After the baldy finished speaking, the several people around him joined in by jeering and heckling. The people in the conference room descended into murmured whispering as the overall mood of the meeting turned dreary.

Frozen Prose stood up and stared at the baldy. "Even though we’ve been forced to turtle in our strongholds, we should have no issues holding out for the time being. How can you expect Asskickers United to take action when they’ve just come out of a grueling war themselves? Why should others go out of their way to help us? Having this kind of debate is meaningless. We should focus the discussion on how we go about preserving our strongholds.”

"How long do you think we can keep this stalemate up for? I’d say we’d be lucky to last another five or six days. If the Tuoba Family gets their hands on a few Armoured Catapults, we’re finished! I know the chance are slim, seeing as they’ve only appeared during the Cripps Stronghold siege, but we can’t rule out the possibility. Even without them, their siege crossbows can’t be underestimated either. In five days when we can’t hold out any longer, what then? Do you think we can bear the losses?”

The outlook for the War God Tribe was grim. It was going to be incredibly difficult to not lose a single stronghold. Each one was being sieged by one of the five guilds under the Tuoba Family, leaving the War God Tribe with no choice but to spread themselves thin if they wanted to defend them all. On top of this, the enemy already heavily outnumbered them.

Nie Yan walked up to the front of the conference room, then turned his attention to the baldy. "What a pathetic display, whining about giving up simply because no one is bailing you out, when you could be thinking of a way to resolve the situation yourself instead. It’s not like the underdog never comes out on top. Isn’t Asskickers United a prime example of this? No matter how bad the situation gets, you must never falter. If the guild was built on cowards like you, the Tuoba Family wouldn’t even need to destroy the War God Tribe, you lot would do it yourselves with all the infighting.”

"Brat, who do you think you are to lecture me?” the baldly loudly cursed. His face was red with anger.

"Boss, he’s the son of the chairman,” a person beside him reminded.

The baldy immediately tempered his anger. After all, World Bloc was his financial backing. He couldn’t push things too far with the Nie Family. However, under the gaze of so many people, he also wasn’t willing to lose face. "So what if he’s the chairman’s son? What difference does that make? He’s still a stinking brat, thinking he can run his mouth just because he plays the game a little, when he knows nothing about the situation between the War God Tribe and the Tuoba Family. What qualifications does he have to lecture me? Why don’t you just run on along and let the adults talk?”

Nie Yan sneered. "Qualifications? I’m the guild leader of Asskickers United, Nirvana Flame! Is that good enough for you?”

All at once the conference room turned deathly silent. One could even hear a pin drop. Everyone was staring at Nie Yan with an incredulous expression.

The identity of Nirvana Flame had always been a mystery. His position in Calore was unsurpassed, and in the entire Viridian Empire, he was also a legendary figure. With his own strength, he had established Asskickers United, sweeping through every obstacle in his path and forcing the likes of Sapphire Shrine, Holy Empire, and Radiant Sacred Flame to submit. In the present day, his presence could be felt all throughout Calore. His glorious achievements gained the admiration of the entire playerbase.

Many people spent countless hours trying to figure out the identity of Nirvana Flame, and what sort of background he had. Who could’ve known that such a legendary figure was standing right in front of them in the flesh?

Those on the side of the Century Financial Group and Angel Corps had recently obtained some information on Nie Yan. His identity was already on the verge of being exposed, and would probably be fully uncovered within the next few weeks. However, since he had been accepted into the Top Military Academy, the Century Financial Group wouldn’t rashly lay hands on him. Besides, he also had an expert like Bayonet by his side. Even if he announced his identity to the public, so what? He had nothing to fear!

The baldy had a stupefied expression on his face. If Nirvana Flame wasn’t qualified, who was? In front of Nirvana Flame, his status as the leader of the Black Dragon gaming organization wasn’t worth slag on the ground!

"Holy shit! Asskickers United and the War God Tribe are actually one and the same!”

"World Bloc is really impressive!”

Chapter 448 - Riled Into Action

After a long silence, a large commotion broke out in the conference room. Everyone started discussing excitedly. Even though they were always aware the War God Tribe and Asskickers United were allied together, they also worried about what would happen if the relationship fell apart. The War God Tribe currently didn’t have the power to contend against the Tuoba Family. If Asskickers United was adamant on refusing to take action, there was nothing that could be done. This was why they didn’t really believe in the future of the War God Tribe.

Such doubts instantly dissolved with the revelation that Nirvana Flame was Nie Yan, leaving behind only feelings of shock and awe.

Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame was a name that rang like thunder throughout the entire Viridian Empire.

He was a god in Calore!

After the siege of the Cripps Stronghold, Asskickers United had cleared away all competition in Calore. Although they were currently only a Level 5 guild, a far cry from level 7 guilds like Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors, with Calore’s enormous population and growth potential, surpassing them was only a matter of time.

Asskickers United had backed the War God Tribe from the start. So, everyone believed World Bloc had negotiated a deal, perhaps even for real world money, to get their help. No one thought Asskickers United was actually a part of World Bloc.

They previously believed World Bloc was only an upstart that started investing in the virtual reality industry. With a lot of money but no experience, it was destined to fail. The people here today only came along for the ride when they joined the War God Tribe. In any case, there was still pay to be had. Since World Bloc had the money, they would stick it out. When the day came World Bloc could no longer support them, they’d simply disperse. As a result, they didn’t care too much about the growth of the War God Tribe. Many people were only there for the benefits. In times of war, they would only put in the bare minimal effort or make themselves scarce.

Nie Yan’s announcement caused this haughty group to internally re-evaluate World Bloc. Not only did it own the guild that controlled Calore, but it even wanted to develop the War God Tribe to absorb Nisode! What ambition! If they actually toppled the Tuoba Family in Nisode, the two largest cities in the Viridian Empire would be in their hands! With only the last step left in such a grand endeavor, who could still consider World Bloc merely a naive upstart?

If they truly won the battle for Nisode, World Bloc would completely dominate the Viridian Empire with control over the two largest cities, more than 30 strongholds, and a full 22% of the empire’s population. Such power was no joke!

Their eyes were filled with reverence as they gazed at Nie Yan. Although it wasn’t clear whether his achievements were only possible thanks to the backing of World Bloc, the name of Nirvana Flame was enough to warrant their admiration.

Nie Yan looked around the conference room before settling his gaze on the baldy. With eyes that radiated a freezing cold, he said, "World Bloc spent money inviting you lot here to help resolve problems and help grow the War God Tribe. If Asskickers United has to take action every time there’s the slightest hitch, what’s the point of keeping you guys around? You receive a salary from World Bloc every day yet do nothing but laze around. You have the luxury of being able to hide behind stronghold walls and yet whine about not being able to hold out. All the while none of you are willing to put in any effort! Am I not wrong in my assessment that World Bloc has hired a bunch of spoiled brats? Not willing to work, always complaining, I want you all to scram! None of you are fit for the job. World Bloc still has Asskickers United. Seriously, grumbling about dealing with a bunch of small fry like the Tuoba Family. I don’t even want to think of what might happen if you were to face real opponents like Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, or Angel Corps. You’re all better off going home. World Bloc has no use for trash like you!”

Nie Yan’s speech greatly humiliated the baldy, but this last line caused him to fume with anger. However, despite being called a spoiled brat, he couldn’t refute Nirvana Flame and was left to swallow his rage.

Not just the baldy, but other people were getting worked up as well. After all, those complaining about not being able to hold out any longer were not limited to his group.

"Aren’t you going a little too far?”

"Right! The Tuoba Family outnumbers us six to one! Of course we can’t hold out!”

Everyone in the conference room got riled up and started refuting Nie Yan’s words.

"In the early days when Asskickers United was just founded, Victorious Return was tens of times larger than us. Weren’t they crushed just the same? Stop making excuses! Any random member from Asskickers United has more guts than you cowardly lot combined!” Nie Yan swept his gaze over the people trying to refute him.

All of them were silenced by Nie Yan’s words. None of them could come up with anything to say back. Yet their hearts were filled with objections.

Nie Yan’s provocative words immediately incited the anger of everyone present, including those with relatively mild tempers such as Frozen Prose and Annihilation. Even saints had limits to their patience. Once their anger was released, they also started cursing.

"What’s so amazing about Nirvana Flame! You’re nothing but an arrogant prick!”

At this point, they resorted to petty personal attacks. In regards to matters related to the War God Tribe, they could only avoid the subject. In their hearts, they had to admit they were no match for Asskickers United. This was an ironclad fact. As a result, their arguments appeared weak.

"Fucking hell! He thinks he’s so great just because he’s good at a game!”

It looked like the meeting was about to go out of control. Ah Chen never thought Nie Yan would speak such provocative words. He anxiously signalled Nie Yan to stop. However, Nie Yan pretended not to notice. At his wits’ end, Ah Chen turned to Father Nie, who faintly smiled and indicated for him not to interfere. Father Nie wore a gratified expression on his face. Nie Yan had finally grown up, with his own way of handling business. Although Father Nie didn’t agree with using such extreme measures, he had to admit this was a good way of resolving the problem. He was also starting to lose his patience with these people in the room.

"I’ll leave behind these words today. Those who want to claim they aren’t trash, speak with your actions, not words. Asskickers United won’t provide help to the War God Tribe. If you guys win, I’ll take back my words and personally apologize to all of you. If you guys really can’t hold out in the end, my Asskickers United has no choice but to step in. Not a single coward exists in my guild. Whether it’s Victorious Return, Bloodlust Blades, or the Tuoba Family, even if they outnumber us by more than fifty to one, when they meet us, they’ll still piss their pants while running away. We especially aren’t so cowardly as to give up before the real battle even begins! If those kind of people aren’t trash, what are they?” Nie Yan said in disdain.

Many of the players in the conference room only came because World Bloc had spent hefty sums to invite them. They were highly skilled players. These types of people naturally had their own pride, but Nie Yan completely disregarded them. He didn’t even try to hide his utter contempt.

Their previous respect for Nirvana Flame had morphed into anger, but they still had to face the facts.

Frozen Prose stood up and addressed Nie Yan. "Although we aren’t as strong as Asskickers United and don't sweep through every obstacle like you, I can solemnly declare we definitely are not trash!”

"Oh? Really now? Your words are certainly pretty, but how are you going to prove it?” Nie Yan chuckled coldly. "Let me make some things clear to you. I built up Asskickers United from the ground up by myself. Although I’m the son of World Bloc’s chairman, Asskickers United has never once relied on World Bloc. Asskickers United won’t change any of their plans just because of what’s happening on the side of the War God Tribe. The War God Tribe was brought up by you guys. If it falls, its existence has no value. World Bloc is perfectly fine just having Asskickers United. When the time comes, all the trash that piled up will be cleared out.”

All the higher-ups from the War God Tribe gathered in the conference room were like enraged beasts. Even though they understood Nie Yan was purposefully riling them up, they couldn’t suppress the anger in their hearts. After all, how could one stay calm after being called trash?

Their only option was to wash themselves clean of this disgrace by defeating the Tuoba Family; otherwise, this label would continue to follow them for the rest of their lives. At that point, they would no longer have the face to show themselves in Conviction or even the larger virtual reality gaming industry. They couldn’t back down now!

"One day, we’re going to make you apologize to everyone in this conference room!” Annihilation, who had been quiet this whole time, finally spoke up. He decided to throw caution to the wind. If everyone gave it their all, he refused to believe they couldn’t defeat the Tuoba Family! Although the Tuoba Family outnumbered them six to one, numbers didn’t decide everything. Asskickers United was a prime example. The War God Tribe’s current circumstances were a lot better than that of Asskickers United in the past. If others could do it, why couldn’t they? Else they really would be nothing but trash!

"I’ll be waiting!” Nie Yan looked at the fervent crowd. Sometimes, rage could be a type of power. Their previously pathetic mentalities were burnt away. They had been forced into a corner, and now Annihilation’s words eliminated all paths of retreat. With no choice but to fight and the added motivation of anger, these people would be many times stronger than before.

In reality, these people weren’t any bit inferior to those on the side of the Tuoba Family. What they lacked was simply the will to fight!

Nie Yan had said what needed to be said. He wouldn’t need to be concerned about the conflict between the War God Tribe and the Tuoba Family for the time being. If the War God Tribe really couldn’t hold on any longer, he would step in to clean up the mess. The words he had just spoken were indeed a bit extreme. If these people really could take down the Tuoba Family without any help, he was willing to apologize.

Nie Yan and Bayonet left the conference room.

Bayonet commented wistfully, "You sly fox! You didn’t promise them a dime and yet these people are going to throw down their lives for your cause. If they lose, you can just clean up while the Tuoba Family’s forces are exhausted. If they win, even better. You lose nothing and just have to apologize while still gaining Nisode. If I’d known you were so wily, I wouldn’t have fallen for your trick!”

Nie Yan chuckled, not minding Bayonet’s words. Drastic times called for drastic measures.

Chapter 449 - Shadow

Nie Yan arranged for Bayonet to live in a neighbouring villa. That way, if trouble ever broke out, he could instantly rush over with a simple phone call.

With an expert like Bayonet present, the safety of Nie Yan’s family was basically assured.

As the two chatted, Nie Yan learned Bayonet had six brothers with whom he traveled from job to job, battlefield to battlefield. Though all of them were injured to some extent, two were inflicted with particularly nasty viruses which required copious amounts of medication to relieve their pain. The medical treatment required for them to make a complete recovery would cost at least ¥500,000,000. Moreover, a specialized military doctor had to perform the procedure. Bayonet would spend almost all the money he earned as a mercenary buying the medication necessary to help them live. By now, all hope for a full recovery had about vanished. Bayonet could only continue to persevere while praying for a miracle.

Nie Yan wondered if he should help Bayonet cure his brothers. Given Bayonet’s personality, he certainly wouldn’t forget the favour.

Bayonet was a person who placed great emphasis on trust and camaraderie!

This was something Nie Yan held in the highest regard.

After finishing his business at the company, Nie Yan returned home. When he walked into his room, Xie Yao appeared to be busy with something.

"I had my father order me a game capsule. What do you think?” Xie Yao pointed to the brand new game capsule in the room.

Nie Yan noticed a second game capsule in his room. It was the same model as his own, except the colours were different. One was silver white, and the other was light blue. These two game capsules were placed adjacent to each other against the wall.

Game capsules placed in close proximity of each other could be linked. If something happened to a person in one of the game capsules, they could directly communicate with the person in the other game capsule.

"Nice. It’ll be much more convenient with two game capsules.” Nie Yan chuckled. Like this, the two of them could know what the other was doing inside the game at any time.

Xie Yao pursed her lips into a smile. "Now we can talk with each other whenever we want.”

With the two game capsules placed together, even if they were in zones inside the game that sealed all communication, they could still talk to each other.

"How are your quests going?” Nie Yan asked in a guilty tone. He had been so preoccupied with his own matters lately that he never bothered to ask about her situation.

"The third part of the Karsi’s Blessing questline is too difficult. I need to wait until I’m at a higher level to give it a try. Do you remember the list you shared with our contracted members, the one with the locations of Sub Legendary and Legendary-grade equipment? Well, I’ve triggered the quest for the Saintess Christina Set. I’m already doing it right now. I have to take a trip to another city tomorrow,” Xie Yao said. One thing that bothered her was how did Nie Yan get his hands on such a list? It had the locations of more than 300 quest triggers, none of which could be found online. If the top players of Asskickers United could obtain the Sub Legendary and Legendary-grade equipment from these locations, they would become terrifying existences, leaving others guilds trembling in fear. Such equipment would help them reach the apex!

Nie Yan had spent quite a few brain cells sifting through the memories of his past life for the sake of recalling the locations of these pieces of equipment. Though many memories resurfaced bit by bit, some still remained fuzzy. So, he could only give general directions, having the players from Asskickers United find the exact locations for themselves.

In the previous timeline, what players loved to chat about the most was undoubtedly equipment, who had the better equipment, where it was found, whose equipment was Sub Legendary-grade, how much it was worth, its history, origin, and so on. Nie Yan took on a lot of hired work back then. He frequently ran dungeons with different teams. So, he got to hear a great many stories. He would also occasionally look at the equipment players posted on the forum. The vast majority of which were Sub Legendary and even Legendary-grade, and were already bound so the owners would never have to worry about them dropping. The stats of every piece were drool-worthy.

Nie Yan could only gaze enviously at the equipment of these people back then. However, things were different in this life. He finally had the ability to collect them for himself!

Nie Yan had no illusions about his people being the first to find every single piece of equipment on that list. But even if it were only a tenth of them, it would allow the top players from Asskickers United to skyrocket in power.

The Saintess Christina Set was one of the godly equipment sets of the previous timeline. The last two bosses at the end required thousands of high level players to defeat it. It was a notoriously difficult set to obtain. Back then, a famous female Holy Magister called Night Autumn Jade only managed to collect three pieces. The later stages of the questline were too hard for her to progress. Even then, she was still regarded as a peak existence. After all, three pieces of Legendary-grade equipment was nothing to laugh about. One could imagine how powerful she would be if she had the full set. She had shared the details of the later stages on the forums. Not being able to complete this godly set became her lifelong regret.

Nie Yan never thought Xie Yao would pick this quest. He could probably gather the players of Asskickers United to help her with the later stages of the quest. However, she was pretty much on her own with the initial stages since there wasn’t much they could do to help.

"Good luck. I hope you’ll obtain the full Saintess Christina Set,” Nie Yan cheered Xie Yao on. He felt completing this set would be an incredibly difficult task for her.

"Mhm! Nie Yan, you have to work hard too! I know you have a lot of things on your shoulders, with everyone in Asskickers United relying on you. You don’t have to worry about me inside the game. I can take care of myself. I just wish I could share the burden with you, even if there’s not a lot I can do,” Xie Yao said apologetically.

Xie Yao knew Nie Yan had to look for a large amount of equipment and items every day to increase his own strength as well as the guild’s. All the while he still had to scramble everywhere to gather the funds to support the guild. None of these things were easy. Although Asskickers United had gathered a large number of elites, they had yet to fully mature. Guilds like Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps had risen to power without facing any hardship. They were established powers that had existed for five years or longer, some even for over ten. As they went from one virtual reality game to the next, they accumulated many loyal and dedicated fans along the way. Once Conviction was released, they joined as a collective. It didn’t take long for them to establish themselves, rapidly expanding their influence and recruiting players en masse. Asskickers United had only established themselves weeks after Conviction’s release. Their foundation was shaky, and they faced battle after battle. If it weren’t for Nie Yan keeping everything together, they would’ve long since collapsed. Only when Calore was unified did Asskickers United truly embark on a steady path, and only then did the elites of the guild obtain a stable growth environment.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Nie Yan had single-handedly kept Asskickers United afloat. Of course, Guo Huai and the other administrative members had also put in quite a great deal of work. But whether it was the battle at Kiln Fire Woods or the Cripps Stronghold siege, Asskickers United wouldn’t exist today if it weren’t for Nie Yan’s efforts. One could imagine how much he contributed to the guild.

"It’s not that bad. When I log in I just grind a few mobs, collect some equipment, occasionally get in a few fights, and every week or so I make a trip to the Underworld.” Nie Yan chuckled. Although it was true he didn’t have enough time to do all the things he wanted, it wasn’t as hectic and stressful as Xie Yao made it out to be.

Xie Yao cast a doubtful gaze. Everyone in Asskickers United witnessed daily all that Nie Yan did for the guild. Even if he himself claimed he wasn’t busy, no one would believe him no matter what.

Seeing Xie Yao’s expression, Nie Yan knew there was nothing he could do to explain. He glanced at the clock and said, "It’s about time to get back into the game.”

"Mhm.” Xie Yao nodded.

The two stepped inside their respective game capsules. When Nie Yan entered the game, he received a notification.

Yao Yao is playing Conviction

Nie Yan was automatically notified of Xie Yao entering the game.

Nie Yan faintly smiled. A warm feeling sprouted up in his heart from knowing Xie Yao was right beside him.

Nie Yan summoned his Faulkner Warhorse, then set off for the Hilton Stronghold, galloping across the wide open grasslands.

About 20 minutes later, Nie Yan received word from Guo Huai that King of the World had applied to join Asskickers United. From this day forward, Asskickers United would have another powerful expert among their ranks.

Nie Yan gave King of the World a call.

「When you have the time, go run dungeons with the others. I’ll introduce you to a team,」Nie Yan said. King of the World had only recently joined, so he was unfamiliar with the players of Asskickers United. He would have to slowly get to know everyone.

「I don’t have any interest in running dungeons with others,」King of the World replied.

Nie Yan recalled that King of the World was a loner in the previous timeline too. Although those brothers of his were skilled, they were far from being able to keep up with him.

「I see, so be it. How about we do quests together instead?」Nie Yan said. The best way to deal with people like this was to have them quickly develop a sense of belonging to the guild.

「My brothers have all moved into the villa in Jadewater… Thank you,」King of the Word said after a moment of silence.

King of the World sounded a bit stiff. He had never once thanked anybody. Nie Yan was his first.

「No need to thank me. Isn’t that what we agreed on in the contract?」

「As per our agreement, whether as Bayonet or King of the World, I will be your shadow from this day forward. If you need me to do anything, don’t hesitate to give out your command. This is my duty as a mercenary,」King of the World said. His words were frank. As long as Nie Yan had the money, he would carry out the work.

"Shadow… A shadow…” Nie Yan muttered. What he required the most was precisely a shadow! There were many things he couldn’t do due to a lack of time. A shadow could do those things on his behalf, along with the dirty work he couldn’t do himself!

Chapter 450 - Challenge

Nie Yan had still been holding onto the notion that he and Bayonet were going to interact with each other as friends. However, Bayonet didn’t make friends with anyone. In his field, one more friend meant one more liability. He treated his relationship with Nie Yan as purely business, nothing more. Nie Yan paid him money, and he would carry out the work. Friendship, getting along with others, such companionship was meaningless to him. His several brothers were comrades-in-arms who had travelled with him from battlefield to battlefield. As for anyone else, he treated them coldly and indifferently, including Nie Yan!

Bayonet’s words reminded Nie Yan that their relationship was purely professional.

Nie Yan understood Bayonet’s principle. Since it was like this, there was nothing else to say. He would treat Bayonet like an ordinary mercenary for the time being.

「It’s like you said. From this day forward, you are my shadow. I’ll provide you with the locations of some Legendary-grade equipment. I want you to start collecting them and give me a progress report every day before logging off. As for the fifth volume of the Book of Order, if someone obtains the last chapter, do not try to snatch it. Avoid engaging at all costs!」Nie Yan said. He had already changed history by triggering the release of the Buried History expansion early after completing the Glimpse of Darkness. Bayonet had five chapters from the fifth volume of the Book of Order in his possession. If he obtained the last chapter, he would trigger the release of a whole nother expansion, and history would be irreversibly changed even more.

Nie Yan wanted to utilize the experience from his past life to grow as powerful as possible. So when the day came that history was completely changed, he would have the strength to face the unknown.

Bayonet was somewhat taken aback. Didn’t collecting all the chapters of a volume give a Legendary-grade item? Why did Nie Yan want him to hold out on collecting the last chapter?

Even though Bayonet had his doubts, he had his code as a mercenary. He would never question the employer’s reasoning. He would carry out whatever he was instructed to do.

「Understood.」Bayonet nodded.

「I’ll let you go about your business then.」Nie Yan hung up the call.

It would take Bayonet at least five days to finish the task Nie Yan had assigned him. When the quality of his gear improved, Nie Yan would have him collect even rarer items.

Bayonet immediately set off to work.

After riding on his Faulkner Warhorse for about 50 minutes, a grand stronghold appeared on the horizon. It resembled a giant dragon coiled around the ravines of the wasteland.

The stronghold’s walls, constructed out of huge stone blocks, stood over 20 meters tall. It was rumoured the leader of the Viridian Empire, Jebiah the Great, had gathered hundreds of thousands of people back in the day for the sake of building this stronghold. Like ants making a nest, they transported the highest quality materials from all over the land and slowly built it up block by block.

This was a formidable super stronghold with unrivalled defenses. It was also home to more than 100,000 people, a population on par with most cities.

These thick walls defended against the evil beings that flooded out of the Underworld every year, forming the Viridian Empire’s strongest defensive line.

Nie Yan spurred his Faulkner Warhorse to go even faster, galloping at full speed towards the Hilton Stronghold, where he could receive his reward for slaying the Legendary Necromancer Nadago.

...

Meanwhile, trouble was brewing over in Calore.

Two players from Angel Corps emerged from the Calore transfer area. One was an elven Thief fully clad in Sub Legendary-grade equipment. He wore a forest green vest made out of vines and had two ivory daggers which flickered with a green lustre holstered on his waist. The other player was an orc Warrior with pale yellowish skin. He was tall, muscular, and built like an ox. He carried two giant two-handed greatswords on his back. The blades were broad, looking like heavy slabs of metal. Berserkers had a unique trait that allowed them to dual wield two-handed swords!

"Mad God, our mission is to lure Nirvana Flame out. Remember to save your trump cards. If we can defeat him, we’ll be famous!” The elven Thief’s eyes were burning with a strong fighting spirit. He couldn’t help but get fired up every time he came across a powerful opponent.

"Don’t worry, Depraved. With the both of us working together, how could we possibly lose?” Mad God laughed out heartily.

If Nie Yan were here, he would immediately recognize these two. Mad God, a Level 63 orc Warrior, ranked second among all the Orc Warriors in the Satreen Empire. Depraved, a Level 62 elven Thief, ranked third among all the Thieves in the Satreen Empire. In the previous timeline, these two were some of the most famous players in the Satreen Empire. Their fame didn’t lose out to the likes of Sun and Bladelight.

These two players immediately attracted everyone’s attention. Angel Corps had recently lost a war to Asskickers United. For them to appear in Calore at a time like this was quite unusual. The information quickly made its way to Guo Huai.

After the news spread, Asskickers United’s guild chat went into an uproar.

「Fucking hell! Those bastards from Angel Corps still dare to show their face here? Let’s see if they have the guts to step out of the city. We’ll slaughter them back to Level 10!」

「Brothers, keep an eye on them. As soon as they leave the city, let’s surround them!」

...

Angel Corps had garnered a lot of resentment for their involvement in the Cripps Stronghold siege. As soon as the players from Asskickers United heard that people from Angel Corps had come again, they were naturally none too happy.

「Executive Guild Leader, what do you think they came to Calore for?」Paladin of the Elegy asked.

「I don’t know yet. Dispatch a few people to keep an eye on them. If they do anything suspicious, report back to me immediately!」Guo Huai replied as unease creeped into his heart. These two people from Angel Corps definitely didn’t come to Calore with good intentions. However, they wouldn’t be able to kick up any big waves with just the two of them. Nevertheless, he needed to report this to Nie Yan.

Mad God and Depraved were strolling through the bustling streets of Calore.

Mad God glanced at the crowd of pedestrians moving around him. "Calore looks pretty lively. I wonder how many of these people actually belong to Asskickers United. I bet news of our arrival has already reached their ears.”

"Truthfully speaking, Asskickers United really isn’t simple. It’s hard to imagine such a small guild that started late would rise up from the cracks between so many large guilds and unify all of Calore, even pushing out Victorious Return. This Nirvana Flame is definitely quite the character,” Depraved said with a hint of admiration. Even if they defeated Nie Yan, their achievements would never reach his level.

"Don’t tell me you’re afraid?”

"Of course not. I admit he’s skilled, but I’ve never been afraid of anyone. Everyone has their own allegiances, so it can’t be helped. If Angel Corps wasn’t enemies with Asskickers United, I would’ve liked to become his friend.”

As the two chatted, they arrived at the central square of Calore. They went to the city governor’s office and rented out a 100 by 100 meter area for 20 gold an hour.

Afterwards, they set up a simple fence and created a makeshift arena.

All the players in the surroundings were looking at them curiously, wondering what these two people from Angel Corps were up to. Among the crowd were many players from Asskickers United. The actions of Mad God and Depraved left them completely bewildered.

"What the hell are these two fellows scheming?”

"Who knows.” The players from Asskickers United were grumbling. If these two people didn’t leave the city, there was nothing they could do to them. Even if they were the number one guild in Calore, they still had to follow the rules.

Everyone was paying close attention to Mad God and Depraved.

After a while, the construction of the makeshift arena was finished.

"Alright, we’re ready to go. Post the announcement,” Mad God said.

Thinking about what was to come, the two couldn’t help but get fired up.

...

Still enroute to the Hilton Stronghold, Nie Yan suddenly received word from Guo Huai.

「An orc Warrior and an elven Thief? What did they come to Calore for?」Nie Yan wrinkled his brows. Just as he was about to give out the orders to continue watching over them, Guo Huai told him to quickly go check the forums.

Nie Yan opened up the forums. A post on the Calore boards was plastered right at the top of the front page.

Mad Rogue, do you dare to fight?

We’ve set up an arena in the central square. Asskickers United, if you have the guts, come and bring it on!

- Mad God, Depraved

Mad God and Depraved were quite famous. A simple search on the Satreen Empire forums would bring up many videos of their exploits. These two had come to Calore specifically to challenge Nie Yan. This immediately became a hot topic for all visitors of the forums and subsequently the other players who got wind of it.

The players from Asskickers United were infuriated. A provocative message was posted on the forums, and the target was their guild leader!

「Fuck, who the hell do they think they are, wanting to challenge the boss!? 」

「Executive Guild Leader, let us teach them a lesson!!」

…

Guo Huai glanced at the guild chat, then asked Nie Yan,「What are your thoughts?」

「I have something important to do at the Hilton Stronghold. What about Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and them? What are they doing right now?」Nie Yan said. If he had to answer the call of every Angel Corps player that came looking for a fight, he’d run himself ragged! As the guild leader of Asskickers United, he didn’t have much to gain from beating Mad God and Depraved. It was better to let others bask in the glory, and show everyone that Nirvana Flame wasn’t the only strong player in Asskickers United!

Chapter 451 - Hilton Stronghold

「Smoke Stub and Bladelight are running Baneful Swamp right now. I estimate they won’t be out for another two or three hours. Those two from Angel Corps are pretty skilled. I don’t think Smoke Stub and Bladelight can necessarily beat them,」Guo Huai said. Mad God and Depraved stood at the top of the pyramid in the Satreen Empire, so they were in no way inferior to Bladelight and Smoke Stub. It could easily go either way.

「They’re already running Baneful Swamp? Not bad,」Nie Yan remarked with a hint of surprise. Baneful Swamp was the hardest Level 60 dungeon. But it had great drops to match the difficulty, especially if you were looking for equipment with high poison resistance.「When Bladelight and Smoke Stub get out, make them go up. As for who’ll come out on top, we’ll know when the time comes. They shouldn’t be any weaker than those two.」

Nie Yan refused to believe Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others were any weaker than those two players from Angel Corps. Most recently, the top players from Asskickers United were dilligently leveling and improving the quality of their gear. The location list of Sub Legendary and Legendary-grade equipment Nie Yan had provided them was an excellent motivator. None of them dared to dally, for fear of missing out.

After class advancing, players could start building towards their end game set. The higher the level, the more difficult it was to level up. Outstanding equipment, however, could reduce the amount of work needed. Asskickers United could only truly grow strong when their members improved both their level and the quality of their gear.

Of course, Bladelight and Smoke Stub had better things to do than enter a pissing contest with Mad God and Depraved. However, since the other party had come knocking on their door, Asskickers United’s reputation would be besmirched if they didn’t answer the challenge.

Mad God and Depraved would definitely be sent back with their faces beaten black and blue!

「Those two fools won’t be kicking up a fuss for much longer.」Nie Yan continued riding on towards the Hilton Stronghold.

...

Calore Central Square.

Mad God and Depraved setting up a makeshift arena had stirred up huge waves. Asskickers United was the representative guild of Calore, and had a good majority of the populace’s support. When outsiders from the Satreen Empire came here looking to pick a fight, it wasn’t just an affront to Asskickers United but to the whole of Calore.

Every player in the city, not just those belonging to Asskickers United, was rushing over to defend Calore’s honour. Such blatant disrespect would not be tolerated!

Players started gathering in droves after the announcement was posted up on the forums. A large crowd reaching to far beyond the square formed around the makeshift arena.

A few high level players who were confident in their skills approached the makeshift arena.

"If you want to challenge the Mad Rogue, you’ll have to beat us first! Our guild leader doesn’t have the luxury to play around with any random fool that wants to pick a fight!” a player from Asskickers United said in a disdainful tone.

"Right! You’ll have to beat us first!” the others echoed.

Mad God glanced at the crowd, then turned to Depraved. "What do you say? Shall we kill some time by taking on these guys?”

"Of course, or else the Mad Rogue might not come out.” Depraved nodded, an indifferent expression on his face.

"Me or you first?” Mad God asked. It looked like he was itching for a fight. He loved nothing more in the world than beating weaklings. It was even better if they all came at him at once.

"I’ll let you go first.” Depraved had no interest in these players. No matter how many of them came, the result would be the same. PvPing them was a waste of time.

"Alright then, I could use a warm up!”

Mad God walked up to the middle of the arena stage and started setting up the rules. There was no penalty for dying. Every participant would have to pay a 20 gold entry fee, and anyone that beat him would win 200 gold.

After seeing the prize for winning, many players were eager to give it a try. This was a 1000% return on investment! The crowd started discussing excitedly.

"This Mad God is pretty famous in the Satreen Empire. I advise those under Level 55 not to go up. You’ll just be throwing your gold away,” a person in the crowd warned.

There were at least 10 in the crowd above Level 55. More experts would probably be arriving soon.

Mad God unsheathed his two greatswords and pointed at the crowd with a cocky smirk on his face. "So, which one of you wants to come up and get their ass kicked first?”

Some players were immediately enraged, wishing for nothing more than to rush up the stage and give him a good beating. Others remained calm and continued to observe.

A Great Warrior called Lofty Sky Sword leaped up on the stage. Still riding the high of having recently class advanced, he felt like he could beat anybody.

"Fuck, he’s way too arrogant!”

"Boss Sky Sword, kill him!”

Sky Sword couldn’t help but become smug after hearing the cheers from the crowd.

Orc Warriors could either class advance into Orc Great Berserkers or Orc Great Fighters. Mad God had chosen the latter. His class trait bonus gave him a boost to Strength and increased the size of his physique. He was clearly larger than Sky Sword.

The trait bonus of a human Great Warrior was more well-rounded—providing increases to Balance, Focus, and other stats, along with a Tendon Break Mastery which increased the effects of the skill. It was roughly on par with that of an Orc Great Berserker.

Just as Sky Sword wanted to say something, Mad God cut him off. "Let’s just get this over with, so I can get to the next guy.”

"Y-y-you!” Sky Sword let out a roar and charged at Mad God.

"Hmph!” Mad God raised his two greatswords and greeted the assault head-on.

Players could tell on the first exchange which side held the advantage. Mad God rained down a torrent of slashes, immediately forcing Sky Sword on the back foot. Sky Sword tried his best to counter with a skill, but was interrupted every time. In a matter of seconds, Mad God sent him flying back and crashing into the ground.

Mad God’s domineering display shook the hearts of many in the crowd as they broke out in a cold sweat. He hadn’t used any important skills, only simple slashes and kicks, yet thoroughly crushed Sky Sword.

"Next,” Mad God said after looking over the crowd.

After reviving, Sky Sword’s face was dark as he left the stage in dejection.

Many more class advanced players stepped up to the challenge. However, all of them were defeated without any synapse and sent walking off the stage in shame. The difference in strength was simply too great. In all of Calore, very few players could go toe-to-toe with Mad God. No matter how many players went up, they would only serve as fodder.

After defeating several dozen players in a row, Mad God grew even more arrogant. "Are the players of Calore really this weak? Come on, there has to be someone stronger out there, or else it really is a waste of my time!”

This only served to further infuriate the crowd. An uproar erupted on the forums.

At this moment, every player in Calore was looking to Asskickers United. If they didn’t rise up to the challenge, their reputation would definitely be tarnished.

They waited and waited and waited, but there was still no movement from Asskickers United.

「Why hasn’t Asskickers United shown up yet?」

「Could it really be they’re too afraid to accept the challenge?」

「I’m not sure, but I heard Nirvana Flame and the other top players are busy running dungeons or questing. We’ll probably have to wait until they’re done.」

...

Rumours were springing up everywhere in Calore. The players from Asskickers United not showing up wasn’t an issue for the time being. But as minutes turned into hours, their absence would become hard to defend. After all, Mad God and Depraved weren’t prattling buffoons that could be ignored. Following several dozen consecutive victories, they had shown everyone their skill!

Mad God had been the one fighting on the stage this whole time. After defeating 26 people in a row, Depraved still hadn’t taken action. No one knew how strong he was, but he probably wasn’t any weaker than his partner. The two definitely proved they had the strength to challenge Nirvana Flame!

Among the defeated were even some of the most famous Calore-based players. Mad God garnered quite a bit of limelight.

...

Nie Yan was constantly monitoring the situation over in Calore. From the videos, he could roughly gauge the strength of Mad God and Depraved. He just wasn’t sure what tricks they had up their sleeves. Since they had come all the way over from the Satreen Empire to challenge him, they definitely had something special prepared. After all, they represented Angel Corps. Their defeat would also be a loss of face for their guild.

In any case, everything would be eventually revealed in an hour or two, when Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the others returned to Calore. Then, those two wouldn’t be acting so high and mighty anymore.

Nie Yan arrived outside the Hilton Stronghold. Looking up, he was in awe of the more than 20-meter-high walls. They appeared impenetrable, able to repel any assault. A long row of giant magic cannons were placed at the top of the walls. They were much bigger than the ones back at the Cripps Stronghold. Those ones were only Rank 1, with a range of 1,000 meters, and were relatively weak in power. However, the cannons here were Rank 16, with a range of 10,000 meters, and had frightening destructive power. An enormous gap separated the two.

Nie Yan recalled his Faulkner Warhorse. He then entered the Hilton Stronghold from the main gates and headed straight for the center.

The Hilton Stronghold looked much like a city. Buildings and shops everywhere, connected by somewhat narrow streets paved with white stone, and bustling with activity. The people walking to and fro were mostly NPCs, since at this stage of the game few players would visit here.

Chapter 452 - Dark Crimson Gold

Nie Yan recalled the time the Hilton Stronghold was besieged by a particularly powerful invasion force from the Underworld. The fighting was fierce and lasted a full five days, wiping out almost all of the NPCs here. By the time players started arriving, the place was in ruins with collapsed walls and buildings everywhere in sight. This marked the turning point where players would replace NPCs as the main protectors of the surface world.

The NPCs walking around the street wore odd-looking garbs made out of weird scales and other exotic materials. With hordes of monsters flooding out of the Underworld every year, the residents used their body parts to craft armour. These beings came in all shapes and sizes, so there was no lack of variety.

After making some inquiries, Nie Yan learned from the NPCs that Great General Breakspear never stayed in the Hilton Stronghold for long. He would frequently go off on expeditions in the passages leading to the Underworld, often not returning for days at a time.

"Excuse me, could you tell me how I can find Great General Breakspear?” Nie Yan asked an NPC fur vendor.

"S-s-sir Devil Slayer, the general returns to the stronghold once every six days. He sells his spoils from battle to us merchants in exchange for supplies. He should be back again in around a day, so I ask that you please wait patiently,” the NPC replied in a deferential tone. He was evidently shaken by the grandness of Nie Yan’s titles, which few others in the whole of the Hilton Stronghold could match.

With no other choice but to wait, Nie Yan decided to take a stroll around the place in the meantime.

As Nie Yan tried to recall information about the Hilton Stronghold from his past life, he suddenly remembered there was a secret shop around here that sold all sorts of exotic goods, even rare crafting materials for Legendary-grade items. They also had a large repository of Tailor blueprints which popped out some good things every now and then.

The secret shop only sold a limited quantity of materials and blueprints every day. In the previous timeline, many large guilds dispatched people to stake out this place on the regular in the hopes of snatching up some rare finds. If nothing was sold for a prolonged period of time, the items would begin to gradually accumulate. No one had visited the secret shop yet in the present, so it was bound to have many great things for sale.

Apart from the secret shop, the Hilton Stronghold also had a slave market which sold slaves pulled from various regions. A mercenary had to be paid regularly, with late payments incurring penalty fees, and would leave once the contracted period was over. A slave on the other hand once bought became the sole property of the owner.

The system only allowed those who class advanced to purchase slaves. It was normally limited to one slave per player. However, when certain criteria were met such as possessing special skills, it was possible to own multiple slaves. Being a guild leader was another such criteria. How many extra slaves they could purchase depended on guild level. For example, the guild leader of a Level 5 guild could own up to three slaves.

Every slave differed in talent and ability. Some were completely useless. Others were master crafters, or gods of death on the battlefield.

Nie Yan could take advantage of the fact he was the first player to visit the Hilton Stronghold to reap some benefits from these two places.

After finding the slave market, he could have all the class advanced players in Asskickers United come over to purchase a slave or two.

As for the specific location of these two places, Nie Yan hadn’t the slightest clue. He had no luck in asking the NPCs either.

Nie Yan suddenly recalled he had an old acquaintance of his in the Hilton Stronghold, Physician Blevins!

Not long after entering the game, Nie Yan had travelled to Lake Random and accepted the quest from Physician Blevins to collect Fine Silk. Back then, he was still a low level player. He wondered if he could find out the location of the secret shop and slave market from Physician Blevins.

Nie Yan started asking around for Physician Blevins.

"Physician Blevins resides in the garrison office. It’s on the south side of the stronghold,” a short elderly man informed Nie Yan.

Nie Yan leisurely looked around while he strolled south. It was at least a 15 minute walk.

Arriving at a wide open square with no buildings around, Nie Yan looked north at a volcano on the distant horizon. The smoke rising up from the crater formed dark clouds that blotted out the sky.

Nie Yan overheard the worried whispers of a few nearby NPCs.

"These past two days Mt. Anfrit has started becoming active again. It’s probably going to erupt soon, maybe already in the next five or six days. The last eruption was over 20 years ago,” a wrinkled old man said in a hoarse tone.

"Relax, old man. Mt. Anfrit is way too far from here to affect us. When it erupts, it’ll just be like watching a fireworks show,” a young Warrior heartily laughed.

"We’ve had two earthquakes in a row in the past few days…” the old man continued on pessimistically.

Nie Yan simply smiled. The young and elderly would always have differing perspectives on life.

This was only a brief interlude. The main street was always full of chatting NPCs. Nie Yan learned a lot from listening in on their conversations. What took him by surprise the most was the fact that the Hilton Stronghold had five Great Generals and 30 Generals. This was quite rare in the Viridian Empire. Even Calore only had one Great General and two Generals.

One could imagine the strength of the force garrisoned in the Hilton Stronghold.

"Sir Devil Slayer, would you like to take a look at our goods? We have top quality sulfur produced from Mt. Anfrit and…” An NPC merchant happened to approach Nie Yan.

"No thank you, I don’t need anything.” Nie Yan shook his head.

Not daring to impede Nie Yan, the NPC merchant backed off.

Mt. Anfrit, Mt. Anfrit… Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel like he was forgetting something important. But he simply couldn’t recall what for the life of him.

Am I just overthinking things? Nie Yan wryly chuckled to himself. Mt. Anfrit had nothing to do with him at all!

Just how long would the Hilton Stronghold continue flourishing? When would players finally start arriving here? These were questions Nie Yan didn’t have the answer to.

Nie Yan felt desolate and lonely as he walked along the streets. In both this life and the past, he had witnessed this ancient stronghold prosper and decline, its glory and suffering.

"Sir, would you like to buy some Dark Crimson Gold from Mt. Anfrit?” A short 12 year old boy in shabby clothes approached Nie Yan. His jet black pupils shone with intelligence. He held a nugget of Dark Crimson Gold in his hand.

"No thank you...” After being approached by so many peddlers trying to sell him things, Nie Yan habitually declined.

The expectant look on the boy’s face transformed into disappointment. He was just about to turn away.

"Wait! Did you just say Dark Crimson Gold?” Nie Yan suddenly called out to the boy. He gazed at the nugget in the boy’s hand. Based on the deep gold lustre, he confirmed it was in fact Dark Crimson Gold, with a quality rating of 3 at least! He had almost passed up on something good!

"Yes, sir! I picked up this nugget of Dark Crimson Gold while I was exploring the holes near the base of Mt. Anfrit. An old man told me it would sell for 2 gold,” the boy earnestly explained. He felt 2 gold was an enormous sum.

"Can you let me take a look?” Nie Yan asked. He couldn’t help but laugh to himself. A nugget of Dark Crimson Gold (3), using today’s market price, would sell for at least 1,000 gold. It was an exceptional material for crafting shields and the like, and was rarely seen in the marketplace. Yet this little boy only wanted 2 gold for it. He inspected the boy’s name, Collins.

"Sure.” Collins handed over the nugget to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan confirmed that the nugget’s quality rating was 3.

"Sir, would you like to buy it?” Collins asked Nie Yan with a hopeful look.

"Of course.” Nie Yan nodded. After closer observation, he noticed Collins was as thin as a match and looked malnourished. His hands were black with dirt and covered in scald marks.

"Yes! Thank you, sir! You don’t know how much I appreciate this!” Collins said excitedly.

Nie Yan’s heart softened. "This nugget of Dark Crimson Gold isn’t worth only 2 gold.”

"Then how much is it worth?” Collins asked in bewilderment.

"1,000 gold. I’d like to ask, what would you do with that kind of money?”

Collins sank in thought for a moment. "I’ll use it to help the other kids!”

Nie Yan placed 1,000 gold into the trade window and hit confirm. He didn’t know why he did something stupid like buying the Dark Crimson Cold for 1,000 gold. Maybe in his cold and unmoving heart was still a hint of childish innocence.

"Thank you, sir! Thank you so much! May God bless you!” Collins got on his knees and prostrated toward Nie Yan. This was the most sincere and solemn form of showing thanks. Only this could convey the feelings of gratitude in his heart.

Nie Yan was stunned for a brief moment. Just as he wanted to say something, Collins got up and ran off toward a nearby alleyway, disappearing after turning a corner.

A peculiar feeling arose in Nie Yan’s heart, one that could only be felt from showing genuine empathy toward the plight of an NPC.

Nie Yan was just about to move on when he noticed the ‘Sincere’ property was added to his character window.

It appeared he was rewarded by the system for telling Collins the true value of that nugget of Dark Crimson Gold.

Nie Yan had previously received ‘Brave’, ‘Just’, and ‘Benevolent’. Now he had received ‘Sincere’. Just what sort of quest did the system have in store for him? He really wanted to unravel this mystery.

Chapter 453 - Great Prophecy

The residents of the Hilton Stronghold talked about topics related to Mt. Anfrit every day. Even this nugget of Dark Crimson Gold came from that volcano.

After thinking back to what just happened, Nie Yan started becoming suspicious. Only a moment ago he had clearly seen Collins was only a Level 20 NPC. How could such a weak boy traverse so many dangerous maps to reach Mt. Anfrit? This appeared to be a mystery he would never get to the bottom of.

Even though Collins appeared to only be a child, his eyes reflected a strong determination to survive.

"Mt. Anfrit, Mt. Anfrit…” Nie Yan muttered to himself. What in the world did he forget?

Nie Yan’s thoughts were a mess right now. He simply couldn’t shake off the feeling he was forgetting something important. However, nothing came to mind.

Nie Yan tried hard to recall all he knew about the Hilton Stronghold. He suddenly remembered that back when players first started arriving, after the invasion of monsters from the Underworld and the drastic decline of the NPC population, they received a system notification asking them to participate in the defense of the stronghold.

「A fiery inferno spews out from deep below the earth, heralding the beginning of a disaster. Hordes of monsters pour out from the Underworld and overrun the surface. The Hilton Stronghold, a once grand bastion of the Viridian Empire, stands in desolate ruin. Brave adventurers, drive off the invaders and reclaim this holy land of heroes! May the fallen souls find peace. May their wills never be forgotten…」

A fiery inferno, the beginning of a disaster... Right! A disaster! A light bulb lit up in Nie Yan’s head as forgotten memories resurfaced once more. The fiery inferno was referring to the eruption of Mt. Anfrit, which sent monsters fleeing their homes in the Underworld as lava flooded everywhere. After arriving on the surface, they immediately swarmed the Hilton Stronghold. This assault was much fiercer than the ones in the past. The ensuing battle lasted for five days and resulted in catastrophic losses. If it weren’t for reinforcements from the rest of the Viridian Empire arriving in time, the stronghold would have completely fallen.

Mt. Anfrit’s eruption was the omen of a coming disaster!

If the Hilton Stronghold was warned in advance, many lives could be saved!

Nie Yan was a Grand Scholar. In the history of the Viridian and Satreen Empires, those with this title were regarded as people with great knowledge, wisdom, and foresight. Having received the blessing of God, they possessed special powers outside the realm of an ordinary person’s imagination. They were exalted existences. Even above them were Great Prophets. If a Grand Scholar helped the Viridian or Satreen Empires successfully avert disaster several times, they would ascend and become a Great Prophet!

A Great Prophet was even more eminent than a Grand Scholar. Their status in the temples of the Viridian and Satreen Empires was second only to legendary existences like Karsi.

Nie Yan would be untouchable in both the Viridian and Satreen Empires if he became a Great Prophet!

He already owned the title of Grand Scholar. As long as he made three successful prophecies, he could become a Great Prophet!

For his first prophecy, Nie Yan could predict the disaster that would befall the Hilton Stronghold!

Nie Yan wasn’t actually predicting anything. He already knew many of the major events that would come to pass. All he had to do was warn the leader of the Hilton Stronghold before then.

This prediction was guaranteed to be accurate!

Nie Yan glanced through his skill window and found the Great Prophecy skill. Ducking into a secluded alleyway, he prepared to divine the future!

He wanted to use Great Prophecy to confirm his guess!

A ball of light slowly formed in the palms of his hands, becoming ever brighter.

A pillar of light descended from the sky, linking heaven and earth. While bathed in the radiance, Nie Yan received a system notification.

A fiery inferno dyes the sky crimson. Disaster will arrive in five days.

The pillar of light could even be seen all the way over in Calore. Everyone started excitedly chatting about this strange phenomenon.

After receiving the divination, Nie Yan left his spot and disappeared into the alleyway.

Such a vague divination would normally be impossible for him to decipher. But given the information he already knew, it confirmed his suspicions! The Hilton Stronghold would be besieged by monsters from the Underworld in five days!

Nie Yan had to inform the administrator of the Hilton Stronghold about this looming threat.

The administrator of the Hilton Stronghold was a Great General who rarely showed himself. Getting in touch with him required a special method. Nie Yan suddenly had an idea. He could try asking Great General Breakspear.

As a Grand Scholar, his word held a lot of weight. As long as the administrator of the Hilton Stronghold believed him, this would count as a successful prophecy!

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan was filled with confidence.

Before long, Nie Yan arrived in the south side of the Hilton Stronghold. Here, there were rows of large tents enclosed by high walls. Just outside the barracks across the main street sat a large white building. This was the hospital.

Nie Yan entered the white building. He passed by room after room, each filled with a large number of wounded and sick and the medical staff treating them, until he spotted a familiar face. It was Physician Blevins, the old man he met back at Lake Rando!

Blevins was bandaging a wounded patient. After seeing Nie Yan, his eyes widened in surprise. "Sir, welcome to our humble little hospital.”

During their first meeting, Nie Yan was nothing more than an ordinary low level player without any status. Who would’ve expected things to be so different the next time they met? A Great Thief, Grand Scholar, and Devil Slayer, Nie Yan’s status was now far above his own. Physician Blevins didn’t dare to show the slightest hint of disrespect.

"Hello, I’m really happy we can meet again,” Nie Yan greeted with a smile. The circumstances of their meeting this time was very different from the past, so his language was less formal.

"How can I help you?” Blevins asked.

"Just a few things. Do you know where in the Hilton Stronghold I can find hides and Tailor Blueprints? I need to buy some, preferably of high quality and rare,” Nie Yan said. Physician Blevins didn’t have a very high position, but he was still a native to the Hilton Stronghold. It was likely he knew the location of the secret shop.

Blevins thought for a moment, then said, "The Hilton Stronghold has over 50 shops that deal exclusively in hides and other similar materials. I can narrow down three which sell the highest quality goods. As for rare monster hides and high rank blueprints… might you be looking for the Ignatius Fur Shop?

"The Ignatius Fur Shop?”

"Yes, Ignatius is an eccentric old man. However, his status here is quite high. Many Great Generals like to sell their spoils from battle to him. His shop is in a secluded location normal people won’t easily find. You also need a referral from a native resident of the Hilton Stronghold to purchase goods from his shop.”

"Yes, that’s the shop I’m looking for.” Nie Yan nodded. Even though he had never been to the Hilton Stronghold before, he had heard rumours that the owner of the secret shop was a short old man with an eccentric personality.

"The hospital is very busy, so I can’t leave right now. What I can do is draw you a map to the place. As for the referral, I can help with that too, since I’m a native resident here,” Blevins said. He was more than willing to help, partially because Nie Yan had helped him out in the past, and partially because of the Devil Slayer and Grand Scholar titles.

Blevins took out a pen and some paper from a drawer, then started drawing a map for Nie Yan. He also wrote a letter of referral.

Nie Yan glanced at the map drawn by Blevins. The Ignatius Fur Shop was actually located in a corner on the southeast side of the Hilton Stronghold. That place was extremely secluded. Normal players rarely passed around there, and even if they found the place, they couldn’t buy anything without a referral.

Nie Yan at last knew the location of the Ignatius Fur Shop.

"Thank you, Physician Blevins.”

"No problem. It’s the duty of every resident of the Hilton Stronghold to help adventurers. Do you need anything else?” Blevins asked.

"I’d also like to know where the slave market is.”

"Those filthy slave traders…” Blevins’ expression flashed with loathing and disgust. He quickly composed himself and looked at Nie Yan apologetically. "Sorry, I got a little riled up.”

Nie Yan nodded. "I can understand. Often times we don’t have the power to prevent these ugly aspects of society from rearing their heads. You’re a kind soul, Physician Blevins.”

"I admit, you’re correct. The slave market is in the west side of the Hilton Stronghold. You’ll see a black tower there. The slave market is right beside it.” Blevins deeply sighed.

"Thank you for all your help,” Nie Yan said. He had finally obtained the location of these two places. He had even received a referral letter for the Ignatius Fur Shop.

"No need. May the Light be with you.”

After bidding Blevins farewell, Nie Yan sprinted off toward the Ignatius Fur Shop. He wanted to get everything out of the way before meeting with Great General Breakspear. Then after he received his reward for slaying the Legendary Necromancer Nadago, he could immediately return to Calore.

Chapter 454 - Ignatius Fur Shop

About 10 minutes later, Nie Yan arrived in a rather remote corner of the Hilton Stronghold.

There were a few decrepit buildings scattered around, teetering on the verge of collapse. The streets and paths were extremely narrow, and the smell of sewage was pungent in the air. This area was clearly a slum.

As a gust of wind blew past, a foul odour capable of making people gag wafted up Nie Yan’s nose. This was the smell of rotting corpses.

Nie Yan looked around and spotted several NPC residents in shabby clothing skinning piles of monster corpses outside their homes. They were covered in blood and grime.

Following Physician Blevins’ map, Nie Yan passed through many narrow paths and alleyways before arriving outside an old run-down shack, with a shoddy sign board that read Ignatius Fur Shop.

It’s here! Nie Yan cracked an excited smile.

Nie Yan checked his bag. He had more than 20,000 gold on hand, enough to purchase what he wanted for this trip.

Nie Yan strode into the shop. The interior was small and cramped, with monster hides strewn about everywhere, piled up high on the tables and racks and hung up on the walls. Dead ahead, at the center of the room, was a small open space with a wooden counter. The shopkeeper, a short old man in ashen leather armour, had a withered and haggard face resembling a gnarled oak. He glanced over at the new customer, his beady eyes flickering to life with a sharp light.

This old man was Ignatius!

"Strangers are not allowed here. Please leave,” Ignatius greeted with an unfriendly glare.

Probably due to the influence of Nie Yan’s titles, Ignatius only slightly raised his voice. Nie Yan had heard of people being cursed out of the shop in the previous timeline.

"Sir, I was introduced to this shop by Physician Blevins. Here’s his referral letter,” Nie Yan explained.

Ignatius expression eased up after glancing at the letter.

"I’d like to purchase some hides and Tailor Blueprints,” Nie Yan added.

"Grand Scholar, was it you who used Great Prophecy just now?” Ignatius asked, ignoring Nie Yan’s words.

"Correct.” Nie Yan nodded. The pillar of light from his activation of Great Prophecy had attracted the attention of every NPC in the Hilton Stronghold.

"Then may I ask you what you divined?” Ignatius asked. As one of the most mysterious skills out there, Great Prophecy possessed unimaginable power.

"An approaching disaster,” Nie Yan replied. He suddenly recalled Ignatius was friends with many of the Great Generals. Maybe he was also acquainted with the administrator of the Hilton Stronghold?

"Oh, Grand Scholar. Would you be so kind as to explain further?” Ignatius’ tone became noticeably more polite. His eyes were filled with worry and doubt.

"The Hilton Stronghold is in danger of being destroyed. But that’s beside the point, how about we move on? I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to linger on this subject,” Nie Yan said, sensing the change in Ignatius’ mood.

Most NPCs possessed merely basic intelligence, making them only capable of giving and receiving quests along with some simple dialogue. High level NPCs like Ignatius were a bit smarter. They could think for themselves to some extent, balancing pros and cons. However, they were still a far cry from a real human being.

"...” Ignatius was a bit stunned. He never expected Nie Yan to so abruptly end the discussion.

"Again, I’d like to purchase some monster hides and Tailor Blueprints,” Nie Yan said. He looked around at the hides in the room.

"Alright...” Ignatius said in a listless manner. He still appeared to be troubled by Nie Yan’s previous words.

Nie Yan didn’t seem to care as he browsed the shop menu, leisurely scrolling through the list of hides and other crafting materials up for sale. Each item had a quality rating of seven or higher.

Hides were divided into different grades: Low, Middle, High, Super, and Legendary. High-grade hides and below were fairly abundant, Super-grade hides were much rarer, and Legendary-grade hides were basically impossible to find. Legendary hides could be used to craft equal-grade leather armour.

Of course not just anyone could handle the higher grade materials. Super-grade hides could only be worked by Master Tailors or above.

There were quite a view Advanced Tailors right now, but still no Master Tailors.

Nie Yan glanced at all the hides listed up for sale. All of them were High-grade or lower. He didn’t see a single Super or Legendary-grade hide.

Nie Yan flipped to the back to check out the Tailor Blueprints. They were also nothing special, the highest being for Advanced Tailors. There were quite a few actually, more than several dozen. However, though rare, it wasn’t like they were never available. At least five or six would be put up for auction in Calore every day.

It appeared Ignatius was holding out on him!

Nie Yan suddenly had a bright idea. "This is everything? Guess I came all the way here for nothing…” He let out a disappointed sigh and turned around to leave.

Ignatius was dumbstruck. Just as Nie Yan was about to walk out the door, he hurriedly called out, "Wait, sir! I forgot I still have many items stored away. I’m sure you’ll want to take a look! Their quality will definitely suit your taste!”

"Oh? Really now?” Nie Yan halted his steps. He apathetically glanced back at Ignatius, seemingly with zero intention of coming back.

Ignatius rushed to the storeroom in the back and quickly returned holding a large pile of hides and blueprints in his arms, which he promptly dropped on the counter.

The shop menu suddenly refreshed. More than 30 Super-grade hides and even 2 Legendary-grade hides were added. The cheapest of these were priced at 3,000 gold, while the most expensive ones went for upwards of 20,000 gold. 60 new Tailor Blueprints were listed up for sale too. Most of them were Master-rank, but there were a few Grandmaster and even Great Sage-rank ones as well. Their prices also ranged in the several thousands.

These were things that normally couldn’t be bought even if one had the money!

Nie Yan did a rough estimate in his head. If he wanted to snatch up everything, it would cost him at least 30,000 gold! He was short on funds!

However, this opportunity couldn’t be passed up on! Even if he had to give up an arm and a leg, he had to buy everything!

"Sir Grand Scholar! If you’re willing to tell me everything about the prophecy, from now on you’ll receive a 50% discount on everything I sell in my shop!” Ignatius declared. Given his esteemed position, he could afford to be unreasonable. Apart from the Great Generals, everyone else was beneath him. However, Nie Yan held the fate of the Hilton Stronghold in his hands, leaving Ignatius with no choice but to bow his head. He had to know what sort of disaster was about to befall his home.

"I don’t have the time to visit this place every day,” Nie Yan said indifferently.

Seeing Nie Yan still wasn’t budging, Ignatius added, "Anyone that comes here in your place will also receive a 50% discount!”

Nie Yan understood this was Ignatius’ final offer. Pushing any further would be crossing the line. In any case, everything just so happened to work out in his favour. He would no longer have to plead Great General Breakspear to pass on his message.

All the goods suddenly became half price. He bought up everything for around 15,000 gold. He wasn’t the slightest bit hesitant about snatching everything up. With these items, he could nurture at least one or maybe even two Grandmaster Tailors in a few months’ time, as well as manufacture plenty of Sub Legendary and Legendary-grade leather armour.

Of course, doing all of this would take a long time.

"Ignatius, sir, are you acquainted with the administrator of the Hilton Stronghold?” Nie Yan asked.

"Indeed, I am.” Ignatius nodded.

"Then can you promise me you’ll take great care in passing on everything I’m about to tell you to him?” Nie Yan solemnly asked.

"Of course!” Ignatius replied with a resolute expression.

"You’ve noticed how Mt. Anfrit has recently started becoming active again, right? Well, it’s about to erupt, which will force out countless monsters from their homes in the Underworld above to the surface. This will spell disaster for the inhabitants of the Hilton Stronghold. If these monsters aren’t repelled, this place will likely fall into ruin,” Nie Yan said.

"But Mt. Anfrit has erupted before, around 20 years ago. Back then, it only created a slight disturbance. You’re exaggerating, surely,” Ignatius said doubtfully.

"Are you questioning the results of my Great Prophecy?” Nie Yan asked in a stern tone.

"N-n-no, of course not! Sir, please forgive my ignorance!” Ignatius replied in fright. Great Prophecy was an ability that divined the future by directly communicating with the will of God! The last thing he wanted to do was commit blasphemy.

"The disaster will arrive in five days. An endless sea of monsters will surge out of the Underworld and submerge the Hilton Stronghold in chaos. This is the divination from my Great Prophecy. Whether you believe me or not, you’ll find out in five days either way. However, by then it might already be too late,” Nie Yan said. He had said all that needed to be said. What happened next was out of his control.

Ignatius’ face paled at Nie Yan’s ominous warning.

"Pass on my words to the administrator. I hope the Hilton Stronghold can survive this disaster,” Nie Yan said in a subdued voice. Having finished his business, he headed for the door.

After walking out of the shop, Nie Yan started making his way towards the slave market.

Seeing Nie Yan’s receding back, Ignatius stood still in absolute silence for a long time. Finally, he broke out in a sprint towards the administrator’s office in the heart of the Hilton Stronghold.

Chapter 455 - Slaves

There were many types of slaves. Most of them had low or middle level intelligence. However, a very rare few were immensely talented and could handle any sort of task thrown at them. Some slaves could also fight in place of players with no combat ability, such as those who dedicated themselves to crafting professions.

Nie Yan wasn’t looking for a combat slave. Slaves were different from summoned monsters. Their deaths were final, like regular NPC servants.

Nie Yan planned on purchasing three slaves to help with tasks in his shops that he no longer could be bothered to micromanage.

The slave market was filthy, with run-down tents set up everywhere and wooden cages lining both sides of the central path. The large cages contained NPCs, both old and young, with vacant and hopeless expressions in their eyes. Some of the stronger looking ones were additionally bound with ropes.

The burly guards brandished scary-looking whips. Even the most innocuous actions by the slaves would set them off in a flying rage, cursing and hollering as a distinct cracking sound and wails of pain filled the air.

Nie Yan looked visibly disgusted by the scene before him. Thinking about it, this was the cruelty of a fantasy world. Conviction presented a very stark reality before the players’ eyes, making them question if everything they were taught to believe was really right.

This was the world of Conviction. All players were bound to its laws!

Nie Yan looked over the stats of the slaves. Most were average and mediocre, only capable of handling simple tasks. Some were well built with decent potential, allowing them to fight for their masters.

He continued to look around, peering through the cages on both sides of the path. He was looking for talented slaves, preferably ones with a unique ability.

"Sir, are you looking to purchase a slave? Mine are the best in the entire market!” A fat sweaty slave dealer approached Nie Yan. His beady eyes were squeezed into two slits by his fat. His bloated face jiggled and moved in a disgusting manner when he spoke.

Nie Yan frowned while he instinctively recoiled back. He was about to decline, when he saw a familiar face in one of the cages. It was the young boy from before, Collins!

Collins was with two other kids. One was a small girl with delicate features who looked to be around the same age. The other was an older boy who was maybe 15 years old. He had a tall and muscular build that made him suitable for combat.

After noticing Nie Yan, Collin’s eyes lit up in joy and surprise.

"Sir, it’s you!”

"How did you end up here?” Nie Yan asked in bewilderment. He had given Collins 1,000 gold. Logically speaking, he shouldn’t have ended up in a cage being sold off as a slave.

"That nasty man, Berrik, caught me. He stole the gold you gave me and locked us up in here,” Collins replied, glaring at the fat slave dealer standing next to Nie Yan.

"Don’t believe this brat’s lies. He’s a street urchin and a dirty little thief.” Berrick’s eyes flashed with a cruel light. Once Nie Yan left, Collins was done for.

Nie Yan roughly understood the situation. However, all the slaves dealers here, including this Berrick, were at least Level 80 Elites.

"Sir, please get us out of here! We’re willing to become your slaves and do anything for you,” Collins pleaded. Nie Yan was his last sliver of hope.

Nie Yan recalled that buying slaves under these types of scenarios would result in higher loyalty, usually up to 90 or higher. Normally after purchasing a slave, the loyalty would be around 70. If the loyalty dropped below a certain threshold, the slave might turn on their master. The possibility was low, but it did exist.

Nie Yan inspected Collins’ special skills.

Danger Sense: Collins has astonishing evasion ability, allowing him to avoid being injured by monsters.

Speedy: Collins is good at running, with a speed of 528.

Collector: Collins has an easier time finding ores and lost items.

Nie Yan was surprised. Collins’ three special skills were quite rare. He wasn’t the type of NPC that was confined to the city. He could move around in the wilderness and even explore high level maps. The only caveat was that he had zero combat ability.

Nie Yan moved on to check the special skills of Collins’ friends. The small girl was called Delfina. She had Danger Sense, Artist, and Social Butterfly. Social Butterfly allowed her to communicate well with other NPCs. Artist allowed her to draw or copy complex designs such as blueprints.

Nie Yan’s mind trembled. Delfina could duplicate blueprints, with low grade ones taking a few hours and high grade ones taking up to a day or two! If things like the Armoured Ice Catapult Blueprints could be reproduced, it’d be a huge boon for Asskickers United.

The Artist skill alone was enough for Nie Yan to make up his mind! He had to buy them, no matter the cost!

Nie Yan checked the special skills of the older boy. He was called Bernard. Even though he was young, he was big for his age. He was brimming with muscles, and his skin was a healthy bronze.

At first glance, Nie Yan believed Bernarde was a combat slave. After examining him, however, it turned out he was more suited for a gathering profession! His special skills were Danger Sense, Speedy, and Digger.

Bernard knew how to dig. If he was given a good pickaxe, he could become an excellent Miner.

"How much for these three?” Nie Yan asked the pudgy slave dealer.

Berrick’s eyes sparkled. Just as he was about to say something, Nie Yan cut him off. "I hope you’ll give me a fair price. I trust the administrator wouldn’t be pleased to find out a person of my status was swindled in the Hilton Stronghold.”

Berrick let out an awkward chuckle. "Oh, I would never dare, sir Grand Scholar! For these three, 120 gold sounds fair, right?”

"You liar! Another person came before, and you only asked for 60 gold!” Collins yelled. Berrick’s face turned as red as a tomato after being ratted out.

"Here, take it, 120 gold. They belong to me now.” Nie Yan didn’t wish to interact with this repulsive character any longer.

Seeing Nie Yan hand over the gold without batting an eye, Berrick was vexed he didn’t ask for more. However, the transaction was already complete. After opening the wooden cage, he glanced at the three and said, "You brats have a new master now. Scram.”

Collins, Bernard, and Delfina glared at Berrick, wishing for nothing more than to rush up and beat him to a pulp. However, the trio understood they were no match for him.

"Come on, let’s go,” Nie Yan said.

Nie Yan led the kids out of the slave market. He discovered their loyalty stats were over 90. Collins had the highest at 99, while Delfina and Bernard weren’t much lower at 96 and 95 respectively. Like this, the possibility of revolt was basically nill.

These three kids would definitely be useful additions to Asskickers United. Delfina would be responsible for duplicating blueprints, and Collins and Bernard could scavenge and mine in the wilderness. Every once in a while, they could also run errands in the city for him.

After leaving the slave market, Nie Yan sunk into deep thought. The number of crafters in Asskickers United was increasing at a frightening rate. The Starry Night Potion Shop showed promising growth, producing many high rank Alchemists. The other crafting professions were also rapidly growing, with tons of new hires every day. All of them were busy accepting different quests and improving themselves. Truthfully, all professions were related in one way or another. At the later stages of the game, crafting something wouldn’t just need one Alchemist, one Tinkerer, or one Engineer. Often times it would take tens of people from differing professions to complete something, like the Goblin Magic Cannon and Armoured Ice Catapult.

An idea popped into Nie Yan’s head. Why didn’t he just bring all these players together and form a profession based guild, one composed only of Alchemists, Tinkerers, Engineers, Blacksmiths, Tailors, Refiners, Enchanters, Miners, and so on? It would probably be best to establish a giant workshop divided into different areas for each profession. Like this, dividing the work and collaborating would be more convenient for everyone involved.

Of course, the cost of building such a workshop wouldn’t be cheap, probably in the excess of tens of thousands of gold. However, it was definitely worth the investment. When so many crafting professions were brought together, the possibilities were endless! It would also undoubtedly raise the property values of all the nearby shops.

Nie Yan decided to build the mega workshop near the Starry Night Potion Shop. He still had three large plots in the area which remained unused anyway, mostly because ordinary players couldn’t afford to lease such large spaces. Previously he hadn’t figured out what to do with these properties, so he simply plopped down some Tier 1 shops to prevent the system from reclaiming the land. Now things were different. He would immediately set to task after returning to Calore!

Nie Yan could already imagine it, a guild for trade professions. A grand plan was slowly taking shape in his mind.

Chapter 456 - Darkwing Dragon

Nie Yan planned to have many famous crafters collaborate together. Every city had mercenary style organizations. Players in the crafters guild could register, receive, and complete tasks for free and keep the rewards obtained for themselves. The crafters guild could issue out various odd job requests and not collect an intermediary fee.

The first step was to unify the crafters in Asskickers United and have them integrate into the larger community of crafters. Eventually word would get around about how great their benefits were, incentivizing crafters all around the Viridian Empire to start flocking to Asskickers United.

Asskickers United was already known to treat crafters generously, so much so that ordinary crafters were tripping over each other trying to join. However, those with actual ability were few and far between. It was precisely these players that Nie Yan wanted to lure in using the juicy benefits of the crafters guild! Of course, for now this was only in theory. The nitty gritty would be left to Guo Huai and his administrative team to iron out.

Nie Yan rang up Guo Huai and explained his idea.

「Not a bad idea. I can definitely see it paying off, especially since we’ll be the first.」

「How many high rank crafters do we have in the guild right now?」Nie Yan asked. He only had a rough understanding of the guild’s situation. He couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to the small details. That was left to Guo Huai.

「We have 39 Advanced Alchemists, 15 Advanced Tinkerers, 31 Advanced Engineers, 6 Advanced Enchanters… Tallying everyone up, we have around 200 or so Advanced Crafters,」Guo Huai replied after pulling up the data.

Every profession improved at different rates, with Enchanters and Runemasters being the slowest and Alchemists coming in at a close second. Of the 36 Advanced Alchemists in the whole of Calore, 21 belonged to the Starry Night Potion Shop, with 18 more being recruited from other cities.

About 200 Advanced Crafters, this number was merely a drop in the bucket compared to all the crafters in the Viridian Empire.

「Has there been anyone that reached the Master rank yet?」Nie Yan asked. Master rank was a major watershed. Later on, Advanced crafters could be found everywhere. However, very few would succeed in becoming Masters, less than 1 in 1,000. If you became an Advanced crafter, you would be accepted into any guild and find decent work. If you became a Master crafter, your fame would reach far and wide.

「Not yet, but six people in the Starry Night Potion Shop are showing good promise. It’s looking like Quiet Nannan is going to be the first among them to succeed after learning the Everwinter Potion Recipe you picked up. I predict he’ll rank up sometime in the next 10 or so days. As for the others, It’ll probably take another month or longer if I were to give a conservative estimate,」Guo Huai said. Becoming a Master was an incredibly difficult hurdle.

Nie Yan recalled it wasn’t much different in the previous timeline.「When Quiet Nannan becomes a Master Alchemist, announce it publicly and use the momentum to promote the crafters guild.」

「Understood.」Guo Huai nodded.

Nie Yan stayed in the Hilton Stronghold for the whole day. He rented out a room in the inn to let the three kids wash up and bought them new clothes. Afterwards, he noticed their loyalty for him had increased even further.

On the second day, Nie Yan received word that Great General Breakspear had returned. He passed through the bustling streets and headed for the Great General’s residence.

Nie Yan spotted many groups of soldiers along the way. They were fully equipped, all clad in the same sets of army regulated armour.

The atmosphere in the Hilton Stronghold was a lot heavier than before. It appeared Ignatius had passed on his words to the administrator. Like this, Nie Yan had one less thing to worry about. If in five days monsters swarmed out of the Underworld like he predicted, it would count as a successful prophecy.

As for whether the Hilton Stronghold could advert this disaster, that was still up in the air.

Great General Breakspear’s residence was a two-story white stone house. It looked quite elegant, surrounding by thick walls and a lush garden in the front filled with all sorts of plants. Nie Yan approached the gate.

After declaring his identity, Nie Yan was escorted by a servant to the livingroom to meet Great General Breakspear. He was a burly man around a head taller than Nie Yan. He was bulging with muscles and resembled a giant.

He was a Level 220 Legendary Warrior. Just like War God Kelo, he was a barbarian!

Great General Breakspear wasn’t wearing his armour, instead opting for a more comfortable large robe.

"It’s an honour to meet you Great General Breakspear,” Nie Yan greeted respectfully. Breakspear was an unapproachable existence to ordinary players. If it weren’t for his Devil Slayer and Grand Scholar titles, this meeting would be impossible!

"Likewise,” Breakspear greeted back with a kind smile.

Nie Yan’s gaze couldn’t help but drift to Breakspear’s left arm. It looked withered like that of a dried up corpse.

"Are you curious?” Breakspear chuckled.

"Yes.” Nie Yan nodded.

"It’s a death curse I received from the Legendary Necromancer Nadago. Within time, it’ll slowly consume me until I become nothing but a walking corpse,” Breakspear explained. His tone was casual as though he were talking about the weather.

"Is there any way to lift the curse?” Nie Yan asked. He had a feeling Breakspear’s curse was somehow related to the broken pieces of Nadago’s Staff of Curses in his possession.

"The only way is to use one of Nadago’s belongings, such as his staff, as a medium to lift the curse. However, Nadago hasn’t appeared in the world in over 1,000 years,” Breakspear replied.

Nie Yan’s mind trembled. Didn’t this mean Breakspear was also an existence that lived more than 1,000 years ago?

"I believe I can help you lift the curse,” Nie Yan said, taking out Nadago’s Staff of Curses from his bag.

Breakspear’s eyes widened in rare surprise. His gaze immediately fell on the broken staff in Nie Yan’s hands.

"It’s Nadago’s Staff of Curses! How did you get this?” Breakspear exclaimed in shock. "Why is it broken in half?”

"Nadago was sealed by someone. By a stroke of luck, I managed to slay him in his weakened state. This was a spoil from the battle,” Nie Yan explained, purposefully omitting the specific details of the event.

Even so, Breakspear was no stranger to Nadago’s frightening might. Even in a sealed state, a simple curse could transform Nie Yan into a corpse.

"You slew Nadago? This makes you a hero of the Viridian Empire! I’ll make sure to inform the council of elders about your achievements,” Breakspear said. Waving his hand, Nie Yan lit up with a brilliant radiance.

Nie Yan checked his level. He had jumped directly to Level 72! The amount of experience he just received was nothing short of frightening!

Besides the experience reward, Nie Yan’s army rank jumped up three levels from 10-Man Commander to 10,000-Man Commander! Further above were only General and Great General.

The reward for slaying Legendary Necromancer Nadago was amazing!

Nie Yan checked his stats. His health already reached over 6,200. His defense, attack power, and other stats had also risen greatly.

The stat bonuses for 10,000-Man Commander were Attack +20%, Defense +25%, and Health +30%.

These stat bonuses would be even greater after becoming a General and Great General. Nie Yan recalled a Level 93 Warrior’s health rising to more than 12,000 after becoming a 10,000-Man Commander in the previous timeline. He became tanky beyond belief. Even if he stood still without fighting back, it’d take ages for an equal level Thief to kill him.

Thieves were a squishy class. It was extremely difficult for them to acquire a lot of health. For one to have as much health as Nie Yan was unimaginable!

Level 72… Nie Yan was getting closer and closer to reaching Level 100. At that time, he could accept the class advancement quest to become a Shadow Dancer!

"Nirvana Flame, are you willing to help me lift this curse by giving me the staff?” Breakspear asked.

"Of course I’m willing!” Nie Yan said. He handed over Nadago’s Staff of Curses to Breakspear.

Great General Breakspear let out a deep grunt, crushing the staff’s skull in pieces and rubbing them on his left arm. The skull transformed into dark energy which permeated into his arm. Gradually, colour returned to his skin. However, his muscles were still atrophied. It would take time for them to recover.

Breakspear breathed out a sigh of relief, then let out a full bellied laugh. "I’ve finally gotten rid of this damned curse after so long. Thank you, Nirvana Flame.”

"It’s an honour I could help lift the curse that that’s bothered you for so long,” Nie Yan laughed.

"Words cannot express my gratitude to you. This is the egg of a Darkwing Dragon. I initially planned to hatch and raise it myself. Now I’ve decided to give it to you.” Breakspear took out a black egg roughly the size of a basketball. It was covered in runes and let out an onyx glow that cast a dark tint over the whole room.

Chapter 457 - The Release of Flying Mounts

A dragon egg, and one of such high quality at that! The Darkwing Dragon was an even rarer species of dragon than the Golden Dragon! It was a higher dragon!

Nie Yan’s gaze fell on the black egg. He could feel the living being inside, the strong throb of its heartbeat pulsating through the shell and the powerful energy contained within.

Sure enough, the items Breakspear brought out would never disappoint!

Among flying mounts, bird types were the most common and usually flew at the bottom of the totem pole. Only a few could be considered pretty decent such as Thunderbirds and Phoenixes. Some flying mounts were also quite odd and didn’t really fit into any category like Manticores and Wind Serpents. However, dragons were undoubtedly the rarest. Among them, Golden Dragons were fairly ordinary. Even after consuming an Evolution Crystal, a Golden Dragon could at best reach the upper middle tier. On the other hand, Darkwing Dragons were at the very top of the pecking order.

Some of the top dragons were the Divine Dragons, Onyx Dragons, and Runic Dragons. The Darkwing Dragon was included in that list as well.

A peak existence like Great General Breakspear wanted to hatch and raise this egg to be his personal mount. One could only imagine how precious it was!

This was the reward for killing Legendary Necromancer Nadago. Nie Yan naturally didn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt accepting the egg.

Nie Yan carefully took the Darkwing Dragon Egg into his palms.

"I’m not sure when it’ll hatch, but I have a feeling it won’t be long. I hope it can accompany you on your path to glory,” Breakspear said.

Nie Yan could faintly see the outline of the baby Darkwing Dragon through the shell. The radiance blossoming from the egg shrouded the room in light and shadows, making the place resemble a scene straight out of a whimsical dream.

"You have my gratitude, Great General Breakspear,” Nie Yan respectfully said. In the previous timeline, very few players owned flying mounts. All for the sake of getting one, countless friendships were destroyed and teams disbanded!

In his past life, Nie Yan could only look on enviously whenever someone summoned a flying mount and rode off into the air. To the him of that time, flying mounts were unattainable luxuries that could only be admired from afar, not up close. He never expected, past or present, that he would obtain a flying mount of this quality.

Nie Yan was beyond elated!

It was only after experiencing two lifetimes that he understood the true value of a flying mount!

Nie Yan placed the Darkwing Dragon Egg into his flying mount slot. He had no idea how long it would take for this egg to hatch. But when that time came, he would become the ruler of the skies!

As Nie Yan put away the Darkwing Dragon Egg in his bag, several notifications popped up.

Nirvana Flame has obtained a flying mount. The flying mount system will be unlocked in two days.

The system will be updated in three days. This will not affect normal gameplay…

The difficulty of class advancement quests will be reduced by 11%. The drop rate of Freedom Skill Books will be increased by 13%...

...

Nie Yan never expected for such a mishap to occur. Thinking back, he did recall something like this happening in the previous timeline. Since it was only a few system announcements, he had long since forgotten their contents. He only remembered a player triggering the flying mount system, and it unlocking for everyone soon after.

Nie Yan never thought he would be the one triggering the release of the flying mount system this time around.

The Asskickers United guild chat started flooding with activity.

「The boss unlocked flying mounts?」

「Holy crap! A system update! The boss is so amazing! He’s the first to obtain a flying mount!」

「I wonder what kind of flying mount he got...」

「Who knows!」

...

The forums similarly blew up. Everyone was discussing about what sort of flying mount Nie Yan obtained and the contents of the system update. The emergence of flying mounts had players guessing and conjecturing repeatedly about what the future skies of the game would look like.

"I heard flying mounts are different from regular ones. Once a flying mount dies, that’s it!”

The revelation flying mounts couldn’t be revived shocked many players. No one wanted to go through all the hard work of obtaining a flying mount, only to lose it forever when it died!

"I heard there’s going to be a servant system as well. Those also won’t revive after dying!”

Since these were the rules of Conviction, it couldn’t be helped. Flying mounts and servants were simply too powerful. Even the most ordinary bird-type flying mounts had frightening combat strength. A single dive bomb from the sky could instantly kill most ordinary players. This was why the system limited flying mounts to a single life. Of course, there were exceptions, such as if the player had a Resurrection Crystal or another similarly rare item.

The servant system would allow the leaders of Rank 8 guilds and above to recruit powerful servants. For example, if Nie Yan completed the longstanding Ten Holy Paladins quest line, he could recruit Karsi as a servant.

Karsi! A legendary NPC! He was an incredibly powerful existence.

Even someone like Karsi could be recruited as a servant. One could only imagine just how stupidly unfair it would be if Karsi could be revived infinitely. Every city in the Viridian Empire would be crushed by his powerful magic.

Servants having only one life made the game more challenging and interesting for the players.

Nie Yan recalled that many things changed after the release of flying mounts, including progression and skills. History was being distorted once more, and he was powerless to stop it.

With events taking another unforeseen turn, Nie Yan could only rely on his own strength to take control of destiny!

News of Nie Yan obtaining a flying mount spread like wildfire. It didn’t matter where, every player was talking about him. Mad God and Depraved’s challenge to Nie Yan was quickly pushed to the depths of the forums, relegated and left to be forgotten as though it had never existed in the first place.

「What kind of flying mount did you get?」Guo Huai asked.

「What flying mount? It’s just a dragon egg! Who knows how long it’ll take before it hatches,」Nie Yan replied.

「Dragon egg? Looks like you’re going to have another dragon by your side.」Guo Huai laughed. He believed the Darkwing Dragon and Lil’ Gold were on the same level while in reality the difference between the two was like night and day.

Nie Yan chuckled. Everything would be revealed when the Darkwing Dragon hatched.

「What are we gonna do about Mad God and Depraved? It seems like the discussion around them has died down quite a bit. Everyone’s now talking about flying mounts.」

「Let them keep waiting like idiots. We can deal with them later when the issue pops up again. Until then, have Smoke Stub and Bladelight prioritize whatever’s more important.」

Chapter 458 - Gambler

The imminent release of flying mounts turned into a hot topic of discussion. Naturally as the culprit behind this event, Nie Yan’s name was usually mentioned in the same breath. His fame quickly spread beyond the borders of the Viridian Empire, and by association so too did the reputation of Asskickers United.

Nie Yan’s actions this time really shook the entire playerbase. As for the flying mount system, the official website had long since created an associated information page, with players having waited in anticipation for it to open. No one expected it would be unlocked in such a way.

...

The Satreen Empire, Sanguine Stronghold, an imposing fortress with over 20-meter high walls covered in menacing black spikes.

At the heart of this stronghold stood a towering building, the main headquarters of Angel Corps.

Angel Corps at present controlled 3 cities and 51 strongholds. They were a colossus and the undisputed hegemon in the Satreen Empire.

The top members of the guild anxiously gathered for an emergency meeting. The conference hall was filled with chattering voices.

Standing at the front in stylish white robes was Soaring Angel. Since he was inside the stronghold, he wasn’t wearing his combat equipment, instead opting for something a little more comfortable. He glanced around the room before asking, "Stone Splitter and Reaper still haven’t arrived yet?”

"They’re running a dungeon with Buck, Patterson, and Quicksand right now, Boss.”

Soaring Angel nodded. Looking around, roughly 100 people were present in the conference hall.

"Alright, I suppose we have enough people here. Let’s start the meeting. As you all know, the release of the flying mount system was announced earlier today. The future of the skies is uncertain, but we can be sure that air warfare will play an important role. Every flying mount is a powerful strategic resource. They’re frighteningly fast and can easily cross over borders. In great numbers, you can even launch a surprise assault on a stronghold with great ease. I’m sure you’ve all heard Nirvana Flame is the first to obtain a flying mount. We cannot fall behind any further. Starting from today, I want everyone to put their full effort into searching for any and all quest clues related to flying mounts and report back. Leave no stone unturned!” Soaring Angel declared. Although flying mounts wouldn’t become widespread any time soon, it was imperative Angel Corps began their preparations as soon as possible. The fact that Nirvana Flame was the first to obtain a flying mount posed an enormous threat to them.

Soaring Angel’s orders were quickly passed down the chain of command. Separated into different divisions, each with its own respective supervisor, the administrative layer of Angel Corps was quite efficient.

"Warn Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors to be vigilant of Asskickers United.” Soaring Angel turned to a slim-looking Shaman. "What’s the situation with Fallen Angel?”

"Fallen Angel is currently in a heated war against several guilds, so their growth has stalled for the time being. There’s only one strange thing. They’ve recently come upon a large amount of gold, and it’s making their enemies panic,” the Shaman reported.

"A large amount of gold?” Soaring Angel knitted his brows. He suddenly recalled Nie Yan auctioning off a large quantity of equipment from the Underworld. Did Asskickers United have some sort of relationship with Fallen Angel? "I want you to get to the bottom of this!”

"Understood!”

"What about Mad God and Depraved?” Soaring Angel asked. He knew Mad God and Depraved were no match for Nirvana Flame, but they should at least be able to force him out and get a good gauge of his strength. Angel Corps simply had too little intel on him. Before sending those two out to test the waters, they had made ample preparations.

"Nirvana Flame is busy with a quest. But with everyone talking about the flying mount system, discussion about the challenge has died down.”

"Have them keep waiting. Asskickers United’s people will show up soon enough,” Soaring Angel said. He refused to believe Asskickers United could ignore their provocations forever.

Soaring Angel concluded the meeting after listing out all the things Angel Corps needed to do in preparation for what was to come. He also had to start looking for a flying mount himself. He refused to lose out to Nirvana Flame!

...

Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and the other major guilds were also making their own preparations. Every player was starting to look for flying mounts. Who knew how many would be born in the near future?

Nie Yan had triggered a huge change. At this moment, he was trying to think of a way to hatch his Darkwing Dragon. Only then would he truly have a flying mount.

After bidding farewell to Breakspear, Nie Yan led his three slaves with him back to Calore.

When Nie Yan planned to go out from now on, he could just have the kids deal with certain matters in his place.

Back in the downtown square of Calore, Mad God and Depraved were still accepting challenges with few players lasting more than several exchanges against them. Even though Nie Yan still hadn’t come out, no one blamed him. They knew he was too busy questing.

"Seems like we’ve been forgotten. Asskickers United is showing no signs of appearing.” Depraved chuckled bitterly.

Finishing up another match, Mad God let out a deep sigh. Even for a battle maniac like him, he was past his breaking point.

"Fuck that bastard Nirvana Flame! What a cowardly son of a bitch! Why has he still not come out yet?! I swear I’ll…” Mad God started cursing up a storm.

They were using all sorts of taunts and insults to provoke a reaction. However, Asskickers United showed no sign of taking action.

The arena was constantly surrounded by a large crowd. They were confident Asskickers United would turn up, and create a grand spectacle. This was something they definitely didn’t want to miss out on, so they patiently waited in anticipation.

Mad God was getting somewhat annoyed by the constant chatter. Suddenly, the crowd broke out in excited cheer.

"Asskickers United has come!”

"That’s Smoke Stub! I heard during the siege at the Cripps Stronghold he charged deep into enemy lines and single handedly slaughtered more than 30 players, two of which were Great Mages!

"That’s Bladelight, the main tank of Asskickers United. I heard his defense is over 1,800!”

The crowd quickly parted ways as eight players came into view.

Smoke Stub, Bladelight, Lustboy, Natural Fiend, Painted Muslin, Young Seven, Monochrome, and Edgeless… This group wasn’t the full line up of Asskickers United’s elites. Some other notable names like Sun, One Strike Vow, and the others were busy questing.

The eight arrived in front of the makeshift arena.

"How about upping the bet? 200 gold is a bit too paltry, don’t you think? It’s not worth our time to move for so little,” Smoke Stub said in a derisive tone.

"You guys are finally here. I was getting really tired of waiting! Sure, why not? How high do you want to go?” Mad God replied with just as much bravado, having recognized Smoke Stub. He lifted up his greatsword and rested it over his shoulders.

Given the recent clashes between Angel Corps and Asskickers United, the elites all knew each other by now.

The top players of Asskickers United and Angel Corps had finally met. This was only the first of what would become many clashes.

"I’ll go up first,” Smoke Stub declared. Without further ado, he leaped up onto the arena stage.

The crowd cheered in excitement.

"I didn’t think the first to go up would be Smoke Stub!”

"Yeah, I know right? So exciting!”

Asskickers United had quite a few famous players. Needless to say, Nie Yan was the most well known, with Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and Sun coming up next. The rest weren’t as famous, but they were still existences to be revered by ordinary players.

"Whoever wins gets to take a piece of equipment from the loser,” Smoke Stub said. He had to admit the equipment of Mad God and Depraved was of quite high quality. Angel Corps rarely participated in wars. Even in the siege of the Cripps Stronghold, they didn’t suffer any serious losses. This was in stark contrast to Asskickers United, where every member had at least fought in several wars. The quality of their equipment naturally couldn’t compare to that of Angel Corps.

For example, Smoke Stub had previously lost a piece of equipment to Bloodlust Mad Blade who killed him during the siege of the Cripps Stronghold. However, Smoke Stub and the others had their own advantage. They were tempered through the flames of battle and frequently danced on the edge between life and death. When it came to PvP, they were much better than their counterparts’ at Angel Corps in both skill and gamesense.

The crowd gasped in shock after hearing Smoke Stub’s outrageous proposal. Every piece of equipment on an expert’s body was obtained through blood, sweat, and tears. They couldn’t be easily replaced since they were impossible to find in the marketplace. Even the loss of a single one would heavily impact the player’s strength.

Mad God’s heart trembled. Smoke Stub was just like a gambling addict, always testing the boundaries and flirting around with death. On the other side, Mad God enjoyed crushing others with his superior gear. This sort of risky bet wasn’t something he would usually partake in.

However, if Mad God refused right now, he would be seen as a weakling.

"Alright, fine. We’ll put our equipment on the line,” Mad God replied. He walked to the center of the stage and locked eyes with Smoke Stub.

Depraved glanced at Bladelight and the others below the stage. Smoke Stub’s risky gamble didn’t seem to faze them at all, as though it was nothing out of the ordinary. Nor did they show any intention of stopping him. A feeling of apprehension arose in Depraved’s heart. He suddenly understood why Asskickers United could sweep away Victorious Return and Bloodlust Blades. It wasn’t that these two were any weaker than Asskickers United, but simply that they lacked the resolve to stake everything on the line!

Experts like Smoke Stub could bring out astonishing strength when they threw caution to the wind and went all out.

Smoke Stub and Mad God’s battle was about to begin.

"Bladelight, when’s the boss coming?” Lustboy asked.

"He’s already on the road. He’ll be here soon,” Bladelight replied. When Nie Yan arrived, things would get even livelier.

Chapter 459 - Clever Display of the Kick Skill

Nie Yan had a deep influence on this group of players. In every war Asskickers United fought in so far, no matter how desperate or hopeless things seemed to get, he always stood up to the test and never showed any sign of wavering. This inevitably rubbed off on the entire guild.

Asskickers United was forged through the flames of war!

Smoke Stub and the others had picked up a thing or two from Nie Yan, and that was the willingness to stake their life and risk everything.

"It would’ve been better to have Stone Splitter come. You’re still a bit too wet behind the ears,” Smoke Stub said derisively. Stone Splitter was an Orc Warrior who gained overnight fame throughout the Satreen Empire after slaughtering a group of 30 elites all by himself. He was later personally recruited into Angel Corps by Soaring Angel and quickly rose to the top of their ranks. As for Mad God, he was a bit lacking.

Mad God might have the advantage over Smoke Stub in terms of gear quality, but that alone didn’t determine victory. Skill, awareness, and resolve were just as important in PvP!

"Hmph! Let’s fight and find out!” Mad God charged toward Smoke Stub with his greatsword raised.

「Klang!」Sparks flew as the two greatswords clashed. Smoke Stub was pushed back several steps.

Mad God rained down a torrent of blows, unleashing a multitude of skills in quick succession.

The two were locked in a heated melee.

Smoke Stub’s defense was rock solid. He calmly met every blow head-on and never wasted his skills unnecessarily. Before long, he found an opening. As Mad God went for a wide cleaving slash, he avoided it with an exquisite sidestep and retaliated with a stab toward the chest.

Mad God wanted to continue his offensive, but hurriedly pulled back and parried with his greatsword.

As though he expected this, Smoke Stub followed up with a leg sweep.

Mad God suddenly felt something hook onto his retreating foot. He quickly activated Defense Stance to regain his balance.

Although Smoke Stub failed to trip Mad God, he did make him lose his momentum as well as waste his skills.

Charge!

Smoke Stub rushed forward and slashed down on Mad God with his greatsword. The positions of the two sides were instantly reversed.

This exchange only lasted a few seconds. Those in the crowd with even a little bit of eyesight let out cries of admiration. Mad God liked to suppress his opponents with overwhelming strength, building up his momentum with all sorts of flashy skills before going in for the kill. On the other hand, Smoke Stub was shrewd and ruthless, preferring to save his skills whenever possible. He would lure the opponent into a false sense of security before striking out with a flawlessly timed attack.

Mad God could easily dominate a weaker opponent. However, since they were more or less evenly matched, he couldn’t break past Smoke Stub’s superior defense.

Mad God was frustrated none of his attacks got through. After losing his momentum and being forced on the back foot, Smoke Stub’s offensive left him feeling helpless. If worse came to worst, he would have to use those powerful skills he had been saving up.

"Seems like Smoke Stub has the upper hand… ”

"He always attacks at the perfect time. It’s like watching art! Now this is a Warrior! Knowing when to advance and when to retreat, balancing offense and defense, not like Mad God who only knows how to blindly swing his sword!”

...

The crowd quietly chatted among each other, when a loud roar suddenly shook the square. Mad God’s muscles fiercely bulged out as he grew several times in size. His skin transformed from a greenish hue to the colour of stone, his eyes turning bloodshot.

This was the Berserk Transformation of an Orc Warrior!

Seeing Mad God’s transformation, Smoke Stub also let out a roar and activated Barbarian Strength.

「Boom!」It was as if two titans were clashing. The fighting on the stage grew fiercer and fiercer. The spectators couldn’t help but back away in fear. The brutal all-out brawl and tyrannical display of strength shook their hearts to the core. Now this was a true battle between Warriors!

"Damn! That Mad God is no joke! A berserk Orc Warrior is terrifying!”

"Smoke Stub’s Barbarian Strength is strong too! It must at least be at Rank 3!”

...

"Mad God isn’t bad, but it looks like Smoke Stub has already won,” Bladelight declared to the shock of the crowd. Right now it didn’t look like either side had the upper hand.

"How are you so sure?” Lustboy curiously asked. He held Bladelight in high regard. After all, it was thanks to his guidance that he had gone from an ordinary expert to a top expert. Bladelight’s level of insight wasn’t something ordinary players could hope to achieve.

"You’ll see.” Bladelight smiled, not bothering to explain further.

Lustboy looked a bit doubtful as he shifted his attention back to the fight. Suddenly, a huge change occurred on the stage.

Just as Mad God looked like he was running out of steam, with Berserk Transformation nearing the end of its duration, Smoke Stub threw out a kick and struck him squarely in the gut.

Smoke Stub’s kick was superbly timed. It arrived the exact moment Mad God finished an unrelenting tidal wave of slashes. He never expected Smoke Stub would attack him with this skill! Kick was normally only used to interrupt Mages from casting spells. However, many players forgot it also had a stunning effect.

Kick could halt a target’s movements for a brief moment. The skill’s effects were relatively weak, so players rarely used it, nor could most use it well anyway.

However, in the hands of Smoke Stub, this skill was used to stunning results.

Gazing from the sidelines, Depraved became anxious after seeing Smoke Stub use Kick. He wanted to whisper a warning to Mad God, but it was already too late.

Mad God let out a heavy groan and staggered unsteadily. Smoke Stub didn’t let this opportunity slip by and followed up with a Tendon Break.

Mad God was incapacitated!

Flame Slash!

Great Cleave!

...

Smoke Stub chained one skill after another as brilliant arcs of light trailed the path of his slashes. The dazzling display shook the audience to their core.

When Mad God was about to recover, Smoke Stub slammed down with Seismic Slam and stunned him once more. Seconds later, he was sent flying out as his body heavily crashed into the ground.

The battle was over. Smoke Stub won just like Bladelight predicted!

The crowd exclaimed in cheer. The scene of Smoke Stub plunging his foot into Mad God’s gut was destined to become a classic that would be viewed by players over and over again. Every person had a different understanding of every skill. But Smoke Stub showed the crowd true skill. Even ordinary skills such as Kick could be deadly in the right hands. It was precisely because they were viewed as ordinary and unremarkable that they could be so deadly!

Smoke Stub sheathed his greatsword. Glancing at his skill bar, he hadn’t even used half his skills.

After a while, Mad God revived with a dark, gloomy expression on his face. He had many skills he still hadn’t used. However, Smoke Stub’s kick came too far out of left field. That one little slip-up snowballed into his defeat. He didn’t even get a chance to reveal his trump cards.

"Alright, a deal is a deal. Hand over your shoulder guards,” Smoke Stub said. This was his spoil from the battle. He could tell Mad God’s shoulder guards were a piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment.

After examining his gear, Smoke Stub concluded Mad God had no less than three pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment. This fellow was truly rich.

Mad God reluctantly unequipped his shoulder guards.

"Wait, how about another round? I’ll have another person go up. If you lose, you’ll have to fork over another piece of equipment. If we lose, we’ll return these shoulder guards to you,” Smoke Stub suddenly proposed.

"You’re sure?” Mad God asked in a menacing tone. He was glaring daggers at Smoke Stub, wanting nothing more than to rip him to shreds.

"Of course. I’ll let you keep these shoulder guards for now. I don’t want people saying we bullied you by making you fight with a handicap,” Smoke Stub answered. He scanned his eyes over the equipment on Mad God’s body.

Mad God felt conflicted. He really wasn’t willing to hand over his shoulder guards. However, since their bet was made through the system, reneging was impossible. The only way he would get to keep his shoulder guards was to win them back! Though he would have to hand over another piece of equipment if he lost. He could accept his loss to Smoke Stub. But what if any other of these players from Asskickers United were stronger than him?

Mad God believed himself to be at least within the top ten players of Angel Corps. Those who could beat him in the guild were limited to only Stone Splitter, Soaring Angel, and a handful of others. Angel Corps was the hegemon of the Satreen Empire. Compared to his guild, Asskickers United was nothing!

「What a poor sap. He’s really going to be in for a rude awakening!」Bladelight chuckled, sending a whisper to Smoke Stub.

「Mad God, get down! If we lose, so be it. Don’t give away another piece of equipment!」Depraved warned, sensing the situation turning south.

「Screw that shit! I refuse to believe Asskickers United has that many strong players! I swear I won’t lose again!」

Mad God‘s judgement was already too clouded with anger.

"Fucking hell! You think I’m afraid to bet? Come on then, let’s bet!”

"Alright, if you say so.” Smoke Stub faintly smiled. He turned to Bladelight and the six others below the stage. "Which one of you wants to go up next?”

Smoke Stub’s gaze fell on Bladelight.

"Sure, why not.” Bladelight chuckled. He leaped onto the stage. If he won, they would obtain two pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment. Having him go up was the safest choice.

"We’re counting on you.” Smoke Stub felt reassured after seeing Bladelight come up. It looked like Mad God was going to suffer another tragedy. Even he didn’t dare to go head-to-head with Bladelight. A Great Fighter with over 6,000 health and 1,800 defense was no joke. It was like chopping at a solid block of metal.

"No worries, I’ve got this,” Bladelight said. It would be incredibly difficult for any melee class to beat him.

Chapter 460 - Even Priests Can Make Outplays!

Bladelight and Mad God started their match. Needless to say, Bladelight was a formidable player. His title as the main tank of Asskickers United wasn’t just for show.

Asskickers United only had 60,000 players. Though size-wise they couldn’t compare to the likes of Angel Corps, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors, they had more than enough top-class talents to make up for this!

Starting from the moment of the game’s release, guilds had to search for and recruit talents non-stop in an attempt to slowly build up the number of experts on their side. However, thanks to Nie Yan’s knowledge of the future, Asskickers United managed to gather together a large number of experts in a short amount of time and provided them with the best environment and conditions to develop. This was why Asskickers United had so many powerful players, something which other guilds could never hope to achieve.

Apart from Bladelight and Smoke Stub, Monochrome, Edgeless, Lustboy, Young Seven, and the others were not any weaker than Mad God. On top of that, they had weathered through far more trials and hardships.

"With Bladelight going up, Mad God has already lost,” Monochrome confidently stated.

"Yep! The match is over before it even begins. He won’t even count as an appetizer!”

Normally in these sorts of matches, if both sides were roughly on an even playing field, a Berserker would have a tough time seizing the advantage. Fighters were simply too tanky. Just their shields alone had a huge impact, with the better ones generally having block rates of at least 30%. They could greatly reduce incoming damage or even negate it altogether.

A heavy klang rang out in the air as Bladelight struck out with a Shield Bash, knocking Mad God several steps backwards. He immediately advanced forward and continued his assault.

Mad God had no way of fighting back. Every time he’d attempt to use a skill, Bladelight would interrupt him.

"Bladelight’s timing is even better than mine,” Smoke Stub remarked. Everyone had something they were good at. In the case of timing, Bladelight had him beat. After all, as a Fighter who tanked bosses regularly, foresight was important.

Mad God was forced on the backfoot from the start. It was a one-sided affair. Bladelight was steady as a boulder, neither rushing nor hesitating with his blows. He was dominating, not giving the opponent any chance to retaliate.

Bladelight and Smoke Stub’s display of skill had the crowd wide-eyed and amazed. Asskickers United really wasn’t simple!

Suddenly a commotion broke out as the crowd parted in two.

"Nirvana Flame is here!”

"The guild leader of Asskickers United!”

After arriving at the square, Nie Yan was greeted by a sea of players. He couldn’t even see what was happening on the stage. As he walked forward, the crowd naturally parted ways for him. The nearby players all gazed at him with reverence, making him the focal point of attention.

This was the Nirvana Flame who showed off that dazzling strike in Kiln Fire Woods!

This was the Nirvana Flame who massacred Bloodlust Blades during the siege of the Cripps Stronghold!

Nirvana Flame was a legend who stood at the peak of glory, a figure shrouded in mystery.

The mood of the square reached a boiling point with Nie Yan’s appearance.

"Hey Nirvana Flame!”

"Nirvana Flame, add me to Asskickers United!”

"How was your quest, Nirvana Flame?!”

Regardless of whether these players knew Nie Yan personally, they all greeted him enthusiastically.

Nie Yan simply smiled and nodded as he walked over to Smoke Stub. He arrived just in time to see the end of the fight. Bladelight struck Mad God with another Shield Bash, sending him flying off the stage and crashing into the ground.

The crowd erupted into cheer.

"Bladelight is so amazing!”

"Wow! Mad God really got manhandled!”

Nie Yan and Bladelight met eyes and smiled at each other.

On the sidelines, Depraved quickly rose to his feet. Nirvana Flame, their primary target, had finally arrived!

Mad God revived shortly after. The two defeats in a row put him in a terrible mood.

"You’ve lost again. This time, I want your leg guards,” Smoke Stub said. Mad God had taken another huge blow.

"I admit my defeat, but you had a Fighter go up against me. It’s obviously an unfair matchup!” Mad God protested. He also believed Smoke Stub and Bladelight were the only strong ones in the group. The rest probably weren’t much.

Of the group, only Smoke Stub and Bladelight enjoyed the limelight. As for the others, no one really knew much about them.

The crowd immediately broke out into jeers.

"What a guy! Can’t even accept a loss. I guess Angel Corps is full of sore losers!”

"Right! He’s already lost twice in a row! Challenging Nirvana Flame? Come back in a hundred years!”

Smoke Stub narrowed his eyes, then cracked a smirk. "Fine, you want another go? Excluding Nirvana Flame, you can pick anyone among the remaining six you want to fight next. This includes the two Priests. Just like before, a piece of equipment is on the line. How about it?”

The crowd went into an uproar. No one was too surprised about Smoke Stub and Bladelight beating Mad God. However, they still recognized Mad God’s strength. He was only slightly weaker than those two. For Smoke Stub to make such a proposal, one had to know that of the six remaining players, there were two Priests in Young Seven and Painted Muslin!

A Priest and a Warrior PvPing? There was no challenge there, especially since Mad God was a top ranked Warrior!

However, since Smoke Stub had spoken these words so full of confidence, everyone was a bit skeptical. Could these two Priests really be so amazing?

Smoke Stub’s words were chock full of arrogance. Even our Priests can defeat someone like you!

Even Mad God was at a loss this time. He turned to his partner on the sidelines. Depraved knitted his brows. He was trying to decide if Smoke Stub was simply blustering or if there was actually some truth to his words.

Seeing Mad God hesitating, the crowd started heckling.

"What, are you afraid? If you are, scram back to the Satreen Empire. Calore isn’t a place where Angel Corps can run around rampantly!”

"Too chicken to even fight a Priest. Angel Corps really is a disgrace.”

…

These words were extremely unpleasant to Mad God’s ears.

Smoke Stub was very familiar with the strength of Young Seven and Painted Muslin. The common perception of Priests couldn’t be applied to them. Their PvP skills weren’t to be underestimated. During training matches versus Smoke Stub and the others, they would win at least 30% of the time. Their chances of beating Mad God were at least 60%, maybe even higher. Furthermore, Mad God was in a terrible mental state right now after losing twice in a row and receiving the taunts and jeers of the crowd. Under these circumstances, Young Seven and Painted Muslin had a very high chance of winning. This was why Smoke Stub dared to make such an outrageous proposal.

Depraved frowned. This was a lose-lose situation. However, if Mad God didn’t go up, the ones losing face wouldn’t be reserved to him alone!

There was no backing down!

「Mad God, do it. Go all out! You can’t lose no matter what!」Depraved said. This situation was different from the last. Mad God’s next opponent was a Priest. No matter how you looked at it, it was impossible to lose! Depraved glanced at Nie Yan over on the other side of the stage. The final boss had just arrived. This was their target!

"Fuck, I’ll take on any one of you! I’m ready any time!” Mad God angrily stared at the six, one of whom he’d fight next.

Smoke Stub glanced at Young Seven and the others. "Which one of you wants to go up? He still has one more piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment left. If we win once more, we’ll have taken everything.”

The nearby players who overheard Smoke Stub’s words felt their heads spinning. In their minds, Smoke Stub was a no-nonsense, serious type of person. None of them expected he could also be so treacherous and cunning. From the beginning, his aim was Mad God’s equipment. Step by step, he had lured the other side into his trap. Could it really be that in the end Mad God would lose every piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment on his body?

"I’ll go. It’s been a while since I’ve had some fun,” Young Seven volunteered.

Young Seven hopped onto the stage to the shock of the crowd. He stood proudly with his spotless white robes and staff.

"Holy shit! I’m not going crazy, right? Is Asskickers United really having a Priest go up?”

"Oh wow! Asskickers United is really planning to have one of their Priests face a Warrior!”

In the eyes of the players, Priests were nothing more than squishy healers. They rarely ever beat other equal-level classes simply because they didn’t specialize in PvP but support and healing. Some might have crowd control skills, but those were only used for self-protection.

Young Seven kept a fairly low-profile, rarely ever showing himself in public. Most of the crowd were unfamiliar with him. However, there were a few players that recognized him.

"That’s Young Seven, the top Priest in Asskickers United!”

"No matter how strong a Priest is, can they beat a Warrior?”

"Who knows! I’m sure Smoke Stub wouldn’t let him go up if he wasn’t confident.”

Some people started digging up videos of Young Seven. These were all brilliant outplays, where he came out on top in 1 vs. 3, 1 vs. 5, and even a 1 vs. 6 scenario. These were internal videos of Asskickers United, and generally wouldn’t be leaked to the public.

Even Priests could make outplays!

Of course, those players shown in the videos couldn’t be compared to Mad God.

"My god. Is that really a Priest?” A player rubbed his eyes. If even a Priest could be this strong, how were ordinary players supposed to live?

As the videos got passed around, the crowd gradually started gaining more confidence in Young Seven. If he could beat Mad God, this would be an explosive development!

Seeing Young Seven get up on the stage, Nie Yan faintly smiled. What made him feel the proudest was that Asskickers United had three top-ranked Priests, Young Seven, Painted Muslin, and Black Heaven. All three had the potential of becoming Archbishops. Other guilds would be lucky to have even one.

Chapter 461 - Godly Priest

Archbishops were scarce strategic resources, especially so in the previous timeline. Standing as bright beacons of brilliance in every war, a single blessing could bolster the might of thousands of troops.

Apart from powerful healing capabilities and a keen sense of awareness, superb PvP senses were also a must.

Young Seven, Painted Muslin, and Black Heaven had all of these qualities and more.

Young Seven glanced at his skill bar, considering his options.

The calm and unperturbed appearance of Young Seven deeply rattled Mad God’s nerves. Could a Priest really defeat him? Normally, he would never believe such a thing. However, Smoke Stub’s confidence had him questioning this belief.

"Let’s start,” Young Seven said after finishing his preparations.

Mad God absolutely couldn’t lose this match, or else he would no longer have the face to return to the Satreen Empire. Not to mention he’d become a laughing stock among the playerbase.

Charge!

Mad God lunged straight for Young Seven.

Young Seven ducked to the side and targeted Mad God with Ache, then fired out a Holy Smite.

The crowd held their breath, gazing intently at the fight happening on the stage above. They didn’t dare to so much as blink, lest they missed out on the action. Cold sweat broke out as they watched Mad God lunging and charging at Young Seven non-stop.

In contrast, Nie Yan and the others appeared fairly calm.

「Boss, what kind of flying mount did you get?」Lustboy asked. Recently, the identity of Nie Yan’s flying mount dominated most of the discussion in Asskickers United.

「No flying mount yet. It’s still just a dragon egg. I’ll have to wait for it to hatch first,」Nie Yan replied. He had no clue when this Darkwing Dragon would hatch, not to mention he would have to take it levelling as well. Just thinking about this gave him a headache.

「Dragon egg…」Everyone was startled. Dragons were incredibly rare existences. The word alone was synonymous with power. Even the weakest of dragons possessed frightening power.

Nie Yan always seemed to get the most amazing things. Even a dragon egg wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities.

「What kind of dragon egg? Show us!」

「Let’s wait until we return to the guild headquarters. There are too many eyes here,」Bladelight said. These sorts of things had to be kept confidential.

「What about you guys? Find anything good lately?」Nie Yan changed the subject. Smoke Stub and the others likely hadn’t been sitting idly by either.

「Lustboy found a Sub Legendary-grade Staff a couple days ago. Its stats are pretty decent. We also found blueprints for a magic cannon while running a dungeon. We’ve already handed them to Watchful Snail. Sunny South obtained a Kodo, so he’s pretty happy. With a pet like that, levelling will get much easier,」Bladelight said. Thinking about it, everything was going pretty smoothly as of late.

「Boss, that list of quest triggers you gave is amazing. We no longer have to worry about wandering around aimlessly trying to find Sub Legendary and Legendary-grade equipment. I was pretty lucky and got a Sub Legendary-grade staff while the others are still searching. I heard Scoundrel recently triggered a quest for a Legendary-grade set. He’s working on it as we speak,」Lustboy said. Nie Yan’s list had made things much easier for them. The fruits of their labour would slowly be revealed in the future.

「Not bad, not bad...」Nie Yan never expected the list he provided would start showing results so soon.

The group leisurely chatted. Apart from these few notable things, the other items they obtained were too numerous to count. Nie Yan could clearly sense that Smoke Stub and the others were rapidly growing stronger. Before long, they would reach their peaks from the previous timeline, and maybe even go further beyond. They would become the rulers of future battlefields!

At this moment, the battle on the stage was reaching its climax. Everyone was watching with rapt attention.

Berserk Transformation! Charge!

Mad God was being kited around since the start of the duel. After getting hit by three crowd control spells in a row and having his health whittled down to less than half, he finally had enough and furiously rushed forward.

Flame Slash!

Mad God brandished his greatsword and cleaved down on Young Seven.

Young Seven raised his staff and blinked out of Mad God’s range.

Mad God was briefly dazed by the sight of Young Seven disappearing into thin air but quickly returned to his senses. It was an evasion skill!

Evasion skills were extremely rare. Those in possession of one were less than 1 in 50,000.

Young Seven reappeared behind Mad God. He raised his staff and opened his mouth as a strange gurgling sound escaped his throat.

Sensing a presence behind him, Mad God was about to turn around, when an ear piercing shriek entered his ears.

Crap! Howl of Terror!

Mad God wanted to activate Mind Guard to protect himself. But it was already far too late. No matter how quick his reaction speed was, could it be faster than sound?

Howl of Terror was normally preceded by clear warning signs. As soon as a player spotted a Priest’s throat trembling, they would know to immediately protect themselves with Mind Guard, Mind Immune, or other similar skills.

Watching this unfold from below the stage, Smoke Stub cracked a faint smile. He was all too familiar with this move. When running dungeons, they would often PvP with each other during the downtime between runs. He had fallen victim to this combination of spells many times. It was extremely hard to defend against, even if you were aware of it beforehand. Young Seven was simply too proficient with using Blink and Howl of Terror together. Anyone encountering this deadly combo for the first time would undoubtedly meet with tragedy.

In Smoke Stub’s mind’s, perhaps only Nie Yan could counter this move on his first attempt.

After being struck by Howl of Terror, Mad God lost control of his body and started fleeing away.

Painful Lash!

Young Seven struck Mad God with a whip of light and inflicted him with bleed.

−111

−123

−134...

Young Seven had trained his Painful Lash up to Rank 5. Its effects were powerful, and its duration was quite long.

Taking advantage of the opening, Young Seven unloaded multiple spells.

Holy Burst!

An orb of light shot out from his staff and struck Mad God, unleashing a powerful explosion that sent him staggering backwards.

When Howl of Terror’s effects ended, Young Seven felt a tinge of regret. He had a total of six crowd control spells—two with especially long durations, Howl of Terror and Radiant Bindings; one with a normal duration, Radiant Shockburst; and three with short durations, Elusive Halo, Panicked Flight, and Repel. Having used all of them to lock down Mad God, he could no longer chain his crowd control spells.

Nevertheless, it was already amazing he kept Mad God crowd controlled for so long.

After recovering from Howl of Terror, Mad God only had around 800 health remaining, and it was falling quick since he was still taking bleed damage.

Perfectly linking together his crowd control spells, Young Seven had kited Mad God to only a sliver of health. All the while he didn’t even have a single scratch on him! The crowd was flabbergasted. Fuck, how was this a Priest! Even a Mage wasn’t this amazing!

Even though Young Seven was as skilled as any top ranked Mage, his damage was clearly lacking. Six seconds of crowd control was all a Mage needed to blast Mad God to death. Meanwhile, more than ten seconds had already passed, and Mad God still hadn’t died. Nevertheless, this was an amazing achievement for a Priest. Mad God was on the brink of death.

Mad God let out a roar and activated Divine Bulwark, making him immune to all crowd control as a golden membrane of light enveloped him.

"Die!” Mad God charged toward Young Seven and slashed down with his greatsword.

Young Seven quickly pulled back. His Panicked Flight and Repel were already off cooldown. However, he understood that none of his crowd control spells would have any effect right now. He could only do his best to survive.

If Mad God caught him with a Tendon Break or another similar skill, incapacitating him for two seconds or more, he would be done for!

This was the difference between a Priest and a Warrior!

The attacks of Warriors could easily cut through the cloth armour of Priests. Even if the Priest had over 10,000 health, the end result would be all the same.

Young Seven protected himself with Radiant Barrier as a veil of holy light fell over him. It was Rank 6, so the amount of damage it could absorb was no joke!

Furthermore, at Rank 5 and up, Radiant Barrier also protected the caster from being incapacitated by skills like Tendon Break. It offered little protection against psychic attacks though.

Mad God ruthlessly chopped down on Young Seven.

−1,582

+2,649

−1,158

+2,832

−1,283...

Young Seven kept retreating while healing himself. Each attack was countered with a potent heal. No matter how powerful the strike, he’d always follow up with an even more powerful heal. Like this, he calmly stalled out five seconds. As long as he wasn’t incapacitated, he could keep himself alive for quite a while.

The crowd watched in suspense. What powerful heals! Such healing could keep a tank alive through even the toughest of bosses! No wonder Young Seven was known as the number one Priest in Asskickers United!

After five seconds passed, Mad God’s Divine Bulwark disappeared.

Just as Mad God was about to attack, Young Seven targeted him with Panicked Flight, causing him to retreat several steps back. Finally, he cast Holy Judgement.

Mad God’s health had been whittled down quite a bit by Painful Lash. After being struck by Holy Judgement, the last bit of remaining health depleted as his body slumped to the ground.

This was his third in a streak of humiliating defeats!

Chapter 462 - Polar Behemoth

The battle was over? Just like that?

The crowd was dazed. From start to end, Mad God only had that one small window of opportunity to force a comeback. Young Seven completely dominated the rest of the fight. The players couldn’t help but look at him in a new light. A Priest skilled to this degree was truly something else.

The Priests in the crowd were especially fired up. Who knew their class could actually be played with such vigor and dominance!

It was a common concept that Priests were forever relegated to being healers, nothing more than nannies and wet nurses running to the beck and call of others, quietly supporting from the rear. But as it turned out, even Priests could be frightening existences in PvP, capable of taking down top ranked Warriors like Mad God.

After today, who would dare to claim otherwise?

This match would likely become a textbook example of high skill Priest play people would reference back on for a long time to come.

"I’ve decided. I also want to become a Priest like Young Seven,” a 17-year-old youth with a still somewhat childish appearance declared with clenched fists. He was called Starry Pride, an unexceptional Priest in one of Asskickers United’s branch guilds, Warriors United.

"You...? You regularly get distracted and screw up on the most basic things like healing. You want to become a top Priest like Young Seven? Maybe in your next life. Next time we run a dungeon, remember to properly cast your Heal, and for once use Dispel when one of us gets cursed!” a Warrior chided with a teasing smile.

"Those are only small mistakes! What makes you think I can’t do it!?” Starry Pride angrily rebuked, his face red from embarrassment.

Young Seven walked down from the stage.

"This time, I want your cape. That makes three pieces of equipment in total. Take them out,” Smoke Stub said to Mad God who had just revived. Three pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment, how wonderful was this? They didn’t even have to do any tediously difficult quests or run the same dungeon over and over in the hope of a good drop!

"Asskickers United, I refuse to accept this! If you have the balls, send someone else up!” Mad God’s eyes were bloodshot after his three consecutive defeats. One had to know, he had experienced untold hardship to obtain his Sub Legendary-grade equipment. Obtaining those three pieces had set him back by more than a month. A month in which he didn’t get to participate in any guild activities, including the siege of the Cripps Stronghold.

Mad God seemed to have forgotten that in a match between experts relying on equipment alone wouldn’t work. He had degenerated into a gambling addict that didn’t know when to quit, recklessly pushing on in an attempt to recoup his losses.

Smoke Stub narrowed his eyes, then sneered, "You’ve already lost all your Sub Legendary-grade equipment. What are you going to bet with?”

"I-I…” Mad God wanted to say something but had no words to refute.

"Mad God, come down. Don’t embarrass yourself any further!” Depraved shouted.

Mad God gloomily handed over the three pieces of equipment to Smoke Stub. He glared with fury and malice, wishing for nothing more than to tear Smoke Stub apart limb by limb.

Smoke Stub smirked. He couldn’t care less about Mad God holding a grudge. If you have the ability, come! Gaining three pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment, he was like a tiger that grew wings. On the other hand, Mad God was like a tiger that lost its teeth, unable to pose any threat.

As Mad God departed, Depraved hopped onto the stage.

Smoke Stub and the others’ eyes flashed with killing intent. Given how this Thief hadn’t come up until now, his objective was clear—Nie Yan!

"Nirvana Flame, care for a match?” Depraved eyed Nie Yan much like a hawk would its prey.

The crowd, who was excitedly discussing the previous match, immediately quieted down and turned to look at Nie Yan.

"That guy’s looking to die. He actually challenged Nirvana Flame!”

"Right, he’s tired of living! Seems like watching what happened to his partner wasn’t enough for him.”

...

Everyone eagerly awaited Nie Yan’s answer. Would he dare to accept the challenge?

"What makes you think you’re qualified? If your guild leader challenged me, I might consider accepting,” Nie Yan calmly replied.

After some thought, this made sense. If any random player from Angel Corps could challenge the guild leader of Asskickers United, what would that say about Nie Yan’s status?

Nie Yan instantly solved the issue by placing himself in an invincible position. So what if he didn’t accept the challenge? No one would question it.

"You want to challenge our guild leader? How about beating us first?” Lustboy said.

"Right, these guys from Angel Corps are in over their heads!”

"Challenge Nirvana Flame? Are nobodies like you even qualified?”

The crowd stood firmly in support of Asskickers United. It had become the cornerstone of Calore. Nie Yan himself was even more revered as a godly existence. How could they tolerate the provocation of outsiders?

Depraved didn’t bother retorting. He muttered out a complex incantation as a giant creature materialized before the crowd’s eyes. It stood over three meters tall with fur as white as snow, and had a muscular figure resembling that of a bear, with a pair of long, sharp horns on its head.

The crowd let out a cry of surprise. This beast’s immense size caused their hearts to tremble in fear.

"Holy shit! It’s a Polar Behemoth!”

A player in the crowd recognized this giant creature. According to legend, behemoths were existences that rivalled dragons. In a direct physical confrontation, they were even stronger than dragons! Their sharp claws could tear apart a dragon’s scales!

Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise. He never expected Angel Corps to bring out something like this. It seemed like they had gone through quite a bit of effort to deal with him.

"Is this enough to prove my qualifications? I heard you have a Golden Dragon, Nirvana Flame. I want to see whose pet is stronger, your Golden Dragon or my Polar Behemoth!” Depraved declared loudly. He was following Soaring Angel’s instructions. It was time to take Nie Yan down a peg!

Nie Yan inwardly sneered. Soaring Angel had really done his research. Golden Dragons and Polar Behemoths were equal ranked existences. Both had growth rates of 20. The difference was the former specialized in magic while the latter specialized in close combat. In this small arena stage, a Golden Dragon would be at an obvious disadvantage.

However, Soaring Angel wasn’t aware of one very important factor. Ordinarily, a Polar Behemoth would have no problem beating a Golden Dragon. But Lil’ Gold wasn’t a normal Golden Dragon. After being fed an Evolution Crystal, its growth rate had increased from 20 to 25!

A difference of 5 points meant Lil’ Gold would gain 20% more stat points for every level up. At higher levels, this difference would become enormous!

At this moment, the Polar Behemoth was Level 59, and Lil’ Gold was Level 61. Regardless of whether they fought melee or ranged, the Polar Behemoth was bound to lose miserably!

"What, don’t tell me the almighty Nirvana Flame is afraid?” Depraved chuckled. He mistakenly took Nie Yan’s silence for fear.

"I’m not opposed to accepting, but you guys should bring something out to tempt me. After all, what’s the point if there’s nothing at stake,” Nie Yan said in an insipid tone. Asking for the Polar Behemoth was out of the question. It was already bound to a master. However, he felt Angel Corps should still pay a hefty price.

The crowd broke out in a cold sweat. First Smoke Stub, and now Nie Yan! What was with this guild and high stake bets?

"What do you want to bet...?” Depraved’s confidence was shaken. After all, no one knew Nirvana Flame’s true strength. He hardly ever revealed himself in public, and on the scarce occasions he did take action himself, tragedy would always befall his enemies! Most recently, his summoning of the Crypt Lord left an especially deep impression on the collective mind of the players.

"5 pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment, any less and all talks are off,” Nie Yan replied. If he asked for more, Angel Corps might not take the bait. This was just the right amount. It wasn’t too excessive, but it was still enough to hurt.

Sub Legendary-grade equipment was still quite rare at this stage of the game. For example, Asskickers United only had around 30 or so pieces in total. Angel Corps was probably somewhat better off, but they definitely had no more than 50 pieces.

Depraved hesitated. He lacked the authority to make this decision himself. He passed on Nie Yan’s words to Soaring Angel.

「Depraved, what are your thoughts? Do you think Nirvana Flame is just blustering?」Soaring Angel asked. He couldn’t help but wonder if Nie Yan was trying to scare them off.

「I’m not sure. This guy is too hard to read. I can’t tell what he’s thinking at all!」Depraved replied. He felt a tremendous amount of pressure. Perhaps Nie Yan was the only one who could propose such an outrageous bet without batting an eye!

This was a duel between Nie Yan and Soaring Angel!

Soaring Angel pondered his options for a long time.

「If we back out, Angel Corps is going to lose face. If we agree and lose, we’ll have to gift them five pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment. You’ll have to decide yourself...」Depraved carefully explained.

「The Polar Behemoth is definitely stronger than his Golden Dragon. We just don’t know what kind of tricks he’s hiding up his sleeve. If he summons his flying mount...」Soaring Angel hesitated. Flying mounts were existences far more powerful than summoned monsters.「If he doesn’t summon his flying mount, we’ll take the bet!」

Recently, Nie Yan was probably completely focused on raising his flying mount. Soaring Angel highly doubted he had the time to do anything else.

「Understood,」Depraved replied. He no longer thought about anything but the task in front of him.

"May I take a look at your flying mount?”

"Don’t worry, I won’t summon it for the match.” Nie Yan faintly smiled. It appeared Angel Corps was worried about his flying mount. Little did they know that it hadn’t even hatched yet!

"Alright, I accept the bet!” Depraved gritted his teeth.

Chapter 463 - Lil’ Gold vs. Polar Behemoth

Nie Yan leaped onto the stage. Depraved thought the Polar Behemoth could restrain Lil’ Gold? Now that was a joke and a half! Nie Yan would show him just how deluded he was!

Nie Yan chanted out an incantation. With a flash of light, Lil’ Gold materialized on the stage.

Lil’ Gold stood more than three meters tall approaching close to four meters, roughly a head bigger than the Polar Behemoth. He was covered in dense gold scales which pulsed with a bloody crimson glow.

Since high rank pets like Golden Dragons and Polar Behemoths were quite rare, players had very little knowledge about them. All they knew were the stories of legend describing the immense power these existences held. As for exactly how powerful they were, that was still up in the air. The only baseline to go by was the few instances of Lil’ Gold in action, with his appearance during the siege of the Cripps Stronghold being the most recent. There were videos of most of these events floating around online.

Lil’ Gold’s might was frightening. Thinking about it, the Polar Behemoth couldn’t be too far behind. As for who was stronger, no one could say for sure.

Nie Yan was fairly familiar with these high rank pets. After all, they were relatively numerous during his prime in the previous timeline, with many top ranked players owning one.

Nie Yan was well aware behemoths were superior in direct confrontations. However, the physical prowess of dragons shouldn’t be looked down on either, only lagging somewhat behind that of behemoths. Given the massive disparity in growth rates, the Polar Behemoth stood no chance against Lil’ Gold.

"Let’s start,” Nie Yan said in a casual tone. He was currently far stronger than Depraved and others like him, just in terms of raw stats alone.

Nie Yan had close to 7,000 health, while Depraved only had around 3,000. He was Level 72. Depraved was only Level 61. His others stats, such as attack power, defense, cloaking, awareness, and so on were more than 30% higher than those of Depraved! These were his past efforts finally paying off!

No other Thief could match Nie Yan right now!

Nie Yan kept his stats hidden. He would never reveal them publicly. Of course, his health could still be seen by others. It was truly frightening. Any Thief that saw him would lose all confidence in themselves. This was the effect of his equipment and the 10,000-Man Commander title. Depraved and his ilk were in over their heads wanting to challenge him.

The Polar Behemoth let out a deep roar, then charged toward Lil’ Gold.

The match had begun!

Depraved entered stealth and faded into the background.

Eye of Truth!

Nie Yan’s eyes blossomed out with a red light. Scanning around, he spotted a faint silhouette roughly 30 or so meters away from him. He quickly ordered Lil’ Gold to target the area with Dragon Breath, not bothering to take action himself.

Depraved’s mind trembled. He already knew in advance Nie Yan possessed an eye skill, but experiencing it in person was completely different. He felt completely exposed. The intensity of the gaze was palpable. Seeing the raging flames blasting towards him, he quickly fled to safety with Gale Step.

「Boom!」The Dragon Breath blasted the center of the stage, scorching the area black. Embers danced in the air before dissipating into the sky.

The ground which was protected by the protective formations of countless Magisters didn’t receive any damage. However, the nearby players could still feel the frightening might as the air around the arena boiled over. No Thief could survive a direct hit from this dreadful attack!

「Bang!」Lil’ Gold and the Polar Behemoth clashed. Their immense weight and size shook the whole stage. The sound of their blows reverberated through the square. The faces of the crowd paled in fear, and they slowly started backing away.

Only after retreating more than 30 meters did they finally feel somewhat safe.

"Oh fuck! What kind of power is this? It’s terrifying!”

The Polar Behemoth's paw swiped Lil’ Gold squarely in the chest.

−1,271

Lil’ Gold only slightly trembled. Given how he had over 27,000 health, this barely counted as a scratch.

Explosive Counter!

A violent whirlwind erupted from Lil’ Gold as he retaliated by swiping the Polar Behemoth in the shoulder.「Bang!」It was sent skidding several meters backwards before tripping and crashing into the stage floor.

−3,437

With only 16,000 health, the Polar Behemoth suffered serious damage.

Everyone was dazed, especially Depraved who had an incredulous expression on his face. He never expected the Polar Behemoth to be suppressed, let alone to this extent! Weren’t behemoths supposed to be stronger than dragons in a direct confrontation?

Since the ancient past, behemoths ruled the land while the skies belonged to the dragons. Generally, flightless dragons were all of the lowest rank. How did a Golden Dragon like Lil’ Gold grow so powerful?

Back at Angel Corps’ headquarters in the Sanguine Stronghold, Soaring Angel who was watching a livestream of the match suddenly sprung up from his seat.

"Why is it like this?” Soaring Angel muttered. Lil’ Gold’s might caught him off guard. He believed the Polar Behemoth held an absolute advantage in the limited space of an arena stage. He really wanted to ask Nie Yan what the hell he fed this Golden Dragon for it to get so strong! He previously believed Nie Yan was only bluffing. Now he realized his mistake!

At this moment, the battle on the stage was still fiercely raging on.

Nie Yan still stood in the same spot as before, not showing any inclination of wanting to take action.

Depraved stealthily approached Nie Yan in an attempt to swing things around, only for him to see scorching hot flames shooting his way. He had no choice but to retreat back.

Even while clashing with the Polar Behemoth, Lil’ Gold still had enough energy left over to deal with Depraved!

The Polar Behemoth was in a miserable state. Every time it staggered to its feet, it would be knocked back down by Lil’ Gold. Crawl back up. Knocked backed down again. This cycle continued several times over. Its body was riddled with claw marks, blood seeping out of the deep wounds. It whimpered out in pain, helpless in the face of Lil’ Gold’s absolute might.

The match was completely lopsided. There was no suspense whatsoever.

Seeing the fight turning south, Depraved became anxious and chanted out an incantation. The Polar Behemoth’s muscles suddenly bulged out and it swelled several times in size. Its pure white fur was tinged with a shade of red, and its eyes became bloodshot. It had entered berserk mode!

The Polar Behemoth started striking back at Lil’ Gold with renewed vigor. At this moment, a scorching meteor suddenly fell from the sky. Meteor Drop! With a loud bang, flames engulfed the entire stage. The Polar Behemoth was knocked to the ground by the hail of fireballs. No matter how hard it struggled, it couldn’t get back up.

The Polar Behemoth couldn’t even compete against Lil’ Gold in a physical confrontation, so there was no need to speak about one of magic. It was useless. Even after going berserk, it was still pummeled into the floor, unable to even lift its head.

The Polar Behemoth’s fur was riddled with scorch marks. As it tried to struggle to its feet, Lil’ Gold blasted a mouthful of scorching hot flames. The powerful Dragon Breath struck the Polar Behemoth in the chest. It let out a miserable howl and was sent flying out of the arena before heavily crashing into the ground. Its health had finally bottomed out, and it transformed into a ray of light.

Silence prevailed in the square. No one expected this outcome. Even if the Polar Behemoth couldn’t beat Lil’ Gold, everyone believed it could at least hold its own. However, it became a punching bag instead, simply incapable of fighting back. Even after it went berserk, nothing changed. All of this culminated into a crushing defeat.

"The boss’ Golden Dragon is too fierce.”

If there were a ranking board for pets, Lil’ Gold would definitely take the number one spot!

After the Polar Behemoth was killed, Depraved lost all will to fight. He hadn’t even been able to approach Nie Yan the whole time due to the Dragon Breath. He dispelled his stealth and materialized back into view. He gazed at the distant Nie Yan who had never once left his spot.

Standing like this, Nie Yan looked like a god overlooking the world. With Lil’ Gold under his control, he was practically unrivalled.

"I admit defeat,” Depraved said in a dispirited tone. He stared at Nie Yan and asked, "Can I have a real match with you? This time without pets. You can treat it as a request. It has nothing to do with the previous challenge.”

"You’re not qualified,” Nie Yan said in an indifferent tone as if he were simply stating a fact.

No one questioned Nie Yan’s words.

Depraved’s eyes flashed with a trace of disappointment. "Then when will I be qualified?”

"When you become a Shadow Dancer,” Nie Yan said. Only Thieves who advanced to Shadow Dancers were worthy of challenging him. He would definitely become a Shadow Dancer before anyone else. He had already mastered the techniques of a Shadow Dancer. What he lacked right now was only levels! As long as his level was high enough, he could easily clear the Shadow Dancer class advancement quest.

"Shadow Dancer…” Depraved muttered. His eyes reignited with spirit, and he clenched his fists. He would become a Shadow Dancer, and then return to challenge Nie Yan!

The term ‘Shadow Dancer’ was still unfamiliar to most players. It appeared to be the class after Great Thief, a peak existence. One could only attempt the advancement quest after reaching Level 100.

After Nie Yan spoke out these words, the term Shadow Dancer instantly became a hot topic among players. Everyone was discussing it with fervor.

Once you became a Shadow Dancer, you could challenge Nirvana Flame. Becoming a Shadow Dancer, this instantly became the goal of all Thieves.

Chapter 464 - Luminous Dancer

"Remember to tell Soaring Angel to deliver those five pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment,” Nie Yan said with a indifferent expression. "Oh, one more thing. I’ll be paying a visit to the Satreen Empire in the near future. I’ll be sure to return the favour in kind.”

The crowd trembled. This was Asskickers United’s declaration of war on Angel Corps!

The distance between the Satreen and Viridian Empires was far too great. With a single trip by transfer point costing several hundred gold, there likely wouldn’t be a large scale war occurring until flying mounts were more widespread. Only the elites of both sides were duking it out for now. As for what the outcome would be, players were eagerly waiting to see. These sorts of clashes between top experts were always exhilarating!

Watching everything from the guild hall of the Angel Corps headquarters, Soaring Angel slammed his fist on the table. Through gritted teeth he spat out, ”Nirvana Flame, you’re still gloating after getting a cheap win. If you dare to come to Orc King City, I’ll crush you like an ant!”

This loss meant nothing to Angel Corps. The majority of their attention was focused on capturing cities and unifying the Satreen Empire. They were too busy to bother with anything else. Besides, the Viridian Empire was too far away. Were it any closer, with their current strength, they could easily swallow Asskickers United whole.

Flying mounts! Two words popped into Soaring Angel’s mind.

Whoever had the most flying mounts would control the skies!

The makeshift arena in Calore’s central square was slowly dismantled. Mad God and Depraved gloomily teleported back to the Satreen Empire. This matter had come to an end for the time being.

Discussion about these PvP matches would naturally continue for a long time. However, Mad God and Depraved had clearly become laughingstocks. They had arrogantly barged into Calore, only to depart beaten and bruised.

There was a lot of ongoing discussion surrounding Nie Yan’s strength as well. As for exactly how strong he was, they could only guess. Ever since his first appearance, he had never once lost. Everyone hoped another godly existence capable of matching him would emerge.

Nie Yan returned to the Cripps Stronghold with Smoke Stub and the others.

After experiencing a war, the Cripps Stronghold became even more flourishing than before. Instead of destroying the stronghold, the flames of war fueled its development even further. When merchants looked to set up their businesses, the first thing they looked for was security. If they bought a plot of land in a stronghold and set up shop, only for it to burn down during a war, wouldn’t their investments have gone to waste?

Asskickers United had proven they could hold the Cripps Stronghold even against an overwhelmingly superior enemy. Could there be a better assurance than that? As such, merchants were flocking here from all over. Besides security, another important factor was potential. With a large number of Level 60-80 maps surrounding the stronghold, its prosperity was guaranteed. Not to mention Asskickers United intended to develop it into a central hub, spending vast sums of gold to construct transfer points and connect it with other strongholds. With these transfer points, travelling back and forth would become much more convenient.

Nie Yan felt gratified at the bustling sight of the Cripps Stronghold. It appeared Guo Huai and his team had properly managed this place while he was away.

Nie Yan entered the Asskickers United guild hall. Guo Huai and his team were swamped with work.

"How’s the War God Tribe doing?” Nie Yan asked. Guo Huai hadn't come running to him about the War God Tribe since last time. So, he could only conclude they were doing well.

"I don’t know what you told them, but they’re fighting with renewed spirit and fervor. The Tuoba Family’s five guilds can’t do anything to them. They should be able to hold out for at least five or six more days,” Guo Huai reported. The situation over in Nisode was stable for the time being.

It seemed Nie Yan’s provocation back then had really lit the fire in their hearts. After all, none of them wanted to be called trash and be looked down on by others. With the leaders of the gaming organizations passing down the orders, their subordinates would naturally give it their all. The unity of the War God Tribe instantly soared. Although the War God Tribe couldn’t beat the Tuoba Family, as long as they could hold out for several more days, Asskickers United would be in a better position to help.

After five or six days, Nie Yan could dispatch a group of players to support the War God Tribe. The Armoured Ice Catapults would also be ready for war. At that time, they could launch a counter offensive on the Tuoba Family.

Nie Yan cared quite a lot for the War God Tribe. It was the Nie Family’s asset. He absolutely couldn’t allow the Tuoba Family to destroy it.

After confirming the War God Tribe was in no immediate danger, Nie Yan dealt with some other guild affairs, then teleported back to Calore. It was about time he paid the Temple of Light a visit.

The Temple of Light was located in Calore’s West District. Large religious ceremonies would often be held at this place. Every week, NPCs would gather en masse to pray and listen to sermons. On top of this, a grand pilgrimage would be held every year, with the sickly coming from all over to receive healing from the warm radiance of the holy light.

As Nie Yan walked along the street, he gazed at the grand building constructed of grayish white stone shrouded in a faint white radiance.

In front of the building was an open square with a large statue of an angel wearing white battle armour. Its expression was vivid and lifelike, right down to the last feather on its wings. This was the most famous figure of the Temple of Light, Archangel Tallod. He was permanently stationed at the gates of hell, guarding humanity’s peace.

The dignified expression of Tallod’s statue filled everyone who saw it with a sense of respect and reverence.

Nie Yan walked past the statue and approached the Temple of Light. A guard in silver white armour stopped him from entering. "Stranger, please leave this place. Those not affiliated with the temple are not allowed to enter.”

Nie Yan looked at the guard’s name.

"Sir Gerard, I’m looking for Priest Anisen. I’ve obtained an evil item, and I’d like to have it examined,” Nie Yan respectfully said. Everyone at the temple had an extremely high status. This was because the majority of the nobility in Calore were followers of the Temple of Light.

"If you wish to purify an evil item, you’ll have to wait until the weekend to enter the temple.”

It seemed Nie Yan couldn’t purify the Evil Gemstone today. The weekend was two days away. He could only wait until then.

Nie Yan was about to leave, when a grey haired and bearded old man in white robes walked over.

"Grand Scholar, what brought you to this holy sanctuary?” the old man asked.

Nie Yan looked at his name. It was Priest Anisen, just the person he was looking for! He was a bit astonished by his luck.

Anisen saw the pondering expression on Nie Yan’s face and faintly smiled. "Don’t be surprised, sir Nirvana Flame. I was informed by God of your arrival. He is omniscient and omnipotent.”

Nie Yan didn’t pay Anisen’s words about God any mind and directly took out the Evil Gemstone from his bag. The black gem emitted a corrosive black miasma.

Anisen looked at the item and said in a grateful tone, "That is the Evil Gemstone. It originated from the distant Dark Abyss. It absorbs the energy of the undead and can enslave the mind of its owner, simultaneously granting them immortality. Even if they’re killed, they’ll resurrect. For this very reason, the Temple of Light could never completely exterminate the Bloodshadow Legion. Sir Nirvana Flame, you’ve resolved a great headache for us. Please, let met purify it.”

"Of course, Priest Anisen.” Nie Yan handed over the Evil Gemstone to Anisen.

Anisen smiled. "Sir Nirvana Flame, please follow me.” Together, the two walked into the Temple of Light.

After entering, the miasma coming off the Evil Gemstone was instantly suppressed. The originally pitch black turned faint.

Nie Yan followed Anisen into a lounge. It was filled with a boundless radiance and overflowing with holy power.

Nie Yan felt the warm light wash over him and cleanse him of all impurities.

This was the power of light.

Anisen took the Evil Gemstone to a white stone pillar. It held a thick book which let out a brilliant radiance.

As Anisen flipped open the book to the first page, holy power gushed out. Nie Yan saw twisting tadpole-like scribblings on the page. They were both bizarre and elegant. This was the Temple of Light’s Holy Scripture. It possessed unimaginable divine power.

As Anisen chanted out one cryptic syllable after another, the Holy Scripture grew all the more dazzling, its radiance completely enveloping him. The Evil Gemstone in his hand started slowly disintegrating before finally exploding and disappearing into thin air. There wasn’t even the smallest of fragments left behind.

With the Evil Gemstone purified, Nie Yan wondered how the reward for becoming a Luminous Dancer was triggered. Was it a quest? Was he going to receive some sort of item?

As for exactly how Smiling completed the Luminous Dancer class advancement in the previous timeline, Nie Yan wasn’t clear. Smiling himself definitely would not reveal this sort of secret to the general public.

Since the Evil Gemstone was already purified, Anisen would definitely give him a reward. Nie Yan waited in anticipation.

After a while, Anisen finished chanting. He waved his hand and a white ray of light shone down on Nie Yan.

Nie Yan felt a formidable power slowly entering his body.

"Light and shadow in coexistence. Youngster, would you like to enter a different world and pursue a divine power from the distant past? You will be transported to an ancient battlefield. There you will obtain the blessing of God. Within the spinning wheel of time, prove your worth by surviving,” Anisen’s low and sonorous tone guided Nie Yan into a dreamlike state.

This was the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest?

Chapter 465 - The Fifth Character Property

Nie Yan had no idea how long the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest would take. If he was away for too long, he couldn’t travel to the underworld, meaning Asskickers United would suffer a heavy blow financially. This really wasn’t an easy decision to make.

Nie Yan felt deeply conflicted. Passing up on this quest would mean forever losing the opportunity to become a Luminous Dancer, a regret that might follow him for life.

He was frozen by indecision.

After inwardly struggling for a long time, Nie Yan ultimately resolved to give up on becoming a Luminous Dancer. Asskickers United’s development was simply too important compared to his personal matters.

"Priest Anisen… My deepest apologies, but I’ll have to politely decline!” Nie Yan said through gritted teeth.

Stunned by the refusal, Anisen stopped the ritual.

"Youngster, are you really not willing to inherit God’s glory? This is a supreme, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! You will become a fabled Luminous Dancer, the existence closest to God,” Anisen said with a look of disappointment. Never did he imagine that Nie Yan would refuse!

"Priest Anisen, I would love nothing more than to travel to the ancient past, to pursue God’s tracks and receive His inheritance! However, I am a guild leader. I have too many people relying on me right now. I can’t just abandon them in their time of need for my own selfish gain! Bound are our paths. So too our souls!” Nie Yan said with unwavering conviction.

Anisen’s worried expression relaxed into a gentle smile. "So it is like this. No problem. Feel free to look for me when you have the time. Your willingness to sacrifice your own growth for the sake of your guild is truly admirable. The gates of the Temple of Light will always be open to you.”

With a stunned look, Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. The Luminous Dancer quest didn’t disappear! It was fortunate it could be picked back up at a later time. If he forever lost the opportunity to become a Luminous Dancer, he would’ve definitely had regrets in his hearts. Now, however, he could put travelling together with Anisen to another world on hold until after he resolved pressing guild matters.

"Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Priest Anisen,” Nie Yan said in a grateful tone.

Anisen laughed. "Go, may the light be with you.”

Nie Yan bid farewell to Anisen and was just about to leave, when he noticed ‘Selfless’ was added to his character page.

Nie Yan never expected to be rewarded for being willing to pass up the opportunity to become a Luminous Dancer for the sake of his guild. Selflessness was the willingness to sacrifice yourself for the sake of others. It was sublime virtue on part with the other four.

Brave, Just, Benevolent, Sincere, and Selfless… Nie Yan felt like he had seen these words somewhere before.

Beside information he was already familiar with, Nie Yan couldn’t recall any clue even after racking his brains. However, he was certain he had seen these words somewhere before in his past life. Many of his memories would remain buried for the time being, until something triggered them.

Nie Yan could only set this mystery aside for now.

Nie Yan left the Temple of Light. Level 100 wasn’t too far away. It was probably best for him to dedicate the next few days to levelling. After that, he would have to return to the Underworld and conduct his third trade. Making use of the Dark Portal to earn some gold would be beneficial to Asskickers United’s growth.

...

Nisode.

Most recently, things in the city were quite hectic. The heated war between the War God Tribe and Tuoba Family was a great headache for all players, including those not affiliated to either guild. They were discussing the war every day.

The 300,000 players on the side of the Tuoba Family’s five guilds were besieging the War God Tribe’s several strongholds. With great progress in the beginning, they believed they could end the war in no time. When they sweeped up the War God Tribe, Asskickers United would have no way of salvaging the situation by dispatching their forces to Nisode. After all, Asskickers United was already having trouble taking care of themselves. With Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors glaring like tigers on the sidelines, waiting for the opportunity to strike, would they dare to take the risk?

With all this in mind, Tuoba Hongye ordered his five guilds to launch a full-on assault on the War God Tribe’s strongholds. Just as it looked like a stronghold was about to fall, the players of the War God Tribe suddenly fought back with renewed vigor, not hesitating to throw their lives away to beat back the enemy again and again. He couldn’t understand for the life of him how the cowardly and turtling War God Tribe suddenly became so full of spirit.

The war instantly entered a stalemate.

Seeing as no progress was being made on any front, Tuoba Honge was getting restless. Could Asskickers United have sent reinforcements? That shouldn’t be the case. He was feeling a little paranoid, seeing enemies everywhere.

Tuoba Hongye watched the video of the Cripps Stronghold siege. Asskickers United’s players were truly frightening. Each of them could be described as one with the strength of ten. If Asskickers United really entered this war, the outcome would become difficult to predict.

Tuoba Hongye also monitored the war’s progress through livestreams of the several battlefields. With the aid of siege ladders, his troops had scaled the walls of the strongholds countless times, only to be beaten back every time. Who knew how many bodies had already piled up on those walls?

For Tuoba Hongye, this truly felt like an excruciatingly long ordeal.

A private residence in Nisode. In a room filled with all sorts of decor, exuding a special sort of elegance, a player in civilian clothing was leisurely sipping tea. He was the current head of the Tuoba Family, Tuoba Hongye.

He was actively monitoring the progress of the war while also waiting for someone.

After a while, a youth in silver white armour entered the lounge. It was Tuoba Time.

"Have a seat,” Tuoba Hongye said in a dignified tone.

Tuoba Time calmly sat down on the seat opposite of Tuoba Hongye, accepting tea offered to him.

"How’s the war going in Nisode?” Tuoba Time asked.

"In three day’s time, the War God Tribe’s strongholds will fall,” Tuoba Hongye confidently stated.

"Oh, really now?” Tuoba Time responded in a nonchalant tone.

"Are you really sure you want to go through with this? Think about the consequences. You know there’s no turning back. Between you and me, only one will come out the victor,” Tuoba Hongye said. A ruthless glint flashed across his eyes.

Tuoba Time simply chuckled. "You’ve grown old and senile. If it back then, you would never use such words to threaten me.”

Tuoba Hongye was briefly stunned. Tuoba Time had truly struck a sore spot. His threat really was just empty words. After falling out with the Century Financial Group, suffering attacks from all sides, and his position as the head being eyed covetously by two others in the family, he really had exhausted all his resources. Even after using up all his tricks, he still couldn’t win this losing battle. He really had grown old, no longer possessing the boldness he did in his youth and allowing himself to be forced on the defensive.

Right now the situation was already out of his control. His shares in the Tuoba Family had shrunk considerably, and his position was at risk of being taken over. The nephew he had never paid attention to had suddenly risen as a dark horse, rapidly buying up a large amount of the Tuoba Family’s shares and even forming an alliance with Tuoba Fengyuan. Tuoba Hongye faced enemies on both fronts. Even he couldn’t understand how Tuoba Time convinced Tuoba Fengyuan to give up on the struggle to become the family head.

Tuoba Hongye was at the end of his rope. If his investment in Nisode went down the drain, he would lose his position as the family head.

Tuoba Hongye had originally never planned on taking any action against the War God Tribe. However, he wasn’t blind. There were clear traces of the Nie Family behind Tuoba Time’s purchases of Tuoba Family shares. The War God Tribe belonged to the Nie Family. Putting two and two together, he’d be an idiot to not realize they were in cahoots. Rather than waiting to be swallowed up, it’d be better to proactively eliminate the War God Tribe before Tuoba Time’s plans could come to fruition.

Tuoba Hongye still had this bit of drive in spite of his old age. He knew it was a do or die situation once he started this war. This was why he was assaulting the War God Tribe’s strongholds like his life depended on it.

As for what the final outcome would be, he would have to wait a few days to see. However, his patience was being stretched taut.

Tuoba Time smiled. "You’re tired. It’s time to hang up the coat, and let the younger generation take over.”

Tuoba Time got up from his seat and left. The only reason he had come here was to say these words to Tuoba Hongye. This was his official declaration of war. The victor would become the head of the Tuoba Family. The loser would forever fade away into obscurity.

Seeing Tuoba Time’s receding back, Tuoba Hongye’s eyes flashed with a cold light. You want to drag me off my throne? It won't be that simple! Don’t be so quick to celebrate your victory!

No one knew when the war would conclude. Everyone was discussing this, for they knew that the outcome of this war would determine the destiny the of Nisode!

Between the Asskickers United backed War God Tribe and the already established Tuoba Family, who would win was still up in the air.

Checking up on the situation in Nisode from time to time, Nie Yan found a Level 90 map that spawned Dark Goblins. He started mobbing them with impunity.

If he wanted to reach Level 100, regardless of how fast he levelled up, it would still take at least two to three months. Not to mention he still had to travel back to the Underworld during this time. It would take a lot of time.

The days passed by one after the other in relative peace. For the players of Asskickers United, this was absolute bliss. They could finally wholeheartedly devote themselves to levelling. It was crucial that they take advantage of this time as much as possible. The wounds they suffered from the siege of the Cripps Stronghold would take a long time to heal.

Chapter 466 - Golden City

Nie Yan made a trip to the Underworld and returned back to the surface. The Tuoba Family’s five guilds were still assaulting the War God Tribe’s strongholds to no avail. He received word two of the Armoured Ice Catapults were completed, and it wouldn’t be long before the third was ready for war too.

With three Armoured Ice Catapults complete, the War God Tribe would launch an all out counter offensive. Previously, Bloodlust Blades had used Armoured Catapults to slaughter the players of Asskickers United during the siege of the Cripps Stronghold. This time, their side would use the Armoured Ice Catapults to massacre the Tuoba Family’s five guilds. If the Tuoba Family didn’t have a comparable siege engine or powerful summon like the Crypt Lord, they were going to suffer dearly.

Like Nie Yan envisioned, on the sixth day of the war in Nisode, the War God Tribe brought out the three Armoured Ice Catapults and wreaked utter carnage on the forces of the Tuoba Family’s five guilds. Their awe inspiring presence and might left the enemy beating a full retreat.

The defeat of the Tuoba Family was inevitable.

The War God Tribe held an absolute advantage. So long as the three Armoured Ice Catapults stood, victory was assured. Nie Yan felt comfortable leaving the rest to Guo Huai. Everything was fully under control.

Nie Yan offloaded all the equipment he brought back from the Underworld in the various auction houses across the Viridian Empire. This time, however, he only made around 500,000 gold in profit. Night Vision and Focus boosting equipment in the market had hit a saturation point. It would be a while before demand increased again.

Selling equipment like this, of course the first few times would be extremely profitable. However, every subsequent time would be less so, to the extent that Nie Yan would be better off doing something else. He and Plenty agreed on postponing the next trade. Both sides had already benefited greatly from this cooperation.

Guo Huai sent word that Sun had received a flying mount quest. Nie Yan also received an update from King of the World saying he had just obtained two pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment.

With Guo Huai leading everything, Asskickers United along with Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, and Radiant Sacred Flame took down all the Basic Strongholds surrounding Calore. They frantically upgraded the buildings and defenses of all their strongholds. Everyone was busy beyond belief.

Nie Yan checked the progression of his three most important active quests. The first was finding out the truth about the Ten Holy Paladins, with Karsi telling him to look for the Dragon Girl, Venita. He estimated he would have to be Level 100 at minimum to complete this quest. He temporarily shelved it for the time being. The second quest was to search for the Occult Talisman of Empress Finas. This was a similarly high difficulty quest. The third quest was collecting the Tyrant Abak Set. It required him to travel to the Level 60 map, Golden City. This was the only one he could do right now.

Nie Yan was also still tagged with the Wander Princess’ Mark. However, Phantom Princess Ina still hadn’t shown up even once yet. He figured she would only appear under certain conditions. He would have to be careful while out questing.

Nie Yan made his preparations. After stocking up on consumables, he teleported to Hilderlocke and set off for Golden City. Suddenly, a notification popped up.

—A calamity descends on the Hilton Stronghold as lava from the erupting Mt. Anfrit overflows into the Underworld. The soldiers of the Viridian Empire heroically fend off the hordes of invading monsters.

The Defense of the Hilton Stronghold update is released. Brave adventurers, set off for the Hilton Stronghold to protect humanity's bastion of heroes!

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. The monster invasion of the Hilton Stronghold was finally beginning. It would last for five days, and most of the NPC residents there would end up dying. Afterwards, players would slowly start arriving and become the new main line of defense against the monsters. In addition, at Level 100, players from the Underworld would start arriving on the surface. That was when the war between the Righteous Faction and Evil Faction would truly begin.

Nie Yan felt a weight lifted off his shoulders. His prophecy had come true. He wondered if the NPCs over in the Hilton Stronghold had heeded his warning and made preparations in advance. Checking the status of his titles, he was still a Grand Scholar.

Grand Scholar: Progress to Great Prophet (3/5)

The correct prediction of the invasion of the Hilton Stronghold had only brought him three fifths of the way to Great Prophet. Nie Yan couldn’t help but be bewildered. Wasn’t ranking up to a Great Prophet a bit too difficult? After all, it wasn’t like major disasters and wars happened on a daily basis.

Nie Yan opened up the information page related to the Great Prophet title on the official website. It appeared the scope of the event predicted affected the progress, with ordinary events only giving one point. Five points in total were required to advance to a Great Prophet. His correct prediction of the Hilton Stronghold invasion counted as a major event, so he was rewarded three points.

Nie Yan checked the privileges of Great Prophets. They could receive a fiefdom in their home nation and establish a city, setting their own laws and decrees and collecting all the relevant taxes. Furthermore, in the Viridian and Satreen Empires, they held authority equal to a council elder, a paramount and eminent position. Lastly, it was rumoured that by communicating with God and nature they could call forth a powerful personal summon.

Although the official website contained a vast wealth of information, it wasn’t all-encompassing. There were still secrets out there the players had to discover for themselves. The official website couldn’t provide everything.

That said, Nie Yan was deeply moved by these benefits, especially the part about establishing his own city. This wasn’t a stronghold but an actual city like Calore or Nisode, with its own territory capable of supporting a large number of strongholds. Alas, the Great Prophet title was still a far ways off for him. After all, the events of the game had already altered course. Predicting the next event would be incredibly difficult. On top of this, the Great Prophecy skill had a cooldown of 10 days, and the clues were cryptic at best.

Nie Yan could only drop the subject for now. He had no idea if there was a reward for correctly predicting the invasion of the Hilton Stronghold. The system didn’t say anything. Once the fighting was over, he would go over there for a look. Maybe he had something special waiting in store for him.

At this moment, Nie Yan was already making good headway to Golden City.

Golden City was located south of Hilderlocke, a place full of riches. A prominent mine owner built a grand castle halfway up Burks Mountain. Later on, the owner abandoned the light and transformed into a demon called Mine Slave Igrin, a Level 90 Lord, who defended the entrance to the castle. Players didn’t dare to challenge him as of yet, so they only hung around the mines beneath Golden City.

Nie Yan galloped on his Faulkner Warhorse toward his destination.

An enormous castle situated halfway atop a mountain entered Nie Yan’s sight. This was Golden City, Mine Slave Igrin roamed the top half while the bottom half was a well-known dungeon, Golden City Underground Mines. Bladelight and the others had long since cleared this dungeon. It was reported that when they first arrived here, they had gotten into a conflict with a guild from Hilderlocke, who sent over 2,000 players to trap them in Golden City. The end result was Bladelight and the others slaughtering their way out. 20 players completely crushing 2,000. From then on, Asskickers United’s reputation in Hilderlocke soared.

Whenever guilds from Hillderlocke encounted players from Asskickers United these days, they would behave extremely politely. They knew who they could afford to offend and who they couldn’t. This was an old story by now. But back then, Nie Yan was still roaming around in the Underworld. Whether it was grinding mobs or running dungeons, these sorts of minor conflicts were fairly common. If you had to gang up on people anytime some friction occurred, to the extent of bringing over your entire guild, that would be too degrading.

Right now Level 60+ players were fairly numerous. Golden City was especially bustling. Many player owned stalls lined up both sides of the forest path leading up the mountain.

Passing by numerous people along the way, Nie Yan finally arrived outside Golden City. He wore a black hooded cloak to hide his appearance.

"Looking for a team to run Underground Mines, I’m a Mage with 800 magic power…”

"Underground Mines team recruiting Priests and Paladins. Heals have to restore a minimum of 1,000 and 500 health respectively.”

The outskirts of Golden City was bustling with activity, with a total of 3,000 players gathered. Players were regularly forming teams to run the dungeon. Guilds from all over the Viridian Empire gathered here, while there were also numerous solo players looking to run dungeons.

Since this wasn’t a PvP free zone, players were on high alert.

Players looking to form teams were everywhere. As they searched around, they glanced at every person they passed. If they met a suitable candidate for a teammate, they would send out an invite. Their requirements were extremely high, resulting in few suitable candidates. Anyone that didn’t fit their stringent requirements would be ignored.

There were also low end teams running Golden City Underground Mines. Their goal wasn’t to clear the dungeon but simply to farm the regular mobs that spawned inside. Maybe if they were lucky, something nice would drop.

No one recognized Nie Yan as he walked through the crowd. Most people were already used to seeing cloaked players, so he didn’t attract the least bit of attention. Little did they know this person was actually the famed Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame!

Chapter 467 - Friction

The large square on the outskirts of Golden City. No monsters spawned here, but it wasn’t exactly safe either. PKing occurred frequently, sometimes with battles of up to several thousand players in scope. It usually started with two players bickering about something nonsensical, and ended with both of them calling over their friends until it escalated into a full-scale war.

Today was relatively peaceful. Everyone was focused on teaming up to run dungeons.

On the forest path to the west of Golden City, a group of 20 players headed toward the square. They were all over Level 60, with the highest being Level 63 and the lowest being Level 61. They were players of Asskickers United.

"Squatman, Watchful Snail wants us to bring along two Advanced Fire Resistance Potions. Someone is already on their way to deliver them to us,” Happy Hermit said. He was a Thief and the vice-leader of this team. One of his responsibilities was to pass on information.

Squatman was the nickname for their leader, Horny Potter Squatter. He had no one to blame but himself for taking such a vulgar name.

"Huh, Advanced Fire Resistance Potions? Why?” Horny Potter Squatter asked in obvious confusion. He had done some research beforehand. To his knowledge, Fire Resistance Potions shouldn’t be needed in this dungeon.

"Apparently the Taboo Refinement skill of the Golden Forge Blacksmith does fire damage in addition to dark corrosion damage. Bringing along two Advanced Fire Resistance Potions will reduce the damage we take by 30%,” Happy Hermit explained. He was also puzzled initially before Guo Huai went into further detail.

"Wow, Watchful Snail sure is amazing. He even knows this sort of information!” Horny Potter Squatter said in surprise. After all, Golden City had only opened recently. They were only the second batch of Asskickers United players to run this dungeon. Usually these sorts of little details wouldn’t be discovered until hundreds or even thousands of runs later.

"It was probably Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and their team who figured it out, right?” Dancing Moon Fairy interjected. She was a Level 62 Priest, and ranked eigth among the Priests in Asskickers United.

"Yeah, probably...” Everyone in Horny Potter Squatter’s team had expressions of reverence on their faces.

Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others in the main team were legends in Asskickers United, their fame second only to that of Nie Yan. However, while Nie Yan rarely showed himself, the main team often brought lower rank members along with them during dungeon runs. They nurtured batch after batch of talents, building up quite a bit of goodwill and respect. It was no wonder Horny Potter Squatter’s group believed only the main team could notice these small details that ordinary players would overlook. Little did they know that it was actually Nie Yan who passed down this information. Two Advanced Fire Resistance Potions could greatly enhance the success rate of teams running the Underground Mines.

Horny Potter Squatter’s group arrived at the square. As they made their way toward Golden City, they spotted three teams up ahead.

Horny Potter Squatter’s expression darkened. "They’re from Alliance of Mages.” He recognized a few faces.

With players becoming richer, many experts could easily afford to pay a 1 gold transfer fee. Players from all over the Viridian Empire were starting to head to dungeons far away from their home cities. Like Horny Potter Squatter and the others, Alliance of Mages was also sending their teams to Golden City.

Asskickers United and Alliance of Mages were opposing guilds. Both sides viewed each other as hated enemies. Conflicts arising between their players out in the wilderness were fairly common.

"Everyone, hold up,” Happy Hermit said. The other side outnumbered them three to one. It would be dangerous if they got surrounded.

Horny Potter Squatter’s group obeyed his command without question, halting their steps.

The Alliance of Mages players up ahead were standing on the transfer platform in front of the entrance of the dungeon. Once they activated the platform, they would be teleported into the Underground Mines.

A tall Warrior in golden armour appeared to be their leader. He split the group into three teams and explained a few things. Just as he was about to activate the platform, a short skinny Thief walked up and whispered into his ear, "Boss, a group of Asskickers United players just arrived.”

Asura raised an eyebrow. "Where?” He followed where the Thief’s finger was pointing and saw Horny Potter Squatter’s group walking over. Narrowing his eyes, he discovered the other side only had 20 players. They held an absolute advantage! Should they take action?

Asura didn’t have the authority to make the decision himself. He reported the situation to the executive guild leader of Alliance of Mages. Before long, he received the orders to wipe out Horny Potter Squatter’s group!

Asura immediately cancelled the teleport.

"Everyone, follow me,” Asura said. He and his players started aggressively walking towards Horny Potter Squatter’s group.

"They’re coming. Get ready to fight.” As Horny Potter Squatter stared at the leader of the group of players from Alliance of Mages, his heart trembled. "It’s Asura!”

Asura was pretty famous. He had already crossed paths with Asskickers United players on several occasions. The number of Asskickers United players who died at his hands surpassed 20 at minimum.

Asura was a nobody in the eyes of Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the rest of the main team. However, in the eyes of Horny Potter Squatter’s group, he was a formidable opponent.

The atmosphere immediately became tense.

At Horny Potter Squatter’s orders, his team moved into formation. The Warriors positioned themselves at the forefront while the Mages occupied the high ground in the rear.

Horny Potter Squatter glanced at the enemy’s forces. He spotted seven Thieves entering into stealth and disappearing from sight. "Mages, Priests, be careful!”

When the surrounding players noticed the atmosphere changing, they retreated to the sidelines.

"What are we going to do? We’re heavily outnumbered.” Happy Hermit knitted his brows.

"I’ve already informed Watchful Snail. We just have to hold out for a few minutes and reinforcements will arrive!” Horny Potter Squatter said. Battle was unavoidable. They could only do their best to survive.

Dancing Moon Fairy laughed. "Happy Hermit, Squatman, several of my friends from Sapphire Shrine are running the Underground Mines right now. They’ll be out very soon.”

"Sapphire Shrine? That’s great! But please, stop calling me Squatman,” Horny Squatter Potter said with a helpless expression.

Dancing Moon Fairy simply answered with a playful smile.

Asura glanced at Horny Potter Squatter’s team before finally settling his gaze on Happy Hermit.

"Long time no see,” Asura said with a dull smile.

"You two know each other?” Horny Potter Squatter asked in surprise.

"We used to run dungeons together all the time in a different game. That was a long time ago. It’s different now,” Happy Hermit explained with an awkward expression.

Asura definitely didn’t come with the intention of catching up with an old friend.

The players from both sides locked eyes. Battle could break out at any moment.

Taking advantage of their superior numbers, the players from Alliance of Mages closed in on Horny Potter Squatter’s group in a half circle.

Horny Potter Squatter’s group couldn’t flee. Else their formation would collapse, and they would suffer even heavier losses. It was better to stand their ground.

"Asskickers United trash, you won’t escape today,” one of the Thieves on the opposing side taunted.

"Who are you calling trash? I seem to recall it was your side that fled with their tails tucked between their legs during the Cripps Stronghold siege!” Horny Potter Squatter fired back.

"Y-y-you! Don’t get cocky! You guys just got lucky that time!”

Both sides immediately entered a shouting match, throwing out all sorts of vulgar insults.

Asura glanced around. The encirclement was already complete, and the Thieves had sealed off all escape paths. Time was of the essence. Not wanting to wait for Asskickers United’s reinforcements to arrive, he gave the signal. "Kill them!”

Several Warriors from Alliance of Mages rushed forward while the Mages raised their staffs and fired off a volley of spells.

"Warriors, hold your ground. Priests, Paladins, support them!” Horny Potter Squatter said, then turned to Happy Hermit and gave him a meaningful glance.

Happy Hermit nodded, then entered stealth. He and Horny Potter Squatter had known each other for so long, they no longer needed words to communicate. He knew exactly what Horny Potter Squatter wanted him to do.

"Don’t falter, we have reinforcements arriving soon. Fucking hell, if they want a fight, we’ll give it to them! If you end up dying, run back to your corpse!” Horny Potter Squatter said. He resolved to see this fight through to the bitter end.

A spell whizzed forward and struck one of the Warriors in Horny Potter Squatter’s team squarely in the chest. He was sent flying back before crashing into the ground.

Happy Hermit snuck around to the back of Alliance of Mage’s forces. He struck one of the Priests in the back of the head with Concussive Blow. The Priest collapsed dead on the ground several attacks later.

A shower of spells immediately bombarded Happy Hermit. On the brink of death, he quickly drank an Intermediate Heath Potion, then made his escape with Gale Step.

The characters for Horny Potter Squatter’s name are 蹲坑思美女. A more literal translation would be Squatting on the Toilet Thinking About Pretty Girls. The first mental image that came to my mind was The Thinker on a toilet, so I initially decided to go with Horny Squatter. But after asking around for a good name and at the behest of Ren, I decided to go with Horny Potter Squatter.

Chapter 468 - Ray of Hope

Both sides fought fiercely, with players dying left and right. Since the graveyard was relatively closeby, the fallen players would run back to their corpses, revive, and jump back into the fray.

After a while, 20 Sapphire Shrine players rushed over to support Horny Potter Squatter’s group. Not willing to be outdone, Alliance of Mages had also called over nearby reinforcements. The scope of the conflict was growing by the minute, with any semblance of a battle formation long lost in the chaotic melee.

Since Asskickers United’s side was too heavily outnumbered, Alliance of Mages gradually seized the advantage.

Asura surveyed the battlefield and spotted three of his companions being overwhelmed by two Warriors from Asskickers United. He rushed over and rammed into one of the Warriors with Charge. He hacked down with Great Cleave and sent the Warrior flying.

"Asura, these guys are fucking crazy!” a Warrior cried out. He and two others were facing just two players from Asskickers United, but they were still being pushed back. The difference in individual strength was clear as day.

With roughly equivalent levels and gear, Alliance of Mages was no match for Asskickers United. Which player in Asskickers United hadn’t died ten or twenty times? They were far more experienced in combat than most other players. On top of this, none of them feared death. One of the contributing factors for this was Asskickers United’s vast wealth. No matter how great the setback, Nie Yan would always figure out a way to help them get back on their feet. They were always amply rewarded for every enemy killed, so why would they worry about suffering some losses in the process?

Alliance of Mages was different. Their benefits were nowhere near as great. Asskickers United had fewer players on top of possessing extremely lucrative sources of income. Meanwhile, Alliance of Mages could only rely on the investment of the Century Financial Group. What virtual assets they did possess were limited. Their guild leader naturally had to think about cost saving measures. Also Alliance of Mages was five times the size of Asskickers United, so the amount of resources they could allot to each member was much less comparatively. Nor could Alliance of Mages hold a candle to Asskickers United either. While players from Alliance of Mages would only think about self-preservation during battles, unwilling to lose their equipment or drop levels, players from Asskickers United wouldn’t hesitate to give their lives for the greater good of the guild.

This was why Horny Potter Squatter’s group could still put up a good fight despite being heavily outnumbered.

"Squatman, how many did you kill?” Happy Hermit asked.

"Six, you?” Horny Potter Squatter said proudly.

"Damn, I’m not even close,” Happy Hermit said gloomily. He had only killed three players, two of which were Priests.

Different classes had different responsibilities. Even without as many kills, Happy Hermit performed remarkably. Priests were much higher priority targets than other classes in group battles.

"Damn those Alliance of Mages bastards! Their Thieves killed one of our Priests,” Horny Potter Squatter cursed. Thankfully, their main Priest, Dancing Moon Fairy, hadn’t been killed. Her potent heals could support up to eight players at the same time.

"I’m going to kill those two Warriors!” Horny Potter Squatter said. He activated Indomitable Will and rushed forward.

The battle entered a stalemate.

Asura glanced around the battlefield. Right now, Horny Potter Squatter was being pincered by three players. Yet he didn’t show the slightest bit of fear, braving the attacks of two Warriors and a Mage.

Divine Quake!

Horny Potter Squatter slammed his sword into the ground, stunning the two Warriors. He followed up with Holy Sacrifice as two beams of light fell from the sky and struck them, dealing more than 1,000 damage each.

"What a cocky brat…” Asura coldly remarked before charging towards Horny Potter Squatter.

"Squatman, be careful!” Happy Hermit warned.

However, it was too little too late. Asura arrived in front of Horny Potter Squatter and struck out with Tendon Break, immobilizing him.

The two Warriors recovered from their status impairments. They immediately ganged up on Horny Potter Squatter with Asura, unleashing attack after attack before finally sending him flying away.

Seeing Horny Potter Squatter getting killed, Happy Hermit cursed. He stared daggers at Asura, but he knew now was not the right time to deal with him. Asura was guarded by too many players. Happy Hermit could only remain in stealth and wait for an opportunity to strike.

Asura kicked Horny Potter Squatter’s corpse and picked up a piece of equipment.

"Tsk, just a piece of garbage.” Asura immediately moved onto his next target.

Roughly five minutes later, Horny Potter Squatter returned to his corpse in spirit form. After reviving, he ducked into the forest surrounding the square and recovered his health and mana. He felt extremely gloomy.

Seeing Horny Potter Squatter’s name light back up in the team window, Happy Hermit laughed. "Man, I gave you an early warning. But you still didn’t want to back off.”

"Early warning my ass! By the time you said anything, it was already too late. How was I supposed to know that guy was gonna rush me from behind? I almost had those two Warriors too!” Horny Potter Squatter cursed. After recovering his health, he stood up. "Come on, let’s kill that bastard together!”

Happy Hermit nodded. "Sure, I’m down for teaming up.” He locked onto Asura in the distance, then started making his way over in stealth.

Horny Potter Squatter tried to force an opening.

Indomitable Will!

After gaining a burst of speed, Horny Potter Squatter madly charged toward Asura.

"Fool! Dying once wasn’t enough for you, huh?” As Asura prepared to meet Horny Potter Squatter head-on, he suddenly felt a chill at the back of his neck.

Crap! Asura tried to react, but it was too late.

Happy Hermit struck Asura squarely in the back of the head with Smothering Strike.

Horny Potter Squatter took advantage of this opportunity to rush over and slash down on Asura.

"I see you still haven’t made any progress,” Happy Hermit chuckled. He knew some of Asura’s weaknesses and quirks, one in particular was his bad habit of leaving his back open when engaging an enemy.

"Impressive!” Horny Potter Squatter praised. He never expected that the infamous Asura would be incapacitated so easily by Happy Hermit.

"Don’t get distracted!”

Happy Hermit and Horny Potter Squatter sent Asura to the grave in a mere seven seconds. The nearby Alliance of Mages players had no time to save him.

Since Asskickers United and Alliance of Mages had already designated each other as enemies in the system, there were no PK penalties for killing each other. Asura only dropped a single piece of equipment. It was Gold-grade with mediocre properties.

At this moment, another 30 players were rushing over from the east side of the square.

"Shit, it’s Divine Protectors!” Happy Hermit cursed after spotting the new arrivals.

With Divine Protectors also joining the fight, the situation looked grim for Asskickers United.

The size of this battle had already increased to several hundred people. Players were getting killed left and right, but they would quickly run back to their corpses and revive. Everyone had died at least two or three times, and more and more people were still arriving.

"Squatman, let’s retreat. If we don’t, they’ll spawn camp us,” Happy Hermit suggested. The opposing side had too many people while their reinforcements were still on the way. By the time they finally arrived, it would probably be too late.

"Alright, let’s retreat.” Horny Potter Squatter agreed. It appeared this was their only option.

Nie Yan just happened to arrive at the square at this moment. Seeing the commotion, he was taken aback. What was happening over there? Before long, he heard several nearby players chatting.

"Seems like Golden City is sealed off right now.”

"Why? What happened?”

"I heard some players from Asskickers United and Alliance of Mages got into a fight. It seems pretty heated.”

"How about we go over and watch the show. Who knows? We might get lucky and pick up one or two pieces of equipment.”

Nie Yan’s mind trembled. He rushed over to the entrance of Golden City.

Nie Yan surveyed the battlefield. Several hundred players were fighting up ahead. It was extremely chaotic. Asskickers United was gradually losing ground, with their players dying everywhere.

At this moment, three Asskickers United players were fleeing in Nie Yan’s direction. They were being pursued by players from Alliance of Mages.

"You gutless trash! All you guys know is how to run!” one of the Warriors shouted.

That Warrior was just about to charge over and kill a fleeing Thief, when a cloaked figure appeared behind him. Struck in the back of the head with Smothering Strike, then Backstab and Eviscerate, he dropped to the ground with his face frozen in shock.

The Alliance of Mages players in the vicinity were all caught by surprise.

"What the hell! Who is that?”

"You’re looking to die, bastard!”

As these players cursed at the cloaked figure, their gazes gradually drifted to Zennarde’s Sword in his hand.

"T-t-that’s Zennarde’s Sword!” one of the Mages cried out in horror.

"It’s the Mad Rogue!”

This cloaked figure was surrounded by seven Alliance of Mages players. Despite not revealing his appearance, just from seeing Zennarde’s Sword which burned with ichor black flames, they instantly recognized his identity—Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame!

"The boss is here!” Horny Potter Squatter, Happy Hermit, and the rest cried out in joy after spotting this flaming black dagger.

All the Asskickers United players on the battlefield boiled over with excitement.

"Why is the boss here of all places?” Happy Hermit asked in excitement. Just as they were being routed, who could’ve expected the tide to turn like this! Nie Yan’s appearance was like a ray of hope.

Chapter 469 - Cursed Grounds

"Who knows! You know the boss has a habit of showing up in the most random places. He never tells anyone where he’s going either. Hermit, let’s go back and help him! Wipe out those bastards from Alliance of Mages!” Horny Potter Squatter shouted. With Nie Yan here, what did they have to fear?

After killing the Warrior, Nie Yan pounced toward a nearby Arcane Mage.

The Arcane Mage’s heart trembled. He raised his staff and cast Slow, only for Nie Yan to disappear right in front of his eyes.

MISS!

"Fuck, isn’t Slow supposed to be an instant cast?” the Arcane Mage cursed. Logically speaking, instant cast spells shouldn’t be dodegable. However, Nie Yan had predicted his actions ahead of time. In the previous timeline, this became common practice. Many Level 100+ players could do it. But it was still inconceivable in the present.

The Arcane Mage felt something amiss the moment Nie Yan disappeared. He turned to flee, but it was already too late.

Cutthroat!

Blood spurted into the air as a red ray of light streaked across the Arcane Mage’s throat. His body went limp, and he dropped to the ground dead.

These sorts of squishy casters were nothing to Nie Yan!

In the blink of an eye, Nie Yan took down three players in a row, scaring every other enemy witless. He was like a walking death god, draining them of their will to fight.

Nie Yan faced little to no resistance. Even when he was targeted by crowd control magic, he easily dodged.

Alliance of Mage’s morale was completely crushed. They lost all will to fight, a stark contrast to a moment ago, when they were pursuing the fleeing players of Asskickers United with glee. Any attempt at a comeback was met with Nie Yan’s cold blade.

As Nie Yan chanted out an incantation, the massive body of Lil’ Gold emerged before everyone’s eyes. He opened his maw and spat out a stream of scorching hot flames, burning one player after another into a crisp.

About five minutes later, all the players on the side of Alliance of Mages were wiped out. Only ten or so players from Asskickers United and eight from Sapphire Shrine remained standing on the battlefield.

"Where are the others?” Horny Potter Squatter asked.

"They’re all running back from the grave,” Happy Hermit replied. Their side had suffered heavy losses.

The square was littered with the corpses of players from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors.

The neutral players watching from the sidelines were all stunned. They believed this battle would go on for at least another two or three hours. No one expected Nie Yan to suddenly appear. The final outcome was a big surprise to all of them.

None of the players from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors dared to run back to their corpses. Why would they revive only to die again pointlessly?

The sight of Nie Yan, along with his Golden Dragon, surrounded by piles of corpses was truly stunning.

Nie Yan had once more left a deep impression in everyone’s hearts with this frightening display of might.

Horny Potter Squatter, Happy Hermit, and the rest of his group ran up to greet Nie Yan.

"Boss, when did you get here?” Horny Potter Squatter excitedly asked. He had only ever seen Nie Yan in guild gatherings. This was the first time they were talking face to face!

Nie Yan nodded in acknowledgement. He was familiar with their faces and knew they belonged to Asskickers United, but he didn’t know their names.

Horny Potter Squatter? Happy Hermit? Nie Yan sank into deep thought. These two names sounded somewhat familiar to him, but he couldn’t recall where he had heard of them before.

"I’m here to do a quest. Has everyone revived yet?” Nie Yan gazed at the Asskickers United players in the square getting up. Only the corpses of the players from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors remained on the ground.

"We’re still missing two,” Happy Hermit replied. If it weren’t for Nie Yan’s timely arrival, they would’ve suffered a disastrous defeat.

After a while, the corpses on the ground gradually disappeared. The players from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had all elected to revive in the graveyard. After which they returned to their respective home cities.

Knowing Nie Yan was around, none of them dared to make any more trouble.

Fighting was forbidden in graveyards; otherwise, Horny Potter Squatter and Happy Hermit would’ve brought people over there to spawn camp. Each of them had been killed two or three times. They naturally weren’t happy. Thankfully, you only lost 20% experience for running back and reviving at your corpse. As for the players from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors, they lost an entire level for reviving at the graveyard.

Horny Potter Squatter, Happy Hermit, and the rest cleaned up the battlefield.

"Divide the spoils among yourselves. You don’t need to take them back to the guild treasury. Just make sure to give a bit extra to the brothers who died,” Nie Yan said. This was a quite a windfall for these players.

"Mhm, understood! Thank you, Boss!” Horny Potter Squatter nodded. After thanking the Sapphire Shrine players who rushed over to their rescue, they formed back into their team and prepared to run the Underground Mines.

"I’ll be taking my leave,” Nie Yan said. He unsummoned Lil’ Gold and headed toward Golden City.

Seeing Nie Yan’s receding figure, the surrounding players were left dumbfounded. The Mad Rogue had only shown himself for five minutes, but it was enough to reverse the course of battle. An originally lost fight was flipped over its head. Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were completely wiped out. The sight of their corpses strewn everywhere left them deeply shocked. They felt a deep sense of reverence toward Nie Yan.

An existence who could defy the heavens!

Seeing Nie Yan enter Golden City, Happy Hermit turned to Horny Potter Squatter in surprise. "Don’t Level 90 monsters spawn in the top layer of Golden City?” Golden City was divided into two regions. The bottom layer was the famed Level 60 dungeon, Underground Mines. Because the upper layer only spawned Level 90 monsters, no players dared to enter. Why was Nie Yan going there? Could it be that he was capable of killing Level 90 monsters?

"Yeah, no mistake. Don’t judge the boss with common sense. Level 90 monsters really might be a piece of cake for him,” Horny Potter Squatter said. He had once watched Sun use a strange method to take down a Level 90 Elite. At that time, when the video was released, they all started treating Sun as a god. Who would’ve thought a youngster like Sun could be so skilled. If Sun could do it, Nie Yan could definitely do it too.

Solo exploring a Level 90 map, Happy Hermit couldn’t help but daydream. He was also a Thief. Naturally he wanted to be a heaven defying existence on the level of Sun and Nie Yan. Nie Yan was his ultimate goal.

...

Blaze City, Penumbra Empire guild headquarters.

Eternal Sin brought all his subordinates to Blaze City and acquired five local guilds to form the Penumbra Empire. This guild quickly rose to power and captured more than ten strongholds. Unlike other guilds, the Penumbra Empire didn’t require the investment of any financial group. Many of their members were already extremely wealthy. For example, the founder, Eternal Sin; the number one Thief, Candy; and a few others had backgrounds rivalling the Century Financial Group.

The Century Financial Group had approached them on multiple occasions, only to be turned away every single time. Without the support of several financial groups, Dark Light Empire became the overlord of Blaze City.

Eternal Sin received a video of Nie Yan’s recent battle in Golden City, where he massacred the players of Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. After watching the video, he turned to Candy. "Who would’ve thought the Thief we bumped into that time would become the guild leader of Asskickers United. His skill really is quite frightening. If you were to go up against him, what do you think your chances of victory are?”

Candy thought for a moment, then bitterly smiled, "Ten percent or less. What are your thoughts, Big Guy? Should we ally ourselves with Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors or Asskickers United? No choosing neither. We have to pick one if we don’t want to end up getting swallowed up.”

"It’s really tough to say right now. Currently, the two biggest powers are Asskickers United and Alliance of Mages. Our Penumbra Empire and Moonlight City’s God Executioner Sword have only recently risen to power. We still have time, how about we hold off on this decision for now?” Eternal Sin smiled mysteriously. He naturally had his own plans.

...

Nie Yan entered Golden City. The dark castle reeked of blood. Every wall and pillar was constructed out of gold bricks. Embedded in each of them were giant night pearls that emitted an eerie yet oddly captivating glow.

Nie Yan activated the Search skill of the Holy Stone. The Holy Stone emitted a dazzling radiance and transmitted some information to his mind. He could confirm a piece of the Tyrant Abak Set was located in Golden City.

As Nie Yan walked through the large, spacious hall, it was as if though he was suddenly transported to the ancient past. The walls and pillars were mottled with dirt, a result of centuries of neglect.

A notification soundly popped up.

You have entered Mine Slave Igrin’s Cursed Grounds. Your Stats have been reduced by 10%.

Nie Yan felt a portion of his strength sapped away as a faint dizzy spell briefly overtook him. Thankfully, his stats were powerful enough to resist. Even if he lost 10%, the impact wasn’t too big. If an ordinary player met with this kind of curse, they wouldn’t dare to continue moving forward.

Several three-meter-tall giants appeared up ahead. Their skin was dark red, and they carried giant metal hammers. They were patrolling in front of a door.

Chapter 470 - Artisan Forging Hammer

Nie Yan counted 16 hammer wielding giants in total. They were Forgesmiths, a fairly famous type of monster. One served as the boss in the Underground Mines at the bottom layer of Golden City. They boasted powerful physical attack, high defense and fire resistance, and their attacks dealt additional darkness damage. They were well known for being difficult monsters to deal with. The one in the Underground Mines was a Level 60 Lord, while these were ordinary Level 90 mobs.

Nie Yan cautiously approached one of them and activated Transcendent Insight.

Forgesmith Guard: Level 90

Health: 10,000/10,000

Fighting these Forgesmith Guards was a death wish. Nie Yan only came here to obtain that piece of the Tyrant Abak Set.

At the end of the hall was a small door. Through the crack, only two people could fit at most. Such a small entrance was guarded by 16 Forgesmith Guards, their large bodies just about blocking the door from view. The only way to get through was by killing them all.

Their defense was too high. The amount of damage Nie Yan could do to them was limited. Thankfully, they were ordinary monsters and not Elites. Else their health would be far higher than 10,000.

Nie Yan couldn’t kill them all by himself. He could only rely on external help. He rummaged through his bag for items that might help him deal with these Forgesmith Guards: the three Bloodshadow Totems he obtained from the Bloodshadow Legion Encampment, the Intermediate Magic Bombs crafted by Violet Smoke, and the Death Wave Scrolls from the Underworld. There were also various other items such as Advanced Twisting Vines Scrolls and AoE magic scrolls.

With these items, Nie Yan could easily take care of the Forgesmith Guards.

After judging the distance, Nie Yan placed down a Bloodshadow Totem roughly 60 meters away from the Forgesmith Guards. He glanced at the ceiling above him—roughly 35 meters high. He cracked a faint smile. Everything was ready.

Nie Yan slowly moved to a corner, approaching within 50 meters of the Forgesmith Guards. He raised his Cavalry Crossbow and took aim.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Five crossbow bolts whizzed forward and struck a Forgesmith Guard in the chest.

After being attacked, the Forgesmith Guard roared out in pain. It scanned around the hall and quickly locked onto Nie Yan. It turned to its companions and spoke in what sounded like gibberish, after which the rest of the Forgesmith Guards shifted their attention to Nie Yan.

After discussing who knows what, all 16 Forgesmith Guards moved forward to surround Nie Yan.

"Damn, didn’t expect all of them to come at once. Good, that makes life a lot easier for me!” Nie Yan threw an Intermediate Magic Bomb at the oncoming Forgesmith Guards.

「Boom!」An explosion rang out in the hall as scorching hot flames engulfed the Forgesmith Guards.

−500

−500

−500

…

A string of damage values floated up into the air.

Only 500… The damage of the Intermediate Magic Bombs left Nie Yan feeling somewhat disappointed. In normal circumstances, Intermediate Magic Bombs would deal 1,000 damage per tick. It appeared these Forgesmith Guards had very high fire resistance.

The explosion only stopped the Forgesmith Guards for a brief moment. They immediately resumed their pursuit of Nie Yan.

Nie Yan activated a Death Wave Scroll, then turned tail and fled as ripples of death energy swept over the Forgesmith Guards.

−1,000, −1,000, −1,000...

The effects of the Death Wave Scroll were potent. The only downside was the two second cast time, unlike the Magic Bombs which could be thrown at the ready.

Nie Yan suddenly had a bright idea. Why didn’t he use the Death Wave Scrolls in tandem with the magic Bombs?

The explosion from the Magic Bombs could briefly stun the Forgesmith Guards. He could take advantage of this opening to activate a Death Wave Scroll!

Nie Yan dashed toward the Bloodshadow Totem, with the group of Forgesmith Guards in hot pursuit. Seeing his items come off cooldown, he threw a Junior Magic Bomb over his shoulder. They had the same stunning effect as their Intermediate counterpart. He naturally wanted to save where he could. After all, Intermediate Magic Bombs were quite costly. Violet Smoke had only made about 20 of them so far. Once they were used up, he would have to wait a long time for more.

「Boom!」A loud explosion rang out in the hall.

−200

−200

−200

...

As the stunning effects of the Magic Bombs wore off, ripples of death energy swept over the Forgesmith Guards.

−1,000, −1,000, −1,000...

After these two rounds of attacks, the Forgesmith Guards caught up to Nie Yan and moved to surround him.

Nie Yan glanced at the Bloodshadow Totem just ahead. One of the Forgesmith Guards had already entered its range! It was starting to tremble.

Nie Yan was also in range of the Bloodshadow Totem. The 16 Forgesmith Guards slowly circled in on him. One of them raised its hammer and smashed down on him.

"It’s been fun, guys, but I’ve gotta swing!” Nie Yan smirked. He suddenly leaped 20 meters in the air with his Leaper Ring and shot out a web line toward the ceiling from his Silk Spinner Ring. With a jerk of his hand, he pulled himself up.

Looking down, the Forgesmith Guards were channeling black orbs of light in their palms. They were preparing to attack Nie Yan with Darkness Arrows.

At this moment, a vibration shook the air. The Bloodshadow Totem had activated!

「Boom!」Crimson rays exploded out in every direction and swept over the Forgesmith Guards.

−5,000, −5,000, −5,000...

The damage of the Bloodshadow Totem was much higher than the Death Wave Scrolls or Magic Bombs.

With their Darkness Arrows interrupted midcast, the Forgesmith Guards let out angry roars. Before they could resume their attacks, Nie Yan took out an Ice Rain Scroll. He chanted out syllable after syllable until a full set was complete. The temperature plummeted and white fog shrouded the hall. Before long, icicles started falling down like a torrential downpour, ruthlessly pummeling the Forgesmith Guards.

−500

−500

−500

…

A string of damage values floated up into the air.

After five seconds, the Forgesmith Guards let out mournful cries and collapsed on the ground.

The Ice Rain lasted for eight seconds before finally ending. The white fog slowly dissipated.

Nie Yan faintly smiled. He dropped down from the ceiling and landed gracefully on his feet.

Nie Yan checked his experience bar. Although these Forgesmith Guards gave a generous amount of experience, his experience bar only filled up by 3%. At higher levels, the amount of experience needed for one level was mind boggling. Levelling up became incredibly difficult.

Nie Yan collected the loot from the ground. He obtained five pieces of equipment, one of which was Gold-grade. To say none of them caught his interest was an understatement. He planned to throw them all in the guild treasury. However, he did find something fairly peculiar, a silver hammer. It appeared to be a special tool for Blacksmiths.

Artisan Forging Hammer: Special Item

Description: Increase the success rate of crafting weapons and armour by 5%. 20% chance to gain additional proficiency.

Restrictions: Blacksmith

"Jackpot!” Nie Yan couldn’t help but cry out with excitement. This hammer would be extremely valuable to Blacksmiths, allowing them to do double the work with half the effort.

Asskickers United sorely lacked competent Blacksmiths right now. Guo Huai was in the middle of nurturing some. With this hammer, they could save quite a bit of work. Nie Yan planned to hand over this hammer to Guo Huai and have him decide who to give it to.

This was one of the advantages of being the first to explore a map. Good drops were guaranteed.

After taking care of the Forgesmith Guards, Nie Yan headed through the door at the end of the hall and disappeared into the corridor behind.

Several minutes later, six Thieves arrived in the hall. The leader was a man in his 30s in dark gray leather armour. Seeing the corpses on the ground, his eyes widened in shock.

"Sky Felled, I counted 16 Forgesmith Guards,” a 26-year-old Thief said, his voice quivering in disbelief. He could hardly contain the shock in his heart.

"My god, did Nirvana Flame kill all of them by himself?” another Thief cried out.

Even if three of them teamed up to fight one of these Forgesmith Guards, they might not necessarily come out on top. Level 90 Monsters were too powerful. Furthermore, the 30 level gap meant that their attacks wouldn’t leave so much as a scratch! Yet Nie Yan somehow managed to kill all 16 of these Forgesmith Guards by himself! What a freak!

Sky Felled knitted his brows. Nie Yan soloing these Forgesmith Guards really was hard to believe. His gaze settled on one of the corpses. Its clothes were covered in scorch marks. On closer inspection, they were also wet and covered in ice crystals. He sunk into deep thought. Even though he still wasn’t sure how these Forgesmith Guards died, he was certain Nie Yan hadn’t faced them head on.

As for how Nie Yan accomplished this feat, it was a mystery they would never unravel.

Sky Felled turned to the other five Thieves. "Hurry up. Let’s not fall behind. Try not to draw any aggro.”

Sky Felled headed for the door at the end of the hall. Knowing they were going to face a freak like Nie Yan, their hearts shuddered in apprehension. Seeing their leader getting further away, they quickly followed behind.

Chapter 471 - Zennarde’s Sword Upgrade!

Passing through the corridor, Nie Yan ascended a wide spiral staircase which led to the upper floors of Golden City’s castle.

After climbing three floors, Nie Yan entered a hallway guarded by Level 90 Forgesmiths. Fortunately, they were patrolling in units of one.

Seeing one approaching in his direction, Nie Yan cautiously snuck behind the Forgesmith and struck it in the back of the head with Smothering Strike, then followed up with Backstab and Eviscerate. The Forgesmith was about to recover from the stun, when he circled around to the front and struck out with a Concussive Blow and Cutthroat. After which he quickly retreated, kiting back while allowing the bleed damage to slowly finish it off.

Nie Yan was only dealing a few hundred damage each hit, the highest of which reached 600. However, the bleed damage he inflicted was stacking up considerably, enough to kill the Forgesmith.

Nie Yan traversed through the 600 meter-long winding hallway, killing around 30 Forgesmiths in his path, and entered a dark hall. All around stood enormous golden statues depicting devils, beasts monsters, and other malevolent creatures. Below them, tall hulking silhouettes could occasionally be seen patrolling around.

At the other end of the hall on top of a round flight of stairs stood a statue of a six-armed giant clad in golden armour. It was five meters tall and resembled a saintly figure. Each hand wielded a different weapon, a hammer, sickle, spade, staff, greataxe, and flail.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. This was Mine Slave Igrin!

Normally, Mine Slave Igrin was only a statue. However, as soon as a player got close enough, it would awaken and transform into a powerful Level 90 Lord.

At least 200 Level 80 players were required to take down Mine Slave Igrin. A Fighter with high enough health, defense, and resistances was also a must.

Nie Yan surveyed his surroundings. Roughly 30 Forgesmiths were wandering around in the hall. These Forgesmiths were much taller than the ones before, and their appearances were even more malevolent.

Nie Yan inspected one of the Forgesmiths with Transcendent Insight.

Demonsmith (Elite): Level 90

Health: 50,000/50,000

Dealing with the Demonsmiths would be incredibly tricky. Nie Yan wondered if it was possible to sneak past them. Not alerting these Elites would be his best bet.

Nie Yan hid behind the statues, using them as cover as he stealthily advanced forward.

Back in the hallway, six Thieves were following Nie Yan’s trail. Every now and then, they would encounter the corpse of a Forgesmith on the ground. The more they saw, they more they felt apprehension in their hearts.

「Sky Felled, are all these corpses the work of Nirvana Flame? This is too frightening! He’s clearing these mobs while all we’re doing is following his trail. Yet we haven’t even seen his shadow!」They were all playing the same Thief class, no doubt. So why did it seem like Nirvana Flame was on a whole other plane of existence?

「Let’s hurry up and catch up first. We’re no match for Nirvana Flame, that much is clear. In a while, Blazing will arrive with reinforcements. The guild leader wants us to seize this opportunity to ambush Nirvana Flame. Maybe we’ll get lucky and actually kill him. Remember, don’t reveal your identities. If you’re discovered, just say you belong to Alliance of Mages. These are the guild leader’s direct orders,」Sky Felled said. They had temporarily withdrawn from their guild and concealed their appearances with black cloaks, all for the sake of preventing their identities from being exposed.

The number of people targeting Nie Yan were too many to list. Leaving aside his equipment, of which not a single piece wasn’t coveted by every Thief, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps had placed a 30,000 gold bounty on his head. This sort of reward was enough to move countless hearts. Many players wanted to assassinate Nie Yan. But since he rarely appeared in public, there was almost never an opportunity. This time the circumstances were different. Everyone had seen Nie Yan enter Golden City all by himself. Some daring people would naturally try to test their luck.

Their group had hidden their identities precisely because they couldn’t afford to provoke Asskickers United whose might could easily crush their guild.

They were driven by greed in the beginning. After following Nie Yan’s trail for a while, their nerves got the better of them and they requested for help from the outside.

What Sky Felled didn’t know was that after them even more players entered Golden City, all of whom were Thieves. Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had also come.

All these Thieves only had one target, Nie Yan!

None of them knew why Nie Yan entered Golden City. They were all waiting for the perfect moment to strike, when he was either distracted fighting mobs or ran into some kind of danger.

Nie Yan was still sneaking through the hall. Looking up ahead, he saw numerous shadows moving around. It appeared there were quite a few Demonsmiths. Getting past them would be tricky. Since they had ranged skills, even crawling over the walls and ceiling wouldn’t grant him safe passage.

"Screw it!” Nie Yan gritted his teeth. He retreated into a secluded corner and summoned Lil’ Gold and the Rank 10 Paladin Lemonte. Taking out his Cavalry Crossbow, he shot some bolts at the ground and gradually lured a Demonsmith over with the sounds.

"Dealing with one should be okay...” Nie Yan circled behind the Demonsmith and struck it in the back of the head with Smothering Strike.

「Bang!」Lil’ Gold blasted the Demonsmith with Dragon Breath. Paladin Lemonte activated Indomitable Will and rushed forward.

Under the combined assault of Nie Yan, Lil’ Gold, and Paladin Lemonte, the Demonsmith’s health rapidly fell. When it recovered from the stun, it tried to shout and call over its companions.

Concussive Blow!

Nie Yan struck the Demonsmith in the forehead and stunned it again.

Undead Rite!

Demonsmiths were creatures of darkness, so he could take control of them with this skill.

Undead Rite has failed!

Undead Rite has failed!

…

When the Demonsmith recovered, it smashed its hammer into Lil’ Gold, forcing him several steps back.

−3,273

Thankfully Lil’ Gold’s health and defense were quite high. An ordinary pet wouldn’t even survive a single hit from the Demonsmith.

Nie Yan cast Undead Rite again.

Undead Rite has failed!

The Demonsmith tried calling over its companions again. Nie Yan already had his hands full dealing with just one. He couldn’t imagine himself dealing with two or more.

Nie Yan hurriedly raised his leg and delivered a swift kick into the Demonsmith’s stomach, forcing it to swallow back the words in its throat.

Lil’ Gold blasted the Demonsmith with several Dragon Breaths in a row, causing a string of damage values to float up above its head.

Paladin Lemonte targeted the Demonsmith with Purification, scorching it with cleansing holy light.

The Demonsmith repeatedly bashed Lil’ Gold with its hammer. Meanwhile, Nie Yan had Paladin Lemonte on healing duty in the rear, continuously restoring Lil’ Gold’s health. Whenever the Demonsmith tried to call for its companions, Nie Yan would interrupt it with a kick. The Kick skill had a fairly short cooldown anyway.

A while later, the Demonsmith finally collapsed to the ground.

Seeing Lil’ Gold with only 20% health remaining, Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

At this moment, Zennarde’s Sword suddenly lit up with a brilliant light. A powerful energy erupted forth as though something was released. Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He quickly checked the stats of Zennarde’s Sword.

Sealed Zennarde’s Sword (Godly Legendary)

Nightmare Curse of the Dead: Reduces the player’s stats by 30%. (Effect halved by Barbarian Kelowitz’s Blessing)

Description: A godly weapon created by Kallander and imbued with the dark magic power of Dragon King Zennarde. Failing to subdue the evil energy within Zennarde’s Sword will result in a fatal backlash. Six Divine Seals were placed on this sword by the God of War Kelo. (Seals: 5/6)

Properties: Attack 812–830, Critical +50, 20% chance to deal 500% Critical Damage, Ignore Level +15, Ignore Armour

Hell Execution: Chance to instantly execute an enemy when their health falls below 20%. Success rate is determined by level difference and enemy defense. Energy Cost: 50. Cooldown: 3 seconds.

Apocalyptic Extinction (Junior): Inflict the enemy with 5 types of Curses: Rank 3 Exhaustion, Rank 3 Cripple, Rank 3 Disease, Rank 3 Fear, and Rank 3 Corrode. Duration: 5 minutes. Cooldown: 1 hour.

Restrictions: None

-Creator: Kallander

Its stats had improved greatly, especially the attack power. It was now comparable to that of a Level 90 Dark Gold-grade weapon. The stat penalty of Nightmare Curse of the Dead was reduced from 50% to 30%, and Hell Execution and Apocalyptic Extinction had also both received an upgrade.

After so long, one of the seals on Zennarde’s Sword was finally lifted. Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder what it would look like in its final form.

The black flames surrounding Zennarde’s Sword grew even fiercer. The pulsating flames were truly stunning to behold.

Nie Yan collected the loot the Demonsmith dropped on the ground. He then returned into the corner to recuperate. He had Paladin Lamonte continuously cast Heals while he applied a Combat Bandage on Lil’ Gold. Before long, Lil’ Gold recovered back to full health.

Chapter 472 - Lying in Ambush!

Unlocking the seals was incredibly difficult. Even up until now, Nie Yan had only removed one seal. For the sake of restoring this Godly Legendary-grade weapon back to its full power, he could only move steadily forward without looking back.

Nie Yan glanced at the loot the Demonsmith dropped, a fragment of silver metal.

Silver Mining Pick Fragment: 1/8

Eight fragments were required to make a complete Silver Mining Pick. This pick was a specialized tool for Miners. Despite not being a production profession, gathering professions like Mining were equally important.

The Silver Mining Pick’s properties were a mystery, but items that required the collection of fragments to be complete were usually worth the effort. For example, even though Nie Yan’s Splitting Edge attack power was a bit low, its supplementary skills more than made up for this.

With Lil’ Gold’s health recovered back to full, Nie Yan drew the aggro of another Demonsmith and continued casting Undead Rite. After killing two Demonsmiths in a row, he finally succeeded on the third one, turning it into his servant.

Under the effects of Undead Rite, the Demonsmith’s health increased from 50,000 to 60,000. Its defense, attack power, and other stats received considerable boosts as well.

Like this, dealing with the Demonsmiths became much easier. Nie Yan continued luring them over, one at a time.

About 10 minutes later, six Demonsmith corpses were lying on the ground.

Nie Yan used his crossbow to aggro over two Demonsmiths, having his summons tank them while he repeatedly targeted them with Undead Rite. Suddenly, he felt a cold nip at the back of his neck. Thieves!

This place was full of Level 90 monsters. Ordinary Thieves wouldn’t come here to level!

After giving it some thought, Nie Yan slapped his head. He had revealed himself in such a showy manner at the square, then entered the top layer of Golden City all by himself under the gaze of thousands of eyes. Of course, those harboring malicious intentions wouldn’t sit still.

Nie Yan’s gaze turned chilly. Since these fellows dared to come after him, he would naturally make sure they didn’t leave this place alive!

Those Thieves were hiding in a corner and likely wouldn’t take action easily. Nie Yan simply continued on with his own business, expanding his army of Demonsmiths.

In a dark corner, six pairs of eyes were observing Nie Yan’s every move.

「Sky Felled, what kind of skill is Nirvana Flame using? It’s ridiculous!」a Thief asked in a cold sweat. A skill that could turn a Level 90 Elite into your personal servant, this was simply unimaginable!

「I’m not sure. Just stay alert. Don’t act without thinking and stay far away from Nirvana Flame. Maintain a distance of at least 30 meters. His Awareness is too high. It’ll be troublesome if he discovers us,」Sky Felled cautioned. He didn’t know what Nie Yan’s perception range was. It was better to be safe than sorry. That said, the sight of Nie Yan taking control of the Demonsmiths was truly shocking.

Luckily, it didn’t seem like Nie Yan had noticed them. Sky Felled feared what would happened if Nie Yan discovered them. Would any of them make it out alive? He prayed Blazing and his group would arrive soon.

They were all part of God Executioner Sword, a guild that had recently risen to power. They were far weaker than Asskickers United, but they were unrivalled in Moonlight City. Sky Felled and Blazing were both members of God Executioner Sword’s hundred Thief task force. Blazing was a captain, and Sky Felled an elite member. They had received the guild leader’s orders to hunt down Nirvana Flame, partially to weaken the strength of Asskickers United and partially to obtain the bounty on his head. At the same time, they could also fan the flames between Asskickers United and Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. This was hitting three birds with one stone!

Both God Executioner Sword and Penumbra Empire were newly arisen powers. As long as they didn’t provoke Asskickers United, Alliance of Mages, or Divine Protectors, they could covertly fish up some benefits from the sidelines.

It was simply a question of whether or not these people could kill Nirvana Flame.

Seeing Nie Yan controlling several Demonsmiths in a leisurely manner, Sky Felled knitted his brows. It appeared the Mad Rogue’s undefeated streak wasn’t simply due to luck.

「Three Demonsmiths already. Just how many does he plan to capture!?」

「Probably not that many. We also don’t know how long they’ll last either.」

Listening to the discussion of his companions, Sky Felled gazed up ahead. Nie Yan, clad in dark leather armour and wielding the flaming black Zennarde’s Sword, looked truly awe inspiring while being guarded by the three Demonsmiths and Golden Dragon.

「Did one of you get a recording?」

「I did.」

The six Thieves talked in voice chat while hiding behind a statue. All the obstacles here provided great cover.

After a while, Sky Felled received word that Blazing along with six other Thieves had arrived. These players were the top Thieves of God Executioner Sword. Including him, that made eight.

「Retreat back to the hallway and remain on standby. Don’t stray too far away,」Sky Felled ordered. With them looking for an opportunity to ambush Nie Yan, these ordinary Thieves would only be getting in the way by staying here. It was better to have them keep watch in the hallway.

「Alright, we’ll be leaving then. Take care, Sky Felled.」

Sky Felled met up with Blazing and the six other Thieves.

Blazing was a slim middle-aged man. He wore a black skintight bodysuit and wielded an azure dagger in each hand. He was currently stealthed within the shadows. He, Skyfelled, and the six other Thieves could definitely be counted as top experts. The Thieves placed on lookout duty in the hallway were also fairly skilled.

「Don’t act unless you see a suitable opportunity. Listen to my command. When we go in, we have to kill Nirvana Flame immediately!」Blazing said. He understood that the repercussions would be grave if their ambush failed.

Blazing and the others hid behind a golden statue more than 30 meters away from Nie Yan. They were confident in their abilities to hide from his detection.

After Nie Yan succeeded in taking control of his fourth Demonsmith, he knitted his brows. Those several Thieves appeared to have disappeared. Did they already leave?

The stealthing capability of those Thieves was too lacking, allowing Nie Yan to detect them from more than 30 meters away. However, the stats of Blazing’s group were much higher. Nie Yan couldn’t sense them at all.

Nie Yan only took control of four Demonsmiths. He usually didn’t max out the minion count. For the sake of time efficiency, four was enough. Besides, he could still cast Undead Rite if anything came up.

Nie Yan became a lot more daring, aggroing and killing mobs without pause.

Boasting giant muscular and burly figures with dark golden skin, merely looking at these four hammer wielding Demonsmiths guarding Nie Yan’s side made Blazing break out in a cold sweat. Just where did he get all these bizarre skills? It was too frightening!

「I just received word that another group of Thieves are making their way over here. Their numbers are unclear. It seems like they’re from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors, What should we do?」Sky Felled reported.

「Let them come. Let’s move a bit further away and enjoy the show,」Blazing replied.

「Swoop in at the last minute?」Sky Felled eyes lit up.

Blazing nodded. Their group found a good hiding spot a little further into the hall.

A group of roughly 40 Thieves entered the hall. They belonged to the special task force of Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. Assassination missions were usually handed over to them.

Their leader was a Thief called Dark Wing. He looked around 30 years old and wore a full set of Level 60 Dark Gold-grade equipment.

「Where’s Shadow Killer?」 Dark Wing asked.

「I don’t know. He didn’t tell us his location. He disappeared the moment we entered Golden City.」

Dark Wing frowned. He really disliked Shadow Killer and his haughty attitude—always moving on his own and never taking orders. However, the orders from the higher ups stated that Shadow Killer was to be left to his own devices. He would be an ally when the time came.

Dark Wing felt a threat to his authority. He couldn’t understand why the higher ups would have such a person join them. He really wanted to teach that bastard a lesson. However, Shadow Killer wasn’t falling for his provcations. Every time they met, he could clearly sense the disdain and contempt in Shadow Killer’s eyes. This sort of expression pissed him off more than anything.

「Whatever, ignore him. Everyone, listen up. Today we’re going to assassinate Nirvana Flame. Failure is not an option. We have to show the world that no one is invincible! One man cannot face an army! Some things cannot be done alone!」Dark Wing said.

「Yes!」The Thieves shouted in unison.

Nie Yan was leading the four Demonsmiths deeper into the hall when he suddenly sensed something. His heart shook—Thieves!

He could clearly sense he was already surrounded by a group of Thieves, quite a few at that. They were only 20 meters away.

This was already an extremely safe distance. The perception range of most Thieves didn’t extent past 20 meters. But common sense didn’t apply to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan’s stats had already far exceeded the imagination of these players. Not a single Thief could match him in this sense. Grand Scholar, Devil Slayer, and 10,000-Man Commander, he had accumulated these titles bit by bit. Each one represented a milestone most players could never hope to attain.

No Thief could escape his detection within a five meter range. Of course, Thieves with special hiding skills were excluded.

More than 30 Thieves were hiding behind the numerous statues in the hall. The tension in the air was palpable. In the next moment, this place would be transformed into a killing field.

Chapter 473 - The One Called Shadow Killer!

The group of Thieves were waiting for Nie Yan to engage the boss to act. Little did they know that they were walking on a knife’s edge. Nie Yan had long since detected them.

「Keep a close watch on Nirvana Flame! Don’t get too close. We don’t know what his perception range is. Maintain a distance of at least 20 meters!」Dark Wing said.

「No worries, Dark Wing. We’ve got this!」

Dark Wing took out a Soul Bind Scroll from his bag. It could restrict an enemy’s movements by preventing them from leaving the combat zone and using any teleportation items or skills. Both caster and target were under the same effect. Only when one of them died would the spell end.

The Sound Bind Scroll’s effects were similar to that of a Shadow Priest’s Shackles of Strife. However, the latter was somewhat lacking compared to the former.

Soul Bind Scrolls were still fairly rare at this stage of the game. Only the Level 70 map, Spirit Travelling Palace, had a 1 in 20,000 chance of dropping them. The drop rates were even more abysmal in other maps. Probably only a few scrolls existed in Conviction right now.

Dark Wing, after mindlessly grinding mobs for so long, had only obtained a single Soul Bind Scroll. Nevertheless, he wouldn’t hesitate in the slightest to use it on Nie Yan.

Nirvana Flame, let’s see you try to run… Dark Wing coldly eyed Nie Yan’s back. Only the four Demonsmiths and Golden Dragon left him feeling somewhat apprehensive. He would have to wait for the perfect opportunity to mount a sneak attack.

At this moment, Nie Yan suddenly entered stealth and disappeared from sight.

「Where did Nirvana Flame go?」Dark Wing asked in surprise.

「No idea. He disappeared. Maybe he’s scouting up ahead?」

「Yeah, probably...」Dark Wing relaxed a bit. However, he couldn’t get rid of an uneasy premonition tugging at the back of his mind.

Nie Yan stealthily circled behind the Thieves and observed them from behind a statue.

Eye of Truth!

Nie Yan’s eyes blossomed out with a red light. Scanning around, numerous silhouettes emerged around the demon statues in the vicinity. One, two, three...

Nie Yan confirmed the position of 20 Thieves. As for whether there were any others hiding in the darkness, he wasn’t sure. Discovering this many was already quite the feat.

Nie Yan crept up behind one of the Thieves and struck them in the back of the head with Smothering Strike, then finished them off with Cutthroat.

「It’s Nirvana Flame!」

「He’s behind us!」

The Thieves were all caught completely off guard. Not even in their wildest dreams did they expect Nie Yan would be the one doing the ambushing instead.

Lil’ Gold roared out and blasted three stealthed Thieves with a scorching hot Dragon Breath, instantly transforming them into rays of light. They didn’t even get the chance to scream.

「Crap! He found us!」Dark Wing cried out. He simply couldn’t understand how Nie Yan had discovered them when they made sure to stay far away. However, this wasn’t the time to ponder. The four Demonsmiths were already moving towards them.

「Dark Wing, what do we do?」

「Run!」

At this moment, two Demonsmiths came flanking at Dark Wing from different directions while brandishing their enormous hammers.

"You want to kill me? It won’t be that easy!” Dark Wing evaded the attacks with Gale Step. He had only made it a few steps before another hammer came smashing down on him.「Bang!」He was struck in the chest and sent flying away.

With a thud, Dark Wing crashed into the ground. He only had a sliver of health remaining. Before he could get back up, he was swallowed up by scorching hot flames and transformed into a ray of light. He didn’t even get a chance to use his Soul Bind Scroll.

「Dark Wing!」

「No! Boss!」

The Thieves glanced at each other in dismay. None of them expected that their skilled captain would die so pitifully.

Dark Wing’s reaction to the attack was pretty good. The Gale Step was timed almost flawlessly. However, he was still overestimating himself, thinking he could take Nie Yan’s life.

「Bang!」One of the Demonsmiths struck a Thief with his hammer and sent him flying.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Thieves were sent flying, one after the other.

The Thieves from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were scrambling away like frightened mice.

Nie Yan took out a Twisting Vines Scroll. After chanting an incantation, thick green vines erupted from the ground and ensnared more than 10 Thieves, leaving them unable to move in the slightest. Lil’ Gold chanted out in dragon tongue and summoned a giant meteor.「Boom!」An inferno erupted out and engulfed the Thieves.

"Sending these trash after me? Crazy Magic and Divine Flame are really looking down on me,” Nie Yan sneered. Even the Thieves he hadn’t discovered were fleeing. Of the close to 40 Thieves Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors dispatched, he had already killed more than 20. The remaining ones were scattering in every direction.

Only now did these Thieves realize how laughable it was to think they could take down Nie Yan with their numbers and coordination.

Observing from a distance, Blazing and Sky Felled sucked in a breath of cold air.

「Blazing, are you really sure we want to fight Nirvana Flame?」Sky Felled asked. He was starting to get cold feet. He couldn’t help but think they were courting death by trying to go after Nie Yan. The group from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors, which was more than four times their size, lost more than two thirds of their players in an instant. It was a one-sided massacre!

「I’ll message the guild leader. Let’s wait for his orders,」Blazing replied. He was also cowed by Nie Yan’s display of strength.

「Just send the video of what happened to the guild leader,」Sky Felled said. He felt the guild leader would understand the situation after watching the video. Their group was absolutely no match for Nirvana Flame.

「Yeah.」Blazing nodded. He received an update shortly after.「The guild leader said we’re abandoning the operation, but two people have to stay behind to continue monitoring Nirvana Flame!」

Hearing this, the other seven Thieves breathed a sigh of relief. They were really in over their heads thinking they could assassinate Nirvana Flame!

Apart from Sky Felled and Blazing, the other six Thieves headed back out of Golden City. The two of them were to stay behind and watch how Nie Yan would finish this battle. They stayed more than 50 meters away, not daring to get any closer.

Seeing several Thieves about to escape, Nie Yan took out a Web Scroll in an attempt to stop them.

As he started chanting out the incantation, an intense magic energy pulsed through the air. The shadows in the surroundings shot up from the ground like tentacles and wrapped around him.

It was Shadow Bind!

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. The incantation was caught in the back of his throat. He attempted to evade with Gale Step, only to discover he couldn’t move.

He was locked down!

At this moment, a silhouette pounced out of the darkness toward Nie Yan. The dagger in their hand flickered with a cold light.

Nie Yan made out their appearance from the corner of his eyes. It was Shadow Killer!

A thought flashed across Nie Yan’s mind. With how weak those 40 Thieves were, Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors probably never had any hopes of them killing him. Their higher ups weren’t that stupid. The only explanation was that these Thieves were merely a distraction, simply fodder being sent to their deaths. Shadow Killer was their true trump card!

Shadow Killer was as fast as lightning.

Now this was an assassin!

One hit, one kill.

The shadows binding Nie Yan were like thick ropes. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t break free, nor could he use any skill.

Shadow Killer instantly closed the gap. He raised his dagger and stabbed toward the back of Nie Yan’s head.

Smothering Strike!

All of this happened in a flash. Nie Yan couldn’t move and most of his skills were greyed out. Shadow Killer’s appearance was too sudden. He had no time to think. A chilling aura rapidly closed in on him from behind.

Shadow Killer had perfectly linked his skills together, without the slightest pause. He knew when dealing with an expert like Nie Yan, you couldn’t even give them half a second to react. He only strived for one goal. To be fast, faster, and still faster! So fast no one could react to him!

"Die, Nirvana Flame!” Shadow Killer’s pupils contracted to tiny slits, brimming with killing intent.

He wanted to kill Nie Yan!

Shadow Killer had simulated battles with Nie Yan countless times in his mind, memorizing his skills, habits, and combat style. He made ample preparations, all for the sake of this single moment. He eliminated any possible variables, and strived to carry out his assassination to perfection.

He was an assassin. Regardless of the method, as long as he killed his target, he would be the victor!

Today Nie Yan’s undefeated legend would be put to an end by the one called Shadow Killer!

This one strike would be remembered for a long time to come, engraved in the minds of countless people as a defining moment in Conviction!

Chapter 474 - Three Lives for Three Lives

Even though Nie Yan was under the effects of Shadow Bind, he wouldn’t resign himself to fate so easily.

Although Nie Yan’s active skills weren’t available to him right now, he still had his passive skills!

Shadow Killer’s appearance was fast and sudden, but Nie Yan still managed to react in a timely manner.

Just as the Smothering Strike was about to land, Nie Yan instinctively activated Death Immunity. This was one of his quest rewards for advancing to Great Thief. It made him immune to all crowd control for two seconds. Many Great Thieves possessed similar skills, but most of them weren’t as good as his Death Immunity.

「Bang!」Shadow Killer’s dagger stabbed into the back of Nie Yan’s head.

−806

Shadow Killer’s dagger was coated in a highly toxic poison. Nie Yan’s skin started turning a pale shade of green. This was a paralyzing poison. He felt his limbs gradually going numb. Thankfully, he had the Detoxifying Orb on him, which boosted his poison resistance. The spread of the poison was slowed down significantly, and its effects were greatly reduced.

This sort of poison was extremely rare. A bottle would generally sell for at least several thousand gold. First the Shadow Bind Scroll, now the paralysis poison. Shadow Killer had really gone all out for the sake of killing Nie Yan.

Shadow Killer was shocked in surprise. Nie Yan wasn't stunned! Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind. It was Death Immunity!

What godly reaction speed!

Death Immunity’s duration of two seconds was much less than that of Shadow Bind. Even if Nie Yan avoided being stunned, so what? Shadow Killer was confident in killing him all the same!

Although Death Immunity could prevent Nie Yan from being stunned by Smothering Strike, it couldn’t remove the effects of Shadow Bind. It could block incoming crowd control skills, but it couldn’t remove ones that were already in effect. Taking advantage of his target’s immobilized state, Shadow Killer stabbed toward the back of Nie Yan’s head with Heavy Pierce. This was a Freedom Skill. It also had a disabling effect which prevented the target from using active skills and running away.

If Heavy Pierce landed, it was basically a death sentence for Nie Yan. In the several seconds that he would be disabled, Shadow Killer could easily cut him down.

In an exchange between Thieves, even the slightest gap could mean the difference between life and death!

Nie Yan had fought hard for these two seconds provided by Death Immunity. He naturally wouldn’t let this time go to waste. This was his only lifeline!

With all his active skills greyed out, Nie Yan couldn’t possibly escape. His four Demonsmiths and Lil’ Gold were more than 20 meters away. They couldn’t come to his rescue in time either. His crowd control immunity skills were also limited. If he tried to trade skill for skill with Shadow Killer, he would definitely lose in the end. In the eyes of an ordinary person, the outcome of this battle was already a foregone conclusion.

From the moment the battle started, Nie Yan was on the backfoot. In this sort of situation, making a comeback was extremely difficult.

At this moment, Nie Yan ordered Lil’ Gold to blast both him and Shadow Killer with Dragon Breath.

Dragon Breath was a small AoE magic with extremely high damage. Add this to Lil’ Gold’s already frighteningly high magic power, and it could pretty much instantly kill anyone. Furthermore, this attack didn’t distinguish between enemy or ally. Even Nie Yan would be burnt to a crisp.

Scorching hot flames streaked through the air, carrying incredibly destructive power.

Shadow Killer noticed the Dragon Breath coming towards them. His heart trembled. He had witnessed these flames wipe out numerous players. Even he wasn’t arrogant enough to think he could survive such an attack.

If Shadow Killer disregarded everything and followed through with his Heavy Pierce, he would be engulfed by the Dragon Breath. At this crucial moment, he chose to withdraw.

If he was a step slower, the one to die wouldn't be Nie Yan but him.

Could it be that he’s immune to the Dragon Breath? Shadow Killer was puzzled.

Just as the Dragon Breath was about to swallow him up, Shadow Killer activated Gale Step and fled out of Lil’ Gold’s attack range.

In the next moment, the Dragon Breath engulfed Nie Yan as flames soared into the air. Standing in the inferno, tongues of flame danced around him. It was as if there was a faint layer of light surrounding him, insulating and protecting him from the flames.

Seeing this scene, Shadow Killer instantly realized Nie Yan had activated Adjudicator of God. He never expected Nie Yan would use such a reckless method to force him to retreat. Nevertheless, it had worked.

Nie Yan had protected himself from the Dragon Breath with the magic immunity barrier of Adjudicator of God.

Shadow Bind’s effects finally wore off. Nie Yan was still affected by the paralysis poison. He stood in the flames gazing at Shadow Killer whose silhouette was half hidden in the darkness. His eyes were like a hawk, staring back at Nie Yan.

Nie Yan used Detoxify from the Detoxification Marble to cure himself of the paralysis poison.

Only now was Nie Yan free of all status effects. He was finally back at full strength. All his active skills were available to him again.

The raging flames surrounding Nie Yan gradually dissipated.

Nie Yan had escaped from the clutches of death with Adjudicator of God.

Nie Yan locked eyes with Shadow Killer. With both sides able to use their active skills, Shadow Killer’s chances of killing him were reduced to almost zero.

This was their second exchange. Shadow Killer’s attempt on Nie Yan’s life had failed yet again.

"You’re much stronger than I originally imagined. I admit I’m not your match in PvP. However, next time, I won’t allow you to escape so easily,” Shadow Killer said. He had no intention of stopping his attempts on Nie Yan’s life. Assassination and direct combat were different. He would keep trying until he succeeded. Even if he couldn’t kill Nie Yan, it wouldn’t be easy to kill him either.

"I won’t let you get away next time either. The person who put the contract out, how much did they pay you? I’ll double it,” Nie Yan said. Being targeted by Shadow Killer was truly a headache. Even the slightest slip up might mean his life. Even the most skilled experts had bad days. It was impossible for him to never mess up.

Shadow Killer coldly chuckled. "It’s not a matter of money. Even if no one had offered me money, I would’ve still come after you.”

Nie Yan stayed silent. Shadow Killer wasn’t trying to assassinate him only for the money. In the previous timeline, Shadow Killer assassinated famous players one after the other. The people that fell to his blade were all illustrious existences that stood at the very peak. Assassins were often known for being stubborn and unreasonable. Shadow Killer assassinated to test his limits. He enjoyed this sort of stimulation and excitement.

These types of people were the most difficult to deal with!

"If our positions were switched, I’d only need one attempt,” Nie Yan declared with a smile. The thought of Shadow Killer continuing to go after him in the future gave him a huge headache. Success or failure was inconsequential. So, he decided to try and settle it once and for all.

Shadow Killer sneered. He couldn’t help but feel that Nie Yan was being too conceited. The only reason his two assassination attempts on Nie Yan failed was that Thieves had too many lifesaving skills. In a battle between expert Thieves, if the difference in strength wasn’t too great, it would be extremely difficult for them to kill each other. The only other option was to be like Shadow Killer, waiting to ambush the opponent when they least expected it. Only then was there a chance of success. As long as he remained vigilant, even if he were cornered by the four Demonsmiths and Golden Dragon, he could still easily make his escape.

"How about a bet?” Nie Yan proposed. "We both have one attempt to assassinate the other. Whoever gets the job done first wins. If we both fail, it’ll still count as your win.”

Shadow Killer raised an eyebrow. He wanted to see how Nie Yan was going to kill him. Driven forward by his arrogance, he asked, "This bet sounds interesting. What’s at stake?”

"I haven’t thought about it yet. We can go with whatever you like,” Nie Yan said. He really didn’t know what to offer. He just wanted to get this matter over with.

Shadow Killer thought for a moment. "If you win, I vow to stop coming after you, and you can request my help to kill three people. If I win, you’ll have to let me kill you three times.”

"I see, three lives for three lives. Sounds fair enough,” Nie Yan laughed. He couldn’t help but recall his previous bet with King of the World. However, the two were different. He understood King of the World’s character, a man who was always true to his word. Such a person could be trusted as a subordinate. However, Shadow Killer was an assassin without any scruples. He wouldn’t be easily subdued like King of the World. This outcome was already good enough.

Nie Yan accepted the bet.

"Alright, it’s settled,” Shadow Killer said. His eyes lit up with a feverous brilliance. This was an exciting game.

Their bet was made through the system and would take effect immediately. There was no time limit.

"I’ll wait for you to come and assassinate me,” Shadow Killer said before melting into the darkness, disappearing without a trace.

Nie Yan couldn’t sense Shadow Killer’s location. This was a powerful stealth skill similar to Void Shroud!

Shadow Killer had made a grave mistake treating him as an ordinary Thief. Nie Yan had at least seven or eight methods to kill Shadow Killer, leaving him no room for excuses!

After Shadow Killer disappeared, Nie Yan narrowed his eyes. He contacted Guo Huai.「I want the Hundred Thieves to tail Shadow Killer. Report his movements back to me.」

「Shadow Killer? I understand!」Guo Huai nodded. He immediately assigned the Hundred Thieves to this task.

Chapter 475 - Treasury Quest

With the Hundred Thieves tracking Shadow Killer, Nie Yan could carry out his assassination at any time. As for what sort of method he would use, that would depend on the situation.

By winning the bet Nie Yan could have Shadow Killer assassinate three people for him. A few faces already came to mind.

「Shadow Killer came looking for you?」Guo Huai asked. Nie Yan wouldn’t tell him to track Shadow Killer for no reason. They had probably fought again.

「I was almost killed by him,」Nie Yan replied. Their battle had really been a close call. Fortunately, he had activated Death Immunity in the nick of time. Else if he was a step slower, he would be a cold corpse on the floor.

Guo Huai’s eyes widened in shock, sinking into silence. After a while, he said in a resolute tone,「We need to deal with Shadow Killer once and for all!」He knew Nie Yan’s death would be a heavy blow to Asskickers United’s morale. He couldn’t be allowed to die, at least not until the guild grew stronger. His undefeated legend was vital to them. For this very same reason, other guilds spared no effort in trying to kill him.

Nie Yan informed Guo Huai of his bet with Shadow Killer.

Guo Huai pondered for a moment.「That’s good. Even relying on all our informants across the Viridian Empire, keeping track of Shadow Killer won’t be easy. Don’t worry, though. Leave it to me. You have to be careful as well. Many guilds are eyeing you right now, specifically God Executioner Sword from Moonlight City. They’ve been getting restless lately!」

God Executioner Sword...? Nie Yan suddenly recalled something.「Ignore them. Let them run wild for a bit longer. We’ll deal with our own growth first.」

Nie Yan and Guo Huai chatted for a bit longer before hanging up. He prepared to continue on with his quest, leading the four Demonsmiths and Lil’ Gold deeper into the hall.

Hiding behind a corner, Blazing and Sky Felled had witnessed the battle between Shadow Killer and Nie Yan. The whole exchange seemed fleeting, lasting only a short five seconds. But whether it was Nie Yan or Shadow Killer, both were existences they could never hope to reach. Shadow Killer’s ambush which practically reached the pinnacle of speed left a deep impression on them. If it were them, they would’ve never been able to pull off something like that. Shadow Killer’s assassination skills had reached the utmost perfection.

In the instant Shadow Killer took action, Blazing and Sky Felled believed Nie Yan was done for. If Shadow Killer had succeeded in assassinating Nie Yan, that one strike would’ve become an instant classic. But against all expectations, the battle took a completely different turn. Nie Yan used a unique and practically suicidal method to get himself out of danger.

After the battle, Blazing and Sky Felled kept replaying the video over and over again until they understood everything that happened. Their hearts were filled with immense shock. Shadow Killer’s opener was breathtaking. The skill displayed absolutely rivalled that of top experts. This was the mark of a true assassin! Meanwhile, Nie Yan’s response was practically inhuman.

Nie Yan somehow managed to react with Death Immunity despite the speed at which Shadow Killer ambushed him. Just what kind of freak was he?

Even if Blazing and Sky Felled trained for another 10 years, they still might not necessarily reach Nie Yan’s caliber. The two of them were thoroughly convinced of their inferiority.

Several minutes later, a video of Nie Yan slaughtering the more than 30 Thieves from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors—along with his clash against Shadow Killer—was making its rounds on the forums.

The video left many players speechless. It was an absolutely sublime exchange, a confrontation between two peak experts. Even though the fight lasted only a short few seconds, it was watched countless times on repeat, leaving a deep impression that lingered in the collective mind of the playerbase. The strength of Nie Yan and Shadow Killer was on clear display.

Many Thieves studied this video religiously. The more insight they gained, the more they marveled at the skill of Nie Yan and Shadow Killer.

When people watched the video, the first thing that came to mind was, "Fuck, even this can’t kill Nirvana Flame!?” In such a short amount of time, against such a ruthless and decisive attack, he still somehow survived! This was simply inconceivable!

Besides the exchange, players were also talking about the four Demonsmiths under Nie Yan’s control.

With four Demonsmiths and a Golden Dragon under his command, Nie Yan was truly awe-inspiring. His image was deeply engraved into the hearts of the players. Furthermore, he was already Level 72! The person at the top of the level leaderboards was Young Sparrow Hawk at Level 69. This meant Nie Yan had long since surpassed him!

With four Demonsmiths and a Golden Dragon at his beck and call, it was no wonder Nie Yan levelled up so quickly.

Nie Yan had once again reaffirmed his legend with this display of might.

Every Thief recalled a certain message that came from the Mad Rogue himself. Only Shadow Dancers were qualified to challenge him!

Just what was a Shadow Dancer? Many players couldn’t help but start wondering. Would it really allow one to reach Nie Yan’s level of skill?

「Sky Felled, was it you who shared that video on the forums?」Blazing asked. This video undoubtedly raised the prestige of Nie Yan. Their guild leader would kill them for posting it for everyone to see.

「No, why would I do that? If it was me, it would be from my perspective here.」Sky Felled gazed at a nook in the distance. They weren’t alone.

Many people were eyeing Nie Yan. His entrance into Golden City was simply too conspicuous.

Suddenly, Sky Felled felt a chill at the back of his neck—a Thief!

He hurriedly retreated several steps, taking cover behind a statue.

This statue depicted a Fallen Demon. With an overly obese body and skin coloured a peculiar shade of red, it was clad in silver gray armour. Even its brows, eyes, expression, and other features were sculpted vividly and life-like.

As Sky Felled retreated, his right hand accidentally touched a round recess at the back of the statue.

At this moment, the ground started trembling. The hall was shaking as if the whole place was going down.

What was happening!?

Sky Felled and Blazing’s faces paled as a feeling of danger washed over them. They hurriedly disappeared into stealth, trying to conceal themselves to the best of their ability.

After the shaking settled down, the statue of the Fallen Demon suddenly came to life. It brandished its giant hammer and swung at a nearby shadow.

"Ahhhh!” a Thief hiding in a corner cried out pitifully as he transformed into a ray of light and disappeared. His Cloaking was too low, leaving him exposed to the Fallen Demon.

Fallen Demon (Elite): Level 90

Health: 90,000/90,000

「It’s a Level 90 Elite! Run!」Blazing anxiously shouted out. He and Sky Felled quickly bolted toward the exit with Gale Step.

The Fallen Demon was in hot pursuit, repeatedly smashing down with its hammer. The ground shook incessantly as it left crater after crater in its wake. Blazing and Sky Felled didn’t dare to dally. If they were struck, they would be done for!

Sky Felled and Blazing bolted out of the hall. After losing sight of its targets, the Fallen Demon looked around before shifting its attention to Nie Yan.

Noticing the commotion, Nie Yan was flabbergasted when the statue of the Fallen Demon came to life. It turned out the statues in this hall were real monsters!

Nie Yan guessed one of the Thieves tailing him had accidently triggered the activation mechanism of the statue.

Nie Yan was unperturbed. A single Fallen Demon was relatively easy to deal with.

Nie Yan had his four Demonsmiths surround the Fallen Demon.

It was four versus one. Nevertheless, the Fallen Demon was much stronger than the Demonsmiths individually. It had over 90,000 health, not to mention its other stats.

−923

−861

−897

…

The four Demonsmiths repeatedly struck the Fallen Demon with their hammers.

After being attacked, the Fallen Demon roared out in anger and brandished its hammer in retaliation. Every attack dealt more than 5,000 damage to the Demonsmiths!

Nie Yan’s heart trembled in apprehension. The Fallen Demon was strong enough to be a Variant Elite!

Nie Yan targeted the Fallen Demon with Undead Rite.

Undead Rite has failed! Invalid target!

This Fallen Demon was basically a gargoyle.

Gargoyles were monsters unique to dungeons. They weren’t alive, and they possessed the strongest armour type—siege armour! They were tough to deal with. Ordinary attacks wouldn’t faze them. Only players who had reached a certain level of strength could even leave a scratch on them.

Thankfully, Nie Yan had Four Demonsmiths and Lil’ Gold to help out. Handling this Fallen Demon wouldn’t be an issue. Since it couldn’t be controlled with Undead Rite, the only option was to take it down!

Nie Yan had Lil’ Gold blast the Fallen Demon with Dragon Breath, dealing more than 2,000 damage. It was fairly effective against siege armour.

At the same time, Nie Yan also controlled the Demonsmiths, having them take turns tanking the Fallen Demon. As soon as one of them got low, they would be switched out. After three Demonsmiths fell to critical health, the Fallen Demon finally collapsed into rubble.

The Fallen Demon dropped a cloak.

As Nie Yan walked over to pick up the loot, a cold and gloomy atmosphere pervaded the hall. He glanced at the menacing expressions of the statues which would send shivers down people's spines. They could be resurrected by triggering a mechanism. It appeared this area wasn't as simple as he originally thought.

Nie Yan carefully recollected on the memories of his past life. He had visited Golden City several times, but it was only to run the Underground Mines. He was completely clueless about the upper layer.

Nie Yan recalled hearing about a guild wiping almost 30 times clearing Golden City. For their efforts, they only obtained the Sub Legendary-grade dagger, Slaughter Gold. What should’ve been their true reward, the riches stored within the treasury, remained sealed away. They searched all over the place, but they couldn’t find the key. Even up until his death, no one had triggered the quest for unlocking Golden City’s treasury. It was an unsolvable mystery.

Chapter 476 - Song of the Bramble Bird

Nie Yan picked up the cloak. It was raven black, the collar delicately embroidered with the design of a golden bramble bird. It could completely cover him, like a mantle.

Nie Yan’s eyes widened in surprise. This bramble bird design was quite unique, originating from all the way back in the Dark Era. It had a long and rich history, the symbol of the Eight Thieves—the Bramble Birds. Their goal was to rescue enslaved humans from the clutches of the dragons, killing hundreds of dragon race nobility in the process. On their last mission, the Bramble Birds succeeded in assassinating Dragon Archduke Kotni, but at the cost of their lives. That event became their defining moment and swan song.

Bramble birds were ugly little birds, treated as pests and eyesores by the general public. They would only sing a single song their whole lives. From the moment they left their nest, they would tirelessly seek out a bramble tree. Upon finding one, they would impale their delicate bodies on the longest and sharpest thorn, and chirp out a song as they bled to death. A truly heartbreaking sight. The beautiful melody, akin to the red clouds at dusk, eclipsed any sound in the world! After exhausting their vitality, they would die with their song.

Their lives were tragic suffering molded into everlasting beauty.

The Eight Thieves were bramble birds, sacrificing their brilliant lives to create an everlasting legend. Their achievements were engraved in the minds of countless people.

"Legends speak of the bramble bird, singing only once in its entire life.

Yet the song was more beautiful than any sound in the world.

The moment they left their nests, they would tirelessly seek out a bramble tree.

After finding one, they would impale themselves on the longest and sharpest thorn.

On that desolate branch, they would chirp their hearts out.

In their dying moments, they stood aloof from their suffering.

Their melody even put the nightingale and skylark to shame.

This was an incomparably beautiful song, the last embers of a fading life.

However, the world quietly listened. Even God was smiling from up above.

Because the most beautiful thing could only be borne from the greatest suffering.”

—(Bramble Bird)

The Eight Thieves took on the suffering and sorrow of countless people. After their passing, the design of the bramble bird was no longer used by anyone else. Their story was passed down from generation to generation. The wandering bards sung of their tales, sharing it with all those who would listen on their travels.

You have discovered the Shadow Walker Cloak. You gently wipe off the dust and let out a sorrowful sigh. May the departed rest in peace. May the painful memories be lost in the wilderness of time. Let us wait for the dawn after the night. Follow the footsteps of the heroes, and let the bramble bird freely sing…

Nie Yan felt there was more to this notification. But since no quest was triggered, he could do nothing about it. He examined the properties of the cloak.

Shadow Walker Cloak (Bronze): Special Item

Description: A relic of the Dark Era, passed down by the Light.

Properties: Hides all the information of the user. Allows the user to keep their name hidden when attacking other players.

Dark Dancer: Cloaking +300%, Makes the user immune to inspection, but they can still be detected. Skill is broken if the user is attacked or makes physical contact with an enemy. Duration: 10 minutes. Cooldown: 3 hours.

The Shadow Walker Cloak didn’t give any direct stat bonuses, but its properties were extremely useful. For example, the ability to keep his name and information concealed from inspection would save him a lot of unnecessary trouble. The Dark Dancer skill would also come quite in handy when doing quests or exploring.

Nie Yan put on the Shadow Walker Cloak. It could be tied to his leather amour and worn around like a mantle without inhibiting his mobility.

This would probably be his go-to item for when he wanted to set out on a journey in the future. He could use the Shadow Walker Cloak to shake off his pursuers.

Nie Yan began investigating the hall, searching behind the statues to see just how those people triggered the mechanism. He look behind the statue of a Demon Beast, carefully inspecting every inch. Six minutes later, he found a hidden spot with a peculiar recess. Curiously sticking his hand in and touching it, the hall began shaking as layers of dust fell off the statue and drifted down the floor.

The statue was awakening!

This spot was well hidden and easily overlooked if one wasn’t specifically looking for it. If someone hadn’t accidentally triggered the mechanism, Nie Yan would’ve never known these statues were monsters.

Nie Yan immediately ordered the four Demonsmith to surround and attack the Demon Beast. Lil’ Gold also blasted it from afar. Several minutes later, it collapsed to the ground and dropped a gem.

Nie Yan awoke the statues one at a time, then killed them.

Time ticked away. After about two hours, almost all the statues were cleared away. The hall appeared desolate. There were ley lines all over the ground, forming an enormous geometric design. It appeared to be a magic formation of some sort.

Nie Yan continued taking down the statues while inspecting the design. However, his knowledge of magic formations was limited. He had no clue what this one was used for. He took a picture of the design and contacted Guo Huai.

「Help me find out what this magic formation is used for.」

「Alright, I’ll get back to you in a bit,」Guo Huai said. After receiving the images of the design, he immediately got in touch with the Enchanters in the guild. Nie Yan was currently in the middle of a quest. Solving this formation would be a big help to him.

After receiving Guo Huai’s orders, the Enchanters of Asskickers United immediately started their inspection of the design. They discovered extremely complex formulas, requiring at least six Advanced Enchanters 20 minutes to solve.

Just where did Nie Yan find such a magic formation!?

The formulas were headache inducing. However, since the orders were from above, the Enchanters didn’t dare to dally and quickly went about solving them.

Nie Yan continued awakening and killing the statues. Several minutes later, the hall was cleared of all monsters but one—Mine Slave Igrin. He didn’t dare to approach it easily.

If Mine Slave Igrin was awakened, Nie Yan was done for. He was absolutely no match for it.

After roughly 20 minutes, Guo Huai contacted Nie Yan.

「How’s it going? It’s solved?」Nie Yan asked. He was quite puzzled. Wasn’t it just an ordinary magic formation? Why did it take so long? However, he was a layman in regards to magic formations. Even in his past life, he had very little contact with them. At best he only recognized a few simple formations. From his memory, whenever he brought his equipment for enchanting, the Enchanter would only need to draw a simple design, and that was that. It appeared magic formations were a lot more complicated than he originally thought.

「The Enchanters told me to tell you, "From the starting point of the star region, go in a straight line in the direction of the stellar fire toward the terminus. Then from the center of the moon region, go in a semicircle...」Guo Huai repeated the information the Enchanters passed down to him ad verbum.

「The Enchanters didn’t say anything else?」Nie Yan asked doubtfully.

「They said this is a sealing formation. If you follow their directions, you’ll be able to undo it.」

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. There was no harm in seeing if he could undo this magic formation.

"Starting point of the star region, stellar fire toward the terminus, straight line…” Nie Yan followed the instructions of the Enchanters, an ash gray line appeared in the places he walked over.

This line continued on until it formed a complete design. It looked somewhat peculiar. In the next moment, the lines lit up with a brilliant radiance, flooding the entire hall with white light.

A thick heavy book floated up at the center of the magic formation. Beside it was a large golden key about the size of a hand. It looked extremely delicate and was covered with all sorts of runes.

Seeing this key, Nie Yan immediately thought of Golden City’s treasury!

No doubt, this was the treasury’s key!

Nie Yan walked over to the two items. As he reached out for them, they lost their glow and started falling.

Nie Yan reached out his hands and caught them. He examined the key first.

Treasury Key: Special Item

A notification popped up. Nie Yan checked it.

Quest Progress: Use this key to unlock Igrin’s Treasury and search for Abak’s Cape of Ruin.

Nie Yan had previously obtained Abak’s Gloves of Sealing and Abak’s Bloody Dagger. The Cape of Ruin would mark the third piece. The treasury was precisely located behind Mine Slave Igrin. With the key, he could unlock it!

As for the book, it was ash gray. On the cover was the image of a bramble bird. This book’s title, written in Ancient Common, was "Song of the Bramble Bird.”

You have discovered an ancient book. It is somewhat damaged and worn. Flipping to the first page, you read a single line: "The most beautiful things are born from the greatest suffering.” Seeing the story of the Eight Thieves, you let out a deep sigh and gently close the book.

This book told the story of the Eight Thieves. It was probably a quest item. Nie Yan would have to search for clues inside. However, now was not the time. He put away the book in his bag.

Chapter 477 - Sub Legendary Treasure Chest

A frightening roar suddenly shook the hall, threatening to bring all of Golden City toppling down.

Nie Yan turned his head to the front of the hall. Mine Slave Igrin stepped down its pedestal. It strode forward, each step shaking the ground, the dust accumulated over the years falling off its body. Its eyes flashed with a demonic light as its gaze locked onto the intruder.

"Wretched human, you’ve trespassed on my territory!” Mine Slave Igrin shouted in Ancient Common.

Mine Slave Igrin possessed intermediate wisdom. These types of monsters were the most difficult to deal with!

Within a short time, Mine Slave Igrin regained full mobility and started charging towards Nie Yan at full speed.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He quickly ordered his four Demonsmiths to go up and stop Mine Slave Igrin.

Even though the four Demonsmiths were large and robust, they looked like children in front of Mine Slave Igrin, only reaching up to its waist. It raised its thick, muscular arm and slashed down with its sickle, sending all four flying at once.

The four Demonsmiths heavily crashed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust into the air.

−7,657, −8,391, −8,023, −7,862

What frightening damage! Such a powerful attack was enough to instantly kill any Fighter at this stage of the game. None of them had the health or defense to survive a hit from Mine Slave Igrin, let alone Nie Yan!

The four Demonsmiths struggled back to their feet, intending to charge at Mine Slave Igrin again. Their wisdom was too low to comprehend that such an action was suicidal.

Mine Slave Igrin stepped forward and sent one of the Demonsmiths flying with a kick.

The Demonsmiths were absolutely no match for Mine Slave Igrin. Seeing the situation turning south, Nie Yan hurriedly recalled Lil’ Gold. He then activated the Dark Dancer skill from his Shadow Walker Cloak and gradually melted into the darkness.

Mine Slave Igrin repeatedly pummeled the Demonsmiths with the weapons in its six large, muscular arms. It wasn’t long before they were smashed into bloody pulp.

Mine Slave Igrin looked around. The entire hall was empty, not a trace of Nie Yan to be found. It let out a furious roar and started searching for his traces.

At this moment, Nie Yan was more than 10 meters away from Mine Slave Igrin. Seeing it coming over, he hurriedly retreated.

Looking towards the end of the hall, Nie Yan spotted a giant golden door. This was the entrance to Igrin’s Treasury.

Nie Yan cautiously moved toward the treasury, sprinting forward in short bursts. Moments later he was forced to a halt, when Igrin suddenly started moving in his direction.

Nie Yan held his breath and hid in a dark corner, wondering how he could unlock the treasury without being noticed. Seeing Igrin come over, he instantly tensed up. If he was discovered now, any hopes he had would go up in smoke.

As Igrin approached closer and closer, Nie Yan’s heart started racing. Dark Dancer only greatly increased his stealthing capability. It wouldn’t make him immune to detection. If Igrin’s Awareness was high enough, and given the level difference between them, he could very easily be discovered.

Nie Yan sunk deeper and deeper into the corner until he could go no further. Igrin was getting closer and closer, 9 meters, 8 meters, 7 meters…

Nie Yan clutched an Unknown Transfer Scroll. He planned on teleporting away to safety the moment he was discovered.

According to the knowledge of his past life, as soon as he left this place, the Treasury Key in his bag would disappear. Igrin would replace the key and hide it in a new location.

Nie Yan could only try his luck.

On the verge of being discovered, Nie Yan gritted his teeth and dashed out of the corner, sprinting to another spot nearby.

Nie Yan got as close as five meters from Igrin. His forehead was drenched with cold sweat. Even in PvP, one could easily be discovered by another player at this distance, let alone a Level 90 Lord!

In the end, Igrin stopped at about five meters from the corner. He looked around but didn’t appear to notice Nie Yan, then turned around and left.

Igrin arrived at another corner, halting his footsteps yet again at about five or six meters away from the wall. He then left in another direction. It appeared this was its regular patrol pattern.

Nie Yan was amazed. To approach within five meters of a Level 90 Lord and not be discovered, this was practically a miracle. He pondered for a moment. This was probably related to his exceptional hiding ability. His Cloaking was frighteningly high, even far higher than that of Level 90 Thieves in his past life. Add the +300% Cloaking from Dark Dancer into the mix, and everything seemed to fall into place.

Nie Yan confirmed he would be safe so long as he stayed at least five meters away from Igrin.

Feeling reassured, Nie Yan headed for the treasury.

Igrin was still patrolling around, investigating around the hall. Nie Yan could easily approach the treasury. He dashed up and inspected the door.

It looked quite peculiar. It was cast out of a solid block of gold, but it was filled with numerous grooves, as if it was made of many puzzle pieces. At the center was a hole which perfectly fit the key in Nie Yan’s possession.

Nie Yan glanced over his shoulder. Igrin was all the way at the opposite end of the hall, more than 100 meters away with its back facing towards him.

Nie Yan inserted the key into the door. He didn’t have any hopes of opening the door right away. He just wanted to know how long it would take. He would think of another way later.

The door suddenly swallowed up the key. Things could be heard shifting around as a small entrance the size of a person appeared.

Things were still shifting around. The entrance was getting bigger and bigger. At this moment, Igrin was alerted by the sound. Seeing the door being opened, he let out an angry roar and charged over.

Nie Yan stared at the rapidly approaching Igrin, then at the entrance that was grower bigger and bigger. If he hesitated any longer, Igrin would kill him.

Nie Yan didn’t know if the treasury contained any unknown dangers.

"Screw it!” Nie Yan gritted his teeth and charged into the treasury. He had to find Abak’s Cape of Ruin as fast as possible. Else if too much time passed, Igrin would charge inside and make quick work of him!

The entrance to the treasury was still only the size of a human. There was no way Igrin’s enormous body could fit through. It stood outside roaring angrily.

Nie Yan took out the Holy Stone and placed it in his left palm. It let out a brilliant radiance and guided him.

Abak’s Cape of Ruin was nearby. The closer he got to it, the more intense the feeling he got from the Holy Stone.

Nie Yan scanned around the treasury. It was a 200-meter long hallway. Lining both sides were stone rooms filled with piles of gold, gems, and other valuables. Such a sight would drive anyone mad with greed. However, Nie Yan could keenly sense these riches were giving off a dark, ominous aura.

Relying on his past experiences, Nie Yan immediately understood that the the gold wasn’t to be touched.

So goes the proverb, "Greed is one of the original sins.”

If other players opened the treasury and carelessly tried to take these items away, not only would they not obtain anything, they might very well lose their lives. Nie Yan ignored the piles and piles of gold he was passing by as he searched for Abak’s Cape of Ruin. If it were the previous timeline, he might be blinded by greed. In this life, however, he had experienced far too many things for such a silly mistake.

After reincarnating, his mindset was completely different.

Giving up his life for the sake of riches was foolish.

He didn’t have any hopes of obtaining a windfall. The experiences of his past life were already an endless treasury, capable of making him much wealthier than the riches here. There was no need to succumb to greed. He wondered if this was a trap set up by the system.

Under the guidance of the Holy Stone, Nie Yan arrived in a room at the end of the hallway. It was quite spacious at five by five meters. A small treasure chest stood tucked away in a corner.

Demonic designs were delicately carved on this chest. It glowed red, green, and blue, constantly fluctuating between these three colours. It was sometimes as blinding as the sun and other times as plain as an ordinary piece of furniture.

Nie Yan’s heart was filled with endless excitement. This was a Sub Legendary chest!

He had only ever heard about Sub Legendary chests, having never seen one in person before. It was rumoured they glowed in three colours, red, blue, and green. Even then, it was only hearsay. As for whether this kind of chest really existed, he was doubtful. After all, he had never seen one before.

Nie Yan never expected to encounter a Sub Legendary chest in a place like this!

As for whether or not it contained Abak’s Cape of Ruin or some other item, he would have to open it to find out.

Nie Yan bent down and inspected the chest. "Yes!” His Lockpicking skill was high enough to open it. He had to work fast!

Chapter 478 - Abak’s Cape of Ruin!

The faint sound of footsteps resounded from the entrance to the treasury. Mine Slave Igrin had entered!

Nie Yan anxiously unlocked the chest, the progress bar filling up bit by bit. It was already at 60%!

Igrin searched for traces of Nie Yan in every room. It repeatedly brandished the weapons in its six arms, hacking and smashing into the walls and piles of gold. The frightening sounds rang out across the hallway, sending shivers down Nie Yan’s spine.

"Come on! Go faster!” Nie Yan muttered. If Igrin found him, his opportunity of obtaining whatever was inside the Sub Legendary chest would go down the drain.

70%...72%...75%...

Igrin was getting closer and closer to Nie Yan’s location. It was only a few rooms away at most. Suddenly, with a click, the chest popped open!

Success!

Nie Yan hurriedly reached his hand inside and fished out a silver gray cape. It was the item he was looking for—Abak’s Cape of Ruin!

Nie Yan didn’t have the time to examine the stats of this cape. He put it away in his bag, then continued to fish around inside the chest and pulled out an egg. It was about the size of a water basin, black all over, and sparkled like a gemstone.

Nie Yan’s mind trembled. This was a pet egg!

Normally, creatures that came out of eggs had a very high possibility of being a flying mount. Nie Yan had no idea what would hatch from this egg.

Nie Yan stored away the pet egg in his bag. He rummaged around through chest some more but found nothing else.

At this moment, Igrin bursted through the door. Spotting Nie Yan, it brandished its sickle and hacked down toward him.

Having gotten what he wanted, Nie Yan naturally didn’t stay any longer. Without a second thought, he crushed the Unknown Transfer Scroll in his hand and disappeared with a flash of light.

Igrin slashed down with its sickle, but Nie Yan was already gone.

Nie Yan emerged within a forest in the wilderness. He ducked into a secluded area, then took out a Return Scroll. After chanting out an incantation, he arrived back in Calore. He was finally safe.

Nie Yan checked his harvest, taking Abak’s Cape of Ruin out of his bag. He had already seen its appearance from the images within the Glimpse of Darkness. It had a dark gloomy aura and felt very light in his hands, almost as if it wasn’t there at all. He examined its stats.

Abak’s Cape of Ruin (Legendary): Unequippable

Requirements: 1,500 Strength, 1,200 Dexterity, Level 180

Description: This item can only be worn by the owner of the Glimpse of Darkness. It is only equippable when the owner has gathered the full set. Abak held strength in high regard. Only the powerful can become tyrants. Eliminate all traitors!

Properties: Defense +522, Evade +20, Cloaking +300, Strength +700, Dexterity +320, All Stats +100, 50% chance to absorb 20% incoming damage, 20% chance to absorb 50% incoming damage

Set Completion: 3/8

This item is automatically bound to the owner of Volume I of the Book of Order. It cannot be traded or dropped.

Abak’s Cape of Ruin’s stats were quite impressive. It was fully deserving of being part of a Level 180 Legendary set. If he could complete the Tyrant Abak Set, he would definitely be unrivalled.

Even though Nie Yan couldn’t equip the set for the time being, it still gave him something to work toward. He could just imagine how sweet it would feel to equip this set once he reached Level 180.

When Nie Yan got to Level 180 in the previous timeline, he was still stuck as a Great Thief with no hope of advancing to a Shadow Dancer. The gear he wore was a Level 160 Dark Gold-grade set that he spent three whole months grinding dungeons nonstop for. In his circle of friends, anyone that obtained a piece of Sub Legendary or Legendary-grade equipment would become the object of envy. At that time, Sub Legendary-grade equipment was considered godly, to say nothing of Legendary-grade equipment. As for Legendary Sets, they were basically myths.

Nie Yan had already obtained three pieces of the Tyrant Abak Set, Abak’s Gloves of Sealing, Abak’s Bloody Dagger, and Abak’s Cape of Ruin. Of the eight pieces of the set, he already possessed three. He could see himself completing the full set before Level 180.

Nie Yan’s goal was to reach Level 180, equip the Tyrant Abak Set, and fly through the skies on his Darkwing Dragon. If he could really achieve this, he would become the undisputed number one player in the game!

Nie Yan headed to the Starry Night Potion Shop and found an empty workshop. He took out the egg and carefully inspected it to find out what sort of creature was inside. However, he didn’t find any clues. It looked like he would have to go to a pet appraiser or patiently wait for it to hatch.

Nie Yan put on the Shadow Walker Cloak and headed to the central square of Calore. The pet appraiser was located there.

The central square was bustling with activity. Many players were shouting requests to form teams. Those who succeeded set off to level or run dungeons.

As Nie Yan walked through the crowd, the sound of shouting players rang in his ears. Among them, one sounded somewhat familiar.

"Searching for an Arcane Mage to run Dark Marsh! Must be Level 60–65 with at least 1,200 magic power.”

Looking towards the source of the voice, Nie Yan spotted several familiar faces. It was Zhai Hao and the others. There were 15 people in their group in total. There were five girls, several of whom were in the same class as him in Huahai High. There were also three others called Mo Tao, Mo An, and Mo Yan. Seeing these three, his expression darkened.

In his past life, Nie Yan was in a team together with Mo Tao, Mo An, and Mo Yan. He had become acquainted with them through Zhai Hao. These three were siblings. Their personalities were snobbish and unkind. Back then, Nie Yan, Zhai Hao, and Li Rui were much lower level than them; their equipment was worse too, so they often suffered abuse during dungeon runs. Mo Tao, Mo An, and Mo Yan were also quite foul mouthed, frequently spouting all sorts of vulgar profanities. After some time, Nie Yan, Zhai Hao, and Li Rui finally got fed up and withdrew from the team. They later heard the three joined Victorious Return. From then on, Nie Yan’s group had no more contact with them. It was rumoured they were given responsibility of managing a stronghold, receiving generous salaries every month. Of course, this position was far out of reach for the likes of Nie Yan, Zhai Hao, or Li Rui at that time. The Mo trio couldn’t even be deigned to associate with them. In fact, during the times they did occasionally meet, the faces of the three were filled with scorn and contempt.

Nie Yan didn’t want to see Mo Tao, Mo An, or Mo Yan. However, he felt obligated to meet up with Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and the others, especially since he hadn’t shown himself in school for a while. Zhai Hao knew Nie Yan was worlds apart from him, so he made it a point not to be a bother. At this rate, if Nie Yan didn’t take the initiative to reach out, he would run the risk of alienating these old friends from his past life.

Nie Yan wouldn’t forget those who helped him along the way. Even if his position was far different in this life, he wouldn’t pretend not to know Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and the others.

"If we’re going to run Dark Marsh, how about we get a few Antidotes? Anyone want to foot the bill?” Zhai Hao asked. Gathering enough people was only one of many difficulties they would face running Dark Marsh.

"Of course, it’s you guys that are footing the bill. Between Mo An, Mo Yan, and me, two of us are Level 65 and one is Level 64. With our equipment, we can already start running the Underground Mines in Golden City. We’re only tagging along with you guys to give Zhai Hao some face,” Mo Tao said in an disdainful tone.

"We’ve already been here for 30 damn minutes. Mother fucking hell, why are we still not leaving yet?” Mo An cursed after checking the time.

Mo Tao and Mo An were the same age as Zhai Hao and the rest. The two were paternal cousins. They also attended Huahai High. However, they were from Class 1, the so-called elite class with the highest grade average. Most of the students in that class were pretty full of themselves. Most recently, they were rather annoyed with the students in Class 3, specifically Nie Yan who had showed up out of nowhere and stole their thunder.

As for Mo Yan, she was two years younger. Her looks were alright. She had fair skin and a pretty face. Only she was bit short. Like Mo Tao and Mo An, she was a Mage.

"If Sister Yingyu wasn’t here, we would’ve left already,” Mo Yan said in a bratty tone.

Zhai Hao pondered for a moment before gritting his teeth. "Fine, I’ll pay for the Antidotes.”

「We’re even footing the bill for the Antidotes, and they also get first dibs on all Mage equipment. We’re basically getting nothing out of this,」Li Rui whispered to Zhai Hao in a disgruntled tone.

「It doesn’t matter if we’re getting anything out of it or not. Without enough people, we can’t even run Dark Marsh. If they leave, where are we going to find Mages with high enough damage?」Zhai Hao replied. He was also feeling helpless. They needed people to carry them through Dark Marsh so they could get enough experience to run it themselves. There was no other choice. They could only beseech the Mo trio for help.

Although Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and the others were acquainted with Nie Yan, they didn’t go around bragging about it. They never disclosed their close relationship with Nie Yan to others. His real identity was a matter known only to a few people.

"We can’t just let Zhai Hao foot the bill for the Antidotes by himself. Let’s help out and chip in as well,” suggested a lovely, tall, and beautiful girl.

"Don’t joke, Yingyu. How could we let you girls pay. That would be shameful,” Zhai Hao quickly declined.

Hearing Yingyu’s words, Mo Tao and Mo An became somewhat embarrassed.

"Don’t you guys know Nirvana Flame? Just have him come over. Wouldn’t that solve everything?” Mo Tao changed the subject.

"Right? If they have connections like that, why don’t they use them?” Mo An sneered. He had once heard Li Rui and Zhai Hao talk about how they knew Nirvana Flame. Of course, he didn’t believe this one bit. If they were friends with Nirvana Flame, he was friends with Soaring Angel. Such a claim was ridiculous!

Chapter 479 - Backer

"We really do know Nirvana Flame!” Li Rui tried to argue. However, since he was no good at speaking and lacked proof, he ended up blustering.

"Well, we know Nirvana Flame too! Who doesn’t know him? But guess what? He doesn’t know us!” Mo An scoffed. "If you guys are really that close to him, why don’t you call him over here? Have him carry you through Dark Marsh, should be easy enough, right?

Li Rui’s face flushed bright red. He wanted to refute, but Zhai Hao cut him off, "Enough, stop it already.”

Despite having a bellyful of anger, Li Rui could only drop it. Unless they really called Nie Yan over, there was no way Mo An, Mo Tao, and Mo Yan would believe them. Nie Yan treated them as genuine friends. They didn’t want to request his help for this matter and have him look down on them. What kind of people would they be if they abused their association with him just to settle some petty dispute?

Li Rui could clearly see the mockery in Mo An’s eyes. However, he could only swallow his anger.

"Until you can show us some solid proof, don’t bother mentioning it again. You’ll just end up making fools out of yourselves,” Mo Tao chuckled. "We’re still missing a few people. Go find us some Mages, ones with high enough magic power. If you really can’t find any, I’ll call some of my friends over. They’re all top players in Dark Hero. We’ll probably have to give them something for their trouble, though.”

Zhai Hao understood that if they really called these people over, they might get screwed over and end up with nothing. Finding random players to fill up the missing spots was their best bet.

"Let’s keep waiting a little longer. I’ll see if anyone in our guild is up for joining us,” Zhai Hao said.

"Keep waiting? We’ve already waited for over half an hour. I don’t have all fucking day here, you know?” Mo An said.

Zhai Hao was also getting annoyed. It wasn’t easy for him to gather 15 people. All they had to do was find a few decent Mages, and they could start running Dark Marsh. Were they really going to give in just like that? He felt aggrieved and reluctant. He turned to the others in the group with an apologetic look. "Sorry guys, I've made you waste your time.”

"Don’t worry about it, Zhai Hao. We’re all friends here. You can keep looking. We don’t mind waiting a bit longer,” a person called Jiang Fan said. He was a student from Class 5. Everyone knew how difficult it was gathering 20 people to run a dungeon, the process usually taking up to an hour or longer. Even with a set team, members were often absent because they were preoccupied questing or doing something else.

The others echoed Jiang Fan’s sentiments. They were all sympathetic with Zhai Hao’s troubles, unlike the Mo trio.

"You guys…” Zhai Hao gritted his teeth. Even if he had to suffer a loss, he was determined to get this team up and running. He would ask Mo An to call those friends from Dark Hero over. This was the only option. He wasn’t willing to let these brothers wait all this time for nothing.

Nie Yan approached Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and the others. He had been eavesdropping on their conversation and roughly understood the gist of the situation. The Mo trio were being their usual loathsome selves.

Seeing a cloaked stranger walking over, Zhai Hao’s group grew wary.

Nie Yan lifted his hood and turned to Zhai Hao with a faint smile. "Seems like you guys need my help?”

"Nie Yan!?” Li Rui exclaimed in shock.

Zhai Hao also never expected Nie Yan to show up. The others were rubbing their eyes in disbelief. Nirvana Flame had taken the initiative to come over and greet them! This sounded like something straight out of a dream, but it was actually happening right in front of them.

After a while, Zhai Hao finally regained his wits. He patted Nie Yan on the shoulder. "Yo, what are you doing here?” He suddenly recalled something and hesitantly pulled back his hand. The two of them lived in different worlds. Nie Yan was the guild leader of Asskickers United, a legendary figure, while he was a nobody. If he was thrown into an ocean of people, no one would find him. Nie Yan going out of his way to greet them was giving Zhai Hao a great deal of face.

"I was just passing by when I happened to spot you guys. I decided to come over and say hi. You running dungeons?” Nie Yan glanced at Zhai Hao’s group and asked.

"E-er, we’re planning to head out to Dark Marsh,” Zhai Hao replied. He couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed. Low tier dungeons like Dark Marsh probably weren’t anything in Nie Yan’s eyes. After all, the Mad Rogue was a heaven defying figure. Meanwhile, they couldn’t find enough people to run some easy dungeon.

Seeing Zhai Hao and Nie Yan chatting so casually, Mo An’s jaws practically fell out of his mouth. His face was ripe green with envy. He turned to Mo Tao and Mo Yan. "Holy fucking shit! That twit Zhai Hao really does know Nirvana Flame! The two aren’t even on the same plane! How did they meet?”

"Who knows… I really can’t understand it myself. If Zhai Hao and Li Rui were friends with Nirvana Flame, why didn’t they try and prove us wrong earlier?” Mo Tao replied. If he were in their shoes, he would brag to everyone he knew. He definitely wouldn’t be like Zhai Hao and Li Rui and silently suffer humiliation. This was the difference in character, and precisely why Nie Yan was friends with Zhai Hao and Li Rui but wouldn’t give the Mo trio the time of day.

"Zhai Hao and Li Rui really have some dogshit luck,” Mo An muttered. With a backer like Nirvana Flame, they wouldn’t lack anything. Any random piece of equipment in Asskickers United’s treasury was better than theirs.

"Lets go greet Nirvana Flame. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get something good from him.” Mo Tao’s eyes sparkled. "Mo Yan, this is your time to shine.”

"I can try… But will he even notice me? I bet he’s met all kinds of beauties,” Mo Yan said.

"You don’t know for sure. Give it a try.”

After learning Zhai Hao and Li Rui were having trouble doing something as simple as gathering a team to run Dark Marsh, Nie Yan’s heart ached. He really was too busy with other things to join them. He didn’t expect his old friends to suffer such grievances.

"If you ever need my help, don’t hesitate to ask at all. I’ll send a message to my executive lead. His ID is Watchful Snail. If you need something, contact him. You guys are already Level 62. Head to one of our guild offices. If you pass the test, you can join Asskickers United. I’ll find a few people to help carry you guys through Dark Marsh.”

Nie Yan popped into the Asskickers United guild chat.「I need 5 Mages to carry my friends through a dungeon. Must be Level 60–65. If you’re interested, let me know!」

「Sure!」

「I’m down!」

…

The guild chat was instantly flooded with several hundred replies. With Nie Yan’s prestige, this was only to be expected. Many of the Mages were eager to volunteer, and since this was the guild leader’s personal request, who would dare not give it their all? Nie Yan had Guo Huai select five suitable and skilled Mages.

Roughly 30 minutes later, five Mages rushed over and reported to Nie Yan. They were all wearing Dark Gold-grade equipment. Their expressions were filled with excitement.

"Boss!”

"Boss. we're here! These guys, right?”

...

The gear of the Mo trio was fairly good for the average player at their level, with most of their equipment being Gold-grade. However, the equipment they so loved to show off seemed like garbage now, downright shameful even. Those Asskickers United players couldn’t be bothered to spare them so much as a glance.

Of the five that arrived, Nie Yan recognized a couple by name.

"Sesame Cake, these guys are my friends. You should introduce yourselves and get to know each other. Carry them through Dark Marsh and help them improve the quality of their gear. Afterwards, you can bring them to Dream Ravine,” Nie Yan said. With these five here, carrying Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and the others through Dark Marsh would be a piece of cake.

Asskickers United’s treasury was full of equipment that Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and the others could use. However, Nie Yan knew they weren’t the sort of people who would accept handouts.

"You put your trust in us, Boss! Your friends are our friends! I can guarantee we’ll make it through 30 runs before the day ends! They won’t miss out on any equipment!” Sesame Cake declared.

Zhai Hao, Mo Tao, and the others were stunned. 30 runs before the day ended? This was too frightening! It usually took them around three to four hours per run, and many times they would end up wiping. Yet Sesame Cake was talking like it was a stroll in the park. Thinking about it, Sesame Cake and the other four were all Level 65 with Dark Gold-grade equipment. Even if Zhai Hao and the others did nothing, they could probably still clear Dark Marsh with ease.

Nie Yan was treating Zhai Hao and Li Rui so well. He didn’t have any air of arrogance around him. Seeing this, the others drummed up the courage to chat with him.

Mo Tao and Mo An tried hard to cozy up to Nie Yan. However, he simply brushed them off from beginning to end. Even though he had suffered no small amount of abuse from those two in his past life, he already long since put that behind him. In this life, they were nobodies, not even fit to breathe the same air as him. He had no need to pay them any heed.

Sesame Cake and the other four naturally took notice of Nie Yan giving Mo Tao and Mo An the cold shoulder. Since the guild leader didn’t seem to care for these two, simply dying during the run would be the least of their worries.

As the old proverb goes, "Yama might be easy to provoke, but his demon underlings are much less forgiving.”

After briefly intermingling with each other, Sesame Cake and the other four were chatting with Zhai Hao and the rest like they were old pals. Li Rui finally felt vindicated. He held his head up high with a proud smile on his face; the previous sullenness was nowhere to be seen. From now on, they would no longer have to suffer the humiliation of Mo Tao, Mo An, and Mo Yan.

Chapter 480 - Pet Hatching

Seeing Nie Yan ignoring Mo Tao and Mo An, Mo Yan nudged up to Nie Yan’s side. "Nirvana Flame...”

"What?” Nie Yan rolled his eyes, the annoyance in his voice as clear as day.

"N-nothing…” Mo Yan awkwardly stepped away. Apart from her being a bit short, she was a fairly pretty girl. But in front of Nie Yan, all her confidence seemed to vanish. Nirvana Flame… this was someone who could have countless beautiful women at his beck and call with the snap of a finger. It would be strange if he did take a fancy to her. She glanced over her shoulder, and saw Mo Tao and Mo An signalling her with their eyes.

Seeing this scene, Nie Yan immediately knew the scheme the Mo trio was playing. His heart was filled with even more disdain for them. Even if Mo Yan stripped naked and presented herself in front of him, he still wouldn’t show the slightest bit of interest.

The beauty standing next to Zhai Hao approached Nie Yan. She had a slim build, fair unblemished skin, and a beautiful face. Everything about her was perfect. Her presence seemed to make Mo Yan look like a background character.

Mo Yan gazed at her enviously.

Nie Yan felt this beauty was somewhat familiar. Seeing her name, he realized she was Jiang Yingyu. He didn’t expect her to be with Zhai Hao’s group.

"Nirvana Flame… I didn’t think it would be you.” Jiang Yingyu was just informed that Nie Yan was Nirvana Flame. She was shocked, yet at the same time, she didn’t find this strange at all. He was a person who was destined to stand at the peak overlooking others.

"The world is full of surprising coincidences,” Nie Yan smiled.

Even though Jiang Yingyu couldn’t read Nie Yan’s expression, she felt a sense of distance from his tone, an insurmountable wall that prevented others from getting too close. Her keen intuition immediately made her think of Xie Yao. A feeling of sadness washed over her. She didn’t feel like she was lacking in any way compared to Xie Yao. Only that some things were decreed by fate. She simply didn’t have Xie Yao’s luck.

"Hey, Nie Yan. Didn’t you say you were going to visit the auction house? We’re really sorry for sucking up so much of your time,” Zhai Hao hurriedly interjected after noticing the mood turning awkward. He gave Nie Yan a meaningful look.

"Ah, you’re right. I still have a lot of things to do. I’ll be taking my leave first. Let Sesame Cake and the rest carry you guys through Dark Marsh. Zhai Hao, Li Rui, let me know when you call over Xuchen too. We should all meet up some time. If you guys really see me as a brother, don’t be so formal with me next time, or else I’ll get mad!” Nie Yan laughed.

"Sure! I’ll be sure to tell him to come next time!” Li Rui exclaimed. He was surprised Nie Yan remembered Liu Xuchen despite only meeting a couple of times.

He was deeply moved. Nie Yan became a lifelong brother in his heart!

"Brother!” Zhai Hao heartily patted Nie Yan’s shoulders.

In truth, Nie Yan was feeling the most emotional right now. Having known Zhai Hao and Li Rui for so many years, he really didn’t want for them to drift apart.

Seeing Nie Yan acting so chummy with Zhai Hao and Li Rui, Mo Tao and Mo An were green with envy.

"God dammit. Those two twits really are lucky,” Mo An muttered under his breath.

Sesame Cake and the other four from Asskickers United were also envious. They resolved in their hearts to handle this task even more earnestly. If Zhai Hao and Li Rui needed something, they wouldn’t dare to dally.

"Well, I’m off.” Nie Yan put his cloak back on and departed.

Seeing Nie Yan’s back receding in the distance. Sesame Cake turned to Zhai Hao. "We were told by the boss to keep helping you guys out in the future. If you need something, just give us a shout.” He then turned to the other four Mages. "Blackie, go ask Bird in the Starry Night Potion Shop for some Antidotes. We’ll set off when you get back.”

The five immediately got to work, making all sorts of preparations. Sesame Cake had promised Nie Yan he would help Zhai Hao’s group clear Dark Marsh 30 times before the day ended. He definitely planned on following through with it.

Seeing Sesame Cake and the rest getting busy, Mo Tao and Mo An nudged over to Zhai Hao.

"Zhai Hao, how do you know Nirvana Flame?” Mo An asked with an awkward smile.

Zhai Hao was just about to explain, when Li Rui interrupted, "Why the hell should we tell you? We’re not your underlings. We don’t have to report anything to you!” Li Rui’s temper wasn’t good. Recalling how Mo Tao and Mo An mocked them earlier, his anger was reignited.

Zhai Hao hurriedly stopped Li Rui. There was no need to bring things to a deadlock. It was fine to just maintain a distance. If they really had a falling out, there was no telling when petty people like Mo An and Mo Tao would try to take revenge.

Mo An was pretty pissed inwardly, but he put on an embarrassed facade. "Haha… It’s fine. It’s fine. It was just a misunderstanding, that’s all. I’m sorry about earlier, Li Rui. I was in the wrong.”

With a backer like Nirvana Flame, Mo An and Mo Tao knew Zhai Hao and Li Rui were basically set for life. If they could cozy up to those two, they would also see some benefits. Nie Yan was the absolute ruler of Calore. Such a large city was governed by him. One word from him could turn them from rags to riches, or make their lives a living nightmare.

What a bunch of snobs… Zhai Hao saw right through Mo Tao, Mo An, and Mo Yan’s personalities. Previously when he requested their help in running Dark Marsh, they made all sorts of demands while being nasty and rude. If it weren’t for the fact he couldn’t find enough people on his friends list, he would’ve never invited these three siblings. If he had really gone along with Mo Tao’s proposal and invited those people from Dark Hero, he didn’t know how much more he would have to pay in compensation for just a single run.

These three were the type to kick a person when they were down. Luckily, Nie Yan had shown up when he did and resolved the problem.

"Hey, about our previous agreement, giving you all the Mage drops and paying a 10 gold commission fee,” Zhai Hao said.

Mo An realized Zhai Hao wanted to weasel out of their deal. However, he understood that with Sesame Cake’s group there, clearing Dark Marsh had become a piece of cake. He, Mo Tao, and Mo Yan were relegated to side characters, easily replaceable. Even if they kept the agreement, wanting to take all the Mage drops and 10 gold was impossible. "Eh, don’t worry about it. We were just messing around. If we really cleared Dark Marsh, we would’ve never taken that much.”

"My ass!” Li Rui snorted.

Although Li Rui’s voice was quite clear, Mo An feigned ignorance. He didn’t show any reaction, but he was already cursing in his heart. Motherfucker… getting all cocky just because you found a backer! Truthfully, he wanted to find a backer too. Sadly for him, Nie Yan was the most powerful figure around. If he wanted to continue staying in Calore in the future, he couldn’t afford to offend Nie Yan. He could only grit his teeth and swallow his anger.

If Li Rui had spoken the same words before Nie Yan showed up, Mo Tao, Mo An, and Mo Yan would’ve immediately turned hostile, not acting all polite like they were right now.

After Sesame Cake finished his preparations, he turned to Zhai Hao and Li Rui. "Today, we’re taking you to run Dark Marsh. Some other day, we’ll help you guys get a set of Level 65 equipment.”

"Thank y-”

Zhai Hao wanted to give his thanks, but Sesame Cake cut him off. "Don’t worry, Zhai Hao. No need to be polite. A brother of our boss is our brother as well!”

"We’ll be in your care, Brother Sesame Cake,” Mo An interjected.

Sesame Cake simply gave Mo An a cold glance and continued chatting with Zhai Hao and Li Rui.

After a while, the team set off for Dark Marsh.

Nie Yan passed through the central square and arrived at the Pet Shop. This building was quite large and spacious. It was filled with rows upon rows of cages containing all kinds of pets. Their prices were all different. The lowest rank ones went for 10 gold, while the highest rank ones cost upwards of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of gold—definitely not something an ordinary player could afford.

Nie Yan headed deeper into the shop until he met several NPCs dressed in Beast Tamer clothing.

Nie Yan approached one of the pet appraisers.

"Great Scholar, sir, how may I help you?” a middle-aged NPC called Beast Tamer Collinson asked.

"I’d like you to inspect what's inside of this egg.” Nie Yan took out the black egg from his bag.

Seeing the egg in Nie Yan’s hands, Collinson’s eyes sparked. "This is a high rank pet. Are you sure you want me to appraise this pet egg? Appraising it will cost 2,000 gold. If you want me to hatch it, that will cost 20,000 gold.”

Nie Yan nearly jumped in fright. 2,000 gold for an appraisal, and 20,000 to hatch it? That was enough to buy another high rank pet!

However, with the appraisal fee being so high, Nie Yan could confirm this black egg wasn’t simple. He wondered if it was just as rare as the Darkwing Dragon.

Since this black egg could be hatched here, he wondered whether the same could be done to the Darkwing Dragon Egg.

Nie Yan took out the Darkwing Dragon Egg, placing the two eggs together on the table. He instantly noticed some differences. The colour of the Darkwing Dragon Egg was much purer, and it also pulsed with energy. This black egg was probably lower rank than the Darkwing Dragon Egg.

"How much would it cost to hatch this Darkwing Dragon Egg?”

Chapter 481 - Hatching the Netherthunder Eagle!

"My heavens! Are my eyes deceiving me? This is a Darkwing Dragon Egg!” Collinson cried out. "Nirvana Flame, sir, would you allow me to take a look?”

Nie Yan didn’t expect Collinson to be so shocked. He handed over the Darkwing Dragon Egg.

Collinson carefully accepted the egg into his embrace. As a Beast Tamer, he naturally understood how precious it was. Great General Breakspear had braved numerous dangers in order to obtain it. Even for Collinson, a man who spent all his life researching beasts, this was his first time seeing one!

Collinson gently stroked the vein patterns on the shell. He was completely engrossed in examining the Darkwing Dragon Egg, his face flickering between excitement and regret.

After a while, Collinson turned to Nie Yan with an apologetic expression. "I’m sorry, but I can’t hatch this egg. It was taken from its nest too early. That's why it looks translucent.”

Nie Yan’s heart sank. Could it be that the Darkwing Dragon Egg couldn’t be hatched? But that didn’t make any sense. There should be a way to hatch the egg, or else Great General Breakspear wouldn’t have gifted it to him as a quest reward. He probably had to meet some special requirements.

As Nie Yan was deep in thought, Collinson continued, "I can’t hatch it, but this Darkwing Dragon Egg is still very much alive. You just need to find a few items that will perhaps give the creature inside enough strength to break free of the shell.”

"What items do I need to find?”

"You need at least 20 Magic Crystals, 30 Radiant Crystals, 2 Life Crystals, and 1 Power Crystal.”

Nie Yan took a deep breath. Obtaining these items was as difficult as scaling the heavens. The Magic Crystals and Radiant Crystals were relatively easy to obtain. They could still be found in the marketplace. However, the Life Crystals and Power Crystal were extremely rare. Ordinary players wouldn’t even know where to start looking for them. However, it was still manageable for him. He knew where these things were located. In fact, he could go and fetch them in as little as 10 days.

The Darkwing Dragon was a powerful flying mount. It would be an enormous boon to Nie Yan if he could hatch it.

Collinson handed back the Darkwing Dragon Egg, and Nie Yan put it away in his bag.

"Can you help me appraise this pet then?” Nie Yan said. He paid the 2,000 gold fee, then gave the other egg to Collinson.

Collinson propped up the egg with his left hand, then began carefully inspecting it. As he gently caressed the shell, he suddenly felt something, and his hand lit up with a warm light.

Nie Yan anxiously stared at Collinson who appeared to be carrying out some sort of mysterious ritual. The outcome of this appraisal was extremely important to him. If it was an ordinary pet, it would only be worth several thousand gold or possibly tens of thousands. If it was appraised as a flying mount, it would become a priceless treasure. Flying mounts were simply too rare right now. Even a single one could greatly impact the growth of Asskickers United.

After a while, Collinson opened his eyes. "This is a flying mount, the darkness attribute Netherthunder Eagle.”

Nie Yan felt a weight lifted off his shoulders. It was a flying mount! As for what sort of rank the Netherthunder Eagle was, he couldn’t say for sure. However, even the lowest rank flying mounts were exceptionally precious.

"Nirvana Flame, sir, are you sure you want to hatch this Netherthunder Eagle? Every person is permitted only one flying mount. If you hatch this egg, you can’t give it to anyone else. Furthermore, before it dies, you can’t own another flying mount,” Collinson said.

Only now did Nie Yan recall there was such a rule. Flying mounts would only recognize one master.

Nie Yan pondered for a bit. He planned on giving this Netherthunder Eagle to one of his close friends. In a few days, he would hatch the Darkwing Dragon anyway. This sort of thing naturally had to be given to the most reliable and trustworthy person. Tang Yao and Xie Yao popped into his mind. These two were the closest to him. He thought a bit more. This Netherthunder Eagle was of the darkness attribute while a Holy Mage like Xie Yao was of the light attribute. This clash would cause both pet and owner to suffer stat penalties. On the other hand, Tang Yao didn’t face such a problem. As an Arcane Mage, many of his spells were of the darkness attribute. Giving him the Netherthunder Eagle would result in both him and it receiving a stat boost.

Who the Netherthunder Eagle belonged to wasn’t important. As long it was put to the greatest use, it was fine.

In the future, it would be mandatory for all flying mount owners to participate in guild wars. It was tantamount to them being bound to Asskickers United.

The Netherthunder Eagle was undoubtedly a strategic resource. It couldn’t be squandered.

「Tang Yao, where are you right now?」

「I’m levelling at the Den of Monsters.」

「Den of Monsters?」Nie Yan was taken aback. He recalled this was a Level 90 map.「Are you with a party?」

「Nope, just me.」

「I’m impressed. You can even solo grind in a Level 90 map!」Nie Yan chuckled. Equipment alone didn’t necessarily qualify a player to train in high level maps. Skill mattered too. With Tang Yao’s defense, even a slight graze from the monsters there could kill him. Mages were a ranged class. As long as their positioning was good, they could hunt monsters above their level. Furthermore, Tang Yao also had a Rank 3 Arcane Fairy. It was even close to reaching Rank 4.

「I’ve collected quite a bit of loot. All of it is in the guild treasury!」Tang Yao bragged.

「Come to the pet shop near Calore’s central square. I’ve got a nice surprise for you.」

「Huh, the pet shop?」Tang Yao was surprised.「I’ve already got a pet. It’s a Level 75 Spectral Wolf. It’s pretty good. You can just give the pet to someone else.」

「It’s not a normal pet. It’s a flying mount!」Nie Yan laughed.

「What? You’ve obtained another flying mount?」He recalled Nie Yan had previously obtained a Darkwing Dragon Egg. Nie Yan would only give him a flying mount if he got a second one.

「Not yet, just an egg like the other. It’s a Netherthunder Eagle. I’m gifting it to you. I still need to figure out a way to hatch the Darkwing Dragon,」Nie Yan replied. Even though the Netherthunder Eagle was strong, it couldn’t be compared to the Darkwing Dragon.

「I’ll be right there!」Tang Yao exclaimed. Knowing that Nie Yan was gifting him a flying mount, how could he dare to dally? He quickly packed up his stuff and found a secluded corner to activate a Return Scroll.

A player could have one pet, one land mount, and one flying mount at the same time. These three didn’t conflict. Among them, flying mounts were the rarest and most powerful.

After a while, Tang Yao ran into the pet shop.

"Where’s the flying mount? Let me see!” Tang Yao said full of enthusiasm.

Seeing Tang Yao’s excited expression, Nie Yan faintly smiled. He handed over the Netherthunder Eagle Egg to him. "Give the egg for Beast Tamer Collinson to hatch, and it’s yours.”

"Where did you find this flying mount? I did so many quests, and I couldn’t even find a single one,” Tang Yao said. He truly understood the pain of finding a flying mount.

"I got it from a Sub Legendary Chest in the upper layer of Golden City,” Nie Yan laughed.

"What about your Darkwing Dragon? Can you hatch it?” Tang Yao asked.

"I need 20 Magic Crystals, 30 Radiant Crystals, 2 Life Crystals, and 1 Power Crystal to hatch it.”

"Power Crystal?” Tang Yao knitted his brows. "I think I’ve seen that before. Give a holler in the guild chat. See if anybody has it.”

Nie Yan was taken aback. Power Crystals only dropped in Level 90 maps and higher. Only a very select few maps even had a 1 in 50,000 chance of dropping it. He recalled a certain chest found in a Level 100 map that contained a Power Crystal. That’s why he wanted to go there himself. However, he only wanted to give it a shot.

Nie Yan let everyone in the guild chat know he needed Magic Crystals, Radiant Crystals, Life Crystals, and a Power Crystal.

Besides this, Nie Yan called to mind that the Union of Assassins would also be of use. He posted a mission asking for these items. The reward was quite generous. These items would still be useful in the future anyway. The more, the better.

「Boss, that Power Crystal you’re looking for, Bladelight and them got one while running a dungeon. It’s stored in the treasury,」a player said.

It was already in the guild treasury?

Nie Yan went to check the treasury.

"There’s even a few Magic Crystals and Radiant Crystals!”

Since the treasury already had some of the items Nie Yan was looking for, that made matters much simpler!

"Collinson, please help me hatch this egg.” Tang Yao exchanged words with Collinson, then paid the 20,000 gold fee. The Netherthunder Eagle Egg in his hands lit up with a dazzling black radiance. It was hatching!

Chapter 482 - Netherthunder Eagle Takes Flight

With cracking sounds, the egg started splintering open and out popped an eagle chick. It was still fairly small, but large enough to be held in Tang Yao’s arms.

Nie Yan gazed at the Netherthunder Eagle. It looked like an ordinary eagle, except for its glossy, jet black feathers.

The Netherthunder Eagle spread its wings and started preening itself. Its sharp eyes were clear and limpid, sparkling with intelligence.

"I’m already taking a liking to this little fellow.” Tang Yao scratched the Netherthunder Eagle. It appeared to be enjoying the feeling as it affectionately rubbed its head against his hand.

Tang Yao took out a slab of meat from his bag, something he normally fed to his Spectral Wolf, and held it out in front of the Netherthunder Eagle’s beak. It pecked at the meat curiously, then swallowed it whole.

"It’s still a chick right now. You’ll have to wait a while for it to be fully grown,” Nie Yan said. Since the Netherthunder Eagle was still quite small, it probably didn’t have any combat strength. Tang Yao would have to wait for it to slowly mature.

"No, it can turn bigger and become a flying mount right now!”

"Really?” Nie Yan was surprised. Did flying mounts not have growth periods?

"Hold on. Let me keep looking at its stats,” Tang Yao said. The amount of information in the Netherthunder Eagle’s stat page was massive. It would take him a while to go through all of it. "The stats of the Netherthunder Eagle are pretty balanced. Dexterity increases its flying speed, and Strength increases its attack power. Which stat should I add?”

"That depends on what you want. I think as a Mage you should have the Netherthunder Eagle focus on Dexterity,” Nie Yan advised. Tang Yao’s damage was already unrivalled. Add that to the lightning speed of the Netherthunder Eagle, and he would become a superb aerial turret.

"Hmm… not a bad idea. I’ll listen to you. Speed complimenting power.”

"You should try experimenting yourself too. After all, I don’t have any experience with flying mounts either,” Nie Yan said. His knowledge of flying mounts in his past life was only in passing.

"Flying mounts are divided into nine ranks. Each rank will give an exponential boost in stats,” Tang Yao said. He opened up the page on the official website about flying mounts and compared the information with the Netherthunder Eagle’s stat page.

"What rank is the Netherthunder Eagle?” Nie Yan asked. He was completely clueless in this regard. Back when he assassinated Cao Xu, the flying mounts patch was still in its infancy. Very few players had them, and to the him of that time, they were unattainable existences.

"It’s Rank 1. All recently hatched pets start out at Rank 1. In the future, its rank will slowly start to rise. Apparently I can increase the size of this Netherthunder Eagle on command. Let’s head to the wilderness and see for ourselves,” Tang Yao said. His knowledge on flying mounts was still shallow. He would have to slowly learn and familiarize himself with them.

"Alright, in a bit.” Nie Yan suddenly recalled there was also a leaderboard for flying mounts. Every flying mount would automatically be registered into it, but the names of their owners wouldn’t be shown. This leaderboard encompassed the whole Righteous Faction. He checked the leaderboard. Sure enough, Tang Yao’s Netherthunder Eagle was there.

At present, it was the only flying mount on the leaderboard!

"Summoning a flying mount takes five minutes. Recalling it also takes five minutes. If it dies, you can’t revive it unless you have a Revive Crystal,” Tang Yao muttered. This rule was a bit frightening. If a flying mount died during combat, it would be incredibly difficult to revive. It would also be hard to recall when encountering danger.

"It seems like flying mounts have Life Cores,” Nie Yan remarked after recalling something.

"Right, flying mounts have Life Cores. If you crack open their heads, you’ll obtain a life core. Flying mounts can only rank up by eating these things,” Tang Yao read from the information page. He understood the implications behind this. In the future, when flying mounts became more widespread, he would have to kill the flying mounts of other players to rank up his Netherthunder Eagle.

As Nie Yan and Tang Yao chatted, a group of 20 players rowdily entered the pet shop.

"Destroyer, I heard the pets here can go for tens of thousands of gold,” a Level 50 Thief said to a Warrior in silver white armour.

"Hmmm? It’s not that much! My team makes several gold a day running Golden City. Any good drop can sell for a few hundred to a thousand gold no problem,” Destroyer chuckled.

Destroyer was a Level 66 Warrior clad in a set of Level 65 Dark Gold-grade equipment. He was the same caliber as Sesame Cake.

After Destroyer finished speaking, the eyes of the other players glimmered with admiration.

Destroyer had a smug look on his face. Since he was the most outstanding player by far out of this group, he couldn’t resist showing off.

"People are coming. Let’s leave,” Nie Yan said. He put on his Shadow Walker Cloak.

"Mhm...” Tang Yao nodded. It wasn’t suitable for the two of them to show themselves out in public. He also put on a cloak.

"Who’s that Warrior?” Nie Yan asked with a hint of curiosity.

"Seems like someone from Dark Hero, one of their team captains. A nobody,” Tang Yao replied. At their levels, they naturally wouldn’t put these kinds of people in their eyes.

Nie Yan and Tang Yao headed for the exit.

"Destroyer, what kind of pet are you planning to buy?” a player asked.

"Probably a Rhycorn. It synergizes pretty well with Warriors,” Destroyer laughed. Seeing two cloaked figures walking in his direction, he couldn’t help but sneer. What were these two hiding their appearances for? Did they think they were some kind of hotshots, acting all mysterious?

"Wow, a good Rhycorn costs at least 30,000 gold!”

"It’s just 30,000 gold, no big deal,” Destroyer smiled. As his gaze fell on the Netherthunder Eagle in Tang Yao’s arms, his eyes flashed with disdain.

"The palm sized bird, is it a pet? Does it even have any attack power?” the Thief mocked after noticing the Netherthunder Eagle too.

"I heard some bird pets can fly just high enough to peck at a person’s eyes,” an Arcane Mage chimed in.

"Haha, pecking eyes. It’s pretty funny. One time I bumped into a palm-sized bird pet. It tried attacking me, so I slapped it so hard it exploded into a cloud of feathers!” Destroyer heartily laughed. "These kinds of pets aren’t worth much gold. They’re definitely sold cheaply.”

"Like 10 gold, right?’” the Thief laughed.

"10 gold really can’t get you anything good. Take, the Rhycorn, for example, it costs at least 30,000 gold!” Destroyer gazed at Nie Yan and Tang Yao in disdain. His voice was loud enough for everyone in the shop to hear. He enjoyed putting others down to make himself look good.

Tang Yao’s temper immediately flared. "God fucking dammit. These guys are really asking for it.”

"Ignore them,” Nie Yan said in an indifferent manner. He had met countless people like this in his past life.

Tang Yao tried to restrain his anger. The two continued heading for the exit.

Seeing Nie Yan and Tang Yao ignoring him, the laughter of Destroyer and his group grew even more boisterous.

"They’ve probably never seen what a 30,000-gold pet looks like before, right?” Destroyer laughed.

"Can you ride Flying Mounts within the city?” Nie Yan whispered.

"Yeah, I think so.” Tang Yao was a bit taken aback but quickly understood the meaning behind Nie Yan’s words. Fuck, what’s so amazing about a 30,000-gold pet? Open your eyes, I’ll let you guys see what a real amazing pet is!

When the two arrived at the exit, Tang Yao chanted out an incantation. All of a sudden the Netherthunder Eagle grew more than 20 times in size. As it stood in front of the pet shop, a powerful gust of wind blew into the pet shop and sent Destroyer and his group tumbling to the ground.

"What the hell is going on?” Destroyer could barely open his eyes. Looking towards the exit, he saw the Netherthunder Eagle in Tang Yao’s hands grow into a three-meter tall beast. It looked magnificent and was overflowing with might.

Compared to the Netherthunder Eagle, every pet in the pet shop was basically trash!

Everyone in the central square let out cries of alarm after seeing such a huge beast appear.

"It’s a flying mount!” the Thief cried out.

Destroyer was stupefied. He never expected that the Netherthunder Eagle he made fun of would actually be such a powerful flying mount. Then wouldn’t that mean...

Nie Yan and Tang Yao mounted the Netherthunder Eagle. Its back was big enough to fit five people, its giant wings kicking up powerful gusts of wind. It rose up in the air and took to the sky.

"Flying mount? Could it be that was Nirvana Flame?” the Thief said in fright. They didn’t think the person they were mocking just now was the figure they shouldn’t have provoked the most.

"Destroyer, what do we do? That person we just…” the players cried out in fear.

"I heard Nirvana Flame isn’t the type of guy you want to provoke.”

"Yeah, I heard there was a player called Liu Rui in Victorious Return who offended Nirvana Flame. He was hunted down until he dropped back to Level 0. He hasn’t shown his face since.”

The more these people spoke, the more the fear in their hearts grew.

Destroyer never thought he would bring such a calamity upon himself. Listening to his lackeys, he also got scared. "Let’s head to the Asskickers United branch office and go apologize. If Nirvana Flame forgives us, everything should be fine. If he doesn’t, we’ll have no choice but to leave Calore.” If Nie Yan wanted to make things difficult for him, there was nothing he and his team could do.

Chapter 483 - Aerial Treasure Hunting

Nie Yan normally wouldn’t pay heed to petty taunts from a group of nobodies, but the thick arrogance in Destroyer’s voice ticked him off. This was why he had Tang Yao show off the Netherthunder Eagle in such a flashy manner. Besides, with it appearing on the flying mount leaderboards, everybody would assume it belonged to him.

The Netherthunder Eagle circled around in the sky. The more it beat its gigantic wings, the higher up it flew.

Nie Yan and Tang Yao rode on top of the Netherthunder Eagle, mountains, forests, and rivers darting past them as the wind whistled in their ears. Flying mounts were more than 10 times faster than ordinary land mounts.

"Hey, do you want to tag along with me to get a few things?” With the Netherthunder Eagle, Nie Yan could explore places out of reach for ordinary players and obtain the treasures hidden there.

"What are we getting?” Tang Yao asked after feeding the Netherthunder Eagle another slab of meat.

"You’ll know in a bit,” Nie Yan mysteriously smiled. Since they were the only players with a flying mount right now, he couldn’t let this opportunity go to waste!

Tang Yao’s curiousity couldn’t help but be piqued.

"Fly east,” Nie Yan said.

"Alright.”

After about 10 minutes of flying, Nie Yan and Tang Yao arrived above a mountain plain.

"H-hey, this already looks like a Level 120 zone!” Tang Yao said. He had seen the territory map of Calore, so he knew this region was full of high level monsters. It was still completely unexplored at this stage of the game. Level 60–70 players had no way of reaching here. The danger was simply too great. Any random monster encounter could be fatal. As for what sort of mysteries this place contained, he had no idea.

Tang Yao’s heart was full of apprehension.

Nie Yan was quite familiar with the maps around here. In the previous timeline, back when he was over Level 100, he had holed himself up here for five months of nonstop grinding. He knew this region like the back of his hand, where all the best drops were, which places contained treasure chests...

"Let’s descend,” Nie Yan said. Seeing the familiar landscape, he couldn’t help but get excited.

"Wait, are we really going down there? It’s too dangerous!” Tang Yao said.

In spite of his own misgivings, Tang Yao decided to trust Nie Yan. He gave the orders to descend. The Netherthunder Eagle flew around in the sky before gradually descending in altitude until it hovered at about 50 meters above ground.

"That should do. Stay here, and wait for my command.” Nie Yan shot out a web line at the Netherthunder Eagle’s plumage, then jumped off. He fell about 10 meters before coming to a stop.

Suspended in midair by the web line, Nie Yan scanned the forest canopy below. Before long, he spotted a treasure chest through a gap between the trees.

This area contained 35 locations that spawned chests at random. Only on the first clear of the map did all 35 locations contain chests.

Nie Yan knew all 35 locations. However, there were many places where his memory was a little fuzzy. He could only rely on general directions to find them.

"I’m going down, come pick me up in a bit,” Nie Yan said.

"W-wait!” Tang Yao barely got a word in before Nie Yan broke off the web line and dropped down into the forest.

Nie Yan rapidly plummeted to the ground. As he adjusted his position midair, he activated the Featherfall Jewel. His descent slowed to a crawl as he gently landed atop a giant branch. He peered at the forest ground below. From time to time, monsters would pass through. After searching for a while, he spotted a gold chest resting against a tree trunk about 10 meters away.

Numerous hammer wielding Gnolls roamed the area. They were fearsome Level 120 monsters.

Nie Yan jumped down to the ground, then stealthily approached the chest and started opening it.

Opening treasure chest… Progress: 3%… 15%...

A moment later, the chest popped open with a click. Nie Yan rummaged inside and fished out a dagger and a skill book.

The dagger was a Level 120 Gold-grade weapon with over 1,200 attack power. It was called the Gnoll Slaughterer. Level 100+ equipment was completely different from Level 90 equipment. As for the skill book, it was for the rare Mage spell, Fast Flash.

"Nice!” Nie Yan exclaimed. These two items were quite valuable. He put them away in his bag.

He clambered up to the top of a tree, then sent a whisper to Tang Yao,「Alright, come pick me up.」

Seeing Nie Yan waving his hands from the treetop, Tang Yao ordered the Netherthunder Eagle to descend. It was getting closer and closer, 30 meters, 20 meters…

The Netherthunder Eagle’s presence alerted the Gnolls. They quickly gathered over. It was a pity they weren’t ranged monsters.

Nie Yan leaped 10 meters into the air with his Leaper Ring and shot out a web line at the Netherthunder Eagle’s talons.

He swung himself up and landed safely on top of the Netherthunder Eagle’s back, grabbing tightly onto its plumage.

"Got it! Success!” Nie Yan laughed

Tang Yao breathed a sigh of relief. Nie Yan had really given him a scare by jumping head first into a Level 120 map. That said, he never expected Nie Yan to return so quickly.

"What did you get?” Tang Yao asked.

"I opened a gold chest and obtained two items.”

"What kind of items? Let me see.” Tang Yao was shocked. Did Nie Yan really open a chest in such a short amount of time?

Nie Yan showed the two items to Tang Yao.

The Level 120 Gold-grade dagger and Fast Flash Skill Book were extremely valuable. Tang Yao’s eyes widened in surprise. "Awesome! You never fail to amaze me. We’ve really struck it rich!” He immediately understood the usefulness of aerial travel.

Nie Yan was the only one who could come up with such a method. With the Featherfall Jewel, he could safely drop down to the ground. At the same time, with the Leaper Ring and Silk Spinner Ring, he could return to the Netherthunder Eagle from up to 20 meters away. This saved him a lot of trouble, especially from having to deal with scary monsters like those Level 120 Gnolls.

"Come on, let’s head to the next location.”

The Netherthunder Eagle was extremely fast. Like this, the travel time was cut down significantly. Nie Yan could quickly go from location to location, and so began the frantic chest hunting.

After almost five hours, Nie Yan had swept through the maps in the vicinity and opened a total of 160 chests—2 Dark Gold, 60 Gold, 28 Silver, and the rest were either Bronze or White-grade. When he opened the last Gold chest, he suddenly heard the clear jingle of a notification.

Chest successfully opened! You have obtained 3 skill proficiency. Locking Specialist has ranked up to Advanced.

Locking Specialist had finally ranked up! This was thanks to the fact all the chests around were over Level 100. He gained quite a bit of additional skill proficiency for opening them.

Nie Yan was elated. With Lockpicking Specialist reaching Advanced, he could treasure hunt in even higher level maps. Opening any chest below Level 160 would be no issue for him.

After a few more days of hunting chests in this manner, Nie Yan might even receive the Treasure Hunter title!

"Come on, let’s head to even higher level maps,” Nie Yan declared in high spirits. He was quite familiar with maps under Level 180. He clearly remembered the spawn locations of at least 60 chests. He could also search for chests while hanging below the Netherthunder Eagle. He planned to spend a few days opening all which he could find. And after they respawned, he could open them again. With such a frightening chest opening speed, he felt he was getting closer and closer to the Treasure Hunter title.

Nie Yan’s harvest was good. He obtained more than 30 pieces of Level 100+ equipment and a large heap of materials. He stored everything in his bag. With this, when the players of Asskickers United reached Level 100, they wouldn’t need to worry about finding equipment.

Nie Yan recalled back in his past life players could spend two to three days grinding Level 100+ monsters without seeing even a single piece of White or Bronze-grade equipment drop. In these several large maps, there were only around 100-200 chest spawn locations. Not to mention the respawn time of these chests was random, sometimes taking as much as two weeks to respawn. Furthermore, these spawn locations were frequently camped by other players. Even if a chest spawned, the items inside wouldn’t fall in the hands of ordinary players. This was why Level 100+ equipment was so scarce in the previous timeline.

Since Nie Yan would frequently grind in one location for months at a time, he ended up becoming extremely familiar with these maps. Every nook and cranny was still fresh in his mind. Coming back, he couldn't help but feel nostalgic.

After opening another chest, Nie Yan received a pleasant surprise. He obtained a Life Crystal. His luck was pretty good. All he needed was one more. Obtaining the other crystals was a relatively easy affair. With all the crystals collected, he would finally have a flying mount of his own, the Darkwing Dragon!

Chapter 484 - Struck Gold

Five days later, Nie Yan had swept through every chest in the several maps located at the border of Calore’s territory. Looking at his progress, Advanced Lockpicking Specialist had already reached 52%. Just a few more days of treasure hunting, and it would rank up to Master!

During these five days, Nie Yan had opened a total of 1,337 chests. Several times he nearly lost his life. Thankfully, even if he could do nothing else, his fleeing skills were still top notch.

Nie Yan and Tang Yao had only explored 30% of the high level maps in Calore. Many regions had powerful monsters flying around. He didn’t dare to approach these places with the Netherthunder Eagle.

However, merely the loot from these places left Tang Yao floored. They had already returned to Calore with full bags quite a few times. The value of the equipment they obtained couldn’t be estimated. It turned out treasure chest hunting could actually be this lucrative!

"Let’s sort out our inventories and see what we got,” Nie Yan said. For the sake of saving time, he stuffed everything he obtained into his bag before moving on. He had no time to actually examine them. His and Tang Yao’s bags were already filled to the brim with loot.

After finding a safe place to land, Tang Yao unsummoned the Netherthunder Eagle. Activating a Return Scroll, they teleported back to Calore.

"Where are we headed?” Tang Yao asked after the two emerged from the transfer point.

"We’re heading to the Starry Night Potion Shop. We’ll move over all the loot from our personal storages in an empty workshop, and see what we got!” Nie Yan said. He also couldn’t help but get a bit excited.

The two headed to the Starry Night Potion Shop. Before long, a grand building came into view.

This over 50 meter-tall building was divided into 10 stories and occupied a large amount of land. No other building in the vicinity could rival the Starry Night Potion Shop in size, not even the neighbouring Credit Exchange Hall.

"Wow, the Starry Night Potion Shop has really grown. It’s the most eye-catching building around. You probably spent quite a bit of gold upgrading it to Tier 10, huh?” Tang Yao clicked his tongue in admiration.

"Upgrading the Starry Night Potion Shop to Tier 10 and buying all the related appliances and furnishings for the new rooms set me back about 200,000 gold. Thankfully, the money has already been made back,” Nie Yan smiled.

"How much does the Starry Night Potion Shop make in a day?”

"Deducting production costs and other expenses, the Starry Night Potion Shop generates a net profit of more than 50,000 gold a day. Apart from this, it also supplies Asskickers United with 60,000 gold worth of potions on a daily basis!” Nie Yan said. The Starry Night Potion Shop was undoubtedly the number one potion shop in all of Conviction. At the same time, it also had the most Alchemists. No other potion shop could compare. With a total of 3,000 Alchemists, of which nearly 50 were Advanced Alchemists, it was a gathering place of talent.

Tang Yao was speechless. The Starry Night Potion Shop made more in a day than some small guilds were worth!

"I heard Angel Corps recently opened their own potion shop called Holy Paradise Potion Shop. They’re expanding pretty rapidly,” Tang Yao said after recalling some people talking about it in the guild chat.

"How many Alchemists do they have?”

"300 in total with 5 Advanced Alchemists,” Tang Yao replied.

"Still a far ways off from the Starry Night Potion Shop,” Nie Yan chuckled. However, the activities of Angel Corps did attract his attention. After thinking for a bit, his eyes narrowed. He might not be able to touch Angel Corps, but the Starry Night Potion Shop was fully capable of suppressing the Holy Paradise Potion Shop.

As the two friends chatted, they had already arrived in the main hall of the Starry Night Potion Shop. It was bustling with people looking to buy potions.

"Let’s head upstairs,” Nie Yan said. He led Tang Yao up the stairs to a workshop on the fifth floor which hadn’t been assigned to an Alchemist yet.

With a crashing sound, Nie Yan and Tang Yao dumped all the items they had collected over the past five days on a large table. The pile of loot sparkled and glittered.

"Let’s sift out the equipment first and store it inside the treasury,” Nie Yan suggested. Sorting through all these items would take at least an hour or two.

The two set off to work. A while later, close to 600 pieces of equipment were divided into a second pile of items.

"Wow, they’re all pretty high quality,” Tang Yao said after skimming through the stats of the equipment.

"It’s because we were the first to explore those maps. That’s why there were so many Gold and Dark Gold chests. I think we opened more than 20 Dark Gold chests and 120 Gold Chests,” Nie Yan said. Normally Gold and Dark Gold chests were extremely rare. Some people could go weeks without finding even one. Others could go through their whole lives without seeing one. Meanwhile, he had opened so many in a short five days.

Tang Yao was tasked with depositing everything into the treasury. The sudden appearance of Level 100+ equipment caused the guild to boil over with excitement.

"How did the boss get all this equipment?”

"I don’t know! You don’t think the boss mobilized an expedition force to collect this equipment, right? How come there’s so much? Even if you grinded nonstop, there still shouldn’t be so much! Looking at the stats, a lot of them are Gold and Dark Gold-grade. Didn’t the official website say the drop rates for Level 100+ equipment was extremely low?”

No one foolishly asked Nie Yan about the origin of this equipment. Who knew if this information would be leaked out by the spies of other guilds.

After getting rid of all the equipment, all that remained were gems, scrolls, skill books, and various other miscellaneous items. It was hard to pick out what was what.

"It’s the Advanced Magic, Manaflow Circulator! Looking at the requirements… I can learn it right now!” Tang Yao cried out after picking out a gold embroidered skill book from the pile.

Manaflow Circulator was a rare skill. At rank 1, it could halve the cast time of all spells for 10 seconds.

"Sure, go for it,” Nie Yan replied. As he rummaged through the pile, searching for skill books that he could use himself, Tang Yao let out another cry.

"Holy shit! It’s Spell Overdrive! Awesome!”

Before Level 100, Spell Overdrive was extremely rare and expensive. After Level 100, the drop rate was a bit higher, but it was still fairly rare. It could boost Magic Power by 30% for 20 seconds.

Tang Yao set aside these two skill books and continued excitedly searching for ones that he could use.

"My god! It’s Solemn Judgement! I’ve struck gold!”

"Oh shit! It’s Blaze Clash! Amazing!”

…

Tang Yao was grinning from ear to ear. He had picked out 15 skill books that he could use from the pile and set them aside. He could learn seven of them right away, while he would have to wait until his stats were high enough to learn the other eight.

"I need to forget some of my old skills. Nie Yan, help me pick out the ones that are useless,” Tang Yao said.

"Alright, get rid of Dark Corrosion.”

"Wait, why?” Tang Yao asked in surprise. "Dark Corrosion is still pretty useful. It can reduce a target’s defense.”

"You recently learned Death Corrosion, right? At rank 2, Dark Corrosion will look like garbage and become completely obsolete,” Nie Yan replied. Even though he didn’t play a Mage in his past life, he had clashed with them thousands if not tens of thousands of times. He was pretty familiar with their skills.

Tang Yao compared the effects of Dark Corrosion and Death Corrosion. The two were practically identical, except Death Corrosion’s effects were much more potent. A Rank 1 Death Corrosion was comparable to a Rank 6 Dark Corrosion. He decided to listen to Nie Yan and forgot Dark Corrosion.

Following Nie Yan’s advice, Tang Yao forgot three more skills, then started frantically learning new ones. One skill book after another disappeared in his hand with brilliant flashes of light.

"Sweet! This is the first time I learned seven rare skill books in one go!” Tang Yao said. It was as if he was on cloud nine.

Nie Yan also started looking for skill books he could learn.

"These are for Holy Mages. These are for Elementalists.” Tang Yao organized the skill books from the pile. The skill books that dropped from Level 100+ maps were fairly rare at this stage of the game.

"Divide these with Undying Scoundrel and the others.” Nie Yan set aside a pile of skill books. He took out five to give to Xie Yao.

"Hey, here’s a Shadow Escape Skill Book,” Tang Yao said.

"Set that aside for me,” Nie Yan said. Shadow Escape, Gale Step, and Shadow Waltz were pretty similar, giving three seconds of invincibility upon activation. However, Shadow Escape reduced movement speed by 50% and increased Cloaking by 50%. It was a rare skill.

There were still more than 100 skill books remaining. Nie Yan and Tang Yao had to go through them one by one. This was an extremely time consuming task.

"Elemental Resonance, Advanced Heal, Cure Grievous Wounds, Mana Drain, Intermediate Revive, Paladin’s Protection… Nie Yan, I think Bladelight and the others are going to lose their minds with joy. In the future, no other elite team will hold a candle to ours!” Tang Yao exclaimed, unable to contain his excitement. He knew just how important these skills were for teams. Their dungeon clearing ability would be raised to all new heights!

Chapter 485 - Scarlet Blaze Ruby!

After categorizing the skill books, Nie Yan glanced at the pile with Thief skills. He had learned many skills in his past life, so he wasn’t nearly as gung-ho as Tang Yao. But three skill books in particular still caught his eye. All three were Freedom Skills. The first was Counter. It allowed the player to evade an opponent’s attack and retaliate with an incapacitating elbow strike. The second was Flicker Strike, a dash attack that stunned the target. The third and final skill was Backbreaker, an attack that struck the target’s back and inflicted the cripple status effect.

Two cripples and one stun, these were pretty decent crowd control skills. Nie Yan just so happened to be in need of some crowd control skills!

Thieves didn’t have absolute strengths, unlike Warriors and Mages. Warriors and Mages relied on equipment. A high level Warrior or Mage with high quality equipment could easily crush a lower level opponent with worse equipment. Only a small minority who were skilled or had good luck could reverse the tide. Meanwhile, Thieves relied on awareness, technique, and skills. Awareness and technique complimented skills. A skilled Thief could easily beat an opponent several times stronger than them. Thieves who lacked awareness or technique, and couldn’t use their skills properly, no matter how good their equipment was, would be useless.

With these skills, as long as Nie Yan mastered them, even if he were butt naked, he could still crush any other equal level Thief.

After learning these three skills, Nie Yan contacted Guo Huai and had him send some people over to distribute the remaining skill books.

When the top ranked members of Asskickers United had taken their pick, the more common skill books would be thrown into the guild treasury.

All that remained were the scrolls, recipes, gems, and other miscellaneous items. Nie Yan looked over the recipes. There were more than 150 in total, most of which were Advanced, Master, or Grandmaster-rank. There were also recipes for Enchanters and Tinkerers.

"There’s 15 Advanced Health Potion Recipes, and seven Advanced Mana Potion Recipes,” Tang Yao reported. Advanced Health and Mana Potions were extremely rare at this stage of the game. As the health and mana pools of players grew larger, so too would the demand for higher rank potions.

When levelling normally by grinding monsters out in the wilderness, most players couldn’t bare to use such expensive potions. The only exception was while running dungeons. Advanced Health and Mana Potions would allow them to continue fighting for longer and thus boost the survival rate of the team. For that reason, Advanced Health and Mana Potions were in high demand, regardless of their cost.

Apart from the Advanced Health and Mana Potion Recipes, Nie Yan also saw many other good recipes, such as a Master Antidote Recipe, Master Fire Resistance Potion Recipe, Master Ice Resistance Potion Recipe, and so on.

Nie Yan called Bird over.

When Bird walked into the workshop, he was taken aback by the glittering piles of loot. Nie Yan couldn’t have robbed an NPC shop, right? Just where did all of this stuff come from?

"Boss, what do you need?” Bird asked. His gaze happened to fall on Nie Yan’s hand. He was an Advanced Alchemist, and was only a step away from reaching the Master rank. He naturally recognized what Nie Yan was holding. His heart trembled. With how high the stack was, there had to be at least 100 recipes!

"Take these recipes and distribute them,” Nie Yan said.

Bird cautiously accepted the recipes. Seeing their names, Advanced Health Potion Recipe, Advanced Mana Potion Recipe, Advanced Fire Resistance Potion Recipe, Advanced Ice Resistance Potion Recipe, Master Antidote Recipe… he felt his head spinning. My god, so many recipes! Where did they all come from?

"How’s the Starry Night Potion Shop doing? Do we have a Master Alchemist yet?” Nie Yan asked. He usually didn’t involve himself with the Starry Night Potion Shop’s matters. As for the finances, Guo Huai would have people look over them regularly. He trusted Bird. When they first met, Bird was a penniless Alchemist kicked to the curb by Dark Hero. He had helped pick Bird back up and put his faith in him. Ever since, Bird had worked hard to repay this kindness.

"Quiet Nannan just became a Master Alchemist yesterday. We’re also about to reach 60 Advanced Alchemists soon. With these recipes, I’m sure we’ll have even more Advanced and Master Alchemists in no time!” Bird reported. If Nie Yan hadn’t found those recipes from before, the Starry Night Potion Shop definitely wouldn’t have as many Advanced Alchemists right now. Nie Yan’s impact on the growth of the Starry Night Potion Shop was clear as day. The recipes this time were numerous and all of them were of a high rank. Needless to say, it would be a great help to them.

"Go. Use these recipes to nurture more Advanced and Master Alchemists. Don’t waste them,” Nie Yan laughed.

These Alchemists were already talented to begin with. With Nie Yan providing them a large quantity of high rank recipes and the steady supply of materials from Asskickers United, it was no surprise they had improved so quickly.

Aside from the Alchemy industry, Asskickers United was also rapidly expanding in other industries. The recently established Artisan Guild brought together players of all crafting professions working under one roof. It was currently flourishing with activity.

Bird took the recipes and distributed them to the Alchemists in the Starry Night Potion Shop. With these recipes going to the right people, the Starry Night Potion Shop would once again undergo a period of massive growth, rapidly pulling away from the Alchemists of other guilds. The remaining recipes for other professions would also be put to good use.

After getting rid of the recipes, Nie Yan looked at the scrolls. There were all sorts of high rank scrolls, Shadow Bind, Radiant Illumination, Blazing Impact, Divine Protection, Twisting Vines, Final Judgement, and so on. There were more than 170 scrolls in total.

"Take some of these scrolls for yourself,” Nie Yan said. He was never stingy with his own people.

"Alright,” Tang Yao nodded. He took 30 scrolls he thought would be useful for himself.

Nie Yan also took 50 scrolls for himself. He only took two types. The first were trap type scrolls, such as Shadow Bind, Twisting Vines, and so on. The other was AoE magic scrolls. These items were all one-use.

Nie Yan suddenly thought of Shadow Killer. With these scrolls, the next time they met, Shadow Killer definitely wouldn’t be in for a good time. Not only Shadow Killer, but anyone he planned to use these scrolls on wouldn’t have any hope of running away.

"Give the remaining scrolls to Bladelight and the others. It’ll probably be useful for them while running dungeons,” Nie Yan said. There were still more than 90 scrolls remaining. This many scrolls would definitely earn a decent amount of profit in the marketplace. However, they weren't lacking money. It was better to give these scrolls to the guild’s elite team.

After dealing with the scrolls, all that remained were the gems and magic tools. There were around 200-300 gems. However, only a few of them were rare. Nie Yan looked around. From the pile of gems, he took out six Radiant Gems. He could use these to upgrade his Special Items. Just as he was sorting through the remaining gems, Tang Yao cried out in excitement, "Nie Yan, take a look at these! What are they?”

Two white necklaces rested in Tang Yao’s hands. They were finely crafted, and with a glance one could tell they were the handiwork of a Master. Hanging from the necklaces were silver pendants in the shape of a crescent moon. Under the light of the workshop’s magic lamps, they sparkled brilliantly.

"One has Nimble Fingers +3. The other has Attraction +1. What kind of stats are these? These two necklaces have the same name, but their stats are different,” Tang Yao said in confusion. These kinds of items were pretty rare. This was his first time seeing them.

"They are crafting profession stats. Let me take a look,” Nie Yan said. He took the two necklaces from Tang Yao’s hands. Seeing the names, his heart trembled. They were Magic Silver Necklaces, one of the items in Paget’s recipe!

"Oh, so it was a crafting profession item. No wonder!” Tang Yao said. He spent day and night grinding levels to prevent others from catching up to him, so he had very little contact with crafting profession items. That was why he lacked knowledge on the subject.

Nie Yan recalled Paget’s words during that time he was upgrading his Special Items. All he needed to do was combine an Azure Fantasy Sapphire, Scarlet Blaze Ruby, Life Emerald, and Magic Silver Necklace inside Pandora’s Box, and he would get a Wish Necklace.

These two Magic Silver Necklaces could increase the stats of an artisan.

Azure Fantasy Sapphire, Scarlet Blaze Ruby, and Life Emerald? Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He frantically started searching through the pile of gems.

"What are you doing?” Tang Yao asked in confusion.

"Help me look. Let me know if you see an Azure Fantasy Saphire, Scarlet Blaze Ruby, or Life Emerald,” Nie Yan said. With so many gems piled together in their dazzling brilliance, trying to find a few specific ones truly wasn’t easy.

Several minutes later, Nie Yan’s gaze locked onto a certain gem in the pile. It was bright red, almost as though there was a fire burning at the center.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He grabbed the gem and checked its properties. Sure enough, it was a Scarlet Blaze Ruby!

Nie Yan set the Scarlet Blaze Ruby aside and continued searching. Since he found this gem in the pile, maybe he could find the Azure Fantasy Sapphire and Life Emerald too!

Chapter 486 - Wandering Bard’s Sheet Music Scraps

"I found two Scarlet Blaze Rubies here!” Tang Yao cried out as he pulled out two gems from the pile. "It boosts fire damage, not bad. What do you need these for, anyway?”

"For crafting an item!” Nie Yan said. He continued searching and eventually found two for a total of five Scarlet Blaze Rubies. Most likely the maps they explored had an increased drop rate for Scarlet Blaze Rubies. No wonder they found so many!

"Crafting? What kind of item are you crafting?” Tang Yao asked in surprise. This was his first time hearing that gems could be used in crafting. Weren’t gems supposed to be exclusively for upgrading or socketing items?

"A Wish Necklace! I need one Azure Fantasy Sapphire, one Scarlet Blaze Ruby, one Life Emerald, and one Magic Silver Necklace.”

"Wish Necklace, huh? What does it do?”

"It raises the rank of any crafting profession by one,” Nie Yan replied. A Wish Necklace was a priceless treasure.

"Damn, that’s amazing. Where did you get the recipe?” Tang Yao asked. Even if he was completely clueless about crafting professions, he still understood the value of this Wish Necklace.

"From Master Jewelcrafter Paget.”

Since this information came from a reliable source like Master Jewelcrafter Paget, it couldn’t possibly be fake. At first Tang Yao only casually searched through the pile of gems, but now he was doing so in earnest.

With close to 300 gems in the pile, finding a few specific ones truly wasn’t easy. The gems had to be inspected individually, since some shared strikingly similar appearances. Nie Yan and Tang Yao could only work their way through the pile slowly.

As Nie Yan searched through the pile of gems, an azure coloured gem caught his interest. It was translucent, lacking the slightest blemish, and emitted a dazzling radiance.

Is this the Azure Fantasy Sapphire? Nie Yan’s heart raced, and he immediately grabbed the gem. As he examined the gem, his face darkened in disappointment. This gem was called the Azure Mirage Sapphire. It was only a slightly different name, but it made a world of difference!

At this moment, Tang Yao turned to Nie Yan with a gem slightly bigger than the Azure Mirage Sapphire in his hand. "Is this it?”

Nie Yan looked at the gem. "Yes, this is it! Thanks! I can always count on your luck!”

"Hehe.” Tang Yao rubbed his nose. "What are we missing now? Some kind of emerald?”

"Yep, a Life Emerald.”

"If we find a Life Emerald, we’re set! We’ll be able to enjoy Master-rank potions!” Tang Yao exclaimed. Potions usually didn’t have level requirements. The higher the rank, the more potent the effect. If they could use Master and Grandmaster-rank potions, levelling and running dungeons would become a cinch. Take for instance Master and Grandmaster Fire Resistance Potions. At this stage of the game, players venturing deep into maps with a high concentration of fire monsters could at best protect themselves with Advanced Fire Resistance Potions. This only slightly protected them from fire damage. However, if these same players were to drink a Master or Grandmaster Fire Resistance Potion, they would be greatly resistant or completely immune to fire damage! They could explore any fire element map under Level 100 without a worry in the world!

Taking advantage of high rank potions to breeze through obstacles at this stage of the game would definitely be satisfying.

Nie Yan and Tang Yao continued looking. After going through the whole pile of gems one by one, they still failed to find a single Life Emerald.

"Dammit, none here...” Tang Yao said. It seemed he had used up all his luck earlier.

They found five Scarlet Blaze Rubies and one Azure Fantasy Sapphire. But without a Life Emerald, crafting the Wish Necklace was impossible.

"Forget it, let’s hope our luck is better next time,” Nie Yan said. The Life Emerald was probably particularly rare.

"Let’s ask if anyone in the guild has it,” Tang Yao suggested. He posted up a request in the guild chat for Azure Fantasy Sapphires and Life Emeralds.

Nie Yan thought for a moment before posting up the same request in the Union of Assassins. The reward was 30,000 gold per gem.

"Seems like nobody in the guild has a Life Emerald, but everyone will keep it in mind from now on,” Tang Yao said.

The two were in low spirits.

The gems on the table were quite varied. Many were rare gems that Nie Yan had never seen before. If they were anything like the Scarlet Blaze Ruby, Azure Fantasy Sapphire, and Life Emerald, and could be used in crafting other special items, using them right now would be a huge waste.

"I think you should keep these gems in your personal storage. You know, just in case,” Tang Yao said.

"Right.” Nie Yan nodded. It appeared Tang Yao shared the same thought as him.

Nie Yan put away the gems in his bag. Later on, he would deposit them into his personal storage.

Only the pile of special magic tools remained on the table. Each one had a peculiar and unusual ability. One would have to carefully examine them.

"Nie Yan, look! It’s a Crawler Ring!” Tang Yao exclaimed after digging out a ring from the pile.

"Nice, take it,” Nie Yan said. The Crawler Ring was definitely a good item.

"Awesome! I’ve always wanted a Crawler Ring! I’ve been checking auction houses daily, but nobody ever lists one up for sale. Now I finally have one!” Tang Yao could hardly contain his elation. With a Crawler Ring, he could copy Nie Yan’s method of killing monsters far above his level. This curio truly wasn’t easy to come by!

Nie Yan glanced at the Special Items. None of them were as good as the ones on him right now. He diverted his attention elsewhere, specifically to what appeared to be scraps of paper. There were around 30 in total, all of them badly damaged.

"What are these?” Tang Yao curiously picked up one of the scraps and read the description out loud, "A scrap of Wandering Bard Blimer’s sheet music. The poor bard was attacked by wild beasts while travelling through the Dolan Mountain Range. With the aid of a hunter, he fortunately escaped with his life. However, his sheet music was lost and torn into countless scraps. If someone finds them, please return them to Wandering Bard Blimer.”

"It’s a Blimer’s Sheet Music Scrap?” Nie Yan asked.

"Seems so, why? Is it important or something?” Tang Yao didn’t think Nie Yan would get so excited.

Nie Yan examined the scrap. It was indeed a Blimer’s Sheet Music Scrap!

"Sweet! We have 36 in total!” Nie Yan said after counting all the scraps. He recalled the quest related to Blimer’s sheet music. It was a fairly easy one. Players could find Wandering Bard Blimer’s Sheet Music Scraps from monsters or chests in the Dolan Mountain Range. Returning one scrap to Blimer would trigger a quest called "Blimer’s Troubles” which tasked the player to find more scraps. According to the forums, handing over one scrap would give a pretty good reward, handing over a second would give an even better reward, and every sixth scrap would reward a spin on a Fate Wheel!

In the previous timeline, when this quest became public knowledge, players from all over started searching for sheet music scraps. When word reached Heaven Breaker’s ears, he began strong-arming others into selling him their scraps. He obtained a total of 25 scraps, with his final reward being a piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment. The previous rewards were also pretty good. They included among other things experience, gold, and gems.

Ordinary players levelling in the Dolan Mountain Range could only open one or two treasure chests at most. Obtaining one or two sheet music scraps was already impressive. Like in the previous timeline, even with his vast wealth and resources, Heaven Breaker only acquired 25 music sheet scraps.

Nie Yan and Tang Yao had unwitingly obtained 36 scraps. They had swept through practically every chest in the Dolan Mountain Range, so this kind of achievement wasn’t too surprising.

Nie Yan recalled players had returned at least 100 scraps of sheet music to Blimer in the previous timeline.

"Huh? Why is it sweet? Tell me!” Tang Yao also got excited.

Nie Yan explained Blimer’s quest.

"Come on, let’s go collect our reward!” Tang Yao exclaimed. How could they pass up on this opportunity?

"Who’s going to turn in the quest?” Nie Yan asked. He didn't care much for the experience rewards. At most he would level up once or twice. It would be great if they received some rare items, though.

"I think it should be you. My luck is pretty good with drops, but it’s crappy with stuff like quest rewards,” Tang Yao replied. He held Nie Yan’s chest opening abilities in high esteem. Nie Yan’s luck was higher than his. Luck was a hidden stat, but players could still find it out through indirect ways.

"Alright, I’ll turn in the quest.” Nie Yan could boost his luck at specific moments with Pandora’s Box. He could receive additional rewards when turning in the quest.

Nie Yan and Tang Yao examined the remaining loot. They had no idea what many of these items were used for. In any case, they came out of chests, so they couldn’t be useless. Nie Yan planned to store them in the guild treasury, offering a reward to those who could figure out their use.

After tidying everything up, Nie Yan and Tang Yao left the Starry Night Potion Shop. They visited their personal storages, then set off toward Wandering Bard Blimer’s residence.

Chapter 487 - Fate Wheel

"Get anything good lately from grinding and questing?” Nie Yan asked. He hadn’t chatted like this with Tang Yao in a long time.

"I got a pet Ghost Wolf now. I also found some kind of book filled with a bunch of runes. I have no idea what it’s for, but I received a quest for it. I couldn’t find out anything else on it, though. You know, the official website really is disgusting sometimes. It doesn’t even give a scrap of information on high difficulty quests.”

"A book filled with runes...? Is it by chance Malkinson’s Runic Book?” Nie Yan asked pensively.

"Huh, yeah. How did you know? I searched online but couldn’t find anything. Do you know something about it?”

Nie Yan did know a thing or two about Malkinson’s Runic Book. According to legend, it belonged to the Mage God Malkinson. In the previous timeline, Young Goon of the Three Great Magisters wielded this book as his secondary weapon. He never expected in this life it would fall in the hands of Tang Yao. As for Young Goon, he hadn’t heard any word of him yet.

History had changed yet again due to Nie Yan’s intervention.

"You should work hard on that quest. I’m sure you’ll get something good out of it. Malkinson is the legendary Mage God of the Viridian Empire. He’s a master of the arcane,” Nie Yan said.

"Oh, really? I guess I’ll have to start taking this quest more seriously!”

Nie Yan had only heard of Malkinson’s Runic Book in passing. He didn’t actually know enough to help Tang Yao with the quest.

"Beside the Darkwing Dragon, did you get anything else worth mentioning?” Tang Yao asked.

Nie Yan recalled the Song of the Bramble Bird. After obtaining the book, he hadn’t yet gotten a chance to flip through its pages. The Song of Bramble Bird was sung throughout the lands by countless wandering bards. Blimer was a bard. Perhaps he knew more of it?

"I recently obtained a book named Song of the Bramble Bird. I think it’s an item for triggering a quest. Let’s head to a bar and take a look at what’s inside,” Nie Yan said.

The two found a bar not much later and sat down in a secluded corner. Nie Yan took out Song of the Bramble Bird from his bag and placed the book on the table.

When Nie Yan flipped to the first page, a peculiar feeling sprouted in his heart. As if guided by some mysterious force, he ran his finger across the several bolded words on the header.

Pursue the vestiges of the Dark Era. The most beautiful of things are birthed from the greatest of suffering. Seek out the Assassin’s Heart. Allow its flames to blossom in your hands.

Nie Yan checked his quest window.

Quest Progress: Seek out the Assassin’s Heart.

Looking at the difficulty, this was a Legendary quest!

As for what the Assassin’s Heart was, Nie Yan had no idea. It was probably related to the Eight Thieves. He flipped through Song of the Bramble Bird, skimming through numerous pages written in Ancient Common.

"Brandishing Scoigne’s Infernal Dagger, its blossoming flames swallowing up all life. Through endless pain and suffering, the people still deserve to live… In the darkness, the slaves pray for the light… Despite knowing they faced destruction, they still forged ahead like moths to a flame. For the sake of seeking out the light and warmth, with unshakeable resolve and determination, they still staked their lives to pursue freedom…”

Inside were the biographies of the Eight Thieves. All of them came from different backgrounds. One grew up as a blacksmith. Another was as a pickpocket. Still another lived a life in slavery. After suffering all kinds of torment and hardship, they were brought together by fate and became famed assassins. Their final battle which ultimately led to their deaths became a legend.

A certain name frequently came up in this book—Paternoster. This was a city cloaked in mystery. It was lost to history, vanishing without a trace.

"Paternoster… Paternoster…” Nie Yan muttered. He had heard this name before, but he couldn’t recall where. Even searching online didn’t bring up any results. The official website generally didn’t provide any information on high difficulty quests, so it was no surprise.

"What are you thinking about?” Tang Yao asked after seeing Nie Yan staring off into space, seemingly lost in thought.

"Paternoster, have you heard this name before?”

"Paternoster? You mean like Paternoster’s Warhammer?”

Nie Yan was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up with excitement. "Yes! Exactly like Paternoster’s Warhammer!”

Paternoster’s Warhammer was the name of a famous Godly Legendary-grade weapon. The Orc King Aesolte had used this hammer to call down thunder and lightning to smite down Kilfesser, a legendary figure from the dragon race who had slaughtered countless people. On that day, the name of this warhammer was recorded down into the annals of history, forever to be remembered.

It appeared a trip to Orc King City was in order if Nie Yan wanted to find any new leads to unravelling the mystery behind Song of the Bramble Bird and obtaining the Assassin’s Heart.

Thinking about Orc King City, Angel Corps came to mind. It seemed trespassing into the territory of his enemy was inevitable. At his current level, completing this Legendary quest was probably impossible. He would have to wait until he reached Level 100 and class advanced to a Shadow Dancer. As it happened, this would be the perfect opportunity to stir some trouble for Soaring Angel.

Nie Yan put Song of the Bramble Bird away, then turned to Tang Yao. "Come on, let’s go find Blimer.”

The two passed through many streets and winding alleyways before stopping in front of a white house. The words "Wandering Bard Blimer’s Residence” were written on a plate beside the gate entrance.

Nie Yan pushed open the door and entered the garden with Tang Yao following closely behind. There, they spotted Blimer. He looked to be in his forties with greying hair. Dressed in white robes, he had an elegant air about him. However, it seemed like something was troubling him.

This was the typical look of a wandering bard. Nie Yan was quite familiar with the appearances of different NPCs.

Blimer looked up at Nie Yan. "Nirvana Flame, sir, might I inquire why you are looking for me? Is there anything you need of me?”

"I found something while exploring the Dolan Mountain Range. I’m wondering if this is yours, Bard Blimer?” Nie Yan took out a scrap of sheet music.

Blimer’s face lit up. "Yes, this belongs to me! It's very important to me! Thank you for returning it!”

Nie Yan exchanged some dialogue with Blimer, triggering the quest as he handed over the scrap of sheet music.

"May God bless you!” Blimer thanked. He gave Nie Yan the first reward, more than 50,000 experience and 10 gold. It was pretty generous for ordinary players.

However, Nie Yan wasn’t satisfied with just this.

Nie Yan looked at his experience bar. It had only risen by 1%. As for the 10 gold, it was basically chump change!

"Nirvana Flame, sir, would you be willing to help me find the remaining scraps? I’ll reward you generously,” Blimer pleaded. An ordinary player would perhaps find one sheet music scrap, but finding a second, a third, a fourth, and so on would be much more difficult. Each player could only get five or six scraps at most, unless they acted like Heaven Breaker and spent vast amounts of gold to purchase them.

Nie Yan handed over the second sheet music scrap to Blimer. In return, he received the second reward—100,000 experience and 60 gold. As he handed in one scrap after another, the rewards became better and better. On the sixth scrap, Blimer waived his right hand as a golden radiance enveloped the garden. The surroundings seemed to be frozen in time. Only Nie Yan could still move. In front of him emerged a giant Fate Wheel.

Nie Yan had experienced something similar before. However, Fate Dice and Fate Wheels were different. The former could have negative outcomes, the latter couldn’t.

Nie Yan gazed at the different areas of the wheel. He had a 1% chance of obtaining a flying mount, a 1% chance of obtaining a piece of Legendary-grade equipment, a 5% chance of obtaining a piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment, a 5% chance of obtaining a Special Item, a 20% chance of obtaining a gold reward, and a 20% chance of obtaining a experience reward. If the wheel didn’t stop at any of these, he would receive nothing. The gold and experience rewards were further divided into small (80%), medium (15%), and large (5%).

Nie Yan took a deep breath and hit the button to spin the wheel. The wheel spun faster and faster until everything became a blur.

Whether the reward was good or bad depended solely on luck. However, thankfully it wasn’t like Fate Dice where bad meant punishment. Nie Yan pressed the button again as the wheel grinded to a halt and stopped on the experience reward. He received 200,000 experience. Experience was easy for him to come by, so this opportunity was pretty much wasted.

"I still have five more spins...” Nie Yan comforted himself. What he wanted the most was a flying mount or a piece of Legendary-grade equipment. Sub Legendary-grade equipment and Special items weren’t bad outcomes either.

"Hey, hey! So, did you get anything good?” Tang Yao asked.

"Nope.” Nie Yan shook his head with a bitter smile. He continued handing over sheet music scraps to Blimer.

"Oh, I see…”

Nie Yan looked at his experience bar. It had filled up by 30%. He was close to levelling up.

Chapter 488 - Viper Dagger

Nie Yan continued turning in sheet music scraps to Blimer. After the 12th scrap, he received another spin on the Fate Wheel. This time he received 1,000 gold. Gold and experience, both simply couldn’t compare to flying mounts or equipment.

"Hah… I guess this just isn’t my day,” Nie Yan sighed. However, he was determined to turn in all 36 sheet music scraps. He had already used up two spins, so there was no point in turning back now.

After handing over the 17th scrap, Nie Yan heard a notification jingle. He had levelled up to Level 73.

On the 18th scrap and third spin of the Fate Wheel, Nie Yan yet again received an experience reward.

Two percent, one for a flying mount and the other for a piece of Legendary-grade equipment, the chance was simply too slim. There was no hope.

One scrap after another, the outcomes left Tang Yao and Nie Yan rapidly spiralling down into depression.

"Ah forget it, I’ll be happy with anything. There’s no need to get our hopes up,” Tang Yao comforted.

After getting four garbage spins in a row, Nie Yan’s mood had hit rock bottom. Only now did he realize how lucky Heaven Breaker was to receive a piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment in the previous timeline.

Nie Yan spun the Fate Wheel for the fifth time without getting his hopes up. To his surprise, it stopped on the Special Item reward.

With a ding-dong sound, an item appeared in Nie Yan’s bag. He quickly inspected it.

Eye of Kirge: Special Item

Description: The eccentric Goblin Engineer Kirge used his eye to make this item. It allows the user to see through the hidden. When this item is active, movement speed is reduced by 50%.

The Eye of Kirge was suited to help the user avoid danger. It was an extremely useful magic tool.

"I got a Special Item,” Nie Yan said. He shared the Eye of Kirge’s information with Tang Yao.

Tang Yao fell silent for a moment. "This item doesn’t seem that good. Doesn’t Mana Eye do the same thing?”

Mana Eye was a Mage skill that helped the caster avoid danger. From the perspective of an ordinary player, it was probably a bit more convenient than the Eye of Kirge.

Nie Yan had his own thoughts about the Eye of Kirge.

"The Eye of Kirge is far more useful than Mana Eye.” Nie Yan smiled mysteriously. "I tried looking for this item before, but I couldn’t find it. Now that I have it, I can do a couple of amazing, world-shaking things.”

"World-shaking things? What do you mean?”

"I can kill Crazy Magic and Divine Flame in their own strongholds,” Nie Yan said, his narrowed eyes flashing with a cold light.

"You’re really planning on infiltrating their strongholds and assassinating them? How confident are you?”

"30% as a Great Thief and 50% as a Shadow Dancer. If I have a partner, 90%,” Nie Yan said. He immediately thought of Sun and King of the World. With them by his side, let alone Crazy Magic and Divine Flame, he could even assassinate Soaring Angel!

"So risky, you really are a daredevil. You sure you’ve thought it through?” Tang Yao wryly smiled. Nie Yan really was crazy, even daring to do something like this.

"Let’s wait until I advance to a Shadow Dancer,” Nie Yan laughed.

After handing over the 36th sheet music scrap, Nie Yan checked his experience bar. He was already 79% of the way to Level 74. This was rather quick. He had no idea how long he would have to grind to receive this much experience.

On the sixth and last spin, Nie Yan looked at the Fate Wheel. His heart was no longer filled with nerves. He felt this trip was already worth it after obtaining the Eye of Kirge. Whatever he received next was just a bonus. He resigned himself to fate.

Nie Yan casually spun the Fate Wheel, not even paying attention to see if he received the Luck boost from Pandora’s Box. As the wheel slowed to a halt, his eyes widened in shock. Legendary Equipment!

Nie Yan stared at the Fate Wheel in astonishment, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. But reality didn’t betray him. It really had landed on the Legendary Equipment reward. A 1% chance, and he got it!

With a ding-dong sound that rang in his head like a clap of thunder, a piece of equipment dropped into his bag. Nie Yan hurriedly checked his inventory. Tucked away in a corner was a golden coloured dagger. Its appearance was quite exotic. In a gold scaled sheath hid a blade curved like a deadly man-eating viper. The tip of the blade forked into two barbs like a pair of venomous fangs, flashing with a cold light that pierced one’s soul.

Nie Yan checked the stats of the dagger.

Kraut’s Viper Dagger (Legendary)

Description: Crafted from the corpse of a Golden Viper slain by the Thief Kraut.

Requirements: Level 70, 800 Strength, 1,000 Dexterity

Properties: Attack +1,020, +15% Poison Damage, Strength +300, Dexterity +220, Focus +30

Paralyzing Bite: Incapacitate the target with a venomous bite, leaving them unable to move or use skills for 5 seconds. Cooldown: 1 day.

Restriction: Thief; can only be equipped by a member of the Righteous Faction.

A dagger with 1,020 attack power was pretty good. Sadly it was only a Level 70 Legendary weapon. After Level 100, it would more or less become obsolete.

That said, it would take a long time for players to reach Level 100.

Nie Yan was already far ahead of the pack. Ordinary players were currently only around Level 60. Not a single one had reached Level 70 yet. A 10-level gap was quite significant. The experience difference was enormous. After all, the higher the level, the harder it became to level up.

Seeing the name Kraut, Nie Yan sank into deep thought. Kraut was one of the Eight Thieves in the Song of the Bramble Bird. He went by the name Viper, a nickname earned by slaying numerous nobles of the dragon race with his deadly poison.

Was this dagger possibly related to the ‘Seek out the Assassin’s Heart’ quest? Nie Yan pondered for a moment. Could it be that him obtaining this dagger wasn’t purely coincidence?

"I brought this dagger back from the distant Satreen Empire. When I first discovered it, it was dull like a rusty piece of metal. It wasn’t until now that it regained its brilliance. This dagger chose you. Take it, and seek out the traces of its former glory,” Blimer said.

"Bard Blimer, where should I go?” Nie Yan asked.

"Visit Orc King City. where the Eight Thieves once fought. Although the Satreen Empire occupied this land, their story still remains, passed down from generation to generation. Go look for Chief Blaise. He will give you the answers you seek,” Blimer said. It appeared he wasn’t quite willing to reveal everything.

Nie Yan knew if he wanted to get more clues out of an NPC, blindly and recklessly asking would only incur their distaste.

Nie Yan and Tang Yao glanced at each other. They had already got what they came for. It was time to leave.

The two bid Blimer farewell and left the garden.

"Do you want to have Guo Huai work on collecting more music sheet scraps?” Tang Yao asked. It was still pretty profitable turning in music sheet scraps.

"It’s too early. Right now players have no way of entering the Dolan Mountain Range,” Nie Yan replied. Players had to at least be Level 100 to start collecting Blimer’s Music Sheet Scraps.

"Then I’ll just let the others know, and have them pay attention. We can have them start collecting music sheet scraps later,” Tang Yao said.

"What are you planning to do next?” Nie Yan asked. After finishing everything, Tang Yao would probably have to get back to levelling. Else he would lose his spot on the level leaderboards.

"I’m going to stock up on consumables before heading out to level. We’ll go treasure hunting again some other time,” Tang Yao said.

"Well, I’m going to make a trip to the Thief Association,” Nie Yan said. He recalled the Thief Association still had a reward he could receive. He hoped no one had laid claim to it yet.

After bidding each other farewell, Nie Yan and Tang Yao went their separate ways.

Nie Yan headed to the Thief Association. After collecting his reward, he would have Master Jewelcrafter Paget upgrade his Special Items.

With his appearance cloaked, Nie Yan entered the Thief Association. There were many Thieves inside. In this large crowd of people, he was an unnoticeable speck of dust. No one would pay attention to him.

The recently bult main tower of the Thief Association was 50 stories high. On the top floor, one could accept rare quests. There were two ways to reach the 50th floor. One way was by taking the magic elevator. It would only take about 30 seconds to arrive. The other way was by taking the stairs. It would take at least 10 minutes to walk up these flights of stairs.

Nie Yan looked at the main tower. The magic elevator was zooming up and down. From time to time, one or two players would enter or exit. They were all busy with their own quests, wishing they could get more work down in half the time.

Nie Yan entered the main tower. However, unlike the ordinary players, he chose to take the stairs instead of the magic elevator. He walked up step by step, ascending slowly and calmly.

Through the tower’s windows, Nie Yan could see the scenery outside. It was filled with all sorts of magic buildings. Even though many of these buildings had weathered the ages, they still had their own charm. He continued going up. The top was nowhere in sight.

Players riding on the magic elevators could see Nie Yan ascending the stairs step by step like a snail. Who knew how much time he would waste climbing all 2,000+ steps!?

"Haha, look at that idiot! He’s using the stairs instead of the elevator!” a Level 61 Thief laughed.

"That guy is really dumb. He’s walking up so slowly.”

Jeering laughter came from the magic elevators. Nie Yan didn’t pay attention to them and continued walking up. His heart was calm and tranquil.

These players had no way of knowing what he was doing, and Nie Yan had no need to explain it to them. He would walk his own path. It didn’t matter what others thought.

Chapter 489 - The Sixth Character Property

Nie Yan could imagine how many players in the previous timeline wanted to experience ascending the tower using the stairs, but ultimately abandoned the thought due to the jeering of those riding the elevators. It wasn’t until later on that an unremarkable Thief made the trek and received an astonishing reward. Only after the publication of this news did others start to realize this was a hidden quest set up by the system. Many players wanted to try to get some easy benefits, but when they finished climbing the stairs, the quest had long since disappeared. The reward was only available to the first to climb the stairs. Those who followed after would receive nothing.

In this life, Nie Yan would become the first. It hadn’t even been half a week since the Thief Association’s tower was built, and with how fast the magic elevators were, very few players would choose to take the stairs. As a result, these past few days not a single soul had persevered and climbed all the way to the top of the tower using the stairs.

The seconds and minutes ticked away. Nie Yan patiently continued climbing up. Every now and then, his vision would drift out the window and fall upon the crowd below, who looked like roving ants. Constant jeers came from the players riding the elevators. However, he ignored them and continued on.

After roughly 10 minutes, Nie Yan finally reached the top floor of the tower.

Many players happened to notice his arrival. They all focused their gazes on him.

"Look, it’s that idiot who didn’t ride the elevator. He actually climbed the stairs all the way from the bottom to the top.”

"Haha, what a dumbass. Just looking at him makes me feel smarter!”

At this moment, Nie Yan lit up with a dazzling radiance. It resembled the visual effect for levelling up, but it was actually the one for completing a quest. Everyone on the top floor was flabbergasted. There were no NPCs in the immediate vicinity. Could it be that he had received a reward for climbing all the way to the top using the stairs?

The clues clicked together in their heads. Everyone instantly realized this was a hidden quest! Why else would that cloaked fellow waste more than 10 minutes climbing over 2,000 steps!?

No longer was there anyone making fun of Nie Yan. Some people quietly slipped away into the magic elevators going down. They planned to copy him and also climb to the top of the tower using the stairs. They couldn’t allow others to snatch this opportunity away!

Nie Yan checked his notifications after the system jingle rang in his head.

A Fool’s Reward. You have obtained 10 Willpower. In the dull drabness of life, even when confronted with the mockery of countless people, may you be as you were today. Stay true to your convictions. Perseverance is the key to success.

Willpower was a fairly rare stat. Most players had around 50 Willpower at most. High rank Mages might have a bit more, with a lucky few reaching as high as 100 Willpower. Equipment that increased Willpower was quite rare. Of course, Nie Yan was an anomaly. His Willpower had already reached over 200.

Willpower was an important stat. It increased a player’s resistance against Mind Magic. Even if they were affected, the duration would be greatly reduced. There was an abundance of other uses for Willpower, a decrease in subsequent damage taken after being hit by Mind Magic, an equipment requirement, and a scaling factor for certain high level spells, to name a few. Even though it seemed insignificant, it could potentially be a lifesaver in dangerous situations.

This reward of 10 Willpower was quite good.

"Stay true to your convictions. Perseverance is the key to success...” Nie Yan muttered to himself. He suddenly realized something and cracked a faint smile. "Looks like the Willpower wasn’t the only reward.”

Nie Yan checked his character window. Beside ‘Brave’, ‘Just’, ‘Benevolent’, ‘Sincere’, and ‘Selfless’, ‘Unwavering’ was added. Never compromising on one’s convictions with an unshakeable will, that was unwavering.

Nie Yan didn’t expect to receive another character property. He already had six. He guessed that after obtaining a certain number of them, he’d receive a reward.

As for what this number was, Nie Yan couldn’t say.

In Conviction’s lore, seven was an unlucky number since it represented the end of the week. Beside things related to celestial bodies, it generally wouldn’t appear anywhere else. Eight or nine was a possibility, even 10 or higher.

Collecting all the character properties would probably take a long time.

Looking around the hall, Nie Yan noticed everyone staring at him. He ignored their gazes and walked over to the balcony, inciting their comments.

"Holy shit. That crazy bastard isn’t planning to jump, is he?”

"No way, this tower is at least 300 meters tall!”

Nie Yan didn’t listen as he jumped off the balcony. He rapidly descended in altitude as the wind whistled past his ears. He was getting closer and closer to the ground. When it looked like he was about to go splat, he activated the Featherfall Jewel and made a gentle landing.

Those who spoke up rushed over to the balcony and looked down to see Nie Yan had already safely landed on the ground. They then watched him dash away and disappear into the crowd of people in the Thief Association.

"Damn, it’s the Featherfall skill. That bastard sure is rich.”

At this stage of the game, few players possessed items with the Featherfall skill. A bidding frenzy would erupt every time one was put up for sale in the marketplace.

Nie Yan’s emergence and disappearance was only a momentary distraction for these players. No one knew what he received as a reward. This would forever remain a mystery. Many tried copying him, climbing from the bottom of the tower to the top using the stairs, but they all came up empty handed. Some refused to give up and repeated the same trek five or six more times.

The foolish one wasn’t Nie Yan, but them!

Nie Yan planned on visiting the Enchanter and Jewelcrafter next to upgrade his equipment and Special Items. He also had to make some preparations to obtain the Life Crystals he needed to hatch his Darkwing Dragon egg. Besides this, he also needed to find a Life Emerald to craft the Wish Necklace.

Asskickers United was smoothly growing without any problems as of late, having recently captured another Intermediate Stronghold and 10 more Basic Strongholds. Furthermore, Sapphire Shrine, Holy Empire, and Radiant Sacred Flame had evenly divided 12 strongholds between themselves.

Aside from the strongholds, Guo Huai and the other higher up had started excavating mines, dispatching Miners to dig up ores and other valuable materials. Footing the bill, Asskickers United had a great interest in successful expeditions. So, when Angel Corps ambushed them on several occasions, leading to the fruits of their labour going up in smoke, action had to be undertaken. Guo Huai dispatched Sun, Undying Scoundrel, and several others to dish out payback.

That said, Asskickers United wasn’t in a position to enter another conflict right now. It was better to solidify their foundation first.

After Nie Yan finished upgrading his equipment, he made another trip to the Underworld. He had Fallen Angel’s people help him find a suitable levelling spot and grinded for five days straight, raising his level to Level 76. The equipment he brought back sold for a total of 800,000 gold.

「I just heard rumours of Gryphon Woodlands opening in 10 days,」Guo Huai informed Nie Yan.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He had never visited Gryphon Woodlands in his past life, but he had heard a few things about it. Before his assassination attempt on Cao Xu, only a total of five flying mount maps had been released, Gryphon Woodlands, Wind Serpent Gully, Dragonfly Everglades, Phoenix Lair, and Dragon Valley. These places were all extremely dangerous, requiring at least a team of 20 to enter. But with possible rewards such as a flying mount egg or a Gryphon Chick, it was well worth it. This was an outcome all players dreamed of.

Gryphons, Wind Serpents, and Dragonflies were all high rank existences. As for Dragons and Phoenixes, they only appeared in legends and myths. No one had actually gotten one of them.

These maps were located between the borders of the Satreen and Viridian Empires and were classified as unregulated zones. No nation could bring these places into their territory. In the previous timeline, after Gryphon Woodlands was released, countless guilds dispatched teams to explore this place. Many returned beaten black and blue, having nothing to show for their efforts. However, some teams did manage to obtain a few good things. When the expedition team of Victorious Return obtained a Gryphon Chick, for example, their entire guild erupted in celebration.

Even if it meant wiping countless times, the allure of a powerful flying mount was simply too great. Many of these guilds still advanced dauntlessly.

"It’s time to explore the Gryphon Woodlands, huh…” Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a peculiar light. "I wonder if the Magic Association will start selling Dispel Fog Scrolls now.”

In the previous timeline, the Magic Association had started selling Dispel Fog Scrolls at the same time Gryphon Woodlands was released.

Dispel Fog Scrolls were a special type of scroll with a very specific use. Their effective range was quite large. Five Great Mages activating a single Dispel Fog Scroll could clear away all fog within a 3,000 meter radius for six hours. Generally, if you went searching in the rooms of the Magic Association, you could find an ordinary-looking NPC Great Mage that sold these scrolls. When players found him, they wouldn’t know what he was selling. It was only after exchanging dialogue with him that he would explain the use of Dispel Fog Scrolls and offer to sell it to them.

In the previous timeline, when Dispel Fog Scrolls started being sold, many players would shake their heads and leave with their money. Such a lousy looking scroll was being sold for 500 gold. This was basically a scam! It wasn’t until later that they realized how useful it was. The Gryphon Woodlands dungeon was completely covered in fog. Without a Dispel Fog Scroll, it was practically impossible to get through. At that time, the Magic Association of every city would only sell 5 Dispel Fog Scrolls every 5 days at 12 o'clock sharp. Due to the scarcity, many guilds fought over them. As soon as they appeared, they would be snatched up instantly. There simply wasn’t enough to go around. It got to the point where every major guild stationed players around the clock in Magic Associations. It was all for the sake of buying Dispel Fog Scrolls. With it, they could run Gryphon Woodlands!

Chapter 490 - Spreading a Net

The fog in Gryphon Woodlands was too dense. Without a Dispel Fog Scroll, advancing forward was practically impossible. If a Thief couldn’t scout the path ahead, the likelihood of encountering monsters unexpectedly was too great, leading to the team potentially wiping. So, when players ran Gryphon Woodlands, they would use up at least one Dispel Fog Scroll, sometimes two or more even.

It would generally take at least 50 Dispel Fog Scrolls for a guild’s team to fully map out and familiarize themselves with Gryphon Woodlands. Only then would their gains from each run be more stable.

Gryphon Woodlands in the previous timeline was quite bustling. Guilds would frequently butt heads there.

Nie Yan contacted Guo Huai,「Have some Mages visit Calore’s Magic Association. Look for an NPC called Izette and see if he’s selling any Dispel Fog Scrolls.」

「Dispel Fog Scrolls? Are they useful?」Guo Huai asked

「You’ll know when the time comes. Remember, these Mages have to be trustworthy. This information can’t be leaked under any circumstances,」Nie Yan said If the Magic Association was selling Dispel Fog Scrolls now, he would immediately start hoarding them without question.

「Understood, I’ll arrange everything right away,」Guo Huai said. He realized from Nie Yan’s voice that this matter was important, so he didn’t dare to dally.

After a while, Guo Huai reported back with his findings. 「Sure enough, the Magic Association has Dispel Fog Scrolls up for sale. However, they’re way overpriced, 500 gold a scroll.」He couldn’t imagine why Nie Yan would be so interested in such a seemingly worthless item.

「Good! Buy all of them and mail them to my personal storage,」Nie Yan said.

「They have five for sale, that’s 2,500 gold in total!」Guai Huai said. He felt his heart ache. Even if they did have the gold, they shouldn’t spend it so frivolously!

「Hmmm? I didn’t mean just in Calore. I want you to have people go to the Magic Associations of every city and buy up all the Dispel Fog Scrolls. This includes the Satreen Empire too! We can’t miss a single one!」Nie Yan said. He wanted to create a network specifically dedicated to purchasing Dispel Fog Scrolls. Since these scrolls refreshed every five days at a set time, they could all be purchased in one go. He didn’t want other players to notice their existence. If this secret was well kept, the Dispel Fog Scrolls would become an exclusive item of Asskickers United!

Of course, Asskickers United couldn’t use up all these Dispel Fog Scrolls themselves, nor did Nie Yan have the gold to support this kind of spending for long. To satisfy his own needs, he naturally planned on selling them for a marked up price in the marketplace.

In the previous timeline, many players crowded inside the Magic Associations to fight over these scrolls. When a player got one, they could sell it for more than 3,000 gold. This was a trade where one could only profit, making back several times the initial investment. Many players went crazy over it!

If Asskickers United monopolized this market, aside from the enormous profits, Nie Yan would also have something to torment Angel Corps, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors with.

The most important issue right now was to keep this secret well hidden. Then Asskickers United would rake in the profits later.

「Are you sure there’ll be a market for these scrolls?」Guo Huai asked. The Viridian Empire had close to 30 Cities and 60 towns. As more and more players entered the game, many towns would rapidly expand and establish Magic Associations of their own. Including the Satreen Empire, there were at least 100 cities between the two nations. To buy every Dispel Fog Scroll out there would cost at least 250,000 gold. According to Nie Yan, these scrolls refreshed every five days. That was to say, they would be spending 250,000 gold every five days. This wasn’t even including the transportation fees. If they didn’t make their money back, Nie Yan would have to do much more than making a few trips to the Underworld.

「Trust me, you’ll be in for a nice surprise when the time comes,」Nie Yan laughed.

「Alright, if you say so.」Guo Huai nodded. Fortunately, Asskickers United had grown quite a bit. They had close to 10,000,000 gold in assets and more than 2,000,000 gold on hand. Otherwise, he would never agree to spending so much money. After all, with so many people in the guild, they had to pay an enormous amount of gold every second. It truly wasn’t easy to keep up with all the costs.

Under Nie Yan’s orders, Guo Huai got to work. Many of the Mages in Asskickers United hid their identities by removing their guild emblems and set out to the various cities in the Viridian and Satreen Empires. These Mages were all vetted, so there was no need to question their loyalty.

A few hours later, the net was fully spread. As for what kind of effect it would have, that remained to be seen. After sinking so much money in it, getting it all back would prove to be pretty easy. Of course, Nie Yan’s goal wasn’t only to simply recoup his investment. He also wanted to bolster the might of Asskickers United.

When the guild’s matters settled down, Nie Yan planned to visit the Temple of Light and undertake his Luminous Dancer class advancement quest. More recently, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps had been stirring trouble nonstop. Asskickers United had no way to deal with all of them at once, so they could only bear with it and remain on the defensive. An ordinary guild in a similar situation would probably be brought to the brink of financial collapse. However, Asskickers United, with the frigthening amount of money they had, remained virtually unaffected.

Aside from the threat of Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps, as more and more players entered the game, more guilds backed by large financial groups were also starting to appear. God Executioner Sword and Penumbra Empire were two such examples. Every day new ones popped up, like Blood Moon, Hidden Dragon, Kings Landing, and many more. Conviction also started to gain a market share of the international gaming market thanks to their language translation system. An increasingly large number of foreign players, most of them backed by powerful organizations, started playing the game. Many of them belonged to professional gaming organizations. They were still developing for now. But when they organized into guilds, their strength couldn’t be looked down on either.

Most of these newly established guilds would choose to set up base in small cities or towns. Away from the influence of large guilds, they could safely grow. At this stage of the game, a transfer fee of 1 gold was no longer too much for players. Due to there being too many people in the large cities like Calore, few were lucky enough to find an empty levelling spot. A portion of these players would start migrating to more remote places. This was also a growth opportunity for the smaller guilds.

The fourth month of Conviction’s release was the golden period of growth for large guilds. Nie Yan didn’t dare to be absent during this time. He would make sure the situation was under control before going off to deal with his own affairs.

The Viridian Empire of the previous timeline was a nation where countless powers warred. Even though Cao Xu had acquired five large guilds, their troubles never ceased to end. One guild after another rose to power, challenging their reign. For them to keep their position as the overlord of the Viridian Empire wasn’t easy. Several times it had nearly crumbled.

Like rowing a boat upstream, if you stopped moving forward, you’d eventually fall back. Nie Yan understood the only way Asskickers United could preserve their position was to keep developing without pause. Else one day another guild would rise up and overthrow them.

If Asskickers United wanted to achieve hegemony, they would need to prepare to be assaulted from all sides.

Nie Yan learned from Guo Huai that players from all over were coming to Calore in a bid to join Asskickers United. As long as they were Level 50 or higher and were willing to join the guild, their travel expenses could be reimbursed. Those formers members from guilds like Victorious Return and Unhindered had all but departed Calore. As for where they went, only they knew.

Aside from the guild’s affairs, Nie Yan’s main goal right now was to reach Level 100 and become a Shadow Dancer. As he racked his brain trying to think of quick ways to level up, he suddenly recalled the Gem of Darkness in his bag. It had stayed with him ever since he exited the Illusory Realm of the Dullahans. He had never found a suitable piece of equipment to socket it with.

Gem of Darkness (9): Socketable Item

Properties: Convert 10% of Attack to Piercing Dark Damage, 1% Defense Ignore, −10% Equipment Requirements

In the near future, Nie Yan planned to put this Gem of Darkness to full use, then charge toward Level 100.

Even the most miniscule of things could bring about shocking results if put to full use.

Looking at the time, the servers would soon close. Nie Yan logged off the game and exited his game capsule. He remembered today was graduation day. As he looked at the game capsule beside him, Xie Yao just happened to exit at this moment.

It was probably the effects of the nutrient fluid. Nie Yan felt like Xie Yao’s skin was even whiter, resembling a glistening pearl. She was wearing pink laced pajamas. She was so alluring he felt his mouth salivate.

"Nie Yan, today’s graduation day. I heard there’s also a performance going on. Let’s go together,” Xie Yao said in anticipation.

"I’m not sure if it’s safe for you to go outside.” Nie Yan knitted his brows.

"Don’t worry. It’s fine if we wear a disguise. I’ve already asked my parents,” Xie Yao said with a coy smile. High school graduation was something that only happened once in a person’s life. She didn’t want to miss it for the world.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. Since Xie Jun had agreed to it, it meant the Glory and Dragon Soar Financial Groups would send people over. If he also called over Bayonet, there should be no problem. "Alright, sure. Let’s go.”

Nie Yan and Xie Yao washed up and got dressed. After getting into Nie Yan’s car, they drove off.

Huahui High was especially bustling today. Many people were entering and leaving. There also seemed to be some sort of performance going on.

"Nie Yan, didn’t you say you were having a friend protect us? Where is he?” Xie Yao asked.

"Don’t worry, he’s around,” Nie Yan smiled.

Xie Yao was a bit confused. She looked around but only saw students walking by, many of whom she was somewhat familiar with. This friend Nie Yan spoke of was nowhere to be seen.

”Let’s head in,” Nie Yan chuckled. If Bayonet were to be discovered so easily, his days as a mercenary would be a joke.

Chapter 491 - Reaching the Summit

Students flooded into the auditorium like a surging tide as everyone searched for their seats.

Zhai Hao sat near the front row. As he looked around and spotted Nie Yan and Xie Yao walking in, he hurriedly waved them over.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao walked over to Zhai Hao and a few other friends sitting with him.

"Li Rui, Nie Yan is here!” Zhai Hao said. Ever since the incident with the Mo siblings, Zhai Hao and Li Rui treated Nie Yan as their sworn brother. If they heard anyone speaking ill of him, they’d be the first to stand up for him.

"Nie Yan, Class 3 sits here. I picked a few good seats for us,” Zhai Hao greeted.

"Thanks, Xie Yao and I will sit here,” Nie Yan said. There were too many people in the auditorium. He worried something would go wrong. So, he chose a seat in the corner for Xie Yao and himself.

"No problem! We’re brothers. This is only natural!” Zhai Hao laughed heartily.

Nie Yan and Zhai Hao smiled at each other.

"Today’s the graduation ceremony. Everyone is here. Many people want to meet you. You’re practically a celebrity in our school, after all. Even the people who never show up to class have come!” Zhai Hao said.

"Let’s wait until the graduation ceremony is over,” Nie Yan replied.

Everyone sat down. Xie Yao and Xia Ling were next to each other, giggling and whispering. From time to time, Xia Ling would look over in Nie Yan’s direction.

"You guys haven’t done that yet, have you?” Xia Ling asked.

"W-what, of course not!” Xie Yao denied in a fluster.

"Hehe. I figured Nie Yan wouldn’t have the guts either. If he tried to touch you, your dad would break both his legs,” Xia Ling giggled.

Only then did Xie Yao breathe a sigh of relief. She then began berating Xia Ling for teasing her.

Gazing at the auditorium, and then at Xie Yao happily chatting and smiling next to him, Nie Yan felt a surge of warmth in his heart. It was as if he were in a dream. He could still recall how he would sneak peeks at Xie Yao from far away in his past life. At that time, just a simple glance would fill his heart with happiness. He never thought in this life he and Xie Yao would be together. The heavens worked in mysterious ways.

In the previous timeline, after attending the three-hour long performance, everyone dispersed. Nie Yan threw a final glance in the distance, where the beautiful Xie Yao sat with her friends. As of that day, they would live in different worlds. As realization dawned on him, he felt as if a giant hole was being carved out of his heart, as if he lost his soul. When he finally left, together with Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and Liu Xuchen, he made his way to a karaoke bar, where he drowned his sorrows in alcohol and sang until sunrise.

At the lowest point of his life, these brothers were always there for him. Even in his darkest days, when he met with tragedy and many people began shunning him, Tang Yao, Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and Liu Xuchen stuck with him through thick and thin. What he didn’t know in his past life was that Xie Yao hadn’t left him either. She had just used a different method, using her online identity as Yao Yao to be with him. It was a pity he failed to realize this at that time.

Thinking about his past life, Nie Yan realized all those painful memories were now washed away.

"How are things with you and Xia Ling?” Nie Yan turned to Zhai Hao and asked. He was rooting for these two. He hoped they would attain happiness and continue their relationship in this life as well.

As soon as Xia Ling was mentioned, Zhai Hao let out a heavy cough. "E-erm, same old, same old. I recently asked for her number, so we can stay in touch after graduation.”

Nie Yan faintly smiled. It was the same in the previous timeline. These two dated long distance for quite a few years before finally finding happiness together. Zhai Hao was as dense as a rock when it came to romance. It was only after graduating university that Xia Ling saw the good in him, and they got married.

As more and more people entered the auditorium, a blur of noise filled the hall. Everyone sat down in their seats. Before long, the principal walked up on the stage and went over the academic achievements of the year. He especially wasn’t stingy with praise when Nie Yan came up.

Everyone in the auditorium focused their attention on Nie Yan and started quietly discussing. He had both gazes of jealousy and admiration aimed at him, but he still remained calm. After experiencing so much in his two lives, this type of honour and attention was nothing to him.

After the principal finished their speech, the students began their performances. Due to Huahai High having many art students, each performance was of a fairly high quality.

"Jiang Yingyu is up next with her Dance of the Peacock,” Zhai Hao nudged with a mischievous smile.

"Oh? Aren’t you chasing after Xia Ling?” Nie Yan asked.

"T-this… I’m just appreciating the arts! It’s different!” Zhai Hao laughed.

Nie Yan was very familiar with Zhai Hao. This fellow wore his feelings on his sleeves. He was deeply devoted to Xia Ling. Even if Jiang Yingyu asked him out on a date, he wouldn’t necessarily accept. This was simply guy talk, who had the prettier face, who had the better figure…

Nie Yan didn’t have any special feelings toward Jiang Yingyu. As for her ending up marrying a rich businessman, whether this was right or wrong, he had zero desire to comment. Everyone had the right to decide how they wanted to live their lives. Sometimes people didn’t get a choice. He had no idea what her circumstances were in the previous timeline, or now. Whatever the case, blindly judging was wrong.

With a flip of the switch, the lights in the auditorium dimmed and the curtains rose. Jiang Yingyu appeared on the stage. With the spotlight shining down on her, she wore a pale yellow leotard. The entire audience fell silent and focused their attention on her.

Nie Yan heard a few whispers around him.

"Damn, Jiang Yingyu has the perfect body.”

"What a devilish figure!”

Jiang Yingyu started her graceful dance. Resembling a peacock in the moonlight, she mesmerized everyone’s hearts. Her nimble and flexible body was perfectly suited to dancing. This was presumably the reason why she got accepted into the Top Military Academy’s arts department.

Her flawless figure and alluring legs filled the hearts of many people with desire.

Nie Yan picked up a few conversations here and there. Young men discussing how they’d give up 10 years of their lives for only a night with Jiang Yingyu. This was undoubtedly the sentiment of an overwhelming majority of the guys in the auditorium.

Nie Yan chuckled. In the previous timeline, he had once had similar thoughts about Jiang Yingyu. However, those were only the impulses of adolescence. After he matured, he realized he could never be together with a girl like her. He might have lusted for her before, but those feelings were only fleeting. His love for Xie Yao, however, was unshakeable and had followed for two lifetimes.

Nie Yan lost himself in the memories of his past life. To Xie Yao who was seated beside him, it looked like he was entranced by Jiang Yingyu’s performance. She couldn’t help but get slightly jealous.

"Are you enjoying the view?” Xie Yao whispered in Nie Yan’s ear.

"It’s not bad,” Nie Yan replied. Seeing Xie Yao pouting, he explained himself, "I’m just talking about her performance. She’s doing really good at expressing the elegance and charm of the peacock.”

Xie Yao had to admit that not only was Jiang Yingyu’s figure great but her dancing skills were superb too. This was an undeniable fact.

"Y-you know, I can also perform the Dance of the Peacock! It’s just that I haven’t practiced in a long time...” Xie Yao said.

"Oh really now? Why don’t you perform for me next time,” Nie Yan chuckled. Under the dim lighting, Xie Yao looked lovely. He gently pinched her hand. Her skin was exquisitely soft, causing his heart to tremble.

"Alright, I’ll show you when we get back home!” Xie Yao still wasn’t willing to lose to Jiang Yingyu.

"I hope it’ll be in that lace nightgown,” Nie Yan whispered into Xie Yao’s ear, a mischievous smile on his face. He could already picture the scene in his head. Xie Yao’s figure didn’t necessarily lose out to Jiang Yingyu’s. It was just that Jiang Yingyu was particularly flexible as a dancer. Xie Yao was also healthy and slender. Her growth was pretty good too, especially in the chest department. He could hardly cup his hands around those pair of mounds anymore. Furthermore, because she trained in Taekwondo, her legs were well toned. In a few years, she would mature into a world class beauty. He recalled their reunion many years later in the previous timeline. She was absolutely dazzling, brimming with a mature charm that made his heart palpitate wildly.

Xie Yao or Jiang Yingyu, both were goddesses in the eyes of men. If people were controlled only by lust and desire, they would be no different than animals. Love was what mattered the most. If it wasn’t for the fact that Xie Yao was too young, Nie Yan would’ve long since eaten her up.

Xie Yao’s face instantly turned as ripe as a tomato. After looking around and making sure no one else heard Nie Yan, only then did she feel relieved. However, her heart was still racing frantically. She pouted and gazed at the side of his face. He was simply too lecherous! However, he had already seen everything there was to see. So be it, she would dance for him. She wasn’t afraid!

Xie Yao would love nothing more than to bind Nie Yan to her will, and make it so that he wouldn’t even think about looking at other women, especially Jiang Yingyu. Other women were her rivals and would receive her full hostility.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao chatted for a while. After 10 more minutes, the dance ended.

Jiang Yingyu was like a dancing fairy. Her unique dance conveyed her youthfulness and beauty. On this stage, she was the sole star. This was her performing solo. As the lights dimmed with a click, and the spotlight focused on her once more, her dance had ended. The audience sighed, feeling a sense of disappointment that it was over.

However, everyone lifted their spirits and continued watching the following performances.

There were more dancers showing their skills, all of them talented in the art of dancing. But none were as eye-catching as Jiang Yingyu. One of the dancers, a good looking young girl, offered Nie Yan flowers as part of her act. However, Nie Yan couldn’t even remember who she was or where they’d met before, so he brushed it off with a laugh.

"Who knew you were so popular.” Zhai Hao nudged Nie Yan on the shoulder.

Nie Yan chuckled. This seemed like something straight out of a movie.

"After you enter the Top Military Academy, make sure not to forget us brothers,” Zhai Hao sighed.

"Have you guys entered Asskickers United yet?” Nie Yan asked. In the previous timeline, Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and Liu Xuchen were decently talented players.

"Yeah.” Zhai Hao nodded.

"Zhai Hao… want to reach the summit together with me?” Nie Yan smiled.

"Really?” Zhai Hao asked with a serious expression. His heart was set ablaze. Which man didn’t dream about being the best and rising to the top? He was filled with an inextinguishable passion!

Chapter 492 - Challenge

"What, would I lie to you?” Nie Yan laughed. He knew just how skilled Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and Liu Xuchen were. Although they weren’t amazing, they were still decent enough. After a few dungeon runs with Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others—to raise the quality of their gear and levels—even if they couldn’t become top experts, they could still at least mingle with the likes of Sesame Cake.

Asskickers United didn’t lack experts, but a few crucial leadership roles still remained vacant. The loyalty of the people below wasn’t a sure thing. It was important for Nie Yan to have confidantes he could put his absolute trust in. If a spy from a rival guild ended up in a position of power, things would become troublesome.

It would be unfair to the other members of Asskickers United if Nie Yan allowed Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and Liu Xuchen to enter through the backdoor. Whereas if they didn’t rely on anyone to get in, it proved they had some ability.

"Sure, as long as you have a use for us, we’ll do our best to help. Just take good care of us!” Zhai Hao said. Sitting close by, Li Rui and Liu Xuchen also nodded.

"I can’t play favourites and ignore Asskickers United’s rules. At most I can ask some friends to help carry you guys through a few more dungeons. As for equipment, feel free to ask, the items in the treasury should fulfill your needs. Whether or not you can rise in ranks will depend on your own abilities. It won’t help if I artificially boost you guys up. You’ll have to prove your own worth,” Nie Yan said. Everything in the treasury belonged to him. He was free to give the items inside to whoever he pleased. However, that was the limit. Some rules had to be followed. If he showed blatant disregard to his own rules, what kind of message would that send to those below?

"Of course I understand.” Zhai Hao nodded.

"It’s good enough that you understand. If you guys can climb up the ranks in the guild, I’ll be even happier,” Nie Yan said. He was looking forward to Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and Liu Xuchen’s growth. After all, they were his sworn brothers!

Nie Yan planned to put Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and Liu Xuchen under the care of Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others for a while. As for how far they could climb in the end, that depended on themselves.

After the performance came to an end, Nie Yan and Xie Yao headed to their homeroom with Zhai Hao, Xia Ling, and the others. Everyone in Class 3 was gathering back there for one last time.

As the group entered the classroom, Nie Yan looked around. He spotted Jiang Yingyu at the far end of the room. She still hadn’t gotten a chance to change out of her leotard. Liu Rui and his lackeys were also gathered in a corner. Upon seeing him, they immediately revealed hostile expressions.

Liu Rui had also managed to get into the Top Military Academy. It seemed like the future wouldn’t be lonely. Nie Yan doubted Liu Rui would be so foolish as to try anything in the open, but it was still better to watch his back. Small characters like Liu Rui were always up to something.

"My grandfather and Liu Rui’s family had a falling out,” Xie Yao whispered.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He turned to Xie Yao with slight concern on his face.

"It’s nothing to worry about. The Liu Family has always been a thorn in my grandfather’s side. However, the investment into Conviction reaped an unexpectedly great harvest. No one in the Dragonsoar Financial Group expected it to be so profitable. Many people became greedy and tried to demand a share of the pie. Little did they know that during this time my grandfather used the opportunity to do some restructuring, booting out several people from the financial group.” Xie Yao gave Nie Yan a grateful look. Not only did Asskickers United’s rapid rise allow Xie Yao’s grandfather to recoup his initial investment, but he had also profited immensely. This even helped prevent the Dragonsoar Financial Group’s situation from turning dire. They faced threats both internally and externally, with the Liu Family stirring trouble on the inside and the Century Financial Group glaring covetously on the outside. With the huge success in the virtual reality game industry, Xie Yao’s grandfather once more solidified his position in the Dragonsoar Financial Group. He was basically untouchable now.

Nie Yan quickly connected the dots. It appeared Xie Yao’s marriage with Liu Rui in the previous timeline was most likely related to the internal struggles of the Dragonsoar Financial Group. Their marriage only looked happy on the outside, but in truth it was anything but perfect. Liu Rui regularly went drinking and slept with a new woman every night. When that incident occurred between Nie Yan and Yao Yao in the underground secret chamber, it was after Xie Yao and Liu Rui got married. At that time, Xie Yao was still untouched.

As the puzzle pieces started falling in place, certain things started making sense. Given the influence of Xie Yao’s parents, there was nothing Liu Rui could do if she didn’t like him. Even if they were married, it was a loveless one. It was no wonder Liu Rui spent all his time drinking and whoring.

The marriage to Liu Rui was probably a temporary expedient measure. When Xie Yao’s grandfather got everything back in control, Liu Rui’s family was probably in for a world of pain. Her grandfather had climbed his way to the top step by step, having encountered all sorts of predicaments. How could he allow someone else to sleep in his bed? When the Dragonsoar Financial Group was stable, he definitely wouldn’t let Liu Rui’s family off lightly. If Nie Yan were in the same situation, he would definitely expunge Liu Rui’s family from the Dragonsoar Financial Group, especially because his precious granddaughter had suffered a great injustice in the process!

Realizing this, Nie Yan faintly chuckled.

"Why are you laughing? What’s making you so happy?” Xie Yao asked. Nie Yan’s change in mood was a little strange.

"It’s nothing. I’m sure your grandfather will handle the situation. You don’t have to worry about him.”

"Mhm.” Xie Yao nodded.

"Remember your promise. When we get back, you’ll show me your dance,” Nie Yan whispered in Xie Yao’s ear.

Xie Yao immediately turned bright red.

The male students interested in Xie Yao were left stunned by the sight and let out sighs of regret. It was a pity that the goddess in their hearts was already taken. Furthermore, the person who had taken her, Nie Yan, was too amazing. They could never hope of competing with him.

Everyone started moving the seats to the sides of the room in preparation for a class party.

Many people approached Nie Yan in an attempt to befriend him. Even those who were normally quite arrogant had no choice but to lower themselves. His future prospects were unlimited. Each of them wanted to build a good relationship with him early.

Even the students who rarely ever showed their faces in class also came.

Nie Yan was naturally warm and affable as he mingled with everyone.

An impressive and handsome looking male student approached Nie Yan.

Nie Yan heard the murmurs of those around him. This person was called Qin Han. He was of Chinese descent and the young heir to the Monet Financial Group, a banking oligarch all the way in South America. In terms of influence, they far surpassed the Dragonsoar Financial Group and were in no way weaker than the Century Financial Group, even surpassing them in some aspects. Most terrifying was that the Monet Financial Group controlled the finances and military power of several countries in that region. Their strength had already grown beyond the scope of normal comprehension.

For a corporation to have enough power to influence a country’s politics and military power in this day and age wasn’t strange at all.

From the start of the school year to now, this was the first time Qin Han had appeared. In the previous timeline, Nie Yan had only heard of him. They had met a few times, but Nie Yan only learned of it after the fact. He was an elusive fellow, and It wasn’t easy for ordinary people to meet him. Some people said he only entered Huahai High for Xie Yao, but those were only rumours.

Qin Han gestured toward Nie Yan with his wine glass.

"A toast to you, Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame,” Qin Han smiled.

The entire class suddenly fell silent. Everyone turned to look at Nie Yan with inconceivable expressions on their faces. Conviction was extremely popular. Regardless of whether you played the game or not, many people knew the significance the name Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame held.

Although a few people knew Nie Yan was Nirvana Flame, they were only an extremely small minority and belonged to his close circle of friends. Many people were still in the dark.

No one doubted Qin Han’s words. Given his status, there was no reason to make things up.

This was a startling revelation.

"Thanks.” Nie Yan raised his glass before taking a sip. He closely observed the person in front of him. Qin Han carried himself with grace. His face was full of smiles. However, Nie Yan felt a faint sense of danger from him.

Qin Han turned to Xie Yao and said with a graceful smile, "When I first entered this school and saw Xie Yao, I thought I had met an angel. I chased her for a year and a half, but she didn’t pay attention to me in the slightest. Because of business I saw myself forced to travel to Europe and North America, and have been there since. Hearing that it was graduation today, I hurried back. To my surprise, I learned Xie Yao has already found someone. Brother Nie, you truly are blessed.”

"Everything happens for a reason. Those who are fated to be together will inevitably meet no matter the distance,” Nie Yan replied. This Qin Han fellow had only appeared a couple of times, so Nie Yan’s impression of him wasn’t that deep. In the past, when he heard of people talking about Qin Han, he felt this person was mysterious. Nie Yan had almost zero interactions with him.

"Yes, true indeed. Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame, I find you quite interesting. Not long ago Conviction released in South America. I originally had no interest in playing, but after meeting you, I’ve changed my mind. I want to see what’s so captivating about this game,” Qin Han laughed.

It took around five days for Conviction to spread from China to Europe, then to North America. It was still expanding further outward, the number of people who could access the game increasing by the day. More people meant more opportunities for profit. Many financial groups were starting to establish a presence in the game, causing it to grow even more.

Nie Yan’s mind trembled. Although Qin Han’s words were pretty carefree, this was basically a declaration of war.

"That’s great to hear. I’m sure you’ll fall in love with the game immediately,” Nie Yan faintly smiled. He wasn’t the slightest bit afraid.

Qin Han was surprised. He didn’t expect Nie Yan to respond in such a way. He laughed, "I’ll trust your word then. This makes me want to play even more. However, once I start something, I always follow through with it till the end.”

Qin Han’s self confidence bordered on conceit.

Chapter 493 - Dance of the Peacock

Nie Yan simply chuckled. He didn’t appear perturbed by Qin Han’s words at all.

Learning Nie Yan was Nirvana Flame, the male students who also happened to play Conviction grew much more cordial. With Xie Yao’s presence, the female students didn’t dare to do anything out of line. Nevertheless, many still approached him to strike up a conversation.

Nie Yan occasionally spotted some hints of bitterness in Jiang Yingyu’s expression, but he pretended not to notice.

Nie Yan’s heart was devoted solely to Xie Yao.

After the class party ended, Nie Yan drove back home with Xie Yao.

Nie Yan received a text message from Bayonet during the drive home, confirming from the satellite data that no one was tailing them.

Bayonet’s expertise in hacking satellites was definitely top notch. Nie Yan had no idea where Bayonet learned this skill, but he naturally didn’t let it go to waste. He bought Bayonet all sorts of bleeding edge equipment. With this, Bayonet could more easily access the civilian satellites and better monitor the situation in the area through the video feed.

After confirming everything was safe, Nie Yan and Xie Yao arrived home.

The villa appeared quiet and tranquil. The flowers in the garden were in full bloom. The noise of the outside couldn’t breach this place.

"Are you worried about Qin Han?” Xie Yao asked. Nie Yan seemed a bit absent-minded.

"No.” Nie Yan shook his head with a smile. He didn’t take any of Qin Han’s words to heart.

"Today was pretty lively, but everyone will be going their separate ways now. I don’t know why, but it feels a little lonely. Xia Ling and Yue’er are going to study abroad…” Xie Yao let out a deep sigh. Partings were inevitable in life. That didn’t make them any easier. However, the connections made and memories shared were what mattered the most.

"Don’t worry, we’ve both entered the Top Military Academy. We can visit them whenever,” Nie Yan faintly smiled.

"Mhm…” Xie Yao nodded.

As the two walked into the villa, Xie Yao’s cheeks burned hot as she recalled her earlier promise to Nie Yan.

"I’ll be waiting for you in the workout room. I’m looking forward to your dance,” Nie Yan whispered in Xie Yao’s ear. The mood immediately became hot.

"H-haha… Hey, Nie Yan. Is it too late to ask to push this back to some other time...?” Xie Yao asked.

Nie Yan simply gazed at Xie Yao with a mischievous smile.

Xie Yao immediately grew flustered. "A-alright! I’ll dance!”

Nie Yan entered the workout room.

Seeing Nie Yan’s figure disappear into the workout room, all the courage Xie Yao had drummed up deflated like a balloon. She entered her bedroom and opened up the wardrobe cabinet. Inside were all sorts of laced gowns and undergarments. After brooding for what seemed like forever, she finally picked one and tried it on in front of the mirror. Seeing how revealing and sexually provocative it was, several lewd scenes flashed through her mind, and her heart became flustered.

Unwilling to lose out to Jiang Yingyu, Xie Yao steeled herself and made her way to the workout room.

Nie Yan had already instructed the servants that no one was permitted to enter this area. Xie Yao covered herself in a jacket as she walked through the hallway. Arriving outside the doorway of the workout room, she removed her socks, exposing her delicate ankles. After a brief moment of hesitation, she summoned the courage to enter.

Nie Yan, who was sitting on a mat at the far edge of the workout room, heard a sound coming from the door. He turned his head and looked.

Xie Yao walked into the workout room while covered in a large coat. However, her slender snow white arms and legs were still fully exposed. Her petite feet and exquisite ankles resembled flawless jade carvings.

Xie Yao’s shy and bashful appearance was quite charming.

"Just so you know, the Dance of the Peacock is best performed in a long dress. So, you better not say I danced badly!” Xie Yao said.

Nie Yan laughed. "It seems I can only say it was good or perfect.”

Xie Yao pouted, unsatisfied with Nie Yan’s reply. She removed her coat and started to dance. In the beginning her movements were a bit stiff, committing one mistake after another. But eventually she found her rhythm. Her steps became light and quick and carried and conveyed an indescribable feeling.

Nie Yan’s eyes were glued onto Xie Yao. The tight-laced night gown perfectly accentuated her curvy figure. She wore no bra, but her breasts remained perky as ever. The full mounds on her spaghetti-strap top shook suggestively with every move she made. Her short skirt, which covered barely enough to hide her beautiful bottom, did nothing to hide the perfectly toned thighs adorning her long slender legs.

Xie Yao in her seductive nightgown resembled a beautiful nymph dancing in the moonlight. Each move from her dance shook Nie Yan’s heart.

The Dance of the Peacock was both beautiful and elegant, like the bird it was named after.

Xie Yao’s dance perfectly conveyed this feeling.

Ever since seeing Jiang Yingyu performing the Dance of the Peacock some time ago, Xie Yao had secretly been practicing it at home for the sole purpose of showing it off to Nie Yan. The Dance of the Peacock was best performed in a suitable garb, a long dress skirt on the lower body and shoulder ornaments on the upper body. Only then could it perfectly emphasize a woman’s figure. With her disposition, she definitely wouldn’t be able to perform such an erotic dance in front of an audience.

Xie Yao’s cheeks were scarlet red. As she gazed at Nie Yan, she quietly muttered in her heart, Nie Yan, did you know? I only learned this dance for you.

Xie Yao’s movements were sometimes as tranquil as a lake and sometimes incomparably seductive, tugging at Nie Yan’s heartstrings.

Nie Yan was captivated by Xie Yao’s graceful dance. She was like a butterfly fluttering through the air. It was as though the two of them were the only people in the world.

Jiang Yingyu’s Dance of the Peacock, which relied on her devilish figure to bewitch the viewer and drive them mad with lust, failed to move Nie Yan in the slightest. However, Xie Yao was like an ethereal beauty, captivating him with her graceful figure. His heart couldn't help but beat in tandem with her every movement.

As though entranced in a dream, Nie Yan’s breath stagnated.

Right now, Xie Yao was both pure and charming, angelic and seductive. These contrasting feelings unceasingly tugged back and forth at Nie Yan’s heart.

In Nie Yan’s opinion, Xie Yao’s dancing was much better than Jiang Yingyu’s. Xie Yao’s current appearance was so beautiful that one would find it hard to look away.

Nie Yan didn’t want Xie Yao performing this dance in front of anyone else. It was for his eyes, and his eyes only.

Nie Yan knew this was selfish, but he couldn’t help but feel this way.

It didn’t matter who. Any man would have these feelings evoked in their heart after watching Xie Yao dance.

Nie Yan was an ordinary person. His current thoughts were no different than others.

Ten minutes later, Xie Yao finally finished her dance. She hurriedly put on her coat. "I’m going to get changed.” Her face was bright red, unable to contain her bashfulness. She turned around about to leave.

Nie Yan walked over and stopped Xie Yao. He kissed her forehead and said with a smile, "That was the most beautiful Dance of the Peacock.”

Xie Yao pursed her lips into a smile. Nie Yan’s smile left her feeling flustered.

The two locked gazes as a lovey dovey atmosphere developed between them. The Dance of the Peacock just now was deeply engraved into Nie Yan’s mind. He lowered his head and went in for the kiss.

Xie Yao couldn’t help but hold onto Nie Yan. She was willing to melt into his embrace.

This was the first time Nie Yan witnessed Xie Yao taking initiative. As his hands lightly touched her back, he felt her shudder all over.

Xie Yao was still as sensitive as ever. Nie Yan moved his hands from her back to her firm buttocks. His mind was already filled with obscene desires. Her alluring Dance of the Peacock had ignited the flames of desire in his heart.

Xie Yao was normally pure and elegant like a refreshing spring breeze. Once she showed her seductive side, people would lose all control of themselves.

Feeling a smooth and supple feeling on his hand, Nie Yan couldn’t help but pinch Xie Yao’s thigh. Her slender legs, which didn’t have the slightest bit of excess fat, were covered in sweat. She had undoubtedly exerted herself quite a bit while dancing. He wanted to gently caress and stroke her silky smooth shoulders, seductive thighs, and flawless ankles.

Nie Yan’s groping was difficult for Xie Yao to endure. She couldn't help but squeeze her legs. An indescribable feeling left her constantly squirming and rubbing her thighs together.

"Xie Yao,” Nie Yan softly called.

"Hng…” Xie Yao answered.

"Your Dance of the Peacock was so beautiful,” Nie Yan said. He firmly believed anyone who saw Xie Yao dance would say the same thing.

Nie Yan removed Xie Yao’s coat. He looked down and saw a pair of soft, perfectly shaped mounds faintly hidden by the thin cloth of her nightgown. He couldn’t help but become a bit absent-minded. As he reached out his left hand and groped one of them, Xie Yao softly groaned and shyly buried her head into his chest.

"Not here, Nie Yan. Let’s go to your room,” Xie Yao said. She wasn’t comfortable doing this in the workout room. Her heart was always reserved. In front of Nie Yan, she had already opened her mind and body. However, she still wasn’t used to doing such embarrassing things.

"Alright.” Nie Yan bent down and picked up Xie Yao’s nightgown.

At this moment, Xie Yao staggered and almost fell.

Nie Yan hurriedly supported her. "What’s wrong?”

"Nie Yan, carry me. My legs are shaky, it’s hard to stand.”

As Nie Yan wrapped one arm under Xie Yao’s legs in an attempt to bring her into a princess carry, he felt a moist feeling between her clothes. His lips curved into a mischievous smile.

"Don’t laugh!” Xie Yao smacked Nie Yan’s shoulder.

Nie Yan chuckled. He helped her put on her coat, then lifted her up.

"Let’s return to the bedroom.” Nie Yan lifted Xie Yao up and carried her upstairs.

Xie Yao leaned on Nie Yan’s shoulder. As she gazed at the side of his face, she revealed a bright smile. He was carrying her very gently, making her feel safe. No matter what he asked of her, she wouldn’t refuse. From her point of view, she already belonged to him. As she recalled the burden he carried in his heart, she mentally let out a deep sigh. At times like these she wished even more that she was born in a common household.

As a man, Nie Yan had to have enough strength to contend with the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups. If he wanted to take away their precious princess, he had to prove his worth. This was a matter that couldn’t be ignored.

Chapter 494 - Javelin Launcher

As Nie Yan carried Xie Yao upstairs like a princess, he heard the sound of vehicles coming in from the driveway. His father was home. He didn’t dare to mess around with his father present, and had Xie Yao return to her room to get dressed.

Large crates containing electronic appliances were being unloaded off a truck.

"Uncle is back. Should I go meet him...?” Xie Yao asked after getting changed. Thinking of meeting Nie Yan’s father, she couldn’t help but become a little nervous.

Nie Yan shook his head. "No need. It’s not the right time. You staying at our villa is still a secret. Too many people knowing wouldn’t be good. It would take too long to explain the whole story to my father anyway.”

Xie Yao nodded. She also didn’t want Nie Yan’s father thinking she was frivolous, staying in his home without prior consent.

Nie Yan knew now wasn’t the time to eat up Xie Yao.

"I’ll go meet my father. You stay here,” Nie Yan said before heading downstairs.

There were many workers in the living room busily at work, transporting the crates into the villa.

"What are these for?” Nie Yan asked his father, his curiosity piqued by the strangeness of this all.

Father Nie narrowed his eyes. Looking Nie Yan up and down, he chuckled, "Protective measures. We’re raising the security of the villa.”

"Oh.” Nie Yan sensed a special meaning behind his father’s words.

"Recently, we’ve signed off on a couple of business deals, including a partnership with the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups. The Glory Financial Group plans to enter Conviction and wants our cooperation. They’re willing to support the War God Tribe, and they have high hopes for our future,” Father Nie smiled.

Hearing this, Nie Yan immediately knew this was the handiwork of Xie Jun. World Bloc was still a new organization. It was nowhere close to being on the same level as the likes of the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups. For the Glory Financial Group to be willing to support the War God Tribe meant they were showing a great deal of face to World Bloc.

"Of course, this doesn’t mean we should lose our focus. You’re my son. I’ll always have your back, no matter what. Do whatever you think is necessary. Even if the sky collapses, your old man will be there to hold it up. I’ve already learned about everything that happened in the Moro River Banquet Hall, the words you spoke to the Xie Family. I’m proud of you. Never allow others to look down on you!” Father Nie brightly smiled.

Nie Yan realized Xie Jun had probably informed his father about the situation. He was deeply moved by his father’s words.

"I’ll call Xie Yao over to meet you,” Nie Yan said.

"No need, we’ll meet when the time is right. I’ve already had people investigate the young lady of the Xie Family. I’m satisfied. You’ve made quite the catch,” Father Nie laughed, patting Nie Yan on the shoulder.

The partnership between the Glory Financial Group and World Bloc was undoubtedly a boon for the Nie Family.

However, judging from Father Nie’s tone, it seemed he had no plans of becoming complacent. Face was something given to you, but honor was something you earned yourself. For World Bloc to truly become powerful, they couldn't simply rely on the charity of the Glory Financial Group.

Nie Yan wanted to turn the Nie Family into a genuine major financial group that didn’t lose out in the slightest to the likes of the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups. He would also have to face the Century Financial Group one day. Regardless of the method, he was determined to take down Cao Xu.

Father Nie had people install the new security system in the villa. From start to finish he watched over their shoulders, ensuring no mistakes were made. He then hurried back to the company. It would be another late night.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao ate dinner before logging back into Conviction.

Nie Yan appeared in Calore. He had today planned out for the most part. He would leave Zhai Hao, Li Rui, and Liu Xuchen in the care of Bladelight’s team. It was fine since they often ran dungeons with newcomers during their free time. Given their strength, they could clear ordinary dungeons multiple times in the span of a short few hours.

Xie Yao returned to Calore to stock up on consumables. She planned on visiting the Elemental City, Kavodin, to search for clues related to the Legendary-grade equipment set quest.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao happened to bump into each other near the Starry Night Potion Shop. She was dressed in blue and white robes with a striped pattern and carried a sapphire staff. The blue glow of the staff reflecting off her face made her appear especially lovely.

"Nie Yan, I’m about to head to Kavodin to do a quest. I’ll probably be busy the next few days.”

"The Elemental City, Kavodin?” Nie Yan recalled several small guilds had popped up there recently. No guild had unified this city yet, so its current state was still fairly chaotic.

"Yeah, is there anything I need to know?” Xie Yao asked. When moving around in other cities, it was a good habit to avoid getting into conflicts as not to inconvenience the guild.

"Not really. Here, take these scrolls. They should come in handy when you’re in a bind. Also, here’s a couple of gemstones that boost Holy Damage. You should socket them into your equipment as soon as you can,” Nie Yan said.

"Thanks,” Xie Yao nodded.

Nie Yan gave her more than 20 scrolls. All of them were of high quality and could come in handy.

"Then, I’ll be off,” Xie Yao bid Nie Yan farewell.

"Have a safe trip!” Nie Yan kissed Xie Yao’s forehead.

Watching Xie Yao’s receding back, Nie Yan figured he should get busy too. He needed to break through and become a Shadow Dancer before anyone else. Only then could he become an invincible existence no one could hope to reach for.

Nie Yan recalled a certain item sold by the Great General Causton of the Temple of Light—Javelin Launcher. Many who focused on raising their military ranks in the previous timeline were familiar with this person. Once you reached a certain rank, you would be allowed to purchase items from Causton. He sold all sorts of standardized weapons and equipment. For example, once you became a 100-Man Commander, you would be allowed to purchase 100-Man Commander equipment for a fairly low price. A decent Gold and Dark Gold-grade piece of equipment only cost 10 gold. However, the equipment you purchased was bound to you and couldn’t be traded to others. If you no longer had any use for it, your only option was to sell it back to Causton. Of course, he only bought it back for a reduced price.

If you became a General or Great General, you could even purchase Sub Legendary and Legendary-grade equipment.

In the previous timeline, the highest military rank Nie Yan ever reached was 10,000-Man Commander. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t advance to a General. It was too difficult, not something an ordinary person could achieve. 10,000-Man Commander was fairly easy to acquire, since Honour points accumulated pretty quickly. Going from 10,000-Man Commander to General, however, was extremely difficult. You would have to kill a certain number of opposing faction players every so many days. If you slacked off for only a moment, your Honour would plummet. Sometimes, when you were only a tiny bit away from advancing to a General, you’d go a few days without killing someone, and your Honour would fall right back to where it was at in the beginning. In the previous timeline, the number of players who were demoted from General back to 10,000-Man Commander was numerous.

After becoming a 10,000-Man Commander, you could buy fairly good equipment from Causton. He sold all types of equipment, covering every level. The best were Dark Gold-grade. The Javelin Launcher was one of them.

Javelin Launchers were a famous high attack power ranged weapon. They had a maximum range of 200 meters. Warriors and Thieves could use them to deal with Mages. They were pretty useful. Their attack power was much higher than that of ordinary crossbows and bows. This item could only be used by 10,000-Man Commanders. Their only weakness was that they were easily evaded, and their accuracy was low. However, they were quite good for grinding mobs.

Nie Yan headed to the Temple of Light. Before long, he met with Great General Causton. This small giant was a Paladin. He still looked young, and appeared exactly as how he did before in the previous timeline.

"Greetings, Grand Scholar, how may I help you?” Causton asked.

"I’d like to buy some equipment.”

A shop window filled with all sorts of dazzling equipment popped in front of Nie Yan’s eyes. He picked the 10,000-Man Commander section. He could further sort by equipment type, gloves, leg guards, chest armour, weapons, and so on.

Nie Yan picked the weapons section, then opened the page for Javelin Launchers.

Several dozen Javelin Launchers ranging from Level 10 to Level 120 were available for purchase. They were separated by every 10 levels. Nie Yan looked through the list. Every 50 Levels represented a clear jump in quality. He checked the stats of the Level 100 Javelin Launchers, Dark Gold-grade with 3,200 Attack Power. It could be shot once every five seconds. Meanwhile, the Level 90 Javelin Launcher only had 1600 Attack Power. It was quite the difference in quality.

Javelin Launchers could be socketed with two gems.

Nie Yan checked the prices of the Level 100 Javelin Launcher, 210 gold. This kind of price was dirt cheap for a Level 100 Dark Gold-grade ranged weapon.

Nie Yan bought it without batting an eye. Looking at the Javelin Launcher in his hands, it was shaped like a tube and filled with all sorts of complicated mechanisms and springs. This was something crafted by an Engineer. This little thing could shoot a javelin more than 200 meters!

Apart from the Javelin Launchers, Nie Yan looked at the javelins for sale. They were divided into five grades. The cheapest were 50 copper each and didn’t add any attack power. The most expensive were 2 gold each and increased attack power by 30%.

Nie Yan bought 150 stacks of the most expensive javelins without any hesitation, for a total of 3,000 javelins, spending 6,000 gold. These would be very useful in the near future!

Chapter 495 - Shocking Plan

Nie Yan left the Temple of Light with his Javelin Launcher in hand. From the numerous gems in his storage, he picked out the Gem of Darkness and Silverash Gem. Although the Silverash Gem wasn’t as good as the Gem of Darkness, it also lowered the requirements of the socketed equipment, specifically reducing the level requirement by 10.

Nie Yan had a large variety of gems in his possession, even the rare kinds that lowered the stat requirements of equipment.

Nie Yan brought the Gem of Darkness and Silverash Gem to Master Jewelcrafter Paget’s workshop and had them socketed. The originally plain looking Javelin Launcher now looked much more stylish with the eye dazzling radiance of these two gems.

Nie Yan took out a javelin. It was roughly one meter long. The body was made out of wood while the head was made out of a silver coloured metal. It was incomparably sharp, sporting a multi-pronged blade with blood grooves running down the sides. Its design was quite elaborate.

Nie Yan learned how to operate the Javelin Launcher. It could launch a javelin into the air and strike a target from afar, dealing piercing damage.

A Level 100 Javelin Launcher could deal 3,200 ranged damage. After socketing the Gem of Darkness and Silverash Gem, 10% of the damage would be converted to dark piercing damage with a 1% chance of ignoring all defense and critically striking. Its level requirement was also reduced from Level 100 to Level 80.

Nie Yan put away the Javelin Launcher in his bag and headed for the Starry Night Potion Shop.

「Guo Huai, I need some Advanced Enchanters. How many in the guild are free right now?」Nie Yan asked.

「Hmm… we can spare five. If it’s really urgent, I can ask the others to stop what they’re doing and help you.」

「That won’t be necessary. Call those five Advanced Enchanters over. Have them meet me on the third floor of the Starry Night Potion Shop.」

「Alright, I’ll send them over shortly.」

Nie Yan waited in an empty workshop. After a while, five Advanced Enchanters knocked on the door and entered. Their ages varied greatly, with the oldest being over 40 and the youngest only 18. There were two men and three women.

Many female players didn’t enjoy fighting and chose to focus on crafting professions instead. As a result, female artisans were starting to greatly outnumber their male counterparts.

"Boss, how may we be of use today?” one of the Advanced Enchanters asked. He was well into his forties, old enough to be Nie Yan’s father. However, he understood the person in front of him was his direct superior.

Nie Yan unloaded the 3,000 javelins onto the workshop bench. "I’d like you guys to add a damage-over-time enchantment to these. Sorry for the trouble.”

"All of them...?” The middle-aged Enchanter knitted his brows. There were 3,000 javelins in total!

"I’ll be needing these in five days,” Nie Yan said.

"That’ll be a bit difficult to do… It’s not that we don’t want to help you. It’s just that there’s too many javelins.”

The other Enchanters nodded in agreement.

"Drop everything you’re doing right now and focus only on enchanting these javelins. You’ll be provided with all the necessary materials. The reward is 1 gold for every javelin you enchant,” Nie Yan said before turning around and leaving the workshop.

With such an attractive reward, even if the workload nearly crushed them, these Enchanters were extremely enthusiastic.

Nie Yan headed to his personal storage. As the guild leader of Asskickers United, his personal storage was a treasure trove.

Ordinary players only had one page in their personal storage, expanded to the maximum size of 500 slots. A second page would cost a significant sum of gold. Generally, players would find it hard to fill up even a quarter of their personal storage. Not to mention most of the items stored inside were worthless garbage that only held sentimental value, so they couldn’t bear to throw it away. Even for expert players, 500 slots was more than enough.

Nie Yan’s personal storage had a total of 10 pages, each with the maximum 500 slots. The first and second pages contained the gems he had Guo Huai acquire for him, and the various gems he acquired himself. Each gem was organized neatly together. Some gems there were tens of and of others there were only a few. However, one could tell at a glance that they were all fairly rare. Anything he didn’t consider important or valuable would be directly dealt with instead of being left in his personal storage, collecting dust.

The first and second pages were an extravagant sight to behold, filled with glittering gems of every colour that would drive anyone mad with greed.

The third, fourth, and fifth pages were completely filled up with scrolls. Nie Yan would have Guo Huai regularly dispatch people to Soyu Town to purchase all sorts of rare scrolls, which would then be deposited into his personal storage. So far, he had accumulated more than 200 types of scrolls. A bunch more were purchased from the various NPC Scroll Shops around the Viridian Empire. These were sold in limited quantity. Each and every single one of them was rare and expensive. He also had close to 300 Dispel Fog Scrolls stockpiled. Needless to say, at 500 gold each, they were worth quite a fortune. The fifth page was filled with row upon row of Death Wave Scrolls. He had brought these back from the Underworld. There were around 250 of them in total. Finally, at the bottom were AoE magic scrolls.

The sixth page was filled with the Magic Bombs crafted by Violet Smoke. Nie Yan no longer had any use for the Junior Magic Bombs, so he left them to the players of the guild. As for the Intermediate and Advanced Magic Bombs, he kept them for himself. They were still useful for levelling. He currently had more than 250 stacks of Intermediate Magic Bombs and 100 stacks of Advanced Magic Bombs. No one would think these seemingly plain looking small black metal balls would be so valuable. One stack of Intermediate Magic Bombs could sell for more than 200 gold, while a stack of Advanced Magic Bombs was worth almost four times as much at 800 gold each.

The seventh, eighth, and ninth pages were filled with potions and precious materials. These items were all extremely rare. Any random item could sell for hundreds if not thousands of gold. Some had special uses and Nie Yan had people gather them for him. Others he collected himself while killing monsters.

The tenth page was filled with equipment, either purchased from the auction house or acquired by killing monsters. There was equipment for every class and every single stat. Even at a conservative estimate, there were at least two or three hundred pieces. Nie Yan usually tossed the equipment he obtained into the guild treasury. The equipment he kept for himself either had special uses or particularly good stats. Bladelight and the others would occasionally borrow equipment from him, returning it after they were done with it.

All 10 pages were packed to the brim with precious items. If Nie Yan were to sell everything in his treasury, he would stand to make at least 1,000,000 gold. This was disregarding the fact many items would only increase in value in the future. Apart from the scrolls he used on a daily basis, he left all the other things that would depreciate over time for the people under him to handle. Leaving them to rot in the guild treasury would be a huge mistake. From the viewpoint of a reincarnator, any bit of wastefulness couldn’t be forgiven.

It was fortunate Nie Yan organized his personal storage so religiously, or else even 20 or 30 pages wouldn’t be enough. Guo Huai also regularly dispatched people to organize and withdraw any items Nie Yan no longer wanted in there. It’d be a huge pain if Nie Yan had to manage his inventory all by himself.

Nie Yan recalled how players in the previous timeline would frequently share screenshots of their personal storages, filled with all sorts of precious gems and equipment. It always made him green with envy. But now, if he shared a picture of his own storage online, those same players would probably vomit blood in shock. The items in their personal storages couldn’t compare with the items in his. They weren’t even on the same level, neither in quantity nor quality.

If there was a leaderboard for the value of personal storages, Nie Yan’s would definitely rank number one in all of Conviction.

Any random item from Nie Yan’s personal storage box would drive countless people mad with greed. Not to mention he was constantly expanding it with better and more valuable items.

Nie Yan was filled with pride every time time he looked at his personal storage. All he had stored in his personal storage in his past life were a few pieces of pitiful garbage. He could still recall the items he had stored in there. The difference was night and day.

There was a saying that circulated in Asskickers United. If you could even catch a glimpse of Nirvana Flame’s personal storage, you could leave this life without regret. It definitely wasn’t an exaggeration. Aside from the auction houses, they had never seen so many valuable gems, equipment, and other items together. Nie Yan’s personal storage was one-of-a-kind.

Nie Yan transferred a few gems and items in his bag over to his personal storage. He then withdrew all the gems that lowered level requirements—roughly 30 in total—and all 50 pieces of Level 100 or higher Dark Gold-grade equipment.

Besides this, Nie Yan had Guo Huai dispatch people around the various major cities in the Viridian Empire to purchase gems that reduced stat requirements. He planned to use these items to create equipment that would make the entire playerbase go green with envy.

Chapter 496 - Twinked Gear

For ordinary players, excluding the powerful skills from Sub Legendary and Legendary-grade equipment, the most sought after properties were attack power, magic power, lifesteal, skill levels, and level requirement reduction.

One could imagine how enticing a piece of Level 50 equipment with its level requirement reduced by 10 would be to a Level 40 player. This was a full two tiers of gear higher! Killing equal level mobs and levelling would become a piece of cake.

However, for a Level 50 player, a piece of Level 50 equipment with its level requirement reduced by 10 had no meaning.

So, for the players at the very top, it was difficult for them to find a use for the level requirement reduction property. For example, at the current stage of the game, there were only a handful of decent Level 65 equipment for sale in the marketplace. As for Level 70 equipment, other than some White and Bronze-grade gear, there was nothing. So, with it being next to impossible to obtain quality Level 70 equipment, most players were better off grinding dungeons for a full set of Level 65 Dark Gold-grade equipment.

Only the players catching up from behind could truly make use of twinked gear. The top experts generally had no use for level requirement reduction gems. As such, the marketplace had quite a few of them.

But unlike other players, Nie Yan was in possession of a large pile of Level 100+ equipment. Similar to Level 50, Level 100 also represented a major milestone. The stats of Level 100 White-grade equipment was equivalent to that of Level 90 Gold-grade equipment. Before Level 100, weapons with more than 1,000 attack were almost nonexistent. Even Zennarde’s Sword only had a little over 800. However, after Level 100, weapons with more than 1,000 attack power could be found everywhere. The difference was clear as day.

If not for Nie Yan opening all those chests, obtaining such a large amount of Level 100+ equipment would’ve been impossible.

Nie Yan had great expectations of socketing these pieces of Level 100 Dark Gold-grade equipment with level requirement reduction gems. A Level 90 player in such gear could easily crush any equal level player.

It was extremely difficult for Level 60–70 players to obtain Level 100 equipment at this stage of the game. They were absolutely no match for Level 100 monsters. Even Level 90 players would have to form teams to take on Level 100 monsters. Not to mention the drop rate for Level 100+ equipment was pitifully low. For example, in the previous timeline, players would be over the moon if a single piece of Level 100 equipment dropped in a week’s worth of grinding. Treasure hunting for good equipment in the wilderness wasn’t all that either. Each map only contained a couple dozen chest spawns. With players camping them day and night, there weren’t nearly enough to go around. Only when exploring a map for the first time were there ample Gold and Dark Gold-grade chests. Those who were late to the party, would be lucky to find even a single ordinary chest.

Before long, batch after batch of level requirement reduction gems were sent Nie Yan’s way.

Nie Yan gathered everything together. Most of the level requirement reduction gems in his bag reduced the level requirement by five or less. He only had 20 gems that reduced level requirement by more than five. These gems were found by him in Level 100+ maps. All the gems collected by the players of Asskickers United only reduced level requirement by a maximum of five.

As for gems that reduced level requirement by 10, those were extremely rare. Nie Yan had only obtained three so far. Gems that reduced level requirement by more than 10 were basically impossible to find. Perhaps only Sub Legendary or Legendary-grade gems would contain such an overpowered property.

Nie Yan brought four bags worth of gems, along with more than 50 pieces of Level 100 equipment to Master Jewelcrafter Paget’s workshop.

After exchanging some small talk with Paget, Nie Yan got down to business.

Level 100 Dark Gold-grade equipment could be socketed with five gems at most, with no more than three being of the same type. That was to say, Nie Yan could only socket a maximum of three level requirement reduction gems into a single piece of equipment.

Nie Yan rummaged through his bag and took out a Level 100 Gold-grade greatshield.

The Dark Gold-grade Greatshield & Chain boasted more than 2,100 defense, with a block rate of 41%. It was much better than Bladelight’s Sub Legendary-grade greatshield. Level 100 Dark Gold-grade equipment was far superior to any Sub Legendary-grade equipment under Level 100. This was an ironclad law of Conviction.

Nie Yan picked out the three best level requirement reduction gems from the pile. One reduced the level requirement by 10 while the other two reduced level requirement by 9. After handing over the shield and gems, Paget got to work.

About 10 minutes later, Paget finished socketing the Greatshield & Chain. The three gems sparkled brilliantly on the front of the shield.

The Level 100 Greatshield & Chain could be equipped at Level 72. With over 2,100 defense and a block rate of 41%, it was absolutely monstrous at this stage of the game! Bladelight could tank Level 80–90 Elites and Lords with ease when equipped with this shield. Even Level 100 Elites might not be a problem.

「Hey, take a look at this. Tell me what you think.」Nie Yan sent over a screenshot of the Level 100 Greatshield & Chain to Bladelight.

「Where did you get this shield? Those stats are amazing!」Bladelight reckoned this shield was even better than Level 80–90 Sub Legendary-grade equipment. Its defense and block rate were astonishing.

「This is a Level 100 Greatshield & Chain. I socketed it with three level requirement reduction gems,」Nie Yan explained with a smile.

「Oh, no wonder why the defense and block rate are so high!」Bladelight said. This shield was a piece of Level 100 Dark Gold-grade equipment with amazing stats. With the level requirement reduced by 28, allowing it to be equipped at Level 72, it was practically without rival! This shield was already quite valuable to begin with, and the three gems socketed into it weren’t cheap either. At this stage of the game, this shield was priceless. Many players would be reaching Level 72 soon. Although it would devalue over time, right now it was absolutely a rare and useful shield.

Nie Yan’s purpose for creating this equipment wasn’t to sell it for some ludicrous price but to outfit Asskickers United’s top elites!

Bladelight was the most suitable candidate to equip this Greatshield & Chain!

Besides the Greatshield & Chain, Nie Yan picked out a Dark Gold-grade Priest staff with Heal +800, and paid Paget to socket it.

Before long, Nie Yan used up most of the gems. Almost all the Level 100 and Level 105 equipment was socketed with level requirement reduction gems, then stored into his bag.

A Level 100 shield that could be equipped at Level 72, a Level 100 Priest staff that could be equipped at Level 73, a Level 100 chain vest that could be equipped at Level 75…

Nie Yan made a total of 20 pieces of twinked gear that could be equipped between Level 70–90. Fighter equipment numbered the most, with Priest equipment coming in second. There was also a lot of equipment for the other classes.

It took hours for Nie Yan to finish hand-picking out all the gear. Although it left him mentally drained, it was well worth it. Once Asskickers United’s elites put on this gear, they could farm Level 100+ dungeons with ease, pumping out more such gear for everyone else in the guild to equip.

With this equipment, Asskickers United’s elite team would definitely stand far above all others.

Nie Yan creating this equipment was kept a secret. Only the members of Asskickers United’s elite team were aware. Bladelight and the others were excited beyond belief. At level 70–80, they could wear Level 100 Dark Gold-grade equipment to run dungeons!

A Fighter’s defense, Priest’s healing, Mage’s damage, Paladin’s blessing, Berserker’s killing power, and so on, all of this made up a team’s strength. Adding their excellent coordination into the mix, and they could breeze through any dungeon. Equipment wasn’t absolute. However, if your equipment didn’t meet a dungeon’s requirements, it wouldn’t matter how skilled you were. If your equipment was far above a dungeon’s requirements, and you were decently skilled, clearing it would be a walk in the park.

There was numerous Level 100 equipment that could be equipped at around Level 90. Any piece of Level 100 equipment when socketed with a few ordinary level requirement reduction gems could be equipped at Level 90. This equipment would be used to help Asskickers United’s second rate teams to smoothly break through the Level 100 watershed.

After settling everything, Nie Yan finally heaved a massive sigh. It would still be a while before players got to Level 70. During that time, he and Tang Yao could find more gear and gems to use. However, the efficiency would be drastically reduced. His memory was limited, after all.

Nie Yan planned on using his memories to create as big of a head start as he could. Everything after that would be up to skill.

The battle between him and Soaring Angel was only just beginning!

Nie Yan allowed the people Guo Huai dispatched to bring this equipment back and distribute it to the elite members of the guild. Afterwards, he headed to his personal storage and withdrew a large amount of Death Wave Scrolls and Magic Bombs. He planned to find a place for a power levelling session.

After reaching Level 80, Nie Yan would finally be able to use the Javelin Launcher.

Nie Yan was going to level up like crazy!

Not being able to become a Shadow Dancer in the previous timeline was one of Nie Yan’s regrets. There was an intrinsic difference between a Great Thief and Shadow Dancer. After advancing to a Shadow Dancer, your freedom in combat would advance another step. This was a new realm altogether. Without the title of Shadow Dancer, reaching the absolute peak among Thieves would forever be a distant dream. At best you could gaze enviously at the backs of these people from afar.

Every regret from his previous life would be made up in this one! Nie Yan would be the first Shadow Dancer this time around!

Chapter 497 - Skyfire Wing

Gloomy Forest, Level 90 Spiny Lizards roamed this map. They had thick armoured hides covered in sharp spikes. On top of their solid defense, they returned a portion of damage received as thorns damage. However, their health pools were on the low side relative to other Level 90 monsters.

Nie Yan clambered up a large tree. Looking into the distance, he spotted a group of Spiny Lizards passing between the thickets. He took aim with his Cavalry Crossbow and pulled the trigger.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Five bolts whizzed through the air, passing through the gaps between the trees, and struck a Spiny Lizard in quick succession.

"Hiss!” The Spiny Lizard locked onto Nie Yan. It rushed toward him along with several dozen of its companions in tow.

Nie Yan jumped off the tree before bolting away, using his Cavalry Crossbow to aggro every group of Spiny Lizards he encountered in his path.

More and more Spiny Lizards started chasing Nie Yan.

"Eat this!” Nie Yan activated a Death Wave Scroll. Ripples of death energy spread out, sweeping over the Spiny Lizards in the vicinity.

−1,000

−1,000

−1,000...

Nie Yan fled to safety. After a while, when the Death Wave Scroll came off cooldown, he used another one. Ripples of death energy spread out.

A few minutes later, as Nie Yan activated another Death Wave Scroll, the Spiny Lizards began dropping like flies as more than half the group collapsed dead on the ground.

Nie Yan circled around to the back in stealth and finished off the remaining low-health stragglers. He then collected the loot they dropped.

Levelling was dull and monotonous. Nie Yan’s levelling speed right now was already pretty fast. In the previous timeline, he would grind in one area for two to three months straight for a single level—two if he was lucky. He would only return to town to sell off his harvest once every few weeks.

In order to become an expert, getting used to solitude and loneliness was a must.

Nie Yan continued grinding the Spiny Lizards in the forest.

...

The Elemental City, Kavodin, was situated halfway atop a mountain. The skyscape dotted with tall buildings glowed with a seven coloured radiance, giving the place an illusory feel. The current state of the city could be best described as chaotic, with more than 20 Level 4 guilds vying for dominance. Since they were all similarly sized, a clear leader had yet to emerge. This absence of a major unifying power allowed guilds like Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and God Executioner Sword to establish a presence in this city, in the hopes of one day taking it for themselves. Asskickers United also had an office here.

Asskickers United’s player presence in Kavodin wasn’t large. However, their businesses were flourishing. They had no less than 10 shops in the city, of which five were branches of the Starry Night Potion Shop. They already controlled 70% of the market. Besides this, many artisans were flocking to their doorsteps.

A group of five emerged from Kavodin’s transfer area. They teleported again, this time southwest to a small town called Keynes. They had an Arcane Mage, a Warrior, a Thief, a Paladin, and a Priest. This was a fairly standard party composition.

"Watchful Snail told us to head southeast of here and search for a travelling scroll seller. Why do I feel like we’re being led on a wild goose chase? We don’t even know when this hidden NPC will show up. We’re just supposed to level in this area and hope we bump into them. Don’t you think it’s strange, Panda?” the Arcane Mage called Daybreak turned to the Warrior and asked.

"Maybe Watchful Snail received a tip from somewhere. Let’s just check it out first,” Fat Panda replied.

"Should we hide our guild emblems?” Daybreak asked.

"Kavodin is pretty chaotic right now. Keeping them on will probably attract trouble. It’s best if we take them off. Besides, Watchful Snail told us to keep our mission under tight wraps.”

The party members took off their guild emblems.

These five players belonged to Asskickers United. Fat Panda was the strongest among them at Level 63. The other four hovered around Level 60. They could only be considered as second rate players in the guild. But among ordinary players, they were experts.

The party passed through a field. After arriving at their destination, they searched for the hidden NPC while grinding the mobs in the vicinity.

The party was determined to complete the mission Guo Huai gave them. The Thief unceasingly scouted around the map. They searched for two days straight, but the hidden NPC was still nowhere to be found.

"What do we do? I’m starting to doubt if there really is an NPC around here...” Daybreak sighed.

"I don’t know,” Fat Panda said helplessly. This NPC’s existence was a mystery within a mystery. It was quite vexing searching around aimlessly like a bunch of headless flies, but what else could they do? "I asked Watchful Snail again. He confirmed the NPC is around here. Let’s just keep searching.”

At this moment, the Thief reported back. He found the NPC!

The faces of Fat Panda, Daybreak, and the other two lit up with joy. They immediately moved to regroup with the Thief.

Announcement: Eternal is claiming this area. All other players, please clear out or suffer the consequences.

Fat Panda’s eyes widened in surprise. "This Eternal guild is pretty brazen.” Asskickers United was the defacto number one guild in Calore, but even they weren’t so aggressive when clearing out an area. They preferred to gently coax other players to leave, almost never using tyrannical methods. The only times they resorted to force was when they were left with no other choice.

"Eternal is the biggest guild in Kavodin. They have about 50,000–60,000 players, and they’re allied with two other guilds. They seem pretty strong,” Daybreak said. Before coming here, he had skimmed Kavodin’s forum boards.

Fat Panda felt nothing but contempt for Eternal. No matter how powerful they were, could they beat Asskickers United? Of course not. However, he didn’t want to stir up unnecessary trouble for the guild. He would complete the mission Guo Huai gave them first.

"Let’s go find that NPC, then leave,” Fat Panda said. At this moment, he spotted a group of 10 players walking over in the distance. They didn’t look too friendly.

More and more players from Eternal were swarming into this area. There were roughly 2,000–3,000 players within a 1,000 meter radius. They were forcing everyone else to leave as groups of Miners started arriving.

「I’m surrounded by enemies. They’re blocking me from that NPC!」the Thief informed through voice chat.

「What’s going on?」Fat Panda frowned.

「Those dirty fucking bastards. They went to talk to the NPC first!」

Your party member Triblade has died.

After a while, Triblade revived in the graveyard.

「What happened?」Fat Panda asked. Triblade’s death was too sudden.

「It’s those assholes from Eternal. They thought the NPC was some sort of hidden quest giver, so they stopped me from approaching. Their Mages tried to gib me with their spells, but I managed to dodge. I just didn’t expect there to be five Thieves in the area as well. I ended up being surrounded and killed!」Triblade clenched his fists. PKing in the wilderness wasn’t at all uncommon. But it was still infuriating when it happened to you.

Daybreak turned to Fat Panda. "What do we do? The NPC got snatched away.”

"Let’s leave and report this matter back to Watchful Snail,” Fat Panda said. He also felt aggrieved. He normally wouldn’t hesitate to teach those sons of bitches from Eternal a lesson. However, due to the mission, he had no choice but to bear with it.

Daybreak nodded. As they channelled their Return Scrolls, a group of Eternal players approached, leaving them no choice but to stop. They would be left vulnerable if they were interrupted while channeling their Return Scrolls. They would lose the initiative and be forced on the back foot.

The opposite side had more than 10 players. Their leader was a Level 65 Warrior in a full set of Dark Gold-grade equipment.

This was the number one Warrior in Eternal, Skyfire Wing!

Skyfire Wing could be regarded as a big shot in Kavodin. He ranked among the top three Warriors in the city.

Fat Panda, Daybreak, and the other two frowned after seeing Skyfire Wing’s equipment. The opposite side was strong. He was no pushover.

"Which guild do you belong to?” Skyfire Wing glanced at Fat Panda’s group. Their equipment was pretty good. He was certainly no stranger to PKing. This area was surrounded by players from Eternal. Fleeing was impossible. He just wanted to make sure of one thing. As long as they didn’t belong to one of the allied guilds, he would kill them.

Watching Eternal’s players gather into a mob around them, Fat Panda and Daybreak exchanged glances. It looked like they couldn’t resolve this peacefully, so the team took up defensive positions.

"They’re not wearing any guild emblems They probably don’t belong to any guild.”

"Boss, their equipment ain’t bad,” one of the players chuckled.

"Alright, kill them,” Skyfire Wing said in an indifferent tone. He wasn’t afraid of other guilds in Kavodin, to say nothing of a bunch of guildless solo players!

「There’s too many of them! I’ll hold them off. You guys run!」Fat Panda said. He brandished his greatsword and welcomed the charging enemies head-on.

Chapter 498 - Poking the Hornet’s Nest

Xie Yao was questing out in the wilderness, some distance from Kavodin. She recently completed the second part of the quest she was working on, and was about to move on to the next part when Eternal’s local area announcement popped up. Xie Yao knitted her brows. "This isn’t Calore. I should probably avoid stirring up any unnecessary trouble.”

At this moment, the sound of a commotion broke out behind the trees and foliage. Daybreak was fleeing in Xie Yao’s direction with five others chasing him from behind.

"A fight must have broken out.” Xie Yao was just about to turn and leave when she spotted Daybreak.

Daybreak’s eyes also widened in surprise. Everyone in Asskickers United knew Xie Yao. She was the boss’ girlfriend! They had all seen pictures or videos of her with him. He didn’t expect to meet her here of all places.

Daybreak hurriedly fled in another direction, leading his pursuers away from Xie Yao. Even it meant his death, he couldn’t allow her to be dragged into this mess.

「Big Sis, run!」Daybreak sent a whisper to Xie Yao.

Xie Yao recognized Daybreak. He was a fellow member of Asskickers United. With those Thieves hot on his trail, it wouldn’t be long before he was killed!

Seeing a guildmate in danger, Xie Yao couldn’t just stand idly by and do nothing.

Xie Yao raised her staff and struck one of the Thieves in the back with Holy Judgement, blasting him away.

It was an instant kill!

Xie Yao had seven pieces of Sub Legendary-grade gear equipped while the rest were Gold-grade with excellent stats. Besides this, every piece was enhanced with the best gems and enchantments. She was frighteningly powerful. Add this to the fact that she was already Level 69, while ordinary players were around Level 60, few people could survive her attacks.

The Thieves were shocked. What frightening damage!

Before the Thieves could figure out what was going on, Xie Yao attacked again with Holy Punishment, instantly killing another one of their comrades.

"Shit! Watch out for that bitch!”

"Hide. Hide!” The Thieves hurriedly disappeared into stealth.

Xie Yao raised her staff and chanted out a short incantation. A torrent of holy fire poured down from the sky.

「Thud! Thud! Thud!」The Thieves collapsed to the ground one after the other within the raging holy flames. Even up until their last moments, they had no idea how Xie Yao could tell their locations through stealth.

Skyfire Wing cut down Fat Panda with a swing of his greatsword, then picked up the loot that dropped on the ground. The corpses of two others laid on the ground nearby. Only Daybreak had escaped. With so many Thieves chasing him, he probably wouldn’t survive much longer, though. At this moment, a female Holy Mage appeared out of nowhere and easily dispatched his pursuers.

"Fuck! Who is this witch?” Skyfire Wing cried out. He was slightly taken aback by Xie Yao’s beauty. However, he wasn’t a fool led by his second head. Since the other side had taken action against his people, he naturally wouldn’t hold back.

"Boss, what do we do? That woman is wearing Asskickers United’s guild emblem.”

"Kill her! This is Kavodin, not Calore! Asskickers United doesn’t count for shit! Eternal reigns supreme!”

Xie Yao was usually fairly low-key, rarely ever stepping into the limelight. Even if there were some videos and pictures of her, she was treated as no more than a pretty face. So, no one paid particular attention to her. After all, beauties on the internet were a dime a dozen. Of the women in Asskickers United, One Strike Vow and Painted Muslin were far more well known. None of these players from Eternal recognized her.

Skyfire Wing ordered every Eternal player in the vicinity to surround and kill Xie Yao.

Daybreak didn’t expect Xie Yao to get herself involved. The situation was already out of his control. He could only raise his staff and do his best to protect her. If she died here, they would become sinners.

"Big Sis, please hurry and escape!” Daybreak gritted his teeth. He activated Arcane Reset and fired off one spell after another, killing an Eternal player that was charging over.

Before Xie Yao could reply to Daybreak, spells rained down from the sky above them. She hurriedly dodged out of the way.

Had Daybreak kept running without looking back, he would have escaped. Xie Yao didn’t expect him to stop in his tracks and turn around to help her. Surrounded by so many enemies, she wasn’t confident in protecting him.

About 10 minutes later, Daybreak ended up dying anyway. Xie Yao was still being pursued by a large mob of players.

During this chase, the players of Eternal came to learn the difference between themselves and a truly godly player. Xie Yao continually kited her pursuers, picking them off one by one with her powerful attacks. Whenever a large group of players closed in on her, she would immobilize them with an Advanced Twisting Vines Scroll, then blow them all away with a Holy Pillar.

"Shit, this damned woman’s attacks are strong.” Skyfire Wing cursed. He slightly staggered back in fear. Even he didn’t dare to take her attacks head-on. He ordered the players under him to surround Xie Yao.

"Shadow Priests, lock her down with Chains of Strife! Don’t let her escape! Someone with that quality equipment most likely has Unknown Transfer Scrolls!”

Seeing Daybreak die, Xie Yao no longer had a reason to stay. She let out a sigh and took out an Unknown Transfer Scroll. Just as she was about to teleport away, she discovered she had been inflicted with Shackles of Strife. Looking around, she spotted a Shadow Priest hiding in a shrub in the distance. He had used an Invisibility Potion to get close. After successfully casting Shackles of Strife, he turned tail and ran.

"She’s been hit with Shackles of Strife. Don’t let her escape!” Skyfire Wing roared. This was the first time they had been beaten so badly by a woman. They definitely couldn’t let go of this disgrace!

"Boss, she has a lot of scrolls. We’ve already lost more than 30 players!”

"Who the hell is this woman? Why the hell does she have so many scrolls? They don’t fucking grow on trees!”

"Keep chasing her! I refuse to believe we can’t kill a single person!” Skyfire Wing cursed. He gnashed his teeth and charged toward Xie Yao.

Skyfire Wing could confirm that no Holy Mage in Kavodin was even close to rivalling this woman!

Xie Yao didn’t expect to be struck with Shackles of Strife. With so many enemies in the vicinity, it was impossible for her to chase down that Shadow Priest. Under the pursuit of the players from Eternal, she could only keep kiting back. She still had those life-saving scrolls from Nie Yan in her bag. There was no choice. She had to use them.

If Xie Yao died, regardless of which piece of equipment she dropped, it would be a huge loss.

However, there were simply too many enemies.

...

Nie Yan was in the middle of levelling, when he suddenly received word from Guo Huai that Xie Yao had been killed in Kavodin.

「What happened?」Nie Yan frowned. Dying was a fairly mundane affair for ordinary players. But given Xie Yao’s equipment and all those scrolls he gave her, unless she faced a powerful enemy, dying was impossible. The number of players that could kill her in Kavodin could be counted on one’s hands.

Guo Huai shared a video with Nie Yan. It showed Xie Yao killing more than 100 players from Eternal during the pursuit, using up her scrolls and every spell in her arsenal. After the enemy dispatched 100 elite Thieves to surround and ambush her, she finally died after running out of mana.

「Eternal, the top guild in Kavodin?」Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with killing intent.

「This is the information we have on Eternal.」

Nie Yan checked the guild chat. Everyone was talking about this matter.

「Fucking hell! Daybreak, you little shit! Why did you end up getting Big Sis dragged into this!」

「I didn’t know Big Sis was there…」Daybreak replied in an aggrieved tone.

「Everyone, don’t blame Daybreak. It was my fault for getting caught by Shackles of Strife, or else I would’ve been able to escape,」Xie Yao said in a calm manner.

Who was right or wrong wasn’t clear. If Daybreak had kept running after being saved by Xie Yao, she could have immediately teleported away with an Unknown Transfer Scroll. However, he went back to help her and ended up becoming a burden instead, despite his best intentions.

Only a few people could see this. But they understood Daybreak wasn’t in the wrong.

「Those fucking bastards from Eternal! We’ll slaughter ‘em all! Let’s go talk to the boss.」

「As long as the boss gives the word, we’ll teleport over and crush them and all their strongholds! So what if Kavodin is far away!」

「Watchful Snail is talking to the boss right now.」

「Let’s just forget about it. It’s nothing worth getting this mad over,」Xie Yao hurriedly tried to mediate. She realized the mood in the chat was reaching an uncontrollable level. She didn’t want to inconvenience Nie Yan any more. Asskickers United already had more than enough trouble to deal with.

「We can’t do that, Big Sis! If it was us, it would be fine. But you’re the boss’ girl! If we don’t teach them a lesson, we’ll have no face!」Undying Scoundrel declared.

「Scoundrel is right. We can’t just pretend nothing happened,」Nie Yan said.

「The boss is here!」

「Boss! Just say the word, and we’ll wipe out Eternal! Let’s just see how long they can stay eternal!」

Once Nie Yan appeared, the chat immediately boiled over in excitement.

「I see you guys are getting restless after all this peace. Alright, it’s been a while since we’ve gotten some exercise. This time, we’ll crush Eternal!」Nie Yan shouted. He wanted to let Eternal know that some people couldn’t be touched!

Besides, this was a good opportunity to take Kavodin by storm. Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had already established a solid presence there. How could Asskickers United lag behind?

Chapter 499 - Prelude to the War with Eternal

「Boss, just tell us what to do. All 60,000 of us are awaiting your orders!」

「Yeah! Boss, give us your command!」

「Our opponent is just Eternal. No need to go all out. It’s just a simple guild exercise, 3,000 people will be enough. The rest of you continue with getting stronger,」Nie Yan ordered. Without facing any real opposition in Kavodin, Eternal was probably getting too big for their britches. Even Asskickers United didn’t dare to behave so brazenly, despite having solidified their position as the de facto ruler of Calore.

Nie Yan finally decided to take action. However, he would only bring 3,000 players. Some in the guild were endlessly excited. Others let out deep sighs of disappointment, since they knew they likely wouldn’t be picked.

「Everyone within the top 3,000 of the guild, meet up at the Calore office as soon as possible.」

The players in the guild chat heeded Nie Yan’s call. From Violet Dream Forest, Murky Swamp, Fog Gill, and many other maps, they dropped what they were doing and channelled their Return Scrolls home.

The various transfer points in Calore lit up with brilliant flashes of light as players from Asskickers United emerged. Like the myriad rivers flowing into the sea, they congregated toward the guild office. These players were all wearing Level 60–65 Gold and Dark Gold-grade gear. This sort of sight was extremely rare in other guilds but fairly common in Asskickers United.

Asskickers United’s treasury was too grand. It was filled with Level 60–65 Gold and Dark Gold-grade equipment. As long as you met the level requirements and had enough merit points, you could obtain a full set of equipment. As a result the guild’s players were never lacking in high quality gear.

Seeing Asskickers United out in full force, the players on the street started whispering to each other.

"Damn! What kind of equipment is this? Those guys at Asskickers United are loaded!”

"There’s a screenshot floating around online showing Asskickers United’s treasury. Go search for it. You’ll understand just what it means to be rich.”

"Why are so many of them returning to Calore?”

"I’m guessing some guild is probably in for it. I wonder who’s stupid enough to provoke them…”

"I don’t think any guild in Calore is brave enough to do that.”

"I heard it’s Eternal in Kavodin. Those guys were blind and ambushed Yao Yao while levelling in the wilderness.”

"Did you watch the video of that battle? Man, Yao Yao is scary. She killed more than 100 of those guys from Eternal. Everyone from Asskickers United is so amazing. Even the girls kick ass!”

"Isn’t Yao Yao Nirvana Flame’s girlfriend?”

"No wonder Asskickers United is taking action. Nirvana Flame must be flipping mad! Still though, Eternal is pretty strong. I wonder if Asskickers United will come out on top. After all, they’re fighting in Kavodin, not Calore.”

Many people weren’t too optimistic about Asskickers United’s odds. Kavodin was Eternal’s home turf, and they were only bringing 3,000 players to take on a guild that was 60,000 strong. This was way too arrogant. Not to mention Eternal had formed an alliance with three other guilds!

However, Asskickers United was indeed quite powerful. No other guild had as many expert level players. Even if Eternal had 60,000 players, how many of those were devoted and loyal, how many were actual experts? Perhaps only Eternal themselves knew.

3,000 players had gathered outside the Asskickers United guild office in Calore. The square was jam packed.

Nie Yan looked down from the terrace. Everyone he called for had arrived. They were all in high spirits, happily chatting with one another.

Nie Yan turned to Xie Yao beside him. "Did you find a replacement for the piece of equipment you dropped?”

"Mhm…” Xie Yao nodded. She then gazed at him with a remorseful expression. "You know, you don’t have to do all of this for me. I’ve caused you trouble again.”

Nie Yan shook his head with a gentle smile. "Don’t worry about it. It was only a matter of time until we had to do this anyway. Besides, this doesn’t just concern you anymore but the whole guild.”

Xie Yao understood dissuading Nie Yan wasn’t possible. She could only let out a sigh. He had his own plans.

「How’s it going, Tang Yao? Did you finish up your quest?」

「Nah, I put it on hold. Let’s crush Eternal first. I’m flying over to Kavodin right now. I’m almost there. Tell me where to fight, and I’ll go there straight away. Hurry, I’m itching for some action!」Tang Yao’s Netherthunder Eagle hadn’t participated in a war yet. This would be its glorious debut!

In fact, this would be the first appearance of a flying mount in battle!

Besides Tang Yao, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others had also arrived. Their equipment was breathtaking.

Asskickers United had 100 or so players that could be considered peak experts. They were the most talented players in all of Calore. All of them had the potential to advance to Shadow Dancers, Magisters, Champions, Archbishops, and so on. As for whether they would actually succeed, only time would tell. However, their strength was unquestionable.

Nie Yan had gathered all these people together under one roof. They shared their knowledge and frequently guided the players below them, who would in turn pass on what they learned to the next generation of newbies. He could already confirm the number of master class players emerging from Asskickers United wouldn’t be limited to only 100.

These 100 players were wearing at least Level 60–65 Dark Gold-grade equipment. Many were even sporting quite a few pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment. The list Nie Yan provided previously had benefited them greatly. Their equipment had already far exceeded the imagination of ordinary players. Any one of them could easily reach the top 10 of guilds like Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. Even Angel Corps didn’t have as many experts as Asskickers United.

No one could estimate what these Asskickers United players could accomplish when they were all brought together.

Unsurprisingly, all the speculations from outsiders regarding the guild were far off the mark.

"Our goal today isn’t to wipe out the enemy. They’re still an important part of influence. Wiping them out doesn’t benefit us in any way. We’re simply going to beat them into submission. Make them cower in our presence. Teach them that we’re not to be provoked. In the future, when they see us, they better scram far out of sight!” Nie Yan said. His speech was well received by the crowd.

Several events similar to this one had happened in the past. When Bladelight and the others were running dungeons, they had gotten into conflicts with other guilds three times. After easily crushing thousands of their players, those guilds immediately became timid, no longer daring to stir up trouble for Asskickers United. In Lightning City, several Asskickers United players had gotten into a conflict with some random guild. Those several players called over a few hundred of their friends and slaughtered 600 of the other side’s players. Afterwards, that guild didn’t dare to make a peep, ultimately leaving the matter alone.

Asskickers United followed a strict policy of "You don’t bother me. I won’t bother you.” After those few instances, except for Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors, other guilds would generally stay out of their way.

Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had antagonized not a small number of players in the Viridian Empire with their belligerent attitudes. Asskickers United on the other hand generally didn’t start conflicts with other guilds despite being just as if not more powerful. In this sense, they were an anomaly. Many guilds had grievances with the former two but didn’t dare to speak out. However, toward the latter they felt a bit of reverence and admiration.

This time, Eternal had crossed Asskickers United’s bottom line by killing Yao Yao. If Nie Yan didn’t respond in kind and seek revenge, what would the players in the Viridian Empire, no, in all of Conviction think of him?

"We’re setting out!” Nie Yan announced after the preparations were complete.

The players in Asskickers United, organized in 20-man teams, marched off. All of them were brimming with killing intent.

...

Meanwhile in Kavodin, Eternal had already descended into chaos. In the guild headquarters, several of the higher ups watched a video of Asskickers United’s players teleporting over.

"Skyfire Wing, you’ve really screwed the pooch this time. Tell me, how are we going to settle this matter?” cursed the guild leader of Eternal, Skyfire Wild Dragon. They stood absolutely no chance against Asskickers United.

"How was I supposed to know that girl was Nirvana Flame’s girlfriend?” Skyfire Wing gloomily said.

"Boss, shouting at Skyfire Wing won’t do us any good. Let’s come up with a solution first,” a Shadow Priest called Skyfire Apostle mediated.

"How large is their force?” Skyfire Wild Dragon asked.

"3,000.”

"Only 3,000? What is Nirvana Flame planning?” Skyfire Wild Dragon asked. Did Asskickers United think they could take down Eternal with just 3,000 players? However, he understood that regardless of how many people Asskickers United sent out, there was no winning this war. The difference in strength was too great. Even if they repelled these 3,000 players, there was still a tide of other players ready to swallow them up whole.

"How about we contact Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors? They don’t seem to be on good terms with Asskickers United. The enemy of our enemy is our friend,” Skyfire Apostle suggested.

"I don’t think Alliance of Mages or Divine Protectors will be willing to stick out their necks for us. We’ll still have to rely on ourselves in the end.” Skyfire Wild Dragon naturally didn’t naively believe that Alliance of Mages or Divine Protectors would help them deal with Asskickers United. After a while, he gnashed his teeth and said, "I refuse to believe their 3,000 players can rock our ship that much! We’ll deal with them first, then initiate negotiations for a ceasefire. If worse comes to worse, we’ll have to beg Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors for help."

Chapter 500 - Smoke Screen

The conflict between Asskickers United and Eternal attracted the attention of many players. The forums immediately became heated with discussion regarding this topic.

This was the first time Asskickers United wasn’t considered the underdog. Their target was Eternal’s three strongholds. If they didn’t take down one or two, this campaign would hold no meaning. Many players were waiting in anticipation to see how this war would play out.

Perhaps this matter could still be resolved peacefully if Eternal simply bowed their heads and apologized. However, if they yielded before any fighting even began, they would lose all face in Kavodin. So, they had no choice but to butt heads with Asskickers United. After the first skirmish, they could then apologize without losing too much face.

Skyfire Wild Dragon couldn’t help but feel Asskickers United was being too arrogant, thinking they could massacre Eternal with only 3,000 players.

Neither Asskickers United nor Eternal had made any posts on the forums. Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were closely monitoring the situation. They dispatched an additional 6,000 players to Kavodin. These players started to roam the streets and make their presence known to everyone, especially Asskickers United, while the higher-ups waited for the inevitable cry for help from Eternal.

An eerie calmness overtook Kavodin. Eternal’s allies stayed silent, not showing their position. If it looked like Asskickers United was going to lose, they would rush to Eternal’s aid in a show of support. If it looked like Eternal was going to lose, they definitely wouldn’t extend a helping hand. This was the nature of their so-called alliance.

Every major power had deployed their forces, looking to see the outcome of this war. If Asskickers United was defeated, Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors definitely wouldn’t let them off easy.

Magic Prison Stronghold.

This was Eternal’s second largest stronghold. It was protected by thick walls that stood over 30 meters tall. Numerous arrow towers were erected behind the walls. Since a battle could break out at any moment, with the 3,000 players from Asskickers United having already arrived in Kavodin, the stronghold was under lockdown. The top of the walls were heavily guarded, with sentries posted up every few meters. They were armed to the teeth and ready to defend the stronghold at a moment’s notice.

Without a siege weapon like a catapult, it would be difficult for Asskickers United to break through these walls.

Asskickers United’s 3,000 players were still in Kavodin, not showing any sign of movement. No one knew what they were up to. As a result, the players defending the Magic Prison Stronghold relaxed their guard if ever so slightly.

Surrounding the Magic Prison Stronghold was a vast wasteland. This place was once an ancient battlefield.

A cold wind blew through the wasteland. The sparse plant life growing here gently swayed back and forth. This was an especially desolate scene.

On top of the stronghold walls, several players were chatting with each other.

"Say, which stronghold do you think Asskickers United is going to attack first?”

"I’m not too sure.”

"Probably our main one, the Keloyi Stronghold. If it falls, we’ll be forced out of Kavodin. Given the strength of Asskickers United, they’ll definitely aim for the heart.”

"Speaking strategically, I don’t think Asskickers United will hit the Keloyi Stronghold.”

"Why is that?”

"If the Keloyi Stronghold falls, our guild will be done for. But how will that benefit Asskickers United? Many of the major powers in Kavodin are eyeing our guild right now. If we’re wiped out, someone else will swoop in and reap all the rewards. Asskickers United would essentially be doing all the hard work for someone else. If I was Nirvana Flame, I wouldn’t do such a stupid thing. That’s why I think Asskickers United will either target the Magic Prison Stronghold or Spirit Garrison Stronghold.”

"I suppose that makes sense. Too bad you’re not Nirvana Flame. How would you know what a guy like that is thinking?”

At this moment, three silhouettes emerged outside the Magic Prison Stronghold. Using some boulders as cover, they approached the walls. No one noticed them.

These three players were the most famous Thieves in Asskickers United, Nirvana Flame, King of the World, and Sun. One Strike Vow was busy carrying out a different mission.

Nie Yan gestured toward King of the World and Sun. The three moved along the perimeter of the walls for about 100 meters. Nie Yan looked up. He waited for a group of patrolling players to pass by.

「We’ll go up from here,」Nie Yan said. Activating his Crawler Ring, he stuck to the wall like a spider and started swiftly climbing upwards. His movements were nimble and quick. His body gradually blended in with the background of the wall.

Sun took out a crossbow. It was similar in size to Nie Yan’s Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow. However, it shot out a grappling hook instead of regular bolts. He pulled the trigger and fired off the grappling hook at the top of the 30-meter-high wall. After making sure it was firmly secured, he quickly scaled the wall.

King of the World took out a pair of queer looking daggers. They had sharp biting teeth at the edge of the blades. He plunged the daggers into the wall, then started making his way up purely by relying on arm strength. His muscles swelled and tensed, brimming with incredible strength.

Nie Yan reached the top of the wall in only 19 seconds. Sun and King of the World weren’t much slower, at 21 and 23 seconds respectively. The three had successfully infiltrated the Magic Prison Stronghold.

They were in a state of invisibility. The players on the wall had no idea the enemy was already in their midst.

Given the awareness of these players, Nie Yan, King of the World, and Sun would practically have to be breathing down their necks to be noticed.

There were many players patrolling the vicinity. Nie Yan arrived at the other side of the wall unnoticed, then leaped down into the stronghold. A 30-meter drop was nothing for a high level Thief. They wouldn’t even take any fall damage.

Nie Yan gently landed on the ground, then ducked into a corner.

「What’s your statuses. Are you guys in the stronghold?」Nie Yan asked.

「I’m in,」King of the World replied.

「Me too,」Sun added.

「Alright, let’s move on our own!」Nie Yan smiled. This sort of operation was child’s play for the likes of them.

The three Thieves set off in different directions, disappearing into the streets.

After scouting the place, Nie Yan, King of the World, and Sun discovered there were roughly 5,000 players defending the Magic Prison Stronghold. Only a fifth of these players were strong enough to last more than a few moves against them.

There was a transfer point located at the center of the Magic Prison Stronghold. If Eternal learned Nie Yan was attacking this stronghold, they could send over 10,000 players within 10 minutes.

This was the advantage of a transfer point.

It was for this reason that Eternal didn’t place more than 5,000 players to defend the Magic Prison Stronghold. They believed that even if they received a surprise attack, holding out for 10 minutes would be no issue.

Little did Eternal know that Nie Yan, King of the World, and Sun had already snuck into the Magic Prison Stronghold, bypassing all the defenses and entering like it was their own home.

Since the Magic Prison Stronghold was in a state of lockdown, all the ordinary players had departed. This stronghold appeared completely barren. Save for a few Eternal players patrolling the streets every now and then, there was no one else.

The stronghold was filled with buildings and numerous winding streets, yet there was scarcely any sign of life. Most of the Eternal players were guarding the walls. The remaining few were stationed in the arrow towers and other defensive buildings. A large stronghold that could easily accommodate 500,000–600,000 only had 5,000 people occupying it. One could imagine how desolate this seemed.

Nie Yan arrived in a fairly secluded spot in the stronghold. Looking around, the buildings here were fairly close to each other. At the center was a large square with several shops in the vicinity. However, all of them were closed. The players from Eternal likely wouldn’t visit such a remote corner. This place was only 500 meters away from the stronghold’s transfer point. If he moved at top speed, he could arrive there in less than a minute.

「Alright, let’s get started,」Nie Yan ordered through the guild chat after making sure the preparations were complete.

At this moment, the Asskickers United players strolling around Kavodin started making their move.

Asskickers United had many of the major powers puzzled. They had gathered in Kavodin, yet they hadn’t made a move, as if they were waiting for something. In reality, under the cover of their comrades, one Arcane Mage after another slipped out of sight. They entered the transfer point and teleported to Morondo Town, which was only about a kilometer away from the Magic Prison Stronghold. Since they were fairly low in number, roughly 300 people in total, and they all moved separately, they didn’t attract too much of Eternal’s attention. These Arcane Mages posed absolutely no threat.

Although Eternal was aware of these Arcane Mages slipping away, they believed that as long as the majority of Asskickers United’s forces remained in Kavodin, nothing would happen.

After arriving at Morondo Town, the Arcane Mages entered an NPC inn and rented a few rooms. There were around 20 people in each room.

Some people were tailing these Arcane Mages from behind. They believed the Arcane Mages were going to mount a sneak attack on one of Eternal’s strongholds. However, to their surprise, none of these Arcane Mages left Morondo Town, instead renting a few rooms in an inn. Just what was going on? What were these Arcane Mages planning?

No one could understand what Nirvana Flame was plotting!

They were all left baffled, their eyes covered in a screen of smoke.

Inside one of the rooms in the inn, 20 Arcane Mages were standing together. One of them was holding a Group Teleport Scroll and was currently muttering an incantation. After a flash of blinding light, the 20 Arcane Mages disappeared, leaving the room empty.

Chapter 501 - Fall of a Stronghold

Nie Yan stood in a vacant space in the Magic Prison Stronghold. 20 silhouettes emerged in front of him. They were the Arcane Mages. They had used him as a marker to teleport over.

The Arcane Mages immediately went up to greet Nie Yan.

"Boss, we’re here!”

"Boss!”

Their faces were brimming with excitement. Nie Yan had carried out this operation in utmost secrecy. Only the core members like Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the others knew of his plan. Many of these Arcane Mages were still in the dark before teleporting over. Only now did they understand what was going on.

So this was Nie Yan’s plan!

Nie Yan’s plan was to have him, Sun, and King of the World infiltrate the Magic Prison Stronghold first, so the Arcane Mages could teleport over with Group Teleport Scrolls. Afterwards, the Arcane Mages could open a Transfer Gate, bringing the rest of the people from Kavodin over. Like this, the 3,000 players from Asskickers United could sneak in without being detected.

The Magic Prison Stronghold would be destroyed from the inside out!

At this moment, the Asskickers United players in Kavodin made their move. They began entering the various NPC inns around the city. After disappearing inside, they showed no sign of coming back out again.

The rooms in an inn were completely safe from prying eyes. Even the cheapest inns charged at least 1 gold. Without receiving the room owner’s explicit permission, others weren’t allowed inside. So, no matter how much Eternal snooped, they couldn’t tell what the players of Asskickers United were doing inside the rooms. As long as nothing was leaked outside, this plan was guaranteed to succeed.

From the perspective of Eternal, it appeared as if the players from Asskickers United had vanished into thin air.

Word of Asskickers United’s disappearance soon reached the the higher ups of Eternal.

"Who can tell me what Asskickers United is scheming?” Skyfire Wild Dragon asked everyone in the conference hall.

His question was met with complete silence. How were they supposed to know where the players from Asskickers United disappeared off to? Their movements so far were too bizarre. Any guess was as good as any other.

As one of the brains of Eternal, Skyfire Apostle sank deep into thought. He thought he had come up with something, but his mind was a hazy mess.

Eternal was only a middle ranked guild. They didn’t have the finances to develop their own information network, let alone bribe the top ranked players of Asskickers United. That was why they still hadn’t obtained any information.

It was actually Alliance of Mages that received information first.

"Boss, we received word from one of our informants in Asskickers United. Their 3,000 players are already inside the Magic Prison Stronghold,” an Arcane Mage reported to the guild leader of Alliance of Mages, Crazy Magic.

"What? That quickly? How did they pull it off?” Crazy Magic asked in disbelief, clear shock on his face.

One could imagine just how difficult it would be for 3,000 players to infiltrate a heavily guarded stronghold without attracting any attention!

"They had Nirvana Flame and two other Thieves sneak into the Magic Prison Stronghold before having their Arcane Mages teleport over to them with Group Teleport Scrolls. After that, the Arcane Mages opened up a Transfer Gate to bring the rest of the people over. They all made it inside,” the Arcane Mage explained. This was something their informant had witnessed first hand.

The cup Crazy Magic held in his hand trembled. Nirvana Flame was truly crafty He could even come up with a method like this. Several conditions needed to be fulfilled to achieve this kind of result. The first was a top tier Thief that could infiltrate an enemy’s stronghold without being discovered. The second was several Group Teleport Scrolls. These scrolls were extremely rare and hard to come by. They were a drop in a Level 50 Specialist dungeon, but clearing it was incredibly difficult. It seemed like only Asskickers United had been successful so far.

Nirvana Flame was quite merciless, employing this sort of method. This kind of sneak attack was almost impossible to defend against. It seemed like the Magic Prison Stronghold was destined to fall.

"Why did you get this information only now?” Crazy Magic frowned. He was dissatisfied with their intelligence network. If they had learned about this sooner, he could’ve warned Eternal in advance and made them owe him a favour.

"Nirvana Flame was too thorough with his preparations. Before the operation was carried out, only the dozen or so players closest to him knew of the entire plan. Most of their players only learned about it after the fact. I reported to you as soon as we got the information,” the Arcane Mage explained nervously. If Crazy Magic was in a bad mood, he was done for.

"Forget it.” Crazy Magic waved his hand. Nirvana Flame probably had safeguards in place to keep sensitive information from leaking out.

"Should we notify Eternal?” the Arcane Mage asked.

"Notify Eternal? What good would that do? Nirvana Flame and his 3,000 players are already inside the Magic Prison Stronghold. So long as the transfer point is bombarded with AoE magic, who would dare to teleport over? Since Nirvana Flame has planned this far ahead, he probably knows there are spies within the 3,000 players too. He won’t give Eternal any time to react. By the time we notify them, the Magic Prison Stronghold will have already fallen. Not to mention the 20 minutes plus it would take for Eternal to send over reinforcements. Those small fries holding the Magic Prison Stronghold stand no chance against Asskickers United’s elites. It’s like a fox sneaking into the henhouse!” Crazy Magic exclaimed. He could easily imagine how today would play out. Asskickers United had no use for the Magic Prison Stronghold. Rather than handing it back to Eternal, they would be better off destroying it, leaving it in ruin.

...

Over on the side of Eternal, the higher ups gathered in the conference hall were sweating bullets trying to guess the enemy’s next move. Given Asskickers United’s style, their first attack would be ruthless and decisive.

However, Asskickers United still hadn’t shown any sign of movement as of yet.

"Do you think they’re already outside one of our strongholds?” Skyfire Wing asked. He was just making wild guesses at this point.

Skyfire Wing’s words shook the hearts of everyone in the conference hall.

"Not good! Hurry and check if any other players snuck into our strongholds!!” Skyfire Apostle shot up from his seat.

"Are you saying…” Skyfire Wild Dragon said. At this moment, his face paled as he received word from the players below him.

Asskickers United were sighted inside of the Magic Prison Stronghold!

Recalling how the Asskickers United players in Kavodin had suddenly disappeared, even an idiot could put two and two together!

The 3,000 players from Asskickers United were already inside the Magic Prison Stronghold!

At this moment, Asskickers United had already blown the war horn. The 3,000 players spread out to every strategic location within the Magic Prison Stronghold. The Thieves snuck into the arrow towers, ambushing the players inside. The stronghold was in a state of utter and complete chaos. None of the Eternal players could put up any resistance. The rest of the Asskickers United players didn’t lag behind either, closely following behind the Thieves and flooding into the arrow towers. Their concentrated firepower completely suppressed the players of Eternal.

In a short time, a bloodbath took place in the Magic Prison Stronghold.

Tang Yao led 20 Mages in occupying the stronghold’s transfer point.

The transfer point was simple and crude. It was roughly three by three meters. With a flash of light, the first batch of players from Eternal emerged. There were roughly 30 of them.

As soon as they stepped foot out of the transfer point, they were greeted by the mocking smiles of the 20 Mages from Asskickers United.

"You’ve kept us waiting long enough!” Tang Yao laughed.

Just as these Eternal players wanted to do something, they sensed the magic fluctuate in the air above them. Flames poured down from the sky, ruthlessly engulfing them in a raging blaze. They let out shrill screams as they were transformed into rays of light.

With 20 Mages taking turns attacking the transfer point with AoE magic, the Eternal players were helpless. As soon as they teleported over, they were dead. After 200 players died, no one came over anymore. They understood it didn’t matter how many people came, they would only serve as food for Tang Yao and the others.

With the transfer point locked down, the Magic Prison Stronghold was isolated.

Asskickers United was outnumbered by Eternal three to five. However, in the face of players dozens of times stronger than them, Eternal could only flee like rats. Asskickers United left no place unturned as they swept through the entire stronghold.

Nie Yan, Sun, and King of the World took the lead, charging from arrow tower to arrow tower and slaughtering all enemy players in their path.

Nie Yan didn’t know how many players the black flames of Zennarde’s Sword had already engulfed. He only knew no one could withstand its might. No one could survive his blade. Cloth and leather armoured targets were killed in an instant. Though some plate armoured Warriors could survive more than one hit, they were still far slower and lower level than him. Anyone he set his sights on had no hope of escaping.

The Magic Prison Stronghold became a slaughterhouse. After the arrow towers were taken over by the Thieves of Asskickers United, the crossbows inside were turned on the players of Eternal.

Chapter 502 - Kill One of My Own? I’ll Destroy Your Stronghold!

Nie Yan, Bladelight, Sun, and the others swept away everything in their path. They led the vanguard, closely followed by others from Asskickers United. Taking down a single arrow tower took a squad less than five minutes.

Asskickers United had come prepared. Before the players from Eternal even had a chance to do anything, they were either ambushed and killed by Thieves or blasted to smithereens by Mages.

Before long, all the arrow towers had fallen.

Most of the Eternal players were still gathered on the walls. They had no idea what was going on inside the stronghold. As the arrow towers fell to the forces of Asskickers United, their crossbows were turned on them.

"What the hell is going on? Why are our own arrow towers attacking us?”

"It’s Nirvana Flame!”

"Asskickers United is already inside the stronghold!”

Mass panic erupted on the walls. The players were running around like a bunch of headless chickens. With the arrow towers firing at them, they turned into target practice dummies.

The walls only had one entrance going down. It could fit 10 people at a time. However, waiting at the bottom were the players of Asskickers United.

The Eternal players on the walls were trapped.

At this moment, the 1,000 players inside the Magic Prison Stronghold had already been wiped out. Only the 4,000 players guarding the walls remained standing. Normally, without a catapult and with the support of the arrow towers in the rear, this force could easily hold off an opposing force one two three times their size.

However, no one expected Nie Yan to employ such an odd method to bring his forces inside the Magic Prison Stronghold. It was an ambush from the inside out! All of Eternal’s defenses became moot. Even their arrow towers became tools for Asskickers United to slaughter them with.

「Whoosh!」A streak of light shot out of the arrow tower and skewered four players to the wall.

"Fuck! Take back the arrow towers!”

"We can’t! We’re trapped on the walls!”

Another wave of bolts came falling down from the sky. The Eternal players were like wheat ready to be reaped, collapsing in droves.

Nie Yan, Sun, and the others watched over the battle from an arrow tower. After the hail of bolts, the walls which were originally filled with players became littered with piles of the dead. It looked like a rice paddy field with all the bolt shafts sticking out of the corpses.

Sun and the others were rendered speechless. This was the most one sided slaughterfest they had ever witnessed.

After three waves of bolts, of the original 4,000 players on the walls, only 1,000 survived. Another three waves later, and only a few stragglers remained standing.

The forces of Asskickers United charged the walls, sweeping through like a raging tide and killing off any and all remaining survivors.

Asskickers United took over the stronghold in just over 10 minutes. They faced little to no resistance at all.

"What do we do with this stronghold?” Bladelight asked. Asskickers United was based in Calore. Their influence in Kavodin was too weak. Occupying this stronghold long term simply wasn’t feasible. However, if they just left like this, it would fall back into Eternal’s hands.

"Since we have no use for it, let’s raze it,” Nie Yan said. For killing Xie Yao, he wasn’t satisfied with merely slaughtering the forces in one of Eternal’s strongholds. This matter wasn’t settled yet.

After receiving Nie Yan’s orders, Asskickers United’s forces started tearing down everything. A series of explosions rang out as buried jars of black gunpowder were set off everywhere, flattening countless buildings. The whole Magic Prison Stronghold groaned loudly before collapsing into a pile of ruins.

The players from Asskickers United were still fired up. This was their most dominating performance to date. With only 109 casualties, they had killed more than 5,000 players and captured a stronghold. This battle was worthy of being recorded down in history.

"Boss, let’s slaughter Eternal’s main stronghold!”

"Wipe out Eternal!”

Nie Yan didn’t let the victory get to his head. He felt this was enough retribution for Xie Yao’s death. There was no need to completely wipe them out. Eternal’s collapse benefited Asskickers United in no way. They had lost a great deal of prestige after this crushing defeat. Maintaining their status as the top dog in Kavodin was likely no longer possible. This was a fitting punishment.

Eternal was faced with two options, beg for forgiveness or ally with Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. By now, after going through this ordeal, the higher ups of Eternal had likely realized that alliances were unreliable. Choosing the second option would only further incite the wrath of Asskickers United, then there was nothing that could save them. If they had even a tiny bit of brain, the choice was easy to make.

"We’re leaving!” Nie Yan said. He planned to see Eternal’s response first.

The players from Asskickers United channeled their Return Scrolls and teleported back to Kavodin.

People were baffled when the forces of Asskickers United suddenly reemerged in Kavodin. Little did they know that the Magic Prison Stronghold had already been transformed into a heap of rubble.

The moment Skyfire Wild Dragon, Skyfire Wing, and the others, leading a force of more than 10,000 strong, teleported over to a nearby town and were about to set off, they received word that the Magic Prison Stronghold had fallen. They stood rooted to the ground, utterly dazed. None of them expected Asskickers United to be so quick. Didn’t this mean that the 5,000 players guarding the stronghold couldn’t even last 20 minutes?

Eternal’s forces arrived outside the Magic Prison Stronghold. The once flourishing bastion was now nothing more than broken rock and debris. The walls were collapsed and damaged beyond repair.

The Magic Prison Stronghold was no more.

None of them dared to accept the reality before their eyes. Only 20 minutes ago, this was still an intact stronghold.

Asskickerss United was like a natural disaster, sweeping through and destroying this place in a short 10 minutes.

"Asskickers United, ruthless…” Skyfire Wild Dragon took a deep breath. Right now his mind wasn’t filled with anger or thoughts of revenge but rather fear and apprehension. Had Asskickers United done things the normal way, bringing a force of 20,000 and taking two to three days to siege the Magic Prison Stronghold, he wouldn’t hesitate to duke it out. However, Asskickers United, with only 3,000 players, had ended the battle in a short 10 minutes. Nie Yan gave them no time to react whatsoever. One could easily imagine the outcome if Asskickers United had targeted the Keloyi Stronghold or Spirit Garrison Stronghold instead. Skyfire Wild Dragon broke out in a cold sweat.

"Asskickers United, those fucking bastards…! Let’s get revenge!” Skyfire Wing’s anger erupted after seeing the Magic Prison Stronghold in a state of ruin.

"Revenge? Do you want us to lose our remaining strongholds too? Do you know why Asskickers United targeted the Magic Prison Stronghold instead of the Keloyi Stronghold?” Skyfire Wild Dragon glared at Skyfire Wing.

"W-why…?”

"This is Nirvana Flame’s way of warning us. If the Keloyi Stronghold were destroyed, our guild would no longer have a place in Kavodin. Asskickers United has the strength to do this, yet they only targeted one of our less important strongholds. If we still refuse to back down now and continue escalating this war, we won’t be so lucky next time. Do you think we stand a chance against them?”

"Then what do we do?”

"What else can we do? We beg them for forgiveness. Nirvana Flame is waiting for us,” Skyfire Wild Dragon said with a helpless expression. He really didn’t want things to come down to this, but he was left with no other choice.

Before long, word of the Magic Prison Stronghold falling became public. Kavodin was in an uproar.

The players in Kavodin were wondering why Asskickers United still hadn’t fought with Eternal. Could it be that they were afraid? However, suddenly news came out that the Magic Prison Stronghold had already fallen, and in the past half-hour no less!

The entire course of events was shared online. The battle only lasted 13 minutes in total. Razing a stronghold to the ground in this short amount of time was unheard of. Infiltration, group teleportation, and a transfer gate, these three things were ingeniously combined together. This was definitely one for the history books! Of course, the strength of those 3,000 players from Asskickers United was astonishing as well.

The forums exploded with discussion. It turned out wars in Conviction could actually be fought like this!

Nie Yan made a post on the forums. It was titled, "Kill One of My Own? I’ll Destroy Your Stronghold!” Below was a message to Eternal. If they didn’t apologize for killing Xie Yao, Asskickers United would destroy the Keloyi Stronghold next.

This post was plastered right at the top of the forums. Everyone was waiting to see how Eternal would respond.

Would Eternal fight to the bitter end or lower their heads and apologize?

Eternal would surely lose if they continued to fight. However, they would lose a great deal of face if they apologized. This was a lose-lose situation.

At this time, Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors started trying to pull Eternal to their side, talking about a mutual defense pact, jointly resisting Asskickers United, and so on. However, they were tactfully refused. Eternal posted a sincere apology to Asskickers United on the forums.

Skyfire Wild Dragon and the others were cowed by Nie Yan’s post. If they really continued, when faced with the full might of Asskickers United, Eternal would likely be uprooted from its foundation.

After receiving Eternal’s formal apology, the anger of the players from Asskickers United was mollified. Since the other side had apologized and lost a stronghold, things could be called even.

Chapter 503 - Howling Wind

"Asskickers United destroyed Eternal’s stronghold in just 13 minutes! They’re so fierce!”

"I heard after Asskickers United trampled over the Magic Prison Stronghold, Tang Yao brought his Netherthunder Eagle to the Keloyi Stronghold and perched on top of their tallest tower for more than 10 minutes. He swooped down five times and killed over 200 Eternal players! No one could even reach him! How domineering!”

"No wonder Eternal surrendered. I’d find it strange if they didn’t. Imagine if Asskickers United really did go all out. The Keloyi Stronghold would collapse for sure!”

After Eternal’s public apology on the forums, Asskickers United returned triumphantly back to Calore. All the guilds in the Viridian Empire were at a loss for words. None of them expected the war to end this way.

Only a few hours had passed and Eternal had already surrendered.

Though Eternal was far weaker than Asskickers United, many outsiders believed they could still hold their own for at least a few days. However, the unbridled tyrant of Kavodin became nothing more than a paper tiger, collapsing after a single blow. Asskickers United’s might was world-shaking.

An argument could be made that Asskickers United struck out with a low blow, but the fact remained that Eternal was still defeated.

Asskickers United’s victory over Eternal served as a great deterrence to all other guilds.

The Viridian Empire currently had a total of five top guilds, Asskickers United, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, God Executioner Sword, and Penumbra Empire. Below them were 50–60 second-rate guilds. They were the self-appointed rulers of their own cities. Top guilds such as Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors generally had at least 10 strongholds to their name. For second-rate guilds like Eternal, having three or four strongholds was considered pretty good.

This war with Eternal served as killing the chicken to warn the monkey. The second-rate guilds came to a common consensus. Under no circumstance was Asskickers United to be provoked! If they bumped into them in the future, they would opt for the long way around!

Even though Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were powerful, a powerful dragon couldn’t repress a local snake. These second-rate guilds weren’t the least bit afraid of them. However, Asskickers United made them think twice. They had completely crushed Eternal’s spirit within the short span of 13 minutes. This kind of strength was to be both admired and feared.

Back at the Cripps Stronghold, headquarters of Asskickers United, everyone gathered together in celebration. Even they didn’t expect for the war to end so quickly.

Nirvana Flame, this was an existence who led them valiantly and created legend after legend.

"I really didn’t expect your plan to work out so well. If we fought them head-on, I reckon our casualties would be 10–20 times higher,” Bladelight heartily laughed. He really admired Nie Yan. His head was full of bizarre ideas, but they always seemed to work out magnificently.

"Too bad it’ll only work once,” Nie Yan chuckled.

"Once is already enough. Apart from our sworn enemies, all other guilds will have to think long and hard before trying to start something with us. I heard some guilds even ordered their players not to provoke our players under any circumstance!”

"So, what do you think of the way I used the Netherthunder Eagle? Not too bad, right?” Tang Yao butted in.

Nie Yan opened up a video of Tang Yao’s display in the Keloyi Stronghold. Videos of this incident had already went viral online. The Netherthunder Eagle circled around high in the sky. With a beat of its mighty wings, it dived down like a black meteor.

The Eternal players started frantically shouting and screaming, entering a state of mass panic.

Tang Yao had the Netherthunder Eagle perch at the top of the Keloyi Stronghold’s central tower. The arrow towers erected near the perimeter walls had no way of reaching him. On top of this, the players from Eternal had no experience in dealing with flying mounts. They were completely helpless.

The Netherthunder Eagle looked down at the Eternal players below. Its sharp gaze flashed with a chilling light.

Tang Yao in his dark robes stood loftily atop the Netherthunder Eagle’s back. His staff sparkled brilliantly under the sunlight. He gave off an oppressive and domineering vibe.

"It’s Asskickers United’s flying mount!”

"It’s not Nirvana Flame. It’s Young Sparrow Hawk!”

Nirvana Flame or Young Sparrow Hawk, both were godly existences in the hearts of ordinary players. After maintaining the top position on the level leaderboards for so long, Tang Yao was quite famous.

At this moment, Tang Yao had the Netherthunder Eagle swoop down from the central tower. A large shadow loomed over the ground as its sharp claws instantly eviscerated six players. A shower of spells bombarded its body, but it didn’t seem affected at all. Its health only fell by a small sliver. Due to him being a relatively small target compared to his flying mount, Tang Yao himself remained mostly unharmed. However, he was like a turret as he fired off spell after spell, killing dozens of players in a short time.

After the first round of attacks concluded, Tang Yao had the Netherthunder Eagle return to its perch atop the central tower. He then fed it a slab of meat to boost its health recovery. Before long, it was back to full health and swooped down again.

After repeating this several times more, the morale of the Eternal players hit rock bottom.

All their retaliation efforts were futile.

Tang Yao only left after he had slaughtered to his heart’s content. The players in the Keloyi Stronghold could only helplessly gaze at him as he flew off on his Netherthunder Eagle.

The might displayed by the Netherthunder Eagle stunned everyone.

This was a flying mount!

From this day forth, flying mounts would become the dreams of all players. They wanted to be just like Tang Yao, sweeping through any obstacle barring his path on his Netherthunder Eagle. This was truly awe-inspiring!

The Netherthunder Eagle left the players of Asskickers United shocked and speechless, too.

"When can we get our own Netherthunder Eagles?” Summer Bug blurted out.

"Everyone has to keep an eye out when doing quests. The more flying mounts we have, the better. When we have enough of them, we can slaughter our way to Angel Corps!” Bladelight exclaimed in high spirits.

"Yeah! Sooner or later, we’ll pay those bastards back!”

After the initial wave of excitement washed over, the players from Asskickers United regained their calm. The number of enemies they had defeated was too high. Eternal was just another one added to the list. However, they couldn’t slack off. Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps, those were their real enemies. The war with Eternal was just a show of might. However, it proved effective in deterring other guilds. From now on, it would be much less troublesome for them to run dungeons in other cities.

"Speaking of which, has there been any movement from our old rivals?” Nie Yan asked.

"Not really. But a player over in the Satreen Empire has been garnering quite a bit of fame lately. He’s a Level 75 Elven Mage, three levels higher than Soaring Angel. We’ve got a rising star on our hands,” Guo Huai said. Right now the Satreen Empire already had three players over Level 70 on their level leaderboards. This was quite shocking. Over in the Viridian Empire, perhaps only Nie Yan surpassed them.

"A Level 75 elven Mage?” Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise. He was an anomaly. His levelling speed was so quick only thanks to the experiences from his past life. At this stage of the game, a player that could reach level 75 was on another plane of existence. "What’s his name?”

"Howling Wind. He’s an Elementalist who specializes in ice magic with lightning magic as a secondary. He’s pretty strong. Including Angel Corps, quite a few guilds are looking to recruit him. However, they’re having a hard time finding him. He’s probably off levelling in some high level map,” Guo Huai said. This was the information he had personally collected. His intelligence network had already expanded to the Satreen Empire. He had previously spent a large sum of money to bribe several members in the Knight Corp Unit of Angel Corps.

Nie Yan’s mind trembled. In the previous timeline, Howling Wind was a legendary player in the Satreen Empire. He was someone who even eclipsed Soaring Angel for a time. As the first dual ice-lightning Elementalist, both his levelling speed and PvP ability were unmatched. He led to many Mages specializing in ice and lightning magic.

Back then, many guilds tried to recruit Howling Wind but were all turned down by him. He never started his own guild either. Though he did become an Elder in the Magic Association later on and played an important role in the Satreen Empire. Angel Corps was also one of the guilds that tried to woo him over, only to be met with repeated failed attempts. Once Angel Corps secured their dominance in the whole of the Satreen Empire, with a huge army of elites and more than 100 master class players, he became an existence they could no longer tolerate. After bribing one of his friends to reveal his location, they dispatched a group of master-class players to ambush and kill him.

During the pursuit, Howling Wind was surrounded and attacked by more than 10 master class players. Only after killing three of them did he die. Being outnumbered by more than 10 to 1 and still having the ability to kill three master class players, this sort of skill belonged in the realm of gods. After killing more than 1,000 Angel Corps players and dying six times, only then did he realize he had been betrayed by one of his close friends. Disheartened, he vanished from Conviction, never to show his face again.

Nie Yan felt compelled to meet this person.

"Do you think you can track his location?” Nie Yan asked.

"That’s going to be difficult. He almost never shows himself in public. You want to look for him?” Guo Huai replied. Why was Nie Yan interested in Howling Wind?

"I plan to meet him when I visit the Satreen Empire one day,” Nie Yan said. Howling Wind was sworn enemies with Angel Corps. Of course he wanted to get in touch. It was rumoured this fellow was quite eccentric. He was curious to what extent.

"Alright, I’ll have some people keep track of him.” Guo Huai nodded.

Chapter 504 - Magic Runestones

It didn’t matter how powerful a player was, opposing a guild alone was impossible. Howling Wind was a prime example of this.

Nie Yan established Asskickers United precisely so he didn’t have to fight alone.

Nie Yan had and would continue to sacrifice blood, sweat, and tears to put Asskickers United on the right track. It was his backing for opposing the Century Financial Group. At least in this life he was no longer fighting a one-man war.

Even if a fellow like Howling Wind couldn’t be recruited, he could still become a powerful ally against Angel Corps. This was a genius among geniuses, an absolute peak talent. Of the dazzling figures that had appeared in the history of Conviction, he ranked among the top five.

By collecting information on Howling Wind now, he would be better prepared for when they met in the future.

After returning to Calore, Nie Yan dealt with some guild matters while stocking up on consumables for his next power levelling session. He also casually browsed the Union of Assassins. The request he put up for Magic Crystals and Radiant Crystals was more than half-complete. He currently had 16 Magic Crystals and 20 Radiant Crystals.

Nie Yan needed in total 20 Magic Crystals, 30 Radiant Crystals, 2 Life Crystals, and 1 Power Crystal to hatch the Darkwing Dragon.

The only thing Nie Yan had trouble finding right now were the Life Crystals. He could only keep looking.

With more than 50,000 professional players in its ranks, the Union of Assassins was growing ever larger. It was currently generating approximately 60,000 gold a day for Nie Yan. This formidable money-making machine was already in full swing.

The clientele base had grown considerably as well. There were already seven Marquises, whose lavish habits even left Nie Yan speechless, each having spent in the excess of 50,000 gold.

Be it a power levelling session or help clearing a high level dungeon, the people who requested these services were definitely extremely wealthy in real life.

Nie Yan suddenly had a bright idea. He should find some time to set up a gathering for Father Nie to expand his network of contacts. This would be extremely beneficial for World Bloc.

Glancing at the Union of Assassin’s leaderboards, Nie Yan recognized many familiar names. Those in the top 30 in particular were all quite famous in the previous timeline. As professional players, they generally didn’t involve themselves with the behind-the-scenes struggles of financial groups, or affiliate themselves with any particular guild. However, if something came up, one could always request their services on the mission boards. As long as the reward was attractive enough, they would accept. In this way, Asskickers United could make use of their strength.

Nie Yan brought a huge heap of Death Wave Scrolls and Magic Bombs with him to go power levelling in the wilderness. After grinding Level 90 Spiny Lizards non-stop for two days straight, he finally reached Level 80. He returned to Calore and deposited the equipment he collected into the guild treasury. Afterwards, he met up with Tang Yao for a second round of treasure hunting. His harvest this time around, though fruitful, couldn’t compare to last time.

After sorting through all the loot, Nie Yan went to pick up the 3,000 javelins he previously requested to be enchanted. Then with his Javelin Launcher in hand, he prepared to set off.

As Nie Yan headed for the transfer area, a red wall on the side of the street caught his eye. He halted his footsteps. This was the famous Wall of Echoes. Anything a player said to the wall would be bounced back at them.

An NPC called Clemmy the Wise stood beside the Wall of Echoes. After listing five old tales, he would ask the player to guess the Legendary Items associated with each of them. As long as you got three out of the five correct, you would trigger a quest to collect Magic Runestones.

Magic Runestones were fairly common items that could be found in most large maps. Similar to gems, they were socketable. However, they only worked for weapons. There were seven types of Magic Runestones: fire, ice, lightning, water, earth, light, and darkness. Each provided damage bonuses corresponding to their respective element.

After collecting a full set of Magic Runestones, one of every element, you could return to Clemmy for an experience reward as well as a random chance at obtaining a piece of equipment. The amount of experience rewarded was enough to fill up a Level 80 player’s experience bar by about one percent.

In the previous timeline, prior to this quest being triggered, the price of Magic Runestones was dirt cheap. When the public got wind of the quest, their price skyrocketed and the supply evaporated.

Back then, any time Nie Yan found Magic Runestones, he would sell them off in the trade hall. Many players were buying them since collecting a full set netted a considerable amount of experience. This kind of activity was exclusive to the wealthy, and something he at that time had no way of participating in. Even so, for poor players like him, the release of this quest was a gold mine.

At present, the quest was already out there. However, players still hadn’t figured out the answers to Clemmy’s riddle. So, for the time being, no one was bothering to hoard Magic Runestones.

In his past life, Nie Yan was too poor to join in on the fun. However, in this life, he wouldn’t let the opportunity be snatched away by someone else. Even if he burned through some money, so what?

Nie Yan walked up to Clemmy. He was a short old man in red robes. With squinted eyes and his fingers supporting his chin, he seemed to be deep in thought.

Nie Yan initiated a conversation with Clemmy. He only had one opportunity to solve the riddle. If he failed to answer the questions correctly, he wouldn’t get another chance.

"The Desolate Purgatory, Bloody Knight, Scorching Trial, Pull of Fate, and Eternal Law. Youngster, do you know what each of these represent?” Clemmy looked up and gazed at Nie Yan with narrowed eyes.

This was a famous riddle in the previous timeline. Two to three weeks from now, a player would figure out Eternal Law referred to the Book of Order. Some time after that, more players would correctly guess the other answers. Those who solved the riddle, rather than revealing it to the public, would start to frantically hoard Magic Runestones. However, no secret in the world could be kept forever. Around three months later, the answers to the riddle became public knowledge, and Magic Runestones started becoming expensive beyond belief. The two rarer types especially, Fire and Light Runestones, would sell in the excess of 1,000 gold.

Right now the price of Magic Runestones was around 50–60 gold.

"Desolate Purgatory refers to the Book of Chaos. The Bloody Knight refers to the Sword of Modiago. The Scorching Trial refers to Euvec’s Staff of the Sun. The Pull of Fate refers to Pandora’s Box. Lastly, Eternal Law refers to the Book of Order.” Nie Yan smiled. He had long since known the answers to this riddle. What he found strange was that of the five items mentioned, he had come into contact with two of them. Pandora’s Box was in his possession. As for the Book of Order, he had in his possession Volume I: Glimpse of Darkness. Perhaps he shared some sort of connection with this quest.

"Nirvana Flame, you are the first person to correctly guess all five items. I’m in need of Magic Runestones. Could I trouble you to help me find some?”

"No problem. I would be happy to be of service.” Nie Yan nodded.

A Wiseman’s Search for Runestones (Repeatable): Help Clemmy find a full set of Magic Runestones.

"Your journey is only just beginning. Go seek out your destiny. Nirvana Flame, you are a person with great knowledge,” Clemmy smiled.

Nie Yan checked the quest description. Sure enough, this was the right one. It was exactly the same as in the previous timeline. He hoped for a brief moment he would receive an additional reward for correctly guessing all five answers. However, Clemmy’s ordinary response left him disappointed. That said, he had gotten what he came here for. He contacted Guo Huai and prepared to acquire Magic Runestones on a large scale.

Right now, Magic Runestones were priced at around 50–60 gold, with the higher quality ones going for upwards of 100 gold. However, not many people had a use for them. They simply weren’t as cost effective as gems. There was a fairly ample supply of them in the market. So, Nie Yan planned to employ a little trick. He would have Guo Huai dispatch people to the street markets and advertise they were selling Magic Runestones in bulk, 30 gold each with a minimum purchase of 20. If someone actually showed interest in buying, they would simply reply they had just sold out.

Magic Runestones generally weren’t bought and sold in large quantities. So, this kind of price drop was impossible to miss.

Guo Huai would have his subordinates advertise at 30 gold on the first day, 25 gold on the second day, and 20 gold on the third day, giving off the impression that the Magic Runestone market was on the verge of crashing. This would spur players to panic sell their stockpiles. All the while Asskickers United would be there in the background to reap the benefits. Not only would this method save them quite a bit of gold, but it would also allow them to acquire more Magic Runestones. This was killing two birds with one stone!

"This method isn’t bad. We can try it with other items too, like gems,” Guo Huai said. He would first have the people under him create an artificial market crash and then buy up everything for dirt cheap. Finally, when supply could no longer meet demand and the prices started spiking again, he would offload everything. Like this, they stood to make a hefty profit.

"Oh, it’ll definitely work once or twice, but any more and people will start seeing through it,” Nie Yan said. Players weren’t stupid. They would definitely stop falling for this scam after the first or second time.

"So what if we’re seen through? We’ve already made our money anyway. It’s impossible for us to take a loss,” Guo Huai chuckled.

"Well, I’ll leave it to you.”

Guo Huai immediately got to work. He needed to gather the money first before having everything arranged. This task had to be carried out with the utmost secrecy.

Chapter 505 - Three Men Make a Tiger

Nie Yan left Guo Huai with a set of instructions before setting out. Since they decided to play this game, why not go all out? The scope wouldn’t be limited to just Calore, but every city in both the Viridian and Satreen Empires. If everything went off without a hitch, Asskickers United would hit the jackpot. Nie Yan and Guo Huai prepared a total of 3,000,000 gold. It wasn’t much compared to the entire gem and Magic Runestone market. However, if their plan succeeded, they could swallow up at least 10% of the market in one go.

Nie Yan also got in touch with Sleepy Fox, Fa Lan, Ah Chen, and the others, so they could get a piece of the pie.

Leaving the rest to Guo Huai, Nie Yan went off to level with his Javelin Launcher and 3,000 javelins.

Around this time, players "selling” gems and runestones for a bargain started popping up on the streets of every city. Gems worth 1,000 gold were being advertised for only 500 gold. Meanwhile, gems and runestones worth several hundred gold were being advertised for only 20–30 gold. Rumours began circulating around. One claimed the prices of gems and runestones were seeing a huge dip, with people on the forums "confirming” this by recounting what they were seeing on the streets. Another claimed a secret shop had been found which sold gems and runestones for dirt cheap, and that people were selling these for a profit margin of hundreds of gold, striking it rich overnight.

No one could tell if there was any truth to these rumours. After all, secret shops selling rare items was a fairly common occurrence. Similar situations had happened before. For example, Web Scrolls used to be quite expensive in the marketplace. However, after word got out that a secret shop sold them for ludicrously cheap, their price plummeted and hadn’t gone back up to this day. Perhaps the rumour about a secret gem shop really were true.

Most high level players only stored gems in their personal storages. After seeing the prices plummet, these players felt their hearts ache. Things like equipment were usually sold right away since they tended to lose value very quickly over time. On the other hand, gems were always in high demand while their drop rates were quite low. So, their prices rarely fluctuated. Many players hoarded gems, only selling some off occasionally.

Gems had always been a type of hard currency. Most players wouldn’t be willing to trade their good equipment for gold. But if you offered them gems, they might consider it. Bartering gems for equipment was a fairly common transaction in the marketplace.

Some high level players only accepted gems when selling equipment. For them, gems accounted for a large portion of their personal assets. When the value of gems suddenly plummeted, they felt like a slab of meat was being carved out of their hearts!

Whether or not these rumours had any substance, nobody could confirm. Some players didn’t want to be too hasty. Others immediately started dumping their gems on the auction house at the first sign of trouble. However, no one was willing to buy gems right now since they might come out at a loss. If the rumours about the secret shop really were true, prices would continue to fall for the next several days. At that time, they wouldn’t need to spend so much gold to socket their equipment. Buying right now definitely wasn’t worth it.

Those with gems wanted to quickly dump their stock. Meanwhile, those looking to buy continued playing the wait-and-see game. The market cooled off. Suddenly no one was touching the gems in the auction houses. Those who were anxious to get rid of their stock quickly had no choice but to keep lowering their prices. However, this only led to more people waiting to see how low the prices would fall.

The gem market fell into turmoil. More and more gems were flooding in, but no one was buying. Many players were frozen by indecision.

The people Guo Huai dispatched proved very effective. The rumours spread like wildfire. In the span of a few hours, almost every player was talking about the falling prices of gems, urging their friends and acquaintances to quickly sell before it was too late. Gems that only a day ago were being sold for 1,000 gold would now go for only 500 gold. After more time passed, even 300 gold would be too much. Many players were still willing to buy some of the cheaper gems if they needed them urgently. But for the gems worth several hundred up to a thousand gold, they would patiently wait for the prices to fall lower. After all, this wasn’t some small purchase.

A group of 10 players had gathered together outside the entrance of an auction house in Calore. They looked like they were about to set out to do some levelling. Before long, their conversation shifted to gems.

"I heard the price of gems is falling. A Fire Resistance Gem (5) went from 1,000 gold to only 500 gold. I’ll see if I can snag one when the price drops to 300, then I can socket it into my armour,” a Fighter said.

"A few days ago, I spent 300 gold to buy a Radiant Gem (3), and I’m really kicking myself for it. Do you know what it’s selling for right now? Only 80 gold! You’d have to be stupid to buy right now. I heard some players found a secret shop where you can buy 1,000 gold gems for only 30 gold, and they’re selling it to us for a crazy profit. I bet in a few more days you’ll see 1,000 gold gems for only 100 gold! If you spend 300 gold to buy a gem right now, you’ll definitely regret it later!” a Holy Mage interrupted.

"Really?” the Fighter asked with a skeptical face.

"Of course it's true! One of my friends visited that secret shop before. He ended up turning a profit of 300,000 gold reselling the gems! Give it some time and you’ll be hard pressed to find someone willing to buy a Fire Resistance Gem (5) for even 100 gold! Fortunately, I learned about this early. I completely emptied out all the gems in my personal storage. Hehe… in a few days, I’ll have myself some robes with high Physical Resistance,” an Arcane Mage chimed in.

"Damn, really? 300,000 gold, that much?” The nearby players sucked in a breath of cold air and came up to inquire.

Seeing a crowd starting to gather around him, the Arcane Mage started blowing even more smoke.

This was the so-called, "three men make a tiger.” A rumour repeated enough would eventually become fact.

Those who didn’t have gems and wanted the price of gems to continue falling did their best to spread the rumour. Those who didn’t initially believe the rumours and still had gems in their personal storages let out deep sighs and began dumping their gems. Those who wanted to buy gems played the wait-and-see game. Those who had gems slashed their prices like mad in a bid to get rid of them quickly. As a result, the prices of gems in the market gradually fell lower and lower. This allowed players to truly experience the so called snowball effect.

These results were even greater than what Nie Yan and Guo Huai expected. Nie Yan originally predicted the price of gems would fall to their target value in five days. However, the rumours spread faster than they expected. On the second day, the prices were already far lower than they anticipated.

Gems that were normally worth 1,000 gold were being completely ignored in the auction houses despite their prices being cut to only 100 gold. This was simply unbelievable!

「Nie Yan, should we start reeling in the net?」Guo Huai asked. This plummet in the price of gems had left him trembling in trepidation. He wondered if the prices would ever recover.

Nie Yan checked the Super Trade Channel. The auction houses were filled with gems, more than five to six times the usual amount. Everyone was withdrawing the gems from their personal storages and dumping them in the auction houses. The spike in the amount of gems further reaffirmed the belief in people’s hearts that the rumours were true. Otherwise, why would so many people be selling their gems all of a sudden?

Once the rumour got some backing, it became even more frightening.

Nie Yan estimated this was the limit for how low the prices would fall. Any lower and players would rather start keeping the gems to use for themselves. After all, the people selling these gems weren’t poor.

「Start buying everything up!」Once Nie Yan gave the order, Guo Huai had the people under him in the over 300 auction houses spread out across the Viridian and Satreen Empires start buying up the gems.

3,000,000 gold was gone in a flash. About 12% of the gems in the market had been eaten up.

"3,000,000 gold, all gone,” Guo Huai gulped, cold sweat dripping from his forehead. This was his first time spending such a ludicrous amount of money.

「What about Sleepy Fox, Ah Chen, and the others?」Nie Yan asked.

「They’re also buying up everything like crazy. Holy Empire has spent 500,000 gold on gems; the War God Tribe, 600,000; Sapphire Shrine, 500,000; Battle Crazed alliance, 400,000; and Radiant Sacred Flame, 300,000. Adding everything up, that’s 5,000,000 gold gone in an instant.」

Nie Yan did some calculations. 5,000,000 gold was roughly 20% of the market.

「Reach out to the Dragonsoar Financial Group. Let them get in on some of the action too. We’ll also liqiduate a portion of the guild treasury! Any gold that we can get we’ll use to buy gems. Don’t the Viridian and Satreen Empires have a few large loan organizations? Let’s see how much we can borrow. Make sure to carry everything out in secret. This is a rare opportunity. If we miss it, it won’t come again.」

「Don’t they have a 10-day 10% interest rate? That’s a bit dangerous. What if the price of gems doesn’t recover, and we can’t sell everything off? That gold will all go down the drain,」Guo Huai anxiously said. He didn’t want to end up ruining the guild.

「Don’t worry. We’ll make back more than 10 times our initial investment!」Nie Yan reassured. They were profiting far more than the loan sharks by selling these gems.

「Alright, don’t blame me if something goes wrong. I’ll use the earnings of our several strongholds as collateral to get a loan from those lenders.」Guo Huai gritted his teeth. Only Nie Yan was this courageous, daring to borrow gold from high interest lenders. Profit and risk walked hand in hand.

Chapter 506 - Troll Dillons

Around 30 to 40 real world lenders operated in the Viridian and Satreen Empires. Very few had a capital of more than 1,000,000 gold. In fact, for an agency to have more than 300,000 gold was already considered good. They profited by collecting on the high interest rates from their loans.

Guo Huai went about contacting these loan agencies. Asskickers United was now a major power. It was a fairly simple matter to get a loan by using the income from their strongholds as collateral.

Before long, Guo Huai got in touch with more than 10 agencies and borrowed roughly 3,000,000 gold. He spent all of it on gems and runestones.

Nie Yan and the others had acquired roughly 40% of the gems in the market. The gems they bought were of high quality with excellent appreciation potential. He kept an especially close eye on Fire Resistance Gems, to the extent he planned on snatching up every last one of them. This was because several of the notable Level 60–70 dungeons required high fire resistance.

「What do we do now?」Guo Huai asked.「There’s still so many cheap gems for sale. We can’t possibly swallow them all up. With no one else buying, how are the prices supposed to recover like this?」

「We need to do three things. One, clear up the rumour about there being a secret gem shop. Two, sell off the Fire Resistance Gems, start with the quality rating 5 ones. Set the price at 1,200 gold, not 1 gold lower! Three, sit back and wait. In a few days, the panic will wear off and the people dumping their gems will take down their listings. With the gems on the market becoming scarcer, the prices will go back up accordingly,」Nie Yan explained. He had long since planned everything out. If Fire Resistance Gems suddenly doubled in value while the prices of all other gems were still falling, players would certainly take notice. Those with even a tiny bit of market insight would realize something was wrong. If they were quick, they would also start rapidly gobbling up gems. Like this, all the gems in the market could be swept up. When the time came, those who hoarded would profit immensely while those who didn’t could only watch on helplessly. Perhaps the prices of gems would increase to never before seen heights.

「I’ll get on it right away!」Guo Huai said.

「In the next few days, use the income from the Starry Night Potion Shop, Union of Assassins, and strongholds to pay off the interest from the loans. Any surplus will be spent on buying gems. Pass on the information to our trustworthy guild members too. Have the wealthy ones start acquiring gems, quickly, or else they’ll miss the chance forever. Also, keep contacting loan agencies. If any of them are willing to lend us even just a little bit more, take it. So long as the price of gems hasn’t recovered, keep buying everything up,」Nie Yan said. Two-fifths of the gems in the Viridian and Satreen Empires were in his hands. If all these gems were sold after the prices recovered, he stood to make at least 20,000,000 gold, and this was his most conservative estimate!

What could 20,000,000 gold accomplish in Conviction? It was enough to buy up all the strongholds owned by Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors combined. It was enough to buy 20 Central Calore Auction Houses. It was enough to tear down the Cripps Stronghold and build it back up anew 50 times over. It was enough to upgrade every branch of the Starry Night Potion Shop to Tier 16. Even the main shop was currently only Tier 10. It was enough to deck out all 60,000 players of Asskickers United with excellent gear and still have gold to spare!

With 20,000,000 gold, Asskickers United would make Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and even Angel Corps look like poor beggars. Combined together, these three guilds likely only had around 7,000,000–8,000,000 gold at their immediate disposal right now.

Asskickers United had always been known as a wealthy guild. But even they only had 4,000,000 gold on hand at the best of times.

What troubled Nie Yan was that he had no idea how to spend the 20,000,000 gold. If he left it to sit in the treasury, it would most likely greatly depreciate after some time.

However, this was all assuming he really did get the gold. Nothing was for certain right now.

Guo Huai started carrying out Nie Yan’s orders. At present, players firmly believed in the existence of a secret gem shop. So, the prices of gems kept falling lower and lower. In a few more days, when players saw that the prices of gems weren’t dropping any further, and the number of gems for sale was rapidly dwindling, they would definitely grow suspicious. All Asskickers United had to do was patiently wait for players to grow skeptical themselves, then start fanning the flames. It wouldn’t take long before the prices of gems would return to normal. Add this to the fact that Nie Yan’s side vacuuming up 40% of the gem market was enough to create a supply shortage, along with the previously inhibited demand being released all at once, the prices of gems were likely to skyrocket higher than ever before.

At this moment, another rumour quietly sprung up, saying how for the sake of rapidly accumulating wealth, the Century Financial Group had started a rumour about some secret shop that sold gems cheaply. Then, when prices fell and everyone was panic selling gems, they had started swallowing everything up. That fabled secret gem shop was nothing but a baseless lie.

Nie Yan and the others had carried this plan out covertly. No one could track down who was behind the gem market crash. So, why not pin the blame on the Century Financial Group? It wasn’t like this would stain their already terrible reputation.

Reversing the mood in the market posed a certain degree of difficulty. But just like Nie Yan said, after a while opinions started shifting. In any case, Nie Yan and the others had bought when prices were at their lowest. No matter what they did, they wouldn’t take a loss. Earning the return was only a matter of time.

Nie Yan continued grinding levels. With the Javelin Launcher, he could at least jump several levels. Besides this, Guo Huai had also helped him collect several hundred sets of Magic Runestones. After turning them in, he would definitely go up a few more levels. Before long, he would break through Level 100.

Nie Yan sped through a mountain forest with Gale Step. This was already a Level 120 map. However, he showed no sign of slowing down. As he gradually neared his destination, a large river came into view. Within the river was a forest of oddly shaped rocks. He recalled a Troll lived near a pile of rubble on the opposite shore.

Trolls were one of the races that lived in this forest. They were large and tall with immense strength. Their frightening close combat ability even overshadowed that of giants. However, they were dimwitted. Their intelligence was directly related to their age. An ordinary troll had extremely low intelligence. Only the ones 300 years or older, with long, flowing white beards and bordering on senile had medium intelligence. These trolls were often the spiritual leaders of their race.

Not to mention they were famous for their terrible sight. Their range of vision was only 30 meters. Anything beyond that was a complete blur.

The troll on the opposite shore was roughly three meters tall. It was dressed in ragged animal hide and wielded a large wolf tooth club. It wandered around aimlessly, restricted to a circular patch of ground with a radius of about 30 meters. Sealing off the space was a wall of flames roughly five meters high. Only players with at least 380 Fire Resistance could pass through it without dying instantly. Just a bit further out were numerous bizarrely shaped boulders that obstructed the player’s sight.

Troll Dillons was a famous Elite in the previous timeline. This enclosed space resembled an arena. At best, a 20-man team could fit inside. One could imagine how terrifying it would be to fight a troll in such a cramped space.

On the perimeter were bizarrely shaped boulders. One could try climbing on top of them and try shooting Dillons from afar. However, there were very few places to stand, and it was extremely easy to be discovered by Dillons. Once you were, leaving the rock was impossible.

On top of this, this place was a mountainous area with rugged terrain. There was no way to bring something like a catapult here. However, Javelin Launchers could still be used. Not only Nie Yan, but people in the previous timeline had also thought of using Javelin Launchers to kill Dillons. But with boulders blocking their vision, it was impossible to use the Javelin Launcher to accurately hit the target. Not to mention within a 100-meter radius, there were only three spots where a Javelin Launcher could be fired from. Inundating Dillons with a shower of javelins simply wasn’t possible.

Troll Dillons’ health recovery speed was fairly slow. However, it still had more than 300,000 health. After dying, it would respawn within two hours. This was pretty fast for an Elite.

Before players reached Level 120, Dillons was an impossible to beat existence. His damage was simply too high. It was only later on when Fighters got their defense up that they managed to beat him. Dillons gave an extremely generous amount of experience, and the items he dropped were pretty good too. In the previous timeline, countless fights had broken out over Dillons. It was only after Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, and the other three guilds under the Century Financial Group took control of this area that the disputes settled down. It was reported for the sake of maintaining the interests of all parties, Victorious Return had a set rule that each guild would take turns grinding this place every day.

One could imagine what kind of enticing existence Dillons was.

Nie Yan surveyed the surroundings. He could faintly see a figure moving around in the distance. However, he couldn’t confirm its exact position. He recalled from memory he stood in the right spot. He took out the Javelin Launcher and the Eye of Kirge. These two items were required if he wanted to farm Dillons today.

"This is an unexplored area. I wonder if a Mana Key will drop,” Nie Yan muttered to himself. Mana Keys were an extremely sought-after item. It only had a 1 in 1,000 chance of dropping from Dillons. One could imagine how rare it was. It was a Legendary-grade Special Item. He had only ever heard of it, having never before seen it in person.

Chapter 507 - Clever Use of the Eye of Kirge

Nie Yan selected a suitable position roughly 90 meters away from Dillons, putting him well within the range of the Javelin Launcher.

Nie Yan placed the Eye of Kirge on the ground and started chanting out an incantation. Before long, the previously dull looking orb lit up as a profound light shone out of the eye.

Under the meticulous control of Nie Yan, the Eye of Kirge floated up high into the air, then started flying towards Dillons.

At this moment, an image appeared in front of Nie Yan’s eyes.

From the bizarrely shaped rocks and boulders to the lush vegetation growing along the river’s edge, everything the Eye of Kirge saw was being transmitted to Nie Yan.

This image was a bit different from one seen by the naked eye. It wasn’t as clear but everything was there. As the Eye of Kirge travelled between the boulders and rubble, a tall silhouette entered Nie Yan’s eyes.

It was Troll Dillons!

Dillons looked somewhat restless, moving about. He directed his gaze in the direction of the Eye of Kirge. He appeared to have sensed something.

Nie Yan had the Eye of Kirge disappear into a patch of grass about 20 meters away from Dillons. This item was incredibly small, making it especially difficult to spot when hidden in the cracks between rocks or other locations that could keep it hidden from view.

After failing to find anything, Dillons returned to his passive roaming state.

The player had to stand in place while using the Eye of Kirge, or else its effects would be cancelled. Without taking a single step, Nie Yan retrieved several enchanted javelins from his bag and inserted them into his Javelin Launcher.

As Nie Yan loaded the Javelin Launcher, the image from the Eye of Kirge turned blurry.

When using the Eye of Kirge, the image became clear the more you focused. If you were distracted, the image would turn blurry.

Nie Yan propped up his Javelin Launcher and took aim at the target. With the distance calibrated, he pulled the trigger. A javelin shot out into the sky, arcing through the air, and falling back to the ground.

With a thud, the javelin landed about a meter from Dillons.

Though Dillons was hard to miss with his large frame, it wasn’t a surprise that Nie Yan failed to land a hit. He wasn't too accustomed to using the Eye of Kirge, especially since it was his first time. Not to mention he also wasn’t that familiar with operating the Javelin Launcher. He could only try to fumble his way through.

Nie Yan continued fiddling around, gradually familiarizing himself with both the Eye of Kirge and Javelin Launcher.

After using up a whole stack of javelins, Nie Yan finally got used to it. He could now hit Dillons accurately. After all, Dillons was huge, so he made for an easy target. If he were to aim for something smaller, Nie Yan might have some difficulty.

Nie Yan loaded up an enchanted javelin and took aim with the Javelin Launcher. With a whoosh sound, the javelin arced through the sky and headed straight toward Dillons.

With a pfft sound, blood splashed everywhere as the javelin pierced Dillons’ skin.

−124 A damage value floated up above Dillons’ head.

The javelin’s damage was fairly high. If it were a normal crossbow bolt, at Nie Yan’s current level, he wouldn’t even deal double digits to Dillons. On top of this, the javelin inflicted persistent bleed damage for five seconds, dealing 30 damage every second.

After taking into account the health recovery rate of Dillons, Nie Yan estimated it would take around three hours to kill him.

At this stage of the game, killing a Level 120 Elite was an impossible feat for ordinary players.

Nie Yan continued firing the Javelin Launcher. One javelin after another arced through the sky and struck Dillons.

Dillons roared out furiously. However, with his low wisdom, he had no idea where the enemy was. His vision range was only 30 meters. Anything beyond that was a blur to him. No matter where he moved, the javelins kept falling from the sky.

Under Nie Yan’s unending assault, Dillons’ health was gradually whittled away.

Nie Yan patiently kept at it. Dillons’ death was inevitable.

Three hours later, Dillons let out a tragic roar and collapsed to the ground.

A crisp system jingle rang out. Nie Yan had levelled up. At his current level, levelling up once every three hours was a god-like speed.

Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. He had finally taken this monster down. He put the Javelin Launcher and Eye of Kirge away and leapt off the rock. He then used the Leaper Ring to vault over the rocks and raging flames and safely landed on the other side.

Nie Yan rummaged through the corpse of Dillons and collected the loot.

Sadly, the Mana Key didn’t drop. Nie Yan checked the loot. He had obtained a piece of Level 120 Silver-grade equipment with decent stats and three gems.

Dillons wouldn’t respawn for another two hours.

Nie Yan went off to level elsewhere for a while, then came back to continue farming Dillons two hours later.

Nie Yan was levelling up quite quickly. The gap between him and the other players was growing wider by the minute.

On the fifth day, Nie Yan had already reached Level 86. On the Viridian Empire level leaderboards, Tang Yao was in first place at Level 79. Xie Yao was in second at Level 78. The third and fifth spot were taken by the guild leaders of Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors, Crazy Magic and Divine Flame. They were Level 78 and Level 76 respectively.

As for the Satreen Empire, though its population was lower than the Viridian Empire’s, their racial talents were a bit better. This superiority translated into levels. The players there were on average several levels higher than those in the Viridian Empire. Their highest ranked player, Howling Wind, was already Level 82 while Soaring Angel was Level 80.

After reaching Level 80, levelling became all the more difficult. Although the difference was only two levels, a frightening amount of experience was required to close that gap.

What was even more frightening was that Nie Yan was still levelling up at a whirlwind pace. Before long, he would reach Level 90!

During these days grinding Dillons, an uncontrollable desire grew in Nie Yan’s heart. The desire to be the best. He possessed the skill, having diligently practiced Shadow Dancer techniques, many of which he could comfortably perform. He possessed the items, with the Glimpse of Darkness and Zennarde’s Sword only to name a few. Not to mention that when he reached Level 180, the Tyrant Abak Set should be his too. Soon he would also possess a formidable flying mount in the form of the Darkwing Dragon. He continuously raised the bar for himself, which now lay sky-high. He’d become a legend, someone players looked up to with envy and reverence!

Thinking about becoming the number one player in the game, Nie Yan couldn’t help but get fired up. In the previous timeline, there were simply too many amazing people. To not only distinguish himself among this group of frightening and dazzling talents but also surpass them, how difficult of a thing would that be? He had to constantly surpass his limits.

Nie Yan had returned to Calore several times already, depositing all the loot he collected into the guild treasury. After burning through his supply of javelins, the Enchanters had a second batch of 3,000 ready for him.

As the guild leader of Asskickers United, Nie Yan enjoyed a type of luxury ordinary players could never hope for. If he needed anything, he had hundreds if not thousands of people willing to serve.

Five days later, the gem market gradually cooled down. The existence of the secret gem shop was starting to be doubted. Seeing things weren’t quite right, many players began taking down their listings from the auction houses.

Since prices were no longer going down, those who needed gems quickly started buying them up. Like this, the gem market became lively again.

The mood in the market started changing. The previously inhibited demand was slowly being released.

Although many players were still worried the secret gem shop really did exist, they weren’t as confident as before.

For Nie Yan and the others, this was a good sign. Right now it was still possible to purchase gems for a low price. They would still continue spending all of their gold on gems. In a few more days, the price of gems would most likely have risen substantially.

All the income from the Starry Night Potion Shop, Union of Assassins, and strongholds was used to purchase gems. Although the Fire Resistance Gems Nie Yan and the others had listed up weren’t selling quickly, they had still earned around 300,000 gold. All of it was used to purchase even more gems.

With how high the prices of Fire Resistance Gems were, the players who needed them were quite dissatisfied. However, looking all around the market place, all Fire Resistance Gems with quality ratings of five or higher were being sold at an extremely high price. On the odd occasion some popped up for a lower price, they’d be sold in an instant. Since some players absolutely needed these gems to run dungeons, not buying was not an option. Helplessly, they forked over their gold.

Aside from Nie Yan’s group, many others benefited off this scheme too. One of them was Alliance of Mages. Sensing the change in the air, they had started gobbling up gems, spending more than 2,000,000 gold. A few other guilds had done the same, but they didn’t commit nearly as much gold.

Who knew Crazy Magic would have such foresight? His boldness had allowed Alliance of Mages to earn quite a bit of money. This left a sour taste in Nie Yan’s mouth. However, it was only natural there would be a few dogs picking up after their scraps. Alliance of Mage’s actions had left a noticeable impact on the market. With 2,000,000 gold, another 10 percent of the gems in the market had disappeared.

Asskickers United had seized roughly 35 percent of all the gems in the Viridian and Satreen Empires. Sapphire Shrine, Holy Empire, and the others had taken up roughly 10 percent. Alliance of Mages had taken another 10%. If the amount of gems for sale decreased a bit more, prices would return to normal. Not only that, but it would continue to rise afterwards.

Chapter 508 - Bloodfiends

While Nie Yan remained fairly calm these past few days, Guo Huai had been anxiously monitoring every little change in the market. He could faintly tell that another huge upheaval was about to come.

Alliance of Mages spending 2,000,000 gold to acquire gems was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Noticing something was wrong with the market, more and more players began greedily amassing gems. The prices shot through the roof.

The higher the prices rose, the more people started buying. This was how the market operated.

「Nie Yan, t-t-the prices! The prices of gems are starting to spike!」Guo Huai’s voice cracked with excitement. These last five days had been incomparably nerve-wracking for him. With the prices of gems finally going up again, how could he not be thrilled?

「Calm down. Let’s wait a little longer,」Nie Yan chuckled. In the next few days, the prices of gems would only continue to rise. All they had to do was sit back, relax, and watch the gold start pouring in.

Only by waiting until the prices peaked could they maximize their profits. Nie Yan was like a hunter, patiently waiting for his prey.

「I know, I know, but I still can’t help myself from getting excited!」Guo Huai laughed. He also had a good eye for the market. However, this was 20,000,000 gold they were talking about! Very few people could keep calm when faced with such a vast sum of money!

Nie Yan naturally understood that money was only a means to an end. He had lived, died, and come back again. There were very few things that could still get him excited. This 20,000,000 gold was only the beginning.

Every player in the Viridian and Satreen Empires was closely watching the gem market. The recent volatility these past few days was surrounded by a veil of mystery. Many players couldn’t tell what was going on. Some of them firmly held onto the belief that the secret shop existed, and that everything happening right now was a ploy by troublemakers to convince them to buy gems. They opted to keep waiting until prices fell to their desired range. Those with a bit of insight, on the other hand, started frantically buying up gems, which drove prices even higher. However, the average players took the wait and see approach. They could only watch on nervously as the prices of gems gradually rose higher and higher.

At present, no one could say whose judgement was correct.

"The price of Poison Resistance Gems dropped from 1,200 to 300 gold just a few days ago. Now it’s back to 1,000 gold and it’s still rising! What the hell!?” a Warrior gloomily said.

"It’s not just the Poison Resistance Gems, others have shot up in price too, especially Fire Resistance Gems. They’ve practically doubled in price!”

"Luckily, I bought six gems when prices were low. I spent around 600 gold at that time. I bet I’ll get 3,000 gold if I sell them now.”

In this world, where there were winners, there also had to be losers.

Nie Yan casually browsed the auction house listings. There were clearly fewer gems up for sale than before. He estimated before long a drought would emerge in the gem market. When he passed through Calore’s central square, he noticed a significant increase in the number of players teaming up to farm gems. Given the current volatility of the market, many people didn’t dare to make a purchase. So, they decided to farm the gems they needed for themselves. However, their success was limited. A team grinding a specific map for five to six days straight would only see about three to four gems drop at most. Not to mention the type of gem that dropped was random. After divvying up the spoils, the exercise was hardly worth the effort.

「Oh by the way, how many Magic Runestones did you manage to get your hands on?」Nie Yan asked.

「Over 10,000! As for how many complete seven-element sets, around 500 or so,」Guo Huai replied. At present, the majority of player attention was on gems. Relatively few people were buying runestones. Furthermore, since the prices were so low, he managed to acquire a lot.

「500 sets?」Nie Yan was taken aback. He didn’t expect Guo Huai to collect so many. In the previous timeline, a complete set of Magic Runestones cost an arm and a leg. Yet Guo Huai managed to gather more than 500 of these sets! One could imagine how much experience that would translate to!

Nie Yan planned to take advantage of the experience bonus from killing Dillons while he was still low-level to level up a few more times. Then when the levelling speed was no longer as efficient, he would turn in the Magic Runestones to Clemmy the Wise.

Nie Yan took his Javelin Launcher and returned to grinding mobs.

Everything was relatively peaceful over on the side of Asskickers United. Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others started forming 1,000-man expedition teams to hunt famous high level monsters, such as the Level 80 Flaming Drake Lord and the Level 85 Mani Python Lord. At the same time, the lower ranking players followed suit by hunting weaker Elites and Lords.

The presence of Asskickers United could be felt all over the Level 60–80 maps around Calore. When first clearing maps, they occasionally had some lucky encounters, such as finding a warehouse full of gunpowder and a huge deposit of sulfur. All of these spoils were transported back to the guild headquarters.

With Calore firmly secured, Asskickers United began expanding their influence by establishing a branch in Kavodin. Sapphire Shrine, Holy Empire, and Radiant Sacred Flame also started establishing branches in other cities, all of which had yet to be united by a single power. They carried out mass recruitment campaigns and slowly started amassing strength. When the time was ripe, they’d seize these cities for themselves.

While Nie Yan was busy raising his level, Guo Huai contacted him with an urgent report.

「Some Thieves have been running around all over the place assassinating our players. What do we do!?」Guo Huai knitted his brows as he looked over the various reports.

「Who are the players that were killed?」Nie Yan asked. Sneak attacks and ambushes weren’t all that uncommon. He had also dispatched Thieves to assassinate the players of Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps. The players from Asskickers United were generally capable of fending off any attacks.

「The enemy seems to have 50 to 60 people on their side. They have around seven to eight Thieves a squad. They rarely slip up when carrying out their assassinations. Their targets are our elites. Their intel is extremely accurate too. I believe there are people on our side leaking information to them. Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, Monochrome... all of them have been killed. Our losses are pretty heavy. Bladelight was ambushed too. He managed to kill two of them and almost lost his life, but luckily our reinforcements arrived in time.」Guo Huai’s information showed that more than 20 important members had been assassinated.

「Do you know who’s behind all this?」Nie Yan frowned, a grim look on his face. These members were the pillars of the Asskickers United. Each of their deaths represented a huge blow to guild morale.

「They call themselves the Bloodfiends, but I have no way of confirming this,」Guo Huai replied.「I believe Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps are behind this. Only those three are willing to put in so much effort to deal with us.」

"Bloodfiends…?” Nie Yan muttered to himself. This was a famous Thief organization in the previous timeline that operated both in the Viridian and Satreen Empires. They were composed of 100 members, all of whom were unscrupulous professional players who would do anything, steal, assassinate, murder... so long as there was a profit to be made. They had many experts in their ranks. Back then, five of them had succeeded in becoming Shadow Dancers. The rest also weren’t to be looked down on. Players generally didn’t dare to provoke them. They were extremely mysterious. Every member had their own unique code name and corresponding code word. None of their whereabouts were known to the outside. This organization was extremely strict. They never recruited members requesting to join from the outside, making it impossible for players or guilds to infiltrate them.

It was precisely this 100-member organization that had slaughtered three 10,000-member guilds in the previous timeline. The number of people that had died at their hands were too many to count. However, no one ever managed to pinpoint their locations, nor did anyone ever see them for more than a moment or two. There was simply no catching these Thieves.

One could imagine just how frightening this kind of organization was!

「Since it’s the Bloodfiends, this will be a problem.」Nie Yan knitted his brows. He guessed his old adversaries had hired these players from Bloodfiends.

「Gah, these bastards from Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps won’t rest till I kick the bucket from stress! Being targeted by an organization like the Bloodfiends definitely isn’t a pleasant thing,」Guo Huai said. Unless you were extremely skilled and had high Awareness, very few players could survive getting ganged up on by eight top ranked Thieves.

「Our top priority is finding out the identity of the traitors in our ranks. We’ll do a thorough inspection. I refuse to believe they can hide from us. Besides this, tell our players to be careful when setting off for the wilderness. It’s best if they stick in groups. Don’t give the enemy the opportunity to catch them alone,」Nie Yan said. Information about the Bloodfiends assassinating players of Asskickers United hadn’t been revealed to the public, nor did any guild admit to being behind this. Since it was like this, he would let this information remain buried.

Without knowing who did it, Nie Yan wouldn’t take any retaliatory action. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t in the future.

「I’m already looking for the traitors. It likely isn’t just one person.」Guo Huai let out a deep sigh. No guild could prevent traitors from popping up in their ranks, including Asskickers United. However, Asskickers United also had moles hidden within the ranks of Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps. Doing the work of a mole paid dozens of times more than being a regular member. With such a lucrative reward, there would always be people who were willing to take the risk.

「If you find the traitors, don’t expose them, and don’t let them know they’ve been found out. I’ll have a use for them later,」Nie Yan said. He already had a plan in mind.

Guo Huai was surprised but immediately understood what Nie Yan wanted to do. He smiled.「Understood, you can be sure they won’t notice a thing.」

If the traitors were identified, they could become Asskickers United’s mouthpieces. With these fellows there, they could be put to good use during crucial moments.

Chapter 509 - Mana Key

With the elites of Asskickers United sufferring ambushes, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps were prime suspects. However, that didn’t mean the perpetrator wasn’t someone else. Other guilds would love nothing more than to see major powers like Asskickers United and Alliance of Mages ripping each other apart, since this meant they could swoop in from the sidelines and reap all the benefits for themselves.

Even if their elites were being killed left and right, Asskickers United could only try their best to endure, and maintain their vigilance while they investigated why the Bloodfiends were targeting them.

After thinking it over, Nie Yan decided to have Sun track the players of Bloodfiends and see if he could find any clues as to their whereabouts. Given Sun’s skills, no matter what kind of situation he encountered, escaping would never be an issue.

There was no point in rushing into action based on presumptions. Nie Yan knew nothing good would come out of entering a war with Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors right now. It was better to wait until Asskickers United grew stronger.

Though the size of Asskickers United remained consistent at 60,000 members, the five branch guilds had all grown past 100,000 members. The top elites in the branch guilds would be given a chance to enter the main guild. Similarly, those who weren’t cutting it anymore in the main guild would be in danger of being demoted to the branch guilds. Like this, the quality of players in Asskickers United would only grow higher and higher, far surpassing that of their counterparts in Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors.

The might of those in Asskickers United was already well known. If you were to pit 10 players from Asskickers United against 10 from Alliance of Mages on an equal playing field, the players from Asskickers United would almost always come out on top. Sometimes, other guilds would vastly outnumber Asskickers United, but they would still end up beaten black and blue just the same. 1v2, 1v3, and 1v4 situations were as common as eating rice for the players of Asskickers United. If an Asskickers United member couldn’t at least hold their own against two equal level opponents, they wouldn’t have the face to show themselves again. This was the difference in quality!

Nie Yan could clearly perceive that Asskickers United would one day completely eclipse guilds like Alliance of Mages. There was no need to be impatient.

「You need to stay on guard too. I received word that the Bloodfiends are planning to take action against you too,」Guo Huai warned. He had full faith in Nie Yan’s skills. However, being surrounded and attacked by eight top ranked Thieves was still a terrifying prospect.

「Don’t worry about me. They have another thing coming if they think they can kill me so easily,」Nie Yan chuckled. This wasn’t him being conceited. With his excellent skills and equipment, even if he couldn’t defeat them, escaping wouldn’t be a problem. If he wanted to run, no one in the world could stop him!「Oh, right! How are Zhai Hao, Liu Xiuchen, and Li Rui doing these days?」

「They’re pretty hard working. After running dungeons with Sesame Cake and his men for a while, they’ve greatly improved their skills. Their gear is much better too. Recently, I’ve been having them tag along behind Bladelight. He’s taking care of them. I doubt they’ll become peak experts, but at least they’ll be far more skilled than before. Zhai Hao has a chance of entering the top 200. I also see Liu Xiuchen making the top 500. As for Li Rui… I can’t promise anything; he just isn’t as talented. I’d put him around the top 3,000,」Guo Huai said.

Nie Yan felt reassured after knowing the situation of Zhai Hao and the others. He would let them continue advancing on their own. Even if Li Rui was a bit lacking, there were still plenty of merits in becoming a squad captain.

「On another note, the Hilton Stronghold opened. Other guilds have already dispatched expedition teams. I heard the item drops from killing the demon beasts there are even better than from farming Elites and Lords elsewhere,」Guo Huai changed the subject. With the other major guilds heading to the Hilton Stronghold, they definitely had to go too, lest their equipment started lagging behind.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. After grinding Dillons for a few more levels, the levelling speed would start slowing down. So, why not make a trip to the Hilton Stronghold? That would also give him the opportunity to collect the reward for his successful prophecy.

「What about Bladelight and the others? Do they want to go to the Hilton Stronghold?」Nie Yan asked. These guildmates definitely had their own views.

「Bladelight says he definitely wants to visit the Hilton Stronghold. The Glory rewards from killing demon beasts can be used to purchase Glory Sets, which have much better PvP stats than ordinary equipment. Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors are already there. So, of course we should go too. The only problem is that it’ll be hard to avoid trouble if we go. All our enemies are there. It’ll only be a matter of time before a fight breaks out.」

「Have Bladelight and the others go on ahead first. I’m going to grind a few more levels. I’ll be heading to the Hilton Stronghold tomorrow or the day after.」

「Alright, I’ll pass on the word.」

Generally, an expedition team setting out for the Hilton Stronghold needed to be at least 1,000 players in size, or else it would be easy to meet with misfortune.

「If Sapphire Shrine, Holy Empire, Radiant Sacred Flame, the War God Tribe, and Battle Crazed Alliance want to come too, have them tag along with us. The more, the merrier,」Nie Yan said.

The players in Asskickers United immediately got busy. They were making their preparations to set off for the Hilton Stronghold.

Bladelight and Smoke Stub were the leaders of the expedition team. They led a force 2,000 strong. It comprised 1,000 players from Asskickers United and 1,000 of the strongest from Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, and the other allied guilds.

「Anything we should know before we set off?」Bladelight asked.

「Be careful on the way there,」Nie Yan replied. These simple words carried many meanings.

「Understood. Don’t worry. Unless Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps bring out their entire force, they won’t be able to do anything to us,」Bladelight said with a faint smile.

Not only the journey but their time at the Hilton Stronghold was also guaranteed to be riddled with trouble. However, with Bladelight and Smoke Stub in command, Nie Yan left the team in capable hands. He decided to trust in them and stop worrying.

「Guo Huai, how many people from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors are stationed in the Hilton Stronghold?」Nie Yan asked.

「Around 5,000–6,000 of their best. However, our forces should be more than enough to handle them,」Guo Huai said. The individual strength of the players from Asskickers United wasn’t something any other guild could compare with. Every war they had been in so far was clear proof of this.

Nie Yan farmed Dillons for another two days, reaching Level 88. Finally, on the second day, he obtained the Mana Key. It looked exactly the same as the screenshots he saw on the forums from his past life. This key was about the size of a thumb. It was crystalline black and emitted a powerful magical aura.

Mana Key (Legendary): Special

Item Description: The rotating wheel of destiny. A key used by the Legendary Thief Clooney. Can be equipped into an accessory slot.

Properties: Luck +3, has a certain chance of unlocking any chest.

Restrictions: Nirvana Flame

Note: This item cannot be dropped or traded.

The properties of the Mana Key didn’t seem that amazing at first glance, but only someone like Nie Yan who had experienced the previous timeline knew just how precious it was. From Nie Yan’s view, it was a godly item. The Luck +3 could significantly increase the success rate when crafting, or the chance of good items dropping when out hunting monsters in the wilderness. Besides this, there were also many other hidden uses. In fact, the Luck bonus was only secondary. It was the other property that was the most valuable. It allowed the player to open any chest, even ones that they didn’t meet the requirements for.

Perhaps the most important point was that players gained bonus proficiency when opening chests with the Mana Key. It was absolutely the best item to train the Lockpicking skill with. In the previous timeline, someone had used the Mana Key to raise their Lockpicking Skill to Grandmaster.

Grandmaster Lockpicking was extremely rare. In the previous timeline, those who had raised their Lockpicking to this rank didn’t exceed five. Many people would seek their services, but the few Thieves with Grandmaster Lockpicking charged exorbitant commission fees. This was because they could open rare chests ordinary players couldn’t. An ordinary team had no way of affording one. Back then, Nie Yan had spent six months treasure hunting non-stop for the sake of raising his Lockpicking to Master, but he had only raised his proficiency by 35%. From this, one could just imagine how difficult it was to reach Grandmaster.

Nie Yan’s luck wasn’t bad. He had finally obtained the most valuable item that dropped from Dillons.

With the restrictions, Nie Yan was the only one who could use this Mana Key. He put away the key in his bag. In the near future, he would put this item to good use.

Nie Yan checked his bag. He only had around 300 javelins remaining. He would keep them for now. Perhaps he would have a use for them later.

After finishing his levelling session, Nie Yan wondered how many more levels he would go up by turning in the Magic Runestones.

Nie Yan returned to Calore. Guo Huai told him the runestones they collected were all in his personal storage. Taking a look at his personal storage, he found rows upon rows of runestones on the last page. It was a spectacular sight. After counting them all, there were more than 600 sets of runestones. It appeared Guo Huai hadn’t stopped gathering these past few days.

There were 600 sets in total. Guo Huai had probably spent at least 300,000 gold to buy them all. A few months from now, the value of these runestones would probably appreciate to over 1,000,000 gold. However, for Nie Yan, levels were far more important than gold. He would gladly throw this 1,000,000 gold aside if it meant going up a few levels right now.

Nie Yan transferred all the runestones to his bag, then made his way to Clemmy the Wise.

Chapter 510 - The Bloodfiends Strike

Nie Yan met up with Clemmy.

"Youngster, have you found some Magic Runestones?” Clemmy asked.

"Yes.”

"Alrighty, hand them over to me. Since you’re the first person to correctly guess all the answers, I’ll give you double the rewards.”

Nie Yan’s mind trembled, his face lighting up with excitement. This was quite the pleasant surprise. Like this, handing over the Magic Runestones would be even more worthwhile.

As Nie Yan started turning in the quest to Clemmy over and over again, his experience bar rapidly filled up. By the 62nd set of Magic Runestones, his body lit up with a brilliant flash of light. He levelled up to Level 89. Glancing at the remaining runestones in his bag, he wasn’t even 10% of the way done!

This street corner had quite a bit of foot traffic. Many passersby were shocked when the cloaked figure talking to Clemmy suddenly levelled up.

Everyone knew about Clemmy, the eccentric old man who hung out in this area all day round. However, no one until now had succeeded in triggering his quest.

"Did Clemmy give out a quest?” a player asked his companion in a doubtful tone.

"I don’t know. When you talk to Clemmy, he’ll ask you to give him the answers to some weird riddle. No one knows what he’s talking about. Did that fellow figure it out somehow and trigger a quest?”

The players were still in heated discussion, when Nie Yan lit up with another flash of light.

The players were dumbstruck, with amusing expressions plastered all over their faces.

"W-what!? He levelled up again! Isn’t that twice in a row now?”

"He must be a low-level player, right?”

"No, that’s impossible.” A player shook his head. "Clemmy ignores anyone under Level 60, let alone give them a quest.”

What kind of quest would allow you to level up twice after Level 60?

As the players recovered from their shock, Nie Yan levelled up again, then again, and again, for a total of three more times. Everyone was staring at him like they had seen a ghost.

"Am I seeing things? D-did that really just happen?”

"Who is that guy?”

Nie Yan whose appearance was hidden by the Shadow Walker Cloak seemed quite mysterious.

Nie Yan glanced at his character window. He was already Level 93, two levels higher than he predicted. Level 100 was almost within reach. Soon, he could smoothly become a Shadow Dancer.

Would this long-cherished desire of his finally be fulfilled in this life?

Nie Yan clenched his fists after recalling how he failed to become a Shadow Dancer in the previous timeline. He would definitely succeed in this life!

Nie Yan recalled the Shadow Dancer class advancement quest was given by the elder council of the Thief Association, and that it took roughly two months to complete. However, he had another option. That was to head to the Temple of Light and become a Luminous Dancer. A Luminous Dancer was far more powerful than an ordinary Shadow Dancer. Naturally this was reflected in the difficulty of the class advancement quest.

Since Nie Yan had the opportunity to become a Luminous Dancer, he definitely wouldn’t let it slip by. At the very least, he would give it his best so that even if he failed he wouldn’t have any regrets.

If Nie Yan successfully advanced to a Luminous Dancer within these next two months, he would become the number one Thief in Conviction, and the first player to successfully become a Shadow Dancer!

Tackling the class advancement quest first thing after reaching Level 100 was a bit overly ambitious. Most players would only make the attempt at Level 150–160. However, given Nie Yan’s excellent gear and high stats, he was confident he could do it.

After turning in all the Magic Runestones to Clemmy, Nie Yan headed to his personal storage.

Even long after Nie Yan departed, players were swarming over Clemmy, trying to find clues to trigger his quest to no avail. The five answers to Clemmy’s riddle weren’t something ordinary players could figure out. They required one to pour over numerous old stories to even begin solving.

As Clemmy’s riddle circulated around, more and more players began researching the answers.

Guo Huai’s side was still collecting Magic Runestones non-stop. Before long, Nie Yan would have enough to level up one or two more times.

Nie Yan went to his personal storage to withdraw some essentials, then set off for the Hilton Stronghold.

Bladelight and the others had already arrived at the Hilton Stronghold. They were still within the confines of the stronghold, not daring to rashly go out. They dispatched people to find out about the activities of Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors first. Guo Huai was also helping gather intel in the background.

Besides Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors, the Penumbra Empire, God Executioner Sword, and other guilds had also dispatched their forces to the Hilton Stronghold.

Even though the Hilton Stronghold was still in a state of ruin after the invasion of the horde of demon beasts, many buildings were being reconstructed atop the destruction. Players were also participating in the rebuilding efforts. More and more players, guilds, and organizations were buying up the land and establishing shops. Naturally, Asskickers United was no exception. There was already a branch of the Starry Night Potion Shop up and running here.

Nie Yan was speeding across the plains on his Faulkner Warhorse. At his current pace, he would arrive at the Hilton Stronghold in 30 minutes. Ordinary players would probably need to take twice as long.

This was a remote and desolate stronghold city. Currently, 0.01% of the players dared to come to this map. The demon beasts that spawned around the Hilton Stronghold weren’t something ordinary players could handle.

All the top players from the large guilds had gathered in the Hilton Stronghold. They were here collecting equipment for the sake of tackling Level 100 in the future.

Five Thieves emerged on the plains outside the Hilton Stronghold. They appeared to be setting something up between the trees.

"Dark, are you sure Nivana Flame is going to be passing through here?”

"This is a path everyone has to take to reach the Hilton Stronghold. All of Asskickers United’s top elites are there. I refuse to believe he won’t come.”

"That makes sense. The intel from over there is way too crappy. Even now, we still don’t know his whereabouts.”

"If Nirvana Flame were that easy to take down, Alliance Of Mages and Divine Protectors wouldn’t have put up such a large bounty on his head. Those guys who hired us wouldn’t be trying so hard either.”

As the five Thieves chatted, they installed numerous traps in the vicinity.

"Did you bring the scrolls?”

"Of course.”

"When the time comes, listen to my command.”

After finishing their preparations, the five Thieves entered stealth and disappeared from sight.

Nie Yan resembled a gust of wind while galloping on his Faulkner Warhorse. In a few more minutes, he would be arriving at the Hilton Stronghold.

At this moment, a sharp whistle rang out from behind. Nie Yan’s heart tightened. He glanced back just in time to see a crossbow bolt flying in his direction.

Nie Yan tried to evade, but it was already too late.

With a put sound, the bolt pierced the Faulkner Warhorse’s abdomen. It let out a shrill neigh and reared up on its hind legs, sending Nie Yan flying.

Nie Yan stabilized himself midair and landed gently on the ground. The Faulkner Warhorse didn’t have much health. It collapsed dead to the ground.

Before Nie Yan could catch his breath, a giant web fell over him from the sky.

Nie Yan’s eyes locked onto a Thief hiding behind some trees in the distance. He looked to be around 30 years old, was robustly built and clad in ash gray leather chest armour. He was holding a large crossbow comparable in size to the Dulahan Cavalry Crossbow. The bolts it fired were super-sized.

It was precisely this crossbow that killed the Faulkner Warhorse. Fortunately, it could be ressummoned, or else this would be a huge loss. Nevertheless, its loyalty would still drop by a bit.

Nie Yan spotted another Thief roughly 30 meters away to his left. He looked a bit younger and was clad in silver leather armour. It was him who had cast the Advanced Web spell.

Just as the giant web was about to trap him, Nie Yan evaded with Gale Step.

A brilliant radiance poured down from the sky, illuminating everything within a 50-meter radius. Nie Yan’s figure was immediately revealed. At the same time, five Thieves dashed toward him.

Nie Yan could’ve escaped with an Unknown Transfer Scroll whenever he wanted. However, he decided to stay and play with these Thieves a little.

When the five Thieves neared, Nie Yan finally got a clear look at their appearances. They belonged to the Bloodfiends.

Nie Yan was extremely familiar with the faces in front of him. In the previous timeline, he had watched videos of their battles. They were called Dark, Ardent, Shadow, Night, and Seal. These five had entered the game together. They were part of the Bloodfiends, a frightening organization whose name alone would make people tremble in fear. All of their code names were single words. These five in particular were at the very top. All of them had eventually advanced to Shadow Dancers.

With five Shadow Dancers, it was impossible for the Bloodfiends not to become famous. In the previous timeline, several large guilds had extended olive branches to them, offering sky high prices in an effort to recruit them. However, they were all rejected. Back then, they were a legendary organization.

At that time, Nie Yan was a nobody. Even if he encountered them, they wouldn’t necessarily pay attention to him. In this life, however, he was the guild leader of Asskickers United, Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame, an existence countless people revered.

In regards to Bloodfiends, Nie Yan had long since prepared. He had no intention of backing down.

The five Thieves resembled cheetahs pouncing at their prey. They rapidly closed in on Nie Yan from every direction. Brimming with bloodlust, it seemed they would chase him to the ends of the world.

A one versus five not to mention against five legendary Thieves. Nie Yan didn’t dare to be the slightest bit careless. He quickly pulled back. The black flames on Zennarde’s Sword burned brightly, looking as though they would devour anything they touched.

Dark rushed forward with his dagger stabbing towards Nie Yan’s throat.

Parry!

Nie Yan raised Zennarde’s Sword to block. With a klang sound, the two weapons clashed.

Chapter 511 - Fighting Fire with Fire

Based on their smooth coordination, these five Thieves clearly worked together often. They blocked off all paths of retreat. With the Unveiling Light preventing Nie Yan from escaping through stealth, he could only face them head-on.

Individually, these five Thieves were a step below Nie Yan, Sun, and King of the World. However, with the synergy they’d built up over the years, perhaps only a handful of players in all of Conviction could rival them when they worked together.

Lock!

Ardent targeted Nie Yan with a crowd control skill.

Shadow Waltz!

Ardent’s heart trembled. Nie Yan could even evade Lock. What kind of reaction speed was this!?

Lock was practically an instant cast skill. Dodging was impossible unless you could predict it in advance and evade it with a skill like Shadow Waltz. If you were hit, you would be incapacitated for a brief moment, allowing the enemy to freely attack you.

"Everyone, be careful! He’s fast!” Ardent didn’t expect Nie Yan to still be able to dodge in this kind of situation. He brandished his dagger and pounced toward him.

Nie Yan employed Illusion Steps. His figure appeared to turn illusory as he sidestepped Ardent’s attack. Suddenly, he stood behind Ardent and struck out with Backstab.

Nie Yan’s movements were smooth and fluid without the slightest bit of sloppiness.

Ardent was caught off guard. Just as it looked like he was going to be struck, Dark closed in from the side. He stabbed toward Nie Yan’s forehead like a venomous viper.

If Nie Yan followed through with his attack, he would be stunned by Concussive Blow.

The three other Thieves also closed in at this time.

Lock!

Shadow targeted Nie Yan with Lock. It was incredibly difficult to deal with two or more players with crowd control skills like Lock. One misstep and you were done for.

At this moment, Nie Yan reset the cooldown of Shadow Waltz with Quick Reset.

Shadow Waltz!

In a similar fashion, Nie Yan avoided Lock again.

Three Thieves arrived in front of Nie Yan and all stabbed toward him.

Gale Ambush!

With a burst of explosive speed, Nie Yan evaded the attacks and pounced toward Dark.

The exchange between Nie Yan and the five Thieves happened in the blink of an eye. A single instant meant the difference between life and death. Thieves had too many crowd control skills. If Nie Yan were to be incapacitated for even a second, he’d be dead. The only reason he hadn’t fled with an Unknown Transfer Scroll so far, was that he wanted to probe the strength of these five Thieves, so the elites of Asskickers United would better know what they were up against. At the same time, he also wanted to test his own skill. The more he fought, the more apprehensive he became. The strength of these five from the Bloodfiends was astonishing. Perhaps Nie Yan was the only person who could last against them for this long. If it were any other player from Asskickers United, only Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Sun, and a few others could escape with their lives. The rest would surely die.

No wonder Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, and the others had died at the hands of these five. All of them were top elites without a doubt. But even they would be in danger if they faced these five at once, unless they escaped with an Unknown Transfer Scroll beforehand. However, knowing the pride of his elites, they would never do something cowardly like fleeing before fighting.

These five Thieves constantly preying on the elites of Asskickers United was truly a headache.

After this engagement, Nie Yan planned to have the players in the guild raise their vigilance and prohibit them from moving out alone in order to prevent ambushes.

It didn’t matter how many skills Nie Yan had. He had no way of defeating these five top class Thieves. Just staying alive was already extremely strenuous.

Swift Retreat!

Nie Yan quickly pulled back.

Seeing Nie Yan wanting to escape, Dark sped up and chased after him.

Just as Dark closed in with his dagger, Nie Yan spun around with a sidestep.

Counter!

Nie Yan’s movements were extremely quick. After evading the attack, he planted his elbow into Dark’s back.

It was a Freedom Skill!

With a heavy thud, Dark nearly vomited out blood from the impact of the strike, but he forcefully swallowed it back up. He entered a crippled state and staggered unstably. This was the effect of Counter!

Nie Yan had executed Counter quite well. Seeing the enemy incapacitated, he slashed down toward Dark’s head with Zennarde’s Sword.

Among the five Thieves, Dark and Ardent were the most skilled, with Shadow not falling far behind. If Nie Yan could kill either Dark or Ardent, he would still stand a chance of winning.

The flames on Zennarde’s Sword burned brightly. Nie Yan had enhanced the attack with Apocalyptic Extinction. Dark would definitely be cut down with this strike!

Seeing the situation take a turn for the worse, Dark’s companions rushed forward one after another.

Parry!

Nie Yan had no choice but to cancel his attack mid-way. He quickly raised Zennarde’s Sword to block Ardent’s attack. At this moment, another dagger stabbed toward the back of his head.

Disappear!

Nie Yan evaded the attack coming from behind him. He then leapt back, disengaging himself from the battle, and started fleeing away.

The five Thieves quickly chased after him. After being rescued by his companions, Dark recovered from his crippled state and followed in pursuit as well.

The situation wasn’t good. Nie Yan had given it his all, but he still couldn’t break past the teamwork of these five Thieves. If he could kill one or two of them, it’d become much easier. However, their synergy was too good, and they always managed to rescue each other from a pinch in the nick of time. Nie Yan had no hope of picking one of them off.

Nie Yan had used up almost all his skills. However, these five still had plenty to spare. At this rate, he was going to be overwhelmed.

"So be it, seems like I won’t be able to take them down this time,” Nie Yan muttered. Even so, he had gained quite a bit from this exchange. At the very least, he got a feel of the enemy’s strength.

Nie Yan pulled out an Unknown Transfer Scroll from his bag. Since he couldn’t win, he would escape. He could always get his revenge another day.

"Don’t let him escape! We’re going to have his head today, no matter what! Nirvana Flame’s undefeated legend will fall at our hands!” Dark gritted his teeth. He sped up and pounced toward Nie Yan. If the five of them could kill him, their worth would skyrocket at least fivefold!

This was their opportunity. They definitely couldn’t let it slip by!

"Die!” Seal stabbed toward Nie Yan’s forehead with a Concussive Blow. At the same time, Ardent and Dark arrived behind Nie Yan and sealed off any path of retreat. The nearby Shadow pulled out an Advanced Web Scroll and chanted out an incantation. A giant web dropped down toward him.

Nie Yan had nowhere to retreat. Just as Seal’s dagger was about to stick his forehead…

Phantom Assassination!

Nie Yan’s figure suddenly became illusory, evading Seal’s attack. He took advantage of this moment to crush the Unknown Transfer Scroll.

At this moment, three daggers struck Nie Yan’s forehead, chest, and the back of his head.

"Yes!” Dark and the others cried out in elation after seeing their attacks land.

At this moment, Nie Yan’s figure blurred and disappeared from sight.

"Shit, he teleported away with an Unknown Transfer Scroll!”

Nie Yan’s movements were too quick. If he were a step slower, then even the Unknown Transfer Scroll wouldn’t have been able to save his life.

"Dammit, he got away.”

Ardent and Dark glanced at each other. There was shock and fear lingering in their eyes.

"In the beginning, Nirvana Flame had plenty of time to escape with an Unknown Transfer Scroll, but he didn’t. He probably stayed around so long to probe our strength. Even under the combined assault of the five of us, he still managed to hold his own. Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame. He’s truly worthy of his reputation,” Dark said with a hint of admiration. Even he had no choice but to recognize Nie Yan’s skills.

"What are we going to do next? How are we going to explain ourselves to the client?” Ardent asked.

"Forget it, we’ll try to find another opportunity. According to our agreement, only killing the elite members of Asskickers United is fine too. When we meet with them next time to negotiate a contract extension, if they want us to kill Nirvana Flame, they’ll have to at least double the price,” Dark said. After the exchange with Nirvana Flame today, he could determine one thing. Nirvana Flame’s head was worth a whole lot more than they were offered.

"Let’s head back,” Shadow said. They had just carried out an ambush on Nirvana Flame. This area was no longer safe. They had to quickly leave.

The five Thieves disappeared into the trees.

About a thousand meters away, Nie Yan emerged in a patch of forest. Three damage values floated up above his head. He was stunned for a few seconds before regaining control of his body.

Nie Yan ducked into a corner and patched himself up with Combat Bandages. Thankfully, he was still alive. He escaped by the skin of his teeth. He had luckily used the Unknown Transfer Scroll in time. This minor detail was a reflection of his skill. If he was late by even a little bit, he would be dead. Sadly, his Faulkner Warhorse had died. Its loyalty would probably drop by a bit.

These five Thieves from Bloodfiends were truly difficult to deal with.

Nie Yan sent a video of his battle with Dark and the other four to Guo Huai. After watching the video, Guo Huai asked,「You were ambushed?」

「Yeah, by the Bloodfiends. Those five were really strong, I almost didn’t make it out alive. Tell the people below to be careful and not to go out alone.」

「Even you barely escaped with your life?」Guo Huai knitted his brows. Nie Yan had almost died. If the other players encountered people from Bloodfiends, one could easily imagine the outcome.

「Start gathering intel on the Bloodfiends. If you find out their location, immediately report it back to me,」Nie Yan said. Since the Bloodfiends dared to be so brazen, he wouldn’t hold back either. He posted up a bounty on them on the mission boards of the Union of Assassins. Killing any one of their members and causing them to drop one level would net 100 gold. As for Ardent, Dark, and the other three, the reward for their heads was 1,000 gold each.

This was called fighting fire with fire!

「Alright, I’ll get to work right away!」Guo Huai nodded. He understood the severity of the situation. These several players from the Bloodfiends were too strong. With them constantly carrying out ambushes, Asskickers United would suffer heavy damage. This matter had to be settled once and for all!

While chatting with Guo Huai, Nie Yan received a notification.

Visit Ignatius. He is eagerly looking for you.

Chapter 512 - Selling Gems

Ignatius was the owner of the secret fur shop. He was the old man Nie Yan had previously entrusted with the information of the demon beast invasion. He held an extremely esteemed position in the Hilton Stronghold. Based on the events of the previous timeline, almost all the NPCs lost their lives during the invasion. However, in this timeline, roughly 10 percent survived. Thanks to the timely reinforcements of the capital, several powerful Generals and Great Generals also got out alive. This was all Nie Yan’s contribution. The leadership of the stronghold would surely want to reward him, or else they would be seen as ungrateful.

Ignatius searching for Nie Yan was likely for the purpose of rewarding him.

The Faulkner Warhorse was on cooldown for a day after being killed. Nie Yan could only head to the Hilton Stronghold on foot. He activated Gale Step and pressed on ahead.

Before long, Nie Yan arrived at the Hilton Stronghold. Bladelight and the others had already set out to hunt their first demon beast. Their target was the Crusoe Demon Beast, a Level 90 Lord which resided in the dark caves on the outskirts of the stronghold. It was a giant beetle that came from the Underworld.

One Strike Vow had gone ahead to scout out the exact location of the Crusoe Demon Beast. Only then did Bladelight and the others set out with the expedition team.

Nie Yan had complete faith in the leadership of Bladelight and Smoke Stub. He left them to their own devices and continued on toward the Ignatius Fur Shop.

The gem market slowly turned lively again over the past several days. The players finally realized they had been swindled. That so-called secret gem shop never existed in the first place. A rumour was going around that it was all a scheme by the Century Financial Group. They had started the fake rumours, so that they could gobble up all the gems after their prices plummeted. Then when the prices recovered, they would sell back everything for a profit.

Originally, the Century Financial Group had some evidence to prove their innocence. However, public perception of their guilt solidified after word came out that they did in fact acquire gems en masse. Cao Xu never thought it would play out this way. He had only treated the shift in the market as an easy investment opportunity. He didn’t expect to be actively plotted against and have dirty water dumped on him. Sadly, his enemies were too numerous. Finding out the culprit was impossible. He only had himself to blame for not being covert enough. All he could do was swallow his anger.

The Century Financial Group, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, God Executioner Sword, Penumbra Empire, all of them had the foresight to take advantage of the shift in the market. Some invested more while others invested less. As for who was the main culprit, it was already too late to find out. Those who had sold their gems in a panic were filled with endless regret. Those who had held onto their gems were inwardly celebrating.

After experiencing the huge dip, the gem market rebounded right back up. The prices rose to more than double their original price.

"God dammit. I should’ve bought gems when the prices were still low. Look at the prices now! Some of the gems are even tens of times higher than before!” a Thief player lamented.

"It’s a pity I didn’t have any gold a few days ago. I would’ve spent all my spare change to buy some myself. Now it’s too late...”

"We need Fire Resistance Gems to run Nightmare Gorge. What do we do?”

"We buy. What else can we do? The prices will only keep getting higher.”

"Shit, it’s all the fault of those bastards from the Century Financial Group!”

The players were dumping all their resentment on the Century Financial Group. It was the largest financial group in the virtual reality industry. Its reputation was already stained. This sort of accusation levelled against them meant nothing to them.

The demand which had been suppressed for so many days suddenly erupted out all at once. All the gems listed up in the market were swept clean as prices started skyrocketing to unreasonable levels. Dungeon teams took the biggest hit. If their resistances were too low and didn’t meet a dungeon’s requirements, they would almost certainly wipe. The easiest way to make up for this deficiency was with potions or gems. The former wasn’t very cost effective since they were single-use consumables. On the other hand, the stat increases from gems were permanent, and the socketed equipment could be sold for gold later on.

「Nie Yan, should we start selling now?」Guo Huai asked. The gem market was quite heated right now.

Nie Yan checked the price of gems. It had already doubled from what it was originally at. Any higher and it would exceed the threshold players could tolerate.「Alright, start selling. Be careful. Make sure no one finds out.」

「No worries. Just leave it to me!」Guo Huai said. The gems they had amassed would soon be converted into gold. Asskickers United had heavily strained their finances for the sake of this undertaking, even resorting to borrowing a large amount of capital from high interest loan companies. Now all these matters could be resolved. After paying off the lenders, the remainder was enough to settle their money problems for at least a year.

「Don’t sell everything off at once. List up 5% every day. After you’ve sold off 70%, save the remaining 30% for our guild members to use,」Nie Yan said. The lesser the amount of gems circulating in the market, the higher they would fetch for.

Guo Huai immediately notified the trusted subordinates he had in every city to begin selling the gems!

They listed up the gems in the auction houses around the Viridian Empire in small batches. Since the supply was so low and the demand was too high, the players immediately started fighting over them.

The liveliness of the gem market exceeded Nie Yan’s wildest expectations. The Century Financial Group, Alliance of Mages, and other powers also started selling their gems. Since Asskickers United was the mastermind behind this whole matter, all the high quality gems were snatched up by them first. The other guilds were left to eat up the remaining scraps. So, no one else would even come close to profiting as much as them.

Guo Huai had the players below him gather information.

Excluding the 30% Asskickers United was keeping for themselves, they would make at least 20,000,000 gold from the remainder. If luck was on their side, even 25,000,000 gold wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility. Of the remaining guilds, Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, Radiant Sacred Flame, the War God Tribe, and Battle Crazed Alliance stood to make 3,000,000 gold each. The Century Financial Group and Alliance of Mages would obtain an estimated return of 2,000,000 gold each. Meanwhile, Divine Protectors, God Executioner Sword, and the other guilds were set to make about 1,000,000 gold. As for the remaining dozen or so smaller guilds, they would be lucky to make 100,000–200,000 gold.

Asskickers United had a juicy slab of meat while everyone else was left to slurp on rice gruel. Although powers like the Century Financial Group and Angel Corps would also profit, this couldn’t be helped.

Nevertheless, Asskickers United had definitely come out of this the biggest winner!

40,000,000 gold might seem like a lot, but compared to the whole Viridian and Satreen Empires, it was a drop in the bucket.

Nie Yan wasn’t worried that sucking up so much gold would have any impact on the greater whole.

Guo Huai was monitoring the situation in every city. As soon as the gems were listed up, they would be sold instantly. The gold was flowing into their pockets.

After selling 3% of the gems, Asskickers United had earned roughly 1,600,000 gold. At this rate, after selling a bit more tomorrow, they could pay off the last of the lenders.

「Amazing! Now this is what you call buying low and selling high!」Guo Huai sighed with emotion. The gems they had sold today had been initially acquired for only 200,000 gold. This was a profit of 800%!

「Send me a screenshot of all the gems in the treasury,」Nie Yan said. He wanted to look at their stock.

「Alright.」

Nie Yan opened the image and saw rows upon rows of sparkling gems organized neatly together, spanning across more than 30 pages. It was truly a magnificent and dazzling sight.

「We’ve secured almost all the quality rating 5 and higher Fire Resistance Gems and Poison Resistance Gems, same with the quality 6 and higher Physical Resistance Gems. We also have a monopoly on Attack Boost Gems and 15 other different types of gems. These will definitely go for a good price. As for the rest, they’re a bit lower quality,」Guo Huai explained.

「Just keep slowly selling everything. Don’t rush. Haste makes waste,」Nie Yan said. It wasn’t every day they got a money-making opportunity like this. They definitely had to maximize their profit. After all, the players weren’t fools. Once bitten, twice shy. This sort of move could only be used once.

「The elites in our guild have also made quite a bit, several thousand gold on the lower side and tens of thousands of gold on the higher side. Adding everything up together, they’ve also made a few million gold in total,」Guo Huai said. It appeared the top members from Asskickers United also got a nice taste of the pie.

「Not bad.」Nie Yan faintly smiled. Just Asskickers United getting rich wouldn’t allow the guild to grow truly powerful. At the same time, each member individually should be well-off too. Besides the equipment in the treasury, when these guild members encountered something that caught their eye on the outside, they would have the gold to purchase it. Only when every member was doing well would the guild grow stronger as a whole.

Nie Yan had no intention of letting this gold rot in the treasury. Besides upgrading the Starry Night Potion Shop, he would recruit a large amount of artisans to expand their market share in every industry. He also planned to purchase more land, establish new shops, and expand all their businesses to every city, town, and village.

Nie Yan had a far better understanding of the maps than any other player. He could easily predict which places would flourish and which would wither out and die. Of the Level 80–100+ maps, he knew which were good for levelling, which were good for treasure hunting, which were good for collecting materials… he knew everything.

This was the benefit of foresight. 20,000,000 gold of capital would allow Nie Yan to expand his business by more than fivefold. In the future, he would be able to earn several up to tens of times more gold. Besides this, he could also keep purchasing items that had high appreciation potential. In any case, the gold definitely wouldn’t go to waste in his hands.

Chapter 513 - Authority!

With everything in order, the next step was simply waiting for the gold to come rolling in. Nie Yan turned his attention back to his own matters. He felt confident leaving the selling of the gems to Guo Huai.

Nie Yan arrived at the location of the Ignatius Fur Shop, only to discover that it had become a pile of ruins with rubble and wooden boards strewn everywhere. The shop was gone, and Ignatius was nowhere to be seen.

Since the quest notification told Nie Yan to talk to Ignatius, the old man still had to be alive.

The Hilton Stronghold was comparable to a medium-sized city. Finding a single individual in this sea of people posed some difficulty.

Suddenly, a certain location came into Nie Yan’s mind. The administrative hall!

Nie Yan headed toward the center of the Hilton Stronghold. As he walked through the streets, he passed by several shops here and there, which only sold the most basic consumables. Everything else was broken down buildings and rubble. There were more than 60 properties up for sale in this area. About a third of them had been bought while some of the remaining ones were still decent.

Even though travel to the Hilton Stronghold wasn’t convenient, equipment ranging from Level 70–100 dropped here. This place would surely become a hotspot for player activity. During its most flourishing period in the previous timeline, the number of players moving in and out of the stronghold daily reached in the millions. The value of the land here would skyrocket in the future.

"It’d be great if I could snag up a few of the properties here…” Nie Yan muttered to himself.

The property that had been alloted to Asskickers United was used to establish a branch of the Starry Night Potion Shop. Unfortunately, it was rather small. At most it could be upgraded to Tier 10.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. Relying on his status as a Grand Scholar and his successful divination of the demon beast invasion, perhaps he could convince the administrator of the Hilton Stronghold to give him a few extra properties.

Nie Yan gazed at the street ahead. He saw fallen walls and debris everywhere as well as NPCs and players walking by. The number of players in the Hilton Stronghold was gradually increasing. Aside from the elite teams from the large guilds, the famous top ranked teams had also arrived. They were moving about in groups.

These players were all moving in 20-man teams, sticking close together.

The monsters around the Hilton Stronghold were much stronger. It generally took five teams working together to deal with a single demon beast. Sometimes even five teams wasn’t enough, requiring the cooperation of more than ten up to several dozen teams.

The monsters these players were hunting were fairly ordinary. They wouldn’t even dare to approach the Crusoe Demon Beast that Bladelight and the others were hunting. They would wait until their gear was better.

"Looking for Level 65+ teams to hunt Krong Gold Beetle. Two more teams, and we’re setting off. If you’re interested, whisper me.”

The streets were filled with players looking to hunt demon beasts. The minimum requirement was to be part off a 20-player team. All solo players were basically ignored.

After passing through the bustling streets and crossing a large plaza, Nie Yan arrived at the Hilton Stronghold’s administrative building. It was five stories and more than 20 meters tall. It looked quite grand with several watchtowers erected nearby. There were fully armed guards patrolling the vicinity. Security was extremely tight.

The walls of this building was riddled with faint cracks. One could imagine what kind of bitter and desperate battle took place here. When the demon beasts flooded into the Hilton Stronghold and swept through everything like a surging tide, only the most fortified buildings remained standing. Everything else was flattened into ruin.

Several players were chatting a small distance away from the administrative hall.

"What is that building?”

"The Hilton Stronghold’s administrative hall.”

"It’s so heavily guarded, completely different from the administrative halls of other cities.”

"Not a single player can approach the administrative hall right now,” a Thief said. At this moment, his gaze fell onto Nie Yan, whose appearance was hidden by a black cloak, approaching the guards.

"Look at that idiot. He’s done for. The guards are going to catch him!” an Arcane Mage gleefully squealed with schadenfreude.

Clad in thick gold plated armour and wielding sharp greatswords, these guards were Level 100 Elites.

The players thought Nie Yan was an idiot for daring to approach the administrative hall. However, what happened next left them dumbfounded. The guards didn’t stop Nie Yan but instead greeted him respectfully.

After exchanging a few words, the guards led Nie Yan into the administrative hall, his back disappearing into the building.

"Who the hell was that?”

"I don’t know. He must be extremely important!”

The group of players glanced at each other in shock. They’d never seen a player like Nie Yan before. These high level guards were usually arrogant and rude to any player who approached them. However, in front of Nie Yan, they were as meek as lambs.

Nie Yan entered the administrative hall. The inside looked spacious and grand.

Nie Yan took off his cloak. It would be too cumbersome to converse with NPCs otherwise. Besides, there were most likely no other players inside the administrative hall.

A slim old man quickly approached Nie Yan. It was Ignatius.

"Grand Scholar, sir, it’s an honour to see you again!” Ignatius greeted.

"Likewise.” Nie Yan nodded.

"Grand Scholar, thank you. If it weren’t for your successful divination, everyone here would’ve become food for those demon beasts,” Ignatius said with a grateful look.

"It’s nothing. May God protect everyone in the Viridian Empire.” Nie Yan smiled.

"Please follow me. I’ll bring you to meet Administrator Kilfeather.”

Ignatius led Nie Yan deeper into the building. After passing through the lounge, they arrived in a long corridor with statues lined along the walls. At this moment, another player was walking towards them.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He didn’t expect to meet another player in this place. He wanted to put his cloak back on, but it was already too late.

The eyes of the two met. The other player was a Mage. A lightning symbol was sewn to his gray robes, signifying he was an Elementalist.

He was a square faced man who looked to be in his 30s. His appearance was somewhat familiar. The scarlet gem at the tip of his staff emitted a dazzling light akin to a blazing flame.

Parak’s Blaze Staff. It was him!

The guild leader of Alliance of Mages, Crazy Magic!

He actually appeared here of all places!

Nie Yan and Crazy Magic met face to face. Both of them were briefly taken aback.

Enemies really did travel on a narrow road. Neither of them expected to meet under these circumstances.

Crazy Magic paid his respects to Ignatius with a bow. Ignatius simply gave him a glance and nodded.

"Nirvana Flame!” Crazy Magic’s gaze froze over. He didn’t expect Nie Yan to appear here. He only came here for a quest. He believed he was the only person here.

Ignatius’ attitude toward Nie Yan was extremely respectful. Crazy Magic couldn’t help but wonder how Nie Yan pulled this off.

Crazy Magic understood he had no way of stirring up trouble for Nie Yan right now. If he tried anything in the administrative hall, not only would he fail to disrupt Nie Yan’s quest progress, but he would also throw himself into the flames!

Similarly, Nie Yan was also wondering what Crazy Magic was doing here.

The two simply brushed past each other without saying a word. However, some words didn’t need to be said. It was clear as day these two players had their own allegiances.

Some people were destined to be enemies.

Seeing Crazy Magic leave, Nie Yan turned to Ignatius. "Can you tell me what he’s doing here?”

"He previously received a quest from the administrative hall and came here to turn it in today. He’s an Advanced Demon Hunter and Sentinel.”

Advanced Demon Hunter and Sentinel were pretty rare titles among ordinary players. However, they were far lacking compared to Nie Yan’s several titles. His Devil Slayer title was a full rank above Demon Hunter. As for the Sentinel title, though a bit rarer than the Demon Hunter and a fairly high-ranking title, it was merely good as a stopover. It couldn’t be compared at all to the Grand Scholar title.

Apart from the Grand Scholar title, Nie Yan was already on his way to becoming a Great Prophet, an exalted existence in the Viridian Empire. Not to mention he was also the saviour of the Hilton Stronghold. How could Ignatius dare to not answer his inquiries? Meanwhile, Crazy Magic had to be extremely cautious and respectful in front of Ignatius, since he was an important character in the Hilton Stronghold.

This was the difference in status!

In the Viridian Empire, this sort of difference in status was extremely evident. This world followed a strict nobility system.

Someone like Nie Yan with his Grand Scholar title could talk to any NPC in any city and easily receive their quests. However, many ordinary players didn’t even have the qualifications to talk to these NPCs, let alone accept quests from them.

Nie Yan learned about Crazy Magic’s situation from Ignatius. Nothing was omitted. This was the benefit of authority!

Chapter 514 - New Title!

Nie Yan followed Ignatius into the grand hall, where he saw a tall NPC in dark violet scale armour which sparkled brilliantly under the lighting of the room. A soaring dragon was carved on the left pauldron.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. It was Legendary-grade dragon armour!

Dragon armour was crafted from the scales of dragons. It boasted powerful defense with light weight for easy maneuverability.

NPCs who could wear Legendary-grade dragon armour were all supreme existences. Nie Yan recalled hearing that the administrator of Calore was the most powerful out of all the adminstrators in the Viridian Empire. He was the king. The next most powerful was the administrator of the Hilton Stronghold. Out of the three grand dukes in the Viridian Empire, he held the most authority.

Nie Yan inspected the NPC with Transcendent Insight.

Administrator Kilfeather (???): Level ???

Titles: Grand Duke, Great General, Dragon Slayer

Transcendent Insight didn’t reveal Kilfeather’s level. However, Nie Yan could confirm he was at least a Level 180 Lord.

"It’s nice to meet you, Grand Scholar. Thank you for everything you’ve done. If it weren’t for your divination of the demon beast invasion, the Hilton Stronghold would’ve been completely destroyed, and many more lives lost. You’re our saviour,” Kilfeather said. A Grand Scholar that had successfully predicted a major event would be recognized as an existence closest to god, a quasi prophet.

"As a fellow citizen of the Viridian Empire, it was only the natural thing to do,” Nie Yan replied.

After Kilfeather recounted the events of the demon beast invasion, Nie Yan more-or-less understood the gist of the situation. Although 90% of the NPCs in the Hilton Stronghold were killed, most of the Generals and Great Generals had survived. If reinforcements from Calore hadn’t arrived in time, the top brass would’ve likely been wiped out as well.

"Nevertheless, the fact remains you’ve saved the Hilton Stronghold. Here, this is a small token of our gratitude.”

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He was finally going to receive his reward!

Nie Yan heard two notification jingles ring in his ear.

You have received the Saint of the Hilton Stronghold title.

You have received Ygris’ Bulwark Bracers.

The Saint of the Hilton Stronghold title was a high ranking title. It might not mean much in other cities, but inside the stronghold it made the holder only second in status to the administrator!

Nie Yan checked the bonuses of the title.

Saint of the Hilton Stronghold: Increase Influence in the Hilton Stronghold by 50. Receive a 70% discount from all NPC shops in the Hilton Stronghold. Any player that offends the holder of this title will be thrown in jail and become an enemy of all NPCs within the Hilton Stronghold.

Apart from the administrator, no other NPC in the Hilton Stronghold would dare to disrespect Nie Yan.

Nie Yan’s status in the Hilton Stronghold had basically reached the peak. Any higher and he would be the administrator.

Aside from the title, Nie Yan also obtained quite a drool-worthy piece of equipment, the Legendary-grade Ygris’ Bulwark Bracers.

The Ygris’ Bulwark Bracers granted the wearer formidable protection. They were ashen-coloured, a rather ordinary look to them. Most Thief equipment was like this, generally consisting of colours which easily blended into the darkness such as gray or black. Function over form, these bracers fit this description perfectly. They were engraved with mysterious, ancient runes. On the sides of both bracers were jagged hook-like metal teeth which didn’t obstruct the user’s movements at all and could be used to parry attacks.

Nie Yan examined the properties of Ygris’ Bulwark Bracers.

Ygris’ Bulwark Bracers (Legendary)

Requirements: Level 100

Description: A piece of equipment crafted by Ygris, the blacksmith of the Hilton Stronghold. It boasts excellent defense and can protect the user from receiving any damage.

Properties: Defense 720–768, Block Rate +20%, All Control Skills Level +1, All Freedom Skills Level +2

Restrictions: Thief

Although Ygris’ Bulwark Bracers’ defense stat was high, the real highlight was the Block Rate +20%. This property was generally only found on shields. It could block an opponent’s attack and at the same time greatly reduce incoming damage.

The All Control Skills Level +1 and All Freedom Skills Level +2 were also fairly good. They were first-rate properties.

Although Ygris’ Bulwark Bracers didn’t have any supplementary skills, it was entirely worthy of its status as a piece of Legendary-grade equipment. It could be equipped at Level 100 and serve as a good placeholder until Nie Yan could equip the Tyrant Abak Set at Level 180.

Nie Yan put the bracers away in his bag. He began wondering if he should ask Administrator Kilfeather about buying land in the Hilton Stronghold.

The properties in the Hilton Stronghold were highly coveted by all the guilds. It wasn’t every day that Nie Yan got to meet Administrator Kilfeather. He couldn’t let this opportunity slip by.

After explaining the general situation, Kilfeather expressed his desire for Nie Yan to stay in the Hilton Stronghold. The presence of a Grand Scholar would be a great boon to any city, especially since their Great Prophecy skill could help mitigate disasters.

"As the Administrator of the Hilton Stronghold, I hope that more people will migrate here and help fight off the demon beast hordes. As an incentive, those who’ve contributed greatly to its defense will receive rewards befitting their deeds. Grand Scholar, I’m gifting you a villa. It’s about a minute’s walk from here,” Kilfeather said.

This villa was located in the busiest commerce zone of the Hilton Stronghold. Once you walked out the door, you would be greeted by streets bustling with activity. If a shop was established here, it would have huge appreciation potential. Yet this property was turned into a villa by the administrator. Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel this was a huge waste.

However, Nie Yan had no reason to reject a free villa.

"Administrator Kilfeather, I’m wondering if I can buy some land in the Hilton Stronghold? I feel like an increase in commerce would incentivize more people to migrate here...” Nie Yan eagerly awaited Kilfeather’s answer.

"Of course you can. The Hilton Stronghold still has roughly 230 properties up for sale, of which 60 are located in the trade district. We’ve set a rule that non-residents can buy up to six properties depending on their contribution. These properties are not transferable, and a commerce tax equal to 5% of the business’ profits must be paid annually. If the property is no longer in use, the owner may sell it back to us at 80% of the current market value. As the saviour of the Hilton Stronghold, you may purchase six properties, and you will be exempt from paying taxes,” Kilfeather replied.

Purchasing properties in the Hilton Stronghold was different from other cities. Nie Yan checked the rules. He could only purchase six properties. There was nothing to be done about it, such were the rules. The properties here would become incredibly valuable further down the line. Not to mention with the Saint of the Hilton Stronghold title, he didn’t have to pay any taxes!

"These are all the stores waiting to be sold,” Kilfeather said after pulling out a map depicting the Hilton Stronghold. There were a great many dots spread out all over the map.

Nie Yan gave a quick look over the 230 available properties on the map. Some properties were located in the center near the administrative hall. Others were located near the fringe. Their prices varied greatly, with the most expensive costing several hundreds of thousands of gold and the cheapest costing only a few thousand. No player had come forward to buy properties yet, and the ones alloted to the Level 5 and higher guilds weren’t that great. All 20 of the prime real estate locations from the previous timeline were still there.

With so many good properties in front of him, Nie Yan was having a hard time picking the best ones.

After doing a once over, Nie Yan finally settled on six properties he believed would have the best appreciation potential. All of them could be upgraded to Tier 16.

"Administrator Kilfeather, I’ve decided.” Nie Yan pointed out the properties he wanted to buy on the map.

After signing all the necessary documents, Nie Yan paid 180,000 gold to Kilfeather. If not for the 70% discount from Saint of the Hilton Stronghold, he would’ve had to pay 600,000 gold!

After receiving the title deeds, the six properties officially belonged to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan had benefited greatly from this trip to the administrative hall.

Six properties were far from enough to meet Nie Yan’s needs. However, he had no way of buying anymore himself. After thinking for a bit, he decided to have Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others quickly raise their contribution in the Hilton Stronghold. That way, they could purchase one or two properties before any other players. Right now, there were still prime real estate locations up for grabs. A few months down the line, however, even the cheapest most undesirable properties would be long gone.

There were many ways to raise contribution. One of them was to accept the demon beast subjection quests. Increasing contribution was a slow process. It couldn’t be rushed.

After finishing up his business, Nie Yan bid Ignatius and Kilfeather farewell and left the administrative hall. He wanted to check out the villa he was gifted.

Chapter 515 - Nirvana Flame’s Residence!

After passing through a plaza and entering the flourishing trade district, a luxurious three-story villa tucked away in a street corner entered Nie Yan’s sight. It was gated off from the public, with a stone wall running along the perimeter of the property. Inside was a vibrant, lush garden filled with all sorts of flowers and plants. Butterflies fluttered about and birds chirped cheerily. This 10,000 square feet estate stood in stark contrast to the war-ridden surroundings.

It was as if a fairytale wonderland had plopped down into a bustling downtown core. This villa stood out like a sore thumb.

Establishing a shop here would be quite profitable. Sadly, Nie Yan could only reside in this villa, not tear it down. It had a long history behind it and was considered a landmark, having weathered through many great battles without so much as being damaged.

It was rumoured six Legendary Mages had established a protective barrier around this villa. This was why it wasn’t destroyed during the demon beast invasion, or any of the other wars that had swept over this stronghold.

"This building will make a good temporary guild office for Asskickers United in the Hilton Stronghold,” Nie Yan muttered as he approached the villa.

A large crowd of players had gathered around the entrance. They were in a heated discussion about something.

"What’s going on?” Nie Yan was baffled.

After getting a closer look, Nie Yan could finally overhear their conversations.

"Nirvana Flame’s Residence… do you think it’s referring to some NPC or the Mad Rogue?”

"Probably some NPC. This villa is a landmark of the Hilton Stronghold. We’re in the middle of the trade district. Each of the properties here cost an arm and a leg. Even if Nirvana Flame had the gold, he’d buy a shop front, not some villa. It has no practical value!”

"I heard this villa has over 2,000 years of history behind it. It’s had more than 20 owners. Some NPCs say it contains a priceless treasure. If that’s really true, it’d make sense that Nirvana Flame bought this place.”

Hearing these comments, Nie Yan shifted his attention to the villa entrance and saw a wooden plaque beside the gate, elaborately carved with the words Nirvana Flame’s Residence.

Most famous NPCs had wooden plaques indicating their names outside the entrance of their residences.

This villa belonged to Nie Yan. Naturally, this kind of plaque would be put up.

Before long, the patrolling guards came over and dispersed the crowd of players that had gathered here. From now on, everything within a five-meter radius of the villa entrance was private property. No one was allowed to approach without Nie Yan’s permission.

Nie Yan took a stroll around the villa. The interior was quite spacious and fully furnished, and there was a large terrace in the garden.

Nie Yan made an announcement in the guild. From now on, this villa would be a temporary gathering hub for the players of Asskickers United inside the Hilton Stronghold. Accommodating a few hundred people wouldn’t be an issue.

The players from Asskickers United broke out in discussion. Snagging this kind of villa in the most flourishing commerce zone of the Hilton Stronghold was quite eye-catching!

The forums also exploded with activity. Everyone was marvelling at this villa. Some rich tycoons were even offering upwards of 600,000 gold to purchase it. However, Nie Yan rejected them all. He wasn’t short on gold first of all, and it couldn’t be sold to others anyway.

This villa was a symbol of Nie Yan’s status. In the future, all the Asskickers United players travelling to the Hilton Stronghold would gather here. It would become a mark of pride for the guild. At present, no other player could enjoy this sort of glory in a city.

Only a moment ago, when players were talking about a hidden treasure inside the villa, Nie Yan didn’t believe them. However, he would be lying if he claimed his interest wasn’t the least bit piqued.

Nie Yan searched through every room of the villa. The layout of the furnishings was simple yet elegant at the same time. After failing to find a hidden mechanism or anything of the sort, he could only hang his head low in defeat. Finally, he rearranged the chairs and tables in the main hall. In the future, it could serve as a conference room.

「So, I heard you got yourself a villa in the Hilton Stronghold?」Bladelight asked.

「It was a reward from a quest. It’ll be our temporary gathering hub. I’ve already had Watchful Snail dispatch people to take care of this place.」

「Not bad, we just happened to be lacking a base here.」When Bladelight previously heard news of Nie Yan acquiring a villa, he thought it was just a rumour. He didn’t expect it to actually be the truth. With this kind of villa, doing work in the Hilton Stronghold would be much more convenient.

「How are things going on your side?」Nie Yan asked.

「We’ve already taken down two demon beasts. We’re on our third one right now. I guess Level 90 Lords only amount to this much.」

Nie Yan chuckled. It wasn’t that Level 90 Lords were too weak, but rather the elites of Asskickers United were too strong. In the previous timeline, he had never seen a single guild with a lineup this powerful. With Bladelight’s unparalleled equipment added to the mix, Level 90 Lords were indeed nothing to break a sweat over.

Guo Huai worked hard day and night for the guild. In his busy schedule, he also made time to gather information on the guilds that had arrived in the Hilton Stronghold before Asskickers United. Alliance of Mages had taken down seven Level 80 Lords and Divine Protectors had taken down six. Since their main tanks were nowhere close to being on the same level as Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and Yi Yan, they didn’t dare to challenge the higher level Lords.

This was the gap in strength!

The top elites of Asskickers United were far above those from other guilds.

「You should be careful. Don’t get surrounded by Alliance of Mages or Divine Protectors. There’s also the players from Bloodfiends to worry about,」Nie Yan warned. Bladelight and the others should already be aware of the severity of the situation after watching the video of his exchange with them. Those five Thieves definitely weren’t to be underestimated!

Asskickers United’s forces killing Level 90 Lords had almost certainly reached the ears of Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors by now. There was no way to tell if they would try to stir up trouble. Bladelight and the others had no choice but to maintain their vigilance.

After chatting with Bladelight for a while, Nie Yan hung up the call. Next up, he contacted Guo Huai to take care of some of the matters in the Hilton Stronghold, including the management of the villa and how to make use of the six properties he bought.

「How are the gems selling?」Nie Yan asked.

「Everything we’ve put up has been sold. The market demand is still huge. Most of the high quality gems are with us. Players have no way of buying them. I predict many people are going to keel over from all the worry and stress. Should we put up some more for sale?」

「List up another 5%. Also, send 1,000,000 gold my way.」

「What do you need so much gold for?」Guo Huai asked in shock.

「Establishing auction houses. I bought six properties in the Hilton Stronghold, three of which are suitable to be auction houses. I’ll leave the remaining three to you. I’ll hand over the administrative authority to you in a moment.」

「What!? You bought six properties? I thought the properties in the Hilton Stronghold weren’t for sale!」

「It’s because I finished a quest here...」Nie Yan briefed Guo Huai on the events that took place in the Hilton Stronghold.

Guo Huai nodded.「So it’s like that… I’ll immediately send the gold over.」Asskickers United currently had 2,000,000 gold in the treasury. They weren’t the least bit short on funds.

Before long, Nie Yan received 1,000,000 gold, which he immediately spent on establishing auction houses at those three properties. Right now, a Tier 1 auction house cost roughly 100,000 gold, and upgrading to a Tier 5 auction house cost 300,000 gold.

Auction houses were the most profitable businesses. These three auction houses were located in excellent locations, and they were the very first to open in the Hilton Stronghold. Since they were all connected through the Super Trade Channel, players would have an easier time buying what they needed. As long as Nie Yan ran the auction houses well and no problems occured, he stood to gain at least 80% of the market in the Hilton Stronghold.

As for what the remaining three properties would be used for, Nie Yan and Guo Huai had decided they would be used for material collection, equipment processing, and a Tinkerer shop. These industries weren’t as lucrative as auction houses, but they were still flourishing.

As for how much gold could be made from the Hilton Stronghold, only time could tell. However, in the future, this place would definitely become just as prosperous as Calore.

After dealing with the six properties, Nie Yan prepared to continue levelling by hunting one or two demon beasts. He was close to level 100. After that, he could become a Luminous Dancer.

「Nie Yan, where are you right now?」Xie Yao asked.

「I’m in the Hilton Stronghold. How’s your quest going?」Nie Yan replied. Xie Yao was still busy questing. Every time he tried to contact her, it would say the other party was busy. Even though he could bypass this and call her through their linked game cabins, he decided not to disturb her so as not to affect her quest.

「I’ve made good progress. I’ve already collected three pieces of that set. But I’ll have to wait until I reach Level 100 to start collecting the fourth piece.」

「How about we level together then?」Nie Yan asked. Xie Yao’s levelling speed definitely wasn't slow. As a Thief and Holy Mage, them working together would only make levelling faster.

Nie Yan checked Xie Yao’s character information. She was already Level 79. Furthermore, she was currently wearing three pieces of Legendary-grade equipment. Her damage would definitely be off the charts.

「Mhm, okay. It’ll take me about 20 minutes to get to you,」Xie Yao said. She summoned her horse and set off for the Hilton Stronghold.

When Nie Yan was rushing to Level 100 in the previous timeline, he had spent some time levelling in the maps around the Hilton Stronghold. So, he was decently familiar with the surroundings here. He recalled players from the Underworld started arriving on the surface not long after the demon beast invasion, which led to several major conflicts. When the demon beasts were finally wiped out, this land was transformed into a battlefield between players from either camp.

The war of the Righteous Faction and Evil Faction was fast approaching.

Chapter 516 - Resurrection Scroll

Nie Yan pulled up some information related to demon beasts online and started researching the topography of the nearby maps. Gradually, his old dust-laden memories were brought back to the surface as he recalled the locations of certain chests, monsters, and more.

There were several suitable levelling spots for him and Xie Yao in the vicinity of the Hilton Stronghold. After finally deciding on one, Nie Yan headed to the Starry Night Potion Shop and picked up 100 Advanced Fire Resistance Potions and 10 Intermediate Invisibility Potions. Intermediate Invisibility Potions were fairly common, costing about 5 gold each. On the other hand, the material cost of Advanced Fire Resistance Potions alone was already 10 gold. Adding in labour costs, the production cost for a single potion was 60 gold. However, Advanced Fire Resistance Potions sold for at least 300 gold each in the marketplace. This was a markup of 400%! Ordinary players couldn’t bear to casually use such a precious potion, saving it only for special occasions, such as running an especially challenging dungeon.

For every Advanced Fire Resistance Potion sold, the Starry Night Potion Shop pocketed 240 gold. They were a money-making machine!

At this stage of the game, Advanced Alchemists were relatively rare and Advanced Fire Resistance Potion Recipes were difficult to come by, while demand was only increasing. This ensured the price of Advanced Fire Resistance Potions remained high. Ordinary players would think twice before using up such a precious potion. After all, 300 gold was enough to buy a piece of decent Gold-grade equipment. However, once you drank a potion, it was gone.

In the previous timeline, Nie Yan couldn’t bear using such a costly potion. Obtaining one alone was enough to make him go wild with joy. However, in this life, he didn’t even bat an eye at the sight of a hundred.

With his financial resources, Nie Yan couldn’t care less about this amount of gold. Only vast sums could pique his interest.

Advanced Fire Resistance Potions provided 50 Fire Resistance for two minutes with a cooldown of 10 minutes.

Besides the Fire Resistance Potion, Nie Yan still had the Kiln Fire Heart.

Kiln Fire Heart (Special Item)

Properties: Fire Resistance +50, Fire Magic Amplification +20%

Kiln Fire: Allows the user to possess the strength of the Kiln Fire, becoming immune to all fire damage for 30 seconds. The user can survive in lava. Cooldown: 20 minutes.

The Kiln Fire Heart and Advanced Fire Resistance Potion gave a combined total of 100 Fire Resistance. Add this to the 20-30 base Fire Resistance most players had, and you could completely ignore the fire attacks of ordinary monsters. If that still wasn’t enough, you could activate Kiln Fire to become completely immune to fire damage.

Nie Yan had also snagged himself a couple pieces of Thief equipment with high Fire Resistance, further increasing his Fire Resistance by another 70–80.

About 20 minutes later, Xie Yao arrived at the Hilton Stronghold. The two met up outside the entrance of Nie Yan’s villa.

Xie Yao wore a tight-fitting, light blue robe which accentuated her slender figure. It emitted a gentle blue glow that paired well with her fair face as well as the blue ribbon tied to her hair. She looked lovely and adorable. Her staff was about a meter long and crafted from Magic Redwood. It had a large blue magic crystal at the tip which swirled with magic energy.

The blue glow around Xie Yao’s robe made her look even holier and pure.

"The robe, staff, and ribbon are all part of the Saintess Christiana Set. What do you think?” Xie Yao said with a smile. She twirled around to give Nie Yan a look.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but be captivated by Xie Yao’s smile. All the worries in his heart disappeared.

"You look great.” Nie Yan nodded. This was undeniable. A natural beauty like Xie Yao would look good in anything she wore. One could also see this from the reactions of the surrounding players. They couldn’t help but gawk. When they saw Nie Yan next to her, their eyes were filled with envy.

While the two chatted and strolled along the streets, time seemed to freeze around them. Everyone dropped what they were doing to gaze after Xie Yao.

"Who is she?”

"Yao Yao, Nirvana Flame’s girlfriend.”

"Then that person in the black cloak must be Nirvana Flame!”

"Yeah, probably…”

The players on the streets chatted with one another in hushed tones. After the incident with Eternal, Yao Yao had entered the limelight. When it was later revealed she was Nirvana Flame’s girlfriend, only then did everyone understand what was going on. Even his girlfriend was strong!

"Nie Yan, what are we going to do?”

"We’re going to hunt demon beasts.”

"Just the two of us? Don’t we need more people?” Xie Yao asked in shock. She heard that even the weakest demon beasts were Level 70–80 Elites and Lords. They were incredibly difficult to deal with.

"It’s fine, trust me,” Nie Yan chuckled. Two players hunting demon beasts made for quick levelling. If they formed an expedition team, the experience would be divided up between many more players.

"Where are we going?”

"Flame Cavern,” Nie Yan replied. Flame Cavern was a map where Level 80 Elites and Lords roamed.

Xie Yao figured Nie Yan had probably come up with some bizarre levelling method. She had a type of absolute confidence in him. After he reassured her, she stopped worrying. She would leave everything to him. It seemed like he already had a plan anyway.

"Take these, you’ll need them later,” Nie Yan said. He handed over the Kiln Fire Heart and 100 Advanced Fire Resistance Potions to Xie Yao.

"Mhm.” Xie Yao accepted the trade.

The two departed from the Hilton Stronghold and set off for the Flame Cavern.

...

Inside a house in the Hilton Stronghold, Crazy Magic, Divine Flame, and 15 others had gathered for a meeting. Everyone here was part of the upper echelon of Alliance of Mages or Divine Protectors.

"We’ve received word that Asskickers United’s forces are challenging Level 90 Lords right now. I reckon the amount of contribution we earn from killing six Level 80 Lords won’t equal their earnings from killing a single Level 90 Lord. At this rate, all the properties in the Hilton Stronghold are going to end up in their hands,” Divine Flame said. Merit points were required to purchase properties from the administrator of the Hilton Stronghold. Whoever racked up contribution the fastest would get to snatch up all the good properties first. In the future, the Hilton Stronghold would become the battlefield between the Righteous Faction and Evil Faction, the main place for players to earn glory and achievements. Every expert in the Viridian Empire who planned on walking the martial path would come here. The future prosperity of this stronghold was guaranteed. Not to mention the consumption costs for players here was significantly greater compared to other cities. They definitely didn’t wish to see Asskickers United monopolizing such a large market.

"If worst comes to worst, we’ll have to resort to that,” Crazy Magic said in a chilling tone. He wouldn’t sit idly by while Asskickers United gobbled up all the properties in the Hilton Stronghold. Even a rabbit would bite if backed into a corner.

"We’ll leave this matter to you then. Let us know if you need anything, and we’ll try our best to accommodate you.” Divine Flame let out a lazy yawn. He didn’t enjoy doing this type of work. Whatever plan Crazy Magic came up with, he would be happy to idly follow along.

The relationship between Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors was complex. They shared the same boss, having both received the investment of the Century Financial Group. So, they had to cooperate. At the same time, they were also competing against each other. As Level 7 guilds that occupied a city each, both were important partners of the Century Financial Group. However, neither was willing to lose out to the other. Both wanted to surpass the other and receive more investments from the Century Financial Group, for the sake of growing more powerful. So, from a certain angle, they were also fierce rivals. Since Alliance of Mages was taking the initiative to impede Asskickers United, they were receiving more support from the Century Financial Group. Meanwhile, Divine Protectors opted to recuperate and gather their strength. They didn’t care much for the conflict between the Century Financial Group and Asskickers United. Most of the time, they were only putting in the bare minimum amount of effort.

After hearing Divine Flame’s words, Crazy Magic inwardly snorted. He was quite dissatisfied with Divine Flame’s attitude. However, he didn’t say anything. They were allies, after all. The Century Financial Group wouldn’t permit any internal fighting. There was no reason to have a falling out over something like this.

Crazy Magic gathered some Thieves. After passing down his orders, he had them move out and start tracking the movements of Asskickers United’s forces.

"I heard Nirvana Flame is in the Hilton Stronghold. Apparently, he got himself a villa here,” Divine Flame said. Any news about Nirvana Flame was always world shaking. This matter had already blown up on the forums.

"I know. I bumped into him earlier,” Crazy Magic responded.

"You two met? Where?” Divine Flame was stunned. He wondered what kind of circumstances would lead to the two of them meeting.

"At the administrative hall. After I finished turning in a quest, I saw Ignatius leading him inside. I can confirm whatever quest he received, it wasn’t ordinary. Ignatius is one of the most influential figures in the Hilton Stronghold. However, he was completely fawning over Nirvana Flame. This can only mean one thing. Nirvana Flame has a much higher status than him. Who knows what kind of title he obtained. Not long after that, word came out that he got himself a villa here. That villa is probably a quest reward. It’s best if you steer clear of him in the Hilton Stronghold. His status is higher than ours. If a dispute breaks out, we’ll be the ones suffering,” Crazy Magic said. He recalled a previous incident when the former guild leader of Victorious Return, Heaven Breaker, had been tricked by Nirvana Flame, and was thrown into jail and locked in there for quite a few days before being released. If Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors wanted to harm Nie Yan, they would have to do it outside the stronghold. Furthermore, they would have to make sure the tables couldn’t be turned on them.

Divine Flame sank deep into thought. Nirvana Flame truly wasn’t simple. Even though Asskickers United was still only a Level 5 guild, they weren’t the slightest bit weaker than Alliance of Mages or Divine Protectors. In some aspects, such as number of experts, they were even superior. With Nirvana Flame’s esteemed status in Calore and the Hilton Stronghold, defeating Asskickers United would be incredibly difficult. At least, this wasn't something Alliance of Mages or Divine Protectors could accomplish. It would be better to wait and see what the Century Financial Group had up their sleeve. Perhaps only Angel Corps going all out stood a chance of victory.

At this moment, Crazy Magic received word that the Thieves he dispatched to tail Nie Yan and Xie Yao had completely lost track of them.

Crazy Magic’s expression gradually darkened. It appeared tracking Nie Yan’s whereabouts wasn’t a simple matter.

"Do you know the identity of the five who surrounded and almost killed Nirvana Flame?” Divine Flame asked. It wasn’t easy for him to obtain this insider information from Asskickers United. Alliance of Mages, on the other hand, had a better information network than Divine Protectors.

"They’re from the Bloodfiends. I’ve already asked. Those five weren’t hired by the Century Financial Group. It appears there are others eyeing Nirvana Flame besides us. They don’t seem simple either,” Crazy Magic said. They had previously hired Shadow Killer to assassinate Nie Yan, but that ended up in failure. One or two people probably wasn’t enough. If he couldn’t be outmatched in skill, they could only rely on numbers.

"Another major power is eyeing Asskickers United? Isn’t that great! Have you made contact with them yet?” Divine Flame asked with a faint smile. The more hectic things were, the more advantageous for him.

"No, we haven’t been able to reach them, and the Bloodfiends are completely stonewalling us,” Crazy Magic shook his head. "In any case, my scouts have spotted Asskickers United’s forces. What say we stir up some trouble?”

"Up to you. Tell me your plan,” Divine Flame said. He needed to consider things carefully.

...

Outside the Hilton Stronghold, Nie Yan and Xie Yao were swiftly heading towards their destination. Their speed was enough to evade the pursuit of most if not all players. Previously, several players had tried tailing them, only to be quickly thrown off. Their speed couldn’t be compared to Nie Yan and Xie Yao’s. They could only watch helplessly as the two got farther and farther away, disappearing into the horizon.

About 10 minutes later, Nie Yan and Xie Yao arrived outside the entrance of a cave.

This cave was located below a precipice. Waves of scorching hot air were blowing out from the entrance. A faint yellow glow could be seen deep inside.

Nie Yan switched his several pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment for equipment with high fire resistance. These pieces of equipment were also socketed with Fire Resistance Gems. Adding everything up, he had roughly 130 Fire Resistance. He turned to Xie Yao and said, "Wear the Kiln Fire Heart I gave you.”

"Already done,” Xie Yao replied. She had equipped the Kiln Fire Heart into her accessory slot.

"What’s your Fire Resistance at right now?”

"Without drinking a Fire Resistance Potion, it’s at over 70,” Xie Yao said. Having that much Fire Resistance at this stage of the game was pretty good.

"Alright, we’re just about ready to go. When we’re fighting the monsters later on, listen to my instructions. Remember to keep drinking the Advanced Fire Resistance Potions,” Nie Yan said. Xie Yao was the main damage dealer. Her damage would fall off too hard if she swapped to Fire Resistance gear. A Mage having 70 Fire Resistance was already quite decent.

"Nie Yan, I have something here. I’m not sure if it’ll be useful or not.” Xie Yao took out two scrolls from her bag.

These two scrolls were embroidered with gold. They had a faint golden glow and looked quite ornate and elegant. It instantly caught Nie Yan’s attention. He could tell they were definitely high-grade goods.

"What are these two scrolls for?” Nie Yan asked.

"Resurrection Scrolls, they can revive a teammate once. I obtained them from a quest reward,” Xie Yao replied. She handed over the scrolls to Nie Yan.

"No wonder, they’re Resurrection Scrolls…” Nie Yan had heard about Resurrection Scrolls in his past life. He knew what they were but had never seen them before. They would sell for thousands of gold and counted as one of the most expensive consumables. However, they were almost never for sale. Generally, only top ranked teams and players could obtain this item. They always kept it for themselves for emergency use. As such, Resurrection Scrolls were impossible to find in the auction house.

Nie Yan checked the description of the Resurrection Scrolls. They could revive a fallen comrade at the loss of only 20% experience. Red named players would be put in a weakened state with all stats reduced by 90% for 10 minutes. Most importantly, this item could be used in the middle of combat!

When there were no Priests around, Resurrection Scrolls were quite useful. For high level players like Xie Yao and Nie Yan, the amount of experience lost from dropping one level was extremely costly, far more than a single Resurrection Scroll.

"Let’s both keep a scroll on us. That way, if one of us dies, the other can revive them,” Nie Yan said. These Resurrection Scrolls acted as a form of insurance. As long as the both of them didn’t die at the same time, it would be fine. Losing 20% experience was still bearable.

With numerous escape skills in his arsenal, Nie Yan wouldn’t die under normal circumstances. However, Xie Yao was different. Most of the monsters here could one shot a squishy caster like her.

The two put away the Resurrection Scrolls in their bags. After finishing their preparations, Nie Yan entered the cave and started scouting the path ahead.

After receiving the okay from Nie Yan, Xie Yao also entered the cave.

Nie Yan relied on the information he found online and his vague memories of the place to explore the cave. He avoided the hot spots for monster activity as they travelled deeper inside. His and Xie Yao’s Night Vision stats were quite high. They were unlikely to lose their way in the darkness.

Nie Yan was at the front while Xie Yao followed closely behind. There was about 10 meters of space between them. This was a fairly safe distance. If he encountered a monster, she would have enough time to duck away to safety.

As the two traveled deeper inside, Nie Yan spotted a flaming, duel-chain wielding giant in the distance. It stood three meters tall with a sturdy build. Wearing nothing more than a loincloth, its flesh and muscles of rock stood out.

A trail of flames followed after the giant wherever it went.

It was a Flame Giant, a Level 80 Lord!

In the Underworld, Flame Giants were existences ordinary players wouldn’t dare to provoke. They were frequently found in places filled with lava. They possessed extremely high combat strength. Beside their powerful melee attacks, they could also cast formidable fire magic.

"We’re finally here,” Nie Yan muttered. He was about 30 meters away from the Flame Giants. According to his memory and the information found online, there was a tunnel that led to an area with beetle monsters closeby. It was about 200 meters long and could only fit two people side by side. In this tunnel was a suitable spot to kill the Flame Giants.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao needed to get past these Flame Giants first.

Seeing the Flame Giant walking around in the distance, Xie Yao halted her steps and ducked behind a corner.

"Nie Yan, what are we going to do?”

"Drink an Invisibility Potion, follow me,” Nie Yan said. He entered stealth and proceeded forward.

As Xie Yao drank an Invisibility Potion, her body also melted into the darkness.

"What are your coordinates?” Nie Yan asked. He needed to know Xie Yao’s position to make his preparations.

Xie Yao shared her coordinates with Nie Yan.

"I’ll go draw the Flame Giant away,” Nie Yan said. He took out the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow and fired off a few bolts into the distance.

「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Five bolts flew through the air and struck the ground, creating a sound that rang throughout the cave.

Hearing the sound, the Flame Giant halted its steps and went over to investigate.

"Let’s go, now!” Nie Yan anxiously said. The two rushed forward.

This method would only distract the Flame Giant for a few seconds. Nevertheless, it was enough time to allow Nie Yan and Xie Yao to pass through.

Passing through this area, Nie Yan’s eyes locked onto a corner to the right of him. There were many Firestone deposits here. Firestones were a fairly common ore. Even of you threw them on the market place, they would only sell for 1 gold a piece. He didn’t care about them in the slightest. What he was staring at was a red chest hidden between the Firestones.

This chest was made of an unknown material. Scorched red by the fire elements in the air, it was radiating quite a bit of heat.

With but a glance, Nie Yan could tell this chest was at least Dark Gold-grade! After opening so many chests, his treasure hunting senses had improved greatly.

When Nie Yan passed through here in the previous timeline, he had never discovered a chest. It appeared this chest had long since opened by someone else back then.

A moment later, the heavy footsteps of the Flame Giant could be heard drawing closer. Nie Yan’s face paled. They had to leave quickly! If they were discovered, they would be in grave danger!

Nie Yan and Xie Yao quickly headed for the tunnel up ahead. They would get to safety first. As for opening the chest, they would figure out a way later.

The two vanished into the dark corner.

The Flame Giant returned to its original position. After looking around and finding nothing, it continued wandering about aimlessly.

Nie Yan discovered the Flame Giant was closely guarding the chest. Unless he killed it, there was no way of opening the chest.

Chapter 517 - Another Sub Legendary-grade Chest!

As for how to kill the Flame Giant, Nie Yan already had a method in mind. He would go with his original plan.

"Follow me,” Nie Yan said, leading Xie Yao deeper into the cave. After a while, they arrived at a deep, narrow tunnel.

This tunnel could only fit two people side-by-side at most. Even turning around was cumbersome.

It was impossible for large monsters like the Flame Giant to fit inside.

After describing his plan to Xie Yao, Nie Yan said, "Wait here, I’ll go draw aggro.”

"Don’t Flame Giants have ranged magic? Can’t they attack us from inside the tunnel?” Xie Yao asked. Nie Yan’s plan didn’t seem feasible.

"You’re right. Flame Giants do have ranged magic. However, haven’t you noticed that this tunnel isn’t straight but winding? Their magic attacks won’t be able to hit us directly, so the damage will be greatly reduced. Even though we’ll be hit by the splash, as long you have more than 100 Fire Resistance, the damage will be negligible. That’s why I gave you so many Advanced Fire Resistance Potions,” Nie Yan explained. He was already clear on every aspect of his plan. Thanks to the curve in the tunnel, they could still hit the Flame Giants with magic going in a straight line at a distance of 30 meters. If they retreated back to a distance of 40 meters, the Flame Giant couldn’t attack them.

As long as Nie Yan and Xie Yao could tank the attacks, they could slowly whittle the Flame Giant to death. There were over 10 Flame Giant spawn points in the vicinity, more than enough for them to level up continuously.

Nie Yan already had everything planned out. Xie Yao had to admit that his words made a lot of sense as she suddenly came to an understanding.

"Then, I’ll wait for you to come back. Be careful,” Xie Yao said. She retreated into the tunnel.

Nie Yan smiled. He entered stealth and made his way over to the Flame Giant. As he drew closer, its silhouette gradually came into view. It was about 30 meters away. He raised his cavalry crossbow, took aim, and pulled the trigger.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Five bolts flew forward.

「Put! Put! Put!」All five bolts struck the Flame Giant.

−183

−207

−196

−201

−189

The Flame Giant roared out in pain. It locked onto Nie Yan and charged toward him.

"Success!” Nie Yan quickly put away his cavalry crossbow, then turned tail and fled.

After a while, under Nie Yan’s lead, the Flame Giant was brought to the narrow tunnel.

With a whoosh sound, a ray of holy light flew out of the tunnel entrance and struck the Flame Giant, exploding on impact.

Xie Yao started attacking while Nie Yan ducked into the tunnel. She brandished her staff non-stop, firing off one spell after another. Her gear was much better than Tang Yao’s. After all, she already had three pieces of Legendary-grade equipment. The only thing she lacked was a fairy. She was superior to Tang Yao in terms of raw power but lost out in cast speed and mana regeneration. Like this, the two were roughly neck and neck in damage.

Xie Yao’s spells were each dealing more than 1,600 damage to the Flame Giant. This was quite considerable.

Nie Yan checked the Flame Giant’s health, roughly 1,200,000. Its health regeneration speed was also quite high. With Xie Yao’s damage output, killing it would take at least three hours.

"Keep attacking. Be vigilant. If the Flame Giant starts casting magic, quickly pull back and drink an Advanced Fire Resistance Potion,” Nie Yan said. He was closely watching every move of the Flame Giant.

The unending barrage of magic caused the Flame Giant to roar out in pain and thrash about ceaselessly. Its aggro shifted onto Xie Yao. However, due to the tunnel being too narrow, it had no way of squeezing inside. It stuck its thick arm into the tunnel and tried to grab Nie Yan and Xie Yao. However, they were out of its reach.

Nie Yan also took out his cavalry crossbow and started shooting at the Flame Giant. Although he didn’t hit nearly as hard as Xie Yao, every little bit of damage helped.

The Flame Giant attempted to widen the tunnel entrance. However, the best it could accomplish was breaking off a few rocks from the wall.

With a thunderous roar, the Flame Giant shook the entire tunnel.

None of the Flame Giant’s actions influenced Xie Yao. She was still firing out an endless barrage of spells.

As the spells struck the Flame Giant one after another, it finally became enraged. It opened its mouth and fired off a beam of flames into the tunnel.

"Pull back! Drink an Advanced Fire Resistance Potion!” Nie Yan anxiously called out as he swiftly retreated back.

Xie Yao drank an Advanced Fire Resistance Potion while retreating back.

As the two retreated 10 meters, the surging flames swept over them before disappearing.

−2,382, −2,762

Nie Yan and Xie Yao instantly lost a large chunk of their health.

The Flame Giant’s flame jet greatly diminished in power after travelling through the cave, only dealing 30% damage when it hit Nie Yan and Xie Yao. This was even further reduced by their high Fire Resistance. As such, they survived the attack.

Nie Yan patched Xie Yao up with a Combat Bandage while drinking a Health Recovery Potion himself. Their health gradually restored back to full.

Xie Yao walked back up and continued firing spells at the Flame Giant.

Time gradually passed. After about two hours, Xie Yao and Nie Yan finally brought the Flame Giant’s health down to zero. It let out a mournful cry and collapsed on the ground, transforming into a charred pile of rubble.

Nie Yan checked his experience bar. It had risen by about 30%. As a demon beast from the Underworld, the Flame Giant gave a fairly generous amount of experience. Furthermore, the demon beast subjugation quest would give an equivalent amount of experience as a reward. Like this, players hunting around the Hilton Stronghold were effectively earning double experience.

Since Xie Yao’s level was relatively low, she instantly levelled up after killing the Flame Giant.

Nie Yan picked up the loot dropped by the Flame Giant. He obtained a Level 80 Dark Gold-grade fire staff with decent properties.

"Let’s go open that chest now,” Nie Yan said. He and Xie Yao headed to the location where they found the chest.

After a while, the two arrived at the place with the Firestone deposits. The chest was right there.

The Firestones were burning brightly with red flames jumping about.

After approaching the Firestones, Nie Yan felt a scorching wave of heat assault him. His face, hands, and any other body parts with exposed skin turned bright red.

−250

−250

−250...

Nie Yan was taking fire damage! He didn’t expect the fire elements in these Firestone deposits to be so concentrated. His gaze focused on the chest. It was red hot, resembling an ingot that had just been taken out of the furnace. A phoenix was carved into the side of chest. It was vivid and lifelike, like a spirit dancing in the flames. This engraving dated back to the Era of Shared Governance. The phoenix represented rebirth through fire, a totemic beast that Fire Mages worshipped. Among all creatures, phoenixes were apex existences on the same level as dragons.

Nie Yan suddenly heard the faint cry of a phoenix. It seemed illusory, but the sound had clearly entered his ears.

Nie Yan’s mind trembled.. His judgement earlier was wrong. This wasn’t a Dark Gold-grade chest. It was clearly a Sub Legendary-grade chest!

"Nie Yan, is this a Sub Legendary-grade chest?” Xie Yao asked. Before she also believed it was only Dark Gold-grade. However, the illusion of the phoenix cry just now changed her mind. She didn’t expect to encounter such a rare chest here of all places. Pinching her arm, she checked whether she was dreaming.

"I think so, I’ll try opening it,” Nie Yan replied. He approached the chest. The closer he got, the more intense the heat became. The damage he was taking every second increased to 500. Just as it looked like he was about to die, he quickly pulled back to safety and drank an Intermediate Health Potion.

The temperature around the chest was too high. Nie Yan had no way of opening the chest. Just approaching the chest had almost killed him. Even 100 Fire Resistance couldn’t protect him. He might instantly go up in flames and die by simply touching the chest, let alone trying to unlock it.

"Xie Yao, can you pass me the Kiln Fire Heart?” In this kind of situation, the Kiln Fire Heart was perfect.

"Alright.” Xie Yao unequipped the Kiln Fire Heart and handed it over to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan equipped the Kiln Fire Heart. Looking at his skill bar, he activated the Kiln Fire skill, making him immune to all fire damage. He then quickly went over to open the chest.

After activating Kiln Fire, Nie Yan no longer felt the pain of the searing heat. It was as if his entire body were covered in a protective film.

Without an item like the Kiln Fire Heart, opening this chest would truly be an ordeal.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder who had opened this chest in the previous timeline and what sort of loot they found inside.

Nie Yan furrowed his brows after inspecting the chest. This was bizarre. The lock was extremely high level. He had no way of opening it with his current Lockpicking skill.

This was only a Level 80 map. Why would such a high level chest appear here?

Nie Yan suddenly had a thought. Did this chest belong to some sort of special quest, and only those with a special key could open it?

Chapter 518 - Phoenix

If a special quest was involved, certain conditions would have to be met to open the chest. Furthermore, whatever was contained inside would likely be related to the quest.

Nie Yan was about to give up, when he recalled the Mana Key in his bag. He wondered if it could open the chest.

Nie Yan took out the Mana Key and aligned it with the keyhole of the lock on the chest. The key emitted a brilliant light and changed shape to fit the lock.

Nie Yan inserted the Mana Key inside.

Nie Yan’s mind trembled. Perhaps the Mana Key really could open this chest!

About 30 seconds later, a notification popped up.

Opening treasure chest… Progress: 8%... 12%...

The Mana Key actually worked! Nie Yan was elated. This was a Sub Legendary-grade chest! With how high level the lock was, the items inside definitely wouldn’t be ordinary!

"I hope it’s not a quest item...” Nie Yan muttered.

With a click, the chest popped open. Nie Yan was greeted by a blast of hot air which nearly sent him flying.

Nie Yan stabilized himself. A bright red light radiated out from inside the chest as a domineering aura swept over him. He rummaged around inside and fished out a large crimson red egg shrouded in scorching hot flames. He could feel a strong heartbeat pulsing through his hand. There was a living creature inside.

−320

−320

−320...

Will you accept the "Resurrection of the Blazing Phoenix” quest?

Nie Yan’s eyes widened in shock. There was a Phoenix inside this egg!

Nie Yan couldn’t help but be moved. He had obtained another flying mount.

"It’s a pet egg. Here, you can have it,” Nie Yan said. The difficulty of the Resurrection of the Blazing Phoenix quest probably wasn’t low. A player with a certain amount of skill was required to clear it. Not to mention things like pet eggs had to stay by their owner’s side.

Nie Yan had never heard of anyone obtaining a Phoenix. This map had already been opened up at Level 80–90. It seemed this Sub legendary-grade chest was added only after the release of flying mounts.

Nie Yan instantly thought of something. Since he had found this egg here, that meant there were definitely more in other places. The proliferation of flying mounts was inevitable.

"You don’t want it?” Xie Yao asked.

"I already have the Darkwing Dragon. Each player can only have a single flying mount,” Nie Yan explained. This Blazing Phoenix Egg couldn’t be allowed to go to waste.

"Oh, alright. I’ll take it then.” Xie Yao nodded. When she took the egg from Nie Yan, she started taking 160 fire damage every second. She quickly accepted the Resurrection of the Blazing Phoenix quest. After which the scorching hot flames around the egg no longer harmed her.

"After I accepted the quest, my Fire Resistance increased by 80!” Xie Yao exclaimed. Her current Fire Resistance was over 160. If she drank an Advanced Fire Resistance Potion, it would almost be 200! This was quite frightening at her current level. Even if she were to be directly hit by a Flame Giant’s fire magic, she would probably only take around 20% damage.

The Phoenix was a creature of fire!

Nie Yan continued rummaging through the chest and pulled out a silver-white necklace. In contrast to the scorching heat from the chest, he felt a refreshing, cool, and soothing sensation from the necklace.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. This necklace definitely wasn’t ordinary!

After taking out the necklace, the chest transformed into flames and dissipated into nothing.

Nie Yan inspected the necklace.

Necklace of Serenity (Sub Legendary): Special Item

Properties: Grants the user immunity to Rank 8 or lower charm, fear, and other mind related status debuffs.

Restrictions: Can only be equipped by players with less than 1,500 Spirit.

"How high is your Spirit stat?” Nie Yan turned to Xie Yao and asked. This was his first time encountering a piece of equipment with this kind of requirement. Only those with low Spirit could equip this necklace.

When a player’s Spirit was below the threshold, the spirit imprint on the necklace would have an effect. However, if the player’s Spirit was over the threshold, the necklace would have no effect.

The Necklace of Serenity was likely related to the Resurrection of the Blazing Phoenix quest. If Xie Yao could use it, he would give it to her.

"It’s over 2,300, why?” Xie Yao replied.

"Wow, that’s pretty high,” Nie Yan sucked in a cold breath of air. It would be impressive for ordinary players to have 1,200 Spirit at Xie Yao’s level. Having 2,300 was practically unheard of. With such high Spirit, even if she didn’t wear the Necklace of Serenity, she would still have a high chance of resisting any Rank 8 or lower mind related status debuffs.

"All three pieces of Legendary-grade equipment I’m wearing increase Spirit,” Xie Yao explained. It was impossible for her Spirit stat not to be high.

"So it’s like that.” Only then did Nie Yan recall the Spirit bonus of the Saintess Christiana Set was excellent, far superior to other similar sets.

Since Xie Yao couldn’t equip it, Nie Yan decided to keep the Necklace of Serenity for himself. This necklace was fairly useful to him, especially as a melee class that tended to have fairly low Spirit. Mind Magic was the main method casters used to deal with melee classes.

The harvest this time around was pretty good, in particular the Phoenix Egg in Xie Yao’s hands. If she could hatch it, Asskickers United would have another flying mount.

"Let’s keep farming Flame Giants,” Nie yan said.

"Mhm.”

The two continued farming Flame Giants to level up. Grinding like this, their contribution was rising rapidly. In a day or two, Xie Yao would probably have enough contribution to buy a property in the Hilton Stronghold.

They had to snag as many properties as possible, especially the ones that were prime real estate. In the future, these properties would be golden geese!

Nie Yan continued aggroing over Flame Giants. By taking advantage of the terrain, killing the Flame Giants was fairly easily, especially now that Xie Yao’s Fire Resistance had greatly increased. She no longer feared their magic attacks.

After five hours, Nie Yan lit up with a brilliant light. He had reached Level 94. He estimated he would rise halfway to Level 95 when he accepted the subjugation quest reward from the Hilton Stronghold.

"What’s your contribution at?” Nie Yan asked. They had just killed another Flame Giant. Even within the darkness of the narrow tunnel Xie Yao’s eyes resembled black pearls flickering with a captivating light. As he looked at her from the side, he could see her curvaceous and enchanting figure.

"Let me check.” Sensing Nie Yan’s gaze, Xie Yao felt a bit flustered. "About 20,000.”

Xie Yao was quickly gaining merit points. It took five or more 20-man teams to safely take down a single demon beast. After killing one, the amount of contribution earned was evenly divided, so the amount each individual received wasn’t much. Meanwhile, the contribution Nie Yan and Xie Yao received was only divided between the two of them.

The amount of contribution Nie Yan and Xie Yao received for killing a Flame Giant was 50 times what each player in an expedition team received after killing a demon beast. Add this to the fact their mobbing speed wasn’t too bad, and they were earning contribution at a rocket-like pace.

"I estimate you’ll be able to buy your first property in the Hilton Stronghold by tomorrow,” Nie Yan said. Each property acquired represented another significant source of income.

"I’ll go pick up the loot dropped by the Flame Giant,” Xie Yao said. She had to walk past Nie Yan. In this narrow tunnel where even turning around was incredibly cumbersome, making intimate body contact was inevitable.

A faint, sweet smell wafted into Nie Yan’s nose. Seeing the delicate and charming Xie Yao brush against him, he felt a wave of warmth in his heart. He could feel her supple skin through the thin fabric of her robe.

This was the virtual world, not reality. In this place, Xie Yao in her light blue robe possessed a captivating, dream-like beauty.

Nie Yan reached out and grabbed Xie Yao. His mind flashed with the scene of their time in the secret underground chamber. He wondered if that place was still the same as back then.

In the narrow tunnel, Xie Yao could hear Nie Yan’s heavy breathing. Her mind instantly turned chaotic. He had gradually taken a more and more important place in her heart. The two had accepted each other’s feelings. However, every time they became intimate, she would always become uncontrollably flustered.

Xie Yao’s beautiful face was inches from Nie Yan’s. Her erratic breathing revealed the nervousness in her heart.

"Nie Yan…” Xie Yao called out in a helpless tone. She attempted to push him away to prevent herself from being pulled into his embrace. However, the warmth of his body caused her to lose all strength.

Nie Yan mischievously reached his hand up under Xie Yao’s robe. Through the soft and smooth, silk-like fabric… he found a pleasant surprise. Since her bosom was well developed and her bra nothing more than a thin piece of cloth, he felt a mellow and plump sensation in his hand.

In this life, this was Nie Yan’s first time being so intimate with Xie Yao inside the game. He felt a strange feeling well up in his heart. Right now, the person standing in front of him was Xie Yao and also Yao Yao. The two were one and the same, yet they shared different stories with him.

Chapter 519 - Hearts Entwine

Xie Yao was truly left speechless when it came to Nie Yan. Speaking on his good traits, he had completely ignored Jiang Yingyu despite her repeated advances and devilish looks. Speaking on his bad traits, whenever Xie Yao and him were alone together, his mind would always be filled with dirty thoughts. Only a little time had passed since last time, and here he was mischievous again.

Nie Yan was teasing Xie Yao non-stop, causing her to become increasingly sensitive. Being caressed by his hand, she felt all the strength drain from her body. Lost in her pleasure, she fantasized of their bodies locked together in hot embrace. During her brief moments of lucidity, a feeling of sin and shame would wash over her.

Every time Xie Yao got close to Nie Yan, she felt like she was on cloud nine.

Nie Yan pulled Xie Yao into his embrace, then whispered in her ear, "You can pick up the loot off the ground later.”

Xie Yao resembled a nymph in her light blue robe. Her supple and beautiful cheeks flushed bright red.

Nie Yan groped and pinched the soft and perky mounds from under Xie Yao’s robe. Inside the game, players could set the Intimacy with their friends. With Intimacy set at the highest, the most sensitive and guarded areas could be freely touched. With Intimacy set at the lowest, even touching the other party was impossible. This safeguard was implemented specifically for female players. Xie Yao had naturally set her Intimacy with Nie Yan to the highest possible level. He could do with her however he pleased.

Xie Yao’s skin tight robe filled Nie Yan with lustful desire.

Nie Yan knew all of Xie Yao’s most sensitive spots. Her constitution was fairly special. She was moaning and squirming non-stop.

Xie Yao’s slender legs were taut and flexible thanks to her taekwondo training. Her skin was smooth and exquisite.

"Xie Yao, how about taking off the robe?” Nie Yan whispered, gently nibbling on her ear. A tiny sample could no longer satisfy him. He wanted to eat her up whole.

"Nie Yan, can we not do this here?” Xie Yao pleaded anxiously. The tunnel was pitch black. However, the cold wind which occasionally blew past filled her heart with unease. After all, this was outside.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. He had definitely gone too far with his antics. He was about to apologize...

Xie Yao raised her head to look at Nie Yan, then lowered it back down again. After hesitating for a moment, she let out a deep sigh. Forget it, my heart and body already belong to him anyway. She unequipped her robe.

The robe separating the two vanished into thin air. Xie Yao’s flawless figure was on full display. Nie Yan’s breath stagnated. His gaze fell on her body, unable to look away. The goddess from his memory stood before him.

With his high Night Vision stat, Nie Yan could clearly see Xie Yao’s fair white skin which sparkled translucently like the finest jade.

Sensing Nie Yan’s lustful gaze, Xie Yao instinctively covered her chest. Her bright red cheeks were tender and beautiful. In this aspect, she was still quite shy and reserved.

If the two took it to the next step, would this count as him breaking his promise to Xie Jun?

Nie Yan felt conflicted. He had an intense urge to exploit this loophole, but he immediately pushed it back down. How could he call himself a man if he didn’t keep his word?

Thanks to the recent growth of World Bloc, Nie Yan felt he was gradually bridging the gap with the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups. Before long, he could proudly stake his claim on Xie Yao.

Nie Yan knew Xie Yao would do anything he asked. However, he simply owed her too much in both lifetimes. He would at the very least first grow powerful enough so that others didn’t look down on their relationship.

Take for example the incident that occurred between them in the secret underground chamber during the previous timeline. From then on, they gradually drifted apart. That kind of reckless intimacy only ended up hurting Xie Yao. At that time, he was powerless to do anything. He couldn’t allow that same tragedy to repeat itself in this life.

Nie Yan resisted his carnal desire to go all the way with Xie Yao, but he was still incredibly aroused. With a deep breath, he whispered, "Xie Yao, help me.”

"W-what do you want me to do?” Xie Yao asked with a flustered stutter. She was like a frightened rabbit. Laying herself bare in front of him, she had long since reached her limit. The thing he requested of her made her heart even more chaotic.

Xie Yao steeled herself and bent down toward Nie Yan’s waist.

The two seemed to forget everything. All that was left was endless pleasure.

It was like that special night in the secret chamber all over again. Although Nie Yan didn’t cook the rice with Xie Yao this time, they had still grown closer than they ever before as their hearts intertwined together.

After some time, Nie Yan’s war cry echoed through the darkness.

A desolate bleakness pervaded the dark cave as the two of them lay there panting. Besides Nie Yan and Xie Yao, no other player was here. A few Flame Giants respawned in the distance. The ones they killed earlier had already disappeared, their corpses cleared away by the system.

Chapter 520 - Targeted

The sound of movement came from the distance. Nie Yan and Xie Yao hurriedly put back on their equipment as a Flame Giant walked by.

Nie Yan glanced at his side. Xie Yao’s beautiful eyes had an indescribable charm and allure to them.

Nie Yan felt a fire ignite inside him. After going through the previous affair, their relationship had advanced another step forward.

A little while later, Nie Yan started aggroing Flame Giants again. The two acted the same as before, killing and levelling up.

The seconds turned into minutes, and the minutes into hours.

About 20 minutes away from the Flame Cavern, a 300-man expedition team was making their way toward the deepest parts of the Leso Ravine. They were preparing to hunt the Level 90 Lord, Thunder Ape.

These 300 players were precisely the forces of Asskickers United led by Bladelight and Smoke Stub.

They were the only expedition team in the Leso Ravine. At this time, they were the only team capable of taking on Level 90 Lords.

A Thunder Ape emerged in the open space up ahead. It looked like a gigantic gorilla with bronze fur which sparked and crackled with electricity. It was a formidable existence that could freely control lightning and thunder.

After discovering Bladelight’s group inside its territory, the Thunder Ape let out a deep roar that shook the entire ravine.

The players quickly spread out in a coordinated fashion. Bladelight raised his Level 100 greatshield and charged toward the Thunder Ape.

Shield Bash!

Bladelight rammed his shield into the Thunder Ape.

The Thunder Ape let out a pained roar. It raised its gigantic arms and slammed down on Bladelight with the might of a raging thunder god.

Bladelight raised his shield to block. With a loud klang, he was pushed several steps back. However, he immediately regained his balance and rushed back up.

Thanks to Nie Yan’s efforts, Bladelight was decked out in full Level 100 Dark Gold-grade equipment with the level requirements lowered. His defense was unparalleled, making him akin to a walking fortress. The Thunder Ape could only deal around 1,000 damage to him while he had more than 6,000 health in total. He had no trouble tanking the Thunder Ape. If it were another equal level Fighter, even if they had the same amount of health, they would still die in a single hit.

A gentle light enveloped Bladelight as the Priests in the rear restored his health back to full. Since he wasn’t taking much damage, their job was fairly relaxed.

With Bladelight securing the Thunder Ape’s aggro, the other Fighters rushed forward and surrounded it. The Paladins and Berserkers also got into position.

At this moment, all 170 Mages raised their staffs and ruthlessly bombarded the Thunder Ape with spells.

Lightning, ice, and fire magic arced toward the Thunder Ape from all directions.

Among the Mages, the most eye catching was without a doubt Tang Yao in his crimson red robes. Even a random Arcane Fireball from him dealt more damage than anyone else could. Due to his damage being too high, he had to pause between casting, or risk pulling the aggro.

The Thunder Ape furiously roared, unleashing an onslaught of lightning imbued attacks. However, it was barely doing any damage to Bladelight. His health bar never fell below half.

"Bladelight is invincible. Nothing can scratch him!” a Priest in the rear sighed in amazement. Bladelight’s defense was sky high. With Young Seven and Painted Muslin in charge of the healing, there wasn’t much for them to do. Apart from buffing their teammates with blessings every now and then, they were basically lounging around.

"The guild leader helped him obtain all his current gear. I heard his defense is already over 8,000.”

"Wow, 8,000…”

This number caused all the players in the surroundings to suck in a breath of cold air. This amount of defense was unimaginable at this stage of the game. It was rumoured that the main tanks of Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors only had roughly 5,000 defense. They were nowhere close to being on the same level as Bladelight.

While Bladelight and the others focused on killing the Thunder Ape, a group of 30 Thieves from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors tracked them down into the Leso Ravine.

These Thieves were the most elite among their peers in Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. They represented the best the two guilds had to offer.

They lay in ambush, closely eyeing the players of Asskickers United.

The leader of their group was a Thief called Broken Bone Blade. He was the number one Thief in Alliance of Mages. His skills were top notch, only falling somewhat behind the likes of Sun and King of the World.

They were hidden in a patch of thickets several hundred meters away from the fighting, observing every move of Bladelight and the others.

"Damn, what’s up with that Fighter’s defense? He can even tank a Level 90 Lord, so easily too,” a Thief beside Broken Bone Blade whispered.

"Mhm.” Broken Bone Blade nodded. "However, the most frightening out of this bunch is Nirvana Flame. I wonder how he managed to bring all these people together...” Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Young Seven, and the others were rare talents that belonged in the top 0.001% of all players. Yet Nie Yan had somehow managed to gather them all together. Just what kind of foresight and charisma was required for that!

After hearing Broken Bone Blade’s words, the Thief went silent.

Apart from the ongoing battle with the Thunder Ape, the Leso Ravine was fairly peaceful. The surroundings were covered by a faint mist. The sound of birds chirping could be heard in the distant trees. The relaxing atmosphere would cause anyone to lower their guard.

Bladelight was still locked in combat with the Thunder Ape. Its health finally fell below 20%. It wouldn’t take more than a few more minutes to finish it off.

Bladelight was about to give the order for the final push, when his voice chat started ringing,

Bladelight furrowed his brows. Why would someone be calling him at this time? He had set up his voice chat so that only a few people could connect to him while he was busy, and those were Guo Huai, Nie Yan, and a few others.

Bladelight checked the caller ID. It was Guo Huai.

They had already reported to Guo Huai before setting out. Guo Huai contacting them now meant that something major had happened. Bladelight immediately answered the call.

「Bladelight, take all of your troops out of the Leso Ravine, now!」Guo Huai anxiously shouted.

「But the Thunder Ape is only at 20% health! It won’t take long for us to finish it off!」Bladelight immediately sensed something was wrong after hearing Guo Huai’s tone. However, he wasn’t willing to just leave with the Thunder Ape at such low health.

「Screw the Thunder Ape! Leave now, or else you’re all going to die!」

Bladelight’s face paled. He immediately ordered in the team chat,「Everyone, we’re pulling out!」

「Huh, why?」

「Yeah, the Thunder Ape is almost dead. Just a few more minutes and we got it!」

「Could it be that we’re being ambushed by Alliance of Mages? Didn’t we confirm beforehand that their forces were busy hunting Level 80 Lords? Even if they did come, there’s no reason for us to back off like this!」

「Enough talk! We’re retreating, that’s an order!」Bladelight also didn’t know what was going on. However, he could confirm that the situation was definitely grim.

「Listen to Bladelight. Everyone, retreat!」Smoke Stub shouted in the team chat.

Both leaders had spoken up. No one dared to dally. The forces of Asskickers United stopped attacking and started beating a quick retreat. Bladelight started leading the Thunder Ape away in the opposite direction, giving everyone an opportunity to disengage safely.

Broken Bone Blade’s group, who were watching from a distance, suddenly noticed strange movements from the forces of Asskickers United.

"Boss, they’re retreating!”

Broken Bone Blade immediately reported this back to the higher ups in the Hilton Stronghold. Crazy Magic was caught off guard. Asskickers United retreating meant that their movements had been leaked. If they stalled any longer, the enemy would get away!

Crazy Magic immediately gave the order to begin their assault.

At this moment, the players from Alliance of Mages started moving. Apart from them, Divine Protectors had also dispatched a large number of players to provide assistance. Their players disappeared one after the other, brought away by the teleportation magic of Arcane Mages.

Seeing the updates in the guild chat, Bladelight’s heart trembled.

All 3,000 of their players, who had separated into smaller groups to hunt the demon beasts around the map, were besieged by the forces Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Bloodfiends at the same time. Their casualties had already exceeded 800. These players were their elites! The death of any one of them was a major blow!

Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had schemed meticulously. Guo Huai’s warning came too late. Asskickers United suffered the disastrous losses. The enemy Thieves caught their forces off guard with Twisting Vines Scrolls and Quagmire Scrolls.

「Everyone, escape with Return Scrolls!」Bladelight ordered after sensing the situation taking a turn for the worse. Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were definitely eyeing their group as well. After all, they were Asskickers United’s top elites. If they didn’t retreat immediately, they would certainly encounter trouble.

「Over there, Thieves from Alliance of Mages!」Young Seven called out. He had cast Illuminate and spotted three Thieves in the vicinity.

"Shit! They’re here already!” Bladelight’s expression darkened.

Chapter 521 - Massacre

At the same moment, Young Seven revealed the three Thieves with Illuminate. Tang Yao, Summer Bug, and Undying Scoundrel locked them down with control magic. No matter how skilled these Thieves were, there was no escaping. They were ruthlessly blasted with spells and knocked flying back.

It was over in the blink of an eye. Broken Bone Blade and the other Thieves broke out in a cold sweat. These Asskickers United players were basically death gods. As soon as their scythes came out, heads would roll.

When some of the Asskickers United players began channeling their Return Scrolls, ripples of magic swept over them.

−1

−1

−1

…

Although the damage was negligible, it was enough to prevent them from teleporting away!

"Over there, it’s a Thief!” A player pointed to a silhouette hidden behind some thickets in the distance.

The Thief was precisely Broken Bone Blade. He had used a Ripple Wave Scroll to interrupt their Return Scrolls.

"Kill him! Don’t let him run!”

Tang Yao, Summer Bug, and the other Mages raised their staffs and fired off a slew of spells at Broken Bone Blade.

Broken Bone Blade was already prepared. He ducked away with Gale Step and disappeared from sight.

At this moment, players from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors started appearing in the surroundings en masse. There were more than 1,000 players in total. All of them had been teleported here by the Arcane Mages. They started aggressively closing in on Bladelight and the others, with their numbers continuously growing.

"We’ve been surrounded!” Smoke Stub shouted. Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had clearly come prepared.

"These pieces of trash think they can stop us? We’ll slaughter our way out!” Tang Yao said. He raised his staff and started firing off spells like a mad man.

The Thieves from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors took out scrolls and targeted the forces of Asskickers United. Alliance of Mages were well known for their scrolls. They had spent time, money, and energy nurturing a large number of expert scroll crafters. Even when they had time off, they were still making scrolls. As such, they accumulated far more scrolls than any other guild, not to mention the numerous scrolls they bought from scroll shops. For the sake of dealing with these players from Asskickers United, they had invested quite a bit of resources.

For the sake of this operation, Crazy Magic had spent more than 300,000 gold on scrolls alone.

"Everyone, Asskickers United won’t last much longer. Slaughter them!” Crazy Magic shouted in a deep voice. He stood atop a cliff, his dark red robes fluttering in the wind as he commanded the players below.

A group of 120 Thieves all activated Advanced Web Scrolls simultaneously. Giant webs emerged out of thin air, resembling a net shrouding the sky.

Tang Yao and the other Mages hurriedly cast fire magic to burn the webs. However, some still got through and trapped the Asskickers United players below.

Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had Bladelight’s group completely surrounded. There was nowhere for them to escape.

Both sides clashed, with players dying left and right.

Tang Yao, Undying Scoundrel, Natural Fiend, and the other Mages raised their staffs, sending one enemy flying after another. However, for every enemy they killed, two would take their place.

"Where’s the Mad Rogue? If you have the balls, show yourself! Don’t think you can be invincible forever!” Crazy Magic howled with laughter.

Bladelight’s group had suffered heavy losses. Due to the webs trapping them, more than 30 players died to the barrage of spells.

However, Asskickers United’s forces didn’t falter. Despite being at a clear disadvantage, they still fought with the ferocity of tigers, killing over 70 players from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. Nevertheless, their losses were still heavier. Each of their players was a top elite. Any one of them could easily climb to the ranks of top 50 or even top 10 in any other major guild.

Seeing the players from Asskickers United dropping like flies, Crazy Magic emotionally clenched his fists. Based on the success of today’s operation, he could receive even more financial backing from the Century Financial Group. Compared to that, the initial investment of 300,000 gold was nothing more than overhead. After suffering such a disastrous loss, Asskickers United would definitely be licking their wounds for a while, allowing Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors to accumulate contribution and freely snatch up the important properties in the Hilton Stronghold.

The battle raged on. Alliance of Mages was determined to wipe out Bladelight’s group. They were using scrolls like they grew on trees.

Mind Assault Scrolls, Twisting Vines Scrolls, Blizzard Scrolls… every type of scroll was used without hesitation.

"Bladelight, we can’t hold on much longer. Our losses are too heavy!” Young Seven cried out.

Seeing his comrades getting massacred, Bladelight’s heart ached. These players made up the core strength of Asskickers United!

"Everyone, follow me! We’re forcing our way out!” Bladelight hollered. Drinking an Advanced Magic Resistance Potion and activating Barbarian Strength, he led the vanguard in breaking out of the encirclement.

Bladelight charged into the enemy lines, sending multiple players flying.

Bladelight immediately attracted the attention of the players from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. Around 60 Mages focused their firepower on him, only to find to their dismay that they simply didn’t have the strength to deal any substantial damage to him. Even their critical hits were barely dealing over 100 damage.

Nevertheless, Bladelight’s health was dropping fast.

Rays of gentle light fell over Bladelight, restoring his health back to full. His health rapidly fluctuated up and down, but he was kept relatively safe thanks to the timely healing of Young Seven and Painted Muslin in the rear.

Buffed with several blessings, Bladelight finally charged through to the enemy’s backline. He felled a player with each swing of his blade. These squishy, cloth armoured Mages were no match for him!

Smoke Stub, Monochrome, Edgeless, and the others followed close behind Bladelight. As they slaughtered their way out from the north side of the valley, they left a trail of corpses in their wake!

The Warriors from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protector charged into Asskickers United’s ranks. A chaotic melee ensued as fighting broke out everywhere. No one dared to cast AoE magic for fear of hitting their own.

The situation devolved into a battle of attrition. Most Asskickers United players could easily 1v3, with some of the stronger ones even being able to 1v5. Meanwhile, players like Bladelight and Smoke Stub could sweep through everything in their path. They were far superior in both equipment and skill!

However, the person who had racked up the highest kill count wasn’t Bladelight or Smoke Stub, but Tang Yao. He was like a turret, firing off one spell after another. No player, Mages and Warriors alike, could survive his assault. His Arcane Fairy had already reached Rank 4. Even during Nie Yan’s peak in the previous timeline, Arcane Fairies were still fairly rare, capable of immensely boosting a Mage’s firepower. At this stage of the game, Tang Yao was practically a god-like existence. Several Warriors tried to rush at him, only to be blown away by powerful magic.

Crazy Magic overlooked the battle from atop the cliff. Asskickers United were known for their invincibility. He had witnessed their strength first hand during the siege of the Cripps Stronghold. However, in the blink of an eye, his forces had already killed more than 100 of their players. He was quite satisfied with the progress of the battle, even if his side had suffered more than 500 casualties in the process.

Crazy Magic looked down and saw Bladelight, Tang Yao, and the others slaughtering their way out. He knitted his brows. These bunch of players were too strong. Just the few of them alone had killed more than 60 players.

「Dammit, Boiling Water, go stop them. Don’t let them escape. Any piece of equipment they drop is priceless!」Crazy Magic ordered.

「Understood. Boss, that Young Sparrow Hawk has a flying mount. Should we take him down first?」

Flying mounts were too powerful. If Tang Yao was given the opportunity to summon his Netherthunder Eagle, they would be in trouble.

「No, let him summon his flying mount. In fact, don’t try to stop him!」Crazy Magic laughed. It would be a huge achievement if they could kill Tang Yao’s Netherthunder Eagle.

Even though Boiling Water was confused as to why Crazy Magic would give this order, as a lowly grunt, he could only do as he was told.

While Crazy Magic was busy gloating to himself, a cold flash of light appeared behind him. His heart tightened. A Thief! By the time he reacted, it was already too late. As a Mage, he didn’t have many methods of evading a Thief. In this situation, he had no time to cast a spell. He could only try to roll out of the way.

At this moment, the sound of two daggers clashing came from behind his ears.

Crazy Magic turned around. A fair and graceful figure emerged before him. It was One Strike Vow! This enchanting beauty was like a thorny rose, brimming with danger. The person who had saved him just now was the Thief from earlier, Broken Bone Blade.

Broken Bone Blade had barely blocked the attack in time, allowing Crazy Magic to escape with his life. However, he didn’t expect One Strike Vow to immediately switch targets. The last thing he saw before blacking out was a dagger plunging into his forehead.

Chapter 522 - Wind Serpent!

After stunning Broken Bone Blade, One Strike Vow erupted with a flurry of attacks. With her damage, it didn’t take more than two hits to finish him off.

Broken Bone Blade collapsed on the ground. The nearby Mages all targeted One Strike Vow with their spells.

One Strike Vow quickly dodged with Gale Step, then vanished into thin air.

"Don’t let her escape! Kill her!” Crazy Magic roared after glancing at the corpse of Broken Bone Blade.

Orbs of light shot up into the sky and illuminated the ground below, revealing One Strike Vow’s silhouette dashing away at lightning speed. She was immediately bombarded with spells, her health rapidly falling below 50%. When it looked like she was about to die, she crushed an Unknown Transfer Scroll and disappeared.

"Fuck!” Crazy Magic cursed. One Strike Vow still got away in the end. He no longer dared to be as careless as before.

Had the ambusher been Nirvana Flame instead, he would already be a cold corpse lying on the ground!

"All Mages, left side, attack!” Crazy Magic’s gaze fell on several Asskickers United players in the distance, trying to force their way out of the encirclement. At this moment, several dozen spells came flying over and blasted them into smithereens.

Asskickers United’s forces had entered a bitter struggle. Their casualties were gradually increasing.

Tang Yao saw that the situation was getting worse and worse. At this rate, they were going to be wiped out completely.

"Bladelight, cover me. I’m going to summon my Netherthunder Eagle!” Tang Yao shouted.

Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others immediately formed a circle around Tang Yao. Anyone that dared to approach him would be killed instantly.

Tang Yao fired off a few more spells, killing three nearby enemy players in a row. He then started chanting an incantation.

Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others guarded Tang Yao, not daring to move too far away. They didn’t allow anyone to approach him. If a spell was aimed at him, they would do whatever it took to block it, even if that meant using their own bodies.

Seeing Tang Yao summoning his Netherthunder Eagle, Crazy Magic smirked. This was the moment he had been waiting for. He contacted one of his trusted subordinates.「Prepare to deal with Young Sparrow Hawk’s flying mount!」

「Understood!」

As the last syllable flowed from Tang Yao’s lips, the Netherthunder Eagle emerged with a brilliant flash of light. With its massive 10-meter wingspan, it could practically blot out the sky.

The players from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors in the vicinity backed away in fear, without exception.

"It’s Young Sparrow Hawk’s flying mount!”

"It’s huge!”

Tang Yao leaped onto the Netherthunder Eagle’s back. It flapped its wings and kicked up a large gust of wind, sending the nearby enemy players flying. Even the distant Mages were interrupted from casting their spells and knocked off their feet.

"Screeeeh!” the Netherthunder Eagle let out a piercing cry and flew up into the sky.

Tang Yao was like a gatling gun while riding atop the Netherthunder Eagle, sweeping through everything below him.

The Netherthunder Eagle circled in the air before dive bombing down, instantly killing six enemy players with its sharp claws.

The players from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors descended into panic.

Seeing the Netherthunder Eagle, the forces of Asskickers United cried out in excitement.

"Young Sparrow Hawk summoned his Netherthunder Eagle!”

"Guys, guys, we can still win! Let’s kill those bastards!”

Asskickers United’s forces madly rushed forward. The players from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors started backing away in fear. However, they were still experts. They wouldn’t lose their heads over something like this. If they turned around and tried to flee, they would only end up suffering heavier losses. Instead it was better to stand their ground and fight. They clashed against the enemy forces. They lost five players for every single one they killed from Asskickers United.

The Netherthunder Eagle was an invincible existence on the battlefield. Its health had only fallen by a sliver after being bombarded by countless spells. Those who dared to attack it were quickly picked off.

After killing a large number of Alliance of Mages players, Tang Yao set his sights on Crazy Magic standing atop the cliff. This was cutting off the snake’s head. If he killed their leader, the players below would lose all will to fight.

Tang Yao urged the Netherthunder Eagle toward Crazy Magic.

The black speck in the sky was getting larger and larger. Crazy Magic could see more and more clearly the murderous expression on Tang Yao’s face. His lips curved into a sinister smile. "You’ve kept me waiting long enough.”

Sparks flew as the two met eyes.

Just as the Netherthunder Eagle was about to rip him to shreds, Crazy Magic blinked 50 meters away.

With a bang, the Netherthunder Eagle’s claws dug a giant hole into the earth, instantly killing several players in the vicinity.

After his attack was dodged, Tang Yao took to the air again with his Netherthunder Eagle. He scouted the surroundings and spotted Crazy Magic’s silhouette fleeing in the distance.

Tang Yao had no intention of letting Crazy Magic escape with his life. He had the Netherthunder Eagle chase after him.

In only a few seconds, the two had covered more than 100 meters. Crazy Magic activated the spell Gale Acceleration, giving himself a huge speed boost.

「Are the preparations done yet?」Crazy Magic anxiously asked. He didn’t know how much longer he could go on for. If his people weren’t ready soon, he was done for!

「Boss, we’re ready!」

"Die!” Tang Yao’s eyes flashed with a chilling light. The Netherthunder Eagle suddenly executed a dive bomb on Crazy Magic.

The Netherthunder Eagle’s claws were inching closer and closer to Crazy Magic. At this critical moment, Tang Yao suddenly heard whooshing sounds to his right. His heart trembled. He turned his head and saw numerous shadows hiding in the thickets. He had been completely focused on killing his target. He never expected it was all a trap!

The players hidden in the thickets were all Thieves. They only took action when Tang Yao entered their range.

They were throwing something. As Tang Yao stared closely to see what it was, his heart trembled in fright. They were throwing hatchets! They were about the size of an arm with long handles and sharp heads made out of metal. Even more frightening was that the blades were smeared with a green poison.

Throwing hatchets were fairly uncommon items with high attack power. Throwing weapons were the nemesis of all flying mounts. The 30-meter altitude that flying mounts normally flew at was too high for them to reach. However, Tang Yao had gotten close to the ground for the sake of chasing Crazy Magic. He was completely vulnerable.

The Netherthunder Eagle would definitely suffer serious injuries if all these throwing hatchets hit.

Flying mounts could be lightly wounded, moderately wounded, and heavily wounded. It would only take a few hours to recover from light injuries. However, heavy injuries required a special type of medicine and up to a week of rest to fully recover. Unlike players, they couldn’t be healed by drinking a potion. If left untreated for long enough, the flying mount could even die. Reviving flying mounts generally wasn’t possible.

Tang Yao hurriedly urged his Netherthunder Eagle to execute a barrel roll. It was a high difficulty evasive maneuver.

「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Several dozen hatchets flew past Tang Yao. Two still managed to hit the Netherthunder Eagle. It cried out in pain as blood splattered out. Another hatchet lightly grazed Tang Yao’s cheek, causing him to break out in a cold sweat.

"Shit, that was dangerous!”

The Netherthunder Eagle had only been hit by two hatchets. Its injuries were light, so it wasn’t in any immediate danger for the time being.

The players from Alliances of Mages and Divine Protectors had been laying here in ambush for a long time. Tang Yao wasn’t stupid. He immediately knew this was a trap. He stopped chasing after Crazy Magic and turned tail to flee. The poison smeared on the blades of the two hatchets was rapidly spreading and influenced the Netherthunder Eagle’s speed. Thankfully, it wasn’t by much, and he could still escape.

Crazy Magic believed 10 or more hatchets would hit. Like this, the Netherthunder Eagle would suffer moderate injuries, and its speed and maneuverability would be greatly impacted. It would’ve given them the perfect opportunity to kill it. However, he didn’t expect Tang Yao to execute such a difficult evasive maneuver.

"Thieves, ready your hatchets again! Don’t let him get away. We have to take down his Netherthunder Eagle, no matter what!” Crazy Magic anxiously shouted. This opportunity wasn’t easy to come by. They couldn’t let it slip past them!

A total of 26 Thieves from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors chased after the Netherthunder Eagle. They couldn’t throw a second time right away since they had a cooldown. Furthermore, the number of throwing hatchets each of them could carry was limited to two.

There wasn’t enough time. The Netherthunder Eagle was going to escape!

Just as Tang Yao was about to escape, he sensed something off in the air. He heard a rustling in the thickets, followed by a strange cry.

"What is that?” Crazy Magic asked.

Did Asskickers United come with reinforcements?

"I don’t know!”

A giant creature suddenly emerged out of the trees. It had a long serpentine body and a pair of transparent insect-like wings growing on its back. It appeared to be slithering through the air as its wings flapped non-stop.

"It’s a Wind Serpent!” an Alliance of Mages player cried out.

Chapter 523 - Mysterious Shadow Priest

Wind Serpents were a type of flying mount. At present, the flying mount leaderboard already had three entries. The Netherthunder Eagle was rank one, a White Maned Griffon was rank two, and the Wind Serpent was rank three. Among all flying mounts, Wind Serpents were a fairly weak species. Their physical attacks were rather lackluster. However, they had a powerful secret weapon, and that was their highly potent poison. They could shoot it to deal lethal damage. So, their combat strength was still fairly high.

That said, any flying mount was an invincible existence to ordinary players.

A Shadow Priest was riding on top of the Wind Serpent. He was wearing a black cloak which completely hid his appearance.

The entrance of the Wind Serpent was too sudden. Both Tang Yao and Crazy Magic were caught off guard. The Wind Serpent’s rider clearly didn’t belong to Alliance of Mages or Asskickers United!

Countless experts existed inside Conviction. Even Nie Yan didn’t dare to claim he was unrivalled. After reincarnating, he had used the experiences of his past life to raise the strength of his guild as much as possible. A top player from Asskickers United could easily face off against three or more top players from Alliance of Mages or Divine Protectors. This was already extremely impressive. However, as for the number of hidden experts, or the number of players that didn’t reveal their name on the level leaderboards, that was hard to say.

This Shadow Priest had popped out of nowhere. Any power that could obtain a flying mount at this stage of the game certainly wasn’t ordinary.

「Hey, how strong are Wind Serpents?」Tang Yao whispered Nie Yan. Information related to various flying mounts was fairly limited online. Other than the name, he was clueless on Wind Serpents.

「You encountered a Wind Serpent?」Nie Yan asked in surprise.

「Yeah, why...?」

「If you’ve encountered a Wind Serpent, blast it with lightning, then get the hell away. Whatever you do, don’t get hit by its poison!」Nie Yan warned. Even though Wind Serpents were fairly low rank flying mounts, their poison was extremely frightening. If the Netherthunder Eagle was hit, it would suffer at least moderate injuries.

Nie Yan had learned from Guo Huai that Asskickers United’s forces hunting demon beasts around the Hilton Stronghold had suffered ambushes en masse. His heart was extremely anxious. He paused his levelling and hurriedly rushed to the battlefield of the main expedition team with Xie Yao. His Faulkner Warhorse had recently died, so he couldn’t summon it right now. He could only go there by foot. At this moment, he all the more realized his need for a flying mount. He definitely had to hatch the Darkwing Dragon as soon as possible!

Ordinary flying mounts were trash compared to the Darkwing Dragon. Furthermore, his mobility would significantly increase, which made rescuing guildmates in trouble much more convenient.

After hearing Nie Yan’s words, Tang Yao’s heart trembled. Seeing the Wind Serpent chasing after him, he hurriedly had the Netherthunder Eagle fly to the side.

The Wind Serpent’s actions were clearly hostile.

"Screeeh!” The Netherthunder Eagle shot lightning at the Wind Serpent.

The Shadow Priest immediately had the Wind Serpent perform a roll midair, dodging the lightning.

Seeing the Netherthunder Eagle take action against the Wind Serpent, Crazy Magic ecstatically cried out in the voice chat,「That Wind Serpent is our ally! Everyone, shoot the Netherthunder Eagle down! Thieves, throw your hatchets!」

Tang Yao was about to flee, when dozens of throwing hatchets came flying at him.

The hatchets were fast approaching. Seeing Tang Yao in a hard spot, the Shadow Priest had long since maneuvered the Wind Serpent to block off his escape path.

Tang Yao’s expression sank. He was being pincered from the front and rear. It appeared there was no escaping this time.

Just as the hatchets were about to hit, Tang Yao hurriedly ascended. He managed to avoid most of the hatchets, but five still landed. The Netherthunder Eagle let out a miserable screech as its blood rained down from the sky.

Good opportunity! Seeing this, the Shadow Priest cracked a sinister smile. The Wind Serpent let out a hissing cry, then shot out a glob of green poison.

If the Netherthunder Eagle was hit by the poison, it would suffer greatly. However, it was already impossible to dodge at this distance. Tang Yao steeled his resolve, then gave the Netherthunder Eagle an order.

"Screeh!” The Netherthunder Eagle completely enveloped itself in white lightning, then dived toward the Wind Serpent, taking the poison head-on.

The Shadow Priest paled in fright. He didn’t expect Tang Yao to fight back so ruthlessly. This was clearly mutual destruction!

The Shadow Priest hesitated. If he had to sacrifice his Wind Serpent, the victory would be meaningless!

The Shadow Priest hurriedly ordered his Wind Serpent to pull back, planning to deal with the Netherthunder Eagle afterwards. At this moment, a giant lightning bolt split the sky and came striking down from overhead, stunning the Wind Serpent.

Countless electric currents crackled around the Wind Serpent as it fell from the sky. The Shadow Priest had already lost control.

In a battle, the Wind Serpent was still at a huge disadvantage. After all, the Netherthunder Eagle was of a higher rank.

"Tsk, he didn’t die,” Tang Yao muttered. He was disappointed the lightning bolt didn’t hit the Shadow Priest, or else it would’ve been an instant kill.

After being afflicted with the highly potent poison of the Wind Serpent and struck by so many throwing hatchets, the Netherthunder Eagle was heavily injured. Tang Yao didn’t dare to dally and quickly made his escape.

The Netherthunder Eagle flew up into the air, escaping the range of the throwing hatchets.

"Shit, he got away!” Crazy Magic cursed. The Netherthunder Eagle was already nothing more than a small speck in the sky. Catching it was no longer possible.

With a loud crash, the Wind Serpent fell into the thickets below, toppling several large trees over when it hit the ground.

"Boss, should we go over and take a look?” a Thief asked.

Crazy Magic pondered for a moment. Did the Century Financial Group send this person to provide assistance? It seemed only they could dispatch such a powerful expert. Even though they hadn’t established their own guild, Cao Xu still had many experts under him. The country’s most mysterious gaming organisation, Direwolf, was rumoured to also be under his control. As for how strong this gaming organisation was, no one knew. However, it was believed they had many top experts under their wing. Unlike most professional players, this group didn’t chase fame and reputation. Instead, they worked hard to earn the extremely generous salary the Century Financial Group paid them.

After operating in the virtual reality industry for many years, the Century Financial Group had at least this kind of card hidden up their sleeves.

The Shadow Priest had helped them. Crazy Magic naturally believed he was someone dispatched by the Century Financial Group.

"Let’s go over,” Crazy Magic said. He brought 20 Thieves along with him toward the Wind Serpent.

After a while, the Wind Serpent recovered from being stunned and wobbled back to its feet. The Shadow Priest looked up to the sky. The Netherthunder Eagle was already long gone. He could only give up.

Hearing rustling sounds in the distance, the Shadow Priest turned his head and saw Crazy Magic leading 20 Thieves towards him.

"Friend, are you from Direwolf?” Crazy Magic shouted while waving his hand.

With 20 Thieves by his side, Crazy Magic could put up a decent fight. However, seeing the size of the Wind Serpent, he couldn’t help but feel intimidated.

The Wind Serpent was 10 meters long with a thick and powerful body. It was only a bit smaller than a wyvern. As its red tongue flickered in and out, it looked like it could swallow someone whole at any moment.

The Shadow Priest didn’t respond. His face was hidden behind the cloak, so his expression couldn’t be seen.

Crazy Magic furrowed his brows. Controlling his temper, he said, "Friend, if you’re from Direwolf, come down and let’s talk."

The Shadow Priest still didn’t answer.

Crazy Magic was starting to get angry. Even if this fellow had a Wind Serpent, so what? He was still the leader of a guild! This other side was giving him no face at all!

The several Thieves were resisting the urge to curse out in anger. If it wasn’t for Crazy Magic restraining them, they would’ve already let loose with all sorts of foul obscenities.

As the Shadow Priest stared at Crazy Magic’s group, his eyes flashed with a cold glimmer. The previously calm Wind Serpent suddenly let out a loud hiss and spat a glob of poison their way.

Crazy Magic was shocked. Seeing the Wind Serpent attacking him, he blinked to safety 50 meters away. However, the Thieves he left behind weren’t so lucky.

The poison was like a torrential downpour, hitting three of the Thieves. They let out miserable screams and collapsed to the ground.

Two nearby Thieves were also lightly splashed with the poison. They didn’t make it more than 10 meters before collapsing to the ground. The Wind Serpent’s poison was too potent.

"You son of a bitch. How dare you attack us!?”

"Fuck! Kill him!”

The Thieves had already used up their throwing hatchets to deal with the Netherthunder Eagle. They had no way to deal with the Wind Serpent. It instantly turned into a bloodbath. The 20 Thieves from Alliance of Mages were being crushed like ants. They had no way of putting up a fight. Some of the faster ones managed to escape. Before long, 16 corpses were on the ground.

The Wind Serpent was like a demon beast from hell. It was slaughtering them like livestock. Its bell shaped eyes shone with a crimson light.

Witnessing everything from afar, Crazy Magic knitted his brows. He didn’t know why this person had come here. If he wasn’t part of Direwolf, then whose side was he on?

The identity of the Shadow Priest was shrouded in mystery. No one could figure out who he was.

Perhaps he belonged to a third power, or was he just some random solo player?

At this moment, the Wind Serpent was an invincible existence. To avoid being killed, Crazy Magic quickly fled.

Chapter 524 - Fake News

「Are you alright?」Nie Yan anxiously asked.

「Yeah, I got out alive. My Netherthunder Eagle suffered serious injuries though,」Tang Yao replied. Only after confirming the Shadow Priest hadn’t chased after him did he breath a sigh of relief.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. He didn’t expect Alliance of Mages to have a Wind Serpent on their side.

「I feel like that Shadow Priest isn’t with Alliance of Mages. They didn’t even seem to belong on the same side. If they coordinated together, I probably wouldn’t have made it out alive,」Tang Yao said, recalling the previous battle.

「I see. Well, even if they aren’t together, that Shadow Priest is definitely an enemy.」

The battle over on Bladelight’s side had also come to an end. Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and 60 elite members had broken out of the encirclement. Asskickers United had suffered 1,200 casualties while Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had over 5,000 casualties. Some people had even died two or three times.

Looking at the casualties on both sides, Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors hadn’t gained anything out of this ambush. It was a wash.

Conflicts between guilds often turned into battles of attrition. Whoever caved first was the loser.

Even though the players from Asskickers United had dropped a lot of equipment, these losses were nothing for a rich tycoon like Nie Yan.

Nie Yan was still annoyed, though. Asskickers United had only kept to themselves during this time because earning contribution was their highest priority. Needless to say, starting a conflict would only prove detrimental to their goal. At the same time, Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were lagging far behind them in terms of contribution acquisition. Had Crazy Magic not taken any action and things continued on at this rate, all the best properties in the Hilton Stronghold would’ve been gobbled up by Asskickers United.

Although Asskickers United’s players had raised their vigilance, they still ended up suffering Alliance of Mage’s ambush. All their countermeasures meant nothing.

However, this kind of loss was only skin deep for Asskickers United. The 1,200 that dropped a level would be able to recover it in no time. As for the lost equipment, what Asskickers United didn’t lack the most was money!

Asskickers United’s players all returned to the Hilton Stronghold to recuperate. Nie Yan thought for a moment. Since the battle had ended, he might as well go back too.

At this moment, Nie Yan received a call from Guo Huai.

「Nie Yan, check the forums.」

Nie Yan opened up the forums. He quickly found the post Guo Huai mentioned: "Defeat of Asskickers United.” Inside were numerous videos showing Asskickers United’s forces surrounded and routed. The scenes of Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors suffering heavy losses were edited out. These videos immediately gained a lot of traction and skyrocketed to the top of the boards.

「Asskickers United was defeated?」

「Why isn’t there any information on Asskickers United’s side?」

「I heard Asskickers United returned to the Hilton Stronghold beaten black and blue. Right now, they’re recovering in their villa.」

「Wow, this is the first time Asskickers United has been defeated!」

The clueless ate it all up. Some Asskickers United players tried to respond to explain the situation. However, their comments were mysteriously buried to oblivion. These several hundred videos occupied the front page of the Viridian Empire boards.

Nie Yan snickered. Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were too childish, resorting to such petty tricks.

「What do we do? We can’t let things continue on like this,」Guo Huai said. The longer these videos stayed in the limelight, the more it would impact the morale of the guild.

「I’ll post a response,」Nie Yan chuckled. He made a new post on the forums.

「What are you writing? I’ll find people to upvote your post,」Guo Huai said. He immediately got in touch with the players below him.

When Nie Yan’s post went live, Guo Huai checked the forums.「Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors, do you have the balls to publicize the casualties on both sides?」

It was merely a single line response. Nie Yan’s tone was quite brash too. However, Guo Huai was already used to it. He smiled to himself. Sometimes, a few simple words was the best way to solve a problem. He started looking for people to upvote Nie Yan’s post.

The first to bump the post were Tang Yao, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, then Undying Scoundrel, Natural Fiend, and the others. Before long, the post had received more than 60 upvotes.

Seeing Nie Yan’s post, many players grew curious and clicked it. When they discovered the poster was Nirvana Flame, they immediately became starstruck.

「I’m admiring a god close-up!」

「First!」

...

Players were constantly replying to the post. Some replies had meaningful discussions while others contributed very little. In the blink of an eye, the post rose to the top of the forums.

Seeing Nie Yan’s words, players started growing suspicious. Was there something fishy about these videos? They couldn’t help but become curious about the casualties of the battle between Asskickers United and Alliance of Mages. Was it like what the videos described, with Asskickers United being completely crushed? Before long, interest in the casualties far surpassed that of the videos.

Crazy Magic sat in a church in the Hilton Stronghold. He was monitoring the forums. The idea of the edited videos was planned by his subordinates. Even though it was a bit clumsy, it still had some effect. Seeing Nie Yan’s post, he coldly snorted. This was a masterful riposte. The attention of the players immediately shifted to the casualties on both sides. This was what they didn’t want to reveal the most.

Before long, someone obtained the results of the battle. Asskickers United had suffered 1,200 casualties while Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had suffered over 5,000.

Players were left speechless. With these kind of numbers, Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors still had the face to claim they won?

Asskickers United’s combat strength was too frightening! On average, each of their players could take on five top ranked players from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors! If a player encountered five equal level enemies, or even several levels lower opponents, even if their equipment was good, they would still die. Only classes like Thieves and Paladins stood a chance of escaping with their lives. However, winning generally wasn’t possible. Among players, those who could win one versus three were already few and far between. Those who could win one against ten thousand simply didn’t exist. If a player really suffered an ambush from 10,000 players, not even a trace of their corpse would remain.

Take for example the top elites of Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. These players managed to rise to the top of the ranks among hundreds of thousands of others, earning themselves the status of elites. They were all extremely skilled. Yet Asskickers United’s players had completely crushed them. This difference was simply too great. It left people speechless.

A commotion erupted in the forums. Even though Asskickers United had returned to the Hilton Stronghold beaten and bruised, no one said anything any longer.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao returned to the Hilton Stronghold and turned in their demon subjugation quests. Nie Yan rose to level 96 while Xie Yao rose to Level 85. Their levelling speed was astonishing. Besides this, Xie Yao headed to the administrative hall and bought a property. This property was located next to Nie Yan’s villa. It was quite large and could accommodate a Tier 16 shop. Such a property could be said to be priceless. Every extra property snagged by them signified another huge source of income in the future.

Nie Yan discovered that there were less and less properties for sale. Two of the prime real estate properties he had been eyeing had already been purchased by others. He had no idea who the buyer was. They were quite quick. It appeared he would have to hurry up. The properties in the Hilton Stronghold were limited. Once they were all taken, there would be no more.

The two arrived at Nie Yan’s villa in the Hilton Stronghold. Inside, the players from Asskickers United were gathered in groups of two and three.

Seeing Nie Yan walk in, they all greeted him.

"Boss!”

"Boss, you’re here!”

Nie Yan gazed at these brothers from Asskickers United. Some of them had lost one or two pieces of equipment. Many had died once or twice. However, there wasn’t the slightest bit of dejection on their faces. Even though they had been ambushed, they hadn’t come out worse for wear.

As Nie Yan walked through the villa, he heard the chatter of several players.

"I managed to kill seven of those bastards from Alliance of Mages. I lost a piece of equipment, but it was totally worth it!”

"I only managed to kill five. Look, the boss is here!”

The players all stepped aside to let Nie Yan pass.

Nie Yan, Xie Yao, Bladelight, and a few others gathered together. There were quite a few people in the villa.

"Where are the others?” Nie Yan asked. There were only around 200 people here.

"They went to restock on consumables.”

Nie Yan checked the guild treasury. He then turned to Paladin of the Elegy, who was in charge of managing various affairs. "Have Guo Huai send some equipment over. Everyone that lost equipment will be compensated. Besides that, also reward everyone with 50 gold for each kill they got on the enemy.”

50 gold was not a small sum. Some players who had killed quite a bit would receive more than 1,000 gold. Asskickers United’s players had killed 5,000 enemies in total. That roughly amounted to 250,000 gold. Other guilds wouldn’t dare to fork out so much gold. However, for Nie Yan, 250,000 gold didn’t amount to much. With gold, those players who exerted themselves for the guild could improve their gear all around. This was definitely worth it.

Nie Yan finished arranging one matter after another.

"Boss, what are we going to do? Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors have taken action against us first. Are we going to keep turtling? If a tiger doesn’t show its might, people will start thinking we’re scared cats,” Undying Scoundrel said.

"Yeah! Boss, we can’t let this stand!”

Many others voiced their agreement with Undying Scoundrel.

Chapter 525 - Old Enemy

"Since Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors won’t let us rest in peace, we won’t let them either! After we’re through with them, they’ll turn tail and scram whenever they see us!” Nie Yan coldly declared.

Hearing Nie Yan’s words, the players in the villa immediately became fired up. After the siege of the Cripps Stronghold, it had been a long time since they last fought a war. They felt like their bones were growing rusty.

Nie Yan had decided to declare war against Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors.

"Boss, just give us the command!”

The players in the villa were itching to do battle.

Nie Yan turned to Bladelight. "Take 30 people with you, and go hunt some Level 80 Lords. Quickly snatch up the properties in the Hilton Stronghold. Leave Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors to us.”

Bladelight pondered for a moment. Nie Yan was planning to hinder Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors while his group hunted Level 80 Lords and earned contribution. Like this, they could snatch up the most important properties in the Hilton Stronghold.

Battles could always be put off and delayed. However, the matter of purchasing properties in the Hilton Stronghold couldn’t!

If all these properties were snatched up by other guilds, Asskickers United would lose out on a huge source of potential revenue. This kind of loss was incalculable.

"Alright, be careful.” Bladelight nodded.

"It’s best if you bring 30 top ranked guildmates with you. Make sure nothing leaks out,” Nie Yan said. Nothing good could come from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors knowing the movements of Bladelight’s group.

"Understood.”

A 30-player team wasn’t enough to deal with a Level 90 Lord, but a Level 80 Lord would be no issue. Adding too many players would make them too easy to discover.

Bladelight’s group exited out the backdoor of the villa. They had to first throw off the Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors players observing this place.

After Bladelight departed, Nie Yan began organizing the troops.

「Guo Huai, has there been any movements from Divine Protectors and Alliance of Mages?」Nie Yan asked. If they dared to leave the city, he would show them no mercy.

「They’re still recuperating. It seems like they won’t be leaving the Hilton Stronghold any time soon. I’ve already dispatched people to monitor them. If there’s any news, I’ll immediately report back to you,」Guo Huai said.

「Mhmm.」Nie Yan nodded. Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had suffered heavy losses and probably wouldn’t dare to rashly step out of the Hilton Stronghold. Asskickers United’s players had to recuperate as well. So, there was no need to rush.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. Should I try paying Crazy Magic a visit? If a conflict broke out within the walls of the Hilton Stronghold, Asskickers United’s side would have the absolute advantage. After all, his position was only second to the administrator!

「Guo Huai, find me the location of Crazy Magic!」

「Alright,」Guo Huai replied. He had already spread his intelligence network across the Hilton Stronghold. Finding Crazy Magic’s location was a simple matter.

「How many Armoured Ice Catapults do we have right now?」Nie Yan asked. If they had enough Armoured Ice Catapults, he planned to put these formidable war engines to full use in the upcoming war.

The Armoured Ice Catapults had displayed astonishing might during the war for Nisode. Merely three suppressed the Tuoba Family to the point they couldn’t even breathe, leaving them with no choice but to abandon their strongholds. This in turn led to the decline of the several guilds under them as well.

Three Armoured Ice Catapults were far from being enough to deal with Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. No one knew how much Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had advanced their technology since the siege of the Cripps Stronghold. However, one thing was for certain: it hadn’t stagnated. Delfina, one of Nie Yan’s three slaves, had helped him duplicate two Armoured Ice Catapult Blueprints. With three artisan teams simultaneously working on this project round the clock, they probably had quite a few Armoured Ice Catapults completed by now.

「We currently have 21 Armoured Ice Catapults. Three are with the War God Tribe, five with Battle Crazed Alliance, and the rest is at the Cripps Stronghold,」Guo Huai replied. Believing Nie Yan had a special reason for inquiring about the Armoured Ice Catapults, he asked,「You’re planning to take action against Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors? It’ll take us at least five days to transport the Armoured Ice Catapults, but if we get intercepted along the way, I can’t guarantee we won’t suffer heavy losses. They might have a method to deal with catapults. I also recently learned that Alliance of Mages already have 15 Armoured Catapults.」

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were based too far away from Calore. At this stage of the game, when most land mounts were of a fairly low rank and flying mounts were still incredibly rare, this kind of distance posed a huge challenge.

「What if we use horse-drawn carts? How long will it take then?」Nie Yan asked.

「If we use carts, we can cut the transport time to three days. However, building the carts won’t be cheap,」Guo Huai said. If they really were going to war with Alliance of Mages, victory wasn’t guaranteed. Given the distance, it would be very difficult for Asskickers United to seize any advantages.

「How much are we looking at?」

「At least 1,000,000 gold.」

Nie Yan thought it over for a moment. It was definitely worth the investment to spend 1,000,000 gold to increase the mobility of the Armoured Ice Catapults.「Fine, if it’s 1,000,000 gold, then it’s 1,000,000 gold. It’s not like we can’t afford it. Sell off some gems. After gathering the funds, immediately start building the carts!」

The horse-drawn carts could be directly built in the Cripps Stronghold’s siege weapon factory. No blueprints were required. All that was needed was gold to buy materials.

The war with Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors was bound to happen sooner or later. Asskickers United already fully controlled Calore. With Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, Radiant Sacred Flame, the War God Tribe, Battle Crazed Alliance, and the five branch guilds, they could definitely take on Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. Even if they couldn’t wipe out Alliance of Mages, dealing them a heavy blow would be no issue.

Nie Yan had already made his preparations for this war.

「Oh, by the way, Li Rui has been looking for you these past few days. I told him you were in the Hilton Stronghold,」Guo Huai said.

「Li Rui is looking for me? Why?」Nie Yan asked doubtfully. For the sake of levelling without interruption, he had set his voice settings so that only Guo Huai, Bladelight, and Xie Yao could contact him.

「I don’t know. It’s probably nothing big,」Guo Huai said. Li Rui was only a junior captain in Asskickers United. Zhao Hai and Liu Xuchen, who had joined the guild at the same time as him, had already risen to the top ranks of Asskickers United relying purely on their own merits. This was why Guo Huai didn’t have a good opinion of Li Rui. He was simply too mediocre. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was Nie Yan’s classmate, he wouldn’t even have become a junior captain.

「Tell him to wait, I suppose,」Nie Yan said. After thinking for a bit, he figured Li Rui’s matter probably wasn’t anything urgent.「How’s he doing lately?」

「Li Rui’s talent is too lacking. We’ve wasted quite a bit of manpower trying to nurture him, having top rank members carry him through dungeons. However, you can’t polish a turd. His skill hasn’t improved one bit. Zhai Hao and Liu Xuchen are already in the top ranks of the guild while he’s still only a junior captain. I think it’s been bothering him, and that’s why he’s looking for you,」Guo Huai said. He felt some prejudice against Li Rui.

「I’ll talk with him when I get back,」Nie Yan said. If Li Rui’s skills really weren’t up to snuff, picking favourites and forcefully raising him up would only exacerbate things. Serving as a junior captain in the guild was already pretty good.

Since Nie Yan had given the word, Guo Huai didn’t say anything more. He planned to reply to Li Rui.

「I’ve found Crazy Magic’s location. He’s at Christine’s Potion Shop,」Guo Huai said after receiving a report.

Christine’s Potion Shop was the Hilton Stronghold’s sole NPC Potion Shop. The goods there were quite expensive, more than 30% higher than market price. At present, there were only two potion shops in the Hilton Stronghold. One was Christine’s Potion Shop, and the other was the Starry Night Potion Shop. Crazy Magic didn’t want to lose face by shopping at the Starry Night Potion Shop, so he naturally went to Christine’s Potion Shop.

Christine’s Potion Shop was only about a two-minute walk from the villa.

"Boss, has there been any movement from Alliance of Mages? When are we taking action?” Paladin of the Elegy asked eagerly.

"Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors are still recuperating. It seems like they won’t be leaving the Hilton Stronghold any time soon. I’m going to pay Crazy Magic a visit. You guys can remain on standby until the equipment from Calore arrives,” Nie Yan said.

Nie Yan turned to Xie Yao. "Let’s go together.”

"Alright,” Xie Yao replied in an elegant manner.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao departed from the villa and headed for Christine’s Potion Shop. This place was a shabby building with only a single floor.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao immediately attracted the attention of the Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors players in the vicinity.

Nie Yan glanced at the surrounding players who were pretending they were merely passersby and inwardly sneered. These people had probably already informed Crazy Magic.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao leisurely walked through the streets while chatting.

After learning Nie Yan was approaching, Crazy Magic asked a subordinate beside him, "How many players does Nirvana Flame have with him?”

"The players tailing him are reporting that it’s just him and his girlfriend.”

Crazy Magic knitted his brows. It certainly wasn’t a coincidence that Nirvana Flame was coming in his direction. He recalled the incident with Heaven Breaker and inwardly warned himself not to fall into the same hole.

The thought of leaving Christine’s Potion Shop never crossed Crazy Magic’s mind. If he fled like some scared rat every time he encountered Nirvana Flame, he would become a laughingstock.

Chapter 526 - Setting Up the Date of the War

Nie Yan and Xie Yao stepped into Christine’s Potion Shop. At the same time, Crazy Magic turned around and gazed in their direction.

Crazy Magic was accompanied by a dozen players, all of whom were elites in Alliance of Mages.

Nie Yan and Crazy Magic met eyes. The atmosphere inside the shop instantly grew tense as the smell of gunpowder filled the air.

Sensing something off, the unaffiliated patrons hastily retreated off to the side.

"Isn’t that Nirvana Flame?”

"I think so. That other guy is Crazy Magic, the guild leader of Alliance of Mages.”

"I heard Alliance of Mages and Asskickers United have been butting heads a lot recently.”

"Yeah. They’re sworn enemies. I wonder what’s going to happen. Didn’t they only just fight each other?”

The players whispered amongst themselves. Alliance of Mages and Asskickers United, neither were existences that could be provoked by the likes of them.

At this moment, an elderly NPC in luxurious gray robes rushed out to the front. He was slim with white hair and beard and had a dignified air about him.

The players were puzzled. Why did he come out?

This old man was Christine. He was the owner of this potion shop. All the potions used by the NPCs of the Hilton Stronghold were supplied by him, making him a relatively well known character within the Stronghold. He also held the lofty title of Earl. Most players never got the opportunity to meet him, since he rarely showed himself in the store. And even fewer had the opportunity to buy potions from him, since he only sold to players with a high status. Only a lucky few could buy rare and precious potions from him.

In the past, several players had continuously bothered Christine in an attempt to do business with him. One of them had even attained the title of Baron. In a fit of rage, Christine called the guards and had them all locked up in the dungeon for almost a week. A lesson was learned that day. From then on, players inwardly vowed to never provoke Christine.

Meeting Christine wasn’t easy. This opportunity definitely couldn’t be missed. Of the players present, several who had some status tidied up their clothes and prepared to meet him. Perhaps they could obtain a few potions. However, Christine paid them no heed as he headed straight for Nie Yan.

"It’s an honour to meet you, Grand Scholar, no, Saint Nirvana Flame!” Christine respectfully greeted.

Christine dropped a bomb with his words. Everyone was staring at Nie Yan in shock, including Crazy Magic who felt like tremors were going off in his heart.

Grand Scholar, Saint, just what kind of titles were these?

None of them had ever heard of either of these two titles before, but they immediately understood they were of an incredibly high rank. The system of hierarchy in Conviction was ironclad. If even an earl like Christine was so respectful to Nie Yan, one could imagine what kind of existence he was in the Hilton Stronghold.

Crazy Magic clenched his fists as he felt a suffocating pressure on his chest. He had guessed that Nie Yan’s status in the Hilton Stronghold was extremely high previously in the administrative hall. Although he was also the leader of a top guild in the Viridian Empire, the difference between the two of them was too great.

No other guild leader could be like Nie Yan and truly become the very backbone of their guild. It was precisely Nie Yan’s existence that created the undefeated legend of Asskickers United.

In the previous ambush, did Asskickers United really lose? Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had suffered just over four times the casualties to take out only 1,200 players from Asskickers United. This kind of result could hardly be called a victory.

"Hello, Earl Christine.” Nie Yan nodded.

Nie Yan’s indifferent attitude once more shocked the players present. He actually spoke to a high rank NPC in such a manner? How daring!

Christine said a few words, then stood a few meters by Nie Yan’s side. His bearing was very humble.

Nie Yan gazed at Crazy Magic.

Everyone was nervously waiting to see what Nie Yan was going to say. They knew whatever he said would surely blow up on the forums.

"Let’s have our final battle in Karul’s Realm of Death. Crazy Magic, do you dare to accept?” Nie Yan coldly gazed at Crazy Magic. This was a provocation.

Everyone sucked in a breath of cold air. Karul’s Realm of Death wasn’t unfamiliar to these players thanks to an information page on the official website. In the Hilton Stronghold was a wandering Mage capable of using space magic to create a mysterious parallel world. When players needed a special way to settle a life-or-death dispute, they could search for him.

The Realm of Death had its own special rules. Players would be teleported to a certain point on the map. They would have to contend against the harsh environment as well as their enemies. If you died inside the realm, you would lose five levels and drop three pieces of equipment, then be teleported out. If it was a group battle between 1,000 or more players, the map would have 10 points. One side had to first capture every point and then occupy all of them for an hour to achieve victory. As such, battle would break out near these points. In this type of war one’s leadership, ability, adaptability, and understanding of the surroundings all played crucial roles.

Losing five levels and three pieces of equipment was an extremely frightening prospect for most players. Unless it was a life-or-death feud, no one would be willing to go to such a place.

Everyone was staring at Crazy Magic. They were all wondering if he would accept.

Hearing Nie Yan’s words, Crazy Magic’s heart trembled. If he accepted Nie Yan’s challenge, in a 1,000 vs 1,000 battle, Alliance of Mages had no chance of winning. Asskickers United’s players were simply too powerful. Alliance of Mages had far too few experts to be a match for Asskickers United. On the other hand, if he got cold feet and refused with so many people watching, he would become a laughingstock once this video was published online.

"What are your terms…?” Crazy Magic asked, pretending to be calm. At the same time, he was livestreaming what was happening to Cao Xu. Crazy Magic was a smart man. The Century Financial Group was their backer. For now, he could only push this problem to them.

City of the Lost. This was a small city in the Satreen Empire. In a cathedral in the center of the city, Cao Xu was pensively watching Crazy Magic’s livestream. Because he saw their immense growth potential, he previously wanted to acquire Asskickers United. They turned him down. Since he failed to acquire them, if they were allowed to continue to grow, they would one day pose a great threat to him. He used Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame to deal with them, from petty tricks to full blown wars. However, he never expected that they would only grow stronger with each battle before finally taking control of all of Calore, leaving him with no choice but to abandon his investments there.

Asskickers United’s astonishing growth also drove the sudden expansion of the Dragonsoar Financial Group and World Bloc in the virtual reality industry. These two powers were gaining a larger and larger foothold, pushing the Century Financial Group out. The dissolution of Bloodlust Blades and the investment of the Dragonsoar Financial Group into the virtual reality industry had already caused the Century Financial Group’s market share to drop by 1%. If Asskickers United continued to grow stronger and swallowed up Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors too, he could hardly imagine the consequences.

Conviction’s popularity was ever increasing. This was a fat slab of meat that no one was willing to give up on. Naturally, Cao Xu wasn’t willing to cede his share to others either. His feud with Asskickers United had reached the boiling point. One of them had to go down!

Hearing Nie Yan’s provocation through the video, the hand Cao Xu was holding his cup with paused for a little. He took a deep breath. Nie Yan’s move was ruthless. By bringing the battle to the Realm of Death where both sides had to have equal numbers, Alliance of Mages was simply not Asskickers United’s opponent. It would practically be a one-sided slaughter. But if Crazy Magic refused, and word spread out, Alliance of Mages wouldn’t even have the face to show themselves ever again.

Hearing Crazy Magic’s words, Nie Yan inwardly sneered. Under these circumstances, Alliance of Mages definitely wouldn’t dare to accept because the Realm of Death had a rule where both sides had to have equal numbers. I want to bully you, what can you do about it?

"Asskickers United and Alliance of Mages will put forward 3,000 players each to fight in the Realm of Death. Asskickers United won’t request any outside help. If Alliance of Mages feel their strength is inadequate, they can request the help of others. As for what we’re betting on, excluding their main stronghold, the victor gets to annex five strongholds of their choosing from the other side. How about it? You scrub, do you dare to accept?” Nie Yan asked. His tone was rude and filled with provocation.

The dozen players accompanying Crazy Magic were so infuriated they wanted to go up and give Nie Yan a taste of their mind.

Crazy Magic was still hesitating. If Alliance of Mages accepted, the consequences were unimaginable. He was still waiting for Cao Xu’s reply.

Everyone was staring at Crazy Magic, waiting for his answer.

"I think Alliance of Mages is afraid.”

"I think so too. With equal numbers on both sides, Alliance of Mages is definitely no match for Asskickers United. If I was Crazy Magic, I’d obediently admit defeat.”

The onlookers quietly discussed among one another.

"Boss, we’re waiting for your word. If you agree, even though we know defeat is inevitable, we brothers will still fight it out with them. If you back down, we’ll no longer have the face to stay in Alliance of Mages. We might as well resign,” a Priest said. He was Alliance of Mages’ number one Priest, Carefree Maple Sky. He was definitely an important voice in the guild.

"He’s right, Boss! We can die fighting, but we won’t suffer disgrace!” another player chimed in. They were the elites of Alliance of Mages. They had their own pride.

Cao Xu still hadn’t responded. Crazy Magic found it hard to breathe under the pressure. If he agreed without the Century Financial Group’s go ahead, they would almost certainly lose. If he didn’t agree, the whole guild might collapse considering how much sway Carefree Maple Sky and the others had.

It was a lose-lose situation. Crazy Magic clenched his staff.

Chapter 527 - Pulling at the Root

Crazy Magic steeled his resolve. He was going to accept Nie Yan’s challenge! He also had his own pride. As a guild leader, he had no choice but to make decisions based on reason rather than emotion. However, sometimes emotions still got the better of him.

After being backed into a corner, the only choice left was to fight to the bitter end!

Crazy Magic was about to give his answer, when his voice chat suddenly rang. Cao Xu’s voice came out through the other end.「Tell Nirvana Flame to set a date and time.」

These words were like a godsend for Crazy Magic. Alliance of Mage’s elites were absolutely no match for Asskickers United’s. Defeat was guaranteed. However, things were different if the Century Financial Group took action. After operating in the virtual reality industry for so many years, Cao Xu had gathered countless experts under his banner.

Did the Century Financial Group plan on dispatching Direwolf this time?

Even though Crazy Magic wasn’t familiar with Direwolf, like most, he had heard the rumours.

There was a global leaderboard for professional players called the GP Rankings. It was quite prestigious, with countless top talents on it. One example was Krow, a European who was a godlike existence in the virtual reality game Hunter. He once reached the number one spot in the GP Rankings and maintained it for six months straight. Later on, he vanished without a trace. It was rumoured he had been recruited into Direwolf by the Century Financial Group. However, the rumour was never confirmed. Another example was Raven, a Chinese player of the game Mercenary who stayed in the top three in the GP Rankings for two years straight. Later on, he bought nearly ¥50,000,000 worth of stocks in the Century Financial Group and then disappeared.

The Century Financial Group’s foundation definitely couldn’t be looked down upon. In comparison, entities like the Dragonsoar Financial Group and World Bloc were lowly upstarts that had only recently entered the virtual reality industry.

Crazy Magic’s anxiousness faded away. He gazed at Nie Yan and said, "Go ahead. Name a time. How do you want to do this? Alliance of Mages will accompany you to the bitter end!”

Nie Yan had been observing Crazy Magic’s expression the whole time. Based on the initial hesitation to the response full of bravado, He concluded Crazy Magic was in contact with someone, and that someone was most likely Cao Xu.

You’ve kept me waiting long enough, Cao Xu… Nie Yan clenched his fists as the veins on his arms bulged out. Their battle was only just beginning!

Nie Yan understood Cao Xu wouldn’t be as easy to deal with as people like Crazy Magic. He was like a crocodile lurking below the water’s surface, waiting for the perfect opportunity to deal a fatal blow to its prey. The lessons of the previous timeline had taught Nie Yan to never underestimate an opponent like Cao Xu. Back then, Battle Crazed Alliance, the War God Tribe, and countless other guilds had gradually been swallowed up by Cao Xu. Even though Asskickers United had tenaciously survived to this day, this matter still couldn’t be treated lightly.

"Tomorrow, 30 minutes after the server opens,” Nie Yan replied. He didn’t know how long this battle would last, or what kind of people Alliance of Mages would recruit.

"Then it’s settled!” Crazy Magic said. He appeared much more confident than before.

"Nie Yan, with Crazy Magic responding so confidently, will there be a problem?” Xie Yao whispered.

"Since we’ve already issued the challenge, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” Nie Yan said. It didn’t matter who Crazy Magic’s side called over for help. Everything would be fine as long as they prepared adequately. He had faith in the players of Asskickers United!

Nie Yan turned to Christine and asked, "Earl Christine, may I trouble you to be the witness of this battle?”

"It would be my honour, Saint Nirvana Flame! I swear in God’s name that I will oversee this match fairly!” Christine replied.

Having an NPC judge ensured that neither side could try anything funny.

The meeting between Nie Yan and Crazy Magic in Christine’s Potion Shop was posted online and instantly created a stir. News of the battle between Asskickers United and Alliance of Mages in the Realm of Death spread like wildfire, becoming the hot topic of conversation. The conflict between these two guilds was a long standing one. But for it to be settled in such a way was rather unexpected. Players who died in the Realm of Death would lose five levels and three pieces of equipment. This kind of penalty caused many players to break out in a cold sweat.

As the news spread, it quickly became the focus of attention and both parties could feel the pressure coming down on them. Whoever lost would undoubtedly have to swallow an extremely bitter pill.

Nie Yan’s challenge to Alliance of Mages was received quite positively by the players of Asskickers United. The guild chat was flooded with heated discussion.

「Boss, we have your back! We’ve been sitting back long enough! This time, we’ll definitely teach those bastards from Alliance of Mages a lesson!」

「Alliance of Mages actually dared to accept? Is Crazy Magic an idiot. We’re going to crush them!」

After learning they were going into battle, the players from Asskickers United grew endlessly excited.

「Guo Huai, organize 20,000 troops.」

「Why?」Guo Huai asked in confusion.

「To transport the Armoured Ice Catapults to Moonlight City!」

Guo Huai was stunned for a moment before his face lit up with excitement.「I understand! You sure are ruthless!」Nie Yan planned to take advantage of the moment when all of Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors’ elites were in the Realm of Death to transport the Armoured Ice Catapults. Without their elites or leaders present, Alliance of Mages had no chance of stopping the Armoured Ice Catapults. When the battle in the Realm of Death ended, if Asskickers United won, their Armoured Ice Catapults just happened to be in position to enter their newly acquired strongholds. With these strongholds as a strategic base, they could siege Alliance of Mages’ other strongholds and attack Cao Xu’s very foundation! As for losing, the thought never crossed Guo Huai’s mind!

「Be careful of Angel Corps interfering. However, it seems their plate is already full over in the Satreen Empire, so there probably isn’t anything to worry about,」Nie Yan said. The conflict in the Satreen Empire had never stopped. Angel Corps had their own matters to deal with.

「I’ll immediately pass down the order,」Guo Huai said. He started convening Asskickers United players from various maps together.

「I’ll give you a list of items in a bit. Have the people below you gather them,」Nie Yan said. He began recalling various scrolls, potions, and special items and wrote them all down. The battle in the Realm of Death was too important. If spending an extra bit of gold allowed Asskickers United to suffer fewer losses, he would gladly take it. He decided to have his players stock up a few items prior to the battle in order to deal with Alliance of Mages.

Alliance of Mages would also definitely prepare a large amount of scrolls, potions, and special items. Relying solely on the financial support of the Century Financial Group, Alliance of Mages would be lucky to bring out even 1,000,000 gold. However, Nie Yan could take out 2,000,000, 3,000,000, or even more gold without any problems! He could crush Alliance of Mages to death with gold!

Chapter 528 - Hyperlink Ring

Nie Yan checked his personal storage for gems and crystals.

20 Magic Crystals, 30 Radiant Crystals, 2 Life Crystals, and 1 Power Crystal were required to hatch the Darkwing Dragon Egg. Nie Yan had previously put up a request for these items on the mission boards of the Union of Assassins. He had also mobilized the players in Asskickers United to help him search for Radiant Crystals. At present, he had gathered all but one Life Crystal. But without it, he couldn’t hatch the Darkwing Dragon. It was truly vexing.

Items like Life Crystals had pitifully low drop rates. Finding one was simply a matter of luck.

If Nie Yan could hatch the Darkwing Dragon before entering the Realm of Death, Asskickers United’s victory would be even more certain.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. He had the players below him post an anonymous request in the Mercenary Association, offering 100,000 gold for a Life Crystal. This kind of reward was enough to create a huge stir. As long as someone had one in their possession, even if they didn’t want to sell, they would find it hard not to.

It would be amazing if he could get his hands on one. However, if he couldn’t, so be it.

He still had many other things to do before entering the Realm of Death.

Nie Yan recalled there was a secret shop in the Hilton Stronghold. However, he had already forgotten its exact location. In the previous timeline, he only heard others talking about it but never checked it out himself. It was rumoured even the cheapest consumables there cost more than 1,000 gold while the most ordinary items sold for tens of thousands of gold. Definitely not something he could hope to afford back then.

Aside from the sky-high prices, one required at least 10,000 merit points to enter this secret shop. After killing so many demon beasts, Nie Yan had already accumulated 30,000 merit points. It was definitely enough.

Nie Yan had never visited this secret shop in the previous timeline, so he didn’t know its exact whereabouts. But from what he heard, it was in the vicinity.

Nie Yan went to ask Ignatius. As a prominent resident of the Hilton Stronghold, he should know at least this much.

After a few minutes, Nie Yan pried out the location of the secret shop from Ignatius.

Xie Yao and the other players of Asskickers United went off to level together. To prevent being discovered by Alliance of Mages, they moved covertly. Nie Yan prepared to set off to the secret shop by himself.

Nie Yan had more than 10 people tailing him while walking down the street. However, once he decided to ditch them, there was no one who could follow him.

Nie Yan went into stealth and entered a nearby alley, quickly shaking off his pursuers.

After moving around in the narrow alleyways for 10 minutes, taking numerous twists and turns and passing through several passages that could only fit a single person, Nie Yan arrived in front of a shop. Two fully armed guards stood by the entrance. Their silver-white armour appeared quite dazzling.

These two guards were in charge of protecting the secret shop. They were normally quite arrogant, but once they saw Nie Yan, they hurriedly bowed and behaved with utmost respect.

Nie Yan paid the entrance fee. Looking at his contribution, only 3,000 merit points had been deducted. This was probably one of the benefits of his Saint of the Hilton Stronghold title.

Nie Yan entered inside and was greeted by a large hall with many shelves arranged on both sides. They were stocked with all sorts of goods.

The person at the front counter was a tall middle-aged man in civilian attire. Nie Yan inspected him with Transcendent Insight.

Peleg (???): Level ???
Titles: Adventurer, Earl

Peleg greeted Nie Yan.

"Sir Nirvana Flame, welcome to my humble little shop,” Peleg beamed. He had a capable air about him.

"Mhm, thank you,” Nie Yan replied politely. He started browsing through the list of merchandise.

Seeing the prices, Nie Yan’s heart trembled. It seemed the rumours were not exaggerated. All sorts of Special Items were up for sale, such as the Silk Spinner Ring and Crawler Ring. However, their prices were ludicrously high. The Silk Spinner Ring cost 50,000 gold while the Crawler Ring cost 110,000. On top of this, they weren’t even upgraded, so they were at the lowest grade.

Nie Yan continued looking. The nearby shelves were stocked with all sorts of rare one-time-use items, such as Group Teleport Scrolls.

Asskickers United had a dedicated group of players responsible for gathering Group Teleport Scrolls, so they currently weren't in short supply.

As long as it was useful, Nie Yan swept it all into his bag. With the existence of this shop still being unknown, the items bought here for 1,000 gold could be resold for 1,500 gold or more outside. Not to mention he could buy those same items for only 300 gold.

After all, with the Saint of the Hilton Stronghold title, Nie Yan enjoyed a 70% discount on everything.

This was the advantage of a title. In the previous timeline, countless players with high rank titles had made their fortunes reselling items. It was a pity the goods sold in secret shops were in limited supply. If a certain item sold out, it would take days or even weeks to restock.

Nie Yan could buy a 10,000 gold item for only 3,000. This was practically a steal. Anything selling for 10,000 gold here was bound to be precious.

Nie Yan skimmed over numerous goods before his gaze fell on a gold box. Contained inside were 12 identical rings. They looked unique, crafted out of a silver-white metal with a mysterious circular formation engraved at the top.

Each ring cost 30,000 gold, meaning all 12 together added up to 360,000 gold.

This was a frightening sum to ordinary players.

Even with a 70% discount, it still cost 108,000 gold, far more than most ordinary players possessed.

Nie Yan checked the properties of the rings. They were identical.

Hyperlink Ring (Sub Legendary): Special Item

Description: Grants the Hyperlink skill.

Hyperlink: Allows the user to teleport to another owner of a Hyperlink Ring within the same map. Cooldown: 15 minutes. Range: 5,000 meters.

Reading the description of this skill, Nie Yan’s heart trembled. This ring was quite nifty, especially in the right hands. The cooldown was short too, only 15 minutes.

These 12 Hyperlink Rings were definitely worth their price.

"Peleg, do you have more of these Hyperlink Rings for sale?” Nie Yan asked.

"I’m sorry sir Nirvana Flame, I don’t. Like other Sub Legendary and Legendary-grade items, this set of Hyperlink Rings is unique. These 12 are the only ones in existence,” Peleg explained.

Since it was like this, Nie Yan could only drop the subject. However, to have 12 of them was still good.

Nie Yan planned to give these 12 Hyperlink Rings to the top players of Asskickers United. He already had their owners in mind: himself, Xie Yao, Tang Yao, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Sun, King of the World, Young Seven, Painted Muslin, Sunny South, One Strike Vow, and Lustboy.

Of course Asskickers United had many more experts. However, only 12 Hyperlink Rings existed.

Besides the 12 Hyperlink Rings which cost 108,000 gold, Nie Yan bought many other useful items for the elites of the guild. Even though each and every single one of these items cost a small fortune, they were definitely worth it.

After concluding his shopping spree, Nie Yan had spent a total of 600,000 gold to fill all five of his bags up with items.

Nie Yan left the secret shop with a satisfied smile on his face. Next time, he would buy even more items to resell to others for a decent profit. However, there wasn’t any time right now. He needed to prepare for the upcoming battle in the Realm of Death.

Over in the Cripps Stronghold, players kept bringing all sorts of goods to Guo Huai, who in turn had them transported to the Hilton Stronghold as quickly as possible. Once there, Nie Yan would handle the rest.

The reason Alliance of Mages’ ambush succeeded last time was in part due to their many scrolls. Those scrolls had caught Asskickers United off-guard, leading to a large amount of casualties. Otherwise, with the superiority of Asskickers United’s players, the final outcome might have been very different.

Fighting fire with fire. If they were fighting to see who had more scrolls or gold, Nie Yan definitely wouldn’t lose out to Alliance of Mages.

Nie Yan had Asskickers United’s players return to the Hilton Stronghold. He then started distributing useful items to everyone. Every player received all sorts of items worth at least 1,000 gold in preparation for the upcoming battle.

With the preparations finished, the only thing left was to wait for tomorrow. Alliance of Mages’ side had probably finished preparing too.

Alliance of Mages’ players were all gathered in the slums north of the Hilton Stronghold. They had bought several houses here. They were quite remote and also extremely cheap. Due to how far they were from the heart of the stronghold, travel was inconvenient, a far cry from Nie Yan’s personal villa.

They had gathered a total of 1,200 top experts. Divine Protectors had also sent some of their best over. Cao Xu’s side showed no sign of movement. That was to say, Guo Huai’s information network had no way of infiltrating Direwolf and tracking their movements.

Just what kind of existence was the Direwolf gaming organization for their number of experts to remain a complete mystery?

A dark hand behind the scenes like Cao Xu’s wouldn’t allow Alliance of Mages to walk to their deaths. He would definitely dispatch some of his most trusted subjects to oversee this battle. It seemed achieving victory in the Realm of Death wouldn’t be too easy. However, Nie Yan would finally get a chance to meet the experts under Cao Xu’s control.

Chapter 529 - Hatching the Darkwing Dragon

Regarding hatching the Darkwing Dragon before entering the Realm of Death, Nie Yan didn’t hold any extravagant hopes. He was even about to give up, when Guo Huai sent word a Life Crystal had been found!

Nie Yan was elated. He hurriedly called up Guo Huai.

「Someone is selling a Life Crystal?」Nie Yan asked.

「Yeah, we’ve already made contact with him. That bastard’s really greedy. He isn’t willing to sell even for 100,000 gold,」Guo Huai said.

50,000 gold was already a sky high price for a Life Crystal. However, the other party still considered Nie Yan’s offer too low.

Nie Yan frowned.「How much does he want?」

「I’m guessing he knows we’re desperate. That’s why he’s trying to milk us for as much as he can. He said 200,000 gold, no less, or all negotiations are off. Exchanging equipment is fine too,」Guo Huai said, his eyes flashing with killing intent. 200,000 gold for a Life Crystal? How about you go rot in a hole instead!

「Exchanging equipment…」Nie Yan pondered for a moment, then asked,「What kind of equipment does he want?」Some experts didn’t particularly care for gold, since they had plenty of it. At their level, top quality equipment was much more attractive, the kind that couldn’t be bought even if you had the money. If they came in possession of a relatively rare item, they generally wouldn’t sell it but would rather exchange it for equipment instead.

「Top quality Shadow Priest equipment, and he’s picky. That guy’s equipment is pretty good too. He has quite a few pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment. He even has a Legendary-grade staff,」Guo Huai said.

A Shadow Priest with amazing equipment…? Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Shadow Priests were the least played class, with next to no experts. Only two players came to mind, that fellow on the Wind Serpent who attacked Tang Yao and Black Heaven’s big brother.「What’s that person’s name?」

「Black Hell,」Guo Huai replied.

「It really is him. What a small world...」Nie Yan muttered. He didn’t expect to meet Black Hell again. A Life Crystal wasn’t something that could be obtained purely by luck. A certain amount of skill was required too. The fact that Black Hell had managed to obtain one wasn’t strange.

「You know him?」

「He’s Black Heaven’s big brother.」

「Oh, so it’s like that… Since he’s an acquaintance, that makes things much easier,」Guo Huai said. Black Heaven was a huge pain in the beginning. But after getting to know everyone, he gradually blended in. Although he was a recluse by nature, he respected people with ability. If Asskickers United was full of trash, he probably wouldn’t have stayed for very long. He initially looked down on everyone in the guild. However, after meeting Undying Scoundrel and the others and losing several times to them in one-on-one duels, then witnessing the skill of Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the rest, his view changed. Afterwards, when everyone got familiar with one another, they realized Black Heaven himself wasn’t too bad either. Since Black Hell was his big brother, there was no harm in having him do the negotiations.

「First, see if we have any good Shadow Priest equipment. We shouldn’t try taking advantage of him,」Nie Yan said. If he could obtain a Life Crystal, trading away a few pieces of equipment was definitely worth it.

「Nie Yan, can we try recruiting Black Hell? I mean, Black Heaven is already here,」Guo Huai asked.

「It’ll be difficult. I’ve already tried but failed. He seems to have some special attachment to the Dark Hero guild.」

「Hmmm? Black Hell wasn’t wearing a guild emblem, though. He’s a solo player. I heard a while back some Shadow Priest in Dark Hero slaughtered more than 20 of their guildmates, including the guild leader, and then withdrew from the guild. Maybe that’s him?」

Nie Yan hadn’t heard about this incident. This wasn’t odd. Guilds like Dark Hero were basically ants compared to Asskickers United. Why would he pay them any heed? Even if Guo Huai happened to learn about their matters, he wouldn’t bring it up either. Whatever drama broke out within these guilds was inconsequential to Asskickers United.

「Black Hell withdrew from Dark Hero?」Nie Yan found this piece of news hard to believe.

Since Black Hell was currently guildless, Nie Yan had a chance of recruiting him to Asskickers United!

「How skilled is that fellow?」Guo Huai excitedly asked. Everyone could see how skilled Black Heaven was. Since Black Hell was the big brother, he shouldn’t be too bad either.

「He’s definitely a godly Shadow Priest. If he joined Asskickers United, he could easily place within the top five of the entire guild,」Nie Yan replied. The top five within Asskickers United, this was a position many players strived for but could never hope to reach.

Guo Huai’s heart shook. Just what did this signify? Right now, the top five in Asskickers United were Nie Yan, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Sun, and Tang Yao in that order. Although no one had witnessed King of the World’s strength yet, Nie Yan estimated he was no weaker than Sun. Just below were Xie Yao, One Strike Vow, Lustboy, and so on. With so much competition, one could imagine how difficult it would be to enter the top five.

Yet Nie Yan dared to claim that Black Hell could do it!

Guo Huai’s eyes lit up. Such a player was definitely a national treasure!

「I’ll ask Black Heaven to try and convince Black Hell to join the guild. If he can’t do it, I’ll give that brat a piece of my mind!」Guo Huai said in high spirits. He quickly went to contact Black Heaven.

Black Heaven likely also wanted Black Hell to join Asskickers United. It now all depended on what Black Hell wanted. Last time, his choice was to stay in Dark Hero, probably because his attachment to the guild was too deep. But now, he’d withdrawn from the guild. As for what happened, no one knew. If Black Heaven tried really hard to convince Black Hell, maybe Black Hell might actually join Asskickers United.

After all, Asskickers United was the guild for Black Hell to join if he wanted to join one, if only for his little brother Black Heaven.

Nie Yan was fine letting Guo Huai and Black Heaven deal with this matter.

As for the Life Crystal, Guo Huai would probably send it over before it was time to log off. For an expert like Black Hell, such an item probably wasn’t very useful.

Knowing that he could hatch the Darkwing Dragon Egg soon, Nie Yan got fired up.

Nie Yan glanced at the flying mount leaderboards. There were already six entries, a number that would only keep rising. The Netherthunder Eagle was pushed down a rank by an Achlys Dragonfly. Among these six flying mounts, two belonged to Asskickers United. One was Tang Yao’s Netherthunder Eagle, and the other was Natural Fiend’s recently acquired Azure Wing Albatross.

The Azure Wing Albatross was an enormous bird which excelled in aerial combat, and was only slightly inferior to the Netherthunder Eagle in that regard.

The proliferation of flying mounts was inevitable. In the future, aerial warfare would become much more common.

Nie Yan wasn’t sure if Alliance of Mage’s side would bring out flying mounts tomorrow. But with the Darkwing Dragon on their side, Asskickers United definitely wouldn’t lose out in the skies.

About an hour later, Guo Huai sent over someone to deliver the Life Crystal. On top of that, he had more good news. Black Hell agreed to join Asskickers United and would be joining them in the Realm of Death tomorrow. However, he had one condition. Nie Yan had to help destroy the Dark Hero guild!

If Black Hell revealed his real identity as Invincible, he could easily gather enough people to crush Dark Hero. However, he had decided to borrow Asskickers United’s power instead. Dark Hero was founded by him, so he would be the one to destroy it.

Nie Yan agreed without the slightest hesitation. A peak expert like Black Hell was one that could only be discovered by chance not found. For the sake of recruiting him, he was willing to destroy hundreds of Dark Heroes if he had to. With a snap of his finger, he could instantly wipe out a declining guild like Dark Hero anyway.

According to Black Heaven, they still had a few close friends in Dark Hero. If those friends learned that Black Hell joined Asskickers United, they would almost certainly follow as well.

For Asskickers United, this was definitely a no-lose situation.

After receiving the Life Crystal, Nie Yan looked inside his bag. It was filled with all sorts of gems, all neatly organized together. He had everything he needed. The Hilton Stronghold also had a place to hatch pets. He sorted through his inventory, then headed there.

Inside the pet egg slot where the Darkwing Dragon Egg was stowed away, Nie Yan could feel every heartbeat of the creature inside. It was on the verge of hatching and becoming the ruler of the skies!

The Hilton Stronghold’s pet shop was a bit crude and simple due to being reconstructed after the demon beast invasion. However, the Beast Tamers here were all fairly high rank.

Nie Yan entered the pet shop. To his left and right were stacks of cages, containing all sorts of different pets. However, what differed compared to the one in Calore was that this place also had a section for flying mounts.

After passing through the aisles, Nie Yan approached one of the Beast Tamers.

This place was quite bustling, with people coming and going constantly. There were about 60 people in the shop at any given time, busying themselves with their own matters. Several players from Alliance of Mages were also present.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. This place was too crowded. If he hatched the Darkwing Dragon here, it would definitely be seen by many people, in particular those players from Alliance of Mages. News of him hatching the Darkwing Dragon would definitely reach Crazy Magic’s ears, and everything would be revealed. However, he had no other choice. He could only steel himself and talk to the Beast Tamer.

"Greetings sir Nirvana Flame. How may I help you today,” an Advanced Beast Tamer in red robes asked.

Chapter 530 - Darkwing Dragon!!!

Nie Yan was hidden by a black cloak, so no one paid him any heed. Furthermore, with so much noise in the background, no one heard the exchange between him and the Beast Tamer.

A few players from Alliance of Mages were chatting nearby. Their equipment was fairly high quality. They were most likely elites. A Warrior, carrying a large egg in his hands, approached one of the Beast Tamers.

This group was likely here to hatch a flying mount.

"What did they say? What kind of flying mount is it?” one of the Mages asked.

"It’s a Wind Serpent.”

"It’s a pity Wind Serpents are low rank flying mounts, but they’re still pretty decent. It wasn’t a waste for Crazy Magic to buy it from Angel Corps, even if it cost a fortune.”

"How did Angel Corps get their hands on so many flying mounts?”

"I think from the newly released map, Gryphon Woodlands. They already ran that place several times. They only managed to get a few flying mount eggs after their 1,000-man expedition teams wiped more than 30 times. If it wasn’t for the Century Financial Group, they wouldn’t sell it to us at all.”

"Is Gryphon Woodlands really that difficult?”

"Of course, didn’t you hear what I just said? Just imagine...”

This group of players from Alliance of Mages quietly whispered amongst themselves.

As the Beast Tamer gently stroked and caressed the egg, a small serpent broke out of the shell. It had a pair of transparent wings growing on its back, flapping up and down non-stop as it floated in the air. It was quite small, looking exactly like a miniature version of the Wind Serpent that Tang Yao had encountered before. Similar to the Netherthunder Eagle, it could also change its size. Those with no knowledge of flying mounts would never realize that this little snake was actually a powerful creature.

"It hatched!” an Alliance of Mages player excitedly cried out.

The group played with the Wind Serpent and chatted for a while before leaving the pet shop together.

Watching their backs disappear behind the pet shop’s entrance, Nie Yan had a pensive look on his face. For Angel Corps to be willing to give away a flying mount, a lot of machinations had to be going on in the background. It seemed Alliance of Mages was really putting everything on the line here. However, a Wind Serpent was an ant-like existence compared to a Darkwing Dragon. Even if Alliance of Mages brought out several flying mounts, Nie Yan would still thoroughly crush them.

Seeing much fewer people in the shop, Nie Yan spoke to the Beast Tamer, "I’d like to hatch this egg.”

Nie Yan handed over all the crystals and the Darkwing Dragon Egg to the Beast Tamer.

"T-this is a dragon egg...?” the Beast Tamer stammered. He cautiously accepted the Darkwing Dragon Egg, then wholeheartedly devoted himself to pouring the energy of the crystals into it.

As the Darkwing Dragon absorbed the energy within the crystals, they gradually transformed into useless rocks.

Nie Yan felt the life energy within the egg growing stronger by the second. The creature inside was rapidly growing. A moment later, with a slight tremble, it started breaking out of its shell.

「Peck! Peck! Peck!」Cracks spread across the shell.

Nie Yan’s eyes lit up with excitement.

A new life was about to be born!

The Beast Tamer was fully concentrated on the hatching process.

At this moment, the other players in the shop started taking notice. They curiously stared at the egg in the Beast Tamer’s hands. This was their first time seeing such an egg, so their interest was piqued. They wondered what kind of creature would hatch. Looking at the Beast Tamer, his expression was quite anxious as sweat dripped from his forehead.

"What is that?”

"Who knows, probably a flying mount. Just a while ago, two people came to hatch their flying mount too. Right now, there are more and more flying mounts.”

"I bet it’s just an ordinary flying mount. Hiding himself with a cloak, does he think he’s a big shot or something?” a player harrumphed. He was clearly having a case of sour grapes.

Nie Yan ignored these players. He was solely focused on the egg in the Beast Tamer’s hands. The tightness in his chest grew more and more intense.

Since Nie Yan was covered in a black cloak, no one could see his expression which was filled with nervousness and expectation.

Obtaining a flying mount was a far-fetched dream for many players. In the previous timeline, Nie Yan could only gaze in envy as others rode on their flying mounts. However, now he would finally have his own.

With a loud crack, the Darkwing Dragon finally broke out of the egg. It curiously gazed around at the world. Its eyes resembled black pearls and shone with intelligence. It flapped its wings and started flying up.

The Darkwing Dragon looked like a large bird. However, it had many of the distinct characteristics of a dragon. It was a type of winged dragon. Its entire body was onyx black, with a fat round belly, a pair of powerful claws under its wings, and strong legs brimming with strength. Its speed both in the air and on the ground wasn’t to be underestimated.

Compared to a true dragon, the Darkwing Dragon was a bit smaller.

An uproar erupted in the pet shop.

"What creature is that!?”

"It kinda looks like a bird?”

"No, a dragon?”

The players were all guessing.

As the Darkwing Dragon flew around, it eyes swept through the players in the shop before finally stopping on Nie Yan. It could feel a sense of kinship from him. It flapped its wings and flew over to him before landing on his shoulder and nestling itself against his neck.

A peculiar feeling arose from Nie Yan’s heart. He could feel a connection with the Darkwing Dragon, allowing him to give it orders.

Seeing players gathering around him, Nie Yan quickly recalled the Darkwing Dragon into his pet space, then made his way out of the pet shop.

Seeing Nie Yan’s back, the players started ferociously discussing with each other.

"That was a dragon, right? Who the heck was that guy?”

Only now did players think to check the flying mount leaderboards. Several new entries had appeared, and occupying the top spot was the Darkwing Dragon.

"Damn, it really was a dragon.”

"What an unbelievable guy!”

"Maybe that was Nirvana Flame? I heard he obtained an amazing flying mount egg, but couldn’t hatch it yet.”

The Darkwing Dragon was a fairly high-rank existence even among dragons. It boasted powerful darkness magic, and though its close combat ability was average, it was still far stronger than an ordinary dragon. At the same time, its magic and physical resistances were some of the highest out there.

Reading the information found online, the players in the pet shop felt even more shocked.

Some of them couldn’t help but imagine how amazing it would be if they could walk out of the door and ride off on their own Darkwing Dragon. However, such thoughts were followed by deep sighs. Let alone a Darkwing Dragon, they couldn’t even afford an ordinary flying mount!

Nie Yan returned to his villa and brought the Darkwing Dragon back out.

The Darkwing Dragon started flying around and curiously inspecting the room. If they were outdoors, it could grow tens of times in size.

Undying Scoundrel and the others were currently resting in the villa. Seeing the Darkwing Dragon flying around, their faces were dumbstruck.

"Boss! You hatched the Darkwing Dragon!?” Undying Scoundrel exclaimed. He gazed at the Darkwing Dragon flying around.

"Yeah.” Nie Yan nodded.

Undying Scoundrel and the others quickly checked the flying mount leaderboards. Just like they expected, the Darkwing Dragon was firmly seated at the number one spot. After all, it was a powerful dragon, one of the strongest existences in Conviction!

No one knew how strong the Darkwing Dragon was. However, everyone could confirm that at this stage of the game no other flying mount was its match! It was the undisputed ruler of the skies!

The Asskickers United players became even more confident of their chances of victory in the Realm of Death. With a powerful dragon on their side, what was there for them to be afraid of? It was the perfect time to go to war!

Nie Yan checked the Darkwing Dragon’s information page.

Darkwing Dragon: Flying Mount

Attack Type: Dragon Breath / Physical

Armour Type: Divine

Health: 250,000

Defense: 12,000

Magic Resistance: 1,000

Poison Resistance: 1,000

Physical Resistance: 1,000

…

The information page contained every stat and detail. Nie Yan only did a brief scan. He would go over them more closely later on. However, he could confirm that the Darkwing Dragon was far stronger than any ordinary flying mount. For example, even if it had to fight three of Tang Yao’s Netherthunder Eagles at the same time, it would still easily come out on top.

"Boss, show us the Darkwing Dragon’s stats!” Undying Scoundrel pleaded. He’d been guessing about its strength long enough, he wanted to know!

"Yeah, Boss! We want to see!”

Nie Yan looked around the room. Everyone here was a trusted comrade. After thinking a bit, he shared the Darkwing Dragon’s stats.

Undying Scoundrel and the others gasped in amazement.

"1,000 Magic Resistance… I bet my spells won’t even leave a scratch on it!” Undying Scoundrel sighed.

"You’d be a freak if you did manage to deal any damage. Did you look at the Darkwing Dragon’s defense type? It’s Divine Armour! I’m guessing only attacks from catapults and ballistas can really damage it!”

Chapter 531 - Black Hell Joins the Guild

As Nie Yan was analyzing the Darkwing Dragon’s stats and deciding on which ones to focus on, there was movement on the side of Alliance of Mages.

A group of 60 players wearing black cloaks appeared outside the small residential area which served as a temporary base for Alliance of Mages. These people radiated a mysterious and stifling pressure.

Receiving news of their arrival, Crazy Magic hurriedly rushed out to greet them.

"It’s a pleasure to meet you, Krow. I welcome you on behalf of Alliance of Mages,” Crazy Magic greeted.

The Warrior called Krow didn’t bother responding.

Krow and the players accompanying him were cold and indifferent, much to the indignation of the Alliance of Mages players. Even though Crazy Magic was inwardly steaming at being disrespected like this, he still had a fawning expression on his face. He understood this group couldn’t be provoked. Leaving aside the fact they worked directly under Cao Xu, all of them were extraordinary characters in their own respect.

"You’re too kind, Crazy Magic,” an Arcane Mage called Raven answered.

Raven was also Chinese. He appeared to be a good talker. On the other hand, Krow’s arrogance was clearly written on his face.

These 60 players were the elites of Direwolf. Ordinary players had only heard of them but never seen them in action. Nie Yan was more-or-less the same. All he knew was that Cao Xu had nurtured this organization for many years.

Crazy Magic invited Krow, Raven, and the rest inside to discuss the upcoming war.

Nie Yan was still in the villa, when he received word that Black Hell was looking for him.

"He’s finally here!” Nie Yan muttered. He still recalled how he had almost lost in their previous duel. He was more than willing to welcome an expert like this into the guild!

Nie Yan headed out to greet Black Hell. The two met outside the villa’s entrance.

"We meet again,” Nie Yan said, looking Black Hell up and down. His equipment had vastly improved since they last met. His staff was crafted out of an extremely pure Darkness Crystal.

Crystals were the best catalysts for channeling magic and the go-to material for top quality staffs. At the same time, the greater the purity of the crystal, the greater the damage bonuses for magic corresponding to the crystal’s element.

Guo Huai’s eyes weren’t mistaken. This staff was Legendary-grade.

Black Hell chuckled and nodded.

Black Hell still had that indifferent calmness about him. However, hidden behind it was now also a hint of loneliness and bleakness.

Nie Yan understood Black Hell’s personality and didn’t ask about Dark Hero.

"Welcome to Asskickers United,” Nie Yan said with a sincere expression.

"Thanks.”

After learning of Black Hell’s arrival, Black Heaven rushed over from the west side of the Hilton Stronghold. He excitedly shouted, "Big Brother!”

Black Heaven had matured quite a bit. Black Hell patted his shoulders with a proud look on his face.

"Big Brother, since you’ve left Dark Hero, forget all that happened! The past is the past. You have us here!” Black Heaven said.

Black Hell chuckled. "It seemed like my decision to have you join Asskickers United was correct. You’ve grown quite a bit.”

Black Heaven laughed while scratching his nose.

Dark Hero was famous in several popular virtual reality games and bore an invincible legend, having never once been defeated. The members of Dark Hero felt a strong sense of belonging to the guild. Even after it disbanded, many people still thought back to its glory days as well as their old guild leader, Invincible.

Nothing lasts forever. Invincible was now Black Hell. Black Heaven believed he would never again find a guild where he could feel the same sense of belonging like he did back in the glory days of Dark Hero. However, to his surprise, he quickly blended into Asskickers United. From Black Heaven’s point of view, Asskickers United greatly resembled Dark Hero during its peak. He believed Black Hell would also quickly fit in here. This place had many trustworthy brothers!

Nie Yan was also excited about Black Hell joining.

It was almost time for the servers to go down. After finishing their preparations, the players from Asskickers United logged off around the villa. They would set off together to the Realm of Death first thing tomorrow!

Nie Yan and Xie Yao logged off.

Spending most of the summer in Nie Yan’s room, their first semester of university life was about to begin. The Top Military Academy was located in West City, roughly a three-hour drive from Huahai. Xie Jun had already bought them a villa there. In order to avoid attracting any attention, Nie Yan and Xie Yao moving there would be kept a secret.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao were both students of the Top Military Academy. This also served as a form of protection. The people targeting Xie Yao likely wouldn’t take any action near the academy.

Xie Jun firmly believed that Xie Yao’s kidnapping attempt was orchestrated by Liu Rui’s father. However, he couldn't find any concrete evidence. So all he could do was dispatch people to closely monitor Liu Rui’s father, preventing him from making any big movements.

"Since the villa has already been bought, how about we move in today?” Nie Yan suggested. World Bloc was on the right track. As long as nothing happened to the War God Tribe, it would be as steady as Mt. Tai.

Xie Yao thought for a moment. Moving into the new villa now or in a few days made no difference. She nodded. "Sure.”

Nie Yan gave Father Nie a call and explained his intentions. Father Nie agreed. With how developed the roads were, visiting Nie Yan would only take three hours. He also suggested sending over a security team to escort them, but Nie Yan turned this idea down. More people would just make them a bigger target.

After packing up their things, Nie Yan started up his Thrawn and drove off with Xie Yao toward their new home in West City.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but recall his past life. When he went off to university, he felt a sense of loneliness watching the fleeting scenery behind him and the receding view of Huahai. He was moving away to a faraway place, and his future was uncertain, filling him with a sense of loss and anxiousness. Now, however, he could peek through the fog and see his own future. Even more than that, he had Xie Yao close by his side.

About three hours later, Nie Yan and Xie Yao arrived outside the entrance of their new villa. It was built right beside a mountain; secluded and peaceful, the area was filled with red maples. The Top Military Academy was only a 10-minute drive away, so the commute was pretty convenient.

Nie Yan checked the villa’s security systems. It was definitely top-notch.

Before coming here, Nie Yan had already got in touch with Bayonet. He would leave Bayonet in charge of protecting his parents. As for him and Xie Yao, he could handle most situations that came their way himself. So long as a top expert on the same level as Bayonet didn’t appear, his skills were enough, though that wasn’t to say he wasn’t a bit anxious.

The two didn’t bring any servants along, so they would have to do all the housework themselves. After tidying up the place, Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder if this would be the beginning of them living together.

Nie Yan gazed at Xie Yao wiping the nearby table. Right now, she was already starting to look like a housewife. To his surprise, he also noticed that her figure had grown a lot more fiery than before. Her chest especially seemed to be overflowing.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder if this was his handiwork. The Xie Yao of his past life wasn’t nearly as well developed as her present counterpart. She also started exuding the charm of a young married woman, though he hadn’t actually eaten her up yet.

"Nie Yan, should we take a look around the school?” Xie Yao dropped what she was doing and asked.

"Sure, we could use the fresh air.” Nie Yan nodded.

After the two finished tidying up, they headed to the Top Military Academy. The campus could only be entered by those with student cards. The security was excellent.

Entering the campus, the two were greeted by a magnificent building. Further inside were even more buildings. On both sides of the shaded paths were trees and flowers in full bloom.

This was the Top Military Academy, a place Nie Yan could only dream of in his past life, and one of his biggest regrets.

Nie Yan glanced at Xie Yao beside him. She wasn’t wearing any make up, but she was a natural beauty. She had a distinct air about her capable of relieving a person of all their worries. Even in a gathering place of elites like the Top Military Academy, she still stood out. She raised eyebrows from the nearby students everywhere they walked.

"The command faculty is across from that building there. We’re not too far away from each other,” Nie Yan said. Looking at the campus map, they were about a 10-minute walk apart.

"Then I can always visit you whenever I want!” Xie Yao grabbed Nie Yan’s hands and smiled, revealing the cute dimples on her face.

The nearby students were dumbstruck.

"Who is that girl?”

"I don’t know. She seems like a freshman.”

"The freshmen this year seem pretty high quality. I heard another one who recently entered the art faculty has a really amazing figure. I think her name is Jiang Yingyu? She’s being called the new goddess of the art faculty. Now look another one has appeared!”

"Too bad she already has a boyfriend.”

Some of the gossipy students whispered amongst themselves. The gazes directed at Nie Yan were filled with envy, cursing his good luck for finding such a beautiful girlfriend.

On the other hand, far fewer people were paying attention to Nie Yan. He wasn’t particularly handsome, and he definitely didn’t stand out in this place filled with high-class elites. However, he also didn’t seem like a frog trying to eat swan meat.

Nie Yan naturally didn’t pay attention to the gossip around him. Gazing at the enormous and grand campus, he couldn’t help but smile. It seemed like his future in the Top Military Academy wouldn’t be boring. What took him by surprise was that Jiang Yingyu had arrived before them, and it seemed by quite a bit. Thinking about it, the enrollment time for the art faculty was fairly early.

Chapter 532 - What It Means To Be Brothers

The start of the semester was still a week away. Nie Yan and Xie Yao strolled around the campus before grabbing a bite to eat. They spent the rest of the afternoon working out in the gym, then returned to their villa at around five o’clock.

After arriving back home, Nie Yan prepared a simple meal for dinner. Though Xie Yao also knew how to cook, his culinary skills were a notch better. When he had to live alone in his past life, he had no choice but to prepare his own meals. So, he became a pretty good cook.

Three dishes and soup, though a bit light, the food was delicious. Xie Yao’s evaluation of Nie Yan went up yet again. She couldn’t help but wonder how he made these simple dishes so delicious.

As the two cleared away the plates, a homely atmosphere sprouted between them.

In the blink of an eye, the clock struck six.

"We should log back into the game,” Nie Yan said, looking at the time. His expression turned serious. He knew the outcome of today’s battle would play a crucial role in the future of Asskickers United.

"Yeah!” Xie Yao nodded. Seeing Nie Yan turn serious, she was a bit dazed. She inwardly gloated at the fact Jiang Yingyu would never know that he was the coolest when he was serious. She was his closest friend and lover. This was a position Jiang Yingyu could never take. She had no need to feel uneasy.

Two game capsules were set up in their bedroom. They were far more advanced than the ones back in Huahai.

The two stepped into their game capsules and entered Conviction.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao walked out of the villa in the Hilton Stronghold and gazed at the plaza outside. They were greeted by the sight of a large crowd of Asskickers United players. They were fully equipped and ready to set out. The other players walking by had expressions of awe on their faces. They were simply observers.

Seeing the players of Asskickers United in high spirits, Nie Yan also got fired up.

"Boss, you’re here!”

The players from Asskickers United erupted with thunderous cheers which shook the whole plaza. The passersby were completely flabbergasted. What a frightening display of morale!

Black Hell turned to Nie Yan with a look of shock on his face. Seeing the passionate gazes of these players, he was puzzled. Just how did Nie Yan accomplish this? Even Dark Hero at its peak couldn’t compare! This went beyond simple admiration and bordered on fanatical! A single zealot wasn’t that frightening. However, when they gathered together in large droves, they would transform into an unstoppable war machine, they would crush everything in their path! Even an enemy many times their size would collapse and crumble!

"Heh, what do you think? The morale isn’t bad. We’ve finished all preparations. You should say a few words,” Bladelight said.

Everyone looked at Nie Yan with anticipation in their eyes. The upcoming battle in the Realm of Death was extremely important to Asskickers United. All players would be watching. It didn’t matter how much outside help Alliance of Mages brought. Losing was not an option.

Seeing all these familiar faces before him, Nie Yan’s heart was filled with emotion.

Nie Yan suddenly had a lot of things he wanted to say. Calming his mind, he faced the crowd. "Do any of you know how many battles we’ve fought since Asskickers United was established...? Heh. I doubt many people still remember. Even I’ve lost track myself. But I still remember our first battle. Sparrow Hawk, I, and the rest of our group were ambushed and surrounded by Victorious Return. In the end, only a handful of us survived, and even Sparrow Hawk’s Arcane Fairy was killed. We had to search high and low to find an Energized Crystal to revive it. At that time, the guild was still pretty weak, and we only had a thousand or so members. Who among you have been with me since the start?”

"Me!”

"Me too!”

"Also me!”

Ten or so voices erupted from the crowd. The faces of these players flushed with excitement. They didn’t expect Nie Yan to mention them. Seeing their peers gazing at them, they puffed up their chests and held their heads up high!

"So many of you are still around. That fills me with joy. You guys are the oldest members in the guild. You’ve stuck with the guild through thick and thin to arrive at where we are now. I still remember something my old man once told me. In the battlefield, it’s not about stepping over others to survive, but preventing others from stepping over you. The world is just that cruel. On more than one occasion. our guild was on the brink of collapse, but we always tenaciously bounced back. Take a look at where our old enemies are now. Unhindered, Victorious Return, Bloodlust Blades… all of them fell to us and crumbled into nothingness. As long as we still stand tall, we’ll continue growing ever stronger! From a single guild to a powerful alliance consisting of many guilds, we unified Calore. However, everyone knows we still have many enemies, like Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps. They’ve been trying to think of ways to destroy us. They never leave us alone. If we don’t want to be destroyed, we can only raise our weapons! Our foundation has been built up brick by brick. The glory of our guild has already been recorded in the annals of Conviction’s history, as well as engraved in our hearts. It’s an unforgettable memory. Some day in the future, you’ll think back on this band of brothers and proudly say you were part of it, you fought shoulder to shoulder with them!” Nie Yan gazed at the crowd, his heart filled with emotion. In the previous timeline, he also had many cherished friends that fought alongside him!

Nie Yan’s words touched the hearts of the players from Asskickers United. They looked around them. Front and back, left and right were all brothers-in-arms. This was the only reason they needed to fight. For the sake of a shared goal and a future full of glory, they would stand together. Trusting their backs to each other, supporting each other with their lives, this was what it meant to be brothers.

Hearing Nie Yan’s speech, Black Hell felt a sense of loss wash over him. Where were all those brothers who had followed him in Dark Hero now? Back then, when he deleted his character and quit, Dark Hero started on a path of ruin. Everyone went their separate ways and ultimately dispersed. Thinking back now, he couldn’t help but regret the mistake he made at that time. He couldn’t help but feel jealous of Nie Yan.

Black Heaven walked up to Black Hell’s side. Looking at the players from Asskickers United, he turned to his big brother. "You know, Old Six, No Eyes, and the others are still asking about you. Even though you’ve changed your name, you’re still the same Invincible in our hearts. It’s funny. I still remember that time when Smirk and those bastards killed No Eyes. You dared to storm into their guild headquarters all by yourself, killing more than 100 of their players. I told myself back then that you were my big brother, and the only one I would ever recognize.”

Black Hell wanted to say something, but he was interrupted by Black Heaven. "When you deleted your character, we searched everywhere for you. You entered Conviction and changed your name to Black Hell, so I named myself Black Heaven. I didn’t say a word when you decided to return to Dark Hero in secret, I knew it was for the sake of that woman. In the end, you had me leave and join Asskickers United. When I first arrived here, I didn’t fit in and looked down on everyone. But then I lost to Scoundrel in a one-on-one duel. It was then that I began to respect them. When I started running dungeons with them, Bladelight and Smoke Stub taught me many things. I learned the meaning of being in a team and gradually blended in. My views gradually changed. Then, I asked myself, if one day you were to come here and ask me to leave with you, would I accept? I thought it over countless times before finally coming up with an answer. Forgive your little brother, but I’d still choose to stay behind.”

Black Hell had a complicated look on his face. At that time, it was him who pushed Black Heaven away and made him join Asskickers United. The fact that Black Heaven found a place he belonged should make him happy. Yet why did his heart ache so much, almost as if someone was plunging a dagger into it? He suddenly understood. It was him who had let down his brothers, allowing them to drift apart from one after another!

"I’m sorry. After you left, South Mountain was poached by an enemy guild, and Magic that bastard became the new guild leader. Old Six left, and No Eyes also left. I gradually realized that even if you came back, it would be impossible for things to return to the way they used to be. I know you slaughtered Magic and his lackeys. Before, I really admired you, that you didn’t change and were still the same Invincible. However, I’ve changed. I’m no longer that silly little kid who would only follow you around. I’ve found my own path. Big Brother, are you happy for me?” Black Heaven gazed at Black Hell, his face streaming with ugly tears.

Black Heaven’s words stabbed deeply at Black Hell’s heart. He was at a huge loss. When he stood at the very apex as Invincible, did he ever once think of the feelings of the brothers beside him? It was him who single-handedly led the Dark Hero to greatness and plunged it into ruin.

Even Black Heaven was leaving him. Everything was his own doing.

"I got in touch with Old Six, No Eyes, and the others. They’re willing to join Asskickers United. Big Brother, what do you plan to do next?” Black Heaven asked. He knew Black Hell’s personality the best. He probably wasn't planning to stay for long. He would eventually go off on his own as a solo player again.

"You know. Previously, I planned on staying for a while, then taking you away with me. I thought you would leave with me. I was wrong.” Black Hell bitterly smiled.

"I’m sorry.”

"No, don’t apologize. I’m the one who should be apologizing to you.” Black Hell patted Black Heaven’s shoulders.

"Wherever you go, I’ll always be your brother!” Black heaven said firmly.

"I don’t know why, but I’ve suddenly given up on leaving. Maybe I’m getting old. I’ll stay here and wait for Old Six, No Eyes, and the others to come,” Black Hell laughed brightly, as if a burden was lifted from his shoulders. What harm was there in staying for a while? He wanted to see just what kind of guild Asskickers United was for it to influence Black Heaven so deeply.

Chapter 533 - Realm of Death!

Nie Yan’s impassioned speech set ablaze the crowd.

Nie Yan naturally didn’t believe he was charismatic enough to have every single member of Asskickers United follow him blindly. What mattered was that they had a deep attachment to the guild. With so many close brothers around them, they would form an unbreakable link in the collective whole. Today, they had to win. On an occasion like this, everyone would rise together!

A dream alone wasn’t enough to make the players devote themselves to Asskickers United, nor was it practical. Nie Yan provided them comprehensive protection as well as generous benefits.

Asskickers United’s benefits were the highest among all guilds. When a player died in battle, not only would all their losses be compensated, but they would also receive additional rewards for every enemy killed. So, they didn’t have to worry about dying. In addition, Asskickers United had the most comprehensive treasury. The equipment inside was far superior to that of other guilds. Not to mention, thanks to the income of the stronghold under their control, the players would receive a fixed monthly salary.

The generous benefits Asskickers United provided became a dream in the hearts of countless players. At the same time, the recruitment requirements for Asskickers United were extremely strict. Even the weakest members were in the top 1% of Conviction. Under these circumstances, simply being part of the guild was a form of glory in and of itself. This was another reason why players stayed in the guild.

It was thanks to all these things combined that Asskickers United achieved its current success and unity!

Nie Yan distributed the 12 Hyperlink Rings among Xie Yao, Tang Yao, and the others. Tang Yao’s Netherthunder Eagle was still heavily injured, so it couldn’t participate in the battle. However, Natural Fiend’s Azure Wing Albatross could take part.

"Are we all ready? If so, let’s set out and slaughter some Alliance of Mages bastards!” Nie Yan shouted.

"Yeah, let’s slaughter those bastards with the boss!” the players from Asskickers United roared.

Following behind Nie Yan, they headed to the other side of the plaza like a surging tide.

Alliance of Mages’ forces were gathered on the other side of the plaza, occupying a corner. Nie Yan received a report from Guo Huai. Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had put forth 1,200 and 800 of their top players respectively. Over on the side of the Century Financial Group, through various connections, they had recruited the help of 900 professional players, all of whom were top experts. Apart from this, Cao Xu had also dispatched 60 players from Direwolf. The final 40 came from Bloodfiends, the Century Financial Group paying an arm and a leg for their services.

Regarding the Bloodfiends, Nie Yan guessed they probably belonged to some enemy power of Asskickers United. They were entering the Realm of Death simply to stir up trouble.

As for Direwolf, Nie Yan only knew they were under the direct control of Cao Xu. Their strength wasn’t to be underestimated. He would warn his guild members to be mindful of them.

Comparing both sides, Alliance of Mages probably had more top elites than Asskickers United. However, Nie Yan could see their weakness. The enemy was a group of individuals. If an order were to be passed down, not everyone might follow it. In terms of teamwork and synergy, Asskickers United absolutely had them beat.

Nie Yan headed to the edge of the plaza, where a white-haired old man in ragged robes stood. His eyes were glazed over, signifying that he was blind.

This old man was Karuhr, a famous NPC in the Hilton Stronghold. You had to talk to him to open the Realm of Death.

On the other side, Crazy Magic in his ash gray robes walked over. Seeing Nie Yan, his expression darkened.

Karuhr moved his head as his ears perked up. Hearing the sound of footsteps approaching, he pinpointed the location of the two players.

"Sir Kahruhr, can you please open up the Realm of Death for us,” Nie Yan asked.

"By the will of God, the Realm of Death is a place to decide irrevocable feuds. Those who die in there will suffer dire consequences. You’re only allowed out after one side has been wiped out. Are you sure?” Karuhr asked in a grave tone.

"Yes.” Nie Yan nodded.

Crazy Magic also nodded.

"Very well. After entering the Realm of Death, you will be transported to a random location. You might be surrounded by many enemies. Make your preparations,” Karuhr warned.

Other than the honour for the victor, five strongholds were also at stake. Be it Nie Yan or Crazy Magic, this was a heavy price to pay.

Nie Yan stared at the five cloaked figures behind Crazy Magic. They were currently chatting about something. Based on their bearing and the way they wielded their weapons, he could confirm they were top experts.

Those five players also looked over at Nie Yan.

"Krow, Raven, that’s Nirvana Flame. Remember his face.”

"I heard he’s pretty full of himself right now with all the attention. It’s been a while since I’ve had a decent opponent. My hands are itching,” Krow smirked, cracking his knuckles and other joints.

"Don’t get careless. Nirvana Flame’s reputation isn’t just for show,” Raven reminded. He wasn’t that fond of this westerner. Even though Krow had lived in China for so many years, he hadn’t bothered learning the culture at all.

Nie Yan retracted his gaze. He might actually be encountering some serious opponents this time around. However, meet god slay god, meet devil slay devil. He wasn’t afraid of anyone!

"Nirvana Flame, it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve gotten lucky in the past. Alliance of Mages will crush you this time around,” Crazy Magic growled. Thanks to the full support of the Century Financial Group, he was confident in their victory.

"You? Crush us? Don’t make me laugh,” Nie Yan chuckled. "Save it for when you’ve actually won the battle. You’re only making a fool of yourself right now.”

Crazy Magic coldly snorted. "Then we’ll see who comes out on top in the end.”

Almost 90% of the players in the Viridian Empire were closely observing this battle. Those watching the livestream were all wondering who would win. This battle would change the whole power structure of the Viridian Empire. No matter who won or lost, this war was unavoidable. The winner definitely wouldn’t let the loser off easily. By the end, one of these guilds would be wiped out!

Karuhr waved his staff. The space near him started to tremble.

The players from Asskickers United and Alliance of Mages immediately grew tense.

The Realm of Death was about to open!

As space twisted and warped, Nie Yan felt like he was dragged through a quagmire. When he opened his eyes, he had arrived in a vast, barren wasteland. He spotted a few shadows moving around on the slopes in the distance. In the Realm of Death, if a player wasn’t your ally, they were your enemy. 6,000 players had all been transported here.

Nie Yan didn’t know where the others had been dropped off. He had to survive in order to gather his comrades together.

The moment everyone was dropped into the Realm of the Death, the voice chat was opened.

「This place doesn’t have any coordinates. We can’t confirm our locations. Where do we gather?」Bladelight asked.

「It can’t be helped for the time being. Let’s get our bearings first. Head east, and we’ll probably eventually meet,」Nie Yan said. The 12 people with the Hyperlink Rings could all teleport to each other. However, keeping in contact was fine for now.

An update popped in chat. Some of the players from Asskickers United had already engaged with the players from Alliance of Mages. Asskickers United suffered six casualties while Alliance of Mages suffered seven. The orders Nie Yan passed down to everyone was to kill if you could kill. If you couldn’t guarantee your life, flee and preserve your strength.

The Realm of Death stretched out endlessly. There were all types of terrain, plains, wastelands, swamps, mountain ranges, hills, forests, and so on. Nie Yan activated Gale Step and headed east.

Some time later, he spotted 11 humanoid shadows gathered together on a slope up ahead. Because they were too far away, he couldn’t tell which side they belonged to. He entered stealth and approached them.

These 11 players all wore the unique emblem of Alliance of Mages. It was gold in the shape of a coiled vine. Quite different from Asskickers United’s emblem, which was silver in the shape of a minotaur head. Both emblems were quite distinct.

"I’m from Alliance of Mages.”

"I’m from the Brilliant gaming org.”

These 11 players were basically cannon fodder. They were a hodge-podge of people from different groups. The strongest among them was Level 70, which at this stage of the game was pretty decent. Their equipment was also fairly good, at least Dark Gold-grade.

The party was comprised of two Thieves, three Warriors, and six Mages. There were no Priests or Paladins. They had probably received an order from their side to head east too. Nie Yan pondered for a moment, then trailed behind them.

These players hadn’t even noticed that they were being followed.

One of their Thieves went to scout the path ahead while the Warriors took the lead and the Mages followed close behind. Even though this was their first time working together, everyone here was a seasoned expert. Moving together was fairly easy.

These people descended the slope and entered a forest.

Nie Yan stopped at the edge of the forest. Seeing the numerous trees and lush vegetation, he unsheathed his dagger as a sinister smile formed on his face.

The hunt was about to begin. These 11 players were all his prey!

In a dark environment like a forest, Thieves were kings!

Dense forest greatly hindered the movements of large creatures like Golden Dragons. So, Nie Yan didn’t summon Lil’ Gold.

Chapter 534 - Hunting

The three Warriors were positioned at the front of the group. They were opening the path forward by hacking down branches and shrubs.

Nie Yan considered many methods to take out this group, one of which was having the Darkwing Dragon ambush them from the sky. However, he decided against it in the end. The Darkwing Dragon was his trump card. He would only reveal it during a crucial moment. After all, he didn’t know how many flying mounts Alliance of Mages had on their side. One more thing to consider was the denseness of the forest. If they were to go into hiding, it would be incredibly difficult to find them. The Darkwing Dragon was more suited to open skies.

Nie Yan decided to slaughter them himself. Even though he was outnumbered by quite a bit, it would be a piece of cake for him.

The forest was his domain!

The Mages at the back of the group were chatting with each other. When the conversation topic switched to Asskickers United, their voices were filled with contempt.

"Even if Asskickers United is powerful, they’ve antagonized too many people, even provoking hegemon in the virtual reality industry like the Century Financial Group. That’s practically asking to die. Right now, the Century Financial Group isn’t really showing off their might. If they went all out, they’d have countless methods to wipe out Asskickers United.”

Hearing their words, Nie Yan inwardly sneered. He slowly approached one of the Arcane Mages from behind.

Five meters, three meters, one meter—Nie Yan suddenly shot forward toward the Arcane Mage like an arrow loosed from a bow.

Believing in safety in numbers, these 11 players inevitably relaxed their guard if only somewhat. Nie Yan struck the Arcane Mage in the back with Smothering Strike. His movements were too quick. Before the others could react, he had already finished the Arcane Mage off with Backstab. His equipment was excellent, and he was at a far higher level than them. It made sense that a squishy Mage couldn’t survive his burst damage.

When the other Mages looked over, all they saw was the blazing black flames of Zennarde’s Sword in Nie Yan’s hand.

"I-i-it’s Nirvana Flame!” one of the Elementalists cried out in fear.

None of them expected an ambush. By the time they noticed him, Nie Yan had already killed one of their companions.

They raised their staffs and targeted Nie Yan with a barrage of spells. They were all elites from major guilds and gaming organizations. Even if the name of the Mad Rogue struck terror in their hearts, they quelled that feeling. They knew now was the time to retaliate, not cower in fear.

Nie Yan evaded the spells with Gale Step and disappeared from sight. One of the Elementalists started backing away, when a dagger appeared beside his neck.

Cut Throat!

With a pshh, blood spurted into the air. As the Elementalist collapsed to the ground, Nie Yan rematerialized behind him.

What frightening speed! The remaining players felt a cold sweat on their necks.

After killing two people in a row, Nie Yan used Shadow Waltz to dodge another barrage of spells. He then pounced toward the next Arcane Mage, killing him instantly.

These Mages didn’t have any time to activate defensive spells. They were being reaped like stalks of wheat!

Only after Nie Yan killed three people did the Warriors at the front notice the commotion.

"Shit, we’ve been ambushed!”

They all rushed toward Nie Yan. Unfortunately, this was a forest and not a plain, so their Charge skill wasn’t anywhere near as effective. The dense shrubbery and trees greatly hindered their movements.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. With half of the Mages dead, the remaining three started to panic. In the past, whenever they encountered a top expert, they could still rely on their skill to hold out for a few moments, giving enough time for support to arrive. But they had never encountered this kind of situation before. They had heard tales of Nirvana Flame’s exploits, but they always thought these rumours were exaggerated.

Nie Yan was too fast, so fast that they had no time to react or activate any skills. Raising their staffs also took time!

Only after witnessing the person in action themselves, did they understand why Nie Yan was called the Mad Rogue.

The three Mages lost all will to fight and scattered for their dear life.

Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a cold light.

Assassinate!

Nie Yan easily caught up to one of the fleeing Mages and stabbed him through the chest with Zennarde’s Sword. One more down!

Only two Mages and three Warriors remained. The two Thieves were nowhere to be seen. They were probably rushing over right now.

The three Warriors finally arrived at the scene. They attempted to drag Nie Yan into a melee, only for him to vanish before their eyes.

"Shit, don’t let him get away! He went into stealth!”

"Do we have any skill that can reveal stealth?”

"No!”

After this brief exchange, the forest calmed down once more.

The three Mages and Warriors stood still, trying to probe out Nie Yan’s position. However, their efforts were completely futile. None of them had the Awareness to find Nie Yan. One of the higher level players among them, a Level 72 Warrior, carefully stepped forward. As he was about to return to his comrades, the eerie calmness suddenly gave him an uneasy feeling.

At this moment, a cold light flickered past his eyes. He attempted to retaliate with Tendon Break in a fluster, but Zennarde’s Sword had already plunged into his forehead. He was stunned.

After a Backstab and Eviscerate, the Warrior collapsed on the ground.

When the other four turned around to look at the noise, all they saw was a corpse on the ground. It was as if Nie Yan was never there.

They nervously scanned the surrounding trees but failed to find any sign of Nie Yan. This was a type of formless terror. They had no idea when or where Nie Yan would strike again.

When Nie Yan took action, he would always kill his target!

The two Thieves rushed back. One of the Thieves clad in ash-coloured leather armor asked, "We’re back. What happened here?”

The others were about to warn him, when black flames streaked through the air. The Thief didn't even know what happened as he collapsed to the ground. The remaining players glanced at each other and bolted away in different directions.

In this kind of situation, it was better for a few of them to escape with their lives. Else Nie Yan would keep picking them off one by one!

Nie Yan managed to chase down two of them. Looking in the other directions, the other three had fled far away. It was no longer possible to catch them.

Out of 11 players total, he had killed eight without suffering so much as a scratch. This was already an impressive achievement.

Nie Yan collected the dropped equipment off the ground. Disappearing into stealth, he continued east.

Save for things on this side being a bit tense, whenever the two sides met in the wilderness, they would generally exercise restraint. If they could avoid confrontation, they would do so in order to preserve their strength. These were the orders of their respective guild leaders. Several skirmishes had broken out between Alliance of Mages and Asskickers United thus far, but victory was still far from being decided.

While dashing through the wide open grassland, Nie Yan received word that Lustboy and six other players from Asskickers United had suffered an ambush by more than 20 players. Lustboy was the only one who survived. He was running through a patch of forest.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. He was well aware of Lustboy’s strength. This was a player ranked within the top 10 of Asskickers United. For him to be pushed into such a precarious situation, the enemy likely wasn’t ordinary.

「Lustboy, what’s your current situation?」Nie Yan asked.

「Out of the seven in our group, I’m the only one still alive. Three of their players are really strong. I can’t beat them. Two of them are from Direwolf, and the other is a Thief from Bloodfiends. These bastards are too hard to deal with!」Lustboy panted heavily. He was still fleeing for his life, trying to shake off his pursuers.

Lustboy was pretty unlucky. He encountered players from Direwolf and Bloodfiends.

「Find a place to hide. We’ll kill them together!」Nie Yan said, recalling the Hyperlink Ring. It was the perfect item to turn the tide!

Lustboy’s eyes lit up. He immediately understood Nie Yan’s meaning.「I’ll bait them over!」

Nie Yan immediately got in touch with Bladelight and the others. After which everyone prepared for battle.

...

Somewhere in a forest deep within the mountains, Lustboy was fleeing for his life. He was being pursued by more than 20 players.

"Dammit, what a slippery bastard. I almost got killed by him. Thankfully, that guy from Direwolf saved me just in time!” a Thief rejoiced, gazing at the two cloaked players up ahead in admiration.

Those two Direwolf players had left everyone thoroughly convinced of their prowess. This organization definitely lived up to its name! As such, they all obediently listened to every command the two from Direwolf gave, not daring to talk back. In Conviction, strength equalled status!

"Gambler, in that exchange just now, what do you think of that Lustboy guy’s skill?” the Direwolf player asked his companion.

The Warrior called Gambler pondered for a moment, then replied in a grave tone, "If we fought one-on-one, I wouldn’t be his match. It seems Asskickers United does have some ability. Sikong, pass this information onto Raven.”

The Paladin, Sikong, nodded.

A bit further back, the Thief from Bloodfiends gazed at Sikong and Gambler with a pensive look on his face. He entered stealth and sped after Lustboy.

"There’s a dead end up ahead. He won’t be able to run any longer!” Sikong laughed.

With all the escape routes sealed off, Lustboy was like a turtle caught in a jar. His death was inevitable!

Chapter 535 - Death God Appears

Lustboy had many life escaping skills at his disposal. So, when he was surrounded earlier, he could rely on his skills to escape. Only if he was backed into a corner with no other alternative would he use an Unknown Transfer Scroll since they became less effective with each successive use. It was better to use them sparingly. However, since the boss already had a plan, he decided to give these Alliance of Mages bastards a taste of their own medicine. He was no longer trying to escape.

All around Lustboy were steep cliffs, save for the direction he came from. This area was devoid of plant life, perfectly suited for battle.

Lustboy halted his steps. As he looked behind him, several shadows dashed out from the forest and blocked off his escape routes.

"Little rat! Let’s see where you can run off to now!” Several Warriors circled in on Lustboy with evil smiles on their faces.

Lustboy gazed past them. Two cloaked players stepped out of the forest. They belonged to Direwolf!

Sikong and Gambler remained at the back of the group, showing no signs of approaching any closer. As for the Thief from Bloodfiends, he was nowhere to be seen.

Lustboy was a bit worried. If these fellows didn’t approach any closer, when Nie Yan and the others teleported over, they might get away. He wondered what he had to do to bait them closer.

The Warriors approached closer and closer, having already entered Lustboy’s attack range. The atmosphere instantly turned tense.

Magic fluttered and circled around Lustboy’s staff, radiating a threatening light.

"Gambler, if we don’t step forward, I reckon these blockheads from Alliance of Mages won’t be able to deal with that Elementalist.” Sikong knitted his brow. He was well aware of how frightening a Mage like Lustboy was when going all out. A spell or two was all he needed to kill someone. Furthermore, he also had plenty of control magic. Even if he was surrounded, he could still put up a good fight. At the very least, he could bring down seven players with him.

"Don’t you think it’s strange? He can escape any time he wants with an Unknown Transfer Scroll,” Gambler remarked. A player of Lustboy’s caliber would definitely be carrying something like an Unknown Transfer Scroll. However, Lustboy didn’t seem like he was in a hurry to leave. He actually seemed rather relaxed. Was he not worried about a Shadow Priest targeting him with Shackles of Strife?

Listening to Gambler’s words, Sikong also felt something off. "Maybe he ran out of Unknown Transfer Scrolls?”

"Let’s keep watching.”

The two didn’t approach Lustboy, instead letting the players from Alliance of Mages do the dirty work.

As for the Thief from Bloodfiends, he was still nowhere to be found. Gambler and Sikong were also wary of him. They had no idea what kind of organization Bloodfiends was. They only knew that five of their players had almost successfully killed Nirvana Flame.

At first, they didn’t care much for Bloodfiends. However, the strength that Thief displayed in the previous battle left them shocked. At the same time, their interests were also piqued. They couldn’t command him. After all, they were roughly on the same level in terms of skill. No one knew where that fellow was hiding. If he was willing to take action, even Lustboy would be in a pickle.

Charge! Charge! Charge!

Three Warriors rushed toward Lustboy.

"Punk, watch how I deal with you!”

"Hmph!” Lustboy sneered. If he encountered these Warriors in the wilderness, he could easily toy with their lives.

Lustboy shielded himself, then dashed to the side and fired off a spell.

「Bang!」Magic struck one of the Warriors, dealing more than 3,000 damage and causing his health to fall below 20%. The Warrior was scared out of his wits. What terrifying damage!

Just as he was about to retreat to the back so the Priests and Paladins could heal him, another spell flew toward him. His eyes trembled as he quickly rolled to the side. Barely evading the attack, his forehead dripped with cold sweat. A gentle radiance enveloped him and healed his health back to full.

Lustboy understood that this kind of attack wouldn't kill these players. If he wanted to buy some time, he would have to drag the two Direwolf players into the fray.

Two Warriors arrived beside Lustboy and slashed down with their swords. Lustboy activated Repelling Aura and pushed them back. These kind of backs and forths continued as Lustboy kited them further back.

The rest of the players from Alliance of Mages were also circling in, creating an airtight blockade.

Lustboy was somewhat anxious. Those two from Direwolf still weren’t showing any signs of moving, maintaining their distance. They had probably sensed the danger. What frightening gamesense! Lustboy thought for a moment. So be it! He would take out a few people first, then have Nie Yan and the others come over.

In the distance, a Shadow Priest targeted Lustboy with Shackles of Strife, preventing him from teleporting away with an Unknown Transfer Scroll.

Lustboy fought fiercely. No longer holding back, he erupted with a Frost Roar.

Frost Roar was an extremely powerful attack. With a cast time of five seconds, it generally wasn’t practical to use in heated battles since it could be easily interrupted. However, Lustboy had a special skill that allowed him to reduce the cast time of certain spells to zero. When these two skills were combined, the potency of Frost Roar increased drastically.

Frost Roar was enough to make everyone break out in a cold sweat.

A giant iceball shot out. It instantly transformed into spikes that blotted out the sky, sweeping over everyone in the surroundings. Those who were hit were immediately covered in thick layers of ice as their speed plummeted. Strings of damage values in the several hundreds floated up above their heads. The area of effect wasn’t large, but it was concentrated. One Paladin was instantly killed while six nearby players were left with low health.

Rays of gentle light enveloped the Warriors, saving them from death.

Lustboy didn’t give up because of this. An icicle shot toward one of the Warriors. With a bang, the Warrior was sent flying, emptying his health bar.

The Warriors who weren’t killed had their movement speed reduced to a crawl. As such, they had no way of catching Lustboy.

The melee players couldn’t get close to Lustboy. However, the constant harassment from the Mages in the back was giving him a headache.

As Lustboy ran and dodged, he ended up suffering five hits. The shield protecting him shattered into shards of light, and his health fell low. He endured the pain and drank an Advance Health Potion, instantly restoring his health to full. Advanced Health Potions were extremely rare, and Asskickers United’s supply was limited. Only the top players would receive some. He really wanted to save them if he could.

This time, he gave himself an Ice Shield and dodged to the side.

At this moment, he suddenly felt a chill behind his neck. His heart trembled. A Thief!

A cold light flashed at the back of his head. The attack was sharp and decisive. Lustboy quickly activated Blink and evaded this fatal attack.

Looking at his previous location, a figure materialized. It was that Thief from Bloodfiends!

The Thief was a bit surprised that his attack missed. He didn’t expect Lustboy’s reaction to be so quick.

Lustboy raised his staff and cast Frost Judgement. An omnipresent frost suddenly converged on the Thief.

The Thief dodged the attack with Gale Step, then disappeared from sight.

Lustboy could still sense the Thief quietly observing him from the shadows. If he was distracted for even a moment, his life would be in danger.

Being stalked by such a Thief, Lustboy was under a lot of pressure. The two Direwolf players still hadn’t taken any action either. He didn’t know how much longer he could hold out for. He was really starting to get anxious. Instead of waiting for the perfect moment, he would have to bring Nie Yan over right now!

「Boss! Come over, I can’t hold on much longer!」Lustboy cried out.「The people on Alliance of Mages’ side are too strong!」

「How many people do you need?」Nie Yan asked, putting on the Hyperlink Ring.

「If you come, it’s enough.」Lustboy knew how skilled Nie Yan was. As long as Nie Yan was here, everything would be fine.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. There was merit to only going with two. They’d be smaller targets, while the others could continue on with their own business. The two of them would make do.

Nie Yan activated the Hyperlink Ring. His surroundings warped and when he opened his eyes, he was greeted by a chaotic battle.

Lustboy was still trading blows with the players from Alliance of Mages.

The people around Nie Yan were dumbfounded. An Alliance of Mages player cried out, "Shit, that’s Zennarde’s Sword! It’s Nirvana Flame!”

Nie Yan’s Zennarde’s Sword was too eye-catching!

Gambler and Sikong were also shocked at Nie Yan’s sudden appearance.

"Nirvana Flame? Where the hell did he come from?” Gambler said in shock. Nie Yan’s appearance was far too abrupt. It was completely unexpected.

"I think he teleported over. They have a teleport skill!” Sikong said with a dark expression.

With Nirvana Flame here, winning became much more difficult.

"Do you think anyone else is coming?” Gambler asked with a trace of worry.

"I’m not sure.”

At this moment, Nie Yan entered stealth, disappearing from sight. The players from Alliance of Mages immediately went on high alert.

Chapter 536 - Flawless Interception

Everyone was already of aware of Nie Yan’s frightening level of skill. They had seen many of his videos, especially the one of him felling Hei Zhuo in a single strike, which led to him being nicknamed the Mad Rogue. His legend was still standing strong to this day. His disappearance into stealth only meant one thing. He was about to take action yet again!

"Priests, Illuminate!” a Warrior cried out in fear.

A nearby Priest quickly raised his staff in preparation to cast Illuminate. However, at this moment, a blade enveloped in black flames streaked across his throat. The last syllable failed to come out of his mouth as his lifeless body collapsed on the ground.

"Fucking hell! He’s too fast!” the Warrior cursed. Nie Yan was like a phantom, no one knew where he would strike next.

After killing the Priest, Nie Yan entered back into stealth. Looking around, the people here were too weak, failing to serve even as a warmup. His gaze locked onto the cloaked figures in the distance. They were probably the two Direwolf players Lustboy mentioned earlier.

Nie Yan chanted out an incantation, summoning Lil’ Gold onto the battlefield. The massive Golden Dragon resembled a behemoth from antiquity, causing the players on the side of Alliance of Mages to descend into panic.

"It’s the Golden Dragon! Nirvana Flame summoned his Golden Dragon! Everyone, quickly retreat!” An advancing Warrior halted his steps, then turned around to flee.

At this moment, Lustboy blasted the Warrior with an Ice Ball, sending him flying.

"You want to run? Not that easy!” Lustboy snorted. With Nie Yan backing him up, he could go all out.

All the players near Lil’ Gold were fleeing away in fear.

Lil’ Gold chanted out an incantation and spewed out Dragon Breath. One unlucky Elementalist was caught by the scorching hot flames and rendered into ashes.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」More than a dozen spells pummeled Lil’ Gold’s body, exploding into dazzling displays of fireworks upon impact. Though visually impactful, these spells actually did little damage, on par with mosquito bites. At present, Lil’ Gold was already Level 86. With more than 80,000 health and high magic resistance, he could basically ignore all the attacks from these Level 70 Mages.

The situation took a dramatic turn. Once Lil’ Gold appeared, the players on the side of Alliance of Mages lost any hope of winning, going from being the pursuers to the pursued.

Lustboy and Lil’ Gold started slaughtering enemies left and right.

A Mage summoned a giant Ice Wolf, which pounced toward Lil’ Gold, only to be melted into a pool of water by a blast of Dragon Breath.

With the Ice Wolf providing a brief distraction, three Mages quickly fled for their lives, not even daring to look back as they fled into the trees.

Observing everything from a distance, Sikong and Gambler’s expressions darkened. Nirvana Flame was just as the rumours described, tyrannical and arrogant beyond imagination.

"Gambler, what do we do?” Sikong asked. As members who ranked within the top 30 of Direwolf, they naturally felt their skills were top class. Though they normally kept a low profile within the organization, they unabashedly flaunted their superiority as soon as they stepped outside, since they knew there were very few that could rival them. Today, their luck was fairly poor. They had encountered two players in a row whose strength far outstripped them. One was Lustboy, and the other was Nirvana Flame. Comparing themselves to those two, they could easily see the difference. If everyone in the top 30 of Asskickers United was this strong, they might as well give up and admit defeat.

"We’re not their match. I think only Raven, Krow, and the rest can handle Nirvana Flame. Let’s retreat,” Gambler said. This was the conclusion he came to after some considerable thought.

While Gambler and Sikong prepared to retreat, Nie Yan quickly closed in on them while in stealth. From Nie Yan’s point of view, ordinary players were nothing more than dregs. If he could kill one or two top experts from Direwolf, his companions would have a much easier time. He didn’t know if they had Unknown Transfer Scrolls. If they did, ambushing them would be difficult.

Nie Yan halted his steps when he was roughly five meters from Sikong and Gambler. If he approached any closer, he would likely be detected. He waited in a spot where they would likely pass through.

Sikong felt something off, but he couldn’t say what. He began looking around.

"What’s wrong?” Gambler asked.

"Nothing.” Sikong shook his head. "Let’s go.”

Sikong and Gambler quickly pulled back, preparing to leave.

Nie Yan gripped his dagger. If Sikong and Gambler had Unknown Transfer Scrolls in their possession, that meant he would only have one chance. If he failed his ambush, those two would definitely teleport away!

Gambler was approaching closer and closer to Nie Yan. None of them would’ve imagined that Nie Yan was already lying in ambush.

From beginning to end, the two of them failed to get an exact estimate on Nie Yan’s movement speed. From a normal player’s perspective, 300-400 movement speed was already quite amazing. Meanwhile, Nie Yan, with the bonuses from his various titles and equipment, already had more than 800 movement speed. It was impossible for them to grasp this. Add this on top of skills like Gale Step, and his movement speed could reach more than twice that of top ranked players.

In the instant Gambler turned around, Nie Yan suddenly accelerated and pounced towards him. At this close of a distance, it was impossible to evade Nie Yan’s ambush.

There was a limit to a human’s reaction speed, which was 0.1 seconds. No matter how quick your reactions were, it was impossible to overcome this limit. Nie Yan had tested with the other elites of Asskickers United. Under these kinds of circumstances, even Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others failed to avoid his ambush!

Naturally, the success of the ambush was on the premise that Nie Yan’s Stealth was high enough to evade their Awareness!

In the instant Nie Yan took action, Gambler felt a cold chill behind his neck. His pupils dilated. Just as he was about to react, Zennarde’s Sword appeared in front of his eyes and struck his forehead, stunning him.

It wasn’t that Gambler lacked skill but rather Nie Yan’s attack was too deadly. Under this kind of situation, no matter how strong you were, death was pretty much inevitable. Perhaps only with high enough Awareness to sense Nie Yan’s approach early could he survive.

Sikong was still chatting with Gambler. He never expected Nie Yan to appear beside them so quickly. They had just seen Nie Yan summon Lil’ Gold in the distance not long ago. How did he arrive here so quickly? This kind of speed was on the level of freaks!

In the instant Gambler was stunned, Sikong raised his sword and slashed down on Nie Yan with Holy Strike.

A Rank 7 Holy Strike, Sikong’s blade glowed with a resplendent light, carrying unrivalled might as it slashed down.

After stunning Sikong, Nie Yan didn’t even have a chance to activate his second attack skill before Sikong’s blade came slashing down. He quickly activated Gale Step to avoid the Holy Strike.

Worthy of being called top ranked players, their reactions were quite quick. Nie Yan had no choice but to recognize their strength. Circling behind Gambler, he activated Apocalyptic Extinction.

Inflicted with five kinds of curses, Gambler’s stats immediately fell by more than 60%.

"Die!” Nie Yan’s cold voice entered Sikong and Gambler’s ears.

Sikong quickly raised his sword, preparing to heal Gambler.

Zennarde’s Sword slashed down, hacking through Gambler’s back. A Warrior with close to 6,000 health was instantly killed!

Nie Yan’s attack was too fierce. Sikong had no opportunity to heal Gambler.

Instantly killed with almost 6,000 health? Sikong was dumbstruck. Seeing his companion’s corpse on the ground, he felt his blood freeze over. If he was slow, he would be next! He quickly activated Indomitable Will and fled for his life.

Blink Strike! Nie Yan disappeared and reappeared behind Sikong.

Just as Nie Yan’s attack was about to land, Sikong crushed an Unknown Transfer Scroll. The space around him warped, and he disappeared.

"Tsk…” Nie Yan halted his footsteps. The enemy got away. However, he still managed to kill the Warrior.

"I wonder what he dropped.” Nie Yan bent down to collect the three pieces of equipment Gambler dropped. In the Realm of Death, dying meant losing five levels and three pieces of equipment! This kind of penalty would leave Gambler feeling sore for quite a while.

"Boss! Be careful!” Lustboy cried out.

A dagger suddenly appeared behind Nie Yan. It was aiming for the back of his head!

"A Thief!” Nie Yan’s mind trembled.

Reverse Grip Strike!

Nie Yan twisted to the side, evading the attack as his dagger plunged toward the Thief’s back.

The Thief activated Gale Step, evading the attack and disappearing from sight.

Eye of Truth!

Nie Yan’s eyes blossomed out with a profound light. He spotted a silhouette flicker by and dive into the trees in the distance. It was a Thief from Bloodfiends. He was pretty skilled, considering he approached Nie Yan without being detected. He probably used some kind of special ability to hide his presence.

The Thief evidently didn’t dare to tangle with Nie Yan. After failing the ambush, he immediately fled into the trees.

"Bloodfiends.” Nie Yan’s eyes flickered with a cold light. He still hadn’t paid them back for the last ambush. This time, they had come back again!

That fellow had already run. It was probably no longer possible to catch him. Nie Yan could only give up. He bent down and picked up the three pieces of equipment Gambler dropped on the ground.

Chapter 537 - Luring the Tiger

Nie Yan picked up the three pieces of equipment, all of which were for Level 70 Warriors. One was Sub Legendary-grade while the other two were Dark Gold-grade. They were fully socketed with gems, which increased defense, magic resistance, and attack. Each gem was worth at least 1,000 gold. Furthermore, every piece of equipment was upgraded to +9. Nie Yan estimated each piece was worth tens of thousands of gold, especially the Sub Legendary-grade equipment, which was worth at least 100,000 gold.

The fact that every Direwolf player was probably similarly equipped was a testament to the Century Financial Group’s wealth!

The number of people in Asskickers United that could use such expensive equipment definitely didn’t exceed 10. Fully equipping someone with this kind of equipment would cost at least 600,000 gold. Nie Yan planned to give these three piece of equipment to Monochrome and Edgeless, depending on who had more use for it.

Nie Yan turned around. The ground was a mess, with more than 10 corpses strewn about. Lustboy finished collecting all the equipment dropped on the ground, then walked over.

"So, did you finish picking up all the loot?”

"Yeah, more than 30 pieces of equipment in total. We’ve struck it rich. I estimate everything added up is worth at least 200,000 gold,” Lustboy said. Dropping three pieces of equipment after dying, this penalty was quite harsh. Seeing the enemy losing their equipment, he also broke out in a cold sweat. If he had died back there, it would’ve been disastrous.

"Lets go,” Nie Yan said. The harvest this time was pretty good.

After gathering all the loot, Nie Yan and Lustboy continued heading east. They walked more than 10 minutes without encountering other players. It appeared this map was quite large.

Nie Yan gazed at the mountain range in the east. Perched atop one of the mountains was a grand castle. It could be counted as a fairly reliable landmark.

Nie Yan designated this location as the meeting place. More and more players discovered this castle and began converging there.

As for Alliance of Mages, their gathering spot was located in the west.

After scaling up a mountain for more than 1,000 meters, Nie Yan and Lustboy turned around. The entire map was finally within their view. This was a giant basin with all sorts of terrain inside it: hills, streams, barren rock, rocky cliffs, forest, and so on. Besides occupying this castle, there were also nine other castles scattered across the map. These 10 castles were the points Kahruhr mentioned previously. If one occupied all of them for an hour, they would achieve victory.

When both sides were at a stalemate, and it was difficult to determine who would be the victor, the focus of the battle would shift to these castles.

This was a standard guild war map. Nie Yan had heard of these kinds of maps in the previous timeline. But due to him being a lowly solo player back then, he had never actually participated in this kind of competition. This was his first time coming into contact with this kind of map.

Asskickers United and Alliance of Mages were having a showdown here!

As more and more Asskickers United’s players converged on this castle, the vicinity became much livelier.

No one knew how many years this ancient castle had weathered, its walls filled with all sorts of cracks and lush with vegetation.

Nie Yan pushed open the thick heavy doors and entered inside.

Bladelight and the others followed behind him.

"How many casualties did we suffer?” Nie Yan asked. Their forces had probably taken some losses during the journey here.

"23 of our players were killed,” Bladelight replied. He had just received a report from Paladin of the Elegy.

"Alliance of Mages’ side took heavier losses. We’ve racked up 37 enemy kills,” Smoke Stub said. Just previously, he had felled two enemies.

Asskickers United’s force rested and regrouped around the castle, one team after another spreading out everywhere.

Nie Yan walked up to the castle’s observation tower which stood over 20 meters tall. It was quite grand. They were greeted by the sight of broken weapons scattered all over the floor. A battle once took place here in the ancient past. Erected on the perimeter of the tower were shabby lookout lenses. Whether they functioned or not remained unknown.

Nie Yan walked over to one of the lenses and peered through it. Gazing in the distance, he saw the players on the side of Alliance of Mages moving like ants, congregating in larger and larger numbers. They had occupied three castles. Crazy Magic was probably hard at work mobilizing his troops.

From this lookout lens, Nie Yan could see the entire map.

Nie Yan reminisced on the past. The history of Conviction was ruled by those powerful guild leaders back then. Now, it was being written by him!

After crushing Alliance of Mages beneath their feet, Divine Protectors would be powerless to do anything. The entire Viridian Empire would become Asskickers United’s domain!

"What are we doing next?” Bladelight asked. He stared at Nie Yan who appeared to be lost in thought.

"Have our forces set up traps in a 1,000 meter radius around the castle, then form a defense line. We’ll guard this place to the death! Guo Huai’s side should already be on the move now, right?” Nie Yan asked. Before entering the Realm of Death, he had Guo Huai buy a large amount of large snares and pitfall traps as well as trigger type ones like totems.

If they properly defended this castle, unless they came with twice the amount of forces, Alliance of Mages had no way of breaking through their defenses.

"200,000 of our players are escorting 15 Armoured Ice Catapults towards Moonlight City,” Bladelight replied. This time around, Asskickers United was launching an all out war against Alliance of Mages!

"That’s good. We’ll drag this battle out for a few days. That Crazy Magic will probably be a lot more anxious than us!” Nie Yan chuckled. He refused to believe Crazy Magic could keep calm with 15 Armoured Ice Catapults moving towards him.

"I heard Angel Corps is currently busy with their own war. If they don’t come to the rescue, our Armoured Ice Catapults will completely topple Alliance of Mage’s strongholds!” Bladelight said. He also couldn’t help but get excited. Until now, Asskickers United had been on the defensive. Several times, they had suffered ambushes from the enemy at their doorsteps. This time around, they could finally retaliate!

"Gather all the Thieves. I have a mission for them,” Nie Yan said.

Bladelight and Smokestub passed down Nie Yan’s orders below. Before long, all the Thieves entered the castle and gathered in the main hall, 500 of them in total.

Nie Yan split the Thieves up into five smaller groups, composed of 100 players each. One of them was composed of all the strongest Thieves, among whom were Sun, King of the World, Tyrannical, and so on. Nie Yan instructed them to freely move around the map and assassinate any and all enemy players they crossed. Only if they encountered trouble should they retreat. There was no need to tangle with the enemy. As for the remaining Thieves, they were in charge of installing the traps, mines, and totems around the perimeter of the castle.

Nie Yan had several players take out all the traps they purchased: Fire Traps, Poison Totems, Arrow Traps, and so on. These traps were set up in various places, like forests, boulders, and streams. If a player triggered one of them, they would likely lose their life. As such, the locations of these traps had to be carefully studied, to prevent their own from falling for them; otherwise, that would be a huge loss. Nie Yan told every Thief where they should go to place traps, but not where the other traps were located. This was to prevent information from leaking out. He knew there were definitely Alliance of Mages moles hiding within their ranks. Likewise, he had moles on their side as well. This was a battle of both wits and brawn.

...

West side of the Realm of Death, inside a rundown castle, all the higher-ups of Alliance of Mages were gathered in a large hall.

"Boss, Asskickers United has occupied a castle in the east. They haven’t moved since. It seems like they’re planning to hold the fort. They’ve set up quite a few defenses around the castle,” Maple Sky said. The moles they planted had already reported Asskickers United’s movements. He was a bit confused. Speaking logically, the battle in the Realm of Death shouldn’t last more than a day. However, why did it seem like Asskickers United was preparing for a battle that would last at least a week?

Crazy Magic was also wondering what Asskickers United was doing. Suddenly, he received a report from a subordinate. "Boss, we just received word from our headquarters. Asskickers United is currently heading towards Moonlight City with more than 10 catapults!”

Hearing this information, Crazy Magic’s face paled. Luring the tiger away from the mountain, then striking when its gone! Asskickers United’s target was Moonlight City!

Asskickers United would take at least three days to arrive at Moonlight City. At that time, the entire city would be embroiled in a chaotic battle. More than 10 catapults was nothing to scoff at. If Alliance of Mages lost their main base, even if they achieved victory in the Realm of Death, they would still lose out in the end!

"Boss, what do we do?” Maple Sky asked. "Headquarters is reporting that Asskickers United’s catapults seem to be higher ranked than ours.”

Crazy Magic knitted his brows. Without him at the headquarters, he couldn’t direct the battle. He wasn’t like Nie Yan, who left everything to others and rarely commanded the guild. Asskickers United had a group of people specifically dedicated for managing the guild. Even if Nie Yan was absent, there wouldn’t be any problems. On the other hand, Alliance of Mages was solely controlled by him. He was distrustful of the people around him, because internal coupes had happened many times before. As such, all of the guild’s movements went through him. His word was law in the guild. Without him there, if something happened at the headquarters, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Crazy Magic pondered for a moment, then said, "Gather, everyone up. Were going to take the fight over to Nirvana Flame!”

Under these circumstances, Alliance of Mages could only preemptively attack and enter a decisive battle with Asskickers United! They were going to fight sooner or later anyway, so why not go all out from the start!?

Chapter 538 - Clever Deployment of Thieves

Alliance of Mages’ forces began setting out towards the castle Asskickers United occupied.

The victory condition was to occupy all 10 castles for one hour. Without possessing an absolute advantage, this kind of feat was difficult to achieve. So, they didn’t need to guard their castles for the time being and could freely engage with the enemy.

By ending the battle within a day, Crazy Magic and the others could rush back to Moonlight City.

Alliance of Mages’ troops advanced toward Asskickers United’s location. What happened next caused Crazy Magic to almost blow his top.

Alliance of Mages suffered repeated ambushes from Asskickers United’s Thieves, losing player after player. Crazy Magic attempted to have his forces surround these Thieves to no avail. They were simply too shrewd and skilled, like phantoms only showing themselves when they wanted to. There was no way to guard against them. In the beginning, Alliance of Mages’ forces were a lot less organized. However, after losing more than 10 of their comrades to these Thieves, they became more cautious and started moving in large groups. But even that wasn't enough.

These Thieves were Asskickers United’s most elite Thieves; King of the World, Sun, One Strike Vow, Tyrannical, and Hapless Frog were all famous characters. When they successfully carried out an ambush, they would immediately leave without dallying around. If they encountered trouble, they would makes themselves scarce. Alliance of Mages had no way of dealing with them.

During this long advance, Alliance of Mages lost another 60 players. Their casualties had risen close to 100.

Crazy Magic’s face was red with rage. Without even seeing the enemy, they had already suffered so many casualties. He had the urge to explode with all sorts of profanities.

"Did you guys find out who the hell those Thieves are?” Crazy Magic asked through gritted teeth.

"They’re Asskickers United top elites, Sun, One Strike Vow… There’s one we don’t know, but he’s rumoured to be on the same level as Sun.”

"Fuck, just where did Asskickers United get so many experts!? Did Nirvana Flame come along with them?” Crazy Magic asked in a gloomy tone. Besides Nie Yan, Sun was also an unrivalled existence. In the entire Viridian Empire, only Shadow Killer rivalled him. Now all of a sudden another Thief on the same level as Sun had appeared? Was Asskickers United some kind of Thieves’ lair? Why were all the top Thieves running there?

"Nirvana Flame is still in the castle. He didn’t come,” Maple Sky replied. He couldn’t help but be secretly relieved. They were already in such a sorry state without Nirvana Flame here. If he did come, they’d be done for!

With such a long front line, it was impossible for Alliance of Mages to guard against this group of Thieves!

Crazy Magic understood Nie Yan’s plan. Asskickers United would guard the stronghold, stalling for time while their top Thieves whittled away the forces of Alliance of Mages. If the battle dragged on for a few days, Alliance of Mage’s losses would gradually accumulate. Then when the final decisive battle started, it would be a complete one sided slaughter.

"Should we return to the castle?” Maple Sky asked. From the moment they entered the Realm of Death, Alliance of Mages had been led around by the nose. Reclaiming the initiative would be truly difficult.

"Even if we hide in the castle, we still can’t defend against those Thieves. A single castle can only fit 1,000 players at most. The rest will still have to set up camp outside. Furthermore, if we retreat now, we’ll be doing exactly what Nirvana Flame wants us to do. They can keep stalling for time. We could split up into three different castles, sure. But that leaves us vulnerable to being attacked by Asskickers United’s forces. At this rate, we’re going to die a slow death. We’re better off trying to end the war now,” Crazy Magic said. This move of Nie Yan’s was truly ruthless. He was left with no other option.

"Then what do we do?”

"We fight fire with fire. We’ll also dispatch our Thieves to harass Asskickers United’s forces. At the very least, we’re not going to let them have it so easy. We’ll also have Direwolf put in a bit more effort. Gathering 30 Thieves shouldn’t be a problem,” Crazy Magic said. Even though their Thieves weren’t as strong as Asskickers United’s, dealing with Asskickers United’s ordinary players wouldn’t be an issue. "Also, we’ll continue pressing forward. We’re going to end this farce once and for all!”

Crazy Magic received 10 Thieves from Direwolf. With Bloodfiends sending out 11 Thieves, and adding 9 more Thieves from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors, they had a total of 30. They immediately set out for Asskickers United’s encampment. Crazy Magic also provided them with a large amount of attack scrolls. He felt this many scrolls was enough to leave Asskickers United feeling quite sore.

Asskickers United’s Thieves were still busy harassing Alliance of Mages’ forces nonstop. Their casualties continued to rise, reaching almost 200. King of the Word, Sun, and the others were relatively cautious in the beginning, probing the enemy’s strength. After discovering Alliance of Mages’ forces were only so-so, they became a lot bolder. When Sun and King of the World took action, they would only retreat after taking out three or more enemies. After several ambushes, Alliance of Mages could no longer hold out. They were being eaten alive, bite by bite. It was quite painful. Crazy Magic had no choice but to spread the experts out among every group. Even though this had some effect, they still had no way of stopping the ambushes.

Perhaps only the top five players in Direwolf had the qualifications to be King of the World or Sun’s opponents.

After reviewing the information King of the World and the others sent back, Nie Yan faintly smiled. Everything was going according to plan. He still had several even more ruthless moves up his sleeve. He planned to thoroughly toy with his prey!

「How many people have you killed?」Nie Yan asked.

「Around 200,」King of the World replied.

These results were quite impressive.

「How are things on your side? We’re just about ready to move,」Nie Yan said. He had Tang Yao, Xie Yao, One Strike Vow, and the others gather together. These people all had Hyperlink Rings. Furthermore, Nie Yan also had Paladin of the Elegy make some preparations.

A while later, King of the World brought back the items Nie Yan asked for.

"Each of you, take a scroll. There are Unknown Transfer Scrolls and other life saving scrolls here.” Nie Yan pointed at the pile of scrolls beside him.

"What are we going to do?” Bladelight asked.

The others also gazed at Nie Yan.

"Bladelight, you and Smoke Stub watch over things from here. We’re going to pay Alliance of Mages a visit,” Nie Yan said. By having Bladelight and Smokestub stay behind, they could guide Asskickers United’s forces while at the same time being markers to teleport to with the Hyperlink Ring.

Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and the others restocked on Unknown Transfer Scrolls. Each person had at least five. Although Unknown Transfer Scrolls were quite scarce, using them to fulfil the needs of these team members was fine.

Somewhere off in a distant forest, Alliance of Mages’ forces had gathered into several hundred-player teams and were currently advancing in Asskickers United’s direction.

The size of these groups ranged from 300 at the lowest to 600 at the highest. Only with numbers did they feel a sense of security. However, Asskickers United’s Thieves appearing from time to time still gave them an extreme headache. The casters didn’t dare to linger at the edge of their group. They stayed at the center under the protection of the Warriors and Paladins. The Priest were casting Illuminate nonstop. Even though this was wasting mana, it was the only way to deter these ambushes.

"Asskickers United are pretty smart. At this rate, Alliance of Mages is going to lose!” a Warrior of Direwolf said.

Raven nodded. "Let’s report the situation to the boss.” If things continued on like this, when Alliance of Mages engaged Asskickers United’s forces at the castle, they would’ve already lost a third of their troops. If they fought and Asskickers United guarded the castle, Alliance of Mages couldn’t seize any advantage. With those several Thieves running around launching ambushes everywhere, Alliance of Mages would collapse sooner rather than later.

Raven was also helpless to stop these ambushes from happening.

Sun, King of the World, and the others were currently hiding in the thickets close to Alliance of Mages’ forces.

"Up ahead, about 10 minutes from here, is barren ground. It’s not suitable for launching ambushes,” King of the World said after receiving a report from some teammates.

"Big Bro and them are planning to teleport over and launch an attack on Alliance of Mages,” Sun said after looking at the team chat. "Sparrow Hawk, Yao Yao, Sunny South, Lustboy, and the others are also coming. With Mages joining in, things will be much easier.”

Sun gazed at his surroundings. As he entered a secluded area, several rays of light flashed beside him. One person after another appeared before him.

"Big Bro, you’re here!” Sun excitedly said.

Nie Yan nodded. "Where’s Alliance of Mages’ forces? Lead us there.”

"Follow me,” Sun said, dashing into the distance.

Sunny South and the others glanced at each other before each drinking an Invisibility Potion. There were too many of them, making them an easy target. If they were discovered, the ambush would become incredibly hard to carry out. Using the Invisibility Potions was a form of insurance.

Everyone slowly approached Alliance of Mages’ forces. On the way there, Sun explained the general situation.

"To the west are three groups of Alliance of Mages’ players. Their numbers are roughly 300 each. Even though they’re low in number, many of their experts are gathered there. If they’re ambushed there, backup will probably arrive in no later than three minutes. Over here is a group with about 500 players. They’re all pretty mediocre. Though there are some experts, there aren’t that many.”

As Sun spoke, they could already see the players from Alliance of Mages in the distance. They were advancing forward step by step. The exterior was all Warriors and were in charge of standing guard. An orb of light shot up in the sky from the group, whereupon some of the Warriors looked over in their direction. Nie Yan and Sun hurriedly hid behind a tree.

"Three minutes. We kill as many as we can. After three minutes, we immediately teleport away with Unknown Transfer Scrolls! We’re making our preparations now. Listen to my command!” Ne Yan said. He had already formed the perfect plan in his mind.

Chapter 539 - Absolutely Flawless Teamwork

More than 500 Alliance of Mages players advanced through the dense forest. It looked crowded.

The Warriors at the outer edge of the group were extremely tense and nervous. One could see how much pressure Sun, King of the World, and the others had put on them.

Tang Yao, Xie Yao, Sunny South, and the others had already approached within 300 meters of them. The lush trees provided great cover. Nie Yan had already approached from a different direction.

Several Warriors hacked away at the tree branches. One of the shorter Warriors suddenly halted his steps, his face tensing up with nervousness.

"There’s a Thief!” the Warrior cried out.

As soon as these words left his mouth, numerous orbs of light shot into the sky, illuminating the ground below.

The Paladins activated Eyes of the Divine and scanned the surrounding trees. The forest was calm and peaceful, without the slightest sign of any movement.

"Damnit, Two Tube! What Thief? You nearly scared the shit out of us!”

The Warrior called Two Tube scratched his head in embarrassment. He was really too tense. Even the wind blowing had caused him to think a Thief was present.

"Hah... we’ve been turned into a bunch of gutless cowards. Those Asskickers United Thieves really are something. Even with so many people here, they still killed five of our own and escaped without a scratch. You have no choice but to be convinced of their skill,” another Warrior said with a hint of reverence. No one could deny this fact.

Atop a tree about 50 meters away, Nie Yan was currently observing their every movement.

The group before him was composed of experts on the side of Alliance of Mages. Some were familiar faces, enemies encountered in previous battles, while others were completely new faces. Nevertheless, they were skilled enough to put up at least a bit of a fight.

Seeing them moving in his direction, Nie Yan chanted out an incantation. An enormous Golden Dragon emerged before these players. Standing over three meters tall like an iron tower, Lil’ Gold toppled several trees over with a sweep of his thick tail.

"Crap, it’s Nirvana Flame’s Golden Dragon!”

Alliance of Mages’ players descended into a panic.

"Warriors, go up quickly!”

"Casters, be careful. Don’t let yourselves be ambushed by Nirvana Flame!”

At this moment, Lil’ Gold let out a thunderous roar and blasted the players from Alliance of Mages with Dragon Breath. The scorching hot flames immediately burnt them to a crisp. Shortly after, a giant meteor came crashing down from the sky.「Bang!」Flames exploded out, engulfing the immediate vicinity.

Another 10 players from Alliance of Mages were killed.

These Alliance of Mages players were pretty skilled. After the meteor fell, many of them managed to dodge it. Only some of the slower ones were caught and killed by Lil’ Gold.

10 Warriors surrounded Lil’ Gold, intending to lock him in place.

"Keep up the healing!”

"Priests, hurry up!”

"Shit, why is that Golden Dragon so strong?”

"We still don’t know where Nirvana Flame is! Everyone, be careful of him!”

Just when these Warriors believed they had locked him down, Lil’ Gold let out a roar.

Explosive Counter!

Explosive Counter!

After Explosive Counter was triggered two times in a row, a blanket of damage values floated up from these Warriors’ heads. Five were instantly killed while the survivors quickly retreated with only a sliver of health remaining. The Priests hurriedly cast heals on them!

The surviving Warriors glanced at each other, fear lingering in their eyes. Lil’ Gold’s attacks were far too terrifying. How was this a pet? He was more like an overpowered slaughter machine!

A few players summoned their own pets. Several dozen pets with high health pounced toward Lil’ Gold, only to discover their attacks had little to no effect. With a Dragon Breath followed by a Rend, a Great Grizzly was ripped to shreds.

While the Alliance of Mages players were frantically trying to deal with Lil’ Gold, a ripple of magic pulsed through the air. Red clouds started coalescing together in the air.

"Who’s casting an AoE spell?”

"Over there, it’s someone from Asskickers United. Quickly stop him!”

In the distance behind some trees, Tang Yao, Sunny South, and a few others were hiding. Just when they got spotted and the enemy started moving towards them, they finished chanting their magic. A torrent of frost fell from the sky. The approaching enemy players had their movement speeds drastically reduced, as though they were moving in slow motion. Even taking a step became extremely cumbersome.

A moment later, Tang Yao’s Hellfire started raining down from the sky. Immediately, everything within a 30-meter radius became a sea of flames. One Alliance of Mages player after another was transformed into rays of light. Three hooded Direwolf players glanced at each other. They all rushed toward Tang Yao in an effort to stop him. One Warrior, one Mage, and one Shadow Priest, they could be considered a formidable party.

Nie Yan sent Sun and King of the World a message.「Let’s kill these Direwolf players together!」Once these players were gone from the battlefield, it would have a huge effect!

Each of them entered stealth, then dashed toward the three Direwolf players.

These three apex Thieves were working together for the first time.

「I’ll take the lead!」Nie Yan suddenly sped up like a meteor as he pounced toward the Shadow Priest. An ordinary Priest just happened to cast Illuminate at this time and revealing a glimpse of Nie Yan’s silhouette.

"There’s a Thief over there!” the Shadow Priest said in a dark tone. He raised his staff and cast Illuminate. An orb of light shot up into the air and illuminated the ground below, revealing silhouette dashing at an incredibly fast speed.

"He’s fast!”

The hearts of the three Direwolf players trembled. Only one player could display this kind of speed, Nirvana Flame!

"Be careful! I’ll deal with him!” the Warrior shouted. With a Charge, he rushed toward Nie Yan and slashed down with a Heroic Strike.

Suddenly, Nie Yan’s figure transformed into multiple mirror images as he slipped past the Warrior. This was the Illusion Steps technique!

The Warrior’s blade struck its target, only to discover Nie Yan’s figure disappearing into nothing. It was an illusion!

At this moment, the Warrior felt a sharp pain at the back of his head. Not good! But before he could do anything, he was already stunned. At the same time Nie Yan employed the Illusion Steps to dodge the Warrior’s attack, Sun arrived behind him and struck him with a Smothering Strike.

"Nirvana Flame didn’t come alone!” The eyes of the other two Direwolf players trembled. Seeing their comrade getting stunned, they both wanted to save him.

Seeing Nie Yan close in on him, the Shadow Priest opened his mouth and let out a shrill scream. Howl of Terror! At the same time, he raised his staff and targeted Nie Yan with two curses.

Nie Yan activated Mind Immune from the Medal of the Ten Holy Paladins, nullifying the Howl of Terror and two curses. He also braved through the nearby Arcane Mage’s Arcane Flame Burst, which shaved away a third of his health bar. Losing this much health, if he were an ordinary Thief, he would probably already be dead.

Extreme Intimidate!

A wave of fear washed over the Shadow Priest just as he was about to cast Repel. At the same time, the sharp glint of another dagger appeared behind him. Struck in the back of the head, his raised staff was frozen midair. He was ambushed by King of the World!

Seeing his two companions stunned, the Arcane Mage attempted to flee. But as he turned around, he discovered his body was frozen in place. It was King of the World’s Lockdown skill!

Before he even had a chance to crush his Unknown Transfer Scroll, Nie Yan appeared in front of him with Blink Strike and ended his life.

「Thud! Thud! Thud!」The three Direwolf players collapsed to the ground!

Flawless teamwork!

When Nie Yan, King of the World, and Sun worked together, even Direwolf’s experts couldn’t retaliate in the slightest!

Within just a few seconds, three Direwolf players were killed at the same time. The nearby Alliance of Mages players were shocked. They all understood what kind of powerful existence Direwolf was. However, why was it that after meeting these three Thieves, they were so easily killed!?

Due to everything happening too quickly, they didn’t clearly see what happened. By the time they realized what was going on, all they saw were three corpses lying on the ground.

"Nice teamwork!” Nie Yan said to Sun and King of the World. This was the first time he had synergized so well with others.

"Big Bro, good job!”

King of the World simply nodded with an indifferent expression. However, his heart was stirring with emotion. He couldn’t help but recall the times he fought together with his companions on the battlefield. This type of synergy and teamwork was all too familiar to him.

After collecting the loot off the ground, the three disappeared back into stealth.

While Nie Yan, Sun, and King of the World were dealing with the experts from Direwolf, six Thieves from Bloodfiends had ambushed Tang Yao, Xie Yao and the others. They had failed to cause any damage to Asskickers United’s side. After losing one of their own members, they quickly fled. However, they had still managed to delay Tang Yao and the other Mages long enough, preventing them from casting AoE spells in quick succession.

Alliance of Mages’ battle formation was already an unrecognizable chaotic mess.

Out of 500 players in the group, only 200 were killed. The remaining 300 immediately scattered in all directions. Some players managed to regroup and attempted to launch a counter offensive against Tang Yao and the others. However, they were quickly forced into retreat by a barrage of spells, leaving behind piles of corpses.

Nie Yan, Sun, and King of the World began pursuing the stragglers, picking off the enemy one by one. Lil’ Gold also swept through everything in his path.

"Boss, we have enemies incoming from both east and west! They’re from Direwolf and Bloodfiends!”

"Let’s retreat!” Nie Yan said. All of them used Unknown Transfer Scrolls to teleport away.

The ambush this time around could be considered a resounding success. After returning to the base and resting up, they could continue toying with Alliance of Mages. There was no need to tangle with the enemy longer than necessary. If they ended up having the tables turned on them, it would be all for naught.

Chapter 540 - Chaining Traps!

Seeing all his team members teleport away, Nie Yan recalled Lil’ Gold. He entered stealth before dashing off. Even if he didn’t use an Unknown Transfer Scroll, no one could stop him from escaping!

Only a short moment after Nie Yan and the others departed, Crazy Magic, Raven, and the others arrived on the scene. The surroundings were in disarray. Alliance of Mages’ forces were routed. Crazy Magic’s eyes twitched in anger. So many elites had been slaughtered just like that. Dropping five levels and three pieces of equipment, he felt like his heart was bleeding out.

"What were the casualties on our side?” Crazy Magic asked.

"Over 200 dead. Adding all the previous losses, our casualties have already surpassed 500,” Maple Sky replied. The final battle hadn’t even started, and they had already lost one sixth of their forces. If Asskickers United’s advantage grew any larger, they might as well just give up.

Raven knitted his brows. "Just a moment ago, Nirvana Flame appeared with his Golden Dragon. Didn’t you say he was still back at the castle?”

"Perhaps the information was wrong. However, my people had clearly seen him at the castle five minutes ago. Even if he rushed over here at top speed, it would still take at least 15 minutes. Don’t tell me it was teleportation...?” Crazy Magic’s heart trembled.

Raven nodded. This was definitely a possibility! He guessed they used something like a Group Transfer Scroll to teleport over. The Alliance of Mages players’ hearts sunk. Asskickers United’s ambush had gone off without a hitch. There was no telling if or when they would try again. If something like this happened a few more times, by the time they reached Asskickers United’s castle, they would lack the manpower to even fight them head-on!

While Crazy Magic was figuring out a way to deal with Asskickers United, the Thieves deployed by Alliance of Mages had already arrived at Asskickers United’s castle.

The 30 top Thieves split into six squads. Each relied on their own skill to approach the castle as they prepared to stir up trouble for Asskickers United's players. According to the information provided by Crazy Magic, the area around the castle was booby-trapped. Groups of players in twos and threes leisurely sat on the open space outside the castle. Their vigilance was quite low.

The top Thieves couldn’t help but feel Asskickers United was overestimating themselves if they thought a few traps could stop them. However, what happened next seemed like something out of a nightmare.

When five Thieves happened to pass through a patch of thickets, a brilliant light radiated out from between the trees.

Of these five Thieves, three were from Alliance of Mages, one from Divine Protectors, and one from Bloodfiends. The three from Alliance of Mages were fairly familiar with each other. The Divine Protectors Thief felt a bit isolated. As for the Bloodfiends Thief, he was cold and detached, caring for no one but himself.

This Thief was precisely Underworld, one of the five Thieves from Bloodfiends who had ambushed Nie Yan previously. He moved forward while maintaining contact with the other four.

「Since Asskickers United dared to ambush Alliance of Mages, they definitely have countermeasures in place. Crazy Magic probably has a leak somewhere. Everyone, be careful,」Underworld warned his compatriots. He coldly looked at the four Thieves up ahead, and purposefully lagged a good distance behind.

Seeing the three Alliance of Mages Thieves chatting and laughing merrily, the Divine Protectors Thief coldly snorted and walked over toward a nearby path. This path was covered in thick shrubbery.

As he pushed aside a branch with his hand, he suddenly felt something off. Looking towards the distance, he spotted an arrow trap installed on a nearby tree. A thin thread was stretched taught across the shrubbery below his feet.

When he moved through the shrubbery, he had tripped the thread. With a whoosh, a bolt was loosed from the crossbow and came flying towards him.

A cold light streaked through the air.

The Thief narrowed his eyes. It was a trap! However, if Asskickers United believed such a simple trap could kill him, they were really looking down on him.

With a Gale Step, he sidestepped and evaded the bolt.

He believed that was the end of it. However, it was only the beginning!

The bolt flew into a bush, striking a wooden pole.

An ignition rune happened to be engraved in the wooden pole. After being struck, flames leapt into the sky, instantly trigerring an explosive rune carved on top of a nearby tree. With a loud bang, the rune exploded, causing a shockwave to sweep out.

The traps were linked! The Thief’s face paled. In the moment the explosive rune was set off, he dodge rolled to the side. But what happened next was even more frightening. His movements had triggered even more traps. A hail of arrows came flying at him from every direction.「Boom! Boom! Boom!」Even more explosive runes were set off.

The five Thieves immediately bolted away in every direction. Countless explosive runes and other offensive totems were layered on top of each other. The explosions were even more spectacular than the ones seen in Hollywood movies. Two Alliance of Mages Thieves barely evaded the initial explosions, only to still end up dying to the subsequent blasts. They didn’t even get the chance to drink a health potion.

Of the three remaining Thieves, Underworld was the first to make it out with his life. The might of these explosive runes left him a bit rattled. A single explosive rune wasn’t that powerful. With their skill, dodging was extremely easy. However, faced with such a powerful chain of explosions, dodging became extremely difficult. Underworld was fairly lucky. He had remained much further behind than the other four. At the first sign of trouble, he immediately fell back. Looking at his four teammates, two Alliance of Mages players were blasted to death. The remaining two were scared witless and running around like headless flies.

Seeing the situation wasn’t looking good with explosions going off all around him, the sole remaining Alliance of Mages Thief drank an Intermediate Health Potion and dove into a small clearing. Suddenly, the ground beneath turned into quicksand as he was slowly sucked in.

All of a sudden, he discovered everything within a 30-meter radius was a quicksand trap!

This was an Advanced Quicksand Trap! The area of effect was huge! He had once seen this kind of trap selling for 100 gold each in an NPC shop. It appeared Asskickers United spared no expense!

He attempted to pull his leg out of the sand in a panic. However, his body wouldn’t budge. He could only despair as he slowly sank further and further down. In the end, he died of suffocation.

If someone had attempted to pull him out, perhaps he would’ve survived. Seeing this scene from afar, the Divine Protectors Thief didn’t dare to go over. He turned around and fled, eventually discovering a running stream. He quickly dove into the water, thinking he was finally safe. Asskickers United wouldn’t place explosive traps in the water, right?

With a rumbling sound, water started splashing around.

As the Thief swam around in the water, he suddenly heard the sound of an explosion, causing his heart to sink. Before he could do anything, an explosion swept over him from below, knocking all the air out of his lungs. Feeling a sweet taste at the back of his throat, he spat out a mouthful of blood. His body became numb as he slowly sank into the water.

He had set off an Underwater Goblin Mine!

At this moment, seemingly triggered by the explosion of the mine, a green liquid started spreading out in the water. When he came into contact with this liquid, an intense stinging feeling washed over him. A string of damage values floated up above his head. He was also inflicted with paralysis. Before long, his skin turned darkish red as he turned into a corpse.

The Thieves Crazy Magic deployed had gotten a taste of how frightening these traps were. Nie Yan spent almost 500,000 gold on these traps alone. Ordinary traps were easily evaded by Thieves. However, these traps were closely linked with each other. Evading them wasn’t easy at all. Once you triggered a single link in the chain, all the other traps would go off in a torrent of wind and flames. No matter how skilled you were, these omnipresent traps would easily take your life.

The six Thief squads had all met with the same tragic fate. Out of the 30 Thieves that were dispatched, only 11 barely escaped with their lives. The traps Nie Yan installed had left an unreasonable impression on their minds. This was the first time they had seen traps set up this way.

Nie Yan was extremely meticulous when setting up these traps. He had specialized Engineers look over the data and area of effect of every trap. After which he linked the ones that synergized together so that their might would increase manyfold. Of course, this endeavor cost quite a bit of money. Perhaps Nie Yan was the only one who would be willing to spend so much to set up these linked traps.

After the Thieves sent word back, Crazy Magic was dumbstruck. He initially believed traps were ineffective against top Thieves. After all, with their extremely high Reflex stat, it wasn’t easy for them to fall for traps. Even if they did fall for a trap, the amount of damage they received was much less than other classes.

However, of the 30 Thieves he sent over, only 11 returned alive. Before they even encountered any players from Asskickers United, over half of them had already died. Just what was going on? How did Asskickers United set up these traps? Why were they so powerful?

Crazy Magic didn’t know what to do anymore. Nie Yan had already calculated every move. Recalling everything that happened so far, from the moment they entered the Realm of Death and Asskickers United’s 200,000 players escorting their Armoured Catapults over to Moonlight City, they had been led by the nose from the start. Asskickers United could slowly stall for time while having their top Thieves whittle away at their strength. Everything was under their control. Meanwhile, Alliance of Mages wanted to end the battle quickly, but it seemed like they would be destroyed before even reaching their destination, suffering ambush after ambush. This was a complete tragedy.

Under these circumstances, what was Crazy Magic supposed to do? He was backed into a corner with no way of getting out.

The gradually rising casualties caused Crazy Magic to become anxious. Could it be that this battle in the Realm of Death would be the downfall of Alliance of Mages? If the enemy was simply stronger, he would have nothing to say. However, the thought of losing like this left him with an extremely bitter taste in his mouth.

Nirvana Flame, do you dare to fight head-on, fair and square?

Chapter 541 - Debut of the Darkwing Dragon!

Nie Yan naturally wouldn’t be so foolish as to let Asskickers United engage Alliance of Mages in a head-on confrontation. If they really duked it out with each other fair and square, he had little to no idea how many trump cards the enemy had prepared against them. Furthermore, the death penalty of dropping five levels and losing three pieces of equipment was extremely harsh. He had no desire to have his elites take needless losses. After all, they were the pillars of the guild. If they took heavy losses, it would be quite troublesome. That’s why he wanted to mitigate as much damage as possible.

In order to achieve this, Nie Yan could only rely on odd methods, like the string of traps and Thief ambushes.

Plus, all was fair in love and war!

Even if he was cursed at by the entire world, he didn’t care!

Nie Yan had the Thieves under him replace the traps that were set off, differing slightly from the ones from before but with exactly as much killing power! Furthermore, they were placed even closer together than before, since Alliance of Mages’ forces were getting closer and closer to the castle.

As the forces of Alliance of Mages drew closer to the castle, Nie Yan and company launched a second ambush. Due to the enemy being prepared this time around, they only managed to kill a hundred enemy players. Furthermore, they almost had the tables turned on them by the players from Bloodfiends and Direwolf. Thankfully, they still managed to return safely with Unknown Transfer Scrolls.

Crazy Magic was about to blow his top. Asskickers United was a truly aggravating bunch.

The forces of Alliance of Mages arrived in a clearing roughly 2,000 meters from the castle and set up an encampment.

Crazy Magic didn’t dare to allow his troops to advance any further. He knew the area up ahead was littered with all sorts of traps. If they carelessly trekked forward, they could very well be wiped out before even meeting Asskickers United’s forces!

However, simply staying put wasn’t an option either. Nie Yan might not be in a hurry, but Crazy Magic was under a lot of pressure. If he didn’t end this battle quickly, Asskickers United’s catapaults would be launching an assualt on his main stronghold in Moonlight City.

Crazy Magic still had an ace up his sleeve, and that was their six flying mounts! Some were purchased directly from Angel Corps. Some belonged to Direwolf, and one belonged to Bloodfiends. On the side of Asskickers United, the Netherthunder Eagle was heavily injured, and the Azure Winged Albatross’ strength had yet to be proven in battle. As for the Darkwing Dragon, its owner’s identity was still unknown. Without any ground support, using six flying mounts to deal with Asskickers United’s superior numbers still possed a bit of a challenge. That’s why they couldn’t reveal their trump card right now!

Crazy Magic thought for a moment. If worst came to worst, he would go all out and aim for mutual destruction!

"Fifth Thief Squadron, come up!” Crazy Magic shouted, ready to stake it all. He refused to believe Asskickers United was untouchable!

A group of 10 Thieves came forward. With solemn expressions on their faces, they dashed toward Asskickers United’s forces.

Crazy Magic looked into the distance. When these Thieves entered within a 1,000-meter radius of the castle, a series of explosions rang out as flames soared to the sky. Before long, he received word that all 10 Thieves had been killed. However, his resolve didn’t waver in the slightest. He shouted, "Sixth Thief Squadron, come up!”

Another 10 Thieves stepped forward. A few might survive a bit longer by noticing some traps far enough in advance. But basically all of them would eventually end up getting caught and killed.

A total of 10 Thief squadrons were wiped out. They had sacrificed flesh and blood to open a path forward.

Watching Crazy Magic send one squadron after another to their deaths from atop the watchtower, Nie Yan had to admit that he was lacking in this respect. Strictly speaking, he wasn’t a suitable guild leader. He could never be as ruthless as Crazy Magic, sacrificing the lives of his troops to clear a path forward.

Seeing Alliance of Mages slowly making their way forward, Nie Yan’s lips curved into a faint smile. The traps they encountered just now were the ones that triggered passively. He would switch them out for ones that were a bit different.

Nie Yan had Sun, King of the World, and eight others reset the traps. These 10 Thieves were fairly trustworthy. Avoiding the eyes of the ordinary Asskickers United players, they set out to install traps that had to be activated.

One of these traps was Ice Spikes. The Ice Spike Trap was divided into two parts, the main body which contained five scrolls, and the explosive rune. After these five scrolls were set in place, when players passed through them, they would detonate. If a Mage triggered the explosive rune, the Ice Spike Trap would immediately activate, and hundreds of Ice Spikes would come erupting from the ground. Warriors with high defense would be relatively safe. However, Mages wouldn’t be so lucky. The sharp Ice Spikes could easily pierce through their cloth robes.

Nie Yan only had three activatable traps. After such a long time, Asskickers United saved them up bit by bit. They were extremely rare. There was one Sea of Fire Trap which was obtained by Bladelight and the main team while running a dungeon on Specialist, and there were two Ice Spike Traps which were bought from a secret shop for 100,000 gold each, refreshing only once every 10 days.

These three items had been sitting in the treasury all this time. Finally, they would be put to good use.

Sun, King of the World, and the eight others installed the two Ice Spike Traps and Flame Sea Trap. Everything was ready to go.

Nie Yan gave the three explosion runes to Lustboy, Tang Yao, and Xie Yao. "In a bit, when I give the word, trigger the traps!”

Even though the killing power of these traps wasn’t all that high, they could still kill a few hundred players. Like this, Alliance of Mages’ casualties would cross over 1,000. Asskickers United had yet to suffer any real losses, while the enemy would soon have only two thirds of their army remaining. If they still couldn’t win, they might as well disband.

After watching his Thieves sacrifice their lives one after another just to clear the path forward, Crazy Magic’s eyes were already scarlet red.

His orders didn’t extend to the Thieves from Divine Protectors, let alone those from Direwolf and Bloodfiends. All of the Thieves had gone up to clear the path were directly under him! 100 players had died just like that. Each dropped five levels and lost three pieces of equipment. How could his heart not ache!?

However, Crazy Magic believed their sacrifices were not in vain. It was for the victory of Alliance of Mages!

"Brothers, we’ve sacrificed flesh and blood to reach this place. So many of our brethren were killed by the underhanded tactics of our enemy, of that despicable bastard Nirvana Flame! Today, we’ll turn this place into Asskickers United’s grave! Whether you belong to Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, or the other organizations employed to fight for our cause, I, Crazy Magic, declare that as long as we win this battle, you’ll be rewarded double! Kill!” Crazy magic shouted.

Whether Nie Yan was despicable or the methods employed were underhanded, no one bothered investigating. The only thing they paid attention to was that they would receive double the rewards. For the sake of inviting these peoples to the Realm of Death, Alliance of Mages had an ample amount of benefits. The rewards offered were already quite generous. If this was doubled... one could imagine how attractive this incentive was.

At this moment, a Wind Serpent, Dragonfly, and Demonic Butterfly emerged in the sky, casting giant shadows over the ground. They were Alliance of Mages’ flying mounts! Crazy Magic shifted his focus to the players from Direwolf and Bloodfiends. After thinking for a moment, they also summoned their flying mounts.

A White Maned Griffon, another Wind Serpent, and a Blaze Hawk. Six flying mounts took the sky.

The players below were all stupefied.

"So many flying mounts!”

"Amazing!”

"Asskickers United is doomed for sure!”

The morale of Alliance of Mages’ forces skyrocketed as they broke out in deafening cheers. Six flying mounts, this was an incredibly powerful force! Would Asskickers United be able to withstand their blitz?

Crazy Magic raised his head to look at the six flying mounts in the sky. His previous dismay was nowhere to be found. Come at me, Asskickers United! It’s time for the final battle! Let’s see what else you have left!

Asskickers United’s forces mobilized for battle. Seeing the six flying mounts hovering in the sky, their expressions paled. They didn’t know what to say. Alliance of Mages had gotten ahold of six flying mounts! They knew how powerful flying mounts were! Tang Yao’s Netherthunder Eagle, for example, was practically unrivalled! However, his Netherthunder Eagle was seriously injured while the other party had six perfectly healthy flying mounts!

Six flying mounts were enough to massacre their 3,000 players!

They had no confidence in beating these flying mounts. Just killing one was already difficult enough, let alone six!

Though Asskickers United’s side still had Natural Fiend’s Azure Winged Albatross, how could one bird possibly hold its own against six other flying mounts!?

Asskickers United’s players started to despair. It seemed like defeat was imminent. They had never considered this possibility before. But now, that reality was before them.

At this moment, a powerful draconic cry rang out through the sky. A giant dragon emerged in the air, its entire body glossy black and radiating a dazzling luster. Its sturdy and powerful wings leisurely flapped up and down, casting a giant shadow over the ground. This dragon was more than three times larger than any ordinary flying mount.

"It’s the Darkwing Dragon!”

The players on both sides let out shrill cries. With a single glance, they identified the giant dragon hovering in the sky as the legendary Darkwing Dragon! It actually belonged to Nirvana Flame! Even though many had guessed this, with some hoping against all odds that it didn’t belong to him, the sight before them left them sorely disappointed.

Nie Yan stood atop the Darkwing Dragon like a deity lording over those below him.

The six flying mounts on the side of Alliance of Mages couldn’t help but tremble after hearing the dragon cry. This was an innate fear that couldn’t be controlled!

There was also a hierarchy among these flying creatures. Dragons undoubtedly stood at the very top. No matter what the era, dragons were always the apex predators. All other species were their prey!

Chapter 542 - Absolute Advantage

No one knew exactly how powerful the Darkwing Dragon was. But this gigantic beast was undoubtedly the overlord of the skies. Its deep black scales and awe-inspiring appearance left a deep impression in the hearts of everyone present.

Everyone knew the hierarchy of flying mounts.

There were 16 ranks. Rank 6 or higher flying mounts were fairly rare. Rank 9 or higher flying mounts were famed existences known for their overwhelming might. As for Rank 16 flying mounts, they only existed in legends.

Base rank 2 flying mounts like Wind Serpents and Demonic Butterflies could achieve Rank 9 at best. Achlys Dragonflies, Griffons, and Azure Winged Albatross’ started out at Rank 3 after hatching and could evolve up to Rank 10. As for the Darkwing Dragon, it started out at Rank 5 and could evolve to the illustrious Rank 16.

Evolving a flying mount was an incredibly difficult affair that consumed a large amount of Life Cores. This was why flying mounts were destined to slaughter each other, until an unmatched existence emerged in the end. At the beginning ranks, flying mounts were all fairly close in strength.

The Darkwing Dragon was roughly on par with the six flying mounts on the side of Alliance of Mages. If they truly fought, victory or defeat would depend on the skill of the rider as well as their synergy with their mount.

With the emergence of the Darkwing Dragon, the initiative was once again taken away from Alliance of Mages. It could go in any direction.

A moment later, after Natural Fiend chanted an incantation, a large azure bird covered in motley feathers emerged in the sky. Its wings flapped up and down as it hovered above the castle. Compared to the Darkwing Dragon, the disparity in size was evident. The two weren’t even on the same level. It was like a child standing in front of an adult.

A striking visual difference like this highlighted the Darkwing Dragon’s strength even more.

The players riding on the Wind Serpent, Demonic Butterfly, and so on felt their hearts sink. Did they stand any chance against the Darkwing Dragon?

They hesitated ever so slightly from stepping forward. No one wanted to be the first to test the Darkwing Dragon’s strength.

"I refuse to believe our six flying mounts can’t win against their two! Brothers, victory or defeat, it all ends here! No backing down now! It’s all or nothing!” Crazy Magic shouted.

However, even after hearing Crazy Magic, everyone still felt apprehensive.

Crazy Magic could command three of the flying mounts. However, if the riders of the other three didn’t follow up, they would undoubtedly lose!

Crazy Magic felt anxious. At this moment, Alliance of Mages’ forces started advancing. Summoning their various pets to clear the path forward while the army of players followed closely behind, they encroached on Asskickers United’s battle lines.

The time for battle was fast approaching. The blood-red sun hanging over the horizon tinted the battlefield with an ominous glow.

Nie Yan summoned Lil’ Gold. The other guild members followed suit and also summoned their pets. The powerful beasts organized themselves in formation. The Warriors walked up to the front, their armour reflecting a dazzling glow under the sunset. They were like an iron wall, impregnable to any assault.

Directly behind were the Paladins whose role was to support the Fighters, providing them with healing, dispelling debuffs, and so on. Further back were the Mages and Priests, all mixed together. They occupied fairly good vantage points. Protecting both flanks of the formation were the Berserkers. Their rear was protected by the castle. They could advance to attack or retreat to defend. They occupied a favourable location.

Apart from this, there were also close to 200 Asskickers United Thieves actively prowling the trap covered forest in the surroundings. Nie Yan limited their patrols to set areas, with about 20 Thieves occupying each one. They would lie in ambush, waiting for the enemy to pass by, only aware of the traps in their immediate vicinity. In an attempt to mitigate the location of the traps being leaked to Alliance of Mages, such precautions were necessary.

Nie Yan had everything arranged. The forces of Alliance of Mages were gradually entering the ranges of the Ice Spike Traps and Sea of Fire Trap.

One group of players from Alliance of Mages passed through after another. It looked like both sides were about to clash at any moment.

"Boss, should we set off the traps yet?” Lustboy excitedly turned his gaze to Nie Yan.

"Keep waiting. Wait for the Warriors to pass through and the casters to arrive! The Ice Spike Traps and Sea of Fire Trap aren’t as effective against Warriors!” Nie Yan said. As he stood atop his Darkwing Dragon, he looked over the battlefield.

Alliance of Mages’ forces were only a hundred meters away from Asskickers United’s. The Warriors from both sides were getting closer and closer, as if two steel dragons were about to clash. Crazy Magic felt the blood rush to his head. Let’s duke it out, Asskickers United!

Having already made contact with each other, the Thieves from both sides were exchanging blows.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」At this moment, flames erupted into the sky. Asskickers United’s Thieves were extremely cunning. If they spotted an enemy Thief alone, they would immediately gang up on them. If they encountered multiple together, they would lure them into an area that was densely filled with traps. Those Thieves were naturally blown to pieces by the traps.

After first contact, three Asskickers United Thieves were killed while Alliance of Mages lost more than 20.

The gap was still growing larger. Crazy Magic could no longer hold back his rage. He ordered all Warriors and tanky pets to charge forward.

"Kill!”

"Brothers, charge!”

Alliance of Mages’ players let out their battlecries. The Warriors and tanky pets were like a surging tide as they rushed toward Asskickers United.

"Brothers, it’s time for us to show our strength! Charge! Let’s slaughter Alliance of Mages!” Bladelight took the vanguard and rushed forward with Charge.

A shower of spells rained down from the sky.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」

−102
−129
−98...

A string of damage values floated up from Bladelight’s head. Given that he had over 10,000 health, this sort of damage amounted to nothing more than a tickle. After his health fell by a small chunk, Young Seven cast Heal on him and restored his health back to full.

「Klang!」Three Warriors who attempted to intercept Bladelight were sent flying. Even six people working together wasn't enough to stop him.

"You trash from Alliance of Mages! Is that all you’ve got?” Smoke Stub activated Barbarian Strength, sweeping through everything in his path. After felling three players, his blood soaked appearance struck fear into the hearts of the enemy.

Lofty Shadow and the others also rushed forward. The Warriors from Asskickers United were evidently better equipped than those on Alliance of Mage’ side. Alliance of Mages’ front line was instantly suppressed. Unable to stop the enemy, they slowly fell into retreat.

Magic rained down from the sky like a torrential rain. Countering their powerful destructive force, gentle light fell over the players non-stop.

With both sides being roughly equal in numbers, as soon as the battle started, Asskickers United’s superiority instantly began to show. The Warriors from both sides had taken hits from several dozen spells. However, Asskickers United’s Fighters were still standing while Alliance of Mages’ Fighters were struggling to crawl back up from the ground.

Nie Yan gazed at the chaotic battle below. A large number of Mages and Priests had gathered in the area with the Ice Spike Traps and Sea of Fire Trap. Now was probably the best opportunity to trigger them! He gave his command to Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and Lustboy, "Trigger the traps. Let Alliance of Mages have a taste of the gift we prepared for them!”

"Damn right!” Tang Yao excitedly shouted.

Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and Lustboy immediately started activating the explosion runes in their hands. One syllable after another flowed from their mouths.

Crazy Magic directed Alliance of Mages in battle, his heart filled with tension. Asskickers United was as formidable as ever. Had they not recruited so many experts, they definitely wouldn’t have stood a chance. The battle had entered a stalemate, with casualties on both sides slowly climbing up.

Suddenly, Crazy Magic felt the magic in the air fluctuate violently, causing the Flame Burst he was conjuring in his hand to disperse. His heart trembled. What was going on!?

"Boss, something’s strange! We can’t cast our magic!”

Alliance of Mages was puzzled.

Crazy Magic felt an imminent threat. He immediately used Blink to teleport 50 meters away. Suddenly, the surrounding temperature plummeted by several dozen degrees. Countless ice spikes erupted out of the ground, covering a 30 by 30 meter area. Around 100 Mages and Priests were skewered. They didn’t even know what happened before collapsing to the ground.

Even though some players used life-saving skills to escape, many more lost their lives.

The ground was filled with ice spikes and skewered bodies.

Besides this place, the Mages and Priests in two other areas also met a similar fate. Alliance of Mages’ side instantly lost more than 300 players.

"Boss, we fell into Asskickers United’s trap!”

"Boss, we can’t hold out much longer!” a Warrior at the front shouted.

With so many Priests dying in the back, the front line also started collapsing. After seeing there was no healing, some low health Warriors drank a health potion and quickly retreated.

Crazy Magic felt his heart sink to his stomach. At this point, Alliance of Mages’ casualties had already exceeded 1,500. In comparison, thanks to their teamwork and synergy as well as their skilled Priests, Asskickers United had only lost around 50 or so players.

After Alliance of Mages’ forces were routed, Asskickers United’s players immediately rushed in for the kill, slaughtering as many as they could.

The players leading the charge were Bladelight, Smokestub, Lofty Shadow, Monochrome, Edgeless, and the others. They massacred the Alliance of Mages’ players as if they were chopping vegetables. Even though the other side also had many experts, in a situation where all their allies were retreating, they didn’t dare to stand their ground and fight either.

Chapter 543 - Death From Above!

When it looked like Alliance of Mages could hold on no longer, Crazy Magic cast his gaze at the riders of the flying mounts.

The players on the flying mounts glanced at each other.

Standing atop the White Maned Griffon was a player called Heartless Ghostvale. In Direwolf, he only fell behind Krow and Raven. Among the flying mounts in their group, his White Maned Griffon was also the highest rank. It was no weaker than a Rank 4 flying mount.

Ghostvale gazed at his fellow flying mount riders. "Since it’s come to this, we might as well work together. Who knows, we might still win.”

"We’ll follow your orders. Just tell us what to do,” the Alliance of Mages players on the Wind Serpent, Demonic Butterfly, and Achlys Dragonfly answered.

Ghostvale turned to the remaining two riders. The rider of the Blaze Hawk, a member of the Bloodfiends, thought for a moment. "You’re right. Since it’s come to this, we’ll follow your command. However, we won’t be sending our flying mounts to their deaths.”

The last player nodded in agreement.

"Don’t worry. The Darkwing Dragon is probably only Rank 6 at most. My White Maned Griffon isn’t much weaker than a dragon. We also have the Achlys Dragonfly and Wind Serpents. As long as we work well together, we can take Nirvana Flame down from his pedestal. When he’s dead, we can slowly take our time slaughtering the rest of Asskickers United’s forces!” Ghostvale said.

Hearing these words brimming with confidence, a sliver of hope sprouted in the riders’ hearts.

Standing atop the Darwking Dragon’s head, Nie Yan gazed at Asskickers United’s forces slowly advancing forward like a tank crushing everything in its path. At this moment, the six flying mounts on the side of Alliance of Mages showed signs of movement. They rose up in the sky and hovered in place, looking as though they were about to divebomb Asskickers United’s forces.

Seeing this scene, Nie Yan sneered. Those with flying mounts finally couldn’t hold back any longer. He turned to Natural Fiend and said, "Fiend, it’s our to turn to go up.”

"Yes, Boss! Just give your orders!” Natural Fiend replied. He had long since prepared.

"Off we go!”

At this moment, the Darkwing Dragon flapped its wings and shot toward the six flying mounts on the side of Alliance of Mages. Natural Fiend had his Azure Winged Albatross follow behind.

As the Darkwing Dragon streaked through the sky, a large shadow fell over the players below. Asskickers United’s forces became even fiercer.

"The boss is taking action!”

"Brothers, charge forward! Slaughter those Alliance of Mages bastards!” a player shouted.

Asskickers United’s players erupted with fighting spirit, forcing Alliance of Mages further and further back.

Seeing the Darkwing Dragon heading straight for them, Ghostvale’s heart tightened. The real battle was about to begin.

"Brothers, let’s go with the plan we all agreed on!” Ghostvale shouted, ordering his White Maned Griffon to go up.

Up in the sky, a battle watched by countless eyes started. The White Maned Griffon stopped right in front of the path of the Darkwing Dragon.

"You came just at the right time!” Nie Yan had the Darkwing Dragon charge forward.

Seeing the Darkwing Dragon getting closer and closer, a powerful pressure weighed down on Ghostvale. He couldn’t help but notice how much larger the Darkwing Dragon was than his White Maned Griffon, more than three times!

Brimming with power and reflecting a deep black luster, the Darkwing Dragon seemed like an existence without equal.

Ghostvale didn’t dare to take the the Darkwing Dragon head on. Its sharp claws could easily rip his White Maned Griffon to shreds. Relying on his griffon’s smaller and nimbler body, he executed hit-and-run tactics while dodging the Darkwing Dragon’s attacks.

Nie Yan glanced behind him. Natural Fiend’s Azure Winged Albatross was already fighting the Blaze Hawk. The two sides were evenly matched, with both sides taking damage. Natural Fiend had good battle sense. He avoided long exchanges as much as possible, using his magic to bombard the enemy. Seeing one of the Wind Serpents and the Demonic Butterfly moving to surround him, he immediately retreated.

The Darkwing Dragon suddenly dived down with its powerful front claws and attempted to grab the White Maned Griffon’s head.

Seeing the Darkwing Dragon approaching fast, Ghostvale’s heart jumped in alarm. He quickly had his White Maned Griffon dodge to the side, barely dodging as the Darkwing Dragon’s claws brushed past his side. He broke out in a cold sweat. He almost died!

At this moment, the Achlys Dragonfly and other Wind Serpent charged over. The Wind Serpent opened its mouth and spat out poison while the Achlys Dragonfly reared its hind end and stabbed forward with its stinger.

Ghostvale thought he’d escaped. But in the next moment, the Darkwing Dragon suddenly made a sharp turn and rammed into his White Maned Griffon.

"Skreeeeh!” The White Maned Griffon was sent tumbling through the air.

The Wind Serpent’s poison struck the Darkwing Dragon’s body. However, it dealt no damage.

"It has poison resistance! My Wind Serpent’s poison is ineffective!”

Nie Yan snorted. It would be a joke if the poison of a low rank creature like the Wind Serpent could do anything to his Darkwing Dragon!

The Achlys Dragonfly whizzed forward and stabbed its stinger into the Darkwing Dragon’s neck.

"It landed!” the Alliance of Mages player on the Achlys Dragonfly’s back let out an excited cry.

The Darkwing Dragon swayed slightly off course, receiving a bit of damage. The wound bubbled with green pus and some watery blood. However, the stinger couldn’t dig any deeper.

"Fuck! It didn’t get paralyzed!”

"The Darkwing Dragon’s poison resistance is too high!”

"God dammit! No poison is effective!”

Ghostvale barely managed to upright his White Maned Griffon in the air. Checking its status, it was lightly wounded, close to moderately wounded. He couldn’t help but gulp at the Darkwing Dragon’s power. Even a light brush dealt so much damage.

As the eight flying mounts fought in the sky, the players below were watching with their mouths agape. Though Alliance of Mages’ side had the number advantage in the air, the strength of Asskickers United’s two flying mounts wasn’t the slightest bit inferior. The battle had entered a stalemate.

The other side’s teamwork was pretty good. Although both the Achlys Dragonfly and White Maned Griffon were Rank 3 flying mounts, one was specialized in close combat and the other was poisonous. So, both weren’t the slightest bit inferior to Rank 4 flying mounts. Their combat strength was fairly decent.

This was Nie Yan’s first time summoning the Darkwing Dragon into battle. He wasn’t used to aerial combat or familiar with its skills. He was hardly commanding the Darkwing Dragon to its full potential. Luckily, most of the Darkwing Dragon’s skills were passive which increased its close combat ability. Furthermore, since they were fighting in close combat, the combat style was fairly simple.

Ghostvale resolved not to fight head-to-head any longer. With him dodging everywhere, Nie Yan couldn’t do anything to him.

Nie Yan didn’t have any trouble. Natural Fiend, on the other hand, was slightly struggling. The Azure Winged Albatross was basically equally matched with the Blaze Hawk. With the Wind Serpent and Demonic Butterfly also ganging up on him, he was having a hard time holding out. If it weren’t for him pulling off some incredible evasive maneuvers, he would’ve long since been surrounded and killed.

Nie Yan understood Ghostvale’s plan. They planned to keep him distracted while the others focused on killing Natural Fiend’s Azure Winged Albatross. Then, they would finish off his Darkwing Dragon six versus one!

Nie Yan immediately began thinking of a countermeasure. Though the White Maned Griffon couldn’t match the Darkwing Dragon in power, its smaller size allowed it to dodge more easily.

The Darkwing Dragon was powerful, no doubt. The attacks from the enemy’s flying mounts barely tickled it. Meanwhile, a direct hit from it could deal moderate wounds or more to them. Its flying speed was much quicker too. However, it had one weakness, and that was its nimbleness in the air. After all, being too large was also a weakness.

Nie Yan had no way of changing the Darkwing Dragon’s weakness. So, it was up to him to compensate.

While Nie Yan was thinking, a shrill cry came from afar. The Azure Winged Albatross had suffered a direct hit to the abdomen and was falling fast. Natural Fiend was tightly holding it while directing it to flee east.

「Fiend, are you alright?」Nie Yan anxiously asked.

「Boss, I have to recover for a bit. My Azure Winged Albatross is moderately wounded,」Natural Fiend replied. Behind him were three flying mounts in hot pursuit. Due to its injuries, the Azure Winged Albatross’ flying speed took a bit of a hit.

If Nie Yan didn’t rescue Natural Fiend, he would be met with an even greater problem!

At this crucial moment, Nie Yan’s head flashed with a brilliant idea. I’ve got it!

Nie Yan thought of a method to deal with this situation. His lips curved into a cold smile. He would send all six enemy flying mounts to an early grave!!

Nie Yan suddenly turned around, having the Darkwing Dragon hurry to the Azure Winged Albatross’ side.

"Stop him! Don’t let him rescue the Azure Winged Albatross!” Ghostvale cried out in worry. He had his White Maned Griffon attempt to intercept the Darkwing Dragon.

Nie Yan suddenly had the Darkwing Dragon divebomb the White Maned Griffon. Seeing the Darkwing Dragon charging over, Ghostvale’s heart tightened. He instinctively had the White Maned Griffon ascend in an attempt to evade.

The two sides got closer and closer. In the blink of an eye, a 50-meter gap shrunk to 10. At this moment, Nie Yan shot out a web line at the White Mane Griffon, the sticky thread sticking on its back, before giving a hard tug.

Ghostvale’s back was facing Nie Yan. He had no idea what Nie Yan was doing.

Ghostvale’s five allies saw the line sticking to the White Maned Griffon’s Back. They heard alarm bells ring in their heads.

"What’s Nirvana Flame trying to do?”

"I don’t know!”

They wanted to warn Ghostvale, but it was already too late. At this moment, Nie Yan leaped from the Darkwing Dragon’s back, resembling an acrobat performing an extremely difficult maneuver, and rapidly drew close to the White Maned Griffon.

As the howling wind blew past his ears, Nie Yan’s eyes were solely focused on the White Maned Griffon at this moment.

Nie Yan understood that if he made the slightest mistake or the web line snapped, he would plunge from the sky and become a meal for the Achlys Dragonfly and Wind Serpent.

However, Nie Yan wasn’t the slightest bit afraid. No. More like he didn’t even know the meaning of fear!

Chapter 544 - Death From Above (2)

Chapter 544 - Death From Above (2)

Nie Yan drew closer and closer. Just as the White Maned Griffon was about to level off its ascent, he activated the Crawler Ring and threw himself forward. His five fingers transformed into suction pads, sticking onto the griffon’s back like a gecko.

The other riders gawked at this amazing feat, completely forgetting they were in a battle.

What kind of trickery was this!

From jumping off the Darkwing Dragon to landing on the White Maned Griffon’s back, all of this had happened in an instant.

"Ghostvale, watch out!”

"Ghostvale! Behind you!”

However, the warnings came too late.

Nie Yan would never give Ghostvale the opportunity to react!

Ghostvale could’ve never imagined Nie Yan would appear behind him!

This was something out of a fantasy!

However, Nie Yan had actually pulled it off!

Ghostvale was confused. He had clearly evaded the Darkwing Dragon. Why were the others telling him to be careful?

Nie Yan pounced toward Ghostvale, Zennarde’s Sword cleaving towards the Direwolf player’s back.

Ghostvale suddenly sensed something off behind him. As he glanced back, he was greeted by the searing black flames from Zennarde’s Sword. Both his hands were tightly clutching onto the White Maned Griffon. It was too late for him to grab his weapon, activate any skills, or evade!

The White Maned Griffon was still ascending in the air. If he let go of his hands, he would fall from the sky!

Shit, I’m done for. Ghostvale’s pupils contracted as his face paled with fright. If he died, the White Maned Griffon would likely die as well!

However, it was already too late.

Nie Yan’s blade cut deep into Ghostvale’s back, blood gushing out in the air. It was an instant kill! Ghostvale’s body went limp, falling off the White Maned Griffon's Back and spiralling down towards the ground.

"Skreeeeh!” The White Maned Griffon chased after Ghostvale’s falling corpse.

If the rider died, the flying mount would return to the player’s pet space in 20 seconds. Nie Yan naturally wouldn’t let the White Maned Griffon off lightly!

Nie Yan suddenly lunged forth and stabbed the White Maned Griffon in the head with Zennarde’s Sword.

As the White Maned Griffon let out a miserable screech while flailing wildly in the sky, a dark shadow loomed overhead. The Darkwing Dragon swooped down with its powerful claws and grabbed onto the White Maned Griffon’s head. With a watery pop, the griffon’s skull was crushed like a watermelon.

The Darkwing Dragon dug out a Life Core from the White Maned Griffon’s head, then swallowed it with one gulp. With Nie Yan falling to the ground, it didn’t stick around and quickly rushed over to pick up its rider.

The White Maned Griffon fell from the sky and crashed into the ground.

The entire course of events had only lasted 10 or so seconds. The Achlys Dragonfly and Wind Serpent didn’t even have a chance to come to Ghostvale’s aid.

Nie Yan swept his gaze over the two players riding on the Achlys Dragonfly and Wind Serpent.

Seeing Nie Yan’s cold gaze, they felt a cold chill run down their spines, as if they were being eyed by a demon.

After the White Maned Griffon was torn apart, the thick smell of blood diffused into the air.

Everything that happened just now seemed like a nightmare, taking root deep in their minds. They had the urge to turn around and flee for their lives.

As the players below fiercely clashed, Ghostvale’s body crashed to the ground followed shortly after by the White Maned Griffon, leaving a deep crater in the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust. The area they landed in reeked with the smell of blood.

The blood in the air slowly spread out. With a gaudy red colour, it resembled a blooming rose.

After the shower of blood subsided, the surroundings were enveloped with its stench.

Crazy Magic stared blankly at the sky. The White Maned Griffon was dead! Although there were still five flying mounts left, could it be that they were destined to fall here?

"The boss killed one of the enemy flying mounts! We can’t fall behind either! Kill!”

Asskickers United’s battle cries shook the air. It was almost as if Alliance of Mages’ forces were being swept up by a tsunami.

The Darkwing Dragon rushed to the Azure Winged Albatross. Nie Yan had to quickly rescue Natural Fiend! The Azure Winged Albatross was already heavily injured. It wouldn’t last for much longer.

Looking up ahead, the flame covered Blaze Hawk was in hot pursuit of the Azure Winged Albatross. The Demonic Butterfly and other Wind Serpent were also closing in, preparing to launch a pincer attack.

"Ghostvale died!”

"How could that happen?”

The Arcane Mage riding atop the Blaze Hawk shuddered. Thinking logically, as long as nothing unexpected happened, Ghostvale definitely wouldn’t have died so easily. The situation was already getting out of their control.

The Darkwing Dragon was quickly approaching them.

"Nirvana Flame is here!”

"Don’t panic! Kill the Azure Winged Albatross first!” the Arcane Mage shouted. However, at this moment, even his nerves were stretched taut. How could the others not be anxious!?

Seeing the Darkwing Dragon nearing ever closer, Natural Fiend resolved himself. When the enemy was hesitating on whether to retreat or attack, his lips curved into a smile. After being chased around for so long and taking so much abuse, he would finally get the opportunity to counter-attack!

Metastasis!

The Azure Winged Albatross’ feathers shone with a magnificent radiance, resembling a flower in full bloom. Its wounds started healing at a rate visible to the naked eye.

The Azure Winged Albatross was fairly weak, only a bit stronger than Rank 2 flying mounts. However, it had a special skill that allowed it to recover from heavy injuries, giving it powerful sustainability.

The Azure Winged Albatross’ skill left the Alliance of Mages players dumbfounded.

At this moment, Natural Fiend locked onto the player riding atop the Demonic Butterfly and cast Mind Shock.

The player on the Demonic Butterfly was charging towards Natural Fiend. Without the slightest warning, he was struck by a powerful mental attack, causing him to lose control of his body. However, the Demonic Butterfly was still following his previous orders and kept charging towards the Azure Winged Albatross.

The Azure Winged Albatross suddenly turned around and charged toward the Demonic Butterfly. The two beasts crashed into each other at full force and plummeted to the ground.

"I can’t tell who’s who! There’s no way to attack!” the player on the Winder Serpent cried out.

The Arcane Mage riding on the Blaze Hawk didn’t expect the situation to take such a turn. Like this, they had no way of killing the Azure Winged Albatross. He hoped the Demonic Butterfly would succeed in killing the Azure Winged Albatross. It should be possible since the Demonic Butterfly could utilize illusions!

At this moment, Nie Yan arrived on the scene. His Darkwing Dragon let out a roar and charged toward the Wind Serpent.

"Be careful!”

"Want to catch me? It won’t be that easy!” the rider of the Wind Serpent snorted. The Wind Serpent’s wings suddenly started beating extremely rapidly. Its speed doubled as it dodged out of the way.

"Grwaar!” the Darkwing Dragon chanted out in dragon tongue. A powerful draconic might swept forth. Dragon fear was the most effective skill against low rank creatures!

The Wind Serpent’s body was frozen midair. At this moment, the Darkwing Dragon blasted it with a mouthful of scorching hot Dragon Breath.

With a bang, the Wind Serpent was struck in the back and sent tumbling through the air.

The Darkwing Dragon closed in and went for the kill. Crushing the Wind Serpent’s skull, it dug out the Life Core and gulped it down.

Nie Yan was as fast as lightning. In such a short frame of time, he had killed another flying mount. The Darkwing Dragon’s strength was starting to exceed the enemy’s expectations. At this moment, the Arcane Mage riding on the Blaze Hawk panicked and turned around to flee. Nie Yan immediately had the Darkwing Dragon chase after him, quickly closing in.

Sensing the Darkwing Dragon getting ever closer, the Arcane Mage held on tight to his Blaze Hawk. He was preparing to execute a high difficulty maneuver in an effort to evade.

Like a hawk hunting a rabbit, the Darkwing Dragon swooped down.

Just when it looked like the Blaze Hawk was about to be killed, it suddenly did a barrel roll midair and dodged to the side.

"You want to run? Not that easy!” Nie Yan’s flashed with a cold light. As though his body were a spring, he activated the Leaper Ring and threw himself toward the Blaze Hawk.

The wind howled past his ears. It appeared as if his skinny body was about to be blown away.

Seeing Nie Yan pouncing towards him, the Arcane Mage’s heart leapt out in fright. Nirvana Flame was either extremely brave or foolhardy. He even dared to pull such a risky move. Was he not afraid of crashing into the ground and dying?

In an extremely tense situation like this, the thought that Nie Yan might have a Featherfall Jewel never occured to the Arcane Mage. The only thing on his mind was to make Nie Yan fall. If Nie Yan fell, he was done for!

Just as Nie Yan was about to land on the Blaze Hawk’s back, the Arcane Mage raised his staff and chanted out an incantation!

Repel!

A powerful force pushed Nie Yan away.

Nie Yan flew back. He was getting further and further from the Blaze Hawk as he rapidly fell to the ground.

"See you later, sucker!” the Arcane Mage laughed, sounding extremely pleased with himself.

However, Nie Yan’s next move caused him to swallow back his words. Before Nie Yan was pushed away, he had shot a web line at the Blaze Hawk’s back. As it stretched to its limit, it suddenly flung him back up.

"Die!” The Arcane Mage shot an Arcane Fireball at the web line, causing it to snap apart.

However, he was too slow. The effects of the Crawler Ring had yet to wear off. Both his hands grabbed onto the Blaze Hawk’s plumage. He pulled himself up and landed on the Blaze Hawk’s back.

Mind Shock!

The Arcane Mage pointed his staff at Nie Yan. A powerful mental attack swept toward him.

Nie Yan was about to be hit, when he activated Mind Immune and pounced toward the Arcane Mage.

Miss!

Mind Shock was ineffective! The Arcane Mage was dumbstruck. In the next moment, Nie Yan’s blade cleaved toward his chest like a bolt of lightning. His pupils contracted violently.

"Fuck!” the Arcane Mage couldn’t help but curse. The Blaze Hawk’s back was too small. He had nowhere to dodge!

Chapter 545 - Hunted

Arcanic Shield!

The Arcane Mage quickly shielded himself as a dark barrier enveloped him. This was the most powerful defensive spell available in his arsenal. Besides shielding him from a large amount of damage, it also granted him immunity to all crowd control effects. He believed it would have no issue holding out for a few seconds, buying him enough time to rescue himself.

However, reality proved to be a cruel mistress.

As Zennarde’s Blade fell, the Arcanic Shield instantly shattered into pieces, with the Arcane Mage’s health suffering the same fate.

It was an instant kill!

Even in death, the Arcane Mage’s expression was one of complete disbelief.

Out of the many battles he’d been through, this was the first time a Thief actually managed to kill him even with Arcanic Shield up! Nirvana Flame was simply too inhuman!

His eyes gradually lost their light. Even though he felt unwilling, he could only resign himself to his fate in the end.

After killing the Arcane Mage, Nie Yan plunged Zennarde’s Sword into the Blaze Hawk’s skull.

"Skreeeh!” the Blaze Hawk cried out miserably as it was swiftly dispatched by the Darkwing Dragon.

After eating the Blaze Hawk’s Life Core, Nie Yan sensed the Darkwing Dragon changing in various ways. Its black scales turned into a shade of dark violet and grew even more translucent. It was almost as if a layer of glaze had been applied, giving it a sleek and glossy look.

The Darkwing Dragon also grew stronger on top of its defenses getting tougher.

Though still a far ways off from ranking up, the Darkwing Dragon’s growth was definitely noticeable.

Gazing at the landscape below from atop the Darkwing Dragon’s head, Nie Yan felt like a god overlooking the world.

At this moment, Natural Fiend had just finished up the battle on his side. Battered and bruised, the Azure Winged Albatross was covered in blood. Whether this blood was its own or the Demonic Butterfly’s, no one knew. In any case, it had clearly come out on top, with the Demonic Butterfly’s corpse lying on the ground.

"Boss, I got a Life Core!” Natural Fiend breathed out a sigh of relief. He looked worse for wear. One tiny mistake, and it would’ve been him and the Azure Winged Albatross on the ground, not the enemy.

Clutched tightly in the Azure Winged Albatross’ claws was a blood red Life Core which emitted a dim glow.

Of the six flying mounts belonging to Alliance of Mages’ side, four had died. These were the results of the first aerial battle in Conviction.

Nie Yan’s Darkwing Dragon and Natural Fiend’s Azure Winged Albatross would leave an everlasting mark in the annals of Conviction’s history. In a two versus six engagement, they had killed four and routed two. Such an achievement was extremely impressive.

Nie Yan had the Darkwing Dragon ascend higher into the sky. Looking back down, he discovered the battle below had also concluded.

「How’d you guys fare on ground level?」Nie Yan asked. As he scanned the battlefield, he saw the ground littered with corpses, most of which belonged to Alliance of Mages while only a few belonged to Asskickers United.

「So far, we’ve killed 2,560 enemies, with Crazy Magic leading the remainder away from the battlefield. Those bastards flee pretty quickly. As for the casualties on our side, we’ve lost about 370 people,」Bladelight replied with a faint smile. This was their cleanest battle yet, having preserved much of their strength. The opponent was the elites of Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, Direwolf, Bloodfiends, and other large gaming organizations. Logically speaking, the two sides should be roughly equal. However, they had come out of the battle with far better results than expected.

「Thankfully, we whittled away quite a bit of their forces beforehand. Then when the Sea of Fire and Ice Spike Traps took out a large portion of their backline, their ranks completely collapsed. It was impossible for them to reorganize for a counterattack, especially with us pursuing them so relentlessly!」Smoke Stub chimed in. Near the end, it was mostly just them chasing the routed enemy, killing them one after another. None of Alliance of Mages’ forces dared to stand their ground and fight. Any of the stragglers were immediately killed. At that time, the players of Alliance of Mages deeply regretted the fact that they weren't born with an extra pair of legs.

Even though Crazy Magic and the rest fled, their fates were already sealed. Losing five levels was unavoidable. As long as Asskickers United’s forces occupied ten castles for one hour, Alliance of Mages would be defeated. It didn’t matter if they hid until the very end.

The next step was for Asskickers United to hunt down the remaining forces of Alliance of Mages. Nie Yan took to the skies on his Darkwing Dragon. If he encountered any survivors, he would immediately have the Darkwing Dragon dive bomb them. Bladelight, Xie Yao, Tang Yao, and the others split into 11 teams and were tasked with leading them. It was a race to round up and surround the remnant forces of Alliance of Mages.

Alliance of Mages had long since been utterly defeated. Their remaining forces had scattered and were fleeing for their lives. They could only try their best to stay out of sight, hiding in some obscure corner without a single thought of leaving. It was impossible for Crazy Magic to get these people to regroup. Now, he himself had also become a stray dog. Even after fleeing for more than several thousand meters, he still didn’t dare to stop and rest, not with Sun pursuing him like a vengeful spirit.

Crazy Magic had no teammates by his side. He was stuck wandering alone in the forest.

"God damn Asskickers United!” Crazy Magic cursed. He raised his staff and shot out a fireball in a fit of rage.

With a bang, the fireball caused a tree to collapse.

He wanted to vent his anger. Regarding Alliance of Mages’ future, he was also at a loss. At this moment, Asskickers United’s catapults, along with their army, were marching towards Moonlight City. They had already suffered heavy losses in the Realm of Death. Now they were going to lose five strongholds, possibly even more on top of that? Like this, Asskickers United could set up a base in Moonlight City, able to attack or retreat whenever they please.

The terms of the agreement made Crazy Magic want to kill someone. Ceding five strongholds and not being able to take them back for at least a month. During this time, Asskickers United could take advantage of these five strongholds to do many things! Asskickers United could lay siege Alliance of Mages’ main stronghold without worry!

At this moment, the calmness of the forest caused a strange eerie feeling to overtake him.

He quickly switched out his high quality set of equipment with a garbage set. A second later, a dagger appeared in front of his throat.

The end was finally here. Crazy Magic closed his eyes.

With a pshh sound, blood flew everywhere.

Seeing Crazy Magic’s corpse on the ground, Sun had a look of doubt on his face. He thought Crazy Magic would duke it out with him to the death. He didn’t expect Crazy Magic to just give up.

Crazy Magic understood that it was futile no matter how much he struggled. It would be better for him to quickly die and rush back to Moonlight City. With Asskickers United making such large movements, Moonlight City’s fall was a foregone conclusion if he wasn’t there.

Crazy Magic had given up. Only around 60 players still remained, all of them belonging to Direwolf and Bloodfiends. They relied on guerilla tactics to fend off Asskickers United. Even though they understood defeat was inevitable, they felt it was better to fight until the bitter end than simply resigning themselves to fate. They could also recoup some of their losses by collecting the equipment of any Asskickers United players they killed.

Several dozen Asskickers United players had been killed by group. Their losses also weren’t small.

King of the World stealthily travelled through the forest. He spotted a eight players in the distance. Leading the group were Direwolf’s Krow and Raven.

"Crazy Magic gave up,” Raven said after looking at his notifications.

"That son of a bitch. We got screwed over by him. We can’t even run away in this damned place,” Krow cursed. His shaky Chinese was laced with a few English profanities.

"Let’s just try to make the best out of this situation. I think we’ll have no issue finding more Asski- Hmm..?” Raven said, gazing at some distant trees.

「What’s up?」Krow asked in private chat, noticing Raven’s peculiar expression.

「We’re being followed. It’s a Thief!」Raven said. Even though the other side was extremely well-hidden, he had still sensed them.

Raven had a habit of leaving sensor sigils wherever he passed. By leaving these sensor sigils on trees, he could sense whether or not they were being followed.

Thus, King of the World’s position was exposed. Raven knew his whereabouts. However, capturing him still posed a certain degree of difficulty.

With the expressions of Raven, Krow, and the rest remaining the same as they continued advancing forward, the two Thieves in their group gradually entered stealth.

Seeing the two Thieves in the group disappear into stealth, King of the World furrowed his brows. He sensed something off and wondered if he should keep tailing them.

As the Direwolf players proceeded further and further, King of the World hesitated for a moment before ultimately deciding to continue following them.

「Nie Yan, I’m currently tailing some players from Direwolf.」

「Follow them closely. I’ll be there with others in a few minutes,」Nie Yan said. He was currently having the Darkwing Dragon slaughter one Alliance of Mages player after another.

While King of the World was reporting to Nie Yan, specks of dust suddenly filled the air around him . King of the World’s heart tightened. It was Disillusioning Powder! Nie Yan had shown him this item once before. But it was too expensive to be used. Nevertheless, he was very familiar with its effects!

The specks of dust stuck to King of the World’s body. Gradually, his figure was revealed.

King of the World was completely exposed!

Just as King of the World wanted to flee, two Thieves appeared out of nowhere and pounced on him for a pincer attack!

"Let’s see where you can run!” one of the Direwolf Thieves chuckled sinisterly.

Not good! King of the World’s heart sank. Two sharp daggers stabbed towards him, flickering with a chilling light that seemed beckon the reaper.

Chapter 546 - Surrounded

King of the World’s lips curved into a bloodthirsty smile as a devilish killing intent stirred in his heart.

A woman’s intuition was never wrong. Xie Yao was right to say King of the World was a dangerous individual.

After fighting in war zones for so long, King of the World’s killing intent was quite potent. At this moment, he wasn’t concealing it in the slightest.

Even in the face of death, King of the World could maintain absolute calm. Compared to braving through hails of bullets, this kind of situation was trivial.

The instant the two Thieves came close, King of the World determined their positions and plan of attack. As he lightly leaned to the side, one dagger stabbed past his ear while another brushed past his cheek.

King of the World could feel the sharpness of the daggers’ blades.

This exquisite skill was something King of the World had developed during his time as a mercenary, after countless brushes with death. From the eyes of an ordinary person, such movements seemed impossible.

The ambush failed!

The two Direwolf Thieves were dazed. Escaping the pincer, King of the World circled behind as his dagger pierced through one of their throats at a seemingly impossible angle. It was a reverse grip Smothering Strike.

Both sides were top experts. This exchange ended in the blink of an eye.

Every skill had a particular set of movements, including Smothering Strike.

Logically speaking, executing a Smothering Strike in such an awkward angle was impossible. However, King of the World had succeeded! The Direwolf Thief was stunned.

This was a special trick King of the World had mastered after practicing Smothering Strike non-stop. Even players like Sun and One Strike Vow would fall victim to this move without prior knowledge.

King of the World was quite familiar with a certain principle. A move that existed outside common perception was the most likely to succeed. Even if the opponent was a peak expert, the result would still be the same!

The slightest mistake and the Smothering Strike would’ve failed. King of the World was precisely challenging the boundaries of the system.

King of the World immediately followed up with a Reverse Grip Backstab and Lacerate before disappearing with Gale Step.

The Direwolf Thief collapsed to the ground as his health bar bottomed out.

Seeing his companion’s corpse lying on the ground, the other Thief was slightly trembling while tightly holding onto his dagger. Looking around him, King of the World was nowhere to be found. However, he didn’t dare to relax his guard.

"Old Seven, what happened.” Raven and the others rushed over. Their expressions morphed into ones of shock as soon as they laid their sights on their fallen comrade.

"We failed our pincer attack, and Old Eight got killed.” Old Seven bitterly smiled.

This information greatly unsettled Raven and the rest of the group. Others might not have known who Old Seven and Old Eight were, but they did. During Dark Hero’s prime, Invincible and the several hundred top experts under him had swept through virtual reality game after virtual reality game without ever once being defeated. Old Seven and Old Eight were core members of the group. Exclusively playing the Thief class, they both earned the titles of Thief God along the way. Shadow Killer, Nirvana Flame, Sun, and the others had all risen to fame later. Old Seven and Old Eight were only slightly inferior to them.

"Was it Nirvana Flame?” Raven asked, believing Nie Yan was the only one who could achieve this kind of feat.

"No, it was a Thief called King of the World.”

"King of the World?” Raven was dumbfounded before recalling such a person. King of the World was originally an obscure character. During the conflict between Bloodlust Blades and Asskickers United, though, he achieved great fame by successfully ambushing more than a thousand Bloodlust Blades players. Afterwards, he vanished without a trace. Who would’ve thought he had joined Asskickers United?

One Nirvana Flame was already bad enough. After that Sun appeared. Now a King of the World had popped up too? Asskickers United’s Thieves truly left other guilds speechless.

"A single lousy Thief left you two in such a sorry state. And you call yourselves Thief Gods,” Krow remarked.

After hearing these words, Old Seven cast an angry glare at Krow.

Raven glanced at Krow, then said, "If you think you’re up to the task, when we get back, how about you face off against Old Seven and Old Eight and see if you can win so easily.”

Krow thought for a moment before letting out a cold snort.

"Let’s get out of here. Nirvana Flame can’t be too far behind,,” Old Seven urged.

After killing Old Eight, King of the World had never left. He was still closely watching these players.

Nie Yan had finally finished up things on his end.

「Is everyone finished? We’re about to pay those Direwolf players a visit/back with interest. Who wants in!?」Nie Yan asked.

「Me!」Tang Yao was the first to reply.

「Me too!」

….

Bladelight, Xie Yao, and the others also replied.

Of the 12 Hyperlink Rings, King of the World had one in his possession. All the others who had one would be participating too.

「Everyone, split up into 10 teams. Occupy the castles and end the battle!」Nie Yan issued his order in the guild chat. Paladin of the Elegy carried out his orders.

After leaving the rest to Paladin of the Elegy, Nie Yan recalled his Darkwing Dragon, then activated his Hyperlink Ring.

At this moment, deep within a secluded spot in the forest, rays of light flashed as Nie Yan and the others materialized around King of the World.

All 12 players were present. With this kind of lineup, anything could be accomplished!

"Where are the Direwolf players?” Nie Yan asked.

"Over to the east. We can catch up to them in about two minutes,” King of the World replied.

"Alright. Let’s set out.” Nie Yan and the others went into pursuit of the fleeing Direwolf players.

Raven and the others were travelling through the forest. Almost all of Alliance of Mages’ forces had been wiped out. The surviving few players didn’t dare to come out. When asking a question in the voice chat, no one would reply. In a map without coordinates, they were basically headless flies. They could only continue wandering aimlessly.

"The boss passed down his order. He wants us to keep Asskickers United in this map as long as possible. He’s going to take action,” Raven said. He had just received word from Cao Xu.

In the Century Financial Group’s eyes, Asskickers United’s growth until now had been tolerable. However, with these recent events, Asskickers United was clearly starting to encroach on their bottom line. If they didn’t take immediate action, Asskickers United stood to become a major threat in the future.

The Century Financial Group was planning to teach Asskickers United a lesson. Strength alone wasn’t enough for a guild to establish a foothold in a game.

"It’s impossible for our small group to stop Asskickers United from occupying all ten castles,” one of the Direwolf players said.

"Dividing their remaining forces into ten castles, that’s about 200 players each. It’s not too bad. Come on, let’s do what we can. Try not to get caught by Nirvana Flame,” Raven sighed. It was already impossible to turn things around.

While they were chatting, a rustling sound came from the forest around them. One player after another dashed out of the trees, appearing in front of them.

Seeing Nie Yan in the distance, Raven’s heart dropped into his stomach like a sinking anchor. "It’s Nirvana Flame. We’ve been surrounded!”

They didn’t expect to be surrounded by Asskickers United’s forces so quickly. What kind of speed was this!?

Nie Yan surveyed the battlefield. The enemy had seven while he had twelve. Asskickers United had a clear numbers advatage. As for how powerful these Direwolf players were, no one really knew. However, the number of people that could match their group in the entire Viridian Empire could be counted on one’s fingers.

Krow raised his golden greatsword. Even someone as arrogant as him recognized that the players before him weren’t to be looked down upon. He focused his attention.

"Nirvana Flame, I didn’t expect we’d still meet in the end,” Raven greeted in a calm manner.

"Mage God Raven, a famed player in five different virtual reality games, and twice voted as the strongest Mage. I also didn’t expect to meet such a legendary figure here,” Nie Yan said. He gazed at the group of Direwolf players. Every single one of them were once world-shaking characters. After gaining fame and recognition they suddenly disappeared without a trace. Who would’ve thought they joined the Century Financial Group.

Aside from Raven and Krow, three of the Five Great Experts of the Dark Hero guild were also in Direwolf. There were also several whose videos Nie Yan had watched before. All of them were famous experts. He had seen information about these people before in other games. The depth of the Century Financial Group’s influence was truly unfathomable.

"Each person has their own allegiances. Any more words are meaningless!” Raven said. He raised his staff, the sapphire at the tip shining with a dazzling radiance.

The other Direwolf players also prepared for battle.

"My target is Nirvana Flame! No one interfere!” Krow shouted.

"Let’s end this in three minutes. We’ve still got another battle to fight outside. No time to dawdle,” Smoke Stub said, a look of disdain on his face as he gazed at the blonde haired Krow. A monkey like him dared to challenge Nirvana Flame! He was truly overestimating himself! He wasn’t qualified!

Nie Yan and the others closed in. About 50 meters separated the two groups. The smell of gunpowder was in the air. A battle could break out at any moment!

Smoke Stub’s words had infuriated the Direwolf players. No matter where they went, everyone would shudder at the mention of Direwolf. Smoke Stub was too arrogant!

Chapter 547 - Defeat of Alliance of Mages

The westerner Krow became restless and was the first to take action.

"Nirvana Flame, fight me!” Krow shouted as he activated Charge. Clad in his golden armour, he resembled a tank as he crushed everything in his path. His arrogance soared beyond the heavens. He had never put Nie Yan in his eyes.

"War God’s Rage!” Smoke Stub’s muscles swelled with power as he rushed forward to intercept Krow.

War God’s Rage was a step above Barbarian Strength. After activating it, Smoke Stub’s veins swelled. He brimmed with a destructive power that couldn’t be contained.

"Punk! You think you can challenge Nirvana Flame? You’re not qualified! Get past me first!” Smoke Stub roared.「Klang!」As the two Warriors clashed, Krow was forced several steps back.

Krow’s expression turned ugly. Smoke Stub’s overwhelming might left him with no choice but to pay attention. He didn’t dare to drop his guard in the slightest.

In the instant Krow took action, Raven and the others also stepped forward, each finding a respective opponent.

Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and the other Mages raised their staffs, firing a barrage of spells at Raven’s group.

On top of this being a 12 versus seven, Asskickers United’s side also had the equipment advantage. Direwolf’s players didn’t stand the slightest chance. Their resistance was only delaying the inevitable.

This was the most difficult battle Raven and the others had experienced since entering Conviction. As elites of Direwolf, each with their own pride, they had at least some confidence in victory. Thinking back to that now, they realized the absurdity of this conjecture. It was laughable!

Nie Yan, King of the World, Painted Muslin, and the others remained off to the side without taking action, conveying that ganging up on the enemy would be beneath them. Smoke Stub, Tang Yao, and the others were enough to deal with these Direwolf players.

Tang Yao raised his staff, firing spells out like a gatling gun. His attack speed was frightening, and the gap between spells was extremely short. Furthermore, his mana bar never seemed to fall. The Arcane Fairy constantly buffed him, so he was free to use high damage and high mana consumption spells without worry. His firepower was unmatched.

A Direwolf Warrior took the brunt of Tang Yao’s attack. As his health rapidly fell, he quickly drank a Health Potion. Behind him was also a Priest healing him non-stop. However, he still failed to hold out in the end and was sent flying. Tang Yao’s damage was too high. Even with the support of a healer it wasn’t enough!

This was a Warrior with 6,000 defense and 8,000 health! Even with the support of a healer, he still couldn’t endure. Tang Yao was too overpowered!

Raven’s expression distorted. Both he and Tang Yao were Arcane Mages. However, the difference between them was like heaven and earth.

The fact that Young Sparrow Hawk had stayed at the top of the level leaderboards all this time without ever once falling wasn’t without reason.

Raven’s opponent was Xie Yao. After being part of Direwolf for so long, this was the first time he had met his match. Furthermore, his opponent was a girl. This was something he had a hard time accepting.

With this exchange, the difference between the two sides was clear as day. After encountering Asskickers United’s top elites, the insufferably haughty players of Direwolf became soft eggs.

Smoke Stub, Tang Yao, and the others were completely dominating the Direwolf players. Even in a one versus one situation they weren’t a match. To top it off, Nie Yan hadn’t even taken action!

Raven was dejected. Perhaps Nie Yan felt it was beneath him to fight with them!

Watching their videos, Raven and the others only had a rough idea of Asskickers United’s strength. Only after meeting them face to face did Raven and the others experience the heavy pressure which left them with no room for a comeback.

A single person, no matter how talented, would find it extremely difficult to reach the level of these players from Asskickers United, let alone create such a shocking lineup. Just how did Nie Yan accomplish this?

Nie Yan was different from others. He was a reincarnator. Before Bladelight and the others had revealed their talents to the world, he had already gathered them together, allowing these experts to learn from each other as well as imparting his 10 years of game experience to them. Their progress was definitely outside the perception of normal players.

Smoke Stub’s previous words weren’t spoken from arrogance, but rather from his absolute confidence in Asskickers United!

With a thud, another Direwolf player collapsed to the ground. They couldn’t understand for the life of them how they were getting crushed so badly.

Krow and Smoke Stub had exchanged several dozen blows by now. Both were powerful Warriors. Even though Krow was a famous talent, his skills were a notch below Smoke Stub’s. One could clearly see the difference. In terms of equipment, however, Krow was far inferior. Smoke Stub’s equipment was handpicked by Nie Yan, sporting a full set of twinked Level 100 gear. Krow’s equipment was roughly on par with Smoke Stub’s previous set. However, Smoke Stub’s old set had long since been gifted to Cold Peak Absolute Sword.

Krow was getting thrashed left and right. He didn’t expect Smoke Stub to be so domineering, appearing far stronger than in the videos.

During this one month’s time, Smoke Stub and the others had continuously improved their skills. Meanwhile, the legends of Krow, Raven, and the other Direwolf players were fading into history.

Krow’s face flushed with anger. Each of Smoke Stub’s blows seemed to carry the weight of Mt. Tai. He couldn’t even breathe under this pressure!

Krow felt unwilling. Was he really going to lose to Smoke Stub and the others like this? Were his past glory and achievements going to vanish like a puff of smoke, washed away in the river of time?

Krow roared out in anger. He leaped into the air, his greatsword igniting with raging flames as he slashed down at Smoke Stub.

"Impudent!” Smoke Stub snorted. Blocking the Flame Slash, Smoke Stub went for an elbow strike. The thick elbow pad of his armour was ruthlessly planted into Krow’s stomach. Krow immediately curled up like a cooked shrimp as the sharp pain caused him to lose all control of his body.

「Klang!」With a Seismic Slam, Krow was sent flying. Smoke Stub immediately rushed forward and dealt the finishing blow, draining Krow of his remaining health.

When Raven looked back, he saw the corpses of Krow and his five other Direwolf companions lying on the ground. He was the only one left alive. He couldn’t help but despair.

Nie Yan gazed at Raven. "Pass this message onto your boss. Alliance of Mages is finished. Next up will be Divine Protectors. Tell him to quickly scram out of the Viridian Empire, or risk getting none of his investment back. Of course, if the Century Financial Group thinks they have all the money in the world to waste…”

Hearing Nie Yan’s words, Raven didn’t have any opportunity to reply before Xie Yao’s spell sent him flying.

Glancing at the corpses on the ground, Nie Yan faintly smiled. "Seems like we’ve cleared out the area here. Collect the equipment. We’re leaving.”

Before long, the results of the battle in the Realm of Death became known to the public. No videos of the battles were leaked out, with both Alliance of Mages and Asskickers United staying radio silent. However, the statistics of the battle were still announced. All 3,000 players on Alliance of Mages’ side had been wiped out while Asskickers United had only lost 392 players.

Without a doubt, Asskickers United had achieved victory. However, when players saw these casualty numbers, they were absolutely dumbstruck. What was going on? How did Asskickers United only lose 392 people? This was unbelievable!

Since Alliance of Mages had hired a large number of experts, common opinion was that the two sides were roughly on par, with Alliance of Mages maybe holding a slight advantage. Even if they lost in the end, how could they have lost so badly? Losing 3,000 players while not even being able to kill 400 from Asskickers United, this was too shocking!

All the players in the Viridian Empire were fervently discussing the outcome of the battle. Eventually, some information leaked. With so many different organizations participating on the side of Alliance of Mages, it was only a matter of time. A video website paid big bucks to obtain footage of the battle. After watching the video, everyone finally understood what had happened.

Regarding Asskickers United’s tactics, all players were dumbfounded. Some players were saying Nirvana Flame was despicable resorting to such dirty tricks. They said that even though Asskickers United defeated Alliance of Mages, the victory didn’t count. Others were on Asskickers United’s side. If winning like this wasn’t honorable, was needlessly sending your own people to their deaths honorable?

The victor was king and the loser a bandit. Alliance of Mages had lost, losing so badly there was nothing left to say!

No matter what people on the outside thought or said, Asskickers United’s players were extremely grateful. Nie Yan’s benevolence was deeply engraved in their hearts. He would never send his players to their deaths needlessly. In this battle in the Realm of Death, even though he was the one to propose the challenge, he had done his best to prevent losses on their side. Having this kind of guild leader was definitely a blessing.

Before this matter settled down, another explosive piece of news began making the rounds. Asskickers United’s troops had left Calore’s borders and were advancing towards Moonlight City. Was Asskickers United planning to lay siege to Moonlight City?

Moonlight City was in a state of panic.

Nie Yan claimed his reward, selecting five strongholds belonging to Alliance of Mages. These five strongholds formed an enclosure around Alliance of Mages’ main stronghold, the Edgarton Stronghold.

Even though Crazy Magic was unwilling, under the system’s enforcement, he could only reluctantly fulfil his end of the bet, handing over the five strongholds.

These five strongholds would become a springboard for Asskickers United to attack Alliance of Mages. War was unavoidable!

Alliance of Mages was restricted from attacking these five strongholds for one month. Under these circumstances, could the Edgarton Stronghold hold out?

Chapter 548 - The War Begins

Not long after Alliance of Mages’ forces withdrew from the five strongholds, close to 150,000 players from the five branch guilds under Asskickers United garissoned them. They were responsible for the defense of the strongholds until Asskickers United’s main army arrived.

According to the bet, Alliance of Mages wasn’t allowed to attack these strongholds for a month. However, this didn’t apply to Divine Protectors!

Close to 200,000 players from Divine Protectors were rushing over to Moonlight City.

As the old proverb goes, without the lips, the teeth will feel cold. Though Holy Flame and Crazy Magic appeared friendly on the surface, the two were fierce competitors, never willing to bow to the other. However, Holy Flame understood that if Alliance of Mages collapsed, Divine Protectors would be next. When Crazy Magic sought him out for help, even though he didn’t want to get involved with this mess, he still decided to lend his aid, dispatching 200,000 players.

After operating in Moonlight City for so long, Alliance of Mages had established more than a dozen branch guilds, making up nearly 600,000 players. Combined with the 200,000 from Divine Protectors, that was a total of 800,000 players.

With such a large defending army, Moonlight City was practically impenetrable. It wasn’t going to be easy for Nie Yan to conquer. Even though Alliance of Mage’s top elites were far below Asskickers United’s, their guild was more than several times larger. Furthermore, Moonlight City was Alliance of Mages’ home turf. Asskickers United was the invader. No matter how prestigious their reputation was, they would inevitably invite the scorn of the local players.

Even a powerful dragon can’t suppress a local snake!

Asskickers United’s only advantage was their 15 Armoured Ice Catapults. Meanwhile, Alliance of Mages only had 5 catapults altogether.

Previously, Bloodthirst Blades had nearly brought Asskickers United to their knees with just three catapults. It was easy to imagine what could be achieved with 15 Armoured Ice Catapults. In terms of military might, Asskickers United was far stronger than Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors.

Asskickers United’s main army was still advancing towards Moonlight City. After collecting his spoils from winning the bet against Alliance of Mages, Nie Yan immediately got to work, relocating all of the guild’s Engineers, Enchanters, and other artisans to the five strongholds and having them working around the clock building catapults. Besides this, another powerful war engine, one specialized for sieging strongholds, was being built—a trebuchet!

The maximum range of trebuchets was 1,500 meters, far above that of catapults. They also dealt additional damage to fortified walls, making them extremely effective for sieges.

Apart from Asskickers United’s main army, Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, Radiant Sacred Flame, and the others had also dispatched their own armies over to provide support. Nie Yan added all the forces up together. His total army size was over 300,000 strong. These players were on average stronger than those from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were only so big because their recruitment requirements were much more lax compared to Asskickers United and the other guilds.

Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had attempted to intercept Asskickers United’s forces mid-journey several times, only to be repelled by the Armoured Ice Catapults time and time again.

The frightening destructive might of the Armoured Ice Catapults was engraved deeply into the hearts of the players from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors.

Every shell launched from an Armoured Ice Catapult left all players in a 50-meter radius frozen solid. If their ice resistance wasn’t high enough, they would shatter into pieces. The Armoured Ice Catapults could launch five shells at once. As soon as the shells fell, corpses would litter the ground.

After failing several times, Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had no choice but to give up. They could only watch on helplessly as these Armoured Ice Catapults slowly advanced toward Moonlight City. They were already prepared for a long and grueling siege defense.

Asskickers United’s influence had already long since eclipsed Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. The majority of the discussions on the forums were also in favour of Asskickers United.

When Asskickers United’s catapults arrived in Moonlight City in another two or three days, that would be the beginning of Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors’ nightmare!

During this time, Asskickers United had sold roughly half their gems and obtained close to 15,000,000 gold, of which Nie Yan had spent 5,000,000 gold on the battle in the Realm of Death, purchasing land in the Hilton Stronghold, and so on. With the 10,000,000 gold left over, he set aside half as war funds against Alliance of Mages. The other half was used in various investments. Asskickers United definitely had the resources to survive a long and drawn-out war.

Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors could probably count on the Century Financial Group to receive some funding. Add this with them also acquiring gems on the back of Nie Yan’s plan previously, and they had also earned quite a bit of money. Divine Protectors could probably take out 2,000,000 gold. As for Alliance of Mages, they were in much more dire straits because they had spent nearly 3,000,000 gold on the battle in the Realm of Death. Practically penniless, they could only rely on the Century FInancial Group's financial aid.

During this time, the number of Asskickers United players operating in Moonlight City increased noticeably. They were like natives of the city, walking around the large streets and shops. From time to time, arguments broke out between them and Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors players in the various levelling spots outside the city, leading to small skirmishes. Moonlight City’s tranquility was broken. Many ordinary players were also dragged into the conflict. Even though they were extremely dissatisfied, they understood that there was no way to stop this final showdown between these two major powers.

The players from Asskickers United frequently suffered lossess in the beginning due to there being less of them. However, later on, with more Asskickers United players arriving in Moonlight City, the more they fought, the braver they became, until eventually they started slaughtering Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors players everywhere.

Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were being suppressed to the extent of being unable to breathe. They could only pull back their troops, adopting a defensive posture and having their players avoid conflict with Asskickers United as much as possible. As soon as this order was given out, Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors’ morale took a noticeable hit.

Nie Yan collected information from everywhere as he directed the army. In order to prevent any mishaps, he couldn’t leave. He could only occasionally sneak out for a moment to grind a few mobs. He received a report that the Satreen Empire was embroiled in war. Angel Corps was in no position to provide Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors any help. This was a great piece of news for Asskickers United.

There was another matter that left Nie Yan feeling a bit uneasy. It was the fact that Angel Corps was the first guild to explore the Griffon Woodlands. Their harvests were quite ample, having obtained a total of seven Wind Serpents. Wind Serpents were the lowest ranked creatures in the Griffon Woodlands and were the prey of griffons. However, they were still amazing creatures at this stage of the game.

According to the report from Guo Huai, Angel Corps had at least 12 flying mounts, and that number was still rapidly growing. Nie Yan’s Darkwing Dragon might be powerful, but it could only do so much alone. It would be troublesome if Angel Corps seized superiority in the skies.

Nie Yan had no choice but to account for the possibility that Angel Corps might send over flying mounts to assist Alliance of Mages.

Fortunately, Nie Yan had previously dispatched people to acquire all the Dispel Fog Scrolls. Otherwise, if Angel Corps got their hands on them, their harvest would be even greater.

Nie Yan had Bladelight and the others form a 3,000-man expedition team. It was pretty much the same lineup that participated in the battle in the Realm of Death. Bringing some Dispel Fog Scrolls, they set off for Griffon Woodlands. He hoped they would have a good harvest and obtain a few flying mounts. Like this, Asskickers United’s aerial strength wouldn’t fall too far behind Angel Corps’.

With the Dispel Fog Scrolls, Bladelight and the others would definitely fare much better than Angel Corps.

At this moment when Asskickers United and Alliance of Mages were anxiously preparing for war, a special guest appeared in Moonlight City’s Colifis Central Cathedral. He was a middle-aged man in cloth robes. He hardly attracted anyone’s attention, only occasionally revealing the disposition of a prominent figure and causing ordinary players to raise their eyebrows in shock.

No one would ever think that he was the tycoon that steered the Century FInancial Group through various virtual reality games, Cao Xu!

As soon as the name Cao Xu was spoken, several descriptors would pop up in a person mind: top dog, the dark hand behind countless guilds, the overlord of virtual reality games. A single word from him could influence the entire power balance of a virtual reality game. This kind of description wasn’t at all exaggerated.

He entered the Colifis Central Cathedral’s conference hall. Many people were already gathered inside, including the guild leaders of Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors, Raven, Krow, and other experts and guild leaders from the Viridian and Satreen Empires.

The entire conference hall contained 300 people. It was quite noisy. However, once Cao Xu stepped through the door, everyone settled down. Raven walked up to Cao Xu’s side. Carefully paying attention to Cao Xu’s expression, he relayed Nie Yan’s previous words.

"Boss, Nirvana Flame is clearly provoking you!” Raven said in indigination.

As expected, after Raven passed on the message, Cao Xu turned furious. "Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame, he really is worthy of his nickname. His arrogance knows no bounds. He really believes I can’t do anything to Asskickers United?” In terms of leading a guild, he might not be Nie Yan’s match. However, in terms of managing capital, Nie Yan was nothing more than a pup. Even if the Century Financial Group was defeated, Asskickers United would be forced to pay a heavy price. He would make Nie Yan regret his words!

Cao Xu didn’t spill more on the matter to Raven. The Direwolf players couldn’t tell what their boss was thinking.

Crazy Magic and Divine Flame also walked up to greet Cao Xu.

"Boss!” the two spoke in a respectful tone.

Cao Xu acknowledged them with a slight nod.

A meeting concerning the showdown between Asskickers United and Alliance of Mages began in this conference hall.

Chapter 549 - Doppelganger Necklace

Only an hour after the meeting finished did Nie Yan receive word from Guo Huai that Cao Xu had come to Moonlight City. The Century Financial Group had granted Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors more than 5,000,000 gold in war funds, split into three separate deposits. Nie Yan couldn’t help but sigh. The Century Financial really lived up to their reputation, putting forth such a large sum right off the bat. It appeared he still underestimated their financial resources.

Many of the Century Financial Group’s investments were hidden from the public. Perhaps the only person who knew how many shops and properties the Century Financial Group owned in the Viridian and Satreen Empires was Cao Xu himself.

Apart from this information, Guo Huai also found out that about a hundred of Cao Xu’s confidantes had secretly infiltrated Calore. Though what they were planning to do remained a mystery.

A trace of unease sprouted in Nie Yan’s heart. He immediately ordered Guo Huai to find out the aim of Cao Xu’s confidantes!

Calore was Asskickers United’s base of operations. It couldn’t be allowed to fall!

Nie Yan also received word that Shadow Killer was in the Edgarton Stronghold.

Should I make a little trip to the Edgarton Stronghold and pay him a visit? Nie Yan mused, recalling the previous bet he made with Shadow Killer.

Crazy Magic and Divine Flame’s lives were far too calm and easy these days. Those two could do with a bit more excitement and danger.

In all of Asskickers United, perhaps only five people could sneak into the Edgarton Stronghold without being noticed: Sun, King of the World, One Strike Vow, Hapless Frog, and of course Nie Yan.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. Should he bring King of the World, Sun, and the other two as well? With more people, more could be accomplished. Thinking to this point, he got in touch with the other four.

「You guys interested in making a trip to the Edgarton Stronghold with me?」

Sun immediately became excited. Nie Yan was going to take action against Alliance of Mages. How could he possibly miss out on the action?

「Big Bro, count me in!」

King of the World was more cool-headed. The Edgarton Stronghold was completely different from the Victorious Return strongholds they infiltrated in the past. On top of the tight security, more than 200,000 players passed through the stronghold every day. Evading that many eyes wouldn’t be easy.

「I think only a few of us should go. Too many people will make it easier for us to be discovered,」King of the World voiced his concerns.

「It’ll only be the five of us,」Nie Yan replied.「I don’t think it’ll be an issue for us to infiltrate the Edgarton Stronghold. Even if we’re discovered, assuming we’re not so unlucky as to get locked down by Shackles of Strife, we can always escape with Unknown Transfer Scrolls.」

「Who’s your target?」King of the World asked. He assumed Nie Yan wanted to assassinate someone.

「Shadow Killer, Crazy Magic, and Divine Flame. Any one of them will do.」Regardless of which one was assassinated, it would be an explosive piece of news.

Shadow Killer, Crazy Magic, or Divine Flame, none of them were simple targets. However, Nie Yan had a plan. This operation would be difficult to pull off relying on conventional means, but he was a master at thinking outside the box!

After all, Nie Yan was once an assassin himself! Some real life assassination methods could also be implemented by using the tools inside the game.

「Since you already have a goal in mind, count me in too,」King of the World agreed. He couldn’t be missing from this kind of activity anyway. He was still Nie Yan’s bodyguard, even if his master didn’t need his protection inside the game.

Shortly after, Hapless Frog and One Strike Vow also agreed to participate.

Nie Yan had Guo Huai retrieve a few special tools, particularly rare ones at that. But to him, obtaining these kinds of items was fairly simple. After all, Asskickers United had so many players. No one would object to him borrowing them.

After a while, Guo Huai entered the guest room where Nie Yan and the other four were. "I’ve brought the items you asked for, two Silk Spinner Rings borrowed from Young Sparrow Hawk and Lofty Shadow, one Lightning Ring, one Levitation Ring, one Doppelganger Necklace...” Guo Huai took out one item after another, explaining in detail the uses of each one. Most of these Special Items were borrowed from their fellow guildmates. The rest were collecting dust in the treasury.

Nie Yan turned to King of the World and the others. "Everyone take a few. These items will come in handy during the mission.”

King of the World, Sun, and the others each took up to six Special Items. Since Nie Yan already had quite a few himself, he only picked a Doppelganger Necklace and a Lightning Ring.

The Doppelganger Necklace granted the user the ability to mimic another player’s appearance with 98% accuracy as well as conceal their character information. It had a duration of 15 minutes and a cooldown of two hours.

The Lightning Ring summoned a lightning sword. Anyone struck would be inflicted with the paralysis debuff. It had a cooldown of one hour.

These two items would prove quite helpful if used correctly.

Guo Huai also provided Nie Yan and the other four with Advanced Health/Mana Potions and other consumables. Nie Yan also prepared several Advanced Combat Bandages beforehand.

"I’ll be responsible for assassinating Shadow Killer. King of the World will be responsible for assassinating Crazy Magic. Sun will be responsible for assassinating Divine Flame.” Nie Yan turned to Hapless Frog and One Strike Vow. "You two will be providing support. We all move separately.” It didn’t matter if they were setting out of Moonlight City or infiltrating the Edgarton Stronghold, the five of them moving together was too conspicuous.

"Alright,” One Strike Vow nodded.

Hapless Frog also expressed no objections. After being in Asskickers United for so long, this was his first time participating in such an important mission. He was called here today not simply due to his skills but also because Nie Yan placed great trust in him. He was deeply moved. Most professional players who joined guilds would have a difficult time becoming a core member. After all, they were people who pursued money and benefits. Guild leaders generally wouldn’t trust them unconditionally. But Nie Yan was different!

After delivering the special items, Guo Huai returned to his other duties. He still had many matters to take care of, such as directing Asskickers United’s movements, selling the gems, and much more.

Nie Yan and the other four each set out in different directions. Avoiding the detection of Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors, they quietly left Moonlight City and headed for the Edgarton Stronghold.

Crazy Magic, Divine Flame, or Shadow Killer, news of any one of them being assassinated within the walls of the Edgarton Stronghold would shake the entire Viridian Empire and create a huge stir. The might and prestige of Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors would take a fatal blow! As such, this trip to the Edgarton Stronghold would definitely be worthwhile for Asskickers United.

After leaving Moonlight City, Nie Yan activated Gale Step and sprinted off toward the Edgarton Stronghold. He made certain no player spotted him. No matter what happened, he couldn’t expose his location. After all, he couldn’t have Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors figuring out what he was up to.

Along the way, Nie Yan encountered Alliance of Mages players pursuing some of his guildmates. Although he really wanted to help them, he held himself back and continued forward.

About 20 minutes later, a grand stronghold appeared before Nie Yan’s eyes. The Edgarton Stronghold was just like the Cripps Stronghold. Both were Intermediate rank. Within the borders of Moonlight City’s territory, there only existed this one. It was located in quite a good location. Transportation was convenient, and there were many Level 60-70 and Level 80-90 maps nearby.

Alliance of Mages transformed the Edgarton Stronghold to resemble an iron fortress, reinforcing the 30-meter tall walls, building a five-meter wide moat around the perimeter, and erecting a large number of archer towers. Even though they still hadn’t gotten their hands on magic cannon blueprints yet, they had prepared cannon holes for future use.

This towering citadel seemed impenetrable. Bringing down the walls of the Edgarton Stronghold with catapults alone would prove quite the challenge.

Since Alliance of Mages was invincible in Moonlight City, all the maps around the Edgarton Stronghold only contained their players or players of allied guilds. Other players rarely came here. Alliance of Mages was too tyrannical. Even over small arguments, Alliance of Mages would make sure the other party would eat a loss. No one dared to compete with Alliance of Mages players for monsters. This vicinity belonged solely to them.

Almost all the players Nie Yan encountered on the road belonged to Alliance of Mages. With so many eyes watching, ascending the Edgarton Stronghold’s walls and sneaking inside was as difficult as scaling the heavens. His only option was to walk in through the front gate without being noticed!

Nie Yan headed toward the Edgarton Stronghold’s main entrance. He was only about a hundred meters away.

Most recently, due to the clashes with Asskickers United in other maps, the players from Alliance of Mages were all operating around the Edgarton Stronghold, so they could hunt monsters safely and peacefully. As a result, the stronghold was much more lively than usual, with a 50% increase in player activity.

There was only one entrance into the Edgarton Stronghold. Players were streaming in and out of the gate constantly.

Seeing this situation, Nie Yan knitted his brows. With so many players cramming into the entrance, he had no way of sneaking in with stealth. He was bound to bump into someone.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment before a light bulb lit up in his head. Why didn’t he steal someone’s appearance? Equipping the necklace, the Doppelganger skill appeared in his skill bar.

Nie Yan gazed into the distance. Scanning through the crowd of Alliance of Mages players, he locked onto a Thief with roughly the same build as him. His eyes lit up with excitement. "Perfect!”

Chapter 550 - Targets Sighted

The Thief Nie Yan had set his sights on happened to pass closeby on his way into the wilderness.

Seeing the Thief’s figure fading in the distance, Nie Yan activated the Doppelganger Necklace. His appearance started rapidly changing, his nose becoming flatter, pockmarks appearing on his face, and his cheeks caving in somewhat. He looked almost exactly like the Thief, save for some minor details.

The Doppelganger Necklace had a fatal flaw. If you encountered someone familiar with the target, chances were high the ruse would be seen though.

Nie Yan planned to use the Doppelganger Necklace to sneak in. As for how King of the World and the others would get in, he didn’t know. But this kind of problem shouldn’t be too difficult for them. If worse came to worst, they could just wait until the number of people around the gate decreased somewhat.

After stealing the appearance of that Thief, Nie Yan put on a black cloak to hide his equipment.

Finished with his preparations, Nie Yan stepped out into the open and headed for the gate.

Players were coming and going from the entrance. They simply gave Nie Yan a glance before continuing on with their business. No one went up to greet him.

It appeared that Thief’s social status wasn’t that great. However, this worked out in Nie Yan’s favour. It was best if everybody ignored him.

Nie Yan passed by a group of players. Noticing their conversation was about Asskickers United, he halted his steps and eavesdropped.

"Asskickers United is right at our doorstep. Who do you think will win, us or them?”

"I think we’ll win. We have close to 800,000 players in total. Asskickers United only has about 400,000, right? Not to mention Moonlight City is our territory,” an Elementalist said. He was a faithful supporter of Alliance of Mages.

"I’m afraid we’ll lose. Just look back at the siege of the Cripps Stronghold. Asskickers United was still pretty weak at that time. Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps all brought out their elites. We even had catapults while Asskickers United didn’t. Everyone said Bloodlust Blades was going to win. Yet what was the result? We don’t even have to look that far back into the past. How about more recently with the battle in the Realm of Death? How much did we spend to hire all those experts? Yet we barely managed to take out a tenth of the enemy’s forces while our side was completely wiped out. I’m sure we aren’t any weaker. I really don’t know what those higher-ups are thinking,” a Warrior said. He seemed somewhat dissatisfied with the leadership of the guild.

"Hush, I think it’s best not to talk about this in the open. Let’s hurry up and leave.”

The group of players departed.

Nie Yan passed by many players from Alliance of Mages. Looking on the other side of the gate, he was greeted by a flourishing city. Both sides of the street were lined with shops. It was even more bustling than the Cripps Stronghold. He had no choice but to recognize Crazy Magic’s skills at enriching this place’s economy.

"I wonder how Crazy Magic would react if he found out that I was here...?” Nie Yan muttered to himself.

Suddenly, a voice came from behind. "Pockmark, wait up!”

Nie Yan’s heart trembled.

"Pockmark, didn’t you just leave with the team? Why did you come back?” a sturdy looking Warrior asked.

Nie Yan gazed at the Warrior’s puzzled expression, then calmly replied, "I forgot to get some consumables, so I rushed back to pick them up.”

Afterterwards, Nie Yan no longer paid any heed to the Warrior and continued walking on inside.

Gazing at Nie Yan’s back, the Warrior suspiciously muttered to himself, "Strange, he usually gets pretty pissed off whenever I call him Pockmark. Plus, why is he acting so cold, like we’re strangers? What’s up with him today?”

The Warrior was just about to call for Nie Yan. But when he raised his head, Nie Yan was nowhere to be found.

"What the hell...? Did I just see a ghost?” the Warrior muttered in a daze. "Forget it, I’ll just ask him about it next time I see him.” He turned around and headed out the gate.

Besides their exchange being brief, the Warrior also wasn’t looking carefully. So, he failed to see through Nie Yan’s disguise.

Nie Yan ducked into a dark corner. Seeing the Warrior leave, he breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn’t sure of the effectiveness of the Doppelganger Necklace. Thankfully, he wasn’t recognized, or this operation would’ve been a failure.

Arriving in an alley, Nie Yan entered stealth and started making his way toward the center of the Edgarton Stronghold. His first objective was to find out the location of Alliance of Mages’ headquarters!

Though the Edgarton Stronghold appeared flourishing on the surface, a sense of bleakness pervaded the atmosphere. Some shops posted up for sale signs on their windows, for quite low prices too. With war looming over the horizon, many business owners were worried about the stronghold’s future. If the fighting reached inside the stronghold, their shops would almost certainly go up in flames. This uncertainty made them impatient to sell their shops. Often times the more anxious someone was to sell, the less inclined people were to buy. No one was willing to purchase a shop in the face of war and risk their investment going down the drain. It was better to wait a few days and see how the situation developed.

About ten minutes later, a magnificent building appeared before Nie Yan’s eyes.

This was without a doubt the most conspicuous building in the entire Edgarton Stronghold. It was like a grand cathedral, with four towering pillars that stood over 20 meters tall and all sorts of statues erected on the other side. The corridors and walkways were decorated lavishly with vibrant flowers. A large red carpet was laid out in front of the entrance.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but let out an emotional sigh. Alliance of Mages were truly willing to part with their money. This kind of building probably cost at least 1,000,000 gold to construct. Asskickers United was nowhere as ostentatious.

Many players believed the headquarters was the face of the guild, and so spared no effort in making it as grand as possible. However, Nie Yan thought differently. Instead of spending all this gold on the headquarters, it would be better to use it to reinforce the walls. This was why Asskickers United’s headquarters was rather plain-looking.

Nie Yan received confirmation from Guo Huai. Crazy Magic and Divine Flame were inside the guild headquarters. They were currently in a meeting with Shadow Killer and a few others.

Nie Yan roamed around the perimeter of Alliance of Mages’ guild headquarters for about 20 minutes, memorizing all the paths in his surroundings. He made a rough mental map of the area.

「Big Bro, I’m inside,」Sun reported. He had used the Crawler Ring to scale the top of the walls.

Before long, Nie Yan also received word from King of the World, One Strike Vow, and Hapless Frog. Some used their Special Items to get in. Others waited until there were fewer people around the main entrance to sneak in. They all took a bit of time, but all four infiltrated the Edgarton Stronghold without a hitch.

「Gather at Alliance of Mages’ guild headquarters. Keep in touch!」Nie Yan ordered. He gazed up at the guild headquarters. This building constructed out of white stone was three stories tall. A window was left open on the second floor.

Nie Yan equipped his Crawler Ring. Activating its ability, he stuck to the wall and started scaling the building.

No one could’ve imagined that someone would be reckless enough to directly infiltrate an enemy’s guild headquarters. This was completely unheard of. As such, the Edgarton Stronghold’s security was tight on the outside but lax on the inside. The outside walls were filled with lookouts while the stronghold interior’s defenses were fairly minimal.

Nie Yan easily climbed up to the second story. He jumped through the open window and lightly landed on the floor.

Inside was a long winding corridor, with bronze warrior statues spaced five meters apart lining both sides. It was almost as if they were guards posted here. Many old, classical paintings hung on the walls.

"I wonder where the central conference hall is…” Nie Yan entered stealth and started walking through the corridor.

The corridor was tranquil, with few people passing through. From time to time, he heard the sound of people chatting in the distance.

After advancing another 200 meters, Nie Yan finally encountered signs of another player.

Nie Yan’s heart tightened. The sound of footsteps came from the distance, appearing to get closer and closer. Someone was walking over. He quickly ducked behind a statue and held his breath.

A Warrior clad in dark gold armour appeared around the corner and was walking over in Nie Yan’s direction.

Seeing this person’s face, Nie Yan’s eyes widened in surprise. He didn’t expect to encounter such a familiar face here. This person was the former guild leader of the now disbanded Bloodlust Blades, Bloodlust Mad Blade!

After Bloodlust Blades dissolved, did Mad Blade bring his people to join Alliance of Mages?

It was definitely a possibility. Even though Mad Blade wasn’t wearing the guild emblem of Alliance of Mages right now, once the war began, Nie Yan had no doubt he would be meeting these old rivals on the battlefield. He buffed himself with a skill that increased his stealth. If he fought with Mad Blade now, the fact he had snuck in here would be exposed!

A jittery feeling arose in Mad Blade’s heart. Based on his experience, this meant a Thief was nearby. As he gazed at his surroundings, the feeling disappeared. He chuckled to himself. It was probably just his imagination running wild. This was Alliance of Mages’ headquarters. No one would be stupid enough to sneak in here!

Mad Blade continued on his way, disappearing behind a corner.

Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. Mad Blade approached as close as three meters to him. However, he still wasn’t discovered.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. He feared not only Mad Blade, but players from other guilds Asskickers United defeated in the past such as Victorious Return and Unhindered had also joined Alliance of Mages. The enemy couldn’t be underestimated!

After this brief encounter with Mad Blade, Nie Yan continued along the corridor. Passing through two halls, he arrived at the main lobby.

Several people were sitting in the lobby chatting about something. Nie Yan’s gaze instantly locked onto two of them, Crazy Magic and Shadow Killer!

"I’ve finally found you two…” Nie Yan muttered as he subconsciously started playing with the handle of Zennarde’s Sword sheathed on his waist. This was his ritual before assassinating someone.

The game was about to commence!

Chapter 551 - Flawless Assassination!

Nie Yan inched closer and closer to Crazy Magic, Shadow Killer, and the others. Still 50 meters away from them, he came to a stop.

After watching Crazy Magic, Shadow Killer, and the others chat for over an hour, Nie Yan couldn’t wait any longer. He activated Disappear and approached closer to listen to their discussion. For a full 15 minutes, they talked about matters related to Asskickers United.

"The boss issued an order. Since you’re not Nirvana Flame’s match, you can switch targets to the other members of Asskickers United, like Undying Scoundrel, Painted Muslin, and so on,” Crazy Magic said.

Nie Yan’s expression flickered with surprise. He shifted his attention to Shadow Killer, wondering how this prideful assassin would react. Based on his understanding of Shadow Killer’s disposition, he definitely wouldn’t take kindly to someone saying he wasn’t up to snuff. Crazy Magic’s words would undoubtedly strike a nerve.

Shadow Killer’s face was covered by a cloak. No one could see his expression.

"Until I kill Nirvana Flame, I won’t go after any of those other small fries from Asskickers United,” Shadow Killer responded, his voice containing a trace of anger.

"You think you can kill Nirvana Flame? What happened the last two times you tried to assassinate him? Did you forget?” Crazy Magic coldly harrumphed. He was displeased with Shadow Killer back talking him. In any case, he was a guild leader, while Shadow Killer was nothing more than a lowly hired hand.

"Either I kill Nirvana Flame or he kills me. As for the rest, they’re not qualified,” Shadow Killer said in a harsh tone.

"Y-you dare to go against the boss’ orders!?” Crazy Magic shouted in anger.

"I’ve never listened to anyone’s orders, including Cao Xu’s! It’s better if we go our separate ways,” Shadow Killer said. He got up and left.

Crazy Magic sneered. What an ungrateful bastard!

Shadow Killer exited the main lobby.

Watching Shadow Killer’s figure disappear into the corridor, Nie Yan sank into deep thought. It appeared the partnership between Shadow Killer and the Century Financial Group wasn’t all that harmonious. This was his opportunity! If Shadow Killer was a graceful loser, he could attempt to lure him over to Asskickers United after killing him. Even if he failed to do this, he could still hire Shadow Killer’s services. If Shadow Killer was a sore loser, however, at the very least he could make him follow through with their bet and assassinate three people for him. He would set people like Soaring Angel as the targets, causing Shadow Killer to have a falling out with the Century Financial Group and Angel Corps. At that time, even if he didn’t take action against Shadow Killer, the Century FInancial Group and Angel Corps would.

Nie Yan tailed Shadow Killer from a safe distance, leaving the main lobby.

King of the World, Sun, and the others were already here. Leaving Crazy Magic and Divine Flame to them should be fine. Given their strength, no problems would arise.

Nie Yan’s target was Shadow Killer!

After leaving the lobby, Shadow Killer walked through the corridor toward the garden.

「Did you locate Nirvana Flame?」Shadow Killer asked in his organization’s voice chat.

「Boss, Nirvana Flame disappeared. No one knows where he is,」a player called Hoss replied.

「I’m guessing he probably went off to do some quest. That’s why no one can find him,」another player called Show Hand chimed in.

「Keep searching until you find him,」Shadow Killer said. Recalling Crazy Magic’s previous words, he clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, revealing the anger in his heart. This was the first time someone had looked down on him in such a way. He felt like his dignity was trampled on.

Lining the corridor stood thick, solid, and sturdy pillars. The roof was made out of silver-white wood, engraved with ornate designs that depicted all sorts of beautiful imagery.

Shadow Killer seemed to be lost in thought as he walked through the corridor. He refused to pledge loyalty to anyone, least of all Cao Xu. He was an assassin with his own principles. But at the same time, he was also the leader of the Dark Immortal gaming org, with employees that depended on him to make a living. If he continued to stubbornly obsess over Nie Yan and refuse to listen to Cao Xu’s orders, he would most likely lose the investment of the Century FInancial Group. If that happened, Dark Immortal would suffer a huge financial blow.

Shadow Killer believed he was in the right. He always stuck to his pride as an assassin. In Asskickers United, aside from Nie Yan, there were maybe a few others who were worthy of his attention. But right now, his only target was Nie Yan!

After following Shadow Killer for about a hundred meters, Nie Yan noticed they’d entered a fairly secluded area. Now was the perfect time to carry out the assassination!

With the falling out between Shadow Killer and Crazy Magic moments ago, Nie Yan judged Shadow Killer wouldn’t likely inform Alliance of Mages immediately if Nie Yan succeeded in killing him. No one would want to publicize something as humiliating as their defeat, especially after someone called you weak, not up to snuff.

Nie Yan was free to take action here!

This place would become Shadow Killer’s grave!

Nie Yan scanned his surroundings. The corridor was pretty spacious. If a battle broke out, he could still move freely.

However, besides direct confrontation, Nie Yan wondered if there was perhaps another way.

Given Shadow Killer’s strength, killing him would be difficult. The one thing Thieves didn't lack was escape skills. He had to prevent Shadow Killer from using any of them!

When Nie Yan raised his head, he spotted a beam above him. It was about five meters from the ground. A light bulb lit up in his head.

There is a way!

Nie Yan dashed through the garden path to overtake Shadow Killer. He activated the Crawler Ring and climbed up one of the pillars, then leapt onto a beam.

Nie Yan moved with care and grace.

The corridor was quiet. Normally, unless there was some important meeting going on, no people could be found walking around here.

Seeing Shadow Killer approaching closer step-by-step, Nie Yan arched his body, like a hunter hiding in the darkness. He closely observed Shadow Killer’s every move. When Shadow Killer arrived within six meters of him, he activated several skills that increased his Cloaking.

As Shadow Killer was walking, he knitted his brows. He halted his steps and looked around, but failed to discover anything. He advanced a few more steps, but this uneasy feeling still didn't go away.

At this moment, Shadow Killer was standing right below the beam Nie Yan sat on. He only felt a trace of uneasiness, but he couldn’t find where it was coming from.

Bloodshadow Eye!

Shadow Killer’s eyes flashed with a crimson light. As he looked around, he couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary.

"I’m getting too paranoid,” Shadow Killer bitterly chuckled to himself.

After investigating his surroundings with Bloodshadow Eye, Shadow Killer relaxed his guard. Add this on top of the fact there was no one ever here, and he was at his most vulnerable state.

Shadow Killer took a step forward.

Seeing this, Nie Yan’s lips curved into a cold smile. It was now or never!

As Shadow Killer took another step forward, Nie Yan extended his left hand and shot out a web line.

Even though Shadow Killer sensed something coming from behind him, he could determine it wasn’t anything dangerous like a dagger.

Just as he was about to turn around, the web line stuck to his waist, attaching firmly to his leather armour.

Nie Yan planted his feet onto the beam, then gave a powerful tug.

Before he could figure out what was happening, Shadow Killer felt a strong force pulling at his waist. He was lifted off his feet.

Shadow Killer turned his head and spotted the web line. His heart tightened. He quickly slashed at it with his dagger. But to his dejection, it didn’t snap, only leaving a slight nick.

As Shadow Killer was suspended mid-air, he spotted a figure on the beam. His heart trembled. It was Nirvana Flame! What was he doing here?

Nie Yan’s cold smile entered Shadow Killer’s eyes, causing a cold shiver to run down his spine. He realized it in an instant. He had fallen into an ambush!

While suspended mid-air, Shadow Killer was unable to use any sort of escape skill. Furthermore, his body was involuntary rocking and swaying constantly. He had no way of determining his direction.

Concussive Blow!

Nie Yan stabbed toward Shadow Killer’s forehead like a lightning bolt.

Shadow Killer was just about to raise his dagger to block. However, an electric shock struck his body, inflicting him with paralysis.

"Shit!” Shadow Killer cursed. At this moment, Nie Yan’s Concussive Blow landed, stunning Shadow Killer.

Nie Yan drew an arc across Shadow Killer’s throat with Zennarde’s Sword as blood came spraying out.

Nie Yan recalled the web line. He landed at the same time Shadow Killer’s corpse hit the ground.

Shadow Killer probably had no idea how Nie Yan had killed him. If they fought normally, Nie Yan definitely couldn’t have killed him so easily. No matter how strong Nie Yan was, he could still flee with any one of his escape skills. However, Nie Yan’s assassination technique was too unusual. Before he could put up any resistance, he was already killed.

Nie Yan first used the web line to hoist Shadow Killer up into the air, momentarily disorientating him, then struck him with the ability of the Lightning Ring. Escape skills couldn’t be activated while off the ground, and Shadow Killer didn’t have any powerful skills like Adjudicator of God. He had no way to prevent himself from getting paralyzed, which allowed the Concussive Blow to land cleanly.

Everything was done in quick succession. Shadow Killer had no time to react at all!

Within seconds, Shadow Killer lost his life to Nie Yan’s blade.

Seeing Shadow Killer’s corpse lying on the ground, Nie Yan had a satisfied smile on his face. Putting away Zennarde’s Sword, he bent down and picked up the piece of equipment Shadow Killer dropped. It was Sub Legendary-grade shoulderguards!

Chapter 552 - Ruthless!

Nie Yan examined the properties of the shoulderguards. It was a piece of Thief equipment that increased Cloaking.

Phantom Earley’s Pauldrons (Sub Legendary)

Description: Pauldrons used by Phantom Earley. Contains traces of Earley’s soul.

Requirements: 620 Dexterity

Properties: Dexterity +50, Speed +50, Stealth +20, Cloaking +10, Reflex +10.

Phantom Form (Rank 7): Increase Stealth and Cloaking by 60 and Speed by 50. For the first 10 seconds, the user cannot be seen through by eye or illumination skills. You cannot attack while in this state. Duration: 30 seconds.

Weight: 2 lbs

Restrictions: Thief

After seeing the stats of Phantom Earley’s Pauldrons, Nie Yan realized Phantom Form was the skill Shadow Killer had used to escape from him previously! This skill was quite decent on top of being rare.

Nie Yan equipped Phantom Earley’s Pauldrons. Looking at his character window, he was basically fully decked out with Sub Legendary and Legendary-grade equipment.

At this moment, Shadow Killer had already revived in the graveyard. He still had a dazed look on his face. This was the first time he suffered the taste of defeat, losing at the hand of Nirvana Flame. Even though Nie Yan had used a trick, a loss was still a loss. This was the fact.

Shadow Killer had to admit Nie Yan’s assassination methods were superior to his own. When he carried out an assassination, he often only fought the target directly, relying on his skill to secure victory. Meanwhile, Nie Yan made use of everything, from special tools to objects in the environment. No one could predict when, where, or how he would take action, making it almost impossible to defend against.

「Our bet, you haven’t forgotten it, right?」Nie Yan connected to Shadow Killer via voice chat. He was the victor.

「I admit defeat... Like we agreed upon, I’ll assassinate three people for you. Just give me the names, which three do you want me to kill?」Shadow Killer replied in a somewhat gloomy tone. He was a man of his word and wouldn’t renege on his end of the bet. He had a premonition that Nie Yan wouldn’t let him off the hook easily.

After thinking for a moment, Nie Yan felt this wasn’t the right time to lure Shadow Killer over to his side. He would have Shadow Killer fall out with the Century Financial Group and Angel Corps first!

Nie Yan originally planned to have Shadow Killer assassinate Crazy Magic and Divine Flame. However, King of the World and Sun were already on the job. Shadow Killer was no longer needed.

「Your first target is the guild leader of Angel Corps, Soaring Angel. That’s it for now. I’ll tell you the next target once you’ve carried out the first assassination,」Nie Yan said. As long as Shadow Killer attempted to assassinate Soaring Angel, regardless of success or failure, he would become an enemy of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group.

Shadow Killer clenched his fists. Nie Yan was forcing him off the edge of a cliff. If he attempted to assassinate Soaring Angel, he would receive the ire of the Century Financial Group and Angel Corps. If he was just one person, that was fine. However, he had an obligation to the people in Darkness Immortal. If he went through with Nie Yan’s request, the gaming organization would fall into a dire state. If he refused, he would undoubtedly be turning his back on his pride as well as everything he stood for.

From the moment he succumbed to Nie Yan’s blade, Shadow Killer’s fate was sealed.

「Well… if you think my request is too difficult to complete, or that you’re too weak to complete it in the first place, forget it. We can act as if the bet never happened. I guess that’s all the name of Shadow Killer amounts too,」Nie Yan said in a tone laced with ridicule after noticing Shadow Killer’s hesitation. His words were harsh, ruthlessly trampling on Shadow Killer’s dignity.

「Give me some time. I’ll definitely give you an answer…!」Shadow Killer gritted his teeth. He couldn’t make the decision right away.

Nie Yan let out an indifferent chuckle.「I’ll be waiting, then.」Shadow Killer was at an impasse with two choices available to him: assassinate Soaring Angel and fall out with Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group, or abandon his pride and become a laughingstock among everyone.

Finished talking with Nie Yan, Shadow Killer hung up the call. He started walking aimlessly with a vacant look on his face. He was frozen with indecision. Dark Immortal was his lifeblood. He didn’t want it to fall into ruin solely because of him. If it was just him, even if he was hunted like a dog by Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group, he wouldn’t be afraid. However, as the leader of Dark Immortal, he naturally had other commitments to consider. He couldn’t freely do as he pleased.

Nie Yan’s request was quite ruthless. But as a guild leader, he had to learn how to show no mercy to his enemies.

Shadow Killer was still Nie Yan’s enemy. If he couldn’t be recruited, it was better to eliminate him completely!

As Shadow Killer brooded over what choice to make, the Dark Immortal members were in the middle of grinding mobs and levelling. Included among them were Hoss and Show Hand. The 20-man team had traversed a mountain ridge and were setting off to hunt a Level 80 Elite.

"With us betraying the boss like this, do you think...” Hoss had a hesitant and anxious look on his face. He was still feeling a bit guilty about what they had done behind Shadow Killer’s back.

"If you were really that loyal and devoted to him, you shouldn’t have betrayed him in the first place. Since we’ve already crossed the point of no return, we can only see this through till the very end! It’s not like we have much choice anyway, or are you telling me you want to oppose the Century Financial Group? Shadow Killer only has himself to blame, for leading us into this dead end. We have our own livelihoods to think about,” Show Hand replied in a cold tone.

The two didn’t seem to have any misgivings discussing this topic out in the open. Their teammates didn’t appear all too bothered either.

"The boss is contacting us.” Show Hand’s voice chat rang. Seeing it was Cao Xu, he quickly picked up.

「Has there been any movements from Shadow Killer?」a deep voice rang out from the other end.

「Shadow Killer ordered us to track down Nirvana Flame’s location,」Show Hand respectfully replied.

「I see… Let him keep playing his little game then,」Cao Xu said. Shadow Killer was like a latrine stone, foul and hard.

Show Hand suddenly noticed Shadow Killer had dropped a level.「Shadow Killer died!」

「What happened?」Cao Xu knitted his brows.

「I don’t know.」Show Hand shook his head. He only just found out.

「Find out,」Cao Xu ordered.

「Understood!」

After Cao Xu hung up, Show Hand wiped the sweat off his forehead. Talking with a bigshot like Cao Xu was quite nerve-wracking. As far as back when Shadow Killer had first lost to Nie Yan, Cao Xu had already bribed Show Hand, Hoss, and everyone else in Dark Immortal over to his side. All of them belonged to the Century Financial Group. Shadow Killer’s authority had long since been undermined. He repeatedly refused Cao Xu’s attempts to acquire Dark Immortal, but little did he know that the organization he founded was already no longer his, having become a vassal of the Century Financial Group. Show Hand, Hoss, and the others had always been reporting Shadow Killer’s movements, even going as far as to describe his plans in detail. Cao Xu was aware of everything happening behind the scenes. This was the most frightening aspect of Cao Xu. The Century Financial Group’s capital was limitless.

Cao Xu had probably deduced that Shadow Killer was killed by Nie Yan. Aside from Nie Yan, no one could kill him. At best, players like Sun and King of the World could force him to a draw.

After a while, Cao Xu received word about Shadow Killer’s defeat to Nie Yan from Show Hand. He also learned about their bet.

「What do you think Shadow Killer will decide?」Cao Xu asked.

「After having known him for so many years, I think he’ll definitely go through with the bet. He won’t abandon his principles,」Show Hand carefully replied, trying to gauge Cao Xu’s reaction.

「I see… So you’re saying Shadow Killer will agree to Nie Yan’s request to assassinate three people?」Cao Xu’s eyes flashed with an ice-cold killing intent. Shadow Killer had always been proud and difficult to tame, much like a wild stallion. Add this to his bet with Nie Yan, and he became a person that was no longer of use. Such people would be disposed of!

「Correct,」Show Hand nodded.

Cao Xu pondered in silence for a moment before passing down an order to his subordinates. Under his arrangement, a conspiracy to eliminate Shadow Killer for good took form.

...

Back in Moonlight City. King of the World, Sun, and the other two had already infiltrated the Alliance of Mages guild headquarters. They were closely observing Crazy Magic and Divine Flame. Right now, there were more than 20 people in the lobby. They couldn’t find a suitable opportunity to take action. They could only patiently wait.

Nie Yan was hurrying over, planning to team up with the other four. With Shadow Killer already down, if they could successfully assassinate Crazy Magic and Divine Flame, then upload the video online, what kind of stir would this cause?

A guild leader being assassinated by an enemy within the walls of their very own stronghold, this would undoubtedly become a disgrace that could never be wiped away. It would be a severe if not fatal blow to Alliance of Mages’ morale.

Nie Yan stealthily made his way toward the main lobby. He was about to enter, when he received a call from Guo Huai.

For Guo Huai to contact him at this moment probably meant the matter was urgent.

「What’s up?」Nie Yan asked.

「Bladelight just got in touch with me. He was approached by people from the Century Financial Group. They offered him a ¥20,000,000 a year, five-year contract. They promised him the best benefits anyone could offer if he joined them. Bladelight declined their offer, then forwarded the contents of the contract to me. Here, you take a look too. He also wasn’t the only one they approached.」

Nie Yan glanced at the contract. The terms listed were far superior to anything Asskickers United could offer at the moment. A contract like this, perhaps the Century Financial Group was the only existence that could flaunt their wealth to this extent. Nie Yan’s expression darkened. The matter he was most afraid of had finally happened! A long-standing powerhouse such as the Century Financial Group naturally wouldn’t be willing to be forced out of the Viridian Empire, least of all by a bunch of upstarts. It was only a matter of time before they took retaliatory action, and their most powerful tool was their vast wealth! In the previous timeline, the once unrivalled War God Tribe was slowly eroded from within by the Century Financial Group’s interference. Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder if Asskickers United was destined to go down the same path.

Chapter 553 - Existential Threat

Aside from Bladelight, no one else had informed Nie Yan of anything. Who else in Asskickers United was approached by the Century Financial Group? How many accepted or were considering accepting their offer?

It didn’t make sense for the Century Financial Group to have have only approached Bladelight and no one else.

The Century Financial Group had likely already bought off many members from Asskickers United.

Nie Yan had no idea how deep the Century Financial Group’s influence had spread.

Something going wrong during a crucial moment in the war against Alliance of Mages would likely spell disaster for Asskickers United. All their previous hard work would go down the drain.

「Did anyone else contact you about the Century Financial Group approaching them?」Nie Yan asked.

「Smoke Stub did, Sun too. Besides them, no one else,」Guo Huai replied, sympathizing with what Nie Yan was feeling right now. Who wouldn’t have doubts in this situation? Nie Yan worried there were others who had had made contact with the Century FInancial Group but chose not to disclose it—either because they were weighing their options or already operating as moles.

Even Smoke Stub and Sun were approached. Just how many people did the Century Financial Group offer contracts to? Nie Yan felt a headache coming on.

Nie Yan couldn’t prevent this matter from gnawing away at the back of his mind. Just how glorious was the War God Tribe of the previous timeline, having at one point even surpassed Victorious Return? Yet they were still entombed by the Century Financial Group’s immeasurable wealth. He feared history would end up repeating itself.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan grew restless and jittery. He couldn’t stop himself from suspecting certain people. This was simply human nature. He was confident the names floating in his mind also received offers from the Century Financial Group.

「Nothing can be done about it. The Century Financial Group won’t stop. The best we can do right now is place our unconditional faith in our fellow guildmates,」Guo Huai comforted. He knew getting paranoid would only drive more people away, including those who were initially on their side, and lead to further alienation.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. Guo Huai was right. With the Century Financial Group offering such lucrative and attractive contracts, some players were bound to leave. This was unpreventable. So, what could he do? That was to make sure no one in the guild felt alienated or pushed aside, placing his utmost trust in them. Only then would they feel a sense of belonging.

In the previous timeline, the War God Tribe’s self-governance was always an issue. As more and more people left, the amount of internal disputes only increased. With distrust ever present between members, this wedge only further sped up the collapse of the guild. Founded on a mishmash of different gaming organisations, the War God Tribe was never that united to start with, and certain factions frequently stirred up conflict. Not to mention all gaming organisations operated on the model of profit first. Defection was only to be expected. However, Asskickers United was far more united. Even if some people left, as long as Nie Yan didn’t make any mistakes, it would be incredibly difficult for the Century Financial Group to destroy them from within.

Nie Yan came up with some countermeasures, such as raising the benefits of all the players in Asskickers United. This would secure the hearts of the players. At the same time, those who were thinking about defecting would have no choice but to reconsider, unless the Century Financial Group increased their offer by a corresponding amount. After looking over the guild’s finances, Nie Yan raised everyone’s benefits by 30%. Like this, the Century Financial Group would have to at least triple that amount. For some Asskickers United players to even consider transferring, the Century Financial Group would have to offer a lot more.

Give it your best, and leave the rest up to fate. Anything that could be done, Nie Yan would do. He knew this day was inevitable. The Century Financial Group previously only relied on their underlings. Now that they were taking direct action, they would employ all means by foul or fair. He had no choice but to raise his vigilance.

「Pay close attention to the Century Financial Group’s movements. If anything comes up, report it to me immediately,」Nie Yan said. He treated this matter with utmost seriousness. Keeping up to date at every moment was crucial. The slightest misstep could lead to destruction!

「Don’t worry, if the Century Financial Group makes the slightest movements, I’ll report it to you immediately!」Guo Huai replied.

After hanging up the call with Guo Huai, Nie Yan entered the main lobby.

A group of people was gathered in the main lobby. Looking around, Nie Yan counted a total of 26. Besides Crazy Magic and Divine Flame, there were six Thieves, five Paladins, seven Mages, three Priests, and three Warriors. Their equipment was all excellent. With an average level of 70, they were undoubtedly Alliance of Mages’ top elites.

"The Century FInancial Group has made a move on Asskickers United. I trust we’ll be hearing some good news soon,” Crazy Magic said. He had just received this information.

"Five Armoured Ice Catapults have already crossed the borders of Blaze City and will be arriving in Moonlight City in eight hours. I suggest you think of a way to deal with them first,” Divine Flame said, dropping a bucket of cold water on Crazy Magic’s enthusiasm. The effectiveness of the Century Financial Group's methods still remained to be seen.

"What, that fast? How!?” Crazy Magic knitted his brows. The speed of Asskickers United’s advance exceeded his expectations.

"Asskickers United attached horse carts to their Armoured Ice Catapults.”

"Horse carts?” Crazy Magic suddenly recalled such a thing. It was true that horse carts could raise the speed of war engines. However, researching this technology cost upwards of 600,000 gold. The production costs were also considerable. Asskickers United really had too much gold on their hands. He couldn’t help but wonder where it was all coming from. Nie Yan’s assets were something he could never imagine in his wildest dreams.

With Asskickers United right at his doorstep, Crazy Magic was feeling the pressure.

Little did Crazy Magic and company know that several pairs of eyes were watching them while they were having this discussion.

「Report your coordinates.」

「I’m at 23.85.28,」King of the World replied.

Nie Yan glanced at a corner to the east of him. King of the World was hiding behind a pillar over there.

「I’m at 32.28.29,」Sun replied.

Before long, Nie Yan confirmed the positions of the other four. Sizing up the 26 people in the main lobby, he spotted many familiar faces, three of whom were quite famous in his past life. They were called Soda Water, Sour Cheese, and Maple Sky. They played a Warrior, Paladin, and Priest respectively. All three were top master class players in the previous timeline and held influential positions in Alliance of Mages.

Facing so many players with just the five of them posed some challenge.

「Big Bro, are we going in?」Sun asked.

If the five of them worked together to kill Crazy Magic and Divine Flame, they would definitely succeed. Even without Nie Yan taking action, the four of them could still pull it off. However, this was all predicated on them having a foolproof plan first.

Nie Yan pondered for a long while before finally replying in a chilling tone,「We’re going to kill every last one of them!」

Hmph, isn’t it only just 26 players!?

Nie Yan’s killing intent shook the hearts of Sun, King of the World, and the other two. They were going to slaughter every last person in this room?

Sun thought for a moment.「I’ll follow your lead, Big Bro.」

「What’s your plan?」King of the World asked.

「Sun and One Strike Vow will deal with Crazy Magic. You and Hapless Frog will deal with Divine Flame. Leave the rest to me. I’ll make the first move and create an opening for you guys,」Nie Yan said. He planned on using Lil’ Gold!

After Nie Yan explained his plan, Sun and the others all felt that it was feasible. Of course, it was based on the premise that he could distract everyone for long enough. However, with Lil’ Gold, that wouldn’t be a problem.

「Alright, I’m going in,」Nie Yan said before sneaking over to a corner in the lobby and hiding behind a pillar.

At this moment, Sun, King of the World, and the others gradually approached Crazy Magic and Divine Flame. If this was the wilderness, they could easily dispatch Crazy Magic and Divine Flame. With two on each person, this would be extremely simple. As long as others didn’t interfere, it would be over in an instant.

After Sun, King of the World, One Strike Vow, and Hapless Frog were in position, Nie Yan shouted,「Time to kill!」

Sun, King of the World, and the other two arched their bodies, ready to pounce forward at any moment.

Nie Yan chanted out an incantation. With a flash of golden light, Lil’ Gold’s massive frame emerged in the lobby.

Crazy Magic, Divine Flame, and the others were chatting, when a light flashed behind them. One of their subordinates shouted, "It’s Nirvana Flame’s Golden Dragon! Careful!”

Crazy Magic and Divine Flame looked behind them in shock. A giant golden dragon entered their vision.

Why would Nirvana Flame come here of all places!?

"Watch out for Nirvana Flame’s ambush!” Crazy Magic warned in a deep tone. The first thought that came to mind was that Nirvana Flame was here for him.

Just as his warning rang out, Lil’ Gold opened his maw and spewed out scorching hot flames.

These top players from Alliance of Mages immediately scattered to avoid the Dragon Breath.

With a loud bang, the Dragon Breath struck the ground, causing flames to splash everywhere.

"Charge!” The Warrior called Soda Water rushed toward Lil’ Gold. With a loud klang, he rammed into Lil’ Gold, forcing the golden dragon back a step. At the same time, he also triggered Lil’ Gold’s Explosive Counter!

−3673
−3421

Two damage values floated up above Soda Water’s head, leaving him with only a sliver of health.

A gentle radiance enveloped Soda Water, restoring his health back to stable levels.

As everyone in the room focused their attention on Lil’ Gold, Nie Yan emerged out of stealth. With a flash of cold light, he killed a Mage with one hit, then disappeared again with Gale Step.

"It’s Nirvana Flame! He’s over there!”

"Don’t let him escape!”

Maple Sky raised his staff. An orb of light flew up into the air.

All the Alliance of Mages’ players shifted their focus to Nie Yan. For the sake of safety, Crazy Magic and Divine Flame were located in the far back of the group. At this moment, in a corner just a few meters away, four silhouettes leaped out of the shadows and pounced toward them.

Chapter 554 - Rivers of Blood

Crazy Magic and Divine Flame didn’t expect there to be others. They believed Nie Yan had only gotten in by relying on some special methods. With hundreds of thousands of players roaming the streets of the Edgarton Stronghold along with its tight security, sneaking in without being discovered should be impossible. However, so many Thieves had done just that right before their eyes. Didn’t that mean the Edgarton Stronghold’s defenses were as good as nothing?

Crazy Magic and Divine Flame reacted pretty quickly. Noticing the ambush, they immediately activated their various defensive skills. To their shock, their opponents were four Thieves widely renowned for their superior skills!

Crazy Magic raised his staff, preparing to cast an Anywhere Door to escape. About halfway into the two-second cast time, Sun interrupted him with Lock Down.

Sun closed in and sent a kick towards Crazy Magic.

With a wave of his staff, Crazy Magic quickly raised a thick ice wall in front of him.

「Bang!」Sun’s foot struck the ice wall.

The ice wall could only last two seconds before dissipating.

Sun pounced forward once more.

Crazy Magic turned around in an attempt to flee. Waving his staff, he cast Flame Bind, planning to immobilize Sun. However, just as he finished chanting the incantation, a sharp light flashed beside him.

"Shit!” Crazy Magic’s heart trembled. Getting ambushed while in the middle of casting a spell was fatal for a Mage.

Crazy Magic attempted to switch to another spell, only to feel a sharp pain at the back of his skull. His vision turned black as he lost consciousness.

A silhouette emerged behind Crazy Magic. It was One Strike Vow. When Crazy Magic’s view was obstructed by the ice wall, she had entered stealth and circled around to mount a sneak attack.

Sun evaded the Flame Bind and stabbed Crazy Magic in the throat with Pierce. At the same time, One Strike Vow followed up with Backstab.

Crazy Magic collapsed to the ground with a loud thud.

When Sun and One Strike Vow turned around, they discovered King of the World and Hapless Frog had already dispatched Divine Flame as well.

Even though both Crazy Magic and Divine Flame were skilled players, they were still lacking compared to Sun, King of the World, and the others. They wouldn’t even win in a normal one versus one situation, let alone in this two versus one. They had no chance of surviving.

"The boss died!”

Seeing the corpses of Crazy Magic and Divine Flame on the ground, the Alliance of Mages players had blank looks on their faces. Both guild leaders were dead. What were they going to do? Should they just run or continue fighting?

While the Alliance of Mages players were still recovering from their shock, Lil’ Gold spewed out a mouthful of Dragon Breath in their direction. The scorching hot flames instantly reduced three players to ashes.

"Run!”

"Dammit! The Golden Dragon is way too strong!”

The Alliance of Mages players scattered like terrified rats. At this moment, Nie Yan appeared behind one of the fleeing players and instantly cut them down with a swing of his blade.

Lil’ Gold slaughtered his way forward, while Nie Yan killed the few players scattering to the side. Leaving a trail of corpses behind them, more than 15 players lost their lives.

Sun, King of the World, One Strike Vow, and Hapless Frog immediately pounced on Maple Sky and the others.

Seeing the situation turning south, the Alliance of Mages players started escaping with Unknown Transfer Scrolls. Some didn’t even get a chance to activate their scrolls before they were cut down where they stood.

Several minutes later, apart from the large pile of corpses, the only ones remaining in the lobby were Nie Yan’s group of five and Lil’ Gold.

They collected the equipment dropped on the ground.

"Big Bro, are we going back now?” Sun asked.

Glancing at the corpses on the ground, a crazy idea popped into Nie Yan’s mind. "No. Since we took the time to come all the way here, we should make the most of it. Let’s slaughter our way out and make the Edgarton Stronghold run red with blood!

"I like that idea.” King of the World faintly smiled.

"You guys go out and have your fun. I’ll slaughter my way out with Lil’ Gold!” Nie Yan said. Thieves weren’t good at breaking through the enemy line, but they excelled at stealth and ambushes. He would be flipping that notion over on its head.

"We’ll do as you say, Boss! Even if we have to tread through hell and high water, we won’t hear a single complaint!” Hapless Frog shouted enthusiastically, caught up in the heat of the moment.

One Strike Vow crossed her arms and shook her head helplessly. Men really got fired up too easily. Since everyone else had decided, she would follow along too.

"Good! Then, listen to my orders,” Nie Yan said. He had a grand plan in his mind. Causing a huge stir in the Edgarton Stronghold was crucial to carrying it out. Killing Crazy Magic and Divine Flame wasn’t enough!

...

At this moment, Crazy Magic and Divine Flame revived from the graveyard.

"That fucking bastard Nirvana Flame!” Crazy Magic cursed with a gloomy face. They had no chance in hell of escaping from apex Thieves like Sun and King of the World.

"Do you think they’re still in the Edgarton Stronghold?” Divine Flame asked. At this point, the milk had already been spilled. Asskickers United would almost assuredly release a video of today’s events online, and their reputation would hit rock bottom. Killed within the walls of their own stronghold, their own guild headquarters, this was one of the most humiliating things they could suffer!

"They’re probably already gone,” Crazy Magic replied in a matter-of-fact tone. Since Nie Yan and company had accomplished their goal, there was no reason for them to stick around any longer. After all, this was still the heart of the enemy’s encampment, filled with hundreds of thousands of players. If he put the stronghold on lockdown, no matter how heaven-defying Nie Yan’s group was, they stood no chance of escaping.

Crazy Magic’s voice chat began ringing. After answering the call and hearing what was happening, his face distorted with a mixture of shock and rage.

"What happened?” Divine Flame asked.

"That son of a bitch is still in our guild headquarters! He really is looking down us!” Crazy Magic cursed. He immediately issued an order in the guild chat and began mobilizing the players of Alliance of Mages.

Divine Flame sank into deep thought. It appeared Nie Yan wasn’t satisfied with ending things at just that. Just how big of a commotion did he want to create in the Edgarton Stronghold?

Crazy Magic turned to Divine Flame. "Let’s go take a look together.”

Divine Flame nodded. This was already no longer the problem of only a single guild. If Alliance of Mages fell, Divine Protectors would be soon to follow!

The two rushed toward the guild headquarters.

...

At this moment, the Edgarton Stronghold had already descended into a state of chaos. Sun, King of the World, and the others were ambushing players left and right. It was almost as if a boogeyman were running around. They would silently emerge out of stealth, kill one or two players, then disappear as though they had never been there in the first place. Some players didn’t even know what killed them.

Many players watched in shock as their fellow guildmates were stunned right in front of them. By the time they reacted, these guildmates were already cold corpses on the ground, the perpetrators having long since vanished from sight.

Alliance of Mages’ casualties were rapidly accumulating, breaking through the 100 mark and surging towards 200.

Outside the guild headquarters, Lil’ God appeared out on the street in front of the Alliance of Mages players. This was a first-rate pet. Combined with the fact his level far exceeded that of ordinary players, Lil’ Gold immediately began carrying out a massacre.

Nie Yan climbed up to the top of a nearby tower on the street. He pulled out his Cavalry Crossbow and started sniping the players below, firing volley after volley of bolts while controlling Lil’ Gold.

The Alliance of Mages players on the street still didn’t understand what was going on.

"It’s Nirvana Flame’s Golden Dragon!”

"Why is it here of all places!?”

The players on the street descended into panic. Since it was too crowded, they were shoving and pushing past each other to escape.

Lil’ Gold spewed out his Dragon Breath at the most densely packed region of the crowd. Several dozen Alliance of Mages players were immediately transformed into rays of light.

"Everyone, spread out!”

However, with the street so crowded, how could they possibly spread out?

"Stop running! With so many of us here, we can definitely kill that Golden Dragon!”

"Kill the Golden Dragon! Warriors, quickly surround it!”

Nie Yan looked below. Several hundred players were gathering to deal with Lil’ Gold. He let out a cold chuckle, then passed down an order to Lil’ Gold.

Lil’ Gold chanted out a series of syllables in dragon tongue, then gaped his jaws wide and let out a deep roar.

Blazing fire elements began coalescing at an astonishing speed. Before long, a giant meteor appeared in the sky and started falling down. With a loud bang, it crashed into the ground, transforming everything within a 30-meter radius into a sea of flames.

Screams of agony rang out in the air as several hundred players were wiped out in an instant. Those who withstood the attack could be counted on one hand.

The faces of the surrounding players turned pale with fright. They started fleeing with all their might. How could they possibly summon up the courage to fight after witnessing such a horrifying site?

Nie Yan slaughtered the Alliance of Mages players without restraint.

Seeing Lil’ Gold rampaging in the distance, King of the World couldn’t help but sigh. "It seems like in the end we still can’t compare to Nie Yan’s pet. After so long, the four of us together have maybe killed 30 players. It instantly killed several hundred with just one AoE spell.”

"Of course,” Hapless Frog said.

At this moment, all the experts in the Edgarton Stronghold were converging on Nie Yan and the others. A group of 1,000 players emerged to the east. King of the World scaled to the top of a high building and spotted the them making their way over. Leading these players were Crazy Magic and Divine Flame.

「Crazy Magic and Divine Flame have brought their troops over. Be careful,」King of the World warned in voice chat. No matter how strong Lil’ Gold was, he couldn’t face 1,000 players at the same time.

「Noted.」Nie Yan nodded.

Crazy Magic and Divine Flame rushed over with more than 1,000 players. Seeing Lil’ Gold rampaging in the distance, Crazy Magic exploded with rage. Nirvana Flame was too unbridled! This was too much!

Seeing Crazy Magic and Divine Flame arrive, Nie Yan jumped off the tower. He was aiming big!

"Soda Water, take the troops and surround the Golden Dragon, Mages, get in position!” Crazy Magic shouted. This farce had gone on for long enough!

Chapter 555 - The Darkwing Dragon Takes the Stage

Even if Lil’ Gold was powerful, it was impossible for him to fend off so many charging Warriors, let alone while struck by a constant barrage of spells from the Mages in the rear.

No matter how strong Lil’ Gold was, it was impossible for him to defy the heavens.

Lil’ Gold spewed out a mouthful of Dragon Breath, transforming six Warriors into ash.

With a loud klang, more than 10 Warriors rammed ino Lil’ Gold.

Explosive Counter!

A whirlwind of power erupted around Lil’ Gold, sweeping the Warriors away.

"Everyone, stand your ground!” Soda Water shouted.「Klang!」He forced Lil’ Gold several meters back with a Shield Bash.

They were lacking too many people back in the guild headquarters. He wasn’t Lil’ Gold’s match and fled outside with a few others. Now that he had the backup of so many of his brothers, he wasn’t afraid of going toe-to-toe with Lil’ Gold.

Soda Water and the other Warriors locked down Lil’ Gold and finally got the situation under control. It would only take them a couple of minutes to kill Lil’ Gold.

"Everyone, spread out and search! Even if we have to go through every nook and cranny, I want you to find those bastards!” Crazy Magic shouted, his face warped with rage. By now his hatred had already seeped into his bones, wishing for nothing more than to flay Nie Yan’s skin and grind his bones to dust.

Once Crazy Magic issued this command, the tens of thousands of Alliance of Mages players sealed off the region and began inspecting every building.

The place was infested with Alliance of Mages players. Nie Yan evaded their detection and climbed up a 30-meter tall tower next to the plaza.

Before long, news of the attack on the Edgarton Stronghold spread like wildfire. The forums were filled with threads discussing this event.

「Nirvana Flame has really got some balls, daring to slaughter his way into the Edgarton Stronghold. That’s Alliance of Mages’ main base! I wonder how the battle is going right now?」

「I heard Asskickers United’s side only has five people. They’ve already killed more than 600 players. That’s insane!」

Someone posted up a video of Lil’ Gold massacring players in the Edgarton Stronghold online. Everyone who watched it was left speechless. Golden Dragons were really powerful! Owning a pet was no longer a rare thing, and research into them had gradually progressed. Many players had obtained some pretty powerful pets. Some tank-type pets even achieved over 10,000 health. However, none of these pets could hold a candle to Lil’ Gold. He was just as much of a freak as his master!

After Lil’ Gold’s fame skyrocketed, the guild leader of God Executioner Sword searched far and wide and expended a great deal of manpower and resources to obtain a Golden Dragon pup. However, despite his meticulous care in raising it, it failed to grow anywhere near as powerful as Lil’ Gold. The disparity was so great he started doubting whether Nie Yan’s pet was actually a Golden Dragon. This infuriated him so much that he felt the urge to slap his Golden Dragon pup to death. This useless thing had cost him the lives of 6,000 players!

The chaos in the Edgarton Stronghold attracted the attention of many players. All of them were tuned into the live streams, eager to see how the battle would conclude.

「The Golden Dragon can’t hold out for much longer. I guess this is far as it goes,」Many player deeply sighed.

Lil’ Gold might be extremely powerful, but it couldn’t withstand the onslaught of so many players.

The streets of the Edgarton Stronghold were already filled with corpses, strewn about all over the place.

The Warriors led by Soda Water charged into Lil’ Gold one after another, forcing him further and further back. Those killed by Explosive Counter would immediately have their spaces filled by the people behind them. The constant bombardment of magic from the rear also never subsided. Lil’ Gold’s health fell to just a little over 10,000. He could hold out for a bit longer, but he was already close to his limit.

「Big Brother, Lil’ Gold will die soon if we don’t do anything!」Sun cried out anxiously.

「Don’t worry. I’ve got everything under control,」Nie Yan chuckled. From the top of the tower, he could see the whole battlefield.

Seeing it was about time, Nie Yan chanted out an incantation to summon the Darkwing Dragon.

Seeing Lil’ Gold fall to red health, the Alliance of Mages players all grew excited.

"We’re almost there!”

"It’s almost dead!”

"Die!” Soda Water shouted. He swung his greatsword at Lil’ Gold again and again.

Miss!
Miss!
Miss!
...

Lil’ Gold’s Evasion was too high. Soda Water kept failing his execution, having been interrupted several times by Explosive Counter. Lil’ Gold’s combat strength was too frightening, especially Explosive Counter which gave him an endless headache. It was way too overpowered, activating almost continuously and dealing a ludicrous amount of damage.

What Soda Water and the others failed to realize was that Explosive Counter only had a certain chance of activating. Normally, it wasn’t that strong since its activation rate was too low. However, when so many Warriors from Alliance of Mages were surrounding and attacking Lil’ Gold at once, that’s when the skill really started displaying its might. More than 300 Warriors had died to Explosive Counter alone.

The best strategy to deal with Lil’ Gold was to have the Warriors simply defend and allowing the Mages in the back to bombard him with darkness-type magic.

Soda Water and the others had too little knowledge on Lil’ Gold. That’s why their losses were so great.

Just as everyone thought Lil’ Gold was about to fall, a deep dragon cry shook the entire Edgarton Stronghold.

A large shadow blotted out the sky, shrouding everyone in a veil of darkness.

"What’s going on!?”

A powerful gale blew past, nearly sweeping many players off their feet. When they looked up at the sky, a giant winged dragon entered their sights.

It was the Darkwing Dragon!

Most of the players from Alliance of Mages had already watched the videos of the battle in the Realm of Death and knew of the awe-inspiring might of the Darkwing Dragon. However, at the end of the day, a video was just a video. This time, they finally witnessed the Darkwing Dragon for themselves. With a wingspan of over 10 meters, as soon as it spread its wings, it would blot out the sun. The buildings in the stronghold were too close together, causing its mobility to be slightly restricted. Its flapping wings accidentally struck a nearby tower, causing the top half to collapse. The falling rocks fell on a crowd and instantly crushed several dozen players to death.

The Darkwing Dragon hovered in the sky for a while, like a hawk searching for its prey, before swooping down towards the ground.

"Run!”

"Get in the arrow towers! Use the siege crossbows to shoot it down!”

The players below scattered in a panic, abandoning any intention of fighting back. The Darkwing Dragon was too powerful. The disparity was too great. Any resistance would be futile. Only siege weapons could deal any real damage through its Divine-type armour!

The Darkwing Dragon dive-bombed a crowd, instantly killing a large swath of players.

A massacre was beginning. Another 600 Alliance of Mages players were torn to shreds by the claws of the Darkwing Dragon. Some players managed to make it out alive by escaping into narrow alleys.

The situation went out of control. The Darkwing Dragon’s sudden attack caused Alliance of Mages to descend into chaos. They had no effective method of fighting back.

"God fucking dammit!” Crazy Magic couldn’t help but curse after seeing the Darkwing Dragon wreaking havoc on his forces. He quickly fled to safety while issuing out commands at the same time. Suddenly, two figures emerged beside him. They were Sun and King of the World.

Sun and King of the World had been stalking Crazy Magic ever since he returned from the graveyard. The two hadn’t communicated with each other beforehand, but both chose the same moment to take action.

Crazy Magic only saw a silhouette flash by before he felt a sharp pain at both the front and back of his head and his vision went black. Sun and King of the World’s movements were too fast, not to mention it was a pincer attack, giving him no time at all to react.

Crazy Magic was assassinated yet again.

Noticing the spells barraging the Golden Dragon had suddenly stopped, the Warriors at the front started to panic. The Darkwing Dragon had caused their backline to scatter. There were corpses of more than 100 Mages scattered on the ground. The rest had already fled for their lives.

The Warriors were about to retreat, when Soda Water shouted, "Don’t retreat! Kill the Golden Dragon first! All of you bastards, fucking get back here!”

Soda Water understood that if they retreated now they would simply become fleeing targets. All their previous efforts would go to waste. The Golden Dragon only had a sliver of health left. They still had a chance!

Explosive Counter!

Explosive Counter!

Lil’ Gold struck down another six Warriors. His body was surrounded by piles of corpses.

The Warriors trembled in fear. These counterattacks were too frightening. Without the assistance of the Mages, their damage was too low. Lil’ Gold’s health was falling too slowly. If they wanted to kill him, another 60 lives would have to be sacrificed.

"Soda Water, let’s just retreat! The Darkwing Dragon is coming!” a Warrior shouted. They had already lost all will to fight. The amount of damage they were dealing to Lil’ Gold became even lower.

Seeing the Darkwing Dragon swooping down, Nie Yan leaped off the tower and landed on a roof. After getting in range, he started chanting the incantation to recall Lil’ Gold whose health had fallen to critical levels. You deserve a good rest.

The Alliance of Mages players manned the arrow towers one after another, locking down the air space around the Edgarton Stronghold. However, the range of the siege crossbows was limited. They had no way of hitting Lil’ Gold or the Darkwing Dragon.

「Boss, quickly recall Lil’ Gold and the Darkwing Dragon. Alliance of Mages brought out their catapults!」Hapless Frog warned. He had been acting as a lookout.

At the end of a distant street, three Armoured Catapults were slowly making their way over. A large group of players were escorting them.

After Crazy Magic died, he started issuing orders from the grave. He wouldn’t rest until he took down both Lil’ Gold and the Darkwing Dragon. It was quite dangerous to use Armoured Catapults inside a stronghold because the splash damage from their shells would destroy nearby buildings. However, Crazy Magic no longer cared. He was consumed with rage.

"Fucking bastard! You think your Darkwing Dragon is so great? I’d like to see it survive a shelling from my catapults!” Crazy Magic cried out hysterically.

Chapter 556 - Steamrolling

As the three Armoured Catapults gradually drew closer, Nie Yan became anxious. Siege weapons like these were the nemesis of pets and flying mounts.

The Armoured Catapults posed a great threat to Lil’ Gold and his Darkwing Dragon.

Nie Yan completed the incantation and recalled Lil’ Gold. The Armoured Catapults steadily continued and were now in range to fire at the Darkwing Dragon.

"Fire!” Crazy Magic shouted. Immediately 15 shells were launched into the air, whizzing towards the Darkwing Dragon.

Nie Yan hurriedly ordered the Darkwing Dragon to evade. With a flap of its wings, it dodged to the side.

A shower of shells rained down from the sky.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Six shells struck nearby buildings. They erupted into pillars of flames upon impact, transforming the district into ruins. A few others plummeted into the streets, carving man-sized craters out of the ground.

Only three shells struck the Darkwing Dragon and erupted in a fiery blaze. The Darkwing Dragon let out a pained cry as it was sent reeling backwards, chest and shoulders scorched black by the explosions. It had suffered light injuries. Afterwards, it appeared to show some fear toward the Armoured Catapults.

When the Armoured Catapults arrived, the players close to the Darkwing Dragon quickly fled for the nearby alleys to avoid getting caught up in the bombardment. However, many players were still killed by the splash damage.

"Keep advancing! Bury that Darkwing Dragon! Everyone, charge!” Crazy Magic shouted, pumping his fist in the air. The Armoured Catapults were effective against the Darkwing Dragon!

If they managed to kill Nie Yan’s Darkwing Dragon, all the suffering would’ve been worth it!

The Armoured Catapults pressed forward before launching another shower of shells into the air.

Seeing 15 shells whizzing towards the Darkwing Dragon, Nie Yan drew closer to it by leaping onto another roof and issued a command. The Darkwing Dragon flapped its wing and suddenly soared high into the air.

With a loud explosion, 15 shells fell over the Darkwing Dragon’s previous location. A giant 30-meter wide crater was carved out of the ground.

This was the frightening destruction power of catapults. If the Darkwing Dragon had been hit by all those shells, even if it didn’t die, it would only be barely clinging onto life.

The Darkwing Dragon specialized in aerial combat. If it swooped down from the air, very few players could survive its attacks. Once on the ground, however, it couldn’t display its full fighting strength and was especially vulnerable to artillery such as catapults.

"Looks like Alliance of Mages brought out their big guns. I guess it’s time to leave…” Nie Yan muttered. It would be a great loss if something happened to his Darkwing Dragon.

As the Darkwing Dragon took to the skies, Nie Yan leaped off the roof and onto its back. He then urged it to fly up even faster.

At this moment, several watchtowers in the vicinity all targeted the Darkwing Dragon. A hail of bolts rained down from the sky. Many of the bolts were knocked away by the Darkwing Dragon’s wings.

Several dozen bolts struck the Darkwing Dragon, letting out dinging sounds as they bounced off its scales, like darts striking a metal plate.

The distance was too great. These bolts had already lost all their killing power.

Nie Yan glanced down. Crazy Magic and the rest of the Alliance of Mages players were becoming smaller and smaller. Here, high in the sky, very few things could threaten his Darkwing Dragon.

"I’d love to stay longer, but I’ve gotta fly!” Nie Yan chuckled. Alliance of Mages had suffered a heavy blow this time around. Once he got what he wanted, he would run off. This was his style.

Seeing the Darkwing Dragon leaving the range of the Armoured Catapults and disappearing into the horizon, Crazy Magic was so infuriated he had the urge to strangle someone to death. Nie Yan still escaped in the end!

「Sun, King of the World, you all can return home,」Nie Yan said. It was about time they retreated from the Edgarton Stronghold.

After killing a few more Alliance of Mages players, Sun, King of the World, One Strike Vow, and Hapless Frog activated their Unknown Transfer Scrolls and teleported away.

They each safely departed, leaving behind their own trails of havoc.

News of Nie Yan, Sun, and the others safely escaping the Edgarton Stronghold was immediately reported in the guild chat. Only then did the players of Asskickers United breathe a sigh of relief.

Before long, word of the massacre in the Edgarton Stronghold as well as the escape of Nie Yan’s group spread to every corner of the Viridian Empire. Bolded posts with over the top titles started flooding the forums.

「The God of War Descends - Nirvana Flame’s Massacre!」

「Alliance of Mages Absolutely Crushed!」

「Alliance of Mages’ Greatest Humiliation - Slaughtered in the Edgarton Stronghold!」

...

Similar posts could be found all over the internet. This was an inerasable disgrace for Alliance of Mages. The videos going viral were difficult for them to bear. They had suffered more than 1,300 casualties, the leader of an allied guild was killed while staying as a guest, and their own guild leader was killed twice! Had this occurred in the wilderness, no one would’ve batted an eye. However, it had happened within the Edgarton Stronghold! Nie Yan had practically waltzed into their most fortified base like it was his own home. On top of this, after killing so many of their people, he left without so much as a scratch!

The videos were irrefutable evidence. There was nothing Alliance of Mages could do to defend themselves.

Everyone could see the reality of things. Even if Alliance of Mages had the numbers advantage, their players were far too lacking. On the other hand, Asskickers United was filled with 1 in 1,000 talents. Leaving aside players like Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Undying Scoundrel, focusing on just the five people that showed up today, could Alliance of Mages or Divine Protectors find a single Thief that rivalled any one of them?

This was an intrinsic difference. Any expert could handle a much larger force without issue, like how King of the World assassinated more than 1,000 Bloodlust Blades players back then. No one could estimate the true strength of Asskickers United’s 60,000 players. Along the same line, no one could tell how many of the 700,000 players from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were there just to pad the numbers.

Players couldn’t help but wonder. A guild’s strength couldn’t be determined solely on numbers.

Alliance of Mages’ reputation was already tainted. The Edgarton Stronghold had become a symbol of reputation that could never be forgotten, to the extent that everyone was starting to doubt their strength. Even their own players were becoming pessimistic. Morale was at an all time low.

Crazy Magic grew fretful after learning about this situation. However, there was nothing he could do to resolve the problem.

Asskickers United seized the opportunity with both hands. A day later, their forces arrived outside the Dannels Stronghold of Alliance of Mages. The 60,000 strong army pressed forward, bombarding the outer walls with the Armoured Ice Catapults. The 100,000 Alliance of Mages players inside adopted a turtle strategy, afraid to take a single step outside. The might of the 15 Armoured Ice Catapults left them trembling in fear. This was undoubtedly enough firepower to level a whole city. They could hear the walls shaking and moaning under the intense barrage.

Alliance of Mages was vexed to no end. All they could do was passively defend while their stronghold was being destroyed. They were allowing the enemy to step all over them.

Asskickers United’s forces were led by Paladin of the Elegy. He was a natural at commanding an army. Under his leadership, the Dannels Stronghold’s walls finally collapsed after two hours.

Seeing the large breach in the walls, Asskickers United could freely charge in. However, Smoke Stub took his time. He had the Armoured Ice Catapults advance forward bit by bit. A few hours later, both the walls and the arrow towers were flattened to the ground. Only then did Asskickers United’s forces marched inside. They completely swept through the stronghold, giving the Alliance of Mages players no chance of fighting back.

This kind of long range artillery bombardment was the most difficult to defend against. Alliance of Mages ate a heavy loss.

Seven hours later, the Dannels Stronghold was razed to the ground, leaving nothing behind but ruins. None of the shops or buildings were spared, and one quarter of the walls were destroyed. When the number of casualties rose past 10,000, the remaining Alliance of Mages players all fled through the stronghold’s transfer point.

This was an overwhelming victory for Asskickers United. Apart from a few unlucky fellows who were killed by a stray bolt, their side basically suffered no losses. Their casualties were only in the double digits.

After felling the Dannels Stronghold, Asskickers United’s players grew even more emboldened. They escorted the 15 Armoured Catapults to the next stronghold.

Asskickers United’s army was like a tsunami, sweeping through everything in its path. The forces of Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors made repeated attempts to intercept them mid-journey, but they were quickly sent packing by the Armoured Ice Catapults.

Everything was progressing smoothly. Nie Yan closely monitored the situation on that side while also directing the overall war. He mobilized the forces of Holy Empire, the War God Tribe, and the other guilds to put pressure on several of Alliance of Mages’ strongholds.

Alliance of Mages had 21 strongholds altogether, five of which were relinquished to Asskickers United. One was destroyed. Another three were currently being besieged. All of Moonlight City was embroiled in war.

Alliance of Mages was gradually losing ground. Despite being greatly outnumbered, Asskickers United were sweeping through everything like a hot knife through butter. In these types of large scale wars, morale was everything.

「Has there been any movement from Alliance of Mages?」Nie Yan asked. Asskickers United’s forces had already arrived at their front steps. They couldn't stay on the passive forever. They were definitely planning to retaliate.

「Alliance of Mages are pulling back their forces into the Edgarton Stronghold. It seems like that’s where they’re planning to make their last stand!」Guo Huai said. Looking over the data, he seemed confident about their chances of victory.

Chapter 557 - The First Batch To Leave

The campaign in Moonlight City was advancing smoothly. Meanwhile, Nie Yan used all sorts of methods to amass more wealth. He wanted to ensure the guild wouldn’t run short on funds while at war.

During this time, Guo Huai sent word that several members wanted to leave the guild. The withdrawal form required Nie Yan to sign off on, so Guo Huai contacted him.

「Who wants to leave the guild?」Nie Yan asked in alarm. This was the first time Asskickers United players had requested to withdraw from the guild. The previous time with Smoke Stub didn’t count since something had come up.

「Sesame Cake and five others,」Guo Huai replied with a heavy heart. Among the second-rate players in Asskickers United, they ranked among the top. They had been with the guild since the beginning and were slowly nurtured up. So, their request to leave was especially hard to swallow.

Nie Yan was familiar with Sesame Cake, a long standing member of the guild. He had once asked Sesame Cake to help him take care of Zhai Hao and his other friends from school.「Where are they right now?」He had already guessed what was going on. Likely, Sesame Cake and the others had been approached by the Century Financial Group with an offer they couldn’t resist. Under the allure of money and other benefits, those blinded by greed would naturally gravitate toward leaving.

If Nie Yan agreed to sign the form, they could leave the guild without any burden. If Nie Yan refused to sign the form, they would leave anyway. As for the penalty, with a behemoth like the Century Financial Group backing them, they wouldn’t care about such a little amount of money.

「The Cripps Stronghold guild headquarters,」Guo Huai replied. He was still trying to convince them to reconsider.

「I’ll be right there.」Nie Yan dropped everything he was doing and headed for the Cripps Stronghold.

About 10 minutes later, Nie Yan arrived outside of the guild headquarters. As he headed inside, he could hear people chattering up ahead. About 30 or so players were gathered in the lobby. Guo Huai was talking with Sesame Cake and several others.

"Sesame Cake, tell me. Ever since you’ve joined the guild, have we ever done you wrong? If we have, please tell me, so I can make it right,” Guo Huai said.

"Executive Guild Leader, after following you and Nirvana Flame for so long, we’ve never once felt we’ve been mistreated. However, everyone has their own ambitions. I hope we part amicably today,” Sesame Cake said in a somewhat ashamed tone.

"Sesame Cake, when I first joined Asskickers United, it was you who helped guide me. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be where I am today. All of us brothers want you to stay,” Zhai Hao chimed in from the side.

Sesame Cake let out a deep sigh. "Brother, I’ve carved your feelings deep into my heart. I’ve let you all down. But we simply can’t stay in Asskickers United. Nothing lasts forever. Even if we part ways, we’ll still be brothers in the future…” Speaking to this point, he felt a pang of guilt in his heart. He had already signed the contract with the Century Financial Group. They had offered him sixfold what he was earning at Asskickers United. Even though he also didn’t wish to leave, for the sake of securing a better future for himself and his family, he had to make this choice. This money was extremely important to him.

The other five players beside Sesame Cake also had looks of shame on their faces. They couldn’t even look their comrades in the eyes.

"Think about how much the boss and Bladelight helped you in the past. Now that you can stand on your own and made a bit of a name for yourself, the first thing you do is leave the guild? This is how you’re going to repay them!? Old Yu, you ungrateful bastard!” A Warrior rushed up to a Thief in Sesame Cake’s group and grabbed him by the collar before he was pulled away by his companions.

"Luo Fei, forget it. Everyone has their own path!” a player comforted.

Having stayed silent with his head lowered this whole time, Old Yu shook his head and finally opened his mouth, "No, he’s right. I’ve let both the boss and Bladelight down.”

"If you turn back now, I, Luo Fei, will still call you a brother. If you leave the guild today, don’t blame me for killing you on sight the next time we meet!”

Hearing Luo Fei’s cursing, Old Yu kept his head down without speaking. His heart was filled with guilt and shame.

Seeing Old Yu still not saying anything, Luo Fei continued, "I see, you have your eyes set on leaving the guild. Fine! Don’t blame for being blunt in the future!”

A ruckus broke out in the lobby. Nie Yan understood that Sesame Cake and the others were only the first batch of people to leave the guild. They definitely wouldn’t be the last. In the future, even more people would be poached away. If he didn’t handle this matter appropriately, it would have a negative impact on the future of Asskickers United.

"The boss is here!” a player shouted.

"Boss!”

Seeing Nie Yan arrive, the players stepped aside.

Nie Yan walked over to Sesame Cake’s group.

After seeing Nie Yan, Sesame Cake lowered his head. He still held Nie Yan in high regard. He didn’t dare to show the slightest disprect. At this moment, he didn’t have the courage to look Nie Yan in the eyes. He was a traitor to the guild.

Sesame Cake was already waiting for Nie Yan to rain down a barrage of curses on him. Only like this would he feel a little less guilty about leaving. The other five players were also thinking roughly along the same lines.

However, contrary to their expectations, Nie Yan didn’t curse at them. Instead, he broke out into a faint smile.

"Sesame Cake, I remember when you first entered Asskickers United, you were scolded by me quite a few times. Today, you’re leaving. You won’t resent me for those times, will you?” Nie Yan chuckled.

Sesame Cake vigorously shook his head. "Of course not!”

"Old Yu, you’re one of the few people that has been with the guild since the very beginning. I still remember when we were surrounded by Victorious Return. You died more than 10 times, but you also took out more than 20 enemies,” Nie Yan said, reminiscing the past.

Old Yu’s eye brimmed with tears as he nodded.

Nie Yan turned to the remaining four. "Melon Seed, Dime, Old Lin, Old Liu, you guys have also been with me for quite some time. It seems I’ve let you all down. There’s nothing this useless leader of yours can do to repent.” He deeply sighed. These words came from his heart. He understood these guild members also weren’t having it easy.

"No, Boss! You’re wrong! It’s us who’ve let you—no, the entire guild!”

"You guys surely have compelling reasons for leaving the guild, that much I can understand. People seek out higher lands while water flows downstream. I won’t make things difficult for you. As members of Asskickers United, I’ve always treated you as my brothers. If you want to leave, I won’t stop you. It’s a pity I don’t have farewell gifts prepared. You guys can head to the guild treasury and pick a few pieces of equipment. From now on, we’ll be going our separate ways. We can no longer be brothers. The six of you, take care.” Nie Yan patted Sesame Cake’s shoulder.

Hearing Nie Yan’s words. Sesame Cake and the other five were choking with tears.

"Boss, I’m sorry!” Sesame Cake wiped his tears before bowing deeply to Nie Yan.

"Sesame Cake, Old Yu, take care,” a Warrior in the crowd shouted.

"Take care!” the other Asskickers United players shouted one after another. Some of their voices were filled with helplessness while others deeply sighed.

After all, these were guildmates they had run dungeons and fought together on the battlefield with. Everyone was sad to see them go.

Sesame Cake deeply bowed to the other Asskickers United players. His vision was already blurred with tears. "All of you, take care!”

Only now did Sesame Cake become aware of the deep sense of comradery he shared with the players of Asskickers United. He felt like he had made a dreadful mistake. However, it was already too late to take it back. The other five felt the same.

Nie Yan signed off on the withdrawal forms of Sesame Cake and the other five. With that, their departures from the guild was official.

As Sesame Cake and the others handed over their guild emblems, which had stuck with them ever since they joined Asskickers United, they were struck with a deep sense of loss, though a large hole was carved out of their hearts.

Sesame Cake, Old Yu, Melon Seed… All six of them were no longer affiliated to Asskickers United.

They recalled Nie Yan’s previous words. Only now did they understand the old adage, "As anxious as a stray dog.” After leaving Asskickers United, they had lost both a patron and the trust they’d built up.

They could never return to Asskickers United. Sesame Cake wanted to find a corner to hide in and bawl his eyes out. The cheeks of the other five were also streaming with tears.

Nie Yan endured the sorrow in his heart. He turned to Zhai Hao and said, "You escort them out. If they want, head to the guild treasury and pick out a few pieces of good equipment for them.”

"Alright.” Zhai Hao nodded. "Sesame Cake, I’ll send you guys out.”

"Brother, I…” Sesame Cake wanted to say something, but the words wouldn’t come out of his mouth.

Zhai Hao shook his head. "That’s enough, let’s go. In the future, don’t address me like that.”

Sesame Cake felt a sharp pain in his heart. From this day forward, the word "brother” would forever ring hollow. Thinking of the contract he signed with the Century Financial Group, he was filled with a deep sense of shame and regret. He had really been a fool. Asskickers United’s salary was already quite generous, even if it couldn’t compete with the Century Financial Group’s. Nie Yan had never mistreated them.

Watching Zhai Hao send Sesame Cake and the others off, everyone was in low spirits.

Nie Yan turned to the crowd. "If they want to leave, let them. Our guild still has many brothers. All of you, cheer up! After defeating Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors, we’ll take down Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group too! Our journey is only just beginning! I don’t recall Asskickers United being filled with a bunch of sad mopes!”

"The boss is right! We still have many brothers!”

The players felt their spirits lifted back up.

Nie Yan turned to Guo Huai. "We’ll have to hurry up. Our opponent this time isn’t so easy to deal with.” The Century FInancial Group was already at their doorsteps. It was crucial for them to come up with countermeasures.

Guo Huai nodded with a solemn expression. Just how many Asskickers United players had already made contact with the Century Financial Group. Would similar events soon become the norm?

Chapter 558 - Conspiracy!

Nie Yan knew it was impossible to compete with the Century Financial Group in terms of capital. Seeing which side was wealthier? What a joke!

Given the financial resources of Asskickers United, at about ¥20,000 a month the salaries of second-rate players like Sesame Cake was already fairly generous. Any higher, and the guild would go under. For the Century Financial Group to offer sixfold, that was basically brute forcing their way to victory with money. Even first-rate players could barely command such a salary. For Cao Xu to spend this on Sesame Cake and the others, would it be a good return on investment?

In other words, the Century Financial Group would be taking a loss for every member poached from Asskickers United.

Imagine how many experts Nie Yan could pull to his side with that kind money!

The Century Financial Group was purposefully doing this to Asskickers United, knowing full well they were taking a loss. However, they didn’t care. The one thing they weren’t short on was money!

"The Century Financial Group wants to dig at our walls? Fine, I’ll let them dig to their heart's content!” Nie Yan turned to Guo Huai. "Using my name, release this announcement throughout all of Calore: Asskickers United will be opening up recruitment for 40,000 new members, expanding from 60,000 to 100,000 players! Loosen some of our requirements. We’ll begin selections immediately!”

After hearing Nie Yan’s words, Guo Huai pondered for a moment before cracking a faint smile, "Not a bad idea. If the Century Financial Group is poaching our players, we’ll just replenish them back. Let’s see how long they can keep this going for.”

Nie Yan understood the new recruits wouldn’t necessarily match Asskickers United’s old members in quality. However, there were bound to be some good seedlings among them. If he found them within the herd, he could replenish the guild’s lost talent.

At the same time, Nie Yan increased the benefits of Asskickers United’s players once more. Their profits saw a good boost after the acquisition of Alliance of Mages’ strongholds.

After Sesame Cake and the others left, Asskickers United quickly settled back down.

Asskickers United’s army was making steady progress under Paladin of the Elegy’s command. After taking down two strongholds in a row without much trouble, they continued on to the third.

Crazy Magic could only look on helplessly as Asskickers United razed stronghold after stronghold to the ground, having no choice to but give them up. He gathered all their strength in the Edgarton Stronghold, preparing for a final showdown.

On the other hand, Nie Yan appeared to be in no rush to end the war. They took their time demolishing Alliance of Mages’ strongholds, one by one. Moonlight City was home to at least a dozen second-rate guilds. With Asskickers United and Alliance of Mages at war with each other, they took their spots on the sidelines and simply observed. However, if Asskickers United showed the slightest inkling of wanting to expand permanently into Moonlight City, they would immediately band together to resist. Asskickers United currently lacked the manpower, resources, as well as logistical strength required to take over Moonlight City. So, Nie Yan felt they would be better off razing the extra strongholds they conquered to the ground first. Then, when they grew powerful enough to take over Moonlight City, he would rebuild them.

Every stronghold Asskickers United’s army passed through would be left in ruins.

As the war progressed, the number of Armoured Ice Catapults on the side of Asskickers United continously increased, going from 15 to 19. Furthermore, another five were on their way thanks to the hard work of their Engineers.

Alliance of Mages’ fate was destined to be tragic. The longer the war dragged out, the more they were forced on the defensive. However, having a final showdown with Asskickers United on an open battlefield was practically suicide. The enemy had a total of 19 Armoured Ice Catapults. This was no joking matter! No matter how large of a force you threw at that, they would only be cannon fodder.

Witnessing the military power of Asskickers United in action, every guild in the Viridian Empire frantically started researching various ways to deal with Armoured Ice Catapults. Alliance of Mages was naturally no exception. However, in this kind of situation, they were merely grasping at straws.

It would take another two or three days to finish razing Alliance of Mages’ remaining strongholds. As long as nothing unexpected occured during this time, victory was assured. Nie Yan could even spare time to go out and level.

The Century Financial Group was becoming a lot more active in Calore. They repeatedly made contact with players from Asskickers United, enticing them with offers of bountiful riches.

Few could resist the temptation of money and quietly withdrew from the guild one by one. By now, over 100 players had left. Thankfully, none of them were first-rate players. They didn’t have that deep of a bond with the guild in the first place, their positions were quite low, nor were their salaries high. If they went over to the Century Financial Group, they would receive even better benefits. They had no reason to refuse.

Nie Yan wasn’t too bothered with these nobodies who didn’t contribute much to the guild leaving.

Nie Yan tried his best to keep this information suppressed since it would lead to unnecessary panic. On the other hand, the Century Financial Group was continuously going around bragging about their poaching. The players of Asskickers United were of course skeptical. However, since Guo Huai and the other higher ups never gave confirmation, they simply chose to treat it as fake news.

During this time, Nie Yan received word from Guo Huai that Li Rui had made contact with people from the Century Financial Group.

「I think Li Rui is unreliable. Last time when he was looking for you, I tried asking him what it was about, but he acted all dodgy. Recently, he’s been meeting up with people from the Century Financial Group on more than one occasion,」Guo Huai voiced his misgivings. His impression of Li Rui wasn’t that good. Li Rui, Zhai Hao, and Liu Xuchen had all joined Asskickers United at the same time. Zhai Hao and Liu Xuchen quickly rose up the ranks while Li Rui was still stuck as a junior captain. He surely felt some dissatisfaction with the way he was treated in the guild.

Hearing Guo Huai’s words, Nie Yan simply chuckled.「I believe in Li Rui. He isn’t that kind of person. He wouldn’t betray Asskickers United.」Li Rui was his brother in two lifetimes. He was quite familiar with Li Rui’s personality.

「If it was really like that, he would’ve directly refused the Century Financial Group. Why would he keep making contact with their people? Als—」

「Enough. If Li Rui really betrayed us, I’m afraid only a handful of people in the entire guild can be trusted.」Nie Yan declared.

「Fine… I only hope you’re right,」Guo Huai helplessly said.

...

The Enross Tavern in the central plaza of Calore, this place contained many private booths which provided players a way to chat in secret.

Li Rui was one of the few Asskickers United players tasked with staying behind in Calore. Things over at Moonlight City were hectic, but his life was as easy-going as ever, to the extent that he could come to a teahouse to chat and drink. He was a nobody in the guild anyway. Zhai Hao and Liu Xuchen had risen to high-ranking positions while he was still the same as before, muddling around aimlessly and passing his days in boredom.

Li Rui stepped into the Enross Tavern and scanned around. A few players were chatting around and having a few drinks. After confirming there was no one suspicious, he entered a private booth.

"You’re here! Welcome! Welcome!” Several players in the room stood up and warmly greeted Li Rui. They were all people of the Century Financial Group. Based on their casual attire and lack of identifying emblem, though, no one would be the wiser.

"Hello,” Li Rui greeted in a humble tone, sweeping his gaze over the faces of these people.

"So, have you thought over what we talked about last time? If you’re willing to become an informant for the Century Financial Group and provide intelligence on Nirvana Flame, even offering you tenfold won’t be an issue, maybe more depending on the value of the information,” a Mage in gray robes said.

"We’ve already worked together a couple of times now. You’ve also received quite a bit of money from us. So, why not make things official. I trust you don’t want this whole affair being announced to the public, right?” a small-headed, rat-eyed looking Priest said.

"Are you threatening me?” Li Rui glared at the Priest.

The Priest chuckled. "I’m just joking around. We won’t sell you out. In any case, if you become our informant, everyone wins. We get the intelligence we want, and you get to earn big. What more could you want?”

"Right! Think about it carefully,” the Mage chimed in.

Li Rui hesitated for a moment, then gazed at the two players, "You guys will guarantee my safety?”

The Priest and Mage glanced at each other before turning back to Li Rui with faces full of smiles. "Of course, no problem! If worst comes to worst, just leave Asskickers United.”

Seeing their expressions, Li Rui inwardly snorted. Their replies might sound straightforward now, sure. But the moment he left Asskickers United, the Century Financial Group wouldn’t hesitate to throw him aside like a used rag.

"Fine. If I provide useful information, you’ll have to pay me extra,” Li Rui said.

"Of course, of course! That won’t be a problem!”

Li Rui had previously provided them quite a bit of useful information, some of which had a hand in the Century Financial Group successfully poaching Sesame Cake. That’s why they trusted him. After going back and forth a few more times, he signed a contract with them. They chatted for another 10 minutes before he put his cloak back on and left. The people from the Century Financial Group also quietly left. It was almost as if this meeting never took place.

After leaving the Enross Tavern, Li Rui contacted Guo Huai again.

「What is it?」Guo Huai asked in an annoyed tone. He just received a report that Li Rui was seen meeting with people from the Century Financial Group in the Enross Tavern a moment ago.

「Executive Guild Leader, is Nirvana Flame free? I want to meet him,」Li Rui asked in a sincere tone.

「He—」Guo Huai was just about to say Nie Yan was too busy. However, he changed his mind and said,「He’s at the Central Auction House in Calore. I’ll have him get in touch with you.」

「Thank you very much,」Li Rui said in a grateful tone.

Chapter 559 - The Century Financial Group’s Assets!

Nie Yan’s mind trembled when Guo Huai informed him that Li Rui wanted to meet up. It appeared Li Rui had something important to tell him. Unfortunately when Li Rui came to him last time, he had no time.

Nie Yan contacted Li Rui.「Where are you right now? I’ll come to you.」

「I feel like I’m being watched. I think it’s better if we don’t meet up and just talk through private chat. Guild Leader, I have some important matters to talk to you about,」Li Rui said in a prudent tone.

「Don’t be a stranger. We’re classmates! Just call me Nie Yan like usual,」Nie Yan said. He had always viewed Li Rui as a close friend of his. In the previous timeline, he shared a deep bond with Li Rui, Zhai Hao, and Li Xuchen. Even if their current positions were worlds apart in this life, he wished for their friendship to be exactly the same.

「Something has been nagging at the back of my mind for quite some time now, and I hope you can clear my doubts. You gave me, Zhai Hao, and Liu Xuchen the opportunity to join Asskickers United, and for that I’m really grateful. I’m aware I’m not as talented as Zhai Hao and Liu Xuchen. I can only amount to a run-of-the-mill junior captain at best, that much I recognize. I’m not great at running dungeons, nor am I an expert at PvP. I also know that people like the executive guild leader don’t have a favourable opinion of me. That’s not a problem. What I wanted to know is... how do you view me?」Li Rui asked. Nie Yan’s answer would decide everything.

Nie Yan simply chuckled.「Conviction is just a game. Everyone has something they’re good at. Some people are good at the game. Some people aren’t. That’s normal. Asskickers United has an ironclad rule. Everything has to be earned. You can’t favour some people over others. I’m really happy that Zhai Hao and Liu Xuchen were able to rise to the top of the rankings with their own strength. As for you not being able to, I also understand. At the end of the day, though, this is still just a game. You, Zhai Hao, and Liu Xuchen are equal in my eyes. You’re my fellow classmates and some of my closest friends.」

Nie Yan confidently spoke from his heart. The reason his faith in Li Rui was so unwavering was that he had a deep understanding of Li Rui’s personality. This was because of the close friendship they shared for more than eight years in his past life. So, when Guo Huai informed him that there was a possibility Li Rui had betrayed Asskickers United, he’d sooner believe that pigs could fly.

「With those words, I’m satisfied. Honestly, being a junior captain isn’t all that bad,」Li Rui chuckled. He was deeply moved.「Here, I have something for you.」He sent over a document to Nie Yan.

「What is this?」

「It’s data I’ve collected from the Century Financial Group. It might be useful to you. I also have to apologize for something. Sesame Cake and the others leaving was due to me. After I found out they weren’t satisfied with their salary here in Asskickers United, the Century Financial Group had me persuade them with all my power. I was left with no other choice if I wanted to gain their trust. Still, I didn’t expect for things to end up like this,」Li Rui explained.

「Its fine. Those who want to leave will eventually end up doing so anyway. There’s nothing you can do about it. I don’t blame you, don’t worry,」Nie Yan said. Glancing at the document Li Rui sent over, he was flabbergasted. It contained incredibly sensitive and difficult to obtain information. He had no idea how Li Rui got his hands on something like this.

「If you put it like that, I don’t feel as guilty. Thanks.」

「Where did you get this information from?」Nie Yan asked. The more he looked at it, the greater his shock.

「A few guys I know work as higher-ups at the Century Financial Group. I got this information from them. I hope it’ll be of use to you,」Li Rui said. Hearing Nie Yan’s elated tone, he was happy his efforts hadn’t gone to waste.

As Nie Yan continued looking over the document, many of his doubts were cleared. Much of the information contained inside was never revealed in his past life. Furthermore, all of the Century Financial Group’s activities related to Asskickers United were described here.

Until now, everything he knew about the Century Financial Group was only what they showed him. Anything more was covered by a dense layer of fog. He knew they were strong. As for exactly how strong, that was difficult to say. However, this document removed all the guesswork. Everything about the inner workings of the Century Financial Group was laid out here.

The document was well organized. Important bits of information were divided and bolded. One could tell at a glance that it was written with great care and attention to detail.

Nie Yan had no doubt in his mind that Li Rui would do well working in the intelligence department. He seemed to have a knack for this kind of thing.

From the document, Nie Yan learned, that amongst other things, the Century Financial Group had a total of 11 auction houses, 51 properties, and 20 large shops spread out across multiple cities, such as Blaze City and Moonlight City. The exact revenue of these businesses was unknown. Everyone already knew they controlled Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. In fact, aside from those two, they also controlled 16 other guilds. They really couldn’t be underestimated. Lastly, they also owned two gold farming organizations, both over 100,000 players in size, which provided them a ludicrous amount of gold every day.

These were only the Century Financial Group’s operations in the Viridian Empire. As far back as the defeat of Victorious Return and failed acqusition of Asskickers United, they had started shifting most of their financial resources to the Satreen Empire. They controlled a significant portion of Angel Corps, allowing them to influence the decisions of the guild. Furthermore, they had another 30 guilds under them, both large and small, whose total strength couldn’t be estimated. The number of assets they owned in the Satreen Empire was comparably fewer, a total of five auction houses, 20 properties, and three 100,000-man strong gold farming organisations.

As for how much gold the Century Financial Group raked in every day, Nie Yan had no way of estimating. The extent of their strength shook him to the core. The fact that they could take over the entire Viridian Empire back then wasn’t without reason!

「This information changes everything. Truly, I can’t thank you enough, Li Rui,」Nie Yan said.

「It’s no problem. Also, this is just something I heard. I’m not sure if it’s true, but recently a financial group from South America has been putting a lot of pressure on the Century Financial Group. After entering Conviction, they started recruiting people like mad. So far, they already have six gold farming organisations and a large amount of shops across the Viridian and Satreen Empires. They’re rapidly accumulating power but are operating in the shadows. Barely anything is known about them. Besides that, there’s also several other powers, I’m not sure about their movements, but they’ve been aggressively expanding into the Century Financial Group’s market. I can’t confirm this information for myself. It’s just something I heard in passing from the Century Financial Group’s people,」Li Rui said. His source of intelligence was limited. He had no way of confirming this rumour.

South America? Nie Yan raised an eyebrow. He suddenly recalled a certain someone, Qin Han who had offered a toast to him in the classroom during graduation day. That fellow said he would be entering Conviction. With all these new powers entering the game, it seemed like the future of the Viridian and Satreen Empires would be anything but dull.

「In order to gain the Century Financial Group’s trust, I provided them with some non-vital information. I received a total of 160,000 gold and some money for it. I had Zhai Hao deposit everything into the treasury,」Li Rui said. The things that didn’t belong to him, he wouldn’t take.

「Take the money for yourself. Perhaps it’ll come in handy. Just treat it as a budget to fund your intelligence gathering.」Nie Yan smiled. Li Rui had definitely put in a lot of effort to obtain this information. He couldn’t shortchange him.

「This, how is this okay? If I take this money, I’ll have really become a spy for the Century Financial Group,」Li Rui chuckled, tactfully declining.

Nie Yan chuckled. Li Rui was the same in his past life. He hadn’t changed one bit.「How about this? From today onward, you’ll be helping Guo Huai with gathering intelligence for the guild.」

「Wait, what? That’s definitely not a good id—」

「Well, it’s okay with me. So, it’s decided. I’ll let Guo Huai know,」Nie Yan said.

Learning that Nie Yan wanted to have Li Rui join him in overseeing the intelligence department, Guo Huai voiced his adamant disapproval. However, after seeing the document that Li Rui provided, he was completely floored. Even with the combined effort of Asskickers United’s entire intelligence network, they couldn’t obtain information as detailed as this, especially since this was concerning the Century Financial Group. This organization was too secretive, which was why Nie Yan and the others hadn’t obtained any concrete information on them until today. He didn’t expect it to be obtained by Li Rui of all people, not to mention the information was authentic at a glance.

「Are you sure he's trustworthy? Could this be a plot by the Century Financial Group, using this information to access our inner circle?」Guo Huai voiced the doubts in his hearts. He still couldn’t let go of his suspicions against Li Rui.

「I trust him,」Nie Yan said with absolute confidence. Guo Huai’s doubts weren’t without merit. However, they were mostly unfounded. Many things contained in this document were extremely disadvantageous to the Century Financial Group, to the extent of threatening their foundation. If it was really to allow Li Rui to infiltrate Asskickers United’s inner circle, they would never allow such information to be leaked. They would be better off spending some money to find a spy.

「Since you trust him that much, I won’t say anything else. I’ll trust in your judgement as well. From now on, I won’t doubt him anymore either. Send him my apologies. Before, I held some prejudice against him, so my attitude toward him wasn’t great,」Guo Huai said. Li Rui would soon become a fellow colleague in the same field of work. So goes the saying, "Trust those you work with. Suspect those who don’t.” If he still continued suspecting Li Rui after this, the intelligence department might as well cease operations.

Nie Yan passed on Guo Huai’s words. Li Rui graciously accepted the apology. The two had fairly agreeable personalities. He trusted they would get along just fine. After saying a few words, he left Li Rui in Guo Huai’s care. If they ever ended up getting into an argument, he could still mediate.

Guo Huai picked out a few useful pieces of information from Li Rui’s document. Starting now, Asskickers United would be launching their counterattack against the Century Financial Group, from impeding their activities to targeting their key businesses. All sorts of plans were set into motion.

Chapter 560 - Wish Necklace

The Century Financial Group had many channels of income. The various gaming organizations, shops, and auction houses flying their banner brought in a large amount of revenue every day. Afterwards, they would use this gold to expand their strength, bringing countless guilds under their rule and reducing them to lackeys.

Asskickers United’s appearance had thrwarted the Century Financial Group’s business plan, nearly ruining their carefully crafted operations in the Viridian Empire. Otherwise, they would’ve been even more powerful in Conviction.

Even so, the Century Financial Group was still a behemoth-like existence.

The Century Financial Group had many tricks up their sleeves, employing various financing and reselling schemes to accumulate vast amounts of wealth. With the support of their almost limitless capital, they claimed success in all of their business ventures, earning a vast amount of profit every day. More recently, however, their business operations had been sniped by Asskickers United.

Li Rui bribed two high-level supervisors in the Century Financial Group, obtaining a large amount of information. Armed with this knowledge, Guo Huai maneuvered Asskickers United’s 5,000,000 gold to get one step ahead of the Century Financial Group where he could. As a result, this 5,000,000 gold grew to more than 6,000,000.

The Century Financial Group had roughly 8,000,000 gold circulating in the Viridian Empire. It was impossible for an ordinary investor to pose a threat to them. In the entire Viridian Empire, a power that could rival them in moving capital was incredibly difficult to find. Most guilds and financial groups would have a tough time accumulating such a large amount of gold. Asskickers United was the first that dared to go toe-to-toe with the Century Financial Group in this manner. Besides the moving of capital, the Century Financial Group had several business opportunities snatched away. A total of three shops were acquired by Asskickers United first.

As a result of Asskickers United’s sniping, the Century Financial Group hadn’t made any profit these past few days. In fact, they had lost close to 600,000 gold. They no longer dared to throw around their money without care.

Asskickers United covered up their tracks quite well. So, the Century Financial Group had no idea who was behind all this.

Of course, with a mysterious financial group thwarting their plans several times in quick succession, Cao Xu’s interest was piqued. But when he took action to find out who this rivaling power was, it disappeared without a trace.

The financial market calmed down for the time being. However, the undercurrent in the Viridian Empire were still turbulent. Every major power was starting to become restless, fighting over various interests. Meanwhile, Asskickers United’s Armoured Ice Catapults were steadily flattening Alliance of Mages’ strongholds, one after the other. Their final target was the Edgarton Stronghold. If the Armoured Ice Catapults reached the Edgarton Stronghold, all of Alliance of Mages would be under threat.

The Century Financial Group was too busy trying to smother the flames lit up by Guo Huai and his team. They couldn’t spare any attention to Alliance of Mages, to the extent of even cutting off funds. This basically gave Asskickers United free reign.

With the situation gradually stabilizing, the burden on Nie Yan’s shoulders lessened dramatically. He suddenly found plenty of spare time to himself.

Nie Yan occasionally set off to do some levelling. He spent almost two days grinding non-stop with Death Wave Scrolls and Intermediate and Advanced Magic Bombs, at last reaching Level 97. He was only a few steps away from Level 100!

Like a routine, Nie Yan continued levelling inside the Fallen City at Dread Ravine. The density of machine-type monsters was pretty high here, remnants left behind by the goblins who once lived here.

The ancient city was filled with rubble and broken machinery. Mechanical golems roamed the wide open streets. Contrary to their rusty bodies that were practically falling apart, these golems were still Level 100 monsters. All of them looked identical, save for their height. Possessing great strength and powerful stunning skills, they were a lethal threat to Nie Yan. Only with a high-level shield stood he any chance against them in a direct confrontation. Otherwise, they’d simply stun him to death.

Nie Yan relied on his bread-and-butter method. He used his Cavalry Crossbow to draw the aggro of these golems, then he would bombard them with dark golden Magic Bombs. With loud explosions ringing out in quick succession, scorching tongues of flames flew out everywhere as the resulting shockwave flattened the surroundings.

The might of these explosions was more than 10 times that of the Junior Magic Bombs. The area of effect was also several times larger. It was almost as if someone had set off a large amount of TNT, leaving viewers in absolute awe of its might.

As the shock wave swept through, damage values over 10,000 rose up from the heads of the golems. After several more Advanced Magic Bombs, the parts that made up their bodies lay scattered on the ground.

The Advanced Magic Bombs were crafted by Violet Smoke specifically for Nie Yan. Each one had a production cost of over 100 gold. There were 1,500 altogether, and all of them went to Nie Yan for levelling. If one were to buy an Advanced Magic Bomb from a Tinkerer shop, the price would be at least 10 times higher, not to mention the stock was limited to 10 a day. Crafting the Advanced Magic Bombs inhouse was much more cost-effective.

Nie Yan had already lost count of how many golems he had killed. The loot he had collected so far could be sold off for close to 300,000 gold.

Levelling up for Nie Yan was incredibly difficult. The amount of experience required was too high. Ordinary players would usually take at least a month to go from Level 96 to 97. However, he had accomplished that in less than a day. This kind of speed was heart-attack inducing. It could be said that Nie Yan paid his way from Level 95 to 97. However, ordinary players had no way of copying him. Even if they had the money, they couldn’t obtain so many Advanced Magic Bombs at this stage of the game.

After taking out this group of 300 golems, Nie Yan began collecting his spoils. Rummaging through the metal piles, nails, and other broken parts, he saw the distinct sparkle of an item drop. If his luck was good, he would find a few rare treasures. Most of the equipment he picked up was White-grade, with some Bronze-grade in between. Silver-grade and up was fairly rare. He also found a few Energy Shards. If he collected enough of them, he could fuse them together into an Energy Crystal. For crafting machines, Energy Crystals had a wide range of applications.

After pushing aside several scraps of metal, Nie Yan spotted a sparkling gem among the junk. Emitting a dazzling emerald light, it was about the size of a thumb.

"This gem seems to be one of the rarer ones. I bet it’ll go for a lot of gold,” Nie Yan muttered to himself.

Nie Yan collected at least 70 gem drops every day. So, he didn’t care too much about this gem. He casually picked it up and was about to toss it in his bag, when he read its name.

"Life Emerald...?” Nie Yan’s voice trembled with excitement. It really was one!

After spending so much effort looking for it and eventually giving up, it appeared just like that!

Nie Yan quickly rummaged through the corner of his inventory and took out several items.

By combining one Azure Fantasy Sapphire, one Scarlet Blaze Ruby, one Life Emerald, and one Magic Silver Necklace, Nie Yan would have a Wish Necklace. Among these items, the Scarlet Blaze Ruby, Azure Fantasy Sapphire, and Magic Silver Necklace had been sitting in his bag for who knew how long. Now he had finally found the last remaining item.

"It really wasn’t easy gathering all these materials…” Nie Yan couldn’t help but sigh. For the sake of collecting these few gems, he had utlilized the entire strength of Asskickers United. The only thing he couldn’t find was the Life Emerald.

Now knowing this place dropped Life Emeralds, Nie Yan decided to have those in the guild who were strong enough come level here. Perhaps a few more would drop. In any case, for items like the Wish Necklace, the more, the better.

Three different coloured gems sparkled brightly in Nie Yan’s palm, reflecting each other’s light.

Nie Yan had no idea what kind of necklace would come out of this. The Wish Necklace that was created out of these items would have random properties, allowing the corresponding artisan to raise their respective skill by one rank!

Nie Yan took out Pandora’s Box, then placed the Magic Silver Necklace and three gems inside. He couldn’t help but get excited. He could finally obtain the Wish Necklace he so badly desired!

If the crafting of the Wish Necklace succeeded, regardless of which artisan skill it increased, it would be a great boon to Asskickers United. It was best if it increased Alchemy, Tinkering, or Engineering, these were the three most thriving artisan skills in the guild. They already had numerous Advanced artisans. If he had any one of them put on the Wish Necklace, they would instantly rise to Master-rank. By obtaining a Wish Necklace, Asskickers United could start producing Master-rank goods.

For every crafting profession, Master-rank was a major barrier. By stepping into this rank, their value and efficiency as an artisan would increase dramatically. A single Master-rank artisan was the equivalent of at least five Advanced-rank ones. The items they created were also much better than the ones crafted by Advanced artisans. At the same time, they could also craft the highest quality items. Take Alchemy for example, in the previous timeline, every Master-rank potion would sell for several hundred or even thousands of gold. Master-rank potion ingredients were incredibly rare, and their effects were also powerful while the demand was high. Countless people broke out into fights just to snatch a single Master-rank potion. Besides this, Master-rank Alchemists could take on up to five Alchemist disciples, allowing them to directly ascend to Intermediate-rank. There was more even, they could also pass on some of their concocting methods!

If used well, the Wish Necklace would become a priceless treasure!

Nie Yan checked Pandora’s Box. Everything was in order.

Are you sure you want to craft this item?

Nie Yan took a deep breath and hit confirm. Immediately, Pandora’s Box erupted with a dazzling radiance, almost as if it had become a miniature sun. All he could see in front of him was a blinding white light.

Even though the failure rate for crafting was extremely low, Nie Yan couldn’t stop himself from becoming nervous. He continued praying to himself. Please succeed!

The Wish Necklace was really too important. Furthermore, the materials required for crafting it were too rare. It wasn’t easy for him to gather enough for one necklace. If the crafting really failed, Nie Yan would probably be filled with the urge to smash his head into a wall.

Chapter 561 - Magister!

Chapter 561 - Magister!

After the flash of light, a crisp system jingle rang out. Nie Yan checked his notifications.

You have successfully crafted a Wish Necklace.

"Phew, it didn’t fail...” Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. His nerves which were stretched taut finally relaxed.

Examining the stats of the Wish Necklace—Alchemy +1—Nie Yan was absolutely elated. This was one of the best rolls he could possibly hope for. The guild treasury had several Master rank potion recipes lying around. With this necklace, they could start putting them to use!

Wish Necklace: Special Item

Properties: Alchemy +1
Restrictions: Bound to user. Wearer cannot gain skill proficiency.

Nie Yan immediately rang up Bird.

Seeing that Nie Yan was calling him, Bird dropped everything he was doing.「Boss, do you need anything?」

「Which Advanced Alchemist in our guild has the highest success rate?」Nie Yan asked. This Wish Necklace would naturally go to the most suitable person.

「The highest success rate, huh… I guess that would be Quiet Nannan. He has a success rate of about 95%. The next highest would be me,」Bird replied.

Quiet Nannan had the higher concocting success rate while Bird had a chance of creating an even higher quality potion and gaining a large amount of additional proficiency. Comparing the two, Quiet Nannan appeared to be the better fit for this necklace.

「Take a look at this necklace here. Decide who among you two should have it,」Nie Yan said. He put the Wish Necklace in his mailbox, then entered Bird as the recipient.

Bird sucked in a cold breath of air after seeing the stats of the Wish Necklace. As an Alchemist, how could he not understand its value? People like him had spent months on end holed up in a workshop concocting potions nonstop just to reach the rank of Advanced Alchemist. Even though many people found themselves at the precipice of becoming a Master Alchemist, they discovered that breaking through this bottleneck was incredibly difficult. WIthout the aid of some sort of special recipe, they could only stagnate in place. Advancing to Master rank was far more difficult than originally imagined. However, here was a necklace that allowed an Advanced Alchemist to become a Master Alchemist, or a Master Alchemist to become a Grandmaster Alchemist.

Sadly, the wearer of the Wish Necklace wouldn’t obtain any skill proficiency. It could only serve as a supplementary item while concocting potions. This kind of restriction was very normal. Otherwise, this necklace would be way too overpowered.

「I think Quiet Nannan should have it. It’ll allow him to concoct potions above his rank. Maybe one day he’ll concoct Grandmaster or Sage-rank potions,」Bird said. He still had to manage the Starry Night Potion Shop, greatly limiting his free time to concoct potions. Letting someone else have this necklace was clearly the better choice.

「We have Master Health and Mana Potion Recipes in the guild treasury. Have Quiet Nannan learn them and start producing a few of them,」Nie Yan said. Even in the previous timeline Master rank potions were a scarce as well as expensive commodity. At this stage of the game, they could be considered cheat items. Players like Bladelight and Tang Yao already had health or mana pools exceeding several tens of thousands. Advanced Health And Mana Potions could no longer fulfill their needs. However, Master rank potions could instantly restore their health and mana to full.

With Master Health and Mana Potions, players would have increased sustainability. It could potentially even save them from wiping during dungeon runs.

「Understood,」Bird replied. He quickly went to arrange these matters.

After successfully crafting the Wish Necklace, Nie Yan’s mood improved substantially. He continued to grind mobs in the vicinity for a while longer. However, he failed to find any more Life Emeralds.

Nie Yan sorted out his inventory and was about to return home, when a gust of wind blew past him, carrying the smell of the sea.

"Is this near the sea...?”

Nie Yan checked his map. The closest coast was to the south more than 10 minutes away. The fact that he could smell the sea all the way over here was truly strange.

"A sea to the south, could it be the Silent Gulf?”

Nie Yan suddenly recalled he still had a quest to do there. He opened his quest window.

He was supposed to head to the Silent Gulf and search for Dragon Girl Venita.

Nie Yan had barely taken a single step in the Legend of the Ten Holy Paladins quest. The final boss was far too powerful. Whether it was the traitor Brewin or the hellhound Cerberus, both would have to wait until he was well over Level 100 and had become a Shadow Dancer if he wanted to stand a chance. That’s why he kept putting this quest off.

"Since I’m already here, I might as well go look for some quest clues,” Nie Yan muttered. He summoned his Faulkner Warhorse which had already recovered and set off for the southern coast.

The Dread Ravine was shrouded in an ever present darkness. A large gust of wind blew past, causing the trees to sway and rustle.

The Faulkner Warhorse dashed through the ravine at high speed.

The sound of activity came from the distance, arousing Nie Yan’s interest. There’s people!

With a loud bang, a ball of elemental energy exploded in the forest up ahead, emitting a dazzling seven-coloured light. A deafening roar rang out. Judging from this sound, it seemed like someone was fighting the boss of this area, the Lord-class Berserk Black Bear.

"Could someone really be fighting the Berserk Black Bear? That’s a Level 90 Lord!” Nie Yan muttered. Even he didn’t dare to rashly challenge the Berserk Black Bear. It was definitely one of the most frightening Lords at this stage of the game.

Seeing the dazzling radiance in the distance, Nie Yan’s heart trembled. It was the Elemental Sphere spell!

NIe Yan couldn’t be anymore familiar with this spell. In the previous timeline after reaching Level 100, when he fought with Elementalists, this was their bread-and-butter spell. Its killing power was extremely high. If he recalled correctly, Elemental Sphere was a spell that could only be learned at Level 110.

Could it be that someone had already broken through Level 100, or perhaps they somehow learned the spell at a lower level?

After thinking for a bit, Nie Yan recalled his Faulkner Warhorse. He then entered stealth and made his way toward the source of the tumult.

After travelling through the dark forest for about 10 or so minutes, Nie Yan hid in a corner. Looking through the shrubbery, he saw a giant bear collapsed on the ground up ahead. Patches of its fur were charred black by the explosions of spells.

Looking at the battlefield, Nie Yan could tell the Berserk Black Bear’s movements were restricted to a 10-meter area. What powerful crowd control ability!

Two people stood beside the Berserk Black Bear’s corpse. One of them bent down to collect the loot off the ground, then said something to the other before they left.

Nie Yan inspected the two with Transcendent Insight.

Krasvi (Lord): Level 120
Titles: Flame Judge, Magister

It was an NPC! Nie Yan’s heart trembled. As for the other figure, he was a player, an Elementalist.

This kind of pairing was quite strange.

Nie Yan couldn’t see the Elementalist’s name and level. It appeared the other party was also in possession of a special item that hid their information.

At the same time Nie Yan activated Transcendent Insight, Magister Krasvi halted his steps. He turned around and scanned the forest, stopping at where Nie Yan was hiding.

Not good, he detected me!

Nie Yan immediately held his breath. Only he understood how terrifying of an existence a Level 120 Magister was, not to mention it was an NPC. If he entered within 60 meters of the Magister and a fight broke out, it would be extremely difficult for him to survive.

The most terrifying aspect of a Magister was that Unknown Transfer Scrolls didn’t work against them. Even if you’d already activated an Unknown Transfer Scroll, their magic could track you down and pull you back.

Nie Yan had fought Magisters before in the previous timeline. They could toy with you however they wanted, and there was nothing you could do to fight back.

A Level 180 Great Thief wouldn’t necessarily come out on top in a fight with a Level 120 Magister.

This was the difference in class rank.

This was also why so many players madly sought Master-class titles like Shadow Dancer and Magister.

"Sir Krasvi, is something the matter?” the player beside him asked.

Krasvi simply shook his head, then turned back around and continued walking.

The two disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

Magister Krasvi’s Awareness was too high. Nie Yan didn’t dare to follow them. His heart was filled with doubt and curiosity. How did that player convince a Level 120 NPC to help him hunt monsters?

Nie Yan thought for a moment. Given Conviction’s settings, there were a few possibilities.

One, it was a servant. When players were questing, they had certain opportunities to make an NPC into their servant. Take for example Nie Yan’s Ten Holy Paladins quest. If he could defeat the hellhound Cerberus and free the imprisoned Paladins, he could make Karsi his servant. Two, that player was currently in the middle of a quest. Sometimes players could have an NPC accompany them while they were doing a quest, like an escort quest or they were helping the NPC kill monsters. Three, he had temporarily hired the NPC to fight on his behalf. For example, Nie Yan’s Divine Recruitment allowed him to hire powerful Paladins to aid him in combat.

As for what relationship Magister Krasvi had with that player, Nie Yan could only guess. He had no way of finding out.

Nie Yan felt a sense of urgency. Conviction was filled with too many hidden experts and talents. If he didn’t put in more effort, it was likely that he would be dragged off his throne. This would be a huge disaster for Asskickers United.

He definitely had to advance to a Shadow Dancer. An ordinary Shadow Dancer wasn’t good enough either. He had to become a Luminous Dancer!

Chapter 562 - Dragon Girl Venita

Nie Yan took a relatively remote path to avoid the two from before as he galloped toward the Silent Gulf on his Faulkner Warhorse.

About six minutes later, Nie Yan arrived on top of a hill. He could already see the water of the beautiful gulf on the other side of the ravine.

A picturesque landscape, the bay resembled a gentle maiden. As the wind blew past, rolling waves clashed against the rocks, spraying white foam into the air. Three large islands poked out of the water, lush with exuberant plantlife and trees.

Venita was on one of these three islands. As for which one, Nie Yan had already forgotten.

After recalling his Faulkner Warhorse, he started running down the hill and towards the distant gulf.

Reaching the coast, Nie Yan thought for a moment. He decided that swimming over was still the better option. Large flying creatures frequently roamed the skies above the Silent Gulf. Sometimes even powerful dragons appeared. In comparison, the water was much safer. In the previous timeline, players generally opted to swim for the three islands.

It was rumoured the Silent Gulf contained two Violet Gold Ore deposits. However, Nie Yan had no idea where they would be located. If he happened to find them, he could have Guo Huai dispatch a team here to mine them.

As Engineering and other metalworking industries grew with each passing day, Asskickers United’s demand for metals became larger and larger. So, they needed to continue finding more ore deposits, especially high quality ones like Violet Gold.

Nie Yan dove into the water and started swimming forward.

After a few minutes, Nie Yan activated his underwater breathing skill, then dived down toward the depths of the gulf.

Nie Yan entered a dark and beautiful underwater world, where rays of sunlight pierced through the water’s surface and shone down below, glimmering and sparkling. From time to time, large shoals of fish swam by. The climate of the Silent Gulf was warm. Due to the shallow waters, there were few predators. So, it was perfect for these types of creatures.

The monsters that spawned here were Level 70 Electric Rays. They were fairly gentle creatures. As long as you didn’t attack them, they wouldn’t attack you, even if you swam up right in front of them.

Electric Rays swam by one after another. Nie Yan didn’t bother attacking them. At his current level, killing them would net him next to no experience. He would only be wasting his time.

Nie Yan occasionally reached out his hand to touch these peculiar creatures. They would shake their long tails and nimbly swim away.

To his east was an island. Nie Yan quickly swam in that direction.

After 10 minutes, Nie Yan had already swam pretty deep. He was only 100 meters from the sea floor. Suddenly, he saw a golden flash in the distance. His heart trembled. What was that?

This large golden light was swimming around.

Nie Yan recalled the Golden Electric Eel he killed when he was at a lower level. Could this be a golden creature?

"Let’s check it out first...” Nie Yan muttered to himself. Golden creatures were usually mild tempered. As long as he didn’t attack it, it wouldn’t attack him either.

Nie Yan immediately chased after the golden light, swimming closer and closer. His eyes widened in shock when he could finally make out its appearance. This creature was enormous!

It was probably a fish. At about 10 meters in size it resembled a giant whale with golden scales. Its entire body was golden and sparkled with a brilliant radiance. Its soft and flexible fins swayed back and forth gently.

When Nie Yan swam within 60 meters of it, he got noticed. It turned around, blowing out a stream of bubbles from its mouth, and swam toward him.

Nie Yan tried to turn around and flee. However, every movement seemed to become more cumbersome than the last. Not good!

A powerful pressure swept over Nie Yan, preventing him from moving. He sensed enormous danger. If this creature attacked him, he wouldn’t have any chance to retaliate at all. "Dammit!” He tried to break free, but his struggling was futile.

This golden creature swam around Nie Yan, observing him. After a while, it eventually lost interest, turned around, and swam toward the greater depths.

As the immense pressure disappeared, Nie Yan finally regained control of his body. Golden creatures were generally non-aggressive and wouldn’t go out of their way to attack players. It was good that this was the case, or else he would’ve been dead.

Seeing the golden fish swimming away, Nie Yan inspected it with Transcendent Insight.

Gold Dragonfish (Special): Level 120

It was a Level 120 golden creature. No wonder it was so powerful!

A Level 120 golden creature was even stronger than a Level 180 Elite. Nie Yan was absolutely no match for it in his current state.

It was actually the Gold Dragonfish!?

Nie Yan suddenly recalled several videos that went viral in the previous timeline, all of which were related to the Gold Dragonfish. This monster always roamed around the vicinity of the Silent Gulf. Back then, when players had reached Level 100, Radiant Sacred Flame started eyeing it. They organized a Level 120 2,000-player expedition team, equipped them with the best gear available, and provided them with all sorts of underwater breathing items and potions. Their preparations were flawless, believing they could kill the Gold Dragonfish. However, they suffered a crushing defeat. Of the 2,000 players sent out, only 50 escaped with their lives.

At that time, Nie Yan had also watched the videos. The Gold Dragonfish’s strength left players speechless. More than 200 fully armed Fighters were wiped out in the short span of five seconds. What happened after could only be described as a one-sided massacre. After that incident, no one dared to challenge the Gold Dragonfish for a long time.

Later on, Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, and Bloodlust Blades mobilized five Champions, more than 30 other Master class players, and 3,000 players to challenge the Gold Dragonfish. After taking down this monster, it was rumoured that its corpse was turned into the Dragonfish Sword; quietly swimming through the water’s depths, shining with an unfathomable golden radiance. In history, the Dragonfish Sword was not the slightest bit inferior to a godly weapon like Zennarde’s Sword. Its wielder was the leader of the giant race, Kroth, who once led the war against the dragon race.

A price couldn’t be put on this kind of godly weapon. Just like Zennarde’s Sword, these sorts of weapons were permanently bound once equipped.

In the end, the Dragonfish Sword went to a Champion in Radiant Sacred Flame called Windblade. It was a weapon made for killing, cutting down people like chopping vegetables. It was rumoured that after receiving the Dragonfish Sword, Windblade’s damage doubled. From then on, he had no problems holding aggro.

In the previous timeline, Windblade was one of the most famous Fighters out there. But at present, though he was still an influential figure in Radiant Sacred Flame, he was overshadowed by players like Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and several others.

When Asskickers United grew powerful enough, Nie Yan planned to bring an expedition team here to kill the Gold Dragonfish. He definitely couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to obtain a godly weapon like the Dragonfish Sword.

The Dragonfish Sword was a shortsword, so it was most suited for Fighters. For a Fighter, a better weapon didn’t only mean they would deal more damage, but they would also have an easier time holding a boss’ aggro. Like this, they could more easily ensure the safety of their team. If you were to place the Dragonfish Sword on the marketplace, it would probably sell for much higher than Zennarde’s Sword.

Seeing the Gold Dragonfish swimming away, Nie Yan turned around and swam in a different direction. In any case, it would always be lingering around the Silent Gulf. He didn’t have to worry about it swimming away. Even so, the Silent Gulf was quite large. Even finding something as large as the Gold Dragonfish would be difficult.

Nie Yan finally arrived at an island a while later. He came out of the water and headed for the beach. Seeing humanoid figures with sharp barbs growing all over their bodies moving around in the distance, he quickly entered stealth.

The island wasn’t nearly as safe as the water. The monsters that spawned here were Level 120 Iron Barbed Murlocs. They were extremely powerful. The most annoying aspect about them was that they were immune to physical damage. Encountering such monsters, Nie Yan could only take the long way around them.

After searching around for a while, Nie Yan failed to find Dragon Girl Venita. He went back into the water and headed for another island. During this time, he discovered a Violet Gold vein. It just happened to be located between the two islands. He quickly recorded down the coordinates.

This Violet Gold vein stretched out for about 400 meters. There were glimmering Violet Gold ores both large and small dotted all over the reef. It was almost like looking at the starry night sky.

The seamonsters here were all docile. This was the perfect place for Miners. Even a Level 1 Miner could dig here without fear for their safety.

Nie Yan immediately contacted Guo Huai and had him dispatch people to mine this vein.

Asskickers United’s mining team had expanded from just over 100 members to more than 6,000, among which 1,000 were officially contracted by the guild. They went from one mining site to the next, and were responsible for collecting ores for the guild. As the game progressed, the number of high level players increased. Those players who weren’t suited for levelling or PvPing would overwhelmingly switch their focus to Mining or other professions that didn’t require much skill.

These Miners were pretty productive. Aside from fulfilling Asskickers United’s needs, they had spare ores to sell; especially the lowest quality ones which the guild didn’t require.

When an ore vein was first discovered, its natural resources were plentiful. However, after being harvested for a while, the amount of ores it produced on a daily basis would decrease significantly. Asskickers United had enough low rank ores to use for themselves. However, they were sorely lacking in high rank ores like Violet Gold. Nie Yan discovering this vein was a huge boon for the guild.

Guo Huai quickly dispatched a group of people. Nie Yan estimated it would take a while for them to arrive. The road here was filled with high level monsters. However, when they finally did arrive, they wouldn’t have to leave for a long time. They would stay here digging for a couple of weeks. Asskickers United’s Thieves would transport the ores they harvested back to the guild.

There was another Violet Gold vein in the vicinity. Nie Yan could have Guo Huai dispatch a second group to find it.

After a while, Nie Yan set foot on another island. When he arrived on the beach, he heard a pleasant humming in the air. It was faint and melancholic. It resembled the song of a nightingale, expressing a deep longing for something or someone.

It was likely the sound of Dragon Girl Venita. She was on this island!

Chapter 563 - Skill Proficiency

Nie Yan finally arrived on the correct island.

Following the beautiful sound of a song, Nie Yan headed toward Venita.

After a while, Nie Yan arrived at the eastern beach and saw a figure facing the sea in the distance. She looked no different from an ordinary human girl. She wore a white muslin sundress which fluttered with the wind and had long flowing golden locks which curled up at the end like the waves in the sea.

The official website’s information page described Venita as an exceptional beauty. Even though she was already more than 1,000 years old, there wasn’t the smallest wrinkle on her face. She could freely transform from human to dragon.

Dragons were a mysterious existence. Although many still appeared on the continent today, they were no longer the invincible tyrants of a millenia ago. They would either be hunted to death or become someone’s pet. Venita was an outlier. Due to her relationship with the Ten Holy Paladins, the Viridian Empire’s army didn’t trouble her.

Nie Yan equipped the Medal of the Ten Holy Paladins and approached Venita.

"Hello, Lady Venita,” Nie Yan greeted.

Venita turned around and stared at Nie Yan.

Seeing Venita’s appearance, Nie Yan was left short of breath. She could be best described as a fair haired and blue-eyed maiden, resembling a goddess from Greek mythology.

Noticing the Medal of the Ten Holy Paladins on Nie Yan’s chest, Venita’s eyes trembled with emotion.

"Sir Nirvana Flame, may I ask how you obtained that medal?”

Nie Yan nodded, then explained how he obtained the medal. He told her everything, from how he helped Kavana’s spirit ascend to heaven to how he was pursued by Brewin and more.

Hearing how Nie Yan escaped Brewin’s pursuit, a trace of shock flashed across Venita’s face.

"Sir Kavana is a good person. I made a pact with the human empire’s Jebiah long ago. Unless a human attacks me first, I shall not attack them. Otherwise, I would’ve already killed that damned Brewin!” Venita said in a tone filled with hatred.

"Lady Venita, I wonder if you know the location of the other eight Paladins?” Nie Yan asked. This was the objective of the quest. He had to learn the location of the other eight Paladins, so he could go and rescue them.

"I do.” Venita nodded affirmatively. She stared at Nie Yan for a moment, then continued, "I can tell you where they’re being imprisoned. However, they’re being guarded by the hellhound Cerberus. With your strength alone, it will be impossible for you to rescue them.”

"Rest assured, lady Venita. I’ll do my best to grow stronger until one day I can rescue their souls from their fiery torment!” Nie Yan declared in a resolute tone. He was inwardly cringing with shame. But for the sake of the quest, he could only try his best and put on a show.

Venita gazed at Nie Yan. He didn’t turn away his gaze. Her eyes were like sapphires, sparkling and translucent without the slightest blemish.

"Youngster, I admire your determination. I will pass on a few things to you. I hope they’ll be useful on your journey.” Venita’s eyes blossomed with enigmatic radiance. As though something was beckoning him, her gaze seemed to attract Nie Yan’s soul like a magnet.

Nie Yan felt a wave of sleepiness wash over him as his eyelids grew heavy. He couldn’t prevent himself from falling asleep, no matter how hard he struggled.

This was mind magic!

Do you wish to participate in Venita’s Trial?

Nie Yan guessed this was a part of the quest. He hesitated for a moment. Asskickers United was still at war with Alliance of Mages. Would it be alright for him to enter this special instance? He considered the matter carefully. In the guild, he served more as a spiritual leader and someone who acted behind the scenes. He left commanding the troops to Guo Huai, Bladelight, and several others. So, even if he wasn’t there, nothing would really change. If he declined Venita’s quest, he didn’t know if he would have the opportunity to enter this special instance again in the future. The Ten Holy Paladins quest was an extremely high difficulty one. When Asskickers United’s players reached Level 100, he could have everyone kill Cerberus together, rescue the eight Paladins, and then have Karsi become his servant. This would have an fate-altering impact on the future of the guild, far more than the outcome of this war.

After all, Karsi was a legendary Mage!

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan hit accept.

The drowsiness overtook him, and he fell asleep.

After who knows how long, Nie Yan gradually regained consciousness. He could feel a cool breeze blowing in his face. As he opened his eyes, he was greeted by a gray sky. He found himself lying down in a prairie. The dense grass reached up to his knees.

Nie Yan stood up and opened the map. Its name was somewhat peculiar.

Venita’s Land of Dreams: Special Map

Description: Gain 50x skill proficiency in this map

The exit to this map appeared once a day. After you left, this map would disappear completely, and you could no longer enter it again.

"50 times skill proficiency!” Nie Yan cried out in shock. Increasing skill proficiency was one of the things players hated doing the most. For an ordinary skill like Backstab, it would take a month of non-stop grinding to increase it to Rank 7 and another five months to increase it to Rank 10. All skills would become fairly powerful after reaching Rank 5. If you could train a skill to Rank 8, even the most ordinary skills would become incredibly powerful, allowing players to achieve twice the effect with half the effort while levelling. If you could train a skill to Rank 10, it would become heaven-defying. That wasn’t the end, though. Rank 16 was. Training non-stop, it would probably take at least two years, if not longer.

Most players wouldn’t spend months raising their skill rank. Skill proficiency was usually gained through ordinary combat. So, the rank of the average player’s skills was fairly low. Just having a few Rank 5 skills was already pretty good.

If Nie Yan could raise a few of his skills to Rank 5 or even higher in this map, it would greatly help him in the future.

The fact that this map would disappear after he left it turned Nie Yan’s mood somewhat sour. Asskickers United was at war with Alliance of Mages right now. He didn’t have much time to raise his skill proficiency. He immediately used external communications to get in touch with Guo Huai and explain his situation.

「It's fine. Feel free to raise your skill proficiency. I’ll make sure to report on the state of the war to you regularly. With Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others overseeing things, there shouldn’t be any issues. Paladin of the Elegy is also pretty good at commanding the troops,」Guo Huai said. Given the scope of this war, with hundreds of thousands of players fighting, the amount of impact Nie Yan as an individual could make was minimal. What was most important was how the troops were commanded and how best to utilize the might of the Armoured Ice Catapults.

「If anything comes up, contact me,」Nie Yan said. With Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others there, he could rest easy.

Time was limited. Nie Yan decided to focus on only raising the rank of a few of his skills. He could gain 50x skill proficiency. He definitely couldn’t let this go to waste. He pulled up the skill window which contained several dozen skills.

"Hmm… which ones should I choose? I should probably go with my Great Thief skills first.” Nie Yan still hadn’t fully grasped the several Freedom Skills he learned, which included Reverse Grip Backstab, Phantom Assassination, Counter, Flicker Strike, and Backbreaker. For an ordinary Thief, five Freedom Skills was already a lot.

Nie Yan learned Reverse Grip Backstab and Phantom Assassination first, so his execution rate for them was already over 70%. He only acquired Counter, Flicker Strike, and Backbreaker at a later date and could only get them to 50% at most.

If he could master the use of these skills and raise them to Rank 5 or higher, he would have no trouble taking on equal level Elites. He could even challenge equal level Lords!

Nie Yan understood how important a powerful skill was for a Thief.

Nie Yan rearranged these skills to a more convenient space. He then advanced forward. Gazing at the vast prairie, numerous humanoid figures moving around entered his sight. They were warriors clad in ashen armour. Their helmets were wrapped in crimson scarfs which fluttered in the wind. These warriors were taller than him by a head. They were extremely muscular and wielded large hatchets.

Nie Yan got close to one of the warriors and activated Transcendent Insight.

Barbarian Warrior: Level 100
Health: 800,000/800,000

Nie Yan furrowed his brows. These Barbarian Warriors weren’t Lords or even Elites. They were only ordinary monsters. Why did they have so much health?

Even for a Level 100 monster, this was too much!

Nie Yan snuck up behind one of the Barbarian Warriors. When he was about 3 meters away, he shot forth like an arrow, pouncing towards it.

Nie Yan struck the Barbarian Warrior directly in the spine. With a muffled klang, the warrior’s movements halted. A damage value of only 1,200 rose up above its head.

What high defense!

Nie Yan checked his notifications

Backbreaker executed successfully.
52% completion, 80% damage.
You have obtained 50 skill proficiency.

Backbreaker’s skill proficiency rose by quite a bit. Amazing! Normally, it would take a couple of hours to make this kind of progress!

The Barbarian Warrior entered a crippled state. Nie Yan immediately followed up with Flicker Strike.

The Barbarian Warrior slowly turned around and hacked at Nie Yan with its hatchet. Nie Yan quickly retreated several steps to avoid the attack. Noticing the attack speed of the Barbarian Warrior was fairly slow, he became excited. There was no better enemy to raise skill proficiency with, almost as if it was specially made for this! Since the Barbarian Warrior’s attack speed was slow, Nie Yan could easily dodge its attacks. Add on the fact that it had so much health, he was free to use all his skills on it. Every Barbarian Warrior would allow him to train quite a few of his skills!

Checking his skill window, Nie Yan discovered Backbreaker and Flicker Strike were already one fifth of the way off cooldown. These several Freedom Skills had fairly long cooldowns, all taking at least a few minutes if not more. Why did it seem like they were much shorter right now?

Could it be that skill cooldowns were reduced in this map? Coming to this realization, Nie Yan was beyond ecstatic. This map was absolutely amazing for raising the rank of skills!

Chapter 564 - Training Freedom Skills

After cycling through his skills, Backbreaker came off cooldown. Nie Yan found his rhythm and started steadily rotated through his skills.

The Barbarian Warrior repeatedly hacked at Nie Yan. Each swing of its axe carried significant weight and power behind it. However, none of the attacks landed. Nie Yan kept utilizing the illusory footwork of a Shadow Dancer to evade while simultaneously executing one skill after another. The Barbarian Warrior couldn’t keep up with his pace and was completely helpless against him. The difference in speed between the two was too great.

The Barbarian Warrior’s axe came cleaving down. Nie Yan dodged to the side and executed Phantom Assassination, stabbing the warrior in the throat with Zennarde’s Sword.

The Barbarian Warrior let out a deep grunt and collapsed to the ground with a loud thud.

Killing the Barbarian Warrior took about two minutes. It was quite exhausting.

Phantom Assassination has advanced to Rank 3.

While fighting the Barbarian Warrior, his skill proficiency for all his skills skyrocketed up. Nie Yan felt ecstatic.

After reaching Rank 3, Phantom Assassination dealt 100% more damage and had a 5% chance of instantly killing a target. For every rank increase, the damage would go up by another 50%, and the execution chance would by 1%.

If Phantom Assassination could be raised to Rank 7, it would deal 300% more damage and have a 9% chance of executing a target. Combined with Nie Yan’s ludicrous attack power, this skill would become incredibly overpowered!

At this moment, Reverse Grip Backstab had reached Rank 4, Phantom Assassination and Backbreaker Rank 3, and Flicker Strike Rank 2. Since Nie Yan never had much time to train these skills in the past, he wasn’t too familiar with them, causing his execution of them to be a bit sloppy. But now, he had more or less grasped them and could consistently achieve a completion rate of 60% or higher.

As for how to get the completion rate even higher and grasping some of the deeper intricacies of the skills, Nie Yan still had a long way to go.

The Barbarian Warrior appeared to drop something. Nie Yan bent down and picked it up. It was a Warrior skill book for ‘Enhance Tendon Break’. It could increase the effects of Tendon Break by 30%. This was a fairly rare skill book which couldn’t be found in the marketplace.

"Nice! I wonder if Bladelight or Smoke Stub could use this. I’ll ask them when I get back.” Nie Yan tossed the skill book into his bag.

His harvest was quite bountiful. The only downside to this map was that the Barbarian Warriors didn’t give experience. Such high health and defense and yet not a single point experience, talk about being stingy. This also meant that if Nie Yan wanted to keep training here, he couldn’t level up.

Nie Yan glanced at his status bar—Level 97. Looking at the leaderboards, there were only two people over Level 80. Once you reached Level 80, levelling up would become more than several times harder. Catching up to him would take at least a month or two. If they were slow, even three months wouldn’t be enough time for them to break through Level 90.

So, even if Nie Yan were to stay here for a month, he wouldn’t have to worry about others catching up to him.

"Let’s train up my skills first!” Nie Yan moved on to his next target.

He spotted another Barbarian Warrior roaming around off in the distance.

Nie Yan entered stealth. He circled around to the back of the Barbarian Warrior and gradually drew closer until he was only five meters away.

The enemy was right in front of him. Nie Yan could clearly see the design and grooves on the Barbarian Warrior’s armour. He could determine all its weak spots, scapula, heart, abdomen, and central spinal column.

Nie Yan was suddenly struck with an odd thought. Freedom Skills likely had their own hidden meaning. For example, Backbreaker was similar to Backstab, targeting the enemy’s back and inflicting the cripple debuff.

In the past, Nie Yan believed just landing the attack in the right spot—in this case the target’s back—was good enough. However, his completion rate always hovered around 60%, sometimes even going as low as 50%.

"Is there something I’m missing?” Nie Yan muttered.

Staring at the Barbarian Warrior’s back, Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if he incorporated some fighting techniques into the execution of these skills.

Many of the skills in Conviction were pulled from reality. Take the Kick skill for example. If you struck the leg or thigh, the effect would be weak. But if you struck a joint, you could paralyze or temporarily incapacitate the foe.

A few memories surfaced in Nie Yan’s mind. In the previous timeline, back when he was Level 160, he had once fought against a Shadow Dancer. That player didn’t use any fancy or flashy moves, only simple skills like Kick, Backstab, and Assassinate. Yet he suffered a one-sided beating. A single Kick had left his leg numb for five seconds. How was he supposed to fight back?

That Shadow Dancer’s expert kick was quite marvelous. That fellow was wearing boots with blades. He didn’t aim for the leg or knees, but rather the hollow spot right below the kneecap. That one kick had disabled Nie Yan.

Recalling this now, that Shadow Dancer had probably employed a fighting technique.

Nie Yan fell into a daze. He had grasped many Shadow Dancer techniques. It could even be said he was already a quasi Shadow Dancer. However, what else was there for him to learn after advancing to one? Why was it that every Shadow Dancer in the previous timeline was so secretive, to the extent that no information could be found on the forums?

This required further research.

Nie Yan gradually drew closer to the Barbarian Warrior. Right now, he had completely forgotten that the other party was a monster. He simply pretended it was a particularly burly player.

If the Barbarian Warrior was a person, what kind of technique would he use to neutralize them as quickly and efficiently as possible?

Nie Yan comprehended something. Lowering his posture, he exerted all the power in his waist and shot forth in a spiral with his dagger in hand.

This was a fighting technique, focusing the power from his kick off and rotational power into his arm. Executing this action, he felt his body heating up, almost as if ants were crawling all over him. As his body spun around chaotically, his arm surged with power.

What the hell!? Nie Yan inwardly cried out in alarm. However, he couldn’t cancel a skill mid-execution.

Nie Yan roared out and plunged his dagger into the Barbarian Warrior’s spinal column.

With a loud bang, a powerful force skewered the Barbarian Warrior, causing it to stagger back several steps before entering a crippled state, unable to move.

Backbreaker: 73% completion, 150% damage, 3 second stun.
You have obtained 100 skill proficiency.

Nie Yan didn’t expect to achieve 73% completion, 150% damage, and a 3 second stun. This kind of effect was amazing! He had also gained twice as much skill proficiency than before.

This was the true Backbreaker!

Nie Yan was overjoyed. He had gained a deeper understanding of the skill. In fact, he could probably do even better. This was his first time executing Backbreaker in such a manner, so his movements weren’t particularly smooth. He still needed to practice more.

However, this successful execution of Backbreaker had undoubtedly opened up a new door for Nie Yan. Before him was a completely new world for him to explore.

It turned out that the skills in the game shared common traits with fighting techniques in reality. If he combined the two together, he could create all new fighting techniques, boosting the killing power of his skills to the peak!

After figuring out the trick to Backbreaker, Nie Yan decided to continue practicing it and raising its skill proficiency. As for Reverse Grip Backstab and the other Freedom Skills, he would take his time figuring them out later. After succeeding the first time, the rest would come easy.

Nie Yan continued evading the Barbarian Warrior with his footwork. A short while later, Backbreaker came off cooldown.

Nie Yan used Counter on the Barbarian Warrior, then quickly retreated.

The Barbarian Warrior let out a furious roar. It charged forward and cleaved down on Nie Yan’s head with its giant axe.

Nie Yan employed the Illusion Steps. Evading the attack, he circled behind. He lowered his posture even further and pushed off from his waist with even greater power. He felt like his movements this time were much smoother as an overwhelming power surged through his arm, With a loud bang, the Barbarian Warrior was directly sent flying face first to the ground.

A crisp system jingle rang out. It appeared Backbreaker had ranked up.

Nie Yan was flabbergasted. Why did Backbreaker rank up so quickly? Looking at the notification, it had advanced to Rank 4. He then checked his completion rate.

Backbreaker: 93% completion, 270% damage, 5 second stun.
You have obtained 300 skill proficiency.

Nie Yan was amazed. He had obtained 300 skill proficiency just from using a skill once. This was too frightening. It would take most players more than a day to gain 300 skill proficiency.

Normally, when training skills outside, 60% completion would net 1 skill proficiency, 70% completion would net 2 skill proficiency, and 90% completion would net 6 skill proficiency, However, the amount of skill proficiency gained here was multiplied by 50. That was why Nie Yan received 300 skill proficiency after executing Backbreaker. Such a large amount of skill proficiency instantly raised his Backbreaker to Rank 4.

Backbreaker had a base damage of 120%. With a 93% completion rate, the damage reached 270%. This kind of result left Nie Yan feeling giddy.

In the previous timeline, Nie Yan heard Shadow Dancers could solo Lords above their level. He believed this was nothing more than fantasy. Level 100 and higher Lords were different from the Scaled Frogs he killed. Looking at it now, as long as one learned enough Freedom Skills and achieved a high enough completion rate, the damage dealt could easily pierce through a high level monster’s defenses. Killing a Level 100 or higher Lord above one’s level no longer seemed that ludicrous.

If Nie Yan could raise all five of his Freedom Skills to Rank 6 or 7, he could at least double if not triple his combat strength! Thinking to this point, he couldn’t help but get fired up.

Chapter 565 - Rank 8 Backbreaker!

After familiarizing himself with the execution of Backbreaker, Nie Yan started gaining skill proficiency in it even faster than before.

93% completion, 95% completion, 96% completion…

After executing Backbreaker numerous times, Nie Yan grew increasingly familiar with the skill and gradually started comprehending more of its mysteries. Constantly correcting and adjusting his movements, he managed to achieve a completion rate of 98%. From an ordinary player’s perspective, this was an inconceivable matter. Achieving 100% completion was seen as almost impossible. 98% was practically the same.

As Nie Yan executed Backbreaker more and more, its skill proficiency rose explosively. Before long, another crisp system jingle rang out. It had advanced to Rank 5.

Nie Yan was perhaps the only player in the Viridian Empire who had a Rank 5 Freedom Skill, which were known for being quite difficult to train. It was already amazing enough to train an ordinary skill to Rank 5, let alone a Freedom Skill!

If Nie Yan landed a 90% Backbreaker on a player, even a Fighter would be instantly killed if not lose most of their health. Combined with the fact that Backbreaker also stunned, the enemy would be dead either way.

After diligently training his skills for the whole day, Backbreaker advanced to Rank 8. At this rank, 90% completion could deal 600% damage!

Nie Yan was speechless. He never knew Freedom Skills could deal this kind of damage. He had never discovered this secret in the previous timeline. This was probably why he was stuck as a second-rate player back then.

Nie Yan snuck up behind a Barbarian Warrior, then exploded forth with Backbreaker.

−7538

The Barbarian Warrior was stunned for seven seconds.

After Nie Yan finished cycling through his skills, he struck out with another Backbreaker.

About 70 seconds later, the Barbarian Warrior collapsed to the ground. Given Nie Yan’s explosive damage, the Barbarian Warrior couldn’t endure no matter how high its health regeneration was.

Nie Yan previously needed two minutes to kill a Barbarian Warrior. Now, he only needed 70 seconds. This increase in combat strength left him feeling excited.

Nie Yan’s harvest from killing the Barbarian Warriors was quite good. They only seemed to drop skill books, nothing else. There were many rare skill books, even three Freedom Skill Books. However, they were all for Warriors and Paladins.

Since Backbreaker had reached Rank 8, Nie Yan wanted to train it even higher. However, the higher the rank, the larger the skill proficiency required. According to his calculations, training it to Rank 9 would take at least three days.

Nie Yan continued training Backbreaker while familiarizing himself with his other skills, including Reverse Grip Backstab, Phantom Assassination, Counter, and Flicker Strike. With his experiences with Backbreaker serving as a guide, it didn’t take long for him to comprehend a few things.

Reverse Grip Backstab, Counter, and Backbreaker were all similar, requiring the channelling of the power from his body to his arm, then letting it erupt out. On the other hand, Phantom Assassination and Flicker Strike required explosive acceleration to run through an enemy to achieve their highest killing power.

After training for another day, Nie Yan familiarized himself with all his Freedom Skills. Even if he wasn’t as skilled with them as Backbreaker, he had still achieved some results.

Before long, Reverse Grip Backstab, Counter, Phantom Assassination, and Flicker Strike advanced to Rank 5. After reaching this point, these skills had become extremely powerful. Nie Yan’s efficiency increased yet again, requiring only 50 seconds to take down a Barbarian Warrior.

Even though his level hadn’t risen, Nie Yan could feel that he had grown much stronger after familiarizing himself with these skills.

The Rank 5 Barbarian Strength and Rank 6 War God’s Rage of Bladelight and Smoke Stub allowed them to dominate over all other Warriors. At this moment, Nie Yan had five Freedom Skills at Rank 5 or higher. He estimated even Bladelight and Smoke Stub wouldn’t last more than a minute against him.

Nie Yan checked his progress on Backbreaker. It was Rank 8, 36%. His achievements were pretty good.

While Nie Yan was busy training his skills, the war between Asskickers United and Alliance of Mages was in full swing. Asskickers United once more showed the world their might.

Alliance of Mages had dispatched 200,000 players and six Armoured Catapults to intercept Asskickers United’s forces in a bid to prevent the flames of war from reaching the Edgarton Stronghold. Even though it was 200,000 versus 60,000, they suffered a crushing defeat, losing over a third of their forces and all six Armoured Catapults. Meanwhile, Asskickers United only lost 2,000 players.

Alliance of Mages greatly reinforced the walls of the Edgarton Stronghold, transforming it into an iron fortress. Asskickers United would have to wait until their trebuchets were complete to begin the siege. As such, Bladelight and the others weren’t in a rush to reach the Edgarton Stronghold. They were perfectly content chipping away at Alliance of Mages’ strength through minor battles.

The construction of the trebuchets was progressing smoothly. Nie Yan had three slaves. One of them, Delfina, had a special ability that allowed her to duplicate blueprints. In about a week’s time, she produced two copies of the trebuchet blueprint. With three engineering teams working simultaneously, their speed increased significantly. Nie Yan believed it wouldn’t be long before trebuchets started rolling out on the battlefield.

All the while Asskickers United was building more and more Armoured Ice Catapults. One catapult after another fresh off the factory came out ready for use. The number of catapults had already reached 25, and more were still being built.

25 Armoured Ice Catapults possessed unrivalled might. As Asskickers United ran rampant in Moonlight City, Alliance of Mages didn’t dare to let out so much as a fart. They could only hide in the Edgarton Stronghold and further reinforce their walls. They had somehow managed to get their hands on large ballistas and installed them atop their towers. Furthermore, they had also moved some of their Armoured Catapults on their walls. Like this, their defenses were quite solid.

Crazy Magic felt like pieces of flesh were being carved out of him. Asskickers United had already razed six Alliance of Mages strongholds to the ground. He had invested a lot of money to build them up, but they were now nothing more than ruins. If Asskickers United simply took control of the strongholds, that would be fine. They could simply take them back. However, Nie Yan was ruthless and directly destroyed them. Even if they took back the strongholds in the future, they would have to be built back up from scratch.

After destroying the sixth stronghold, Asskickers United rushed to the next stronghold. Alliance of Mages was the overlord of Moonlight City. They had more than 20 strongholds altogether. With six strongholds destroyed and the five lost in the bet, they had lost over half their strongholds.

At this rate, Alliance of Mages would be left with only the Edgarton Stronghold in another few days. Crazy Magic was probably having a difficult time keeping his cool. When Alliance of Mages’ forces left the safety of the Edgarton Stronghold, they would become nothing more than fodder for the Armoured Ice Catapults.

All the players in the Viridian and Satreen Empires were discussing the war between Alliance of Mages and Asskickers United. At present, Asskickers United was completely overwhelming Alliance of Mages despite not even having half as many players. This development left everyone stupefied. Without any reinforcements, Alliance of Mages wouldn’t last much longer. Even if Asskickers United failed to take down the Edgarton Stronghold, with all the other strongholds gone, Alliance of Mages would eventually collapse in a couple of months.

The war raged on.

Gryphon Woodlands, a map covered in thick fog. From time to time, the shadows of large creatures could be seen flying overhead.

This was a place for obtaining flying mounts. An expedition team of 1,000 players was making their way through the fog, traversing through the forest.

"Boss, the place we left off at last time should be here. Should we use a Dispel Fog Scroll?” a Mage asked.

The head of this group was precisely the guild leader of Angel Corps, Soaring Angel.

"We still haven’t found out where they come from?” Soaring Angel asked. They had previously used a Dispel Fog Scroll and discovered that it made exploring the Gryphon Woodlands much easier. The quality of their harvests was a lot higher too. However, the price of a single Dispel Fog Scroll was ludicrous. Players reselling the Dispel Fog Scrolls wanted to sell two scrolls for one flying mount. This was too sinister. However, for the sake of increasing their exploration speed in the Gryphon Woodlands, they had no choice but to accept.

After obtaining the Dispel Fog Scrolls, the loot they collected also increased substantially, while the number of unnecessary casualties saw a sharp drop. It seemed like a worthwhile trade. However, to give away a flying mount for every two scrolls was still a bit much. What Soaring Angel feared the most was that these flying mounts were going straight into the hands of an enemy.

"It’s rumoured that the Dispel Fog Scrolls are made by a Great Mage. As for any specific details, the seller wasn’t willing to share,” a Warrior said. He was clad in sparkling golden armour. This full body armour had a sleek design without a single crease or gap. It was covered in many runes. He was the number one Berserker in Angel Crops—Rocksplitter.

Nie Yan knew Angel Corps was exploring the Gryphon Woodlands. However, Asskickers United’s players really couldn’t spare any manpower to follow suit. It would take at least a couple of days for the war against Alliance of Mages to conclude. However, he had made a few arrangements in secret. He first tempted Angel Corps with the Dispel Fog Scrolls, then reaped a portion of their harvests by selling them scrolls for flying mounts. This kind of price was enough to make Soaring Angel want to ram his head into a wall. However, Soaring Angel had no choice but to accept. Nie Yan was the only one selling Dispel Fog Scrolls. Furthermore, he also had Guo Huai bribe two players from Angel Corps, having them record their exploration of the Gryphon Woodlands and send them over. With this footage to study from, Asskickers United would save a lot of unncessary hardship when exploring the place themselves in the future.

Soaring Angel would never imagine that the one selling him Dispel Fog Scrolls was Nie Yan. He was delivering flying mounts straight into the enemy’s hands. Additionally, footage of their exploration in the Gryphon Woodlands was also being leaked. If he knew this, he would probably faint from anger.

Chapter 566 - Level 120 Elite

"Boss, we just received word that Alliance of Mages can’t hold on much longer. Should we dispatch some reinforcements?” Rocksplitter asked. Angel Corps was still technically allied with Alliance of Mages.

Soaring Angel shook his head and chuckled. "We only dispatched reinforcements last time because the Century Financial Group requested us to. There’s no need for that this time around. Alliance of Mages already has no chance of turning things around. Even if we send reinforcements over, it won’t be of any use. In any case, the Century Financial Group is too preoccupied fending off another major power to spare any time for Alliance of Mages right now. Plus, Asskickers United is still a long ways off from dominating the entire Viridian Empire. They’re no threat to us. Even if they defeat Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors, there’ll be many more obstacles ahead for them. To my knowledge, another major power not slightest bit inferior to the Century Financial Group is rising up fast in the Viridian Empire, and have already acquired several dozen guilds. Let Asskickers United continue with their little game of war. Their future will be anything but peaceful.”

Soaring Angel wasn’t the least bit concerned about the war in the Viridian Empire. Asskickers United’s Armoured Ice Catapults couldn’t reach them all the way over in the Satreen Empire. Angel Corps was currently researching high level siege weapons. In a few months , the Armoured Ice Catapults would be obsolete.

Angel Corps’ position in the Satreen Empire was unshakeable. Meanwhile, Asskickers United still had a long journey ahead of them.

After Soaring Angel voiced his opinion, the several Angel Corps higher ups threw away any thoughts about sending reinforcements to aid Alliance of Mages. Their top priority was to continue exploring Gryphon Woodlands and obtain enough flying mounts to form a powerful aerial force! Once they established superiority in the skies, cross nation wars would become much more feasible.

With Angel Corps deciding not to lend a hand, Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were in a real pickle.

Guo Huai made some inquiries and discovered Angel Corps had decided not to send any aid to Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. He breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Angel Corps didn’t take action, things would be much easier. They could slowly chip away at Alliance of Mages’ forces.

Crazy Magic would probably be incredibly vexed to find out that Angel Corps wasn’t sending any reinforcements.

While Asskickers United’s Armoured Ice Catapults continued razing Alliance of Mages’ strongholds to the ground, two Trebuchets were completed. Alliance of Mages’ fate was sealed. All that was left to do was to decide how to collect the spoils.

Guo Huai estimated that in at most three days the Edgarton Stronghold would be transformed into a pile of ruins.

Their dominance in the war filled Asskickers United’s players with confidence. Their momentum was unstoppable.

Since the war seemed to be progressing smoothly, Nie Yan could focus on training his skills without worry. In the previous timeline, even Level 100 and higher Shadow Dancers wouldn’t necessarily be able to raise a Freedom Skill to Rank 8. After he finished this skill training session, challenging the class advancement quest would be a piece of cake.

Before Nie Yan’s eyes was a brilliant future.

Nie Yan immersed himself in training, hunting down Barbarian Warriors while exploring deeper into the map.

This Land of Dreams was quite vast. No matter how far Nie Yan walked, he couldn’t see any end in sight. His harvests were ample, obtaining more than 50 skills books. This place only dropped skill books, nothing else. However, many of these skill books were high quality drops. So, there was nothing to complain about. If he threw these skill books into the treasury, Asskickers United’s players would probably go wild with joy. A few Thief skill books dropped, one of which was for a Freedom Skill. However, with so many skills already in his arsenal, continuing to learn more would have a negative effect. So, he could only put it aside for now. He would train all his current skills up first.

After climbing up a hill, Nie Yan gazed at a hollow basin in the prarie up ahead. A giant Barbarian Warrior entered his sight. It resembled a grizzly bear and was about two heads taller than the ordinary Barbarian Warriors. It was clad in spiked golden armour and wielded a supersized greataxe.

"It’s probably an Elite,” Nie Yan muttered. He cautiously approached the Barbarian Warrior from behind until he was only 30 meters away, then activated Transcendent Insight.

Barbarian Berserker (Elite): Level 120
Health: 3,000,000/3,000,000

"I was right! It is an elite! Damn, what a crazy stupid amount of health too.” Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Any Elites Level 100 and up were incredibly tough to deal with. He was absolutely no match for it in his current state.

After thinking for a moment, Nie Yan decided to leave. Out of all his skills, only the Rank 8 Backbreaker could deal any appreciable damage to the Barbarian Berserker. Sadly, a single skill wasn’t enough take it down.

Just as Nie Yan was about to leave, something flashing in the grass beside the Barbarian Berserker caught his eye.

It had a seven coloured radiance, incomparably beautiful and ever-changing.

At first, Nie Yan thought it was the light reflecting off the Barbarian Berserker’s armour.

"Is that a treasure chest? For it to have that kind of visual effect, it should at least be Sub Legendary, maybe Legendary-grade.”

Nie Yan moved about 10 meters closer.

The Barbarian Berserker started moving around, each step shaking the earth.

Seeing the Barbarian Berserker getting restless, Nie Yan hurriedly calmed his breathing and buffed himself with several skills that boosted stealth.

After failing to discover anything, the Barbarian Berserker returned to an idle state.

It appeared the Awareness of the Barbarian Berserker wasn’t that high. Nie Yan continued approaching closer. When he was about seven meters away, it finally noticed something and started scanning around.

Nie Yan halted his steps and gazed at a patch of knee-length grass up ahead. Hidden there was a small chest made out of some unknown metal. It appeared quite sturdy. Hanging off the lid was a fist-sized lock.

Inspecting this chest, Nie Yan determined it was Sub Legendary-grade.

Nie Yan observed the Barbarian Berserker. Although it was roaming around, it always maintained a distance no further than five meters form the chest.

He had to find some way to lead the Barbarian Berserker away!

Having Lil’ Gold draw aggro was one option. However, Nie Yan wanted to avoid Lil’ Gold dying if possible. After thinking for a bit, he decided to summon a Paladin from Divine Recruitment. At worst, he would have to pay a penalty fee if the hired Paladin died.

Nie Yan returned to his previous spot about 30 meters away from the Barbarian Berserker. He opened up Divine Recruitment and summoned the Rank 10 Paladin, Kilwater. A Rank 10 Paladin was much higher specced than the ones he summoned previously, especially in terms of movement speed.

"Greeting Sir Nirvana Flame, I’m willing to serve!” Kilwater greeted.

Nie Yan had Kilwater slowly approach the Barbarian Berserker.

When Kilwater arrived at the 20-meter mark, the Barbarian Warrior turned to stare at him. However, it didn’t move from its position to attack him.

Kilwater drew closer and closer, 19 meters, 18 meters… continuing to test the Barbarian Berserker’s limit. Nie Yan broke out in a cold sweat. He had Kilwater buff himself with several speed boosting skills and prepare to run at a moment’s notice.

When Kilwater reached the 13-meter mark, the Barbarian Berserker couldn’t hold back any longer and charged at him.

"It’s now or never.” Nie Yan’s heartstrings were stretched taut.

Kilwater raised his sword and cast Purify on the Barbarian Berserker.

As the Barbarian Berserker closed in, Kilwater turned tail and fled.

The Barbarian Berserker’s greataxe lit up with a blazing brilliance as it chopped down with unrivalled might.

Kilwater suddenly accelerated and covered six meters in an instant.

With a loud bang, the Barbarian Berserker struck the ground, causing cracks to rapidly spread in the earth. Almost as if a mountain were being torn apart, dirt and crushed rock flew everywhere.

Fortunately, Nie Yan had passed down his orders in time, allowing Kilwater to escape.

However, the Barbarian Berserker’s assault wasn’t over. It let out a furious roar, causing a powerful sound wave to spread out.

War Roar!

Kilwater barely made it a few steps before a powerful sound wave struck him in the back, sending him flying and crashing into the ground.

Kilwater stumbled back to his feet and continued fleeing. He restored his own health and gave himself a few buffs.

However, Kilwater was too slow. The Barbarian Berserker quickly caught up with Charge and ruthlessly chopped down with its greataxe.

Nie Yan’s pupils contracted. What frightening attack speed!

Ordinary Barbarian Warriors attack quite slowly. However, the Barbarian Berserker’s attacks were fast to the point of being overpowered!

With a bang, Kilwater was sent flying. Stunned for a few seconds, the Barbarian Berserker finished him off with one final chop.

Kilwater died.

The Barbarian Berserker snorted out hot air from its nose. It lingered around Kilwater’s corpse for a while before returning to its original position beside the chest.

The Barbarian Berserker’s strength was too frightening. It wouldn’t be easy for Nie Yan to fetch whatever was inside that Sub Legendary-grade chest.

Nie Yan initially planned to have Kilwater lure the Barbarian Berserker away. Now it seemed like that plan had gone up in smoke.

Nie Yan looked down at his skill bar. "Maybe I’ll have a chance after training the rest of my Freedom Skills to Rank 7 or 8…” He could only give up for the time being. After doing some more training, he could come back and try again.

Chapter 567 - Plain Looking

After training his skills for a while longer, Nie Yan looked at the clock. The servers were shutting down soon.

Nie Yan checked his progress: Reverse Grip Backstab was at Rank 6, 35%; Counter at Rank 6, 12%; Flicker Strike at Rank 6, 67%; Phantom Assassination at Rank 6, 95%; and Backbreaker at Rank 8, 56%. All five Freedom Skills had reached at least Rank 6.

Glancing at his skill bar, Nie Yan’s eyes focused on a certain skill. "I wonder if it’s possible to raise the rank of Steal in this map.”

The higher the rank, the greater the success rate of Steal. The Steal skill of most Thieves was Rank 3 or lower. If Nie Yan could raise it to Rank 6, it would surely be useful! Steal was a supplementary skill from one of the fragments of Sulgata’s Shadow. Once the fragment became bound to him, he could obtain skill proficiency in Steal.

If using Steal here also gave 50x skill proficiency, this was a good opportunity to raise its rank.

Once the time came Nie Yan exited Conviction and left his game capsule.

Xie Yao also happened to step outside of her game capsule at the same time. She wore a pink lace nightgown which exposed her delicate jade-like shoulders. The tight clothing accentuated her flawless figure, most noticeably her ample bosom which overflowed with sex appeal.

"Nie Yan, isn’t today the first day of class?” Xie Yao suddenly recalled, knitting her delicate brows. She had nearly forgotten something so important.

Nie Yan withdrew his gaze and nodded. "Yeah, it’s today. We should check in.”

"We only have an hour. I’ll hurry up and change.” Xie Yao grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom.

Rustling sounds came from the other side of the frosted glass door. Lustful thoughts sprouted in Nie Yan’s mind as he watched Xie Yao’s silhouette. Shaking his head clear with a smile, he also went to put on some clothes.

Inside the washroom, Xie Yao stood completely naked on the rug. Her fair legs resembled marble sculptures.

Taking off her nightgown, Xie Yao was filled with nervousness. What if Nie Yan barged in here right now? She couldn’t trust him not to misbehave. Glancing back outside, it appeared he was in the middle of changing his clothes. She breathed a sigh of a relief. Though a faint trace of disappointment flashed in her heart.

The Top Military Academy had no shortage of outstanding beauties. Thinking about the possibility that Nie Yan would fall for another girl, Xie Yao’s mind became clouded with dark thoughts.

Xie Yao looked down at her body. Even though it couldn’t compare to Jiang Yingyu’s, it wasn’t that far off. Most recently, she could tell certain areas of her body had become much more developed. Her skin cast a supple jade-like glow, and her bosom also appeared larger than before.

Thinking to this point, Xie Yao blushed bright red. She couldn’t help but imagine their future together. Her heart already belonged to Nie Yan. Recalling how busy he was lately, she came to a decision. She turned bashful as a plan started taking shape in her mind for tonight. However, her resolve was still firm.

After a while, Xie Yao walked out of the washroom wearing a tunic top along with a violet flower patterned long skirt.

Seeing Xie Yao, Nie Yan couldn’t pull his eyes away. She looked absolutely enchanting, like an otherworldly beauty.

Xie Yao did a little twirl as her skirt danced about.

"How is it?” Xie Yao asked with a cute smile, gazing at Nie Yan with a look of expectation.

"Not bad.” Nie Yan nodded.

After washing up, the two finished breakfast before leaving for school. Not far from the villa was a bus stop. They could wait there for a ride.

Nie Yan really liked this kind of simple lifestyle. The turmoil of his past life made him cherish the current peace all the more.

Not many people were riding the bus, about a dozen or so. Many of the passengers were students of the Top Military Academy. They sat at the front most seats, from time to time sneaking glances at the back.

"Who is that girl? Is she from our school?”

"Yeah, I think she’s a freshman. I saw her on campus filling out a few forms the other day.”

"It’s a shame she already has a boyfriend.”

They were quietly whispering to each other. Even so, to his great surprise Nie Yan could hear every word they said. It appeared his hearing had improved quite a bit. It wasn’t only limited to this. After using the game capsule for some time, even though he was working out less, his strength had improved quite a bit too. He couldn’t remember the last time he tested out his fitness.

The conversation topic of these students gradually shifted to Conviction.

"I’m already Level 71. I guess you guys are around the same as well. Did you know? Liu Chen is already Level 79! Hah… wish we could be like him,” a slim student in a checkered shirt said, purposefully raising his voice.

Level 71 was already quite impressive at this stage of the game. However, bragging about it in front of a certain Level 97 individual was sort of like showing off your paltry machete skills in front of Guan Yu.

Xie Yao and Nie Yan glanced at each other with amused smiles. Any random student from the Top Military Academy was probably at least Level 70. After all, this was a gathering place of elites. Anyone below Level 70 would probably be too embarrassed to reveal themselves. Nie Yan suddenly had a strange thought. With over 60,000 students, a few of them were bound to be Asskickers United members. He wondered what kind of reaction they would have after meeting him. It would surely be amusing.

Nie Yan cracked a faint smile. Turning to the window, the scenery outside was serene with lush trees shading the road.

"There’ll be a show today. I heard Jiang Yingyu will be performing.” Xie Yao observed Nie Yan’s expression from the corner of her eye.

"Oh, I see,” Nie Yan replied in an uninterested tone. Jiang Yingyu performing or not had nothing to do with him.

Before long, the bus stopped at the entrance of the Top Military Academy. Nie Yan and Xie Yao got off. Today was the date new students would be reporting in. Students were bustling around the gate. It was a good thing no parents were accompanying their children, or else this place would be even more crowded!

Nie Yan and Xie Yao entered the gate and reported in at the registration office. Class wouldn’t be starting for a while. They would probably only be receiving the syllabus and getting to know their peers on the first day anyway.

"I’ll walk you to class,” Nie Yan said. Luckily, their classrooms were relatively close to each other.

"Alright.” Xie Yao nodded.

The two passed through a tree shaded path and entered a building. The layout of each building was similar in the sense they all had certain facilities, such as a gym. The federation attached great importance to the fitness of the overall populace. Competitive fighting courses were the most important, even surpassing theoretics.

Nie Yan escorted Xie Yao to her classroom. Glancing inside, he saw about 30 students, 26 females and 4 males. He couldn’t help but smack his lips. This place was truly a paradise for guys!

After seeing Xie Yao off, Nie Yan walked through a passageway toward his own classroom.

Looking at the sign that read ‘Command Faculty’, Nie Yan confirmed he was at the right place.

About 23 students were sitting in the classroom. Including Nie Yan, there were 15 males. Their ages varied greatly. The older ones were up to 26 while the younger ones were around 20. Nie Yan swept his gaze across the classroom. The command faculty nurtured elites from all over the world to become commanders for the army. A proper appearance was the most basic requirement. None of the people here could be described as ugly. His eyes fell on the female students in his class. They looked pretty good. Quite a few were mature beauties, dressed in black laced clothing that exuded sexual appeal.

Nie Yan was simply casually observing. His devotion to Xie Yao was absolute. However, this didn’t stop him from occasionally checking out other women. Not a single dirty thought stained his mind, though. His conscience was clear.

Sitting down at his assigned seat, Nie Yan’s neighbour was a 20-year-old male student. He had a slim build but was quite muscular. It was impossible for those whose physical fitness wasn’t up to snuff to be admitted into the Top Military Academy.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Xu Yan,” he introduced himself with a smile. "My Conviction ID is Stranger, Level 75 Warrior and member of Asskickers United. What about you?”

Nie Yan was dazed. This fellow was a member of Asskickers United. However, was there really a need to go around telling everybody? In a single breath, he had divulged his character name, level, class, and guild affiliation.

At this moment, the two people in the back scooted forward.

"Hey, what’s up. My name is Fei Ze. My ID is Magician, Level 71 Demon Hunter. I’m a member of Bloodfall Inheritance in the Satreen Empire.

"My name is Xia Tianyu. My ID is Skyscraper, Level 78 Arcane Mage, member of God Executioner Sword,” Xia Tianyu proudly stated after finding out the other two were lower level than him. So far, he had yet to meet someone higher level than him. As a Level 78 equipped with the Fallen Crimson Blaze Set, it was rare for him to meet someone who could rival him.

The students of the Top Military Academy had a custom. Whenever they introduced themselves, they would state their Conviction ID, level, class, guild affiliation, and so on.

"I’m Nie Yan,” Nie Yan said after a brief moment of hesitation

"Hah, if you’re Nirvana Flame, then I’m Resplendent Bladelight.” Xia Tianyu rolled his eyes, looking completely unconvinced.

Nie Yan took out a piece of paper and scribbled out the two characters to his name: 聂言.

"Oh, so it was that Nie Yan! Here I thought you were calling yourself Nirvana Flame.”

"Huh, Nie Yan? Aren’t you the one who ranked first in the fitness portion of the entrance exams? I saw your results. Calling you impressive would be an understatement.”

Xu Yan was dazed. "So you were that Nie Yan! The one who scored number one overall!”

Hearing this, Xia Tianyu also drew back some of his pride. He had placed sixth in the overall rankings, only a few points behind fifth. His results were definitely nothing to shirk at. However, compared to first place, he was far too lacking.

Nie Yan judged the characters of these three people. Xu Yan was rather carefree and straightforward without any hidden motives. Fei Zhe seemed rather reserved and shy. Xia Tianyu didn’t seem to disagreeable, even if he was a bit arrogant. These three were the first people he got to know at the Top Military Academy.

"Haha, it’s just luck.” Nie Yan laughed. He intentionally diverted the topic away from Conviction and chatted with them about other things.

Xie Tianyu gazed at Nie Yan suspiciously. Could the person in front of him really be Nirvana Flame? However, he quickly discarded the thought and chuckled to himself. What kind of existence was Nirvana Flame? There was no way this plain looking fellow could be him!

Chapter 568 - Heavenly Kings!

Nie Yan’s identity had long since stopped being a secret. Many people already knew he was Nirvana Flame.

Even so, if it could save him some headache, he would rather maintain a low profile. He understood what kind of stir the name Nirvana Flame would create.

The Top Military Academy was a gathering place of the strong. If people found out he was Nirvana Flame, he would receive an endless stream of challenges every day.

"Have you guys heard about the famous clubs in our school?” Xu Yan asked in a gossipy tone.

"What clubs?” Nie Yan’s interest was piqued.

Fei Zhe and Xia Tianyu also seemed curious.

"In fact, when I first entered the Top Military Academy, I didn’t know about them either. I only found out after Big Sis told me. These clubs are really famous in Conviction. If we were to talk about the one that’s gaining the most attention lately, it would be Azure Windchime,” Xu Yan said.

Azure Windchime? Nie Yan’s mind trembled. He had heard of this club before. Its founder wasn’t a stranger but rather Asskickers United’s very own Painted Muslin! Their members included many top players from the guild, like Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, Lofty Shadow, and so on. They had more than 60 members altogether. It was rumoured the requirements for joining were quite high. They all knew each other in real life, and their rules were extremely strict. Nie Yan really disliked the existence of this kind of exclusive club within the guild. It was simply too difficult to manage. He even had thoughts of forcefully dissolving it. Later on, they stopped recruiting people. So, he dropped the subject. As long as they didn’t cause any trouble, he was fine with it. He didn’t expect Azure Windchime to be a student club of the Top Military Academy.

Seeing he had successfully attracted Nie Yan and the others’ attention, Xu Yan said in a proud tone, "Guess what? Yours truly is actually a member of Azure Windchime! I only joined two days ago. All 60 plus members of the club belong to Asskickers United. Painted Muslin is our Big Sis and an instructor in the management department. There are many famous experts in there that you’ve probably already heard of, like Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, Lofty Shadow, and Monochrome.”

Xu Yan snuck a peak at the expression of the three people in front of him. Fei Zhe and Xia Tianyu both looked envious. Even though Xie Tianyu was quite strong at Level 78, he couldn’t hold a candle to Asskickers United’s elites. With Xu Yan joining Azure Windchime, he would have the backing and support of these experts. His future was bright.

Seeing the pensive look on Nie Yan’s face, Xiu Yan couldn’t tell what was going through his mind.

"Apart from Azure Windchime, there’s another famous club in the Top Military Academy, which I’m sure everybody has already heard of before. They’re called Bloodfiends. Their five most famous players nearly assassinated Nirvana Flame. Their leader is a student here, and their vice leader is a professional player who’s pretty notorious in that circle. Needless to say, those five players are really strong. For obvious reasons, Azure Windchime and Bloodfiends don’t get along. The two clubs frequently get into disputes. In a one versus one, Bloodfiends are no match for the several top members in Azure Windchime. However, since those five always move together, there’s nothing Azure Windchime can do to them,” Xu Yan said.

Xu Yan’s words rang like a clap of thunder in Nie Yan’s ears. He didn’t expect that Asskickers United’s sworn enemy, Bloodfiends, were also from the Top Military Academy. This place was truly filled with hidden dragons and crouching tigers.

"There’s one more famous club called Heavenly Kings, but they’re extremely secretive. I’ve only heard about them from Big Sis. Everyone who gets admitted to this club is at the level of a heavenly king. Their joining requirements are far more stringent than those of Azure Windchime and Bloodfiends. Every year, only a few people get recruited. All the historical geniuses of the Top Military Academy have come out of this club. They aren’t that big. From their creation to now, they’ve always had around 20 or so members. They’re all big shots, no doubt. It would already be impressive if just one or two from our command faculty or the machine combat faculty get selected. Let me tell you something. If you ever get asked to join, don’t hesitate to accept. Every person there is a higher up of a major corporation or someone with a lot of authority. The wealth and connections they possess isn’t something you can imagine. If you get taken in as one of them, you’re basically set for life. Heavenly Kings is really secretive, though. Very few people know about them. Many even think this club is just a rumour and doesn’t actually exist.” Xu Yan had a look of reverence when talking about Heavenly Kings. The people in this club were undoubtedly existences that couldn’t be provoked.

"Have any of the people in Azure Windchime ever joined Heavenly Kings?” Fei Zhe asked. This was also the first time he had heard about this club, so he was curious.

Xu Yan shook his head. "Big Sis once told me that none of us are even close to being qualified.”

Hearing Xu Yan’s words, everyone’s heart shook. He likely wasn’t joking.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder what kind of club Heavenly King was.

"The Top Military Academy’s rules are extremely strict. Fighting outside of school related activities and sporting events is strictly forbidden, so everyone settles their disputes by carrying out duels in Conviction. Apart from Azure Windchime and Bloodfiends, the Top Military Academy has at least over a dozen other special clubs both large and small. Even the obscure ones are quite strong. All of you should take care not to provoke them. A couple of them belong to the Satreen Empire. As for how strong they are, I’m not sure. Over on the side of the Viridian Empire, every now and then the students here will set up an arena and hold a tournament inside the game. It’s rumoured that if you perform well, you’ll have beauties sending love letters to you the very next day. So, you guys interested?” Xu Yan smirked.

"When is the date of the next tournament?” Fei Zhe asked enthusiastically.

"I think the next one will be held in a week.” Xu Yan glanced at Nie Yan and Xia Tianyun. He couldn’t tell what Nie Yan was thinking, while Xia Tianyun seemed to hold some interest.

The closer Xu Yan looked at Nie Yan’s face, the more he felt that Nie Yan looked like someone he knew. However, he didn’t dare to confirm. He held his suspicions in his heart.

"Nie Yan, are you going to participate too? Oh right, you never told us what your class and level is,” Fei Zhe suddenly recalled.

As Nie Yan was wondering how to evade their question, a 28-year-old beauty with an explosive figure entered the classroom. Wearing a tight-fitting OL dress, she had a large bosom and firm buttocks.

"The instructor is here,” Xu Yan whispered. Seeing this beautiful instructor, he was practically drooling from his mouth.

"The instructor, she’s really pretty…” Fei Zhe gulped.

Xia Tianyu’s attention was also stolen by the instructor.

These three fellow were still young, to be so easily enamored by a beauty. Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. He had thrown off their questions.

"Hello, class. My name is Li Ru…” Li Ru introduced herself, then went on to explain the history of the Top Military Academy as well as a few things they should know as students here.

Nie Yan didn’t carefully pay attention to what Li Ru was saying. He was absentmindedly wondering about whether he should meet up with Painted Muslin, Undying Scoundrel, and the others. Thinking again, he decided to put it off for now. If they found out he was attending the Top Military Academy, it would probably cause a massive stir.

Nie Yan didn’t want to add any more chaos to his daily life.

After Li Ru finished speaking, all the students in the class began introducing themselves. Nie Yan was ranked at the top of the class. This was definitely a first. Him entering the command faculty by achieving number one in the entrance exam’s overall score naturally raised eyebrows from his classmates.

Nie Yan randomly said a few words, purposefully avoiding talking about his ID and other information related to Conviction.

Of the people who introduced themselves next, some revealed their ID and some didn’t. Like this, Nie Yan wasn’t alone.

The command department was full of talented individuals. Many of the people ranked below him only fell short by a small margin.

Skimming over the list of first year students, Nie Yan spotted a familiar name—Qin Han. That fellow was here too! His overall score was five points lower than his. He was rank one in the machine combat faculty. Nie Yan still recalled Qin Han saying he would enter Conviction. Soon after the Monet Financial Group entered the game. Their activities were extremely low key. As for how much strength they had already accumulated, he had no idea.

Apart from this, Liu Rui was in the finance faculty, Jiang Yingyu the art faculty, and Xie Yao the management faculty.

Nie Yan familiarized himself with his fellow classmates. A few of them looked at him with unkind eyes. His achievements in the entrance exams was really to eye-catching. It seemed like they were gunning for his position.

After Li Ru handed the syllabus out to everyone, they were dismissed for the day.

"Fei Zhe, Xia Tianyu, and I are heading to the VR room to PvP. You want to join?” Xu Yan asked, patting Nie Yan’s shoulder.

"Sorry, I’m a little busy. Maybe next time,” Nie Yan politely declined.

"Ah, alright then.” Xu Yan seemed a bit disappointed.

Seeing Xu Yan and the others leave, Nie Yan headed straight for the gym. The Top Military Academy’s facilities were top of the line, containing all sorts of fitness testing machines. It had been a long time since he tested his physical prowess.

Nie Yan could feel himself growing stronger by the day using the game capsule. He had once asked Xie Yao if this was the same for everyone. However, she replied that she didn’t notice anything different despite using the exact same model of game capsule as him.

Could it all be just in his head? He would find out now!

After a while, Nie Yan entered the gym. There were a lot of people working out, not just first years but second years and third years too. Fourth years were on the scarcer side. This wasn't odd. Their classrooms were in different buildings.

Nie Yan signed in with his student card, then impatiently walked in.

Chapter 569 - Fitness Testing!

Nie Yan started the machines which would test his overall fitness. They included his squat, kick force, lat pulldown, punch force, and so on.

Approaching the kicking machine, Nie Yan took up a stance and breathed in deeply. With a deep shout, he threw out a sidekick and ruthlessly struck the sandbag. A loud bang rang out as the sandbag was sent flying up into the air. The sandbag violently swayed back and forth as the chain suspending it nearly snapped in two from the powerful impact.

The value on the monitor fluctuated rapidly before finally stopping at a kick force of 721.35 kg.

Nie Yan was shocked! His kick force during the Top Military Academy entrance exam was only 563.23 kg! It had increased by over 150 kg in such a short amount of time! This was truly unbelievable.

Could it be some kind of mistake? Thinking about it, Nie Yan discarded the thought. What kind of place was the Top Military Academy? This place had the best of the best, the top of the line facilities. It was accurate to two decimal places. There was no way such a large error could occur.

Nie Yan shook his leg. His kicking force increasing was far from a bad thing. During the next exam, his results would be even higher.

Nie Yan continued testing.

Squat: 915.28 kg

Lat Pulldown: 622.81 kg

…

All areas saw noticeable improvements. Nie Yan felt like he was brimming with strength.

The final test was punch force.

Nie Yan stood in front of the machine. He warmed up his body, then planted his foot in the ground. With a deep shout, he threw a punch forward.「Bang!」The sandbag was knocked back and shook violently.

The monitor displayed a value of 569.12 kg. This was much higher than his previous punching force of 511 kg.

Every person’s body had a limit. The closer you reached that limit, the harder it would be to make progress. Under normal circumstances, a fighter increasing their punching force by 10 kg in a month’s time would already be impressive. Nie Yan had raised his by 50 kg! If others found out about this, he would be treated as a freak.

These stats were far too astonishing. With his improved physique, training fighting techniques would become much easier.

Nie Yan’s stats were probably comparable with top fighters in the professional scene.

After working out in the gym for three hours, Nie Yan got in touch with Xie Yao. He would be out in 15 minutes. As he packed up his things and was walking out the door, he suddenly halted his steps and looked back at the punching machine.

A strange idea suddenly struck him. After thinking for a moment, he turned back and stepped in front of the sandbag.

There was something he really wanted to test out!

Accelerating forward and pushing off from his waist, Nie Yan focused all his power into his right fist. He paid close attention his movements, constantly correcting and adjusting.

Nie Yan struck forward with his fist. He felt a strange feeling as all the power in his body gathered in his right arm.

It wasn’t close enough. His movements were still stiff!

With a loud bang, Nie Yan struck the sandbag. He could clearly sense that this punch was by far the strongest one he’d thrown in both his lives.

The monitor beside the sandbag rapidly changed before finally stopping at 821.28 kg.

Nie Yan sucked in a cold breath of air. He didn’t expect to achieve such a result. If he could do this consistently, he could compete on the international stage.

That technique was actually based in reality?

All sorts of doubts filled Nie Yan’s heart. He wouldn’t get an answer any time soon. He had heard that the VR helmets and game capsules improved a person’s physique by stimulating their muscles. Looking at it now, it didn’t seem to be only this. No wonder the federation named the VR helmet and game capsules as the top inventions of this age.

In any case, he had grown stronger. This was a fact!

His movements earlier were stiff, but he had still managed a punching force of 821.28 kg. If he polished his movements even more, just what kind of result would he achieve?

Nie Yan threw out a few more punches before he finally got the hang of the feeling. Taking up a peculiar posture, every cell in his body exploded all at once as power surged through his arm. With a loud bang, the value displayed on the monitor kept fluctuating until it finally stopped at 1021.35 kg.

Though he had mentally prepared himself, Nie Yan couldn’t contain his excitement. He estimated even the professional boxers on the world stage were only at this level. Of course the world champion was a different matter altogether.

Nie Yan tried his best to calm his excitement.

...

The Top Military Academy’s entrance, Xie Yao was waiting for Nie Yan. He had sent her another message that he would be another 15 minutes.

Xie Yao stood next to flower garden. In her blouse and violet skirt while carrying a coffee coloured handbag, she amplified the beauty of the scenery. Many of the students passing by couldn’t help but let their gazes fall on her. Some got curious and wanted to know who she was waiting for.

A few male students drummed up the courage to approach her. However, Xie Yao maintained a polite distance away from them. They could only sadly depart.

At this moment, Qin Han walked over toward Xie Yao. Who knew if it was mere coincide or on purpose.

"Hello,” Qin Han greeted. He acted like a true gentleman.

"Hello,” Xie Yao greeted back. She gazed toward the school. What was taking Nie Yan so long?

"Fancy bumping into you here. We’re old classmates. May I treat you to a cup of coffee?” Qin Han said with a smile. He was polite and gave off an affable impression.

"Sorry, I’m busy.” Xie Yao shook her head, politely declining. She didn’t have much interest in Qin Han. She had met many of these gentlemanly types, but they all turned out to be hypocrites deep inside.

"Are you waiting for someone?” Seeing Xie Yao repeatedly glancing back at the school, a dark emotion flitted across his heart.

"Yes.” Xie Yao curtly nodded, pulling further away from Qin Han. She didn’t want to associate with this fellow in any way, shape, or form. She knew that he had entered Conviction and caused Nie Yan many problems. It was best to stay as far away from him as possible.

"Alright, I’ll leave you be then.” Qin Han chuckled. He understood that lingering around any longer would only annoy Xie Yao. When he turned away, his eyes flashed with a cold light.

Qin Han’s back slowly receded before disappearing into the stream of students going home.

About five minutes later, Nie Yan ran bolted from the path and stopped in front of Xie Yao, panting for breath.

"Sorry, I’ve made you wait,” Nie Yan said with an apologetic smile.

Seeing Nie Yan perspiring with sweat, Xie Yao shook her head with a sweet smile. "It’s fine. Let’s go.”

Xie Yao’s smile left the surrounding students dumbstruck. In the past, she didn’t smile often, but when she did, it was simply angelic. All the male students gazed at Nie Yan with deep envy.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao left together.

"What the hell. That guy is so plain looking. How’d he find such a pretty girlfriend?”

"That girl is Xie Yao from the management faculty. Who’s that guy?”

"He’s from the command faculty. I think his name is Nie Yan. He was high schoolmates with Xie Yao. They entered the Top Military Academy together. I heard he scored number one overall in the entrance exams.”

The command faculty and ranked first in the overall score, with this revelation, many people shut up. The command faculty was an Ace major in the Top Military Academy. Every student who graduated and entered the army would become a battalion commander or higher, not to mention they would rise through the ranks very quickly. Even then, the fact he placed first in the overall ranking wasn’t even taken into consideration. This was an unreachable existence for these passersby.

In a distant corner, a pair of cold eyes gazed at Xie Yao and Nie Yan leaving. It was Qin Han who had left just a moment ago.

Whether in terms of background, authority, or resources, Qin Han felt he was far superior to Nie Yan. He was the first to court Xie Yao, but Nie Yan had stolen her away from him! This left a sour taste in his mouth.

"I’ve been been waiting all day. Why haven’t the people from Heavenly Kings gotten back to me yet?” Qin Han frowned.

Suddenly his phone rang, he had received a text from an unknown number. He read through the contents.

「Between you and Nie Yan of the command faculty, we’ll only be choosing one this year. We don’t need losers.

-Heavenly Kings 」

Qin Han’s expression turned cold as he tightly gripped his phone. It was that bastard again!

Heavenly Kings, Qin Han had always dreamed about joining this club. If he entered, with the backing of the several heavyweights there, he could easily crush his rivals and secure power in his family.

He clearly understood what kind of organization Heavenly Kings was. Composed of 26 members altogether, six high officials in the federation, five were high officials in the Chinese government, and the remaining were powerful tycoons of regional bigshots.

From the first moment he entered the Top Military Academy, Qin Han urgently got into contact with a member from Heavenly Kings to help vouch for him. He believed it would all be smooth sailing from there. He didn’t expect to encounter a roadblock.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao returned to their villa. After eating lunch, Nie Yan called up his parents.

As the conversation topic drifted to daily life in the Top Military Academy, Father Nie said in a solemn tone, "If people from Heavenly Kings look for you and ask you to join, be polite and quickly accept.”

"What kind of organization is Heavenly Kings?” Nie Yan couldn’t help but ask. He had already heard this club mentioned countless times. Previously, he didn’t attach any importance to it. But with his father talking about it in such a serious tone, he realized this matter wasn’t simple.

"You don’t need to ask for now. You just have to understand that every person in Heavenly Kings is an unreachable existence. If you’re able to join, you’ll naturally know. However, from my estimates, you’re still not qualified. We can only hope the heavens are on our side.” Father Nie sighed. He informed Nie Yan of the origin of this club.

Hearing Father Nie’s words, Nie Yan had a rough understanding of Heavenly Kings. In fact, every prestigious university had a similar organization. Over the years, the most outstanding elites of the school would gather together, creating an exclusive student club. Everyone shared their resources, allowing the strong to become even stronger. The clubs in ordinary universities probably didn’t hold any real influence outside of school grounds. However, the school Nie Yan entered was the Top Military Academy! It had lauded history of several hundred years, nurturing elite after elite. If the Top Military Academy caught a cold, the entire nation would cough. A club composed of all the school’s top elites over the years, one could imagine what kind of power it held.

Chapter 570 - Rank 10 Steal!

Nie Yan joining Heavenly Kings would have significant meaning to World Bloc. All of its business would expand by manyfold. Even becoming a top 10 financial group in the country would be well within the realm of possibilities.

However, the strict requirements for joining Heavenly Kings posed an obstacle. Only one or two people were recruited every year. The Top Military Academy was vast, with geniuses abound. There were bound to be people just as if not more qualified than Nie Yan. Qin Han was one of those.

Just like Father Nie said, joining Heavenly Kings wasn’t something that could be forced. One could only let fate decide.

Since Nie Yan wasn’t a student of the Top Military Academy in his past life, he was clueless about its circumstances. He planned to ask Undying Scoundrel or one of the others at some point.

Nie Yan had his father help him collect data related to Heavenly Kings. With a deeper understanding of them, he would be better prepared to meet them when the time came.

While Nie Yan and Xie Yao were back at the villa, a group of people gathered in a secret conference room in the Top Military Academy.

26 people altogether sat around a long square table deep in discussion. Their ages varied greatly, with the oldest being nearly 60 years old and the youngest being 23. They would convene here at the start of every year to talk about new recruits. This had become a tradition. They were all current or former students of the Top Military Academy. Now many of them were already big shots in the military, political, or business world.

"Between Nie Yan and Qin Han, who do you think is more suitable?” a tall, middle aged man in a military uniform asked. He was sitting at the head of the table and looked quite imposing. His epaulets were decorated with five stars. He was a general.

"Qin Han has an edge in terms of family background, which will be more beneficial to us. The Monet Financial Group is quite influential in South America. Meanwhile, World Bloc is only an upstart in China. Even if we nurture them up, they’ll only amount to so much,” an old fattie sitting at the side of the table voiced his opinion. Even though he was in his later years, he still looked hale and hearty. He wore a Chinese suit and looked quite shrewd and capable.

These two held the greatest influence here. One was a higher up in the military, while the other was an important official in the government. They normally didn’t reveal their names. However, if one were say them out loud, it would definitely cause quite a stir.

"I’m afraid Nie Yan doesn’t only have World Bloc behind him. From what I heard, the little princess of the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups is currently living together with him. If Xie Jun didn’t approve of Nie Yan, he definitely wouldn’t let his daughter stay with him. If you add the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups into the equation, things are completely different,” a 23 year old youth said. Family background, connections, and so on would all be taken into consideration when reviewing a potential recruit for Heavenly Kings.

"It seems like Xiao Yu approves of Nie Yan more. Since Nie Yan and Qin Han are sworn enemies, why don’t we see who comes out on top in the end?” the general chuckled. Xiao Yu was currently responsible for all affairs in Heavenly Kings. After Nie Yan and Qin Han were nominated, they required two thirds of the votes to become members. Right now, the selection process was only just beginning.

"I recently found something interesting. Take a look yourselves,” Xiao Yu said. He pressed a few buttons on the screen in front of him. Before long, a video of Nie Yan in the gym appeared on the large monitor at the front of the room.

Nie Yan’s every movement was captured on camera.

"You little brat, you installed cameras in the gym?” Several people shot gloomy looks at Xiao Yu. They were regular visitors of the gym. Some even brought their girlfriends over for a little fun in the storage room.

"Xiao Yu, after the meeting is over, we need to have a little chat.” A tall and muscular youth cracked his knuckles and gazed at Xiao Yu menacingly.

Xiao Yu felt all the hairs on his body stand up. That youth was a fourth year senior, older than him by a year. He was called Lei Su, a famous character in the Top Military Academy as well as the heir to the Sky International Financial Group. He was the champion of the school’s fighting competition three years in a row and winner of the federation’s FG fighter pilot tournament. He also held many other accolades that would make people gasp in admiration. Lei Su was a person overflowing with talent. He also valued loyalty greatly. Perhaps his only flaw was his lust for sex. He visited the gym quite often, regularly bringing his lady friends in with him. Xiao Yu’s deepest impression was when Lei Yu brought five women together with him into the gym. What happened next couldn’t be described with words. However, he still watched with relish, granted he was breaching privacy rules and enjoying the dirty free of charge. The cameras he installed were the size of pinholes. They could zoom in and out at will. He could look wherever he wanted.

Xiao Yu inwardly grumbled. He knew he was going to get it later. However, with so many big shots present, he still chose to press forward, "This is a recording of Nie Yan testing himself in the gym from earlier in the day.”

The admiral looked at the video, then turned to Xiao Yu and asked, "How are his new results?”

"Much higher than when he tested for the Top Military Academy entrance exam. He has a 915.28 kg squat, 622.81 kg lat pulldown, 721.35 kick, and a punch force as high as 1036.28 kg.” Xiao Yu turned to Lei Su. "I guess you won’t have to complain about not having any competition anymore.”

"Damn, what a freak. His punch and kick are even stronger than mine. The only thing left to see is if his fighting techniques are up to snuff.” Lei Su licked his lips. His blood was boiling after finally finding a worthy rival.

"His scores weren’t that high during the Top Military Academy entrance exam. That can only mean two things. His strength improved greatly during this short span of time, or he held back before,” Xiao Yu said. He gazed at the several big shots. Seeing the pensive looks on their faces, he knew he had succeeded in attracting their interest.

"He’s probably already close to becoming a Shadow Dancer in Conviction, right?” the general asked.

Xiao Yu was caught off guard. He didn’t understand why the topic had shifted to Conviction.

"World Bloc purposefully leaked to us that Nie Yan is already Level 97. He isn’t far off from becoming a Shadow Dancer,” Xiao Yu snapped out of his daze and replied.

"Damn, Level 97? What a freak!” Several of the youths in the room were surprised. They understood how difficult it was to level up in Conviction. Even the strongest among them had only just broken past Level 80.

"This kid’s comprehension is pretty good. That punch just now is a technique learned by Ace mech fighters in the army,” Mo Yunfeng said, glancing at the several big shots.

Xiao Yu was bewildered. How were these two things related? He noticed the expressions of the big shots. They seemed to understand what Mo Yunfeng was talking about.

"Observe Nie Yan closely,” Mo Yunfeng said.

"Alright.” Xiao Yu nodded. He could only set aside the doubts in his hearts for later. Asking Mo Yunfeng and the other higher-ups wasn’t a wise idea.

Unbeknownst to Nie Yan, while he was trying to figure out how to get into Heavenly Kings, the big shots there were already watching him closely. Compared to Qin Han, some of the older members seemed to approve of him more.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao spent the afternoon enjoying each other’s company out in town. As evening arrived, they both entered Conviction.

Nie Yan continued to train his skills in the prairie. Apart from the five Freedom Skills, he also placed Steal to the front. He wanted to see if he could gain 50x skill proficiency for it here.

Seeing a Barbarian Warrior roaming around in the distance, Nie Yan slowly snuck up from behind, then struck it with Backbreaker.

The Barbarian Warrior was stunned for five seconds.

Nie Yan quickly targeted it with Steal.

Steal successful! You have obtained 76 silver. You have obtained 50 skill proficiency.

Steal also gained 50x skill proficiency in this map!

Nie Yan couldn’t help but get excited. It would be extremely beneficial to him if he could raise the rank of Steal. His Steal skill was currently Rank 4. This was considered the most rudimentary level. Even though the success rate was greatly increased, it was still fairly low. It only succeeded once in every nth attempts. Even then, the items stolen would usually only be money. The chance of obtaining a piece of equipment or something valuable was extremely low.

Nie Yan had once heard a Shadow Dancer say that the Steal skill at Rank 7 or lower was basically worthless. However, if you could raise it to Rank 8 or higher, it would be like a different skill. At Rank 10, it became godly and potent enough to anger an enemy into vomiting blood.

In the previous timeline, Nie Yan had spent an entire month training Steal non-stop yet only managed to raise it to Rank 3. The higher it went, the harder it was to train and the more time it required. He couldn't believe that someone had trained Steal to Rank 8. Just how much time would that take!? You would practically need to have the patience of a saint!

A matter that seemed impossible in the previous timeline was a very real possibility now.

Nie Yan was determined to train his Steal to Rank 10!

Nie Yan was suddenly overtaken by a strong desire. He wanted to know just what kind of effect Rank 10 Steal would have. How could it anger an enemy enough to vomit blood?

Steal’s cooldown was very short, but the failure rate was high. He would be lucky to succeed once in every 10 attempts against these Level 120 Barbarian Warriors.

When the Barbarian Warriors were incapacitated by Backbreaker, Nie Yan would spam Steal on them. When they recovered from the stun five seconds later, he would activate Extreme Intimidate, immobilizing them again.

Nie Yan chained one control skill after another, not allowing the Barbarian Warrior to move.

You have obtained 50 skill proficiency.You have obtained 50 skill proficiency.…

Before long, a notification jingle rang out.

Your Steal skill has advanced to Rank 5.

Chapter 571 - Seduction (Censored)

Steal was gaining skill proficiency rapidly. After reaching Rank 5, its success rate had gone up by over twofold. He now succeeded every three in 10 attempts, and the items he stole were slightly better than before.

At the same time, the amount of skill proficiency required to rank up had increased by over fivefold. However, with a 50x skill proficiency multiplier, the training speed was still relatively quick. Three hours later, Steal reached Rank 6.

Nie Yan calculated in his head. With this kind of speed, Rank 10 Steal wasn’t too far away.

While raising the rank of Steal, Nie Yan also continued training his other skills. Since he required the target to be immobilized to use Steal, Concussive Blow, Smothering Strike, and his other control skills were all rapidly gaining skill proficiency. Both Concussive Blow and Smothering Strike advanced to Rank 5.

Every skill was gaining skill proficiency rapidly. Nie Yan envisioned that if he trained here for a few days at his current speed, he would see an explosive growth in strength.

When all five of his Freedom Skills reached Rank 10, he wouldn’t need to be afraid even if he encountered a Lord. Add on Rank 10 Steal on top of this, and his earnings from hunting mobs would increase several times over.

Apart from the five Freedom Skills, the Kick skill was also pretty useful. So, in between Steal attempts, Nie Yan would also give the Barbarian Warriors a few swift kicks.

Nie Yan snuck up behind a Barbarian Warrior and struck him with Backbreaker, then started spamming Steal.

Steal has failed.
Steal has failed.
Steal successful! You have obtained a skill book. You have obtained 50 skill proficiency.

Nie Yan didn't have much hope for this skill book. He already had a high quality collection of skills that suited his style of play. On top of that, his bag was packed with another 160 skill books! Glancing at the name of the skill book, his heart trembled—Advanced Lockdown!

Advanced Lockdown’s effects were similar to Extreme Intimidate, immobilizing the target for two seconds.

The more of these kinds of skills Nie Yan had, the better, since it allowed him to lock his target down for a longer period of time. He learned Advanced Lockdown without the slightest hesitation. Glancing at his skill window, he only had three empty skill slots remaining. A bit of spring cleaning was in order.

After learning Advanced Lockdown, Nie Yan continued unloading crowd control skills on the Barbarian Warrior. Before long, the monster with several hundred thousand health collapsed on the ground. He dealt with it as thought it was just an ordinary monster.

Raising the rank of skills was a dull affair which tested a person’s patience greatly. Grinding experience like this continuously, another day soon passed by.

Nie Yan exited the game and stepped out of Conviction. Glancing next to him, Xie Yao’s game capsule was already empty. The sound of running water came from the bathroom. It appeared she was showering.

Nie Yan felt his heartstrings slightly stir. He couldn’t help but visualize a few lavacious scenes.

Nie Yan walked over to the bathroom.

At this moment, Xie Yao stepped out with a towel wrapped around her. The two made eye contact. Nie Yan awkwardly laughed.

Xie Yao shot Nie Yan a reproachful look. Pervert!

Nie Yan’s actions toward Xie Yao only went as far as touching and groping.

Fresh out of the shower, Xie Yao’s skin was flushed pink. A towel wrapped around her body, revealing her supple white shoulders and slender legs, only barely covered her thighs. Her half exposed self filled one’s mind with all sorts of desires.

Just as Nie Yan wanted to cause some mischief, Xie Yao pushed him into the bathroom. "Go, take a shower too. I’ll get you a change of clothes.”

"Alright.” Seeing Xie Yao walking away, Nie Yan could only take off his clothes with a helpless expression. She was so alluring, but he couldn’t eat her up even if he wanted to. A feeling of vexation sprouted in his heart. The promise he made previously to Xie Jun was really too difficult to keep! He could only wait until World Bloc grew powerful enough before openly making Xie Yao his own.

Turning on the shower, warm water splashed his face.

While taking a shower, Nie Yan pondered about the war. In three more days, Alliance of Mages would be on their last breath. At that time, the only remaining opposing power in the Viridian Empire would be Divine Protectors. After this war, Asskickers United would consolidate their position in Moonlight City, then slowly expand before finally taking over the entire territory. With more strongholds, World Bloc could grow even more powerful!

Hearing the shower running in the bathroom, Xie Yao became fidgety while sitting at the bedside. Thinking about what she was about to do, she blushed bright red. Hesitating for a long time, she finally steeled her heart. She stood up and removed her bath towel.

The thick white bath towel plopped to the ground, revealing Xie Yao’s exquisite figure. She looked incredibly tender and beautiful. A pair of fair tapered peaks dropped down, trembling lightly. She refused to believe that Nie Yan could resist her allure.

While Nie Yan was lost in thought, a knocking sound came from the door.

Nie Yan put on his towel, then opened the door, only to see Xie Yao’s charming figure standing in front of him. Her cheeks were flushed an intoxicating red. As he glanced down, he felt the blood rushing to his head.

Xie Yao wasn’t wearing anything! Naked! Her perfect body radiated a fair glow without the slightest blemish. A lascivious fragrance proliferated the air. Right now, her mind was a jumbled mess. Nie Yan’s heated gaze seemed to sap all the strength out of her body, making her feel weak. She steeled her heart and stepped into the bathroom.

A splendid soft feeling pressed against him. Nie Yan was dazed. This was the first time Xie Yao had taken the initiative.

Xie Yao’s slender yet curvaceous figure captivated Nie Yan. Droplets of water bounced lightly on her skin, twinkling with a sparkling and translucent jade-like glow.

Nie Yan’s hands groped Xie Yao’s firm buttocks. He gently pinched.

Xie Yao stood on the tips of her toes and nibbled Nie Yan’s ear. "Nie Yan, you want me, right? Make me yours.”

Xie Yao’s words exploded in Nie Yan’s head as an intense feeling overwhelmed his heart. In the previous timeline, he had spent countless days and long nights sitting in a lonely dark corner recalling the memories he had with her just to confirm to himself he was alive. Even when he had put a bullet through Cao Xu’s head, the last thought that flashed through his mind besides his father and mother was her. On the day he found out she got married to Liu Rui, he took a dagger and made a deep cut across his arm to make himself forget her. However, her image became seared even more deeply into his heart. After reincarnating, all those bitter emotions disappeared. He had finally found true happiness.

Nie Yan wanted to wait until he was powerful enough to make Xie Yao’s family acknowledge him. However, her actions today caused all the feelings he was holding back to come flooding out. Overwhelmed with emotion, he tightly hugged her.

How could he possibly refuse Xie Yao?

As the two pressed against each other, the bathroom became a mess from their lovemaking. Under Nie Yan’s flurry of advances, Xie Yao let out wailing moans of pleasure.

Xie Yao’s everything was right before Nie Yan, beckoning him.

Before long, the two moved to the bed.

Hours later, Nie Yan woke up. He looked at the time, then bitterly smiled. It seemed like going to school today was no longer possible. Luckily, the Top Military Academy regularly sent missed coursework through the mail. In case something happened, he could even request a leave of absence.

Nie Yan warmly gazed at Xie Yao beside him. After how long they went for, she had to be exhausted.

Xie Yao only woke up and got dressed in the afternoon.

When she walked into the living room, Nie Yan had already prepared lunch. A warm feeling washed over her heart.

While the two were quietly eating, Xie Yao’s cheeks were bright red. It was the lingering effect of earlier and was quite charming.

Xie Yao wore a white dress, a simple yet elegant colour which complimented her perfectly. She was brimming with the charm of a young married woman. At this moment, she had truly blossomed into a woman.

Nie Yan really couldn’t hold himself back earlier. However, he had no regrets. As for how to deal with the aftermath, he would have to quickly rise in power and make World Bloc even more powerful. He currently still wasn’t qualified to ask the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups for Xie Yao’s hand in marriage. Compared to these two leviathans, World Bloc was nothing more than an ant.

Nie Yan still remembered the disdain and ridicule Xie Yao’s aunt, Xie Yi, had shown him. Even if Xie Jun accepted him, that didn’t mean the whole Xie Family would. If he wasn’t powerful enough, he would receive the derision of all the other members of the Xie Family. Xie Jun and Xie Yao would receive a lot of pressure, to the extent that they couldn’t even raise their heads in their own household. Worst case scenario, they could even be kicked from the family’s management. This wasn’t something he wished for.

The Xie Family was a major power with over a hundred years of history. World Bloc was only a newly arisen upstart in their eyes. Having them truly acknowledge Nie Yan would be difficult. As for the Dragonsoar Financial Group’s side, that would be easier. They already cooperated in Conviction and Xie Yao’s grandfather, the chairman, doted on her greatly.

Xie Yao marrying Nie Yan meant that the shares she owned in the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups would fall into the hands of an outsider. It was only natural for those affected to voice disapproval.

"Nie Yan, what are you thinking?” Xie Yao asked after seeing Nie Yan knitting his brows.

"It’s nothing. Just keep eating.” Nie Yan shook his head with a smile, then stroked Xie Yao’s cheeks.

"Nie Yan, I know my family is giving you a lot of pressure. Sorry, I’ll talk with them,” Xie Yao said apologetically, a hint of determination in her eyes.

Nie Yan chuckled. "This is something I must face. If I can’t make your family acknowledge me, what kind of man would I be? So, you don’t need to be sorry. Just give me some time. I’ll succeed.”

Hearing Nie Yan’s words full of confidence, Xie Yao was moved. Sometimes she wished she was born in a normal household instead of a such an influential family. Then she could live her live as she pleased.

Chapter 572 - Trebuchets!

Carrying such a heavy burden on his shoulders, Nie Yan felt an increasing sense of urgency. During the day, he arranged various things for the War God Tribe through video call. With the backing of Asskickers United, the War God Tribe expanded at an astonishing rate, cooperating with more than 20 other companies to open up real world business districts in a total of 23 strongholds. This provided World Bloc with large profits as well as aided them in expanding their businesses. They had forged cooperative relationships with 70 companies so far. This was the foundation for their future growth.

As for the game, Nie Yan continued training his skills while commanding Asskickers United remotely.

The trebuchets were completed and ready to roll out. The war between Asskickers United and Alliance of Mages was finally reaching its climax.

Asskickers United’s army arrived outside of the Edgarton Stronghold.

Bladelight was the head commander of this battle. Smoke Stub and Paladin of the Elegy would be providing support. With an army of 300,000, they set up camp outside the Edgarton Stronghold.

The Edgarton Strongholds defenses were truly akin to a turtle shell. The walls were garrisoned with many troops and 11 Armoured Catapults. These giant siege machines gave off a great sense of pressure. Further back was a forest of arrow towers, ready to launch a hail of projectiles at a moment’s notice.

Asskickers United’s 50 elites sat on the grass at the front of the army. They appeared quite relaxed.

They were Asskickers United’s most elite troops and trump card.

"Those sons of bitches from Alliance of Mages. They’re hiding in their stronghold, like wussies refusing to come out.” Edgeless caressed his sword. It had been a long time since he last fought in a war. He was longing for battle.

During their break, Asskickers United’s players had greatly advanced in strength. Many were itching for action.

"Don’t worry, there’ll be more than enough for you to slaughter later. How about we have a little competition? Let’s see who climbs over the enemy walls first.” Monochrome chuckled.

"Hmm, you’re on!” The others also seemed interested.

From their perspective, Alliance of Mages was like a lamb waiting for the slaughter.

"Are our trebuchets here yet?”

"No, those things are slow. It’ll be a while.”

As these players chatted freely, their voices were filled with excitement. Today, they would be sweeping over Alliance of Mages!

At this moment, Nie Yan was monitoring the situation through a livestream. Sun, King of the World, and the others had already scouted out the Edgarton Stronghold’s defenses a few days ago. Bladelight and the others estimated that breaching through the walls with only the Armoured Ice Catapults would prove incredibly difficult if not impossible. A direct assault would be even more disastrous.

「Have our Engineers calculated the attack range of those Armoured Catapults on the walls?」Nie Yan asked.

「Already done. We’ve also drawn a diagram. The Edgarton Stronghold’s walls are about 30 meters high. With the elevation bonus, the attack range of those Armoured Catapults is roughly 1,600 meters. If Armoured Ice Catapults want to reach them, we need to approach within at least 600 meters of the walls. With the trebuchets, 2,500 meters is enough,」Bladelight replied. The Trebuchets were currently making their way towards the Edgarton Stronghold. If Alliance of Mages knew of their might, they would be wetting their pants right now.

In terms of attack range, Asskickers United’s trebuchets possessed a large advantage.

If Asskickers United’s trebuchets continuously bombarded the Edgarton Stronghold, the Armoured Catapults on the walls would eventually be destroyed. If Alliance of Mages’ players charged out of the Edgarton Stronghold, they would only be fodder for the Armoured Ice Catapults.

Under these circumstances, Nie Yan refused to believe Alliance of Mages could come up with a solution. Even if Angels Corps did lend their aid, it was already too late to reverse the tide.

One Armoured Ice Catapult after another rolled out onto the battlefield. There were 37 altogether. They created an imposing force. Having experienced their destructive power before, the players in the Edgarton Stronghold couldn’t help but shiver.

On an open battlefield, these Armoured Ice Catapults were untouchable existences. Anyone that dared to approach them would be blasted into oblivion.

Apart from the 37 Armoured Ice Catapults, six trebuchets were heading for the Edgarton Stronghold. They were both extremely slow, taking a long time to get moving. They were also immobile, making them easy to intercept. That’s why Asskickers United made sure to conceal their existence.

Asskickers United’s army didn’t show any signs of movements. Standing atop the walls, Crazy Magic and Divine Flame gazed down below. Everything within a 2,000 meter radius of the Edgarton Stronghold was empty. Beyond that zone was a sea of players stretching out as far as the eye could see. An army of 300,000 was quite a spectacular sight, capable of hiding the sky and covering the earth.

Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had 100,000 players guarding the Edgarton Stronghold. The other 600,000 were stationed across the various villages around Moonlight City. Once the battle started, they would immediately converge on the Edgarton Stronghold from all directions.

Crazy Magic understood that having all 700,000 players in the Edgarton Stronghold was extremely dangerous. Leaving 600,000 players on the outside would make them more adaptable.

The Edgarton Stronghold’s defenses were rock solid. Crazy Magic wanted to see just how Asskickers United was planning to storm in here.

Asskickers United’s 37 Armoured Ice Catapults were lined up in a row 2,000 meters away from the Edgarton Stronghold. These catapults were like malevolent beasts. Crazy Magic was the most afraid of them. Once the battle began, their destructive power was too frightening. Two rounds of bombardments could probably completely destroy the Edgarton Stronghold’s walls.

Alliance of Mages exhausted all their avenues just to obtain 11 Armoured Catapults. Atop these walls, they had the range advantage. The Armoured Ice Catapults had no way of advancing.

The two sides eyed each other as the air ignited with hostility. With the final battle on the verge of breaking out at any moment, the players on both sides were tense.

Crazy Magic kept pacing back and forth at the top of the walls. Asskickers United’s army was already right at their doorstep, but they were just sitting there. This made him feel restless.

"Asskickers United aren’t fools. I’m sure they’ve already calculated the 1,600 meter range of our Armoured Catapults. If they attack, they’ll definitely suffer heavy losses. That’s probably why they’re not advancing. Since they know, they can’t force their way in. Why are they still here? What are they waiting for?” Divine Flame muttered. Asskickers United’s movements were abnormal. Could it be that they were looking for an opportunity?

What was Asskickers United planning? Crazy Magic couldn’t understand.

While Crazy Magic was lost in thought, Asskickers United’s army suddenly parted in two, allowing for six giant siege machines to pass through. They approached closer and closer before stopping at 2,000 meters from the Edgarton Stronghold. Crazy Magic and Divine Flame looked over. These siege weapons were even bigger than the Armoured Ice Catapults. Their construction was extremely complicated, like a large wooden cart.

"What is that?” The Alliance of Mages players were bewildered.

"It’s a trebuchet!” Crazy Magic sucked in a cold breath of air. He had once seen these things on the forums but didn’t pay much attention to them at the time. After all, blueprints for these siege weapons were extremely rare. He didn’t expect Asskickers United to get their hands on trebuchets, and six of them at that!

This was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for Alliance of Mages.

"We’re finished…” The higher-ups of Alliance of Mages felt their hearts sink to the pits of their stomach.

Divine Flame was already preparing for the aftermath of Alliance of Mages’ defeat. At this moment, Asskickers United had 37 Armoured Ice Catapults and six trebuchets. This kind of firepower was unrivalled. In front of these weapons of mass destruction, Alliance of Mages was facing impending doom.

The trebuchets came to a stop. The players escorting them locked their wheels, then started assembling a few parts. About 15 minutes later, a giant trebuchet emerged. It was about twice the size of an Armoured Ice Catapult. The thick wooden beam loomed in the air. It was roughly five meters long.

These trebuchets had extremely high launching power. It was an exceptionally good siege weapon. The projectiles they used were giant 300 lb boulders. When these boulders rained down from the sky, even the most fortified walls would eventually collapse.

Six trebuchets finished being erected. Groups of three Warriors carried the heavy boulders into the payload. Everything was ready. All that was left was the go ahead from the higher-ups.

Looking at the livestream, Nie Yan’s eyes flashed cold. These six trebuchet would become the nightmare of Alliance of Mages!

At this moment, the guild chat was boiling with excitement.

「Boss Bladelight we’re ready to go!」

「Let’s flatten the Edgarton Stronghold. Moonlight City will be ours!」

「Boss, say the word!」

「Brothers! We’re invincible! Let’s slaughter our way through the Edgarton Stronghold!」

The players of Asskickers United were already rearing to go. Their morale was at an all-time high, mostly because they were confident in their victory. This belief allowed them to sweep over any guild, regardless of their power!

Asskickers United was waiting in anticipation. Their war with Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had already gone on long enough. Many had suffered injustices from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors, and Asskickers United players had slaughtered Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors players by the hundreds of thousands.

The animosity had already progressed to the point where neither could coexist with the other.

Today Alliance of Mages would be forever silenced.

Chapter 573 - Bombarding the Edgarton Stronghold

Asskickers United sharpened their swords. The trebuchets sent Alliance of Mages’ forces into a panic. This was their first time seeing this kind of siege weapons, which towered over the Armoured Ice Catapults. Their destructive power probably wasn’t any weaker either.

The Armoured Ice Catapults had already caused them enough suffering. Now trebuchets were added into the mix. They felt extremely depressed.

In front of these giant trebuchets, the thick walls of the Edgarton Stronghold had become their graves.

「Boss, everything is ready!」

「We’re just waiting for your go-ahead!」

「Those bastards from Alliance of Mages! From the moment we entered Moonlight City, they’ve been hiding in their stronghold. They think they’ll be fine if they just keep turtling? What a bunch of idiots!」

「I’m really glad we have Nirvana Flame as our boss. No matter what, he will never let us suffer unnecessary losses. Or turn us into practice dummies for the enemy’s catapults like those idiots hiding in their stronghold over there!」

Seeing the preparations were complete, Nie Yan messaged Bladelight,「You guys can begin.」

「Good! Those are exactly the words I’ve been waiting for!」Bladelight responded to Nie Yan. He then shouted in the group chat,「Brothers, let the battle begin! Today we’ll flatten the Edgarton Stronghold! Open fire!」

「Flatten the Edgarton Stronghold!」The guild chat exploded with battle cries. As soon as they heard the battle was beginning, their excitement rose to a zenith.

After Bladelight gave the command, the six trebuchets fired all at once. One boulder after another drew large arcs in the sky, travelling over 2,000 meters, and fell toward the Edgarton Stronghold.

「My god! What kind of attack range is this!」the players from Alliance of Mages cursed after seeing the boulders flying their way.

"Divine Flame, what do we do?” Crazy Magic anxiously asked. Staying inside the Edgarton Stronghold meant certain doom, and charging outside was also the same. The only path ahead of them was death.

"How the hell should I know!? I should be the one asking you!” Divine Flame replied in a depressed tone. Asskickers United’s long ranged firepower was too fierce. They would lose at least 80% of their forces charging through this no man’s land. By the time they arrived in front of Asskickers United’s forces, they would have no manpower left to fight!

At this time, six boulders flew into the Edgarton Stronghold!

「Boom! Boom! Boom!」After crashing into the Edgarton Stronghold, these boulders continued rolling forward, destroying countless buildings. Some unlucky players happened to be in their path and were crushed into meat patties.

The interior of the Edgarton Stronghold was transformed into ruins. The craters left by the boulders extended far into the distance.

Beside the six trebuchets, the players of Asskickers United were hard at work.

"Our aim was too high just now. Lower the power by one notch. Adjust the trajectory for Trebuchet #6 by 12° west,” Smoke Stub directed.

Everyone was worried the trebuchets’ range would be too short before, so they set the power to the highest. Who could’ve known that they would be so powerful. In an instant, the boulders landed inside the Edgarton Stronghold. Their target was actually the catapults on the walls. As long as the catapults were destroyed, their own catapults could advance forward. Under Smoke Stub’s orders, they adjusted the trajectory of the trebuchets.

Groups of three Warriors hurriedly carried more boulders over.

Shortly after the payloads were loaded, the trebuchets were launched again. Another six boulders flew through the air, heading straight for the Edgarton Stronghold.

"Get the boulders here faster. Team #3, pay more attention when adjusting the trajectory! Pay more attention to your aim before launching!” Smoke Stub shouted in an imposing tone. Under his orders, they worked meticulously, not daring to dally in the slightest.

Battered continuously, large chunks of rock broke off from the walls of the Edgarton Stronghold.

Crazy Magic glanced back, only to see rising flames and scattered ruins. He couldn’t even begin to estimate their losses. He had invested a ton of money to build up the Edgarton Stronghold. Seeing his hard work destroyed, he felt like pieces of flesh were being carved out from his heart.

"We only have two options,” Divine Flame said. Just as these words left his mouth, a boulder crashed into a nearby catapult, sending wood splinters flying out.

The Armoured Catapults which had dominated the battlefield so far were like straw structures in front of the trebuchets.

After several rounds of bombardments, only five out of the 11 Armoured Catapults remained standing on the Edgarton Stronghold’s walls. Of those five, three had taken heavy damage.

Crazy Magic ducked his head low to avoid the flying splinters. "What two options?” he shouted. The bombardments from the trebuchets were too loud.

"One, we abandon the Edgarton Stronghold and retreat back to Moonlight City. There we can take our time to think about our next move. As long as our forces are still intact, there’s still hope,” Divine Flame said.

"Never! I absolutely won’t abandon the Edgarton Stronghold!” Crazy Magic instantly shot that idea down. Their foundation in Moonlight City would be gone once the Edgarton Stronghold was seized. The guild would fall by at least two levels, and they would become stray dogs. Who knew how many players would leave. At that time, whether or not Alliance of Mages could continue to exist would be up in the air. Cao Xu might even force them to assimilate into Divine Protectors. If he suffered this kind of humiliation, he would never find the face to raise his head again.

Hearing Crazy Magic’s refusal, Divine Flame wasn’t the least bit surprised.

"What’s the second option?” Crazy Magic asked.

"We gather everyone and have a final showdown with Asskickers United, right here. Anything is better than taking this beating lying down!” Divine Flame replied.

After turtling for so long, many players from Alliance of Mages were fed up. The guild chat was flooding with complaints.

"What the hell!? Are we going to fight or what? If we’re just going to keep letting ourselves get bombarded by those trebuchets, I’m leaving the guild!”

Several players suddenly withdrew from Alliance of Mages.

"Motherfuckers! Note down the names of all those who left the guild. All those who withdraw right now, don’t blame me for coming for your heads later!” Crazy Magic cursed.

The dissent in the guild chat was silenced for the time being. Crazy Magic knew he had no choice. He gritted his teeth. "Fine if you all want a fight, I’ll give you one!”

「Everyone, listen well! This is a life or death crisis for Alliance of Mages. If we win, I’ll compensate each person fully for their losses. For every enemy you kill, I’ll reward you 100 gold. I, Crazy Magic, am a man of my word! As for those who try to leave at this time, don’t blame me for being impolite in the future. Heed my commands. We’re going to slaughter our way out!」Crazy Magic shouted. He had picked this move up from Nie Yan. One had to be brave in desperate straits. If he still wasn’t willing to make some sacrifices at this time, Alliance of Mages was done for. Even though he was fully aware he would be breaking the bank in the event they won, he still pushed through.

Crazy Magic’s words were ironclad. As soon as he gave out his orders, Alliance of Mages immediately began mobilizing.

Divine Flame passed down the orders to cooperate fully with Alliance of Mages to the players of Divine Protectors. Once Alliance of Mages fell, Divine Protectors would be next. They naturally had to give it their all.

Asskickers United’s six trebuchets launched one boulder after another. These boulders arced through the sky and crashed into various places. Some landed inside the Edgarton Stronghold while others fell just short. Still others were a bit more accurate and struck the walls, instantly killing several dozen players.

In the beginning, the players operating the trebuchets weren’t very experienced, constantly aiming short or wide. Every round of boulders landed more accurately though, as they quickly learned how to work these machines. At their hands, the Edgarton Stronghold was reduced to a pitiful state.

The might of the trebuchets left Asskickers United’s players awestruck. The Edgarton Stronghold shook and moaned under the bombardments.

Alliance of Mages’ casualties had already breached 6,000. Meanwhile, Asskickers United still hadn’t suffered any losses.

The trebuchets were quite amazing. You could hit the enemy, but the enemy couldn’t hit you.

At this moment, various places received word that Crazy Magic was having all of Alliance of Mages converge on the Edgarton Stronghold. The 700,000-player army was finally making their move.

Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others also received this news.

Bladelight immediately passed this news to the commanders below him, telling them to prepare for battle!

Their army of 300,000 players was a hodgepodge of various powers from Holy Empire, Radiant Sacred Flame, Sapphire Shrine, the War God Tribe, Battle Crazed Alliance, and Asskickers United’s five branch guilds. Asskickers United’s main forces were naturally unperturbed, but the forces from the other guilds were much weaker.

The enemy comprised 700,000 players. They were outnumbered more than two to one!

This was going to be a tough battle. Once the spells started flying, Asskickers United could rely on one thing, and that was their Armoured Ice Catapults!

The other commanders of this battle were Sleepy Fox, Nightbreak Trickster, Fa Lan, and the others. They had the experience of commanding their own guilds. Their strength wouldn’t be lacking too much.

Hordes of Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors players emerged from the surrounding hillsides and mountain ridges. They let out battle cries. The gates of the Edgarton Stronghold also started opening. Crazy Magic and Divine Flame led several tens of thousands of players toward Asskickers United’s forces.

"Everyone, charge! Wipe out Asskickers United!”

"Looks like they’ve finally had enough.” Bladelight smirked. They had already been expecting this. "Come! Alliance of Mages. Let’s have our final showdown!”

"Alliance of Mages’ forces are coming. Everyone, don’t be nervous. Ready the Armoured Ice Catapults!” Bladelight commanded. He had the demeanor of a general. Smoke Stub, Paladin of the Elegy, and the others were in charge of other areas. Asskickers United’s forces quickly mobilized.

37 Armoured Ice Catapults were loaded with ammunition shells, ready to fire.

"Hold, hold, wait for them to come a bit closer!” Smoke Stub ordered the players operating the Armoured Ice Catapults.

Chapter 574 - Mages, Charge!

Hundreds of thousands of players from Alliance of Mages rushed toward Asskickers United’s forces like a raging tide. The Warriors at the front clad in various suits of metal armour resembled a metal behemoth, sweeping over everything in their path.

Smoke Stub gauged the distance of the enemy players. Seeing them reach the 1,000-meter mark, he shouted, "Open fire!”

The players operating the Armoured Ice Catapults immediately got to work.「Tung! Tung! Tung!」As the levers were released, countless shells whizzed through the air toward the enemy’s front line.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」One shell after another fell to the ground, enveloping everything within a 100-meter radius of their impact point in a thick layer of frost.

With 37 Armoured Ice Catapults all firing at once, the 2,000 enemy Warriors charging over were culled by 90%. Only a lucky few managed to survive. This kind of frightening might sent shivers down one’s spine.

The remaining Warriors glanced at each other in dismay. No matter where they looked, they saw there comrades frozen in place. They were all dead!

Continue charging or retreat?

The Armoured Ice Catapults unloaded round after round of bombardment. The enemies charging over were immediately wiped out. The 80,000 strong army that came storming out of the Edgarton Stronghold quickly accumulated more than 30,000 casualties. Blood-curdling cries rang out over the battlefield.

Seeing this scene, Asskickers United’s morale soared. With the support of the Armoured Ice Catapults, what did they have to be afraid of? After a few rounds of bombardment, 10 would be reduced to one. Those who survived could be easily cleaned up.

"Move five Armoured Ice Catapults west to aid Holy Empire’s forces!” Bladelight ordered. A chaotic melee broke out in every direction. The front line of both sides had already started clashing. The battle was in full swing, with a sea of people stretching out as far as the eye could see.

Five Armoured Ice Catapults started moving towards the western battlefield.

Bladelight quickly analyzed the overall situation. The Armoured Ice Catapults were allocated to various fronts.

As soon as the fighting began, the casualties on both sides rapidly clambered up. Asskickers United had already lost 6,000 players. Meanwhile, Alliance of Mages was much worse off, having lost over 45,000 players.

Siege weapons like the Armoured Ice Catapults displayed their full potential in these types of large-scale wars. The six trebuchets also stopped focusing the walls and started bombarding anywhere there was enemy players. Their range was larger, and targets abound.

One boulder after another fell down from the sky. After hitting the ground, they would continue rolling forward, crushing countless players from Alliance of Mages into meat patties. Large ditches were carved into the earth, as though it had been plowed.

This was the definition of cruel and tyrannical. The corpses of Alliance of Mages players were scattered everywhere. No matter how high their defense and health, they couldn’t withstand a single hit from the Armoured Ice Catapults.

On the western front, Holy Empire was slowly being overwhelmed by Divine Protectors who had more elites on their side. Holy Empire was constantly being pushed back.

As spells whizzed through the sky, one Holy Empire player after another was sent flying.

"Boss, we can’t hold on much longer!” Several Holy Empire players anxiously looked at Sleepy Fox who was clad in black armour.

"Boss, you retreat first. We’ll hold them off as long as we can!”

"Divine Protectors’ forces are going to break through any moment now!”

"Dammit! Hold your ground. I don’t care what it takes!” Sleepy Fox roared. "So many of our allied guild brothers are crushing the enemy. We can’t let our Holy Empire lose face here! Listen, cast our AoE magic!”

"B-but we’ll hit our own Warriors!”

"Enough nonsense! Cast our AoE magic! Any brother who ends up dying to friendly fire, I, Sleepy Fox, will compensate you for twice your losses! Warriors, charge! Cover the Mages!” Sleepy Fox shouted.

"Boss, no need for that! Just give the word, and we’ll gladly give our lives for you!”

Charge! Charge!

The Warriors from Holy Empire began their counter-attack, charging into Divine Protector’s front line without any regard for their lives. They had no allies around them. This was basically a suicidal action.

The fierce charge caught Divine Protectors off guard, putting the breaks on their advance.

"What the hell! Are these guys crazy!?”

The magic in the air trembled violently.

"Shit, it’s AoE magic. Everyone, retreat!”

"What the hell is Holy Empire thinking? Do they not care about hitting their own people?”

The players of Holy Empire ignored the powerful fluctuations of AoE magic and continued fighting like everything was normal.

AoE spells rained down from the sky. Ice, lightning, and fire shrouded the area. The players caught in the chaos were instantly swept away. It didn’t matter which side they belonged to. As long as they were caught in the range of spells, they were undoubtedly killed.

This was mutual destruction!

This move by Holy Empire was ruthless, leaving the players from Divine Protectors dumbstruck. Holy Empire was only a small guild in the eyes of Divine Protectors. They only controlled five strongholds and had 160,000 members while Divine Protectors controlled more than 30 strongholds and had over 700,000 members. The two weren’t even on the same plane of existence. Not to mention the troops that arrived in Moonlight City were all hand-picked elites of Divine Protectors. They were far more powerful than the forces of Holy Empire. However, like this, both sides were taking equal losses.

The commanders of Divine Protectors discovered their own forces lacked that certain type of gusto compared to the players of Holy Empire, as well as a willingness to take the enemy out with them.

Divine Protectors was forced back. After the AoE magic subsided, Holy Empire’s Warriors charged forward once more. The enemy staggered back in fear.

At this moment, someone let out an excited cry, "The Armoured Ice Catapults are here. Brothers, charge!”

Five Armoured Ice Catapults emerged from the rear. Before long, more than 20 onyx coloured shells were launched into the air.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」The players from Divine Protectors had their lives harvested like fields of wheat.

The fierce bombardment tore through Divine Protectors’ front lines. Holy Empire quickly cleaned up the survivors. The Armoured Ice Catapults pressed forward, launching round after round of shells. The morale of Holy Empire soared as they slaughtered their way through the enemy lines.

Divine Protectors’ troops were gradually being routed. Some of them attempted to charge straight for the Armoured Ice Catapults. However, Holy Empire quickly intercepted them. Neither gave way to the other. The battle entered a stalemate. The Armoured Ice Catapults continued slaughtering Divine Protector’s forces en masse.

The higher ups passed down an order. Divine Protectors’ forces weren’t allowed to retreat. They could only steel themselves and hold their ground. If they retreated, the Edgarton Stronghold would fall, and so too would Alliance of Mages. The two guilds were closely intertwined. If one fell, so would the other.

However, the Armoured Ice Catapults were too powerful. For every enemy player Divine Protectors killed, they would suffer at least six times the losses. If things continued on like this, they would eventually lose.

Crazy Magic was at the end of his wits. He frantically tried to contact Cao Xu. He could only request the aid of his patron.

However, Cao Xu didn’t reply.

Crazy Magic was still hoping the Century Financial Group wouldn’t abandon them.

On Asskickers United’s front, after several rounds of bombardment from the Armoured Ice Catapults, Alliance of Mages’ side was in a miserable state.

The Armoured Ice Catapults stopped their firing and headed to other fronts.

"It’s our time to shine now! Let’s slaughter our way into the Edgarton Stronghold!” Undying Scoundrel gazed at Smoke Stub with a pleading look. He was raring to go.

Smoke Stub nodded with a faint smile.

"Brothers, kill!”

Asskickers United’s forces immediately let out thundering war cries. The elites took the lead while the others followed suit, plunging into Alliance of Mages’ forces like a sharp dagger.

Monochrome, Edgeless, and the others charged forward. Brandishing their swords, they swept through everything in their path, sending Alliance of Mages players flying one after the other.

"Punks from Alliance of Mages, have a sample of my newest magic!” Undying Scoundrel shouted. He activated a spell and charged into a dense crowd of Alliance of Mages players.

"Kill that Mage!”

"What the hell! Does this fucking Mage think he’s a Warrior?”

The players from Alliance of Mages cursed after seeing Undying Scoundrel rushing over. Six players quickly closed in on him.

Just as these players entered within 30 meters of Undying Scoundrel, they suddenly felt a wave of scorching heat wash over them. Several blazing clouds appeared in the sky.

What was going on?

Before they figured it out, fireballs started falling from the sky like a torrential downpour. No matter where they ran, the fireballs would fall, as though they were homing missiles. Their damage individually wasn’t high, but there were too many of them. Five or six direct hits from these fireballs could down even the tankiest of Warriors.

The Warriors collapsed on the ground. Undying Scoundrel charged straight into enemy lines. Wherever he passed, blood-curdling screams would ring out. The downpour of fireballs charred the earth black.

The more people there were, the more effective this spell.

Whenever enemies were about to close in on Undying Scoundrel, they were sent flying by his spells.

Summer Bug and the others were also unleashing small-scale AoE spells, sweeping through the enemies in their vicinity. They exercised great control when casting their spells. They definitely wouldn’t accidentally harm their own allies.

Out of all the Mages, Tang Yao and Xie Yao were the strongest. Very few players could survive a single hit from them. Several top elites from Alliance of Mages charged over at them, only to be blasted into oblivion. This was the difference in strength!

Chapter 575 - Catapults vs. Flying Mounts

Asskickers United’s 60,000 players completely overwhelmed Alliance of Mages, forcing them to retreat back into the Edgarton Stronghold. Behind the safety of the walls, they once again became practice targets for the trebuchets.

Before long, the walls shuddered and partially collapsed. Asskickers United’s players came flooding in. A chaotic battle unfolded within the breach.

Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were on the defensive at every front. Their main army was quickly shaved away. Under Asskickers United’s all out assault, they started to lose ground quickly.

Crazy Magic and Divine Flame retreated with a group of players back into the heart of the Edgarton Stronghold. As they traded fire with Asskickers United, they felt stifled to the point of suffocation. It appeared the enemy was going to break their last line of defense at any moment.

A deep sadness welled up inside Crazy Magic’s heart. It seemed like it was the end of the road for the guild he built from the ground up. There was no way to turn things around.

Just as Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors despaired, someone let out an excited shout, "Look, up in the air! Flying mounts!”

As everyone looked up at the sky, a squadron of 31 flying mounts came flying over.

This flying mount squadron was composed of Thunderhawks, Griffons, and Achlys Dragonflies. This could be considered the largest aerial force to date. Even if Nie Yan’s Darkwing Dragon appeared, it would end up getting surrounded and killed.

"Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group! They didn’t abandon us after all!” Crazy Magic cried out in elation. 31 flying mounts, perhaps such a force could turn the tide of battle around!

At this moment, Crazy Magic was like a drowning man who grabbed onto a life ring. Though the hope was distant, he refused to give up.

The Century Financial Group had mobilized all their resources to gather these 31 flying mounts, of which 20 belonged to Angel Corps while the other 11 came from elsewhere.

Bladelight was directing his troops when he looked up at the sky and saw the flying mounts. He quickly sent a message to Nie Yan,「Nie Yan, Alliance of Mages just received reinforcements, 31 flying mounts. What do we do?」

「Don’t panic. Flying mounts might be powerful in the sky, but as soon as they dive down into a crowd of players, they’ll become easy targets. Speaking truthfully, those flying mounts are only so-so. Gather all the Armoured Ice Catapults. As soon as they come down, fire away. A single round of bombardment should be enough to make them regret their actions dearly. Have our people recall their flying mounts. Don't fight in the sky. Only deal with the enemies when they come close to the ground,」Nie Yan said in a cold tone. If he brought the Darkwing Dragon over, he would only end up getting ganged up on.

Hearing Nie Yan’s words, Bladelight firmly nodded.

Apart from gathering all the Armoured Ice Catapults together, Asskickers United would continue as they were and assault the Edgarton Stronghold!

The 31 flying mounts circled in the air. They were the rulers of the skies, looking down on everyone below. However, Asskickers United’s forces didn’t seem to be paying them the slightest bit of attention. The 37 Armoured Ice Catapults, all huddled up together and became the most eye-catching target. However, their frightening might was a powerful enough deterrent to prevent the flying mounts from approaching.

Crazy Magic’s hope and elation quickly turned to disappointment. The flying mounts didn’t dive down and carry out a massacre on Asskickers United’s forces like he expected. They were hesitating.

"God dammit! Damn those cowards! By the time they come rescue us, my hair will already be grey!”

Crazy Magic understood one principle. In the end, you could only rely on yourself, not your patron, allies, or anyone else.

"Boss, let’s leave! Asskickers United’s forces are about to run us over!”

"Leave my ass! I’m going down with this ship!” Crazy Magic cursed madly.

At this moment, the last of the defensive troops near the breach were killed. Monochrome, Edgeless, and the others charged into the Edgarton Stronghold, leaving behind a trail of carnage. With the supporting fire from Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and the other Mages, Alliance of Mages’ players were dropping like flies. Even more Asskickers United players were flooding in from the breach.

As for the battle on the outside, Alliance of Mages was also being slaughtered like mutts. Their elites were already wiped out by the Armoured Ice Catapults, not to mention their morale was at rock bottom after suffering setback after setback. Asskickers United was killing them without mercy. All around were the corpses of their comrades.

At this moment, the flying mount riders in the air were wondering if they should go down and help.

Sitting on top of a Royal Griffon was precisely Soaring Angel. In the end, Cao Xu had still asked him to provide assistance.

"Fuck! How can Alliance of Mages be this weak? How are we supposed to help in this situation!?” Rock Splitter cursed. He sat on top of a Thunderhawk. Originally, they believed if Asskickers United and Alliance of Mages were evenly matched, with their assistance, perhaps Alliance of Mages could achieve victory. But it wasn’t evenly matched. Far from it, in fact. Alliance of Mages was suffering a crushing defeat. Not to mention after they appeared, the morale of Asskickers United’s forces didn’t seem to be affected at all.

Soaring Angel pondered for a moment. "Since we’re already here, we can’t go back empty handed, or we’ll become laughingstocks. Let’s destroy a few of those catapults.”

"Right on, Boss! Just give us your orders!” Rock Splitter said. None of these flying mount riders voiced any objections.

They quickly arranged a plan of action. The 31 flying mounts simultaneously dived toward the ground. Their target was the 37 Armored Ice Catapults.

Seeing the flying mounts diving down, Smoke Stub became tense. "All catapults get ready! Squad #1, #2, #3, and #5, don’t fire without my command! Squad #4 and #6, remain on standby. Wait for my signal!”

A golden feathered griffon rapidly closed in on one of the Armoured Ice Catapults.

This was Soaring Angel’s Royal Griffon. Known for its speed and high evasive ability, it was much faster than the other flying mounts.

"#37, try and knock him from the sky,” Smoke Stub commanded. This Royal Griffon was trying to bait them into an all-out attack. He snickered. Angel Corps was really underestimating them!

As Smoke Stub’s words left his mouth, an Armoured Ice Catapult launched five shells toward the Royal Griffon.

The Royal Griffon did a barrel roll mid-air, evading the shells.

"#36, fire!”

"#35, fire!”

「Thung! Thung! Thung!」More shells were launched into the air, resembling blossoming fireworks.

The Royal Griffon suddenly halted mid-air in a hurry, did two rolls while dropping to the ground, then rapidly ascended back up again. One shell after another came whizzing past, but not a single one managed to land a hit. It was clear the rider was quite skilled.

Meanwhile, Asskickers United still had more shells to fire and ensured there would be enough time to reload. 25 Armoured Ice Catapults were still ready to launch. If they all fired at once, the danger they posed was substantial. Smoke Stub purposely held back from firing them.

Seeing Asskickers United still hadn’t taken the bait and having nearly been hit several times, Soaring Angel glanced back at the riders behind him and dived down with the Royal Griffon. "Kill!”

All 31 flying mounts swooped down from the sky at blistering speed.

Seeing so many flying mounts heading towards them, the players operating the Armoured Ice Catapults became nervous. They wanted to fire but were stopped by Smoke Stub.

"Hold your fire! Listen to my commands. Wait until they approach within 20 meters!” Smoke Stub shouted. If the distance was too great, it would be too easy to dodge. So, they had to fight their nerves and wait for the enemy to get closer! At 20 meters, no matter how quick their reaction speed was, it’d be useless. There would be no way to dodge the attacks of the Armoured Ice Catapults, not to mention their might would be even greater.

30 meters, 25 meters, 20 meters… Seeing the flying mounts had entered the optimal attack range, Smoke Stub hoarsely shouted, "Fire!”

「Thung! Thung! Thung!」A hail of shells flew into the air, whizzing towards the flying mounts. At 20 meters, they had no way of dodging. Blood splattered everywhere. Several flying mounts let out miserable shrieks and fell from the sky. Others had holes punched through their wings.

A few flying mounts braved through the storm of shells and swooped down onto the Armoured Ice Catapults with their claws outstretched, crushing them into pieces.

Seeing the Armoured Ice Catapults under attack, the surrounding Mages immediately ran over to provide support, bombarding the flying mounts with spells.

There was chaos everywhere. Many people couldn’t even tell who the enemy was anymore. The casualties on both sides quickly rose.

Soaring Angel glanced at his squadron and grimaced. Six flying mounts had been killed. Of the survivors, more than a dozen had sustained medium to high injuries. He didn’t expect their casualties to be this high. He had greatly underestimated the firepower of the Armoured Ice Catapults. Although they had destroyed six catapults and neutralized five, this kind of trade off definitely wasn’t worth it.

"Everyone, retreat!” Soaring Angel ordered. The remaining flying mounts ascended into the sky.

This was the first confrontation between catapults and flying mounts, and Angel Corps had come out of it much worse off.

It was just as Nie Yan predicted.

Chapter 576 - Dividing up the Spoils of War

Even the powerful flying mounts could do nothing against the overwhelming firepower of the Armoured Ice Catapults. The flying mounts could easily dodge the catapults from afar. However, within a range of 20 meters, even the most powerful flying mounts would be downed after taking six or seven hits.

Soaring Angel looked down below. At Smoke Stub’s command, the remains of the destroyed Armoured Ice Catapults were dealt with. The remaining catapults were gathered together, ready to fire again.

Recalling the hail of shells, Rock Splitter and the others felt lingering fear in their hearts. So many flying mounts had been killed. What frightening firepower!

They no longer had the courage to attack the Armoured Ice Catapults.

"Boss, what are we going to do?”

Soaring Angel surveyed the battlefield. Alliance of Mages’ defeat was unavoidable. Such a large army was slowly whittled away by Asskickers United. Barely a third of their original force remained. Many players in Alliance of Mages saw the situation was hopeless and quietly slipped away.

Players left Alliance of Mages in droves. It was impossible for Crazy Magic to go after every last one of them. Many who suffered abuse at his hands also withdrew from the guild. They understood Alliance of Mages would stand or fall with the Edgarton Stronghold. Rather than staying in this guild with no future, it’d be better for them to find a more powerful guild.

Losing a war was nothing to be afraid of. Everyone could revive, and equipment could be replaced. As long as the people remained, they could rise back up from the ashes. However, when people started leaving, that was when things became dangerous. Like a sheet of loose sand, the guild could crumble apart at any moment.

Many players from Alliance of Mages had already lost the will to fight. They fled and scattered in every direction. The people left behind couldn’t put up much of a fight. Before long, they were slaughtered by the charging Asskickers United players.

Countless Asskickers United players appeared on top of the walls of the Edgarton Stronghold. They steamrolled through everything in their path, knocking any enemy off the walls. The 30 Asskickers United Warriors at the front pressed forward step by step. They encountered fierce resistance. Since these last loyal players had nowhere left to run, they were determined to take the enemy down with them. Asskickers United suffered heavy losses.

Divine Radiant Blessing!

A brilliant radiance fell from the sky and eveloped the more than 300 Asskickers United players in the vicinity, empowering them greatly. Their health and mana rose alongside their other stats.

"Holy shit! My stats increased by 70%!”

"What a powerful blessing!”

The Asskickers United players were all extremely excited.

At this moment, the sky darkened as a cold gust of wind blew past.

Fiendish Curse!

A projection of a giant fiend appeared in an open space 10 meters away. It let out a sinister laugh which rang out like an ear piercing shriek. The forces of Alliance of Mages stared at the fiend in alarm.

After 10 seconds, the fiend disappeared. The players from Alliance of Mages felt as if all strength were sucked away from their body.

Someone checked their character status. Their stats had fallen by 70%!

"Priests, quickly cast Dispel!”

"We can’t! This curse is too high rank! We can only wait for its duration to end!”

One side had their stats raised by 70% while the other side had their stats reduced by 70%. The difference in strength instantly became evident. Asskickers United’s Warriors were killing their enemy counterparts with just one attack. This was the first time they had encountered such a situation. A plate armoured Warrior was as frail as a twig.

"Damn, this is sweet!”

With the Warriors of Asskickers United invograted with strength a one-sided slaughter commenced.

Awed by these two skills, Asskickers United’s Mages and Priests looked at the casters. The blessing and curse of these two players were simply amazing.

They were precisely Black Heaven and Black Hell. Their skill combination was simply unmatched.

Seeing the Alliance of Mages players nearly wiped out, Black Hell lowered his staff. He turned to Black Heaven and said, "Let’s go down and take a look.”

The two descended the stairs, Asskickers United players making way for them as they passed.

Inside the Edgarton Stronghold, the Alliance of Mages players were expelled or killed. Crazy Magic and Divine Flame were nowhere to be found.

Before long, a piece of news spread out through the guild chat. The Edgarton Stronghold had fallen! All of Asskickers United erupted in cheer. With this victory, there was one less guild that could oppose them in the Viridian Empire. All that remained was Divine Protectors.

Those players who had fought for Alliance of Mages until the bitter end quietly left in sorrow.

Soaring Angel and the other flying mount riders circled in the air for a while longer before departing.

Bladelight and the others stood atop the walls and gazed ahead. From just below the Edgarton Stronghold to beyond the horizon was a field of corpses. Asskickers United’s players collected the equipment off the ground. They could probably be sold off in the auction houses for millions of gold.

「We’ve captured the Edgarton Stronghold. How are we going to deal with it?」Bladelight asked Nie Yan.

Asskickers United had two options. One was to completely raze the Edgarton Stronghold to the ground, then withdraw like they’d done with the other strongholds. The other was to station a portion of their army here and turn this place into their base.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. Moving a portion of their troops would mean spreading themselves thinner. However, razing the Edgarton Stronghold to the ground was too much of a waste. After all, it was still an Intermediate Stronghold. If World Bloc developed this place, they would surely rake in a large amount of profit. It would be a huge boon.

「Rebuild the Edgarton Stronghold. Reinforce it and make the walls higher, then place a few Armoured Ice Catapults and trebuchets on top of them. That way, people will have to think twice before attacking us!」Nie Yan said. In the end, he decided not to abandon the Edgarton Stronghold. With Asskickers United’s technological superiority, defending the stronghold would be no issue.

「I’m afraid our defenses still aren’t enough. We should garrison a few people here. The other guilds in Moonlight City won’t be pleased with us expanding here. They’ll definitely gather a resistance,」Bladelight urged. He and Nie Yan were thinking along the same line.

「Divide up the five strongholds surrounding the Edgarton Stronghold between Radiant Sacred Flame, the War God Tribe, Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, and Battle Crazed Alliance. Have them establish branches here and start recruiting people. As for the Edgarton Stronghold, we’ll station players from the main guild and five branches there. A large force isn’t required. 35,000 should do. We’ll install transfer points in all the strongholds. If the Edgarton Stronghold gets attacked, the players from the other five strongholds can quickly teleport there to provide assistance.」Nie Yan had thought everything through. Asskickers United could only defend six strongholds for now. After establishing a firm foothold here, they could then continue to expand.

「Good plan,」Bladelight said. He had nothing to add. Nie Yan had already thought of everything.

After a while, Guo Huai arrived in the Edgarton Stronghold. Following the designs given to him by the Engineers, the reconstruction process immediately began. The walls were repaired and refortified. The shops inside and everything else was built anew. Asskickers United wasn’t lacking in money anyway. Previously, the budget for the war was 5,000,000 gold. After the war ended, 7,000,000 gold was paid out in compensation and rewards. They had also obtained over 5,000,000 gold in equipment. So, all in all, the war only cost them 2,000,000 gold. There was more than enough gold left to rebuild and develop the Edgarton Stronghold.

One building after another was erected. The entire Edgarton Stronghold underwent a huge transformation. Stationed on top of the towering walls were the trebuchets and catapults. Without more advanced siege weapons, not even an army of several million could breach these defenses.

Following Nie Yan’s instructions, Guo Huai left the management of the Edgarton Stronghold’s real world business district to Ah Chen. Shortly after the reconstruction of the stronghold was complete, many entrepreneurs came flocking back. Many of their shops had been destroyed during the war. Seeing that Asskickers United was now occupying this place, they came over to discuss cooperation. Needless to say, this was an ideal location for commerce. Although their shops had been destroyed, they had already earned quite a bit of money.

With the Edgarton Stronghold under their control, Asskickers United could set the prices. Before long, the money they had spent on reconstruction would be earned back.

With ample benefits being paid out to everyone, the entire guild was in high spirits. Many members who were originally leaning towards accepting the Century Financial Group’s offer had no choice but to reconsider. After Alliance of Mages’ defeat, would they have any future following the Century Financial Group? Even though the money offered by the Century Financial Group was quite enticing—more than several times what they were getting paid now along with some additional bonuses—Asskickers United had shown great promise. After capturing the Edgarton Stronghold, Nie Yan had raised everyone’s salaries. In the future, they would definitely get more raises.

The hearts of the players in Asskickers United had more or less settled down. Cao Xu had poached more than 600 people. So many people withdrawing at once was definitely a huge blow to the guild. However, after the battle for the Edgarton Stronghold, all this momentum fizzled out. If he wanted to poach more people, he would have to at least quintuple his offer. At that point, he’d just be hurting himself. There was no way he’d be even remotely getting his money’s worth.

Like this, Cao Xu’s plot was foiled.

With everything on the up and up for Asskickers United, Nie Yan could relax and focus on training his skills.

Chapter 577 - Overpowered Skills

Asskickers United had finally escaped the same fate which befell the War God Tribe of the previous timeline—crushed by the Century Financial Group’s immeasurable wealth. However, they would still have to take precautions against getting eroded from within in the future.

Adding up all the casualties, Asskickers United’s side had lost over 90,000 players, 6,000 of which were from Asskickers United themselves. Meanwhile, they had killed more than 510,000 enemies with the rest fleeing for their lives.

When the video of the battle for the Edgarton Stronghold was released on the forums, players were at a loss for words. The battle had ended this quickly? Asskickers United was simply too unbelievable! The difference in casualties between both sides was also staggering. With the Edgarton Stronghold in Asskickers United’s hands, Alliance of Mages was finished.

Asskickers United immediately became the center of attention. Players were already comparing them with Angel Corps. Angel Corps was the undisputed ruler of the Satreen Empire. Not a single power there could rival them. Meanwhile, Asskickers United was shaping up to become the same in the Viridian Empire. However, there was a distinct difference. Angel Corps already had more than a hundred guilds both large and small under them, creating an invincible alliance in the Satreen Empire. On the other hand, discounting their branch guilds, Asskickers United only had five guilds under them. They still had a long way to go.

Regardless, Asskickers United’s unity was still something to be greatly admired.

After Asskickers United settled into the Edgarton Stronghold, their five branch guilds began recruiting new players. Once that process was over, their most elite players promoted to the main guild. Apart from this, Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, and the other guilds also started a new round of recruitment. Given the size of Moonlight City’s territory, there was no shortage of people looking to join guilds.

Learning Asskickers United was recruiting new members, all of Moonlight City boiled over with excitement. Countless players flooded the several offices Asskickers United had set up across the city, among which there was no lack of players who formerly belonged to Alliance of Mages. Some players even came rushing over from other cities. They all desired to join Asskickers United. Many of them were top experts.

Many top experts had reached a bottleneck and found it difficult to breakthrough. If they continued to stagnate in place, they would slowly be overtaken by others. These people wanted to enter a place filled with other experts. The top Thieves were especially interested. Asskickers United had Nirvana Flame, King of the World, Sun, and many other powerful Thieves. They could more easily pick up new tricks there.

Asskickers United rapidly expanded as more and more people joined. The Century Financial Group could no longer do anything to them. They had long since started shifting their attention to the Satreen Empire. After losing so many of their investments in the Viridian Empire, they simply lacked the strength to impede Asskickers United any further.

Cao Xu naturally understood the kind of threat Asskickers United would pose in the future given his insight. That was why he tried everything in his power to destroy it.

「We’ll rest for a while before taking on Divine Protectors,」Nie Yan said. Asskickers United had still taken heavy losses during this war.「Furthermore, we need to start exploring the Griffon Woodlands, or else we’ll start lagging too far behind Angel Corps in terms of aerial might.」

「I’ll have Bladelight make the necessary preparations,」Guo Huai said.

「Any news for me lately?」Nie Yan asked. Even though Asskickers United was fairly powerful, it was still necessary to take precautions and not blindly rush into anything.

「Yeah, I have a bit of good news. The War God Tribe has already defeated the several guilds under the Tuoba Family. They’ve unified Nisode. Battle Crazed Alliance is just about done with things on their side too, only one more guild to deal with. Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, and Radiant Sacred Flame are rapidly growing. Since there’s not much room to grow in Calore anymore, I had them expand and establish branches in other cities,」Guo Huai said.

Nie Yan was quite pleased. Apart from their strength rapidly increasing, Asskickers United was also developing in other cities, especially in the Hilton Stronghold. They already owned more than 60% of the prime real estate there. He had Guo Huai and Bird aggregate all the data and discovered they were currently raking in more than 600,000 gold a day, of which 300,000 was divided up among the guild members, 200,000 was used to improve the quality of the guild’s equipment, and the remaining was stored in case of an emergency.

Asskickers United was doing quite well financially.

「There’s a few things we need to take note of. Around 10 or so guilds in Moonlight City are preparing to form an alliance to deal with us. God Executioner Sword and Penumbra Empire haven’t calmed down either and are rapidly expanding. I feel like something big is going to happen soon, but I can’t pinpoint any specifics. No powers in the Viridian Empire can pose a threat to us for now. Soon we can set out to deal with Divine Protectors,」Guo Huai said.

Hearing Guo Huai’s words, Nie Yan knitted his brows. Asskickers United was currently flourishing. There was probably no need to get paranoid.

Nie Yan went to school during the day and entered the game in the evening, directing Asskickers United’s movements while training his skills.

Passing 10 days like this, Nie Yan’s skills saw clear improvement.

Nie Yan slowly snuck up behind a Barbarian Warrior, then struck it with Backbreaker.

Rank 11 Backbreaker!

−22,721

His damage was three times higher than before!

Eight second stun!

All Warriors would tremble at this potent crowd control effect. Even a Warrior in godly equipment would fall to Nie Yan’s ambush. Perhaps only Master-class Warriors with Divine armour could resist such a powerful stun.

If he exploded forth with all his damage, he could down a Barbarian Warrior in only 20 seconds! This was a Level 100 monster! Before reaching Level 100, even a party of five or more players wouldn’t necessarily stand a chance against it.

Right now, Nie Yan could even take on Master-class players despite not being one himself. He was already no weaker than an ordinary Shadow Dancer.

Nie Yan started spamming Steal on the Barbarian Warrior.

Steal successful! You have obtained 2 gold, 23 silver.
Steal successful! You have obtained 3 gold, 12 silver.
...

One notification popped up after another. Soon, a crisp jingle rang out.

Nie Yan quickly checked his skill bar.

Steal has advanced to Rank 10.

"I’ve finally trained Steal to Rank 10! Whew, it wasn’t easy.” Nie Yan was ecstatic. He had spent five whole days training Steal from Rank 9 to 10! After reaching Rank 8, its success rate had increased to 50%. At Rank 9 it was 70% Now at Rank 10 it had increased to an astonishing 90%, not to mention the probability of stealing equipment had increased greatly.

Nie Yan gradually understood why Rank 10 Steal was labelled as godly. This kind of skill was absolutely capable of making someone weep tears in sadness. This was a skill that could steal an enemy’s equipment!

Checking Steal’s skill proficiency, it would take him at least 30 days to train it to Rank 11. He hardly had that much time to spare.

Nie Yan would have to put off training Steal for some other time. He was more than satisfied with it at Rank 10.

Nie Yan’s skill list looked quite spectacular: Rank 11 Backbreaker, Rank 10 Reverse Grip Backstab, Rank 10 Counter, Rank 10 Phantom Assassination, Rank 10 Flicker Strike, Rank 7 Backstab, Rank 8 Smothering Strike, Rank 9 Concussive Blow, Rank 15 Kick...

Any one of these skills could make someone faint in shock. For an ordinary player, having a skill at Rank 5 or higher was already extremely impressive. With so many high rank skills, just how much burst damage could Nie Yan deal?

The rank of Nie Yan’s skills were all freakishly high, especially Kick. With a fairly short cooldown, it was one of the easiest skills to train. After reaching Rank 15, its effects were extremely powerful. The description said that if he struck a vital area, he could cripple a target. He didn’t know what counted as a vital area. Under normal circumstances, kicking the knee would cause a target to feel numb and slow their movements. Kicking the leg would result in a somewhat weaker effect.

Though these skills had all risen in rank, Nie Yan still hadn’t completely familiarized himself with all of them. He would have to slowly hone himself.

With these skills as a foundation, Nie Yan would have no issue advancing to a Shadow Dancer. After which he would see a huge boost in strength, allowing him to surpass a recently promoted Shadow Dancer. After all, his starting point was already far higher than theirs.

Nie Yan recalled the Barbarian Berserker he encountered previously. Glancing at his skill bar, it was about time he killed it and opened that Sub Legendary-grade chest!

After killing another Barbarian Warrior, Nie Yan picked up the skill book that dropped on the ground and headed for the Barbarian Berserker.

"I wonder what sort of loot I’ll get…” With his Steal reaching Rank 10, Nie Yan was itching to try his hands at a stronger target, and the Barbarian Berserker was the perfect choice!

Six minutes later, Nie Yan finally spotted the Barbarian Berserker. He entered stealth and slowly made his way forward.

Chapter 578 - Hell Execution!!!

Chapter 578 - Hell Execution!!!

Thinking for a bit, Nie Yan decided against summoning Lil’ Gold. His huge frame would make him a prime target.

With the quality of his current skills, Nie Yan could easily CC the Barbarian Berserker to death. There was no need for help.

Nie Yan inched closer toward the Barbarian Berserker from behind.

The Barbarian Berserker was completely oblivious. The distance between the two was only about seven meters.

Nie Yan’s heartstrings were stretched taut. His lips curved into a weird grin. A few steps later, the Barbarian Berserker noticed something and turned around.

At this moment, Nie Yan targeted the Barbarian Berserker with Rank 9 Extreme Intimidate!

The Barbarian Berserker stiffened. It couldn’t move its body at all.

Flicker Strike!

Nie Yan disappeared from his original position and emerged behind the Barbarian Berserker, plunging Zennarde’s Sword into its back. After reaching Rank 10, Flicker Strike dealt more than 500% damage.

−12,839!

The Barbarian Berserker’s body trembled. Extreme Intimidate’s effects wore off. Just as it was about to turn around, Nie Yan circled to the side. Pushing off from his waist and focusing all power into his arm, he struck out with Backbreaker.

−14,376!

The Barbarian Berserker was incapacitated for six seconds!

This effect was quite impressive given the Barbarian Berserker was a Level 120 Elite.

Nie Yan faintly smiled. With all his skills ranked up, taking down this elite was a simple matter. After landing the first stun, he could CC the Barbarian Berserker to death.

However, Nie Yan was in no rush to kill the Barbarian Berserker. He activated Steal.

Steal successful! You have obtained 5 gold, 23 silver.

This was his first time stealing from a Level 120 Elite. The Barbarian Berserker was quite the moneybags. The amount of gold he obtained was several times that of ordinary monsters.

Nie Yan continued spamming Steal, stealing money three times in a row. So far, he had obtained 17 gold.

On the fourth attempt, Nie Yan finally obtained something different. It was a Sub Legendary-grade skill book.

Skill Book (Sub Legendary): Rage of the Berserker

Properties: Health +10%, Strength +200%, Magic Reduction +30%, Defense -30%. Duration: 60 seconds. Cooldown: 20 minutes.

Restrictions: Berserker

Rage of the Berserker was quite amazing. Most Warriors would go crazy over a 200% boost to Strength. If this skill book were put up for auction, it would sell for at least 50,000 gold, maybe even up to 90,000 gold if you were lucky.

"Giving this skill book to Smoke Stub isn't a bad idea. He just happens to be a Berserker,” Nie Yan muttered.

As the effects of Backbreaker wore off, Nie Yan struck the Barbarian Berserker with Smothering Strike.

It was stunned for an additional two seconds.

The Barbarian Berserker was locked down all this time. CC chains were quite frightening.

Starting with the six second cripple from Rank 11 Backbreaker, two second stun from Rank 8 Smothering Strike, three second stun from Rank 9 Concussive Blow, the brief interrupt from Rank 15 Kick, the two second immobilize from Rank 9 Lockdown, until finally the five second cripple from Rank 10 Counter. By the time Nie Yan cycled through everything, Backbreaker was back off cooldown. Like this, he could repeat the whole process again. It would only take a few cycles to kill the Barbarian Berserker.

Nie Yan activated Steal several more times. The Barbarian Berserker already had no more gold left to steal. Only the Rage of the Berserker skill book wasn’t half-bad. He obtained all sorts of different skills, none of which caught his eye. However, they were decent for ordinary players.

Just as Nie Yan was about to finish off the Barbarian Berserker, he activated Steal one last time. A notification popped up. He had stolen another item.

Nie Yan glanced inside his bag and found a yellow papyrus scroll sitting in the corner. He examined it.

Dreamworld Scroll (Legendary): Consumable

Description: Entrap a target in an illusion for 20 seconds regardless of level difference. Moving while activating this scroll will cancel the spell. Cast Time: 3 seconds.

Restrictions: 30 Energy

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. This scroll wasn’t that useful in ordinary circumstances. However, it was particularly effective against high level bosses. Anything could happen in 20 seconds. It could even help prevent a team from wiping.

Nie Yan had obtained another nice item. He spammed Steal a few more times for good measure, but it kept failing. The Barbarian Berserker no longer had anything to steal.

Seeing that he’d gotten all he could, Nie Yan exploded forth with frightening damage.

Nie Yan debuffed the Barbarian Berserker with Apocalyptic Extinction. He then struck out with Reverse Grip Backstab and all sorts of high damage skills. Every attack dealt more than 10,000 damage, which racked up pretty quickly. After a minute since the fight began, the Barbarian Berserker’s health fell to 7%.

The Barbarian Berserker still wasn’t dead. It was much tankier than Nie Yan gave it credit for.

Just as the Barbarian Berserker was about to come to, Nie Yan struck out with Backbreaker. A loud klang rang out.

However, the Barbarian Berserker wasn’t incapacitated like Nie Yan thought. It sweeped its greataxe around.

Whirlwind Slash!

After being CC’d by a skill three times in a row, a boss would gain resistance. On the fourth time, the skill would be ineffective.

Feeling the wind pressure of the axe coming towards him, Nie Yan quickly activated Gale Step and avoided the attack.

The Barbarian Berserker lost sight of Nie Yan. It let out a thunderous roar that spread out as a shock wave, sweeping over Nie Yan who was hidden in stealth five meters away.

−10

Nie Yan’s figure was revealed.

Sound attacks like these were impossible to defend against. It wasn’t a physical attack nor a magical one. After getting hit by it, Nie Yan felt an intense ringing in his ears. He could no longer go back into stealth.

"Shit!” Nie Yan cursed. He didn’t expect the Barbarian Berserker to have such an ability.

Charge!

The Barbarian Berserker barrelled toward him like a truck.

Nie Yan activated Swift Retreat and quickly pulled back.

With the Barbarian Berserker’s frightening attack power, a single hit would be enough to kill him.

The grim reaper’s steps drew closer and closer. The Barbarian Berserker’s massive frame which resembled a small mountain pressed toward Nie Yan. As the greataxe cleaved toward him, he could hear wind howling from the blade.

What fast attack speed!

Despite falling into such a perilous situation, Nie Yan didn’t panic in the slightest. He glanced down at a certain skill in his skill bar—Hell Execution!

Nie Yan had never gotten around to use this skill before since not many opportunities came up. It was one of the supplementary skills from Zennarde’s Sword, allowing him to execute a target below 20% health.

Nie Yan focused on the Barbarian Berserker’s movements. He sidestepped with Illusory Steps as his figure appeared to flicker back and forth, dodging the attacks.

At the same time, Nie Yan resembled a cheetah as he pounced forward.

As he activated Hell Execution, Nie Yan felt as if his soul were being sucked into Zennarde’s Sword. This kind of peculiar feeling was extremely frightening. However, there was no going back.

Zennarde’s Sword turned scarlet, seemingly scorched red by the flames of hell. It emitted an ominous radiance.

Hell Execution!

Zennarde’s Sword slashed across the Barbarian Berserker’s chest. Nie Yan felt as if he were cutting through tofu. The Barbarian Berserker’s armour was easily broken as the flesh inside was carved apart. A fountain of blood gushed out.

−272,303!

The Barbarian Berserker staggered several steps back and collapsed to the ground.

Nie Yan was also shocked. What frightening damage! Glancing at Zennarde’s Sword, the blood covering the blade quickly evaporated into smoke. The scarlet glow also slowly faded away, returning to its original black colour. The flames flickered away like normal.

Fear still lingered in Nie Yan’s heart from using Hell Execution just now. This was probably a special effect from Zennarde’s Sword.

Nie Yan glanced at the corpse on the ground. Ordinary players could probably never imagine that a boss was executed by an attack that dealt more than 270,000 damage.

Hell Execution was quite amazing. Nie Yan planned to use it more when he hunted bosses in the future.

Nie Yan rummaged through the corpse of the Barbarian Berserker. Apart from six gold, there was nothing else. He had already stolen everything but the clothes on its body.

Nie Yan turned to the chest sitting quietly in the grass. Its seven coloured radiance revealed its rarity. Sub Legendary-grade or higher chests were basically as hard to find as a phoenix feather or qilin horn. In the previous timeline, Nie Yan rarely heard of someone opening a Sub Legendary chest. Only large guilds exploring high level maps would have a chance of finding them. As for Legendary chests, they were basically non-existent.

Walking up to the chest, Nie Yan bent down and started opening it.

Thankfully, his Lockpicking skill was high enough rank.

Chapter 579 - Book of Holy Judgement

A few minutes later, the chest popped open with a click.

A dazzling radiance blossomed out. Nie Yan hurriedly shielded his eyes. After a while, the light gradually dimmed down. Looking inside, he spotted a small book laying at the bottom. It looked like an ordinary skill book, except it exuded strong holy power.

Nie Yan picked up the book and slowly opened it. A white light enveloped his body.

"So, it isn’t a skill book,” Nie Yan muttered. Skimming through the pages, the words were written in Ancient Common. Thankfully, he just so happened to know this language. As he turned back to the cover, he could barely make out the title—Book of Holy Judgement.

You have discovered an ancient book which contains remnants of the past. The words are archaic and difficult to understand. "What the hell is this?” you mutter. Skimming through, you reach the last page and discover a section that catches your eye.

"The Holy Mage Bierze created a powerful magic formation. With five Great Holy Mages working together, they channelled the power of god to move the formation and entrap the Great Dragon Earl Istress Brook. Bierze transformed his holy power into a supreme sword of judgement and pierced Istres Brook’s chest, purifying him.”

Even after reading through this section of text, Nie Yan still had no idea what this book was for. He glanced down at the complex diagram on the last page. It looked like a magic formation. Below the diagram was a magic chant in text form. This was most likely something only experienced Mages could make sense of.

Could this be a clue to a quest?

Nie Yan knitted his brows. He was just about to toss the Book of Holy Judgement into his bag, when he received another notification.

Bring this book to a well-learned Holy Mage. They will answer your question.

"Looks like I’ll need to go ask Xie Yao.” Nie Yan put the Book of Holy Judgement away.

"I’ve trained my skills long enough. It’s about time I go back,” Nie Yan muttered. He was only three levels away from Level 100. Only after reaching Level 100 could he return to the Temple of Light and take the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest. He looked at the level leaderboards. The highest level player in the Viridian Empire was currently Tang Yao at Level 88. The second highest was Xie Yao at Level 87. Many players were already above Level 80. Nevertheless, he still held a clear level advantage. He estimated doing the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest would take a long time, so he had to maintain a large enough lead.

It would be another two hours before the exit to the dreamworld opened.

Nie Yan trained in the dreamworld for two more hours. As the final seconds ticked away, he gazed toward the center of the map. A huge door of light took shape.

Nie Yan entered the door of light. A notification popped up.

Do you wish to leave Venita’s Dreamworld?

Yes! With a flash of light, Nie Yan’s vision turned black and he lost consciousness.

After who knew how long, Nie Yan opened his eyes. He could feel the ocean breeze in his hair and smell the salt in the air. He climbed back on his feet and looked around. Venita was nowhere to be found. There was only the vast ocean.

"Let’s go back first.” Nie Yan crushed a Return Scroll. With a flash of light, he was back in Calore.

Teleporting to the Cripps Stronghold, Nie Yan asked Xie Yao to meet up. He wanted her to examine the Book of Holy Judgement.

Xie Yao dropped what she was doing and hurried back.

Guo Huai and the others were in the guild headquarters discussing the future development of Asskickers United. They were basically the brains of the operation. They would do all the planning, only requiring Nie Yan for final approval. In fact, Asskickers United’s management didn’t require much of his attention at all. It was just like a company. If the CEO had to do everything themselves, they would probably die from overwork.

Nie Yan only needed to decide on the general direction of Asskickers United.

Seeing Nie Yan, Guo Huai and the others all went to greet him.

"You’re finally back. How was it?” Guo Huai asked.

"Not bad.” Nie Yan laughed.

Guo Huai had a deep understanding of Nie Yan’s personality. He was acting calm and nonchalant now, but he would probably show off something amazing when the time came.

"Here, give this skill book to Smoke Stub. Store the rest in the guild treasury,” Nie Yan said. He dumped a large pile of skill books onto Guo Huai. There were more than 500 skill books altogether.

"How did you get your hands on so many skill books? Where the hell did you go?” Guo Huai cried out in shock.

"I was in a special map training my skills. Only skill books dropped there, nothing else.” Nie Yan bitterly smiled.

Guo Huai looked through the large pile of skill books. There were quite a few rare ones. Their combined value was hard to estimate.

After a while, Xie Yao arrived.

"How many pieces of the Saintess Christina Set do you have now?” Nie Yan asked. Xie Yao was enveloped in a strong holy light. It was almost as if she were a saintess herself, a transcendental beauty. She had definitely acquired more pieces of the set, or else this wouldn’t be the case.

"Five pieces.” Xie Yao sweetly smiled. She had made quite a bit of progress during this time.

Xie Yao would soon complete the whole set. Nie Yan took out the Book of Holy Judgement and asked, "Can you tell me what this is?”

Xie Yao was likely more knowledgeable than him regarding holy items given she was a Holy Mage.

"Oh my god! It’s actually the Book of Holy Judgement!” Xie Yao gasped.

"You know what it is?”

"The Book of Holy Judgement is from the Era of Darkness. The description in the book says it all, five Great Holy Mages channelled the spell in it and bound the Great Dragon Earl. The chant at the end is for moving the formation,” Xie Yao explained.

"How long can it bind a target?” Nie Yan asked. The effects of the of the Book of Holy Judgement surprised him.

"60 seconds. Though if the target attacks the formation, it’s hard to say. If the target being bound is too powerful, it’d probably only last 10 seconds at most. It has a cooldown of two days,” Xie Yao said.

"That’s more than enough,” Nie Yan said. In an intense battle, 10 seconds was enough to turn the tide.

"You need five Great Holy Mages for this spell.”

"You can go find four others who you think are suitable,” Nie Yan said. Leaving the Book of Holy Judgement in Xie Yao’s hands was probably the best choice. There wasn’t a more suitable candidate.

"Alright.” Xie Yao nodded. Aware of how much faith Nie Yan had in her, she immediately felt a great weight put on her shoulders.

After staying in the guild headquarters for a while longer, Xie Yao went to find four other teammates. Firstly, they had to be skilled. Secondly, they had to be girls.

Asskickers United had many powerful female players. Many of the top rankers in the guild were in fact female.

After finishing his responsibilities, Nie Yan restocked on Intermediate and Advanced Magic Bombs. Violet Mist had made quite a lot of them these past couple of weeks.

Nie Yan estimated it would take him another five days to reach Level 100. After using up all the Magic Bombs, he could only rely on himself for the final stretch. However, his mind was filled with many unique grinding methods, all of which came from the players in his past life. They were all quite bizarre but extremely effective. His levelling speed would never be slow.

Going to school in the day and gaming at night, this kind of life was quite satisfying. With Asskickers United’s rapid expansion, more and more guild members started noticing the benefits of being in a powerful guild. No matter where they went to level, players from other guilds would quietly move away. It was good that the guild’s discipline was strict. No one behaved tyrannically or grew conceited like Victorious Return and the other four guilds under Cao Xu in the previous timeline.

On the third day, Nie Yan returned from his levelling. Like clockwork, he brought his bag full of equipment and dumped it all in the guild treasury. Everything was well organized, with various items glittering and sparkling. There were a total of 1,600,000 pieces of equipment, and the quality of each one was high, far surpassing that of other guilds. Nie Yan estimated not even Angel Corps’ guild treasury could compare to theirs in size or quality.

"How are Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others doing in Griffon Woodlands?” Nie Yan asked.

"Quite well these past few days. Our guild currently has nine flying mounts,” Guo Huai said. Angel Corps had suffered who knew how many losses just to explore one small section of the Griffon Woodlands. After spending an entire month there, they only obtained 30 flying mounts. In comparison, Asskickers United’s losses were minimal while their harvests were abundant. "Bladelight and the others recently accepted a quest in Griffon Woodlands. They have to head to Poison Valley and kill the Miasma Scorpion King. Apparently the reward is a Griffon Cage which will let them raise a Griffon Chick.”

Nie Yan was preparing some Combat Bandages. Hearing Guo Huai’s words, he immediately stood up and asked in a grave tone, "What? They went to Poison Valley?”

"Yeah. Why? Is there something wrong?”

"What’s their current progress?”

"They’re already fighting the boss.”

"Quickly prepare some Master Antidotes! I’m heading to Poison Valley. We have to hurry!” Nie Yan said anxiously. Since they had already engaged the boss, there was no turning back.

"Alright. I’ll get on it immediately.” Guo Huai also understood the severity of the situation. He quickly had his subordinates retrieve the Master Antidotes.

Chapter 580 - Poison Valley

"When Bladelight and the others left, they took some Antidotes with them,” Guo Huai recalled.

"How many Master Antidotes did they bring with them?” Nie Yan asked. Ordinary Antidotes wouldn’t work. Only Master Antidotes were effective.

"Two, I think.”

Ever since receiving the Wish Necklace, Quiet Nannan had been concocting Master-rank potions, many of which were Master Antidotes. Although there were still many in storage when Bladelight left, he couldn’t bear to bring more than two. These items were far too precious. No one would use them lightly. Besides, in what kind of scenario would they need more?

"Two Master Antidotes is far from enough.” Nie Yan shook his head. He had witnessed the might of the Miasma Scorpion King first hand in his past life. Back then, he was following a 1,000-player expedition team. They wiped, with only a lucky few escaping with their lives.

The expedition team comprised 100 players over Level 100 and 900 players at Level 90 or higher. There were no Master-class players. The strongest player was a Level 130 Great Berserker. They had come with a large amount of scrolls and potions. Their preparations were flawless. If even a team like that wiped, Bladelight’s group was in a lot of danger.

To defeat the Miasma Scorpion King, Bladelight and the others had to all be at least Level 100!

"How many Master Antidotes do we have left?” Nie Yan asked.

"I think around nine.”

Nine was still far from enough! Nie Yan knitted his brows. "Bring them all over. Have them ready at the transfer point!”

"Alright,” Guo Huai replied. After retrieving the Antidotes from the Starry Night Potion Shop, he had his people deliver them to the transfer point.

Nie Yan was already waiting there. After putting away the Master Antidotes in his bag, he teleported to Tellak Town, then set off on his Darkwing Dragon.

To get to Poison Valley, most players would have to teleport to Link Town and spend an hour travelling through the wilderness. Nie Yan was taking a shortcut. North of Tellak Town was a vast mountain range. It would take ordinary players at least several days to get from here to Poison Valley. However, the rugged mountainous terrain was of no obstacle to him since he was travelling by air!

With the Darkwing Dragon’s speed, Nie Yan would reach his destination in a short few minutes.

...

While Nie Yan was rushing over to Poison Valley, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others were facing off against a giant scorpion.

This large scorpion had a shiny black carapace which had the luster of metal. It looked like a giant tank with a pair of monstrous claws and a long tail with a sharp stinger that curved inward.

It was a Level 110 Lord with 5,000,000 health!

The Miasma Scorpion King was too powerful. Bladelight and the others struggled greatly.

Bladelight and 20 other Fighters surrounded the Miasma Scorpion King. There were already several dozen corpses on the ground. Further back, 600 Mages raised their staffs and bombarded the Miasma Scorpion King with magic. However, every hit only dealt 100-200 damage. Their damage output wasn’t much. If it weren’t for Bladelight’s Level 100 equipment, they would’ve long since wiped.

About five minutes later, the Miasma Scorpion King’s health fell below 25%.

"Quickly, stop it! It’s going to use a skill!” Bladelight shouted. Several Thieves rushed forward and struck the Miasma Scorpion King with various crowd control skills. It was immobilized for three seconds but quickly recovered.

"Watch out!” Bladelight shouted.

"It’s using Poison Mist again!”

"Paladins, purify it! Hurry!”

The Miasma Scorpion King opened its maw and spat out a black poison mist which started rapidly spreading out.

The nearby Warriors quickly retreated. Bladelight hurriedly drank a Master Antidote. Its effects were quite potent. As for Advanced Antidotes, they had first tried those, but they were completely ineffective.

Bladelight continued to engage the Miasma Scorpion King while the other Warriors hurriedly pulled back.

The poison mist shrouded the Miasma Scorpion King, completely obscuring it from sight. More than 10 Warriors and Thieves couldn’t endure the mist’s corrosive effects and collapsed on the ground.

Rays of holy light fell over the mist, gradually purifying it.

Three minutes later, the poison mist finally dispersed. When the players saw the Miasma Scorpion King again, they discovered it was back at full health.

The Miasma Scorpion King's health recovered rapidly within the poison mist!

"Fuck!” Bladelight cursed.

After recovering all its health, the Miasma Scorpion King started carrying out a massacre. It swung and snipped with its claws, killing one Warrior after another. Its tail suddenly struck toward Bladelight.

Bladelight grunted and quickly raised his greatshield. With a loud klang, he blocked the stinger.

Bladelight’s skin immediately turned a shade of green. His health began rapidly falling. Just as he was about to die, Young Seven, Painted Muslin, and the other Priests quickly healed him back to full.

The expedition team’s casualties quickly exceeded 50. Every time they got the Miasma Scorpion King down to 25% health, it would heal back up with the Poison Mist skill.

"We need better crowd control!” Bladelight said in frustration. If they had someone who could keep the Miasma Scorpion King locked down when it was casting Poison Mist, there wouldn’t be any problems.

"That’s not the issue. Even if we had more powerful crowd control skills, its resistance and evasion is too high,” King of the World said. It wasn’t like they hadn’t given it a try. Four out of every five crowd control skills were resisted, and that was if they landed at all.

"Let’s just leave,” Smoke Stub suggested. "At this rate, our casualties will only continue to rise. We can’t beat it.”

"Bladelight, the Scorpions in the back have all respawned. We can’t leave!” a Mage further in the back cried out.

Glancing back at the exit, it was filled with hundreds of Scorpions. If they tried to leave, they’d be pincered.

"It looks like we’re going to wipe,” Bladelight sighed. Even though it wasn’t like they hadn’t wiped before, it was never a pleasant experience.

"Those of you who have Unknown Transfer Scrolls, leave first.”

Out of the 1,000 players in the expedition team, only 30 had Unknown Transfer Scrolls. They were simply too scarce. It was impossible to meet everyone’s demands.

At this moment, the Miasma Scorpion King broke through the encirclement of Warriors and collided with the second line of defense. It instantly slaughtered more than 30 Paladins. Asskickers United’s forces were slowly being pushed back. A wipe was inevitable.

"Everyone, take off your equipment to lessen your losses as much as possible. It’s best if you find somewhere remote to die. That way when you revive, you can teleport back safely.”

Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others quickly made their preparations. By doing this, they could lessen their losses by at least 50%.

One Paladin after another fell to the Miasma Scorpion King. The splattering blood caused it to enter a berserk state.

...

Nie Yan cruised through the sky on his Darkwing Dragon. Up ahead was a vast ocean of clouds, with only a few mountain peaks poking out.

Nie Yan couldn’t seem to find Poison Valley. Searching around, he spotted pitch black clouds in the distance, almost as if they had been dyed in ink. "Over there! I found it!”

He quickly headed over with the Darkwing Dragon, chanting out an incantation at the same time.

Before long, the Darkwing Dragon arrived above the black clouds.

After finishing the chant, the Darkwing Dragon disappeared, recalled back to the pet space. Nie Yan started falling to the ground.

The Darkwing Dragon wouldn’t die instantly if it made contact with the poison mist, but it would still be badly poisoned.

Right before falling into the poison mist, Nie Yan drank a Master Antidote.

Passing through the layer of clouds, Nie Yan saw the situation below. Bladelight’s expedition team surrounded the Miasma Scorpion King. On the ground were corpses scattered everywhere.

"Watchful Snail said Nirvana Flame is on his way here right now!”

"By the time he arrives, we’ll all be dead,” Bladelight deeply sighed.

"Look up in the sky!”

Everyone looked up. A figure was rapidly falling from the sky, soon to reach the ground.

"It’s the boss! He’s here!”

They had already abandoned all thoughts of survival. However, when Nie Yan appeared, their hope was reignited. They had an unwavering faith in him. Perhaps he could reverse the tide!

"That fellow sure is quick. Everyone, listen up! Put your equipment back on. We’re going to give it another try!” Bladelight shouted. He charged toward the Miasma Scorpion King and struck out with a Shield Bash. With a loud klang, it was knocked several steps back.

Painted Muslin, Young Seven, and the others quickly topped up Bladelight’s health.

The entire team changed their formation and started dealing with the Miasma Scorpion King again in earnest. Over 200 corpses lay scattered on the ground. Thankfully, the damage was still there. The front line also still had more than 100 Warriors left. There wouldn’t be any issues for now.

The Mages raised their staffs and bombarded away.

Nie Yan made a rapid descent. Just as he was about to hit the ground, he activated his Featherfall Jewel. With a loud thud, he landed.

−2,133

For the sake of saving time, Nie Yan only activated Featherfall at the very last moment. This kind of fall damage was still well within acceptable limits.

"Arcane Mages and Elementalists, listen up! Use fire magic! Arcane Mages don’t use fire magic with a darkness attribute component!” Nie Yan shouted.

"Yes, boss!” All the Arcane Mages and Elementalists replied in unison. Their shouts towered through the skies.

Nie Yan’s presence had reinvigorated their morale!

Chapter 581 - War God!

Everyone followed Nie Yan’s instructions. Both the Elementalists and Arcane Mages only used fire magic exclusively. As for the Holy Mages, their holy magic just happened to be the bane of poison-type monsters, so they continued on as before.

The damage dealt was the same as before. There was no change at all. However, the Miasma Scorpion King’s health recovery was noticeably slower.

It was effective!

Seeing the Miasma Scorpion King’s health falling faster than before, Asskickers United’s players fought with even more zeal.

"Bladelight, Smoke Stub, catch!” Nie Yan tossed the two of them a few Master Antidotes.

Only Master Antidotes and above could cure the poison of the Miasma Scorpion King. Without it, even the tankiest Warrior would eventually fall. So, they now had a form of insurance against this terrifying monster.

「Do you have confidence in killing the Miasma Scorpion King?」Bladelight asked Nie Yan in a private message. He activated Taunt and forced the boss’ aggro onto himself.

「No, I don’t. Even though the Miasma Scorpion King’s health isn’t that high compared to other equal level Lords, its poison skills and health recovery make it more terrifying than a monster with 10 times more health. Ordinarily, you would need a Level 100+ expedition team and a main tank with at least 320 poison resistance to take it on. We fall short on both requirements. Most of our players aren’t even Level 80. The fact you guys have lasted this long is already a miracle.」

Bladelight gasped. This difference was too great. They had let their confidence get to them and greatly underestimated the Miasma King Scorpion.

「We can only leave it up to fate.」Nie Yan helplessly chuckled.

Bladelight also sighed.「Well, it’s not like we can do anything else. Do you have a plan?」

「Not really, but I have a little something I want to try. We have less than a 10% chance of succeeding,」Nie Yan replied. He didn’t have much hope in killing the Miasma Scorpion King.

The players in the expedition team had a lot of faith in Nie Yan and were giving it their all. If they heard these words, they would fall back into despair.

"It’s too late for regrets now. Let’s go all out!” Bladelight hollered. He activated Barbarian Strength as his muscles swelled with power.

Shield Bash!

「Klang!」The Miasma Scorpion King staggered several steps back. It flew into a rage and repeatedly smashed at Bladelight with its claws.

"All Warriors except for Bladelight and Smoke Stub, pull back!” Nie Yan shouted. The Warriors immediately retreated.

Mad Brandish!

Smoke Stub fired out a crescent wave of energy from his greatsword. It cleaved into the Miasma Scorpion King and sent it flying.

The Miasma Scorpion King started spitting out poison everywhere, splattering the ground in an emerald liquid.

Bladelight and Smoke Stub were inflicted by the poison. They both hurriedly drank Master Antidotes.

The Master Antidotes were used without reserve. There was no other choice.

Spells ruthlessly bombarded the Miasma Scorpion King as particle effects flew everywhere.

The Miasma Scorpion King thrashed about violently. Since the frontline consisted of only Bladelight and Smoke Stub, the 40 Priests and 20 Paladins in the back focused all their attention on them, dispelling various debuffs and casting heals.

The entire expedition team was working as a unit. However, every now and then, one or two players would still get hit by a stray glob of poison. There was no saving them.

About three minutes later, the Miasma Scorpion King’s health fell to 25%. Everyone became nervous.

"Watch out for the poison mist!”

"Bladelight, careful!”

The Miasma Scorpion King opened its mouth. Its abdomen swelled as it prepared to spray out its poison mist.

Bladelight immediately took up a defensive posture, preparing to tank the Miasma Scorpion King.

"Smoke Stub, activate Rage of the Berserker!” Nie Yan shouted.

"Hah!” Smoke Stub bellowed out as his body started glowing red. He activated his Rank 6 Seismic Slam, rending the earth below him as web-like cracks spread out. With a loud bang, the Miasma Scorpion King was knocked several meters back and briefly stunned.

Nie Yan had circled around to the Miasma Scorpion King’s back while in stealth. Seeing it get hit by the Seismic Slam, he pounced forth with Backbreaker.

−13,155

The Miasma Scorpion King was inflicted with the cripple status effect.

One second, two seconds, three seconds, four seconds, five seconds!

It lasted a whole five seconds!

"What powerful crowd control!” Bladelight and Smoke Stub were shocked. This skill was way too powerful!

"The Miasma Scorpion is CC'd! Everybody, let loose!”

The Mages all cast their highest damaging spells.

Tang Yao chanted out a long incantation as a red cloud gathered in the sky above. Shortly after, meteors started raining down.

−3,831

−3,674

−3,648

...

Seven meteors struck the Miasma Scorpion King in a row. Compared to the couple hundred damage the ordinary Mages were dealing, Tang Yao’s damage was quite frightening.

Within the short span of three seconds, Nie Yan unloaded all his various skills, like Backstab, Eviscerate, Vital Strike, and so on. Each one dealt close to 10,000 damage. Everyone’s jaws gaped in shock.

"The boss’ damage is too frightening!”

"It’s more than 50 times my damage…”

Nie Yan’s high damage boosted the team's confidence in victory.

Only Nie Yan, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and a few others understood that all they could do was to give it their best. As for what the final outcome would be, they could only leave it up to fate.

As the Miasma Scorpion King was about to recover, Nie Yan struck out with Smothering Strike.

Miss!

"Crap!” Nie Yan cried out in alarm.

The Miasma Scorpion King’s abdomen swelled. It was just about to spray out its poison mist, when a silhouette appeared beside it. Sun plunged his dagger into the back of its head.

The Miasma Scorpion King’s body type was atypical. They could only rely on their intuition to find its weak spots.

After the Smothering Strike landed, the Miasma Scorpion King was stunned.

Thankfully, Sun reacted in time, or else they would’ve been in a lot of trouble.

The stun barely lasted for a second. As the Miasma Scorpion King was about to recover, King of the World followed up with a Concussive Blow.

This stun also barely lasted a second.

"Everyone, be careful! Each crowd control skill only works against the boss three times. After that, they’ll no longer have an effect!”

The Miasma Scorpion King was about to recover again, when Nie Yan followed up with another Concussive Blow. The stun lasted three seconds.

It was the same skill, but the effect was worlds apart.

"Stop using Smothering Strike and Concussive Blow, use other crowd control skills!”

Over the course of the battle, the Miasma Scorpion King’s resistance against crowd control had grown extremely high. Misses would constantly appear. Even after chaining all their skills together, they could only CC the Miasma Scorpion King for 15 seconds. Nie Yan’s contribution was the highest at 90%. The effects of his several skills were extremely powerful.

Under the nonstop assault, the Miasma Scorpion King’s health fell to 12%.

Hell Execution!

Zennarde’s Sword glowed scarlet red as Nie Yan slashed down on the Miasma Scorpion King.

Miss!

Hell Execution failed!

Hell Execution!

Nie Yan repeatedly used Hell Execution but failed every attempt. The Warriors around him were also spamming their execution skills. Since the Miasma Scorpion King was a Level 110 Lord, the success rate was extremely low. However, if they somehow got lucky, they would be golden.

The Miasma Scorpion King’s tail whipped out in a horizontal arc, instantly killing more than 10 Warriors.

The Miasma Scorpion King’s abdomen began swelling again!

"Does anyone else have a crowd control skill?” Nie Yan anxiously shouted.

If they couldn’t stop the Miasma Scorpion King from casting Poison Mist, its health would recover back to full!

Everyone understood this was a crucial moment!

Hell Execution!

Miss!

The Miasma Scorpion King’s abdomen was already full. Nie Yan had used up all his powerful crowd control skills. If no one stopped it, all their previous efforts would go to waste.

"Dammit! We’re so close too…” Nie Yan sighed. Sure enough, they weren’t strong enough to challenge the Miasma Scorpion King at this level. If their Mages were Level 100, during the 15 seconds Nie Yan and the others kept it CC’d, they would’ve already killed it by now. It was a pity most of them weren’t even Level 80. Their damage output was too low.

The Miasma Scorpion King was on the verge of spraying out its poison mist. Nie Yan lamented, "It’s over.”

As everybody was about to abandon all hope, Smoke Stub suddenly bellowed out like tiger. His entire body shone with a brilliant radiance, as if he were clad in golden armour. A three-meter tall phantom manifested behind him. Wielding a massive sword, it looked just like a golden war god. It mimicked his actions like a mirror-image.

War God’s Assault!

Smoke Stub rushed toward the Miasma Scorpion King. Every step shook the ground as if the very world were being rocked. His momentum crescendoed to a thundering charge as he blazed forth with devastating might.

At this moment, Smoke Stub was the embodiment of a war god!

Chapter 582 - Record of Seals

Smoke Stub cleaved down with his sword, toppling the Miasma Scorpion King. Poison Mist was interrupted yet again.

The Miasma Scorpion King let out a shrill cry. It up-righted itself and unleashed a flurry of blows on Smoke Stub.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」He was like an immovable reef in the face of a squall.

Smoke Stub succeeded in buying everyone another five seconds. The Miasma Scorpion King was rebuilding the poison mist from scratch. Its abdomen gradually started swelling.

Before long, the Miasma Scorpion King’s health fell to 6%.

Hell Execution!

Miss!

"It’s almost dead. One final push!” Nie Yan shouted anxiously. They had to finish things soon. Once they ran out of powerful crowd control skills and interrupts, the Miasma Scorpion King would cast Poison Mist and recover its health back to full.

Then, they'd be doomed!

Failure was not an option!

Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar. Most of his skills were still on cooldown. This place wasn’t the Dreamworld. His several crowd control skills had fairly long cooldowns. All he could do was deal damage with basic attacks.

Just as the Miasma Scorpion King was about to spray out its poison mist, a powerful aura flooded out of Bladelight’s greatshield and formed a giant energy construct.

Spatial Spirit Shield!

「Klang!」Bladelight struck the Miasma Scorpion King’s jaw, causing its head to jerk to the side violently.

The Miasma Scorpion King staggered back.

Spatial Spirit Shield was an Advanced Skill. It had a cooldown of three days. Though it didn’t seem like much, it could interrupt any skill. It was Bladelight's killing move when fighting bosses.

"I have nothing left now. Weaker skills have no effect on this overgrown bug.” Bladelight bitterly chuckled.

Spatial Spirit Shield delayed the Miasma Scorpion King for another three seconds.

All skills that could be used were used. Everyone felt like they had exhausted all their resources. Even now, no one succeeded in executing the Miasma Scorpion King. The level difference made the success rate pitifully low.

The Miasma Scorpion King’s health was shaved away to just 3%. Only a small sliver left to go. At this moment, its carapace glowed bright red. Even though it was still being bombarded by magic, its health was slowly rising up.

This would often occur when a team’s damage output was too low. After using a skill, the Miasma Scorpion King’s health regeneration exceeded the damage it was taking.

"Everyone, use AoE magic!”

"We’ll hit our own people!”

"I don’t care! Do it!” Nie Yan shouted. The Warriors at the front could be revived after the battle. But if they failed to kill the Miasma Scorpion King, they would all die!

At this moment, Young Seven raised his staff and chanted out an incantation. A large pillar of light pierced down from the clouds, striking the Miasma Scorpion King. Wherever the light touched, its carapace would let out white smoke.

−10,500

−10,500

−10,500

...

Young Seven’s Divine Purification was lethal to evil creatures.

Shortly after, AoE magic started raining down from the sky. The Warriors at the front were instantly annihilated. The violent bombardment of magic brought the Miasma Scorpion King to the ground.

Bladelight and Smoke Stub hurriedly retreated.

"Kill it, quickly!”

"Everyone, keep it up!”

Under the intense bombardment of AoE magic, the Miasma Scorpion King’s health finally started falling again.

The Miasma Scorpion King only had 2% health left!

It was struggling to move inside the torrential downpour of magic.

"Warriors, Paladins, charge! Don’t let it escape!” Nie Yan shouted.

The Warriors and Paladins rushed forward and collided into the Miasma Scorpion King one after another. They sacrificed their lives to prevent it from escaping the hail of AoE magic. Bladelight and Smoke Stub also charged in, following in the footsteps of their comrades without hesitation.

During this crucial moment, even delaying the Miasma Scorpion King for a split second was worth it.

As the Miasma Scorpion King was about to die, it sprayed out a black poison mist which rapidly spread out. Its health began rising up again rapidly.

"Not good!” Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He glanced at his skill bar. Backbreaker was off cooldown!

Adjudicator of God!

A golden barrier enveloped Nie Yan. With a Flicker Strike, he instantly covered tens of meters and entered the downpour of AoE magic. He arrived behind the Miasma Scorpion King and struck it with Backbreaker. The poison mist was interrupted!

The Miasma Scorpion King was inflicted with the cripple status effect.

Thankfully, the Miasma Scorpion King hadn’t spewed out a lot of poison mist yet. It was quickly dispersed by the Paladins and Priests.

"If we don’t kill it soon, it’ll try something funny again!” Nie Yan struck out with Phantom Assassination, then Reverse Grip Backstab.

−11,863

−12,146

The Miasma Scorpion King’s health continued to fall.

The Mages in the back didn’t dare to stop firing. Their AoE magic continued to rain down. All Nie Yan could see in front of him was a sea of raging flames. He could only rely on his intuition to attack the Miasma Scorpion King.

Nie Yan had no idea how much health the Miasma Scorpion King had left. He could only keep slashing and stabbing away.

Tang Yao chanted out an incantation. A miniature sun roughly the size of the Miasma Scorpion King fell from the sky.

BOOOM! It exploded into a fiery inferno which engulfed everything in the surrounding area.

−32,941

As jingles started playing one after another, many Asskickers United players were enveloped in white light. They had all levelled up.

"Did we kill it?” a player asked in disbelief.

"We won! Look at the notification!”

Seeing the Miasma Scorpion King had died, many players whose nerves were stretched to the limit collapsed to the ground in relief.

"Boss, the Miasma Scorpion King is dead!”

Nie Yan quickly retreated from the shower of AoE magic.

Only then did the Mages stop attacking. The AoE magic subsided a few seconds later. The Miasma Scorpion King’s corpse was scorched black.

The scene before them was utter carnage. Close to 400 corpses were scattered around the Miasma Scorpion King’s corpse. There were no Warriors left, and only a handful of Paladins and Thieves made it out alive. Almost all their melee units were wiped out. If the Miasma Scorpion King still hadn’t died after the Mages cycled through their AoE magic, all that awaited them was death. Thankfully, this worst case scenario didn’t happen.

Everyone erupted in cheers and started celebrating this hard fought victory.

Nie Yan also breathed a sigh of relief. He walked over to the Miasma Scorpion King’s corpse and bent down to pick up the loot.

"Priests, revive the fallen. Everyone else, take a break and recuperate,” Nie Yan ordered. He rummaged through the Miasma Scorpion King’s body and picked up three pieces of equipment, two gems, and two quest items. It had dropped so many items. This was quite the harvest.

Nie Yan looked over the items. Two pieces of equipment were over Level 100. One was a Dark Gold-grade greatsword with more than 3,000 attack power. If it was socketed with suitable gems, it would definitely become an amazing weapon. The other was a Dark Gold-grade robe which greatly increased magic power. The third piece of equipment was a special item, Barrier Ring, which could protect its wearer with a magic shield. He already had enough rings. This kind of item was more suitable for a Fighter.

None of these pieces of equipment caught Nie Yan’s eye. Glancing at the two gems, however, his eyes trembled as he noticed one of them was emerald coloured.

After examining it closely, he confirmed it was indeed a Life Emerald.

Like this, Nie Yan could craft another Wish Necklace!

There were also two quest items. One was a blueprint for a griffon cage, the exact thing Bladelight and the others were looking for. The other was a thin piece of parchment paper which looked particularly ancient. Scribbled on it were peculiar seals and characters he didn’t recognize.

If this item was placed in an ordinary place, most people would think it was garbage and toss it away. However, since it dropped from a Level 110 Lord, that meant it had to be important.

You have obtained Alexia’s Record of Seals.

This item was bound to the player who picked it up. There were no other quest clues. Nie Yan could only turn his attention elsewhere for now. He would check what kind of characters were written on the parchment and head to the Calore Library to study them later.

Nie Yan stored away Alexia’s Record of Seals and the Life Emerald in his bag. As for the other items, he would leave it up to Bladelight and the others to divide it up between themselves.

In addition, Nie Yan rewarded every team member with guild merit points.

The Mages sat on the ground and recovered their health and mana. The Priests walked up to their fallen comrades and started reviving them. After Bladelight and the others revived, they approached Nie Yan.

"How did your Smothering Strike and other skills get so powerful!? I’m guessing your skill training went well,” Bladelight said. It was amazing that Nie Yan could keep a Level 110 Lord CC’d for so long.

Sun, King of the World, and the others gazed at Nie Yan in anticipation. They also wanted to know why his Smothering Strike and Concussive Blow were so much more powerful than theirs.

"My Smothering Strike is Rank 8,” Nie Yan laughed. He had no reason to hide anything from these close companions.

Bladelight and the others sucked in a breath of cold air. They all understood what a Rank 8 skill represented. Normally, it would take at least a year to train a skill like Smothering Strike to such a high rank.

They all glanced at each other in shock. At Rank 8, for Smothering Strike to have such a powerful effect wasn’t surprising at all!

Chapter 583 - Soloing a Level 110 Lord

A Rank 8 Smothering strike was already enough to amaze Bladelight and the others. If Nie Yan showed them the rest of his skills, he could only imagine their reactions. Would they faint from shock?

"Right, I saw other skills besides your Smothering Strike,” Bladelight recalled.

"I have Rank 11 Backbreaker, Rank 9 Concussive Blow…” Nie Yan listed off his skills one by one.

Everyone started with wide eyes. Nie Yan’s skills were simply unbelievable!

If it were only one skill, though shocking, it would still be within the realms of common sense. But he had a total of 19 Rank 8+ skills, with the highest being Rank 15. No words could describe how mindblowing this was. With so many powerful skills, Nie Yan could easily take on an equal level Lord. As long as it wasn’t a broken existence such as the Miasma Scorpion King, even challenging a Lord over Level 100 was possible.

Rank 11 Backbreaker, Rank 10 Reverse Grip Backstab, Rank 10 Counter, Rank 10 Phantom Assassination, Rank 10 Flicker Strike, Rank 7 Backstab, Rank 8 Smothering Strike, Rank 9 Concussive Blow, Rank 15 Kick…

Any one of these skills was enough to drive a player mad with envy. Given Nie Yan had five Freedom Skills at Rank 10+, his regular skills like Smothering Strike and Concussive Blow really didn’t seem like much now. Unless you used some sort of special method, raising your skills to this level would take years!

"Man, I want to train my skills in that map too!” Bladelight said in envy. The others likely felt the same way. It was a pity Venita’s Dreamland was exclusive to the Legend of the Ten Holy Paladins’ questline.

"A map for training skills, huh…” Nie Yan suddenly recalled a certain map with an NPC that helped players train their skills. The rate at which they acquired skill proficiency would be significantly higher. "When you guys reach Level 120, I’ll bring you to a map just like that. You’ll gain about three times skill proficiency, maybe up to eight times or even higher if you’re skilled enough.”

Though nowhere near as good as Venita’s Dreamworld, that map still had its merit.

Its location was fairly well hidden. A player only happened to stumble upon it by a stroke of luck in the previous timeline. The real trouble started when it became known to the public. Since that NPC only issued out this quest to 500 people a day, the number of disputes that broke out around him were too many to count. Victorious Return had once tried to monopolize this map for a period of time, incurring the fierce retaliation of all other guilds until they finally relented. After all, it wasn’t like they discovered this map first. What right did they have to it?

Asskickers United would really hit the jackpot if they could monopolize this map. With higher ranking skills, levelling for their members would naturally become easier, allowing them to pull further ahead of their competition.

As for any misgivings other guilds might have, since this map was discovered by Asskickers United first, they had full authority over it. This was an unspoken rule among players.

Hearing Nie Yan’s words, Bladelight and the others showed strong interest. They always felt like the ranks of their skills were lacking, especially when levelling. It was having a serious impact on their development. They wanted to train their skills, but the process was too slow. They had to sacrifice a great deal of time. If there were some sort of shortcut, it would save them a lot of trouble.

Everyone suddenly felt a strong urge to train their skills. Bladelight and the others were the top players in the Viridian Empire. If they put their minds to something, the results would be astonishing.

After sorting everything out and recuperating, Bladelight’s team prepared to continue exploring Griffon Woodlands. After all, flying mounts were of vital importance. If they could build a Griffon Cage in the Cripps Stronghold, Asskickers United’s aerial force would benefit immensely.

Nie Yan was already at Level 97, 78%. Level 100 wasn’t far off. He could sense the title of Shadow Dancer was right within grasp.

After Bladelight’s group left, Nie Yan continued levelling.

As Nie Yan neared Level 100, levelling became all the more difficult. Grinding ordinary mobs simply wasn’t efficient enough. A suitable target suddenly popped into his mind.

With so many powerful skills, challenging ordinary Level 100+ Lords probably wouldn’t be an issue.

Teleporting back to Calore with a Return Scroll, Nie Yan set off on his Darkwing Dragon for the mountains to the north.

It was a pity Nie Yan didn’t gain any experience for monsters the Darkwing Dragon killed. Levelling would be much faster if he could take advantage of its powerful stats.

About 20 minutes later, Nie Yan arrived in a forested mountain range.

Circling in the sky, Nie Yan searched around. This place was like Solud Mountain in the Korou Mountain Range. He discovered a clearing halfway up the mountain. It was devoid of any life, save for a large creature roaming around.

"Found it!”

Nie Yan unsummoned the Darkwing Dragon and dropped down into the trees.

The field boss of this area was a Wendigo. It was on par with a Behemoth in size, had high attack power, defense, and health. However, It only had physical attacks and lacked special skills. More importantly, it was slow and clumsy, making it an ideal target for a nimble Thief.

The Wendigo was a Level 110 Lord!

Nie Yan had hunted the Wendigo with a team in his past life. He had ample knowledge of it.

Wendigos were fairly territorial. They would eat all vegetation in a location and dig a burrow for themselves. If you saw a patch of barren earth near Solud Mountain, it was guaranteed a Wendigo was residing there.

This was Nie Yan’s first time soloing a Level 100+ Lord. Compared to other equal level Lords, the Wendigo was relatively easy to bully. It was roughly on par with a Level 100 Elite, only with more health.

With a thud, Nie Yan gently landed on the ground. He dashed through the trees, gradually making his way to the edge of the clearing.

Nie Yan hid behind a small tree. Gazing at the center of the clearing, a Wendigo was there just like he predicted.

The Wendigo resembled a giant bear covered from head to toe in pure white fur. It was grossly rotund to the extent even moving around left it short of breath.

Even so, Nie Yan didn’t dare to underestimate the Wendigo. He scanned his bag. He had prepared a few essentials, such as Advanced Dexterity Potions, Strength Potions, and Speed Potions. Apart from these, he had also brought Advanced Combat Bandages and Master Health Potions, which could be used at any time during combat.

Nie Yan found a secluded spot and unsheathed Zennarde’s Sword. Rummaging through his bag, he fetched out a crystalline flask filled with an emerald liquid that sparkled brilliantly under the sunlight.

Ordinary players would probably be entranced by this flask of liquid. Little did they know that it was a deadly poison!

This poison was something Quiet Nannan specifically made for Nie Yan. Poisons were divided into two categories. One was a deadly poison which caused the target to continuously lose health. The other was an incapacitating poison which greatly reduced a target’s mobility.

This flask of poison belonged to the former category. It could deal 500 damage every second for five minutes. At least a Master Antidote was required to cure it.

A five-minute duration was rather rare for a poison. That was a total of 150,000 damage!

Nie Yan carefully smeared the poison over Zennarde’s Sword, giving the blade an emerald sheen.

After finishing his preparations, Nie Yan stood up and entered stealth. He approached the Wendigo from behind.

The Wendigo sat on the ground as crunching sounds rang out through the clearing. It gnawed on some coarse tree roots, its powerful molars easily grinding them into a pulp. It ate messily with half of the food falling into a large pile on the ground.

Nie Yan inched closer and closer to the Wendigo. He was only five meters away, but it was still completely oblivious to his presence. It was the same as in the previous timeline. It had low Awareness.

Nie Yan could feel the heat radiating from the Wendigo’s body.

Transcendent Insight!

Wendigo (Lord): Level 110
Health: 7,000,000/7,000,000

It had much more health than the Miasma Scorpion King.

Gale Ambush!

Nie Yan pounced forward with explosive speed, as though he were the embodiment of wind itself.

Backbreaker!

With a pfft sound, Zennarde’s Sword plunged deep into the Wendigo’s spine. Blood sprayed out into the air.

"Success!” The Wendigo was crippled for three seconds.

"Only three seconds.” Nie Yan knitted his brows. When he used Backbreaker on the Miasma Scorpion King, he had crippled it for five seconds. It seemed this Wendigo had a high resistance to crowd control. "This could be a bit troublesome...”

Nie Yan quickly went over his options. The Wendigo was slow. As long as he was quick to react and didn’t make any mistakes, he would be fine.

The Wendigo’s skin turned green. It was poisoned!

−500

−500

−500

...

Apocalyptic Extinction!

Nie Yan debuffed the Wendigo with five curses. Its defense immediately plummeted. His attacks barely did any damage previously. Now he was hitting for more than 1,000 damage with his basic attacks and up to 6,000 with his skills. His damage output far exceeded its health regeneration.

Backstab! Eviscerate!

Nie Yan unloaded one high damaging skill after the other. The damage quickly racked up. The Wendigo’s health gradually fell.

Chapter 584 - Sacrificial Gambit

By the time Nie Yan cycled through all his crowd control skills, he had dealt 300,000 damage in total. With the combined effects from his bleed and poison, the Wendigo was taking more than 1,000 damage every second.

As the Wendigo recovered, it let out a furious roar. Its monstrous paws swatted toward Nie Yan.

Its attacks were exceptionally powerful. A bloody glow emitted from its sharp claws.

Even if Nie Yan survived one hit, he would definitely die after the second.

Nie Yan employed Shadow Steps, as afterimages appeared to trail behind him. Every time it looked like he was going to get hit, he would always manage to dodge by a hair’s breadth. BANG! BANG! BANG! The Wendigo left deep craters in the earth as rubble and dirt flew everywhere.

From beginning to end, the Wendigo didn’t manage to land a single hit. Its attack carried the destructive power of a raging tide but failed to deal any damage to Nie Yan. Letting out an enraged roar, its onslaught became even fiercer.

Nie Yan dodged an attack with Illusion Steps, then threw out a kick, planting his foot deep into the Wendigo’s abdomen.

The Wendigo let out a groan and staggered several steps back.

Nie Yan pounced forward and slashed out, drawing an arc across the Wendigo’s throat with Zennarde’s Sword. PSHHH! Blood sprayed into the air.

Nie Yan was calm in the face of such a monstrous beast. He maintained a steady tempo. This definitely wasn’t something he could accomplish relying solely on the 10 years of gaming experience from his past life. He had grown immensely since returning to the past, almost as if he were a whole new person. Instead of the mediocre Thief of yesteryear, he was now the Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame!

This was an unwavering conviction. In this life, whether his name resounded through the world or his body was torn and crushed to pieces, he would never allow himself to fall back to mediocrity.

About 10 minutes later, as Nie Yan continuously chipped away the Wendigo’s health, it gradually fell below half.

As long as nothing unexpected happened, taking down the Wendigo would only be a matter of time.

...

While Nie Yan faced off against the Wendigo, a silhouette was rapidly dashing through the forest at the foot of the mountain.

A Thief in silver leather amour activated a speed boosting skill. He was currently evading the attacks of a Level 110 Elite Mad Direwolf. It was much faster than him, but he was able to dodge its attacks thanks to his skillful maneuvering. Making use of the surrounding boulders, trees, and other obstacles, he gradually pulled farther away.

After he put enough distance between them, he activated Gale Step and disappeared into stealth. The Mad Direwolf finally lost sight of him.

He gazed down at the bundle in his hand. Inside was a Level 110 Dark Gold-grade necklace. He socketed it with a gem that lowered the level requirement. It was a fairly decent piece of equipment. Even though he had braved through great danger to open that chest, it was worth it.

Since no one dared to explore high level maps at this stage of the game, rare treasure chests often appeared in them. The items that came out of these chests were usually good. This was an opportunity waiting to be exploited, and so he did. He planned to snag himself a few pieces of Level 100+ gear to prepare himself for the future.

He was only Level 81. Any of the monsters in this map could easily kill him. So, he was taking a great risk being here.

He was about to set off elsewhere in search for treasure chests, when he suddenly felt the ground beneath him shake. As he turned toward the source of the vibrations, he spotted a clearing halfway up the mountain. A battle was taking place. A small silhouette appeared to be dancing around a large monster. Since he was too far away, he couldn’t see it clearly.

"Another player? Here...?” He was momentarily dazed. "Is he fighting that giant monster alone? No way...”

He pondered for a moment, then decided to go over and take a look.

...

Nie Yan’s battle with the Wendigo only intensified. Its attacks became faster and fiercer by the second. He was starting to have a hard time dodging with footwork alone. Whenever he was forced into a corner, he had no choice but to rely on his escape skills like Gale Step.

The Wendigo only had 30% health left!

Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar. Counter was already off cooldown. Seeing the Wendigo charging over, he sidestepped out of the way and ruthlessly planted his elbow into its sternum, briefly crippling it. He followed up with a slash to the throat.

Phantom Assassination!

−11,150

−10,881

At this moment, a silhouette was watching Nie Yan from behind a tree some distance away.

Mistaken Smile never expected to see such a shocking sight here. He could hardly believe his eyes. How reckless! Before today, if someone told him they had witnessed a Thief attempting to solo a Level 110 Lord, he would’ve laughed in their faces. Prior to reaching Level 100, this wasn’t brave or daring but outright suicidal! However, right before him was a player accomplishing exactly that!

His gaze fell on the flaming black dagger in the Thief’s hands. Zennarde’s Sword! It was Nirvana Flame!

Mistaken Smile had heard of Nirvana Flame’s name on more than one occasion. This player was a legendary existence, an idol revered by many Thieves. There was a time when he looked down on Nirvana Flame. Many people in this world cheated their way to the top. Whether he was really as strong as the rumours said, who could know for sure. The videos circulating online could be easily edited.

Mistaken Smile didn't interact much with other players. Every day he would grind, train, open chests, and occasionally return to town to sell off his haul for credits. As a skilled solo player, his business was fairly good, enough to secure a decent living for himself. He mostly focused his energy into pushing his own limits. Since he conducted himself in a low-key manner, he rarely did anything to put himself in the limelight. His title as a Luminous Dancer was the only reason he became famous in the previous timeline. At present, most players had never heard of him, He was just a nameless player. However, the number of Thieves that stood above him could be counted on one's fingers.

Mistaken Smile was thoroughly shaken. He couldn't help but sigh in admiration. Nie Yan was perhaps the only one who would dare to challenge a Level 110 Lord.

Nie Yan seemed fairly relaxed when facing the Wendigo, nimbly dodging its fierce attacks as though he were taking a stroll in the park. From beginning to end, it couldn’t touch a single hair on his body. From time to time, when it looked like he was about to get hit, he would dodge using some odd footwork and retaliate at the same time. As it pounced on him, he used Counter to cripple it for a total of three seconds.

"What a frightening skill…!” Mistaken Smile gulped.

After inspecting the Wendigo, he discovered it had less than 10% health left. On the other hand, Nie Yan was still at full health.

Mistaken Smile felt heartfelt admiration toward Nie Yan. This was someone who undoubtedly stood at the absolute pinnacle among Thieves!

Despite not participating in any rankings, Mistaken Smile was fairly proud of his skills. Many famous Thieves only looked so-so in his eyes. However, after witnessing the legendary Mad Rogue in action, he lost all arrogance and started seriously reevaluating his position among Thieves.

"Nirvana Flame, you’re my goal...” Mistaken Smile clenched his fists. He could sense the large gap between them. If it were him up against that Wendigo, there were only two possible outcomes. He would either flee for his life or end up dying. He definitely wasn’t a match for it.

In the past, Mistaken Smile would sneer when he heard people calling Asskickers United a mecca of elites. Now, he was seriously reconsidering. A single person could only accomplish so much by themselves. They might even end up falling into mediocrity. If he continued fumbling ahead by himself, who knew how long it would take him to reach his goal?

According to the rumours, Asskickers United had several other Thieves who were only second to Nirvana Flame. It would be foolish to think that so many top Thieves had gathered around him purely by coincidence. Mistaken Smile made a decision.

As Nie Yan continued his assault, the Wendigo’s health fell to critical levels. It let out a thunderous roar as its snow white fur turned red. It had gone berserk.

The Wendigo’s attacks from before seemed simple and weak in comparison to now. It let loose like a raging hurricane.

Nie Yan was really feeling the heat. The Wendigo’s attacks were even fiercer than he expected. He was forced to use all his escape skills like Gale Step and Shadow Waltz to dodge.

The Wendigo rushed forward like a bulldozer. Seeing he had no way of evading, Nie Yan shielded himself with the Darkbright Barrier.

BANG! The Wendigo’s paw slammed into Nie Yan’s side. The Darkbright Barrier shattered like glass, and he was sent flying away.

Nie Yan drank a Master Health Potion, restoring his health back to full. He felt a burning sensation all throughout his body. It seemed he was also inflicted with corrosion. He quickly drank a Corrosion Resistance Potion. Seeing the Wendigo charging over, he dodged out of the way with Phantom Assassination and plunged Zennarde’s Sword into its neck.

After the previous encounter with the Miasma Scorpion King, Nie Yan didn’t dare to rely on Hell Execution. He continued using his powerful skills to deal damage. The poison and bleed also continued to shave away at the Wendigo’s health.

As the Wendigo lunged forward, Nie Yan rapidly pulled back. Seeing it had less than 1% health left, he went in for the finish.

Sacrificial Gambit!

This was a skill from the Chapter of Freedom—now a part of the Glimpse of Darkness—which allowed Nie Yan to sacrifice 30% of his current health to unleash an explosive attack.

With a large bang, Nie Yan’s dagger embedded itself deep into the Wendigo’s chest.

−52,091!

A fountain of blood gushed out.

The Wendigo let out a low whimper and crashed into the ground.

Chapter 585 - Royal Library

Nie Yan finally killed the Wendigo. Enveloped by a brilliant radiance, he levelled up to Level 98.

It would normally take a large expedition team to take down a Lord-class monster like the Wendigo. Even so, the experience obtained after being divided up between several hundred players was still fairly ample. At this moment, Nie Yan received all this experience himself.

Nie Yan walked up to the Wendigo’s corpse and picked up the loot off the ground. It had dropped two pieces of Level 110 equipment and several gems. This kind of harvest might be a windfall for ordinary players, but it was run-of-the-mill for him.

Nie Yan threw the two pieces of equipment into his bag, then summoned his Darkwing Dragon.

The Darkwing Dragon crouched down and nuzzled up against him.

Nie Yan rubbed the Darkwing Dragon’s head, then fed it a slab of meat. He planned to set off to find more Level 100+ Lords. There wasn’t another Lord within at least a several kilometer radius of here.

Nie Yan was just about to get on his Darkwing Dragon, when he sensed something off. He gazed toward some trees in the distance. After scanning around, he failed to discover anything. He shook his head. There was no way he would find other players here. He leaped up and climbed onto the Darkwing Dragon’s back.

The Darkwing Dragon spread its wings and took to the air, flying into the distance.

Seeing the Darkwing Dragon disappearing into the horizon, Mistaken Smile walked out of the trees, breathing a sigh of relief. He thought he had been discovered just now. So, he quickly hid. In that kind of awkward situation, there was no way to explain himself, even if he had 10 mouths.

Scanning the surroundings, he roughly gauged the distance between him and Nie Yan. His heart trembled. He was at least 10 meters away, but he was still nearly discovered. What powerful Awareness! He once again realized the gap between them.

Mistaken Smile heard Asskickers United was recruiting new members in Moonlight City. If he could become one of their elites, his pay would be even higher than that of professional players. After pondering for a moment, he took out a Return Scroll.

Nie Yan searched around with the Darkwing Dragon, killing every suitable Lord he found, By the afternoon, he had reached Level 99. Level 100 was right in front of him. He probably didn’t have enough time left to reach it today, but he had a whole day ahead of him tomorrow.

During this time, Nie Yan had obtained another Life Emerald. His luck was pretty good. This likely had to do with the increased drop rate from challenging Lords above his level. He had obtained all sorts of great items, many of which were fairly rare drops.

With two Life Emeralds, Nie Yan could craft another two Wish Necklaces when he returned to Calore.

After thinking for a bit, Nie Yan decided to craft the Wish Necklaces first. That way, the artisans of Asskickers United could get to work on making Master-rank items right away.

Nie Yan teleported back to Calore with a Return Scroll. Once there, he went to his personal storage and withdrew a few crafting materials.

At this moment, Nie Yan suddenly received a call from Guo Huai.

「A Thief wants to join Asskickers United, but he requested to enter as an elite. I told him if he could beat Paladin of the Elegy, Lofty Shadow, and Summer Bug, I would agree…」Guo Huai explained in a gloomy tone.

「And…?」Nie Yan asked curiously. This fellow wanted to directly join the elites of Asskickers United. He was either grossly overestimating his abilities or actually had a bit of skill.

「Paladin of the Elegy already lost. That guy is currently fighting Lofty Shadow, and it looks like Lofty Shadow is at a disadvantage. I’ll admit, he has the skill to back up his words. However, I have huge misgivings about him joining the guild. It’s best not to accept such a shady character. I can’t find anything about his background,」Guo Huai said.

Nie Yan chuckled.「It’s not that I don’t understand your concerns. But let’s say you were a guild leader. How would you sneak your people into a rival guild?」

「Hmm...」Guo Huai sank into deep thought.

「Well for me, I’d just have them join as an ordinary member and try not to attract too much attention. I’ll have them gradually reveal more of their strength and slowly climb up the ranks. The longer they stay, the more trust they’ll earn. I for sure won’t have them barging in asking to be accepted as an elite. Besides, you’d want to be in the administrative layer if your goal was information. Once you’re an elite, that’s it. You’re bound to the terms of your contract, and there’s no chance of rising higher,」Nie Yan said. No guild leader would use such a foolish method to sneak a spy into a rival guild.

「So, you’re saying we can trust him? If that’s the case, he’s definitely qualified to join our elites. I think he’s on the same level as King of the World and Sun. Lofty Shadow just lost,」Guo Huai said. Asskickers United’s elites were famous for their strength and skill. Those who could beat them were few and far between.

「What’s this player’s name?」Nie Yan asked. He was quite interested in this newcomer.

「Mistaken Smile,」Guo Huai replied.

"It’s actually him!” Nie Yan muttered under his breath. In terms of skill, Mistaken Smile definitely ranked at the top even among Shadow Dancers in the previous timeline. It was just that he kept a fairly low profile. It was almost impossible to find any information on him. Nie Yan had tried to personally recruit him before, only to discover that fellow had blocked all communication. He couldn’t be found or contacted, leaving Nie Yan feeling quite helpless. Who could’ve expected that he would deliver himself to their doorsteps today?

「Give him a contract. If he has any conditions, agree to them as long as they aren’t too excessive,」Nie Yan instructed. Still not feeling reassured, he continued,「Whatever happens, don’t let him get away!」

「Understood.」Guo Huai nodded. It appeared Nie Yan thought highly of Mistaken Smile.

Nie Yan was elated that Mistaken Smile had taken the initiative to join. As Asskickers United expanded their influence, all of the Viridian Empire’s elites would gradually gather in one place. A vision formed in his mind, the guild rapidly developing, every day becoming stronger than the last. Until one day, under his leadership, they would become an everlasting legend.

Nie Yan had withdrawn the materials necessary for crafting two Wish Necklaces from his personal storage.

Putting the first portion into Pandora’s Box, Nie Yan hit confirm.

Nie Yan wasn’t nearly as tense as last time. With a bright flash of light, a necklace appeared in Pandora’s Box.

Nie Yan examined the Wish Necklace—Enchanting +1. The rest of the properties were the same as the previous necklace.

The crafting of the second Wish Necklace was successful as well. It had Tinkering +1.

These two necklaces were even more precious than some Sub Legendary-grade equipment. In the future, Asskickers United would definitely be the guild that produced the most Master-rank artisan goods.

Nie Yan left these two Wish Necklaces for Bird to handle.

After finishing up all his business, Nie Yan planned to head to the library. He still had the Record of Seals in his bag. He needed to find out what it was.

The Viridian Empire Royal Library.

It was the largest as well as the longest standing library in the Viridian Empire, with the most complete and comprehensive collection of books.

Normally, few players would frequent this place. No one had the leisure to browse through books. Levelling already took up enough time. Besides, when the option was between the thrill of battle or the dullness of reading a book, who wouldn’t opt for the former?

However, Nie Yan knew that looking through books here was quite beneficial. It was just a pity he rarely had the time to come.

Climbing up the stairs, Nie Yan passed by many NPCs. They were either rushing in or quickly leaving with a few books under their arms. Dressed in luxurious clothing, they all belonged to Calore’s nobility.

Nie Yan entered the library. He passed through a narrow corridor before arriving in an enormous hall. As he looked around, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh of admiration.

Such a grand library!

The hall had several dozen floors, each lined with long rows of bookshelves. They were stocked with thick and heavy books. It was certainly a feast for the eyes. The amount of books here was overwhelming. They were all extremely beautiful, crafted from the most expensive materials.

Everything was organized in a highly ordered manner. Nie Yan walked around. After searching for a few minutes, he found the language section.

Row after row of shelves, all of them on different languages. Nie Yan felt a bit dazed. Finding the language the Record of Seals was written in would be tough. There were tens of thousands of books related to languages and more than 300 dedicated to specific ones.

Nie Yan recalled there was an NPC that hung around in the language section. If he wanted to learn a language, he would have to chat with him.

In the previous timeline, Nie Yan had visited that NPC but left quickly after. Learning even the most basic languages would cost several gold. Some of the rarer or more ancient ones would cost up to tens of thousands of gold.

Nie Yan searched around and found an old man sitting in the corner of the room. This NPC wore ragged patched up clothes. He looked filthy, almost as if he hadn’t taken a bath in weeks or months.

This old man was precisely the NPC Nie Yan was looking for. He was Language Master Edminson, someone who had learned over 200 different languages. He was also a legendary figure in the Viridian Empire.

However, Edminson was also known for his unsightly appearance. Players that approached him would frequently smell a foul stench.

Generally, learning a language from Edminson only entailed paying some gold and a short exchange of dialogue. On top of this, he also didn’t issue any quests. So, he didn’t hold much favour among players, resulting in him being largely ignored or even treated with outright contempt.

Edminson was dozing off. He looked quite exhausted, making his old age all the more apparent.

Having one foot in the grave described Edminson perfectly.

In the previous timeline, Edminson would always be sitting in a corner absorbed in a book, only occasionally raising his head when a player passed close by.

"Should I wake him up?” Nie Yan hesitated. He was worried that waking Edminson up would incur his displeasure. After all, he had a few things he wanted Edminson’s help on.

After considering it, Nie Yan decided to wait for Edminson to wake up. After all, he wasn’t that short on time. He patiently waited next to Edminson.

Chapter 586 - The Seventh Character Property

Edminson snored faintly. It seemed like he was deep asleep.

Nie Yan started getting anxious. He didn’t know how long it would take for Edminson to wake up.

Was he going to be standing next to this old man all day?

A few minutes later, Nie Yan started growing restless. His time was still precious. He could’ve gained quite a bit of experience from grinding by now.

"I should just wake him up…” Nie Yan muttered. He stepped forward, only to have a pungent stench waft up his nose. He reeled back with a frown. It smelled like dirty socks that hadn’t been washed in months.

It wasn’t strange that most players didn’t hold a favourable opinion of Edminson.

Edminson looked like a homeless beggar. It was a wonder why the Royal Library would hire this NPC as an overseer.

Nie Yan grimaced. This stench was really too foul. "I should just get my business with him over with, so I can leave quickly.” He was about to nudge Edminson awake, when he thought of something and retreated back.

Every NPC in Conviction had their own unique background. It wasn’t wise to judge a book by its cover. After all, as a master of over 200 languages, Edminson’s status in the Viridian Empire could possibly be even higher than his. Waking up Edminson like this might lead to unforeseen repercussions.

Nie Yan hesitated. He knew too little about Edminson to take the risk.

Nie Yan self reflected. One couldn’t be rude to any NPC in Conviction. This was the most basic quality of a top-ranked player. Every NPC, no matter how lowly or weak, had the chance of giving you amazing rewards. Many opportunities might be missed simply because you were rude or acted indifferently.

Nie Yan returned to his original spot and continued to wait. At this moment, his state of mind was much calmer than before.

Nie Yan’s impatience gradually faded away. He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. Even after returning to the past, he still hadn’t fully learned how to wait.

The clock slowly ticked away, 10 minutes, 15 minutes...

Nie Yan was just about to leave and return an hour later, when Edminson drowsily opened his eyes. He stretched out his limbs with a lazy yawn, whereupon he happened to notice Nie Yan and jolted to his feet.

"S-s-sir Nirvana Flame! How can I help you?” Edminson greeted. He was trembling ever so faintly, exposing the nervousness in his heart.

The status between the two of them was far too great. Nie Yan was a Grand Scholar, Devil Slayer, and more. Meanwhile, Edminson was merely the overseer in the Royal Library. He didn’t have a noble title. Even an ordinary citizen could bully him.

Edminson didn’t dare to show Nie Yan any disrespect.

Seeing this, Nie Yan confirmed Edminson didn’t have any status in the Viridian Empire.

"Hello, it’s my pleasure to make your acquaintance Language Master Edminson. It’s like this. I need your help with a few things,” Nie Yan said. Even though Edminson didn’t hold a high position, Nie Yan’s tone was still fairly polite.

"O-of course! First let me express my deepest apologies. You’ve been waiting here for quite some time, haven’t you? If you require my services, I’ll do my best to satisfy,” Edminson said. He behaved no different from an ordinary citizen, fearing those with a higher status and choosing his words carefully.

Most players probably wouldn’t treat such a timid NPC kindly. However, Nie Yan didn’t show any contempt. He gently smiled and said, "Language Master Edminson, I’d like you to help me identify these characters.” He rummaged through his bag and pulled out the Record of Seals. It had all sorts of cryptic tadpole-shaped characters written on it.

Nie Yan’s humbleness moved Edminson. Ever since he had become the overseer in the language section of the Royal Library, no one else had treated him so politely. In fact, most abused him like he was their slave. He eventually learned to put up with the humiliation. However, Nie Yan treated him with respect. His eyes became red as he accepted the Record of Seals with shaky hands.

"Sir Nirvana Flame, these are characters written in Elwin. This is the language of an ancient tribe from the Cold Desolate Plateau. One of their more notable creations is Pandora’s Box. This Record of Seals is actually a crafting recipe,” Edminson explained.

"Recipe?” Nie Yan’s heart trembled.

"Indeed. Let me look up some reference material, so I can help translate this for you. I’ll be right back.”

"Alright. Thank you very much.” Nie Yan nodded.

Edminson glanced at Nie Yan in appreciation, then walked over to the bookshelves. He poked through the shelves before taking out a few books.

Seeing Edminson’s reaction, Nie Yan self reflected. In the future, even if he encountered an NPC with a lowly position, he would still treat them kindly. Given his current status, if he acted amiable and approachable, wouldn’t those NPCs do their best to help him?

At this moment, Nie Yan felt something different. He opened up his character window and discovered a new property—Humble.

Humbleness was to treat even those below you with fairness.

Nie Yan was startled. He didn’t expect to receive a reward like this.

He looked through all his character properties. He had a total of seven: Just, Brave, Benevolent, Sincere, Selfless, Unwavering, and Humble.

Nie Yan wondered how many more were left, and what sort of reward he would receive for collecting them all.

He couldn’t help but guess. These character properties were extremely mysterious. He really didn’t know what lay ahead. He always stumbled upon them by accident. Who knew what he would have to do to obtain the next one. He could only leave it up to fate.

As Nie Yan was lost in his thoughts, Edminson returned with a stack of thick, heavy books. He placed the Record of Seals down on a desk, then started translating by matching the characters.

After receiving a new character property, Nie Yan’s mood greatly improved. He felt some gratitude toward Edminson. If it weren’t for this old man, he wouldn’t have received this opportunity. All that waiting actually paid off.

Edminson translated the Record of Seals character by character. Nie Yan looked at the translation in progress. It really was a crafting recipe!

By combining a specific combination of 130 rare gems, including a Bright Beryl, Sky Gem, and the Record of Seals, one could craft a Magic Orb called the Orb of Seals.

It was a Magic Orb!

Nie Yan could hardly contain his excitement. At this stage of the game, likely no one had even heard of Magic Orbs yet. These items didn’t start appearing in the previous timeline until players had reached Level 150. They were items that existed in rumours, only falling slightly behind Godly Legendaries in terms of rarity. They were off-hand items for Magisters. Every Magister was only permitted one. Paired with a staff, they could display frightening destructive potential.

Some Magic Orbs could channel powerful spells. Others could sharply increase the user’s magic power. If a Magister got their hands on a Magic Orb, they could increase their strength severalfold. In the previous timeline, the number of people with Magic Orbs could be counted on one’s hands.

"Sir Nirvana Flame, here's the complete translation.” Edminson respectfully handed back the Record of Seals.

"Thank you, Language Master Edminson. You’ve been a great help to me,” Nie Yan said.

"You’re an esteemed person. To be able to help you is my greatest honour,” Edminson replied sincerely.

Nie Yan smiled. He glanced at the gems listed on the Record of Seals. He needed to gather them quickly, so he could see the might of a Magic Orb for himself. He looked forward to seeing that day. Even the most ordinary Magic Orbs possessed great power. This was common knowledge among players of the previous timeline.

Nie Yan didn’t need to learn a new language to have the Record of Seals translated. This had saved him quite a bit of money. Learning this kind of obscure language required a great deal of time and gold while he would possibly never use it again in his life. It simply wasn't worth it.

Nie Yan bid farewell to Edminson, then left the Royal Library. Checking the clock, it was about time to log off.

He had Guo Huai start gathering the gems required for the Record of Seals. On top of that, he issued out a gathering request in the Union of Assassins.

If Nie Yan had an item he needed to find, the Union of Assassins was one of the first places he would go. It currently had a total of 110,000 professional players. Expert players were aplenty. Having them help him find something couldn’t be simpler. All he had to do was pay the right price!

Bird also frequented the Union of Assassins. The rare potion materials he acquired were very helpful to the Alchemists of the Starry Night Potion Shop.

The Union of Assassins was an extremely powerful tool. Nie Yan was always thinking of new ways to make better use of it.

Just as Nie Yan was about to log out, Guo Huai sent word that Soaring Angel had been assassinated by Shadow Killer. Angel Corps was in a state of upheaval. Both them and the Century Financial Group dispatched people from all over to hunt him down. Besides this, all of Darkness Immortal switched sides to the Century Financial Group. Shadow Killer had become a stray dog.

Nie Yan wasn’t the least bit surprised that Shadow Killer had succeeded in assassinating Soaring Angel. After all, he was on par with King of the World and Sun. Add this to the fact that Angel Corps hadn’t taken any precautions against him, Soaring Angel’s death was to be expected. Since he dared to assassinate Soaring Angel, it meant he had severed all ties with the Century Financial Group. With their resources, turning Darkness Immortal against him was a simple matter.

Shadow Killer had actually kept his end of the bargain. He completed the first of three promised assassinations. A feeling of admiration sprouted in Nie Yan’s heart. Shadow Killer was a true man of his word!

Chapter 587 - Get-Together

Shadow Killer was forced to the edge of a cliff, abandoned by his friends, allies, and even the very organization he founded. Nie Yan planned to extend him an olive branch. If he accepted, another apex Thief would join Asskickers United’s already invincible line up.

But would Shadow Killer be willing? After all, Nie Yan was the one who put him in this situation in the first place. He probably held a lot of resentment toward Nie Yan. Getting him to join Asskickers United right now would be difficult. It would take a lot of convincing.

"Let’s just wait for him to contact me first,” Nie Yan muttered to himself. Having completed the first assassination, Shadow Killer would probably contact him soon asking for the second target.

It was about time to log off. Nie Yan exited the game. The game capsule next to him was empty, and the scent of food wafted up from downstairs. It appeared Xie Yao had logged off early and prepared them breakfast.

The two sat down at the table. Nie Yan gazed at Xie Yao. She hadn’t had time to brush her hair. It was a bit messy, but that didn’t lessen her beauty in the slightest. On the contrary, she appeared somewhat risque.

"Yesterday, people from the student union came looking for me. They asked me to be their head of public relations. When I refused, they had several classmates go up and try to convince me on their behalf. So annoying,” Xie Yao grumbled.

Nie Yan was a bit bewildered. Joining the student union was supposed to be voluntary. They were forcing people to become members now?

"If they keep bothering you, give me a call,” Nie Yan said. Given their persistence, he suspected they had ulterior motives.

"Alright.” Xie Yao smiled.

The two chatted about school life. Xie Yao enthusiastically talked about her classmates. The two of them had adapted fairly quickly to life here, having already made new friends. The only thing that left them with some doubts was the many different clubs. The clique mentality was prevalent here. Though, it made sense. The Top Military Academy had many people with extraordinary backgrounds. They all competed against each other, recruiting other talented individuals to their cause and furthering their own ambitions. Naturally, many groups and factions came about from this. They behaved with a fair amount of restraint on school grounds but would frequently act against each other in the shadows.

Few first years belonged to influential clubs, though this was different for second, third, and fourth years. Some of the more famous students belonged to more than a dozen clubs. They either came from extraordinary backgrounds or had amazing talents. However, Nie Yan didn’t hold a favourable impression of them. Most were insufferably arrogant.

Xie Yao talked about all the interesting things she’d heard. Seeing her cheerful appearance, Nie Yan gently smiled.

Xie Yao seemed even more beautiful than before. After tasting the forbidden fruit, they couldn’t bear to be apart even for just a day. They were practically attached at the hip.

After finishing breakfast, Xie Yao went to wash the dishes. Seeing her busying herself in front of the sink, Nie Yan’s heart stirred with emotion. It really felt as if they were already husband and wife.

Xie Yao wore a tight-fitting nightgown that accentuated all her beautiful curves. Her perky bottom which was as taut as a kettledrum was especially alluring.

Nie Yan suddenly pounced on Xie Yao from behind as his perverted hands tunneled into her nightgown. She still hadn’t had the time to put on a bra. Free from any obstructions, he groped onto a pair of soft, overflowing mounds. He started to knead them softly.

"N-ngh... Nie Yan! Stop, playing around.” Xie Yao pinched him. She didn’t expect Nie Yan to suddenly appear from behind. He had caught her off-guard. This kind of awkward posture filled her with embarrassment. As she struggled under his teasing, she felt his hands grope her bosom. Her face instantly burned hot.

Recalling the intimate scenes from last time, Nie Yan’s gaze turned heated.

"Xie Yao, put down the dishes for now.”

Xie Yao felt an electric current course through her body, draining her of all strength. Her cheeks flushed red. She couldn’t help but let out a pleasurable moan.

Nie Yan was captivated by the suppleness of Xie Yao’s body. As he moved his hands downwards, he discovered this particular region was already soaked.

After intimately enjoying each other’s company these recent days, Xie Yao’s body became all the more receptive.

Feeling Xie Yao’s body and hearing her alluring sounds of pleasure, Nie Yan couldn’t hold back any longer. His carnal desires took over.

The two kissed and pressed up against each other in a delirious stupor.

"Nie Yan. Nghh... Not here. People can see,” Xie Yao said. The light shining through the windows made her nervous.

"Don’t worry. No one can see us,” Nie Yan reassured. He picked Xie Yao up. The window panes were only see-through from one side.

Xie Yao’s heart calmed down. However, what happened next rocked her maiden’s heart.

Nie Yan caressed Xie Yao’s flawless figure. Every inch of her body resembled an exquisitely carved jewel sculpture. Her slender, jade-white legs which had been trained over the years through Taekwondo were particularly flexible. Enamored, he ran his hand up her thighs until he reached her buttucks. Giving them a squeeze, he felt an incomparably firm yet supple sensation. He leaned in at an angle and thrust upward.

Xie Yao let out a deep moan. Her nails dug deeply into Nie Yan’s back.

The two lost themselves in pleasure, making a mess out of the kitchen counter and dining table before moving over to the living room.

Nie Yan reclined on the sofa as Xie Yao’s alluring figure mounted him. Her well-developed hills bounced up and down. She tried to cover herself, a trace of coyness on her face, but she couldn’t prevent the arrival of spring. After being squeezed together, her breasts revealed a deep ravine. In public, she acted with grace and elegance, like a goddess that had descended down to earth. Now, she was filled with amorous desire. Her scarlet red cheeks were like peach blossoms. Occasionally, she couldn't stop a few moans from leaking out. They brimmed with indescribable charm.

After who knew how long, Nie Yan let out a war cry that rang out through the villa.

The two were locked in embrace for a long time.

With a rustling sound, Xie Yao got dressed under Nie Yan’s gaze.

Xie Yao put on a long white dress and a pink sweater scarf. She looked like a slender and elegant young lady. The redness in her cheeks still hadn’t faded away, only adding to her charm.

"Nie Yan, let’s go to school, or else we’ll be late,” Xie Yao said. She couldn’t hide the bashfulness in her voice. The intimate scene from before flashed before her eyes. She never thought they would do something so brazen in the kitchen and living room. She shot Nie Yan a reproachful look.

"Alright.” Nie Yan smiled mischievously. Xie Yao was becoming all the more charming and beautiful. Her young and experienced self was finally ripening into a mature beauty. Thinking about this, he felt the urge to go for a round two.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao left the house and arrived at the Top Military Academy not much later.

"I’ll be going to class,” Xie Yao said.

"Alright, hurry. Go.” They were already late. Luckily, it was acceptable as long as it wasn’t more than a few minutes.

Xie Yao hurried. Nie Yan entered the command faculty classroom. The teacher had already started her lecture. He sat down at his assigned desk.

"Hey, you’re here. How come you’re so late?” Xu Yan whispered.

"Traffic jam,” Nie Yan replied with a random excuse.

Xu Yan rolled his eyes. "Pfft, if you overslept, just admit it. Traffic jam, my ass. Who’d believe that?”

Nie Yan shrugged with a smile, not bothering to explain. Apart from being a bit mouthy and gossipy, Xu Yan was a pretty decent guy. He didn’t bother bickering.

"People from the student union came looking for you just now,” Xu Yan said.

"Huh, looking for me? Why?” Nie Yan asked.

"The student union president this year seems pretty ambitious. All the outstanding first years received invites,” Xu Yan said. He couldn’t help but feel envious of Nie Yan. He had just entered the Top Military Academy but was already being asked to join the student union.

Nie Yan faintly smiled. In his eyes, those in the student union were nothing more than immature brats trying to imitate adult politics. He didn't have time to waste on such childish games.

"Who’s the student union president?” Nie Yan asked. That much he had to pay attention to.

"That would be Fang Rujie. Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of him?”

"Nope,” Nie Yan said. He had indeed never heard of this Fang Rujie. He had no desire to learn about these kind of things.

Xu Yan rolled his eyes. "You don’t even know him? Just like you, he ranked first in overall score but among the third years. He’s a capable fighter. It’s rumoured he’s second only to Lei Su, a fourth year. He placed third in the nation-wide university fighting tournament, and he’s the captain of the basketball team. He’s definitely no push-over. I wonder who’s stronger between the two of you.”

Nie Yan stretched out his limbs lazily. He didn’t have the slightest interest in this Fang Rujie. He and Xie Yao had no plans of joining the student union. He hoped that fellow would stop bothering them.

"He left me a phone number so you can get in touch with him,” Xu Yan said. He handed over a card to Nie Yan.

"Help me give him a reply. Tell him I’m not interested,” Nie Yan replied. He then turned his attention to the lecture.

"Uhh… sure,” Xu Yan said. Numerous people wanted to join the student union, but Nie Yan directly refused without batting an eye.

"Nie Yan, the class is having a get-together in Conviction. You interested?” Xia Tianyu came from behind and patted Nie Yan’s shoulder. "Our beautiful class president is organizing it.”

"I think I’ll pass. You guys go ahead without me,” Nie Yan said. He recalled the identity of their class president. She was an older sister-type beauty called Zhao Shiyu. She had a tall, slender figure and frequently wore sexually provocative clothing. Though she did have the looks to have the boys in class swooning over her, she was far too lacking compared to Xie Yao. Even Jiang Yingyu completely trounced her. She had tried approaching him on multiple occasions with the excuse of wanting help on a question, but he rejected her advances every time.

"I see… that’s disappointing. Without you, this kind of get-together will be a lot less lively,” Xia Tianyu said regretfully.

"Haha, I’m sure I won’t be missed that much. You guys have fun.” Nie Yan smiled. Even though he also wanted to get to know his fellow students, him revealing his identity in Conviction would cause too much of a stir. Before the day even ended, everyone in the Top Military Academy would know he was Nirvana Flame. He wanted to stay low-key if possible.

Xu Yan narrowed his eyes. Nie Yan’s unwillingness to reveal his identity in Conviction was making him more and more suspicious.

"I should join them next time. I probably won’t be recognized with a cloak on.” Nie Yan couldn’t help but get curious about what kind of activity the class would be doing during the get-together.

Chapter 588 - Beautiful Class President

After attending several classes, Nie Yan discovered the content was fairly easy. Many of the theories he couldn’t understand in the previous timeline were now easily solvable. Perhaps it was due to the change in his mentality or the fact that he was more mature, but his comprehension ability seemed to have improved significantly.

Xu Yan pointed at a student sitting in the middle of the second row. "You see that guy? He’s Dan Yan. He only started coming to class a few days ago. He’s probably your strongest rival. He’s rank two in the class.”

Nie Yan’s eyes followed the direction Xu Yan pointed. Dan Yan looked like quite the pretty boy, especially with his fair skin and trendy hairstyle. He dressed casually in slacks and a t-shirt. He kind of resembled those celebrities on the television. However, one could tell his muscles weren’t simply for aesthetics but rather brimmed with explosive power.

Nie Yan chuckled. He wasn’t the slightest bit worried about Dan Yan. His real enemies were people like Cao Xu, Soaring Angel, and Qin Han, not these random students in the Top Military Academy. Xu Yan probably didn’t understand this. After all, the two of them lived in different worlds.

Dan Yan wasn’t the only one with both muscle and brain in the command faculty. There were several others.

The end-of-class bell rang. Nie Yan prepared to get up and leave, when a figure appeared in front of him. He nearly collided into them.

Nie Yan lifted his head. Standing in front of him was their class president, Zhao Shiyu.

Nie Yan eyed Zhao Shiyu. She wore a pink spaghetti top which revealed her delicate shoulders, a pair of shorts that barely covered her butt, and black kneesocks that accentuated her slender legs. Given her looks and fashion sense, she did pass as a beauty. However, everything was relative. Though she did give off a bit of sex appeal standing like that, she paled in comparison to Xie Yao. It was like pitting the dim glow of a firefly against the moon. Everyone’s taste was different too. He personally disliked these types of pushy women.

"Class President, what can I help you with?” Nie Yan asked.

"Nie Yan, our class is having a get-together in Conviction later today. Would you like to join?” Zhao Shiyu asked with an alluring smile. Xu Yan and several other male students in the vicinity were entranced.

"Sorry. I’m a bit busy tonight. I can’t make it. You guys go ahead without me. I’m only a low level anyway,” Nie Yan politely declined. After all, they were all in the same class. There was a need to maintain a sense of cordiality.

Zhao Shiyu’s eyebrows twitched. This was her first time organizing this kind of class get-together. Everyone else had agreed enthusiastically. Nie Yan was the only one not giving her any face by declining. With his first place ranking in the overall score, him not coming was a slight to her reputation.

She was confident in her looks. Why else would the male students in the class push for her to be the class president? However, Nie Yan hadn’t given her so much as a glance.

"Everyone else is coming. You’re the only one who’s not. Aren’t you acting a bit too high and mighty?” Zhao Shiyu said in an unpleasant tone.

"Class Prez, I can vouch for him. He really is busy tonight. Next time. He’ll definitely be there,” Xu Yan spoke up in an attempt to mediate.

Zhao Shiyu coldly snorted. "If he doesn’t want to come, so be it. He won’t be missed anyway.”

Nie Yan coldly gazed at Zhao Shiyu. What an arrogant woman. Just because she was elected as the class president, she believed she could boss everybody around. He actually wanted to come originally. However, it appeared that wasn’t necessary now. Nothing worthwhile would come out of this kind of get-together anyway, at least not with her as the organizer.

Nie Yan couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to this kind of woman.

"Nie Yan, a beauty is looking for you!” a student shouted from the door.

Everyone turned their attention to the door and fell into a daze. The unexpected visitor was Jiang Yingyu. The boys in the class were immediately enamored by her figure. She was far more beautiful than Zhao Shiyu.

Staring at Jiang Yingyu with heated gazes, many of the male students started drooling.

"It’s Jiang Yingyu!”

"Why is she here? She’s looking for Nie Yan too! I wonder what their relationship is.”

"Who knows? Could they be lovers?”

Jiang Yingyu immediately became popular upon entering the Top Military Academy. She was elevated to a goddess in the hearts of the male students. Many people longed after her flawless figure. Few guys could resist having dirty thoughts surface in their hearts after seeing her alluring dance. However, now, this goddess was specifically looking for Nie Yan.

Many of the male students in the class shot Nie Yan a jealous glare.

Nie Yan stood up. Zhao Shiyu was shocked and stepped aside. Seeing Jiang Yingyu standing at the doorway, she immediately felt her own lustre dim as a feeling of inferiority washed over her.

Jiang Yingyu stood around restlessly, her heart beating heavily in her chest. Thinking about the awkwardness of meeting Nie Yan, she wanted to turn around and run.

Nie Yan walked up to the doorway. He looked at Jiang Yingyu and asked in an insipid tone, "Do you need something?”

"Erm… it’s like this. I have a show in two days, and I’d really like it if you could come and watch. Here are some tickets. You can invite a few of your friends,” Jiang Yingyu said after mustering up all her courage. She stared at Nie Yan in anticipation.

"I’ll think about it, but I probably won’t have the time. If you don’t mind, can you give me those tickets? A lot of the guys in my class are probably interested in your show,” Nie Yan said after thinking for a bit. From beginning to end, he didn’t really have any interest in Jiang Yingyu. If it was just as a friend, he didn’t really mind. After all, they both came out of Huahai High. They still had that bit of a connection.

"Alright, thank you!” Jiang YIngyu nodded vigorously. Seeing that Nie Yan hadn’t flat-out rejected her, she was ecstatic as a cheerful smile blossomed on her face.

Nie Yan was dumbstruck. Just who was thanking who? He accepted the tickets from Jiang Yingyu. There were five in total. She had prepared quite a few.

After handing over the tickets, Jiang Yingyu bid him farewell.

Nie Yan walked back into the classroom, only to be greeted by a room full of glares; their eyes filled with naked envy.

Nie Yan bitterly smiled. There was probably a huge misunderstanding. In this kind of situation, however, he couldn’t explain himself even if he had 10 mouths. Forget it. His conscience was clear.

Zhao Shiyu retreated in defeat. She felt completely overshadowed the moment Jiang Yingyu appeared. Nie Yan’s rejection made her feel like she had lost all face. A seed of resentment sprouted in her heart.

"So, tell us. Why did Jiang Yingyu come looking for you?” Xu Yan approached like a housewife who had sniffed out some juicy drama and hung his arm around Nie Yan’s neck.

"She’s my old high school classmate. She gave me a few tickets for her performance. If you guys want, I can give them to you.” Nie Yan handed over the tickets to Xu Yan and the others.

"Wait, really!? Awesome! You’re a godsend! I’ve been trying to get my hands on one, but I couldn’t find them for sale anywhere! But five just plopped down into your hand like that!” Xia Tianyu said.

"One per person, don’t fight!” Xu Yan shouted. Several people in the vicinity immediately made a mad scramble for a ticket. Thankfully, his hands were quick. He had also gotten himself one.

Even a reserved fellow like Xia Tianyu fought for a ticket like he was possessed.

Every person that managed to snag a ticket was extremely excited.

Nie Yan was speechless. He had no interest in these kinds of performances.

"Nie Yan, if you get more tickets in the future, make sure to remember this brother here.” Xia Tianyu patted Nie Yan’s back with a hearty smile

"Me too!” Xu Yan added.

"Hey, tell us the truth. You and Jiang Yingyu aren’t just classmates, right? Don’t think no one saw how excited and happy she looked when you accepted those tickets. Seeing her like that, I thought I saw an angel descend to earth,” Xia Tianyu said.

"Mhhm!” Xu Yan firmly nodded in agreement.

Jiang Yingyu soon became the hot topic of everyone in the class. All the while Zhao Shiyu sat to the side, fighting the urge to bash her head into her desk.

With 20 more minutes to go before the next class. Nie Yan planned to go to the gym for some quick exercise. As he left his desk, someone called out to him.

"Hi, my name is Zheng Xu.” The student extended his hand.

Nie Yan sized up Zheng Xu. They were roughly the same height. He looked quite muscular. Though he wasn’t much in the looks department, he was still passable. More importantly, Nie Yan could acutely detect the trace of hostility in his eyes. This fellow had come with malicious intentions.

Nie Yan didn’t know why his senses had become so much sharper than before. He could detect even the slightest changes in someone’s expression.

Nie Yan recalled Zheng Xu was ranked third in the class. He was quite strong. His score in the fitness examination wasn’t that far off from Nie Yan’s. A difference of 100–200 kg in punch force, kick force, and so on could be easily made up for in a fight with skill. However, Nie Yan had grown immensely since the Top Military Academy’s entrance exams. If the two were to compete now, Zheng Xu would be in for a rude awakening.

"It’s like this. I recently hit a bottleneck in my training. I’ve been looking for someone to give me some pointers, and I thought of you. Do you mind sparring with me for a bit? We can probably learn a thing or two from each other,” Zheng Xu said. His tone was quite polite, but the corners of his lips flashed with a faint sneer.

Nie Yan sensed this guy had a dagger hidden in smiles. Since Zheng Xu was simply asking for pointers, he could only go easy on this guy. If he got heavy-handed during the spar, it would become a topic of derision. However, if he let Zheng Xu seize an advantage, this treacherous fellow definitely wouldn’t hesitate to inflict serious injuries.

Nie Yan shot a glance at Zhao Shiyu in the back. She acted like this had nothing to do with her as she leisurely read a book.

Nie Yan inwardly sneered. These sorts of childish tricks couldn’t escape his eyes.

"Alright. Let’s meet in the gym.” Nie Yan nodded.

Zheng Xu’s eyes flashed with a trace of excitement. "Sure!” He already started making his way toward the gym.

Xu Yan walked over and whispered, "Nie Yan, don’t spar with that guy. He’s definitely up to no good. Don’t fall for his trap.”

"Right! That guy is shady as hell,” Xia Tianyu added.

"Nie Yan, I believe in you! Teach him a lesson!” Fei Zhe said with a raised fist.

Seeing their worried expressions, Nie Yan was moved. He could tell their feelings were sincere.

"Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.” Nie Yan confidently smiled. It had been a long time since he had gotten some good exercise. He hoped Zheng Xu wouldn’t fall too easily.

No one knew who spread the news, but the whole class soon learned about the match. Who would want to miss out on something so entertaining? Everyone swarmed into the gymnasium. This was the first duel of the school year. They were all curious. Who was stronger between Nie Yan and Zheng Xu? Would Nie Yan really live up to his reputation of placing first in the overall score?

Chapter 589 - Cheater

The command faculty gymnasium.

The Top Military Academy’s gymnasiums were top-of-the-line. All around were various kinds of fitness testing and exercise equipment. The 2,000 square-meter area could fit more than 300 people and still have room to spare.

A crowd gathered at the center of the gymnasium. They were all students of the command faculty. Almost everyone in class had come over to watch.

Zheng Xu and Nie Yan stood five meters apart. Both had changed into fighting uniforms.

"Today, no matter who wins or loses, it’s just a spar. If I end up getting hurt, I have no one but myself to blame,” Zheng Xu said. He immediately placed himself in the underdog position. His meaning was clear. If Nie Yan suffered injuries, he could only suck it up. If he won, it was only natural since he placed first in the overall rankings.

"I’ll hold back, don’t worry.” Nie Yan coldly stared at Zheng Xu. He looked down on these types of people the most.

Hearing these words, Zheng Xu’s expression turned ugly. He inwardly sneered, Let’s see you try and act cocky when you’re curled up on the ground!

"Who do you think will win, Nie Yan or Zheng Xu?”

"Nie Yan, probably. But who knows. Their strength isn’t that far apart. 100–200 kg can be easily be made up with fighting skill.”

The nearby students discussed spiritedly. Everyone expressed differing opinions.

What they didn’t know was that Zheng Xu and Nie Yan weren’t even on the same level in terms of combat experience. After all, Nie Yan was a seasoned assassin. His techniques were ruthless and efficient, not flashy and impractical like those who only fought for sport.

"I’ll make the first move,” Zheng Xu said.

"Come!” Nie Yan replied.

The students enthusiastically cheered. They took a few steps back to give the fighters more space.

Zheng Xu let out a low shout. He rushed forward and fiercely chopped down.

Nie Yan reacted quickly, raising an arm to block. Bang! He elbowed Zheng Xu in the chest. His movements were as fast as lightning.

Zheng Xu had no way to dodge. With a grunt, he threw out a knee strike. He was aiming for mutual destruction.

Nie Yan dodged to the side. Retreating several paces back, he threw out a spinning back kick toward Zheng Xu’s head.

Zheng Xu quickly raised his arm to block. BAM! He was sent staggering back.

Nie Yan and Zheng Xu exchanged several moves in an instant. They were basically trading blow for blow. The spectators felt their hearts racing. Each punch, elbow, knee, and kick resounded through the gym. If they took such heavy blows, their bones would break.

Zhen Xu took several blows head-on. He was inwardly crying out in pain. Even though he had added special protection to his joints and other areas, Nie Yan’s attacks still hurt immensely. His entire body ached as he felt his blood churning from every impact. What powerful attacks! If he hadn’t made some preparations in advance, he probably wouldn’t have lasted more than two moves!

Nie Yan was too powerful. His combat style was domineering and oppressive. Zheng Xu couldn’t even muster the power to resist.

Nie Yan was also taken aback. His arms, his legs, his whole body was aching. It felt like he was hitting an incomparably hard steel plate. The rebound force made his arms and legs numb. With his first elbow strike, he didn’t expect Zheng Xu to accept the blow so readily. Given the force behind it, Zheng Xu should at least have broken a few ribs. However, the person in question appeared completely fine. He finally realized what was going on. Zheng Xu was cheating!

With how much science and technology had developed these days, as long as you had the money, it was possible to purchase nanocomposite bio-metal augmentations which greatly enhanced a person's resilience and durability.

If Nie Yan exposed him here and now, Zheng Xu would have no way of avoiding disciplinary action from the Top Military Academy. It was mandatory to inform your opponent of this type of augmentation in advance, or else if a death occurred during the match, it would be treated as first-degree murder.

Whether in terms of strength or skill, Zheng Xu simply wasn’t Nie Yan’s match. He would only last two or three moves. Even with the bio-armour, he could only passively defend, with no opportunity to retaliate.

Nie Yan gazed at Zheng Xu with cold eyes. He inwardly sneered. This fellow wanted to screw him over with the bio-armour. He was going to teach Zheng Xu a painful lesson.

"Zheng Xu, you really were downplaying yourself too much earlier. I didn’t expect you to be so resilient. You could even take one of my elbows to the chest and shrug it off like it was nothing. Seems like you were still holding back. I guess I’ll go all out. Please, give me guidance,” Nie Yan said. He instantly cut off Zheng Xu’s path of retreat. He also gave himself a good excuse to be heavy-handed.

What!? Zheng Xu widened his eyes in alarm. The exchange just now left him in a world of hurt. He actually wanted to avoid Nie Yan’s elbow strike, but he was too slow to react. He had no way of keeping up. Hearing Nie Yan’s words, his cheeks burned hot with embarrassment. He wondered if Nie Yan had figured out he was wearing bio-armour.

No matter. He had nothing to fear since he was wearing bio-armour. He would simply keep trading blow for blow. He refused to believe Nie Yan could endure. As long as he protected his head, he would be safe.

"I’d like to say the same. You’re even stronger than I thought,” Zheng Xu continued feigning ignorance. With so many girls watching him, he couldn’t lose face.

Zheng Xu pounced forward and threw a punch. Nie Yan dodged the attack aimed at his chest with a sidestep.

Zheng Xu quickly followed up by kicking at Nie Yan’s waist.

Idiot! Nie Yan snickered. Evading the kick, his left hand grabbed onto Zheng Xu’s ankle with a vice-like grip.

Zheng Xu struggled fiercely, but he couldn’t pull his leg back. He felt a sharp pain in his ankle. It felt like his bones were being crushed.

This grip strength was terrifying!

Nie Yan raised his right leg, then delivered a ruthless sidekick to Zheng Xu’s chest.

BAM! Zheng Xu felt a powerful impact on his chest. Even with most of the force mitigated by his bio-armour, he still felt like he was hit by a truck.

Zheng Xu flew six meters across the gymnasium before crashing into the ground and rolling for several more meters.

The spectators were speechless. This kick was too frightful. It was enough to send a full grown adult flying six meters through the air. Just what kind of power was required for that!?

Even if you didn’t die from such a kick, you’d still be barely clinging onto life.

Zheng Xu was done for. Everyone was sure of it.

Zhao Shiyu paled in fright. Even though she knew Zheng Xu was wearing bio-armour, she couldn't help but fear for his life. She didn’t expect Nie Yan to be so strong. Zheng Xu had no opportunity to fight back at all. The gap in strength between the two of them was clear for all to see. Even though he was wearing bio-armour, he still wasn’t Nie Yan’s match.

Nie Yan was much stronger than everyone expected.

"I think the only one who’s a match for Nie Yan in the entire Top Military Academy is Lei Su,” a spectator said in a cold sweat.

This was the first time Zheng Xu had been humiliated so badly. He wasn’t willing to back down, especially since Zhao Shiyu promised him she would be his girlfriend if he won. Thinking to this point, he forced himself back to his feet. Thanks to the bio-armour, none of his injuries were too serious. It was just that he was aching from head to toe.

Zheng Xu could actually still stand? The spectators immediately went into an uproar.

"Impossible! There’s no way someone’s body can be so resilient! He’s cheating! He must be!”

"Zheng Xu is cheating!” the crowd cried out in righteous indignation. Cheating in a fair match was one of the most despicable things you could do!

Zheng Xu realized his mistake after getting up. He should’ve just continued laying on the ground. At this moment, anyone with half a brain could tell he was wearing bio-armour. He flew into a rage. With a roar, he pounced toward Nie Yan.

"I’ve been waiting for this!” Nie Yan sneered. He pulled back, deftly dodging Zheng Xu’s attack. His left hand shot out and grabbed onto Zheng Xu’s wrist. He turned his body to the side. Pushing off from his wait, he focused all his power into his right arm and punched out.

BANG! Nie Yan's fist struck Zheng Xu in the chest, causing him to spit out blood.

Nie Yan wasn’t finished just yet. If he let a fellow like Zheng Xu off lightly, it would come back to bite him in the future. He wanted to make sure Zheng Xu would stay bedridden for at least several months. He wanted to engrave this memory deep into Zhang Xu’s psyche, so that the next time they met, Zheng Xu would stay far away!

Nie Yan threw out a roundhouse kick, ruthlessly striking Zheng Xu in the face. Zheng Xu let out a miserable cry as he collapsed to the ground.

Even though Zheng Xu’s body was protected by the bio-armour, he couldn’t possibly have it on his face as well.

Nie Yan came to a stop. Zheng Xu was curled up on the ground moaning. With this kind of damage, he would need at least a few months to recover. Even after recovering, he would probably never mess with Nie Yan again.

Zheng Xu was the first to violate the rules. Even though Nie Yan acted heavy handedly, the school would still place all the blame on Zheng Xu. Perhaps he would even receive demerits while nothing would happen to Nie Yan. Everything Nie Yan had done was within the rules. Injuries often occurred during matches. As long as no one died, it was fine.

Zhao Shiyu quickly found the school’s medical staff. Shortly after, Zheng Xu was transported to the medical center.

The students in the class looked at Nie Yan in shock. The match just now left a lasting impression in their minds. Nie Yan wasn’t someone to be provoked!

Xu Yan, Fei Zhe, and Xia Tianyu were dumbstruck. They didn’t expect Nie Yan to dominate the fight so one-sidedly. Zheng Xu was wearing bio-armour, and he still couldn’t even last a minute against Nie Yan! What an absolute freak!

"You’re too amazing! I’ve decided. From now on, you’re my boss!” Xu Yan said excitedly. The match just now had his blood pumping.

"Hey, do you think you can teach us some of your moves?” Fei Zhe asked with a bright smile. He really admired Nie Yan’s skills. If he could pass on some of that to them, it would definitely be beneficial.

"Sure.” Nie Yan laughed. He had no problem sharing a few tricks.

Xia Tianyu had previously still wanted to compete against Nie Yan. However, after watching the fight, those thoughts disappeared. He let go of his pride. Fighting a freak like Nie Yan was simply asking for trouble.

The four chatted while returning to class.

Zhao Shiyu stared at Nie Yan’s departing figure with a complicated expression. After watching Zheng Xu's crushing defeat, she no longer had the courage to provoke Nie Yan. If she really pissed him off, she would be inviting disaster upon herself.

Chapter 590 - Another Piece of the Tyrant Abak Set?

Xia Tianyu, Fei Zhe, and Xu Yan stuck closely to Nie Yan. Even though everyone treated each other equally as friends, his words started holding more sway and authority in the group.

After the fight, everyone went back to class. The school dispatched people to investigate before leaving. Nie Yan didn’t get into any trouble while Zheng Xu was definitely going to receive disciplinary action.

Though one person was missing in class, no one felt anything was off. Everything went on as usual. The only difference was that people would now think twice before provoking Nie Yan.

...

Xiao Yu sat in a conference room in the Top Military Academy. He received a video from one of his contacts in the command faculty.

Heavenly Kings was only composed of 26 members, but they had countless contacts on the outside. Their influence reached every corner of the Top Military Academy. Nothing could go on here without them knowing.

After watching the video on his smartphone, Xiao Yu broke out in a cold sweat. Nie Yan was much stronger than he imagined. Last time, he simply showed he had a solid foundation with his high physical specs. That didn’t necessarily mean he was a strong fighter though. Fighting skills were something that could only be honed through combat experience. First and second years generally focused on improving their physique. Only after becoming third or fourth years would they start honing their fighting skills. After a year of intense training, everyone would start to see results. People with high specs like Nie Yan, for instance, would grow several times stronger.

Xiao Yu initially believed Nie Yan’s fighting skills couldn’t be that great since he was only a first year. However, after watching the video, this notion fell like a brick through thin ice. Nie Yan showcased the skill of a seasoned fighter. His attacks were ruthless and decisive. It resembled the style taught in the military. Xiao Yu estimated Lei Su would have less than a 30% chance of winning against Nie Yan if the two fought.

A freak like Nie Yan was simply too rare. If he possessed that kind of strength as a first year, how much stronger would he become in the future?

"Lei Su will definitely be interested in this video.” Xiao Yu faintly smiled. He relished the idea of someone giving Lei Su a taste of his own medicine.

At this moment, the door to the conference room swung open. Lei Su walked in while cracking his knuckles. He was looking at Xiao Yu like a trapped rat.

"Xiao Yu, you know what I’m here for, right?” Lei Su coldly snorted.

"Lei Su, speak of the devil! I have something for you to watch. You’ll definitely be interested.” Xiao Yu chuckled awkwardly.

"Stop trying to weasel your way out of this. I don’t care what you want to show me. Hand over those recordings, or else… hehe, you know the consequences.”

"Sure, sure, no problem. I’ll hand over all the recordings to you later. First, watch this.” Xiao Yu tossed over the smartphone to Lei Su.

Lei Su reached out and caught the smartphone. He was actually curious about what Xiao Yu wanted to show him so badly. As the video started playing, he couldn’t shift his eyes away. "Oh man! Did you research his background? Is he an assassin, a mercenary maybe?”

"Yeah, I’ve already researched his past. The data says he doesn’t have that kind of experience. His dad is a veteran and probably passed on a few things to him. However, his old man didn’t even pass the bare minimum requirements for entering the Top Military Academy. Oh, one other thing. He has several dangerous individuals around him. You ever heard of Bayonet?”

"Bayonet!?” Lei Su was shocked. Bayonet was one of the most famous figures in the mercenary world. Lei Su greatly admired these people who lived on a knife’s edge.

"Bayonet is his bodyguard. That brat Nie Yan is really amazing. He even managed to recruit someone like that,” Xiao Yu said. After researching deeper into Nie Yan’s background, his curiosity only grew. Just what kind of person was Nie Yan?

After finishing the video, Lei Su let out a deep sigh.

"So, how confident are you in beating him?” Xiao Yu asked.

"Less than 30%,” Lei Su replied. If they truly fought, it might even be lower.

"That’s in line with my estimates too.”

"That guy is too much of a freak. His attacks are so fierce. I’m pretty sure he was still holding back. If he really went all out, Zheng Xu would’ve been dead on the ground in 10 seconds. He isn’t trained in fighting, he’s trained in killing. The fighting techniques we learn are more flashy and meant for sport,” Lei Su observed. Many killing techniques could only be learned in the army, mercenary, or assassin organizations.

"Let’s send this video to General Yuntian. I’m sure the elders will make a quick decision on who to pick between Nie Yan and Qin Han.”

"When are we going to have him officially join Heavenly Kings?” Lei Su asked.

"We’ll have to wait for word from the elders. The conflict between Nie Yan and Qin Han will have to end sooner or later anyway,” Xiao Yu said. As long as nothing unexpected came up, Nie Yan would be chosen.

Fate was a cruel mistress. Qin Han was still racking his brain trying to figure out a way to join Heavenly Kings. Meanwhile, Heavenly Kings had already decided on Nie Yan. Qin Han was destined to become a stepping stone.

...

Nie Yan and Xie Yao ate lunch together in the cafeteria. There was only one more class in the afternoon, an introduction to fighting. At three o’clock, the school day finally ended.

"Nie Yan, where do you live? Let’s walk together,” Xu Yan said.

"Yeah, let’s go together!” Xia Tianyu chimed in.

Fei Zhe didn’t say anything. But if Xu Yan and Xia Tianyu were following Nie Yan, he would naturally tag along as well.

"Sorry, guys. I’m a bit busy. Next time,” Nie Yan said, finding a random excuse. He was going to go home with Xie Yao.

Nie Yan bid farewell to Xu Yan and the others. His figure disappeared behind a corner.

"That guy really is heartless, leaving by himself like that,” Xia Tianyu lamented. The three of them could only walk together.

"I bet he’s going to look for his girl. It’s probably that Jiang Yingyu, don’t you think? Ah, what a traitor! Abandoning us single bros for a girl,” Xu Yan said.

"Should we follow him and see for ourselves?” Xia Tianyu smirked. "There’s definitely something fishy going on!”

After a bit of discussion, the three caught up to Nie Yan. A few minutes later, they saw him meeting up with a girl. The two of them left for the school gates.

Xu Yan glanced at Fei Zhe and Xia Tianyu in shock. "Hey! That’s not Jiang Yingyu!”

"A side chick? Maybe he’s in a polygamous relationship!” Xia Tianyu said.

"I think that’s Xie Yao!” Xu Yan said.

"Xie Yao? The flower of the management faculty?” Xia Tianyu said in shock. There were several famous beauties among the first years. Xie Yao was one of them. Many even placed her above Jiang Yingyu. However, due to Xie Yao being relatively low-key and her already having a boyfriend, fewer people talked about her. "Ahh, that bastard! What did he do in his past life to be so lucky with women!? He has Xie Yao in one arm and Jiang Yingyu in the other! Like damn, leave some for the rest of us!”

"Maybe we got it wrong. I think Xie Yao is Nie Yan’s girlfriend, not Jiang Yingyu,” Fei Zhe said after seeing Nie Yan and Xie Yao being so intimate. If it really were like what Fei Zhe said, Nie Yan wouldn’t be together with Xie Yao so openly.

"Nie Yan, that brat. Acting all sweet and love-dovey with Xie Yao while he has Jiang Yingyu looking at him like some lovesick puppy. What a hateful person! Why can’t I have such a good life?” Xu Yan grumbled.

Fei Zhe shrugged. "I think Nie Yan and Xie Yao look like a good couple. If you’re so jealous, how about you try beating him.”

Xu Yan rolled his eyes. Fighting with Nie Yan? No thank you! He still had plans for his life!

"We should grill him on how he snagged a beauty like Xie Yao. Maybe he’ll teach us his ways, and we’ll escape the single bro life,” Xia Tianyu sighed.

"Right, we definitely have to ask!” Xu Yan nodded vigorously.

While they were chatting, Nie Yan and Xie Yao had already left school grounds.

"I heard there’s a school-wide gathering tomorrow. The date was moved up. Many people are attending, including members from Asskickers United. Are you interested?” Xie Yao asked.

"Yeah. If I have the time, I’ll go take a look,” Nie Yan replied. He wanted to see what this gathering was about. He would simply be an observer. Many people with powerful backgrounds already knew he was Nirvana Flame; they simply weren’t revealing it to the outside. If he could remain low-key, he would. Nie Yan didn’t want to enter the eyes of every student and teacher in the Top Military Academy. The name Nirvana Flame was simply too famous. He didn’t want that kind of attention.

After leaving school, Nie Yan and Xie Yao got on the bus. They walked through town and spent the next few hours outside before returning home.

Looking at the time, Conviction’s servers were about to come online.

The two quickly finished dinner, then entered the game.

Nie Yan was in Calore. If he put his all into levelling today, he could probably reach Level 100. Then he could make preparations for tackling the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest.

After stocking up on consumables, Nie Yan set off on his Darkwing Dragon, heading for the mountains in the distance. He planned to continue where he left off from yesterday and resume hunting Lords to level up.

Most of the Lords he killed yesterday had already respawned. Nie Yan returned to the Wendigo’s spawn point.

With the knowledge and experience gained from the day prior, Nie Yan appeared much more comfortable when fighting these Lords again.

After grinding for five hours straight, Nie Yan reached Level 99, 62%. It was faster than he predicted.

While flying around on the Darkwing Dragon, Nie Yan looked down and saw mountains shrouded in a vast sea of fog. It rolled and churned with the wind. Past this area was a Lord-class Tribal Chief. That was Nie Yan’s next target.

As Nie Yan flew past this sea of white, he discovered the Holy Stone in his inventory emitting a faint glow.

"There’s a piece of the Tyrant Abak Set here?” Nie Yan’s mind trembled.

Nie Yan had the Darkwing Dragon circle in the air for a while before deciding to go down and take a look. The Tyrant Abak Set would likely be his final set of equipment. Spending a bit of time to get another piece was worth it.

The Darkwing Dragon made a slow descent into the sea of fog and prepared to land.

Chapter 591 - Paladin Lafus

Nie Yan activated the Search skill of the Holy Stone. Before long, a small marker appeared on his map. A piece of the Tyrant Abak Set was nearby, no doubt!

Glancing in his bag, he had already collected Abak’s Gloves of Sealing, Abak’s Bloody Dagger, and Abak’s Cape of Ruin. He was three-eighths of the way to completing the Tyrant Abak Set.

Nie Yan could already imagine himself donning on the Tyrant Abak Set once he reached Level 180. At that time, his stats would ascend to godly realms. With the power to sweep through every obstacle in his path, he could look down loftily from high atop the clouds.

"Still 81 levels to go. Hmm… I wonder which piece of the Tyrant Abak Set is hidden here.”

The Darkwing Dragon descended into the base of a ravine, kicking up vortexes of grit with every beat of its wings. Nie Yan hopped off and surveyed his surroundings.

All around were towering mountains, with no roads or paths to speak of.

"It should be somewhere south of here,” Nie Yan muttered. All he saw in that direction was endless rocks and oddly shaped boulders, veiled by a dense curtain of fog.

Nie Yan recalled the Darkwing Dragon into his pet space.

He headed toward the marker, bounding over boulders and other obstacles as if he were on flat ground, unimpeded by the rugged terrain.

Wind howled through the peaks as Nie Yan advanced toward his destination. After reaching halfway up a mountain, he arrived at a stone forest. It was quite enigmatic. Several stones bore traces of human handiwork, sculpted into alluring beauties in various coquettish poses. The everpresent fog drifted aimlessly, while a cold chill occasionally blew past. Rather than a sense of beauty, an eerie feeling pervaded the atmosphere here.

Nie Yan shuttled back and forth through the stone forest. After searching everywhere, he still came up empty-handed. "That’s strange. The marker clearly points here, why can’t I find anything?”

"Forget it. I’m already here. I might as well keep looking. It’s probably hidden off in some corner.”

Nie Yan resumed his search. As he made his way out of a crevice sandwiched between two cliff walls, he spotted a cave entrance up ahead. It was surrounded by demonic statues of women bearing sharp teeth and malevolent expressions.

"I guess this is the place.” Nie Yan headed inside. The cave was damp and dimly lit.

Nie Yan could faintly make out the path ahead thanks to his high Night Vision. He proceeded forward. A clear dripping sound entered his ears. It appeared to be coming from deeper inside.

At about 300 meters in length, this cave was devoid of any monsters. Its narrow and winding tunnels led to some far away location.

Nie Yan leaned his hand against the wall as he walked forward. His palm suddenly came in contact with something rough and coarse. The darkish gray rocks here were made out of some kind of metal. He had encountered an ore deposit.

Slashing the wall with Zennarde’s Sword, a nugget sized piece was carved off and fell into Nie Yan’s palm.

After closely examining the colour, luster, and composition, Nie Yan confirmed it was Habo Platinum.

Habo Platinum was a top quality crafting material. It could be forged into Level 100 Dark Gold-grade equipment. The higher the purity, the better the stats of the equipment produced. Due to the rarity of this metal, a nugget of Habo Platinum (5) could sell for up to 600 gold—a sky high price for just a single ore.

Nie Yan sent word to Guo Huai. He would have Tang Yao and the other flying mount riders escort the guild’s Advanced Miners here and start excavating right away.

Since there were no monsters here, the Miners wouldn’t have to worry about getting attacked.

After arranging everything, Nie Yan continued exploring. The further in he went, the more spacious the cave became. Finally, he reached a giant stone door with the lights flickering inside. It was an enormous underground tomb.

While Nie Yan was shocked by this discovery, a notification popped up.

You have discovered Pharaoh Farnas’ Tomb.

Nie Yan recalled such a figure in Conviction’s history. Farnas was a powerful warlock who led a tribe that worshipped an evil god. Due to their propensity for violence and slaughter, the tribe was labeled as heretics by the Holy Church. A punitive campaign was launched against them, and Farnas was captured and summarily executed. The twist in the story came later, when his corpse mysteriously disappeared. This became an unsolvable mystery.

Nie Yan spent a lot of time studying Conviction’s history in his past life. After familiarizing himself with these texts, the knowledge would often come in handy. At the very least, he wouldn’t be stumped every time he encountered something with a bit of history.

After stepping into the tomb, all around were the shadows of monsters roaming the area. Nie Yan entered stealth. He inched closer and inspected one of the monsters with Transcendent Insight.

Dark Maiden: Level 110
Health: 120,000/120,000

Dark Maidens were ordinary monsters. They were covered in black cloaks. One could vaguely tell they were female judging from the way the cloth flowed along their figures.

So many Dark Maidens!

Nie Yan gazed into the distance. Every section of the hall was occupied by at least several hundred Dark Maidens. Sneaking through here would be nigh impossible. He could only slowly clear a path forward.

After thinking for a bit, Nie Yan retreated into a corner. He summoned Lil’ Gold and prepared to bulldoze his way forward. The Golden Dragon’s powerful attacks would sweep through these Dark Maidens. As long as no Elites or Lords popped up, there was nothing to worry about.

"Right, these Dark Maidens are dark attribute. I can summon a Paladin!” Nie Yan opened up Divine Recruitment. He looked down the list of hireable Paladins before stopping on the final one—Paladin Lafus.

Lafus was a powerful Paladin Captain who possessed the Advanced Holy Magic, Holy Radiant Shine. His fee was 20,000 gold/hr.

This was an astronomical sum for ordinary players. Few dared to spend so much gold.

Even Nie Yan was hesitant to spend this kind of money. 20,000 gold was enough to outfit five Asskickers United players with full sets of Level 70 Dark Gold-grade equipment.

Yet this sum could only hire Paladin Lafus for an hour.

Ever since learning Divine Recruitment, Nie Yan had never summoned the highest ranking Paladin. He wondered how strong Paladin Lafus was.

Even though Nie Yan wasn’t too willing to part with 20,000 gold, it was still within acceptable limits.

"Let’s see how powerful you are.” Nie Yan decided to summon Paladin Lafus.

Are you sure you wish to summon Paladin Lafus?

Yes!

With a flash of light, a tall Paladin in shining silver-white armour appeared in front of Nie Yan. He looked like a man in his 40s with sideburns and a solemn expression. A powerful holy aura emanated from him, enveloping his body in a brilliant radiance.

Nie Yan could immediately tell Lafus was much stronger than the Paladins he previously summoned.

"Sir Nirvana Flame, I am willing to serve,” Lafus said respectfully.

Nie Yan checked Lafus’ stats. Divine Recruitment’s description read that Lafus would have 300% of his own stats.

Nie Yan’s stats were already frighteningly high. If it were multiplied by three, one could only imagine the effects.

Nie Yan broke out in a cold sweat after seeing Lafus’ stats, 200,000 health, 20,000 attack power, and 10,000 defense. He also had all the bread-and-butter skills of a Paladin, along with the Advanced Holy Magic—Holy Radiant Shine.

What shocked Nie Yan the most wasn’t Lafus’ base stats but his skills!

Lafus’ skill ranks were based on the player who summoned him. Nie Yan’s skills were all Rank 8+ with a few at Rank 10 or 11.

Lafus was even stronger: Rank 11 Indomitable Will, Rank 15 Radiant Heal, Rank 15 Dispel, Rank 15 Holy Smite, Rank 11 Holy Strike...

What a spectacular skill line-up!

At this stage of the game, such a Paladin would be unrivalled.

Though the defensive capabilities of Paladins were weaker than Warriors’, the most frightening aspect about them was their potent healing ability. Their sustainability was definitely the highest among melee units. Minor Radiant Heal normally only restored 20%–30% health. However, due to Lafus’ skill ranks being abnormally high, he could easily restore his health back to full with a Minor Radiant Heal. Add this to the fact that he had close to 200,000 health, as long as he had enough mana, he would never run out of health. This was the best tank you could ask for!

Seeing Lafus’ stats, Nie Yan’s confidence soared. With such a powerful ally on his side, he had nothing to fear!

Nie Yan gave out his commands.

Radiant Barrier!

Indomitable Will!

Holy Blessing!

…

After shielding and buffing himself, Lafus charged toward the Dark Maidens.

The holy light pouring out from Lafus immediately attracted the aggro of the Dark Maidens. As creatures of darkness, they had an innate loathing of anything holy.

As long as Lafus took point as the vanguard, the Dark Maidens wouldn’t atack Nie Yan.

The Dark Maidens conjured balls of black flames in their palms. Countless fireballs bombarded Lafus.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Damage values ranging between 2,000–3,000 floated up above Lafus’ head. However, this was barely 1% of his health pool. It was nothing!

Lafus cast a Minor Radiant Heal on himself, restoring his health back to full. He then charged up to a Dark Maiden.

Divine Strike!

Radiant Purify!

−43.799

−35,000

−35,000

...

With a poof, the Dark Maiden collapsed to the ground.

Lafus started slaughtering Dark Maidens with every step he took.

Seeing Lafus’ valiant display of might, Nie Yan couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.

Chapter 592 - Holy Spirit Imprint

Nie Yan and Lil’ Gold trailed after Paladin Lafus. As Lil’ Gold spewed out scorching hot Dragon Breath, the Dark Maidens were collapsing in droves.

With a ding dong, a level up notification rang out.

Lil’ Gold had reached Level 89!

Thanks to Lil’ Gold’s powerful innate skill, the higher his level, the exponentially stronger he became. His stats gains would be several times greater per level up compared to ordinary pets. This was the benefit of a high growth rate.

The ground was littered with corpses. Even Nie Yan was speechless when he saw Lafus shrug off the attacks of several dozen Dark Maidens like they were nothing. Lafus tanked at the front while Lil’ Gold provided ranged support from the back. They worked together seamlessly. There was no need for Nie Yan to do anything. The Dark Maidens were being harvested like fields of wheat.

As Nie Yan walked forward, the corpses around him were enveloped by a white light and transformed into ash before disappearing.

Nie Yan’s Purifying Aura could purify the corpses of the Dark Maidens. After purifying enough evil creatures, he would obtain a Holy Spirit Heart. Only then could he safely remove the seals on Zennarde’s Sword.

This was the most important quest in Nie Yan’s quest window. He naturally wouldn’t forget it. Checking his progress, he had already purified more than 110,000 evil creatures. This was accumulated from grinding mobs regularly.

Lafus charged onwards with vigor. Due to the large disturbance he was creating, more and more Dark Maidens were converging on him. When several hundred had gathered, Lil’ Gold chanted out an incantation and called a blazing meteor down on the large crowd.

With a powerful explosion, everything within a 30-meter radius was enveloped by raging flames.

The Dark Maidens let out miserable shrieks and collapsed to the ground.

Suddenly, a white light enveloped Nie Yan. Feeling a peculiar sensation on his arm, he looked down and discovered a Holy Spirit Imprint. It looked like an ancient totem drawn out of various symbols and patterns. It was quite mysterious.

You have obtained a Holy Spirit Imprint.

Nie Yan didn’t know what it did, but he guessed the Holy Spirit Imprint was somehow related to the Holy Spirit Heart quest.

Nie Yan checked his character status. He discovered his Devil Slayer title had advanced from Junior to Intermediate.

With this, Nie Yan obtained a new skill called Devil Radar. It allowed him to detect demonic creatures in his vicinity and doubled the damage he dealt to them.

Many of Nie Yan’s skills and equipment were specialized against demonic creatures. So, the damage he dealt to them was several times that of ordinary monsters.

"I should probably only hunt demonic creatures from now on. That way, I’ll gain experience faster.”

With his Devil Slayer title having risen a rank, Nie Yan started to wonder what it would be like when it progressed even further.

Nie Yan continued sweeping his way through. Dark Maidens stretched out as far as the eye could see. This would definitely be a frightening sight for ordinary players. However, all he saw was endless amounts of experience. It was the perfect grinding spot!

After killing roughly 900 Dark Maidens, Lafus was starting to run low on mana. Nie Yan had him switch out with Lil’ Gold and take a small break.

Lil’ Gold was also surprisingly resilient. Being surrounded and attacked by a horde of Dark Maidens, he lashed out with several Explosive Counters.

Whenever Lil’ Gold’s health fell low, Lafus would restore it back to full.

Paladins were amazing. They could tank, heal, and buff. Even though they didn’t excel in any one aspect, their flexibility definitely ranked highest among all classes.

Levelling here was fairly fast. Nie Yan gained about 10% experience after an hour of grinding and reached Level 99, 72%.

The Dark Maidens had dropped quite a bit of good loot too. He had obtained more than a dozen rare gems and 20,000 gold in equipment.

As Nie Yan delved deeper into the underground tomb, the number of Dark Maidens he encountered gradually decreased. Passing through a long corridor, he eventually came across two doors. He didn’t know which to pick.

Leaving Lil’ Gold and Lafus to continue grinding mobs, Nie Yan approached one of the stone doors. As soon as he pushed it open, he heard the sound of arrows whistling. Sensing the danger, he activated Gale Step and ducked out of the way.

「Put! Put! Put!」Several dozen arrows struck the ground where Nie Yan previously stood. These arrows were crafted out of metal, and the tips were smeared with a translucent green liquid.

Thieves frequently dealt with traps. So, no matter the time or place, their reactions had to be quick enough, or else they would end up dying without even knowing what killed them. They had a fairly high Reflex stat, so their survival rate after triggering a trap was much higher than other classes. Even so, countless Thieves died to traps every day, and often in the most gruesome of ways.

Thankfully, Nie Yan reacted in time. He shuddered at the thought of being struck by those arrows. Even if he didn’t die immediately, he would still be barely clinging onto life.

After making sure the trap wouldn’t reset, Nie Yan walked back to the door. He looked inside and saw a three by three meters stone room with a sarcophagus in the center. Apart from this, there was nothing else.

This sarcophagus was rectangular shaped and constructed rather crudely. There were a few decorative engravings on it, but they weren’t very detailed.

Beside the sarcophagus was a button. It was probably a mechanism to open the sarcophagus.

The things that came out of sarcophagi like these were random. Sometimes it was a precious treasure. Other times it was a powerful monster or even a frightening curse.

Nie Yan hesitated for a moment but then walked up and pressed the button. The stone room trembled before the sarcophagus’ lid slowly opened.

Nie Yan took several steps backs in caution. He tightly gripped Zennarde’s Sword, ready to deal with any monster that might jump out.

After the sarcophagus fully opened, nothing happened. The room remained still.

Nie Yan walked up to the sarcophagus. Looking inside, he saw the mummified corpse of a woman. She had already decayed to skin and bones. Beside her were three blue gems.

Reaching his hand inside, Nie Yan collected the three gems and examined them.

Aqua Ripple Sapphire: Socketable

Properties: Reduces the level requirement of a piece of equipment by 10.

A gem that reduced level requirement by 10 was extremely rare. Nie Yan didn’t expect to obtain three of them all at once.

"What a lucky find!” Nie Yan stored away the three Aqua Ripple Sapphires in his bag. After confirming there was nothing else in the room, he left.

Nie Yan walked over to the other door and carefully opened it. This time there were no traps. The room looked identical to the one from before. Even the placement of the sarcophagus was the same.

Just like before, Nie Yan pushed the button. As the sarcophagus gradually opened, a strong smell of gunpowder permeated the air.

"Shit!” Nie Yan cried out in alarm. He sensed great danger. Activating Shadow Waltz, he bolted out of the room.

With a loud bang, a large explosion rocked the room. The powerful shock wave swept out and sent Nie Yan flying.

The entire underground tomb trembled.

Nie Yan flew six meters through the air before crashing into the ground. He coughed up a mouthful of blood as a damage value of 6,000 floated up above his head. Thankfully, his health and defense were high enough. An ordinary Thief would’ve been instantly killed.

Crawling back up to his feet, Nie Yan turned back to the room with an ashen face. It had been completely wrecked by the explosion. The door and sarcophagus were turned into rubble.

Thankfully, Nie Yan reacted when he did. If he had been a second slower, he would’ve been ripped to shreds by the explosion.

The dust and smoke from the explosion gradually settled.

Everything was calm again.

Nie Yan sat in a corner to recover his health. Up ahead were even more doors, at least a couple dozen of them. He couldn’t help but hesitate after that close call. He wondered if he should continue exploring.

Thinking about it, Nie Yan wondered how many treasures there were in the stone rooms. It would be a waste to pass up on them.

"No risk, no reward…” Nie Yan gritted his teeth.

Nie Yan continued opening the doors. When he was lucky, he would obtain gems, scrolls, or other rare items. On the flip side, he was nearly done in by a curse. Thankfully, Lafus was there to dispel it. Apart from this, he also encountered an Elite-class Dark Maiden. However, with the aid of Lafus and Lil’ Gold, it was easily taken care of.

All in all, despite the many dangers, he had reaped a bountiful harvest.

Continuing forward, Nie Yan encountered two golden doors, one to his left and one to his right. These doors were more luxurious than the ones before. Their craftsmanship was excellent, covered in all sorts of detailed carvings.

There were likely sarcophagi past these doors as well. Nie Yan hesitated. "Should I go in? Will there be danger?”

Nie Yan guessed the treasures behind these two doors would be better than anything else he’d found so far. However, that also meant the traps he faced would be the most dangerous so far. The fear of the explosion and curse still lingered in his mind. That was twice he had toyed with death!

At the end of the day, Nie Yan’s current level was simply too low. One misstep could mean instant death in this high level map.

"I’ll think on it a little longer. Let’s collect all the loot and purify the corpses on the ground first,” Nie Yan muttered. He went to regroup with Lil’ Gold and Lafus.

Chapter 593 - Pharaoh Brannigan

After deep consideration, Nie Yan finally came to a decision. "Screw it. Nothing in life is free. If I want something, I’ll have to take the risk. I’ve soloed Level 100+ Lords before. What is there to be afraid of?”

Nie Yan walked up to the golden door to the right and forcefully pushed it open.

The golden door slowly creaked open. The room was much larger than the previous ones. It was six by six meters in size. At the center was a large golden sarcophagus. It was five meters in length and covered in ornate and lavish carvings. The person entombed within was probably an illustrious figure.

"I wonder what sort of treasures are inside…” Nie Yan was filled with a deep curiosity. His heart couldn’t help but race. He walked up to the sarcophagus and pushed the button, then quickly retreated back to the doorway. It was relatively narrow, making it convenient for him to duck behind a wall in case something happened.

He still had lingering fears from the previous explosion and curse.

Creak… Creak… The sarcophagus slowly opened as a brilliant radiance blossomed out. Nie Yan could see a giant silhouette. The tension in the air was palpable.

Inside the sarcophagus was a three-meter tall corpse. It was covered from head to toe in gold and bore a solemn expression.

Nie Yan patiently waited. He wanted to make sure this fellow wouldn’t come back to life.

This corpse lying motionlessly in its sarcophagus looked eerie.

Suddenly, its eyes opened and blossomed with a profound light. It slowly sat up.

"It’s a monster!” Nie Yan inspected the corpse with Transcendent Insight.

Pharaoh Brannigan (Lord): Level 110 Death Magister
Health: 3,000,000/3,000,000

"Shit, it’s a Magister!”

If it were only a Level 110 Lord, Nie Yan could probably still manage. However, this fellow was a Death Magister. It was a whole step above ordinary Lords.

In this kind of situation, running away was one of the most foolish things you could do. Nie Yan glanced at his surroundings, then immediately had Lil’ Gold and Lafus seal off the doorway. Brannigan couldn’t be allowed to leave this room, or else he would be impossible to kill. Even a Shadow Dancer wouldn’t dare to challenge a Magister in a wide open space.

"You have disturbed my slumber. Lowly wretch, I will tear you apart from limb to limb!” Pharaoh Brannigan declared in a voice full of wrath.

Brannigan climbed out of his golden sarcophagus. A long scepter materialized in his hand.

Nie Yan gazed at Brannigan. Resembling a gold statue, his entire body shone with a golden radiance. His two-meter long scepter was crafted out of a mysterious metal, the tip adorned with a large sapphire which emitted an azure glow.

Brannigan appeared to be constrained. His sarcophagus took up a large portion of the room, so there wasn’t much space left for him to move around in.

Nie Yan instantly spotted this. Luckily, he already had Lil’ Gold blocking the doorway. No matter what, Brannigan couldn’t be allowed out of this room, or else they would be done for.

"We are the most ancient race. All those that dare to obstruct us will be turned into dust. Scram, filthy beast.” Brannigan swung his scepter toward Lil’ Gold.

Nie Yan hurriedly had Lil’ Gold duck out of the way.

KLAANG!!! Brannigan’s scepter struck the doorway. It trembled violently but didn’t collapse. A door forged out of solid metal wouldn’t crumble that easily.

This room was too cramped. Brannigan had no way of attacking effectively. He attempted to get out through the doorway, but Lil’ Gold stubbornly refused to move. With a Dragon Breath, he blasted Brannigan with scorching hot flames.

BANG! Brannigan staggered back a step. A damage value of 5,000 floated up above his head.

Lil’ Gold managed to deal some decent damage. Brannigan was a caster, so his defense wasn’t high.

Brannigan was infuriated. He raised his staff and sent a bolt of lightning streaking towards Lil’ Gold.

ZAP! Electrical currents pierced through Lil’ Gold’s body.

−61,491

Lil’ Gold instantly lost a third of his health.

What frightening damage! Nie Yan had a hard time imagining a Fighter capable of withstanding such a powerful attack. A Champion was probably required.

Lafus hurriedly restored Lil’ Gold’s health back to full. The Rank 15 Radiant Heal was extremely useful in this situation.

Nie Yan had Lil’ Gold keep blocking the doorway. Within this small space, Brannigan couldn’t even display a third of his strength. All around him were hindrances. Sometimes when he raised his staff it would end up bumping into the ceiling.

"Not a bad spot…” Nie Yan smirked. He took out his Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow and fired.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Five bolts flew toward Brannigan.

「Put! Put! Put!」The bolts struck Brannigan’s body, dealing several hundred damage each.

Nie Yan didn’t dare to enter the room, for fear of being killed by Brannigan the moment he stepped foot inside. He could only fire his crossbow from outside.

Brannigan let out a furious roar. However, he had no way of leaving the room. Lil’ Gold was like an immovable boulder.

Magic bombarded Lil’ Gold’s body. But since no spell could instantly kill him, they were all useless. Lafus’ heals were too potent. As long as Lil’ Gold had even a sliver of health left, he could be healed back to full. Lil’ Gold had so much health. It would be incredibly difficult for Brannigan to instantly kill him!

If a Magister couldn’t cast their most frightening spells, they were no different from ordinary Mages.

Seeing that his strategy was working, Nie Yan allowed Lafus to sit down and take a rest. He would only make a move when Lil’ Gold required healing. As long as Lafus didn’t run out of mana, there would be no issue. Nie Yan was a bit annoyed with himself. Why didn’t he bring a few Master Mana Potions with him before he set out? That way, Lafus could make use of them.

With Lafus’ mana pool and mana recovery speed, there wouldn’t be any problems for the time being.

Explosive Counter!

Explosive Counter!

...

Lil’ Gold lashed out with multiple Explosive Counters in a row, shaving away 200,000 of Brannigan’s health. Explosive Counter only had a certain chance of activating. If you were lucky, it would activate multiple times consecutively. If you were unlucky, you would go ages without it activating even once.

Brannigan furiously swung his scepter. His spell casts had been interrupted multiple times by Lil’ Gold. In this kind of cramped space, Magisters were at a huge disadvantage.

Lil’ Gold called forth a ball of raging flames, transforming the room into a burning hellscape.

About 15 minutes later, Brannigan’s health dropped to 20%.

"This is so easy!” Nie Yan happily remarked. He previously believed Brannigan was going to kill him for sure. Thankfully, the environment was to his advantage. Sometimes, this could make all the difference.

With his health falling below 20%, Brannigan started becoming restless and raised his staff. FWOOSH! A wave of frost swept out and struck Lil’ Gold, covering him in a thick layer of ice.

Brannigan rushed at Lil’ Gold with an onslaught of attacks, forcing Lil’ Gold back one step at a time. It appeared Brannigan was finally going to break out of this prison.

Seeing the situation going south, Nie Yan had Lafus stand back up.

Indomitable Will!

Radiant barrier!

…

Lafus charged toward Brannigan.

One man and one dragon halted Brannigan’s advance. Brannigan raised his scepter and swung it down. KWANG! Lafus staggered several steps back as he lost a third of his health. The Radiant Barrier protecting him trembled violently but didn’t shatter. After all, a Rank 11 Radiant Barrier was extremely durable.

Lafus cast Holy Warmth on Lil’ Gold, gradually melting all the ice off his body. After recovering fully, Lil’ Gold forced Brannigan back into the room.

Brannigan staggered back step by step until he returned to his original position. He raised his staff and summoned three Skeleton Warriors. They were three meters tall, clad in metal armour, and wielded large war-axes. One could tell they were extremely powerful at a glance. Unfortunately, this made the already small room even more cramped! They couldn’t move without getting into each other’s way.

At the end of the day, Brannigan was a monster with low artificial intelligence. He was incapable of thinking strategically. Summoning minions was completely useless here. The three Skeleton Warriors at the back had no way of reaching Lil’ Gold and Lafus.

Brannigan entered a berserk state as his health fell below 5%. His body emitted a blood red radiance as black skulls floated around him.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Brannigan was using his ultimate skill!

Lafus retreated to the back and chanted out an incantation.

Holy Radiant Shine!

A powerful pillar of holy light came down from the air and struck Brannigan. Wherever the light touched, his body would make sizzling sounds and release grey smoke. He let out a painful shout. He was slowly being exorcised by the holy light.

Holy Radiant Shine had a chance of instantly purifying all creatures within a 15-meter radius. If the creature couldn’t be purified, they would still take enormous damage.

"ARGGGH!!!” Brannigan suddenly let out a roar. He braved through the Holy Radiant Shine and charged toward Lil’ Gold with large strides.

Darkness Retribution!

BANG! A dark shock wave blasted Lil’ Gold in the chest, sending him flying directly out of the room and crashing into the opposite wall.

Brannigan ducked his head under the doorway and stepped out of the room. "You repulsive Paladin. I’ll sacrifice your soul to our evil god and use your corpse to strengthen my undead army!” He swung his scepter at Lafus’ head.

Chapter 594 - Shadow Dancer Skill Book

Brannigan’s large frame blocked the doorway. No one could get through, including his three Skeleton Warriors. In the small room, there was almost no space to cast a spell, not to mention they were easily interrupted. He had been reduced to bashing the enemy with his scepter.

After advancing to Magisters, Mages could buff their melee ability. However, it was still only one tenth as strong as their magic.

In fact, the ability to fight in close-combat was relatively important for Mages. If the occasion were to occur where your mana ran out and the enemy only had a sliver of health remaining, sometimes the only choice left was to give them a good clonk on the head with your staff.

Brannigan was quite powerful in close-combat, especially with that giant scepter in his hand.

KLAANG! Brannigan’s scepter struck Lafus in the chest and sent him flying out.

Seeing things take a turn for the worse, Nie Yan pounced toward Brannigan.

Brannigan waved his scepter, calling down a meteor onto Nie Yan.

Gale Step!

Nie Yan deftly evaded. An explosion resounded behind him. Without pause, he stabbed at Brannigan’s head.

Nie Yan’s crowd control skills were quite powerful. If he could lock Brannigan down, this fight would be much easier.

Brannigan shot Nie Yan a look of disdain. He waved his scepter as a powerful repelling force swept out.

Nie Yan suddenly collided with a wave of force mid-dash. His body was sent flying back.

"What a powerful Repel!”

Most Repels only pushed a player five meters away. It was clear Brannigan’s was on a whole nother level.

Death Exemption!

Nie Yan became immune to crowd control and gained 10% movement speed for two seconds. With the repelling force no longer acting on his body, he regained his balance and landed steadily on the ground.

Nie Yan employed Shadow Steps as he left a trail of afterimages behind him.

Brannigan was enraged. He repeatedly smashed down with his scepter. BANG! BANG! BANG! Rubble flew everywhere and cracks spread out on the ground. However, none of his attacks landed on Nie Yan.

Under the purifying light of Holy Radiant Shine, Brannigan’s health fell to 3%.

Although Nie Yan failed to get close enough to CC Brannigan, he had still bought some time. Lil’ Gold and Lafus climbed back to their feet. Lafus raised his sword as a white light fell over him and Lil’ Gold. After which they both charged toward Brannigan.

After escaping the room, Brannigan had become powerful beyond compare. He completely overwhelmed Lil’ Gold and Lafus with his unrivalled firepower. If it weren’t for Lafus spamming heals, they would’ve long since died.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. Brannigan was too strong. It looked like Lil’ Gold and Lafus were starting to falter. "I have to do something...”

As Nie Yan passed down his order, Lil’ Gold fiercely charged at Brannigan.

Brannigan waved his staff and sent a stream of fireballs flying towards Lil’ Gold.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Lil’ Gold instantly lost more than half his health. Lafus quickly raised his sword as gentle rays of light fell over Lil’ Gold, restoring his health back to full. Lil’ Gold finally closed in Brannigan. With a swipe of his claws, he interrupted Brannigan mid-cast.

Dragon Breath!

BOOM! Blasted by the scorching hot flames, Brannigan staggered several steps back. "You foul beast!” He furiously attacked Lil’ Gold.

All the while Nie Yan had activated Disappear and snuck around behind Brannigan. He inched closer and closer.

Lil’ Gold had successfully acted as a distraction. Brannigan was oblivious to Nie Yan’s approach.

Brannigan raised his scepter as ice elemental energy started converging at the tip. It was pulsating with waves of frost.

The magical energy in the atmosphere undulated violently as the surrounding temperature plummeted.

Lil’ Gold pounced forward with Rend.

−4,857

Brannigan staggered back a step before resuming his chant. His magic wasn’t broken mid-cast.

As the last syllables flowed from Brannigan’s lips, Nie Yan leaped into action.

Gale Ambush! Backbreaker!

Nie Yan’s speed explosively increased as he dashed forth and plunged Zennarde’s Sword into Brannigan’s spine.

Brannigan was in the middle of casting his spell. He was in no position to dodge.

KRAACK! The sounds of bones breaking rang out as Brannigan was crippled. The ice elemental energy gathered around the tip of his scepter dispersed.

"Success!” Nie Yan was elated. He could keep Brannigan locked down for at least eight seconds.

This was more than enough time!

Lil’ Gold and Lafus let loose, using all their highest damaging skills. Nie Yan didn’t hold back either and delivered a fearsome onslaught of attacks. Since Apocalyptic Extinction didn’t work on Brannigan, he opted to use his killing move.

Hell Execution!

Zennarde’s Sword emitted a crimson glow. Nie Yan slashed down on Brannigan’s back, his sharp blade easily cutting through flesh, bone, and all. Brannigan’s health had finally bottomed out. With a thud, he collapsed on the ground.

「Ding-dong!」A melodious jingle rang out as a white light enveloped Nie Yan. Level 100! He was finally Level 100! Brannigan had given him much more experience than he expected.

"After I get that piece of the Tyrant Abak Set hidden here, I’ll go do the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest.”

Lil’ Gold also levelled up and reached Level 90. He learned a new AoE spell called Inferno Storm.

Reading the description of Inferno Storm, Nie Yan was shocked. "This skill is pretty powerful. I can’t wait to see it in action.”

After rummaging through Brannigan’s corpse, Nie Yan failed to find anything. He went back into the room and searched around too, but it was empty. "Shameless… completely shameless! How can such a high level Lord be so stingy and drop nothing?!”

As Nie Yan walked out of the room, Brannigan’s corpse transformed into a pile of ash. A speck of white light rose up from the pile and flew into the Holy Spirit Imprint on his hand.

The Holy Spirit Imprint appeared to collect the souls of purified monsters. Nie Yan didn’t pay it any mind for now.

Brannigan’s corpse had been purified. Nie Yan glanced at his Intermediate Devil Slayer title. It was 35% of the way to ranking up.

Nie Yan was still disappointed that Brannigan only gave experience.

Nie Yan sat down and ate some bread to recuperate. Lil’ Gold and Lafus also rested until their health and mana recovered back to full.

"Hmm… should I open the other gold door?” Nie Yan gave it some thought. "Eh, why not? Even if another pharaoh shows up, I’ll just deal with it like with Brannigan.”

Nie Yan walked up and pushed open the other gold door. The room was identical to the last one with a large golden sarcophagus at the center. He pushed the nearby button.

Nie Yan readied his battle stance. He expected a powerful boss like Brannigan to pop out. To his surprise, however, the sarcophagus was practically empty. There wasn’t even a corpse inside. Instead, embedded in the center was a small golden chest.

"It’s a Sub Legendary-grade!” Nie Yan rejoiced. If he had decided it was too risky earlier, he would’ve missed out on this chest.

Two gold doors, one was a punishment while the other a reward. Nie Yan was fairly unlucky, opening the door with Brannigan first. Were it not for the help of Lil’ Gold and Lafus, he would’ve certainly met a tragic fate. If an ordinary expedition team encountered the same situation, without a Champion, they would wipe for sure.

Even if that expedition team did manage to defeat Brannigan. All they would get for their hard work would be experience and nothing else. After such a harrowing experience, they probably wouldn’t dare to open the other gold door.

Nie Yan was definitely an anomaly. Even after encountering a powerful Lord like Brannigan, he still dared to face a second one.

He bent down and started opening the chest.

Opening treasure chest… Progress: 12%... 35%...

Click! The chest lid popped open. Nie Yan fished around inside and pulled out a skill book.

This skill book was unlike any he’d seen before. It was about as thick as a finger and crafted out of some peculiar material. The edges were stitched with golden silk. The craftsmanship was delicate. Every ornamentation was flawless with nothing left to be desired.

Based on appearance alone, this skill book looked far more precious than any other Nie Yan had ever seen before.

"It’s a Master Skill Book!” Nie Yan cried out in a shock. "I hope it’s for a Thief…”

Nie Yan impatiently flipped open the skill book. The words were written in Ancient Common. What caught his eye were the several words on the first page—Shadow Dancer Skill - Mode: Release.

It was a Shadow Dancer skill book!

Nie Yan’s heart started madly racing. It was a skill that could only be learned after advancing to a Shadow Dancer. He had only ever heard of Shadow Dancer skill books in rumours, having never actually seen one himself. In the previous timeline, a nobody like him simply wasn’t qualified to acquire such a high tier item.

Shadow Dancer skills were exceedingly rare. Even most Shadow Dancers didn’t have one. However, those who did and mastered it to perfection would become incredibly powerful!

"Let’s see what this skill does…” Nie Yan calmed his heart, then started flipping through the pages.

Chapter 595 - Encountering Phantom Princess Ina Again

Upon advancing to a Master class, the concept of skills would be flipped over on its head.

This was a completely new realm, a world that Nie Yan had never made contact with before in the previous timeline. He gazed at the description of Mode: Release.

Mode: Release

Description: Evolve all the user’s active skills into freedom skills. All movement restrictions on skills are removed. Possesses offensive properties. Duration: 20 minutes. Cooldown: 1 day.

"Evolving all active skills into freedom skills…” Nie Yan gasped. "That’s insane! But what does all movement restrictions removed and possesses offensive properties mean?”

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. His mind was filled with uncertainty. It appeared he would have to confirm the effects of Mode: Release for himself. Any guess was as good as another at this point.

"I’ll learn it after I’ve advanced to a Luminous Dancer.” Nie Yan put away the Mode: Release skill book in his bag. He’d gone through great dangers to acquire this skill, and it was all worth it.

After finding nothing else, Nie Yan left the room. He led Lafus and Lil’ Gold deeper into the underground tomb.

The further they travelled, killing numerous Dark Maidens along the way, the more Nie Yan realized the immensity of this place. The winding and twisting passages were just like a labyrinth. After reaching the end of yet another corridor, a large stone door appeared up ahead. Beside the entrance stood a large demonic statue with a malevolent look on its face.

The door was slightly ajar, leaving just enough of an opening for a single person to slip through. Nie Yan peered inside and saw more than 20 humanoid monsters in blood red robes roaming around. They clearly weren’t Dark Maidens. He didn’t dare to barge in. He had Lil’ Gold and Lafus remain on standby, then stealthily approached himself.

Nie Yan inspected one of the humanoid monsters. Transcendent Insight!

Sacrificial Blood Maiden (Elite): Level 120
Health: 500,000/500,000

These were Elites! There were more than 20 altogether. Nie Yan had no way of dealing with so many ranged monsters.

The Sacrificial Blood Maidens were different from the Dark Maidens from before. If over 20 Level 120 Elites started attacking all at once, they could easily obliterate Lil’ Gold and Lafus into dust.

The Sacrificial Blood Maidens were guarding an entrance. Though they were patrolling around, they were never more than two meters apart from each other.

Lil’ Gold and Lafus had no way of passing through. However, Nie Yan was different.

After thinking for a bit, Nie Yan recalled Lil’ Gold and terminated Lafus’ contract. Lafus had already been summoned for a little over three hours. Since the fee was calculated based on the nearest hour rounding up, he had to pay 80,000 gold. This was a frightening sum.

After selling off all the ordinary loot he picked up, Nie Yan would only make back around 60,000 gold at most. However, he didn’t mind taking this loss at all since he had obtained Mode: Release. Shadow Dancer skill books were priceless. This wasn’t something you could find in the marketplace!

Summoning Lafus was worth it. Such a powerful Paladin was definitely worth the price.

A malicious thought flashed through Nie Yan’s mind. "Hehe, should I summon Lafus during the war against Divine Protectors? I can just imagine the looks on their faces…” Lafus was an unrivalled Paladin.

Glancing at his bag, Nie Yan still had five Unknown Transfer Scrolls left. If he encountered danger, he wouldn’t have to worry about escaping.

Even though Unknown Transfer Scrolls in Asskickers United were in scarce supply, most players having to do without, Guo Huai would always set aside a portion for Nie Yan’s exclusive use. After all, he was the backbone of the guild.

Nie Yan equipped the Crawler Ring, activated its ability, and then started climbing up the wall. After reaching the top of the door, he snuck in through the crack.

The Crawler Ring was always useful for getting around monsters. This was a time-tested method.

After sneaking inside, Nie Yan looked around. A wide and spacious hall appeared before his eyes. At the center stood a six-meter tall golden statue that looked similar to Pharaoh Brannigan. Its arms and hands were held out together. A silver-gray leather chestplate floated above its palms. It was crafted out of an unknown material and let out a silver radiance under the light of the nearby torches.

In front of this chestplate, the Holy Stone in Nie Yan’s inventory shone even more brilliantly.

"I’ve found it! It’s the chestpiece from the Tyrant Abak Set!”

Stone obelisks lined both sides of the hall. Candles were affixed to the walls and pillars stretched out into the distance. The flickering lights and shadows evoked a mysterious atmosphere.

"Strange, I don’t see any monsters here. Don’t tell me it’s unguarded?” Nie Yan was bewildered. This situation was way too suspicious. He didn’t dare to come down. He proceeded forward along the wall.

After a while, a humanoid monster in a black dress walked out from behind a pillar. It paced around the red carpet in the center of the hall, briefly stopping every now and then.

Nie Yan’s mind trembled at this familiar figure. It was Phantom Princess Ina!

Phantom Princess Ina would revive 30 days after being killed. She would become stronger on every revival and chase after the Abak’s Gloves of Sealing in Nie Yan’s possession.

Calculating the time, it had already been 30 days since an expedition team last killed Phantom Princess Ina.

Nie Yan wondered how much stronger she had gotten.

Being stalked by Phantom Princess Ina was a bit troublesome. After retrieving the chestpiece from the Tyrant Abak Set, he would teleport away with an Unknown Transfer Scroll.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. A plan took shape in his mind to obtain the chestpiece without alerting Phantom Princess Ina of his presence.

The statue was about 10 meters away from the closest wall.

Like a gecko, Nie Yan crawled in that direction.

Phantom Princess Ina seemed to sense something and looked over in Nie Yan’s direction.

Nie Yan immediately froze in place, not daring to budge an inch. He activated several skills that increased his Cloaking and Stealth.

Phantom Princess Ina’s gaze swept over Nie Yan’s body several times, but she failed to discover anything out of place. She turned away and returned to an idle state.

Nie Yan continued moving forward, inching closer and closer to the chestpiece. At about 10 meters away, he planted his right hand and feet firmly against the wall. He then extended out his left hand and took careful aim before shooting out a web line from his Silk Spinner Ring.

Chapter 596 - Escape

Nie Yan’s web line accurately flew through the air and stuck to the chestpiece. With a hard tug, he pulled it toward him.

Watching the chestpiece flying towards him, Nie Yan’s heartstrings were stretched taut. He extended out his hand and grabbed it. Not bothering to examine it, he directly stuffed it into his bag.

At this moment, Phantom Princess Ina was alerted by the noise. She immediately locked onto Nie Yan.

A malevolent expression warped her face. Her eyes burned red with rage.

Phantom Princess Ina chanted out an incantation in a long lost undead language. With a wave of her staff, a large net of black energy appeared in the air over Nie Yan.

"Got it. Time to go.” Nie Yan attempted to activate his Unknown Transfer Scroll, only to have it fail. He glanced at his status bar. He was under a new status effect—Soul Lock!

Soul Lock was Phantom Princess Ina’s curse. It prevented the target from using any teleportation items.

"Dammit!” Seeing the black energy net about to trap him, Nie Yan leaped out of the way. He disappeared into stealth with Gale Step and fled toward the exit.

Since Nie Yan couldn’t use teleportation items, he had no choice but to escape the underground tomb by foot.

Phantom Princess Ina raised her staff. A black energy sphere flew into the air. Upon finding Nie Yan’s location, she swung her staff down. Immediately, black fireballs started whizzing down towards him.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Flames flew out everywhere.

None of the fireballs landed directly on Nie Yan. However, he was still hit by the splash damage. A damage value of 700 floated up above his head.

Nie Yan quickly drank a Master Speed Potion, causing his movement speed to instantly break past 1,000. As he fled for his life, he quickly inspected Phantom Princess Ina.

Phantom Princess Ina (Variant Lord): Level 100
Health: 8,000,000/8,000,000

"Shit! She’s a Level 100 Variant Lord now!” Nie Yan didn’t dare to dally. He took advantage of the effects of the Master Speed Potion to bolt out of the hall.

As Nie Yan neared the large stone door, he alerted the Sacrificial Blood Maidens. They conjured up red orbs of light in their palms and fired at him.

With no way to dodge so many projectiles, Nie Yan activated Shadow Waltz. He brushed past the Sacrificial Blood Maidens and fled out of the door.

Phantom Princess Ina charged out of the stone door. In the next moment, she disappeared from her original position and reappeared in front of Nie Yan. With a wave of her staff, the shadows in the vicinity shot up like writhing tentacles and wrapped around him.

"Tsk, she’s really tough to deal with.” Nie Yan ignored the Shadow Bind with Death Exemption and rushed straight at Phantom Princess Ina.

Seeing Nie Yan close in on her, Phantom Princess Ina opened her mouth and let out an ear-piercing shriek.

Howl of Terror!

Nie Yan expected this move. He instantly activated Mind Immune.

The sharp scream swept past Nie Yan. His ears were ringing badly, as if someone sounded an air horn in his face.

Thankfully, he had activated Mind Immune just in time. If the fear from Howl of Terror landed, he would’ve had no hope of escaping alive.

Concussive Blow!

Nie Yan smashed the pommel of his dagger into Phantom Princess Ina’s forehead, causing her to wail out in pain.

Phantom Princess Ina had fairly high Evasion. If it weren’t for the fact she was vulnerable during Howl of Terror, Nie Yan would’ve had a difficult time stunning her.

Nie Yan circled behind Phantom Princess Ina. As he leaned to one side, he pushed off from his waist and channeled all his power into his arm.

Backbreaker!

KRACKK! Zennarde’s Sword was driven directly into Phantom Princess Ina’s spine.

Backbreaker was the most effective against humanoid monsters. Phantom Princess Ina was crippled for five seconds.

Trying to kill Phantom Princess Ina was a fool’s errand. Seeing Backbreaker had successfully CC’d her, Nie Yan didn’t dare to linger and fled for the outside. He was astonishingly fast at maximum speed, but he still felt like he was too slow. As he turned a corner, he spotted a horizontal beam under the ceiling up ahead. He took aim and shot out a web line.

As soon as the web line hit the beam, Nie Yan gave a fierce tug and shot up into the air like a rocket. He instantly covered 10 meters as his silhouette appeared to leave behind afterimages due to his sheer speed. The Dark Maidens who had already respawned didn’t even get a chance to react before he left their attack range. They ended up bunching up together in a chaotic pile-up.

Five seconds later, Phantom Princess Ina finally recovered from the cripple. Gazing around, Nie Yan was nowhere to be found. He had long since fled to who knew where. She immediately went into pursuit, only to discover the corridor was blocked by the Dark Maidens. With no way of chasing him, she could only scream out in anger.

Before long, Nie Yan made it out of the underground tomb. He summoned his Darkwing Dragon and climbed on its back.

With a powerful flap of its wings, the Darkwing Dragon took to the air. It flew into the distance and quickly disappeared behind the clouds.

Nie Yan glanced at his status bar. Soul Lock still hadn’t disappeared, so he couldn’t use Return Scrolls or Unknown Transfer Scrolls.

"Tsk, this is going to be troublesome… She probably has to be killed for this Soul Lock to disappear. If I don’t do anything about this, don’t tell me she’s going to keep chasing me forever? No way, right...?”

Despite knowing what had to be done, Nie Yan knew he wasn’t a match for a Level 100 Variant Lord.

"Hmm… If I return to Calore, she definitely won’t follow me there. Only the most powerful monsters will attack a large city. Maybe I could lure her into a small town or village and have the NPCs kill her like I did with the Guardian of Order?”

Level 100 Variant Lords wouldn’t approach large cities, but instances of them attacking small towns and villages were quite common.

Nie Yan immediately thought of the ideal place. "I’ll lead her to Crassus!”

Crassus was a small town that few players frequented. However, the NPCs there were quite strong. They were all Level 90 or higher. The town had more than 300 NPCs. This force was probably strong enough to deal with Phantom Princess Ina.

"If I can lead her to Crassus, it should be fun.” Nie Yan smirked. Like this, he could simply push aside most of the work to others. Having him deal with Phantom Princess Ina alone was undoubtedly suicidal.

Chapter 597 - Cranston

Nie Yan flew north on his Darkwing Dragon. A small town gradually came into view 10 minutes later.

Crassus, rather than a town, was better described as an enormous manor. Surrounded by fortified wood walls and numerous crossbow turrets, the defenses here were solid.

Frequently besieged by large Lord-class monsters, the residents of Crassus were all fairly strong. The weakest were Level 90 Elites while the mayor was a Level 100 Lord.

This was mainly why Nie Yan chose to lead Phantom Princess Ina here.

Towns below Level 100 rarely had such strong defenses. As for towns Level 100 and up, it was doubtful Phantom Princess Ina would follow Nie Yan there.

Nie Yan had the Darkwing Dragon alight on the outskirts of Crassus. After unsummoning his Darkwing Dragon, he headed into town.

Donning a black cloak, Nie Yan walked through the main gates. He saw shops scattered here and there on both sides of the street. They didn’t appear to have much business, only carrying the most basic consumables, weapons, and armour. He would occasionally cross paths with the odd player. They were all at least Level 70 since the maps in the vicinity were fairly high level. Players generally only came to Crassus if it was related to some quest. The allure of exploring new lands was far greater.

Nie Yan observed the NPCs in town.

"I don’t know how long it’ll take Phantom Princess Ina to arrive. I guess I’ll just have to keep waiting until then. Hmm, what should I do to kill some time?”

Walking along the main street, Nie Yan eventually arrived at the center of the town, where a church which towered over all other buildings caught his eye.

This church was constructed out of white stone and looked fairly ordinary compared to the massive churches and temples in Calore. Nevertheless, it was still the grandest building in Crassus.

Nie Yan had visited this place before in his past life. Back then, apart from the typical furnishings of a church, there was nothing and no one.

"Let’s wait inside.” Nie Yan walked through the doors. Inside the hall were about a dozen rows of pews. There were no NPCs around. The place was empty. Up at the front stood the statue of a goddess. It was poorly maintained, perhaps due to months or even years of neglect, and covered in a thick layer of dust.

"Well, I guess I have nothing better to do…” Nie Yan sat on one of the pews and patiently waited. He couldn’t leave before Phantom Princess Ina arrived.

Nie Yan understood he was bringing disaster to this small town. He prayed the NPCs here would smoothly deal with Phantom Princess Ina.

About 20 minutes later, an elderly man with a cane walked into the church. He spared Nie Yan a brief glance before continuing forward to the statue. He clasped an old holy book in his hands.

This elderly man was already bordering on ancient. His face was withered up like a dry prune and his hair was as gray as ash. His legs shook unsteadily with every step, as though a gentle breeze could knock him over.

Nie Yan’s eyes widened in surprise. In the previous timeline, even if the number of times he’d visited Crassus didn’t reach a thousand, it wouldn’t be far off. Whenever he had time to kill while waiting for a team, he would wander around town or sometimes wait in the church. In the several dozen times he’d been in here, he never once encountered this elderly man. He had no idea where this NPC came from. Thinking long and hard, he confirmed he had never met him before.

Nie Yan could acutely sense this elderly man wasn’t your run-of-the-mill NPC. "I wonder if I can receive a hidden quest or something from him…”

Nie Yan inspected him with Transcendent Insight.

Old-Timer Cranston (Elite): Level 180
Titles: Dragonslayer

"My god!” Nie Yan was taken aback. He never expected this unassuming old man to have such an amazing title.

Nie Yan checked Cranston’s health. It was only around 100,000.

Cranston’s stats clearly didn’t match his title and level. Nie Yan finally understood what was called a hero past their prime. In Conviction, unless an NPC was an invincible existence like Karsi or Kelowitz, they would eventually succumb to the weathering of time.

Even unrivalled heroes would return to dust, their eras of glory buried in the river of history.

"Sir Cranston, greetings.” Nie Yan didn’t know if this Level 180 Elite would give out a quest.

Cranston glanced at Nie Yan before turning his attention back to his book.

Nie Yan stood there with an awkward expression. This was the first time he had encountered an NPC who didn’t even bother acknowledging his existence.

Despite encountering a setback, Nie Yan’s determination only grew stronger. He refused to believe this nut couldn’t be cracked. He walked over and attentively listened to the words Cranston was muttering.

Cranston was reading the words from his holy book.

"With a benevolent heart, treat every person with kindness and sincerity. Aspire to be like the Holy Spirit Spring in the Koruns Mountain, supplying life to every tree and never drying…” Cranston spoke in Ancient Common. His soft yet powerful voice carried a sort of cadence that relaxed one’s soul.

Nie Yan was fluent in Ancient Common. These mystical verses gradually calmed his heart.

This was the first time Nie Yan realized that these texts could contain such profound meaning. Each verse left behind a deep impression in his mind.

The more Nie Yan listened, the more entranced he became. He no longer bothered Cranston and simply listened. The text told of one ancient tale after another.

The seconds and minutes ticket away. Nie Yan’s needless worries and doubts washed away. He felt refreshed.

Nie Yan was in no rush. He had nowhere to be, nor was there anything urgent requiring his attention. There was no harm in listening.

About 20 minutes later, Cranston finally reached the last page. He calmly and unhurriedly read out the last verse before closing his book. Turning around, his murky eyes finally focused on Nie Yan. "Passing adventurer, what would you like to buy?”

Hearing Cranston’s words, Nie Yan’s mouth gaped open like a fish. It took a long time for him to regain his wits. What the hell!? This old man is just a merchant! Cranston had only ignored Nie Yan earlier because his eyesight was bad. Only now did he finally get a good look at Nie Yan!

Chapter 598 - Town Slaughter!

Nie Yan thought Cranston was some mysterious NPC with a hidden quest. It turned out he was actually just a merchant! He felt slightly depressed when he thought of how much time he’d wasted. Cranston only started paying attention to him after he finished reading his book!

Were this real life, any merchant that dared to treat their customers this way would surely starve to death!

However, after giving it some thought, Nie Yan realized this was likely a trigger. The player had to sit through Cranston’s entire sermon before they could purchase something from him.

Nie Yan found it strange he’d never heard of such an NPC in his past life.

A shop window popped up in front of Nie Yan. Cranston only had three items for sale. His eyes widened in shock. Damn! Someone actually sells these items?

The first item listed up for sale was a black crystal. It looked like a lump of coal, lacking the slightest sparkle. However, Nie Yan’s heart trembled when he read the name. It was a Resurrection Crystal!

Resurrection Crystal: Revive a fallen pet. Consumed upon use.
Price: 200,000 gold

The other two items didn’t lose out either.

Arcane Gem (Socketable): Increases the damage of arcane magic by 30%.
Price: 200,000 gold

Mysterious Black Egg: Found by Cranston during his prime. A powerful creature slumbers inside.
Price: 500,000 gold

None of these items were things that normal players could afford, and this was after the discount Nie Yan received from his Grand Scholar title.

"When I was still a young man, I slayed a dragon. These are the items I obtained from it…” Cranston started recounting the stories of his youth.

Nie Yan had no interest in listening to Cranston any longer. He quickly had Guo Huai transfer over the gold to him. He couldn’t let this opportunity slip by, no matter what!

Before long, Nie Yan bought all three items from Cranston for 900,000 gold. Spending so much in one go was a bit painful. However, it was definitely worth it. If you put these three items up on the auction house, even 1,500,000 gold wouldn’t necessarily be enough to buy them all.

Cranston continued, "After I defeated the dragon, the father of this little church offered me something. He wanted me to set on the path of a hero and become a legend. Sadly I failed to live up to his expectations. When he passed away many years later, I took over his position and have been keeping watch over this place ever since. The days flew by and before I knew it, I’d become a decrepit. I feel deeply ashamed just thinking of it. Youngster, would you be willing to fulfill this old man’s wish?”

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. It was a quest.

"Of course, sir Cranston. What would you like me to do?

"This is the bracelet the father gave me. It will guide you. Please, if you decide to accept this, prepare yourself mentally for this challenge.” Cranston took out a plain looking silver white link and chain bracelet.

Will you accept Cranston’s request?

As long as it was a quest, regardless of the difficulty, Nie Yan would accept. With his current strength, no quest was impossible for him! If he couldn’t do it, no one could! Then what meaning would there be to have such a quest in the game?

Nie Yan hit yes without the slightest hesitation. As he carefully accepted the bracelet from Cranston, a notification popped up.

You have received the quest Heart of a Hero.

Nie Yan’s mind trembled. Was this Heart of a Hero quest related to the Holy Spirit Heart?

Nie Yan was filled with doubts. However, after some more thought, he decided not to worry about it any further. Be it the Heart of a Hero right now or the Holy Spirit Heart required to rescue Barbarian Kelowitz, they were all shrouded in a veil of mystery. He still didn’t have a real understanding of what they were.

Nie Yan wore the chain and link bracelet on his left hand, wrapping it around his middle finger. It didn’t have any stats whatsoever. Many close-combat classes had this type of accessory. According to rumours, some rare bracelets would become a frightening cursed item after absorbing large amounts of blood.

With the bracelet on, Nie Yan felt an icy coldness course through his hand.

After handing out the quest to Nie Yan, Cranston seemed to age more than 10 years. He said with a feeble tone, "Wear this bracelet as you pursue the path of a hero. It will grant you miraculous power. Well, I wish you success on your journey. I’ll be handing this gold over to my children. One day, just like the father of this church… Let dust turn to dust and earth return to earth. The world is me, and I am the world. Why would I be reluctant to leave?”

Cranston bid farewell to Nie Yan, then disappeared behind the church.

It seemed like the reason Nie Yan had never encountered Cranston before was that he disappeared after handing out his quest. That was probably why whenever he entered the church in the previous timeline, it was completely empty.

Seeing Cranston’s figure disappearing behind the church, Nie Yan withdrew his gaze. He had no idea what he needed to do to trigger the next clue in the quest. After reading over the quest description, he decided to put it off for now. Quests that he hadn’t even started yet or was stuck halfway through on were a dime-a-dozen in his quest window. He could only resolve them one at a time. This wasn’t the first, nor would it be the last.

After waiting a while longer in the church, Nie Yan heard the sound of battle coming from the town entrance. He quickly stood up. Phantom Princess Ina was here!

Nie Yan walked out of the church. Activating his Crawler Ring, he quickly climbed up to the top of the roof. As he looked to see what was happening at the entrance, his eyes trembled with shock.

It wasn’t playing out like he expected at all. He thought Crassus’ residents and defenses were enough to deal with Phantom Princess Ina. However, she had summoned a Giant Steel Golem. It was five meters tall and covered in sharp spikes It acted as a bodyguard and stood right in front of her. Each step it took violently shook the earth.

The women in Crassus let out cries of terror. The men grabbed their weapons. Some people manned the crossbow turrets and took aim at the Giant Steel Golem.

However, their attacks had no effect. The Giant Steel Golem smashed its fist into the wall. BOOM! It instantly destroyed a portion of the wall. Several residents let out miserable cries and collapsed on the ground.

The Giant Steel Golem wreaked havoc on the town’s defenses, killing residents left and right.

Phantom Princess Ina raised her staff, reanimating the fallen residents into her undead army. The number of Phantom Puppets under her control grew with each passing second. They started carrying out a massacre.

Some players didn’t get a chance to flee before they were overrun by the Phantom Puppets.

Nie Yan’s face turned ashen. A Level 100 Variant Lord was much more powerful than he ever imagined.

Notice: Crassus is under attack. Players, please provide assistance!
Notice: Crassus is under attack. Players, please provide assistance!
...

This bright red notification popped up for everyone in Calore.

Nie Yan didn’t expect this matter to attract so much attention. He didn’t know how this battle in Crassus would play out now.

The players in Calore broke out in lively discussion. Some decided to watch from the sidelines. Others immediately rushed over to Crassus for fear of missing out on the loot. Aside from Asskickers United, Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, and Radiant Sacred Flame, Calore was home to more than 50 other guilds both large and small. Though they were minor powers, as soon as the notifications popped up, they started dispatching their expedition teams one after another. From their experiences, this kind of event was a golden opportunity to fish up easy benefits.

Crassus’ transfer area lit up as groups of players teleported over in droves. Even players from other cities had come. While they were in Calore questing, they had received the notification too.

These players surged toward the town entrance as a chaotic battle ensued. The combined strength of several thousand players gathered together wasn’t to be taken lightly.

Seeing the steady stream of players flowing out of the transfer area, Nie Yan’s jaw dropped in shock. A horde of players swarmed the Giant Steel Golem and Phantom Princess Ina.

Guo Huai had received the news as well. He immediately contacted Nie Yan,「Crassus was attacked by a boss monster. Should we send people over to fight for the Honour?」

It appeared this matter had caught Guo Huai’s interest too. Nie Yan bitterly smiled. No one knew the person responsible for all this chaos in Crassus was him!

「Hold off for a moment. I’m at Crassus right now. I’ll let you know if it’s necessary,」Nie Yan said. Killing Phantom Princess Ina wouldn’t be easy for players at this stage of the game. After all, she was a Level 100 Variant Lord.

「Huh, how are you there already!?」

「Because I’m the one who caused this whole mess...」Nie Yan recounted everything from the beginning.

「I see… Well, I heard Crassus is pretty lively right now. Everyone’s there, including some of our old enemies like Bloodfiends and Angel Corps. Even God Executioner Sword and Penumbra Empire are participating,」Guo Huai said. It was a real fiesta. Since intercity travel was fairly easy now, many players from other large guilds would come to Calore to level and do quests. Asskickers United’s players were the same, frequently travelling to other cities. The fact that outsiders were joining in on the fun wasn’t strange at all.

「I’ll give them my regards. Tell Bladelight and the others to continue exploring Griffon Woodlands. Don’t bother with things here,」Nie Yan concluded. Even if Asskickers United sent over a team, they likely wouldn’t be able to snatch up any appreciable benefits. It simply wasn’t worth their time. He alone was enough.

At this moment, a 1,000-player expedition team emerged from the transfer area and hurried over toward the town entrance.

Nie Yan swept his eyes over the group and noticed a few familiar faces—Thieves from Bloodfiends! They huddled together and discussed something before disappearing into stealth.

As a fellow Thief, Nie Yan more-or-less knew what they were up to. Events like these absolutely wouldn’t have them missing. They wouldn’t participate in the defense of the town. However, once Phantom Princess Ina died, they would definitely be part of the group fighting over the loot. Thieves had an innate advantage when it came to snatching up drops.

A large crowd had gathered outside of Crassus. Some players surrounded Phantom Princess Ina while others dealt with the Giant Steel Golem and Phantom Puppets. Even though the battle looked hectic, everyone played their role.

There was always Honour to be earned when participating in a town defense. So, these players were quite motivated. Even the weakest among them were at least Level 70. Those who were low level wouldn’t dare to come to a high level place like Crassus.

Particle effects exploded in the air. Players were dying left and right. However, they had managed to kill a few of the Phantom Puppets, which dropped high quality equipment and gems. They immediately made a mad scramble for the loot.

"Woo hoo! I snagged a Dark Gold-grade sword!”

"I got a Blaze Gem!”

...

The excited cries of some players only added to the frenzy.

"Everyone, kill the Giant Steel Golem and Phantom Princess Ina! I bet they’ll drop Sub Legendary or even Legendary-grade equipment!”

The crowd’s excitement boiled to a fever pitch as hordes of Warriors rushed forward. Phantom Princess Ina waved her staff, sending a wave of frost sweeping out and covering everything within a 50-meter radius. The Warriors were instantly stopped in their tracks.

"Shit, I’m frozen! I can’t move!”

"Mages, don’t let up! Priests and Paladins, quickly cast Holy Warmth!”

Among the crowd, a Warrior clad in silver armour was leading 2,000 others in attacking Phantom Princess Ina. Seeing this figure, Nie Yan’s eyebrows jumped in surprise. He didn’t expect to meet an old acquaintance here. It was Splendid Star, the guild leader of Splendid Temple.

Nie Yan had met Splendid Star back when the Guardian Of Order attacked Link Town.

It seemed like a lively event such as fighting over a boss couldn’t have him missing!

When the two first met, Nie Yan was still a nameless solo player. Now he was the guild leader of Asskickers United, Nirvana Flame, an existence who ruled over Calore. Even Splendid Star himself would sigh at how things turned out.

Even though Splendid Temple had seen remarkable growth, they could only be counted as a mid-tier guild in Calore. They couldn’t hold a candle to a colossus like Asskickers United. Thanks to the little bit of friendship Splendid Star had with Nie Yan and Sleepy Fox, they had always maintained a cordial relationship with Asskickers United and Holy Empire.

"It’s about time I joined in on the fun... Let’s dish out some payback, and do some catching up with an old friend.” Nie Yan leaped off the top of the church.

Chapter 599 - An Eye for an Eye, A Tooth for a Tooth

Phantom Princess Ina waved her staff and called down a blazing meteor. BOOM! A fiery explosion swept out and instantly engulfed everybody in the vicinity.

A thousand players were instantly killed. However, even more surged forward to fill their spots.

They planned to slowly whittle away at Phantom Princess Ina’s health. Even a more powerful boss would eventually fall to this many people. Time ticked away.

No one could have ever imagined Phantom Princess Ina would be this powerful. The casualties quickly accumulated.

Half an hour later, Phantom Princess Ina still had a third of her health remaining. It was falling slowly. Only then did players understand the might of a Level 100 Variant Lord. She was completely different from other bosses, who would die within five or six minutes after being swarmed by several thousand players.

Splendid Temple suffered heavy losses. Their casualties already exceeded 200.

"Tanks, interrupt her casts! Mages, lower your damage output! You’re building up too much aggro!” Splendid Star ordered. At this rate, even if they snagged a good piece of equipment, it wouldn’t be worth it.

Apart from those of Splendid Temple, Phantom Princess Ina had killed roughly 10,000 players so far. At this time, three more guilds arrived with 1,000-man teams.

Lured into the town, 7,000 players surrounded the Giant Steel Golem. It rained down fist after fist, killing several dozen players with each attack. Regardless of how many fell, more players kept charging forward, seemingly unafraid of death.

These players were all dreaming of hitting it big. The cost of most of the equipment on their bodies ranged from several dozen to several hundred gold, maybe up to a thousand for the richest ones among them. Meanwhile, bosses like the Giant Steel Golem and Phantom Princess Ina dropped equipment worth tens of thousands of gold at the very least! As long as they were lucky enough to win the loot scramble, the amount of gold they’d earn by selling one or two drops to the leader of a large guild or gaming organization was enough to replace their current set of gear with something five or six tiers higher!

Similar instances had happened before, with countless examples of players getting rich overnight. It was to the extent some people became professional loot scramblers. Whenever a boss was sighted, they would start stirring.

So, when news about Phantom Princess Ina attacking Crassus spread, all these loot scramblers came rushing over.

Even an elephant could be bitten to death by enough ants. No matter how powerful Phantom Princess Ina and her summons were, she had no way of blocking this unending tide of players! Every little bit of damage stacked up, whittling her health away.

Howl of Terror!

Phantom Princess Ina let out an ear-piercing wail, causing all players in a 50-meter radius to freeze in place before fleeing around like headless chickens.

Chaos and confusion fell over the battlefield. The Mages far in the rear stepped forward and unleashed their magic.

Nie Yan didn’t dare to tangle with Phantom Princess Ina. He stealthily approached within 20 meters of the Giant Steel Golem. Inspecting it with Transcendent Insight, he discovered it only had 9% health left. It would soon fall.

The Giant Steel Golem went berserk and extracted a greataxe from its back. It swung the axe in a horizontal strike, unleashing a 10-meter wide crescent beam towards the crowd. BOOM! A hundred players were obliterated in an instant, transforming into rays of light.

"Crap! It went berserk!”

"Everyone, run! Wait for the berserk timer to wear off!”

"God dammit! You’re still trying to scramble for loot in this situation? Quickly, run!”

The Giant Steel Golem madly pursued the fleeing players. It swept through everything in its path.

Nie Yan hid among the crowd. Seeing the Giant Steel Golem winding up for another swing, he dodged out of the way with Gale Step. As the blade cleaved down, he heard miserable cries coming from behind him.

Glancing back, close to a hundred corpses were lying on the ground.

The weak could only serve as cannon fodder.

The Giant Steel Golem left behind a trail of carnage and destruction wherever it passed.

Nie Yan circled behind the Giant Steel Golem. He was about 10 meters away. He closely eyed its back.

With the Giant Steel Golem’s health falling to 3%, everyone anxiously waited for the finishing blow to be dealt. However, no one dared to charge forward. It was simply too dangerous. Anyone that approached would be instantly cleaved in half.

Spells ruthlessly bombarded the Giant Steel Golem. A continuous string of damage values floated up above its head.

The Giant Steel Golem’s health finally dropped below 1%.

"It’s almost dead! We can do this!”

"I’m counting on you guys to cover me when I go to snatch the drops!”

A few groups formed defensive lines, preventing the players behind them from passing through. The Thieves gathered at the front started pacing back and forth, preparing to pounce forward at a moment’s notice. They would do anything and everything to win the loot scramble. The players caught further back attempted to forcefully squeeze through, driven by the allure of the Giant Steel Golem’s potential loot drops. Those at the front wanted to hog everything for themselves. Of course they would be unwilling.

The Giant Steel Golem’s health kept falling, 0.7%... 0.5%... 0.3%...

Flicker Strike!

Nie Yan’s figure blurred into motion, instantly arriving behind the Giant Steel Golem.

Backbreaker!

He pushed off from his waist, channelling all his power into one arm, and drove Zennarde’s Sword into its back.

−9,324

BOOM! The Giant Steel Golem crashed into the ground.

"Nice, I landed the killing blow.” Nie Yan glanced at his notification bar. He had obtained more than 2,000 Honour.

Nie Yan was about to bend down and pick up the drops, when the Warriors and Thieves behind him rushed forward.

"The Giant Steel Golem died! Quickly, snatch the loot!”

"Stop that Thief!”

Blazing red clouds congealed in the sky. Fireballs started coming down like a torrential downpour.

"Fucking hell! Which asshole cast an AoE spell?”

Some Thieves and Warriors couldn’t get away in time and were instantly overwhelmed by the deluge of fireballs. A blanket of damage values rose up into the sky.

"Damn! These guys aren’t fooling around!” Nie Yan evaded the bombardment with Gale Step. After he was 30 meters away, he glanced back at the inferno. Lying on the ground among the raging flames were charred corpses.

The downpour of magic grew even more intense. The Mages had worked so hard to kill the Giant Steel Golem, but the Warriors wouldn’t let them pass through. Seeing the loot about to be snatched away, they instantly became enraged. If we can’t have it, no one can!

"Fuck! Kill anyone casting AoE magic!” the commander of an expedition team cursed out in a rage.

Everything within a 30-meter radius of the Giant Steel Golem’s remains was engulfed in flames, lightning, and ice. "Forget it, not worth risking my life over.” Nie Yan shook his head. "I snagged the Honour for killing the boss, and it’s not like we’re short on equipment anyway.”

Nie Yan gazed at Phantom Princess Ina in the distance. "Let’s go take a look at how they’re doing over there…”

Nie Yan made his way toward the other battlefield.

The situation here was a lot more hectic than with the Giant Steel Golem. Several major powers were eying Phantom Princess Ina. Among them was Splendid Temple who had mobilized roughly 2,000 players. There was also God Executioner Sword, Heavenly Asura, Winter Darkness, and a few other guilds. Each had brought along at least 1,000 players. They were on high alert, preparing to scramble for the loot drops.

After Asskickers United, Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, and Radiant Sacred Flame, the next most powerful guilds in Calore were Death Descent, Splendid Temple, Sky Sievers, and Winter Darkness. They had either already established themselves in previous popular VRMMOs or recently risen to power. Since none of them controlled any strongholds, their incomes weren’t that high. However, they couldn’t be looked down on. Each guild had around 60,000 players with a decent ratio of elites.

Even though Asskickers United was powerful, they always kept a vigilant eye on these smaller guilds. If they grew powerful, their first targets would be the strongholds occupied by Asskickers United and its allies. To them, these guilds posed a major threat. They had nothing to lose. Since they didn’t control any strongholds in the first place, it didn’t matter if they were defeated by Asskickers United. The most Asskickers United could do to them was hunt them down and cause them some losses. If worse came to worst, they could simply dissolve and restart elsewhere with their core members.

Asskickers United had everything to lose and very little to gain, while these guilds had everything to gain and very little to lose.

So, for Asskickers United to secure their foundation, these second-rate guilds couldn’t be allowed to grow more powerful. At the first signs of anything untoward, they would be smothered to death in the cradle.

The guild leaders of these four guilds were at the front lines commanding their troops. Nie Yan looked around and spotted the silhouettes of the five Thieves from Bloodfiends. They were lingering around in an area 20 meters away from Phantom Princess Ina. It was rumoured that Bloodfiends was a student club in the Top Military Academy. Two of the members were current students while the other three had already graduated. They were called Dark, Ardent, Shadow, Night, and Seal. The people under them were also all Thieves.

Since Nie Yan was going to be studying at the Top MIlitary Academy for the next four years, they were bound to bump into each other sooner or later.

"Last time, I almost died to your ambush. Now it’s my turn to return the favour!” Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a cold light.

Nie Yan had grown much stronger since their last meeting. The main five from Bloodfiends were indeed skilled. It wasn’t strange that they advanced to Shadow Dancers in the previous timeline. However, the current him could be described as a cheat.

Nie Yan played with the dagger in his hand before making his approach.

Chapter 600 - Conspiracy

In the middle of the battlefield, several guilds were keeping one another in check. They all glared at each other with hostility. However, none of them made a move. With Phantom Princess Ina still alive, there was no benefit in them fighting amongst each other. Not to mention they were all roughly equal in strength. If a fight broke out, everyone would incur heavy losses.

Winter Darkness’ guild leader was an Elementalist called Ice Age. He was a man in his 30s with a slim build and average features, the sort that would easily blend into a crowd. However, his azure robes were far from ordinary. He had three pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment on his body while the rest were Dark Gold-grade. He was far better geared than most of his counterparts.

"Fighters! Stand your ground! Don’t let Phantom Princess Ina come over to our side!” Ice Age hollered.

The Fighters of Winter Darkness planted their greatshields into the ground and formed a shield wall.

It was clear Ice Age had properly trained the players under him.

Ice Age opened his chat. He created a private group with the guild leaders of Death Descent and Sky Siever—Reaper’s Breath and Skynet.

「Skynet, Reaper, have you guys thought about it? Are we doing this or what? Give me a reply. A simple yes or no is fine.」

Reaper’s Breath gritted his teeth.「Damn it! Fine, I’m in. Tell me what you want us to do.」

「Good, that’s what I like to hear. We’ve all suffered at the hands of Splendid Temple. Recently, they snatched away two mines my people found. You guys have probably encountered similar situations before, no? I recall just a few days ago Splendid Temple’s forces wiped out two 100-man expedition teams from Sky Siever. Anyway, I know they have a slight connection with Asskickers United, but that’s simply because they’re a bit stronger than us. I’m sure once we take them down a notch, Asskickers United will toss them aside like a dirty rag. So, Skynet, can we count you in?」

「Alright, I’m in...」Skynet replied after thinking it over.

Unbeknownst to Splendid Star, while his forces were focused on dealing with Phantom Princess Ina and preparing to snatch the loot, Winter Darkness, Death Descent, and Sky Siever were plotting against him.

「I’ve also recruited the help of Bloodfiends. With 30 top Thieves acting together, none of the Priests from Splendid Temple should even think about surviving!」Ice Age chuckled.

「How did you manage to invite Bloodfiends?」Reaper’s Breath was surprised. There was no way second-rate guilds like them could afford the astronomical fees charged by Bloodfiends.

The income of second-rate guilds was limited. Aside from membership dues, their only other sources of income came from hunting bosses, grinding mobs, and excavating mines. Since they weren’t strong enough to monopolize higher level maps, they could only pick up the leftovers of more powerful guilds. No financial groups were willing to invest in them, and the guild leaders couldn’t keep paying out of their own pockets. So, funding for guild activities was fairly strained.

「I found a backer. He’s willing to invest in Winter Darkness. Bloodfiends is also under his control. With extra funding, we can finally start recruiting more people,」Ice Age said in a gloating tone.

「Who would be willing to invest in second-rate guilds like us. You’re pulling our legs, aren’t you?」Reaper’s Breath bitterly smiled. He couldn’t help but feel helpless at their current situation.

「I agree. Only a blind person or someone with nothing better to do would bother investing in prospectless guilds like ours,」Skynet chimed in.

「Well, that’s where you guys are wrong. Sure, Asskickers United might be strong. But they aren’t invincible. We have more than 20 second-rate guilds, 40 third-rate guilds, and even more smaller guilds with at least 10,000 members in Calore. If all of them were gathered together, could you imagine how powerful of a force that would be? It would outnumber Asskickers United by at least six to one!」Ice Age said.

「That’s true, but these guilds are like grains of sand floating in the wind. Who could possibly gather them all together? Challenging Asskickers United in Calore, that’s ridiculous. Even in the entirety of the Viridian Empire, there isn’t a guild that can match them!」

Seeing that Reaper’s Breath and Skynet weren’t convinced, Ice Age continued,「It doesn’t matter if you guys believe me or not. You’ll find out soon enough. The Century Financial Group recently struck a deal with another financial group, and agreed to transfer over all their assets in the Viridian Empire. As for the name of this financial group, I won’t say. They’re operating in the shadows for the time being. All the former elites of the now defunct Victorious Return, Bloodlust Blades, and Alliance of Mages have been recruited by them. Divine Protectors, God Executioner Sword, Penumbra Empire, and 50 other guilds both large and small are also under their control; naturally, Winter Darkness too. I estimate it won’t be long before their people get in touch with you guys too.」Ice Age felt smug being privy to knowledge Reaper’s Breath and Skynet weren’t aware of first. Winter Darkness’ position in the alliance would surely be higher than that of Death Descent and Sky Siever.

Ice Age’s words rang like claps of thunder in the ears of Reaper’s Breath and Skynet.

「My god! What kind of financial group has that much money?」Reaper’s Breath exclaimed in shock. If what Ice Age was saying was true, there would be another huge shakeup in the power balance of the Viridian Empire.

「The Century Financial Group has already abandoned Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors? Why didn’t we hear about this?」Skynet asked.

「It would be strange if you did. Just wait, in a few months, Calore will no longer belong to Asskickers United!」Ice Age declared.

「Really…?」Reaper’s Breath and Skynet were filled with doubts. If a financial group had really gathered such a large force, it would be hard to say if Asskickers United could maintain their dominance. However, why hadn’t they heard of anything until now? Ice Age wasn’t trying to hoodwink them, right?

…

Dark, Ardent, Shadow, Night, and Seal chatted as they carefully avoided Phantom Princess Ina’s attacks.

"Phantom Princess Ina doesn’t have much health left. Prepare to scramble for the loot!” Dark reminded. He was the oldest in the group, and so his words held the most sway.

"Watch out for the players in the back casting AoE magic,” Ardent warned.

"Don’t worry. I have something that will protect me. When the time comes, leave everything to me,” Dark said. He had recently obtained an Advanced Skill that would make him immune to magic for five seconds, more than enough time for him to snatch the loot and make a quick getaway.

All preparations were complete. When Phantom Princess Ina died, they would take action.

At this moment, Dark received a message. He turned to Ardent and the others, "Winter Darkness wants to take action against Splendid Temple.”

"What did the boss say?”

"The boss approved it?”

Since the boss approved, they had no choice but to comply with the request.

The plot to deal with Splendid Temple was beginning.

…

Nie Yan inched closer to Dark and the others. These five Thieves were truly inseparable. There was no more than two meters between them at any time, leaving no opportunity for an ambush. Looking elsewhere, he noticed Winter Darkness, Death Descent, and Sky Siever slowly but surely closing in on Splendid Temple. He immediately sensed something wrong.

"We’re almost there! Phantom Princess Ina only has 2% health left. Imp, you scramble for the loot. We’ll cover you!” Splendid Star shouted.

"Boss, Winter Darkness is attacking us!”

"Boss, Death Descent is attacking us!”

"Boss, Sky Siever is closing in on us! Do we attack?”

"What!?” Splendid Star cried out in alarm. Looking back, he saw red clouds form in the sky. Before long, fireballs started pouring down, wiping out his players in droves.

Several dozen Thieves snuck into the backline and started massacring the Priests of Splendid Temple.

"Boss, their Thieves are too strong. We’ve already lost 30 Priests!”

"Ice Age, Reaper, Skynet, you scheming sons of bitches! I’ll remember this! Just wait, I’ll make you assholes pay for this!” Splendid Star boiled with rage. His players were being slaughtered left and right.

"Boss, what do we do?”

"Give up on Phantom Princess Ina! Retreat! Fucking bastards, if they want a fight, we’ll give it to them! Warriors, charge!” Splendid Star roared. He led several dozen Warriors toward the forces of Winter Darkness.

Splendid Temple was attacked from all sides. They had lost around 600 players, over a quarter of their original force. It looked like they were going to suffer a disastrous defeat.

Winter Darkness, Death Descent, and Sky Siever had conspired together to deal with Splendid Temple. They outnumbered Splendid Temple two to one. Thanks to the ambush, they seized the initiative and were dictating the flow of battle. Furthermore, with the interference of the Thieves from Bloodfiends, Splendid Temple instantly lost the support from their Priests in the rear. Their casualties were quickly accumulating.

"Those motherfuckers!” Splendid Star cursed. He was normally friendly and amiable, rarely ever having such angry outbursts. "If it wasn’t for this ambush, we definitely wouldn’t have suffered this many casualties!”

Splendid Star and his several dozen Warriors clashed with the frontline of Winter Darkness. However, lacking support from their Priests in the rear, they were at a clear disadvantage. They were fighting an uphill battle.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. He still shared some friendship with Splendid Star. Their two guilds also had a cooperative relationship. Seeing Splendid Temple suffer such heavy losses, he couldn’t sit around and do nothing.

"Hmm… The Darkwing Dragon is too distinct. They’ll instantly know it’s me. I should just summon Lafus.” Nie Yan opened the window for Divine Recruitment.

Do you wish to summon Paladin Lafus?

Yes!

With a flash of light, Paladin Lafus emerged on the battlefield.

Chapter 601 - Godly Blessings

The forces of Winter Darkness, Death Descent, and Sky Siever held the absolute advantage. Even though they met fierce resistance from Splendid Star, they progressed smoothly. Splendid Temple only had 500 players left from their initial 2,000. Meanwhile, their combined casualties barely exceeded 200.

Splendid Star and his troops were in their death throes.

Dark, Ardent, and the other three Thieves from Bloodfiends surrounded six Priests and made short work of them.

The 30 Thieves from Bloodfiends moved like a pack of wolves. Acting in groups of three or four, they would pop out of nowhere, leaving behind a pile of corpses before disappearing without a trace.

This tactic proved effective. More than half the Priests from Splendid Temple died at the hands of these Thieves.

"Die, you son of a bitch!” Splendid Star roared as he charged at Ice Age.

Ice Age sneered, "Come and try if you think you have the ability! We’ve killed more than half your elites already. I’d like to see how Splendid Temple will make a recovery from this. Aren’t you buddies with Asskickers United? Where are they? Why haven’t they come to rescue you yet?”

Ice Age kept throwing out insults and taunts, even in the face of Splendid Star’s charge, while retreating toward the back. Several dozen Warriors came out from behind him. They rushed forward to intercept Splendid Star.

Charge! Intercept!

The Warriors blocked Splendid Star’s advance.

Splendid Star’s group was completely surrounded. Of the dozen or so Warriors that charged into battle with him, only two were left alive. They were Bitter Coffee and Lone Falling Leaf.

The two Warriors stood in front of Splendid Star.

"Boss, quickly escape with an Unknown Transfer Scroll! We’ll cover you!” Bitter Coffee anxiously yelled.

"Screw that! I’m going to kill Ice Age even if it costs me my life!” Splendid Star cursed.

Barbarian Strength!

Seismic Slam!

"HAAAH!” Splendid Star slammed his greatsword into the earth and sent three enemy Warriors flying. He then charged at Ice Age.

"Boss!”

"Protect the Boss!” Lone Falling Leaf yelled after seeing he couldn’t dissuade Splendid Star. Charge! He rushed forward to provide support.

"This is bad! We won’t last without any healing!” Bitter Coffee anxiously shouted.

The Shadow Priests locked down Splendid Star, Bitter Coffee, and Lone Falling Leaf with Shackles of Strife. Teleporting away was no longer possible.

A shower of spells rained down from the sky and bombarded Bitter Coffee. His health bar bottomed out, and he collapsed on the ground.

A Thief appeared out of stealth and picked up the equipment Bitter Coffee dropped. "Damn, this guy has some pretty good equipment.”

Several Warriors ganged up on Lone Falling Leaf. After a fierce struggle, he was also cut down.

Seeing his two closest subordinates dying, Splendid Star’s eyes reddened with rage. With a Whirlwind Slash, he cleared away the last of the Warriors between him and Ice Age.

"Ice Age, face me like a man if you have the balls!”

The blood soaked Splendid Star resembled a god of slaughter. Ice Age felt fear creep over him. He anxiously retreated, while simultaneously putting on a brave front and shouting, "Mages, kill him! He’s only one person!”

Splendid Star barreled forward and knocked aside two Thieves attempting to intercept him. 10 meters... 7 meters... 3 meters... he was fast approaching Ice Age.

Ice Age was a Mage. Once Splendid Star entered within melee range of him, he would be dead for sure. He quickly turned tail and fled.

"He only has 30% health left. Finish him off!”

Spells arced through the air and rained down on Splendid Star.

Splendid Star quickly drank an Advanced Health Potion. "You think this will stop me!? Get back here, you coward!” He braved through the shower of spells, his focus only on Ice Age.

"Fuck! Just die already!” Ice Age cried out.

Splendid Star quickly caught up to Ice Age and cleaved down with his greatsword.

"Die!” Splendid Star roared with bloodshot eyes.

Splendid Star’s fury was truly frightening. As his blade was about to land, Ice Age shielded himself with Ice Barrier. A white membrane enveloped his body.

CRACK! Splendid Star’s attack shattered the Ice Barrier and slammed into Ice Age’s chest, knocking him several meters back.

−1,637

Ice Age was frightened out of his mind! If he hadn’t cast Ice Barrier in time, he would be a cold corpse on the ground right now!

Scrambling back to his feet, Ice Age fled for dear life. Splendid Star immediately gave chase. The players of Winter Darkness were completely awestruck. They had never met someone so fearless and unrelenting in the face of death.

"Save the boss!”

"Mages, don’t stop firing. Warriors, intercept him!”

Ice Age cut a sorry figure as he crawled and rolled out of the way of Splendid Star’s attacks. He was being chased down like a dog.

It didn’t matter how many spells he had. With Splendid Star hot on his heels, Ice Age didn’t have the time to cast any one of them.

Flame Slash!

Splendid Star’s sword ignited with raging flames as he chopped down. It looked to be the end of the road for Ice Age.

Charge! Intercept!

Five Warriors from Winter Darkness arrived just in time.

Splendid Star slashed down with his sword and sent one of the Warriors flying. He watched as Ice Age escaped further and further away.

"Fucking hell! Kill that bastard already!” Ice Age cursed in a fit of anger. He had embarrassed himself greatly while running away from Splendid Star.

The several Warriors closed in. Splendid Star only had 10% health left. This was the end of the road. It was impossible to reverse the tide.

"Ice Age! Every debt has a debtor, every injustice a perpetrator. Today you’ve cut down 2,000 of my people. I won’t forget this enmity. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day I’ll find you and pay back everything in full!” Splendid Star declared.

A dense shower of spells whizzed through the sky and rained down on Splendid Star.

Splendid Star closed his eyes, resigning himself to death. At this time, a white light suddenly fell over him and instantly restored his health back to full.

BANG! BANG! BANG! After the dust and smoke cleared, Splendid Star was surprised to discover he was still alive. His health was also restored to full. What happened next filled him with far greater shock. After the healing, several more rays of light fell over him.

A barrier of holy light enveloped Splendid Star. He felt energy flowing into him, seeping into every muscle fibre of his body. He was brimming with strength!

As Splendid Star lowered his head to glance at his stats, his jaws dropped in shock. His strength had gone up from 1,600 to 5,300. His defense rose from from 5,100 to 19,000. His dexterity doubled, attack power and evasion tripled, and health quintupled!

These stats could only be described as cheats! Splendid Star knew there wasn’t a single Warrior capable of rivalling him right now.

"Damn. My defense is even higher than a Fighter with a shield!” Splendid Star gasped.

A dozen Warriors surrounded Splendid Star. The more they slashed and hacked away at him, the more baffled they became. Before, they were doing roughly 500 damage a hit, sometimes even up to 800 damage a hit. Now, it took all their effort just to breach 10 damage a hit.

His defense was too ridiculous!

Glancing at Splendid Star’s health again and seeing that it was almost 70,000, they nearly fainted from shock.

Spells continuously rained down on Splendid Star. A string of damage values rose up from his head.

However, Splendid Star’s health barely fell.

Splendid Star finally regained his wits. He raised his greatsword and chopped down, instantly killing a Warrior with 5,000 health.

One slash after the other, Splendid Star cut down 10 Warriors in a row like he was chopping vegetables. He didn’t even have to rely on any techniques. A feeling of incomparable bliss washed over him!

"My attacks are so powerful! Just what’s going on!?”

When Splendid Star looked around for the answer, he saw a Paladin sweeping through the forces of Winter Darkness, slaughtering players left and right. He was about a head taller than the average person and clad in silver white armour.

"Huh, an NPC saved me?” Splendid Star remarked in a daze. "Well, whatever. All that matters is that I’m still alive!”

Splendid Star’s eyes flashed with a cold light as he locked onto a certain figure in the distance. "Ice Age, wash your neck. It's time for you to die!”

Seeing Splendid Star charging over, Ice Age’s face paled in fright. He quickly turned and fled. Splendid Star was already difficult to deal with before. Now with his stats buffed by so much, he had become a super cheat!

Ice Age couldn’t fathom for the life of him how the situation took such a turn. Why did an NPC of all things come to Splendid Star’s rescue? It appeared out of nowhere and ruined everything. Winter Darkness’ battle formation was in complete disarray.

This NPC was precisely Paladin Lafus. Nie Yan hid some distance away and remotely ordered Lafus to aid Splendid Star. Lafus’ blessings were all Rank 10 or higher. Their effects were naturally outstanding. After buffing Splendid Star, he turned from a mortal into a god of war. He was invincible!

After decimating Winter Darkness’ forces, Paladin Lafus had only used up 30% of his mana while his health was still full.

Lafus chanted out an incantation. A curtain of light fell over the surviving 200 players of Splendid Temple. After several AoE blessings, they instantly felt reinvigorated and were brimming with strength.

"Wow! My strength tripled!”

"My health quintupled! This is crazy!”

"This is our comeback! Everyone, let’s slaughter Death Descent! Kill those bastards!”

They let out thunderous battle cries as they charged at the forces of Death Descent and Sky Siever.

Chapter 602 - Baited

A blessing that could at least double one’s stats was called a godly blessing by players.

If a Paladin or Priest learned such a blessing, their value would increase five or sixfold. Using this kind of blessing at a crucial moment inside a dungeon would often have extraordinary effects.

This was also why Guardians and Archbishops were so highly regarded in the previous timeline. Their godly blessings had an enormous impact on any team.

Paladin Lafus had at least eight such skills. These blessings were originally fairly ordinary skills. However, due to their ranks being so high, all of them at Rank 10 or higher, they had become awe-inspiring skills.

Dark, Ardent, and the other Thieves from Bloodfiends were also astonished. They were quickly losing control over the situation.

"What’s going on? Where did this Paladin Lafus come from? Why is this NPC suddenly helping Splendid Temple?” Dark muttered. After receiving those blessings, the players from Splendid Temple became extremely difficult to deal with. They had no choice but to retreat. Dark was inwardly apprehensive. The change in the strength of the players from Splendid Temple was obvious. This kind of before and after difference allowed them to all the more understand Paladin Lafus’ might.

"I don’t know. This NPC just popped out of nowhere.” Ardent was baffled. NPCs generally wouldn’t help players deal with an enemy. There were only a few exceptions. Could Lafus be Splendid Star’s summon or servant? Ardent immediately discarded this thought. If this were true, why didn’t Splendid Star summon Lafus from the beginning?

The situation was getting out of their control. Winter Darkness, Death Descent, and Sky Siever were mysteriously on the backfoot. Phantom Princess Ina who still hadn’t died was sweeping through the players in her vicinity. Due to the damage not being enough, she was slowly recovering her health. The disturbance on the side of Winter Darkness, Death Descent, and Sky Siever attracted her attention, and so disaster struck them. After taking three rounds of spells from her, they suffered heavy losses.

Nie Yan observed Phantom Princess Ina wreaking havoc in the distance. Even though taking her down would be difficult, it was still doable. He would put that aside for now and focus on killing the players from Bloodfiends. He had no idea where Dark, Ardent, and the other three went.

Nie Yan moved over to the area where he last saw them.

Eye of Truth!

His eyes flashed with a profound light. As he searched the surroundings, it wasn’t long before he spotted numerous silhouettes. They were all Thieves from Bloodfiends. They didn’t appear to have any intention of running.

"Should I kill a few of them myself...?” Nie Yan wondered.

After pondering for a moment, Nie Yan looked toward Lafus in the distance. "It’s better if I have Lafus do it.”

At Nie Yan’s order, Lafus quickly rushed over. He was only 30 meters away from the Thieves from Bloodfiends.

"That NPC is coming over. Should we leave?” Seal asked. With their strength, defeating Lafus would pose some challenge. Winter Darkness, Death Descent, and Sky Siever were currently at a disadvantage. If they revealed themselves at this crucial moment, perhaps they could flip the balance of the battle back to their favour.

"I doubt he can discover us. Let’s keep waiting. He’s just an NPC. He probably doesn’t have much intelligence,” Dark said. After interacting with so many Lords and NPCs, he came to realize that their biggest weakness was their poor AI. As long as you grasped certain tricks, they were easy to deal with.

What Dark and the others failed to realize was that Paladin Lafus was being controlled by a player. So, his combat senses weren’t any worse than a player’s.

Lafus slaughtered the players from Sky Siever while inching closer toward Dark and the others. He appeared completely oblivious to their existence.

Dark and the others carefully probed Lafus. After discovering that he still hadn’t noticed them even after approaching within five meters of him, they became bolder. They continued trying to find out his detection range.

Nie Yan’s gaze fell on the skills in Lafus’ skill bar. With so many overpowered skills, killing one or two Thieves couldn’t be simpler.

Dark and the others weren’t the slightest bit aware that they had fallen into Nie Yan’s trap.

"This NPC’s Awareness is really low. Dark, how about we try killing him?” Ardent said. He was starting to get restless.

They figured out that Paladin Lafus’ detection range was only three meters. At that range, they could easily pull off an ambush. Like this, the five of them could CC him to death.

"Who’s going to take the lead?” Dark asked.

"I’ll do it,” Seal replied. He was the youngest out of all of them.

"Alright, you take the lead in CCing that NPC. When he’s stunned, we’ll all pounce on him!” Dark said. Aside from having powerful blessings and high health, Lafus’ other stats didn’t seem like much.

Seal started approaching Lafus from behind.

Seeing a silhouette gradually approaching Lafus, Nie Yan smirked. It was finally starting.

After arriving within three meters of Lafus, Seal pounced toward his back.

At this moment, Lafus protected himself with Holy Rite, which made him immune to all crowd control.

KLANG! Seal struck Lafus in the back.

The crowd control skill had no effect. Seal was dumbstruck. He didn’t expect Lafus to have such sharp senses. Lafus had activated Holy Rite at the same instant he pounced forward. A feeling of dread washed over him.

Eyes of the Divine!

Lafus’ eyes suddenly shone with a golden light. He immediately locked onto Seal, Ardent, Dark, and the others.

All the Thieves in the vicinity were revealed before him.

Before Seal’s feet could even touch the ground, Lafus cast Holy Binding, locking down all the Thieves.

Holy Strike!

Lafus cleaved down onto Seal’s body. His blade easily cut through Seal’s armour. It was an instant kill!

"Shit, we’ve been baited!”

Lafus’ combat senses were much sharper than they originally imagined.

"Everyone, run!” Dark anxiously shouted. They activated skills like Gale Step to escape.

Seeing Dark and the others fleeing, Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a cold light. "You want to run? It won’t be that easy!”

Indomitable Will!

Lafus’ speed sharply increased severalfold. He barrelled toward Dark and the others like a tank at full throttle.

Even though Dark and the others were quite fast with the speed buff from Gale Step, they were moving at a snail’s pace compared to Lafus. Even Nie Yan couldn’t hope to outrun him, let alone them.

Chapter 603 - Complete Reversal

"Fucking hell! That NPC is way too strong! Everyone, use your Unknown Transfer Scrolls. Retreat!”

The Thieves from Bloodfiends split up in different directions. Lafus immediately went into pursuit.

Dark pulled out an Unknown Transfer Scroll, only to be instantly silenced by Lafus. His face paled. "Dammit, what kind of combat AI is this? This NPC is more frightening than a top rank player!”

Holy Judgement!

Lafus raised his sword high. A beam of holy light descended from the sky and struck Dark. BOOM! He was sent flying.

Unable to use any scrolls or skills, Dark was completely helpless. Without the slightest chance of escape, tragedy was his only fate.

After killing Dark, Lafus looked around. Ardent and the others had already ran far away. With no idea where they went, he could only give up his pursuit.

Nie Yan picked up the equipment Dark dropped, a Level 100 Dark Gold-grade leather chestpiece and Level 100 Dark Gold-grade leg guards. Both pieces were socketed with gems that reduced level requirement. With how strong those main five from Bloodfiends were, their equipment naturally wouldn’t be lacking.

"Pretty decent. Too bad they’re worse than what I have on now. Hmm, someone in the guild might want them, though.” Nie Yan put away the two pieces of equipment in his bag.

This was merely the appetizer. Nie Yan planned to make them pay for daring to ambush him and the other members of Asskickers United. Since Bloodfiends was a club of the Top Military Academy, he would have plenty more opportunities for revenge. There was no need to rush.

Ardent, Shadow, and Night regrouped in the forest. Gazing at Lafus slaughtering the players of Winter Darkness, Death Descent, and Sky Siever in the distance, they felt fear lingering in their hearts.

"That Paladin Lafus is way too overpowered. If we hadn’t quickly made a run for it, all of us would be dead right now,” Ardent said in a gloomy tone. This was the first time they had suffered such a large setback, and it was at the hands of an NPC!

"That NPC is smarter than most players. Someone has to be controlling him. That’s the only explanation that makes any sense!” Shadow said.

"I think so too,” Night agreed. He wondered which person had a bone to pick with Winter Darkness, Death Descent, and Sky Siever.

Before long, Dark and Seal resurrected from the graveyard. Ardent, Night, and Shadow disappeared into stealth and left the battlefield.

They were determined to find out the identity of Lafus’ owner.

After Bloodfiends withdrew, even more tragedy befell the forces of Winter Darkness, Death Descent, and Sky Siever. Their corpses littered the ground. Ice Age was cut down by Splendid Star, while the other elites fell to Lafus and Splendid Temple. Only a few small fry managed to escape with their lives.

Splendid Temple vented their anger. With thousands of players watching, they massacred three large rival guilds.

The idle spectators watched Lafus in awe. Anyone with half a brain could tell that he was stupidly powerful. Fearing he still hadn’t satisfied his craving for blood and would turn his blade on them, they retreated further back. No one dared to approach within 200 meters.

Splendid Star was also extremely wary of Lafus. He only relaxed after Lafus didn’t show any hostility toward them. Even so, he didn’t dare to poke the bear.

Splendid Temple’s players collected the equipment that the forces of Winter Darkness, Death Descent, and Sky Siever dropped.

Phantom Princess Ina’s health had regenerated back up to 7%. She was surrounded by a group of Warriors.

Nie Yan looked around. Of the several powers present on the battlefield, Splendid Temple was the strongest. The players who had died in the battle ran back to their corpses and safely revived. With this, a significant portion of their losses were mitigated. They sat on the ground, recovering their health and mana while waiting for the weakened status effect to wear off.

Nie Yan thought for a moment, then messaged Splendid Star,「Do me a favour. Help me kill Phantom Princess Ina.」

While preparing to face off against Phantom Princess Ina again, Splendid Star’s chat rang. He was surprised to find the sender was Nirvana Flame. After reading through the message, he immediately put two and two together. Ever since Paladin Lafus appeared on the battlefield, he always felt like someone was secretly extending a helping hand. After all, an NPC, especially one so powerful, wouldn’t go out of their way to interfere in a battle between players. He kept waiting. However, the mysterious expert never revealed themselves. He finally realized Nie Yan was the one helping them all along!

Splendid Star was deeply moved. He was having a hard time calming down. If it weren’t for the aid of Paladin Lafus, Splendid Temple would’ve suffered disastrous losses, with all 2,000 of their players dying—dropping at least one level and a piece of equipment. Such a setback would be impossible to recover from in a short time. Not to mention guilds like Winter Darkness, Death Descent, and Sky Siever certainly weren’t above kicking someone who was already down. Splendid Temple would be facing a future full of uncertainty.

Lafus’ appearance completely reversed the situation. He rescued more than 300 Splendid Temple players from impending doom and helped them kill in the excess of 3,000 enemies. The 1,700 players who died during the battle all revived by running back to their corpses or with the help of Priests. So, their death penalties were reduced to 20% experience. Splendid Temple also managed to collect more than 2,000 pieces of equipment. All in all, they had come out of this slightly ahead.

「I really can’t thank you enough for earlier. If it wasn’t for you, we would’ve taken disastrous losses. In the future, if you need anything, just say the word. Come hell or high water, I’ll definitely rush over to help you,」Splendid Star said sincerely. He was a man who would always repay favours.

Nie Yan chuckled. He never took these kinds of promises to heart. Splendid Star having this kind of sentiment was enough.

Splendid Star glanced down at the post-battle report.「We collected 2,058 pieces of equipment from the battle in total. After we kill Phantom Princess Ina, I’ll immediately dispatch people to deliver it all to Asskickers United’s headquarters.」He felt they had already received a great favour by being saved by Lafus. It was only right that the equipment would go to Nie Yan. He was a person of principle.

「It’s fine. You guys collected the equipment, so you should have it. Just help me kill Phantom Princess Ina, and you can consider the favour repaid,」Nie Yan said. He simply wanted Phantom Princess Ina dead. Only then would his heart be at ease.

「You sure…? Alright then.」Splendid Star nodded. He felt helping Nie Yan kill Phantom Princess Ina hardly counted as repaying the favour.

「As for anything related to Paladin Lafus, I trust you’ll keep that a secret.」Nie Yan didn’t wish to reveal his cards unnecessarily, especially an ace like Paladin Lafus.

「Of course,」Splendid Star replied. Recalling the might of Lafus, he couldn’t help but sink into deep thought. Why was the Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame able to maintain his undefeated streak? Because no one could gauge his true strength! Apart from Paladin Lafus, just how many other cards did he have hidden up his sleeves? The only one who knew was the person in question himself.

After hanging up the call, Splendid Star shouted, "Everyone, we’re going to kill Phantom Princess Ina! Warrior Platoon #1, you’re up! Paladins, cast your blessings! Mages, Priests, get ready!”

At Splendid Star’s orders, Splendid Temple’s forces immediately mobilized into action. A group of 60 Warriors charged toward Phantom Princess Ina.

The Paladins followed closely behind. Each was assigned to a Warrior. They provided healing, buffing, and dispelling. The Mages and Priests raised their staffs and started chanting incantations.

It wasn’t long before Splendid Temple took over as the main force attacking Phantom Princess Ina. At this moment, Lafus raised his sword into the sky. Rays of light fell over the players from Splendid Temple. Their stats rose severalfold.

"Damn! These blessings are awesome!”

"Boss, is Paladin Lafus a mercenary you hired or something? Is that why he’s healing and buffing us?” a player asked.

"That’s a guild secret. Focus on killing Phantom Princess Ina. Don’t ask too many questions,” Splendid Star replied. His ambiguous response only left the players of Splendid Temple feeling more curious.

Several players with ulterior motives failed to get any information out of Splendid Star. They could only give up, or risk arousing suspicion.

As the Warriors secured Phantom Princess Ina’s aggro, the casters released their magic. Countless spells whizzed through the air and bombarded her body. BANG! BANG! BANG! A string of damage values ranging from 700–800 floated up above her head.

These casters were dealing three times more damage after being buffed by Lafus’ blessings.

Under the intense assault, Phantom Princess Ina’s health started falling again, and at a much faster rate than before.

Everyone was astonished by the powerful effects of Lafus’ blessings.

Soon, Phantom Princess Ina’s health fell below 3%. She let out a furious cry and unleashed a barrage of magic. The Warriors around her were instantly annihilated.

"Warrior Team #2, you’re up!” Splendid Star shouted.

Warrior Team #2 barely lasted 30 seconds before wiping.

"Warrior Team #3, charge!”

Group after group of Warriors dauntlessly charged in front of Phantom Princess Ina, sacrificing their lives to keep her locked down.

Under the intense barrage of spells, Phantom Princess Ina’s health eventually fell to zero. She let out a mournful wail and collapsed on the ground.

Phantom Princess Ina finally died.

The players on the sidelines immediately stirred into action.

"Everyone, snatch the loot!”

"Quickly, get it!”

Countless players surged forward. No one could resist the allure of equipment dropped by a Level 100 Variant Lord!

The Mages at the back started casting AoE magic. An endless torrent of fireballs rained down from the sky. Many of the Warriors from Splendid Temple failed to get away in time and were transformed into rays of light.

Chapter 604 - Loot Scramble!

With several dozen of his people killed, Splendid Star ordered a retaliatiation without hesitation. A dense shower of magic rained down. The unaffiliated players fell in droves.

Everyone made a mad scramble for the loot.

"Kill anyone that dares to approach Phantom Princess Ina’s corpse! Anyone that tries to snatch the equipment will be a sworn enemy of Splendid Temple. Slaughter without mercy!” Splendid Star declared. He believed Nie Yan wanted Phantom Princess Ina’s drops. Why else would Nie Yan ask him to kill her? He was a man of his word. He didn’t care how many bridges he had to burn. Even if it meant killing everyone here today, he would get those drops!

After receiving the order, Splendid Temple’s forces started slaughtering the unaffiliated players. Their corpses littered the ground. They were too weak to put up any kind of resistance.

Any player showing the slightest sign of greed for the loot was annihilated with a barrage of spells.

"Fuck! Splendid Temple is too overbearing. It’s just a few pieces of equipment! Why do they have to kill everyone!?”

The unaffiliated players were full of grievances. Several small powers banded together to deal with Splendid Temple. A chaotic battle broke out.

Five Thieves tried to test their luck, only to be revealed by the Illuminates of the Priests from Splendid Temple. Splendid Star charged forward, cutting down each Thief with a single slash. He resembled a blood-soaked killing god.

"Looks like they still won’t give up. Bombard them with AoE magic!” Splendid Star yelled.

Fireballs started raining down on the unaffiliated players. Screams of people dying rang out.

These small fries weren’t a match for Splendid Temple. After repelling wave upon wave of players scrambling for loot, they eventually gained complete control of the area around Phantom Princess Ina’s corpse.

Splendid Star walked over to Phantom Princess Ina’s corpse and picked up the items she dropped.

Seeing that everything was more or less settled, Nie Yan recalled Paladin Lafus. He turned around and prepared to leave. He had no hopes of obtaining the drops.

At this moment, Splendid Star contacted Nie Yan.「Luckily, I didn't disappoint. I secured the loot. Phantom Princess Ina dropped three items. Two are Level 100 Legendary-grade equipment. If it isn’t convenient for you to reveal yourself, I’ll send someone to deliver them to you.」

Nie Yan was at a loss for words. He simply thought Splendid Star really wanted Phantom Princess Ina’s loot drops. But after hearing these words, he realized that Splendid Star had snatched the equipment for his sake. This was why Splendid Star dared to act so overbearingly, even in the face of harsh censure. If he rejected this show of goodwill, Splendid Star would’ve made enemies of so many people for nothing!

「Thank you. If you need anything in the future, just send me a whisper,」Nie Yan said. As the guild leader of Asskickers United, a promise from him was capable of altering the fate of a guild like Splendid Temple.

「No need. You’ve already done so much for us. It’s the right thing to do,」Splendid Star replied. He was deeply moved. Nie Yan’s words were much more valuable than these three loot drops.

Seeing that Phantom Princess Ina’s drops had already fallen into the hands of Splendid Star, the unaffiliated players could only leave in dejection. With the loot gone, there was no point in staying here any longer. They gradually dispersed.

This event had finally concluded. All that remained was a barren battlefield littered with corpses.

「Then I’ll be going. Contact me if anything comes up,」Nie Yan said. He bid farewell to Splendid Star and disappeared into the trees.

With Phantom Princess Ina dead, Nie Yan had one less worry on his mind. He was Level 100. After making a few preparations, he could head to the Temple of Light and do his Luminous Dancer class advancement quest.

While travelling through the forest, Nie Yan recalled he had a piece of Level 100 Legendary-grade equipment in his bag he could finally equip.

Ygris’ Guardian Gages (Legendary)

Requirements: Level 100 Description: A piece of equipment crafted by Ygris, the blacksmith of the Hilton Stronghold. It boasts excellent defense and can protect the user from receiving any damage.

Properties: Defense 720–768, Block Rate +20%, All Control Skill Ranks +1, All Freedom Skill Ranks +2

Restrictions: Thief

Nie Yan switched out his current pair of gloves for the Ygris’ Guardian Gages. He was quite pleased with the properties of this piece of Legendary-grade equipment. With All Control Skill Ranks +1, skills like Concussive Blow and Smothering Strike would rise by one rank. His freedom skills also saw a big boost. Backbreaker for instance went from Rank 11 to 13. Phantom Assassination and his three other freedoms skills went from Rank 10 to 12.

Backbreaker counted as both a freedom skill and control skill. However, All Control Skill Ranks +1 and All Freedom Skill Ranks +2 didn’t stack. This was why it was only Rank 13.

Backbreaker was already pretty powerful. Now it was even more broken. Nie Yan glanced at its effects. The cripple duration had increased to 12 seconds. Even a Lord would still be CC’d for at least eight seconds. As for Phantom Assassination and his other freedom skills, their base damage had also sharply increased.

"Hmm… I should socket Ygris’ Guardian Gages with a few gems when I get back to Calore. I still have those rare gems in my personal storage. They should boost my Dexterity, Evasion, and other stats by a decent amount,” Nie Yan mumbled to himself.

Ygris’ Guardian Gages was an ideal piece of equipment to tide him over until he reached Level 180. It would be an utter waste to socket it with level requirement reduction gems, at least Nie Yan felt that way. This was why he patiently waited until Level 100 to bring them out.

Nie Yan pulled out a Return Scroll and started chanting. With a flash of light, he returned to Calore.

Nie Yan crafted a few Advanced Combat Bandages, then headed to the Starry Night Potion Shop. He picked up 20 Master Health and Mana Potions, and stocked up on Antidotes, Anti-Corrosion Potions, and other consumables. After which he went and got his Ygris’ Guardian Gages socketed. With this, all his preparations were complete.

Just as Nie Yan was about to set out, a notification popped up.

Player Ramshackle has deposited three items into your personal storage.

"Wow, it’s already here. Splendid Star sure is quick.” Nie Yan’s heart trembled. "The drops from a Level 100 Variant Lord… I wonder if there’s any equipment I can use.”

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan headed to his personal storage.

Chapter 605 - Legendary Vambraces

Nie Yan checked the three items Splendid Star had deposited into his personal storage.

There were two pieces of Legendary-grade equipment and a quest item in the form of a broken staff. Xie Yao had already accepted the quest line for the Saintess Christina Set. So, this staff wouldn’t be of any use to her. Nie Yan pondered for a moment. He decided to give it to Undying Scoundrel.

One of the two pieces was for a Berserker. Nie Yan could give it to Smoke Stub, Monochrome, or Edgeless. The other actually turned out to be for a Thief—Orpheus’ Vambraces.

Nie Yan examined the item.

Orpheus’ Vambraces (Legendary)

Requirements: Level 100 Description: Vambraces worn by Shadow Dancer Orpheus. It is covered with remnants of his past battles.

Properties: Defense 820–838, Magic Resistance +20%, Defense Rank +2, Health +10%

Restrictions: Thief

These vambraces were pretty amazing. The high defense, magic resistance, and especially the Defense Rank +2 would greatly reduce the damage the wearer took. The higher the defense rank, the harder it was for enemies to break through your defense. Nie Yan’s defense was currently at Rank 7. Most players were only at Rank 1 or 2. Anyone with an attack below Rank 4 couldn’t break his armour. Even if he stood still and did nothing, he would still be perfectly fine. Attack and defense ranks were generally very difficult to raise.

Ygris’ Guardian Gages and Orpheus’ Vambraces made Nie Yan’s old equipment look like junk.

"This is a nice upgrade.” Nie Yan put on Orpheus’ Vambraces. His health and defense rose drastically. With his stats right now, he could easily survive five or six hits from a Level 100 Lord.

Nie Yan had two pieces of Legendary-grade equipment on him. Before Level 180, he wanted to get himself at least a full set to tide him over. Of course, the end goal was the Tyrant Abak Set.

Nie Yan glanced at his boots. "I’m still missing the last fragment...” With Sulgata’s Shadow complete, he would have three pieces of Legendary-grade equipment. He was previously too busy to go collect the last fragment. He knew the location. However, it was a path only he could walk. Even if he sent Sun or King of the World, it would be useless.

Sulgata’s Shadow required Sulgata’s Boots, Sulgata’s Feather, and Sulgata’s Runic Cloth to complete. He was still missing the feather. In the previous timeline, Sulgata’s Feather was found by a Shadow Dancer.

Retrieving Sulgata’s Feather would take at least two to three days.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. He had already pulled far ahead of ordinary players in level. There was no harm in delaying himself by a couple of days. Every small upgrade to his equipment took top priority right now. It would help increase his chance of clearing the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest.

After making his decision, Nie Yan had Guo Huai search for some rare gems. He planned to socket them into Orpheus’ Vambraces and Sulgata’s Shadow. He started making preparations to retrieve Sulgata’s Feather.

Sulgata’s Feather was located in the icy tundra to the far north of the Viridian Empire. Retrieving it was actually quite simple, taking no more than a couple of hours. However, the requirement for travelling to this region was extremely high—260 Ice Resistance at minimum. Nie Yan’s was only at 120. So, he had a lot of work ahead of him. Raising his Ice Resistance to 260 was an incredibly difficult task.

Nie Yan thought of various methods to raise his Ice Resistance, including purchasing skill books, equipment, and so on. He spent about 200,000 gold altogether.

"Whew… That’s the last one. I have the Flame Body skill now,” Nie Yan glanced at his Ice Resistance. After all that work, it was only at 180, still a far cry from the necessary 260. He couldn’t help but feel a little helpless.

"This won’t do. I need to find some better quality items…” Nie Yan skimmed over his inventory.

While Nie Yan racked his brains trying to figure out a solution, Xie Yao sent him a message,「The students in the Top Military Academy are hosting a private event at the Calore Central Arena. Should we check it out?」

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. He contacted Guo Huai to help him find Ice Resistance items. Meanwhile, he would take a small break and check out what his classmates were up to.

「Alright, let’s go together. Where are you right now?」

「I’m browsing in the pet shop.」

「Okay, I’ll meet you there.」Nie Yan put on the Shadow Walker Cloak. Hiding his face behind the hood, he headed for the pet shop.

Before long, the two met up outside the entrance of the pet shop. Xie Yao wore a light grey cloak that also hid her appearance and information. They were too famous, not just in Calore but the whole Viridian Empire. If they didn’t hide themselves, it would attract a lot of unwanted attention.

Nie Yan could still see the faint outline of Xie Yao’s curvaceous figure through her cloak. The familiar scent of her simple and elegant perfume relaxed his mind.

「Let’s go.」Nie Yan grabbed Xie Yao’s hand as the two walked over to the Central Arena together.

Two guards in gold armour stood at the entrance. Nie Yan and Xie Yao flashed their student IDs and were let inside.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao looked around. The spectator stands were packed. It was quite a lively sight. There were about 6,000 people altogether, and this wasn’t even everyone. Many people were too busy with levelling and questing to come.

The Top Military Academy’s players regularly organized these sorts of gatherings. One reason was to help students to socialize and maybe find a suitable team. Another was to allow the various clubs in the school to settle scores and duke it out.

Nie Yan looked around. The players enrolled in the Top Military Academy weren’t half-bad. They were all at least Level 70. Those who were too low level generally didn’t participate in these types of events since they would only be embarrassing themselves.

"Look over there, it’s Muslin, Scoundrel, and the others.” Xie Yao pointed toward another section in the stands.

Nie Yan looked over. He saw Painted Muslin and Undying Scoundrel’s group. Elsewhere he saw people from Bloodfiends and many other familiar faces, including Liu Rui.

"What a party…” Nie Yan remarked.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao sat down in a corner at the back of the command faculty section. Since the game changed everyone’s appearance, he didn’t recognize anyone. These players were chatting and introducing themselves. Since they all belonged to the same faculty, they would surely familiarize themselves with one another bit by bit.

Nie Yan only came here to look. So, he didn’t bother mingling. He quietly talked to Xie Yao.

Chapter 606 - Ostracized

Nie Yan wondered what rival clubs would do when they bumped into each other inside Conviction. Would they PK…?

Painted Muslin, Undying Scoundrel, and several others were all enrolled in the Top Military Academy. So, he wasn’t alone. Knowing that he had these close guildmates to rely on, he faintly smiled.

Hmmm… A clash between the elites of the Top Military Academy is definitely worth watching. Maybe people from Heavenly Kings are also here? Nie Yan scanned the crowd.

"Should we go meet up with Muslin, Scoundrel, and them? I’m sure they’ll be surprised to hear we’re also students of the Top Military Academy.” Xie Yao turned to Nie Yan, fluttering her eyelashes.

Nie Yan shook his head. "Maybe another time. We’ll have plenty of chances in the future.” Now wasn’t the right moment to reveal themselves, at least not in a place where there were so many eyes. If the students of the Top Military Academy learned Nirvana Flame had entered their school, who knew what kind of uproar this would cause.

"Alright.” Xie Yao nodded. Blinking her eyes, she gazed at Nie Yan. He always behaved in this way, liking to stay as low-key as possible.

The two chatted. Nie Yan told some funny anecdotes about various things that happened to some players in Conviction, causing Xie Yao to smile and giggle out loud. At this moment, the voices of some students at the front happened to enter their ears.

"Class Prez, the highest level people in our class have all been invited. Let’s form a team and run some dungeons,” a girl said.

Nie Yan looked over. The "class prez” she referred to was a female Mage in azure robes. She had a decent looking figure and face, just that she was a bit too gaudy. It was clear she put particular care into her appearance.

Nie Yan didn’t expect to see her here. This woman was none other than Zhao Shiyu, the same class president who tried to screw him over last time.

Zhao Shiyu had five others beside her, two girls and three guys. Two were Warriors, one an Arcane Mage, one a Paladin, and one a Priest. This was a pretty standard party composition. Nie Yan inspected the group with Transcendent Insight. They ranged between Level 75–77. Zhao Shiyu herself was Level 77. She was quite high level among ordinary players. However, players like her were a dime a dozen in Asskickers United. She couldn’t compare to Undying Scoundrel and Muslin, let alone Nie Yan and Xie Yao.

"It’s going to be hard to gather 20 players. Should we invite a few people from the mech combat faculty? I know some experts there,” one of the guys suggested.

"No, it’s fine. Let’s stick with people from our class.” Zhao Shiyu immediately shot down the idea. If people from the mech combat faculty were called over, she would likely lose her position as team captain. They wouldn't necessarily listen to her orders.

A Level 77 Paladin clad in silver-white armour spoke up this time. "What about Xia Tianyu? He’s also Level 77.”

"He’s close with Nie Yan. He probably won’t come even if we ask.” Zhao Shiyu frowned.

"Man, Zheng Xu really messed with the wrong person. Who would’ve thought Nie Yan would be that good at fighting? I wonder how strong he is inside the game. With his skills, I bet he’s really high level!” the Paladin said.

Hearing the Paladin praise Nie Yan, Zhao Shiyu’s expression darkened.

"Maybe, probably not. Many strong fighters are pretty trash inside the game. He even said himself he’s low level. He didn’t even dare to come to our get-together last time. I’m sure it’s because he didn’t want to embarass himself,” a Level 77 Warrior quickly interjected. He didn’t seem to think much of Nie Yan, his gaze locked on Zhao Shiyu flatteringly.

Zhao Shiyu appeared to be in a better mood after that.

"I definitely won’t allow filth like Nie Yan to enter my team. Bai Jun, did you ask Xia Tianyu? Is he coming or not?” Zhao Shiyu asked.

Nie Yan focused his gaze on the Paladin called Bai Jun. He suddenly recalled there was such a student in their class. He was a member of the sports committee. His physical stats were pretty good. He ranked second in the class.

These people always followed Zhao Shiyu around. Nie Yan couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge them.

"Xia Tianyu declined. Said he already formed a team with Fei Zhe, Xu Yan, and them,” Bai Jun replied.

"Fei Zhe and Xu Yan are low-level garbage. Xia Tianyu is just going to end up dragging himself down by teaming up with them. If he’s not coming, so be it. Or does he expect us to come begging and groveling at his feet?” the Warrior snickered.

"Fu Guangtao, do you have anyone to invite?” Zhao Shiyu turned to the Warrior, putting on a pitiful puppy act.

Fu Guangtao felt his body go limp listening to Zhao Shiyu’s soft and velvety voice. He immediately pounded his chest. "Leave it to me!”

"Alright, you find 20 people. We’ll run dungeons later tonight,” Zhao Shiyu said. She was grinning from ear to ear. She still considered herself the team captain.

Several people were discontent with Zhao Shiyu’s bossy attitude. However, other students were here, so they didn’t say anything.

"We only need a few more. If we invite Nie Yan, Xia Tianyu, and them, I think we’ll have enough people,” a male student said. He rather admired Nie Yan. So, he spoke out.

"No. Those guys are too full of themselves, especially Nie Yan, acting like he’s too good for us or something. Who does he think he is? We invited him to the class get-together a few days ago, and he didn’t even bother coming,” Fu Guangtao countered, not hesitating to throw out baseless accusations. He wanted to turn his classmates against Nie Yan.

After Fu Guangtao’s words, everyone had the impression that Nie Yan was a really cocky and arrogant individual. The student who spoke out just now wanted to refute. However, he wasn’t in a position to say anything. It was true that Nie Yan hadn't come. This was an undeniable fact.

"I think it’s because he’s too afraid of humiliating himself with his low level,” another student chimed in.

Hearing those students badmouthing Nie Yan, Xie Yao was filled with righteous indignation.

"How can they talk about you like that!?” Xie Yao stood up, having a bone to pick with these people.

Nie Yan grabbed ahold of Xie Yao’s sleeve. He shook his head with a gentle smile. "Just a bunch of self-arrogant nobodies. Ignore them. It would be a waste of your breath bickering with them. Distance tests a horse’s stamina. Time reveals a person’s true nature.”

He understood it would be pointless explaining himself. In the future, these students would naturally see the truth.

Nie Yan sat back down with Xie Yao. He wouldn’t bother with these people. He looked toward Xia Tianyu, Xu Yan, and Fei Zhe who were sitting in a corner. The seats around them were completely empty. It appeared they were being ostracized by the rest of the class.

A feeling out guilt surfaced in his heart. If it weren’t for him, those three wouldn’t be receiving this kind of treatment.

Chapter 607 - War God Lei Su!

Below the stands, Azure Windchime, Bloodfiends, and the like were recruiting new members. Apart from these larger, well-known clubs, the several dozen smaller ones were recruiting as well.

Azure Windchime only had a single requirement for joining, and that was to be a fellow guild member. No outsiders were allowed. If you wanted to join, you’d have to get accepted into Asskickers United first.

The recruitment requirements for Bloodfiends were a bit more unique. They only accepted Thieves. As long as you could defeat any one of their 20+ members, you could join. Dark, Ardent, Night, Shadow, and Seal had almost succeeded in killing Nie Yan in their last ambush attempt. So, for those who couldn’t join Azure Windchime, Bloodfiends wasn’t a bad choice either.

The smaller clubs also managed to recruit quite a few new members.

While everyone was busying themselves, a Warrior walked up to the center of the arena. His particularly handsome features attracted the gazes of quite a few girls in the crowd.

"Look! That’s the president of the student union, Fang Rujie!”

"Wow! What a hunk!”

...

Nie Yan overheard the voices of several excited girls. They all belonged to the dance faculty.

So, he’s the student union president, huh. Nie Yan narrowed his eyes. He would still have to pay attention to the several heavyweights in the Top Military Academy.

Xie Yao knitted her brows. She didn’t have a good impression of the people from the student union.

"A Level 85 Great Warrior! So amazing! He can easily take on those from Azure Windchime and Bloodfiends. That probably makes him the highest level player in our school, right?”

"No, I heard another student in our school is already Level 87, Qin Han or something. But that guy is a Mage. So, they’re probably around the same, considering Warriors level up more slowly.”

"Look over there. You see that guy? That’s Qin Han.”

"Wow. He’s even more handsome than Fang Rujie!”

Nie Yan looked at where the students were pointing and saw a Mage in black robes discussing something with Fang Rujie, who appeared to be behaving quite respectfully.

Those two are working together? Nie Yan knitted his brows.

The two appeared to have reached some sort of agreement. Fang Rujie gathered his subordinates and started recruiting people.

Nie Yan had asked Xu Yan before. Fang Rujie was an official recruiter for God Executioner Sword, one of two guilds that had recently risen to power in the Viridian Empire, the other being Penumbra Empire. They ranked third on the totem pole after the likes of Asskickers United, Divine Protectors, Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, Radiant Sacred Flame, the War God Tribe, and Battle Crazed Alliance.

Qin Han already acquired God Executioner Sword? Why didn’t I hear anything about it? Nie Yan brooded.

Nie Yan knew that the Monet Group had made some dealings in the Viridian Empire, including taking over some of the shops and other businesses of the Century Financial Group. But he had no idea they had already started acquiring guilds. Besides God Executioner Sword, how many other guilds were under their control?

The Monet Financial Group wasn’t that far behind the Century Financial Group in terms of financial resources. They were one of the oligarchs of South America and held great influence over the political sphere of that region. So, entering a game like Conviction was a simple matter for them.

No wonder the number of players joining from South America sharply increased recently. It seems like the Monet Financial Group has a hand in this… Nie Yan thought. The surge of new players coming from South America had even affected the demographic of the Viridian Empire. However, thanks to the automatic translation feature of Conviction they had no trouble communicating with others. Apart from a slight difference in appearance, they were essentially no different from any other player, which allowed them to smoothly integrate into the player base. Even Asskickers United had players from South America joining. Nie Yan took a prudent approach with these new members. Although he openly put his trust in them, he paid close attention to their movements from the shadows.

The Monet Financial Group’s acquisition of God Executioner Sword definitely came out of left field. An ominous feeling sprouted in Nie Yan’s heart. Qin Han, you’ve done well keeping your activities hidden for so long. Looks like I’ll have to start making preparations now if I don’t want any problems to arise in the future.

Nie Yan sent word to Guo Huai. He wanted all the activities of the Monet Financial Group and God Executioner Sword to be closely monitored.

After hearing God Executioner Sword was recruiting, the students of the Top Military Academy immediately became excited. After Asskickers United and Divine Protectors, the next strongest guilds were God Executioner Sword and Penumbra Empire. Those who felt they weren’t good enough to join Asskickers United planned to enter God Executioner Sword. As for those who were more confident in their skills, their first choice was still Asskickers United. Only if they failed to get into Asskickers United, would they start to consider other guilds.

The recruitment fair was bustling. Many students from the Top Military Academy wanted to join Asskickers United. Azure Windchime accepted quite a few people.

"Muslin, there sure are a lot of people this year. We’ve recruited at least 16 new members,” Undying Scoundrel said. Their ranks had increased again. At present, Azure Windchime was practically unrivalled in the Top Military Academy. Their biggest rivals were Bloodfiends. However, Undying Scoundrel greatly looked down on the players from Bloodfiends. In a one versus one duel, the players from Bloodfiends were worthless. Those cowards only knew how to gang up on others. What Undying Scoundrel despised the most were the wolf pack tactics of Bloodfiends. They were people who only knew how to win with numbers.

"Right, Lustboy and Natural Fiend came too. They’re still young and quite cute,” Muslin giggled.

Undying Scoundrel broke out in a cold sweat. He prayed for Lustboy and Natural Fiend. They were likely going to be eaten up by all the older sisters. He had gone through this bitter experience before too.

While Undying Scoundrel and Painted Muslin were chatting, a tall figure approached them. He looked like an iron tower. His muscles brimmed with power yet somehow weren’t bulky or restrictive. He wore armour with a dark golden sheen, a large and menacing skull at the center of his chest, and carried two large greatswords on his back. With the visual effects of his equipment turned on, he looked domineering, like a fierce steel titan.

Painted Muslin, Undying Scoundrel, and the others immediately turned to this person.

"It’s War God Lei Su!”

"Holy shit! Why is he here? He never joins these sorts of gatherings!”

The entire arena immediately went into an uproar. The commotion was far greater than when Fang Rujien and Qin Han appeared.

War God Lei Su. He was a legendary existence in the Top Military Academy. Because the various major competitions had yet to begin, the rankings were still to be confirmed. However, in the eyes of the students from the Top Military Academy, War God Lei Su was already an existence that prevailed over all.

Nie Yan also couldn’t help but take notice of War God Lei Su. Damn. That’s the Breuys Bone Armour Set! Someone actually managed to obtain this Sub Legendary-grade set!

Hearing the players around him, Nie Yan’s heart trembled. War God Lei Su was actually a student in the Top Military Academy! This was a shocking piece of news!

Chapter 608 - Request to Join

War God was a nickname given by players. It represented supreme honour and glory.

War God Lei Su was the first player to advance to a Swordmaster in the previous timeline. He stood at the top of the Berserker leaderboards for three years straight and never once fell out of the top three. Smoke Stub at that time was far weaker in comparison. In this life, however, he could probably go toe-to-toe with War God Lei Su.

War God Lei Su was a legendary existence. Nie Yan could never forget the video of him soloing the Level 260 Lord, Death King, during a demon beast invasion in the Hilton Stronghold. Back then, he was equipped with War God Kelo’s Dual Greatswords and the full War God Set. He was powerful beyond belief.

When Nie Yan assassinated Cao Xu, War God Lei Su was at the peak of his glory. Save for a few people in the entirety of Conviction, no one was his match.

"Lei Su…” Nie Yan knitted his brows, recalling Xu Yan mentioning this name before. Lei Su was some sort of fighting champion in the Top Military Academy, main point being he was supposed to be a really amazing figure. At that time, Nie Yan wasn’t too interested. Never could he have imagined that Lei Su of the Top Military Academy and Lei Su inside Conviction were one and the same!

To the students of the Top Military Academy, Lei Su was already an existence akin to a War God. That was where he got the nickname in the first place.

Nie Yan stared at the area below the stands. "He’s approaching Muslin and Scoundrel. What’s he up to…”

Seeing Lei Su walking over, Painted Muslin, Undying Scoundrel, and the others all focused their attention on him. A figure like Lei Su rarely showed himself. For him to suddenly go right up to them, they couldn’t help but be wary of his intentions.

"Lei Su, what brings you here today? You never come to these gatherings,” Painted Muslin greeted. Even she felt a bit of pressure talking to Lei Su. However, as an elite of Asskickers United, she couldn’t disgrace herself by showing weakness.

Undying Scoundrel stood right beside Painted Muslin. Natural Fiend and Lustboy stood a few steps behind. They’d been casually chatting. But when they noticed the situation, they also turned their attention to Lei Su.

Sensing the hostility of the players from Asskickers United, Lei Su chuckled. "Where’s your boss at? Tell him to come out. I’m looking for him.”

"Our boss? Nirvana Flame?” Undying Scoundrel looked surprised.

"If you’re looking for Nirvana Flame, I suggest you head to the Asskickers United office in Calore,” Painted Muslin replied. She was quite puzzled. Why would Lei Su come looking for Nie Yan here?

"Huh? He didn’t tell you guys he became a student of the Top Military Academy?” Lei Su blurted out in surprise.

"What!?” Undying Scoundrel’s eyes bulged out in disbelief.

Natural Fiend and Lustboy also stood up in shock. "Muslin, is that true? The boss really entered the Top Military Academy? How come we didn’t know?”

So it’s like that. Lei Su suddenly came to a realization. You really do like to stay low-key…

"Since you guys have no idea where he is, forget it. The next time you see him, tell him I want to join your guild. Ask him if he’ll accept.” Lei Su chuckled.

Painted Muslin, Undying Scoundrel, and the others were dumbstruck. Lei Su wanted to join Asskickers United? Given his skills, he would definitely be an amazing asset to the guild. It was just that they were wondering if he was pulling their leg.

"Alright, we’ll pass on your words to the boss,” Undying Scoundrel said. They didn’t dare to refuse or accept Lei Su.

"Alright.” Lei Su smiled. "Then I’ll be off.”

Lei Su bid farewell and took his leave.

Painted Muslin, Undying Scoundrel, and the others had complicated looks on their face. Did Lei Su come all this way just for that?

"Muslin, do you think Lei Su actually wants to join Asskickers United? Is this a trick?” Undying Scoundrel asked.

"I don’t think he would lie. He’s someone who follows through with his words. Given his status and fame, he has nothing to gain from tricking us,” Painted Muslin replied. She at least had this bit of understanding of Lei Su’s personality.

"So, does that mean Lei Su is going to join Asskickers United? Our guild will have another powerhouse!” Undying Scoundrel started getting excited.

"Don’t start celebrating just yet. I have a feeling this situation isn’t so simple. Lei Su wouldn’t join a guild so easily,” Painted Muslin said after thinking for a bit. Many guilds had approached Lei Su before, but he refused all their offers, Asskickers United included. Now, he suddenly wanted to join? Something fishy was definitely going on.

"Muslin, Lei Su said the boss entered the Top Military Academy. Is that true?” Natural Fiend asked.

Natural Fiend and Lustboy didn’t care much about Lei Su joining Asskickers United since they had no idea how strong he was. They were only interested in whether or not Nie Yan had entered the Top Military Academy.

"I’m not too sure either. Lei Su shouldn’t be lying. Nirvana Flame probably still hasn’t contacted us because he wants to maintain a low-profile. If people in the Top Military Academy found out he was a student there, he would probably have to say goodbye to his peaceful school life,” Painted Muslin said after thinking about it deeply. If she were Nie Yan, she would probably do the same thing too.

The onlookers had no idea what Lei Su talked about with Painted Muslin and Undying Scoundrel. Everyone was speculating wildly.

"Do you think War God Lei Su is trying to stir up trouble with Azure Windchime?”

"If War God Lei Su wants to make a move, Azure Windchime definitely won’t be in for a good time. That much I can confirm. The power backing Lei Su is astonishing.”

"Not necessarily. Azure Windchime has the backing of Asskickers United.”

...

If everyone knew that Lei Su had actually approached Painted Muslin to request to join Asskickers United, one could imagine what kind of commotion it would cause. The entire Top Military Academy would probably be in a state of upheaval.

Apart from Nie Yan and Xie Yao, all the other members of Asskickers United had registered with Azure Windchime. Painted Muslin, Undying Scoundrel, and the others organized a dungeon run. Everyone could get to know each other and build their friendships.

Undying Scoundrel looked at the bustling scene over at the student union’s side. "Fang Rujie must be really pleased with himself. I think God Executioner Sword has recruited at least 1,000 new members from the Top Military Academy. If the boss loosened our requirements, all these people would definitely choose to join Asskickers United instead.”

"In that respect, I agree with Nirvana Flame’s way of thinking more, quality over quantity. A loyal member who’s devoted to the guild is much better than 10 new recruits. How many of those people are only joining God Executioner Sword for the benefits? How many of them are willing to risk it all for their guild?” Painted Muslin laughed. She wasn’t the slightest bit envious.

Chapter 609 - Settling Scores on the Arena Stage

"We need to find out from Watchful Snail what the boss’ real name is and what class he’s in! We can just directly ask the boss ourselves too!”

"Yeah, definitely!”

Natural Fiend and Lustboy excitedly reached an agreement.

"It’s better if you don’t bother him. Watchful Snail is really busy managing the guild right now, and the boss might be busy with a quest,” Undying Scoundrel said.

"Alright, we’ll ask the next time we see them.” Natural Fiend and Lustboy nodded.

After the clubs finished recruiting, the gathering entered the PvP segment. 20 stages were erected in the center of the arena. Players could freely go up and PvP. Every class faced off to determine which was the strongest. Each team sent out their three representatives to participate in the rotational team battle.

The atmosphere immediately became heated. The rival clubs in particular were brimming with hostility, like Azure Windchime and Bloodfiends. Undying Scoundrel, Natural Fiend, Lustboy, and the others were itching to do battle.

Dark, Ardent, and the others from Bloodfiends decided to take the stage.

"Last time we PvPed against Bloodfiends, we won nine matches, lost six, and were also defeated in the team battle. So, both sides came out roughly even. This time with Fiend and Lustboy, we’ll definitely crush those bastards!” Undying Scoundrel took out his staff. At the previous gathering, the quality of his equipment was poor, and he was having a hard time raising his level because Asskickers United was in the midst of a heated war. Now, things were different. After being given a chance to recuperate, he had already reached Level 85. He was roughly on par with those from Bloodfiends in level. His gear had also undergone a complete transformation—five pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment while the rest was Dark Gold-grade. Simply put, this was astonishing. It was enough to completely overwhelm any single player from Bloodfiends.

Not only Undying Scoundrel, Natural Fiend and Lustboy’s equipment was also of high quality. Nie Yan had provided them the locations of many Sub Legendary and Legendary-grade equipment. All of them had acquired a few, three pieces at minimum. Add this on top of the fact that Nie Yan had provided them with a large pile of twinked Level 100 gear, and no other guild could surpass Asskickers United’s elites in terms of equipment. Skill, of course, didn’t need mentioning. If you lacked it, you weren’t welcome in Asskickers United. Painted Muslin was even more amazing. A Priest that could heal and PvP was incredibly difficult to find.

"How come Lofty Shadow and Monochrome still aren’t back yet? With them, we can destroy Bloodfiends in the team battle too!” Undying Scoundrel said. He was fired up.

"Lofty Shadow and Monochrome are in the middle of a dungeon run. They’ll be over in a minute,” Painted Muslin replied. Lofty Shadow and Monochrome had already contacted her. They were almost finished.

"That’s good. I’ll go up and play with them first.” Undying Scoundrel couldn’t hold back any longer.

"Alright.” Painted Muslin bitterly smiled. Undying Scoundrel had a naturally restless personality. She could only let him go. Of course, she had full confidence he would bring back a victory.

Undying Scoundrel jumped onto the stage. Holding his head up high with a proud look on his face, he pointed at the players from Bloodfiends. "You shitters. I’m standing right here! If you got any balls, come up and fight me!”

Undying Scoundrel’s arrogant entrance infuriated the players from Bloodfiends. Dark, Ardent, and the other three from the main five ignored the provocation. However, the rest were barely holding themselves back. They wanted nothing more than to give Undying Scoundrel’s cocky face a good beating.

"Damn, he’s really aggressive this time. He must've gotten some good equipment,” Seal said with a hint of envy after examining Undying Scoundrel.

"Dark, what do we do? Do we go up?” Ardent asked.

"Send out a few of the guys below to probe him out. Let’s see just how much progress he’s made to be so confident,” Dark said. He was fairly calm. The five of them wouldn’t go up. Even if the Thieves below them went up and lost, it wouldn’t mean anything. What would be troublesome was if they went up without a clear understanding of the opponent’s strength. If they weren’t careful and ended up falling for the enemy’s trap with so many people watching, Bloodfiends would lose all face.

One of the Thieves from Bloodfiends jumped on the stage. Just as he was about to open his mouth and throw out some insults, Undying Scoundrel waved his staff. A mist of frost emerged and immediately froze the Thief and everything around him solid. Before he could even activate Gale Step, a fireball whizzed toward him. BANG! He was sent flying out of bounds.

"Fuck! That’s dirty! What a shameless bastard!” The players from Bloodfiends were up in arms over the surprise attack.

"Don’t you guys surprise attack people all the time? This is called receiving a taste of your own medicine. If you guys hadn’t ambushed our boss five on one, do you think he would’ve almost lost? What’s laughable is that you guys didn’t even succeed, yet you’re going around bragging about your failure like it’s some amazing achievement. Calling me shameless. Hah! I’ve never met more shameless people in my life!” Undying Scoundrel sneered.

Undying Scoundrel had struck a nerve. The faces of Dark, Ardent, and the other three warped with anger.

After hearing Undying Scoundrel’s words, the onlookers sank into deep thought. How did Bloodfiends become famous? Wasn’t it because they almost succeeded in assassinating Nirvana Flame? However, just like Undying Scoundrel said, even if you succeeded, there was nothing glorious about ganging up on someone five on one. Logically speaking, rather than those five being amazingly skilled, it was because Nirvana Flame was simply too famous!

Undying Scoundrel gazed at Dark and the others and snickered, "Stop sending these small fry over, or else you’re going to bore me to death. If you think I said anything wrong, come up and prove it. Stop hiding in your shells like turtles!”

All the onlookers focused their attention on the main five from Bloodfiends. At this point, they had no choice but to go up.

"Fuck, let me go up and teach him a lesson!” Shadow cursed. He didn’t wait for an answer and quickly jumped up on the stage.

Undying Scoundrel got a light warm up. The two started their match. At the same time, Natural Fiend and Lustboy got on the other stages and started challenging the other Thieves from Bloodfiends.

The feud between Asskickers United and Bloodfiends had long since crossed the point of no return. Neither could coexist with the other. Bloodfiends might have failed to assassinate Nie Yan, but they had killled quite a few people from Asskickers United. At least 300 guildmates had died at their hands. How could the ordinary members of the guild be a match for them?

Undying Scoundrel, Natural Fiend, and Lustboy naturally wanted to get revenge.

After the two exchanged several moves, Shadow grew more and more apprehensive. The last time they fought, they were roughly even. However, after just a few weeks, the difference had become so great. As soon as the battle started, he was immediately inundated by an endless stream of spells. He had no choice but to keep dodging, not even getting the slightest chance to close in on Undying Scoundrel.

Chapter 610 - Blowing Off Steam

Undying Scoundrel waved his staff, firing out a flurry of spells.

Many things could change in the period of a few weeks. Undying Scoundrel benefited greatly from tagging along with Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others. He was much more composed in PvP. His tempo was nice and stable. Furthermore, the quality of his gear was much higher than before.

The two had both improved since their last match. However, it was clear Undying Scoundrel’s progress far surpassed Shadow’s.

Gale Step!

Shadow nimbly evaded the flurry of fireballs and closed in on Undying Scoundrel.

His dagger flickered with a cold light.

Undying Scoundrel pulled back. Keen Sense! With his increased Awareness, he quickly pinpointed Shadow’s position and waved his staff.

Ice Spike!

RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! Countless ice spikes erupted from the ground beneath Shadow’s feet. They were about to turn his body into swiss cheese.

Shadow leaped out of the way, and not a moment too soon. But before his feet could even touch the ground, more ice spikes erupted out from the ground where he was about to land.

What frightening cast speed!

With no way of dodging, Shadow quickly crushed an Ice Resistance Scroll. He had already used all his skills dodging the previous attacks. He found himself in an awkward predicament.

PFFT! PFFT! PFFT! Blood flew everywhere as Shadow was skewered, his body covered in a thick layer of frost. His movement speed was greatly reduced.

Fuck! What high frost damage! Even the Ice Resistance Scroll did nothing to help! Shadow inwardly cursed.

Before Shadow had a chance to react, fireballs started pouring down from the sky. There was nowhere to hide within a 10-meter radius. The inferno shaved away the rest of his health as he collapsed on the ground.

"Damn, isn’t that just overkill!? Did he really need to use AoE magic?”

In the final moments of the match, Undying Scoundrel could’ve just finished Shadow off with a Flame Burst. However, he showed no mercy and cast an AoE spell instead. The flames gradually subsided, revealing Shadow’s charred corpse.

Before long, Natural Fiend and Lustboy also finished their matches. Both achieved an overwhelming victory.

"Individually, you’re all nothing but trash! You keep boasting about how you almost assassinated our boss. Well, take a good look in the mirror! He didn’t even summon his Golden Dragon or use any of his Advanced Skills, and you still couldn’t do anything to him!” Natural Fiend taunted.

The person Natural Fiend respected the most was Nie Yan. The main five from Bloodfiends didn’t even succeed in their assassination, but they still arrogantly borrowed his name to raise their reputation. He naturally wouldn’t hold back his words.

"Who do you think you are? Don’t think you’re all that just because you won one match!”

Natural Fiend’s word infuriated Dark, Ardent, Shadow, Night, and Seal. They each took turns going up on the stage. However, they were all soundly defeated by Undying Scoundrel, Natural Fiend, and Lustboy. The three stood victorious, allowing the onlookers to witness what true skill was!

The players from Azure Windchime were in high spirits. They let out thunderous cheers!

"Undying Scoundrel is unbeatable!”

"Natural Fiend is invincible!”

"Lustboy is unrivalled!”

...

The clamor shook the entire arena. It was completely overwhelming. The players from Bloodfiends hung their heads dispiritedly, like a defeated fighting cock. Dark, Ardent, and the others trembled with anger. However, it was the truth that they weren’t as skilled as Undying Scoundrel, Natural Fiend, or Lustboy. This sort of gap couldn’t be made up for.

The players from Asskickers United felt like they had regained their honour.

Nie Yan observed Undying Scoundrel, Natural Fiend, and Lustboy with a faint smile on his face.

"These guys, they improved much more than I expected,” Nie Yan said. He was astonished at their progress.

"That’s because they’re all talented people. With even the slightest bit of help, they’ll grow by leaps and bounds.” Xie Yao smiled.

"Yeah.” Nie Yan nodded. He wholeheartedly agreed with Xie Yao’s assessment. Asskickers United was unique. With so many experts gathered together, they could easily learn from each other. They improved much faster than those hermits who refused to interact with others.

The eyes of the students from the Top Military Academy bulged out in shock. They initially believed Undying Scoundrel, Natural Fiend, and Lustboy were only roughly on par with the main five from Bloodfiends at most. They never expected the difference in skill to be so great. After five matches in a row, Dark, Ardent, and the other three failed to score even a single victory.

"I guess Bloodfiends isn’t that great after all,” a player said.

"Yeah, they really are full of themselves. They keep bragging about how they’re elites. They’ve been finally put in their place. Think about it, Sun, King of the World, One Strike Vow, Hapless Frog, Tyrannical… almost all the top Thieves are in Asskickers United. They’re the real experts. Bloodfiends is nothing but trash.”

After being thoroughly trounced by Azure Windchime, the veil of mystery surrounding Bloodfiends was slowly dispersed. Everyone finally realized they were nothing more than a group of second-rate players.

Undying Scoundrel, Lustboy, and Natural Fiend understood the players from Bloodfiends were fairly talented. But they lacked guidance. Dark, Ardent, and the others hadn’t yet comprehended the true mysteries of PvP. If they continued fumbling forward on their own, it would take them at least a couple of years, maybe even longer to catch up.

Dark, Ardent, and the others clenched their fists, their fingernails digging deep into their flesh. Their eyes were bloodshot as a profound sense of powerlessness welled up in their hearts. In one-on-one duels, they were simply no match for Undying Scoundrel and the others.

"Azure Windchime, do you dare to fight us in a team battle?” Dark gritted his teeth, glaring daggers at Undying Scoundrel’s group.

"Hmph! Why wouldn’t we dare? Bring it on! We’ll play with you until the end!” Undying Scoundrel shouted. He had absolute confidence in the skills of his group. He didn’t fear Bloodfiends’ challenge in the slightest!

At this moment, Fang Rujie and Qin Han were observing from closeby. They never expected Bloodfiends to lose so miserably to Azure Windchime. They had a deep understanding of the strength of Dark, Ardent, and the others. According to rumours, among the numerous elites of Asskickers United, Undying Scoundrel, Natural Fiend, and Lustboy only ranked somewhere in the middle. If that were the case, just how strong were those at the very top!?

"Just how did he bring so many strong players together?” Qin Han scowled. He was deeply envious of Nie Yan.

Chapter 611 - Five Versus Five

Asskickers United’s line-up of top players was truly enviable. Qin Han and Cao Xu had employed all sorts of methods in an attempt to lure them over, including offering ludicrous sums of money, only to be met with failure after failure. Their loyalty to Nie Yan was too deep, leaving Qin Han and Cao Xu feeling helpless. With devoted members like these, Asskickers United would never fall.

Many of the top players from Asskickers United were elites of society in real life and were incredibly wealthy. They only entered the game to add some excitement into their daily lives. They felt a strong sense of belonging to Asskickers United. Having settled down, they generally weren’t willing to move anywhere else. So, Cao Xu and Qin Han were only able to successfully poached the second-rate players, many of whom transferred solely because they were drowning in debt.

Dark, Ardent, and the other three from Bloodfiends were already standing on the stage. They were a well-oiled machine. Their individual strength might not be anything, but when they worked together, the battle prowess they could display was astonishing. Azure Windchime had lost in every team battle against them so far.

"How come Lofty Shadow and Monochrome still aren’t here?” Undying Scoundrel knitted his brows.

"They’re still on the way,” Painted Muslin replied. Without Lofty Shadow and Monochrome, the only players among them who could go up on stage were her, Undying Scoundrel, Natural Fiend, and Lustboy. Four Mages against five Thieves was not a favourable match-up by any means. They would surely lose.

"Let’s keep waiting then,” Undying Scoundrel said. With four Mages against five Thieves, the odds were stacked heavily against them. Even if they found a second-rate Warrior to substitute, they probably wouldn’t last more than a few seconds against Dark, Ardent, and the other three.

Bloodfiends waited and waited. However, Azure Windchime showed no signs of going up.

"Don’t tell me you guys suddenly got scared? What a bunch of chickens!” Ardent mocked.

"Tsk, I guess those from Azure Windchime are all bark and no bite.”

After losing so many matches, Bloodfiends felt like they had lost all face. So, they badly wanted to win back some of their honour through the team battle.

"Sons of bitches!” Undying Scoundrel cursed. "Their shit-eating grins really piss me off.”

"Why are Lofty Shadow and Monochrome so slow?” Natural Fiend said in a gloomy tone.

"I think they encountered some kind of side quest. They have to head to Karodiya to turn it in, or else the quest will expire. Let’s keep delaying.” Painted Muslin had just received an update from Lofty Shadow and Monochrome.

"Are we going to fight or not!? You’re wasting everybody’s time. If you’re too chicken, just say so!”

"Hehe, not so tough now, huh, Azure Windchime? Where’s all that talk from before?”

…

The players from Bloodfiends chattered and jabbered on. Undying Scoundrel, Natural Fiend, and the others fumed with anger.

"Screw it! We can beat them with just the four of us!” Natural Fiend gripped his staff. He looked full of confidence.

Painted Muslin and Undying Scoundrel had a better understanding of the strength of Dark, Ardent, and the other three. The four of them wasn’t enough.

However, with so many people watching, Azure Windchime would probably become an object of ridicule if they kept delaying while Dark and the others were throwing out insults at them. If Lofty Shadow and Monochrome didn’t arrive soon, they would definitely be labeled as cowards.

"Let’s just go up.” Lustboy gritted his teeth. He couldn’t hold back any longer and got up on the stage.

Xie Yao watched on as everything happened. She tugged at Nie Yan’s sleeve and asked, "They’re missing a person. They might lose. What should we do?”

"If worst comes to worst, I’ll have to reveal myself,” Nie Yan muttered. He predicted as soon as he entered the stage, the five from Bloodfiends were doomed. His strength had improved dramatically since last time. He could probably take on the five of them all by himself. If he had the help of Undying Scoundrel, Lustboy, and the others, it would be over in a heartbeat. But at that time, this team battle would also lose all meaning.

Nie Yan stood up, ready to reveal himself, when a figure jumped down from the spectator stands across from him. He gently landed on the ground and walked over to Azure Windchime’s side.

Nie Yan sat back down. It appeared he wouldn’t need to take action this time.

The new arrival was Mistaken Smile, who had joined Asskickers United not long ago. Having only recently signed the contract, he hadn’t truly entered the guild’s core membership just yet, nor had he had a chance to establish his fame. No one really knew his name. If you brought up the Thieves of Asskickers United, people would think of Nie Yan, Sun, King of the World, and One Strike Vow. If you mentioned Mistaken Smile, they would give you odd looks. Who was that? However, he was on par with Sun and King of the World. Though his equipment might not be as good as theirs, nor did he have as many powerful skills, both of these issues could be easily resolved.

Nie Yan felt reassured. If Mistaken Smile, Painted Muslin, Undying Scoundrel, Natural Fiend, and Lustboy worked together, even he would have a tough time dealing with them, let alone the five from Bloodfiends.

"Mind if I join in?” Mistaken Smile asked with a grin. He was an alumni of the Top Military Academy, having graduated six years ago. He just happened to be in the area, when he received the notice for the gathering. So, he decided to check it out. He didn’t expect to bump into Painted Muslin, Undying Scoundrel, and the others here. Seeing they were short a person, he decided to lend a helping hand.

"Of course, we don’t mind. We just happened to have one spot left.” Painted Muslin smiled brilliantly.

Asskickers United’s elites often compared notes with each other. Painted Muslin, Undying Scoundrel, and the others naturally had an understanding of Mistaken Smile’s strength.

"With Smile here, this will be a cinch. We’ll wipe the floor with Bloodfiends!” Undying Scoundrel declared.

"First enter Azure Windchime. That way, people won’t say we cheated by asking help from an outsider.”

"Sure.” Mistaken Smile nodded. He accepted the invite to Azure Windchime.

"Our club has another amazing member!”

The several of them hopped on the stage which was shaped like a 100 by 100 meters square grid. It was perfect for team battles.

Mistaken Smile’s appearance attracted the gazes of the spectators.

"That Thief is also from Asskickers United? How come I’ve never seen him before?”

"Considering Lofty Shadow and Monochrome still haven’t shown up, I think they just added a random member to fill the spot.”

...

The crowd discussed fervently. Since Mistaken Smile liked to stay low-key, having remained a hermit for the longest time, no one knew him. Everyone was curious. Judging from the way he interacted with his teammates, they appeared to be on friendly terms. Not only that, but Painted Muslin’s group even looked quite excited. Could this Thief also be an expert?

"Aside from Sun, King of the World, One Strike Vow, Hapless Frog, and Tyrannical, the other Thieves in Asskickers United shouldn’t be a match for the main five from Bloodfiends, right?”

"Even though Bloodfiends got crushed in the singles match, you have to admit that they’re famous for their teamwork. Without Lofty Shadow and Monochrome here, if Azure Windchime just substituted a random player, they’ll definitely lose.”

Both sides stood on the arena stage. Dark, Ardent, and the other three swept their gazes over Mistaken Smile, obvious disdain in their eyes. Having this kind of nobody go up, Azure Windchime was looking down on them too much! The main five from Bloodfiends were extremely prideful. In their eyes, the only Thieves worthy of their attention in Asskickers United were Nie Yan, Sun, King of the World, and maybe a few others.

The battle was about to begin.

At this moment, Lofty Shadow and Monochrome along with the rest of their team finally arrived.

The two were clad in flashy armour, immediately attracting the gazes of the crowd.

"It’s Lofty Shadow and Monochrome. They’re here!”

"I bet Azure Windchime will ask to switch people out now.”

Lofty Shadow gave Painted Muslin an apologetic smile. "Sorry, we’re late.” His gaze happened to fall on Mistaken Smile. Stunned for a moment, he gave Mistaken Smile a slight nod.

"I didn’t expect to see you here.” Lofty Shadow laughed.

"Since you two are here, I’ll switch out,” Mistaken Smile said, preparing to get off the stage.

Lofty Shadow quickly stopped him. "It’s fine. You’re already up there. No point in going down now. Monochrome and I will enjoy the show from the sidelines.”

Everyone was baffled when Azure Windchime didn’t request to switch out a member. They started reconsidering their opinion of Mistaken Smile’s strength.

Dark, Ardent, and the others also raised their vigilance.

All the spectators focused their attention on the arena’s central stage.

"What sort of background does that Thief have?” Qin Han asked.

"I don’t know. I’ve never seen him before. He’s probably an alumni who graduated more than a few years ago. He’s never participated in these gatherings before,” Fang Rujie replied. Mistaken Smile was extremely low-key. Many of his old schoolmates didn’t even know he was playing the game.

Nie Yan liked to stay low-key because he didn’t want to deal with unnecessary annoyances. However, Mistaken Smile tendency to remain low-key was an intrinsic part of his nature. if Azure Windchime wasn’t in a pinch today, he would’ve never revealed himself. In the previous timeline, he had only entered the public eye after advancing to a Luminous Dancer. One could imagine how private he was.

All the spectators knew nothing about Mistaken Smile. Like this, he seemed all the more mysterious to them.

With countless eyes watching, the battle finally started. Dark, Ardent, and the other three immediately entered stealth. Mistaken Smile’s eyes glowed with a crimson light, and he also disappeared into stealth.

Painted Muslin, Undying Scoundrel, Natural Fiend, and Lustboy spread out. Each of them had their own ways of dealing with Thieves.

Painted Muslin waved her staff. An orb of light flew up in the sky, flooding the stage below with a dazzling radiance.

Shortly after, several silhouettes could be seen dashing on the stage. Three Thieves were rapidly closing in on Painted Muslin.

"Die!” Dark’s killing intent flared. He pivoted to the side as his dagger drew a wide arc and stabbed toward the back of Painted Muslin’s head.

Chapter 612 - Breathtaking Attack

Three Thieves circled in on Painted Muslin. They coordinated together like a pack of wolves, securing an area and taking down the prey as quickly as possible with their absolute number advantage. After which they would swiftly withdraw and stalk their next target, patiently waiting for the opportunity to pounce.

Repel!

Evasion!

Flame Burst!

...

The players on both sides used their skills. In a team battle, Thieves had an innate advantage. If one of them were surrounded, they could immediately escape with skills like Gale Step. Meanwhile, the rest of their team could focus down a single target.

Wolf pack tactics were the most suitable for groups of Thieves. The players from Bloodfiends had long since mastered these tactics to perfection.

Teams composed of purely Warriors and Paladins were the most effective at defending against wolf pack tactics. However, Painted Muslin, Undying Scoundrel, Natural Fiend, and Lustboy were all casters. Mistaken Smile was the only melee member in their team, and he was a Thief.

Seeing the three figures pouncing on Painted Muslin from different directions, Undying Scoundrel and the others waved their staffs, sending out volleys of fireballs in an attempt to save her. BANG! BANG! BANG! However, the Thieves took advantage of the brief invincibility granted by skills like Gale Step to avoid taking damage. They broke out of the smoke and flames undaunted.

Painted Muslin instantly felt an intense amount of pressure. With a wave of her staff, she shielded herself with a Radiant Barrier.

Dark materialized next to Painted Muslin. His dagger was already stabbing towards her. Just as the attack was about to pierce through her shield, she opened her mouth and let out an ear-piercing screech.

Howl of Terror!

"Hmph! Parlor tricks!” Dark snorted. He activated Mind Silence, interrupting Painted Muslin mid-cast.

At this moment, two more daggers stabbed toward Painted Muslin’s head.

Painted Muslin would normally have no trouble dealing with any of the Thieves from Bloodfiends’ main five. However, in a one on three situation, even if she stopped one attack, she still had two more to deal with.

Just as it looked like all hope was lost, a dagger-wielding silhouette emerged right in front of Painted Muslin. DING! Dark’s attack was parried.

Painted Muslin’s saviour was Mistaken Smile. As he stopped Dark’s attack, he gently swept out his foot and tripped Shadow.

In this sort of tense situation, Shadow had no way of evading. As soon as he felt his foot get hooked, he lost his balance and crashed into the ground face first. He rolled around in anguish and pain.

Painted Muslin targeted Seal with Fear, causing him to flee uncontrollably in the opposite direction.

Dark, Shadow, and Seal’s three-man ambush was successfully stopped. Mistaken Smile’s first appearance in battle was one to remember, using his dagger to parry and his foot to trip at the same time. He had executed these two moves with flawless timing and precision.

In a split-second, everyone’s eyes focused on Mistaken Smile. The scene just now lingered in their minds.

This was another apex Thief who didn’t lose out to Sun nor King of the World!

Another top expert had appeared! Just where was Asskickers United finding them all?

This was something nobody could wrap their heads around. First was Nie Yan, then Sun and King of the World. Now a Mistaken Smile had popped up too. Asskickers United never failed to suprise!

The onlookers calculated in their heads. Previously, the top five spots in the Thief leaderboards for the entire Viridian Empire were all occupied by members of Asskickers United. With Mistaken Smile added to the mix, they all wondered where he would place. This damned guild really was a den of thieves.

After several exchanges, Mistaken Smile forced Dark to retreat.

The more Dark fought, the more fearful he became. When he traded moves with Mistaken Smile, he was under an enormous amount of pressure. Mistaken Smile’s attacks were both lightning fast and overbearingly powerful. The only other person to give him this type of feeling was Nirvana Flame.

Mistaken Smile broke Bloodfiend’s three-man formation. He took it upon himself to match Dark, who attempted to disengage from the battle several times. However, Mistaken Smile clung onto him like a bur on a pant leg.

Seeing the red glow in Mistaken Smile’s eyes, Dark’s heart sank. It was an ocular skill! No wonder his stealth had been seen through so easily.

Mistaken Smile shot forward with blistering speed. Dark quickly raised his dagger to defend himself. However, as Mistaken Smile’s dagger was mere inches from his face, it flickered and vanished into thin air. Eyes wide with shock, he looked down at the dagger stabbed in his chest.

This was Mistaken Smile’s killing technique, his hidden ace. Even Dark couldn’t avoid falling victim to it.

Dark felt a sharp pain. Every movement suddenly became extremely cumbersome.

A slow poison! Dark inwardly cried out in alarm.

Before Dark had a chance to react, Mistaken Smile struck him in the forehead with Concussive Blow. His eyes glazed over.

Seeing the situation going south, Ardent and Seal wanted to rescue Dark. However, they were a beat too slow as two spells whizzed past them. BANG! BANG! Dark was sent flying out of bounds.

When Mistaken Smile turned around, he discovered Painted Muslin and Natural Fiend had worked together to kill Shadow.

The team battle suddenly turned into a five versus three. The defeat of Bloodfiends was inevitable.

Undying Scoundrel, Natural Fiend, and Lustboy easily cleaned up the remaining three Thieves.

The difference in skill between the two sides was too great. The match lacked any suspense and ended without much fanfare. The experts on the spectator stands could tell that Mistaken Smile was capable of dealing with at least three of the Thieves from Bloodfiends himself. With Undying Scoundrel, Painted Muslin, and the others supporting him, it would be strange if Dark, Ardent, and the other three didn’t lose.

Mistaken Smile had taken out Dark in record time, securing the victory. His breathtaking strike at the end was burned into the memories of many players. It would become an important reference for countless future Thieves. They really wanted to know how he did it. Even though they understood it required one’s eyes and hands to be quick, the move just now couldn’t be accomplished with simple reaction speed. It was obviously something that was honed through countless battles.

After Dark, Ardent, and the others revived, they were gritting their teeth in anger. With their heads lowered, they left the gathering. In the end, they had become a laughingstock to all the people in the Top Military Academy. Some of the players who thought about joining Bloodfiends secretly changed their minds. From now on, their only goal was Asskickers United.

The best Thieves were in Asskickers United. Only second-rate Thieves would join guilds like Bloodfiends and God Executioner Sword. This became the common consensus among players.

Asskickers United was a holy place that all skilled players pursued. The number of experts gathered there far surpassed that of other guilds.

Fang Rujie and Qin Han initially wanted to stir up trouble for Azure Windchime to raise the prestige of God Executioner Sword in the Top Military Academy. However, after witnessing the strength of Mistaken Smile, Undying Scoundrel, and the others, they quickly discarded the thought. They had no intention of sharing the same fate as Bloodfiends.

Chapter 613 - Heart of Winter

Apart from the clubs, the various classes of the Top Military Academy also competed against one another. Eventually the rankings came out. The command faculty placed second after suffering a begrudging defeat at the hands of the mech combat faculty.

Nie Yan had zero interest in these sorts of competitions.

"Welp, my bad guys. If I hadn’t slightly messed up there, we could’ve definitely beaten the mech combat faculty.” Fu Guangtao glanced at the several classmates in his team, an arrogant gleam in his eyes.

"The mech combat faculty is only slightly stronger than us. If we raise our levels and get a few more pieces of good equipment, we can definitely beat them. If we had Xia Tianyu, the mech combat faculty wouldn’t have stood a chance. What a shame.” Bai Jun sighed.

"Hmph! So what if we don’t have him? It’s not like the Earth will stop spinning. We just need to try harder next time. Then we can definitely beat them!” Zhao Shiyu felt quite pleased with herself after being voted the leader of the group.

Fu Guangtao started boasting about the weaknesses of the several experts in the mech combat faculty.

Several people in the team couldn’t stand Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, and Baijun, but they kept quiet.

Listening to the so-called strategies Fu Guangtao spewed out, Nie Yan couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. They were too vague and general and would have zero practical use on the battlefield.

Against players like Fu Guangtao, even if several dozen came at him, Nie Yan would still wipe the floor with them.

"Tsk, you guys are really good at believing your own bullshit. The mech combat faculty was hardly even trying. You think you could’ve beaten them? Hah! I’ve never seen a group so full of themselves,” Xia Tianyu sarcastically smiled. He was fed up with listening to Fu Guantao stroking his own ego.

Fu Guangtao’s face flushed red with embarrassment. "Xia Tianyu, you bastard! I dare you to say that again!”

"You want to hear it a second time? Sure! Bring out the replay of the match! Why stop at just twice? I’ll say it again a thousand times, ten thousand times, no problem!” Xia Tianyu shot back.

After hearing Xia Tianyu’s words, Xie Yao giggled and turned to Nie Yan. "Your friends sure are interesting.”

Nie Yan shrugged. Even he didn’t expect Xia Tianyu to have such a sharp tongue.

"Fuck you!” Fu Guangtao rushed forward. He wanted nothing more than to give Xia Tianyu a good beating. However, he was held back by Bai Jun and the others.

"Forget it. Nothing to get worked up over. We’re all classmates here, right?” Bai Jun said.

With some placating from his fellow classmates, Fu Guangtao finally calmed down. After glaring at Xia Tianyu, he snorted and walked away.

The Top Military Academy’s gathering finally came to a close. Azure Windchime had come out of it the biggest winner. Many students made use of their connections to reach out to Undying Scoundrel and the others for a recommendation into Asskickers United or possibly an opportunity to participate in an entrance test. God Executioner Sword had also gained quite a few new members.

Nie Yan coldly eyed Fang Rujie and Qi Han leading a crowd of new recruits away. He urged Guo Huai to closely monitor God Executioner Sword.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao left the arena together.

Xie Yao resumed her search for the remaining pieces of the Saintess Christina Set and figuring out a way to resurrect her phoenix.

Guo Huai had already done all he could in helping Nie Yan gather items that could increase his Ice Resistance.

After bidding farewell to Xie Yao, Nie Yan went his own way.

Checking his personal storage, Nie Yan found two books for passive skills that increased his Ice Resistance and an item called the Heart of Winter; it was a dazzling snow-white orb about the size of a fist.

Nie Yan examined the item.

Heart of Winter: Special Item

Properties: Ice Resistance +50, Ice Magic +20%

Winter Spirit: Invoke the power of the Heart of Winter to become immune to frost damage and even the most extreme cold for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 20 minutes.

Restrictions: Righteous Faction

Seeing the properties of the Heart of Winter, Nie Yan recalled his Kiln Fire Heart. He took it out of the bag and compared the two.

Kiln Fire Heart: Special Item

Properties: Fire Resistance +50, Fire Magic +20%

Kiln Fire: Invoke the power of the Kiln Fire Heart to become immune to all fire damage and even the most extreme heat for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 20 minutes.

Restrictions: Righteous Faction

The Kiln Fire Heart and Heart of Winter were identical in size. Both were special items. The Kiln Fire Heart was bright red and emitted a blazing energy. It looked just like a ball of primal flame. The Heart of Winter was dazzling white and seeped out with a frosty aura. It look like an orb made out of the purest ice.

One red, the other white, the two items shone brightly in Nie Yan’s hands.

Something like the Kiln Fire Heart was extremely rare. Nie Yan had only learned about it in the previous timeline purely by coincidence. "Besides the Kiln Fire Heart and Heart of Winter, are there other similar items?”

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. "I should have Guo Huai look for more similar items. Maybe something special will happen if we gather all of them.”

After learning the two passive skills, Nie Yan checked his Ice Resistance. It had already reached 260, meeting the requirements to explore the icy tundra to the far north of the Viridian Empire. Apart from this, he had also stocked up on a few Master Ice Resistance Potions from the Starry Night Potion Shop.

Making sure nothing was out of place or missing, Nie Yan finally prepared to set off. "After finding Sulgata’s Feather and completing Sulgata’s Shadow, I will do the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest.” His eyes shone with anticipation.

Nie Yan walked to the outskirts of Calore and summoned his Darkwing Dragon. He hopped on and flew off toward the north.

The Darkwing Dragon rapidly ascended in altitude. The wind howled past Nie Yan’s ears while the mountains and rivers below flitted past. He realized once more just how frighteningly fast his flying mount was.

After flying for about 15 minutes, the landscape below transformed into a barren tundra. As the polar winds howled past him, Nie Yan felt a bit cold on his cheeks as a layer of frost covered his skin. He was about to be turned into a human popsicle! The Darkwing Dragon’s speed was also dramatically reduced as ice built up on its wings.

Nie Yan hurriedly had the Darkwing Dragon land. Flying at such high speeds in this extremely cold environment was a terrible idea.

The Darkwing Dragon circled in the sky before making a gradual descent. Nie Yan gazed ahead of him. A vast expanse of white stretched out as far as the eye could see. Here and there lone rocks protruded through the snow while further off he could make out the vague outline of mountains.

The Darkwing Dragon finally landed on the ground. Nie Yan hopped off its back.

Chapter 614 - Book of Forgotten History

Setting foot on the ground, Nie Yan’s calves sank into the snow. A frigid gust of wind blew past him, causing him to shiver.

Nie Yan unsummoned his Darkwing Dragon. Braving the cold winds, he trudged through the snow step by step.

"Phew… It’s a good thing my Ice Resistance is high enough, or else I would’ve frozen to death before I even got here.”

Nie Yan pressed forward through the expanse of white, never veering from his goal.

The monsters that spawned here were Level 60 Tundra Bears. Every now and then, a few of them would come lumbering over. However, after getting a whiff of Nie Yan’s scent, they would immediately do a 180 and run away. Their sharp senses told them they were no match for him.

Even if Nie Yan hunted these Tundra Bears, he wouldn’t gain much experience. He couldn’t be bothered to chase after them. He continued toward his destination.

Nie Yan occasionally spotted a few Elementalists levelling here. One of their special skills allowed them to ignore the extreme cold. For the sake of avoiding unnecessary trouble, Nie Yan would enter stealth and take a detour around them.

After about 20 minutes, Nie Yan arrived in front of a lake basin at the foot of a mountain. The water was crystal clear and serene without the slightest ripple. It was so unfathomably deep no light could reach the bottom.

Nie Yan checked his map coordinates. "This is the place!”

This icy lake emitted a frigid aura.

Sulgata’s Feather was fished out of here in the previous timeline.

Nie Yan drank a Master Ice Resistance Potion and dived into the water. A frigid chill immediately permeated his body as he started shivering.

If his Ice Resistance were below 200, he would’ve turned into a human popsicle.

Nie Yan activated the ability of his Water Aversion Pearl and swam further down toward the lake bed. Deep underwater, darkness surrounded him. Thanks to his high Night Vision, though, he could make out a few indistinct shapes.

All around him were stalky plants over a dozen meters in length, swaying back and forth with the underwater currents.

Nie Yan passed through this underwater forest and beyond. The world here was completely alien. From time to time, he encountered schools of fish and other harmless fauna.

About 10 minutes later, Nie Yan finally found what he was looking for—Sulgata’s Feather!

Sulgata’s Feather was a white, six inches long feather which glowed with a holy light. It hovered just above the lake bed in the middle of a powerful underwater current. However, it stayed perfectly in place.

In the vicinity of Sulgata’s Feather, Nie Yan spotted three trident-wielding mermaids. These humanoid monsters with the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a fish were frightening creatures. Their peerless beauty could shake the heart of even the most resilient minds while their tridents flashed with a dangerous light.

Nie Yan hid behind a coral cluster and inspected one of the mermaids with Transcendent Insight.

Sea Demon Villina (Super Elite): Level 120
Health: 2,850,000/2,850,000

Super Elites were just half-a-step below Lords!

The three Sea Demons patrolled the area, never leaving Sulgata’s Feather out of sight for long.

Seeing the stats of the three Sea Demons, Nie Yan furrowed his brows. "Strange… why are there Level 120 Super Elites here? I never heard about any monsters guarding Sulgata’s Feather. I thought that Shadow Dancer just swam up and grabbed it.”

The information Nie Yan obtained was merely second-hand, not something he had personally confirmed himself. For discrepancies to appear was very normal. Things such as rumours grew more distorted the more they were passed on, until they transformed into something else entirely. The fact that he actually found Sulgata’s Feather was already pretty amazing.

"Dammit! How am I supposed to face three Level 120 Super Elites? No way I can get past them either, especially with those underwater currents restricting me...” Nie Yan muttered.

Surveying the surroundings and considering his options, Nie Yan discovered that he couldn’t use his teleportation items. This increased the difficulty even more. Even if he managed to retrieve Sulgata’s Feather, it would still drop if he died here.

Nie Yan dithered around for a long time, unable to come up with a solution. He didn’t have much time. The Water Aversion Pearl only lasted for 30 minutes. Combined with the Underwater Breathing Pill in his bag, one hour was the limit.

Nie Yan had already wasted 20 minutes. Every second was precious. Before the hour ended, he would have to swim out of the teleportation restricted zone and channel a Return Scroll home, or else he would surely drown to death.

"Tsk... But if I return to Calore empty-handed, the whole trip would’ve been for nothing.”

Nie Yan contemplated for a moment. "I wonder if I can sneak past with stealth and snatch Sulgata’s Feather away.”

Sea creatures generally had low Awareness.

Disappear!

Nie Yan blended into the background, then slowly started making his way over.

Eventually Nie Yan arrived within six meters of Sulgata’s Feather. The three Sea Demons appeared to sense something. They turned their heads in his direction and started scanning around before swimming over to investigate.

Not daring to alert the three Sea Demons, Nie Yan could only slowly back up. He hid behind a coral reef roughly 10 meters away from Sulgata’s Feather.

The three Sea Demons searched around. After failing to find anything, they returned to a passive state.

"So close and yet so far…” Nie Yan couldn’t help but become a bit depressed. The underwater currents here were too strong. If he tried to use his Silk Spinner Ring like he normally would in these situations, the web line would only get swept away. This method clearly wasn’t feasible.

"Web line, underwater currents…” Nie Yan appeared to be on the verge of a breakthrough, but the idea failed to solidify in his head.

"There must be a way…” Nie Yan consoled himself. He needed to think it over carefully. The environment here was too distracting. "Let’s go explore elsewhere and clear my head. Maybe I can find another treasure besides Sulgata’s Feather.”

Nie Yan searched around for about 10 minutes, whereupon the Water Aversion Pearl’s ability wore off. He ate an Underwater Breathing Pill and extended his time by another 30 minutes.

"Should I just go back now…?” After thinking for a bit, Nie Yan shook his head. He wanted to test something out first. It would be best if he could retrieve Sulgata’s Feather. If worse came to worst, he would teleport away and try again next time.

After exploring around some more, Nie Yan suddenly found himself being pulled along by a strong current. Thankfully, his Strength and Endurance were high enough. He could swim against it without being swept away, albeit with great difficulty.

At this moment, Nie Yan happened to notice something sparkling in the distance. His eyes lit up. "Is that a treasure chest?”

He borrowed the force of the current to swim toward the light.

After swimming for about 30 meters, Nie Yan arrived in front of a large coral reef. He discovered a silver white treasure chest tucked away in a crack between two boulders. It looked like something from the Dark Era. However, most of the designs and markings were corroded away, making it difficult to identify.

"It really is a treasure chest! Looks like the lock is broken, though…”

Nie Yan couldn’t pull the chest out of the crack. Thinking for a bit, he took out Zennarde’s Sword. He planned to pry it open.

Nie Yan inserted Zennarde’s Sword into the opening of the chest. With a firm twist, he popped the lid open with a click. In the chest lay an ancient book. To his surprise, it was still intact despite sitting underwater for who knew how long. The book was thick and heavy and appeared to be made out of dark grayish leather from some unknown animal. Dark golden characters written in Dragon Tongue were inscribed on the cover.

"Book of Forgotten History…” Nie Yan muttered, tracing his fingers over the characters.

As Nie Yan wondered what kind of item this Book of Forgotten History was, a notification sound rang out in his ears.

You have discovered the Book of Forgotten History, lost at the bottom of a lake basin in the icy tundra at the northern border of the Viridian Empire. Behind its worn out pages is a long and ancient history. Do you wish to retrace the past? Do you wish to recover this forgotten history?

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. "Looks like the start of a quest line… Well, whatever. No harm in taking another quest. I’ll get to it whenever.” He hit confirm without the slightest hesitation.

At this moment, the Book of Forgotten of History blossomed out with a brilliant radiance which completely enveloped Nie Yan while a dark power entered his body. He could sense the Darkwing Dragon in his pet space stirring restlessly. He hurriedly soothed it.

The Darkwing Dragon finally calmed down.

Nie Yan was astonished. "What a frightening power of darkness!”

The Book of Forgotten History flipped open to the first page, which contained a story.

First Chapter - Evil Blade

Description: A lonely hero wandered the dark wasteland, seeking out the Evil Blade so he could destroy it. But when he found the weapon, his resolution wavered and he was possessed by it instead. A pair of black wings sprouted from his back as he transformed into a devil.

Objectives:
☐ Slay Devil Jessup.
☐ Destroy the Evil Blade with the Book of Forgotten History.
☐ Collect Devil’s Feather.

"I was right. It is the start of a quest line. Too bad I don’t have the time to do it right now. It doesn’t look super important anyway. I should be okay putting it off until later.” Nie Yan stuffed the Book of Forgotten History into his bag and then put it out of his mind. His main goal right now was retrieving Sulgata’s Feather.

Nie Yan swam back to the area where Sulgata’s Feather was located. He swept his eyes over the stalky plants growing on the lakebed. They flowed with the underwater currents, swaying back and forth.

"Tsk... the currents here are too strong. You always have to worry about getting swept away. Swimming anywhere is a huge pain in the ass.”

Seeing the swaying plants, a light bulb lit up in Nie Yan’s head. "I’ve got it! I know how I can retrieve Sulgata’s Feather without the Sea Demons noticing!”

Nie Yan became excited. He wanted to test out if his idea would work. He hurriedly swam over to the coral clusters in the distance. The patrolling Sea Demons already entered his sight.

He took advantage of the cover from the coral clusters to make his way forward in stealth.

Nie Yan stopped at about seven meters from Sulgata’s Feather. The closest of the three Sea Demons was six meters away. Seeing them look away from the feather, he made his move.

Chapter 615 - Sulgata’s Feather

Nie Yan swam into the currents. He felt the surging water sweeping up against his body.

He took out his Silk Spinner Ring and gradually released a web line, which floated forward under the influence of the flowing water.

The web line resembled the plants, swaying back and forth with the currents.

The longer the web line grew, the harder it became to control.

Nie Yan carefully guided the web line forward, meticulously paying attention to its every movement.

One meter, two meters, three meters… thankfully the currents here weren’t too chaotic. Soon, the web line gew to six meters long. The thin strand of silk slowly drifted toward Sulgata’s Feather.

Just as Nie Yan was about to succeed, the three Sea Demons appeared to sense something and gazed over in his direction.

Nie Yan hurriedly held his breath and stopped what he was doing.

The three Sea Demons only spotted a long strand of silk floating in the water. With their meager intelligence, they couldn’t figure out its use. They stared at it with vacant expressions before returning to an idle state.

Seeing the three Sea Demons turn away, Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god they didn’t swim over to investigate.”

Nie Yan continued to extend the web line. At about 10 meters, it was already long enough to touch Sulgata’s Feather.

He had no way of controlling the web line’s direction. He could only slightly tug and pull at the thread, praying luck was on his side.

The web line swayed in random directions, having almost made contact with Sulgata’s Feather several times, only to be swept aside at the last second.

Nie Yan made several attempts. As he released the web line into the currents one more time, it sped along toward Sulgata’s Feather. However, it looked like it wouldn’t properly stick. He couldn’t stay underwater for much longer, 10 minutes at most. Even if he succeeded, he would still have to escape the pursuit of the three Sea Demons.

"I can’t waste any more time!” Nie Yan gritted his teeth. He took a deep breath and focused his mind. Paying close attention to the flow of the currents, he maneuvered the web line to the best of his ability. With a light thwick, it stuck onto Sulgata’s Feather.

As the line went taut, Nie Yan immediately hooked his finger around the strand of silk and flicked his wrist. Instantly, the web line went up, down, and around Sulgata’s Feather, becoming more and more entangled.

Nie Yan jerked his hand back, reeling in the web line with Sulgata’s Feather in tow.

At this moment, the three Sea Demons were alerted. They let out an ear-piercing cry. The sharp sound caused Nie Yan’s eardrums to tremble as he started hallucinating.

Mind Immune!

Nie Yan immediately snapped out of his daze, fear still lingering in his heart. "I almost lost consciousness there! A beat slower, and I would’ve been a goner for sure!”

As the web line retracted into his hand Nie Yan grabbed hold of Sulgata’s Feather. He had no time to put it away in his bag.

One of the Sea Demons charged forward, her sharp trident stabbing towards Nie Yan’s head.

Just as the attack was about to land, Nie Yan activated the Pygmy Ring. He instantly shrunk to a third of his original size.

The trident missed and struck the coral cluster. BOOM! Rubble and bits of coral muddled the water.

Nie Yan’s face paled in fright. Seeing the other two Sea Demons closing in on him from both sides, he quickly kicked his leg and tunneled into crevices between the corals. His body was small, so he had no problem passing through.

After turning small, Nie Yan could freely travel in the small passageways that existed within the coral reef.

Seeing Nie Yan slip away, the Sea Demons repeatedly struck the coral clusters with their tridents.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Their ferocious attacks devastated the coral reef.

Nie Yan fled for dear life, shuttling through the passages between the corals.

It was a game of cat and mouse. The three Sea Demons spread out to find traces of Nie Yan. Even when they spotted him, with him nimbly tunneling here and there, none of their attacks connected.

Finding such a small person within this lush coral reef was incredibly difficult.

Nie Yan checked his status. He could only stay underwater for six more minutes. The three Sea Demons were still in hot pursuit. He had to flee faster!

Nie Yan activated Shadow Waltz and buffed himself with several other stealth enhancing skills. His silhouette gradually faded into the shadows cast by the coral reef.

The three Sea Demons looked all over. However, it was as though Nie Yan had vanished into thin air. He was nowhere to be found. After searching for a while longer, they could only helplessly turn back.

About five minutes later, Nie Yan exited the coral reef. He was outside of the teleportation restricted zone. He glanced at his inventory. Items like his Unknown Transfer Scroll and Return Scrolls were no longer grayed out.

As the effects of his Underwater Breathing Potion were about to wear off, Nie Yan took out a Return Scroll.

The Return Scroll glowed with a brilliant light.

The clock ticked away, one second, two seconds, three seconds...

Nie Yan suddenly found breathing become more and more difficult. He held his breath. A powerful force descended on his body. This was the water pressure at the bottom of the lake. As he started running out of breath, his vision grew increasingly blurry. "Dammit, don’t tell me I’m going to die here…? What horrible luck.”

Suddenly, a brilliant light dazzled his eyes. The Return Scroll had activated.

Nie Yan gradually regained consciousness. As he opened his eyes, he was already back in Calore. Since he was at the bottom of a lake just a moment ago, he felt a sharp pain course through his entire body. Luckily, he still returned alive.

After resting for a bit, he finally regained his strength. Looking at his hand, Sulgata’s Feather was still bundled up tightly in his web line.

Nie Yan slowly untangled the web line. Pulling out Sulgata’s Feather, he examined its properties.

Sulgata’s Feather (Legendary Fragment)

Description: A fragment of Sulgata’s Shadow. This feather is brimming with a mysterious magical power.

Properties: Strength +80, Dexterity +120

Nie Yan put away Sulgata’s Feather. He also took off Sulgata’s Cloth Boots and placed it beside Sulgata’s Feather in his bag. With a dazzling light, the two items gradually merged together.

A few seconds later, the light faded away.

A pair of exquisite boots appeared before Nie Yan’s eyes. They were completely black and weaved out of a delicate silk while also sporting a sleek and flashy design. The edges were covered in mysterious runes. This was the style of the Dark Era. These runes represented an ancient history.

Sulgata’s Shadow was finally complete!

Nie Yan was a bit moved. After spending so much time, he had finally acquired these Legendary-grade boots!

Chapter 616 - Sulgata’s Shadow Walkers (Legendary)

Nie Yan examined the brand new pair of boots.

Sulgata’s Shadow Walkers (Legendary): Soul Item

Requirements: 1,900 Dexterity, 600 Strength

Description: Destroyed and lost during the War of Sulgata. All three fragments—Sulgata’s Boots, Sulgata’s Runic Cloth, and Sulgata’s Feather—have been brought back together to form a complete whole. The legendary pair of boots emerge in history once more! Represents the pinnacle of shadow. Brimming with enigmatic power.

Properties: Defense 1,028–1,201, Evasion +10%, Dexterity +200, Movement Speed +120, Jump +110, Stealth +120, Cloaking +120, and Reflex +120.

Steal (Rank 16): Attempt to pocket gold or an item from a target.

Shadow Waltz (Rank 16): Stealth +120, Cloaking +120, Movement Speed +150, 8 seconds of invincibility; cannot be detected through stealth for 20 seconds.

Restrictions: Nirvana Flame

Note: This item cannot be dropped, destroyed, or traded.

Sulgata’s Shadow Walkers finally offered some protection, providing more than 1,000 defense, which was practically unheard of among shoe-type items. It was far better than Ygris’ Guardian Gages and the Orpheus Vambraces. The upgrade to Steal and Shadow Waltz especially blew Nie Yan away. This was his first time seeing two Rank 16 skills.

Sulgata’s Shadow Walkers was a Soul Item, which meant it would grow alongside Nie Yan as he levelled up.

His own development would dictate the future growth of Sulgata’s Shadow Walkers.

If Sulgata’s Shadow Walkers were tradeable, it would surely sell for an astronomical sum in the marketplace. Its properties would drive countless players mad with envy.

Nie Yan estimated Sulgata’s Shadow Walkers was at least equivalent to a Level 150 Legendary item.

He already fulfilled the 1,900 Dexterity and 600 Strength requirements.

His Dexterity was at a frightening 2,300 while his Strength surpassed 1,000.

Nie Yan put on Sulgata’s Shadow Walkers, then took them for a spin. The boots fit snugly around his feet and provided amazing support. He didn’t feel the slightest bit of weight, almost as if he were wearing nothing.

"Hah! Now this is a Legendary item!” Nie Yan sighed in admiration. He could travel great distances, even by just casually walking around.

Nie Yan checked his defense. It had already breached 10,000. Even among Warriors, those who had a higher defense than him were few and far between. It was just that Thieves wore leather armour, which offered far less protection than a Warrior’s plate armour. His defense was still nevertheless astonishing. Combined with his Rank 7 defense, attacks from ordinary players couldn’t break his armour.

"Three pieces of Legendary-grade equipment. I don’t think there’s anyone out there better geared than me!” Nie Yan’s eyes shone with excitement.

After getting comfortable with Sulgata’s Shadow Walkers, Nie Yan had Guo Huai send over some gems. He socketed his new equipment. Like this, his stats received another boost.

These days, Asskickers United was expanding at a frightening rate. After gaining a strong foothold in Moonlight City, which was now their second base, they established branches in five more cities. To support this growth, they started recruiting again and expanded their ranks to 150,000 players.

The Starry Night Potion Shop rapidly expanded alongside Asskickers United, opening up branches in every city across the Viridian Empire. Their revenue sharply increased, bringing in more than 300,000 gold a day.

The number of strongholds under the control of World Bloc had also quickly increased, from just a few in the beginning to more than 30 now. Thanks to the real world business districts of these strongholds, World Bloc’s revenue from the virtual reality industry increased several times over. They earned an exorbitant amount of money, which Father Nie would invest in various projects. They had already increased their market share by more than 3,000%! Their influence was also rapidly expanding. Many domestic financial groups started paying attention to them. Some tried to strike up a cooperative relationship. Others viewed them as powerful competitors. The rise of World Bloc was inevitable.

Nie Yan’s goal was to make World Bloc even more powerful than the Century Financial Group.

During the war against Alliance of Mages, the Century Financial Group had made use of their enormous wealth to poach quite a few Asskickers United members. World Bloc’s financial resources simply couldn’t compare to theirs. One day, Nie Yan planned to give them a taste of their own medicine. He would use World Bloc’s capital to compete with the Century Financial Group and see who could hold out until the end!

Asskickers United’s momentum was unstoppable. There was no power in the Viridian Empire capable of posing a threat to them for the time being. God Executioner Sword, Penumbra Empire, and those other guilds were too weak to stir up any waves. Even if Nie Yan wasn’t there, Guo Huai and the others could easily deal with them. No trouble would arise as long as Guo Huai paid close attention to the Monet Financial Group’s movements.

Asskickers United, the War God Tribe, Holy Empire, and the other guilds in the alliance were all on the right track. Even if Nie Yan disappeared for some time, none of their operations would be affected in the slightest. He could leave with his heart at ease.

"If I can become a Luminous Dancer, nothing can stop me in the future!” Nie Yan’s eyes gleamed with determination as he headed for the Temple of Light.

The same as last time, after walking through the hall, Nie Yan found Father Anisen. He looked no different from before. His kind expression gave people an amiable impression.

"You’re back. Are you ready now?” Anisen asked with a faint smile, almost as if he had met an old friend.

"Father Anisen, I’m all set to go. I want to enter the Ancient World. I will pursue the tracks left behind by God and receive His divine inheritance!”

"Pious believer, may the light be with you. Follow me.” Anisen nodded with a gratified smile. He then turned around and headed deeper into the temple.

Anisen led Nie Yan to the magic formation from last time.

"The Ancient World contains the inheritance left behind by God. If you successfully advance to a Luminous Dancer, you’ll obtain incredible power. Of course, that place is also filled with dangers. If you fail, you will forever lose the qualifications to become a Luminous Dancer. I’ll ask once more. Are you fully prepared?” Anisen asked with a solemn look on his face.

"I am!” Nie Yan nodded.

Anisen chanted an incantation and waved his staff. A giant beam of light shone down on the magic formation, causing a white portal to emerge.

"Go forth. The portal will lead you to the Ancient World.”

Nie Yan took a deep breath, then stepped into the portal. The light consumed his body as it left this world. After which the portal gradually faded before disappearing without a trace.

Chapter 617 - Ancient World

After entering the portal, Nie Yan was sent hurtling through the river of time as countless scenes from Conviction’s history flashed before his eyes. A wealth of information flowed into his mind.

Nie Yan felt like he had transcended into a higher realm as he watched history speed by while overlooking the world from space.

So long as the player’s mind was capable of enduring, the system could impart information directly into their brain. This was Conviction’s most advanced technology.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Nie Yan regained consciousness. As he opened his eyes, the scene before him caused his mouth to gape in shock.

Nie Yan found himself standing halfway atop a mountain. As he gazed up ahead, he was greeted by the sight of a vast forest stretching out as far as the eye could see. It was almost as if he had been transported to a world of giants. The trees were over 60 meters tall with trunks so large it would take 10 grown men linking arms to fully wrap around their circumference. Their crowns were lush and dense, blocking any light from filtering through and reaching the ground below. The sky was home to all sorts of flying creatures, most of which were types of dragons.

These winged dragons were much larger than the Darkwing Dragon resting in Nie Yan’s pet space.

"So, this is the Ancient World!” Nie Yan’s eyes gleamed with curiosity. "Hmm.. I wonder where I’m supposed to go to get the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest started.”

Nie Yan swept his eyes over the landscape before him. "I can probably trigger a quest hint by fulfilling some sort of condition.”

Nie Yan discovered different rules dictated this world. For instance, he couldn’t summon Lil’ Gold. The explanation from the system was that the rank of his pet was too low to enter the Ancient World. He could still summon his Darkwing Dragon, but doing so was basically asking for trouble. The flying creatures in the air were simply too powerful. His Darkwing Dragon was just an afternoon snack in their eyes.

Apart from this, the Unknown Transfer Scrolls and Return Scrolls in his bag became useless. Their runes gradually faded away until not even a trace of magical energy could be felt on them anymore.

Nie Yan felt a deep aching in his heart. His Unknown Transfer Scrolls and Return Scrolls had become nothing more than scrap paper. He didn’t care about the latter since they were cheap, but as for the former… He couldn’t help but sigh. Fearing he would be stuck in the Ancient World for a long time, he specifically prepared more than 20 scrolls. Now they had all gone to waste.

Another person in the same shoes would’ve probably spat out blood and passed out from anger and shock. To Nie Yan, however, it was simply a bitter pill to swallow.

Nie Yan found that many of his magic related items couldn’t be used in this place. His supply of scrolls in particular took the heaviest losses. He could only hope and pray they would return to normal after he left this map.

It appeared this world had its own rules. Anything outside of its rules couldn’t be used.

"A brand new world to explore!” Nie Yan gripped his dagger. If you’re going to do something, do it to the best of your ability! This was his motto in life. As someone who returned to the past, if he couldn’t reach the apex, he would consider himself a failure.

Nie Yan entered stealth, then made his way forward.

All around him were towering trees. The dense canopy above resembled an enormous umbrella blotting out the sunlight. The forest floor was covered in lush patches of grass. It was wide and spacious. After travelling for a few minutes, Nie Yan felt the ground shake.

Nie Yan’s face paled in fright. A large monster was probably approaching. He quickly ducked behind a tree.

Looking toward the commotion, a giant dragon appeared in the distance. This land dragon resembles a giant lizard. It was over two meters tall, eight meters across, and covered in ash-gray scales. Each step it took shook the earth.

"Don’t tell me all the monsters in the Ancient World are like this…?”

Transcendent Insight!

Blazing Land Dragon: Rank 5
Health: 72,000/72,000

"Rank 5…? It’s the same ranking system used for flying mounts!" Nie Yan muttered. The Blazing Land Dragon might only have 72,000 health, but judging from the metallic lustre coming off from its scales, its defense was surely astonishingly high.

"Should I try taking it down…?” Nie Yan thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Better safe than sorry. I should find a weaker monster first to test myself against. There’s bound to be a few around here. I only have one chance in this Ancient World. If I die, I lose the chance to become a Luminous Dancer forever. I need to be careful, especially since I can’t rely on most of my scrolls anymore.”

His Darkwing Dragon, a Rank 6 creature, possessed frightening battle prowess. Its health, attack, defense… everything was only a bit higher than that of the Blazing Land Dragon. Nie Yan had to remind himself not to judge the strength of these monsters based on his previous common sense.

He took a detour around the Blazing Land Dragon, then made his way deeper into the forest.

After exploring for about 10 more minutes, Nie Yan arrived at a clearing. He was just about to continue forward, when he discovered three plants growing at the foot some trees. They were scarlet red, resembling a blazing flame.

"Red Dragon Herb!” Nie Yan’s heart shook. "I can’t believe they grow here!”

Nie Yan had a bit of knowledge on this alchemy ingredient. It was incredibly rare. Most players would never be able to afford it in a lifetime. Back when he was Level 160 in his past life, he had heard a top ranking team had acquired two Red Dragon Herbs and traded them to a Grandmaster Alchemist for five Scarlet Flame Potions, which could exponentially increase the damage dealt by fire magic. A potion had once sold for the astronomical price of 60,000 gold. Generally, such a precious item could only be traded for not sold.

Red Dragon Herbs could be used to concoct extremely dangerous poisons. It was one of the best materials for Grandmaster Alchemists to raise their Alchemy skill. After reaching Grandmaster rank, gaining even a bit of skill proficiency was as difficult as ascending the heavens.

These Red Dragon Herbs were growing around here like common weeds!

Nie Yan knew his Gathering skill was too low, but he refused to accept reality. He walked up to one of the Red Dragon Herbs, bent down and tried harvesting it.

Your Gathering skill is not high enough. Gathering failed...

"Hah… Well, at least I gave it a shot.” Nie Yan felt vexed. Why bother putting these things here if you knew no one could harvest them!

Since he couldn’t gather the Red Dragon Herbs, Nie Yan turned around to leave. After travelling around the forest for another 15 or so minutes, apart from the Red Dragon Herbs, he encountered many other rare materials, including an enormous ore deposit of Scarlet Flame Crystals and six Black Serpent Trees whose wood was the best for crafting staffs.

These materials would drive countless guilds mad with greed. However, they were just sitting here in the forest of this closed off world.

Nie Yan felt his stomach churn. If he knew it would be like this, he would’ve raised his various harvesting skills before coming here!

Chapter 618 - Luminous Dancer Class Advancement Quest

"It’s like I’m surrounded by mountains of treasure, but I came hiking today in a swimsuit and flip flops...” Nie Yan sighed.

Rank 5 monsters such as Blazing Land Dragons and Elemental Giants inhabited this part of the forest. Nie Yan carefully avoided them as he explored more and more of the forest. After passing through a Rank 3 monster zone, he finally arrived in a zone with only Rank 1 monsters.

Nie Yan’s eyes locked onto a Dark Mammoth. It looked similar to an elephant, except it had dark fur and was noticeably larger. It had sharp, two-meter long tusks which curved forward like bull horns.

Nie Yan cautiously approached the Dark Mammoth from behind.

Transcendent Insight!

Dark Mammoth: Rank 1
Health: 32,000/32,000

"Let’s see if I can bring this Dark Mammoth down. If I can’t even beat a Rank 1 monster, I might as well pack my bags and go home...” Nie Yan muttered. "How do I get around its size, though? Skills like Backbreaker probably won’t work.”

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. "I suppose I can just keep dodging with Shadow Steps.”

The Dark Mammoth was grazing, plucking the various grasses growing on the forest floor with its trunk and stuffing them into its mouth.

Nie Yan took out his Cavalry Crossbow. Loading it up with bolts, he took aim and pulled the trigger. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Five bolts whizzed toward the Dark Mammoth.

Put! Put! Put!

−286

−310

−266

…

A string of damage values floated up above the Dark Mammoth’s head.

"ARROOOOUUGH!” The Dark Mammoth let out a furious cry. It immediately locked onto Nie Yan and charged toward him. It barrelled forward like a heavy tank, the ground below quaking with every step.

The Dark Mammoth swung its long tusk at Nie Yan.

Nie Yan leaped out of the way, covering three to four meters in one bound and evading the charge. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he pivoted around and pounced forward with Zennarde’s Sword raised. A streak of light flashed out. Pssht! Blood sprayed into the air as a deep laceration opened up across the Dark Mammoth’s flank. Its tough hide offered little protection against the sharpness of his blade.

"AROUGH!” The Dark Mammoth swung out its trunk.

Nie Yan leaped back and dodged the attack.

The Dark Mammoth immediately went into pursuit. Nie Yan used all sorts of methods to dodge its attacks. The shock in his eyes grew deeper as the battle went on. He discovered his movements in combat were much less restricted, allowing him to execute skills however he pleased.

"Is this the feeling of a Shadow Dancer?” Nie Yan’s eyes gleamed with excitement. Even though he hadn’t class advanced yet, his combat style was already quite close to that of a Shadow Dancer.

The Dark Mammoth suddenly stomped forward.

Nie Yan evaded the charge with Shadow Steps and swung out his right elbow at the same time. BANG! His elbow struck the Dark Mammoth squarely in the temple. It staggered several steps back, its head swaying unsteadily—a visual indicator that it was stunned.

"An ordinary elbow strike can stun?” Nie Yan’s heart shook. He gradually realized Shadow Dancers gained access to an entirely new system of combat. Even the most basic kicks, elbows, and punches could become dangerous weapons. Compared to Warriors, the attacks of Thieves didn’t have as much strength behind them. However, they were much faster and more precise!

Tragedy befell the Dark Mammoth. No matter how it charged forward or swung its tusks, it couldn’t land a single hit. On the other hand, Nie Yan’s every attack was precise and full of power. He hit the monster’s vitals over and over, causing it to stagger and sway.

Before long, the Dark Mammoth’s health fell below 3,000. It let out an enraged cry and charged at Nie Yan.

As the Dark Mammoth came closer and closer, Nie Yan took several steps back, then threw out a roundhouse kick.

Unleashing all the power in his body, Nie Yan’s foot struck the Dark Mammoth in the temple.

The Dark Mammoth staggered unsteadily before crashing to the ground. Nie Yan leaped into the air and plunged down with Zennarde’s Sword. Psssht! His blade pierced into the beast’s neck.

The Dark Mammoth let out a mournful wail before its head slumped to the ground, never to rise again.

Nie Yan checked his level. He didn’t receive any experience for this battle. However, he had comprehended a whole new realm of combat.

Searching around the corpse, it appeared the Dark Mammoth didn’t drop anything.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. "Tsk, this world is too stingy. I can’t harvest any of the materials, and the monsters here don’t give experience or drops.”

After killing the Dark Mammoth, a notification popped up.

Path of the Luminous Dancer 1:
☐ Kill 500 Rank 1 or higher monsters. (1/500)

"I’ve finally triggered the first part of the quest. 500 Rank 1 or higher monsters, huh… Seems a bit tough, but it should be doable.” Nie Yan’s eyes lit up with determination.

Nie Yan turned around and departed. After walking for a few minutes, however, he suddenly thought of something and rushed back. He approached the Dark Mammoth’s corpse, then cracked opened its skull with Zennarde’s Sword. Digging his hand inside, he pulled out a teal coloured crystal.

"Yes! I was right! It does have a Rank 1 Life Core!”

Life Cores were much more valuable than ordinary loot drops. They could be used to strengthen a flying mount.

"Let’s collect a few more, then I’ll feed them to the Darkwing Dragon all at once.”

After removing the Life Core, the corpse quickly disappeared, purified by his Holy Spirit Imprint. The Dark Mammoth was also a creature of darkness!

Making sure he hadn’t missed anything, Nie Yan dashed away.

"I should stock up on as many Life Cores as I can. You don’t get this kind of opportunity every day!” Nie Yan planned to collect Rank 2 and Rank 3 Life Cores as well; the higher quality, the better. The Darkwing Dragon would require an enormous amount of Life Cores in the future, and this was undoubtedly the best place to acquire them!

At present, the Darkwing Dragon was only Rank 6. Yet it was already peerless among flying mounts. If he could raise it to Rank 7, Rank 8, or even higher, it would be completely invincible!

"Let’s just focus on my Luminous Dancer class advancement quest first.” Nie Yan estimated it would take him at least a week to kill 500 Rank 1 monsters, possibly up to a week and a half If he was slow.

Nie Yan started hunting down Rank 1 monsters with impunity, amassing more and more Life Cores. About six hours later, he already had more than 30.

Apart from Rank 1 monsters, Nie Yan also started testing himself against Rank 2 monsters. Time passed by quickly in the Ancient World.

Chapter 619 - Red Dragon Herb

Nie Yan’s movements grew more and more fluid as he got accustomed to this new style of combat. By now, he could dispatch ordinary Rank 1 monsters without breaking so much as a sweat. He didn’t even need to rely on skills to dodge their attacks anymore.

After felling another Dark Mammoth, Nie Yan started digging out its Life Core. Suddenly, a thought struck him, "I wonder if I can use Steal on these monsters…”

Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar. At Rank 16, Steal had a base success rate of 96. The penalties from attempting to steal from a target above his level were greatly reduced. He could now also steal multiple items at once.

"If I can use Steal on these Rank 1 monsters, one success should be enough to take everything they have!” Nie Yan’s eyes shone brightly.

Nie Yan explored around. Before long, he encountered another Dark Mammoth. It was grinding its tusks against a tree.

He snuck up behind the Dark Mammoth. Carefully placing his feet, he inched closer and closer. When he was within arm’s reach, he slowly guided his hand forward.

Steal!

Steal successful! You have obtained 30 gold and a Gathering Master skill book.

Yes! It worked! Nie Yan’s face lit up with joy.

Before Nie Yan had a chance to look at his bag, the Dark Mammoth let out a furious cry and swung its tusks at him.

Nie Yan leaped several paces back, evading the attack. He dashed back in with an elbow strike. BANG! The Dark Mammoth was stunned.

Once it was CCd, its fate was sealed.

Nie Yan unleashed a flurry of attacks and quickly dispatched the Dark Mammoth. Digging out the Life Core, he then quickly checked his bag. Sitting in the corner was a skill book.

Skill Book: Gathering Master

Description: Gain additional proficiency when harvesting medicinal plants. Reduce gathering requirements by one rank.

This skill book was extremely valuable. It would allow an artisan to quickly raise their Gathering skill. Unfortunately, it was completely useless to Nie Yan. Even if he learned it, he still couldn’t harvest the Red Dragon Herbs. The rank of his Gathering skill was simply too low.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. "Well, even if it’s useless to me, it’ll be of use to others in the guild.”

He tossed the Gathering Master skill book back into his bag, then resumed his hunt. From then on, every time he encountered a Rank 1 monster, he would use Steal on it until there was nothing left to take.

Most of the time, Nie Yan only stole gold. But every now and then he got lucky and obtained a skill book. Gathering Master, Mining Master, Tailoring Master, Tinkering Master… all these artisan skill books piled up in his bag. These precious items were as common as weeds here!

After spending a whole day grinding, Nie Yan ended up with three Gathering Master, five Mining Master, three Tailoring Master, and two Tinkering Master skill books. He had no complaints with this harvest. Besides this, he had also snagged two 120-slot super bags!

Ordinary 50- to 60-slot bags were already some of the largest you could get at this stage of the game. With two 120-slot bags, Nie Yan suddenly had a whole lot more inventory space to work with.

Nie Yan attended classes in the Top Military Academy during the day, and continued doing his Luminous Dancer class advancement quest in the Ancient World at night.

A week later, Nie Yan finally finished killing 500 Rank 1 or higher monsters.

The second part of the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest line required Nie Yan to kill 500 Rank 2 or higher monsters. Even though they were much stronger than their Rank 1 counterparts, he could still deal with them fairly easily.

After exploring around more and more, Nie Yan gradually familiarized himself with the environment of the Ancient World. He searched the forest for signs of monsters.

The abundance of precious medicinal plants and ores here was enough to drive countless players mad with greed. If only his Gathering and Mining were a little higher, he would’ve harvested them all. Once the opportunity was missed, it would be gone forever. These materials were all extremely rare in the outside world, to the extent that you would only have a miniscule chance of obtaining them in Level 100+ dungeons. With these crafting materials, Asskickers United could nurture numerous Master Blacksmiths and Alchemists!

After passing through a long and narrow patch of forest, Nie Yan arrived at a meadow. He was greeted by the sight of a large field of medicinal plants. His heart shook. "Gold Orchids!”

Gold Orchids were a fairly low rank medicinal plant and a primary material used in concocting Intermediate Mana Potions. Since the demand for Intermediate Mana Potions was currently sky high, the supply of Gold Orchids couldn’t keep up. So, their prices inflated to 5 gold each.

Nie Yan stared mesmerised at the vast field of Gold Orchids before him.

To Nie Yan, the value of the Gold Orchids was secondary. At 5 gold each, even if he collected 10,000, it would only amount to 50,000 gold. If he learned Gathering Master and harvested all these Gold Orchids, given how many of them there were here, he would gain enough proficiency to raise his Gathering skill to Advanced rank. It would only take him a few days. At that time, in combination with Gathering Master which reduced harvest requirements by one, he would just barely be able to harvest Red Dragon Herbs! Though, the success rate couldn’t be ensured.

One Red Dragon Herb was worth at least 70,000 gold. Given the abundance of Red Dragon Herbs in this world, after a few days of harvesting, Nie Yan would have several hundred Red Dragon Herbs. Such expensive medicinal plants were incredibly difficult to sell, let alone such a large quantity of them. Dumping them all at once would surely crash the whole market. However, none of that mattered to him since he planned to use them exclusively to nurture the Alchemist of the Starry Night Potion Shop.

"If I want those Red Dragon Herbs, then I’m going to have to spend a few more days in the Ancient World raising my Gathering skill.”

In the previous timeline, there had never been a change in the amount of Red Dragon Herbs in the market. It appeared Mistaken Smile didn’t bother harvesting these Red Dragon Herbs when doing the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest.

Nie Yan considered his options. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Once he was back in the outside world, it would take him several months just to raise his Gathering skill to Advanced rank, let alone Master rank. He didn’t have that much free time on his hands, nor would he be willing to spend it on such an endeavor even if he did.

After making his decision, Nie Yan took out a Gathering Master skill book and learned it.

The skill book transformed into a ray of light. Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar. The Gathering Master skill replaced his previous Gathering skill.

Gold Orchids grew in large numbers in this place, unlike the outside where you would have to spend hours just to find a single plant. Truthfully speaking, the Gathering skill was actually fairly easy to train. However, most of the time spent training it was used to find plants. That was what made gaining proficiency for it so frustrating.

Other players who wished to train their Gathering skill would probably go crazy if they saw this field of Gold Orchids.

Nie Yan bent down and started harvesting. He carefully plucked the Gold Orchids from the ground, employing various methods to ensure the harvesting was successful. After which he put away the plant in his bag. He succeeded most of the time, only failing occasionally. If the harvesting failed, the plant would wither and die. However, he couldn’t care less about these failures.

One Gold Orchid after another was successfully harvested. 20 counted as a full stack. Six hours later, after collecting his 30th stack, a notification jingle rang out.

Nie Yan checked his Gathering Master skill. It had reached Intermediate rank!

Skill proficiency could still be gained from harvesting these Gold Orchids. So, Nie Yan had no plan to leave this place.

An ordinary player would probably go mad doing this kind of monotonous work. However, Nie Yan persevered. Perhaps because he had experienced two lifetimes, his heart was much more resolute than others’.

It was as if Nie Yan was a hermit. Stuck in this secluded world, everything he did had no relation to the outside. However, he understood raising his Gathering skill would also be beneficial to him beyond this place. He would no longer encounter situations where he would have to pass up on rare alchemy plants because his Gathering skill was too low.

Day after day, nothing of importance occurred in the Viridian Empire. Nie Yan could focus on gathering medicinal plants without a worry in the world.

Out in the real world, Nie Yan and Xie Yao gradually became more acclimated to school life in the Top Military Academy. They would occasionally encounter a few road bumps here and there, but everything was good overall.

Five days later, following a crisp notification jingle, Nie Yan’s Gathering Master skill reached Advanced rank. He could finally harvest Red Dragon Herbs, even though he was unsure of his success rate.

Nie Yan looked at his map. Based one his memory, he headed back to the area where Red Dragon Herbs were growing.

After sneaking past the respawned monsters, Nie Yan found a Red Dragon Herb among the trees. It was bright red like fire and extremely eye-catching.

Nie Yan walked over to the Red Dragon Herb and bent down. He carefully pushed aside the surrounding soil, revealing the main stalk and roots.

He had to be extremely careful not to accidentally damage the roots, or else the entire plant would wither up and die.

Harvesting Red Dragon Herbs was extremely troublesome. There were many minor things you had to pay attention to.

At this moment, Nie Yan’s fingernail accidentally brushed against a tiny rootlet. With a poof sound, the entire Red Dragon Herb withered into a dry husk, no longer giving off any trace of life.

"Dammit.” Nie Yan stood up and went searching for another Red Dragon Herb.

Back outside, if someone tasked with gathering accidentally destroyed a Red Dragon Herb, they would be cussed to death by their teammates. They were far too rare. It was exactly this combination of rarity and difficulty that made them so ludicrously expensive. Luckily, Red Dragon Herbs grew in abundance here. Even if he accidentally destroyed one of them, he didn’t feel a tinge of regret. He would just move on to another one.

Chapter 620 - Removing the Second Seal from Zennarde’s Sword

After more than 10 failed attempts in a row, Nie Yan finally succeeded in harvesting a Red Dragon Herb. He carefully bundled up the roots and stored away the plant in his bag.

Gathering successful! You have obtained Red Dragon Herb x1. +32 skill proficiency

The skill proficiency obtained for a successful harvest depended on a number of factors, including the rank of the plant and the difficulty in harvesting it. The Red Dragon Herb was high up in all these regards. So, it was a great choice for Nie Yan to use to quickly raise his Gathering Master skill.

Nie Yan continued searching around. Apart from Red Dragon Herbs, there were many other high rank herbs growing around here. Since his Gathering Skill had reached Advanced rank, all these precious medicinal plants were there for only him to harvest.

Nie Yan hunted Rank 2 monsters while gathering various high rank medicinal plants on the side. The joy he felt from seeing his harvests made up for the monotony of the grind. He gradually made more and more progress in his quest.

The Luminous Dancer class advancement quest was taking much longer than Nie Yan expected. Half-a-month flew by in the blink of an eye.

"Looks like I’m in it for the long haul,” Nie Yan muttered. He checked the level leaderboards. "Hmm, Tang Yao reached Level 90 while the rest are in the high 80s. I’ve still got a lot of time before people start catching up to me.” After Level 90, every subsequent level up required tens of times more experience than the last. So, he wasn’t the slightest bit worried about someone becoming a Shadow Dancer before him.

As Nie Yan explored the forest, he spotted a humanoid creature with wolf-like features walking among the trees. A Werewolf! His pupils constricted. Werewolves were among the toughest Rank 2 monsters he had faced so far in the Ancient World. His first encounter with a Werewolf ended with him fleeing for his dear life. Since then, he would always take the long way around whenever one entered his sight. This time, however, he had a sudden urge for battle.

Erasing all traces of his breath, Nie Yan slowly approached the Werewolf from behind.

The Werewolf was wandering around aimlessly, oblivious to the imminent threat.

Nie Yan shot forward like a loosed arrow, stabbing towards the Werewolf’s spine with Zennarde’s Sword.

Backbreaker!

At this moment, the Werewolf suddenly sensed something and dodged to the side, evading the attack. It let out a deep howl and lunged toward Nie Yan, swiping down with its sharp claws.

The Werewolf’s claws resembled curved daggers, flickering with a sharp light.

"What quick reaction speed!” Nie Yan gasped. He quickly leaped back, avoiding the claw swipe.

The Werewolf was much faster than Nie Yan expected. It pounced forward with blinding speed and unleashed an attack so fast it was impossible to dodge. Pshhtt! Blood sprayed out into the air as a claw-shaped wound appeared on his chest.

−3,320 A damage value floated up above his head.

"Shit. I’m going to end up getting killed at this rate!” Nie Yan grunted.

Nie Yan was forced into passively defending. He suffered another attack and was left with only 30% of his health. He quickly downed an Advanced Healing Potion, restoring his health back to full.

The Werewolf was so fast it left behind a trail of afterimages. As the two fought, Nie Yan observed its footwork and couldn’t help but start copying it. After which he gradually found it easier and easier to keep up with the tempo of the battle.

About a minute later, the Werewolf's health fell to less than 15%. It let out a howl and lunged forward.

As the Werewolf’s claws closed in on him, flickering with a dangerous light, Nie Yan suddenly had an idea. He imagined this place was a fighting stage and the Werewolf was his opponent. He instinctively dodged the attack by leaning backwards to his side. Then anchoring one arm on the ground, he twisted his hips and threw out a powerful capoeira kick. BANG! His foot struck the Werewolf squarely on the neck.

CRAACCKK! Nie Yan heard the distinct sound of bones breaking.

His kick was filled with overwhelming destructive power.

The Werewolf let out a miserable cry. Blood sprayed out from its mouth as it was sent flying six meters through the air before crashing into a tree.

−7,323! It was a critical hit!

The Werewolf lay lifelessly on the ground. Its agility and reflexes were certainly frightening to behold. However, its defense was pitifully frail, to the extent it couldn’t even withstand a single blow from Nie Yan.

Nie Yan didn’t expect his kick to be so explosively powerful, shocking even himself. He was simply indulging in his fantasy, rather than trying to deal lethal damage. What he used just now was a real-life fighting technique. His flawless execution allowed him to deal damage rivalling that of an in-game skill!

Nie Yan all the more realized just how long of a path he had ahead of him. This was simply the tip of the iceberg. He barely breached the surface in regards to his comprehension of a Shadow Dancer, a revelation that shook him to the core.

"It seems there’s still a lot for me to learn…” Nie Yan dug out the Life Core from the Werewolf’s head. As a purifying light cleansed the corpse, he suddenly fent an intense droning from Zennarde’s Sword. Black flames flared out from the sword, sharply increasing the surrounding temperature.

Nie Yan could sense a frightening power surging out from Zennarde’s Sword. He looked down and discovered the second seal had been released.

Sealed Zennarde’s Sword: Godly Legendary

Nightmare Curse of the Dead: Reduces the player’s stats by 20% (Effect halved by Barbarian Kelowitz’s Blessing).

Description: A godly weapon created by Kallander and imbued with the dark magic power of Dragon King Zennarde. Failing to subdue the evil energy within Zennarde’s Sword will result in a fatal backlash. Six Divine Seals were placed on this sword by the God of War Kelo. (Seals: 4/6)

Properties: Attack 1,530–1,823, Critical +150, 30% chance to deal 600% Critical Damage, Ignore Level +25, Ignore Armour

Hell Execution: Chance to instantly execute an enemy when their health falls below 20%. Success rate is determined by level difference and enemy defense. Energy Cost: 50. Cooldown: 3 seconds.

Apocalyptic Extinction (Advanced): Inflict the enemy with five types of Curses: Rank 8 Exhaustion, Rank 8 Cripple, Rank 8 Disease, Rank 8 Fear, and Rank 8 Corrode. Duration: 10 minutes. Cooldown: 1 hour.

Restrictions: None

-Creator: Kallander

With the second seal released, Zennarde’s Sword received another significant boost in power. It was already equal to a Level 120 Legendary-grade weapon. It was powerful beyond belief, especially with Apocalyptic Extinction rising from Junior to Advanced. Even Level 100+ Lords would be dramatically affected by five Rank 8 curses.

The black flames bathing Zennarde’s Sword burned even more fiercely. As Nie Yan swung it around, it left a trail of fire that emitted an intense heat.

Nie Yan was surprised by this development. He recalled it would be a while before another seal could be released. This was probably because the creatures in the Ancient World were at a higher rank of existence compared to ordinary monsters, which was why the seals were being released at a much faster rate.

Zennarde’s Sword’s attack power had already reached 1,500, far surpassing that of an ordinary Level 100 dagger or shortsword. Anticipation gleamed in Nie Yan’s eyes. If it was already this powerful with only two seals removed, he couldn’t wait to see what it was like when all six seals were released!

As evening approached, Nie Yan checked his quest progress. He was about 55% of the way finished with Path of the Luminous Dancer 2. He was making pretty good ground.

Before long, it was time to log off. Nie Yan stepped out of the game capsule and let out a deep sigh. All day long, day after day, mindlessly grinding mobs and gathering plants in the Ancient World was exhausting.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao followed the same morning routine. After brushing their teeth, washing their faces, and eating breakfast, they got on the bus to school.

By now, practically everyone in the Top Military Academy knew Xie Yao was Nie Yan’s girlfriend. They were always seen together, coming to and leaving from school. Many male students couldn’t help but feel jealous of Nie Yan. Xie Yao was the perfect lover in their hearts. It was a pity she was already taken, leaving them endlessly vexed.

As Nie Yan stepped into the command faculty classroom, he heard his fellow classmates excitedly discussing something.

"What are they talking about?” Nie Yan asked. He sat down and turned to Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe.

"A dungeon, Mysterious Cavern. Even now, Zhao Shiyu and her trash team still can’t clear the thing. But they’re going around bragging like they’re hot stuff,” Xia Tianyu replied.

The command faculty’s team was only formed two or so weeks ago. The fact that they had already made it to Mysterious Cavern was quite impressive. However, compared to where Asskickers United’s elites were at right now, their achievements counted for nothing.

"Nie Yan, I snagged a Level 85 Splendid Chestplate last night. It has over 800 defense! Pretty amazing, right? Right!?” Xu Yan said with a proud smile.

"Damn! Level 85 equipment already. I wish I had your luck,” Fei Zhe said enviously. Xu Yan was only Level 81 right now.

"Where did you get it?” Xia Tianyu asked. He was Level 86, but he only had a single piece of Level 85 equipment on him. The rest were all level 80.

"In a dungeon run. It dropped from a Gigantis we killed. Our main tank passed up on it since he had a better chestplate already, so it ended up going to me.” Xu Yan faintly smiled.

"Wow, what kind of equipment does your main tank have? I can’t believe he even passed up on a chestplate like that!”

"He’s Level 83 right now, but he’s wearing the Level 90 Brilliant Sun Set.”

"Damn! The Brilliant Sun Set! Are you kidding me!?” Xia Tianyu and Fei Zhe were struck speechless. They knew the main tank Xu Yan was talking about didn’t even count as a second-rate player in Asskickers United.

Chapter 621 - Even Saints Have a Limit to Their Tolerance

Skyrocketing to prominence shortly after the release of Conviction, Asskickers United was legendary among ordinary players. They gathered only the most outstanding players, and had the best equipment out of all the large guilds.

Being the owner of a Brilliant Sun Set was enough to propel you to a first-rate Warrior in any ordinary guild. But in Asskickers United, you would barely count as a second-rate if not a third-rate player.

Xu Yan had a proud look on his face. Most Asskickers United players felt a strong attachment to the guild. So much so even former members, who departed on the promise of greener pastures, would still reminisce about their days in the guild every so often. To truly consider yourself a part of a greater whole, to stand together in both shame and glory… such sentiments weren’t so easy to erase.

Take Dark Hero for example. Even if the guild was nothing more than an empty husk, many former members still thought back to its glory days.

Loyalty was also a type of conviction.

As Xu Yan enthusiastically talked about his piece of equipment, Nie Yan gave a wry smile. Given what he knew of Xu Yan’s personality, he likely wouldn’t move away from this topic for the rest of the day.

Nie Yan could relate with Xu Yan. In the previous timeline, he would often get just as excited over obtaining a piece of Gold- or Dark Gold-grade equipment. Nowadays though, even Legendary equipment didn’t spark much emotion in him.

Seeing Xu Yan like this, Nie Yan couldn’t help but recall his past life.

"Getting all excited over a measly Level 85 chestplate. Hah! What more can you expect from trash?” Fu Guangtao interjected as he happened to walk by.

Nie Yan furrowed his brows. He really didn’t like Fu Guangtao’s tone.

Xia Tianyu, Xu Yan, and Fei Zhe all snorted, ignoring Fu Guangtao.

Nie Yan had heard from Xu Yan that Fu Guangtao had found a wealthy backer inside the game. He was provided the Adherent Set, a Level 80 Dark Gold-grade set. In the entire class, he was only second to Bai Jun in terms of gear quality. This was why he kept showing off in front of them.

Fu Guangtao glanced over at Nie Yan. The two locked eyes.

"Nie Yan, what level are you? You know, I don’t think I’ve ever once heard you talk about the game. Well, whenever you’re not quote unquote busy, you’re always welcome to join us in our dungeon runs. We’ve already reached the Level 80 dungeon, Mysterious Cavern. Don’t worry. If your level is too low, we can always carry you. Heh.” Fu Guangtao chuckled, his voice laced with venom.

During these last few weeks, many people had asked Nie Yan what level he was, what class he played, and so on. However, he would always avoid answering by changing the topic, incurring the ridicule of some classmates. They believed he was too embarrassed to tell anyone because he was a low level nobody. So, he kept his ingame persona tightly under wraps.

"I’m in the middle of a quest right now. I probably won’t be out for another month or two. But sure, why not? I don’t see any harm in running dungeons with you guys,” Nie Yan said with a placid smile.

"Tsk, what kind of quest takes two months to do. I’ve heard five year olds come up with better excuses...” Fu Guangtao muttered to himself in a voice just loud enough for Nie Yan and the others to hear.

"This motherf-” Xia Tianyu, Xu Yan, and Fei Zhe shot up from their seats, anger flaring from their eyes.

Fu Guangtao immediately shut his mouth, knowing not to push things too far. He shot Nie Yan’s group a look of disdain and then walked past. If Nie Yan actually had any real clout inside the game, he would’ve long since retaliated after such provocations. Fu Guangtao refused to believe he had this much composure, which was why Zhao Shiyu and the others were convinced he was low level trash in the game.

Fu Guangtao knew he was no match for Nie Yan’s group. However, fighting was strictly forbidden in the Top Military Academy. Any student caught breaking this rule would be harshly punished. So, he wasn’t the slightest bit worried about them attacking him.

At present, the command faculty was divided into several cliques. One was led by Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, and Bai Jun, numbering around a dozen or so people, which was about half the students in the class. Another comprised Nie Yan, Xia Tianyu, Xu Yan, and Fei Zhe, who were the frequent targets of bullying. As for the remaining 10 or so students, they kept to themselves. Though they disliked Zhao Shiyu and her cohort, they didn’t mingle with Nie Yan and the others either.

Zhao Shiyu and the others feared Nie Yan’s strength, so they weren’t willing to enter a direct confrontation with him. However, they targeted him in plenty of other ways, like excluding him from the basketball team, soccer team, and fighting team. Nie Yan didn’t really mind since he had no interest in standing in the limelight anyway.

"God dammit. I really want to give that bastard a beating!” Xu Yan gritted his teeth. He glared at Fu Guangtao’s back with clenched fists.

"Tell me about it! That smug look on his face always pisses me off,” Xia Tianyu chimed in.

"Forget it. Let’s not do anything rash,” Fei Zhe dissuaded.

Xu Yan took a deep breath. "I know…”

Xia Tianyu, Xu Yan, and Fei Zhe had no outlet for their pent-up frustration. Because of the Top Military Academy’s rules, Fu Guangtao was untouchable on school grounds. At the same time, they were too weak to retaliate against him and his group within Conviction.

Nie Yan withdrew his gaze, his eyes flickering with a cold light. He previously couldn’t be bothered to deal with Fu Guangtao, Zhao Shiyu, and their lot. However, these fellows kept trying to push his buttons. Even saints have a limit to their tolerance!

Nie Yan turned to his three friends and asked, "What level are you guys right now?”

"I'm Level 80, why?” Xu Yan gave Nie Yan a puzzled look.

"Level 83,” Xia Tianyu replied.

"Level 81.” Fei Zhe also looked on in surprise. Nie Yan previously didn’t show any interest in the game. Why was he suddenly asking this question now?

Xia Tianyu, Xu Yan, and Fei Zhe were all fairly high level. Even if Undying Scoundrel and the others carried them, it wouldn’t make much difference. In terms of levelling speed, they would have to rely on themselves. Nie Yan thought for a moment. He could probably gift them some equipment.

Asskickers United’s treasury was filled to the brim with high quality equipment. Giving away a few pieces was nothing. A single hair from Nie Yan’s body would provide them a lifetime of good fortune. Even if they couldn’t become peak experts, it would at least allow them to go toe-to-toe with Fu Guangtao.

"I’m in the middle of a quest right now. So, I’ll get someone to deliver you guys some equipment. When you guys finish levelling up, you can return it to me,” Nie Yan said.

Xu Yan and the others stared at Nie Yan with strange expressions on their faces.

"Nie Yan, it’s fine. Don’t take Fu Guangtao’s words to heart. It’s just a game. It doesn’t really matter. There’s no need to bicker with them,” Fei Zhe comforted. He also didn’t really believe Nie Yan was stuck doing a two-month long quest. If he really was low level, there was no need to keep hiding it like this.

"Right! Who cares what Fu Guangtao and those others say! Self-absorbed pricks! So what if they’re a bit higher level than us!” Xia Tianyu said. "We’ll work hard and quickly surpass them!”

"I’m with Fei Zhe and Xia Tianyu here. Just ignore Fu Guantao. Even if you really are low level, it won’t change anything. I’ll still admire you all the same. If it weren’t for you teaching us fighting techniques these past few weeks, we’d never be as strong as we are now. In my eyes, you’ll always be our boss!” Xu Yan said sincerely.

Xia Tianyu and Fei Zhe also nodded.

Xu Yan had occasionally called him boss in the past. Nie Yan didn’t really pay it any mind and simply took his words as a joke. This time, however, he was truly moved.

"Since you guys see me as your boss, it’s only right that I look out for you too. No need to worry about me. I couldn’t care less about trash like Fu Guangtao. When you guys enter the game tonight, head to the personal storage area. I’ll have someone find you.” Nie Yan chuckled, patting Xu Yan’s shoulder.

Seeing how earnest Nie Yan was, Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe were at a loss.

"Alright, we’ll head to the personal storage area first thing tonight,” Fei Zhe said after thinking for a moment.

In the end, they all decided to put their faith in Nie Yan.

Apart from class, Nie Yan followed his usual routine of working out in the gym. He could still feel himself getting stronger every day. Before long, evening arrived. He entered Conviction and continued doing his Luminous Dancer class advancement quest.

...

Calore, personal storage area.

This was a bustling district. There were shops all around and people walking to and fro from the square.

Xu Yan, Fei Zhe, and Xia Tianyu looked at the people walking around. They were waiting for the person Nie Yan was supposed to send over.

A bit of doubt still existed in their hearts. It wasn’t that they didn’t believe Nie Yan, just that they worried he might be doubling down too hard. If he really was a low level nobody, trying to prove a point like this was meaningless.

"Let’s just tell Nie Yan to forget it. There’s no need to lower ourselves to Fu Guangtao’s level,” Fei Zhe said with a worried look on his face.

"The issue is… can we actually convince him? I don’t think we can win against Zhao Shiyu and them. Hah…” Xu Yan sighed.

"Since Nie Yan called us all the way over here, let’s just see what he has in store for us,” Xia Tianyu said. Since the start, he always felt a sort of reverence for Nie Yan. He didn’t know why.

While the three chatted, Xu Yan’s voice chat rang. A player called Illegal Immigrant was contacting him. He answered with a look of suspicion.

「Hello, I was sent over by Nie Yan. May I ask where you three are right now. Tell me your coordinates. This place is a bit too crowded,」Illegal Immigrant said.

「We’re in the square, 385,285,28,」Xu Yan replied.

「Alright, I see you guys.」

Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe raised their heads. They saw a person in the distance waving at them before running over. He wore decorative clothing and looked to be around 26 years old with a somewhat boyish appearance.

Xia Tianyu, Xu Yan, and Fei Zhe’s faces fell. It was a different matter if the person coming over was a high level expert. But this Illegal Immigrant didn’t look reliable at all. He was clearly Level 0!

"Sorry, I’m late. Talk about bad foot traffic, am I right? Haha...” Illegal Immigrant gave an apologetic smile, appearing slightly out of breath.

Chapter 622 - Blown Away

Illegal Immigrant was a subordinate of Guo Huai’s. He currently did work for World Bloc and was tasked with all sorts of odd jobs, such as travelling around to different auction houses to purchase equipment, materials, and various other goods; delivering and accepting parcels; and so on. He was one of Guo Huai’s friends, and so was acquainted with Nie Yan.

Generally, important matters like these would only be entrusted to close confidantes.

"Nie Yan asked me to deliver some equipment to you three. He hopes that you all respect his wish to keep this matter an utmost secret,” Illegal Immigrant said.

Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe looked at each other with puzzled expressions. What was so important that they needed to keep it a secret?

Seeing Illegal Immigrant’s earnest appearance, Fei Zhe and the other two nodded. "Alright, we swear we won’t reveal this to anyone.”

Xu Yan eyed Illegal Immigrant suspiciously. He was sure he had seen Illegal Immigrant somewhere before, but he couldn’t put his finger on where.

"Alright, I’ll start handing over the equipment to you guys. I’ll need you to sign this stub, so I’ll have something to show when I go back,” Illegal Immigrant said.

Illegal Immigrant wants to trade. Do you accept?

With a heart full of suspicion, Xu Yan hit yes.

A trade window popped open in front of Xu Yan. Illegal Immigrant started placing the equipment inside.

「This is the full Level 90 Goldflow Set which can be worn at Level 80. It’s composed of gauntlets, chestplate, leg guards, greaves, greatsword, cape, and shoulder guards. Please confirm everything is here,」Illegal Immigrant said in the trade chat.

Seeing the equipment appearing in the trade window, each piece crafted beautifully and sparkling with a golden radiance, Xu Yan’s eyeballs nearly popped out of his head.

"Am I dreaming…?” Xu Yan muttered in a daze. His heart raced as he checked the equipment. Damn, what amazing properties! Gauntlets with over 800 defense! My god! Of all things, a 7-piece Dark Gold-grade set. Just where did this come from?

"This, this, this is unbelievable!” Xu Yan couldn’t help but wonder about Nie Yan’s identity inside Conviction.

In the entire Viridian Empire, the number of people wealthy enough to give out such equipment this freely could be counted on the fingers of one hand! A certain player popped into Xu Yan’s mind. Wait, don’t tell me—no way... C-could it really be him? I have to confirm with Undying Scoundrel later!

Seeing the blank look on Xu Yan’s face, Xia Tianyu and Fei Zhe grew even more bewildered.

Fei Zhe nudged Xu Yan. "Hey, you alright? Say something!”

The two were curious and wondered what sort of equipment Illegal Immigrant gave Xu Yan.

"Yeah, tell us. What did you get?” Xia Tianyu anxiously urged.

"Stop asking so many questions. You’ll see soon enough, and I bet you’ll be in for the shock of your lives,” Xu Yan chuckled foolishly, regaining his wits. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that he would be wearing such amazing equipment one day. He felt like meat pies were raining down from the sky.

Xia Tianyu and Fei Zhe were both stunned.

"Please confirm everything is here, then sign this stub for me,” Illegal Immigrant said.

"Alright, thank you.” Xu Yan signed off on the stub.

"Good! Now, onto the next person.” Illegal Immigrant faintly smiled. He then turned to Fei Zhe and sent over a trade request.「Demon Hunter equipment is a bit more difficult to find. The equipment our contacts sent over from the Satreen Empire isn’t the highest quality, but it should be more than enough for your needs. This is the full Level 85 Dark Gold-grade Dusk Walker Set which can be equipped at Level 80...」

Fei Zhe was a Demon Hunter who originally belonged in the Satreen Empire. After becoming friends with Xu Yan and Xia Tianyu, he pooled together the several hundred gold required to teleport over to the Viridian Empire and joined them in doing quests and levelling here.

Seeing the equipment Illegal Immigrant was placing inside the trade window, Fei Zhe’s reaction was pretty much the same as Xu Yan’s.

Even with his limited knowledge, Fei Zhe understood that gear of this quality generally wouldn’t appear in the marketplace. Only large, powerful guilds had the resources and manpower to complete such equipment sets. After which they would be set aside for guild members to use. Listing them up for sale in the auction house was unthinkable. The only times this occurred was when a guild was in dire straits.

It would take an ordinary player forever just to complete this kind of Dark Gold-grade set.

"You’re really giving this to us?” Fei Zhe asked in disbelief.

"No, it’s a loan. However, you don’t have to worry. You can simply return it to me when you’re high enough level to find better equipment,” Illegal Immigrant replied.

"I see.” Fei Zhe nodded. Even if it was just a loan, he was still grateful. Needless to say, this kind of Dark Gold-grade set would completely change his life.

After Fei Zhe was Xia Tianyu, who received the Level 90 Dark Gold-grade Arcane Seeker Set.

"Since my job here is done, I should get going and report back to the boss,” Illegal Immigrant said.

"Thank you. Thank you very much!” Xu Yan, Fei Zhe, and Xia Tianyu were quite moved.

"No need to thank me. I’m just the errand-boy.” Illegal Immigrant chuckled. After bidding them farewell, he departed.

The three watched Illegal Immigrant’s figure disappear into the crowd. Withdrawing their gazes, they stared at each other, shock vivid in their eyes.

"Wow, Xu Yan, who do you think Nie Yan is?” Fei Zhe asked, finding it difficult to calm his emotions.

"My best bet is that he’s actually Nirvana Flame, but I’m not 100% sure. I’ll have to ask Undying Scoundrel to confirm. Anyway, make sure you don’t tell anyone about what happened here today,” Xu Yan said.

"Of course. We promised the same thing to Illegal Immigrant too. I’m just surprised how much tolerance Nie Yan has. I can’t count how many times Fu Guangtao has tried getting under our skin. If I were in Nie Yan’s shoes, I would’ve long since taught that cocky bastard a lesson!” Xia Tianyu sighed in amazement.

"Probably because once you reach Nie Yan’s level, you can’t be bothered to pay attention to nobodies like Fu Guangtao, Zhao Shiyu, and their lot,” Fei Zhe said after thinking for a moment.

"Well, all that aside. We still have to thank Nie Yan. This equipment he gave us today will change everything!” Xia Tianyu said.

The three couldn’t calm their excitement for a long time.

Xu Yan put on the Goldflow Set. The gorgeous golden armour sparkled with a dazzling radiance. He looked like a celestial guard, exuding a domineering pressure. The armour resembled a bodysuit. It was impenetrable, with the joint areas protected by mysterious runic seals.

"Damn, this is amazing.” Xu Yan felt power coursing through his body as if nothing in the world could stop him.

Fei Zhe and Xia Tianyu also switched into their new equipment. Fei Zhe sported a large crossbow and azure leather armour. Compared to his previous shabby equipment, the difference was stark, like heaven and earth.

"Wow...” Fei Zhe sighed in amazement. He traced his fingers over the azure runes on his gloves.

Xia Tianyu’s dusk-gray robes exuded a mysterious aura.

As soon as the three donned on their new equipment, the surrounding players immediately took notice and broke out into discussion.

Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe held their heads up high and puffed out their chests. We definitely can’t disgrace our new equipment!

At this moment, a Level 70 female Thief approached them. She had a slim and curvaceous figure and swayed her perky butt hypnotically with every step, invoking a carnal desire in the hearts of men. She was fairly beautiful, with bright eyes and a charming appearance.

"Hey, you three. You’re such big, strong guys. Do you mind bringing me along? You wouldn’t let a weak little girl like me go out all on my own, would you?” the female Thief asked in a coquettish voice, making full use of her charm.

"Sorry, miss. We’re busy with a quest. Maybe next time,” Xia Tianyu directly refused. Now wasn’t the time to be picking up girls. Levelling took precedence. This was their opportunity to soar and become dragons amongst men. Missing it would lead to a lifetime of regret. They had to seize the moment!

The three basked in the envious gazes of the crowd as they departed.

"Let’s go level! Five days! I swear, that’s all the time we’ll need to surpass Fu Guangtao, Bai Jun, and them!” Xu Yan clenched his fist. An hour ago, he definitely wouldn’t have dared to make such a bold claim. It was Nie Yan that gave him this confidence.

Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe were just as skilled and put in even more effort into raising their levels. However, Fu Guangtao and the others had the gear advantage, as well as a wealthy backer providing them the best resources available on the market. So try as they might, they simply couldn’t close the gap. And with nowhere to vent their frustrations, their determination faltered and outlook turned bleak. But things were different now. They had equipment that was even better than that of Fu Guangtao and the others. If they still couldn’t catch up in level, they might as well ram their heads into a wall.

"Who knows, we might not even need five days! With this equipment, we’ll level at least 10 times faster than before! I really want to see the look on the faces of Fu Guangtao, Bai Jun, and Zhao Shiyu, the next time we meet!” Xian Tianyu said in high spirits. Even if he fought with Fu Guangtao now, he had a good chance of victory.

"Let’s get Nie Yan’s opinion first before we challenge Fu Guangtao and them,” Fei Zhe said, worried they might incur Nie Yan’s displeasure.

"I think Nie Yan will be fine with it. Since he can’t be bothered to deal with Fu Guangtao and them, we’ll do it for him. However, we definitely can’t disappoint him!” Xua Yan said. He had long since wanted to teach Fu Guangtao, Bai Jun, and them a lesson.

With these hopes in their hearts, the three set off to do some levelling.

...

Back in the Ancient World, Nie Yan received word from Guo Huai that the equipment had been delivered to his three friends.

With this matter settled, Nie Yan had one less thing to worry about. He believed Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe were seedlings worth nurturing. The equipment would definitely be of help to them. But whether or not they could join the ranks of first rate players would depend on their own efforts.

Chapter 623 - 6-Hit Combo!

Over the course of a day, since Nie Yan was mostly harvesting plants, his Gathering skill advanced by leaps and bounds. It wouldn’t be long before he reached Master rank.

Beyond Master was Grandmaster and then Sage. However, as long as one didn’t encounter some kind of mythical medicinal plant which only existed in legends, Master-rank Gathering was generally good enough.

Nie Yan glanced at his bag which was packed to the brim with various medicinal plants. He had collected more than several dozen kinds and at least two full stacks of each. Red Dragon Herbs, Fire Serpentine Grass, Turtleback Root… they all had their different uses. Some were used for creating Antidotes, others for Fire Resistance Potions, all of which were high rank.

These medicinal plants would sell for a fortune in the marketplace.

Besides this, Nie Yan also acquired a large amount of skill books. He had close to a full stack of Gathering Master skill books and quite a few copies of skill books for other crafting and gathering professions.

One of the skill books in the pile caught Nie Yan’s eye—Alchemy Master. The player would obtain twice the skill proficiency, and the potions they concocted had a high chance of coming out a higher rank. However, the caveat was that the potions they concocted only worked on themselves and would have no effect for others.

"Wow, that’s pretty amazing…” Nie Yan muttered. This was his first time seeing an artisan skill book like this.

With the appearance of this Alchemy Master skill book, Nie Yan sank into deep thought.

As Nie Yan progressed along the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest line inside the Ancient World, he would have to face stronger and stronger monsters. So, being able to concoct high rank potions would be quite useful.

Nie Yan had once heard that a Thief with the Alchemy skill could talk to Master Alchemist Yvette to become a Poison Specialist. Their Alchemy skill would undergo some changes. For one, they would improve at a much faster rate, taking no time at all to reach Master or Grandmaster rank. However, the concoctions they made were restricted to only personal use. Nevertheless, it was a desirable title. Being capable of making high rank poisons on the fly could significantly improve one’s combat effectiveness. In the same school of thought, Mages often learned Alchemy to craft their own Mana Potions.

Imagining all the possibilities, Nie Yan was tempted to learn the Alchemy Master skill right away.

"I can’t deny that Alchemy is a pretty useful supplementary skill for levelling.”

After thinking it over, Nie Yan learned the Alchemy Master skill.

From then on, apart from hunting monsters and gathering medicinal plants, Nie Yan also started working on his Alchemy skill.

Alchemy Master was a fairly special variant skill. It was super easy to train, with rank ups requiring less than a tenth of the proficiency of the regular Alchemy skill. By concocting just a few dozen basic potions, Nie Yan reached the Intermediate rank. A few hours later, and he was already 30% of the way to Advanced.

"Once I get Alchemy Master to Master rank, I can make all sorts of concoctions that will be really helpful to me in battle!”

The more Nie Yan learned, the more he realized how lacking his knowledge was, Shadow Dancers operated even more differently than he thought. It was a brand new world where combat prowess couldn’t be judged on raw stats alone. Even supplementary skills like Alchemy were part of the equation.

Nie Yan never had any friends who reached this realm in his past life. So, he only had his shallow understanding and lack of knowledge to blame. The very concept of a Shadow Dancer was still hazy in his mind, and though he had mastered a few techniques, he was still lacking in other respects.

While carrying out his monotonous work in the Ancient World, Nie Yan’s heart was tranquil. He didn’t feel restless or anxious.

Just like before, Nie Yan hunted down the Rank 2 monsters that spawned around him. As he spent more and more time in the Ancient World, he gradually came to comprehend more and more things. The originally simple Kick skill could actually be executed in many different ways, such as a side kick, roundhouse kick, or flying kick, mirroring real world techniques. The superhuman bodies of the characters inside the game ensured that these attacks were delivered with much greater speed, lethality, and accuracy.

Conviction took cues from the real world and expanded upon them, far surpassing reality.

While passing through a large stretch of forest, Nie Yan spotted a large monster walking among the trees up ahead. With golden fur, a powerful frame, and a majestic mane, it was the king of beasts.

Nie Yan made his way over and started tailing the monster from behind, softly humming in his mind, "In the jungle, the mighty jungle…”

Transcendent Insight!

Gold-Maned Lion King (Elite): Rank 2
Health: 130,000/130,000

"Wow, the first Elite I’ve encountered in the Ancient World.” Nie Yan felt a domineering pressure coming from the Lion King. He couldn’t help but feel a bit apprehensive. "Can I actually beat this thing?”

At this moment, the Lion King suddenly sensed something and looked over at where Nie Yan was hiding, a profound light flickering from its eyes.

Nie Yan’s heart shook. He quickly activated several skills that boosted his stealth. It was nearly impossible to detect him now.

Just as Nie Yan thought he was safe, the Lion King opened its mouth and let out a thunderous roar. A powerful shock wave swept out.

Nie Yan felt a sharp pain in his ears as the sound violently shook his eardrums.

−103

With Stealth dispelled, Nie Yan materialized into view.

The Lion King’s gaze immediately locked onto Nie Yan. "GGROAAH!” It arched its back, claws digging deep into earth, and then pounced toward him.

The Lion King was as fast as lightning, closing in almost instantly.

As the Lion King’s claws came swiping down on him, Nie Yan ducked down and escaped to the side.

CRAAASH! The large tree behind where Nie Yan originally stood was snapped in half and collapsed on the ground.

Sensing the might of the Lion King, Nie Yan didn’t dare to dally and fled for his life.

The Lion King immediately went into pursuit as a game of cat and mouse began.

Nie Yan didn’t flee too deep into the forest for fear of encountering even stronger monsters.

He had many close calls while being chased around. Although Shadow Steps and Illusion Steps were fairly useful, he could only use them to dodge once or twice. The Lion King’s intelligence was fairly high. It would quickly see through his tricks.

Nie Yan wasn’t sure he could survive even a single hit from the Lion King.

It was much stronger than ordinary Rank 2 monsters.

After numerous brushes with death, Nie Yan learned many new fleeing techniques, such as running in a curved path, making use of nearby obstacles, and abruptly changing directions right before an attack came down.

Nie Yan employed every tactic at his disposal.

Nie Yan gradually pulled further and further away. Just when he thought he was in the clear, a deafening roar shook the forest. The Lion King came leaping out from behind the trees.

As the enormous beast came barrelling towards him, Nie Yan narrowed his eyes. He leaped into the air with a flying kick. BANG! He crushed the Lion King’s windpipe.

−2,048

"GRAGHHK!” The Lion King let out a pained cry. Its body curved inward from the impact of the kick and was sent flying back before crashing into the ground.

"No time to lose!” Nie Yan shot out a web line at a thick tree branch above the Lion King’s head. With a forceful tug, he soared into the air, Zennarde’s Sword gripped in his hand leaving a trail of black flames behind him. As he came swinging over, he borrowed the momentum to deliver a powerful slash. PSHFFT! Blood sprayed out of the Lion King’s throat.

−5,311

Letting go of the webline, Nie Yan kicked off a nearby tree, then came plunging down.

Backbreaker!

After receiving two successive attacks, the Lion King struggled back to its feet. Before it could react, however, another powerful blow was delivered to its back. BANG! It was forced back down to the ground.

−10,127

"If I let this overgrown cat get back on its feet, I’ll get chased around all over again!” Nie Yan gritted his teeth. He then threw out a sweeping kick, putting all his weight behind it.

BANG! Nie Yan’s foot struck the Lion King in the head. It let out a wail and thrashed around on the ground.

−21,933

It wasn’t over yet. Nie Yan stepped to the side, pivoted into a spin, then swung his elbow back. BANG! He landed a heavy blow on the Lion King’s abdomen, causing it to flip back over to the other side.

−36,444

As his feet touched the ground, Nie Yan slid several steps forward. He raised his leg high into the air, then drove his foot down with an axe kick. Yet another powerful blow was delivered to the Lion King’s back. C-CRRACK! The frightening sound of bones breaking rang out through the forest.

−59,648

"GRAAaaaohh…” The Lion King let out a loud wail and collapsed limply on the ground.

"Oh, wow…” Even Nie Yan was taken aback by his frightening damage. The axe kick he delivered at the end shaved away close to half of the Lion King’s health.

A notification jingle rang out.

6-hit combo! Flying Kick → Cut Throat → Backbreaker → Roundhouse Kick → Spinning Elbow → Axe Kick

Nie Yan started. "So the attacks I used just now linked together into a combo without me even realizing… No wonder I dealt so much damage!” The first hit in the string would dictate the combo’s damage potential. Afterwards, every subsequent attack would deal roughly double the damage of the previous. Generally, the force generated from your arms couldn’t compare to your legs. So, kicks were the preferred starters.

This discovery shook Nie Yan to the core. If he could pull off such combos regularly in the future, his battle prowess would be beyond terrifying.

Chapter 624 - Advanced Devil Slayer

Nie Yan could feel himself improving in the Ancient World every day as he familiarized himself with this new style of combat. The more he comprehended, the greater his shock. He felt an even deeper sense of appreciation as well as awe for the people who created not just the world but also the various systems that operated seamlessly together in Conviction.

After figuring out the combo system, Nie Yan began practicing combo techniques on the Rank 2 monsters he hunted. He immediately saw a sharp increase in mobbing efficiency. Before long, he was already 56% of the way through Path of the Luminous Dancer 2. He estimated it would only take him two and half more days at most to finish the quest.

In the middle of grinding mobs, a notification jingle rang out. Nie Yan checked it. One of his titles had ranked up!

After killing so many demonic and undead monsters, Nie Yan’s Devil Slayer title had finally risen from Intermediate to Advanced!

Advanced Devil Slayer increased Nie Yan’s health by another 10%. The colour of the title changed from viridian to scarlet.

Scarlet represented a high ranking title. Advanced Devil Slayer was already on par with Grand Scholar.

"Hmm… it can still rank up,” Nie Yan noted after seeing a progress bar below the title. He was eager to see what came after Advanced Devil Slayer. It would definitely be an extraordinary title.

Another day quickly flew by.

Come morning, Nie Yan and Xie Yao headed to school together.

In the command faculty classroom, Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe were anxiously waiting for Nie Yan to arrive. They sat impatiently at their desks, their eyes on the door.

"Why isn’t he here yet?”

When the three were starting to get worried, a figure finally walked into the classroom.

Nie Yan sat down on his seat, then turned to his three friends. "So, how do you guys like your new equipment?”

"It’s absolutely amazing, way better than what we originally expected. Thank you, Nie Yan!” Fei Zhe said.

"I’ve never seen a Dark Gold set with such incredible stats in my life! I’m mowing through Level 90 monsters like it’s nothing!” Xu Yan exclaimed, his face flushed red with excitement.

"Nie Yan, we want to know. Who are you in Conviction?” Xia Tianyu asked in an serious tone.

"Nirvana Flame...?” Xu Yan asked probingly, his eyes sparkling with expectation.

"Well, even if you guys have guessed it by now, I hope you’ll keep it a secret. It’ll save me a lot of unnecessary headaches.” Nie Yan wryly smiled.

"Our lips are sealed.” Fei Zhe nodded.

Xu Yan and Xia Tianyu glanced at each other before nodding as well. "Don’t worry. We won’t tell a soul. Your secret is safe with us.”

Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe had already guessed Nie Yan was Nirvana Flame. However, they had zero plans of revealing this to anyone. Simply knowing was good enough. Out of the three of them, Xu Yan was the most excited. The person he revered the most inside Conviction was Nirvana Flame. Never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined that the deskmate he'd been chatting with for the past few weeks would be that very person in the flesh! How could he not be thrilled?

"Hey, Nie Yan. I’ve been thinking of leaving God Executioner Sword for a while now. I don’t really feel like I belong, and I never get brought along on any dungeon runs. Can I join Asskickers United? I think it should be pretty easy for me to pass the entrance test. I fulfill all the requirements,” Xia Tianyu said. As long as Nie Yan permitted, entering Asskickers United would be no issue.

A classmate and friend like this, whose background and loyalties were clear, was fairly trustworthy. Nie Yan had no qualms about letting Xia Tianyu join Asskickers United. But he had an even better idea at this moment.

"How long have you been in God Executioner Sword?” Nie Yan asked.

"Well, God Executioner Sword was originally an online gaming org. The professional players working for them come from all over the country. The only thing they have in common with a regular studio is that they have similar rules and regulations. I ended up moonlighting there back in high school. So, I’ve been with them since before they even entered Conviction. If I think about it, I guess it’s been about three years by now? But I’m just a nobody there. Only a second-rate player at best. Their first-rate players are all too full of themselves and treat the rest of us like trash. That’s also why I don’t care much for the guild,” Xia Tianyu replied in a frank manner. He believed Nie Yan was inquiring about his circumstances to decide whether or not he was qualified to enter Asskickers United.

"Let me ask you something else. Do they know your identity in real life?” Nie Yan asked. This point was especially crucial.

"Nope, none of them. We aren’t required to report our real life identities. I guess that’s one of the perks of being in God Executioner Sword. But as a result, it’s filled with all sorts of characters both good and bad. I even know some with extensive criminal records. Obviously, those kinds of people don’t want anything leaking out,” Xia Tianyu replied. He found Nie Yan’s question very strange.

Nie Yan’s eyes flickered with an odd light. A plan gradually took form in his mind. If he wanted to get information on God Executioner Sword, Xia Tianyu was the most suitable candidate.

"As a friend and fellow classmate, I have full trust in you. I’d be more than happy to have you join Asskickers United. But I have a more important task for you first,” Nie Yan said. He looked around and made sure no one was eavesdropping.

"What is it? I’ll do my best to carry it out!” Xia Tianyu said. He was overjoyed after hearing that Nie Yan was willing to accept him.

"Good. Don’t leave God Executioner Sword,” Nie Yan said.

"Huh, why?” Xia Tianyu asked with a confused look.

Nie Yan stared directly into Xia Tianyu’s eyes. "Are you really willing to abandon God Executioner Sword to join Asskickers United?”

"Yes.” Xia Tianyu nodded with determination. "I don’t have any attachment to God Executioner Sword. All they do is take and exploit my work. They’ve never done anything for me in return. I’ve already thought this over for a long time. If it wasn’t for the fact that I haven’t found anywhere better yet, I would’ve left long ago.”

Xia Tianyu was feeling a bit depressed. He really didn’t want to be in God Executioner Sword any longer. He couldn’t help but wonder why Nie Yan wanted him to stay. The two guilds, Asskickers United and God Executioner Sword, were enemies after all.

"If you want to follow me—help me, then I’d like you to continue remaining in God Executioner Sword. I’ll provide you with gold and equipment regularly. What I want you to do is rope in as many people to your side as possible, climb your way up their ranks, and become one of their core members. One more thing. It’s fine for now. But later on, you and Xu Yan can’t have any contact inside the game anymore in order to avoid raising suspicion,” Nie Yan said, sharing his true plan. Given Xia Tianyu was a veteran member of God Executioner Sword, no one would suspect a thing.

"I see!” Xia Tianyu exclaimed. Everything suddenly clicked in his mind. "Hmm… Alright, I think I can pull it off. You can put your faith in me!” If Nie Yan wanted someone to infiltrate God Executioner Sword’s core, he really would be the most suitable candidate. After all, as a long-standing member of the guild, he was the least likely to arouse suspicion.

The best way to destroy a guild was from within! Even though God Executioner Sword was far from being a match for Asskickers United, Nie Yan sensed worrying undercurrents stirring beneath the surface. He had to start making preparations now!

"How about me? What can I do to help?” Fei Zhe asked, not wanting to be excluded. As a citizen of the Satreen Empire, he couldn’t join Asskickers United.

"Hmm… It would be really great if you could get into Angel Corps, but I won’t blame you if you fail,” Nie Yan replied. He would certainly benefit from having someone reliable inside Angel Corps.

"Huh, that should be pretty easy. I heard Angel Corps’ recruitment policies are pretty lax. I know a few of their recruiters. As long as you give them something to grease the wheels, they’ll immediately let you in. The hard part will be climbing their ranks,” Fei Zhe said.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. "Alright, I’ll have some people get in touch with you two inside the game. Later on, if you need anything, you can ask them.”

Guo Huai had quite a few moles planted in Angel Corps. If Fei Zhe found a way to ascend their core ranks, Asskickers United could provide him with resources to ensure his success.

Nie Yan reminded Xia Tianyu and Fei Zhe of a few things to take note of. Afterwards, he called up Guo Huai and left the matter to him. He made sure Guo Huai provided them ample resources. Asskickers United didn’t lack gold. As long as Xia Tianyu and Fei Zhe succeeded, the payoff would be more than worth it.

As for Xu Yan, he was already a part of Asskickers United to begin with. There was nothing for him to do.

"There’s a gathering for first years tomorrow. Nie Yan, we plan to teach Fu Guangtao, Zhao Shiyu, and their lot a lesson. That’s fine with you, right?” Xu Yan hoped Nie Yan would give his approval.

"Haha, you don’t need my approval for something like that. You guys can decide for yourselves.” Nie Yan smiled. He was also getting tired of Fu Guangtao and Zhao Shiyu’s little schemes and provocations. Having Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe take them down a notch or two would get these buzzing flies to shut up.

After receiving Nie Yan’s approval, Xu Yan’s eyes lit up in excitement. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. "Finally, I get a chance to wipe that smug smile off Fu Guangtao’s face. I’m definitely going to make this a lesson he’ll never forget!”

A day of classes flew by in the blink of an eye. Even though they were a bit dry and dull, Nie Yan still earnestly paid attention. He didn’t want to experience the hardships of his past life again, where he went day by day barely eking out an existence. He would never forego a chance to better himself. That included his studies.

There was a mock test in the afternoon. Nie Yan easily took first place, beating out second place by more than 20%. Jealous of his achievements, Fu Guangtao, Zhao Shiyu, Bai Jun, and their lot secretly spread rumours that Nie Yan was a complete study freak who knew nothing besides fighting and reading books, and that he was a low level trash in Conviction. They were too afraid to confront him directly, so they could only talk behind his back. There were a few people who believed them.

A fellow classmate informed Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe about the rumours. The three couldn’t hold it in anymore. They got up from their seats and walked over to Fu Guangtao’s group.

Chapter 625 - A Rift

After the events of the school-wide gathering in Conviction, Zhao Shiyu and her clique managed to gather enough people to form a team. Of course, she was the leader. They ran dungeons regularly and obtained quite a bit of decent equipment. However, as time went by, small annoyances turned into internal conflicts until no day went by without heated arguments. The main issue was that the loot was not being divided up fairly. Zhao Shiyu believed as the ones who created the team, she and a few others deserved a larger portion of the spoils. This, of course, didn’t sit well with the other members. It was the topic of numerous arguments. Before long, mutual distrust built up and a clear rift formed within the team.

Zhao Shiyu had personally spoken to a few of the disgruntled members and temporarily quelled the discourse. Since those ill-treated had nowhere better to turn to, they could only swallow their grievances and stay in the team. However, a deep seed of resentment had long since taken root in their hearts.

Zhao Shiyu, for all her arrogance, had little to no self-awareness. She, Fu Guangtao, and Bai Jun thought they were being smart by pulling small tricks and secretly hogging the good equipment for themselves. However, no secret could be kept forever. Several members of the team were actively looking for a way out.

Zhao Shiyu and the 17 other members in her clique were discussing strategy for their next dungeon run at the back of the classroom. The desk was piled high with sheets of paper. The dungeon they wanted to run had long since been fully explored, cleared countless times over by the elites of the various major guilds. So, there were many tips and tricks floating around on the internet, which they had compiled together in one place. After making some more preparations inside the game, they would be ready to set out.

Even though Zhao Shiyu and her team weren’t good enough to be considered top elites, they were still fairly strong among second-rate players. In addition, they didn’t blindly run into harder content, instead making comprehensive preparations for every next dungeon run. At this moment, however, there were a few voices of dissent.

"I still don’t think we’re ready to run Arachnid Abyss. That dungeon is clearly too difficult for us to clear. We don’t have the DPS! I say we need to run Mysterious Cavern at least 20 more times to better equip our Mages. Only then do I think we’ll be ready to challenge such a high level dungeon!” a somewhat chubby male student said. His face and ears were somewhat flushed from arguing back and forth. His name was Chu Chenghao. He played a Paladin and was only slightly behind Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, and Bai Jun in level. Since he was generally amiable and did things fairly and openly, many students had a good impression of him.

"No need! Our damage is already good enough. As long as we can clear Arachnid Abyss, our gear will rise to another level. Continuing to run Mysterious Cavern is only a stupid waste of time!” Fu Guangtao fired back.

"You guys are really full of yourselves. It’s pretty obvious we’ll wipe if we run Arachnid Abyss in our current state. A team that only goes at the pace of its few strongest members won’t last long. Have you ever heard of something called teamwork? If we go to Arachnid Abyss now, what will we need just to survive? Hmm, let see—Poisonbite Necklaces, Ivory Life Rings, Flame Gems… need I go on? Do you think anyone in our team but yourselves could possibly afford these things? Why risk our lives in Arachnid Abyss for so little gains? We should grind in Mysterious Cavern for a bit longer, so that our weaker members can replace their current shabby weapons and armour with better ones. Like this, the entire team will grow stronger, not just you few.”

Many of the weaker members sunk into deep thought. Items like Poisonbite Necklaces and Ivory Life Rings were all fairly precious. They definitely couldn’t afford the burden. In the end, all the benefits would go to the stronger members like Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, and Bai Jun anyway. Meanwhile, they would be lucky to get table scraps even after overworking themselves to death. Realizing Chu Chenghao was standing up for their interests, they were deeply moved.

Seeing that Chu Chenghao’s words were effective, Fu Guangtao inwardly cursed. He then tried to tempt the weaker members. "All the drops in Mysterious Cavern are dog crap. You can find them for sale everywhere in the marketplace. If we can clear Arachnid Abyss, we can get even better stuff!”

"True. You certainly can find weapon and armour drops from Mysterious Cavern available for sale in the auction house. But who’s going to pay for it? You? Because we certainly can’t afford to. Since you want us to run Arachnid Abyss so badly, maybe next time a Poisonbite Necklace drops, we can sell it and use the gold to buy new equipment for our weaker members. How about it? It’s starting to get pretty clear that you guys only care about getting good equipment for yourselves. I’m not willing to needlessly risk my life just to satisfy your selfish whims. Anyone that wants to go can go, but I’m out.” Chu Chenghao was fed up.

"Tsk, it’s always you saying no to this and no to that. Last time, it was because of you that we wiped on an easy dungeon like White Bird Gorge. We’ve already wasted too much time in Mysterious Cavern. If we had moved on to Arachnid Abyss earlier like I said we should, my equipment would be a million times better than it is now. Who the hell do you think you are!? I’ve been getting real tired of your shit lately! Do you think I won’t smash your face in!?” Fu Guangtao glared.

"I’d like to see you try! You think I’m afraid of you?” Chu Chenghao hardly batted an eye at Fu Guangtao’s provocation.

Fu Guangtao didn’t dare to actually try anything in the Top Military Academy.

"Don’t think of yourself too highly. Do you think I need someone like you in my team? I know a bunch of people in the management faculty. I can easily find a Paladin twice as good to replace you at any time. Leave if you want. No one will miss you.” Zhao Shiyu coldly snorted, shooting Chu Chenghao a look of disdain.

"I’m a bit busy tonight, so I won’t be running Arachnid Abyss with you guys. Sorry,” a slim male student suddenly said. He played an Arcane Mage. He didn’t have the courage to burn all bridges with Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, and them. So, he used this excuse to tactfully withdraw.

"Me too. I can’t make it either. My parents need my help.”

"Same here.”

…

The people backing out were the low level members who had frequently been subjected to unfair treatment since joining the team. Naturally, they sided with Chu Chenghao.

Seeing the support he was getting, Chu Chenghao was deeply moved. He couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh. So goes the adage, an unjust cause will find little support, while a just cause will enjoy support from all around. Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, Bai Jun, and their lot had crossed the line. They had turned the team into a tool to only benefit themselves, never once thinking about helping the other weaker members.

All of a sudden, half the members in the team sided with Chu Chenghao in protest. Zhao Shiyu became anxious. She stared at one of the male students with puppy eyes and asked, "Chen Mo, you’re not coming either?”

Zhao Shiyu wanted to persuade a few people to change their minds. One of her targets was Chen Mo, whom she knew was secretly in love with her.

Chen Mo simply remained silent.

Seeing that the team was close to not having enough members to run Arachnid Abyss, Bai Jun immediately stepped in to intervene. He said with a kind smile, "Let’s not get hasty here guys. I’m sure we can all sit down and talk it out. If we really can’t come to an agreement, we’ll switch to another plan.”

Chu Chenghao coldly snorted. "Don’t bother trying to play mediator. I already know you three are all in cahoots. You never cared about helping anyone but yourselves. We’ll obviously never see eye to eye. I’m leaving. Good luck finding someone else.”

At this moment, Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe walked over.

"Chu Chenghao, we’re planning to make our own team. Do you want to join?” Xu Yan asked.

"How many people do you already have?” Chu Chenghao asked. Though they didn’t interact much, he knew at least Xu Yan wouldn’t behave the same way as Fu Guangtao and their lot did.

"Right now it’s just me, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe, but we’ll be recruiting more people really soon. Nie Yan said he would join when he has the time. Also, a few of my friends from Azure Windchime agreed to join. I think it won’t take more than two days for us to build up a full team.”

The surrounding students all raised an eyebrow. Xu Yan managed to recruit people from Azure Windchime? Though they knew he had joined them right at the start of the school year, they previously weren’t aware of Azure Windchime’s strength. However, after seeing their performance during the last school-wide gathering in Conviction, everyone finally understood what kind of club Azure Windchime was.

Chu Chenghao though it over for a moment, then nodded. "Sure, why not? I have nowhere better to go anyway. But I’d like to reserve my right to withdraw without warning if I’m feeling dissatisfied with the team.”

"Naturally, that’s a given. Welcome to the team!” Xu Yan said with a bright smile.

"Xu Yan, can I join your team too?” Chen Mo asked.

"Sure!”

"Oh, what about me? I want to join too!”

All of a sudden, more than 10 people withdrew from Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, and Bai Jun’s team. They had long since been fed up with those three. When presented with the opportunity to leave, they took it without the slightest hesitation, even if they weren’t all that familiar with Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe.

Seeing all these people wanting to leave, Zhao Shiyu and the others immediately became anxious.

"Xu Yan, you fucker! What do you think you’re doing, coming over here to poach people from our team!? You think trash like you can form your own team? Even if you do, what are you going to run, Goblin Marsh!?” Fu Guangtao cursed.

"Sure, we can start with Goblin Marsh. At least we’d be better than some people who only think of hogging all the good drops for themselves. Besides, who’s the real trash between us still hasn’t been decided yet,” Xu Yan fired back.

Chu Chenghao interjected, "I have no problem with us starting over from the easiest dungeon. From now on, you guys can go your way, we’ll go ours, even if it might be more difficult.”

The command faculty had been divided into two.

"Fine, scram! Who needs you all anyway? You trash belong together! You better make sure I don’t catch you in the game!” Fu Guangtao growled.

Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe were instantly incensed. Fu Guangtao was really too full of himself! They weren’t even afraid of him back when they didn’t have their new equipment. Now, they were confident in crushing him.

Fu Guangtao had shed all pretenses of cordiality, causing the faces of Chu Chenghao and the others to warp with disgust and loathing.

"Do you dare to fight us tonight?” Xia Tianyu glared.

"Why wouldn’t I? The issue is… I’m afraid you’ll run away.” Fu Guangtao harrumphed.

The tension was palpable. Both sides glared daggers at each other, neither willing to back down. Xu Yan did a headcount. 13 people had come to their side. Including him, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe, they had 16 members in total. If he called over four more from Azure Windchime, they would have a full team. The others were all die-hard followers of Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, and Bai Jun. Even if they came, Xu Yan and the others wouldn’t want them anyway.

In order to completely win over Chu Chenghao and the others, treating them with fairness and generosity was a must. Xu Yan recalled the way Nie Yan governed Asskickers United. If he wanted the team to be a cohesive unit, he still had a lot of work ahead of him.

Xu Yan and the others headed back to the front of the classroom and started introducing themselves to each other, talking about their levels, stats, and so on. Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, and the others repeatedly shot venomous glares at them.

Chapter 626 - Master of All Trades!

"Xu Yan, how much defense do you have?” Chu Chenghao asked. "Since you’re our highest level Fighter, I think you’re the best choice for our main tank.”

Xu Yan looked to Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe, who nodded back at him with looks of approval. They were all going to be part of the same team anyway. There was no point in hiding his stats.

"I recently got some better equipment. I have more than 7,000 defense right now, I think.”

"What!? 7,000?” Chu Chenghao shot up to his feet in surprise. "You’re not lying, right? Y-you really have over 7,000 defense?”

The other students were also dumbstruck. For Xu Yan to have more than 7,000 defense at his current level was unimaginable.

Chu Chenghao sucked in a breath of air. "7,000 defense… with you, we can easily run Arachnid Abyss. Even Darknight Gill is possible!”

"With 7,000 defense, you can even be the main tank in some of the larger guilds!”

"Asskickers United really is full of freaks. Even 7,000 defense isn’t good enough to serve as a main tank in their second-rate teams!”

Everyone automatically assumed Xu Yan’s defense was so high simply because he received good equipment as a member of Asskickers United. With a main tank like him, the whole team could improve their equipment within five days.

"With your defense, Fu Guangtao can’t even hold a candle to you.” Chu Chenghao sighed in admiration. "If I were you, I would’ve whooped his ass a long time ago.”

Next up were Xia Tianyu and Fei Zhe. When they shared their stats, Chu Chenghao was equally shocked, as were the others.

Chu Chenghao could understand Xu Yan’s defense being so high. However, Fei Zhe and Xia Tianyu weren’t members of Asskickers United. Why were their stats so high too? There was no one in the entire command faculty who could compare to them.

Xia Tianyu and Fei Zhe glanced at Nie Yan sitting by himself further away. They simply smiled, not revealing anything.

"We’ll be relying on you three from now on. You know, all of us are pretty skilled. It’s just that we’ve never found a good team until now. I think we’ll definitely surpass Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, and their lot. Anyway, we’ll need a leader if we’re going to be a team. I think it should be between one of you three,” Chu Chenghao said. After finding out how strong Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe were, he completely gave in and didn’t bother fussing about who should be team captain.

"Let’s have Xu Yan be the captain, and Chu Chenghao you should be the vice-captain,” Xia Tianyu suggested.

"Sounds good to me,” Xu Yan said.

"I think so too.” Fei Zhe nodded.

Chu Chenghao didn’t expect to be nominated. "H-huh, me? No, no, no. I’m far from qualified!”

"Ah, don’t bother Chu Chenghao. It’s already decided!” Xu Yan said.

"We believe in you,” Xia Tianyu added.

At the urging of everyone, Chu Chenghao finally relented and agreed to become the vice-captain.

Like this, the basic structure of the team was decided.

Seeing Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe pulling Chu Chenghao and the others to their side, Nie Yan faintly smiled. These students from the command faculty would definitely mature into elites of society, each holding influence over their own sphere. Bringing them together and befriending them now would definitely be helpful to him in the future.

Through life, death, and rebirth, Nie Yan had a wealth of life experiences. He understood a network of connections was quintessential. Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe had helped him with something important. What he had to do next was to build his relations with these students and consolidate his position in the class. His ultimate goal was to eventually become their leader and if possible have them work for him.

Nie Yan joined his three friends and their newly formed team, chatting about various topics with these classmates. He was the top student in the class in every respect. This was a barrier that made him difficult to approach. Seeing him talking to everyone so amicably, they naturally took the opportunity to mingle with him.

Nie Yan spent the rest of the day fraternizing with his fellow classmates in the command faculty.

When evening came, Nie Yan entered Conviction.

Nie Yan opened his eyes to the familiar scenery of the Ancient World. He stood in the middle of a dense forest. Looking up, he saw the early morning sun breaking through the foliage, leaving mottled shadows on the ground.

Nie Yan organized all the loot he collected over the last few days from grinding mobs. He had already accumulated 180 non-combat profession skill books, including some especially rare ones. He hadn’t gotten a chance to look over them yet. Apart from the skill books, he also found several more 120-slot bags. He switched his old bags out for these new ones and now had a total of 720 slots of inventory space, which was more than enough for ordinary situations.

Nie Yan’s stock of medicinal plants was starting to run low. He had used them all to concoct various potions in an effort to train his Alchemy Master skill. Eventually, he no longer had enough low rank medicinal plants to use. He could only go back to the previous spot to harvest more Gold Orchids. After collecting several stacks, he started crafting potions again. Even though he only started concocting in the Ancient World, he quickly familiarized himself with the process. He created one Mana Potion after another, then tossed them away.

These Mana Potions could only be used by him. However, Nie Yan played a Thief, a class which didn’t require mana. So, these Mana Potions were basically useless. He was better off throwing them away to save bag space.

Like this, Nie Yan could do everything from collecting the materials to actually crafting the item. Someone like this was quite rare. He gradually realized how powerful the combination of a combat class and crafting professions were. With these kinds of specialized crafting skills, a player could be almost completely self-sufficient. Ordinary players would have to return to town every five days or so because they were running low on consumables. However, after learning the Gathering and Alchemy skills, as long as he encountered some medicinal plants in the wilderness, he could simply harvest them and make potions. If he was in a place that was full of medicinal plants, he would never have to return to town and could stay there indefinitely.

Nie Yan glanced inside his bag. There were several other extremely useful skill books that caught his eye, such as Scroll Crafting Master, Engineering Master, and so on. These skill books all shared one common restriction. All the items crafted by the player could only be used by themselves.

A strange idea took shape in Nie Yan’s head. If he learned all these skills, the items he could create would definitely be immensely beneficial to him.

The Ancient World was rich with all sorts of different crafting materials. If he harvested them all, raising the ranks of his crafting skills would be blazingly fast. Before long, he could train them to Master or even Grandmaster rank. A Thief with infinite outdoor sustainability, it sounded like a cheat. But to Nie Yan the possibility was very real, and it would greatly help his chances of clearing his class advancement quest.

Nie Yan analyzed the various crafting and harvesting skills. Gathering and Alchemy were part of the same branch. He could use medicinal plants found in the wilderness to craft his own potions. Scroll Crafting and Spell Scribing were also part of the same branch. After killing a monster, players obtained rolls of leather or other similar materials that could be used to craft blank scrolls. Spell Scribing could then turn them into different kinds of magic scrolls. Furthermore, Mining, Metallurgy, Forging, and Engineering were also part of the same branch. The ores players mined could be crafted into various weapons or different metal components, which could then be assembled by an Engineer into all sorts of machines.

Apart from these, there were also other skills like Deconstructing, Enchanting, and Tinkering.

If Nie Yan could train all these crafting profession skills to a high rank, he would truly become a master of all trades! This boost in utility would significantly raise his combat prowess.

As Nie Yan roamed around the forest harvesting Gold Orchids, he arrived at the rocky shore of a stream. On the other side was a lush meadow with a different type of medicinal plant growing in it. They looked like delicate jade sculptures under the sunlight, semi translucent and glistening brilliantly.

"Jade Gold Orchids!” Nie Yan’s eyes lit up. They were a medicinal plant one rank above regular Gold Orchids and could be used to concoct Advanced or Master Health and Mana Potions. They were also an ingredient for multiple Advanced Potions. If he could gather a large amount of Jade Gold Orchids, he could raise his Alchemy Master skill to Advanced rank before the end of the day!

Jade Gold Orchids were growing everywhere in this meadow!

However, a wraith of some sort was roaming in the meadow. It was floating in the air and moving around aimlessly, occasionally letting out pulses of ice-cold energy, covering the plants in the immediate vicinity in a layer of frost.

Nie yan had no idea what rank this wraith was. He slowly approached it in stealth until he was only 30 meters away.

Transcendent Insight!

Ice Wraith: Rank 3
Health: 520,000/520,000

Nie Yan knitted his brows. He didn’t know if he could deal with a Rank 3 monster. Up until now, the strongest monster he met was the Gold-Maned Lion King, a Rank 2 Elite, which albeit strong was not on the same level as this Ice Wraith.

Nie Yan hesitated for a moment before steeling his resolve. He would have to deal with Rank 3 monsters sooner or later anyway. There was no harm in giving it a try now.

This Ice Wraith was an ice-type monster. Players probably needed a lot of Ice Resistance to deal with it.

Luckily, Nie Yan had several Ice Resistance boosting skills. He also had the Heart of Winter in his possession. With high Ice Resistance, dealing with ice-type monsters became much easier. Apart from this, he also had a few Master Ice Resistance Potions in his bag. His preparations were basically flawless.

Nie Yan approached the Ice Wraith, trailing it from behind while waiting for an opportunity to attack.

The Ice Wraith’s lifeless eyes were looking around.

Nie Yan, who was still pretty far away, felt the surrounding temperature plummet by more than 10 degrees celsius. He started shivering as his movement speed was slightly reduced. This was the most annoying aspect of dealing with ice-type monsters.

Chapter 627 - Ice Wraith

Nie Yan waited in ambush behind some shrubbery. Watching the Ice Wraith pass close by him, he pounced forward, his dagger flashing with a sharp light.

As the attack was about to land, the Ice Wraith suddenly vanished into thin air.

Nie Yan’s pupils constricted. His dagger struck air as the Ice Wraith appeared beside him. Its previously lifeless eyes flared with a sinister red glow.

"Aaeeiigh!” The Ice Wraith spewed out an icy mist from its mouth.

The mist encased everything it touched in a thick layer of ice as the temperature in the immediate vicinity plummeted far below freezing.

Without the slightest delay, Nie Yan leaped several meters back.

The Ice Wraith vanished again, this time reemerging behind him, then assailed him with a wave of bone-chilling frost.

The Ice Wraith’s combat style was different from that of all other monsters he had encountered so far. Its movements were unpredictable. It attacked and evaded with incredible speed. But far more terrifying was that monsters like this had a frightening passive, and that was they were immune to being stunned.

The Ice Wraith was even more tricky to deal with than expected. Nie Yan didn’t dare to dally.

Nie Yan continuously adjusted his techniques while dodging. He gradually became faster and faster until he could just barely keep up with the Ice Wraith’s tempo.

After dodging the Ice Wraith’s lunge, Nie Yan discovered its back was facing towards him. His expression turned fierce, and he shot forward like an arrow.

Nie Yan exploded forth with incredible speed. He was much faster than he had ever been before. With all his power focused in one leg, he kneed the Ice Wraith in the back.

BANG! The Ice Wraith staggered several steps forward.

Nie Yan would never pass up on such a good opportunity to attack. He pounced forth, closing the gap in an instant, and ruthlessly elbowed the Ice Wraith in the back. Pivoting to the side, he plunged Zennarde’s Sword into its spine with Backbreaker.

Without pulling out, Nie Yan firmly gripped the handle and wrenched the blade through its torso.

Lacerate!

The Ice Wraith let out a shrill cry.

Nie Yan stabbed forth once more, only for the Ice Wraith to suddenly disappear. His attack missed.

Nie Yan checked his notifications. He had completed a 3-hit combo just now and dealt 50,000 damage. "It seems this Ice Wraith isn’t impossible to deal with after a-”

An icy gust of wind assailed him from behind, cutting Nie Yan’s thoughts short.

Gale Step!

A wave of frost swept forth, encasing everything in ice, even many of the Jade Gold Orchids. Thankfully, Nie Yan was quick on his feet, or else he would’ve been turned into a human popsicle.

Fortunately, Jade Gold Orchids grew in abundance here, or Nie Yan would be feeling like he was bleeding from his heart right now.

As the two silhouettes exchanged moves at high speed in the meadow, Nie Yan started incorporating more and more real world fighting moves into his skills. He was shocked to discover their high compatibility. His attack speed was slower than that of the Ice Wraith. So, he could only rely on technique to get the upper hand.

It was a long and drawn out battle, though unlike any Nie Yan had been in before. He wasn’t monotonously kiting the monster with skills. His movements were like flowing water, unaffected by any skill restrictions and allowing for a greater range of motion.

Nie Yan felt an unprecedented amount of freedom in combat.

In the middle of this intense battle, Nie Yan could feel his own fighting techniques rapidly improving.

As the Ice Wraith attacked with unrelenting ferocity, Nie Yan gradually wore it down until it only had 5% health left.

"AIIEEEGH!” the Ice Wraith let out a mournful wail. An enormous amount of frost energy spilled out from its body.

After coming in contact with the icy mist, Nie Yan’s body was immediately covered in a thick layer of frost. His speed was dramatically reduced, and every movement became cumbersome. He hurriedly downed a Master Ice Resistance Potion. A stream of warmth flowed down his throat and spread out from his chest into his limbs. He could move freely again.

Seeing the Ice Wraith going berserk, Nie Yan dashed forward and delivered a kick to its abdomen. He then slashed out with Zennarde’s Sword.

Cut Throat!

A trail of black flames streaked out across the Ice Wraith’s neck.

"AIEEE!” The Ice Wraith’s hands suddenly transformed into grotesquely sharp claws. Its attacks instantly became countless times more powerful. Its movement speed similarly saw an explosive increase.

The Ice Wraith lunged forward in a frenzied assault. Nie Yan was put under a mountain of pressure, barely able to evade the attacks.

As the Ice Wraith’s claws came slashing down, mere inches away from ending his life, Nie Yan suddenly disappeared.

The Ice Wraith looked around in confusion. It couldn’t sense Nie Yan’s presence at all, as if he had completely vanished into thin air. It could still sense him through ordinary skills like Gale Step and Disappear. However, its detection abilities were completely useless against the Rank 16 Shadow Waltz.

Extreme Intimidate!

The Ice Wraith immediately lurched to a halt. At the same time, Nie Yan materialized behind it.

Hell Execution!

The flames enshrouding Zennarde’s Sword erupted out with a crimson glow. Nie Yan slashed down with his blade, cleaving the Ice Wraith in two.

"Yes! It succeeded!” Nie Yan rejoiced. The Ice Wraith let out a mournful cry, frost energy spewing out from its body as it evaporated into nothing.

Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. "Man, what a tough fight.”

After sitting down on the ground and recuperating, Nie Yan got back up on his feet and gazed around the meadow. All around him were Jade Gold Orchids stretching out as far as the eye could see, gently swaying back and forth along with the wind. Even though many plants had been destroyed in his fight with the Ice Wraith just now, there were still plenty left for him to use.

Even if Nie Yan did nothing but harvest these Jade Gold Orchids for 10 days straight, he wouldn’t necessarily be able to sweep through the entire meadow.

Nie Yan bent down and started harvesting the plants.

Gathering successful! You have obtained a Jade Gold Orchid.
Gathering successful! You have obtained a Jade Gold Orchid.
...

One notification after another popped up. Jade Gold Orchids gradually started accumulating in Nie Yan’s bag.

After collecting six full stacks, Nie Yan started concocting Advanced Mana Potions. Alchemy Specialist allowed players to craft certain potions without recipe, such as Junior, Intermediate, Advanced, and Master Health and Mana Potions, along with a few Poison Resistance Potions, Poisons, and so on.

Nie Yan took out a Jade Gold Orchid. After making his preparations, he started concocting.

Nie Yan crafted one Advanced Health Potion after another. Every success gave him three skill proficiency. After creating a full stack, he placed it in the corner of his bag, then continued immersing himself in his work.

Nie Yan repeated this simple yet dull work. Since Alchemy Master required less skill proficiency than the ordinary Alchemy skill, ranking up went fairly quick.

...

While Nie Yan devoted himself to training Alchemy Master, Chu Chenghao and the others gathered outside the entrance of the Central Auction House in Calore. They planned to go levelling together with Xu Yan and the others to build familiarity. After which, they would run a dungeon together.

Chu Chenghao’s group consisted of 13 people. Two had left to procure some consumables and would be back in a jiffy.

"Xu Yan and the others will be here in a minute.”

"Xu Yan said he asked about us joining Asskickers United. He said they'll take two days to get back to us.”

While they were chatting, six people in the distance were walking over to them.

"It’s Zhao Shiyu and Fu Guangtao!”

"I don’t see Bai Jun with them.”

Judging from their demeanor, Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, and their lot were coming over with ill intentions. The team members with Chu Chenghao became tense, hiding behind him.

Zhao Shiyu swept her gaze over Chen Mo and the others, then said with an aggrieved expression, "I’ve come here to ask you guys to come back. You were right, we were in the wrong. Ever since we formed the team, there may have been a few road bumps, but we had a lot of good times too. Are you really going to throw that all away?”

"Chu Chenghao, I admit my tone was a bit too harsh earlier in class. I lost my temper, and I apologize for that. How about coming back with us. Do you really think you’ll have a future by grouping up with trash like Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe? With their levels and gear, do you think they can actually lead a team?” Fu Guangtao said.

"Whether or not we had good times in your team, even a blind person can see the truth. Drop the pity act, Zhao Shiyu. We’ve already seen through what kind of person you are. Speaking any more is pointless. In the future, we’ll go our way and you go yours,” Chu Chenghao said, not yielding in the slightest.

"You f-” Fu Guangtao was about curse up a storm. But in a moment of clarity, he suppressed his anger. "Just come back and give us a second chance. We won’t run Arachnid Abyss. We’ll continue carrying you guys in Mysterious Cavern. After we get all your equipment up, then we can go.”

Chu Chenghao remained unmoved, as did the others. No one seemed interested in Fu Guangtao’s offer.

"You can try to convince us all you want, but it won’t work. Just leave. Like you said before, replacing people like us is easy,” one of the people in Chu Chenghao’s group said. They had long since seen through how two-faced Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, and them were.

"Fine. Your words, not mine! I nicely asked you all to come back, but you refuse to accept my kindness. From now on, you better watch your backs whenever you set out for a dungeon. Because if I see you, I’ll kill you! All of you! You’ll be afraid to even step foot outside of the city!” Fu Guangtao growled. He had at least that much backing.

"That depends on if you have what it takes. We’ll gladly keep you company. Let’s see who comes out on top in the end!” Chu Chenghao retorted, his eyes flashing with a cold light. He wouldn’t be so easily cowed.

"You think trash like Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe can protect you?” Fu Guangtao coldly laughed.

"Who says we can’t? I’d like to see you try killing us.” At this moment, Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe walked over.

Fu Guangtao spun around, about to spit out some venomous words, only to have them get caught at the back of his throat. Noticing Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe’s equipment, he looked like he’d seen a ghost.

Chapter 628 - Feeding the Darkwing Dragon!

Xu Yan was clad in sleek golden armour which glittered with a dazzling radiance. He was armed to the teeth, his fists, elbows, shoulders, and so on covered in sharp spikes. This was clearly an equipment set, and a Dark Gold-grade one at that. As for what it was called, Fu Guangtao had no idea. But he was sure it wasn’t low level; at the very least, it was much better than the set he was wearing.

Glancing at Xia Tianyu and Fei Zhe, those two also sported high level Dark Gold-grade sets.

Fu Guangtao’s head was spinning. Since when did Dark Gold-grade sets become as common as cabbage?

Seeing this new development, Zhao Shiyu was also struck dumb. She didn’t expect Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe to make such a flashy entrance. The equipment of the trio immediately caused them to feel ashamed of their inferiority. Even Fu Guangtao, who had the best equipment in their group, couldn’t compare.

Thinking about it now, one could imagine just how ridiculous Fu Guangtao looked calling Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe trash. In front of the trio, their group was the real trash!

「Dammit! How did those three get such good equipment?」Fu Guangtao said in voice chat.

「I don’t know! Wasn’t their equipment pretty trash before? How did they suddenly become so strong?」Zhao Shiyu said, unable to wrap her head around this matter.

With the current equipment of Xu Yan and the other two, Fu Guangtao would lose miserably if he tried making a move on them.

Fu Guangtao was far from a brave and unyielding character. When push came to shove, he was like a wet rag. He swallowed back the venomous words that were about to leave his mouth.

"Didn’t you say we’d better watch our backs whenever we set out for a dungeon? You’ll kill us if you see us? We’ll be too afraid to set foot outside of the city? Well, come on. If you have what it takes, I’d like to see you try,” Xu Yan said with a cold smile. He had made considerable progress recently. This, combined with the equipment Nie Yan gave him, made him overflow with confidence. He was no longer like before, readily submitting to humiliation.

"If you want to have a showdown, just name a time and place! We’ll accept your challenge!” Xia Tianyu declared. Even before he received the Dark Gold-grade set from Nie Yan, he was never afraid of Fu Guangtao.

Fu Guangtao remained silent, not daring to reply. Zhao Shiyu and the others were also the same. They were people who bullied the weak and feared the strong. Xu Yan, Xian Tianyu, and Fei Zhe’s old equipment was pretty lacking, so they weren’t the slightest bit afraid. But now, they knew beating the trio would be impossible.

Given their current equipment, Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe could easily lead Chu Chenghao and the others through high level dungeons. They would definitely be much better off with the trio than when they were with Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, and their lot. This was a fact.

"Where are those big words from before? I thought you guys were really fierce. Why are you suddenly so quiet? Did you lose your tongue?” One of the Mages in Chu Chenghao’s group shot Fu Guangtao and the others a look of disdain.

"I think it’s cause they’re scared. I guess they only amount to this much. When someone stronger shows up, they suddenly become so meek.”

…

The people around Chu Chenghao had all been suppressing a bellyful of rage. Now, all of it was erupting out, and they started ridiculing Fu Guantao and Zhao Shiyu relentlessly.

Fu Guangtao and Zhao Shiyu became embarrassed. They felt staying any longer would only make them lose more face.

Zhao Shiyu shot the trio a look of rancor, then turned away with a cold snort.

Fu Guangtao had nothing else to say and followed suit.

Watching Zhao Shiyu and Fu Guangtao’s dreary figures, Xu Yan and the others felt a deep sense of satisfaction. Xu Yan clenched his fists, resolving to become even stronger. The day would soon come that clowns like Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, and Bai Jun would never dare to mess with them again!

"Come on, let’s go levelling.” Xu Yan turned to Chu Chenghao and the others.

"Sure!” Chu Chenghao nodded.

Xu Yan sent Xia Tianyu a whisper.「Is it fine for you to come levelling with us? It won’t attract any unwanted attention from God Executioner Sword? Nie Yan did warn us.」

「It’s fine. I know what I’m doing. I have a plan to get into the higher ranks of God Executioner Sword,」Xia Tianyu replied.

「Alright, I won’t worry anymore.」Xu Yan nodded.

The group of 16 people set off to go levelling.

...

Nie Yan had spent a total of 36 days in the Ancient World. He had cleared Path of the Luminous Dancer 2, and was 60% of the way toward finishing Path of the Luminous Dancer 3, which required him to kill 500 Rank 3 or higher monsters. Apart from this, his Alchemy Master skill had already reached Advanced, 92%. It wouldn’t be long before he reached Master rank. He had also learned the other artisan skills, such as Forging, Scroll Crafting, Engineering, Tinkering, and so on.

Artisan skills were separate from combat skills. So, Nie Yan could learn as many of them as he wanted without worrying about running out of skill slots.

Nie Yan had harvested many different materials in the Ancient World. Occasionally, when he was in the mood, he would train his artisan skills. All of them had already reached at least Intermediate. His Tinkering was the highest at Advanced.

Doing this kind of work was extremely time-consuming. For Nie Yan to accomplish this much in only 36 days was already quite impressive. He hadn’t wasted a single moment. Whenever he wasn’t hunting monsters, he was training his artisan skills.

His harvests weren’t bad. Just like before, after killing a Rank 3 monster, Nie Yan dug out the Life Core. It was completely black and looked like a large black pearl.

The number of Life Cores in his bag quickly accumulated. He already had more than a thousand. Nie Yan discovered that Life Cores were divided into different elements: fire, ice, darkness, light, and so on. Among them, darkness and light ones were the rarest. He only had a hundred of them altogether.

"The Darkwing Dragon is darkness attribute. Would it be better for me to feed it Darkness Life Cores?” Nie Yan wondered.

This was only a guess on Nie Yan’s part. After all, he had never acquired a flying mount or something as rare as a Life Core in his past life.

His bags were starting to get full. Nie Yan planned to feed the Darkness Life Cores to the Darkwing Dragon to free up some space.

Scouting the area, Nie Yan didn’t find any monsters nearby. It was safe. He summoned the Darkwing Dragon. A large onyx coloured dragon appeared before him.

The Darkwing Dragon flapped its wings, kicking up a gale that knocked over several trees in the surroundings. It then crouched down and nuzzled its head against Nie Yan.

Nie Yan patted the Darkwing Dragon on the head. He discovered it was noticeably larger than before. Small black scales were starting to sprout from its body. It was still a juvenile, only having taken the first baby steps towards adulthood.

Nie Yan wondered how strong the Darkwing Dragon would become once it was fully grown. He took out a dark coloured Life Core from his bag.

It had a deep, black lustre and radiated pure darkness energy. The Darkwing Dragon stared at the crystal in Nie Yan’s hands, unable to tear its eyes away, as drool started leaking out of its mouth.

Chapter 629 - World Heart!

Nie Yan brought out a Rank 3 Fire Life Core. The Darkwing Dragon glanced at the scarlet red crystal before turning its head away. It didn’t appear too interested but with enough coaxing would still eat it nonetheless; likely it wouldn’t be as effective, though, since it wasn’t of the corresponding element.

"Well, aren’t you the picky eater,” Nie Ya smiled. "I suppose I’ll have to feed you only Darkness Life Cores from now on.”

Nie Yan tossed a Darkness Life Core into the air.

The Darkwing Dragon turned back around and snapped up the Life Core at lightning speed, then swallowed the whole thing down with glee.

Nie Yan could sense the Darkwing Dragon growing a bit stronger, albeit vaguely. He had no idea when it would rank up.

After eating the Life Core, the Darkwing Dragon stared at Nie Yan with sparkling eyes, almost as if begging for more.

Nie Yan took out another Darkness Life Core and threw it to the Darkwing Dragon.

The Darkwing Dragon swallowed one Life Core after another. Since it was a Rank 6 creature, the effects of Rank 1–3 Life Cores were limited. However, the quantity helped make up for this difference. Nie Yan could sense a powerful darkness aura radiating from the Darkwing Dragon. It was extremely corrosive. All the plants within a three-meter radius wilted and died.

The Darkwing Dragon let out a satisfied burp. Its belly was round and full, having probably eaten a dozen or so Life Cores.

Like anyone after devouring a big meal, the Darkwing Dragon seemed to be getting drowsy. So, Nie Yan recalled it back into his pet space.

Looking at the world inside, the Darkwing Dragon had already found a corner to curl up in and sleep. A dense mist of darkness energy shrouded its body, wrapping around it like a cozy blanket.

The Darkwing Dragon fell fast asleep.

Nie Yan could sense a powerful force stirring within the Darkwing Dragon. He didn’t know what kind of changes would occur once it woke up.

Nie Yan withdrew his gaze. His time was dedicated between training his artisan skills or clearing the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest. As he trekked deeper into the forest, far off in the distance, a strange structure hovering over the forest canopy caught his eye.

An enormous castle floated high in the air; nothing supported it off the ground. Though it was more ruin than castle, bearing traces of the flames of war—fallen towers, partially destroyed walls, and so on—it still looked exceptionally grand.

It was just like Calore, a floating city.

You have discovered the World Heart.

"W-what? The World Heart!?” Nie Yan was dumbstruck.

In the Ancient Book of Curtis, the World Heart was the center of the world. Floating above the Atlanta Continent, it was the abode of the gods. But after the Third War of the Gods, it vanished without a trace, never to appear again.

Since the World Heart was only briefly described in ancient history books, it was treated as fiction, a myth of old.

Nie Yan’s intuition told him that the World Heart was directly related to his Luminous Dancer class advancement quest. He immediately set off toward it.

As he got closer to the World Heart, he started running into stronger and stronger monsters. Nie Yan gradually slowed down. He raised his head and saw black dots circling around the World Heart. They were flying creatures. Even though he had never seen them before, judging from their enormous sizes, he could tell they were quite high rank and much more powerful than his Darkwing Dragon.

In the blink of an eye, another 10 days passed by. On this day, Nie Yan completed Path of the Luminous Dancer 3. A notification popped up.

Path of the Luminous Dancer 4:
☐ Sneak into the World Heart.
☐ Retrieve the lost inheritance.

There was finally a break to the monotony! If Nie Yan was forced to grind mobs any longer, he would’ve gone mad! Rank 3 monsters were already pretty difficult to deal with, let alone Rank 4 or 5! However, this new quest wasn’t necessarily easier. In fact, sneaking into the World Heart made the last three quests look like a walk in the park!

Staring at the World Heart in the distance, it appeared getting in without a flying mount would be impossible. Nie Yan looked at his pet space. The Darkwing Dragon was still fast asleep.

"Forget it. I’ll just wait for the Darkwing Dragon to wake up.” Nie Yan went all around harvesting materials and continued training his various artisan skills. Checking his progress, Engineering, Forging, and Spell Scribing were already Advanced rank, and it wouldn’t be long before they reached Master rank. Besides this, Alchemy Master was already 52% of the way to Grandmaster. He could concoct even more different kinds of potions now.

As Nie Yan learned more and more skills, his knowledge of crafting grew deeper and deeper. An odd idea suddenly popped into his mind. "Is it possible to make my own weapons?”

Nie Yan took out some metal extract from his bag. With the help of the Forging skill, he gradually beat them into needles about three inches long and half a thumb thick. One of the needles was made exceptionally sharp, to the extent that it could easily pierce through any armour. Then with the Alchemy Master skill, he concocted a poison which glistened with an azure coloured hue and coated the needles in it.

"Not bad... They’ll definitely come in handy if I encounter anything unexpected.” Nie Yan pondered for a moment. "I could probably improve them even further.” With the Engineering skill, he added a special property to these needles. Once they pierced skin, a mechanism would trigger to release serrated hooks. If you tried to forcefully pull it out, it would rip out a huge chunk of flesh.

This was a clever idea Nie Yan had come up with on the spot. While he was marvelling at his ingenuity, a notification popped up.

You have invented a new weapon. Attack power evaluation: Strength x 5 + 5,000. Special properties evaluation: deal 20% additional bleed damage every second for 10 seconds, chance to inflict cripple status effect. Please name this weapon.

Nie Yan checked the properties of the needles. He didn’t expect them to have this kind of effect; the attack power in particular was quite astonishing. There was even an additional bleed and cripple effect. He had about 6,000 Strength. If he attacked an enemy with one of these needles, it would deal 35,000 damage and an additional 70,000 in bleed damage.

"What would be a good name for these things?” Nie Yan pondered for a moment. "Let’s just call them Flesh Biters.”

Naming successful!

You have successfully invented Flesh Biters. +500 skill proficiency to Forging and Engineering.

Two rays of light enveloped Nie Yan. It was the sign of something ranking up! He quickly checked his skill list. Forging and Engineering had both advanced to Master rank. He didn’t expect to receive so much skill proficiency at once!

"Wow, my artisan skills are improving so quickly!” Nie Yan crafted another Flesh Biter. However, this time, he merely gained five skill proficiency in Forging and Engineering. It appeared only inventing something new would give such a large amount of skill proficiency.

Even so, crafting Flesh Biters provided much more skill proficiency than crafting ordinary weapons. Not to mention he could train Forging and Engineering at the same time. It was two birds with one stone.

Nie Yan suddenly felt that learning all these artisan skills was even more worthwhile than he originally thought.

Most players usually learned only one artisan skill. Even if they trained it to a high rank, they still had to find recipes and blueprints, unlike Nie Yan who could research and create high rank items all by himself. In general, high rank items involved at least two or more different technologies in their creation. Even concocting a new type of potion couldn’t be done all willy nilly. You still needed the help of other artisans in obtaining specialized receptacles and other Alchemy tools.

The Flesh Biters turned out better than Nie Yan expected. They would become powerful supplementary weapons in the future. In a few more days, he could raise all his artisan skills to Master rank. At that time, he could come up with even more new inventions, which he could use to make himself stronger.

While Nie Yan was lost in thought, he felt a violent fluctuation as a powerful darkness energy overflowed out of his pet space.

"What’s going on?” Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Looking inside his pet space, all he saw was a dark haze spewing out from his Darkwing Dragon.

The Darkwing Dragon awoke from its slumber and got up on its feet. It radiated a domineering and invincible pressure. Standing taller than before, dense, grayish black scales now protected its body, reflecting a glossy black luster. With a beat of its powerful wings, two small tornadoes wreaked havoc in the pet space.

Nie Yan examined the Darkwing Dragon. All of its stats had risen by at least 30%. It wasn’t far from ranking up, only a few Life Cores away. It would probably advance to Rank 7 in no time. At that point, its strength would increase severalfold.

At present, the strongest flying mounts other than his own were Rank 4 at best. With a difference of three ranks, his Darkwing Dragon could easily slaughter all of them.

The Darkwing Dragon was finally fully awake. For the time being, he couldn’t feed it any more Life Cores. Nie Yan looked up at the World Heart. He needed to fly up there!

Nie Yan made some preparations, crafting over 50 Flesh Biters, a large amount of Master Health Potions, and some Advanced Combat Bandages. Afterwards, he chanted out an incantation and summoned his Darkwing Dragon.

When the Darkwing Dragon emerged, a wave of darkness energy swept out, causing all the plants in a 10-meter radius to wither and die.

Nie Yan looked up at the Darkwing Dragon, who now stood five meters high. He briefly admired the scales protecting its body. They seemed practically invulnerable.

Nie Yan hopped on its back. The Darkwing Dragon flapped its wings, then shot into the sky, instantly ascending more than several dozen meters in altitude.

Chapter 630 - Dragon Core!

Riding on the Darkwing Dragon, Nie Yan flew toward the World Heart.

With large flying monsters roaming the skies here, he had no choice but to be careful.

As the Darkwing Dragon flew closer and closer to the World Heart, the enormous castle appeared all the larger. Nie Yan felt an even greater appreciation for its size. It resembled a colossus-class spaceship.

The World Heart was made out of stone bricks. Vines were crawling the ruins of the walls, making this ancient castle which had weathered the ages all the more dilapidated.

According to ancient records, the last War of the Gods took place 100,000 years ago.

The World Heart was a remnant from that age.

When Nie Yan was only a hundred meters away, he had the Darkwing Dragon fly along the walls while he searched for an entrance, taking care to avoid the flying monsters that inhabited the skies here.

A gigantic golden eagle beat its wings as it flew close by. Nie Yan hurriedly had his Darkwing Dragon stick to the walls of the World Heart. It clung to the walls with its claws, retracted its wings, and stayed completely still.

The golden eagle was as large as a freighter, completely dwarfing the Darkwing Dragon, who was perhaps no more than a speck of dust in its eyes. Its massive frame blotted out the sky. Each flap of its wings generated powerful gales, which were strong enough to almost knock the Darkwing Dragon off the vines.

"Rank 9!” Nie Yan gasped. "So, a Rank 9 monster is this powerful. My Darkwing Dragon can’t compare at all!”

If the Darkwing Dragon could grow this powerful one day, how wonderful would that be? Even a thousand Rank 3–4 flying mounts wouldn’t be its match!

Nie Yan gazed warmly at the Darkwing Dragon. He was confident it would reach this level one day. As a base Rank 5 flying mount, it certainly possessed the potential.

The golden eagle was circling the air.

Nie Yan calmed his breathing. The Darkwing Dragon didn’t dare to make too much noise.

The golden eagle circled around a few more times before flapping its wings and flying away. A runt like the Darkwing Dragon was simply too small to attract its attention.

Seeing the golden eagle leave, Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. After making sure the coast was clear, he had the Darkwing Dragon get down from the vines and resume their search for the entrance.

The skies were brimming with danger. The Darkwing Dragon was under constant threat of being the next meal for one of these large flying monsters.

Taking advantage of the open airspace, Nie Yan had the Darkwing Dragon scout around. Soon, he spotted the entrance of the World Heart not far off in the distance. The interior was too dark for him to see where it led to.

Nie Yan ordered the Darkwing Dragon to speed up. As he approached closer to the entrance, a large dragon flew out from behind some protruding boulder and closed in with exceptional ferocity.

Nie Yan hurriedly had the Darkwing Dragon drop down into a freefall before shooting off to the side, barely evading the attack.

Looking back, Nie Yan discovered their attacker was a dragon covered in gold scales. It was a Rank 7 monster! It was far more powerful than the Darkwing Dragon despite only being somewhat larger.

With its initial ambush failed, the gold dragon didn’t appear disheartened. It shot forward in pursuit. Nie Yan had the Darkwing Dragon execute various evasive maneuvers while fleeing away.

Even though there was only a one rank difference, it was an insurmountable gap. If the two fought head on, the Darkwing Dragon would lose miserably.

Since the other side was faster, the Darkwing Dragon had a hard time evading, having several close brushes with death. Thankfully, Nie Yan was a skilled enough rider to maneuver it out of the way in time.

The two tangled in the air, when the gold dragon suddenly struck down with its claw at lightning speed.

"Not good! I can’t dodge!” Nie Yan’s heart tightened.

PSHSFT! The claws tore through scales and flesh alike, leaving a gaping wound on the Darkwing Dragon’s chest.

The Darkwing Dragon was no match for the gold dragon. It let out a cry of pain and dropped down from the sky. Nie Yan suddenly felt his body drop. They were heading straight for the sharp rocks on the rampart below! Even if the Darkwing Dragon survived the fall, it would be seriously injured.

Nie Yan hurriedly pulled up on the Darkwing Dragon, urging it on with all his might. It made a weak attempt at beating its wings. But this little was enough to just barely avoid the rocks.

The gold dragon shot forward in pursuit once more. The Darkwing Dragon was going to be killed at this rate!

Nie Yan’s heartstrings were stretched taut. Seeing the gold dragon diving down from above, he had the Darkwing Dragon abruptly ascend at an angle.

The attack missed by a hair as the two dragons brushed past each other.

As the gold dragon turned around in pursuit, it stood silent right below Nie Yan for an instant. Seizing the opportunity, he leaped off and mounted it.

Feeling something on its back, the gold dragon flailed around in the air, trying to shake Nie Yan off.

Nie Yan immediately activated the Crawler Ring as his palms became glued onto the gold dragon’s back.

As Nie Yan was being violently shaken around, he felt like his arms were about to be pulled apart. His gaze fell on the gold dragon’s back, and he spotted a large wound. It had already scarred, but the scales were still growing back.

Nie Yan took out a Flesh Biter and stabbed it into the wound.

PSHHFFT! Blood sprayed out into the air, showering Nie Yan in a deep red liquid.

Nie Yan activated the mechanism in the Flesh Biter, releasing the sharp hooks. It let out a shrill cry and thrashed about. The more it struggled, the deeper the hooks dug into its flesh, ripping open a large wound.

The Flesh Biter was effective!

As the the gold dragon flailed about, the Darkwing Dragon had already recovered. Nie Yan had it dive down, its sharps claws digging into the gold dragon’s neck and ripping open two gaping wounds—a fatal attack!

The gold dragon let out a miserable cry and attempted to retaliate. However, how could Nie Yan give it the chance? He took out another Flesh Biter and stabbed it into one of the freshly open wounds.

PSSFHT! The Flesh Biter dug into gold dragon’s windpipe.

After receiving such an attack, the gold dragon could no longer even let out a cry as it gasped out a dying breath.

These two Flesh Biters had thoroughly crippled the gold dragon.

While the Darkwing Dragon held onto the gold dragon by the neck, Nie Yan climbed over and cracked open its head with Zennarde’s Sword. Digging inside, he fished out a fist sized Life Core. It was amber coloured with a rich golden lustre. At a glance, one could tell it was out of the ordinary.

It was a high rank dragon core!

Chapter 631 - Luminous Dancer!

This was Nie Yan’s first Rank 7 Life Core. Up until now, the highest he’d obtained was a measly Rank 4. It was also elementless, meaning it could be fed to any flying mount without issue.

After extracting the Life Core, the gold dragon was thoroughly dead.

The Darkwing Dragon released its grip on the gold dragon’s corpse, letting it fall from the sky and crash into the forest below.

At the same moment, Nie Yan extended his hand and shot out a web line which stuck to the Darkwing Dragon. He leaped forward and swung into the air.

The Darkwing Dragon caught him on its back, then sped off toward the entrance of the World Heart.

As the scent of blood got picked up by the wind, several large flying monsters started making their way over. One of them was the Rank 9 golden eagle from earlier. Seeing them fast approaching, Nie Yan immediately became anxious. The Darkwing Dragon was going to end up as a snack for one of them. He chanted out an incantation and recalled it back into his pet space.

Nie Yan fell toward the walls of the castle. The flying monsters briefly circled around in the air, failing to spot him hiding among the vines, before diving down towards the gold dragon’s corpse.

Only after seeing the flying monsters leave did Nie Yan feel safe enough to climb out from his hiding place behind the vines. He breathed a sigh of relief and started making his way towards the World Heart’s entrance.

Nie Yan was like a gecko as he quickly crawled along the castle walls. About two minutes later, he reached the entrance.

Nie Yan leaped off the wall and landed firmly on his feet outside the entrance. Looking ahead, the castle’s interior was absolutely enormous, the ceiling reaching more than 60 meters high. He felt completely insignificant, as if he had arrived in an ancient cathedral of the gods. Taking a deep breath, he walked forward. No light could enter this place. It was dark and so quiet one could hear a pin drop. The sound of his footsteps reverberated without end off into the distance.

Thanks to his high Night Vision stat, Nie Yan could see that everything within a 50-meter radius of him was completely empty. He continued walking like this in the darkness for a good half-an-hour before spotting a large glowing crystal orb in the distance.

This crystal orb was as large as a small hill, floating five meters high in the air. It radiated a scorching white radiance. It looked just like a miniature sun, emitting energy into the surroundings. This was the legendary World Heart. It was told that all magic and holy energy in the world was birthed from it!

As Nie Yan approached closer, he felt a warm, cozy feeling wash over him as he was bathed in its light. It was as if he had entered another space. A mysterious voice was beckoning him as he unconsciously walked toward the World Heart.

At this moment, a crisp notification jingle rang out.

You have arrived in the castle of the gods and discovered the ancient World Heart. It has floated here since time immemorial. It is more eternal than any living being. Bask in its strength, and experience the calling of God.

Nie Yan’s mind appeared to have been transported away, leaping through time and space. Countless scenes flashed past him before turning into a void of nothingness. A voice rang in his head. He didn’t know what it was saying, but it sounded exceptionally warm and dignified, eliminating all distracting thoughts.

After who knew how long, another system notification jingle rang out.

Are you willing to accept God’s guidance and become a Luminous Dancer, to follow His will and cleanse all sin from the world?

Nie Yan’s heart jumped. He could become a Luminous Dancer already?

Nie Yan was caught off guard by how simple it was. Soon, elation flashed across his face, and he unhesitatingly pressed yes.

A dazzling white light radiated out from his body. Motes of dazzling light gathered above his shoulder before merging together.

"Just what’s happening?” Nie Yan was shocked. He could feel a life being born within the white light.

A moment later, a palm-sized figure broke out of the white light. Looking it up and down, it was a tiny angel. She looked beautiful and holy with large, bright eyes. Her skin was fair and delicate, and growing on her back was a pair of white wings, which gently fluttered about as she hovered above Nie Yan’s shoulder.

The tiny angel stared at Nie Yan inquisitively with her bright eyes, almost as if she could communicate with her expression alone.

"Luminous Dancer Nirvana Flame, my name is Kalenna. I will be your guardian angel from this day forward,” said Kalenna. Her voice was pleasant to the ear, like a fresh spring breeze.

"Uh, I see... Well, nice to meet you, Kalenna,” Nie Yan greeted back, shock and amazement lingering in his eyes. Her appearance really took him by surprise.

Nie Yan recalled Mistaken Smile also had a guardian angel by his side in the previous timeline. However, he had no idea what for.

Nie Yan checked his character window. His title had already changed from Great Thief to Luminous Dancer. In addition, he’d received three new powerful passive skills.

Holy Healing Aura: Increases the health regeneration of all nearby allies by 300%.

Death and Rebirth: Upon death, revive instantly. Cooldown: two days.

Luminous Evasion (Rank 1): 20% chance to dodge incoming attacks.

All three skills were amazing. Luminous Evasion in particular was quite overpowered. Without even factoring his Evasion stat, one in five attacks would miss him.

As a Luminous Dancer, Nie Yan’s stats were increased by another 30%. Furthermore, as the first player to advance to a Shadow Dancer, he could obtain an additional reward from the Thief Association.

Apart from this, Nie Yan discovered his class advancement quest wasn’t over yet, actually far from it. He had only unlocked 30% of the power of a Luminous Dancer. A new quest popped up in his quest window.

Path of the Luminous Dancer 5: The undead and demonkin of the demons in the Underground are stirring. Wretched undead and demonkin, always seeking to destroy humanity. Seek out Archangel Tallod.

Reading the quest description, Nie Yan gasped in shock. He actually had to find Archangel Tallod? In the Viridian Empire, the archangel was a godly existence. It appeared the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest wasn’t to be looked down on. It was also related to the undead and demonkin of the Underground. Would it somehow influence the main storyline of the game?

Chapter 632 - The Darkwing Dragon Ranks Up!

Becoming a Luminous Dancer was only the first step. There was much more work to be done.

Nie Yan also learned Mode: Release. This skill could raise his combat prowess by no insignificant amount.

Shaking out his limbs and lightly jogging around, Nie Yan felt like his body was much lighter than before. Throwing out a jab, a whip-like crack split the air as his fist shot forward at lightning speed. The difference between a Great Thief and Shadow Dancer was incomparable!

This was a brand new realm. Shadow Dancers, and so too the Luminous Dancer, could execute ordinary skills with astonishing killing power and freely alter their skills at will. Just like martial arts masters, after reaching a certain level of comprehension, they could even create their own skills.

Luminous Dancer was even more revered than Grand Scholar or Advanced Devil Slayer, sitting firmly at the top of Nie Yan’s titles list. As for exactly what kind of standing it represented in the Viridian Empire, he still wasn’t too sure.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder about the differences between a Luminous Dancer and a Shadow Dancer, and what sort of special traits the title possessed.

This was all brand new territory for Nie Yan. After all, he’d never gotten this far, nor knew anyone who’d gotten this far in his past life.

After successfully class advancing, Nie Yan still had to figure out how to unleash the true strength of a Luminous Dancer.

Looking at the guardian angel floating above his shoulder, Nie Yan was surprised to discover Kalenna’s stats were hidden. Though he had no idea how strong she was, he could sense a powerful light energy emanating from her. It was gentle and didn’t possess any offensive properties. This was in stark contrast to the darkness energy emitting from the Darkwing Dragon. Yet the two could coexist perfectly. It was quite peculiar.

"So much still to figure out… I wonder how much more there is. Either way, seems like if I want to unlock the true potential of this class, I’ll have to take it one step at a time.”

The Luminous Dancer class was like an enormous treasure trove with infinite potential.

Nie Yan decided to stay in the Ancient World for a while longer so he could familiarize himself with the changes that came with becoming a Luminous Dancer.

Glancing at his bag, Nie Yan found the dragon core sitting in a corner. It might be just what the Darkwing Dragon needed to advance.

Nie Yan summoned the Darkwing Dragon, who immediately noticed the presence of the World Heart floating in the air. It trembled, then crouched down on the ground, not daring to move.

Nie Yan retrieved the dragon core from his bag, then tossed it in the air.

The Darkwing Dragon suddenly sprung to life, snapping the dragon core from mid-air and swallowing it whole. Closing its eyes, it lay back down. It seemed to be digesting its meal.

Six minutes later, the Darkwing Dragon still showed no reaction. Did the dragon core have no effect?

When Nie Yan was about to recall it back into his pet space, an earth-shattering aura swept out from the Darkwing Dragon’s body like a raging tide.

"So powerful!” Nie Yan gasped.

The Darkwing Dragon’s frame grew to more than six meters tall, its entire body radiating a domineering pressure. The previously grayish scales turned a deeper shade of black. Though their lustre was still a bit lacking, they looked thicker and bigger than before. Its defenses had definitely risen considerably.

"A rank-up…?” Nie Yan muttered in wonderment. As he examined the Darkwing Dragon, he discovered its stats had risen dramatically. The powerful energy contained within that dragon core had allowed it to break through the barrier of Rank 6 and become a Rank 7 flying mount.

The Darkwing Dragon reaching Rank 7 was definitely an auspicious thing. Given that currently the flying mounts of other players were only Rank 4, with perhaps one or two Rank 5s somewhere, it definitely had the qualifications to proclaim itself the ruler of the skies. Even if it was surrounded by Rank 3 and 4 flying mounts like last time, it could easily sweep through all of them.

Nie Yan recalled the Darkwing Dragon and was about to leave, when he suddenly felt something was amiss.

A sharp light flashed behind him. A dagger stabbed toward the back of his head at lightning speed.

Gale Step!

Nie Yan evaded in the nick of time and dashed several meters away. Turning around to get a look at his attacker, he saw a Thief. To be more exact, he saw himself. From the appearance to the armour and even Zennarde’s Sword in its hand, everything was identical.

"A mirror image!” Nie Yan gasped, his eyes wide with surprise.

His heart sank to the pit of his stomach. Mirror images were really tough to deal with. They were either identical to you or even stronger stat-wise. Defeating them was an exceedingly difficult task, and they generally only appeared in special quests. However, the rewards for overcoming your mirror image were always amazing.

The mirror image’s eyes shone with a red glow. As it scanned around, it quickly locked onto Nie Yan who was hiding in stealth.

It was Eye of Truth!

The mirror image shot forth, pouncing towards Nie Yan. It was faster than him by about 30%!

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He quickly raised his dagger and parried the mirror image’s attack. A metallic klang rang out as the two blades collided against each other.

Nie Yan and his mirror image exchanged several moves in an instant. The more they fought, the more apprehensive he felt. His opponent was too strong, and he was gradually being overwhelmed. His mirror image possessed all his skills and had 30% higher stats than him. It was also well-acquainted with his habits and combat style. Every time he tried to make a move, it would react in advance. At times, he was stopped right in the middle of launching an attack.

"Dammit! What a tough bastard!” Nie Yan pulled out a Flesh Biter, only to find the mirror image flick its wrist and do the same. It quickly stabbed the thin, long needle toward his stomach.

"Oh, come on! It even has those too!?” Nie Yan rolled his eyes. As their creator, he knew full well what being stabbed by a Flesh Biter entailed. He shrunk back his stomach and evaded to the side as the needle missed him by a hair.

Nie Yan chopped down with Zennarde’s Sword. With a loud ding, the Flesh Bitter was broken in half.

At this moment, the mirror image stabbed toward Nie Yan’s forehead with its own Zennarde’s Sword.

Shadow Waltz!

Nie Yan’s figure blurred as he avoided the attack and fled a far distance away.

The mirror image Thief looked around with Eye of Truth. After failing to find any traces of Nie Yan, a confused look flashed across its face.

Eye of Truth wasn’t capable of seeing through the Rank 16 Shadow Waltz!

Seeing his mirror image dithering here and there, Nie Yan sank into deep thought. "It has higher stats than me, and it’s even familiar with my combat style. I can’t kill it how I usually would. Something special…”

Nie Yan knitted his brows. Facing this kind of opponent was a huge headache.

The mirror image appearing here meant it was related to the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest. Nie Yan made his decision. He would definitely kill it before leaving the Ancient World.

Chapter 633 - Shattered Divinity

"Did Mistaken Smile manage to defeat his mirror image back then? Just how did he do it?” Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder.

Time ticked away. Soon, the effects of Shadow Waltz would wear off.

Glancing at his pet space, there wasn’t even close to enough time to summon the Darkwing Dragon!

"What can I do to win...?” Nie Yan suddenly thought of his Silk Spinner Ring, Leaper Ring, and other Special Items. Mirror images were generally incapable of using such items since their thought processes couldn’t reach the level of a human.

A strange idea took shape in Nie Yan’s head. He gritted his teeth. "Might as well give it a try. I’ve already advanced to a Luminous Dancer anyway. Even if I die here, it’s not like the system will ask me to give the title back…”

Nie Yan borrowed the impenetrable stealth of Shadow Waltz to approach his mirror image. He inched ever closer.

Only five meters separated the two.

The mirror image suddenly became vigilant, as though it could tell Nie Yan’s advance, and started looking around.

Nie Yan hurriedly held his breath. When remaining perfectly still, his Cloaking would increase by 300% to 1,200. He wouldn’t be detected under normal circumstances.

After failing to find anything, the mirror image returned to an idle roaming state.

At this moment, Nie Yan shot forward like a loosed arrow and stabbed Zennarde’s Sword toward the mirror image’s back.

Just as the mirror image was about to be pierced through, it suddenly turned around and brandished its own Zennarde’s Sword. KLANG! It blocked Nie Yan’s attack.

This was only the opening move. Nie Yan followed up with an elbow strike aimed at the mirror image’s chest.

The mirror image leaned to the side, evading the attack, then twisted its body and retaliated with a Reverse Grip Backstab.

The two exchanged several moves in a flash. Nie Yan could still keep up with the mirror image’s attacks in the short term.

The mirror image suddenly slashed down on Nie Yan’s forehead.

Swift Retreat!

Nie Yan’s movement speed sharply increased as he retreated back several steps. The attack missed. Not giving it any time to react, he shot out a web line at the mirror image’s hand.

With its hand caught, the mirror image attempted to cut off the web line with its dagger. Nie Yan flicked his wrist, jerking its hand out of the way. He then vaulted over the mirror image’s head with the Leaper Ring, pulling its arm behind its back.

The mirror image attempted to turn around, But it was a step too late. Nie Yan had already started circling around it, wrapping it up in the web line and turning it into a human cocoon. Though it managed to cut away a few strands, it was bound tighter and tighter until it could no longer move at all.

Seeing the mirror image immobilized, Nie Yan closed in on it from behind and struck forth with a Backbreaker.

The mirror image was crippled.

Elbow Strike!

Roundhouse Kick!

Reverse Grip Backstab!

Nie Yan skilfully linked his techniques together, dealing incredible burst damage and instantly shaving away all the mirror image’s health.

The mirror image collapsed on the ground and slowly disappeared, leaving behind a thumb-sized crystal which sparkled with an emerald light. It was covered in fractures.

Nie Yan picked up the crystal and examined it.

Shattered Divinity (Godly Legendary)
Quantity: 1/5

Nie Yan carefully inspected the Shattered Divinity. He could tell it contained a formidable power inside, but aside from that, nothing else.

"Divinity…?” Nie Yan knitted his brows. He had once read a description about divinities in an ancient history book. It was an item that contained a god’s strength. The more powerful it was, the more powerful the god, similar to the Life Cores of monsters like the Darkwing Dragon. However, divinities were definitely at a far higher level.

"Hmm… Shattered Divinity, huh, I wonder what it’s useful for.” Nie Yan was brimming with doubt. It was probably an item to trigger a quest. Since it was a Godly Legendary, it definitely wasn’t garbage. He stowed it away in a corner of his bag. Hopefully he would find a use for it later on.

Apart from the Shattered Divinity, a new skilled appeared in Nie Yan’s skill window.

Shadow Clone: Summon a shadow clone with 130% of the player’s stats. Duration: 2 hours. Cooldown 5 days.

This shadow clone was the mirror image he had just killed!

It had all of Nie Yan’s skills and 30% higher stats. The only downside was it required his control. It wasn’t nearly as free as the main body.

The shadow clone had amazing battle prowess which couldn’t be looked down on. The two hour summon duration was more than enough time for Nie Yan to accomplish a great many things. With a powerful trump card like this, he could turn the tide of battle at a crucial moment. As long as he knew a skill, the mirror image would know it too! It had only 10 slots of inventory space. Though this wasn’t much, he didn't mind. After all, he had no plans of making it a delivery mule.

After checking his many spoils, Nie Yan walked deeper into the World Heart. The walls of the castle were covered in carvings, telling the tale of the War of the Gods. The gods possessed many of the same faults of mortals. War was inevitable. For the sake of territory and believers, constant quarrels broke out; until one day, the the flames of war swept through the entire continent. There was only one possible outcome, complete and utter destruction. Only a few gods survived in the end, such as Dragon King Zennarde and War God Kelo, who continued to rule over the world until their own eventual demises. Though the reaper had welcomed many into his kingdom, the fighting never truly ended. To this day, the followers of these gods still slaughtered one another in the name of their respective causes.

As Nie Yan looked around at the ancient stories told in these murals, he learned that the divinities of these fallen gods had shattered into fragments and were scattered all over the world.

Nie Yan really wanted to know what these divinities were used for. However, he couldn’t glean any information from the murals. Did he have to restore a divinity himself to trigger the quest?

For now, Nie Yan could only make haphazard guesses to the use of a divinity. Perhaps he could do some research after leaving this map.

After double checking that he hadn’t missed anything, Nie Yan traced his steps back to the entrance. Leaving the enormous castle, he leaped off the World Heart. After freefalling for about five minutes, he activated the Featherfall Jewel and slowed his descent.

Nie Yan felt like a new man after successfully advancing to a Luminous Dancer, as if power was overflowing through every inch of his body. "I bet I can easily take on Rank 4 monsters now. Hmm, let’s go find one. I won’t know for sure, unless i actually try for myself.”

Chapter 634 - Cardinal!

Nie Yan dashed through the forest. After about 30 minutes, he finally spotted a Rank 4 monster.

It was a Sanguine Silver Wolf, a large wolf with silver white fur and eyes as red as blood. The beast roamed around between the trees.

Nie Yan slowly closed in on the Sanguine Silver Wolf from behind until he was only about five meters away. It was still completely oblivious to his presence.

Suddenly, Nie Yan shot forward and pounced toward the Sanguine Silver Wolf with his dagger raised. He was as graceful as the wind.

The blade of Zennarde’s Sword flashed with a sharp, dazzling light, as it drew a strange almost illusory arc through the air.

Sniffing out a threat in the air, the Sanguine Silver Wolf leaped out of the way. Evading Nie Yan’s attack, it swung around and pounced at him.

The Sanguine Silver Wolf’s reflexes and reaction speed were insane, and its movements were just as fast.

Nie Yan still wasn’t used to the sharp increase in stats after advancing to a Luminous Dancer. So, his movements were a bit clumsy.

Faced with a powerful enemy, Nie Yan felt a strange sensation overcome him. As his joints stirred, every muscle fibre and tendon in his body brimmed with explosive power. The Sanguine Silver Wolf’s movements slowed to a complete crawl in his eyes, as though he were viewing it in slow motion, allowing him to easily spot its weaknesses. This feeling became increasingly clear. He instantly knew how best to respond in this situation.

Nie Yan leaned to the side, avoiding the pounce by a hair. As the Sanguine Silver Wolf’s forelimbs flew past his shoulders, he twisted his torso and delivered an elbow strike squarely to its forehead. BANG! It let out a loud whimper as it was sent tumbling backwards.

"So, this is a Luminous Dancer... It’s incredible! I’ve never felt so free in my entire life!” Nie Yan’s face lit up with excitement.

Nie Yan hadn’t felt anything different when fighting with his mirror image previously because it was significantly stronger than him. Now that he was faced with a more suitable opponent to gauge himself against, he finally understood the strength that came with becoming a Luminous Dancer.

Nie Yan’s movement speed was far higher than that of the Rank 4 Sanguine Silver Wolf. In comparison, it really was as slow as a snail.

He completely dominated the battle.

After crashing into the ground, the Sanguine Silver Wolf struggled back to its feet. It let out a deep howl and swiftly circled around Nie Yan before pouncing in.

Nie Yan’s senses rapidly spread out. Just like a moment ago, the Sanguine Silver Wolf appeared to be moving at the speed of molasses.

As the Sanguine Silver Wolf closed in, Nie Yan raised his leg up high and then brought his foot down with the fury of a thunder god. BANG! He executed a ruthless axe kick, spiking the beast’s head into the ground and violently rattling its brain.

Nie Yan’s timing and execution were flawless.

The might of a Shadow Dancer was on full display!

When one’s stats reached a certain level, low rank monsters like the Sanguine Silver Wolf were nothing!

The Sanguine Silver Wolf kept struggling back to its feet and attempting to pounce on Nie Yan. But no matter how much it endeavoured, no matter which angle it came in from, its attacks were easily neutralized and countered. About half-a-minute later, its health finally fell to zero, and it collapsed on the ground.

"So this is a Shadow Dancer?” Nie Yan muttered. "No wonder I got crushed so badly back then, even though I was Level 160 and he was Level 120...”

After killing the Sanguine Silver Wolf, Nie Yan found even stronger monsters to challenge. Those at Rank 6 and below were fairly easy for him to deal with, and though he struggled a bit against Rank 7’s, he could maintain his absolute safety. Even if he were faced with a Rank 8 monster, he could still easily escape with his life.

Nie Yan continued to stay in the Ancient World, harvesting materials and training his artisan skills. Even though it was tedious and boring, he understood he would never get a chance like this again. When he returned to the outside world, that would be his time to shine.

Another half-a-month flew by.

As Nie Yan fought and fought and fought, leaving a trail of corpses behind him, his combat techniques became increasingly refined. Glancing at his inventory, there were rows of potions, medicinal plants, ores, and other items—at least a few hundred different kinds. With 20 making a full stack, he had 560 stacks altogether, completely filling his bags.

The value of these items was difficult to estimate. Most of them couldn’t be sold since their market demand was still limited. So, he would set them aside for his own people.

Nie Yan’s artisan skills had all reached at least Master. Alchemy, Tinkering, and Engineering were already Grandmaster. These three skills in particular would have a lot of supplementary use to him in combat.

Nie Yan checked the level leaderboards. He really had stayed in the Ancient World for too long. More and more players were reaching Level 100. He received word from Guo Huai that Sun, King of the World, Xie Yao, Tang Yao, and 32 other top experts of Asskickers United were already tackling their class advancement quests, which would take them at least a month each. The faster players like Sun, King of the World, and Xie Yao were already a week or two in while the slower ones had only just started.

Turbulent undercurrents were stirring in the Viridian Empire. Many major powers were starting to grow restless. So, Guo Huai was urging Nie Yan to quickly return and preside over the general situation.

Until Sun, King of the World, and the others completed their class advancement quests, Nie Yan had to be manning the fort, or else things would get troublesome if something happened.

Even though Asskickers United was completely different now, having expanded in size threefold and firmly secured their position in the Viridian Empire, there were still many powers that could pose a threat to them. After weighing his options, Nie Yan arrived in front of the transfer point below the World Heart and stepped inside.

The scenery flashed before him. When Nie Yan opened his eyes again, he was back inside the Temple of Light.

The interior of the temple gave Nie Yan a sense of familiarity. In the hall’s entrance stood a familiar face in Father Anisen. He instantly felt like he had returned to civilization.

Anisen came walking over and bowed deeply. "Your holiness, Battle Angel Kalenna, you grace us with your presence.” He then turned to Nie Yan with a smile, "Welcome back!”

Nie Yan was caught off guard, feeling a bit overwhelmed. Anisen had an extremely lofty position in Calore. His status was at least equal to that of a Great Duke. For him to lower himself to a player was unimaginable.

The Viridian Empire adhered to a strict hierarchy. It was crucial to pay attention to differences in status and position. If a person tried to go against someone with a higher status than them, they would suffer severe punishment. A character like Anisen would generally never take the initiative to greet anyone in Calore.

Nie Yan was extremely curious. Just how esteemed was the Luminous Dancer title for Anisen to be so respectful? Could it be even higher than a Great Duke?

At the same time, Nie Yan also shot a curious glance at Kalenna. Battle Angels held an extremely lofty position among angels.

Kalenna spared Anisen a brief glance. She fluttered her wings, sitting down on Nie Yan’s shoulder, and then returned to playing with a ball of light in her hands.

After searching online, Nie Yan found a short introduction on the Luminous Dancer title. In the secular world, the Luminous Dancer was no different from other Shadow Dancers and had a status equivalent to that of an earl. However, followers of the Temple of Light revered them as Cardinals.

In the hierarchy of the Temple of Light, the lowest ranked members were Deacons, who were divided into third class, second class, and first class. Above them were the Priests, then Bishops, Archbishops, Cardinals, Arch-Cardinals, and finally the Supreme Pontiff. Since the seat of the Supreme Pontiff was empty, the clergy was overseen by the three Arch-Cardinals and the 100 Cardinals. The three Arch-Cardinals rarely ever made an appearance while those conferred the title of Cardinal were generally hidden among the public. So, the temple in Calore was managed by an Archbishop like Anisen.

After reading through the available information on the official website, Nie Yan more-or-less knew where he stood on the totem pole.

Cardinals had the authority to freely command 30 Paladins of the temple to do their bidding. Aside from other Cardinals and Arch-Cardinals, all other members of the clergy would have to respectfully greet him.

These privileges were quite amazing.

"Hello, Father Anisen,” Nie Yan greeted.

"You’ve finally succeeded! Congratulations on becoming a Luminous Dancer. May God’s glory be with you.” Anisen placed his right hand over his chest and saluted.

God’s glory, huh… Nie Yan wanted to say something. Since all the gods had basically killed each other off, he wasn’t sure if the God of Light the temple followed was still alive. However, he refrained from saying something so blasphemous, especially now that he had also entered the clergy.

"Thank you for your blessing, Father Anisen.”

Anisen guided Nie Yan out the temple. As the two walked through a corridor, Anisen began explaining the history of the Temple of Light and informed him of his new status and authority. Nie Yan attentively listened and committed this information to memory. It was roughly the same as he had researched online. He was required to follow some of the rules of the temple, such as if he encountered a civilian in a difficult situation, he would have to lend his aid, or if he encountered someone who had fallen ill, he would have to cure their sickness. Nie Yan couldn’t do these things himself, but it was trivial for Battle Angel Kalenna.

After chatting a bit with Anisen, Nie Yan bid him farewell and walked out of the Temple of Light. The rays of sunlight outside filled his heart with warmth.

Looking up ahead, the streets of Calore were filled with streams of people walking to and fro. It was quite bustling.

Nie Yan suddenly let out a deep sigh. Being holed up in the Ancient World without seeing a trace of another human being for so long, he felt like he would be driven mad. It was truly good to be back.

At present, be it the Viridian or Satreen Empire, undead or demonkin, he was the first player to advance to a Master Class. From now on, his future was infinitely bright! The fish swam in the oceans, and the birds flew unimpeded in the skies! There was nowhere he couldn’t go!

"Oh, that’s right! I’m the first player to become a Shadow Dancer. I can get an additional reward from the Thief Association. I wonder what they’ll give me,” Nie Yan muttered.

Chapter 635 - Shadow Dancer Medal

Nie Yan headed over to the Thief Association, his face hidden behind a cloak. He walked the streets of Calore, letting his gaze wander over his surroundings. Seeing players bustling about, discussing the latest gossip, haggling over prices at a stall—the usual sort of liveliness you would find in a large city—he felt a strong sense of familiarity and belonging. He was back home!

Even though Nie Yan had hidden his appearance behind a cloak, Kalenna hovering above his shoulder attracted the attention of many players. He felt a bit helpless. With her constantly by his side, it looked like staying low-key would no longer be possible.

Nie Yan discarded these unnecessary thoughts. Right now, he was the only Master Class player in the entirety of Conviction. In a few more weeks, a large number would emerge from Asskickers United, and from then on, they would stand at the very peak.

Nie Yan clenched his fists, his eyes burning with ambition. After Sun, King of the World, Xie Yao, and the others class advanced, he planned to set out on a campaign to conquer and unify the Viridian Empire! After that was the Satreen Empire!

The players on the street all gazed over in Nie Yan’s direction and chatted with each other about Kalenna perched on top of his shoulder.

Nie Yan ignored their stares and entered the Thief association. The person at the reception was a 20-something-year-old NPC called Nia. Clad in leather Thief armour, she had a curvaceous figure with a girlish charm.

After raising her head and spotting Nie Yan, she had a dumbstruck look on her face. She snapped out of her daze and respectfully greeted him, "Sir Nirvana Flame, welcome to the Thief Association. Elder Fallon is looking for you. Please follow me.”

"Aright.” Nie Yan nodded. He didn’t expect the Thief Association to already be looking for him. This saved him a lot of hassle.

Nie Yan followed Nia as she led him into a conference hall. In the center of the room was a large rectangular table surrounded by many chairs.

"We’ll be entering your name into our records. You’re the 67th Shadow Dancer of the Thief Association and the first among players. Elder Fallon will be here in a moment to give you your reward,” Nia said. She took out a book and wrote down his name.

Nie Yan glossed over the contents of the book. Recorded in it were the names of all the Shadow Dancers throughout the Thief Association’s history. Except for Nie Yan, they were all NPCs. His name was at the very bottom of the list.

"As a Shadow Dancer of the Thief Association, you’ll have access to some special privileges. Besides this, your name will be announced to all the Thieves in the association…” Nia said. She handed over a silver white booklet containing various rules to Nie Yan. It was written in Modern Common.

Nie Yan skimmed over the book’s contents. As a Shadow Dancer, the Thief Association didn’t place many restrictions on him and only required him to follow some basic rules. For example, he had to lend his aid if the association was ever in danger of being destroyed. The pros far outweighed the cons. He would receive 3,000 gold every day, enjoy the best treatment in any of the branches of the Thief Association, and perhaps most importantly could hire mercenaries from the association. Among these mercenaries were even some Shadow Dancers. However, they were few and far between and not easily found. Most mercenaries were Great Thieves.

Nie Yan checked his notification bar. All Thieves had received a notification.

Nirvana Flame has become the first player to advance to a Shadow Dancer.

The notification was short and simple, but it had dropped a bomb on the entire player base. News of Nie Yan becoming a Shadow Dancer spread like wildfire, creating a huge uproar.

Asskickers United’s players had also received the news. The guild chat exploded with activity.

「The boss became a Shadow Dancer?」

「The boss is invincible!」

「So amazing! He’s the first Master Class player in the entire game!」

...

Everyone wagged their tongues fervently. They all wanted to know what the skills of a Shadow Dancer looked like, waiting in anticipation for Nie Yan to demonstrate his new battle prowess. However, he rarely showed himself, even to them. So, they could only patiently wait.

Nie Yan smiled after checking the guild chat. His class advancement to a Luminous Dancer was a cause for celebration for the players of Asskickers United. He had proven to his guild members that no matter when or where, they would always stand at the top.

Nie Yan patiently waited in the conference hall. After a while, an NPC walked in. It was Elder Fallon of the Thief Association. He had gray hair, and though he looked old, his eyes were full of spirit.

"Greetings, Sir Nirvana Flame. I am Elder Fallon. Congratulations on becoming a Shadow Dancer. This medal is your reward. Please accept it.” Fallon handed over an azure coloured, crystal medal to Nie Yan. Sparkling and translucent, its edges were gilded with violet gold, and it was covered in elaborate and ornate engravings.

Nie Yan accepted the medal.

Shadow Dancer Medal of Honour (Legendary)

Properties: Dexterity +50%, Movement Speed +200%, Gale Step Skill Rank +5, Enhanced Invisibility Effect

Phantom (Passive): Confuse your enemies with a phantom mirror image. 70% chance of dodging an attack while running.

Restrictions: Nirvana Flame

Note: Cannot be dropped, destroyed, or traded.

"Huh!? These properties are way better than I expected.” Nie Yan was puzzled. In the previous timeline, a Shadow Dancer had shared the stats of their medal on the forums. Theirs only gave Dexterity +30% and Movement Speed +100% while Phantom only had a 50% chance of dodging an attack. Furthermore, he recalled it was Sub Legendary.

When Nie Yan first saw the medal in his past life, he was extremely envious and felt it was quite overpowered even for a Sub Legendary-grade item. At that time, his goal was precisely becoming a Shadow Dancer and receiving such a medal. However, he simply didn’t meet the requirements to become one back then, leaving him feeling a lifetime of regret.

Nie Yan didn’t expect that the Shadow Dancer medal he obtained in this life would be even better than the one he saw online in his past life. It was quite the pleasant surprise.

This was probably the reward for being the first player to become a Shadow Dancer.

Nie Yan equipped the Shadow Dancer Medal of Honour. Looking at his stats, his Dexterity and Movement Speed sharply increased, and his Gale Step went from Rank 8 to 13. Its effects were astonishing, only losing out to his Rank 16 Shadow Waltz.

Elder Fallon talked about the Thief Association’s history to Nie Yan. Ever since it was first established many, many years ago, countless Thieves had joined them, some of them eventually stepping into the realm of Shadow Dancer. They now had over 300 branches in the Viridian and Satreen Empires, and were a place where legends were born, such as the Eight Thieves in the Song of the Bramble Bird.

After Nie Yan finished talking with Fallon, he saved the clip of their conversation. It might come in handy in the future.

Nie Yan bid Elder Fallon farewell and exited the Thief Association. Standing in the middle of the street, he wanted to test something. Gale Step! He blurred into motion, dashing through the crowd and covering more than 500 meters in the blink of an eye.

The players Nie Yan passed by only felt a gust of wind sweep past them. Looking around suspiciously but not seeing anything, they continued on their way.

The people and buildings in the vicinity appeared to speed past him. This feeling of extreme speed was exhilarating.

Nie Yan flexed his muscles. This was a Shadow Dancer, the embodiment of speed!

The reason Magisters feared Shadow Dancers so much was precisely their frightening speed! Often times, they would be killed before even getting a chance to react.

Among all the Master Classes, Magisters represented unrivaled destructive power and wide-scale domination; Champions and Sword Saints represented the pinnacle of defense and strength respectively; Shadow Dancers represented the pinnacle of speed; Guardians represented the ultimate balance with the most comprehensive strength; and Archbishops represented the pinnacle of healing.

Because of their speed, Shadow Dancers were the nemesis of all casters.

"I could get addicted to this feeling,” Nie Yan muttered as he sprinted around Calore.

Only two minutes laters, Nie Yan arrived in front of the Asskickers United guild office.

Nie Yan teleported to the Cripps Stronghold. It was even more bustling than before. With Asskickers United’s evergrowing influence, more and more businesses were flocking over to set up shop, causing the commerce here to flourish. Numerous people were walking up and down the streets.

Nie Yan took off his cloak and headed to the guild headquarters.

Many Asskickers United players were dumbstruck after seeing Nie Yan. Rubbing their eyes and making sure it was really him, they all flocked to greet him. "Boss, you’re here!”

Nie Yan nodded to everyone calling his name with a faint smile.

The players on the street parted ways, opening up a path forward. A large crowd formed around Nie Yan, resembling two rivers converging.

News of Nie Yan’s return quickly spread, creating a huge stir in the Cripps Stronghold.

"The boss is here!”

"He’s back from clearing his class advancement quest!”

Word got out quickly. When the players in the guild headquarters heard Nie Yan was back, they immediately headed out to greet him.

Nie Yan gazed at the surrounding players. Asskickers United’s rapid expansion resulted in their membership tripling. There were many new faces for him.

Most of these players had never met Nie Yan before either. However, after finding out he was back, they also became incredibly excited.

There were a great many legends in the Viridian Empire, but Nie Yan was without a doubt the most notable among players. Be it his glorious achievements in battle or him becoming the first Shadow Dancer, everything he did was world-shaking.

As everyone gazed at Nie Yan’s gear, they felt their heads spin. He had four pieces of Legendary-grade equipment, and even the worst of his equipment was Sub Legendary-grade. Needless to say, Zennarde’s Sword was especially eye-catching. He also had a Battle Angel floating above his shoulder, and his Golden Dragon and Darkwing Dragon.

This kind of equipment was unattainable for ordinary players. They didn’t dare to dream about it. Any piece of equipment on his body was probably worth more than all of their assets combined!

Seeing more and more players gathering around him, Nie Yan let out a wry smile. He didn’t expect to cause such a huge ruckus by just showing his face.

Chapter 636 - Pinnacle of Speed!

Even though the street was crowded, everyone made sure to give way to Nie Yan. These players all respected him greatly. His prestige in Asskickers United was something other people would find difficult to comprehend.

Nie Yan could be described as Asskickers United’s absolute pillar. He alone propped up the entire guild.

As Nie Yan made his way through the street, many familiar faces stepped forth from the crowd to ask him about one thing or another.

"Boss, get anything good lately?”

"Of course.” Nie Yan chuckled.

"Boss, you’re a Shadow Dancer now. Show us something cool!”

"Yeah!”

"Please, Boss!”

The shouts grew louder and louder. For most ordinary Thieves, becoming a Shadow Dancer was an unattainable dream. They all wanted to see what the pinnacle of the Thief class looked like.

At the persistent urging of the surrounding players, Nie Yan couldn’t simply flat out refuse. After thinking for a moment, he finally caved and said. "Alright, alright, watch closely since I’m only going to do this once. I have faith that some of you will also become Shadow Dancers one day.”

When the players were about to say something, Nie Yan’s silhouette turned into a blur as he travelled several dozen meters in the blink of an eye. He was like a human flash. Their hearts shook. This was the speed of a Shadow Dancer? Too frightening!

Nie Yan’s speed was absolutely stunning, leaving the entire crowd breathless.

The casters felt their blood run cold. If they were to encounter such a Thief in PvP, there would be nothing they could do. Most likely Nie Yan’s blade would’ve already slit their throat before they even got a chance to chant out a single spell.

Shadow Dancer, this was a Shadow Dancer! The Thieves in the crowd were completely awestruck. This title was instantly engraved deep into their minds as they inwardly made a resolve. From now on, they would also pursue this peak existence.

Nie Yan only showed off a bit of his speed. He didn’t reveal too much since there were certainly enemies watching him at this very moment.

Having entertained the players around him long enough, Nie Yan entered the guild headquarters.

...

News of Nie Yan’s appearance in the Cripps Stronghold attracted the attention of many powers.

God Executioner Sword guild headquarters, a large group of people had gathered inside a conference hall. Qin Han sat at the head of a large table in the middle of the room. His appearance compared to reality was somewhat different. Donned in ash gray robes, he wore an unsightly expression on his face as Nie Yan’s little performance in the Cripps Stronghold was broadcasted to everyone here live. His speed just now caused Qin Han to feel a cold chill a the back of his neck. If he and Nie Yan were to fight, he would definitely be cut down in an instant.

Individually, he was far from being Nie Yan’s match.

A dark look clouded Qin Han’s face. The people below found it difficult to read his thoughts.

"Qin Han, Nirvana Flame is back. Do we go forward with the plan?” a guild leader asked. The name of the Mad Rogue filled his heart with fear and apprehension.

At least 130 people were in the conference hall. All of them were the leaders of various guilds in the Viridian Empire, including powerhouses like Divine Protectors, Penumbra Empire, and God Executioner Sword. The amount of backing required to bring all these people together was unimaginable.

Sitting in a corner, Eternal Sin looked on with narrowed eyes, an imperceptible light flickering in his pupils. Qin Han was indeed a powerful individual. Having gathered more than half of the guilds in the Viridian Empire, he was certainly capable of contending with Assskickers United.

Circumstances caused Eternal Sin to side with Qin Han. That was why he attended this meeting, and why he would join the assault of Asskickers United and its allies. Yet the pressure of victory didn’t rest on his shoulders like it did on the others. What he felt was curiosity, to see who would emerge victorious in this conflict.

The conference hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Everyone was waiting for Qin Han's answer.

"We go forward with the plan! We’ll take down Battle Crazed Alliance first, then the War God Tribe next,” Qin Han declared. Divide and conquer! Battle Crazed Alliance and the War God Tribe were located the furthest away from Calore.

Qin Han’s voice was decisive, cutting across the room.

The people in the conference hall all nodded in agreement. Qin Han was their backer, so none of them dared to go against his word.

With Qin Han giving the order, they immediately got to work. They would strike in six days at the latest.

...

Nie Yan met up with Guo Huai in the Asskickers United guild headquarters.

"Have there been any movements I have to be aware of?” Nie Yan asked. While he was holed up in the Ancient World, he had received little information of the outside world. He had spoken to Guo Huai only a couple of times. So, he didn’t have more than a very rough picture of the current situation.

"God Executioner Sword, Penumbra Empire, and Divine Protectors have all been making a lot of small movements. Also, some guilds in Gouvest, Colt, Bennidon, and a few other cities have banded together and formed an alliance. They’ve all been secretly making contact with each other recently. I think they’re planning something big,” Guo Huai said. In the past, his information network was lacking, which led to them frequently being caught with their pants down as the enemy arrived at their doorstep. After learning several painful lessons, he worked hard to expand his intelligence division, placing moles in almost every major guild and bribing their core members with large sums of gold. As a result, the reliability and responsiveness of their intelligence had improved by leaps and bounds. This recent development was clear proof that his efforts weren’t for naught.

"When do you think they’ll make their move?”

"They’ll need at least a few more days to finish their preparations. I received a report from Penumbra Empire that they’ll be making their first move before the week ends. They’ll deal with Battle Crazed Alliance first, then the War God Tribe next. They plan to weaken us by picking off our allies that are the furthest away from Calore since it’ll be hard for us to send over reinforcements.”

"Is the information from Penumbra Empire reliable?” Nie Yan asked, faintly knitting his brows. He was worried it might be a red herring.

"I think it’s trustworthy. It matches up with the reports I’ve received from my other sources. Eternal Sin is behaving pretty suspiciously, though. He purposefully leaked this information to us,” Guo Huai said.

Nie Yan narrowed his eyes. Eternal Sin was the type of person that was really hard to read. Is he trying to express his goodwill to us?

"So, how should we deal with this?” Guo Huai asked.

"Let’s strike while the iron is hot and seize the initiative. We’ve recuperated for long enough, and we’re much more powerful now. We can act with a little less restraint. Crush any who dare to challenge us in the Viridian Empire. If they refuse to accept our authority, we’ll slaughter them until they’re thoroughly convinced!” Nie Yan declared.

Guo Huai’s eyes trembled. In the past, since Asskickers United’s foundation wasn’t stable, they had to advance with great caution for fear of being caught off guard by the enemy. They rarely got the first move in their conflicts. After weathering countless storms, they finally had the strength and resolve to sweep through the entire Viridian Empire. Thinking about how many twists and turns they encountered and how rough the journey had been to get here, he couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh of emotion.

"We have 170,000 players in the main guild and 300,000 spread across our branch guilds. Combined with the forces from Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, Radiant Sacred Flame, and the others, so long as you give the order, we can sweep through the entire Viridian Empire. God Executioner Sword, Divine Protectors, Penumbra Empire… all of them will be at our mercy!” Guo Huai said, his eyes burning with heroic spirit.

Guo Huai had watched Asskickers United grow from a small and feeble upstart into a ruler contending for hegemony over the entire Viridian Empire. Words couldn’t describe how gratified he felt.

"Since we have a good five days, we’ll need to make some preparations first. The day after tomorrow, we’ll make our move then! Our target will be Colt!” Nie Yan said. Colt was a city located between Nisode and Calore. If they could occupy it, their cities would be connected, and transporting large war machines like catapults and trebuchets would become much more convenient.

"Alright, I’ll get to it immediately!” Guo Huai nodded.

"How many siege engines do we have now?” Nie Yan asked. He had almost forgotten this important question.

"We already have 300 Armoured Ice Catapults and 100 trebuchets, and all our important strongholds have been fitted with Gnome Magic Cannons,” Guo Huai informed. Since Asskickers United’s businesses were flourishing, with large amounts of gold rolling in every day, their Engineers, Tinkerers, Enchanters, and other non-combat professions saw immense growth. Their manufacturing ability skyrocketed. In the time that Nie Yan was away, the number of siege engines had increased exponentially.

"So many?” Nie Yan gasped. He didn’t expect so many catapults and trebuchets to be produced. Recalling how he had spent more than two months in the Ancient World, it made sense.

In the previous timeline, Nie Yan had personally witnessed over a hundred trebuchets all firing at once. The falling shells blotted out the sky and completely obliterated the fortified walls of a city.

Reliving this memory, Nie Yan felt his heart race and his excitement boil over. With so many catapults and trebuchets, they could sweep through any stronghold!

"Have you collected information on how many siege weapons the enemy has?” Nie Yan asked. Know thyself, know thy enemy, only then could one emerge ever victorious.

"Divine Protectors, God Executioner Sword, and Penumbra Empire have about 200 ordinary catapults and 20 trebuchets altogether, and they’re all pretty scattered. If they’re dumb enough to try and compete with us directly, crushing them will be easy. They likely aren’t aware of our real strength. I managed to secretly get us a stronghold in Lunarbright and hid almost all our catapults and trebuchets there. Only our most trusted personnel know of its existence, so it’s fairly safe,” Guo Huai said.

Guo Huai had handled this matter beautifully. By hiding these siege engines, they could catch the enemy off-guard when the war began. God Executioner Sword, Penumbra Empire, and those other guilds definitely had a few trump cards hidden up their sleeves as well, but Nie Yan had already long since come up with a plan. There was a lot of work to be done in the coming two days.

"I brought back some things with me from the Ancient World. Get some people to help sort them out,” Nie Yan said. He then started dumping all the skill books out of his bag.

There were more than 200 artisan skill books, all of which were fairly rare.

Guo Huai’s eyes went wide with shock. "T-t-this, you got all this from that special map?”

Nie Yan nodded. "Distribute these skill books among the artisans in our guild. I also have collected a bunch of materials.”

He dumped out all the ores, medicinal plants, and other materials out of his bag.

"My god! Red Dragon Herb! W-wait, is that Gold Onyx!? And this… so many!” Guo Huai started to pant as his eyes glazed over.

Eternal Sin was introduced in Chapter 71. Nie Yan encountered their party while being chased down by a Level 7 Sub Elite Serpentine Lizard and tried passing it off to them.

Chapter 637 - Dark Puppet Lord

All the materials Nie Yan brought back from the Ancient World without exception were extremely rare. If they were put up for sale, they would be expensive beyond compare. However, the quantity was far more than the market could digest. So, they could only be set aside for personal use.

Guo Huai did some inventory. The artisan skill books and materials Nie Yan provided could nurture numerous high rank artisans! This was an enormous boon for Asskickers United!

Nie Yan had brought back a treasure trove from the Ancient World. The value of these items was incalculable.

"Pass these things down to our most talented artisans. As for those specialized skill books, just leave them in the guild treasury. Anyone that’s interested can take them,” Nie Yan said. He completely emptied his bags in front of Guo Huai, save for the Life Cores which he had a special use for.

"Alright, no problem.” Guo Huai nodded.

The value of artisans couldn’t be underestimated. They were the fuel that kept the frontline going. One of the reasons Asskickers United was so powerful was that they had a large number of talented artisans supporting them. A number that only grew by the day. Since the Starry Night Potion Shop controlled 60% of the market in the entire Viridian Empire, raking in enormous profits every day, they could offer much better benefits than anyone else. Something that had more and more skilled Alchemists flocking to them. As a result, Asskickers United never lacked potions. The Starry Night Potion Shop could claim a large portion of the credit for Asskickers United’s current success. Not just Alchemists, but also the Engineers, Tinkerers, Enchanters, Blacksmiths, and so on played important roles. With so many artisans, the skill books Nie Yan provided would definitely have a great effect.

Asskickers United was like his child. Nie Yan had employed all sorts of methods, including investing a large sum of gold, donating the loot he personally collected, and attracting experts from all over, to develop it to this point. In the future, nothing could stop its rise.

It was now time to collect his debts with interest, and Angel Corps, the Century Financial Group, and most recently the Monet Financial Group were all his targets!

"How many flying mounts do we have?” Nie Yan asked. Their aerial force couldn’t be neglected.

"Ah, we’ve sort of been lagging behind in that department. At present, we only have about 30 or so flying mounts altogether. We used to have more, but we recently got into some clashes with Angels Corps in Griffon Woodlands and lost about half our flying mounts. Angel Corps have a major advantage in the air since they got a large head start on us. Plus, Soaring Angel is sparing no effort to develop his aerial forces. He often sends expedition teams 100,000 men strong to explore every nook and cranny of Griffon Woodlands. Our players have been surrounded many times. I estimate they have at least one or two hundred flying mounts on their side, possibly even more. Since the other guilds are also rapidly developing their strength in the skies, they probably have quite a few flying mounts as well,” Guo Huai said. Flying mounts was the only area where Asskickers United was lacking. They had started late and didn't invest into it too heavily .

"Where’s our elite team right now?” Nie Yan asked. It would be a serious problem if they didn’t have enough flying mounts. Though their Armoured Ice Catapults didn’t need to fear flying mounts, fending them off was a whole nother story. Since siege engines were fairly immobile and their ranges limited—while flying mounts had near limitless mobility—a skilled rider could wreak havoc across the battlefield with nothing barring their path.

"They’re in Griffon Woodlands right now. They have around 5,000 players. The 60 or so among them who reached Level 100 all went to class advance. So, they’re being led by Paladin of the Elegy right now,” Guo Huai said. Asskickers United’s harvests from exploring Griffon Woodlands were passable, average at best. This map couldn’t be explored with only strength. Luck also played an important factor. On a bad day, you could end up with absolutely nothing for your efforts. On a good day, you could get your hands on a few flying mounts, which was already quite amazing. Asskickers United obtained most of their flying mounts by relying on Dispel Fog Scrolls.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. He actually had a method for obtaining flying mounts quickly.

"I’ll make a trip to Griffon Woodlands,” Nie Yan said. If he could help Asskickers United obtain a few more flying mounts, it would be a huge help to them in the upcoming war.

Nie Yan bid farewell to Guo Huai and left the Cripps Stronghold. He had to make some preparations before heading to Griffon Woodlands. He teleported back to Calore and restocked on his consumables, then took to the skies on his Darkwing Dragon. His destination was Puppet Castle.

Nie Yan checked the level leaderboards. Many players had already reached Level 100, with the highest level player being Level 105. After staying in the Ancient World for so long, it was only natural that he would end up falling behind. However, even if those other players were higher level than him, they still weren’t his match. When an Adept Class met a Master Class, even a 60–70 level advantage wouldn’t matter; they would still end up crushed all the same. This was an insurmountable gap, a difference in realms. Master Classes represented the absolute pinnacle, having long since surpassed the restraints of ordinary Adept Classes.

Five minutes later, a castle situated in the middle of some plains emerged over the horizon.

Puppet Castle was one of the few Level 100 maps in the vicinity of Calore. Scarcely any players visited this place in the past because the monsters here were too strong.

However, that didn’t appear to be the case right now. When Nie Yan surveyed the ground below from atop his Darkwing Dragon, he saw many players moving about.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. "Why are there so many people here? This might affect my plans…”

The Darkwing Dragon made a rapid descent to an altitude of 70 meters.

Nie Yan chanted out an incantation and recalled the Darkwing Dragon in mid-air as he leaped off its back.

He dropped down from the sky and started accelerating towards the ground.

Glancing at his status screen, a fall from a height of 70 meters wouldn’t pose any danger to him. Nie Yan didn’t activate the Featherfall Jewel. With a loud thud, he firmly landed on the ground.

−60

Nie Yan entered stealth and dashed toward Puppet Castle. On the way there, he came across the remains of Stone Puppets scattered across the ground. Entering the castle, he saw a large group of players numbering 2,000 gathered in the main square. They were probably fighting the boss.

The field boss of Puppet Castle was the Dark Puppet Lord. Nie Yan’s purpose for this trip was a certain item that dropped from it. Discovering that he had arrived late, he felt a bit depressed.

Several players served as lookouts outside the entrance. Nie Yan dashed past them unnoticed.

Nie Yan glanced at the guild insignias on the chests of these players. "Splendid Temple... this makes things much easier."

...

As Splendid Star commanded the 2,000 players under him to attack the Dark Puppet Lord, he discovered that his thinking had been far too simple. The boss was way more powerful than he expected. This Level 100 Variant Lord was ridiculously strong. They had been beaten back again and again. Despite having spent close to half an hour here and suffering more than 600 casualties, its health had barely fallen at all.

"Warriors, retreat and keep up your guard. Priests, heal them!” Splendid Star hurriedly ordered after seeing the Dark Puppet Lord charging forward like a steamroller.

Standing over five meters tall, the Dark Puppet Lord’s body was constructed out of black stone. Each step it took violently shook the ground. Its battle prowess was extremely frightening. Smashing down with a single punch, it sent three Warriors flying and continued slaughtering the players of Splendid Temple.

"Boss, we can’t hold on. That monster’s attacks are too powerful!” shouted a Warrior as he retreated.

"Dammit! Everyone, we’re withdrawing!” Splendid Star couldn’t help but curse.

Under the pursuit of the Dark Puppet Lord, Splendid Temple lost all composure as they made a beeline for safety. A path of corpses lined behind them, only a lucky few reaching the edge of the main square.

Splendid Temple’s forces had finally retreated to safety. The survivors crumpled to the ground and began catching their breaths. Looking back at the main square, the Dark Puppet Lord’s health had returned to full, and it returned to an idle roaming state.

"Boss, the Dark Puppet Lord is way too strong. We can’t beat it.”

"Boss, what should we do?”

"What else can we do? We go home.” Splendid Star gritted his teeth.

"What about our fallen teammates?”

"We can only cut our losses. We’ll send in a few Thieves to retrieve their equipment,” Splendid Star said. He started picking out several of his most skilled Thieves to enter the tiger’s den and snatch its food.

At this moment, a silhouette flashed by. A person materialized in front of Splendid Star.

"A Thief!” Splendid Star’s heart trembled. He instinctively raised his weapon, only to realize the other wasn’t attacking him. Not only that, it was a familiar face, too—Nie Yan!

"We meet again,” Nie Yan greeted.

"H-huh, hi. It’s good to see you again too. What are you doing here?” Splendid Star asked in bewilderment. As he looked around, the surroundings were filled with his people. Yet Nie Yan had snuck in completely unnoticed like some kind of ghost. This was too frightening. If Nie Yan wanted to assassinate him, he would’ve already been a cold corpse on the ground.

"I have some business here. Could I ask you to help kill the Dark Puppet Lord with me?” Nie Yan asked. He only wanted a certain drop from the boss.

"Uhh, sure. Oh, I heard you became a Shadow Dancer? Is that true?” Splendid Star said.

"Yeah.” Nie Yan nodded with a light smile.

"We’ll listen to your command. If you need something, just give the word,” Splendid Star said. He really admired how Nie Yan conducted himself. Last time they were also saved by him. If he needed their help with anything, Splendid Star would gladly oblige.

"I just need something from the Dark Puppet Lord. Follow me,” Nie Yan said before turning around and dashing towards the main square.

"Everyone, follow him!” Splendid Star hurriedly mobilized his troops.

A few seconds later, Nie Yan arrived behind the Dark Puppet Lord.

Transcendent Insight!

Dark Puppet Lord (Variant Lord): Level 100
Health: 3,000,000/3,000,000

Since it was a Variant Lord, its health regeneration was quite high. If Nie Yan were to attempt to solo it, it would take him at least an hour to take it down. With Splendid Temple helping out, he could cut that time down significantly.

Chapter 638 - Techniques of a Shadow Dancer

Splendid Temple’s forces hadn’t even caught up yet, when Nie Yan’s silhouette blurred into action.

Emerging behind the Dark Puppet Lord, he leaped into the air and executed a rising whirlwind kick.

Nie Yan was so fast he left behind a trail of after-images. His kick was as swift as lightning, impossible to react to, and brimmed with incomparable destructive power.

BANG! Nie Yan’s foot struck the Dark Puppet Lord.

−5,838

The Dark Puppet Lord staggered several steps forward. Letting out a furious roar, it swung around. It then smashed down with its enormous fist on Nie Yan.

Just as Nie Yan was about to be flattened into a meat patty, his figured blurred as he vanished into thin air. The Dark Puppet Lord missed Nie Yan and struck the ground below, leaving behind a large crater. It appeared bewildered at the sudden disappearance of its target.

At this moment, the invisible Nie Yan circled behind the Dark Puppet Lord’s and struck forth with Backbreaker.

KRRAK! Zennarde’s Sword pierced into its back.

−6,354

"Damn. This big lug has really high defense!” Nie Yan cried out in slight surprise. However, he didn’t pause his onslaught of attacks.

No matter how the Dark Puppet Lord flailed around and swung its fists, it couldn’t land a single hit on Nie Yan. He was simply too fast.

Nie Yan gradually entered the zone. From his point of view, the Dark Puppet Lord’s attacks were as slow as a turtle. It was child’s play for him to evade out of the way and dish back some damage in retaliation.

The Dark Puppet Lord fully aggroed onto Nie Yan. It let out a furious roar, wildly throwing punches and stomping around. It had just locked onto him with its arm winding up for a punch, when Nie Yan suddenly vanished like a puff of smoke yet again. One versus one, a Level 100 Variant Lord was actually completely helpless against him.

At this moment, Splendid Star along with his forces finally arrived. Seeing the scene in the main square, his eyes widened in disbelief. Not only was Nie Yan taking on the Dark Puppet Lord alone, but he was completely dominating it! How was this even possible!?

Splendid Temple’s players couldn’t keep up with Nie Yan’s movements. All they saw was a blur darting all over the place, like the flickering neon lights of a bar. He was strangely captivating.

Nie Yan’s silhouette flickered around the Dark Puppet Lord as though he were performing an elegant dance.

"T-t-this is a Shadow Dancer.”

The players from Splendid Temple were completely shaken. Nie Yan was showing them what the words Shadow Dancer truly signified.

"I never knew attacks could be so beautiful…”

At this very moment, everyone including Splendid Star felt a deep sense of reverence for Nie Yan.

The Mad Rogue really did live up to his legend.

Even though Nie Yan was fighting solo, he could still easily take down the Dark Puppet Lord. This was the absolute strength of a Master Class!

Splendid Star’s heart swelled with anticipation. If the pinnacle class for Thieves was this strong, then what about the pinnacle class for Warriors?

「Don’t just stand there. Have your Mages start dealing damage. Also, tell your Warriors not to bother coming over,」Nie Yan said to Splendid Star in voice chat.

Splendid Star snapped out of his daze. He was here to help Nie Yan deal with the Dark Puppet Lord. He hurriedly ordered his Mages to get into position.

Splendid Temple’s players were fairly quick on the uptake. The Mages rapidly spread out and surrounded the Dark Puppet Lord. They waved their staffs, unleashing a hail of spells into the air which ruthlessly bombarded its body. BANG! BANG! BANG!

Most of the Mages were only dealing around 500 damage, with the stronger ones among them hitting as high as 1,000 damage. Meanwhile, Nie Yan’s attacks were dealing 5,000–6,000 damage, occasionally even critting for up to 20,000 damage. The difference was like night and day.

Seeing this, Splendid Star was already at a loss for words. At this point, even if a Warrior didn’t go up to tank, the Mages could still dish out damage without fear of the Dark Puppet Lord shifting aggro onto them.

Time ticked away. About two minutes later, the Dark Puppet Lord’s health fell below 60%.

The Dark Puppet Lord would enter phase two and start using Earthrend, which stunned all units within a 10-meter radius for nine seconds. Splendid Temple’s losses were so great precisely because they had previously fallen victim to this skill. Its effects were too powerful.

「Be careful of the Dark Puppet Lord’s skill!」Splendid Star warned. He was worried Nie Yan would get hit by Earthrender. However, what happened next completely blew him away.

The Dark Puppet Lord’s arm glowed red as it raised it into the air, preparing to smash the ground, when Nie Yan jumped into the air and delivered a flying kick to its neck. BANG! The powerful impact knocked it several steps back, interrupting Earthrender mid-cast.

"What!?” Splendid Star gasped. "W-what kind of attack is that? Is it a skill? It actually interrupted a Level 100 Variant Lord’s skill! Holy crap, that’s overpowered!”

Afterwards, the Dark Puppet Lord repeatedly attempted to use Earthrender. However, Nie Yan would always take advantage of the long cast time to deliver a well-placed kick, interrupting it every time.

Nie Yan’s timing was absolutely flawless.

Splendid Temple’s players looked on with dazed faces. Nie Yan had completely overturned their preconceived notions of a Thief.

Eight minutes later, the Mages never stopped their volley of spells. Combined with Nie Yan’s own explosive damage, the Dark Puppet Lord’s health finally reached zero. It never got to use Earthrender even once.

CRASH! The Dark Puppet Lord collapsed to the ground, crumpling into a large pile of rubble.

Even with the Dark Puppet Lord’s remains in front of them, the players of Splendid Temple couldn’t believe their eyes. This powerful boss that had completely decimated their ranks was killed just like that?

The difference was simply too stark. When Splendid Temple fought the Dark Puppet Lord, even with the Warriors locking it down, the Mages didn’t dare to go all out for fear of shifting aggro. As a result, even after attacking for a long time, they barely whittled its health down to 60% and at a heavy cost. Then, Earthrender came and wiped out most of their Warriors. With the frontline devastated, the Mages were even less willing to deal damage. In comparison, with Nie Yan aggroing the boss, the Mages had no such misgivings. No matter how fiercely they bombarded it, it would never aggro onto them simply because Nie Yan’s damage was just that high—more than 10 times that of any of them in fact. Not to mention the timing and placement of his attacks were flawless, each one managing to land at a crucial moment, preventing the Dark Puppet Lord from using Earthrender. This wasn’t something an ordinary player could accomplish. Perhaps Nie Yan was the only one who could take the Thief class to such heights.

With Nie Yan carrying most of the weight, the battle ended without any suspense, and the Dark Puppet Lord died a pitiful death.

Nie Yan collected the loot off the ground. Of the several pieces of equipment that dropped, only a ring caught his eye. It was a Special Item and precisely what he came here for!

This ring was silver white and covered in web-like engravings.

Cobweb Ring (Bronze): Special Item

Description: Fire out a large web that entraps an enemy for two minutes. Cooldown: 30 minutes.

Restrictions: None

The web released from this ring was the same one released from Web Scrolls. It could render a target immobile, but they could still attack and cast magic.

Like other special items, the Cobweb Ring could be upgraded to enhance its properties. The resiliency of its web in particular would see significant improvements. This was exactly what Nie Yan was after, a super tough web to ensnare a target!

Aside from the Cobweb Ring, several pieces of Level 100 Dark Gold-grade equipment had also dropped. Such equipment couldn’t be more ordinary in Nie Yan’s eyes, with mountain loads of it in Asskickers United’s guild treasury. However, it was incredibly valuable to the players of Splendid Temple. Thinking for a bit, he decided to leave the rest of the loot to them. After all, he couldn’t allow their efforts to go unrewarded.

"I'll be taking this Cobweb Ring. You guys can have the rest,” Nie Yan said.

Splendid Star wanted to refuse since Nie Yan killing the Dark Puppet Lord had allowed them to revive their fallen comrade and mitigate a significant amount of losses. This was already more than he could ask for. He didn’t even consider the equipment. However, at Nie Yan’s urging, he eventually relented and accepted this gesture of goodwill.

"I still have other things to do, so I’ll take my leave first.” Nie Yan bid Splendid Star farewell and dashed off.

Watching Nie Yan’s silhouette disappear behind a corner at the end of the street, a thought crossed Splendid Star’s mind. He made a decision. After returning from Puppet Castle, he would have Splendid Temple merge with Asskickers United. He believed himself a decent judge of character. Someone like Nie Yan definitely wouldn’t mistreat his own. They would have a brighter future joining Asskickers United. It was at least much better than remaining a small guild.

By this time, Nie Yan was already more than half a kilometer away. He naturally didn’t know what Splendid Star was thinking.

Nie Yan teleported back to Calore, where he paid a visit to Master Jewelcrafter Paget and had his Cobweb Ring upgraded to Dark Gold-grade. The toughness of the web it released was bolstered to far beyond what you would get from an ordinary Web Scroll. With it, he could easily capture flying mounts.

After finishing his preparations, Nie Yan was about to set out for Griffon Woodlands, when he received word from Guo Huai that Xu Yan’s team had been surrounded outside of Calore. He instantly knew who the culprits were. Who else could it be other than Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, Bai Jun, and their lot?

「Do you want me to dispatch some people to rescue them?」Guo Huai asked. He knew Xu Yan was Nie Yan’s classmate. So, after receiving the information, he immediately contacted Nie Yan first.

Nie Yan thought for a moment, then shook his head.「No need, I’ll deal with it myself. It just happens to be along the way.」

Chapter 639 - Dancer of the Shadows

After gathering 16 classmates from the command faculty, Xu Yan had filled the last four spots in their team with friends of his in Asskickers United. They had already ran through several dungeons together, which all went smoothly. Everyone’s gear rapidly improved. Furthermore, thanks to Xu Yan’s influence and their own skill, several classmates had joined Asskickers United.

Xu Yan, Fei Zhe, and Xia Tianyu’s popularity in the command faculty had risen accordingly. As for Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, Bai Jun, and the rest of their clique, they found themselves isolated off in a corner. They naturally were resentful, and the conflicts between both sides quickly escalated.

"Should we run Skeleton Mines in Netherworld Marsh?” Chu Chenghao suggested to Xu Yan. In the past, he would’ve never imagined himself running a Level 90 dungeon like Skeleton Mines. But now he was suggesting exactly that.

Over the past couple of months, the equipment of their team had undergone a heavenshaking change.

"We’ll run Skeleton Mines tomorrow!” Xu Yan said after thinking for a bit.

Like usual, the team prepared for their daily dungeon runs in Calore before setting out towards the north. Along the way, they passed by both solo players and small parties grinding mobs. As they passed through a forest, they noticed more and more players congregating towards them. There had to be at least a hundred!

Xu Yan immediately sensed something off.

"Everyone, let’s retreat.”

"It’s Fu Guangtao and those bastards!”

At this time, they spotted Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, and Bai Jun leading 100 players into surrounding them.

"Hah, let’s see where you punks can run off too now! You guys are completely surrounded. If I don’t kill you today, I won’t feel satisfied, especially you three, Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe! Don’t think I can’t do anything to you just because you found a rich backer!” Fu Guangtao chuckled sinisterly. After eyeing Xu Yan’s group for so long, they had finally found an opportunity.

Zhao Shiyu crossed her arms with a contemptuous look on her face. "What are we wasting our time talking with them for? Hurry up and kill them. We still have dungeons to run.”

"The equipment on those three is pretty good. After we kill them, let’s divide it up between ourselves.”

Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe glanced at each other. The situation wasn’t looking good for them. Fu Guangtao and the others had too many people on their side. They would be dogpiled to death.

"Everyone, follow me! We’re slaughtering our way out!” Xu Yan shouted. Leading a team was something you gradually got better at with experience. After commanding Chu Chenghao and the others around for the past two months, he finally had the air of a team captain about him.

Charge!

Xu Yan barreled toward the thinnest point of the enemy’s encirclement.

From behind, Xia Tianyu and Fei Zhe supported him with their firepower.

"W-what!? Stop them!” Fu Guangtao shouted in a fluster. He didn’t expect Xu Yan to take the initiative and attack them first.

The players under Fu Guangtao’s command immediately closed in on Xu Yan’s team. Magic whizzed over the battlefield as the sound of combat filled the air. Though Xu Yan’s team was heavily outnumbered, they didn’t give up so easily. Killing three at the cost of five, they broke through the encirclement and escaped toward the south.

"Don’t let them get away!” Zhao Shiyu’s shrill voice cried out.

...

As Nie Yan sped through the air on his Darkwing Dragon, he looked down and saw a large scuffle occuring at the edge of a forest below. Spells were flying left and right and exploding everywhere, illuminating the sky with dazzling lights.

"Hmm, that makes things easy. Guess they’re over there.” Nie Yan leaped off the Darkwing Dragon.

Nie Yan made a rapid descent and landed on the ground with a loud thud.

Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe were on their last legs. The teammates around them fell one after another. Only seven of them were still alive. Although they’d killed 17 of Zhao Shiyu and Fu Guangtao’s people, they were too heavily outnumbered. There was practically no end to the enemies. They were quickly surrounded again.

"Don’t let those three escape! I want them dead!” Fu Guangtao shouted.

Close to 80 surrounded Xu Yan and the others again. No matter what they did, escape was impossible.

As the enemy slowly closed in on them, the noose tightening around their necks, they felt more and more pressure. Their hopes of getting out alive were quickly dwindling just like their health.

"Fei Zhe, Tianyu, it looks like we’re going to die here today.” Xu Yan bitterly smiled.

"It’s fine. Let’s take as many of them down with us as possible!” Xia Tianyu said. He activated Arcane Reset and fired out three Flame Bursts in quick succession, instantly obliterating a nearby enemy Warrior. His equipment was far superior to that of ordinary players. So, the damage he dealt to them was astonishing.

"I got one of these. One of you guys should take it and escape!” Chu Chenghao said, taking out an Unknown Transfer Scroll from his bag.

"Use it yourself. You can still get away. We’ll cover you!” Xu Yan said. Unknown Transfer Scrolls were still a precious commodity, even at this stage of the game.

Chu Chenghao forcefully shook his head. "My equipment is trash. Even if I die, it won’t matter. One of you take it and run, quick!”

Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe were visibly moved. Xu Yan patted Chu Chenghao on the shoulder and said in a solemn tone, "Thank you. But we won’t run away. We’ll die fighting together! Besides, I want to at least take down Fu Guangtao with me! That bastard!”

None of them accepted Chu Chenghao’s Unknown Transfer Scroll.

"We can dwell on the melodramatics later. Now, we kill!” Xu Yan charged forward and sent a Warrior flying. Fei Zhe followed up with two crossbow bolts, piercing the Warrior's chest. Even though they were surrounded, the ferocity of their attacks didn’t wane.

Seeing the Warrior’s corpse flying past him, Fu Guangtao couldn’t help but curse, "Fucking bastards! Struggle all you want, you’re still going to die! Warriors, charge!”

Over a dozen Warriors rushed toward Xu Yan and what was left of his team.

At this point, even if Xu Yan and the others had three heads and six arms, they still couldn’t escape their fates. Fu Guangtao’s eyes lit up with excitement.

When all looked lost for Xu Yan and the other six, a silhouette streaked by and cut down three Warriors in an instant.

"W-what’s going on!?” Fu Guangtao’s heart shivered. Before he could figure out what happened, a string of notifications popped up in quick succession.

Your teammate Flashy Flash has died.
Your teammate Dry Bark has died.
Your teammate Fatty Bacon has died.

Nie Yan killed to his heart’s content as if he had entered no man’s land. He reaped lives like harvesting fields of wheat. The enemy was simply too weak. There was no way their pitifully low health bars could endure a single one of his attacks as he left behind a trail of corpse in his wake.

Seeing a silhouette speed toward him, a Warrior brandished his sword.

However, Nie Yan was already one step ahead of him. He leaped up into the air and struck the Warrior’s throat with a flying kick, crushing their windpipe and sending them flying back.

Bracing his hand against the ground, Nie Yan then bounded toward a nearby Paladin several meters away, his body spinning as he executed a Reverse Grip Backstab mid-air.

Sensing the incoming attack, the Paladin panicked and attempted to retreat. However, before he had a chance to take even a single step, Zennarde’s Sword plunged into his back. THUD! He collapsed dead on the ground.

Heads rolled wherever Nie Yan passed. In a flash, more than 20 people died. All the enemies surrounding Xu Yan’s team were cleared away.

Xu Yan and the others’ eyes rounded in shock. Having already resigned themselves to death, they didn’t expect such a dramatic turn of events. As they searched for their saviour, all they saw was a blurry silhouette darting across the battlefield, felling one enemy player after another.

Even Xu Yan and the others felt a chill run down their spines. Just who was this mysterious figure? He was too frightening! Thankfully, he appeared to be helping them.

"Shit! Who is that bastard!? Blast him to death!” Fu Guangtao roared in a rage. Seeing his people getting killed left and right without even knowing who the other side was, he felt fear creeping up his heart.

A hail of spells arced through the air. But before they could land, the silhouette vanished.

Not a second later, blood curdling screams rang out as several more players collapsed to the ground.

No one could stop Nie Yan's massacre!

In a short time, the 100-man strong force was reduced to only 20, among which seven were students of the command faculty.

"God dammit! Who the hell are you!? Show your face you fucking bastard!” Fu Guangtao bellowed. As he looked around him, his surroundings were empty. It was like no one was ever there. The several Priests behind him tossed orbs of light into the air, illuminating everything within a 30-meter radius. But they still couldn’t find any traces of Nie Yan.

The atmosphere grew tense. They knew Nie Yan hadn’t left and was hiding somewhere within the shadows. He was the decider of life and death. Whoever he set his sights on would die. None of them had any hope of surviving his blade.

Their fates were already no longer in their control.

"W-who are you!? You’ve killed so many of my people, but you won’t even reveal your name!?” This was also the first time Zhao Shiyu had encountered such a situation. Assaulted by the pungent smell of blood in the air, her face paled in fright. She could only rely on Fu Guangtao to stay alive. At the end of the day, she was just a pretty face without any ability.

As for Bai Jun, he remained more level-headed. He activated Eyes of the Divine and looked around. However, no matter where he searched, he couldn’t spot the slightest trace of Nie Yan.

"Even Eyes of the Divine doesn’t work…?” Bai Jun muttered. What he failed to realize was that after becoming a Luminous Dancer, Nie Yan’s stealthing capabilities had risen to a whole ‘nother plane. Their low rank ocular skills were completely useless against him.

The surroundings were empty as a deadly silence filled the air. An instant later, two miserable cries rang out. A sharp light flashed by as two players beside Fu Guangtao and Bai Jun were instagibbed.

Hidden within the darkness, Nie Yan was like a god of death. No one could escape his reaper’s blade.

Against his absolute speed, these players were like lambs at the slaughter. This was the joy of dominating everyone and everything on the battlefield. Nie Yan’s understanding regarding the strength of a Shadow Dancer deepened even further as did the shock in his heart. Every movement he made, no matter how slow in his eyes, was lightning fast to ordinary players. When ambushing from the shadows, if the enemy couldn’t keep up in speed, their deaths were guaranteed. He was a dancer in the shadows—a Shadow Dancer!

"Didn’t you want to know my level? Well, today I’ll grant you the privilege of seeing who killed you!” Nie Yan dispelled his stealth, materializing into view.

Chapter 640 - Towering Mountain

Nie Yan appeared from stealth in front of Fu Guangtao and the others with a cold smile on his face. He wanted to see what kind of expressions they would make after finding out he was Nirvana Flame.

Everyone’s eyes fell on Nie Yan. His appearance couldn’t be any more familiar to them.

He had a hand in almost every major event in the Viridian Empire. They had watched videos of his exploits more times than they cared to remember.

"Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame!”

"N-no way! It’s really him!”

…

Fu Guangtao and the others gasped. Xu Yan’s group was dumbstruck. They never expected Nirvana Flame to appear here of all places. What an unbelievable turn of events! But after thinking about it, apart from Nie Yan, which other Thief could slaughter so many people with such ease?

Nie Yan’s expression back then and Nirvana Flame’s appearance right now bore an uncanny resemblance to each other. He stared at Fu Guangtao like he was watching a clown, clear mockery in his eyes.

"Nirvana Flame… Nie Yan… N-no, it’s impossible!” Fu Guangtao’s face alternated between shades of violet and red. It was a marvelous sight. Not even in his wildest dreams could he have imagined that he would provoke the one person in the entire Viridian Empire no one should ever provoke. His heart swelled with indescribable bitterness.

"The Mad Rogue is Nie Yan...” Fu Guangtao muttered in despair.

"W-wait, what did you say?!”

The eyes of the players around him all widened in shock.

"Fu Guangtao… y-you’re joking, right?” Zhao Shiyu asked in a trembling tone. She already suspected this after Nie Yan, or rather Nirvana Flame, materialized before them. But she didn’t dare to confirm it.

"I’m not. He’s the Nie Yan in our class.”

Zhao Shiyu and the others’ faces turned ashen.

A gust of wind howled by as a large shadow blotted out the sun. Looking up at the sky, a dragon was making a rapid descent toward the ground.

The Darkwing Dragon flapped its wings, kicking up small twisters as it alighted next to Nie Yan. A large, six-meter high frame covered in dark ashen scales, it resembled a frightening beast from antiquity. All in its presence would cower under its domineering aura.

When the Darkwing Dragon appeared, Fu Guangtao’s group lost the will to fight. They gave up all hope and simply awaited Nie Yan’s judgement.

Seeing the fear, dismay, and despair in their eyes, Nie Yan sneered. They were going to pay a heavy price for their own foolishness.

A deadly silence hung in the air. No one dared to even breathe loudly. Everyone felt immense pressure. The name of the Mad Rogue was an absolute deterrent. Add this to the huge Darkwing Dragon standing by his side, and not even the most arrogant of fools would dare to challenge his authority.

「N-nie Yan is the Mad Rogue? He’s Nirvana Flame?」Chu Chenghao turned to Xu Yan, fearing he had misheard. He nervously waited for a reply.

Xu Yan nodded.

Chu Chenghao’s mouth opened and closed like a goldfish, not knowing what to say. He had a look of disbelief on his face. Never in his wildest dreams did he expect Nirvana Flame to be a fellow classmate. This news was too shocking.

「Nie Yan really kept himself well-hidden. So, the equipment you three are wearing, it was gifted to you by him?」Chu Cheng asked.

「Yeah,」Fei Zhe answered.

「I see… it all makes sense now. Who else but Nirvana Flame can gift such amazing equipment sets without batting an eye?」Che Chenghao wore a complicated expression on his face.

Having not divulged his identity for so long, Nie Yan was quite low key. Thinking back to how Fu Guangtao ridiculed him in the past, that expression on his face was actually one of deep disdain. He couldn’t be bothered to compare level and equipment with such a nobody. Funniest of all, Fu Guangtao had remained completely oblivious until the end, after having already thoroughly offended Nie Yan.

Fu Guangtao, Zhao Shiyu, and Bai Jun felt like they had been thrown into the deepest pits of despair. If their enemy wasn’t Nirvana Flame, they would still have hope of a future by simply hiding away in some desolated corner. But they had offended the most powerful person in the entire Viridian Empire, someone who could gather clouds with a flip of a palm and call down the rains with the other. If he wanted to deal with them, he wouldn’t even have to do anything himself. Just a single word from him could make their lives absolute hell.

"Since I’ve revealed myself, I trust you all have no more complaints?” Nie Yan said in an ice-cold voice.

Fu Guangtao’s face turned deathly pale.

Zhao Shiyu, Bai Jun, and the others all wanted to say something, but they kept their mouths shut for fear of annoying Nie Yan any further. If he passed down the order to Asskickers United, he could easily have them killed back to Level 0. Then all the painstaking effort they put into levelling up their accounts would go up in smoke. They could only tremble in fear as they awaited judgement.

Nie Yan coldly glanced at Fu Guangtao, Zhao Shiyu, Bai Jun, and their group. He couldn’t be bothered to spare them any more words. He vanished into stealth and sent them all to the grave.

The ground was littered with corpses. All that remained was Nie Yan and Xu Yan’s group.

One of the Priests in Xu Yan’s team was still alive and began reviving their fallen comrades.

"Boss!” Xu Yan giddily greeted. He was the most comfortable using this form of address inside the game.

"Umm… hi? I didn’t know you were Nirvana Flame,” Chu Chenghao awkwardly greeted. He didn’t know how he should interact with Nie Yan. After all, this was his first time meeting this kind of legendary figure face-to-face. He was extremely nervous.

"Haha, don’t be nervous. We’re all classmates here, right? Lighten up a little.” Nie Yan smiled warmly. In stark contrast to the frigid manner in which he treated Fu Guangtao’s group, he appeared quite easygoing and amiable right now.

Chu Chenghao rubbed his head and chuckled foolishly. "I-I’m not really that good with words. Thank you. If you hadn’t come, we would all be dead right now.”

Seeing Che Chenghao bumbling over himself, Nie Yan laughed. He could tell Chu Chenghao was a fairly straightforward and honest person.

"Go, collect all the equipment. Don’t let it go to waste,” Nie Yan said. With a hundred corpses scattered over the battlefield, there was a pile of equipment for them to gather.

"Got it.” Xu Yan nodded. "We’ll have all this equipment delivered to the guild treasury when we return to the city.”

"No need. If you see anything you like, just take it for yourselves. As for the rest, you can trade it in for some merit points, then help our classmates get fitted with some better gear. We can’t have our command faculty being weaker than the combat faculty now, can we?” Nie Yan smiled. This equipment didn’t amount to much in his eyes, but it meant the world to Chu Chenghao and his other classmates.

Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe excitedly chatted with Nie Yan. They badgered him to show off his gear until he finally relented. After which they were completely dumbstruck. He had a total of four pieces of Legendary-grade equipment while the rest were Sub Legendary-grade.

"Boss, what do you plan to do with Fu Guangtao and them?” Xu Yan asked.

"Are you going to have them killed back to Level 0?” Fei Zhe chimed in.

Nie Yan shook his head with a smile. "They’re not worth my time. I’ll let them agonize over themselves for a few days, then let them off with a warning. I’m sure they’ll choose to do the smart thing.” People like Fu Guangtao and Zhao Shiyu posed no threat to him. There was no need for him to waste his time and effort on them.

Seeing Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe talking to Nie Yan with such familiarity, the others also came over and spoke a few words. After exchanging a few forced pleasantries, they found out he was rather easy to get along with and they quickly started opening up.

"Wow, I never imagined you were Nirvana Flame. No wonder I thought your name sounded so familiar back in school!”

"You’re my idol!”

...

Everyone chimed in one after another. They all deeply admired Nie Yan. After all, for a single person to achieve what he did inside the game was incredibly difficult. At the same time, being able to talk face to face with Nirvana Flame was an experience they would never forget. They were really moved by his attitude toward them.

At Nie Yan’s request, his fellow classmates promised not to divulge his identity. From his perspective, if he could remain low key and keep his peaceful school life for another day, he would. If the entire school knew he was Nirvana Flame, things would become extremely troublesome. As for Fu Guangtao and them, they were most likely far too embarrassed to ever talk about this day ever again. Besides, if they knew what was good for them, they would keep their lips sealed.

"I’ll be taking my leave first. I still have some matters to attend to,” Nie Yan said. His time was short. He bid farewell to Xu Yan and the others.

Xu Yan and others understood that Nie Yan had already done a lot by coming all the way over here to personally rescue them. They knew a person like him was always busy and rarely, if ever, had any free time.

Nie Yan hopped on the Darkwing Dragon, then took off into the air, instantly ascending more than several dozen meter. It flapped its wings and shot off into the distance, disappearing over the horizon.

"Wow, the boss’ equipment really is amazing. He even has that Darkwing Dragon on top of that.”

"The Darkwing Dragon is awesome. I wonder when we’ll get a flying mount like that,” a Warrior dreamed as he gazed at the horizon.

"Yeah. It would be amazing if we could get a powerful flying mount like that.”

"Pffft! You’d have an easier time climbing Mt. Everest. Obtaining a regular flying mount is already near impossible for most players, let alone one like the Darkwing Dragon. You guys should give up on the thought.” Xu Yan poured a bucket of ice-cold water over their dreams. These people had to wake up to reality.

The surrounding players let out deep sighs. Generally, obtaining a flying mount required a several thousand-man expedition team exploring the Griffon Woodlands for an entire day. In their eyes, perhaps only the leaders of powerful guilds were qualified to obtain a high rank flying mount.

When they looked at Nie Yan, it was as though they were gazing up at a towering mountain.

Chapter 641 - Encounter In the Skies

In a deep basin surrounded by mountain ranges, located between the borders of the two empires, was a vast stretch of woodland about one fifth the size of the Viridian Empire. It was shrouded in a dense fog all year round, making it hard to see further than a few meters in any direction. Only by clearing up this fog, with something such as a Dispel Fog Scroll, could players more easily explore this land.

Griffon Woodlands was a diverse ecosystem, home to many different kinds of monsters, including flying mounts like Griffons, Wind Serpents, and Dragonflies. From time to time, even dragons would appear.

Asskickers United had around 5,000 players active in Griffon Woodlands at any given time. They were divided into 10 teams and exploring the map for unhatched flying mount eggs every day. Of course, the work was dangerous. They had to be ready for an attack anywhere and anytime, from the monsters native to this place as well as forces from rival guilds.

Griffon Woodlands had many graveyards, allowing players to run to their corpses and revive quickly. As a result, when opposing guilds clashed, they would enter long and bitter struggles. However, Asskickers United rarely suffered any losses. Angel Corps had at least 100,000 players scouring the map for flying mounts at any time, outnumbering Asskickers United by more than 20 to one. Guilds like Divine Protectors, God Executioner Sword, and Penumbra Empire had also dispatched teams to explore this map. Asskickers United was at a pretty big disadvantage in terms of numbers, but their individual strength was fairly high. Even if they encountered danger, they could rely on their superb coordination and fast response times to escape.

In reality, Asskickers United could also dispatch a larger force of 50,000 players to Griffon Woodlands. But the impact on their strength would be too great. Weaker players entering this map were liable to encounter danger. So, Nie Yan had specifically instructed Guo Huai to only send 5,000 players at most. The rest should focus on levelling and class advancing as quickly as possible. As for flying mounts, they could always be caught at a later date.

After soaring through the skies, passing forests, plains, and rivers, Nie Yan found himself above a vast ocean of low-hanging clouds with the occasional flying monster passing by. He couldn’t help but be vigilant. Even though his Rank 7 Darkwing Dragon was already pretty powerful, if it encountered an even higher rank flying monster or large flock of low rank flying monsters, it would still be in danger.

Nie Yan had received the coordinates of the Asskickers United teams in Griffon Woodlands. But with the fog blocking his view, it was impossible to pinpoint their exact locations without going down to the ground.

「Everyone, gather at the southeast part of Griffon Woodlands. Coordinates: 385.288.386!」Nie Yan passed down an order to all the team leaders.

...

In a remote patch of forest, Paladin of the Elegy and his team had just cleared a Wind Serpent nest and obtained a flying mount egg. While recuperating, he received a message.

Seeing that the sender was Nie Yan, Paladin quickly read through it. After which he issued out a command, "The boss is here! He wants us all to gather in the southeast. Everyone, get into formation. We’re setting out!”

After hearing Nie Yan had personally come, the players grew excited and broke out in lively discussion.

"Elegy, you aren’t joking, right? He’s really here?”

"Of course it’s true. I said so.”

"Awesome!”

The players quickly gathered together and set out for the southeast.

One after another, the Asskickers United teams in Griffon Woodlands organized their ranks and headed out from all over toward the coordinates Nie Yan sent them.

...

Nie Yan was just about to head down and get a rough idea of the situation inside Griffon Woodlands, when several dozen black dots appeared in the air off in the distance.

"A flock of flying monsters...?” Nie Yan’s heart trembled.

Faced with a flock of flying monsters, it was best to stay out of the way. If you were to accidentally irritate one of their members, you would end up surrounded and attacked. Not to mention they would call even more friends and wouldn’t stop until you were dead.

By the time Nie Yan was preparing to descend with the Darkwing Dragon, the black dots were already approaching fast in his direction. There were more than 20 flying monsters, a ragtag bunch composed of Wind Serpents, Dragon Flies, Griffons, and so on. They had players riding on their backs.

It was a team of players!

At present, there were few powers in possession of 20 or more flying mounts. Nie Yan didn’t know which guild the other side belonged to but it had to be one of the larger ones.

Since it was only players, Nie Yan wasn’t too worried. These squadrons composed of different flying mounts generally couldn’t coordinate very well together in aerial combat. So, they were easy to pick off. Even when the Darkwing Dragon was only Rank 6, he had annihilated Alliance of Mages’ aerial force. Now that it had advanced to Rank 7, he had even less to fear.

...

Hunting Fox was a first-rate player of Angel Corps. Though he ranked in the low 30s on their internal leaderboards, his Void Ray was one of the few Rank 5 flying mounts in the guild. It had an extremely powerful ability which had already helped them capture five other flying mounts. It was their secret weapon.

As per usual, Hunting Fox and his teammates were patrolling around in search of flying mounts, when they spotted a black dot in the horizon. Like the trained unit they were, they immediately went in pursuit of it.

26 flying mounts spread out in formation, then closed in on Nie Yan from all directions.

"Leader, it has a player riding on its back,” a Warrior cried out in amazement.

Hunting Fox squinted his eyes and looked more closely. There was indeed a person riding on that flying mount.

"What kind of flying mount is that?” As they approached closer, Hunting Fox felt something was amiss. Then finally, he let out an audible gasp. "It’s the Darkwing Dragon! Nirvana Flame is here!”

The group of players immediately descended into panic. Some pulled back their flying mounts while others continued advancing forward.

"He’s completely alone while there are 26 of us! What are you losing your heads over?! God dammit! Bunch of spineless cowards!” Hunting Fox cursed. The two sides hadn’t even clashed, yet some people were already backing out in fear. Angel Corps had truly lost face.

After being rebuked by Hunting Fox, the faces of his subordinates burned up in embarrassment. At the end of the day, they were still elites of Angel Corps. Yet they had lost themselves to fear at merely the sight of the enemy. This was because Nie Yan’s deterring power was too great, not to mention his Darkwing Dragon’s size and appearance was too shocking.

The Darkwing Dragon had grown much larger after reaching Rank 7. In front of it, their flying mounts looked like little children. Even the largest one among them was only a third of its size.

Seeing such a large flying mount, and knowing it was the famed and dreaded Darkwing Dragon, how could they not panic!?

"Maintain the formation!” Hunting Fox ordered in a deep voice.

These Angel Corps players reined in their flying mounts.

"Leader, according to the reports we received, the Darkwing Dragon is a Rank 6 flying mount. But it shouldn’t be this big. Do you think it ranked up?” a Warrior asked.

Hunting Fox knitted his brows as he weighed the matter in his head. Should he lead his team into surrounding the Darkwing Dragon? If he failed, he would undoubtedly be held responsible. If he succeeded, he would be rewarded handsomely for an outstanding achievement, and his position in the guild would definitely soar; to him, this was extremely tempting.

Nie Yan stood up on the Darkwing Dragon’s back. Due to the distance being too great, he could only make out the basic outlines of the silhouettes in the distance. Based on some of their unique physical traits, they were from the Satreen Empire!

He watched as the other party gradually approached, showing no signs of fear.

If a battle broke out, Nie Yan was confident he would come out on top.

Nie Yan wanted to find out which guild the other side was affiliated with. The Satreen Empire had many powerful guilds, and their relationships with Angel Corps were far from harmonious. He didn’t want to unnecessarily make new enemies. However, no matter how he squinted his eyes, he couldn’t see the guild emblems on their chests.

Nie Yan’s gaze fell on one of the higher rank flying mounts in their group. It looked like a giant ray, except it was flying in the sky. It was ashen black with numerous tendrils growing on its underside that kept rippling back and forth, and a long tail hanging from its back.

It was the Rank 5 Void Ray!

Nie Yan messaged Guo Huai,「Do you know which guilds have a Void Ray?」

「Void Ray? I think Angel Corps, Divine Protectors, and Sapphire Shrine all have one,」Guo Huai replied. After finding out Nie Yan’s situation, he quickly found the information.

"Angel Corps?” Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a cold light. If he encountered flying mounts from Angel Corps out in the wilderness, he would definitely seize the opportunity to kill a few of them to weaken their strength.

As the two sides were about to meet, a thought popped into Hunting Fox’s head. If Nie Yan attacked them first, then even if they lost, it wouldn’t be his fault. After all, they were only retaliating in self defense. If he succeeded in killing Nie Yan, he’d be winning big. As for how many flying mounts Angel Corps might lose in the process, he didn’t care. Trading a few flying mounts for the death of Nirvana Flame? He believed Soaring Angel definitely wouldn’t have any objections.

Hunting Fox spoke to one of his trusted confidantes, who then moved back to a tall, not very bright looking Mage and whispered something in their ear.

"Old Six, get in touch with the boss! We encountered Nirvana Flame! Have him come over to provide support,” the blockhead Mage shouted at the top of his lungs.

As these words rang out, Nie Yan finally confirmed the identity of the other side. It was Angel Corps! He scanned his surroundings. There were a total of 26 flying mounts in the vicinity.

Nie Yan still hadn’t gotten an opportunity to test out the Darkwing Dragon’s new strength. This would be its debut in battle after reaching Rank 7!

Chapter 642 - Slaughter in the Air

Putting on the Silk Spinner Ring, Cobweb Ring, Leaper Ring, and Crawler Ring, Nie Yan caressed the blade of Zennarde’s Sword. The black flames flickering back and forth burned hot like his fighting spirit.

Even though the Darkwing Dragon was powerful, facing off against 26 flying mounts all at once was still a bit much. Many flying mounts had powerful innate abilities. If they fought, he wouldn’t necessarily come out on top.

If Nie Yan waited for Angel Corps’ reinforcements to arrive, his odds would drop even further.

At Nie Yan’s command, the Darkwing Dragon let out a cry. Flapping its wings, it shot toward one of the enemy flying mounts.

As the Darkwing Dragon’s aura swept out, the low rank flying mounts immediately descended into panic and hysteria. They fought the commands of their riders, their every fiber screaming at them to flee for their lives.

The riders hurriedly reined in their flying mounts.

Hunting Fox’s lips curved into a cunning smile. "Good, he’s taken the bait…” The reason he had his subordinate shout out those words earlier was exactly to lure Nie Yan into attacking first!

"Don’t panic! He’s no match for all of us! Alpine, Rice Ball, pincer him! Smelter, Bright Cloud, Garfield, attack him head on!” Hunting Fox coldly ordered.

Those called forth glanced at each other. Despite fearing both Nie Yan and the Darkwing Dragon, as well as knowing they were nothing more than cannon fodder, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and go up anyway. They were players of Angel Corps. If they didn’t follow Hunting Fox’s orders at this moment, they would likely be forced out of the guild.

Five flying mounts closed in on Nie Yan from all directions. He swept his eyes over them, three Achlys Dragonflies and two Wind Serpents. These low rank flying mounts were no match for his Darkwing Dragon, serving only as fodder to shave away at its strength.

Nie Yan ignored them and had his Darkwing Dragon pounce toward one of the Griffons.

Seeing the Darkwing Dragon’s steel-like claws coming down on him, the rider of the Griffon lost his wits. If his Griffon was caught, it would be killed beyond a shadow of a doubt!

"Don’t run! Attack the Darkwing Dragon!” Hunting Fox shouted.

Hunting Fox might not care since the Griffon wasn’t his. But as the owner, how could he willingly send his flying mount to its death!? The rider immediately had his Griffon turn around and flee. He still held onto the hope that it could survive.

It was an ill-founded hope. How could a Griffon possibly be a match for the Darkwing Dragon in speed?

Before the Griffon could even fully turn around, the Darkwing Dragon’s claws grabbed its wings, causing it to let out a mournful screech. The Darkwing Dragon’s claws dug deep into the Griffon’s flesh and tore aparts its wings.

Blood sprayed everywhere as the Griffon plummeted to the ground.

If the rider had ordered his Griffon to attack with everything it had just now, even though it wouldn’t have prevented its death, he would’ve at least dealt some damage to the Darkwing Dragon. However, people were selfish. He wasn’t willing to let his flying mount die just like that. Instead, his first instinct was to flee.

This was precisely why Nie Yan dared to face Hunting Fox’s group but not a similarly sized flock of flying monsters.

"Shit. That fucking idiot!” Hunting Fox couldn’t help but curse.

The Griffon had died for nothing.

The Darkwing Dragon brutally ripped it to shreds!

"One down!” Nie Yan coldly smiled as his killing intent flared.

Seeing this gorey, bone-chilling scene, the other riders flinched in fear, a cold chill running down their spines. The Darkwing Dragon was too frightening!

"Leader, i-it’s Rank 7!”

Hunting Fox’s heart trembled. "The Darkwing Dragon has ranked up?”

Flying mounts had to be fed Life Cores to grow stronger, which meant the lives of countless flying mounts had to be sacrificed to nurture a high rank flying mount. It was already exceedingly difficult to raise the rank of Rank 3 or 4 flying mounts, let alone a Rank 6 like the Darkwing Dragon! Just how did Nirvana Flame do it?

Now clearly wasn’t the time to be pondering this question. With the Darkwing Dragon evolving to Rank 7, they got much more than what they had bargained for.

As the Griffon’s lifeless body fell into the fog below, the five designated cannon fodder came rushing over. Nie Yan hurriedly urged his Darkwing Dragon to drop down from the sky.

At the same time, Hunting Fox accelerated forward with his Void Ray. He had it open its mouth and shoot out a bolt of gray lightning toward the Darkwing Dragon.

Void Lightning!

The Darkwing Dragon was already in the middle of evading five other flying mounts. It had no space to evade the Void Lightning. Hunting Fox’s timing was perfect. As the lightning came streaking over, Nie Yan’s heart sank.

"No choice. We’ll just have to tank it head on!”

ZAPPP! The lightning struck the Darkwing Dragon. Sparks crackled and danced over its scales before quickly fading away.

The Darkwing Dragon was completely unharmed. Its speed wasn’t affected at all!

Nie Yan suddenly recalled the Darkwing Dragon had magic immunity. It could ignore all magic below a certain level.

Hunting Fox believed the Void Lightning could at least deal light injuries to the Darkwing Dragon. Then all the other flying mounts could seize the opportunity to gang up on it. However, seeing it completely brush off the attack, his eyes widened in disbelief.

In the face of absolute strength, the Void Ray’s most powerful attack looked like a joke.

Executing a barrel roll mid-air, the Darkwing Dragon shot forward and grabbed one of the Wind Serpents by the underside with its powerful claws. The Wind Serpent writhed and struggled to no avail. The Darkwing Dragon clenched it claws and tore its slender body to shreds as flesh and blood rained down from the sky.

What frightening strength!

This was a Rank 7 flying mount!

Nie Yan clearly sensed the Darkwing Dragon’s strength had increased many times over compared to when it was Rank 6. It could sweep through everything in its path!

As the four other riders circled in on Nie Yan, the Darkwing Dragon slaughtered a path out, killing two more flying mounts in the process. Even though it had suffered some light injuries in the process, the wounds rapidly healed without leaving a trace.

Seeing a Griffon closing in on him from the side, Nie Yan shot out a web line at its feathers. He then swung over, streaking through the air like a missile.

"H-he’s here! Kill him! Kill him!” the Mage on the Griffon cried out in fear.

The nearby Mages raised their staffs and fired their spells at Nie Yan. However, all their attacks missed. He was simply too fast.

Nie Yan clung onto the Griffon’s underside with the Crawler Ring. He pulled out a Flesh Biter and stabbed it into the Griffon’s heart. "This makes it six!”

PFFSSTH! Blood sprayed out like a fountain. The Griffon let out a miserable shriek. Flailing in the air, it plummeted into the fog below with rider and all.

Nie Yan dropped down onto the head of an Achlys Dragonfly below him. Before the flying mount or rider could react, he stabbed a Flesh Biter into its eyes.

PSSHHHT! A fetid, viscous liquid sprayed Nie Yan as the Achlys Dragonfly thrashed about in agony. He immediately started taking poison damage, a string of damage values rising up above his head. Activating the Leaper Ring, he jumped away while simultaneously downing a Master Antidote.

With the poison cured, Nie Yan landed safely on the Darkwing Dragon’s back.

At this moment, a Black Eagle pounced forward. The Darkwing Dragon dodged to the side, but it was half a step too late. The eagle’s claws streaked across its belly. However, the scales protecting it were too tough. The claws couldn’t get through and only left a superficial wound. Thanks to its powerful health regeneration, the wound closed up within seconds.

The more they fought, the more depressed the Angel Corps players felt. The Darkwing Dragon was simply too powerful. Magic was basically useless against it. Ordinary dragons were already incredibly resilient against magic, but the Darkwing Dragon was even more so. Their magic attacks all showed up as misses. As for physical attacks, most of their flying mounts were a whole three ranks lower than the Darkwing Dragon. Even if they managed to deal a bit of damage, it would only amount to a scratch. Not to mention the Darkwing Dragon had incredible regenerative abilities.

The Darkwing Dragon left them feeling completely helpless.

Angel Corps’ casualties were rapidly accumulating. Of the 26 flying mounts, seven had already died, three were heavily injured, and six had suffered light injuries. Meanwhile, after taking more than 20 attacks head on, the Darkwing Dragon was still only lightly injured. At this rate, they stood zero chance of taking it down.

The Darkwing Dragon’s scales were covered in bloodstains. The smell of death and gore permeated the air.

Seeing the bloodsoaked and incomparably valiant Darkwing Dragon pouncing towards them, the Angel Corps players lost all will to resist. They despaired and scattered in all directions.

With Angel Corps’ forces completely routed, Nie Yan felt even less resistance. He pursued these flying mounts with zeal. Seeing a Wind Serpent getting away, he shot out another web line, swinging through the air and landing on its back. He then drove a Flesh Biter seven inches into it.

Being struck by a Flesh Biter would deal at least light injuries. The more the flying mount struggled, the more the wound would worsen, until its injurious became severe and it was left bereft of all fighting strength.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEH!” The Arcane Mage on the Wind Serpent’s back recoiled in fear. But before they could do anything, Nie Yan closed in and slashed out with Zennarde’s Sword. A streak of black flames cut across their neck. It was an instant kill!

Seeing that there was no hope of turning things around, Hunting Fox could only helplessly urge his Void Ray to retreat as he fled east.

Chapter 643 - Arrogant

Nie Yan’s eyes swept over the fleeing flying mounts before locking onto the Void Ray, who was the highest rank out of all of them.

"Want to run? Not so easy!” Nie Yan spurred his Darkwing Dragon into pursuit.

The Darkwing Dragon was much faster than the Void Ray. The distance between them rapidly closed as 500 meters shortened to 300.

Noticing the Darkwing Dragon on his tail, Hunting Fox’s face paled in fright. He had no qualms about sacrificing the flying mounts of others. But his Void Ray was the whole reason his position in Angel Corps was so high. So, even if he knew he had no hope of escape, he wouldn’t helplessly wait for death.

At Hunting Fox’s command, the Void Ray sprayed out a cloud of black mist, enshrouding himself in a field of darkness that extended 50 meters in all directions.

Just as the Darkwing Dragon was about to plummet into the black mist, Nie Yan hurriedly had it ascend, whereupon he spotted the Void Ray fleeing north. Taking a detour around the black mist, the Darkwing Dragon shot forward and rapidly closed in on the Void Ray.

The black mist had successfully bought him some time. However, Hunting Fox didn’t expect Nie Yan to catch back up so soon.

300 meters, 200 meters, 100 meters… the gap was quickly closing.

Nie Yan was determined to hunt down the Void Ray.

The Darkwing Dragon was too powerful. Hunting Fox had nowhere to escape.

Hunting Fox was on the brink of despair.

Seeing that Hunting Fox was on his last leg, Nie Yan’s expression didn’t change. When facing an enemy, he rarely allowed his emotions get the best of him, remaining as prudent as ever. As the saying goes, Caution can guide a ship for 10,000 years. Overconfidence often led to downfall.

As the Darkwing Dragon dived down with its claws outstretched, the Void Ray suddenly vanished into thin air and reappeared more than 100 meters away, dodging the attack. "Void Blink…” Nie Yan furrowed his brows. He didn’t expect the Void Ray to have this kind of special escape ability.

However, the Void Ray was only delaying the inevitable. It still couldn’t escape!

Nie Yan had the Darkwing Dragon ascend, then shoot forward in pursuit of the Void Ray. He was preparing to dive down for another attack.

Just as Hunting Fox was about to give up all hope, at least a hundred black dots appeared in the horizon. A trace of hope lit up in his heart. The reinforcements from Angel Corps were here!

Hunting Fox hurriedly had his Void Ray flee toward them.

Angel Corps’ reinforcements were rapidly approaching.

Nie Yan also noticed their arrival. There were more than 100 of them altogether. The reinforcements from Angel Corps! The reason he could decimate Hunting Fox’s 26-man team before was partially luck. His frightening attack power was enough of a deterrent, causing every single one of them to hesitate. That was why he could pick off eight of their flying mounts so easily and force the rest into retreat. If all 26 of them had ganged up on him without any care for their own safety, the Darkwing Dragon likely wouldn’t have held out for long, to say nothing of a similar situation with 100 flying mounts!

Hunting Fox breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, safety was here. He glanced behind him with a mocking smirk, resisting the urge to shout, Aren’t you supposed to be so amazing, Nirvana Flame?! Then why aren’t you still chasing me?

However, his expression immediately froze. To his shock and dismay, Nie Yan wasn’t retreating but rather closing in even faster than a moment ago!

"Dammit! You’re dead!” Hunting Fox bellowed. He spurred his Void Ray to fly even faster toward the reinforcements. There was only 2,000 meters between them. They would reach each other in 30 seconds at most. Soaring Angel was leading the reinforcements, having gathered all the powerful flying mounts in Angel Corps. Once Nie Yan was surrounded, he was dead for sure!

As long as Hunting Fox could hold out for another 25 seconds, Soaring Angel and the others would arrive in time to save him. He was filled with confidence, having completely forgotten how Nie Yan decimated his team just moments ago.

Time was fleeting. 25 seconds was extremely short, but it could also decide life and death.

Soaring Angel sat on his Rank 5 Wyvern. Seeing the Darkwing Dragon, he shouted, "Wind Serpent Squad #1, Achlys Dragonfly Squad #1, pincer it from the sides. Thunder Eagles, circle behind and don’t let it escape. The Darkwing Dragon dies here today!”

Soaring Angel didn’t think Nie Yan would have the gall to continuing chasing his subordinate while under the threat of being surrounded by his forces.

"This bastard is too damn arrogant!” Soaring Angel shouted. Activating several buffs, he took out his longbow and notched an arrow. Bringing the bowstring to full draw, he took aim at Nie Yan.

The arrow was like a meteor, shrouded in raging flames, as it cut across the air.

This was his Tracking Arrow skill, which had a range of 1,000 meters. He could use it once every five days.

As long as he could stall Nie Yan and the Darkwing Dragon for even a few seconds, their fates would be sealed!

With the Void Ray only 30 meters away and the Darkwing Dragon flying 10 meters above it, Nie Yan suddenly accelerated forward. Activating the Leaper Ring, he sprinted along the Darkwing Dragon’s back and sprung forward like an artillery shell as his silhouette streaked through the sky.

As Nie Yan closed in on the Void Ray, he shot out a web line at its underside and swung back up into the air.

Seeing Nie Yan flying over towards him, Hunting Fox panicked. He knew what the consequences would be if he allowed Nie Yan to get in melee range.

Hunting Fox raised his staff and fired an Arcane Flame Burst at the web line.

BOOM! The Arcane Flame Burst burned through the web line.

However, Hunting Fox was too late. Nie Yan had already swung over to the Void Ray. Grabbing onto its behind, he flipped himself over onto its back. At this moment, an arrow came whizzing forward. Nie Yan did a sidestep and brandished Zennarde’s Sword, chopping it in half.

Looking over in the direction of the shooter, Nie Yan spotted a longbow wielding person loftily standing on a Wyvern’s back—Soaring Angel!

Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with killing intent. He was heavily outnumbered and in danger of being surrounded. Now clearly wasn’t the time to let his emotions get the best of him.

Repel!

Soaring Angel’s arrow had given Hunting Fox enough time to react. He waved his staff as a powerful repelling force swept out.

Just as he was about to be pushed away, Nie Yan activated Death Exemption, nullifying the effects of Repel. He dashed forward and slashed out Zennarde’s Sword toward Hunting Fox’s throat.

Hunting Fox only saw a silhouette flash before him. He opened his mouth in an attempt to cast Howl of Terror, but no sound came out. His body froze. As his eyes slowly lost their light, he still had an expression of disbelief on his face.

After killing Hunting Fox, Nie Yan slashed down on the Void Ray’s neck with Zennarde’s Sword.

As the blade pierced through flesh, the Void Ray let out a miserable cry and violently flailed back and forth.

"HAAAH!” Nie Yan ran Zennarde’s Sword through the Void Ray’s neck with Lacerate. Blood gushed out like a fountain.

The Void Ray let out a mournful cry and plummeted to the ground.

As the Darkwing Dragon flew over, Nie Yan leaped onto its back.

Soaring Angel believed the Void Ray could at least hold out for a few minutes. As long as they had a bit more time, they could’ve surrounded the Darkwing Dragon. However, he didn’t expect the situation to take such a drastic turn. Nie Yan had killed both Hunting Fox and the Void Ray in front of more than a hundred pairs of eyes, practically ignoring their existence. He bellowed out furiously, "CHASE HIM DOWN! DON’T LET HIM ESCAPE!”

Soaring Angel anxiously commanded his troops to surround the Darkwing Dragon. However, there was still quite a bit of distance between them and Nie Yan. It was already impossible to catch him.

Nie Yan had the Darkwing Dragon rapidly descend, causing its speed to increase by more than 30%.

The Darkwing Dragon was already incredibly fast. With its speed increasing even further, it was so fast no other flying mount could even come close to comparing.

The Thunder Eagles, Wind Serpents, and other flying mounts failed to stop the Darkwing Dragon. Everyone stared on helplessly as it got farther and farther away, the silhouette on its back standing tall and loftily.

After continuing the chase for several minutes, Soaring Angel and the others finally gave up. They could only watch the Darkwing Dragon disappear into the horizon.

"Boss! He’s gone!”

"Hunting Fox said Nirvana Flame’s Darkwing Dragon is a Rank 7 flying mount.” The players stared nervously at Soaring Angel, fearful he would explode in a rage.

Soaring Angel said in a deep voice, "Have our people start exploring the Phoenix Den and start gathering Rank 7 flying mounts.” His eyes brimmed with a deep killing intent. "Nirvana Flame… sooner or later, I’ll make you pay for today!”

"Understood!” Several players nodded. Exploring the Phoenix Den at their current level really wasn’t worth it. Their losses would definitely be huge. However, none of them dared to go against Soaring Angel’s words.

Nie Yan slowly descended with his Darkwing Dragon. This time around, even after killing so many flying mounts, including a Rank 5 one at that, his Darkwing Dragon had only received minor injuries. It was definitely an overwhelming victory.

After recalling the Darkwing Dragon back into his pet space, Nie Yan started traversing through the fog-filled forest, heading towards the designated location.

More than 5,000 Asskickers United players had gathered here. This was definitely a force to be reckoned with.

Seeing Nie Yan arrive, these guildmates all excitedly rushed over to greet him. "Boss, you’re here!”

"Boss, welcome!”

After nodding left and right, Nie Yan discovered a lot of these people were veteran members with most of them being familiar faces. The top members had all left to do their class advancement quests. Those left over were a little weaker, ranging from Level 90–99. Paladin of the Elegy was leading them.

"Boss, we’re all here like you asked,” Paladin of the Elegy reported.

"Mhm... " Nie Yan nodded. With everyone gathered here, he could carry out his plan.

Chapter 644 - Sub Legendary Blueprint

"How many flying mounts do we have on hand right now?” Nie Yan asked.

"Only three,” Paladin of the Elegy replied. Most of the first-rate members with flying mounts had already gone off to do their class advancement quests.

"Have them take to the air and scout out all the flying mounts in this area, then report back to me. We’re going to start capturing flying mounts,” Nie Yan said.

Paladin of the Elegy’s eyes blanked. Capturing flying mounts? How are we going to do that? However, he had full confidence in Nie Yan. He relayed Nie Yan’s orders to the three players with flying mounts, who flew up above the fog and started searching for other flying monsters in the vicinity.

"Have some people cut down some trees and get us some wood.”

Following Nie Yan’s arrangements, the team got to work. Some went around gathering materials and crafting simple cages to make a flying monster prison block. Others spread out and were put on lookout duty. They all couldn’t help but wonder what Nie Yan was trying to accomplish.

About half-an-hour later, the preparations were complete. Nie Yan summoned his Darkwing Dragon, who was already fully recovered from the previous fight.

The Darkwing Dragon’s appearance immediately attracted everyone’s attention. They looked up in awe at this all-imposing monster. Its enormous frame was completely covered in ashen scales reflecting a deep black lustre, as if it were cast from molten steel.

"Boss, is it just me or did your Darkwing Dragon get a lot bigger?”

"I don’t recall it having that many scales before.”

The players broke out in lively discussion. Ever since Nie Yan’s aerial battle with the forces of Alliance of Mages, the Darkwing Dragon had become quite famous. After getting to see it up close again, they were once more awed by its appearance.

"It ranked up,” Nie Yan confirmed with a faint smile.

Everyone was stunned. The Darkwing Dragon had ranked up? It was Rank 6 before. Didn’t that mean it was Rank 7 now!?

Excluding the Darkwing Dragon, the highest rank flying mount they had encountered so far was only Rank 5.

Nie Yan was truly a legend. Be it his Golden Dragon, Darkwing Dragon, or Zennarde’s Sword, everything he owned was shocking beyond belief.

There were rankings that could be found online. At the top of the rankings for pets, flying mounts, and weapons were the Golden Dragon, Darkwing Dragon, and Zennarde’s Sword respectively.

Seeing the Darkwing Dragon, everyone couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. At this moment, Nie Yan received a report. A Wind Serpent was spotted to the south.

Nie Yan hopped onto the Darkwing Dragon. It flapped its wings and took off for the south.

Several minutes later, a player riding an Achlys Dragonfly met up with Nie Yan.

"Boss!”

"Northsky, where’s the Wind Serpent?”

Northsky pointed Nie Yan in the right direction. Nie Yan looked over and saw a Wind Serpent perched on top of a tree among the low-hanging clouds. It was noticeably larger than ordinary Wind Serpents, with a mottled pattern design on its transparent wings, which looked similar to those of a dragonfly. On a branch of the tree also sat a nest with two large white eggs.

Nie Yan’s eyebrows raised in surprise. It was actually a Rank 5 Wind Serpent, not to mention it was buy one get two free. They had really hit it big this time!

In order to obtain a flying mount, you could either find an egg and have a Beast Tamer hatch it, or directly capture a full grown one and tame it. The second method was obviously much harder. Unless you could completely restrain it, the chances of success were near zero. Flying monsters were wild and dangerous. In the process of taming it, it could suddenly lash out and attack you.

"After I capture the Wind Serpent, make sure to go in and collect the two eggs,” Nie Yan said. He then flew over toward the Wind Serpent on his Darkwing Dragon.

"Understood!” Northsky replied. He was curious as to how Nie Yan was going to capture the Wind Serpent.

Noticing the Darkwing Dragon’s approach, the Wind Serpent immediately raised its head on high alert. It eyed both the rider and flying mount, letting out hissing sounds with its red tongue. Like a mother protecting her nest, this was the usual first warning.

The Darkwing Dragon let out a deep roar. This lowly Wind Serpent actually dared to challenge its prestige? A powerful dragon aura swept out.

The Wind Serpent trembled, shrinking back its body and appearing much less imposing than before. However, it refused to leave its nest.

Nie Yan jumped off the Darkwing Dragon and landed on the ground. After entering stealth, he sped toward the Wind Serpent and climbed up the tree.

After becoming a Luminous Dancer, Nie Yan’s Cloaking stat had sharply risen. The Wind Serpent was completely oblivious to his presence. It was fully focused on the Darkwing Dragon.

Nie Yan suddenly leaped forward. As his body flew through the air, he threw out a kick at the Wind Serpent’s neck. BANG! It was sent flying off the branch.

The Wind Serpent was stunned!

Nie Yan’s ambush was extremely effective. After honing himself in the Ancient World for so long, his attacks were pinpoint accurate. He could easily deal with any monsters below Rank 7.

Just as the Wind Serpent was about to upright itself, Nie Yan came plummeting down with a Backbreaker. KRRACK! Pulling out two Flesh Biters, he ruthlessly stabbed them into its body. PSSHFT! PSSFHTT! They pierced deep into its flesh. Unless they were carved out with a dagger, it was impossible to remove them.

The two Flesh Biters crippled the Wind Serpent, greatly restricting its movements.

Before the Wind Serpent had a chance to do anything, Nie Yan shot out a large web from his Cobweb Ring and firmly bound it up.

The Darkwing Dragon came down from the sky at Nie Yan’s command. Stretching out its claws, it flapped its wings and picked up the bound up Wind Serpent.

Nie Yan hopped onto the Darkwing Dragon and returned to the encampment.

At this moment back at their temporary camp, the players from Asskickers United were making wild guesses about how Nie Yan was going to capture a flying mount.

Thanks to the use of a Dispel Fog Scroll, the visibility around here was quite good. They spotted the Darkwing Dragon flying over from the distance.

"The boss is back!”

"Look, look! The Darkwing Dragon is carrying something in its claws!”

A moment later, they saw there was actually a Wind Serpent in the Darkwing Dragon’s claws. It was completely bound up, unable to move.

They were all dumbfounded. Just how did Nie Yan do it? Immobilizing a flying monster wasn’t a simple matter. People had tried using Web Scrolls to capture flying mounts before, but the webs were instantly ripped apart. What they didn’t know was that Nie Yan was using an upgraded Cobweb Ring. This was a secret he wouldn’t reveal. If enemy guilds like Angel Corps caught wind of it, they would also start searching all over the place for Cobweb Rings. After all, Cobweb Rings weren’t unique.

Nie Yan had his Darkwing Dragon gradually descend and drop the Wind Serpent into a cage. Afterwards, another player sealed it shut. This kind of cage might look secure, but it was actually too flimsy to hold a flying monster. However, the Wind Serpent was crippled by two Flesh Biters and bound by a large web. Locking it up in a cage was more for good measure than anything else.

"Elegy, come tame this Wind Serpent,” Nie Yan said.

"H-huh, me? No, it’s fine.” Paladin of the Elegy shook his head. "I think there are others who are more deserving.”

"Enough nonsense. Just come. There’ll be plenty of flying mounts for the others as well,” Nie Yan said.

Paladin of the Elegy didn’t dare to defy Nie Yan. He walked up to the cage and started taming the Wind Serpent. Generally, the taming process would take at least one to two hours. If you were unlucky, it could even last most of the day.

Apart from the Wind Serpent, there were also the two eggs. Nie Yan distributed them to two members who were particularly skilled and trustworthy. Naturally, only contracted members of the guild were eligible to obtain flying mounts. This couldn’t be helped. After all, flying mounts were a valuable asset. If an ordinary player obtained one and then withdrew from the guild, wouldn’t they be taking a huge loss? Every guild had similar rules. So, no one found this unfair.

Nie Yan continued to capture flying monsters, which were locked up in the cages one after another. About two hours later, an Asskickers United player succeeded in taming a flying mount. The Wind Serpent that Paladin of the Elegy was working on was a Rank 5 monster, so it would still take a little longer.

Nie Yan spent the whole day helping the members of Asskickers United get flying mounts. The harvests were better than he expected, having obtained 36 flying mounts altogether, three of which were Rank 5. Most of these flying monsters were captured and transported over with the Cobweb Ring; their injuries pretty light. Some arrived looking like pin cushions, with numerous Flesh Biters sticking out of them, as the Darkwing Dragon carried them back in its claws. After these flying monsters were tamed into mounts, they were brought back to the guild’s Beast Tamers for their injuries to be treated. Some would take a day or two to recover while others would take up to a week.

One flying mount after another was tamed. Asskickers United’s aerial force was rapidly expanding.

When evening approached, Nie Yan received some news from Xie Yao. She had successfully hatched her Phoenix. With this, Asskickers United had another Rank 6 flying mount.

As for what Xie Yao’s Phoenix was like, Nie Yan would have to wait for now. He was curious as to what sort of fortune she encountered in the middle of her class advancement quest to allow her Phoenix to hatch.

At one point, Nie Yan accidently killed a Rank 4 flying monster, causing his heart to ache. Picking up the loot it dropped, he discovered a pleasant surprise.

Crossbow Enhancement Blueprint (Sub Legendary)

It was filled with all sorts of drawings and design outlines. After learning this blueprint, he could upgrade crossbow-type weapons, sharply raising their attack power and other properties. Nie Yan immediately thought of his Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow. Its attack power was already pitifully low at this stage of the game. It was just that he hadn’t yet found a suitable replacement. If he could upgrade it, even better, then he wouldn’t have to look for another crossbow.

Chapter 645 - Even Dragons Must Submit!

"If I want to upgrade my Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow, I’ll have to return to Calore to get the materials first, then take some time to do some research.”

Nie Yan glanced at the time. It was about time to log off. After exiting the game, he stepped out of the game capsule.

"You’re out now? Good, come! Let’s go have some breakfast,” Xie Yao greeted with a splendid smile.

Nie Yan nodded. After brushing his teeth and washing up, he sat down with Xie Yao at the breakfast table. The rays of the early morning sun filtering through the window appeared especially bright. Xie Yao was as beautiful as ever in her bright yellow sundress. Her calm and gentle smile brought a feeling of warmth to his heart.

After constantly chasing the apex inside the game, being able to come out and enjoy this kind of atmosphere in real life was an indescribable bliss.

"So, how is your Phoenix?” Nie Yan asked. He couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. It had been a while since he had last checked up on Xie Yao’s progress. Luckily, she was understanding. Knowing her significant other was ever busy, she’d vowed to do the same in an effort to be of use to him, to stand proudly by his side.

"It’s a Rank 6 flying mount that specializes in fire magic. Thanks to my influence, it knows a bit of light magic too. It also has the Flame Rebirth skill. Its defense and health are much lower than your Darkwing Dragon’s, but its magic abilities are top tier,” Xie Yao replied. She had no complaints about her Phoenix’s strength.

After inquiring about the Phoenix’s specific stats, Nie Yan had a more or less rough understanding of it. The Phoenix and the Darkwing Dragon were two different types of flying mounts. The former specialized in offensive magic, while the latter leaned more toward close combat with high defense and resistance to magic. Its physical attacks far surpassed equal rank flying mounts.

If the two fought on equal footing, the Darkwing Dragon would definitely come out the victor. Dragons were well-known for their astonishing resilience to magic. The Phoenix’s ordinary attacks would have no effect on the Darkwing Dragon. If it allowed the Darkwing Dragon to get close, and the two scuffled at close-range, it would be at even more of a disadvantage. So, in the rankings for various creatures, the Darkwing Dragon stood above the Phoenix.

"It’ll take me another 10 days to finish my class advancement quest,” Xie Yao informed. Thinking about how she was going to become a Holy Magister, she was elated. She would finally have the qualifications to be of help to Nie Yan.

In all of Conviction, Holy Magisters were an absolutely awe-inspiring class. Their powerful magic could decimate a battlefield and reap countless lives.

The most important factor that differentiated Magisters from Great Mages was that a Magister had a much deeper comprehension of the essence of magic, allowing them to tap into taboo powers. Some powerful forbidden magic could destroy the heavens and upend the earth. Holy Magisters specialized in light magic. So, the damage they dealt to creatures of darkness far exceeded that of other Magisters.

Not just Xie Yao, but many more other Magisters would emerge from Asskickers United. They would become the guild’s most frightening force.

At present, the other guilds including Angel Corps only had a few members doing their class advancement quests, lagging far behind Asskickers United.

Before long, Angel Corps would realize that prioritizing capturing flying mounts over the fostering of Master Class players was a costly mistake. By neglecting the roots and pursuing the peak, the advantage they had built up so far would slowly erode away.

"After becoming a Holy Magister, you should be able to learn one or two forbidden spells. When the time comes and you can’t decide which ones to pick, come ask me,” Nie Yan said. He had a bit of knowledge on the forbidden spells of Magisters.

"Okay!” Xie Yao nodded enthusiastically. She had complete faith in Nie Yan.

After finishing breakfast, Nie Yan and Xie Yao left for school, where they headed off for their respective classes.

As soon as Nie Yan stepped into the classroom, he instantly became the center of attention. Everyone stared at him with strange expressions. Especially notable were Fu Guangtao and them, who looked at Nie Yan in fear before quickly turning their heads away.

Nie Yan raised his brows in surprise. He suspiciously examined himself to make sure there was nothing on him before walking over to his desk.

Ever since finding out that he was Nirvana Flame inside Conviction, the students in the command faculty viewed him in a new light. They had a hard time treating him as the same low-key, quiet person as before.

"Good morning, Boss!” a student greeted. Thanks to Xu Yan’s influence, he had entered Asskickers United and was already a full-fledged member.

Nie Yan’s footsteps froze in place as a wry smile tugged at his face. He had no idea how to reply. He could already imagine how ridiculous it would look if more than half the class started calling him boss from now on.

"Morning.” Nie Yan nodded, deciding to respond the same as he normally would.

"Good morning, Boss!”

"Good morning!”

...

Even Chu Chenghao, who had quite a bit of status in the class, greeted Nie Yan in the same manner. They all revered him from the bottom of their hearts.

Even though Nie Yan could tell Chu Chenghao and the others were sincere in their greetings, they were still his fellow classmates. Being called boss by so many of them left him feeling uncomfortable.

As Nie Yan sat down on his seat, Xu Yan inched himself closer.

"Boss! What do you think? Five people from our command faculty have already joined Asskickers United, and another eight are planning to join soon. Soon enough, almost everyone in the class will be calling you boss,” Xu Yan smiled brightly.

Nie Yan waved his hand with a helpless smile. "You guys should just call me Nie Yan. I feel my whole body cringing every time I hear someone in class calling me boss.”

Xu Yan laughed out loud. However, he sympathized a little. Perhaps after reaching Nie Yan’s heights, one would no longer care for such forms of addresses.

What Nie Yan wanted was something more genuine. Rather than having his classmates feel apprehension about approaching him, he’d wanted to grow more powerful from the shadows and keep his low-profile so there wasn’t such a barrier keeping him from making real connections. Alas, it was too late for that now.

"Boss, should we tell Undying Scoundrel and Big Sis Muslin about you being a student here? Besides Heavenly Kings and the student union, no one else can match their influence in the Top Military Academy. After getting beaten so badly last time, those guys from Bloodfiends have plummeted in popularity. They’re already no longer the same as before,” Xu Yan said.

"Tell them?” Nie Yan thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Maybe in the future. Let them know they have full authority to recruit more members into Azure Windchime. However, the restrictions inside the guild are still the same, you can only pull in new members from the outside. Focus on quality over quantity. If they have any questions, they can contact me inside the game.”

"Alright, I’ll immediately call Big Sis Muslin!” Xu Yan excitedly said. If Azure Windchime started recruiting members from within the Top Military Academy, who knew how many people would flock to join. A crazy recruiting spree would sweep through the entire school.

When Nie Yan, Xu Yan, and the others were chatting, Fu Guangtao came over. His complexion looked a bit unnatural, as if he hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep all night. His eyes were filled with nervousness.

Seeing Fu Guangtao walk over, Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe immediately narrowed their eyes. Most of the class shifted their attention over. At present, more than half the people in the command faculty were Nie Yan’s. If Fu Guangtao tried to pull any tricks, he would immediately be crushed.

Fu Guangtao’s face flickered with various emotions. Ever since he found out Nie Yan was Nirvana Flame, he felt like his life was over, his mind shrouded in a haze. Nie Yan was undoubtedly the most powerful person in the entire Viridian Empire. If Nie Yan wanted him gone, all he would have to do was give the command, and several dozen high level Thieves would hunt him down until he was slaughtered back to Level 0. This was most definitely possible with Asskickers United’s strength.

For the past day, Fu Guangtao felt an immense weight bearing down on his chest, pushing him to the brink of a mental breakdown. He couldn’t help but get paranoid. Perhaps, Nie Yan had already given out the order to have him hunted down. It was just that they hadn’t started yet.

Nie Yan shot Fu Guangtao a disinterested glance, his expression as unmoving as Mt. Tai. After being the guild leader of Asskickers United for so long, he already possessed the air of a bigshot.

Even in the face of perilous danger, Nie Yan could still maintain absolute calm, to say nothing of the present situation. Fu Guangtao was a small fry among small fry, one he could hardly deign to pay attention to. A heaven-favoured talent? A top ranking student in the entire nation? A 1 out of 10,000 genius who managed to enter the Top Military Academy? In his eyes, they were simply first-year freshmen, immature brats who had yet to gain any life experience.

When Fu Guangtao saw Nie Yan’s appearance, he finally understood something. Previously, when he mocked Nie Yan, he had really been asking for trouble. The reason Nie Yan always ignored him wasn’t that he was scared but rather he couldn’t be bothered with a nobody like him.

Fu Guangtao finally threw away the last bit of his pride and arrogance. He lowered his head and said in a humble voice, "Nie Yan, please forgive me. I was truly blind. I don’t expect you to let me off the hook completely, but on the account of us all being classmates, I’d be really grateful if you would go lenient on me.”

Xu Yan, Fei Zhe, and the others were all dumbstruck. They didn’t expect that someone like Fu Guangtao, who had his head so far up his ass that all he could see was his own bullshit, would suddenly take the initiative to apologize. Their eyes widened in shock.

However, thinking about it, if they were in Fu Guangtao’s shoes, they would likely do the same. The strength behind Nie Yan was simply too overwhelming. They weren’t even on the same plane of existence as him. He was a giant who could crush them to death with a tap of his finger. Offending him was tantamount to courting death. In the command faculty, even dragons would have to submit to him.

Some people should never be provoked.

Chapter 646 - A Huge Stir

Nie Yan had long since anticipated Fu Guangtao would lower his head. Few people would be willing to stick it out until the very end in the face of absolute strength.

Fu Guangtao had two paths ahead of him. The first was to continue butting heads with Nie Yan. There was only one possible conclusion to this path; he would be PKed back to Level 0 until he ultimately deleted his Conviction account. This was something he couldn’t bear. Close to half-a-year’s worth of blood, sweat, and tears would go down the drain. The second path was to plead for Nie Yan’s forgiveness. But from then on, he could never raise his head in front of his fellow students again.

Even though Fu Guangtao was still internally quite conflicted, he still decided to lower his head to Nie Yan. This was his only option.

"Fu Guangtao, weren’t you always so arrogant? When did you become so meek?” Xu Yan sneered.

Xu Yan’s words cut like a sharp blade. Fu Guangtao clenched his fists. He was deeply reluctant, but he could only submit. He turned back to Nie Yan, who still hadn’t given a response.

Xia Tianyu and Fei Zhe were about to say something as well. They also loathed Fu Guangtao and wanted to get a few jabs in too.

Nie Yan raised his hand, signalling Xia Tianyu and Fei Zhe to back down. He glanced at Fu Guangtao and said in an insipid tone, "If it happens again, you know the consequences.”

"Thank you…” Fu Guangtao suddenly felt a huge weight lifted off his shoulders. Shooting a grateful look at Nie Yan, he made a deep bow, then quietly trudged away. He really didn’t have the face to stay any longer.

After Fu Guangtao apologized to Nie Yan, Zhao Shiyu and Bai Jun couldn’t hold back any longer either. They also went up to plead for his forgivenesses. From now on, these people would never dare to stir trouble with him again.

When Zhao Shiyu and the others left, Nie Yan withdrew his gaze. He pulled open his monitor and started browsing the web, the Top Military Academy’s forums, and so on.

The drama in the command faculty had finally come to an end. Nie Yan lazily stretched his limbs. He could finally get some peace and quiet.

The sunlight shining through the window gave him a warm feeling. He let out a yawn, on the verge of falling asleep.

"Bo- er, I mean Nie Yan, quickly look at the forums!” Xu Yan quickly corrected himself after Nie Yan shot him a glare.

"What’s up?” Nie Yan asked.

"The school’s social board, you’re famous!” Xu Yan exclaimed.

"What!? War God Lei Su challenges the command faculty’s Nie Yan. Why is he challenging you all of a sudden?” Fei Zhe cried out in shock.

Xia Tianyu turned to Nie Yan and asked, "Do you know him?”

Nie Yan shook his head. This was out of left field for him too. He had heard a few things about War God Lei Su before. Lei Su was some kind of fighting champion and widely recognized as the strongest student in the Top Military Academy. He was undoubtedly an influential figure. However, why would a person like that suddenly challenge him? This was too strange. He was only a first-year student and kept to himself. By all rights, no one outside the command faculty should even know his name. The only exception, of course, was his love-dovey behaviour with Xie Yao.

"A love rival?” Xu Yan’s eyes lit up. This was certainly a possibility. After all, Xie Yao was undoubtedly a top beauty among the first years. Meanwhile, War God Lei Su was a famous playboy. Perhaps he had set his eyes on her.

"Yeah, that might be it,” Fei Zhe agreed.

"Stop making random guesses. We don’t even know if this is really him,” Nie Yan said. He still maintained a cool-head in this situation. Coming up with wild theories before getting the facts straight was definitely a foolish action.

News of War God Lei Su’s challenge to Nie Yan spread like wildfire, quickly disseminating among the student populace. Practically everyone in the Top Military Academy knew Lei Su. As for Nie Yan, only a few had heard his name in passing. He was a freshman who scored first overall in this year’s entrance exams. But how was he worthy of making the War God take action?

Nie Yan instantly became a hot topic of discussion. Suddenly, everyone in the school knew about him. The person in question only felt endless grief. This was the last thing he wanted. He rubbed his temples in annoyance, feeling a headache coming on. Just what the hell was going on!?”

Oftentimes, matters would develop outside of one’s expectations. When it occurred, there was nothing you could do to run away.

After sulking over his bad luck, Nie Yan could only helplessly accept reality. Since War God Lei Su was challenging him, he would have to respond.

I should just directly refuse! This sort of pointless battle has no meaning anyway, Nie Yan thought.

If people knew what Nie Yan was thinking, the entire Top Military Academy would erupt into an uproar. He actually dared to ignore the War God’s challenge!? This was the same as giving the other side no face!

Nie Yan suddenly recalled how Lei Su had approached Muslin about joining Asskickers United last time during the in-game school gathering. However, before joining the guild, Lei Su wanted to meet him face-to-face first. Just what was this guy planning?

Most of the students in the Top Military Academy weren’t aware that Nie Yan was Nirvana Flame. Their information was fairly limited. However, people at Lei Su’s level likely already knew his secret identity. Luckily, it was unlikely these individuals would go around telling others.

Nie Yan reconsidered for a moment before deciding to still refuse. This kind of duel wasn’t his cup of tea. It was like two gladiators fighting in a colosseum for the entertainment of the crowd. It held no meaning. If Lei Su had challenged him in private, he might have been willing to accept. After all, this kind of opportunity was hard to come by. He wanted to experience Lei Su’s strength first-hand and see where his own fighting skills were on the totem pole.

The student populace were all discussing the duel between Lei Su and Nie Yan. The entire Top Military Academy was bustling with noise and excitement. They all wanted to see if Nie Yan really was that outstanding for the War God himself to issue out a challenge on the forums without a care for his own status.

At this moment, in the governing faculty, Xie Yao and five of her female classmates were chatting together. They were talking this and that, anything that crossed their minds. After familiarizing themselves with each other, they’d become a lot less reserved around each other and so had much more to talk about.

Several of the girls in this group were especially lively. Xie Yao sat on one side listening to the others talk, maintaining a lady-like smile while occasionally chiming in with a word or two.

A few of the male students in the class repeatedly snuck glances at the group. The person attracting their attention was undoubtedly Xie Yao. Her temperament was refined and gentle. She was so elegant one couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Although she was reserved, the other girls around her naturally paled in comparison, simply serving as background extras to compare her beauty to.

"Did you girls hear? Apparently, War God Lei Su issued out a challenge on the forums to a first year from the command faculty. The whole school is talking about it right now,” one girl gossiped.

"Really? Challenged by the War God? Are you sure? Are you? Are you?”

"It should be, yes. His challenge is stickied at the top of the school’s forums. The poster is confirmed to be him, no doubt.”

"What kind of background does that first-year have?”

Hearing these girls mentioning the command faculty, Xie Yao’s ears perked up as a trace of anxiety flashed across her face. That student couldn’t possibly be Nie Yan, right?

"Ehh, Xie Yao, didn’t you say your boyfriend is in the command faculty? His name is Nie Yan, right?”

"If I heard correctly, Lei Su is challenging someone called Nie Yan.”

All the girls shifted their attention to Xie Yao.

"Yeah, that’s him… I’ll give him a call to ask what’s going on,” Xie Yao replied. She picked up her phone and walked off to a corner to call Nie Yan.

"What kind of person is that Nie Yan?”

"No idea.”

These girls whispered to each other. They were quite curious about Nie Yan. Someone like Xie Yao naturally had to have an outstanding boyfriend. For him to be worthy enough of being challenged by War God Lei Su, he was definitely no ordinary person.

After talking with Nie Yan, Xie Yao hung up and walked back to the girls.

"I just asked, it’s him,” Xie Yao said, as if this were nothing out of the ordinary.

"Aren’t you worried about your boyfriend?” a girl asked. Why didn’t Xie Yao appear the least bit perturbed aftering finding out this shocking piece of news?

"Yeah, his opponent is War God Lei Su! The number one expert in the whole Top Military Academy! Your boyfriend is only a freshman. No matter how strong he is, how could he possibly be a match for Lei Su!?”

These girls were clearly fans of Lei Su. Then again, who wasn’t?

"Right, Xie Yao, who do you think will win?”

They all stared at Xie Yao, their eyes glistening in anticipation as they awaited her reply.

"I don’t really know much about Lei Su, but I think my boyfriend will probably win,” Xie Yao replied. She had absolute faith in Nie Yan. Let alone Lei Su, even if the Top Military Academy’s military instructor came over, she still believed Nie Yan would win.

"Ah, what else would you expect from a girl head over heels in love,” a girl said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, I don’t think Xie Yao’s boyfriend will win. I heard ever since Lei Su first entered the Top Military Academy, he’s never once lost a fight. It’s been like this for four whole years.”

Despite doubt being cast on her judgement, Xie Yao simply smiled. She still firmly believed Nie Yan would win. No one else could convince her otherwise.

"We won’t know for sure until it actually happens.”

Even though the girls were absolutely confident Lei Su would win, under Xie Yao’s perseverance, a trace of doubt surfaced in their hearts. Xie Yao didn’t seem like the type to delude herself. She likely had good reason for her confidence. They all wanted to see what Xie Yao’s boyfriend was like, hoping he wasn’t just another boy with a pretty face.

After finding out Xie Yao had a boyfriend, the male students in the class despaired. This was too much of a blow for their hearts to take. They all secretly hoped her boyfriend would get mercilessly beaten up by Lei Su. Only that would ease the pain of their broken hearts. And maybe, just maybe, if their luck was good, she would then even break up with him. They would suddenly stand a chance again! Oh, the thought!

Of course, these hopes were no more than fantasies, something that would never come to pass in reality.

The entire Top Military Academy was looking forward to seeing who would come out the victor. Would Lei Su continue his unbeaten streak of four years, or would Nie Yan create a massive upset and take the belt from the king of the cage?

Chapter 647 - Remodeled Cavalry Crossbow

To Nie Yan’s shock and dismay, no matter where he walked in the Top Military Academy, he would attract the attention of all those around. From time to time, their whispers and hushed voices would enter his ears.

It caused Nie Yan a great headache, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Since the date of the match was set to a month later, Nie Yan hadn’t decided whether to accept it or not for the time being. He couldn’t make heads or tails of Lei Su’s intentions. Since Lei Su was challenging him, why a month from now and not today? Little did Nie Yan know that Lei Su was currently undergoing a strict training regime. As he was right now, he wasn’t confident in taking on Nie Yan. If the students of the Top Military Academy knew this, who knew what kind of reaction they would have?

As per usual, Nie Yan continued going to classes. However, his daily school life had become incredibly hectic.

Come evening, Nie Yan helped Asskickers United catch 56 more flying mounts. When all of them fully recovered from their injuries, the guild would have more than 100 flying mounts.

Asskickers United actively prepared for war. After creating a force 100,000 men and several hundred siege engines strong, they set out toward Colt. A dark cloud of dust filled the air. As far as the eye could see, soldiers armed to the teeth trotted forward in formation.

There were 20 guilds located in Colt, at least 10 of which had been acquired by the Monet Financial Group. They controlled 70% of the strongholds in the territory. When these guilds joined together, they made a formidable force.

Asskickers United’s 300 Armoured Ice Catapults and 100 trebuchets gradually advanced on the plains. This kind of sight was truly shocking to behold.

Seeing Asskickers United’s enormous army heading over there, the guilds in Colt all descended into panic. They mobilized their armies as fast as they could to help defend their home city.

The cloud of war hung over Colt.

The Monet Financial Group were preparing to launch an assault on Calore and deliver a ruthless blow to Asskickers United. But before they could even finish their preparations, the enemy had somehow beaten them to the punch, catching them with their pants down.

The Shoro Stronghold. This stronghold belonged to the second largest guild in Colt, Dragon Universe. It occupied one of the major routes to Calore, which was why the Monet Financial Group spent an enormous sum of gold to fortify its defenses. The 20-meter-high walls were a great deterrence; anyone who saw it would think twice before attacking it.

About 8,000 troops were stationed on the walls. Elsewhere in the stronghold, three transfer points were up and running. As soon as a fight broke out, the 10 guilds in Colt acquired by the Monet Financial Group would dispatch at least 100,000 players over. There were also five Magic Cannons placed on the walls. Though they were quite powerful, they were still somewhat lacking compared to the Gnome Magic Cannons. The most important point was that there were too few of them. In front of Asskickers United’s several hundred siege engines, they might as well not exist.

The Shoro Stronghold was in sight. As the 100 trebuchets advanced forward, trying to get into position, the Magic Cannons on the walls started opening fire. Several shells arced through the air and blew up two trebuchets. But many of the shells were off target and struck the ground instead.

After coming to a halt outside the stronghold, the 100 trebuchets were quickly assembled. The artillery teams then loaded the buckets with large boulders.

Nie Yan stood at the peak of a mountain neighbouring the plains. Looking down below, Asskickers United’s troops stretched out across the battlefield. Then further off in the distance was the Shoro Stronghold, whose defenses appeared completely inadequate. His heart was filled with pride and heroic spirit. His conquest of the entire Viridian Empire would start here!

「Start the assault!」Nie Yan passed down the order.

Immediately, several hundred boulders were launched in the air, whizzing through the sky before raining down on the Shoro Stronghold. A section of the walls was instantly obliterated with rubble flying everywhere, and the five Magic Cannons were destroyed without a trace.

The Shoro Stronghold shook and groaned under the bombardment of the trebuchets. After several volleys, its walls completely collapsed into ruins.

The stronghold was like a maiden stripped of her clothing, buck naked and defenseless in front of the players of Asskickers United.

Nie Yan didn’t order his troops to rush in immediately but rather had the Armoured Ice Catapults continue advancing in order to minimize casualties.

After being shelled by the Armoured Ice Catapults again and again, the players in the Shoro Stronghold were almost completely wiped out.

This was an overwhelming defeat! There was no need for Nie Yan to take action himself. As his army swept through the other strongholds near Colt, this likely wouldn’t change. He had absolute faith in the success of this conquest.

Asskickers United had declared a full-out war against the Monet Financial Group. Nie Yan had no idea how they would react next, but they definitely wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Nie Yan oversaw the progress of the war on one side and researched on how to improve the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow on the other. He had already had Delfina duplicate the Crossbow Enhancement Blueprint, which he then learned himself.

Nie Yan had the players under him gather a few metals so he could start the remodeling process of the Cavalry Crossbow.

The Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow was extremely elaborate. Its exceptionally sturdy metal body gave off a shocking sense of power. Its only flaw was its weight. It required both hands to hold up, and if your Strength wasn’t high enough, just lifting it up would be difficult.

Following the blueprint, Nie Yan started making minor adjustments to the Cavalry Crossbow, replacing the middle section with the most flexible Pallenium, which was an extremely rare type of metal. Asskickers United’s guild treasury only had three ingots in total. Furthermore, the cable also had to be replaced.

Nie Yan completed these tasks with the utmost meticulousness. His Engineering, Forging, and other skills had already reached Master rank. So, as a master of all trades, it was fairly easy for him.

After capturing the Shoro Stronghold, Asskickers United set out for the next stronghold. Nie Yan followed behind the army while focusing on remodeling his crossbow.

About six hours later, the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow’s appearance had undergone a drastic change. The lath looked sleek and slender. It was much more flexible than before. As soon as it was drawn back, it would be full of tension. At the same time, because it was outfitted with a Pallenium body, its weight was greatly reduced. So, it was much more convenient to carry around.

The remodeled Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow looked like a weapon that could conquer all. Even the strongest of heart would reel in shock when they saw it.

It would take at least another five or six hours to completely remodel the Cavalry Crossbow. Not to mention Nie Yan was still missing a few rare metals. Even though he could supplement it with ordinary materials, the effects wouldn’t be as good. Plus, the remodeling was a one time thing. If he was going to do this, he was going to do it to the best of his ability. Otherwise, if later down the line he wanted to further upgrade it, he would be playing a game of catch up.

Nie Yan had Guo Huai send people to find the metals he needed.

Nie Yan wondered what the properties of the fully remodeled Cavalry Crossbow would look like.

Seeing the Cavalry Crossbow which was still a work-in-progress, Nie Yan suddenly thought of something. If the crossbow could be remodeled, shouldn’t the same be possible for the bolts?

The damage from ordinary crossbow bolts was fairly limited. If he could think of a way to create more powerful ones, it would greatly increase his damage.

Nie Yan started forging the leftover Pallenium into crossbow bolts.

Nie Yan came up with three types of bolts. The first was a three-pronged head with a bleed effect. As soon as it hit, it would deal additional bleed damage. The second was replicating the Flesh Biters, with an inner mechanism that released hooks upon impact. As soon as they pierced the target, they would be near impossible to pull out. The third had a sharp spindle-shaped bolt head, the inside of which would be filled with poison. It could deal extremely potent damage to a target.

Apart from these three types of bolts, if Nie Yan thought of any more in the future, he could simply create them.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan got to work. Crafting these bolts wasn’t too strenuous for him. He could easily bring these ideas to life.

It was a pity the effects of these three different bolts couldn’t be combined into one. If he attempted this, not only would the power be greatly reduced, but the process would be extremely complicated and tedious. He could only give up on the idea for now. He would have to use different bolts for different types of situations.

After a while, Nie Yan created a bolt with a three-pronged head. He engraved it with all types of runes, greatly increasing its killing power.

You have created a new type of crossbow bolt. Please give it a name.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. "Let’s just call it a Bleed Bolt.”

You have successfully created a Bleed Bolt. Forging, Engineering, Tinkering +580 skill proficiency.

Nie Yan examined the properties of this Bleed Bolt.

Bleed Bolt: Attack +800, 30% Bleed Effect, Duration: 5 minutes.

This Bleed Bolt was amazing, especially the bleed duration. Five minutes was extremely shocking.

Nie Yan didn’t expect making this sort of modification would have such a great effect. Not to mention the attack stat was also pretty great.

Apart from the Bleed Bolt, Nie Yan also crafted the two other types of bolts, naming them Flesh Biter Bolt and Venom Bolt respectively. There was no need to spend a lot of time on their names. What mattered was that they worked. He had Guo Huai deliver a large pile of metal ingots, crating out bolt after bolt. This type of work was fairly simple.

The Flesh Biter Bolt could inflict a crippling effect while the Venom Bolt could inflict poison damage.

Nie Yan crafted about 120 Bleed Bolts, 200 Flesh Biter Bolts, and 100 Venom Bolts.

Creating these bolts took Nie Yan about three hours. He was pretty skilled in crafting anyway, and he wasn’t lacking materials. Whenever he had some free time in the future, he would craft even more of them.

Nie Yan stored these new bolts in different quivers, then placed them in his bag. In the future, he would use them when the situation called for it. After fully remodeling his Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow, he would see a huge improvement to his ranged combat ability.

While Nie Yan was crafting his bolts, Asskickers United had already swept through 11 strongholds, causing the guilds in Colt to piss their pants in terror and despair over their impending deaths. As soon as they saw Asskickers United’s army coming, they cursed their parents for not giving them an extra pair of legs.

Delfina is a slave girl Nie Yan liberated. She was first mentioned in Chapter 455

Chapter 648 - Necromancer Vorderman

Nie Yan began reconstruction efforts on the several ruined strongholds Asskickers United had conquered. Advancing at a steady pace, he planned to eventually swallow up all the guilds near Colt. As their assault continued, compelled by circumstances, some of the guilds that hadn’t joined up with the Monet Financial Group gave up any resistance and surrendered to Asskickers United.

Only after putting forward extremely stringent conditions did Nie Yan allow them to merge into Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, the War God Tribe, and the other guilds in the alliance. These guilds numbered more than 100,000 players altogether. After fully absorbing them, the strength of the alliance would increase by quite a bit.

Another day flew by. As evening approached, Nie Yan had Asskickers United’s troops garrison in a recently reconstructed stronghold, bolstering its defenses. They would continue with their war efforts the next day.

What left Nie Yan a little baffled was that the Monet Financial Group showed no signs of movement.

The Monet Financial Group was like a predator hidden in the darkness. Asskickers United had already provoked it. It was simply waiting for an opportunity to strike. As long as the timing was right, it would leap out and take a ruthless bite out of Asskickers United.

...

Undead Temple.

Few players were aware that such a place existed on the surface world.

The Undead Temple was located in a foggy abyss on the northwest border of the Viridian Empire. It was hidden deep within a labyrinth with an ever changing structure. Even if players somehow cleared it, entering the temple was still incredibly difficult since most of the monsters that spawned there were over Level 100.

A group of several teams had once made their way through the labyrinth and stumbled upon this temple. However, they were all wiped out without exception. After learning about the existence of the Undead Temple, God Executioner Sword never stopped sending people over to explore it.

Most recently, Qin Han and Matchless Divine Sword, the guild leader of God Executioner Sword, had entered this place. After passing the Undead Temple’s defenses, they finally reached the inner hall. Their losses on the way were disastrous. Since the undead here were especially hostile against anything holy, they would ignore the Warriors fighting for their aggro and rush straight at the Paladins and Priests. With the healers first to fall, the others soon followed. In the end, only five players managed to enter the Undead Temple.

The interior of the Undead Temple was filled with all sorts of strange sculptures. At the front of the hall was the carving of a large skull with green flames flickering in its eye sockets.

Qin Han’s face was hidden behind a black cloak. His eyes scanned the surroundings with both suspicion and curiosity.

As soon as he set foot into the Undead Temple, he felt a voice beckoning to him. He couldn’t help but walk toward it.

"Boss, what’s going on?” The other players felt something was off about Qin Han.

Clad in the armour of a Warrior, Matchless Divine Sword wanted to say something.

Qin Han raised his hand and said, "All of you, remain on standby.”

Everyone halted their steps. Staring at Qin Han with looks of bewilderment, they watched him continue walking forward.

The green flames in the eye sockets of the giant skull at the front of the hall suddenly flared to life.

Qin Han walked through a small, barely noticeable doorway. A shabby coffin appeared before him, emitting a ghastly death energy. It was already completely rotten through. He could vaguely make out the figure of the corpse lying inside. A quest he received some time ago came to mind.

Are you willing to follow the will of death and revive Necromancer Vorderman?

Qin Han walked up to the coffin and pushed open the lid. A pungent smell assaulted his nostrils, causing him to retch in disgust.

Qin Han gazed at the corpse lying inside the coffin. It was dressed in extremely shabby robes. Its bones were dyed a deathly gray colour and were covered with chunks of rotten flesh. It was extremely ugly. This corpse in front of him was none other than Necromancer Vorderman.

Qin Han hesitated for a moment. If he went through with reviving Necromancer Vorderman, it meant he would be turning his back on the light and become the public enemy of the entire Viridian Empire.

For the sake of power, after thinking for a moment, he gritted his teeth and extended his hand. In his grasp was a black pendant which emitted a shadowy radiance. A black light converged on his hand and slowly stretched out toward the corpse before finally entering it.

A moment later, two green flames lit up in Necromancer Vorderman’s eye sockets. His fingers slowly started moving as his gaze fell onto Qin Han.

Qin Han immediately felt a cold and gloomy energy lock onto him, rendering him immobile.

Inside the main hall of the Undead Temple, Matchless Divine Sword and several other players were anxiously waiting.

"Guild Leader, Qin Han has been gone for so long. How come he still hasn’t come back? Do you think something happened?” a player asked.

"Yeah, should we go in and take a look?”

"No, we wait.” Matchless Divine Sword shook his head. If something had truly happened, a notification would’ve popped up.

"Look, it’s Qin Han! He’s back!”

Matchless Divine Sword and the others looked over to the front of the room. There was some difference between now and when Qin Han first went inside. For one, he had taken off his black cloak, and there was now someone standing beside him. This person was wearing his cloak. Their face was completely covered. It was impossible to make out their appearance.

As Matchless Divine Sword and the others walked over, they immediately felt a cold and gloomy aura sweep over them.

"Boss, you’re finally out!”

Matchless Divine Sword glanced at the strange person standing beside Qin Han. He wanted to ask what happened inside, and who this newcomer was.

However, before anything could be said, Qin Han spoke, "We’re going back.”

Matchless Divine Sword swallowed his words back down. Even though his heart was filled with doubt, he didn’t dare to ask. Qin Han didn’t like his subordinates asking too many questions. He could only shrug off the eerie feeling coming from the cloaked figure.

The group disappeared behind the entrance of the Undead Temple.

...

With the situation in Colt more or less under control, Nie Yan returned to Calore and headed for his personal storage.

Nie Yan planned to sort out his personal storage. As he walked through the streets, he felt like the sky today was especially gloomy. Thick, black clouds prevented any sunlight from penetrating through. Because of this, the temperature plummeted way below normal, as a cold wind swept through.

Nie Yan recalled a period in the previous timeline when the entire Viridian Empire was enveloped in black clouds. Even during the day, it was as dark as night. This lasted for close to a month.

Nie Yan suddenly thought of something. "Is that event about to happen...?”

The new expansion, Vengeance of the Undead!

Of course, this was only a guess on his part. If a new expansion had come out, there would’ve been an announcement. Perhaps this black cloud cover was nothing more than an ordinary weather phenomenon. After all, the skies over Calore changed quite often.

Chapter 649 - Failed Prophecy

Nie Yan didn’t know why, but he felt an uneasy premonition gripping at his heart, telling him something big was about to happen.

This intense intense feeling nagged at his mind, leaving him unable to focus on anything else.

In the previous timeline, the storyline of the Vengeance of the Undead expansion started out with a player stumbling upon Necromancer Vorderman’s Necklace of Death. Slowly corrupted by its influence, they transformed into a powerful Necromancer. Reviving Vorderman, the two raised an army of undead and took over a stronghold. With the stronghold as their strategic point, they erected a tower that flooded the sky with endless death energy, turning the place into a paradise for the undead.

What happened after was something straight out of a horror story. The undead started swarming out to the nearby strongholds. Every person they killed would be reborn an undead. Their army grew larger and larger, to the point of becoming an uncontrollable disaster which threatened to engulf the entire continent. Both the Viridian and Satreen Empires mobilized into action. With the Paladins and Priests as the main fighting force, the players and NPCs slowly repelled the undead back bit by bit. However, though the lands could bask in sunlight again and new life was born, many NPCs had died fighting against these forces of darkness. This ultimately led to players gaining much more influence, allowing them to control the political power in both nations.

Nie Yan wasn’t sure if someone had obtained Necromancer Vorderman’s Necklace of Death. If this was indeed the case, it would probably be the start of the Vengeance of the Undead expansion.

Once the expansion went live, it would be an unprecedented disaster of apocalyptic scale.

Nie Yan suddenly thought of his Great Prophecy skill. He wondered if it would be useful in predicting this disaster.

Nie Yan arrived at a square outside Asskickers United’s office in Calore. Opening his skill window, he activated Great Prophecy. A pillar of white light fell down from the sky and completely enveloped him inside. A warm light energy slowly spread out through his body.

Just as Nie Yan was about to sense something, a powerful dark energy suddenly corroded the light energy from Great Prophecy. BANG! He felt a huge blow to his chest akin to his heart being split apart.

Nie Yan staggered back and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Great Prophecy has failed. All stats -30% for 5 days.

Seeing this notification, Nie Yan couldn’t help but knit his brows. "How could Great Prophecy fail?”

It was probably because the scope of this event was too large for him to predict. This failed prophecy meant Nie Yan couldn’t use Great Prophecy again for the next 10 days.

Nie yan had no way of confirming whether this really was the Vengeance of the Undead expansion. If he tried to warn the elders of the Viridian Empire about this disaster and he was right, they could prepare and make sure the calamity of the previous timeline wouldn’t repeat itself. But if he was wrong and it was just him panicking over nothing, what awaited him was his own personal calamity. As the guild leader of Asskickers United, there was no way he could take this risk. Not to mention he had no idea when or where the undead would actually attack.

「Guo Huai, tell the Engineers to stop crafting catapults and trebuchets and focus on producing Gnome Magic Cannons. Also, invest 15,000,000 gold into upgrading the walls of all our strongholds,」Nie Yan said. This was the decision he came to after much reflection. For the sake of safety, Asskickers United had to prepare their defenses.

「I’ll get to it immediately. Is something big about to happen?」Guo Huai asked in a concerned tone.

「Don’t ask for now. How much funds do we have? If we don’t have enough, I can think of a way.」

「About 8,000,000 gold. Right now, our strongholds, the Starry Night Potion Shop, and other businesses generate about 2,000,000 gold in profits every day. Because we’re continuously expanding, our expenses are at about 1,500,000 gold a day,」Guo Huai replied. This kind of income was unprecedented. Perhaps even Angel Corps wouldn’t be able to compare.

「Start selling some of our Dispel Fog Scrolls. We’re starting to accumulate too many,」Nie Yan said. For the sake of preserving the secret that Dispel Fog Scrolls could be bought from NPCs, Guo Huai would have people buy them within seconds of them refreshing in the shops. At present, Asskickers United had more than 1,000 Dispel Fog Scrolls in storage. If they continued on like this, it would be a huge burden on their finances. It was better to sell off some of their stock at a marked up price and rake in a nice profit.

Guo Huai had his people set out across the Viridian Empire and start selling off the Dispel Fog Scrolls, listing up no more than 10 in every city. Instead of dumping them all at once, they would be offloaded bit by bit to keep them selling at target price.

Before long, Dispel Fog Scrolls started appearing in the auction houses of various cities across the Viridian Empire. Because many of the large guilds didn’t have them, they’d suffered heavy losses while exploring Griffon Woodlands. Though they knew from certain information channels that guilds such as Angel Corps used them to greatly lower the difficulty of exploring the place, they didn’t know how they acquired them. So, the moment they heard Dispel Fog Scrolls were up for sale in auction houses all across the empire, they immediately made a mad scramble for them, offering small fortunes for every single scroll.

The price of Dispel Fog Scrolls was inflated to an excessive degree, with some scrolls selling for as much as 70,000 gold each, surpassing their real value by more than 10 times over. The frenzy of the market even exceeded Nie Yan’s expectations.

Sure enough, it was truly terrifying when pent-up demand was finally vented out.

Upon learning that Dispel Fog Scrolls were being listed up for sale, the various large guilds immediately sent people to camp out the auction houses. Some guilds even sent their people over to other cities.

Before long, the first batch of 100 Dispel Fog Scrolls were sold for a total of 6,000,000 gold. The financial burden on Asskickers United was instantly reduced by quite a bit.

After obtaining these Dispel Fog Scrolls, the lucky buyers would most definitely start exploring Griffon Woodlands again. It looked like Angel Corps would soon be feeling the heat.

To be able to manipulate the market from behind the scenes was truly an amazing thing. By monopolizing something trivial like the Dispel Fog Scrolls, Asskickers United was able to sell them off for a ridiculously inflated price and rake in the profits.

With the first batch of Dispel Fog Scrolls sold, the remaining would have to be sold off bit by bit.

After earning a large sum of gold from selling Dispel Fog Scrolls, Asskickers United started crazily upgrading the walls of their strongholds. Generally, ordinary guilds would be satisfied with Junior or Intermediate walls. Even among main strongholds, there were very few with Advanced walls. Meanwhile, Asskickers United had upgraded all their walls to Advanced. If the amount of gold they spent on it was revealed, it would leave the vast majority of guild leaders ashamed and speechless. The amount of gold they invested into their stronghold’s defenses wouldn’t even amount to an odd scrap of what Asskickers United put in.

Chapter 650 - Skeleton Army

God Executioner Sword’s Brocchi Stronghold, located on the border of Hilderlocke, was run-down and dilapidated. All around was endless barrens. Normally, players rarely ever visited this secluded and remote place.

Only a few scattered players could be seen walking on the streets of the stronghold.

Several hours ago, God Executioner Sword had placed the Brocchi Stronghold on lockdown, barring all outside players from entering. Only a select few were allowed entrance. Even then, they would have to undergo strict screening.

In the conference hall of the guild headquarters at the heart of the stronghold, several hundred players sat in absolute silence. They nervously stared at the front of the room, where Qin Han and the cloaked figure stood.

This was a group of die hard members of God Executioner Sword, who received salaries from the guild. So, when Matchless Divine Sword summoned them, they had hurried over. Whatever he wanted them to do, they would do without question; even if they had to walk through fire.

Qin Han let his gaze wander around the room. His eyes lacked any trace of emotion.

Matchless Divine Sword turned to Qin Han. "Here are 500 of my most trusted people.”

Matchless Divine Sword didn’t know why but he felt a sense of danger whenever he looked at Qin Han. The coldness in his eyes was truly terrifying. After interacting with him for these past couple of months, Matchless Divine Sword gradually understood his character. Even though he acted refined and amiable on the surface, when he wanted something, he wouldn’t hesitate to become a bloodthirsty fiend.

It was rumoured that back in South America the Monet Financial Group had resorted to all sorts of despicable means to get rid of their rivals. Qin Han’s hands were definitely stained with human blood.

This was precisely why Matchless Divine Sword didn’t dare to defy Qin Han. If he were to annoy Qin Han… he could already see the scenes of horror flash before his eyes, a cold chill running down his spine.

"Alright, begin!” Qin Han said in an insipid tone.

A sinister, ghastly cackle sounded from the cloaked figure next to Qin Han. The players in the room felt their hair stand on end as an uneasy feeling washed over them.

Necromancer Vorderman still wore Qin Han’s cloak, so no one could make out his appearance. All they could see was his bony, skeletal hand covered in patches of rotten flesh extending out. A black bone staff with a small skull at the tip in his grap, his entire body ignited with a crimson flame.

Vorderman waved his staff. Three-meter long bone spurs erupted from the ground beneath the players’ feet. PSSFFHT! Cries of agony rang out as blood sprayed everywhere. They were skewered, their bodies left dangling in mid-air. The hall resembled a mosaic from the very depths of hell.

Matchless Divine Sword’s face paled as he felt his blood freeze over. Turning to look at his boss, he discovered Qin Han’s expression hadn’t change at all, almost as if all this were proceeding as planned.

What a scary guy! Matchless Divine Sword quickly withdrew his gaze.

As the bodies of the 500 players hung lifelessly in the air, dark red blood started flowing down from the bone spurs.

Immediately after, their skeletons undid themselves of the flesh and muscles attached to them, until only their snowy white bones were left. They were alive. But rather than players, they were now monsters. They were mostly ordinary skeletons, with a few Elites scattered among their ranks. Weapons—staffs, axes, swords, and so on—formed out of nothing in their hands as they were gifted with matching classes.

This was only the first batch. After the first came the second and then the third. More and more players from God Executioner Sword, Penumbra Empire, and other guilds were sent over to the Brocchi Stronghold. They were all killed and turned into skeletons.

When a player became a skeleton, they would have to wait until it was killed before they could revive. The only other option to escape this hell was if the Necromancer controlling them died. Generally, players who revived after turning into skeletons would drop two to five levels and be in a weakened state for a prolonged period of time. Under normal circumstances, no player would willingly subject themselves to this. However, Qin Han was their boss. So, most of them had no choice but to obey his commands.

More and more skeletons were being raised in the Brocchi Stronghold. Before long, they reached 30,000. Their movements were already no longer limited to the stronghold, and they started spreading out to the surroundings.

At Qin Han’s commands, the skeletons attacked three NPC villages and turned the inhabitants into skeletons as well.

The skeleton army was quickly growing larger and larger. Since Qin Han kept things tightly under wraps, the news didn’t spread. Many players were aware of the skeletons roaming around the Brocchi Stronghold, but they believed these were normal spawns. Never in their wildest dreams did they think another player was behind all this. Some of the slower players ended up being killed by the skeletons and also became members of the undead army. After turning into skeletons, they were confused and dazed, at a loss as to what was happening.

Everything appeared tranquil. No one was aware of the encroaching disaster.

...

Nie Yan had Guo Huai closely monitor any movements around the continent, especially those of the undead. Anything unusual would be reported to him immediately.

On the second day of the assault on Colt, Asskickers United’s catapults and trebuchets continued razing strongholds to the ground. The number of guilds surrendering to them grew with each passing hour. The remaining several guilds had no way to reverse the tide and could only continue to struggle at death’s door. Many of them received orders from Qin Han to fight until the last man standing, to resist until the bitter end. So, they had no choice but to continue throwing their lives away. But the difference in strength between them and Asskickers United was like heaven and earth. All of their strongholds were destroyed under the bombarding of the trebuchets and catapults.

The territory surrounding Colt was turned into ruins. More than 10 guilds fled with their members to the Brocchi Stronghold in Hilderlocke.

Finally, Nisode, Colt, and Calore were connected, and there was no longer a weakness that an enemy could exploit. Originally, many of the recently conquered strongholds would’ve been handed over to the Dragonsoar Financial Group and World Bloc to develop. However, Nie Yan felt there was a huge storm on the horizon. So, for the time being, he delayed the opening of these real world business districts.

After easily sweeping through Colt, Asskickers United entered another period of recuperation and started consolidating their newly acquired territories.

During this time, the Monet Financial Group showed no signs of movement. This left Nie Yan feeling extremely uneasy in his heart.

That aside, after collecting a large amount of rare metals, Nie Yan had finally finished remodeling his Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow. A brand new and improved Cavalry Crossbow appeared before his eyes.

Chapter 651 - Reinforced Cavalry Crossbow

Different from when it was still a crude work-in-progress, the fully remodeled Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow was far more elaborate and contained all sorts of complex mechanisms. The front end was curved inward in the shape of a crescent. The nocks also had an additional two steel cables attached compared to ordinary crossbows for increased firing power.

Though the fully remodeled Cavalry Crossbow was a bit bigger than before, its weight hadn’t increased at all. Its sleek form brimmed with ferocity.

At this moment, the Cavalry Crossbow looked like a powerful weapon of slaughter.

Nie Yan examined the crossbow’s properties.

Reinforced Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow (Legendary)

Requirements: 800 Strength

Properties: Attack 1,507–1,725, Ignore Defense, 50% Piercing Damage, 50% chance to deal 500% critical damage, +1,500 Fire Damage, Penta-Bolt Shot, Chance to pierce through target.

Range: 120 meters

Attack Speed: 35

Weight: 53 lbs

Restrictions: Thief, Paladin, Warrior

The Cavalry Crossbow’s properties were greatly improved, especially the range which had increased from 52 to 120 meters. As the level of the playerbase increased, some Great Mages already had ranges of 80 meters and some Great Demon Hunters even had ranges of up to 100 meters. However, weapons with ranges of 120 meters were few and far between.

Nie Yan could now lay in ambush 120 meters away, and kill a caster before they could even get in range!

Apart from the range, the other properties of the Cavalry Crossbow also saw a huge boost, such as its attack power which had increased fivefold.

Out of all the crossbow-type weapons in the hands of players right now, Nie Yan estimated the Reinforced Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow ranked at the very top. Players would have a hard time finding another crossbow with such amazing properties.

Nie Yan equipped the Cavalry Crossbow and took out five bolts from one of the quivers in his bag. After loading them into the crossbow, he took aim at a target and pulled the trigger.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Five bolts flew out toward a large tree 100 meters away.

The bolts whistled through the air in a straight line. Put put put! The tree shook heavily as leaves scattered to the ground. One of the bolts happened to pierce through the trunk and continued flying onwards before finally losing power and falling to the ground.

"Amazing...” Nie Yan muttered under his breath.

Nie Yan put away the Cavalry Crossbow and focused on more important matters at hand.

It would take Asskickers United approximately 10 days to consolidate their new territory. Only then did Nie Yan feel it wise to annex another city. So, for now there was little to do here for him.

Based on the events of the previous timeline, the Vengeance of the Undead expansion hadn’t started yet either; though it might at any moment. The undead would first have to occupy a stronghold, and there was no sign of that happening yet. It was a worry for later.

Due to Asskickers United selling Dispel Fog Scrolls, there was a large influx of players entering the Griffon Woodlands. Competition intensified, as skirmishes broke out everywhere. Nie Yan decided it unwise to partake, so he ordered the elites of Asskickers United to withdraw from Griffon Woodlands and told them to instead focus on levelling and tackling their class advancement quests.

After all, based on Nie Yan’s experiences in the previous timeline, Master Class players were far more valuable than low rank flying mounts. It wasn’t like Asskickers United’s aerial force was weak either, especially after his help the other day. Later on, when most of their players were Master Class, they could always capture more.

Nie Yan wanted to make a trip to the Satreen Empire. He felt Angel Corps had been progressing too smoothly. He had to at least stir up some trouble for them, and he had still yet to pay them back for their previous meddling. However, a storm was brewing in the Viridian Empire with the Monet Financial Group at the center of it all. It simply wasn’t feasible for him to go on a long trip right now. In case of any unforeseen circumstances, he had to be here to stabilize the situation.

Looking at the level leaderboards, the highest level player was currently Level 110. Nie Yan also had to start raising his level again. Luckily, when Xie Yao and the rest successfully class advanced, with so many powerful Magisters, Archbishops, Sword Saints, Guardians, and other Master Class players, Asskickers United would be as steady as Mt. Tai.

Regarding the Tyrant Abak Set, Nie Yan currently had four pieces, the chestplate, gloves, cloak, and dagger. He was close to halfway there. He could already imagine the day when he completed this ultimate end-game set.

Nie Yan had four clues for finding the remaining pieces of the Tyrant Abak Set. One of them told him to head to Yemogin Town in Hilderlocke and talk to Old Blacksmith Wescott.

Seeing this quest clue, Nie Yan raised an eyebrow. Hilderlocke, wasn’t that the old stomping grounds of God Executioner Sword? At the same time, Battle Crazed Alliance’s guild headquarters was also located there. They were the two largest powers in Hilderlocke. However, the difference was that Battle Crazed Alliance didn’t put all their eggs in one basket and instead expanded out to neighbouring cities. So, their strength wasn’t limited to one place. Meanwhile, God Executioner Sword never showed any interest in branching out their operations beyond Hilderlocke.

"Should I head to Hiderlocke?” Nie Yan wondered. After pondering for a moment, he decided to go. He could find out clues on the next piece of the Tyrant Abak Set and check out the situation over there at the same time.

After preparing some necessary supplies, Nie Yan put on his cloak and headed for the transfer point.

With a flash of white light, Nie Yan teleported to Hilderlocke.

Nie Yan had already lost count of how many times he had visited this place. Looking at the buildings on the streets, he was struck by a sense of nostalgia. He’d spend a lot of time here purchasing land, doing quests, and so on. After all, it was an easy to reach destination thanks to the transfer points.

Nie Yan strolled through the familiar streets and headed for one of the shops operated by Asskickers United to see how business was going. At the same time, he also sent a message to Kill Love, asking to meet up at a teahouse.

After learning that Nie Yan was in Hilderlocke, Kill Love immediately rushed over.

Compared to when the two first met, their status were now quite different. Nie Yan had gone from being a nameless solo player to the leader of the number one guild in the Viridian Empire, a major stakeholder in Battle Crazed Alliance and Kill Love’s immediate superior.

After Battle Crazed Alliance entered the alliance with Asskickers United, both sides cooperated together seamlessly. The funding Nie Yan gave to Battle Crazed Alliance was always on time and never late. This was why they were able to grow to their current scope. Kill Love also fully complied with the terms of their agreement and became a solid arm to Asskickers United.

After Nie Yan was finished perusing the various businesses, he headed for the teahouse, passing by many high level players on the streets. For every 10 players he met, two were from God Executioner Sword and one was from Battle Crazed Alliance. One could tell how much influence these two guilds had in Hilderlocke. Battle Crazed Alliance had fewer people here. However, their levels and the quality of their equipment was higher than that of their counterparts in God Executioner Sword. It was difficult to clearly determine which side was stronger.

Chapter 652 - Wild Soul

Based on individual player strength, Battle Crazed Alliance was only second to Asskickers United in the entire alliance. They ranked much higher than Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, and the others. Even though they weren’t that large with only 80,000 members, they couldn’t be looked down on in battle.

Nie Yan thought back to how famous Battle Crazed Alliance was for their battle prowess in his past life. Kill Love was a decent guild leader. Back then, he didn’t lose because his guild was weak but rather he was faced with the might of a powerful financial group. But in this life, Nie Yan had brought them under his wing; with his protection, he would see to it that their downfall wouldn’t repeat itself.

Hilderlocke’s Glowfly Teahouse. Business here was pretty slow with only a few tables occupied by players.

Nie Yan entered the teahouse. He found a corner to sit down in and quietly sipped his tea. No one was any the wiser about his presence.

Not too far away from Nie Yan sat several other players. They chatted about all sorts of topics, including their levels, equipment, dungeons, and the matters of the major guilds. Anything that crossed their minds, they would talk about. They looked lackadaisical as if they had nothing better to do. Their levels weren’t that high, hovering between the high 60s to low 70s. In this city full of Level 90+ players, they could only count as third-rate players.

"Man, you’re really something. It’s only been a month and a half, and you’ve already caught up to us,” a 30-something-year-old Mage remarked. He shot a somewhat depressed glance at the 18 year old Warrior seated next to him.

"Hehe, that’s nothing. Give me another two months, and I’ll definitely be caught up with the first-wave players,” the Warrior proudly declared.

To be able to get to Level 70 in a little over a month, not bad… Well, let’s have a look, shall we. As Nie Yan inspected the Warrior with Transcendent Insight. His eyes widened in surprise. Wild Soul!

In the previous timeline, Wild Soul was a powerful Warrior. He ranked above Smoke Stub and consistently occupied one of the top three rankings among Sword Saints. He could be described as a heaven blessed talent. But he had the vice of being insufferably arrogant, making it a point to thoroughly humiliate every opponent he defeated. His reputation outside the game wasn’t all that stellar either.

Based on the boastful tone Wild Soul was taking right now, one could easily tell how he would turn out in the future.

Even though Nie Yan had accidently stumbled upon a good seedling, he had no plans of recruiting Wild Soul into Asskickers United. If a player like that were to join their ranks, he would inevitably stir up a lot of trouble.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. Hmm… I can let Kill Love try and sort him out.

As Nie Yan was sipping his tea, the conversation of the people chatting around him caused him to pause and perk up his ears.

"I don’t know what’s going on with all these skeletons showing up in the east of Hilderlocke recently. They aren’t like normal skeletons either. They gather in groups, and there are so many of them. Some of them are even led by Elites. Isn’t it strange for them to be so organized? They’re also really aggressive. They kill anyone they spot. I went with a team to grind in the barrens today. More than 10 of us were killed, and I only barely escaped. Man, that really scared the crap out of me,” a Mage gloomily said.

"Oh yeah, I heard about that too. Apparently, if you’re killed by those skeletons, you end up becoming one yourself. Really troublesome, right? They’ve also been attacking some nearby villages. After they’re through, they slaughter every last NPC! Nothing is left alive! More than 10 villages have already been turned into ruins. I’m guessing Hilderlocke will send over guards to do something about them soon.”

"It seems like most of those skeletons are coming from around the Brocchi Stronghold.”

"Hush! Watch what you say! Don’t let the people from God Executioner Sword hear you.”

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. This conversation he eavesdropped on lined up with his previous guess. It appeared the Vengeance of the Undead expansion really was happening. Likely, the corrupted player had only recently revived Necromancer Vorderman.

"If I continue letting them grow, things will become troublesome later.” Nie Yan decided to go to the Brocchi Stronghold later to investigate. With his strength, even if he encountered danger, he could still escape with ease.

After a while, Kill Love clad in a dark golden armour walked into the teahouse looking like a steel titan. This small and empty teahouse suddenly felt overly crowded.

Each step he took caused the wooden floors of the teahouse to shake and groan. Following behind him were two other players.

Kill Love turned to Nie Yan. The two met eyes and gave each other light nods.

After seeing Kill Love, the players in the teahouse were dumbstruck.

"Look! There! That’s Kill Love, the guild leader of Battle Crazed Alliance!”

The players all had looks of reverence on their faces. They understood what Kill Love’s name represented in Hilderlocke. They all felt a heavy pressure weighing down on them.

As Wild Soul gazed at Kill Love, there was a look of admiration as well as a hint of fanaticism in his eyes. He couldn’t help but imagine how amazing it would be if he could wear such equipment one day. Kill Love was his goal. Wild Soul deeply respected him, not for his skills as a player but rather his remarkable leadership abilities. Every player in Battle Crazed Alliance was strictly disciplined. Not just anybody could bring a guild to such heights.

"Excuse me, everyone, I have some business here. I’d like to ask you all to clear the premises. Thank you,” Kill Love said. His voice carried an unquestionable authority.

After hearing Kill Love’s words, the players in the teahouse got up and prepared to leave, including Wild Soul.

Kill Love held quite a bit of influence in Hilderlocke. Even the higher ups of God Executioner Sword wouldn’t dare to rashly provoke him.

Seeing the players leaving one after another, Nie Yan sent a private message to Kill Love.「You see that Warrior over there? Have him join Battle Crazed Alliance. He’s a decent seedling, just that he’s a bit on the arrogant side. You’ll have to discipline him well.」

Just as Wild Soul was about to leave the teahouse, Kill Love turned around and shouted, "Hey, you there! The skinny brat in the armour, hold up!

Wild Soul halted his steps. He turned his head back with a puzzled look on his face. Was Kill Love calling out to him?

"Yeah, you. Come back here, and take a seat,” Kill Love said. Seeing Wild Soul still not reacting, he walked over and grabbed him by the collar behind his neck, then brought him back like he was carrying a cat.

After being lifted up by Kill Love, Wild Soul felt depressed. He didn’t dare to attack Kill Love, but that was only secondary. In front of Kill Love’s overbearing strength, he couldn’t muster up any resistance.

The difference was too great. He felt utterly helpless.

Kill Love glanced at the two players behind him. "Have him join Battle Crazed Alliance. Draft up a contract, and make him sign it. If he doesn’t want to, show him the consequences.”

"W-wait. What!? Why?” Wild Soul stared at Kill Love in disbelief. This situation was simply too bizarre. Suddenly being hoisted up like some kind of a child, then forcefully conscripted to a guild, anyone would be confused.

"There is no why,” Kill Love said in a cold tone. Seeing Wild Soul looking like he wanted to ram his head into a wall, he inwardly chuckled. Lil’ punk, just watch me whip you into shape.

Wild Soul felt like he was going crazy. Just how did the situation develop this way? Even though he had always wanted to join Battle Crazed Alliance, never in his wildest dreams did he think he would become a member like this.

"Can you at least give me a reason...?”

"I don’t like your name. No one is wilder than me,” Kill Love curtly replied. He then turned around and walked over to Nie Yan.

You really expect me to believe that? Wild Soul rolled his eyes.

"Sign it.” The Mage following behind Kill Love placed down a contract in front of Wild Soul.

Wild Soul skimmed over the contract. The restrictions weren’t too harsh, and the benefits were generous. For a student like him who wasn’t making any money and came from a medium household, it was certainly attractive.

Wild Soul swallowed his saliva. He felt like a meat pie had dropped down from the sky.

"W-what if I don’t sign it…?”

"We’ll have you PKed back to Level 0 within five days,” the Mage replied without batting an eye.

Do all people get recruited into Battle Crazed Alliance like this? Shaking his head, Wild Soul didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He wasn’t even given a choice! From a glance he could tell the Mage wouldn’t budge, so he relented and helplessly signed his name.

Wild Soul looked over at Kill Love’s side and was dumbstruck. From his perspective, Kill Love was a hero who could support heaven and earth, an unreachable and eminent existence. But at this moment, he was like a good subordinate to the person in the black cloak, his every action laced with great respect.

Curiosity welled up in Wild Soul’s heart. Just who was Kill Love talking to?

Wild Soul had no way of getting an answer for now.

"That punk signed the contract,” Kill Love said, glancing at Wild Soul in the back.

Nie Yan nodded. Whether Wild Soul joined Asskickers United or Battle Crazed Alliance made no difference. He no longer lingered on this topic and shifted the conversation to God Executioner Sword.

"What’s the situation with God Executioner Sword?” Nie Yan asked. Kill Love belonged to Hiderlocke. So, he should know a bit more.

"Their growth exceeded my expectations, especially after absorbing all those guilds fleeing from Colt. They currently control 21 strongholds in Hilderlocke. I’ve always felt like they have some powerful entity backing them. So, I’ve been trying my best to avoid any confrontation with them and branched out to other cities instead,” Kill Love said. It appeared he was quite cautious with God Executioner Sword.

Nie Yan nodded. Kill Love’s decision was reasonable. If the two guilds came to a head, it was hard to say who would come out on top. With the victor gaining very little while the loser would be condemned to eternal damnation, it was easy to see why Kill Love wouldn’t take the gamble. He knew better than to put his guild’s future on the line.

"You’re right to avoid a direct clash. They have the Monet Financial Group backing them. As you know, we recently conquered Colt. We’ll soon be going to war with them,” Nie Yan said.

Kill Love stared at Nie Yan. Asskickers United already controlled such a large territroy, but they were still provoking more powerful enemies. It seemed like Nie Yan wasn’t satisfied with simply keeping his territory. He wanted to unite the whole Viridian Empire!

Is it really possible? Thinking to this point, Kill Love’s blood boiled with excitement.

Chapter 653 - Prediction?

"Has anything unusual been going on in the east of Hilderlocke recently?” Nie Yan asked Kill Love.

"Yeah. According to rumours, several villages were overrun by skeletons. I only just learned about it a few hours ago. So, I haven’t had the time to sent anyone out to confirm it yet,” Kill Love replied. After all, the matter had only happened recently, and all of it was on God Executioner Sword’s territory. So, his information was limited.

It seems like I’ll have to pay a visit there myself, Nie Yan thought.

The two chatted for a while. Kill Love reported on Battle Crazed Alliance’s current state of affairs. They had been doing quite well for themselves with control of 16 strongholds which were located west of Hilderlocke, east of Blaze City, and north of Autumn Leaf City. The area where these cities shared a common border became their sphere of influence. All the surrounding guilds ended up suffering at their hands. They enjoyed a fairly stable position.

Nie Yan gave an outline of Battle Crazed Alliance’s future growth. They could no longer avoid a confrontation with God Executioner Sword. For the sake of Asskickers United’s overall strategy, they had to fight. He would provide funding for the war and compensate any losses.

With Nie Yan bankrolling everything, Kill Love had no objections. After all, the most headache-inducing aspect of a war was the cost.

After the two finished chatting, Nie Yan bid Kill Love farewell. He left the teahouse and disappeared in the streets.

Seeing Kill Love walking over, Wild Soul couldn’t hold back his curiosity any longer. "Who was that?”

Kill Love smiled. "He’s a guy who others will never surpass.”

Wild Soul raised an eyebrow, then asked in a probing tone, "Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame…?”

"There’s always a higher mountain, a sky above the sky. The name of the Mad Rogue was made through countless battles and achieving amazing feats. From my understanding of him, he rarely reveals himself or his abilities, to the extent you get goosebumps just thinking about what he might be hiding. Consider yourself lucky for catching his eye. You’re still wet behind the ears.” Kill Love shot Wild Soul a glance, then walked out the door.

Wild Soul stood there in a daze, ruminating over Kill Love’s words.

After leaving Hilderlocke, Nie Yan summoned his Darkwing Dragon and set off for the east. Based on the information he received from Kill Love, the skeletons were appearing most frequently in the surroundings of the Brocchi Stronghold. He guessed there was probably something fishy going on there.

About 10 minutes later, Nie Yan spotted a stronghold in the distance surrounded by barrens.

God Executioner Sword’s Brocchi Stronghold!

The Darkwing Dragon was too large. For the sake of lowering his chances of being discovered, Nie Yan recalled it and entered freefall. With a thud, he hit the ground and landed firmly on his feet.

Nie Yan dashed toward the Brocchi Stronghold. He was still quite a distance away.

After passing through a patch of forest, Nie Yan discovered an abandoned village. All that remained of this place were some collapsed walls and ruins. This place with expansive streets and large buildings was once a flourishing city. But now there was only the thick stench of blood lingering in the air.

The bloodstains on the ground had yet to be washed away by the rain. Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He could only imagine what kind of massacre took place here.

Suddenly, a small skeleton popped out from behind some nearby ruins. Its sockets burned with a red spirit fire, and it wielded a long scythe in its hands. It came pouncing towards Nie Yan.

It was a Level 100 skeleton! Luckily, it was only an ordinary monster.

Nie Yan could tell this was the skeleton of a deceased child.

With a sidestep, Nie Yan evaded the attack, then struck out with a roundhouse kick. His foot struck the skeleton’s head and sent it flying.

The skeleton crashed into the ground, rolling several more meters before coming to a stop. As though it could feel no pain, it struggled back to its feet.

Before the skeleton could stand up straight, Nie Yan followed up with a straight kick, striking it in the chest and sending it crashing into a wall.

THUD! The skeleton fell back to the ground after rebounding off the wall. However, it still hadn’t died.

The skeleton actually had 50,000 health. Among Level 100 monsters, it was fairly difficult to deal with. One could imagine what kind of frightening scene it would be if these skeletons gathered together into a large army and attacked a village, town, or stronghold.

After taking five hits in a row, the skeleton finally collapsed into a pile of bone fragments.

Just as Nie Yan was about to take his leave, a group of 100 skeletons made their way into the village.

Nie Yan leaped up onto the roof of a nearby shop. He hid behind a wall, evading the sight of the skeletons.

The skeletons roamed around the village, seemingly searching for something. After failing to discover what they were looking for, they departed together.

After seeing that these Level 100 skeletons were the same kind that had appeared in the previous timeline, Nie Yan confirmed his suspicions that the Vengeance of the Undead expansion was indeed happening. He was thinking about whether or not he should report this information to the elder council of the Viridian Empire. Although he hadn’t predicted this with the Great Prophecy skill, he knew for a fact what was going to happen. If he successfully predicted this disaster ahead of time, he would go from a Grand Scholar to a Great Prophet, which would make him equal to a member of the elder council in both status and treatment. Among players, this was probably the highest position you could get.

To become a Great Prophet was something Nie Yan had been looking forward to for quite some time now. Though he already held a lot of sway in the Viridian Empire thanks to his Grand Scholar title, it was nothing when compared to a Great Prophet. With it, he would cement his place at the top, all others forever to look up at him.

This Vengeance of the Undead event was a blessing in disguise. Nie Yan had basically been handed the Great Prophet title on a platter.

"It’ll be best if I secure some definite evidence first. Like this, I can get those old fogies in the elder council to believe me without question.”

The skeletons headed back in the direction of the Brocchi Stronghold. They appeared extremely organized, completely different from the mindless skeletons you would ordinarily encounter.

These skeletons were likely being controlled by someone.

The Brocchi Stronghold was under the control of God Executioner Sword this whole time. There was no news about it being taken over by an undead. Meanwhile, these skeletons were roaming around the vicinity of the stronghold. You would have to be a fool not to see the connection.

"Could it be…? Dammit! Qin Han, that bastard!” Nie Yan’s heart sunk. If his guess was correct, then Asskickers United was in danger. If Necromancer Vorderman was revived by God Executioner Sword, then when the Vengeance of the Undead event started, the ones who would bear the brunt of it all would be Asskickers United!

"I have to sneak into the Brocchi Stronghold. Only then can I know for sure!”

Chapter 654 - Breaking the Third Seal!

Nie Yan arrived at the outskirts of the Brocchi Stronghold. Sure enough, the skeletons weren’t attacking the players of God Executioner Sword.

In fact, he spotted groups of skeletons patrolling the walls of the Brocchi Stronghold!

An expedition team numbering around 600 players arrived some distance away from Nie Yan and set up base. They were here to investigate the origin of the skeletons, a path of bones in their wake.

They quickly realized the mistake they’d made. While they were still setting up camp, more and more skeletons swarmed them from all around.

These skeletons were actually fairly organized. They knew how to encircle a target and strike fast and hard.

The players held out for about 10 minutes before eventually being swallowed up by the endless sea of skeletons. A black miasma corroded their corpses, melting away their skin, flesh, and muscles and leaving behind only white bones. They all transformed into skeletons and crawled back up to their feet.

The skeleton army grew ever larger.

Seeing these events unfolding from the safety of stealth, Nie Yan’s heart was filled with fear. This was precisely how these skeletons multiplied so quickly in the previous timeline. The Vengeance of the Undead event back then had engulfed the entire continent and forever changed the layout of the Viridian and Satreen Empires. The power balance was completely reshuffled.

If God Executioner Sword really was behind the resurrection of Necromancer Vorderman, Nie Yan had no choice but to be careful. He definitely had to put a stop to this disaster before it spun out of control.

Nie Yan wasn’t afraid of ordinary players. Someone capable of rivalling him in the game hadn’t emerged yet. However, Necromancer Vorderman was a different story. He had no way of gauging the strength of this legendary NPC.

Nie Yan thought of Karsi. If he could rescue those imprisoned Paladins, Karsi would become his servant. One legendary NPC versus the other, while he could sit to the side unafraid.

However, that simply wasn’t feasible for the time being. Recruiting an NPC like Karsi wasn’t something that could be rushed.

Thinking back to the events of the previous timeline, these undead would require at least 10 days to pose a serious threat to the continent, possible even up to two months if they were slow. Back then, after reviving Necromancer Vorderman, the fallen player immediately began slaughtering villages and crazily expanding his power. However, this unstable foundation ultimately led to his downfall at the hands of the players and the temple’s Paladin Legion. In stark contrast, God Executioner Sword exercised much more restraint, slowly building up their army in the Brocchi Stronghold.

Nie Yan sent word to Guo Huai to send the Hundred Thieves over. Their mission was to closely monitor the movements around the Brocchi Stronghold. If anything unusual happened, Asskickers United would immediately take action. In addition, if his conjecture was correct and this was the start of the Vengeance of the Undead event, their allies Battle Crazed Alliance would be the first target. It was pivotal to fortify the defenses of their strongholds too.

The horde of skeletons finished off the last of the expedition team at this time. They returned to an idle roaming state.

A group of five skeletons were making their way in his direction. Nie Yan halted his steps. These skeletons were clearly stronger than the child one he dealt with previously.

"If I take out some of these skeletons, I can slow down the rate at which the undead are multiplying…”

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan had a plan. He chanted out an incantation and summoned Lil’ Gold. With his Golden Dragon’s attack power and defense, dealing with these skeletons would be a piece of cake.

After discovering Lil’ Gold, the jaws of the five skeletons rattled as they charged toward him.

Lil’ Gold opened his maw and spewed out Dragon Breath, blasting the skeletons with scorching hot flames.

−13,231

−11,988

−12,714

…

A blanket of damage values rose up into the air.

The skeletons surrounded and attacked Lil’ Gold.

Explosive Counter!

Explosive Counter!

Two powerful whirlwinds swept out from Lil’ Gold and instantly tore the skeletons apart, scattering their bone fragments on the ground.

Battle Angel Kalenna waved her staff and purified the skeleton remains. Several white souls floated into the air and disappeared.

Nie Yan felt a warm feeling coming from the Holy Imprint on his hand. It had become ever so slightly clearer and more visible.

The commotion had attracted the attention of the surroundings skeletons. They all started swarming towards Lil’ Gold. Their numbers kept increasing until there were more than 600 of them.

Nie Yan hurriedly hid away in stealth. "These skeletons are stupidly durable. It’s best if I let Lil’ Gold deal with them.”

Lil’ Gold let out a deep dragon cry. A giant meteor came hurtling down from the sky. BOOM! Some of the skeletons were instantly blown away. Rock and dirt flew everywhere as scorching hot flames engulfed the area.

Most of the skeletons had survived the impact. However, their movement speeds were greatly reduced. As they trudged through the inferno, they collapsed into pieces.

Meteor Drop had swept away several hundred skeletons in one go.

The surviving skeletons swarmed Lil’ Gold and started attacking without a care for their own lives.

Explosive Counter!

Explosive Counter!

Explosive Counter!

...

Lil’ Gold let out a deep roar as a powerful maelstrom swept out.

The attacks of the skeletons were quite strong. Lil’ Gold’s health started rapidly falling. Fluttering above Nie Yan’s shoulder, Kalenna waved her staff. A gentle radiance fell over Lil’ Gold, restoring his health back to full. She then cast Radiant Barrier, enveloping him in a thin membrane of light. The skeletons immediately went from dealing up to a thousand damage to only several hundred. Kalenna still wasn’t finished. She also gave Lil’ Gold several powerful blessings, instantly causing his stats to skyrocket.

After the horde of skeletons was wiped out, Kalenna purified them.

Nie Yan brought Lil’ Gold on a hunt around the outskirts of the Brocchi Stronghold, slaughtering all skeletons who dared to come near them.

The number of skeletons God Executioner Sword had raised probably wasn’t that large yet. If they knew Nie Yan had killed so many, they would probably feel their hearts ache.

Nie Yan discovered the amount of light energy he gained from purifying these skeletons was much greater than what he got from creatures of darkness. His Holy Spirit Heart progressed at an amazing rate. Before long, he reached another milestone.

A notification jingle rang out. Another one of the seals on Zennarde’s Sword had been broken.

Sealed Zennarde’s Sword (Divine)

Nightmare Curse of the Dead: Reduces the player’s stats by 16% (Effect halved by Barbarian Kelowitz’s Blessing).

Description: A godly weapon created by Kallander and imbued with the dark magic power of Dragon King Zennarde. Failing to subdue the evil energy within Zennarde’s Sword will result in a fatal backlash. Six Divine Seals were placed on this sword by the God of War Kelo. (Seals: 3/6)

Properties: Attack 2,560–2,827, Critical +350, 30% chance to deal 700% Critical Damage, Ignore Level +35, Ignore Armour

Hell Execution (Rank 6): Chance to instantly execute an enemy when their health falls below 20%. Success rate is determined by level difference and enemy defense. Energy Cost: 50. Cooldown: 3 seconds.

Advanced Apocalyptic Extinction: Inflict the enemy with five types of Curses: Rank 8 Exhaustion, Rank 10 Cripple, Rank 10 Disease, Rank 10 Fear, and Rank 10 Corrode. Duration: 10 minutes. Cooldown: 1 hour.

Annihilation Slash (Rank 5): Channel your energy into an enormous sword of dark fire and annihilate all enemies in your path. Deals 1000% damage to all enemies in a three by 20 meter area in front of you. Cooldown: 3 days.

Restrictions: None

-Creator: Kallander

After removing the third seal, Zennarde’s Sword’s stats had sharply risen again. Its attack power had reached an astonishing 2,560–2,827. It also had a new skill, Annihilation Slash, which could deal massive damage to all enemies in front of him in a straight line.

Zennarde’s Sword was even more overpowered than before. Its properties were already equivalent to that of a Level 160 Legendary weapon. Nie Yan finally began to grasp why it was widely regarded as a godly item.

A Divine weapon simply couldn’t be compared to an ordinary Legendary.

This was only with three of the six seals removed. There was a saying called throwing a rock away for a gemstone. Legendaries really were nothing in front of Divines.

Kraut’s Viper Dagger which Nie Yan was using as a secondary weapon was vastly inferior to Zennarde’s Sword.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. He wanted to see just how powerful his new Rank 5 Annihilation Slash was.

There weren’t many powerful creatures in the vicinity, save for the occasional Elite-class Skeletons. There was no harm in testing it out on them.

Nie Yan commanded Lil’ Gold to retreat. He took its place and started attracting the aggro of the skeletons to himself. Compared to Lil’ Gold, they were much more eager to attack him. Before long, a large horde converged on this area. A long train of skeletons followed closely behind him.

Nie Yan already had around 400 skeletons chasing him. The faster Elite skeletons were at the front with the ordinary skeletons in tow.

Seeing the skeletons getting closer and closer, Nie Yan slowly adjusted his position. As he ran around them, he gradually got them to form a straight line.

Nie Yan suddenly stopped running. He turned around and pointed Zennarde’s Sword up to the sky. Scorching hot flames as black as night poured out of the blade, transforming into 10 sword silhouettes which hung over the air above his head. As he slashed down, they merged into a single enormous, flaming sword which descended onto the crowd of skeletons. BOOM! The ground shook violently as though the earth were being rent apart.

The skeletons’ jaws rattled in a cacophonous symphony as they were transformed into ash by the annihilating inferno of the slash. As the flames subsided, a gaping three by 20 meter wound was left on the ground.

At least 100 skeletons were obliterated by the Annihilation Slash, including the several Elites.

"Wow…” Even Nie Yan was left speechless by the might of the attack.

A white light enveloped Nie Yan.

"I’ve levelled up!” Nie Yan glanced at his character bar. He had reached Level 101.

Chapter 655 - Amazing Range!

What astonishing destructive power!

Annihilation Slash had its limits. It was comparable to a small-scale AoE skill in range and attacked only in a straight line. However, its might was far superior to that of any ordinary AoE skill. A 1,000% damage multiplier combined with Nie Yan’s already high attack power was extremely frightening.

Even the Elite skeletons were obliterated by this Rank 5 Annihilation Slash.

The horde of 400 skeletons was reduced by half. The remaining ones moved in to surround Nie Yan. But his little test run was over with. He escaped into stealth and allowed Lil’ Gold to deal with them.

As someone who played the Thief class, Nie Yan clearly wasn’t specialized in dealing with large groups of monsters. If he had to deal with these skeletons one by one, it would take him an eternity to get through all of them.

In the blink of an eye, Lil’ Gold wiped out a large number of skeletons, littering the ground with piles of bone fragments.

Lil’ Gold’s might was quite impressive. Combined with the support he received from Battle Angel Kalenna, he was practically invincible, sweeping through everything in his path. These skeletons gave a fairly generous amount of experience, five times that of ordinary Level 100 monsters. The only downside was that they didn’t drop any loot.

Even so, the experience alone made it more than worth it.

Lil’ Gold was already Level 98, 93%. Before long, he would reach Level 100. Nie Yan wondered what kind of change would occur at that time. He was full of expectation.

…

Brocchi Stronghold. Donned in black robes, Qin Han was monitoring the progress of his skeleton army. He was utterly unaware of what was going on on the outskirts of the stronghold, since all he had to go off was the number of skeletons currently under his control.

The skeleton army had already grown to 60,000 strong and was still rapidly expanding. They attacked the nearby villages and intercepted passing players. Qin Han glanced down at his character bar. Displayed in the bottom right corner was the skeleton count.

Qin Han’s plan was progressing rapidly. The number of skeletons under his control kept rising, going from 30,000 to 50,000 and then to over 60,000 right now.

Qin Han could roughly guess the situation outside. As the skeleton army grew, so too would their range of activity. For every 500 ordinary skeletons, an Elite one would pop up; for every 20 Elites, a Lord would appear; and finally for every five Lords, a Variant Lord would awake. They all gathered in groups, never going off on their own. If they encountered a player or perhaps a village, they would call over any allies in the vicinity and simply overwhelm the target with sheer numbers. As a result, the number of skeletons would multiply exponentially.

Seeing the number of skeletons rapidly rising, Qin Han’s ambitions grew larger and larger. He knew there was no more turning back. He could only brave forward on the path ahead of him. He would bury all his enemies in a sea of bones! A certain figure popped into his mind. "Nirvana Flame, you better wash your neck because I’m coming for your head!”

About half an hour later, Qin Han looked at the skeleton count and discovered it hadn’t risen by much at all. Last he checked it was at 63,527. Currently, it sat at 63,539. It had only gone up by a little over 10. This didn’t make any sense. What was going on? Logically speaking, with so many skeletons roaming around outside, that number should be much higher.

Qin Han knitted his brows. He stared at the skeleton count. Suddenly, the number plummeted down to 63,219. He shot up from his seat. Well played! This was likely an Advanced Magic. Nothing else contained the power to slay so many skeletons all at once.

"Did a powerful expedition team com here to investigate?”

Qin Han’s eyes flashed with a cold light. Even if a strong expedition team came, nothing could stop the rise of his skeleton army!

Qin Han walked to a crystal ball in the center of the hall. Everything the skeletons saw would be projected inside it. He had it focus on the area where all the skeletons were wiped out and saw an enormous Golden Dragon wreaking havoc across the battlefield.

Qin Han’s heart sank. "Nirvana Flame! You actually came all the way over here!”

Projected inside the crystal ball, Lil’ Gold was trampling over the skeletons. He let out a dragon cry and called down a meteor from the sky. With a loud explosion, the surroundings were engulfed in a sea of flames. Several hundred skeletons let out mournful cries and collapsed on the ground.

Qin Han could hear their souls screaming out in pain. He pounded his fist into the table. "Nie Yan, you’re always getting in my way at every turn!”

Qin Han ordered all his skeletons to converge on Nie Yan’s location.

Given the strength of these skeletons, taking down Nie Yan wasn’t possible. Necromancer Vorderman was in the middle of erecting the death tower. He could only go stop Nie Yan himself. After reviving Vorderman, he had grown vastly stronger. He was far superior to any ordinary player.

"Let’s just see how strong a Shadow Dancer really is…” Qin Han coldly chuckled. He turned around and walked out of the hall.

…

As time passed, Nie Yan noticed more and more skeletons congregating around him. Lil’ Gold was starting to get overwhelmed. Under the attack of the skeleton Elites, his health fell bit by bit. If it weren’t for the support of Battle Angel Kalenna, he would’ve long since died.

Even Lil’ Gold was having a hard time holding out. If an ordinary player encountered these skeletons, one could easily imagine their fate.

Nie Yan opened up the Divine Recruitment window and summoned Paladin Lafus.

After noticing the sea of undead trying to drown him, Lafus immediately buffed himself with a Divine Blessing, then charged into the fray alongside Lil’ Gold. He had a passive aura that reduced the stats of nearby creatures of darkness by 20%.

As soon as Lafus appeared, the surrounding skeletons became enraged like a bull seeing the colour red. Their jaws clattered and shook as they charged toward him. The battlefield immediately became hectic.

Nie Yan knew summoning Lafus would evoke such a reaction. The undead particularly loathed anything holy. So, Priests and Paladins would easily attract their aggro.

However, Lafus wasn’t a soft persimmon. He cast out multiple Purifies, killing droves of skeletons. Occasionally, he would refresh his buffs and heal both himself and Lil’ Gold.

Holy Radiant Shine!

A massive pillar of light descended from the sky, engulfing all the skeletons in the vicinity. They started melting under the light before disappearing into thin air. They were purified.

The skeletons in the vicinity were cleared away again.

With the aid of Lafus, the skeletons were being mopped up at an even faster rate.

After only a few hours, Nie Yan had killed 3,000 skeletons. In the skeleton army’s initial stages of growth, this was a heavy loss, enough to completely halt their growth.

Nie Yan felt a change occurring in the Holy Imprint on his hand. Looking down at it, he discovered it was emitting a faint glow. He couldn’t help but wonder what sort of use it had.

Perhaps he could obtain a complete Holy Spirit Heart if he continued killing these skeletons. At that time, all the seals on Zennarde’s Sword could be removed.

Just how powerful would this Divine weapon be in its unsealed state? Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder.

While Nie Yan was lost in thought, a skeleton in the crowd caught his eye. It was two heads taller than the others, and its bones were glistening dark gold, almost as if it were cast from metal. It wielded a greatshield in one hand and a large war-axe in the other.

A Lord-class skeleton!

Nie Yan activated Transcendent Insight.

Skeleton King Leoric (Lord): Level 130
Health: 24,000,000/24,000,000

Leoric knocked aside all the ordinary skeletons and charged toward Lil’ Gold.

BANG! Leoric rammed into Lil’ Gold’s chest with its shield, forcing him several steps back.

−23,489

What frightening damage!

Nie Yan knitted his brows. With Lil’ Gold and Lafus’ strength, they would have a tough time taking down Leoric. He unsheathed Zennarde’s Sword and prepared to go up himself.

Just as Nie Yan was about to pounce in, he felt a powerful darkness energy lock onto him from more than 100 meters away. He immediately sensed danger.

Nie Yan looked over and spotted a cloaked figure standing in the distance. His eyes narrowed. The powerful aura of darkness coming off of the other side caused him to feel a cold nip at the back of his neck.

The master of these skeletons was here!

They wore a black robe with a collar embroidered with gold silk and a vivid-looking skull design stitched to their sleeve. In their one hand was a bone staff pieced together out of hundreds of bones, and in the other was a grimoire of the undead.

Black Flame Burst!

Qin Han waved his staff. A shower of black fireballs came pouring down on Nie Yan.

A long range bombardment!

Gale Step!

Nie Yan instantly crossed several dozen meters and escaped the hail of fireballs.

An attack range of 100 meters was almost unheard of among ordinary Mages. Combined with how quickly the small-scale AoE spell was cast, ordinary melee-class players wouldn’t stand a chance.

"A 100-meter range? You think you’re some hot stuff, huh?” Nie Yan chuckled, recalling the Reinforced Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow in his possession.

Nie Yan quickly pulled back. Taking out his Cavalry Crossbow, he took aim at Qin Han and pulled the trigger. Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Five bolts shot out into the air.

The five bolts crossed a distance of 110 meters and headed straight for Qin Han’s heart.

"What kind of range is that!?” Qin Han felt his scalp go numb. He waved his staff and blinked a dozen meters away.

Put put put! The bolts missed and struck a tree far behind Qin Han.

Qin Han’s face paled in fright. These bolts had a range of 120 meters! He thought he was already someone special with his attack range of 100 meters. Never in his wildest dreams did he think Nie Yan’s crossbow would have even an even greater range.

Chapter 656 - Killing from Afar

In a battle between two equally fast ranged players, a 20-meter advantage in attack range was an insurmountable difference. No matter how powerful the side with the shorter range was, it would all be useless if their attacks couldn’t land. To say nothing of the fact that Nie Yan was vastly superior to Qin Han in speed.

A 20-meter difference in range could allow him to thoroughly suppress the other side. Nie Yan cracked a faint smile. "Watch how I toy with you to death.”

Nie Yan sped across the battlefield. He was as agile as a hare. He skillfully pulled out several bolts from his bag and loaded them into his crossbow within a 3-second time frame. He took aim at Qin Han and pulled the trigger.

Crossbows had a great advantage over regular bows, and that was their stability while moving. As long as you properly calculated the distance, his movements wouldn’t influence his aim.

Five bolts flew out in a straight line, streaking through the air and heading straight for Qin Han.

Anywhere Door!

Qin Han blinked away and evaded the attack. But before he even got a chance to catch his breath, another five bolts came flying towards him.

Qin Han’s powerful arsenal of skills became completely useless in front of Nie Yan’s superior range.

In the beginning, Qin Han could keep up with the stream of bolts. But as he started running out of blink skills, he found it more and more difficult to evade. Seeing five bolts flying over and left with no other choice, he could only helplessly roll out of the way.

Put put put! Five bolts struck the ground several meters away from Qin Han.

Before Qin Han could crawl back to his feet, yet another five bolts came flying over. He hurriedly rolled out of the way again.

"Fuck, what kind of fire rate is this!?” Qin Han cursed.

Nie Yan’s Dexterity and Attack Speed were quite high, not to mention his recent work on his Reinforced Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow. So, his reload speed and fire rate were unmatched.

The Cavalry Crossbow could theoretically fire five bolts every 0.37 seconds. Nie Yan’s stats weren’t high enough to reach this limit. At best, he could currently achieve five bolts every 1.87 seconds, consistently maintaining a fire rate of 2.5–2.9 seconds. Even so, it was more than enough to wipe the floor with Qin Han. The more bolts Nie Yan shot out, the more accustomed he got to reloading. So, the delay between attacks became even shorter.

Qin Han had to evade bolts every two to three seconds. The fact that he held out for this long was already quite impressive.

Qin Han frantically hid behind a boulder for safety.

The boulder blocked Nie Yan’s view, giving Qin Han a brief moment of respite.

Qin Han flipped open his grimoire and waved his staff. A group of 10 skeleton soldiers appeared before him. Hiding behind his troops, he finally felt a sense of safety.

"Now it’s my turn!” Qin Han gritted his teeth. He had never felt so humiliated before in his life!

Seeing Qin Han’s sorry figure hiding behind the boulder, Nie Yan coldly smiled. Their fight had barely started. So far, he’d only used ordinary bolts. Even if his attacks landed, the damage wouldn’t be that high. The real fun would start now!

As Nie Yan circled around the boulder with his crossbow raised, he only found 10 skeletons standing there and nothing else. Qin Han was nowhere to be found.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. He suddenly thought of something. Invisibility Potion!

Eyes of Truth!

Nie Yan’s eyes blossomed out with a crimson red light. As he looked around, he spotted a faint silhouette hiding among the skeletons.

Nie Yan raised his Cavalry Crossbow and locked onto Qin Han. Pulling the trigger, five bolts shot out. He then skillfully pulled out five more bolts—three Bleed Bolts and two Flesh Biter Bolts—and reloaded the crossbow in a record time of 1.65 seconds. Another five five bolts came flying out.

Seeing Nie Yan’s ominous gaze locking onto him, Qin Han’s heart trembled. "God dammit! What kind of ocular skill is that!? He can actually see me from so far away!?”

The effects of an Invisibility Potion were far inferior to that of a Thief’s stealth. Add this to the fact that the already enhanced Eyes of Truth had been upgraded even further after Nie Yan became a Luminous Dancer, and it became obvious Qin Han had no hope of escaping Nie Yan’s sight.

"Nirvana Flame, I admit you’ve got some skill. But if you think you can kill me just like that, you’ve got another thing coming!” Qin Han coldly snorted. He waved his staff. A skeleton with a bone shield immediately stepped out in front of him to block while five skeletons archers rushed forward to flank Nie Yan. Their ranges were about 80 meters. So, they had to move closer to hit him.

Put put put! Five bolts struck the skeleton’s bone shield.

−7,555
−8,392
−7,912
−8,222
−8,033

Nie Yan wasn’t a ranged class, so the damage he dealt was limited.

Nie Yan knitted his brow. The skeleton with the bone shield had 300,000 health. Taking it down with only his crossbow would take forever!

"Let’s see what kind of other tricks you have! Come at me!” Qin Han said in a gloating tone.

Put put put! Another five bolts struck the skeleton. Even though its health was falling bit by bit, it didn’t move, standing firmly in place to protect its boss.

Seeing Nie Yan continuously shooting at the skeleton, Qin Han sneered. "Dumbass, you think you can kill my skeleton like that?” He waved his staff and cast Dark Heal, restoring the skeleton’s health back to full.

"Haha! Keep shooting! Waste more bolts!” Qin Han laughed. As he looked around, his five skeleton archers were almost in range to shoot Nie Yan.

Nie Yan was undeterred. His expression remained as cool as ever. He fired out five more bolts at the skeleton.

"What an idiot! It doesn’t matter if you shoot five bolts or 10,000! The results will still be the same!” Qin Han’s eyes flashed with contempt. He still remained hidden behind his skeleton.

Another volley of arrows struck the skeleton’s greatshield. The first two were blocked by it, but the third pierced right through the shield and hit the skeleton in the chest. BANG! The bolt tore right through the skeleton, destroying its bones, and continued flying towards Qin Han.

Nie Yan’s smirked. After firing so many bolts, he finally triggered the piercing effect!

This was precisely what Nie Yan had been waiting for!

Nie Yan’s hands didn’t stop moving once. He loaded in another five bolts, took aim at Qin Han who was panicking in the distance, and pulled the trigger.

When Qin Han was hiding behind his skeleton, he stood no further than two meters away. With something protecting him at the front, he let down his guard. He wasn’t the least bit wary. He never considered Nie Yan’s bolts might possess the piercing effect.

As a result, tragedy befell Qin Han.

There was simply not enough time to react at such a short distance. He waved his staff in a fluster, attempting to blink away. PSFFTH! The Flesh Biter Bolt pierced into the side of his chest.

The mechanism in the Flesh Biter Bolt released as flesh hooks erupted out from the tip of its head and dug themselves deep into Qin Han’s flesh. It was firmly jammed in between his ribs.

A sharp wave of pain jolted Qin Han, knocking the wind out of him. His health instantly fell by more than half. He wanted to run and drink a Health Potion, but he found himself unable to move.

It was a crippling effect!

Before Qin Han had any time to react, a cold light flashed in front of him.

"Shit! I’m done for…” Qin Han despaired.

A Bleed Bolt pierced his glabella and came out from the back of his head. Blood sprayed out like a fountain.

Qin Han’s eyes glazed over as he dropped to the ground with a thud. The five skeleton archers and all other skeletons in the surroundings collapsed into a pile of bone fragments.

Nie Yan faintly smiled. He was quite pleased with his performance. That last shot especially was aimed with the utmost perfection. He could even pass off as a skilled Demon Hunter!

This was Nie Yan’s first time killing a caster with his crossbow. The feeling was quite satisfying.

A Necromancer only amounted to this much. No matter how powerful they were, they would easily die after only a few hits.

Likely, Qin Han still had many powerful spells he hadn’t used. However, no matter how strong he was, he might as well not exist in front of Nie Yan’s 120-meter attack range.

Nie Yan put away the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow and walked over to Qin Han’s corpse. "Let’s see if this guy dropped anything good...”

Resting on the ground beside Qin Han’s corpse was a thick, ancient book.

Nie Yan’s eyes widened in surprise. "Isn’t this the grimoire he was using as an off-hand?”

Grimoires were relatively common off-hands for casters. Nie Yan recalled Qin Han flipping through it when he was summoning the skeletons. He wondered what sort of properties it had.

Nie Yan picked up the grimoire. A powerful darkness aura erupted out, but it was quickly nullified by his Holy Spirit Imprint.

Necronomicon (Legendary): Special Item

Properties: Dark Magic +50%

Apart from the bonus to dark magic, the Necronomicon also contained five Advanced Magics which could only be cast after certain conditions were met.

"Amazing!” Nie Yan considered who to give this Necronomicon too, Tang Yao being the clear favourite. He wondered if Arcane Mages could use this item. The battle prowess gained with this legendary off-hand would surely be immense.

After storing away the Necronomicon in his bag, Nie Yan recalled Lil’ Gold and Paladin Lafus, who had just slain Leoric. It was about time he changed location. After Qin Han revived, he would definitely send people over to surround him. Picturing what kind of expression Qin Han was making right now, Nie Yan coldly smiled. This first exchange was only the beginning.

Just as Nie Yan prepared to leave, Battle Angel Kalenna waved her staff. A white light fell over Qin Han’s corpse, which gradually melted before completely disappearing.

Nie Yan’s jaws dropped. "T-that’s possible?” He glanced down at his status bar. The Holy Spirit Heart gained a massive amount of experience. He was close to breaking the fourth seal!

Perhaps after being corrupted into an undead, Qin Han was also classified as a creature of darkness!

A wicked thought surfaced in Nie Yan’s mind. Did this mean he could break the fourth seal on Zennarde’s Sword by killing Qin Han again?

Chapter 657 - Bone Dragon

If Qin Han knew what Nie Yan was thinking, just what kind of reaction would he have? Would he cough out blood in a fit of rage?

After a while, a large company of Thieves arrived at the scene of the crime. They started searching for traces of Nie Yan, who had already long since departed. So, they came up with nothing.

「Boss, Nirvana Flame already left. What do we do?」

Back in God Executioner Sword’s guild headquarters in the Brocchi Stronghold, Qin Han let out a storm of curses and furiously stomped the floor. Because Battle Angel Kalenna had purified his corpse, he had lost two and half levels’ worth of experience. Even worse, he had also dropped his Necronomicon. He had spent blood, sweat, and tears and died three times to obtain this Legendary item from the Undead Depths. But now it was in the hands of the enemy, his arch-rival no less! How could he not feel indignant?

「Expand the search! Report back immediately if you discover Nirvana Flame!」Qin Han gritted his teeth. Nie Yan was already aware of the existence of his skeleton army. He had to move things forward ahead of schedule to prevent Nie Yan from ruining his plans!

At Qin Han’s command, the skeletons under his control expanded their range of activities, attacking both players and NPCs alike and razing the villages near the Brocchi Stronghold.

Qin Han decided to go all out, no longer caring about exposing himself. These skeletons were extremely frightening, with few players possessing the might to stop them.

The number of skeletons rapidly multiplied.

"I want to see how you’ll deal with this, Nirvana Flame!” Qin Han bellowed. He would soon have enough skeletons to attack more densely populated areas such as Hilderlocke. When his skeleton army reached 1,000,000 strong, he would launch a full out assault on Asskickers United’s strongholds!

Nie Yan continued clearing the skeletons with Lil’ Gold. However, he clearly sensed their numbers suddenly swelling.

Nie Yan gradually realized the terror of the Vengeance of the Undead event and why the skeleton army was able to sweep through the Viridian and Satreen Empires in the previous timeline.

A war that threatened to engulf the entire continent loomed over the horizon.

Asskickers United had already finished making their preparations. As for whether or not they were enough remained to be seen. There wasn’t much else they could do. Going on the offensive, which meant engaging the skeletons in the open wilderness, was far too dangerous. In fact, it would be incredibly stupid. Every death on your side would simultaneously see the enemy's army grow.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. He should infiltrate the Brocchi Stronghold to collect some evidence, then report his findings to the Elder Council. On one side, he could receive the Great Prophet title, and on the other, it would allow the empire’s army and the temple’s Paladin Legion to mount a proper defense.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan made his way toward the Brocchi Stronghold.

...

News of a large army of skeletons being spotted in the east of Hilderlocke spread like wildfire. Players on the forums all speculated, giving birth to the wildest of rumours. Some guessed a new undead map that spawned skeletons had appeared. Others thought it was some sort of quest; as long as they cleared the skeletons, a boss would emerge who would drop a Legendary item upon its death. No one could’ve ever imagined that it was the release of a new expansion.

The general outlook of the situation was fairly positive. Even if these skeletons slaughtered villages and towns, there was no way they could make their way into a city, right?

Everyone was oblivious to this approaching calamity. Even if someone reported these skeletons had attacked a city, no one would believe them. When word got out Hilderlocke had already dispatched an extermination force composed of 2,000 level 160 Elite guards to deal with the skeletons, the general populace nearly couldn’t contain their excitement any longer.

With the guards taking action, the players believed the skeletons would be wiped out in a flash. All the large teams in Hilderlocke mobilized into action and followed behind the extermination force, hoping to fish some benefits.

Close to 1,000,000 players in Hilderlocke set off for the east. They had no idea they were heading straight to their deaths.

...

Nie Yan arrived at the base of the Brocchi Stronghold. Like a spider, he crawled up the walls and snuck inside, finding himself in the residential district.

Surveying around, the streets were teeming with skeletons. Many were Elites or even Lords. One could imagine how terrifying it would be if they were to surround you.

Nie Yan employed the techniques of a Shadow Dancer to stealthily move around the residential district.

Nie Yan eventually arrived outside a two-storey building. He kicked off a nearby wall and leaped up onto the roof. Breaking into a sprint, he bounded six meters through the air and clung onto the side of a wall. He then started clambering his way up.

With his high Dexterity and Jumping, the buildings, walls, and other structures inside the stronghold posed no obstacle to him.

Surveying the surroundings from a high vantage point, Nie Yan noticed a stone shrine in the distance. It was quite imposing with its sinister, ashen coloured walls.

Nie Yan didn’t know why, but this shrine gave him an uneasy feeling.

After hesitating for a moment, Nie Yan decided to go over there for a look.

Nie Yan snuck past the skeletons and arrived outside the shrine. The entrance was sealed shut. The gates were five meters tall and made out of solid metal. It was impossible to pry them open.

A group of skeletons were approaching from the distance Nie Yan hurriedly ducked behind a corner.

After not discovering anything, the skeletons departed, disappearing behind the end of the street.

Nie Yan investigated the outside of the tower. Looking up, he spotted a hatchway on the roof. "I wonder if I can get in from there…” He leaped onto the roof and made his way over. Letting himself in, he found himself inside an attic filled with junk.

Nie Yan was about to leave, when something in the room caught his eye. Walking over, he rummaged through the boxes and fished out a necklace. It emanated a powerful aura of darkness.

"Quite old…” Nie Yan examined the necklace.

Necromancer Vorderman’s Lost Necklace

Properties: Unknown

This mysterious necklace had no properties. Appraisal didn’t seem to work on it either. Nie Yan thought for a moment and decided to store it away in his bag for now.

After finding nothing else in the attic, Nie Yan continued down the stairs into a wide and spacious hall. Letting his gaze wander, his footsteps froze. First it looked like a giant mess of bones, then his mind processed the wings spanning half the room and its 26-meter high frame.

A bone dragon!

It stood completely still, like an unmoving statue.

This bone dragon dwarfed the Darkwing Dragon in size. If the two were to stand side by side, the Darkwing Dragon would reach up only to its abdomen.

"So terrifying… I can’t imagine what it’ll be like if it’s revived.”

Nie Yan inspected the bone dragon with Transcendent Insight. It was a Level 160 Demonic Lord!

"My god! How is anyone supposed to deal with that!?” Demonic Lords were frightening existences. Thankfully, they were very rare. Nie Yan had only ever encountered one in his past life. It was a Behemoth, but he had been killed before he could even get a good look at its appearance.

Nie Yan vaguely recalled there being such a bone dragon in the previous timeline. If he wasn’t mistaken, Karsi personally slew it.

"It seems like players aren’t a match for this bone dragon. We can only leave it to an NPC.”

Investigating around, Nie Yan spotted multiple Lord-class Skeleton Kings roaming around. At the front of the room stood a figure in a black cloak muttering some kind of incantation.

"Is that Necromancer Vorderman?”

In the ancient record books, Vorderman was described as an incredibly powerful Necromancer. This kind of NPC who could shape the history of the continent was definitely a frightening existence.

Nie Yan didn’t dare to approach any closer. If Vorderman discovered him, even he feared he might not get out alive!

All Magisters had a method that could render Unknown Transfer Scrolls useless. Nie Yan was even less willing to take a risk against a Legendary Necromancer like Vorderman.

"Don’t tell me I’ll have to back away, just like that?”

Nie Yan felt a bit reluctant. He had already come all the way here. Going back without anything to show for it was a bit depressing.

Nie Yan suddenly thought of the Shadow Clone skill. Its stats were even higher than his! But more importantly, even if it died, there would be no loss for him!

Nie Yan pulled up his skill window and summoned his Shadow Clone.

A silhouette appeared before Nie Yan. Its appearance was identical to his own, almost as if they had come from the same mold. It had 30% higher stats than him with all his skills and equipment. He could use it to carry out work that was too risky for him to do himself.

Nie Yan had the Shadow Clone enter stealth and slowly approach Vorderman from behind.

Noticing several Skeleton Kings coming over, Nie Yan had the Shadow Clone activate the Pygmy Ring and shrink down to a third of its original size.

The Skeleton Kings patrolled around, unaware of the Shadow Clone passing between their legs.

Time ticked away. Nie Yan carefully controlled the Shadow Clone from his hiding spot. Although it had a large variety of skills in its arsenal, it could only use a few of them by itself. If it encountered a monster, the most it could do were the basics; buff itself, debuff the enemy, and robotically swing its weapon. At least with him controlling it, its execution of skills would be far less restricted.

The Shadow Clone inched closer and closer to Vorderman. The two were only 20 meters apart.

Vorderman was chanting out an incantation. He was completely focused, unaware of the Shadow Clone’s presence.

Nie Yan raised his eyebrows in surprise. Vorderman appeared to be carrying out a ritual to revive the bone dragon.

Nie Yan had the Shadow Clone continue approaching closer. Even at 10 meters, Vorderman didn’t appear to have noticed anything.

Chapter 658 - Web-Crawler Ring

Transcendent Insight!

Vorderman: Level ???
Titles: Legendary Necromancer

Necromancer Vorderman’s level was too high. The Shadow Clone had no way of seeing through it.

Even if the Shadow Clone were to ambush Vorderman, killing him was an impossible task.

If Vorderman finished up with the ritual, the Shadow Clone would definitely be a goner. So, time was of the essence.

Nie Yan had the Shadow Clone circle around Vorderman. Various magical items were scattered on the ground. He collected a few of them to serve as evidence, including a bone fragment used in the ritual for summoning the bone dragon.

After obtaining these items, Nie Yan had the Shadow Clone retreat.

It passed within five meters of Vorderman.

Seeing Vorderman still completely oblivious to the Shadow Clone’s presence, a dangerous thought popped into Nie Yan’s mind.

"I should try stealing from Vorderman!”

The Shadow Clone slowly inched closer to Vorderman. The distance between the two was getting shorter and shorter.

Nie Yan held his breath as his heartbeat raced. He prayed Vorderman wouldn’t wake up.

The Shadow Clone finally arrived within arm’s length of Vorderman.

Nie Yan had the Shadow Clone extend its hand and use Steal.

Steal failed!

"Dammit!” Nie Yan’s heart tightened. Seeing Vorderman still chanting away and oblivious to the Shadow Clone, only then did his heart calm down.

Ever since Steal reached Rank 16, it had rarely ever failed. Nie Yan could steal from any monster, regardless of their level. Vorderman was the first NPC at too high of a level for Steal to always be a success.

"Let’s try again!”

Nie Yan had the Shadow Clone use Steal again.

Steal successful! You have obtained a Sable Dragon Core.

Nie Yan raised an eyebrow. This was the first time he saw a Sable Dragon Core. He was curious if it was the same as a life core, or something else altogether.

Vorderman still showed no signs of reaction, with only the bone dragon’s awakening in its eyes.

"This guy sure is way too focused when chanting. Alright then, I won’t hold back!”

After using Steal several more times, Nie Yan obtained three Sable Dragon Cores and one Synthesis Gem.

Nie Yan was laser focused while having the Shadow Clone steal from Vorderman. The slightest slip-up wouldn’t just cost him the Shadow Clone but possibly his own life as well.

At this moment, Vorderman opened his eyes. His eye sockets flared with ferocious crimson flames.

Nie Yan’s heart tightened. "Crap, he’s awake!”

He hurriedly had the Shadow Clone activate Gale Step and flee into the distance.

Nie Yan retreated in the opposite direction, slipping into the dark shadows of a corner. Before long, the silhouettes of the Shadow Clone and Vorderman were no longer in view. Not even 30 seconds later, he received a notification of the Shadow Clone’s death.

"Damn! What a frightening NPC!”

Nie Yan activated a Return Scroll and disappeared with a flash of light. When he opened his eyes again, he was already back in Hilderlocke. He reviewed the Shadow Clone’s last moments before death. Vorderman had instantly crushed it to death with Shadow Tangle.

"Wow, so ruthless, so fast.”

Nie Yan checked his harvests. Two of the Sable Dragon Cores were Rank 8 and the other was Rank 9. They were Life Cores. Seeing these three items, he faintly smiled. The Darkwing Dragon had really lucked out this time around. With their aid, it could break through to Rank 8 and possibly even Rank 9.

After consuming a large quantity of Life Cores, the Darkwing Dragon would fall asleep for at least half a month. Since Nie Yan would be needing it in the near future, he could only set these Sable Dragon Cores aside for now.

Apart from this, there was also the Synthesis Gem. With either the help of a Jewelcrafter or Pandora’s Box, it could be used to combine three accessories together. The only restriction was that they had to be of the same type. For example, you could only merge rings with rings or necklaces with necklaces.

Nie Yan immediately thought of the several special rings in his bag. Since he only had two ring slots, he had to keep switching them out every time he needed to use their abilities. It was extremely inconvenient. Sometimes when he encountered an emergency, there was no time to swap to the ring he needed. With this Synthesis Gem, he could combine the Crawler Ring, Silk Spinner Ring, and Leaper Ring together and never again have that problem.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan took out Pandora’s Box. After placing the Crawler Ring, Silk Spinner Ring, Leaper Ring, and the Synthesis Gem inside, he hit confirm and watched the magic happen. With a flash of dazzling light, the four items merged together into an exquisite, silver-white ring. It had a life-like carving of a spider on the face with web-like engravings covering the band.

Please name this item.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. "Let’s just call it the Web-Crawler Ring.”

Naming successful!

Nie Yan equipped the Web-Crawler Ring.

After making his way to the Battle Crazed Alliance guild headquarters, Nie Yan met up with Kill Love and talked about the current state of affairs in Hilderlocke. If the Vengeance of the Undead event wasn’t handed properly, Battle Crazed Alliance was in danger of being destroyed.

The funds promised to him last time by Nie Yan were already in Kill Love’s account. He’d immediately started fortifying the defenses of all his strongholds as agreed upon. But only now did he understand the gravity of the situation. Not daring to dally, he started using his influence to stop the players in Hilderlocke from setting off towards the east. Even though he couldn’t stop everyone, he still managed to dissuade some of them.

After settling all the matters in Hilderlocke, Nie Yan teleported back to Calore.

Guo Huai already knew the rough situation. He spared no efforts in setting up defenses. Nie Yan asked about a few specifics. It appeared Guo Huai was handling everything fairly well.

Nie Yan’s next stop was the Elder Council. Right now only by relying on the strength of the NPCs could the Vengeance of the Undead event be dealt with.

Two Level 180 guards clad in dark gold armour stood outside the entrance of the Elder Council.

These two guards were both Sword Saints. Few players dared to come here in the pervious timeline. Anyone who tried to force their way inside would meet with tragedy. Back then, a Master Class player tried taking these two guards on. Even though their level was above 180, they still got beaten black and blue.

If you didn’t have a high rank title, you might not even have the qualifications to speak to these guards. Nie Yan was fairly special. Be it his Grand Scholar, Luminous Dancer, or Advanced Devil Slayer titles, all of them allowed him to speak to them.

Seeing Nie Yan walking over, the two Sword Saints stopped him.

"What business do you have here, sir Nirvana Flame?” one of the Sword Saints asked. He looked to be in his 40s with a well-groomed beard.

"I’d like to request to meet with the Elder Council,” Nie Yan stated his intentions.

"Please hold for a moment. I’ll report your arrival.” The Sword Saint headed inside.

Time slowly ticked away. Yet there was no reply from inside. Nie Yan started getting anxious.

Another 15 minutes passed before the Sword Saint finally came out. He shook his head. "Elder Redwin said the Elder Council is currently holding a meeting. They won’t be seeing anyone. You can come back some other time. If the matter is urgent, I can pass it on for you.”

Nie Yan had a vague impression of Elder Redwin. He was a Duke with an esteemed status in the Viridian Empire. At the same time, he was well known for being petty and rude. His reputation among players was terrible. Thinking about having to pass on this information to someone like that, even if they had the title of Elder, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat depressed.

Nie Yan shook his head. "No, it’s fine.”

Nie Yan stared at the building in front of him. Even though the entrance was right there, he had no way of entering inside. The Elder Council was truly haughty!

Nie Yan was deeply troubled. As he was mulling over this issue, a figure suddenly popped into his mind—Karsi of the Temple of Light!

Karsi’s position in the Viridian Empire was fairly exalted. If he knew about the revival of Necromancer Vorderman, he could and would directly meet with the Elder Council.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan headed toward the Temple of Light.

After entering the building, he found Karsi in the same place as before.

"Your Holiness, Karsi, it’s good to see you again,” Nie Yan greeted.

"Hello, Nirvana Flame. You look troubled. How can I help you?” Karsi asked in a kind tone. He didn’t have any trace of arrogance.

"I’ve come to report some worrying news…” Nie Yan explained in detail his discovery at the Brocchi Stronghold as well as what he believed Necromancer Vorderman was planning to do. He also brought out the evidence he previously collected.

"Necromancer Vorderman… that vile thing. I didn’t expect him to revive again. I’ll take you to the Elder Council. Come with me,” Karsi said. The two left the Temple of Light and hurried over to the Elder Council.

Nie Yan followed behind Karsi and arrived outside the entrance of the Elder Council.

After seeing Karsi, the two Sword Saint’s didn’t dare to get in the way and directly let them in.

Nie Yan got a firsthand taste of the difference in status. His position was already quite high in the Viridian Empire. But it still wasn’t enough to allow him to directly barge into the Elder Council.

After passing through numerous winding corridors, the two arrived in the main hall of the Elder Council. Nie Yan finally stood face to face with the seven people with the most authority in the Viridian Empire. Seated in the highest position was the legendary Jebiah the Great.

Chapter 659 - The First Magister!

Jebiah the Great was a wizened old man with a hale and hearty complexion. Donned in silver-white robes, he appeared all the more dignified. He was, as were the other six elders, in their late 60s and early 70s.

Nie Yan’s gaze fell on an elder with a hook-shaped nose and sharp, hawk-like eyes. This shifty looking fellow was precisely Elder Redman, who was widely known among players in the previous timeline albeit not for anything good.

Karsi placed his hand over his chest and bowed. "I pay my respects, Jebiah the Great.”

"Karsi.” Jebiah the Great nodded with a faint smile. "What brings you here, my old friend?”

"I’ve come here bearing bad news. Necromancer Vorderman has revived again. He already started raising his undead army in the east of Hiderlocke. If we don’t stop him now, a disaster will befall our entire empire.”

Karsi turned to Nie Yan and had him report his findings.

After listening to Nie Yan’s words, Jebiah the Great sank into deep thought.

Nie Yan gazed at this legendary figure in front of him. Jebiah the Great rarely ever revealed himself to the public eye. Even when Vorderman’s undead army threatened to engulf the Viridian and Satreen Empires in the previous timeline, he never made an appearance. However, at that time, there was never a need for him to take action. The temple’s Paladin Legion and several legendary NPCs were enough to control the situation.

Nie Yan started contemplating. Qin Han was basically digging his own grave. The Vengeance of the Undead was only a small expansion. Even if it propelled him to the forefront for a short period of time, it would be impossible for him to destroy the Viridian and Satreen Empires. Just what was he scheming? If he were in Qin Han’s shoes, he would preserve his own strength. Then in a kamikaze style attack, he would lead the skeleton army into wiping out Asskickers United. Neither side would come out the victor, as both sides would’ve lost everything. Like this, even if he deleted his account and restarted from scratch, it would be worth it.

If this really was Qin Han’s plan, that was all the more reason Nie Yan couldn’t allow him to succeed.

"I sensed a powerful darkness energy to the east of Hilderlocke when I was making a prophecy. That’s why I went over there to investigate,” Nie Yan said, taking the opportunity to mention his Great Prophecy skill.

"Prophecy?” Jebiah the Great finally took notice of Nie Yan’s Grand Scholar title.

"You said you discovered Necromancer Vorderman in Hilderlocke. Do you have any evidence to back up your claims?” Elder Redwin asked. He was trying to cast doubt on Nie Yan.

This hateful old coot! Nie Yan cursed Elder Redwin in his heart. However, his expression didn’t change. He took out the evidence he collected in the Brocchi Stronghold, including the necklace. These items all radiated a powerful dark energy.

"These items indeed link to Necromancer Vorderman, but they don’t prove anything. You can just as well be spouting nonsense for a moment of fame,” Elder Redwin said. He clearly had it out for Nie Yan since the moment he showed up outside the Elder Council.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. There were many unlikeable NPCs in Conviction. However, Elder Redwin definitely stood at the top!

If Nie Yan’s status were high enough, he could completely disregard these hateful NPCs.

Everyone stared at Jebiah the Great, awaiting his decision.

Jebiah the Great pondered for a moment, then said, "Nirvana Flame, thank you for bringing this information to our attention. You should go back first. We’ll look over the matter, and only then make a decision.”

Nie Yan nodded. He expected as much from these NPCs. This was only him giving a warning. Later on, when the Vengeance of the Undead event truly began, they would think back to his words.

"Then I’ll be taking my leave. May the glory of light eternally be with you, Jebiah the Great.” Nie Yan bowed, then turned around and left.

Leaving the hall, Nie Yan happened to catch a glimpse of Elder Redwin’s mocking smile.

Nie Yan’s heart sank.

Karsi also bid farewell to the elders, then followed Nie Yan out.

"Don’t be discouraged. Jebiah the Great will seriously look over this matter,” Karsi comforted.

Seeing Karsi’s warm smile, this was the first time Nie Yan felt like an NPC was alive. However, there was still a big difference between NPCs and players. Unlike players who could speak freely, their dialogue always followed along a certain script.

"Thank you.” Nie Yan nodded.

After bidding farewell to Nie Yan, Karsi headed back to the Temple of Light. Seeing Karsi’s back disappear behind the corner of a street, Nie Yan couldn’t help but anticipate the day when he could have this legendary Holy Magister serve at his side as a servant.

Too bad this wasn’t possible for the time being. Nie Yan estimated he would have to wait until Asskickers United had at least 50 or 60 Master Class players to make this dream a reality.

Nie Yan headed to his personal storage. It was about time to do some spring cleaning, and he needed to make his move as well.

「Guo Huai, assemble all the flying mounts for me,」Nie Yan said. Most of the new flying mounts in Asskickers United had already recovered from their injuries by now. It was time to feed them Life Cores and raise their ranks.

Nie Yan tidied up his personal storage until he eventually received word from Guo Huai that the flying mounts were all gathered in the square in front of the guild headquarters. Putting the Life Cores in his bag, he headed for the Cripps Stronghold.

Outside the guild headquarters was a sealed off training ground. It had room for 6,000 players. At this moment, there were 200 players gathered here. Half of them were flying mount riders while the rest were just here to see what was going on.

Seeing Nie Yan walking over, everyone came up to greet him.

"Boss!”

"Hello, Boss!”

...

Nie Yan nodded back.

They were all wondering why Nie Yan had called them here. Did he have some sort of task for them?

"Summon your flying mounts,” Nie Yan said.

After hearing Nie Yan’s order, the players spread out and summoned their flying mounts.

More than 100 flying mounts instantly emerged on the training ground. The onlookers gasped as their hearts trembled in shock. This was Asskickers United's air force! Although it couldn’t compare to Angel Corps—after all, the other side had a head-start—it was still quite formidable.

Nie Yan started distributing Life Cores to the riders based on the element of their flying mounts.

"L-life Cores? Boss, just where did you get all these?” a player asked in shock.

Everyone stared at Nie Yan, eager to hear the answer.

"I got them while I was doing my class advancement quest in the Ancient World,” Nie Yan replied. This information was no secret. Even if other guilds knew he had obtained Life Cores in the Ancient World, there was no way they could assemble an expedition team and set out there. So, he didn’t see any harm in revealing the origin of these Life Cores.

Each rider received six Life Cores. Everyone was a bit dazed. This was their first time seeing so many Life Cores.

Nie Yan glanced at his bag. These Life Cores were only the tip of the iceberg, not to mention they were all Rank 4 or lower. The Rank 5 and 6 ones were still all there. He planned to hand them out when there were more high rank flying mounts in the future. For now, these low ranked ones would do, and he still had more than a thousand of them even after giving away so many.

"Don’t feed your flying mounts everything at once. That way they won’t take too long sleeping digesting it,” Nie Yan advised.

"Understood!”

The riders started feeding their flying mounts. They chose the lowest rank Life Cores first, feeding them one at a time.

Nie Yan also fed the Darkwing Dragon a few low rank Life Cores. He didn’t dare to feed it the Sable Dragon Cores for the time being since the energy inside them was too great. If it couldn’t digest them immediately, it would fall asleep and enter a dormant state, during which the Darkwing Dragon would be completely out of commision.

Nie Yan received a report from the Hundred Thieves. He had sent them over to Hilderlocke to monitor the progress of the Vengeance of the Undead event.

The undead were multiplying at a shocking rate. At present, Qin Han had at least 160,000 skeletons. An army of this size was already extremely frightening. If it was allowed to run rampant, things would spin out of control.

What left Nie Yan feeling a bit depressed was that Xie Yao and all of them were currently in the middle of their class advancement quests. He had some of the strongest players in the game on his side, yet none of them could help him right now. If only he could go to Hilderlocke with them to grind skeletons and put a halt to Qin Han’s wicked plans...

Thinking about how he would be facing an endless horde of skeletons in the future, Nie Yan felt his scalp go numb. "Just what can I do to deal with those skeletons?”

Nie Yan racked his brains. He really was out of ideas. He could only have the artisans in his guild prepare some Light-types scrolls, accessories, potions, and other items. Light was the bane of all undead. He suddenly recalled he could still recruit 30 Paladins from the Temple of Light for his own personal use. The Paladins there were all fairly powerful; 30 could already be considered a formidable force, especially when it came to taking care of monsters like skeletons. The light element dealt 200% damage to undead.

These things were far from enough to deal with the skeleton army though. Nie Yan could only slowly think of more ways later on.

Nie Yan headed for the Temple of Light. He planned to see just what kind of Paladins he could recruit. On the way there, he received a message from Tang Yao.

「I finished my class advancement.」

Nie Yan blanked for a moment before his face lit up with joy.「You’re a Magister now?」

「Yeah!」Tang Yao nodded.

Nie Yan didn’t expect Tang Yao to finish his class advancement so quickly. He had come out much earlier than the others. It appeared his quest went pretty smoothly.

「That’s amazing news!」Nie Yan excitedly said. The addition of a Magister would greatly help them in dealing with the skeleton army.

Nie Yan recalled no Master Class players had appeared yet when the Vengeance of the Undead event happened in the previous timeline. Back then, even the highest level players were only around Level 80–90. This was why the Level 100 skeletons had seemed near impossible to deal with.

"Maybe we won’t have to rely on the NPCs after all! If we can get a few more Magisters, we’ll have nothing to be afraid of!”

Chapter 660 - Sword Saint

Magisters possessed astonishing destructive might. Every guild treated them as an important strategic resource worth nurturing.

A lone Magister taking on tens of thousands of enemies wasn’t something out of a fantasy. If a Magister were allowed to cast Forbidden Magic, they could easily wipe out entire armies.

Most AoE Forbidden Magic had target circle radiuses of at least 250 meters. Some especially powerful ones even went up as high as 500 meters. Nie Yan had once witnessed a Magister casting Forbidden Magic before in the previous timeline. At that time, he felt as if the sky were collapsing and the earth were being rent apart.

However, Forbidden Magic generally required high rank catalysts such as Grimoires and Mana Crystal Essence to cast. Not to mention the cast time was ridiculously long, taking at least 30 seconds to three minutes. Some even consisted of 10-minute long chants. There was a direct correlation between the cast time and the power of the Forbidden Magic.

Forbidden Magic was easily interrupted, especially by lightning fast Thieves who were specialized in ambushes. So, taking thorough precautions was crucial before attempting to cast Forbidden Magic.

Not long after Tang Yao became a Magister, Xie Yao reported that she had successfully advanced to a Holy Magister as well and was preparing to learn her first Forbidden Magic from the Mage Tower.

In terms of dealing with undead, Holy Magisters were much more powerful than ordinary Magisters.

Xie Yao had also finished earlier than expected. The several of them were incredibly powerful. So, it took them no time at all to wrap up their class advancement quests. Furthermore, they had brought back bountiful harvests with them.

Like this, there were three Master Class players in the game, and all of them were from Asskickers United.

Asskickers United had taken another step forward toward hegemony. With Magisters, they could sweep through the entire Viridian Empire.

News of Xie Yao and Tang Yao’s successful advancement into Magisters was first announced in the Mage Association before rapidly disseminating through the rest of the playerbase.

Asskickers United’s guild chat boiled over with excitement as everyone fervently discussed the Magister class. No one knew how powerful it was exactly, so they could only leave it up to wild speculation, and Nie Yan naturally didn't spoil.

The forums in every region of Conviction were also blowing up. Magisters and Shadow Dancers had become the hottest topic. Many players couldn’t help but wonder which was stronger between the two.

Truthfully speaking, each class had their own strengths and weaknesses. If it were a one versus one, the Shadow Dancer would definitely have the advantage. Their unrivalled speed and ambush ability allowed them to easily cut down a Magister. However, most Magisters wouldn’t simply wait for death to come. Their combat prowess was also quite formidable. Every Magister had a large number of blinks and teleports. If they were allowed even a little time to cast Forbidden Magic, let alone a single Shadow Dancer, even 100 would all lose their lives.

Nie Yan browsed the forums. Many players were debating over which was stronger, a Magister or Shadow Dancer? However, all their arguments were based on subjective opinions. After all, no one had truly witnessed the strength of the two classes yet, or else they would definitely be in the shock of their lives.

After Tang Yao and Xie Yao finished their class advancements, Asskickers United was bound to produce only more Master Class players. In the end, just how many would succeed in their class advancements?

Nie Yan could only wait and see. Asskickers United had about 160 players who were qualified to undergo their class advancements right now. Naturally, he didn’t expect all of them to succeed. Sometimes, a bit of luck was required too.

Every player who advanced to a Master Class, apart from being incredibly talented, was also blessed with a favourable environment that nurtured their growth.

Those who didn't have such luck could only wait a few months to make a second attempt.

The future appeared right within reach

When Xie Yao and Tang Yao finished learning their Forbidden Magic, Nie Yan planned to bring the two of them with him to clear some of the skeletons around the Brocchi Stronghold. Like this, they could hamper the progress of the Vengeance of the Undead event.

Apart from Xie Yao and Tang Yao, before long, pieces of new spread out from the Warrior Association. A player called Lei Su had successfully advanced to a Sword Saint.

This was the fourth Master Class player!

"Lei Su?” Nie Yan furrowed his brows. He recalled Lei Su’s achievements in the previous timeline—a famous character who always stayed within the top three of the Warrior rankings. Previously, in the in-game gathering organized by the students of the Top Military Academy, Lei Su had approached Painted Muslin and Scoundrel and asked to join Asskickers United. However, Lei Su wanted to meet him first. Since he too focused on his class advancement quest in the Ancient World, he ended up neglecting the matter.

The revelation that Lei Su was a student in the Top Military Academy was truly shocking. After leaving the Ancient World, Nie Yan had tried sending a whisper to Lei Su. However, he didn’t receive a reply. He believed the two of them would meet sooner or later. So, he initially didn’t bother sending people to find Lei Su. However, he didn’t expect that fellow to be so strong, advancing to a Master Class shortly after Tang Yao and Xie Yao.

One had to understand, Tang Yao and Xie Yao were specially nurtured by Nie Yan himself. He had passed on the information he had seen about Magisters online in the previous timeline to them, allowing their class advancement to progress much more smoothly. In contrast, Lei Su had relied completely on himself. This definitely earned Nie Yan’s admiration.

Lei Su had asked to join Asskickers United. His achievements without a powerful backer were already this high. There was no way Nie Yan could allow a talent like this to be poached away by other guilds. He quickly had Guo Huai send out people to look for Lei Su.

If Lei Su were found, Nie Yan would definitely invite him personally.

Lei Su’s advancement to a Sword Saint baffled players. Most players had never heard of his name before. Previously, he was nothing more than an obscure nobody. Now he was known throughout the entire game. Everyone was asking which guild he belonged to, only to be left dumbstruck when they discovered that he was guildless. On one hand, for a solo player without the backing of a guild to advance to a Master Class so quickly was incredibly impressive. One could imagine how skilled he was. On the other hand, it was hard to believe that someone like that had never been recruited into a guild.

After Lei Su became a Sword Saint, various guilds mobilized into action trying to find him and recruit him into their ranks.

Calore, Plague Valley. The monsters that spawned in this map were at least level 120. Many were even as high as Level 150. Among their ranks were many elites. Generally, only a 20-man team composed of Level 100 or higher players would dare to enter this place.

In the jungle down in the valley, a player clad in dark violet armour and wielding a greatsword was passing through the trees, searching for his prey.

The player was Lei Su. He had a tall and sturdy build, standing at around 185 centimeters tall. He was bulging with muscles, but they didn’t appear bulky or restrictive. He was brimming with strength.

Normally, Lei Su would bring his team with him to run dungeons. However, after becoming a Sword Saint, he wanted to test out his new power. So, he came to this place alone.

This place was completely isolated from the rest of the world. He had no idea how much of a commotion his advancement to a Sword Saint had caused. Many guilds were searching for him, looking through every nook and cranny in every city. In addition, he'd turned off all communications. There was no way for anyone to contact him.

While traversing through the jungle, Lei Su encountered many Level 140–150 monsters. However, he easily cut them down. The incredible might of a Sword Saint left him endlessly excited.

A giant mountain demon beast appeared off in the distance. It was wandering aimlessly among the trees.

A Level 130 Lord!

After pondering for a moment, Lei Su strapped his sword to his back and charged forward.

The Mountain Demon was five meters tall and wielded a three meter long log as a club. Seeing Lei Su charging over, it swung the log down at him.

Lei Su nimbly jumped away. BOOM! The log left a large depression in the ground.

Lei Su threw out a punch. THWAACK! A powerful destructive force exploded out from his fist, ringing out like a clap of thunder.

The Mountain Demon staggered several steps back before tripping on the ground.

As it struggled back to its feet, Lei Su leaped into the air and ruthlessly struck the Mountain Demon in the chin with his knee, sending its body flying back.

As the battle progressed, Lei Su became more and more accustomed to the strength of a Sword Saint. He was simply fighting with his fists, and this Level 130 Lord was nothing more than his punching bag. If he unsheathed the Sword of Sonad from his back, the Mountain Demon would probably be beaten even more miserably.

Lei Su landed on the ground behind the Mountain Demon and grabbed it by its horns. With a shoulder throw, he ruthlessly sent it crashing into a nearby tree.

Sword Saints couldn’t compare to Shadow Dancers in speed. However, they were far more powerful in terms of raw strength. Their attacks were extremely astonishing.

Several dozen equal level Great Berserkers wouldn’t necessarily be a match for a Sword Saint.

About five minutes later, the Mountain Demon couldn’t handle the abuse any longer and heavily collapsed to the ground.

"I didn’t expect the battle to end so quickly!” Lei Su was astonished by his strength. After taking a ready stance, he threw a punch into the air. The power radiating from his fist caused a loud explosion to ring out through the air.

"So powerful!”

If this fist were to hit a player, they would probably die instantly.

Lei Su unstrapped the Sword of Sonad from his back, then slashed down with his blade, sending a crescent shaped sword beam flying out. BOOM! A six-meter wide wound was carved into the earth.

He was starting to comprehend the mysteries of a Sword Saint.

Lei Su caressed the blade of his sword. At present, there were only four Master Class players in the entire Viridian Empire, of which the only two melee class players were him and Nie Yan. He wondered how far Nie Yan’s strength reached. Who was stronger between the two of them?

His eyes lit up with anticipation. "Nirvana Flame, let’s see who’ll come out on top!”

While numerous guilds were frantically searching for Lei Su, Lei Su had his people make an announcement. Anyone who wanted him to join their guild would have to first beat him in the arena! All of a sudden, the guilds felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped on their heads. None of them had even a single Master Class player right now. How were they supposed to challenge Lei Su?

Chapter 661 - 30 Paladins!

"Quite full of himself, huh. But I guess he has the bite to back up his bark,” Nie Yan remarked after seeing Lei Su’s announcement. At present, the number of people capable of rivalling him could be counted on his fingers.

Nie Yan dispatched people to get in touch with Lei Su. He also wanted to see how strong Lei Su had become after advancing to a Sword Saint.

Nie Yan had nothing to take care of for now, so he decided to make a trip to the Cripps Stronghold and meet up with Xie Yao.

Xie Yao stood outside the entrance of the guild headquarters. Seeing Nie Yan approaching, she immediately went up to greet him.

A white radiance enveloped Xie Yao who radiated a powerful holy power. The gentle light contrasted with her fair face making her appear even more lovely.

Seeing Xie Yao’s angelic-like appearance, Nie Yan’s heart trembled.

Walking up to Xie Yao’s side, Nie Yan felt a holy aura wash over him. At this moment, she already had seven pieces of Legendary equipment and had just advanced to a Holy Magister. He couldn’t help but wonder how strong she had become.

"Where’s Tang Yao?” Nie Yan asked.

"He went to get some things from his personal storage. He’ll be back in a minute,” Xie Yao replied. She gazed at Nie Yan with her bright eyes, her expression filled with warmth.

After a while, Tang Yao hurried over from around the street corner.

"Hah… hahhh…. Sorry, I’m late.” Tang Yao scratched his head, still catching his breath.

Nie Yan glanced at the Arcane Fairy floating by Tang Yao’s side. Blub blub blub... It was, like always, blowing out bubbles and pulsing out waves of mana into the surroundings

"Wow! Your Arcane Fairy is Rank 6!?” Nie Yan asked in surprise. He could clearly feel that the aura surrounding the Arcane Fairy was much stronger than before. It had also grown bigger.

"Hehe… Yeah. Rank 6.5.” Tang Yao rubbed his nose.

Nie Yan’s heart shook. A Rank 6 Arcane Fairy was already quite powerful. Evolving it was incredibly difficult, to the extent that filling its experience bar by just 1% required a ridiculous sum of experience. However, according to rumours, someone in the previous timeline had raised their Arcane Fairy to Rank 6.5. Though there wasn’t a big boost to its stats, it gained the Spirit Transcendence property, allowing its owner to learn an extra two Forbidden Spells compared to ordinary Magisters.

Magisters could only learn three Forbidden Spells, of which only one could be a massive area offensive spell. This was already quite amazing. However, the Rank 6.5 Arcane Fairy broke through this limit, allowing a Magister to learn five Forbidden Spells, of which two could be massive area offensive spells.

Forbidden Spells had extremely long cooldown times, 10 days being on the shorter end and a month on the longer. Some especially powerful ones even had cooldowns of up to two months. One could imagine the significance of having an extra two Forbidden Spells at hand.

"Not bad, your Arcane Fairy is ranking up pretty fast. Do your best to get it to Rank 7,” Nie Yan said with a voice full of pride and motivation. Tang Yao was definitely the fastest to train his Arcane Fairy up to Rank 6.5 in both the previous and present timelines. Maybe in the future, it would reach Rank 7.

No one knew what a Rank 7 Arcane Fairy was like. Even for most Magisters, it was an existence equivalent to a Divine-grade item.

"Mhm, yeah. It’s getting harder and harder to raise its rank. Not to mention Rank 6 to 7 is a huge bottleneck. I did some calculations in my head. It’ll take me close to a year to evolve it to Rank 7,” Tang Yao said. His knowledge of raising an Arcane Fairy definitely far surpassed that of any other player.

Tang Yao had become deeply attached to his Arcane Fairy, pouring blood, sweat, and tears into raising it, much unlike other players who treated their Arcane Fairies merely as tools. Perhaps this was why his Arcane Fairy had ranked up so quickly.

"Let’s go hunt some skeletons. I’m betting Bladelight, Sun, and the others will be done with their class advancement quests in a few more days,” Nie Yan said. In the near future, Asskickers United would have a huge influx of Master Class players.

Xie Yao and Tang Yao were already aware of the situation with Necromancer Vorderman. They understood the severity of the situation.

Qin Han’s skeleton army was rapidly expanding. They were no longer satisfied with merely attacking villages and towns and had started attacking levelling spots and dungeons with high concentrations of players and even some small cities. Their growth was gradually getting out of control. Some skeletons had even entered the borders of Calore’s territory.

Nie Yan planned to kill as many as he could. Asskickers United had already fortified their strongholds in preparation for the invasion of the undead. Taking on the the skeleton army head-on was a foolish idea. They could only wait for the Viridian Empire and Temple of Light to dispatch their troops to deal with the situation. Borrowing the help of the NPCs to eliminate Necromancer Vorderman was the wisest choice. Nie Yan’s only goal was to preserve as much of his strength as possible during this Vengeance of the Undead event.

As the three teleported to Hilderlocke, Nie Yan suddenly recalled something. "Follow me. We’re making a small detour.”

Nie Yan led Xie Yao and Tang Yao to the Temple of Light in Hilderlocke.

After arriving outside the entrance, both Tang Yao and Xie Yao were baffled. What did Nie Yan bring them here for?

The three of them walked into the Temple of Light. Seeing Nie Yan, an NPC in white robes walked up to greet him, "Greetings, Sir Luminous Dancer.”

The NPC was extremely respectful, behaving like how a subordinate would treat a superior.

Hearing how the NPC addressed Nie Yan, Xie Yao and Tang Yao were shocked. Nie Yan was a Luminous Dancer, meaning he was special even among Shadow Dancers!

"I need some help,” Nie Yan voiced his intentions of wanting to recruit Paladins.

"Yes, right away. Here is the list of Paladins you can recruit from the Temple of Light. Please take a look.”

A window with the names of 800 Paladins popped up in front of Nie Yan. As a Luminous Dancer, he had the authority to recruit 30 Paladins to do his bidding. Naturally, after their task was over, he would have to pay out some compensation. However, it was quite cheap considering he would only have to fork out a few thousand gold to recruit them for several days.

Nie Yan glanced over the stats of the Paladins. Most of them were Level 120+. Some were even as strong as Level 150. They were all powerful elites in the service of the temple.

Nie Yan recruited 16 Level 150 Paladins while the remaining were all Level 140+.

After a while, a group of Paladins entered the hall of the Temple of Light. The 30 of them lined up in rows of six and columns of five. They were all clad in identical silver-white armour. Their movements were in sync, like a small corps that had trained together. Their equipment was excellent. Each of them had 20,000–30,000 health. They certainly looked like a formidable force.

"Sir Luminous Dancer, we’re willing to serve!”

"May the light be with you!”

The eyes of these Paladins burned with zealous fervor. They had absolute faith in Nie Yan and respected his will. They would carry out any command he gave them, including committing suicide.

Seeing so many Paladins, Tang Yao’s jaws dropped. He turned to Nie Yan with a look of shock and asked, "A-are all these guys your mercenaries?”

Damn! Recruiting 30 of them at once, and they’re all Level 140–150 Elites! This is crazy!

"Yep, they look pretty strong. We just don’t know how effective they’ll be when we’re clearing the skeletons.” Nie Yan glanced at the Paladins. All of them were tall and bulking, and their equipment was orderly.

Tang Yao thought for a moment. Ever since he started the game, Nie Yan had given him surprise after surprise. As time passed by, he grew stronger and stronger. However, he realized he still couldn't see through Nie Yan’s true strength. He faintly smiled, "You never fail to throw me for a loop.”

Xie Yao quietly stood beside Nie Yan. Seeing Tang Yao’s astonished expression, she faintly smiled. She had long since gotten used to this.

Nie Yan, Xie Yao, and Tang Yao left the Temple of Light with the recruited Paladins in tow.

Nie Yan glanced at the Paladin corps following behind him as he walked through the streets of Hilderlocke. They really were too eye-catching. Unlike his Divine Recruitment, the NPCs recruited from the Temple of Light couldn’t be recalled. Though these Paladins couldn’t avoid the sights of players, they could!

Nie Yan had the 30 Paladins clear the path forward. Meanwhile, he, Xie Yao, and Tang Yao put on their cloaks and followed from behind.

These 30 Paladins immediately attracted the attention of the players on the streets. A group of Paladins like this appearing in Hiderlocke was definitely shocking!

"Do you think the Temple of Light dispatched them to deal with the skeletons?”

"Maybe. It’s definitely possible.”

The players discussed fervently. They didn’t notice Nie Yan, Xie Yao, and Tang Yao following behind the Paladins at all.

Nie Yan discovered some suspicious people trailing the Paladins. They were players from God Executioner Sword!

Qin Han’s side had definitely become aware of these Paladins. They would surely make a move.

However, Nie Yan wasn’t worried. Even if they were surrounded after stepping out of the city, with two Magisters here, there was nothing to be afraid of! Tang Yao and Xie Yao could easily wipe them out with a simple spell. Not to mention Hilderlocke wasn’t only the territory of God Executioner Sword. If a fight broke out, Battle Crazed Alliance could come to their aid at any time.

The 30 Paladins headed out of Hilderlocke, then set out for the east.

At this moment, the territory around Hilderlocke had already become a barren filled with the undead. There were skeletons roaming everywhere. Many players didn’t dare to step out of the city and had already left for elsewhere to level. So, recently the number of players hanging around in the region had plummeted. It was bleak and desolate.

Nie Yan, Xie Yao, and Tang Yao followed the Paladins outside the city. Before long, a large number of skeletons emerged from a hillside in the distance. They stretched out as far as the eye could see, surging forward like an unending tide.

"Looks like God Executioner Sword sent out these skeletons after locking down our positions. These guys really move quick.”

Nie Yan turned to Xie Yao and Tang Yao, "You guys are up. With so many skeletons, we’ll get to grind to our hearts’ content.”

"Mhmm!” Xie Yao nodded.

"Don’t worry! They can send as many as they want, we’ll kill them all! I was looking for a decent place to do some levelling anyway!” Tang Yao excitedly said. Gripping his staff, he prepared to start.

Chapter 662 - The Might of Magisters!

The sea of skeletons swarmed toward Nie Yan, Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and the 30 paladins.

Quickly skimming over the surroundings, Nie Yan spotted several large boulders nearby. They were five meters high and scattered all over the area. These overhanging boulders were obstacles the skeletons would have a hard time getting over.

For the clumsy undead skeletons, climbing was an incredibly difficult task.

By relying on these boulders, they could provide themselves with some safety from the relentless onslaught of the skeletons..

"Let’s go over there!” Nie Yan said. He dashed toward one of the boulders.

Both Tang Yao and Xie Yao used a blink skill to teleport after Nie Yan. The 30 Paladins followed behind them.

One of the biggest factors that set apart Magisters from Great Mages was that the cooldowns and cast times for their ordinary skills were greatly reduced. Teleport skills like Blink would have their cooldowns reduced from 50 to 20 seconds. So, they could be used much more frequently.

Tang Yao and Xie Yao quickly reached the boulders. Nie Yan had the 30 Paladins get into position. After chanting out an incantation, he summoned Lil’ Gold. He didn’t need Paladin Lafus for the time being. The strength of their current force was enough.

At this moment, the mob of skeletons swarmed over from all around. Nie Yan and the others were completely surrounded. If ordinary players were to encounter this kind of situation, they would likely pass out from fear; an endless sea of skeletons, cackling violently, ready to make you one of them. Even a powerful team of first-rate players would eventually be overwhelmed and swallowed up.

The silhouettes of several dozen Thieves appeared on top of a hill in the far distance. Leading them was a Thief in silver gray leather armour. They were players of God Executioner Sword.

"Unfettered, that’s the Golden Dragon of Nirvana Flame! Those Paladins are with him too!” a Thief cried out after seeing Lil’ Gold emerge on the battlefield.

"Nirvana Flame!” Unfettered’s heart trembled. As he looked closer, he saw the 30 Paladins standing in front of Nie Yan and two others, forming a human wall. "Who are those two beside him?”

"I think that’s Young Sparrowhawk to his left and the other should be Yao Yao. An Arcane Magister and a Holy Magister,” a player replied.

After confirming this, Unfettered immediately reported the information back to Qin Han. Their group continued observing the battle.

"No matter how strong they are, I refuse to believe they can stand up against tens of thousands of skeletons!” Unfettered said. From his point of view, their skeleton army was invincible. It had wiped out everything in its path and had yet to meet any real resistance. Even some of the more powerful villages and towns still ended up being buried under the sea of skeletons and transformed into ruins. In contrast, Nirvana Flame’s side only had 3 players and 30 Level 140–150 Elites.

The Thieves from God Executioner Sword observed from the sidelines. Looking up ahead, they saw multitudes of skeletons converging on Nie Yan’s group. They had expressions of schadenfreude on their faces. They wanted to see if Nie Yan would end up just like those countless other experts before him, consumed by the sea of bones.

The skeletons closed in on Nie Yan’s group. There was roughly 70 meters between them.

The skeletons had already entered Xie Yao and Tang Yao’s attack range. After becoming Magisters, their base attack ranges had reached 80–90 meters. Combined with the bonuses from their equipment, their attack ranges surpassed 100 meters.

"Nie Yan, should I start?” Tang Yao asked.

Nie Yan nodded. "Xie Yao, hold on for a moment. Let Tang Yao go first.”

Nie Yan glanced at Tang Yao and Xie Yao’s stats. With the bonuses from the Rank 6.5 Arcane Fairy, Tang Yao’s mana pool had already reached 120,000, far more than ordinary Level 100 Great Mages or even most Magisters. Having 40,000 mana was already quite astonishing. Xie Yao’s mana was roughly half that of Tang Yao’s at 60,000 mana. However, her magic power was 20% higher than Tang Yao’s. Each had their own strengths and weaknesses.

Before the skeletons got any closer and started attacking them, having Tang Yao thin out their numbers would be the best choice. At the same time, Xie Yao could conserve her mana.

Xie Yao waved her staff, casting the Mana Surplus spell on herself. After activating this spell, when her mana bar was full, it would continue to accumulate at the rate of her mana regeneration up to 30,000 mana and last for up to three hours. This was also one of the ways to increase her mana.

Seeing the skeletons swarming over, Tang Yao’s eyes lit up with excitement. "I finally get to test out the strength of a Magister!

Flame Wall!

Flame Wall!

Flame Wall!

Raging flame walls erupted in the distance. The first flame wall emerged 30 meters away, then gradually started expanding. Every five meters another flame wall would appear until Tang Yao had cast a total of seven.

The first wave of skeletons made contact with the first layer of fire. As they passed through the raging flames, a string of damage values displaying 10,000 floated up above their heads. They braved through the first flame wall, only to meet with the second, then the third, and so on. After passing through five flame walls, the ordinary skeletons collapsed into pieces. The elites managed to survive through the flame walls. However, they were few and far between. Even then, they still had to face the assault of 30 Paladins. Before they could even take several steps, they were purified by holy light.

The flame walls continued burning for roughly three minutes.

Tang Yao quickly brandished his staff, erecting flame wall after flame wall, transforming the surroundings into a sea of fire.

More and more skeletons collapsed into piles of bone fragments under the flame walls. These remains were quickly purified by Battle Angel Kalenna.

Time ticked away. No matter how many skeletons swarmed over, they were still transformed into ash all the same.

Seeing this scene from atop the hillside, the Thieves from God Executioner Sword were dumbstruck. They glanced at each other in dismay. These flame walls were too fierce! How was this possible!? Seeing the skeletons getting wiped out wave after wave without getting any closer, they started losing confidence. Would these skeletons really be able to kill Nie Yan’s group?

"I refuse to believe they can keep this up forever! They’ll have to run out of mana some time!” Unfettered said. Flame Wall was a spell with one of the highest mana costs.

Around 15 minutes later, Tang Yao was still casting Flame Walls one after another. It didn’t look like he would be running out of mana any time soon.

As more and more skeletons collapsed on the ground, Nie Yan and the others’ experience bars skyrocketed, filling up chunk by chunk. In the blink of an eye, their bodies lit up with a brilliant light. They had all levelled up.

These skeletons gave ample experience!

Holy power surged into the Holy Spirit Imprint. Nie Yan glanced at the seals on Zennarde’s Sword. The fourth seal was already showing signs of being released.

If they continued hunting mobs at this rate, all the seals on Zennarde’s Sword would be unlocked within the next two to three months.

Nie Yan was full of expectation.

"I’m going to recover my mana. I’ve used up about a third,” Tang Yao said after looking at his mana. The mana cost of Flame Wall was truly astonishing. These kinds of wide area spells with high killing power required a fairly large amount of mana. No matter how much mana a player had, it would be impossible to bear this kind of high mana consumption indefinitely. Right now, he had to maintain a certain amount of his mana reserves, lest he finds himself helpless in an emergency.

After Tang Yao stopped casting spells and the Flame Walls dispersed, more and more skeletons circled in. Just as they approached within 50 meters of Nie Yan and the others, pillars of light descended from the sky. A blanket of damage values rose up into the air. In a short while, they were purified into ashes by the holy light.

The skeletons collapsed in droves. Unlike Tang Yao’s magic, Xie Yao’s AoE spells couldn’t cover every single corner of the battlefield. Nie Yan had Lil’ Gold cover the gaps, spewing out Dragon Breath and blasting the skeletons away.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. For the sake of increasing their mobbing efficiency, he had Lil’ Gold clash with the skeletons head-on. The skeletons quickly swarmed Lil’ Gold, thinking he’d gone astray from the group.

Lil’ Gold endured the assault of these skeletons with his powerful defense. Further in the back, the 30 Paladins continuously healed him. His life was in no danger as his health bar was constantly maintained at full.

Explosive Counter!

Explosive Counter!

Under the endless assault, powerful tempests of power erupted from Lil’ Gold, sweeping through all the skeletons in the vicinity.

Nie Yan glanced at Lil’ Gold’s level. He was at Level 99, 62%, only a step away from Level 100. Expectations flashed across Nie Yan’s eyes. When Lil’ Gold finally broke through Level 100, just how strong would he become?

The Thieves on the hillside were completely stupefied. Rather than Nie Yan’s group despairing as they were swallowed up by the sea of skeletons, it more looked like they were having a field day farming the skeletons and receiving a power-levelling session.

...

Back at God Executioner Sword’s guild headquarters, Qin Han had received a report from Unfettered. Looking at the video he sent him, his eyes flashed with a cold light.

「Boss, we can’t keep going on like this. No matter how many skeletons we send, all we’re doing is making them stronger!」Unfettered said. He felt extremely helpless right now.

Qin Han crushed the teacup in his hand. Nirvana Flame, don’t think you’re invincible just because my ordinary skeletons can’t do anything to you! This is only the beginning!

「You guys keep observing,」Qin Han ordered.

「Understood!」

Nie Yan and the others’ mobbing speed was astonishingly fast. In only half an hour, they had killed several thousand skeletons.

As skeletons kept dropping at their feet, Lil’ Gold received his share of the experience. His experience bar was gradually rising, already reaching 93%. He was exceedingly close to levelling up.

In another five minutes or so, Lil’ Gold would reach Level 100!

Seeing skeletons stretching out as far as the eye could see, Xie Yao waved her staff and chanted out two sets of invocation syllables.

Chapter 663 - Junior Adjudicator of Light

Any spell that required a Magister to chant two sets of syllables or more was incredibly powerful. However, it likely wasn’t Forbidden Magic. Large scale offensive Forbidden Magic required at least 30 sets of syllables.

After Xie Yao chanted out the last syllable, a white portal opened up in the sky. Two angels with spotless, white wings flew out. A dazzling holy radiance poured down toward the earth, enveloping everything within a 50-meter radius. All the skeletons caught in the spell were instantly exorcised, vanishing without a trace. Meanwhile, the skeletons that were outside the range trembled in fear, not daring to move.

After a while, the two angels disappeared, and the portal closed up.

This was Nie Yan’s first time seeing such powerful Advanced Magic. Despite not being Forbidden Magic, some Advanced Magic could only be learned after advancing to a Magister. Few ordinary players would be able to cast it. In the previous timeline, Nie Yan hadn’t met many Magisters. The him of back then was a far cry from being qualified to associate with such experts. In the few times that he did meet one, he had been beaten like a mutt.

"Not bad, that spell is pretty powerful,” Nie Yan remarked. Right as these words left his mouth, Lil’ Gold lit up with a golden radiance—a level up!

Nie Yan quickly pulled open Lil’ Gold’s stats page. All of his stats, including health, defense, attack power, and so on, had risen sharply. At present, he already had more than 260,000 health. On top of that, he had the Dragon armour type, which granted high damage reduction to both physical and magic attacks.

Lil’ Gold had a high Growth Rate. For every level up, he gained over several times more stats than ordinary pets. After reaching Level 100, this difference became all the more clear. According to rumours, the guild leaders of God Executioner Sword and Penumbra Empire had spend a great many resources acquiring Golden Dragons of their own. Despite being the same type of creature, theirs simply couldn’t hold a candle to Lil’ Gold and were far weaker. Though their Golden Dragons looked quite intimidating and scary, they didn’t amount to much in actual battle.

Apart from the boost in stats, Lil’ Gold obtained a new skill called Dragon Fear which could inflict the fear status effect on all creatures within a 30-meter radius. Also, most of his skills received an upgrade, including Explosive Counter which rose to Rank 10. When it activated, it dealt three hits instead of one, and its area of effect was much greater than before.

At present, Lil’ Gold was equivalent to a Rank 6 creature. He could easily crush any ordinary monster.

Lil’ Gold’s frame expanded to six meters in height while his scales now had a violet gold luster to them. It was a beast without equal; it stood unrivalled.

Seeing the change in Lil’ Gold, the Thieves from God Executioner Sword broke out in a cold sweat. He had grown even more powerful than before!

After reaching Level 100, Nie Yan could feed Lil’ Gold ordinary Life Cores. When a Life Core was fully digested, his stats would see a modest increase.

Nie Yan planned to continue nurturing Lil’ Gold and the Darkwing Dragon. Both these creatures had high Growth Rates. As their ranks rose even higher, they would become all the more powerful.

After levelling up, Lil’ Gold became even more invincible. He left a trail of raging flames on the ground wherever he passed. When the skeletons behind him entered these flames, they were burnt to ashes. As for those who did manage to close in, they never amounted to enough to surround Lil’ Gold. Nevertheless, fearless they struck him after getting in melee range, only to be blasted into smithereens by Explosive Counters. The Rank 10 Explosive Counter was even more frightening than before. Previously, it only dealt one hit. But now it dealt three, meaning it dealt triple the damage in the same time frame. In the blink of an eye, piles of bone fragments littered the ground.

The endless waves of skeletons swarming over couldn’t get past Lil’ Gold and Xie Yao’s attacks. As for the 30 Paladins, Nie Yan was still looking over their stats. Each of them had their own strengths and weaknesses, and not all their skills were the same. Naturally, they all had the most basic Paladin skills.

While Nie Yan’s group was crazily sweeping up the skeletons, a large group of skeletons had gathered together in an area roughly 1,000 meters away. There were 100 altogether, 70 Elites, 28 Lords, and 2 Variant Lords.

Normally, the greater the number of players a skeleton killed, the more they would progress. According to rumours, when powerful Lord- or Variant Lord-class skeletons were purified back into ordinary players, the killers would receive a large stats reward, causing their stats to rise by a good chunk. However, this was for later.

Out of every 1,000 to several thousand skeletons, only one Lord-class skeleton might appear. For Qin Han to gather all these Lord- and Variant Lord-class skeletons together showed just how much he wanted Nie Yan dead!

Once these skeletons finished their preparations, under the cover of the ordinary skeletons, they started setting out towards the direction of Nie Yan’s group. Even though they were much taller than ordinary skeletons and were easily recognizable, with so many skeletons attacking from everywhere, they weren’t easily discovered.

Normally, Lords were already quite powerful, let alone Variant Lords. A Level 100 Variant Lord was roughly equivalent to a Level 150 Lord.

A hundred skeletons composed of Elites, Lords, and Variant Lords was enough to pose a threat to Nie Yan’s group.

Nie Yan, Xie Yao, and Tang Yao were oblivious to the approaching danger. They were still clearing away the ordinary skeletons.

Nie Yan glanced at their levels. All three of them had reached Level 103. This was an excellent place for a power-levelling session, far surpassing any other levelling spots.

"Check your kill counts. Xie Yao, what are you at?” Nie Yan asked.

"About 3,000,” Xie Yao replied.

"I see. What about you, Tang Yao?” Nie Yan asked. He believed Tang Yao probably had the highest kill count out of all of them.

"Almost 5,000-” Before Tang Yao even finished speaking, he quickly corrected himself, "I’m already at 5,000.”

Nie Yan checked his kill count. All the skeletons Lil’ Gold killed counted as his. Like Xie Yao, it was also over 3,000.

"I just received a quest.” Tang Yao raised an eyebrow. After his kill count broke past 5,000, a notification popped up.

"What kind of quest?”

"It’s called Save the Viridian Empire. The first quest in the chain asks you to kill 5,000 skeletons. I’ve already completed it. The next quest wants me to kill 20,000. Damn, that’s a lot,” Tang Yao said in a gloomy tone. After grinding for so long, he had only killed 5,000 skeletons. Yet the second quest actually wanted him to kill four times as much.

"Does this quest have any special requirements or conditions you have to follow?” Nie Yan asked. He didn’t recall hearing about this kind of quest in the previous timeline. However, thinking about it, when the Vengeance of the Undead event was underway, the number of players who killed more than 5,000 skeletons definitely didn’t exceed five. So, information about this quest not spreading was quite normal.

"It seems like even if you don’t complete the quest line, you can still go and receive a reward from the Elder Council of the Viridian Empire. This quest is issued out by them,” Tang Yao said after reading through the quest info.

The Elder Council was finally making a move. Nie Yan wondered if his prediction of the Vengeance of the Undead event would count as a successful prophecy. If it did, he might receive the Great Prophet title. He thought for a moment. He couldn’t go back now. He would go and check later. After all, haste makes waste.

If this quest only gave experience, it wouldn't really be worthwhile. Nie Yan hoped it would give some other rewards. A quest on such a grand scale should at least give a piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao’s kill counts hadn’t reached 5,000 yet. They could only wait and see later.

Tang Yao continued killing the skeletons with Flame Wall. Compared to other AoE spells, Flame Wall was quite cost-effective. All he had to do was continuously cast it. The Flame walls could kill all the skeletons that came charging over, not to mention its cast time was super quick.

15 minutes later, Nie Yan received a notification That should be the same quest Tang Yao got. As he glanced at his kill count, he realized it was only at 4,800 and still hadn’t reached 5,000.

Eh, what’s going on? What was that notification about then?

Nie Yan opened up the notification with a look of doubt, as dazzling rays of golden light flashed out from his body.

After looking it over, he discovered his Advanced Devil Slayer had evolved.

Your Advanced Devil Slayer title has become Junior Adjudicator of Light.

Nie Yan glanced at the properties of Junior Adjudicator of Light. This title actually ranked above Luminous Dancer. It was also a title related to the Temple of Light, and it was extremely prestigious, allowing him to wield even more authority within the temple. With regards to the title’s properties, Extreme Intimidate and his other skills all saw some improvements. He also gained a new skill called Junior Adjudicator Aura, which dealt persistent purifying damage to all undead within a 25-meter radius. At the same time, it also boosted the attack of all nearby allies by 30%.

This Junior Adjudicator Aura was definitely an amazing skill!

No matter how many active skills a player had, if they weren’t used properly, they would be useless. On the other hand, passive skills gave you a boost no matter what. For any player, the more passive skills, the better. Players with more passive skills had an innate advantage over others on the battlefield. This held especially true for Warriors, who had many powerful passive aura buffs to support them and further raise their defense.

Nie Yan was pleasantly surprised by the evolution of his Advanced Devil Slayer title. Still in ecstacy, he glanced over the battlefield, at the ready to jump back into the fray. It was then he noticed something off. Several large skeletons had braved past Tang Yao’s flame walls, endured Xie Yao’s holy magic, and came charging over. Xie Yao and Tang Yao’s attacks dealt a little under 10,000 damage to them.

Nie Yan inspected one of the large skeletons with Transcendent Insight. It was three meters tall with pitch black bones.

Variant Skeleton King Apbadas (Variant Lord): Level 100

It was actually a Variant Lord, and it wasn’t just one. There was also a large number of Lords and Elites around it. Nie Yan’s heart sank. He guessed Qin Han had sent over these skeletons to kill them.

Chapter 664 - Decree of Dusk!

「Watch out, there’s a Variant Lord coming over,」Nie Yan warned in voice chat.

「Nie Yan, how strong is a Variant Lord?」Tang Yao asked. He had never encountered a Variant Lord-class monster before. So, he didn’t know how powerful they were.

「Don’t let yourselves get hit. Variant Lords are really powerful. A Level 100 Variant Lord is basically equal to a Level 150 Lord,」Nie Yan replied. Tang Yao and Xie Yao were both cloth-armoured casters. Even though their defense had risen sharply after becoming Magisters, they still wouldn’t survive a single hit from a Variant Lord.

With his leather armour, high defense and defense rank, Nie Yan could probably endure a few hits from a Variant Lord. However, he had no way of tanking indefinitely like plate-armoured Warriors.

Hearing Nie Yan’s words, Tang Yao and Xie Yao raised their vigilance.

The two Variant Skeleton Kings were fast approaching. The putrid stench coming of their bones was dizzying.

Nie Yan looked down at his status bar. He was inflicted with a debuff.

Plague Disease: All Stats -30%, Movement Speed -20%.

Dread: Attack Power and Magic Power -30%.

These were the special debuffs of Variant Skeleton Kings.

Shortly after Nie Yan’s group was affected by the debuffs, Battle Angel Kalenna waved her staff. Rays of light fell over their bodies, sweeping away all negative status effects. They also received six blessings, which greatly increased their various stats, including movement speed, health, and defense.

"Damn! Where did you get that angel from? She’s amazing!” Tang Yao exclaimed after looking at his status bar. The value of a guardian angel like Kalenna was definitely no lower than his Arcane Fairy.

The Arcane Fairy and Kalenna specialized in different things. The former raised their owner’s stats, mana, and mana recovery rate, while the latter was proficient in all sorts of support magic, including blessings and removing debuffs.

"I got her after becoming a Luminous Dancer,” Nie Yan replied. Looking up ahead, the Lord-class skeletons were getting closer and closer.

The two Variant Skeleton Kings brandished the great war-axes in their hands and charged over.

"Leave one of them to me!” Xie Yao said after glancing at her skill bar.

"Are you sure?” Nie Yan asked. Even though Xie Yao had obtained many pieces of Legendary-grade equipment, she had yet to show off her true strength in front of him.

"Yeah.” Xie Yao nodded in earnest.

Nie Yan always felt Xie Yao required his protection. He rarely let her take action on the battlefield herself. Only now did he realize that he had no understanding of her true strength. The fact that she could successfully become a Holy Magister and obtain so many pieces of Legendary-grade equipment was clear proof of her skill.

"Alright. Leave the other Variant Skeleton King to me,” Nie Yan declared confidently. It would be a piece of cake for him.

"Hey! If you two are taking one each, what am I supposed to do?” Tang Yao joked.

"Don’t worry, you can deal with the rest,” Nie Yan chuckled.

Tang Yao rolled his eyes. "You two sure are cruel. Not only am I third-wheeling here, but you’re also leaving me to deal with all these Lords and Elites by myself!”

Nie Yan and Xie Yao smiled at each other.

"I’ll have Lil’ Gold and the 30 Paladins support you.”

"Phew, that sounds more like it.” Tang Yao breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing the Variant Skeleton King getting closer and closer, Xie Yao dashed over to the side. With a wave of her staff, a Holy Judgement descended from the sky.

Xie Yao was the first player to attack the Variant Skeleton King. So, it immediately aggroed onto her. It brandished its war-axe and charged toward her.

Xie Yao ran off some distance, leading the Variant Skeleton King away. Seeing Xie Yao coming over, the skeletons nearby moved into surrounding her.

Just as Xie Yao was about to be surrounded, she activated Glorious Light of the Divine. Her body shone with a dazzling, silver-white radiance, which enveloped everything within a 50-meter radius. The skeletons in the vicinity started emitting white smoke as their bones slowly melted.

This holy light was far from dangerous to ordinary monsters. But to these skeletons, it was their nemesis. They retreated one after another, lest they be purified into ash.

Wherever Xie Yao passed, the skeletons would retreat in a fluster. Like this, she wouldn’t have to worry about the small fry and could focus on dealing with the Variant Skeleton King.

Xie Yao led the Variant Skeleton King into an open space. Waving her staff, she unleashed a flurry of spells on it.

−9.323
−8,957
−9,159
...

A string of damage values floated up above the Variant Skeleton King’s head. It let out an enraged roar and quickly closed in on Xie Yao. Brandishing its war-axe, it chopped down on her.

Flash!

Xie Yao’s body disappeared as she reemerged some distance away behind the Variant Skeleton King. She continued bombarding it with magic.

CRRAASH! The Variant Skeleton King struck the spot where Xie Yao previously stood, leaving a large gash in the earth. Seeing that it had missed, it looked around in a daze until it felt its back being attacked. Only then did it discover that Xie Yao had gotten behind it.

The Variant Skeleton King immediately turned around and rushed toward Xie Yao with its war-axe raised.

Xie Yao waved her staff, buffing herself with a speed boosting spell. She immediately became as quick as the wind. As she kited back, she fired out spell after spell.

Xie Yao gracefully dodged and kited back, causing the Variant Skeleton King to run around in circles. It had no way of getting close to her.

Meanwhile, Nie Yan used the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow to lure the other Variant Skeleton King to the side. Looking over in Xie Yao’s direction, it appeared he didn’t need to worry about her at all. Her movements reminded him of the several encounters he had with Magisters in the previous timeline. Their kiting technique was truly marvelous.

As long as there was no interference from the outside, Nie Yan was confident Xie Yao could easily dispatch that Variant Skeleton King.

Nie Yan lured the Variant Skeleton King into some nearby thickets. After activating Extreme Deterrence, all the ordinary skeletons in the surroundings scattered away, giving him an open stage to deal with the Variant Skeleton King. He unsheathed Zennarde’s Sword and pounced forward.

Seeing Nie Yan dashing over, the Variant Skeleton King let out a thundering roar and chopped down with its war-axe.

Nie Yan’s figure blurred as he dodged the Variant Skeleton King’s attack. Circling to the side, he leaped forward and slashed down on its chest.

The Variant Skeleton King staggered several steps back, then charged back forward.

Nie Yan employed the techniques of a Shadow Dancer. His silhouette blurred and flickered in every direction. No matter how the Variant Skeleton King swung at him with its war-axe, it couldn’t touch a single hair on his head. All of its attacks were futile.

Facing the Variant Skeleton King in a one-on-one situation was nothing difficult. Killing it was simply a matter of time. As a Variant Lord, it had a huge amount of health.

Due to the effects of Glorious Light of the Divine and Extreme Deterrence, the ordinary skeletons couldn’t approach Nie Yan and Xie Yao. So, they all swarmed toward Tang Yao.

Lil’ Gold let out a loud roar. It barreled forward into the crowd of skeletons and collided with a Lord-class Skeleton King. He was immediately surrounded by five other Skeleton Kings and entered a hectic one versus six melee. The Paladins formed a human wall in front of Tang Yao, protecting him from any oncoming enemies. At the same time, they continuously restored Lill’ Gold’s health.

After erecting a perimeter of flame walls around him, Tang Yao raised his staff and began chanting. The darkness elemental energy in the air surged toward him, creating a powerful tempest with him standing at the center.

One set of syllables, two sets of syllables, three sets of syllables...

Nie Yan looked over in Tang Yao’s direction. From the intense fluctuation of magic in the air, he could tell Tang Yao was casting Forbidden Magic! As for what kind of Forbidden Magic, he couldn’t tell.

Time ticked away. The Paladins were met with a fierce assault. Fortunately, they could heal each other as they endured the endless waves of attacks. At this moment, all 30 of them raised their swords into the air and erected an enormous Radiant Barrier which protected them all. The Skeleton Lords relentlessly attacked the barrier, but it showed no signs of faltering.

After chanting 10 sets of syllables, Tang Yao finally cast his Forbidden Magic.

Decree of Dusk!

A ripple of dark energy slowly spread out toward the surroundings. Each and every Skeleton Lord it touched suddenly froze in place as if they had been paralyzed. The Decree of Dusk spread out for 500 meters before finally stopping.

All the skeletons caught in the spell turned completely motionless.

What powerful Forbidden Magic!

Nie Yan glanced at the frozen Variant Skeleton King in front of him. He himself was also immobilized by Decree of Dusk. However, a moment a later, Tang Yao dispelled the spell’s effects on him.

Tang Yao could freely decide who the Decree of Dusk did or didn’t affect.

All of the skeletons were completely immobilized. This was an excellent opportunity!

Tang Yao waved his staff. Wave after wave of flames started pouring down on the skeletons from the sky.

The surroundings were immediately transformed into a sea of flames. A blanket of damage values rose up into the air.

Tang Yao’s damage was extremely frightening when he went all out.

"Tang Yao, how long does this Forbidden Magic last for?” Nie Yan asked. He circled behind the Variant Skeleton King and unloaded one skill after another.

"I don’t know either. This is my first time using this spell. I think it keeps the ordinary skeletons CC’d for around 70 seconds. As for the Lords and Variant Lords, I’m not sure. Be careful,” Tang Yao said as he focused on DPSing, blasting 30 Elite- and 6 Lord-class skeletons to smithereens while the remaining were at half health or lower.

A 70-second crowd control… Nie Yan gulped. This Decree of Dusk was truly frightening. If Tang Yao managed to cast this Forbidden Magic on the battlefield in a war, the enemy would definitely be doomed. The only flaw, one which it shared with all Forbidden Magic, was its long cast time. It required the caster to chant 10 sets of syllables, which equated to 100 seconds. In a chaotic battle, only the most skilled players with excellent awareness could cast such magic without being interrupted.

Chapter 665 - Disparity

Most Magisters had excellent awareness over the situation on a battlefield. When no one was paying attention, they would start casting Forbidden Magic. Then, when people least expected it, they would obliterate the enemy with magic.

Tang Yao’s combat awareness was superb. He saw the Paladins protecting him as an opportunity to cast Decree of Dusk. This Forbidden Magic bought Nie Yan and Xie Yao a lot of valuable time.

The effects of Decree of Dusk started wearing off on the Variant Skeleton King. Its fingers started twitching, then its hands and both arms as it raised its war-axe. Just as it was about to completely break free, Nie Yan targeted it with Extreme Intimidate, immobilizing it again. He then struck out with a maelstrom of high damage Freedom Skills like Backbreaker, Reverse Grip Backstab, and Phantom Assassination.

−29,384
−32,444
−63,787!
...

In a flash, the Variant Skeleton King only had 30% health remaining.

Xie Yao was also dealing in the range of 20,000–30,000 damage a hit. Though her burst damage wasn’t as frightening as Nie Yan’s, nor her attack speed as high, she had still whittled her Variant Skeleton King down to 45% health.

By the time Decree of Dusk wore off on the Variant Skeleton King, Xie Yao’s teleport skills like Blink and Anywhere Door were already long since off cooldown. Tang Yao had given her some time to catch her breath.

Over on the hillside in the distance, the Thieves from God Executioner Sword were struck speechless. They believed the Elite, Lord, and Variant Lord skeletons dispatched by Qin Han would definitely be enough to kill Nie Yan’s group. However, not only were they not dying, they were hardly struggling at all.

In the blink of an eye, almost half of the 100 Elites and Lord skeletons were killed. The two Variant Lords were also on low health.

Unfettered quickly reported to Qin Han.

Back in the God Executioner Sword guild headquarters, Qin Han was both shocked and infuriated after watching through the video Unfettered sent over. It had taken him a long time to gather these Elite- and Lord-class skeletons. Seeing so many of them fall, he felt his heart bleeding. If these Elite- and Lord-class skeletons were used to deal with ordinary players, he could’ve raised at least tens of thousands more undead!

Seeing Nie Yan and Xie Yao dealing with a Variant Skeleton King respectively, waves of shock swept through Qin Han’s heart. Was this the might of a Shadow Dancer and Magister!?

If Asskickers United produced several more Master Class players, powerful Magisters in particular, the Vengeance of the Undead event might come to an abrupt and premature end!

Qin Han had received information that Asskickers United already had 60 players doing their class advancement quests. Meanwhile, his side only had six. In terms of Master Class players, Asskickers United had once more gotten a lead on them.

Qin Han started growing anxious. If he gave Asskickers United any more time, he would have to face an ever growing number of Magisters, Shadow Dancers, Sword Saints, and other frightening Master Classes.

「Boss, what do we do? At this rate, our two Variant Skeleton Kings will be killed!」Unfettered asked in an anxious tone.

「Split up into two groups, and kill them with the help of the Variant Skeleton Kings!」Qin Han replied in an icy tone. All 30 players in Unfettered’s group were fairly skilled Thieves in God Executioner Sword. As long as they could hamper Nie Yan and Xie Yao, the Variant Skeleton Kings could do the rest.

After receiving Qin Han’s order, Unfettered hung up the call. Looking over at Nie Yan’s group in the distance, his lips curved into a bitter smile. He had absolutely no confidence in dealing with Nirvana Flame. However, an order was an order. If he wished to stay in God Executioner Sword, he had to carry out Qin Han’s commands.

The 30 Thieves split up into two groups and headed for Nie Yan and Xie Yao’s respective locations.

With a powerful kick, Nie Yan sent the Variant Skeleton King staggering several steps back. Suddenly, he sensed something off. His heart trembled—enemy Thieves!

Nie Yan immediately activated Eye of Truth. Looking over in the distance, he spotted a dozen or so silhouettes heading towards him.

「We have uninvited guests. Everybody, watch out!」Nie Yan warned in voice chat.

Seeing Nie Yan gazing over at them with his demonic gaze, Unfettered’s heart sank. Shit! We’ve already been discovered!

Unfettered was astonished by Nie Yan’s Awareness. His group was more than 70 meters away, yet Nie Yan had still detected them! This was outrageous!

After hearing Nie Yan’s warning, Xie Yao immediately buffed herself with skills that increased her Awareness. She also detected several Thieves heading in her direction.

Anywhere Door!

Casting her gaze away from the Variant Skeleton King, Xie Yao disappeared from her original position and reappeared 20 meters away. With a wave of her staff, a shock wave of holy light swept through everything within a 20-meter radius.

Bang bang bang!

Xie Yao’s spell struck the Thieves in the surroundings, forcing them out of stealth. There were 8 Thieves altogether. Damage values ranging from 3,000–4,000 floated up above their heads.

Xie Yao was simply too fast, catching them off-guard and giving them no time to dodge or even react. After being struck by her magic, moving became incredibly difficult, and their skills greyed out. As they barely retreated several steps back, a giant pillar of light descended from the sky and blasted them into the air.

The eight Thieves all fell back to the ground dead. Since they were a bit farther away, the other Thieves hadn’t been detected by Xie Yao. Seeing this scene, they almost wet their pants in fright. Had she noticed them as well, they would probably be cold corpses lying on the ground right now too.

The remaining Thieves no longer dared to approach Xie Yao. She returned her attention back to the Variant Skeleton King.

Over on Nie Yan’s side, he completely ignored the enemy Thieves. Several of them tried to ambush him. However, before they could even get their attacks in, he instantly cut them down where they stood.

Ultimately, the remaining Thieves were all frozen with hesitation. Even though they had received Qin Han’s orders, simply throwing their lives away for nothing wasn’t an option either. As for Tang Yao’s side, they stood even less of a chance. Guarded by a human wall of 30 Level 140+ Elite Paladins, ambushing him was basically impossible.

The number of Elite and Lord-class skeletons falling to the ground grew with each passing minute. Qin Han finally couldn’t endure it any longer and ordered their withdrawal. The sea of skeletons swiftly retreated.

The two Variant Skeleton Kings were taken down by Nie Yan and Xie Yao. Collapsing into a pile of bones, they were immediately purified.

In this short period of time, Qin Han’s skeleton army suffered devastating losses. Without any confidence in victory, he didn’t dare to launch a second wave of attacks.

Seeing the skeletons scattering every which way like a bunch of rats, Nie Yan and the others had no idea which direction to give chase. They could only give up for the time being, regroup, and recuperate.

"Damn! Is it over already? I was just getting started too!” Tang Yao said, distinct unsatisfaction thick in his voice. Whether it was levelling up or progressing in the quest, he had advanced by leaps and bounds in both! If these skeletons started avoiding them like the plague, how were they supposed to continue?

"Considering how many skeletons we’ve killed, I’m betting Qin Han’s heart is bleeding out right now,” Nie Yan chuckled.

Even though they couldn’t completely stop the Vengeance of the Undead event, they had hampered its progress by quite a bit. This bought the players from Asskickers United some additional time to complete their class advancement quests.

While they were chatting, a giant bone dragon appeared over the horizon in the distance. It was looking all over for them.

Nie Yan, Xie Yao, and Tang Yao spotted it early. They hurriedly dashed into a nearby forest and switched to another place to hunt skeletons.

No one knew who was responsible for it, but some Thief from God Executioner Sword leaked the video of Nie Yan and the others facing off against the skeleton army online, creating a huge stir on the forums.

Not many people were too shocked at seeing Nie Yan solo one of the Variant Skeleton Kings. After all, they had already witnessed him accomplish too many unbelievable things. What caught their interest were the two Magisters by his side, Xie Yao and Tang Yao.

Many people were taken aback by how powerful a Magister was. Xie Yao’s teleporting skills and countless instant-cast spells left her Variant Skeleton King completely powerless to fight back. But the most shocking sight was Tang Yao casting Decree of Dusk. The area of effect was massive, and the duration was ridiculously long! This was the spell of a Magister? Too frightening!

The players on the forums started looking over some information. They learned that Magisters could learn up to three Forbidden Spells. They previously had no idea what Forbidden Magic truly represented, but Tang Yao had sparked their imagination. Three Forbidden Spells, did that mean all three would be as amazing as Decree of Dusk?

…

Angel Corps guild headquarters, Soaring Angel and the other higher-ups were holding a meeting. He had just received a report from a subordinate. After watching through the video, he knitted his brows.

Likewise, the rest of the players in the room also stirred.

"Boss, that Young Sparrow Hawk’s spell is too powerful. If we’d be hit by such a spell in a guild war, we’d lose at least 6,000 troops.”

"I heard Magisters can learn up to three Forbidden Spells. Does that mean Young Sparrow Hawk has two more similar skills?”

Hearing the discussion of the players below him, Soaring Angel was also worried. Asskickers United already had three Master Class players, while Angel Corps still didn’t even have one. This wasn’t a good sign. Furthermore, he heard that Asskickers United had 60 players doing their class advancement quests at this very moment.

"How many Level 100+ players do we have in the guild?”

"We just looked it up. We have 36 in total right now.”

One had to be at least Level 100 to do their class advancement quest. Asskickers United already had 60 players in the middle of theirs and another 100 or so players who met the requirements. Meanwhile, Angel Corps only had 36. The disparity between both sides was as clear as day.

Chapter 666 - Mass Sacrifice

Asskickers United had many high level players. This was a well known fact. Not to mention the butterfly effect produced from having so many top experts gathered together wasn’t as simple as adding one plus one. There was a saying that went, "Even a world-class athlete can’t do anything about an awful teammate.” A team was only as strong as its weakest link. Often times, the members who weren’t skilled enough would end up dragging the rest down. However, Asskickers United didn’t have that problem. More than half of all the top talents and experts in the Viridian Empire had been recruited by Nie Yan. The strength of their main team was far beyond players’ imaginations. A line-up like this had unlimited growth potential. So, they had long since pulled far ahead of the competition.

Even though Angel Corps was an enormous leviathan capable of sweeping through the entire Satreen Empire, their peak players were far too lacking compared to Asskickers United’s. Furthermore, after seeing how powerful flying mounts were, Soaring Angel had poured all his efforts into acquiring them. Only after seeing Master Class players emerge from Asskickers United did he realize his mistake. It turned out that the most powerful assets weren’t flying mounts but rather Master Class players. So, he could only start turning course now. After all, even a wealth of riches couldn’t buy foresight.

The Monet Financial Group was the same. Even though they had amassed enormous power, bringing God Executioner Sword, Penumbra Empire, Divine Protectors, and dozens of other guilds together, they still hadn’t produced a single Master Class player. They were destined to fall behind Asskickers United in this respect.

Nie Yan was blessed with foresight. For Asskickers United to have taken the lead under his leadership was no coincidence.

Qin Han was harassed endlessly by Nie Yan’s group of 33. His skeleton army received attacks from all sides and suffered heavy losses. With them popping in and out erratically in different locations, a single bone dragon wasn’t enough to keep them in check. Even though his forces were still rapidly expanding, their growth had been hindered quite a bit.

Located within the Shadow Forest was an enormous clearing. There were few monsters in the vicinity. So, not many players came here.

Qin Han and Matchless Divine Sword appeared on the outskirts of the clearing.

"Boss, are you really sure about this? I’m worried the Monet Financial Group will be implicated,” Matchless Divine Sword voiced his concern. He couldn’t help but feel apprehensive and fearful of the plan Qin Han was about to enact. If Qin Han failed, God Executioner Sword would be done for. The Monet Financial Group had nothing to lose. If they lost, they could simply withdraw from Conviction. On the other hand, Matchless Divine Sword would be lucky to receive a bit of compensation after the guild he had painstakingly built up was destroyed.

Matchless Divine Sword thought for a moment. The Monet Financial Group had acquired God Executioner Sword anyway, and he had personally received a lot of benefits. If Qin Han wanted to destroy his guild, there was nothing he could do to stop him.

"The victor is king, and the loser is a villain. If my plan succeeds, who in the entire Viridian Empire would dare to touch our Monet Financial Group? If it fails, we can simply withdraw from Conviction. Then what can they do to us?” Qin Han patted Matchless Divine Sword on the shoulders. "Don’t worry. I don’t mistreat my own.”

Matchless Divine Sword nodded with an ingratiating smile on the surface, but inwardly cursed his heart. Qin Han had a hypocritical personality. He was allowed to turn his back on others, but others weren't allowed to turn their backs on him. Right now, since he had a use for Matchless Divine Sword, he naturally behaved amiably. Later on, when Matchless Divine Sword was no longer useful, Qin Han wouldn’t hesitate to toss him aside like a wet rag. So, Matchless Divine Sword resolved himself to fish up as many benefits while he still could. While Qin Han wasn’t paying attention, he would carefully siphon away the guild’s funds to his own personal bank account. Quite a few people in the Monet Financial Group’s alliance shared similar mindsets.

Qin Han was so focused on frantically raising his strength, he had neglected the dangers brewing in his own camp.

They patiently waited. About 15 minutes later, more than 20,000 players from Crimson Moon arrived on the scene. They organized themselves into an orderly formation.

"Evil Dancer reporting in, everyone is here and accounted for.”

Evil Dancer was a Mage in black robes. He looked around and said, "Everyone, wait here. Others will be arriving soon.”

Before long, another 20,000 players arrived in the clearing. They were from Sky Renders. They were led by their guild leader, Streaking Dumpling.

Evil Dancer and Streaking Dumpling greeted each other. The two started a quiet discussion.

"Say, Dumpling, my brother. With how things are going, who do you think will win at this rate, the Monet Financial Group or Asskickers United?” Evil Dancer asked.

"Hard to say, it has nothing to do with us anyway. All we have to do is play our part, and the Monet Financial Group will keep giving us money. Speaking of which, the terms they put forward this time are really generous, don’t you think?” Streaking Dumpling replied.

Evil Dancer gave a meaningful smile and no longer lingered on this topic.

Time ticked away. One guild after another arrived in the clearing. There were more than 20 altogether, numbering an astonishing 500,000 players. They were all brimming with anticipation. Qin Han had promised them extremely generous terms for merging them all together into one super guild. They felt the Monet Financial Group was really going all out. With so many guilds gathered together, they would become a leviathan-like existence in the Viridian Empire. Combined with God Executioner Sword, Divine Protectors, and Penumbra Empire, they outnumbered Asskickers United more than three to one. Qin Han’s bid for hegemony appeared all the more feasible.

Some guild leaders learned from certain channels that the Monet Financial Group was behind the Vengeance of the Undead event and that their target was Asskickers United. After the skeleton army chipped away at their strength, the Monet Financial Group would swoop in and deal the killing blow.

Someone had done some rough calculations. Qin Han would have to pay an absolutely frightening sum to carry out a merge of this scale. However, from their point of view, an oligarch like the Monet Financial Group didn’t lack money. Even though some people doubted Qin Han’s intentions, they quickly discarded their doubts. Given how large the Monet Financial Group was, they were probably trustworthy. Not to mention they weren’t acquiring and merging a single guild but more than 30 large guilds. The guild leaders believed even the Monet Financial Group wouldn’t dare to make an enemy out of so many powers. So, they heeded Qin Han’s call.

The clearing was filled with players stretching out as far as the eye could see. Some God Executioner Sword players were in charge of maintaining order. They informed the leaders of the various guilds that Qin Han would be making an appearance soon and to please wait patiently.

Matchless Divine Sword gazed into the distance. He couldn’t see an end to the players.

"Q-qin Han, are you really planning to slaughter all these players…?” Matchless Divine Sword asked, his voice slightly trembling, unable to calm his heart down.

Qin Han remained expressionless.

Matchless Divine Sword felt his blood freeze over. Qin Han’s lack of response was an answer in itself. He could imagine what kind of bloodbath was about to take place here.

"Boss, then what about my own guild members in God Executioner Sword?” Matchless Divine Sword asked. There were still roughly 6,000 God Executioner Sword players in the clearing in charge of keeping the order.

"Sometimes, sacrifices are necessary for the greater good. Give them some compensation. All of this is the doing of Necromancer Vorderman. God Executioner Sword and the Monet Financial Group have no part in it,” Qin Han replied in an insipid tone, then turned around and walked away.

Watching Qin Han’s back disappearing behind the trees, Matchless Divine Sword clenched his fists before letting out a deep sigh and letting go. If his own guild members also ended up being killed, his prestige in God Executioner Sword would plummet to rock bottom. If he couldn’t even protect his own subordinates, what kind of guild leader was he? However, Qin Han was a fellow who was willing to employ any means to achieve his goals. He didn’t dare to go against Qin Han. If he did, the consequences would be unimaginable. In the end, he could only compromise on his own beliefs.

After more than half an hour, the guild leaders were starting to get suspicious, wondering why Qin Han still hadn’t come out yet. At this moment an enormous bone dragon appeared in the sky. It flew down toward the clearing. Standing loftily atop its head was a Necromancer in black robes.

Vorderman waved his staff, causing bone spurs to instantly erupt from the ground, covering everything within a 1,000-meter radius. Tens of players were instantly killed, drenching the earth in blood and drawing a scene straight from hell.

"Foolish humans! Cry out in despair! Wail in anguish! Let the darkness engulf you, and become my eternal undead servants!” Vorderman cackled heinously, his piercing laugh ringing out through the clearing.

"It’s that Necromancer and the bone dragon!”

"We’ve been tricked!”

"Son of a bitch! Monet Financial Group, you won’t get away with this!” Streaking Dumpling cursed. "Everyone, retreat!”

These players were both shocked and furious. They didn’t expect the Monet Financial Group to lead them into a trap, planning to massacre them all. They fled in every direction. But to their dismay, they discovered they had already been surrounded. Countless skeletons were flooding in from everywhere, cutting off their paths of escape. They were faced with an endless sea of skeletons. The fallen players on the ground quickly revived, becoming powerful skeletons, and started attacking their former allies.

After receiving a tip from Guo Huai, Nie Yan, Xie Yao, and Tang Yao hurried over and hid behind a remote hillside. Seeing this scene, their hearts were filled with shock.

"Damn! Qin Han is really ruthless, massacring 500,000 players all at once. Isn’t he afraid of them taking revenge?” Tang Yao asked with a pale face.

"He’s bringing about his own demise. He’s already lost all trust. In a few months, he’ll know the consequences of his own actions,” Nie Yan said. Not only had Qin Han offended these guilds, but God Executioner Sword, Divine Protectors, and Penumbra Empire would be wary of him from now on as well. The strength the Monet Financial Group painstakingly gathered was fated to collapse from within.

With the death of so many players, the undead army instantly broke past 1,000,000 strong. This was truly a frightening force.

"Nie Yan, I’m worried Qin Han will launch his attack on us after this,” Xie Yao said in a concerned tone.

Nie Yan nodded. "This was bound to happen sooner or later. If Qin Han thinks it’ll be easy to destroy Asskickers United, he’s got a whole nother thing coming.”

Chapter 667 - Great Prophet!

Having expanded his skeleton army by half a million, Qin Han’s ambitions had probably equally swelled. It wouldn’t be long now before he started attacking more densely populated places like strongholds!

In the following few days, Qin Han’s skeleton army gradually made its way toward Calore, sweeping through any villages or towns they encountered along the way. Battle Crazed Alliance was the first to be targeted. 10 of their 13 strongholds fell to the skeleton army. They hunkered down in their remaining three strongholds, refusing to budge.

Nie Yan had ordered the 10 strongholds to be abandoned for the sake of preserving their strength and concentrating their defenses. Naturally, they hadn’t given up those strongholds to Qin Han without a fight. Taking advantage of their position as defenders, Battle Crazed Alliance wiped out a large number of skeletons from the safety of the walls. Once the walls were breached, they immediately retreated. Like this, they dealt heavy losses to the enemy and minimized the casualties on their side at the same time.

Qin Han’s skeleton army laid siege to Battle Crazed Alliance’s three remaining strongholds for a long time without any success. A large number of skeletons were stationed outside the strongholds while the rest continued on toward Calore.

As for Necromancer Vorderman and his bone dragon, no one knew where they had gone. It seemed as though they had vanished into thin air.

With the invasion of the massive skeleton army looming over the horizon, Nie Yan spent more and more resources on fortifying Asskickers United’s defenses. For the sake of reducing their defensive perimeter, they had no choice but to give up many of their strongholds. This was simply unavoidable.

Nie Yan checked the time. The servers would shut down in another 10 minutes. Another day had passed just like that. He wondered when Bladelight and the rest would finish their class advancement quests.

As the undead army rapidly expanded, an announcement was sent game-wide. The Vengeance of the Undead expansion was starting.

「Wretched undead, their silhouettes cast a shadow over this land once more. Their vile existence is like a plague of locusts, swallowing up all life in their path. Followers of the light, pick up your weapons and drive back these foul beings to the depths they crawled out from!」

The Vengeance of the Undead expansion was finally underway!

Since the skeleton army had grown too large to ignore, the Viridian Empire had no choice but to take notice. They dispatched NPC troops to defend Calore’s perimeter and made a call for players to help deal with the skeletons. The pressure on Qin Han increased substantially.

While Nie Yan was busy dispatching the guild’s forces and clearing away the skeletons, a notification jingle rang out..

Nie Yan glanced at the notification.

Your prediction of the Vengeance of the Undead was successful. Please head to the Elder Council to receive your Great Prophet title from Jebiah the Great.

Nie Yan was already a Great Prophet. However, this title would only take effect after being officially conferred by the empire’s most powerful individual, Jebiah the Great. Afterwards, his position in the Viridian Empire would skyrocket, putting him on equal footing with the members of the Elder Council.

Nie Yan’s eyes lit up with excitement. He had longed to become a Great Prophet for quite some time now. He initially believed his prediction of the Vengeance of the Undead event wasn’t valid since his Great Prophecy skill had failed. So, this turn of events came somewhat unexpected. Even if the skill had failed, he had warned Jebiath the Great about the revival of Necromancer Vorderman in advance.

Nie Yan couldn’t help wonder what kind of special rewards came with the Great Prophet title. However, it was already too late for him to meet with the Elder Council right now. He could only wait until he got back on the game tomorrow. His heart was filled with a mix of nervousness and expectation.

Nie Yan logged off and stepped out of the game capsule.

Following their regular routine, Nie Yan and Xie Yao ate breakfast together and headed off for school.

The Top Military Academy was the same as usual. The tree shaded paths were filled with students walking to and fro.

After bidding farewell with Xie Yao, Nie Yan headed off to class. When he stepped through the door, he immediately noticed something off. There were several dozen unfamiliar faces in the classroom.

Nie Yan swept his gaze over these people before finally stopping on a male student sitting in his seat. This fellow wore a gray t-shirt and had a haughty, delinquent-like air about him. He shot over an aggressive glare.

Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, and Fei Zhe anxiously waved their hands at Nie Yan, signalling him to quickly leave.

Seeing the expressions of the trio, Nie Yan instantly understood what was going on. These people had come here looking to stir trouble.

There were more than 30 unfamiliar faces in the class. They were tall and robust. Based on the way they carried themselves, he could tell they weren’t simple.

Nie Yan calmly walked toward his desk, not the slightest hint of fear in his eyes.

Xu Yan and the others smacked their faces with their palms. How could Nie Yan be so stupid? When you encountered a situation like this, the obvious thing to do was to quickly turn around and leave, not come walking over nonchalantly!

"Fellow student, I believe you’re sitting in my seat. Please get off,” Nie Yan said with a cold yet polite smile.

The student showed no signs of getting up. He lazily glanced at Nie Yan. "Name’s Song Chen, a fourth year in the mech fighting faculty.”

Nie Yan found this name somewhat familiar. He recalled Song Chen had ranked fairly high up in the school’s last fighting competition. However, since he hadn’t competed in that competition, his impression of this fellow wasn’t that deep.

"Sorry, never heard of you,” Nie Yan said in a curt tone.

Hearing Nie Yan’s words, Song Chen’s expression turned somewhat rigid with irritation. He coldly snorted. "I heard Lei Su challenged you. I came over to see how strong you are, to judge whether you’re qualified or not.”

Nie Yan rolled his eyes. This fellow had come to challenge him. He had no interest in these sorts of meaningless fights.

"A bunch of small fry like you?” Nie Yan said in disdain.

"Tsk, this kid is pretty cocky.”

"He’s pretty full of himself for a first year. Looks like he needs to be taught a lesson on respecting his seniors.”

…

The 30 fourth year students were cracking their knuckles, looking like they were rearing for a fight. People like Zhao Shiyu, Fu Guangtao, and the rest were shaking in fear, trying to make themselves as scarce as possible.

Seeing these fourth years about to take action, Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, Fei Zhe, and Chu Chenghao stood up without fear. They nodded at Nie Yan with resolute looks on their faces. Afterwards, others started following suit until more than half the class stood up. Fu Guangtao struggled internally for a long time before gritting his teeth and also taking a stand.

Zhao Shiyu and Bai Jun were shocked at the sight of Fu Guangtao standing up. They hesitated for a moment before ultimately deciding to remain seated. They wanted no part in this mess.

Seeing so many students in the command faculty siding with Nie Yan, Song Chen coldly chuckled. "Wow, who knew the command faculty had so many brave people? Colour me impressed.”

"This has nothing to do with them. Let’s head to the gymnasium. That place has more open space,” Nie Yan said blandly.

"Alright. Your words, not mine. Remember, we didn’t force you,” Song Chen said, playing with the coin in his hand.

Xu Yan and the others were about to say something, but Nie Yan cut them off, "You guys stay here. They’re only here for me.”

Nie Yan followed Song Chen to the gymnasium with the roughly 30 other fourth years in tow. Five especially large fourth year stayed behind, sealing off the entrance of the classroom. Xu Yan and the others had no way of getting past them. They were no match for these fourth years. The difference in strength between a fourth year and first year was too great.

"Xu Yan, they took Nie Yan away! What do we do!?” Fei Zhe anxiously asked.

"Calm down, let me think.” Xu Yan hesitated for a moment before saying, "There’s no other choice. We can only call Muslin, Scoundrel, and the others over.”

Xu Yan took out his cell phone and dialed Painted Muslin’s number.

Meanwhile, more than 30 fourth years surrounded Nie Yan as they walked toward the gymnasium, preventing him from escaping.

Glancing at Nie Yan, Song Chen had a cold smile on his face. He had long since wanted to teach Nie Yan a lesson, partly because he was jealous of all the attention Nie Yan was receiving lately after being challenged by Lei Su, and partly because Nie Yan was Xie Yao’s boyfriend. Song Chen had always been infatuated by Xie Yao, but Nie Yan had beaten him to the punch. He was naturally unhappy about this.

Lei Su wasn’t the type of person to pull any tricks. Since he directly challenged Nie Yan on the forums, that definitely meant Nie Yan had a bit of strength. So, as a form of insurance, Song Chen had brought several dozen others with him. Even if Lei Su came here himself, there was no way he could do anything against so many people.

Song Chen was no stranger to this sort of underhanded bullying. After everything was said and done, the victims could only swallow their humiliation and admit it was an ordinary match.

The group walked into the gymnasium while those at the back closed the doors. The people outside would have no way of knowing what was going on.

Nie Yan swept his gaze over these fourth years. Their builds, muscle distribution, how they walked, and so on, not a single thing slipped his eyes. Since advancing to a Shadow Dancer, his fighting techniques had improved by leaps and bounds. Furthermore, he gained the ability to judge how strong a person was and where their weaknesses were from their posture and movements. This sort of keen sense allowed him to erupt with frightening destructive power in a fight.

Some passersby who saw Nie Yan being brought to the gymnasium felt sorry for him. Similar situations had happened many times before. It appeared he was about to be taught a cruel and brutal lesson.

The 36 students formed a large circle with Nie Yan at the center, staring at him like a pack of hyenas.

"Would you rather us kick your ass one by one or all together?” Song Chen asked with a mocking smile. Nie Yan was in no position to do anything. Song Chen would have someone go up to probe his strength. If he lost, they would beat him up mercilessly. If he won, they would all jump on him.

"You can all come at me at once. Saves me the trouble,” Nie Yan said in a calm tone. He cracked his knuckles and started stretching his limbs. It had been too long since he had taken any action outside the game. He didn’t know what his strength was like right now. But he could clearly sense he had grown stronger. He was itching for a fight.

Hmm, it’ll be tough dealing with so many all at once. Looks like I can’t afford to hold back, Nie Yan thought.

"Hmph… don’t regret your words later!” Song Chen snorted. Seeing Nie Yan standing as unyielding as Mt. Tai, he felt slightly uneasy. He couldn’t see through Nie Yan’s strength at all. But after thinking for a bit, he had more than 30 people on his side. There was nothing to worry about!

"Enough nonsense. Are we going to fight or what?” Nie Yan slowly clenched his fist. A frightening power surged through his arm, like a dam about to burst.

Chapter 668 - Swept Away

Song Chen coldly snorted. Who did Nie Yan think he was, War God Lei Su? Even Lei Su wasn’t so full of himself to think he could take on so many people at once!

Nie Yan was simply courting death!

"Teach this brat a lesson! Let him know his place!” Song Chen crossed his arms like he was about to watch a show play out.

With so many of them, even if all of them only struck Nie Yan once, he would still end up heavily injured if not dead.

"Hmm… Interesting. Do you want me to come over and help?” a voice rang out from a corner of the gymnasium.

Everyone stopped dead in their tracks. Song Chen looked over to the source of the voice and saw a man leisurely leaning against a window.

"Why are you here?” Nie Yan asked in surprise, his eyes landing on none other than Bayonet.

Bayonet was truly like a ghost, suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Even Nie Yan had no idea when he got here.

"Your old man no longer requires my services. So, he had me go back to you,” Bayonet said with a faint smile. Father Nie Yan had recruited many retired experts, making his job pretty cushy.

"How did this guy get in here?” Song Chen knitted his brows. Bayonet’s sudden appearance caused a feeling of danger to sprout in his heart.

"I don’t know.” The other fourth years shook their heads in bewilderment.

No one had noticed Bayonet’s arrival.

"It’s fine. I can handle them myself.” Nie Yan waved his hand.

Bayonet nodded. He had a good understanding of Nie Yan’s personality. He wouldn’t try showing off without being assured of his victory.

Song Chen gazed at Nie Yan who still remained calm and composed despite being surrounded by so many people. The feeling of uneasiness in his heart only grew stronger. He suddenly felt the urge to back out.

But if he retreated like that, he would lose all face. Song Chen was at an impasse.

We have the absolute advantage in terms of numbers! Song Chen reassured himself. All 36 of them were elites of the mech combat faculty. Each and every one of them had gone through harsh training, and quite a few among them were only second to Lei Su. Nie Yan was merely a freshman. He refused to believe Nie Yan could do anything against them. He started suspecting Nie Yan and Bayonet were bluffing to get them to back off. If that were the case, those two were really looking down on them!

Song Chen raised his hand and gave the signal. "Go! Beat the living shit out of him! If anything happens, I’ll take care of it!”

Of course, Song Chen didn’t actually dare to kill anyone in the Top Military Academy. However, he had no qualms about heavily injuring Nie Yan.

Song Chen’s lackeys circled in on Nie Yan.

Nie Yan readied himself, preparing for a fierce and bloody battle.

The tension in the atmosphere was palpable. Song Chen and the others were about to pounce in for the kill when—BANG! The gymnasium doors were kicked open. A large number of students flooded in and sealed off the perimeter. There were about 400 people in total.

Song Chen’s group never expected so many people to come to Nie Yan’s rescue. They were instantly frozen in shock. Raising their vigilance, their eyes shifted warily between Nie Yan and these new uninvited visitors.

Though these students varied in age and build, they all carried the same air of confidence about them. They clearly weren’t a group to be provoked.

"Song Chen, these guys are from Azure Windchime!” one of the fourth years in the mech combat faculty cried out in shock.

At this moment, Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, Fei Zhe, and the rest came rushing in too.

"Boss, are you alright?” Xu Yan asked anxiously.

Nie Yan shrugged, "I’m fine.”

A dozen or so students came rushing forward from behind Xu Yan.

"Boss! You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”

"Boss!”

…

The students from Azure Windchime greeted Nie Yan respectfully, visible excitement in their eyes.

Nie Yan gazed at these people. Based on some distinct features, he could identify some of them. The one who rushed to the front with the restless and anxious attitude was Undying Scoundrel. The tall, elegant, and dignified beauty behind him was Painted Muslin. Behind her were Lustboy, Natural Fiend, Edgeless, Monochrome, and many others.

Nie Yan couldn’t identify all of them, but he could roughly tell who was who.

Edgeless was tall and hulking. As he moved his neck and wrists, his various bones let out popping sounds akin to stir-frying chestnuts.

"A bunch of trash! How dare you bother our boss? You must be tired of living!” Edgeless sneered.

Song Chen’s group instantly fell into a disadvantage. Given they were outnumbered more than 10 to one, they were doomed no matter what they did.

With Edgeless and the others referring to Nie Yan as boss, a thought suddenly crossed Song Chen’s mind. His face instantly paled. He rigidly turned his head to stare at Nie Yan. Could it be that this first year was actually Nirvana Flame? A bomb—no, rather a nuke had just been dropped on him! His mind went blank. Suddenly, he felt like he was the most unfortunate person alive.

The others in Song Chen’s group were also lamenting their bad luck. Azure Windchime was undoubtedly one of the most powerful clubs in the Top Military Academy, and they had just provoked Nirvana Flame! No wonder Azure Windchime had come out in full force.

Nie Yan wryly smiled. He roughly understood what had happened. Likely after seeing him getting dragged away to the gymnasium, Xu Yan panicked and contacted Muslin, Scoundrel, and the others for help.

"Boss, what do we do about these guys? Should we strip them naked and throw them out onto the field?” Undying Scoundrel asked with a devious grin.

Hearing Scoundrel’s words, Song Chen shrunk back in fear. If that really happened, they would be too ashamed to return to school; especially the several female students among them. All colour drained from their faces.

"Hehe, that sounds like a pretty good idea.” Edgeless nodded, his eyes falling on Song Chen.

Nie Yan shook his head with a helpless smile. These guys were just as roguish in real life as in the game. Naturally, they couldn’t do something as outrageous as that.

"Hey, you lot from the mech combat faculty. You can come at me all at once. If you win, I’ll let you go,” Nie Yan said. He still wanted to test out how much he had grown.

Scoundrel, Edgeless, and the others were dumbstruck. As long as Nie Yan gave the word, they could dish out a world of pain to Song Chen’s group. Why was he still putting himself in harm’s way? Was he really that confident in taking on so many people?

"Muslin, Scoundrel, you guys stand back. I’ll settle this myself,” Nie Yan said.

Scoundrel and the others glanced at each other. However, after seeing Nie Yan’s valiant appearance, they backed off to the side. His orders were absolute.

Seeing Muslin, Scoundrel, and the others actually vacating the premises, Song Chen turned to Nie Yan. "This isn’t a trick, right…?”

"Nope.”

As Song Chen stared at Nie Yan, he felt like he was staring at a towering mountain. They already had no other choice.

"Fine! You better not go back on your word!” Song Chen gritted his teeth. Their only hope of escape was by defeating Nie Yan! No matter how strong he was, there was no way he could take on all 36 of them at once, right?

"I never go back on my word!”

Hearing Nie Yan’s words, Song Chen waved his hand. "Everyone, go! Beat the shit out of him!”

Several people at the front suddenly pounced forward.

Nie Yan’s pupils shrunk as a peculiar feeling overtook him. The movements of these people seemed to slow down to a crawl, giving him ample time to react. He suddenly stepped forward. Dodging a punch from one of them, he retaliated with an elbow strike, delivering a heavy blow to their solar plexus.

THUD! That student curled up like a shrimp and collapsed to the ground. He was twitching incessantly as his eyes rolled over to the back of his head.

A one-hit KO!

Another three students rushed forward from Nie Yan’s sides and rear. His silhouette blurred as he executed a spinning kick from a difficult position, striking one of them in the face and sending them flying.

Nie Yan exchanged blows with more than a dozen people. His knees, legs, fists, elbows, every part of his body transformed into a sharp weapon. His punches and kicks were full of power. No one could endure a single hit. Combined with the fact Nie Yan was targeting their weak spots, one strike was enough to rob them of all their fighting ability.

Nie Yan took down six people in the blink of an eye. Observing everything from the window ledge, Bayonet’s eyes flickered with surprise. Nie Yan had grown much stronger compared to before. Even he couldn’t help but be amazed at Nie Yan’s progress. Nie Yan’s attacks were only slightly slower than his. In terms of strength, Nie Yan even surpassed him!

Painted Muslin, Undying Scoundrel, and the others were all completely dumbstruck. For Nie Yan to be strong in the game was already impressive enough. They never expected him to be such a freak in real life as well! They finally understood why War God Lei Su publically issued a challenge to him on the forums. Nie Yan was definitely qualified! Even Lei Su might not be a match for him!

The sight of six of their fellow classmates collapsing on the ground caused Song Chen and the rest to break out in a cold sweat. Nie Yan’s attacks were absolutely ruthless. Just a single move was enough to have them out for the count. Even in professional fighting competitions, this sort of brutal and decisive fighting technique was rare.

Everyone’s eyes were focused on Nie Yan. None of them could understand why a simple move from him would possess such frightening destructive power.

One person after another collapsed on the ground. Even though Song Chen and the others had tried to lock down Nie Yan with human wall tactics, his movements were simply too quick. Not only did they fail to trap him, but he had also taken out another three of them instead.

Seeing multiple people charging over, Nie Yan let out a grunt. He slid forward and struck out with a side kick. BANG! He sent one of them flying into five others, causing them to stagger several steps back before regaining their balance. Throwing out a punch, he knocked out another person. He was like a fox in a henhouse, sweeping through everything in his path.

In the blink of an eye, 36 people were reduced to 25. The remaining people in Song Chen’s group retreated far back in fear, no longer daring to charge forward anymore.

Nie Yan felt the wind howl past his fist every time he threw a punch. This sort of explosive power filled his heart with glee.

"Awesome!”

Nie Yan couldn’t suppress the excitement in his heart. As he dashed forward, he dodged a jab and countered with a right hook. An explosive force surged through his arm. BANG! He could feel the sensation of bones breaking transmitting through his fist. The student collapsed to the ground and fainted.

Nie Yan knew not to take things too far. He didn’t target any vital areas. Though his attacks appeared ruthless, the opponents only passed out from the pain of their bones breaking. They would fully recover with a month and a half of rest on a hospital bed.

Song Chen and the others felt their scalps go numb at the sound of their fellow classmates’ bones being broken left and right. Nie Yan was simply too frightening. With his killing intent flaring out, he seemed just like a death god. At this moment, they had no doubt in their minds that he could kill them.

Song Chen despaired. Seeing Nie Yan looking over in his direction, he wanted to cry but no tears would come out. He lost all will to fight.

As Nie Yan dashed over, these students were scared witless and scattered like rats.

BANG! Song Chen felt a heavy blow to his abdomen as his innards churned violently. His face warped with pain as he collapsed to the ground clutching his stomach.

No words could describe the shock Muslin, Scoundrel, Xu Yan, and the others felt right now. They finally witnessed Nie Yan’s true strength. These fourth years from the mech combat faculty often behaved in an unbridled manner in the Top Military Academy. However, in front of Nie Yan, they were like a bunch of meek lambs. Even though they had also landed a few blows on him, he was quite resilient; it was like they were striking a steel plate, hardly hurting him at all. Instead, they would be the ones crying out in pain.

About 20 minutes later, all 36 students from the mech combat faculty were lying on the floor groaning in pain or passed out.

"Call over the school’s medical staff and scram.” Nie Yan glanced at Song Chen curled up on the ground. In a 36 on one fight, all of them had been soundly defeated. Song Chen and the others probably wouldn’t want this kind of humiliating news to get out. But if they did try to spread any unsavoury rumours about him, he had long since recorded a video of their entire exchange with his phone. With the proof right there, even if the Top Military Academy found out, Song Chen’s group would be the ones in trouble, not him. He was simply acting in self-defense. So, he was in the clear.

Like a beaten mutt, Song Chen struggled to call up the school’s medical staff. They could now only wait for medical treatment, most of them in far too much pain to so much as move.

Nie Yan dusted himself off, then turned to Scoundrel, Muslin, and the others with a faint smile. "Let’s go out for a drink, my treat.”

Everyone broke out in cheers.

"Boss, you’ve really kept us in the dark. If it wasn’t for Xu Yan calling us, we would’ve never known you entered the Top Military Academy!” Scoundrel said in an aggrieved tone.

"Since he’s been avoiding us for so long, how about we have him make it up by toasting each and every one of us? Yao Yao should also be with you, right? Why don’t you call her over too,” Painted Muslin said with a smile. She knew Xie Yao and Nie Yan went to the same school.

"I’ll call her up,” Nie Yan replied with an embarrassed smile.

News of Nie Yan being Nirvana Flame would probably start quickly making the rounds. Soon, the entire Top Military Academy would be in an uproar. This was how shocking this matter was. Him being a fellow student was a huge deal to the members of Azure Windchime. With him here, their morale soared, and their hearts were freed from many worries. From now on, their influence would grow even bigger!

Chapter 669 - Bow Down and Submit

Nie Yan took Xie Yao, Painted Muslin, Undying Scoundrel, and the others from Azure Windchime out for drinks.

Meanwhile in the Top Military Academy, news of Nie Yan being Nirvana Flame spread like wildfire through the Top Military Academy until it basically became common knowledge, creating a huge uproar. Furthermore, the fact that Xie Yao was Asskickers United’s number one Holy Mage, Yao Yao, also became widely known.

Nirvana Flame was undoubtedly a legendary figure in the eyes of Conviction’s players. The only ones who could rival him were Soaring Angel of Angel Corps and Plenty of Fallen Angel. They were all overlords of their own regions and unreachable existences to ordinary players.

Who would’ve expected such a famous player to appear in the Top Military Academy? Not to mention he was a fellow student and only a freshman at that. This revelation was simply too shocking.

No wonder War God Lei Su issued out a challenge to Nie Yan. From their perspective, given how godly Nirvana Flame was inside the game, he was probably pretty strong in real life as well. After finding out Nie Yan was Nirvana Flame, everyone automatically placed him up there in the rankings alongside Lei Su and the other strong fighters.

Before long, the gang found a suitable restaurant. They sat down together, and the celebrations began. After some self introductions, Nie Yan finally knew who was who. He never expected so many Asskickers United elites to be students of the Top Military Academy, such as Painted Muslin, Undying Scoundrel, Edgeless, Monochrome, Lustboy, and Natural Fiend. There was also Mistaken Smile who had already graduated long ago. He worked during the day. So, he couldn’t make it.

Besides the elites, there were also many second-rate guild members. Nie Yan could also recognize their names.

The Top Military Academy was full of talented people. Everyone who joined Asskickers United was definitely skilled After running the figures, the average level of Azure Windchime’s members was 93. Even the weakest among them hovered around Level 90.

Nie Yan chatted merrily with everyone. Undying Scoundrel still deeply revered him. Especially after witnessing him defeat Song Chen and the 35 other fourth years from the mech combat faculty, his admiration for him only grew deeper. As for the others, even though Nie Yan was younger than most of them, they still viewed him as their boss and treated him with respect.

Nie Yan swept his eyes over the group. Painted Muslin was a teacher’s assistant. She was a few years older than them and occasionally teased him. The others were also similar to their in-game personas.

Painted Muslin was undoubtedly a tall beauty with a graceful figure and fairly amiable temperament. It was no surprise all the members in Azure Windchime called her big sis; Undying Scoundrel behaved exactly the same as he did in the game. He was a bit roguish and a huge chatterbox; Monochrome was somewhat taciturn and fairly reserved; Edgeless was pretty rambunctious and carefree, a stark difference to how he behaved in-game, to the extent you wouldn’t believe the two were the same person; Lustboy was still a tender youth. He was the youngest out of all of them; Natural Fiend was a few months older than Lustboy. He appeared innocent and well-behaved, but his mind was full of devious tricks...

Nie Yan felt gratified finally getting to interact with all these people in real life.

"Boss, you were amazing! You beat them all! They couldn’t even touch you! You should teach us some time!” Lustboy said.

"Sure. Just come find me in the command faculty after class,” Nie Yan smiled.

Seeing Nie Yan chatting happily with Undying Scoundrel and the others and everyone treating him so respectfully, Xie Yao couldn’t help but feel proud of him. Getting such a group of brilliant, heaven-blessed elites to admire you from the bottom of their hearts wasn’t a simple matter.

Looking over the room, Nie Yan turned to Xu Yan and asked, "How come Fu Guangtao isn’t here?

"Huh, why would invite that guy here?” Xu Yan still held a grudge against Fu Guangtao.

"Let bygones be bygones. Didn’t he also stand up with you guys when Song Chen and his gang came to our class? From this alone, I think it’s alright to forgive him. There’s no point in holding a grudge over such a small matter, right? Call him over to have a drink with us,” Nie Yan said. Even though he had no plans of assimilating Fu Guangtao into his camp, their past grievances had already been settled.

Xu Yan, Xia Tianyu, Fei Zhe, and the others pondered for a moment. They had a new understanding of Nie Yan’s personality.

Xu Yan nodded. "Alright, I’ll ring him up and tell him to come over.”

After a while, Fu Guangtao came over. He could hardly contain his excitement. He didn’t expect Nie Yan to take the initiative to invite him, making him feel all the more ashamed. His actions previously had really been out of line. Though he had no extravagant hopes of joining Azure Windchime, he at least hoped to mend his relationship with Nie Yan.

After spending the entire afternoon drinking, eating, and chatting, the get-together finally came to an end.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao bid everyone farewell before hopping on a bus heading home.

"I really enjoyed today. I finally got to meet Painted Muslin,” Xie Yao said with a bright smile. Painted Muslin was one of her closest friends in the game.

Nie Yan faintly smiled. After getting to know Painted Muslin and the others, Xie Yao’s time in the Top Military Academy would no longer be as lonely.

While on the bus, Nie Yan checked the Top Military Academy’s forums on his phone. He discovered it was overflowing with discussion, and he was the hot topic. Comments were flooding in endlessly.

「Nirvana Flame is actually a freshman in our school. That’s so crazy!」

「Our school’s competitive Conviction team is saved! With Nirvana Flame joining, East University, North Institute, and all those other schools better step aside!」

「Do you really think Nirvana Flame has the time to join such a boring club?」

...

The students on the forums were chatting about all sorts of different topics, most of which was related to Nie Yan. Someone posted up an image of him and Xie Yao walking together on campus. He looked fairly ordinary, far lacking compared to those pretty boys most girls drooled over. Yet he was together with a beautiful goddess like Xie Yao. It would be strange if people didn’t gossip about them. Previously, many people felt Nie Yan wasn’t good enough for Xie Yao. But now the two were suddenly being labeled as a match made in heaven.

Seeing these meaningless discussions, Nie Yan chuckled to himself.

After returning home, there was still plenty of time before evening. Nie Yan and Xie Yao went to their private gym and spent the next few hours exercising.

Recently, Nie Yan had fitted the villa with various exercise equipment. Like this, he could test his physical fitness at home. He discovered his punching force, squats, and so on had all risen sharply. This was definitely a pleasant surprise.

Nie Yan punched out in front of him. His fist colliding with the air produced a loud cracking sound.

After becoming a Shadow Dancer, Nie Yan felt like his body had undergone a world-shaking transformation. It was probably related to the game capsule. The models he and Xie Yao used could promote muscle growth through electrical stimulation and the nutrient fluid they were submersed in. There were probably also many other factors at work that led to his shocking progress.

...

In a private workout room back in the Top Military Academy, Lei Su was supporting a 100 kg barbell on his shoulders as he continuously did squats. He was already soaked in sweat.

Xiao Yu pushed open the door and entered the workout room. He walked over to Lei Su and said, "I just got my hands on something interesting. Want to take a look?”

Finishing one last rep, Lei Su set the barbell down. He then turned to Xiao Yu and asked, "What sort of thing?”

"Look for yourself.” Xiao Yu tossed the phone to Lei Su.

Lei Su opened the video. The scene of Nie Yan facing off against Song Chen and the 35 other fourth years from the mech combat faculty entered his eyes.

"Is that Song Chen?” Lei Su asked in surprise. He was familiar with Song Chen’s strength. In the last school-wide fighting competition, he had placed sixth. He was a fairly decent fighter. There were several other he recognized, all of whom were fairly strong students in the mech combat faculty. Yet Nie Yan completely wiped the floor with this group of people! This was too frightening!

"It looks like he’s grown even stronger than before. Judging from what’s shown in the video, his punch force definitely exceeds 1,000 kg. Imagine that! It’s barely been a couple of months, and he’s improved so much! This guy’s growth is way too freakish!” Xiao Yu let out a deep sigh.

Lei Su bitterly smiled. "No matter how hard I train, it seems the gap between us is only growing wider. Just what kind of hellish training does he do?”

"We’ve been told to make contact with him,” Xiao Yu said. He had already received orders from the seniors. No matter what it takes, they had to recruit Nie Yan into Heavenly Kings. His strength simply couldn’t be ignored.

"I’ll do it,” Lei Su said. He and Nie Yan were bound to cross blades inside the game anyway.

"Alright, then I’ll leave it to you.” Xiao Yu turned around for the door.

Seeing Xiao Yu’s departing figure, Lei Su suddenly realized something and cursed out loud, "Wait, you bastard! You just baited me didn’t you? All that talk before was just to lead me into volunteering myself!”

Xiao Yu cracked a sly smile. "Too late if you’ve only realized now.”

...

When the servers reopened, Nie Yan and Xie Yao stepped into their game capsules and entered the game as per usual.

Nie Yan headed to the Elder Council. He planned to collect his reward for becoming a Great Prophet.

Just like before, two Sword Saints were guarding the entrance to the Elder Council.

When the bearded, middle-aged Sword Saint saw Nie Yan coming over, he immediately gave a respectful salute. "Greetings Great Prophet. Jebiah the Great is looking for you. Please follow me.”

Before when Nie Yan was still a Grand Scholar, though these two Sword Saints spoke politely, they still had an air of arrogance about them. Now, however, their attitudes had done a complete 180. There was even a hint of flattery in their tones. They were very careful with their words, for fear of offending him in the slightest.

Arrogant before and respectful after, these NPCs were truly snobbish!

Sure enough, the Great Prophet title was really something else. One could immediately tell from the attitude shift in these Sword Saints. Only when your status was high enough could you make them bow down and submit.

Nie Yan couldn’t be bothered to fuss with them. Under the lead of the bearded Sword Saint, he entered the Elder Council. After walking through a long corridor, he could see the enormous meeting hall up ahead.

Chapter 670 - Great Prophet Medal

Jebiah the Great sat on his throne at the front of the great hall. The other elders sat to his left and right. They all wore solemn and dignified expressions.

As Nie Yan entered the hall, he sensed an icy gaze locking onto him.

Nie Yan looked over toward the source of the gaze and found Elder Redwin glaring at him with eyes full of hostility.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. Just what was going on with this NPC? This old fart seemed to have it out for him ever since they first met. After becoming a Great Prophet, he could sense a peculiar albeit faint energy coming off of Redwin. It felt somewhat similar to that of Necromancer Vorderman.

Is this a clue to a quest...? Nie Yan’s heart trembled. There was something fishy about Elder Redwin, he was certain! He vowed to himself to get to the bottom of it.

At this moment, a notification popped up.

Your suspicions drive you to investigate Elder Redwin more deeply. You have received the quest, "Traitor in the Elder Council - Redwin’s Betrayal.”

Nie Yan’s eyes widened in surprise. He didn’t expect to trigger this kind of quest. He couldn’t help but wonder how Elder Redwin’s betrayal was related to Necromancer Vorderman.

"Welcome, Great Prophet. We’ve been expecting you. As the head of the Elder Council, I thank you on behalf of the entire Viridian Empire for warning us about the Vengeance of the Undead in advance. You’ve bought us a lot of time and helped us avoid even more disastrous losses,” Jebiah the Great said in a dignified tone.

Nie Yan shifted his gaze away from Elder Redwin and turned to face Jebiah the Great. "Your kind words flatter me, Your Majesty. I was only doing what any loyal citizen of our great Viridian Empire would do. May the God of Light bless every virtuous soul on this land,” Nie Yan replied with standard quest dialogue.

Jebiah the Great nodded with a faint smile, a trace of praise in his eyes. "As a Great Prophet, you possess the same authority as a member of the Elder Council in the Viridian Empire. If the situation calls for it, you may mobilize the troops of a city to serve our cause. However, you have to abide by the teachings of the God of Light. You cannot use the empire’s forces to settle personal scores or trample the weak. You must swear to always uphold justice and root out all evil.”

I can mobilize the empire’s forces? Nie Yan sucked in a breath of cold air. Generally, every city had at least 2,000–3,000 NPC soldiers stationed in them while large cities like Calore had up to 8,000. He felt his blood boiling with excitement, visions of this large and formidable force following his every command flashing before his eyes.

However, this authority came with a lot of restrictions, and that was he had to abide by the teachings of the God of Light. He couldn’t use it to trample on the weak or settle personal scores, meaning he couldn’t mobilize the empire’s forces against rival guilds, unless he was administering justice and punishing evil.

Thinking for a bit, Nie Yan felt this new authority would come in handy in the Vengeance of the Undead event.

Qin Han had his skeletons, while Nie Yan had the empire’s army. It was time to see which side was stronger!

As Nie Yan lost himself in his fantasies, Jebiah the Great continued, "As a Great Prophet, you will receive the Great Prophet Medal. This item is a relic from the ancient past. It’s already been 600 years since the last Great Prophet rose to prominence. Those bearing the title are recognized as being His chosen ones. They can communicate with Him directly and receive His will. Since time immemorial those holding this title guided our empire on the path of light, steering it clear from the darkness. May the light be with you.”

Hearing Jebiah the Great’s words, Nie Yan couldn’t help but wryly smile. What receiving divine will? His prediction before this was nothing more than knowledge from his past life. He had no way of communicating with God directly. Thinking to this point, he felt like a fraud. Nevertheless, he had high hopes for the Great Prophet Medal. It was a relic passed down from antiquity. So, it definitely couldn’t be lacking!

Jebiah the Great got up from his throne and slowly descended down the stairs.

Seeing Jebiah the Great walking over to Nie Yan, Elder Redwin’s expression flickered with jealousy. The Great Prophet Medal was something even he coveted.

"According to rumours, the Great Prophet Medal and Book of Order are the two items that possess the most authority in the secular world. The former allows you to receive God’s will, and the latter allows you to maintain order in His place. Nirvana Flame, you already have a volume of the Book of Order on you, don’t you?”

"Yes, Your Majesty,” Nie Yan replied respectfully, placing his hand over his chest and giving a bow.

"Ever since the first Supreme Pontiff of the Temple of Light passed away, returning to God’s embrace, that seat has remained vacant for over a thousand years. The 36 chapters of the Book of Order are scattered throughout the continent. However, the Great Prophet Medal can guide you to the remaining chapters. When you gather them all, you will become the new Supreme Pontiff.” Jebiah the Great gazed kindly at Nie Yan.

Nie Yan didn’t expect the Great Prophet Medal to lead him to the other chapters of the Book of Order. He had no idea these two items had such a connection. Even though he knew the locations of many chapters, he never had any hopes of one day collecting all 36. After all, there were simply too many of them. Missing even a single one meant he couldn’t complete the set. So, even though he dreamed of completing the Book of Order, he didn’t have high expectations. This was why he gifted five chapters to Bayonet. However, Jebiah the Great was telling him to collect them all. Could the so-called Great Prophet Medal’s guidance truly allow him to become the Supreme Pontiff of the Temple of Light?

Nie Yan couldn’t help but get excited. If he could truly become the Supreme Pontiff, one could imagine how much authority he would hold in the Viridian Empire. He would only be second to Jebiah the Great, the empire’s most influential person! Furthermore, the temple’s forces didn’t fall under the jurisdiction of the empire. Their followers could be found throughout the continent, and they had the powerful Paladin Legion. Even more frightening was that all Priests belonged to the Temple of Light. If a Priest was excommunicated, their stats would fall by at least 30%. If he became the Supreme Pontiff, he would have control over an entire class. This kind of power was beyond frightening!

However, this was all predicated on him already having completed the Book of Order. Collecting all six volumes was an extremely difficult task, almost impossible even.

Jebiah the Great walked up to Nie Yan. He had a simple, bronze medal in his hand. The face was engraved with totemic symbols, and its surface was covered in a fine layer of platina.

Jebiath the Great placed the medal over Nie Yan’s chest. A dazzling holy radiance enveloped him as he felt power surging through him. He really wanted to check out the properties of the Great Prophet Medal. But with Jebiah the Great standing in front of him, he didn’t dare to be distracted and focused his attention wholeheartedly on answering any questions.

Jebiah the Great placed his hand over Nie Yan’s shoulder. With a kind smile, he said, "No matter what happens, even if everyone in the world misunderstands you, you must persevere. If you stay true to yourself, to your convictions, the darkness will eventually pass, and the light will break through the clouds and illuminate the land once more.”

Nie Yan sank into deep thought. Could Jebiah the Great be hinting at something? Perhaps it was related to the betrayal of Elder Redwin!

The other elders walked up to offer their congratulations. Without missing a beat, Nie Yan responded to them appropriately with the standard NPC jargon. He had long since become accustomed to this. As for Elder Redwin, he simply put on a fake smile as they shook hands.

Nie Yan sank into deep thought after dealing with the elders of the Elder Council. If he wanted to investigate Elder Redwin, where should he start? Even if he knew, should he start now? After all, the undead army was fast approaching. In the end, he decided to put this quest on the backburner.

Nie Yan finally had time to examine the Great Prophet Medal.

Great Prophet Medal (Divine)

Properties: All Stats +30%, All Skill Ranks +3, Equipment Level Requirements -30

Vigor of the Prophet: Increase the stats of all pets by 100% for one hour. Cooldown: 10 Days.

Restrictions: Nirvana Flame

-Creator: Rektor

This Great Prophet Medal was extremely amazing. Just the All Skill Ranks +3 alone already made it a godly item. That was to say, this property only appeared in Legendary-grade or higher items. If it only had All Skill Ranks +1, it would already be incredibly impressive.

Nie Yan glanced at Backbreaker, Backstab, and his other skills. Those already at Rank 16 didn’t see any increase since that was the cap. However, his other skills had improved greatly. Furthermore, the Equipment Level Requirements -30 property also caused his blood to boil with excitement. This meant that the Tyrant Abak Set he was in the middle of collecting could now be equipped at Level 150 instead of 180! The Great Prophet Medal was truly worthy of being a Divine-grade item.

The All Stats +30% was also pretty good.

Apart from these three properties, the Vigor of the Prophet supplementary skill was also pretty useful. It could increase the battle prowess of his pets by 100%. It would definitely shine when he encountered a dangerous situation. The only depressing part was that its cooldown was simply too long, on par with Adjudicator of God. It wasn’t a skill he would dare use rashly.

"What a way to start the day!” Nie Yan was truly excited after obtaining the Great Prophet Medal. This was a title that countless players could only dream of. Great Prophet, Junior Adjudicator of Light, Luminous Dancer, these three matchless titles would definitely make people gasp in amazement.

Chapter 671 - Nirvana Flame vs. War God Lei Su

After leaving the Elder Council, Nie Yan headed to the guild treasury. He withdrew a large amount of materials in preparation to craft Advanced Holy Illumination Scrolls.

Advanced Holy Illumination Scrolls were Master-grade items. At present, only a limited number of Scroll Crafters could produce them. They were used in dealing with the undead, capable of dealing fatal damage to them.

Nie Yan stored at least 30 portions of crafting materials in his bag. When he had some down time in the middle of levelling, he could craft the Holy Illumination Scrolls.

After stocking up on necessities and making some additional preparations, Nie Yan received a report from Guo Huai. They had found War God Lei Su. He had teleported moments ago to Calore and was now heading south in the direction of the Central Auction House.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. "It’s about time I meet up with him.” He started making his way towards the Central Auction House.

A Thief from Asskickers United was tailing Lei Su, constantly reporting on his location.

Seeing the coordinates, Nie Yan lightly knitted his brows. Lei Su wasn’t heading to the Central Auction House but rather Asskickers United’s guild office.

Nie Yan entered stealth. He burst into motion as he dashed through the streets.

Several minutes later, Nie Yan arrived at the guild office. Lei Su was already there, talking with some Asskickers United players outside the entrance.

"I want to see your boss. Have your superiors call him over,” Lei Su said. He swept his gaze over the Asskickers United players.

The players could sense the domineering aura coming off of Lei Su. Furthermore, his high level metal armour looked to be the equipment of a top rank player. They didn’t dare to dally. Perhaps this person was one of the boss’ friends!

"Please wait a moment. I’ve already passed on the word to our Executive Guild Leader,” the manager of the office said in a polite tone.

At this moment, Nie Yan dispelled his stealth and gradually materialized into view.

"B-b-boss!”

"Greetings, Boss!”

"Boss, when did you get here?”

...

The players were surprised at Nie Yan’s sudden appearance, However, they quickly recovered from their stupor and greeted him one after another.

"Speak of the devil…” Lei Su muttered in a daze.

Nie Yan and Lei Su nodded at each other, almost as if the two had known each other for a long time.

"We finally meet.” Lei Su laughed.

Nie Yan nodded with a faint smile. "You sure are a hard man to find.”

"Speak for yourself.” Lei Su grinned.

Sure enough, it wasn’t a coincidence. Nie Yan was looking for Lei Su to recruit him into Asskickers United.

"How about a match?” Lei Su asked with sparkling eyes. After meeting Nie Yan, his blood was already boiling over with excitement. Challenging the strong was what he lived for.

"I’d be glad to keep you company. But if you lose…” Nie Yan stared at Lei Su.

"Then I’ll join Asskickers United. But what if you lose?” Lei Su asked, meeting Nie Yan’s gaze. He was brimming with fighting spirit. Even though he knew his chances of beating Nie Yan were slim, he still wanted to give it a try.

"I’ll do whatever you ask,” Nie Yan said. This was his first time facing a Sword Saint as a Shadow Dancer. He was also uncertain of his chances. In the previous timeline, when he encountered Sword Saints, he couldn’t even break through their armour; he naturally suffered miserable defeats. But in this life, he was overflowing with confidence. Even if he encountered another Master Class player, he was confident in defeating them, or his two lives of experiences would be a waste.

The players stared at Lei Su in shock. At present, he was a random nobody compared to Nie Yan. Even though some of them recognized his name, that was the extent of their knowledge. They were stunned by his bold challenge, and even more so by Nie Yan gladly accepting it.

"Who is this guy?”

"I don’t know.”

While the players were quietly discussing with each other, Lei Su and Nie Yan had already entered inside the guild office and made their way toward the arena stage in the courtyard. This place had five arena stages, which were there for guild members to exchange pointers. One was naturally too small for the two of them. So, Nie Yan merged all five into one enormous arena stage.

News of Nie Yan PvPing with someone quickly spread through the guild. More and more members were teleporting to Calore and rushing over to the guild office. In the blink of an eye, the courtyard was packed to the brim with 2,000 players. Those who couldn’t squeeze inside could only curse their luck for being late. They had their friends inside show them what was going on. Watching the livestream was better than nothing.

A big brouhaha was taking place in the Calore guild office.

Before long, the news spread outside of Asskickers United. Someone posted a link to the livestream on the forums, immediately causing an uproar. The viewership skyrocketed to the tens of millions and was still rapidly growing. Everyone was talking about the match.

The forums had an unofficial player ranking. Nie Yan was right there at the very top. He had never moved from that spot in the last several months, nor was a single person even close to challenging his position. Many people hoped another dazzling figure would appear to knock him off his throne. However, they were always left sorely disappointed.

Finally, another person had shown up to challenge Nie Yan. No matter the outcome, this match would become a classic. All the players were paying attention to this match.

"That Lei Su guy has pretty amazing equipment. I see at least two pieces of Legendary-grade equipment.”

Everyone was waiting for the match to start.

Nie Yan and Lei Su had already finished their preparations.

"Let’s begin,” Nie Yan said.

"Mhmm.” Lei Su nodded.

The highly anticipated match was finally starting!

Nie Yan entered stealth, disappearing from sight.

Lei Su brandished his greatsword. His expression was extremely focused. His opponent was Nirvana Flame. He didn’t dare to be careless. He buffed himself with a shield as a faint, golden membrane of light enveloped his body, almost as if he had donned a layer of golden armour.

Lei Su carefully observed his surroundings. However, he couldn’t detect even a trace of Nie Yan’s presence. He was inwardly shocked. Nie Yan’s stealth was frightening! His Awareness was at least 80% higher than that of an equal level, top rank Warrior. However, it was still useless against Nie Yan.

Lei Su suddenly felt a killing intent lock onto him. His pupils shrunk. He’s coming!

Lei Su let out a roar. He leaped high into the air, his greatsword igniting with raging flames, then came ruthlessly plunging down on the ground. BOOM! His sword stabbed into the arena stage, sending a powerful and fiery shock wave sweeping out. Web-like cracks rapidly spread through the stage, almost the earth itself was being rent apart.

The might of Lei Su’s strike was truly astonishing. From one moment to the next, the spectators changed their opinion; from looking down on this challenger to only feeling admiration.

Everyone shared a collective thought, So fearsome!

"I missed…?” Lei Su scrunched his face in confusion. He had clearly locked onto Nie Yan’s position. How did his attack fail to land?

At this moment, a cold light flashed behind Lei Su’s head.

"Fast!” Lei Su quickly turned and raised his left arm to block.

KLANG! A metallic sound rang out as Zennarde’s Sword clashed against Lei Su’s armguards. Nie Yan’s attack was blocked.

Blocked!

The Warrior’s block effect was triggered, and all damage was negated!

Lei Su brandished his greatsword and ruthlessly cleaved down on Nie Yan.

Nie Yan dodged to the side, evading the attack.

CRASSSHH! The sword beam struck the ground, leaving a three-meter long scar on the stage floor. What frightening destructive power!

Nie Yan’s heart shivered. If he had been hit by this attack, with the powerful destructive might of a Sword Saint, he would be badly maimed if not dead.

Lei Su repeatedly blocked Nie Yan’s attacks as he wildly slashed out with his sword. Before long, the arena stage was covered in cracks with rubble scattered everywhere. The frightening destructive power left the spectators speechless. At best they saw dazzling sword beams flying out in every direction. The match was too fast and hectic for the normal eye to follow.

"Sword Saints really are powerful,” Nei Yan remarked. In terms of destructive power, Shadow Dancers simply couldn’t compare. However, their advantage lay in their astonishing speed. No matter how Lei Su swung his sword, in the eyes of Nie Yan, his movements were as slow as a snail.

Nie Yan nimbly evaded Lei Su’s attacks, avoiding one sword beam after another. Finding an opening, he dashed forward, and with an elbow strike, he ruthlessly struck Lei Su in the abdomen.

KLANG! Lei Su slid several meters back before regaining his balance.

−6,358

Lei Su’s defense was extremely high. So, Nie Yan could only deal this much damage.

Right after landing the elbow strike, Nie Yan entered stealth. He shot forward and instantly closed the distance, lining Zennarde’s Sword up with Lei Su’s throat.

Nie Yan’s movements were too quick. Lei Su had no time to raise his arm to block. He could already feel the searing heat of Zennarde’s Sword nearing his neck. Just as the attack was about to land, his pupils shrunk. In this critical moment, he somehow managed to move his body by instinct alone.

Roar of the Berserker!

A powerful force erupted out from Lei Su, sweeping out in all directions. Nie Yan didn’t expect Lei Su’s reaction speed to be so quick. Seeing the wave of force heading towards him, he immediately activated Gale Step, taking advantage of the brief invincibility to block the attack.

Roar of the Berserker bought Lei Su several seconds. He quickly open up some distance, retreating more than a dozen meters.

Nie Yan once more disappeared into stealth. Lei Su held up his sword as he gazed at his surroundings warily, not daring to let his guard down for even a moment. After discovering Nie Yan hadn’t given chase, he finally had some time to catch his breath.

"Sure enough, he really is amazing! I’m glad he lived up to my expectations,” Lei Su couldn’t help but sigh in praise.

For Nie Yan to remain undefeated up until now wasn’t without reason. At this moment, Lei Su became even more serious. Glancing down at his skill bar, he prepared for a fierce battle.

Even though Lei Su knew his chances of winning were slim, he couldn’t let others look down on him!

Chapter 672 - Cut Throat

Nie Yan and Lei Su’s battle came to a deadlock. Lei Su was fairly skilled at PvP. It was no surprise he had maintained the number one spot on the Warrior rankings for so long in the previous timeline. He didn’t lose out in the slightest to Bladelight or Smoke Stub. In fact, he even surpassed them.

Conviction was filled with experts. Even if Nie Yan had knowledge from his past life, it wasn’t possible for him to recruit every single last one of them to his side. At least with Lei Su joining their ranks, Asskickers United would have another valiant general.

Seeing Lei Su taking a defensive posture and on full alert, Nie Yan caressed the blade of Zennarde’s Sword with his hand. He had zero intention of losing this match. He would no longer hold anything back. It was time to go all out!

Lei Su buffed himself with several skills that raised his Awareness. However, it still wasn’t enough to pinpoint Nie Yan. He kept himself calm, moving step by step to prevent his senses from dulling.

At this moment, a flame flashed before his eyes. There!

Lei Su slashed out with his sword. A crescent shaped sword beam brimming with destructive power struck the ground, sending rubble flying out everywhere. The attack missed. Something was wrong! He wanted to defend, but it was already too late.

Backbreaker!

Nie Yan shot forward like a lightning bolt. Lei Su had no time to react at all. BANG! Zennarde’s Sword struck him in the back.

A breathtaking attack!

It was too fast for the human eye!

−5,322

A damage value floated up above Lei Su’s head. However, contrary to Nie Yan’s expectations Lei Su wasn’t crippled. Instead, he turned around and slashed down on Nie Yan.

"It’s a body guard skill!” Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He hurriedly evaded and retreated back into stealth.

As a precaution, Lei Su had buffed himself with Bulwark of the War God before the two exchanged blows. A golden aura wrapped around his body, bolstering his defense as well as making him immune to all crowd crowd effects from physical skills. This was the most frightening aspect of a Warrior. If an ordinary Thief met a Sword Saint, they wouldn’t be able to leave even a scratch on their armour, let alone immobilize them. On the other hand, the powerful attacks of a Sword Saint could finish them off in just a few hits.

However, Lei Su was facing Nirvana Flame. There was a clear difference.

Nie Yan’s movement speed and attack speed were more than two times higher than Lei Su’s. Seeing numerous shadows darting around him, Lei Su wildly swung his sword around. But never once did it connect. Nie Yan always dodged before he could even finish his swing. He would then quickly have to defend himself against the flurry of attacks Nie Yan dealt in retaliation. His health slowly fell.

Lei Su’s defense was high. Furthermore, Sword Saints had an innate ability that reduced all incoming physical damage by 70%. He had an enormous advantage against all physical damage classes. As a result, though the damage Nie Yan dealt to him was limited, it was quickly adding up.

Lei Su’s 80,000 health was gradually chipped away to only 20,000. Downing an Advanced Health Potion, he restored some of his health, but it didn’t even fill up half his health bar. He immediately stuck on a Combat Bandage while quickly retreating backward.

Nie Yan suddenly emerged at Lei Su’s side. With a swift kick, he struck Lei Su in the hip and interrupted the Combat Bandage.

"Dammit. Can’t even catch my breath,” Lei Su gloomily remarked.

As the battle stretched on, Lei Su’s health quickly fell back to low levels again. Meanwhile, he hadn’t even touched a single hair on Nie Yan’s body. The speed of a Shadow Dancer was simply too outrageous!

Before becoming a Luminous Dancer, Nie Yan was already much faster than most top rank Thieves. After completing his class advancement quest, his speed increased even more thanks to the Luminous Dancer’s innate ability. This caused his speed to reach an extremely frightening level. Even some Level 150–160 dexterity-type Lords would be helpless against him, to say nothing of Lei Su.

The exchange between Nie Yan and Lei Su left the spectators dumbstruck. Lei Su’s strength caused many players to gasp in admiration. Sure enough, Sword Saints were powerful. No wonder he dared to challenge Nirvana Flame! However, Nie Yan’s devilish speed left everyone speechless. Even such a powerful Sword Saint couldn’t pose a threat to him. He still appeared to be dodging and maneuvering around with ease.

Nie Yan was already displaying the pinnacle of a Shadow Dancer’s movement techniques. He would always appear at the most optimal moments when the opponent was the most defenseless, then unleash an onslaught of attacks. Lei Su was being treated like a punching bag.

Thinking this was how he was going to meet his end, Lei Su howled with anger. He activated Rage of the Berserker. His muscles swelled in size as he grew two heads taller, making him resemble an enormous barbarian. His skin turned ash gray like the colour of stone.

Seismic Slam!

War Trample!

Rampage!

After activating Rage of the Berserker, Lei Su lashed out with one skill after another, all of which were small area attacks. Wherever he passed, the arena stage would quake and crack. Brimming with strength and tyrannical without compare, he let out a roar and charged forward, barrelling straight for Nie Yan. Like a juggernaut he tore through everything in his path.

Nie Yan didn’t expect Lei Su to explode with so much power. He blocked the Seismic Slam and War Trample with Shadow Waltz. However, he failed to completely dodge the Charge and Rampage as the berserk energy erupting out from Lei Su brushed against him.

−7,610

The leather armour defense of a Thief was too weak, unable to endure a single attack from a Sword Saint.

After being struck, Nie Yan’s stealth was dispelled as he gradually materialized into view. Lei Su could finally see him clearly.

Lei Su brandished his greatsword. As he slashed down, a sword beam came sweeping out. He was like an enraged beast, letting loose with a storm of fierce attacks. He was like the living embodiment of destruction, destroying everything in his path.

Nie Yan evaded to the best of his ability, but even he couldn’t cope with such a flurry of attacks. One of the sword beams nicked him, dealing in the excess of 16,000 damage. This was the difference between leather and plate armour. A Sword Saint could easily break through a Thief’s defense. However, a Thief would find it difficult to even leave a dent on a Sword Saint’s armour. Even a Shadow Dancer was the same. Nie Yan didn’t dare to eat another attack. He quickly drank an Advanced Health Potion to restore some of his health.

Flicker Strike!

As a sword beam came cleaving down on him, Nie Yan disappeared from his original spot. He instantly reemerged behind Lei Su and stabbed toward his throat with Zennarde’s Sword.

"ARGGGGHHH!” Lei Su bellowed out, erupting with a powerful force that prevented Zennarde’s Sword from inching any closer, and cleaved down with his sword. Nie Yan retreated half-a-step back, then spun around to the side as he brushed past Lei Su.

Reverse Grip Backstab!

Nie Yan’s attack was executed beautifully.

I can’t block! Lei Su’s eyes flashed with alarm. He couldn’t keep up with Nie Yan’s tempo at all. The difference in speed was too great. Nie Yan could easily land attacks on him, while he had to exert everything he had to even land a single hit on Nie Yan.

−16,444!

PSHHFTT! Zennarde’s Sword plunged into Lei Su’s back. Nie Yan followed up with Lacerate, opening up an even larger wound as blood came spraying out.

Even though Bulwark of the War God was powerful, it couldn’t protect Lei Su forever. The stab toward Lei Su’s throat was blocked. But after launching another attack an instant later, he finally dealt damage.

The damage from Nie Yan’s critical hit was fairly high, leaving Lei Su with only about 10,000 health remaining.

Lei Su immediately became anxious. He opened his mouth and let out a deafening roar.

Roar of the Wild!

A destructive sound wave came sweeping out in every direction. Nie Yan immediately sensed the danger, activating Mind Immune to evade the attack. He quickly retreated more than a dozen meters and entered back into stealth, disappearing from view.

Nie Yan maintained his stealth and lingered around in the distance with a faint smile on his face. He planned to let the bleed damage shave away at Lei Su’s health for the time being. This was one of the ways Thieves could deal with Warriors.

−1,333
−1,333
−1,333
...

A string of damage values floated up above Lei Su’s head. His health was gradually falling, but Nie Yan showed no signs of appearing. He knew what Nie Yan was trying to do. He took out a Recover Scroll and used it, his health bar filling back up by 20%.

Time slowly ticked away. The health Lei Su had restored back with the Recover Scroll was gradually being eaten away.

The bleed effect lasted for a total of 20 seconds, causing Lei Su to somewhat despair. This bleed damage was frightening! Even if he had more health, there was no way he could withstand this DoT forever!

Lei Su gradually became aware of just how frightening Nie Yan’s various stats were. Even his most basic attacks could deal so much damage! PvPing with Nie Yan truly made him feel depressed.

Nie Yan eyed Lei Su from the shadows. Seeing his health falling lower and lower, he faintly smiled. "It’s about time I settle this.” He gradually made his way over.

Lei Su only had a little less than 10,000 health left. He planned to risk it all with one final attack as he kept moving about. Suddenly, he couldn’t move his legs. "Shit! It’s Lockdown!”

Lei Su quickly activated Whirlwind Slash in an attempt to prevent Nie Yan from attacking from behind. He was enveloped by a vortex of sword light.

Whirlwind Slash lasted for three seconds, buying him enough time for Lockdown to wear off. But the moment it wore off, Lei Su discovered he had been immobilized again!

"Is his Lockdown off cooldown already?” Lei Su was filled with doubt. A skill like Lockdown had a cooldown of at least 30 seconds. How come Nie Yan could use it again so soon!?

What Lei Su didn’t know was that Nie Yan also had Extreme Intimidate on top of Lockdown. Its effects were similar but even more powerful.

As Lei Su’s Whirlwind Slash ended, before he could even activate a second skill, Zennarde’s Sword appeared in front of his throat, the raging black flames surrounding the blade threatening to consume all life.

Cut Throat!

Chapter 673 - Joining Heavenly Kings

Feeling the searing heat assaulting his face, Lei Su attempted to block with the aura from Bulwark of the War God. However, he couldn’t use it again so soon after blocking an attack. As for his other defensive skills, there was no time.

Nie Yan’s attack came at the most opportune time. Lei Su’s reaction was a beat too late. He simply had no time to block the Cut Throat. The sharp blade of Zennarde’s Sword came down on his throat, ruthlessly slicing open a large wound.

−9,895

Lei Su lost all his remaining health.

THUD! Lei Su collapsed to the ground.

"It’s over.” Nie Yan sheathed Zennarde’s Sword. He was quite pleased with his last Cut Throat.

The spectators didn’t find this outcome surprising at all. From the beginning of the match to the end, Lei Su was always on the backfoot. Nie Yan’s speed was simply too oppressive. However, they still deeply admired Lei Su. There were definitely no more than five players in the entire Viridian Empire who could push Nie Yan this far.

Everyone was dumbstruck. This was the strength of a Shadow Dancer and Sword Saint! Many players replayed the video of the match at half or quarter speed, watching everything back in slow motion. From one shot to the next, the video was analyzed. What was impossible to see live became crystal clear in the replays. Nie Yan and Lei Su's grasps of skill cooldowns and reaction speeds were especially impeccable.

After playing the match back countless times over, only then did everyone understand just what a Shadow Dancer represented—the absolute pinnacle of speed! As a Sword Saint, Lei Su’s attacks were by no means slow. However, he couldn’t hold a candle to Nie Yan. He was abused like a punching bag while his health was slowly shaved away. Even if he had unrivalled defense and health, he would still eventually succumb to the endless barrage of attacks.

In terms of class matchups, a Sword Saint could easily suppress a Shadow Dancer. But in the face of Nie Yan’s devillish speed, Lei Su was completely helpless to retaliate.

"The forums say Magisters beat Sword Saints, Sword Saints beat Shadow Dancers, and Shadow Dancers beat Magisters—sort of like a roshambo relationship. But how come, after watching the match between Nirvana Flame and Lei Su, I feel like Shadow Dancers can completely suppress Sword Saints? What can you even do against that ludicrous speed?” a player analyzed in a speechless manner.

"Pfft… Did you already forget who Lei Su was facing? Just because Nirvana Flame can beat Lei Su using that kind of method doesn’t mean others can. I’m betting ordinary Shadow Dancers would have the floor wiped with them.”

The player thought for a moment. This made sense. With such high health and defense, a Shadow Dancer would generally never take action against a Sword Saint in the wilderness. Because to them, Sword Saints were too tough to chew. Even if they mounted the perfect ambush, taking down a Sword Saint generally wasn’t possible. Their only advantage was their powerful fleeing ability, allowing them to not lose even if they couldn’t win. In other words, the match wasn’t fair to begin with. Lei Su had an innate advantage. However, Nie Yan was simply too powerful. He used his high stats to overcome this class disadvantage.

Though Lei Su had lost, the fearsome destructive power of a Sword Saint remained engraved deeply in the minds of the players. At present, three classes had appeared among the Master Class players, Sword Saint, Magister, and Shadow Dancer. Each one was supremely powerful, sparking the imaginations of countless players. If they could successfully class advance, even if they couldn’t become as amazing as Nie Yan or Lei Su, they would still stand at the apex among ordinary players. Master Classes were definitely the symbol of the strong.

Everyone fervently discussed Master Classes, all of them talking about wanting to reach Level 100 and tackling their class advancement quests. They had no idea how difficult it was. Even Asskickers United’s top elites, despite possessing amazing equipment, Nie Yan couldn’t guarantee every one of them would succeed. Luck played an important factor too. Out of hundreds of thousands of players, maybe one or two would have a chance of reaching Master Class.

Nonetheless, after this match, the title of Master Class became highly coveted.

After a while, Lei Su revived.

Lei Su looked a bit dejected. "I lost and pretty handedly too. Even if we go for a rematch, I think the result would still be the same.”

"Mhmm, yeah. Time to fulfill your end of our agreement,” Nie Yan said with a faint smile. Lei Su had agreed to join Asskickers United if he lost.

Nirvana Flame has sent you a request to join Asskickers United. Do you wish to accept?

Yes!

Lei Su has joined Asskickers United.

After finding out Lei Su had joined the guild, the players of Asskickers United were overcome with excitement. He had undoubtedly proved his strength in his match against Nie Yan. Him joining meant the guild had another peak expert. Also as a Warrior, he stood on equal footing with Bladelight and Smoke Stub. They were overjoyed. A rising tide lifts all boats. As members of Asskickers United, the guild’s growth was naturally their growth as well. This was definitely something worth celebrating over.

Before long, news of Lei Su joining Asskickers United spread out to the outside as well. This was a world-shaking development. A fresh tide of experts put in their applications to enter the guild. After all, Asskickers United had it all; both a powerful growth potential and backing. As for how far a colossus like them would go or what they would be like in the future, no one really knew. Those who previously decided not to join Asskickers United also started reconsidering. If they waited until Asskickers United had united the entire Viridian Empire to join, it would be too late. Most large guilds highly valued seniority; new members would have to work twice as hard to obtain a spot among the veterans. It didn’t matter how strong they were, only those who went through the fire together and came out on top received the best treatment.

Lei Su’s entry into Asskickers United had set off a whole new wave of players looking to join the guild.

After settling some guild affairs on his side, Nie Yan started chatting with Lei Su. Since both of them were from the Top Military Academy and had heard of each other’s names before, they had no trouble interacting and seemed destined to become friends.

Many Warriors from the guild came over to give their greetings, welcoming Lei Su into the guild. At the same time, they also asked him to give them a few pointers.

Seeing the Asskickers United players happily chatting with Lei Su, Nie Yan quietly withdrew from the crowd. It appeared he wasn’t needed here anymore. Just as he was about to take his leave, his notification bar flashed.

Lei Su sent Nie Yan a private message.「Besides challenging you, I also came here today to invite you to join Heavenly Kings. Are you interested?」

Heavenly Kings? Nie Yan’s eyes trembled. Looking over at Lei Su in the distance, his expression changed. He had no idea at all that Lei Su was part of Heavenly Kings.

At the start of the school year, Nie Yan had learned from his father what kind of existence Heavenly Kings was. Whether in the political, military, or business sphere, their influence ran deep. If he could join them, it would be of enormous benefit to World Bloc. His father repeatedly told him that if he had a chance to join them, he definitely had to accept no matter what, and to just open his mouth if he needed anything. Given how serious his father was, he naturally kept these words in mind.

Since Nie Yan now had the chance to join Heavenly Kings, he definitely couldn’t let it slip by!

「Can I have a meeting with your higher-ups first?」Nie Yan asked. He was extremely careful with his words. Heavenly Kings definitely couldn’t be offended. If Lei Su was a member and he could join through Lei Su’s referral, he could naturally wish for nothing more. However, he also didn’t want to appear too eager or impatient, for fear of something backfiring.

Seeing that Nie Yan was interested, Lei Su replied, "Of course you can. Our higher-ups have already been expecting you for a long time.”

After watching the videos of Nie Yan fighting and his match with Nie Yan today, Lei Su felt a lot of admiration for Nie Yan. He couldn’t be happier if Nie Yan joined Heavenly Kings. So, he didn’t think too much when answering.

Lei Su’s words gave Nie Yan a piece of information. It appeared Heavenly Kings had been eyeing him from the start. That meant his chances of joining were even higher.

「Are there any requirements or restrictions for joining?」Nie Yan asked. Generally, these types of secret clubs had strict sets of rules. Nie Yan didn’t want to be restrained too greatly. So, he wanted to weigh the pros and cons first. If joining Heavenly Kings was beneficial to him, he would definitely be happy to join. However, if it wasn’t of any help to him and he would be restricted instead, it wasn’t really worth it.

After talking about the origins of Heavenly Kings, Lei Su said,「Our club doesn’t require much of our members. You can freely join, and you can also request to leave. But while you’re a member of the club, as long as it doesn’t pose any harm to your interests, we’re all supposed to cooperate together and support each other.」

Lei Su’s words dispelled some of the misgivings in Nie Yan’s heart. It seemed Heavenly Kings was fairly open-minded. It was simply an organization for students to meet up and help each other. The key point was that every member of the club held astonishing influence and authority.

Nie Yan didn’t know which part of him had attracted the attention of those people. But since they had invited him, that meant he was a valuable asset in their eyes.

「If you’re willing to join Heavenly Kings, you can call me up after you log off. I’ll send you my number.」

「Alright, thank you.」Nie Yan nodded.

Seeing Nie Yan agree, Lei Su faintly smiled. Ever since he joined Heavenly Kings, he had never seen a single person refuse their invite. Nie Yan being willing to join was only to be expected.「I hope we’ll have many happy days ahead of us.」

Chapter 674 - Enemies on a Narrow Path

As the spectators scattered, Lei Su received several team invites from within the guild. Though these teams were mostly composed of second-rate players, he gladly accepted and agreed to run a dungeon or two with them.

What surprised Nie Yan was that 50 other fairly skilled, first-rate players entered Asskickers United alongside Lei Su. They were his followers who often joined him in running dungeons. Several of them had strength that was only one step below him. With a team of experts like this supporting him and his powerful background, for him to reach his current heights was only to be expected.

With more than 50 skilled experts joining Asskickers United, Nie Yan felt like a meat pie had dropped from the sky. If he had to gather these players the normal way, he would have to spend a lot of time and effort. Luckily, they had delivered themselves right up to his doorstep. Though they were still Lei Su’s subordinates, if anything major happened in the future, they would follow him in helping the guild.

After settling all his affairs on this side, Nie Yan planned to resume hunting skeletons with Xie Yao and Tang Yao. When the three of them met up in the transfer area, they received news that Qin Han had crossed the borders of Calore’s territory from the south with a large army of skeletons. Furthermore, hordes of skeletons had appeared in Nisode and Colt. Qin Han had already mobilized his troops in attacking the strongholds in Colt. Attacking the weakest point, he planned to seize control of the strongholds while slaughtering his way forward and expanding his forces at the same time.

Nie Yan could no longer continue to leisurely hunt skeletons. He hurriedly mobilized Asskickers United’s troops to face Qin Han and his skeleton army.

The Rabeet Stronghold was in a state of emergency!

The Aranson Stronghold was in a state of emergency!

The two small strongholds in Colt were the first to be attacked. They were surrounded on all sides by an endless sea of skeletons.

Guo Huai had received a report from his moles in God Executioner Sword. The number of skeletons had already surpassed 2,000,000, 8,000 of which were Lords! This kind of militarial strength was truly frightening.

The Shoro Stronghold, this was the most important stronghold connecting Colt to Calore. Asskickers United had already discovered skeletons showing up in its vicinity.

Nie Yan glanced at the map. Qin Han’s next move was probably to take down the Shoro Stronghold. Like this, Calore would be isolated from Colt and Nisode. It was divide and conquer. Nie Yan pondered for a long time. The Shoro Stronghold was an extremely important strategic location. As long as he could hold onto it, he could freely move around his catapult legion, steamrolling everything in his path. The land surrounding Colt was basically all flatlands and plains. With the Shoro Stronghold as a foothold, they could freely advance to attack and retreat to defend. The skeleton army’s campaign would be put to a stop here!

Nie Yan started mobilizing a large number of catapults towards the Shoro Stronghold. At the same time, he had many high level players hurry over as well.

Since a transfer point hadn’t been set up there yet, Asskickers United could only teleport to the closest town and rush over to the Shoro Stronghold by mounts. It was about a 15-minute journey.

Nie Yan, Xie Yao, and Tang Yao rushed over to the Shoro Stronghold on their flying mounts. In the previous battle, the Shoro Stronghold had been razed to the ground by Asskickers United’s catapults. However, after reconstruction efforts, it looked even grander than before.

After arriving over the Shoro Stronghold, Nie Yan and the other two jumped off their flying mounts and landed on the walls. The perfect vantage point. They surveyed the surroundings, spotting a few skeletons roaming around here and there. These were only reconnaissance units. The main army had yet to arrive.

Nie Yan started setting up defenses in preparation for the battle, both inside and in the vicinity of the stronghold. This job was delegated to only the most trusted members of Asskickers United.

Before long, around 70 catapults had been transported to the Shoro Stronghold. They were set up on top of the walls. With the elevation bonus, they had a range of about 500 meters.

After making sure everything was ready and in order, Nie Yan had Guo Huai provide the 60,000 players guarding the stronghold with a bunch of items for dealing with the skeletons, including Holy Judgement Scrolls, Twisting Vines Scrolls, and so on.

The Shoro Stronghold had been transformed into an impenetrable bastion by Nie Yan.

In the next few hours, Nie Yan received several reports. The Rabeet and Aranson Strongholds had both already fallen. The skeleton army continued to move with sweeping momentum toward the Baget Stronghold, destroying all villages and towns in its path like an unstoppable torrent.

Nie Yan stayed near the Shoro Stronghold for several days. On the third day, he received word that Bladelight and Sun had completed their class advancement quests. This news came as no surprise to him. It was only natural they succeeded. Even though he was happy for them, what Asskickers United required right now were Magisters and Archbishops. These classes had much more of an impact in large scale conflicts.

Nie Yan closely monitored the progress of Painted Muslin, Black Hell, Black Heaven, and the others’ class advancement quests. However, it looked like it would take them on average another 15 days to finish. Meanwhile, the situation at the Shoro Stronghold was getting more urgent. After sweeping through more than a dozen strongholds in Colt, Qin Han’s skeleton army was already converging on it.

Around 400,000 skeletons had gathered in an area several kilometers away from the Shoro Stronghold. Faced against such an enormous force, Nie Yan definitely wouldn’t dare to dispatch players to deal with them. As soon as they ventured into the wilderness outside the safety of the stronghold walls, they would become prey for the skeletons.

The large skeleton army was slowly gathering around the Shoro Stronghold. The fighting could break out at any moment.

While standing atop the walls of the stronghold, Nie Yan had a mysterious smile on his face. He held a scout report in his hands. "It’s finally time.”

Standing in the middle of the skeleton army, Qin Han in his black robes was staring at the stronghold’s walls in the distance. He had just received word that Nie Yan had already set up defenses in the Shoro Stronghold and was waiting for him to arrive. Qin Han’s lips curved into a disdainful smile. You want to stop my skeleton army with just these measly defenses and troops? You really are underestimating me too much!

The great skeleton army was unstoppable, razing every village and town it came across. Any players or guilds in their way were slaughtered into submission and left trembling in fear. This caused Qin Han’s ambitions and confidence to swell to astronomical levels. With millions of skeletons at his command, he naturally wouldn’t put the tiny Shoro Stronghold in his eyes. After taking down the Shoro Stronghold and passing through a ravine, he would sweep through all of Calore! He would uproot all of Asskickers United from the ground!

Qin Han recalled how Nie Yan had sniped him from afar. How could he forget? It was his single most humiliating defeat since entering the game. He would absolutely pay it back tenfold!

Kill!

A powerful psychic wave erupted out from Qin Han and spread out in every direction. This was him passing down his command.

The skeleton army slowly advanced toward the Shoro Stronghold like a surging tide.

Standing atop the stronghold walls, Nie Yan gazed into the distance. Stretching out as far as the eye could see was a vast sea of skeletons. No wonder the NPCs described these skeletons as locusts. That was exactly what they looked like, a swarm of locusts!

Gradually, the skeleton army drew closer and closer. They were about 1,000 meters away from the walls. The skeletons at the front triggered the traps Asskickers United had set up around the perimeter of the stronghold. Explosions and pillars of flames erupted into the air, transforming the thickets in the vicinity into a sea of fire. Under the raging inferno, numerous skeletons rattled their jaws and collapsed into pieces. Even so, it was far from enough to stop the army’s advance.

The fire continued to burn for 15 minutes before gradually settling down. Afterwards, the skeleton army encountered all sorts of traps, from pitfalls to spike traps, explosive traps, and so on. At least 50,000 skeletons were wiped out.

After failing to make any headway due to all the traps, Qin Han became increasingly infuriated. Under his command, the skeleton army forcefully pushed forward. They advanced even more franticially than before. It was like a sea of bones. No matter how many skeletons at the front were killed, those at the back would step over their bones and continue forward.

800 meters, 700 meters, 600 meters...

The skeletons were getting closer and closer, causing the players guarding the Shoro Stronghold to feel more and more pressure weighing down on them.

"Boss, they’re almost here. Shouldn’t we bombard them now?”

"You idiot! Look at where they are. That’s easily more than 500 meters. Way out of range! The catapults won’t hit!”

As the skeletons drew closer, the atmosphere in the Shoro Stronghold grew more tense. If they were facing another guild, they definitely wouldn’t be afraid. But what they were facing was a mindless horde of skeletons. Many among them had fought these skeletons before. They were like unkillable cockroaches, always gathering in large groups and swarming forward without fear of death. The players who were killed by them would also join their ranks. Anyone would feel helpless facing this kind of enemy, to say nothing of the fact that what they were up against right now was a skeleton army several hundred thousand strong!

"Don’t be afraid, guys. With such high walls, these skeletons can climb up only by piling up on top of one another. All the Mages and Priests have to do is blast them with magic. We’ll kill as many as we can. Even if they do breach through our defenses, the stronghold might fall, but we’ll still have our lives, or are you saying we can’t outrun a bunch of slow-moving skeletons? As for those who can’t get away fast enough, I can only recommend you work more on your cardio!” Nie Yan faintly smiled.

The players broke out in laughter. The tension in the air eased up by a lot.

Chapter 675 - Archon Flame Apocalypse

Nie Yan stuck to one hard-and-fast rule, and that was to never have a direct clash. He would shave away at the enemy’s numbers as much as possible. However, as soon as the skeleton army breached their defenses, he would order an immediate retreat.

Since it was like this, the players from Asskickers United relaxed substantially. Seeing the skeletons marching over step by step, they really did appear awfully slow. Faced with this kind of enemy, as long as they weren’t surrounded, they could easily get away.

The horde of skeletons had already arrived within 300 meters of the Shoro Stronghold.

"Catapults, open fire!” Nie Yan ordered. The 70 catapults that had long since been readied immediately launched their payloads into the air.

Countless shells arced through the sky and fell toward the skeleton army.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Frost explosions rang out through the battlefield, encasing countless skeletons in ice.

Afterwards, the Armoured Ice Catapults were swiftly reloaded in preparation for a second barrage.

Close to half of the skeletons within 500 meters of the stronghold were wiped out. However, this didn’t slow the rest down. Stepping over the bony remains of their fellow skeletons, they gradually approached the stronghold walls.

It was time for the Mages to shine. Standing atop the walls, they waved their staffs. A torrent of magic came pouring down on the skeletons below.

The Mages took turns casting AoE magic on the skeletons below. All sorts of different spells amalgamated together, producing a light show of fire, ice, and lightning. The skeletons collapsed in droves and turned into piles of bones.

Only about a tenth of the skeletons survived the bombardments from the catapults. However, even after arriving below the walls, they could only wander around aimlessly. They had no way of climbing the stronghold. In the end, they were cleaned up by the Mages.

The skeleton army was pretty terrible at sieging. Before long, the ground below the walls was filled with piles of bones, which only grew higher by the second.

Even though the skeleton army’s losses were severe, skeletons were flooding evermore forward.

Qin Han fervently urged his skeleton army to press forward. Even if the losses were greater, he wouldn’t care. He wanted to crush every obstacle in front of him, especially Nie Yan. That fellow had to die! He knew Nie Yan was leading the defenses at the Shoro Stronghold, so he couldn’t get himself to withdraw.

Meanwhile, information about Qin Han being the dark hand behind the Vengeance of the Undead event and his treachery that led to the massacre of more than 500,000 players from 30 different guilds was exposed online. The players on the forums erupted in righteous anger, condemning his actions, and his reputation was forever tarnished.

Nie Yan took advantage of the opportunity to leak that Qin Han was also controlling Divine Protectors, God Executioner Sword, and Penumbra Empire from behind the scenes. More and more players started siding with Asskickers United and spurning the three other guilds. Nevertheless, Nie Yan understood that even though public opinion was on his side, the outcome would still be determined by the side with the bigger fists.

Only a single victor could emerge between Asskickers United and the Monet Financial Group.

The area below the Shoro Stronghold had already become a land of death with bones scattered everywhere. They were slowly piling up, 5 meters, 10 meters, 15 meters… gradually approaching the height of the walls. The skeletons were climbing up this mountain of bones.

The players on the walls couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat seeing the single-minded aggression of these skeletons.

Hovering over Nie Yan’s shoulder, Battle Angel Kalenna repeatedly waved her staff, purifying the remains of the skeletons. However, she simply couldn’t keep up with the rate at which the bones were piling up.

"Priests, Paladins, purify those remains!” Nie Yan commanded.

The Priests and Paladins raised their staffs and swords respectively. A curtain of light descended from the sky, dissolving the skeletal remains one after another. The size of the mountain of bones was slightly reduced.

The battle was reaching a climax. Nie Yan gazed off in the distance. Around 10,000 skeletons with pitch black bones appeared in his vision. His heart trembled. Qin Had already started dispatching his Elite and Lord-class skeletons!

The skeletons at the front gathered below the stronghold walls, with more and more piling on top of one another. The Elite and Lord-class skeletons stepped over them, and tanking the barrage of magic, they started climbing their way to the top.

If these Elite and Lord-class skeletons were allowed to reach the top of the walls, the consequences would be grave.

"Sparrow Hawk, use your Forbidden Magic!” Nie Yan shouted. Tang Yao had five forbidden spells in total. One was on cooldown while he could still use the other four, among which two were wide-scale offensive spells—definitely enough for the skeletons to have their fill.

Tang Yao started casting his magic, chanting out one syllable after another.

Sensing the intense magic fluctuations around Tang Yao, the players in the vicinity immediately retreated back.

"Sparrow Hawk is casting Forbidden Magic!”

"What powerful fluctuations!” The players in the vicinity gasped in shock. It seemed like the surroundings were about to be ripped apart!

Everyone’s hearts were beating fast. From the stirring of the magic energy in the air, they could tell Tang Yao was in the middle of casting a wide-scale offensive magic. They couldn’t help but look on with excitement and anticipation. Just how powerful would this spell be?

The skeletons were still tirelessly climbing the mountain of bones. Standing far off in the distance in the middle of the skeleton army, Qin Han stared at the change occurring on the Shoro Stronghold’s walls. The sky was quickly shrouded by clouds of black flames. The intense magic fluctuations caused his face to pale. A thought crossed his mind, Forbidden magic!

Qin Han had seen the video of Tang Yao casting Forbidden Magic last time. Decree of Dusk wasn’t an offensive magic, but its might still couldn’t be looked down on. The spell this time looked even more astonishing. Clouds of black flames blotted out the sky over the battlefield, stretching out for 1,000 meters. The surroundings turned gloomy, like the coming of darkness before a storm.

Qin Han didn’t dare to linger around any longer. He quickly retreated several kilometers back, only stopping after confirming he was safely out of range. It was already too late to pull out his troops. As he gazed at the distant Shoro Stronghold, he saw Tang Yao levitating in the air, his robes flapping in the wind.

Tang Yao waved his staff as an enormous vortex of magic energy converged on him. At this moment, he was like a deity. The intense pressure prevented the skeletons below from moving even an inch.

"So this is Forbidden Magic?” Qin Han muttered. He couldn’t suppress his jealousy toward Nie Yan. So far, Asskickers United already had six Master Class players, two of which were Magisters. Meanwhile, his side didn’t even have a single Master Class player! If he had just one Magister, the situation right now would be completely different. He felt extremely depressed. Why did all the top players flock to Asskickers United? He had previously attempted to bribe the top players in Asskickers United over to his side, but he only managed to poach a few second-rate small fry. Just what did Nie Yan do to make these people so unwaveringly loyal to him?

Archon Flame Apocalypse!

Tang Yao’s spell was already nearing completion. After chanting out the last syllable, thunder and lightning crackled across the clouds. Black lightning and raging black flames started falling down from the sky like a torrential downpour.

Everything stretching out for 1,000 meters was raining black flames. A sight like this was truly spectacular and awe-inspiring. Each and every skeleton that came in contact with the raging inferno was transformed into piles of ashes. Even the Lord-class skeletons weren’t spared.

It was like a scene straight from hell. Countless skeletons cackled and rattled their jaws as they struggled within the flames.

As the Archon Flame Apocalypse was going strong, one ray of light after another fell over Tang Yao. He levelled up five times consecutively, going from Level 103 to 108!

Even Tang Yao was dumbstruck. Every level after 100 required an astonishing amount of experience. But a single Forbidden spell had allowed him to rise five levels all at once. One could imagine how many skeletons had died!

The Archon Flame Apocalypse lasted for a total of three minutes before finally settling down. Everything stretching out up to 1,000 meters of the Shoro Stronghold was swept clean. The earth was scorched black, and it looked like the surface of the moon with craters everywhere. The mountain of bones had also disappeared.

The entire battlefield was swept clean. The siege of the skeleton army came to an abrupt halt.

Seeing the destruction wrought by the Archon Flame Apocalypse, everyone sucked in a breath of air, their hearts battered by waves of shock. So this was the power of Forbidden Magic? Too frightening!

Everything in a 1,000-meter wide area was destroyed. Not even a blade of grass survived. No wonder Forbidden Magic was labelled as the most powerful magic of Magisters. Sure enough, it was out of this world.

"Sparrow Hawk’s spell is terrifying!”

"Yeah, apparently he shot up five levels right after using it! My god. Can you imagine just how many skeletons he killed?”

Asskickers United’s players were discussing fervently. The power of Forbidden Magic was deeply engraved in their minds. Advancing to a Magister became the dream of all the Mages.

Qin Han gazed up ahead. In front of him was a vast, empty barren. Tang Yao’s Forbidden Magic had wiped out at least 38,000 skeletons. Since the start of the battle, his side had already lost more than 70,000 skeletons. Yet his army had failed to even reach the top of the walls!

"No matter how strong your Forbidden Magic is, let’s just see how many you can cast!” Qin Han shouted, his expression twisting with rage. Since he had already reached this point, he definitely wouldn’t withdraw. If he couldn’t even take down the Shoro Stronghold, he had no hope of defeating Asskickers United!

Before long, another enormous horde of skeletons flooded toward the Shoro Stronghold, launching a second wave of attacks.

The siege of the Shoro Stronghold attracted the attention of the entire playerbase. Tang Yao’s Archon Flame Apocalypse left them speechless. The Forbidden Magic of Magisters could truly be described as heaven sundering and earth rending. Those who initially weren’t too optimistic started changing their minds. Perhaps Asskickers United did have what it’d take to repel the skeleton army!

Chapter 676 - Invincible Lei Su

Asskickers United had already warned players not to engage with the skeletons under any circumstances. Now whenever players encountered one, they would immediately flee. Like this, the growth of the skeleton army slowed down significantly. They could only rely on massacring NPC towns and villages to expand.

This caused Qin Han to feel a sense of crisis. If he could only rely on slaughtering NPC settlements to expand, the growth of his skeleton army would have no way of keeping up with the rate they were dying at. If it continued on like this, they would eventually collapse!

Qin Han thought of another extreme method and put it into work. He announced that anyone who voluntarily became a skeleton would be compensated five gold a month. There were plenty penniless, low-level players in Conviction, many of whom flocked to him.

After learning Qin Han was resorting to this method to recruit skeletons, Nie Yan chuckled to himself. Qin Han was at the end of his rope. His skeleton army had already been effectively quarantined. He would be lucky if their numbers even broke past 8,000,000. As long as Asskickers United continued fighting them at the forefront, they would be whittled away until nothing was left of them.

"Nie Yan, I just received a title called Apocalypse Saviour,” Tang Yao said after glancing at his notification window.

"Apocalypse Saviour? How many skeletons did you kill?” Nie Yan asked in shock.

Tang Yao looked down at the skeleton kill count. "40,000.”

"No wonder!” Nie Yan exclaimed. Tang Yao had really killed a frightening number of skeletons. "What kind of effect does the Apocalypse Saviour title give?”

"Magic Power +10%, Cast Time -10%,” Tang Yao replied. These effects were pretty good.

Tang Yao’s magic power and cast speed were already at the top among Mages. With the effects of this title, he would be unrivalled.

Nie Yan turned to Xie Yao. "When the next wave of skeletons arrives, you should cast your Forbidden Magic too.”

The skeletons were basically serving themselves up on a silver platter. Nie Yan definitely couldn’t let this opportunity go to waste. If Xie Yao also obtained the Apocalypse Saviour title, Asskickers United would have two peerless Magisters.

It would be extremely difficult for Nie Yan to obtain the Apocalypse Saviour title. For a melee class like him to kill 40,000 skeletons was nigh impossible. Even if he summoned Lil’ Gold, it still wouldn’t be feasible. However, he paid close attention to his Holy Spirit Heart quest. This place was a sea of bones. If he could purify enough skeletons, it might be possible for him to break another seal from Zennarde’s Sword.

Over the next few days, Qin Han’s skeleton army launched wave after wave of attacks, only to be repelled each time by the players of Asskickers United. More than 300,000 skeletons crumbled to piles of bones below the walls of the Shoro Stronghold, which still hadn’t been breached.

Looking at the Shoro Stronghold from the outside, the walls were falling apart with cracks everywhere. For it to last so long against this endless tide of skeletons was practically a miracle.

During this time, Xie Yao also obtained the Apocalypse Saviour title. Heaven’s Domain Descent was even more powerful than Archon Flame Apocalypse, wiping out 60,000 skeletons in the blink of an eye.

The Shoro Stronghold refused to fall. Qin Han felt extremely frustrated and swore up a storm. He refused to be defeated like this. He continued to mobilize his skeleton army toward the Shoro Stronghold. Victory or defeat in this battle was no longer just about the stronghold.

Over the course of his conquest, Qin Han had already taken down 70 strongholds. The War God Tribe in Nisode and Battle Crazed Alliance in Hilderlocke were all turtling in their several key strongholds. As long as the Shoro Stronghold fell and the main force of Asskickers United was defeated, he could completely crush them beneath his feet!

At present, more than half of Asskickers United’s elites were in the Shoro Stronghold! Anyone heading to Calore had to pass through this stronghold. Even if taking it down would come at a great cost, Qin Han refused to back down!

"Dammit! Keep attacking!” Qin Han fiercely spurred on his troops, mobilizing another 500,000 skeletons. He was going to take down the Shoro Stronghold, no matter what!

At this moment, standing on top of the walls, Nie Yan had a smirk on his face. He had achieved his goal. Qin Han was completely focused on him. With close to 1,000,000 skeletons laying siege on the Shoro Stronghold alone, the pressure on the other guilds was greatly reduced.

Tang Yao and Xie Yao had already cast their Forbidden Magic. Under the frantic assault of the skeletons, the Mages were all running low on mana. They were akin to dried up oil lamps. But the relentless assault of the skeletons showed no signs of stopping. They kept coming and coming, never giving the Mages a breather to recover their mana. The walls were breached. Warriors had to form human walls to keep the skeletons from swarming the stronghold. They were slowly being overwhelmed.

Seeing the Mages out of mana, Nie Yan gave out an order, "Everyone, use your scrolls! Don’t feel too bad about using them since I’m the one footing the bill.”

Nie Yan’s joke evoked a few chuckles. The players activated the scrolls. A torrent of holy light flooded out, beating back the skeletons once more.

The clash between both sides was intense, with neither side willing to back down for even a single second. Eventually, some skeletons pushed through the human wall of Warriors and started slaughtering the Mages.

"Boss, we can’t hold on any longer over here!”

"Boss, we have a breach!”

The walls were being overrun. Nie Yan knitted his brows. "Should we give up on the Shoro Stronghold already? If we keep fighting like this, we’re going to suffer heavy losses. But if we withdraw now, all of Calore is going to be swarmed by Qin Han’s skeleton army.”

While Nie Yan was wracking his brains for a solution, a figure appeared beside him and asked, "Need some help?”

Nie Yan looked over. A Warrior clad in ornate gold armour entered his eyes. Behind him were 50 high level players.

Without Nie Yan’s instructions, Lei Su wasn’t sure what to do. Seeing the situation going south, he took the initiative to ask.

"The east side of the walls. That section is about to fall. Go over there and help. Thanks,” Nie Yan said.

"Alright, no problem. I’m also a member of Asskickers United now. It’s the least I can do.” Lei Su chuckled. He then hurried over to the east side of the walls with his comrades.

The walls on the east side of the stronghold were breached. A large number of skeletons were flooding in as a fierce battle broke out. With high health and defense, the skeletons braved the magic and slaughtered one player after another. The fallen would immediately reanimate and join the ranks of the enemy.

"Guys, we can’t let these skeletons get past us, or else the consequences will be even more severe! Plug the breach!”

"Warriors, go up and stop them!”

"We have to beat them back!”

More Warriors rushed to the front and stopped the skeletons from advancing forward.

Even though the skeletons were attacking fiercely, the players guarding the walls didn’t back down in the slightest. After all, they were the elites of Asskickers United. Skeleton after skeleton threw themselves fearlessly at the human wall, gradually overwhelming them, when a thundering voice rang out, "Warriors, move aside! I’ll deal with it myself!”

Lei Su appeared from behind a corner. He looked like a golden armoured war god as he rushed into the fray.

"It’s War God Lei Su!”

"Everyone, make way!”

Even though the players of Asskickers United were still a bit unfamiliar with Lei Su, most of them knew he had joined the guild and had seen his duel with Nie Yan. No one knew when, but his nickname of War God also started spreading. It was a befitting title for someone who was capable of fighting Nie Yan to such an extent.

The Warriors stepped out of the way, opening up a path. At this moment, two large skeletons charged toward Lei Su.

"Nothing more than a pile of bones!” Lei Su arrogantly smiled. He slashed down with his great sword, firing out a crescent-shaped sword beam towards the two skeletons.

BANG! The two skeletons were instantly smashed apart as bone fragments flew out in every direction.

Lei Su’s attacks were domineering. Even though they couldn’t match the range of Mages, most of them reaching no more than 10 meters, their destructive power was unrivalled!

Seeing the skeletons climbing the walls, Lei Su charged forward to greet them. Slashing out wildly with his sword, he smashed every skeleton in range into pieces.

The skeletons struck Lei Su with their axes. However, the attacks were stopped by the golden aura protecting his body, giving off sparks as the attacks bounced off. They couldn’t deal any damage to him.

Swinging out with a punch, Lei Su struck one of the skeletons in the chest. BOOM! His fist instantly shattered it into pieces.

The surrounding players gaped their jaws in shock. So powerful!

This was unrivalled, absolute strength!

It was the pinnacle of Warriors!

A giant Lord-class Skeleton King came stomping over. It had just finished off two players. Seeing Lei Su tearing through one skeleton after another, it immediately charged over while brandishing its great war-axe.

The Skeleton King looked invincible with its metallic bones. A single stroke from its axe could leave a large crater in the wall.

Defense Stance!

Lei Su raised his greatsword, blocking the Skeleton King’s blow.

KLANG! Lei Su’s body sunk as cracks started appearing on the ground beneath his feet. However, he still remained unyielding like a boulder.

"RHAAAGHHH!” Lei Su slashed out with his greatsword as a crescent shaped sword beam cleaved into the Skeleton King’s body.

−33,555

Not only was Lei Su taking on a Skeleton King alone, he was also slowly forcing it back. The surrounding players were dumbstruck. His strength was truly astonishing!

Chapter 677 - General?

Lei Su’s appearance averted a potential disaster. The players from Asskickers United managed to repel the skeletons once more.

Nie Yan looked over the current statistics of the battle. So far, Asskickers United had lost 60 players. Once the casualties exceeded 100, he would probably call for a full retreat. Losing the Shoro Stronghold wasn’t too terrible of a loss. After all, his main goal was to shave away at the strength of Qin Han’s skeleton army. Once the walls fell, there was no need to fight until the bitter end.

Nie Yan’s basic strategy was to cull the enemy’s numbers while minimizing casualties on his side as much as possible. He would make Qin Han pay a heavy price for every stronghold taken. Until finally the skeleton army was weakened enough, at which time he would deal the fatal blow.

As the holder of the Great Prophet title, Nie Yan could mobilize the troops stationed in any of the cities in the Viridian Empire. However, it would be foolish to think that the 8,000 NPC soldiers stationed in Calore could defeat a skeleton army 8,000,000 strong. So, he could only rely on his current turtling tactic.

Even by offering a nice reward for players willfully turning into skeletons and razing any NPC village or town he could find, it still wasn’t enough. The large majority of the playerbase heeded Nie Yan’s warning to stay as far away from the skeletons as possible. Qin Han was enraged. His skeleton army was slowly dwindling in size. He became all the more determined to destroy the Shoro Stronghold. To that end, he had his troops launch an even fiercer assault.

After another afternoon of non-stop fighting, Asskickers United had wiped out a further 150,000 skeletons. However, they were gradually being overwhelmed. The Shoro Stronghold likely wouldn’t hold for much longer. They received an order from Nie Yan. Under no circumstances were they to engage the skeletons if the situation looked unfavourable. Losses had to be kept to the absolute minimum.

Even if the skeletons flooded into the stronghold, the Asskickers United players weren’t to tangle with them.

"Boss, we can’t hold out much longer! The walls are already overrun with skeletons!”

"Everyone, we’re making a full retreat! Evacuate through the transfer point. Warriors, bring up the rear, but don’t recklessly throw your lives away. Don’t panic! Squad #1 retreat first, then Squad #2, Squad #3, and so on!” Nie Yan ordered. As soon as the words left his mouth, the players began an orderly withdrawal.

"Boss, what do we do about the catapults?”

"Have the catapults continue firing for three more minutes, then destroy them beyond repair. Don’t leave a single one for the enemy!” Nie Yan said in a deep voice. Even though his heart ached at the thought of losing 70 Armoured Ice Catapults, he had no other choice. If they weren’t destroyed, they would fall into Qin Han’s hands. Besides, Asskickers United still had another 500 catapults and trebuchets. This loss was bearable.

The players from Asskickers United withdrew from the Shoro Stronghold en masse. With a flash of light, they teleported away.

The skeletons flooded into the Shoro Stronghold and overflowed into the streets and alleys. But no matter how fast they ran, they were still slower than the fleeing players.

When more than half of the players had evacuated through the transfer point, a series of explosions rang out. The Armoured Ice Catapults lined up in the center of the stronghold were all blown up.

"Go, go, go!” Nie Yan ushered the players through the transfer point. When the last one teleported away, he destroyed it.

At this moment, Qin Han arrived at the top of the Shoro Stronghold’s walls. Gazing inside, it was deserted. There wasn’t a trace of any players!

Asskickers United’s forces had long since withdrawn. What was left behind was an abandoned stronghold.

Qin Han stomped his feet and let out a torrent of curses. Nie Yan was too treacherous! He had lost close to 500,000 skeletons, and all he had to show for it was a deserted stronghold. The enemy’s casualties didn’t even exceed double digits. Even though the destruction of 70 catapults was significant, for a rich magnate like Asskickers United, it could easily be recovered from.

Qin Han gradually understood Nie Yan’s plan. If he had to sacrifice 500,000 skeletons every time he laid siege to a stronghold, it wouldn’t be long before his skeleton army was wiped out completely.

Qin Han might be ruthless, but Nie Yan was even more so!

There were two other strongholds situated close to the Shoro Stronghold. Nie Yan was in the middle of fortifying them. Their locations weren’t as good. So, he set up relatively fewer defenses. He would be lucky to shave away even 200,000 skeletons from Qin Han’s army.

Nie Yan and the others stood on top of the walls of the Veisor Stronghold, gazing into the distance.

"If I were Qin Han right now, I’d probably be driven mad with anger. He spent so much effort to conquer the Shoro Stronghold, only to find it completely deserted.” Lei Su chuckled.

Nie Yan smiled. He could picture Qin Han’s face right about now. His eyes flashed with a cold light. Defeating you couldn’t be any easier. Don’t think you’re invincible just because you have that little skeleton army. Even if it was bigger, I’d still take you to the cleaners!

After taking down the Shoro Stronghold, Qin Han’s next target would definitely be the Cripps Stronghold. It was the main headquarters of Asskickers United. It couldn’t be allowed to fall. It was surrounded by five other strongholds, which would provide a decent buffer. While the skeleton army was making their way through them, Nie Yan would make his preparations for the final decisive battle.

Nie Yan started mobilizing all the forces available to him, which included Asskickers United’s players, the elites of other guilds, Calore’s NPC soldiers, and so on.

In the meantime, Qin Han’s skeleton army had halted their advance.

Qin Han realized he couldn’t continue on like this, or he would eventually be forced into the passive. So, he decided to hold back his troops to recuperate and adjust their tactics.

After receiving a report from his scouts, Guo Huai sent Nie Yan a message,「Nie Yan, Qin Han’s skeleton army has stopped moving. What do we do?」

「That’s good news. We need all the time we can get. Quickly gather the materials and produce more catapults!」Nie Yan said. In the previous battle, he had witnessed the impact of the Armoured Ice Catapults first-hand. They were unrivalled weapons of destruction!

「Understood!」Guo Huai nodded.

「What’s our production output like?」Nie Yan asked.

「Hmmm. With our output at max, we can probably manufacture 20 catapults a day. The only issue is the lack of crafting materials. It’s simply not sustainable. We’d only last three days at most,」Guo Huai replied.

Wars were fought with production ability, and Asskickers United was unrivalled in this aspect. Other guilds might only produce two or three catapults a day, whereas they could produce 20!

「Have Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, Radiant Sacred Flame, and the rest help us gather crafting materials. We’re focusing all our efforts into production!」Nie Yan said. At this moment, they had to pump out as many catapults as possible!

「I’ll get to it right away!」

Even though Asskickers United had lost 70 catapults at the Shoro Stronghold, they still had another 350 catapults and 159 trebuchets remaining, all of which had been accumulated over the past couple of weeks. On top of that, they could produce 20 catapults a day. There was nothing to worry about. Even if they suffered some losses, they could quickly be replenished.

By the time Nie Yan finished arranging everything, the servers were about to shut down. Nie Yan and Xie Yao logged out of the game.

Nie Yan sent Lei Su a text message. Before long, he received a reply.

「Head to the second conference hall in the Top Military Academy. Come quick. Someone wants to meet you.」

Nie Yan gazed at Xie Yao. He decided not to inform her about Heavenly Kings for the time being. He didn’t want her to get anxious. A secretive club like Heavenly Kings would certainly evoke a sense of fear. They were simply too powerful and influential. They could easily decide a person’s fate.

Seeing Xie Yao’s bright smile, Nie Yan felt it was better the less she knew about some things. He wanted to protect her happiness forever.

I’m finally about to meet with Heavenly Kings. Nie Yan clenched his fist. No matter what, he had to enter this club. It would give him the backing he needed to deal with the Monet Financial Group and Century Financial Group.

The Monet Financial Group and Century Financial Group were like swords hanging over his neck. The moment he slipped up, he would lose everything.

So, Nie Yan frantically sought more power.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao ate breakfast together, then headed off to the Top Military Academy. After the two parted, he made his way toward the second conference hall.

In the mind of both students and teachers, the second conference hall was an extremely special existence. This was a place Heavenly Kings had secured for themselves with their influence. They would occasionally gather there for meetings. There were several such conference halls on the premises of the Top Military Academy that didn’t permit ordinary students to enter.

Nie Yan arrived at the entrance of the second conference hall. A student walked up to greet him.

"You’re Nie Yan? Nice to meet you. I’m Luo Lin, an external member of Heavenly Kings. Please follow me,” Luo Lin said politely.

"Alright.” Nie Yan nodded, following behind Luo Lin.

From Luo Lin’s steady footsteps, Nie Yan could tell his physique was fairly good. Even an excellent person like this was only an external member in Heavenly Kings.

Nie Yan’s heart was filled with doubt. Why would Heavenly Kings pick him of all people?

The Top Military Academy had the smartest and brightest students of the entire country. On top of that, wherever you looked you would find people with deeper backgrounds than Nie Yan. World Bloc couldn’t possibly be the reason. They hadn’t grown large enough yet to be worthy of Heavenly King’s attention. Could it be something about him personally? However, just what did he have that would make them view him so highly?

Lost in thoughts, Nie Yan walked inside. After passing through a long corridor, the two arrived in front of a sealed door.

"Please enter. The general and the others are all waiting for you,” Luo Lin said.

General? Nie Yan knitted his brows. Probably someone’s code name or something. It naturally didn’t occur to him that the person in question was actually a part of the military. As for what the members of Heavenly Kings were like, he had no idea. The things he knew about them was only scratching the tip of the iceberg. Their immense influence was enough to make large financial groups and other major powers tremble in fear.

Chapter 678 - Mo Yuntian’s Request

Nie Yan pushed the door open. The conference room wasn’t that large. There was a long, rectangular table at the center with a dozen people seated around it. The lighting was dim, but he could still make out everyone’s faces. His gaze landed on Lei Su. He had watched videos of Lei Su’s bouts in international competitions before. So, he recognized him immediately. As for the others, he didn’t know any of them.

Nie Yan gazed over at the front of the room. Sitting at the head of the table was a middle-aged man with a dignified expression. He wore an ashen coloured blazer.

Nie Yan could feel a domineering pressure coming from him, one that came from having stood in a high position for a long time. He had an austere air about him. A trace of doubt flashed in Nie Yan’s mind. Could he be part of the military?

After spending so much time with his father, Nie Yan was quite familiar with the disposition of a soldier. His judgement was most likely correct.

The middle-aged man seemed to hold the highest authority in this room. Seated to his left and right were several other men in their later years. They were all likely heavyweights in the Top Military Academy.

Nie Yan and the middle-aged man met eyes. The two nodded at each other.

The middle-aged man opened his mouth, "Why don’t you take a seat first? Sit next to Lei Su. I’ll start with the introductions. I’m Mo Yuntian, a member of Heavenly Kings.” He pointed at a youth to his far right. "He’s the current president of the club, Xiao Yu. He’ll take it from here.”

Nie Yan walked over to the empty seat next to Lei Su and unhurriedly sat down. He swept his gaze over everyone in the room.

Xiao Yu smiled at Nie Yan. "I’ll be giving you a run-down on the history of Heavenly Kings as well as its rules. If you’re willing to join, we can begin right away.”

"I’m willing.” Nie Yan nodded solemnly. Numerous people dreamed of joining Heavenly Kings but would never get the chance in their lifetime. He naturally wouldn’t let this opportunity slip by. As his knowledge of the club grew deeper, he understood him joining would be a huge boon to World Bloc.

Xiao Yu nodded and started explaining the club’s history as well as introducing its current members. The more Nie Yan listened, the more his shock grew. The people here included high-level officials, high-rank military officers, and bigshots in the business world. Their power was astonishing. They could call the winds and summon the rains. Though the club only had 26 people, their influence wasn’t limited to their current members. Some former members had to withdraw from the club due to various circumstances but still continued to watch over it. On top of this, they also had powerful external contacts. If they wanted to, they could even influence the political sphere of the entire nation.

"Back in the day, your father and I shared a bit of friendship. But he was discharged later on.” Mo Yuntian smiled.

"Yes, my father’s mentioned you before,” Nie Yan hurriedly replied. A thought crossed his mind. Since his father and Mo Yuntian had that connection, perhaps the reason he could join Heavenly Kings was related to his father calling in a few favours. His father was in a fairly prominent position. He had helped the nation secure a large quantity of polonium and other strategic resources. If one didn’t have backing, how could they dare to run this kind of operation? He had an inkling of what was going on. Once politics were involved, everything became complicated. Him joining Heavenly Kings represented the merging of two powers.

As for why Nie Yan was selected over everyone else, Heavenly Kings had likely considered many factors.

After being introduced to all the members, Nie Yan hurriedly greeted each of them. He didn’t dare to be impetuous. At present, he occupied the lowest position, and he wielded no authority so to speak. Every person here represented a major power. By making connections with them, it would be that much easier to do business later on.

Lei Su brought over the youths and started chatting, allowing Nie Yan to jump in. Since they were all roughly in the same age range, there was plenty to talk about. The older folks also wanted to get to know their newest member and walked up to greet him.

Heavenly Kings didn’t have many strict rules; comparatively speaking, they were fairly lax. There was only one rule everyone had to abide by, and that was no infighting. If it did occur, the ones at fault would be harshly punished or even excommunicated. As long as you adhered to this rule, everything else would be easy. This was why the vast majority of members didn’t dare to stir up trouble.

Even though Nie Yan was pretty much a nobody despite being the heir to World Bloc, no one dared to look down on him. After all, being able to enter Heavenly Kings was a symbol of power in itself. They started talking to Nie Yan about different cooperative partnerships.

"My family invests in heavy metals. We’ll probably have a chance to work together in the near future,” a youth called Ling Yu said.

"Alright, that would be great!”

Nie Yan chatted with everyone. He didn’t expect to secure so many lucrative business deals for World Bloc with just a few short conversations. He understood these people were expressing their goodwill. Since it was mutually beneficial, he naturally wouldn’t let these good things go to others. Behind each person here was an astonishing power. He definitely couldn’t let any opportunity slip by. This was going to be the start of World Bloc’s rise to prominence!

As Nie Yan chatted more and more, he gradually became familiar with everyone. He got along with Lei Su and Xiao Yu best.

"Nie Yan, don’t pay attention to that guy Xiao Yu. He’s full of evil tricks. Why else would Mo Yuntian let him become the president of Heavenly Kings?” Lei Su said, throwing an irritated side glance at Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu rolled his eyes, then smiled at Nie Yan.

Nie Yan chuckled. Compared to Lei Su, Xiao Yu was a bit more earnest. His personality was similar to Nie Yan’s. So, the two got along pretty well. As for Lei Su, his personality was extremely straightforward, and he valued loyalty more than anything. He was also pretty easy to associate with. Apart from Xiao Yu and Lei Su, Nie Yan also chatted with Ling Yu a bit more. After learning about Ling Yu’s background, he was completely shocked. Ling Yu was the heir to the Ling Family, an immensely influential family with a long history and deep ties to both the business and political world.

Lei Su came from an influential military family. Meanwhile, Xiao Yu was Mo Yuntian’s nephew. His mother was a high official, and his father was a high rank officer in the army.

Nie Yan sucked in a cold breath of air. Everyone here came from extraordinary backgrounds. He paled in comparison.

"From now on, you’re a member of Heavenly Kings. If there’s anything you need, you can directly contact me,” Mo Yuntian said.

"Alright, thank you General Yuntian.” Nie Yan nodded.

Mo Yuntian gazed at Nie Yan. He ruminated for a moment, then said, "I want to ask you a question.”

"Ask away, General,” Nie Yan politely replied. He wasn’t blind. He could naturally tell Mo Yuntian was the person in Heavenly Kings that shouldn’t be provoked the most.

"Did you recently experience tremendous growth? I’m talking about your fighting strength,” Mo Yuntian asked.

Nie Yan was confused. Why would Mo Yuntian ask this kind of question? However, he answered without skipping a beat, "Correct.”

"And you recently advanced to a Shadow Dancer, yes?” Mo Yuntian gazed deeply at Nie Yan.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Ever since becoming a Shadow Dancer, he had seen rapid growth in his fighting strength, and it was showing no signs of stopping. Additionally, he discovered that many Shadow Dancer skills shared similarities with real world fighting techniques. After realizing this, he seemed to comprehend an entire new realm. This left him extremely baffled. Why did a fantasy video game seem connected to the real world?

Could it be that Mo Yuntian knew more about this?

Nie Yan sensed there was a deeper story to all this. However, he didn’t dare to openly ask. Nothing good could come from poking his nose too deep. If Mo Yuntian wanted him to know, he would have already spoken.

"Yes…”

Hearing Nie Yan’s reply, Mo Yuntian seemed to confirm something and nodded. "Alright, that’s all I wanted to know.”

Nie Yan noticed a peculiar flicker in Mo Yuntian’s eyes.

Xiao Yu, Lei Su, and the others were bewildered. Nie Yan and Mo Yuntian’s conversation made no sense at all. What did fighting strength have to do with becoming a Shadow Dancer? Only a few senior members among them understood what was being talked about. The rest weren’t qualified to know.

"I have a favour to ask of you. Are you willing to help me? Naturally, you can refuse,” Mo Yuntian said in a mild tone.

Despite not knowing what Mo Yuntian was planning, Nie Yan still quickly replied, "Please ask away, General. I’d be happy to help.”

"I have a group of several dozen youngsters with me, a fairly talented bunch. They’re also all Level 100 in Conviction, but they haven’t started their class advancement quests yet. Considering you’ve already passed yours, I wonder if you could teach them a thing or two. After they succeed, I also hope you can guide them on the mastery of their respective Master Classes. Of course, I’m not asking you to do this for free. If you help me, you can count it as me owing you a favour,” Mo Yuntian said.

Everyone stared at Nie Yan in astonishment. They all understood Mo Yuntian’s disposition. He was a man of his word, never going back on a promise. His word was worth its weight in gold. They were all perplexed. The favour he was asking, it couldn’t just be this, right? Never in their wildest dreams did they think he had an interest in expanding into Conviction. Nie Yan must’ve really been born under a lucky star. If it were them, they would definitely agree without hesitation. They understood how valuable a favour from Mo Yuntian was.

Nie Yan sank into deep thought. He was extremely puzzled. Was nurturing a group of Master Class players really that important to Mo Yuntian?

Chapter 679 - Aces

All gazes were on Nie Yan. Everyone was waiting for his reply.

If Nie Yan agreed to Mo Yuntian’s request, he suddenly wouldn’t be a nobody anymore. They would have to reevaluate his position in Heavenly Kings.

Mo Yuntian wanted Nie Yan to train his troops. Could it be that Master Classes had some sort of relationship with real life training?

"I can do it to the best of my ability,” Nie Yan replied. There was no harm to him agreeing. Instead, having Mo Yuntian’s backing would be greatly beneficial to him.

"Good!” Mo Yuntian heartily laughed. "If you need any help with the training process, just say the word!”

Mo Yuntian turned to the several other youths in the room. "The Nie Family’s businesses, I want you all to watch over it. Consider it giving this old man some face.”

Ling Yu nodded with a smile. "If it’s General Yuntian asking, how could I dare refuse?”

The several others also hurriedly agreed.

Nie Yan felt blessed. He understood full well just how much of an impact the backing of these people would have on World Bloc.

"Thank you, General Yuntian,” Nie Yan said.

"The youngsters under my care are a bit prideful. So, you’ll have to excuse their behaviour. But since you’re all young, I figure you’ll get along wonderfully with time. I’ll have them come meet you in a moment.” Mo Yuntian smiled.

"Alright.” Nie Yan nodded.

As the meeting continued on, Nie Yan gradually familiarized himself with everyone in the room. Until finally Mo Yuntian received a text. He turned to Nie Yan and said, "Alright, follow me. Xiao Yu, Lei Su, you two come along too. It’s about time anyway. The meeting is adjourned.”

Everyone in the conference room got up from their seats. Nie Yan, Xiao Yu, and Lei Su followed behind Mo Yuntian. After passing through a long, narrow hallway, they arrived at a large and spacious gymnasium.

The gymnasium was 6,500 square feet. Standing in the center were about 30 people. Their ranks were strictly organized, and they gave off a harsh and stern air. When Mo Yuntian walked in, they immediately stood at attention and gave him a salute.

Mo Yuntian waved his hand. "At ease.”

Nie Yan swept his eyes over these 30 odd people. His heart trembled. They only looked to be in their mid-twenties and they wore civilian clothes. However, he could sense a dense murderous aura coming off of them. They were definitely experienced veterans who had come straight from the battlefield.

They were supposed to be in military uniform, but today was an exception.

This group gave off a domineering pressure just by breathing. Mo Yuntian wanted him to teach them?

Nie Yan was a bit concerned. Was he really up to the task? If he fought against the students of the Top Military Academy, he would definitely win. He was unrivalled in the school. However, he’d yet to get a proper grasp of his strength, and he hadn’t the slightest inkling how strong a soldier was.

Mo Yuntian had a gratified expression on his face. These people were elites he'd hand-picked from different sections of the army. He spoke to them, "This young man here is Nie Yan. Starting today, he’ll be your instructor. He’ll be teaching you a brand new, revolutionary method of training!”

The 30 odd youths all looked at Nie Yan. Seeing he looked no older than 19, their expressions turned weird. Some even had looks of disdain in their eyes.

"What? Do you have any objections?” Mo Yuntian expressionlessly asked, sweeping his gaze over the group.

A tall youth standing at the front of the group stepped forward, his posture as straight as a board. "Reporting to General Yuntian! We feel he is unfit to be our instructor!” he said in a booming voice. His gaze landed on Nie Yan. From their point of view, Nie Yan was too young, while they were elites of the army. If their comrades back on the battlefield found out Mo Yuntian had an immature brat train them, they would become the laughingstock of the army.

Hearing these words, Nie Yan wasn’t the slightest bit upset. After interacting with his father for so long, he had a deep admiration for those in the army. If they didn’t like something, they wouldn’t bite their tongue but rather openly speak their mind. Compared to the kind of people who would flatter you on the surface but wouldn’t hesitate to stab you in the back when given the opportunity, they were much more straightforward and easier to get along with.

Mo Yuntian lightly chuckled, then turned to Nie Yan.

"Get the strongest person among them to come out, we can find out whether I’m qualified or not,” Nie Yan said, his tone containing a slight hint of arrogance. If he showed any signs of weakness in front of this group, not only would he not win any respect, but he would be looked down on even more.

These people didn’t expect Nie Yan to challenge them directly. Their impression of him improved a little.

Mo Yuntian glanced at Nie Yan. Even though he knew Nie Yan was strong, he wasn’t too optimistic. These youths he selected were seasoned veterans of the battlefield, having crawled back from the abyss of death countless times over and faced all sorts of extremely dangerous situations. What they trained in were killing techniques. Though it appeared Nie Yan had picked up a thing or two himself, he would likely lose in a real fight. Mo Yuntian didn’t want him to teach them combat techniques but rather how to enhance their strength with the virtual reality helmets and game capsules.

Mo Yuntian suddenly recalled Nie Yan had a bodyguard called Bayonet by his side. He was one of the top ranked mercenaries in the world. Maybe Nie Yan had learned a thing or two from him. "Wang Duo, step forward three steps.”

"Yes, sir!” The same soldier who had spoken up just now took three steps forward and stood at attention.

Mo Yuntian glanced at Nie Yan, then stepped back.

"Take your position. This is just a friendly spar. I trust you won’t take things too far.”

"Understood!” Wang Duo nodded.

Nie Yan remained silent. Wang Duo was probably the strongest opponent yet. After all, this fellow was an elite of the army. He didn’t dare to be neglectful. He slowly focused his mind.

Everyone made space for the two, their eyes falling on the center of the gymnasium. They didn’t have high hopes for Nie Yan. After all, he was a civilian who’d never seen the battlefield, and the fighting techniques he learned were probably inferior to those taught to the army’s elites. Though Mo Yuntian, Lei Su, and Xiao Yu knew Nie Yan was a skilled fighter, they didn’t know to what degree. This was simply because all the opponents he'd fought so far were too weak. They couldn’t draw out his full strength.

Wang Duo appeared quite imposing as a murderous aura rolled off him. Nie Yan didn’t dare to underestimate him. Even though he wasn’t bulging with muscles, Nie Yan could tell his body was brimming with explosive strength.

Wang Duo did a light bow and then took a fighting stance. "You’re the youngest opponent I’ve faced so far. On that merit alone, you’ve earned my admiration. When I was your age, I was only an inexperienced new recruit. Even so, no matter who I'm facing, I will never hold back in a fight.”

"I wouldn’t dream of asking you to. Let’s have a good spar,” Nie Yan said in a calm tone. He performed a bow in return and also took a fighting stance.

"Begin!” Mo Yuntian shouted.

"Prepare yourself.” Wang Duo shot forward and threw a punch at Nie Yan’s abdomen. His fist whistled through the air, brimming with explosive strength. In the next moment, he stomped down toward Nie Yan’s knee with his foot.

He’s fast! Nie Yan’s eyes narrowed. Shifting his foot, he threw his knee forward.

BANG! The two exchanged blows as their bodies shook from the intense impact.

So strong! Wang Duo stared at Nie Yan with a hint of shock. He could tell Nie Yan wasn’t any weaker than him in terms of raw strength, even surpassing him by a bit. He felt a numb sensation in his arm. For a fighter, 20 years old was far from their peak. They still had much more room for growth. With how strong Nie Yan was despite his young age, he would grow up to become an incredible monster later on. In this respect, he had already lost. He was 28, nine years older than Nie Yan.

After several exchanges, Wang Duo’s shock only grew deeper. Nie Yan was much stronger than he expected. Even now, he still hadn’t seized any advantage. In fact, the more he fought, the more pressured he felt. He cast the reminder of Mo Yuntian aside and started using all his strength. His attacks were ruthless. They were all fatal moves.

Nie Yan’s mind was laser focused, calmly responding to every attack. Sure enough, the elites of the army were something else. In the beginning, he was somewhat on the backfoot, nearly receiving a direct blow several times. However, as the fight continued, he slowly got used to it. Wang Duo and Bayonet’s combat styles were different. Bayonet’s movements were extremely quick. If you gave him any kind of weapon, even something as mundane as a pencil, he could kill you within seconds. He often aimed for the vitals, and his attacks always came at peculiar angles. On the other hand, Wang Duo was the type to attack hard and ferociously. He aimed for a person’s joints. If you were hit by his attacks, you wouldn’t immediately die. However, you would definitely end up crippled and lose all ability to resist.

In terms of fighting skill, there was naturally a difference between Bayonet and Wang Duo. If a freak like Bayonet went all out, he could have Wang Duo dead on the ground within minutes without a shadow of a doubt. Nie Yan had sparred with Bayonet several times, and he would always come out of it learning something new. When facing Wang Duo right now, Nie Yan felt a new sensation. He slowly became absorbed in the fight.

This is great! I’ve finally found a suitable opponent at my level! I can fight to my heart’s content! Nie Yan felt his blood boiling with excitement. At the start, his punches were a bit stiff. However, as time passed and his body gradually warmed up, his punches brimmed with explosive power. His footwork was also becoming faster and faster. From time to time, he even employed the techniques of a Shadow Dancer!

The fight between Nie Yan and Wang Duo gradually heated up. Watching the storm of blows, the spectators were endlessly shocked.

Lei Su gaped his mouth in shock. He felt the gap between himself and Nie Yan widening even more. He gloomily said, "Shit! Just how does that kid train? He’s only 19 and already this strong! How are others supposed to compete!?”

Mo Yuntian’s eyes were shining as he watched the fight between Nie Yan and Wang Duo unfold. He didn’t expect that Nie Yan could go toe-to-toe with the aces he'd hand-picked from the army. It appeared he had greatly underestimated Nie Yan’s strength.

Chapter 680 - Military Instructor

"Didn’t you already advance to a Sword Saint? You should examine yourself closer. You might make some astonishing discoveries,” Xiao Yu remarked.

Lei Su gazed at Xiao Yu with a look of doubt, then sank into deep thought. It would explain why Mo Yuntian confirmed with Nie Yan he was a Shadow Dancer before asking him to train these aces.

"Have you heard of the Shadow Dancer Mech Suit?” Xiao Yu asked.

"The latest dexterity-type mech suit? Isn’t that still in development? Only a concept model was shown. That kind of bleeding edge technology is off-limits, unless you’re an ace mech pilot in the army. It’s forever out of reach to plebeians like us. I haven’t even gotten near a current model mech suit, let alone touch one,” Lei Su gloomily said. Mech suits were usually found in military bases or warships in outer space. Ordinary people could only watch videos about them online.

"I heard there are other powerful models, such as Sword Saint, Archbishop, and Magister Mech Suits.” Xiao Yu mysteriously smiled, providing no further comment. He returned his attention to the match between Nie Yan and Wang Duo.

"Are you saying…” Lei Su’s mind trembled. Xiao Yu had just dropped a bomb on him. The dots finally connected in his mind.

It hadn’t been long since Lei Su completed his class advancement quest. His grasp of a Sword Saint barely scratched the surface. However, after becoming one, he could feel a brand new world opening up to him. His future growth potential was unlimited.

"It all makes sense now!” Lei Su said in a rare eureka moment, clenching his fists. He had finally found his path forward. Only after truly comprehending the essence of a Sword Saint would he grow stronger.

"It’s best if you ask Nie Yan for some guidance. Mech pilots have a saying, The melding of mind and body can evoke miraculous strength. Those who can tap into this power will grow incredibly strong. Nie Yan has probably grasped a bit of this feeling,” Xiao Yu said. This was likely the real reason Mo Yuntian wanted him in Heavenly Kings. Nie Yan really was blessed with luck. With Mo Yuntian’s backing, he could pretty much do anything he wanted in China.

Regarding this sort of complicated science, Lei Su felt his head spinning. However, it was true he should ask Nie Yan for guidance.

Seeing the match go on for so long without a clear victor in sight, the 30 or so other soldiers started seeing Nie Yan in a new light. Wang Duo was undoubtedly the strongest among them. In a one-on-one fight, none of them were his match. Yet Nie Yan was going toe-to-toe with this very same person and even more so maintaining a slight advantage! Combine this with his young age, and they were completely convinced of his ability. One of the good points of army men were that they were straightforward. They respected the strong. Nie Yan had proven he was qualified to be their instructor.

As Lei Su and the others conversed, the match was entering its climax.

Wang Duo launched off the ground with a flying side kick toward Nie Yan’s head, his leg sweeping up a powerful gust of wind.

Nie Yan stepped to the side and raised his arm to block. BANG! He skidded several steps back. His heart tightened. Wang Duo’s kick was extremely powerful! Seeing Wang Duo pounce forward in pursuit, he didn’t dare to dally and ducked to the side.

Wang Duo didn’t stop his assault. He launched another flying kick, this time aiming for Nie Yan’s head.

Seeing Wang Duo’s continuous chain of kicks, the other aces broke out in a cold sweat. They had sparred with Wang Duo before and knew just how frightening his kicks were. Many of his opponents had their necks snapped in half by them. And right now, since the fight had reached its crucial phase, he was going all out. If an accident were to occur, the consequences would be grave.

Seeing Wang Duo’s kick coming towards him, Nie Yan’s pupils shrank. Just as he was about to be struck, he ducked and narrowly dodged by a hair’s breadth.

Wang Duo’s attack missed and he landed on the ground. He raised his leg and came down on Nie Yan’s head with an axe kick, his foot cutting through the air like a blade.

Nie Yan suddenly accelerated. His body twisted in a peculiar angle as he dodged Wang Duo’s attack yet again.

BANG! Wang Duo’s foot smashed the gymnasium floor, causing cracks to spread out from the wooden planks.

In his flurry of attacks, Wang Duo was unaware he was already using the hard-style martial arts taught by the army. The force behind his every strike was astonishing.

If this fight continued on, someone was bound to get seriously injured or even killed. Mo Yuntian wanted to stop the match several times. However, every time it looked like Nie Yan was done for, he would somehow escape, and it seemed like he was doing this with ease too. Mo Yuntian couldn't help but sigh in admiration.

Mo Yuntian suddenly noticed something in Nie Yan’s movements. This was the Shadow Dance Sequence! He had watched the trial runs of the Shadow Dancer Mech Suits. There was no mistaking it. They were one and the same!

The Shadow Dance Sequence was a movement prediction algorithm. However, it required the pilot to achieve a certain degree of speed for maximum effectiveness. The Shadow Dancer Mech Suit would run countless simulations in a split second and select the most optimal evasive maneuver. This sort of dodging ability generally wasn’t thought possible without the assistance of a machine. However, Nie Yan was living proof this wasn’t true!

"Xiao Yu, who do you think will win?” Lei Su asked. Nie Yan and Wang Duo’s fight had him trembling in trepidation. Nie Yan originally maintained a certain advantage. However, once Wang Duo went all out, Nie Yan was instantly forced on the back foot. He was almost defeated several times over, only narrowly dodging by the skin of his teeth. This was a hair-raising and nail-biting match to follow.

Wang Duo’s axe kick that destroyed the gymnasium floor was violent beyond compare. If that same kick landed on a person, it would shatter their bones.

"I’m not sure either, but if I had to guess, I think Nie Yan will lose. Wang Duo’s iron leg technique is too fearsome,” Xiao Yu replied.

Mo Yuntian shook his head. "Wang Duo is going to lose. This match will end within the next three minutes.”

Xiao Yu and Lei Su had a look of doubt on their faces. Wang Duo clearly held the advantage right now. All Nie Yan could do was dodge for his life, helpless to retaliate. Why was Mo Yuntian so certain Nie Yan would win?

Mo Yuntian chuckled. "Keep watching, you’ll see.” Nie Yan lacked sufficient combat experience. He'd never met an expert on Wang Duo’s level before. This was why he appeared to be in dire straits. When he familiarized himself some more with the combat techniques of a Shadow Dancer, Wang Duo would quickly find himself on the losing end.

Nie Yan really did cut a bit of a sorry figure right now. However, with every second that passed, he became a little more proficient in the techniques of a Shadow Dancer. His comprehension grew deeper and deeper.

Faster! Faster! Faster!

This was the essence of a Shadow Dancer!

Wang Duo’s continuous kicks failed to hit their mark. His heart was filled with a sense of urgency and uneasiness. He increased the ferocity of his attacks. With another kick, his foot stabbed toward Nie Yan’s chin like a sharp dagger.

Nie Yan’s pupils suddenly dilated before instantly contracting. At this moment, he felt like Wang Duo’s movements had slowed to a crawl. He slightly retreated back, one step, two steps, and stopped, not a step less or more.

WHOOSH! Wang Duo’s kick swept past Nie Yan’s face. It fell just centimeters short of hitting his cheek.

This is the feeling!

Nie Yan felt the power in his body tingling as a miraculous strength overflowed through him. His muscles brimmed with strength.

Nie Yan didn’t immediately retaliate.

Wang Duo halted his steps. Bracing his hand against the floor, he threw out another kick.

Nie Yan nimbly dodged. Every attack from Wang Duo missed by the smallest margin.

What the hell is going on!? Wang Duo sensed something wrong. The uneasiness in his heart became even more intense. Even though his attacks were faster and fiercer, they didn’t have any effect.

Nie Yan seemed to be always one step ahead of him.

Nie Yan had reached an astonishing speed. All the spectators saw was a silhouette dashing about. They couldn’t clearly see his position.

"Damn! Is this guy still human!? What frightening speed!”

With every attack dodged, Nie Yan’s movements became smoother and smoother. This is a Shadow Dancer! What a wonderful feeling!

As Nie Yan’s speed increased, the openings in Wang Duo’s attacks became crystal clear.

Nie Yan smoothly employed the shadow steps. His silhouette blurred, his movements too fast for the eye to follow. His hand extended out, striking like a viper, as fast as lightning.

Wang Duo’s attacks missed. He instantly sensed danger. A silhouette flashed behind him. He wanted to counter and retaliate, but it was already too late. He felt a chill at the back of his neck and inwardly despaired. I’m done for!

Nie Yan’s hand came down with frightening speed and power. As long as the chop landed, Wang Duo would lose his life.

Wang Duo felt the grim reaper’s scythe around his neck. After all, he had experienced life and death situations countless times before. He wouldn’t lose himself like an ordinary person. He calmly waited for Nie Yan’s judgement, knowing any resistance at this moment was futile. He directly accepted death.

Wang Duo’s resolve garned Nie Yan’s respect. A normal person definitely couldn’t remain so calm in the face of death.

The situation had changed too quickly. In the blink of an eye, Wang Duo was in danger of losing his life. No one had caught Nie Yan’s movements clearly. Seeing his chop coming down on Wang Duo’s neck, everyone held their breaths.

Everyone understood Nie Yan could easily end Wang Duo’s life right now.

A dense killing intent bore down on Wang Duo but suddenly vanished without a trace.

Nie Yan’s hand came to a stop at the very last second. He gently chopped Wang Duo in the back of the neck, then stepped back. "Many thanks for going easy on me.”

Wang Duo opened his eyes. He breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as if he had just travelled to the underworld and back.

"I lost…” Wang Duo said in a somewhat dispirited tone. However, he immediately recovered. For people like him, winning and losing was ordinary. As long as he still had his life, it was something worth rejoicing over.

Nie Yan faintly smirked. Wang Duo was fairly gracious even in defeat. He was a real man.

Just as Nie Yan was about to say something, the 30 odd soldiers immediately organized themselves and stood at attention. "INSTRUCTOR, PLEASE GUIDE US!”

Nie Yan was dumbstruck. Are they referring to me? He turned to Mo Yuntian, only to see him nod back with a faint smile.

Nie Yan felt an indescribable surge of emotion in his heart.

Chapter 681 - Bayonet’s Name

These soldiers were all elites under Mo Yuntian. They were aces of the army. Them calling Nie Yan instructor was proof they recognized his strength.

Born the son of an army man, Nie Yan had inherited some of his father’s thinking. He also believed strength reigned supreme and subconsciously devoted himself to training his body. However, having only faced students, he had no clear view on the extent of his progress. There was a clear difference between them and real fighters. But this match with Wang Duo today gave him new confidence. He wasn’t any weaker than the elites of the army!

Nie Yan became all the more aware of the changes that occurred to his body after advancing to a Shadow Dancer. Just what sort of secrets did this title hold?

Knowing he wouldn’t find the answer right now, Nie Yan stopped thinking about it. He focused on his task at hand. He had to instruct the 36 soldiers in front of him.

Wang Duo retreated back into the ranks. He was thoroughly convinced of Nie Yan’s strength. When he gazed at Nie Yan, his eyes flickered with a hint of zealotry. He admired anyone stronger than him. Especially Nie Yan who was even younger than him. He could already imagine what Nie Yan would be like in a few years. He no longer had any doubts about this new instructor Mo Yuntian found for them.

After receiving Mo Yuntian’s approval, Nie Yan faced the group. "Some of you might feel reluctant or unwilling. After all, General Mo Yuntian found a 19-year-old kid who’s still in school to be your instructor. The army is a place where strength speaks. I won’t try to win you over to my side with flowery words. If any of you are dissatisfied, you can come forward and take it up with me. We’ll settle it with our fists. Starting today, as long as none of you can beat me, I am your instructor. Since General Yuntian is leaving you guys in my care, I naturally have to produce some results,” Nie Yan said. Even though his tone was laced with arrogance, this was a must in the army. He knew this was the only way to tame this prideful bunch.

The several dozen soldiers stood up straight with their chests out and heads held high. They were already thoroughly convinced of Nie Yan’s strength after watching him beat Wang Duo. So, none of them voiced any complaints.

"Good, now give me a head count,” Nie Yan said.

Nie Yan quickly received the number, 36 people in total. He had to whip them into shape to Mo Yuntian’s satisfaction. Thinking about the arduous task at hand, he felt a heavy weight on his shoulders.

"Introduce yourselves. State your name, age, etc.” Nie Yan swept his eyes over the group. Since Mo Yuntian had placed them in his care, he naturally had to know a little bit more about them.

Wang Duo and the others turned to Mo Yuntian. Seeing the general give a nod, he stepped up. "Reporting to instructor! Wang Duo, 26 years old, 721st Special Mech Brigade, major general…”

Nie Yan’s mind trembled. A 26-year-old major general, and a member of the 721st Special Mech Brigade! He had heard rumours of this unit’s outstanding military achievements. Any random soldier from there would receive the treatment of a major.

Lei Su and Xiao Yu dropped their jaws in shock. Wang Duo actually belonged to the 721st Special Mech Brigade, not to mention he was a major general!

"Reporting to instructor! Lin Yi, 25 years old, 275th Special Starship Brigade, major general…”

"Reporting to instructor! Luo Ye, 26 years old, 721st Special Mech Brigade, major general…”

One by one, they stepped forward and introduced themselves. Nie Yan felt his head spin. They were at least senior colonels, while there were even three major generals! Not to mention the oldest of them was only 27.

If Nie Yan hadn’t known, he would’ve remained ignorant. Now that he knew, he was flabbergasted. These guys all belonged to special brigades and had reached the rank of senior colonels and major generals at such a young age. Their futures were limitless! Yet Mo Yuntian had tasked him with training such a group. A feeling of incredulity welled up in his heart.

"Next year, they’ll be participating in a military-wide competition. If they place high in the rankings, they can directly enter the 12th Mech Armoured Corps. Originally, I wanted you to help me improve their synchronization rate in Conviction. However, you’re far stronger than I expected. Having you serve as their instructor will be good for everyone. For the next 12 months, I’ll leave them in your care,” Mo Yuntian said.

"I can only promise to give it my best,” Nie Yan replied, forcing a wry smile. These guys were all high ranking officers. Any one of them was a figure he couldn’t afford to offend.

Mo Yuntian chuckled. "I believe in your strength. Are you interested in enlisting? With your skills, passing the physical examination is simple, and then you can easily enter the 12th Mech Armoured Corps. Your father served, and now he’s doing business on behalf of the country. If you’re willing to enlist, I’m sure he’ll be over the moon.”

Nie Yan hurriedly waved his hand with a panicked expression. "Please don’t joke around with me, General Yuntian. I have no plans of enlisting.” If Mo Yuntian spoke with his father, he might really end up being sent off to the military. He had no grand ambitions of climbing the ranks of the army. All he wanted was for his family to live a happy and peaceful life.

Seeing Nie Yan’s strong refusal, Mo Yuntian could only let out a deep sigh. "Fine, I won’t force you. If you change your mind one day, you can come find me at any time. The deadline is one year from now. After that, joining the 12th Armoured Mech Corps will be difficult.”

Nie Yan didn’t even have to think about it. He definitely wouldn’t serve in the military. If he became a soldier, he would have to go on a tour in outer space. Far from home for at least several years, this kind of life wasn’t for him.

Hearing Nie Yan’s refusal, Lei Su couldn’t believe his ears. Did Nie Yan not know what the 12th Mech Armoured Corps was, what this force represented? He really wanted to go up and beat the stupidity out of Nie Yan. The 12th Mech Armoured Corps was a special armed force independent of the military. According to rumours, they would be outfitted with the most advanced mech suits. One could imagine what a supreme honour it would be to serve in it. He would kill for a chance to join them, but Nie Yan had directly refused without a second thought.

Seeing that his words had no effect on Nie Yan, Mo Yuntian could only give up. "I’ll leave their training in your care.”

"Yes, General Yuntian!”

"I heard you have a bodyguard called Bayonet by your side. How skilled is he compared to you?” Mo Yuntian asked. Even though he had heard of Bayonet’s name before, he hadn’t seen the man in action. He didn’t know how strong Bayonet was or whether his fame was just for show.

"He’s much stronger than I am. I’d be lucky to last even 20 minutes against him,” Nie Yan replied. This was the cold, hard truth. Even though he had grown much stronger in these recent days, he was still a far cry away from Bayonet, who far surpassed even the top assassins and mercenaries on the international stage.

"Oh…?” Mo Yuntian was a bit shocked.

Hearing Nie Yan could only last 20 minutes against Bayonet, Wang Duo and the others were skeptical. After all, they had witnessed Nie Yan’s strength first hand just moments ago.

Nie Yan saw Mo Yuntian and the others were doubtful. However, he understood Bayonet’s strength better than anyone. He sometimes wondered if Bayonet had also served as a special forces soldier in his younger years.

Mo Yuntian gazed at Nie Yan’s eyes. He isn’t joking.

"You can rest assured leaving these guys in my care. General Yuntian, I’ll definitely show you satisfactory results,” Nie Yan said. A thought crossed his mind. Even if he didn’t want to enlist, there was no harm in building up a good relationship with these aces of the military. Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the other 34 all had bright futures ahead of them. Even if they failed to enter the 12th Mech Armoured Corps, this bit of a connection would still be quite helpful to him.

Little did Mo Yuntian know that Nie Yan was already thinking about how he should expand his network of contacts.

Nie Yan turned to Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others. "In the evening, come meet me in front of the Asskickers United guild office in Calore. As for during the day, I’ll have Bayonet train you guys.”

"YES, SIR!”

Wang Duo, Lin Yu, and the others already viewed Nie Yan as their instructor. Nie Yan naturally didn’t refuse. In the military, this sort of superior-subordinate relationship was incredibly important. Father Nie was a prime example of this. He had been the captain of a squad. Later on, he was discharged while many of his subordinates continued climbing the ranks. Even though most of them ended up in far higher positions than he had ever reached, they still fondly called him squad captain every time they met. It was a relationship that lasted a lifetime.

If Nie Yan wanted Wang Duo, Lin Yu, and these other elites to remember him, he would have to earn their genuine respect and reverence! He had no experience in training soldiers, so he could only push this job to Bayonet. However, when it came to teaching people about Conviction, there was no one more suitable!

"Bayonet, come out.” Nie Yan turned to an empty corner in the gymnasium.

Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others were confused. Who was Nie Yan talking to? There was no one there. At this moment, a slim figure stepped out from the corner of the gymnasium. There were only a few benches and tables over there.

Wang Duo, Lin Yi, along with Mo Yuntian, Lei Su, and the others’ minds trembled. They had been in the gymnasium for so long yet never noticed there was anyone else in here with them. What kind of hiding ability was this!? If Bayonet wanted to kill them, none of them would have a chance of surviving! At such a close distance, with any half decent weapon, he could wipe them all out in an instant.

He’s strong! Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others shared the same thought.

Bayonet really did live up to his reputation.

At this moment, Mo Yuntian als couldn’t help but envy Nie Yan. A person like Bayonet would be a huge asset to the military!

Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others finally believed Nie Yan’s previous words.

"Over the next year, he’ll be training you in combat techniques,” Nie Yan declared.

Chapter 682 - Entering the Guild

"You know, whipping people into shape isn’t part of my paygrade. If you have additional work for me, I’d like to request a raise.” Bayonet chuckled. Of course, he was joking. He had nothing better to do anyway. This would at least add a bit of amusement to his day. In his eyes, Wang Duo and the rest were still young and inexperienced. Looking at them, he couldn’t help but recall some old memories. He deeply sighed. The past couldn’t be changed. He had already left the military long ago.

Nie Yan smiled. "Help me train these guys. I trust General Yuntian won’t be stingy.”

Mo Yuntian examined Bayonet more closely. Bayonet looked somewhat familiar. However, they weren’t acquainted. He wouldn’t forget an individual like Bayonet.

As Bayonet walked forward, Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others felt a heavy pressure bear down on them. Their hearts shivered. When they gazed at him, a peculiar light flickered in their eyes.

Damn, this guy is not to be messed with. Thinking about how this kind of top expert would be training them, they felt their blood boiling with excitement.

Bayonet swept his gaze over the trainees. His lips curved into a sadistic grin. "I can train you guys, no problem. The question is whether you guys can endure it or not. Those of you who can’t tolerate some pain should scram right now!”

Bayonet’s words sparked a hint of anger in their hearts. Wang Duo said in a serious tone, "We won’t shrink back!”

"Good, you guys better remember those words,” Bayonet said. Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others’ zeal made him recall his early days in the military when he was only 16.

At this moment, Mo Yuntian received an urgent call. After saying a few words, he bid everyone farewell and departed.

Nie Yan left Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others in the care of Bayonet. He would likely have no problem dealing with this group.

Nie Yan happened to catch the reminiscing look in Bayonet’s eyes. His mind trembled. Ever since he recruited Bayonet, aside from a few things related to his profession, he never spoke about why he became a mercenary, his own personal history, or anything in that sphere. He was definitely a man with a story!

However, Nie Yan had no intention of prying into Bayonet’s history. If he wanted to win someone over to his side, respecting their privacy was important.

Mo Yuntian had already prepared an apartment for the trainees close to Nie Yan and Xie Yao’s residence. Furthermore, he had reserved this gymnasium as their training grounds.

After handing everything over to Bayonet, Nie Yan, Xiao Yu, and Lei Su walked out of the gymnasium.

"You really lucked out this time, didn’t you? You get to be the instructor of all these elite soldiers. It’ll definitely help you build your connections in the future. Still, I can’t believe it… 25- to 26-year-old senior colonels and major generals. They’re all important figures in the military. If they can enter the 12th Mech Armoured Corps, their influence will increase even more. When you’re sitting high atop the clouds in the future, you better not forget us brothers!” Xiao Yu chuckled, patting Nie Yan’s shoulder.

Nie Yan chuckled. He knew Xiao Yu was just joking. Xiao Yu’s family was influential both in the political and business world. On the other hand, he was only just starting to make a name for himself. Even if another several decades passed, he wouldn't necessarily be able to overtake Xiao Yu.

"General Yuntian invited you to participate in the selection exams for the 12th Armoured Mech Corps! How could you refuse!? Do you even know what kind of an existence the 12th Armoured Mech Corps is!? They report directly to the Council of Generals!” Lei Su exclaimed in an aggrieved tone.

"Everyone has their own path,” Nie Yan replied calmly.

Lei Su bitterly smiled. Nie Yan’s lack of interest left him at his wit’s end.

"If you want to join the 12th Mech Armoured Corps so bad, I can try and help you,” Nie Yan said.

"Really!?” Lei Su’s eyes lit up with excitement.

Nie Yan nodded. With Lei Su’s skills, entering the military was only a matter of time. He could throw Lei Su a bone. It wasn’t some scheme to have Lei Su owe him or anything. As long as Lei Su could put in a good word for him every now and then, he would be satisfied.

"I, Lei Su, am a man of honour. If you can help me enter the 12th Armoured Mech Corps, I’ll forever be in your debt!” Lei Su patted his chest.

"If you prove your strength, I’m sure General Yuntian will give you a chance. During the day, you can train alongside Wang Duo and the others with Bayonet. In the evening, come report to me along with them,” Nie Yan said. He already had to train 36 individuals. An extra head wouldn’t make a difference. As for Lei Su’s grandiose declaration, he didn’t take it too seriously and dismissed it with a laugh.

Regardless, today’s harvests were quite fruitful for Nie Yan. He had joined Heavenly Kings and finally started building his network of contacts in the Top Military Academy. He had planted the seeds. In the future, they would bloom into beautiful flowers and bear plentiful fruit.

After passing through the corridor on the way out, the three bid farewell to each other and went their separate ways.

Nie Yan returned to class. The rest of the day quickly went by without anything of interest happening. As the final bell rang, he and Xie Yao returned home.

"Nie Yan, we’ll have a five-day holiday next week. How about we return to Huahai together?” Xie Yao asked.

"Sure. It’s about time we head back and see how everyone is doing anyway. When the time comes, I’ll have my father send someone to pick us up.” Nie Yan nodded.

"Mhm.” Xie Yao brightly smiled

Nie Yan knew Xie Yao was feeling a bit homesick. He gently stroked her fair, white cheeks.

The two ate supper together. When evening came, they entered the game.

Nie Yan appeared in the Cripps Stronghold. Recalling his appointment with Wang Duo and the others, he headed to the transfer point and teleported to the Asskickers United guild office in Calore. Wang Duo and the others arrived in a hurry.

One player after another entered the guild office and organized themselves in rank and file in the inner courtyard. Since their appearances had changed, Nie Yan couldn’t tell who was who. Looking at their levels and equipment, he was shocked. None of them were under Level 100, and their gear was excellent, with each one of them having at least one or two pieces of Sub Legendary or Legendary equipment.

This was the first time Nie Yan realized there were still many experts outside of Asskickers United. They were all solo players, unaffiliated with any guilds.

Looking over the players before him, he recognized several familiar names; Unchained King, Deign the World, and several more. In the previous timeline, these were all famous characters. They had each appeared for a time on the leaderboards for Master Classes. However, they disappeared later on and gradually faded from the minds of players.

Nie Yan had once tried recruiting them, but they were impossible to get in touch with. So, he could only give up in the end. He didn’t expect all of them to suddenly appear in front of his doorstep today.

Wang Duo and the others focused their attention on Nie Yan. They were all familiar with the resounding fame of Nirvana Flame. With him right before them in the flesh, they felt different than in the gymnasium earlier in the day. The overbearing pressure coming from him caused them to tremble in fear. Recalling his several famous assassinations, they felt a chill behind their necks.

They couldn’t help but feel a sense of respect.

"Is everyone here?” Nie Yan asked.

"Reporting in, Instructor. Everyone is accounted for,” a Warrior said. They had all learned from Mo Yuntian that Nie Yan was Nirvana Flame. So, they referred to him as instructor.

Nie Yan had no plans of making them change their form of address. He nodded. "Good, state your real names. We’ll start with you.”

"I’m Wang Duo,” a Warrior clad in dark gold bone armour said. His character name was Unchained King.

"I’m Lin Yi,” an Arcane Mage in gray robes said. His character name was Deign the World.

…

After all the trainees introduced themselves. Nie Yan finally knew who was who. These were elites of the army. Their innate talents were frighteningly high. The fact they could become high level experts inside the game wasn’t surprising at all.

Seeing everyone’s character names, Nie Yan also sucked in a cold breath of air. All 36 of them were famous figures in the previous timeline. Nearly half of them had succeeded in reaching their respective Master Class. If such a group were to join the Monet Financial Group or Angel Corps, one could imagine how much of a blow it would be to Asskickers United. Of course, the same held true vice versa.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder how many other hidden experts there were in Conviction. If they all gathered together, they'd form an astonishingly powerful force. However, they wouldn't be under the banner of any guild.

Thinking about it, the likelihood of this was pretty high. However, these people wouldn’t pose a threat for the time being. Asskickers United had grown to a level where they wouldn’t easily be shaken by other powers, especially now that they had taken the lead and produced multiple Master Class players.

The sight of 36 Level 100+ players standing in rank and file was quite spectacular. None of them had started their class advancement quests yet. That was where Nie Yan’s job would begin. His first course of action was to determine who was ready to go do their class advancement quest and who still required some more training.

"Hold on a moment. I’m having someone come over to add you into the guild,” Nie Yan said. He had already got in touch with Guo Huai. Registering these 36 people to the guild was a simple matter.

"Understood!” all 36 trainees answered in unison.

"Apart from this, I’ll also be evaluating your strength. Everyone who meets the requirements will receive some materials from me. Afterwards, they can directly go ahead with their class advancement quests,” Nie Yan said.

After a while, Guo Huai rushed out of the transfer point with several people in tow.

"Are we adding all these people into the guild?” Guo Huai was dumbstruck after seeing Wang Duo and the others. Standing neatly in rank and file before him were 36 Level 100+ players. Based on their appearances and the quality of their equipment, he could tell they were definitely experts! After serving as Asskickers United’s Executive Guild Leader for so long, he had at least this bit of insight.

Guo Huai had searched every nook and cranny in Calore and several other cities without finding any Level 100+ players. On the other hand, Nie Yan had brought over 36 of them. Just how did he accomplish this!? Just what hole did these experts come crawling out of!?

"Who are these people?” Guo Huai couldn’t help but ask. He felt a military-like air from Wang Duo and the others.

Chapter 683 - Plundering Chapters of Order

"It’s complicated. Just add them into the guild. They’ll be reporting directly to me,” Nie Yan said. He gave Guo Huai a brief explanation. He had no way of clarifying the situation. After picking up the clues, Guo Huai immediately understood Nie Yan was in some sort of special circumstance that didn’t allow him to talk freely.

Nie Yan’s status as a member of Heavenly Kings was a secret. He wasn’t allowed to tell anyone.

Guo Huai registered Wang Duo and the others to the guild. After exchanging a few words with Nie Yan, he took his leave; he was a busy man. Nie Yan could handle the rest.

Like this, Wang Duo and the others could be considered real members of Asskickers United. Nie Yan had some of the guild’s top elites spar with them. After which he confirmed six of them could attempt their class advancement quest straight away. As for the rest, they weren’t up to snuff yet.

Nie Yan outfitted Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and four others with the best equipment from the guild treasury. On top of this, he provided them some information and tips for class advancing.

The knowledge on reaching Master Classes was limited. Nie Yan had written down his own experiences from both lifetimes plus everything he’d learned from Xie Yao, Sun, Lei Su, and a few others who’d successfully class advanced. The data slowly became more comprehensive. This information was something only a scarce few people in Asskickers United really grasped. Nevertheless, the nuggets of enlightenment would be immensely beneficial to those looking to reach their respective Master Class. With this information, Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the rest would have a much easier time class advancing.

"Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and you four, take this resource guide I’ve compiled and go do your class advancement quest. The rest of you, come with me to hunt skeletons!” Nie Yan said. Even though Mo Yuntian wanted his help to help them increase their synchronization rate, it was still early. There was no need to rush.

Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the other four packed up some essentials, then set off to do their class advancement quests.

At this time, Lei Su finally arrived.

Nie Yan had also summoned Sun, Bladelight, Xie Yao, and Tang Yao. They were all going to hunt skeletons together!

If Qin Han wasn’t going to do anything, they would take the initiative to attack. They would shave away at as many of his forces as possible and not give him any time to expand.

Nie Yan was just about to set off with his team, when Guo Huai rushed over to report that their players had discovered Vorderman and Qin Han in the Holy Mountain to the east of Calore. They seemed anxious to retrieve something inside the mountain. A 50-member team had been levelling nearby when they were ambushed by the bone dragon. In the end, only a few Thieves escaped.

Asskickers United’s players had watched videos of Qin Han before. So, they quickly identified him.

Qin Han? What’s he doing at the Holy Mountain? Nie Yan knitted his brows. The Holy Mountain was located to the far east of Calore. It was nowhere near the region the skeleton army was occupying. That place was within the Temple of Light’s sphere of power. It was rumoured the temple had erected several shrines deep inside the mountain. However, this was an old legend. Few players knew the exact locations of the shrines.

But Qin Han wouldn’t appear in a place like the Holy Mountain for something as simple as levelling!

"Nie Yan, what are you planning to do? Should we send out a few people to take him out?” Guo Huai asked. Sending some Thieves to assassinate Qin Han was a fairly simple matter.

"No need, I’ll go there myself.” Nie Yan’s sixth sense was tingling. He didn’t feel assured sending someone else to do this job.

Out of everyone in Asskickers United, Nie Yan was definitely the most suitable person for this task.

"Alright, but be careful. Qin Han has that powerful Necromancer beside him. If you encounter any danger, you have to get out quickly.” Guo Huai gazed at Nie Yan with a look of concern.

"Don’t worry.” Nie Yan smiled.

Sun, Bladelight, and the others were chatting about the latest news coming out of the Vengeance of the Undead expansion while waiting for Nie Yan. When they saw him turn back to them, they stopped talking.

"Sun, Bladelight, I’ll have you two lead everyone in clearing the skeletons. Make sure you don’t get into a drawn out battle with them. Get out as soon as you feel like you’ll be surrounded,” Nie Yan said. He felt at ease leaving Sun and Bladelight in charge of the team. After knowing them for so long, he had great faith in their abilities.

"Alright, don’t worry. You can leave it to us.” Bladelight smiled.

"Big Brother, do you want me to come with you?” Sun asked. They all knew Nie Yan was heading for the Holy Mountain.

"It’s okay. I’ll be fine by myself.” Nie Yan shook his head.

After bidding farewell to everyone, Nie Yan left Calore and dashed toward the Holy Mountain.

Seeing Nie Yan’s back disappearing behind a corner, Bladelight and the others set off to clear skeletons.

While Nie Yan was making his way toward the Holy Mountain, he was also in a chat group with Lei Su, Wang Duo, and the others. He was telling them about his own enlightenment regarding the Master Classes. He hoped they could glean something from his guidance and improve their strength.

Nie Yan’s understanding of the synchronization rate in regards to Master Classes was still shallow. He didn’t have a clear idea or concept in his head. He could only try to impart his knowledge as best as he could. As for whether the trainees would gain anything from it, that would depend on their own comprehension and luck.

After patiently listening to Nie Yan’s explanations, Lei Su, Wang Duo, and the others had reaped a lot. When there was time, they would start practicing.

Afterwards, under Bladelight and Sun’s leadership, they started hunting skeletons. They were a group of top experts. So, their mobbing speed was quite fast, not to mention they were applying guerrilla tactics. They were taking full advantage of the Hyperlink Rings and the Arcane Mage’s Teleport Gate spell to come and go as they pleased.

With Sun serving as the marker and scouting around the map, as soon as it looked like their team was about to be surrounded, Tang Yao would teleport to him with the Hyperlink Ring. He would then open up a Teleport Gate for the other members to follow. Like this, they achieved full team teleportation, allowing them to easily move around to any corner of the map and evade the encirclement of the skeletons. They would strike the skeletons with powerful AoE magic, inflicting heavy losses to the skeleton army, while the enemy couldn’t do anything to them.

...

Meanwhile. in a densely forested area in the Holy Mountain, a team of 20 players were grinding mobs. Leading them was a large and tall Warrior who was built like an ox. He was Level 98 and clad in Level 100 twinked gear. Apart from those freaks in Asskickers United, he was considered fairly strong among ordinary players. His skin was black and glossy. He was a player from Africa. The other team members were also from various parts of the world. They were international students studying in China. So, they chose to converse in Chinese.

"10 minutes, guys. We must get there fast. Can’t have boss stolen,” the Warrior anxiously said. His Chinese clearly wasn’t fluent.

"Boss, almost there! 1,000 meters at most!”

They made their way forward. Suddenly, a dragon roar shook the entire forest. A powerful pressure bore down on them, stifling their breathing.

"What happening?” The Warrior’s face paled.

The sky darkened. An enormous bone dragon descended from the air.

The entire group lost their heads in fear.

"My jesus god! B-b-bone dragon!”

"Run! Everyone run!”

These players immediately scattered like frightened rats. Seeing the enormous bone dragon, the idea of fighting back never even crossed their minds. It was simply too powerful. They were absolutely no match for this kind of frightening existence.

Everyone fled in different directions. In their hearts, they were simply trying to save their lives. If any of them died, that person could only blame their bad luck.

The Warrior discovered the bone dragon’s target was him. He suddenly recalled the two items in his bag. His face paled. No matter what, he couldn’t let himself be killed!

Seeing the bone dragon pouncing over, he took out an Unknown Transfer Scroll and crushed it. With a flash of light, he teleported away.

After escaping with an Unknown Transfer Scroll, his body relaxed. He was in the clear.

However, the moment he’d crushed the Unknown Transfer Scroll, a figure walked out from behind a tree. It was Necromancer Vorderman!

Vorderman waved his staff. A powerful fluctuation rippled out through space.

The Warrior who had teleported away suddenly found himself pulled back to his original spot. He looked around in a daze, discovering he hadn’t gone anywhere. Normally, something like this would never happen!

Before he realized what happened, the enormous bone dragon came down on him. Its claws gripped tightly on his body.

The Warrior wailed out in pain as he was directly crushed to death, transforming into a ray of light. He dropped a piece of equipment along with two other items.

After killing the Warrior, the bone dragon took to the skies and continued pursuing the other players.

A second figure walked out from behind the trees. It was Qin Han. He walked over to the corpse of the Warrior and collected the loot.

One piece of equipment and two thin pieces of papyrus. The latter let out a faint, holy light, which evoked a sense of loathing in Qin Han. He examined the two items. Written on their surfaces were the words, "Book of Order.”

"This is the seventh chapter. Vorderman, are you certain we have to collect these things? I can’t even use them.” Qin Han turned to the cloaked Vorderman in the distance.

"Yes. When you’ve collected all the chapters from the Book of Order, I’ll teach you how to deal with them,” Vorderman replied. His voice was hoarse and sharp, like the sound of nails on a chalkboard.

"Alright, I’ll believe you again this time,” Qin Han said in a deep voice.

Vorderman’s eyes flickered behind his cloak. He didn’t say anything else.

Qin Han and Vorderman headed toward the depths of the Holy Mountain, disappearing behind the trees.

Chapter 684 - Legendary Priests

Nie Yan arrived at the base of the Holy Mountain. He headed toward the coordinates his subordinates reported. The bone dragon was spotted flying southwest.

The Thieves from Asskickers United were tailing Qin Han and Necromancer Vorderman. Several of them were killed by the latter after entering within 500 meters of the two. So, they no longer dared to approach too close, maintaining a distance of at least 1,000 meters.

Like this, it was impossible to get a good read on Qin Han’s exact location. They could only report the general direction he was heading.

As Nie Yan made his way forward, he bumped into several Thieves from Asskickers United.

"Boss!” the Thieves greeted excitedly.

"Where did that Necromancer go?” Nie Yan gazed into the distance. The forest up ahead was shrouded by a dense fog. It would be difficult to find a path forward.

"We lost track of those two around here, but that bone dragon is over there!” One of the Thieves pointed at the peak of the mountain.

Nie Yan gazed up at the top of the mountain. There, a black dot flew in the air before disappearing behind the peak.

"You guys can return to Calore,” Nie Yan said. All the monsters in the area up ahead were over Level 100. Since none of these Thieves had reached Level 100 yet, they would likely meet with danger if they headed any deeper. It was better to relieve them of their duties and let them get back to levelling instead.

"Understood! Boss, you be careful too.”

"Yeah, that Necromancer is dangerous!”

…

Hearing Nie Yan telling them to go back, the Thieves voiced their concerns. They understood they wouldn’t be of any help. Vorderman was too powerful.

Nie Yan entered stealth and dashed through the forest. After passing a swampy area, the Holy Stone in his inventory started glowing with a bright and gentle light.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. There was a piece of the Tyrant Abak Set here!

Nie Yan looked around. All he saw was a dense forest shrouded by thick fog. He could hardly make out a thing. If he wanted to search for that piece of the Tyrant Abak Set, he would have to give up on pursuing Qin Han.

Qin Han was probably planning something major for him to abandon his skeleton army and come with Necromancer Vorderman here!

Thinking it over, Nie Yan recorded down the coordinates to this location. He would come back to look for the piece of the Tyrant Abak Set some other time.

Nie Yan set off at his fastest speed, flitting through the forest.

About 15 minutes later, Nie Yan arrived halfway up the mountain. He saw the enormous bone dragon in the sky. It looked like a small dot from this far away. It circled in the air for a moment before slowly descending into the fog covered summit.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. Why did the bone dragon land over there?

In the previous timeline, Nie Yan had visited the summit of the Holy Mountain. However, he did so only after the Vengeance of the Undead event concluded. He found nothing but ruins. Rumours had it that a shrine once stood there, but had been destroyed early on in the expansion.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan’s eyes lit up in realization. Qin Han’s appearance here absolutely wasn’t a coincidence. He was probably plotting something huge! Despite knowing the great dangers involved, Nie Yan still decided to go over there for a look anyway.

Powerful Level 120–130 monsters, with many Elites and even the occasional Lord, walked the forests covering the mountainside. At this stage of the game, no players dared to come here. So, it was still unexplored.

Nie Yan carefully evaded the monsters in the vicinity. He encountered many corpses on the ground. The system hadn’t cleared them away yet. This signified they had only been recently killed.

Necromancer Vorderman was most likely the culprit.

There were signs of human activity around the shrubbery on the ground. Nie Yan followed the tracks. About half an hour later, he spotted a shrine towering over the fog in the distance. Standing about 10 meters high and covering a 1,000-meter wide area, it was majestic with a dazzling splendor.

Nie Yan was shocked. He didn’t expect to find such a grand shrine in the middle of the forest.

When Nie Yan came here in the previous timeline, it had long since turned into ruins. Even though it occupied quite a lot of space and one could vaguely make out the silhouette of a shrine, apart from a few roaming skeletons, there was pretty much nothing else. But now, this shrine emitted a powerful holy aura, blossoming out with a dazzling radiance.

As Nie Yan cautiously approached the shrine, he saw the bone dragon perched on top, digging its large, vice-like claws into the roof. It let out a loud cry. With every flap of its wings, the entire shrine shook. Segments of worked stone fell down, as the first signs of destruction started showing.

Nie Yan gazed inside the shrine. He saw several corpses collapsed near the entrance. Judging from their white robes, they were priests. It appeared they had died while trying to prevent an intruder from entering. He assumed Qin Han and Vorderman were already inside. Thinking for a moment, he entered and started making his way through a long corridor.

He passed by the corpses of many priests on the ground. The holy auras around their bodies had all but corroded away. They gave off a rotting smell as black blood oozed out of their wounds. Nie Yan’s heart sank. Did Vorderman do all this?

Nie Yan slowed his steps, taking great care not to be discovered. He buffed himself with several skills that increased his Stealth and Cloaking. Even though he knew these skills would have an extremely limited effect on Vorderman, there was no harm in a little added protection no matter how small. If he was discovered, he likely wouldn’t even have the chance to escape.

After passing through the corridor, Nie Yan arrived in a large hall. He spotted several silhouettes up ahead and could hear voices talking.

"Vile undead, the God of Light won’t forgive your crimes! Judgement will come, and you’ll forever be banished to the abyss of darkness!”

This voice was solemn and dignified. Following immediately after was a hoarse cackle.

"You fools, struggling obstinately even when death is near. Your god won’t come and save you! Hand over those items. If you become my servants, I’ll grant you eternal life!”

…

Nie Yan was puzzled. What was Vorderman looking for here of all places? Suddenly, he could feel violent magic fluctuations coming from the hall. Light and darkness were clashing fiercely. A stray shock wave of darkness energy flew out into the corridor, instantly shattering a nearby pillar which was large enough for two grown men to wrap their arms around its circumference.

Gale Step!

Nie Yan quickly retreated far away. With a loud crashing sound, the area he previously stood on was covered in a pile of rubble. His face slightly paled. These NPCs were too powerful! Even the aftershocks of their attacks could kill him. If he approached any closer, he would be putting his life at great risk. However, he was reluctant to leave just like that. Thinking for a bit, he activated the Web-Crawler Ring. He stuck to the wall and started making his way toward the hall. He had an Unknown Transfer Scroll in his hand, ready to crush it at the first sign of danger.

The battle in the center of the hall was reaching its climax. Necromancer Vorderman waved his staff. A tide of howling spirits surged forward. At the other end were three silver robed priests from the temple. They stood in a triangle formation and were supporting a white barrier. The priest at the front was the oldest among them, a dignified expression on his face. He was enshrouded in a strong holy aura. As for the two behind him, their appearances were hard to make out.

Qin Han stood off to the side in a corner. His face was hidden behind a cloak. So, it wasn’t possible to make out his expression.

Nie Yan crawled up to the ceiling. He looked down and gazed at the people below.

Vorderman and the three priests clashed fiercely, neither side backing down as magic flew out everywhere. As a result, they didn’t notice Nie Yan’s arrival.

The shrine shook violently. The bone dragon wanted to bring the whole place down. If the structure wasn’t protected by a strong holy power, it would’ve long since collapsed.

Nie Yan could feel cracks spreading out across the walls. This place was on the verge of collapse!

If the roof came down, the first person to be crushed to death would be him!

An ordinary person would’ve probably left already. However, Nie Yan was a daredevil. He believed those three priests wouldn’t be so easily killed. He could sense a strong, holy power coming from them, similar to that of Battle Angel Kalenna.

Those three Priests were also legendary figures!

Nie Yan wanted to take advantage of this battle to fish up some benefits.

Vorderman was too powerful. As he waved his staff, a vortex of wraiths battered the barrier. Cracks started appearing. It was on the verge of shattering.

"You stubborn fools. Your pitiful resistance is futile. Submit to the darkness. Embrace it. Quietly accept your deaths!” Vorderman cackled madly. A whirlpool of darkness energy hovered around him, transforming into blooming, black lotus flowers.

A powerful darkness energy swept out. Nie Yan felt a little lightheaded. All strength was rapidly being sapped away from his body, as he nearly fell off the ceiling. His heart trembled. It was a mind-based crowd control magic!

Mind Immune!

Miss! The psychic wave swept over him.

At this moment, the wraiths rammed into the holy barrier. BANG! The membrane shattered into shards of light. The wraiths surged forward, swarming over the three priests.

This was the end.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. If those three priests fell, it was the signal for him to leave. He tightly clutched the Unknown Transfer Scroll in his hand.

Chapter 685 - Fishing Up Easy Benefits

As the swarm of spirits were about to engulf them, the three Priests waved their staffs and chanted out an incantation. Their bodies ignited with fierce holy flames.

When the spirits came in contact with the flames, they wailed out in pain as they were burned out of existence.

The old priest’s robes fluttered back and forth. With his entire body enshrouded by holy flames, he looked like a deity in the flesh.

"Vanquish all darkness, by the will of the God of Light…” The old priest chanted out an incantation. A pillar of light descended down on Necromancer Vorderman.

Sure enough, these three priests wouldn’t allow themselves to be killed so easily.

The elderly priest appeared to be holding something. Nie Yan focused his gaze. His heart trembled. In the hands of the priest was a chapter from the Book of Order!

The chapter emitted a dazzling light. This was a formidable holy power!

For NPCs the chapters from the Book of Order were exceptional off-hand equipment!

Nie Yan felt a warm feeling on his chest. The Great Prophet Medal emitted a faint glow, informing him there were nine chapters from the Book of Order in the vicinity. He gasped in astonishment, nearly losing his grip and falling off the ceiling.

The old priest had two chapters. As for the other seven... Nie Yan shifted his gaze toward the cloaked figure standing off in the corner. They were in Qin Han’s possession!

Could it be that Qin Han and Vorderman were running around collecting chapters from the Book of Order?

What exactly were those two planning?

Nie Yan was filled with doubt. When he killed Qin Han last time, he didn’t drop any chapters from the Book of Order. This was proof he had only started collecting them recently! In such a short period of time, he had actually acquired seven chapters! With the aid of Necromancer Vorderman, his speed was simply astonishing!

"Vorderman, hurry up. Stop fooling around,” Qin Han urged in an annoyed tone. They had already wasted enough time here.

At this moment, Vorderman waved his staff and summoned a monstrous black wraith. It let out a sharp cry and pounced toward the three priests.

"Die, you stubborn old fools!” Necromancer Vorderman cackled madly.

BANG! BANG! The two younger priests were sent flying back by the wraith.

The old priest struggled to wave his staff. He invoked a powerful holy light to defend against the wraith. Necromancer Vorderman was too strong. He stood no chance.

BANG! The wraith rammed into the old priest, sending him flying back before heavily crashing into the ground a dozen meters away. He groaned out in pain. Two chapters from the Book of Order dropped out of his hand.

Even though all of them were legendary figures, Vorderman could already be considered a demigod. The three priests were not his match.

Necromancer Vorderman's lips cracked into a satisfied smile. He had finally defeated those three priests. He started walking over to the two chapters from the Book of Order. Nie Yan became anxious. If Qin Han obtained these two chapters, he would have nine in total! Even more, he would continue collecting the others. A thought crossed Nie Yan’s mind. Should I try stealing those two chapters?

Nie Yan judged the distance. He was 100 meters away from the two chapters. Meanwhile, Vorderman was already within 20 meters of them. If he went through with it, he wasn’t even sure he could keep his own life, let alone get to the chapters before Vorderman.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan could only give up on the idea. What surprised him a bit was that Vorderman still hadn’t discovered him. It appeared the stealthing ability of a Shadow Dancer was much greater than he originally thought. Since it was like this, he decided to stick around a while longer and watch how things would play out.

Necromancer Vorderman stood over the corpse of the old priest and let out a dastardly chuckle. "The Chapter of Essence and Chapter of Perseverance are finally in my hands. Did you powerless dregs really think you could keep them away from me? What a joke!” He bent down to pick up the chapters. As his hand came in contact with one of the chapters, his entire body froze. He let out an enraged roar, "DAMMIT! YOU RATS! WHAT DID YOU DO!?”

A powerful holy light bound Necromancer Vorderman. At this moment, the elderly priest slowly struggled back to his feet.

"You vile undead, die!” The old priest waved his staff. A raging sphere of holy flames condensed in his abdomen, rapidly expanding before swallowing him whole.

A trace of fear flashed across Necromancer Vorderman’s face. He didn’t expect such a turn of events. The three priests had hidden a powerful formation inside the chapters. He had accidentally activated it and was now completely immobilized. At this moment, the old priest detonated all the holy energy in his body to release a powerful explosion.

As death loomed over him, the red flames in Necromancer Vorderman’s eye sockets suddenly throbbed.

BOOOOOM! Nie Yan felt like his whole world had turned into a dazzling whiteness. All he could hear was a loud ringing in his ears. He couldn’t open his mouth to speak, and his mind stopped thinking as well. It was as if he were in purgatory.

Just what kind of effect did this elderly priest’s self-destruct spell have?

A long time later, the white light slowly dissipated. Nie Yan could finally see the surroundings again as the ringing in his ears gradually faded. The entire shrine was unscathed. There was no damage to it at all. Vorderman and Qin Han were collapsed in the middle of the hall, while the bodies of the three priests had already disappeared without a trace. Only the two chapters from the Book of Order remained.

The self-destruct spell was a special type of holy magic. It only affected creatures of darkness. So, Nie Yan was completely unharmed while Vorderman and Qin Han had received serious injuries.

Nie Yan’s gaze landed on the two chapters from the Book of Order. His heart trembled. He pushed off the ceiling and leapt toward the two chapters. Just as he closed in on them, he noticed from the corner of his eye Vorderman struggling back to his feet, swaying unsteadily.

Nie Yan widened his eyes in shock, a cold chill running down his spine. He still isn’t dead!?

However, there was already no turning back. Nie Yan extended his hand and shot out a web line at the two chapters.

Even though he was still in mid-air, his aim was pinpoint accurate. The web line stuck to both chapters.

With a flick of his wrist, Nie Yan pulled the two chapters into his hand.

"Got it!” Nie Yan cried out in elation, his heart racing in his chest. However, he couldn’t celebrate too early.

As Nie Yan landed on the ground, he broke into a roll to reduce the impact of the fall. Gazing over in Vorderman’s direction, he spotted Qin Han slowly getting up to his feet. The two had suffered heavy damages, especially Qin Han. His robes were torn to pieces, revealing patches of black, scorched skin. He had been shielded by Necromancer Vorderman. With his own strength, there was no way he could defend against the old priest’s self-detonation.

"It’s you!” Qin Han’s face warped with anger. A mixture of emotions ranging from rage to helplessness came over him. Why did Nie Yan seem like a maggot attached to his bones? He couldn’t shake him off, no matter how he tried! Seeing the two chapters from the Book of Order falling into Nie Yan’s hands, he shouted, "Vorderman, stop that bastard! I want his life!”

Nie Yan had no plans of lingering around any longer. He directly crushed the Unknown Transfer Scroll in his hand.

This was his best chance to escape!

With a flash of light, Nie Yan teleported away.

Nie Yan was assured of his escape.

Vorderman steadied his feet. He waved his bone staff and cast Dimension Lock. Space twisted as the entire shrine was enveloped by darkness energy. Before Nie Yan could finish teleporting away, he was pulled back to his original location.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He can stop my Unknown Transfer Scroll, even with those grievous wounds!?

Even though Nie Yan knew Magisters had special magic to prevent enemies from teleporting away, this was his first time being stopped by it.

Nie Yan looked over at the two. After casting the spell, Vorderman looked like a dried up oil lamp. He staggered unsteadily before forcefully stabilizing himself against the wall. He couldn’t cast any offensive magic for the time being. However, he was still a huge threat, capable of recovering his strength at any moment.

Qin Han waved his staff and fired out three arrows of darkness.

Gale Step!

Nie Yan evaded Qin Han’s attack. Seeing Vorderman hadn’t recovered yet, he still had a chance to escape! He glanced down at his bag. With the spatial lock in place, all his teleportation items were rendered moot. Looking around, the entrance had already been blocked off by Qin Han and Vorderman. His only route of escape was a small door not far away. He had no idea where it led.

Nie Yan quickly made a break for it.

Qin Han waved his staff. A black orb flew into the sky, illuminating the ground below. He immediately spotted Nie Yan’s silhouette escaping through the small door. He rushed forward to give chase, but after hesitating for a moment, he no longer dared to continue. Without Vorderman's aid, he was no match for Nie Yan. He had already learned his lesson from their last battle. His heart was filled with apprehension. Add this to the fact he had seven chapters from the Book of Order on him, if he were to die, all of them would drop. The risk was simply too great. So, he couldn’t act as unrestrained as before.

Seeing Qin Han stop after taking a few steps, Nie Yan coldly chuckled. Spineless coward. Don’t dare to chase me now, eh?

Without Necromancer Vorderman, Qin Han was nothing. As soon as he left Vorderman’s protection, Nie Yan could easily kill him.

Nie Yan passed through multiple winding corridors. The interior of the shrine was like a labyrinth. There was no exit in sight. Suddenly, a stone-crushing sound entered his ears. Rubble started coming down. He quickly evaded, as the walls around him toppled over from both sides.

Looking up through the large hole in the ceiling, Nie Yan spotted the bone dragon on the roof.

Disappear!

Nie Yan quickly hid within the wreckage.

Glancing at his inventory, his Unknown Transfer Scrolls were still greyed out. The range of Vorderman’s spatial lock spell was too large.

The bone dragon continued trampling and smashing the shrine. Nie Yan carefully snuck around, lest he be discovered.

Looking over in the distance, two silhouettes appeared in an open space 1,000 meters away. It was Qin Han and Vorderman.

Nie Yan quickly retreated in the direction opposite of Qin Han and Vorderman.

Looking around, Qin Han could no longer find any traces of Nie Yan. Necromancer Vorderman was in no state to give chase either. His injuries would require at least a month to fully heal from his injuries. During this time, they definitely couldn’t confront those powerful NPCs, or everything he had worked so hard for would go up in smoke.

Thinking to this point, Qin Han lost all will to chase after Nie Yan. He felt quite vexed. If he didn’t have Vorderman’s help, killing Nie Yan was impossible. The difference in strength left him feeling extremely dejected.

Qin Han had the bone dragon search the surroundings. However, he saw no sign of Nie Yan. It was almost as if he vanished into thin air.

Qin Han had to quickly leave. The other NPCs from the Viridian Empire would be arriving soon.

Just as Qin Han was about to depart, he received a notification.

Nirvana Flame has obtained the second chapter from Volume II of the Book of Order, the Chapter of Perseverance. You will be notified of the player’s updated location once every hour.
Coordinates: Holy Mountain, 385.382.582

Nirvana Flame has obtained the first chapter from Volume IV of the Book of Order, the Chapter of Essence. You will be notified of the player’s updated location once every hour.
Coordinates: Holy Mountain, 385.382.582

Qin Han quickly gazed into the distance, a sinister smile on his face. "Let’s see where you’ll run to now!”

At this moment, Nie Yan had also received a notification. The remaining five chapters from the second volume and two chapters from the fourth volume were all on Qin Han. The chapters from the Book of Order had leaked his location to Qin Han. Seeing Qin Han looking over, he couldn’t help but bitterly smile. He was really done for this time!

The enormous bone dragon took to the air and flew toward Nie Yan.

Qin Han, if you think I’ll give up these two chapters so easily, you’ve got a whole ‘nother thing coming! Nie Yan had already made his preparations to escape.

Chapter 686 - Shoe on the Other Foot

Seeing the bone dragon’s claws coming down on him, Nie Yan rolled out of the way. BOOM! Two large holes were dug out of the ground like tofu in the place he originally stood.

Nie Yan would’ve been killed in one hit if he hadn’t dodged so quickly!

Extreme Speed!

Before the bone dragon could launch a second attack, Nie Yan fled for his dear life.

The bone dragon took to the air again. Like a bolt of lightning, after locking onto Nie Yan, it swooped down on him for a second time.

Shadow Waltz!

Nie Yan hurriedly evaded. He was already running at his maximum speed. This bone dragon’s attacks were too frightening. He had no choice but to use everything available to him.

KRAASSH! The bone dragon’s claws dug into a large boulder. BOOM! The boulder shattered into pieces, with debris flying everywhere. Several struck Nie Yan.

−421
−368
−397
…

After finally managing to go back into stealth, it was instantly dispelled.

The bone dragon didn’t stop there. It flapped its wings and took to the air again, preparing to dive down again.

At this moment, Qin Han and Vorderman came flying over.

"Kill that bastard for me! Nirvana Flame, let’s see you try to run now!” Qin Han shouted sinisterly as he commanded the bone dragon to chase down Nie Yan.

Nie Yan employed the shadow steps to evade the bone dragon’s attack and escaped into the forest covering the mountainside. Its roar shook the air as it barrelled forward, toppling over numerous trees as if they were dead wood. These towering conifers were nothing more than minor hindrances to it.

Thankfully, the bone dragon only knew physical attacks. If it could use offensive magic, he would already be long dead. However, it still had a powerful innate ability, and that was curses. Qin Han commanded it to cast Shackles of Strife on Nie Yan. Unless it died, Nie Yan had no way of escaping with an Unknown Transfer Scroll.

Nie Yan cut a sorry figure as he ran. He felt extremely vexed. Am I really going to die here like this...?

Seeing Nie Yan being chased without a way to fight back, Qin Han had an expression of schadenfreude on his face. He and the slowly recovering Vorderman quickly closed in on Nie Yan. They were preparing to aid the bone dragon in killing him.

At 70 meters, Nie Yan was already within Qin Han’s attack range. With a wave of his staff, he sent a shower of black fireballs raining down towards him.

Nie Yan could feel the scorching heat assaulting his face. Just as he was about to be hit, he blinked over to the bone dragon with Flicker Strike, barely evading Qin Han’s small scale AoE spell in time.

Nie Yan had pulled a pretty clever trick, using an offensive skill to evade an attack.

Before the bone dragon could react, Nie Yan dashed past its feet and shot out a web line at a tree in the distance. With a hard tug, he took to the air and swung away, covering 40 meters in the blink of an eye. As soon as he landed back on the ground, he took off again with Leap, traversing another 30 meters and escaping Qin Han’s range.

Nie Yan’s flashy escape left Qin Han speechless.

What the hell was that!? Shit! He can really run!

"You think you can get away that easily? Dream on!” Qin Han buffed himself with Windwalker’s Haste. His speed sharply increased as he charged straight after Nie Yan. The bone dragon was even faster. Having already pounced several dozen meters ahead, it was hot on Nie Yan’s tail. If it was a one-on-one, Qin Han wouldn’t dare to chase after Nie Yan. However, it was different with the help of the bone dragon.

Even a casual swipe from the bone dragon could easily kill Nie Yan. Under the threat of the bone dragon, Nie Yan didn’t dare to stop to deal with Qin Han. So, Qin Han could freely let loose with his attacks.

Nie Yan fled with all his might for more than 1,000 meters, but he still couldn’t shake off the bone dragon. Every time he opened up some distance, the bone dragon would quickly catch up. On the other hand, Qin Han was lagging further and further behind. A caster had no way of catching him.

Qin Han cursed up a storm. He would have Nie Yan’s head no matter what! He’d left Necromancer Vorderman behind, who was in the middle of recovering. In 10 or so more minutes, Nie Yan would be dead. Until then, he just had to make sure Nie Yan didn’t escape.

At this moment, Qin Han’s voice chat rang. He checked the message. It was from Matchless Divine Sword.

「Qin Han, Calore’s troops have set out, same with the legendary Karsi from the Temple of Light. Be careful! They’re heading straight for the Holy Mountain!」Matchless Divine Sword warned. This was a report he received from his informants in Calore.

Qin Han knitted his brows. Vorderman had suffered serious injuries. If they got into a fight with Karsi, the outcome would be disastrous. He thought for a moment. It would take at least 15 minutes to get here from Calore. Within this time, he had to kill Nie Yan!

The two chapters from the Book of Order were in Nie Yan’s hands. He would never get another chance to catch Nie Yan like this again. Furthermore, there was no telling Nie Yan wouldn’t transfer over the chapters to someone else.

Qin Han decided to take the risk. He hoped Karsi wouldn’t be faster than the rest. He really wasn’t willing to leave just like this. At his command, the bone dragon chased after Nie Yan even more fiercely. Nie Yan had pretty much exhausted all his escape skills. Evading became increasingly difficult.

The bone dragon flew in the sky, then swooped down on Nie Yan once more.

Nie Yan glanced back as he ran for his dear life. He watched the bone dragon getting closer and closer, like a dark shadow blotting out the sky.

Shit! I’m done for! Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar, then at the bone dragon, and back at his skill bar. He had nothing left he could use. Simply using ordinary movements to dodge wasn’t possible. The bone dragon was too large. Its claws alone could crush everything in a five-meter radius.

The bone dragon was already over Nie Yan’s head. A powerful dragon aura bore down on him, making his movements slightly sluggish.

I can’t escape! Nie Yan despaired.

In this critical moment, Battle Angel Kalenna woke up and stretched her limbs with a yawn. With a disdainful tone, she said, "Go away you stinky lizard!”

Kalenna waved her wand. A barrier of light enveloped Nie Yan, protecting him. This barrier looked no different from an ordinary Radiant Barrier. Nie Yan couldn’t help but bitterly smile. What kind of use would this barrier be?

BANG! The bone dragon’s claws struck the barrier. But contrary to Nie Yan’s expectations, it didn’t even tremble, let alone shatter. Instead, the bone dragon was sent flying back.

This barrier was as sturdy as ever, completely ignoring the bone dragon’s attack. Nie Yan dropped his jaw in shock. He didn’t expect such a turn of events. Ever since obtaining Kalenna, he had only seen her buff some of his teammates, maybe occasionally dispelling some debuffs or purifying some corpses. He never expected her to have such a powerful spell at the ready. The barrier she cast could repel the bone dragon’s attacks. How amazing!

Qin Han was rapidly closing in. Seeing the bone dragon’s claws swooping down on Nie Yan, his face lit up with excitement. Finally, that bastard is dead! I’ve finally gotten my revenge! He was already highly anticipating his spoils of war. But in the next moment, his expression froze. The bone dragon was knocked back, and in the distant open space Nie Yan stood unharmed, protected by a barrier of light.

Qin Han was dumbstruck. "What the…”

Ever since Necromancer Vorderman revived it, Qin Han had never seen anyone survive an attack from the bone dragon. Even those tanky plate-armoured Warriors buffed with half a dozen defensive spells would still be instantly crushed to death. But now, this mediocre looking barrier protecting Nie Yan had taken a hit from the bone dragon like it was nothing. He couldn’t believe his eyes!

Nie Yan recovered from his daze. He glanced at the effects of the barrier.

Kalenna’s Guardian Barrier: Reduces damage by 99%.

Armour Type: Divine

Durability: 125,786/132,000

Seeing this practically invincible barrier, Nie Yan was completely shocked as his face lit up with excitement. With this kind of barrier, he had nothing to fear! Based on the remaining durability of the shield after that one hit, he could tank another 20 attacks from the bone dragon without a worry in the world.

Nie Yan glanced at the somewhat lazy and sleepy-looking Kalenna hovering over his shoulder. He couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. This little lass was too amazing!

Ever since Nie Yan obtained Battle Angel Kalenna, he rarely ever investigated what she could do. He barely even spoke to her. After all, he thought she was just an ordinary guardian fairy. Not to mention he was off put that he couldn’t control her. She would use spells only when she pleased. This left him feeling quite helpless. He inwardly made a decision. After this was all over, he would properly uncover the secrets on her.

Perhaps Battle Angel Kalenna was an even more powerful existence than Necromancer Vorderman. It was just that Nie Yan never knew!

Kalenna’s barrier was only the tip of the iceberg. If it wasn’t for that previous crisis just now, he would’ve never known she could cast such powerful magic!

Nie Yan gazed at the shocked Qin Han in the distance. An evil smile appeared on his face. After being miserably chased around just a moment ago, it was about time he returned the favour in kind!

With such a powerful barrier protecting him, Nie Yan could do whatever he wanted!

The shoe was now on the other foot!

Qin Han was still a bit dazed, not daring to believe his eyes. He had the bone dragon pounce on Nie Yan once more. BANG! The bone dragon was sent flying back again. The barrier protecting Nie Yan showed no signs of faltering. Just what is this bullshit!? This was his first time seeing such a sturdy barrier.

Chapter 687 - Ambush

Nie Yan glanced down at his skill bar. Several skills had already come off cooldown. He activated Gale Step and vanished into stealth.

Seeing Nie Yan disappear from sight, Qin Han’s heart tightened. After butting heads for so long, he knew Nie Yan wouldn’t leave so easily!

Nie Yan’s target was certainly him!

In the blink of an eye, the hunter became the hunted. This sudden reversal of roles put a huge damper on Qin Han’s mood.

Qin Han spotted Nie Yan’s silhouette dashing over from the bone dragon, rapidly closing in on him. This frightening speed caused his heart to tremble.

When Nirvana Flame was after someone’s head, no one could stop him!

Sensing death’s approach, Qin Han’s nerves were stretched taut. He stumbled back into a hurried retreat. With a wave of his staff, a bone wall erupted from the ground to block Nie Yan.

At this moment, Necromancer Vorderman had recovered a bit of his strength. He waved his staff. Black flames rained down from the sky. A raging inferno swept through Nie Yan’s general location.

Several tongues of flames landed on Nie Yan, dispelling his stealth. However, he remained unscathed, protected by Kalenna’s powerful barrier.

Bone walls erupted from all around, trapping Nie Yan inside.

Nie Yan leaped over the walls and then retreated deeper into the forest.

With Necromancer Vorderman nearby, killing Qin Han would be difficult.

The bone dragon circled in the sky, ready to swoop down at any moment.

Nie Yan rapidly ascended a tree and perched himself atop a branch, evading the sight of the bone dragon. He took out his Cavalry Crossbow and pulled the trigger. Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Five bolts flew straight at Qin Han.

Nie Yan had purposefully aimed for Qin Han’s blind spot.

Qin Han felt something off. Turning around and seeing five bolts flying towards him, he hurriedly waved his staff in an attempt to resist.

Before Qin Han could do anything, bone walls erupted around him, protecting him inside.

Put put put! The bolts bounced off the bone wall and fell on the ground.

Following this, all of Nie Yan’s attempts to attack Qin Han were repelled by Necromancer Vorderman. Even though Vorderman couldn’t hurt him because of the barrier, he likewise couldn’t do anything to Qin Han.

Necromancer Vorderman’s reactions were too quick. With his protection, Qin Han was absolutely safe.

Qin Han looked over in Nie Yan’s direction. The two locked eyes.

Qin Han’s lips curved into a sneer. So what if I can’t kill you? You can’t kill me either!

"Vorderman, let’s go,” Qin Han said. Today, the two chapters from the Book of Order had been snatched away by Nie Yan, He would definitely settle this account one day!

The bone dragon flew down toward Vorderman and Qin Han.

"They want to run!” Nie Yan narrowed his eyes, his expression flickering with killing intent.

Qin Han had a total of seven chapters from the Book of Order on him. If Nie Yan could get his hands on them, he could complete another volume. He knew better than anyone else the power contained within the Glimpse of Darkness. Over the past few months, King of the World hadn’t found any clues on the last remaining chapter from volume five of the Book of Order. He had once mentioned that if Nie Yan could find all the chapters from the Book of Order, he would return the five chapters to him. In combination with the chapters up for grabs here today, he would be that much closer to completing the entire book. For the sake of becoming the Supreme Pontiff of the Temple of Light, he definitely had to get the chapters from Qin Han!

Nie Yan initially didn’t have high hopes of collecting all the chapters. However, after listening to Jebiah the Great and obtaining the Great Prophet Medal, this desire was once more reginited in his heart.

If Nie Yan became the Supreme Pontiff of the Temple of Light, Archangel Tallod would personally coronate him. The temple’s forces would move to his will. He would hold true authority. At that time, Asskickers United and all its allied guilds would become truly invincible under his influence. He would have complete control of the Viridian Empire.

In the previous timeline, even the Century Financial Group and Angel Corps didn’t reach such heights. In their prime, they only controlled strongholds. No one had ever ruled over both players and NPCs.

Even though Nie Yan knew the path ahead of him was long, he was determined to follow through with it.

Qin Han and Vorderman climbed up the bone dragon’s back. It flapped its wings and took to the sky.

Just as Qin Han and Vorderman were about to escape, Nie Yan dashed toward the bone dragon. Before it completely left the ground, he was already within eight meters of it. He shot out a web line at its feet and swung toward it.

Nie Yan landed on the bone dragon’s shin bone and held on tightly.

The bone dragon didn’t notice Nie Yan. Neither did Necromancer Vorderman or Qin Han.

Nie Yan gazed into the distance. White dots appeared over the horizon. As he squinted his eyes to get a better look, he discovered they were griffons.

Those griffons were different from the ones players could tame. They were noticeably larger with pure, white feathers which shone brilliantly under the sunlight. They were Royal Griffons used by Calore’s military!

Calore’s NPC forces were here!

Nie Yan’s lips parted into a faint smile. Vorderman had received serious injuries from his previous battle with the three priests. It remained to be seen whether he could escape with his life.

Nie Yan vaguely recalled something similar happening in the previous timeline. Vorderman had suffered serious injuries in a previous battle and died to Karsi afterwards.

However, the timing wasn’t right. Back then, the Vengeance of the Undead event had went on for more than a month before Vorderman was killed. It was still too early.

Nie Yan shelved these thoughts for now. Taking advantage of Qin Han and Vorderman being distracted by the appearance of the griffons, he slowly climbed up the bone dragon’s leg.

After noticing the griffons, the bone dragon picked up the pace and fled south.

A large griffon was closing in fast. It was much bigger than an ordinary Royal Griffon and only slightly smaller than the bone dragon. Its entire body was surrounded by an enormous barrier of light. Standing on its was a Mage in fluttering white robes.

Glancing over at the griffon, Nie Yan instantly recognized the Mage. It was Karsi!

In the end, Vorderman couldn’t escape this encounter with Karsi. The two were fated enemies.

"Vile Necromancer, the God of Light won’t forgive your sins. I’ll take your head to appease the spirits of those you killed!” Karsi shouted in a solemn tone. With a wave of his staff, a pillar of light descended from the sky.

Vorderman let out a sinister cackle. "Karsi, do you really think you can kill me? A thousand years later, and you’re still that same little boy!”

Vorderman erected a dark barrier. As the holy light made contact with the barrier, white smoke started rising up.

Nie Yan could sense Vorderman’s barrier faltering under Karsi’s attack.

Vorderman was still clearly weakened after his previous battle!

The bone dragon and the griffon started tangling mid-air.

Nie Yan held on tightly to the bone dragon. He was nearly thrown off several times.

A battle between two legendary figures. Nie Yan had no clue how long it would last.

Nie Yan carefully evaded the attacks. Seeing the griffon charging over, he hurriedly leaped out of the way and landed on another part of the bone dragon.

Compared to the bone dragon and griffon, Nie Yan was an insignificant speck.

Only a short distance away from the bone dragon’s back, Nie Yan’s gaze locked onto Vorderman and Qin Han.

Qin Han was completely oblivious of Nie Yan’s presence. He believed he and Vorderman were perfectly safe flying on the bone dragon’s back. He vastly underestimated Nie Yan’s determination.

Karsi and Vorderman’s battle intensified. PSSSHFT! The bone dragon’s claws dug into the griffon’s body. Blood and feathers rained down from the sky. Unwilling to be outdone, the griffon heavily rammed into the bone dragon, sending it reeling back.

Vorderman and Karsi exchanged fire, neither stopping for even a second.

Nie Yan was hit by several stray fireballs and holy attacks. His barrier was gradually being shaved away until it only had 50,000 durability left. If he didn’t kill Qin Han now, he would lose his opportunity!

When the bone dragon and the griffon crossed paths mid-air, Nie Yan and Karsi met eyes. He could see Karsi’s surprised expression. However, it was only a brief meeting, as the two passed each other.

Nie Yan slowly made his way up the bone dragon’s back, drawing closer and closer to Qin Han. He was only about 10 meters away. Vorderman stood on the head and was locked in a fierce exchange with Karsi. He didn’t notice Nie Yan at all.

Seeing Vorderman on the backfoot, Qin Han was extremely nervous. If Vorderman was killed, he would be doomed too. All that awaited him was the deletion of his account and starting over. Triggering the Vengeance of the Undead expansion meant he had to pay an enormous price. If his campaign failed, he would forever be wanted by the Viridian and Satreen Empires. From then on, he would be constantly on the run with no way of ever establishing a foothold again.

The outcome of the battle between Vorderman and Karsi was related to his fate. How could Qin Han not be nervous!?

Seeing that Qin Han hadn’t noticed him, Nie Yan’s lips curved into a faint smile. He looked like a predator hiding in ambush, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.

The seconds and minutes ticked away. Karsi upped the pressure, attacking even more fiercely. Vorderman took repeated hits. It started to look like he couldn’t hold on much longer.

Nie Yan suddenly shot forward like an arrow, heading straight for Qin Han. The flames surrounding Zennarde’s Sword appeared to burn even more brightly in response.

Chapter 688 - Glimpse of Light

Nie Yan’s movements were as fast as lightning.

Qin Han only noticed Nie Yan when he was already right next to him. By the time he reacted, it was too late. He simply couldn’t keep up with Nie Yan’s speed.

Just before Zennarde’s Sword made contact with Qin Han’s body, a barrier of pure darkness emerged. It blocked the attack and pushed Nie Yan back.

Necromancer Vorderman had placed a trigger-type protective barrier spell on Qin Han’s body. It had saved his life.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. The appearance of this barrier threw his plans out of whack. If his attack had landed, Qin Han would already be dead right now! Since the situation had taken such a turn, he could only switch tactics.

Having just survived a narrow brush with death, Qin Han was overjoyed. He quickly retreated and raised his staff in preparation to cast an offensive spell. In his mind, Vorderman’s barrier wasn’t something Nie Yan could cut through. In fact, he doubted Nie Yan could leave so much as a scratch on it.

Nie Yan stepped forward and slashed down with his blade.

Annihilation Slash!

Zennarde’s Sword erupted with scorching hot flames. 10 sword silhouettes took shape above his head, each more than 20 meters long. They merged into one enormous sword which slashed down on Qin Han. BOOOM! His black barrier instantly shattered into pieces.

What a powerful skill! Qin Han felt his scalp go numb. The barrier couldn’t even withstand one blow!

As the incomparably savage flame sword came cleaving down, Qin Han had nowhere left to run. Annihilation Slash was an AoE skill, five meters wide and 20 meters long.

Qin Han waved his staff, summoning an enormous skeleton in front of him. BOOM! The skeleton was annihilated.

Nie Yan’s slash didn’t falter. After destroying the skeleton, it continued down toward Qin Han.

Resentment and despair flickered across Qin Han’s eyes. BANG! After being hit by the slash, his body lifelessly flew through the sky.

−27,307!

It was an instant kill.

After executing Annihilation Slash, Nie Yan lowered his blade, a smile plastered on his face. "Game over!”

Nie Yan was quite pleased with himself. Sure enough, Annihilation Slash was powerful.

Nie Yan had killed Qin Han literally within seconds. By the time Necromancer Vorderman noticed the commotion, it was already too late.

"You wretched cur!” Necromancer Vorderman cursed. The person under his protection was killed right under his nose, by a weakling he could crush like an ant no less! This was a huge disgrace! He waved his staff, sending a giant ice spear flying towards Nie Yan.

Nie Yan was already satisfied with killing Qin Han. He didn’t hold any hopes of killing Vorderman as well. His gaze landed on Qin Han’s corpse. The seven chapters he had dropped were falling gently toward the ground.

Seeing the ice spear coming right at him, Nie Yan couldn’t dodge out of the way in time. He decided to brave it head-on and dove after the chapters.

BOOM! The ice spear smashed into Nie Yan. His barrier trembled violently and became much fainter than before. The durability had gone down by more than 30,000!

However, it was still intact.

Nie Yan was safe and sound. He caught two of the falling chapters. Seeing the other chapters getting further and further away from him, he shot out a web line at one and pulled it into his hand.

"That’s three. Four more to go!” Nie Yan exclaimed. He was already in freefall, and he could soon make out the individual blades of grass on the ground.

Nie Yan hurriedly activated his Featherfall Jewel. His falling speed immediately slowed to a crawl.

Seeing Nie Yan snatching the chapters one after another, Vorderman turned his attention away from Karsi and had the bone dragon pounce toward Nie Yan.

Karsi noticed the situation. He had his griffon charge forward and rammed the bone dragon away.

The two enormous beasts scuffled in mid-air. Vorderman could no longer catch Nie Yan.

Nie Yan snagged the remaining four chapters with web lines. Chanting out an incantation, he summoned his Darkwing Dragon.

The Darkwing Dragon emerged and Nie Yan landed on its back.

The Darkwing Dragon was like an ant compared to the two other flying mounts. The bone dragon and griffon were legendary monsters over Rank 9. On the other hand, the Darkwing Dragon was only Rank 7.

The disparity was enormous.

Nie Yan knew if the bone dragon shook off the griffon and pounced over, the Darkwing Dragon wouldn’t survive even a single hit. He hurriedly spurred his Darkwing Dragon. It made a rapid ascent and escaped far into the distance.

At this moment, more and more griffons arrived in the vicinity. They were all part of Calore’s military. They surrounded Necromancer Vorderman. A fierce battle was about to break out.

Vorderman might even die here!

Even though Nie Yan wanted to see the final outcome, common sense told him he definitely shouldn’t linger here any longer!

In order to ensure his safety, Nie Yan wanted to get as far away as possible. The chapters from the Book of Order were already in his hands anyway. If the situation suddenly took a turn for the worse and Vorderman came rushing over to snatch the chapters back, he would be doomed.

Even though Nie Yan knew the chances of Vorderman shaking off Karsi were slim, he didn’t want to take any risks. He would let those two continue to duke it out. He hurriedly left. It wasn’t like he could do anything to contribute to the battle anyway.

Nie Yan rode off toward the horizon on the Darkwing Dragon.

Looking back, the silhouettes of the bone dragon and griffon were getting smaller and smaller before finally disappearing.

After 15 minutes, the Darkwing Dragon made a slow descent outside of Calore.

Nie Yan walked into Calore. At this moment, in his bag were nine chapters from the Book of Order, of which six could be combined into a complete volume. He couldn't help but get excited.

All of Qin Han’s treasures had fallen into his hands. Nie Yan could already imagine Qin Han’s face right now. This was the second time Qin Han had died to him!

Nie Yan walked into the Starry Night Potion Shop and found an empty workshop. He could hardly contain his excitement.

Glancing at his bag, there were nine chapters from the Book of Order in total. Nie Yan took out all the chapters from the second volume and placed them together.

A dazzling radiance as bright as the sun lit up the room. The six chapters gradually merged together into a volume. Afterwards, the volume fused together with the Glimpse of Darkness in Nie Yan’s bag.

Nie Yan could sense that the energy contained in the Glimpse of Darkness was much stronger than before. He took out the book. It was twice as thick as before, and with that also a lot heavier. As he caressed the pages with his hand, a feeling of tranquility washed over him.

Nie Yan examined the book. On the cover written in an ancient language were the three words, "Book of Order.” The tadpole-shaped characters were vivid and life-like almost as if they jumped out at you.

Flipping to Volume I, Nie Yan saw Glimpse of Darkness written on the page. Its content was no different from before. As he flipped over to Volume II, the page glowed with a silverish light. Written on it was Glimpse of Light.

The Glimpse of Light gave Nie Yan additional stat bonuses.

Nie Yan checked the Glimpse of Light’s properties.

Volume II: Glimpse of Light (Legendary)

Rank (1): Can be upgraded by slaying evil creatures.

Description: The owner of this item will receive the inheritance of the God of Light. Your mission is to spread the glory of light!

Properties: Max Skill Rank +2, Skill Slots +10, Strength +100, Dexterity +200, All Stats +30

Restrictions: Permanently bound to Nirvana Flame.

Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player’s bag.

The properties of the Glimpse of Light were worthy of being part of the Book of Order. They were out of this world! The several bonus stats were nice, but Nie Yan had only eye for the other two properties: Max Skill Rank +2 and Skills Slots +10. The first allowed him to raise any of his skills beyond the normal maximum level of 16 to a whopping 18! As for the additional skill slots, skills were the bread and butter of Thieves. There were far too many skills and far too few skill slots. Where other Thieves would have a hard time choosing which skill to keep and which to pass up on, he was much more free in his choices.

On the second page of the Glimpse of Light was a description of five different coloured gems, Inheritance of Light, Inheritance of Darkness, Inheritance of Flame, Inheritance of Life, and Inheritance of Arcana. They all differed in appearance. Some had eight facets, others 16, but they all looked gorgeous. Sparkling with a translucent radiance, they were flawless. Further down were quest clues on how to find these five gems. It was just that Nie Yan had no idea what to do after he collected them. However, he was certain they were connected to the Tyrant Abak Set. Because on the bottom corner of the page, he saw the unmistakable rune marking of the Tyrant Abak Set.

Nie Yan hadn’t even finished collecting the Tyrant Abak Set yet. He naturally planned to put this quest on the backburner.

Nie Yan recalled the piece of the Tyrant Abak Set hidden in the Holy Mountain. He didn’t have time right now. When the Vengeance of the Undead event ended, he would go and retrieve it.

Out of the six volumes in the Book of Order, Nie Yan already had two volumes and eight chapters. It seemed like obtaining the complete Book of Order wasn’t as impossible as he originally thought.

After putting the incomplete Book of Order in his bag, Nie Yan told Guo Huai to have people observe the situation in the Holy Mountain.

The battle in the Holy Mountain still hadn’t ended. A clash between two legendary casters could easily last 10 hours, 20 hours, or even several days.

Would Necromancer Vorderman die here? If he fell, Nie Yan could lead all of Asskickers United into launching a full-out counterattack.

Chapter 689 - 12 Master Class Players!

The battle between Karsi and Vorderman lasted longer than anyone anticipated, shifting from the Holy Mountain to Fire Canyon in the east of the Viridian Empire. Vorderman showed signs of faltering, retreating as he fought. The pursuit extended more than 1,000 kilometres.

Asskickers United lost track of them at one point. When they finally caught up to the two, they had already covered the entire span of the Viridian Empire.

More than 10 days passed. During this time, Nie Yan led Asskickers United all over to clear the skeletons. As the days went on, the number of skeletons they killed exceeded 1,600,000. This was a heavy blow to Qin Han’s skeleton army.

Qin Han was on the verge of tearing his hair out in anger. Every time he tried to surround Nie Yan’s group, they would use various methods to teleport away. Then they would start all over again somewhere 10 kilometres away.

The skeleton army’s growth had come to a screeching halt. They fervently sought for NPC settlements to replenish their numbers, and also caught some players off-guard here and there. It was just enough to offset their losses. The army’s size stabilized at around 7,000,000.

Because of Asskickers United’s interference, the Vengeance of the Undead event failed to sweep over the entire continent like in the previous timeline. It was doomed to an early ending.

There was more good news for Nie Yan. Another six players from Asskickers United had succeeded in reaching their Master Class.

Black Hell, Young Seven, Smoke Stub, Lustboy, Mistaken Smile, and King of the World combined with those who previously completed their class advancements, Sun, Bladelight, Tang Yao, Xie Yao, Lei Su, and Nie Yan, meant Asskickers United had a total of 12 Master Class players. Besides this, there were 10 others, including the likes of Black Heaven, who failed to class advance. Nie Yan believed they were strong enough to take their class advancement quests. However, when they were in the middle of doing it, they encountered some mishaps and ultimately had to give up. It wasn’t that they weren’t skilled enough, but rather they were unlucky. They could only wait two to three months to try again.

Those who could advance to a Master Class right after reaching Level 100 were elites among elites. Most people only succeeded after reaching higher levels.

Archbishop, Sword Saint, Champion, Magister, Shadow Dancer, all they were missing was a Guardian. The several Paladins in Asskickers United who were capable of class advancing still hadn’t succeeded yet.

News of Asskickers United having 12 Master Class players quickly spread like wildfire, creating a huge stir among the playerbase. Masters were practically god-like existences in the eyes of the players, and Asskickers United had 12 of them! Just how frightening of a number was this! There was also news from other guilds. Over in the Satreen Empire, Soaring Angel and an ice-lightning Elementalist called Howling Wind had succeeded in reaching Master Class. As for others, none of them succeeded.

The 12 Master Class players had once more confirmed Asskickers United’s unrivalled position. A guild with only 100,000 players had produced so many Masters in such a short amount of time. This only further underlined the individual strength of their members.

Nie Yan arrived in the Asskickers United guild headquarters in Calore. He passed down an order for Smoke Stub, Mistaken Smile, and all the other Master Class players to assemble. All of them immediately hurried over.

About 5 minutes later, 12 people were gathered in the conference hall. If an image of this line-up was posted online, the players on the forums would definitely gasp in admiration.

These were the 12 Master Class players!

Nie Yan looked over the room. Everyone was here. Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and Lei Su were all clad in plate armour, looking like three metal titans. Smoke Stub and Lei Su were Sword Saints. Their weapons were generally two-handed greatswords. If they learned a special skill, they could even dual wield greatswords. Meanwhile, Bladelight was a Champion, which was distinctly different from a Sword Saint despite both being Warriors. Champions used greatshields and one-handed swords. Their main role was to serve as the main tank. So, the vast majority of their skills were defensive in nature.

Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and Lustboy were all wearing top-quality robes. Nie Yan could even identify them by their names. In the previous timeline, these robes were pieces of equipment that countless players dreamt of but couldn’t have. A magical aura radiated from their bodies, powerful magical energy pulsing out into their surroundings.

Comparatively speaking, Nie Yan, Sun, Mistaken Smile, and King of the World’s equipment all looked fairly ordinary at first glance. Thief equipment was usually pretty simple and unadorned. The Thief was a fairly low-key class. However, any single piece of equipment from their bodies had a rich history behind it. You couldn’t find a single piece of Dark Gold-grade equipment on them anymore. These inconspicuous looking pieces of equipment were all at least Level 100 Sub Legendary or Legendary-grade. Among the four of them, Nie Yan had the most Legendary equipment.

Lastly, there were the two Archbishops. Young Seven was a Radiant Archbishop. He wore the Radiant Mystery Robes. His entire body emanated a light aura. On the other hand, Black Hell was a Dark Archbishop, one of the most rare Master Classes in the previous timeline. He wore the silver gray Dark Revenant Robes. Embroidered on the nape and collar with gold silk were faintly glowing runes which gave off a mysterious feeling.

The number of Priests who successfully class advanced to Dark Archbishops in the previous timeline didn’t exceed five. As for what sorts of skills they had or how they attacked, Nie Yan had no idea since information on them was the most limited. So much so, that it was rumoured Dark Archbishops ruled over PvP. With their skill sets being a mystery, including to other Masters, they could kill the enemy without them even knowing what happened.

Nie Yan turned to Bladelight. "How goes everything? Are you guys making good progress?”

Bladelight faintly smiled. "Lei Su shared some of his insights with us. We put it into practice ourselves, and the results are pretty good. We’ve also comprehended a few things on our own.”

Since Asskickers United had many Masters of the same class, they could all share their discoveries with each other. As such, their training would produce twice the results with half the effort.

"Since we’re all together, this is a good opportunity for us all to swap pointers,” Lei Su suggested. He had recently completely absorbed himself in mastering the techniques of a Sword Saint.

Nie Yan originally wanted to bring Bladelight and the others to deal a heavy blow to Qin Han. However, there was no need to rush. Having everyone swap pointers would definitely improve their strength. It could be considered sharpening their blades before the real fight.

Lei Su’s suggestion quickly received the approval of everyone. Young Seven turned to Nie Yan. "Right, is there a reason you gathered us all here?”

"You’ll find out later. We aren’t really urgent on time. There’s no harm in you guys having a go at each other.” Nie Yan mysteriously smiled.

None of them knew what Nie Yan was thinking. Considering he had gathered all of them here today, what he was planning definitely wasn’t small. Seeing Nie Yan’s smile, Young Seven and the others could guess that Qin Han was going to be in for a nasty surprise.

Bladelight looked around. The guild hall was too small. The square outside covered a roughly 300 meter wide area. Although that was plenty for Sword Saints, Shadow Dancers, and the other melee classes, it was far from enough for Magisters. Their destructive power was astounding.

"Let’s find a place outside the Cripss Stronghold. We don’t want Sparrow Hawk, Lustboy, and Yao Yao to bring the whole place down with their magic,” Bladelight joked.

"Sounds good.” Nie Yan nodded. Asskickers United’s guild headquarters definitely couldn’t withstand the spells of a Magister. He had already experienced their destructive power first hand. They could only really shine and go all out in a vast, wide open space.

The group chatted as they headed out of the guild headquarters.

When Nie Yan and the others appeared on the streets, the entire Cripps Stronghold boiled over with excitement. Regardless of whether they were Asskickers United players or not, they all came flocking over.

"Boss!”

"Look, it’s Bladelight!”

...

The players gave their greetings. Those who knew Nie Yan, Bladelight, and the others excitedly crowded around them. It was an extremely rare sight to see all 12 of them gathered together.

12 Master Class players was definitely a shocking sight. The crowd could feel a domineering aura radiating out from Bladelight, Tang Yao, and the others. Facing them in the flesh, the players found it hard to breathe. After reaching Master Class, the air surrounding them was completely different from before.

As for Nie Yan, Sun, Mistaken Smile, and King of the World, the players couldn’t feel anything from them at all, almost as if they didn’t exist. If they were distracted for a moment, they would easily lose sight of these four Thieves, to the extent they wouldn’t even notice if the four were right behind them. This feeling, or lack thereof, was also quite shocking. What powerful cloaking ability! This was a Shadow Dancer, hiding within the shadows, ready to reap a life at any moment!

Nie Yan and the others continued walking forward. The crowd naturally parted ways and and let them through.

News of Asskickers United’s 12 Master Class players appearing in the Cripps Stronghold was posted online. The people on the forums were all guessing what this group of people were planning. If a line-up like this wanted to do something, there was nothing that could stop them!

When Qin Han received this information, he felt an enormous pressure weigh down on him, with all his limbs going numb. Nie Yan, Xie Yao, and Tang Yao, and the others had already struck fear into his heart over these past two weeks. After hearing all 12 Master Class players were setting out together, he was completely terror-stricken. Especially since among these 12, five were casters. Qin Han felt his scalp go numb. He still had lingering fears from Xie Yao and Tang Yao’s Forbidden Magic. This time with five casters moving out, it was all the more frightening, especially since two among them were Archbishops who specialized in dealing with the undead!

Chapter 690 - Battle of the Strongest!

Uhtred, this was a large mountain located to the east of Calore. It was surrounded by vast plains, forests, rivers, and grasslands. The monsters that roamed this map were Level 20–30. After arriving here, Bladelight and the others couldn’t help but be reminded of the time they spent grinding here in the early days.

Bladelight had holed himself here for at least two to three days. At that time, he was still slowly familiarizing himself with the game. Levelling was an incredible slog.

Nie Yan had pretty much power-levelled himself straight past Level 30. So, he hadn’t come here to level in this life. However, he still had his experiences from the previous timeline. Seeing all these familiar sights, a sense of nostalgia struck him.

Looking down from atop their flying mounts, they noticed there were fairly few players around. They decided to descend. This mountain would be their battleground.

Some of them paired up and found their own respective areas to PvP, while others stood off in the sidelines and simply observed. Nie Yan was the odd one out. He’d compete, but no one dared to duel him.

"Sparrow Hawk, why don’t you have a go with the Boss?” Lustboy suggested. He could already imagine Tang Yao getting stomped.

Tang Yao rolled his eyes. "Why would I ever PvP with a freak like him? He has more than half-a-dozen Rank 16 skills. That’s simply bullying! My highest skill is only at Rank 9!”

In a battle between a Magister and Shadow Dancer, apart from combat senses and technique, skills were also extremely important and often the determining factor.

Lustboy forced a wry smile. None of them were Nie Yan’s match. If even Tang Yao didn’t dare to take him on, then the rest of them had even less of a hope. After all, Tang Yao stood roughly on par with the likes of Bladelight and Smoke Stub.

Nie Yan chuckled. "Hmm. In that case, I’ll limit myself to only 20 skills, and I won’t use any of my Rank 16 skills. How about it?”

"Nope, I refuse!” Tang Yao vigorously shook his head. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen Nie Yan PvP before. Even if Nie Yan limited himself to 20 skills, he’d still get the snot beaten out of him.

Nie Yan’s comprehension of Shadow Dancer techniques, Gale Step, Shadow Waltz, and other skills had long since reached a consummate level. Tang Yao had no way of landing his spells on Nie Yan. Just shaving a bit of Nie Yan’s health away would already be incredibly difficult.

Tang Yao wanted a suitable opponent to practice against, not get decimated in a one-sided battle.

Nie Yan helplessly shrugged. "Nothing I can do then.”

"Man, I didn’t think Sparrow Hawk would be such a chicken,” Lustboy quietly muttered to himself.

"Huh, what’d you say punk!? How about you try and have a go at him instead?” Tang Yao shot a glare at Lustboy.

Lustboy innocently whistled, pretending he hadn’t heard anything. He turned to Nie Yan. "I’m gonna go find Sun. He said he wanted to PvP against me. Later, Boss!” With that said, he hurriedly departed.

Nie Yan chuckled. Lustboy was quite an amusing fellow.

Lustboy and Sun were the two youngest members in Asskickers United. Sun was already quite famous in the previous timeline. Being able to succeed his class advancement to a Shadow Dancer on his first try came as no surprise. On the other hand, Lustboy was completely unknown in the previous timeline. He was someone who had risen to prominence after being nutured in Asskickers United. He wasn’t any bit less skilled than Sun. Nie Yan felt quite gratified. He hoped the guild would produce more people like Lustboy, unnoticed talents who were never given the opportunity to grow in his past life.

The sound of battle rang out in the air. Nie Yan gazed over in the distance. Lei Su and Bladelight had already starting duking it out, letting everyone experience the frightening strength of a Sword Saint and Champion.

Everything within a 60-meter radius of the duo was in complete shambles. Boulders were smashed into rubble. Trees were completely uprooted. There wasn’t much left of the ground either, with 10-meter long and three-meter deep sword scars left and right.

Thunder God Slash!

"GRAAH!” Lei Su bellowed out as he slashed down with his greatsword. Electricity surged out of his blade, producing an astonishing crackling sound.

An enormous lightning dragon came cleaving down, looking as though it were going to rend the heavens apart.

Bladelight felt a frightening pressure bear down on him. The surging lightning seemed to want to rip him to shreds. He felt a painful stabbing feeling all over his skin.

Unable to evade in time, Bladelight remained completely calm. He hunkered himself down, dug his feet into the ground, and raised up his greatshield.

Divine Bastion Shield!

The silhouette of a large war god clad in golden armour emerged above Bladelight. He held a giant greatshield which protected him.

BOOOM! The electric dragon slammed into the greatshield, looking as though it would tear through any obstacle in its path. Sparks of electricity flew out everywhere, producing a sharp crackling sound. Eventually, the electricity gradually dimmed before fading away completely.

Even though Lei Su’s attack was frightening beyond compare, Bladelight remained unmoved. The two forced out a bitter smile. Neither of them could gain an advantage over the other. Battles between Sword Saints and Champions often ended up like this. A Sword Saint’s attacks couldn’t break through a Champion’s defense, while a Champion’s attacks were too weak to deal fatal damage to a Sword Saint.

The true winner in such a battle was the spectator. It was an absolute joy to watch two such heavyweights compete. The spectators felt their blood pumping with excitement!

The battle between the two shifted from the grasslands to the forest. They were like bulldozers, mowing down everything in their path.

At this moment, Lustboy and Sun also started PvPing off in the distance. By comparison, their battle was much more technical. Both punished the other side for even the slightest mistake.

Sun’s silhouette darted through the forest. Lustboy raced after him, utilizing Windwalker to the max. The two fought at high speeds like moving clouds and flowing water.

Lustboy swiftly kited while firing out all sorts of spells, like Ice Rain, Fire Wall, and Lightning Spear. These skills were all unleashed with spectacular power. After becoming a Magister, even the most ordinary magic became completely different, gaining an enormous boost in power. Some low level spells became instant cast, and some high level spells had their cast times greatly reduced and their might increased manyfold.

Sun entered stealth and seemed to completely vanish out of existence.

Buffing himself with Enhance Perception, Lustboy locked onto Sun’s location. He waved his staff and spat out two syllables.

Call of Thunder!

A large thunderbolt descended on the ground a dozen or so meters away. KRAAAACK! Everything within a five-meter area was engulfed by a storm of electricity.

The lightning storm fried everything it touched to a crisp.

Seeing the effects of his spell, Lustboy knitted his brows. I missed!

Lustboy suddenly sensed a cold chill near the nape of his neck. Sun emerged behind him and stabbed toward the back of his head. In this critical moment, he waved his staff to blink away and evaded the attack.

Looking back, Lustboy discovered Sun had disappeared into stealth again. Even with Enhance Perception, he couldn’t detect Sun’s presence at all.

Sun had learned quite a few tricks from Nie Yan. He had copied about 70%–80% of Nie Yan’s techniques. They were quite effective in dealing with Casters in PvP. Lustboy felt enormous pressure.

These battles between Master Class players also attracted the attention of the few random players in the vicinity. A group of 15 appeared on Uhtred. They were low level players, ranging from Level 20-30, and were here to grind monsters. Their leader was a Mage called Sunshine.

They stood on a hill and gazed down at the plains below. They spotted about 10 or so silhouettes. Quite a few of them were PvPing. The sight of these epic battles battered their hearts with shock.

Looking down from the hill, the land below was an utter wreck, with some areas looking as if a bulldozer had gone through. Before them was complete destruction with not even a single blade of grass growing. Other places looked as if a meteor shower had come down, with deep craters dotting the ground.

Gazing at the grasslands further in the distance, they saw a silhouette flitting across the ground. He was as fast as a shooting star. However, that player was actually a Mage! With a wave of his staff, bolts of lightning came crashing down from the sky, creating giant electric storms. The cast speed was frighteningly fast, practically no different from instant cast.

This movement speed. Was this really a Mage? This cast time, this cooldown speed, this destructive power, they were all too perverse!

On the other side, two Warriors were facing off. Sword beams flew out everywhere, carving numerous wounds into the earth. Were those two really Warriors?

"Maple Leaf, have you ever met such powerful Mages and Warriors?” Sunshine asked the person beside him with a tone of utter disbelief.

Maple Leaf shook his head. He had watched many videos online, but never had he seen such frightening Mages and Warriors. He suddenly recalled something, his eyes lighting up. "Could it be those Masters from Asskickers United?”

Sunshine looked down at the plains. He counted 11 people in total. However, that speedy Mage seemed to be PvPing with someone, likely a Thief, though he couldn’t see them. If that were the case, that just happened to make 12 people.

"You’re right. It’s probably them,” Sunshine confirmed.

Sunshine’s group had been levelling here for the past several days. They knew this map like the back of their hands. But now, this place looked completely unrecognizable. Gazing at the battle-torn plains, their hearts were filled with an indescribable shock. This was a Master Class! A feverish feeling washed over them. Could they also reach Master Class like these people one day?

"Come on, what are we wasting our time standing here for? Let’s go levelling! One day, we’ll also join Asskickers United and fight alongside them!” Sunshine clenched his fist. He brimmed with determination.

Maple Leaf nodded. Even though it hadn’t been long since he entered the game, before he bought a game helmet, he would frequently browse through Conviction content online. He was already a veteran of the forums, and he deeply admired Nie Yan. He had long since vowed to join Asskickers United in the future!

They all longed to become Master Class players like Nie Yan and the others. This dream was deeply engraved in their hearts.

Chapter 691 - Enemy Attack

Lustboy, Young Seven, and the others only recently class advanced. So, they weren’t too familiar with their new and upgraded skills yet. By practicing against each other in friendly combat, they quickly grasped these skills and gained a better understanding of their might. However, they didn’t dare to cast Forbidden Magic here; partly because the cooldown was too long, so they couldn’t be used rashly; and partly because their destructive power was too great.

Nie Yan didn’t participate in any matches; no one dared to fight him. The final results were in. Black Hell had the highest win rate, winning 7 out of 10 matches. The rest were around 50-50, with some winning only four times. The difference in skill between them was pretty much negligible. So, many times the outcome was determined by class advantages and skills. Warriors had a 70% chance of beating Thieves, Mages had an 80% chance of beating Warriors, and Thieves had a 70% chance of beating Mages.

As for the Priests, Black Hell was an outlier. He was a Dark Archbishop who specialized in PvP. Young Seven had a lower win rate, but he was the most powerful healer, serving as an inexhaustible blood bank. His role wasn’t to kill. So, he had fairly few PvP skills. Most of his skills were various blessings, heals, and other support magic. For his win rate to be the lowest was perfectly normal.

"When do you think our guild will finally produce a Guardian? I wonder what a Guardian’s skills are like,” Lustboy said. Guardians were an all-rounder class. Their stats were fairly balanced. However, their PvP ability definitely couldn’t be underestimated.

"It’ll probably be a long while,” Bladelight said. Asskickers United didn’t have as many top rank Paladins compared to their other classes.

This was something Nie Yan couldn’t help but worry about. Be it on the battlefield or running a dungeon, a Paladin was indispensable. It looked like he would have to think up some sort of method.

News of Nie Yan’s group PvPing in Uhtred spread like wildfire. More and more players rushed over here to watch the Masters fight. They all wanted to be here to witness this grand occasion. However, when they arrived, all they found was a desolate field of destruction. Seeing the flattened grasslands and forests, they could vaguely imagine what sort of battle took place here.

The image of this scene was shared on the forums. There were also some players who managed to record Lustboy and the others PvPing. Since the video was taken from very far away, it wasn’t very clear. You could vaguely make out some silhouettes clashing against each other. As for exactly what they were doing, there was no way to tell. However, the powerful might of their skills and spells still left everyone shocked and breathless.

「Masters are so powerful!」

「Work hard on levelling up guys. Maybe one day you guys can advance to Magisters, Shadow Dancers, and Sword Saints too.」

There were all sorts of comments on the forums. Players were brimming with envy and jealousy toward Nie Yan and the others. Reaching Master Class was an unattainable dream for the vast majority of them.

Meanwhile, Nie Yan and the others were riding south on their flying mounts.

"Boss, where are we going?” Lustboy asked.

"Don’t tell me we're going to Divine Protectors…?” asked Mistaken Smile, who was a man of few words. After passing through a few more mountain ranges, they would be arriving in Kalond, the old stomping grounds of Divine Protectors!

"Yep. We’re going to pay Divine Protectors a little visit.” Nie Yan smiled.

The visit Nie Yan spoke of wasn’t for leisure and sightseeing. Everyone knew Divine Protectors was in for a nasty surprise!

Vorderman and Karsi’s fight had turned into a game of cat and mouse. For the time being, the two wouldn’t appear. The undead army was too large to justify a frontal assault. Asskickers United would have to gather all their Masters and slowly shave away at the number of skeletons. Furthermore, they also had to consolidate their defenses. They couldn’t let Qin Han’s forces overrun Calore.

Divine Protectors, God Executioner Sword, and Penumbra Empire were Qin Han’s wings. If Nie Yan wanted to deal a heavy blow to the Monet Financial Group, simply killing a few skeletons wasn’t enough. So, he decided to take action against these several guilds. Asskickers United had produced their first batch of Masters. Meanwhile, those others guilds still hadn’t even produced one. This was the perfect opportunity to strike.

Lustboy, Sun, and the others became excited. Even though they doubted whether the 12 of them were enough to defeat Divine Protectors, they were all itching for a fight after becoming Masters.

After flying for 20 minutes, Nie Yan and the others gazed ahead. A stronghold situated halfway atop a mountain appeared before their eyes. This was the main base of Divine Protectors, the Karukes Stronghold. The ash gray walls were lined with black cannons.

Kalond was completely surrounded by mountain ranges. It would be as difficult as ascending the heavens for catapults to advance into this city. Much in the same fashion, the strongholds here were generally difficult to siege too. Divine Protectors had started operating in Kalond right when Conviction was released. After uniting this territory, no one had been able to challenge their rule. Even though the defeats at the Cripps Stronghold and Moonlight City had dealt some losses to Divine Protectors, it wasn’t enough to shake their foundation. Furthermore, after Victorious Return, Bloodlust Blades, and Alliance of Mages disbanded, a portion of their players had joined Divine Protectors, bolstering the guild even more.

Divine Protectors was content being off in their own little corner. After heavily fortifying the Karukes Stronghold, they were absolutely confident in repelling the sieges of other guilds. The commerce here was booming, to the extent it was even greater than that of Calore. The merchants in the Karukes Stronghold had long since recouped their investment. After which they rapidly expanded the scope of their operations, turning this place into a true commerce city.

Thanks to the booming commerce and the Monet Financial Group’s investments, Divine Protectors were quite well off. They had already upgraded to walls of the Karukes Stronghold to Advanced. It became an imposing deterrent, several dozen meters high and lined with 100 magic cannons. A large number of guards also patrolled it regularly. The security was airtight.

"I didn’t expect Divine Protector’s stronghold to be so developed,” Mistaken Smile remarked.

Everyone nodded in agreement. At present, even the Cripps Stronghold couldn’t compare to the Karukes Stronghold.

"Focusing on commerce is good and all, but it’ll all become meaningless if the stronghold falls. At the end of the day, a guild survives through power. Even if they’re flourishing through trade, if they don’t have the strength to protect it, it’ll all fall to ruins eventually,” Smoke Stub said. He valued strength above all else.

The fact that the Cripps Stronghold started development late and that it had already been sieged once had inflicted heavy damages to the confidence of prospective merchants. Their geographical location also couldn’t compare with the Karukes Stronghold. However, Asskickers United was powerful and rapidly expanding their territory with their influence growing every day. The confidence of merchants was bound to grow given time. Case in point was the ever growing number of merchants flocking to the Cripps Stronghold. However, the Vengeance of the Undead event had put a damper on this, with some businesses closing down shop and pulling out.

Nie Yan was slightly envious of Divine Protectors. Having developed the Karukes Stronghold to this degree, they had probably earned quite a bit of profit. However, all of that was about to go up in smoke with the arrival of his group!

The group arrived in the airspace above the Karukes Stronghold. Lei Su turned to Nie Yan. "We’ll be heading down first!”

Nie Yan nodded.

Lei Su, Bladelight, and Smoke Stub recalled their flying mounts and dropped down from the sky, falling from a height of several thousand meters.

...

In the guild headquarters at the heart of the Karukes Stronghold, Divine Flame, Crazy Magic, Bloodlust Mad Blade, and Heaven Breaker were all gathered together. After Crazy Magic, Bloodlust Mad Blade, and Heaven Breaker led a portion of their people into joining Divine Protectors, their positions in the guild were only second to Divine Flame. Roughly 30% of the players in Divine Protectors were brought in by the three of them.

"After failing several sieges on Asskickers United’s strongholds, Qin Han’s skeleton army has stopped advancing. Although he’s taken out the several surrounding strongholds and cut them off from Battle Crazed Alliance and the War God Tribe, Asskickers United’s main force hasn’t taken any damage. If things continue on like this, his skeleton army will be chipped away until there’s nothing left. Qin Han sent us a message. He’s requesting we join up with him to attack Asskickers United. What are your thoughts?” Divine Flame asked, narrowing his eyes as he stared at Crazy Magic, Bloodlust Mad Blade, and Heaven Breaker. The three of them held a lot of sway. He had no choice but to get their opinions in order to maintain the guild’s unity.

"If the skeleton army is destroyed, Asskickers United’s next target will be us,” Bloodlust Mad Blade said. His thinking was fairly simple. He understood they were all in this together.

"What about you guys?” Divine Flame gazed at Crazy Magic and Heaven Breaker.

"No need to rush. When Penumbra Empire and God Executioner Sword make a move, we can take action then,” Crazy Magic said with a crafty smile.

"I think the same,” Heaven Breaker said.

Divine Flame nodded after pondering for a brief moment. There was no need to stick their necks out first.

"Did you guys watch the video going around on the forums?” Divine Flame shared a video.

Heaven Breaker and the other two nodded after glancing at the video.

"What are your thoughts on Master Classes?” Divine Flame asked. Thinking about how Asskickers United already had 12 Masters while they had none, he couldn’t help but feel enormous pressure.

"We already have a few players in our guild over Level 100. Have them quickly go do their class advancement quests, or else we’ll lag even further behind,” Heaven Breaker said with a heavy expression. He knew Nie Yan was slowly tightening the noose around their necks.

While the four were chatting, the alarm rang in the Karukes Stronghold, its sharp sound cutting across the air.

An enemy attack! Divine Flame’s face paled.

Chapter 692 - Bulldozing!

Divine Protectors had occupied Kalond from day one. There were no powerful enemies in the several neighbouring cities. So, they were fairly safe, with no guilds daring to siege the Karukes Stronghold. Though Asskickers United had this strength, with enemies in every direction, they were too preoccupied with their own problems.

「Who raised the alarm?」Divine Flame asked in the guild chat.

「It was Moon Seal. When she was riding back on her flying mount, she spotted foreign players flying over the Karukes Stronghold!」

Divine Flame knitted his brows. Guilds often had their aerial forces attack first during a siege. He didn’t dare to be careless. He immediately mobilized the troops in the Karukes Stronghold.

「Are there any enemy forces approaching Karukes?」

「We haven’t discovered any yet.」

「Expand the search range. Everyone else, assemble in the central square! Gather all the flying mounts, and prepare the anti air magic cannons!」Divine Flame ordered.

The entire Karukes Stronghold prepared for battle.

"Come out with me to take a look,” Divine Flame said.

Crazy Magic, Bloodlust Mad Blade, and Heaven Breaker nodded. Right now, they also belonged to Divine Protectors. Even though they were unwilling to follow, they had no other choice.

As the four prepared to walk outside, three large explosions rang out, shaking the entire stronghold.

Divine Flame’s face paled.「What’s going on? What happened? Is the enemy already inside!?」

...

Not far from the Divine Protectors guild headquarters, Lei Su, Bladelight, and Smoke Stub fell from the sky and crashed into the roofs of several shops.

Lei Su, Bladelight, and Smoke Stub’s physiques had undergone dramatic transformations after reaching Master Class. Their innate abilities greatly reduced damage. Regular fall damage no longer had any effect on them.

Lei Su landed firmly on the ground, bending his knees to cushion the impact. The bluestone floor of the shop he crashed into was already smashed to pieces.

Some players happened to be browsing in the shop at this moment. Seeing Lei Su suddenly crashing down from the sky, they all stared at him in shock.

After confirming his whereabouts, Lei Su brushed the dust off himself and swept his eyes over the players in the shop. "Lei Su from Asskickers United here, I’d like to ask all unrelated players to please leave. We’ll only be killing those from Divine Protectors!” he announced in a heavy tone.

The ears of the surrounding players rung at Lei Su’s booming voice. He stood a head taller than everyone else. Clad in thick, heavy plate armour, which glistened brilliantly under the sunlight coming down from the hole in the roof, he resembled a lofty deity. They all had to crane their heads up to look at him.

"It’s Asskickers United!” The players were stunned. They didn’t expect Asskickers United to have already slaughtered their way into the Karukes Stronghold!

BANG! BANG! Two spells struck Lei Su.

Block!
Block!

Lei Su turned his head toward the source of the magic. Two Mages were staring at him in shock, instant regret in their eyes.

"So you want a go at me, huh!?” Lei Su shouted. He slashed down his greatsword, firing out a crescent shaped sword beam. The two Mages had no time to dodge and were struck, wailing out in pain as they transformed into rays of light. The wall of the shop was split in half by the slash, sunlight shining through from the breach.

With no more Divine Protectors players left here, Lei Su headed over to the nearest wall and sent his fist flying forward. KRAAASH! Rubble flew out everywhere. A large hole was made in the wall. He casually stepped through it and walked out onto the street, leaving a dozen players staring at his departing back dumbstruck.

Bladelight and Smoke Stub came walking over from elsewhere and regrouped with Lei Su. Any Divine Protectors players they encountered on the streets were slaughtered with impunity, leaving countless bodies in their wake.

"Should we wait for Nie Yan and the others?” Lei Su asked.

Bladelight shook his head. "Divine Protectors’ guild headquarters is nearby. Let’s go there first!”

"We’ll crush anyone in our way!” Smoke Stub declared.

Karukes had a population of more than 1,000,000 players. However, only 10% belonged to Divine Protectors, and they were scattered all over the stronghold. Likely most people had no idea Lei Su, Bladelight, and Smoke Stub had already slaughtered their way in here. Given how large this stronghold was, locking down three people would be near impossible.

The alarms attacked their eardrums, the loud explosions their footing. Most of the players in the Karukes Stronghold had no idea what was going on and descended into mass hysteria.

Lei Su casually chatted with Bladelight and Smoke Stub, when 100 players from Divine Protectors appeared from behind a corner and rushed over toward them.

"It’s Asskickers United! Kill them!” A Fighter holding a greatshield led the vanguard and charged over toward the trio. He wanted to overwhelm them with numbers.

As the Fighter and other Warriors closed in, Bladelight let out a heavy grunt and greeted the enemy with his greatshield.

A heavy pressure bore down on the Fighter. His heart tightened. He hurriedly hoisted his greatshield up. KLANG! The two shields clashed.

The Fighter’s greatshield was like a piece of driftwood. It instantly shattered into pieces. A powerful force rammed into his body, completing knocking the breath out of his lungs.

Bladelight took another step forward and slashed down with his sword. A ray of light flashed. The Fighter was instantly cut down.

A Priest at the back still tried to heal the Fighter. But before he even finished chanting, it was already too late.

A Level 95 Fighter was killed just like that. The Priest was dumbstruck.

From Lei Su and the others’ point of view, these players were nothing more than ants. There was a distinct difference between Masters and Adepts. Thanks to their innate abilities, their defense was more than double that of other Warriors. Ordinary players could only deal triple digit damage to them at most, not to mention the attacks were often blocked. Each of them had at least 70,000 health. A tank like Bladelight even had 120,000 health. They were basically walking fortresses!

"Scram back to Divine Flame, and tell him Smoke Stub is coming over to collect his debt!” Smoke Stub shouted. Slashing down with his greatsword, he sent three Warriors flying. He then changed forward, knocking several more Warriors aside, and broke through into the backline.

The dozen or so Mages panicked. They wanted to flee, a way out. But it was already too late.

Berserk Whirlwind Slash!

A violent tempest of sword energy erupted from Smoke Stub, instantly killing the dozen Mages in the vicinity.

Smoke Stub, Lei Su, and Bladelight’s attacks were too powerful. Several dozen players had died in the blink of an eye. The rest were completely routed and fled with all their might, cursing the fact they weren’t born with a second pair of legs.

After cleaning up the stragglers, the trio looked around. The ground was littered with corpses.

Lei Su glanced at the equipment on the ground. "Should we collect the loot?” These pieces of equipment were trash in his eyes. However, there might be players in Asskickers United that needed them. So, he asked Bladelight and Smoke Stub.

"Only pick up the Dark Gold-grade ones or higher. We can leave the rest,” Bladelight replied. They didn’t have too much time to waste picking up equipment. So, they would only select the best.

About 15 minutes later, the trio had already arrived outside the Divine Protectors guild headquarters.

The guild headquarters' entrance was sealed shut. The solid metal gates stood over five meters tall and were covered in spikes.

Lei Su walked up to the entrance and started gathering his strength. With a heavy grunt, he struck out with a punch. All the power in his body surged into his fist.

Lei Su had learned this technique from Nie Yan. It allowed him to focus all the power in his body into a single point. But unlike Nie Yan, he was a Strength focused Sword Saint. So, the amount of force he could generate was far more frightening.

BOOOOOM! The gates were smashed open and toppled to the ground. The trio charged into the Divine Protectors guild headquarters.

At this moment, Nie Yan and the others had also jumped down from their flying mounts and infiltrated the Karukes Stronghold.

Tang Yao and Lustboy were extremely excited. To them, the Karukes Stronghold was their destructible stage!

"Divine Protectors bastards, cry out in fear, wail in anguish, tremble with piss in your pants, your old man Sparrow Hawk has come!” Tang Yao cackled. He waved his staff, sending black flames raining down from the sky. Blood-curdling screams rang out in the air.

Seeing Tang Yao act like an evil final boss in a video game, Nie Yan and the others couldn’t help but wryly chuckle.

Discovering Nie Yan’s group had broken into the stronghold, Divine Protector’s forces immediately moved to surround them.

Lustboy chanted out two syllables. BOOM! An enormous thunderbolt crashed down from the sky, completely flattening two buildings and wiping out more than 100 players in the distance.

Nie Yan climbed up a nearby tower. Sweeping his eyes over the surroundings below, he could observe the general situation in the Karukes Stronghold. His gaze immediately focused on a silhouette dashing through an alley 600 meters away.

Nie Yan’s eyes narrowed. He couldn’t be more familiar with this player. It was the guild leader of Divine Protectors, Divine Flame.

Chapter 693 - Enemies on All Sides

Asskickers United’s ambush caught Divine Protectors completely offguard. In a flash, they slaughtered in the excess of 3,000 enemy players!

All the merchants and ordinary players in Karukes packed up their stuff and hurriedly teleported away with Return Scrolls. This bustling stronghold was evacuated in less than 15 minutes, leaving behind only the people from Divine Protectors.

Lustboy, Tang Yao, and Xie Yao undoubtedly became the nightmare of this stronghold. The frightening destructive might of their spells annihilated all the Divine Protectors players swarming toward them on the streets.

The attack range of these three Magisters were close to 100 meters. Ordinary players had no way of getting anywhere near them. Even if they did manage to close in on the trio, Magisters buffed with Windwalker were incredibly difficult to catch.

A group of Thieves circled in on Xie Yao. They came within 10 meters of her, when she waved her staff and chanted out an incantation.

Stagnant Domain!

All the Thieves in the vicinity froze in their tracks. Their immobilized bodies gradually materialized into view.

They had never encountered this kind of spell before. All of them were affected without exception.

Radiant Judgment!

Xie Yao waved her staff again. An enormous pillar of light crashed down from the sky, striking the dozen Thieves. Their visions turned dark, as their lifeless bodies were sent flying.

Setting up shop in the nearby buildings, Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and Lustboy offered a magic show to all who wanted to see. Naturally, the entry fee was one’s life.

Seeing everyone was enjoying themselves, Nie Yan leaped down from the tower. He disappeared into the alley, heading in Divine Flame’s direction.

「We’re in the Divine Protectors guild headquarters. Divine Flame isn’t here,」Bladelight messaged in the group chat.

「All we found were a few small fry,」Smoke Stub added in a dejected tone. They broke into the Divine Protectors guild headquarters hoping to kill Divine Flame. Yet the place was basically empty.

「No problem. I’ve already found Divine Flame. Leave it to me.」Nie Yan chuckled.

After hearing this, Lei Su, Bladelight, and Smoke Stub no longer worried about this matter. Anyone ever stalked by Nie Yan had never escaped with their lives.

The main hall in the Divine Protectors guild headquarters was quite spacious. Both sides were lined with dozen-meter tall pillars, covered in all sorts of exquisite carvings.

"Hot damn! Divine Protectors really is loaded. I bet they spent a ton of gold making this place look so fancy,” Lei Su remarked, feasting his eyes on the beauty all around.

"This is a Tier 10 guild headquarters. So, they spent at least 150,000 gold on it,” Bladelight said. It wasn’t like Asskickers United didn’t have the funds. But spending so much on the guild headquarters simply wasn’t necessary. After all, it didn’t have any purpose other than being a convenient place for everyone to gather.

This guild headquarters was a landmark of the Karukes Stronghold, Divine Protectors’ symbol.

"I guess we should leave.”

"Not so fast. Let’s wreck this place first!”

"Good idea!”

Lei Su walked up to one of the pillars and threw a punch at it. BOOOM! His fist completely destroyed the pillar, causing the entire hall to tremble and chunks of worked stone to fall down from the ceiling.

Smoke Stub and Bladelight followed suit. After the main supporting pillars were destroyed, cracks began spreading across the walls and ceiling as the hall trembled and groaned. This entire place was about to go down.

At this moment, Lei Su, Smoke Stub, and Bladelight quickly withdrew from the guild headquarters.

...

The southwest square of the Karukes Stronghold, more than several thousand elites from Divine Protectors had gathered here. Standing guard on the perimeter were several enormous summoned creatures.

"Do you have a number yet? With how many did they come?” Divine Flame asked.

"We’ve only discovered 12 so far.”

"What about outside the stronghold? Are there any enemy movements?”

"We haven’t found any enemy forces within Kalond, same with the neighbouring cities.”

Divine Flame sank into deep thought. For Asskickers United to charge in here with only 12 players, did they think the Karukes Stronghold was easy pickings or something?

"Activate the Spatial Lock Domain!” Divine Flame ordered. Advanced Walls had a special effect, and that was the Spatial Lock Domain, which prevented the use of all teleportation items in the stronghold. Like this, Nie Yan’s group had no way of escaping!

As the city’s defenses were activated, a stagnant energy rapidly permeated out. All the magic cannons were aimed at the sky. If Nie Yan’s group tried to escape with their flying mounts, they would be met with a hail of cannonfire. Furthermore, a large number of troops were stationed on the walls. Combined with the countless arrow towers, Nie Yan’s group would be in for a nasty surprise if they believed they could breach the walls and slaughter their way out.

Divine Flame steeled his resolve. He couldn’t allow Nie Yan's group to escape the Karukes Stronghold no matter what. This was Divine Protectors’ main base. If anyone could just break in and walk out like nothing ever happened, what face would they have left?

"Boss, the magic cannons are in position!”

"The arrow towers are ready!”

...

Divine Flame’s lips parted into a cold smile. "I’d like to see how you will get out of this one!” Nie Yan’s group was completely sealed inside the Karukes Stronghold. He acknowledged that no one in Divine Protectors was capable of rivalling Nie Yan and the others one-on-one. However, even if it would cost him every last player at his disposal, he would have their heads today!

At this point, a loud crashing sound rang out. The Divine Protectors guild headquarters had completely collapsed, shaking the entire Karukes Stronghold.

"Boss, our headquarters!”

Divine Flame gazed over at the guild headquarters. All he saw was a giant pile of rubble.

"Nirvana Flame, you bastard! Count on my words, I’ll get you back for this, or my name isn’t Divine Flame! All flying mounts, assemble! I refuse to believe we can’t kill them!” Divine Flame snarled, clenching his fists. Nie Yan’s group had destroyed the symbol of Divine Protectors. This was the greatest humiliation they had ever suffered!

At this moment, Nie Yan had already arrived on the outskirts of the square.

Nie Yan hid behind the corner of an alley and gazed up ahead. Divine Flame and several others entered his eyes.

Seeing this group of people, Nie Yan faintly smiled. "Looks like the whole gang's here, Crazy Magic, Bloodlust Mad Blade, and Heaven Breaker too, huh, all my old enemies gathered together...”

There were more than 3,000 players gathered in this square. Nie Yan couldn’t take action for now. He could only bide his time for a better opportunity.

At this moment, several dozen players from Divine Protectors chanted out incantations and summoned their flying mounts. One after another, they took off in the air.

「Careful, guys. Divine Protectors summoned their flying mounts,」Nie Yan warned. Nie Yan and the others didn’t dare to summon their flying mounts because there were definitely anti-air cannons installed in the Karukes Stronghold. If they summoned their flying mounts, they would become easy targets. In other words, they had no choice but to remain grounded.

「Don’t worry, Boss! Even if their flying mounts come, we’ll still wipe the floor with them!」Lustboy confidently declared. After becoming Masters, they could already take on flying mounts. Even though it posed a certain challenge, at least they wouldn’t be helpless.

Nie Yan wasn’t too worried. Back when he was doing his class advancement quest in the Ancient World, he quickly realized that flying mounts weren’t all that difficult to deal with.

For ordinary players, flying mounts were invincible existences. But to Masters, they were simply overglorified pets. When they were doing their class advancement quests, one of the requirements was to kill high rank monsters. If you couldn’t kill any, you would never become a Master!

Nie Yan shifted his focus back to Divine Flame. Likely, Divine Flame was really hating him right now.

News of Nie Yan and the other 11 appearing in the Karukes Stronghold quickly spread, creating an uproar in the forums. 12 people taking on a guild’s main stronghold alone, perhaps Nie Yan’s group were the only ones who dared to pull such a crazy stunt like this.

The forums were bustling with activity. Everyone wanted to know what was happening in Karukes. News quickly came out that the stronghold was under lock down and Divine Protectors planned to fight a war of attrition. The spectators sucked in a breath of cold air. Though none doubted the strength of 12 Masters, they would certainly be done for now, right?

After learning Nie Yan’s group was trapped, the Monet Financial Group sent all their experts rushing over to the Karukes Stronghold. It was reported the Century Financial Group and Angel Corps also followed suit. Nie Yan’s group was simply too brazen. The formidable might of Master Classes caused these behemoths contending for hegemony to feel an intense sense of danger. So, they all banded together in an attempt to kill Nie Yan’s group in Karukes. They were like a hungry pack of wolves!

Nie Yan still hadn’t found an opportunity to take action. He casually browsed the forums and discovered discussions related to the battle in the Karukes Stronghold had already reached a boiling point.

There were all sorts of posts stickied at the top.

「Karukes Stronghold Under Lockdown, Nirvana Flame Bites Off More Than He Can Chew!」

「Waiting For Nirvana Flame to be Surrounded and Killed.」

...

Nie Yan saw a lot of brigading from Divine Protectors shills. He snorted in disdain. Naturally, there were some Asskickers United players posting too.

「Divine Protectors Guild Headquarters Completely Wrecked!」

「Asskickers United Sweeps Through the Karukes Stronghold!」

…

However, the number of Asskickers United players on the forums were far fewer in number.

Chapter 694 - Death Note

Nie Yan coldly smirked. "For a bunch of cowards who have no real fighting ability to speak of, you’re pretty mouthy online, huh.” Asskickers United was fairly quiet on the forums. Nie Yan was the type of person who spoke with his actions not words, and that trait was unwittingly passed on. Few guild members got into flame wars with others on the forums.

Nie Yan decided to post up his own response on the forums.

「Divine Protectors Death Note - Nirvana Flame」

On the list were the names of Divine Flame, Crazy Magic, Bloodlust Mad Blade, Heaven Breaker, and several other notable characters in Divine Protectors.

Many players were confused after clicking on Nie Yan’s post. They didn’t understand the meaning behind this list. Divine Flame, Crazy Magic, and the others were still well and alive in the Karukes Stronghold, directing their forces to surround and kill Nie Yan’s group.

Even if the post was confusing, because Nie Yan was the poster, many people upvoted it anyway, bumping it up to the top of the front page. Some players on the forums correctly guessed it was a death note. But from their point of view, Nie Yan and company were in a perilous situation themselves. Whether they could make it out alive was still up in the air, let alone if they could kill Divine Flame and the others on this list.

At this moment, Divine Flame dispatched 600 top experts toward the location of Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and the others. The number of players in the square decreased substantially.

"Looks like Nirvana Flame posted something up on the forums,” Crazy Magic said.

Divine Flame checked the forums with a somewhat doubtful look. Seeing Nie Yan’s post, he was immediately enraged. He coldly chuckled. "Nirvana Flame, you bastard. You really are too cocky for your own good. Do you think Karukes is your house or something?” Nie Yan’s intentions were crystal clear. He was so confident in his own skills he even dared to warn them about their impending doom!

"Our names are on here too. Do you think Nirvana Flame will come and try to kill us?” Bloodlust Mad Blade asked. He wanted to see just how Nie Yan planned to do that.

"It’s about time,” Nie Yan said after seeing the drop in the number of people in the square.

Nie Yan retreated back into the alley. Chanting out an incantation, he summoned Lil’ Gold with a flash of light.

Lil’ Gold let out a deep dragon cry and spewed out flames toward the players in the square.

The players closest to Lil’ Gold had no time to react. After being hit by the dragon breath, they wailed out in pain as they were engulfed by the scorching hot flames.

"It’s the Golden Dragon! Nirvana Flame is here!”

The players in the square descended into a panic. The first to react was a group of Fighters. They charged toward Lil’ Gold to block it from advancing.

After noticing the commotion in the corner of the square, Divine Flame and the others turned and looked over. A large golden dragon entered their vision. Their faces paled. Speak of the devil and he shall appear!

Divine Flame, Crazy Magic, and the others glanced at each other in dismay.

Divine Flame put up a bold front and snarled, "He’s only one person! Don’t let him think he can walk all over us! Let’s kill him together!”

Divine Flame glanced at his bag. He had several dozen high level scrolls, totems, and other similar items inside. "I’ll give you guys some scrolls. Use them when the situation calls for it.” He understood catching any trace of Nie Yan was incredibly difficult. Killing him would be an enormous challenge to them. They could only rely on external aid.

Seeing Lil’ Gold wreaking havoc in the square, Divine Flame called over two subordinates and had them summon their flying mounts. Lil’ Gold’s might was known far and wide. Sending ordinary players to deal with him was useless. Not only would they be slaughtered, they had no way of dealing any real damage to him. It’d be no different from throwing their lives away. Only flying mounts could do the job. With the flying mounts keeping him preoccupied and the Mages bombarding him with magic, only then would they have a chance of killing him.

Seeing the two flying mounts were in position, Divine Flame had his subordinates install traps and totems in the vicinity in the hopes of killing Nie Yan.

Lil’ Gold had attracted a lot of attention. The number of players guarding Divine Flame decreased significantly.

Seeing Divine Flame planting something into the ground, Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a red light.

Eyes of Truth!

Surrounding Divine Flame and the others were all sorts of traps and totems. It appeared they were well prepared and ready to catch him off guard.

Nie Yan coldly chuckled. Did they really think he was stupid enough to just walk into their traps?

He took out his Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow. Peering through the scope at Divine Flame standing in the center of the square, he gauged the distance between them was roughly 200 meters. His shooting range was about 120 meters. He planned to kill Divine Flame and the others from afar.

Who said Thieves had to get close to attack? Who said Thieves couldn't kill from afar?

Ordinarily, a Thief’s ranged damage was limited. It could only be used to draw aggro from mobs at best. However, the Reinforced Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow had shattered this norm. A shooting range of 120 meters meant he could completely ignore these traps.

After sweeping through more than 100 players, Lil’ Gold was met with the assault of a Wind Serpent and Thunder Eagle. However, with his astonishing health, he would have no issue holding on for at least 15 minutes.

Nie Yan stealthily approached Divine Flame and the others. The distance between them gradually closed from 200 meters to 120. He was already within attack range! There were a dozen players standing only a few meters from him. They vigilantly looked around at their surroundings, oblivious to his presence.

With their Awareness, even if Nie Yan approached within two meters, they still wouldn’t notice him.

After setting up the traps, Divine Flame and the others still hadn’t discovered Nie Yan. They swept their eyes over the entire square.

"Do you think he chickened out?” Bloodlust Mad Blade finally asked.

"No.” Divine Flame shook his head. "Knowing his personality, he definitely won’t give up so easily.” He was extremely nervous right now. His plan had to succeed! But if it didn’t… he was already coming up with countless different ways to kill Nie Yan.

Seeing Nie Yan still hadn’t taken action, Divine Flame had his players gradually withdraw. He knew these people were nothing more than cannon fodder. If Nie Yan still didn’t appear, all the traps he set up here would go to waste.

Divine Flame slightly lowered his guard and turned around to have a word with Crazy Magic and the others. In this fleeting moment, Nie Yan took aim at his throat and pulled the trigger.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Five bolts flew out toward Divine Flame.

After attacking, Nie Yan’s stealth was dispelled as he gradually materialized. However, before the nearby players could react, he reentered stealth and dashed several dozen meters away. He grabbed five more bolts from his bag, reloaded the crossbow, and pulled the trigger again. All of this was done in one fluid movement.

Seeing Nie Yan’s silhouette flash by, the players from Divine Protectors quickly cast Illuminate, Eyes of the Divine, and other similar skills to find him. However, it was like he had vanished into thin air. There wasn’t a trace of him anywhere.

"Divine Flame, watch out!” Crazy Magic shouted.

Divine Flame turned around. Seeing the five bolts flying towards him, his heart tightened. Put put put! The bolts struck the barrier he had installed around him. After the third bolt, the barrier distorted, allowing the fourth and fifth bolt to pass through.

Radiant Barrier!

Divine Flame waved his staff, protecting himself with a magic shield. Put put! This second barrier was also pierced through, and the fifth bolt struck him.

−6,332

"What is this damage!?” Divine Flame felt a cold sweat run down his neck.

His barrier reduced all incoming damage by 70%. However, Nie Yan’s bolt had still dealt well over 6,000 damage to him. This was quite simply unbelievable!

Divine Flame felt a cold sweat behind his neck.

Weren’t the crossbows of Thieves supposed to be weak?

Qin Han had previously been killed by Nie Yan’s crossbow. However, he didn’t have the face to mention this to Divine Flame, or anyone else for that matter. So, they were completely unaware of Nie Yan’s frightening ranged damage, leaving them caught off guard.

Before Divine Flame could recover from his daze, another five bolts were coming straight at him.

"Boss, careful!” A nearby Warrior jumped in front of Divine Flame to block the attack.

Put put put!

−11,818
−10,142
−23,099!

The Warrior was instantly killed.

The Warrior couldn’t comprehend his death. It was only three bolts. Why was the damage so high?

Nie Yan never stopped firing. It all went incredibly fast. Load, shoot, move, load, shoot… he never missed a beat.

Several players beside Divine Flame had jumped out in front of the bolts to protect him and were killed one after the other.

Seeing three bolts flying towards his forehead, Divine Flame quickly rolled out of the way. The bolts flew inches away from his head, causing his scalp to go numb. He had just barely survived this brush with death.

Before Divine Flame could climb back to his feet, several more bolts came flying over. He couldn’t help but curse in his heart, What the hell kind of firing rate is this!?

Nie Yan was firing from more than 100 meters away. So, there was still some time between the attacks, just enough to evade. If Nie Yan was even a bit closer, he would’ve already died.

Just as he was about to be hit, Divine Flame swung his head away. Two bolts brushed past his cheeks.

"Fuc-” Divine Flame cursed. But before he could get the words out, a bolt pierced his throat. Then another pierced his forehead and came out the back of his head. The powerful force behind the arrows sent his body flying back.

−8,921
−17,382!

Two damage numbers floated up above Divine Flame’s head. His health fell to zero, and he collapsed to the ground.

Divine Flame’s sudden death left Crazy Magic and the others dumbstruck.

Nie Yan cracked an evil smile. "That’s one!” He entered back in stealth and disappeared without a trace.

Chapter 695 - Casualties

A Thief wasn’t a Demon Hunter. Why was Nie Yan’s ranged damage so powerful!?

Nie Yan had killed Divine Flame too quickly. Two bolts was all it took, both hitting in practically the same instant. The Priests had no time to react.

"Shit. The boss died! Everybody, don’t let Nirvana Flame escape!”

The players from Divine Protectors surrounded Nie Yan, or at least his last known location, but they still couldn’t catch him.

Nie Yan would only pop out for the briefest second when least expected, fire out a volley of bolts, then disappear back into stealth like some sort of phantom. Even if Nie Yan emerged in front of them, they wouldn’t have the time to react.

"We can’t stop him! Should we retreat?” Crazy Magic asked. If they continued lingering around here, they would only end up as target practice for Nie Yan.

"If we leave, we’ll become laughingstocks. We’ll be called spineless cowards!” Bloodlust Mad Blade refused.

"At least we’ll have our lives!” Crazy Magic anxiously yelled. Just as he spoke out these words, five bolts flew toward the back of his head.

"Crazy!” Bloodlust Mad Blade yelled.

Crazy Magic hurriedly blinked away, evading the attack. Just as his feet touched the ground, another volley of bolts flew toward his back. Put put put! He was turned into swiss cheese as the bolts pierced right through him. Blood dripping from his mouth, he staggered unsteadily before collapsing on the ground.

Seeing Crazy Magic drop dead, Bloodlust Mad Blade couldn’t help but curse. Right now only he and Heaven Breaker remained alive. They couldn’t escape with Unknown Transfer Scrolls or Return Scrolls. Originally, the Spatial Lock Domain was meant to trap Nie Yan’s group. Who would’ve thought they would end up falling victim to it instead!

"That makes two.” Nie Yan chuckled while hidden in stealth. His gaze locked onto Bloodlust Mad Blade and Heaven Breaker. "You two are next!”

It didn’t take long for news of Divine Flame’s death to spread. The forums went into an uproar.

「Nirvana Flame really killed Divine Flame? No way, right?」

「It’s confirmed. The information came from my friends in Divine Protectors!」

…

Shortly after, word of Crazy Magic’s death spread too.

Players checked Nie Yan’s post on the forums. The list had actually been updated, with Divine Flame and Crazy Magic’s names crossed out. They’d been killed. Only the original poster could edit their own posts. Nie Yan even had the leisure to spend time on the forums! This made it seem like assassinating Divine Flame and Crazy Magic was a walk in the park. Sure enough, Shadow Dancers were something else.

Before long, more information came out. It turned out Divine Flame and Crazy Magic had been killed by Nie Yan’s crossbow. No one knew what to think of this, it exceeded all of their expectations. They would never again underestimate the ranged power of a Thief!

「The post just got updated again!」

Several minutes later, following Divine Flame and Crazy Magic, Bloodlust Mad Blade, Heaven Breaker, and several other notable players of Divine Protectors had been crossed out from the list as well. Nie Yan was killing people at an astonishing pace. Over half the people on the list had been killed within 30 minutes.

The players on the forums sighed in admiration. Sure enough, Divine Protectors was no match for Asskickers United. Even with so many people, they couldn’t do anything to Nirvana Flame.

At this moment, Nie Yan surveyed his surroundings. He had already taken out most of the players on his list. Putting away his crossbow, he headed for the edge of the square.

Under the assault of the two flying mounts, Lil’ Gold was starting to falter. With countless spells bombarding him, his health had already been chipped away to only 20%.

The Wind Serpent and Thunder Hawk firmly locked down Lil’ Gold, not allowing him any opportunity to attack.

Nie Yan activated Gale Step. He flitted across the square and pounced toward the Wind Serpent.

The rider of the Wind Serpent was a Mage. He had his Wind Serpent dive down. BANG! It swung its tail at Lil’ Gold, causing him to stagger back.

"This Golden Dragon is way too god damn tanky!” the Mage cried out in exasperation. He had never met such a doughty pet before. Lil’ Gold’s battle prowess was comparable to a flying mount, not to mention he had a wide array of passive and active skills. Just what did Nirvana Flame feed him?

The Mage suddenly felt a cold chill behind his neck. His heart tightened. What-

Before the Mage could react, Nie Yan appeared behind him. With a Cut Throat, Zennarde’s Sword drew a red arc across his throat. An instant kill.

Sensing the death of its master, the Wind Serpent started wildly flailing in an attempt to throw Nie Yan off.

Nie Yan brandished Zennarde’s Sword and ruthlessly stabbed the Wind Serpent in the neck. PSSHFT! It easily pierced through the scales and flesh.

Lacerate!

Nie Yan twisted his wrist and drove Zennarde’s Sword deeper. A large wound was opened on the Wind Serpent’s back, a fountain of blood gushing out. It wailed out in pain. The more it struggled, the worse and the larger the wound grew.

At this moment, the Paladin riding the Thunder Eagle finally noticed something off. Seeing Nie Yan mutilating the Wind Serpent, he was scared out of his wits. Nie Yan was the monster he feared most. The thought of fighting never even crossed his mind. He had his flying mount turn around and flee.

"Want to run? Not so easy!” Nie Yan’s eyes flickered with a cold light. He shot out a web line at the fleeing Thunder Eagle. With a hard tug, he took to the air and flew 50 meters before landing on its back.

Nie Yan shot forward and slashed down with Zennarde’s Sword, instantly killing the Paladin. He then struck the Thunder Eagle’s back with Backbreaker, a Rank 18 skill. The flames shrouding his blade flared out brightly. KRAACKT! The Thunder Eagle’s spine was snapped in half. It let out a mournful screech, plunging down from the sky and crashing into the ground.

Several unlucky players couldn’t get away in time and were directly crushed under the Thunder Eagle’s large body. They didn’t even get a chance to scream before transforming into rays of light.

Nie Yan stood atop the Thunder Eagle’s corpse and swept his eyes over the square. Seeing his eyes brimming with killing intent, the crowd of players from Divine Protectors lost all confidence to attack and instead turned tail and fled away.

Nie Yan pulled up Divine Recruitment and summoned Paladin Lafus.

Lafus raised his sword in the air and cast several Radiant Heals, restoring Lil’ Gold’s health back to full.

With renewed vigour, Lil’ Gold gave chase after the players running for their lives.

A one-sided slaughter started taking place.

The entire Karukes Stronghold was in chaos. The casualties on the side of Divine Protectors was rapidly rising. Bladelight, Lei Su, and Smoke Stub had slaughtered their way up five arrow towers and destroyed them. The five casters hadn’t sat idly by either. Casting AoE spells, they killed players in droves.

Divine Flame and the others revived in the graveyard.

「What’s the situation right now?」Divine Flame anxiously asked.

「Boss, we’ve already suffered more than 10,000 casualties! Their magic is too damn powerful!」

「Shit! What about our flying mounts?」Divine Flame cursed in a dejected tone. Nie Yan’s group only consisted of 12 people. Yet why did he feel so powerless against them?

「We’ve lost five so far.」

Divine Flame’s heart sank. Even flying mounts weren’t a match for Nie Yan and the others. Just how did they do it?「Send over the videos!」

After a while, Divine Flame received several videos. The first was of Nie Yan killing the Wind Serpent and Thunder Eagle. His movements were a complete blur. Looking over at another video, Smoke Stub had evaded the dive of a Griffon and slashed down with his greatsword, running his blade through its upper body. Afterwards, Lei Su and Bladelight finished it off. In another video, a Wyvern had encountered Black Hell, Lustboy, and Young Sparrow Hawk. Black Hell immobilized it with Shadow Bind, causing it to crash down from the sky. Then Lustboy and Young Sparrow Hawk blasted it to death with magic. Finally, an Achlys Dragonfly was shot down from the sky by Yao Yao and Young Seven.

This group of players was way too overpowered!

Even if all the defenses in the Karukes Stronghold were activated, it wasn’t built to contain monsters like Nie Yan.

「God dammit! Blast them with the cannons! I want them dead no matter what it takes!」Divine Flame roared.

「We’ll end up hurting our own people!」

「I don’t give a shit!」

「Boss, Soaring Angel is flying over here with a group of 20+ players. He’s requesting we cooperate with him,」a player reported.

「Fine, listen to his commands!」

「Understood!」

Nie Yan’s group was wreaking havoc and destruction in the Karukes Stronghold. The players from Divine Protectors retreated into the arrow towers, cannon towers, and other relatively safe places and started firing the cannons and ballista at Nie Yan’s group. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Every barrage of cannonfire shook the entire stronghold.

「Watch out, guys. Don’t let yourself get hit by the cannons,」Nie Yan warned. A direct blast from a cannon, and even tanky Warriors like Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su would instantly die.

Shells flew left and right in the Karukes Stronghold, whistling across the air. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The ground violently shook with every explosion, causing many people to lose their balance.

「Lei Su and Bladelight died,」Smoke Stub suddenly reported in a grave tone.

Nie Yan’s heart sank.「How did that happen?」

With Lei Su and Bladelight’s strength, who could possibly kill them!?

「It was Soaring Angel! We were caught off guard!」Smoke Stub said. When they were breaking into an arrow tower, they had suffered an ambush. Soaring Angel had come prepared. He had several Mages lock the three of them down with formations. If Lei Su and Bladelight hadn’t covered for him, he too would be dead right now.

「That bastard’s here too!?」Nie Yan’s expression turned cold. Angel Corps had actually come too! Soaring Angel had also become a Master. Plus, he had brought along many Level 100+ elites. If they really went all out, killing Bladelight and Lei Su was indeed possible.

Nie Yan pounded his fist against a nearby wall. He was incredibly vexed. These were the first casualties they had suffered since the start of the battle in the Karukes Stronghold.

Chapter 696 - Lost Longbow of Sorodin

Not only did Angel Corps arrive much earlier than expected, but their movements had also gone completely undetected by Asskickers United.

It appeared Soaring Angel had spared no efforts for the sake of killing Nie Yan and the others.

Soaring Angely was currently one of only two Masters in the entire Satreen Empire. Add on the fact that he had ambushed Lei Su, Bladelight, and Smoke Stub with more than 20 top experts from Angel Corps, and it was no surprise he succeeded.

One of the major reasons Asskickers United could produce so many Masters so quickly was that Nie Yan had provided detailed information on class advancing. Soaring Angel had class advanced relying solely on his own strength. The fact he was the number one player in the Satreen Empire in the previous timeline wasn’t without merit. Of course, it wasn’t simply because of skill. Soaring Angel was the guild leader of Angel Corps, allowing him to monopolize all the good things in the guild for himself. This was also a crucial point.

「Smoke Stub, hurry and retreat. Everyone, gather at the coordinates 385.283.209!」Nie Yan said. Soaring Angel and his forces had appeared in the Karukes Stronghold. If they continued to act separately, they would be easily picked off one by one. So, Nie Yan had them all group up.

The Karukes Stronghold had already been turned into a hot mess. Even though the deaths of Bladelight and Lei Su was a blow to Asskickers United, Divine Protectors had taken a hit they might never fully recover from. Nie Yan counted it a victory.

However, since the goal was already accomplished, Nie Yan couldn’t allow for any more casualties!

As for Bladelight and Lei Su’s grievances, there would undoubtedly come plenty of opportunities in the future to get their revenge.

After hearing Nie Yan’s command, Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and the others all headed to the designated coordinates.

The other nine were safe and sound. Nie Yan looked around the square. There were still at least 1,000 players here, all of whom were elites of Divine Protectors. Such a juicy slab of meat, he felt it would be a waste to pass it up.

Nie Yan had Lil’ Gold take the vanguard. Lil’ Gold chanted out several words in the dragon language and sent a giant meteor crashing down toward the nearby enemy players.

BOOOM! In the aftermath of the explosion, wailing sounds of pain and misery sounded out. Most players who got hit died instantly, transforming into rays of light.

The Warriors no longer dared to surround Lil’ Gold anymore. Every time they attacked him, he would erupt with Explosive Counters. After falling victim to this skill several times, Divine Protectors suffered heavy losses.

Paladin Lafus and Lil’ Gold worked together flawlessly. Lil’ Gold was wildly slaughtering the enemy at the forefront while Lafus continuously healed him from the back, occasionally killing a few players that charged toward him.

The players from Divine Protectors were slowly being overwhelmed.

In another 20 minutes, all the Divine Protectors players here would be wiped out!

Nie Yan checked his team window. Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and the other seven had already regrouped with each other. He could finally rest easy. With nine Masters working together, even Soaring Angel wouldn’t dare to do anything against them!

While Nie Yan was clashing with the players from Divine Protectors, a group of people appeared in an alley near the edge of the square. It was Soaring Angel and his forces!

「Boss, over there. It’s Nirvana Flame!」a Thief reported to Soaring Angel. Three Thieves had already snuck into the square and were eyeing Nie Yan.

Soaring Angel was hiding behind a house. Looking over to the center of the square, he spotted Nie Yan standing behind Lafus and Lil’ Gold.

「Boss, are we making a move?」a Warrior in dark gold armour asked. He was Angel Corps’ number one Warrior, Stone Splitter.

Apart from Stone Splitter, many other famous experts from Angel Corps were present. There were a total of 27 players, all of whom were Level 100+.

Angel Corps was the number one guild in the Satreen Empire. Their strength wasn’t to be looked down on. Even though they didn’t have as many Masters as Asskickers United, they had many players who had the potential to class advance. If the 27 of them couldn’t achieve anything while working together, they wouldn’t have the face to meet anyone.

"Where are the others?” Soaring Angel asked. He knew Nie Yan was a tough nut to crack. Even if the 27 of them didn’t need to fear him, killing him was another story altogether. Shadow Dancers were too fast. If he wanted to run, there was nothing they could do to stop him.

"Asskickers United’s other nine Masters are in the eastern district of the stronghold.”

"The nine of them are all grouped together?” Soaring Angel asked.

"Yes.”

Soaring Angel knitted his brows. Nine Masters were extremely difficult to deal with. When the 27 of them had ambushed Bladelight, Lei Su, and Smoke Stub earlier, even holding nothing back, they had still lost two people, not to mention Smoke Stub had broken out of their encirclement and escaped. This kind of result was far from satisfactory. If they tried to face nine Masters simultaneously, one could imagine the outcome. All 27 of them might even end up being completely wiped out. Only Nie Yan was off by himself. They could only try their luck and see if they could kill him.

"Stone Splitter, you take three people to deal with that Paladin Lafus. Piao Lin, you take Luo Bai and the other 10 Mages to bring down the Golden Dragon! As for the rest, come with me to kill Nirvana Flame! Everyone be careful. Our opponent is Nirvana Flame. Always stay in groups of four, and don’t stray more than five meters from any teammate!” Soaring Angel said in a grave tone. This wasn’t the first time they clashed. He was well aware of Nie Yan’s strength. They only had this one opportunity to kill Nie Yan. If this ambush failed, it would be gone.

Soaring Angel sent Divine Flame a message, requesting Crazy Magic to aid him with the magic cannons.

After receiving Soaring Angel’s request, Divine Flame hesitated. These cannons were their most formidable defense. No one and nothing could survive their power. If they were aimed at the center of the stronghold, all for the sake of killing a single player, the collateral damage would be immense. However, it was already too late to turn back now. He gritted his teeth and agreed.

Soaring Angel had helped Divine Protectors regain a bit of face by killing two Masters from Asskickers United. Perhaps they really could kill Nirvana Flame!

If they could kill Nirvana Flame, even if the Karukes Stronghold had to be rebuilt from scratch, it would be worth it!

Soaring Angel obtained authority over all the cannons in the Karukes Stronghold. He calculated the shooting ranges. A total of five cannons were capable of firing into the square. He immediately ordered Divine Protectors to focus the aim of those five cannons on the square.

He would make sure Nirvana Flame wouldn’t leave here alive!

While Nie Yan was directing Lil’ Gold to kill the players in the square, he suddenly received a call from Guo Huai. If Guo Huai was messaging him at this time, it was definitely important. He quickly answered.

「Nie Yan, run! Soaring Angel and his forces are in your area. Divine Protectors’ cannons are also aimed at you! If you don’t leave now, it’ll be too late!」Guo Huai anxiously warned. No matter how strong a player was, they couldn’t withstand the blast from a cannon!

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. As he looked around the square, he spotted a silhouette standing near the entrance of an alley. It was Soaring Angel!

Soaring Angel had already swapped to an entirely new set of equipment since last time they met. Clad in violet gold leather armour, he wielded a large golden longbow. It was about two meters in length and sparkled with a dazzling radiance.

Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with surprise. "It’s the Lost Longbow of Sorodin!”

This longbow was incredibly famous in his past life. It was a Level 100 Legendary bow with an astonishing shooting range of 200 meters. It also had a special tracking arrow skill that could pursue a target. Even if the target entered stealth, it would still follow them. It could be described as the nemesis of Thieves. Soaring Angel had prepared this longbow especially for him!

Soaring Angel didn’t exchange pleasantries. The moment he stepped into the square, he notched his bow with three arrows. He pulled the string to full draw and released his hand. Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Three arrows streaked toward Nie Yan.

Nie Yan looked around. There were more than 20 Angel Corps players closing in towards him.

These players had cut off all escape routes. Even though Nie Yan could escape, he had no time to recall Lil’ Gold or Paladin Lafus.

Nie Yan braced his hand against the ground and rolled out of the way, traversing six meters and evading the three arrows. However, Soaring Angel’s attack didn’t stop there. He kept pulling out arrows from his bag. Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Golden blurs streaked through the air. His firing rate was even faster than Nie Yan’s. After all, he was a marksman class. Nie Yan naturally couldn’t compete with Soaring Angel in his own speciality.

Nie Yan swiftly dodged. He had no choice but to employ the shadow steps footwork, avoiding more than a dozen arrows. Even though he had no issue dodging, he had no way of doing anything else.

Seeing Soaring Angel repeatedly firing his bow in the distance, his hands moving at an astonishing speed, Nie Yan inwardly thought, This guy really does have some skill with the bow.

Nine Star Alignment!

Soaring Angel shot out three volleys of three arrows at a lightning quick speed. Nine arrows flew out toward Nie Yan.

When the arrows closed in, they suddenly changed directions and flew toward his waist.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He couldn’t avoid the strange movements of these arrows with shadow steps. He hurriedly activated Gale Step. Ding ding ding! The brief invincibility blocked three arrows.

Nie Yan dodged to the side, covering some distance. As he glanced back, the six remaining arrows hadn’t fallen to the ground. Instead, they looped around in mid-air, then continued chasing after him.

This was the special ability of the Lost Longbow of Sorodin!

Chapter 697 - Forbidden Lightning Magic

Nie Yan swiftly retreated. At the same time, his gaze locked onto the arrows flying toward him.

With a well-timed slash, Nie Yan knocked three arrows out the air.

The remaining three arrows were about to hit Nie Yan. In this life or death moment, he activated Shadow Waltz.

Ding ding ding! After striking Nie Yan, the three arrows fell to the ground, blocked by the brief invincibility from Shadow Waltz.

This was Nie Yan’s first time dealing with Soaring Angel’s tracking arrow ability, and he had wasted two life-saving skills. This kind of outcome was far from satisfactory.

While Nie Yan was preoccupied evading Soaring Angel’s arrows, the other players from Angel Corps also jumped into action.

Over a dozen players closed in on Nie Yan. They were all in groups of five. The Priests waved their staffs, sending orbs of light into the sky which illuminated the ground below. The Paladins also activated their Eyes of the Divine.

"Nirvana Flame is over there!”

"Damn, he’s so fast!”

Just as they discovered Nie Yan, they lost track of him again!

Nie Yan glanced back at the enemy. These Angel Corps players were really something. They stuck to parties of five, and every member was no more than five meters from each other. Additionally, each group had a Priest and Paladin with them. It was very difficult to find an opening to attack. He was familiar with many of these players. In the previous timeline, they were all heaven defying, world famous experts of Angel Corps. He had watched many of their videos countless times over and knew they were a tough bunch to deal with.

Elsewhere in the square, Stone Splitter and three other Warriors surrounded Paladin Lafus, locking him down and preventing him from moving.

The six Mages swiftly surrounded Lil’ Gold, each of them taking a different point. Leylines lit up on the ground, forming an enormous hexagram formation.

Seeing the scene in the distance, Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Those Mages wanted to lock down Lil’ Gold with a Hexagram Binding Formation!

He was familiar with the might of this formation. If it was used correctly, it could lock down a boss for up to half an hour!

Just as the formation was about to take shape, Nie Yan had Lil’ Gold charge forward and swipe down at one of the Mages with his claws.

Afraid for his life, the Mage hurriedly blinked away.

The formation was broken for the time being.

The six Mages hurriedly shifted their positions, creating another hexagram formation on the ground.

One of the advantages of this formation was that it was quite flexible.

Lil’ Gold’s attack struck air. He let out a ferocious roar and spewed out scorching hot flames.

A Mage chanted out an incantation. Just as he was about to complete the formation with the others, Lil’ Gold caught him off guard with the Dragon Breath. He had no time to dodge.

BANG! The Mage was sent flying by the breath attack before crashing into the ground.

Lil’ Gold’s frightening attacks weren’t something these Mages could endure.

"Dammit! Lime died. Rainbow, you’re up!” Luo Bai anxiously called.

Immediately, another Mage ran up and took his fallen comrade’s place. This time they didn’t dare to be so careless. Lil’ Gold’s powerful attacks left them shaking in their boots. They definitely couldn’t allow themselves to be hit by his Dragon Breath, or else they would be killed without a shadow of a doubt!

The six Mages adjusted their positions again. After 20 seconds, a golden formation formed around Lil’ Gold. It slowly shrank before binding him in place, leaving him unable to move.

「Boss! We locked down the Golden Dragon, but Lime ended up dying,」Luo Bai reported.

「What happened? Stick to the plan and withdraw,」Soaring Angel said in a depressed tone. They had actually lost a person. Nie Yan could still revive his Golden Dragon. All he would take was a slight loss in loyalty, which could quickly be raised back up. On the other hand, they had lost a top expert who would require countless hours of grinding to regain the experience lost. The trade off definitely wasn’t worth it.

After completing the formation, the Mages quickly retreated. Just as Nie Yan was about to order Lil’ Gold to break out of the formation, he heard several sharp sounds in the air. His face paled. As he looked up, he saw five cannons firing at the square.

Lil’ Gold struggled wildly to no avail. He couldn’t break free from its constraints. Five shells arced through the sky and landed in the square. Two directly struck Lil’ Gold while three landed in his vicinity. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! He was engulfed in flames.

Nie Yan received a notification. He looked down to check.

Lil’ Gold has died.

"Bastards!” Nie Yan clenched Zennarde’s Sword, the veins in his hand bulging out. Finally, he relaxed his grip. He had lost a pet while Angel Corps had lost a top expert. He had come out on top in this trade. Angel Corps had the overwhelming advantage in numbers, and they were all top experts. It would be naive to think he could come out of this unscathed.

After killing Lil’ Gold, the Mages shifted their sights on Lafus. Hidden in stealth, Nie Yan chanted out an incantation and recalled Paladin Lafus.

"Boss, Nirvana Flame escaped,” Stone Splitter said. They could no longer find any traces of him.

"Dammit! What a rat bastard! So quick to run!”

Knowing Nie Yan was gone, the Angel Corps group no longer felt as much pressure, somewhat relaxing their guard.

"You guys, stay vigilant! Make sure not to stray too far away from one another!” Soaring Angel warned in a deep tone. Even though it appeared Nie Yan had left, he could just as well be hiding in the shadows right next to them. He couldn’t let his guard down yet. Nie Yan wouldn’t give up this easily. Probably when they least expected it, he would launch a ruthless counterattack on them. With Nie Yan’s strength, it was extremely difficult to guard against his ambushes.

Nie Yan was lingering on the outskirts of the square. Hidden in stealth, he was searching for an opening to launch an ambush. But Angel Corps was too cautious. They summoned their flying mounts and took to the air, taking away all possibilities of an ambush.

It seemed like Soaring Angel had learned his lesson. If they continued moving around on the ground, Nie Yan would’ve found an opportunity to assassinate one or two of them. However, if they left on their flying mounts, there was nothing he could do.

Seeing Soaring Angel and his group disappearing behind the horizon, Nie Yan clenched his fist. "This time you’ve come to the Viridian Empire. Next time I’ll be paying you a visit in the Satreen Empire. We’ll see who’s more ruthless!”

「Guys, we’re withdrawing,」Nie Yan ordered. Staying in the Karukes Stronghold any longer would be dangerous. They would likely suffer even more ambushes. They had run amok here and slaughtered more than 10,000 enemies. Their achievements were quite impressive. Even though they had lost two players and Lil’ Gold in the process, this was still well within the acceptable range.

Nie Yan and the others prepared to storm out of the Karukes Stronghold through the main entrance.

The 10 of them quickly approached the main entrance. There were numerous arrow towers up ahead. Divine Protectors had set up extremely tight defenses here.

"Boss, I’ll cast a Forbidden Spell and blow them all away,” Lustboy said. After receiving Nie Yan’s approval, he found a suitable spot behind a building. He waved his staff and started chanting.

Lustboy chanted out one syllable after another. Electricity started enveloping his body, as he slowly floated up in the air.

After 20 sets of syllables, black clouds blotted out the sky as gale winds howled. The clouds rumbled and crackled with electricity. 10 enormous lightning pillars came crashing down, linking the heavens to the earth.

Lustboy manipulated the pillars toward the arrow towers near the stronghold entrance.

The players guarding the arrow towers descended into panic. They felt the electricity in the air. Gazing at the 10 pillars in the distance, they felt an enormous pressure weighing down on them. Everything that came into contact with these pillars was flattened and annihilated into nothing, like the 10 fingers of a thunder god clawing through the earth.

"Everyone, run! It’s a lightning-type Forbidden Magic!”

The players in the arrow towers scattered in all directions. As the 10 lightning pillars came sweeping over, they destroyed the dozen or so arrow towers in front of them. The lightning pillars didn’t stop there and continued moving forward, colliding into the walls. The walls rumbled and trembled as 10 uniformly sized rifts were carved into them.

The 10 lightning pillars continued moving forward before slowly disappearing, the gloomy skies eventually clearing back up.

"Boss, we can leave now.” Lustboy put down his staff. This was his first time casting a wide area offensive spell. He was quite pleased with the result.

"This Forbidden Magic is pretty amazing,” Nie Yan remarked. Though the area of effect was smaller compared to other Forbidden Spells, Lustboy’s was more concentrated with greater destructive power. No wonder it required 20 sets of syllables to cast.

Divine Flame tried in vain to use the arrow towers to stop Nie Yan’s group from leaving. However, the 10 of them easily left from the main entrance of the Karukes Stronghold.

When Divine Flame and the rest revived and returned to the Karukes Stronghold, Nie Yan’s group had long since departed. The stronghold was a mess. The walls were completely destroyed, and the arrow towers had collapsed into ruin. The destruction left behind by the Forbidden Magic caused their hearts to tremble in fear.

Divine Flame started cleaning up the mess with a heavy heart. He previously thought Divine Protectors was standing on top of the world. Now, they couldn’t even protect their own home.

Chapter 698 - Great Prophet’s Fiefdom

Nie Yan’s group arrived back at the Cripps Stronghold. After learning they had returned victorious, Asskickers United’s chat exploded with excitement.

「Divine Protectors had the floor wiped with them! Let’s see them try to act arrogant again in the future!」

「Right! Remember when Divine Protectors joined up with Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Angel Corps in attacking us at the Cripps Stronghold? They killed so many of our brothers. Now they’ve gotten a taste of their own medicine! Just thinking about it is so damn satisfying!」

The battle in the Karukes Stronghold greatly boosted morale. Even though several strongholds were under siege by Qin Han’s skeleton army, the players from Asskickers United weren’t disheartened. They would surely achieve victory!

Divine Protectors suffered a huge setback. With the Karukes Stronghold being trampled over, their prestige hit rock bottom. Many players no longer had the face to continue wearing the guild emblem. In a short five days, more than 60,000 withdrew. This was great news for Asskickers United.

Nie Yan was coordinating all the various guilds in the alliance in repelling the skeleton army, when he suddenly received a report from Guo Huai. Penumbra Empire had leaked out that Qin Han was in the middle of building a large siege force. Qin Han had hired thousands of production class players from various places, dividing them up into several dozen teams. They were frantically rushing out siege engines. Something big was about to happen.

「How many siege weapons can they produce on a daily base?」

「I estimate about seven or eight,」Guo Huai replied. The Monet Financial Group’s production output definitely couldn’t compare with Asskickers United’s. In the time the Monet Financial Group produced 10 catapults, Asskickers United would have produced more than 30.

「I see. Let’s compete with them. We’ll also pick up the pace. Focus all our resources on building catapults and magic cannons!」

「Understood. But we’re still lacking resources.」

「Stock up on more from the marketplace. As for gold, I’ll think of a way. Just to confirm, this leak was from Penumbra Empire?」Nie Yan asked.

「Yes, Eternal Sin told us directly. He’s providing us some really good intel lately. I’m guessing he wants to defect from Qin Han’s side,」Guo Huai said.

Nie Yan sank into deep thought. Eternal Sin’s intentions were unclear. If he could get Penumbra Empire to defect, the Monet Financial Group would take a heavy blow. He suddenly had an idea.「Have Tang Yao, Xie Yao, Lustboy, and the others pay a visit to the strongholds of Divine Protectors and God Executioner Sword. Tell them to go in, accomplish their assignments, and get out. We can’t have them get caught. Apart from Penumbra Empire’s all the strongholds under the guilds affiliated with the Monet Financial Group are fair game.」

Hearing Nie Yan’s words, Guo Huai knitted his brow. However, he suddenly realized something, and his expression relaxed. He faintly smiled.「I understand. I’ll let them know immediately!」

Nie Yan’s plan was clear. He would have his people continually harass the strongholds of the guilds under the Monet Financial Group, save for Penumbra Empire. He would also spread a rumour that he and Eternal Sin shared a bit of friendship. Like this, before long Qin Han would have a hard time not suspecting Eternal Sin.

After receiving Nie Yan’s orders, Tang Yao, Lustboy, and the others excitedly set out. They were happy to carry out this kind of work.

Over the next few days, the guilds under the Monet Financial Group received attacks from everywhere. Tang Yao, Lustboy, and the others would break into a stronghold, wreak havoc and destruction, then quickly get out before the Monet Financial Group’s elites could arrive. The Monet Financial Group and all its subsidiary guilds suffered heavy losses, with the exception of Penumbra Empire. For some reason, they were never targeted.

Nie Yan had already planted the seeds of doubt. Before long, they would sprout.

Over the next several days, Asskickers United lost another 10 strongholds. However, they didn’t go down cheaply. Qin Han lost more than 1,300,000 skeletons in the process.

As time passed on, Nie Yan gradually sensed the moment for a full-out counterattack was approaching.

Nie Yan made ample preparations. On the seventh day, he received a notification.

Great Prophet, after an emergency meeting between the Satreen Empire and Viridian Empire, you have been granted the Abernathy Great Grasslands to the north of the Morogo Mountains. Your territory is under protection for three months. Anyone that attacks it will become an enemy of both empires. Please report to the Elder Council within the next 10 days to receive your fiefdom.

After receiving this notification, Nie Yan was dumbstruck. When he first received the Great Prophet title, Jebiah the Great didn’t mention anything about a fiefdom. Not to mention, he was previously convinced that players couldn’t receive a territory. That the rumours about it were just that, rumours. Who would’ve thought it was actually real!

It turned out land was only rewarded after both empires had come to an agreement.

Nie Yan was unfamiliar with the Abernathy Great Grasslands. He searched it up online.

The Abernathy Great Grasslands was on the border between the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire. This place was an extremely vast grassland, which was home to six tribes. The human and orc tribes each occupied the two largest territories. Occasionally, there was some friction, but the situation was generally peaceful. The region was extremely large, roughly the size of the territory of Calore. There were about 70 village sized tribal settlements dotting it.

As the lord of the territory, Nie Yan could freely construct towns, strongholds, and other settlements. He could also hire the natives there to fight for him and establish his own NPC army. Furthermore, the Abernathy Great Grasslands was rich with minerals, with more than 70 basic ore deposits, 30 intermediate ones, and 10 advanced ones. These ore deposits all belonged to Nie Yan. If other players tried to excavate them, they would be arrested by the NPC guards for theft. He could also freely construct quarries and hire NPC Miners to help him harvest them.

Apart from this, the Abernathy Great Grasslands also became Asskickers United’s bridgehead for attacking Angel Corps since it was only a two-hour’s journey from Angel Corps occupied territory.

Nie Yan still had to report to the Elder Council to receive his land. After receiving it, both empires would support him with getting his feet off the ground by giving him protection for three months. During this time, other guilds weren’t allowed to attack his territory. He would definitely make good use of this time.

Looking over the map of the Abernathy Great Grasslands online, Nie Yan already had a plan in mind. But first, he would have to gather an enormous sum of gold to develop this land and hire a large number of NPCs to build his army. This was a great undertaking.

Nie Yan looked forward to the future growth of his territory.

However, there was no point in rushing. He would have to carefully plan out every next step to prevent any mishaps from happening. Nie Yan checked the clock. There wasn’t much time left in the day. He logged out of the game.

Right now was the middle of a long vacation. Apart from some fourth years, everyone else had holidays. Most students returned home, including Nie Yan and Xie Yao.

Back in Huahai, Xie Yao went to meet her parents. Nie Yan ate breakfast in his villa, then headed for the headquarters of World Bloc.

These days, World Bloc was extremely busy with rapidly expanding their businesses.

World Bloc had already grown threefold. However, Father Nie still refused to go public, choosing to keep the company privately owned. He oversaw the general affairs of the company while Mother Nie was in charge of the finances. The entire company was running smoothly from top to bottom.

World Bloc’s growth astonished Nie Yan. Of course, a lot of this could be attributed to him. Even though Asskickers United had recently suffered a hit, with many strongholds being destroyed by Qin Han’s skeleton army, he had long since made preparations for exactly this. World Bloc’s assets in Conviction had suffered minimal losses. In addition, thanks to the massive profits from the real world districts, they’d saved up a large rainy day fund. When the skeleton army was defeated, they would quickly recover.

Nie Yan drove his car to World Bloc’s headquarters. It had undergone quite some changes. They had acquired the surrounding properties, and the office was currently undergoing reconstruction. The surroundings was filled with construction. In the future, the headquarters would be more than several times larger than before.

Seeing this kind of transformation, Nie Yan was extremely gratified. With World Bloc’s current healthy growth, they likely wouldn’t suffer the tragedy of the previous timeline.

Even if the Century Financial Group tried to take action against World Bloc, they at least wouldn’t crumple after one blow like in the previous timeline.

Nie Yan took the elevator to the top floor. After passing through security, he arrived inside his father’s office.

Father Nie was busy doing some paperwork. Noticing someone walking in, he raised his head. His lips parted into a happy smile after seeing it was Nie Yan.

"That’s a surprise. You actually have the time to come visit your old man. You couldn’t be skipping school, could you?” Father Nie joked, his tone was far less strict than before. He looked Nie Yan up and down and was gratified to see his son had grown taller.

"We’re on holidays. So, I’ll be back home for the next week,” Nie Yan said. His father was a man of few words, but he could tell how much his father genuinely cared for him. Scenes of his past life flashed before his eyes, all the times he’d done his old man wrong. He had too much to pay back.

"I’ll call your mother and have her come up,” Father Nie said. He took out his phone and dialed Mother Nie.

Mother Nie hurried over.

"Mom, I’m back,” Nie Yan said.

"Good, good. Our whole family is back together. Little Yan, you’ve grown up! You look so big and strong!” Mother Nie couldn’t help but become tearful.

Seeing his loving and doting mother, Nie Yan’s heart was touched as his eyes reddened. In the previous timeline, he was an immature brat who only cared for himself. In this life, he also had to move far away for school. He had no time to see his parents. His heart was wracked with guilt.

"Why haven’t you brought Yao Yao for your old mom to see?” Mother Nie asked. She had long since known of the relationship between him and Xie Yao.

"I’ll bring her over tomorrow,” Nie Yan replied in an embarrassed tone.

After going through the tragedies of his past life, Nie Yan especially treasured these kinds of moments.

Chapter 699 - Dinner Party

Nie Yan and his parents chatted for a while. They asked him about how well he was doing and his life in the Top Military Academy. After knowing everything was well, they could put their minds at ease. Mother Nie still had to sort out some financial matters. So, she headed back downstairs. Right now the only people left in the office were Nie Yan and his father.

Father Nie looked at Nie Yan, seemingly hesitating to say something.

Seeing his father’s expression, Nie Yan immediately knew what he wanted to talk about.

Father Nie eventually seemed to make up his mind and broke the silence. "The company performance has grown by 50% in the second quarter. We’re also making a lot of headway in expanding our businesses. Several big names in the industry such as East Stone and Sonic have sought us out for partnerships. Large companies like these, with their resources and influence, they would normally never put upstarts like us in their eyes. I was suspicious and wary at first, but so far we’ve been benefiting immensely.”

Nie Yan immediately thought of those several people in Heavenly Kings. Sure enough, Mo Yuntian’s words held a lot of weight. World Bloc was gaining more and more cooperative partners. With this, if they faced a crisis in the future, they wouldn’t be so easily crushed like in the previous timeline.

"Did Heavenly Kings contact you recently?” Father Nie asked. From his perspective, Nie Yan being accepted as an external member would already be a wonderful thing.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. His father somehow knew. He nodded. "I was invited to join Heavenly Kings by a person called Lei Su…”

"Lei Su? It’s him!” Father Nie couldn’t help but get worked up. He shot up from his desk with an excited expression. "Did you agree? Did you!?”

Nie Yan nodded. "I’ve already joined Heavenly Kings.”

"A-as a core member?” Father Nie asked, not daring to wish for too much.

Father Nie was a fairly solemn person. It wasn’t often he lost his composure like this.

"What, are you saying your son is only capable of becoming an external member?” Nie Yan joked.

"You stinky brat! Is that how you talk to your old man? Such a big piece of news, and you only tell me about it now! Looks like someone’s grown too big for their britches.” Father Nie clonked Nie Yan on the head. However, his expression was full of smiles. World Bloc was nothing in the grand scene of things. Nie Yan had relied completely on his own strength to enter Heavenly Kings. Thinking to this point, he couldn’t help but feel extremely proud of his son. Being a member of Heavenly Kings was an enormous honour to common folk.

Nie Yan chuckled. This was his first time speaking to his father in such a tone. Ever since he was a kid, he always held his father in great reverence. But after returning to the past, he gradually realized that although he put up a strict appearance, neither laughing nor smiling, he was actually a kind and gentle person deep inside.

Nie Yan still hadn’t informed Father Nie that Mo Yuntian had requested everyone in Heavenly Kings to look after and support World Bloc. He didn’t want to show off with this matter. Heavenly King’s influence on World Bloc would grow more apparent by the day, until the day would come where World Bloc grew powerful enough to surpass even Cao Xu’s Century Financial Group!

"There’s a dinner party tonight. Come along with me,” Father Nie said.

"What dinner party?”

"It’s being hosted by the high rank government officials in Huahai. All those attending are big shots in the city’s political and business circles. Before these recent developments, World Bloc wasn’t qualified to take part. But now, they’ve taken the initiative to invite us,” Father Nie explained in high spirits. He could sense that the other powers slowly started acknowledging World Bloc.

"I think I’ll pass,” Nie Yan replied. He had no interest in these kinds of gatherings.

"Oh, is that so? That’s too bad. I heard Yao Yao will be attending. It’s about time I get to meet my daughter in law.” Father Nie chuckled.

Nie Yan rolled his eyes. Since when did his father become such a wily old fox? Since Xie Yao would be there, he had no choice but to go too.

Nie Yan helped his father deal with World Bloc’s affairs for the rest of the afternoon. When evening arrived, the two of them got in the car and drove off to the city center. Father Nie was wearing an expensive, tailored suit. Meanwhile, he was dressed casually in track pants, t-shirt, and a hoodie. No one would pay attention to a youth dressed like this. It wasn’t like he was going there for business anyway.

After driving for 20 minutes, the car stopped outside the entrance of an extremely luxurious and grand restaurant. It was over 167 stories tall, poking into the clouds and causing visitors to crane their heads up. Every floor rotated independently of one another. With all the windows brightly lit, it appeared dazzling in the night.

It was the Dragonsoar Financial Group owned Moro River Banquet Hall!

The last time Nie Yan came here was for Xie Yao’s 18th birthday party, during which he had had an unpleasant encounter with her aunt.

For this kind of high level dinner party to be held in a restaurant operated by the Dragonsoar Financial Group was representative of their strength.

Nie Yan had mostly bad memories of this place. But since he was already here, he resolved to go inside. After all, getting cold feet just wasn’t his style.

"Let’s go inside,” Father Nie said.

The two took the elevator to the banquet hall on the top floor. A 167-story building was truly spectacular. The ceiling was constructed completely out of reinforced glass, giving a full view of the dazzling night sky, almost as if you could reach out and touch the stars. Gazing down at the cityscape below, you could see countless lights dotting the landscape.

The banquet hall was brightly lit, with guests bustling about. Everyone was dressed formerly in some of the most expensive outfits available in the region. Nie Yan stuck out like a sore thumb among this crowd.

Father Nie spotted a few familiar faces. After saying a few words to Nie Yan, he went off to talk business with them.

Nie Yan wandered around the hall. Ordering a drink, he sat down beside a window.

Nie Yan gazed around the room. There were already many people here. However, the heavyweights of this dinner party, like the people from the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups, had yet to arrive.

About 10 minutes later, a group of people walked in from the entrance. Nie Yan saw many of the guests standing up to greet them in a respectful manner. Even though he had no idea who these new arrivals were, he could tell they were important.

Nie Yan spotted his father raising his glass and chatting with some men in fancy suits. They were most likely talking business.

Another while later, Nie Yan saw Xie Yao’s silhouette emerge from the entrance. She wore a beautiful white, knee length dress. It was almost as if her exquisite figure were wrapped in moonlight. Her lovely appearance made it hard to look away. Compared to the other female guests who paraded their sex appeal with low-cut dresses, she appeared much more refined like an elegant lady. Without a doubt, all eyes in the room drew on her. She immediately became the center of attention. This was how it always was, no matter where she went.

Xie Yao was accompanied by several people from the Glory Financial Group, among whom was her aunt, Xie Yi. The others were Xie Yao’s uncles.

Seeing Xie Yi, Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with loathing. Thinking for a bit, he decided not to go up to greet Xie Yao for now. He would wait until she was alone.

More people gradually arrived in the banquet hall, including the important people like the higher ups of the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups and the high ranking government officials.

Nie Yan looked over at his father’s side. Father Nie was speaking to several Huahai high officials. They seemed aloof and uninterested while Father Nie appeared extremely careful. Nie Yan had heard his father say these officials were in charge of the ports in the city. World Bloc’s business relied heavily on the transport of goods. In other words, the life of World Bloc was in their hands.

Nie Yan stood up and walked over to where his father was standing. He blended into the crowd and eavesdropped on the conversation.

"Mr. Nie, it isn’t that we’re not willing to help, but your company is simply too small. There’s nothing we can do,” one of the officials said, his voice and attitude brimming with arrogance.

Nie Yan gazed at that official. He was as obese as they came. Whenever he spoke, the fat under his chin jiggled up and down. He felt disgusted just looking at it.

"Bureau Chief Hong, we’ve already prepared the relevant documents and submitted an application over a month ago, but we still haven't gotten a reply. Could you possibly take a look and help me find out what the issue is?” Father Nie asked in an extremely polite tone.

"I have no idea about that. You should ask the department that’s responsible,” the fat official replied in an indifferent tone. He turned to the person beside him. "Lil’ Xie, did you receive World Bloc’s application?”

"I think so. We’ve already handed it over. But it’ll still take some time. Currently, there are more than 30 applications that have to pass through screening, and World Bloc is at the very end of the queue. It’ll probably take around six months to a year to process. Just patiently wait.”

"You heard Lil’ Xie. There’s nothing I can do. I’m not responsible for screening the applications.”

"Sorry for bothering you. I’ll go ask again at the main department.” Father Nie was steaming with anger, but forced out a kind smile.

Seeing Father Nie walking away, Nie Yan went up to greet him.

"Dad, what’s wrong?” Nie Yan asked.

"It's nothing, just a work matter.” Father Nie chuckled. However, his voice contained a hint of bitterness and helplessness.

Even though Nie Yan didn’t know the specifics, he could confirm the person responsible for this was definitely that Bureau Chief Hong.

Father Nie looked at his son who was deep in thought. He could no longer keep treating Nie Yan as a kid. He sighed and said, "We recently submitted an application. Bureau Chief Hong, that man I was just talking to, he has been blocking and delaying it. Really, it’s no big deal. He just wants money. No money means no work gets done. If we don’t offer him a gift, our application will never reach the higher-ups for processing.”

Nie Yan understood what was going on. Money spoke. Looking at those government officials, he really wanted to go up and give them a beating. However, that would only serve to complicate matters even more.

Chapter 700 - Private Worries

Faced with this kind of situation, Nie Yan felt helpless. Even though it wasn’t fair, this was just how things were. Sometimes you would have no choice but to submit.

Nie Yan’s heart was filled with indignation, but there was nothing he could do.

"Forget it. It’s fine.” Father Nie helplessly laughed. Sometimes you would face roadblocks like this. Even though he had people he could call in for a few favours, since the other side dared to get in his way, that meant they had some confidence too. If a clash really broke out, who knew what the final outcome would be. In the end, it probably wouldn’t be worth it.

Nie Yan and his father sat down at a window side table.

Nie Yan had no idea how to comfort his father right now. After serving in the military for so long, Father Nie’s temperament was extremely frank. He absolutely loathed this side of business; paying bribes and fawning over someone just to get work done. The exchange with Bureau Chief Hong just a moment ago was already the limit of his tolerance.

At the end of the day, World Bloc was simply too weak. If they were powerful enough, they would have no need to pay attention to clowns like these!

Xie Yi was chatting with a few people off in the distance. Noticing Nie Yan and Father Nie, her eyes flickered with an enigmatic light. She walked over to the two with several people in tow.

Seeing Xie Yi approaching from the corner of his eye, Nie Yan narrowed his gaze. He slowly clenched his fists as his knuckles made cracking sounds.

Xie Yi wore a bright red dress with a deep neck that revealed almost too much. Her face was caked in makeup with long lashes and deep eyeshadow, making her appear quite seductive. One had to admit, the Xie Family’s bloodline really did produce a lot of beauties. Her figure was especially fiery. However, Nie Yan only felt a sense of disgust. His gaze was filled with loathing.

"I’m Glory Financial Group’s Xie Yi, a member of the Xie Family,” Xie Yi introduced herself to Father Nie, throwing a side glance at Nie Yan.

Father Nie stood up and greeted back, "Hello. It’s nice to meet you.”

Nie Yan remained seated, refusing to acknowledge her presence.

"Who’s family is this brat from? He has no respect,” Xie Yi remarked.

Father Nie was embarrassed. He was quite puzzled. Normally, Nie Yan would behave appropriately in these kinds of salutations. He had no idea what was going on today. However, he could tell Nie Yan didn't like Xie Yi. She was Xie Yao’s aunt. If the two families became linked through marriage, they would have to meet her on at least some occasions. It’d be a pain if they couldn’t walk through the same door together.

"I didn’t expect a small company like World Bloc to also be invited. I wonder who organized this dinner party,” Xie Yi said in a disdainful tone, each word laced with thorns.

Father Nie furrowed his brow. When he previously interacted with Xie Jun over the phone, he was fairly polite. As for this Xie Yi, she really was a snobbish and rude woman.

"Who sent out the invites? They didn’t even screen every guest’s background. This brat’s actually wearing a hoodie and track pants. What does he think this place is?” a man in his thirties chimed in with Xie Yi.

"Might I ask what kind of background you're supposed to have to attend this dinner party?” Father Nie asked indignantly. He had a fiery temper but still maintained the attitude of a military man. So, he wasn’t like those businessmen who liked to mince their words.

"Ah, it doesn’t matter whether or not you have the qualifications to be here. The Xie Family is a famous dynasty with a long history while World Bloc is an upstart fledgeling company. Do you think the Xie Family will ever agree to Xie Yao marrying into your family? Even if my second brother is willing, there is no way in hell the elders of the family would ever agree to it. Know your place and act to it.”

Glancing at Nie Yan who remained silent, Father Nie understood. It turned out Xie Yi didn’t agree with Nie Yan and Xie Yao being together. This was why she was so hostile.

"Are you saying your words represent the entire Xie Family? The future is unpredictable. World Bloc is a small company right now, but who knows what the future holds for us!” Father Nie said in a heavy voice.

"You father and son pair sure are ambitious. I’d like to see how your World Bloc will surpass the Glory Financial Group! You’re overestimating yourselves!” Xie Yi sneered.

Hearing Xie Yi yapping on next to his ear, Nie Yan was already beyond irritated. He clenched his fist. Arguing with this woman really had no meaning. He could no longer hold back his anger. He prepared to stand up and drive Xie Yi away, when the man next to her whispered something into her ear. Her eyes widened. Giving Nie Yan and Father Nie one last glance, she turned around and hurried away.

Seeing Xie Yi’s departing figure, Nie Yan was a bit puzzled. He had no idea what happened. It appeared she was in a hurry.

"Don’t be disheartened. Let these clowns yap all they want. No matter what happens, even if we have to face the entire Glory Financial Group, your mother and I will always support you,” Father Nie comforted.

Nie Yan was deeply moved. He quietly made a promise to himself and his parents, I'll always be there for you guys too!

Regarding his relationship with Xie Yao, Nie Yan decided to resolve it himself. No matter what difficulties he faced, he would never back down, or else this second chance at life of his would go to waste.

When Nie Yan and Father Nie were chatting, everyone suddenly stopped talking. The entire hall became quiet.

Nie Yan was puzzled. The atmosphere here became strange. Quite a few people, including Xie Yao’s grandfather and the high officials all walked toward the entrance.

At this time, a familiar figure appeared in the entrance. Nie Yan’s heart trembled. It’s him!

The new arrival was none other than General Yuntian! He was wearing a double-breasted suit. His posture was stiff and rigid, radiating a stern air. He walked into the banquet hall.

Everyone in the Xie Family, including Xie Yao’s maternal grandfather and the several other officials walked up to greet him. Their faces were full of smiles. They appeared extremely respectful. Even those officials had fawning smiles on their faces as they guided Mo Yuntian forward.

People like Xie Yi and Xie Jun could only quietly follow from behind. They didn’t even have the qualifications to speak with Mo Yuntian.

"It’s someone from above. Watch your words,” Father Nie quietly reminded.

Nie Yan had no idea what to say at this moment. Should he tell his father that he knew Mo Yuntian? After thinking for a bit, he decided against it.

Mo Yuntian waved his hand. "You all continue on with what you were doing. I’m only here to talk to a few people.”

The several officials carefully offered up Mo Yuntian a seat. He had them pass on his words . A while later, several people joined him at the table, and they started chatting.

The hall’s atmosphere became a lot more restrained. No one dared to speak too loudly. With Mo Yuntian’s arrival, it felt like there wasn’t enough air for all of them to breathe.

The several officials also didn’t dare to stray too far away. They obediently stood off to the side. If Mo Yuntian needed something, they would immediately be at his beck and call. As for those in the Xie Family, they sat at a table not too far away from him and were quietly discussing.

"Why do you think he came here for?”

"No idea. Looks like it’s something important.”

"Even the mayor and deputy mayor’s faces are pale from seeing him.”

"Let’s keep observing the situation. Don’t ask too many questions,” Xie Jun said in a heavy tone.

Nie Yan gazed over in Mo Yuntian’s direction. He was shocked to discover Huahai’s mayor and deputy mayor by his side. Huahai was a municipality. The position of mayor was equivalent to that of a high official. However, in front of Mo Yuntian, they didn’t even dare to let out a fart. One could imagine how high his status was.

Xie Yao who was aimlessly wandering around finally noticed Nie Yan. Eyes wide with shock, she quickly walked over to him.

"What are you doing here?” Xie Yao asked. Seeing Father Nie, she meekly smiled. "Good evening, Uncle.”

Father Nie nodded with a bright smile. "Good evening to you as well! Not bad, not bad…” The more he looked at Xie Yao, the more satisfied he was. His son really did have a good eye. He definitely approved of this daughter-in-law.

Father Nie and Xie Yao chatted for a while. In front of him, she acted quite lovable and cute. She secretly made faces at Nie Yan. Seeing her expression, Nie Yan faintly chuckled.

Nie Yan could tell his father approved of Xie Yao. He could put his mind at ease.

Father Nie found an excuse to chat with some of his associates, leaving Nie Yan and Xie Yao alone together.

After this encounter, Xie Yao was quite happy. This dinner party was no longer as dull and boring with Nie Yan here. All her worries were swept away.

"Nie Yan, it’s about time you shave.” Xie Yao stroked Nie Yan’s chin. It was stubbly.

"Yeah, I forgot to this morning.” Nie Yan chuckled.

Xie Yao and Nie Yan acting all intimate together attracted the attention of everyone in the surroundings.

"Who is that guy?”

"I don’t know. Xie Yao’s boyfriend, maybe?”

Xie Yao had no idea her little action broke the hearts of many men here tonight.

Xie Yi’s expression darkened. She always looked down on Nie Yan. She didn’t expect Nie Yan and Xie Yao’s relationship to progress so much already. Seeing Xie Yao’s intimate actions, her face warped with anger.

"Second Brother, what kind of father are you? Teach your daughter some manners. What if word of Xie Yao acting so intimately with another man spreads outside?” Xie Yi asked.

Xie Jun chuckled. He didn’t seem the least bit bothered. "I don’t see anything wrong with it. They’re just youngsters.”

"Call Xie Yao back before this becomes a scandal,” an elderly man said with an unhappy expression. He was Xie Yu, Xie Yao’s grandfather and the head of the Glory Financial Group.

"See, even father agrees with me,” Xie Yi said with a pleased expression.

Seeing the expression of the old man, Xie Jun could only back down. He nodded. "Understood.”

Xie Jun had someone call Xie Yao back. Gazing at Xie Yao and Nie Yan, his expression was filled with concern.

Chapter 701 - Reversal of Fortune

A 26-year-old youth from the Xie Family headed over in Nie Yan and Xie Yao’s direction.

The dinner party went on like normal. This minor distraction had no influence on the people in the hall as a whole.

Xie Jun was deeply worried. The resistance Nie Yan and Xie Yao faced would be enormous if the family were to oppose their relationship. He viewed Nie Yan quite highly. During the previous kidnapping attempt on Xie Yao, if it weren’t for Nie Yan intervening, the situation could’ve turned a lot worse. In regards to personal character, Nie Yan was outstanding. The only thing Nie Yan lacked was backing. He might not care, but the Xie as a large dynasty cared greatly about social status.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao had no idea an impending crisis was looming over them.

At this moment, Mo Yuntian had finished his discussion. He waved his hand, signalling for the people beside him to leave. Bored and with little interest, he stared at the glass in his hand.

Seeing Mo Yuntian’s expression wasn’t so solemn, the mayor and deputy mayor standing off to the side breathed a sigh of relief.

Mo Yuntian swept his eyes over the hall before his gaze landed on Nie Yan. His eyes flickered with surprise. He didn’t expect Nie Yan to attend this gathering.

Mo Yuntian got up from his seat.

The entire hall quieted down. Everyone’s gazes fell on Mo Yuntian, wondering what he would do next.

His every little action affected the nerves of the people here.

Mo Yuntian noticed the strange atmosphere and waved his hand. "Continue on. Don’t mind me.” He walked over toward Nie Yan.

Everyone turned away, pretending to carry on with their previous conversation. However, they were all stealing glances at Mo Yuntian from the corners of their eyes.

The Xie Family was no exception. Noticing Mo Yuntian appeared to be heading towards Xie Yao and Nie Yan, Xie Yu turned to his son and said in a deep tone, "Xie Jun, have Xie Ming come back.”

"Understood.” Xie Jun was also surprised. He hurriedly texted Xie Ming.

Xie Ming was about to reach Nie Yan and Xie Yao, when he received the text. He nodded and slowly retreated back.

The Xie Family held their collective breath, their eyes laser-focused on Mo Yuntian. He did stop in front of Nie Yan and Xie Yao!

Nie Yan and Xie Yao had long since noticed Mo Yuntian walking over to them. Nie Yan stood up and politely greeted, "Good evening, General Yuntian.”

Ever since Mo Yuntian arrived at the dinner party, even a fool could tell he was an extremely important figure. Nie Yan didn’t dare to be as casual as before. One word from Mo Yuntian could decide the fate of World Bloc. If he offended Mo Yuntian, the consequences would be grave.

Xie Yao was struggling on how she should address Mo Yuntian, only for him to wave his hand with a laugh. "You two can call me uncle here.”

Xie Yao glanced at Nie Yan. Seeing him nod, she obediently greeted, "Good evening, Uncle Yuntian.”

Mo Yuntian looked over Xie Yao with a smile and turned to Nie Yan. "Brat, you’ve really got some ability, finding yourself such a pretty girlfriend. She looks much more reliable than all those girls Lei Su finds.”

Nie Yan scratched his head and chuckled. He didn’t expect Mo Yuntian would joke with him like this.

"How’s that matter I entrusted you with going?” Mo Yuntian switched to a more serious topic after teasing Nie Yan and Xie Yao a little.

"Rest assured. Everything is going smoothly.”

"Good, good.” Mo Yuntian nodded.

Mo Yuntian dropped his stern, wooden expression, as he happily chatted with Nie Yan and Xie Yao. He even seemed amiable and friendly! The others in the hall could hardly believe their eyes, a commotion slowly growing. Where was the air of arrogance the general usually exuded!? No, it seemed like he was chatting with friends!

"That’s the Xie Family’s young lady, Xie Yao! Who’s the other guy?”

"How am I supposed to know? I’ve never seen him before in my life.”

Few people in the dinner party knew Nie Yan. From their perspective, World Bloc wasn’t worthy of their attention.

Father Nie was also dumbstruck. He watched on in shock and dazed, nearly dropping his glass. He had no idea Nie Yan knew Mo Yuntian. He really wanted to ask his son if he was even aware of Mo Yuntian’s identity.

The few associates next to Father Nie also looked over at Nie Yan, Mo Yuntian, and Xie Yao happily chatting.

"Eh, isn’t that your son, Chief Nie?” One person recognized Nie Yan. He had seen Nie Yan walking around before during business meetings at World Bloc’s headquarters. So, he had at least that much of an impression of him.

All the people in the surroundings, many of whom were the bosses of large companies, turned to stare at Father Nie in shock.

"Yes, that’s my immature brat of a son,” Father Nie replied with a smile, suppressing the excitement in his heart.

Even though Father Nie tried to remain calm, he couldn’t keep the excitement and pride from leaking out in his voice. He had no idea how Nie Yan came to know Mo Yuntian. But being able to associate with a figure of that level itself was proof of his son’s excellence. Most of the people here didn’t have the qualifications to even speak to Mo Yuntian, let alone so familiarly.

"No need to be so humble, Chief Nie. I heard your son scored number one in the overall rankings for the entrance exam of the Top Military Academy.”

Seeing Mo Yuntian regarding Nie Yan so highly, the several big bosses in the surroundings looked at Father Nie in a different light. They suddenly took the initiative to greet him.

Information that the person Mo Yuntian was speaking with was the son of Father Nie somehow got around to Bureau Chief Hong. A cold sweat broke out from his fat, wrinkled forehead. World Bloc was actually associated with Mo Yuntian! He knew very well what kind of person Mo Yuntian was. One could tell his authority just from the reactions of the mayor and deputy mayor. When Mo Yuntian sat down, the two obediently waited upon him, not even daring to let out a fart. Meanwhile, he was just a small bureau chief in charge of managing the port. If Mo Yuntian didn’t like him, he could be easily crushed to death like an ant!

All of a sudden, Bureau Chief Hong couldn’t hold back any longer. He hurried over to Father Nie.

"Ah, Chief Nie. I just received word from higher up. Your application is already being processed. You should receive your approval within the next three—no, two days at most!”

"Ah, I suppose I should thank you then, Mr. Hong,” Father Nie replied curtly,. Bureau Chief Hong’s fat and sweaty face evoked a sense of disgust within him.

Seeing that Father Nie didn’t seem to like him very much, Hong Yan awkwardly laughed. "You’re too kind. You’re too kind! I’m only doing my job. You’ll have to forgive me. It really was our fault it took so long. If World Bloc ever has a problem at the port, come find me. I’ll do my utmost to settle it. Hehehe,” he said in a fawning tone.

Father Nie understood having a falling out with a petty person like Hong Yan would only result in resentment. That would be too much of a hassle. So, he simply curtly nodded.

The Xie Family also didn’t expect such a turn of events.

Xie Yu turned to Xie Jun and asked, "What’s going on here? When did Xie Yao meet General Yuntian?”

"Xie Yao has never met General Yuntian before. This is their first time meeting. I believe it’s Nie Yan that knows him,” Xie Jun replied. This was what he’d derived from observing how Mo Yuntian interacted with Nie Yan and Xie Yao.

Xie Yu pondered for a moment. Judging from the earlier scene, this really did seem to be the case.

"That boy is called Nie Yan?” Xie Yu asked.

"Yes, Father.” Xie Jun nodded with a smile. He understood the situation had taken a turn.

"Invite him over to our company some time,” Xie Yu said. His expression was ordinary, making it difficult for people to tell what he was thinking. He took his glass and downed his drink in one gulp.

Xie Yi was incredibly vexed. She had no idea Nie Yan knew someone so high up. With Mo Yuntian’s status and identity, even if the two were only ordinary friends, the ramifications were serious.

Xie Jun suddenly recalled something. "I previously heard from my contacts in the Top Military Academy Nie Yan joined Heavenly Kings, but I didn’t dare to confirm myself. Mo Yuntian is an alumnus of the school. I heard he’s also a member of Heavenly Kings.”

Heavenly Kings? The hand Xie Yu was holding his glass with trembled, betraying the shock he felt inside. Just how many youths of the Xie Family entered the Top Military Academy all for the sake of joining Heavenly Kings? However, none of them were qualified. He understood what kind of organization Heavenly Kings was. In the entire country, be it the political, military, or commercial sphere, they played an influential role.

"Perhaps Nie Yan is only an external member. Even our Xie Family isn’t qualified. With World Bloc’s strength, how could he possibly be?” Xie Yi argued. She wasn’t willing to believe Nie Yan was already a member of Heavenly Kings.

"Do you think Mo Yuntian would act so familiarly with an external member?” Xie Jun refuted.

Mo Yuntian’s attitude toward Nie Yan was clear proof of his status. Nie Yan was a member of Heavenly Kings. There was no other explanation.

Xie Yi still wanted to say something, but Xie Yu raised his hand and stopped her.

"That’s enough out of you.” Xie Yu turned to Xie Jun. "When are you going to invite that boy over?”

Xie Yu’s attitude toward Nie Yan had taken a complete 180. Xie Jun broke into a relieved smile. If Xie Yu also agreed, there would be no resistance to Nie Yan and Xie Yao’s relationship.

The dinner party reached halfway. Mo Yuntian had some business to attend to and left first.

After Mo Yuntian left, many people came over to Nie Yan and Xie Yao. Nie Yan was incredibly annoyed. In an attempt to be left alone, the two decided to also leave early.

Even though Nie Yan had left, World Bloc became the life of the party. Father Nie secured many business deals with the bosses of several large corporations. At the same time, the Xie Family also sent people over to express their goodwill.

The Glory Financial Group was powerful. Furthermore, they were also the family of his daughter-in-law. Even though Xie Yi’s attitude rubbed him the wrong way, Father Nie gave Xie Jun face and didn’t bother bickering. The two quickly struck up a few cooperative deals.

After this event, World Bloc’s businesses in every market would once more undergro massive growth. Thanks to Mo Yuntian’s influence, the other parties all offered extremely generous terms. World Bloc’s rise to prominence was just around the corner.

Chapter 702 - Ruthless Monopolization

Nie Yan and Xie Yao drove around Huahai together. The sights in the city were fairly decent. More importantly, this was home.

Nie Yan drove the car, occasionally sneaking glances at Xie Yao. With her pure, white dress, she looked even more enchanting against the backdrop of the night, like a fairy in the dark.

"My father gave me a call. My grandfather is asking you to visit our villa in Xiangdong when you have the time,” Xie Yao said, her cheeks flushing with an alluring rosy colour.

Nie Yan sank into silence for a moment. "Maybe some other time.” He didn’t want to visit Xie Yao’s family right now. If he went now, he would have to meet Xie Yi and her other relatives.

"Alright, I’ll let my father know.” Xie Yao nodded. She knew what he was thinking.

The two enjoyed this brief moment of tranquility. Eventually, Xie Yao had to go back to accompany her parents, while Nie Yan still had many responsibilities to take care of inside Conviction. When the time for the servers reopening approached, the two finally parted.

Nie Yan returned home. He ate a little something, then entered the game.

After pausing in the daytime, the clock in Conviction continued ticking again.

Nie Yan would have to spend an astronomical sum of gold to develop his fiefdom. He checked his various accounts. Asskickers United roughly had 2,300,000 gold saved up, the Starry Night Potion Shop close to 2,000,000, and the Union of Assassins roughly 2,000,000 as well. Furthermore, he had accumulated about 3,000,000 gold in his personal storage, the profits from his auction houses and shops.

However, this amount of gold was far from meeting his needs. His territory could contain a major city the size of Calore. He could also freely construct strongholds in any suitable places. Every development project came with exorbitant costs.

What had Nie Yan the most excited was that he could enact his own laws and set the taxes in his territory. He could also form his own army and recruit NPCs to serve in it. If he was willing to pay the price, he could even recruit an extremely powerful expert.

If Nie Yan had a powerful NPC army, Asskickers United’s foundation would be unshakeable. What’s more, he could freely launch attacks on Angel Corps.

There were simply too many things that needed developing in his territory. Just where would he get all the gold from?

The stockpile of Dispel Fog Scrolls and gems were almost sold off. Asskickers United had earned an enormous sum of gold, but Nie Yan still needed even more revenue sources!

Nie Yan conceived a plan in his head. Ordinary methods would produce limited results. A couple hundred thousand gold was a mere drop in the bucket for Asskickers United.

Go big or go home!

Nie Yan thought of an extremely ruthless method used in reality, and that was dumping and monopolizing! In the past, the United Kingdom had relied on this method to create the legend of the great British Empire.

When a nation’s production ability reached a certain level and they wanted to completely take over the market of a rival nation, they would frequently resort to a certain method, and that was flooding and monopolizing. First you would flood the market of that nation with ridiculously cheap goods. With no way to compete with these prices, the domestic companies in that market would go bankrupt one by one until you gained a monopoly. Afterwards, you would slowly raise the prices back up to normal. Like this, you could make enormous profits.

Nie Yan confirmed his target. From now on, he would completely control the potion market in the Viridian and Satreen Empires! The most powerful commercial force at his disposal was undoubtedly the Starry Night Potion Shop!

At present, the Viridian and Satreen Empires had only three Sage-rank Alchemists, and they all came from the Starry Night Potion Shop. However, they didn’t become Sage Alchemists by themselves but rather with the help of Wish Necklaces. Over the past couple of months, Nie Yan had people search all over for materials and crafted a total of 11 Wish Necklaces, three of which had the Alchemy +1 property. Apart from this, the 21 out of the 26 Grandmaster Alchemists and close to 90% of the 5,000+ Master Alchemists also belonged to the Starry Night Potion Shop. They naturally also had a large number of Advanced and Intermediate Alchemists.

After being operated by Nie Yan for so long, the Starry Night Potion Shop’s production capacity was quite astonishing, controlling close to 60% combined market share in both the Viridian and Satreen Empires. Even though they already had significant sway over market prices, the remaining 40% wasn’t to be looked down on. Every time Asskickers United tried to increase their profits by raising the prices of certain potions, numerous Alchemists would flood the market with that same type of potions. A game of cat and mouse where the prices would always return to their original spot. So, the Starry Night Potion Shop still hadn’t formed a true monopoly. The most important aspect of a monopoly was the ability to dictate prices to whatever you wished!

Nie Yan ran some calculations in his head. If the Starry Night Potion Shop could control more than 90% of the market, their profits would increase by at least fivefold. This was the might of a monopoly.

The flooding part was to swallow up the remaining 30% of the market. However, this required an astronomical sum of gold!

At present, Asskickers United had a total of 9,000,000 gold in circulation. Every day the gold generated by the Starry Night Potion Shop, Union of Assassins, strongholds, auction houses, and other businesses would be used to pay the guild’s expenses. The net profits came out to be roughly 1,000,000 gold in total. If this kind of frightening financial ability was put to full use, one could imagine what could be accomplished.

Nie Yan might lose some money in the short term. However, if he could truly achieve a monopoly, the pay off would be enough to support the costs of development of the Abernathy Great Grasslands.

Nie Yan already had a flawless plan in mind. He hurriedly called over Guo Huai in preparation to carry it out.

After receiving Nie Yan’s summon, Guo Huai rushed over.

"Did you call me over for something important?” Guo Huai asked.

Nie Yan began explaining his plan. The more Guo Huai listened, the deeper his shock grew. "This plan is ruthless. If we really succeed, the only ones left in the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire will be our Starry Night Potion Shop!” Guo Huai could hardly conceive this. If they truly formed a monopoly, their profits would increase exponentially. Not to mention, even if the plan failed, Asskickers United would still profit. Be it in the short term or long term, it would be a great help to them.

Guo Huai suddenly thought of something. "However, we need to watch out for Angel Corps and those other guilds. They’ll probably try to get their slice of the pie. They might even utilize their own funds to interfere with us.”

"Even if they try to intervene, we’ll still make more than enough. As long as we keep this under tight wraps for as long as possible and slowly take things step by step, it’ll be too late by the time they react,” Nie Yan confidently said.

"That’s good. Tell me what needs to be done. I’ll get to work right away.”

"We’ll carry out the first phase right now. First, have some trustworthy people scatter to all the various cities and start buying up all the medicinal plants. Make sure not to attract too much attention. Also, we need a large amount of capital. Relying on the 9,000,000 gold we have on hand isn’t enough. Make an announcement to all the players in the guild and the five branch guilds. We’ll be borrowing money with a 30% monthly interest,” Nie Yan said. In the real world, a 30% interest rate was the same as loan sharks. However, in Conviction, this was the norm since gold depreciated pretty quickly. The interest rate of most loans was usually around 20%.

"How much gold do you want to borrow?” Guo Huai asked.

"The more, the better. Every extra gold will net us better results. But let’s say at minimum 30,000,000 gold,” Nie Yan said. Given how well off the players in Asskickers United and the five branch guilds were, 30,000,000 gold was nothing to them.

Guo Huai gaped open his mouth. "Isn’t this method a bit too extreme? If this plan fails or we don’t make as much gold as projected, we’ll be feeling the repercussions for a long time.”

"Don’t worry. Trust me. All you have to do is follow my instruction,” Nie Yan assured.

"Alright then. I’ll listen to you.” Guo Huai immediately summoned his subordinates. About a hundred of his trusted aids, all of whom were trustworthy people he knew in real life, spread out to every city with 70,000–80,000 gold each.

Nie Yan’s plan was fairly simple. Conviction was completely operated by the system. Every day, only a fixed amount of medicinal plants spawned. Relatively speaking, it wasn’t that much. Players would harvest a portion of these medicinal plants, then dump them in the marketplace for Alchemists to buy. Afterwards, they would be crafted into various potions, which would be sold to the players. The amount of medicinal plants was limited. Every time a player grinded mobs or ran dungeons, they would have to consume a large amount of potions. So, supply and demand for potions in the marketplace were at a roughly equal level.

The supply of medicinal plants in the marketplace wasn’t that great in the first place. With Nie Yan using his capital to swallow up all the medicinal plants, this delicate balance would be easily broken. When Nie Yan’s acquisition of medicinal plants reached a certain level and medicinal plants became more and more scarce, the price would naturally rise. At that time, the medicinal plants he had accumulated would become more valuable.

This wasn’t the end. With the price of medicinal plants going up, potions would also become more expensive. How else were Alchemists supposed to profit? They would charge a production fee on top of material costs. That was how they operated. If Nie Yan flooded the market with potions crafted from the medicinal plants he swallowed up previously for cheap, and priced the potions at roughly the same price as the current market price of the materials, the situation in the market would instantly enter a strange state. The potions produced by the Starry Night Potion Shop were all made from the medicinal plants that were previously bought at a cheap price. So, they were still making a profit. However, the outside Alchemists would be facing a dilemma. Because they hadn't stockpiled on medicinal plants previously, if they tried to match the Starry Night Potion Shop’s prices, they would be forced to sell at a loss. As time passed on, the Alchemists who weren’t affiliated with the Starry Night Potion Shop wouldn’t be able to hold on any longer. Then Nie Yan would spread the word that the Starry Night Potion Shop was recruiting new Alchemists and offering generous salaries. All those Alchemists at the end of their roads would flock to the Starry Night Potion Shop.

Chapter 703 - Hoarding!

Competition in the potion market was fierce. Everyone was undercutting their competitors in order to seize more market share, so profit margins were low. Even the Starry Night Potion Shop had no choice but to keep their prices low to attract customers. Major guilds were the largest consumer group. They often bought in bulk to save on expenditures. Even if they made insultingly low offers, the ordinary potion shops would still gladly oblige, for fear of losing out on a big order; it didn’t matter how meager the profits were. Some shops wouldn’t even mind losing money on one order if it meant securing a long time customer. From this, one could imagine how intense the competition was.

The small potions shops couldn’t compare to the Starry Night Potion Shop. They sold inferior goods and only survived by offering the lowest prices. This left their Alchemists in sore straits, often working 10+ hours a day for a meagre pay.

Most large guilds also had their own inhouse Alchemists. However, the production output was far from enough to meet the guild's demand. In this sense, the Starry Night Potion Shop was unique. No other guild had developed their alchemy department to such a scale. For the Alchemists of guilds like Angel Corps, God Executioner Sword, and Penumbra Empire to even meet 30% of the guild’s demand was already above the norm, let alone sell off their surplus for a profit. They still supplemented their needs by purchasing potions from outside.

Asskickers United had a total of 160,000 Alchemists, all of whom were elites that commanded high salaries. There were several million Alchemists across the Viridian and Satreen Empires. About 100,000 of them were skilled enough to join the Starry Night Potion Shop. Nie Yan’s target was these Intermediate and Advanced Alchemists. As for the low rank Alchemists, even though he would still accept a few promising talents, assimilating all several million would be a fool’s errand.

Nie Yan’s main focus were the Intermediate and Advanced potion market. There were simply too many low level potions. You could find them selling everywhere in stalls on the streets. Cornering this section of the market wouldn’t result in much profit anyway. Intermediate and Advanced potions sold for five gold at the cheapest and up to several hundred gold at the highest. Meanwhile, low level potions normally sold for one or two silver, with the lowest going as low as 50 copper. The added value was hardly worth it. It wasn’t realistic to focus on this. As long as he could pull the Intermediate and Advanced Alchemists to his side, he could control this market. As for those low ranking Alchemists, when they reached Intermediate or Advanced rank, with the Starry Night Potion Shop advertising high salaries, he refused to believe they wouldn’t be moved.

With all things considered, this market had boundless prospects.

At Nie Yan and Guo Huai’s command, Asskickers United started buying up all the Intermediate and Advanced-rank medicinal plants in the market. Low level medicinal plants generally weren’t put up for sale because you wouldn’t even make back the listing fee.

Nie Yan ran some calculations. If he wanted to buy up 50% of all the Intermediate and Advanced medicinal plants in the market on the same day, he would have to spend about 6,000,000 gold. Players consumed a lot of potions daily. As he depleted the market of medicinal plants, the previous reserves of potions would slowly run out. In another five or six days, it would start affecting the prices of medicinal plants.

The more gold Nie Yan poured in, the greater the effect on the prices of medicinal plants.

Ever since Nie Yan started raising funds, apart from Asskickers United, Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, the War God Tribe, Radiant Sacred Flame, and Battle Crazed Alliance chipped in as well. Nie Yan added everything up. Holy Empire had raised 2,200,000 gold; Sapphire Shrine 2,000,000 gold; the War God Tribe 2,800,000 gold; Radiant Sacred Flame 2,000,000 gold; Battle Crazed Alliance 1,900,000 gold; and Asskickers United and its five branch guilds 6,500,000 gold. Like this, they had over 20,000,000 gold, a number that was still rapidly rising.

Nie Yan updated the guild treasury. For a limited time, every gold contributed would net you 50% additional merit points. In an instant, the number of players contributing gold skyrocketed. Within the short span of a day, an extra 1,200,000 gold had been raised. Of course, this came at the cost of roughly 10% of the equipment in the entire treasury.

Such large movements from Asskickers United naturally attracted the attention of the Monet Financial Group.

...

God Executioner Sword guild headquarters.

Qin Han was anxiously awaiting word from Necromancer Vorderman. His skeleton army was currently on standby, only occasionally harassing the strongholds of Asskickers United. He didn’t dare to go forward before Vorderman returned.

"Boss! Asskickers United has been amassing capital non-stop. So far, they’ve raised at least 20,000,000 gold,” Matchless Divine Sword said, his voice brimming with shock. A guild’s ability to raise gold was directly related to the solidarity of its members. Most guilds burned through their funds very quickly. Every day they had to pay out an enormous sum to their players just to keep everything running smoothly. However, to get gold out of these players was as difficult as ascending the heavens. With God Executioner Sword’s might, it would already be impressive if they could borrow 1,000,000 gold from their players. Yet Asskickers United had somehow raised 20,000,000! He couldn’t wrap his head around it.

Qin Han knitted his brows. "What’s Asskickers United up to? Why are they amassing all this gold?”

"We still haven’t figured that out yet. None of our moles know where this gold is going,” Matchless Divine Sword said.

With so many transactions happening every day, anomalies in the market were incredibly difficult to detect, especially since Nie Yan had spread his operations so far. His agents were buying up medicinal plants at the same time in every city. Under these circumstances, Matchless Divine Sword would have no way of telling where the gold was going.

"Monitor the situation closely,” Qin Han said in a heavy tone. Nie Yan was undoubtedly planning something big. Why else would he amass so much gold?

"Understood!” Matchless Divine Sword said. He dispatched an extra unit to investigate where Nie Yan was spending the gold.

...

Thunderfire City’s auction house, an ordinary-looking player in craftsman robes walked inside. He pulled open the auction house’s medicinal plants section, then started buying everything below a certain price range. Before long, he spent all of the 80,000 gold Guo Huai had entrusted to him. After which, he quietly disappeared into the crowd.

Several players had dumped their hauls into the auction house. Seeing everything being sold so quickly and the gold falling into their pockets, they were full of smiles.

"Business is pretty good today. I’ve sold all three stacks of medicinal plants for 20 gold.”

"Nice. Me too.”

"I’ll bring out my remaining stock and dump it tomorrow too.”

As for some Alchemists in another corner of the auction house, they originally came here to buy medicinal plants to craft potions with. However, after discovering there were no medicinal plants for sale at a suitable price, they all left one after another. They were in no rush to buy, since their stocks could last them for a few more days.

A similar scene played out in the auction houses of every city. However, since the movements were fairly small, it didn’t attract the attention of players.

Two days, three days, four days, five days, the same situation continued. Even though some players had noticed on the initial few days that something was up, they didn’t really pay it much attention. By the time the fifth day arrived, the shortage of medicinal plants was becoming clear. The sellers started raising their prices. Most of the Alchemists decided to wait for the prices to drop back down, lest they failed to make a profit due to high material costs. An odd few helplessly bought the price-inflated medicinal plants since their shops were running low on stock. If they didn’t craft new potions, they would go bankrupt.

Many people believed the price of medicinal plants would eventually go back down. Market demand simply wasn’t that large. However, the era of low rank medicinal plants was already long over. The price of Intermediate and Advanced medicinal plant increased by at least 50%, with some of the scarcer ones shooting up in price severalfold.

Nie Yan returned to the Starry Night Potion Shop. For the sake of storing the medicinal plants, he had reserved a large warehouse only he had access to.

The medicinal plants here were Nie Yan’s life. If a problem occurred, Asskickers United would be done for. He couldn’t help but take certain precautions.

Nie Yan opened up the warehouse window and was greeted by a massive storage space. Each page had 5,000 slots. The medicinal plants were all stored here. They were neatly sorted and organized. Every page was filled to the brim. There were even tens of thousands of stacks of some medicinal plants while only five or six thousand stacks for others. One stack was 20 medicinal plants.

Nie Yan checked the number of pages. There were 600 pages altogether.

Currently, he had already gobbled up 60% of the medicinal plants in the market!

All the Alchemists in Asskickers United were hard at work. After receiving the medicinal plants, they started focusing all their efforts on mass-producing potions. Every single day a frightening number of potions was transported to the various branches of the Starry Night Potion Shop.

The prices in the Starry Night Potion Shop had all shot up by at least 50%. Some rarer potions even had their prices increase severalfold. However, this kind of price hike simply matched the price of the material costs in the market.

"Guo Huai, how much capital do we have left?” Nie Yan asked.

"6,000,000. We’re running low.” Guo Huai sighed. They had really spent money like prodigal sons over these past few days. Over 30,000,000 gold was gone just like that. Even if you had the money, was this the way to spend it?

"No worries, the price of medicinal plants has already snowballed. Even if we stop buying, the prices will continue to rise.” Nie Yan chuckled.

Guo Huai pondered for a moment before understanding what Nie Yan meant. Them purchasing medicinal plants to influence the market’s future made sense. Just eating up 10% of the medicinal plants could affect the price, let alone 60%. The shortage in medicinal plants was bound to make prices skyrocket.

Chapter 704 - Frantic Market

When the prices of medicinal plants reached a breaking point, those selling them wouldn’t want to anymore. They would start holding onto their stock in anticipation of even higher prices. Those speculating on the market would follow in Nie Yan’s track. They would acquire medicinal plants and sit on them while they appreciated. The medicinal plants would rise higher and higher in value. So, Nie Yan didn’t need to pour in any more gold.

With a big stir occuring in the medicinal plants market, Qin Han immediately figured out the culprit. For the sake of interfering with Asskickers United, he mobilized the guilds under his rule to collect medicinal plants as well as dump all their existing stock into the market. His tactic did deal a blow to Nie Yan’s plans, causing the prices to fall back to normal for a time. However, after Nie Yan spent another 9,000,000 gold to gobble them all up, the prices rose back up. Seeing the prices of medicinal plants bouncing up and down, market analysts also got involved in acquiring the medicinal plants.

Seeing the situation wasn’t good, Qin Han could only helplessly follow the crowd. The prices of medicinal plants were soaring frantically. The players were in a frenzy. As the prices rose higher, more and more players tried to get their piece of the pie. Soon, there were practically no traces of medicinal plants on the market, and the few listed were ludicrously expensive.

Nie Yan didn’t expect it to escalate this far. All of a sudden, all the potion shops apart from the Starry Night Potion Shop became dumbstruck. They had no way of doing business. The medicinal plants on the market were expensive beyond belief while the potions being sold by the Starry Night Potion Shop were on par with the material costs, sometimes even below. If they continued buying medicinal plants from the market and turning them into potions, they would either be making zero profit or worse, even losing money. They had already burned through their previous stock. Their warehouses were empty. Their shelves were out of goods and they had no way of replenishing them. As a result, the various potion shops in cities and towns became cold and empty.

Nie Yan had people on standby at all the auction houses across both empires. Every time the prices of medicinal plants slightly recovered, they would immediately swoop in to keep the prices high. This was an incredibly expensive tactic. 6,000,000 gold wasn’t enough. However, more gold came in than he could spend. Before long, the 6,000,000 turned into 10,000,000.

Nie Yan checked the reports. In a short time, the income of the Starry Night Potion Shop exploded, earning 7,000,000 gold every day. Their profit margins had shot up to an average of 70%. If it was before, a profit margin of 20% would already be amazing. A 70% profit margin was an extremely frightening number. The reason for this increase was pretty simple. There was only one potion shop with stock, the Starry Night Potion Shop. Whether it was high level players or large guilds, all of them needed potions for levelling and running dungeons. Without potions, they couldn’t make any progress. They could only go to the Starry Night Potion Shop to purchase potions.

At present, the Intermediate and Advanced potions on the market were too expensive. Many players could only tighten their belts and reduce their usage. However, some situations absolutely required the consumption of potions. There were also wealthy players who didn’t care about a few more gold. Even if the prices were high, they would still buy. Like this, the Starry Night Potion Shop was flourishing.

At this time, anyone could tell Asskickers United was the culprit behind this incident. Bubbles like this weren’t uncommon. Scrolls, gems, equipment, all sorts of items had been inflated before, causing their prices to multiply severalfold or even several dozenfold. This was the market. Even though this bubble was started by Asskickers United, many people had joined in. When everybody was taking part in keeping the prices high, no one could really be blamed.

Asskickers United’s Alchemists pumped out potions like crazy. The Starry Night Potion Shop’s shelves and warehouses were packed to the brim. Nie Yan ran a preliminary assessment. The Starry Night Potion Shop would generate 7,000,000 gold in revenue every day with the current state of affairs. Their stock of potions could last them for at least half a month. That totalled to almost 100,000,000 gold. This meant Nie Yan would get a more than 300% return on the 30,000,000 gold invested!

A portion of the gold would be used to pay back the players of Asskickers United and the other guilds. Another portion would be used to maintain the prices of medicinal plants. The remaining would be kept on hand in case of any unexpected circumstances.

Nie Yan estimated the competitors of the Starry Night Potion Shop would go bankrupt in a few weeks at most. On one side, they had no business, and on the other side, they still had to pay the salaries of the Alchemists working under them. Not to mention they couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. They had no idea when, or if at all the prices of medicinal plants would return to normal. So long as Nie Yan wished, he could use his immense capital to maintain prices at this level.

As most shops couldn’t fill their shelves, their Alchemists couldn’t fill their food bowls. At this time, Nie Yan spread word that the Starry Night Potion Shop Alchemists were getting a huge raise. Most of them were having their salaries increased by 50% or more, far more than the market average. At the same time, they were also recruiting new Alchemists on a large scale.

The Intermediate and Advanced Alchemists who were out of work because of the high prices of medicinal plants had two choices before them. One was to keep on enduring in destituation. The other was to sign a contract with the Starry Night Potion Shop. The salary offered was especially enticing. Before it was already 20% higher than at their current employer, but now it was even 50% higher! In addition, the Starry Night Potion Shop offered an unlimited supply of medicinal plants, allowing its Alchemists to concoct potions to their heart’s content. Last but not least, if they managed to advance to Master or Grandmaster Alchemists, they would only be treated better.

Under the allure of generous salaries, the jobless Alchemists started flocking to the Starry Night Potion Shop. Every day an enormous number of Alchemists signed with the Starry Night Potion Shop. All of a sudden, the other major guilds realized the severity of this development. They all adopted various measures, such as offering even more generous terms to attract Alchemists.

They did manage to attract some Alchemists. However, a serious problem arose. If they gave the new Alchemists such generous treatment, they also had to raise the salaries of their currently contracted Alchemists. If they followed suit with the Starry Night Potion Shop and raised the salaries of all their Alchemists, they would go bankrupt. After all, their in-house Alchemists weren’t meant for turning a profit. For example, a guild like Angel Corps had to pay 200,000–300,000 gold to their Alchemists every day. Meanwhile, their daily profits were only about half that of Asskickers United, which was about 600,000–700,000 gold. Paying their Alchemists shaved away about a third of that. This was definitely difficult to bear.

All the major guilds watched on helplessly as Nie Yan turned the Starry Night Potion Shop into a commercial empire. There was nothing they could do because their financial resources weren't on the same level as his. Even though a guild like Angel Corps was extremely wealthy, with all the assets of the guild already surpassing 200,000,000 gold, their liquid assets amounted to only about 1,000,000 gold; this amount wouldn’t allow them to do anything. On the other hand, at this moment, Nie Yan had 10,000,000 gold on hand. On top of that, he would also rake in 8,000,000 gold every day. With such frightening financial ability, no matter what he did in the market, it would create huge waves. With the little amount of gold they had, if they tried to compete, they would undoubtedly be swallowed.

Nie Yan’s commercial empire was slowly taking shape. As long as the Starry Night Potion Shop existed, he would never run out of gold!

Nie Yan glanced at his bag. He had so much gold piled up, it would drive anyone mad with greed. He cracked a faint smile. Now he could head to the Abernathy Great Grasslands and start developing his territory.

As long as Nie Yan had this continuous stream of gross profits, building a powerful NPC army was only a matter of time! This army was different from the troops he could mobilize with his authority as a Great Prophet. This was his own personal army, which he could direct to attack any guild or stronghold he so desired. His plan was to use the gold from the Starry Night Potion Shop to develop his territory. When his territory would start making a profit, that would in turn be used to fund a powerful army. He hoped that one day he could sweep through all the enemies in his path with a powerful army of players and NPCs!

Having already gotten through the biggest hurdle, which was a lack of funds, Nie Yan felt achieving this dream wasn’t all that far off.

...

God Executioner Sword guild headquarters. Discovering that the Starry Night Potion Shop was the only business on the market still selling potions, Qin Han gloomily cursed. This new landscape was already set in stone. There was nothing he could do to change it. Previously, in order to stop Asskickers United, he had dumped all the medicinal plants in his possession into the market. However, all of it had been gobbled up by Nie Yan. If he calculated based on the current price, he made a net loss of 4,000,000 gold. This was a substantial blow to the Monet Financial Group.

"Boss, we’re running low on potions. Penumbra Empire and Divine Protectors also sent word that they’re almost out.” Matchless Divine Sword carefully gazed at Qin Han.

Qin Han’s face darkened. His mind started racing. He had previously offloaded the stock of medicinal plants of all three guilds into the market. Even though he had gotten some of them back, what they had left right now didn’t even amount to 10% of what they had before. There was no way it could satisfy the demands of his guilds. At this point, they could only procure their potions from the Starry Night Potion Shop. But they'd have to buy the potions in bulk at a high price, and do it secretly too. If Nie Yan found out, he might stop selling to them. Things really couldn’t get any worse than this.

Seeing Qin Han not answering for a long time, Matchless Divine Sword wanted to quietly withdraw several times. However, he still couldn’t help but ask, "Boss, are we going to buy potions from the Starry Night Potion Shop? They’re the only ones left selling potions…”

"Go and buy from them, but don’t let anyone find out,” Qin Han said. Not buying potions wasn’t an option. But if people knew the Monet Financial Group was buying potions from the Starry Night Potion Shop, he would lose all face!

Chapter 705 - Inspecting the New Territory!

Nie Yan gained almost full control over the entire potion market. No other power could shake his rule.

Because of the increase in the prices of potions, guilds like God Executioner Sword, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps had no choice but to spend vast sums to purchase large quantities of potions from the Starry Night Potion Shop every day. They gritted their teeth with anger, but there was nothing they could do.

After several days, a chain reaction occurred. Seeing that Nie Yan was determined to monopolize the potion market, the other potion shops both large and small realized they had absolutely no way of competing with him. Many reluctantly chose to close down shop. Some switched over to other industries. Others decided to sell their shops.

Nie Yan with his several dozen million gold had undoubtedly secured his spot as the biggest player in the game. Even so-called moneybags like Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group couldn’t compete. Most of the shops that closed down ended up falling in his hands.

An enormous commercial empire had already taken embryonic form.

Nie Yan checked the calendar. Nine days had already passed since he received the notification to meet with the Elder Council to accept his fiefdom. He only had one day left before the deadline. With abundant financial resources, he could start developing his territory.

After settling some guild affairs, Nie Yan checked the recent reports. Qin Han was still keeping his skeleton army on standby. There was no point for him to sit at the ready, waiting for the other party to attack. He could hurry back when the time called for it. Thinking to this point, he headed to the Elder Council in Calore.

The Elder Council. This place was still as imposing as ever. Players passing by outside the entrance kept their heads down low, not daring to stir up any trouble.

After entering the Elder Council, Nie Yan immediately noticed something off. Both Jebiah the Great and Elder Redwin weren’t present. The person who received him was an NPC called Elder Manwell. His position in the Elder Council was fairly low. He looked middle-aged with a robust build and a firm gait.

Elder Manwell guided Nie Yan through a hall. He looked around in surprise. It was so quiet here. The guards from before were nowhere to be seen.

Nie Yan was filled with doubt. But after thinking for a bit, he decided he was better off not being a busybody. Every person in the Elder Council was a legendary NPC. They could easily kill him with a flick of a finger. Poking his nose around here, especially in places where it didn’t belong, wasn’t a wise idea. He obediently followed behind Elder Manwell. Even though his eyes would occasionally dart all over the place and he was acting a bit strange, nothing particularly noteworthy happened.

"Great Prophet, Jebiah the Great has already left the Viridian Empire for a long journey. Before leaving, he entrusted me with this task.” Elder Manwell handed over three items to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan examined the items, a map, a deed, and a crystal shard.

"Elder Manwell, do you know where Jebiath the Great went?” Nie Yan asked.

"Sorry, I do not know about his whereabouts.” Elder Manwell shook his head.

Seeing he wouldn’t get an answer, Nie Yan could only give up. This situation was too strange. The Viridian Empire was practically overrun by undead. Yet the Elder Council showed no signs of movement, and Jebiah the Great was nowhere to be found.

Even though Nie Yan knew something was wrong, he didn’t dare to investigate too deeply. The Elder Council was a sensitive place. If he did something he wasn’t supposed to do, he would bring down a calamity not only on himself but also on all of Asskickers United.

"Alright. Thank you, Elder Manwell.” Nie Yan nodded.

A game-wide announcement popped up.

Nirvana Flame has been conferred the title of Duke. He has been awarded the Abernathy Great Grasslands as his fiefdom.

A huge uproar shook the entire playerbase. Everyone was fervently discussing this new development. Nie Yan kept accomplishing one shocking thing after another. First it was him receiving the title of Great Prophet. Now he had become a Duke and obtained his own fiefdom. In their hearts, no one could compete with the legend of Nirvana Flame.

This announcement had undoubtedly made Nie Yan’s achievements even more resplendent.

All the major powers paid close attention to Nie Yan’s movements at all times. News of him receiving a fiefdom left them completely shocked. They immediately researched the location of the Abernathy Great Grasslands. After finding it, some rejoiced while others despaired.

The guilds far away from the Abernathy Great Grasslands naturally didn’t have anything to worry about. However, those close to it started worrying. No one wanted to be swallowed up by Asskickers United. The most concerned were undoubtedly Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group.

The Abernathy Great Grasslands was located on the border between the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire. Asskickers United occupying this region meant they could threaten Angel Corps at any time.

…

Angel Corps guild headquarters. Cao Xu donned in black ornamental robes walked into the main hall.

"Fan, my boy, long time no see,” Cao Xu said.

Soaring Angel in his azure leather armour sat at the head of the table. He nodded in response. "Long time no see indeed, Brother Cao. I trust you’ve been well?”

"I presume you already know Nirvana Flame obtained the Abernathy Great Grasslands as his territory. So, what are your thoughts?” Cao Xu asked.

"The Abernathy Great Grasslands is located right on the border between the two empires. With ordinary flying mounts, you can get to Orc King City in about three hours. As for siege weapons, though they’re slow, the travel time is still less than a day. I’m deeply concerned. Brother Cao, do you have a solution?” Soaring Angel said. He understood Angel Corps and Asskickers United would face off eventually. He wasn’t afraid of a war. But he didn’t want to lose the advantage before the fight even began.

"None. Not at the moment, at least. His territory is under protection for three months. We can only hope the Monet Financial Group doesn’t fall too quickly. It would be great if they shaved away more of Asskickers United’s strength. For now, we need to take some defensive measures. If we can endure through these three months, we can destroy Nirvana Flame’s territory,” Cao Xu said. After operating in the Satreen Empire for so long and acquiring more than 30 guilds, his strength wasn’t to be looked down on. With three cities under his control, he was only second to Angel Corps with their five.

Soaring Angel nodded. He had already started taking measures to deal with Asskickers United. It was just that he wasn’t willing to inform Cao Xu. These two men both had their secrets. They weren’t as friendly as they appeared on the surface. On one hand, the Century Financial Group was a shareholder in Angel Corps and also their business partner. On the other, they were a formidable rival.

"Asskickers United recently formed a monopoly over the potion market. We also have no choice but to purchase our potions from the Starry Night Potion Shop. Asskickers United’s influence is at an all time high right now. If they develop their territory, the ones who’ll suffer a calamity will be the two of us,” Cao Xu said.

"Don’t worry, Brother Cao. This much I understand.”

The two largest powers in the Satreen Empire continued discussing on how to deal with Asskickers United.

…

Nie Yan, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and three others teleported from Calore to Nisode. Afterwards, they took to the air on their flying mounts and set off for the Abernathy Great Grasslands.

About two hours later, after passing through a towering mountain range, the six of them arrived at the border of a great grassland. Looking into the horizon, all one could see was an endless stretch of green. There were a few lakes scattered here and there; their water was crystal clear. Occasionally, one could see herds of monsters moving over the land.

"This is the Abernathy Great Grasslands?” Bladelight asked with a shocked expression. This vast grassland all belonged to Nie Yan? This was too frightening!

"Yes. Everything the light touches is ours.” Nie Yan faintly smiled.

The map showed that the Abernathy Great Grasslands was even larger than the plains of Calore!

The five continued on ahead. Even after flying for more than five minutes, they still couldn’t see an end to the grassland.

What a large region!

Bladelight and the others couldn’t help but be amazed.

Observing the land below, one could occasionally see rows of white tents. The people occupying these tents were the natives of the Abernathy Great Grasslands. There were about 500,000 NPCs living in this territory, of which 200,000 were humans and 300,000 were orcs. No matter what their race, they would now have to recognize Nie Yan as their ruler or risk opposing both the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire.

Nie Yan held absolute authority in this land. From making laws to deciding over the life and death of the NPCs living here, all of it was within his grasp with the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire as his backing. But even though his power was great, he had no intention of becoming a tyrant. If he wanted to establish a foothold here, ruling with an iron fist wouldn’t work. He needed to receive the support of all the NPCs to create a powerful army. Only then would his rule be firm.

Seeing this vast expanse, Nie Yan’s eyes lit up with anticipation. Finally, he could begin developing his own territory!

Chapter 706 - Slave Yallop

While riding on the Darkwing Dragon, Nie Yan examined the three items in his bag.

The first item was a brocade map. It gave an illustration of the topography of the Abernathy Great Grasslands, with the forests, rivers, lakes, plains, and so on. Everything within the golden border drawn over the map was his territory.

After touring around the Abernathy Great Grasslands, Nie Yan confirmed the location of the border lines.

The second item was the Lord’s Deed. This was proof of Nie Yan’s rulership over the Abernathy Great Grasslands.

These two items were bound to him. With them, he was the true ruler of this land.

Nie Yan took the third item out for inspection. It was a conical shaped crystal which resembled a sharp dagger. When he took it out, it emitted a dazzling viridian radiance as a powerful, indescribable aura overflowed into the surroundings.

"What is that?” Bladelight asked.

This crystal shard had attracted everyone’s attention.

"A fragment of Jebiah the Great’s scepter...” Nie Yan muttered in a daze.

"Jebiah, the ruler of the Viridian Empire Jebiah? Why is a fragment of his scepter in your hands?”

"Right. Logically speaking, this sort of thing should be with the person himself. It’s not like he died. You don’t just break your scepter either. Strange.”

Hearing the discussion, Nie Yan raised an eyebrow. Just what did this fragment of Jebiah the Great’s scepter represent? Right now he had no way of knowing. He stored away the crystal shard in his bag.

Nie Yan discovered the settlement of a large tribe. Several thousand white tents stretched out across the grassland, with many people walking to and fro. Shepherds were herding livestock on the outskirts.

"Let’s go down to take a look,” Nie Yan said. This was the largest tribal settlement they had encountered so far in the Abernathy Great Grasslands.

They slowly descended into the center of the settlement. The six large flying mounts immediately took up most of the space in the square.

Bow and arrow wielding guards in simple leather armour immediately rushed over and surrounded Nie Yan’s group.

A tall, middle-aged man with bulging muscles walked over. He held a large longbow in one hand and a dagger in the other.

"This is the territory of the Kavannas. I am Chief Sampur. Strangers, identify yourselves, or else we will treat you as enemies!” Sampur exclaimed.

The atmosphere in the square immediately became tense.

Some players in the area gestured and pointed at the commotion. A few recognized Nie Yan and were waiting to see how the situation would unfold.

Even though the Abernathy Great Grasslands was located on the edge of both empires, many players had still made the journey and settled down here. They had established a friendly relationship with the native tribesmen by completing quests, hunting monsters, and selling their spoils of battle. Because the only way to live here was by receiving the approval of the local tribe.

"Chief Sampur, I came from Calore in the Viridian Empire. This is the deed conferred to me by the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire.” Nie Yan took out his Lord’s Deed.

Sampur suspiciously took the Lord’s Deed. After reading over it, he returned it to Nie Yan, then placed his hand over his chest and bowed. "M’Lord, welcome to Kavannas.”

The surrounding guards lowered their bows and also bowed to Nie Yan.

With Nie Yan appearing here, the players in the surroundings understood that everything was about to change. The Abernathy Great Grasslands had gone from an unregulated border zone to a player-controlled territory. Some players had already decided to leave. Others planned to stay and see how Nie Yan would develop this place.

Nie Yan and Bladelight glanced at each other. Sure enough, the Lord’s Deed was useful.

However, the Lord’s Deed was nothing more than a deterrent. Every tribe here had their own set of rules and customs. They wouldn’t bow to Nie Yan just because he flaunted a piece of paper. He had three months to mobilize an army, otherwise even if Angel Corps didn’t take action, the tribes here would come for his head.

"Lord, please come with me. You’re our honoured guest. Kavannas welcomes you with our best wine and most beautiful women,” Sampur said. With a wave of his hand, the guards parted ways and opened up a path.

Nie Yan glanced at Sampur. He didn’t know why, but he felt a hint of unfriendliness, even hostility from Sampur’s bearing. Perhaps it was to be expected. His arrival here meant he would be fighting the numerous tribes in the Abernathy Great Grasslands for control of the land. Receiving any support was going to be incredibly difficult. It appeared being the ruler of a land wasn’t as easy as he initially thought.

Once the two words beautiful women were mentioned, Lustboy’s eyes lit up. "Those beautiful women that big lug of a chief mentioned, could it be those stunning NPC beauties?” One had to admit, the NPC beauties generated by Conviction’s system were all kingdom topplers. However, most players would never dare to have any thoughts on these NPC beauties. If they were caught by the guards, they were doomed.

"You poor boy. Haven’t you seen the women walking around this tribe? They’re all built like oxen. I wouldn’t hold your breath.” Smoke Stub ruthlessly poured a bucket of ice cold water over Lustboy’s head.

Bladelight turned to Nie Yan and whispered, "Why do I get the feeling this Sampur doesn’t like us very much?”

"I feel the same. Let’s keep observing,” Nie Yan replied. There was nothing Sampur could do to them. After all, he was the lord of this land.

"Mhmm.”

The party followed behind Sampur. They passed between the tents, heading towards the enormous golden tent off in the distance.

The residents here weren’t particularly well off. One could tell from the clothes they wore. When they saw Sampur, they all parted to the side and kowtowed on the ground, trembling in fear.

Seeing this scene, Nie Yan sank into deep thought.

After walking for several minutes, a group of people came over in their direction. 10 fully armed guards pulled at a youth bound in ropes. The prisoner looked strong, with bulging muscles brimming with strength. He was half naked, wearing only a pair of shabby pants. His skin was scorched a deep bronze by the sun. The only imperfection on his body were the countless whip scars, both new and old ones overlapping with each other.

"Yallop, in a bit, you’ll realize how wonderful death is. We’ll carve your flesh piece by piece and feed it to the vultures in the sky,” a guard chuckled heinously.

"I’ve committed no wrong!” Yallop tried to break free of his constraints to no avail.

"You’ve committed no wrong. You’ve committed no wrong. Ha! Your biggest mistake is having too beautiful of a wife. That is a wrong in itself!”

The guards let out mocking laughs.

Seeing Sampur coming over, the 10 guards immediately stood at attention. "Chief Sampur, Yallop has committed the crime of theft. We’re on our way to the execution grounds.”

Sampur’s eyes were as sharp as a hawk’s. He stared deeply at Yallop. "You’re the most powerful warrior of our tribe. Even I’m not willing to put you to death. However, everyone must be punished for their crimes. In half an hour, we’ll be carrying out your execution.”

Nie Yan and Yallop met eyes. Yallop’s gaze contained and indescribable hatred and unyielding arrogance.

Yallop had three large scars going across his cheek. On the side of his face was an extremely clear branding, which read slave.

People were executed every day in the Viridian Empire. This wasn’t the first time Nie Yan encountered such a situation.

After passing by Yallop, Nie Yan felt a powerful pressure bearing down on him. This person was definitely strong.

"Chief Sampur, I’d like to ask what kind of crime did this Yallop commit?” Nie Yan asked.

"He committed the crime of theft. He stole items from several households,” Sampur replied. His eyes flashed with a gloomy and cruel light.

"Theft doesn’t warrant the death penalty, does it?” Nie Yan asked.

"You’re correct. However, he’s a slave. In Kavannas, any crime committed by a slave is punishable by death. Since he was previously a warrior and defeated the Keliran, I’ll grant him a sky burial,” Sampur said indifferently.

Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the others’ hearts trembled. This Sampur was absolutely ruthless! Even when speaking about a person’s life and death, he was so cold and indifferent, almost as if he were doing the other a favour.

"As the lord of the Abernathy Great Grasslands, am I allowed to pardon a person of the death penalty?” Nie Yan asked. From the moment Yallop appeared, he felt a type of fate connecting them. He felt an immense urge to rescue Yallop.

This was his first act as the lord of the Abernathy Great Grasslands!

"You are.” Sampur nodded. His eyes flickered with an unreadable light.

Sure enough, the title of Duke had some real power behind it.

"I want to pardon Yallop. As the lord of the Abernathy Great Grasslands, I forgive him of his crimes,” Nie Yan said. He understood that from this moment forward, he had burned all bridges with Sampur and the Kavannas. Interacting with NPCs was truly an exhausting thing.

Soon, Yallop was brought back by the guards.

Chapter 707 - NPC Follower

Yallop’s gaze seemed to cut through Sampur. He looked like he wanted to tear Sampur’s throat out.

"Kneel!” A guard ruthlessly stomped the back of Yallop’s knee.

Yallop nearly collapsed to the ground, but he forcefully regained his footing.

"Sampur, a warrior of the Kavannas will never kneel before anyone!” Yallop said in a deep tone, his eyes shining with an unyielding light.

Sampur’s eyes flashed with killing intent. However, he still maintained his calm. "Yallop, you’re free.”

"Cut your bullshit, Sampur. What are you planning. You think I’ll fall for your trickery so easily?” Yallop sneered.

"The Great Prophet is the new lord of the Abernathy Great Grasslands. He’s decided to absolve you of your crimes. So, you’re free. But from now on, you’re no longer a warrior of the Kavannas. You’re hereby banished from the tribe,” Sampur coldly said.

Yallop was stunned. He slowly turned his head to Nie Yan. Only now did he understand why Sampur would suddenly let him go. I’m saved... A spark of hope illuminated his heart, lifting him up from the pits of despair. He clenched his fists until his veins bulged out, revealing the turbulent emotions in his heart.

Yallop was like a beast. He wished for nothing more than to tear Sampur apart limb by limb. But after this fierce internal struggle, he calmed his agitated self. He relaxed his grip, as the bulging veins on his arms slowly receded. If he attacked Sampur, not only would he fail to kill him, but he would also be throwing his life away and betraying Nie Yan’s kindness.

Yallop no longer paid attention to Sampur. He faced Nie Yan properly, placed his hand over his chest, and kneeled down on one leg.

"Yallop, didn’t you say a warrior of the Kavannas will never kneel to anyone?” Sampur coldly chuckled.

"You banished me from the Kavannas. I’m no longer a warrior of yours. From now on, I’m the slave of the Great Prophet!” Yallop raised his head and gazed at Nie Yan with firm resolve. "Please, let me serve you. In the name of the God of the Grasslands Bekepein, I swear my undying loyalty to you!”

Nie Yan was caught off guard by this development. A notification suddenly popped up.

Are you willing to accept Great Berserker Yallop as your slave?

Seeing this notification, Nie Yan couldn’t hold back his excitement. He didn’t expect to obtain such a harvest today. However, he wasn't sure about taking in Yallop as a slave. After all, it was the lowest position in society.

Nie Yan suddenly thought of something and hit no on the prompt.

"I’m sorry, Yallop. I can’t accept you as a slave.” Nie Yan shook his head.

Yallop’s face crumpled. "G-great Prophet, am I not even worthy of being your slave...? I-” Even if he left this place himself, he would be hunted down by Sampur’s men. The only safe way out he saw, was to put aside his ego and submit to Nie Yan. Who would’ve thought he would be rejected?

"Let me finish. Yallop, being branded a slave is a stain for a brave warrior like you. I hereby free you of your status as a slave. If you’re willing, you can join me as my follower,” Nie Yan said.

Yallop’s face lit back up. He gave Nie Yan a grateful look.

Nie Yan could tell Yallop’s feelings were sincere. What he wanted wasn’t an obedient slave but rather a loyal servant!

Normally, a player could have up to three followers after becoming the leader of a Level 8 guild; something Asskickers United was still a ways off from reaching. However, Nie Yan as a Great Prophet had no such restriction. At present, he could recruit up to five servants. When Asskickers United rose to a Level 8 guilld, he could have another three slots.

Are you willing to accept Great Berserker Yallop as your follower?

Yes!

Warlord Yallop has become your follower.

Nie Yan checked Yallop’s stats. Yallop was a Level 180 Elite Great Berserker. It was a pity he wasn’t a Sword Saint or Champion. The servant system in Conviction was fairly special. Yallop was his own unique self. The only reason he did Nie Yan’s bidding was because his loyalty was high enough; which could drop if Nie Yan treated him poorly. There were stories of how ill-treated followers could even turn on their lord. He could gain experience—a portion of which would go straight to Nie Yan, learn skill, and wear equipment. However, if he died unless he was revived within 30 minutes of his death with a special revival magic, he would disappear forever.

Nie Yan checked Yallop’s health and loyalty. Since Yallop was a tanky Warrior, he had 300,000 health. At present, his loyalty was 90. Normally, a loyalty of 70 was already fairly good. Having your servant’s loyalty at 80 was fairly rare. He assumed it was because his actions just now had moved Yallop.

When Nie Yan gazed at Yallop, he noticed the slave mark on Yallop’s face gradually disappearing. It appeared it was a blood branding. After he accepted Yallop as a follower, the branding disappeared.

Yallop was a head taller than Smoke Stub and Bladelight. He was built like an ox. Right now he had no equipment. Nie Yan planned to fit him with a decent set of armour. His appearance alone would become a huge deterrence.

As far as servants go, Yallop was on the weaker side. For example, Qin Han’s servant Necromancer Vorderman was a demi-god like existence. However, these types of NPCs were incredibly rare. Relying on strength alone wasn’t enough. Luck mattered too. Nie Yan had previously received the quest to rescue the Ten Holy Paladins. The final reward was obtaining Karsi as his servant. However, this task was still far beyond the scope of his ability.

Nevertheless, obtaining his first NPC follower was something still worth celebrating.

"The Abernathy Great Grasslands is a dangerous place. The various tribes living here are at constant war. Great Prophet, be careful, or you might get dragged into the chaos,” Sampur said in a dark tone.

"Thank you for your warning, Sampur. I’ll watch out. I still have matters to attend to, so I won’t take your time any longer,” Nie Yan said. He understood the veiled threat behind Sampur’s words. He was in a good mood after recruiting his first follower.. Lingering around here any longer had no meaning anyway.

"Have a safe journey, Great Prophet,” Sampur said in a cold tone.

Nie Yan, Bladelight, and the others turned around and left.

Yallop was like a lion. He calmly swept his gaze over this land where he grew up, then followed Nie Yan out.

Nie Yan’s group arrived at the outskirts of the tribe. Yallop wasn’t like Paladin Lafus. He couldn’t be recalled. Nie Yan thought for a moment before summoning his Darkwing Dragon. It could carry multiple people anyway.

Everyone got on their respective flying mounts, then took to the air.

The tents below became smaller and smaller until they were nothing more than tiny little dots.

Nie Yan stood on the Darkwing Dragon’s head. He glanced back at Yallop who was gazing at the land below with a dazed expression.

"Yallop,” Nie Yan called out.

"Yes, Master,” Yallop replied.

"Follow me. One day, we’ll flatten the Kavannas and take back what rightfully belongs to you,” Nie Yan said.

"Master, I’ll do whatever you ask of me.” Yallop couldn’t contain the excitement in his heart, his voice slightly trembling.

Nie Yan gazed at Yallop’s loyalty. It had risen to 92. Raising a servant’s loyalty required knowing what they desired.

Yallop’s reason for living was revenge. Nie Yan had given him hope!

Nie Yan’s group flew over the endless stretch of grasslands for a long time, seeking out the perfect location to build a city. They eventually found it. This area was located in the heart of the Abernathy Great Grasslands. If he constructed his city here, it would be easier to control the entire territory.

"We’ll be building our city here. Let’s head down and clear away the mobs,” Nie Yan said.

The group slowly descended from the sky and landed on the grassland.

Nie Yan would have to first clear away all the monsters in the vicinity to build his city.

Nie Yan glanced at Yallop beside him. He was only wearing a pair of shabby pants. He needed some equipment to fight.

「Have some Thieves deliver Level 100+ Dark Gold-grade Warrior equipment, preferably as close to Level 180 as possible. Also send a 500-man team over. Here are the coordinates. Abernathy Great Grasslands 1239.285.1285,」Nie Yan sent Guo Huai a message.

「Alright.」Guo Huai nodded. He immediately got to work.

"The monsters in the vicinity are all Level 100. The neighbouring maps around also all Level 100+, from Level 100–160. This place has good growth potential for the future,” Bladelight remarked. He discovered a Level 100 Black Lion. He immediately raised his sword and charged toward it.

A Level 100 Black Lion with almost 100,000 health was fairly strong among ordinary monsters.

A pride of enormous Black Lions came over and surrounded them. Nie Yan and the others prepared to take action when-

"GWRAAAAGH!” Yallop charged into the pride of lions.

"Wait, what!? Is he fine going in empty-handed like that!?”

"He’s a Level 180 Elite. It shouldn’t be a problem.”

BAM! Yallop’s fist struck a Black Lion, sending it flying back and crashing into the ground.

−52,590

What frightening damage! Yallop was barehanded too!

Another Black Lion pounced forward and swiped at Yallop. KLANG! As soon as its claws struck his skin, it bounced off almost as if it had hit metal.

Miss!

Chapter 708 - Okoron

These Level 100 Black Lions were no match for the Level 180 Great Berserker Yallop. With only his bare fists, he pummelled the lions one after another into the ground. This patch of green was soaked deep red with corpses littering the area.

"Damn, he’s a beast! If we fit him with a set of high level equipment, he’ll be even more unbelievable.” Bladelight and Smoke Stub were speechless. Even as a Champion and Sword Saint respectively, they were no match for Yallop. The level difference was too great.

Yallop was brave and powerful. His battle experience was extremely ample, not any inferior to that of a Master.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. If Yallop could become a Master, he would grow many times more powerful. NPCs could also take class advancement quests like players. However, for them it was an extremely dangerous affair. If they died, that was it. So, they were extremely cautious.

About 20 minutes later, the reinforcements Nie Yan asked for arrived. The 500 players separated into parties of 10 and spread out to clear out the monsters in the surroundings.

Yallop wore the equipment Nie Yan gave to him. It was a full set of armour. The best piece was Level 160 Dark Gold-grade. The rest was at least Level 150. This equipment came from when Nie Yan was treasuring hunting with Tang Yao. It’d been sitting in the treasury all this time without anyone having any use for it.

After completely clearing the area of monsters, Nie Yan took out an enormous crystal orb from his bag. It pulsed out with ripples of azure-coloured energy.

This was something Nie Yan had bought from an NPC shop for 1,000,000 gold, a City Source Crystal.

Nie Yan placed the City Source Crystal on the ground. A powerful wave of energy swept out. It molded the land, flattening everything within a several thousand meter radius. Magical ley lines lit up on the ground, forming an enormous runic formation.

This was the foundation Nie Yan would build his city on top of.

Building a city in Conviction wasn’t as troublesome as it was in reality. All you had to do was throw sufficient funds at it. What mattered was if you had the authority. If you built a city without permission, you would be committing an act of treason and be swiftly dealt with by the troops of the Viridian and Satreen Empires.

It was a fact any illegally constructed city would be demolished.

Since the Abernathy Great Grasslands belonged to Nie Yan, he had the authority to construct whatever he wished.

Now where the money came in. Nie Yan glanced at his checklist. He needed a basic wall, an administrative hall, temple, mercenary hall, and so on to construct a small city. He had to spend at least several million gold just to get everything off the ground. It would be impossible for an ordinary guild to bear such an enormous cost. Perhaps Nie Yan was the only player in the entire game who had the funds available. On the bright side, after the city was successfully built and its population reached a certain point, the profits would be sky high. The amount he would make by collecting rent and taxes on shops alone would be astronomical.

Before long, buildings appeared out of nowhere. The gold came pouring out of Nie Yan’s bag like a surging tide. His goals stretched far beyond developing just a basic city. So, the structures he built were of extremely high quality. In the future, he could slowly raise their tiers.

The city was quite imposing situated over the grassland, occupying an extremely large space. A basic city could hold at least 600,000 people, and a medium or large city could hold up to several million.

Nie Yan had Guo Huai, Smoke Stub, and the others help draw up the laws and decrees. As the city gradually took shape, a notification popped up.

Please name your city.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. Based on his understanding of the languages in Conviction, he thought of a name—Okoron. The word meant Glorious in Ancient Common.

Nie Yan’s feats, including becoming a Great Prophet, obtaining a territory, and so on were the first in history. Even in the previous timeline, no one had accomplished this. Asskickers United’s success was worth marvelling at. He hoped it would become even more glorious in the future.

Nie Yan constructed a guild hall and other buildings, including a residential district exclusively for the members of Asskickers United. Having a personal residence in a city was something only for the wealthiest. It had many uses, serving as a gathering place and personal storage. Even the most basic residences had at least 20,000 slots of storage space. Additionally, players could set their residences as return points, allowing them to return to it whenever they used a Return Scroll. Like this, it could become a hub for levelling.

Nie Yan made sure that every member of Asskickers United and the five branch guilds would obtain personal residences in Okoron free of charge!

Nie Yan had Guo Huai submit an application to the Elder Council to transfer the guild headquarters of Asskickers United from the Cripps Stronghold to Okoron.

Okoron was going to become the capital of the Abernathy Great Grasslands. An Intermediate Stronghold had no way of comparing. Furthermore, the laws and decrees in Okoron were set by Nie Yan. For Asskickers United, this was an enormous advantage.

By moving the guild headquarters here, Asskickers United could also evade the frantic assault of Qin Han’s skeleton army.

Qin Han’s skeleton army was eyeing the Cripps Stronghold like a tiger in ambush. No matter the final outcome, the stronghold would face with an enormous calamity. If Nie Yan moved the guild headquarters to Okoron without Qin Han noticing, Asskickers United would be a cicada shedding its carapace; a crafty escape.

「For the time being, don’t announce we’ve moved our guild headquarters to anyone, including our members,」Nie Yan said.

「How is that possible?」Guo Huai knitted his brows. The guild headquarters had already been moved. Completely concealing this information from the members of the guild was impossible.

Nie Yan thought for a moment.「The final step of moving our guild headquarters requires me to sign off with my name. I can delay this for about a month. We’ll use that time to stealthily transfer all our guild assets to Okoron. If we can’t hold onto the Cripps Stronghold any longer, I’ll sign off on the move.」

「It takes at least a day to process a change in the location of the guild headquarters. When you’re going to sign off, make sure to prepare in advance,」Guo Huai reminded.

「I understand.」Nie Yan nodded.

Guo Huai went to work. Moving the assets of the guild wasn’t all that difficult. A few hundred trusted aides was all he needed.

The initial construction of Okoron was almost finished. Nie Yan checked his bag. He had spent roughly 7,000,000 gold. He still had another 9,000,000.

"How much gold did you spend?” Bladelight asked.

"About 7,000,000,” Nie Yan replied. "Raising Okoron to a medium sized city will probably cost at least 15,000,000 gold. We lack the funds right now. We’ll have to wait a few days for our gold to accumulate.”

Bladelight and the others gaped in shock. 7,000,000 gold gone was gone just like that, and even more would have to be poured into the development of the city.

"Is it worth it?” Smoke Stub asked. If they failed to make an acceptable return on investment, they would lose big.

"Don’t worry. If we can develop Okoron into an Intermediate City, we can make at least 20,000,000 gold just by selling shops and plots of land. Not to mention taxes. I estimate we’ll rake in 1,000,000 gold in taxes every day,” Nie Yan chuckled.

Bladelight and the others weren’t too knowledgeable about the operations of Asskickers United. Even though they knew the guild had monopolized the potion market and was plenty rich, they were still shocked after hearing such a large figure.

Asskickers United’s strength was steadily rising. Financially, Nie Yan had used the knowledge of his past life to create an enormous commercial empire, which was capable of fulfilling any of the guild’s needs . They were far ahead of the pack.

With the completion of Okoron, the transfer points were also opened up. More and more players from Asskickers United and the five branch guilds entered the city. It became much more lively, with people moving about on the streets.

Ordinary strongholds could only hold two transfer points. Meanwhile, Okoron already had six. They were linked to all the cities in the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire. The transfer fee was about 100 gold, of which Nie Yan received half. In the future, when the Abernathy Great Grasslands grew in popularity, he would make a killing on transfer fees alone. The only thing that left him feeling dissatisfied was how expensive the transfer fee was, stifling the city’s growth.

Nie Yan planned to bring over some flying mounts to create a flight point in the heart of Okoron. Like this, there would be a cheaper alternative for travelling from here to other cities.

News of Okoron spread like wildfire on the forums.

This was the first player built city. It immediately attracted everyone’s attention. Many players wanted to go there for a visit. However, the expensive transfer fee was an obstacle for ordinary players. Travelling to Okoron by land mount also wasn’t feasible. It was simply too far away, with many high level maps on the way.

After finding out about the construction of Okoron, the players from Asskickers United were excited beyond belief. Before long, they received information that all of them would receive a personal residence in the city. This was an extremely generous benefit to ordinary players.

No other guild in both the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire provided this kind of benefit to their players.

Asskickers United players from all over wanted to head over to Okoron and take a look.

「The Boss says he’s planning to build a flight point. All guild members will get to travel to Okoron for free!」

「That’s great! The boss really is awesome. I hope the flight points get built quickly.」

Chapter 709 - The 13th Master Class Player

The players arriving in Okoron either came by flying mount or were already levelling in the Abernathy Great Grasslands. They strolled the streets full of curiosity for this first player-built city.

Even though Okoron was much smaller than a major city like Calore, it was already quite amazing. Seeing the clean streets and rows of shops, the players gasped in amazement. Just how much gold was spent on building such a city!?

Nie Yan erected a mercenary association downtown and began a recruitment campaign for NPCs to join his army. Even with the announcement out there, it would take some time for NPCs to start streaming into Okoron.

Nie Yan wondered about how he would develop the city’s commerce. The only way to convince players who visited here to stay was with a flourishing trade. As he was drawing up plans and making preparations, Guo Huai sent word that many businesses were inquiring about opening up shop in Okoron. Even though Okoron was only recently established, they saw boundless potential in the city’s future.

The Abernathy Great Grasslands would become a hub connecting the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire. The goods from both empires would pass through here. With such a golden location, this city was destined to become a bustling commerce center. How could merchants with the slightest bit of foresight not take action?

They contacted Guo Huai and fervently asked about the possibilities. Like this, one of Nie Yan’s biggest worries was resolved.

「How many businesses have contacted you so far? Any big names?」Nie Yan asked. Naturally, he would thoroughly screen any businesses that wished to establish a presence in Okoron.

「212 businesses in total. About 40% among them are from the Satreen Empire. Some fairly famous ones, including the Red Moon Commerce Chamber that occupies 60% of the scroll market in the Satreen Empire, expressed their interest in opening up a branch here. Their only point of concern is the high transfer fee. They wish to know when the flight point will be ready for lift off. They’re also interested in how large of an operation you’re planning.」

「Don’t worry. The flight point won’t be an issue. We’ll buy some Giant Bats from the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire. We can use them as flying mounts for the flight point for the time being no problem. But after three months, we’ll have to get some more powerful flying mounts and set up escort teams, or we’ll likely get targeted by other powers,」Nie Yan said. Giant Bats didn’t have any fighting ability. They were only good for transport. Angel Corps might not dare to attack them during the three-month protection period, but that certainly wouldn’t be the case afterwards.

「How much does a Giant Bat cost?」Guo Huai asked. He wasn’t too knowledgeable about the market prices in this field.

「10,000 gold, not too expensive.」

「How many do you plan to buy?」

「At least 600, or we won’t have enough Giant Bats to transport the stream of people coming and going to Okoron,」Nie Yan replied.

「600?」Guo Huai sucked in a cold breath of air. That was 6,000,000 gold! He felt his head spinning.「Will we be able to make our investment back?」

「Not directly, no, but the Giant Bats are necessary. We’ll establish flight points in the cities closest to the Abernathy Great Grasslands in the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire. With Okoron as the hub, we’ll only make about five trips every day. At most, that’s about 3,000 people a day–far from enough for a city. So, we’ll have to continue buying more in the future. Treat it as a loss-leader. Even though we won’t make a return on the flight points, the profits we’ll make by getting more people into the city will far exceed this initial investment.」

「Alright, you’ve convinced me,」Guo Huai said. Even though his heart ached at the thought of spending the 6,000,000 gold, he knew Nie Yan was right. Asskickers United wasn’t short on funds. The Starry Night Potion Shop could make that amount back in a single day.

Giant Bats was only a stop-gap measure. Nie Yan would have to obtain some offensive flying mounts. After the three-month period was up, Asskickers United would definitely face obstruction in the skies from guilds like Angel Corps.

"I should go back to the Griffon Woodlands one of these days,” Nie Yan muttered.

Everything progressed on in an orderly manner. About six hours later, the first batch of NPCs arrived in Okoron. It was a group of tribesmen surviving in the nearby plains. They lived from meal to meal, sometimes going days without. The erection of Okoron was like a gift sent by God to them. They came rushing over to seek better opportunities.

Even though they weren’t warriors, only ordinary inhabitants, their presence was a sign that Nie Yan’s announcement worked.

Nie Yan provided the tribesmen with basic provisions from the NPC shops of the Viridian Empire. Afterwards, he assigned them tasks and helped them settle down in Okoron.

"G-great Prophet, thank you for your benevolence. You’ve given us a safe home,” an elderly NPC with a head full of white hair said.

"Senior, please stand up. You don’t need to use that kind of etiquette here.”

Only with the presence of NPCs would Okoron flourish.

Nie Yan obtained all sorts of information from the mouths of these NPCs. He learned a war had broken out between the Kerunsi tribe of humans and Sodan tribe of orcs in the north of the Abernathy Great Grasslands because of a dispute for land. Some refugees had made their way all the way over to Okoron. He also heard that a frightening Kong King had descended from the Morogo Mountains had appeared in the plains about 10 minutes from Okoron. This Level 180 Lord had already slaughtered two small tribes.

Thanks to the arrival of these NPCs, Nie Yan became much more informed about the happenings around the Abernathy Great Grasslands. Since he treated them with kindness and generosity, he quickly gained their allegiance.

The players from Asskickers United bought Giant Bats from all over the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire. Afterwards, they loaded them up with large bags of supplies and set off for Okoron.

Nie Yan planned to draw in more NPCs.

"A Level 180 Lord, huh… If it makes its way here, it could threaten the city. Interested in heading over there together?” Nie Yan asked. Though he’d teamed up with Bladelight and the others recently to fight Divine Protectors, he couldn’t remember the last time they set out to hunt a large monster together.

"Sure, we're ready whenever you are,” Bladelight replied.

Hearing Nie Yan wanted to take them to hunt down a Lord, everyone became excited. Not to mention their target was a Level 180 Lord! This still posed a certain amount of challenge.

Nie Yan began making the arrangements. Ordinary players had no way of dealing with a Level 180 Lord. Their attacks wouldn’t even deal any damage. Only Masters were qualified.

"Just the 12 of us?” Lustboy asked.

"The others aren’t strong enough. With the 12 of us plus Yallop, we should be able to pull it off. If worse comes to worse, we’ll just withdraw,” Nie Yan said. There was no harm in checking it out. Xie Yao, Lei Su, and the others hurried over from different locations. They were rich enough to not care about the transfer fees. So, travelling to Okoron was fairly convenient.

While everyone happily chatted, Undying Scoundrel got in touch with Nie Yan.「Boss, Lustboy said you guys are going to hunt a Lord together. Count me in too!」

「You’ve completed your class advancement quest?」Nie Yan asked in surprise.

「I just got out of the instance! Hehe.」Undying Scoundrel chuckled.

「Good, very good!」Nie Yan exclaimed in joy. Previously, many top rank players from Asskickers United had failed their class advancement quests. Undying Scoundrel succeeding his was definitely a pleasant surprise. With the addition of Undying Scoundrel, Asskickers United already had 13 Masters!

Over these past couple of weeks, another three Masters had popped up in the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire. However, they were all solo players. Nie Yan had no idea where they came from. It was rumoured that guilds like Angel Corps and God Executioner Sword tried to recruit them to no avail. Even though more Masters had appeared on the outside, they were of no threat to Asskickers United. With Undying Scoundrel successfully class advancing, they now had four Magisters.

Another Magister was an extra source of damage. Defeating the Kong King would be much simpler.

Nie Yan and the others gathered in Okoron with Undying Scoundrel being the last person to arrive. He was panting for breath.

Lustboy walked over and patted Undying Scoundrel’s shoulder. "How come you’re so late? You’ve made us wait!”

"My bad, my bad. I was busy socketing my new equipment with some gems.” Undying Scoundrel gave an apologetic smile. He knew that every minute of their time was extremely precious for these 12 people.

Nie Yan looked over Undying Scoundrel. This fellow had switched out a lot of his equipment. He wore an ashen robe with an eagle embroidered on the collar with gold silk. Based on the magic fluctuations coming off of him, it was undoubtedly Legendary grade. Nie Yan had seen many images of Legendary equipment in the past, but he had never seen a robe like this before.

"Get anything good during your class advancement quest?” Nie Yan asked with a smile.

"Yeah, this robe I’m wearing right now. It’s called Mannix’s Golden Eagle Robes, Legendary-grade and a Soul Item, meaning it’ll grow with me as I level up!” Undying Scoundrel explained excitedly. He appeared to be extremely pleased with these robes.

Mannix’s Golden Eagle Robes? Nie Yan knitted his brows. He suddenly recalled such a figure in Conviction’s history. About two hundred years ago, Mannix and 12 other Magisters created a powerful organization called the Golden Eagles. They were extremely influential in the Viridian Empire. With his remarkable magic, he was praised as a genius. But his life fell short when agents from the Undead Empire assassinated him. Even so, his legend lived on. Naturally, the robes he left behind were extraordinary.

"Not bad, not bad. It’s a pretty nice piece of equipment.” Nie Yan nodded with a light smile.

Chapter 710 - Kong King

A line-up of 13 Masters was a formidable force.

Nie Yan thought back to the Lava Titan in the Kiln Fire Woods. The memory of the incident still remained fresh in his mind. It had slaughtered untold numbers of players, leaving mountains of corpses in its wake. If Asskickers United produced some more Masters, they could probably try challenging it.

After making their preparations, they got on their flying mounts and set off.

The 13 flying mounts soared through the skies.

Nie Yan glanced around him. For a Master not to have a high rank flying mount was a shameful thing. So, during this short time, Bladelight and the others had all gotten themselves some suitable partners.

Nie Yan had the Rank 7 Darkwing Dragon. It was definitely the strongest among the flying mounts here. Next were two Rank 6 flying mounts, both of which had only recently hatched. One was Xie Yao’s Phoenix, while the other was Smoke Stub’s Azure Dragon.

The Azure Dragon received its name from the azure scales on its body, which glistened brilliantly under the sunlight.

Apart from these two, the rest were all Rank 5 flying mounts like Royal Griffons and Wyverns.

Masters were strong to begin with. They naturally had ways of obtaining high rank flying mounts.

"I still have a dragon egg in my personal storage. If any of you are interested, I can give it to you to hatch.” Nie Yan shared the dragon egg’s info. Hatching it would require the completion of a high difficulty quest. He estimated only Masters could take it on. That was why he hadn’t brought it up before.

Everyone examined the dragon egg.

"It looks like the quest is more suitable for a Warrior.”

"Bladelight, do you want it?” Smoke Stub asked.

Bladelight shook his head. "I’m working on a quest that’ll reward me a Rank 6 flying mount. I don’t need this dragon egg. Give it to someone else.”

Among the Warriors, Bladelight didn’t want it, and Smoke Stub already had his Azure Dragon. Only Lei Su was left.

"Lei Su can have it then,” Nie Yan said.

No one had any qualms about Nie Yan’s decision.

"R-really? Is that fine?” Lei Su asked in a daze. He was still a newbie in Asskickers United.

"I’ve added you to the dragon egg’s withdrawal permissions. You can go collect it when we’re back in town,” Nie Yan said. Even though Lei Su was a new member, he already treated Lei Su as one of his own.

"Thanks,” Lei Su said in a grateful tone. He could feel the trust Nie Yan and the others had in him.

13 flying mounts flew through the sky. The Darkwing Dragon, Phoenix, and Azure Dragon at the lead were especially eye catching. They cast immense shadows on the ground. Players interrupted during their levelling all raised their heads to look, following Nie Yan and the others as they disappeared over the horizon.

Before long, all the major powers knew about the movement of Nie Yan’s group. However, none of them dared to do anything. With no Masters of their own, it was pointless to send any players; lest they were eager for a one-sided bloodbath.

"Everyone, spread out and search. If you discover the Kong King, report it in voice chat,” Nie Yan said.

"Understood!”

The 13 of them split up in different directions and started scanning the ground below for traces of the Kong King. Since they were in a great open plain, the target would be fairly easy to spot.

「I discovered the Kong King,」Black Hell said several minutes later.「But it seems like some people beat us to the punch.」

「What are the coordinates?」

「3829.2385.2880.」

「Alright, we’ll head over right away.」

Everyone gathered at the coordinates Black Hell provided.

Nie Yan gazed up ahead. In the far distance stood an enormous beast with countless small dots surrounding it.

This was the monster the NPCs in Okoron mentioned, a Kong King. It was an enormous beast the size of a small hill. A group of about 1,000 players had surrounded it.

Nie Yan was surprised. The Abernathy Great Grasslands, as an unregulated border zone, was a fairly desolate place. For there to be a thousand-man expedition team here of all places was definitely strange.

Since he was so far away, Nie Yan couldn’t clearly see the appearances of these players. All he could tell was that three people were taking on the Kong King’s attacks as it smashed down with its enormous fists.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Nie Yan could even hear the sounds from such a great distance.

The three figures danced around the Kong King's body, nimbly evading its attacks.

"These guys are pretty skilled,” Black Hell remarked. He usually maintained his silence, only occasionally giving a word or two. However, no one would ever overlook his existence. Ever since Nie Yan fulfilled his side of the promise and destroyed Dark Heroes, Black Hell stuck with Asskickers United. He was an enigma to most guild members. However, they still highly revered him.

"Just what hole did these people crawl out from? Logically speaking, ordinary players shouldn’t be able to deal any damage to a Kong King. Aren’t they just wasting their time?” Undying Scoundrel muttered.

"Not necessarily. Conviction has also sorts of special items. I’ve seen an item before called the Armour Break Scroll. It allows all the players in a team to deal true damage within a short timeframe. This kind of insane burst damage is especially useful for dealing with Lords,” Lustboy said.

"Lustboy is right. If a team is determined enough to want to deal with a Lord, as long as the leader is clever enough, they’ll always think of a way,” Bladelight said. He frequently led expedition teams in hunting bosses. So, he was speaking from a place of experience.

"Let’s go down and take a look,” Nie Yan said.

Nie Yan’s group landed in an area 1,000 meters away from the Kong King. If they came any closer, the other side might think they were trying to snatch the boss away.

The 13 of them headed over to a distant hill. The battle was already reaching its climax.

The Kong King howled and roared. However, it appeared to be bound by something. It couldn’t charge out of a 10-meter wide space. There were 16 Great Mages standing in a circle around it. They had their staffs raised in the air and were chanting out incantations. They were locking the Kong King down in a mysterious magic formation! Two Warriors and one Paladin were standing in front of the Kong King, hacking and slashing away at it.

"Damn, this boss really is tanky. We’ve only shaved away 12% of its health after such a long time. At this rate, it’ll take us forever to kill it!” the Paladin gloomily cursed. She raised her sword and struck the Kong King in the waist with a Holy Smite, dealing 700 damage.

A shower of spells rained down on the Kong King, dealing 50–60 damage each. Though the damage was minimal, with at least 700 Mages attacking together, it quickly stacked up.

"Thankfully we have this Sanction Magic Formation, or else the 1,600 of us would be nowhere near enough to deal with this monster. It really has high defense,” the Fighter remarked. Letting out a grunt, he leaped into the air and struck the Ape King with a Shield Bash, forcing it to stagger back.

The expedition team looked quite coordinated. They were clearly skilled. While they were focused on dealing with the boss, one of the players said in the voice chat,「Boss! We have company. A group of 10 or so players are making their way towards us. They’re about a thousand meters northeast of us.」

「Did you recognize any of them?」asked a female Paladin. She was clad in silver white armour with her hair tied behind the back of her head. She appeared cool and relaxed with a tall and curvaceous figure. The leader of this group was actually this beauty.

「Yeah, Asskickers United’s Nirvana Flame!」came the response. He had spotted the Darkwing Dragon earlier.

「It’s him!?」Netherluna knitted her brows. This definitely wasn’t good news. If it was anyone else, they could easily handle the situation. However, since it was Nirvana Flame, that made things a lot more difficult.

Their group belonged to Dark Recital. Netherluna was their guild leader. They were only a small guild with around 2,000 players. Among them Netherluna and several dozen other pillars of the guild belonged to the Dark Retical gaming organization. This organization had a bit of fame domestically.

「Nirvana Flame is the new lord of the Abernathy Great Grasslands. If we want to stay here, we can’t afford to offend him.」the Paladin tanking the Kong King chimed in. Clad in silver ashen armour, he had the appearance of a man in his mid twenties with a sturdy build. He was the vice guild leader, Canon.

Netherluna pondered for a moment. She had no choice but to admit that Canon’s words were reasonable. They really couldn’t afford to offend Nirvana Flame.

「Even though Nirvana Flame is the lord of the Abernathy Great Grasslands, with so many NPC tribes along with the several dozen small guilds operating here, controlling the entire territory won’t be that simple. As long as we don’t stand out too much, we’ll be fine,」Netherluna said.

「What if he tries to snatch the Kong King away from us? Are we supposed to give up on it just like that?」the Warrior tanking at the front asked.

「If Nirvana Flame really wants to steal this Kong King away from us, there’s nothing we can do. However, based on the way he acts, he probably won’t try to directly take it away. After all, he wouldn’t want bad rumours spreading around, right?」Netherluna’s lips curved into a crafty smile.

Chapter 711 - Getting to Work

Netherluna was a born leader. She was a stunning beauty, but she was also much more than that. She’d already reached Level 116, ranking in the top five on the level leaderboards. Her equipment was of excellent quality, and her skills were top-notch too. The only area where she fell short at was that she wasn’t a Master yet. She was hesitating on taking on her class advancement quest since she had no idea what it was like.

The catalyst for the Sanction Sealing Formation was a special scroll, which was consumed after use. They naturally couldn’t let such a precious item go to waste. So, they decided to make the Level 180 Kong King their target, since anything it dropped would be of immense value. A single piece of equipment dropped by this Lord would fetch them enough to eat and drink without worries for the foreseeable future.

「I’ll go make contact with Nirvana Flame. You guys stay here and deal with the boss. Be careful. I’ll be back in three minutes tops,」Netherluna said.

「Understood,」Canon replied.

Netherluna brought two people with her and headed over toward Nie Yan’s group.

Nie Yan’s group was slowly making their way towards Dark Recital’s forces. King of the World, who was scouting the path ahead, sent a message.

「They’re a guild called Dark Recital. Their strength on the whole is pretty average. Somehow they got their hands on a magic formation, and they’re using it to lock down the Kong King,」King of the World said.

Dark Recital? Nie Yan had never heard of this name before. Guilds like these were generally too small to attract his notice.

"No wonder they dare to take on the Kong King. Just like Lustboy said, they found some special method.”

"I don’t think it’ll be that easy to kill a Level 180 Lord, just a magic formation won’t do.”

"Should we go over and take a look? If we approach any closer, a battle might break out.”

Everyone gazed at Nie Yan. None of them were afraid of fighting. If it was necessary, they could easily wipe out every last one of these 1,000+ players. However, as members of Asskickers United, they couldn’t act so rashly. They had a reputation to uphold.

"Some people are coming over,” Nie Yan said.

Everyone gazed up ahead. Three people were heading towards them. The player leading them was a Paladin.

"Their leader seems to be a girl. Her equipment is pretty decent,” Undying Scoundrel remarked in surprise. After thinking about it, it wasn’t anything strange. After all, many experts in Asskickers United were girls.

Netherluna and two others stopped a good distance from Nie Yan’s group.

"Our Dark Recital guild is hunting a boss. We’d like all unrelated players to please leave,” Netherluna announced. Even though she knew the person in front of her was Nirvana Flame, she acted neither servile nor overbearing. She purposely pretended not to recognize him.

Nie Yan activated Transcendent Insight. Netherluna was a Level 116 Paladin. In his group, the highest level player was Tang Yao at Level 112. They had really spent too much time doing their class advancement quests. There were already many players over Level 100. For this female Paladin to be Level 116, she had to be ranked pretty high on the level leaderboards. Of course, in terms of actual battle prowess, she couldn’t hold a candle to anyone in their group.

"I’m Asskickers United’s Nirvana Flame,” Nie Yan said.

"Oh, so it is Nirvana Flame. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you for a long time. We’ve heard over the last few days that you became the new lord of the Abernathy Great Grasslands. Dark Recital will of course support you. We hope to come and visit Okoron later. Our guild is in the middle of hunting a Lord right now. I’d like to ask that you make things easy for us. I’m sure with your reputation, you definitely wouldn’t care about a single Lord, right?” Netherluna said in a soft yet clear tone. "If you want this Lord, there’s nothing our small guild can do about it. However, I’m sure this kind of matter wouldn’t sound good if made known to the public. I’m a straightforward person who speaks my mind. If I’ve offended you in any way, please excuse me.”

Bladelight smiled and whispered into Nie Yan’s ears, "Her words sound soft and pretty, but she clearly isn’t backing down. Looks like the reputation of our Asskickers United isn’t too useful here, hah.”

Nie Yan chuckled. "Since she’s said it like that, I guess it wouldn’t be good for us to steal away the boss, or else people will accuse us of abusing our authority.”

Nie Yan turned to face Netherluna. "As the guild leader of Asskickers United, I, Nirvana Flame, promise we won’t snatch away the boss from you guys.”

"Thank you, Nirvana Flame. We still have to kill the boss. When all this is over, we’ll pay you a visit in Okoron and express our gratitude properly.” Netherluna inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Since Nie Yan agreed not to snatch away the Kong King, there was no problem. With his position and status, he wouldn’t likely go back on his word. She had also secretly recorded their conversation, just in case.

Netherluna hurried back with the two other players in tow, only to hear a world-shaking roar cut across the air. Her face paled. Not good!

Smoke Stub faintly smiled. "Looks like the Kong King went berserk. Dark Recital is going to be in for a nasty awakening.”

Before Smoke Stub even finished speaking, a violent tremor shook the earth. The Kong King was absolutely frightening once it went berserk.

"Let’s go take a look. If they can’t deal with it, that Kong King is ours,” Nie Yan said. At that time, Dark Recital would have nothing to say. After all, they were simply too weak.

Nie Yan’s group leisurely strolled over toward the Kong King.

"GRAWWWOOOH!” The Kong King let out a thunderous roar. Its eyes turned blood red and its fur stood on its end, as a red aura overflowed from its body. It smashed down on the Fighter with one attack after another, slowly forcing him back.

「Boss, I can’t hold on any longer!」the Fighter tanking Kong King cried out.

「We can’t falter now! Priests, focus all your healing on Silver Wing!」Netherluna anxiously ordered.

The 30+ Priests at the back were restoring Silver Wing’s health with all they got. The heals never stopped. His health kept fluctuating up and down. Every time his health was about to drop to zero, he was rescued from the clutches of death.

「Not good! His health is falling too fast!」

「Cast your blessings!」Netherluna raised her sword, giving Silver Wing several buffs. His stats immediately shot up.

At this moment, the giant Kong King was like an enraged T. Rex. It violently rammed into the formation locking it down, which was already showing signs of breaking.

Silver Wing’s health plummeted. If it weren’t for the 30+ Priests constantly healing him, he would’ve long since died.

A Level 180 Lord going berserk was truly frightening.

The Sanction Sealing Formation was on the verge of breaking. The 16 Great Mages powering the formation were also running low on mana. If Silver Wing died, all that awaited them was complete annihilation.

Seeing the situation take an ugly turn, Netherluna’s face paled. She promptly made a decision.「Everyone, retreat!」

「Boss, even if we retreat, that Kong King won’t stop chasing us. We’ll lose at least half our people!」

「That’s still better than all of us dying! Everyone, retreat!」Netherluna shouted. They had underestimated the boss’ strength, even after making ample preparations and collecting so much data on it. They believed they were set, but they had still hit a hiccup. Every Lord had an innate ability that generally wasn’t written down online. The Kong King’s innate ability was Outrage!

As soon as the words left Netherluna’s mouth, the Kong King’s mallet-like fists smashed down onto Silver Wing. He was instantly killed. His corpse lay motionless inside a deep depression in the ground. BANG! The Sanction Sealing Formation finally shattered into pieces, sending the 16 Great Mages flying out and crashing into the ground.

Everyone’s faces paled. At this moment, the Kong King had completely broken free of its fetters.

The players from Dark Recital turned around and fled in all directions. KRASSH! The Kong King charged out and smashed down on a Warrior. Transforming into a ray of light, the Warrior was instantly killed.

The Kong King didn’t stop after killing the Warrior. It continued chasing down the others, steamrolling through one player after another.

The Kong King swept through everything in its path, leaving a trail of corpses in its wake. The players scattered like rats. Dark Recital’s casualties were rapidly adding up.

Netherluna despaired. In all their meticulous preparations, the countless possible outcomes they’d emulated, this result never crossed her mind. All they could do now was run and hope the Kong King would lose aggro quickly. The losses they were going to suffer was something she didn’t want to imagine.

When Nie Yan and the others arrived, Dark Recital was already in the middle of a full retreat. Many players ran past without giving them a single glance. They were too busy fleeing for their lives.

"This is what happens when you try to challenge a Lord when you’re too weak. If you succeed, the rewards are astonishing. If you fail, you’ll face a total wipe,” Bladelight said. He appeared extremely calm. He had faced many similar situations when leading teams to hunt bosses together.

Netherluna checked the casualties. More than 30 players had died at the hands of the Kong King in the short span of 15 seconds.

All Netherluna could hope for in this moment was that the casualties could be kept to the absolute minimum. She swept her eyes around the surroundings and spotted Nie Yan’s group not far off in the distance.

Nie Yan and the others were standing only 100 meters away from the Kong King. They watched it slaughter the fleeing players without a hint of fear in their eyes.

After thinking for a moment, Netherluna quickly approached Nie Yan.

"Nirvana Flame, could you please help us deal with the Kong King? I definitely won’t forget this favour,” Netherluna asked with pleading eyes. If Nie Yan and the others intervened, Dark Recital could avoid taking even more losses.

"This doesn’t count as snatching the boss, right?” Nie Yan chuckled. He brought up the previous interaction he had with Dark Recital.

"N-no, it doesn’t,” Netherluna answered after recovering from her daze.

"Alright. Boys, let’s get to work!” Nie Yan said.

"Sure!” Lei Su and the others excitedly exclaimed. They could finally take action.

Chapter 712 - 13-Man Team

The players from Dark Recital fled from the Kong King as fast as their legs could carry them.

"Netherluna, how do you think the 13 of them will kill the Kong King...?” Canon asked in a curious tone.

"I don’t know. Let’s observe. I don’t really have high hopes. That’s a Level 180 Lord. If we didn’t use the Sanction Magic Formation, we wouldn’t even have dealt any damage to it!” Netherluna said. She remained skeptical of the strength of Nie Yan’s group.

No one had ever successfully killed a Level 180 Lord to date. Many guilds had tried using all sorts of methods, only to be met with failure.

Netherluna felt Nie Yan’s group was overestimating themselves a bit thinking they could take down a Level 180 Lord.

While Netherluna, Canon, and the other survivors retreated far into the distance, Nie Yan and his group were discussing how to deal with the Kong King in voice chat.

「Boss, what if those guys try to steal the Kong King from us at the last moment?」Lustboy asked. This was an issue that couldn’t be ignored.

「Don’t worry. Apart from our enemies like God Executioner Sword and Angel Corps, no other guilds would dare to kill steal us, unless they’re suicidal,」Bladelight confidently said.

「Bladelight is right.」Nie Yan nodded.「I don’t think that woman from Dark Recital would be that slimy anyway.」

「If they dare to try and steal the boss from us, we’ll slaughter all of them!」Undying Scoundrel exclaimed, brandishing his staff. He was certainly a battle maniac.

At this moment, Sun and King of the World had already taken action. Appearing behind the Kong King, they immobilized it with Concussive Blow, then unleashed a flurry of attacks.

−1,832
−2,144
−1,897
…

Afterwards, the two quickly disappeared back into stealth.

The Kong King immediately aggroed onto Sun and King of the World, losing all interest in the fleeing Dark Recital players.

"GRAWWAH!” The Kong King let out a deafening roar, causing a powerful sound wave to sweep out in all directions.

About 100 meters or so away, Sun and King of the World materialized out of stealth. A damage value of 100 floated up above their heads.

The Kong King immediately charged toward Sun and King of the World.

「Lure the Kong King up that slope!」Nie Yan commanded after scanning the terrain. Although the slope didn't offer much help, it was still better than nothing.

Huge monsters like the Kong King had a 3-5% chance of missing when attacking players from an elevated position like a slope. Even this kind of minor advantage was extremely important when facing a boss. Dark Recital had also previously made use of this same slope when dealing with the Kong King.

Seeing Sun and King of the World dashing towards the slope, Lei Su, Bladelight, and Smoke Stub rushed toward it as well.

The Kong King was hot on Sun and King of the World’s tails. The three soon ran up the slope.

At this moment, Lei Su, Bladelight, and Smoke Stub came charging forward from different directions.

Intercept!

Intercept!

Intercept!

Lei Su, Bladelight, and Smoke Stub executed a three-man pincer on the Kong King.

"GRWOOO!” The Kong King smashed down on Lei Su.

Lei Su leaped back three meters and evaded the attack.

BOOOOM! The Kong King’s fist left a deep depression in the earth.

「Target is in position!」

「Assault!」

Lei Su rushed back in and took the Kong King’s left flank. Meanwhile, Bladelight circled round to the front. Shield Bash! He rammed his shield into its chest, forcing it several steps back only for it to be stopped by Smoke Stub. The three Warriors locked the Kong King down.

"GRWAAAH!” The Kong King slammed down its mallet-like fists on Bladelight.

BOOM! Bladelight’s feet sunk into the ground. A damage value of 30,000 floated up above his head.

Bladelight had 120,000 health. His defense and resistances were also astonishingly high. So, the amount of danger the Kong King posed to him was limited.

Nie Yan didn’t need to give any commands. Young Seven quickly restored Bladelight’s health back to full.

Black Hell waved his staff. A shadow energy fell over the Kong King, causing its movements to turn sluggish.

Tang Yao, Xie Yao, Lustboy, and Undying Scoundrel waved their staffs. A shower of magic rained down on the Kong King, dealing 3,000–5,000 damage each tick, occasionally critting for up to 10,000.

This kind of damage output left the players from Dark Recital speechless.

"My god. Even with the help of the Sanction Sealing Formation, our Mages only dealt damage in the double digits. These guys are crazy strong!” Canon remarked in shock.

Netherluna let out a deep sigh. "No wonder Asskickers United is so famous. I thought those stories about their top ranked players were exaggerated.”

Nie Yan summoned Lil’ Gold, Paladin Lafus, and his Shadow Clone. Lafus raised his sword and buffed everyone with his blessings. Lil’ Gold opened his mouth and blasted the Kong King with Dragon Breath.

Nie Yan, his shadow clone, Sun, and King of the World lingered just outside the Kong King’s attack range. From time to time, they dashed in and tagged it with several bleed skills.

The damage output of Nie Yan’s group was astonishing. The Kong King’s health steadily fell.

After killing so many players from Dark Recital a moment ago, the Kong King’s health had recovered back to 92%. Now it fell back down to 79%.

Bladelight repeatedly staggered the Kong King with his Shield Bash, not allowing it to take even half-a-step anywhere. Plus, with two Archbishops supporting him from the rear, he was as immovable as Mt. Tai.

After the Kong King’s health reached the 70% mark, it let out a world-shaking roar. Its eyes turned blood red, and its body swelled in size.

Seeing the Kong King going berserk, the spectating players from Dark Recital all believed Nie Yan’s group was about to suffer a calamity, and the first to fall would be Bladelight.

Bulwark of the War God!

Bladelight’s body also increased in size. Clad in a dazzling radiance, he looked like a golden armoured titan wielding an enormous greatshield.

"What kind of skill is that?” a player from Dark Recital cried out. All of them could feel a heavy pressure bearing down on them.

The Kong King smashed down with its fist.

Having personally experienced the might of the Kong King, the players from Dark Recital already imagined Bladelight’s body sent flying far away. KLAAAAAANG! Bladelight’s body only swayed a little.

A damage value of 20,000 floated up above Bladelight’s head. The damage wasn’t higher than before. In fact, it was 30% lower!

"That tickled!” Bladelight exclaimed. He then rammed his shield into the Kong King’s abdomen.

As the battle went on, the Kong King’s health fell down to the 30% mark. It entered the second phase of its Outrage ability. Its fur shone with an emerald glow while its eyes lit up with a green radiance. It grew even larger in size as its stats rose by another 50%.

"Damn! The boss has a second phase!?”

The players from Dark Recital glanced at each other with looks of shock. Only then did they realize how much of a joke it was for them to think they could take down this Level 180 Lord-class Kong King. They couldn’t even handle the first phase of its Outrage ability, let alone the second phase.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The Kong King delivered a flurry of blows onto Bladelight, each dealing 50,000–60,000 damage.

With the Kong King’s attack power increasing once more, Bladelight had to fully rely on Young Seven and Black Hell. If the healing didn’t come fast enough, he would be pummelled to death.

Young Seven and Black Hell never stopped healing. The two timed their heals perfectly, never two of them hitting simultaneously. It was delicate work. Cast two heals simultaneously and Bladelight would be vulnerable in the next moment, but they couldn’t wait too long between heals either. This was an extremely fine balance.

Young Seven and Black Hell’s heals came one after another at a steady tempo, leaving the players from Dark Recital dumbstruck.

"Damn, the heals from those two are more effective than the heals from our 30+ Priests combined!” Canon sighed. Their Priests were nowhere near the same level as Young Seven and Black Hell.

Comparison is the thief of joy. Netherluna gazed at her own guildmates. Compared to Nie Yan and the others, she felt an overwhelming sense of inferiority.

Seeing Young Seven and Black Hell somewhat straining to keep up the healing, Nie Yan had Paladin Lafus lend some aid. He also targeted the Kong King with Apocalyptic Extinction. Five different high rank curses immediately sapped away at its strength, causing its stats to fall by 20%.

"Boss, that curse is pretty effective,” Lustboy said.

"Yeah, hit it with another one!” Undying Scoundrel added.

"What do you take these curses for? You think I can just pull out another just because you said so?” Nie Yan rolled his eyes.

Nie Yan gazed at Battle Angel Kalenna floating beside his shoulder. Even in this critical moment, she showed no signs of taking action. If she was willing to join in, even 10 Kong Kings would have to obediently kneel down before her. He still couldn’t command her. So, he could only give up for now.

Their teamwork was flawless. The Kong King’s health was steadily falling.

"Everyone, keep going! The Kong King is almost dead!” Smoke Stub shouted.

Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and the other Mages picked up the pace, firing out an endless stream of magic.

Nie Yan circled round behind the Kong King, then slashed away with Zennarde’s Sword, spamming Hell Execution.

Miss!
Miss!
Miss!
...

Hell Execution kept failing.

The Kong King’s health fell below 20%. Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su also started spamming Execution. Even though the success rate was low, as long as it succeeded, the Kong King would instantly be killed, saving everyone a lot of unnecessary trouble.

Facing a boss also required luck. If you were lucky, you could achieve twice the results with half the effort.

"Damn, it won’t die!” Lei Su raised his greatsword and came down with another Execution.

Chapter 713 - Diffusion Crystal

"GROOOH!” The Kong King raised its arms to the sides and performed a double lariat, as though it were a character in a fighting game. The whirling fists caught Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su off guard and knocked them off their feet.

Seeing the Kong King was about to charge out, Nie Yan had Lil’ Gold go up.

BOOOOM! The two enormous beasts collided.

The Kong King lashed out with a flurry of violent blows. Refusing to show weakness, Lil’ Gold retaliated by swiping out with its claws.

Explosive Counter!

Explosive Counter!

Violent tempests erupted out from Lil’ Gold. With the Kong King attacking at such a high frequency, it was much more likely for Explosive Counter to be triggered. The damage from this skill couldn’t be ignored, especially since it got upgraded.

Lil’ Gold’s health was fairly high. With Paladin Lafus supporting him from the rear, tanking the Kong King for a short time wouldn’t be an issue.

Lil’ Gold had given Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su a moment to catch their breath. The three immediately rushed back in and surrounded the Kong King.

Execution!

Execution!

The trio didn’t let up. Even though the success rate of Execution was pitifully low, it was bound to succeed eventually!

Hell Execution!

Hell Execution!

Nie Yan repeatedly slashed the Kong King with Zennarde’s Sword, until finally the black flames shrouding the blade blazed brightly.

−5,352,098!

"GROOAaaaoh…!” The Kong King staggered unsteadily before crashing into the ground.

「We did it! Who got the last hit?」Undying Scoundrel excitedly asked.

「It was the boss.」

A crisp notification jingle rang out. Nie Yan glanced down at his character information. He had reached Level 109. Lately, he had been busy dealing with guild affairs. Apart from gaining a few levels from killing some skeletons, he’d basically stagnated in that area. It was about time he started levelling again.

The fallen Kong King’s corpse was like a small hill.

Nie Yan collected three items off the ground. Two were pieces of Warrior equipment, the Mountain Guardian Chestplate and Mountain Guardian Gauntlets. Both were Level 180 Sub Legendary-grade. The third item was a green crystal.

"It’s a Diffusion Crystal!” Nie Yan exclaimed in surprise.

Diffusion Crystals were extremely precious. They only dropped from Level 180+ Lord-class monsters with a 1 in 3,000 chance.

Diffusion Crystals were priceless treasures in the marketplace in the previous timeline. As for its applications, Nie Yan wasn’t too knowledgeable. However, he did know it was one of the key catalysts for Grandmaster Tinkerers to craft Inferno Bombs.

With the guild offering an endless supply of materials and the help of the Wish Necklace, Violet Mist had already become a Grandmaster Tinkerer, the one and only in both the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire.

Nie Yan planned to have Violet Mist start crafting Inferno Bombs.

With the Inferno Bombs in mind, a plan to powerlevel formed in Nie Yan’s mind. Unlike most magic bombs, Inferno Bombs were especially terrifying in the single-target damage they dealt. So, it was an extremely useful supplementary tool for taking on powerful monsters.

The production cost of Inferno Bombs was quite high. At least 1,000 gold worth of materials went into crafting each bomb. Not to mention the Diffusion Crystal that had to be obtained first. Luckily for Nie Yan, the latter was already taken care of.

Inferno Bombs were definitely worth their cost.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan’s heart stirred with excitement. He quickly sent Guo Huai a list of materials he wanted collected.

"Mount Guardian Chestplate, Mountain Guardian Gauntlets, do you think this is a set?”

"Yeah, probably. I think if we kill a few more Kong Kings, we’ll get a full Mountain Guardian Set.

Nie Yan decided to leave the chestplate and gauntlets in the guild treasury. Even if each piece was socketed with three level requirement reduction gems, they could only be equipped at Level 150 at the earliest. They were still a far ways off from that point.

A distance away, the players of Dark Recital looked at Nie Yan’s group with unwilling eyes. That loot should’ve been theirs! However, there was nothing they could. They scattered in low spirits.

"Netherluna, let’s go.” Canon sighed. Looking up ahead, those 13 figures were god-like existences in the eyes of countless players. Meanwhile, they were mere droplets in an ocean of mediocrity. The two sides likely wouldn’t cross paths again in the future.

"At the end of the day, we were saved by them. I still need to go up and thank them,” Netherluna said. She had her principles. Even though she was in an extremely low mood, she made a clear distinction between gratitude and grudges.

Netherluna walked over to Nie Yan and company.

「That girl is coming,」Undying Scoundrel said in voice chat. He turned his gaze to Netherluna’s figure in the distance.

「She’s pretty cute. You interested, huh?」Lustboy joked.

「She probably already has a boyfriend. Didn’t you see how lovey-dovey she was talking to that guy just now? My name may be scoundrel, but I’m not that kind of scoundrel,」Undying Scoundrel said, waving his hand.

Seeing Netherluna coming over, they no longer continued on this topic.

"Do you need something?” Nie Yan asked. He looked Netherluna up and down. Clad in silver white armour, she had this capable air about her, like Jeanne d'Arc. He had a good impression of her, but this was nothing more than appreciation.

"Thank you. If you didn't go out of your way to help, we would’ve lost even more people,” Netherluna said.

Nie Yan chuckled. "It was nothing.”

Netherluna wanted to apologize for the way she acted earlier. However, before she could say anything, Nie Yan turned around and waved his hand. "Come on, guys, let’s go!”

Nie Yan never took the matter from before to heart, nor did the thought of getting payback ever cross his mind.

"Alright!” Everyone got on their flying mounts and took to the air.

The powerful gusts caused Netherluna to stagger back. Looking up at the sky, she saw the Darkwing Dragon, Phoenix, and other flying mounts flapping their wings. These mighty existences formed an awe-inspiring line up. She couldn’t help but stare until long after they disappeared over the horizon.

Netherluna stood in place for a long time, a mess of emotions stirring in her heart. She turned back to Canon and the others. "Let’s go too.”

The system erased the Kong King and the players had all left. Tranquility returned over these grasslands, with birds chirping and the occasional beast striding past.

Nie Yan’s group returned to Okoron. Nie Yan deposited the Mountain Guardian Chestplate and Gauntlets into the guild treasury, then had someone deliver the Diffusion Crystal to Violet Mist.

Prior to setting off to hunt the Kong King, Yallop had asked permission to leave for a while. Nie Yan didn’t try to stop him. NPCs had their own thoughts, and getting in the way of that would cause their loyalty to drop.

Yallop still hadn’t come back. Nie Yan was worried. "Don’t tell me he went back to the Kavannas to get revenge…”

Thinking for a bit, Yallop probably wasn’t that stupid. Going back to the Kavannas alone was simply throwing his life away. After fleeing the place with his life only hours before, he wouldn’t likely return so soon.

Nie Yan decided to continue waiting. If Yallop still hadn’t returned after a couple of days, he would send people out to look for him.

While Nie Yan was away, more and more NPCs had arrived in Okoron. Some were refugees escaping from war. Others came from the neighbouring tribes. A portion of them would settle down, while the rest was only passing through.

Regardless, Okoron was growing more and more lively.

After finding out about Okoron, the players operating in the Abernathy Great Grasslands came flocking over for a visit. They contributed to the economy in the city, purchasing various supplies from the NPCs. Since Nie Yan still hadn’t started collecting taxes yet, trading here was extremely cheap.

Okoron’s population quickly grew. The streets were filled with more and more people.

Nie Yan was extremely pleased. Everything was progressing smoothly. After making an announcement in the mercenary association that he was recruiting guards, he attracted quite a few NPCs. Most were vagabonds and wanderers. They were Level 130–140 Elites, not that strong considering the levels of the surrounding maps. But they could easily overpower any ordinary player. For the time being, they could serve as guards. Even though he wasn’t too satisfied with the quality of these wanderers, the cost of hiring them was almost negligible to him at only 10 gold a day.

With such a low hiring fee, Nie Yan could recruit as many as he wanted. He didn’t need to worry about the numbers. If he could recruit a thousand, two thousand, or even more NPCs, this kind of force couldn’t be looked down on.

For the sake of attracting more NPCs to Okoron, Nie Yan put up the announcement in the mercenary associations across both the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire.

News of Nie Yan mass recruiting NPCs quickly attracted the attention of Angel Corps, the Century Financial Group, and the Monet Financial Group. If Nie Yan built an NPC army, the first to be targeted would be one of them. Dealing with players was fairly simple, but facing an army of fully armed NPCs was completely different. They paid close attention to the movements in Okoron.

The salary Nie Yan offered was extremely generous. Some NPCs who were dissatisfied with their posts started considering moving to Okoron. Many packed up their bags and set off from various cities.

As a large number of NPCs started flocking to Okoron, many players also started paying attention to the city’s growth. Especially some big businesses who were showing interest in the city’s commerce.

The 13 Masters parted ways and went off with their own business. Nie Yan was thinking about where he would go to level. After preparing some supplies, he was about to set off.

"Boss! Yallop is back!” Tyrannical rushed into the room, panting for breath.

"Where is he?” Nie Yan asked. There was no need for Tyrannical to get so excited just because Yallop had come back, right?

"He’s at the mercenary association!” Tyrannical exclaimed, unable to contain his excitement.

"What’s he doing there?” Nie Yan asked in doubt.

"He brought back a huge group of NPCs with him! Over several dozen of them, big and burly just like him, and they’re all Warriors!” Tyrannical stumbled over his words.

Chapter 714 - Inferno Bomb!

Nie Yan was flabbergasted. Yallop had gone off on his own to bring back NPCs to Okoron?

What was going on?

Nie Yan headed over to the mercenary association.

Many Asskickers United players were crowding around outside of the mercenary association.

"The boss is here!”

"Boss!”

…

Everyone parted ways to let him pass. Nie Yan saw Yallop walking out of the entrance.

Yallop was a head taller than ordinary players. He was fairly conspicuous. However, even more eye-catching were the several dozen burly men following behind him. They were like walking fortresses of flesh, exuding a domineering pressure.

Nie Yan wondered if these NPCs had barbarian blood flowing through their veins.

"Master, these people are my brothers. We fought many battles for the Kavannas against the other tribes in the Abernathy Great Grasslands. After Sampur caught me, he banished them. They’ve been without a home ever since. So, when they heard I came to Okoron, they wanted to follow me,” Yallop said.

Nie Yan inspected the stats of these men with Transcendent Insight. Most of them were Level 160–170 Elites. Five were comparable to Yallop, Level 180 Elites.

This truly was akin to meat pies raining down from the sky. Nie Yan couldn’t be happier with having these NPCs join Okoron’s army.

"Yallop, I will appoint you the Captain of Okoron’s 1st Corp. The 1st Corps will consist of 500 men. All of them will be under your command,” Nie Yan said.

"Yes, Master!” Yallop’s eyes lit up in surprise. He hurriedly bowed. "Thank you, Master. In the name of the God of the Grasslands Bekepein, I will not betray your trust!”

Cheers broke out behind Yallop.

Nie Yan performed a head count; 28 men had followed Yallop in total. They were all Warriors. Their clothes were tattered, exposing their sun-scorched skin and frightening scars.

"Go get them some treatment. Afterwards, provide them with our best equipment. Give those two pieces of the Mountain Guardian set to Yallop,” Nie Yan said to Tyrannical.

Before long, Tyrannical and Paladin of the Elegy came back with a large pile of equipment. They started distributing them to Yallop’s followers. The NPCs underwent a complete transformation after putting on the equipment; from unkempt exiles to dignified soldiers who struck fear into the enemy with their presence alone. They felt deep gratitude toward Nie Yan.

Okoron had already recruited 136 NPC guards so far. As the city grew, this number would only continue to increase.

On the second day, Nie Yan spent 10,000,000+ gold to upgrade Okoron to a medium sized city.

Asskickers United’s astonishing wealth left players gasping in incredulity. With this display, Okoron was destined to become a flourishing metropolis. This city’s future was as bright as the sun. Numerous teams across the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire set off for Okoron, seeking better opportunities.

News of Okoron’s rapidly expanding army quickly reached Qin Han.

With Nie Yan making all these big moves, Qin Han was growing increasingly restless. Since his skeleton army couldn’t reach Okoron in the distant Abernathy Great Grasslands, he could only focus on what was right in front of him. Asskickers United’s strongholds in Calore. He once more started assaulting them. However, Nie Yan wasn’t planning to sit back and do nothing. Asskickers United retaliated with equal ferocity.

NPCs from all walks of life arrived in Okoron. Businesses popped up left and right. This city already felt alive.

"Boss, a few guilds operating in the Abernathy Great Grasslands are requesting to move their guild headquarters over to Okoron. Should we accept?” Paladin of the Elegy asked. After arriving in Okoron, he was promoted to mayor of Okoron.

"Which guilds?” Nie Yan asked. As Okoron became more and more prosperous, it was only natural for guilds to want to move here. His understanding of the going-ons in the Abernathy Great Grasslands was too shallow. He only knew the rough situation.

The Abernathy Great Grasslands was different from other places. People from both the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire were here. Orcs, humans, and other races could be seen walking the streets of Okoron. Some would stay, but most were simply passing through; they’d only come here to do a quest or level. As for exactly how many guilds were operating in the Abernathy Great Grasslands, he had no idea.

After the construction of Okoron, the guilds active in the Abernathy Great Grasslands naturally wanted to move their guild headquarters here.

"We’ve received over 20 applications already. Some guilds are making ridiculous demands, like giving them a headquarters facing the main street,” Paladin of the Elegy said. He was extremely displeased with the guilds making such ridiculous demands. These guilds wanted to apply pressure on Asskickers United by leveraging their influence in the Abernathy Great Grasslands. Given Asskickers United’s strength, these guilds posed absolutely no threat. However, he was only overseeing things; it wasn’t his job to put these people in their place. That rested with Nie Yan. So, he could only suppress his anger.

Paladin of the Elegy handed over a list to Nie Yan. Glancing down the list, he saw the detailed information of 25 guilds. Some were from the Viridian Empire. Others were from the Satreen Empire. The largest had more than 170,000 players while the smallest only had 2,000. These 25 guilds combined numbered 700,000 players in total.

"Wow, that’s a surprise. I didn’t expect there to be so many players operating in the Abernathy Great Grasslands,” Nie Yan muttered.

Thinking for a bit, Nie Yan didn’t find it all that strange. The Abernathy Great Grasslands was located between the two great empires. Any commerce had to pass through this place, which in turn led to merchant and mercenary businesses to flourish. So, there were many players active here. They’d joined together and made guilds. After which they struck up cooperative relationships with the various large tribes indigenous to this place and started operating from their lands.

"Let them know they’re free to move their guild headquarters here, though a street facing location is impossible, and they’ll have to follow the rules of Okoron. The guilds that migrate here will have to sign a defensive alliance pact. If the city is under attack, they’ll have to help with its defense. If they no longer wish to stay in the Abernathy Great Grasslands, Asskickers United will have no qualms about booting them out. It’s best if they don’t doubt whether we have this strength or not,” Nie Yan said. He knew if he gave an inch, these guilds would ask for a mile. They would think Asskickers United was afraid. Even though Asskickers United’s main forces were busy dealing with Qin Han’s skeleton army, they weren’t afraid of these small guilds. They couldn’t show any weakness, even if they were a little short on manpower for now.

Paladin of the Elegy was stirred up after hearing Nie Yan’s words. He vigorously nodded and went to give his response to the guilds in question.

About an hour later, Paladin of Elegy reported back to Nie Yan. 16 guilds were willing to abide by his terms in order to enter Okoron. A few of the larger guilds refused.

Nie Yan glanced through the list. The 16 guilds numbered about 360,000 players in total. He discovered Dark Recital, the guild he previously encountered when hunting the Kong King, was among the names. With these people entering Okoron, the city would become even more bustling.

With everything taken care of on this end, Nie Yan set off to do his own thing. First, he collected the 200 Inferno Bombs Violet Mist had just crafted.

The Inferno Bombs were about two inches long with a tapered front, resembling a miniature missile. It was crafted out of a dark golden metal. This was a fairly dangerous toy. A violent shake or tremor could cause it to explode prematurely. The destructive power of these bombs even threatened high level Lords. It was definitely an extremely powerful item.

Nie Yan made some adjustments to the Inferno Bombs. He took out some high quality bolts, then replaced the heads with the Inferno Bombs, creating a special type of bolt.

After completing this work, Nie Yan had an idea. Okoron’s growth was steady. He could sneak away to do some levelling.

「Elegy, help me collect the information and location of all the Lords in the Abernathy Great Grasslands, then send the data over to me.」

「Alright, give me five minutes tops.」Paladin of the Elegy nodded.

Three minutes later, Paladin of the Elegy reported back.「Boss, here’s the data you wanted.」

Nie Yan looked at the map Paladin of the Elegy sent over. It was a map of the Abernathy Great Grasslands. The location of the Lords were all clearly marked. If you hovered over a specific marker, it would give detailed information about that Lord. The legend was also very intuitive.

Nie Yan had a pleased smile on his face. Paladin of the Elegy was definitely a reliable subordinate.

With this data, Nie Yan summoned his Darkwing Dragon and got on its back.

The Darkwing Dragon flapped its wings and took off westward.

His first target was the Level 160 Lord, the Abernathy Grand Grizzly.

The Abernathy Grand Grizzly was a tank-type Lord. Nie Yan had heard of its name before. In the previous timeline, several of his friends had participated in an expedition to hunt this lord. They suffered more than several wipes and could only return with their heads hung low in defeat. However, he had never personally been to the Abernathy Great Grasslands in his past life. The journey was extremely time-consuming and inconvenient. It simply wasn’t feasible for the him of back then.

This time, he planned to solo the Abernathy Grand Grizzly. Apart from him, no one else would dare to attempt such a reckless feat.

Chapter 715 - 10 Great Overlords!

Even players on the level of Tang Yao, Lustboy, and the rest would only attempt to solo high level Elites at the most. Lords were simply too difficult. Most players wouldn’t dare to challenge them.

As the Darkwing Dragon soared through the sky, Nie Yan looked over the data of the other bosses. The strongest monster in the entire Abernathy Great Grasslands was a creature living in the Nethershadow Swamp, the Ancient Fiend Troll. It was a Level 200 Demonified Lord!

It’s him! Nie Yan’s heart trembled. There were 10 unrivalled super bosses in the Viridian Empire. Most of them resided in the depths of swamps and ravines, rarely ever appearing in front of players. However, they were undoubtedly apex existences. Even legendary NPCs didn’t dare to provoke them. They were that powerful. The rare occasion they did come out of their lairs, it spelled the beginning of a calamity that threatened all life.

Any place they passed through would be destroyed.

These 10 Great Overlords were existences that could shape the world around them.

The Abernathy Great Grasslands’ Ancient Fiend Troll, the Ocean of Death’s Nine-Headed Leviathan, the Forbidden Domain of Sukre’s Black Dragon King, the Mobias North Turndra’s Winterfrost Dragon King… ordinary players wouldn’t dare to approach the territories of these creatures.

Any player unlucky enough to encounter these monsters was fated to die. No matter how strong you were, it was nothing in front of them. They were existences that stood at the peak. Nie Yan estimated only people like War God Kelo were capable of contending against them.

Apart from the Ancient Fiend Troll, there were also six Level 160+ Variant Lords in the Abernathy Great Grasslands. Though not on the same level, they were frightening bosses as well.

At present, Calore was much safer than a remote place like the Abernathy Great Grasslands. However, in the distant past, it was also an untamed wildland. Jebiah the Great had led the 300 Magisters of the Viridian Empire’s Royal Mage Corp in wiping out all the Variant Lords in the territory, including a Level 160 Demonified Lord. In that battle, he lost more than two thirds of his forces, all in exchange for the peace and safety of Calore.

The Abernathy Great Grasslands was filled with danger.

Nie Yan drew seven red circles on his map, then shared it with every Asskickers United player in the Abernathy Great Grasslands. These were forbidden grounds. If they accidentally provoked a Variant Lord or god forbid a Demonified Lord, the consequences would be grave beyond compare.

Nie Yan had only heard of the notoriety of the Ancient Fiend Troll and read a few documents related to it online. As for how strong it actually was or what abilities it had, he had no idea. However, he heard that Lords at this level all had skills that rivalled Forbidden Magic. Any creature with that kind of destructive power couldn’t be killed no matter how many bodies were tossed at it.

At the same time, it was rumoured these powerful Demonified Lords wielded extremely powerful godly items. There was an intrinsic difference between these godly items and Legendary-grade items. As for whether any of this was true or just a rumour, Nie Yan had no way of finding out. He had no clue what a godly item would look like, having never seen one in his 10 years of playing the game in his past life.

One memory that still stuck in Nie Yan’s mind was back when some players provoked the Mobias North Tundra’s Winterfrost Dragon King. As it chased them down south, it slaughtered millions and turned Blaze City into an ice sculpture. Only after it killed the culprits of disturbing its rest, did it finally return north.

Blaze City suffered heavy casualties. More than half the NPCs there were killed. Later on, the administrator of the city banished those who caused this calamity, not allowing them to set one foot in the territory.

That incident allowed players to understand the true might of these high level Demonified Lords. From then on, no one dared to challenge them. The areas where they resided were labelled as the 10 Great Death Zones of the Viridian Empire.

No matter how powerful a Luminous Dancer’s escaping ability was, Nie Yan didn’t dare to approach those Demonified Lords. He was nothing more than an ant compared to a Level 200 Demonified Lord.

Would the Ancient Fiend Troll living in the Abernathy Great Grasslands affect Okoron? Nie Yan was somewhat worried. However, after thinking about it, it was still too early to consider these things.

About 15 minutes later, Nie Yan spotted a giant bear moving around in the distant plains below. He had the Darkwing Dragon descent.

The Abernathy Grand Grizzly, a Level 160 Lord with 50,000,000 health. It respawned five days after being killed.

Nie Yan hopped off the Darkwing Dragon’s back, then recalled it back into his pet space. He was about 500 meters away from the Abernathy Grand Grizzly.

Nie Yan had to rely on himself for this battle with the Abernathy Grand Grizzly. He didn’t bring Yallop with him. If he tried having Lil’ Gold or Paladin Lafus duke it out with the Abernathy Grand Grizzly, they would get absolutely destroyed.

Still, Nie Yan summoned Lil’ Gold and Paladin Lafus. He had the two retreat to a safe distance. He then entered stealth and slowly approached the Abernathy Grand Grizzly.

The Abernathy Grand Grizzly was leisurely wandering around. Over 20 meters tall and weighing more than 120 tons, it was like a walking fortress of flesh. Its silver fur glistened brilliantly under the sunlight. Its skin was tougher than steel. It was undoubtedly the ruler of this region. However, it had one weakness, and that was it only had melee attacks. Nie Yan generally wasn’t too willing to tangle with Lords that had ranged attacks. Those kinds of Lords were much more difficult to deal with, and the drops they gave weren’t necessarily better. A Lord like the Abernathy Grand Grizzly that only knew melee attacks was much easier to kill.

Nie Yan steadily drew closer to the Abernathy Grand Grizzly. He was already within 120 meters from it.

The Abernathy Grand Grizzly appeared to sense something and immediately became vigilant.

"Damn, what sharp senses. He actually noticed me from this far away,” Nie Yan muttered.

Nie Yan took out his Cavalry Crossbow. He loaded it up with five ordinary bolts, then pulled the trigger. Whoosh whoosh whoosh! The bolts went flying out.

Put put put! The bolts struck the Abernathy Grand Grizzly.

−2,998
−3,311
−3,173
...

Nie Yan’s damage was fairly impressive. However, compared to the Abernathy Grand Grizzly’s enormous health pool and frightening health regeneration, it was basically nothing.

"GRWOAAAR” The Abernathy Grand Grizzly was enraged and charged toward Nie Yan. It was deceptively fast in spite of its lumbering size, with each step violently shaking the ground.

Nie Yan immediately turned tail and fled. As he ran away, he reloaded his Cavalry Crossbow with bolts. He was like a marksman or caster, kiting the Abernathy Grand Grizzly.

The Abernathy Grand Grizzly’s health fell at a snail’s pace. Nie Yan’s damage was only slightly higher than its health regeneration. After shooting at it for more than six minutes, he had only shaved away 6,000 health.

However, after being kited by Nie Yan for so long without landing a single hit, the Abernathy Grand Grizzly became thoroughly enraged and entered a berserk state. Its attack power and movement speed increased by 50% while its defense lowered by 30%. It pursued Nie Yan with even greater ferocity.

The Abernathy Grand Grizzly jumped right in front of Nie Yan and swatted down with its paws. BOOOOM! Its attack missed, carving out a large gash in the ground. Nie Yan was simply too slippery. "GRAAAAOR!” It let out a deep roar, rearing up on its hind legs and slamming down with its massive paws.

Nie Yan rapidly pulled back, his gaze locked onto the Abernathy Grand Grizzly’s mouth. Its bright red tongue and sharp teeth let out a foul stench.

"Eat this!” Nie Yan rapidly loaded up his crossbow with five Inferno Bomb Bolts, took aim at the Abernathy Grand Grizzly’s mouth, and pulled the trigger.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Five bolts streaked through the air. The first one entered the Abernathy Grand Grizzly’s mouth. BOOOOM! A powerful explosion rattled its skull, causing it to stagger unsteadily. Another four explosions followed shortly after.

When something as powerful as an Inferno Bomb went off in a place as weak as the inside of the mouth, the amount of damage it dealt was several times higher than normal. After the five explosions, Nie Yan gazed at the Abernathy Grand Grizzly. Its maw was a mangled mess, with scorched flesh and fur dangling everywhere.

−227,516
−239,971
−211,222
...

The Abernathy Grand Grizzly suffered serious injuries and crashed into the ground. This kind of damage wasn’t something that could be shaken off. It was gasping out in pain.

Inferno Bombs had a secondary special effect. When it hit a vital spot, it dealt additional damage.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Nie Yan had Lil’ Gold and Paladin Lafus come over and let loose on the Abernathy Grand Grizzly. He circled around it and rained down with a tempest of attacks.

Backbreaker!

Lacerate!

Eviscerate!

...

Nie Yan, Lil’ Gold, and Paladin Lafus dealt an astonishing amount of damage. After hacking and slashing at it for 10 minutes, they had shaved away the Abernathy Grand Grizzly’s health to only 50%.

The Abernathy Grand Grizzly struggled back up from the ground, only to eat another five Inferno Bomb Bolts from Nie Yan and collapsed again, completely bereft of all fighting strength. 10 minutes later, it puffed its last breath.

A crisp notification jingle rang out. Nie Yan had levelled up to Level 110.

Nie Yan calculated the time. He had taken about 20 minutes to kill the Abernathy Grand Grizzly. His killing efficiency was quite high. Pity there were no speedrun leaderboards for taking down high level Lords, or else he would definitely take top spot. By using those 10 Inferno Bomb Bolts, he had basically exchanged 10,000 gold for 80% experience. This was definitely worth it.

The Abernathy Grand Grizzly dropped three items, all of which were Warrior equipment. Nie Yan wasn’t too surprised. These types of physical attack, melee monsters generally dropped this kind of loot.

Nie Yan examined the equipment—Grand Grizzly Tenacious Chestplate, Grand Grizzly Tenacious Shoulderguards, and Greaves of Fervent Haste. The chestplate and shoulderguards were Dark Gold-grade while the greaves were surprisingly Sub Legendary-grade. All of them had excellent properties, especially their defense.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. He would come back here when the the Abernathy Grand Grizzly respawned. Perhaps he could get the rest of the Grand Grizzly set. Generally, these complete Dark Gold-grade sets weren’t the slightest bit inferior to individual Sub Legendary-grade equipment.

With so many NPCs of different classes joining Okoron’s army, there was a dire need for equipment ranging from Level 130–180. Nie Yan had to come up with a plan to acquire more.

Mad Snail actually put the Abernathy Grand Grizzly as being only 2 meters tall, weighing 1,200 lbs, and having 5,000,000 health. I don't know if it's a typo considering it's a Level 160 Lord, but I decided to add an extra zero there since it made more sense. After all, the Miasma Scorpion King was a Level 110 Lord, and it also had 5,000,000 health. Plus, it was mentioned its health was on the low side in terms of equal level Lords, but that was compensated by its potent poison and insane regeneration.

Chapter 716 - Staking Everything on the Final Battle

Over the next few days, Nie Yan hunted bosses non-stop. He levelled up multiple times and obtained high quality Level 150–160 equipment.

Nie Yan quickly reached Level 115. Where at first he only had to kill a single or maybe two Level 150-160 Lords for a level up, he now needed to kill at least a dozen!

Nie Yan provided Okoron’s NPC guards with high level equipment. From only a little over 120 people at the start, his personal army had grown to 2,600; and there were still more NPCs applying every hour!

Nie Yan originally believed he would be lucky to get 1,000 troops. His army’s growth far exceeded his expectations!

These Level 130–140 NPCs could only be counted as average among the soldiers of the Viridian Empire. Most of them were too weak to enter the armies of other cities. However, Nie Yan didn’t mind this. As long as they were Level 130–140 Elites, he would welcome them with open arms. His plan was to use these NPCs to deal with the skeleton army. The strength of a Level 130–140 Elite might not amount to much in the grand scheme of things, but it couldn’t be looked down on either. As long as they weren’t completely surrounded, killing several dozen up to a hundred skeletons wouldn’t be a problem. A disciplined army of NPC troops was definitely far superior to those walking piles of bones!

News of Nie Yan’s recruitment campaign spread far and wide. From a small village in a remote area in the Viridian Empire to the capital of the Satreen Empire, NPCs flocked from all over toward Okoron.

These NPCs were mercenaries. Most were Warriors and Thieves with relatively fewer Paladins, Priests, and Mages.

As Nie Yan’s army expanded, the cost of upkeeping it increased too. He now had to pay around 60,000 gold a day.

Of course, with the wealth of the Starry Night Potion Shop, this sum was still far from Nie Yan’s limit.

At this rate, Nie Yan might even build his army to 10,000 strong!

Nie Yan had great expectations for the future of Okoron. At this moment, Guo Huai anxiously contacted him with a report. Karsi and Vorderman’s battle had ended. Karsi had returned to Calore after sustaining injuries, while Vorderman and his Bone Dragon were nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, Qin Han’s skeleton army started an all-out assault on all of Asskickers United’s strongholds.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. His regressing into the past had created a series of butterfly effects. This wasn’t the first time history deviated from course, and it likely wouldn’t be the last.

Vorderman didn’t die like Nie Yan expected. Instead, he wounded Karsi and escaped with his life.

Nie Yan instantly felt a headache coming on. Vorderman’s existence was becoming a huge source of worry.

Unfortunately, Nie Yan didn’t have the time to ponder over these matters. Asskickers United’s strongholds were under assault. He had to hurry back!

Asskickers United guild chat, the members were giving one urgent report after another.

「Boss, the Abrahams Stronghold is under attack!」

「The Ileine Stronghold is under attack!」

「Boss, a large army of skeletons was spotted outside the Birrings Stronghold!」

…

Nie Yan read through all the reports. Qin Han was launching an all out attack. Over 20 strongholds were under attack at the same time, including the Cripps Stronghold. Qin Han had made a long trek around several strongholds and finally reached the Cripps Stronghold, completely surrounding it with an ocean of skeletons.

While Karsi and Vorderman were duking it out, Qin Han had employed all sorts of different methods to maintain his skeleton army at around 6,000,000. One could imagine the might of such a large force attacking all at once.

Asskickers United had limited manpower. They had to spread themselves extremely thin to defend all their strongholds. Furthermore, Qin Han had added God Executioner Sword’s catapults to his forces. Skeletons didn’t understand friend from enemy, only flesh from bones. So, he would first have the catapults lay siege to the strongholds. Only after the walls were breached, would he have his skeleton army move in.

There were roughly a hundred or so catapults garrisoned in the Cripps Stronghold. As for the rest, the players from Asskickers United had no idea. All they knew was that Nie Yan had hidden them somewhere. The other strongholds only had some magic cannons which could exchange fire with the catapults of God Executioner Sword. With this battle tactic, it didn’t take long for the first two strongholds to fall. However, Asskickers United’s casualties weren’t high. If they couldn’t win, they would make a full retreat.

「Boss, the Monet Financial Group is holding nothing back. God Executioner Sword, Divine Protectors, and Penumbra Empire’s forces have all started moving. They number 900,000 players in total.」

In front of them was a 6,000,000 strong skeleton army. Further back were 900,000 players ready for battle. Every player in Asskickers United felt enormous pressure. Even with their five branch guilds, they only had 700,000 players in total.

「The Monet Financial Group is about to take away all we’ve worked so hard for! Boss, we can’t sit still any longer!」

「Right, Boss! Let’s end this once and for all!」

…

The commotion in the guild chat was getting bigger and bigger. Over the past several weeks, they had been harassed by Qin Han’s skeleton army non-stop. They’d already lost more than 50 strongholds in total. Yet all their boss had them do was hide behind the walls and run when they were breached. If only they could fight! They felt an indescribable unpleasant feeling stirring in their hearts. But without Nie Yan’s command, they didn’t dare to act.

「Do you think we should rush out of our strongholds and fight them on the open plains? Will that help us achieve victory?」Nie Yan asked.

「...」

The entire guild chat went silent. Their enemy was an army of 6,000,000 skeletons and 900,000 players. They were vastly outnumbered. If they lost, Asskickers United would be no more. This was something they couldn’t accept.

Truthfully, they all knew this war was different from any they’d fought before. Their enemy this time was too powerful. If Asskickers United fell, the Viridian Empire would fall into the hands of the Monet Financial Group. They would never be able to rise again.

The players felt sourness in their hearts. They wanted to vent their frustration but couldn’t.

「Boss, even if Asskickers United falls, you’ll still be our boss! As long as you give the word, we’ll fight it out with the Monet Financial Group to the bitter end! We’ll see who has the last laugh!」

「Break the cauldrons and sink the boats! Death over dishonor!」

「We pledge our lives to Asskickers United! Together we rise! Together we fall!」

Nie Yan could feel the grief and frustration in the voices of these guild members. He couldn’t help but ask himself. Would Asskickers United fall here? No! After regressing, he had poured his blood and sweat into building it from the ground up. Defeat was not an option!

「Back when we faced Victorious Return, everyone said it was a hopeless fight. Remember when Bloodlust Blades arrived outside the Cripps Stronghold? Everyone wrote us off; a clean victory for Bloodlust Blades. But did we lose? No! This time won’t be any different. Summon up your fighting spirits! The enemy is just a pile of bones, what are you afraid of!? They’re no match for any of us! Now, prepare for battle! We’re going to teach the Monet Financial Group we’re not to be played with!」Nie Yan declared.

「Boss, d-do you have a plan?」

「Whew, you really are cruel boss! You had us worrying and fidgeting for a moment there!」

The morale in the guild chat shot up. Everyone thought back to Victorious Return, Bloodlust Blades, and more. Every time, even when things looked grim, Nie Yan had always led them to victory!

「It doesn’t matter if I have a plan or not! I want you to give 110% out there. If I catch any of you slacking off, I’ll make you eat Sparrow Hawk’s socks when we get back!」Nie Yan joked. He first allowed the players from Asskickers United to think there was no chance of victory, then brought them back from the pits of despair by giving them hope. Like this, he could stir the fighting spirit in all of them.

「Boss, command us! We aren’t afraid of the Monet Financial Group!」

「Brothers, for Asskickers United’s glory, let’s give it our all!」

The guild chat stirred with passion. Everyone started making their preparations, staking it all on this final decisive battle. Many people went into their personal storages and retrieved the accumulated high level scrolls, potions, and other items they normally couldn’t bear to use. They knew this was a life or death moment for Asskickers United. If they weathered through this storm, they could follow Nie Yan to even greater heights. If they failed, they would become stray dogs without a home.

Asskickers United was gearing up for battle. The players levelling in other cities all rushed back.

The entire Cripps Stronghold became busy. The streets were filled with players. Paladin of the Elegy, Tyrannical, and the others were in charge of mobilizing the troops.

"Lil’ Six, bring the 1st Squad and 2nd Squad to the north wall.”

"Understood!”

"Dark Seed, bring the 5th Squad to the south wall!”

"Right away!”

One group after another headed toward the walls.

In another half an hour or so, God Executioner Sword’s catapults would be arriving outside the Cripps Stronghold. They were about to meet with a fierce bombarding.

At this moment, outside the Asskickers United guild headquarters in the Cripps Stronghold, two players observed all the people rushing back and forth. One was a Holy Priest, the other a Shadow Priest.

When the passing players saw these two, they respectfully gave their greetings, then went about on their way.

The sight of all these players rushing back and forth in preparation for the final battle caused the two to deeply sigh.

"Big Bro, do you think Asskickers United will win?” the Holy Priest asked. He was Black Heaven. Even though he had failed his class advancement quest, he was still one of the top five Priests in Asskickers United. The person beside him was Black Hell.

"I don’t know.” Black Hell shook his head. Seeing the fervent spirits of these passing players, he was reminded of his past. Even though the guild he created had been destroyed by his own hand, the glory days of Dark Hero was something he would never forget.

"No matter what, I won’t allow Asskickers United to end up like Dark Hero,” Black Heaven declared.

"Ruin is inevitable. No matter how strong a guild is or what heights they reach, they won’t escape this fate. All good things must come to an end,” Black Hell said in insipid tone.

"Even if that day is fated to come, I won’t let it be today!”

A Chinese idiom that basically means cutting off your means of retreat and betting everything on one final struggle

Chapter 717 - The Rallying Call of Invincible!

Seeing Black Heaven’s solemn expression, Black Hell could empathize.

When Dark Hero was first established, Black Heaven was there. He put his heart and soul into it and watched it grow like a newborn baby. However, he couldn’t prevent the destruction of the guild because Black Hell had given up. Just like with Asskickers United right now, if Nie Yan gave up, the guild would collapse. It might not be immediate, but without a main pillar to support the guild, the roof would eventually come down. Especially if those left behind made a mad scramble for power.

To invest his heart in a guild, only to watch on as it fell into ruin—knowing there was nothing you could do to stop it—Black Heaven didn’t want to experience this feeling ever again.

"When I left Dark Hero, I was in the wrong. I betrayed your feelings and let you all down. Now, I’ll do everything in my power to protect Asskickers United,” Black Hell said, coming to a decision.

Black Heaven turned to Black Hell with a look of doubt, wondering what he meant by those words.

"Follow me,” Black Hell said. He turned around and headed for the transfer point.

Black Heaven followed behind Black Hell and walked into the transfer point. The two teleported to Calore, then walked over to the central square.

Nie Yan was busy prepping for the battle in the Cripps Stronghold, when he received a message from Black Hell telling him to come to the central square in Calore. He was puzzled. Why would Black Hell want him to go there, especially right before battle? But he handed over his work to Guo Huai and headed to the transfer point anyway.

Black Hell started sending messages to hundreds upon hundreds of players all across the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire.

...

In a mountain range southeast of Blaze City, several dozen players were levelling together. Their average level was around 110. Their leader was a Guardian called Dark Requiem.

It looked as though they stood in the middle of a Level 160 Blaze Elementals graveyard.

While they were engrossed in levelling, Dark Requiem received a message notification. Seeing the sender was a player called Black Hell, he widened his eyes in surprise. Huh, Black Hell? Isn’t that the player from Asskickers United? Do I know him...? After opening up the message, his mind trembled before his face lit up in excitement. He turned to his teammates and exclaimed, "Brothers, Invincible is back! Calore! He told us to meet with him at the central square in Calore!”

"What!? Are you sure? I-is it really the boss!?”

"The boss is back!?” Several members were moved to tears.

Dark Requiem wiped his eyes, then grinned. "What are you all crying for!? The boss is back! Invincible is back! That’s something to be happy about!”

"Pack up your things! We’re heading to Calore!”

"Old Six, don’t bother picking up that garbage on the ground. Let’s leave, now!”

They activated their Return Scrolls without throwing a second glance at the pile of loot still to be collected.

...

Okoron, the players of Dark Recital had just finished moving their guild headquarters. They planned to settle down here.

Seeing the furnishing inside the guild headquarters, Netherluna’s lips parted into a satisfied smile. They finally had their own little corner to gather around. At this moment, she received a message. Hmm…? Black Hell? Wasn’t he with Nirvana Flame the other day? She opened it out of curiosity before her face froze.

「C-CANON! CANON! WHERE ARE YOU!?!? REPLY QUICKLY!!!」Netherluna shouted incoherently in the guild chat.

「What? What? Did something happen?」Canon asked in bewilderment.

「Tell everyone to drop what they’re doing. I don’t care if they’re taking a break or in the middle of a dungeon run. We’re setting out for the central square in Calore immediately!」

「H-huh? But the transfer fee to teleport to Calore is 100 gold!」Canon exclaimed. With more than 2,000 players in the guild, that was over 200,000 gold!

「Who cares!? It’s just 100 gold, a hundred gold to see the boss again! Invincible is back!」Netherluna replied.

「W-w-what did you just say? Is he back? Invincible is back!?」Canon asked in a trembling voice.

Even though the sender’s ID was Black Hell, all of them knew the distinct way Invincible spoke. How could they possibly forget?

...

More and more people received the message from Black Hell. The news spread like wildfire among a special circle. There were combat classes like Warriors and Mages, but there were also crafting professions like Tinkerers and Alchemists. There were those from the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire, and even the neutral nation of the Irenic Giant Tribe. There were solo players and players from the various large guilds. However, without exception, they all rushed to Calore. Whether they were from Asskickers United, Angel Corps, or God Executioner Sword, none of it mattered. They were Dark Hero. So, with the return of Invincible they withdrew from their guilds and went to meet him again after so many years.

Countless people flocked toward the central square in Calore. Most players had never experienced such a sight before.

The Dark Hero guild was a legend during their prime. Under Invincible’s leadership, they had dominated several large virtual reality games over the course of five to six years. They could even be described as an immortal dynasty. They were far more famous than the current Asskickers United. Nowadays, many players would let out deep sighs when Dark Hero was mentioned. Invincible had brought them unparalleled glory. The memories of those long gone days still remained deeply buried in their hearts, something they would never forget.

When they heard Invincible was back, they were overwhelmed with an uncontrollable surge of emotions.

To the central square in Calore! Invincible is back!

As for how strong Dark Hero was at the peak of their glory, even Back Hell couldn’t say for sure. He had been gaming for more than 10 years straight. The latter five years were his most splendid. At that time, more than 600 of the gaming organisations in the country were under Dark Hero. Later on, with his disappearance, most of them withdrew their support. As for how many of them were still loyal to him, he had no idea. The people he messaged were all trusted comrades. He was confident many would heed his call.

Nie Yan arrived at the central square in Calore and met up with Black Hell and Black Heaven.

"Don’t be too disheartened about failing your class advancement. Luck is also part of the equation. In a couple more weeks, you can try again,” Nie Yan comforted Black Heaven.

"Yes! You can place your trust in me. I’ll definitely succeed next time, Boss!” Black Heaven said confidently.

Black Hell gazed at Black Heaven with a gratified smile.

"So, what did you call me here for?” Nie Yan turned to Black Hell. He had hurried over here. So, he hadn’t seen the commotion on the forums yet.

"With Asskickers United having a final battle with the Monet Financial Group, I decided to call for help from some old friends. I told them all to meet me at the central square in Calore. Since it’s been a long time, I don’t know how they’re doing or how many will come,” Black Hell replied. He also wasn’t sure how many people would heed his rallying call. After all, he had been gone for so long.

"I see. Thank you. Thank you, Black Hell,” Nie Yan said in a grateful tone. He was touched. Black Hell and Black Heaven were fairly reserved people. However, he could sense the genuine care they felt for Asskickers United. Even if no one came, he wouldn’t mind.

Nie Yan, Black Hell, and Black Heaven waited several minutes. More and more groups of players started pouring into the central square. Some consisted of only a few people while others were as large as several thousand. In the beginning, they were only trickling in. However, as time passed, the trickle turned into a raging torrent.

"Boss! Invincible! Where are you!?”

"Boss, we’re here!”

…

A couple of players frantically shouted in the central square. Their voices contained an indescribable feeling of sadness and longing.

Before long, in the excess of 60,000 players had already gathered and there was still no end in sight. The disturbance caused by this crowd threatened to upturn the entire square.

At this moment, Guo Huai sent a frantic message.「Nie Yan, do you know what the heck is going on? At least 300,000 people are flooding into Calore. Humans, orcs, giants… they’re all heading towards the central square!」

「I know. I’m already there. Don’t worry. I’ll explain everything when I get back,」Nie Yan replied. Right now he was also dumbstruck by the scene playing out before him.

「I see. Alright, then...」Guo Huai reluctantly nodded.

Black Hell and Black Heaven didn’t expect so many people to come. They were also deeply moved as a myriad of emotions stirred in their hearts. Witnessing all these old comrades arriving even after such a long time, Black Heaven couldn’t hold it back any longer. He burst into tears as the waterworks started pouring. In the past, they had fought alongside each other through thick and thin. Time had flown past in a flash. Brothers, long time no see!

Black Hell’s eyes were getting red. He took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the chaotic emotions in his heart. He turned to Black Heaven. "Let’s go find Requiem and all them. We don’t want to make them wait too long.”

"Yeah!” Black Heaven vigorously nodded.

Black Hell glanced at Nie Yan. "Come with us.”

Nie Yan nodded.

The three walked through the crowd, heading for the center of the square. The entire place was filled with people. Even taking a step was difficult.

More than 20 top rank players had gathered around the center of the square. There were even two Masters among them. They had left an open space which fit around several dozen people in the middle. This spot was reserved for Invincible. However, no one had come yet. They were anxiously waiting.

"The boss is here! It’s Invincible! He’s really back!”

Someone had recognized Black Hell’s ID. The crowd immediately parted ways, opening up a path straight to the center of the square. As the players stared at Black Hell, Black Heaven, and Nie Yan, various emotions could be seen in their eyes, excitement, joy, reminiscence, grief… many Nie Yan couldn’t even put into words.

When Black Hell appeared, no one knew who, but somebody had made a post on the forum.

「Invincible Has Returned! Brothers of Dark Hero, Unite!」

This rallying call seemingly pierced through time and space to reach everyone connected to the Dark Hero guild by karma. Because in the blink of an eye the post was bumped up to the top of the forums with 300,000 upvotes.

Chapter 718 - Return of the King!

Glory and sorrow, renown and regret… all sorts of complicated emotions intertwined, reflected in the expressions of every person’s eyes.

None of them expected so many comrades to turn up.

A feeling of longing and nostalgia welled up in their hearts.

Everyone watched as Black Hell slowly walked up to the center of the square, their vision growing blurry with tears. Brother, what a familiar term of address. Even after such a long time, the word still remained deeply etched in their minds. At this moment, no one saw Black Hell; they saw their guild leader—Invincible!

Many races were gathered in the square. Humans, elves, orcs, giants, dwarves, they had all come together for one person.

Seeing all these passionate people, a thought surfaced in Nie Yan’s mind. If I were to disappear one day, only to show back up several years later, how many would heed my call? Could I just be like Black Hell?

Nie Yan didn’t know the answer. To be able to engrave yourself in the hearts of so many people, Black Hell—no, it was better to say Invincible—had a place he belonged.

Even more players came pouring in from all over after receiving word of Invincible’s return. Nie Yan roughly estimated there were at least 300,000 players here. Imagine if all these people were brought together under a single banner. It would be the inception of a powerful guild no weaker than the likes of God Executioner Sword and Divine Protectors. If Black Hell still had the heart of a conqueror, he would become one of Asskickers United’s greatest rivals.

However, Nie Yan knew Black Hell wouldn’t become his enemy. This sort of trust came from the bottom of his heart.

Black Hell, Black Heaven, and Nie Yan arrived at the center of the square.

"Brothers, long time no see,” Black Hell said, choking up with emotion. The memories of old resurfaced in his mind.

"B-boss… Invincible, is it really you?”

"Hehe, the boss changed his name,” a player said, wiping the tears from their eyes.

"Boss! It’s really great to have you back. Y-you don’t know half how much we missed you...!”

…

The crowd in the central square stirred with emotion.

The 20 players who’d kept an open space in the center of the square rushed over to Black Hell.

"Boss, i-it’s me, Requiem...!” Dark Requiem exclaimed. He tried to force back his urge to cry, but the trembling in his voice betrayed his emotions.

All of them were overwhelmed with joy. After Invincible disappeared, they had never stopped searching for him. Outsiders couldn’t possibly understand this feeling.

"Boss! It’s me, Street Vulture,” an elven Elementalist said, choked up with tears. He was the sole Magister here.

"Big Bro, it’s me, Netherluna!”

"Boss, do you remember me? I’m Canon.”

...

Black Hell swept his eyes over everyone. Even though their appearances were somewhat different, he still recognized every single one of them. All sorts of emotions welled up from the bottom of his heart, closeness and familiarity as well as sorrow and guilt.

Black Hell engraved the figures of every person here into his mind. "Have you all been well...?”

"Y-yeah. Same as always. Just living,” Dark Requiem replied. His light words carried a hint of bitterness and pain.

"Fire Dragon isn’t here? Sky Master too. Is that guy still pulling everyone into his tricks?” Black Hell noticed there were still a few people missing.

Everyone became silent.

"What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Black Hell noticed the strange atmosphere.

"The last time we heard from Fire Dragon was over three months ago. We haven’t been able to get in touch with him since,” Dark Requiem explained before breaking out into sobs.

Black Hell was dumbstruck. A figure slowly surfaced in his mind. Fire Dragon was a simple-minded fellow who liked to tease the girls in the guild. Yet he could also light up the darkest room with his big grin that was always plastered on his face. When they ran dungeons together, he would often charge ahead before the Mages were even ready, hollering Leeroy Jenkins with his greatshield raised. However, his recklessness was backed up by skill, not to mention his stupid luck, miraculously getting out more scared than hurt.

"Then what about Sky Master?”

"Sky Master doesn’t play Conviction. We haven’t been in touch since the game’s release…”

"Up until the very end, Fire Dragon always believed in you. He would always say you would come back, and we would rebuild Dark Hero together.”

Of those former brothers in arms, some had scattered to a faraway place, impossible to find ever again; others had moved to another planet; and still others had changed their names and could no longer be reached. Only about a quarter to a third of them still remained behind. It was to be expected. But because of his willfulness, he couldn’t be there with Fire Dragon in his final moments. Black Hell was wracked with remorse, the guilt stabbing at his heart like steak knives.

"Boss... let’s rebuild Dark Hero.”

"Yeah, Boss, we can all start over again!”

"Boss, it’ll just be like the good old days!”

…

Many excited shouts rang out. The voices of hundreds of thousands of players shook the entirety of Calore.

"If that’s you want, to rebuild Dark Hero, I won’t stop you. I can release both you and Black Heaven from your contracts,” Nie Yan said. He understood how powerful of a force could be created if all these people were gathered together. However, he didn’t have the heart to stand in the way of such a strong bond. Even if Dark Hero and Asskickers United became enemies in the end, he wouldn’t mind having a worthy opponent like this.

Black Hell turned to Nie Yan. He could tell Nie Yan was serious. He shook his head and said in a desolate tone, "Dark Hero is no more. Invincible is no more. I’m Black Hell, the Dark Archbishop of Asskickers United.”

Nie Yan could vaguely understand how Black Hell felt right now.

Dark Hero was a relic of history, and so it would remain.

Black Hell raised his hand. Over 300,000 voices silenced in an instant. They all stared at him in anticipation, their expressions blazing with fervor.

"Dark Hero is no more, personally destroyed by my own two hands. It is no longer the Dark Hero of the past, and I am no longer Invincible,” Black Hell said, dousing the flames of passion in their hearts, quenched with a murky forlorn. "However, if you wish, you can still call me Invincible. Right now, I belong to Asskickers United. Heaven is here too. If you’re still willing to follow me, I’ll say the same thing as I did in the past. As long as I’m here, I won’t allow any of you to suffer any injustices!”

What followed was a long period of silence.

After struggling with the complicated emotions in their hearts, many people were still willing to follow Black Hell. He was Invincible. Even if he now used a different name, he was still Invincible.

Invincible wasn’t merely a guild leader to these players. This was also one of the reasons why Dark Hero fell to ruin after he left. He was Invincible, no matter where he went. A Dark Hero without him was not the guild they knew.

However, many people still carried a bit of hope in their hearts. They would first follow Black Hell. Then later on, they would try to convince him to rebuild Dark Hero.

The commotion in the central square in Calore shook the hearts of the leaders of the various major guilds. They naturally knew of Invincible. He was the ruler of several large virtual reality video games, until his sudden disappearance. Who would’ve thought the return of the king would play out like this? A single call from him had rallied 300,000 players, and more were still heeding his summon! If you gave him a bit of time, he could erect a powerful new guild! However, it was rumoured he had no plans of reviving Dark Hero and instead would remain in Asskickers United. This caused everyone’s eyes to pop out in shock. The various guild leaders couldn’t help but envy Nie Yan. Being able to recruit a figure like Invincible was like falling upon a priceless treasure.

Nie Yan established a separate branch in Asskickers United. It was reserved to only former members of Dark Hero. For now, he didn’t dare to assimilate all these people into the guild, for fear of creating an unforeseen influence. Black Hell was naturally put in charge of them. There was no one else more suitable for the role.

Asskickers United grew substantially in size. In the future, he could slowly assimilate the players from Dark Hero.

Following these players joining the guild, Asskickers United’s army expanded to more than 1,000,000 troops. The number of Masters had also increased from 13 to 15.

Under Black Hell’s arrangements, these former players of Dark Hero were rapidly dispatched to the various strongholds of Asskickers United to aid in their defense.

Meanwhile, on the forums, posts started popping up discussing Invincible’s return.

Nie Yan browsed the forums.

「The King has Returned! Invincible is Back! Rallying All Former Brothers of Dark Hero!」

「Shocking News! Invincible Joins Asskickers United!」

…

All of these posts were plastered at the top of the front page. Only more people would see this news, including the former players of Dark Hero scattered all over Conviction.

With the addition of 300,000 new players, Asskickers United’s morale soared. They felt all the more confident in defeating the Monet Financial Group.

Qin Han’s skeleton army was like an ocean of white. As they pressed forward, they had swallowed up three strongholds along the way and were gradually approaching the Cripps Stronghold.

Nie Yan viewed the videos sent to him. God Executioner Sword’s 100 catapults were formidable. If they were allowed to all fire at once, the Cripps Stronghold would be overrun by the skeleton army.

「Guo Huai, how many catapults and trebuchets do we have?」Nie Yan asked. Asskickers United had never stopped producing siege engines this whole time.

「According to the latest update, 923 Armoured Ice Catapults and 623 trebuchets. We have about 100 siege engines stationed in the Cripps Stronghold. The rest are all stored away,」Guo Huai replied. Everything was carried out according to Nie Yan’s plan.

「What about the Magic Bombs?」

「All 800,000 have been distributed among trustworthy guild members.」

「Good, when Qin Han’s skeleton army arrives. We’ll give them a ruthless blow!」Nie Yan said confidently.

「Are all the preparations on your side complete?」Guo Huai asked in a worried tone.

「Everything is ready. All I need to do is hit confirm, and the guild headquarters will be moved to Okoron.」

What Qin Han didn’t know was that he had already failed his main objective before his skeleton army even arrived at the Cripps Stronghold. Nie Yan had already long since planted all his traps and was simply awaiting their attack these last couple of days.

Time ticked away. Everyone focused their attention on the Cripps Stronghold. This battle would decide the future layout of the Viridian Empire!

Chapter 719 - Teleport Formation

The skeleton army had sealed off the Cripps Stronghold so tightly not even a mouse could sneak out. Apart from a few steep cliffs they couldn’t reach, they were everywhere, like an ocean of bones.

Bone mammoths appeared among the skeletons. They were gigantic, weighing thousands of pounds. There had to be at least tens of thousands of them. Who knew where Qin Han had gotten them from. Even Nie Yan had never seen them before.

Qin Han stood on a mountain peak across from the Cripps Stronghold. Overlooking the land, he saw skeletons stretching out as far as the eye could see, looking as though they were going to engulf everything in their path.

His lips curved into a sinister grin. 6,000,000 skeletons was absolutely sufficient to thoroughly destroy the Cripps Stronghold. Afterwards, the Monet Financial Group would start taking over Asskickers United’s territory.

"Boss, when we were mobilizing the troops, I put Eternal Sin in charge of sieging several of Asskickers United’s strongholds to the south. However, he seems to be hesitating and pushing things off. I think something fishy is going on,” Matchless Divine Sword informed, paying close attention to Qin Han’s face.

"What do you think he’s planning?” Qin Han asked with an unsightly expression.

"I don’t dare to make reckless assumptions,” Matchless Divine Sword said. He didn’t dare to state his accusations outright. "Previously when Asskickers United dispatched their Masters to harass us, both us and Divine Protectors suffered heavy losses. But Penumbra Empire was completely unharmed.”

Qin Han locked his eyes onto Matchless Divine Sword. Matchless Divine Sword broke out in a cold sweat.

It wasn’t as though Qin Han didn’t suspect Penumbra Empire. After the information from several important meetings over the last several weeks had somehow leaked out, he had already began suspecting Eternal Sin. The moles he planted in Penumbra Empire were also finding evidence. But he couldn’t afford to have any internal conflict at this crucial moment. Penumbra Empire’s 200,000+ players accounted for nearly a quarter of the Monet Financial Group’s forces. If something were to happen, it could have an effect on the whole outcome of the war.

"Have Penumbra Empire launch the assault. If we don’t hear back from them within three hours, let them understand the consequences!” Qin Han said in a cold tone.

"Understood!” Matchless Divine Sword said with an unreadable smile. He had successfully placed the most difficult and dangerous work on Penumbra Empire. Like this, God Executioner Sword could preserve their strength.

As a sharp whistle cut across the sky, countless skeletons surged toward the Cripps Stronghold. A world shaking siege was about to take place.

The Cripps Stronghold’s walls were 60 meters high and 20 meters thick. A hundred catapults were stationed on top of the walls. Numerous shells were launched into the sky and rained down on the skeletons below, engulfing the impact zones in ice.

A deluge of spells illuminated the skies with dazzling colours, sweeping over the battlefield.

The skeletons advanced dauntlessly forward wave after wave. They didn’t fear the cold, stepping over their falling brethren as they approached the walls step by step. The bone mammoths mixed among the ordinary skeletons relied on their high health and defense to charge into the base of the walls, causing cracks to spread out, before finally dying under the concentrated hail of magic.

Brute force alone wouldn’t win Qin Han this siege. The catapults from God Executioner Sword were slowly making their way over. They would be arriving here in an hour at most.

Nie Yan and the others commanded the battle from atop the walls. From down below to the horizon stretching far off in the distance, all they saw was an endless sea of white. Elite-class skeletons were as common as grass.

After forcing back one wave of skeletons with a barrage of magic, another would come surging forward.

「Arrow towers, fire! Give them hell!」

A concentrated hail of arrows rained down from the sky, clearing out an entire area below the walls of skeletons.

The bone mammoths used their long tusks to launch skeletons high up into the air and over the walls. One skeleton after another landed inside the Cripps Stronghold, immediately causing a commotion.

「Warriors, Paladins, stop those skeletons! Don’t let them reach the casters!」Nie Yan shouted in the voice chat.

「Yes, sir!」

The Warriors and Paladins immediately surrounded the skeletons who were catapulted into the stronghold.

Qin Han had adjusted his tactics, adding a larger variety of troops and thinking of new ways of sieging strongholds. Nie Yan could clearly feel the pressure was much more intense than in previous battles. Fortunately, the Cripps Stronghold’s defenses were strong. It would definitely hold for the time being.

「Boss, those bone mammoths are too tanky! We can’t kill them,」a player anxiously cried out.

Nearly 10,000 bone mammoths slowly drew closer to the Cripps Stronghold.

「How many of you still have Forbidden Magic?」Nie Yan asked. Forbidden Magic had an extremely long cooldown. It wasn’t rare to see ones with cooldowns of one or two months long. Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and Lustboy had already cast their AoE Forbidden Magic recently, so they couldn’t use them again any time soon.

「I do,」Undying Scoundrel replied.

「I do as well,」Black Hell said.

「I also have one,」Street Vulture said. He was the elven Elemental Magister who had just recently joined Asskickers United.

Only three left, huh… Nie Yan thought.「Black Hell, you go first!」

Black Hell nodded and walked up to the edge of the wall.

「Wait for them to get a bit closer!」

Black Hell gazed up ahead at the large herd of bone mammoths lumbering their way over. They had sharp tusks and unparalleled strength. If all of them were allowed to get close, the walls would be in danger.

1,000 meters, 800 meters, 600 meters...

Black Hell started chanting, one syllable after another escaping his lips. After chanting 10 full sets of syllables, a dazzling radiance poured out from the sky as a pearly, white gate descended from the clouds. As the doors of the gate slowly opened, an enormous beam of light shone down, engulfing everything within a 500-meter radius.

The miserable cries of countless undead rang over the battlefield.

The beam of light lingered for more than 20 seconds before slowly dissipating. The players on top of the walls scanned the battlefield. All the bone mammoths approaching the walls had been purified. There wasn’t a single trace of them left.

Witnessing this scene from atop the distant mountain peak, Qin Han couldn’t help but curse, "Shit! It’s that forbidden magic again! Just how many do they have!?”

The Archbishops and Magisters in Asskickers United had Qin Han pulling at his hair.

"Keep advancing! I refuse to believe this stronghold is unsinkable!”

The skeletons never slowed down. The area Black Hell had cleared out was soon again filled, as though nothing had ever happened there.

There really seemed to be no end to these skeletons. No matter how many you killed, more would take their place.

While Nie Yan was busy dealing with the surging tide of skeletons, he received a report from Guo Huai. God Executioner Sword’s catapults were only 10 minutes away from the Cripps Stronghold!

"Hmm... about time. I’ve already been waiting long enough.” Nie Yan’s eyes flickered with an untraceable light.

The skeleton army quickly parted to two sides as 100 catapults emerged at the edge of the plains, slowly advancing forward. Although 100 catapults wasn’t a lot, a concentrated barrage from such a force was easily enough to tear a hole through a stronghold wall. That was all the skeletons needed to start flooding into the Cripps Stronghold.

The players from Asskickers United felt enormous pressure after the appearance of the catapults.

「Boss, what do we do? Their catapults are approaching!」

The players from Asskickers United stood in shock, anxiously awaiting Nie Yan’s reply.

Nie Yan cracked a confident grin.「Don’t worry. Just focus on dealing with the skeletons below the walls. I naturally have a plan.」

Nie Yan’s words calmed their uneasy hearts.

Over on a distant mountain peak. Qin Han gazed at the players running around the Cripps Stronghold, then down at the slowly advancing catapults. His lips curved into a cold smile. "Nirvana Flame, I’d like to see what you can pull out of your sleeve this time!” These 100 catapults were all disposable. As long as they could breach the walls, their objective would be complete. It didn’t matter how many catapults Asskickers United had hidden in the Cripps Stronghold. His skeleton army would engulf them all!

Qin Han carefully controlled the skeleton army to stay far away from the catapults, lest his own undead target the players of God Executioner Sword.

The 100 catapults drew closer and closer to the Cripps Stronghold, only about 1,000 meters away. It wouldn’t be long before they entered firing range.

Seeing the enemy catapults closing in, Nie Yan sent a message to Guo Huai.「Activate the formation!」

「Right away!」

At this moment, countless Mages emerged on the mountains dotting the plains outside the Cripps Stronghold. They’d been waiting on standby in nearby forests. The ocean of skeletons down below caused their hearts to well up with shock. They quickly spread out to prearranged positions. Without anyone noticing, someone had set up platforms near the cliffs of the mountain peaks, with giant magic formations drawn into them.

There were no less than a thousand platforms on the several mountain peaks in the vicinity of the Cripps Stronghold. Setting this all up was definitely a massive undertaking.

Nie Yan had made sure everything was on a need to know basis. The Mages were completely unaware of the existence of these platforms.

Undying Scoundrel and Lustboy led a force of 7,000 Great Mages.

「Five people per team. You guys already know what you have to do, right?」

「Yes!」

All the Mages immediately got to work. With five of them standing on each platform, flawlessly inserting themselves into the magic formations, they all took out special scrolls and started chanting. The formations gradually lit up as the magic particles in the air began vibrating intensely.

One second, two seconds… after 10 seconds, flashes of light were followed by catapults appearing on these platforms out of nothing. There were 1,000+ altogether.

Even the Great Mages who personally carried out the teleportation didn't dare to believe they had moved 1,000+ catapults onto these mountain peaks. This was simply too incredible!

Chapter 720 - Return of the Bone Dragon!

「Adjust the aim! Load the buckets!」

All 1,000+ catapults were aimed at the vast sea of white below.

「Fire! Blast them to oblivion!」Undying Scoundrel exclaimed.

Qin Han had a smug smile on his face as he watched God Executioner Sword’s catapults advance toward the Cripps Stronghold. At this moment, a sharp whistling sound cut across the air. Turning towards the source, his face paled as he saw a dense hail of shells raining down from the sky.

W-what’s going on?

Before Qin Han could react, the shells had already fallen. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! God Executioner Sword’s catapults were blasted apart as metal and wood fragments flew out everywhere.

After only a single barrage, more than two thirds of Qin Han’s 100 catapults were completely destroyed. Most of the remaining ones were broken and in dire need of repair.

Qin Han felt his heart bleeding. He had invested tons of resources and energy into these 100 catapults. But before he even got a chance to use them, they were smashed into pieces. Gazing at the surrounding mountain peaks, he could vaguely make out the outlines of catapults. He couldn’t understand for the life of him how Asskickers United managed to get so many of them up there.

It wasn’t over yet. The catapults from Asskickers United began laying waste to the skeleton army.

Wherever the shells fell, the skeletons there would be blown away. The sea of white turned ghastly silent.

The catapults were super effective against the skeletons. If a shell fell into a densely packed area, the resulting explosion would instantly wipe out several hundred skeletons.

Not to mention the catapults were at a high elevation, greatly increasing their attack ranges. They could fire at wherever they wanted. Even though the accuracy wasn’t great, with so many catapults firing at once, it didn’t really matter. Anywhere there were skeletons, they would fire. Wherever the shells fell, destruction followed.

These catapults were located atop steep cliffs or inclines on the mountains. The skeletons had no way of reaching them. Nor did they have a way of reaching the Cripps Stronghold, the barrage of these catapults looming over them like Death himself. The only threat to these catapults was a squadron of flying mounts. However, the Monet Financial Group only had 100 or so flying mounts in total. This was far from enough. Not to mention even if Qin Han sent out the flying mounts, Nie Yan could send out his own to intercept them. Sending a human army to destroy the catapults also wasn’t possible. Asskickers United only needed to have a few Masters on guard, and his people had no chance of approaching.

Qin Han already had no way out. If he didn’t take down the Cripps Stronghold today, what awaited the Monet Financial Group was destruction!

Over these past couple of weeks, Asskickers United had killed 3,000,000 skeletons. If he hadn’t resorted to all sorts of different extreme methods, he wouldn’t have been able to maintain his skeleton army at 6,000,000.

If Qin Han retreated just like this, the skeleton army would eventually be shaved away until there was nothing left. Without the skeleton army, just the several guilds under the Monet Financial Group couldn’t possibly challenge Asskickers United.

Even if it meant being completely wiped out, Qin Han refused to back down!

Qin Han gazed at the mountain peaks in the distance, then turned to Matchless Divine Sword. "Get me several Engineers and several hundred Thieves. Find out the exact locations of those catapults, then calculate their ranges!”

"Yes!” Matchless Divine Sword replied. He immediately went to carry out the task.

The 1,000+ catapults firing barrage after barrage of shells was an awe-inspiring sight. The skeleton army’s casualties breached 600,000 in no time at all.

Seeing the skeletons getting wiped out in droves, the morale of the players guarding the Cripps Stronghold soared. They started beating back the enemy with even greater fervor.

"Fire! Fire! Keep firing, and never stop! Wahahaha!” Undying Scoundrel cackled. He leaped down from the mountain peak. It was truly cathartic seeing the 1,000+ catapults wipe the floor with the skeletons below. As he gazed over at the Cripps Stronghold, it appeared the pressure on that side had lessened dramatically.

With the plains being cleared out, the advance of the skeleton army was put to a stop.

「Boss! The skeleton army is retreating!」

「Boss! Victory is ours!」

…

The guild chat broke out in cheers.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment before shaking his head.「Brothers, hold your positions. It’s not over yet. This is only the beginning!」So far, only 1,000,000 out of the 6,000,000 skeletons had been wiped out. Qin Han definitely wouldn’t retreat so easily. If he withdrew now, he would be thoroughly defeated! His only option was to stake it all here!

Hearing Nie Yan’s words, the players form Asskickers United glanced at each other. The early celebrations quickly quieted down.

Half an hour later, the skeleton army once more emerged from the edge of the plains.

These skeletons were moving in an extremely odd manner, taking a winding and twisting route as they advanced toward the Cripps Stronghold.

When the skeletons entered the plains, Asskickers United’s catapults started firing once more. A dense hail of shells fell from the sky. Most crashed into the ground, with only a few hitting the skeletons. Most of the skeletons were outside the range of the catapults.

Seeing the horde of skeletons still advancing under the dense bombardment, Nie Yan narrowed his eyes. Qin Han really was wily. He had found out the attack ranges, positions, and elevations of all the catapults and used that information to figure out where it was safe to walk. Afterwards, he had his skeleton army traverse through only these areas. Like this, he put the catapults out of play.

The catapults on the mountain peaks were locked in place. The platforms were simply too small, giving the catapults no space to move. Not to mention, there were only 1,000+ spots. It was impossible to completely cover the entire plain.

The catapults were basically useless now.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. Since it was like this, he might as well have the catapults recalled back.

Undying Scoundrel and the others activated the teleport formations and transferred the catapults to the Cripps Stronghold in preparation to defend against the skeletons.

The following three days was a long and bitter battle for Asskickers United. More than 5,000,000 skeletons frantically attacked the Cripps Stronghold. Qin Han basically pulled out all his cards. After sacrificing another 2,000,000 skeletons, he finally managed to tear a large hole through the Cripps Stronghold’s walls. However, Nie Yan immediately had his Warriors plug it.

Bladelight, Lei Su, and Smoke Stub held the breach. No skeleton could get even half a step past them.

Asskickers United had also suffered considerable losses. During the short moment of chaos after the breach, they’d lost 100,000 troops. Players that died during a siege battle couldn’t be revived. So, every member lost was extremely grave.

「Qin Han’s army only has 3,000,000 skeletons left. We’ll definitely have the last laugh. Show some spirit, everyone! We’re almost there!」Bladelight exclaimed in the voice chat.

「The Monet Financial Group will be the one to fall first! Let’s see what that bastard Qin Han can pull out now!」

Asskickers United tensely defended the stronghold. Under Black Hell’s influence, the former players from Dark Hero also put their all in defending the stronghold. They had contributed in wiping out more than 600,000 skeletons, while suffering 30,000 casualties.

Nie Yan stood on top of the walls and oversaw the situation. Qin Han’s skeleton army wouldn’t last for much longer.

At this moment, off in the distance, a dreadful dragon cry cut through the air. Looking up ahead, a black dot appeared in the horizon, growing bigger and bigger. Nie Yan’s face paled. What he worried about the most was finally happening.

「It’s Necromancer Vorderman’s bone dragon!」Smoke Stub anxiously cried out.

「Don’t fret. Stick to the plan. You, Bladelight, and the others hold the Cripps Stronghold. Don’t try to fight that thing head-on. Delay as long as you can. I’ll be making a quick trip to Calore!」Nie Yan said. He quickly dashed toward the transfer point in the Cripps Stronghold.

Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the other 12 Masters stood on top of the walls. Their eyes were pinned on the black dot in the horizon. First came the shape of the bone dragon in view, then of the silhouette loftily standing on its head. Necromancer Vorderman! He had finally revealed himself again after disappearing without a trace.

The bone dragon’s giant body flew through the sky. A powerful death aura spread out to the surroundings.

「Bladelight, we’re all counting on you.」Everyone gazed at Bladelight.

「Understood. You guys be careful too. Don’t end up becoming a snack for that bone dragon.」Bladelight cracked a joke, even in this tense situation. Analyzing the bone dragon’s weak point, he rushed off.

「Worry about yourself first!」Everyone laughed.

Street Vulture and Dark Requiem gazed at Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others. Even though they had only recently joined Asskickers United, they could clearly sense the strong bond between these Masters. They couldn’t help but recall the Dark Hero guild of the past. They were also like Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others, gathered together by one person. Later on, despite the guild disbanding, those deeply cherished feelings of camaraderie never disappeared.

They finally understood why Invincible was willing to remain in Asskickers United. It was precisely because of this group of people!

Asskickers United right now was pretty much no different from the Dark Hero guild of the past. Since Invincible was willing to stay, they also decided to stick around.

A loud crashing sound rang out in the distance. The bone dragon had landed inside the Cripps Stronghold, trampling over two arrow towers.

「Lowly humans, experience the dread of death!」Vorderman cackled sinisterly, his sharp voice piercing the ears of every player in the stronghold.

Bladelight closed in on the bone dragon. He was like a miniscule ant compared to it. It was that enormous. He quickly discovered cracks and scorch marks across its bones. These were left over from a previous battle. The damage from the clash with Karsi still hadn’t healed.

"So, little dragon. You’ve got some serious injuries on you,” Bladelight’s lips formed a cold smile.

Charge!

Bladelight accelerated and leaped off from the walls. Raising up his arm, his greatshield lit up with a dazzling golden radiance.

Shield Bash!

BOOM! Bladelight’s greatshield ruthlessly struck the bone dragon, the powerful impact causing it to stagger several steps back.

Chapter 721 - Royal Griffon Corps, Kill!

Bladelight was knocked back by a powerful rebound force. He regained his balance mid-air and landed back on his feet.

"Wretched, lowly human, you dare to challenge a follower of the god of death!? Die!” Necromancer Vorderman bellowed out. The bone dragon strode forward, flattening a building beneath its feet.

At this moment, a barrage of spells bombarded the bone dragon. The explosions from the spells forced it to stagger several steps back.

Necromancer Vorderman reigned in the bone dragon. He locked his gaze onto the assaillants. Several Magisters stood loftily on arrow towers, walls, and roofs of buildings with their staffs raised. Magic energy swirled around them as their robes fluttered in the wind.

14 Masters were spread out in the vicinity of the bone dragon.

Necromancer Vorderman had an unsightly expression on his bony face. He had the bone dragon whip out with its tail. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! It destroyed several buildings and part of the wall of the Cripps Stronghold.

Bladelight and the others leaped into the air and evaded the attack.

An epic battle was about to unfold.

The catapults in the Cripps Stronghold repeatedly fired at the bone dragon. However, the shells did little to no damage. Its body was harder than steel. Necromancer Vorderman chanted out an incantation and called down a hail of raging flames, burning over a dozen catapults to a crisp.

Bladelight and the other Masters could only hinder the bone dragon. They were far too weak to prevent it from destroying the inside of the stronghold.

Standing on top of a mountain in the distance, Qin Han gazed over in the direction of the Cripps Stronghold. The walls were riddled with holes. The Warriors of Asskickers United could only hold their positions from the fortified defensive structures and repel the enemy with all their might. Before long, the stronghold would be overrun by his skeleton army.

Qin Han coldly laughed. No matter how strong Masters were, they were no match for a demi-god like Necromancer Vorderman.

Qin Han had to admit that Asskickers United was strong, but they still wouldn’t escape destruction.

When the skeleton army defeated Asskickers United, the entire Viridian Empire would belong to the Monet Financial Group. Recalling Xie Yao and Nie Yan holding hands, recalling how Nie Yan had snatched away his rightful spot in Heavenly Kings, Qin Han’s heart bubbled over with excitement and a sense of vindication. He was going to prove everyone that doubted him wrong! Then when he turned Nirvana Flame into history, Xie Yao would leave that loser for him! He immersed himself in his delusions.

The crazed look in Qin Han’s eyes caused Matchless Divine Sword to slowly inch away.

...

Calore, the Elder Council.

Nie Yan signed off on the application to move Asskickers United’s guild headquarters from the Cripps Stronghold to Okoron. Looking at the time, there were still about three hours before the servers went offline. If he could stall the battle until then, victory would be his.

He finally utilized his authority as a Great Prophet and mobilized the troops in Calore.

Calore had the most powerful army among all the cities in the Viridian Empire, namely their special division, the Royal Griffon Corps. It was composed of 3,000 troops, among which were over 100 Masters while the rest were Level 180+ Elites or Lords. They were clad in the most elite imperial armour, and all of them were paired with Royal Griffons that were all at least Rank 6, with even a few Rank 8s and 9s mixed between. In comparison the NPC recruits in Okoron looked like nothing but a ragtag band of thugs.

After leaving the Elder Council, Nie Yan headed for the barracks in the north district of Calore and entered inside.

3,000 fully armed NPC soldiers were already waiting for him. They stood neatly in rank and file.

Nie Yan inspected the troops. Mage Battalion, Paladin Battalion, Warrior Battalion, he could easily tell which classes were which.

Several tall NPCs walked over to greet Nie Yan.

"Great Prophet, I am the Captain of the Calore Guard Legion, Santler,” a tall Paladin saluted Nie Yan.

"Great Prophet, I am the captain of the Royal Mage Legion, Wayne.”

The NPCs introduced themselves one after another. They treated Nie Yan with great respect.

"Brave soldiers, the abominable undead have already entered the territory of Calore. The troops in the Cripps Stronghold are fending off the invasion of the skeleton army as we speak! With Necromancer Vorderman appearing again, we must take action, or else the threat will reach the city. Come with me! We fight for the glory of the Viridian Empire!” Nie Yan said. He knew how to incite the fighting spirits of these NPCs.

"Great Prophet, we are willing to follow you into battle! Command as you wish! For the glory of the Viridian Empire!”

"For the glory of the Viridian Empire!” The NPCs cried out in unison.

"Follow me into battle! We’ll defend the Viridian Empire with our lives!” Nie Yan summoned his Darkwing Dragon and took off in the air.

FWOOOSH! The NPCs summoned their flying mounts. 3,000 robust Royal Griffons covered in golden feathers emerged in the square.

The griffons took to the air, maintaining formation even in the sky.

This was a true military!

Seeing experienced, well-disciplined troops, Nie Yan was filled with confidence.

With Nie Yan in the lead, the 3,000 Royal Griffons streaked through the sky.

Surprisingly, the players in Calore didn’t bat a single eye. Royal Griffons flying over Calore was simply too common of a sight. They believed this was just a normal training drill. Only a handful of players spotted the Darkwing Dragon among them.

...

The Cripps Stronghold was taking terrible damage from the bone dragon’s rampage. Asskickers United’s casualties were rapidly climbing, having already exceeded 300,000. If it weren’t for the 1,000+ catapults beating back the invading skeletons, the stronghold would’ve already been lost.

Seeing the Cripps Stronghold’s collapsed walls, Qin Han’s heart was racing. He could hardly contain his elation. He commanded his undead army to attack with even greater ferocity. More and more skeletons stormed the Cripps Stronghold.

This was the Viridian Empire’s most heavily fortified stronghold, but it would still end up crashing down in the flames of war.

While Qin Han was boisterously urging on his skeletons, an army appeared on a distant hillside. They wore a mish-mash of different armour, numbering over 3,000 troops in total. It was the NPC army from Okoron! Leading them were Paladin of the Elegy and Yallop.

"Men! Who was it that gave you work? Who was it that gave you dignity?” Yallop cried out.

"Lord Nirvana Flame!”

"Correct! The lord gave a bunch of vagrants like us work, allowed us to have the money to provide for ourselves and our families! It’s time for us to pay back the lord’s kindness. Let’s wipe out these vile undead.” Yallop raised his greatsword. His imposing aura influenced the surrounding NPCs.

Seeing these fired up NPCs, Paladin of the Elegy added, "The lord told me this, for every skeleton you kill, you will be rewarded 5 gold. Anyone that kills more than 1,000 skeletons will receive an Okoron Medal and the title of Baron.”

The eyes of the NPCs blazed with a fanatical light. Just killing a single skeleton could net them 5 gold. This was an extremely attractive reward. NPCs had their own system. 5 gold was enough to cover their living expenses for a month or allow them to find a pretty lass at the tavern for a night. However, that was nothing compared to the reward for killing 1,000 skeletons. A noble title was an unreachable dream for most NPCs. It was something that meant good fortune not just for themselves, but for their entire family for generations to come. To become a baron, this was far more enticing than gold.

The last doubts were taken away. These NPCs burned with the urge to battle.

Seeing the appearances of these NPCs, Paladin of the Elegy couldn’t help but feel deep respect for Nie Yan. He knew the hearts of these NPCs like the back of his hand. Once they heard the word ‘baron’, their eyes immediately blazed with desire.

"Men, let’s slaughter those skeletons!”

"Let’s beat those skeletons back into whatever hole they came from!”

…

The NPCs roared out one after another, like a pack of crazed wolves.

Yallop pointed his sword forward. 3,000 NPCs charged forth like a surging tide, killing everything in their path.

Yallop rushed out and took the lead, charging straight into the skeleton army. All the skeletons in his way were sent flying.

The other NPCs weren’t weak either. They left piles of bones in their wake.

The weakest were Level 130 Elites with the strongest being Level 180 Elites. They had an enormous level advantage over the Level 100 skeletons. Before long, they wiped out 6,000 skeletons.

Noticing the commotion in the plains, Qin Han knitted his brows. "What’s going on over there?”

"Boss, it’s a group of 3,000 NPCs. They’re the troops from Okoron,” Matchless Divine Sword replied.

"Just an ant trying to shake a large oak. What difference will 3,000 NPCs make!?” Qin Han coldly snorted. He immediately had some Elite and Lord-class skeletons move to surround Yallop’s group.

"Boss, we’ve got trouble!” Matchless Divine Sword anxiously cried out.

"What now!?” Qin Han asked unhappily. He hated it when people poured cold water over him.

"Calore’s Royal Griffon Corps is making their way here. 3,000 fully armed NPCs. Leading them is Nirvana Flame,” Matchless Divine Sword said. He felt an intense sense of unease. Could it be that the Viridian Empire decided to finally go all out against the skeleton army? If Qin Han were defeated, God Executioner Sword would be buried alongside him.

"Wait, what!?” Qin Han’s heart trembled.

Chapter 722 - Death God Tempest!

Qin Han was in trouble if the Viridian Empire had decided to dispatch their troops against him.

「Boss, what do we do?」Matchless Divine Sword asked anxiously.

「How long until the Royal Griffon Corps arrives?」

「I estimate 20 minutes at the latest.」

Qin Han checked the time. There were another two hours before the servers would shut down.

「We have to take down the Cripps Stronghold within the next 20 minutes.」Qin Han said in a heavy tone.

As the battle progressed, Qin Han’s army had been whittled away to only 2,000,000 skeletons. But with Necromancer Vorderman and the bone dragon wreaking havoc inside the Cripps Stronghold, Asskickers United’s losses were also rapidly adding up. Their casualties already exceeded 700,000. The 300,000 players still standing were bitterly holding on.

Necromancer Vorderman was simply too frightening. He was far too strong for any player in the game, and under his command the fallen would rise as skeletons. Asskickers United could only try and preserve the guild headquarters, hunkering down on the surrounding buildings. There were several dozen arrow towers in the vicinity, which could offer some firepower. As for the catapults, they had all but been destroyed.

After receiving word from Qin Han, the green flames in Vorderman’s eye sockets throbbed intensely. Brandishing his staff, he chanted out an incantation. He was preparing to cast Forbidden Magic! A thick miasma surrounded his body, no one could get close to him.

"Shit! It’s Forbidden Magic!”

"We can’t get close to him! The spells aren’t reaching him either! We can’t stop him!”

With Necromancer Vorderman’s overwhelming magic power, his Forbidden Magic could easily transform the entire Cripps Stronghold into ruins.

「Guo Huai, activate the Divine Radiant Bastion! Now!」Bladelight shouted in the guild chat.

「Guo Huai, hurry! Before it’s too late!」

…

Everyone anxiously shouted. At this moment, a golden membrane of light slowly enveloped the guild headquarters and the surrounding buildings. Asskickers United’s players, including even the masters like Bladelight, hurriedly retreated into the barrier.

This was one of the rewards for the Cripps Stronghold reaching Advanced rank.

Necromancer Vorderman slowly rose up into the sky. One set, two sets, three sets, the syllables escaping his lips appeared to herald the imminent judgement of hell. A powerful death miasma spread out.

「All Mages and Priests, supply the barrier with your mana!」Guo Huai anxiously ordered.

Of the 300,000 remaining troops, about 180,000 were casters. They closed their eyes and started chanting. Mana flowed out from their bodies into the Divine Radiant Bastion.

The mana supplied by these casters reinforced the barrier.

30 seconds later, Vorderman chanted out the last syllable. FWOOOOOOM! The heavy sound struck at the hearts of all of Asskickers United. A heavy pressure bore down on their chests, making it difficult to breath.

Death God Tempest!

Necromancer Vorderman waved his staff. Everyone suddenly felt dread welling up from the bottom of their hearts, almost as if the reaper were breathing right down their necks.

10 enormous pillars of whirling death energy manifested. They were like black tornadoes, sweeping up everything in their path. Nothing was safe, as the buildings, walls, and even skeletons were sucked into it.

The 10 tornadoes converged on the guild headquarters. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! They repeatedly rammed into the Radiant Divine Bastion.

The barrier trembled violently.

The players hiding within the barrier could no longer see what the situation was like outside. They could only see the whirling tempest of death energy, carrying rubble, trees, and even entire buildings into the air. The tornado was like an enormous serpent, repeatedly striking at the Divine Radiant Bastion.

All the casters felt the mana rapidly leaving their bodies.

「Guo Huai, what do we do? The barrier won’t last much longer!」

If the Divine Radiant Bastion collapsed, everyone here would be wiped out by the Death God Tempest.

"Lowly ants!” Necromancer Vorderman roared out in fury. If he were in perfect health, any one of his Forbidden Spells could wipe out the Cripps Stronghold from the face of the map in an instant. There wasn’t even a need to resort to Death God Tempest. However, Karsi had dealt him serious damage and he had yet to recover. Forcefully casting this Forbidden Magic only worsened his injuries, not to mention damaging his very soul. But he had no choice. He couldn’t ignore Qin Han’s command. So, with what little power he had, he had cast the incomplete Death God Tempest; wielding about a tenth of the power of the complete version. This was why it couldn’t destroy the Divine Radiant Baston even now.

Time ticked away. The Divine Radiant Bastion kept shuddering intensely. With the barrier’s powerful defensive capabilities, even if no players were supplying it with mana, it could still defend against Forbidden Magic. But right now, even with 180,000 casters reinforcing it, it was barely holding out against the Death God Tempest.

「Guo Huai, what do we do?」

Guo Huai thought for a moment.「Screw it! Everyone, take out all your Magic Bombs. Bladelight, get some people to attach some of the Magic Bombs onto the arrows and shoot them into the tempest. Everyone else, listen to my command. Throw your Magic Bombs into the tempest!」

In the real world, the detonation of a bomb could create a powerful shockwave, which could disrupt the airflow of the surroundings. Conviction mimicked reality. So, many of the laws of physics applied here as well!

「We can try!」Bladelight said. It wasn’t like they had any better options.

Necromancer Vorderman’s might far exceeded everyone’s imaginations. Even Nie Yan had never clashed against a legendary figure this powerful. They had vastly underestimated the opponent’s strength. If the guild headquarters were destroyed, Asskickers United would be done for.

Everyone brought out their Magic Bombs, then tossed them outside of the barrier with all their strength.

The several dozen arrow towers in the vicinity also fired out arrows attached with Magic Bombs into the tempest.

Some of the Magic Bombs collided with the rubble in the air. Others were sucked up into the air alongside the other debris.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! A cacophony of explosions rang out as countless shockwaves battered at the tempest from the inside.

Asskickers United put great effort in developing their Tinkerer business. Where at first only a few Tinkerers could craft Magic Bombs, over time this number increased exponentially. Nie Yan had them mass produce Magic Bombs, planning to provide them to powerlevel players with potential to level 100. However, after they were produced, they were never used. They gathered dust in storage, until the by now more than 800,000 were taken out by Guo Huai in preparation for this war. One could imagine the effects of so many Magic Bombs being thrown out all at once.

The sound of explosions kept coming like firecrackers.

Under the powerful shockwaves, the Death God Tempest came to a screeching halt. Necromancer Vorderman seemed to have taken a heavy blow as he staggered several steps back on the bone dragon’s head.

All debris swept up in the air came crashing down to the ground. The Death God Tempest had been stopped!

「We did it!」

「We stopped the Forbidden Magic!」

...

Asskickers United broke out in cheers, overwhelmed by an indescribable excitement.

「How are things over on your side? Did you activate the Divine Radiant Bastion? Is it helping?」Nie Yan anxiously asked.

「I’ll show you the video,」Guo Huai said, his voice still trembling with excitement. Asskickers United had just barely escaped a brush with death. Thankfully, they had managed to stop the Death God Tempest.

Nie Yan watched the video Guo Huai sent him. Seeing the enormous tempest, endless waves of shock battered at his heart. So this was the might of Necromancer Vorderman’s Forbidden Magic? Too frightening! He had vastly underestimated Vorderman’s strength. He believed the Divine Radiant Bastion with its formidable defensive capabilities could hold out for at least a few hours. As long as they could reach the end of the day, victory was theirs. He didn’t expect the Death God Tempest to nearly break the barrier. If it wasn’t for Guo Huai’s ingenious idea, all would’ve been lost.

Necromancer Vorderman already severe injuries seemed to have worsened. He was lying flat on the bone dragon’s back, gasping in pain. The bone dragon circled around the barrier, occasionally striking at it. However, it was unable to break through.

「Nie Yan, what do we do now?」Guo Huai asked, still trying to calm down the excitement in his heart.

Even though Necromancer Vorderman was badly injured, he was still an unrivalled existence. Not to mention the bone dragon. Everyone knew how powerful it was.

「Right now isn’t the time for the finale. I’ll have the Royal Griffon Corps remain on standby. We’ll end everything tomorrow!」Nie Yan said. If the Royal Griffon Corps attacked right now, it would definitely provoke Qin Han into doing something drastic. Besides, he wasn’t sure if Qin Han had anything else up his sleeve. Without being able to guarantee the safety of the guild headquarters, he wasn’t willing to take the risk. If it was destroyed, he risked losing everything he’d worked so hard for; the penalty was that serious.

After today, the guild headquarters would be moved to Okoron. Like this, even if the Cripps Stronghold was destroyed, it would have no impact on the foundation of Asskickers United.

After a long time, the dust and smoke cleared up. When the players from Asskickers United saw their stronghold again, they were dumbstruck. The buildings within the Divine Radiant Bastion were still intact. However, everything outside, including the walls, were completely flattened. There was nothing left behind.

What a frightening Forbidden Magic!

After receiving an update on the state of the Cripps Stronghold, Qin Han stamped his feet in anger. Even after Death God Tempest was used, the guild headquarters was still standing. Asskickers United was as resilient as a cockroach!

At this moment, Yallop and his men were still fighting the skeletons in the plains outside the Cripps Stronghold. These NPCs were extremely valiant. Yallop also seemed to be well versed in battle tactics, never allowing his troops to be surrounded. Any time the Lord-class skeletons started circling in on them, he would immediately call a retreat. He was a real thorn in Qin Han’s side. In this short amount of time, they had killed 100,000 skeletons.

Back in the Cripps Stronghold, Necromancer Vorderman was completely spent. Meanwhile, Yallop’s group was having their way with the skeletons. Not to mention there was no telling when the Royal Griffon Corps would arrive. Qin Han was extremely anxious.

The last remaining two hours flew past in the blink of an eye. It was almost time to log out.

Nie Yan checked the clock. The countdown for the servers to shut off was already starting, 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 3 minutes...

These last few moments would be an unforgettable memory for the players of Asskickers United!

After this last hurdle, victory was theirs!

Chapter 723 - Utterly Alone and Abandoned

Stepping out of the game capsule, Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

His heart was still racing from all the tension. Tomorrow, when he logged back on, the guild headquarters would be officially moved to Okoron.

Qin Han’s army was reduced to less than 2,000,000 skeletons. The biggest obstacle left was Necromancer Vorderman and the bone dragon. Nie Yan didn’t know if the Royal Griffon Corps were up to the task. If those two were killed, everything would be settled.

As for the actual players on the side of the Monet Financial Group—900,000 of them in total—Nie Yan had a way to slowly whittle them away until there was no one left. By the time their forces reached Okoron, the system would’ve considered the siege at the Cripps Stronghold concluded, allowing all fallen players to revive.

Nie Yan had just finished breakfast, when his phone started ringing. It was Guo Huai.

「So!? Did you transfer the guild headquarters over in time!?」Guo Huai anxiously asked.

「Of course. When we get back online tomorrow, the guild headquarters will be in Okoron.」

「Phew… That’s a relief. When you get back online, quickly deal with Necromancer Vorderman. He’s severely injured. Don’t let this opportunity slip by.」

「Alright, I won’t forget.」Nie Yan nodded.「Is there anything else?」

「Just like you planned, the matter with Eternal Sin is settled. Qin Han ordered Penumbra Empire to attack Asskickers United’s strongholds in the south. However, Eternal Sin is delaying his troops. I bet Qin Han is pulling his hair out right now.」Guo Huai chuckled.

「Eternal Sin, that man really is crafty. Even if he openly disobeys Qin Han’s orders, he won’t take any losses. He’s avoided entering a conflict with us too. If we win, Penumbra Empire is already working for us. If we lose, Qin Han will still have to rely on him in the end,」Nie Yan said. He saw straight through Eternal Sin’s thoughts.

「Well, we aren’t taking any losses, so it doesn’t matter. Since Eternal Sin is thinking this way, I bet the other guilds under the Monet Financial Group are the same. For a person like Qin Han, even if he binds all these guilds together with money, he simply doesn’t have what it takes to be a leader. All he knows how to do is throw money at his problems. He was bound to be abandoned sooner or later,」Guo Huai said. In this respect, the Monet Financial Group and Asskickers United were polar opposites.

After Nie Yan finished talking with Guo Huai, he accompanied Xie Yao along Huahai. They also took the opportunity to pop into World Bloc’s offices. When his mother finally met her future daughter-in-law, she was extremely happy. No matter which aspect, there was nothing to nitpick. Xie Yao far exceeded her expectations.

As for the Xie Family, ever since Mo Yuntian approached Nie Yan during the dinner party, they didn’t dare to so much as let out a fart, tacitly approving of Nie Yan and Xie Yao’s relationship.

Nie Yan was in high spirits. Where in the previous timeline he had nothing, this time around he had everything he yearned for. When evening arrived, he and Xie Yao entered back into the game.

As soon as the servers opened, the tense battle resumed as though nothing had happened.

Qin Han commanded his skeleton army to surround Yallop’s group. Just as they were about to be completely surrounded, 3,000 Royal Griffons appeared over the horizon. They were rapidly approaching.

Seeing this scene, the players of Asskickers United boiled over with excitement.

"The boss is back!”

"He brought the Royal Griffon Corps with him!”

2,000 of the Royal Griffons went to support Yallop’s group, diving down on the skeleton army outside the Cripps Stronghold. A barrage of magic swept through wherever the griffons passed. BANG! BANG! BANG! The skeletons were wiped out in droves.

Warriors and Paladins clad in imperial armour landed on the ground and charged into battle, sweeping through everything in their path. The skeleton army was gradually beaten back.

The skeletons were no match for the elite soldiers of the Viridian Empire.

The skeleton army was in chaos. Seeing the tides of battle being turned, Qin Han started to despair. His only hope was that Necromancer Vorderman could resist the assault of the Royal Griffon Corps.

The bone dragon carried Necromancer Vorderman into the air. 1,000 Royal Griffons immediately surrounded it and launched a fierce assault.

The bone dragon and griffons tangled in the air. In the blink of an eye, three griffons let out mournful cries and plummeted from the skies. However, even more griffons flew forward to fill their place. BANG! BANG! BANG! A dense barrage of spells bombarded the bone dragon.

A chaotic battle broke out in the air.

Nie Yan circled the outskirts of the battle on his Darkwing Dragon, maintaining a distance of no less than 200 meters. He could clearly see the bone dragon and Necromancer Vorderman on its back. The bone dragon’s body was covered with claw and scorch marks from the previous battle with Karsi. Necromancer Vorderman was weakly leaning on its head. He had also received grievous injuries.

It was just like Guo Huai described. There was no time to lose. This was perhaps his only opportunity to kill the bone dragon and Necromancer Vorderman!

Among these 1,000 aerial troops, there were 100 Masters. The damage they dealt to the bone dragon was considerable.

After a while, Bladelight, Tang Yao, and the others also summoned their flying mounts and took to the skies.

「What’s the situation?」Bladelight asked.

「Not sure yet. I don’t know if we can finish Vorderman off,」Nie Yan said. Even in his weakened state, Necromancer Vorderman was still a legendary Mage. He was no small matter.

Right now, they could only do their best to whittle him down.

Left and right griffons fell down from the sky, both flying mounts and riders killed. More than 50 members of the Royal Griffon Corps had already died at the hands of the bone dragon.

About an hour later, Nie Yan received a piece of good news. The skeleton army was defeated, completely wiped out by Asskickers United, the Royal Griffon Corps, and Okoron’s NPC troops.

One had to know, this was an army of 6,000,000 skeletons!

This was simply a miracle for the players of Asskickers United, especially considering they were on the verge of defeat at one point.

Like this, only Necromancer Vorderman and the bone dragon remained.

The 2,000 members of the Royal Griffon Corps who had just wiped out the skeletons rushed over to aid in killing Necromancer Vorderman and the bone dragon.

Necromancer Vorderman and the bone dragon were completely surrounded. It was impossible to escape unless the entire Royal Griffon Corps was annihilated!

This battle greatly affected the hearts of all the players. Between Necromancer Vorderman and the Royal Griffon Corps, only one side could come out alive. This would decide the future path of the Viridian Empire. If Necromancer Vorderman survived, the continent would be shrouded by a cloud of darkness.

Qin Han stood unsteadily on the hilltop. He stared down at the endless sea of white below. The cackling sound he’d grown so comfortable with was no more. They were bones now, just bones. His vision spun. Emotions fought a chaotic battle within him. He was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

「Matchless, are the troops ready yet? I want Asskickers United annihlated!」Qin Han said coldly in voice chat. This chat group was composed of Matchless Divine Sword, Eternal Sin, Holy Flame, and the guild leaders of the other larger guilds under the Monet Financial Group. There were 16 guild leaders altogether.

However, Qin Han’s question was followed by a long silence.

「Matchless, Eternal Sin, Holy Flame, what the hell are you guys doing? Are you ready or not!? Answer me!」Qin Han shouted in a rage.

Still no one answered.

A while later, Matchless Divine Sword replied,「Boss, let’s just forget it. We’re no match for Asskickers United.」

「What do you mean by that? Who says we’re no match for them? As long as the Cripps Stronghold falls, the remaining strongholds are ours for the taking!」

「Necromancer Vorderman is already pretty much dead. Asskickers United still has so many NPC troops on their side. It’s impossible to take down the Cripps Stronghold,」Eternal Sin said in a frank tone.

No one refuted Eternal Sin’s words. Everyone tacitly agreed with him. Qin Han had bound them together with money. They were only here for the benefits. Knowing that the path ahead was a dead end, why would they stick with Qin Han to the bitter end?

Even though Qin Han had shares in their guilds and had the authority to mobilize their troops, they had at least several dozen methods to protect themselves, such as disbanding the guild and reforming it under a new name. They had long since thought of a plan. So, they weren’t afraid of disobeying his orders.

Qin Han suddenly discovered he’d lost control over these people. If one or two disobeyed his commands, he still had a method to deal with them. However, since they all colluded together against him, what could he do all by himself? He was simply a leader in name.

「You bastards… You were so eager to take my Monet Financial Group’s money. But now now when the going gets tough... Don’t think you can get away from this unscathed!」Qin Han growled.

「Now you’re going a bit too far. When you were building your skeleton army, we offered up at least 900,000 of our people. Everything you asked us to do, we carried it out without question. But if we do what you ask of us now, we won’t just lose a little, we’ll lose everything. Who in their right mind would throw their life away like that!?」a guild leader said.

His words received everyone’s approval.

「Are you really planning to burn all bridges with us like this? We’ve done almost everything for you. You can’t expect us to sacrifice our entire guilds for you, right? That just doesn’t make sense,」Eternal Sin said.

「Matchless, Holy Flame, you two think the same? Is that right?」Qin Han coldly asked.

A long silence followed before the reply finally came.

「Yes, we’re with Eternal Sin on this one.」

「I see… good, good, good! Consider it my fault for trusting a bunch of backstabbing bastards like you. In the future, don’t even think about receiving a single cent from the Monet Financial Group! Also, you better watch your backs and sleep with one eye open,」Qin Han said sinisterly before leaving the group chat.

After hearing Qin Han’s words, Matchless Divine Sword, Eternal Sin, and Holy Flame felt their blood run cold. They understood Qin Han’s character. However, they were also experienced with the ways of the world. They wouldn’t be so easily frightened.

Qin Han had found himself utterly alone and abandoned. The alliance he had brought together with money completely collapsed. After hearing this news, the players from Asskickers United were elated. They originally thought they would have another long and bitter battle ahead of them. They didn’t expect the enemy to fall apart from within.

Afterwards, Penumbra Empire acknowledged their allegiance to Asskickers United, followed shortly after by Divine Protectors, God Executioner Sword, and many other guilds. They all pleaded for peace.

The only enemy left was Necromancer Vorderman!

Chapter 724 - Zennarde’s Sword Breaks Through!

After fighting for two whole days, the Royal Griffon Corps suffered 900 casualties. Among them more than 30 Masters had died at the hands of Necromancer Vorderman.

As time passed, like an oil lamp slowly drying up, so to did Necromancer Vorderman's spark of life slowly dim until almost nothing was left.

Nie Yan inspected Necromancer Vorderman’s status. His health had already fallen to critical levels, but the exact figure wasn’t shown. As for the bone dragon, it was also on the verge of death.

Necromancer Vorderman stood atop the bone dragon’s head, the flames in his eyes flickering with an inconsolable grief.

"Brave soldiers, Necromancer Vorderman is at the end of the road. Your achievements will be recorded down in the history books!” Nie Yan shouted. He knew NPCs cared greatly for glory.

"For the glory of the Viridian Empire!” The Royal Griffon Corps intensified their assault. They were about to overpower Necromancer Vorderman completely.

"Despicable humans, you can all follow me into destruction! Let the curse of death eternally linger in your ears. Cry out and tremble in fear!” Necromancer Vorderman shouted. A thick, black miasma started pouring out from his body.

The death energy contained within the miasma instantly affected the NPCs in the immediate vicinity.

They let out miserable shrieks as the life energy was rapidly sapped away from their bodies. Their originally bright and healthy skin dried up into a sickly yellow. The griffons didn’t fare any better. They quickly withered up and dropped out of the sky.

THUD! THUD! THUD! One corpse after another hit the ground.

The miasma continued spreading out.

"HAAAAKakakakakaaaa...” Necromancer Vorderman laughed sinisterly, his voice growing increasingly hoarse.

"Nie Yan, let’s leave! Now!” Bladelight anxious cried out. They would definitely die if the miasma touched them.

"You guys leave first!” Nie Yan said. His eyes locked onto Necromancer Vorderman who was laughing maniacally. He could sense Vorderman was already at his limit.

"What are you planning to do!?”

"Boss, hurry! We’re almost out of time!”

…

His brothers all urged him to escape, but Nie Yan showed no intentions to. Instead, he urged the Darkwing Dragon forward and pounced toward Necromancer Vorderman.

Seeing Nie Yan’s actions, Bladelight and the others’ eyes trembled. They realized what he was trying to do. Since he dared to go in for the kill, that naturally meant he had a plan.

"Everyone, retreat!”

Bladelight led the players from Asskickers United away.

Adjudicator of God!

A golden barrier enveloped Nie Yan. When the miasma came in contact with the membrane of light, it immediately dispersed into nothing.

"It works!” Nie Yan smirked, his eyes flickering with a cold light.

The Darkwing Dragon let out a miserable cry as the miasma invaded its body. It trembled violently in the air, almost dropping out of the sky.

Even if the Darkwing Dragon would have to be sacrificed, it was already too late to turn back now!

Nie Yan arched his body. He was only about 30 meters away from Necromancer Vorderman. Activating the Leap ability from his Web-Crawler Ring, he pushed off from his legs and soared through the sky.

Necromancer Vorderman’s shrill cackling grated at his ears. This sound inflicted fear. Nie Yan couldn’t help but knit his brows. If it wasn’t for Adjudicator of God, he would’ve long since fallen under its influence.

Necromancer Vorderman had exhausted his mana pool. What little skin covered his body had withered to the limit. There was only a spark left in his eye sockets, incomparable to the powerful flames from before. He noticed Nie Yan approaching, but he had no more strength to do anything. His eyes flashed with alarm, rancor, and a mix of other emotions.

"Die!” Nie Yan slashed down with Zennarde’s Sword.

Annihilation Slash!

10 sword silhouettes cleaved down on Necromancer Vorderman, converging into one enormous slash carrying unrivalled destructive power. BOOM! Necromancer Vorderman let out a heavy grunt and was sent flying back.

Necromancer Vorderman’s lifeless body plummeted to the ground as something fell out of his hand.

Such a powerful NPC had been slain by Nie Yan.

The item was a dagger, the blade flickering with a cold light. Nie Yan extended his hand and shot out a web line at it.

You have received 30,000 Glory for slaying Necromancer Vorderman.
…

One notification after another popped up. Nie Yan also lit up consecutively with flashes of bright light. This was definitely the first time he had heard so many notifications ring at once.

Before Nie Yan could pull the item into his grasp, the bone dragon let out a mournful cry. It had lost its master. Soon, it would die too. It suddenly moved, as though it had received one last command. Without a care for its well-being, it charged toward the Asskickers United guild headquarters.

The bone dragon shot forward, knocking aside the griffons in its way.

Like a meteor, it slammed into the Divine Radiant Bastion protecting the guild headquarters.

This development was fishy. Someone had definitely ordered the bone dragon. Necromancer Vorderman was already dead, so that person could only be Qin Han!

That fellow was determined to take down the guild headquarters!

「Guo Huai, have everyone teleport away! Hurry!」Nie Yan anxiously shouted.

The players of Asskickers United quickly evacuated through the transfer point in the guild headquarters. They all teleported away without exception.

The bone dragon’s body was glowing red as the temperature around it soared. It was burning up!

"Not good!” Nie Yan immediately realized what the bone dragon was trying to do. It was going to self-destruct! Still standing on its head, he quickly stored away the item that fell out of Necromancer Vorderman’s hand. The cold and gloomy aura around it caused his very soul to tremble. Just as the bone dragon was about to ram into the Divine Radiant Bastion for a second time, he teleported away with an Unknown Transfer Scroll.

BOOOOOOM! The bone dragon immediately detonated upon making contact with the Divine Radiant Bastion. A powerful shock wave swept up, engulfing everything in flames.

The Cripps Stronghold was completely razed to the ground!

The powerful explosion caused the earth to shake.

Nie Yan used up quite a few Unknown Transfer Scrolls consecutively to escape the range of the explosion. Looking back, he saw a giant mushroom cloud rising up in the sky.

The bone dragon was a Level 160 Demonified Lord. One could imagine the destructive power produced from such an existence self-destructing. Nie Yan estimated all the players who failed to evacuate through the transfer point in time were dead.

Necromancer Vorderman and his bone dragon were dead. Asskickers United had won!

Nie Yan immediately thought of his Darkwing Dragon. Pulling up its status screen, he discovered it was still alive. He hurriedly gave it a command.

Off in the distance, a black dot was unsteadily flying over to him.

The Darkwing Dragon had barely endured the assault of the miasma. Thankfully, Nie Yan had killed Necromancer Vorderman so quickly, or else it would be dead. Not to mention, it was far away from the epicenter of the explosion. Even though it was hit by the aftershock, that wasn’t enough to kill it.

Seeing the Darkwing Dragon struggling to fly back to him, Nie Yan’s heart ached. Even though this was only a pet inside the game, they’d still built up a powerful bond. Flying through the sky as rider and flying mount, fighting in battle in perfect harmony... he’d grown incredibly attached to it.

Nie Yan glanced at his status page and was dumbstruck. Necromancer Vorderman had given him a lot of experience! He was already Level 120!

Zennarde’s Sword also underwent another change. The black flames now had a trace of gold while the blade sparkled with an ominous glint. The dark energy contained within was rumbling.

This powerful energy caused Nie Yan to feel a sense of dread.

Two more seals had been released from Zennarde’s Sword. He was only one step away from completely unlocking this godly weapon’s true power.

Nie Yan examined its properties.

Sealed Zennarde’s Sword (Godly Legendary)

Nightmare Curse of the Dead: Reduces the player’s stats by 10% (Effect halved by Barbarian Kelowitz’s Blessing).

Description: A godly weapon created by Kallander and imbued with the dark magic power of Dragon King Zennarde. Failing to subdue the evil energy within Zennarde’s Sword will result in a fatal backlash. Six Divine Seals were placed on this sword by the God of War Kelo. (Seals: 1/6)

Properties: Attack 5,560–5,827, Critical +650, 35% chance to deal 1,000% Critical Damage, Ignore Level +65, Ignore Armour

Hell Execution (Rank 12): Chance to instantly execute an enemy when their health falls below 27%. Success rate is determined by level difference and enemy defense. Energy Cost: 20. Cooldown: 2 seconds.

Advanced Apocalyptic Extinction: Inflict the enemy with five types of Curses: Rank 15 Exhaustion, Rank 15 Cripple, Rank 15 Disease, Rank 15 Fear, and Rank 15 Corrode. Duration: 15 minutes. Cooldown: 1 hour.

Annihilation Slash (Rank 16): Channel your energy into an enormous sword of dark fire and annihilate all enemies in your path. Deals 3,000% damage to all enemies in a 5 by 30 meter area in front of you. Cooldown: 2 days.

Restrictions: None

-Creator: Kallander

Zennarde’s Sword’s amazing properties caused Nie Yan to break out in a cold sweat. Its attack power had already crossed 5,000. In both his lifetimes, even when he was Level 180, most of the high quality weapons only had attack powers of around 3,000 with ones breaching 4,000 being super rare. Not to mention almost all of these weapons were for Warriors, Thieves couldn’t equip them.

Apart from Zennarde’s Sword, Nie Yan also discovered one other change. The Holy Spirit Imprint on his hand was glowing even brighter. A powerful energy was spreading out from it to the rest of his body.

Nie Yan recalled the moment when Necromancer Vorderman fell out of the sky, Battle Angel Kalenna had exorcised his corpse with Purify.

In other words, Nie Yan had purified the corpse of a legendary NPC!

Looking at the experience bar for the Holy Spirit Heart, it had already reached 95%. He was only a small step away!

After obtaining the Holy Spirit Heart, Nie Yan could release all the seals on Zennarde’s Sword and rescue War God Kelo!

Chapter 725 - Sacred Object - Death God’s Edge!

The rewards for killing Necromancer Vorderman were astounding.

Defeating a legendary existence was an unreachable dream for most players. Even Masters were nothing more than ants in front of Necromancer Vorderman.

Nie Yan’s gaze fell on his hand, wondering what he had caught with his web line just a moment ago.

After carefully examining it, Nie Yan discovered it was a dagger about three fingers long. The blade was engraved with archaic and mysterious looking runes. It flickered with a cold light which shook his very soul, like a venomous viper eyeing its prey.

An icy feeling spread out from the handle, slightly numbing Nie Yan’s hand.

The dagger struggled in his grasp, almost like it had a mind of its own.

Nie Yan sensed a spirit residing in the dagger. It was an extremely frightening existence, even more so than Necromancer Vorderman.

Nie Yan examined the dagger’s properties.

Death God’s Edge: Sacred Object

Description: A treasure of Hades. The key to open the gates of Hell.

Requirements: 50,000 Strength, 15,000 Dexterity, 300 Divine Power

Properties: 37,000 Attack, 50% chance to deal 3,000% damage, 60% chance to inflict 30 Rank 20 darkness-type curses through Death Sentence, All Dark Skill Ranks +10

Death God Tempest: Summon a tempest from the day of judgement, wiping out the target from existence. Area of effect is determined by Divine Power.

Note: cannot be deposited into storage; drops upon death.

Nie Yan was dumbstruck. Just what kind of item was this Death God’s Edge? Its properties were beyond overpowered!

Anyone who possessed this dagger would basically be invincible!

However, the Death God’s Edge clearly wasn’t something an ordinary player could wield, with a requirement of 50,000 Strength and 15,000 Dexterity. Even after reaching Level 200, Nie Yan would still be a far cry away from obtaining such stats. As for Divine Power, he had no idea what it even was.

So, Nie Yan didn’t bother too much about its properties. No matter how strong it was, it was useless if he couldn’t use it. His main focus was on the description. A treasure of Hades. The key to opening the gates of Hell. What did this mean?

Could this Death God’s Edge bring him to another world?

Were the rumours in legends true? Did Hell exist, and more importantly could this item bring him there?

Thinking about all these things was meaningless. Nie Yan put away the Death God’s Edge into his bag.

At this time, Nie Yan received a notification.

Seek out Archangel Tallod to learn more clues about the Death God’s Edge. Until then, keep it safe. Many powerful denizens of Hell are searching all over for its whereabouts.

Nie Yan furrowed his brows, sinking deep into thought. It appeared the Death God’s Edge was no small matter. Finding Archangel Tallod would be difficult. Even though he knew Tallod was guarding the passage leading to the underworld, no one knew his exact location.

This was definitely a high difficulty quest. He could guarantee there were even more similarly difficult quests to follow in the chain. So, he opted to leave it on the backburner for now.

At this moment, the Darkwing Dragon slowly landed in front of Nie Yan. It gently nudged him with its head, letting out a sad whine.

Nie Yan inspected the Darkwing Dragon’s condition. It was heavily wounded. Its scales were eroded by the miasma. These weren’t injuries that’d heal in a day or two. In fact, with such severe injuries, it was a miracle it was still alive.

Nie Yan closely examined the Darkwing Dragon’s wounds. Its flesh was scorched black, but it wasn’t quite like ordinary injuries inflicted by death energy. There appeared to be new flesh growing beneath.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. After thinking for a bit, he decided to recall the Darkwing Dragon back into his pet space for the time being.

At this moment, the surviving players of Asskickers United players returned and started cleaning up the battlefield.

On the mountain peak in the distance, Qin Han stared fixedly at the Cripps Stronghold. Seeing the mushroom cloud created from the bone dragon’s self-destruction, his heart was filled with elation. Asskickers United’s guild headquarters was razed to the ground!

Qin Han knew he’d lost. Before long, he would be hunted down by the forces of the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire. He would be killed until he fell back to Level 0 and locked up in a dungeon cell. However, he wanted to at least leave something behind for Asskickers United to remember him by!

Though, against all his expectations, Qin Han heard no word of Asskickers United’s guild level dropping, nor of their players being distressed and aggrieved.

About 20 minutes later, the players in the Viridian Empire received news that Asskickers United’s guild headquarters had been moved to Okoron at 7 o’clock sharp.

Calculating the time, it just so happened to be an hour prior to the bone dragon self-destructing.

Qin Han almost vomited blood. All his plans had failed. Even this last act of desperation was foreseen and countered. Nie Yan was always one step ahead of him. An indescribable sense of despair and defeat floated up from the bottom of his heart. "Nirvana Flame, you really are a cruel and ruthless bastard! To even anticipate this!”

Qin Han had thoroughly lost to Nie Yan, be it in scheming, leadership, or the strength of their armies.

Qin Han turned away. His desolate back disappeared into the mountain. He withdrew from the game. If he lingered there any longer, he would be surrounded and killed by the soldiers of the Viridian Empire.

When the guilds originally under the Monet Financial Group learned of the news, they were also thoroughly speechless. When the bone dragon self-destructed, they were secretly delighted. With Asskickers United in chaos, it would give them some time to catch their breaths. They didn’t expect Nie Yan to employ such an unconventional method to escape the crisis.

A skeleton army 6,000,000 strong had been completely wiped out. They realized there was no other guild in the Viridian Empire that could contend against Asskickers United.

「I don’t know if Nirvana Flame moving the guild headquarters was by pure coincidence or planned. But if he did plan this, it’s frightening how far he thinks ahead,」Matchless Divine Sword said.

「It’s no coincidence. Asskickers United clearly planned this ahead of time. They probably predicted Qin Han would try to pull one last stunt like this. So, they made preparations in advance to move the guild headquarters. They lured the skeleton army to attack the Cripps Stronghold. When the enemy was dragged inside, they would make a crafty escape,」Eternal Sin said in an analytical tone.

Thinking for a bit, Divine Flame and the others agreed with Eternal Sin’s assessment. A sense of foreboding welled up in their hearts. Nie Yan’s thoughts were too deep.

「Forget it. The war is over. We lost.」Divine Flame deeply sighed. They had lost too much in this conflict.

All that was left for them was to swear allegiance to Asskickers United, or they would be dealt with one by one. After the Monet Financial Group withdrew their support, according to the terms of their contract, more than half of the assets of their guilds were seized away. Furthermore, Qin Han wasn't willing to let sleeping dogs lie and was doing everything in his power to make their lives a living hell. They would be spending much of the foreseeable future recovering from their setbacks.

Asskickers United had more-or-less swept away all their rivals in the Viridian Empire. The next step was to rapidly expand their influence and consolidate their power.

Asskickers United and their allied guilds started recovering the lost territory, rebuilding atop the ruins.

It would take at least a month or two for Asskickers United to completely unite the Viridian Empire and take control of most of the strongholds. However, they wouldn’t have to worry about any enemies threatening them for the time being. They could take things one step at a time.

Over the next month, Asskickers United, the War God Tribe, Battle Crazed Alliance, Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, and Radiant Sacred Flame started dividing up their spoils of war. 11 cities and 270+ strongholds were up for grabs. Asskickers United took control of 162 strongholds, leaving the rest to its allies.

Of these 270+ strongholds, 96 were handed over to the Dragonsoar Financial Group, 130 were handed over to World Bloc, and later on even the Glory Financial Group took part and were put in charge of developing the remaining 50 strongholds. Even with two large financial groups and World Bloc manning the fort, they still didn’t have the financial resources to support and develop so many strongholds at once. So, they pulled in other financial groups and companies, forming a powerful alliance based on mutual interest.

More than half of the Viridian Empire had been taken over by Asskickers United. As for the remaining cities, their influence could be seen there too.

Asskickers United’s operations had expanded to an extent where only Angel Corps off in the Satreen Empire could rival them.

Furthermore, the Starry Night Potion Shop enjoyed their monopoly. The profits they raked in were mind boggling. There was a bit of fluctuation in the beginning, but it quickly settled down to about 7,000,000 gold a day. Nie Yan used this enormous capital to start expanding into other markets, recruiting a large number of Advanced Tinkerers, Enchanters, Engineers, and so on. At present, about 30% of the Tinkerer items circulating in the market came from the Starry Night General Shop. They also occupied 20% of the Enchanting market.

After occupying so much of the market, Nie Yan gained enough qualifications to negotiate with the biggest suppliers. He bought materials for a low price and sold for as high a price the market could bear. Like this, his profit margins were wide.

The Viridian Empire settled down. Nie Yan used his influence as a Great Prophet and the lord of the Abernathy Great Grasslands to elevate Asskickers United to an extremely high position in the Viridian Empire. Asskickers United smoothly advanced into a Level 8 guild. Their membership also expanded to 300,000. At the same time, the NPC army in Okoron grew from 3,000 to 8,000. As for the other guilds in the alliance, they also enjoyed astonishing growth.

In every aspect of the game Nie Yan was invested in, he saw incredibly growth. He felt pleased. Before the inevitable clash with Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group, his capital would rapidly accumulate until one day he could shake these two leviathans of the Satreen Empire.

Chapter 726 - Abak’s Tomb

Holy Mountain, this place was filled with dense forest covered by thick fog.

A silhouette emerged flitting between the trees.

This silhouette was Nie Yan. After Asskickers United settled down, he handed over full control to Guo Huai and snuck off on his own.

Nie Yan had no interest in overseeing guild matters. Besides, there was no threat to Asskickers United for the time being. Even if he wasn’t there, no problems would crop up.

Nie Yan glanced at his bag. He was currently in possession of four pieces of the Tyrant Abak Set: the leather chestplate, gloves, cape, and dagger. He had also confirmed the location of two other pieces. One was in the Holy Mountain. The other was in Hilderlocke. He previously took a trip to Hilderlocke but returned without much success. Today he would retrieve the piece in the Holy Mountain!

Since he was so busy dealing with guild affairs this past month, he hadn’t had any spare time to level. He was still hovering at Level 120. However, if he wanted to raise his level, it would be pretty quick.

The Tyrant Abak Set had a level requirement of 180. But thanks to the Great Prophet Medal which reduced the level requirement of all equipment by 30, Nie Yan could equip it at Level 150. With his levelling methods, he could reach this requirement in no time at all.

If Nie Yan could gather the complete Tyrant Abak Set, the quality of his equipment would undergo a heaven-shaking transformation.

So, the moment circumstances allowed it, he headed to the Holy Mountain to find the piece of the Tyrant Abak Set.

Before long, Nie Yan arrived at the location he previously marked down when he was trailing Qin Han and Necromancer Vorderman.

The Holy Stone glowed with a bright, shimmering light. It’s around here somewhere.

Nie Yan scoured the area in search for any traces of the piece of the Tyrant Abak Set. He meticulously looked under every rock and even scanned the individual blades of grass growing here. But he found nothing out of the ordinary.

After passing through an especially dense patch of forest, Nie Yan arrived in a clearing with towering rocks. The terrain was extremely complicated. Shuttling between the rocks, he arrived at a hidden crevice in the mountain, whereupon the Holy Stone glowed even more intensely.

Looking inside, all Nie Yan saw was a pitch-black darkness. He had no idea where this passage led.

Nie Yan headed inside, passing through the narrow crevice.

After walking in the darkness for 15 minutes, the passage finally started widening up a bit. Rays of light shone in here from up ahead.

As Nie Yan continued walking forward, his vision suddenly became enveloped in white. The intense radiance caused his pupils to shrink. Only after a while did he gradually recover his sight.

A crisp notification sound rang out.

You have discovered the Time-Worn Ancient Battlefield.

Nie Yan surveyed his surroundings. He was greeted by a wide expanse. All around him was endless mountain ranges with a vast plain tucked in between, stretching far out into the horizon.

Could a place like this really exist inside the Holy Mountain?

Nie Yan recalled the blinding flash of light a moment ago. He vaguely sensed space warping around him. A light bulb lit up in his head. He had probably entered an instanced world!

The ground was littered with corpses. They either lay out in the open exposed to the elements or were half buried in the earth. Some had decomposed into nothing but bones, their armour loosely fitting. Others still had some flesh and muscle, broken weapons sticking out of their bodies.

A blood red haze hung low in the sky. The wide open plain lacked a single trace of life, evoking a desolate feeling in Nie Yan.

Under the Holy Stone’s guidance, Nie Yan continued on. He couldn’t see an end to this vast grassland. He had no idea where it would lead him.

After walking through the plains for half-an-hour, Nie Yan spotted a dozen Mages in black robes off in the distance. He wasn’t the slightest bit anxious as he got closer to them. At this point, there were very few monsters capable of threatening him.

Nie Yan entered stealth and approached one of the Mages. A cold, gloomy wind brushed past his cheeks.

The Mage looked over in his direction.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Sensing something off, he immediately buffed himself with a skill that increased his Cloaking.

The Mage’s face was hidden behind the black robes. However, the cold eyes beneath the hood were as sharp as blades.

His eyes swept over Nie Yan’s location. After failing to spot anything unusual, he turned away and returned to a passive roaming state.

Nie Yan inspected the Mage with Transcendent Insight.

Dark Adherent (Variant Elite): Level 160

It was a Variant Elite!

Nie Yan knew just how frightening Variant Elites and Variant Lords were. In the previous timeline, when he was levelling with his friends, they generally never encountered any problems. With their skills, even if their technique wasn’t at the apex, they were still half decent. An ordinary Elite served as breakfast for them. However, if they weren’t careful and provoked a Variant Elite, they were usually in for a world of hurt. Even an equal level Variant Elite could easily wipe them out. Not to mention Demonified monsters who were far more dangerous. Often times, they’d be dead within seconds after spotting one.

This place had over a dozen Level 160 Variant Elite-class Dark Adherents roaming around. Nie Yan didn’t dare to act rashly and carefully backed away.

The Dark Adherents appeared to be guarding something. Nie Yan carefully looked. It was a tomb! Behind the tombstone was a deep tunnel that led to who knew where. It was only big enough to fit one person.

These Dark Adherents wandered around aimlessly, but they never strayed more than 10 meters away from the tomb.

This place gave off a strange vibe. Nie Yan glanced at the Holy Stone in his bag. Judging form its intense glow, this had to be the place.

"No doubt, the piece of the Tyrant Abak Set is probably in there…”

After observing the Dark Adherents’ movement paths, Nie Yan activated the Pygmy Ring, causing himself to shrink to only a third of his original size. He activated Shadow Waltz and dashed over to the tomb like a nimble leopard.

Nie Yan maintained a distance of at least one meter between all the Dark Adherents. Even the slightest hiccup, and he would be surrounded by all of them.

Luckily, the Dark Adherents didn’t detect Nie Yan’s presence. They continued roaming around aimlessly.

Whoosh! Nie Yan jumped into the tunnel behind the tomb.

His silhouette flitted across the passage.

The tunnel didn’t leave much space. Ordinary people would be forced to crouch down and crawl.

However, thanks to the Pygmy Ring, Nie Yan could freely run through the tunnel.

Klank! A strange sound rang out. After hearing it, Nie Yan’s heart trembled. His danger sense was tingling.

All of a sudden three guillotine blades dropped down from the ceiling of the tunnel. If he were hit, he would definitely be cleaved into four!

In this life-or-death moment, Nie Yan leaped forward. With a nimble mid-jump roll and the support of Gale Step, he managed to get out of the way.

BANG! BANG! BANG! The three guillotines slashed down behind Nie Yan. The sharp edges of the blades barely brushed past his body, causing his hair to stand on end.

Nie Yan managed to evade the three guillotines partially because of his speed and partially because his body had shrunk in size. If it were anyone else in his shoes, slowly crawling forward through this narrow tunnel, they’d be cut down.

After wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Nie Yan grew all the more vigilant. The tunnel was filled with numerous traps. The arrows and flying knives that would sometimes shoot out from the walls were especially difficult to defend against.

Nie Yan suffered two hits and was inflicted with poison and bleed. If he hadn’t brought so many potions with him, he would’ve definitely died.

Thankfully, Nie Yan managed to preserve his life. After travelling for 300 meters, he entered a stone room with an enormous sealed sarcophagus in the center. He examined the face of the sarcophagus. It was engraved with characters in Ancient Common. However, most of them were too worn away to be readable. He could only make out a few words, such as Abak and Tyrant.

Seeing these words, Nie Yan was dumbstruck. He didn’t expect this place to be Abak’s Tomb.

It was rumoured that when this tyrant was overthrown, his body was completely destroyed. So, why was there a tomb here?

Seeing the ice-cold sarcophagus, Nie Yan took a deep breath. He had already had his fair share of experiences with sarcophaguses. Often times frightening existences would pop out from them.

No matter what, Nie Yan wouldn’t turn back. He was determined to open the sarcophagus.

Nie Yan put strength into his arms and slowly pushed open the sarcophagus.

As Nie Yan slightly moved the lid, the entire room trembled. Arrows suddenly came flying out from the walls like a torrential downpour.

Nie Yan hurriedly jumped out of the way and protected himself with the Darkbright Barrier. Put put put! After only a few hits, it shattered into pieces.

Nie Yan hurriedly pulled open the Divine Recruitment window and summoned Paladin Lafus.

Paladin Lafus immediately protected the both of them with Rank 16 Radiant Barriers. At the same time, he also restored Nie Yan’s health back to full.

After three waves of arrows, the stone room finally settled down.

Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing all the arrows on the ground, his heart trembled. Even if there were no monsters, these traps alone were enough to wipe out entire teams.

Nie Yan hesitated. He didn’t know if there were any more traps waiting for him. However, after coming this far, he refused to go back empty-handed.

Nie Yan continued pushing open the sarcophagus. After moving the lid a little bit more, a second trap was triggered. Flying knives came flying out from both sides of the room.

Just as he was about to be hit, Nie Yan shot out a webline at the ceiling and swung away. He clung onto the ceiling as the flying knives flew past him.

Paladin Lafus couldn’t get out of the way in time. After being struck by more than 30 flying knives, the Radiant Barrier shattered. He was killed on the spot.

The room finally settled back down. Nie Yan jumped down from the ceiling. Gazing at Paladin Lafus’ corpse on the ground and then at the sarcophagus, his heart was filled with shock.

This sarcophagus was motionlessly lying there, but it seemed to be filled with death. If there were any more traps, Nie Yan wasn’t confident in surviving them.

Opening this sarcophagus truly wasn’t simple!

But going back empty-handed really wasn’t his style. Nie Yan knitted his brows. This sarcophagus had become an unsolvable problem.

Chapter 727 - Abak’s Frostwinter Shoulderguards

A light bulb lit up in Nie Yan’s head. He climbed back up into the tunnel, then summoned his shadow clone.

The shadow clone was only capable of simple actions on its own. However, Nie Yan could take control of it and employ any tactic he himself could do too.

The shadow clone jumped down into the stone room and arrived in front of the sarcophagus.

At this moment, Nie Yan no longer cared. He planned to use drastic measures. Even if the shadow clone died, it didn’t matter. He’d have to wait for it to go off cooldown to summon it again anyway.

Standing in front of the sarcophagus, the shadow clone took a steady stance, gradually building up strength in its fist. When it was ready, it threw out a powerful punch.

BOOM! The sarcophagus was smashed apart. The shattered fragments flew out to two sides and collided into the walls.

The stone room trembled violently. The shadow clone was instantly beset by numerous traps.

Looking down from the tunnel, all Nie Yan saw were arrows, flying knives, and needles flitting past.

Nie Yan gulped. He could already tell the shadow clone’s fate.

Sure enough, Nie Yan promptly received a notification that the shadow clone had died.

For three whole minutes, the traps in the room never stopped firing.

Nie Yan wondered if anyone in the previous timeline had opened up this sarcophagus. Just how many lives would have to be sacrificed!

A while later, the room finally settled back down. Nie Yan poked his head inside to have a look. On the floor lay a carpet of arrows, flying knives, and needles. As for the sarcophagus, no powerful undead or monster popped out like he expected. He saw some hole-riddled clothes and a single item which sparkled with a dazzling radiance.

It was a pair of shoulder guards, pure black with a glossy metallic lustre.

"Found it!” Nie Yan’s eyes lit up. This was merely a cenotaph paying tribute to the deceased and not the tomb of Abak.

Nie Yan couldn’t tell if the room was finally safe. Thinking it over, he shot out a webline at the shoulderguards, then pulled them into his grasp.

"Whew, got it!” Nie Yan examined the shoulderguards closely. Without a doubt, it was a piece of the Tyrant Abak Set. It emanated an icy aura that seeped into his very soul.

Abak’s Frostwinter Shoulderguards (Legendary): Unequippable

Requirements: 1,500 Strength, 1,200 Dexterity, Level 180

Description: This item can only be worn by the owner of the Glimpse of Darkness. It is only equippable when the owner has gathered the full set. Abak held strength in high regard. Only the powerful can become tyrants. Eliminate all traitors!

Properties: Defense +1,220, Strength +500, Dexterity +320, Ice Resistance +300, Ice Damage Reduction +30%, Freeze Immunity

Set Completion: 5/8

Note: Automatically bound to the owner of Volume I of the Book of Order; cannot be traded or dropped.

These shoulderguards made the fifth piece of the Tyrant Abak Set. Only three more pieces remained. Nie Yan was one step closer to gathering the full set.

The properties of these Frostwinter Shoulderguards were excellent, especially the ice resistance. For an item to provide 50 resistance to a certain element was already impressive. For example, the Kiln Fire Heart and Heart of Winter only provided 50 fire and ice resistance respectively. 300 ice resistance allowed Nie Yan to completely disregard most ice-type spells, to say nothing of the 30% Ice Damage Reduction and Freeze Immunity. He would be the nemesis of all ice Mages.

Ice and lightning Mages were the most difficult to deal with for Thieves, since they possessed powerful crowd control abilities. Nie Yan recalled a number of high profile fights where a Magister’s ice magic turned other Masters into popsicles; they’d be frozen solid and at the mercy of the enemy. But with the Frostwinter Shoulderguards, ice Magisters posed zero threat to him. Even if their ice magic hit him head on, he wouldn’t be frozen.

"Sweet!” Nie Yan remarked. Compared to the other pieces of the Tyrant Abak Set, he liked the Frostwinter Shoulderguards the best.

This piece of equipment wasn’t only useful in PvP. It would also be extremely helpful in PvE questing and dungeon running.

Nie Yan stored the shoulderguards away. Glancing at his inventory, he couldn’t use teleportation items here. He could only retrace his steps. Fortunately, all the traps in the tunnel were cleared away. So, he wouldn’t meet with any danger on the way back.

While Nie Yan was walking towards the exit of the cenotaph, Guo Huai sent him a message.「Where are you?」

「I’m in the Holy Mountain doing a quest. Why, what’s up? Did something happen?」Nie Yan asked.

「Nah, nothing like that. But I have some news to report. Players from the Demon Tribe and Undead Empire have been spotted moving around in the east and south of the Viridian Empire. I’m guessing they came from the underworld. We’ve had a few clashes with them. Thankfully, we didn’t suffer any losses. There is one thing I’m worried about, though. We’ve seen a large influx of players from the Demon Tribe and Undead Empire appearing on the surface world lately. I’m wondering if the passageway connecting our two worlds is unblocked. Also, Sun, King of the World, Tang Yao, and the others are planning to head down to the underworld. They’re asking if you’d like to come with them.」

「Players from the Demon Tribe and Undead Empire?」Nie Yan sank into deep thought. Calculating the time, the Vengeance of the Undead expansion had released much earlier compared to his past life. Maybe the passage really had been unblocked.「No problem. Even if the passage is opened up, it’ll still be too difficult for most players to make the journey. They don’t pose a threat to us for the time being. Even if they do come, they’re only giving us free Glory. Tell Sun and the others that I’m too busy to go with them to the underworld. I still need to make a trip to the Satreen Empire tomorrow. Tell them to go on without me.」

Guo Huai was visibly relieved that he wouldn’t have to worry about players from the underworld flooding onto the surface world.「If you’re going to the Satreen Empire, why not have Sun and them come with you? It’ll be safer that way, won’t it?」

「No need.」Nie Yan shook his head.「I’m only there for a quest, not to get back at Angel Corps. Besides, too many people will attract unnecessary attention.」He wanted to do the Song of the Bramble Bird quest. Besides, it wasn’t like he’d be easy pickings if he went alone.

「I see. Be careful,」Guo Huai said. If Nie Yan had decided on something, that meant he had a plan.

「Since Sun and them are going to the underworld, if they head to the Undead Empire, have them get in touch with people from Fallen Angel. I’ll teach them the trading method. Have them bring some equipment that is fairly rare in the underworld. They can exchange it for underworld equipment,」Nie Yan said. This business relationship had helped Asskickers United out of a crisis in the past. He wouldn’t forget it.

「Alright, got it. I’ll get to it right away.」Guo Huai nodded. He could simply withdraw some equipment from the treasury. It was filled to the brim and pretty much had anything and everything.

Thinking about Fallen Angel in the Undead Empire, Nie Yan’s lips parted into a faint smile. He was greatly anticipating the opening of the passage from the surface to the underworld. He and Plenty had made an unspoken agreement. Once the passage opened, they would deal with Angel Corps together!

Fallen Angel was the hegemon of the Undead Empire. They weren’t the slightest bit weaker than Angel Corps or Asskickers United. If Asskickers United and Fallen Angel teamed up, Angel Corps’ fate would be sealed. However, Nie Yan knew this was borrowing the might of the tiger to consume the wolf. The Undead Empire and Viridian Empire belonged to opposing factions. They would face off sooner or later. When the common enemy between them was gone, what would happen to their alliance? Now that was hard to say.

However, Nie Yan had his own thoughts. Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group were his greatest enemies! If Asskickers United and Fallen Angel were to clash one day, since they belonged to opposing factions, he could mobilize the NPC army of the Viridian Empire to his cause. So, he wasn’t too worried.

Guo Huai informed Sun and the other Masters of Nie Yan’s trade deal with Fallen Angel. They made their preparations, stocking up on consumables and equipment, then set out for the underworld. Though they were only a party of 14, it’d be incredibly difficult to find an enemy that could pose a threat to them.

Nie Yan carefully snuck toward the entrance of the tomb. He eyed the Dark Adherents.

Since his pygmy transformation had run out, it would be difficult for Nie Yan to get out of this place without being detected.

Over a dozen Dark Adherents were moving around in an area only six meters away from the entrance. The dark energy emanating from their bodies appeared to be all encompassing, making Nie Yan feel as though he could be seen through at any moment.

Leaving the tomb without alerting them would truly be difficult. Nie Yan’s heart sank. Forget it! He activated Gale Step and made a break for it.

Nie Yan suddenly accelerated as his silhouette blurred.

The Dark Adherents immediately discovered Nie Yan and waved their staffs.

Dark Binding!

Shadow Vines!

…

If Nie Yan were hit by these spells, he would be locked down and killed.

Just as he was about to be trapped, Nie Yan activated Death Exemption, evading the skills.

The ground before Nie Yan suddenly gave away, a murky black water filling the hole up. It covered a 10-meter wide area.

Nie Yan stopped in his tracks. If he took one more step forward, he would be sucked into a deep quagmire. The Dark Adherents were hot on his heels. Not lingering for even a second, he leaped forward with the Web-Crawler Ring, flying more than 20 meters in the air and crossing over the swamp. Just as his feet touched the ground, he activated Shadow Waltz and vanished.

The Dark Adherents continued chasing. However, they had completely lost track of Nie Yan.

"Smell you later!” Nie Yan smirked, glancing back at the Dark Adherents getting farther and farther away. He quickly sprinted out of the exit of this instanced world.

Nie Yan arrived back in the crack in the mountain. When he turned around, he discovered the entrance to the instance had disappeared without a trace.

Chapter 728 - Mystic, Slayer

After exiting the instanced world, Nie Yan found a secluded place and prepared to use a Return Scroll to return to Calore.

When Nie Yan was half-way through channelling his Return Scroll, he heard rustling in the distance. His heart trembled. He cancelled the channeling and quickly hid behind some trees.

"Hell Ghost, are you sure the Death God’s Edge is here? How come we still haven’t found anything? We’ve been searching for almost four hours!” a strange-looking player in black robes asked exasperated.

"I don’t have any way of pinpointing the exact location of the Death God’s Edge, but it’s definitely around here somewhere. The marker is moving. It’s probably in the hands of a player,” Hell Ghost replied.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. They’re here for the Death God’s Edge? How do they even know about it? Even more, how are they able to track its location?

Nie Yan entered stealth and cautiously approached the source of the voices until he spotted five players walking between the trees. Their clothing was nothing like that of the players of Viridian Empire. Wearing mostly red with open collars and short sleeves, they had an ancient tribal air about them. Their appearances were also strange, extremely pale skin with slim figures and tribal tattoos covering their arms, neck, and face.

Demon Tribe!

The players of the Viridian Empire hadn’t had any real interaction with the Demon Tribe yet. They rarely appeared on the surface until recently. Their nation was composed of dark elves, fallen humans, blood orcs, goblins, and many mixed breeds. They worshipped a demon god and believed in slaughter.

Their class system differed somewhat to that of the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire. It was much more complicated. Their main classes were Warriors, Dark Invokers, Nightblades, Warlocks, and Dark Zealots. These classes were further divided into subclasses. Warriors were divided into Mystics, Slayers, and Blood Orc Warriors; Dark Invokers were divided into Dark Elf Invokers, Goblin Invokers, and Fallen Invokers; Nightblades were divided into Dark Elf Rogues and Drow Assassins; Warlocks were divided into Goblin Warlocks, Dark Elf Warlocks, and Fallen Warlocks; and finally Dark Zealots were the exception. They were more-or-less a healer class and didn’t have a subclass.

All players in the Demon Tribe had the innate skill called Thirst for Slaughter. Their health and defense was 30% lower than that of players in the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire, but their attack and magic power were 50% higher. According to rumours, players in the Demon Tribe levelled up fairly quickly, but they were also fairly fragile.

Overall, the Demon Tribe differed very little in strength between the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire. However, their top experts were frightening beyond compare, especially the Nightblades. Health and defense were secondary stats to a top Nightblade. What they focused on was powerful crowd control and high burst damage. The Demon Tribe’s innate skill was extremely attractive to players who liked the glass cannon playstyle.

Nie Yan observed this group of players. The person called Hell Ghost was a fallen human, He looked like any other human, except his skin was a dark ashen colour. He wielded a black long sword in one hand and a staff in the other. He was a Mystic.

There were three Mystics here. Hell Ghost was one and the other two were dark elves. Dark elves had distinct appearances, long pointed ears, beautiful faces, and fair skin as dark as the night.

Looking at the other two players, one man and one woman. The man was a blood orc while the woman was a fallen human. Both were Slayers.

Three Mystics and two Slayers. The fallen human Mystic and blood orc Slayer were both Silver Wings, easily recognizable by the silver wings growing from their backs. Where the surface classes progressed through class advancement quests, the Demon Tribe underwent a baptism ritual of sorts. Silver Wing was a title. It was equivalent to a Master. In terms of strength, Silver Wings were far weaker than Masters. However, becoming a Silver Wing was much simpler. In the previous timeline, the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire combined only had a few hundred Masters. However, the Demon Tribe alone had more than 6,000 Silver Wings.

Three Mystics and two Slayers, not to mention two among them were Silver Wings. Seeing this line-up, Nie Yan’s heart sank. Experience from his past life told him these players weren’t easy pickings.

In the previous timeline, this kind of party composition was believed to be the most optimal in the Demon Tribe. The requirements for every member was extremely high. When these five entered into battle, they came to kill, an unrivalled squad of melee classes.

Mystics were both casters and front liners. Even though their magic damage wasn’t as high as traditional Mages, they were more resilient and faster. Although their health and defense wasn’t as high as traditional Warriors, their damage output could make all Warriors tremble in fear. They were experts at buffing themselves with magic and enchanting their weapons to deal additional magic damage. This could increase the damage of their ordinary attacks by at least 60%.

Slayers were a dexterity-based class. The top Slayers put all their stats into dexterity. It was rumoured that a Level 100 Slayer had a base dexterity of 3,000. Combined with stat bonuses from equipment, some slayers even reached as high as 8,000 dexterity. This was definitely a frightening figure. They excelled at dealing rush-in burst damage.

This kind of line-up was the nightmare of casters. Not that it was any better for a tanky Warrior. If they were pincered, there was no resisting, only death.

The sort of battle style a formation like this employed was to have the two Slayers rush down to the target. If the enemy were a caster, they would be cut down instantly. If they were a tanky Warrior, they would be locked down and subsequently killed by the barrage of spells from the Mystics.

An optimal line-up and two Silver Wings. Nie Yan closely eyed these players. The hand resting on the hilt of Zennarde’s Sword grew restless.

These players had come for the Death God’s Edge. They had probably received some sort of quest. Since the player called Hell Ghost could track the location of the item, if Nie Yan didn’t take the initiative to attack, they would only continue following his tracks and be a nuisance.

Nie Yan quietly hid behind some nearby trees. The five from the Demon Tribe were oblivious to his presence.

They appeared to lack any wariness of Thieves. Since Mystics and Slayers both counted as Warriors, plus their skills were a cut above the rest, any ordinary Thief that encountered them would have no choice but to run. Few would dare to take the initiative to ambush them.

"I heard the class advancement quests for the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire is a lot more difficult than our baptism. Even now, they only have 20 Masters. Meanwhile, our Demon Tribe already has 300 Silver Wings. Between Masters and Silver Wings, I wonder which is stronger,” the blood orc Slayer said, pushing past some thickets.

"We’ll only find out when we actually clash with one. The most important part is skill. Class advantages are also important.” Hell Ghost was fairly confident in himself as a Silver Wing Mystic. In the Demon Tribe, whenever people saw the silver wings on his back, they would all gaze at him enviously. Silver Wing was a glorious title few could hold. He carried it with pride.

Two of them had the Silver Wing title. They were both over Level 130. The other three were around Level 120. Thanks to their high damage, the players in the Demon Tribe were on average higher level than the players on the surface.

Nie Yan trailed their group, waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack. Even though he had come across players from the Demon Tribe in his past life, they were all run-of-the-mill small fry. As for how skilled their top experts were, he had no idea. So, he acted with caution, waiting for an opportunity to present itself.

At this time, Nie Yan received a call. He looked at the notification to find it was Guo Huai.

「You have to be careful when you head to the Satreen Empire. Not just Angel Corps, but players from the Demon Tribe and Undead Empire are also looking for you. The mercenary associations of both nations have put a bounty on your head. Whoever can get the Death God’s Edge from you will receive the title of Marquis and three pieces of Legendary-grade equipment,」Guo Huai said. After learning this information from his information network, he immediately contacted Nie Yan. Only about a dozen people in all of Asskickers United knew Nie Yan was in possession of the Death God’s Edge.

「Ah, no wonder. I just encountered a few players from the Demon Tribe,」Nie Yan replied. No wonder these five appeared here. They had received a quest to retrieve the Death God’s Edge. The title of Marquis and three pieces of Legendary-grade equipment was an extremely tempting reward. The Death God’s Edge really was worth a pretty penny. Two nations from the opposing faction wanted to obtain the Death God’s Edge so urgently. Nie Yan’s curiosity about this item grew even more.

「What!? You’ve already been found?」Guo Huai’s heart tightened. His intel on the Demon Tribe was too shallow. Their innate skills, blood lines, and magic sigils, if you didn’t experience them yourself, you would have no idea what they were used for. So, the Demon Tribe was shrouded in mystery.

Nie Yan chuckled.「No, it’s not like they’ve found me, but rather I’ve found them. They’re about to receive a free trip back to the underworld.」

Guo Huai broke into a smile. As long as Nie Yan wasn’t surrounded and pinned down by countless enemies, it would be incredibly difficult to deal with him. The equipment in his possession, if revealed to the world, would make even the vast majority of top experts retreat in fear.

「Let’s talk later. I’m going to take care of them,」Nie Yan said. Seeing the five players engaging with a monster, he knew this was the opportunity he’d been waiting for.

「Alright.」Guo Huai nodded, then hung up the call.

Nie Yan’s footsteps were ethereal, soundless. He’d already approached within five meters of a Mystic.

After discovering a Level 150 Elite Mandara Serpent, the two Slayers rushed forward, their dual blades flickering with a sharp light. They were as fast as lightning.

The three Mystics enchanted their long swords with magic as they prepared to deal with the Mandara Serpent. They hadn’t the slightest clue a reaper was quietly creeping up behind them.

Chapter 729 - Shadow Strifer!

The two Slayers rushed toward the Mandara Serpent. They leaped into the air and landed a flurry of blows on its body. A string of a dozen damage values displaying over 2,000 damage each floated up above its head.

What ridiculous attack speed!

The Mandara Serpent gaped open its maw and pounced forward. The two Slayers dodged to the side. Leaping up in the air once more, they let loose with another combo of skills.

Nie Yan was inwardly startled. Sure enough, the classes of the Demon Tribe were strong. In terms of class skills and innate skills, both Mystics and Slayers had their own unique strengths. In a direct confrontation, their high attack power was definitely something to be feared. But Nie Yan was a Thief. He snuck around in the shadows and pounced out at the perfect opportunity to deal a fatal blow. With their low health, they didn’t have the slightest advantage against him.

"Godking told us to collect some Crimsonheart Grass while we’re up here on the surface,” one of the Mystics in dark red leather armour said.

"How are we supposed to do that? We don’t know where anything is,” Hell Ghost said gloomily.

These guys belong to Pantheon! Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Though his knowledge of the underworld was shallow, he knew at least this much. Similar to how Fallen Angel was the leviathan of the Undead Empire, Pantheon was the leviathan of the Demon Tribe. They were a very low-key guild with only a little over 100,000 players. However they were rumoured to have many experts. The guild leader Godking rarely ever revealed himself to the public, but Pantheon held a lot of prestige. During their peak in the previous timeline, they had 600 Silver Wings.

Nie Yan played around with Zennarde’s Sword in his hand. Since Hell Ghost and the others showed up in his territory knowing full well the dangers, there was no one they could blame. With them coming after his Death God’s Edge, he couldn’t let them go. After thinking for a moment, he activated the ability of the Shadow Walker Cloak, hiding all his information, then swapped out Zennarde’s Sword for another dagger.

Like this, even if Nie Yan killed Hell Ghost and the other four, they wouldn’t know who killed them.

He already had his plate full with Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. He didn’t wish to make more powerful enemies.

Locking onto Hell Ghost, Nie Yan shot forward.

Hell Ghost and the other two Mystics brandished their swords and were about to rush forward and deal with the Mandara Serpent, when a silhouette appeared behind them.

Hell Ghost suddenly felt a cold nip at the back of his neck. His heart tightened. As he prepared to swing around to counterattack, his body refused to cooperate. He was immobilized!

What’s going on!?

A sharp light flashed before his eyes. Before he had the chance to react, a dagger ruthlessly slashed across his throat.

PSSFFHT! Blood sprayed out into the air.

Hell Ghost’s health bar bottomed out, and he collapsed to the ground.

Nie Yan smirked. Even though Silver Wings were only second to Masters, they were still nothing to him. For the sake of pursuing power, those from the Demon Tribe sacrificed a great deal of health and defense. A Mystic was probably not much more durable than a human Thief. After seizing the opportunity, he only needed a single attack to end the opponent’s life.

After killing Hell Ghost, Nie Yan immediately disappeared back into stealth.

"Shit, there’s a Thief!”

"Hell Ghost died!”

"That quickly!?”

By the time the two other Mystics turned around, all they saw was Hell Ghost’s corpse lying on the ground. They couldn’t even get a good look at the perpetrator, just a blur and he was gone.

A Silver Wing Mystic was killed just like that? Who in the world was the enemy!?

They broke out in a cold sweat. They activated their perception skills, when another scream rang out in the air. Turning back, the Silver Wing Slayer was already dead while the other Slayer was in full retreat. With such a frightening Thief lurking in the shadows, he had lost all will to fight. He frantically dodged the Mandara Serpent’s attacks.

Two Silver Wings were killed in the blink of an eye.

Having suddenly lost their leaders who were also their most powerful team members, a sense of dread bubbled forth from the hearts of the remaining three players. They had come as a group of five, but in an instant they had lost two people. Even now, they still had no idea who the enemy was. They’d never been in a situation like this before, not even in the underworld.

"W-what do we do?”

"What do you think? Run!”

"Teleport away!”

All of them had been provided with a large number of Unknown Transfer Scrolls prior to coming to the surface. Now was when they came in handy. The three immediately pulled out their scrolls. Just as they were about to teleport away, another scream rang out. The remaining Slayer had been struck in the back of the head by a cold blade.

After stunning the Slayer, Nie Yan followed up with a Backbreaker and sent him flying away.

With that settled, Nie Yan turned around to face the two remaining Mystics, only to discover they had already escaped with Unknown Transfer Scrolls.

As long as he killed Hell Ghost, the others couldn’t locate the Death God’s Edge. There was no need to chase after the survivors.

With all the people attacking it suddenly gone and Nie Yan the only remaining player here, the Mandara Serpent charged toward him.

Nie Yan swapped back to Zennarde’s Sword. His silhouette blurred, then reappeared beside the Mandara Serpent. PSSSHHHFT! He stabbed it in the jaw, then cleaved down toward its belly with Lacerate.

The Mandara Serpent thrashed about violently. Nie Yan nimbly evaded. Following up with several kicks and slashes, it was covered in cuts and bruises. It bled out and collapsed dead on the ground.

Nie Yan collected the loot off the ground. The equipment dropped by the players from the Demon Tribe was pretty much useless to him. He could probably bring them back to the Enchanters and disenchant them into some useful materials. Thinking to this point, he tossed everything into his bag.

Nie Yan had no idea how many people received the quest to look for the Death God’s Edge. From now on, he would have to be on guard.

Nie Yan planned to head to the Satreen Empire next. Thinking about how Soaring Angel and Cao Xu would try to greet him, his lips parted into a cold smile.

After using a Return Scroll, Nie Yan teleported back to Calore.

…

The Demon Tribe, Darkpool, this settlement was located deep in the abyss. The buildings here were man-made, embedded into the cliff walls. Only a trace of light could reach down here from above, like a dark night with only the light of a few stars shining through the clouds. However, the streets were as bustling as any major city on the surface. Everyone here had high Night Vision. The darkness didn’t hinder them in the slightest.

Hell Ghost and his two teammates revived in the graveyard. They teleported to Pantheon’s main stronghold, then walked into the guild headquarters.

A player in black robes sat on a throne in the main hall. He had a pair of wings growing from his back. However, unlike ordinary players, his wings were gold rather than silver. He had a white insignia stitched on his collar and sleeves, signifying his status as a Dark Zealot.

"How come you’re all back so soon?” the Dark Zealot asked.

"Boss… we were ambushed by a Thief,” Hell Ghost replied with great difficulty. This was quite a humiliating matter.

"Weren’t there five of you?” Godking asked in disbelief. How could Hell Ghost’s group of five lose to a single Thief?

"The three of us were killed by that Thief. Only Silver and Butcher escaped with Unknown Transfer Scrolls.”

"Do you know who it was?” Godking asked. He was well aware of how skilled Hell Ghost’s group was. Even the weakest among them ranked within the top 50 of the guild, and Hell Ghost was ranked fifth. If he wasn’t confident in this line-up, there was no way he would’ve allowed them to travel to the surface.

"I don’t know. They hid their name,” Hell Ghost said with a sullen expression. This was the most humiliating part. He was killed without even knowing who the enemy was. He didn’t get to see their appearance, nor did he get a chance to record a video down. If word got out, he would be a laughingstock.

Godking had a pensive look on his face. In the entire Viridian Empire, the number of Thieves that could toy with Hell Ghost’s group like this definitely didn’t exceed five, and the best of them were those few in Asskickers United.

As for one that could annihilate Hell Ghost’s group without even revealing their appearance, Godking was 90% sure it was Nirvana Flame!

The Mad Rogue really is a frightening opponent. Godking couldn’t help but sigh. If he faced Nirvana Flame, even if he used a single target Forbidden Spell, he didn’t think his chances of winning exceeded 50%.

"Boss, I suspect that Thief was-”

Godking waved his hand and cut Hell Ghost off. "You guys can leave. Go run some dungeons with the team and do your best to recover your lost experience. Don’t think about heading up to the surface again.” Since Nie Yan hid his information, that meant he didn’t want to become enemies with Pantheon. Godking was a smart man. Asskickers United was already the ruler of the Viridian Empire. There was no benefit in provoking them.

Seeing Godking’s expression, Hell Ghost hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Understood!”

...

Nie Yan teleported back to Okoron, then started stocking up on some consumables.

Ever since Nie Yan spent 50,000,000 gold to upgrade Okoron to an Advanced City, it became all the more prosperous. Where at the start only a few NPC tribes came to explore this new city, now many of them were setting up shop and selling all sorts of high level consumables. This attracted more players. Some relocated here and started doing quests and running dungeons, while others were looking to open up a store. The mad scramble for properties ended as quickly as it began with many of the shopfronts sold. What made Okoron stand out from other cities was that everyone felt welcome here. On the streets you could find humans, orcs, elves, and a myriad of other races.

Nie Yan headed to the Starry Night Potion Shop branch in Okoron. After stocking up some potions, Guo Huai sent word that Mistaken Smile had just completed his class advancement quest and became a Shadow Strifer.

A Shadow Strifer was like a Luminous Dancer. It was a special title that ranked above an ordinary Shadow Dancer.

Nie Yan obtained the Luminous Dancer title in this timeline, causing Mistaken Smile to lose out on the opportunity. However, when one door closed, another would open. Mistaken Smile had received the Shadow Strifer title. Nie Yan couldn’t help but sigh. Fate worked in mysterious ways.

Chapter 730 - Old Friend

Nie Yan didn’t know much about the Shadow Strifer. Whoever obtained this title in his past life had never revealed themselves. So, he had no clue what skills or innate abilities it possessed.

Shadow Strifer was the second high rank title to come out after Luminous Dancer. Nie Yan had no idea what the differences were.

Mistaken Smile obtaining the Shadow Strifer title was a type of fate. With Nie Yan obtaining the Luminous Dancer title, destiny made it up to him in some other way.

Nie Yan went to meet with Mistaken Smile right away.

Mistaken Smile had just completed his quest. He was still in the guild headquarters stocking up on supplies, preparing to set out to do some levelling. He had fallen too far behind the others in level due to his long time spend class advancing.

The two bumped into each other in the main hall.

Mistaken Smile wore completely different equipment from last time. Shockingly, he wasn’t wearing leather armour but rather light armour. The Thief class was restricted to only wearing cloth armour or leather armour. They couldn’t wear any type of metal plate armour. However, the Shadow Strifer had clearly broken this rule.

Mistaken Smile was clad in silver ashen metal armour. Even though the colour was fairly reserved and the armour itself looked somewhat dated, the craftsmanship was sublime and elaborate. Every joint was reinforced with all sorts of ancient runes which glowed with a faint blue light.

This was a runic light armour. They were known for having the highest defense among all light armours, rivalling that of some heavy plate armours. Not to mention since it was so light, it had very little impact on the wearer’s speed. This was certainly a rare find. Mistaken Smile’s light armour was at least Sub Legendary-grade, maybe even higher.

"I heard you became a Shadow Strifer. Not bad, not bad. Congratulations!” Nie Yan grinned. Mistaken Smile looked quite valiant and imposing in his light armour.

"Thank you. I think this class really suits me. An ordinary Thief’s defense has always been too low for me. So, I’m really happy with the defense of a Shadow Strifer. It’s roughly on par with a Knight-errant, but my powerful crowd control isn’t negatively affected in the slightest,” Mistaken Smile said.

The two chatted for a while. Mistaken Smile didn’t hide anything from Nie Yan. Shadow Strifers inherited some of the traits of a Warrior. Their health and defense sharply increased, and they gained some speed boosting skills like Charge and crowd control skills like Tendon Break. If he used these skills in battle, they were almost guaranteed to catch the enemy off guard.

Seeing that Mistaken Smile was quite satisfied with the Shadow Strifer title, the slight guilt Nie Yan felt in his heart completely disappeared. After all, in this life he had snatched away the Luminous Dancer title which should have rightfully gone to Mistaken Smile. If Mistaken Smile was a stranger, he wouldn’t have cared. But after becoming guildmates and friends, he would always feel apologetic when he thought of this matter.

"While you were away, Summer Bug became a Magister. He, Sun, King of the World, and the rest went to the underworld together. When they come back and find out you became a Shadow Strifer, Sun and King of the World will definitely feel the pressure.” Nie Yan chuckled. He recalled Sun had been a Shadow Stalker in the previous timeline. He wondered if it would be the same in this life.

"I’m going to do some levelling first and familiarize myself with the skills of a Shadow Strifer. I’ve fallen too far behind. The others are almost 20 levels ahead of me,” Mistaken Smile said. Thinking to this point, he felt a bit depressed. He had really spent too much time doing the Shadow Strifer quest. It’d been incredibly difficult.

"Not a bad idea. That’ll also allow you to get used to your new title. I’m guessing a Shadow Strifer’s playstyle is pretty different from that of a regular Shadow Dancer.”

"Everything in the Viridian Empire has more-or-less settled down. What are you planning to do next?”

"I’m about to make a trip to the Satreen Empire.”

"The Satreen Empire?” Mistaken Smile knitted his brows. This was the territory of Angel Corps. "Are you sure about going there by yourself? Want me to come with you?”

"No need. I’m only going there for a quest, not to get payback on Angel Corps. Focus on raising your level. Go get some Inferno Bombs from Violet Mist and use that levelling method I told you about previously. Trust me, you’ll be amazed.” Nie Yan smiled.

Mistaken Smile though for a moment, then said, "Alright, be careful.” Nie Yan probably wouldn’t have any problems going by himself. At this stage of the game, no one could kill him. Even other Masters didn’t dare to PvP with him. Because it wouldn’t be an even fight but rather a one-sided beating.

The two bid farewell. Mistaken Smile went to pay a visit to Violet Mist to get Inferno Bombs for levelling. Nie Yan packed some essentials and prepared to head to the Satreen Empire.

Before Nie Yan set off, he received a message from Guo Huai. A mysterious tribe in the Abernathy Great Grasslands called the Zala had opened up a secret shop in the north district of Okoron. The requirements to purchase from this shop were extremely high. One had to be at least an Earl to enter.

The Zala weren’t orcs, but they were much burlier than ordinary people. They wore bizarre clothing with necklaces made out of human bones around their necks. Their bodies were covered in white, red, and green dyes. They were a small tribe. However, no NPC dared to look down on them, all those visiting the shop showing their utmost respect.

After hearing Guo Huai’s description, Nie Yan recalled a certain race, barbarians!

It was War God Kelo’s race. Barbarians were divided into many branches. These Zala were likely one such branch.

As he walked along the streets of Okoron, Nie Yan put on his cloak. He headed in the direction of the secret shop.

After passing by the auction house, Nie Yan glanced inside. There were people streaming in and out. It was bustling.

Nie Yan was about to continue forward, when a familiar voice entered his ears.

"Level 100 Warrior Dark Gold Crotia War-Axe, Level 115 Paladin Dark Gold Glorious Sword, trading for equal level Mage equipment only!”

This voice couldn’t be more familiar to Nie Yan. He halted his steps, a look of pleasant surprise on his face.

Nie Yan turned his head toward the source of the voice. A burly Mage in azure robes entered his vision. The fellow had set up a stall outside the auction house with a Level 100 Dark Gold war-axe and sword on display. These items were of pretty decent quality.

Seeing Han Lei’s crude appearance and gruffy beard, memories of the previous timeline flooded back into Nie Yan’s mind.

Nie Yan had many close friends in his past life. He’d tried his best to track them down, but most he couldn’t find. Even as the leader of Asskickers United, it was still extremely difficult to find one specific person among these millions upon millions of players. Not to mention how would he even approach them? Those people no longer knew him. If he publicly announced he was looking for them, others might think they were people being hunted down by Asskickers United. Even if they reunited, he might know them, but they wouldn’t know him. So, what was the point?

However, this Mage before Nie Yan was a special case. He was called Han Lei. His in-game ID was Ever Lively. He was a close friend back in his younger years. They went to middle school together in Ninjiang. However, he transferred away in the second year, and they lost touch. It was only in his third year of university that Han Lei bumped into Tang Yao, and they got back in touch. The two eventually ended up talking about Conviction, and they met up inside the game. Later on, he joined their team.

Han Lei was a burly fellow. He was clearly more suited to be a Warrior, but he insisted on playing a Mage. Even so, he was quite skilled as a caster. Back then, everyone believed he had the highest chance out of all of them to become a Master. But that never came to pass. His equipment was of too low quality. He never stood a chance.

When Nie Yan first entered the team, he was only Level 80 or so. At that time, Han Lei was already Level 120. Han Lei spent almost a month helping him slowly raise his level. If it wasn’t for Han Lei’s help, he wouldn’t even have had the qualifications to remain in the team. Later on, he was still in Han Lei’s care. They chilled together, levelled together, and were even hunted down by Victorious Return together. That period of time was something he would never forget.

Han Lei always set his voice chat on do not disturb. Nie Yan also had no idea how he would get in touch with Han Lei. He didn’t expect to bump into him right here of all places. Complicated emotions welled up in his heart.

In this life, many things had completely changed. Even though this former bosom friend of his was right in front of his eyes, he seemed like a distant stranger.

What should I do?

Nie Yan hesitated for a moment. Turning around and leaving like this wasn’t his style.

Even if Nie Yan gained riches and honour, he would never forget those who helped him along the way. This was a true brother!

Right now, he was Nirvana Flame, the guild leader of Asskickers United. His status might be completely different in this life, but his core personality hadn’t changed one bit!

Even if they were separated by a lifetime, Nie Yan didn’t want to let these previous bonds disappear! After thinking for a bit, he walked over to Han Lei.

"Hey, you remind me of someone I once knew,” Nie Yan said. He couldn’t help but inwardly facepalm at his botched greeting. But there was no going back.

"Didn’t you hear me before? I’m only trading, not selling. No exceptions.” Han Lei raised his hand, cutting Nie Yan off. He looked Nie Yan up and down. Seeing this person hiding their appearance in a black cloak, his eyes were filled with vigilance.

Nie Yan was stunned. He suddenly realized Han Lei had mistaken him for someone coming over to haggle. He couldn’t help but wryly smile.

"I’m not here to buy anything,” Nie Yan explained with a smile.

Han Lei stared intently at Nie Yan. Conviction was full of scammers. They’d strike up a conversation with stall owners, acting like they were the best of friends. They’d show their interest in buying, but when it came time to pay, they would suddenly realize they’d forgotten their gold or be short on funds. A promise to pay them back later, a loan in the form of the item... they would come up with the craziest of ideas. Those gullible enough to fall for this swindle often wouldn’t realize their items had been scammed until it was already far too late. These scammers would often approach their would-be-victims just like Nie Yan, with their appearances completely hidden.

Seeing Han Lei’s expression, Nie Yan immediately knew what this fellow was thinking. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Thinking for a bit, he pulled back his hood, revealing his appearance.

When Han Lei’s gaze fell on Nie Yan’s face, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets and his mouth gaped open so wide you could stuff a chicken egg in there.

"N-nirvana Flame? W-what? Do I know you?” Han Lei stuttered. Seeing Nie Yan’s face, he felt like a mine had been set off in his head. He really wanted to give himself a hard smack to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. To randomly meet Nirvana Flame while running a stall, what kind of world was this!?

Chapter 731 - Comrades in a Past Life

Giving himself a hard pinch, Han Lei grimaced in pain. He wasn’t dreaming.

"You really remind me of an old friend of mine back in middle school. His name was Han Lei. I only came over here to ask,” Nie Yan said. He swept his eyes over Han Lei’s face. The overall impression this fellow gave was still the same. A big burly guy in Mage robes really did look a bit funny.

"Y-you’re right. My name is Han Lei. And you are…?” Han Lei asked with a stunned face. Did he really know Nirvana Flame?

"I’m Nie Yan.” Nie Yan chuckled.

"I know you’re Nirvana Fla-” Han Lei’s face flashed with a sudden realization. "W-wait, Nie Yan!?”

Nie Yan nodded with a smile.

Han Lei shot up to his feet with an overjoyed look and firmly patted Nie Yan’s shoulders. The more he looked, the more familiar he appeared. "Damn. What a small world! Nirvana Flame, huh…? You really made a name for yourself. You’re basically the overlord of the entire Viridian Empire! I can’t believe it’s you! My head is spinning! Back then, you...”

Han Lei compared their heights. He recalled Nie Yan was just a short, scrawny kid back then. Nothing like this tall and muscular man standing in front of him. Every little action he made carried the air of a peak master.

Or perhaps the reputation of Nirvana Flame was just too glorious, and it was influencing his perception. Han Lei couldn’t help but feel like he was gazing up at a towering mountain. However, the two of them were close childhood friends. This sort of bond transcended everything and melted away any feelings of awkwardness.

"What about Tang Yao? How’s that fella doing?” Han Lei asked.

"Tang Yao? He’s doing good. Ever heard of the name Young Sparrow Hawk?” Nie Yan replied.

"W-what!? Tang Yao is Young Sparrow Hawk?” Han Lei’s eyes widened in shock. "I always thought we were about the same when it came to skill. To think he’s actually the Young Sparrow Hawk who dominated the leaderboards for over half a year! Seriously, what is up with this world!?”

Young Sparrow Hawk was also an extremely famous player in the Viridian Empire.

His two best childhood friends, Tang Yao and Nie Yan, had become such awesome figures in the few years since he last saw them. Han Lei felt like his brain stopped working.

Nie Yan chuckled. Han Lei’s way of speaking was still the same.

"Say, how did you recognize me?” Han Lei asked. He still had a hard time wrapping his head around this situation.

"I don’t know… If I had to say, it would be one part gut feeling, one part the unique way you speak, and one part your appearance,” Nie Yan teased.

Han Lei ruminated for a while. Nie Yan’s explanation did seem plausible. He no longer thought about it.

"Interested in joining Asskickers United?”

"R-really? You mean it? I’d love to join! Man, is this what it’s like to have a childhood friend become famous?” Han Lei laughed. He gladly accepted Nie Yan’s invite.

"You’ll still have to pass the entrance test like everyone else, but I can provide you with some equipment,” Nie Yan said. He would start feeling uncomfortable if Han Lei was reserved with him.

"As long as I have some good gear, the test will be a breeze,” Han Lei said, beating his chest confidently. "Oh, right. I also have a group of close friends.”

"The more, the merrier. They’re invited to join as well,” Nie Yan said. The faces of those old teammates still remained fresh in his mind. Fatty, Hottie, and Doctor, he wondered how those guys were doing.

In the previous timeline, they had gone through thick and thin together as a team before going their separate ways. Nie Yan was left with many regrets. Finally in this life, he could make it up to them. Back when he was being hunted down by Victorious Return, he had ended up implicating the team and exposed them to danger. Even to this day, he was still wracked with guilt over this matter.

"You’ll really do that for me!? Awesome!” Han Lei said happily. With this, he had nothing to worry about.

While the two of them were chatting, five players walked over. They didn’t pay any attention to Nie Yan. A Priest in white robes approached Han Lei and greeted, "Lively, how’s it going? Did you sell those items yet?”

"Huh, don’t tell me you didn't sell a single thing?” a fiery lass in crimson leather armour tutted while shaking her head.

"I told you setting up a stall won’t work. Just throw them up on the auction house. Even if the commission fee is a tad expensive, you’ll have a lot more eyes seeing them, not to mention you won’t have to haggle over the price.” The Priest happened to turn his head at this moment. His expression froze as he pointed his finger at Nie Yan. "W-wait…!? A-aren’t y- a-aren’t you Nirvana Flame!?” He stumbled over his words. Suddenly, his eyes fell on his finger. Realizing how rude he was being, he didn’t know half how fast he had to withdraw his hand.

The fiery lass was just about to say something to Han Lei. However, sensing something off with Doctor, she shot a glance at Nie Yan. Her eyes immediately went round in shock.

"A-asskickers United’s, Nirvana Flame…?” the lass muttered in disbelief.

The several other players in the group also turned their attention to Nie Yan. When they saw his face, their faces paled as if they had seen a ghost.

Seeing the reactions of his teammates, Han Lei’s lips curved into a faint smirk. Their reactions were even more extreme than his. Hehe… shocking, right?

"Alright, settle down guys. You’re embarrassing even me,” Han Lei said, feigning indifference.

"H-hah...!?” A pudgy-looking Warrior turned to Han Lei with a look of shock. "B-boss, you guys know each other?”

"Of course I do, he’s a close friend of mine,” Han Lei explained. He closely observed the expressions of his comrades.

"Nirvana Flame… Nirvana Flame is a close friend of the boss…?” Fatty felt his head spin. He glanced back at Hottie and Doctor. All of them shared the same look of disbelief.

When Hottie and Doctor looked at Han Lei, their eyes were sparkling with stars. Their original impression of Han Lei was that he was a thick skinned fellow but a loyal friend. Sometimes you really wanted to give him a beating, especially when he started showing off about the smallest of things. But this time, their view of him was completely turned on its head. He was friends with the Nirvana Flame, yet he never once boasted about it. Rather, he never even mentioned it. They were genuinely impressed.

"Boss, I have to admit. I misjudged you,” Hottie said. Her appearance was pretty good. Her collar slightly exposed her impressive cleavage. She was the type of alluring beauty that got your blood pumping. Her leather armour was cut short, exposing her flat stomach. However, if you treated her as just a pretty face, you would be in for a rude awakening. She was a tomboy through and through and was even crazier in battle than most men. She was like a little chilli pepper.

"Hehe… You praise me too much.” Han Lei chuckled. Standing by his side, Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel his face redden from embarrassment.

Nie Yan formed a wry smile on his face. He knew exactly what kind of personality Han Lei had. However, he was a loyal friend. This was one of the things Nie Yan appreciated most about him. So, he didn’t expose him.

Nie Yan inspected all six of them with Transcendent Insight. Their average level was over 110, but most of the equipment on their bodies was only Level 90, with only a few pieces of Level 100+ equipment. This was fairly normal, though. More and more players were reaching Level 100. However, the drop rate of Level 100+ equipment was fairly low. So, most Level 100+ players were still stuck wearing Level 90 equipment.

In the previous timeline, when Nie Yan reached Level 100, he didn’t have a single piece of Level 100 equipment. Han Lei, Hottie, Fatty, and Doctor had pooled together all their funds, even going into debt for him, to help him obtain some. Though the others had also helped, it was only a shallow gesture. So, Nie Yan felt a lot of attachment to these four especially.

"Better start preparing. In a few days, we’ll be taking the entrance test to join Asskickers United. Don’t embarrass me when you’re taking the test.” Han Lei laughed.

"I don’t think any of us are lacking in the skills department, but we don’t have any decent equipment. Even a clever housewife can’t cook without rice,” Fatty said in a pinch. The six of them weren’t even enough to form a team. So, they had no way of running dungeons. Simply farming mobs couldn’t net you any good equipment. As for the pieces of equipment on sale in the auction house, they were far too expensive.

"Don’t worry about it. I’ll have someone come deliver some equipment to you guys,” Nie Yan said. Han Lei’s group would probably be more than satisfied with any of the equipment in the treasury.

"T-this… is that really alright?” Fatty didn’t feel too good about accepting Nie Yan’s offer.

Hottie and Doctor shared the same thoughts as Fatty. After all, they weren't too close with Nie Yan. Receiving so much from him was a little...

This was the difference between strangers and friends. If it were the previous timeline, these three wouldn’t hesitate for a second and gladly accept it.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan couldn’t help but sigh. That aspect of their relationship where they could freely crack jokes at each other and share in joy and sorrow was likely gone forever.

"Han Lei is my brother, a close childhood friend. We pretty much grew up together in diapers. No need to be courteous with me. If you really can’t accept it, just consider it me loaning you this equipment. You’ll still need to return it to me. Besides, when you join Asskickers United, you’ll also be considered one of us,” Nie Yan said.

Han Lei was deeply touched. Despite so many years passing and the differences in their position, Nie Yan still cherished their friendship. He inwardly vowed to himself that Nie Yan would be his brother for life.

Hottie, Doctor, Fatty, and the others glanced at each other, then sank into silence.

"Since you say it like that, I guess we have no choice but to take you up on your offer. If you need anything from us in the future, anything at all, don’t hesitate to ask.”

"Alright.” Nie Yan nodded. Having the same relationship with Hottie, Fatty, and the others as in his past life wasn’t possible for the time being. So, he could only drop the subject.

Before long, an Asskickers United player came over. They brought a large pile of Level 100+ Dark Gold-grade equipment. These items were nothing in Nie Yan’s eyes. The guild treasury was filled with them. But to Han Lei, Hottie, Doctor, Fatty, and the others, it was everything.

After changing into this new equipment, their levelling speed would increase by at least fivefold. Their damage, defense, and other stats would far surpass their peers. They could even attract players to join them in dungeon runs. If they wanted to join a team, they would be more than welcome given their equipment. No one in their right mind would turn them away.

Seeing this equipment, Hottie, Doctor, Fatty, and the others were incredibly excited. One had to know, these were items that before today they could only dream about.

Han Lei placed his hand on Nie Yan’s shoulder with a deeply moved look. "Brother, thank you.”

Chapter 732 - Insar’s Finger Bone

Han Lei was grateful. Nie Yan was a true friend.

"Alright, I’ll leave you guys off on your own. If you need anything, feel free to contact me directly,” Nie Yan said. He added Han Lei as a close friend. Only this friend group could whisper him at any time.

"Alright.” Han Lei nodded.

Nie Yan turned around and left. Han Lei and the others followed his back with their eyes as it disappeared into the crowd. Only then did they snap out of their daze, as if they had woken up from a dream.

They looked at their equipment. Level 110 Akador Mana Robe, Level 115 Lasosi Radiant Chestplate… Even now, it still felt like a dream.

This kind of equipment could only be found in level 100+ high difficulty dungeons. Without passing certain stat requirements, it was impossible to enter them. Every item from one of those places was a precious treasure to Han Lei and the others. But they were just another item to be dumped into the guild treasury to Nie Yan.

Honestly, if these items were lying on the ground, Nie Yan might not even bother to spare them a glance.

"Hey, hey, Boss. Tell us, how do you know Nirvana Flame?” Hottie asked.

Fatty and Doctor immediately stared at Han Lei with curious eyes. This was something they wanted to know as well.

"We went to elementary school and middle school together. Our trio was nicknamed the three musketeers. We pretty much did everything together. But my parents moved, so I had to go to another school,” Han Lei said, reminiscing the past.

"Wait, trio? Who’s the third?”

"Well you’ve already met one, Nirvana Flame. The other is a player who dominated the level leaderboards for over half a year, Young Sparrow Hawk.”

"W-what!?” Hottie and the others gasped. These were two of the most famous characters in the entire Viridian Empire!

"Ah… It’s embarrassing. Out of the three of us, I’m the most useless,” Han Lei said. He clenched his fists. From now on, he would give it his all to catch up. Nie Yan and Tang Yao were already lofty figures in the Viridian Empire while he was still just a nobody. If things continued on like this, he wouldn’t even be able to look at himself in the mirror. He firmed his resolve.

Nie Yan walked along the streets of Okoron. After passing through several winding paths and alleys, he finally arrived at a certain shop tucked away in a remote corner of the city.

This shop looked quite sketchy. Two large, burly NPCs guarded the entrance.

Nie Yan looked up and down at the NPCs. They matched Guo Huai’s description. Their figures reminded him of War God Kelo. This uncanny resemblance was clear proof they were barbarians.

The front door was closed. There was also no signboard or anything else indicating this was a shop.

Fragrant wine fears no dark alley. In other words, quality goods need no advertising. This was the type of feeling these secret shops gave off. They were opened up in remote parts of town, the items they sold were expensive, and one had to meet strict requirements to purchase from them. However, many players visited them, and their business flourished. This was undoubtedly because they sold unique and rare items.

Nie Yan was extremely excited that such a shop had opened up in Okoron. These kinds of secret shops often attracted players from all over. The longer players stayed in the city, the more they would spend. This would be a huge boost to all businesses here.

Around a dozen players were gathered outside the entrance of the secret shop. Most of them wore cloaks, hiding their appearances. The rare few who showed their armour all had high quality equipment, with many pieces being Sub Legendary-grade.

These players quietly whispered among one another.

Nie Yan scanned his eyes over these players. Most of them weren’t wearing guild emblems. However, one was from Asskickers United and another from Sapphire Shrine. They were all high level elites.

"The requirements for buying from this shop are too high. Are any of you a Marquis?”

"No, I’m just a Baron. I’m still far away from becoming a Marquis.”

"Looking for a Marquis! I’m willing to pay a 30% commission.”

Several people proposed enticing offers to have others buy on their behalf. They were clearly rich players not lacking in gold. But sadly, no one among them was a Marquis.

So, even though they knew the secret shop sold good stuff, they couldn’t buy any of it. One could imagine how depressed they were.

There were still more players walking over.

"With so many people coming here, I refuse to believe not a single person is a Marquis! Let’s keep waiting!”

"That’s right! There should be a few of them.”

Nie Yan walked up to the entrance where the two burly barbarian guards stood. He wore a large black cloak and hid his guild emblem. No one could identify him.

After seeing Nie Yan, the two guards immediately became respectful and guided him inside.

Seeing the guards treating Nie Yan so respectfully, the crowd of players gathered outside the shop hurried over to the entrance of the shop and peered inside.

Nie Yan walked up to the counter. Manning the shop was an old burly man. He had the highest status among all the barbarians here. After seeing Nie Yan, his eyes lit up with excitement, and he respectfully bowed.

Nie Yan inspected the old man with Transcendent Insight.

Barbarian Tribe Elder Vaigus (Lord): Level 180

Tribe Elders were highly revered existences to barbarians. More often than not, they were the oldest person in the tribe.

Nie Yan was somewhat puzzled by the respectful welcome of this elder. He might be the lord of Okoron, but something was off about the behaviour of this old man and the two barbarians outside.

"Oh, Great Prophet, I have an extremely presumptuous request. May I please take a look at your left hand?” Vaigus asked in a sincere tone.

Left hand? Nie Yan suddenly recalled the Holy Spirit Imprint. This mark was related to War God Kelo. Perhaps it was a special symbol to the barbarians.

Vaigus could faintly sense the Holy Spirit Imprint.

"Sure. Have a look.” Nie Yan extended his left hand.

Seeing the Holy Spirit Imprint on Nie Yan’s hand, Vaigus’ face lit up with elation. "T-t-this. It’s already 96% complete! The long awaited day for a saint to appear is soon! War God Kelo prophesied that the saint will guide us to glory…” Vaigus muttered with tears streaming down his face.

Vaigus could barely get the words out, but Nie Yan got the gist of it. Just as he suspected, this was related to War God Kelo.

Nie Yan wondered if Vaigus would give him a quest.

"Great Prophet, thank you. Before War God Kelo departed, he left behind a message. Every person with a Holy Spirit Heart is the leader of us barbarians. We’ve followed his wishes ever since. We’re also to assist anyone with a Holy Spirit Imprint in obtaining a Holy Spirit Heart,” Vaigus explained before bowing deeply again.

After hearing Vaigus’ words, Nie Yan was stunned. He didn’t expect for there to be such a development. At that time, prior to his final battle with Dragon King Zennarde, perhaps War God Kelo understood he wasn’t his match. But at the same time, Zennarde couldn’t kill him. He probably predicted this conclusion and formulated a plan. And so, he left behind a message to the barbarians. When someone finally came to save him, he would give that person the Holy Spirit Imprint. Worried that the person he had chosen would fail to complete the Holy Spirit Heart, he told his descendants to help that person.

Nie Yan was the chosen one.

"Does that mean I can ask for your help?” Nie Yan asked. He didn’t know how strong the barbarians were. Seeing the three NPCs in the shop, one Level 180 Lord and two Level 180 Elites, he assumed they couldn’t be weak. After all, they were a race known for their battle prowess. The continent’s most powerful Warriors all came from their race.

"Yes, as long as the cause is just, we’re willing to do anything for you, even if it means the sacrifice of all our tribes,” Vaigus solemnly said.

Nie Yan nodded. "How large of a force does your tribe have?”

"We have 500 Warriors and 1,100 women, children, and elderly,” Vaigus said.

500 barbarian Warriors, this was an unexpected windfall for Nie Yan.

"Have them come to Okoron. I’ll provide them with housing and food free of charge and help them get settled in,” Nie Yan said.

"T-thank you, m’lord!” Vaigus said excitedly. The area their tribe occupied was one of the most barren in the Abernathy Great Grasslands. They would often go days without eating. However, they strictly followed War God Kelo’s teachings. They didn’t prey on the weak or snatch land from the more fortunate. Nie Yan allowing them to move to Okoron was undoubtedly a huge blessing.

Nie Yan faintly smiled. He couldn’t be happier with the barbarians moving into Okoron. Like this, the barbarian Warriors could be assimilated into his army.

"I want to buy some things.” Nie Yan glanced at the items on display inside the glass counter. Then, his eyes flickered with surprise.

Only now did he understand why the crowd outside were so eager to buy the items in here!

Not only was there a large assortment of goods, but they were also extremely rare; each and every single one of them. For example, the totems, runes, gems, and so on were all top quality items. There were also many high level materials and crafting blueprints for sale. They could be used to craft Sub Legendary or even Legendary-grade leather equipment. Any player would go mad with greed.

Nie Yan’s bag and personal storage were filled with rare items, but many of the things for sale here still tugged at his heartstrings.

Among all the items here, one in particular attracted his attention. It was actually the finger bone of a person. It was covered in all sorts of delicate characters.

Nie Yan inspected the item with Transcendent Insight. It was called Lich King Insar’s Finger Bone.

Chapter 733 - The Eighth Character Property

"To think there was such an item here…” Nie Yan was stunned.

Nie Yan recalled the Lich King Insar’s Secret Treasure Map sitting in his bag all this time. He had never found the opportunity to use it.

Insar was an incredibly famous Lich King. Many traces of his existence were scattered all over the Atlanta continent. His road to fame was paved by killing three legendary NPCs.

This was ancient history. Most history books only had one or two lines covering this era.

Seeing Nie Yan staring at the finger bone, Vaigus explained, "Our ancestors discovered this finger bone while exploring a marsh. It exudes a powerful curse aura. It can serve as an intermediary for Shadow Priests, greatly increasing the might of their curses, and contains frightening power. No elder has ever dared to touch it. When the previous elder passed away, he left me the task to find someone that can unlock the mystery behind this finger bone.”

Nie Yan checked the price of this finger bone. It cost 30,000 gold.

"I’d like to buy it. Here’s 30,000 gold,” Nie Yan said. Even though it was a bit expensive, he still decided to buy it.

"Are you really planning to buy it?” Vaigus asked in surprise.

"Yes.” Nie Yan nodded.

"M’lord, if you want this finger bone, we can gift it to you,” Vaigus said in reverence.

"No need. Everyone has to follow the rules, even more so the lord of the city,” Nie Yan said. His past life experience told him that abusing his authority to take advantage of NPCs would only incur their disgust. The cons simply weren’t worth the meagre benefits. Many similar situations had occurred in the previous timeline with players holding high titles of nobility humiliating and stealing from NPCs. Shortly after, these players were mysteriously assassinated, without exception.

Conviction’s settings were like this. Nie Yan knew how to maintain a good relationship with NPCs, and learning to be humble was the first step.

Since Nie Yan insisted on paying, Vaigus hurriedly said, "M’lord, I admire your principles. We’re willing to accept your gold. But as a token of our sincerity, everything you buy here will be half-off. So, please take this back.”

Nie Yan thought for a moment before nodding and accepting half the gold.

"Please be careful. This finger bone is an extremely dangerous item.” Vaigus carefully took Lich King Insar’s Finger Bone from display with a special runic cloth, his face grimacing in pain, and handed it over to Nie Yan.

As Nie Yan took Lich King Insar’s Finger Bone from Vaigus, a cold, sinister energy surged into his hand.

Dread, chills, pain, a myriad of negative emotions threatened to overwhelm him.

Almost immediately, a list of words flashed through his mind: ‘Just’, ‘Sincere’, ‘Humble’...

It was written down in various records that these virtues could give a person the strength to resist the power of curses.

Nie Yan could clearly sense the power of the curse gradually being dispersed before disappearing completely.

You have obtained Lich King Insar’s Finger Bone.

You have received the quest Spiritual Guidance.

Seeing these two notifications, Nie Yan knitted his brows. He had no idea what kind of quest this was. Looking at his quest window, it showed a blurred out text. He would have to uncover it somehow.

At this moment, a white light enveloped the finger bone. The curse power inside it no longer leaked out.

Vaigus stared at the finger bone in amazement. Its changes didn’t escape his eyes.

"M’lord, do you perhaps possess the Virtues of a Saint?” Vaigus asked.

The Virtues of a Saint? Nie Yan was bewildered. He suddenly recalled the string of words that flashed across his mind. Could it be those character properties? Thereupon he nodded. "Yes.”

"May I ask which ones you possess?” Vaigus’ eyes shone with excitement.

"Just, Brave, Benevolent, Sincere, Selfless, Unwavering, and Humble,” Nie Yan replied.

Vaigus stared at Nie Yan with a look of shock. "Y-you’ve already obtained seven?”

"Yes.” Nie Yan nodded.

"M’lord. I’m truly in reverence of your noble and virtuous character.” Vaigus crossed both his arms over his chest. This was the greatest gesture of respect a barbarian could perform.

"Could you tell me how this is related to Lich King Insar’s Finger Bone?” Nie Yan brought the topic back on track.

"Even though Insar’s Finger Bone contains formidable curse power and is a treasure countless Shadow Priests would yearn for, it also comes with a dangerous side effect. If a Shadow Priest uses its power too much, they will lose themselves to it. It’ll take control of them and they’ll and end up becoming a follower of the death god.”

"Why didn’t you tell me this earlier!?”

"M’lord, I apologize. My lapse of judgement might have unintentionally allowed harm to fall upon someone. My predecessors taught us that if we’re aware something bad might happen, if it’s god’s will, it will happen no matter how hard we try to prevent it. The more afraid we are of something, the more likely it comes to pass, like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Only with a tranquil mind can we maintain peace.”

Nie Yan quietly listened to Vaigus’ words. It carried a tinge of profound wisdom. He didn’t fully grasp the meaning behind these words, but he got what Vaigus was trying to get across. This was a sort of guidance.

"Thank you for the advice. Your predecessors were wise men worthy of admiration,” Nie Yan said sincerely.

Vaigus nodded with a faint smile.

"Elder Vaigus, I want to ask, what are the Virtues of a Saint?” Nie Yan asked. This was something he’d always been curious about. He really wanted to find out what these seven character properties were for.

"I apologize, m’lord. I cannot give you the answer you seek. Keep patiently waiting. God’s light will protect you. I can only tell you that apart from the seven virtues you already have, there’s also conviction, also known as spirituality. When your conviction is firm enough, you will sense its presence. After you obtain spirituality, come find me again, and I’ll tell you everything I know,” Vaigus said. It appeared there were many things he couldn’t yet say.

Spirituality? Nie Yan’s heart trembled. The quest attached to Insar’s Finger Bone was precisely Spiritual Guidance.

Right now, Nie Yan had at least obtained some clues. It was better than searching around aimlessly. He no longer dwelled on this matter. Taking Vaigus’ words to heart, he calmed his heart and mind. As for pursuing the quest, he was no longer anxious. When the time was right, he would receive the eight character property. Forcing it wouldn’t do any good.

"With your strong willpower and virtuous temperament, Insar’s Finger Bone cannot harm you. I can put my mind at ease,” Vaigus said with a smile.

Nie Yan gazed at Vaigus. His tranquil appearance gave an ethereal feeling.

"Thank you for everything, Elder Vaigus.”

Nie Yan put away Insar’s Finger Bone in his bag, then bought some other items, such as Invisible Blizzard Totems and so on. Although they cost a pretty penny, they were extremely effective when it came to grinding maps or plotting against the enemy. Apart from these, he also bought full stacks of runic cloths, almost six bags full. When he had the time, he would craft them into Combat Bandages and raise the rank of his skill.

Thanks to his status as Lord of Okoron, he received a 50% discount in this shop.

After getting everything he wanted, Nie Yan bid Vaigus farewell. Vaigus insisted on accompanying him to the door.

Nie Yan raised his head. There were already several dozen people gathered outside the shop entrance. They had seen everything that happened just now. Noticing him come out, all of them focused their attention on him, their gazes filled with curiosity, admiration, and a myriad of other emotions.

Nie Yan walked down the steps onto the street.

The several dozen players immediately rushed over to Nie Yan, catching him off-guard. He placed his hand on his dagger, when he recalled they were in Okoron. These people weren’t stupid enough to attack another player in a city. Even though the NPCs here were much weaker than NPCs in other cities, they were still more than enough to deal with these players.

These players didn’t seem to care whether they scared Nie Yan or not. They crowded around him, pushing and shoving the people around them aside.

"Hey, friend! Are you a Marquis?”

"You can buy stuff from this secret shop, right? Can you help me buy some stuff?”

"Help me buy five Blizzard Totems. I’ll pay a 30% commission.”

"Help me buy three Crimsonheart Rubies. I’ll pay a 50% commission!”

"Help me buy…!”

These people were all shouting over one another. Nie Yan had no idea who to listen to. However, he understood they all wanted him to buy things on their behalf. Serving as a middle-man was nothing new. Many secret shops had strict requirements for who they sold to. Some required Glory, others contribution, and still others a title of nobility. If you didn’t meet these requirements, you weren’t allowed inside. So, players thought of a solution, and that was to have others buy on their behalf. Middle-manning was an extremely profitable business. For example, a gem worth 3,000 gold could net you a commission fee of 50 gold or even 100 gold. The work was simple. All you had to do was walk in and buy the items, then walk out and hand them over. The risk was low too.

With a secret shop like this, the goods being sold here were several hundred gold at the cheapest and up to tens of thousands of gold at the most expensive. A commission fee of 30% was definitely considerable. The reason they were willing to pay so much was simple. The requirements for purchasing from this place were too high. Marquis wasn’t a title ordinary players could obtain. Up until now, the only person who could speak to Tribe Elder Vaigus was Nie Yan.

Chapter 734 - Satreen Empire

Seeing the fervent gazes of these players, Nie Yan rubbed his chin. It wouldn’t take much time to buy a few things on their behalf. More importantly, he could make some coin.

Even though Asskickers United and the Starry Night Potion Shop were raking in large sums of gold every day, that didn’t mean he should turn a blind eye when an opportunity for profit presented itself.

"Hand me a list of the items you need. I’ll buy them for you. I charge a 50% commission fee, non negotiable. I’m only doing this once. I won’t be coming back here a second time,” Nie Yan said. No one could identify him in his black cloak anyway. So, there was no issue charging a high price.

Hearing Nie Yan’s words, several people shirked away. A 50% commission was a bit steep. However, after thinking the matter over, most of the players still decided to take him up on his offer. After all, the goods being sold in the secret shop were simply irresistible.

Most of the players gathered here were rich. They wouldn’t bat an eye over a few gold more. Learning Nie Yan wouldn’t be coming back again, they planned to buy more and had their subordinates bring over some more gold.

Before long, the players in the crowd started handing over their lists to Nie Yan.

Normally, there would be a contract between the middle-man and client, in order to avoid the client suddenly backing out. However, Nie Yan completely ignored this procedure. If someone didn’t want the items, he would just keep them for himself.

As Nie Yan scanned the lists, he discovered these people meant business. The lowest order was several thousand gold. Some lists even had him buying over a hundred thousand gold’s worth of items. It was about 600,000 gold in total. Considering he got a 50% discount while purchasing items from the secret shop and he was charging a 50% commission, that meant he was making a 200% profit. In other words, 600,000 gold would be flowing into his pockets through this one transaction.

Wow, so many rich people. Nie Yan couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. Many high level players were fairly wealthy. Those with net worths of hundreds of thousands of gold could be found everywhere, even up to a million gold. They often had gold farming teams supporting them. The captains of top teams had it especially good, splashing money left and right on high level items.

After learning someone was acting as a middle-man, many wealthy players among whom were several team captains came rushing here from all over. They’d been drooling over the goods in Okoron’s secret shop since the moment it opened for business.

Nie Yan took the lists and headed back inside the shop. A few minutes later, he walked back out and started distributing the orders he received. Another 20 minutes later, he was finally finished and 600,000 gold richer.

Before he could leave, he was immediately beset by a second group of players looking to acquire his services.

Three trips later, Nie Yan had made a profit of 1,300,000 gold.

Only then did the crowd outside the secret shop disappear. Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at the gold in his bag, this money-making speed was even faster than that of the Starry Night Potion Shop, not to mention there was no production costs. One could imagine how valuable the title of Marquis was.

However, this wasn’t a sustainable venture. After buying all they needed, these players wouldn’t buy again for the foreseeable future. Not to mention most players couldn’t afford the items in these secret shops.

Nie Yan spent this 1,300,000 gold on items in the secret shop. Afterwards, he delegated the task of reselling them all to Guo Huai. Like this, they could earn a decent profit.

After settling this matter, Nie Yan headed over the to transfer point in Okoron and teleported away.

With a flash of light, Nie Yan stepped out of the transfer point in Orc King City. He gazed around in wonder at his surrounding. The square around him was bustling with player activity. Some were passing by, while others were gathered in groups chatting about who knew what.

The players here were different from the ones that could be found in the Viridian Empire. Big burly bodies, green skin, and a pair of sharp tusks like beasts, these were orcs. There was also another race a bit taller than orcs with heads of oxen and simple minded appearances, the taurens. Orcs and taurens were fairly ugly races, so few people picked them. Those who picked one from these two races either had certain tastes or peculiar personalities. However, the innate skills of these races were better than humans. For example, both orcs and taurens received huge boosts in health and strength. This was one of the aspects that attracted people to this race. They were most suitable for the Warrior class.

Of course, not every race in the Satreen Empire was as ugly as the orcs and taurens. There were also the always beautiful elves, with their long, pointed ears and fair faces. The men were unreasonably handsome, and the women were kingdom-toppling beauties. If a player selected elf as their race, their real life features would be enhanced by 10%-30%. This attracted many female players. Of course, there were male players too, albeit much fewer in comparison. Despite knowing this was a virtual world, the pursuit of beauty was eternal. Elves received an innate Cloaking bonus which was suitable for the Thief class. Though there were also many elven Mages and Priests.

Walking through the streets of Orc King City, Nie Yan really felt like a tourist in a foreign nation. The general building style was comparable to the Viridian Empire, but there were also some unique differences. For example, the inhabitants here particularly liked tribal carvings. The buildings, streets, and other places were all filled with fantastic and bizarre totems. Even though there were many, they didn’t seem excessive. In fact, the tribal look was pleasing to the eye.

Nie Yan occasionally saw players from the Viridian Empire, but they were few and far between.

A group of orc guards in dazzling armour patrolled past Nie Yan. They were Level 180 Elites and armed to the teeth. They weren’t any weaker than the guards in the Viridian Empire.

Occasionally, there were one or two orc nobles walking past. Most of them were large and portly Shamans with luxurious clothing. In this allied tribal nation, Shamans were revered existences.

Nie Yan was a complete stranger to the Satreen Empire. He’d never been here in his past life. Back then, the 300 gold transfer fee was a cost he couldn’t bear. He converted most of his gold into credits just to survive. He was embarrassingly broke. Even getting himself new equipment was difficult.

Nie Yan planned to slowly familiarize himself with this place. He planned on staying here for a while anyway.

Hidden behind his cloak, Nie Yan walked the streets. If Soaring Angel or Cao Xu were to know he had come to the Satreen Empire, they definitely wouldn’t sit still.

Guo Huai had informed him that Asskickers United had established a base in one of the residential houses in the southern district of Orc King City.

Guo Huai had planted informants in many of the guilds in the Satreen Empire. His information network was extensive and well-hidden. Nothing that happened in the Satreen Empire escaped his ears. He focused most of his efforts on Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group.

At present, Asskickers United’s resources were astonishing to say the least. Guo Huai had enough financial backing to freely expand his information network in the Satreen Empire. He had even succeeded in bribing several top players in Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group.

In the previous timeline, the Century Financial Group had used their wealth to slowly eat away at the War God Tribe’s foundation. Now, the situation was reversed. Nie Yan was using the same method to infiltrate Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. He’d make them taste their own medicine.

After passing several streets, Nie Yan entered an alley in the southern district of Orc King city. He was looking for the place Guo Huai informed him about.

「Are you at the meeting point yet?」Guo Huai asked.

「Not yet. I’m heading there right now,」Nie Yan replied.

「I’ve already let our people know in advance. Two are my trusted aids. The other is a high rank player in Angel Corps. He’s in their top 10. If anything happens there or any decisions get made, he’ll know. During your stay in the Satreen Empire, he’ll be in charge of keeping you safe. If Angel Corps dispatches people to surround or ambush you, he’ll warn you in advance.」

「Is he trustworthy?」

「He’s absolutely trustworthy. He has already signed a contract with us, and he and his family have moved cities closer to me. Since they’re at our side, there’s nothing to worry about,」Guo Huai smiled. Like this, there was no way he would dare to betray them.

「Not bad, how did you get him to come over to our side?」Nie Yan asked.

「We were lucky. He had a falling out with another high rank player. When they went to resolve the issue, Soaring Angel was clearly favouring the other player and forced him to back down. That was our cue. It took a little persuading, but he came over to our side in the end. So, that’s where we stand now.」

Nie Yan nodded. These sorts of guild disputes were common. If the guild leader didn’t handle it properly, there might be grave consequences. Guo Huai’s way of ensuring this mole didn’t betray them gave him an idea. With so many players from Asskickers United, coming from all over the country, there were bound to be some that interacted with each other in real life. Why not start up a gaming house? He’d provide everyone a fixed salary. Like this, their cohesiveness would be even greater.

His current financial resources was already enough to establish a gaming house. He could have the guild’s top players become professional players, offering them high salaries. Of course, many players didn’t want to become professional players. Many were well off and would rather not move to a new city. That wasn’t a problem. He’d simply focus on the players who were interested.

I wonder how many people I can recruit to the gaming house… Nie Yan explained his idea to Guo Huai.

「Not a bad idea, but you’ll have to make a lot of preparations. Hiring them on as professional players is going to be costly,」Guo Huai said. Establishing a gaming house would increase the guild cohesion. Like this, everyone would be marching at the same pace.

「No problem. World Bloc can bankroll it,」Nie Yan said. World Bloc’s businesses were expanding at a rapid pace, and their profits were soaring. They were quickly catching up to big names like the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups. At this point, this bit of money was nothing to them.

「Since you already have a plan, I’ll support you however I can. When are you planning to establish the gaming house? I’ll try to lend a hand.」

Chapter 735 - Angel Corps’ Territory

「Come meet me after the servers shut down. You can drive over to my place,」Nie Yan said. They could start preparations for establishing a gaming house right away.

「Alright.」Guo Huai nodded.

Nie Yan walked through several narrow alleys before arriving in front of a shabby-looking house. This area was like the slums of Orc King City. The surroundings looked poor with the buildings teetering on the verge of collapse.

Nie Yan entered the building. Three people were already waiting for him inside the dimly lit living room.

"Hello, Boss!”

"Greetings, Boss!”

"Boss!”

The three players immediately greeted Nie Yan respectfully. They appeared nervous and high strung. He was a legendary existence in their eyes. They never imagined they would get to meet him face to face one day. Their hearts raced with excitement. At the same time, they were also on edge, afraid of inciting his ire by saying something wrong.

"No need to be so nervous.” Nie Yan waved his hand, seeing through their tension. He sized the three players up.

Two were humans who looked to be in their mid-twenties. They wore Alchemist robes and didn’t really stand out in any sense. They were the types that could easily blend into a crowd. Nie Yan knew they weren’t actually Alchemists. Dressing like this made it easier for them to move around unnoticed.

As for the third person, that was the player Guo Huai told him about.

He was an elven Thief. His class was excellent for subterfuge thanks to the innate skill of elves that increased Cloaking. Elven Thieves were superior to human Thieves when it came to masking their presence.

Due to picking an elf as his race, he had pointed ears, a handsome face, and fair skin. However, among elves, his appearance wasn’t particularly remarkable. With a stalwart and resolute expression on his face, he gave off a better impression than most of the play-boy looking male elves with their slicked back hair.

"Guo Huai has already told me about your situation. Your name is Yan Hong, correct?” Nie Yan said, his gaze locked on the elven Thief. His in-game ID was Swift Maple.

"Yes.” Yan Hong nodded.

"I’ll call you Swift Maple inside the game. From now on, you’ll be in charge of gathering intel within Angel Corps. If anything happens, report to me immediately,” Nie Yan said.

Yan Hong looked fairly earnest. Add this to the fact he and his family had settled down close to Guo Huai, and he was definitely reliable. It was rumoured he was a filial son. He played the game simply to earn money to support his parents. As for the reason he could no longer continue on in Angel Corps, the situation was complicated.

"Yes! I won’t let you down, Boss!”

"As for your pay, I’ll tell Guo Huai to give you a raise based on your performance. Asskickers United won’t mistreat any of its members. Previously, Guo Huai had you gather intel on the strengths of Angel Corps, have you finished that?”

"Thank you, Boss! This is something I just completed.” Swift Maple passed over a document to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan looked over the document. It was a map of the Satreen Empire. All the areas of influence, strongholds, and so on of Angel Corps were clearly marked, with each mark containing further information.

"Not bad,” Nie Yan said. Looking at the map, he was inwardly shocked. Angel Corps’ influence in the Satreen Empire was deep. It was no surprise they could maintain their position as hegemon.

Even though Angel Corps’ territory couldn’t compare to Asskickers United’s, they possessed far more manpower. Apart from the main guild, they had six branch guilds and 56 allied subordinate guilds. The total number of players couldn’t be calculated for the time being. Of these 56 allied guilds, more than 20 belonged to the Century Financial Group. They had spread their roots deep into the Satreen Empire.

If it were the past, Asskickers United would have had a tough time shaking Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group’s position in the Satreen Empire. But after Nie Yan became the lord of the Abernathy Great Grasslands, things became much simpler.

Nie Yan rubbed his chin. Mobilizing troops from Okoron to attack Angel Corps’ territory was a great undertaking. If there was the slightest mistake, he could end up suffering heavy losses.

World Bloc didn’t lack money. He could mimic the Monet Financial Group and unite all the guilds that opposed Angel Corps in the Satreen Empire. Of course, he would have to get in touch with them first.

Even though Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group were the hegemons of the Satreen Empire, there were still plenty guilds on bad terms with them; some of them sporting real power. Elven Symphony and Heaven Rift were two such examples. Elven Symphony was a fairly famous guild in the Satreen Empire. They weren’t large with only 170,000 members and five strongholds under their control. They acquired their fame by repelling consecutive attacks from Angel Corps and were still standing strong. In fact, they were growing stronger. As for Heaven Rift, they’d settled down a great distance away from the influence of Angel Corps. Even though they only had around 200,000 players, they occupied more than 20 strongholds. They could also be considered a big player. There were of course many other guilds. Though they were small, if they were all gathered together, they would make a formidable force that couldn’t be looked down upon.

As for acquiring all these guilds, Nie Yan would have to have a discussion with his father first. He wasn’t sure World Bloc would be willing to fork out this kind of money.

Seeing Nie Yan thinking deeply about something, Swift Maple and the other two didn’t dare to disturb him.

"You guys can go back to work. If I need anything, I’ll get in touch, especially you Swift Maple,” Nie Yan said. A plan was rapidly taking form in his mind.

"Understood!” The three nodded.

The three bid farewell and took their leave. Nie Yan looked over the map in his hands. Even though most of the Satreen Empire was under Angel Corps’ control, he could go wherever he wanted. No one could stop him.

Nie Yan walked out on the streets. As he read a report on the overall situation of the Satreen Empire and the Starry Night Potion Shop’s profits, his lips curved into a satisfied smile.

After acquiring a monopoly on the potion market, the Starry Night Potion Shop was starting to have an impact on Angel Corps.

For large guilds like Angel Corps, providing their players cheap and affordable potions was a must. If this benefit disappeared, it would sooner or later invoke dissatisfaction. However, the amount of potions their in-house Alchemists could produce was far from enough to meet the demands of the guild. So, they had to buy potions from the Starry Night Potion Shop.

In order to avoid attracting Nie Yan’s attention, Angel Corps had to buy small batches from the various branches of the Starry Night Potion Shop scattered across the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire. This was a costly and time-consuming method, but they had no other choice. The era of guilds having countless potion shops at their beck and call was long over.

Save for the guilds that were enemies with Asskickers United like Angel Corps, ordinary guilds could purchase in bulk from the Starry Night Potion Shop. If they signed a supply deal where they provided raw materials to the Starry Night Potion Shop, they could receive up to a 50% discount when buying potions. However, Angel Corps would be dreaming if they thought they could get in on this.

All bulk orders were strictly controlled. Only guild leaders were allowed to place such orders and if a guild was found to be transferring over the potions to an enemy like Angel Corps, they would be blacklisted and cut off.

Angel Corps had no way of purchasing potions at a discount. They could only purchase from the Starry Night Potion Shop at full price. Their daily potion costs were staggering at over 1,000,000 gold, sometimes even several million. This was an enormous burden. Their financial situation had taken a dramatic turn south.

According to the data reported by Swift Maple, Angel Corps made about 8,500,000 gold a day from their strongholds, of which 6,000,000 would be used to pay their players. In other words, their daily profit was about 2,500,000 gold. Of course, apart from the strongholds, they also had other businesses such as auction houses, shops, gold farming teams, and so on. The profit generated from those was about 1,000,000 gold a day. Added together, that was 3,500,000 gold. Where before only a fraction of this amount, give or take 300,000 gold, would go to potions on a daily base, now that number had gone up to 1,000,000+. With their expenditures increasing for no good reason at all, Soaring Angel was extremely depressed. Thanks to their previously accumulated wealth, even though the potion costs made them grimace, it wasn’t enough to truly hurt them yet.

Nie Yan felt a sense of superiority. After unifying the Viridian Empire, Asskickers United made 18,000,000 gold a day from their strongholds, of which 13,000,000 gold was used to pay their players. Like this their profit was about 5,000,000 gold. Meanwhile, the Starry Night Potion Shop raked in a daily profit of 6,000,000 gold. Combined with the 2,000,000 gold generated from his auction houses and other businesses, that was more than 13,000,000 gold a day, more than four times that of Angel Corps.

Nie Yan would provide the War God Tribe with 6,000,000 gold every day to help it develop. The remaining 7,000,000 gold would be saved and used for various other ventures, such as Okoron.

Since the requirements for entering Asskickers United and its branch guilds were strict, there were fewer members than in Angel Corps. But that also meant the members who did get in were of a higher quality, and requested a higher salary. In fact, Asskickers United paid their members far more in comparison, double as much even. Asskickers United wasn’t only richer than Angel Corps as a guild. Even their players were wealthier than their counterparts in Angel Corps. All the truly strong elites flocked to Asskickers United and not Angel Corps. Ever since Asskickers United unified the Viridian Empire, more and more players from the Satreen Empire were gradually joining the guild.

Seeing Angel Corps’ enormous territory, Nie Yan coldly chuckled. Since he had come to the Satreen Empire, he naturally wouldn’t leave empty handed. He would definitely give Soaring Angel and Cao Xu a headache.

Nie Yan put away the reports in his bag. Shortly after he walked out of the slums, he received word from Swift Maple that Angel Corps' elite team was setting out for Branston Town in the Nightmare Barrens. They were planning to run the Baleful Beast Basin dungeon.

Chapter 736 - Assassinating an Elite Team

With team activities like these, Swift Maple would definitely be invited to participate. That was why he knew where they were going.

According to the intel provided by Swift Maple, the team running the Baleful Beast Basin dungeon consisted of 20 top elites from Angel Corps. Leading the team was Stone Splitter. Even without Soaring Angel, the line-up was still pretty powerful. There were two Masters, Stone Splitter and a fire Elementalist called Drifting.

As time went on, more large guilds placed greater importance on Masters. The number of Masters was steadily increasing. Asskickers United’s Wood Grace and Natural Fiend as well as Angel Corps’ Stone Splitter and Drifting were the most recent Masters.

At present, there were 26 Masters in the entire server, of which 18 belonged to Asskickers United.

This Angel Corps team led by two Masters was worth taking action against.

By killing several of Angel Corps’ elites, Nie Yan would be declaring to Soaring Angel that he, the Mad Rogue, had arrived in the Satreen Empire!

As Nie Yan walked through the streets, he occasionally brushed past players from Angel Corps. However, none of them recognized him.

Looking around, almost a third of the shops in Orc King City carried the insignia of Angel Corps. One could imagine how deep their influence ran here. Ordinary shops couldn’t operate here without their permission. Of course, this didn’t apply to the Starry Night Potion Shop.

Nie Yan was a Great Prophet. This title was highly revered and recognized in both the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire. His businesses were under the protection of both nations. If Angel Corps were to try and stir up trouble for the Starry Night Potion Shop, the guards would throw them in jail.

Even though Soaring Angel had acquired the title of Marquis in the Satreen Empire, the Great Prophet title made Nie Yan equivalent to a Duke. At any given time, there were no more than 10 dukes in a nation. This was a status almost no one would ever achieve.

Soaring Angel would be seeking his own doom if he tried to mess with the Starry Night Potion Shop.

Not to mention Angel Corps gained nothing from the Starry Night Potion Shop closing down. They couldn’t possibly go without their potions. The Starry Night Potion Shop was operating a monopoly. If it disappeared, where would they go to get potions?

Nie Yan felt pleased. Though he spotted many Angel Corps shops, none of them were as eye catching as his Starry Night Potion Shop. Perhaps its location was a little remote, but business was still booming. It was packed with customers. When others passed by this area, they would mistake it for the city center. The Tier 16 Starry Night Potion Shop became a landmark of this area. Its 16 floors were a grand sight, rivalling that of the large auction houses.

Nie Yan passed by the entrance of the Starry Night Potion Shop. Seeing how busy it was, he was extremely pleased.

Slowly but surely, Nie Yan familiarized himself with the layout of Orc King City. After passing several more streets, he entered the transfer area.

Do you wish to teleport to Branston Town?

Yes!

With a flash of light, the scenery before Nie Yan blurred. When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer in the bustling Orc King City but in a small town located in the barrens. There were only a few shabby houses in the surroundings, and sand was blowing everywhere. Looking out in the distance, he was greeted by a vast expanse of yellow sand. No plants grew here.

Nie Yan looked toward the town center, where he quickly spotted his targets. Stone Splitter, Swift Maple, and the rest of their team were gathered together discussing something. Likely, they were still making some preparations.

The town center was a square occupied by a few NPC vendors. This was a Level 150 map. At this stage of the game, few players came here. Angel Corps’ elite team could be counted as the pioneers of this place. They sought to explore untrekked land.

Nie Yan immediately singled out Stone Splitter. His big burly body was hard to miss. He didn’t know who the other Master was. Scanning the group, his eyes landed on a Mage standing beside Stone Splitter. It was a youth in his mid twenties. He wore crimson robes which radiated a flame aura and wielded a redwood staff with a fist-sized, dazzling red gem affixed to the tip. This player was probably Drifting. Judging from his attire, he clearly specialized in fire magic.

Nie Yan approached one of the NPC vendors at the edge of the square and pretended he was buying goods.

As Swift Maple chatted with the players around him, he caught sight of Nie Yan from the corner of his eye. He’s here!

Even though this elite team of Angels Corps comprised 20 players, Swift Maple had a strong feeling that they still weren’t Nie Yan’s match. Thinking about how he was going to see Nie Yan take action personally, his heart raced with excitement.

Apart from Swift Maple, the others also noticed Nie Yan.

"Who’s that?”

"Who cares? Probably just a passing solo player.”

They were completely unconcerned. From their point of view, this was Angel Corps’ territory. Who would dare to act against them? Even if several hundred or even up to a thousand enemies surrounded them, they wouldn't be the least bit afraid, let alone a single player. They didn’t spare Nie Yan a second thought and continued on with their conversation.

"No one forgot anything?” Stone Splitter asked.

"We’re all good to go. We’re just waiting for Brilliant to bring over some potions.”

"The Starry Night Potion Shop really are black-hearted. A single Fire Resistance Elixir costs 2,000 gold a bottle. It’s pretty much highway robbery. That’s close to a third of the profits from a single run of Baleful Beast Basin!” Drifting gloomily complained.

"Nothing we can do. Only the Starry Night Potion Shop sells it. They control the prices. No reason for them to sell rare items for cheap. I heard it can only be crafted by Grandmaster Alchemists. All of the Grandmaster Alchemists in both the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire belong to the Starry Night Potion Shop,” Stone Splitter said helplessly.

"That’s just the way the world works. Men seek higher lands while the waters flow downstream. An Advanced Alchemist can make about 20–30 gold a day working freelance. If they join a guild, they might get lucky and make 50–60 gold a day. But if they join the Starry Night Potion Shop, their base salary is 100 gold a day. If I were in their shoes, I’d go work there too,” a Mage said. Seeing the expressions of his teammates, he immediately knew he said something he shouldn’t have. He hurriedly explained himself. "I-i-i’m just saying. Not like I would really go work for them, you know?”

"Alright, alright. Guys, don’t mind Black Bull. It was an ill-timed joke, nothing more. We might not be as rich as Asskickers United, but since we’re all here together, let’s do our best to support Soaring Angel. When the guild expands, we’ll naturally be rewarded for our efforts,” Stone Splitter said. He understood Angel Corps’ current situation. Asskickers United was constantly trying to poach their players away, so the atmosphere in the guild grew a little restless.

They no longer lingered on this topic. After a while, a Warrior stepped out of the Branston Town transfer point. He rushed over to Stone Splitter and the others.

"I’ve got the potions!”

"Good. We’re all set to go then,” Stone Splitter said.

The team departed from Branston Town.

Following after his teammates, Swift Maple glanced back at Nie Yan and sent him a message.

「Boss, when are you planning to take action?」

「When you guys are some distance away from Branston Town,」Nie Yan replied. He didn’t want to follow them all the way to the dungeon. That would be a waste of time. But he couldn’t act too quickly either, lest his targets ran back to the safety of Branston Town.

「When you ambush us, don’t hold back. Kill me first. That way, I’ll avoid attracting suspicion,」Swift Maple said. He was prepared to die.

「I can’t kill all 20 of you, it’s too much. A few of you are bound to escape. You can flee along with them,」Nie Yan said.

「No one outside of Soaring Angel and the 20 of us know about this dungeon run. If we end up getting ambushed, they’ll definitely suspect a mole. Those who are killed will likely get eliminated off the list of suspects. Also, when you take action, make sure to leave Horny Black Bull alive,」Swift Maple said.

Nie Yan understood Swift Maple’s plan. This fellow was pretty crafty and meticulous. He’d avoid attracting suspicion to himself because he would be one of the victims of the ambush, while simultaneously framing Horny Black Bull by having Nie Yan spare him. Like this, Horny Black Bull would quickly become the prime suspect, causing internal strife to erupt among them.

Swift Maple was an excellent spy.

Swift Maple’s plan was perfect. Nie Yan couldn’t find any reason to refuse it. After killing Swift Maple, he could only figure out a way to compensate him. A person like this was definitely worthy of nurturing.

Swift Maple was like a ticking time bomb by the side of Soaring Angel. Nie Yan rubbed his chin. Should he try making plans to have Swift Maple earn Soaring Angel’s trust? Like this, as his position rose higher, he would know more about Angel Corps’ secrets.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan faintly smiled. He looked toward the town’s entrance. Stone Splitter’s team had already left, their silhouettes getting farther and farther away.

Seeing their receding backs, Nie Yan activated stealth and disappeared into the background.

「Take out the compass. Let’s confirm we’re going in the right direction,」Stone Splitter said. The wind blew the sand into the air, making it hard to tell right from left. Without something to check their direction, they would easily lose their way.

Drifting took out a small circular wooden object. After checking where the needle was pointing, he pointed toward the distance and said, "We have to walk in that direction.”

The team braved through the sandstorm. Little did they know that hidden behind these sandy winds, danger was slowly approaching them.

Nie Yan was hidden in stealth and only 20 or so meters behind them. He was silently tailing them, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.

The sandstorm greatly reduced visibility, giving Nie Yan a huge advantage when launching an ambush.

They were still within 100 meters from Branston Town. Nie Yan wouldn’t take action until they were a little farther away. Like this, Stone Splitter’s team couldn’t flee back to town.

Chapter 737 - Might of a Single Slash!

The team braved the sandstorm. They didn’t look back at Branston Town as it got lost behind the blowing sands.

We’re just about far enough away! Nie Yan thought. Stone Splitter’s group consisted of two orc Warriors, two tauren Warriors, three Shamans, two elven Thieves, five elven Mages, three elven Demon Hunters, and three Druids. This was a standard team composition. Their equipment was excellent, wearing mostly Dark Gold-grade and Sub Legendary-grade equipment.

Angel Corps distributed most of the high quality equipment they acquired among their top players. On top of this, Stone Splitter’s team regularly grinded high level dungeons for equipment. So, they naturally had quite a few good things on them.

Sweeping his eyes over the group, Nie Yan smirked. Soaring Angel would definitely feel his heart ache if their equipment were to fall into enemy hands.

The Warriors and Thieves were right at the front, all too casual. No one was guarding the Druids, Mages, Demon Hunters, and Shamans in the rear. Nie Yan narrowed his eyes. These guys are way too lax. Even if this is your territory, you can’t be this confident. Did Soaring Angel not remind you to always maintain your vigilance, no matter the situation?

In comparison, Asskickers United’s players were much more professional. No matter where they were, be it in Calore or somewhere far away, they would always have the Thieves patrol the surroundings in stealth and make sure the backline was properly protected.

These players from Angel Corps were far too arrogant.

Nie Yan focused his attention on a fat Shaman in the rear. This fellow appeared to be bored to death.

"Umbra, where are we right now? Are we there yet?” the Shaman asked the elven Mage beside him.

"We’re almost there. Five more minutes tops,” Umbra replied.

"Man, this really is some awful timing. I was planning to reach Level 126 today. I’m only 3% away! And now I’m here. Who knows how many times we’re going to wipe trying to clear this dungeon... I suppose I can forget about levelling up any time soon,” the Shaman grumbled.

Umbra chuckled and was about to say something to comfort his friend, when his expression froze. He saw a silhouette appear behind the Shaman like an apparition.

Before he could even get a word out, the Shaman’s throat was slit by a dagger.

PFFSSSHT!

"That’s one,” Nie Yan said.

The ghastly voice which seemed to come from the depths of hell caused Umbra to feel his blood freeze over. He quickly snapped to his senses and hoarsely shouted, "E-e-enemy attack!”

"Shit! Someone killed Red Hot!”

The Mages immediately waved their staffs and sent a barrage of spells flying toward Nie Yan. At the same time, the Demon Hunters let loose with a volley of arrows.

Sure enough, elites like them reacted fairly quickly.

After killing the Shaman, Nie Yan picked up the equipment off the ground. Seeing the spells and arrows flying towards him, he leaped out of the way. The projectiles flew past him by a hair.

Just as he landed back on the ground, Nie Yan pivoted his foot and shot off in another direction like a spring. His target was the elven Mage called Umbra.

Seeing Nie Yan pouncing over, Umbra hurriedly waved his staff and cast Repel.

Unfortunately for him, Nie Yan had already predicted this. When confronted by a Thief, a Mage would normally cast a spell like Repel or Ring of Frost.

Death Exemption!

The force wave from Repel swept past Nie Yan without doing anything. He shot forward and elbowed Umbra in the solar plexus.

BANG! Umbra was sent flying. While in mid-air, a sharp light pierced his throat.

Umbra crashed into the ground dead with a muffled thud.

Two people were killed in the blink of an eye. The remaining players in the back started panicking as they frantically attacked Nie Yan. The firing rate of the Demon Hunters was especially fast. There was practically no pause between each shot.

Rapid Fire!

Frost Arrow!

...

A volley of arrows flew toward Nie Yan.

Gale Step!

The arrows bounced off Nie Yan harmlessly. He reached down with his hand and scooped up the equipment Umbra dropped before disappearing back into stealth.

「What’s going on?」Stone Splitter asked in voice chat. He’d finally noticed the commotion in the back. The two notifications left him dumbstruck. Two teammates died.

「A Thief ambushed us!」

「Who is it?」

「 I don’t know! The guy hid his information!」

「I think it’s Nirvana Flame. I caught a glimpse of Zennarde’s Sword!」

Apart from Nie Yan, they couldn’t think of any other Thief skilled enough to kill two of their teammates in such a short span of time.

Hearing the name Nirvana Flame, everyone felt a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomachs.

The Mad Rogue had come for them. A deep sense of dread welled up in their hearts. Nobody knew since when, but his name would always evoke an intense reaction. Even after so long, he had never once been defeated. Every time he appeared with that flaming black dagger in his hand, they would tremble in fear. To them, it was the blade of the death god, itching to reap their lives.

「Everyone, stay alert! Don’t let him get near you!」Stone Splitter hurried over to the backline.「Shamans, find out his position!」

「The Revealing Totems can’t find him!」the two surviving Shamans in the back anxiously cried out.

They had lost their heads in panic. Top players like them rarely ever encountered these sorts of situations. Even when they fought a high level boss, they could still maintain their calm. However, faced with Nirvana Flame who was hiding within the blowing sands, their hearts were gripped with fear.

「His Cloaking is too high! Detection skills won’t work on him. Everybody, calm down. We’ll attack the moment he appears again. Stay alert!」Drifting said. He swept his eyes over the surroundings, cold sweat dripping from his forehead. Squishy casters like him were the most likely targets in these situations.

「S-should we retreat?」a Mage asked. His nerves were stretched taut.

「If we retreat, Umbra and Red Hot will have died for nothing!」Stone Splitter still latched onto the hope that they could drive Nie Yan away. If they could revive their fallen comrades, their losses wouldn’t be as great.

They had two Masters on their side. They weren’t necessarily weaker than Nie Yan.

Seeing these players looking around in fear, Nie Yan’s lips curved into a cold smile. He locked his gaze onto Swift Maple, who was standing no more than two meters from Stone Splitter.

Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a cold light. He was going to take action again.

Stone Splitter focused his attention as he moved around step by step. The sand on the ground was swept away by the aura around him. It seemed he’d gleaned some insights into a Sword Saint. He could control his aura with ease.

Suddenly, Stone Splitter sensed a killing intent lock onto him. "GRAAAH!” He stomped his foot down. A powerful shock wave swept out in every direction for five meters, cracks splitting open on the barren earth.

A Sword Saint’s Ground Stomp was much more frightening than that of an ordinary Warrior.

However, Stone Splitter failed to hit Nie Yan.

Stone Splitter suddenly locked his gaze onto an empty space in the distance. "HAAGH!” He slashed down with his sword, sending a crescent-shaped sword beam flying out!

BOOOM! The sword beam carved out a large wound in the ground.

Stone Splitter knew these attacks wouldn’t work on Nirvana Flame. He was simply trying to draw Nie Yan out of stealth. Like this, he and Drifting could take action.

At this moment, a silhouette appeared behind Stone Splitter. He didn’t even have the time to recover his stance from his last attack.

"Stone Splitter, be careful!” Drifting shouted. He blinked close to Stone Splitter, then let out a blood-curdling scream.

Fearing Shriek!

Before the sound wave reached him, Nie Yan protected himself with Mind Immune. He stomped down on Stone Splitter’s leg, forcing him to kneel down on the ground with a thud. Then with a sweeping kick, he struck Stone Splitter square in the neck.

Stone Splitter felt a sweet metallic taste rise up his throat as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

Sword Saints were pretty resilient. Stone Splitter was still alive even after this normally fatal attack.

"Stone Splitter, watch out!” Swift Maple hollered as he came charging forward.

"Useless struggling!” Nie Yan slashed down with Zennarde’s Sword.

Annihilation Slash!

10 sword silhouettes emerged in the air. As they came slashing down, they merged into one massive blade.

Everything happened too quickly. There was no time to react.

Nie Yan’s gaze fell on Horny Black Bull among the panicked players in the back. Annihilation Slash was an AoE attack that affected all enemies in a straight line. At this rate, the 10 or so players in the back would be in range of the slash. In the last instant, he slightly adjusted the trajectory.

"Stone Splitter, watch out!”

Seeing the enormous flaming sword coming down on him, Swift Maple suddenly switched directions and charged over to Stone Splitter.

BANG! He rammed into Stone Splitter, sending him flying out before being engulfed by the sword light himself.

"GAAAAAHH!” Swift Maple was killed.

At the same moment, Drifting teleported away with another blink skill, barely escaping death.

As for the players in the back, they weren't so lucky. Never in their wildest dreams did they think Nie Yan’s attack was an AoE!

BOOOOOM! Eight players couldn’t get away in time. Swallowed up by the enormous flaming sword, they were instantly transformed into rays of light. A powerful tempest swept away the blowing sands as an enormous gash was carved into the ground.

Fear wrapped around their throats like a noose. So this was the might of a single slash from the Mad Rogue!

Chapter 738 - Framed

Horny Black Bull nearly jumped up in fright. Originally, the slash was definitely going to kill him, but it unexpectedly altered course at the very last moment. It just happened to miss him by a hair’s breadth, killing his nearby teammates and leaving only him alive!

Perfect! Nie Yan smirked.

Nie Yan already had full mastery over Annihilation Slash. This level of control was hard to fathom for ordinary players.

11 players were killed in the blink of an eye.

The two Masters in the team were among the survivors.

Only Stone Splitter and Drifting were qualified to contend against Nie Yan. The rest were all cannon fodder.

"You bastard!” Stone Splitter bellowed. He looked at Swift Maple’s corpse who’d sacrificed himself to save him. His eyes became bloodshot like an enraged bull as he charged at Nie Yan.

Stone Splitter seemed to transform into diamond as his aura coated his body.

Sensing something off, Drifting raised his staff, ready to help Stone Splitter. He never stopped blinking around, not allowing Nie Yan to grasp his position. This was one of the reasons why it was so difficult to deal with Magisters. They could blink around indefinitely so long as they had the mana.

「We’ll hold off Nirvana Flame. The rest of you, escape with Unknown Transfer Scrolls!」Drifting ordered in a grim tone. He waved his staff, sending a shower of raging flames raining down towards Nie Yan.

Nie Yan leaped out of the way, dodging left and right. The flames failed to touch a single hair on his body.

Locking onto a nearby Shaman, Nie Yan shot forward like a lightning bolt. His speed far surpassed the realm of a human!

Seeing Nie Yan closing in on him, the Shaman hurriedly crushed his Unknown Transfer Scroll. With a flash of light, he disappeared.

The rest didn’t dare to collect the equipment of their fallen comrades. There was no time! They all teleported away with Unknown Transfer Scrolls.

"Die!” Stone Splitter roared. He leaped into the air and cleaved down with his greatsword.

BOOOM! Stone Splitter watched his sword beam cleave Nie Yan’s figure in half. However, after the dust settled, a corpse was nowhere to be found. It was only an after-image.

「Stone Splitter, cool your head! We’re retreating! Now!」Drifting shouted.

Nie Yan suddenly appeared behind Stone Splitter and slashed down with Zennarde’s Sword.

Sensing death fast approaching, Stone Splitter swung out his sword with a Whirlwind Slash.

Nie Yan hurriedly leaped out of the way.

Hearing Drifting’s anxious cry, Stone Splitter inwardly cursed. After this short exchange, he understood the harsh reality. Even with the two of them, they weren’t Nie Yan’s match. In fact, if they were the least bit careless, they’d end up dying at his hands. Even though he was unwilling, he still crushed his Unknown Transfer Scroll.

With a flash of light, Stone Splitter escaped.

At this moment, Drifting also crushed his own Unknown Transfer Scroll.

All enemies were either dead or had run away. Nie Yan’s lips cracked into a faint smile. Honestly speaking, he could’ve killed Stone Splitter. However, there was merit in letting him live. Like this, he’d appreciate Swift Maple’s sacrifice more. So, he spared Stone Splitter’s life.

Even though he only killed 11 of them, Nie Yan was satisfied. He’d gotten what he came here for.

Nie Yan collected the equipment off the ground. Combined with the two pieces from before, he acquired 11 pieces altogether. Three were Sub Legendary-grade while one was Legendary. All of them had pretty good properties. The players in Asskickers United would definitely be interested.

Nie Yan dashed back to Branston Town, disappearing into the blowing sands.

News of Nie Yan appearing in the Satreen Empire spread like wildfire. It only took a small rumour for such news to take off. Not to mention his first appearance resulted in the massacre of Angel Corps’ elite team. There was plenty to talk about.

Many people found it hard to believe a single player really annihilated Angel Corps’ elite team. After all, they were by no means weaklings.

Angel Corps was radio silent while Nie Yan didn’t share the video of the events online either. Everyone was curious to see how the fight played out, but they had no way of finding out.

In the main hall of Angel Corps’ guild headquarters, Soaring Angel and the other higher ups watched the footage Stone Splitter’s team had brought back from the battle.

"He really is ruthless. A single slash instantly killed nine of us,” Stone Splitter muttered, fear lingering in his heart now that he had cooled his head.

The Annihilation Slash was deeply engraved into the minds of everyone watching.

"How did you end up being ambushed by Nirvana Flame?” Soaring Angel asked in a dark tone.

Stone Splitter and the others trembled.

"No one apart from the 20 of us knew where we were going. There’s no way he would know our position, unless… unless someone leaked it out!” Drifting said.

"It must be a mole! There’s no way in hell that was all a coincidence!” Stone Splitter slammed his fist into the table. "If I find out who sold us out, I’ll rip them to shreds!”

Swift Maple watched on with cool eyes, not butting in.

"Back in Branston Town, we spotted a cloaked player. We thought it was just a random solo player. So, we didn’t think much of it. How could we’ve known that was Nirvana Flame?” Drifting said regretfully. None of them could have ever imagined Nie Yan was already in the Satreen Empire. The possibility that someone might try to ambush them never even crossed their minds.

"Do you all know where you made a mistake?” Soaring Angel swept his eyes over Stone Splitter’s group.

"Y-yes… We were careless,” Stone Splitter replied with his head hung low. He knew he was partially at fault.

Stone Splitter believed they were completely invincible in the Satreen Empire. So, they didn’t take the necessary precautions. This was why Nie Yan could ambush them so easily.

Stone Splitter turned to Swift Maple and patted him on the shoulders. "Thank you. If you hadn’t pushed me out of the way, I would’ve died too. I owe you one.”

Swift Maple smiled. "It’s nothing, really. I was just lucky. I initially thought I could get an attack in on Nirvana Flame. I didn’t expect him to suddenly, do that. Since I was already going to die anyway, I decided I should at least try saving you.”

"Last time when you got snubbed by Red Hot and Umbra, I’m sorry,” Stone Splitter said apologetically. He was partially responsible for the incident. During their last dungeon run, when it was time to distribute the loot, he played favourites and gave all the drops that rightfully belonged to Swift Maple to Red Hot and Umbra instead.

"Oh, that? I’ve already put it behind me,” Swift Maple chuckled in a lighthearted manner. But on the inside, he was coldly smiling. In Angel Corps, the number of people who had snubbed him out of his fair share wasn’t limited to just Red Hot and Umbra.

One of the elven Mages watching the video suddenly noticed something fishy. "Do we have any footage of the battle from other angles?”

"Yeah, here.”

"I do as well.”

Several people shared their perspectives of the battle and started comparing the footage. They immediately found something suspicious. Normally, this would be difficult to detect. But if you looked over it carefully, you would discover it. The Annihilation Slash should have killed Horny Black Bull as well, but it altered course at the very last moment, barely missing him. This level of control was something that could only be accomplished by Nirvana Flame.

Watching the footage, Swift Maple’s admiration for Nie Yan grew even more. His actions really were flawless, making it look like he purposefully spared Horny Black Bull but not so obvious that it would be noticed at first glance. When Stone Splitter and the others saw this, they would definitely get suspicious. Horny Black Bull was basically plunged into the yellow river with no way of clearing his name. The level of control required for this was hard to fathom.

"Black Bull, when Nirvana Flame was executing that slash, what were you doing?”

"I wasn’t doing anything. Why?” Horny Black Bull asked in a daze. He suddenly noticed the others staring at him with peculiar expressions.

"The slash would have undoubtedly killed you, but Nirvana Flame shifted his aim at the last moment. He let you live. What’s that about? Care to explain?”

"Nirvana Flame purposefully altered the course of his attack to miss you. If we hadn’t looked carefully, we wouldn’t even have noticed it, and you’re saying you don’t know anything? What a joke,” an elven Mage sneered.

"What are you trying to say!?” Horny Black Bull replied with rightful indignation. Even a blockhead like him could realize what was going on.

"Oh, I’m not saying anything. I’m simply reiterating what I saw. Only you know what you did yourself,” the elven Mage coldly replied. His relationship with Horny Black Bull was already bad. After seeing the video, he instantly decided in his mind who the mole was.

"Y-you think I’m the mole? If I’m the mole, let lightning strike me down right now! Fuck! You think I won’t beat the shit out of you right now!?” Horny Black Bull cursed. He wanted to rush up to the elven Mage.

Everyone jumped up and held Horny Black Bull back.

Seeing this spectacle, Swift Maple’s lips curved into an imperceptible smile. He also stood up to calm the situation. He had succeeded in pinning the suspicion on someone else. At this moment, Soaring Angel would have a hard time not suspecting Horny Black Bull.

"Enough!” Soaring Angel’s cold voice reverberated across the hall.

"B-boss!” Horny Black Bull stared at Soaring Angel with an aggrieved expression.

Soaring Angel shot a cold glare at Horny Black Bull, then faced everyone and declared, "This meeting is over. No one is allowed to speak of this matter again. We’ve already lost enough face today because of you guys. Notify everyone in the guild that Nirvana Flame is in the Satreen Empire. Tell them to stay vigilant!”

"Yes!” everyone answered in unison.

Horny Black Bull was dumbstruck, a sullen look on his face. In Soaring Angel’s eyes, he saw a type of iciness. In other words, the boss already suspected him. He hadn’t even done anything! Yet all the blame was being pinned on him. At this rate, what was the point in staying in Angel Corps any longer? He couldn’t help but feel betrayed.

Horny Black Bull’s social network in Angel Corps was pretty good. Three players went up to comfort him.

"Don’t worry, Black Bull. We believe in you!”

Seeing the expressions of his brothers, Horny Black Bull’s nose soured. He patted them on the shoulders and said in a voice choked up with emotion, "Brothers, thank you! That means a lot to me!”

When everyone was suspecting him, Horny Black Bull still had several brothers who unconditionally believed in him. That was enough.

Chapter 739 - Dark Elf Tribe

A seed of doubt had already been planted. If anything else suspicious occured, Horny Black Bull would likely be driven out of Angel Corps.

「What kind of person is Horny Black Bull?」Nie Yan asked Swift Maple in a whisper.

「I can’t really comment. He has a fiery temper. A lot of people get offended by it, but he’s also loyal to his own. He’s got some pretty good friends in the guild. If we tried to frame anyone else, it might have been difficult. But we should have no problem pinning the blame on him,」Swift Maple said.

Nie Yan got the gist of Horny Black Bull’s personality. He was an open and honest fellow. The way he spoke to others was also pretty frank. A lot of people couldn’t appreciate this. More often than not, they got offended by his words.

「It’s a pity he belongs to Angel Corps.」Nie Yan chuckled. Given Horny Black Bull’s temperament, he would find many like-minded people in Asskickers United.

「When he gets driven out of Angel Corps, we can always bring him over to our side.」

「Not a bad idea,」Nie Yan replied. Since Horny Black Bull could stand among the top elites of Angel Corps, that meant he had some skill.

Nie Yan no longer paid attention to Horny Black Bull. He started preparing to head to Kelun Town.

When Nie Yan had arrived in Orc King City, he had received a notification from the Song of the Bramble Bird quest.

If you wish to learn more about Paternoster, head to Kelun Town. The old orc Blacksmith Kuru knows something.

Nie Yan planned to go there next to look for clues on the Song of the Bramble Bird quest. Even though he had no idea what the Assassin’s Heart exactly was, he figured it was similar to the Holy Spirit Heart; something that would be of use to him in the future. So, it was worth trying to obtain it.

Although Nie Yan firmly sat on the throne of number one player, with no one capable of rivalling him, this might not always be the case. More and more players were growing stronger and obtaining better equipment. No mountain stood forever. If he wanted to maintain his legend, he would have to continuously improve.

Nie Yan’s current objectives were to complete the Tyrant Abak Set, acquire the eighth character property, remove the last seal on Zennarde’s Sword, and complete this Assassin’s Heart quest. With this, he could ensure his unrivalled status for the short term.

When Nie Yan was heading for Kelun Town, Angel Corps had already started taking countermeasures as a whole to guard against him. Instead of fear and awe, many players felt such a large action made them look weak. They couldn’t even deal with a single Thief! However, thinking about it, one couldn’t judge Nirvana Flame with common sense. He was an existence that defied the heavens!

Kelun Town, this was a fairly run-down settlement in the mountain range south of Orc King City. It was so remote it wasn’t even clearly marked out on the map.

This place was hidden by a year-round fog. If it wasn’t for a transfer point connecting Orc King City to this town, ordinary players would’ve never found it.

Dingy houses lined both sides of the main street. Most were empty and abandoned, the residents having left for Orc King City. Only the old and lame remained.

Nie Yan looked around town. He followed the quest marker on his map and arrived in front of a smithy.

An old NPC sat over a forge, beating some iron. Nie Yan inspected him with Transcendent Insight. It was Blacksmith Kuru.

When the old NPC noticed Nie Yan, his eyes flashed with a hint of fear and anxiety. He put his hammer down and nervously walked over.

"G-great Prophet, welcome. May I ask what brings you to my humble smithy?” Kuru bowed.

"Hello, Blacksmith Kuru. I’m here on an important matter. Please, tell me all you know about Paternoster's Warhammer.”

"T-this… I’m sorry, but I don’t know anything. I can’t help you,” Kuru said after hesitating for a moment, his eyes averting Nie Yan’s gaze.

Nie Yan immediately became suspicious. Just because he wasn’t acting like a tyrant, it appeared he was mistaken for a pushover. Given his position as a Great Prophet, he could easily decide Kuru’s life or death.

"I’m sure you’re aware of the Satreen Empire’s laws. You do know what the consequences are for concealing something from me, right?” Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a cold light.

Kurus trembled intensely.

"If I find out you’re lying to me, not just you but also your entire family will be taken away to the dungeons in Orc King City. From then on, you’ll spend the rest of your days in a prison cell, never to see the light of day again,” Nie Yan said coldly.

Kuru suddenly felt all the strength escaping his legs. He almost instantly dropped to his knees.

"S-sir Great Prophet, please forgive my ignorance. I actually do know something about Paternoster’s Warhammer. Up in the mountain range lives a tribe of dark elves. Whenever night falls, they come down to find me and take away the weapons I’ve crafted, leaving just enough gold for me to make more. I have no choice but to listen to their commands! They’re too powerful. I-I'm sorry. Please forgive my sins. I know dark elves are enemies of the Satreen Empire. If I’m found out by the guards of the empire, I’ll be captured for treason and executed…” Kuru sobbed.

"You were forced. As long as you honestly explain everything, I can forgive you of your crimes and ensure the safety of you and your family,” Nie Yan said. With his current status, he could easily protect Kuru.

"Ooooh thank you for your mercy, Great Prophet. They once took me to their tribe. There, I caught a glimpse of Paternoster’s Warhammer. This divine weapon is located in an altar at the center of the settlement. It’s heavily guarded. Many teams have attempted to snatch away the warhammer before, only to meet with complete annihilation. I’m afraid it will be dangerous for you to go on your own. Please wait until the brave adventurers arrive. They often come here in about an hour from now to scout out the tribe.”

Nie Yan nodded. He wasn’t too worried about the dangers. However, he still needed to make ample preparations.

Nie Yan started crafting bandages while searching up information about the dark elf tribe online. He wanted to know how Paternoster’s Warhammer was related to the Song of the Bramble Bird. This quest really was hard to unravel.

Thankfully, there was plenty of information about this dark elf tribe online, unearthed by the many players before him. These dark elves were descendants of the night devils. They were particularly vicious and bloodthirsty among dark elves and were quite powerful. Their tribe was located in the depths of the Orc King Mountain Range. They occupied a large territory, with over a dozen small settlements surrounding a particular big one, where the altar with Paternoster’s Warhammer was located.

The dark elves there ranged from Level 150–180. Most were ordinary monsters, with some Elite-class ones. As for the altar in the center of the tribe, no player had reached there yet. Because Orc King City had issued out a quest to retrieve Paternoster’s Warhammer and the white elves issued out a quest to exterminate the dark elves, every day at 9 o’clock, players would arrive in Kelun Town in droves and set out for the dark elf tribe. Some groups consisted of several hundred up to 1,000 players. Others consisted of only 10–20.

There were less dark elves roaming around during the day. So, it was easier to head deeper into the tribe.

It was only 10 minutes to 9:00. Nie Yan thought for a moment. There was no harm in travelling with a group. At worst, he would just go off on his own.

Wearing a cloak was inconvenient. Nie Yan took out a Disguise Elixir that Quiet Nannan had especially made for him.

As Nie Yan drank the elixir, his appearance morphed and changed. He transformed into a run-of-the-mill player, one that could easily blend into a crowd; the kind where even if you’ve met them once already, you would still forget their face.

Elixirs were much more potent than potions. This Disguise Elixir’s duration was an entire day. Like this, Nie Yan could travel anywhere he wanted in the Satreen Empire. Even if he took off the cloak, he could easily blend in with the masses.

Nie Yan put away Zennarde’s Sword which had become synonymous with his name and equipped an ordinary dagger.

10 minutes later, Kelun Town was still completely deserted. Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder if he’d gotten something wrong. At this moment, the transfer point lit up and droves of players flooded into town.

The Satreen Empire and white elves issued out their quests at 8:50. By the time the players accepted the quests and arrived here, it would already be be 9:00. Everyone started forming teams and prepared to set out.

Before long, the town square was completely packed with players.

"20-man team, looking for a Level 110+ Priest! Heals must recover 3,800+ health! We’re leaving immediately!”

"500-man expedition team recruiting 20-man teams. We’re leaving in 10 minutes. PM me if you’re interested in joining!”

Nie Yan swept his eyes over the square. All these players were Level 100+. Most were from the Satreen Empire while a few players came from the Viridian Empire. There was a combination of half-filled teams, small groups, and solo players all coming together to form big teams. Once the team leader was happy, they’d set out.

A sense of nostalgia welled up in Nie Yan’s heart. In the previous timeline, he would often look for teams like this, be it for levelling or running dungeons. Sometimes he would act as a mercenary to earn some coin. But in this life, he rarely joined teams. He would only occasionally run dungeons with Bladelight and the others.

Nie Yan spent most of his time either levelling or questing. Solo levelling was fairly easy for a Thief. It wasn’t necessarily worse than grinding with a team. But today, there would be no harm in teaming up with people. They could guide him to and through the dark elf tribe.

Chapter 740 - Elven Beauty

With the fixed teams setting off towards the dark elf tribe, there were still several thousand players in the square. Some already had teams. Others were still looking.

Nie Yan browsed through the party finder, seeing if anyone needed a Thief.

Before long, Nie Yan found a party looking for a Level 100+ Thief with at least 8,000 health. The contact person was Suyo.

Few teams ever had such high requirements. Thieves were a squishy class after all. Those with 8,000 health were few and far between. "Do they have some sort of quest in the dark elf tribe that has a health requirement for Thieves?” Nie Yan rubbed his chin. His interest was piqued.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan decided to contact Suyo.

「Where are you guys?」

「You have 8,000+ health?」Suyo asked in surprise. The voice coming from the other end was pleasant to the ear.

「Yeah,」Nie Yan replied. Thanks to his equipment and various stat bonuses, he’d already surpassed 20,000 health. This was inconceivable for ordinary players.

「Meet us at the center of the square: 392.280.280.」

Nie Yan checked his coordinates, then headed for the center of the square. As he looked around, he spotted a seven-man party. Their line-up was fairly unique, with three orc Warriors, one tauren Shaman, one elven Mage, and one elven Demon Hunter.

Nie Yan’s gaze fell on the elven Demon Hunter. After using Transcendent Insight, he discovered she was Suyo, the player he had just talked to. She was in her early twenties and about 170 cm tall with a slim build. Her skin-tight, azure leather armour perfectly accentuated her breathtaking figure. It was cropped at the bottom and exposed her navel and flat, smooth stomach. On the lower half, she wore mini skirt shorts which revealed an alluring pair of slender, fair legs. She was drop dead gorgeous. Her translucent face looked as if it were carved white jade, lacking the slightest blemish. Her long, pointed ears didn’t clash with her image at all. In fact, it made her appear all the more lovely. On her back, she carried an azure longbow.

Even though elf players had their appearance enhanced by 10%–30%, Nie Yan could tell Suyo was definitely a beauty in real life too. She possessed the most elf-like qualities out of all the players he had come across.

Of course, Nie Yan was only showing his appreciation. He had zero interest in her romantically. He quickly shifted his attention to the several other players. They were all over Level 110. One was even Level 120, a male elven Mage. He looked like any other male elf, an excessively pretty face, to the extent it made him look effeminate.

As for the orc Warriors and the tauren Shaman, even if they were world famous models in real life, they would still have faces as ugly as the backside of a mule.

"It’s a human Thief. No wonder he has over 8,000 health. Here I thought it was an elven Thief,” the elven Mage said in a contemptuous tone. The innate bonuses of humans were evenly spread. Their health and defense was a bit higher compared to elves.

Hearing the elven Mage’s snide remarks, Nie Yan knitted his brows. "You guys don’t want a human Thief?”

"The Cloaking stat of a human Thief is too low,” the elven Mage said.

"What’s your Cloaking requirement?” Nie Yan asked in an insipid tone.

"At least 300. Any Thief with less than 300 Cloaking is trash.” the elven Mage glanced at Nie Yan.

Tch, only 300? Nie Yan inwardly sneered. Without the help of any stealth skills, his base Cloaking already exceeded 1,000. Although it was related to him being a Luminous Dancer, even ordinary Shadow Dancers had well over 300 Cloaking, 600 at most. If he revealed his stats, that elven Mage would probably shit himself in terror. With 1,000 Cloaking, he could sneak up and pants that elven Mage, and he wouldn’t even notice.

Nie Yan couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to this fellow. There was no need to reveal his Cloaking.

Suyo closely observed Nie Yan’s reaction. Her large and bright eyes were deep and enchanting like sapphires.

"If you guys don’t need a human Thief, I’ll go find another party,” Nie Yan calmly replied.

"Wait. I apologize for my friend’s behaviour. He’s not good with strangers. Please don’t mind him. You’re welcome to join our party,” Suyo said with a charming smile.

"He’s Violet Night. That’s just the kind of person he is. Don’t mind him. I’m Ronin, the team captain,” an orc Warrior said. He was noticeably taller than the two other orc Warriors beside him. He gave an open and honest impression, but he also carried the air of a leader.

"Ronin, why do you want to add this human Thief? I think any random elven Thief would be much better than him.” Violet Night shot Nie Yan a disdainful glance.

He really is asking for it, isn’t he? Nie Yan inwardly muttered. He suddenly decided to stay. On one hand, Suyo and the Ronin piqued his interest. On the other, this Violet Night really rubbed him the wrong way. Leaving just like that without teaching him a lesson wasn’t his style.

「Suyo, what do you think?」Ronin asked in a whisper.

「Definitely an expert. He seems pretty low-key too,」Suyo replied.

Ronin nodded.「I think the same. However, I don’t recognize him. I doubt he’s famous. I’ve definitely never seen him before.」

Ronin sent Nie Yan a party invite.

Ronin has invited you to a party. Do you accept?

Yes!

You have joined Ronin’s party.

When Nie Yan entered the party, he hid his name.

"What should we call you?” Suyo asked, staring at Nie Yan with her bright eyes. His name was blurred out in the party window.

"Just call me Sky Origin.” Nie Yan randomly made up a name.

Seeing that Nie Yan had joined their party, Violet Night showed visible annoyance. He coldly snorted, "What a faker. Trying to act all mysterious.”

Everyone knew the name Nie Yan gave was fake. But there was nothing they could do if he didn’t want to reveal his true identity.

Despite not showing any reaction, Ronin and Suyo were annoyed with Violet Night constantly trying to pick a fight with Nie Yan. Violet Night had a massive ego. Not to mention his one-sided infatuation for Suyo.

"Since everyone’s here, let’s head out,” Ronin said.

"Just the eight of us?” Nie Yan asked in doubt.

"Yep. Eight is enough. However, you’ll have to prepare yourself. We’ll definitely meet with some road blocks. You’re likely going to be stuck with the hardest job too.” Ronin chuckled in a lighthearted manner.

Nie Yan stared at Ronin. His smile appeared to have a hidden meaning.

It appeared their quest was special compared to the other players. Ever since he met this party, Nie Yan felt the names Suyo and Ronin were somewhat familiar. However, he couldn’t put his finger on where.

Nie Yan wasn’t too knowledgeable of the famous figures of the Satreen Empire in the previous timeline. He only remembered the most famous few. Since he felt Suyo and Ronin sounded familiar, that meant they definitely weren’t simple.

"When we leave town, I’ll explain the quest to Sky Origin. But first, we need to make sure we’re all on the same page. Even if you’re dissatisfied about something, put that aside for now. If I catch anyone trying to stir trouble, don’t blame me for being impolite.” Ronin coldly glanced at Violet Night.

Violet Night muttered something to himself but didn’t retort. He seemed to fear Ronin at least somewhat.

The eight prepared to set out. Nie Yan swept his eyes over the square. Almost everyone had already left. Those left behind were weak players that no team would accept. Most of them were here to mooch equipment and experience. If they were lucky, they would get picked up and carried by some teams. If they got the brilliant idea to form a team themselves, even other equally weak players wouldn’t be interested in joining them, let alone experts.

When Violet Night saw these people, he turned his nose up to the air with a smug smile. He clearly believed himself superior to them.

After passing through the crowd, the party exited Kelun Town.

Suyo was constantly staring at Nie Yan, evoking a sense of discomfort. Only after recalling the Disguise Elixir wouldn't be so easily seen through, he relaxed a bit.

Seeing that Suyo was interested in Nie Yan, Violet Night’s mood turned even worse.

"Hey. why did you come all the way here to the Satreen Empire?” Suyo asked in a casual tone.

"He probably got chased out of the Viridian Empire,” Violet Night interjected.

Suyo slightly knitted her brows. She was starting to get fed up with Violet Night’s behaviour.

"I picked a fight with the wrong group. So, now I’m here in the Satreen Empire until the heat dies down.” Nie Yan chuckled, not bothering to retort.

"See, what did I say?” Violet Night appeared pleased with himself.

Suyo didn’t believe Nie Yan’s words for a second. To not even be fazed after Violet Night taunted him, she was impressed. Based on this alone, the gap between the two was clear.

Her curiosity only grew deeper. Suyo really wanted to find out Nie Yan’s identity.

After leaving Kelun Town, the party passed through a dense patch of forest and arrived in an empty clearing.

"Let’s take a short break here.” Ronin halted his steps, then turned to Nie Yan. "We’re going to scout out the dark elf tribe. Even though we don’t know your identity, I feel like you’re trustworthy enough. So, Suyo and I have agreed to tell you about our quest. I hope you’ll be willing to help after listening. If not, please keep this a secret for us.”

"C-captai-” Violet Night blurted out in shock. He didn’t think Ronin was planning to reveal everything to Nie Yan.

Ronin raised his hand, cutting Violet Night off. He shot a glance over and said, "I’m the captain. My word is final.”

Chapter 741 - Twin-Headed Ogre

After silencing Violet Night, Ronin turned back to face Nie Yan. He reached into his bag and pulled out an ashen, parchment scroll. The edges were heavily worn, and judging from the overall condition of the scroll, it was quite old.

Ronin spread out the scroll on a large stone, revealing a simple map.

Nie Yan narrowed his eyes. This was a treasure map!

The area represented on the map was the Orc King Mountain Range.

"We’ve been researching this map for over a month. We’ve basically confirmed all the important locations. Now we just need a skilled Thief,” Ronin explained. If he didn’t show Nie Yan this map, it would be impossible to complete their objective since several important stages of the quest could only be cleared by a Thief.

"Why pick me? Why not another skilled Thief you know and trust?” Nie Yan asked. After all, he was just a stranger to them.

"Call it a gut feeling. I can confidently say you’re the strongest Thief I’ve ever come across,” Ronin earnestly said. You didn’t necessarily need to look at the stats or equipment to determine whether a Thief was strong. You could tell just by their actions and how they carried themselves.

Additionally, Ronin got a strange feeling from Nie Yan. It was almost as if he didn’t exist.

Ronin was confident in his Awareness. But despite standing right in front of him, he couldn’t sense Nie Yan’s presence at all! Just how high of a Cloaking stat was required for this!?

To confirm his suspicions, Ronin had asked Suyo in a private whisper to use Enhance Perception. Even with her Awareness buffed to 600, she still easily lost track of Nie Yan. This was hard to fathom.

After Suyo reported her discoveries to Ronin, he became all the more convinced Nie Yan was someone extraordinary.

Real experts like Suyo and Ronin had keen insight, unlike Violet Night. It was no wonder those two didn’t give him the time of day.

When Ronin spread out the map, he carefully observed Nie Yan’s expression. Ordinary players’ eyes would burn with greed after seeing a complete treasure map like this, but Nie Yan merely raised an eyebrow in interest. This reaction all but confirmed Ronin’s guess.

"This treasure map is related to Paternoster’s Warhammer, a Divine weapon. There are also three Legendary-grade weapons. The X is the treasure trove of the dark elves,” Ronin hurriedly added. He hoped to pique Nie Yan’s interest enough for him to lend them his services.

Nie Yan chuckled. "I’m only interested in Paternoster’s Warhammer. If we get to the treasure trove, I want the hammer. You guys can split the rest among yourselves.”

The group was at a loss for words. Nie Yan demanded the best item right off the bat. How greedy!

"Fuck you! Who do you think you are? Why the hell should we give you Paternoster’s Warhammer!?” Violet Night cursed. He already didn’t like Nie Yan very much in the first place. He was just a lowly human Thief, and his skills were a complete mystery. Now he was even making this kind of ridiculous demand!

"Why? Watch and see.” Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with killing intent. He suddenly vanished, and in the next instant, he was right behind Violet Night with a dagger to his throat.

Violet Night didn’t even get a chance to react. The sharp blade pressed against his throat told him that if Nie Yan wanted him dead, he would already be a cold corpse on the ground.

Nie Yan merely displayed a tiny fraction of his skill, but Ronin and Suyo felt waves of shock batter at their hearts. His movements were too quick, too precise. They hadn’t seen anything, yet he suddenly stood behind Violet Night. They felt a cold sweat on the back of their necks. If he were to take action against them, no one in their party would survive.

Violet Night never thought Nie Yan was so strong, to the extent that it was far beyond his comprehension. His eyes flickered with a trace of fear.

"How did you all end up recruiting a piece of trash like him? If you guys don’t mind, I’ll take care of him right now,” Nie Yan said in a cold and emotionless tone.

Violet Night suddenly felt like a fish on the chopping board. He had no doubt in his mind that Nie Yan would follow through with his words. He started shivering in fear.

"Please let him off this once,” Ronin mediated. He didn’t want to see Violet Night killed. After all, they had been teammates for so long.

Nie Yan released Violet Night.

Suyo’s eyes lit up. Her interest in Nie Yan’s identity was piqued even more. In the entire Viridian Empire, the number of Thieves who could display this kind of ability definitely didn’t exceed 10. She closely examined his face. Hmm… he doesn’t look like Nirvana Flame.

"Well, we didn’t have high hopes of obtaining Paternoster’s Warhammer in the first place. The monsters guarding the treasure trove are too strong. We’ve already wiped quite a few times trying to get past them. If you can help us reach the treasure, the warhammer is all yours,” Ronin said. He was fairly reasonable. Although Paternoster’s Warhammer was a Divine item, whether or not they were qualified to keep it was another matter. He had an inkling it was a quest item. If they could get to keep the remaining three Legendary items, he would be more than satisfied. After all, they didn’t even have a single piece of Legendary equipment on them. Three pieces was something they could normally only dream about.

Violet Night was still dissatisfied, but he didn’t voice it out. Nie Yan had scared him into submission.

"Sorry. I came here today solely for Paternoster’s Warhammer. It’s related to my quest,” Nie Yan explained.

Ronin nodded. Besides, it was better to clear up any potential disagreements before they set off.

Suyo also nodded. So, this was the reason why Nie Yan demanded Paternoster’s Warhammer. She couldn’t help but become curious about his quest. It definitely couldn’t be a simple one.

Nie Yan had his own thoughts. Since Ronin’s party had already spent a month on this quest, they had likely collected ample data. Cooperating with them would be much faster than going at it alone. After all, he was a stranger in this place. It would take him at least a week to sufficiently explore this map.

"Let’s set out,” Ronin said.

Nie Yan nodded.

The party headed deeper into the forest.

On the way, the group exchanged banter. Nie Yan hid his identity. So, he changed the topic to hunting monsters, levelling, and running dungeons. His knowledge benefited all of them.

Suyo was especially chatty. Nie Yan only chimed in here and there.

Violet Night venomously glared at Nie Yan’s back. Ever since Nie Yan appeared, he’d been ignored and pushed off to the side. Even more infuriatingly, Suyo, who was normally cold and indifferent to him, was treating Nie Yan in such a friendly and cordial manner.

About 20 minutes later, the group arrived at another clearing. They spotted a Twin-Headed Ogre roaming around up ahead. Standing over three meters tall with a hulking body of muscle and fat, it carried a large, spiked wooden club fashioned out of a tree trunk and wolf teeth.

"That Twin-Headed Ogre is a servant of the dark elves. It’s a Level 180 Elite with 12,000,000 health. It drops a key fragment upon death. If you don’t use the key fragment within five hours, it’ll disappear, and the Twin-Headed Ogre will respawn. So, we’ll have to be quick,” Ronin explained.

"You’ve killed it before?” Nie Yan asked.

"Yeah, this'll be the 16th time. Our best time was 15 minutes. There’s more steps after that, though. We’ll be pretty tight on time. This quest is really difficult. Over the past month, even though we’ve made some progress, we’re still far away from completing it,” Suyo explained. She was quite confident in her party, believing even if they joined a large guild, they would firmly rank among the top players.

Nie Yan had to give it to them. For a party of level 110–120 players to kill a Level 180 Elite like this Twin-Headed Ogre in the span of 15 minutes was quite impressive.

However, Nie Yan stood on a different plane. Common sense didn’t apply to him. He was basically as overpowered as you could get.

Nie Yan had long since stopped putting Level 180 Elites like these in his eyes.

"Sky Origin, let me teach you a trick. Lure the ogre to this choke point over here,” Ronin pointed out. They had discovered this spot on their fifth attempt.

Nie Yan surveyed the surroundings. There was indeed a choke point hidden in the topography, though it wasn’t easy to discover. However, harder than finding it, was luring it there. This task was far too tedious and time consuming for him!

"This is usually my job. But since you’re new here, we need to test out your skills. If you can’t do it, you can leave it to me,” Violet Night said, glancing at Nie Yan with a cold smile. This was one of the things he was proud of. With his combination of long ranged attacks and blinks, he was confident no one in this party could do this job better than him.

"I’m not specialized in luring and trapping monsters, but there’s no need to go through that kind of trouble for a monster like this,” Nie Yan said indifferently. He then started walking towards the Twin-Headed Ogre.

"What’s he doing?” a teammate asked.

"I don’t know. He’s probably tired of living.” Violet Night coldly chuckled.

Ronin and Suyo stared at Nie Yan’s back, then glanced at each other. He likely wasn’t so foolish as to get himself killed. They were curious to see what he was planning to do.

Nie Yan leisurely walked out of the undergrowth.

The Twin-Headed Ogre looked around. Its two heads gave it a wide vision range. One of the heads quickly discovered Nie Yan, soon followed by the other head. Two pairs of eyes locked onto him.”GROARG!” It brandished its spiked club, knocking down a nearby tree.

The Twin-Headed Ogre charged over, the earth quaking with each step.

Chapter 742 - Treasure Key

The Twin-Headed Ogre closed in on Nie Yan and smashed down with its spiked club.

Seeing Nie Yan about to be smashed into a meat patty, Suyo and Ronin closed their eyes and turned their heads away in reflex.

Everyone thought Nie Yan was a goner for sure.

As the club came down on him, Nie Yan raised his head, his eyes flashing with a cold light.

BOOOM! The club dug into the earth. However, Nie Yan was nowhere to be found. The Twin-Headed Ogre appeared visibly confused.

Before the Twin-Headed Ogre could lift its club back up, a silhouette appeared right under it. BANG! Nie Yan ruthlessly elbowed it in the abdomen.

"GROAAARG!” The Twin-Headed Ogre staggered back several steps.

Nie Yan braced his hands on the ground in a handstand, then launched himself up in the air. He struck the Twin-Headed Ogre’s jaws with a powerful sweeping kick.

BANG! The Twin-Headed Ogre was sent reeling back.

As the Twin-Headed Ogre crashed to the ground, Nie Yan dropped back down with a brutal knee strike to the groin.

Nie Yan glanced at the combo count in the corner of his eye—3 hits.

Nie Yan was only getting started. Since he had shed some of his Legendary equipment, his stats had fallen to more reasonable levels. However, he was still dealing damage in the tens of thousands. Under his chain of attacks, the Twin-Headed Ogre’s health fell bit by bit.

Watching the fight from the sidelines, Suyo, Ronin, and the other’s jaws dropped. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

Nie Yan’s movements were too fast. He was only a blur. All they saw was the Twin-Headed Ogre getting pummelled left and right.

This kind of smooth linking of attacks was breathtaking.

Even though they couldn’t see Nie Yan clearly, something about the series of after-images he left behind was strangely captivating.

Suyo and Ronin glanced at each other. "Shadow Dancer!” the two both muttered at the same time. They couldn’t suppress the shock in their hearts. They didn’t expect to bump into a Shadow Dancer here of all places!

Everyone here was at least somewhat knowledgeable. Seeing Nie Yan’s movements, they all recognized he was a Shadow Dancer.

Violet Night had a blank look on his face. His eyes somewhat glazed over. He believed Nie Yan was merely an ordinary human Thief. The thought that Nie Yan might be a Shadow Dancer never even crossed his mind. Everything he’d said, including mocking Nie Yan for not being able to draw aggro, didn’t it all seem like a complete joke now? Nie Yan didn't need to go through all that trouble. He could simply solo the Twin-Headed Ogre!

"Is this guy even human!?” the two orc Warriors beside Ronin gasped in amazement.

"Can anyone investigate his background? The Viridian Empire only has a few Shadow Dancers. What hole did this guy crawl out from!?”

"He doesn’t look like Nirvana Flame, King of the World, Mistaken Smile, or Sun. Everyone knows their faces.”

None of them knew about the Disguise Elixir. Ordinary Disguise Potions only lasted 20–30 minutes at most. They had already been in contact with Nie Yan for more than half an hour!

Nie Yan’s identity was no longer important. What mattered was his title of Shadow Dancer. Like this, they might really have a shot at reaching the treasure trove!

The minutes and seconds passed. Suyo checked the time. It took Nie Yan less than five minutes to down the Twin-Headed Ogre!

This was simply too cheat-like!

Nie Yan collected the loot off the ground. One of the items was a piece of Level 180 Gold-grade equipment–in other words, complete garbage. He normally couldn’t be bothered to spare something like this a glance. There was also a golden key fragment about the size of a thumb. This was precisely the thing they were looking for.

Checking his notification bar, Nie Yan found he’d achieved a 17-hit combo, whereas the Twin-Headed Ogre failed to land a single blow on him. He was pretty satisfied with his performance. Especially his grasp over his skills made him happy. He linked them together much smoother than before. Of course, it’d been a lot easier to take this ogre down if he had his real equipment on. It’d probably take him less than half the time he spend now.

Ronin, Suyo, and the others all walked over.

Nie Yan tossed over the piece of Gold-grade equipment to Ronin. "Come on, let’s go. We’re tight on time, right?”

Suyo carefully scrutinized Nie Yan’s face before she eventually gave up. She couldn’t find a single giveaway. He was truly a mysterious person.

"Y-yeah, let’s go.” Ronin nodded. He then turned to face the rest of the party. "I’m stepping down as party leader. From now on, Sky Origin will lead us. Listen to him, guys.”

"Yes!”

No one dissented. Even Violet Night didn’t voice any retorts. He understood someone like him was nothing more than a pebble on the road to Nie Yan.

Honestly speaking, even without these people, Nie Yan could still complete this quest. However, Ronin’s party possessed the treasure map and had already prepared for over a month. They’d definitely grasped onto many clues, many of which he’d miss on his own. So, they were indispensable, serving as his guide.

After this, Ronin, Suyo, and the others learned the true meaning of the word cheat. Along the way, Nie Yan killed seven more Level 180 Elites. What would normally take them at least 4 hours was accomplished by him in less than 35 minutes.

The last Elite was a Blue Twin-Headed Ogre. It had much higher defense compared to the other ogres and could even cast AoE magic. It was precisely at this stage where Ronin and the others had wiped numerous times. Yet this monster which gave them endless headaches was toyed around with like a child by Nie Yan, and subsequently killed in the short span of three minutes. It didn’t even get a chance to cast magic. Walking past the Blue Twin-Headed Ogre’s corpse, Ronin and the others felt like they were dreaming. Was this really the same monster that had wiped out their party so many times?

However, the proof was right in front of their eyes!

"We did it!” Ronin exclaimed after collecting all eight key fragments.

He brought the key fragments together. As they merged together, they released a dazzling flash of light, causing Nie Yan and the others to shield their eyes.

When they could see again, the eight fragments had already merged into a single key the size of a person’s hand.

This was the first time Nie Yan saw such a large key. He could already imagine the size of the corresponding chest.

Ronin and the others were elated. They had finally obtained the key!

"What’s next?” Nie Yan asked.

"We don’t know.” Ronin bitterly smiled. "We only got as far as the Blue Twin-Headed Ogre. We can only stumble our way forward from here. However, since we managed to acquire the key, the five-hour time limit is gone. We can take our time now.”

"I see. Lead the way,” Nie Yan said. He could tell the strength of Ronin’s party was limited. To be able to reach the Blue Twin-Headed Ogre was already impressive.

Ronin checked his quest progress window, then looked back at the treasure map. "Follow me.”

Ronin led Nie Yan and the others through the forest. Along the way, they encountered several dark elf encampments. Some of them already had players in there fighting. When they saw Nie Yan and the others, they all had guarded expressions. In the wilderness, strangers kill stealing, ambushing, and robbing each other was fairly commonplace. Only after seeing Nie Yan and the others depart did they withdraw their gazes.

After passing through several such encampments, they finally arrived in the main settlement of the dark elf tribe. The monsters here were much stronger than the ones on the outskirts. They were all at least Level 170.

Inside the settlement were endless rows of tents with many interconnecting and winding paths. Dark elves could be seen walking everywhere. Who knew how long it would take to clear this place? Three, four, maybe even five days or more, and that was with the help of an expedition team. But if they didn’t, they had no way of progressing.

Nie Yan could clear these dark elves in a flash if he summoned Paladin Lafus and Lil’ Gold, but that also meant exposing his identity.

"No players are brave enough to come here yet.” Ronin leaped up on top of a large tree, then gazed down at the large square in the center of the settlement. "The map says the treasure is over there.”

This matched up with the information Nie Yan received from Blacksmith Kuru.

"I can call on some friends for help. We’ll form a 500-man expedition team and start clearing out the settlement. It should only take us about three days,” Suyo suggested. She had many high level friends. Ronin and the others also had large social circles.

Nie Yan rubbed his chin. If he separated from Ronin and the others, he would have no problem sneaking into the center of the dark elf tribe and maybe even open the treasure chest. At worst, he would follow through with their agreement and give Ronin’s party their items. The only depressing part was that he had no access to the treasure map. After all, Ronin would still take some precautions against him.

"I’ll sneak in first and scout out the situation inside. You guys can continue planning here,” Nie Yan said.

"You alone?” Suyo blurted out before recalling something. "Oh right. You’re a Shadow Dancer. Infiltrating this settlement should be no problem for you.”

"Be careful. Here, take the key. Maybe you’ll get a chance to open the treasure chest. As for how to open the chest, there’s some clues on the treasure map. But without being there myself, I can’t decipher them,” Ronin said. At this moment, he couldn’t help but be a bit envious of Nie Yan. This was one of the biggest advantages of being a Thief.

Nie Yan nodded. "I’ll be heading off. Let me know if there are any new developments here.”

After bidding farewell to Ronin’s party, Nie Yan entered stealth and headed for the settlement.

Chapter 743 - Demon

This dark elf settlement was flourishing despite its location in enemy territory. Dark elf guard squads patrolled the streets. They comprised up to 100 troops of different classes, and were fully armed, wielding various weapons.

Nie Yan scanned his eyes over the faces of these dark elves. Their appearances were similar to that of ordinary white elves, except for their dark skin and silver hair. They all had black moons engraved on their armour.

In Conviction’s lore, dark elves were traitors who abandoned their faith in the moon goddess and became devout followers of the demons. In the battle for the world tree, they were defeated and banished from the surface world. Some fled to the underworld. Others hid in remote corners of the Atlanta continent, continuously hunted down by the white elves.

Nie Yan evaded the sights of the guard squads and headed deeper into the settlement.

Before long, he could make out a square in the distance. A large silhouette wandered around in the center. It was likely the boss.

Nie Yan was too far away to get a good look. The creature was about six meters tall. He could also faintly make out a pair of wings on its back. Each step it took shook the ground.

A demon! Nie Yan’s heart trembled.

Thanks to the combined efforts of the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire, very few demons appeared in the Atlanta continent.

There were many types of demons. High demons were existences that could rival archangels. They were extremely intelligent. If a high demon appeared, the entire Atlanta continent would be in danger. Even legendary NPCs wouldn’t dare to face them. The demon in the square was most likely a lesser servant.

Let’s get a closer look first. Nie Yan dashed forward and arrived on the edge of the square. At about 100 meters from the demon, he could finally get a good look at its appearance.

Flames wrapped around the demon’s blood red body. It wore a sinister and frightening expression. The bat-like wings, which spread out several meters, slowly flapped up and down. In its hand, it held a large greatsword shrouded in green flames which it could only lift due to it massive, gorilla-like arms! It wandered around, sometimes taking to the air and floating a few meters above the ground.

Sensing something, the demon looked around.

Nie Yan held his breath. Employing some of the buildings in the square as cover, he slowly made his way forward and inspected the demon with Transcendent Insight.

Demon Slaughterer Aatrox (Demonified Lord): Level 130

It was a Demonified Lord!

Nie Yan felt his heart sink to the pit of his stomach. At this stage of the game, players might not exactly know the strength of Demonified Lords, but they knew that anywhere one roamed was a forbidden death zone.

For reference, even if he called Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and all the other Masters over as well as a thousand-man expedition team, their odds of beating a Level 130 Demonified Lord were still next to none. With Bladelight’s defense, he would have no problem tanking a Level 130 Variant Lord, but he would be torn to shreds by an equal level Demonified Lord.

Even though he was still relatively far away, Nie Yan could feel the scorching hot flames coming off of the Demon Slaughterer. He was assailed by its frightening aura. Demons were propagators of fear and death.

Nie Yan noticed the Demon Slaughterer was patrolling around a platform. Looking at the shape, it was likely an altar.

The treasure trove!

「Sky Origin, what’s the situation?」Ronin asked after not hearing back from Nie Yan for a while.

Nie Yan bitterly chuckled.「It’s impossible. We might as well pack up our bags and go home.」

「H-huh, why?」Ronin asked. Not just him, everyone was confused. They had spent a month trying to get here. Why would they give up now?

「The treasure is being guarded by a Level 130 Demonified Lord. If you guys feel like giving it a shot, go ahead.」

Everyone was dumbstruck. They had long since heard of the frightening reputation of Demonified Lords, but they had never seen one before in the flesh. They were rumoured to be powerful beyond compare. As to what extent, Ronin and the others had no clue. A Level 130 Lord was already an unreachable existence to them, to say nothing of a Level 130 Demonified Lord.

「How strong exactly is a Demonified Lord?」

「Even 50 equal level Lords wouldn’t be its match,」Nie Yan replied. He also wasn’t too sure. He had never beaten a Demonified Lord before. In the previous timeline, when he met one, he would either flee for his life or be killed before he had the chance to.

In the previous timeline, Victorious Return had dispatched a 500-man expedition team of Level 100+ top elites to deal with a Level 60 Demonified Lord. They had wiped a total of five times before successfully killing it. The Level 60 Divine weapon it dropped was on par with a Level 100 Legendary. At that time, this was a huge piece of news.

A Level 130 Demonified Lord could single-handedly take down a stronghold.

「Is there really no chance? Can we try luring it away?」Suyo asked.

「Anyone that can survive the pursued of a Level 130 Demonified Lord for five minutes, I’ll pay respects to them as my master,」Nie Yan replied.

「Really, it’s not even possible for you?」Suyo asked. After seeing Nie Yan solo those Level 180 Elites like it was nothing, she’d started to think he was invincible.

「Nope. Not even close. But for the sake of argument, even if I can last five minutes, can you guys guarantee you access the the treasure inside the altar in that time? Even if you somehow retrieve the treasure, you’ll still have to escape the pursuit of the Demonified Lord. If you’re killed, it’ll take back the treasures and hide it somewhere else,」Nie Yan said. He estimated three, maybe even four minutes was his limit. Apart from them, no players had reached this square yet. If it were to be known that a Demonified Lord resided in the heart of the dark elf tribe, this area would definitely be classified as a forbidden zone.

Ronin’s party had no idea where exactly the treasure was located, nor what steps had to be taken to open it. If they failed, Nie Yan would die for nothing. Not to mention they hadn’t even investigated the altar. Demonified Lords were generally very intelligent. If they were tricked by something once, they wouldn’t easily be tricked by the same thing again.

Everyone became silent. A feeling of failure welled up in their hearts. The Demonified Lord was like an unscalable mountain.

Nie Yan withdrew from the settlement and regrouped with Ronin’s party.

"We can only give up for now. If you come up with a good plan, let me know,” Nie Yan said. This encounter with the Level 130 Demonified Lord made him realize he was still far too weak. Conviction had so many powerful existences. This was proof that players still had much more room to grow.

Ronin’s party was silent. With the addition of Nie Yan, they believed they finally had a chance to obtain the treasure. They didn’t expect all their hopes and efforts to be dashed away like this. They thought of this, they thought of that, but nothing they could think of would help them defeat or even distract the Level 130 Demonified Lord.

"So be it. We can always try again in the future,” Ronin said with a clear smile. He was someone who could take failure in stride.

Nie Yan chuckled, patting Ronin on the shoulder. He couldn’t help but admire this fellow’s temperament.

"What are you planning to do next?” Suyo asked after noticing Nie Yan was about to take his leave. "Do you want come level with us?”

"Sorry, I still have other quests to do,” Nie Yan replied, politely declining Suyo’s invite.

Everyone deeply sighed. They all understood they and Nie Yan lived in different worlds. Getting him to stay with them was only an extravagant hope. He was destined to be a legend, while they could probably never escape the mediocrity of an ordinary player.

As Nie Yan and Ronin’s group were about to leave, an expedition team of 1,000 players walked out from the forest. 40 heavily armoured Fighters stood at the front with players from all classes following behind. They moved in formation and seemed well-organized.

Nie Yan swept his eyes over these players. After seeing the quality of their equipment, he narrowed his eyes. In the entire Viridian Empire, perhaps only the expedition teams from Asskickers United could rival them.

"Angel Corps,” Ronin whispered.

"They’re probably here to explore the map.”

Angel Corps, huh. No wonder, Nie Yan thought. These players all looked unfamiliar. The few faces he would recognize, like Stone Splitter, weren’t present.

Seeing Ronin’s party, a dozen players immediately ran over.

Local Announcement: Angel Corps is taking control of this place. All unrelated players please vacate the premises.

"Come on. Let’s go,” Ronin said in a serious tone. Angel Corps wasn’t an existence to be provoked.

Suyo knitted her brows. She couldn’t stand how the players from Angel Corps lorded over everyone, but she also understood it was best not to cause trouble right now.

Nie Yan followed behind Ronin and the others. Quietly leaving without giving the players from Angel Corps his regards wasn’t his style. However, he didn’t want to implicate unrelated people into his matters. I’ll just come back later.

The dozen or so Warriors arrived and quickly surrounded Nie Yan, Ronin, and the rest of the party.

"Oh? Suyo, what a coincidence. Didn’t expect to see you here,” one of the Warriors stepped out and greeted. He was a Fighter who looked to be in his thirties. He gave off somewhat of a slimy, vulgar impression.

Nie Yan inspected this player with Transcendent Insight. Great White Shark. He thought for a moment. This was a name that did slightly ring a bell. If he recalled correctly, he was one of Angel Corps’ top five Fighters.

"You know him?” Nie Yan asked, glancing at Suyo.

"Yeah, he’s a scumbag. We used to be in a team together.” Suyo replied with an expression full of loathing.

Chapter 744 - Bloodbath

Great White Shark’s expression flashed with a hint of anger. But he was quickly all smiles again. "Long no time no see. There’s no need to act so distant, is there?”

After spotting Violet Night who was trying to make himself scarce, Great White Shark greeted, "Violet Night! You lil’ punk, you’re here too, huh?”

Violet Night awkwardly laughed, a hint of fear in his eyes. "H-hi Big Bro Shark.”

They were completely surrounded by Angel Corps players. Violet Night already sensed the tense atmosphere. So long as Great White Shark gave the word, they would be swarmed by 1,000 players. He believed even Nie Yan wasn’t their match. There was no way their party could escape.

"What!? Who the fuck you calling big bro? Huh? Huh!?” Great White Shark cursed. FWWAAP! He smacked Violet Night off his feet. Violet Night fell in front of two Warriors. If he tried anything funny, they would immediately kill him.

Fear immediately overcame anger. Violet Night bit down on his lip. He knew nothing good would come out of him trying to act tough.

The other Angel Corps players, who were clearing out the vicinity, occasionally glanced over toward Ronin’s party.

Great White Shark swept his eyes over Nie Yan with a cruel expression. He then turned to Suyo. "Is this your new lover? Isn’t he a little average for your liking?”

"Scram!” Suyo’s gritted through her teeth, her face flushed with anger. She wanted nothing more than to give Great White Shark a good slap in the face right now.

Ronin looked around. There were Angel Corps players everywhere. Their chances of escaping were pretty much nill.「Sky Origin, don’t worry about us and escape yourself. Our levels are low, and our equipment isn’t that great. Even if we die, it’s no big loss.」

「Captain, just give the word. We’ll kill that bastard and make a break for it.」The two other orc Warriors in the party couldn’t hold back their anger any longer.

「What? Don’t be stupid. There’s no way we can escape!」Violet Night hurriedly dissuaded.

「Fuck off. You spineless coward,」one of the orc Warriors coldly cursed.

Violet Night’s face flushed red with anger.「Fine! If you want to die, go ahead! Die! But don’t drag me down with you, you muscle-headed buffoons!」

「It’s a pity we don’t have Unknown Transfer Scrolls.」Ronin slowly inched closer to Great White Shark. His movements were extremely subtle.

A group of 20 Druids came walking over. One of them shouted, "Yo, you done yet, Shark? Get ready. We’re entering the dark elf tribe.”

"Soon!” Great White Shark shouted back. He then turned back to face Suyo, narrowing his eyes as he stared at her voluptuous chest, the lust in his expression as clear as day. "Say, how about you let me cup a feel, and I’ll let you all off the hook just this once. Sound good?”

"Y-you… you scum!” Suyo’s breathing was ragged, her chest heavily heaving up and down from anger. If she wasn’t worried about her teammates, she would’ve long since slapped Great White Shark in his face.

"I’ll count down from 10. For your sake, you better agree. After all, I’m afraid these guys behind me aren’t nearly as nice as I am,” Great White Shark said with a depraved smile.

The Warriors and Druids slowly moved closer, their eyes burning brightly with lust as they licked their lips. There were roughly 40 of them. The other Angel Corps players in the distance also noticed the situation and were ready to rush over and provide support at a moment’s notice.

Suyo was infuriated. Several of her teammates were also burning with righteous indignation. They were all older than her. So, they viewed her as their little sister. Seeing her getting treated like this, they were ready to upturn the world.

「That fucker! Even if it means us wiping, let’s kill that asshole! Ronin, White Bull, let’s pincer him! Everyone else, keep those druids distracted.」

Nie Yan looked over to his side. He discovered Ronin and several other party members were already in position.

Great White Shark swept his eyes over Ronin and the others with a look of disdain. He had long since noticed their movements. As a top five Fighter in Angel Corps, he’d braved numerous battles. Did they really think it would be so easy to catch him off guard?

Great White Shark calmly counted down while waiting for Suyo’s reply. "Seven, six, five…”

Nie Yan had had a cool expression on his face all this time, almost as if this matter had nothing to do with him. Only now did he ask in the voice chat,「Do you guys mind becoming sworn enemies with Angel Corps? They definitely won’t let you off the hook if you attack.」

「Peh! So what!? I’ve never once been afraid of those bastards!」Ronin said.「We might all die here today, but we’re not going down without a fight. If we can all kill at least one each, we’ll break even. If we can kill more, even better!」

「I see… Good! If you guys no longer have a place in the Satreen Empire, come find me in the Viridian Empire,」Nie Yan said with a faint smile.

「H-huh? Okay...」Ronin, Suyo, and the rest glanced at each other in confusion, not knowing what to say.

Nie Yan turned to face Great White Shark. His eyes flashed with killing intent. "I despise arrogant trash like you the most.”

Great White Shark had already counted to one. As the first syllables of zero left his mouth, his body froze and the word became stuck in his throat. A silhouette flashed in front of him. His eyes widened in fright. Before he could even take half a step back, a black blade was already on his throat.

The moment this black shortsword appeared, the atmosphere seemed to freeze over.

Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame!

The name of a single player flashed through the minds of every player present.

That shortsword was a weapon they’d recognize anywhere, anytime—Zennarde’s Sword! Nirvana Flame’s signature weapon!

Ronin and the others were just about to rush forward and pincer Great White Shark. Before they could even take one step, Nie Yan had already appeared in front of him. Spotting the black shortsword, they were all dumbstruck.

Great White Shark’s body stiffened. He felt the icy blade of Zennarde’s Sword pressed against his throat, evoking a kind of fear at the primal level. His hairs stood on end as all strength escaped his legs. He knew if he made a single move, Nie Yan would cut him down without the slightest hesitation.

A cold voice that seemed to originate from the depths of hell entered his ear. "Remember, the one who killed you is Nirvana Flame.”

PSSSFFHT! A fountain of blood sprayed out from Great White Shark’s neck.

−37,568!

Great White Shark’s body lifelessly collapsed to the ground.

The Angel Corps players immediately erupted in an uproar.

"He killed Great White Shark!”

"That’s Nirvana Flame!”

"Shit! What’s he doing here of all places!?”

…

They believed Nie Yan had purposefully come here, just like when he ambushed Stone Splitter’s team. Nirvana Flame was just a name, but it evoked a sense of dread in their hearts.

"Surround him! Don’t let him escape!”

Bear Transformation!

The dozen or so Druids all let out roars. Their bodies rapidly grew in size as they transformed into bears. Before transforming, Druids were pretty frail. But in bear-form, their health would increase substantially. Like this, they would feel a bit more safe. Nie Yan’s attacks were too frightening.

Unfortunately, the bear transformation was useless. Nie Yan’s equipment far outclassed that of others at this stage of the game. With the stat bonuses provided by the chapters from the Book of Order, the Luminous Dancer, Great Prophet, and Adjudicator of Light titles, combined with Zennarde’s Sword whose attack power was equivalent to that of a Level 180 Legendary weapon, he could instantly cut down the vast majority of players.

Nie Yan estimated the only players that could survive a single hit from him were a handful heavy, plate-armoured Masters.

PSSHFT! Three more lines of blood shot up into the air. Two Warriors and one Druid were instantly killed.

Nie Yan was simply a blur. He easily evaded their attempts to lock him down.

"GROAAWR!” A bear-form Druid charged toward Nie Yan and swatted down with his paw.

Nie Yan lightly stepped to the side. He then circled around and drove his blade into the Druid’s back.

Backbreaker!

KRAAACK! The Druid’s spine was snapped in half as he crashed to the ground and reverted back to human form.

Another instant kill!

Nie Yan reaped a life with each slash of his blade. In the blink of an eye, a dozen corpses lay motionless on the ground.

Ronin, Suyo, and the others were a bit dazed. They didn’t expect the stranger they had partied up with all this time to actually be the famous Nirvana Flame! In a flash, there were bodies scattered all over the place. His attacks were simply too frightening!

Their hearts were racing, filled with an indescribable sense of shock and excitement.

A legendary figure like Nirvana Flame was actually right before their eyes! The only reason they failed to recognize him earlier was that he had used some sort of special item to disguise his appearance!

"Brothers, let’s move! This is our chance. Take out as many of them as you can!” Ronin shouted after snapping back to his senses. He charged toward a nearby enemy Warrior.

The two other orc Warriors in the party followed suit. Five arrows appeared in Suyo’s fingers. She skillfully drew her bowstring back and fired. Whoosh whoosh whoosh! The arrows flew in a straight line and struck the enemy Warrior. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! He was sent flying away. These were shockwave arrows!

Execution!

Ronin cleaved down with his blade, finishing the Warrior off.

Only by teaming up could they kill the enemy Warrior this quickly. They naturally couldn’t compare to Nie Yan. However, they were still fairly skilled, roughly on par with these players from Angel Corps.

Nie Yan had already broken the morale of all the Angel Corps players in the vicinity. Seeing Ronin’s party rushing over, they didn’t dare to fight and turned to flee.

After stirring up such a large commotion, the Angel Corps players in the surrounding area all came rushing over. They summoned their various pets and closed in on Nie Yan and Ronin’s party.

An enormous silver-furred wolf came dashing over. When it was about six meters away from Nie Yan, it pounced in the air.

A Level 160 Silver Fang! Angel Corps actually had pets like these?

Nie Yan gazed at the pouncing Silver Fang. He suddenly transformed into a blur, an after-image standing on his original location.

BANG! Nie Yan drove his elbow into the Silver Fang’s throat, sending it flying back. Afterwards, he shot forward in pursuit and followed up with a falling guillotine kick to the skull. KRAAACK! It let out a miserable whine as it crashed back to the ground.

Chapter 745 - Deadly Trap

Nie Yan’s appearance caught this Angel Corps expedition team completely off-guard. But for better or worse, they were still members of the number one guild in the Satreen Empire. They quickly reported to Soaring Angel in the guild headquarters and took measures to lock Nie Yan down.

Nie Yan was too strong. There wasn’t one player here who could survive a single attack from him. So, the Angel Corps players summoned their pets to surround him instead.

Even though these pets were nowhere near as valiant as Lil’ Gold, they were still tough to deal with. There was a wide variety of them, such as Silver Fangs, Tundra Ursine, Succubi , and so on.

Nie Yan pulled open Divine Recruitment and summoned Paladin Lafus.

"For the light!” Paladin Lafus buffed himself with numerous blessings, then charged toward the enemy pets.

Nie Yan quickly pulled back. Chanting an incantation, an enormous Golden Dragon appeared out of thin air.

"It’s Nirvana Flame’s Golden Dragon!”

"Don’t panic! His Golden Dragon has a counter skill. Don’t use physical attacks! Have the Ursine lock it down! Mages, bombard it with magic!” A portly-looking Shaman who appeared to be in his 40s anxiously shouted out commands.

This Shaman went by the name Love Shore. He was one of the higher-ups in Angel Corps. Much of the guild’s growth was overseen by him.

Two large Tundra Ursine charged toward Lil’ Gold in a pincer.

"GROOOAAR!” Lil’ Gold rammed into the the two Tundra Ursine, knocking them off their feet. He opened his massive maw and spewed out Dragon Breath toward the enemy backline, killing over a dozen Mages.

BANG! BANG! BANG! A shower of magic bombarded Lil’ Gold. Damage values ranging between 800–1,000 floated up above his head.

Nie Yan had Lafus cast Radiant Heal, restoring Lil’ Gold’s health back to full.

Love Shore looked over in Nie Yan’s direction, then locked onto Paladin Lafus who was surrounded by several dozen Warriors and Druids.

「Fuck! What a ridiculous heal! Mages, target that Paladin. Kill him first!」Love Shore shouted in voice chat. He discovered the heals from several dozen of their Priests couldn’t even compare to a single heal from Paladin Lafus! Just how did Nirvana Flame find this NPC servant!?

Even now, everyone still believed Paladin Lafus was Nie Yan’s servant. They had no idea he had a skill like Divine Recruitment.

The Mages focused their firepower on Paladin Lafus.

Paladin Lafus killed five Warriors and seven Druids in quick succession, wreaking havoc on Angel Corps’ front line. With him constantly topping himself up with heals, it felt like they were fighting an end boss.

Nie Yan didn’t stand idly by either. He dashed toward a Level 130 Tundra Ursine and plunged his dagger into its neck, then followed up with a knee strike. KRAACK! The sound of its neck breaking rang out in the air. It let out a mournful cry and collapsed to the ground.

After melee players advanced to their respective Master class, they could use their body to deliver powerful blows, enough to deal fatal damage to the enemy.

Nie Yan definitely wouldn’t go down easily. However, Suyo, Ronin, and the rest of the party was another story. Violet Night didn’t even attempt to fight. He turned tail and ran, only to be overtaken by two Thieves and mercilessly killed. The other two Orc Warriors were surrounded and killed by several Druids. Only Suyo, Ronin, and the Shaman were still alive.

「Do you guys think you can escape?」Nie Yan asked in voice chat.

「Doubt it. But it doesn’t matter. Even if we die here, I won’t have any regrets!」Ronin laughed. After all, not many people could claim they had fought side-by-side with Nirvana Flame.

「Don’t respawn at the graveyard immediately after you die. Wait half-an-hour, and you can probably run back to your corpses and revive. Like that, the experience penalty won’t be as severe,」Nie Yan said.

「W-wait, do you mean...?」Ronin was dumbstruck. If they could revive at their corpses, that’d indeed save them a lot of unnecessary headache. However, that was only possible if Nie Yan wiped out every last Angel Corps player here. Otherwise, they would be corpse camped.

「Yes. It shouldn’t be a problem,」Nie Yan said with absolute confidence.

「Old Three, do you still have that Resurrection Emblem?」Ronin asked the Shaman beside him.

「I do,」the Shaman replied after checking his bag.

「Good. Use it!」Ronin said without any hesitation.

Listening to this exchange, Nie Yan recalled such an item. Only Shaman Doctors could use it, and even then few would ever be able to. They were rather rare one-time use items. The drop rate was pitifully low and those that went up for sale in auction houses were sold for astronomical sums. This wasn’t something ordinary players could afford. The reason why this item was worth so much was simple. A Resurrection Emblem took away the need to run back to your corpse from the graveyard. The Shaman Doctor could set it to automatically revive them after a certain amount of time. After which they could revive their teammates with their own revive skills. So, this Resurrection Emblem reduced the risk of a total wipe.

「Since you guys have a Resurrection Emblem, that makes it easier. Just sit tight. You’ll be good to revive in half an hour,」Nie Yan said. The Resurrection Emblem made him think of something, but it was still hazy in his head.

With Ronin and Suyo covering him, the Shaman Doctor made a break for it into the forest. After running several hundred meters, he was eventually surrounded and killed by three Thieves.

BANG! BANG! BANG! A hail of spells rained down on Ronin and Suyo. Their bodies were lifted up from the ground and sent flying.

Your party member Ronin has died.

Your party member Suyo has died.

Nie Yan didn’t show the slightest reaction to these notifications. He locked his gaze onto the portly Shaman in the distance. He was familiar with the higher ups of Angel Corps. Out of all the players here, Love Shore definitely held the most sway.

Love Shore’s heart trembled, like a kind of intuition. He turned around and discovered Nie Yan was staring directly at him.

「Warriors, go up! Surround Nirvana Flame!」Love Shore hurriedly retreated into the middle of the back line. He anxiously shouted to the players around him, "Protect me!”

When Love Shore looked back at Nie Yan, he couldn’t find him anywhere anymore. An intense feeling of unease welled up in his heart.

Several dozen casters formed a human wall around Love Shore. He understood these players had no way of stopping Nie Yan. At best, they could serve as cannon fodder and buy him a precious few seconds to flee.

「Shit! Shit! Shit! Why won’t that damn Paladin and Golden Dragon die already? Damnit! Locate Nirvana Flame already! Hurry!」 Love Shore swept his eyes over the Shamans behind him.「Did you finish with the preparations? Druids, have you found out where that bastard is yet!?」

Buffing themselves with skills that raised their Awareness, the Druids started scanning the surroundings.

「Over there!」

One Druid discovered a hint of Nie Yan’s silhouette. However, an instant later, Nie Yan had already escaped their detection range.

「Love Shore, he’s heading over in your direction!」

Love Shore narrowed his eyes. Nirvana Flame, if you dare to come for me, I’ll make you pay for it with your life! He raised his staff and quickly pulled further back. Several Shamans planted down totems around him.

Nie Yan rapidly closed in on Love Shore. Three elven Mages were blocking his view.

Seeing Nie Yan getting closer, the three Mages raised their staffs and prepared to attack him.

Nie Yan suddenly accelerated, his silhouette turning into a blur as he left behind a trail of afterimages. He instantly arrived in front of the three Mages. PFT! PFT! PFT! Three lines of blood sprayed out into the air. Even as they dropped dead to the ground, their eyes were still wide open. They couldn’t comprehend for the life of them how Nie Yan’s speed had increased by so much from one moment to the next.

This kind of speed was enough to make all casters despair!

After killing the three Mages, Nie Yan had a direct path to Love Shore.

Love Shore quickly retreated back and waved his staff. BOOOM! A Storm Totem next to Nie Yan’s feet exploded, engulfing the immediate vicinity in electricity.

Gale Step!

Evading the attack, Nie Yan shot forward like a meteor. Stabbing out at lightning speed, he plunged Zennarde’s Sword into Love Shore’s heart.

Instant kill!

Love Shore was far too slow. He couldn’t possibly react in time.

As Love Shore collapsed to the ground, Nie Yan caught a glimpse of a cold smile on his face.

In the instant Love Shore was killed, a nearby Shaman Doctor targeted Nie Yan with Soul Shackles, preventing him from escaping with Unknown Transfer Scrolls.

"Die Nirvana Flame!”

Close to 40 Shamans all detonated the Storm Totems in the vicinity at once. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! A cacophony of explosions rang out, swallowing up Nie Yan in a deluge of crackling electricity.

The might of 40 Storm Totems exploding at once was extremely frightening. An uncontrollable storm of electricity swept out for more than 30 meters. The dazzling electricity lit up the entire forest. Around 30 Angel Corps players couldn’t escape in time and were instantly killed.

"Nirvana Flame is dead!”

"We did it! We killed him!”

The Angel Corps players erupted into cheers after personally witnessing Nie Yan getting swallowed up in the electricity. This was 40 Storm Totems! These Storm Totems were a Shaman’s most powerful offensive ability. When so many of them were used together, no matter how much health a player had or how high their defense, they would still die. They had finally ended a legend!

No matter how strong Nirvana Flame was, he was no god!

Nirvana Flame’s death would definitely become the most explosive piece of news in the server.

This would become an unforgettable moment! Their flawless joint assault would be recorded down into the history books!

"Keep watch over Nirvana Flame’s corpse. Don’t let him revive on his corpse!”

The electrical storm was still going strong. They had no idea where Nie Yan’s corpse was.

Chapter 746 - Revival

Everyone thought Nie Yan was dead. However, moments later their hopes were shattered as they spotted a silhouette leisurely walking out of the storm of electricity.

Crackling electricity danced around Nie Yan’s body, unable to harm him in the slightest. He appeared to be protected by a barrier of light.

Nie Yan was actually still alive!

Wrapped around in electricity, Nie Yan seemed like a god right now.

A heavy pressure bore down on the players of Angel Corps.

"I-i-impossible…”

"He-he’s still alive? Even after all that? H-how…?”

...

The players stared at Nie Yan like they were staring at a freak. They wondered if he even had a health bar. Perhaps he truly was invincible.

A sense of helplessness welled up in their hearts. The invincible legend lived on.

No one knew what to do against Nie Yan. The Warriors stopped in their tracks. The Mages forgot to cast their magic. They had lost all will to fight. It seemed like nothing they did against him worked.

To capture his death for the world to see, the Angel Corps players were all recording this moment. So, everyone got to see Nie Yan leisurely walking out into the open. He was truly awe inspiring.

A moment before the Storm Totems detonated, Nie Yan had protected himself with Adjudicator of God.

Even with so many Storm Totems exploding, Nie Yan wasn’t harmed in the slightest. One could imagine the mental blow dealt to the players of Angel Corps. Love Shore had died for nothing. Nie Yan had thoroughly crushed their morale.

Paladin Lafus and Lil’ Gold were unstoppable. Lil’ Gold was spewing out Dragon Breath everywhere, droves of players going up in flames. After chanting out an incantation, he called down a scorching hot meteor. BOOOOM! The surroundings were engulfed in a sea of flames.

Most of these players were already over Level 100. They certainly were no pushovers. However, they still had no way of defending against the unrivalled teamwork of Lil’ Gold and Paladin Lafus.

Paladin Lafus and Lil’ Gold left behind a trail of bodies in their wake. They were dominating and decimating the forces of Angel Corps.

"R-r-run!”

"Everyone, retreat!”

The battlefield was in shambles. There were corpses piling up everywhere. Almost 600 Angel Corps players had died already. The survivors all retreated and disappeared into the forest.

10 minutes of chaotic fighting later, calm finally returned.

Nie Yan examined himself. His health had fallen by a tiny bit, but it wasn’t by much. Lil’ Gold and Paladin Lafus’s wounds were far more serious. However, with Lafus’ overpowered healing, they would quickly recover back to mint condition.

After collecting all the equipment off the ground, Nie Yan sat down and recuperated. He waited for Ronin, Suyo, and the others to revive.

The corpse of the Shaman in Ronin’s party lay on the forest floor. Suddenly, a white light enveloped his body.

The Shaman’s fingers twitched. He opened his eyes and sat up. After reviving, he only had 500 health and his mana bar was completely empty. As he sat there recuperating, he spotted Nie Yan. He slightly bowed his head in greeting.

Nie Yan nodded in acknowledgement. Even though they hadn’t interacted much, he could tell this Shaman was an honest and straightforward person.

After the Shaman had recovered some mana, he stood up and walked over to Ronin’s corpse. A faint blue light gathered in his palms. About six seconds later, he raised his hands up to the sky in a prayer-like posture. In the next moment, a dazzling blue radiance wrapped around Ronin. His body twitched, and he got back up from the ground.

In similar fashion, one party member after another was revived by the Shaman, save for one person.

"Should I revive Violet Night?” the Shaman asked Ronin.

Ronin shook his head. "I’ve already kicked him out of the team.”

This incident was the final straw. Even if Violet Night was somewhat skilled, Ronin no longer wanted him on the team.

Ronin gazed around at the surroundings petrified. The previous lush forest floor was nowhere to be found. Now, there were corpses scattered all over the battlefield, and what little ground wasn’t covered by body parts, was scarred with scorch marks and craters.

Ronin, Suyo, and the others glanced at each other, their eyes filled with indescribable shock.

In such a short amount of time, more than half of Angel Corps’ 1,000+ players had died while the survivors had all fled. They gazed into the distance. Nie Yan was just peacefully sitting there, like nothing had happened.

Nirvana Flame really lived up to his reputation!

After Ronin’s party finished recuperating, they all walked over to Nie Yan.

"You know, we all had our suspicions that you were Nirvana Flame. After all, which Thief besides you could solo Level 180 Elites?” Ronin sighed in admiration.

Nie Yan faintly smiled, not taking Ronin’s words seriously. "There are at least three others in Asskickers United alone that can do the same.”

Ronin was dumbstruck. "You mean Sun, King of the World, and Mistaken Smile?”

"Oh, you’ve heard of them before?”

Ronin nodded. "Of course, who hasn’t heard the names of the four great Shadow Dancers in Asskickers United?” However, he had no idea Sun, King of the World, and Mistaken Smile were also capable of soloing Level 180 Elites. He was shocked. "Does that mean all Shadow Dancers can...?”

"I’m not too sure either, but I think more or less,” Nie Yan replied. In any case, soloing a Level 180 Elite was far from his limit.

"Wow. Makes me really want to become a Master too.” Ronin sighed.

"Let’s leave quickly. Who knows if Angel Corps will dispatch more forces here,” Suyo said in a concerned tone.

"Don’t worry. They don’t have enough Masters to spare for that,” Nie Yan unhurriedly said. In other words, even if Angel Corps did send more people, they would only end up as cannon fodder.

"I kicked Violet Night out of the team. I’m guessing information about the treasure map won’t stay a secret for much longer,” Ronin said. If the major guilds discovered there was a treasure trove here, they would definitely spare no efforts to obtain it. Even though a Level 130 Demonified Lord was an existence far too powerful to take on in the conventional way, there was no guarantee that others wouldn’t think of a special method to deal with it.

"I have a plan. I think it’s worth giving a shot. But we’ll need some help. Can you guys recruit some top rank Shamans? They have to be trustworthy,” Nie Yan said.

"If we have the funds, it’s definitely possible,” Ronin said. His social circle in the Satreen Empire was pretty wide.

"How much do you need?”

"The employment fee of a top rank Shaman is about 2,000 gold a day. How many do you need?”

"10 should be enough,” Nie Yan replied. 20,000 gold was a drop in the bucket for him. "Aside from the Shamans, I’ll also call over some people from Asskickers United.”

"Alright.” Ronin nodded. "We’ll start looking for people right away.”

Ronin and Suyo immediately got to work, contacting all their friends.

Ronin and Suyo seemed to be pretty well-connected. Nie Yan suddenly thought of something. "After seeing you guys together with me, Angel Corps definitely won’t let you off the hook. If you ever want a change of scenery, I’d be glad to have you in Asskickers United.”

Nie Yan believed this kind of offer was quite tempting, not to mention this was a personal invite from him. One had to know, countless players could only dream of entering Asskickers United. After all, it was a gathering place of experts, and the benefits were worth drooling over.

Ronin and Suyo glanced at each other.

Suyo shook her head with a small smile. "Thank you, but this is home. All our friends are here. Besides, it’s not like this is our first brush with Angel Corps. Our intel is pretty good. If they want to kill us, they’ll have to expend quite a bit of manpower and resources.”

"Took the words right out of my mouth.” Ronin brightly laughed.

Nie Yan nodded. He knew what Ronin and Suyo meant. They were already deeply entrenched in the Satreen Empire. Even though moving to the Viridian Empire and joining Asskickers United was tempting, there were still many hurdles to overcome. As people from a foreign nation, doing quests, buying items, talking to NPCs, everything would be much more difficult. They wouldn’t necessarily have a better life than in the Satreen Empire. At least here, they had their friends, sources of information, income, and so on.

"I understand,” Nie Yan said. He naturally wouldn’t force Ronin and Suyo to join Asskickers United.

"You know~ If you ever decide to establish a branch guild in the Satreen Empire, we’d definitely be willing to pitch in,” Suyo said.

Suyo’s bright eyes seemed to see right through Nie Yan. Her expression flashed with a hint of craftiness.

Nie Yan chuckled. Suyo was quite the intelligent lass. She had read his mind. He actually did have thoughts of establishing a branch guild in the Satreen Empire. The only problem was that this was enemy territory. Without any connections, it would be pretty much impossible.

"Establishing a guild is the simple part. As long as we have the funds, we can probably recruit 30,000 players within a month’s time,” Ronin said. He was fairly confident in his connections. However, he didn’t think Nie Yan would actually pay the money. So, he was just speaking thoughtlessly.

"How much gold would you need?” Nie Yan asked.

"Uhh… I guess like 300,000 gold to get things off the ground? It’s hard to say how much more we’ll need to continue expanding though,” Ronin gave his estimation.

"Alright, done. So long as you guys are willing to work on my behalf, I can give you the 300,000 gold right now. When we’re done here, you can start establishing the guild,” Nie Yan said after thinking for a moment.

Ronin was dumbstruck. "R-really? You’re not afraid we’re going to take your money and run?”

"Don’t doubt those you trust. Don’t trust those you doubt. I believe you guys are trustworthy. If you guys do take the gold and run away, I can only blame myself for being a bad judge of character,” Nie Yan said with a faint smile.

Ronin stared at Nie Yan in a bit of a daze, but he quickly snapped back to his senses. He was touched. Nie Yan had completely won him over. He couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. "No wonder Asskickers United is known for being unrivalled. I’m starting to understand why so many top experts are willing to stand by your side.”

Chapter 747 - Butcher Sark

For a guild to be truly united, a charismatic leader was indispensable!

Suyo turned to face Ronin. "If you establish the guild, we’ll all do our best to support you.”

Ronin nodded. "Alright, let’s do it. Establishing a guild isn’t that hard anyway. And with a backer like Nirvana Flame, it’ll be even simpler.”

Ronin’s party formed a contract with Nie Yan.

"What do you plan to call the guild?” Nie Yan asked.

"I already have something in mind, Heaven Song. What do you think? It’s the name of an old team of mine,” Ronin said.

"Heaven Song…?” Nie Yan mumbled in a bit of a daze, assailed by an indescribable feeling of shock.

"Huh? What’s the problem? Is the name no good?” Ronin asked. He didn’t understand why Nie Yan had such a strong reaction to it.

"No, it’s nothing.” Nie Yan shook his head. "The name is fine. Call it Heaven Song.” He wasn’t shocked because there was an issue with the name, but rather that he knew it. In the previous timeline, late into the game’s cycle a guild with this exact name popped up out of nowhere. They quickly rose to prominence, becoming one of the top three guilds in the entire Satreen Empire and controlling over 20 strongholds. Quick as they rose, so they too fell. They waged war against Angel Corps and ultimately lost, after which they disbanded. All that remained of Heaven Song was a rumour of their guild leader killing Soaring Angel in a duel.

As for whether the guild leader of Heaven Song in the previous timeline was also Ronin, Nie Yan had long forgotten. He never paid much attention to the matters in the Satreen Empire back then. After all, he was just a no-name player struggling for survival.

Nie Yan’s influence had already changed history. With the support of Asskickers United, would Heaven Song still go down the same path?

"Heaven Song, it has a nice ring to it. I like it!” Suyo said.

Nie Yan didn’t expect he would end up participating in the establishment of Heaven Song.

The corpses on the ground slowly despawned. After a while, some Shamans started arriving.

"Ronin, what did you call us for?” A tall Shaman walked up to Ronin and patted him on the shoulder. As he looked around, he spotted Nie Yan. Finding Nie Yan’s face a bit familiar, he lingered on it for a moment. Suddenly, his jaw dropped and his eyes widened in shock. He pointed at Nie Yan. "H-he… he… he…”

The Shaman couldn’t believe his eyes.

"Downfall, what are you stuttering on like an idiot for?” A different Shaman Doctor who had just arrived smacked his hand away. When he turned to look at Nie Yan, his mouth also gaped open like a goldfish.

"N-nirvana Flame?”

"I must be dreaming…”

Nie Yan looked over. All 10 Shamans had arrived. He nodded at them with a faint smile. "Nice to meet you all.”

"H-hello.” The Shaman called Downfall was the first to snap back to his senses.

"Ronin, is that really the Nirvana Flame?”

They found the situation hard to believe.

"In the flesh.” Ronin chuckled after seeing the reaction of the Shamans. He reacted pretty much the same way when Nie Yan revealed himself earlier.

After Ronin’s confirmation, they could hardly contain their shock.

"So, what did you call us here for?” The 10 Shamans all stared at Ronin. Since Nirvana Flame was here, the matter Ronin called them over for definitely couldn’t be simple.

"We need your help with a quest. It’ll probably take a day.”

"Is it dangerous?” Downfall asked.

"It’s pretty dangerous. We’ll definitely wipe, and not just once or twice. The pay is 2,000 gold. As for any deaths on the job, you’ll be compensated for your losses according to market rate,” Ronin replied.

2,000 gold for a day’s work was fairly decent. At their current level, they would already be overjoyed from making 500 gold a day.

Sure enough, having Nirvana Flame as an employer was something else entirely.

"I’m in.”

"Me too.”

None of them bothered to haggle. 2,000 gold was already an extremely generous offer. If they tried to ask for more, they would first have to file for a name change to Scrooge McDuck.

Ronin turned to Nie Yan. "They’re all brothers of mine. We’ve been friends since forever. You can trust them.”

Nie Yan nodded. Even though they hadn’t been in contact for long, he trusted in Ronin’s character. Since he claimed these people were his trusted brothers, there was no reason to doubt him.

"Oh man, if you introduce us like that, we’ll really have to give it 110% just to live up to your words!” Downfall bitterly smiled.

A while later, one human Thief after another arrived. More and more came until there were 190 in total. They were all top Thieves of Asskickers United. Sun, King of the World, and Mistaken Smile weren’t present. Sun and King of the World were still in the underworld. Meanwhile, Mistaken Smile was busy with a quest. However, there were still many high quality Thieves here, such as Hapless Frog and Tyrannical. Many of them only had a name within Asskickers United. Nie Yan and the other Shadow Dancers were simply too dazzling, completely overshadowing them. As soon as Asskickers United was brought up, people would think of players like Nie Yan, Sun, King of the World, and Mistaken Smile. Very few people knew any of the 190 standing before Nie Yan. However, even though they weren’t famous and could only be counted as second-rate players in Asskickers United, they weren’t any weaker than the top Thieves from other major guilds. After all, they had all improved their skills by learning from the best. Not to mention their equipment was excellent, almost all high level twinked gear.

"Boss, we’re here.” Hapless Frog walked over.

"Boss!”

The crowd of Thieves greeted Nie Yan. They were all excited.

Nie Yan nodded. "Start organizing yourself into teams. I want 19 Thieves for every Shaman Doctor.”

Everyone immediately began grouping up into teams.

Nie Yan had his people head to Orc King City to purchase Resurrection Emblems and distributed them among the Shaman Doctors.

Resurrection Emblem: Special Item

Description: Allows a Shaman Doctor to revive after a set amount of time, 10 seconds at the shortest and up to half an hour at the longest, with 500 health. Cooldown: 50 seconds.

Like this, although these 10 teams were no match for the Level 130 Demon Slaughterer, they would have no problem stalling it for a couple of minutes. Nie Yan would personally attempt to snatch away the treasure. As for whether he could escape its pursuit afterwards, that would be a test of his abilities.

"Let’s go.”

Their expedition team set off toward the settlement in the heart of the dark elf tribe.

...

Back in Orc King City, Soaring Angel had already received word of his expedition team’s defeat. He was gritting his teeth in anger.

"Where’s Nirvana Flame right now?” Soaring Angel asked. He truly felt powerless against Nie Yan. Watching the video of Love Shore sacrificing himself to bait Nie Yan, it was the same as all the other videos of players trying to kill Nie Yan. Even when all the odds were seemingly stacked against him, by some kind of miracle he would step out unscathed.

Nirvana Flame was behaving so brazenly in Angel Corps’ territory. Yet there was nothing Soaring Angel could do against him.

"According to our latest reports, he’s still in the dark elf tribe. Should we send people over?” Stone Splitter asked.

Soaring Angel shook his head. "Send a few Thieves to tail him. Let’s find out what they’re planning.”

Soaring Angel furrowed his brows. It would be pretty much impossible to kill Nirvana Flame by relying on normal methods. As Asskickers United continued to expand, Angel Corps’ advantage would slowly be chipped away at. If they didn’t do anything about this soon, what awaited them was slow and painful destruction.

"Boss, Sark just finished class advancing,” Stone Splitter said.

"Good, have him come to the guild headquarters.” Soaring Angel nodded. What made him feel a little better was that Angel Corps also had five Masters now, even if the number couldn’t compare to Asskickers United.

"He just received a quest. He can’t come,” Stone Splitter explained.

...

The dark elf tribe settlement. Nie Yan and the others strolled in right through the front entrance. Lafus raised his sword and buffed everyone with several blessings, sharply increasing their stats.

When the dark elves discovered Nie Yan and the others, they immediately rushed over.

Nie Yan had Lil’ Gold lead the vanguard, holding back the dark elves’ frontliners. One Explosive Counter after another swept out, sending the dark elves flying. Some tried to get past Lil’ Gold, but they were immediately intercepted by the Thieves of Asskickers United. They ganged up on the dark elves in groups of three to five, stun locking them to death.

This makeshift team swept through everything in their path.

They slowly drew closer to the center of the settlement.

"Boss, we just received some information from Orc King City. A Thief in Angel Corps called Sark successfully class advanced to a Shadow Dancer,” Hapless Frog said after looking at his chat.

"Sark?” Nie Yan recalled the name Butcher Sark. In the previous timeline, he had occupied the position of number one Thief in the Satreen Empire for the longest time. No other Thief in the Satreen Empire could rival him. Later on, he disappeared and slowly faded from the minds of players. At his peak, he was no less famous than the likes of Sun, Mistaken Smile, and Shadow Killer. It was just that his activities were mostly limited to the Satreen Empire. Most astonishing of all was Butcher Sark’s age. He was already well over 50 years old. Normally, after a person passed a certain age, their senses and physical abilities would dramatically decline. There were very few players over 40 that could make it to the top of the leaderboards. Sark was truly an enigma.

Sark’s nickname of butcher wasn’t for show. Even Sark had probably lost count of the number of people he had killed. His name was always red, but no other players had ever killed him.

Nie Yan recalled that Butcher Sark had indeed stayed in Angel Corps for a time in his past life.

An elven Shadow Dancer, huh… Nie Yan knitted his brows. Given the innate stealth advantage of elves, combined with the abilities of a Master-class Thief, Butcher Sark would undoubtedly be an incredibly difficult opponent.

Chapter 748 - A Meat Bun Thrown is Forever Lost

Even if it were Butcher Sark, a single Thief wouldn’t have much effect on the overall situation.

Nie Yan turned to Hapless Frog and Tyrannical. "How are you guys? Are you confident in taking on your class advancement quests yet?”

"Watchful Snail helped prepare us. We’re almost ready to do our class advancement quests. We’re just worried that our equipment isn’t good enough,” Hapless Frog said. He didn’t dare to boast.

Nie Yan examined Hapless Frog and Tyrannical. "Your gear is good enough. Don’t worry. Give it your all, and I’m sure you two will successfully become Shadow Dancers.”

"Really?” Tyrannical’s eyes lit up with excitement.

A lack of confidence was the main thing stopping Tyrannical and Hapless Frog from attempting their class advancement quests. If they failed, not only would they waste a large amount of time, but they would also have to wait several months to try again. So, they worked hard on raising their levels and improving their equipment to improve their chances of succeeding. Nie Yan’s words had undoubtedly given them the last push they needed.

Both Hapless Frog and Tyrannical were decently skilled players. The reason they failed to become Shadow Dancers in the previous timeline was partially their lack of good equipment and partially their lack of guidance. The guild had provided them with a lot of good equipment. Combined with what they got themselves from questing, and the quality of their gear was already quite high. On the skill side, they far surpassed their previous timeline counterparts. Sun, King of the World, and Mistaken Smile would go all out teaching trustworthy brothers like them. They had learned many things.

In the previous timeline, they were only a step away from becoming Shadow Dancers. If they still failed to become one in this life even with all the support they received, there was no hope for them.

"Boss! What about us? What about us?” several nearby Thieves asked.

Nie Yan gazed at these people, Transcendence, Flying Meatbun, and many more. These names were all familiar to him. They were Shadow Dancers in the previous timeline, though they only class advanced around Level 170-180. All of them had been recruited into Asskickers United by Guo Huai. With the help and guidance offered by the guild, they’d improved their skills considerably. They would also be future pillars of the guild.

"Wait until you guys reach Level 150–160. Afterwards, find Watchful Snail for some good equipment. You’ll be about ready to take on your class advancement quest then,” Nie Yan said.

"Level 150–160? That’s pretty quick!” Transcendence exclaimed. He was already Level 130. It would only take him a few months to reach level 150.

After hearing Nie Yan’s words, everyone felt hope and expectation overflowing through their bodies.

Ronin, Suyo, and the others’ hearts trembled. Was class advancing to Master class really that easy? Could they try as well?

Ronin suddenly recalled he had a skill that could peep on another player’s equipment. He secretly used it to inspect Hapless Frog and Tyrannical since Nie Yan said those two were ready to class advance.

After seeing their equipment, Ronin sucked in a breath of cold air. Hapless Frog had one piece of Level 100 Legendary equipment, five pieces of Level 100 Sub Legendary equipment, while the rest was all twinked Level 150 equipment. At the same time, he also carried around all sorts of special items and accessories with excellent properties. Tyrannical was pretty much the same, except he was up a piece of Legendary equipment and down two pieces of Sub Legendary equipment compared to Hapless Frog.

Thanks to the list Nie Yan previously provided that contained clues on the locations of Sub Legendary and Legendary-grade equipment, Hapless Frog and Tyrannical had found excellent equipment. This was why the quality of their gear was so high.

No wonder Nie Yan said those two could do their class advancement quests. Ronin could only dream about having equipment like this. It looked like he was still far off from tackling the Master class.

A moment later, the expedition team arrived outside the square. The six-meter high frame of the Demon Slaughterer entered their eyes. Its large fleshy, bat-like wings beat up and down continuously. But perhaps even more frightening was its greatsword burning green flames. They couldn’t help but suck in a cold breath of air. Thinking about how they were going to face a frightening existence like this, they lost complete confidence in themselves.

"This bastard looks like the damn herald of the apocalypse.”

"Y-yeah, you’re right. But what did you expect? All demons look like that. A Level 130 Demonified Lord. My sweet Jesus…”

"Do we know what skills it has?”

"I don’t think anyone knows, not even the boss. Why else would he call us over here?”

As everyone started chatting among themselves, Nie Yan turned to the Shamans and said, "We’ll be counting on you guys from here on out. Don’t hesitate to use the Resurrection Emblems. I’ve already had my subordinates purchase plenty from the various auction houses across the Satreen Empire. If you guys succeed, I’ll reward you with five Resurrection Emblems each.”

"Don’t worry. You can put your trust in us. To be able to work with you is our honour,” Downfall said.

All the Shaman were startled. They couldn’t help but admire Nie Yan’s generosity. Even the lowest quality Resurrection Emblem cost 150 gold. Five meant they would each be receiving 750 to upwards of over 1,000 gold.

20,000–30,000 gold was nothing to Nie Yan. Especially with a reward like Paternoster’s Warhammer on the horizon. He just hoped these Shamans would give it their all.

Nie Yan provided each of the Shamans with 10 Specialist Health and Mana Potions. A single Specialist potion could restore their health or mana to full. These should last them some time.

"Do you all have Hate Dispersal?” Nie Yan asked. Hate Dispersal was one of the most basic low-level skills of Shamans. Yet it was extremely useful at every stage of the game, since it reduced a monster’s aggro on the caster.

"Of course.”

"Good.” Nie Yan nodded. "Let’s get started.”

"Understood!”

The Demon Slaughterer flapped its wings as it roamed around. Its blood red eyes were enveloped in scorching hot flames.

After seeing the Demon Slaughterer’s eyes, everyone felt a chill run down their spine.

The 10 Shamans and 190 Thieves had already finished their preparations. Nie Yan had Lafus buff them with blessings that increased speed. As for the blessings that raised health and defense, he didn’t bother. Even if their health was increased by tenfold, they would still be instantly killed by the Demon Slaughterer.

Ronin, Suyo, and the others could only stand off to the side. They couldn’t provide any help in dealing with the Demon Slaughterer. However, they could at least serve as lookouts.

"Boss, we’re ready to go,” Hapless Frog said.

"Good.” Nie Yan nodded.

The Thieves and Shamans spread out across the square. Following Nie Yan’s instructions, they started making preparations to draw the Demon Slaughterer’s aggro. The initial phase was the most dangerous.

Gazing at the Demon Slaughterer, Ronin couldn’t help but ask, "Can't we kill it with numbers?”

Nie Yan shook his head. "We deal too little damage. I estimate we wouldn’t even overcome its health regeneration. Not to mention these types of bosses all have powerful AoE magic. If we try to force it, not even all 300,000 players in Asskickers United will be enough.” This was a Demonified Lord. It was on a completely different level from an ordinary Lord. Using conventional methods to deal with it wouldn’t work.

As for whether his plan would succeed, Nie Yan wasn’t too sure. All he could do was try.

Before long, he received word from the Thieves and Shamans. They were all in position.

"It’s about time I go too.” Nie Yan disappeared into stealth.

"Be careful,” Ronin said.

「You guys as well,」Nie Yan replied. He left Lafus and Lil’ Gold with Ronin’s party. So, there likely wouldn’t be any problems. Even if Angel Corps dispatched 1,000 players, they still couldn’t deal with the man and dragon duo. As for a 10,000-man force, there was no way this settlement could fit so many players, let alone the square.

Nie Yan arrived in an area about 100 meters away from the Demon Slaughterer. Hiding behind a statue in the square, he gazed up ahead. The Demon Slaughterer entered his vision.

Nie Yan could clearly see the Demon Slaughterer’s gruff skin as well as the sharp fangs protruding from its mouth. Its large size gave off a heavy pressure.

Nie Yan had no idea how far they could lure it away.

「Everyone, report your coordinates.」

「238.259.」

「291.850.」

...

Nie Yan looked around. The square looked completely empty. They had hidden themselves quite well. Based on their coordinates, he could tell where they all were.

「Begin,」Nie Yan ordered.

After Nie Yan gave his order, nothing seemed to happen. Suddenly, in the corner of the square about 300 meters away from the Demon Slaughterer, a Thief appeared. He dashed straight toward the Demon Slaughterer.

It was Flying Meatbun. Even though he knew he was sacrificial cannon fodder, he still couldn’t help but be nervous when facing the Demon Slaughterer.

"A meatbun thrown is forever lost. The saying really is true.” Flying Meatbun chuckled in a self-mocking manner.

The moment Flying Meatbun appeared, the Demon Slaughterer had noticed him. Even though he was quickly closing in, it didn't show any signs of movement.

200 meters, 150 meters, 100 meters... Seeing the Demon Slaughterer's large body, Flying Meatbun felt a cold sweat run down his back. He took out a Magic Bomb and threw it as hard as he could.

The Magic Bomb drew an arc through the air and landed 50 meters from the Demon Slaughterer.

BOOM!

The explosion finally got the Demon Slaughterer's attention. It flapped its wings then shot toward Flying Meatbun at an astonishing speed, like a flaming meteor.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!” Flying Meatbun cried out. He quickly turned tail and fled.

However, Flying Meatbun was too slow. the Demon Slaughterer slashed down with its greatsword, swallowing him up in raging flames.

−15,238

Flying Meatbun’s health bar went from full to empty in an instant.

This is just a silly reference to the idiom 肉包子打狗, which literally translates to, "Hitting a dog with a meatbun. It’s based on a story where a man hurls a meatbun at a dog to hurt it. Well, obviously a meatbun won’t hurt a dog much. Not only that, the man will be out of a meatbun, and the dog will have a free meal. One interpretation of the idiom is what’s thrown/given away cannot be taken back or is gone forever. Another interpretation of the idiom is making a situation worse. A favourite localization of mine for the idiom would be, "Congratulations, you played yourself.”

This is the max health of the Thief. In other words, an instant kill. This isn’t the maximum amount of damage an attack of the Demon Slaughterer does.

Chapter 749 - Kamikaze

After killing Flying Meatbun, the Demon Slaughterer was just about to turn back, when another Thief emerged some 50 meters away from it. He held up his crossbow and fired a volley of bolts.

Put put put! The bolts struck the Demon Slaughterer.

Miss!
−1
Miss!

The Demon Slaughterer had insanely high defense!

The Thief didn’t even put away his crossbow. He instantly turned to flee, but the Demon Slaughterer had already closed in on him and slashed down with its greatsword.

−16,283

Another Thief was killed.

Much in the same fashion, one Thief after another popped out of stealth and took aim at the Demon Slaughterer. None of them survived for more than a second. But little by little, they did manage to lure the Demon Slaughterer away from the center of the square.

The ground was littered with corpses. There was a trail of bodies leading out from the square. Before long, the casualties reached over 100.

The Demon Slaughterer brandished it greatsword, calling a shower of fireballs down onto the square.

"This is where we come in…” Downfall muttered to himself. He ran over to the fallen Thieves and cast Hate Dispersal on himself.

The Demon Slaughterer’s crimson eyes locked onto Downfall. It raised its greatsword in preparation to kill him.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Several arrows flew past the Demon Slaughterer’s eyes.

The Demon Slaughterer snarled. It looked toward the new perpetrator and spotted a Thief wielding a bow in the distance. It swung its greatsword and sent flames slashing towards him.

BOOM! The inferno swallowed the Thief up within a second.

Another Thief already took their comrade’s place.

When the Demon Slaughterer was distracted, Downfall started reviving the fallen Thieves. As gentle blue rays of light bathed their bodies, they got up one after another. After being brought back to life, they only had a sliver of health. Disappearing into stealth, they hurriedly retreated to a safe space to recuperate.

After discovering Downfall reviving the fallen Thieves, the Demon Slaughterer bellowed out in rage. With a wave of its greatsword, it sent a flaming, crescent-shaped slash flying towards him.

BOOOM! Downfall was knocked off his feet and sent flying.

The Thieves continuously attracted the Demon Slaughterer’s attention. As for the Shaman Doctors, they kept reviving the fallen on the ground. They had all set the timers of their Resurrection Emblems to 10 seconds. Even if they were killed, they would quickly revive. Then, they would down some Specialist Potions to recover their health and mana.

The Demon Slaughterer was starting to get flustered. No matter how many Thieves it killed, their seemed to be no end to them.

Since it only ever faced one Thief at a time, the Demon Slaughterer used ordinary attacks instead of AoE magic.

Occasionally, the Demon Slaughterer would also kill one or two Shaman Doctors. However, as soon it turned its back, they would resurrect and run away.

The Demon Slaughterer was slowly drawn farther and farther away until it was over 500 meters from the altar.

Nie Yan slowly approached the altar while closely paying attention to the Demon Slaughterer’s movements at the same time.

The Demon Slaughterer had no idea it was being taken for a ride. As long as it saw a Thief appear in its vision, it would charge toward them and swing down with its greatsword. The fact it had killed many of them before never once struck it as odd.

The 190 Thieves had all died at least two or three times by now, but in reality their losses weren’t that great.

The situation was better than Nie Yan expected. This sort of luring strategy was extremely effective.

Seeing the Demon Slaughterer being kept busy, Nie Yan smirked. He inched closer toward the altar. When he was about 60 meters away, he bumped into a membrane of light. It was a protective barrier!

As soon as Nie Yan made contact with the barrier, the Demon Slaughterer quivered. It swung its head around with a ferocious gaze. Then, with a flap of its wings, it shot toward him.

「Boss, be careful!」

「Boss, the Demon Slaughterer is after you!」

Seeing the Demon Slaughterer rushing towards the altar, Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He activated Gale Step and fled out of the area.

By the time the Demon Slaughterer returned to the altar, Nie Yan was long gone.

The Demon Slaughterer landed back on the ground. After patrolling the vicinity and not discovering anything out of the ordinary, it returned to a passive roaming state.

Seeing this scene, the faces of the expedition team members crumpled with despair. They spent so much effort luring the Demon Slaughterer away, but it was all for nothing in the end. All that hard work had gone down the drain.

「We failed...」

A dejected mood hung in the air.

「Boss, what do we do?」

Everyone gazed at Nie Yan. If he couldn’t come up with another idea, they could only return empty-handed.

「Don’t worry. There’s always a way,」Nie Yan comforted.

The altar was protected by a barrier. Even though the barrier wasn’t very strong, the Demon Slaughterer would be alerted to anyone that made contact with it and come rushing over.

The barrier had to be destroyed first!

However, the Demon Slaughterer guarded the barrier. Just what method could they use to destroy it?

Would they have to try luring the Demon Slaughterer away again?

Nie Yan was clear on one thing. If they lured the Demon Slaughterer away and took advantage of that time to destroy the barrier, luring it away a third time would be impossible. Even though its thoughts were simple, it wouldn’t be tricked by the same thing more than twice.

This wasn’t due to the Demon Slaughterer’s intelligence, but one of the settings in Conviction. Every boss monster was the same.

It was going to be incredibly difficult to destroy the barrier under the Demon Slaughterer’s watch.

Nie Yan suddenly recalled that Magic Bombs were effective against barriers.

A light bulb lit up in Nie Yan’s head. He immediately contacted Guo Huai.「Send 15 Priests and 285 Warriors over to me. Have them bring along 1,000 Advanced Magic Bombs.」

「Alright, I’m on it!」Guo Huai replied.

Apart from this, Nie Yan also had his subordinates bring over some more Specialist Health and Mana Potions and Resurrection Emblems.

Before long, another 300 Asskickers United members arrived.

"Boss, we’re here!”

"What do you need us to do, boss?”

The Warriors and Priests all greeted him.

Obtaining Paternoster’s Warhammer was truly difficult!

Nie Yan was planning something on a grand scale. If it were just Ronin’s party, they would have no way of pulling something off like this.

"Start dividing yourselves up! I want every team with 19 Warriors and one Priest!” Nie Yan commanded.

"Yes sir!” The Warriors and Priests started organizing themselves into teams.

Looking back at the center of the square, the Demon Slaughterer was still guarding the altar.

At Nie Yan’s command, 60 Warriors slowly started approaching the Demon Slaughterer. When they stood in position, Nie Yan gave the next order. "Now!”

Charge!

Charge!

The Warriors all rushed toward the Demon Slaughterer.

Seeing the the group of Warriors charging at it, the Demon Slaughterer raised its greatsword. These weak Warriors were nothing more than ants in its eyes!

At this moment, the Warriors chucked the Magic Bombs in their hands. A shower of small metal balls flew toward the altar.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The magic bombs exploded one after another.

The explosions and flames engulfed the Demon Slaughterer but failed to deal it much damage.

The Demon Slaughterer flapped its wings, then closed in on the Warriors. With a single slash, it instantly killed six Warriors.

Before long, the ground was littered with a pile of corpses.

The altar’s barrier trembled under the continuous explosions.

"Second squad, you’re up!”

Another group of Warriors charged forward without any regard for their lives.

Magic Bombs blotted out the sky. Another wave of explosions rang out.

"Third squad, go!”

"Fourth squad, charge!”

...

Ronin’s party watched everything unfold with dumbstruck looks on their faces. They couldn’t help but gasp in amazement. If were just them, they wouldn’t even dare to dream of employing such a method to destroy the barrier.

This was the advantage of owning a guild. So long as you gave the word, thousands up to tens of thousands of players would stake their lives for you. Of course, that was only possible if the guild members respected their leader. For someone like Nie Yan, a single command of his would see hundreds of thousands elites voluntarily step forward and sweep through everything in his path.

"The barrier is starting to falter,” Ronin said.

The rest of Ronin’s party looked over at the altar. Sure enough, under the explosions of the Magic Bombs, web-like cracks were rapidly spreading through the barrier. Finally, with a loud bang, it shattered into pieces.

No barrier could possibly endure such a bombing, no matter how strong it was!

However, Nie Yan’s losses also weren’t small. Apart from the several hundred thousand gold’s worth of Magic Bombs, more than half of the 285 Warriors had also died.

Nie Yan had paid a heavy price to destroy this barrier.

This was an unimaginable cost to ordinary players.

Ronin’s party and the Shamans in particular, what they were feeling right now couldn’t be described in words. This was the power of a guild!

Seeing everything play out as planned, Nie Yan didn’t show much of a reaction.「The barrier is destroyed. Thieves, continue luring the Demon Slaughterer away like before!」

「Understood!」

The Thieves immediately set off. Sticking to the same plan as before, they drew away the Demon Slaughterer bit by bit.

It was the same as before. However, getting the Demon Slaughterer’s attention was much easier this time around. The explosions from the 1,000 Magic Bombs had thoroughly enraged it. As soon as a Thief appeared, it would immediately charge toward his location. So, before long, it was led far away from the altar again.

Seeing the Demon Slaughterer leave the area, Nie Yan smiled. Now there’s nothing stopping us from reaching the chest!

Chapter 750 - Legendary Chest

The Demon Slaughterer ferociously attacked everything in sight like an enraged beast. The Thieves were gradually being overwhelmed.

「Boss, hurry!」

「We can’t hold on much longer!」

Nie Yan picked up his pace and arrived at the altar. Under the bombarding of the 1,000 Magic Bombs, it was partially destroyed, but the main structure still remained intact.

At the center of the altar was a round monument that towered several meters over the rest of the square. Engraved on the front face was a life-like relief of a demon. It had a sinister face, sharp fangs, and an icy cold expression. This was the totem of the dark elf tribe.

Nie Yan searched around the monument and found a large keyhole in the back. Looking in his bag, he retrieved the treasure key and slowly inserted it into the keyhole. It was a perfect fit!

RRRUMBLE! RRUMBLE! RUUMBLE!

The entire altar shook violently. A large slab of rock slowly shifted away and revealed a treasure chest.

Nie Yan had no idea which era this chest originated from. Judging from the heavy wear, it was from ancient times.

The moment the chest emerged, an overwhelming aura washed over Nie Yan.

This was an incredibly pure power, making one want to kneel down for it.

The items inside this chest definitely weren’t ordinary.

"Nice, no lock!” Nie Yan walked up and started opening the chest.

At this moment, the Demon Slaughterer seemed to sense something and turned to face the altar. Seeing someone opening the chest, it let out an enraged roar. The greatsword in its hand erupted with raging flames, seemingly aware of its wielder’s fury.

With a powerful beat of its wings, it took to the air and shot toward Nie Yan.

「Boss, be careful!」

「Boss, it’s coming back towards you!」

...

The expedition team members anxiously shouted out warnings in the voice chat.

The chest popped open. Nie Yan was about to check out its contents, when he heard the frantic cries in the voice chat. Turning his head, he spotted the Demon Slaughterer rapidly closing in on him.

Crap, no time to lose!

Nie Yan didn’t linger for a second. He reached his hand into the chest and grabbed onto something which transmitted an icy cold feeling into his palm. He had no idea what it was, only that it was made out of some mysterious metal. The chilly aura emanating from it made him shiver.

This object was quite heavy. After taking it out, Nie Yan had no time to grab anything else.

Nie Yan tossed the item into his bag. There were definitely more items in the chest. He wanted to stick his hand back in and grab them too, but there was no time.

The Demon Slaughterer had already raised its greatsword right above his head. Nie Yan had to get out, now!

Just as he was about to be swallowed up by the flaming sword, Nie Yan gave up on trying to retrieve the other items inside the chest. With a Shadow Waltz, he scrambled out of there.

This was a Rank 18 Shadow Waltz. Nie Yan’s body transformed into a blur as he sped away.

BOOM! The sword slash swept over his body, but he was completely unscathed.

Miss!

The Demon Slaughterer immediately went into pursuit. Its entire body was enveloped in blazing flames. It was thoroughly enraged by the theft of whatever item Nie Yan took out from the chest. At this moment, its aggro was solely focused on him.

While Nie Yan was still in a state of invincibility, he pulled out an Unknown Transfer Scroll and crushed it.

Like this, even the Demon Slaughterer couldn’t stop Nie Yan.

With a flash of light, Nie Yan disappeared.

"Wretched mortal! How dare you steal Paternoster’s Warhammer. You will pay with your soul!” the Demon Slaughterer spat out. It beat its wings, then took off for the south.

「Everyone, temporarily withdraw!」Nie Yan shouted. He had no clue where he was right now. The Unknown Transfer Scroll had teleported him to the middle of a green plain.

「Boss, the Demon Slaughterer flew away! It’s probably still chasing after you. Run!」Hapless Frog shouted.

The Demon Slaughterer is still after me? Nie Yan’s heart trembled. It seemed like he would need to start fleeing for his life. He suddenly recalled something and said,「There are still some items in that chest. After you’ve taken them out, revive the fallen, and wait for me in Orc King City.」

「Understood!」

Hapless Frog took the lead back at the square in the dark elf tribe. He had the Priests revive the fallen Warriors and Thieves. Moments later, everyone was alive and well again. His next objective was the chest in the center of the altar.

After taking Paternoster’s Warhammer, Nie Yan didn’t even have the time to close the chest. Hapless Frog stuck his hand inside and took out three pieces of Legendary-grade equipment as well as a crystal which sparkled with a sapphire light. Looking at the crystal, it was called a Shattered Divinity. He wondered what it was used for.

After confirming there was nothing else in the chest, Hapless Frog contacted Nie Yan.「Boss, I’ve retrieved everything in the chest.」

「What else was inside?」

「Three pieces of Legendary equipment, but only Elves can equip them, and a strange crystal,」Hapless Frog replied.

「Give those three pieces of Legendary equipment to Ronin. We can’t use them anyway. What kind of item is the crystal?」Nie Yan asked. He was curious as to why Hapless Frog would describe it as strange.

「It’s called a Shattered Divinity. There’s no clear explanation in the description.」

Shattered Divinity? Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He recalled the Shattered Divinity in his bag. It was one of the rewards he’d obtained during his Luminous Dancer class advancement quest.

Finding a Shattered Divinity in two seperate places. Nie Yan immediately sensed this item was anything but ordinary.

「Hold onto the Shattered Divinity for now. When I get back, give it to me,」Nie Yan said. He would investigate the use of this item later. Perhaps adding a second piece to his collection would give him a new clue.

After hanging up the call, Hapless Frog walked over to Ronin’s party.

"Hey,” Hapless Frog greeted.

"Hi,” Ronin greeted back.

"Our boss told me to give these three pieces of equipment to you. He also told me to hand over the pay for the Shamans to you as well. Please help us pay them on our behalf.” Hapless Frog handed over the three pieces of Legendary equipment and a large stack of gold to Ronin.

Ronin said with a coating of shame on his face, "We weren’t of any help with the Demon Slaughterer. We really can’t accept these three pieces of Legendary equipment. I think it’s better to return them to your boss.”

"I’m following the boss’ orders. He told me to give it to you, so take it. Besides, it’s not like we can use it anyway.”

If ordinary players saw three pieces of Legendary equipment, they’d jump at the chance to take it. However, Ronin’s party seemed to hesitate. Hapless Frog’s impression of them went up a few notches.

Under Hapless Frog’s continued insistence, Ronin accepted the three pieces of Legendary equipment, 200,000 gold, and 50 Resurrection Emblems.

Nie Yan was fairly straight and generous in how he conducted himself.

Thinking of the 300,000 gold Nie Yan previously gave him, Ronin made a decision in his heart. Since Nie Yan was interested in establishing a branch in the Satreen Empire, he would do his best to help him.

After finishing everything up, everyone activated their Return Scrolls and teleported back to Orc King City.

A moment later, several elven Thieves arrived in the square. When they saw all the destruction, they were dumbstruck. The ground was covered in scorch marks, craters, and many other traces of intense fighting. One could imagine what kind of battle took place here.

The Thieves searched around, but found nothing. The square was swept clean. Nothing was left behind. They walked over to the center of the altar. It was practically falling apart. Near the back was an enormous chest. They opened it, only to find it was completely empty.

They immediately reported back to Soaring Angel.

「What’s the situation?」Soaring Angel asked.

「Nirvana Flame’s Paladin Lafus and Golden Dragon were blocking the area, so we couldn’t move any closer. When those two finally left, the battle had already ended. The square in the center of the dark elf settlement is in complete shambles. Everything is swept clean. It seems like a really fierce fight took place here, but we didn’t find any traces of the boss’ corpse.」

「Logically speaking, if they killed the boss, its corpse would still be there.」Soaring Angel knitted his brows. Just what was Nie Yan doing in the dark elf tribe?

Soaring Angel’s senses were quite sharp when it came to quests. After the dark elf tribe was released, he immediately dispatched a 1,000-man expedition team to explore it. He didn’t expect them to be nearly wiped out by Nirvana Flame mid-journey. As for what secrets lay in the dark elf tribe, he still had no idea.

「We’ve searched everywhere. The boss’ corpse isn’t there. But we did find an open chest behind the altar in the center of the settlement. It was a Legendary chest,」the Elven Thief said.

「A Legendary chest!?」Soaring Angel sucked in a cold breath of air. Ever since the game was released, Angel Corps had only ever opened one Sub Legendary chest. As for a Legendary chest, they’d only ever heard about it in rumours. There was no concrete evidence they even existed, until now that was.

Hearing the news reported by his subordinate, Soaring Angel’s heart started growing more and more restless.

Meanwhile, Nie Yan used a Return Scroll to teleport back to Orc King City. He then retreated into an alley. He would probably be safe in the city. After all, it was protected by many powerful legendary NPCs. Killing a Level 130 Demonified Lord would be simple.

After entering Asskickers United’s secret hideout, Nie Yan made sure no one else was around, then impatiently took out his spoils of war.

It was a silver-white hammer!

When Nie Yan took out the hammer, the cold aura emanating from it and the silver-white white currents of electricity wrapped around it caused the air in the entire room to freeze over.

Chapter 751 - Sacred Object - Paternoster’s Warhammer!

Nie Yan’s eyes trembled as he stared at the properties of Paternoster’s Warhammer. He immediately took out the Death God’s Edge. These two items were on the same level, but he couldn’t use either for the time being. A sigh escaped his lips as he looked at their amazing stats in admiration.

There was a slight difference between Paternoster’s Warhammer and the Death God’s Edge. While Nie Yan couldn’t take advantage of any of the properties of the Death God’s Edge, that wasn’t the case for Paternoster’s Warhammer. By just having it in his bag, he would receive the effects of All Stats +30% and obtain the Frozen Fortress skill.

Frozen Fortress was a defensive skill. Its effects were quite powerful. It could defend Nie Yan against all damage for up to 30 minutes. This would give him plenty of time to regain his bearings and for his escape skills to come back off cooldown.

"All Stats +30%,” Nie Yan muttered. He checked his defense. It had already reached an astonishing 28,700. His health had reached over 37,000. When all the bonuses were added to his base attack power of 12,000, it even reach as high as 32,000!

Stats like these would leave many Warriors completely speechless. Even a Champion like Bladelight only had 20,000 defense.

28,700 defense with leather armour was roughly equivalent to 15,000 defense with heavy plate armour against physical attacks. As for magical attacks, it was equivalent to 26,000 defense with heavy plate armour.

In other words, Nie Yan far surpassed Bladelight in terms of pure defense against magical attacks. As for physical attacks, he was only slightly worse than Bladelight. Of course, Bladelight was much more durable with a health pool of 130,000.

When Nie Yan took out Paternoster’s Warhammer, a notification popped up.

Song of the Bramble Bird:
☐ Take Paternoster’s Warhammer to the Lost City of Barthe and find Morphest. He will inform you on how to obtain the Assassin’s Heart.

Lost City of Barthe? Nie Yan knitted his brows. He recalled Barthe was once a flourishing city. Until one day the legendary Demon Georgiona cursed it to sink into the underworld, like the sinking city of Atlantis. Records said the city used to be located somewhere in the north of the Satreen Empire.

Looking at the map, that meant Barthe had to be somewhere on the borders of the Demon Tribe in the underworld.

"Looks like I’ll have to make a trip to the underworld again,” Nie Yan muttered. After obtaining Paternoster’s Warhammer, the Song of the Bramble Bird quest was finally in full swing.

Paternoster’s Warhammer emanated a frosty aura, causing the surrounding temperature to drop and mist to form in the air. On the other hand, the Death God’s Edge emanated an aura of darkness which grew stronger and stronger over time. The two unique Sacred Objects seemed to have spirits of their own and started competing.

The clash of magical energies in the air grew more and more intense, spreading further out into the surroundings. If this were allowed to continue on for any longer, Nie Yan would have to start worrying about his own safety.

Nie Yan hurriedly stuffed the two items back into his bag. Only then did they calm down.

Just what sort of secrets did these two Sacred Objects contain? And how many more such items were there in Conviction? Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder.

People in the previous timeline had likely come across Sacred Objects as well. They were different from ordinary items. They couldn’t be deposited into storage and would drop upon death. He estimated any player that obtained one wouldn’t dare to show it off ostentatiously.

After staying in Orc King City for a while, Nie Yan received word from Swift Maple that a Level 130 Demonified Lord had appeared on the borders of the city’s territory. It had slaughtered six villages, and seemed to be searching for something. However, it didn’t dare to approach the city.

Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise. He didn’t think the Demon Slaughterer would be too afraid to enter Orc King City, taking its anger out on the inhabitants of the surrounding villages instead.

Given the strength of the Demon Slaughterer, as long as a legendary NPC didn’t take action, there was no one that could stop it.

Nie Yan wondered when the Demon Slaughterer would give up.

Nie Yan suddenly had an idea. His lips curved into a devious smile. He sent Swift Maple a message.「Swift Maple, do you have a way to sneak me into one of Angel Corps’ strongholds?」

「Sneak you into one of their strongholds? How long do you plan to stay there?」

「About a day or two.」

「That’ll be tough. Even though Angel Corps’ strongholds are open to the public, they restrict the entry of any unaffiliated human players from entering.」

Nie Yan knitted his brows. Angel Corps strictly controlled those who could enter their strongholds. It would be difficult for him to walk in through the front entrance. It appeared he would have to rely on his old and tested method of sneaking in!

「I’m planning to infiltrate the Clemenci Stronghold. Help me get a map with a layout of its defenses.」

「W-what? No, absolutely not! That’s way too dangerous. Guo Huai made me responsible for your safety. I can’t let you take such a huge risk,」Swift Maple said. Dying was a common occurrence for ordinary players. They could simply revive, and everything would be fine. However, Nie Yan was a living legend among players, having never suffered defeat even once. If he died, it would be an immense blow to Asskickers United.

「Don’t worry. I’m not going to siege the stronghold, only sneak in. There won’t be the slightest danger. Just give me the data I asked for, and I’ll handle Guo Huai.」

「I-I see… Fine.」Swift Mapled nodded after hesitating for a long time.

Angel Corps had already shifted their main guild headquarters over to the Clemenci Stronghold north of Orc King City.

This was only a Basic Stronghold. However, it had such a strong geographical location that that didn’t matter. Its first layer of defense were the several Angel Corps controlled strongholds in the neighbouring maps; no enemy could get close without going through those first. Second came its placement. Located in the middle of a ravine, sandwiched between two precipitous cliff walls, the only way in was up a steep incline from an extremely narrow plain. This made it practically impossible to siege.

Originally, Angel Corps’ guild headquarters was located in an Intermediate Stronghold. However, after Nie Yan became the lord of the Abernathy Great Grasslands and established Okoron which was rapidly expanding every day, Soaring Angel became uneasy. So, he transferred the guild headquarters over to a more secure place, the Clemenci Stronghold. After which he heavily fortified its defenses, erecting numerous arrow towers and cannons on top of the surrounding precipices. He had invested at least three times as much gold into the defenses of the Clemenci Stronghold as Nie Yan had into the Cripps Stronghold. Of course, it still couldn’t compare to Okoron.

Before long, Swift Maple got back to Nie Yan with a map of the defensive layout of the Clemenci Stronghold in addition to another map of the surrounding topography.

These two maps were extremely detailed, leaving nothing to be desired.

「I heard you’re planning to infiltrate the Clemenci Stronghold,」Guo Huai said.

「Yeah.」Nie Yan nodded.

「Be careful. The Clemenci Stronghold is different from other strongholds. I’ve seen the layout of its defenses. It’s like a porcupine. Taking it down won’t be easy. Soaring Angel invested an enormous sum of gold into this stronghold. Its defenses are on par with that of an Intermediate Stronghold, and its population density is also high.」

「Don’t worry. Since when have I ever gotten myself killed? Even if I’m discovered, I can easily escape. They won’t dare to aim their cannons toward the stronghold.」

「Sigh… I knew I couldn’t stop you. Fine, keep in touch and be safe.」Guo Huai bitterly smiled.

After looking over the map of the defensive layout of the Clemenci Stronghold, Nie Yan was also taken aback. It appeared Soaring Angel had really gone all out here. There wasn’t a single real world shopping district inside. There were also very few residential houses. Apart from important buildings like the guild headquarters, the rest of the free space was used to construct arrow towers and cannons. In terms of cannons alone, there were over 1,000. As for arrow towers, there were so many it was difficult to count.

Angel Corps’ engineering division wasn’t that far behind Asskickers United’s. In fact, in terms of manpower, they even surpassed Asskickers United. It was just that they lagged behind when it came to high rank blueprints. This was thanks to Delfina, the NPC slave Nie Yan recruited, who could duplicate blueprints.

In terms of number of catapults, no other guild could compare with Asskickers United. Their production ability was astonishing to say the least. As for Angel Corps, they focused all their energy into magic cannons. They had over 3,000 cannons in total, spread out across their various strongholds.

Seeing the Clemenci Stronghold’s defenses, Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel somewhat dejected. When he launched a war against Angel Corps in the future, it would pose quite the challenge to take this stronghold down.

Nie Yan double checked the path he was going to use to infiltrate the stronghold. He had also prepared some necessary consumables.

「Guo Huai, send a few Thieves to keep track of the Demon Slaughterer's location,」Nie Yan said. He didn’t want to be killed by it while en route to the Clemenci Stronghold.

Nie Yan estimated it would take him about 10 minutes to reach the Clemenci Stronghold on the Darkwing Dragon. After all, it wasn’t too far away. He just needed to be a bit careful on the way.

Finishing his preparations, Nie Yan made his way to the outskirts of Orc King City. After finding a secluded spot, he summoned the Darkwing Dragon.

After giving it a special medicine, most of the injuries it had sustained during the battle with Necromancer Vorderman had recovered. Even though it still needed some time for a full recovery, flying wouldn’t be a problem.

Nie Yan hopped onto the Darkwing Dragon’s back. With a flap of its wings, it took off into the air and disappeared behind the clouds.

Chapter 752 - Spectral Dancer

The guild headquarters in the center of the Clemenci Stronghold. The conference hall covered a 10 by 10 meter area. Only the core members of Angel Corps were allowed entrance here.

The furnishings were simple and clean. Wearing azure leather armour and carrying a longbow on his back, Soaring Angel walked into the room. He turned to Stone Splitter beside him and asked, "How goes it? Have you made any progress in mastering your Master class skills?”

"I have, but it’s not enough. After watching the video of the fight between Lei Su and Bladelight, I feel like I’m still lacking,” Stone Splitter said in a somewhat ashamed tone. Asskickers United’s players were far ahead of them in terms of comprehending the mysteries of their respective Master classes.

"Do we have no way of digging up more information about Master classes from them?” Soaring Angel knitted his brows. Knowledge about Master-class skills and the locations of Sub Legendary and Legendary-grade equipment were the most strictly controlled secrets of Asskickers United. It was pretty much impossible to obtain this information, unless one of their top rank players defected. However, no matter what kind of tactics Angel Corps employed, they failed to lure over any of Asskickers United’s top experts. Though they had successfully poached away quite a few second-rate players, these players were precisely that–second rate! Why would anyone entrust them with important information?

Stone Splitter shook his head.

"Is Sark back yet?” Soaring Angel asked.

"He just finished his quest. He’s on his way right now,” Stone Splitter replied.

Before long, a player walked into the hall. He was about 170 cm tall with a slim build. His appearance was very different from the ordinary youthful-looking elves. The wrinkles on his face showed his old age.

This old man was the famed Butcher Sark!

Sark earned the nickname the butcher because he would slaughter any and all players that got in the way of something he set his sights on. For example, he’d once wiped out a team of 100 players for attempting to kill steal a boss he was hunting.

Sark was already over 50 years old, but his gait was still firm and stable. Though as an elf player his appearance was made to look more youthful, his skin was still covered in wrinkles. His hands were slim and bony but seemed to brim with strength like the talons of an eagle. His eyes were slightly sunken into their sockets with noticeable crow’s feet around them. However, his pupils shone with a clear vigor unusual for a man his age.

"Sark, you’re back. How did the quest go?” Soaring Angel greeted with a warm smile.

"It’s finished.” Sark lightly nodded, not caring in the slightest for the friendly airs Soaring Angel was trying to put on. If not for the generous benefits, he would’ve never joined Angel Corps, let alone stick around. He preferred to act as a lone wolf. However, joining a guild did have its merits, allowing him to advance much more smoothly. After all, no matter how strong a person was, they couldn’t compare to the might of a guild.

"I heard it was a legendary quest? The reward must’ve been pretty good, no?”

"Yes. I became a Spectral Dancer,” Sark replied.

Hearing Sark’s words, Soaring Angel’s heart trembled. Sark’s cold attitude always rubbed him the wrong way, but right now what mattered the most was finding out more about this quest. Still all smiles, he asked, "Spectral Dancer? Is that the next class advancement after a Shadow Dancer?”

"No, it’s more like a higher rank title. Like how Nirvana Flame is a Luminous Dancer and Mistaken Smile a Shadow Strifer. These titles are all roughly on the same level.”

Soaring Angel’s eyes widened in surprise. "This information… that Nirvana Flame is a Luminous Dancer and Mistaken Smile is a Shadow Strifer, where did you hear about it? I’m pretty sure Asskickers United hasn’t revealed anything about this.”

"Some NPC mentioned it,” Sark replied. Soaring Angel didn’t even know this much? Angel Corps’ intelligence network was too lacking.

Soaring Angel’s heart sunk. He had no idea how to deal with Asskickers United’s Shadow Dancers. Just Sark alone wasn’t enough. He had carried out a recruitment campaign that spanned the entire Satreen Empire, offering extremely generous treatment to any top expert willing to join. However, the results were less than satisfactory. Although he had managed to pull in someone like Sark, Angel Corps’ lineup of Masters still paled in comparison to that of Asskickers United.

"Boss, Drifting and Cruel Edge are here.”

At this moment, two players walked into the hall.

Cruel Edge was a Tauren Shaman. He ranked in the top three of Angel Corps, right up there with Sark and Soaring Angel. In PvP, he held an 80% win record versus Soaring Angel and a 30% win record against Sark. However, it had to be said that his record against Sark came mostly down to class differences.

Naturally, Cruel Edge’s position in Angel Corps was only second to Soaring Angel. Soaring Angel had once asked him to become the vice guild leader, but he declined, citing that he didn’t want to deal with guild affairs. He was the fourth Master in Angel Corps. However, the class advancement quest for Shamans was much more difficult than other classes. They had their own unique system.

"All five of our Masters are finally here,” Stone Splitter exclaimed.

"We’re still a far ways off from equalling Asskickers United. I recently heard that Painted Muslin and One Strike Vow completely their class advancement quests, becoming their 19th and 20th Masters. That means Asskickers United has four times as many Masters as we do,” Cruel Edge said.

Soaring Angle felt his head ache. It was extremely difficult for them just to gain even one more Master. There were plenty of members ready to undertake their class advancement quests, and many did. However, the failure rate was over 99%. Even after so long, they’d only gained a few Masters. On the other hand, they were hearing about so and so becoming Masters in Asskickers United all the time. The gap was getting wider and wider.

Catching up to Asskickers United seemed nigh impossible. Soaring Angel couldn’t help but feel dejected.

"Even if they have more Masters than us, if they want to take down the Clemenci Stronghold, it won’t be so simple. I already have a way of dealing with them. Holding the stronghold absolutely won’t be a problem!” Soaring Angel proclaimed.

"The mega cannon is complete?” Cruel Edge asked in surprise.

"It’s already in the final stages. But what I’m talking about isn’t the mega cannon,” Soaring Angel said.

Cruel Edge was curious. Just what did Soaring Angel have that could deal with Masters? After becoming Masters themselves, they came to realize all the more how powerful Masters were. Asskickers United had so many Magisters. How was the Clemenci Stronghold supposed to defend against their destructive power?

"Since all five of us are here, I’m planning to organize an expedition team and set out for Fengris. Let’s get ready.”

Cruel Edge, Drifting, Sark, and Stone Splitter nodded.

Soaring Angel passed down an order. Before long, all the elites of the guild started gathering towards the Clemenci Stronghold.

...

Nie Yan rode on the Darkwing Dragon through the sky. As he examined its wounds, he noticed the vast majority of them had already recovered, with new scales growing over the fresh flesh. He was surprised to discover the colour of these scales was even deeper and more pure than before.

The Darkwing Dragon had also grown noticeably in size, and its muscles seemed to be firmer.

Even though the Darkwing Dragon emanated a powerful darkness aura, Nie Yan could also sense a hint of death energy mixed within it. This was a type of corrosive power. The energy was faint and covered up by the darkness energy. But as the owner of the Darkwing Dragon, he could sense these minute changes.

Nie Yan didn’t expect the Darkwing Dragon to undergo such a transformation.

It was probably because Necromancer Vorderman’s death energy and the Darkwing Dragon’s darkness aura shared a common origin. This was why the Darkwing Dragon could survive in Necromancer Vorderman’s death energy. In fact, it had grown stronger from the encounter.

Though the Darkwing Dragon was still suffering from the injuries sustained in the battle with Vorderman, it had also gained a lot from that fight. It even started showing faint signs of ranking up. A rank 8 flying mount! Nie Yan’s eyes lit up with expectation. In the previous timeline, the strongest flying mount was Heaven Breaker’s Rank 9 griffon. One had to know there was an unsurpassable gap between a griffon and dragon. Dragons were high rank existences while griffons were ordinary mounts.

Nie Yan was only two to three minutes away from the Clemenci Stronghold. For the sake of not being discovered by Angel Corps’ players, he recalled his Darkwing Dragon and dropped down from the sky.

Nie Yan didn’t dare to imitate Bladelight, Lei Su, and Smoke Stub and land in the middle of enemy territory at full speed. Seconds before reaching the ground, he activated the Featherfall ability and slowed his descent to a crawl.

After landing on the ground, Nie Yan activated Gale Step and sprinted off toward the Clemenci Stronghold.

「Nie Yan, are you alright? I just received word that all the elites of Angel Corps are gathering towards the Clemenci Stronghold,」Guo Huai anxiously messaged. He thought Nie Yan was already in the Clemenci Stronghold and had been discovered.

「I’m not even in the Clemenci Stronghold yet. What’s Soaring Angel planning?」Nie Yan knitted his brows. It seemed he had come at a bad time.

「Swift Maple still hasn’t reported anything back. Soaring Angel hasn’t told them anything. They’re probably going to run a dungeon or explore a map,」Guo Huai said. After hearing Nie Yan wasn’t in the Clemenci Stronghold, he breathed a sigh of relief.「Since there are so many experts gathered, I think you should hold off for now and go there some other time.」

Nie Yan rubbed his chin.「Since I’ve already come all the way here, I can’t just leave without giving them my greetings, can I?」

Guo Huai knew he couldn’t dissuade Nie Yan. He could only have Swift Maple pay close attention to the situation in the Clemenci Stronghold. He didn’t know why, but an uneasy feeling crept up on him.

Nie Yan dashed through the forest before arriving in a ravine. Looking up in the distance, the Clemenci Stronghold’s towering walls were already in view.

Sark reminds me of the protagonist of this manga: The Best Assassin, Incarnated Into a Different World’s Aristocrat.

Chapter 753 - Stronghold Besieged

60-meter high walls lined with large magic cannons surrounded the Clemenci Stronghold. The dark and foreboding muzzles of the cannons pointed toward the outside.

In the technological field of magic cannons, Angel Corps was one step ahead of the competition. According to the data from Swift Maple, their magic cannons had a minimum field of range of 1,800 meters, with their newest ones capable of firing over 2,000 meters.

This kind of defense was astonishing to say the least. After losing nearly all their strongholds in the battle against the Monet Financial Group, Asskickers United couldn’t launch an offensive against Angel Corps for the time being. Taking down this kind of stronghold with just a few Masters wasn’t possible. Even though Asskickers United had many Magisters, AoE Forbidden Magic could perhaps destroy a few of the less important surrounding structures, but damaging the stronghold’s core was impossible. Especially if the stronghold’s defensive barriers were activated.

Nie Yan arrived outside the base of the Clemenci Stronghold. The entrance was sealed shut.

The Clemenci Stronghold was unique. Unlike most strongholds which had real world shopping districts and flourishing commerce among players, here all businesses were barred from setting up shop. This was purely a military base. Only guild members were allowed entry. Furthermore, players didn’t enter through the front entrance but rather by teleporting inside through the transfer point.

The Clemenci Stronghold’s security was extremely tight.

「Nie Yan, the Demon Slaughterer is flying towards the Clemenci Stronghold,」Guo Huai warned. The Thieves he dispatched had located the Demon Slaughterer’s whereabouts.

Wow, that’s faster than I expected! Nie Yan’s heart trembled. I should sneak into the Clemenci Stronghold quickly!

After finding a relatively remote corner, Nie Yan activated the Web Crawler Ring and started slowly climbing up the stronghold’s walls.

Nie Yan was as nimble as a house gecko. The 60-meter high walls posed no obstacle to him.

There were many players patrolling the walls. They were chatting idly, oblivious to an enemy player sneaking by them only a few meters away.

After making his way past these patrolling players, Nie Yan leaped off the other side of the wall and landed on the ground. He was already inside the Clemenci Stronghold.

Nie Yan hid among the buildings in the stronghold. He slowly made his way toward Angel Corps’ guild headquarters. Since he was already here, there was no harm in checking the situation out.

Nie Yan’s shock grew deeper the more he moved through the stronghold. This place was like a labyrinth. If it wasn’t for the detailed map Swift Maple provided him, he would have a hard time finding his way around. Every building was placed with a specific purpose in mind. There were countless ballistae and other war machines, their combined might something no enemy would willingly face.

About 10 minutes later, after passing numerous winding and twisting paths, Nie Yan came out of an alleyway. Looking up ahead, a grand and imposing building entered his vision.

This building was crafted out of white stone. It looked solemn and dignified. According to the marker on the map, this was Angel Corps’ guild headquarters.

At this moment, the elites of Angel Corps were arriving from all over. They gathered outside the entrance of the guild headquarters. There were about 5,000 players altogether. They were idly chatting and talking with one another, a shared curiosity as to why Soaring Angel had summoned them here.

Soaring Angel and the other four Masters walked out of the guild headquarters.

When Soaring Angel appeared, all the players quieted down. The entire square became dead silent.

Five Masters and 5,000 elites. Everyone realized this matter wasn’t simple.

"Today, we’re going to explore a new map. If you don’t have any important business, put it aside. Everyone, prepare Advanced Potions…” Soaring Angel spoke. Angel Corps was starting to fall behind to Asskickers United. For the sake of catching back up, they had to be proactive in their efforts by exploring more new maps, obtaining more high level equipment, and so on.

Soaring Angel was only half-way through his speech, when a player rushed over. "B-b-boss, b-bad news!”

Soaring Angel knitted his brows. "What?”

"A Level 130 Demonified Lord appeared outside our stronghold! It’s the same one that massacred several villages on the border of Orc King City’s territory!”

Hearing this news, the crowd immediately went into an uproar.

"W-what!? Why would the Demon Slaughterer come here!?”

"Right! That doesn’t make any sense!”

This wasn’t the first time they experienced one of their strongholds under siege by a boss. Back when they first occupied the Silverlight Stronghold, a Level 160 Variant Lord had attacked them. It considered them intruders on its territory. After a back and forth battle for more than a week, they finally managed to get their magic cannons and catapults in place and took care of it.

Every effect had a cause. A Demonified Lord wouldn’t come to the Clemenci Stronghold for no reason.

"Where is it right now?” Soaring Angel asked in a grim tone.

"It’s already attacking our walls!”

Soaring Angel sank into deep thought. None of them had provoked a Demonified Lord. Yet one had travelled all the way over to the Clemenci Stronghold, where there guild headquarters just happened to be located. Recalling Nie Yan’s recent appearance in the Satreen Empire, the dots quickly connected.

"Activate the guild’s sealing formation! Guard the transfer point! Absolutely do not let anyone come near it! Have everyone make a sweep of the stronghold. See if anyone has sneaked in! You four, come with me! We’re going to check out the walls!” Soaring Angel said.

If the sealing formation was activated, that meant no one could leave the Clemenci Stronghold.

The 5,000 players in the square immediately set off.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The sound of something smashing into the walls rang out through the air. Nie Yan faintly smiled. Since the Demon Slaughterer had come, he would check out the situation. The fighting outside the stronghold entrance was extremely fierce. With the Demon Slaughterer’s strength, it wouldn’t be easy for Angel Corps to take it down.

「Boss, be careful. It seems like Soaring Angel found out you're here. He’s already activated the sealing formation and dispatched everyone to find your whereabouts,」Swift Maple said.

「Got it. Thanks for the head’s up!」Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Soaring Angel’s senses were quite sharp, having actually guessed he was here! It seemed like he would have to be more careful going forward.

Nie Yan was in the vicinity of the Angel Corps guild headquarters. Seeing so many players rushing over to the walls, he grew curious. He quietly followed them. Perhaps he could fish up some easy benefits.

An enormous silhouette appeared outside the walls of the Clemenci Stronghold. It was the Demon Slaughterer, who was searching high and low for Nie Yan.

After discovering the Demon Slaughterer, the players on the walls panicked. They immediately used the cannons on the walls to fire at it.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Scorching iron shells struck the Demon Slaughterer. The attacks barely dealt any damage, but plenty enraged it. It slashed down with its greatsword, carving out a large chunk of the wall.

The players on the walls attempted to put up a resistance. The fighting immediately intensified. The Demon Slaughterer kept attacking the walls, destroying more and more of it, until it created a large enough breach to step in.

The arrows towers around the walls immediately carried out a fierce counterattack, sending a dense hail of arrows flying towards the Demon Slaughterer.

−893
−927
−825
…

A long string of damage values floated up above the Demon Slaughterer’s head. The damage these large siege weapons dealt was considerable.

This only further enraged the Demon Slaughterer. It started wreaking havoc, turning the buildings in the surroundings into a pile of ruins.

Before long, Soaring Angel and the others arrived. Their mouths went wide in shock as they looked at the walls. Standing atop a large pile of rubble, the Demon Slaughterer looked like a destroyer from hell.

One shell after another struck the Demon Slaughterer, only slightly hindering its movements. Despite the concentrated assault, its health had only fallen by 20% so far.

Seeing the Demon Slaughterer, everyone couldn’t help but suck in a cold breath of air. So this was a Level 130 Demonified Lord? Too frightening!

The Demon Slaughterer rammed into an arrow tower, causing it to slowly lean over before crashing into the ground and joining the pile of rubble.

"Boss, what do we do?” a player anxiously asked Soaring Angel.

"Drifting, Stone Splitter, Sark, and Cruel Edge, follow me. The rest of you, stand back and wait for my command!” Soaring Angel quickly ran behind the Demon Slaughterer. He took out five arrows from his quiver, notched them on his bow string, then fired. Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Five arrows streaked through the air.

Piercing Arrow!

Put put put! Five arrows struck the Demon Slaughterer’s back.

−701
−629
−686
…

Soaring Angel’s attacks were fairly effective.

After two volleys of Piercing Arrows, the Demon Slaughterer finally shifted aggro to Soaring Angel. It let out an enraged roar, brandished its greatsword, and chased after him.

Soaring Angel was pretty courageous. He actually dared to draw the Demon Slaughterer’s aggro in this situation. Whether he could escape its pursuit was another story.

Nie Yan activated Gale Step, closely following the action. No matter who died first, Soaring Angel to the Demon Slaughterer’s pursuit or the Demon Slaughterer to the bombardment from the Clemenci Stronghold’s cannons, he would snatch up whatever items dropped. He definitely couldn’t allow anything to fall back in the hands of Angel Corps!

At the same time, Nie Yan didn’t dare to get too close. The Demon Slaughterer was so stubbornly pursuing him likely because he had Paternoster’s Warhammer in his possession. He wanted to avoid having the aggro shifting back to him.

Chapter 754 - Impasse

Soaring Angel repeatedly fired arrows from his bow toward the Demon Slaughterer. The other four Masters didn’t stay idle either. Drifting waved his staff and bombarded it with magic.

Stone Splitter charged up to the Demon Slaughterer. He didn’t attack it, only taking a defensive stance to hinder its movements.

Cruel Edge started planting down trap totems all over. Every step the Demon Slaughterer took, it would set off one of them. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The explosions greatly hindered its movements despite not dealing much damage.

As for Sark, he’d disappeared completely. No one knew where he was, though likely somewhere in the vicinity while hidden in stealth.

"Wretched humans!” the Demon Slaughterer roared out in anger. It slashed down with its greatsword, sending a crescent-shaped sword beam flying towards Soaring Angel and Drifting.

BOOM! A large gash was carved out of the ground. In the instant the slash came down, Drifting teleported himself and Soaring Angel 60 meters away. They continued attacking the Demon Slaughterer with arrows and magic.

The Demon Slaughterer’s movements were greatly obstructed by the buildings in the vicinity. It was also taking enormous damage from the relentless assault of the arrow towers and cannons.

What concentrated firepower! Cannon shells and arrows were flying everywhere, blotting out the sky.

The Demon Slaughterer’s health fell to 70%. Seeing this scene, Nie Yan estimated it would be dead in about another half an hour.

If it were the wilderness, perhaps the Demon Slaughterer could display its full might. However, the Clemenci Stronghold was a military base constructed for players, not for six-meter tall giants. Its movements were greatly hindered while it had no room to defend against the onslaught of attacks. This heavily fortified stronghold turned out to be the bane of the Demon Slaughterer.

Soaring Angel successfully attracted the attention of the Demon Slaughterer in an attempt to minimize the damage being dealt to the surroundings as much as possible. His efforts were showing effect.

The Demon Slaughterer occasionally stopped to look around for traces of Soaring Angel. The many buildings in the surrounding prevented it from charging like it normally would in an open space. Meanwhile, Soaring Angel darted between the alleyways, shooting out a flurry of arrows whenever he came out in the open. The Demon Slaughterer had no way of keeping track of him.

It was a game of cat and mouse. The Demon Slaughterer kept slashing out with its greatsword, but it failed to land a single hit on Soaring Angel.

Nie Yan was hidden close by. He quickly approached Soaring Angel. If he were to ambush Soaring Angel in this situation, it’d be an easy assassination.

Soaring Angel was oblivious to the approaching danger.

Just as Nie Yan was about to take action, the Demon Slaughterer appeared to sense something and looked over in his direction.

Ohhh shit… Nie Yan felt a chill run down his spine. The Demon Slaughterer had discovered him! It appeared he had really gotten ahead of himself this time. Even under this concentrated onslaught of attacks, the Demon Slaughterer was still able to lock onto him.

Gale Step!

Nie Yan’s suddenly accelerated. His silhouette became a blur as he dashed into the maze of buildings. After familiarizing himself with the map layout of the Clemenci Stronghold, he knew the place like the back of his hands. So, he pathed through the areas where the buildings were most densely packed together.

The Demon Slaughterer leaped into the air and rushed after Nie Yan, destroying everything in its path.

I’ve lost aggro? Soaring Angel was dazed. Seeing the Demon Slaughterer going crazy trying to chase after something, a figure flashed in his mind. He hurriedly shouted in voice chat,「It’s Nirvana Flame! Stop him! Don’t let him reach the guild headquarters!」

Soaring Angel believed Nie Yan wanted to lead the Demon Slaughterer to the Angel Corps guild headquarters. Little did he know that the only thing on Nie Yan’s mind right now was self-preservation.

The Demon Slaughterer trampled buildings like they were cardboard boxes. Soaring Angel felt his heart bleed. He fervently cursed Nie Yan a million times over in his mind.

「Boss! Run north! That’s where all the Angel Corps players are gathered!」Swift Maple said.

Nie Yan immediately understood Swift Maple’s plan. He quickly changed direction.

Angel Corps’ elites were all gathered together, waiting for Soaring Angel’s commands. They were casually discussing the Demon Slaughterer’s sudden appearance.

"The boss said Nirvana Flame is in the Clemenci Stronghold. I wonder if that’s really true.”

"I’m 99% sure it’s true. Why else would the Demon Slaughterer be here?”

Seeing the huge commotion near the entrance, their eyes flickered with nervousness. They all wondered what the outcome of this event would be. Several players felt a light breeze blow past them. None of them were alerted, mistaking it for the wind. At this moment, a huge commotion erupted in the vicinity.

"It’s the Demon Slaughterer! It’s heading straight for us!”

"Oh sweet Jesus!”

At this moment, the Demon Slaughterer flapped its wings and came charging over. It slashed down with its greatsword, sending a sword beam flying over.

BOOM! A large number of players was instantly transformed into rays of lights.

"Attack!”

"Everyone, get away quickly!”

…

Frantic shouts cut through the air. The Mages and Demon Hunters started attacking. Magic and arrows arced through the sky and rained down on the Demon Slaughterer. However, their damage was all but useless, with the strongest among them dealing only 100 damage at most. Most of them were barely hitting double digits. This kind of attack barely tickled the Demon Slaughterer whose exact health was still hidden even now.

The Demon Slaughterer didn’t stop to deal with these pests. It only briefly passed by, but it left behind hundreds of bodies in its wake.

"Shit! Spread out you idiots! Don’t stick so close together!” Soaring Angel shouted after finally arriving at the scene.

The Demon Slaughterer had escaped the range of the cannons. Soaring Angel didn’t dare to aim them at the center of the Clemenci Stronghold. However, the arrow towers were still firing non-stop. Whenever the Demon Slaughterer flew too high in the air, it’d be struck by countless arrows.

The Demon Slaughterer had also received quite a bit of damage while chasing after Nie Yan.

「Let’s go over there!」Soaring Angel ordered after seeing where the Demon Slaughterer was headed. He and the other four Masters started flanking from the side.

Rain of Fire!

A shower of fire rained down on Nie Yan.

Just as he was about to be inundated by flames, Nie Yan shot out a web line at a distant building and swung away. He instantly opened up a distance of more than 30 meters.

After the shower of fire missed, the Demon Slaughterer instantly locked onto Nie Yan’s new location and continued its pursued.

"What the hell!? It’s still chasing after me!?” Nie Yan cursed.

Nie Yan activated the Leap ability from the Web Crawler Ring, soaring over 30 meters in the air before landing on the roof of another building. After which he started hopping from roof to roof.

「All arrow towers, focus your firepower! Kill Nirvana Flame first!」Soaring Angel’s face twisted with rage.

Nie Yan noticed the surrounding arrow towers taking aim at him. He had no choice but to evade the Demon Slaughterer’s attacks as well as a hail of arrows at the same time.

Regardless of all his life-saving skills, his sky-high defense, and everything else at his disposal to ensure his safety, if Nie Yan were a step too slow here, he’d still die.

Seeing arrows blotting out the sky above him, Nie Yan quickly leaped out of the way. Ding ding ding! A path of arrows followed behind him. Before he could get a chance to catch his breath, another wave of arrows rained down toward him.

Nie Yan hurriedly hid behind a wall. However, he was still struck by a few arrows.

−4,267
−3,833
−3,955
...

His health fell by 56%!

Nie Yan was about to flee along the walls, when the Demon Slaughterer flapped its wings and appeared in the sky overhead. The greatsword in its hand was like the blade of the grim reaper.

Shadow Waltz!

Nie Yan suddenly disappeared. He leaped over several buildings and fled away.

Escape was within reach. But as Nie Yan got infinitely close, several silhouettes cut him off. A Shaman waved his staff and planted down an Anti-Stealth Totem.

Soaring Angel and the others had arrived. They sealed off all escape routes.

「He’s over there!」Cruel Edge shouted in voice chat. His Anti-Stealth Totem had locked onto Nie Yan’s location.

Nie Yan’s silhouette blurred. He leaped over the wall beside him.

「Damn! He really can run!」Cruel Edge also leaped over the wall. At this moment, an enormous meteor came crashing down from the sky. He quickly waved his staff and blinked away.

BOOM! Several buildings were transformed into ruins.

The battle was a chaotic mess. The Demon Slaughterer and Angel Corps found a shared enemy in Nie Yan. While it fought together with the arrow towers to kill him, Soaring Angel’s party of five Masters did their best to obstruct him. However, though they momentarily worked together with the monster, Angel Corps had no choice but to remain wary of it. For all they knew, in the next moment it’d shift targets to them.

「I want Nirvana Flame dead today no matter the cost!」Soaring Angel growled. He knew this was likely his only chance of killing Nie Yan. If they couldn’t even kill him in a situation like this, it would be a huge disgrace for Angel Corps.

Soaring Angel notched five arrows onto his bowstring, then darted from rooftop to rooftop. With this high vantage point, everything below was in full view.

Nie Yan didn’t expect the situation to deteriorate so quickly. Glancing at his Unknown Transfer Scrolls, they were greyed out. If he died today, he would drop several chapters from the Book of Order, the Death God’s Edge, and Paternoster’s Warhammer. This kind of loss would cause his heart to bleed.

His overconfidence had really gotten to his head and blinded him. Nie Yan could only curse his own greed. But now wasn’t the time for regrets. There was no turning back. He needed to get rid of his pursuers first.

Nie Yan dashed past an arrow. Up ahead was a long, narrow street. He immediately activated all the speed boosting skills in his skill bar and employed his Shadow Dancer footwork. His silhouette transformed into a blur as he left a trail of afterimages behind him.

After reaching the end of the street, Nie Yan reached a corner. Just as he was about to make a turn, something exploded right in front of him, blinding him.

It was a Goblin Flash Bomb!

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Everything in his vision was white. He couldn’t see anything.

In the instant he lost his sight, Nie Yan felt a cold chill approaching the back of his head.

Enemy Thief!

Chapter 755 - No Retreat

Even though Nie Yan was blinded, his powerful senses allowed him to lock onto the opponent’s position.

Nie Yan didn’t panic like the average player would. Rather, he was extraordinarily calm.

Nie Yan entered a mysterious new state. After losing his sight, all his other senses were greatly sharpened.

It was almost as if he weren't blind. Nie Yan could easily sense the direction the enemy’s dagger was coming from. He could even feel the icy killing intent emanating from the blade.

These were the senses of a Shadow Dancer. Nie Yan’s comprehension grew even deeper.

Apart from their astonishing speed, Shadow Dancers also had a hidden talent, their sharp senses. Their powerful perception allowed them to immediately lock onto any threats, regardless of the situation.

Sensing the enemy’s dagger stabbing towards him, Nie Yan raised his own dagger to block. KLANG! The two blades clashed against each other.

Nie Yan quickly retreated two steps. His ears twitched as he took in all the sounds in the surroundings.

What!? Did it fail!? Butcher Sark was caught off guard. He thought for sure his strike would kill Nie Yan.

Sark looked up, only to discover Nie Yan’s eyes were cloudy and unfocused. There was no mistake. The Flash Bomb worked. Then, how did Nie Yan manage to block his attack?

This brief moment of hesitation gave Nie Yan the time he needed to catch his breath.

Run Through!

Sark didn’t dare to underestimate Nie Yan. He lunged forward, stabbing out with his dagger.

Nie Yan slightly leaned his body to the side. At the same time, he reverse gripped Zennarde’s Sword and stabbed down toward Sark’s wrist.

Sark reacted instantly, basically on reflex. He cancelled his skill midway and pulled back his hand.

At this moment, Nie Yan spun around with a side kick toward Sark’s chest.

This was Sark’s first time encountering this style of combat. He hurriedly crossed both his arms to block.

BANG! The powerful kick knocked him off his feet. He rolled on the ground for six meters before finally regaining his balance.

Sark and Nie Yan weren’t on the same level. This single exchange revealed the gap between them.

How was it possible that Nie Yan fought with pinpoint accuracy despite losing his vision? Sark couldn’t describe the shock in his heart right now. If before he wondered how Nie Yan still remained undefeated to this day, he now started to understand.

In terms of skill, Nie Yan was like an insurmountable mountain. Even Sark who was normally filled with unbridled arrogance felt a heavy pressure weigh down on him.

Nie Yan focused his senses. He could clearly feel the strength of his kick, Sark’s current position, and everything else going on in his direct surroundings. By relying on his other senses,, he created a virtual facsimile of the world around him in his mind.

Nie Yan was about to pounce forward and finish off Sark, when—Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Several arrows came flying towards him, along with a spell or two mixed in.

Sensing the angle they were coming from as well as their speed, Nie Yan leaped back at the last moment. Put put put! The arrows struck the ground.

A powerful presence came rushing over from the sky. It was the Demon Slaughterer!

Nie Yan could no longer be bothered to care about Sark. He quickly turned around and fled. Like a cheetah sprinting through the plains, he was as fast as lightning.

Seeing the Demon Slaughterer approaching, Soaring Angel and the others quickly scattered.

「Sark, did your Goblin Flash Bomb fail?」Soaring Angel asked in doubt. He had clearly seen Nie Yan getting hit by the flash bomb. However, he seemed completely unaffected, moving and evading just like he normally would.

「No, it didn’t fail.」Sark shook his head.

「Really? That’s impossible!」The others found this hard to believe. How could someone dodge so smoothly and even retaliate if they couldn’t see?

「He’s Nirvana Flame. Nothing is impossible,」Sark replied in an insipid tone.

The four of them became silent. In the end, they had no choice but to believe Sark.

Seeing the Demon Slaughterer relentlessly pursuing Nie Yan, they couldn’t help but sigh in their hearts. If it weren’t for the Demon Slaughterer pursuing him, they probably wouldn’t even get the chance to surround him. In fact, they weren’t even confident in preserving their own lives in that situation.

A second game of cat and mouse unfolded.

The effects of the flash bomb persisted for quite a long time. Eventually, Battle Angel Kalenna cast Cure Blind on Nie Yan. Only then did he gradually regain his vision. He could see the surroundings with his eyes again.

Nie Yan had more or less given up on Kalenna and let her do as she pleased. He’d tried on numerous occasions to control her, but he couldn’t. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant surprise she woke up to help him cure his blindness. After which, of course, she quickly went back to sleep.

It looked like he couldn’t expect anything of Kalenna. Nie Yan continued fleeing for his life. The Demon Slaughterer was hot on his tail.

As the Demon Slaughterer dived down on him, Nie Yan suddenly turned around. He dove forward and slid right under the Demon Slaughterer.

BOOM! The Demon Slaughterer crashed into a building.

The Demon Slaughterer stood up from the pile of rubble. It shook its head and let out an enraged roar. It looked around for traces of Nie Yan.

Nie Yan had already fled more than 200 meters away.

This my chance! Nie Yan thought. A hope short-lived, because in the next moment a player charged straight at him. It was Stone Splitter.

Charge! Intercept!

Stone Splitter was like a tank, steamrolling through everything in his path.

Soaring Angel, Sark, and the rest arrived moments later.

A giant quagmire formed right under Nie Yan. He knitted his brows and leaped back. Kicking off a nearby wall, he leaped onto the roof of a building.

At this moment, Sark appeared right behind Nie Yan and stabbed toward the back of his head.

Based on these movements, Nie Yan could immediately tell this was the same Thief that blinded him earlier. Sensing the dagger stabbing towards him from behind, he leaned to the side and retaliated with a Reverse Grip Backstab.

Just as the Reverse Grip Backstab was about to land, Sark disappeared with Gale Step.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Several arrows came flying over towards Nie Yan.

Nie Yan didn’t dare to linger. After missing his attack, he leaped to an area six meters away.

At this moment, the Demon Slaughterer finally caught up. Nie Yan’s hard-fought opportunity of escaping was foiled once more by Soaring Angel’s party.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. Fine, if that’s how you want to play it, so be it! He activated Gale Step, then dashed straight toward the guild headquarters in the heart of the Clemenci Stronghold.

"Where did he go?” Soaring Angel looked around. He had lost track of Nie Yan.

"I don’t know.”

Everyone shook their head. Cruel Edge also failed to find any traces of Nie Yan.

At this moment, the Demon Slaughterer flew overhead of them, heading straight towards the center of the Clemenci Stronghold.

Soaring Angel’s face paled. "He’s heading for our guild headquarters!”

The five Masters immediately turned around and rushed toward the guild headquarters as fast as they could.

「Don’t let the Demon Slaughterer destroy the guild headquarters! Activate the defensive barriers! All arrow towers, focus your firepower on the Demon Slaughterer!」Soaring Angel passed down the order in the guild chat. If Nie Yan made use of the Demon Slaughterer, it would become a deadly weapon aiming for Angel Corps’ throat. He couldn’t take this risk.

On the streets in the vicinity of the guild headquarters, there were many Angel Corps players searching for Nie Yan.

However, it would be near impossible for these players to find even a hint of Nie Yan’s shadow.

Nie Yan’s stealth abilities could easily bypass their detecting skills.

Masters could completely disregard ordinary players. They were nothing but ants to them!

The guild headquarters’ defenses were extremely tight. It was surrounded by several hundred arrow towers. They were far more densely packed together in comparison to those located near the stronghold’s walls.

When the Demon Slaughterer arrived overhead of the guild headquarters, hundreds of arrow towers opened fire on it.

The Demon Slaughterer braved the rain of arrows. It slashed down with its greatsword. BOOM! An arrow tower was cleaved in half.

A barrier had already been erected around the guild headquarters to protect the guild’s most important building.

It appeared Angel Corps’ side had also thrown caution to the wind. No matter what, they wouldn’t allow the Demon Slaughterer to destroy the guild headquarters. As a result, they dispatched a large number of ordinary players to stop the Demon Slaughterer.

The Demon Slaughterer dove down on the ground, crushing numerous players to their death. It was still staring fixedly at Nie Yan. Braving the attacks of countless players and arrow towers, it headed straight for him.

Nie Yan discovered the Angel Corps headquarters was protected by a barrier. He was about to circle around to evade the Demon Slaughterer’s pursuit, when scorching hot flames erupted around him, forming a flame wall and trapping him inside.

The Demon Slaughterer walked out of the flame wall with a malevolent expression.

Behind him was an unbreakable barrier. In front of him was an insurmountable flame wall. Nie Yan was trapped. There was no way out.

The Demon Slaughterer was getting closer and closer. It was only 50 meters away.

Gale Step and Shadow Waltz were both off cooldown. Nie Yan planned to use the invincibility effect of these skills to charge through the flame wall. However, just as he took a step forward, a powerful shadow energy wrapped around him. He was bound in place.

It was the Demon Slaughterer’s Death Bind!

Nie Yan was a step too slow to activate Gale Step or Shadow Waltz. After being locked down by Death Bind, he couldn’t use any movement skills.

The Demon Slaughterer slashed out with its greatsword. A giant crescent shaped sword beam came flying towards Nie Yan, destroying everything in its path.

The wind howled and roared. Nie Yan could feel it cutting at his cheeks. The giant sword slash was already right in front of him.

Chapter 756 - Demon’s Feather

Now! Nie Yan flicked his wrist as he switched out Zennarde’s Sword for Paternoster’s Warhammer.

Frozen Fortress!

The temperature suddenly plummeted. The ice elements in the surroundings gathered together toward Paternoster’s Warhammer, forming a layer of ice which rapidly grew thicker and thicker before sealing Nie Yan completely within.

Encased in an enormous block of ice, Nie Yan had become a grand ice sculpture.

BOOM! The Demon Slaughterer’s slash struck the block of ice.

Invulnerable!

The Demon Slaughterer’s attack carved out a large crack in the ice. However, the damage was quickly repaired at a speed visible to the naked eye.

After using Frozen Fortress, Nie Yan was invulnerable. The Demon Slaughterer couldn’t do anything to him.

At the same time, all signs of Nie Yan’s life disappeared too. So, he subsequently lost all aggro.

No longer tunnel visioning on Nie Yan, The Demon Slaughterer finally took note of the arrow towers and players in the vicinity and pounced on them.

A chaotic battle ensued. The Demon Slaughterer started massacring the Angel Corps players, toppling arrow towers like dominos. Some of its attacks also struck the barrier protecting the guild headquarters, causing it to tremble violently.

When Soaring Angel’s party finally arrived on the scene, they discovered the Demon Slaughterer wreaking havoc on the surroundings.

"Where’s Nirvana Flame?” Soaring Angel looked around before spotting Nie Yan encased in a block of ice.

"Seems like he’s sealed himself up in ice. That skill looks similar to an Elementalist’s Ice Armour,” Drifting said. Ice Armour was a fairly useful skill in battle, lasting about 30 seconds. However, at 30 minutes of invulnerability, Nie Yan’s Frozen Fortress was clearly far superior to the ordinary Ice Armour.

When Nie Yan was sealed, he was invulnerable. No one could damage him and he would instantly lose all aggro. It was no wonder the Demon Slaughterer shifted targets.

"Boss, what do we do now?”

"Have some people keep an eye on Nirvana Flame. Everyone else needs to help us deal with the Demon Slaughterer,” Soaring Angel said. The Demon Slaughterer had already destroyed large sections of the Clemenci Stronghold. If it were allowed to continue, he didn’t want to imagine what kind of state the stronghold would end up in.

A group of Thieves surrounded Nie Yan. Everyone else focused their attention on the Demon Slaughterer.

Under the relentless assault of the arrow towers, the Demon Slaughterer’s health gradually fell.

The two sides started a battle of attrition. Facing not only a seemingly endless ocean of players but also countless arrow towers, the Demon Slaughterer was losing badly.

About 20 minutes later, the Demon Slaughterer’s health fell to 13%. It went berserk and destroyed over a dozen arrow towers in an instant. When its health bar reached critical levels, its health was finally revealed. It still had over 10,000,000 health remaining.

One could imagine how frightening of a health pool the Demon Slaughterer had.

After going berserk, the Demon Slaughterer still couldn’t reverse the tide. Even if it were in peak condition, there were simply too many arrow towers.

Even though Nie Yan was sealed in ice, he was still aware of everything happening in his surroundings. The Demon Slaughterer couldn’t hold out for much longer. In another five minutes, it would likely fall.

This would present a great opportunity. Nie Yan wondered what sort of items the Demon Slaughterer would drop.

Although there were 80 Thieves in the surroundings closely watching him, there was no way they could stop him!

「We’re at the final stretch! Everyone, keep at it!」Soaring Angel shouted in voice chat, unable to contain his excitement.

Everyone went all out, blotting out the sky with a frantic storm of attacks.

The lower the Demon Slaughterer’s health fell, the more berserk its attacks became. It let out a furious roar as its entire body ignited in flames, making it resemble a flame giant. With a powerful beat of its wings, it took to the air and started chanting out ominously.

「It’s Forbidden Magic! Be careful! Can anyone interrupt it!?」

No one answered. This was a Level 130 Demonified Lord. None of their skills would be effective against it.

After several syllables, everything in a 600-meter radius erupted into flames, transforming the Clemenci Stronghold into a sea of fire. Thankfully, all the buildings here were made out of stone. Even if they burned, they wouldn’t collapse.

Like a game of the floor is lava, Angel Corps quickly found their way to the roofs. The higher the flames burnt, the taller the buildings they sought out. Not to mention they all used various protective shields.

Fortunately, it was only a small scale Forbidden Magic. If it were anything else, the Clemenci Stronghold would be in trouble.

Within the flames, cracks started appearing on the barrier surrounding the guild headquarters.

The Demon Slaughterer showed no signs of stopping. It continued chanting out syllables. This second round of Forbidden Magic seemed to be even more powerful than the first one.

At this rate, the guild headquarters would be destroyed.

「Don’t let it finish chanting! Kill it! Now!」Soaring Angel shouted. A hail of arrows blotted out the sky.

The Demon Slaughterer only had a sliver of health remaining. It probably only had a few hundred thousand health left.

Soaring Angel notched five arrows onto his bows. Phoenix Flame Punisher! The arrows transformed into enormous flame swords. At this moment, he seemed like the embodiment of a god. Whoosh whoosh whoosh! The five flame swords flew toward the Demon Slaughterer.

Seeing this scene play out, Nie Yan focused his attention. All around him was a sea of fire. The tongues of flames licked the Frozen Fortress, but it showed no signs of melting. He was completely isolated from the outside. Those Thieves that were watching him had either died or run away to safety.

The Demon Slaughterer was on its last breath. How could Nie Yan miss out on this perfect opportunity?

Release!

Nie Yan had voluntarily released the skill! As the Frozen Fortress rapidly melted away, scorching hot flames assailed him. He hadn’t realized just how hot it really was, since the ice had kept him cooled. If he didn’t act quickly, he was going to be roasted alive!

Gale Step!

Nie Yan took advantage of the invincibility to brave through the flames. With Gale Step at Rank 18, it lasted for a full nine seconds!

Activating the Leap ability from his Web Crawler Ring, Nie Yan jumped more than 30 meters in the air, soaring towards the Demon Slaughterer.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Soaring Angel’s flaming sword arrows struck the Demon Slaughterer, creating a dazzling light show in the sky.

−6,555
−5,921
−6,777
...

Even Nie Yan was taken aback. He wondered what sort of skill could deal so much damage. After taking five hits ranging from 5,000–7,000 damage each, the Demon Slaughterer’s health fell to zero. It let out a hoarse cry, as its body slowly disintegrated and lightning crackled around its body.

The lightning went out of control, shooting out everywhere like electrical serpents. Anything they came into contact with, players and buildings alike, was instantly vaporized.

The Demon Slaughterer was dead!

Soaring Angel breathed a sigh of relief. For the sake of using this skill, he had completely emptied out his mana bar. The instant the Demon Slaughterer fell, his body lit up consecutively with a dazzling radiance. His health and mana instantly filled back up to full.

"Nice!” Soaring Angel was just about to check his character status, when he saw a silhouette soaring towards the Demon Slaughterer’s corpse.

「Fuc- Nirvana Flame! Don’t let him snatch away the drops!」Stone Splitter shouted. He suddenly kicked off the ground and charged toward Nie Yan.

Soaring Angel no longer cared about looking at his own stats. He quickly shot out five arrows at Nie Yan.

A single feather dropped from the Demon Slaughterer’s body. It slowly floated down in the air.

This feather was jet black. The colour was pure like a gem. It emitted a dazzling black radiance in the air.

This was the drop!

Everyone looked in confusion at the feather. The Demon Slaughterer's wings were made out of flesh! Why would it drop a feather of all thing?

Among NPCs circulated a rumour. Demons were fallen angels. After a long period of evolution, they became their current appearances. However, they would keep a single feather. It was said that a Demon’s Feather was a treasure all legendary NPCs sought after. Though none of this was recorded down in any history books, suggesting it was simply a myth, NPCs seemed to believe it with full conviction.

Everyone’s attention was focused on this black feather.

「Don’t let him snatch it away!」Soaring Angel anxiously shouted. He frantically shot out arrow after arrow, trying to kill Nie Yan.

About 10 meters from the feather, Nie Yan’s gaze fell on the Demon Slaughterer’s corpse. It had yet to completely vanish.

I’m not going to make it! Nie Yan’s ascend came to a slow stop before he started plummeting back to the ground. He quickly shot out a web line at the Demon Slaughterer’s corpse. With a hard pull, the line went taut and he was soaring through the air again.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Several arrows flew past Nie Yan, all of them missing him.

Nie Yan was getting closer and closer to the feather. He stretched his hand out.

"Got it!” In the instant he grabbed the feather, Nie Yan felt a dark, corrosive energy burning his palm.

Nie Yan hurriedly tossed the feather in his bag, as he continued swinging through the air.

「Shit! Shoot him down! I want him dead!」Soaring Angel roared. After working so hard to kill the Demon Slaughterer, Nie Yan had swooped in and snatched away their spoils. How could he not be furious!?

HUUUMMM! A droning noise rang out through the air as the several hundred arrow towers in the vicinity all targeted Nie Yan. Countless arrows flew toward him, completely blotting out the sky overhead.

Chapter 757 - Fallen Feather

Nie Yan protected himself with the Darkbright Barrier, as a membrane of light enveloped him. After which he also buffed himself with Holy Rejuvenation to significantly increase his health regeneration speed. Finally, Battle Angel Kalenna woke up for a brief moment to cast Heal on him, which restored his health to full and gave him a bit of reprieve in this desperate situation.

A hail of arrows howled through the air. Put put put! Several dozen struck Nie Yan.

−4,234
−2,949
−3,781
…

A string of damage values rose up above Nie Yan’s head. His health rapidly plummeted. He quickly patched himself up with a Combat Bandage, restoring back some of his health, but it quickly started falling again. As his health reached critical levels, he hurriedly drank a Specialist Health Potion, instantly restoring his health back to full.

As the rain of arrows came to an end, so too did the damage to his health bar. It finally stopped going down at 65%.

About 60 arrows had struck Nie Yan in total, among which more than half came up as misses.

Thanks to the Darkbright Barrier’s effects on top of his already high defense, these arrows which were fatal to ordinary players only shaved away about 10% of his health each.

THUD! Nie Yan fell onto a roof.

「Is he dead?」Soaring Angel asked. He clearly saw the hail of arrows rain down on Nie Yan. After being hit by so many arrows, he was probably turned into a human pincushion.

「He must be. There’s no way anyone could survive that.」

These arrows were fired out from ballistae. A single hit could normally instantly kill a Level 100 player. After being hit by such a dense hail of arrows, even a Champion wouldn’t necessarily come out of it alive.

However, to the shock and dismay of the players from Angel Corps, Nie Yan crawled back to his feet. He leaped down from the rooftop, then disappeared into a winding alley.

Soaring Angel and the other four Masters glanced at each other with incredulous looks on their faces. He survived all that!? Did he even have a health bar!?

"Boss, what do we do?”

Given the labyrinth of alleyways, streets, and buildings in the Clemenci Stronghold, finding Nie Yan would be nigh impossible, no matter how much manpower was thrown at it. Even if he were found, killing was another incredibly difficult hurdle.

"Release the sealing formation. Let him go.” Soaring Angel gritted his teeth in rage. Killing Nie Yan was no longer possible. So, he'd rather have a walking pestilence like him hurry up and leave.

After receiving Soaring Angel’s order, a subordinate undid the sealing formation surrounding the Clemenci Stronghold.

"Nirvana Flame, I’ll remember this debt. Just you wait. I’ll pay back this humiliation a millionfold!” Soaring Angel clenched his fist. He looked down at his notifications. After killing the Demon Slaughterer, he received a quest to find the Lost City of Paternoster. He had no idea what it was about. He deliberated on it for some time before deciding to bring Sark and the other three Masters with him and investigate.

Seeing the sealing formation disappear, Nie Yan smirked. Soaring Angel was pretty sensible. Even though this formation could stop him from leaving, Angel Corps would have no way of killing him. Contrarily, if they forced him to stay here any longer, he might flip the whole Clemenci Stronghold upside down.

Nie Yan had no intention of lingering around either. After all, his time was precious. He couldn’t spend all of it messing around with Angel Corps.

Throwing one last glance over his shoulder, Nie Yan quietly left the Clemenci Stronghold. After today, Soaring Angel would probably pour even more manpower and resources into fortifying the defenses of this place.

After making his way down the ramp to the plains down below, Nie Yan found a secluded spot. He activated a Return Scroll. With a flash of light, he returned to Orc King City.

「Thank god, you made it out safe and sound.」Guo Huai breathed a sigh of relief. His heart really was wracked with nervousness earlier. Only when Swift Maple let him know Nie Yan had left the Clemenci Stronghold alive and well did he finally relax.

「Don’t worry. Everything went fine, just like I said.」Nie Yan chuckled.

Guo Huai bitterly smiled at Nie Yan’s lax attitude. Swift Maple had sent him a video of the battle in the Clemenci Stronghold. He knew all too well how dangerous the situation was and how improbable that Nie Yan walked out alive.

「With the stunt you pulled today, Soaring Angel is probably tearing his hair out. You absolutely humiliated Angel Corps.」

As the two chatted, Nie Yan casually browsed the web. Countless videos and images of the battle in the Clemenci Stronghold were circulating around in the forums. Especially his several close brushes with death received endless streams of upvotes. Discussions went on for pages, with players agreeing his feats were nothing short of miraculous. It was unbelievable he survived through all that.

Nie Yan’s legend only kept growing. He was being revered as the God of Thieves by countless players. Even though Angel Corps was the ruler of the Satreen Empire, they were repeatedly thwarted by him. Sure, they were still a very powerful guild. But in terms of prestige, they were lacking compared to Asskickers United.

Asskickers United was the holy land of Thieves. Countless expert Thieves sought to join the guild, if only to receive a few pointers from the likes of Nie Yan and Sun. Previously, this was mostly limited to the Viridian Empire. But after Nie Yan showed his prowess in the Clemenci Stronghold, players of the Satreen Empire started to acknowledge his strength. Many expert elven Thieves started applying to join Asskickers United.

Apart from this, there was also an update on Heaven Song. Ronin, Suyo, and the rest of the party had managed to recruit 1,000 friends and started to build a foundation for the guild with the funds Nie Yan provided. They set up bases in Orc King City and two other cities and were recruiting new members en masse.

Nie Yan was looking forward to see what heights Heaven Song would reach.

Nie Yan walked the streets of Orc King City with his cloak on. He glanced in his bag, where a black feather lay sitting in a corner. This was the item that dropped from the Demon Slaughterer.

Fallen Feather: Crafting material used to make wings.

Reading this description, Nie Yan raised an eyebrow. This feather was used to craft wings. As for what wings were used for, he had no idea. From his past life to the present day, he had never once heard of a player obtaining wings. All he knew for now was that since one of the materials came from a Level 130 Demonified Lord, it had to be something special.

Nie Yan spent the afternoon levelling in the mountains north of Orc King City. When evening arrived, two announcements shook the entire server.

System Announcement: Judgement Valley has opened. The vile demons and undead have arrived from the depths of the subterranean. After passing through the dark passageway in the underworld, they reached the surface. They spread fear and disease, and kill all that moves. Brave adventurers, stake your lives and become the strongest resistance of the Righteous Faction!

System Announcement: The Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire have reconciled with the Giant Tribe. The Rainbow Bridge has been reopened. Players can now freely travel to the territory of giants.

Seeing these two notifications, Nie Yan knitted his brows. From his recollection, there should be at least three more expansions before the Judgement Valley opened. It had come far earlier than expected. However, his appearance had already changed history. He couldn’t say for sure what other changes would occur.

After Judgement Valley was opened in the previous timeline, the frontier became especially lively. More and more players flocked there to level and fight against the forces of the Demon Tribe and Undead Empire. Many of them saw massive growth in their PvP skills, a fraction even joining the ranks of experts. Later on, some players even rose to the ranks of General and Great General. These titles represented the pinnacle of success on the battlefield. Many of them possessed excellent PvP skills and were peak experts.

With the release of this expansion, not only on the frontier, but more players from the Evil Faction started appearing all over the Atlanta continent. This would often lead to skirmishes between the players of the two factions when levelling or running dungeons.

With this in mind, Nie Yan instantly made an announcement in the guild chat, warning all members to be careful of being ambushed by players from the Demon Tribe or Undead Empire when levelling outside in the wilderness.

As for the Rainbow Bridge, this was the passage leading to the Giant Tribe. With it opened, players could visit their territory without any hassle. The base stats of giants were extremely high. Thanks to their incredible battle prowess, they were one of the most powerful races in Conviction. But because they were bound by the pact of the Neutral Faction, they weren’t allowed to attack others in the wilderness. They were only allowed to retaliate in self-defense. On the other side of the coin, the players from the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire weren’t allowed to attack the giants either. If they did, they’d receive severe punishment.

Nie Yan checked his military rank. Since he hadn’t killed any players from the Evil Faction for a long time, it had fallen from a 10,000-Man Commander to a 1,000-Man Commander. If he wanted to get it back up, he would have to pay a visit to Judgement Valley.

Military rank was different from player levels. It was difficult to raise and quick to fall. After becoming a General or Great General, you would have to kill an untold number of Evil Faction players every day just to maintain your rank. Even so, the rewards for raising your rank made it well worth it. Generals and Great Generals could buy Sub Legendary and Legendary-grade equipment from the NPC battlefield commanders for almost no gold at all. Apart from this, the system released a large number of battlefield-related quests with extremely generous rewards.

In the previous timeline, Generals and Great Generals were like Masters, unreachable existences to ordinary players.

Nie Yan had no interest in raising his military rank right now. It was too bothersome and time-consuming.

With the Demon Tribe and Undead Empire joining the fray, the situation would become much more difficult to control. What depressed Nie Yan the most was that Judgement Valley wasn’t too far away from Okoron. It was about an hour’s journey on horseback. In the future, his city would definitely suffer harassment from the Evil Faction. After thinking for a bit, given Okoron’s powerful defenses, there wouldn’t be any issue on the side of safety and security.

With the release of Judgement Valley, Nie Yan would have to adjust Asskickers United’s strategy. While facing off against Angel Corps, he had no choice but to take precautions against any potential threats from the Evil Faction.

Chapter 758 - Chapter of Elements

After making his announcement in the guild chat, Nie Yan told Guo Huai to pay close attention to everything happening in Judgement Valley and recruit any players that distinguished themselves there. Asskickers United needed to nurture experts in PvP against the Demon Tribe and Undead Empire.

On the battlefield, in terms of outdoor survival, no other class could compare to Thieves. Nie Yan dispatched 3,000 promising Thieves to Judgement Valley. It was the perfect place for honing their skills. Apart from these Thieves, any other players that wanted to go there were free to do so.

News of Judgement Valley spread like wildfire. A large number of players from the underworld passed through it to reach the surface. The same was true for players from the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire. Not just the experts from Asskickers United, but all major guilds sent people over.

With the release of this expansion, the several towns scattered near the ravine became points of heavy contention for various guilds. Everyone wanted control of these places.

Nie Yan looked over the state of Okoron. All the city’s defenses were built. What got him excited was that his NPC army had grown to 10,000 troops. Even though they were a ragtag bunch, there were many strong, high level NPCs among them. With them in charge of the city's safety, there was no need to worry.

Apart from Okoron, Nie Yan had also constructed several dozen strongholds in the vicinity. As more and more players arrived here, the Abernathy Great Grasslands’ ability to resist the Undead Empire and Demon Tribe would gradually increase.

Checking the time, there was about half an hour until the servers shut down. Nie Yan handed over the equipment he obtained earlier to the Asskickers United's management staff in Orc King City. After emptying his bags, he resupplied on consumables and was about to set off to continue with the next part of the Assassin’s Heart quest, when he received a notification.

Howling Wind has obtained the second chapter from Volume IV of the Book of Order, the Chapter of Elements. You will be notified of the player’s updated location once every hour.

Coordinates: Ice Elemental Temple, 465.162.357.

"It’s him!” Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Another player had obtained a chapter from the Book of Order, and it was a name he recognized!

In the previous timeline, Howling Wind was the number one Magister in the Satreen Empire. He refused to join Angel Corps and was subsequently hunted down by them until he disappeared from the game. Back then, countless elven Mages worshipped this proud and arrogant fellow as their idol. In this life, he had even become a Master before Soaring Angel.

Howling Wind had no background. He was a pure solo player who never teamed up and relied only on his own skills to acquire levels and equipment. To attain his current achievements, one could imagine how talented he was.

Nie Yan had long since wanted to get in touch with Howling Wind. However, this fellow was impossible to track down. Asskickers United’s informants in the Satreen Empire couldn’t dig up any news related to him.

A player like Howling Wind definitely spent most of his time levelling in high level maps, rarely ever returning to town. And when he did, he probably hid himself behind a cloak. After giving up on trying to find him, Nie Yan didn’t expect this fellow to show up right in front of his door.

It appeared Howling Wind had obtained the Chapter of Elements from the Ice Elemental Shrine. This place was a repository of ancient spells for ice elemental Mages. According to rumours, even the worst spells there could turn you into a first-rate expert. Of course, not just anyone could enter this place. There were several trials one had to complete to earn the qualifications to enter. As for where exactly it was, even the players who had entered before didn’t know.

Howling Wind had definitely seen the chapters in Nie Yan’s possession as well. The two were bound to eventually meet.

Nie Yan faintly smiled. He would finally get to meet the number one expert in the Satreen Empire. He couldn’t help but be filled with anticipation and expectation.

There were only about three minutes before the servers closed. Nie Yan logged off, then stepped out of the game capsule.

After spending his vacation in Huahai, it was about time to return to school. World Bloc was on the right track. The company was running in full gear, dealing with a huge pile of work. It was an incredibly busy sight. With the support of multiple financial groups and powers looking to get into the good graces of Heavenly Kings, they rapidly expanded and made a ton of money to boot. Their scope of business even expanded beyond big names like the Glory Financial Group and Dragonsoar Financial Group, making them one of the most profitable companies.

Apart from developing World Bloc, Father Nie secretly acquired a 5% stake in the Century Financial Group, a 6% stake in the Dragonsoar Financial Group, a 3% stake in the Glory Financial Group, and stakes in other financial groups as well. Nie Yan could tell they were slowly starting to pry open the whole market.

Nie Yan was filled with pride at the rapid growth of World Bloc. His father really did have a good business sense. If it weren’t for the betrayal of his relatives like Luo Ming in the previous timeline, they would’ve never ended up in such a miserable state.

In this life, Nie Yan himself had prevented this tragic fate!

Nie Yan drove back to their villa with Xie Yao in his Thrawn. After the two put away their luggage, Xie Yao started tidying up the house. Seeing her busy silhouette, he felt a sense of warmth in his heart.

There was still something important Nie Yan had to take care of. He said a few words to Xie Yao and then walked over to a neighbouring villa.

Nie Yan naturally didn’t forget the task Mo Yuntian entrusted to him. He wondered how Wang Duo and the others’ training under Bayonet was going. If he failed to live up to Mo Yuntian’s expectations, the consequences would be grave. So, he came over to personally check on the progress himself.

Bayonet had bought a villa over here. Since Mo Yuntian was bankrolling everything, he remodeled the entire place into a training camp.

Under Nie Yan’s orders, Bayonet put Wang Duo and the others through a harsh training regime.

After entering the villa, Nie Yan pushed open the door to the training grounds. What he saw caused him to gape open his mouth in shock.

This training ground was about 300 square meters with plenty of natural light shining in through the windows. It was an open floor plan with nothing but the parquet beneath the feet and a lot of training equipment neatly organized.

Nie Yan glanced at the corpses. Only Bayonet was still standing. The others all lay collapsed on the floor, panting like dying dogs. They wore loose training trousers and no shirts, revealing their bulging muscles. Large beads of sweat rolled off their bodies and dripped onto the floor.

Wang Duo lay collapsed closest to Bayonet. His chest was heavily heaving up and down. He tried to struggle back to his feet several times, but kept falling back down in the end.

"Just this tiny bit of exercise, and you’re all already exhausted? Are you really special forces? Any of my brothers are easily stronger than you lot, and they’re crippled! Stop lying there like a bunch of dead dogs. Get up! You bunch of useless trash.” Bayonet’s voice was extremely cold without the slightest emotion.

Bayonet’s taunts were sharp, dealing a heavy blow to Wang Duo and the others’ pride.

However, Wang Duo and the others were too exhausted to even get angry.

"NGH!” Wang Duo grunted as he slowly crawled back up to his feet.

One by one, the rest followed. Using what little strength they had left in their bodies, they forced themselves upright.

Nie Yan didn’t know what kind of method Bayonet used to push these guys so far. But after seeing their state, he was sure this training would produce results.

Nie Yan walked over to Bayonet. Glancing over at Wang Duo and the others, he asked, "So, how are they?”

"Disappointing. If you weren’t paying me, I would’ve walked out on the first day. What a bunch of trash,” Bayonet said disdainfully. He didn’t hold back in the slightest.

Wang Duo and the others glared at Bayonet hatefully. They were like enraged beasts, ready to fight him to the death at any moment.

Bayonet had trampled on their pride and dignity!

"Captain!” several members exclaimed. If it weren’t for Wang Duo holding them back, they would’ve rushed over and fought it out with Bayonet.

"Keep training!” Wang Duo shouted. He knew how strong Bayonet was first hand. In a fight, he couldn’t even last 10 moves. Even though he was furious, he knew the only way to stand a chance against Bayonet was to continue training.

Wang Duo continued doing squats. One, two, three, each one more difficult than the last.

Even though they had noticed Nie Yan’s arrival, they followed a strict rule. No matter who walked in, they couldn’t stop their training.

The training method Bayonet used was ancient. He would push them to their absolute limits until they were too exhausted to think, then had them keep going. Even though this was old fashioned, it was still very effective.

Nie Yan had no objections to Bayonet’s training methods. "How’s their progress?”

"Hmph, what progress? They’ve only just started. I don’t know who their instructor was before... This little bit of exercise, and they’re already down for the count. Back then, my training was at least 50 times harder than theirs,” Bayonet said. Speaking about the past, he became a bit melancholic.

Truthfully, Wang Duo and the others were already quite remarkable. Nie Yan had no idea where a man like Bayonet popped out from. Even though he was curious about Bayonet’s past, he didn’t pry. Bayonet was a secretive person. If he wanted to earn his trust, he had to respect Bayonet’s privacy. One day if Bayonet wanted to talk about it, he would naturally do so.

Seeing Wang Duo and the others still persevering despite being so exhausted, Nie Yan felt his presence wasn’t needed here. He was probably fine leaving their real life training to Bayonet. As long as he taught them the techniques of Master classes inside the game, it would be fine.

"I’ll give you a 30-minute break. Use it to eat and rehydrate. Then, I’ll give you one more chance to challenge me. If you have any complaints, you can come up and try to defeat me.” Bayonet swept his sharp gaze over Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others.

Chapter 759 - Painful Memories

Ever since they were put under the tutelage of Bayonet, Wang Duo and the others’ daily routine was something straight out of a horror movie. Apart from eating and entering the game at night, they spent all their time following the hellish training regime of Bayonet and the occasional sparring. This was something completely unimaginable to ordinary people.

Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others were always at their physical and mental limits. Without even getting any time to rest, they had no idea what the state of their body was like. There were quite a few times they even thought they were going to die. A lot of them even heard a little voice in their head suggesting them to give up. However, after receiving Bayonet’s mocking taunts, they gritted their teeth and persevered. They had their pride! If they withdrew, they would live the rest of their lives with their heads down in shame.

The days went by like a blur.

After a 30-minute break, Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others recovered quite a bit of their stamina.

Nie Yan watched over their spars with Bayonet. These guys probably hadn’t noticed it, but he could tell they had improved a lot.

If Mo Yuntian were to see this scene, he would probably be extremely happy. The real question was whether this was enough for them to get into the 12th Mech Armoured Corps.

The selection exams for the 12th Mech Armoured Corps was a complete mystery to Nie Yan. He had no idea what sort of level Wang Duo and the others had to reach.

Nie Yan could only try his best. He had already taught them all the Master-class techniques he knew. The master only showed the way, as the disciple improved with their own efforts. As for how much they would comprehend, what sort of achievements they would attain, that would all depend on themselves.

If Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others managed to get into the 12th Mech Armoured Corps, Mo Yuntian would owe Nie Yan a huge favour. With him as a backer, World Bloc’s rise would be unstoppable.

Nie Yan felt confident leaving Wang Duo and the others in the hands of Bayonet. He bid farewell to Bayonet and returned to his own villa.

The next morning, Nie Yan and Xie Yao ate breakfast, then left for school.

Xie Yao looked especially lovely in the pink sundress she was wearing today. While they were walking down the tree shaded paths in the school grounds, the passing students would all turn to stare after them. Some of them who knew the two would even come over to say hello. The male students couldn’t help but feel envious of Nie Yan. If only they could find a beautiful girlfriend like Xie Yao!

According to rumours, Nie Yan was the most hated person among the male students in the management class, the reason being he snatched away their class flower.

However, no one dared to look for trouble with Nie Yan. By now, pretty much everyone in the school knew he was the new leader of Azure Windchime. Provoking him was suicidal. Plus, he had another name that made people shudder in fear—Nirvana Flame.

"Nie Yan, I heard there’s a school wide fighting tournament in a few days. First will be the individual years. Then, the top three of each year will enter the school wide competition. Are you going to join?” Xie Yao wrapped herself around Nie Yan’s arm a little awkwardly. She still wasn’t used to doing this kind of affectionate action. Sensing the gazes of those around them, her cheeks blushed red.

"Nah, I’m not interested.” Nie Yan shook his head. He had long since grown past the stage where he cared for things like awards and accolades. He would leave all that to Lei Su.

"I heard that if you win first prize, you fulfill the requirements to complete certain courses early,” Xie Yao said. Even though she knew Nie Yan didn’t care for these kinds of things, she still wanted to see him compete.

"Alright, alright. I’ll think about it.” Nie Yan faintly smiled, gazing warmly at Xie Yao. She was like an enchanting lily, attracting the admiration of all those around her.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao chatted about the happenings in Huahai. As they passed by the gymnasium and onto a small path, he spotted a familiar face.

Qin Han!

About 200 meters away, Qin Han also noticed Nie Yan. He glanced over.

The two met gazes. Nie Yan’s expression remained calm and unperturbed. Qin Han couldn’t conceal the hatred in his eyes.

The Monet Financial Group had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Asskickers United in Conviction. All the money he invested had gone down the drain while he had been hunted down by the guards of the Viridian Empire and killed back to Level 0, leaving himself with no choice but to delete his account. In the end, he sold what little was still in their possession and withdrew the Monet Financial Group from Conviction. He had failed to get into Heavenly Kings, and his foray into Conviction was also a failure. His prestige in the Monet Financial Group took a huge hit. Even though his position as heir remained unchanged, his future days wouldn’t be as easy and carefree as before.

Only then did Nie Yan notice the other person standing next to Qin Han. He wore a blazer, accentuating his already handsome appearance, and looked to be somewhere in his mid twenties. Standing a bit taller than Qin Han, he had a unique air about him.

The mystery person looked over in Nie Yan’s direction. Qin Han whispered something into his ear.

Qin Han treated this person with great respect.

Nie Yan curiously swept his eyes over this mystery person. He felt his face was somewhat familiar, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Just where did he meet this guy before?

Qin Han and the mystery man approached Nie Yan.

As the mystery person walked over, Nie Yan finally got a good look at his face. That fake smile plastered on his lips, those derisive eyes looking down on anyone and everyone. Old memories resurfaced in his mind. Little by little they became clear. His heart trembled. He knew who this was! He’d never forget this face! It was directly linked to one of his most painful memories.

A memory of the previous timeline. That fateful night when Tang Yao got into a bar fight over a girl. It was none other than this guy and his goons who had killed his best friend. By the time Nie Yan arrived, it was already too late. All he saw was this detestable face. A mocking smile on his face, showing complete indifference as he was taken away by the police. At that time, Nie Yan restrained himself from rushing over and killing him. He firmly believed the just hammer of the law would come down on this person harshly. However, that bastard got off scot-free. After which there were no more traces of him, almost as if he’d vanished off the face of the world.

Tang Yao’s father had used the bit of power and influence he had for the sake of getting justice for his son. But in the end he lost his entire fortune to some mysterious person. He had no choice but to return to Ninjiang, penniless and defeated.

Back then, Nie Yan was filled with self-loathing, convinced he should’ve killed that bastard with his gun. Even up until his own death, he never got a chance to avenge Tang Yao.

After seeing him again in this life, Nie Yan clenched his fist. He forcefully suppressed the killing intent about to erupt from his heart. He had to repeatedly remind himself that this wasn’t his past life and that Tang Yao was still alive in this timeline. However, he couldn’t suppress his rage from bubbling out. Even though he had reincarnated, the experiences of his past life were still etched deeply into his mind.

Nie Yan and Tang Yao had grown up together. They were as close as real brothers. When the going got tough in the previous timeline, Tang Yao was always there to help him, allowing him to feel the warmth of a brother. Seeing Tang Yao laying dead on the ground, his lifeless eyes still wide open in grievance, as the perpetrator strutted past him, all the while being powerless to do anything, no ordinary person could understand that sort of pain. For many years after that incident, in the dead of night, he would drown his sorrows with alcohol while crying in front of a portrait of Tang Yao.

Even though it was a memory of his past life, it was still vivid in his mind.

Nie Yan clenched his fist until the veins on his arm bulged out.

Sensing Nie Yan’s rage, Xie Yao asked in a concerned tone, "Nie Yan, what’s wrong?”

Nie Yan took several deep breaths, calming his agitated mind. Tang Yao was still alive. This knowledge alone pacified quite a bit of his hatred. He gradually settled down. Shaking his head, he said, "It’s nothing.” After cooling his head, he started examining the current situation rationally. In the previous timeline, for this bastard to get away scot-free after killing Tang Yao and even cause Father Tang to lose everything in the subsequent lawsuit meant his background wasn’t ordinary. Unlike in his past life, Nie Yan was no longer a loner. He had many people he needed to protect. He couldn’t act as recklessly as in his past life and let emotions dictate his actions, or else he would end up implicating those close to him. He couldn’t throw his own life away and resort to extreme methods like assassination just to get revenge.

Xie Yao looked at Nie Yan with concerned eyes. Seeing him calm down, only then did she relax. With Qin Han walking over, she guessed it probably had something to do with him. No matter what kind of conflict he got into with Qin Han or what happened in the future, she vowed to herself to always be there to face it together with him.

Nie Yan’s eyes only briefly flashed with killing intent. He would find out this guy’s background first. If he could be provoked, Nie Yan wouldn’t mind teaching him a lesson, one he wouldn’t forget.

The mystery person and Qin Han stopped in front of Nie Yan. As he swept his gaze over Xie Yao, his eyes lit up. Her beauty left him breathless. However, it was only a brief moment of absent-mindedness. He withdrew his gaze, then turned to Nie Yan. "Hello, I’m Liu Tianshi, but everyone calls me Third Bro. The command faculty’s Nie Yan—or should I say Nirvana Flame, I’ve been looking forward to meeting you for quite some time.” His tone didn’t match his words. Rather, it sounded like he was sizing up Nie Yan.

His arrogant gaze really rubbed Nie Yan the wrong way. He recalled the mocking smile Liu Tianshi showed after killing Tang Yao in the previous timeline.

"This beautiful lady, hello,” Liu Tianshi turned to Xie Yao and greeted with a charming smile.

"Hello,” Xie Yao curtly replied. She was still hugging tightly on Nie Yan’s arm, not paying Liu Tianshi any heed.

Liu Tianshi felt a bit angry and resentful.

"Do you need something?” Nie Yan asked, glancing down at Liu Tianshi’s hands. They were pale and slim like a woman’s.

"No. We just saw you and came to say hello,” Qin Han interjected with a vapid tone.

"If you don’t need anything, we’ll be taking our leave first.” Nie Yan had nothing to talk to Qin Han about.

"If you don’t mind, we can talk about a transaction.” Liu Tianshi narrowed his eyes as he gazed at Nie Yan.

"What kind?”

"I’ve recently gained some interest in Conviction. Sell Asskickers United to me. Just name a price.”

Chapter 760 - Extraordinary Beauty

"No thanks. Not interested.” Nie Yan’s expression turned cold. This asshole dared to say he wanted to buy Asskickers United? There was a limit to how boastful one could get!

Liu Tianshi chuckled. He wasn’t too bothered by Nie Yan’s reaction. "Don’t worry. I’m a patient man. I can wait. It just won’t be the same offer when you’ll be begging to sell it to me.” He turned to Qin Han. "Come on, let’s go.”

Nie Yan and Qin Han met eyes. Qin Han gave him a self-satisfied smile, then turned around and followed Liu Tianshi to leave.

The two disappeared behind a corner.

"Nie Yan, do you know what kind of background that guy has?” Xie Yao asked. She felt an uneasy feeling creep up on her from the way Liu Tianshi spoke.

"I don’t.” Nie Yan shook his head.

"Be careful. I don’t think he’s simple. Even Qin Han seems afraid of him."

"I understand. Come, let’s head to class.”

Recalling how agitated Nie Yan was just now, Xie Yao believed he had definitely met Liu Tianshi before today. But she also knew he’d keep his lips tightly sealed no matter how much she pursued the matter. He was the type who only reported the good and happy news, while sweeping the bad news under the carpet. If a problem occurred, he would keep it from his loved ones and deal with it by himself.

Nie Yan escorted Xie Yao to her school building.

"Alright, I’ll see you later. Have fun in class.” Nie Yan gazed at Xie Yao. She was the woman he pledged to protect with his life. No matter what happened, he wouldn’t do anything that risked her wellbeing.

"Okay.” Xie Yao nodded.

Nie Yan turned around and headed for the command faculty building.

Seeing Nie Yan’s departing figure, Xie Yao took out her phone and called up Xie Jun.

「Daddy~」Xie Yao sweetly said.

「My lovely daughter, how is school? Is that little punk Nie Yan teasing you?」

「No, he treats me very well!」Xie Yao blushed. The word teasing had a very different meaning to her.「Daddy, can you help me investigate a student called Liu Tianshi? I want to know what kind of background he has.」

「What, did something happen?」Xie Jun knitted his brows, a slight trace of worry in his voice.

Xie Yao quickly explained her and Nie Yan’s encounter with Liu Tianshi just now.

「I see. He wants to acquire Asskickers United? He really is too big for his britches. Don’t worry. He isn’t a threat,」Xie Jun assured. Liu Tianshi probably wasn’t aware of the situation. Not only World Bloc had an interest in Asskickers United, through Nie Yan’s connection with it, but also the Dragonsoar Financial Group, Glory Financial Group, and numerous other large companies. With this kind of support, how could they be so easily acquired?

Hearing Xie Jun’s words, Xie Yao could relax her heart a little. The two chatted for a while longer before ending the call.

Nie Yan headed directly for his classroom. Liu Tianshi left him feeling very uneasy. He called up Guo Huai and asked him to investigate Liu Tianshi’s background. Afterwards, he rang up Tang Yao.

「Yo, Nie Yan! That’s rare, you calling me first. What’s up?」Tang Yao chuckled.

Hearing Tang Yao’s familiar voice, Nie Yan’s nose soured as he was overwhelmed with emotions. He inwardly vowed to his heart, Brother, thank the heavens you’re still alive. This time around, I won’t let anything happen to you.

「How’s university life? You holding up alright? Find yourself a pretty lady yet?」Nie Yan asked with a smile.

「Bah, don’t mention it. 95% of the students here are guys while the 5% that are girls all look like they came from the Jurassic. You on the other hand... I bet the Top Military Academy has a lot of hotties, right?」Thinking about seductive beauties walking around in military uniforms, he almost started drooling.「But you have Xie Yao. I guess none of them can compare to her. Ahh, my poor bachelor life.」

「Haha. I’ll introduce you to one next time. But I have something important I want to talk to you about. You have to promise me something. Stop going to nightclubs and bars,」Nie Yan said in a serious tone. He was worried the tragedy of the previous timeline would repeat itself.

「Huh, why?」Tang Yao asked in a daze. Why did Nie Yan call him out of the blue to talk about something like this?

「Because I know you. From one brother to the other, please, listen to my words,」Nie Yan said.

Tang Yao hesitated for a moment before nodding.「Well, I never really liked that scene much anyway. Alright, I’ll stop going.」

「No matter what happens, don’t go. If for some reason you do end up going to one, give me a call first,」Nie Yan said. Fate was a mysterious thing. He had no idea what it had in store for him. All he could do was try his best to change it to his desired outcome.

「Alright.」Tang Yao nodded in a daze. He trusted Nie Yan. This random warning planted a seed of uneasiness in his heart. From now on, if he were ever in a situation where he was forced to go to a bar, he would definitely recall today’s conversation with his brother.

Nie Yan understood Tang Yao’s personality. With Tang Yao agreeing, he breathed a sigh of relief.

As for Liu Tianshi’s words, Nie Yan couldn’t help but inwardly sneer. If he believed he could acquire Asskickers United, he was free to try. It would be impossible for him to do anything to them inside the game. All he could do was try to apply pressure in reality. He’d have to battle it out with behemoths like World Bloc, the Dragonsoar Financial Group, and the Glory Financial Group. Not to mention Nie Yan was a core member of Heavenly Kings. Naturally, if something happened, Mo Yuntian wouldn’t sit still either.

Even though he felt there was no threat, Nie Yan still decided there was no harm in being careful. After all, he knew nothing about Liu Tianshi.

Nie Yan walked into the classroom to attend class like normal. All eyes were on him. He felt slightly confused until his eyes fell on his desk. A literal pile of love letters were stacked up neatly. He couldn’t help but break out into laughter. Reading over a few of them, the brazen and flirtatious writing brought a hint of red to his cheeks—any man would react the same! These girls… He bitterly chuckled before tossing all these letters into the recycling bin.

"Hehe. Didn't you know, mister celebrity? All the girls here are heads over heels for you.” Xu Yan chuckled.

Nie Yan helplessly waved his hand. He wasn’t like Lei Su, who changed girlfriends like sets of clothes. His heart belonged to Xie Yao, and Xie Yao alone. The only reason Lei Su was such a casanova was that he hadn’t found the one yet.

Nie Yan studiously worked on the courses where his marks were starting to fall. Between classes, he headed to the gym to work out. He discovered he was still growing stronger all this time. His body’s resilience had also increased significantly. In fact, his growth speed hadn’t slow down at all. He wondered when he would reach his limit.

Nie Yan gradually understood why Mo Yuntian was so interested in Master classes, If Wang Duo and the others could comprehend the mysteries behind them, the would enjoy lifelong benefits.

Come afternoon, Guo Huai still hadn’t made any progress in investigating Liu Tianshi’s background. Nie Yan rubbed his chin. If he still couldn’t dig up anything, he would ask Mo Yuntian. No matter how powerful Liu Tianshi’s background was, Mo Yuntian would know at least something.

After school ended, Nie Yan and Xie Yao returned to their villa together. Their little place of heaven on earth where no one could interrupt them.

Nie Yan skimmed over the news, then headed to the workout room to do some exercising. The home gym was outfitted with everything he needed, allowing him to clearly measure his growth.

Nie Yan took off his shirt. He walked up to the barbell rack, then slowly started adding on the weights before stopping at 480 kg. He let out a grunt and started squatting, his muscles trembling and straining.

One, two, three... Nie Yan’s movements were slow and purposeful. If he wanted to protect those around him, increasing his own strength was also crucial. Although he had a top expert like Bayonet by his side, that didn’t mean he could slack off.

Before long, an hour passed. Nie Yan was still doing high intensity exercises, showing no signs of stopping.

At this moment, the door to the workout room opened and Xie Yao walked in.

Nie Yan looked at her. Xie Yao was wearing a loose-fitting t-shirt and shorts. With only a simple glance, his eyes were glued onto her body.

The white gym clothes Xie Yao wore didn’t clash with her refined and graceful temperament. Rather, it added to her seductiveness. The shorts tightly wrapped around her curvaceous buttocks. They reached halfway down her thighs, revealing a pair of fair and slender legs. She didn’t have shoes on, revealing her white as a delicate jade toes which caused one’s heart to race. Her shirt was a bit loose, making it easier for her to move around, but one could still make out her flawless figure. What made Nie Yan’s gaze heat up was that she wasn’t wearing a bra. The curvaceous outline poking out through her shirt made his imagination run wild.

Even though this was no longer his first time with Xie Yao and he was very familiar with her body, the feelings and attraction he felt toward her never waned in the slightest. She was definitely god’s most perfect creation. He was completely and utterly enamored with her.

"Nie Yan, how do I look?” Xie Yao gazed at him with expectation.

"You look beautiful.” Nie Yan nodded.

Xie Yao burst out into a giggle. "You always say the same thing, I like it.” Seeing Nie Yan’s heated gaze, she already had her answer. She knew her current attire aroused him. She proudly raised her head and chest. Hmphh! I know I’m hot. What are you gonna do about it?

Nie Yan was at a loss for words. At this moment, Xie Yao was like a beautiful and enchanting fairy.

"Nie Yan, come be my training partner.” Xie Yao jumped up and down, loosening her muscles, before performing a roundhouse kick. After all, she was a taekwondo black belt. She could handle herself.

Xie Yao’s slender leg kicking through the air was a beautiful sight.

"Sure.” Nie Yan nodded. How could he possibly refuse?

Chapter 761 - Erotic Training

Nie Yan picked up two target mitts off the ground, then walked over to Xie Yao. He took a position about two to three meters away from her.

"Let’s start. Attack with all your strength,” Nie Yan said. He planned to give Xie Yao a good workout. That way, in the future, she could protect herself in case he wasn’t by her side.

Women were generally weaker than men in terms of raw physical strength. However, they made up for it with their flexibility which allowed them to perform high difficulty techniques. With proper training, they could also become deadly experts.

"Okay! Ready?” Xie Yao took up a stance.

Xie Yao’s energetic smile lifted Nie Yan’s somewhat despondent mood. He cast aside the annoying and negative thoughts in his mind.

Nie Yan put one foot back and braced himself. "Ready!”

Xie Yao slid a few steps forward, then performed a roundhouse kick. Her slender leg drew a beautiful arc through the air and struck the target mitt with a loud bang!

Nie Yan’s body slightly trembled. The power behind Xie Yao’s kick was pretty good.

"Not bad. Put more power into your hips. You’re also a bit unstable on the follow through,” Nie Yan advised.

After finishing the roundhouse kick, Xie Yao didn’t stop. She threw out another kick, and another, and another.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Xie Yao continuously kicked the target mitts, all the while following Nie Yan’s advice and adjusting her movements.

Nie Yan was steadily pushed back, finding great pleasure in Xie Yao’s movements. Her skin tight gym shorts accentuated her butt which was as round as a millstone, stimulating his primal desires.

After a series of kicks, Xie Yao finally stopped to catch her breath. She was in quite a good mood today. Training together with her boyfriend like this, what more could she ask for? Honestly, as long as she was with him, she would be happy doing anything.

For the next hour, apart from a few water breaks, Xie Yao didn’t stop. She didn’t want to look weak in front of Nie Yan. So, she persevered.

Compared to other girls, Xie Yao was a step better, both in physique and techniques. She was strong enough to handle the average person. Of course, if she met an expert, she would be in trouble.

Xie Yao was already drenched in sweat, panting for breath. Nie Yan’s gaze fell on her body as his breathing, too, became slightly ragged. Because of all the sweat, her originally loose-fitting t-shirt was sticking to her skin, revealing her flawless figure. Her round and voluptuous bosom was at max power. He could even make out two captivating light pink circles.

The atmosphere quickly turned awkward. Xie Yao hurriedly pulled down her shirt, not daring to meet Nie Yan’s heated gaze. Her cheeks burned bright red as she became flustered.

Seeing Xie Yao’s seductive appearance, Nie Yan’s mind was filled with lewd thoughts as a fire lit up inside him. During their holidays back in Huahai, she had stayed at her family’s house. So, they'd had no opportunity to get intimate.

Nie Yan started walking over to Xie Yao.

The closer Nie Yan got, the more difficult Xie Yao found it to breathe, almost as if she were about to suffocate.

Nie Yan was bare chested. His muscles weren't huge and exaggerated like a bodybuilder’s. Instead, they were firm and toned, brimming with explosive power. Xie Yao’s heart started racing. She immediately knew what he wanted to do. The urge to flee welled up inside of her, but her legs felt like jelly.

Only the two of them were in the spacious workout room. All around them were bright windows, letting the rays of sun shine through. However, no one could see inside. Light could pass through from the outside but not the other way around. Nevertheless, Xie Yao still felt uneasy.

"Nie Yan, how about we go back to the bedroom?” Xie Yao squeaked.

"Hmm? Return to the bedroom? To do what?” Nie Yan asked with a faint smile. From the moment she entered the workout room, Xie Yao had been purposefully teasing and seducing him non-stop. This was the result of playing with fire.

Seeing Nie Yan’s wicked grin, Xie Yao immediately became bashful. She turned around to flee, only to be pulled back into his embrace.

"No need to switch locations. Nobody can see us anyway,” Nie Yan whispered in Xie Yao’s ear. He mischievously slid his hand up her shirt, caressing her flat stomach. Slowly, he moved upwards, following the contours of her body, before groping a supple mound which had grown too large to fit in his palm.

Xie Yao was already completely exhausted from the high intensity workout. After being teased by Nie Yan like this, she lost all power to resist and let the moment take over.

Feeling Nie Yan’s misbehaving hands, Xie Yao closed her eyes.

Nie Yan laid Xie Yao down on a soft mat, then pulled her shirt up to her armpits…

...

The two showered and chilled around the house. Nie Yan prepared dinner which they enjoyed together. After which they went out for a walk, only returning when the sun was already setting behind the horizon.

Nie Yan entered Conviction, appearing in Orc King City.

The streets were bustling with many orcs and elves walking around, as Nie Yan made his way toward the transfer area.

After passing by a main street, Nie Yan discovered a large crowd gathered around a nearby stall. It seemed like something was happening.

Nie Yan wasn’t too interested in these kinds of matters. He was just about to leave when he heard someone say the words Angel Corps. He halted his steps and looked over. There were many Angel Corps players gathered there. Interest piqued, he rubbed his chin and walked over toward the commotion.

The players in the crowd were discussing something. At the center of attention was a stall manned by a human Paladin.

Human players that had the funds to travel to the Satreen Empire were mostly top experts. However, this Paladin’s equipment was anything but high quality, and his level wasn’t that high at only 103.

The Paladin had many materials for sale in his stall. They were high grade items like Reawakening Leaves and Bright Night Herbs. If they were sold, the Paladin would probably have enough to buy himself a brand new set of equipment.

Nie Yan’s intuition told him this situation wasn’t as simple as it seemed. Logically speaking, to be in possession of so many rare materials, this Paladin’s equipment shouldn’t be so lacking. A light bulb suddenly lit up in his head. There were players who would spend most of their time in the wilderness, rarely ever returning to town. Sometimes they could supplement their consumption by learning crafting and gathering skills. Oftentimes, they would only return to civilization once every one, two, or even three months. By then, their gear would have fallen behind. However, by selling off the harvest they obtained during their time in the wilderness, they could outfit themselves with a brand new set of equipment.

This Paladin was probably one of those players.

The stall was surrounded by more than a dozen Angel Corps players, three of whom appeared to be disputing something with the Paladin. Their argument was reaching a boiling point, with both sides yelling at each other.

"Motherfucker, do you want to test my authority!? I’ll make sure you never step foot in the Satreen Empire again!” a tauren Warrior angrily cursed at the Paladin.

"Just sell it to us at the price we agreed to before. Do you really think we’re so easy to bully?” an orc Warrior coldly said.

"You guys only inquired about the Reawakening Leaf. It’s 700 gold. As for the Bright Night Herb and Silver Serpent Grass, we never spoke about it. They’re worth far more. Stop being ridiculous!” the Paladin refuted, his face red with anger.

"We all heard it, you said you’ll sell all these medicinal plants to us for a flat price of 700 gold each! We had to borrow money from our friends just to pool together the funds. Now you’re saying you won’t sell it to us? Scammer!”

The people in the crowd quietly whispered among one another. The players from Angel Corps had already completely surrounded the stall. This Paladin was all alone, and he had no friends to help him. He was clearly at a disadvantage. He also didn’t dare to provoke this bunch from Angel Corps. They really did have the power to make his life in the Satreen Empire a living hell, to the extent he would be forced to leave, never to set foot back here again.

"What’s going on?” Nie Yan asked a bystander.

"I’m not too sure either. It seems like that Paladin and those three Angel Corps players had agreed on a deal, all the medicinal plants there for 700 gold each. The Paladin thought they were only talking about the Reawakening Leaf. A simple misunderstanding. Those Angel Corps players borrowed money from their friends, but now the Paladin isn’t willing to sell. That’s the rough situation I guess. Who knows who’s speaking the truth.” An elven Mage shrugged, as he looked over at Nie Yan whose appearance was hidden behind a cloak.

For this Level 103 Paladin to be able to get his hands on Reawakening Leaves, Bright Night Herbs, and Silver Serpent Grass, he definitely wasn’t ordinary.

Chapter 762 - Tossed Into Jail!

This Paladin had to have some skill. How else could he obtain so many rare medicinal plants? Even teams of Level 120–130 players with much better equipment than him wouldn’t necessarily be able to bring back such a harvest.

It would be strange if a Paladin like this was a nobody in the previous timeline. Nie Yan inspected him with Transcendent Insight.

This Paladin was called Top Dog. Nie Yan vaguely recalled such a name. However, he seemed to mainly operate in the Satreen Empire. So, Nie Yan didn’t know much about him.

This guy was actually the leader of a guild called Radiant Empire.

Nie Yan chuckled. The name Radiant Empire was quite flashy, but he had never heard of it before. Likely, it was just a no-name small guild. Players like these who randomly created a guild for fun without any members, there were tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of them in the entire server.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder how many members this guild counted. No wonder he’d named himself Top Dog. It really suited him.

Top Dog had caught Nie Yan’s eye. With the proper support, this fellow probably had a decent growth potential.

Nie Yan made his way over to the stall.

"Hey, how much are you selling your medicinal plants for?” Nie Yan asked.

At this moment, everyone focused their attention on Nie Yan.

With Angel Corps stirring up trouble and surrounding the stall, no other players dared to come forward and buy the medicinal plants. Top Dog was about to pack up and leave, when he heard Nie Yan’s question. His face lit up with joy. "The Reawakening Leaves are 700 gold each, and the Night Bright Herbs and Silver Serpent Grass are 900 gold each.”

"Not a bad price, much cheaper than the auction houses,” Nie Yan remarked. "How much do you have? I’ll take it all.”

"Three Reawakening Leaves, Two Bright Night Herbs, and five stalks of Silver Serpent Grass. I’ll give you a discount—8,200 gold. How does that sound?” Top Dog said. He didn’t expect Nie Yan to be so extravagant and buy everything in one go.

Nie Yan spoke to Top Dog like no one else was there, almost as if he weren’t aware in the slightest of the presence of the Angel Corps players.

"You little punk! Who the hell do you think you are!? Trying to snatch things from us!? You must be tired of living!” The tauren Warrior shouted while aggressively approaching Nie Yan.

"Scram! These medicinal plants are ours! If you don’t want your ass beaten, you better make yourself scarce! And don’t let us see you again!” The orc Warrior shoved Nie Yan away.

Nie Yan coldly chuckled. This was the first time someone had dared to behave so rudely to him inside the game.

"Hey, did you sell your medicinal plants to those guys already?” Nie Yan asked unperturbed. Those who were familiar with him would know he was incensed.

"I haven’t sold anything to those crooks. Even if they offered to pay twice as much, I’d still rather sell to you,” Top Dog coldly said. Seeing how these players from Angel Corps behaved themselves, vulgarities leaving their lips in multitudes and unable to keep their hands to themselves, he could no longer hold back his anger. Nie Yan had stepped out of the crowd to speak up for him and ended up getting dragged into this mess. How could he possibly remain silent? So what if he was hunted down by Angel Corps? He could just hide away in the mountains!

"Do you think I won’t touch you just because we’re in a city?” The tauren Warrior hatefully glared at Top Dog.

"If you dare, do it already! Here, on my cheek. Come on, hit me. I fucking dare you!” Top Dog sneered. This was Orc King City. If the tauren Warrior dared to do anything, he would definitely get taken away by the guards.

The tauren Warrior became even more infuriated. He nearly drew his greatsword, but he forcefully suppressed the urge. He knew how severe the consequences of attacking another player in a city were. He still had at least this much self control.

An orc Shaman stepped forward, shoving aside the tauren Warrior. Putting his face right up to Nie Yan’s, he spoke, "Yo, who are you? What are you trying to pull? If you’ve got any guts, show your face. We have so many of our Angel Corps players here. Take off your hood. Hiding your face like that, do you think you’re better than us!?”

Nie Yan was wearing the Shadow Walker Cloak which hid his name and information. Even if they used inspection skills on him, they couldn’t find anything.

"You want to know who I am? Be patient. You’ll find out in a bit.” Nie Yan turned back to Top Dog, ignoring the orc Shaman. "Let’s trade. I have a friend with a couple pieces of Level 100 equipment. You interested? I’ll sell them to you for the same price.”

"Sure. I was planning to head to the Viridian Empire to buy some Paladin equipment anyway. The Satreen Empire really doesn’t have anything worthwhile. But I want to see the properties first,” Top Dog said.

"Naturally.” Nie Yan nodded.

As the two were about to trade, the Angel Corps players immediately went into an uproar. They really wanted those medicinal plants, only that the price was too high for them to bear. They were only between Level 120–130 and had a limited income. They didn’t have the funds to just take out 8,200 gold. But they also weren’t willing to give up. So, they kept harassing and pressuring the Paladin. Seeing Nie Yan about to snatch the medicinal plants away, how could they not be infuriated?

"Fucking trash! Too afraid to even show your face! God damn coward!” This time the orc Warrior shoved Nie Yan even harder.

You have been assaulted by Black Lion’s team. The guards will arrive in 20 seconds.

Top Dog was also set off. Aggrieved, he didn’t back down in the slightest, and his words became even sharper as he argued with these players from Angel Corps.

The situation instantly became hectic, to the extent where people were threatening to take action. However, it was only limited to flailing their limbs. None of them actually dared to attack someone in the city. If they PKed in Orc King City, the consequences would be far more grave than the penalty of having a red name. So, both sides still showed some restraint.

Seeing the argument reaching a point of no return, the onlookers hurriedly backed away.

"Sit back and watch. We’re in for a good show.”

"Those Angel Corps bullies. They only know how to abuse their power. Forcing someone to sell for a lower price? Pathetic. It’s really uncalled for.”

"What else can you say? Angel Corps is the largest guild in the Satreen Empire. They’re full of people, both good and bad. There’s bound to be a few like those guys mixed in there. Honestly, their management isn’t too bad. They don’t reserve off too many levelling areas for themselves.”

The others in the crowd agreed with this player’s sentiments.

The shouting match continued on, with the shoving and pushing becoming more and more frequent. Nie Yan couldn’t be bothered to bicker with these people. Besides, their cursing and abuse only strengthened his position.

As the situation was starting to get out of hand, a group of armoured orc guards came walking over. Leading them was a high rank Shaman in golden robes. He wore a 10,000-Man Commander medal.

Everyone stopped dead in their tracks, looking at each other in shock. They were all surprised to see this high rank Shaman.

Normally, if this kind of dispute broke out, a single ordinary guard would suffice. If a fight broke out, three, four, up to six guards would come and arrest the offenders. There was never a situation where a high rank Shaman would make an appearance.

The high rank Shaman was an orc. He was quite portly, his fat jiggling with every movement. Wearing a dignified appearance, he stood about a head taller than the average orc.

Nie Yan inspected this NPC with Transcendent Insight. He was called Shaman Kokakori with the rank of Marquis.

"What’s going on? Why did a high rank Shaman come over?”

"I don’t know.”

After seeing such a high rank NPC, the crowd became nervous.

Kokakori walked over to Nie Yan. The several Angel Corps players couldn’t help but glance over, anxious expressions on their face.

"Great Prophet Nirvana Flame, you honour us with your presence.” Kokakori bowed respectfully.

One could hear a pin drop. Everyone looked at Nie Yan with a look of disbelief. It was actually Nirvana Flame? Many people thought they had heard wrong. Seeing Kokakori behaving so respectfully, only then did they realize they weren’t mistaken.

"Great Prophet? Damn! What kind of title is that? It’s actually higher than this Shaman’s!? Is it on the same level as a Duke?”

The players whispered among themselves. Everyone already knew about Nie Yan becoming a Great Prophet, but no one knew what kind of title this was. It was only after Kokakori bowed to Nie Yan that they understood its significance. It turned out this title’s rank was shockingly high.

Before, people only had a vague impression of the Great Prophet title. But from now on, its importance was burned into their minds.

They waited to see how things would play out. The faces of the Angel Corps players instantly paled as their minds went blank. They didn’t expect for a second the player they provoked was the one person no one could provoke inside the game, Nirvana Flame! Seeing Kokakori’s bearing, they understood how screwed they were.

Even Top Dog was shocked out of his wits. He stuttered, "Bro-brother, you-you’re actually Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame?!”

He didn’t dare to believe his eyes, rubbing them multiple times.

Nie Yan nodded with a smile. "In the flesh.”

Who could’ve expected that the person who stepped forward to help him out was the undefeated legend and guild leader of Asskickers United, Nirvana Flame!? Top Dog felt honoured. This incident would definitely become an unforgettable memory for him. He quickly saved the clip of the last few minutes. Later, he could show off to his friends, the story of how he’d met Nirvana Flame and even sold medicinal herbs to him!

As they spoke, the guards moved to surround the players from Angel Corps, causing them to feel more and more alarmed.

"Great Prophet, according to the laws of the Satreen Empire, for assaulting someone of your position, you may choose how to deal with them as you see fit,” Kokakori spoke the verdict. He awaited Nie Yan’s reply.

"What is the maximum prison sentence for this crime?” Nie Yan asked. Throwing these people into jail would be better than simply killing them.

"Three days,” Kokakori replied.

"Three days it is.”

"Understood, Great Prophet. Your benevolence is admirable.”

Chapter 763 - Demon Soulstone

Nie Yan lightly coughed, somewhat blushing with embarrassment. He understood what Kokakori meant. From this high rank Shaman's point of view, simply not depriving the lives of these people was a great act of mercy worthy of admiration.

"Nirvana Flame, don’t think you’re all that just because you’re a Great Prophet. One of these days, I’ll take that title and shove it right up your-” an orc Warrior with an explosive temper shouted before he was restrained by the guards. He kicked and flailed as a rag of cloth was stuffed in his mouth.

The onlookers all stared at the orc Warrior like they were looking at an idiot. This dumbass actually believed he could take revenge on Nirvana Flame? Perhaps it was time he took a long, hard look in the mirror. With his ability, even if given a lifetime, he’d never even reach Nie Yan’s feet.

"Shaman Kokakori, it seems he’s incorrigible. For threatening me, may I ask what’s the maximum number of days we can have him locked up in jail for on top of his previous offenses?” Nie Yan asked. This fool. What did he think lashing out would accomplish?

"That would be 10 days.”

"Alright, 10 days it is.”

"Understood, Great Prophet.”

Nie Yan’s impression of Angel Corps was never great in the first place. He coldly snorted, having no sympathy for the orc Warrior.

Patience was a virtue. Take Nie Yan for example. With his personality, if he ever encountered a situation where he was put at a disadvantage, his first reaction wouldn’t be to hurl abuse at the other side but rather patiently endure. When he was stronger, he would wipe away the disgrace. The orc Warrior before him clearly had zero patience, even claiming he would get revenge. Truly a joke.

At this moment, all the Angel Corps players protesting immediately shut up. Even though they felt humiliated, none of them dared to curse Nie Yan. Being locked in jail for three days was already quite a harsh punishment, to say nothing of 10. One could imagine how far they would fall behind their peers. Nirvana Flame wasn’t to be provoked!

Their expressions flustered, looking like stray dogs as they were taken away by the guards.

"Great Prophet, anyone that dares to disturb you in Orc King City will be strictly punished to the full extent of the law. If you need anything, we’ll rush to your call,” Kokakori said, sweeping his eyes over the surrounding players.

The crowd immediately lowered their gazes, not daring to meet Kokakori’s eyes.

With everything settled, Kokakori led the guards away.

"Wow, you really are Nirvana Flame. Thank you for stepping up to help me just now. If it weren’t for you...” Top Dog nervously rubbed his hands. Even now, he still found this situation hard to believe.

The onlookers all stared at Nie Yan. His appearance was still hidden behind his cloak, but since the NPCs had confirmed his identity, it likely really was him. They immediately recalled the recent happenings in the Satreen Empire. Angel Corps’ elite team and 1,000-man expedition team both being wiped plus their Clemenci stronghold taking substantial damage, and all of this caused by the man in front of them. A legend. Today’s incident would become a story they would bring up with their friends time and time again, every new version more lavish than the last.

However, the crowd only admired Nie Yan from afar. They didn’t dare to get too close and disturb him, lest they be taken away by the guards too.

"It’s nothing. Just a tiny bit of effort on my part.” Nie Yan faintly smiled. "You have to be careful. Angel Corps has already set their eyes on you. If life here becomes too difficult, come back to the Viridian Empire.”

Top Dog chuckled. "This is home. After creating my character, the first thing I did was travel here. I know the maps like the back of my hand. I’d be lost in the Viridian Empire. Besides, I spend most of my time levelling in the wilderness anyway. Once every other month or so I return. If I just avoid Orc King City, there's nothing Angel Corps can do to me.”

"You travelled straight to the Satreen Empire as soon as the servers opened?” Nie Yan asked in surprise. Logically speaking, this shouldn’t be possible.

"It’s a pretty depressing story. When I created my character, I started near Blaze City in Crissi Town, which is on the border between the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire. When I was only Level 9, I kept running north and somehow managed to safely pass a Level 100+ map. I was truly lost and tracking my way back was already no longer a possibility, so I used a Return Scroll and ended up in Kerykes Town in the Satreen Empire. And so, I became stuck here,” Top Dog explained.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but force a wry smile. Top Dog really had some terrible luck. For a low-level Paladin to somehow wind up in the Satreen Empire, one could imagine how hard his life had been. Most of the equipment that dropped here was unusable to him. Teams wouldn’t recruit him either, so it was incredibly difficult to find better equipment. Doing quests was also difficult since very few orc NPCs gave quests to humans.

In this situation, for Top Dog to not delete his account but instead persevere and get all the way to Level 103 was truly a miracle. If he had stayed in the Viridian Empire, he would probably be closing in on Level 160 and maybe even have a chance at becoming a Master.

Top Dog was more or less a local to the Satreen Empire. He knew the maps around here like the back of his hand. Convincing him to leave was impossible.

"If you meet any trouble, you can look for Ronin from Heaven Song. I’m sure he’d like you to join his guild,” Nie Yan said. He had a good impression of Top Dog. By giving him a suitable stage, his achievements would see a complete metamorphosis.

"Ronin,” Top Dog said in a daze.

"You know him?” Nie Yan asked.

Top Dog shook his head. "No, but I've heard of him.”

"If you find more high level medicinal plants, you can sell them to the Starry Night Potion Shop. They won’t be stingy.”

After chatting for a while, Nie Yan found Top Dog to be quite amusing. He gifted Top Dog a VIP medal for the Starry Night Potion Shop, which gave him a 70% discount on everything he bought. This made Top Dog incredibly excited. Every time he set out, he would spend quite a lot of his earnings on potions. This medal would save him some gold.

In the beginning, when Nie Yan coldly sentenced those Angel Corps players to jail, Top Dog thought Nie Yan would be hard to talk to. However, the more they talked, the more he realized Nie Yan was quite amiable and approachable. He was nothing like the arrogant young master the rumours made him out to be. Sure enough, you shouldn’t believe everything you hear. Nie Yan had helped him so much and even gifted him a VIP Medal. He was incredibly grateful, but didn't know what he could do to return this favour. Suddenly, he recalled a certain item. He fetched it out of his bag and said, "I stumbled upon this in a dark elf settlement. With my strength, there’s no way I can do this quest. You should give it a try.”

Top Dog gave the item to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan was a bit confused. Looking at the item, it was a black gem.

This gem was about as large as a pigeon egg. It sparkled with a black radiance.

Nie Yan inspected it with Transcendent Insight.

Demon Soulstone: Quest Item
Requirements: Level 150

"This is quite high level. It can probably trigger a pretty high rank quest. You should keep it for yourself,” Nie Yan said. Even though he was interested in this Demon Soulstone, he didn’t want to accept such a precious item for nothing.

"Keep it. The VIP medal you gave me is worth far more to me than this Demon Soulstone. I don’t know when I’ll be able to do that quest. Heck, I don’t know if I’ll ever get a chance to do it. Letting it sit in my bag is a waste. I’ve thought about selling it. If I hadn’t met you, I would’ve thrown it up in the auction house sooner or later,” Top Dog said. With the quality of his current equipment, he had no idea how long it would take him to get to level 150. Not to mention even if he did reach Level 150, he had no idea if he would be strong enough to do the quest. At that point, it was simply better to sell it off.

"Hmm, in that case, I’ll give you something in exchange,” Nie Yan said. Even though Top Dog’s words made sense, he didn’t like owing favours.

"Will this Demon Soulstone be useful to you?” Top Dog asked.

"Of course.”

"Whew, that’s a relief. I agree to trade,” Top Dog said. He wasn’t a stickler for formalities. So, he gladly agreed to Nie Yan’s suggestion.

"I’ll trade you it for a Level 110 Dark Gold-grade Paladin set.”

"That won’t do. How could I accept so much!?” Top Dog exclaimed in a fluster. A full set of Level 110 Dark Gold-grade Paladin equipment was practically priceless in the marketplace.

"Don’t worry. It’s worth this much,” Nie Yan said. This Demon Soulstone wasn’t simple. It was far more valuable than a Level 110 Dark Gold-grade Paladin set. Nevertheless, this deal was worth it for both sides. The gear would be extremely beneficial to Top Dog. If he had the ability, it could even change his fate.

Top Dog hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Alright.”

Nie Yan had his subordinates deliver the Level 110 Dark Gold-grade set over. Afterwards, he completed the trade with Top Dog.

This Demon Soulstone had an icy feeling to the touch. It was a familiar feeling, reminding Nie Yan of the Fallen Feather. They were both demon items. He didn’t know how they were connected. He could only wait until he was Level 150.

Looking at his current level, he was only Level 126. Meanwhile, on the level leaderboards, there were already many people Level 130-140. In fact, the highest level player right now was Level 149. He needed to find an opportunity to do some power levelling.

Nie Yan put away the Demon Soulstone in his bag. He still had a lot of business to take care of. He bid Top Dog farewell and headed for the transfer area.

Top Dog gazed at his bag. There was a complete set of Level 110 Dark Gold-grade Paladin equipment sitting right there. Once he reached Level 110, he could equip it. From then on, he would no longer have to struggle to find low quality equipment.

Seeing Nie Yan’s back slowly disappear in the crowd, Top Dog’s heart was filled with gratitude. He was suddenly brimming with hope for the future. If he could seize this opportunity, he would also have a chance of catching up to the lead pack and join the ranks of experts!

Chapter 764 - Phantom Princess Ina Reappears

Nie Yan checked his quest window. Scrolling down, there really were far too many to count: gathering the chapters of the Book of Order, completing the Tyrant Abak Set, obtaining the Assassin’s Heart, attaining Spirituality, removing the final seal from Zennarde’s Sword and save War God Kelo, defeating Cerberus to free the imprisoned Ten Holy Paladins, and a whole bunch of other less important quests. Anyone would be busy beyond belief trying to deal with all these quests. Now, he had received yet another quest item.

Nie Yan worked on these quests every day, steadily making progress as he analyzed every clue he found. The rewards were well worth the effort. If he completed all of them, he estimated no one could rival him for a long time to come.

At present, of the small number of Masters out there, there was no lack of peak experts. However, not a single one of them could compare to Nie Yan in terms of gear quality. This was just one of the reasons why Nie Yan remained undefeated. But if he wanted to keep it that way, he’d have to put in even more effort than others.

Nie Yan entered the transfer point and teleported to Grin Town. This was a town located in the middle of a desert. According to his quest marker, the Lost City of Barthe had sunk somewhere around here. In any case, there was no harm in checking this place out.

After arriving in Grin Town, the Holy Stone in his bag started emitting a milky white light. Nie Yan was gobsmacked. It couldn’t be this coincidental right? While searching for the Lost City, he just so happened to come across another piece of the Tyrant Abak Set.

Based on the reaction of the Holy Stone, the piece of the Tyrant Abak Set was nearby. In fact, it seemed it might even be somewhere within the town!

It was likely in the hands of an NPC. That was convenient. This would save Nie Yan a lot of time and effort.

A notification popped up.

Find Blacksmith Kesa.

Nie Yan faintly smiled. The system even told him exactly who to go to.

Nie Yan walked around the town. It was much nicer here compared to the other desert towns he’d visited. With several hundred buildings it was quite big. Some residents rode camels packed with goods back into town, giving it a lively feeling.

There were no players here, probably because the maps around Grin Town were fairly high. Before Level 160, few would dare to come here.

Nie Yan followed the Holy Stone’s lead and entered a dark and damp alley. An awful smell came from the sewage drain on the ground.

Nie Yan could sense a faint dark and ghastly aura in the surroundings.

"Is there a monster here…? No, that can’t be. I’m still in the middle of the town. Must be something else…” Nie Yan muttered.

However, Nie Yan still took precautions and entered stealth.

After passing through one winding alleyway after another, Nie Yan arrived in front of a shabby house. A sign with the words Kesa’s Smithery hung on the door.

KLANG! KLANG! KLANG! A clear hammering sound rang out.

This house was practically falling apart, but it was where the quest marker pointed him to.

Nie Yan pushed open the door and walked inside. An old NPC was stooped over an iron forge, beating a red hot iron ingot with his hammer.

This room was about three by five meters in size. There were all sorts of sparkling equipment hanging on the walls.

Nie Yan glanced around the room before settling his gaze on a dagger hanging on the wall. It was curved like a viper’s fang, and it emitted a stifling killing intent. The sharp blade flickered under the light of the furnace’s flames.

There were many daggers here, but none could compare to this one.

It was the other dagger in the Tyrant Abak Set, Abak’s Slaughter Edge!

Seeing this dagger, Nie Yan’s face lit up in elation. He didn’t expect to find it so quickly!

This was the sixth piece of the Tyrant Abak Set he found. He was only two pieces away from completing the set.

"Hello, Blacksmith Kesa.” Nie Yan walked over to the old man.

Kesa turned his head away from his forge and looked over.

Nie Yan got a good look at Kesa. He was a short and burly old man. Judging by his old and haggard face covered with wrinkles, he was somewhere in his sixties.

"It’s an honour to meet you, Great Prophet,” Kesa said with a flattering smile.

"I’d like to buy something from you,” Nie Yan said. The Slaughter Edge was hanging right on the wall. However, he couldn’t forcefully seize it, or it would negatively affect his reputation.

"Of course, of course. Everything here is for sale,” Kesa replied, observing Nie Yan with crafty eyes. Who knew what he was thinking.

"I want to buy that dagger.” Nie Yan pointed at the Slaughter Edge. He sensed Kesa was different from normal NPCs. But he didn’t think Kesa would try to pull any tricks. What was he going to do? Take the dagger and run?

Seeing Nie Yan point at the Slaughter Edge, Kesa’s eyes narrowed into thin slits. He feigned a hesitant tone and said, "Great Prophet… this is the best weapon in my shop. It’s extremely expensive.”

"How much do you want for it?” Nie Yan asked, coldly gazing at Kesa. With his financial ability, there was nothing he couldn’t buy.

"100,000 gold…” Kesa carefully paid attention to Nie Yan’s expression, then continued, "Of course, that only covers part of the bill. I also want 10 Azure Gems, 10 Viridian Gems, 10 Dusk Gems, 10 Silvermoon Gems, 10 Crimson Blood Gems…”

Kesa listed off more than 60 different gems, and he wanted 10 of each. Though some were relatively ordinary and cheap, many would cost Nie Yan an arm and a leg. Speaking in terms of money, it’d cost about 600,000 gold in total.

"That’s all,” Kesa said.

"If I give you 100,000 gold and all the gems you mentioned, you’ll sell me the dagger?” Nie Yan asked. Kesa’s shifty-eyed appearance didn’t really invoke a sense of confidence.

"Of course.” Kesa nodded.

If it were an ordinary player, regardless of whether or not they could pay the 100,000 gold, finding these gems alone would prove incredibly difficult. However, this wasn’t the case for Nie Yan. Half a million gold was no sweat off his back.

"I want this written down in a contract. If I gather these things and you go back on your side of the deal, you’ll spend the remainder of your days locked up in Orc King City’s prison,” Nie Yan said.

Kesa trembled before letting out an awkward laugh. "Of course, of course. I’ll sign your contract.”

Kesa was an unscrupulous fellow. NPC or player, he would cheat anyone he could. However, he didn’t dare to pull any tricks with Nie Yan. The foresight of jail was plenty of a deterrent.

Nie Yan wrote up a contract, which the two signed with their fingerprints.

Nie Yan sent word to Guo Huai. Before long, 20 players set out to start collecting the gems while the rest were withdrawn from the guild treasury. In less than five minutes, all 60 different types of gems had been gathered. A person came over to deliver them.

What efficiency! This was the advantage of being a guild leader. When Nie Yan encountered a difficult task, he didn’t need to do anything himself. He could just hand it over to those below him, and it would get done immediately.

Nie Yan put the 100,000 gold and 60 different gems in the trade window. Kesa was dumbstruck. He didn’t expect Nie Yan to gather everything so quickly. If he knew this earlier, he would’ve asked for more. He revealed a hesitant expression.

"You aren’t thinking about going back on your word, are you? Don’t forget our contract.” Nie Yan waved the contract in his hand.

Kesa immediately hung his head in defeat. He took the Slaughter Edge from the wall and placed it in the trade window.

Trade successful!

You have received Abak’s Slaughter Edge.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but get excited. The Slaughter Edge was his! He had six pieces of the Tyrant Abak Set. Only two more pieces to go to complete the set!

The Slaughter Edge looked similar to the Bloody Dagger, only that the colour was a bit different.

Nie Yan examined the Slaughter Edge’s properties.

Abak’s Slaughter Edge (Legendary): Unequippable

Requirements: 1,500 Strength, 1,200 Dexterity, Level 180

Description: This item can only be worn by the owner of the Glimpse of Darkness. It is only equippable when the owner has gathered the full set. Abak held strength in high regard. Only the powerful can become tyrants. Eliminate all traitors!

Properties: Attack +2300, Armour Break +25%, Strength +700, Dexterity +320, All Stats +100, Ignore Level, Chaos Damage. Attacks inflict the following curses: Rank 16 Agony, Rank 16 Bleed, and Rank 16 Poison.

Set Completion: 6/8

Note: Automatically bound to the owner of Volume I of the Book of Order; cannot be traded or dropped.

The Slaughter Edge’s properties were slightly different from that of the Bloody Dagger. The former inflicted Agony, Bleed, and Poison while the latter inflicted Exhaust, Fate Lock, and Thorns.

After putting away the Slaughter Edge in his bag, Nie Yan was in high spirits. He could already imagine himself wearing the Tyrant Abak Set at Level 150.

Suddenly, a cold wind blew past, causing Nie Yan to feel a chill run down his spine.

Kesa was currently carrying the large pile of gems with greed-filled eyes. Suddenly, he started wailing out in extreme pain. His bones erupted from his body, growing larger and larger. His clothes were ripped to shreds. He quickly filled the entire shop. BOOM! His head broke through the roof.

Nie Yan hurriedly fled outside. Looking back, an enormous five-meter tall demonic beast appeared before his eyes. This fellow clearly wasn’t Kesa anymore.

Half of Kesa’s face transformed into the appearance of Phantom Princess Ina. Meanwhile, the lower half of his body transformed into that of an octopus, writhing with countless black tentacles.

Shit! It’s Phantom Princess Ina again!

Nie Yan quickly hid far away. He inspected her with Transcendent Insight. She was a Level 150 Variant Lord!

Why did she have to become stronger every time they met!?

A Level 150 Variant Lord wasn’t something Nie Yan could deal with.

Chapter 765 - Lost City

So long as she wasn’t killed, Phantom Princess Ina would continue pestering Nie Yan.

After resurrecting from Kesa’s body, Phantom Princess Ina immediately started searching for traces of Nie Yan. She quickly saw through his stealth and went into pursuit.

Phantom Princess Ina knocked down any buildings in the way as she chased after Nie Yan through the alleyways.

A large, black tentacle stretched out and slammed toward Nie Yan.

Gale Step!

Nie Yan accelerated forward, transforming into a blur.

BOOOM! The attack partially destroyed the houses in the alleyway and left behind a deep crater in the ground.

Nie Yan evaded Phantom Princess Ina’s pursuit, all the while trying to think of a way to deal with her. He took out the Cavalry Crossbow from his bag and aimed over his shoulder. Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Five bolts flew out into the air.

Put put put! The bolts struck Phantom Princess Ina. A string of 1,000s floated up above her head.

However, looking at Phantom Princess Ina’s 60,000,000 health, it couldn’t even be considered a dent. Slowly chipping away at her health with bolts proved impossible.

Phantom Princess Ina created a huge commotion in Grin Town. Many civilian NPCs fled for their lives in a panic. Those who could fight charged toward her, only to get caught by her flailing tentacles and sent flying tens of meters through the air.

Violent tremors shook the earth every time Phantom Princess Ina slammed down with her tentacles. Cracks opened up in the ground and started rapidly spreading.

Nie Yan saw the ground disappear behind him at a frightening speed. It would swallow him up at any moment now! He immediately activated several speed skills and fled away.

Phantom Princess Ina was hot on his tail. It was almost as if a landslide were coming down as the ground shook and trembled.

The ground started collapsing under him. Nie Yan immediately crushed an Unknown Transfer Scroll and teleported 1,000 meters away.

Nie Yan had no idea where he was teleported to. Looking around, he found himself standing halfway up a mountain. Suddenly, he felt tremors beneath his feet. As he gazed into the distance, he saw a large section of earth collapsing, revealing a grand city below. It was located about 600 meters underground. There were ancient buildings stretching out as far as the eye could see.

Nie Yan’s mouth gaped wide open in shock. Who could’ve thought that beneath this vast desert was an enormous city!?

Phantom Princess Ina was nowhere to be found. Just what caused the earth to suddenly cave in and a giant sinkhole to appear? Even though Ina was a Level 150 Variant Lord, she shouldn’t be able to pull off something of this scale!

Nie Yan suddenly recalled Paternoster’s Warhammer in his bag. It was emitting a dazzling radiance.

It wasn’t Phantom Princess Ina who’d caused the earth to collapse, but rather Paternoster’s Warhammer!

A notification popped up.

You have discovered the Lost City of Barthe.

Immediately after, a world-wide server announcement went out.

Nirvana Flame has uncovered the Lost City of Barthe. A new map has been opened!

The entire playerbase went into an uproar.

「Barthe? What kind of city is that?」

「I have no clue.」

「I just received news. It’s located in the north of the Satreen Empire. It was originally near Grin Town, but the town sunk into the ground many years ago. Apparently it was preserved against the elements there all this time.」

People hurriedly started looking for information about Barthe. This city, cursed into the underworld by a demon, attracted the attention of all players and major guilds. Especially the name Nirvana Flame on the announcement caught their eye.

Just what kind of quest did Nirvana Flame trigger? What sort of reward did it give? Everyone couldn’t help but ponder these questions. It had to be something extraordinary!

Far and wide, people spoke of Nie Yan’s might. His equipment was something all players envied, especially Zennarde’s Sword. That was a Divine-grade weapon! Who knew what he would get this time.

These conjectures caused the interest in Barthe to soar. Afraid to miss out on the spoils, all the major guilds hurried to mobilize their forces and set out for the city. This strong reaction influenced the rest of the players. Those who had the funds paid out money to form teams made out of high level players and also set out.

Putting aside other places for now, just in the Union of Assassins alone, there were more than 600 requests looking to hire players for an expedition to Barthe.

Like a tidal wave, players from all over flocked toward Barthe.

This development was also out of Nie Yan’s expectations. One could imagine how much of an influence the name Nirvana Flame had on players.

Nie Yan received word that Angel Corps and the several guilds under the Century Financial Group had dispatched three 10,000-man expedition teams. To be able to mobilize so many players in such a short time span was quite impressive.

In less than 10 minutes, Barthe was bustling with players. They had entered here using all sorts of methods and started exploring around.

An idea popped up in Nie Yan’s head. Faintly smiling, he also entered Barthe.

The monsters that spawned in Barthe were Level 150-160 Desert Giants. They had high defense and mediocre attack.

Passing through the alleys of Barthe, the architecture here resembled that of ancient times. Tall towers poked into the sky.

While he was making his way forward, Nie Yan had already encountered five groups of players. From groups 1,000+ players strong to those with only a few hundred, everyone was making their way towards the city center.

Nie Yan roamed around Barthe, when he received a call from Guo Huai.

「Where are you right now?」

「I’m in Barthe. What’s up?」

「Sun, Xie Yao, and them are back from the underworld.」

「What? So quickly? Did they get anything good down there?」Nie Yan asked. Calculating the time, Sun and them had only spent a week or so in the underworld.

「They completed a quest and obtained two pieces of Legendary equipment. Also, they made contact with Plenty and completed a trade. I estimate we’ll make at least a 1,200,000 gold profit from this batch. Plenty also expressed his interest in teaming up against Angel Corps. He’s already dispatched over a hundred thousand players to the surface.」

「Good. It looks like it’s time to deal with Angel Corps.」Nie Yan was excited, even if he was still curious about what the relationship between Plenty and Soaring Angel was. With Fallen Angel willing to team up against Angel Corps, Asskickers United would have another powerful ally.

Chapter 766 - Barthe Inner District

A single trip to the underworld netted them 1,200,000 gold. This was unimaginable for other guilds, but it was perfectly normal for Asskickers United. Nie Yan estimated this haul was their last big profit from this venture. With the opening of Judgement Valley, players would definitely think of different loopholes to smuggle goods between the two factions and saturate the market.

However, the parternship between Asskickers United and Fallen Angel was only getting started.

They shared a common enemy in Angels Corps and the Century Financial Group. So, they would launch a joint-attack.

Nie Yan and Plenty got in touch with each other. After discussing the details of their cooperation, Asskickers United also dispatched over 100,000 players over to the Satreen Empire. A total of 300,000 players started stirring up trouble in the territories controlled by Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group.

After handling these matters, Nie Yan messaged Guo Huai.「Have Sun, Xie Yao, and them all come meet me in Barthe.」

Nie Yan still had to deal with Phantom Princess Ina. He couldn’t take her on alone.

「Shadow Killer just completed his class advancement quest. He became a Shadow Stalker,」Guo Huai said.

Nie Yan was happy to hear of the progress Shadow Killer made. Not too long ago, they were strangers linked by a bet. After killing Soaring Angel, Nie Yan had Shadow Killer assassinate Cao Xu. A piece of cake for this veteran. But this also ruptured what little good blood was left between both sides. Infuriated, Cao Xu used Shadow Killer's friends where it hurt most. A small betrayal here, a larger one there. Thousands upon thousands of Thieves chased after him every single second the servers were online. It took him everything he had just to survive. Abandoned by his friends, allies, and even the very organization he founded, a quiet rage bubbled up inside of him. However, he couldn't take Cao Xu on himself, that was a fool's hope. He needed allies. Joining Asskickers United was the only logical next step. As he came to this conclusion, Guo Huai sent another one of his periodical messages to which he replied for the first time. They came together and shared their thoughts, after which they decided to work together under the banner of Asskickers United to bring down Cao Xu and the Century Financial Group.

Shadow Killer becoming a Shadow Stalker was incredibly exciting news. Asskickers United now had six Shadow Dancers: Nie Yan, Sun, King of the World, Mistaken Smile, One Strike Vow, and Shadow Killer. Among them, Nie Yan, Mistaken Smile, and Shadow Killer had special titles. All the best Thieves were in Asskickers United. However, Nie Yan felt a little conflicted because of the changes his interference had brought about. The Luminous Dancer, Shadow Strifer, and Shadow Stalker titles were all unique. His snatching away the Luminous Dancer title from Mistaken Smile had caused a chain reaction to occur. Mistaken Smile obtained the Shadow Strifer title this time around, and Shadow Killer the Shadow Stalker title which belonged to Sun in the previous timeline.

Nie Yan cast these thoughts aside. Whether it was Sun or Shadow Killer that obtained the Shadow Stalker title, it didn’t matter. They were both members of Asskickers United anyway.

Asskickers United had consecutively produced six Shadow Dancers. Everyone else was left to look on in admiration, especially those who played the Thief class. They all agreed on one thing, and that was that any skilled Thief worth their salt would join Asskickers United. Apart from Angel Corps with Butcher Sark, no other guild had produced a top Thief.

「Have him come over too.」

Before long, Asskickers United’s Masters arrived in Barthe.

Nie Yan passed by a street and spotted an expedition team of 300 players from a guild called Moonchaser Sword in his path. Most of them were around Level 120-130. They were slowly making their way towards a tower. Several Fighters were at the front, drawing the aggro of a few Desert Giants.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The Desert Giants lumbered forward and attacked the Fighters. They raised their thick, solid arms and slammed down with their fists. KLAAANG! The Fighters were pushed back by the force, but they immediately charged back into position.

"Fighters, draw them to the side! Mages, focus your firepower!” a Thief called Drowned Fish shouted. He was likely their leader.

A barrage of magic rained down on the Desert Giants. The Mages in the back unloaded their skills. The coordination of this group was pretty good.

Any group that could explore Barthe wasn’t simple.

Nie Yan took a detour around them and continued onward. He could already see the walls to the inner district off in the distance. As he wondered where he should start searching for that NPC named Morphest, he noticed that the deeper he ventured into the city, the greater the mob density was. Desert Giants were everywhere. This would definitely be a decent levelling spot.

Nie Yan chanted out an incantation. With a flash of light, Lil’ Gold’s enormous figure emerged by his side.

Lil’ Gold’s appearance immediately alerted the nearby Desert Giants. They came charging over, flailing their arms to attack.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The flurry of attacks triggered consecutive Explosive Counters. Powerful whirlwinds erupted from Lil’ Gold and swept away the Desert Giants.

Nie Yan pulled up Divine Recruitment and also summoned Paladin Lafus.

Man and dragon immediately started clearing out the area. Nie Yan remained in stealth, collecting the loot off the ground as he pressed forward.

A white light enveloped Lil’ Gold, signalling a level up. Nie Yan checked Lil’ Gold’s stats. A Level 130 dragon with 170,000 health! He was an unrivalled powerhouse among pets.

Lil’ Gold also learned a new skill, Blaze Armour. When this skill was toggled on, it’d deal continuous fire damage to all surrounding enemy units.

Many players had attempted to obtain pets that could rival Lil’ Gold, but they all failed. Finding a pet with high potential was still possible, there were plenty who did. However, realizing that potential proved incredibly difficult. As for Evolution Crystals, though there’d been others who found one, they were a limited few. Due to this, the number of players who could gather both were perhaps no more than a handful, and they wouldn’t necessarily be willing to use the Evolution Crystal on a pet. Not to mention a pet that ate an Evolution Crystal at Level 0 was completely different from one that ate it at a higher level.

As a result, Lil’ Gold still occupied the position as the most powerful pet. Taking care of these Desert Giants was a piece of cake for him.

After learning Blaze Armour, any Desert Giants that got near him would immediately start taking 6,000 fire damage a second.

As soon as Lil’ Gold’s health started dipping, Paladin Lafus would immediately top him back up. With this kind of super healer supporting him from the rear, there was no need to worry about running out of health.

The duo swept through everything in their path, leaving behind a trail of corpses in their wake.

About 10 minutes later, a white light enveloped Nie Yan. Level 127 already! This levelling speed was quite good.

「Are you guys here yet?」Nie Yan asked in voice chat.

「We just arrived in Barthe. Boss, where are you?」Undying Scoundrel asked.

「I’m hanging around near the inner district at 289.800.880,」Nie Yan replied.

「Alright, we’ll be there in a minute.」

Nie Yan looked around. The silhouette of the inner district was already within view. It was shaped like a square with many buildings erected inside.

The expedition team of 300 players from Moonchaser Sword finally arrived in the area where Nie Yan started clearing mobs. The sight before their eyes left them completely dumbstruck. There were literal piles of Desert Giant corpses scattered everywhere, stretching out to the far end of the street.

"Boss, who did this!? A 1,000-man expedition team? No way, right? We never left the area. If such a large group of players passed by, we definitely would’ve noticed,” a player gloomily said. The corpses still hadn’t despawned, signifying that whoever was behind this hadn’t gone far.

Drowned Fish shook his head in confusion. He also couldn’t understand what was going on. This street was too narrow. How could a 1,000-man expedition team possibly pass through?

"You guys wait here. I’ll take a few people with me to take a look. Lil’ Seven and the rest, come with me,” Drowned Fish said.

"Understood!”

Five Thieves joined Drowned Fish to investigate. As they made their way forward, their shock only grew deeper. As far as the eye could see, there were Desert Giant corpses scattered everywhere.

"Boss, I picked up two gold.”

"Boss, I found a Level 150 Silver-grade chestpiece.”

These Thieves discovered many of the items on the ground had been left there. Nie Yan didn’t have the time or energy to pick up everything by himself. Besides, he couldn’t even be bothered to pick up most drops.

Drowned Fish knitted his brows. They were trailing a small group! Large groups would sweep everything clean. They would never leave so many drops behind.

Following another curve in the street, Drowned Fish and the other five Thieves gazed up ahead. A giant golden dragon entered their vision.

"It’s a golden dragon! My god! That’s Nirvana Flame!” one of the Thieves cried out in shock.

Drowned Fish felt his blood freeze over. The carnage and destruction they saw on their way here was all carried out by one person!? How was this even possible!? Nirvana Flame was too frightening!

"So, it was Nirvana Flame! No wonder!”

Everyone suddenly felt this all made sense.

Drowned Fish observed Lil’ Gold. He was just standing there, seemingly waiting for something. Who knew what Nirvana Flame was doing.

"Calm down. Let’s go and take a look,” Drowned Fish said. Nirvana Flame triggered the release of Barthe. He had probably received some kind of special quest. The curiosity in his heart spurred him to go over and investigate.

The six Thieves activated their stealth boosting abilities, then slowly inched closer toward Nie Yan.

10 seconds later, they found a hiding spot about 100 meters away from Nie Yan. The enormous Lil’ Gold was like a small mountain, giving off a stifling pressure. Nie Yan was standing right next to him, his appearance hidden by a cloak. There was also a tall NPC beside Nie Yan.

「That’s probably the Paladin Lafus everyone’s talking about!」

「What’s Nirvana Flame just standing there for?」

「No idea.」

Their hearts were filled with confusion and curiosity. Getting to see Nirvana Flame out in the wilderness was really something else. They couldn’t help but feel their hearts race. At this moment, they were only about 100 meters away from him. Although they felt they were safe, their hearts were still wracked with tension and nervousness.

Nie Yan was currently waiting for Sun and the others to arrive. At this moment, he suddenly sensed something and shifted his gaze over to the other end of the street.

There were several Thieves hiding in stealth over there. However, Nie Yan didn’t pay them any mind. Since he could spot them from so far away, they couldn’t possibly pose a threat to him.

Chapter 767 - Devil World Riders

Drowned Fish and the others noticed Nie Yan looking over in their direction. It felt like his sharp gaze could pierce their hearts.

It was only a brief glance, but Drowned Fish felt his back drenched with cold sweat. After watching so many videos of Nie Yan’s battles, they knew just how powerful he was.

They held their breaths as they felt their hearts tighten.

「Boss, I think Nirvana Flame discovered us,」one of the Thieves said, his voice trembling.

Nie Yan had accurately pinpointed their location from such a far distance away. This was truly frightening.

From their point of view, being spotted by Nirvana Flame meant death.

Nie Yan only gave them a brief glance before turning back his head.

「Did he not discover us?」

「No, he found us.」Drowned Fish shook his head.

「Then, why didn’t he come over to deal with us?」

「Probably because we're not worth it. Come on, let’s go,」Drowned Fish said. Nie Yan already gave them a warning. If they continued lingering around any longer, they would end up as corpses on the ground.

Thinking to this point, they were just about to retreat, when a silhouette soared through the air. A Warrior leaped off the roof of a nearby building and landed in front of Nie Yan.

"Nie Yan, I’m here.” Lei Su chuckled.

Just as Lei Su’s feet touched the ground, multiple silhouettes came rushing over from all around. The fastest were the Magisters. They crossed the 600 meters from the far end of the street to Nie Yan in a flash by consecutively casting Blink.

What amazing speed! That must be a Magister! Drowned Fish and the others were dumbstruck. Consecutive blinks were too frightening.

It was a gathering of Masters, 21 in total. What were they planning to do?

Lei Su glanced over at Drowned Fish’s group, then turned back to Nie Yan. "Should we get rid of those guys?”

"They’re only low level Thieves. Give them a minute. If they don’t get the hint, get rid of them,” Nie Yan said.

If Drowned Fish's party heard Nie Yan’s words, who knew what their reaction would be like. They were considered experts by ordinary players. However, in front of Nie Yan and these other Masters, they really were nothing more than ants.

「Boss, I recorded everything down!」a player excitedly said. The astonishing speed of those Masters was all captured on video. If he shared this clip on the forums, who knew what kind of reaction it would trigger.

「We’re retreating!」

「No, Boss! Let’s keep watching.」

「They’ve discovered us. We’re already testing their patience by staying here. If we don’t leave, they’ll kill us.」Drowned Fish could still judge the situation with a cool head. Looking up ahead, six Thieves were talking to each other. His eyes burned with a hint of envy and fervor. Those were all Shadow Dancers, the goal of countless Thieves. Asskickers United had a total of six! He wondered if one day he could stand at the apex among the likes of Nirvana Flame and Sun, or if he would never reach such heights in this lifetime. At the very least, he could dream.

Drowned Fish’s party retreated, disappearing behind a corner.

"They’ve left,” Lei Su said.

Nie Yan glanced at Shadow Killer. He was recruited into Asskickers United only recently by Guo Huai. Since he was busy with his class advancement quest at the time, the two of them never got a chance to meet until now.

"Long time no see.” Nie Yan faintly smiled.

Shadow Killer forced a bitter smile. The complicated emotions stirring in his heart right now couldn’t be described with words. After all, Nie Yan had put him through living hell. Yet he still ended up joining Asskickers United.

Over these past couple of months, Shadow Killer had experienced what it was like to be abandoned by everyone he trusted. Even though he was reaping what he sowed and had no one to blame but himself, he still felt resentful toward Nie Yan; it was easier to blame someone else for your own mistakes.

For whatever reason, who knew why, he put these feelings aside and in the end agreed to join Asskickers United.

In front of Nie Yan, he felt like a complete loser. But at the same time, he also felt a hint of reverence toward Nie Yan. This was a complicated emotion.

"I might be in Asskickers United now, but that doesn’t mean the business between us is settled. It won’t be today, but one day I’ll definitely wipe away this disgrace,” Shadow Killer said heavily.

"I welcome your challenge at any time.” Nie Yan chuckled, a hint of appreciation in his eyes. For Shadow Killer to speak so bluntly meant he no longer bore a grudge, just that a small part of him was unwilling to back down.

Everyone couldn’t help but smile. Even though they had prejudices against Shadow Killer previously, after he joined Asskickers United, they let bygones be bygones and got along with him fairly decently.

"Alright, looks like everyone is here,” Nie Yan said.

"Nope, not everyone,” Young Seven said. "Painted Muslin, Monochrome, Edgeless, and them are all on the final stages of their class advancement quests. They should be out pretty soon.”

"Not just Big Sis Muslin, there are many others doing their class advancement quests right now. Who knows if a few black horses will pop up,” Xie Yao added as she stood beside Nie Yan.

"Oh? Sounds like we might meet some new faces soon.”

They all looked full of expectation. The number of Masters in Asskickers United was rapidly increasing, pulling further and further ahead of other guilds. When their number of top experts passed a certain point, they would truly be able proclaim hegemony over the Atlanta Continent.

"I hope we get a few more Magisters. Blowing stuff up with Forbidden Magic is too much fun.” Undying Scoundrel chuckled like a villain.

As for which players in Asskickers United were capable of becoming Masters, Nie Yan was fairly clear. After all, he had personally tasked Guo Huai with recruiting them. However, fate was a fickle thing, and different for everyone. As the guild continued to grow, new talented players would train and learn from the veterans, with even previously unknown rookies rapidly rising to the top. So, even he didn’t know how many Masters Asskickers United would produce in the end.

The Masters separated into two groups and were preparing to set off for the inner district, when a loud explosion rang out in the distance. It was coming from the east.

"What’s going on?”

"I don’t know. I’ll go take a look.” Sun jumped on top of a tower and looked over. "I think a boss spawned. There’s probably at least 50,000 players in the square over there.”

"What does the boss look like?” Nie Yan asked.

"Sort of like an octopus. I can’t see it clearly.”

Like an octopus? Nie Yan immediately thought of Phantom Princess Ina. It appeared she, too, had fallen into Barthe.

"Boss, what do we do? Keep heading for the inner district or go over to take a look?”

Nie Yan briefly explained his relation to Phantom Princess Ina, then said, "Let’s kill her first, or else she’ll keep following us.”

"So it’s like that. Alright, let’s go.”

They dashed toward the commotion. Their speeds were astonishing.

There was a large square in the east of Barthe just outside the inner district. Many players were gathered here. They all belonged to different groups. Angel Corps and several other famous guilds in the Satreen Empire were all here.

Phantom Princess Ina was raging in the middle of the square. A large phalanx of Fighters and bear-form Druids surrounded and locked her down.

A barrage of magic bombarded Phantom Princess Ina. She kept thrashing about with her tentacles, sending the Fighters and Druids flying.

"Which guilds are all there?” Nie Yan asked. The battlefield was too chaotic. With everyone mixed together, it was hard to tell what was going on.

"I see Asura Inferno and Devil World Riders. That guy over there is the guild leader of Devil World Riders.” Young Seven pointed toward the roof of a building in the south side of the square.

Nie Yan had heard of Asura Inferno and Devil World Riders. They were two major powers in the Satreen Empire. Though the size of their territory was small, they were also hegemons in their own right, each occupying a city with over 20 strongholds under their control. Angel Corps had fought several wars with them previously, but in the end no victor was decided. Because of the threat of Asskickers United, Angel Corps had no choice but to give up on acquiring their territories for the time being. Nie Yan had tried contacting these two guilds before, but they showed no interest in cooperation. From their perspectives, the Satreen Empire was their land. Why would they let a guild from a foreign empire come over and get a share of the profits? So, in the conflcit between Angel Corps and Asskickers United, they would simply take a seat on the bleachers and observe it from the sidelines.

Angel Corps, Asura Inferno, and Devil World Riders had a tacit understanding, each occupying a part of the square while remaining vigilant of each other.

Apart from these three guilds, many small teams had also inserted themselves inside, hoping to fish up some easy benefits when the boss died.

"Soaring Angel didn’t come?” Nie Yan asked, sweeping his eyes over the square.

"Nope. According to Guo Huai, he took the other four Masters in Angel Corps with him to do some kind of quest.”

"Five Masters doing a quest together?” Nie Yan knitted his brows. As the number of Masters in Asskickers United increased, Soaring Angel wouldn't sit idly by and wait for death. Just what was he planning?

"Since he didn’t come, let’s teach these Angel Corps players a lesson. Afterwards, we can deal with Phantom Princess Ina. These people are way too slow,” Lei Su said, cracking his knuckles. There were so many people attacking Phantom Princess Ina, but they had only shaved away 20% of her health so far. Even snails were faster! He was getting impatient.

Chapter 768 - Path of the King

"It’s rumoured that Devil World Riders is the holy place for Shamans. They got basically all the good Shamans, with 13 out of the top 20 in the game. But they aren’t strong enough to pose a threat to us.” Young Seven gave his evaluation. Out of Devil World Rider’s 13 Shamans, only one so far had successfully advanced to Master class. "As for Asura Inferno, they’re mostly known for their Warriors. But they don’t even have a single Master yet.”

"It’s best if we don’t fall out with them,” Nie Yan said after thinking for a moment. Asskickers United didn’t have any enmity with these two guilds. There was no need to pointlessly make more enemies.

Nie Yan’s group of 21 Masters flashed through the streets before appearing on the roofs of the buildings near the square where Phantom Princess Ina was. They stood loftily and proudly, as they gazed down at the battlefield.

As soon as Nie Yan appeared, Phantom Princess Ina grew berserk. She lashed out with her tentacles, sending the players around her flying, and charged toward him.

Only then did everyone notice the arrival of Nie Yan and the others.

"Who are they?”

"That’s Nirvana Flame!”

"Asskickers United’s 21 Masters are all here!”

…

This news spread like wildfire throughout the square. The players trembled in fear, especially those from Angel Corps. They immediately descended into a panic as they felt their legs go weak.

"Boss, it’s Nirvana Flame!” an orc Warrior cried out toward a player standing on a nearby roof. This player was Apex Evil, the guild leader of Devil World Riders.

Apex Evil looked over. Nie Yan and the others were overlooking the entire battlefield, like lofty gods up high in the clouds. He knew they possessed the power to wipe out everyone here. As a Master himself, how could he not? Just what kind of concept was 21 Masters? A single Forbidden Spell could turn everything here into a pile of ruins.

There was no running away. So, Apex Evil headed toward Nie Yan.

From another part of the square, the guild leader of Asura Inferno, Blood Lotus Asura Blade, was also moving towards Nie Yan.

Even though Devil World Riders and Asura Inferno were rivals, they generally showed restraint with each other. After all, they had a greater common enemy to worry about in the form of Angel Corps.

Apex Evil and Blood Lotus Asura Blade met gazes. Both players revealed helpless smiles.

They quickly arrived at about 100 meters from Nie Yan’s party and stopped.

"Boss, those two are Apex Evil and Blood Lotus Asura Blade,” Undying Scoundrel said.

Nie Yan looked over at them. Even at this distance, he could see their appearances clearly.

"I didn’t expect the great Nirvana Flame would come here. It’s an honour.” Apex Evil cupped his hands in greeting.

Blood Lotus Asura Blade also gave his greetings.

They showed great respect for Nie Yan. After all, this man had the lives of all their members in his hands. How could they not be careful? Asskickers United was incredibly powerful. So much so, that even though Devil World Riders and Asura Inferno were also widely recognized hegemons, they didn’t amount to anything in front of Asskickers United. Asskickers United could probably completely rout them within a week if they wanted to.

"You’re too polite.” Nie Yan faintly nodded.

Apex Evil and Blood Lotus Asura Blade didn’t mind if Nie Yan was looking down on them. Even if he behaved rudely, he had the ability to back it up.

"Are you here for Phantom Princess Ina? If you want, we can vacate the premises within three minutes. Just say the word,” Apex Evil said.

"Asura Inferno is of the same mind,” Blood Lotus Asura Blade said.

Apex Evil and Blood Lotus Asura Blade were both ruthless and ambitious characters. However, they knew when to back off. Nie Yan wasn’t someone they could afford to offend.

Asskickers United had swept through the Viridian Empire, conquering every battlefield they set foot on. Most recently, they had even brought the flames of war to the Clemenci Stronghold, evoking fear in the hearts of Apex Evil and Blood Lotus Asura Blade. If even the ruler of the Satreen Empire, Angel Corps, wasn’t a match for Asskickers United, there was no need to talk about them.

Right now, Asskickers United’s opponent was Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. Everyone understood there was no benefit in making more enemies everywhere.

"We’re indeed interested in Phantom Princess Ina. If she drops any equipment, I want priority. One piece, you guys can split the rest among yourselves,” Nie Yan said.

Apex Evil and Blood Lotus Asura Blade glanced at each other. Their eyes flickered with a trace of happiness and surprise. They didn’t expect the situation to take such a turn. Variant Lords like Phantom Princess Ina normally dropped multiple pieces of equipment along with precious gems and other items. They believed with Nie Yan’s appearance, they wouldn’t even get to have a sip of the soup. This was great!

"Thank you for your generosity, Nirvana Flame.”

Nie Yan turned to Lei Su and gave him the signal. Lei Su stepped forward and shouted at the top of his lungs, "All players aside from those from Asura Inferno and Devil World Riders, please vacate this square within three minutes. All Angel Corps players, wash your necks!”

Lei Su’s voice was heavy and loud, reverberating across the entire square.

In the next moment, Lei Su, Smoke Stub, and Bladelight leaped down onto the square and charged toward the players from Angel Corps. Sun, King of the World, Mistaken Smile, Shadow Killer, and One Strike Vow entered stealth, no one could find a trace of them anymore. Tang Yao, Undying Scoundrel, and the others waved their staffs and started blinking forward.

Apex Evil and Blood Lotus Asura Blade glanced at each other with bitter smiles.

"Asura, we’ve been baited.”

"I think so too… There’s no way Angel Corps won’t suspect us from having allied with Asskickers United now.”

Those items they were promised might as well be nothing. If they knew this was Nie Yan’s plan all along, they would’ve refused and directly left. However, it was already too late now.

When they looked down at the square, they were dumbstruck. At this moment, Angel Corps’ forces were in complete and utter chaos.

Lei Su, Smoke Stub, and Bladelight were like sharp blades, slaughtering their way into the ranks of Angel Corps. A dense barrage of magic bombarded them, but it did little to stop their advance.

"Angel Corps kiddies. Come say hi to grandpa Lei Su!” Lei Su shouted, unleashing his aura which flooded out and swept away the surrounding Warriors.

He charged into the back line. With a high rank Whirlwind Slash, he cut down a dozen Mages in an instant.

At this moment, there were piles of corpses scattered all around Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su.

There were also more mysterious deaths. Angel Corps players left and right suddenly collapsed dead to the ground. No one knew what had happened to them.

When the Magisters arrived, they swept the enemy away with AoE magic. Their killing speed was much faster than the others.

Angel Corps’ forces were in complete disarray. There was no way they could mount an effective comeback. Several party leaders attempted to command the troops under them. However, before they could even get a few words out, they were assassinated by Sun and the other Thieves. Angel Corps was completely routed as they fled for their lives in defeat.

These Masters were machines of war.

Witnessing everything from the top of the roof, Apex Evil and Blood Lotus Asura Blade’s hearts were trembling with shock as a cold chill ran down their spines. If they had tried to go against Nie Yan’s group, their situation would’ve been even worse. The two of them would be killed first. After which the players under them would be lambs for the slaughter.

Apex Evil and Blood Lotus Asura Blade gazed at Nie Yan. He leaned back against a wall, his expression completely unreadable.

Despite not knowing what he was thinking, Apex Evil and Blood Lotus Asura Blade felt an enormous pressure. What was called a tactician controlling the battlefield? What was called the path of a king? Nie Yan completely encapsulated these things. He had promised to only take one piece of equipment, making them feel like they owed him a favour. Then with Lei Su’s words, he made them basically declare war against Angel Corps, playing their hands for them. Now with the slaughter of all these Angel Corps players, he was revealing his strength as well as giving them a warning. Step by step, he had done everything to perfection. They could only obediently submit, too frightened to try anything funny.

The fact that Nie Yan could lead Asskickers United in sweeping through the Viridian Empire wasn’t without reason.

As guild leaders themselves, Apex Evil and Blood Lotus Asura Blade couldn’t help but admire him.

"He’s an enigma. Asura, it looks like we have no choice but to submit.” Apex Evil bitterly chuckled.

"What’s the rush? We’re still here. We have to be patient, focus on the growth of our guilds and wait to see how the situation develops. If Angel Corps ends up falling to Asskickers United, we can submit then,” Blood Lotus Asura Blade said.

"You’re right.” Apex Evil laughed.

Seeing Angel Corps’ forces getting swept away, the players who weren’t part of Devil World Riders and Asura Inferno all started withdrawing. Nie Yan had already given them a warning to vacate the square within three minutes. If even Angel Corps couldn’t stop them, what chance did they have? They could only obediently depart.

About 10 minutes later, all Angel Corps players had either died or fled away. They already no longer posed a threat. Nie Yan leaped down from the roof. His silhouette blurred as he dashed toward Phantom Princess Ina.

Sensing Nie Yan’s approach, Phantom Princess Ina instantly went even more berserk. Several tentacles smashed into the square, sending rubble flying everywhere.

"Bladelight, we’ll be relying on you,” Young Seven said.

"Alright, I'm on it!” Bladelight charged toward Phantom Princess Ina and rammed into her with a Shield Bash.

BAANG! Phantom Princess Ina staggered back several steps.

The heavy and muffled sound of the shield striking Phantom Princess Ina reverberated across the entire square. Those who didn’t know the power of a Master before, sure did now. Their hearts trembled in fear. What a powerful strike!

Chapter 769 - Ridiculous Critical Hits

Phantom Princess Ina repeatedly struck Bladelight with her tentacles. However, unlike with the Warriors before him, he was only pushed back slightly.

Bladelight took Phantom Princess Ina’s attacks head-on, even pushing her back.

Phantom Princess Ina’s tentacles dealt physical damage. Champions had the highest physical resistance among all Master classes. So, he naturally didn’t fear her attacks like others would.

Smoke Stub and Lei Su flanked Phantom Princess Ina from both sides, locking her down and preventing her from running rampant on the backline.

Bladelight was as steady as Mt. Tai, an immovable object. As soon as his health fell low, Young Seven, Paladin Lafus, and Dark Requiem would heal him, instantly topping his health back up.

The players from Asura Inferno and Devil World Riders couldn’t help but feel somewhat envious. All their Fighters had been sent flying away by Phantom Princess Ina. They finally understood why comparison was considered the thief of joy. If they had someone of Bladelight’s caliber, the average equipment quality of their guilds would go up by at least three notches.

With Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su locking down Phantom Princess Ina, the Mages from Asura Inferno and Devil World Riders felt completely safe. They raised their staffs and let loose. A shower of magic arced through the sky and rained down on Phantom Princess Ina.

They only dealt around 20–30 damage each. Even critical hits didn’t deal more than 60 damage.

Tang Yao, Xie Yao, Undying Scoundrel, and the others also started attacking. Strange words left their mouths as they waved their staffs, launching one spell after another. BANG! BANG! BANG! A string of damage values floated up above Phantom Princess Ina’s head. They ranged between 7,000–8,000, sometimes even critting for upwards of 20,000.

The players from Asura Inferno and Devil World Riders were completely dumbstruck. The Mages especially felt so ashamed of themselves they wished they could crawl in a hole and die! Normally, Masters and ordinary players like them didn’t share the same battlefields, so they'd never seen a direct comparison in damage before. Now that they did, they understood just how wide the gap was.

Nie Yan circled behind Phantom Princess Ina, then slashed out with Backbreaker, Backstab, and a flurry of other skills.

How ordinary players felt watching Masters, so did Masters watching Nie Yan. His attacks were hitting for at least 10,000 and even critting as high as 130,000 damage.

Seeing Nie Yan’s damage, not just the players from Asura Inferno and Devil World Riders, Undying Scoundrel, Lustboy, and the others also gawked in surprise.

「Boss, what kind of critical damage is that!? My god. 10x damage, that’s ridiculous!」

「130,000 damage, that’s absolutely insane! I’ve never seen a critical hit do so much!」

The Masters were all in disbelief and pestered Nie Yan in voice chat for answers.

While barraging him with question, Nie Yan critted again. 153,041! And again. 128,972!

What kind of critical rate was this!?

Nie Yan’s was dealing critical hits so consistently. How could this be!? If his attacks were aimed at a player, even someone like Bladelight would be instantly killed!

Seeing the fervent gazes of Undying Scoundrel, Lustboy, and the others, Nie Yan chuckled.「It’s all thanks to Zennarde’s Sword.」

「What? Zennarde’s Sword?」Undying Scoundrel’s gaze fell on the black dagger in Nie Yan’s hand.「But we’ve all already seen its properties before. I admit, it was pretty amazing for back then, but isn’t it far outclassed by higher level weapons by now? I’ve been wondering why you haven’t switched it out for something else already.」

「If I recall correctly, Zennarde’s Sword is a weapon that can grow stronger, right?」Summer Bug interjected.

「Ah, that would explain it.」

「Boss, show us what its stats are like right now!」

If he didn’t let them see, they would probably continue pestering him about it. Nie Yan rubbed his chin. He trusted this group. Even though he didn’t know Dark Requiem and Street Vulture very well, they were Black Hell’s people. They wouldn’t betray him.

Nie Yan shared the properties of Zennarde’s Sword in the chat.

Sealed Zennarde’s Sword (Godly Legendary)

Nightmare Curse of the Dead: Reduces the player’s stats by 10% (Effect halved by Barbarian Kelowitz’s Blessing).

Description: A godly weapon created by Kallander and imbued with the dark magic power of Dragon King Zennarde. Failing to subdue the evil energy within Zennarde’s Sword will result in a fatal backlash. Six Divine Seals were placed on this sword by the God of War Kelo. (Seals: 1/6)

Properties: Attack 5,560–5,827, Critical +650, 35% chance to deal 1,000% Critical Damage, Ignore Level +65, Ignore Armour

Hell Execution (Rank 12): Chance to instantly execute an enemy when their health falls below 27%. Success rate is determined by level difference and enemy defense. Energy Cost: 20. Cooldown: 2 seconds.

Advanced Apocalyptic Extinction: Inflict the enemy with five types of Curses: Rank 15 Exhaustion, Rank 15 Cripple, Rank 15 Disease, Rank 15 Fear, and Rank 15 Corrode. Duration: 15 minutes. Cooldown: 1 hour.

Annihilation Slash (Rank 16): Channel your energy into an enormous sword of dark fire and annihilate all enemies in your path. Deals 3,000% damage to all enemies in a 5 by 30 meter area in front of you. Cooldown: 2 days.

Restrictions: None

-Creator: Kallander

Everyone sucked in a cold breath of air. What were these properties? Insane! Ridiculous! Impossible! Especially the 35% chance to deal 1,000% critical damage. No wonder Nie Yan’s critical hits hit so often and so hard!

Apart from the critical rate, the other properties like the Level Ignore +65 and 5,500+ attack power weren’t to be ignored either. All of them were eye-watering.

「Boss, this Annihilation Slash. It’s the same skill you used to kill those dozen Angel Corps elites and finish off Necromancer Vorderman, right?」Undying Scoundrel asked with a look of amazement.

「Yeah.」Nie Yan nodded.

「Advanced Apocalyptic Extinction also looks really powerful!」

「What in the world? Hell Execution is way better than our Execution skills!」Bladelight said in a voice brimming with envy.

This dagger completely eclipsed any double-handed greatsword! At present, Zennarde’s Sword was without a doubt the number one weapon in the game.

Zennarde’s Sword’s properties left everyone gobsmacked. It was already equivalent to a Level 180 Legendary weapon. Even more frightening was that it could still grow more powerful. Who knew what its final form would look like?

The incredible properties of Zennarde’s Sword were deeply engraved into the minds of these Masters. They couldn’t help but dream of the day they would get their hands on a godly weapon like this themselves.

Nie Yan’s 100,000+ damage critical hits had already left the other 20 Masters shocked to this degree. One could imagine the state the players from Asura Inferno and Devil World Riders were in.

「Who the hell is hitting that hard? This is insane!」

「I don’t know. Damn. Did a Mage use a single target Forbidden Magic or something?」

「Impossible. Forbidden Magic might hit that high once or twice, but no way they could do it that often!」

「That’s critical damage! Sweet mother of god, what an insane critical rate!」

The players felt their heads spin. They originally believed 30,000 was already frightening beyond belief. As for 100,000+ damage, that was something you’d expect from a red underwear superhero!

「It’s Nirvana Flame! He’s the one dealing that insane damage!」

「Are you for real? Is it really Nirvana Flame doing all that damage!?」

Some sharp-eyed players carefully paid attention to Nie Yan’s attacks along with the changes in the flames from Zennarde’s Sword and picked up on some clues. They looked at each other in shock. All of them were completely speechless. No words could describe what they were feeling right now. Nirvana Flame was no mortal like them! This was 100,000+ damage! Just how high would his attack power be?

No wonder Nie Yan remained undefeated to this day! Who else than him could dish out so much damage? Whoever tried to pick a fight with him would definitely be looking to get a beating!

The firepower of so many Mages couldn’t even compare to Nie Yan!

Phantom Princess Ina immediately shifted aggro to Nie Yan. She struck out at him with her tentacles, trying to lock him down. However, he was as slippery as a loach, easily dodging her attacks. He always maintained his position behind her. In addition, with Bladelight and company interfering, she would have no hope of catching him.

Slowly but surely, Phantom Princess Ina’s health was shaved away to only 20%, enraging her thoroughly. With a wave of her staff, everything within a 30-meter radius became engulfed in a sea of flames as meteors started raining down from the sky.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Flame tongues flew everywhere!

Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and the other Mages immediately blinked away to safety.

Phantom Princess Ina’s magic attack was extremely powerful. Nie Yan didn’t dare to take it head-on either. He quickly fled away with Gale Step.

Everyone used their various escape skills to flee. Only Bladelight stuck his ground. He let out a deep grunt.

Bulwark of the War God!

The projection of a golden giant emerged above Bladelight and slowly merged together with him.

Bladelight stood in the flames, tanking Phantom Princess Ina’s attacks. A string of 9,000s floated up above his head. The heals from the Priests came pouring over him, keeping his health at stable levels.

"Bladelight is amazing!” Undying Scoundrel guffawed.

Bladelight was perhaps the only player in the entire game who could tank the AoE magic of a Level 150 Variant Lord head-on.

Even Nie Yan couldn’t help but be amazed. Although his magic defense and magic resistance were higher than Bladelight’s, he would still leave all the tanking to him. After all, no other class but Champions had more than one third of their skills dedicated to passively bolstering their health and defense.

"Bladelight, you can do it!”

Even though Bladelight was trying his best to block Phantom Princess Ina from moving, he couldn’t completely stop her. She let out a sharp cry and repeatedly rammed into him, all in a mad attempt to pursue Nie Yan.

Phantom Princess Ina’s aggro on Nie Yan was three times higher than the next closest person. So, she only had eyes for him, no one else.

Nie Yan fled far away. He put more than 100 meters between himself and Phantom Princess Ina.

Phantom Princess Ina chanted out an incantation. She waved her staff and suddenly vanished like a puff of smoke.

Bladelight who was holding Phantom Princess Ina back suddenly felt the weight against his shield completely disappear. His heart tightened as he tumbled forward. She had disappeared! He hurriedly shouted, "Nie Yan, be careful!”

Everyone was shocked and confused by Phantom Princess Ina’s sudden disappearance. A shower of spells flew past where she originally was, dissipating after reaching the end of their range.

"What’s going on?”

"Where did she go?”

A mad panic ensued.

Bladelight’s warning entered Nie Yan’s ears. He didn’t dare to dally and quickly fled with greater resolve.

Already more than 150 meters away from Phantom Princess Ina’s original location, an imminent sense of danger welled up from his heart. Crap! A tentacle appeared out of nowhere and firmly gripped onto his leg. He hurriedly swung down with Zennarde’s Sword in an attempt to cut it off, only for another tentacle to wrap around his wrist. Looking at his skill window, everything was grayed out. He was done for!

Chapter 770 - Mage Tower

After being bound by the tentacles, Nie Yan felt his life force rapidly draining away as he lost all strength in his limbs. A string of 3,000s floated up above his head.

Phantom Princess Ina emerged right behind Nie Yan. Apparently, she had a stealth ambush skill similar to that of a Thief, which had caught him completely off guard.

Phantom Princess Ina locked Nie Yan down, rendering him immobile. With all his skills grayed out as well, he had absolutely no way to resist.

THWACK! One of Phantom Princess Ina’s tentacles struck Nie Yan, dealing 10,000 damage.

As the last bit of health drained out of his health bar, Paladin Lafus came rushing over and cast Heal on Nie Yan with a wave of his sword.

Nie Yan’s health was immediately restored back to full.

At this moment, Lil’ Gold also came barrelling forward, ramming his enormous frame into Phantom Princess Ina.

BANG! Phantom Princess Ina staggered back, almost losing her grip on Nie Yan and throwing him into the air.

In these brief few seconds, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su came charging over.

PSFHT! PSFHT! PSFHT! Several daggers emerged out of nowhere, a cold light trailing their blades as Phantom Princess Ina’s tentacles were sliced off.

Nie Yan finally broke free from Phantom Princess Ina’s clutches. He quickly fled away.

Sun, King of the World, Mistaken Smile, and the other Thieves materialized out of stealth.

Nie Yan gave them a smile. Their coordination was top notch.

"Phantom Princess Ina is almost dead. We can do it guys!” Nie Yan shouted before commanding Lil’ Gold to blast her with Dragon Breath.

Phantom Princess Ina only had 9% health left. Everyone’s nerves were stretched taut. She would soon be dead.

Execution!

Execution!

Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su slashed out with their swords. A string of misses rose up above Phantom Princess Ina’s head.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Thousands of spells flew through the air and bombarded Phantom Princess Ina.

8%, 7%, 6%...

Phantom Princess Ina attempted to knock aside everyone around her in an attempt to pursue Nie Yan. However, how could Nie Yan ever give her the opportunity? He quickly retreated back and evaded her attacks. Taking advantage of the others locking her down, he circled behind her, then slashed down with Zennarde’s Sword.

Hell Execution!

−3,343,199!

"GYAAAAH!” Phantom Princess Ina let out a shrill cry. She started melting like a block of ice in the summer sun before finally turning into a puddle of black liquid.

Phantom Princess Ina was dead!

"Yes, finally! Who landed the killing blow? Boss, was it you!?” Undying Scoundrel asked excitedly. The final blow had saved them a lot of time and hardship.

Nie Yan checked his notifications before shaking his head. "It wasn’t me.”

"Then who was it?”

"It was me,” Smoke Stub said.

Be it Execution or Hell Execution, both skills had a certain chance of success. As long as it worked even once, the boss would be dead.

The remains of Phantom Princess Ina evaporated into a black miasma before disappearing into the air.

A crisp notification jingle rang out. Phantom Princess Ina had dropped at least a dozen different items as gems and equipment scattered all over the ground.

This haul was enormous!

Blood Lotus Asura Blade and Apex Evil walked over.

"According to our agreement, we’ll only take one piece of equipment. The rest is all yours,” Nie Yan said. He swept his eyes over the drops on the ground before focusing onto a sword. This was a two-handed greatsword made out of some unknown metal. It was engraved with all sorts of strange scribbles, somewhat similar to runes. Even he couldn’t decipher them.

Nie Yan picked up the greatsword and examined it with Transcendent Insight.

Morondor’s Sword (Legendary)

Requirements: Level 150

Properties: Attack 3,732–3,932, 20% chance to deal 300% Armour Break Damage, Rank 12 Darkness Corrosion, 30% Dark Damage, 30% Lifesteal.

Dark Devil Descent: Cleave down with the might of a devil, dealing 500% damage to your main target and 200% damage to all nearby enemies within a 5-meter radius.

Restrictions: Warrior

Morondor’s Sword was pretty amazing. Even though it couldn’t compare to Zennarde’s Sword, it was still a mighty fine Legendary weapon.

"Here, decide who should get it among yourselves,” Nie Yan said. He handed over the greatsword to Smoke Stub.

Apex Evil and Blood Lotus Asura Blade split up the remaining loot among themselves evenly.

"Thank you, Nirvana Flame,” Apex Evil said with a complicated expression. Honestly speaking, he’d rather not have these items and retake his spot on the bleachers. Alas, now he was already drawn into the fight between Asskickers United and Angel Corps. He could only make the best out of it.

Blood Lotus Asura Blade shared a similar sentiment.

"I plan to take a tour around Blue Wolf City and Night Demon City sometime soon. I hope I won’t be intruding?” Nie Yan gazed at the two with a faint smile.

Apex Evil and Blood Lotus Asura Blade glanced at each other bitterly.

"Not at all. You’re welcome to visit at any time!” Apex Evil said with a bright smile.

"The doors of Asura Inferno will always be open to you. We look forward to your visit, Nirvana Flame!” Blood Lotus Asura Blade said with a bright grin, the corners of his lips twitching ever so slightly. He hoped to never see Nie Yan again. Of course, he wouldn’t dare to voice these feelings out loud.

How could Nie Yan not know how these two were feeling? However, he had made sure Devil World Riders and Asura Inferno wouldn’t dare to go against Asskickers United.

As for Morondor’s Sword. In the end, it was decided that it would go to Bladelight. He had an innate ability that allowed him to wield a two-handed sword with one hand. However, he could only use it at Level 150.

Nie Yan turned to Smoke Stub and the others. "It’s about time we leave.”

"Yes!”

Smoke Stub, Undying Scoundrel, and the others gathered together.

"We’re leaving. See you later,” Nie Yan said, waving goodbye before leading his group into the inner district of Barthe.

"Have a safe journey.”

Apex Evil and Blood Lotus Asura Blade watched Nie Yan’s team disappear behind the end of the street with fake smiles plastered on their faces.

"God fuckking dammit! We really played right into his hand. We already deal with enough bullshit from Angel Corps. Now Nirvana Flame has gone and made us into his lackeys!” Blood Lotus Asura Blade finally released all the pent up anger he was holding back.

"Forget it. Asskickers United is too powerful. Even Angel Corps is afraid of them. What can we do?” Apex Evil sighed. Even though they were rulers of their own cities, they didn’t dare to behave rudely in front of Nie Yan.

The players from the two large guilds slowly dispersed, spreading out in various directions to level and explore other parts of the map.

Ne Yan’s team travelled along the central street and entered the inner district. Like before, the number of Elite-class Desert Giants they encountered increased significantly the deeper they traveled into Barthe.

The inner district was filled with mage towers. Some of the largest ones reached as high as 40 meters, while on the other end the smallest ones only reached a dozen meters high. They were clustered close together, like a stone forest. The mystical almost surreal landscape was quite an astonishing sight.

The density of mana here was extremely high here.

"This place is really rich with mana. All magic damage here is increased by 300%,” Summer Bug said. He immediately discovered the peculiarities of this place with his keen senses.

Only then did the other casters notice the change in their stats. All their magic damage was boosted by 300%, and their mana recovery speed had also increased significantly.

The environment could affect a Mage’s power to a certain extent. When they were in a place with scarcely any mana, their damage would significantly decrease. On the other hand, in a place like this that was rich with mana, their damage would increase substantially. A 50% increase in mana was already pretty good but hard to come by. Not to mention a place like this that offered 300% increased magic damage.

Why were there so many mage towers here?

On top of this, Nie Yan still had no idea where Morphest was. He glanced inside his bag. Paternerstor’s Warhammer emitted sparks of electricity, letting out crackling sounds.

Nie Yan’s team swept away any Desert Giants they encountered along the way as they headed deeper into the city. They didn’t leave any stone unturned, even searching through the many floors of all the mage towers in the vicinity.

After almost a whole day, they had only explored a miniscule section of Barthe.

After passing through the forest of towers, Nie Yan’s team arrived in a small square with five obelisks erected in the center. Bound to them were five enormous Two-Headed Hellhounds. They were quite big at four meters high with ferocious appearances. Standing beside them were tall orcs in black robes. Based on their attire, they appeared to be Druids.

「Big Bro, I see five Level 150 Two-Headed Hellhounds and 10 Level 160 Dark Druids. They’re all Lord-class,」Sun reported.

The several of them had completely scouted out the square.

「So many…」Tang Yao and the others sucked in a cold breath of air. This was their first time encountering so many Lords.

「Apart from those Lords, is there anything else? If there isn’t, let’s just take a detour around them,」Nie Yan said. Dealing with so many Lords at the same time was extremely difficult.

「Hold on. I’ll go take another look.」

「What’s that thing shining over there, in the middle of those obelisks at 3 O’clock? I can’t see it clearly,」Sun said.

「Let me sneak a little closer,」Mistaken Smile said. He carefully made his way over in that direction.

Nie Yan and the others carefully paid attention to the situation. Suddenly, the Dark Druids became restless and gathered together in one spot. One of them even transformed into a bear and roared out.

「What’s going on?」Nie Yan anxiously asked. He hoped nothing had gone wrong.

「The senses of those Dark Druids are way too sharp. I was nearly killed. Thankfully, I managed to get out of there alive.」Mistaken Smile breathed a sigh of relief. He had just come out.

「Did you discover anything?」

「A chest. It’s a pretty high grade. I’m guessing at least Legendary,」Mistaken Smile said.

Chapter 771 - War God Gaming Organization

Of the 21 Masters here, no more than five had opened a Legendary chest. These chests often contained Legendary equipment, high rank pets, and other amazing items.

A Legendary chest wasn’t something you could find just because you wanted to; it was a combination of hard work and luck. So, all of them took any opportunity to open one very seriously.

Everyone looked at each other in dismay.

"What do we do? There’s so many Lords.”

"Who cares!? It’s a Legendary chest!”

As Masters, they had encountered even tougher situations and welcomed everything that came at them with open arms. If they turned back just because things got a little difficult, the chest would end up getting taken away by someone else.

"So what if there are some Lords in our way!? We can think of something!”

"True, but we’ll have to put it off till tomorrow. We don’t have enough time today,” Nie Yan said after checking the clock. They had to consider things meticulously. Even if it were a Legendary chest, he didn’t want to see the team wiping for it. They still weren’t strong enough to take down groups of Lords. Normally, a single Lord would take some time, let alone so many.

"It’ll be tough, especially since there are so many Dark Druids,” Black Hell remarked.

Hearing Black Hell’s words, only then did everyone realize. If these Lords were any other class, like a Mage or a Warrior, it’d be easy. However, they were Druids. They were all around classes like Paladins, capable of casting magic, healing, and fighting on the frontlines. A group of Lord-class Druids or Paladins was an extremely broken line-up.

A group of Lords was already frightening enough to deal with, but these Dark Druids could also heal and buff each other! How the hell were you supposed to kill them?

"When you went to investigate just now, at what range did they detect you?” Nie Yan asked Mistaken Smile.

"About 30 meters. I was paying close attention to their movements. They only noticed me after I passed that range,” Mistaken Smile said. This was his first time ending up in such a sorry state after becoming a Shadow Dancer.

Nie Yan knitted his words. He was well aware of Mistaken Smile’s strength. If the safe range for Mistaken Smile was 30 meters, it would be about 15 meters for him.

In other words, as soon as Nie Yan came within 15 meters of those Dark Druids, they would notice him.

Given this kind of range, sneaking over and opening the chest was impossible.

"The senses of those Dark Druids are too powerful.”

"It’s fine. Let’s hunt some other mobs. We’ll think of what to do tomorrow.”

The team headed off for another street. When they departed, Nie Yan turned his head and gave the five obelisks in the center of the square one final glance. He could faintly see a chest in the middle of them. Just what could they do to reach and open it?

They grinded mobs in the vicinity until it was time to log off. Nie Yan exited the game and stepped out of the game capsule.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao both headed for the bathroom and took a moment to freshen up.

"I’ll go make breakfast,” Xie Yao said. She was acting like a gentle housewife. The pink sling skirt she wore was cute and lovely.

"Sure.” Nie Yan nodded. He recalled that he would meet up with Guo Huai today. They still had a lot of business to take care of.

After Xie Yao went to the kitchen, Guo Huai gave Nie Yan a call.

「How’s everything on your side? Are the preparations finalized?」Nie Yan asked.

「It’s all settled. Just like you said, we set up our main headquarters in Huahai. We already have close to 4,000 guild members joining. I also bought a villa near the Top Military Academy. It’ll serve as a gathering place for the members of Azure Windchime. This can be considered one of our branches. We have about 300 people there so far,」Guo Huai said. He had spared no effort. Asskickers United had ample funds anyway, be it in real world credits or in-game gold. Buying a villa was a drop in the ocean.

「Where’s the villa?」

「Not too far from your place, it’s villa 785.」

「Nice, I’ll go take a look in a bit,」Nie Yan said. Guo Huai was quite efficient, recruiting so many people in such a short amount of time.

「Alright, I’ll inform them.」

Asskickers United was finally starting to walk the path of a gaming organization. This was definitely a good thing for their development. Those who could join the War God gaming organization were all elites of the guild. Gathering all these members together would be good for the unity of the guild, as well as making it easier for Nie Yan and Guo Huai to manage them.

「I want to separate the headquarters in Huahai into five different groups and set up different requirements for each one,」Nie Yan said. This was his idea to filter out the best of the best.

Guo Huai thought for a moment.「Not a bad idea. Kind of like our guild’s elite team or Thieves squad.」

「I’ll be troubling you again,」Nie Yan said. Ever since the guild was established, Guo Huai had been managing most of the guild affairs. He really did a lot.

「What trouble?」Guo Huai chuckled and waved his hand. Asskickers United could also be considered his own enterprise. He had quite some shares in it. The guild was a money-making machine, and he was reaping in the benefits.

The two chatted about the future of the War God gaming organization. Nie Yan checked Asskickers United’s bank account. From since the game released to now, they had already earned close to ¥500,000,000 from the Dragonsoar Financial Group, Glory Financial Group, World Bloc, and several dozen other companies both large and small. He’d paid out ¥300,000,000 in salaries and bonuses to the players below him and the remainder would be used to invest in the War God gaming organization. This would be their war chest. Furthermore, he had also transferred over some funds from World Bloc, to be used when money was tight.

Nie Yan’s goal was to turn War God into a 50,000-member gaming organization, among which 20,000 were combat classes and 30,000 were production classes. Aside from recruiting within the guild, he also planned to mass recruit professional players on the outside. Of course, the elites of Asskickers United would get a little better treatment, and the better they were, the greater the benefits.

「Which people are in the Huahai base?」Nie Yan asked.

「Beginner Student, Lustboy, Blue Yarn Thread, Tyrannical, Elegy, and them are all here. I’ll send you the list of names. More than half of the elites in the guild signed up. Many are still on the way here. The one who gave me the biggest headache was Sun. That kid suddenly showed up on my doorstep with his backpack asking to enter the War God gaming organization. I told him to finish school first, but the lil’ punk refused. So, I went ahead and listed his name in there. When he graduates, he can join as an official member,」Guo Huai said, finding it both funny and depressing.

Nie Yan chuckled.「Really, that kid.」

After a while, Nie Yan received a document. It was a list of all the members in the War God gaming organization.

Nie Yan skimmed over the list. He was familiar with the first 300 or so names. He would occasionally chat with them in the guild chat.

Nie Yan and Guo Huai spoke a little more about the branch in the Top Military Academy before ending the call.

After settling these matters, Nie Yan walked into the dining room. Xie Yao had already finished making breakfast and set the table. The two sat down to eat.

"Do you have any plans for today?” Xie Yao asked. She had overheard Nie Yan chatting with Guo Huai while in the kitchen earlier.

"Yeah, you should come along. We’re going to visit a place close by here,” Nie Yan said. He still didn’t know the exact location of the villa Guo Huai mentioned.

The two chatted while eating.

Xie Yao leaned her elbows on the table and grabbed a slice of toast. Even though she acted carefree, her movements still carried a trace of elegance. Her delicate fingers looked like they were carved out of fine jade. Nie Yan couldn’t take his eyes away from them.

"What are you staring at...?” Xie Yao blushed.

"Who told you to dress so sexy? I can’t help myself.” Nie Yan chuckled. He looked her up and down with a lustful gaze before stopping on her chest.

The pink sling skirt Xie Yao wore completely exposed her arms. Her shoulders were slender and fair, so captivating Nie Yan couldn’t take his eyes away.

When they were outside, Xie Yao dressed more conservatively. But at home, she always picked the most loose and comfortable clothing that revealed a lot of skin. Nie Yan had to constantly resist the urge to push her down.

Sensing Nie Yan’s perverted gaze, Xie Yao’s cheeks turned bright red. A peculiar feeling welled up from the bottom of her heart. She stuck up her chest, slightly proud of her womanly appeal.

Nie Yan felt the blood rushing to his groin area. However, he understood that now wasn’t the time to start playing around. He still had a lot of important business to take care of.

After a while, the two finished breakfast and started clearing the table.

Nie Yan gave Xie Yao a light slap on her buttocks, then chuckled. "Come on. Hurry up and get dressed.”

Xie Yao’s shoulders jumped up as if an electrical shock ran through her. She stamped her feet and shot a reproachful glare before hurrying back to the bedroom.

The two left the house and headed for villa 785.

After walking through the neighbourhood for about 20 minutes, Nie Yan finally found it.

"Is this the place?” Xie Yao asked.

"Yeah.” Nie Yan rang the doorbell.

After a while, someone opened the door. Seeing Nie Yan’s face, his eyes lit up with elation. He turned his head back and yelled, "The boss is here!”

"The boss is here! Quickly tidy up!”

"Hurry up!”

...

A huge commotion broke out inside.

"Boss, please come in,” he awkwardly chuckled.

Nie Yan entered the house and was greeted by a large hall. There were about 300 people gathered here, including the likes of Undying Scoundrel, Lustboy, Monochrome, and Edgeless. After seeing him, they all shouted, "Boss, sister-in-law, welcome!”

Chapter 772 - Meeting Wei Kai Again

Nie Yan looked around the room. 300 people stood in rank and file. Though they wore different clothing, they still looked quite imposing.

"Who’s in charge here?” Nie Yan asked, sweeping his eyes over his brothers.

Everyone turned their gaze to Painted Muslin. She was dressed in a casual white blouse and black skirt, like a mature beauty.

"Guo Huai told me to take care of the daily affaires here,” Painted Muslin said with a reserved smile.

"Mhmm, good. I’m just here to take a look around. I probably won’t get a chance to visit often. I’ll leave everything here to you,” Nie Yan said. Azure Windchime was founded by Painted Muslin in the first place. This was plenty of proof of her leadership ability. He had no objections.

"Big Sis Muslin,” Xie Yao greeted.

"Yao Yao, you came too?” Painted Muslin said with a bright smile, as she grabbed Xie Yao’s hand.

The sight of these two beauties happily chatting with each other caught the attention of everyone in the room.

"Boss, I’ll show you around,” Undying Scoundrel said. "Here, we are in the main hall. Up ahead…”

Nie Yan and Xie Yao followed behind Undying Scoundrel. He showed them around the villa, which was quite spacious. The center was a large hall where everyone could freely gather. As for the other sections of the villa, there were dozens of rooms. Even though the layout was a bit strange, it was still plenty impressive. One could only guess how Guo Huai managed to find this place. Not only did it fit all 300 players, the top ranked ones among them even had their own private rooms.

Nie Yan checked out the facilities. Most of the members were using game helmets. They clearly couldn’t afford a game capsule. However, the game helmets they were using were all high-end models, which were more than good enough.

Guo Huai, Painted Muslin, and the others had worked together in establishing the War God’s doctrine. This was the set of rules the members had to follow, in exchange for which they received fixed salaries that were linked to their performance and contribution.

Since there were quite a few people in the villa, even though it looked like there was an effort to organize things, everything was still a bit chaotic. However, this was forgivable since it was still in the early stages.

"Boss, what do you think? I know, it’s a bit messy right now. But we’ve already hired cleaners for today. Everything will be neat and tidy by this afternoon,” Undying Scoundrel said. His position here was only second to that of Painted Muslin. He was in charge of managing various affairs.

"Not bad.” Nie Yan nodded with a faint smile.

War God was finally off the ground. It wouldn’t be long now before they became the number one gaming organization in all of China.

Ordinary gaming organizations were mostly made up of bottom of the ladder runts. They often did the low skilled work such as gold farming and selling to the highest bidder. Their various production and combat classes only made up about a tenth of their manpower. Not to mention even the combat classes could barely scrape by. Only the true expert level players were paid a decent sum.

There were far more players than open spots in gaming organizations. So, many could only work as freelancers, forever uncertain when their next paycheck would arrive.

Nie Yan planned to use War God to gather the real elites and create a truly powerful gaming organization.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao chatted with the people in the gaming house.

Many members were incredibly excited just to be able to interact with Nie Yan.

DING DONG! The doorbell rang. One person went over to open the door.

"Uncle Mistaken Smile is here!”

"Mistaken Smile!”

A commotion broke out near the front door. Mistaken Smile had quickly earned a lot of fame since entering Asskickers United. Seeing him, all the members started stirring.

"Oh? You’re here too?” Mistaken Smile’s gaze fell on Nie Yan. The two smiled at each other.

"Just here to take a look around.”

Mistaken Smile looked around with a kind smile on his face before saying, "This place is pretty lively. I’m planning to join War God too.”

"You’re more than welcome.” Nie Yan chuckled.

With the addition of Nie Yan, Xie Yao, and Mistaken Smile to the other 300, this could definitely be considered a brouhaha. Since everyone was a member of Asskickers United, they all got along well. Even though there were some minor conflicts here and there, with Painted Muslin and Undying Scoundrel overseeing things, everything was smoothed over easily.

After hanging out for a while, the people who were still students scattered and went to school. Only Mistaken Smile and the older members remained behind.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao bid farewell to Mistaken Smile. Afterwards, the two joined up with Painted Muslin, Undying Scoundrel, Lustboy, and 50 others, as they went to school.

This was quite a large group. When they stepped foot on campus, they attracted the attention of all the surrounding students.

"Look, aren’t they all from Azure Windchime. What are they planning to do?”

"No idea. You don’t think someone pissed them off, do you?” No one could stop such a large group of people.

"Look, look! That’s the boss of Azure Windchime, Nirvana Flame.”

Everyone pointed and stared at Nie Yan. He had undoubtedly become the center of attention. With his reputation as Nirvana Flame, it would be hard not to be noticed.

Nie Yan had long since become the number one celebrity in the Top Military Academy. Since he was also a member of Heavenly Kings, his influence on campus grounds couldn’t be underestimated.

Qin Han, Liu Rui, and all of Nie Yan’s other old enemies stared at him with eyes full of hatred and envy. However, they didn’t dare to provoke him. His position in the Top Military Academy was unshakeable. The students who were previously recruited by the Monet Financial Group quickly realized there was no future for them there. They used all sorts of methods to jump ship to Asskickers United.

Every day Asskickers United seemed to welcome more elites from the Top Military Academy. This only served to further cement Nie Yan’s position. The students who had a crush on Xie Yao also gave up on their pursuit of her, as they realized they couldn’t possibly compete with Nie Yan. One brazen fellow didn’t get the hint, fully convinced he was one of Xie Yao’s suitors and even declaring he would kill Nie Yan. In the end, some people ganged up on him after school and he didn’t dare to show his face again.

Nie Yan made use of his connections in the Top Military Academy to learn more about Liu Tianshi. However, it didn’t help much. Other than finding out he was a grad student who rarely attended classes, no one knew anything about him. His background was a complete mystery.

Nie Yan felt all the more convinced that Liu Tianshi wasn’t a simple man. After all, not just anyone could hide their background to such an extent in the Top Military Academy.

Recalling how unconcerned Liu Tianshi was after killing Tang Yao in the previous timeline, Nie Yan felt a trace of worry. This fellow was definitely a ticking time bomb. Even though the law was swift and harsh, there were few people who could ignore it. For Nie Yan, no matter what he did, he could only strictly abide by the rules. On the other hand, Liu Tianshi could break them any time he wanted to.

After receiving the reports from those below him, Nie Yan clenched his fists. No matter what, he couldn’t allow Liu Tianshi to harm him or his family. There was also Xie Yao, the way that bastard looked at her really rubbed him the wrong way.

Nie Yan gave Bayonet a call.「How are Wang Duo and the others doing?」

「Decently. Since they’ve managed to last this long, they’re a step above trash,」Bayonet replied.

Even though Bayonet’s words were laced with sarcasm, he still acknowledged Wang Duo and the others’ efforts. Their growth was quite clear. This would prove to be a great boon for Nie Yan. Mo Yuntian was the most influential person he knew. To be able to carry out an important task for him would definitely solidify their relationship.

Nie Yan’s present glory was nothing more than floating clouds. Those envious gazes of the other students did not invoke the slightest hint of excitement in his heart.

Nie Yan spent the morning in class. At noon, Tang Yao gave him a call.

「Nie Yan, Wei Kai wants to meet you,」Tang Yao said. These days, Tang Yao and Wei Kai had been interacting quite often. However, Wei Kai still hadn’t met with Nie Yan again in person.

「Wei Kai?」Nie Yan thought for a moment. After giving Wei Kai the cold shoulder for so long, it was about time they met up again. This was someone who would definitely prove useful in the future.「Have him come over and meet me. I want him to come alone.」

「Alright, where do you want to set up the meeting?」

「All Light Bar, 4 PM. Book room 88. Make sure nothing leaks out. Don’t let anyone else know,」Nie Yan said. Even though he was going to meet with Wei Kai, he still wanted to maintain a certain distance. The two of them were walking very different roads.

「No problem. I’ll arrange everything.」

「You and Wei Kai have been talking quite often these days. What’s your opinion of him?」Nie Yan asked. His understanding of Wei Kai was still fairly shallow.

「That punk is really cruel and vicious, and resourceful too. Plus, he’s loyal to his own and treats them quite well. So, a lot of people look up to him. I guess that could count as one of his better points. He can be used, but you’ll have to be careful,」Tang Yao assessed.

「I see.」Nie Yan nodded. Wei Kai was definitely a viper. If he wasn’t handled properly, he could end up biting the handle.

At 3 PM, Nie Yan gave a call to Painted Muslin and Undying Scoundrel and asked them to escort Xie Yao home and keep her company until he came back. Next, he called up Bayonet and asked him to protect her. Only then did he feel at ease heading to the All Light Bar.

All Light Bar, located in one of the most bustling districts in the heart of the city. This place was known for its night scene. When evening arrived, there would be crowds of people walking the streets here.

Nie Yan’s Thrawn zoomed through the city. He parked his car in the underground parking lot, then went up to the All Light Bar.

The All Light Bar was filled with dazzling neon lights. The frantic and high tempo music was a catalyst for people to release their wild side.

In the previous timeline, Nie Yan visited these kinds of places regularly. But later on, after he got his act together, he stopped going altogether. He didn’t know why, but right now he found it hard to adapt to this kind of noisy environment.

Nevertheless, this kind of establishment where people from all walks of life gathered was the perfect place to meet Wei Kai. No one would notice them.

Chapter 773 - Show of Strength

As Nie Yan passed through the crowd of people, the familiar setting caused his heart to palpitate.

An indescribable sorrow welled up within him.

Visions of the past flashed before his eyes. It was precisely in this neon-filled world that he saw Tang Yao’s cold corpse sprawled out on the floor. The painful memories tugged at his mind, but only served to steel his resolve.

No matter what, Nie Yan wouldn’t sit back and resign himself to fate this time around. He wouldn’t allow the tragedies of his past life to repeat themselves.

Nie Yan calmed himself down and walked up the stairs to the top floor. He quickly found room 88 and walked in.

Someone was already waiting for Nie Yan inside. Seeing him enter, Wei Kai immediately stood up.

"Young Master Nie,” Wei Kai respectfully greeted.

"Mhm.” Nie Yan nodded, before glancing at the entrance.

Wei Kai hurriedly closed the door. "Don’t worry. I’ve made it clear to the staff that no one is to disturb us.”

Nie Yan sat down on the sofa. "Sit,” he said, looking over Wei Kai. Though his overall appearance hadn’t changed much since they last met just over a year ago, he did grow out a scraggly beard and seemed to give off a more mature impression.

Wei Kai hesitated for a moment before sitting down on the sofa across from Nie Yan.

Nie Yan took a glass of whiskey from the table and downed it in one gulp. He laid back on the sofa, crossing one leg over the other, and asked, "So, why are you looking for me?”

Wei Kai gulped, He forcefully calmed himself down. He knew this one moment would decide his fate. Rubbing his hands, he started, "Young Master Nie, it’s like this, I’d like to ask you to take us in. Me and my 1,000 brothers. I can vouch for all of them, they’re outstanding men who will definitely be useful to you. Plus, we have a pretty decent influence in Ninjiang.”

Wei Kai had seen his fair share of death. But in front of Nie Yan, he had a hard time keeping his calm. It still puzzled him. A year ago, Nie Yan was just some scrawny little brat who was fun to bully. But now, when facing the same person, he felt an ineffable pressure. He couldn’t explain it.

Nie Yan shook his head. "I have no interest in Ninjiang. I also don’t have any desire to poke my nose into the underworld.”

Wei Kai raised his head and stared at Nie Yan with a vacant expression. Then, why did Nie Yan have Tang Yao keep in touch with him?

Most recently, as his gang expanded, the pressure Wei Kai faced from the outside increased greatly. He needed a powerful backer to rely on, and fast. Nie Yan was undoubtedly the most suitable choice. Just a little effort from World Bloc, and all their obstacles would vanish.

Wei Kai believed Nie Yan was interested in what he could offer. So, he didn’t expect this reply.

Nie Yan understood places like Ninjiang were quite chaotic, no different from a slum. The underground scene there was too volatile and couldn’t be controlled by anyone. For Wei Kai to have to risen to his position given his young age proved he had some ability. However, he filled a position, nothing more. If he weren’t there, someone else would fill his place.

"Young Master Nie… If there’s anything you need me to do, please give me your instructions,” Wei Kai said respectfully. Seeing Nie Yan’s indifferent expression, he had no idea what to say.

"If I need you for anything, I’ll naturally get in touch with you. I’ll provide you with funding to help your organization grow. Let’s say I’ll keep supporting you. However, I have a few conditions. Human trafficking and sex work are off the table, and no innocent and unaffiliated parties are allowed to be harmed. If you do any of that and something happens, I won’t protect you. A rumour of you breaking these terms is all it takes, and I’ll immediately cut you off and make sure you learn the consequences,” Nie Yan coldly said. "I’ve never met a person called Wei Kai in my life, and you’ve never met Nie Yan. Do we understand each other?”

Wei Kai was a smart person. He immediately agreed. "We do.” Nie Yan wanted to have no relationship with him.

After getting his point across, Nie Yan didn’t say anything else. Wei Kai had joined under his banner. He didn’t know when Wei Kai would be of any use, but keeping him close by wouldn’t hurt. Of course, this was only a business arrangement. It’d be far more difficult to get Wei Kai to become completely obedient.

Nie Yan decided to bring Wei Kai under his umbrella, having him handle the matters in Ninjiang and start expanding his operations to Huahai. With World Bloc’s financial backing, there should be no hiccups. As long as they didn’t openly flout the law, as time passed, they would slowly become a powerful asset to him, able to do things he couldn’t do personally.

After chatting for a while, Nie Yan got up. "We won’t meet again. Tang Yao will contact you when I need you. I’ll be taking my leave.”

"Alright. Take care, Young Master Nie.” Wei Kai stood up and followed Nie Yan to the door.

"You can leave in 30 minutes,” Nie Yan said. He opened the door and left. As he walked away, he took out his phone and rang up Bayonet.

After Nie Yan left, Wei Kai sat back down on the sofa. He carefully replayed the conversation they had in his head. Nie Yan did indeed have powerful influence. The pressure he felt earlier was probably due to their difference in status. However, to think that would be enough to control him would be too naive. From his perspective, Nie Yan was simply a springboard for him to use. His real goal wasn’t merely to be the leader of a bunch of gangsters.

Truthfully, ever since Wei Kai rose to power in Ninjiang, the situation there had improved a lot. Though part of his business still happened under the table, he worked hard to move it above. He was definitely a step up compared to the other gangs.

After chilling around in room 88 for 20-odd minutes, Wei Kai coldly chuckled. Nie Yan was still an ignorant brat. His thinking was too simple and soft. If he thought this brief conversation was enough to control him, he had a whole ‘nother thing coming for him.

With the financial support of World Bloc, their moment in the light was fast approaching. When they could firmly stand with two feet on the ground, the first thing Wei Kai would do was to kick World Block to the wayside.

Wei Kai got up and left the room, then headed for the exit.

"Kakaka, 30 minutes, what a joke,” Wei Kai snickered. The bar was filled with his people. They were closely monitoring everything. He knew Nie Yan had come alone. So, there was no need to listen to his final words.

"Boss!”

"Boss!”

...

After seeing Wei Kai, over a dozen people got up and gathered around him.

"Let’s leave.” Wei Kai waved his hand.

They swaggered out of the bar. As Wei Kai stepped foot outside, a silhouette flashed past him, slashing something across his neck. He looked over, but they had already disappeared into the crowd. He didn’t get a chance to see their appearance at all.

Six seconds later, Wei Kai felt a sharp pain. He hurriedly touched his neck and felt a wet feeling on his hand. A sickly sweet taste welled up in his throat.

An intense feeling of death welled up from his heart. He hurriedly grabbed his throat, his face pale with fright, as he hoarsely cried out, "Hospital! Bring me to the hospital!”

"Boss, what’s going on?”

"Boss, you’re bleeding!”

His lackeys hurriedly escorted Wei Kai away, pushing aside anyone in their way. It caused quite the commotion. All the people on the street and in the bar looked over in bewilderment.

At this moment, Wei Kai’s phone rang. The caller ID: Nie Yan.

Wei Kai’s hand was trembling as he answered the call. Nie Yan’s calm voice entered his ear.

「No need to go to the hospital. The wound will close in 30 seconds. I told you to wait 30 minutes before leaving the bar. You only waited 20. This is my one and only warning to you. Next time, it’ll be your head.」

Hearing Nie Yan’s words, Wei Kai’s heart trembled in fear. He rubbed his neck. The wound had healed and was no longer bleeding, just like Nie Yan had said. He could still faintly feel the hair thin wound.

As for the perpetrator, Wei Kai had no idea. But he could confidently say it wasn’t Nie Yan. Even though it was a brief glance, that person looked to be in his 30s.

What a skilled expert!

Wei Kai had no idea what kind of weapon the other party used, but it was incomparably sharp, to the extent he didn’t feel anything until six seconds later. He could tell that if the other side wanted him dead, he would be.

Only now did Wei Kai finally start reevaluating Nie Yan’s previous words. He felt a cold sweat run down his neck. That action just now was to tell him that his life was completely in Nie Yan’s hands and could be taken away at any time.

No wonder Nie Yan was so sure he would obey.

Wei Kai’s mind was filled with all sorts of thoughts, as a hodgepodge of complicated emotions raged within him. His exchange with Nie Yan just now made him feel like everything he had been doing so far was simply playing house. He had no way of reaching Nie Yan’s level, nor did he have the strength. He was a bottom of the rung trash. Any attempt to climb up from the slums would be extremely dangerous. If he wished to continue living, he would have to become Nie Yan’s dog. If Nie Yan said bark, he’d have to bark. If he didn’t, he could already imagine the consequences.

So be it. Living the life of a guard dog isn’t too bad either. Wei Kai faintly smiled. Thinking to this point, his mood lightened a lot. Perhaps he couldn’t sit on the throne, but anything was better than going against a frightening bastard like Nie Yan. Today’s incident made him feel like he had just come back from the gates of hell. Ordinary people couldn’t possibly understand that feeling of finding out you’re still breathing after meeting death face to face and losing all hope. So what if he was dragging out an ignoble existence? It was fine as long as he was still living.

Wei Kai’s lackeys gazed at him in bewilderment. They felt his current mood was a bit strange, different from his usual self.

"Come on. Let’s go,” Wei Kai said. He got into the car. Five black cars sped away into the night.

Nie Yan put down his phone with a faint smile. Bayonet had smoothly carried out his mission. Wei Kai had been thoroughly scared into submission. From here on out, he definitely wouldn’t dare to disobey orders. This display of strength proved quite effective. As long as he could keep Wei Kai in line, there’d be plenty of places to use him.

Nie Yan pressed down on the accelerator. With a loud rumble, the Thrawn roared and sped away down the street.

Chapter 774 - Forbidden Magic of a Guardian

Nie Yan returned home and ate dinner with Xie Yao. By the time they finished, the servers were about to reopen.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao entered the game. One after another, with bright flashes of light, the 21 Masters reappeared in Barthe.

"Have any of you thought of a plan?” Nie Yan asked, his gaze landing on the 10 Dark Druids in the distance.

Everyone had a bitter smile on their face. They looked at the others in the hope someone had thought of a method. In this kind of circumstance, what could they possibly come up with?

"Seems like we can only brute-force it.”

"We don’t have any idea how deep the mana pools of those Dark Druids are. If they can continuously heal each other without limit, we’ll only be wasting our time,” Bladelight said. Brute-forcing it was a last resort method. He faintly knitted his brows. "Is there anything we can do to drain away their mana? That’d make it a lot easier.”

"Draining mana? What about the Mana Burn spell Priests have?” Tang Yao suggested.

"Casters won’t work. They’re too easily killed.” Lei Su shook his head.

Druids had powerful crowd control skills. On top of this, after transforming into cheetahs, they gained a stealth ambush ability similar to that of a Thief, which was the bane of casters. Not to mention there were 10 Dark Druids on the opposing side while they only had three Priests in the form of Black Hell, Young Seven, and Painted Muslin. There was no way their Mana Burn spells could drain away all the mana of these Dark Druids.

"Then what are we going to do?”

"What about a Mana Burn Arrow? Those could work.”

"Mana Burn Arrows are crazy expensive though. Also, they might work on regular casters, but it’s definitely a no-go against a Level 160 Lord.”

"Bah! This doesn’t work. That doesn’t work. Nothing works!”

Everyone heavily discussed with each other, but no one could come up with a good plan.

"I think my Mana Seal Domain might work,” Dark Requiem said. He was the team’s sole Guardian.

20 pairs of eyes fell on Dark Requiem. He and Street Vulture were recent additions to Asskickers United. They had almost forgotten he was here. Not to mention, none of them were familiar with the skills of a Guardian.

"Mana Seal Domain?” Nie Yan recalled this skill was the most famous Forbidden Magic of Guardians in the previous timeline. It could seal all the mana in the atmosphere in an area with a 500-meter diameter, leaving all casters incapable of casting magic and nullifying all active spells. It had a duration of one hour and a cooldown time of 30 days.

"What kind of skill is that? Share it with us,” Undying Scoundrel said.

Dark Requiem shared the skill information of Mana Seal Domain in chat. After seeing it, everyone was taken aback. What a powerful skill! No wonder it was a Forbidden Magic.

"Mana Seal Domain is pretty useful. It can stop the Dark Druids from healing, but the problem is that it also targets ally magic. If you activate it, we’ll lose the DPS of our Mages. That means we’ll be relying completely on the melee units for damage.”

"Right, the transformation of druids is also magic. With the Mana Seal Domain active, they can’t transform or cast any support magic,” Young Seven remarked with excitement. Losing access to both these things meant the Druid’s strength would fall by at least 50%.

"Let’s give it a go. I’ll tank two Dark Druids,” Smoke Stub said. As a Master, he was no stranger to taking on Elites and Lords alone. But this would still be his first time facing off against two Level 160 Lords at once.

"I’ll take on two as well,” Lei Su said.

"I can take on three,” Bladelight said. He was a Champion. He had the highest health and defense out of everyone here.

"I can also keep one busy,” Dark Requiem said. He was a Guardian, a jack of all trades wearing a set of plate armour.

Like this, the plan started taking shape. Smoke Stub, Lei Su, Bladelight, and Dark Requiem would tank eight of the 10 Dark Druids. Sun, King of the World, Mistaken Smile, Shadow Killer, One Strike Vow, and Nie Yan would be the main damage dealers.

"I’ll have Lil’ Gold and Paladin Lafus handle the remaining two Dark Druids. Thieves, come here,” Nie Yan said. The six Shadow Dancers gathered together. "We’ll use wolf-pack tactics and take out the Dark Druids one by one. Quick and clean in and out.”

"Got it!” The Thieves all agreed.

Nie Yan looked up information on the Two-Headed Hellhounds. They possessed powerful magic, even capable of breathing fire. This was precisely why the Dark Druids kept them by their sides. However, with the activation of Mana Seal Domain, even the most powerful magic would be rendered completely moot. Without any non-magic ranged attacks and chained up to the obelisks, they would be rendered useless.

Nie Yan started to understand why Mana Seal Domain was known as the most powerful Forbidden Magic of Guardians. Once it was activated, even a Magister couldn’t activate Forbidden Magic.

"Alright, listen up. We’re about to set out.” Nie Yan explained the plan.

After everyone got into position, Dark Requiem leaped on top of the roof of a nearby building and started chanting out an incantation. One syllable after another left his mouth. After several sets of syllables, his entire body lit up with a dazzling radiance.

Mana Seal Domain only had a cast time of 70 seconds. This meant that if you saw an enemy Magister casting Forbidden Magic, you had plenty of time to stop them with this spell.

After Mana Seal Domain was activated, Nie Yan and the others could feel the mana in the atmosphere completely stagnate. Even the wind stopped blowing.

"Did it work?”

"How come I can’t tell?”

Tang Yao extended his hand and tried to conjure up a flame. Not even a spark lit up. Concentrating harder, he tried again. But alas, there was no reaction.

"It’s working,” Tang Yao said, gazing at Nie Yan.

"Let’s go!” Nie Yan said. As soon as the words left his mouth, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Lei Su, and Dark Requiem each headed toward one of the five obelisks in the center of the square.

The restless reactions of the Two-Headed Hellhounds immediately alerted the Dark Druids. Their blood red eyes locked onto Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others. They attempted to transform and buff each other, only to discover their magic didn’t work. They then lumbered forward.

Dark Requiem discovered none of the Dark Druids noticed him. He quickly took out a hand bowgun from his sleeve and pulled the trigger, shooting out five bolts into the air.

Put put put! The bolts struck one of the Dark Druids. It let out an enraged roar and immediately charged toward Dark Requiem, who turned and ran away.

「I’ve aggroed one,」Dark Requiem said.

「Bladelight, you handle those three on the left.」

「Smoke Stub, be careful!」

As five Dark Druids charged over, Smoke Stub bent his body and slid through the gap between them. At the same time, he activated Whirlwind Slash, accurately tagging two of them. After which he immediately fled away.

The two Dark Druids struck chased after Smoke Stub.

The remaining three Dark Druids also wanted to pursue Smoke Stub. However, Bladelight came charging in from the side and rammed into them, immediately attracting their aggro.

As for Lei Su, Lil’ Gold, and Paladin Lafus, they had successfully attracted the aggro of the Dark Druids they’d set their sights on.

「Help Dark Requiem take down that lone Dark Druid first!」Nie Yan said. The six Shadow Dancers immediately disappeared into stealth.

The Dark Druid repeatedly smashed down with his gnarled wooden staff as Dark Requiem evaded left and right. Dark Requeim’s skills were top notch. No matter how the Dark Druid attacked, it couldn’t land a single blow on him. On the other hand, he found openings to retaliate in between attacks.

−12,327
−10,193
−11,438
…

A string of damage values floated up above the Dark Druid’s head.

「This guy’s defense is way lower than Phantom Princess Ina’s. His health is only 15,000,000 too,」Dark Requiem said. Sure enough, without the ability to transform and cast buffs, these Dark Druids were much weaker than other Level 160 Lords.

Six silhouettes appeared around the lone Dark Druid. They nimbly evaded his attacks.

Nie Yan circled behind the Dark Druid, then shot forward with a Backbreaker.

BANG! The Dark Druid was immobilized. The cripple effect of the Rank 18 Backbreaker was pretty good, lasting for five seconds.

「Keep him CC’d!」Nie Yan checked his skill window. He still had many crowd control skills available. In coordination with the other Thieves, it’d be possible to keep the Dark Druid locked down indefinitely. Such were the crowd control skills of Shadow Dancers.

After the cripple wore off, before the Dark Druid had a chance to make a move, Sun struck him with a ruthless elbow to the spine, incapacitating him again.

A string of damage values floated up above the Dark Druid’s head. Sun, King of the World, and the others were dealing approximately 10,000 each hit, critting for up to 40,000 damage. Nie Yan was the anomaly. His normal attacks were hitting for 30,000 damage and critting for over 300,000!

The Dark Druid was quite frail with only 15,000,000 health. Its health rapidly plummeted. After only 30 or so seconds, it collapsed on the ground.

Nie Yan picked up the Dark Druid’s drops off the ground. A violet crystal among the loot caught his attention.

His heart trembled. An Evolution Crystal!

After such a long time, Nie Yan had finally obtained a second one. Not to mention it was violet coloured, which meant it was of a far higher quality than the one he got before.

Chapter 775 - Earth Orb

Nie Yan could already imagine the birth of another high Growth Rate pet even stronger than Lil’ Gold.

An Evolution Crystal could allow a pet to walk on a completely different path.

Nie Yan tossed the Evolution Crystal into his bag. "Come on. Onto the next one.”

They rushed over to Smoke Stub’s aid and targeted the next Dark Druid.

The Thieves’ silhouettes darted back and forth around the Dark Druid. The chain of crowd control skills completely locked him down. His health rapidly fell lower and lower.

Before long, the second Dark Druid collapsed to the ground.

Meanwhile, Lei Su and Bladelight were under a lot of pressure. They started to get overwhelmed. Facing off against two and three Level 160 Lords respectively proved an enormous challenge.

「Requiem, Smile, you two go help Lei Su and Bladelight!」Nie Yan ordered in voice chat.

「Got it!」

Dark Requiem and Mistaken Smile set off to help Bladelight and Lei Su. Nie Yan and the others shifted their attention to the other Dark Druid on Smoke Stub’s side.

Bladelight was swiftly evading left and right, avoiding more than 80% of the attacks coming his way. However, the damage output from these three Level 160 Lords couldn’t be underestimated. His health was gradually falling, and with no healing from the backline, he was naturally in a tough spot.

Just as he was about to die, Bladelight drank a Specialist Health Potion, instantly restoring his health back to full. A Dark Druid smashed down with his staff. He hurriedly retreated back, only to meet with a pincer by the two Dark Druids behind him. He raised his greatshield to block, but it was too late.

BANG! One of the Dark Druid’s struck Bladelight in the back of the head with his staff.

Normally, Bladelight could easily brush off an attack like this. However, something unexpected happened. It had triggered a stun effect, leaving him immobilized.

The Dark Druid’s stun effect only had a 5% chance of proccing. Bladelight could only blame his bad luck.

The three Dark Druids surrounding Bladelight smashed down with their staffs one after the other. BANG! BANG! BANG! A string of attacks struck him with one managing to proc another stun. About seven seconds later, he was sent flying and crashing into the ground. His health fell to zero.

「Bladelight died!」Mistaken Smile reported.

With Bladelight dying, the three Dark Druids lost their target. They instantly looked over in the direction of Nie Yan and the others and were about to charge over, when Mistaken Smile took out his crossbow and pulled the trigger. Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Three bolts flew out. Mid-firing, he shifted his aim so each bolt would hit a different target.

Put put put! Each of the three Dark Druids was struck by a bolt. They immediately aggroed onto Mistaken Smile and started chasing after him.

Mistaken Smile turned tail and started kiting the Dark Druids.

At this moment, Nie Yan and the others had already killed the third Dark Druid.

「Help Lei Su first!」Mistaken Smile said. Thieves weren’t great at keeping aggro. However, this was where his unique title came into play. As a Shadow Strifer, he had special skills that allowed him to become the focus of these three Dark Druids.

Nie Yan checked the overall situation. Mistaken Smile would likely be fine by himself. Nie Yan led Sun, King of the World, and the rest to Lei Su’s aid.

Young Seven, Undying Scoundrel, and the other casters could only stand to the side and observe, like cheerleaders during the game. But it didn’t matter. Even though a slight mishap occurred, the situation was still under control.

Nie Yan and the others surrounded the fourth Dark Druid. Before long, it collapsed to the ground.

A short while later, the fifth Dark Druid was killed too.

With Smoke Stub and Lei Su’s hands freed, they could also start dealing damage. Their killing speed increased.

One Dark Druid after another fell to the ground.

It didn’t even take six minutes to kill all 10 Dark Druids. Without pause, Nie Yan and the others started dealing with the remaining Two-Headed Hellhounds.

Chained to the obelisks, unable to cast the magic they were known for, and without their masters, these Two-Headed Hellhounds posed zero threat.

Sun and the others casually dealt with the Two-Headed Hellhounds, one person on each one. Nie Yan took a detour around them and discovered the obelisks they were bound to had strange carvings with all sorts of demonic designs on them. They each took a specific position, and their mid-section was engraved with a large ancient character about the size of a palm. Each obelisk had a different rune.

Nie Yan had no idea what these runes represented. He walked past the obelisks and arrived in front of the chest.

This was by far the oldest chest Nie Yan had seen to date. Though a thick layer of dust covered it, it couldn’t hide the delicate workmanship of this small chest. It was cast out of pure gold and decorated with many brightly coloured jewels. If this chest were cleaned and polished up, it would definitely look dazzling.

Nie Yan noticed the lock on the chest.

A Level 160 Legendary chest. Nie Yan examined the lock. Luckily, his Lockpicking Specialist skill was high enough rank to open it.

Unlocking chest… Progress: 3%... 6%...

Nie Yan wondered what sort of treasures this chest contained. His heart was brimming with nervousness and anticipation. He felt like every second was excruciatingly long.

While Sun and the others were busy with the Two- Headed Hellhounds, the rest of the team walked over to Nie Yan’s side and watched him opening the chest. They quietly started chatting.

"I wonder what the boss will find in that chest.” Undying Scoundrel rubbed his hands in excitement.

"We’re exploring a new map. It has to be something special, right?”

"I think so too.”

"Those Dark Druids gave some pretty good drops already. The boss actually got an Evolution Crystal and two Level Requirement Reduction -10 gems. The equipment is pretty high quality too.”

As everyone chatted, they heard the lid of the chest pop open with a click. Their hearts nearly stopped beating, as their nerves attacked their sanity.

"It’s finally open!” Nie Yan smiled. He reached his hand inside the chest and fished out a leather scroll. It’d survived since the ancient past, just barely. Written down on it were symbols that looked similar to the carvings on the obelisks. He was unable to decipher them. There were also some words which were written in a language he didn’t recognize.

"Forget it. I’ll look at it later.” Nie Yan put away the scroll in his bag and continued rummaging through the chest before taking out a large crystal ball.

A Magic Orb!

Nie Yan’s heart trembled as his face lit up with elation. Looking at the properties, he confirmed it was indeed a legendary Magic Orb!

"Sweet!”

It was an Earth Orb.

The Magic Orb was made out of crystal. It was translucent and clear, taking on the shape of a sphere. Contained within the center was yellow earth elemental energy, which was constantly changing shape. When Nie Yan’s hand came in contact with the orb, he felt a heavy sensation as if his entire being were connected to the land. The earth element was widely known for being tough and tenacious.

Earth Orb (Legendary)

Description: The holder of this item automatically learns all earth element magic, taking up no additional skill slots. Mana Cost -60%. Drops upon death. Can be traded.

Restrictions: Magister

Note: Collect all seven different elemental orbs to craft the Aether Orb.

According to legend, the Aether Orb was created by the Elemental Goddess and was an extremely powerful Sacred Object. Upon her death, it split into seven pieces: earth, fire, ice, water, lightning, light, and darkness. Each piece granted the holder all the magic of the respective element. Comparatively, earth element magic had the fewest number of spells, but there were still well over 500, including 12 which were categorized as Forbidden Magic. One could imagine how enticing of an item these elemental orbs were to Magisters. Each one would instantly take them to the peak of an element. If they gathered all seven orbs together, they could even fuse them together into the Aether Orb and gain control over all elements!

This harvest was pretty good. Nie Yan searched the chest again but it was empty.

"Which one of you is interested in the Earth Orb?” Nie Yan asked.

Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, Wood Grace, and the other Mages looked at each other.

"Just give it to the boss lady,” Undying Scoundrel said.

The others seemed to agree with Undying Scoundrel.

Nie Yan looked over toward Xie Yao.

Xie Yao hurriedly shook her head and waved her hands. "Give it to Scoundrel or someone else. The Earth Orb will be useless on me. All my equipment gives bonus damage to light element magic.”

Everyone declined. No one seemed to want this legendary orb.

Nie Yan knew all of them were extremely interested in the Earth Orb. Even without the earth element magic, the Mana Cost -60% property on its own was already extremely alluring. However, they were too embarrassed to take it for themselves.

"How about this? I’ll leave this Earth Orb in the guild treasury. If you need to borrow it, just take it. After you’re done with it, give it to the next person,” Nie Yan said. There was only one orb. So, they could share it. If they found more elemental orbs, things would become simpler.

"Do any of you recognize these characters?” Nie Yan asked, laying out the leather scroll he had just obtained on a flat surface.

The team members looked at the scroll, then at each other and shook their heads.

"I do!” Xie Yao said after looking at the characters. "It’s the language of the Koradi, a tribe of taurens.”

Chapter 776 - World of Darkness

All of the 21 people here had learned multiple languages. Nie Yan knew the most at 13 in total, some of which he learned from the library and others while out exploring. Even those less concerned with learning new languages knew at least five. Everyone spoke Common and Ancient Common. Other fairly common languages were Orcish, Elvish, and Dwarven, each with countless dialects. Koradi was one of the minor dialects of the tauren language.

"What does it say?” Nie Yan asked.

"A lost world sunken into a realm of darkness, a place shrouded in eternal night devoid of all light, when the dimensional door opens, the ancient world will welcome the rays of dawn. Use your hands to make contact with the spirits, then chant out the name of the god, Sigola…” Xie Yao read out the lines. There was a large section of characters further down below, a message surely hidden within. But more conspicuous were the five symbols which matched the ones on the obelisks.

"What’s that supposed to mean?” Undying Scoundrel asked in confusion.

At this moment, Sun and the other four had finished taking care of the five Two-Headed Hellhounds. They gathered over to look at the scroll and pondered the meaning of the characters.

Nie Yan gazed at the symbols on the scroll, then at the obelisks. They only differed in size, with the ones on the obelisks being several times larger. A peculiar energy undulated from these symbols, spreading out into the air.

A light bulb lit up in Nie Yan’s head. He walked over to one of the obelisks, then slowly extended his hand. His mind turned empty as he chanted out in a low tone, "Sigola!”

The low and peculiar chant reverberated through the hearts of all those present.

"What’s the boss doing?” Lustboy asked.

"No idea.”

Suddenly, the obelisk started shining, emitting a white light like a lamp.

The team members gasped in wonderment.

Nie Yan withdrew his hand. Looking up at the obelisk, everything happened as expected. His conjecture was correct.

After lighting up the first obelisk, Nie Yan walked over to the second.

"Is there an order to lighting up the obelisks?”

"I think so, yeah.”

The Masters quietly chatted. They didn’t want to disturb Nie Yan.

The minutes ticked away. Nie Yan continued lighting up the second obelisk, then the third, fourth, and fifth. The sequence appeared completely random, but it was all according to the clues provided on the scroll.

When the fifth obelisk was illuminated, a large pillar of light shot up into the sky from the center of the five obelisks. At its base was a door opening, the other side hidden in darkness.

"A teleport gate?” Undying Scoundrel said with a hint of surprise.

"It’s probably the world of darkness mentioned in the scroll,” Summer Bug guessed.

"Boss, are we going inside?” Undying Scoundrel asked.

"Since we’ve already come all the way here, we might as well,” Nie Yan said after thinking it over. The place beyond the portal was probably the heart of Barthe. He could find NPC Morphest there most likely.

Nie Yan led everyone into the portal, shadows dancing around them. When they opened their eyes again, they found themselves in another world. The sky was gray and murky as light trickles of rain drops fell down.

Looking off into the horizon, all they saw was a rocky wasteland with patches of vegetation scattered around sporadically.

You have discovered the Lost City of Barthe: World of Darkness.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. It turned out this place was the true lost city of Barthe. The NPC Morphest mentioned in Paternoster Warhammer’s quest had to be here.

The monsters that spawned were hounds covered in ashen fur. They were ugly with rotting flesh hanging from their bodies. Their eyes glowed with a frenzied red, and their mouths were filled with rows of sharp teeth. They looked quite sinister.

No matter where they looked, these monsters were everywhere. Moving in packs of several hundred, they were impossible to get around. The sight of these dense masses of silhouettes dotting the landscape was somewhat unsettling.

When the hounds discovered the arrival of the intruders, they immediately swarmed over from all directions toward Nie Yan’s team. There were thousands upon thousands of them. Some howled to the sky, calling over even more hounds from slightly further away.

Everyone turned vigilant. Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su each took a corner, standing in a triangle; Dark Requiem and the Thieves filled the gaps; and the casters huddled up in the middle.

The hounds slowly closed in. They were only 50 meters away from Nie Yan’s team.

"Shit! There’s so many of them!” Undying Scoundrel gloomily cried out.

Nie Yan inspected one of the hounds with Transcendent Insight.

Dark Hound (Elite): Level 160
Health: 800,000/800,000

Most were Elite-class monsters. Only some were the size of lions, towering over the rest. They were Lord-class Dark Hounds with 3,000,000 health.

Their ferocious eyes locked onto Nie Yan’s party, pacing back and forth at about 30 meters away. They bared their sharp teeth and let out low growls.

"Use Flame Wall! Lock us in! Quickly!” Nie Yan ordered.

Tang Yao, Summer Bug, Street Vulture, and the other Magisters quickly raised their staffs, erecting five-meter high flame walls all around them.

These flame walls were set up in close proximity to each other, no more than a meter separating one from the next.

Some of the Dark Hounds in the front were immediately engulfed by the flames. A string of damage values ranging from 30,000–40,000 floated up above their heads.

The Dark Hounds immediately became enraged. They rushed forward, braving through multiple flame walls, before pouncing at Nie Yan’s team.

Seismic Slam!

Bladelight slammed down with his greatshield, rupturing the earth and sending the Dark Hounds in front of him flying. He raised his greatshield and swatted the airborne Dark Hounds away.

Though the Dark Hounds lost nearly 500,000 health pouncing through the flame walls, they still had enough health left to put up a fight.

An intense battle broke out. The frontliners formed a human wall around the casters. The Mages let loose with their spells while the Priests provided support. Everyone was working in sync.

Lil’ Gold charged out into the fray and was quickly surrounded and attacked by a sea of Dark Hounds. Under their frenzied assault, Explosive Counter kept proccing non-stop, and the Dark Hounds soon fell down with dying wails. More came to fill their places, sinking their sharp teeth into his scales. A string of 10,000s floated up above his head. With so many enemies attacking, his health dropped fast.

Paladin Lafus immediately raised his sword and healed Lil’ Gold back to full health.

A Dark Hound Pack Leader pounced toward Nie Yan. Because he had killed the most out of everyone, it targeted him.

Nie Yan met the Dark Hound Pack Leader midway with a roundhouse kick. BANG! It let out a loud whimper, as it was struck in the neck and sent flying several dozens of meters before crashing into the ground.

A second later, five Dark Hounds came lunging over towards Nie Yan.

Nie Yan slightly retreated and struck one of the Dark Hound’s in the head with his elbow, smashing it into the ground.

Nie Yan’s silhouette blurred as he employed the Shadow Steps to evade the countless attacks aimed for him. With Backbreaker, he ruthlessly drove Zennarde’s Sword into the spine of another Dark Hound.

In the chaotic battle, one Dark Hound managed to sink its teeth into Nie Yan’s foot.

A damage value of 10,000 floated up above Nie Yan’s head. He tried to pull his leg back, but couldn’t. A string of 2,000s floated up above his head.

"Careful, guys! These Dark Hounds can deal continuous damage with their Gnaw skill!” Smoke Stub shouted.

Another Dark Hound came lunging forward. Just as it was about to latch onto him with its teeth, Nie Yan slashed out with Zennarde’s Sword! PSFFHT! A red streak cut across its throat as a damage value of 300,000 rose up above its head. It was a one-hit KO!

Nie Yan then slashed down with Zennarde’s Sword, killing the Dark Hound chewing on his foot.

"Boss, there’s too many of them!” Lustboy cried out.

"Yeah, they’re everywhere. We’ll be here forever at this rate,” Undying Scoundrel chimed in. Looking into the distance, he couldn’t even see the ground through the endless sea of Dark Hounds. If they allowed this to continue on, they’d eventually run out of mana and die.

"At least we’re getting experience. It’s pretty decent too.” Summer Bug tried to look on the bright side.

"Let’s just keep going for now. How many of you still have AoE Forbidden Magic left?” Nie Yan asked.

"W-wait. Are you suggesting...?”

"We can’t clear them all without using Forbidden Magic,” Nie Yan said. However, they would still have to be careful, lest they got caught up in their own attack.

"I have one,” Tang Yao said after checking his skill window.

The other Magisters looked at each other. "Ours are still on cooldown.”

Nie Yan glanced at Xie Yao. "How many AoE Forbidden Spells does the Earth Orb have?”

"Two,” Xie Yao said after looking at the spells.

At present, they had three AoE Forbidden Spells. This was already pretty decent. By using them, they could wipe out quite a few Dark Hounds.

Chapter 777 - Power Levelling with Forbidden Magic

Nie Yan wanted to explore this World of Darkness. It’d piqued his interest and was bound to be filled with rare goodies. Plus, his Return Scrolls were grayed out, so even if they wanted to, they couldn’t leave. They were stuck here. Committing suicide to get out also wasn’t worth it. After all, at their levels, every level required an enormous amount of experience.

Fortunately, the Magisters had plenty of mana. If they stuck to less mana intensive spells, they could last for quite a while. Tang Yao didn’t even have to worry about his mana at all thanks to his Arcane Fairy, nor did Xie Yao whose consumption had dropped by 60% because of the effects of the Earth Orb.

Nie Yan’s team was as solid as a boulder. Assailed by a sea of Dark Hounds, they were immovable.

After grinding for five hours straight, Nie Yan and the others were finally starting to run low on mana and health. They could only rely on potions to keep going.

Thankfully, everyone had stocked up on potions before setting out. They wouldn’t run low anytime soon.

"Sparrow Hawk, cast your Forbidden Magic!” Nie Yan shouted. They really couldn’t hold on much longer.

"Got it!” Tang Yao drank a Specialist Mana Potion, restoring his mana back to full. He waved his staff and started chanting an incantation.

His robes fluttered in the wind as he slowly floated up three meters off the ground.

The Arcane Fairy was also giving off intense mana fluctuations. Seeing the seven coloured radiance around it, only then did Nie Yan notice it had already reached Rank 7. It was basically a cheat-like existence. The bonuses it provided to an Arcane Mage were incredibly overpowered. They even had a special ability that greatly reduced the cooldown of a selected Forbidden Spell.

The reason Tang Yao’s Forbidden Magic, Dark Brionac Blizzard, came off cooldown so quickly was precisely because of the Arcane Fairy.

Over a minute and a half passed as Tang Yao finished chanting out 10 sets of syllables.

The surrounding temperature plummeted as dark clouds gathered low in the sky. Soon after, black ice shards started pouring down, sweeping through everything in a 500-meter wide area.

A blanket of damage values ranging from 150,000–160,000 floated up into the air. The movements of the Dark Hounds slowed to a crawl as they were covered in a thick layer of frost. As the blizzard was in full swing, they started collapsing in droves, turning into frozen corpses on the ground. The area south of Nie Yan’s team was instantly cleared.

Nie Yan estimated the Dark Brionac Blizzard had killed at least 8,000 Dark Hounds.

Ding dong! Ding dong! Five notification jingles rang out in quick succession, as Tang Yao’s body lit up with a dazzling radiance. He had risen five levels. He wasn’t the only one. Everyone went up at least two levels, fully recovering their health and mana.

"Sweet!”

Everyone was gobsmacked. This showcased once more just how amazing Forbidden Magic was. It could slaughter Elites and Lords many levels higher in droves. One could imagine how much experience this one action netted.

With everyone back to peak condition, they could keep going again for the next several hours.

After casting his Forbidden Magic, Tang Yao slowly floated back down to the ground. The five level-ups in a row left him completely ecstatic.

Even if they died here now, none of them would lose out. Their moods relaxed quite a bit.

"Levelling here is amazing. Let’s stay for a couple of days!”

"Yeah! Boss, this is a hard-to-come-by opportunity!”

"Mhm. As long as nothing happens with the guild, we can stay here. Try to minimize your potion consumption,” Nie Yan said. He still wanted to find Morphest who had to be somewhere in this map. Until then, he wouldn’t be satisfied.

About two days later, Nie Yan and the others had finally cleared out all the Dark Hounds in the vicinity. After roaming around in the wasteland for three hours, they encountered another sea of Dark Hounds and resumed their levelling spree.

The only thing that left Nie Yan’s group feeling depressed was that these Dark Hounds gave no drops. Each of them on average burned through 3,000 gold worth of consumables every day. That was more than 60,000 gold combined! Yet they didn’t even receive a single copper from these Dark Hounds. Thankfully, all of them were silly rich. It was a drop in the ocean to them. If it were ordinary players though, they would’ve withdrawn long ago.

After climbing over a hill, Nie Yan discovered a lot of Dragonblood Grass growing in the area up ahead, an ingredient used to concoct high rank health and mana potions. At present, his Alchemy Master skill was already at a high enough rank to craft Advanced Potions. However, the potions he made could only be consumed by himself.

"Do you guys know any production skills?” Nie Yan asked.

"I’ve learned Alchemy and Tinkering,” Xie Yao replied.

"I’ve learned Bandaging and Alchemy,” Undying Scoundrel said.

As it turned out, all of them had learned and raised the ranks of one or two production skills during their class advancement quests, especially Alchemy. This was an essential skill for everyone. Since an opportunity to use it rarely presented itself, they never mentioned it until now.

Nie Yan rubbed his chin. Since everyone at least knew Alchemy, they could supplement their potion consumption with the medicinal plants they found here.

Everyone continued grinding in the World of Darkness, steadily raising their levels.

After Nie Yan’s level broke through 140, the levelling speed slowed down to a crawl. The amount of experience required was more than 10 times higher than before. Under normal circumstances, it would take him four days or even up to a week to raise one level. Thankfully, nothing happened in Asskickers United during this time. So, they could stay in the World of Darkness.

Xie Yao, Tang Yao, and the other Mages levelled up at a relatively faster pace. The lowest of them had already reached Level 142. However, every next level up took longer and longer. As for Bladelight and the others, they were like Nie Yan, stuck at around Level 140.

The World of Darkness was extremely vast, a wasteland stretching out as far as the eye could see. There were large hordes of Dark Hounds everywhere.

Nie Yan had recorded down every area they passed on the map. They had explored quite a bit, but Morphest was still nowhere to be found.

"I just received the Adjudicator title,” Tang Yao excitedly said after looking at his notification window.

"Is it a high rank title?”

"It seems pretty high. It increases my Influence in the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire by 60.”

The group found a secluded spot to sit down and rest. They planned to wait for their health and mana to recover before continuing their grind.

"I wonder if we’ll be able to reach Level 150 in two months. Levelling up after 140 is too hard. The amount of experience required for every level up increases by 70%. Can you imagine just how much we’ll need to reach Level 150?” Tang Yao said. He specifically noted down the amount of experience required after each level up and discovered this trend.

Listening to Tang Yao, everyone sucked in a cold breath of air. With this calculation, the amount of experience required to reach Level 150 would be more than 100 times that of 140.

Nie Yan chuckled. "This is only the beginning. Wait until we reach Level 150, and then 160. We haven’t experienced real pain yet.” For the sake of shortening the gap between players’ levels, Conviction made levelling up incredibly difficult when you were in the top percentage of levels. The amount of experience required for every level up reached extremely frightening heights. At the later stages of the game, when everyone’s level reached the soft cap, a difference of two or three levels between players meant an astronomical amount of experience. It was precisely because levelling was so slow that many players placed more importance on gathering better equipment. With better equipment, not only would levelling become faster, but they’d also be more of a force in PvP.

"Boss, how is that something to laugh about?” Undying Scoundrel wryly smiled.

"It’s fine. So what if levelling is a bit slow? No big deal,” Nie Yan said. In the previous timeline, he had reached Level 180. He had already experienced it all. So, he didn’t mind it too much. Back then, the level difference between players wasn’t as great as this time around. Those with average skills were all around Level 150–160; those who were decently skilled and hardworking were around Level 170–180; and those at higher levels, from Level 180–190 or even up to Level 200, were all extremely overpowered existences. They were composed of all Masters, most of whom were powerful Magisters.

In his past life, Nie Yan had taken two years to grind from Level 1–140, three years for Level 141–160, and five years for Level 161–Level 180. This showed how incredibly slow levelling up became at the later stages.

Nie Yan made a rough assessment. His levelling speed was 10 times faster in this life. Honestly, it would be even faster if he didn't have to spend so much time dealing with guild affairs. He could no longer hole himself up in one place for several months at a time like in the previous timeline. If he continued on at the pace he was going at, it would take him about three years to reach Level 180. As for the levels after that, thinking about the experience required gave him a headache. Reaching Level 200 like those Magisters of his past life would be an enormous undertaking.

However, with Nie Yan’s current levelling speed, it wasn’t impossible to achieve.

Hearing Tang Yao talking about reaching Level 150, Nie Yan recalled the Tyrant Abak Set. He was only two pieces away from completing the set. This was a Legendary-grade set with a powerful set bonus. He wanted to quickly reach Level 150 so he could equip it.

Nie Yan started wondering if they should stay here until Level 150.

There was no guild that could pose a threat to Asskickers United right now anyway. They also required the foreseeable future to consolidate their position in the Viridian Empire. They couldn’t keep going to war, or else their foundation would become unstable.

Nie Yan thought for a moment before making his decision. He would level up a few more times in the World of Darkness first. When he reached Level 148, he would continue searching for the remaining pieces of the Tyrant Abak Set. By the time he found them all, he’d be Level 150.

However, word of them being in the World of Darkness definitely couldn’t be leaked out, or else Angel Corps would come looking for trouble.

Chapter 778 - Blood Reaver Corps

After passing through another horde of Dark Hounds, Nie Yan’s team finally encountered some higher level Dark Hyenas. They looked similar to Dark Hounds, only that they were bigger and covered in sharp bone spurs. As Level 180 Elites, they were much stronger than Dark Hounds, but the experience they provided was many times greater too.

When dealing with these Dark Hyenas, Nie Yan and the others became more vigilant. Nevertheless, their power levelling spree continued. They steadily gained experience, as they moved forward at an impressive speed.

Nie Yan took four days to reach Level 141, six days for Level 142, and 12 days for Level 143. 20 days flew by in the blink of an eye. Yet they had still only seen a fraction of the World of Darkness.

Nie Yan still hadn’t found any traces of Morphest. Glancing inside his bag, the reaction from Paternoster’s Warhammer was growing stronger and stronger. Electricity crackled around it, emanating a frightening power.

Nie Yan didn’t dare to bring Paternoster’s Warhammer out, for fear of inciting trouble.

Dark clouds shrouded the sky, as the atmosphere became stifling.

Nie Yan could sense they were getting closer to Morphest.

Looking towards the south, a mountain poking into the clouds appeared off in the horizon. Black smoke rose up from the peak, giving off a faint red glow. A volcano!

Nie Yan couldn’t explain why. But he felt confident that he’d find Morphest atop the volcano.

Even though the volcano was within sight, Nie Yan could tell it would take them at least a month or two to reach the base. Fortunately, they could take advantage of this time to grind some more levels.

...

Meanwhile back in the Viridian Empire, Guo Huai was gradually expanding Asskickers United’s influence. The expanse of territory they could realistically control grew larger by the day. As for the Abernathy Great Grasslands, the strongholds in the vicinity of Okoron had already been erected. The city became even more flourishing, with a large number of NPCs going back and forth between them. Businesses were attracted to Okoron because Asskickers United owned it, dollar signs in their eyes, while players were mostly attracted to the many Level 100+ maps surrounding the city.

The security of Okoron was airtight. Though it continued developing at a rapid pace, Nie Yan had hired enough NPC guards to support it.

Okoron was different from NPC cities. Nie Yan had Guo Huai set up many provisions that were beneficial to players, such as lowering taxes, removing tariffs, as well as a system where noble titles could be obtained through contribution to the city. The highest rank title that could be obtained was Earl, and it would be recognized throughout the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire. This alone attracted countless players.

While Nie Yan and the other Masters were away, a period of peace fell over the Abernathy Great Grasslands. However, this wouldn’t last. Since it was so close to Judgement Valley, more and more Evil Faction players were appearing, and clashes between players from both factions became more frequent. Contrary to expectations, after word of this got out, even more high level players came flocking over. Those heading to Judgement Valley designated Okoron as their hub and supply station. Thanks to the lower taxes, when purchasing potions there, they saved around 5% in costs. When stocking up on potions, this quickly added up. The shops saw money flowing in like water.

Everyone was a winner in Okoron, the players visiting, the businesses setting up shop, and most of all Nie Yan.

...

On the eastern border of the Abernathy Great Grasslands, three teams of 20 players walked out from Judgement Valley. They all had varying appearances. Some were dark elves, others fallen humans, still others short goblins, and so on. They couldn’t be anymore different from each other, save for the pair of silver wings on their backs. They fluttered back and forth, keeping them slightly airborne as they quickly advanced forward.

A group of 60 Silver Wings! If this were the Demon Tribe's territory, this kind of line-up would definitely be capable of destroying a large guild.

These 60 players didn’t wear any guild emblems. On their shoulders was a crimson coloured epaulet with a bright red flame drawn on it. Scribbled underneath were characters in the Demon Tribe language that read, "Blood Reaver Crops.” Their names were dark red, a demonic red that instilled fear in all who saw it.

All of them had killed hundreds upon hundreds of players from their own faction. Their names were dyed red in the blood of their victims.

"Boss, this is the Abernathy Great Grasslands. It's controlled by Asskickers United,” a short goblin Mage said. He was beyond ugly. His skin was coloured an ashen green and he was only about a third the size of an ordinary player.

"I wonder if Nirvana Flame is around. I hope we don’t encounter that crazy bastard,” Blood Devil said. He was a fallen human Warrior and looked absolutely stunning.

Everyone found Blood Devil’s words a bit strange. Normally, their boss wasn’t afraid of anyone. Even the Demon Tribe’s Pantheon and the Undead Empire’s Fallen Angel had suffered heavy losses at their hands. He didn’t put the guild leaders of these two top guilds in his eyes, but he seemed to think quite highly of Nirvana Flame.

"Hmph, even if we meet Nirvana Flame, he’s no match for us,” a dark elf Thief said in disdain. He had watched videos of Nie Yan before and didn't find him all that amazing. He was just a little bit fast, that’s all. His movements didn't look mysterious or skillful at all.

In reality, all the videos of Nie Yan’s battles online had been slowed down a great deal. If they were played in real time, this dark elf Thief would have a completely different opinion of Nie Yan. Naturally, that predicated on him having the eyesight to keep up with Nie Yan at full speed.

"The fact that Nirvana Flame rules over one empire and can do whatever he wants in the other isn’t luck. Do you think you can infiltrate Pantheon's main stronghold, slaughter their players, and still come out no worse for wear?” Blood Devil shot the dark elf Thief an indifferent glance.

The dark elf Thief was at a loss for words. He wanted to refute, but he didn’t know what to say. He could only mutter, "it’s only his Golden Dragon and that Paladin that are strong…”

Blood Devil chuckled in disdain. He couldn’t be bothered with this dark elf Thief anymore, instead turning to the others and saying, "Remember, we’re only here to clear our red names today. The Glory and equipment are nice bonuses, nothing more. After we clear out an area, we’ll quickly leave. No matter what, we can’t stay in the same place for more than 30 minutes tops!”

"Understood!” the players around Blood Devil answered in unison.

The dark elf Thief also answered. Even though he didn't think much of Nirvana Flame, he still greatly respected Blood Devil. From his point of view, their boss was the strongest player in the game. How could Nirvana Flame ever compare with him?

"Our first target is a village one kilometer up ahead! It has about 30 NPCs, the strongest being a Level 160 Elite, and approximately 700 players. I want everything settled in 20 minutes. Let’s head out!” Blood Devil said. His voice was calm, as though they were taking a stroll through the park.

Everyone picked up their pace. The Thieves entered stealth and disappeared from view. The others spread out and closed in on the village from different directions.

Krans Tribe, this was a quiet and peaceful village with only several houses. It didn’t even have any defensive walls around it. With only 30 NPCs and a few hundred players roaming around here at most, there was no need for it either. Today could be considered more lively than usual. Several teams had gathered here and were preparing to set off to do some levelling.

Several Viridian Empire players were currently chatting.

"I found a gem while out levelling earlier today. I think it’ll sell for at least 300 gold. I’ve been really lucky with drops these past few days.”

"Damn, you really are lucky! I only got two trash pieces of Bronze-grade equipment so far today.”

...

Their team captain was busy recruiting people. So, they didn’t have anything better to do besides chatting. One of the Mages turned his head and happened to spot six silhouettes in the wilderness rapidly flying towards them.

"What the… Who are they? They have wings on their backs.”

"They’re from the Demon Tribe!”

Hearing it was people from the Demon Tribe, the surrounding players became excited.

"Let’s kill those bastards! Take their equipment!”

The players charged toward Blood Devil’s group. From their perspective, they could easily overwhelm the enemy with numbers. How could losing ever cross their minds when it was hundreds versus only a handful? They had the absolute number advantage, bolstering their confidence.

A human Warrior was just about to charge toward Blood Devil, when the Thief right next to him smacked his head and said, "Idiot, are you looking to die?”

"Huh, what are you talking about?” the Warrior asked in confusion.

"Don’t you see the wings on their backs?”

"What about them?”

"Silver Wings, you dumbass! They’re at the same level as Masters. You’d be throwing away your life charging at them like that! Look at them. See how red their names are? That means they’ve killed thousands if not tens of thousands of noobs like you.”

"Then, what should we do?”

"Hide and use a Return Scroll!”

The two hid in a corner and started activating their Return Scrolls. Gazing up ahead, those Silver Wings and the players from the Viridian Empire had already clashed, resulting in a one-sided slaughter. The Warrior couldn’t help but rejoice. He was right to listen to his boss’ words. With a flash of light, the two disappeared.

Blood Devil waltzed into town. Three Warriors came charging at him. The corner of his lips curved into a cruel smile.

Blood Ambush!

Blood Devil slashed out with his greatsword, firing out a crimson sword beam at one of the Warriors. PSSFHT! Blood flew everywhere as the Warrior crashed into the ground several meters away. An instant kill!

The other two Warriors staggered back in fear. Realizing their opponent was a frightening expert, they turned tail and fled for their lives.

Blood Devil sped up. He was more than two times faster than those Warriors. As he closed in behind one of them, he slashed down with his greatsword.

Blood Ambush!

Another instant kill!

Blood Devil looked around. The Silver Wings under his command were carrying out a one-sided massacre on these players from the Viridian Empire.

"What a bunch of weak idiots!” Blood Devil coldly chuckled. "Kill every last one of them. Don’t leave a single one alive!”

Chapter 779 - Number One Team Under the Heavens

Reinforcements from Asskickers United arrived in the village 30 minutes after the reports came in. An eerie silence hung over this place. It was deserted with corpses of both NPCs and players strewn everywhere. It looked like a complete massacre.

The perpetrators were clearly from the Evil Faction, because players from the surface generally didn’t kill NPCs as well.

A gust of wind blew through the village, kicking up a cloud of dust. It appeared quite bleak and desolate.

"Report the situation here back to Watchful Snail.”

"Understood!”

Before long, Guo Huai received word of the massacre. He clearly sensed this matter wasn’t simple. It would require a team of top elites to wipe out an entire village, both players and NPCs, within such a short span of time.

A group of players like this arriving in the Abernathy Great Grasslands was anything but good news.

Guo Huai immediately dispatched a team to investigate this matter, starting with questioning the players who had been killed by Blood Devil’s team.

Over the next few days, Guo Huai received another 15 reports of villages being attacked. The death tally reached 300 NPCs and 7,000 players.

After getting to the bottom of the situation, Guo Huai immediately contacted Nie Yan through the game capsule.

「What’s wrong?」Nie Yan asked. Guo Huai knew he was in the World of Darkness and would only contact him in case of an emergency.

「Recently, a group of 60 players from the Demon Tribe showed up in the Abernathy Great Grasslands. All Silver Wings. They’ve already wiped out 15 villages, killing 7,000 players and 300 NPCs,」Guo Huai said. He sent over all the information he had gathered to Nie Yan.

Before Guo Huai could say anything else, Nie Yan recalled a certain event from the previous timeline.「Is it the Blood Reaver Corps?」

「H-huh, how did you know?」Guo Huai asked in surprise.

「Those guys are rather famous. I didn’t expect them to arrive on the surface so soon,」Nie Yan replied. Truthfully, he rarely paid attention to the going ons in the underworld. It was just that the Blood Reaver Corps was simply too notorious in his past life. So, his impression of them was fairly deep.

Back then, when the Blood Reaver Corps started running wild on the surface, Nie Yan was only a Level 130 Great Thief. The Viridian Empire did have some Masters, about 70 or so. Meanwhile, the Demon Tribe had about 500 Silver Wings, and a single team, the Blood Reaver Corps, accounted for more than 10% of that with all 60 of their members being Silver Wings!

Apart from this, the teamwork of the Blood Reaver Corps was impeccable, and their strange battle tactics left the players of the Viridian Empire completely dumbfounded. Many Masters had fallen at their hands.

The Blood Reaver Corps had stalked the borders of the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire for over two months, killing hundreds of thousands of players. No one ever survived their ambushes. The first to take action against them was the Viridian Empire, mobilizing 20 Masters to put a stop to them. A great failure. Losing five of their own and killing only two of the enemy, they became the laughingstock of the entire game. It wasn’t until Masters from the Satreen Empire suffered a similar fate that their reputation was somewhat restored.

The Masters from the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire tried to corner the players from the Blood Reaver Corps on their own for more than a month without success. In the end, with no other option left, they teamed up. A force of 70 Masters and several dozens of guilds was what it took to lock down the position of the Blood Reaver Corps. In the battle that followed, both sides suffered immense losses, including seven Masters and 16 Silver Wings. After encountering this kind of setback, the Blood Reaver Corps finally retreated back to the Underworld.

Though they achieved their goal of forcing the Blood Reaver Corps back to the underworld, this was by no means a victory. The Masters of the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire didn’t feel pride, but rather great shame.

Although Silver Wing was the highest rank class for the Demon Tribe, it was simply not on the same level as a Master. In terms of class bonuses, Silver Wings were strictly inferior to Masters. For the outcome of the battle to end up like this, rather than celebrating their victory, the Masters of the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire opted to drown this disgrace with alcohol.

After this escapade on the surface world, although they had been defeated, the Blood Reaver Corps’ fame skyrocketed. They were known as the number one team under the heavens. No other team could compare with them.

The Blood Reaver Corps was founded by Blood Devil. The members of the team were all old friends of his that he’d been playing virtual reality games with for more than 20 years. Their average age was over 40 years old. They had no interest in founding a guild. In fact, the only reason they’d set up a gaming organization was for some extra income, something they did in a somewhat extreme way. They would hunt experts and strip them of their expensive equipment, then sell it for gold. Many guilds had suffered at their hands. They killed indiscriminately. This of course meant they made many enemies, most of whom had tried to surround and ambush them. But they always managed to escape, only to come back later and make the guilds behind these attacks suffer greatly. As time passed, this happened time and time again, even against the large guilds. In the end, no one dared to provoke the Blood Reaver Corps anymore. As long a certain line wasn’t crossed, they would turn a blind eye. After all, these fellows were too scary.

With the Blood Reaver Corps arriving on the surface, Nie Yan immediately felt an immense weight on his shoulders. Asskickers United only had 21 Masters in total. Dealing with the Blood Reaver Corps would prove a bit difficult, but he also couldn’t allow them to run around his territory freely. After all, he had a reputation to uphold.

The problem was locking the Blood Reaver Corps down. Finding any trace of them was incredibly difficult. Not to mention they were extremely tough opponents to deal with, completely different from the enemies Nie Yan faced before. The Demon Tribe had many strange battle tactics that were hard to guard against. A single lapse in judgement could lead to disastrous consequences. Moreover, if Asskickers United were to duke it out with them to the bitter end, the losses wouldn’t make up for the gains.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. These guys couldn’t be ignored, but he had to go about it with tact.

「Where are they right now?」Nie Yan asked.

「They’re currently making their way to the Satreen Empire,」Guo Huai replied after reading the latest report. He inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Nie Yan and the others were in the World of Darkness. If these people stayed in the Abernathy Great Grasslands, he would definitely lose himself in worry. Luckily, since they were going to the Satreen Empire, they were Angel Corps’ problem for now. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of schadenfreude. Let’s see how Soaring Angel will deal with them!

「Pay attention to their movements. If they come back to the Abernathy Great Grasslands, report to me immediately! Have our players focus on their class advancement quests first!」Nie Yan said. Compared to the Blood Reaver Corps, Asskickers United was lacking in Masters.

Based on memories of his past life, Nie Yan knew the Blood Reaver Corps wouldn’t return to the underworld unless they were beaten back. This was because not only were they not penalized for killing the players of the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire, but they also obtained a large amount of experience and Glory. In only two days, their red names would be cleared, and the loot they collected could be sold through various channels for staggering sums of money. With the Glory to raise their military ranks to 10,000-Man Commanders, or even Generals and Great Generals, and the gold to buy the gear offered to them at these higher ranks, the allure was there. Of course, they would have to continue killing to keep their military rank from decaying.

In the previous timeline, after getting a taste of the surface, the Blood Reaver Corps became addicted and didn’t go back.

If the Blood Reaver Corps wasn’t chased back to the underworld, they would eventually set their sights on the Abernathy Great Grasslands. If Asskickers United showed any weakness at that time, they’d be in for a world of pain.

「I’ve dispatched some Thieves to tail them. If no mishaps occur, we won’t lose track of them,」Guo Huai said. This kind of dangerous element had to be closely monitored at all times!

「Have them keep a safe distance, at least 150 meters, preferable even more. Those guys aren’t simple,」Nie Yan said. He had heard countless legends about the Blood Reaver Corps in his past life. He knew just how strong they were.

Nie Yan still felt his time right now was better spent in the World of Darkness. He had to keep in mind, though, that a major calamity in the form of the Blood Reaver Corps loomed over them, and they had no effective defense in place. If anything were to happen now, they were defenseless.

"Boss, should we go back?” Undying Scoundrel asked. He had also heard about the Blood Reaver Corps running amok in the Abernathy Great Grasslands.

"Let’s stay here for now. No use in worrying.” Nie Yan shook his head. The Blood Reaver Corps was definitely one of the strongest groups out there right now. They had to quickly raise their strength so they wouldn’t lose when both sides finally clashed!

Everyone was a bit worried about the situation in Okoron. However, with Nie Yan’s reassurance, they calmed down and continued grinding mobs.

"Let’s pick up the pace!” Nie Yan said. What made him depressed was that the Paternoster’s Warhammer quest was taking forever. The end was still nowhere in sight.

Nie Yan could only take things one step at a time.

They continued levelling in the World of Darkness while monitoring the situation on the outside. The Blood Reaver Corps had arrived in the Satreen Empire and slaughtered two small towns already. They were becoming more and more gutsy.

Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group naturally wouldn’t tolerate the Blood Reaver Corps running around so brazenly. They dispatched a large number of troops to surrounded them. However, the enemy seemed to know of their plans beforehand. Not only did the ambushes fail, but their members all over the Satreen Empire suddenly started getting harassed and targeted.

Nie Yan recalled the situation was also like this in the previous timeline. The Blood Reaver Corps definitely had connections in the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire, or else there was no way their intel could be so responsive and accurate. Not to mention they would also need channels to sell the loot they collected. Players from the underworld had no need for equipment of the other faction, so it could only be sold to players from the surface.

No wonder the Blood Reaver Corps dared to rampage around the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire without any restraint!

Chapter 780 - General

For two months, Nie Yan’s team slowly made their way through the wasteland of the World of Darkness.

Every time Nie Yan gazed up ahead, the volcano was closer in view. It was already within reach now. The journey here took far longer than they originally imagined. Everyone’s levelling speeds had also slowed to a crawl. Nie Yan had reached Level 145 while Tang Yao and Xie Yao were only Level 146.

However, during these 2 months, Nie Yan had received quite a bit of good news. Black Heaven, Hapless Frog, Tyrannical, Monochrome, Edgeless, Happy Hermit, and Sunny South had successfully cleared their class advancement quests, increasing the number of Masters in Asskickers United from 21 to 28. Furthermore, of the three Archbishops in the Viridian Empire, all of them belonged to Asskickers United! Meanwhile, nine new Masters had appeared in the Satreen Empire, only three of which belonged to Angel Corps.

In terms of number of Masters, Asskickers United had always been far ahead of the rest. With 28 Masters, Lil’ Gold, and Paladin Lafus, Nie Yan had some confidence in taking on the Blood Reaver Corps. In a duel, Masters were far stronger than Silver Wings. However, that meant nothing in a team battle. Teamwork was the keyword here, an art the Blood Reaver Corps had perfected. In the previous timeline, countless teams from the Satreen Empire and Viridian Empire had suffered losses at their hands.

With so many Masters, Nie Yan believed they could repel the Blood Reaver Corps from the Abernathy Great Grasslands.

Nie Yan had received multiple updates from Guo Huai over the last two months, informing him in detail the endless heachache the Blood Reaver Corps gave to the guilds in the Satreen Empire. Even when the large guilds had dispatched hundreds of thousands of troops to hunt them down, it was to no avail. Instead, they ended up suffering heavy losses with tens of thousands of casualties. The players of the Satreen Empire were terrified, to the extent their faces would pale at the mere mention of the Blood Reaver Corps. Asskickers United’s Thieves had also lost track of them several times.

When Nie Yan’s team arrived at the base of the volcano, they received a notification.

You have discovered Morphest’s Volcano.

Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise. This mountain was actually named after Morphest!

The end was finally in sight.

At this moment, Paternoster’s Warhammer in Nie Yan’s bag started going berserk, spewing out electric and frost energy. He sensed the spirit inside the weapon stirring awake.

You have sensed a powerful darkness energy. The great spirit within Paternoster’s Warhammer awakens. You hear it beckons. This is the willpower of the fragmented spirit of a war god. It lets out an enraged roar, "Brave adventurer, kill him! Kill Drakuru, that eternal disgrace and traitor of a disciple!”

One scene after another flashed through Nie Yan’s mind, narrating a complete story. Drakuru was an orc and was once the leader of the Satreen Empire’s Royal Orc Legion. In a battle against the Demon Tribe, a mistake he made led to the crushing defeat of his forces. However, unlike a man of honour, he refused to accept responsibility and instead pinned the blame on several officers under him. They were executed for his mistakes. A demon was born in his heart and slowly grew up, as his actions became increasingly heinous until one day he tried to overthrow the Satreen Empire’s royalty. After being discovered, he inflicted a mortal blow to the Orc King and fled, from then on walking the path of a traitor. The Orc King eventually succumbed to his wounds and died, leading to a power struggle that lasted over 30 years. Drakuru became public enemy number one of the Satreen Empire. While he was on the run, the demon in his heart eroded what little good was left in him, and he transformed into a Demonified Lord.

Another notification popped up. Nie Yan looked over it.

Kill the traitor Drakuru. But first, find Morphest and talk to him.

It was an assassination quest, but Nie Yan still had no idea about the details. Morphest would probably fill him in on those, and since this volcano was named after him, he was probably somewhere nearby.

"Boss, did you get an update on your quest?”

"Yeah, I have to find an NPC called Morphest.”

"Have Sun, King of the World, Shadow Killer, Mistaken Smile, and One Strike Vow split up and search for him. That’ll speed things up a little,” Smoke Stub suggested. It would take a lot of time for them to explore the entire volcano as a group. It would be more efficient to split up. Naturally, Thieves were the most suited class for this task.

"You should stay with us, Nie Yan. We need at least one Thief,” Bladelight said.

Nie Yan rubbed his chin, then turned to Sun, Mistaken Smile, and the other Thieves. "Then I’ll be troubling you guys.”

"What trouble? Helping each other out is only natural,” Mistaken Smile replied with a smile.

The five Shadow Dancers split up in different directions, disappearing into stealth. They were each in charge of a different region, with Nie Yan and the others going straight up to the peak.

"Boss, what kind of quest did you get?” Undying Scoundrel asked. Over these past two and a half months, they had encountered countless dangers and nearly wiped several times. One could imagine how high the difficulty of this quest was.

"It’s a quest to obtain the Assassin’s Heart. I have to assassinate a Demonified Lord. It’s a pretty high difficulty quest. Worst comes to worst, we’ll have to die to get out. It’s just a shame I’ll lose a few items I worked pretty hard to get. I don’t know if we'll get a chance to come back here again, or if we can even find an exit,” Nie Yan said. If he died, the losses would be serious.

"What kind of items? Guaranteed drops on death?” Summer Bug asked. He had encountered similar items before. They all generally had pretty good properties.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. Since he trusted this group, he didn’t mind sharing. "It’s a hammer.” He shared the stats of Paternoster’s Warhammer in the chat.

The light-hearted conversation came to an abrupt halt. Everyone’s expressions instantly froze.

A moment later, Undying Scoundrel broke the silence and cried out in shock, "Fuck! A Sacred Object! Conviction actually has items like these!? Those properties! Look at them!”

"Too bad we can’t equip it.”

"I think a few of the properties are still accessible. When you were fighting with that Demonified Lord in the Clemenci Stronghold, that skill you used back there was this Frozen Fortress skill, right?”

"Yeah.” Nie Yan nodded.

After the initial shock, everyone became excited. They were all amazed by Paternoster’s Warhammer’s properties. This was a genuine Sacred Object! Even Legendary equipment paled in comparison! Even though none of them could equip it, just looking at its splendor was good enough.

"What is Divine Power?”

"I feel like these Sacred Objects should be classified as quest items. Players will probably never be able to equip them, or else it wouldn’t have a requirement like Divine Power. I've never even heard of this stat before. Not to mention the Strength and Dexterity requirements are ridiculously high. Even if you reach Level 200, goodluck reaching those requirements. It’s probably the same even if you had a Legendary set equipped,” Lei Su said.

"Maybe.” Nie Yan nodded. What Lei Su said made sense.

"Even if it’s a quest item, the quest related to it definitely isn’t simple!” Smoke Stub said. Even though it was realistically only a quest item, the value of Paternoster’s Warhammer was incalculable!

"I still have this Death God’s Edge with me too. Its properties are comparable to Paternoster’s Warhammer. I can’t use it either. It’s related to a quest that has me track down Archangel Talod,” Nie Yan said before sharing the Death God’s Edge’s information in chat.

Everyone glanced at each other in shock. Paternoster’s Warhammer was already shocking enough, but Nie Yan actually had a second Sacred Object!

"No matter what, we can’t allow the boss to die!” Undying Scoundrel shouted. If Nie Yan died, these two invaluable items would be lost.

"We’ll see when we get there,” Nie Yan said. If there was no other way to leave the World of Darkness, he could only return by killing himself.

As they were chatting, a large horde of Dark Hyenas slowly closed in on them.

"Well, guys. Looks like it’s time to get back to work,” Bladelight said. He raised his shield and stepped forward.

No one dared to dally. They all took up their respective positions as they prepared for another long and bitter battle.

The Magisters were already erecting flame walls. Nie Yan had Lil’ Gold guard their flank as they prepared for the assault of the Dark Hyenas.

While they were facing off against the Dark Hyenas, Nie Yan received a call from Guo Huai.

Nie Yan sent a Dark Hyena flying with a kick. He took a step forward, dodging a pouncing Hyena, and then struck it in the neck with his elbow, killing it. As it crashed onto the ground, Nie Yan picked up the call.

「Did something happen?」Nie Yan asked after retreating into the formation.

The surrounding team members were fiercely fighting, focusing on beating back the Dark Hyenas.

「We lost track of the Blood Reaver Corps again, but this time is different. We lost sight of them near the Krasomu Gull. That’s right near the border with the Viridian Empire. Recently, the Satreen Empire have really upped their efforts on hunting them down. I’m predicting they’ll be doing some killing in our Viridian Empire next.」

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. More than two months had passed without the Blood Reaver Corps coming to the Viridian Empire. He hoped this could continue for a few more days, but he knew he couldn’t delay the inevitable.

With the Blood Reaver Corps arriving in the Viridian Empire, Asskickers United was in a tough spot. Nie Yan and the other Masters were absent, and there were too few experts in the guild who could deal with them. Combined with the fact that they were so well informed, trapping them was going to be incredibly difficult.

「Anything else to report?」Nie Yan asked.

「I just received word that their leader was recently promoted to a General.」

「General?」Nie Yan’s heart tightened. How was this possible? However, it made sense after thinking about it carefully. It had already been close to three months since the Blood Reaver Corps arrived on the surface. The number of players and NPCs that had died at their hands so far was incalculable. As their leader, Blood Devil’s kill count had surely reached a frightening figure. If Nie Yan were to spend that much time killing to his heart’s content in the underworld, he would’ve become a General too.

「Those guys really are slaughter maniacs. The players over in the Satreen Empire were nearly driven mad by them. Even an ambush from the combined forces of several dozen guilds wasn’t enough to kill them. Who knows how many players have died at their hands. Blood Devil managing to kill his way to becoming a General is perfectly normal,」Guo Huai said with a bitter smile.

Chapter 781 - A Deal

In the previous timeline, the Blood Reaver Corps only stayed on the surface for two months before being chased back to the underworld. This time around, the situation was completely different. Asskickers United and Angel Corps were sworn enemies. There was no way the two sides would cooperate!

Asskickers United would be all alone in this fight. Though incredibly difficult, their only hope was to surround the Blood Reaver Corps and wipe them out.

「If you find their whereabouts, report to me immediately. You will have to delay them, at least until we return from the World of Darkness,」Nie Yan said. Every second they could buy was more precious than the last.

「I’ll do my best. I don’t think they are brave enough to attack our strongholds yet.」

「I’m not so sure about that. Anything is possible with that bunch of maniacs.」Nie Yan shook his head. In the previous timeline, the Blood Reaver Corps had fearlessly attacked strongholds many times.

Guo Huai was taken aback. Did those people really dare to attack a stronghold? Thinking about it, if Nie Yan dared to sneak his way into the Clemenci Stronghold alone, why wouldn’t the Blood Reaver Corps with their 60 Silver Wings dare to take on a stronghold?「Looks like I’ll have to fortify the defenses of our strongholds.」

「No harm in making preparations.」

「Alright, I’ll let you continue with your levelling,」Guo Huai said. He ended the call, then walked into the guild headquarters’ main hall.

When Black Heaven and several others saw Guo Huai enter, they walked up to him and asked, "What did the boss say?”

"He wants us to delay the Blood Reaver Corps for as long as possible and wait for his return from the World of Darkness,” Guo Huai replied.

"The Blood Reaver Corps don’t seem to have any intention of attacking us. We’ll just have our members steer clear of them for now. When the boss is back, we can deal with them then!” Paladin of the Elegy said.

"The most important point is that we still have no idea of their exact location!”

"We already have our Hundred Thieves searching all over for traces of them,” Hapless Frog said. He and Tyrannical were the leaders of the Hundred Thieves. Each of them had hundreds of subordinates under them responsible for managing these Thieves.

"Since the Blood Reaver Corps has arrived in the Viridian Empire, they definitely won’t stay idle for long. When they make their move, we’ll know where they are,” Tyrannical said confidently.

Under Guo Huai’s arrangements, Asskickers United and all their allies started fortifying the defenses of their strongholds.

...

At this moment, a team of 60 players riding three-meter tall Nightmare Beasts crossed the border into the Viridian Empire. They sped through the wilderness known as the Kross Plains.

"Boss, who’s our next target?” a fallen human Mage asked. This fellow was basically all skin and bones with his eye sockets caved in and his cheekbones protruding out. He looked to be in his 40s.

"Old Bat, no need to ask. Wherever the boss wants to go, all we have to do is follow. When has he ever led us astray?” a Slayer carrying dual short swords on his back said with a smile.

Old Bat scratched his head with an embarrassed smile. "My bad. Just curiosity. Shadow, you’re always so calm and collected. Aren’t you the slightest bit curious?”

"Doesn’t matter. Heads roll wherever we go. I just hope our next opponent will be a bit stronger. I’m really bored of killing these weaklings who can’t even take one or two hits.” The Slayer called Dark Shadow shrugged.

"Shadow is the strongest Slayer in the Demon Tribe. If he claims to be second best, no one will dare to claim to be first. Honestly, we don’t need to be scared of that Asskickers United or whatever. Even if Nirvana Flame comes, what could he possibly do against us?” a dark elf Thief called Autumn Gust said. Dark Shadow was the vice-captain of the Blood Reaver Corps. So, everyone was fairly respectful toward him.

"Autumn, there’ll always be someone stronger. Take the boss for example. In the Demon Tribe, there are still a few people who can go toe-to-toe with him.”

"Like who?” Autumn Gust asked.

"Pantheon’s Godking comes to mind. That guy is pretty mysterious. He never shows himself in public, but he’s always at the top of the level leaderboards. He’s definitely an expert. As for the Righteous Faction, Nirvana Flame is also a pretty tough bastard. You know, there’s a good reason why we stayed in the Satreen Empire for so long and avoided the Viridian Empire,” Dark Shadow said. He was old and wise enough to look at things objectively, unlike Autumn Gust.

Blood Devil didn’t refute Dark Shadow’s words.

Autumn Gust couldn’t accept this and asked back, "Then why are we in the Viridian Empire right now?” He felt Dark Shadow was overestimating this Nirvana Flame.

Dark Shadow didn’t immediately reply, instead turning to face the silent Blood Devil. This was also a question he wanted to ask. Previously, Blood Devil had received a voice call from someone. After chatting with that person, he decided to come to the Viridian Empire. These two matters were definitely related.

Blood Devil pulled on his reins, causing the Nightmare Beast he was riding to rear up its front legs before stomping on the ground and coming to a halt.

Everyone else also came to a stop and gazed at Blood Devil.

Blood Devil looked at his brothers, then said in a serious tone, "I’m going to make an announcement. Afterwards, we’ll take a vote. The majority will decide our next move.”

Everyone was puzzled. Just what was going on? Normally, everything in the team would be decided by Blood Devil alone. Only on really important matters would he ask for the input of the other members. In their memory, there had been no more than seven instances of this happening. The last time was when they were deciding whether they should go to the surface.

"I received a call from a man surnamed Cao yesterday, and he proposed a deal to me. He managed to get in touch with me through our contacts in the Satreen Empire. We spoke for a bit, and…” Blood Devil spoke slowly word after word, making sure everyone in the team could hear him clearly.

Everyone’s ears perked up. Blood Devil had never spoken to them about this before.

"This guy actually tracked us down through the contacts we have hidden in the Satreen Empire? He’s not simple.” Everyone was surprised. Surnamed Cao and his influence in the Satreen Empire reached far and wide, they could easily guess his identity.

"What kind of deal?” Dark Shadow asked.

Seeing everyone calming back down, Blood Devil continued, "In short, he wants us to leave the Satreen Empire and stir up trouble for Asskickers United in the Viridian Empire. If we complete his mission, he’ll pay us this much.” He stuck out three fingers, then pointed his thumb down, making a gesture only people in the team would know.

Everyone started chatting excitedly with each other.

"Wow, that's a lot. That’d usually take us two years to make!”

"Damn! The Century Financial Group really are a bunch of rich moneybags.”

"I bet it’s because they’re afraid of us. They’re trying to bribe us to leave the Satreen Empire,” a fallen human Mystic said. After hearing these words, everyone felt pleased with themselves.

"What kind of mission? If it’s not too bad, let’s go for it!”

"Yeah, Boss!”

Everyone echoed these sentiments. They were all professional players, with most of them being over 40 years old. They all had families to feed. One of the reasons they had gathered together was to make some extra money. After hearing Cao Xu was willing to pay them what they’d normally make in two years, they couldn’t help but get excited.

"After completing this mission, we’ll be rewarded handsomely.”

"Nothing in this world is free, and money doesn’t come easily. Since you’ve all decided, I won’t say anymore.” Blood Devil knew of everyone’s struggles and what choice they would make, or else he wouldn’t have brought them to the Viridian Empire.

"Boss, just tell us what the mission is.”

"There are three parts to the mission. The first is to raze one of Asskickers United’s strongholds,” Blood Devil said.

"Just one stronghold, no big deal. It’s not like we haven’t done that before. Remember Fallen Angel’s stronghold? Hehe…”

Everyone was brimming with confidence. Ever since arriving on the surface, all the opponents they had faced so far were weak trash that couldn’t even take a single hit. Taking down a stronghold was nothing difficult for them.

"What the second part of the mission?”

"That’s for later. First, I want you all to realize, if we take down one of Asskickers United’s strongholds, there is no turning back. We’ll be hunted down by the number one guild of the Righteous Faction.”

"Pfft! What’s there to be afraid of?”

"Asskickers United is nothing.”

…

Many of them didn’t put Asskickers United in their eyes. From their perspective, there was nothing amazing about large guilds besides having many players.

"Those Masters in Asskickers United won’t just stand by and watch, right? Nirvana Flame will probably come too,” Dark Shadow said. He gazed at Blood Devil, wanting to see something from his expression.

"That’s something to think about for later.”

"I bet you’ve been itching to test yourself against Nirvana Flame for a long time now,” Dark Shadow said with a knowing smile.

"Nothing escapes your eyes. Having you as a partner really is a troublesome thing,” Blood Devil said with a helpless smile.

Dark Shadow chuckled. "So, my guess was correct. It really does get you excited. The latest I heard, Asskickers United has 28 masters.”

Dark Shadow and Blood Devil’s conversation didn’t enter the ears of the other members. They were still excitedly chatting with each other about this mission. After completing it, they would be swimming in money! Of the 60 members, 55 voted to take on the mission.

The group of 60 players traversed the plains, entering the territory of Moonlight City and arriving at the top of a hill. Up ahead was an imposing stronghold situated on a grassland that spanned as far as the eye could see. This was Asskickers United’s Mona Stronghold, an unremarkable Basic Stronghold.

The stronghold was located in a Level 130 map. Teams of players could be spotted levelling in the area. Over 90% of them belonged to Asskickers United or their allied guilds.

This wide open plain would become the Blood Reaver Corps’ stage to run wild!

Chapter 782 - Soul Blessing

After clearing all the Dark Hyenas in the vicinity, Nie Yan and the others sat down to recover their health and mana.

All around, hundreds of meters in any direction were the corpses of the Dark Hyenas. It was quite a shocking sight.

"Boss, there’s a treasure chest over there.”

Undying Scoundrel’s voice attracted Nie Yan’s attention. Everyone looked over to where he was pointing. At the top of a 30-meter tall cliff was the outline of a chest hidden behind some shrubbery. If one weren’t looking closely, it would be impossible to discover.

"Nice find. You have some pretty good eyes,” Nie Yan said with a smile.

Undying Scoundrel scratched his head with a bashful smile.

"I’ll go open the chest,” Nie Yan said. He walked over to the bottom of the cliff wall and looked up. After examining the terrain, he activated his Web-Crawler Ring and started nimbly climbing up. Before long, he reached the top. Looking at the chest, it was pretty small and made out of a material he didn’t recognize. Its surface was already badly corroded.

The World of Darkness was ancient beyond compare. Nie Yan had no idea how long this chest had sat here for.

After examining the chest, it turned out to be Sub Legendary.

Nie Yan’s eyes lit up in pleasant surprise. He didn’t expect to obtain this kind of harvest.

He bent down and started opening the chest.

Opening chest… Progress: 10%... 30%...

Eventually, the lid popped open with a click.

Nie Yan reached his hand inside and started digging around before making contact with something solid and smooth to the touch. His heart trembled. Taking the item out, it was a white egg about the size of a soccer ball.

He had no idea what kind of egg this was. Whether it was a flying mount or pet, he had to get it appraised first, but he could be sure it wasn’t low rank.

Nie Yan leaped down from the top of the cliff and landed firmly on the ground.

"Boss, what was in it?” The team members walked over and gathered around Nie Yan.

Their eyes almost instantly fell on the egg in Nie Yan’s hand. "Is that a pet egg or flying mount egg?”

"No idea. We’ll have to get it appraised when we get back. If any of you want it, just let me know,” Nie Yan said. His Golden Dragon and Darkwing Dragon were already the strongest pets in the game. There was no need to swap them out.

Even though everyone was curious about what was inside the egg, no one here could appraise it right now. So, they could only drop the subject.

They got up and were about to set off to the next location, when someone spoke in voice chat.

「I found something. There’s a thatch hut here,」King of the World said.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled.「What’s your location?」

「My coordinates are 23790.28503.838.」

Nie Yan looked over to the team members behind him. "Let’s head over and take a look.”

Everyone headed over to the coordinates King of the World provided. On the way there, they encountered two packs of Dark Hyenas. After clearing them away, they finally met up with him.

Nie Yan gazed up ahead. There was a cleared piece of land halfway up the mountain with an old thatch hut in the center. There were a few bramble bushes left to grow unchecked in the surrounding. But the entrance was kept tidy. It appeared someone was living here.

Seeing Nie Yan and the others coming over, King of the World dispelled his stealth. "There’s a barrier surrounding the thatch hut. I can’t get through it.”

When everyone walked within 100 meters of the thatch hut, they encountered a repelling force. As they took several more steps forward, the force grew stronger and stronger until they could advance no more.

"What kind of barrier is this?”

"I don’t know. It seems similar to the Repel spell.”

While everyone was being pushed back by the barrier, Nie Yan didn't feel anything. He continued walking forward without meeting any obstruction.

Nie Yan turned back to face the others. "I think this is related to my quest. I’m gonna head inside to take a look.”

"Alright, keep us updated.”

Everyone sat down outside the barrier, watching Nie Yan walking over to the thatch hut.

Nie Yan arrived at the entrance and pushed the door open, allowing some light to enter through. The inside was quite dark.

A silhouette appeared within Nie Yan’s eyes. His heart trembled. After getting a clear look, he discovered the other party was an old man, teetering on the edge of doddering. He wore an ashen silver robe and sat cross-legged on the ground. He had a long, flowing gray beard, and he was covered in a layer of dust, looking like a mummified monk sculpture. After hearing the door being opened, he opened his eyes, which flashed with a profound light.

This NPC definitely wasn’t simple. Nie Yan could feel an overpowering pressure.

Nie Yan inspected the old man with Transcendent Insight.

Morphest: Level ???
Titles: Legendary Mage, Magister

This was precisely the NPC Nie Yan was looking for. He didn’t expect him to be a Legendary Mage.

"You’ve finally come,” Morphest said in a gloomy tone.

"Yes.” Nie Yan nodded.

Morphest stood up. Rather, his soul did. His physical body was still very much seated on the ground. Nie Yan was surprised to find himself face to face with an astral projection.

"There’s no need to be so surprised. My body passed on to the other side hundreds of years ago. This is all that’s left, a small fragment of my soul.” Morphest’s soul remnant showed a kind smile.

"Sir Morphest, how can I be of help to you?” Nie Yan asked respectfully.

Morphest shook his head. "You’re too weak as you are right now. The challenge you’ll be facing is too difficult. Your death is assured. I suggest you turn back now.”

All the clues Nie Yan had found so far flashed through his mind as he came to a realization. "I’m not afraid of death,” he said decisively.

"How foolish, my child. Do you know the enemy you’re about to face? The traitor Drakuru. He’s already allowed the demon in his heart to take control of him, becoming a Great Demon. Do you think you can kill him? There’s a difference between being brave and throwing your life away,” Morphest dissuaded.

"God will care for his believers. I don’t have any extravagant hopes. The truly brave can grasp any opportunity, no matter how fleeting. Death should never be an obstacle. Since I’ve already come all the way here, I won’t cower now,” Nie Yan said without any hesitation.

After hearing Nie Yan’s words, Morphest didn’t know how to refute. Sinking into silence for a long while, he finally said, "Alright. I’ve been convinced by your spirit.”

"Then, sir Morphest. Can you tell me where Drakuru is hiding?”

"At the summit of the volcano, surrounded by lava. I’ve chained him to an obelisk. If you don’t kill him, he’ll eventually escape one day. At that time, a disaster will sweep through the continent. Child, despite knowing you’re about to walk to your death, are you still willing to go through with this?”

"Yes. God told his people, if you believe what you’re doing is right, you must see it through to the end.”

"Alright, I hope you remember your words today and I pray for your success.”

"Thank You, sir Morphest.”

"I’ll help you unlock Paternoster’s Warhammer. The weapon spirit within possesses great hatred for Drakuru. If you awaken its spirit, it will aid you in defeating him.” Morphest waved his hand, pulling Paternoster’s Warhammer out of Nie Yan’s bag. It floated in the air, emitting a blinding radiance which illuminated the room into a world of pure white.

Morphest started chanting, "Ancient spirit of God, hear my request. Please, awaken from your slumber…”

Like some kind of ceremony, Morphest’s chant lasted for roughly 30 seconds. As the last words left his mouth, Paternoster’s Warhammer slowly fell into Nie Yan’s hands. After which a peaceful silence fell over the room.

Nie Yan seemed to feel a spirit awakening within Paternoster’s Warhammer, as if it were alive.

"Only the fearless heart of the brave can awaken its spirit. This is the best I can do for you.” Morphest faintly smiled, as his figure started fading. He looked at Nie Yan with kind eyes. "Begin your new journey. I’ve finished mine. It’s about time I pass on to the other world.”

Nie Yan wanted to say something, only for Morphest’s figure to completely disappear.

It all felt like a dream. Nie Yan looked around the room. Morphest was still sitting on the ground in a meditative position with his eyes closed, as if they’d never opened. He started to wonder whether his eyes had played a trick on him, whether any of it was real.

Nie Yan looked around the room once more. It was very simply decorated. The only thing of some interest was a shabby looking chest in a corner of the room. He didn’t know what was inside. Perhaps within he’d find a peerless treasure, it definitely didn’t look ordinary. However, after careful consideration, he opted to leave the thatch hut without touching anything.

To go through the belongings of a dead man would be an act of great disrespect.

In this respect, Nie Yan was very principled. Besides, blind greed for something small could bring about great and dangerous consequences. He didn’t fear setting off a trap, confident he’d make it out alive. What he feared the most was that it’d result in him being blacklisted, losing all his reputation, and having karma coming back to bite him in the ass.

Nie Yan walked out of the thatch hut and carefully closed the door behind him.

At this moment, Nie Yan suddenly received a notification.

System: You have received Morphest’s Soul Blessing.

Nie Yan was taken aback, staring blankly at the notification for a moment. Morphest’s Soul Blessing? What was that? He checked his status.

Morphest’s Soul Blessing: Divine Power +1

Divine Power! Seeing this property, though it was only +1, Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel moved.

Chapter 783 - Almost Killing an Ally

The Death God’s Edge and Paternoster’s Warhammer both required 300 Divine Power.

Morphest’s Soul Blessing only gave Nie Yan one point of Divine Power. However, this one point allowed him to see a ray of hope. Since the stat existed, he would have an opportunity to slowly raise it later on. These weapons were equipable after all!

Nie Yan examined his character window and noticed some slight changes. For example, skills like Backbreaker dealt additional damage. At the same time, when fighting a demon or boss, regardless of their level, he had a high chance of breaking their armour. Other stats like Jump and Focus also saw huge transformations.

This was quite the harvest.

After seeing Nie Yan come out of the thatch hut and leave the barrier, the others walked over.

"How did it go?”

"Did you get anything good?”

Xie Yao also looked over at Nie Yan with expectant eyes, calmly waiting for his reply.

"I received a quest to kill a Demonified Lord. It’s pretty dangerous, but since we’re already here, there’s no turning back now. If we fail... Well, we can only return by dying anyway,” Nie Yan said. He had already made his decision. A huge weight was lifted off his heart. If he was destined to fail, it just meant the Death God’s Edge and Paternoster’s Warhammer weren’t meant to be his. All he could do was try his best. The rest would be up to fate.

"A Demonified Lord? What level?”

"Level 180.”

"Oh my god! A Level 180 Demonified Lord!? In what world are we its match!? Fuck! That Level 130 Demonified Lord was already strong enough to slaughter its way into the Clemenci Stronghold. I can’t imagine what a Level 180 one would be like!”

They had all seen videos of the battle in the Clemenci Stronghold and knew just how frightening of an existence Demonified Lords were, to say nothing of the fact it was a Level 180 one this time around.

"Since this is a quest and you met the requirements to receive it, that must mean there’s some special method to defeat the boss. Did you find any clues?” Smoke Stub asked.

"Yeah, I did. I think we need to rely on Paternoster’s Warhammer. But as for how, I still don’t know,” Nie Yan replied. He was ruminating over Morphest’s final words, trying to find every little hint and clue hidden in them.

"Let’s look for that Demonified Lord first,” Smoke Stub said.

"You’re right. Let’s find it first, then come up with a plan.” Nie Yan nodded.

Nie Yan called Sun, Mistaken Smile, and the other Thieves back. After which the team set out for the summit. Looking up, large clouds of black smoke were rising up into the sky. This was an active volcano.

According to Morphest, Drakuru was chained up in the crater.

The 21 players trekked their way up the craggy path toward the summit. About 15 minutes later, they arrived at the edge of the crater. Noxious gasses filled the air here. Some of the team members started to feel dizzy and short of breath.

"Quickly! Everyone, drink a Soul Trance Potion!”

Everyone fished out the Soul Trance Potions in their bags and drank them.

Suddenly, their breathing came to a halt. Even if they were walking through the noxious fumes now, it couldn’t affect them one bit. These Spirit Trance Potions were concocted by the several Sage Alchemists in the Starry Night Potion Shop. There were only 70 or so of these potions in total. Dividing them up equally, that was only about three per person. Each potion had a duration of roughly five hours.

After walking around the crater, they gathered back up. The fumes here were fairly dense. Looking down, they could faintly see the lava below roiling around, occasionally burping out bubbles of gas. A scorching heat assaulted their senses.

"I don’t see a path down.”

"Boss, what do we do?”

"I’ll head down and take a look first,” Nie Yan said.

"Big Brother, we can come down with you. We also have Crawler Rings of our own now,” Sun said. Nie Yan always took full advantage of the Crawler Ring’s ability. Naturally, after finding out how useful it was, they set out to get one for themselves; some finding one in the wilderness and others buying it from the marketplace. This item became an essential tool to be a part of this team.

"Sounds good. We’ll split up and search!” Nie Yan nodded. Like this, they would cover quite a bit more ground.

"Well, what are we waiting for?” Mistaken Smile said. He activated the Crawler Ring and started making his way down the crater.

The others quickly followed.

Nie Yan leaped down into the crater as his body rapidly plummeted. Glancing up, he saw multiple silhouettes crawling on the walls like a bunch of lizards.

The crater was more than 50 meters deep. As Nie Yan fell toward the lava, the heat grew more and more intense, threatening to roast him alive. At the last second, he was about to shoot out a web line at a nearby wall, when an idea flashed through his head. He quickly took out the Kiln Fire Heart from his bag, then activated its ability and the ability of his Featherfall Jewel.

Nie Yan’s weight was instantly reduced to almost nothing as his descent slowed to a crawl and he gently landed on the lava. Since he was so light, his feet didn’t even break the surface, allowing him to walk on lava. If it were a normal player, the fire damage upon making contact with the lava would’ve instantly killed them. However, thanks to the Kiln Fire Heart, Nie Yan didn't even feel the lava’s heat. He could move about freely and easily.

Nie Yan felt a cool membrane of energy coating his entire body, isolating him from the intense heat outside.

Looking around, he stood in the middle of a lake of lava roughly 500 meters in diameter. On the edge of the walls, about six meters above the lava, there were more than a couple dozen dark caves leading to who knew where. This was probably the path ahead. Searching these caves was a must. He walked over to one of them.

As Nie Yan set foot in the cave, he felt a voice beckoning to him. It was the sound of a demon, causing him to feel slightly dizzy. He shook his head and maintained his focus.

Seeing Nie Yan walking on top of the lava as though he were some sort of messiah, the others were all dumbstruck. What kind of skill was this?

Just as they were about to ask Nie Yan, they noticed him already entering one of the caves. Thinking for a bit, they decided to hold off the question for later.

Each of them entered a cave and started searching around.

The topography of this place was incredibly complicated with winding passages that all connected together like some sort of maze. To make matters worse, a scorching hot air attacked them and bizarre sounds bounced off the walls.

Relying on his senses, Nie Yan carefully explored around.

A red glow came from the depths of the caves. It appeared there was lava in here as well. When the volcano erupted, these pathways would be filled to the brim with lava, and when the eruption ended, the lava would naturally recede back down.

When Nie Yan was about to head deeper into the cave, a peculiar feeling assaulted him, as if something was slowly making its way towards him.

Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a cold light. He came to a stop and focused his senses. Before long, he locked onto the other party's position.

That presence was located about a dozen or so meters from him. He had no idea what sort of creature it was.

Before confirming what the other side was, Nie Yan didn’t dare to take any action, nor did he activate Eye of Truth. This skill had its advantages, and that was seeing through stealth and spotting anything hidden in the surroundings. However, it also had its flaws, in that it revealed his whereabouts.

Since Nie Yan had already locked onto the position of the other party, there was no need to activate Eye of Truth.

Sensing the other side drawing closer and closer, Nie Yan suddenly shot forward, Zennarde’s Sword stabbing out at lightning speed.

KLANG! Sparks flew everywhere as the other party parried Nie Yan’s attack.

Nice reaction! Nie Yan suddenly leaned forward and followed up with an elbow strike.

BANG! The other side hurriedly raised their arms to block.

Even though Nie Yan's attack had been blocked, the power behind his blow still sent the opponent flying.

The two materialized out of stealth.

The other side was a Thief? Could it be a humanoid monster?

Within the darkness, Nie Yan could faintly make out the opponent’s silhouette. But he had no way of seeing their appearance.

After the elbow strike, Nie Yan was about to use a crowd control skill to lock the other side down. In order to not give them a chance to escape, his movements were decisive and brutal, leaving not the slightest room for error.

At this moment, a voice rang out. "W-wait! It’s me!”

Hearing this voice, Nie Yan halted in his tracks. It was actually Shadow Killer!

These caverns were interconnected. Even though the two had entered from different entrances, they bumped into each other.

"I thought you were a monster. Sorry. It’s good you called out, I was about to go in for the kill,” Nie Yan said. He had nearly killed Shadow Killer.

Shadow Killer got back on his feet and dusted himself off. At this moment, both his arms were numb. He couldn’t even hold onto his daggers properly, and he had lost more than half of his health. It was only a short exchange, but he nearly ended up being killed. Gazing at Nie Yan, he couldn’t help but inwardly mutter, This guy is getting more and more overpowered by the second. Just now, he was at a complete disadvantage from the start. Nie Yan had noticed him first and had almost killed him without him even being aware of anything. Only in the very last moment did he notice something off and managed to raise his guard in time. In this kind of situation, he couldn’t fight back in the slightest. If he hadn’t called out to Nie Yan, he would probably be a corpse on the ground right now. Thank god he was able to identify Nie Yan through his combat style.

About half-a-year ago, Shadow Killer was still able to exchange a few moves with Nie Yan, but now he was powerless. The gap between the two had grown from a small gap to an insurmountable chasm. He was no longer Nie Yan’s match.

Shadow Killer originally wanted to duke it out with Nie Yan a few times to score some wins back for himself. However, in this single exchange, he completely gave up on the thought. The difference between them was far too great. He’d only get beaten to a pulp if he came looking for a fight. Perhaps, it was better this way. A myriad of complicated emotions welled up from his heart.

Chapter 784 - Traitor Drakuru

Shadow Killer was completely convinced of Nie Yan’s strength. Even though their exchange was brief and Nie Yan only used the most basic skills, under that rush down, he had no opportunity to retaliate. This was the difference in their strength.

"You go there, and I’ll go here,” Nie Yan said. Looking up ahead, the tunnel forked into five different paths.

"Alright.” Shadow Killer nodded.

After the two entered back into stealth, Nie Yan said in voice chat,「Everyone, report your coordinates every few minutes.」

In order to avoid accidents from happening, Nie Yan could only rely on this method. Sharing coordinates didn’t take much effort anyway.

「Will do, Boss!」Everyone shared their coordinates.

As Nie Yan ventured deeper into the cave, he heard the beckoning of a voice, causing him to unwillingly head toward it.

It was quite strange. Nie Yan could still maintain a clear mind, but he was compelled to move toward the voice.

After traversing through the winding passageways for roughly half-an-hour, Nie Yan arrived in an enormous chamber. The magnificent sight left him breathless. He could hardly see the ceiling, which had to be at least 100 meters high, while down below was a roaring river of lava that constantly spewed out flames into the air. A stone bridge, hovering several meters above the lava, connected both sides of the room. It was roughly five meters wide and at least 500 meters long. Surprisingly, it just lay flat across the river like a plank with no supporting structure at all. How it didn’t collapse was beyond him.

Looking at the end of the bridge, Nie Yan saw a towering obelisk. A big, burly giant was chained up to it by his four limbs. The chains were short, not giving him much room to move. He was a five-meter tall mass of muscles and lacked the wings of a demon, but his skin was coarse and red just like one. His clothes were torn beyond repair, barely covering his private area.

A Level 180 Demonified Lord. However, bound by chains, he wasn’t nearly as dangerous as other similar existences. Perhaps, even a Level 130 Demonified Lord was its match now. Even so, this monster wasn’t to be trifled with. It could easily slaughter Nie Yan’s group if they weren’t careful.

The demon raised his head to look at Nie Yan, his eyes flashing with a crimson light.

A low and demonic voice rang out in Nie Yan’s mind. Puny human, free me from these shackles, and I shall reward you with boundless power and endless wealth. You will become an unrivalled existence and lord over all others...

Nie Yan involuntarily took several steps forward, but he forcefully stopped himself. He knew if he succumbed to Drakuru’s temptations, he would become a traitor to the Righteous Faction. The consequences would be severe.

Hearing Drakuru’s words, Nie Yan couldn’t help but be reminded of a similar event in the previous timeline. Shrimp Rider. Like many in Conviction, he had a pretty ridiculous sounding character name. He was an elven Shadow Dancer who preferred levelling in the wilderness alone over partying up with others, the low-key kind. As a result, few people understood him. At some point in time, Angels Corps had blacklisted him. So, even on the odd occasion he did wish to find a team, no one would invite him. His anger slowly built up, until one day he released it all. It’d become a black month in Angel Corps’ history, as he slaughtered on average more than 400 of their players each day.

This was a huge humiliation for Angel Corps. They mobilized all their Masters to surround Shrimp Rider before finally killing him. Since his name was dark red from killing so many players, he dropped all his equipment. After that event, he disappeared for a long time.

However, roughly five months later, Shrimp Rider reappeared in public once more. He wore the title of Demon Carnager, a variant class. Wielding two demon daggers, he struck fear in the hearts of all those who saw him. He immediately began his revenge on Angel Corps, killing six of their Masters and countless other elites. They were completely helpless against him, and for a time, he was unrivalled in the entire game. However, in the middle of his massacre, the demon within him gained more control until he became an enemy of the Satreen Empire. After being hunted down by their high level NPCs, he once more disappeared and never showed back up again.

Regarding Shrimp Rider, Nie Yan didn’t really know how to evaluate him. Relying only on his own strength, he had forced Angel Corps to such a sorry state. This was truly worthy of admiration. In the previous timeline, when Nie Yan was being hunted down by the forces of Victorious Return, he went into hiding in the mountains with his team members. He had only killed about 600 Victorious Returns in total, and most of them weren’t even elites of the guild.

Only the most fierce characters would dare to face off against a super guild like Angel Corps.

Nie Yan wondered what would happen if he accepted Drakuru’s offer. Would he end up like Shrimp Rider and become a Demon Carnager? Did the two of them receive the same quest?

Obviously, Nie Yan would never accept Dakuru’s offer. He was Asskickers United’s guild leader. There were far too many people who counted on him. If he became a Demon Carnager, what would become of the guild?

As a guild leader, Nie Yan could no longer behave as wilfully as a solo player.

Seeing Nie Yan refusing to give into his temptation, Drakuru’s eyes shone with an ever increasing demonic light.

Nie Yan suddenly started feeling slightly dizzy.

Crap! Mind control magic!

Nie Yan quivered and hurriedly activated Mind Immune.

Drakuru exerted all his mental strength in an attempt to forcefully control Nie Yan. However, the moment he tried to set up a mental link with Nie Yan, he hit a protective wall.

"Eww! Another demon! I hate demons!” Kalenna pursed her lips. She had appeared beside Nie Yan’s shoulder after waking up. Her small figure could fit in his palm and her delicate face was indescribably cute. She waved her staff and cast a protective aura around Nie Yan.

Drakuru’s mental power was suddenly reflected back at him by a formidable holy power. BOOOM! Almost as if his heart had been struck by a ruthless blow, his body recoiled back and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

Status: All Stats -35%, Mental Power sealed.

Drakur received two debuffs.

After inspecting Drakuru’s stats, Nie Yan’s eyes lit up. This was their opportunity. He had no idea how long these debuffs would last. He immediately contacted the others.「Everyone, gather at 382.2380.28!」

In different parts of the maze-like caves structure, players stopped moving and checked their coordinates. With hastened steps, they all went toward a singular direction. Mistaken Smile, King of the World, and One Strike Vow were the first to arrive at Nie Yan’s side. When they set foot on the stone bridge, they looked up ahead and focused their eyes on Drakuru.

"A demon?”

"Looks like it.”

Seeing Drakuru’s large and burly frame, everyone was a bit taken aback. This was a Demonified Lord! Apart from Nie Yan, this was their first time encountering one!

About 30 minutes later, all 21 members of the team were gathered together.

Nie Yan summoned Lil’ Gold and Paladin Lafus.

"We don’t have much time. Let’s hurry up. Bladelight, you pair up with Lil’ Gold. Let him do all the tanking,” Nie Yan said. Lil’ Gold’s defense was quite high, no lower than that of a Champion. It was just that he lacked the defensive skills Bladelight possessed. However, he had Explosive Counter, which would help in upping the DPS.

Besides, if Lil’ Gold died, Nie Yan would only lose some affinity with him. On the other hand, Bladelight would lose an absurd amount of experience if he died. To Nie Yan, the choice was simple.

"Alright.” Bladelight nodded.

Everyone spread out and they formed a battle formation. This battle stage was fairly unique. The bridge was only five meters wide with guard rails on both sides. If they weren’t careful with their footing, they might fall off and plunge into the raging river of lava.

If Drakuru had knockback skills, that would be even more dangerous.

At Nie Yan’s command, Lil’ Gold slowly approached Drakuru. 50 meters... 40... 30… Bladelight followed right behind him, maintaining a distance of three meters between them.

Sensing Lil’ Gold’s approach, Drakuru glared at Nie Yan and shouted in a rage, "Foolish human! You will regret your actions today! I’ll throw all of you into the lava and have your bones melt into nothing!”

Drakuru’s voice shook the entire bridge, causing it to rock endlessly.

Nie Yan and the others felt as if the bridge were about to collapse beneath their feet.

None of them knew what was keeping the bridge up right now, and they couldn’t be bothered to care. In this battle, they knew full well the odds were heavily stacked against them. Death was a real possibility here. Luckily, they’d all levelled up quite a lot in the World of Darkness. So, even if they died, most of them would still come out on top.

At Nie Yan’s command, Lil’ Gold blasted Drakuru with Dragon Breath.

With a flick of his wrist, Drakur materialized an enormous 100-meter long whip in his hand and lashed down at Lil’ Gold.

FWAP! Lil’ Gold suffered a ruthless blow as some of his scales were flayed off.

−90,321

Seeing this damage value, Nie Yan excitedly said in chat,「There’s hope! Guys, we can do this!」

Lil’ Gold had 360,000 health, meaning he could take at least three hits and survive. When fighting a boss, it was already impressive if the main tank could take three hits.

Hearing Nie Yan’s words, everyone’s spirits soared.

Chapter 785 - Level 180 Demonified Lord

Nie Yan’s team originally didn’t hold any high hopes, simply because the reputation of a Level 180 Demonified Lord was too frightening. Mentally prepared for death, they were caught off guard by this shimmer of hope. Drakuru was already greatly weakened by his shackles. But after being debuffed by Kalenna, his stats were further reduced by another 35% and his mental attacks were sealed.

After taking two hits in a row, Explosive Counter procced as a whirlwind of power erupted from Lil’ Gold, knocking Drakuru back.

−5,149

"How much health does Drakuru have?”

"I don’t know. There’s no way to see it!”

Everyone glanced at each other in dismay. Since Drakuru’s exact health was hidden, that meant it was over 100,000,000. As for whether it was just 100,000,000 health or several hundred million health, they had no idea.

They were frightened by Drakuru’s enormous health pool. Just how long would it take them to kill him?

Nevertheless, even with this knowledge, they were still determined to see this battle through to the bitter end.

Paladin Lafus raised his sword and restored Lil’ Gold’s health.

Drakuru didn’t use any skills, only lashing out with his whip, which would occasionally strike Bladelight.

"Mages, attack. Don’t use fire magic!” Nie Yan ordered. Demons were incredibly resistant or even immune against fire damage.

Ice and lightning rained down on Drakuru. BANG! BANG! BANG! A string of damage values ranging between 2,000–3,000 floated up above his head.

Nie Yan and the other Shadow Dancers didn’t dare to get close to Drakuru. That was because a single of his attacks could kill them, and since they were fighting on this five-meter wide bridge, there was simply no space. They could only stay off to the side and rely on the Mages to deal damage.

Since Drakuru’s attack speed wasn’t that high, the tanks at the front weren’t under much pressure. The team worked together like a well-oiled machine.

About one hour later, Drakuru’s health finally fell by one percent.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. No wonder Drakuru was hardly trying. Their attacks barely tickled him!

"My god! How much health does he have!?”

"It must be at least 300,000,000.”

"What an overpowered bastard!”

Everyone felt their moods sink. Though Drakuru’s defense wasn’t unreasonably high, his vitality was. He could stand there and do nothing, and it would still take them 100 hours just to kill him.

"Boss, what do we do? We’ll run out of mana long before that bastard runs out of health.”

"Let’s keep fighting and weaken him as much as we can!” This was a Level 180 Demonified Lord! Drakuru was simply too powerful, basically an existence on the same level as a demigod. Nie Yan had no idea how they were supposed to defeat him.

The Mages continued firing out their spells like there was no tomorrow.

Drakuru tried to attack the Mages in the back with his whip, but Lil’ Gold blocked him. With no way to get past this massive dragon, he charged at Lil’ Gold, only for the chains binding him to the obelisk to tighten. CLANK! His fist froze in mid-air, unable to move forward even half-an-inch.

The solid chains completely suppressed and prevented Drakuru from moving freely. If he were free to move, this Level 180 Demonified Lord would undoubtedly wipe out everyone here in an instant.

Seven hours later, Drakuru’s health had fallen by six percent. The firepower of the team members was starting to wane.

"Boss, I’m running low on mana!”

"Boss, what do we do? Even if we drink a Specialist Mana Potion, after two or three more rounds, we’ll still be nowhere near to killing Drakuru.”

Eyes of despair fell on Nie Yan. These team members had never felt so powerless in front of a boss before. No matter what they did, they had no way of killing Drakuru. All their efforts would be in vain if it continued on like this.

"Boss, do we drink the potions?”

"Yeah. If they’re going to go to waste like this, we might as well give up right now.”

"Drink the potions. Right now isn’t the time to concede defeat. Keep chipping away at his health. Worst comes to worst, I, Sun, and the others will go up,” Nie Yan said. The space up ahead was too cramped. If they went up, they would easily be pushed off the bridge. But surely, an opportunity for them to take action would present itself.

After hearing Nie Yan’s words, the Magisters thought for a moment before drinking their Specialist Mana Potions. Since Nie Yan had given the word, they could only obey.

Unless there was absolutely no hope left, Nie Yan wouldn’t give up so easily.

This was the final fight in the World of Darkness anyway. Nie Yan’s gaze fell on Battle Angel Kalenna floating by his shoulder. She fluttered her wings and feigned complete ignorance to his pleas.

Nie Yan only kept persevering because he had a faint hope in his heart that at the very last moment Battle Angel Kalenna would intervene on his behalf.

Among all the Mages here, Xie Yao and Tang Yao had the most mana. As long as they could still cast magic, they could guarantee that Drakuru’s health wouldn’t go back up. Their damage was enough to mitigate his health recovery speed.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh! A shower of magic arced through the air.

This battle against Drakuru continued on. No one knew when it would finally end, only that if it went on for too long, they’d go deaf from Drakuru’s enraged roars.

At this time, Guo Huai sent Nie Yan a message. The Mona Stronghold in Moonlight City had been attacked by the Blood Reaver Corps. Their casualties reached 3,000, and they nearly lost the stronghold. Thankfully, they activated the stronghold’s barrier in time, and a large number of elite reinforcements came rushing over. However, the enemy likely still hadn’t left. The Mona Stronghold’s defenses had already been bolstered and Black Heaven, Beginner Student, and the others were already rushing over.

「Why did the Blood Reaver Corps attack the Mona Stronghold?」Nie Yan asked in bewilderment.

「I don’t know, probably the same reason as before. They’re slaughtering players from the Righteous Faction to gain Glory,」Guo Huai said. The Blood Reaver Corps had previously exchanged blows with Angel Corps and several other guilds, killing more players than he could count. It wasn’t strange to think they stuck to the same modus operandi in the Viridian Empire as in the Satreen Empire. Asskickers United was a logical target.

「They’ll probably launch another attack. You guys be careful,」Nie Yan warned. The Blood Reaver Corps was merely a small force. If it were 60 Magisters, Archbishops, or other similar caster Master classes, he might be a bit nervous. However, since it was only 60 Silver Wings, there was nothing really to be afraid of. At the very least, they didn’t have Forbidden Magic and as such lacked an easy method of dealing fatal damage to a stronghold.

「They’re dreaming if they think they can take down the Mona Stronghold so easily,」Guo Huai confidently declared. After all, with the defenses bolstered and six Masters and countless elites ready to fight, he had a good reason to be confident.

Nie Yan instructed Guo Huai about a few things to take note of.「Go online and download videos of all the Blood Reaver Corps’ battles. Have some people go through them and clip anything unique, then share it with our elites. The reason we’re suffering against them isn’t because they’re ridiculously strong, but rather because their battle tactics are bizarre. When they first appeared, no one knew how to guard against them and the losses were to be expected. However, they’ve been on the surface for some time now. We should be able to find enough information on them to make the necessary preparations.」

...

In the plains outside the Mona Stronghold, 60 players were hunting mobs.

"Boss, why didn’t we take down the Mona Stronghold in one shot?” Autumn Gust asked.

"There’s no need for that yet.” Blood Devil shook his head. His thinking was something Autumn Gust couldn’t comprehend. He checked his private messages, then turned to face the team. "I just received a report. After our probing attack, Nirvana Flame didn’t appear. Only six of their Masters came to the Mona Stronghold. According to their information, Nirvana Flame hasn’t made an appearance since his visit to the Clemenci stronghold. It’s already been close to three months. He’s probably stuck inside a quest instance.”

"Most of Asskickers United’s Masters aren’t here. This is a good opportunity. We can easily complete our mission.” Dark Shadow laughed.

"It’s a shame we won’t get to battle Nirvana Flame.” Blood Devil sighed. "Everyone, get ready. In 20 minutes, we’ll be launching our second attack.”

At this moment, the Mona Stronghold was gearing up for battle. More than 2,000 Asskickers United elites were gathered here, while the ordinary players had already withdrawn. It was a frightening line-up of six Masters, 600 first-rate players, and 1,400 second-rate players.

Black Heaven, Beginner Student, and 30 other players were attending a meeting in a conference hall. Guo Huai put them in charge of the stronghold’s defenses.

"If those bastards dare to come back, we’ll teach them a painful lesson!” Tyrannical said. So far, 3,000 Asskickers United players had died at their hands. This debt had to be settled.

"The six of us probably aren’t their match,” Black Heaven said. Even in a situation like this, he could keep a cool head.

"Guo Huai told us our only aim is to hold the stronghold, which should be easy enough with its defenses. Without Forbidden Magic, those guys won’t be able to take it down,” Paladin of the Elegy said. He was fairly knowledgeable of the overall situation.

"I say, let them come! Who says we aren’t their match in an all out battle!?”

Chapter 786 - The First Clash With the Blood Reaver Corps

"Elegy, I don’t think those guys from the Blood Reaver Corps will come back. After all, we’ve bolstered the defenses of the Mona Stronghold so much. Since they failed to slaughter their way in here the first time, I don’t think they stand a chance next time,” a Thief in black leather armour said. He was a fairly slim man in his 30s. He also wasn't very tall, standing about half a head shorter than Elegy and the others around him.

This Thief was called Ashen One. He was once one of the top few players in Asskickers United. Everyone had paid close attention to him initially, because he was pulling far ahead of the pack in terms of skill. But as time went on and others continued to progress, he stagnated until finally others caught up to him. Even so, his words still carried some influence in the guild.

"Yeah, Elegy. What’s there to be so scared about? The Blood Reaver Corps only has 60 players. There’s no way they can take down the Mona Stronghold,” a Warrior chimed in.

"Watchful Snail told us to keep guard here. Those are the orders,” Paladin of the Elegy said. He had to admit that the words Ashen One and the others spoke made sense. However, they could respond to any development quickly by staying here. If anything happened to the other strongholds in Moonlight City, they could rush over immediately. The Blood Reaver Corps was likely still lurking nearby.

As they chatted, a report suddenly came in. The Mona Stronghold’s walls were under attack!

Paladin of the Elegy, Tyrannical, and the others looked over in the distance, only to see huge flying mounts in the sky. There were Devil Owls, Dark Wind Serpents, and so on. The largest among them was a black dragon over five meters tall. It was covered in black scales which sparkled brilliantly under the sunlight.

"Did they summon flying mounts in their previous attack?” Paladin of the Elegy asked.

"No, they didn’t summon anything!”

Paladin of the Elegy knitted his brows. He immediately ordered, "It looks like they’re serious this time. Activate all our defenses! Arrow towers, cannons, shoot them down!”

"My god, they have at least 20 flying mounts!”

As the flying mounts dived down from the sky, the players in the Mona Stronghold descended into a panic. The arrow towers and cannons all started firing, launching a fierce counter assault.

Receiving the reports from the second assault on the Mona Stronghold, Guo Huai immediately contacted Nie Yan.

「Can they hold out?」Nie Yan asked, as he opened up the live feed of the battle in the Mona Stronghold.

「I think there shouldn’t be a problem. We’ve prepared so much defensive measures. I can’t say for sure, though. Maybe the Blood Reaver Corps still has a kill-move hidden up their sleeves.」

「Worst comes to worst, abandon the stronghold,」Nie Yan said. It was just an ordinary stronghold. Losing it was no big deal.

「If we abandon the Mona Stronghold, won’t that affect our reputation?」Guo Huai asked.

「It won’t. It’s just an ordinary stronghold,」Nie Yan said. He was fairly calm about this matter.

After hanging up the call, Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel somewhat uneasy. Just what was the Blood Reaver Corps trying to accomplish? He smelled something fishy.

Even if the Mona Stronghold was lost, it was just a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds of strongholds under Asskickers United’s control. However, if the other side had an ulterior motive, this matter wouldn’t end so simply.

No matter what, Nie Yan’s main priority was to get out of the World of Darkness first! However, Drakuru’s health was falling excruciatingly slowly, making him want to bang his head against a wall.

About three hours later, more than 60 of the Mona Stronghold’s arrow towers and cannons were destroyed. As for the Blood Reaver Corps, only five of their flying mounts had died. Meanwhile, their ground troops had fought their way into the stronghold and started carrying out a massacre. The two sides finally clashed head-on.

More than 30 silhouettes dropped down from the sky.

BANG! Blood Devil landed on the ground. With a slash of his greatsword, he cut down an enemy Mage. "Everyone, no wasting time. We have 20 minutes to wipe out every last one of them. Then we withdraw!”

The Silver Wings were like tigers coming down from the mountain, as they charged toward the players of Asskickers United.

Tyrannical, Black Heaven, Hapless Frog, and the others didn’t clash head-on with the players from the Blood Reaver Corps. Rather, they relied on the buildings of the stronghold to launch ambushes. The two Thieves locked a target down while the Mages blasted them to death. Afterwards, they would immediately retreat. With this tactic, they quickly killed three enemies. If it weren’t for the enemy reinforcements almost immediately arriving, they would’ve swept up all the loot off the ground.

「Boss! Those Masters from Asskickers United already killed three of our members!」a member cried out anxiously in voice chat. He could only watch on as Tyrannical, Black Heaven, and the others retreated far away.

「Follow them! Everyone, listen up! We’re going to surround them!」Blood Devil shouted as he sent three Asskickers United players flying with a Dark Whirlwind.

Blood Devil immediately went into pursuit with the other members of the Blood Reaver Corps.

The Silver Wings closed in from every direction, trapping Tyrannical, Hapless Frog, and others in an open space.

Tyrannical, Black Heaven, Hapless Frog, Sunny South, Edgeless, and more than 20 other members of Asskickers United gathered in the center of the open area. Everywhere they looked, there were players from the Blood Reaver Corps, more than 50 Silver Wings in total.

「We’ve been surrounded,」Tyrannical said, the dagger in his hand flickering with a cold light.

「Don’t bother with them. Use your Unknown Transfer Scrolls!」Black Heaven hurriedly ordered.

They took out their Unknown Transfer Scrolls and were about to teleport away, when a powerful dark energy swept over them.

「Shit! It’s a spatial lock formation!」

Their Unknown Transfer Scrolls failed.

Let’s see how you plan to run away now! Autumn Gust sneered. He entered stealth and pounced toward Tyrannical.

KLANG! Tyrannical used his arm vambrace to block Autumn Gust’s attack. He then stepped forward and spun out with a kick.

Autumn Gust was about to meet the attack head-on, when the angle of the kick suddenly changed, and he was struck in the face. It was a Brazilian kick!

A black light fell over Autumn Gust, restoring his health back to full. He quickly retreated backwards, escaping Tyrannical’s attack range.

Seeing the clash between Tyrannical and Autumn Gust, Blood Devil raised an eyebrow in surprise. Tyrannical was undoubtedly someone who had received guidance from Nie Yan; their manner of fighting was nearly identical. In just a short amount of time, the gap between the two became clear. Not to mention many of Tyrannical’s movements couldn’t be replicated by Autumn Gust. The freedom of a Shadow Dancer far surpassed that of a Silver Wing.

「Tyrannical, you guys should escape! We’ll cover you,」Ashen One said.

Everyone waited for Tyrannical’s command.

「Black Heaven, Sunny South, Edgeless, you three leave first. Me and Hapless Frog will stay here,」Tyrannical said after looking around. They were Thieves. Even if they encountered danger, they could still escape, but it wasn’t the same for Warriors and Mages.

「Let’s see how things play out,」Black Heaven said. The Blood Reaver Corps had already completely surrounded them. Escaping would be difficult.

Before they could finish discussing, the players from the Blood Reaper Corps charged forward. The head-on battle Asskickers United had tried their best to evade finally happened.

Asskickers United was greatly outnumbered. They were gradually overwhelmed.

Two Slayers pincered Tyrannical. Seeing the lightning fast blade lights, Tyrannical retreated several steps back in an attempt to dodge. One of the blade lights suddenly changed direction and came slashing down on him. He quickly flipped back to dodge. RRGGGKKKK! One of the Slayer’s blades cut across his ribs.

−5,582

Shit! What a fast attack speed. Tyrannical was inwardly shocked. He quickly retreated several meters. This was his first time clashing against Slayers. He knew they had some of the highest attack speed of any class in the game, yet was still caught off guard by it.

Elsewhere, Blood Devil and Edgeless had already clashed. They were in a fierce melee.

Berserk Slash!

Blood Devil let out a roar and cleaved down with his sword.

Edgeless raised his greatsword to block. KLANG! The two blades clashed against each other.

Blood Devil chopped down with his sword again. The unrivalled power forced Edgeless back, step by step.

In terms of class bonuses, Edgeless had the advantage. However, Blood Devil’s equipment was much better, and he was also more skilled. Edgeless was quickly forced on the back foot.

As Edgeless and the others were gradually being overwhelmed, Paladin of the Elegy, Happy Hermit, and Monochrome came rushing over, bringing 80 players with them. Even though Asskickers United’s casualties were high, the two sides were evenly matched for the time being.

Finding hope in the reinforcements, Tyrannical, Black heaven, and the others immediately redoubled their efforts.

「Let’s charge our way out!」Tyrannical said. The Blood Reaver Corps was really strong, and their teamwork was impeccable. At this rate, Asskickers United’s forces would be wiped out. They had to retreat while they still could.

About 10 minutes later, Asskickers United’s Masters were still all alive. However, the same couldn’t be said for the other elites. In this hectic battle, more than 20 of them had died, while the Blood Reaver Corps had only lost one member.

Asskickers United’s Masters were still alive solely because of Black Heaven’s support. He was the reason why they weren’t crushed instantly.

Black Heaven waved his staff, casting group heals over everyone.

「These guys really are annoying to deal with,」Dark Shadow muttered in voice chat.

Under the dense shower of magic, Tyrannical, Black Heaven, and the others avoided 90% of the attacks with escape skills like Gale Step and Blink. This was impossible to imagine for the players of the Demon Tribe.

「These are the skills of Masters! You’ve all seen them yourself now!」Blood Devil said. Today was their first time clashing with the Masters of the Righteous Faction.

Chapter 787 - Graceful Strike

Blood Devil wanted his team members to better understand the skills of the Masters in the Righteous Faction. A little experience fighting them would go a long way, allowing them to avoid suffering losses in future battles.

Edgeless retreated 30 meters, avoiding Blood Devil’s attacks. He then set his eyes on the other Silver Wings and rushed toward them.

Charge!

「Stop him!」Blood Devil shouted. Two Warriors immediately charged toward Edgeless.

Edgeless suddenly came to a halt mid-charge. The two Warriors trying to intercept him were going too fast. There couldn’t possibly adapt to this sudden change in speed, as their momentum carried them flying past him. He accelerated again and shot off in another direction like an arrow.

Blood Devil was shocked by the high overall specs of these Masters. He was particularly amazed by Black Heaven. He was capable of increasing everyone’s strength several times over. With his heals and blessings backing them up, an ordinary Level 130 player would only be slightly weaker than an equal level Silver Wing, meaning they could take on a Silver Wing two-on-one. He was also impossible to catch, blinking everywhere on the battlefield.

As Edgeless was about to charge out of the encirclement, Ashen One came dashing over towards Black Heaven.

"Black Heaven, watch out for those two drow Thieves!” Ashen One anxiously cried out, his gaze a bit shifty-eyed.

Black Heaven locked onto the two drow Thieves in the vicinity. His lips curved into a sneer. There was no way those two could pose a threat to him.

One drow Thief came dashing over from the flank.

"I’ll cover you!” Ashen One dashed forward.

Black Heaven prepared to retreat. Something felt very off about this situation. Ashen One wasn’t dashing towards the enemy Thief but towards him instead. Both startled and furious, he was about to blink away when he discovered he couldn’t move. The enemy Thief had locked him down with a skill.

Smothering Strike!

Ashen One stabbed his dagger toward the back of Black Heaven’s head.

There wasn’t enough time. Ashen One was already right on top of him. To meet with this kind of situation, Black Heaven couldn’t do anything to defend himself. BANG! He was stunned.

The Asskickers United players were shocked by this development. They never expected Ashen One to turn on them.

"ASHEN ONE, YOU BASTARD!” Hapless Frog erupted with rage.

"Quickly, save Black Heaven!”

...

The players from Asskickers United wanted to turn around and rescue Black Heaven, but the Blood Reaver Corps suddenly intensified their assault, instantly killing 13 of them. Their defensive line collapsed completely.

Ashen One and the two drow Thieves let loose, chaining their crowd control skills as they bursted Black Heaven’s health down to zero.

"Kill!” The morale of players from the Blood Reaver Corps soared. The battle had been going so slowly up until now solely because Asskickers United had a powerful Archbishop like Black Heaven. With him gone, their strength fell by more than 30%.

Asskickers United was being ovewhelmed bit by bit. Their casualties quickly climbed up higher and higher.

"Everyone, withdraw!” Tyrannical ordered.

Everyone quickly scattered in retreat.

Ashen One had a smug smile on his face. His contribution today was great. Even though he no longer had a place in Asskickers United, he took comfort in all the rewards and benefits the Century Financial Group had promised him. Seeing his former guildmates retreating in defeat, he felt a slight pang of guilt in his heart. But it couldn’t drown his good mood. He felt incredibly pleased with himself. His position in the guild had gradually fallen to the point no one paid him much attention anymore. Even though they didn’t treat him any different from before, he still couldn’t help but feel a sense of mockery in their eyes. So, when the Century Financial Group approached him, he didn’t hesitate to agree to Cao Xu’s terms.

Hapless Frog was just about to retreat with everyone else, when he happened to catch a glimpse of the smug smile on Ashen One’s face. His anger got the better of him. Flipping his dagger into a reverse grip, he disappeared into stealth.

「Frog, don’t be rash! Let’s retreat!」Tyrannical shouted. However, his dissuasion came too late.

A black ball of light shot up into the sky, illuminating the ground below and revealing Hapless Frog’s silhouette.

「He’s over there! Stop him!」Autumn Gust shouted.

Two Warriors charged over to block Hapless Frog.

Intercept!

There were more than 10 Blood Reaver Corps players closing in fast on Hapless Frog.

At this rate, Hapless Frog would be surrounded and killed. Almost all the Asskickers United players gave up on trying to save him. He had no way of getting out of this!

As the two fallen human Warriors were about to intercept him, Hapless Frog suddenly turned into a blur as he left behind a series of afterimages. With hair-raising speed, he dashed past the two Warriors and escaped the encirclement.

The players from the Blood Reaver Corps were startled. What frightening speed! In this instant, Hapless Frog appeared in front of Ashen One.

The fear of death wrapped around Ashen One’s throat. His entire being screamed at him to turn around and flee with Gale Step. But he was still a beat too late. The cold light of a dagger flashed before him, blinding him and stinging his eyes. PSHFT! He felt a sharp blade stabbing into the back of his head. His body instantly went rigid.

Hapless Frog erupted with a tempest of attacks. Since Ashen One didn’t belong to the Demon Tribe, the players from the Blood Reaver Corps had no way of healing him. In the blink of an eye, he collapsed dead on the ground.

Seeing Ashen One killed right under their noses, the players from the Blood Reaver Corps became infuriated. They charged toward Hapless Frog.

Hapless Frog immediately fled away with Gale Step.

Demonic Oculus!

Blood Devil’s eyes flashed with a crimson light, locking onto Hapless Frog’s fleeing silhouette. Want to run? Not so easy! He came charging over from the side and cut off Hapless Frog’s path of escape. He stabbed out with his sword at lightning speed.

Hapless Frog quickly raised his dagger and welcomed Blood Devil head-on. KLANG! He parried the attack, as he leaped back to reduce the impact. He then shot back forward with an elbow strike.

Hapless Frog’s movements almost perfectly mimicked Nie Yan. His attacks were sharp and ruthless.

The two instantly exchanged several moves. Blood Devil wasn’t a pushover either, stubbornly blocking Hapless Frog from escaping. The Blood Reaver Corps players in the back were quickly catching up.

Hapless Frog’s heart was filled with anxiousness. He didn’t expect to face such a tough opponent. He was done for.

BANG! BANG! Two spells struck Hapless Frog, shaving away more than half his health. He hurriedly downed a Specialist Health Potion.

Blood Devil looked over at his team members rushing over. Only a few more seconds and Hapless Frog’s fate would be sealed. Suddenly, he felt a cold chill at the back of his neck. He hurriedly swung around and met the attack with his greatsword.

KLANG! Two blades clashed. The attacker was Tyrannical!

At the same time, Hapless Frog delivered a powerful kick to Blood Devil’s ribs, sending him staggering to the side.

Blood Devil was a Warrior. He had no way of competing with Hapless Frog and Tyrannical in speed. He might manage to deal with one of them while occupying the advantage, but there was no way he could deal with two Shadow Dancers at once.

Tyrannical and Hapless Frog seized this opportunity to flee away.

By the time Blood Devil recovered, the two were already long gone.

At this moment, the rest of the players from the Blood Reaver Corps caught up. They were too slow.

"Boss, what do we do? Should we chase after them?”

"Chase after them? They’re already long gone.” Blood Devil shook his head. He glanced over at Ashen One’s corpse lying on the ground more than 60 meters away. The exchange just now left him extremely shocked. Tyrannical and Hapless Frog weren’t even very famous. He didn’t expect them to be so strong. If this was the average quality of the enemy’s Masters, their mission would become troublesome. The Mad Rogue still hadn’t even thrown his hat into the ring yet. Just these few Masters had already forced them to such a miserable state. If they encountered Nirvana Flame, would they even stand a chance?

Not only Blood Devil, but also the other members of the Blood Reaver Corps sank into silence. The Masters from Asskickers United were much stronger than any other opponent they had encountered so far.

"Revive our fallen teammates! Were going to attack the stronghold’s heart!” Blood Devil ordered. This was the first part of their mission. "What are the results of the battle?”

"We killed 70 of their players, two of which were Masters. One was Black Heaven, the other Edgeless. As for our side, we lost six people in total,” a player reported. Edgeless had died covering the escape of his teammates. Even after being surrounded by so many Silver Wings, he still managed to take one of their drow Thieves down with him. His ferocious display left a lingering fear in their hearts.

Where before these Silver Wings from the Blood Reaver Corps didn’t even put Nie Yan in their eyes, now it seemed like they’d lost their tongues; none of them dared to trash talk the Masters of Asskickers United anymore.

Sweeping up the battlefield, they revived their fallen comrades, then headed for the center of the Mona Stronghold.

Asskickers United’s forces had already evacuated, leaving no man behind. The stronghold was empty and abandoned.

After making sure everyone had safely left, Tyrannical, Hapless Frog, and Paladin of the Elegy set the transfer point to self destruct before teleporting away. Over in Moonlight City, the trio were walking together on the street.

"Man! How did you do you do that? It was like I was looking at the boss himself! God damn that was freakin’ amazing!” Tyrannical patted Hapless Frog on the shoulder with a smile.

Hapless Frog chuckled while scratching his head. "I can’t explain it either. At that moment, I couldn’t help but think back to that video of the boss in the Kiln Fire Woods, and suddenly something clicked in my mind.”

Chapter 788 - Dealing with the Traitor

Hearing Hapless Frog’s words, Tyrannical couldn’t help but feel envious. How many Thieves were there in Conviction? Perhaps only the system itself could give you the exact figure. One thing was for sure, though. Almost all of them were imitating Nie Yan. However, up until now, no one had yet come close his speed, the same inhuman speed which allowed him to transcend everything and easily escape any enemy encirclement. There was a phrase used to describe the Mad Rogue, "Only copied, never surpassed.”

Even Sun, King of the World, and the other Shadow Dancers couldn’t imitate Nie Yan’s speed, but Hapless Frog succeeded just now. He managed to comprehend some of the mysteries behind it and was one foot through the door. The path ahead of him was bright. As long as he slowly familiarized himself with this feeling, he would truly become the second coming of the Mad Rogue. Before long, everyone would remember his name.

After razing the Mona Stronghold, the Blood Reaver Corps vanished like a puff of smoke. The Thieves from Asskickers United couldn’t find any trace of them.

Guo Huai reported the fall of the Mona Stronghold to Nie Yan.

「What are our casualties?」Nie Yan asked.

「We lost Black Heaven and Edgeless. That bastard Ashen One betrayed us.」Guo Huai explained roughly what happened during the battle.「Another traitor in the guild, and I didn’t suspect a thing. It’s my fault for being negligent.」

「Traitors are inevitable. After all, our guild is so big. Don’t forget, we also have quite a few spies hidden in Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group,」Nie Yan said. However, he still felt a bit of heartache because Ashen One was someone he personally knew, one of the longest standing members of the guild. If it weren’t for today’s matter, he would’ve never suspected that Ashen One had already betrayed them.

「Should I do a sweep through the guild?」

「No, absolutely not. That’ll only make our guild members feel even more disillusioned. I’ll say a few words in the guild chat.」

「Alright.」

Nie Yan pulled open the guild chat and discovered the mood here was pretty low. The fall of the Mona Stronghold was a heavy blow to morale, especially since a traitor had appeared in their midst. Even a veteran member like Ashen One had betrayed them. They felt a heavy ache in their hearts. How could they trust those around them?

「Liven up, guys. We only lost a small stronghold. We can take it back whenever,」Nie Yan said.

「Boss, you’re here!」

「Boss!」

…

Everyone in the guild chatted excitedly greeted Nie Yan, a warm feeling in their hearts. Though he rarely showed himself in here, they knew that whether he was out levelling, running a dungeon, or doing something else altogether, he always kept one eye on the guild chat. He was no stranger.

「Ashen One, t-that guy...」

「Ashen One is only one person. Given how large we’ve grown, it was inevitable. But that doesn’t change anything. All of us have gone through so many trials and tribulations together before finally arriving at this stage together. Think about the brothers beside you and the many battles you’ve fought together. You trusted them then, so trust them now too. Even if there are others like Ashen One in the guild, who won’t hesitate to stab me in the back, up until they do, I’ll still give them my unconditional trust. So, don’t feel down. Instead, we should be happy that a person has revealed their true colours. With Ashen One gone, we’re among only true brothers again,」Nie Yan said.

「Ashen One, that bastard! I’ll definitely kill him back to Level 0!」A Thief gritted his teeth, clenching hard onto his dagger.

「Boss, leave everything to us. In half a month, as long as he dares to step foot out of the city, we’ll hunt him down back to Level 0!」

Nie Yan rubbed his chin. He could no longer act so kind as before, or else others like Ashen One would take advantage of it. Steeling his heart, he nodded.「Alright, I’ll leave it to you guys. 10 Thieves should be enough.」

「Understood!」the Thief said.「Choco Cow, Twelve, let’s do this. 」

10 Thieves set out.

After this brief disturbance, the players of Asskickers United all got back to what they were doing before.

Ashen One’s betrayal was a painful blow, but at the end of the day, it was just a small matter and couldn’t affect Asskickers United as a whole. After all, traitors appearing was quite common. In fact, the issue was far more prevalent in other guilds. The fact that Asskickers United only had a few so far could be considered a miracle.

Nie Yan arranged a few matters in the guild, mobilizing all of Asskickers United’s 100+ flying mounts. If the Blood Reaver Corps launched an assault on another stronghold, this time they would be prepared to meet them in the air.

The Blood Reaver Corps completely disappeared after taking down the Mona Stronghold. Nie Yan felt a sense of unease. He couldn’t help but worry they were plotting something bigger.

Nie Yan turned his attention back to the battle with Drakuru. Looking at this demon, his health had only dropped by 10% after this long.

It appeared this battle was going to take quite a few days. Nie Yan looked at the server clock. It was about time to log off. They could only retire for the day.

"The server is shutting down. See you tomorrow, everyone.”

"Bye Boss.”

...

Everyone bid farewell to each other, exiting the game right before the servers shut off. Nie Yan stepped out of his game capsule.

Xie Yao made breakfast. After eating, the two prepared to head for school.

Over these past couple of months, Wang Duo and the others had grown much stronger after going through Bayonet’s high-intensity training. Nie Yan passed down his techniques to them as well. They managed to comprehend many things. Although even up until now none of them had succeeded in becoming a Master, they’d still learned many things. According to the original plan, Wang Duo and the others were supposed to continue training here for a while longer. However, Mo Yuntian sent word that something had come up and they had to return quickly.

「Bayonet, should we send them off at the train station?」Nie Yan asked through the phone.

「Forget it. I’ll pass. Just looking at them makes me annoyed,」Bayonet coldly said.

Since Bayonet didn’t want to come, there was nothing Nie Yan could do.

「Alright, I’ll accompany them to the train station,」Nie Yan said. Bayonet always had a cold look on his face. It was hard to tell what the was thinking.

「Up to you,」Bayonet replied indifferently.

After hanging up the call, Nie Yan turned to Xie Yao. "Let’s go and send Wang Duo and them off.”

"Am I okay going out in this?” Xie Yao asked. She was wearing a simple yet elegant white dress. She appeared quite graceful and refined.

Nie Yan nodded with a smile. "You look great as always. Come on, let’s head out.”

Chapter 789 - Farewell For Now

Nie Yan and Xie Yao left the house and headed to the other villa. When they arrived, Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the rest had already packed their bags and were waiting outside. They stood in rank and file, wearing formal military attire.

"Instructor Nie, Miss Yao, good morning!” they greeted in unison.

Nie Yan nodded. "At ease. We’ll be accompanying you guys to the train station.”

"Yes sir!” Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others had a somewhat sullen look on their faces.

"Don’t feel so down. You guys might be leaving today, but that doesn’t mean we won’t meet again someday. You’re always welcome to visit. Come on, let’s go,” Nie Yan said with a smile. Having been neighbours these last couple of months, he also couldn’t help but feel a bit sentimental about their departure.

Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others gazed at Nie Yan, as though they wanted to say something.

"What is it? Speak up,” Nie Yan said. His eyes fell on Wang Duo. "Wang Duo, tell me.”

"Yes sir!” Wang Duo hesitated for a moment before asking, "Instructor Nie, is Instructor Bayonet not coming?”

"No, he won’t,” Nie Yan replied. He swept his eyes over the group. Just a few days before, they were gnashing their teeth and glaring daggers at Bayonet. Now they were asking about where he was. Nie Yan suddenly understood something. Bayonet might be a harsh instructor, but in that had created a bond with these soldiers. This wasn’t something ordinary people would understand.

"Oh…” The trainees were clearly disappointed.

Everyone set off, preparing to take the metro to the train station. Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others were silent. Though Nie Yan was in charge of their training, they had spent most of their time with Bayonet. Even inside the game, they would rarely converse with Nie Yan. He was simply too busy. So, he had Bayonet function as the middle man.

"Did Bayonet say anything before you guys left?” Nie Yan asked.

"He told us that we better not tell anyone we’re his students, or we’d disgrace his name,” Wang Duo said with a sad look on his face.

Nie Yan chuckled. "That does sound like something he would say. That’s just how he is. Don’t take it to heart.”

The trainees glanced over their shoulders at the villa. They still hoped Bayonet would come see them off.

Several minutes later, the group hopped onto the metro, which they rode for three minutes before getting off at the train station. When they arrived at the railway platform, the train was already there. It was leaving in 20 minutes.

Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others stood in front of Nie Yan in rank and file. They were extremely respectful, as if they were facing a superior. However, they were all clearly much older than Nie Yan. From all around the platform, people looked at this spectacle in surprise.

"No need to be so stiff. You guys can relax.” Nie Yan waved his hand.

The trainees were at a bit of a loss on what to do before standing at ease.

Xie Yao couldn’t help but cover her mouth and giggle. These guys really were a bunch of stiff wooden boards.

Nie Yan helplessly smiled. "We still have 20 minutes. I’ll call Bayonet over.”

"N-n-no, it’s fine,” Wang Duo hurriedly dissuaded.

"Don't you guys want to see him one last time?” Nie Yan asked.

The trainees glanced at each other, slightly embarrassed. Truthfully, they all felt respect for bayonet in their hearts.

"Ah fine. Just get on the train then.” Nie Yan waved his hand. He understood what Wang Duo and the others were feeling right now. It was a real shame Bayonet didn’t want to come.

After saying their goodbyes to Nie Yan, the trainees were about to get on the train, when someone quietly said, "Instructor Bayonet is here.” Everyone looked over and saw Bayonet reluctantly making his way over.

"Didn’t you say you weren’t coming?” Nie Yan asked in an amused tone. He had managed to glean something from Bayonet’s expression. This was a fresh new experience.

"Instructor Bayonet!” Wang Duo, Liny Yi, and the others greeted with elated expressions. They’d already given up any hope of him coming.

"I got bored, so I decided to take a look at you maggots one last time. That selection exam or whatever, if you guys don’t pass it, don’t bother coming to see me ever again,” Bayonet said, his expression much milder than usual.

"Yes sir!” Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others answered in high spirits.

"Alright, now get out of my sight, quickly.” Bayonet waved his hand, an annoyed look on his face.

"YES SIR!” They puffed out their chests and shouted out loud in unison, "THANK YOU INSTRUCTOR NIE! THANK YOU INSTRUCTOR BAYONET!” They then deeply bowed, bending their bodies at 90 degrees and holding the position for 10 full seconds.

Nie Yan felt touched as his nose soured. Farewells were never easy. After spending so much time together, they had unwittingly formed a deep bond. He gazed over at Bayonet, whose lips were trembling. Bayonet seemed to want to say something but held back in the end. Though Bayonet usually hid his emotions behind a cold exterior, he was still human. Nie Yan could understand his mood.

An indescribable emotion spread out in everyone’s hearts.

"Hurry up and leave. Stop dawdling around like a bunch of fools, or else I’ll deny that any of you are my students!” Bayonet said.

Wang Duo and the others were deeply touched. They quickly nodded, gave Bayonet one last look, and then stepped into the train.

Nie Yan and Bayonet watched Wang Duo and the others disappear into the train carriage. A while later, the door closed and the train started moving, slowly leaving the station.

At this moment, several carriage windows opened, and Wang Duo and the others stuck their heads out and waved their hands. "GOODBYE INSTRUCTOR NIE! GOODBYE INSTRUCTOR BAYONET!”

The train sped away and quickly disappeared behind the horizon.

"Those guys…” Nie Yan chuckled. Withdrawing his gaze, he turned to Bayonet. "Missing them already, huh?”

"Bah, who’d miss those good-for-nothings? The farther they scram, the better. I couldn’t be happier,” Bayonet indifferently said.

Nie Yan gazed at Bayonet with a face full of interest. No matter how much Bayonet tried to hide his emotions, it was useless. His actions and expression spoke volumes.

Bayonet felt a bit embarrassed after being seen through. He hardened his expression and said, "I’ll take my leave first. I won’t bother you two lovebirds any longer.”

What an amusing fellow. Nie Yan couldn’t help but chuckle. After sending Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others off, he had already completed the task Mo Yuntian gave him. As for how they would fare, that was up to fate. After going through this harsh training, he was confident they had grown considerably. As for whether it was enough to get into the 12th Mech Armoured Corps, that remained to be seen.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao left the train station and headed off for school.

The day went by peacefully. As the final bell rang, Nie Yan and Xie Yao returned home. When evening came, the two entered back into Conviction.

Chapter 790 - Out of Mana

Nie Yan and Xie Yao appeared on the stone bridge in the volcano alongside the rest of the team. The moment they entered the game, their battle with Drakuru continued.

Bladelight rushed over and attracted Drakuru’s attention.

Drakuru’s health hadn’t recovered. This was because the servers came to a full pause when they were offline.

Nie Yan quickly summoned Lil’ Gold. With a loud roar, the golden dragon charged toward Drakuru.

Drakuru immediately aggroed onto Lil’ Gold. The damage Lil’ Gold dealt to him, mostly thanks to Explosive Counter, was higher than that of Bladelight.

The two titans clashed as the stone bridge shook violently.

Nie Yan then summoned Paladin Lafus, who immediately started supporting Lil’ Gold.

With the aggro secured, the Mages in the backline also started attacking Drakuru without worry.

They spread out over the bridge and continued dealing damage. Nie Yan took out his Dullahan Crossbow and shot out several volleys of bolts. However, he almost dealt negative damage. Drakuru’s resistance to piercing damage was too high.

Nie Yan thought for a moment before entering stealth. He snuck around to Drakuru’s side, plunged down with Zennarde’s Sword, and then ran the blade across his flesh.

−3,369
−2,961
−3,764
…

Drakuru stomped down with his feet. Nie Yan hurriedly rolled out of the way. BOOOM! Feeling no little bug squashed beneath his feet, he stomped down again.

Nie Yan frantically weaved between Drakuru’s feet before finally getting out. Panting, he looked haggard and miserable.

This was the result every time Nie Yan tried to approach Drakuru, to say nothing of the other Thieves. When Drakuru stomped down onto Bladelight, he could push back with his shield. However, they didn’t have that kind of strength.

Drakuru’s health was slowly falling, but it was almost unnoticeable, only dropping by a small sliver.

This was the first time Nie Yan and the others had encountered a boss with so much health.

Nie Yan pulled open Paladin Lafus’ skill window to try and find something useful. There were 100 skills altogether, quite a dazzling sight. The stronger Nie Yan grew, so too would Lafus. At certain levels, he would also acquire brand new skills, many of which Nie Yan had never seen or heard of before.

After skimming through the list, Nie Yan’s eyes landed on a skill called Demon Bane Formation. It was a formation that reduced the health recovery speed of all demonic creatures within a 50-meter radius.

To activate it, Nie Yan needed 10 Radiant Scrolls, three Silverbright Stones, and five Radiant Stone.

"Any of you guys got Radiant Scrolls, Silverbright Stones, and Radiant Stones?” Nie Yan asked. These materials were mainly used by Paladins, Priests, and Holy Mages to cast certain spells.

"I have three Radiant Scrolls and two Silverbright Stones,” Young Seven said after glancing at his bag.

"I have nine Radiant Stones,” Xie Yao said.

...

With everyone pitching in, Nie Yan gathered all the required materials. Following the skill’s description, Nie Yan found an open space about five meters away from Drakuru and set up the formation. Paladin Lafus walked over and activated it, after which the formation released a brilliant radiance which slowly enveloped everything within a 50-meter radius.

Drakuru let out a furious roar. He wanted to charge forward and destroy the formation. However, he couldn’t even take one step before the chains binding him to the obelisk went taut, leaving him unable to move even half an inch further.

After the formation was activated, Nie Yan and the others could clearly see that Drakuru’s health was falling much faster than before. A portion of their damage was freed up and no longer used to mitigate his health recovery.

At this speed, Nie Yan and the others could shave away 1.5% of Drakuru’s health every hour. Even though this was still slow, it was much better than before.

Seeing that the formation was effective, Nie Yan immediately continued searching through Paladin Lafus’ list of skills. He eventually found three more formations that could greatly reduce the stats of Drakuru. After gathering the required materials from Xie Yao and the others, he set them up.

Debuffing formations were useless to most players, simply because they attracted too much aggro. If a boss were to discover such a formation in its vicinity, it would make it a priority to destroy the formation first. Add on the fact they were a pain in the ass to set up, and it explained why very few players used them to deal with bosses. However, in this situation, they were incredibly effective.

Drakuru was bound by chains. All they had to do was to set up the formations out of its reach, and there was nothing he could do.

Nie Yan and company continued chipping away at Drakuru’s health. After an entire day, they brought his health down to 62%.

Even though it still went painfully slow, they at least saw a trace of hope. With Drakuru’s health steadily going down, perhaps they really did stand a chance to kill him! If they did, who knew what kind of loot he would drop. One had to know, this was a Level 180 Demonified Lord!

Apart from Drakuru’s drops, Nie Yan would also obtain the legendary Assassin’s Heart. This would surely be an incredible boon for his growth.

"Boss, I’m out of Specialist Potions. I only have a dozen or so Advanced Mana Potions left,” Undying Scoundrel said after looking in his bag.

"Same here,” Summer Bug said.

"I’m almost out as well,” Lustboy added.

Their mana potion usage was extremely high. Even though they were doing their best to use them sparingly, they still eventually ran out. Normally, these kinds of mana potions would only be used in case of an emergency. No one would use them so willy nilly. They’d brought with them enough mana potions to last them up to two months, yet now they were all out within two days.

Aside from Tang Yao and Xie Yao, all other casters were running on empty.

"I still have nine Specialist Mana Potions on me. You guys can use them,” Tang Yao said. He passed them over to Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, and Lustboy.

"I still have eight Specialist and six Advanced Mana Potions,” Xie Yao said.

There was no point in Tang Yao and Xie Yao saving these potions.

Chapter 791 - Kalenna Takes Action

A Mage without mana was like a gun without bullets.

"Each of you, take turns sitting down and recovering your mana. Scoundrel, you first!” Nie Yan ordered after thinking for a bit. Like this, they could conserve mana potions.

"Got it!” Undying Scoundrel nodded. He quickly retreated to the side and sat down. He drank some Spring Water and started recovering his mana.

When Undying Scoundrel recovered his mana to full, he immediately stood up and jumped back into the fray. Next up was Summer Bug. One by one, everyone sat out to recover their mana. Though their damage output dipped, their sustainability increased by quite a bit.

Drakuru’s roars reverberated through the chamber. Like a well-oiled machine, Nie Yan’s team fought him from the moment the servers opened until they closed again.

Three days later, Drakuru’s health finally fell to 20%.

With his health falling to critical levels, Drakuru’s rage reached its boiling point. His entire body started glowing an ominous red. He roared out furiously, struggling to break free as his chains made loud clanking noises. The obelisk binding him rocked violently, on the verge of being snapped in two, as small chunks broke off and fell into the lava river below.

Nie Yan and company almost collapsed under the pressure. If Drakuru were to break free from his chains, they would be finished, and all their hard work would go down the drain.

As Drakuru was fiercely pulling at the chains, numerous black runes swirled out into the air before wrapping around the obelisk. It started emitting a dazzling black radiance, which functioned as some sort of reinforcement. Simultaneously, a pained roar escaped Drakuru’s mouth. The chains binding him down tightened significantly, burning into his skin.

"Curse you Morphest! Even in death, you still won’t let me off!” Drakuru howled.

"Everyone, we can do it! He only has 20% health left!” Nie Yan said excitedly after witnessing this scene. A spell was triggered that reinforced the chains and obelisk binding Drakuru!

"Crap. Boss, I’m out of mana potions and Spring Water! I’m also starting to run low on mana!” Undying Scoundrel anxiously cried out.

"I’m out too!”

"Same here!”

…

Even Tang Yao and Xie Yao were short on mana after giving away all their potions to the others.

This time, they were well and truly out. To make matters worse, after Drakuru’s health fell to 20%, his health recovery speed increased by quite a bit. If they didn’t maintain their damage output, his health would slowly rise back up.

"Shit! Boss, what do we do?”

"If I knew this was going to happen, I would’ve brought more mana potions.”

"What’s the point of regretting this now?”

Everyone felt vexed. Their damage output was about to plummet, and there was nothing they could do about it.

After firing his last spell, Undying Scoundrel helplessly lowered his staff. Glancing at his mana, he didn’t even have enough left to cast something as basic as a lightning ball. He retreated to the side and sat down to recover his mana. However, without any Spring Water, his mana recovery speed was pitifully slow.

Before long, Summer Bug, Lustboy, and most of the others sat down next to Undying Scoundrel. They helplessly gazed at Nie Yan.

With the damage stopping from the Mages, Drakuru’s health started slowly recovering. It went back up to 21% before long, and continued going higher.

Seeing their hard work slowly slipping away, Nie Yan said, "Sun, King of the World, follow me.”

"Alright.”

The three Shadow Dancers rushed up to Drakuru’s side and let loose a flurry of attacks with their daggers.

Nie Yan brandished Zennarde’s Sword. After several attacks, one of which critted for over 30,000 damage, Drakuru’s health fell back down to 20%.

In order to cover Nie Yan, Sun, and King of the World, Bladelight activated Bulwark of the War God and repeatedly slammed his greatshield into Drakuru. However, it was to no avail.

Drakuru roared out in a rage. His aggro shifted as he started smashing down with his fist toward Nie Yan. BANG! BANG! BANG!

Nie Yan frantically dodged left and right. However, it was extremely difficult given the small space he had to work with.

Drakuru smashed down with his fist again. Nie Yan hurriedly jumped back to evade, landing right on the edge of the bridge. At the last moment, the fist opened into a palm and slammed down toward him.

There was nowhere left to run. Nie Yan was trapped.

Crap. I guess this is it… Nie Yan inwardly sighed. Sure enough, their struggling was futile. They were destined to wipe.

"No! Big Brother!” Sun cried out.

BOOM! Nie Yan was sent plummeting down into the lava river below. Just as everyone despaired, he suddenly shot out a web line at the bridge. With a hard tug, he looped below the bridge and landed back on the other side.

A shared sigh of relief escaped everyone’s mouths, as they watched Nie Yan land next to them. This action of him nearly gave them a heart attack!

Young Seven waved his staff. A white light fell over Nie Yan, restoring his health back to full.

Drakuru never stopped attacking. With Nie Yan gone, he shifted his focus to Sun and King of the World. Under his furious assault, the two dodged around frantically. He let out a roar and stomped down hard on the ground, creating a powerful shock wave, which sent them flying off the bridge and plunging towards the lava below.

Nie Yan ran to the edge and shot out a web line. It all happened on instinct, there was no time to think. Then, he rolled out of the way. The web line missed. Both King of the World and Sun fell to their deaths in the lava.

Sun was doomed from the start, he was out of range for Nie Yan to save. However, this wasn’t the case for King of the World. Nie Yan did all he could to rescue him, but as the palm of Drakuru came down on him and was about to crush him into a meat patty, he could only roll out of the way and let King of the World fall to his death too, lest all three of them died here.

Drakuru’s health returned to 21%.

"One Strike Vow, Mistaken Smile, come up with me!” Nie Yan said. Even though he knew going up to fight Drakuru was pretty much throwing their lives away, there was no other choice. Besides, the only way out of this instanced world was to either kill this boss or die.

Drakuru suddenly let out a furious roar and started thrusting his palms at Lil’ Gold like a sumo wrestler.

Lil’ Gold was gradually pushed to the edge of the bridge. He fought hard to get back to the center, but Drakuru stubbornly blocked him. THWAP! He was struck by another palm thrust and staggered back. His foot landed off the edge and he lost his balance. Clawing at the bridge with his front paws, he finally plummeted down toward the lava.

Nie Yan was powerless to help. He would only end up getting dragged down with Lil’ Gold if he tried to use the web line. There also wasn’t enough time to unsummon Lil’ Gold back into his pet space. Before he’d get halfway through the chant, Lil’ Gold would’ve been turned into roasted dragon meat.

SPLASH! Lil’ Gold plunged into the lava river.

Lil’ Gold has died.

Nie Yan’s heart sunk. With Lil’ Gold dead, they had lost a powerful tank and damage dealer. This uphill battle only grew steeper.

In an instant, all of Drakuru’s aggro was focused on Bladelight, who was gradually being overwhelmed. Just as it looked like he was about to share the same fate as Lil’ Gold, Smoke Stub and Lei Su came rushing over. They pincered Drakuru and tried to draw away his attention. However, Drakuru ignored them and went all out on Bladelight, even critting several times.

Bladelight was forced to the edge of the bridge. One more step, and he would fall into the lava below.

As everyone despaired, Kalenna waved her staff. A white light wrapped around Bladelight, forming a protective barrier.

Drakuru stopped attacking midway and instantly retreated several steps. He appeared to be deathly afraid of the white light wrapped around Bladelight.

Charge!

Bladelight took the opportunity to rush back to the center of the bridge.

BANG! Drakuru’s fist slammed into Bladelight, somewhat hesitatingly.

−552

With the damage Drakuru dealt to him greatly reduced, Bladelight was elated. This meant he could freely attack Drakuru without care!

Kalenna wasn’t done yet. With another wave of her staff, blue rays of light fell over the casters. Their mana quickly started recovering.

"Wow! Mana Recovery +500%!” Tang Yao exclaimed in shock after checking his status. Like this, he would no longer have to worry about running out of mana! As for the others, all they would have to do was sit down for a while, and their mana would be back to full.

Seeing their mana recovering, Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and the others got back up and started attacking Drakuru.

"Everyone, keep up the DPS!”

"Don’t let up!”

Drakuru’s health had already recovered to 25%. To here and no further. With their mana bars quickly filling up, their DPS increased significantly and Drakuru’s health started falling back down again.

Kalenna’s might far exceeded anyone’s imagination. Apart from increasing their mana recovery rate, she had also buffed their various other stats, increasing their damage output by more than 200%.

What a frightening battle angel!

"We can do this! Kill the boss!”

A shower of spells arced through the sky and bombarded Drakuru.

Chapter 792 - The Final Stretch

When morale hit rock bottom, Battle Angel Kalenna’s intervened, reigniting everyone’s hope. Drakuru’s health was falling more than three times faster than before.

Roughly two hours later, Drakuru’s health fell to 15%, at which point he entered another phase. His attack power increased significantly, yet he still dealt less than 1,000 damage per hit to Bladelight.

Painted Muslin and Young Seven watched Bladelight tank eight hits in a row, which caused his health to fall by a small chunk. Only then did they casually raise their staffs and cast a Lesser Heal each to top his health back up.

This situation infuriated Drakuru to no end. His entire body ignited with bright crimson red flames, increasing his attack power severalfold, as he smashed down with his fist.

Bladelight felt an intense heat assailing his face. He hurriedly raised his greatshield to block. BOOOM!

−3,194

Drakuru’s damage had tripled!

"Everyone, be careful! He’ll probably only get stronger!” Nie Yan warned. Normally, 20% health was the critical point at which most bosses would grow stronger. Some would even continue growing stronger at 15%, 10%, and 5%.

Drakuru was like a beserk fire giant. His attacks were imbued with scorching hot flames. He suddenly opened his mouth and shot out a pillar of fire at the casters in the back.

"Dodge!”

The casters hurriedly waved their staffs and blinked to safety.

BOOOM! The fire pillar blasted the section of the bridge where the casters previously stood, as flames spewed out everywhere.

This was the first ranged attack Drakuru used. Up to this point, Nie Yan’s team had even started suspecting he didn’t possess any. That hope was quickly quashed, and the situation became a lot more complicated.

The casters repeatedly blinked around the bridge. The few spare moments they weren’t avoiding Drakuru’s attacks, they shot at him with magic.

Drakuru spewed out pillars of flames non-stop like a harbinger of doom. On such a small bridge there was little room to dodge. The casters were nearly killed several times.

"Nie Yan, help cover me!” Xie Yao said. She found a fairly remote spot behind the other casters and started chanting. One set of syllables, two sets, three sets…

Seeing Xie Yao chanting out Forbidden Magic, Nie Yan dashed toward Drakuru. He circled behind him and attacked with a Backbreaker followed by Reverse Grip Backstab.

-3,983
-37,437!

After suddenly taking so much damage, Drakuru’s aggro immediately shifted onto Nie Yan. He let out a heavy roar, as everything within a 10-meter radius of him erupted into flames.

Adjudicator of God!

A golden membrane of light enveloped Nie Yan. Even though a sea of flames raged all around him, the tongues of fire couldn’t touch him. However, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su weren’t so lucky. Their health was rapidly falling even with Young Seven and Painted Muslin healing them non-stop.

Smoke Stub was the first to retreat from the sea of flames followed by Lei Su and finally Bladelight.

At this moment, the final syllable left Xie Yao’s mouth. Her staff shone with a dazzling brilliance akin to that of the sun. She looked like the embodiment of a holy goddess.

Seraphim’s Reckoning!

A white portal of light emerged in the air, and two angels clad in silver amour came flying out. They had a pair of white wings on their backs and wielded golden greatswords.

Drakuru looked up in fear at the portal, and the two angels flying out. He struggled violently to break free of his chains, but he couldn’t even move. In fact, no one could. They could only watch the angels slowly making their descent.

Time itself seemed to slow down to a halt.

The two angels flew to Drakuru's side and slashed down on him with their greatswords. PSFHT! PSFHT! The two blades cleaved deep into his flesh, as black blood sprayed out. He let out a pained roar and writhed about in agony.

Afterwards, the angels flew back into the portal. The portal slowly dissipated, and time resumed again.

Xie Yao was completely drained of all strength, thick beads of sweat on her forehead as she panted heavily. This one spell required all her mana.

Everyone could move again.

-30,491,177 A damage value floated up above Drakuru’s head, bringing his health down to 5%.

"Holy crap, look at that damage!” Undying Scoundrel blurted out.

"Sweet jesus! I didn’t even know damage values could go that high!”

Everyone sighed in admiration. The other Magisters, including Tang Yao, all had single-target Forbidden Magic as well, though they were all on cooldown. However, in terms of might, it would be impressive if they could deal even half as much damage as Xie Yao.

After casting her Forbidden Magic, Xie Yao hurriedly retreated several hundred meters. She found an absolutely safe spot to sit down and recover her mana.

When Drakuru’s health fell to 5%, his body swelled up in size, his fingers transformed into sharp claws, and long fangs grew in his mouth. He looked like a giant beast. "GRWAAAOH!” His deafening roar shook the entire chamber, and cracks started spreading on the chains binding him.

After Xie Yao successfully cast her Forbidden Magic, everyone thought victory was only a step away. However, the situation deteriorated in the blink of an eye.

Drakuru’s transformation caught everyone off guard. With a loud roar, he swiped his claws at Smoke Stub, who hurriedly raised his greatsword to block.

BAAANG! Smoke Stub felt an unrivalled strength ruthlessly slamming into him. His arms quickly gave out, as his greatsword crashed into his own chest. The remaining force knocked him off his feet and sent him flying.

"Smoke Stub!”

Smoke Stub flew off the bridge and plummeted into the lava below.

Another team member had died.

Before anyone could react, Drakuru charged toward Bladelight.

"Bladelight, get out of the way!” Nie Yan anxiously cried out.

Seeing Drakuru barrelling over like a truck, Bladelight raised his greatshield and braced himself. By the time Nie Yan’s words reached his ears, it was already too late. Drakuru’s gigantic frame was right in his face.

Shield Bash!

Bladelight welcomed Drakuru’s charge with his shield.

BOOOOOOOM! Bladelight was immediately overpowered. Like a kite with its string cut, he was sent flying off the bridge by Drakuru’s charge.

Nie Yan dove forward and shot out a web line which zipped through the air and just barely caught Bladelight by his foot. As he tightly held onto Bladelight, who was dangling in the air, Drakuru slashed down with his claws and sent three crescent shaped beams flying towards him.

Nie Yan hurriedly rolled out of the way. However, he had no time to pull Bladelight back up. SNAP! The web line was cut.

Bladelight fell into the roiling lava.

Bladelight has died.

"If I knew he was going to transform, I would’ve waited on casting my Forbidden Magic,” Xie Yao said apologetically. She had recovered her mana and was firing out magic at Drakuru again.

"Don’t fret. It’s not your fault. I don’t think we would’ve been able to cast Forbidden Magic later anyway. I just tried to cast mine, but I was immediately silenced,” Dark Requiem said.

Drakuru went completely berserk. Mistaken Smile and One Strike Vow couldn’t dodge in time and both received a one way ticket into the lava river.

Only 15 of the 21 members remained alive.

The Magisters all unleashed their most powerful spells. Tang Yao activated Arcane Reset, greatly lowering his cooldowns for three minutes. He started firing out spells like a gatling gun, emptying half-a-bar of mana worth of magic onto Drakuru.

Arcane Flame Burst!

Final Judgement!

Radiant Retribution!

A dense shower of spells bombarded Drakuru. They were dealing considerable damage. However, they would still take up to three hours to shave away the remaining 5% of his health.

The beserk Drakuru was too frightening! There was no way they could last that long!

With a wave of his hand, Drakuru called down an enormous meteor on the casters.

"DODGE!”

The casters hurriedly blinked away.

BOOOOM! The meteor smashed down onto the bridge, sending rubble and flames flying everywhere.

"Any of you still have single-target Forbidden Magic remaining?

"I do,” Black Hell said.

"Is it dark magic?” Nie Yan asked. They definitely couldn’t use dark magic on Drakuru. As luck would have it, Shadow Priests were proficient in both dark and light magic.

"No, it’s light magic.”

"Good! Use it! We’ll cover you,” Nie Yan said. At this moment, they only had one chance.

"Watch out for the boss’ silence!” Dark Requiem said.

"Dark Requiem, shield him!” Nie Yan ordered.

"Got it!” Dark Requiem nodded.

Black Hell retreated to the edge of the bridge about 70 meters away from Drakuru. He raised his staff and started chanting. Dark Requiem took position beside him. He waved his warhammer and chanted out an incantation. A giant white shield enveloped Black Hell.

Gale Step!

Nie Yan closed in on Drakuru and slashed out with Zennarde’s Sword.

Hell Execution!

Miss!

Hell Execution!

Miss!

Even if Hell Execution didn’t do any damage, it was great at building up aggro.

Drakuru’s attention shifted onto Nie Yan. He stomped down with his foot, sending a powerful shock wave sweeping out.

BANG! Nie Yan was sent flying off the bridge. A damage value of over 10,000 floated up above his head.

Nie Yan hurriedly shot out a web line in mid-air and swung back onto the bridge. He then drank a health potion, restoring his health back to full.

Seeing Black Hell chanting out in the distance, Drakuru let out a roar. He slashed out with his claw and sent three crescent shaped beams flying towards him.

Lei Su suddenly came rushing forward from the side, intercepting the attack. BAAANG! He was sent flying off the bridge.

Chapter 793 - Fatal Blow

Lei Su died on impact with the lava. Nevertheless, he managed to block Drakuru’s attack and had bought Black Hell a precious few extra seconds.

Drakuru wanted to charge toward Black Hell. But after taking two steps, he was pulled back by the chains.

Drakuru let out a roar before firing out a pillar of fire from his mouth.

Paladin Lafus quickly raised his sword and chanted an incantation, erecting a large screen of light in front of Black Hell.

BOOOM! The attack collided into the light screen before dissipating.

Drakuru then tried to silence Black Hell. However, Dark Requiem had put a protective barrier around Black Hell that shielded him from all negative status effects.

Black Hell finished chanting after five sets of syllables. Generally, single target Forbidden Magic took much less time to cast compared to their AoE counterparts.

Radiance Edge!

An enormous blade of holy light materialized out of thin air. BOOOOOM! It cleaved into Drakuru, shaving away close to 5% of his health. Though this attack paled in comparison with Seraphim’s Reckoning, it still dealt over 14,000,000 damage.

Drakuru only had a tiny sliver of health left. It wouldn’t be long before he was dead!

"He only has 500,000 health left! We’re almost there! Kill him!” Nie Yan shouted.

The casters let loose with a dense shower of spells. If they all struck him, he would be dead for sure!

They felt the tension in their bodies alleviate somewhat. Victory was within their grasp! But at this moment, Drakuru protected himself with a shield. BANG! BANG! BANG! The spells only dealt at average 2,000 damage.

"Don’t relax yet. It’s still not over. Keep attacking!”

These words shook the casters awake. They hurriedly got back to going all out, when suddenly Drakuru let out a deafening roar as he underwent an intense transformation. His skin turned black, and two fleshy wings erupted from his back.

Nie Yan rushed up in an attempt to finish Drakuru off, only to find his feet glued to the ground. He glanced back to see Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and the others also frozen like statues, unable to cast magic or do anything else but watch.

"Boss, I’m stuck!”

"Me too! I can’t move!”

"What do we do!?”

Are we really going to fail here…? No, I won’t accept this! Nie Yan gnashed his teeth.

A pair of sharp horns sprouted from Drakuru’s forehead. He now had all the key features of a genuine devil.

"That bastard is about to completely transform into a demon!”

Ominous red clouds coalesced in the air, as everyone felt a stifling pressure. Suddenly, flaming meteors started raining down on the entire chamber. This spell was as powerful as Forbidden Magic!

Wave after wave of meteors crashed into the lava river, sending lava splashing everywhere. Eventually, a meteor fell toward the team members on the bridge. BOOOOM! They immediately transformed into five rays of light.

Young Sparrow Hawk has died.

Yao Yao has died.

...

Notifications popped up one after another. Nie Yan’s team members were dropping like flies. Paladin Lafus was struck head-on by a meteor and instantly killed.

Were they going to wipe?

Nie Yan struggled to raise his head and saw a giant meteor crashing towards him. The scorching heat assailed his face, threatening to roast him alive.

In the face of death, Nie Yan activated Frozen Fortress from Paternoster’s Warhammer. The temperature around him plummeted. Frost energy gathered around him, instantly transforming into an enormous block of ice which sealed him within.

BANG! The meteor collided into the block of ice and split into fragments which scattered all over the bridge.

Meteors continued raining down mercilessly, with lava raining upwards. It was like a scene taken straight out of hell.

Like a frozen statue, Nie Yan gazed blankly at the destruction around him. Nothing escaped his eyes. Not his teammates dying horrifying deaths, nor Drakuru gaining in power with every second that passed. Yet he could do nothing but watch, completely aware of everything transpiring outside his casing of ice.

Drakuru roared and thrashed about violently within the flames. KLANK! He broke one of the chains binding his arm. He let out a crazed laughter. "HAHAHAHA! MORPHEST, YOU CAN NO LONGER BIND ME! YOU’RE DEAD! BUT I WILL LIVE FOREVER!”

KLANG! This time Drakuru broke the chain binding his leg.

Drakuru’s health was slowly starting to recover. It had already reached back to 1,000,000.

If Drakuru were to completely break free of the chains, Nie Yan could only imagine what the consequences would be.

If Nie Yan were to dispel the Frozen Fortress at this very moment, he would die without a doubt. If Drakuru didn’t kill him, the falling meteors would.

Nie Yan glanced at his skill window. He was at the end of the road. There was only one possibility, one opportunity left, and that was to go all out!

Frozen Fortress, dispel!

The ice around Nie Yan rapidly melted. He was free to move again.

As soon as Nie Yan unsealed himself from the ice, Drakuru pointed a finger forward and called down three meteors on him.

Gale Step!

Nie Yan suddenly disappeared, transforming into a blur as he sped across the stone bridge and rapidly closed in on Drakuru. When he was only a step away, he raised Zennarde’s Sword and leaped high into the air.

Annihilation Slash!

10 enormous sword silhouettes merged into one, then came cleaving down with unrivalled might.

KLANK! KLANK! Drakuru finally broke free from the last of his chains. When he looked up, an enormous sword was already cleaving down on him. He raised his arms to block.

Miss!

Nie Yan’s eyes widened in shock. Was the boss invincible?

At this moment, even his most powerful attack was completely useless against Drakuru!

Drakuru laughed boisterously. "Foolish human! I’ve already obtained eternal life! Unless you’re a god and capable of destroying my origin, you’ll never defeat me! I shall offer you one more deal. Submit to me, become my servant, and I’ll let you become like me. You can wield this strength too, you can also obtain an undying soul!”

The faint shred of hope in his heart was shattered just like that. Nie Yan despaired.

"My unwavering conviction is my belief in the light. May it be eternal!” Nie Yan shouted, recalling the teaching of the Temple of Light. At this moment, he was a pious follower of the light.

Battle Angel Kalenna waved her staff, giving Nie Yan several blessings as well as a powerful shield. "Accursed demon! He’s too powerful now. He’s already become a true god.”

Even if Kalenna intervened, Nie Yan was still no match for Drakuru.

Just as Nie Yan was about to give up, Paternoster's Warhammer shone with a dazzling brilliance as streaks of lightning as thick as his arm danced around it like dragons.

The meteors falling down on Nie Yan were immediately shattered into pieces.

"Damned Orc King! Your loathed Paternoster’s Warhammer...!” A hint of panic and fear resounded in Drakuru’s voice.

A light bulb lit up in Nie Yan’s head. Paternoster’s Warhammer was a quest item for the Assassin’s Heart. It was the key to clearing this quest! How could he have forgotten!?

Only Paternoster’s Warhammer could defeat Drakuru!

As Drakuru retreated in fear, Nie Yan leaped into the air and smashed down with Paternoster’s Warhammer.

Nie Yan was wrapped around in lightning, like the incarnation of a thunder god.

Nie Yan sensed the all-consuming fury of the spirit residing within Paternoster’s Warhammer.

BOOOOOM! An enormous pillar of lightning obliterated the ceiling of the chamber and came crashing down on Drakuru.

"NOOOOOOO!!!” Drakuru cried out in agony as his health fell to zero. He lost control of his body as the lightning fried him from the inside out, causing him to float in the air and dissolve into ashes.

Drakuru was dead! Truly dead!

Nie Yan glanced at Paternoster’s Warhammer. The lightning around it gradually calmed down.

Two items fell down from the sky. Drakuru’s drops! Nie Yan leaped up and caught them both in his hands.

"Nice, I got them!” Nie Yan’s eyes lit up in elation. Suddenly, he received a notification.

Adventurer, you have proved your courage and obtained the Assassin’s Heart.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He had finally completed Paternoster’s Warhammer’s quest and obtained the Assassin’s heart!

Ding dong! Ding dong! Nie Yan’s body lit up consecutively with a dazzling radiance. Looking at this character status, he had directly levelled up to Level 149, 32%!

If the experience from a Level 180 Demonified Lord were divided up between all team members, everyone would level up at least once. However, since Nie Yan was the only one left alive, all the experience from Drakuru went to him!

Nie Yan was extremely excited. After so long, he was once again the highest level player in the game.

The battle ended, but the shower of meteors hadn’t yet. Nie Yan dodged around frantically. The scorching hot lava below was also splashing everywhere, some of which landed on him. He heard a sizzling sound as he felt his skin burning.

Just as Nie Yan was about to give up on leaving this place alive, the obelisk that was originally binding Drakuru lit up with a brilliant light and formed a red portal leading to who knew where.

This portal was likely the way out. Nie Yan rushed forward and dove straight in. After which his vision went black. He wondered what was going on before losing consciousness.

Chapter 794 - Demon Drakuru’s Tower Shield

In a graveyard several kilometers away from Barthe, one spirit after another appeared. They were Tang Yao, Undying Scoundrel, and the others who had just died.

Spirits could see other spirits. The Masters glanced at each other with bitter smiles.

"Damn. Looks like we wiped,” Bladelight said. After he died, he watched the others appear one by one in spirit form. Almost everyone was here.

"How did you guys die?” Mistaken Smile asked. He was one of the first to die. So, he had no idea what happened later on.

"GAHHH! We were so close to killing Drakuru! So close! 10 more minutes, and he would be dead!” Undying Scoundrel said while gripping his head. What they didn’t know was that Drakuru was a quest boss. He could only be killed by Paternoster’s Warhammer after bringing his health down below a certain threshold.

Nevertheless, the keyword was almost. In the end, they had failed to kill the boss.

20 spirits were present in the graveyard.

"Huh? Where’s Nie Yan?” Xie Yao asked in surprise.

Only then did everyone realize Nie Yan wasn’t among them. It had already been more than 10 minutes since Drakuru called down that apocalyptic meteor shower. Could it be that Nie Yan had survived it?

"The boss is still alive?”

"If he died, he’d be here. Maybe he managed to pull off another miracle?” Bladelight said.

Everyone chatted excitedly. They all hoped Nie Yan had killed Drakuru, but they knew that that possibility was extremely slim, to the point of being non-existent. In all likelihood, he had simply managed to take cover from the meteor shower.

"Let’s revive and rest here for a bit,” Bladelight said.

They released their spirits and resurrected in the graveyard. Each of them lost a level as well as a piece of equipment. However, this kind of loss was bearable. After grinding in the World of Darkness for so long, it could still be considered a win.

The 20 team members sat down to recuperate and waited for word from Nie Yan. No one dared to send him a message, for fear of distracting him. Especially so after opening the team window and finding out he was still alive.

...

After entering the portal, one scene after another flashed through Nie Yan’s mind. They were related to the Orc King and Paternoster’s Warhammer, telling the tale of how a man and his weapon had wiped out one powerful enemy after another to establish the Satreen Empire before finally losing it all due to Drakuru’s betrayal.

Nie Yan also learned of the meaning of the Assassin’s Heart. As an assassin, even if you knew the path ahead was perilous and death was assured, for the sake of upholding justice, you would forge ahead with the resolve to die and complete your mission.

Nie Yan successfully completed the mission. He had assassinated Drakuru and obtained the Assassin’s Heart as a reward.

After who knew how long, Nie Yan finally regained consciousness. Looking around, he found himself in the inner district of Barthe. The sight of streets filled with monsters and buildings all around were a welcome change.

"I’m finally out!” Nie Yan breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Nie Yan checked the properties of the Assassin’s Heart.

Assassin’s Heart: All Stats +30%, All Control Skill Ranks +3, Equipment Set Slot +1, +50 Influence in the Viridian Empire, +200 Influence in the Satreen Empire.

After seeing the properties of the Assassin’s Heart, Nie Yan’s eyes lit up with joy. He had really hit the jackpot this time! His stats were already ridiculously high. Now they were even more ludicrous. The All Control Skill Ranks +3 property was pretty decent. Not to mention the All Stats +30%, which unlike the bonuses from his equipment, was permanent.

As for the Equipment Set Slot +1, that meant Nie Yan could wear two sets of equipment at once, allowing him to easily and quickly switch between them. Plus, he could do it in combat. Gaining an additional equipment set slot was even better than the All Stats +30%!

Even though Nie Yan only gained bonuses from the active equipment set, he could wear equipment sets with different properties. Many possibilities came to mind. For example, he could spec one set to have high magic resistance and the other to have high physical resistance. Like this, he could change his set depending on whether he was facing a Mage or a Warrior. In fact, if there were a group of Mages and Warriors, he could even switch between both sets in between attacks. Then again, he could also have his second equipment set be random crappy gear, so that if he died, he wouldn’t lose anything of value.

The Equipment Set Slot +1 really increased his adaptability.

Nie Yan recalled players would receive a second equipment set slot at Level 180. He didn’t expect to receive one early from the Assassin’s Heart. He wondered if he would receive another one at Level 180.

After checking the properties of the Assassin’s Heart, Nie Yan looked at the two items Drakuru dropped and was dumbstruck.

One of the two items was a tower shield. It was made out of some unknown metal and was extremely heavy. It would take a strong Fighter just to lift it up. It was blood red and covered in all sorts of eccentric runes, which all led to the center where there was a demonic face.

Nie Yan inspected the shield’s properties.

Demon Drakuru’s Tower Shield (Divine)

Demonic Mental Corrosion: All Stats -30% and inflicted with the fear status effect when health falls below 30%.

Requirements: Level 180

Description: A tower shield Drakuru crafted from Blood Lunarit. It possesses incredible defensive capabilities and can be socketed with up to six gems.

Properties: Defense 7,830–8,812, Block Rate 70%, 30% chance to nullify an attack, Magic Resistance +100, Strength +50%, Health +60%, Dark Armour.

Demon’s Disdain: Taunt all enemies in a 30-meter radius. Duration: 5 minutes. Cooldown: 20 minutes.

Demon’s Gluttony (Passive): Every basic attack drains 500 + (2*Strength) mana from the enemy and converts it into health.

Restrictions: None

Nie Yan sucked in a cold breath of air. "My god! 8,000 defense!” He had never seen a shield like this before. Even in his past life, the most powerful shield only had a little over 5,000 defense. The other properties were also far better than anything he'd seen on a shield before.

If Demon Drakuru’s Tower Shield were socketed with a few level requirement reduction gems, Bladelight could probably equip it right away.

With a shield like this, Nie Yan could form an expedition team and hunt down high level bosses, among which was the Lava Giant who had killed countless players in the Kiln Fire Woods.

Before long, the equipment quality of their top rank members would rise by another few notches.

Apart from Demon Drakuru’s Tower Shield, there was also a translucent crystal. It was another Shattered Divinity!

Nie Yan already had three Shattered Divinities. He still had no idea what they were used for. So, he put it away with the others in his bag.

「Where are you guys right now?」Nie Yan asked in voice chat.

After hearing Nie Yan’s voice, the chat immediately boiled over with excitement.

「Boss, what happened? Did you die?」

「No way! If he died, there’s no way he would be Level 149. Boss, don't tell me you killed Drakuru!?」

「D-did you really kill Drakuru?」

Nie Yan was bombarded with questions. Everyone was excited and impatient.

「One at a time guys. I can’t hear anyone like this. Yeah, I did kill Drakuru.」Nie Yan chuckled.

「How did you do it? I remember Drakuru still had 500,000 health when I died!」Undying Scoundrel asked. He found it hard to believe that Nie Yan could deal so much damage to Drakuru.

「Drakuru is a quest boss. He ended up becoming invincible near the very end. So, my Annihilation Slash did no damage to him. The only way to kill him was to use Paternoster’s Warhammer,」Nie Yan explained.

After hearing Nie Yan’s words, Undying Scoundrel and the others came to a realization. This was a quest, and Paternoster’s Warhammer was a key item used in completing it. Without it, Drakuru was invincible. They had to bring his health down to a certain level, then finish him off with the hammer.

「Did Drakuru drop anything?」

「Oh, right! Did you complete that Assassin’s Heart quest?」Bladelight asked.

「Yep. I obtained the Assassin’s Heart. Apart from that, I also got a shield,」Nie Yan said. When he mentioned Demon Drakuru’s Tower Shield, he couldn’t contain his excitement. He immediately shared its information in the chat.

The properties of Demon Drakuru’s Tower Shield were revealed in front of Bladelight and the others.

The chat went silent. They were all left speechless by the shield’s properties.

「My god! 8,000 defense and 70% block rate! If Bladelight were to equip this shield, I doubt I’d even be able to break through his defense!」Smoke Stub sighed in admiration.

By equipping this shield, Bladelight would truly be invincible. A Fighter like this would be an unrivalled tank across the entire server.

「Socket it with a few level requirement reduction gems, and Bladelight will be able to equip it,」Young Seven noted.

Level requirement reduction gems were extremely hard to come by for ordinary players. But for them, it was nothing difficult.

「With the quest completed, let’s go take care of the Blood Reaver Corps. After we’ve dealt with them and Bladelight has equipped the shield, we’ll go hunt some high level bosses. Our first target is the Lava Giant!」Nie Yan excitedly said.

「A Level 200 Lord?」

Everyone was stunned. After thinking for a bit, with a tank with such high defense, even facing a Level 200 Lord would be no problem! They were filled with anticipation. Soon, the quality of their equipment would rise by leaps and bounds!

Chapter 795 - Declaring War

Nie Yan started channelling a Return Scroll. With a flash of light, he appeared on the streets of Orc King City and then met up with Tang Yao and the others.

"What did you guys lose?” Nie Yan asked.

"Sun, Mistaken Smile, and Street Vulture all lost a piece of Sub Legendary equipment. I lost a piece of Level 130 Legendary-grade equipment,” Smoke Stub replied. These losses would normally be quite heavy. However, compared to Demon Drakuru’s Tower Shield, they were nothing.

Nie Yan nodded. No one had lost anything significant. Thankfully, King of the World had handed those five chapters from the Book of Order back to him before they set out for Barthe. So, they didn’t drop when King of the World fell into the lava.

Nie Yan transferred over Demon Drakuru’s Tower Shield to Bladelight.

"What’s your defense at now?” Nie Yan asked.

"It’s over 36,000, and my block rate is at 83%,” Bladelight said excitedly after looking at his stats.

Everyone glanced at each other in shock. Those words Smoke Stub previously said about not being able to get through Bladelight’s defense weren’t exaggerated at all. Among all classes, Warriors had the highest defense, and among their sub-classes, Fighters undoubtedly made for the best tanks because they wielded shields. For an ordinary Warrior to have a block rate of 10% was already quite impressive. A Fighter holding a shield would generally have a block rate between 30%–50%. To have a block rate of 83% was simply unheard of. In layman’s terms, Bladelight would block four out of five incoming physical attacks, and the one that slipped through would still have to get past his ridiculous 36,000 defense.

Among everyone here, only Nie Yan and the Magisters could break through Bladelight’s defense.

Bladelight was in high spirits. With his new shield, he was undoubtedly the number one tank in all of Conviction.

Nie Yan took out the three Shattered Divinities from his bag and placed them in his palms. "I obtained another Shattered Divinity from Drakuru. That makes three in total. When you guys are levelling, questing, or running dungeons, pay attention to see if you can find any more information about them.”

Bladelight and the others already knew Nie Yan had Shattered Divinities in his possession. But they were still somewhat surprised another one had dropped.

"Alright, will do.” Smoke Stub nodded.

Nie Yan glanced at his character window. He was already Level 149. It was about time he gathered the remaining two pieces of the Tyrant Abak Set. By then, he would be able to equip the set.

"Let’s return to the guild headquarters. We’ll form an expedition team and set out for the Lava Titan,” Nie Yan said. They were definitely strong enough to deal with the Lava Titan now. The biggest hurdle with this Lord was to have a tank capable of withstanding its attacks. With Drakuru’s Tower Shield, Bladelight was more than qualified for this task.

"Alright!” Everyone was quite excited.

The Lava Titan held a special place in the hearts of the players in the Viridian Empire as an unrivalled existence. The absolute slaughter that took place in the Kiln Fire Woods was still deeply engraved in their minds. If Asskickers United were to defeat the Lava Titan, one could imagine the reaction.

While Nie Yan’s team was busy discussing about how to deal with the Lava Titan, Guo Huai sent word that the Blood Reaver Corps had taken action again. This time, they had appeared in the vicinity of Calore and were clashing fiercely with an expedition team from Asskickers United.

This was the first time in a week the Blood Reaver Corps showed themselves. Nie Yan thought they had already left. He didn’t think they would show up again.

"The Blood Reaver Corps are back. Let’s head to Calore first,” Nie Yan said.

"Those punks! They dare to come to Calore!? Watch us beat them to a pulp!” Undying Scoundrel exclaimed while cracking his knuckles.

"What did they come to Calore for?”

"Let’s hurry over right away!”

The 21 Masters headed to one of the transfer areas in Orc King City. A short while later, they arrived in Calore.

「Guo Huai, where are they right now?」Nie Yan asked.

「South of Calore, east of the Kroa Wetlands.」Guo Huai sent over some coordinates.

If they were slow, the Blood Reaver Corps would probably have a chance to escape. So after leaving the city, Nie Yan and the others summoned their flying mounts and hurried to the scene of the battle.

A group of 21 flying mounts soared through the sky. The ground beneath flitted past. Several minutes later, they arrived east of the Kroa Wetlands. The sounds of battle already entered their ears. Nie Yan stood on top of the Darkwing Dragon’s head. He looked down at chaotic battle. There were at least 600 players fighting there.

"Nie Yan, over there! We’ll head down first!” Bladelight said.

Suddenly, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su leaped down from their flying mounts.

"Those of you with a Featherfall ability follow me down! Everyone else, hurry down!” Nie Yan said. He also leaped down toward the battle. The Blood Reaver Corps were unlike any enemy they had faced before. 60 Silver Wings weren’t going to be easy to deal with.

Nie Yan and the others rapidly descended toward the ground.

Down on the battlefield. Blood Devil sent three Warriors flying with a Dark Whirlwind. He then slashed out with a crescent-shaped sword beam and killed one of the Warriors.

"Boss, Nirvana Flame and his group are here,” Autumn Gust said. He was standing right next to Blood Devil.

Blood Devil looked up at the sky and saw several black dots getting closer and closer.

"We’re withdrawing. Use your Unknown Transfer Scrolls,” Blood Devil said.

"Boss, why are we retreating!? We’re not afraid of Nirvana Flame!”

"Yeah! Why would we retreat just like that!?”

The members of the Blood Reaver Corps were all voicing their disapproval. They hadn’t even seen Nirvana Flame’s shadow, and they were already retreating. If this news were to reach the underworld, they would become laughingstocks.

"We’ll have a chance to clash with him later. Listen to my order. We’re withdrawing now!” Blood Devil said seriously.

Blood Devil’s authority was absolute in the Blood Reaver Corps. Even though many members were unwilling, they still listened to his command. They crushed the Unknown Transfer Scrolls in their hands and teleported away.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su landed on the ground.

All the Asskickers United players in the surroundings went over to greet the trio.

"Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Lei Su, you’re all here!”

"Where did they go?” Bladelight asked, looking around. The battle field was littered with corpses. More than half of the 1,000-man expedition team had been wiped out. There was still a lot of equipment on the ground that the players from the Blood Reaver Corps didn’t have the time to pick up.

"They ran away with Unknown Transfer Scrolls as soon as you guys came!”

Nie Yan and the rest also landed at this moment. He gazed over at Bladelight.

"They ran away?” Nie Yan asked after finding no trace of the Blood Reaver Corps.

"Yeah. All gone. Bastards can run real quick,” Bladelight cursed.

Nie Yan looked around the battlefield. There were corpses of Asskickers United players everywhere. Their losses were quite severe. He couldn't help but frown. Just what was the Blood Reaver Corps planning? "Give me a casualty report!”

"Reporting to the boss! We’ve lost 521 players, 350 of which are over Level 130. We lost 76 pieces of equipment. One of them was Sub Legendary,” a player reported.

After hearing these figures, Tang Yao and the others’ expressions darkened. Many of the fallen were players they personally knew. They had even ran dungeons and levelled up together before.

"Dammit!” Undying Scoundrel punched a nearby tree. "Blood Reaver Corps, you bastards just wait!”

Nie Yan was also fuming. This time, the Blood Reaver Corps had thoroughly enraged him. He would definitely repay this blood debt!

Even though Nie Yan and the others were angry, there was nothing they could do. Before they had even arrived, the Blood Reaver Corps had already fled away.

「Have the Hundred Thieves search for the Blood Reaver Corps. If you find their location, report back to me immediately. Don’t engage. Wait for us to arrive,」Nie Yan ordered. Guo Huai immediately spread a large net over all of Calore.

Apart from searching for their whereabouts, Nie Yan had Undying Scoundrel make an announcement on the forums, declaring war on the Blood Reaver Corps. Undying Scoundrel made sure to spice up the post, calling them a bunch of cowards, and daring them to accept his challenge. Asskickers United would only bring out 15 people to face them. If they were too scared, Nie Yan and the others wouldn’t mind teaching them a lesson the old fashioned away.

This post was immediately upvoted to the top of the forums by the players of Asskickers United. It became the next hot topic. What happened between Asskickers United and the Blood Reaver Corps? Why was the Blood Reaver Corps targeting Asskickers United? It looked like the Blood Reaver Corps had incurred the full wrath of Asskickers United.

Nie Yan knew it was extremely difficult for a guild to defend against the guerilla tactics of a top team like the Blood Reaver Corps. Tracking them down was already an incredibly difficult task.

"Boss, what are we going to do? Are we still going to hunt the Lava Titan?”

"It looks like we have a target on our back. Let’s put off killing the Lava Titan for now. We’ll deal with the Blood Reaver Corps first!” Nie Yan said after thinking for a moment. They couldn’t give the Blood Reaver Corps an opportunity to deal any more damage! He then turned to Bladelight and the others, "You guys form a team and hunt some low level bosses. Don’t enter any dungeons. Be ready for my commands at all times. If the Hundred Thieves discover their location, we’re setting off immediately!”

"Got it!” Bladelight and the others answered in unison.

"Stay vigilant. We can’t discount the possibility that the Blood Reaver Corps might try to ambush you guys. I feel like they have a certain aim for targeting us. They likely still have moles in our guild too!” Nie Yan said. Ashen One wasn’t the first traitor, and he wouldn’t be the last.

That was all Nie Yan and the others could do for now. They could only wait for news from below. They couldn’t go look for the Blood Reaver Corps themselves. That would be a waste of time.

Chapter 796 - Tomb Keeper Karise

The Clemenci Stronghold. A middle-aged man in black, ornamental robes entered the main hall of Angel Corps’ guild headquarters. He was here to meet with Soaring Angel, who was clad in Demon Hunter leather armour and sitting on his throne.

"Fan, my boy, I trust you’ve been well?” Cao Xu chuckled.

"Does Brother Cao have some business with me?” Soaring Angel asked, narrowing his eyes. Their relationship wasn’t nearly as friendly as it appeared on the surface. They had many conflicts of interest, and struggled bitterly behind the scene. If it weren't for the fact they shared a common enemy in Asskickers United, they would never be working together.

"I’ve got a plan in the works, and I’d like your cooperation,” Cao Xu said, as he sat down on a nearby chair.

"Straight to the point, huh, Brother Cao? Well, if I can be of assistance, I’ll naturally lend my help,” Soaring Angel said with a frank smile. Inwardly, he couldn’t help but wonder why this old fox came looking for him.

"I’m sure you’ve heard of the matter of the Blood Reaver Corps in the Viridian Empire?”

"Of course. I assume that’s your doing?”

Cao Xu chuckled. "I estimate the Blood Reaver Corps will give Asskickers United quite the headache. Anyway, I sincerely hope we can cooperate. I’ve already bribed more than 1,000 of their players, and I’m sure you’ve also lured over no small number. If we both strike at once, we can paralyze them, at least for a short while.”

"That's all well and good. However, if you believe that will be enough to defeat them, that’s just naive,” Soaring Angel said. After clashing with Asskickers United for so long, he knew like no one else how difficult they were to deal with.

"This is only a part of my plan. I’m also working on bribing a large number of players from the Undead Empire and Demon Tribe. Though I don’t expect them to deal much damage to Asskickers United, they’ll help buy us more time to produce Masters,” Cao Xu said. This plan required a fortune, but it couldn’t be helped. Asskickers United was pulling too far ahead. Recently, they had been doing nothing but expanding. By the time they solidified their position in the Viridian Empire, the tip of their spear would be pointed toward Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group.

"I’ll mobilize Angel Corps’ manpower to aid you as best as I can,” Soaring Angel said. He understood Angel Corps’ biggest enemy was Asskickers United. The conflict with the Century Financial Group could be put aside for now.

The two biggest powers in the Satreen Empire started working together in full force. A major event was about to unfold.

With the Century Financial Group and Angel Corps meddling behind the scenes, some changes started occurring in the power structure of the underworld. After receiving their mission, teams of players started setting out for the surface in droves.

...

Asskickers United. The Hundred Thieves were searching everywhere for traces of the Blood Reaver Corps, but it was as if they’d disappeared from the face of the world.

Nie Yan and the others couldn’t stay idle in the city forever. While the others went off to level and hunt bosses, Nie Yan set off for Hilderlocke alone. He’d obtained some information about one of the two pieces of the Tyrant Abak Set not yet in his possession.

If Nie Yan could complete the Tyrant Abak Set, he’d feel all the more confident about clashing against the Blood Reaver Corps.

Hilderlocke. Ever since God Executioner Sword admitted defeat, Asskickers United gained absolute control over this place. There were no more major conflicts. The large guilds respected Asskickers United's authority and had accepted their places.

Asskickers United’s influence in Hilderlocke could be seen everywhere. If any guild were to try to go against Asskickers United, they would probably collapse from the inside first. From their point of view, Asskickers United was simply too powerful. Nothing good would come out of provoking them. This was different from when Asskickers United first entered Hilderlocke. Many guilds banded together to oppose them. However, under Nie Yan’s command, their little rebellion was instantly quashed by Battle Crazed Alliance and God Executioner Sword. At that time, the remaining guilds who didn’t take part were trembling in fear, believing they were fated to be swallowed up one by one. But to their surprise, Asskickers United was virutous and offered them a non-aggression pact with relatively fair terms.

Seeing that there was no going against the trend, God Executioner Sword had haggled with Asskickers United before formally joining the alliance. This cemented Asskickers United’s position in Hilderlocke. When the players Asskickers United walked the streets here, they could hold their heads high while basking in the reverence of other players.

After passing through numerous streets, Nie Yan exited the city gates. His goal was a tomb on the outskirts of Hilderlocke. He could learn more information about one of the pieces of the Tyrant Abak Set there.

The tomb was only one kilometer away from Hilderlocke, about a few minutes’ walk.

Nie Yan activated Gale Step and dashed toward the tomb.

About a minute later, Nie Yan arrived at the tomb. This place looked absolutely magnificent. It was made out of white stone and stood in the center of a large square, which was fenced off. There were 13 NPCs standing outside the entrance. Wearing white, solemn-looking robes, they were the tomb keepers.

Apart from these NPCs, there were many players here as well, about 300 or so. They were in line waiting to talk to these NPCs, probably about something quest-related. One 20-man team after another entered the tomb.

At this moment, Nie Yan received a notification.

Go speak with Tomb Keeper Karise.

Nie Yan walked over to the tomb keepers. Looking at them, he quickly found the one he was looking for. Tomb Keeper Karise was 70 years old, yet his eyes were still full of vitality. He was in the middle of chatting with four players. There were about 10 players in line waiting to talk with him.

Nie Yan waited for a while. However, the number of players around Tomb Keeper Karise didn’t appear to decrease. In fact, it only kept increasing. Running out of patience, he headed straight for Karise.

"Hey, you little shit! You looking to die!? Back off! If you want to get in line, you gotta pay the toll!” a Warrior shouted with a fierce expression. He walked over and smacked his palm toward Nie Yan’s head.

Hearing the Warrior’s words, Nie Yan finally understood what was going on. No wonder the line hadn’t gotten shorter despite him waiting for so long. It was these guys making people pay a toll!

Nie Yan lightly stepped to the side, dodging the Warrior’s slap. He then stuck out his leg, tripping the Warrior and causing him to fall flat on his face.

In the previous timeline, people like these would appear all the time around popular NPCs. They would stand guard in front of the NPC. Anyone that wanted to talk to the NPC would have to pay a toll first. More times than he’d like to admit, he encountered these kinds of situations in his past life. Even though he was unwilling back then, he could do nothing else but obediently pay the toll.

Nie Yan swept his gaze around the surroundings. There were at least 30 players in the vicinity moving to surround him. They wore the same emblems, signifying they were all part of the same team.

Nie Yan flicked his wrist, flashing Zennarde’s Sword which burned brightly with black flames.

"You bastard!” The Warrior who fell flat on his face just now was enraged. He got up to his feet and was about to let loose, when his gaze fell on Zennarde’s Sword. He immediately became stupefied. Nirvana Flame!

After seeing Zennarde’s Sword, the 30 players who surrounded Nie Yan were also dumbstruck.

"N-nirvana Flame! W-we deserve death! We had no idea it was you!”

"P-please forgive us! We’ll take our lives immediately! No need to dirty your hands!”

These players all hurriedly begged for forgiveness. This game was their livelihood. They were simply a bunch of freelance professional players while Nie Yan was Nie Yan. As long as he gave the word, every major guild in the Viridian Empire would hunt them down back to Level 0. This was an extremely frightening kind of power. So, after learning they’d antagonized Nie Yan, they all nearly pissed their pants in fear.

Seeing these people begging for their dog lives, Nie Yan lost all interest in killing them. He coldly said, "Get out of my sight before I change my mind. I don’t want to see any of you here again.”

"Thank you! Thank you!” These players all tucked their tails between their legs and fled.

Nie Yan walked over to Tomb Keeper Karise.

"Great Prophet, how may I help you?” Tomb Keeper Karise bowed.

All the players in the surroundings gawked in amazement. Seeing how respectful Tomb Keeper Karise treated Nie Yan, their hearts were filled with shock. They would frequently come here. So, they knew Karise held quite a high position in Hilderlocke, equivalent to that of a Marquis. However, even with his high standing, in front of Nie Yan, he was still acting like a servant.

"Tomb Keeper Karise, have you seen any of these items before?” Nie Yan opened up the Glimpse of Darkness and showed him the illustrations of the Tyrant Abak Set.

Karise showed a pensive look before nodding. "Yes, at Magister Lefis’ residence. But…”

"But what?” Nie Yan asked. He could tell Karise appeared to be hesitant.

"Are you looking for this item?” Karise asked, as he pointed at the illustration of the boots of the Tyrant Abak Set.

"Yes.”

"Magister Lefis is an extremely eccentric fellow. He also hates it when others covet his possessions.”

"Then what do I need to do to obtain the Abak’s Vorpal Striders from him?”

"You’ll have to defeat him,” Karise replied.

Nie Yan raised an eyebrow. Defeating an NPC Magister? He wondered how strong Lefis was.

Chapter 797 - Magister Lefis

"Can you tell me where I can find Magister Lefis?” Nie Yan asked.

"I’m not sure where he is right now, but if you wait 30 minutes, you’ll likely get to meet him. He comes here around this time every day to hand out quests,” Tomb Keeper Karise said.

Nie Yan wasn’t interested in the quest Magister Lefis handed out. At his level of achievement, he could ignore these kinds of quests.

Nie Yan stood to the side and patiently waited for Magister Lefis to arrive.

There was a constant influx of players. The square gradually got busier, yet there was a wide open space all around Nie Yan. No one dared to come near him, instead gazing at him from far away. Rumours quickly spread on why he was waiting here.

Nie Yan looked around. The area around the entrance was starting to feel cramped with 600+ players already here, and still more arriving by the minute. It appeared many people were entering the tomb today.

About 30 minutes later, an NPC in ashen robes arrived in the square.

"Look, Magister Lefis is here.”

"Let’s see if we can trigger his quest. We only have 10 minutes before he leaves!”

Magister Lefis’ appearance created a disturbance in the square.

"Are you stupid? What do you think Nirvana Flame is waiting here for? He’s definitely here to look for Magister Lefis.”

Seeing Nie Yan walk over to Magister Lefis, no other players dared to move. They occasionally snuck glances in his direction. Was he here to receive Magister Lefis’ quest too? Magister Lefis often issued herb gathering quests. Even though his temperament was eccentric, he offered generous rewards. So, players from all around came to help him gather herbs.

However, why would Nirvana Flame be interested in such a basic quest?

"Hello, Magister Lefis,” Nie Yan greeted.

Magister Lefis glanced over at Nie Yan with a cold expression. He gave a slight grunt in response.

"You see, I’m wondering if you’re in possession of Abak’s Vorpal Striders. I’ve been looking everywhere for this item. If you’re willing to part ways with it, I’ll buy it off you for a high price,” Nie Yan said.

"I do have Abak’s Vorpal Striders in my possession. But I won’t hand it over to you, or anyone else,” Lefis replied, his eyes flickering with hostility.

"How about we make a trade. I’ll offer you a piece of equipment of equal quality to Abak’s Vorpal Striders. You can’t wear them anyway. I believe it’s in our best interest to make this exchange,” Nie Yan said. Lefis' cold attitude rubbed him the wrong way, but he suppressed his anger.

"I told you, I’m not selling. Scram, or I’ll send you out of here myself,” Magister Lefis said. Not bothering to give Nie Yan a second glance, he walked past him.

Sure enough, Tomb Keeper Karise hadn’t exaggerated about Lefis at all. This man really had an eccentric temperament, refusing to mince words in the slightest. It appeared he would have to use force like Tomb Keeper Karise suggested. He inspected Lefis with Transcendent Insight. He was Level 160 with 500,000 health.

Magister Lefis didn’t have much health. However, as an NPC Magister, his battle prowess would definitely be frightening.

"Abak’s Vorpal Striders are very important to me. What if I must obtain this item, no matter what?” Nie Yan said to Magister Lefis’ back.

Magister Lefis halted his step. Not bothering to turn his head back, he coldly spat out, "Over my dead body.”

Nie Yan pulled out Zennarde’s Sword and pointed the blade at Magister Lefis. "A battle it is then.”

"Your words, not mine, you foolish idiot. You’ll pay for your stupidity today!” Magister Lefis said, as an icy killing aura erupted out.

An ice magic specialist!

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Ice magic was known for its extremely powerful crowd control ability. No matter what, he couldn’t let himself get hit, or he’d be dead for sure.

The surrounding players had formed a large circle around Nie Yan and Magister Lefis. Even though they really wanted to know what these two were talking about, they didn’t dare to disturb them. Suddenly seeing Nie Yan pointing Zennarde’s Sword at Magister Lefis and Magister Lefis erupting with an icy killing intent, they were all dumbstruck. Could Nie Yan be challenging Magister Lefis? Was he crazy? There was an enormous difference between player Magisters and NPC Magisters. Many of the NPCs who became Magisters had spent a lifetime of comprehending the essence of magic. They far surpassed player Magisters.

Nie Yan had actually challenged an NPC Magister. This was unbelievable!

"Come on. Since I’m the bad guy here, it’s only fair that I let you have the first move,” Nie Yan said. He wasn’t the least bit perturbed with the fact he was facing an NPC Magister.

"Is something wrong with his head? He’s letting Magister Lefis have the first move!?”

The onlookers were stunned. With their little strength, they couldn’t possibly understand the actions of someone on Nie Yan’s level.

Nie Yan allowed Magister Lefis the first move in order to preserve the honour of a Great Prophet. If he attacked first and word got out, the NPCs would label him a robber. But if Magister Lefis attacked first, it meant both sides had agreed to a duel.

If one wasn’t thinking carefully, these kinds of details were easy to overlook.

"You arrogant brat!” Magist Lefis waved his staff, firing out an ice arrow.

Only an ice arrow, Nie Yan thought. Just as he was about to raise Zennarde’s Sword to block, the ice arrow split into three, and the three then split into nine.

NPC Magisters had a profound understanding of magic and could freely manipulate it at will.

Nie Yan leaped to the side. The ice arrows barely missed him, their icy aura causing his body to tremble.

As his feet touched the ground, a ring of ice formed below Nie Yan and was about to activate.

Crap! Nie Yan quickly activated Gale Step. With a ding sound, the ice around his feet shattered and failed to trap him.

Magister Lefis snorted. With a wave of his staff, he called down an Ice Rain. The raindrops covered the ground in a layer of ice.

Nie Yan had to go all out. Magister Lefis was far stronger than any player Magister he had faced before. Tang Yao, Xie Yao, Undying Scoundrel, and the rest were like children compared to Magister Lefis! This was a Magister in the truest sense, capable of manipulating all sorts of magic at will, bringing out the full potential of every attack, and timing everything with the utmost precision.

As the surrounding temperature plummeted, the onlookers started to shiver and retreated several hundred meters back. Looking at the center of the turmoil, Nie Yan and Magister Lefis were already hidden within a white fog. Only the sounds of spells exploding let them know a fierce battle was going on. The square had become their battlefield.

Everyone was at a loss for words. None of them expected the battle to become this intense. What shocked them the most was that Nie Yan was actually able to go toe-to-toe with an NPC Magister!

A rainbow appeared over the battlefield as the sun shone down on the icy fog.

This place had already become its own separate world. The players didn’t feel the slightest warmth from the sunlight.

Within the white fog, Nie Yan was on the backfoot. Magister Lefis was simply too strong. The endless barrage of instantaneous spells left him dodging around frantically with no opportunity to retaliate.

Magister Lefis kept up with Nie Yan’s speed with the Blink spell. Every time he appeared, he would send a stream of magic flying towards Nie Yan with a wave of his staff.

Howling Froststorm!

An enormous ice sphere rotated in the air, then exploded into a wave of ice spikes.

Just as Nie Yan was about to be turned into swiss cheese, he activated Shadow Waltz and transformed into a blur. With a shattering sound, the ice spikes that struck him were blocked by his brief moment of invincibility.

Shadow Clone!

Nie Yan’s body suddenly split into two as an identical clone of him emerged. After which the two immediately dashed toward Magister Lefis, pincering him.

This development caught Magister Lefis off guard. He couldn’t tell real from fake. Waving his staff, he prepared to launch a spell to instantly kill one of them.

Lockdown!

Magister Lefis’ body froze as his spell was interrupted. Nie Yan pounced forward and stabbed down at his forehead. Meanwhile, the other Nie Yan appeared behind Magister Lefis and stabbed toward the back of his head.

A flawless pincer attack. Magister Lefis couldn’t possibly dodge it!

Magister Lefis could already feel the scorching heat from Zennarde’s Swords devilish flames. Just as he was about to be struck, he waved his staff.

Ice Barrier!

A thick layer of ice immediately formed around Magister Lefis, protecting him inside.

KLANG! KLANG! The attacks from both Nie Yan and the shadow clone were blocked.

At this moment, Magister Lefis dissolved the ice barrier and waved his staff.

Ice Nova!

A wave of frost immediately swept out from Magister Lefis.

Everything happened too quickly. Nie Yan and the shadow clone had no way to retreat in time. As the wave of frost came sweeping over, Nie Yan felt the air around him freeze over as his body turned somewhat rigid.

Chapter 798 - Life Hanging by a Thread

Holy Descent!

A white light fell over Nie Yan and the shadow clone, who both activated the ability from the Medal of the Ten Holy Paladins. It gave them immunity to all magic for three seconds.

Extreme Intimidate!

Nie Yan locked onto Magister Lefis again.

Gale Ambush!

Gale Ambush!

Nie Yan and his shadow clone pincered Magister Lefis again, their daggers streaking like lightning through the air.

Apocalyptic Extinction!

Magister Lefis saw his stats get greatly reduced, as both enemies were already almost on top of him. He waved his staff and blinked five meters away.

Nie Yan took advantage of this opening to pull open Divine Recruitment and summoned Paladin Lafus. In addition to the normal costs, he also had to pay 70,000 gold to revive him.

Nie Yan had turned this one-on-one into a three-on-one.

Indomitable Will!

With a burst of speed, Paladin Lafus charged toward Magister Lefis.

Magister Lefis waved his staff, about to let loose with a barrage of spells. However, Paladin Lafus raised his sword and silenced him.

Nie Yan started to find his tempo and gradually pulled the battle into his favour. Dealing with the relentless pursuit of Nie Yan, the shadow clone, and Paladin Lafus, Magister Lefis was constantly interrupted mid-cast and forced to blink away defensively.

Nie Yan started slowly seizing the advantage.

Feeling the control over the battle slip from his fingers, Magister Lefis became enraged. He found an opening and started chanting. As the last syllable left his mouth, he waved his staff and called down a hailstorm as tennis ball-sized hailstones came raining down.

Nie Yan disregarded the damage from the hailstorm. Taking advantage of the speed buff from Gale Ambush which had yet to wear off, his figure blurred as he closed in on Magister Lefis with Zennarde’s Sword aimed at his throat.

Nie Yan had lost more than 20,000 health braving the hailstorm. Paladin Lafus immediately raised his sword and restored his health back to full with a Radiant Heal.

As Nie Yan was on him again, Magister Lefis was forced to blink away once more.

The shadow clone already stood in position. Nie Yan had perfectly predicted where Magister Lefis would blink to. The moment he reappeared, the shadow clone caught him off guard with a ruthless kick aimed at his back.

Magister Lefis hurriedly protected himself with an Ice Armour. BANG! He staggered several steps forward. Thankfully, he wasn’t crippled.

Nie Yan’s attacks were ruthless and decisive. Magister Lefis couldn’t help but look at him in a new light. This was the first time he’d met a player who could stand up to him.

The shadow clone pounced after Magister Lefis, who buffed himself with Speed of the Windwalker and retreated far away. In a moment, he opened up a distance of 60 meters between them.

Nie Yan, Paladin Lafus, and the shadow clone were only just getting started. They went into pursuit.

Magister Lefis waved his staff. His aura surged, as a powerful energy swept out.

A sense of danger welled up from Nie Yan’s heart. This kind of basic instinct couldn’t be ignored. He immediately ordered the shadow clone and Paladin Lafus to retreat with him.

Magister Lefis’ aura was rapidly gaining in power. His robes fluttered as ice spikes started swirling around him.

This wasn’t Forbidden Magic but rather some kind of secret technique.

"Die!” Magister Lefis shouted. Over 100 ice spikes arced through the sky and came crashing down on Nie Yan.

Nie Yan hurriedly had Paladin Lafus and the shadow clone spread out. Like this, he would force Magister Lefis into making a choice. Would he try and go after all three of them, with no real threat to any of them, or would he focus all his efforts onto one of them?

DING! DING! DING! These ice spikes were incomparably sharp. Nie Yan leaped out of the way. BANG! BANG! BANG! The ice spikes exploded after crashing into the ground.

Magister Lefis could freely control these ice spikes. He unleashed a ruthless assault on Nie Yan, the shadow clone, and Paladin Lafus. The ice spikes were raining down without an end in sight. Paladin Lafus was the first to succumb. Three ice spikes struck him, each dealing 20,000 damage. Frost spread out from them and quickly covered his entire body. Every movement he made suddenly took great effort. With a slowed move, he raised his sword and cast several blessings on himself, dispelling the ice.

Evermore ice spikes came raining down.

Nie Yan suddenly accelerated. He left behind a trail of afterimages as he rushed toward Paladin Lafus and kicked him out of the way.

BANG! BANG! BANG! A barrage of ice spikes struck the ground where Paladin Lafus previously stood. If it weren’t for Nie Yan, this would’ve been the end for him.

Magister Lefis was like an all controlling god. Compared to other Magisters, those focusing on the ice attribute possessed the greatest crowd control. This forced Nie Yan, the shadow clone, and Paladin Lafus to dodge around frantically.

As the battle grew more intense, the fog condensed into ice as the view cleared up. From far and wide players were rushing over to witness this grand spectacle. Never before had a player fought evenly with an NPC Magister. This was definitely a first in all of Conviction.

Even though Nie Yan had only held the advantage for a brief few seconds since the start of the battle, this was still worthy of admiration. One had to know, there were plenty of cases of arrogant players provoking Magister Lefis in the past, and without exception, they all ended up killed in one move.

The ice spikes floated around Magister Lefis, as he leisurely walked around. Every now and then, he would shoot them like he was firing a gun. His targets were Nie Yan, the shadow clone, and Paladin Lafus.

Watching Magister Lefis, Nie Yan had an idea. He and the shadow clone both activated Pygmy Transformation, shrinking down to a third of their original size.

Magister Lefis was stunned. After shrinking down, Nie Yan and the shadow clone became much harder targets to hit. Abilities like Pygmy Transformation were extremely useful against ranged opponents.

Nie Yan and the shadow clone nimbly dodged the ice spikes.

Both sides had pulled out all the stops. They were using every ability at their disposal.

Disappear!

Nie Yan evaded another barrage of ice spikes. He suddenly pounced forward like a cheetah and stabbed toward Magister Lefis’ head with Zennarde’s Sword.

Magister Lefis activated Elemental Reset and immediately started firing out ice balls like a gatling gun. However, none of them struck their target.

Magister Lefis had very little experience fighting with a pygmy. He had a difficult time with aiming his spells. Even when he did aim them perfectly, Nie Yan would easily dodge them.

Die! Nie Yan smashed down on Magister Lefis’ forehead with Concussive Blow.

Magister Lefis suddenly sensed something off. A cold chill nipped at the back of his neck. It was another pincer attack!

Just as he wanted to to blink away, the shadow clone rooted him in place with Extreme Intimidate.

Extreme Intimidate and Lockdown were extremely effective against blinks. At least, in the hands of an exceptionally skilled individual that was. It would only work if they were used the instant the opponent was about to blink away.

Nie Yan’s attack reached the limit of speed.

Magister Lefis was still protected by his ice armour as Nie Yan’s attack landed.

A string of 3,000s floated up above Magister Lefis’ head. Thankfully, the ice armour protected him from being stunned. He immediately waved his staff.

Three silhouettes were in the middle of a fierce melee. A little ways’ off, Paladin Lafus cast consecutive silences on Magister Lefis.

Like this, Magister Lefis’ health was brought down to less than half.

Almost there! Nie Yan focused entirely on this fight. There was no room for mistakes. He had to defeat Magister Lefis no matter what!

Nie Yan struck Magister Lefis in the abdomen with an elbow strike. He followed up with a roundhouse kick to the neck, then leaped into the air and came down with an axe kick.

1-hit combo, 2-hit combo, 3-hit combo…

Nie Yan’s movements were fluid and flowing. If it weren’t for the ice armour, Magister Lefis would already be dead.

After enduring such a fierce onslaught of attacks, Magister Lefis was thoroughly enraged. He staggered back while looking for an opportunity to retaliate. It quickly presented itself. Paladin Lafus ran out of silence skills. For a brief period, he couldn’t interrupt Magister Lefis.

Magister Lefis didn’t waste any time in seizing this opportunity. With a wave of his staff, he sent icicles erupting from the ground.

As luck would have it, Nie Yan was in mid-air attacking Magister Lefis. The shadow clone wasn’t so lucky. An icicle pierced its calf and rooted it to the ground.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Magister Lefis blasted the shadow clone with several ice balls, sending it flying. As it crashed into the ground, it disappeared like a wisp of smoke.

As for Paladin Lafus, since he was relatively far away, he wasn’t affected.

At this moment, Nie Yan spun around in mid-air and delivered a powerful kick to Magister Lefis’ face, proccing a knockback effect and sending him flying back and crashing into the ground.

The ice amour around Magister Lefis finally shattered. Just as Nie Yan’s dagger was about to come down on him, Magister Lefis waved his staff.

Ice Blast!

An enormous ice sphere materialized right in front of Nie Yan.

Nie Yan had no time to dodge. He hurriedly shielded himself with the Darkbright Barrier. BANG! He felt an incredibly powerful force smashing into his chest, sending him flying over 60 meters before heavily crashing into the ground.

Before Nie Yan could stand up, he heard several more explosions. A notification popped up.

Paladin Lafus has died.

Chapter 799 - Abak’s Vorpal Striders

Paladin Lafus’ death bought Nie Yan some time.

As Nie Yan struggled back to his feet, he was greeted by an enormous icicle quickly increasing in size. He hurriedly leaped out of the way.

BOOM! The icicle shattered into countless shards, which shot around the battlefield like stray bullets.

Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar. Gale Step was back off cooldown. He quickly activated it to avoid taking damage.

Magister Lefis went berserk, firing spells at a faster and faster rate.

Nie Yan fled about 300 meters away from Magister Lefis and entered into stealth.

Due to the distance, Magister Lefis couldn’t detect Nie Yan’s position. Lefis calmed his mind and started walking around step by step, carefully scanning his surroundings.

Damn! NPC Magisters are really strong! Nearly all of Nie Yan’s skills had been countered by Magister Lefis. This time around, he had no idea what to do. Gazing at Lefis slowly walking around in the distance, he didn’t even know what the safe range was for him. So, he stayed 200 meters away for good measure!

If Nie Yan had Adjudicator of God, this fight would be much simpler. However, he had used it while facing Drakuru. It was still on cooldown.

Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar. His other trump card, Annihilation Slash, was also on cooldown. Ordinary skills wouldn’t do, he had to pull off something special. However, he currently didn’t even have a chance to close in on Magister Lefis. Even if by some miracle he did close the distance and was in range to stun him, Lefis would simply counter it with magic.

If things continued on like this, Lefis’ health would slowly recover, and Nie Yan’s chances of defeating him would become even slimmer.

Magister Lefis calmly paced around the square. His eyes were as sharp as a hawk's. They could see through anything.

The icicles in the air gradually scattered. After witnessing Magister Lefis killing the shadow clone and Paladin Lafus, the onlookers were quietly chatting with each other.

"It’s not looking good for Nirvana Flame.”

"Magister Lefis is too strong. Sure enough, NPC Magisters are on a whole different level.”

Even though they weren’t optimistic about Nie Yan’s chances of winning, he’d still thoroughly earned their respect. Any other player would’ve long since died. He was the first to last this long against an NPC Magister.

Magister Lefis slowly closed in on Nie Yan.

Nie Yan could sense the ice elements around him stirring. He focused his mind. Lefis drew closer and closer, 230 meters, 200 meters, 170 meters...

Time seemed to slow to a crawl.

Nie Yan knew there was no turning back. This was his one and only chance!

"You repulsive brat! I’ll turn your corpse into an ice sculpture and store it in a cave in the tundra!” Magister Lefis spat out maliciously.

Nie Yan could faintly hear Lefis’ words. He sneered. Don’t get ahead of yourself, old geezer! I’m still alive!

Calm, calm. Gotta stay calm! Nie Yan repeatedly told himself. Magister Lefis was definitely the strongest opponent he had dueled. After getting this far, he definitely couldn’t turn back now. Win and he’d be one step closer to completing the Tyrant Abak Set. Lose and his dream of completing the Tyrant Abak Set would go up in smoke, and many important items on him would end up dropping.

Watching Magister Lefis slowly approaching, a strange feeling overtook Nie Yan. His heartbeat slowed, and his mind sharpened to the limit. He’d entered a special zone.

Nie Yan was in a state of absolute calm. There wasn’t the slightest ripple in his heart. There was nothing else in the world beside him and Magister Lefis.

100 meters, 80 meters, 60 meters… Magister Lefis suddenly sensed something. His eyes locked onto Nie Yan’s position, and he waved his staff.

A dense cluster of ice spikes erupted from the ground.

At the same time, Nie Yan made his move. His steps seemed painfully slow, yet were incredibly fast. He easily escaped the range of the ice spikes.

Freezing Hailstorm!

Glacial Roar!

Magister Lefis fired out spells wildly one after the other. Magisters weren’t lacking in mana anyway. Using these kinds of low level spells didn’t require any chanting either. They were all instant casts.

Nie Yan’s silhouette flashed around like lightning, as he evaded Magister Lefis’ attacks with seeming ease.

Nie Yan’s grasp of speed became more and more fluid. He felt and indescribable rush of excitement, as everything rapidly flitted past him.

This was the speed of a Shadow Dancer!

Nie Yan had an urge to holler out in excitement. In the eyes of ordinary players, it looked like he was dancing on a blade’s edge. But he knew he still had a lot of room to maneuver around. He wasn’t worried at all about being hit by Magister Lefis’ attacks.

These movements, were they some kind of footwork? Nie Yan suddenly had a flash of insight.

You have learned Vorpal Steps.

As expected, this was one of the footwork techniques of a Shadow Dancer!

Nie Yan dashed forward with large strides. He was so fast he was like a streak of light. As he familiarized himself with this speed, he locked onto Magister Lefis.

So what if you’re an NPC Magister!? I’ll let you experience a true Shadow Dancer!

A Shadow Dancer’s speed was the bane of Magisters. As long as he was fast enough, not even the strongest Magister would stand a chance against him!

Magister Lefis felt the heat turn up. No matter what he did, none of his spells connected. He couldn’t understand for the life of him what had changed. His opponent had turned from a small fish into a powerful dragon! He pushed himself to the limit, firing out spells at a frightening rate, but couldn’t touch a hair on Nie Yan’s body.

Nie Yan suddenly changed direction and pounced for Magister Lefis, as Zennarde’s Sword drew a brilliant arc through the air.

Blink!

Magister Lefis teleported five meters away. Before he had any chance to move, Nie Yan had closed in on him again with Zennarde’s Sword coming right down on his forehead. He could feel the heat from the black flames assailing his face.

Blink!

Before Magister Lefis’ feet were firmly on the ground, Nie Yan was already on him again.

What frightening speed! Even Magister Lefis broke out in a cold sweat. He could only blink and blink and blink again; anything in an attempt to break away from Nie Yan. However, the effects of consecutive blinks were limited. Nie Yan was too fast and perfectly predicted where he was going to blink to every time.

Magister Lefis fell on the backfoot for the second time this fight.

Nie Yan wouldn’t give him another opportunity to escape!

As Magister Lefis touched the ground after another blink, Nie Yan suddenly leaped up and stabbed toward the back of his head with Zennarde’s Sword.

Magister Lefis raised his staff to cast another Blink, when Nie Yan targeted him with Lockdown. A powerful force locked onto him and interrupted his magic.

Magister Lefis’ heart tightened. He waved his staff again in a panic, only to feel a sharp pain piercing into the back of his skull. He was stunned.

Nie Yan was simply too fast. Magister Lefis had no time to react!

Nie Yan coldly smiled. Ha! Got you stunned. Don’t even think about coming out of it again!

Nie Yan plunged his dagger into Magister Lefis’ spine with a Backstab, then followed up with a Lacerate.

After several attacks, a string of 6,000s floated up above Lefis’ head. His health rapidly plummeted.

BANG! An icy blast of frost energy erupted from Magister Lefis’ body.

It was right in his face, but Nie Yan quickly activated Death Exemption. The blast swept over him and covered him in a layer of frost.

Magister Lefis actually had a counter-type passive skill! Thankfully, Death Exemption made Nie Yan immune to crowd control effects. So, he wasn’t frozen. Though, the damage still went through, shaving away more than 10,000 of his health.

Magister Lefis’ fingers twitched. The stun was about to wear off, when Nie Yan circled round to his back and struck him with Backbreaker. BANG! He was immobilized again.

Nie Yan then followed up with Reverse Grip Backstab, which nearly completely emptied Magister Lefis’ health bar.

Nie Yan held Zennarde’s Sword about half an inch from Lefis’ throat, the raging black flames looking as if they would swallow him whole.

Even though Magister Lefis had an eccentric personality, he wasn’t evil. In fact, he had made great contributions to the Viridian Empire. If Nie Yan killed an NPC like this, it would undoubtedly leave an ugly mark on his record. So, he decided to not go through with killing Lefis and withdrew his blade.

Several seconds later, Magister Lefis regained control of his body. He gazed at Nie Yan.

"I lost,” Magister Lefis said in a dejected tone. This was his first time losing at the hands of a player. Even though he was dismayed, he accepted his loss with grace.

"According to our bet, please hand over Abak’s Vorpal Striders to me,” Nie Yan said.

Lefis flicked his wrist as a pair of boots appeared in his hand. He tossed them over to Nie Yan. "Here, this is the item you wanted.”

Nie Yan caught the boots. Examining them, they were Abak’s Vorpal Striders no doubt. He had obtained another piece of the Tyrant Abak Set! That made seven, only one more piece to complete the set! He couldn’t help but get excited.

"I’ll be taking my leave,” Nie Yan said. He turned around and walked away. With this matter settled, he could go back a happy man. Apart from Abak’s Vorpal Striders, he had also learned the Vorpal Steps. This was quite the harvest.

None of the onlookers expected the battle to end like this. An NPC Magister was actually defeated by Nirvana Flame! They all looked at each other in shock and dismay. Watching Nie Yan disappear in the distance, they couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. If they could reach Nie Yan’s level one day, they could die without regrets.

Chapter 800 - Movement Speed Cap

Magister Lefis watched Nie Yan disappear into the crowd of onlookers. With a dejected sigh, he too left the square. It’d be the last time he showed his face.

News of the duel between Nie Yan and Magister Lefis shocked the entire player base. Defeating a Level 160 NPC Magister was an incredible achievement. Videos of the battle were posted online and rapidly disseminated.

Nie Yan didn’t care for any of this. What interested him was his spoils from the battle.

Abak’s Vorpal Striders (Legendary): Unequippable

Requirements: 1,500 Strength, 1,200 Dexterity, Level 180

Description: This item can only be worn by the owner of the Glimpse of Darkness. It is only equippable when the owner has gathered the full set. Abak held strength in high regard. Only the powerful can become tyrants. Eliminate all traitors!

Properties: Defense +1,120, Strength +200, Dexterity +520, Movement Speed +50%

Vorpal Sprint: Increase the effect of all escape skills by 50%, Movement Speed +300%, does not stack with other speed boosting skills. Duration: 10 minutes. Cooldown: 2 days.

Set Completion: 7/8

Note: Automatically bound to the owner of Volume I of the Book of Order; cannot be traded or dropped.

The movement speed bonuses from Abak’s Vorpal Striders were quite impressive. Nie Yan’s current movement speed was at 1,393. This was three to four times more than ordinary players at his level would have. He truly was one of a kind.

The movement speed cap was 5,000. Normally, no matter how good your equipment was, it was near impossible to reach. However, with Abak’s Vorpal Striders, Nie Yan could achieve just that. All he had to do was raise his normal movement speed to 1,700, and then activate Vorpal Sprint.

Nie Yan couldn’t even imagine that kind of speed.

Movement speed was divided into six different brackets. Below 30 was extremely slow, 30–99 was slow, 100–299 was average, 300–999 was fast, 1,000–2,999 was very fast, 3,000–4,999 was pushing the limits of speed, and 5,000 was the rumoured cap. Nie Yan currently fell into the very fast bracket, putting him far ahead of his peers. As an example, at his current movement speed, he could finish a 100-meter dash in under four seconds.

Speed was the life of a Shadow Dancer. Nie Yan couldn’t imagine how much influence reaching the next two brackets would have on his strength.

With Abak’s Vorpal Striders, Nie Yan now had seven of the eight pieces of the Tyrant Abak Set. Sadly, he hadn’t an inkling of a clue where the eighth and final piece might be located.

Nie Yan watched over the recording of his duel with Magister Lefis. Unlike in the low quality recordings from the onlookers, in his video he could clearly see all of Magister Lefis’ movements. Lefis’ comprehension of mana wasn’t something ordinary players could imagine.

This footage was definitely precious material, showing off a true Magister! Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and the other Magisters still had a lot of room to improve. It would definitely be beneficial to them.

「Guo Huai, I’m sending you some footage. Share it with the Magisters in the guild.」Nie Yan sent the footage of the duel to Guo Huai.「Make sure this doesn’t leak outside.」

Guo Huai was puzzled. Just what kind of footage was this important? He briefly skimmed over the footage before his expression immediately turned serious. Even though it had been a long time since he levelled, ran dungeons, or PvPed, as the executive guild leader of Asskickers United, he could tell this footage was priceless!

「Understood. I’ll share it with Sparrow Hawk and the others. I’ll remind them not to share it with anyone else,」Guo Huai said.

「Good.」Nie Yan nodded.「Has the Blood Reaver Corps made a move yet?」

「No, it’s like they completely disappeared,」Guo Huai said. Even though Asskickers United’s influence ran across the entire surface world, finding a small group of people in a place as massive as the Viridian Empire was incomparably difficult.

If they couldn’t find the Blood Reaver Corps, there was nothing Nie Yan could do. He checked his experience bar, 32% into Level 149. Unless he hunted down another Level 180 Demonified Lord, it would be extremely difficult for him to quickly raise his level. He estimated it would take him at least a month to reach Level 150 at his normal levelling speed. If he focused on hunting Elites and Lords, it might be a little faster.

「I just received a report that the Century Financial Group has been meddling in the underworld. Many players from the Demon Tribe and Undead Empire are heading towards the surface. We’re probably going to face some trouble,」Guo Huai said.

「What about Fallen Angel?」Nie Yan asked. There was a large number of troops from Fallen Angel on the surface world. They worked closely together with Asskickers United, probing the strengths and weaknesses of Angel Corps. In their several clashes so far, both sides had suffered considerable losses. A war spanning two empires was on the horizon.

「They’re afraid of taking serious losses. So, they’ve only engaged in a few small scale battles so far. In fact, other than occupying three small towns in the Satreen Empire and erecting defenses, they haven’t done much of anything. I feel like they have their own plans, or maybe something happened back in the underworld. I mean, they still haven’t unified the Undead Empire yet,」Guo Huai said.

「We can maintain a cooperative relationship with Fallen Angel for the time being, but we still have to maintain our vigilance. Get in touch with them and have them see if they can do anything in the underworld and help us alleviate some pressure. As for the Evil Faction players arriving on the surface, we’ll have Okoron’s NPC army deal with them,」Nie Yan said. His NPC army was already 10,000 men strong. It was about time they got thrown into the deep.

「No matter how many players from the Undead Empire and Demon Tribe arrive, they can’t threaten us. I’m just worried that our guild members will be too busy dealing with them to level or run dungeons. Sending the NPC army will save us some headache,」Guo Huai agreed with Nie Yan’s idea.

「I’m going to go look for the last piece of the Tyrant Abak Set and also do some levelling while I’m at it. If anything happens, report to me immediately. I’ll drop everything and rush over.」

「Alright.」

After his call with Guo Huai, Nie Yan returned to Okoron to restock on consumables, then went off to level.

Over the next 20 days, the Blood Reaver Corps appeared five more times. The first time, they ambushed an Asskickers United team levelling in Blaze City, killing more than 200 players. The second time, they ambushed and completely wiped out a 60-man team about to run a dungeon in Hilderlocke. The third time, they launched a surprise attack on one of Asskickers United’s minor strongholds in Nisode, killing over 300 players before retreating. The fourth and fifth times, they dealt considerable damage in Moonlight City and Calore respectively. Apart from these major incidents, many members out levelling alone or in small parties had also died to the Blood Reaver Corps. Combining everything together, in the excess of 1,600 players from Asskickers United had died at the hands of the Blood Reaver Corps.

Every time the Blood Reaver Corps launched an ambush, Nie Yan and the other Masters would come rushing over. However, before they could even arrive, the Blood Reaver Corps would’ve already fled with Unknown Transfer Scrolls. They were yet to catch a glimpse of them. Not to mention the Blood Reaver Corps never struck the same place more than once. They would launch their ambush, disappear for several days up to a week, and then strike somewhere else entirely. Whenever Nie Yan and the others got close to surrounding them, they would slip away into one of the many large mountain ranges where it was next to impossible to find them.

Asskickers United was spread too thin. There were countless opportunities for the Blood Reaver Corps to exploit.

Asskickers United felt helpless against the Blood Reaver Corps, wishing to get rid of these pests sooner rather than later. They also had to deal with a sudden influx of players from both the Demon Tribe and Undead Empire, who seemed all too eager to clash with them. The Abernathy Great Grasslands quickly turned into the main battleground between the two great factions. Okoron’s NPC troops were dispatched to every village and stronghold in the territory and were in charge of maintaining peace and security. This was enough of a deterrent for the most part, though there were still some underworld players who dared to attack a small village here and there.

Guo Huai ran some calculations. There were as many as 6,000,000 players from the Demon Tribe and Undead Empire actively roaming about in the Abernathy Great Grasslands. Some were bribed by the Century Financial Group. Others were ordinary players who came here to grind Glory. Thankfully, Asskickers United wasn’t fighting alone. There were about 3,000,000 players from the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire helping out. Asskickers United could only shudder at the thought of being in this fight alone. They’d be outnumbered 10 to one. It’d be a disaster.

Even though no real problems had occurred in the Abernathy Great Grasslands so far, having so many Evil Faction players roaming around left Nie Yan feeling extremely uneasy. As a safeguard measure, he started putting up high reward quests throughout the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire, directing players from all over to the Abernathy Great Grasslands.

As the fighting between both sides intensified, Nie Yan felt something big was about to happen. He had to hurry!

Chapter 801 - Putting a Stop to the Blood Reaver Corps

Nie Yan checked his quest window. A clue on the last remaining piece of the Tyrant Abak Set finally appeared.

Ofini is a jewel merchant in Blaze City famous for the great variety of rare gems for sale in his shop. He has contacts everywhere who provide him with only the best items. A few days ago, he obtained a piece of equipment, which was identified to be the leg piece of the Tyrant Abak Set. An incredible discovery that left him endlessly excited. However, he’s recently encountered some trouble.

"Looks like I’ll have to pay a visit to Blaze City,” Nie Yan muttered.

Nie Yan was about to set off for Blaze City, when Guo Huai sent word that the Blood Reaver Corps had been found!

This time was different from the previous times. The Blood Reaver Corps hadn’t launched another surprise attack. Rather, a member of the Hundred Thieves had discovered them first.

「What’s the situation?」Nie Yan asked.

「The Blood Reaver Corps are in the Abernathy Great Grasslands right now. 10 Winged Demon discovered them levelling in the Golden Barrens. Since he was worried he would lose them, he reported to Tyrannical and Hapless Frog, and the two rushed over. The Blood Reaver Corps still haven’t noticed them! They’re apparently planning to hunt a boss. So, they won’t be leaving for the time being. However, we should still get over there as quickly as possible. We don’t want to give them the opportunity to escape again!」Guo Huai said.

Nie Yan rubbed his chin. The Blood Reaver Corps was in possession of a large amount of Unknown Transfer Scrolls. If they were to rush over there without thinking, the Blood Reaver Corps would just teleport away and escape. They needed a foolproof plan. Even if it was impossible to completely wipe out the Blood Reaver Corps, they needed to kill at least enough members to deal a serious blow to them.

Since the Blood Reaver Corps belonged to the Evil Faction, travelling around on the surface was incredibly inconvenient for them. If any of their members died and wasn’t revived within 30 minutes, they would be returned to a graveyard in the Underworld. It wouldn’t be too difficult to come back up to the surface, but it would waste a lot of their time.

This was something Nie Yan had to plan for. They couldn’t give the Blood Reaver Corps an opportunity to revive their fallen comrades. It was the only way to truly hurt them and put a stop to their rampage in the Viridian Empire.

「What’s your plan?」Guo Huai asked.

「Sun, King of the World, Mistaken Smile, One Strike Vow, Shadow Killer, and I will launch an ambush on the Blood Reaver Corps first. The others will follow behind us. Supply everyone with some Shackles of Strife Scrolls, the more the better,」Nie Yan said. In order not to alert the Blood Reaver Corps, it would be best to have the Shadow Dancers go first.

「Alright, I’m on it!」Guo Huai replied.

Nie Yan opened up his contact list and added Sun, King of the World, Tang Yao, and the others to his team.

Sun has joined your team.

Young Sparrow Hawk has joined your team.

Yao Yao has joined your team.

...

As the team was formed, the voice chat grew lively.

「Boss, where are they now? We’ll kick their asses back to the Underworld!」Undying Scoundrel proclaimed. As soon as he heard about the Blood Reaver Corps being found, he grew restless.

「Listen to my orders. All Thieves will come with me first. The rest of you will stay at least 3,000 meters behind us. Don’t let the Blood Reaver Corps discover you. Their Thieves are likely to be roaming around as lookouts. If any of you get caught, our ambush will fail,」Nie Yan said in a serious tone. Opportunities such as these rarely presented themselves. They definitely couldn’t let it slip out of their hands.

「Understood!」

「Also, they likely have moles planted in our guild. So, we have to keep this operation a secret. Don’t tell anyone. From now on, put on your cloaks and hide your information. We can’t let anyone find out we’re all heading to Okoron!」Nie Yan said.

All of them put on their cloaks and hid their information. Afterwards, they went to the transfer points in their respective cities and teleported to Okoron.

Guo Huai had his subordinates collect a large number of Shackles of Strife Scrolls, providing Nie Yan and the others with two each. Shackles of Strife Scrolls were extremely rare. With the power of Asskickers United, Guo Huai still only managed to obtain about 50 of them. And he’d paid big bucks for them, 300,000 gold in total!

Nie Yan, Sun, and the other Shadow Dancers set out first, while the other members remained on standby in Okoron.

The Shadow Dancers teleported to a small stronghold in the Abernathy Great Grasslands called Palisi. After exiting the transfer point, they dashed north and entered a map called the Golden Barrens.

Nie Yan called up Hapless Frog.「Where are you guys right now? What are your coordinates?」

「Golden Barrens, 38587.99085.8879,」Hapless Frog reported.

Nie Yan confirmed the location of the coordinates. The six Shadow Dancers activated Gale Step and dashed toward their target.

After running through the Yellow Desert for five minutes, a team appeared in Nie Yan’s vision up in the distance. They looked like a regular team grinding monsters. The Thieves were luring hordes of Desert Goliath Lizards toward a specific location. After reaching the designated area, magic would come raining down from the sky. It was all AoE magic!

This group that counted quite a few members were in battle formation. Seeing the pair of silver wings on their backs, Nie Yan confirmed these players were from the Blood Reaver Corps.

「Where are you two?」Nie Yan asked Tyrannical and Hapless Frog.

After receiving an answer, Nie Yan looked south at the yellow sands. As his gaze fell on a certain area about 200 meters away, he locked onto them. The two had hidden themselves quite well.

About a minute later, Sun, King of the World, and the others also arrived.

「Nie Yan, we’re here,」King of the World said.

The eight Thieves were hidden in stealth at a fair distance from the Blood Reaver Corps, observing their every move.

Under the dense hail of magic, the Desert Goliath Lizards collapsed in droves.

"Collect the loot!” Blood Devil ordered.

Dark Shadow looked around at the surroundings and said, "I have an uneasy feeling that something bad will happen today.”

"We’ve been on the surface for so long, and we haven’t encountered a single problem. Plus, the Century Financial Group and Angel Corps have crazy many moles in Asskickers United. If they make a move, we’ll know about it far in advance. You’re overthinking again,” Blood Devil confidently said. They had thrown off Asskickers United so many times already, what was there to worry about?

"Maybe you’re right.” Dark Shadow chuckled to himself. He only felt a general sense of uneasiness. As for where it came from, he couldn’t put his finger on it. He hadn’t detected Nie Yan and the others at all. Due to the distance, there was no way he could discover them. There was no explanation for this creeping feeling of uneasiness. A gut feeling, he told himself. So, he didn’t pay it too much mind, or maybe he was just that confident there was nothing Asskickers United could do to them.

"Boss, we’ve collected all the loot. Are we going to hunt the Desert Goliath Lord now?” Autumn Gust asked.

"Let’s grind a few more waves of Desert Goliath Lizards,” Blood Devil said.

After hearing Blood Devil’s words, the Thieves went over to lure more mobs.

"I received a video from one of my friends in the Righteous Faction. Take a look. The Century Financial Group actually thought this wasn’t worth letting us know about. What a joke,” Dark Shadow said. He shared a video with Blood Devil.

Blood Devil took a look. It was a video of Nie Yan fighting Magister Lefis.

"Do you think you could win against that Magister?” Dark Shadow asked. Even though they were with each other all the time, he had never seen Blood Devil show his true strength. This was because Blood Devil never showed off more than necessary. He always held a little back. The times he had to go all out could be counted on one hand.

Blood Devil shook his head with a frown. "I wouldn't be a match for that Magister.”

Blood Devil wouldn’t lie in this kind of situation. Dark Shadow couldn’t help but sigh. It seemed there was still a large gap between Nie Yan and Blood Devil.

The more closely Blood Devil examined the video, the more frightened he became. For Nirvana Flame to reach his current fame definitely wasn’t by luck. Rather, he acquired it with his own strength.

After watching the video, Blood Devil fiddled with the hilt of his sword. He knew the two of them would face off one day. Nirvana Flame was definitely the most powerful opponent he had seen so far. He estimated his chances of winning were less than 10%. Nirvana Flame was like an insurmountable mountain.

Blood Devil bitterly smiled. He had no idea what he could do to defeat Nirvana Flame. Maybe if he could gain a flash of insight and advance from a Silver Wing to a Gold Wing, he might stand a chance.

Blood Devil closed the video. He had no desire to clash with Nirvana Flame anytime soon.

After killing several more waves of Desert Goliath Lizards, the team sat down to rest.

"Rest up, guys. We’re going to hunt the Desert Goliath Lord next,” Blood Devil said.

Those who were tired sat down and drank some potions. Only a few Warriors were still standing and looking around, serving as guards.

「Boss, they’re resting. Do we go now?」Tyrannical asked.

「Sparrow Hawk, how close are you guys?」Nie Yan asked.

「We’re about 3,000 meters from you,」Tang Yao said.

「Good. Prepare to move!」Nie Yan said. As soon as he gave the word, the eight Shadow Dancers closed in on the Blood Reaver Corps from different directions.

Chapter 802 - Flawless Ambush

The Blood Reaver Corps was hunting Desert Goliath Lizards. Nie Yan believed it would be some time before they moved on to the boss. Seeing their members sit down to recuperate their health and mana, he wasn’t willing to wait any longer. This was a good opportunity to strike.

Nie Yan and the other Thieves slowly closed in on the players of the Blood Reaver Corps.

Nie Yan’s eyes fell on Blood Devil. The enemy leader. In a perfect world, he’d assassinate him first and then kill the rest. However, that was wishful thinking. This was the most famous expert in the Blood Reaver Corps. Nie Yan didn’t want to take the risk, afraid this opponent would prove harder to kill than expected.

Nie Yan focused his attention on a certain Dark Zealot. He wore a black robe with a hood that hid his face. His equipment was the best among the Dark Zealots here, with at least two pieces being Legendary-grade. Taking into consideration where he was standing, Nie Yan could immediately tell he was the Blood Reaver Corps’ number one Dark Zealot.

Dark Zealots were the Priests of the Demon Tribe. If Nie Yan killed the Blood Reaver Corps’ number one Dark Zealot, it would definitely be more meaningful than killing Blood Devil himself. A dozen or so players stood close by the Dark Zealot. However, none of them appeared to be too wary.

The players from the Blood Reaver Corps had yet to spot the threat looming over them. They believed to be absolutely safe and that Asskickers United couldn’t possibly find them. Little did they know that eight Shadow Dancers were quickly closing in on them.

They were still happily chatting with each other, in fervent discussion about the day’s harvest.

「Boss, I’m in position,」Tyrannical said.

「Same here.」

「Me too!」

...

Sun, King of the World, and the other five were already within 10 meters of the Blood Reaver Corps. They had each selected a target.

Nie Yan gauged the distance between him and his target, about seven meters. It was time to take action!

「I’ll take out that Dark Zealot. But first, listen up guys, this is how we’re going to do it.」Nie Yan said. He quickly explained their battle plan.

Nie Yan suddenly shot forward with blinding speed and stabbed Zennarde’s Sword toward the back of the Dark Zealot’s head.

Nie Yan’s movements were too fast. From lurking in ambush to pouncing at his target, it only took a fraction of a second. This kind of speed couldn’t be replicated in real life, only inside the game.

At this moment, the players from the Blood Reaver Corps were quite carefree and relaxed. They had no sense of danger or wariness. Nie Yan was too fast, catching them completely off guard. They didn’t have any time to react, most didn’t even see his silhouette flash past them.

Sensing something off, the Dark Zealot tried to flee. His foot hung in the air mid-step and his staff was still lowered, when Nie Yan stunned him with a Smothering Strike.

Nie Yan pressed the blade of Zennarde’s Sword against the Dark Zealot’s throat and slashed out with a Cut Throat.

PSSFHT! Blood sprayed out, as the Dark Zealot collapsed dead on the ground.

The players of the Blood Reaver Corps finally reacted.

"Boss! It’s Nirvana Flame!” came a panicked voice.

Blood Devil wasn’t blind. Before this player had even started shouting, he already charged toward Nie Yan. There was only six meters between them.

Shadow Waltz!

Nie Yan disappeared from Blood Devil’s view. He then reemerged next to a drow Warlock and and slashed down with Zennarde’s Sword.

−13,888! An instant kill!

The Blood Reaver Corps players resting on the ground quickly shot up to their feet. Their initial confusion and panic quickly took place for a certain calmness. It seemed like they had a plan prepared specifically for a scenario like this.

Seeing he had successfully attracted their attention, Nie Yan shouted in the voice chat,「Kill!」

As the words left Nie Yan’s mouth, Sun, King of the World, and the other Shadow Dancers launched their ambushes. PSSFHT! PSSFHT! PSSFHT! Seven jets of blood sprayed into the air. Seven players from the Blood Reaver Corps were instantly killed.

「What a bunch of trash. So slow,」Tyrannical remarked.

Individually, these players from the Blood Reaver Corps couldn’t compare to the Masters of the Righteous Faction. They mainly relied on their teamwork and coordination. Against ordinary players, it was more than enough. However, this could only take them so far. Whether it was their reaction speed, adaptability, or any other stat, they lost out to Nie Yan and company. So, when Sun and the others launched an ambush on them, they weren’t fast enough to react. Players like Sun, King of the World, and Mistaken Smile wouldn’t let a good opportunity like this slip by.

The players from the Blood Reaver Corps weren’t to be underestimated. After a brief moment of confusion, they quickly got into battle formation. They split into several-man parties and each chose a target.

「I want Nirvana Flame dead!」Blood Devil shouted in a heavy tone. He was trying to calm himself with great difficulty right now. The rage in his heart was like a volcano about to erupt. In only a short moment, they had already lost nine people. In all the battles they had fought so far, this was the first time something like this had happened.

Blood Devil closed in on Nie Yan. He leaped into the air and cleaved down with his greatsword.

Seeing Blood Devil coming down on him, Nie Yan transformed into a blur as several afterimages appeared around him. He employed the Illusion Steps to dodge Blood Devil’s attack.

In this exchange, even though no skills or spells were used, Nie Yan started viewing Blood Devil in a completely new light. To be able to react so quickly, Blood Devil was definitely a worthy opponent.

As Blood Devil cleaved the ground with his greatsword, Dark Shadow pounced toward Nie Yan from the side, his dual blades coming out like streaking meteors.

Seeing the two blades, Nie Yan hurriedly raised Zennarde’s Sword to block. KLANG! He managed to block one of the attacks. However, the other blade pierced through his defenses. He hurriedly retreated back and arched his body back. The blade swept past his stomach, a fraction of an inch away from cutting him open.

Dark Shadow spun around and came slashing forward with his dual blades again. His attack speed was even slightly faster than Nie Yan’s.

Slayers were a purely Dexterity-focused class. Dexterity increased their attack power, movement speed, and attack speed. They would often even forgo other stats and sometimes even neglect their equipment, all in an attempt to raise their Dexterity by another point.

Dark Shadow’s blades came sweeping down again. Blood Devil was also charging in to pincer Nie Yan. Meanwhile, the six players in the immediate vicinity were eyeing Nie Yan like wolves.

Seeing the situation was unfavourable, Nie Yan leaped back and retreated.

「Don’t let them escape!」

Multiple dark orbs of light shot up in the sky and revealed Nie Yan and the others’ silhouettes.

Nie Yan and the others were outnumbered eight to one. Although Silver Wings were weaker than Masters, they were still the highest rank class of the Demon Tribe. Those who could successfully advance to a Silver Wing were definitely experts.

KLANG! KLANG! KLANG! Nie Yan exchanged several blows with Blood Devil and Dark Shadow. He couldn’t do anything to them because they wouldn’t give him the opportunity to attack back. These people were fast and coordinated seamlessly. Ordinary attacks wouldn’t work against them.

Much like Nie Yan, the other Shadow Dancers were also struggling with the large amount of enemies. They could only sit on the defensive, dodging left and right. There was no opportunity to strike back. However, evading these attacks was fairly simple for them. As long as they didn’t run out of skills, they wouldn’t die.

As the Blood Reaver Corps started to get the feeling they were getting the upper hand, one of their players named Bat anxiously shouted in the voice chat, 「Boss! The other Masters from Asskickers United are coming!」

Hearing Bat’s words, Blood Devil’s heart tightened. Looking in the distance, he spotted at least 20 silhouettes rushing towards them. The Mages were the fastest, only a few blinks away from being in range to attack the players from the Blood Reaver Corps. The Warriors and Paladins were a bit slower.

「Our reinforcements are finally here,」Sun said in relief. He had suffered quite a bit trying to deal with so many players at once. He had almost died.

Nie Yan and the others breathed a collective sigh of relief. As for the players from the Blood Reaver Corps, they started panicking. Just a moment ago, nine of their members were killed. They had even lost their top Dark Zealot. This was a heavy blow to their morale. Suddenly seeing so many Asskickers United Masters rushing over, they naturally felt a lot of pressure.

「Boss, what do we do!?」

「Retreat!」Blood Devil gritted his teeth. After being ambushed by Nie Yan and the others, their battle formation had already been messed up. Combining that with their earlier casualties, and they were already on the back foot. They could only retreat for the time being, or suffer severe losses. As for the players who had died, they would have to revive back in the Underworld.

Seeing the players from the Blood Reaver Corps looking like they wanted to retreated, Nie Yan sneered. Want to run? Not so fast!

「Activate your Shackles of Strife Scrolls! Lock down as many as you can!」Nie Yan shouted.

Nie Yan took out a Shackles of Strife Scroll from his bag. After chanting out a few syllables, he targeted Blood Devil. "Leaving so soon? Why don’t you stay and play with us a little longer?”

Apart from Nie Yan, the other Shadow Dancers also activated Shackles of Strife scrolls.

Seeing the Shackles of Strife work, Nie Yan chuckled. "Let’s see where you guys will run off to now!”

At this moment, Tang Yao, Undying Scoundrel, and the rest of the backup finally arrived, completely surrounding the players from the Blood Reaver Corps.

Chapter 803 - Caged Beasts

Several members of the Blood Reaver Corps teleported away. However, nine members, including Blood Devil, found their Unknown Transfer Scrolls wouldn’t work.

「Shit! Boss, we’ve been locked down by Shackles of Strife!」Autumn Gust cursed.

At this moment, the Magisters arrived. There was no more escaping with Unknown Transfer Scrolls since Magisters could simply drag them back after they teleported away.

Blood Devil considered the current situation. After the initial ambush, they had lost nine players. Another 12 had teleported away with Unknown Transfer Scrolls. That meant out of the original 60 players, they only had 39 remaining right now.

It would be incredibly difficult for these 39 players to find another opportunity to escape. They could only do one thing. Give it their all!

Blood Devil looked around. All his team members were already clashing with the enemy.

Meanwhile, the players who’d teleported away were anxiously bombarding the voice chat with questions.「Boss, what’s happening? Where are you guys?」

「We got locked down by Shackles of Strife. All of you, get your asses back here! Hurry up!」Blood Devil replied. He turned to Dark Shadow and the others.「Shadow, we’ll keep Nirvana Flame busy. The rest of you, fight with all you’ve got! Take down as many of those bastards as you can!」

The Blood Reaver Corps still enjoyed the numerical advantage. Add their unusual battle tactics and impeccable teamwork, and they weren’t at too much of a disadvantage, at least not enough to completely collapse.

"Trash from the Blood Reaver Corps! Today we’ve come to collect our debts! Don’t tell me you all are this weak!?” Bladelight shouted as he charged into the crowd of Blood Reaver Corps players.

Blood Devil, Dark Shadow, and several others kept Nie Yan in check. For the time being, he couldn’t contribute anything to the battle. As for the other Masters, the most frightening was undoubtedly Bladelight. He was like an iron fortress. No one was strong enough to deal any real damage to him.

Two drow Warlocks targeted Bladelight with several curses as they saw him charge toward them. After which they joined the other casters in bombarding him with magic.

Dark Requiem immediately raised his sword to cast Dispel. A white light fell over Bladelight, dispelling the curses.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Over a dozen spells struck Bladelight. However… The players from the Blood Reaver Corps were dumbstruck! Were their eyes playing a trick on them, or did their skills really didn’t deal more than one to two hundred damage!?

What kind of freakish defense was this!?

A Mystic raised his staff, enchanting the sword in his other hand with raging flames and buffing himself with Speed of the Windwalker. He then dashed up to Bladelight’s back and slashed down with his sword. A damage value of 100 floated up above Bladelight’s head. His eyes widened in shock.

Bladelight’s equipment was too far ahead of everyone else, especially Drakuru’s Tower Shield. The properties from this shield caused his defense to reach unspeakably high levels. Ordinary melee classes could only deal a few dozen points of damage a hit to him. Not to mention their attacks were blocked more often than not. As for the Mages, Warlocks, and Mystics, their more powerful spells barely dealt 200 damage. For someone with 130,000+ health, this damage was negligible.

「Boss, this guy’s defense is too high! We don’t deal any damage to him!」

Bladelight charged up to a Slayer. The forte of a Slayer was their high attack speed. In only a short moment, this one brandished his two blades and unleashed a flurry of attacks. A long string of damage values rose up above Bladelight’s head, none of them dealing more than a few dozen damage.

Bladelight slashed down with his sword. BANG! The Slayer was sent flying.

In front of Bladelight’s impenetrable defenses, most anyone would be helpless. Only the likes of Nie Yan, Tang Yao, and Xie Yao could pose a threat. So, he was mowing down everyone in his path. Wherever he went, the players from the Blood Reaver Corps would back away in fear.

BANG! BANG! Two Slayers who tried to close in on Tang Yao and Xie Yao were instantly blasted away and killed.

「Boss, what do we do!? We’re not their match. We just lost another three members!」Autumn Gust anxiously cried out. Seeing Nie Yan easily holding his own against Blood Devil, Dark Shadow, and several more, he finally had to admit his initial judgement was wrong.

Blood Devil was one of the three strongest players of the Demon Tribe. Dark Shadow would also have no problem entering the top five. However, even with these two players working together, they still were helpless against Nirvana Flame. This completely overturned the senses of the players from the Blood Reaver Corps. Not to mention, Bladelight, Young Sparrow Hawk, and the others were also strong beyond belief. To be able to kill the enemy even while outnumbered, just what were these people?

The Blood Reaver Corps had swept through the entire Demon Tribe and Undead Empire. They were feared by all the top teams and guilds in the underworld. Even after arriving on the surface, it was still the same. No one was their match. Pride had filled every corner of their being. However, this same pride was being crushed right now by Nie Yan and the others.

The Blood Reaver Corps was forced to a miserable state in only a few short moments. Even though it was an ambush, the strength of Nie Yan’s group couldn’t be looked down on.

Blood Devil couldn’t understand why Asskickers United had so many Masters, when other guilds were struggling to produce just a few.

「Boss, what do we do?」

「At this rate, we’re going to wipe!」

At this moment, the players who had teleported away with Unknown Transfer Scrolls finally arrived back. They quickly entered the fray.

「Screw it! Brothers, we’re going all out! Don’t let them look down on us!」Blood Devil shouted. Seeing his team members dropping like flies, one by one, he couldn’t hold back any longer.

「God dammit! Even if I die, I’ll take at least one of them with me!」one of the Slayers cursed. Both his blades transformed into a bright green colour. This was one of his skills, which enchanted his blades with poison.

The Slayer drank a Speed Potion. Taking advantage of an opening, he charged over to Summer Bug.

"You’re looking to die!” Undying Scoundrel shouted. He waved his staff, firing one spell after another at the Slayer.

The Slayer suddenly leaped into the air and unleashed a flurry of slashes. BANG! BANG! BANG! Undying Scoundrel’s spells were all cut apart.

「That’s Origin Scroll! He’s one of the top three Slayers in the Demon Tribe!」Summer Bug recognized the slayer charging up to him. He quickly retreated and waved his staff, firing a barrage of magic.

「That guy is pretty famous!」

Several players in the Blood Reaver Corps were ranked highly on the leaderboards of the Demon Tribe. They were the pillars of the team.

Summer Bug and Undying Scoundrel teamed up to pincer Origin Scroll. They wanted to lock him down.

Every spell that came in contact with Origin Scroll’s blade was immediately cut apart. Only 30 meters away from Summer Bug, he let out a shout. Demon Metamorphosis! His eyes turned crimson red and emitted a demonic light. Suddenly, he arrived in front of Summer Bug and slashed up with one of his blades, wanting to cut Summer Bug’s stomach open. His blade left behind a trail of fire.

Summer Bug hurriedly retreated several steps back as Origin Scroll’s blades brushed past his stomach.

Repel!

Sumer Bug waved his staff as a repelling force swept out around him.

Miss!

Repel didn’t work!

Summer Bug felt his heart tighten. Seeing Origin Scroll close in, he quickly activated Arcane Reset. BANG! BANG! BANG! He immediately shot out eight fireballs.

Origin Scroll’s lightning fast blades sliced apart five fireballs. BANG! BANG! BANG! Three went through and struck him. A string of damage values ranging between 6,000 to 7,000 floated up above his head. He only had a sliver of health remaining, about 500 or so. He was quite lucky. If even one of Summer Bug’s spells critted, he would’ve been dead.

Undying Scoundrel’s spells were also flying over. Just as Origin Scroll was about to be killed, he activated his final skill. His body transformed into a red flash as one of his blades pierced Summer Bug’s body.

Summer Bug’s body froze. He was immobilized. He struggled to raise his staff. However, Origin Scroll’s blades were like dancing lightning. PSFHT! PSFHT! PSFHT! Summer Bug was struck multiple times in quick succession.

In just a short three seconds, Summer Bug had received seven hits.

The frightening attack speed of a Slayer was out on full display for everyone to see.

Summer Bug collapsed dead on the ground. It was basically an instant kill.

In the instant Origin Scroll killed Summer Bug, two spells struck him, shaving away the last remainder of his health. He also collapsed on the ground.

Looking at the two corpses on the ground, Undying Scoundrel had a dejected look on his face. In the end, he still failed to save Summer Bug. Three Blood Reaver Corps players came rushing towards him. He didn’t dare to linger and immediately engaged them.

The players from the Blood Reaver Corps were all veterans of the battlefield. They had extremely high battle prowess. Previously, they were caught off guard by Nie Yan and the others’ ambush, so they suffered losses. After a brief period of panic, they had already calmed themselves. They knew Nie Yan and the others wouldn’t let them run away. There was a high chance they would wipe here today. This was a life-or-death battle. Backed into a corner, they fought like caged beasts. Their fierce resistance gave Nie Yan and the others a lot of trouble.

「Boss, Summer Bug died!」Undying Scoundrel said.

「Lei Su died too!」

After the Blood Reaver Corps lost 19 players, Asskickers United also started seeing casualties.

Chapter 804 - Legendary Scroll

Lei Su ended up falling victim to the curses of the Warlocks. With his stats greatly reduced, several drow Thieves had ganged up on him and stun locked him to death.

Though Warlocks might not possess the greatest damage threats, their curses were beyond terrifying. Some of the more powerful ones could leave a player completely powerless in battle.

Only Priests and Paladins could dispel the curses of the Warlocks. Unfortunately, Nie Yan’s team only had three Priests and one Paladin, and they were kept busy by the enemy. They couldn’t possibly watch over everyone. So, casualties were inevitable.

「Bladelight, watch over the equipment Lei Su and Summer Bug dropped! Don’t let the enemy snatch them away!」Nie Yan shouted in voice chat.

「Don’t worry. With me here, no one will be taking anything!」Bladelight first bulldozed his way to Summer Bug’s corpse, and then to Lei Su’s. He was like an iron fortress, no one could stop him.

In spite of the fierce resistance of the Blood Reaver Corps, the battle was still sliding in Asskickers United’s favour.

Nie Yan and the other Masters were mentally tough. They took the battle slowly and steadily. Each of them faced off against at least three opponents at once. Some even held their own in a one on five. As for those who fell, they were unfortunately caught off guard.

The losses for the Blood Reaver Corps started adding up. After their casualties rose above 20, their battle formation began to collapse.

「Boss, we can’t hold out any longer!」Autumn Gust cried out anxiously in chat.

Blood Devil clenched his fists. His heart was filled with unwillingness. From the moment Conviction was released, they’d never lost a battle. He’d led his Blood Reaver Corps through countless battlefields. Their name instilled fear in everyone! They were never afraid to take on a force many times bigger than their own. Yet now, on this battlefield where they outnumbered the enemy more than three to one, they were crumbling apart. They couldn’t even withstand a single blow from these Masters in Asskickers United.

「We haven’t lost yet!」Blood Devil quickly retreated to the side, then shouted,「Shadow, cover me!」

Dark Shadow immediately knew what Blood Devil was planning.「Understood!」His gaze fell on Nie Yan. But he only saw a blur before losing track of him. Feeling nervous, he activated his ocular skill Blood Eyes and quickly locked onto Nie Yan. He brandished his dual blades and pounced forward.

Blood Devil had retreated a dozen meters. Taking out a golden scroll from his bag, he started chanting.

Seeing Blood Devil activating a high level scroll, Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He had to stop him!

When Dark Shadow saw Nie Yan change direction, he charged over from the side to intercept him while shouting anxiously,「Bat, Gust, help me stop him!」

Dark Shadow was far closer to Blood Devil than Nie Yan was. He blocked Nie Yan’s path forward and stabbed out with his two shortswords.

Nie Yan switched to a reverse grip. KLANG! He blocked Dark Shadow’s attack. Then, he leaned to the side and slashed at Dark Shadow’s neck with Zennarde’s Sword.

Dark Shadow hurriedly crossed both his shortswords to block. KLANG!

As Zennarde’s Sword came in contact with the two shortswords, Nie Yan spun around with a ruthless sidekick. BANG! Dark Shadow felt a powerful force ram into his stomach as he was sent flying.

Nie Yan pounced after Dark Shadow, about to follow up with another attack and finish him off. However, a drow Thief interrupted him.

Autumn Gust was nervous. His body felt somewhat rigid and stiff, as he tried to stun Nie Yan with a Smothering Strike.

"Even trash like this can become a Silver Wing? This battlefield is for adults. Go home, kid.” Nie Yan’s cold voice seemed to come from the depths of the underworld.

Before Autumn Gust could react, Nie Yan drove an elbow into his solar plexus. He immediately bowed forward like a shrimp. He let out a heavy groan as he clutched his stomach, holding back the urge to puke his guts out. The pain was so excruciating he could hardly breathe.

Nie Yan never considered the drow Thief before him as a worthy opponent. He slashed Autumn Gust’s throat and finished him off.

Another enemy killed!

Five more players from the Blood Reaver Corps rushed over. Nie Yan made quick work of them, cutting down three and sending the other two flying with a kick.

Nie Yan was like a death god walking on the battlefield.

Dark Shadow felt his blood freeze over. These normally unrivalled Silver Wings were nothing more than fish on the chopping board in front of Nie Yan. Many of them didn’t even know what happened. One moment they were running to intercept Nie Yan, the next they lay dead on the ground.

Finding only he could stop Nie Yan, Dark Shadow felt a lot of pressure. He took several small steps back, but he didn’t flee. He was the only thing keeping Nie Yan away from Blood Devil!

They were about 10 meters apart. Dark Shadow could hear his own heart beating in his chest.

Nie Yan suddenly accelerated as his silhouette blurred.

Dark Shadow only saw a flash. Before he could even raise his shortswords, Nie Yan had already arrived in front of him.

The world seemed to come to a halt, as time passed extremely slowly.

BANG! Nie Yan delivered a punch right to Dark Shadow's heart.

"Blood-” Dark Shadow spat only a single syllable before the words got stuck in his throat. He wanted to warn Blood Devil, but Nie Yan didn’t give him the opportunity.

Dark Shadow was sent flying. However, Nie Yan didn’t stop there. He followed with an elbow strike, then leaped up with a flying kick.

3-hit combo!

Dark Shadow’s body flew 10 meters in the air before crashing into the ground, never to get back up again.

Nie Yan looked at Dark Shadow’s corpse with slight curiosity. This was a strange feeling. When he closed in on Dark Shadow, he felt like he could control time. When reaching a fast enough speed, time would appear to slow down.

Nie Yan turned around. He was planning to give Blood Devil a taste of this new move as well.

Blood Devil finally chanted out the last syllable as the golden scroll in his hands emitted a dazzling light. A black whirlwind swept out, blotting out the sky and sand. Within this berserk tempest, 10 enormous wolves stepped out.

"Nirvana Flame, it’s time to die!” Blood Devil swung his greatsword, as the 10 wolves pounced toward Nie Yan.

Nie Yan hurriedly evaded the wolves with Gale Step.

"Wipe out all of them!” Blood Devil shouted. In order to deal with Nirvana Flame, he endured the heartache of using this Legendary scroll. It was their team’s only Legendary Scroll, something they had found by chance while grinding mobs. These Dark Fenris Wolves were Level 180 Elites. They had numerous skills, and more importantly, they followed the commands of the summoner.

Nie Yan evaded the attacks of the wolves and retreated back into stealth. He revived Paladin Lafus again and also summoned Lil’ Gold.

Lil’ Gold blocked three of the wolves.

Seeing Nie Yan escaping, Blood Devil switched targets. The wolves pounced toward the other players.

Six wolves locked onto Black Hell. They surrounded him before pouncing on him. He waved his staff and blinked away. Almost at the same time as he waved his staff, black vines started growing all around him in a 60-meter radius. They wriggled and squirmed like they were alive. When his feet touched the ground again, a vine wrapped around his ankles and rooted him to the ground. Looking at his skill window, all his escape skills were greyed out.

「Black Hell, watch out!」came the panicked cries of the other players from Asskickers United.

Black Hell waved his staff and attempted to debuff the Dark Fenris Wolves with his curses, then cast his mind control magic. A string of misses floated up above the heads of the wolves. He hurriedly used Howl of Terror. However, that was useless too.

Black Hell showed a bitter smile. These wolves were immune to dark and mind magic. When he finally got around to using light magic, it was already far too late. The six wolves mauled him to death.

Black Hell has died!

「Everyone, watch out for those wolves. Don’t use dark or mind magic on them!」Nie Yan anxiously cried out in the voice chat.

Bladelight charged forward and struck one of the wolves with a Shield Bash. Six others immediately pounced on him.

The wolves were biting and clawing at Bladelight. However, his health barely fluctuated. They couldn’t deal more than 400 damage to him each.

Blood Devil immediately had the wolves change targets.

The Masters of Asskickers United all had powerful pets. This was a perfect opportunity to use them. Bears, cheetahs, and all sorts of different pets entered the battle.

The Dark Fenris Wolves were extremely powerful. They badly wounded three Asskickers United players in the blink of an eye. Creatures summoned from a Legendary scroll really were something else entirely. These wolves were huge with tough skin, and they could use powerful skills.

Blood Devil had the wolves fight the players form Asskickers United while he fled for safety.

Nie Yan’s eyes scoured the battlefield, sweeping over the areas between the wolves before finally spotting Blood Devil over 400 meters away.

I didn’t expect you guys to have something like a Summon Dark Fenris Wolves Scroll, but let’s see where you can run off to now! Nie Yan entered stealth and made his way around the wolves. As he accelerated, he experienced that same feeling from before when facing Dark Shadow.

Chapter 805 - All-Out Slaughter

Two Dark Fenris Wolves pounced toward Nie Yan.

Nie Yan employed a strange footwork technique. After moving several steps, he suddenly accelerated as he dashed past the Dark Fenris Wolves and charged toward Blood Devil.

After breaking away from the first two, another three Dark Fenris Wolves came pouncing towards Nie Yan from the flanks.

Their canines flashed with a sharp light under the sunlight.

Nie Yan transformed into a blur. The claws of one of the Dark Fenris Wolves brushed past his neck, as he struck out with a spinning kick. BANG! His foot struck the wolf in the stomach, causing it to yelp out in pain as its feet lost touch with the ground.

Evading the attacks of the other two Dark Fenris Wolves, Nie Yan dashed toward Blood Devil.

Blood Devil controlled the Dark Fenris Wolves to attack Nie Yan. Seeing Nie Yan sent one of them flying in his direction, his face paled in fright. He quickly threw out a punch and knocked the wolf away.

The powerful impact caused Blood Devil to stagger several meters back. His arms felt numb. An indescribable shock filled his heart. God dammit, is this guy a Thief or a Warrior!? Why does he have so much strength!?

Little did Blood Devil know that Nie Yan actually had 20% more Strength than him.

Although Blood Devil had reached the military rank of General, he hadn’t yet had the time to return to the underworld and buy equipment worthy of his current status. His current equipment definitely wasn’t shabby, increasing his Strength by quite a bit, but it couldn’t quite compare to a full set of Sub Legendary-equipment. To say nothing of the quality of Nie Yan’s gear. So, this loss was to be expected.

It took Blood Devil another two attacks to get the Dark Fenris Wolf off of him. It crashed to the ground.

Blood Devil was just about to retreat, when he saw a blur flash past his eyes. Nie Yan was already in front of him. His heart tightened, as he raised his greatsword to defend.

Before Blood Devil even half raised his greatsword, Nie Yan struck him in the arm with an elbow.

So fast!

Blood Devil nearly dropped his greatsword from the sharp pain. Within this instant, Zennarde’s Sword came stabbing towards him. His pupils shrunk.

Nie Yan’s attacks reached the pinnacle of speed. A simple elbow strike robbed Blood Devil of all his fighting strength. After which he stabbed Zennarde’s Sword toward Blood Devil’s forehead with a Concussive Blow.

There was no dodging this attack!

Nie Yan saw Blood Devil’s eyes flicker with a peculiar glint. However, in this fleeting moment, he had no way of telling what it meant.

BANG! Nie Yan struck Blood Devil in the forehead.

It hit! Nie Yan’s eyes lit up. But in the next moment, he felt his arm holding Zennarde’s Sword falling forward, as though he’d struck air.

The Blood Devil in front of Nie Yan slowly disappeared, like some kind of illusion.

An afterimage! It appeared Blood Devil had quite a few tricks up his sleeve. Nie Yan spread out his senses, but he couldn’t detect Blood Devil anywhere. From his experience, with the exception of astral form skills, nothing else could escape his Awareness. Astral form skills put the player into a spirit-like state. They’d be invisible and invincible. However, their movement speed was also greatly reduced and they couldn’t attack.

With Blood Devil in astral form, he was untouchable. Until it wore off, Nie Yan could only give up. Luckily, these skills had a limited duration. All he had to do was wait it out and strike when the skill wore off!

As Nie Yan was about to leave, he noticed six Dark Fenris Wolves pouncing towards him. Looking over the battlefield, Lil’ Gold and Paladin Lafus were fighting three other wolves. As for the other team members, they had their hands full with the players from the Blood Reaver Corps.

Seeing the six Dark Fenris Wolves closing in on him, Nie Yan put one foot back and held out Zennarde’s Sword in a reverse grip. He didn't plan on running. Fighting was the only option. If he didn’t kill these Dark Fenris Wolves, Blood Devil would definitely have them target Tang Yao and the others.

Nie Yan noted down the position of every Dark Fenris Wolf. Seeing the six surrounding him, he suddenly slid several steps forward. With a roundhouse kick, he struck one of the wolves in the neck, sending it flying off to the side and crashing into another wolf.

Nie Yan dashed through the opening he created and broke out of the encirclement. The other four Dark Fenris Wolves pounced at him in vain.

Rather than escaping, Nie Yan dashed toward the Dark Fenris Wolf he kicked earlier. He brandished Zennarde’s Sword.

The Dark Fenris Wolf let out a low howl at Nie Yan. It opened its maw and chomped down toward him.

PSSFHT! Nie Yan slashed the Dark Fenris Wolf’s mouth, running the blade of Zennarde’s Sword through and opening up a large wound.

Nie Yan struck a weak point. His attack dealt over 9,000 damage and stunned the Dark Fenris Wolf.

In a sudden burst of speed, Nie Yan struck out with a Reverse Grip Backstab, then followed up with an axe kick to the spine and a Backbreaker!

Nie Yan checked his notification window, 3-hit combo, 5-hit combo, 7-hit combo, 9-hit combo! On the ninth hit, he dealt over 3,000,000 damage. The Dark Fenris Wolf was sent flying before crashing into the ground. It let out an agonized whine before its head collapsed to the ground.

Several Dark Fenris Wolves pounced at Nie Yan from behind. He dodged to the side. After which he accelerated and dashed toward his next target.

Blood Devil was off to the side in astral form. He still had about a minute left. He couldn’t help but pray that time would pass by quickly, so he could jump back into the fray. When he looked over at Nie Yan, he was absolutely gobsmacked. Nie Yan was dodging the attacks of the Dark Fenris Wolves with ungodly speed. When he had the opportunity, he would retaliate. His movements were both fast and precise. All his attacks were perfectly flowing and linked together. He bursted down a Dark Fenris Wolf from 100 to zero in only 10 seconds.

BANG! A Dark Fenris Wolf flew through the air and crashed into the ground. 10 seconds later, another wolf accompanied it. Then another, and another. Six in total befell the same fate.

The Dark Fenris Wolves were falling like flies. Even Level 180 Elites weren’t Nie Yan’s match. When Blood Devil used his Legendary scroll, he didn’t have any extravagant hopes of them killing Nie Yan, but he never expected this result either. This was pure madness!

Before long, 10 wolf corpses lay on the ground.

All done!

Nie Yan dusted off his hands. Looking over the battlefield, the others were still fighting the players from the Blood Reaver Corps. He locked onto a Warlock more than 20 meters away and disappeared with Gale Step.

The Warlock had just debuffed Smoke Stub with several curses and shot out a dark arrow, when Nie Yan suddenly appeared in front of him. He stumbled back in a panic and tried to raise his staff.

However, it was already far too late!

The Warlock had only spat out a single syllable before the words got stuck in his mouth. PSSFHT! Nie Yan slashed his throat with Zennarde’s Sword.

Instant kill!

A nearby Slayer witnessed it all in terror. He tried to flee in a panic.

A Slayer, huh…? I wonder who’s faster. Nie Yan turned into a blur and appeared right beside the Slayer, then sent a kick flying towards his neck.

The Slayer’s reaction speed was pretty quick. He hurriedly raised his arm to block.

BANG! Nie Yan’s kick ruthlessly struck the Slayer’s arm and sent him flying.

In a contest of power, the Slayer thoroughly lost to Nie Yan.

Seeing the Slayer go airborne, Nie Yan leaped up and raised his leg, then came down with an axe kick on the Slayer’s chest.

CRAACK! The sound of several ribs breaking rang out in the air.

The Slayer crashed back into the ground.

Two down!

Nie Yan locked onto his third target.

While Nie Yan was carrying out an all-out slaughter, Tang Yao and the others were also starting to overwhelm their opponents.

Bladelight knocked a Warrior airborne with a Shield Bash, then finished him off with a Flame Slash.

「I’ve killed three,」Tang Yao said in the voice chat. He used his unrivalled firepower to blast the enemy to death. Anyone unfortunate enough to enter his line of sight met with a tragic end.

「I’ve killed two,」Bladelight said with a faint smile.

「I’ve also killed two.」

...

「We’ve lost three. Summer Bug, Lei Su, and Black Hell.」

Against an all Silver Wing team, this was an incredibly impressive result.

The Blood Reaver Corps’ casualties quickly broke past 30. They had less than half of their original force left. The gap between them and Asskickers United was growing wider and wider.

「Boss, we can’t hold on any longer! Nirvana Flame is too strong!」With Dark Shadow dead and Blood Devil stuck in astral form, there was no one else in the Blood Reaver Corps who could keep Nie Yan in check. As a result, he was free to let loose. Five Silver Wings had already died at his hands.

Gale Ambush!

Nie Yan sped up yet again, breaking past 3,000 movement speed. He was so fast the players from the Blood Reaver Corps couldn’t even keep up with him with their eyes. He dashed up to a Dark Zealot in the middle of healing an ally. Drawing a brilliant arc with Zennarde’s Sword, he cut open their throat.

The Dark Zealot had no clue what had happened. One moment he was healing an ally, the next his health bar hit zero. As blood came spraying out of his throat, he blacked out and collapsed dead on the ground.

Chapter 806 - By Far the Strangest Attack in the Game

Six down! Nie Yan silently counted. With him wreaking havoc on the battlefield, the Blood Reaver Corps fell apart. The players from Asskickers United were completely mowing through them now.

Blood Devil finally came out of astral form. However, the situation on the battlefield was already long out of his control.

The Blood Reaver Corps suffered a crushing defeat!

「Everyone, retreat! If you can run away, run away!」Blood Devil shouted. He looked at his stats. After coming out of astral form, he was weakened for about 30 seconds. He hurriedly drank a Reinvigorating Potion to restore himself to top condition.

「Leave none of them alive!」Nie Yan ordered in a ruthless tone.

「Understood!」Everyone’s killing intent flared out. Their morale was sky high. With victory in sight, how could they not be excited?

「Leave Blood Devil to me!」Nie Yan said before dashing towards Blood Devil.

Several players from the Blood Reaver Corps escaped with Unknown Transfer Scrolls.

"Want to run? Not so easy!” Undying Scoundrel snorted.

The Magisters waved their staffs, and pulled back the players who had teleported away.

The players who tried to teleport away thought they’d escaped, only to find themselves back in the same exact spot they were previously in. They were dumbstruck.

Another two players from the Blood Reaver Corps were sent flying. In order to prevent anyone else from trying to escape, the players from Asskickers United used their Shackles of Strife Scrolls.

Young Seven turned to Undying Scoundrel right beside him and said, "You take care of that Mage. Leave the drow Thief to me!”

"Huh? Okay.” Undying Scoundrel blurted out in a daze. Normally, Young Seven was in charge of healing and rarely ever joined the offensive. However, now that he thought about it, Priests had many skills that were suited for chasing down Thieves. It was just that most Priests were squishy and not great at PvP. So, more often than not they became the targets of Thieves.

They split up and chased down their respective target.

"Where do you think you’re going?” Young Seven threw up a ball of light in the air, which revealed the position of the drow Thief. Then he waved his staff and hit the Thief with a mark.

The drow Thief could no longer hide from Young Seven. Even in stealth, he’d be visible.

The drow Thief glanced back and discovered his pursuer was a Priest. He snorted. "Fuck, even a Priest thinks he can walk all over me now! Just because a tiger isn’t roaring, you think it’s a cute little cat!” However, he kept running. He wasn’t afraid of the Priest, but rather of the possibility that someone more frightening, like a Magister, would step in.

Even after activating Gale Step, the drow Thief was still visible as the glowing mark above his head revealed his position.

Young Seven activated Extreme Tailwind. This was a special skill he obtained from a quest which massively boosted his movement speed. A gust of wind blew below his feet. His gait didn’t change, but his body moved several times faster and he quickly caught up to the drow Thief.

Young Seven waved his staff. He first cast several slow curses on the drow Thief, then targeted him with an Agony.

A string of 600s floated up above the drow Thief’s head. Even though the damage wasn’t high, it still added up over time. The drow Thief’s speed buff from Gale Step immediately disappeared.

The drow Thief glanced back. Finding no other enemies chasing him, his face lit up with joy. A Priest actually dared to chase him, a Thief? He was basically asking to get killed!

What was there to be afraid of? The drow Thief turned around and pounced toward Young Seven.

Young Seven inwardly sneered. He kited back and waved his staff.

The drow Thief had taken a few steps, when his foot suddenly got stuck in the ground. The previously hard earth had transformed into a quagmire. He struggled to pull his foot out, only to have the other sink into the mud as well.

Young Seven had cast the quagmire perfectly. The Thief didn’t know what hit him before it was already too late.

Leap!

The drow Thief instinctively activated the leap skill. His feet barely left the ground, when Young Seven waved his staff and summoned an enormous slime. Ordinary slimes were about as big as a basketball. They had no limbs or face. They were simply large blobs of viscous liquid. Even low level players looked down on these low rank creatures. However, Young Seven’s slime looked a little different from the ones everyone knew. A variant! In terms of attack power, this one was no different from the others. At Level 163, it only had a few hundred attack. However, with the size of an elephant and a health pool of 10,000,000, it was a frightening existence.

Young Seven had obtained this slime on a quest by chance. Whereas most players would throw a pet like this away, he saw the uniqueness in it. It had an extremely high health growth rate, to the extent it could be described as monstrous. With blood, sweat, and tears, and the help of his friends in the guild, he managed to get it to Level 163. At the higher levels, its freakish health pool became apparent. The only downside to this pet was its pitifully low attack power growth rate. It only had 600 attack power at Level 163.

The drow Thief leaped up, only to see a giant black shadow envelop him.

"What the shi-!?” the drow Thief cried out. It was already too late for him to use any escape skills. BOOM! The enormous slime fell down on him with the weight of Mt. Tai, burying him into the earth.

The drow Thief coughed out a mouthful of blood, as he nearly blacked out. He thrashed about violently in a desperate attempt to escape this pudgy slime. However, all resistance was futile.

"Gururu! Gururu!” the slime let out a strange sound. Its body wobbled as it started attacking the drow Thief. A string of 1s floated up above his head.

"Shit! Get this fucking thing off of me!” the drow Thief cried out. He lay sprawled out on the mud, his chest heaving up and down as the slime’s weight bore down on him. He kept trying to crawl out to no avail.

"P-please, let me go…” the drow Thief begged with tears in his eyes. This was the most terrifying attack he had ever experienced since starting the game.

Young Seven chuckled evilly. This was an original Young Seven attack. He waved his staff and finished off the drow Thief with several light arrows.

Young Seven walked up to the slime and patted its side with a smile. "You did well, partner.”

"Gurururu! Gurururu!” It responded by happily wobbling its gelatinous body.

Young Seven recalled the slime into his pet space. This fellow was his trump card. What it lacked in offensive, it more than made up for in utility.

The Blood Reaver Corps’ casualties were climbing higher and higher. The remaining few team members were scattering like terrified rats. It was only a matter of time before they were killed too.

The fight was over. Lost. Blood Devil activated several speed boosting skills and fled for his life.

Nie Yan activated Gale Step and was hot on Blood Devil’s tail.

Blood Devil was already bound to Nie Yan through Shackles of Strife. For now, his teleport skills and scrolls were all greyed out!

It looked like a cheetah chasing down a hare on an open plain, as a high-speed chase ensued.

There were about 100 meters between the two sides. However, Nie Yan was quickly shortening the gap. Even if Blood Devil activated Charge, he was no match for Nie Yan in terms of speed.

Glancing back, Blood Devil was shocked to see Nie Yan had almost caught up to him. His face paled in fright.

Nie Yan leaped into the air and pounced on Blood Devil.

Blood Devil rolled out of the way, cutting a sorry figure as he scrambled back to his feet.

Running at this speed, Blood Devil had a hard time controlling his body. He stumbled and lost his balance. As he fell, he braced his hand on the ground and flipped himself back up. Nie Yan was almost on him again. He let out a roar.

Demon God Sacrifice!

Blood Devil’s body ignited with crimson red flames as the silver wings on his back erupted into flames. He let out a deep shout, "Come at me, Nirvana Flame! Let’s have our final showdown! Even if I die today, I’ll be taking you down with me!”

"I’d like to see you try!” Nie Yan coldly chuckled, as Zennarde’s Sword erupted out with raging black flames.

Blood Devil raised his greatsword and ferociously chopped down.

Nie Yan planned to greet Blood Devil’s attack head-on. However, an enormous pressure bore down on him, rooting his legs to the ground. He could only raise Zennarde’s Sword to block.

KLANG! KLANG! KLANG! Blood Devil crazily hacked down at Zennarde’s Sword.

Nie Yan blocked with great difficulty. The incredible strength behind the blows caused his feet to sink into the earth. Fuck! What kind of skill is this!? Such an overbearing aura!

Blood Devil’s body burned with raging flames. He looked like a true demon.

Nie Yan guessed this skill was similar to Bladelight’s Bulwark of the War God.

A string of 6,000s floated up above Nie Yan’s head. He quickly drank a Specialist Health Potion, restoring his health back to full.

Just as Blood Devil was about to hack down with his sword again, Nie Yan’s body blurred as he split into two.

Both the original and clone brandished their blades and attacked Blood Devil at the same time.

Suddenly encountering this kind of situation, Blood Devil was completely caught off-guard. He tried to dodge.

Extreme Intimidate!

A powerful force locked onto Blood Devil, causing his body to turn rigid. Nie Yan shot forward with Zennarde’s Sword and pierced his heart.

Chapter 807 - Killing Blood Devil!

Lacerate!

Nie Yan ruthlessly ran his blade across Blood Devil’s chest.

Blood Devil brandished his greatsword, which was ablaze with raging hot flames as he cleaved down.

Nie Yan leaned back and avoided Blood Devil’s attack.

Dark Whirlwind!

A whirlwind of black swordlight erupted out from him, pushing back the Shadow Clone. He clutched his chest, as he took to the air with a flap of his wings and fled toward the north.

Blood Devil was still alive even after taking a fatal blow like that! Nie Yan inspected Blood Devil with Transcendent Insight—56% health. Just how large was his health pool!? In all likeliness, Demon God Sacrifice dramatically increased his health, defense, and various other stats. However, he was still no match for Nie Yan’s blade.

Blood Devil’s wings gave him the ability to fly, but only at a low altitude of no more than 10 meters. Even so, it was far faster than running speed.

Nie Yan broke out into a dash, rapidly accelerating as he quickly closed the gap. Only a few more meters! Seizing the opportunity, he leaped into the air and soared toward Blood Devil.

Blood Devil sensed Nie Yan’s presence behind him. He swung around and slashed out with a sword beam.

Darkbright Barrier!

BOOOM! Nie Yan braved the attack and retaliated with a slash to the throat. The two only crossed paths for a brief instant in the air before Nie Yan fell back down to the ground.

THUD! Nie Yan gracefully landed on the ground. He glanced at his health bar, still over 80% health left.

Blood Devil’s attack didn’t do much damage to him.

In the instant Nie Yan landed, the shadow clone leaped over a dozen meters into the air and soared toward Blood Devil. Meanwhile, he entered stealth and chased down Blood Devil from the ground.

Blood Devil had flown only a few meters before sensing Nie Yan on his back again. He hurriedly downed a Specialist Health Potion and restored his health back to full. Glancing at his skill bar, most of his skills were on cooldown. His eyes fell on a certain skill. This one wasn’t. A strong killing intent flashed through his eyes. Nirvana Flame, die! He turned around to face Nie Yan and let out a roar, as the flames around him erupted out. With a slash of his sword, he sent three enormous crescent-shaped sword beams flying out.

Tri Demon Slash!

Darkness fell over the barrens. There were only three sources of light, the three sword beams.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, the Masters from Asskickers United had finished killing the last survivors from the Blood Reaver Corps. They were stunned by the sudden dazzling black radiance. Looking up in the sky, they were greeted by a magnificent sight—three ink black crescent moons hanging in the sky.

"Boss! Watch out!”

The players from Asskickers United were crying out in a panic.

Dodging or moving around in mid-air was impossible. Nie Yan couldn’t possibly evade Blood Devil’s attack!

BOOOOM! Struck by the three crescent sword beams, a silhouette was sent rocketing towards the ground.

"I-is the boss dead?”

The Masters anxiously glanced at each other. They’d all seen it, Nie Yan struck head-on by the sword beams. Given the might of Blood Devil’s attack, this surely was an instant kill!

"The boss isn’t dead!”

None of them received a notification that Nie Yan had died.

Seeing the silhouette crashing in the ground, Blood Devil grinned. Nirvana Flame was dead. He coldly snorted. Overconfidence would only lead to failure! As he glanced down at his notification, he had to take a second look. There was no notification of him killing Nie Yan! How was this possible!?

Could it be that Nie Yan didn’t die? No, impossible! His Tri Demon Slash could instantly kill any opponent. A thought suddenly crossed his mind. The clone! What he killed was Nie Yan’s clone! He immediately sensed something off. His wings fluttered in a mad attempt to flee, only to discover his body was frozen in place.

It was Lockdown again!

Screw it! If I can’t run, I’ll take you down with me! Blood Devil brandished his greatsword and prepared to retaliate, when a gloomy dark energy fell over him. His body felt weak and his movements were sluggish.

Nie Yan silently appeared behind Blood Devil. With a Backbreaker, he plunged Zennarde’s Sword into his back. With the dagger in his other hand, he slashed Blood Devil’s throat with Cut Throat.

Blood Devil’s health fell to zero. His body plunged down from the sky.

Nie Yan reached out his hand and grabbed the two items Blood Devil dropped.

THUD! Blood Devil’s corpse crashed into the ground.

It’s settled. Nie Yan clapped his hands after he gently landed on the ground. He inspected the two items Blood Devil dropped. One was a Level 130 Legendary-grade chestpiece. It was a set item that would drop upon death. That explained why two items dropped after he died. The other was a Level 130 Sub-Legendary leg guards with pretty decent properties. However, both pieces of equipment were restricted to evil faction players only. The leg guards wasn’t worth much, probably 5,000–6,000 gold at most. As for the chestpiece, since it was a unique set item, its value couldn’t possibly be estimated. One thing was certain though, it was definitely an excellent item.

Nie Yan wondered how he should deal with these two items. Having the Temple of Light purify them seemed like a waste. He could always exchange them with Fallen Angel for the right price.

Nie Yan put the two items away in his bag.

"What are the results? How many Blood Reaver Corps players did we kill? Young Seven, Painted Muslin, go revive the fallen,” Nie Yan said. Asskickers United’s side had only lost three people. This was quite impressive. He originally expected their losses to be in the double digits. The current figure didn’t even come close to that. Their ambush was far more effective than he thought.

The results were quickly calculated.

"We killed 57 of them. The three that managed to escape were all Thieves.”

Nie Yan was satisfied with this outcome. It wasn’t realistic to prevent all Thieves from escaping. As soon as they activated their escape skills like Gale Step, it would be easy to lose track of them. Only a Priest’s mark could track them. However, Young Seven and Painted Muslin could only keep tabs on a single Thief each.

"Clean up the battlefield. We’re leaving,” Nie Yan said.

Before long, Summer Bug, Lei Su, and Black Hell were revived. They had only lost a bit of experience. The equipment dropped by the Blood Reaver Corps was also all collected. Since none of the Dark Zealots escaped, there was no need to guard the corpses. Nie Yan and the others activated their Return Scrolls. With a flash of light, they returned to Okoron.

News of Nie Yan’s group wiping out the Blood Reaver Corps quickly spread. The first to hear it were the members of Asskickers United.

「See! What did I say? I knew the boss would deal with them! Idiots! What did they expect by trying to mess with us?」

「They probably thought they were invincible after fighting for months in the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire unchallenged. They just hadn’t met the boss yet! The fools.」

Asskickers United’s guild chat was filled with people discussing this news. When word spread to the rest of the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire, players from both empires went into an uproar. The Blood Reaver Corps had killed countless people. Even several large guilds working together could do nothing to stop them, suffering heavy losses instead. So, when the Blood Reaver Corps had started killing players from Asskickers United, even attacking their strongholds, everyone began to despair. It’d seemed like no one could put an end to these demons! All they could hope for was for them to get bored and eventually return to the underworld. Who would’ve thought Nie Yan taking action once was all it took to wipe the floor with them?

Neither Angel Corps nor any of the other large guilds could put a stop to the Blood Reaver Corps, but the Masters of Asskickers United under the leadership of Nie Yan had done just that. This caused their prestige to soar, above and beyond the likes of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group.

After this incident with the Blood Reaver Corps, the players from both empires could all see the truth. Even though powers like Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group were formidable with numerous members, their glory days were over. There was nothing they could do to put a stop to Asskickers United’s rise. Asskickers United was like the mid-day sun! A new wave of experts from both empires packed their bags and headed for Okoron to try and join Asskickers United. They wanted to be a part of this legend in the making.

The Abernathy Great Grasslands was located on the border between both empires, and Okoron was its capital. Its geographical location was exceptional. Add on the fact that the laws and policies in Okoron were drawn up to greatly favour the player, and one could imagine how attractive this place was.

There were about 8,000,000 players heading to Okoron from all over. Some were strong enough to enter Asskickers United while others weren’t but still came to try their luck.

Asskickers United had no way of absorbing so many players all at once. Every member they recruited had to pass through stringent tests. This would take no small amount of time. On top of that, they didn’t have a limitless cash stream and their benefits were by far the most generous out of all the guilds. There were only so many players they could accept.

Luckily, Asskickers United could afford to be picky with so many applicants. At the same time, This large influx of players also solved a crisis for Nie Yan. The number of Righteous Faction players staying in the Abernathy Great Grasslands already far exceeded the number of Evil Faction players. Badly outnumbered and after the defeat of the Blood Reaver Corps, the players from the underworld lost their brazenness. Several days of clashes later, the number of Evil Faction players in the Abernathy Great Grasslands plummeted. There were now five Righteous Faction players for every Evil Faction player.

This development was a pleasant surprise for Nie Yan. He no longer had to worry about Okoron’s safety.

Chapter 808 - Legendary Realm?

Nie Yan received word that Fallen Angel was finally intensifying their attacks on Angel Corps. Where at first they kept to small skirmishes of only a few hundred men, now they sent entire armies of tens of thousands of players. The two sides were clashing fiercely. Asskickers United had also dispatched 30,000 troops. They would sporadically join in and launch assaults on the forces of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group.

The players from the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire felt a storm brewing. Asskickers United had put their sights on Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. If the two sides were to clash, a war of epic proportion would break out. Both were hegemons of their respective empires with hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of members under them as well as many branches. Both sides would call to arms millions of players. A war of this scale would affect the entire power balance of the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire. Everyone would be affected.

The intense friction between both sides kept escalating. The smell of gunpowder was strong in the air.

Suspiciously, even though several large battles were fought in the Satreen Empire, Angel Corps never launched a fierce retaliation and simply held their ground. The higher-ups of the guilds hadn’t shown their faces for over a month already either. No one, even their own members, knew where Soaring Angel and the others were.

Fallen Angel was making progress on all fronts. As the flames of war spread, they were already preparing to lay siege on a stronghold!

Angel Corps and Fallen Angel were sworn enemies. The two even had opposing names. Their conflict was irreconcilable. With a powerful ally like Fallen Angel by their side, Asskickers United felt a lot less pressure.

Nie Yan received word that Fallen Angel’s seven Soulweavers were planning to make a trip to the surface. Soulweaver was the final class advancement of the Undead Empire. Like the Masters of the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire, the Soulweavers of the Undead Empire were far stronger than the Silver Wings of the Demon Tribe. There were only 13 Soulweavers in the entire Undead Empire, and seven of them belonged to Fallen Angel. This was quite the achievement.

With Fallen Angel’s seven Soulweavers coming to the surface, Angel Corps already felt a headache coming up.

Nie Yan passed down various orders to the players of Asskickers United. He dispatched some troops to the Satreen Empire to stir up trouble for Angel Corps. Meanwhile, he had those with potential focus on levelling up, running dungeons, and raising their equipment quality. Asskickers United and Angel Corps were fighting a war of attrition. This battle wouldn’t be won in a few days, or even weeks. So, they needed to fight for every little advantage they could get, maintain it, and eat away at the enemy’s where possible.

Nie Yan didn’t want to launch an all out offensive for the time being. After all, the Satreen Empire was Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group’s territory. They had operated there since the game’s release. Their position wouldn’t be easy to shake. As the adage goes, "A strong dragon cannot repress a local snake.” If he truly wanted to enter the Satreen Empire, he would have to seriously consider the consequences of losing the war.

Asskickers United and their branch guilds already had 300,000 players roaming around in the Satreen Empire. There was also Heaven Song, which was steadily growing under the leadership of Ronin. Nie Yan would let them slowly whittle away at Angel Corps.

Apart from these matters, nothing else of interest to Nie Yan was happening in the Satreen Empire and Viridian Empire. A month passed by in the blink of an eye.

...

The Viridian Mountain Range, a silhouette flitted across the protruding rocks, making the precipitous mountain wall look like flat ground.

That person was Nie Yan. He’d spent the better part of a month searching here for clues. When he met with Jewel Merchant Ofnis in Blaze City, he learned that Ofnis had been robbed by a group of bandits while transporting his goods through the Viridian Mountain Range. He lost everything, including Abak’s Leg Guards of Focus. This was where the quest clues came to an end. Nie Yan felt helpless. He was already 86% of the way to Level 150, but he still hadn’t found any information on the bandits or leg guards.

Level 180 monsters spawned in the Viridian Mountain Range. There were plenty of Elites and Lords too. Even some large flying creatures could be spotted flying through the sky. This was definitely a wild and dangerous region. So, Nie Yan couldn’t mobilize a large force to help him search, but he still recruited about 100 Thieves. They spread out and investigated around.

However, the Viridian Mountain Range was massive, covering the east and south of the Viridian Empire, and they were with few. It wasn’t easy to find clues, especially since the only bit of information they had to go off was that they were searching for a group of bandits.

After the situation in the Viridian Empire settled down, Bladelight and the other Masters felt more comfortable leaving for far-away places. They started clearing some famous bosses, ranging from Level 150 to Level 180. Many were Variant or even Demonified Lords. This was only possible thanks to Drakuru’s Tower Shield. Bladelight could tank these bosses with ease. As they took down more and more Lords, they obtained one phenomenal item after the other. Their collective gear quality rose by quite a few notches.

「Have you found Abak’s Leg Guards of Focus yet? If you still haven’t found it, let’s just go hunt the Lava Titan,」Bladelight said. Nie Yan wanted to acquire the leg guards first before taking on the Lava Titan, but he had already spent a month searching without any luck. The others were starting to get impatient. If it weren’t for a few unexpected things coming up on their end, they would have long killed the Lava Titan. It was about time.

「Alright, I’ll put it off for some other time.」Nie Yan let out a deep sigh. He’d done all he could. But even after searching high and low for so long, he hadn’t found anything. Maybe some new information would pop up later.

「Great! I’ll tell everyone to get ready,」Bladelight said.

Nie Yan was about to leave, when the Thief team sent him a report. Someone had discovered a temple a group of bandits called home. It was located in the northern part of the mountain range at a place called Moradus Peak.

Finally, a lead! Nie Yan’s heart trembled. It perfectly fit the description Ofnis had given him!

Nie Yan hurriedly sent a message to Bladelight. They would have to wait. He would investigate the bandit lair first!

Nie Yan activated Gale Step and dashed off toward Moradus Peak.

Nie Yan’s speed in the mountains was only about a fifth of his normal speed. After running for a good 15 minutes, he finally arrived.

After entering Moradus Peak, Nie Yan met up with the Thieves under him. There were a dozen of them here in total.

"Boss, you’re here!” the Thieves greeted excitedly.

"Did you guys explore the bandit lair yet?” Nie Yan asked.

The Thieves glanced at each other before one stepped up with a bitter smile. "Sorry, Boss. We’re useless. 16 of us have already tried infiltrating that place, but none of us came out alive. We revived in a nearby graveyard.”

"What?” Nie Yan blurted out in surprise. He knew exactly how strong these Thieves were. None of them were to be looked down on. Normally, even if they encountered danger, they could still escape with their lives, to say nothing of all 16 of them dying. "What did you see inside?”

"We didn’t even get past the front entrance. The square outside the temple is guarded by Level 180 Variant Lords. These bandits are made up of different races. We saw humans, elves, orcs, even giants. There were several hundred of them in total. As for what’s inside, we have no idea,” one of the Thieves replied.

Level 180 Variant Lords, all of them. No wonder none of these Thieves came out alive. If the guards to the entrance were already this strong, what would he find inside?

"What kind of temple is this?” Nie Yan asked.

The Thieves shook their heads. "Just a bunch of ruins. When we approached the area, we didn’t even receive a notification.”

Nie Yan asked a few more questions. But since none of them entered the temple, their answers could be summarized with, "I don’t know,” or, "No idea.” It seemed like he wouldn’t gleen any more information from them. He could only go in and take a look himself.

"You guys can go back. Thank you for your help. I’ll reward all of you 10,000 merit points for finding this temple,” Nie Yan said.

"Thank you, boss!” The Thieves were all quite happy. 10,000 merit points was enough for all of them to upgrade their equipment by a notch.

As they were about to leave, one Thief looked like he wanted to say something but was hesitating.

"What is it? Speak,” Nie Yan said.

"When I was sneaking around outside the perimeter of the temple, I managed to peek through a window and saw a library. There was this symbol of an obelisk in there.” The Thief pulled open a virtual screen and drew a strange symbol. It was a round design with what looked like a tree in the center. "I did some research and discovered this is the symbol of the Goddess of Life. I’m guessing this is a temple dedicated to her. According to legend, when the Goddess of Life was killed in the war, her divinity shattered into pieces. This temple was probably abandoned after her death.”

The Thief looked at Nie Yan nervously. Seeing that Nie Yan appeared to be deep in thought, he didn’t dare to bother him.

"What else did you learn from your research?” Nie Yan asked.

"Nothing else. But when I was doing my research, I discovered a certain line, A complete divinity will allow you to sense the power of a god and step through the door of a legendary realm. I’m not really sure what it means or if it’s even related to this temple…” the Thief mumbled into a quiet whisper. He felt extremely nervous in front of a bigshot like Nie Yan.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Step through the door of a legendary realm, what does this mean? He recalled the three Shattered Divinities in his bag. Could these fragments be fused back into a complete Divinity?

Chapter 809 - Temple of the Goddess of Life

Many facets of Conviction couldn’t be found online. Even the clues in game would sometimes not suffice. Nie Yan recalled having over 20 different quest items sitting in his personal storage in his past life because of this. So, he didn’t hold out too much hope for this divinity quest. He would leave it up to fate.

Nie Yan wondered what kind of place this Temple of the Goddess of Life was.

"You, what’s your name?” Nie Yan asked. He didn’t use Transcendent Insight to inspect the Thief’s name.

The Thief became flustered by this sudden question. His face lit up with joy, as he nervously answered, "M-my name is Twilight Chill!”

"Twilight Chill? Good name. I’ll remember it. When you return to the guild, go by Watchful Snail. I’ll have him double your reward and give you a decent set of Level 130 Thief equipment,” Nie Yan said. He could tell this Thief in front of him had a special talent. So, he decided to give Twilight Chill a bit of extra encouragement. Perhaps, he would receive a nice surprise in the future.

"T-this, it’s fine, Boss. I’m already satisfied that I could be of help!” Twilight Chill felt overwhelmed with favour.

One of Twilight Chill’s companions smacked him in the back of the head. "Idiot! What are you doing refusing? Hurry up and thank the boss!”

These Thieves, like the other players in Asskickers United, knew Nie Yan was a man of his word. They all saw this as the norm. So, after hearing Twilight Chill’s words, his companions rolled their eyes. Really, this guy… Nie Yan had already given his word, but he still tried to refuse.

"T-thank you, Boss!” Twilight Chill said from the heart. This was a huge gift to him, as if a meat pie had fallen from the clouds into his lap. He was filled with gratitude toward Nie Yan. This was undoubtedly a recognition of his skills.

Twilight Chill’s companions all shot him envious gazes. However, they had to admit that there was no one better at researching information than him. It was an important quality that was highly sought after.

"I’ll be taking my leave. If you find anything else, report to me directly,” Nie Yan said. After bidding everyone farewell, he entered stealth and headed for the temple.

This kind of affair was just a brief interlude for Nie Yan. However, for Twilight Chill, it would be a memory to be cherished for the rest of his life.

Twilight Chill watched Nie Yan’s back disappear and made a decision in his heart. He definitely wouldn’t let Nie Yan down!

After travelling several hundred meters, the outline of the Temple of the Goddess of Life finally came into view. Or rather, the ruins. Some of the towering structures that still remained intact allowed Nie Yan to vaguely visualize how grand this place must have once been a great many years ago. At present, though, it was like an old man long past his prime, simply waiting for death to take him away.

After scanning the ruins, Nie Yan spotted some silhouettes roaming around. They were likely the bandits Twilight Chill and the others were talking about. The Variant Lords. With so many powerful creatures gathered together, this place was a death zone for ordinary players. If you were to accidentally set foot here, you would probably die without even knowing what killed you.

Looking in the distance, Nie Yan saw 16 large obelisks in the middle of the ruins. There were a few collapsed structures under these white pillars. That was likely the heart of the Temple of the Goddess of Life. He wondered what was inside there.

As he drew closer to the temple, the Holy Stone in Nie Yan’s bag started shining with a bright and gentle radiance. His heart trembled. The remaining piece of the Tyrant Abak Set was over there!

Nie Yan could hardly contain his excitement.

After obtaining the Leg Guards of Focus, Nie Yan would have the complete Tyrant Abak Set. A Level 180 Legendary set, this was simply unimaginable for ordinary players—something that could only be yearned for in their dreams. Even Nie Yan himself didn’t dare to believe it to be real. When he first obtained the Glimpse of Darkness, he didn’t think he had any chance of obtaining the Tyrant Abak Set. However, after almost two years and collecting piece after piece, he was finally within reach of completing the full set!

With the Tyrant Abak Set, even the likes of Soaring Angel would have no hopes of beating Nie Yan.

No matter the cost, even if he had to flip the whole place upside down, Nie Yan was determined to obtain Abak’s Leg Guards of Focus. He decided to explore around. If he couldn’t do it alone, he would mobilize all the Masters in the guild to help him. If that still wasn’t enough, he would mobilize the whole guild!

Nie Yan was only a single piece away from completing the Tyrant Abak Set. This was justification enough!

Nie Yan glanced at the clock. It was almost time for the servers to shut down. He decided it would be better to enter the temple tomorrow. He logged out of the game.

Like usual, Nie Yan and Xie Yao went to the Top Military Academy together. In between classes, Nie Yan spend his time in the gym. Personal strength, both in the game and in real life, were of vital importance. He couldn’t allow himself to grow weak.

At noon, Nie Yan received a call from Mo Yuntian.

「General Yuntian, how are Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others doings? Did they already take the selection exam for the 12th Mech Armoured Corps?」Nie Yan asked. Last he heard, the selection exam had been pushed forward. That was why Mo Yuntian had urgently called Wang Duo and the others back. It should already be over by now.

「It was two months ago. The results have just been given free. The 12th Mech Armoured Corps accepted 12 people. Out of those 12, 11 are from Wang Duo’s group. Wang Duo is one of them. The other generals were completely shocked. Those brats, they really did me proud.」Mo Yuntian chuckled. Nie Yan could tell how good his mood was.

Hearing the results, Nie Yan breathed a massive sigh of relief. With this conclusion, if World Bloc ever encountered trouble, Mo Yuntian would definitely step in to help.

「I don’t know how you trained them, but when Wang Duo and the others were fighting, they were like a bunch of wild beasts. Not just the 11 that got accepted, all of them performed brilliantly and have been given their own special arrangements. Oh right, those brats have been badgering me to see you. They should already be on their way.」Mo Yuntian chuckled.

After the two chatted for a bit, Nie Yan recalled a certain matter. He spoke about his encounter with Liu Tianshi and asked Mo Yuntian to help investigate him. Nie Yan didn’t dare to reveal anything about his past life. So, he was light on the details.

「Liu Tianshi, the one in the Top Military Academy?」Mo Yuntian knitted his brows, his expression a bit grave.「I know who he is. He’s not someone you can afford to provoke. If something happens, even I might not be able to help you. As for his background, it’s best if you don’t ask. Keep as far away from him as possible!」

Nie Yan realized all the more Liu Tianshi really wasn’t someone simple. No wonder he got away scott free after murdering Tang Yao in cold blood in the previous timeline. Since the situation was like this, though he was unhappy, there was nothing he could do but stay away from Liu Tianshi and try his best to keep those around him safe.

If the two of them both minded their own business, there would be no problem. However, if Liu Tianshi was determined to make an enemy out of him, Nie Yan could only rely on some special methods. For example, he could have Bayonet assassinate him. Of course, considering Liu Tianshi’s background, that would be taking a huge risk. This was a last resort kind of option.

After repeatedly warning Nie Yan not to provoke Liu Tianshi, Mo Yuntian hung up.

Nie Yan recalled the words Liu Tianshi said the other day. A sense of unease welled up in his heart. Just what was that bastard planning? He had to make some preparations!

After the final bell rang, Nie Yan called up Bayonet and updated him on Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others. Bayonet only grunted in response. Though he refused to show it, he was incredibly happy with the results.

Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others entering the 12th Mech Armoured Corps was great news. Nie Yan was in high spirits all day.

When evening came, Nie Yan entered Conviction. He appeared on the outskirts of the Temple of the Goddess of Life. After exploring his surroundings for a bit, he activated stealth and entered the ruins, slowly making his way forward.

This was the square outside the temple, collapsed walls were scattered everywhere and there was a small path in the middle. Nie Yan spotted numerous silhouettes roaming around, elves, humans, orcs, even three meter tall giants. Their classes were quite varied as well. There were Mages, Thieves, Warriors, and so on. However, they all shared something in common. On the right shoulder of their clothes was a white skull. This was the symbol of their group.

Death’s Kiss!

Seeing this symbol, Nie Yan recalled the legend of Death’s Kiss. This was a group of bandits formed by fugitives from all over the continent. They were extremely powerful with tens of thousands of members. They had a presence in every nation. The armies of the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire had tried to surround them several times. Even though they suffered heavy casualties, they weren’t wiped out. According to rumours, they were formed by a Legendary Mage from the human race. This organization had a deep and complicated history.

Chapter 810 - Surrounded by Variant Lords

Little was known about this bandit organization. It was rumoured they had accumulated a frightening amount of treasures. The places they appeared often attracted numerous players, leading to spectacular large-scale battles with several dozen guilds fighting several Lords. There was also always an army of solo players lurking on the sidelines, hoping to fish up some easy benefits.

However, in the previous timeline, it was unimaginable for even one or two Variant Lords to appear, to say nothing of this temple which was teeming with them. If Nie Yan decided to sweep this place clean, he would have to pay a heavy price. In order to minimize losses, he decided to go in alone.

At present, Death’s Kiss had yet to acquire its fame among the playerbase. The players simply weren’t at a high enough level yet to encounter these bandits. But that was only a matter of time.

In this 100-meter wide area, there were at least 60 Variant Lords. If Nie Yan alerted even one of them, he would be surrounded and ganged up on by all of them.

The closest Variant Lord to Nie Yan was a three-meter tall Warrior giant. He wielded a large club spiked with wolf teeth. His body was huge and burly, like an iron tower. Every step he took caused the earth to quake.

The Warrior giant slowly walked over to where Nie Yan was hiding, scanning around for intruders. If one entered his sight, they’d be immediately smashed into a pulp.

The Warrior giant was getting closer and closer, 20 meters, 10 meters… Nie Yan hurriedly scanned his surroundings. There was a five meter tall pile of rubble near him. He leaped behind it and activated his cloaking enhancement skills.

When the Warrior giant passed by the pile of rubble, he paused and glanced over at Nie Yan’s location.

Nie Yan held his breath.

The Warrior giant didn’t discover anything. He turned around and continued on patrolling.

Seeing the Warrior giant walking away, Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly calculated a path forward. The monsters’ paths were set in a way that they were never more than 10 meters away from each other at any given time. Getting past them without being noticed would be incredibly difficult.

Glancing at his skill window, Nie Yan had an idea. He activated Pygmy Transformation and shrunk down to a third of his original size. Afterwards, he activated all skills that enhanced his stealth.

He walked out from behind the pile of rubble and slowly started making his way forward.

A little up ahead were several human and orc Warriors. They were gathered together chatting about something. To the left of them was a human Shadow Priest scanning the surroundings carefully. Thankfully, they didn’t notice anything. An Illuminate or Luminous Mark would instantly put an end to his hopes of getting through this place unnoticed. Apart from the Priests, there were several orc Druids and Shamans. They also had skills to see through stealth. If even one of these many Variant Lords discovered him, all of them would chase him down.

In order to avoid alerting these Variant Lords, Nie Yan was extremely careful with every step, maintaining a certain distance away from them at all times.

After making his way around more than 30 Variant Lords, Nie Yan pressed forward, only to discover another 20 up ahead. As for further in the distance, there were even more.

Nie Yan counted several hundred Variant Lords, and a large number of them were casters. If he had mobilized the forces of the guild, he couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of battle would take place.

Nie Yan took several steps forward, when two human Mages and an elven Thief came walking over in his direction.

Shit! What terrible timing... Nie Yan cursed. All around him were Variant Lords. There was nowhere to escape!

Nie Yan swept his eyes over the room before focusing on a pile of rubble. Without a second thought, he moved to hide behind it.

The two human Mages were getting closer and closer.

Nie Yan controlled his breathing, trying to slow down his heartbeat.

10 meters, 8 meters, 6 meters...

The two human Mages came to a stop about five meters away from Nie Yan. They scanned the surroundings, but didn’t find a trace of him.

Perfect! Nie Yan smirked. Having evaded the sights of the two human Mages and the elven Thief a little further away, there was nothing to worry about anymore. He finally realized he’d come out of this experience more scared than hurt! Just as he let his guard down, a beastial roar sounded out behind him.

The sound was scary close, only about six meters away. Nie Yan’s heart trembled. When he turned around, he stood face to face with a massive grizzly bear. Its eyes, which were as large as copper bells, stared at him.

This bear with was a transformed Druid. Shit! Shit! Nie Yan instantly realized what had happened. He quickly broke into a sprint and tried to flee.

"GRWOAR!” The bear let out a deep roar and charged after Nie Yan.

In an instant, every single Variant Lord in the vicinity was alerted and moved to surround Nie Yan.

All around Nie Yan were Variant Lords. There were at least 50, with the closest only a few meters away.

Ice Rain!

Hail Frenzy!

A shower of spells rained down on Nie Yan. The melee-class Variant Lords had blocked off his escape routes.

Nie Yan pulled out an Unknown Transfer Scroll and tried to activate it. A notification popped up.

Unknown Transfer Scroll failed! Your soul has been locked down. Long-range teleportation is currently impossible.

Nie Yan looked up ahead. A fat Shaman in crimson robes had just finished chanting out an incantation and lowered his staff back down.

These Variant Lords all had extremely high combat AI. Their understanding of skills wasn’t any bit inferior to top ranked players. In some ways, they were even better. This was because the calculation abilities of the system were too powerful.

Unknown Transfer Scrolls didn’t work, and all escape routes were sealed off. This was troublesome. Seeing the ice rain and hailstones rain down, Nie Yan activated Shadow Waltz and made a break for it. BANG! BANG! BANG! The place behind him was covered in ice. He could even feel the cold air creeping up on him.

At this moment, two bear form Druids pincered Nie Yan. He couldn’t possible move around their massive frames.

Crap! I’m done for! Nie Yan couldn’t help but despair. With so many Variant Lords swarming him, there was no way he could escape.

Chapter 811 - Extreme Vanish

Just as Nie Yan was about to be dogpiled on by these Variant Lords, he activated Leap and soared over 20 meters into the air.

Numerous spells flew through the air, blotting out the sky.

The Druids immediately changed from their bear forms into large black eagles and took to the air.

Nie Yan was about to be inundated with spells.

What can I do…? Nie Yan despaired.

At this moment, Nie Yan’s eyes happened to fall on a pillar some 10 meters away. He shot a web line at it, and with a hard tug, he swung over.

Nie Yan activated Crawl to make his hands sticky. With a light pa sound, he firmly landed on the pillar. Whew! That was close. Nie Yan broke out into a cold sweat as he looked over his shoulder at the barrage of spells he’d evaded. Seeing several large black eagles swooping down on him, he crawled around to the other side of the pillar, then leaped off, flying more than several dozen meters.

The Variant Lords in the back immediately went into pursuit of Nie Yan and moved to surround him.

These bandits were extremely fast. Nie Yan was forced to use every speed boosting skill in his arsenal. He ran away from them for over half-an-hour before finally losing them.

Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. He hid behind some scattered rubble. According to Twilight Chill and the others’ description, this area didn’t have many guards at first. Only after a few of them got discovered, did more appear. If it were only one or two Variant Lords, Nie Yan felt some confidence in handling them. On the other hand, against several hundred of them, even if he had three heads and six arms, it would still be useless.

The Variant Lords searched around. After failing to find any trace of Nie Yan, they finally scattered.

After passing through this section of the ruins, Nie Yan continued exploring deeper. There were crumbling walls and structures everywhere. Every so often, he would encounter some Level 180 Variant Lords. They were patrolling around all over the place.

These Variant Lords had extremely keen senses. Nie Yan had no choice but to hide and wait for them to leave before continuing forward. Sometimes, he simply sat in a corner for up to half-an-hour waiting.

Nie Yan wasted almost a whole day in the outer hall. Finally, he found himself outside the inner area of the temple. He could see several towering obelisks about 100 meters away. They stood over 60 meter high and required six grown men linking arms to fully wrap around their circumference.

The entrance to the inner area was a flight of ascending stairs leading to who knows where.

Nie Yan passed around a corner and gazed over at the entrance. It was guarded by 70 Level 180 Variant Lords. They were in groups of twos and threes and chatting with each other.

In order to avoid being discovered, Nie Yan immediately retreated back. He started counting, "...67, 68, 69,...73. Shit, 73 in total. This is going to be a pain in the behind…” With so many Variant Lords guarding this area, sneaking past them would be impossible. He would have to fight them.

Nie Yan felt a headache coming on. Just how was he going to get past these Variant Lords?

After going over all his options, Nie Yan’s gaze fell on a certain skill—Disguise!

This skill would definitely work, but he had to kill a Level 180 Variant Lord first!

Nie Yan would have no problem soloing a Level 180 Variant Lord, the problem lay in finding one that was alone.

Nie Yan wandered around the ruins in search of a lone Variant Lord. He could only rely on his luck. Even up until the servers shut down, he had none.

During the day, Nie Yan went to school with Xie Yao. In the early evening, the two ate dinner, after which they entered back into the game.

Nie Yan continued searching around the ruins, but he still couldn’t find a lone Variant Lord. They were always in at least pairs. However, he did make a pleasant discovery, a gray chest which was hidden behind some rubble in a secluded corner. It was covered in a thick layer of dust.

Even though it was well-hidden, it still couldn’t escape Nie Yan’s sharp eyes. He crouched down in front of the chest. Since it was covered in so much dirt and dust, he couldn’t even see what kind of chest it exactly was. As he reached out his hand and wiped the surface, its appearance was gradually revealed.

It was a dark green coloured chest of Sub Legendary rarity!

Nie Yan started opening the chest.

Opening chest… Progress: 35%... 67%...

With a click, the lid popped open.

Nie Yan stuck his arm inside and rummaged around before pulling out a black book.

It was a skill book!

Apart from this skill book, there was nothing else inside the chest.

Nie Yan checked the skill book.

Extreme Vanish: Sub Legendary

Description: Completely erase your presence for a brief period of time. Stealth +300% and Cloaking +300% for 5 seconds. Cooldown: 20 minutes. Can be ranked up.

Restrictions: Thief

Nie Yan’s face lit up with elation. This was just the kind of skill he’d been looking for! He’d found some similar skills before, but they failed to meet his standards and were forgotten in the end. Extreme Vanish, however, did meet his requirements. With this skill active, he could sneak right up to an enemy completely unnoticed!

Nie Yan placed the Extreme Vanish skill book in his palm. With a flash of light, it melted in his hands. A new skill appeared in his skill bar.

After learning Extreme Vanish, Nie Yan continued roaming around the area in search of a lone Variant Lord.

Six hours felt like six seconds, as time quickly passed by. Even though Nie Yan still didn’t have any luck finding a lone Variant Lord, he did make an unexpected discovery. He found the library Twilight Chill spoke of. The entire place was practically on the verge of collapsing. He wondered what mysteries lay within.

As Nie Yan stepped foot inside the library, he gazed around in wonder and amazement. Nobody had entered this place in a long, long time, that much was clear. The books were covered in a thick blanket of dust. Who knew what kind of materials they were made out of to have not completely rotted away by now. He picked up a book and tried to place it in his bag so he could slowly read through it later. However, a notification popped up.

Item cannot be stored in bag.

The books here couldn’t be taken away!

Nie Yan hesitated. Since he had plenty of time, it wouldn’t hurt to stay here and read these books. Perhaps he could learn some valuable information. He searched for a catalogue of all books related to the Goddess of Life, Abak, and divinities. Skimming over the pages, a flood of information poured into his mind.

Clearing the Temple of the Goddess of Life and obtaining Abak’s Leg Guards of Focus in the next few days wasn’t realistic. He might as well sit down and carefully think of a plan.

After spending an entire day in the library, Nie Yan logged out of the game. He had read through many legends related to the Goddess of Life. He planned to continue his research tomorrow.

Nie Yan stepped out of the game capsule and yawned. Today was a holiday. He could go outside with Xie Yao and do whatever they felt like. Looking out the window, the sky was clear.

Nie Yan walked into the garage and started his Thrawn. He glanced at the date and time in his car—August 8th. Suddenly, his heart started racing, like something bad was about to happen. He felt extremely uneasy, but he didn’t know why.

Xie Yao also got in the car with a light smile on her face. "Where are we going today?”

"Nowhere in particular. Let’s just look around town,” Nie Yan replied in a somewhat absent-minded tone.

"What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?” Xie Yao asked in a worried tone. She quickly noticed something was off about Nie Yan.

"No. I’m fine.” Nie Yan shook his head uneasily.

"If you’re feeling sick, we can rest at home today.” Xie Yao gently stared at Nie Yan. She placed her hand over his forehead. He didn’t have a fever.

"Let’s go to the beach,” Nie Yan said. He didn’t want to dampen Xie Yao’s mood. Pushing down on the accelerator, the Thrawn sped out of the garage and down the street.

The two spent the morning on the beach. Around lunchtime, as they were searching for a place to eat, Nie Yan’s phone rang. He didn’t know why, but the call made his heart jump. Looking at the caller ID, it was Guo Huai. He probably wanted to discuss some guild matters.

「Guo Huai, what’s up?」Nie Yan asked.

「This morning, Tang Yao and I went to a gathering with some friends at Spring Moon in Huahai. One of his friends dragged him somewhere else. I tried calling his phone, but it was off. It’s already been three hours since I last heard from him. I’m starting to get worried,」Guo Huai said.

After hearing Guo Huai’s words, Nie Yan instantly became nervous as if he had confirmed something in his heart. An intense feeling of uneasiness swept over him.

「Did he tell you where he was going?」Nie Yan anxiously asked.

「I think they went to a bar. He wanted to refuse, but that friend kept on pressuring him until he finally gave up and agreed. It seemed like Tang Yao wanted to call you, but he got swept up in the moment and forgot,」Guo Huai said. He sensed the uneasiness in Nie Yan’s tone.「Why? Is something wrong?」

「That dumbass! I told him not to go to any bars!」Nie Yan cursed out in anger, his heart racing uncontrollably. Dammit, Tang Yao! Nothing better happen to you! He quickly turned his Thrawn around and started driving towards Huahai. However, even at top speed, it would still take him over two hours to get there!

Hearing Nie Yan’s words, Guo Huai also understood the seriousness of the situation.「I’ll send some people to go find him. If anyone dares to touch him, I’ll make them pay!」

Guo Huai hung up the call and immediately got in touch with his subordinates.

"Nie Yan, what’s going on? Is Tang Yao going to be alright?” Xie Yao asked. She’d overheard the conversation between Nie Yan and Guo Huai.

Chapter 812 -Tang Yao’s Fate

"That punk Tang Yao got himself into a hot mess. He hasn’t answered his phone in over three hours,” Nie Yan anxiously said. He stomped on the accelerator. At 500 km/hr, he sped past all other cars on the highway.

"Who would go after Tang Yao?” Xie Yao asked in surprise. She immediately realized this wasn’t the time to ask such a question. "I’ll ask my father to track down his last known whereabouts.”

"Thanks.” Nie Yan nodded. In the previous timeline, the bar fight had occurred a year from now on July 8th. The timing wasn’t correct. Nothing should happen to Tang Yao today! However, Tang Yao’s safety had been weighing heavily on his mind, and he still couldn’t shake off that uneasy feeling. Now wasn’t the time to be reserved.

No one could predict fate. Nie Yan had specifically warned Tang Yao not to go to any bars. What he worried about most was that incident from his past life repeating itself. He believed he had changed history for the better with his rebirth and prevented Tang Yao’s untimely death. But after Guo Huai’s call a moment ago, it was almost as if a bomb had gone off in his head as everything went blank.

Nie Yan could hear the wind roaring around his car as the scenery blurred past him. He spoke a silent prayer, Tang Yao, please don’t let anything happen to you, or I won’t forgive you for a lifetime!

Xie Yao could feel the sense of urgency in Nie Yan’s heart. She hurriedly rang up Xie Jun and had him mobilize the Xie Family’s tech wizards to investigate Tang Yao’s whereabouts.

After the dinner party where Mo Yuntian and Nie Yan spoke like old friends, Xie Jun’s position in the family had become significantly higher. His words held a lot more weight than before. A trivial matter like this was nothing.

About 20 minutes later, Xie Jun received an update. Tang Yao’s mobile phone signal had disappeared in the Temple of Heaven bar.

Hearing the name Temple of Heaven, Nie Yan was a bit dazed. No. This wasn’t right. The incident didn’t happen in that bar in the previous timeline. Could this be a false alarm?

Even though it wasn’t the same bar, Liu Tianshi’s appearance was a little bit too much of a coincidence to Nie Yan. That smile, oozing with smugness, when he killed Tang Yao in the previous timeline. Nie Yan felt a deep rage and hatred bubbling inside of him. If Liu Tianshi dared to lay a finger on Tang Yao… He didn’t dare to imagine what he would do. The police couldn’t do anything, but he could! As his thoughts reached this point, a frantic worry started spreading inside of him. Was history doomed to repeat itself?

No, I definitely won’t let that incident repeat itself! Tang Yao, hold on, I’ll be there in two hours! Nie Yan inwardly declared. In the previous timeline, by the time he arrived at the bar, Tang Yao’s corpse was already cold. In this life... Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a chilling light as he clenched on his steering wheel. If the same tragedy happened again, he’d make that bastard pay for his crimes!

「Bayonet! Head over to the Temple of Heaven bar in Huahai now!」Nie Yan said to Bayonet over the phone.

「What’s the matter?」

「I’ll explain when you get there. Remember how I told you to investigate Liu Tianshi before? Did you find anything?」

「Yeah, that kid is pretty low-key. He’s renting an apartment suite near the Top Military Academy. When I tapped into his calls, I made some discoveries. His old man is some kind of big wig that’s really high up, definitely not someone that can be provoked!」Bayonet replied.

Nie Yan already knew Liu Tianshi’s background was more than a little shocking. Not to mention the many connections his family likely had. If Nie Yan couldn’t take action openly, he would do it in the shadows. He refused to believe that he and Bayonet couldn’t deal with Liu Tianshi!

Guo Huai sent over an update. He had already dispatched some people to the Temple of Heaven bar. However, someone powerful backed this business. They had no choice but to be careful.

「Did you find Tang Yao yet?」Nie Yan asked, worry thick in his voice.

「No, not yet.」

About two hours later, Nie Yan parked his car outside of Temple of Heaven.

"You stay here. I’ll go in by myself,” Nie Yan said.

"Nie Yan, let me come with you. I don’t feel comfortable with you going in alone,” Xie Yao said.

"No need to worry. I’ll go in with Bayonet. There’s nothing to worry about,” Nie Yan reassured.

Xie Yao thought for a moment. With Bayonet protecting Nie Yan, there was really no need to worry about his safety.

"Alright. If anything happens, speed dial me,” Xie Yao said. If she went in with Nie Yan, she would just be one more thing for him to worry about. However, if she stayed outside, she could still help him. For example, she could keep the getaway car running, or warn him if some suspicious individuals entered the bar.

Nie Yan hopped out of the car and rushed inside. This lively bar was dazzling with neon lights. The furnishings were extremely luxurious, and there were all sorts of people on the main floor. On the upper floor were many private booths. If anything happened inside one of these booths, the people outside would be none the wiser.

Temple of Heaven was one of the most famous clubs in all of Huahai. Many of the people that frequented this place had powerful backgrounds. If Nie Yan tried to barge into every booth, not only would it make matters worse, but it would also alert the enemy. It could push them to kill Tang Yao, at which point it’d be too late for regret. He forcefully calmed himself down. What should he do?

"How may I help you, sir?” a server walked up to Nie Yan and asked.

Glancing at the server, Nie Yan had an idea.

「Bayonet, get us two server uniforms,」Nie Yan said.

Three minutes later, Nie Yan met up with Bayonet, who was already in a server uniform.

"I knocked out two servers and threw them in the toilets. Here’s your uniform,” Bayonet said.

"You start checking the booths for Tang Yao. I’ll go get changed,” Nie Yan said. He took the uniform and headed to the washroom.

Bayonet knocked on the door of the first booth. After which he opened it and checked inside for Tang Yao. No luck. He apologized for the inconvenience and left. In much the same fashion, he went from door to door, sometimes having to forcefully push his way in.

Bayonet arrived in front of a booth. Seeing the door was locked, he took out a steel wire. After fiddling around for a bit, the door unlocked with a click. He pushed it open and looked inside. He saw naked men and women embracing each other passionately.

"What the fuck!? Get the hell out of here! Who said you could come in!?” a person shouted.

"Sorry sir. It seems like you forgot to lock the door.” Bayonet retreated back and closed the door shut with a bang.

After changing into a server uniform, Nie Yan also started searching the booths for a sign of Tang Yao. Even though he wasn’t as skilled as Bayonet at picking locks, it was still passable in this situation.

Nie Yan checked 16 booths in a row before regrouping with Bayonet.

"Did you find him?” Nie Yan asked.

"No.” Bayonet shook his head. "However, I found a VIP booth that’s guarded by five bodyguards. I couldn’t get close. I think we’ll have to take action to get in.”

"VIP room?” Nie Yan thought for a moment before gazing at Bayonet. "Let’s give it a try. We’ll knock that door down!”

At this moment, Nie Yan was extremely prudent. He took out some makeup and smeared it on his face. Looking at a nearby mirror, his nose was a little raised, and his face looked different. If an amateur could transform themselves from a butterface to a hot beauty, then changing his appearance a little was nothing impressive.

Bayonet also disguised his face. The two walked to the end of the corridor before arriving in front of the VIP room Bayonet had mentioned. It was guarded by five bodyguards in black suits. From the air around them, they were definitely skilled.

Nie Yan and Bayonet glanced at each other before walking up to the bodyguards.

"The gentlemen in booth #866 asked us to deliver two bottles of Lafite,” Nie Yan said.

"We didn’t order anything. Scram.” One of the bodyguards blocked Nie Yan’s way.

"Sir, I don’t think there’s a mistake. A gentleman by the name of Liu Tianshi called up the front desk and asked us to deliver two bottles of Lafite,” Nie Yan calmly said while observing the bodyguards’ expressions.

After hearing Nie Yan’s words, they looked at each other with confused expressions.

"Maybe the young master did really order it?”

"I’ll go inside and ask.”

"You stay here.” One of the bodyguards extended his arm and blocked Nie Yan’s way.

After hearing the conversation between the bodyguards, Nie Yan’s gaze flickered with a cold light. The person inside the booth really was Liu Tianshi! He glanced at Bayonet and gave a slight nod.

As soon as Nie Yan gave the signal, Bayonet burst into action. With his hand raised, he chopped down on the neck of one of the bodyguards. BAM! The bodyguard let out a groan before losing consciousness and collapsing.

Before anyone could react, Bayonet’s silhouette blurred as he arrived beside another bodyguard. He extended his hand like a viper and struck the bodyguard in the throat, his fingers crushing the man’s windpipe.

The bodyguard felt a sharp pain in his throat almost as if it had been snapped in half. He held onto his throat and tried to say something, but nothing would come out. He completely lost his voice.

Nie Yan had taken action at almost the same time as Bayonet, elbowing the bodyguard in front of him in the abdomen. The bodyguard immediately curled up like a shrimp. With a thud, he crashed into the ground. The intense pain had instantly knocked him out cold.

Nie Yan pounced toward the other bodyguard.

It all happened too quickly. Before any of these five bodyguards could react, three of them were already down for the count. Even though they were all skilled professionals, they were still no match for Nie Yan and Bayonet’s speed or power.

Chapter 813 - Bayonet’s Might

The remaining two bodyguards were completely caught off guard. Even so, as professionals, they quickly regained their composure and rushed toward Nie Yan and Bayonet.

Nie Yan balled up his fist and threw out a lightning-fast punch.

The bodyguard immediately raised his arm to block.

KRACK! Nie Yan’s punch broke the bodyguard’s arm. Before he could scream out in pain, Nie Yan spun around with a roundhouse kick to his throat. BAM! He was sent flying and crashed into the adjacent wall before dropping on the floor.

Nie Yan looked over beside him. Bayonet had already taken out the last remaining bodyguard.

"Let’s go in,” Nie Yan said.

Bayonet nodded and followed behind Nie Yan.

Nie Yan’s phone vibrated. It was a message from Wang Duo and the others. He knitted his brows. Thinking for a bit, he lowered his head and whispered a reply. Then, he reached out his hand to push open the door.

…

At the train station of a small town in the southeast, Wang Duo and the others received a message from Nie Yan.

"Captain, where are Instructor Nie Yan and Bayonet right now?”

"Instructor Nie Yan said something came up today and told us to visit him some other time,” Wang Duo said in a somewhat forlorn tone.

"What about Instructor Bayonet?”

"He’s with Nie Yan.”

"Do you think they encountered some kind of trouble?”

"I doubt it. With how strong those two are, who could possibly cause them trouble? I’ll call the executive guild leader and ask,” Wang Duo said after recalling he still had Guo Huai’s phone number.

Wang Duo called up Guo Huai. As the two chatted, his expression became increasingly grave.

"Captain. What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

"Nie Yan and Bayonet did encounter trouble. Let’s change our train tickets quickly. We’re heading to Huahai. Our destination is the Temple of Heaven bar!” Wang Duo said in a heavy voice.

"If they’re in trouble, why didn’t they tell us anything?”

"They probably didn’t want us to get involved in their mess. They’re up against someone with a really powerful background.”

"A powerful background? So what!? Does that mean they can compare with us!? Anyone that dares to touch Instructor Nie Yan and Instructor Bayonet, regardless of who they are, I’ll still teach them a lesson! I don’t care if it means getting kicked out of the 12th Mech Armoured Corps!” Lin Yi coldly snorted. The 12th Mech Armoured Corps was a special force unit that reported directly to the Council of Generals. All members were elites that stood above elites, the true cream of the crop. As long as it wasn’t one of those characters who could cover the sky with their hand, no one could touch them. 11 among them had entered the 12th Mech Armoured Corps. Meanwhile, the others had been assigned to various other special force units. It wasn’t just their position within their respective units, but also their position within the military that gave them a lot of authority. They’d all received promotions, and the lowest rank among them now was that of lieutenant general. If all of them gathered together, their influence even exceeded that of Mo Yuntian. As for the 11 in the 12th Mech Armoured Corps, they were no longer under the jurisdiction of the main military. Even the head of the military couldn’t touch them.

"If it weren’t for Instructor Nie Yan and Bayonet, we wouldn’t be where we are today! Let’s go help them!” Wang Duo seriously said.

"Like I said before, in happiness and sadness, we’ll always stick together! If they have the guts, they’ll have to discharge all of us!”

Time quickly passed. 36 people boarded the train to Huahai.

...

Nie Yan had no idea Wang Duo and the others were rushing over. When he replied to their message, he had no intention of dragging them into this mess. After all, they were simply strangers who had come together by chance. He had only trained them for the sake of earning Mo Yuntian’s favour.

Nie Yan and Bayonet entered the VIP booth.

"Sir, here are the two bottles of Lafite you ordered,” Nie Yan said, quickly sweeping his eyes over the room. It was about 100 square meters in size. A table stood in the middle with four sofas arranged around it.

Over 30 people were scattered around the room. Six sat on the sofas chatting. Nie Yan swept his gaze over these people. He only recognized two of them. One was Liu Tianshi, and the other was Qin Han.

The room was in shambles. There was broken glass everywhere. A single person lay on the floor in a pool of blood. He was already passed out, letting out laboured gasps of pain. Nie Yan couldn’t be more familiar with this person—Tang Yao!

Seeing Tang Yao’s miserable condition, Nie Yan’s heart violently twitched. These animals!

When Nie Yan gazed over at Liu Tianshi and Qin Han, his eyes flickered with a chilling light.

"Scram! Who the fuck let you in!?” Liu Tianshi cursed. He hurled his wine glass at Nie Yan CRASSH! It missed and struck the wall, shattering into countless shards which flew through the room.

Qin Han glanced over and locked eyes with Nie Yan. "So, you’re finally here, Nie Yan.” He faintly smiled, as if he was the hunter and Nie Yan the prey stuck in his trap. He felt an indescribable sense of self-satisfaction.

Bayonet looked at the people to the side, then whispered into Nie Yan’s ear, "We might have a small problem. I know some of those guys. They’re professional killers. We can’t look down on them. I don’t recognize the others, but they shouldn’t be weak either.”

Bayonet’s judgement was usually spot on. Nie Yan asked, "If we have to fight them, do we stand a chance?”

"I’d say our odds of beating them in a fist fight are no more than 10%. If they’re armed, we might as well give up right now,” Bayonet said. These guys were definitely packing. So, if they didn’t leave, it’d be the end of the road for them.

Nie Yan glanced at the pool of Tang Yao’s blood on the floor. His heart was dripping with blood. He firmly said, "I will not abandon Tang Yao. Bayonet, thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Now go. This is my fight.”

Bayonet briefly observed Nie Yan’s face, then asked, "Even though you know staying here means death, you still won’t leave?”

"Tang Yao is my brother,” Nie Yan said. These were the only words that needed to be said. He knew that if he left, Tang Yao would definitely die. Liu Tianshi wasn’t someone who showed mercy!

If Nie Yan cowed and ran away now, he wouldn’t be able to look at himself in the mirror ever again.

Bayonet already knew Nie Yan’s answer. He faintly smiled. "Money is life, and the client is God. Since you’ve already paid me, as a mercenary, I’ll naturally follow through with my duties and protect you. Rest assured. I won’t let you die before me.”

Bayonet stopped fearing death long ago. His words touched Nie Yan’s heart. He understood their relationship had long since evolved past mere employer and employee.

Nie Yan calmly walked up to Liu Tianshi and Qin Han, stopping a few meters away from them. Bayonet followed close behind, his face revealing no emotion as per usual.

"I don’t know whether I should call you brave or stupid. Even though you know walking in here means death, you still won’t run.” Liu Tianshi lazily reclined on the sofa, staring at Nie Yan with a smug smile.

Nie Yan coldly glanced at the muscle in the room, then turned back to face Liu Tianshi. "You’re right. I’m probably going to die here today, but I can promise you that the two of you won’t be leaving here alive either.”

Liu Tianshi and Qin Han felt their blood freeze over. Nie Yan’s word really were ruthless, striking right at their weak spot. However, a few words couldn’t scare Liu Tianshi. He looked like he’d heard the most ridiculous joke in the world and laughed out loud. "You think you have the ability?”

"I don’t think. I know,” Nie Yan retorted.

Liu Tianshi and Qin Han glanced at each other before meeting Nie Yan’s gaze.

Bayonet held a metal toothpick in his hand. He casually picked his teeth. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he sent it flying towards the glass desk in front of him. PUT! It was immediately imbedded into the one and a half inch thick glass. Just how much wrist strength did this take!? If this toothpick had struck a person, it definitely wouldn’t be any less lethal than a bullet!

"Looks like we’ll be spilling blood today.” Bayonet chuckled.

Only then did Liu Tianshi and Qin Han notice Bayonet. His relaxed demeanor along with his display of skill just now caused the two to feel a chill in their hearts. An expert!

"Who is he?” Liu Tianshi asked. He never knew there was an expert like this by Nie Yan’s side.

"He’s called Bayonet, a world famous assassin and mercenary,” a person behind Liu Tianshi whispered into his ear.

"Bayonet? How does he compare to Wolf Teeth and the others?” Liu Tianshi asked. He had his fair share of highly skilled mercenaries on the payroll.

"There’s no comparison. None of those guys are on Bayonet’s level.”

After hearing these words, Liu Tianshi couldn’t help but pay more attention to Bayonet. He immediately sobered up. In this small room, it was entirely possible for Nie Yan and Bayonet to kill Qin Han and him first. He wasn’t willing to take that risk.

"You take Tang Yao and get out of here. Leave the rest of them to me,” Bayonet said.

"No, absolutely not!”

"This isn’t the time to be bickering. Just make sure Tang Yao is safe first. Don’t forget who I am. It’ll take more than just these guys to take me down!” Bayonet said. His sharp eyes locked onto a person in a black suit about to take something out from their pocket. With a flick of his hand, Bayonet sent a metal toothpick flying towards them. PSSSFHT! His wrist was pierced, and he dropped the gun in his hand.

Liu Tianshi and Qin Han were about to stand up and flee, when Bayonet’s cold voice rang out. "Sit back down. Or, I’ll show you the consequences.”

Liu Tianshi and Qin Han glanced at each other before quietly sitting back down. Never in their wildest dreams did they think they would be threatened like this. However, they didn’t dare to irritate Bayonet. This man was definitely capable of killing them!

Chapter 814 - Bar Brawl

Nie Yan gazed at Tang Yao on the floor. Blood oozed from his body. If he didn’t get treatment soon, he would die. Nie Yan gritted his teeth and walked over.

"How much is that bastard Nie Yan paying you? I’ll double it!” Liu Tianshi shouted with a gloomy look. This was his first time being threatened.

Bayonet coldly chuckled. "Sounds tempting. I’m afraid you might go back on your word, though. Mind depositing the money into my account first?”

Liu Tianshi sneered. Bayonet’s voice was practically dripping with sarcasm. He suddenly turned to Nie Yan and indifferently said, "I dare you to try and kill me. Don’t think it will just end with your death. I’ll make World Bloc disappear too. That old fart Mo Yuntian won’t be able to do anything to protect you.”

Nie Yan’s heart stiffened. He had no doubt in his mind that the power behind Liu Tianshi had the ability. World Bloc was his weakness. If this matter ended up affecting his parents, he would never find forgiveness from himself. However, he was already past the point of no return. There was no shrinking back now.

"You can try.” Nie Yan shot Liu Tianshi an icy glare.

Liu Tianshi was at a loss for words. He didn’t actually dare to gamble with his life.

Liu Tianshi had many people on his side. They stood on standby, waiting for his orders. Until then, they wouldn’t move. The situation entered a deadlock.

Listening to the exchange between Liu Tianshi and Nie Yan, Bayonet learned Liu Tianshi’s background was enough to disregard Mo Yuntian. No matter what happened next, murder was off the table. If he killed either of Liu Tianshi or Qin Han, World Bloc might end up being destroyed. This definitely wasn’t an outcome Nie Yan was willing to see.

Nie Yan crouched down next to Tang Yao. He had seven stab wounds across his body as well as many bruises and burn marks. Rage filled Nie Yan’s heart. Liu Tianshi had provoked him first. He would definitely pay back this debt.

Nie Yan ripped off a piece of cloth from his shirt and hurriedly bandaged up Tang Yao to stop the bleeding.

Still unconscious, Tang Yao occasionally mumbled a few words. "Bastards… kill me if you dare…”

Looking at Tang Yao’s condition, Nie Yan felt his heart ache. He called up Xie Yao.

Her anxious voice sounded from the other side of the line no second later.「Nie Yan, are you okay? I’ve already asked daddy to send some people over. They’ll be here soon!」

「That's good. Tell them to come in and take Tang Yao away. He’s badly injured. You should stay outside.」

「Nie Yan, what’s going? Are you really going to be okay!?」Xie Yao asked. She was on the verge of bursting out into tears.

「Don’t worry. I’m fine,」Nie Yan gently reassured.

As Nie Yan looked up from Tang Yao, he saw a red dot pointed at the back of Bayonet’s head. If he were shot, that would be it. There would be no time to react.

"Bayonet, watch your back!” Nie Yan shouted. He looked toward the source of the red dot. In the washroom eight meters away, a person in black pulled the trigger of his gun.

Bayonet quickly dodged. BANG! The bullet still struck his shoulder. Blood flew up in the air.

As he was struck, Bayonet threw out two metal toothpicks. PSHFT! PSHFT! Both Liu Tianshi and Qin Han were struck. The two cried out in pain and held their necks. They couldn’t react in time. The two toothpicks pierced their throats. Luckily for them, Bayonet hadn’t aimed for any vital points.

Bayonet didn't kill Liu Tianshi and Qin Han! In this brief moment of hesitation, he missed the most opportune moment to kill them!

When Bayonet was shot, three others pounced on him in a pincer attack.

Bayonet met the enemy head-on. He had his knee stomped and kneeled on the ground. In the blink of an eye, he had three weapons pointed at his neck. BAM! One of the guards struck him in the back of the neck. His vision started spinning.

Six other people in the room pointed their guns at Nie Yan. If he dared to move, they would fill his body with lead.

Nie Yan normally wouldn’t give up so easily. However, Tang Yao was quickly bleeding out on the ground. If he tried to do anything, it would mean the death of his closest friend!

A big burly bodyguard walked up to Nie Yan and threw a punch. BAM! Nie Yan was sent flying and crashed into the ground. He felt his consciousness slip. He struggled to get back up. The world around him was turning and twisting. Sensing someone approaching him, he tried to move, only to have his face stepped on.

Nie Yan felt like his skull was being crushed.

Liu Tianshi held his neck and walked up to Bayonet. BAM! He planted his foot into Bayonet’s abdomen, causing Bayonet to bow over.

"You bastard! No one has ever dared to touch me before. You’re the first. I’ll have you flayed alive!” Liu Tianshi icily said.

"I dare you to try. Think carefully about the situation you’re in.” Bayonet coldly chuckled while clutching his stomach.

"You bastard! Still talking back!” Liu Tianshi was about to kick Bayonet again, only to be stopped by Qin Han.

"W-wait! Listen to him!” Qin Han said. He felt his head spinning. Although he had lost a little bit of blood, it was nowhere near enough to make him feel dizzy. Something was fishy!

"Hehe, looks like your lackey is the brain, Pinky. You should be feeling it too now, right? Your head getting dizzy. A headache coming on. It’s a new strain of the RE-X. It’ll slowly make its way up to your brain. In less than half-an-hour, you’ll be clawing your scalp and digging your brains out. The pain will only get worse. If you don’t kill yourself, the poison will in three days. RE-X has over 30,000 different strains. The one spreading through your body right now is a personal concoction of mine. It’ll take at least a week for you to come up with an antidote. By then, your parents will have already held your funeral,” Bayonet said.

Liu Tianshi and Qin Han broke out in a cold sweat. They had heard of RE-X before. Never did they imagine that Bayonet would have such a vicious poison in his possession. Bayonet was a mercenary and hitman who frequently killed people. He naturally had some trump cards up his sleeve. Being in possession of this kind of poison was nothing strange.

"You fucker!” Liu Tianshi cursed out in a rage, about to throw another kick. However, spotting the venomous glare in Bayonet’s eyes, he stopped half-way.

When Liu Tianshi was hesitating on what to do, the door to the VIP room swung open. Several dozen people rushed in.

"Instructor Nie Yan! Instructor Bayonet!” Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others’ visions went red after seeing Nie Yan and Bayonet collapsed on the ground.

"Fuck! Kill these bastards! Leave none of them alive!”

"Kill!”

Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others were like tigers descending from the mountain. They pounced on the black-suited bodyguards. A few of them also rushed toward Qin Han and Liu Tianshi.

A huge brawl broke out in the room. Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others were trained by Bayonet. Nie Yan had also passed down some of his own insights to them. They had grown tremendously, to the extent that no one could match them in the entire military. Even though a few of Liu Tianshi’s bodyguards were fairly skilled, they were no match for them.

Finding Nie Yan and Bayonet injured on the ground, Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the rest erupted with anger. They went all out and didn’t pull their punches in the slightest. The bodyguards cried out in pain and dropped like flies as they were immediately overwhelmed.

Liu Tianshi and Qin Han were dumbstruck. They had no idea where these newcomers had come from. Seeing several rushing up to them, they immediately raised their hands to resist.

BAM! Wang Duo struck Liu Tianshi squarely in the face and knocked him off his feet. He showed no mercy and used every last ounce of strength in his body. He didn’t care what sort of background Liu Tianshi had. Watching Liu Tianshi slump on the floor, he started violently kicking him.

Liu Tianshi screamed out bloody murder. He curled up his body and covered his head. "S-stop hitting me! S-stop! Let me go! Y-you bastards! I won’t forgive you! My father is Lui Guocheng…!”

Wang Duo paused for a slight moment. He had heard of Liu Guocheng before. This was someone from above who held a lot of influence. However, he immediately continued kicking. Liu Tianshi’s father might be powerful, but they were from different sections. If Liu Guocheng wanted to take action against him, he would have to jump through all sorts of hoops, collect evidence, and go through due process. Even if he did all that, being court-martialed for something like this was still extremely unlikely, especially since justice was on his side.

"Bitch, even if God himself came, he couldn’t stop me. Listen up, you little shit! I’m Wang Duo of the 12th Mech Armoured Corps. If you have the guts, come for me! I’ll be waiting. I dare you, run to your daddy and cry!” Wang Duo cursed, then continued giving Liu Tianshi a ruthless thrashing.

"I’m Lin Yi of the 12th Mech Armoured Corps. If you have the guts, find me some trouble!”

"I’m Guo Feng of the 12th Mech Armoured Corps. I’ll be ready and waiting any time!”

...

Liu Tianshi’s face was covered in tears, snot, and blood. A fear welled up from deep within his heart. Was this it? Was this how he was going to die? This was the first time he encountered people who weren’t afraid of his background. He no longer had anything to rely on.

"Wang Duo, don’t kill him.” Bayonet clutched his stomach and sat up.

"Understood, Instructor Bayonet!”

Only after beating Liu Tianshi and Qin Han black and blue did Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others stop. One of the bodyguards tried to get back up, only to be sent flying with a kick to the side.

Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others helped Bayonet, Nie Yan, and Tang Yao up.

"How is your friend now? Is he stable?”

"Yeah, but he’s lost a lot of blood,” Nie Yan said as he worriedly stared at Tang Yao. You better not die on me! Just hold on a little longer.

Wang Duo took out some medicine and redid Tang Yao’s bandages. "This is a special medicine given to wounded soldiers in the special forces. It should be effective.”

Liu Tianshi was shriveled up in a corner of the room. After being beaten within an inch of his life, his face was deathly pale with fear.

"Don’t think this is over. If you dare to touch Instructor Nie Yan and Instructor Bayonet again, you won’t escape with your dog life next time!” Wang Duo coldly glared.

Liu Tianshi trembled in fear. The arrogant and brash attitude from before was nowhere to be found. He was born with a silver spoon. His life was one of open doors and zero hardships. Finding himself face-to-face with death for the first time, a deep rooted fear for Wang Duo and the others was planted in his heart.

Chapter 815 - Lunatic

The bodyguards lay collapsed on the ground, groaning in pain. This was the first time Liu Tianshi suffered such humiliation. No matter how tyrannical and cruel he was in the past, no one ever dared to touch him. Yet now, if Bayonet hadn’t told Wang Duo to stop, he would’ve likely been beaten to death!

12th Mech Armoured Corps, Liu Tianshi immediately etched this name into his heart. His eyes flickered with rancor and venom. Just some special forces brawn, he refused to believe these people were untouchable!

Nie Yan stood back up. His injuries weren’t anything serious. He gazed at Liu Tianshi who was still huddled up and Qin Han who had been knocked out. He knew those two wouldn’t take this incident lying down. If he let them off today, they would go high and low to exact revenge on him. Qin Han was easier to deal with. After all, the Monet Financial Group’s influence was concentrated in South America. However, Liu Tianshi was different. His background was more complicated. If he utilized it, World Bloc would be in serious trouble.

Nie Yan walked over to Liu Tianshi, only stopping two steps away from him. His expression was cold and tranquil.

Liu Tianshi grew nervous. His back was already up against the wall. There was nowhere else to retreat.

"N-nie Yan, you can’t kill me! If you do, World Bloc will be finished for sure. No one will be able to protect you!” Liu Tianshi shouted frantically. This was the only leverage he had. When Bayonet stopped Wang Duo earlier from killing him, he had figured out Nie Yan’s weakness.

Nie Yan snorted. "You know what? That just makes me more curious. If I kill you right here, right now, will World Bloc really be as doomed as you say?”

After seeing the look in Nie Yan’s eyes, Liu Tianshi knew he wasn’t joking. "Y-you… You fucking lunatic!”

"How are you going to deal with them?” Bayonet asked. "If you want to remove the threat at its root, let me know. Three days is all I need to exterminate his entire family.”

This was the first time Bayonet took the initiative. He was usually the quiet guy standing off to the side. Strangers might mistake him for a cold and standoffish kind of guy. Only now did he reveal his true colours, the ruthlessness mercenary. The number of people he had killed had already exceeded the tens of thousands. His hands were stained in blood. The number of high rank government officials that died at his hands also wasn’t few.

"Y-you’re all mad! A bunch of lunatics!” Liu Tianshi finally realized what kind of people he had provoked. Perhaps they might really do something so crazy!

Bayonet shot a glance at Liu Tianshi and chuckled. "Don’t forget. A day without a kill is a day I haven’t done my job.”

Nie Yan’s hand twitched. He forgot this was reality, and he wasn’t holding Zennarde’s Sword.

Bayonet gazed at Nie Yan, patiently waiting for his answer.

"Kill him. Whether we kill him or let him go, the outcome will be the same. Either he or his family will come and seek revenge. With him dead, we at least get some justice for Tang Yao. Don’t leave a single person alive. I want this place swept clean. We’ll deal with the consequences later!” Nie Yan said before turning to leave.

Up until now, Liu Tianshi still held a trace of hope. He believed Nie Yan wouldn’t dare to kill him. So, when he heard these words, his heart instantly sank to the pit of his stomach.

"N-nie Yan, don’t kill me! P-please forgive me. I beg you! Let me live. I swear to the heavens I won’t ever try to look for revenge!” Liu Tianshi lunged forward and hugged onto Nie Yan’s leg. His usual haughtiness had left him completely, as his body clamped onto his only lifeline. If Nie Yan didn’t change have a change of heart, he would die!

Liu Tianshi no longer had any doubts that Nie Yan would kill him.

"Alright. Wang Duo, you all help tie these guys up. Leave the rest to me and quickly get out of here. Don’t let this affect your futures,” Bayonet said. Killing several dozen people was just another day at the office for him.

"What are you saying, Instructor Bayonet? Give the word, and we’ll easily take care of this bunch of trash!” Wang Duo said. None of them were strangers to blood and death.

Liu Tianshi’s face was covered in snot, tears, and blood. His heart was filled with fear as death quickly approached him.

"Scram!” Nie Yan sent Liu Tianshi flying with a kick. After taking a few steps towards the door, Liu Tianshi crawled back over like a dog and latched onto Nie Yan’s other leg, refusing to let go.

"N-nie Yan, p-please… please...! I—hikk, don’t want to die. I swear on my life, I’ll behave. I’ll listen to whatever you say! If you tell me to go south, I swear I’ll go south!” Liu Tianshi cried.

"Oh really? Fine. Your words. The first thing I want you to do is to kill him!” Nie Yan pointed at Qin Han laying on the floor. He wasn’t a maniac who relished in murder. However, Liu Tianshi and Qin Han had already pushed him over the edge. He had to retaliate. If he let his heart go soft, the consequences would be grave. For the sake of protecting himself and his loved ones, he had no choice but to steel his heart. This was the only way to survive. When Qin Han and Liu Tianshi decided to take his life, they had to be prepared to lose theirs as well!

"W-what?” Liu Tianshi blurted out in a daze.

"You heard me. Kill Qin Han,” Nie Yan repeated. He had Bayonet throw Liu Tianshi a dagger.

Klang! The dagger fell on the ground in front of Liu Tianshi.

Liu Tianshi’s hand trembled as he picked up the dagger. He looked over at Qin Han. The two met eyes. His gaze gradually grew gloomy. This was his only lifeline; his friend’s life for his own. It was every man for himself! The strong devour the weak!

"You idiot! Don’t do it! He’s trying to make us kill each other!” Qin Han cried out. His heart trembled after seeing the sinister look in Liu Tianshi’s eyes.

"Brother, I’m sorry, If you were in my shoes, I know you would do the same. Please forgive me.” Liu Tianshi gripped the dagger and pounced on Qin Han.

Never in his wildest dreams did Qin Han imagine he would die at the hands of Liu Tianshi.

Nie Yan wanted to look away, but he steeled himself and recorded everything down on his phone.

Liu Tianshi pulled out the dagger which was dripping with blood. Looking at Qin Han’s lifeless eyes still staring at him, he dropped the dagger in fright. He turned to Nie Yan. "W-will you let me go now?”

"Not yet,” Nie Yan indifferently said. He turned to Bayonet. "Do you have anything useful I can use?”

"What do you mean?”

"Something that can take his life at a moment of my convenience,” Nie Yan said. Liu Tianshi couldn’t be released just like that. He needed some additional insurance.

After hearing the exchange between Nie Yan and Bayonet, Liu Tianshi couldn’t help but shudder in fear. These two were devils! Just what were they planning to do to him!?

Bayonet held out an object between his two fingers. "Microbomb. It can be implanted into a person’s flesh, and is completely invisible to all forms of detection. It has the explosive power equivalent to five kilograms of TNT. Even better, it can’t be removed. Any tampering will immediately cause it to detonate.

"I’ll leave the rest to you. After implanting the bomb, you can let him go,” Nie Yan said. Looking around the room, he felt slight discomfort. 30 or so bodyguards just doing their jobs, he really didn’t wish to kill people if he didn’t have to. After reincarnating, he started believing in karma. If he dirtied his hands with too much blood, it might really come back to bite him one day. Sometimes, however, a person would have no choice but to do something they didn’t want to do.

Nie Yan turned around and headed outside. He and several others brought Tang Yao away and lifted him up into the car.

"Thanks, you guys can leave,” Nie Yan said. The car couldn’t fit too many people.

"Xie Yao, you drive. Bring us to the nearest hospital,” Nie Yan said. Tang Yao’s injuries were far from reassuring. From his shallow medical knowledge, if Tang Yao’s condition started deteriorating, he could administer some first aid.

Xie Yao nodded. She hopped into the driver's seat and sped off in the Thrawn.

On the road, Tang Yao slowly regained consciousness. However, he was extremely weak. Even lifting his hand was incredibly difficult. Seeing Nie Yan, he broke out into a stupid grin. "How come it’s you? I must be hallucinating...” His voice was incredibly shaky, and his lips were pale. These were all signs of excessive blood loss.

"You lost a lot of blood, my brother. I’m sure you feel exhausted. Just hold on a bit longer. You’ll be fine once we reach the hospital,” Nie Yan said.

"Hah? So I’m not hallucinating… That bastard Qin Han wanted me to reveal the locations and real life identities of every member in the guild. But I never gave them up. Those sons of bitches really were ruthless. Hey, tell me if I still have my arms and legs.” Tang Yao struggled to raise his head.

After hearing Tang Yao’s words, Nie Yan couldn’t help but chuckle. At the same time, his heart ached deeply. The situation was different from the previous timeline. Liu Tianshi didn’t try to kill Tang Yao over a girl but rather in order to get information out of him. Fortunately, Tang Yao wasn’t willing to budge.

"Don’t worry. You still have your limbs. Just take it easy and rest,” Nie Yan reassured with a smile. Tang Yao might’ve suffered some serious injuries, but in this lifetime, Nie Yan had arrived in time and his brother would survive! A slight smile formed on his face.

"That’s good. I hate surgery.” Tang Yao breathed a sigh of relief and laid back down.

The Thrawn drove into the hospital, and Tang Yao was rushed into the emergency room.

After a while, Nie Yan received an update from Bayonet. The 30 bodyguards had been dealt with. He had cured Liu Tianshi of the poison and implanted him with the microbomb and a tracker before letting him go.

"Is it really impossible to extract that microbomb?” Nie Yan asked. If it truly couldn’t be removed, they could control Liu Tianshi. However, if Liu Tianshi managed to remove it, things would become a bit troublesome.

"I’ve never seen someone successfully extract a microbomb. But, I suppose anything is possible. I think letting him go is something we might come to regret. Worst comes to worst, I can take care of him. If I go after him, he won’t make it to nightfall,” Bayonet said.

Nie Yan shook his head. "Too many people know about Wang Duo and the others entering the Temple of Heaven bar. If Liu Tianshi is killed, they’ll be the prime suspects. We’ll have to let him be for now.”

"What are we going to do? Qin Han is dead. The Monet Financial Group definitely won’t sit still,” Bayonet worriedly asked. The Monet Financial Group’s heir was killed. Even if their influence didn’t reach overseas, they would still send hitmen after them. Having to always look over your shoulder, it’d be troublesome.

"Don’t worry. I have a plan.” Nie Yan mysteriously smiled.

Chapter 816 - Sub Legendary Gem

Bayonet had a doubtful look on his face. Just what was Nie Yan planning? He suddenly recalled that Nie Yan had recorded a video of Liu Tianshi killing Qin Han. His heart trembled. "I see… You’re planning to use that.”

"Correct.” Nie Yan nodded. A potential calamity like Liu Tianshi had to be eliminated!

If Liu Tianshi wanted to extract the microbomb, it would take time, a lot of time. News of Qin Han’s death would quickly reach the Monet Financial Group, who would definitely investigate the matter. If somehow the video of Liu Tianshi killing Qin Han just happened to fall in their hands, one could imagine what would happen. Even though their influence in China couldn’t compare to Liu Tianshi’s, they could still send hitmen!

The hitmen sent by the Monet Financial Group might not necessarily be able to kill Liu Tianshi. However, with Bayonet’s help, it would be a completely different story. Since he could accurately track Liu Tianshi’s location, he could create the perfect opportunity for the Monet Financial Group to strike.

The tracker had a wiretap feature. So, until Liu Tianshi extracted the microbomb and tracker, Nie Yan and Bayonet would be safe. If he somehow died before he could have it removed, the secret would go to the grave with him.

Liu Tianshi had killed Qin Han. The Monet Financial Group wouldn’t take this lying down. They’d sent people to kill Liu Tianshi. Perhaps even a war would break out between these two major powers. All the while, Nie Yan would watch these enemies of his fight each other from the sidelines and reap the rewards.

This was a fool proof plan!

"Good plan!” Bayonet sighed in admiration. Like this, it would be as if their group had never been involved in the first place. Both Qin Han and Liu Tianshi would die, and World Bloc wouldn’t suffer the backlash.

"I’ll leave this matter to you,” Nie Yan said. Bayonet was much more experienced than him in dealing with these sorts of things. He knew exactly how to provide the video to the Monet Financial Group without arousing their suspicion.

"Don’t worry. I’ll make sure everything goes off without a hitch,” Bayonet said. This kind of matter was trivial for him.

Tang Yao had to rest in the hospital for a few days. After making sure his brother would be alright, Nie Yan brought Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others to a restaurant and treated them to lunch as thanks for rushing over to the rescue.

"Just what kind of special forces unit is the 12th Mech Armoured Corps?” Nie Yan couldn’t help but ask.

"The 12th Mech Armoured Corps is composed out of 12 people in total, and we have 11 of those 12 right here. We were selected from a military-wide competition. It’s an independent unit that reports directly to the Council of Generals. Normally, no one can touch us. As for our work, we pilot the new high-tech mech suits, and go off to special missions during wartime,” Wang Duo gave a brief summary. As for any specific details, those were military secrets he couldn’t divulge.

Nie Yan gained a rough understanding of the 12th Mech Armoured Corps.

"Instructor Nie Yan, don’t worry. If that punk Liu Tianshi tries to touch you again, just give us a call. We aren’t afraid of him or his old man.”

"Right! If one beating wasn’t enough, we’ll give him more!”

Hearing these words, Nie Yan chuckled. Liu Tianshi wouldn’t get a second opportunity, he’d make sure of it.

Nie Yan told Wang Duo and the others to pretend today never happened, to take it all with them to the grave.

…

Over the next several days, Nie Yan remained inside the Temple of the Goddess of Life. He looked over many books before returning to his search for a lone Variant Lord. Time quickly flew by. One day, he received an update. Bayonet had made some progress on his side. He had made contact with the people the Monet Financial Group sent over to investigate Qin Han’s murder. He claimed to have information on it and quoted a price of 150,000,000 USD for the video in his possession. After an intense back and forth, the two sides finally settled on a price of 90,000,000, whereupon the Monet Financial Group received the video.

Qin Han’s death had shaken the entire Qin Family. When they saw the footage of Liu Tianshi murdering him, they were absolutely fuming with rage. This was irrefutable evidence! Even though they didn’t know the specifics, who cares!? Their heir was dead, and this Liu Tianshi was to blame! They could only think of revenge.

The higher ups of the Monet Financial Group immediately held an emergency meeting. Considering the Liu Family’s influence in China was enormous, their normal methods for revenge wouldn’t work. As a result, they recruited some top hitmen and mercenaries. Whoever killed Liu Tianshi would receive a reward of 100,000,000 USD!

From all around the globe, contract killers flocked to China. They didn’t care for Liu Tianshi’s status, only for the bounty on his head.

After receiving Bayonet’s report, Nie Yan faintly chuckled. He had turned his enemies against each other.

After sharing this incident with Tang Yao, Nie Yan became increasingly aware of just how small World Bloc was. He still had a lot of work ahead of him. Right now, there were countless dangers he had to keep in mind. His every action had to be laced with care. If World Bloc was powerful, there would be no need to fear people like Liu Tianshi! Even though the crisis this time had been averted, he might not be so lucky next time. Not to mention, he still had two formidable enemies in Cao Xu and Soaring Angel. The day they’d clash was fast approaching.

Nie Yan made a phone call and inquired about the state of World Bloc. At least in the present, their growth was impressive. They were eating up more and more market share in the metal production and virtual reality industries. The wealth they accumulated was invested in Century Financial Group shares in preparation for the inevitable showdown.

Tang Yao’s incident made Nie Yan realize that fate was a cruel mistress. Cao Xu would likely still take action against the Nie Family in this life. This was simply unavoidable.

When evening came, Nie Yan entered the game like usual. He appeared in the outer region of the Temple of the Goddess of Life.

Likely because not a single intruder had been spotted for several days, the number of Variant Lords roaming around in the outer area of the temple had greatly diminished. At the very least, Nie Yan didn't see several dozens Variant Lords gathered together anymore.

After passing through a section of ruins, Nie Yan finally discovered a lone Variant Lord. It was a Mage in red robes, most likely fire magic specialist.

This was perfect! If it were a Warrior, Nie Yan would definitely have a much tougher time.

The Variant Lord roamed around aimlessly. From time to time, it would stop and raise its palm, conjuring up a ball of raging flames.

Nie Yan slowly circled behind the Variant Lord. He was only 30 meters away.

The Variant Lord seemed to sense something and looked over at its surroundings.

Extreme Vanish!

Nie Yan suddenly shot forward and pounced on the Variant Lord.

Extreme Vanish greatly enhanced Nie Yan’s stealth. So much so, that when the Variant Lord looked around, it was clueless to his presence. It was about to continue on patrolling, when a cold light flashed behind its back.

BANG! Nie Yan struck the Variant Lord in the back of the head with a Smothering Strike. A stun!

The effects of Extreme Vanish were sublime. The Variant Lord didn’t even notice him when he was only three meters away. By then, it was already too late to dodge!

Apocalyptic Extinction! Backstab! Eviscerate! Lacerate! Nie Yan let loose with a chain of skills. His actions were as fluid as water.

Just as the stun was about to wear off, Nie Yan plunged his dagger into the Variant Lord’s spine.

Backbreaker!

After cycling through all his skills, Nie Yan had kept the Variant Lord immobilized for over 30 seconds and shaved away almost half its health!

Looking at his skill bar, all his attack skills were on cooldown. He immediately retreated far back and took out his Cavalry Crossbow. After which he fired a volley of arrows at the Variant Lord. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Variant Lord finally broke free from the stun. It waved its staff and sent a barrage of fire magic flying towards Nie Yan.

The raging hot flames whistled through the air. Nie Yan quickly escaped with Gale Step.

After evading the Variant Lord’s attacks non-stop for half-a-minute, its health had already recovered by more than 15%. Suddenly, Nie Yan employed the Shadow Steps to close in on the Variant Lord. With perfect timing, he stunned the Variant Lord and let loose with another round of attacks.

Roughly 10 minutes later, Nie Yan killed the Variant Lord with a Hell Execution. It collapsed on the ground with a thud.

Nie Yan picked up the loot. He obtained a Dark Moon Gem Shard and a few hundred gold. Aside from that, there was nothing else.

A Dark Moon Gem Shard!

According to rumours, 30 Dark Moon Gem Shards could be combined into a Dark Moon Gem. Even the lowest quality Dark Moon Gems were Sub Legendary-grade items. Some higher quality ones were even Legendary-grade. They were priceless items. In the previous timeline, a single shard could sell for several tens of thousands of gold. Generally, only the leaders of big guilds dared to collect them. Back then, he had only seen a single Dark Moon Gem, It was Sub Legendary-grade and provided a Legendary armour skill.

The owner had reportedly spent well over 700,000 gold to collect the 30 shards required to make this gem. When Nie Yan heard of this, he was dumbstruck. The Dark Moon Gem was such an expensive item!

Nie Yan started dreaming of crafting a Dark Moon Gem himself. A gem of this quality could be socketed into Zennarde’s Sword or the Tyrant Abak Set. He just happened to be lacking in high quality gems. Using ordinary gems to socket Zennarde’s Sword or the Tyrant Abak Set seemed like a huge waste. One could even say it would be a disgrace to their reputations!

Nie Yan stored away the Dark Moon Gem Shard in his bag. Looking at the Variant Lord’s face, he activated Disguise.

Nie Yan’s body started growing taller and his face morphed until he looked exactly like the Variant Lord.

Nie Yan checked his appearance. The disguise was a success! He dashed off toward the inner section of the temple.

Chapter 817 - Almost Within Reach

A group of 60 or so Variant Lord Warriors, Mages, and Thieves stood outside the entrance to the inner section of the temple. They were gathered in groups of twos and threes and chatting together. Unknowingly, a Mage in red robes had mixed in among them.

Nie Yan was so close to these Variant Lords that he could clearly see their faces.

After brushing past several Variant Lords, Nie Yan found himself in the middle of their group. All around him were Variant Lords. His heart raced, worried his disguise would be seen through. He couldn’t help but take a deep breath to calm himself down. Acting like he belonged there, he continued walking forward.

None of the Variant Lords noticed anything amiss.

After brushing past the last of the Variant Lords, Nie Yan ascended a flight of stairs and entered a corridor. There were at least several hundred Level 180 Variant Lords here. He couldn’t imagine how much manpower would be required to clear this place.

I hope I can get Abak’s Leg Guards of Focus without alerting these guys, Nie Yan thought.

After entering the inner temple, the Holy Stone in Nie Yan’s bag started glowing brighter. This confirmed that the last piece of the Tyrant Abak Set was nearby!

Finding his way through multiple corridors, Nie Yan entered a wide open hall roughly 500 by 500 meters in size. It looked extremely lavish. The floor, walls, and pillars were all made out of pure gold. Before him lay a red carpet stretching out the entire length of the room. At the very end, a flight of stairs led up to a raised platform on which stood a tall, burly giant. Clad in golden armour, he patrolled back and forth, occasionally sitting down on the throne behind him. He looked like an imperious king.

Nie Yan was around 400 meters away from the giant. So, he couldn’t inspect him yet.

Since the monsters outside were all Level 180 Variant Lords, this giant had to be even more frightening. Nie Yan didn’t dare to get too close. He dispelled his disguise and entered stealth.

Nie Yan climbed up to the top of one of the pillars and looked at the raised platform. Next to the throne behind the giant were three chests. He couldn’t help but wonder about their grades.

Abak’s Leg Guards of Focus was probably inside one of these three chests. Nie Yan rubbed his chin. Let’s try and open them.

Nie Yan summoned his shadow clone, which he ordered to sneak toward the giant. Meanwhile, he crawled along the walls and headed toward the three chests from a different direction.

After approaching within 100 meters of the giant, Nie Yan could finally get a good look at his appearance. He was middle-aged with a five-meter tall frame and bulging muscles, wielding a large golden greatsword.

Death’s Kiss Bandit Chief Bencroft (Demonified Lord): Level 180
Health: ???/???

Nie Yan couldn’t see Bencroft’s health. He estimated it was at least over a hundred million. This giant was only a bandit chief of Death’s Kiss, but he was already a Level 180 Demonified Lord! He was probably the strongest monster in this outpost.

When Nie Yan approached within 90 meters of Bencroft, he finally had a reaction. He abruptly stood up and swept his gaze across the hall.

Seeing Bencroft looking over in his direction, Nie Yan’s heart trembled. It was time to get to work!

Extreme Vanish!

Nie Yan dashed toward the three treasure chests.

After discovering Nie Yan, Bencroft was about to charge over, only to abruptly lose track of him. He knitted his brows.

At this moment, Nie Yan had already arrived beside the treasure chests and crouched down. There were three chests, a red, blue, and green one. Apart from the colour, they were identical. The outside was studded with gems. They looked quite elegant.

A hundred meters away from the throne, the shadow clone suddenly showed itself.

"You rat! How dare you show yourself here!” Bencroft rushed over toward the shadow clone with large strides.

Nie Yan immediately had the shadow clone turn and flee.

"Die, you wretched Thief!” Bencroft slashed down with his blade and sent a sword beam flying towards the shadow clone.

The shadow clone avoided the attack with Gale Step and escaped toward the exit of the room.

Finding the prey take the bait, Nie Yan thought for a moment before choosing to open the red chest.

Opening chest… Progress: 30%... 50%...

About 20 seconds later, Nie Yan received a notification that the shadow clone had been killed.

Reviewing the shadow clone’s final moments, Nie Yan learned that Bencroft had locked it down with Intimidate, then charged over and cut it down with one slash.

Bencroft was heading back towards the throne.

Nie Yan glanced at the chest. It was almost opened. He definitely couldn’t give up now!

Come on! Open up already!

Nie Yan couldn’t help but grow anxious. Bencroft was almost up the stairs! A few more seconds, and he’d be discovered!

Click! The chest lid popped open. This sound was heaven to Nie Yan’s ears!

Nie Yan still had ample time to grab the items inside the chest and leave!

As Nie Yan moved his hand forward to reach in the chest, the scent of gunpowder suddenly wafted up his nose.

Shit!

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He quickly activated Gale Step and fled as far away as he could.

BOOOM! Flames erupted from the chest as a scorching hot inferno swallowed up everything within a three-meter radius.

The flames were about to engulf him, when Nie Yan extended his hand and shot out a web line. With a hard tug, he swung away and stuck to the ceiling of the hall. Seeing Bencroft atop the raised platform, he immediately activated several skills to increase his Cloaking.

Nie Yan broke out in a cold sweat. If he had been a beat slower, he would’ve been engulfed by the flames. He never expected the chest to be boobytrapped. Thankfully, he didn’t stupidly stick his hand inside.

When Bencroft discovered one of the chests open, he roared out in anger and let loose a storm of curses. He searched around, but failed to find any trace of the intruder. In the end, he could only give up.

Nie Yan glanced at the Holy Stone inside his bag. It was emitting an intense radiance. After opening the red chest, there were still two other chests. One of them contained Abak’s Leg Guards of Focus.

After waiting for half-an-hour, Nie Yan summoned Lil’ Gold and Paladin Lafus. He tried to have the two lure Bencroft away, but discovered to his dismay that his earlier tactic wouldn’t work again. Bencroft refused to stray off the raised platform.

Nie Yan decided to try something out. He had Lil’ Gold reach the raised platform and approach within 60 meters of the throne. It was a death sentence. Bencroft charged over and cut Lil’ Gold down with three consecutive slashes. These attacks came so quickly that Paladin Lafus had no chance to heal Lil’ Gold.

Paladin Lafus wanted to run, only to be chased down by Bencroft and killed in two slashes.

This was the might of a Level 180 Demonified Lord on full display! In front of this frightening existence, Lil’ Gold and Paladin Lafus stood no chance whatsoever.

Nie Yan didn’t even have the opportunity to approach the two remaining chests, let alone open one of them!

Shit! What now? Abak’s Leg Guards of Focus are right in front of me. Don’t tell me I’m going to have to give up?

Nie Yan’s heart was unresigned, but his hands were tied.

The minutes ticked away and gradually turned into hours. No matter how Nie Yan racked his brain, he couldn’t come up with a viable plan. He couldn’t continue wasting time here either. The leg guards, the final piece of the Tyrant Abak Set he needed to obtain, was so close yet so far away. He felt incredibly depressed.

Staring at Bencroft stubbornly guarding the throne, Nie Yan knitted his brows. He refused to give up now! Sitting down, he patiently waited for an opportunity. But by the time the servers were about to shutdown, nothing had changed.

The next day, Nie Yan entered the game full of hope. But there was still no change in Bencroft's behaviour. You stubborn old fart! he cursed. Should I try calling in backup from the guild?

Nie Yan thought for a moment. If he had his forces lead Bencroft away, he could theoretically open the chests! If Bencroft was still stubborn and refused to leave the throne, they could slowly chip away at his health and kill him!

Even though Nie Yan wasn’t sure if this plan would succeed, it was worth giving a try. At least it was better than sitting here doing nothing.

Nie Yan opened up the guild chat and made an urgent recruitment order. He planned to have 500 players come to his aid. This force didn’t just include players from Asskickers United but also 26 Shamans from Heaven Song.

After receiving Nie Yan’s command, Asskickers United’s players immediately mobilized and set off for the Temple of the Goddess of Life.

After arriving within the outskirts of the temple, Xie Yao, King of the World, and several others used their Hyperlink Rings to teleport to Nie Yan’s side. Afterwards, they had the other team members teleport to their side with Group Teleport Scrolls. Before long, 500 people arrived safely within the inner temple without having to pass through the Variant Lords in the outer region.

The appearance of 500 players immediately alerted Bencroft. He started moving around anxiously. However, he didn’t dare to stray too far away from the throne, for fear of someone sneakily opening a chest again.

Nie Yan did a headcount. There were 516 people in total. They could be split into 26 teams.

Seeing the golden armoured Bencroft, the guild members were somewhat nervous. The monster in front of them was a Level 180 Demonified Lord!

"Split into 20-man teams, one Shaman per team!”

King of the World immediately followed Nie Yan’s orders and organized everyone into 25 20-man teams. Nie Yan, Xie Yao, and the other Masters formed their own team.

Chapter 818 - Three Chest Dilemma

The 500 players spread out across the hall and slowly approached Bencroft. King of the World and Sun arrived within 80 meters of him. They took out their crossbows and fired. Whoosh whoosh whoosh! A volley of bolts flew through the air.

Bencroft brandished his greatsword and knocked down multiple bolts.

Put put put! Several bolts struck Bencroft.

−1
Miss!
−1
...

The Mages waved their staffs. A shower of magic rained down on Bencroft. However, their spells were barely breaking into the double digits.

Bencroft was a defensive type boss. Nie Yan didn’t have high hopes of killing him. He just wanted the team members to lead Bencroft away long enough for him to open the other two chests.

They quickly found a steady rhythm. Though the battle looked chaotic, one would eventually notice a sense of order. If Bencroft were to charge over toward them, they could scatter and withdraw at the drop of a hat.

"Annoying pests!” Bencroft growled. He was a Warrior. Even his longest distance ranged attack only had a range of 10 meters. If he wanted to deal with these Mages, he would have no choice but to charge at them and leave the chests unguarded.

「Keep up the damage!」Nie Yan ordered in voice chat. Sweeping his eyes over the team members, he inwardly sighed. It was a shame Tang Yao couldn’t be here. With him missing, their damage output took a noticeable dip.

"ARRRGHH!” Bencroft’s patience reached its limit. He charged at the Mages.

"He’s coming!”

"Everyone, retreat!”

The team members immediately scattered in all directions.

Bencroft failed to catch anyone. He could continue chasing after them and kill quite a few of these pests. However, as he looked over his shoulder, he was already quite far from the throne. Worried for the chests, he decided to retreat.

Seeing Bencroft returning to his original spot, the team members stopped running and came back.

Bencroft was visibly annoyed. Even though these 500 players dealt very little damage to him, to the extent that it wasn’t even enough to overcome his health regeneration, he still felt extremely depressed.

"Scram, you vermin!” Bencroft roared.

His words were ignored, as the players of Asskickers United continued testing his bottom line.

Bencroft couldn’t hold back his anger any longer and charged toward the team members again.

Seeing this, Nie Yan immediately rushed toward the throne. As he arrived in front of the chests, he was shocked to discover that the red one had respawned!

Blue, green, and red, three chests lay before him. Nie Yan knew one of them contained Abak’s Leg Guards of Focus, and at least one other would erupt into flames. He had a one in three chance of picking the right chest.

Nie Yan gazed into the distance. The infuriated Bencroft had started murdering all in range of his blade. Anyone that was caught by him was instantly cut down, including Bladelight!

Logically speaking, Bladelight should be able to withstand at least a single attack. After all, his defense was even higher than that of Lil’ Gold and Paladin Lafus. However, Bencroft’s attacks had an additional armour break effect. When Bladelight attempted to block, his armour was broken, and he was instantly killed!

Seismic Slam!

Bencroft slammed his greatsword into the ground, unleashing a shock wave that sent over 10 players flying.

The team members were dying left and right. They’d come to Nie Yan’s aid not to kill a great boss, but to give him a precious few seconds at the cost of their lives. However, he couldn’t make a decision. He hesitatingly stared at the three chests in front of him. Which one contained the leg guards!? Bencroft would be back any second, he had to hurry!

Just as Nie Yan was about to select the green chest, Bencroft came rushing back. Nie Yan hurriedly fled with Shadow Waltz.

The ground was littered with corpses.

「What are our casualties?」Nie Yan asked.

「70 dead!」

Nie Yan’s eyes went wide in surprise. Not even 20 seconds had passed, yet Bencroft had already killed 70 players!

「Revive them,」Nie Yan said. He glanced over at Bencroft with a brooding expression. Just which chest contained the Leg Guards of Focus? Red, green, or blue?

Nie Yan was endlessly vexed. He could only rely on his luck. A one in three chance of success. Every attempt would result in the loss of many lives!

Nie Yan felt like he was in a haze. It’d be so much simpler if there were a hint. However, there was nothing. Even the Holy Stone didn’t provide any help.

Bencroft had at least some intelligence. Knowing that King of the World, Sun, and the others were trying to lead him away, he wouldn’t leave the throne for long.

Bencroft is intelligent… Nie Yan suddenly had a flash of insight. Right! The red chest contained a trap. Normally, if a player discovered a chest was booby trapped, they wouldn’t pick it again and try the other ones instead. Bencroft had likely moved the leg guards into the red chest!

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan made up his mind. He would open the red chest again!

Of course, there was no guarantee the red chest held the leg guards. It was only Nie Yan’s intuition telling him they should be in there.

Bencroft took a look at the three chests. Seeing none of them had been touched, he immediately charged toward the team members again.

"Crap! Watch out!” The faces of the team members paled. They didn’t even have the time to revive the fallen!

「Keep him busy for at least 30 seconds. I think I figured something out!」Nie Yan said.

「Got it, Boss! Leave it to us! We believe in you!」

The Masters launched an all-out assault on Bencroft. Undying Scoundrel teleported behind him with a Blink. With a wave of his staff, he shot out a barrage of spells. BANG! BANG! BANG! A string of damage values floated up above Bencroft’s head.

Bencroft immediately aggroed onto Undying Scoundrel. He swung around and chopped down with his greatsword.

Undying Scoundrel blinked around the vicinity non-stop, evading Bencroft’s attacks while retaliating with a shower of magic.

"GOAAARGH!” Bencroft let out an aggravated roar. As the ear-splitting sound swept over Undying Scoundrel, he immediately stiffened up. It was a crowd control skill!

Before Undying Scoundrel had a chance to blink away, a greatsword cleaved right through him, transforming him into a ray of light. Instant kill!

Next up was Summer Bug. He fired a barrage of spells at Bencroft, dodged around, and eventually fell under that fearful greatsword. One by one, the Magisters went up, each performing the same play again. Soon, the last of them died. However, they had bought Nie Yan a precious few seconds.

Nie Yan had already crouched down and started opening the red chest.

Opening chest… Progress: ...48%... 62%...

"Come on! Come on!” Nie Yan anxiously muttered. From the corner of his eye he saw a stream of notifications pop up of teammates dying. Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, he read the names one by one. After the Magisters came the Sword Saints. The chest still wasn’t open! The Guardians, Shadow Dancers, and even the several Archbishops, they all died within seconds of each other. Even Masters were nothing but fodder in front of a Level 180 Demonified Lord!

After he killed all the Masters, Bencroft started heading back to the throne, only to be met with fierce resistance. The weakest vermin were throwing themselves at him without any regard for their own lives!

Bencroft slashed away with his greatsword. Each attack would kill one or two players. However, with hundreds more in front of him, it would take him some time to kill them all.

Bencroft left a trail of corpses in his wake.

Please be right! Please be right! Nie Yan didn’t want their sacrifices to be in vain. CLICK! The lid of the red chest popped open.

Yes! I was right!

Nie Yan was prepared to escape with Gale Step at any moment. Fortunately, though, he didn’t smell any gunpowder!

Nie Yan’s eyes lit up with elation. He quickly stuck his hand inside the chest. The first thing he fished out was a pair of leg guards. Seeing the familiar designs, his heart threatened to leap out of his chest. Sure enough, it was Abak's Leg Guards of Focus! He had finally completed the Tyrant Abak Set!

Nie Yan hurriedly threw the leg guards into his bag. He stuck his hand back into the chest and pulled out a translucent egg about the size of an adult fist. He could clearly see the infant creature floating inside.

A fairy!

Nie Yan was incredibly excited. Another amazing find! He wondered what kind of fairy this was. In all of Asskickers United, only Tang Yao had a fairy, which had played no small role in helping him become the number one Mage in the game. From this, one could imagine how powerful and rare fairies were.

Giving any type of fairy to a Magister would exponentially increase their battle prowess!

Nie Yan rummaged inside the chest some more. There was nothing else inside. Seeing Bencroft fast approaching, he immediately activated Extreme Vanish and retreated.

The 500-man expedition team had been completely wiped out. The floor was piled high with corpses. When Bencroft returned to the throne, he discovered the red chest was empty. The items inside had vanished. He let out a roar filled with pure rage and started blindly destroying everything around him. His outburst threatened to bring the entire temple down. He wanted to drive the thief out of hiding, but Nie Yan was already long gone.

After rampaging for a long time, Bencroft finally tired himself out and collapsed back onto his throne.

The 26 Shamans revived first. They immediately started reviving the others. One team member after another stood back up.

「Everyone, retreat!」Nie Yan ordered in the voice chat. After getting what he came here for, there was no need to stay any longer.

Chapter 819 - Legendary Tyrant Abak Set

The revived players activated their Return Scrolls and teleported away. The 26 Shamans stayed behind until the very end, making sure everyone got out safely before leaving themselves.

The team members returned from Blaze City to Okoron and met back up in the guild headquarters.

"Boss, did you get that treasure?”

"Did you get anything good?”

...

Everyone bombarded Nie Yan with questions. They still had lingering fears from the fight with Bencroft. Even with all 500 of them attacking him non-stop for quite some time, his health still didn’t drop one bit. On the flipside, he could kill them with one attack, pretty much sweeping through them like chopping vegetables. The treasure he guarded definitely had to be extraordinary.

"Of course,” Nie Yan replied. After putting in so much effort, he naturally wouldn’t return empty-handed. "Let me take a look.”

Nie Yan examined the properties of the leg guards.

Abak’s Leg Guards of Focus (Legendary): Unequippable

Requirements: 1,500 Strength, 1,200 Dexterity, Level 180

Description: This item can only be worn by the owner of the Glimpse of Darkness. It is only equippable when the owner has gathered the full set. Abak held strength in high regard. Only the powerful can become tyrants. Eliminate all traitors!

Properties: Defense +1,232, Dodge +30, Focus +60, Strength +1,300, Dexterity +1,220, Enhanced Leg Strength, 70% chance to block attacks targeted at the legs.

Set Completion: 8/8

Note: Automatically bound to the owner of Volume I of the Book of Order; cannot be traded or dropped.

The properties of the Leg Guards of Focus were a little disappointing. They didn’t offer any supplementary skills. However, the important thing was that it was a set item, meaning Nie Yan had finally completed the Tyrant Abak Set.

After equipping the entire set, Nie Yan would also receive powerful set bonuses!

Nie Yan checked his level. He was still 7% away from levelling up to Level 150. The final hurdle. Where should I go to fill up that remaining 7%? Nie Yan suddenly remembered he still had experience he hadn’t collected yet! Righteous Faction players would be given a certain amount of experience from the Mercenary Association for every Evil Faction player they killed. Nie Yan had completely forgotten about this matter until now. He had killed so many Evil Faction players already, but he had never collected his reward. He had probably accumulated quite a bit so far.

Nie Yan headed to the Mercenary Association to collect his experience reward. His experience bar filled up from 93% to 98%. Just a little more!

「Guo Huai, how many Wandering Bard’s Sheet Music Scraps are in the guild warehouse?」

「32 in total,」Guo Huai said. The people under him had never stopped gathering the sheet music scraps.

「Good. Have someone deliver them over,」Nie Yan said.

「Alright.」

Before long, Nie Yan received the 32 Wandering Bard’s Sheet Music Scraps. After turning them in, he finally levelled up to Level 150.

Finally! I can finally equip the Tyrant Abak Set! Nie Yan impatiently put on the set. It was dark violet in colour. Every piece was engraved with a mysterious and ancient marking. Its design was fairly reserved. Even though ordinary people could tell it was a set at a glance, few would notice that it was Legendary-grade. Apart from the six pieces of amour, the set also included two daggers. They were curved like the fangs of a viper and shared the same peculiar crimson colour. Their sharp, cutting edges gave of a stifling murderous aura that shook the hearts of all those who saw them.

After equipping the Tyrant Abak Set, Nie Yan felt a strange energy surging into him. It was like a never ending deluge. At the same time, the armour lit up with a dazzling violet radiance. The colorful aura made him look like a deity high above the clouds.

Nie Yan looked at the properties of the Tyrant Abak Set. Apart from the stats from the individual pieces, he also received several set bonuses. All his stats were increased by 200%, as well as the max rank of his skills. He also received four supplementary skills. The first was a passive skill called Slaughter Aura. All his attacks would deal 50% splash damage to enemies in the immediate vicinity. The second was a passive skill called Unlimited Bladeworks. It increased the execution speed of his skills, boosted the damage bonus from linking attacks, and raised the effects of all his crowd control skills by 50. Regarding the damage bonus for linking attacks, the first hit in a combo would deal 100% damage, the second 200%, the third 400%, and so on. The third was a passive skill called Bloodthirst Aura. All allies near him would enter a bloodthirsty state and have their stats increased by 120%. The fourth was an active skill called Instant Transmission. After knowing a location, he could instantly teleport there. It could even be used to go from the underworld to the surface. Its cooldown was half-an-hour.

This was definitely an unrivalled, godly equipment set! Any one of these four skills was beyond amazing.

Ordinary players had a hard enough time finding even a single piece of a Legendary equipment set, to say nothing of collecting the full set. The Tyrant Abak Set wasn’t just any Legendary set either, it was a Level 180 Legendary set! Those ordinary low level Legendary items looked like normal rarity items next to it. This set was something that players would normally only hear about in myths and legends.

With the Tyrant Abak Set, Nie Yan would be unrivalled, at least for the time being.

Nie Yan looked at his stats. Both his attack and defense were over 30,000 now. Plus, the Tyrant Abak Set wasn’t leather armour but rather the formidable divine armour. In terms of physical defense, it was comparable to a Warrior’s heavy armour. At the same time, its resistance against magic was far superior to anything a Warrior could wear. His health had reached over 60,000, and his dodge chance was 79%. All his stats had reached a level that ordinary players could hardly imagine. Even the other Masters of Asskickers United were completely eclipsed.

Nie Yan’s heart was racing with excitement upon seeing these stats. There was no one in the world that could stop him now!

Announcement: The Age of Gods expansion has been released.

Age of Gods: Master classes are now fully available. The Legend class advancement quest is unlocked. Faction Wars have been released. Brave adventurers, bravely press forward and pursue eternal strength! Create legends and become the rulers of this world!

The sudden announcement caught the entire playerbase off guard. Players everywhere went into an uproar.

"Master classes are now fully available!?”

"Does that mean becoming a Master will be easier?”

"What is that Legend class advancement quest all about? Does that mean I can class advance into a Legendary Mage after becoming a Magister?” a Mage muttered.

…

Everyone was fervently discussing the release of the Age of Gods expansion. Back in the Asskickers United guild headquarters in Okoron, Nie Yan was completely dumbstruck. He never thought him putting on the Tyrant Abak Set would cause such a huge commotion.

Nie Yan was completely clueless about the Age of Gods expansion. This expansion hadn’t yet been released in his past life. After quickly scanning the information, his first reaction wasn’t one of joy. Since Master classes were fully available to everyone now, the advantage Asskickers United had built up would probably vanish. Luckily, there was also some good news. The Legend class advancement quest. This shook Nie Yan’s heart. Could it be that above Masters were Legends? Could it be the same as those Legendary NPCs?

The guild chat was extremely lively, with a lot of discussion going on about the Age of Gods expansion. Nie Yan started lurking.

「Master classes are fully available now. I wonder if I meet the requirements...」

「Yeah, me too. I’m Level 130 with 7,638 defense. Do you think I’m strong enough?」

「We won’t know if we don’t try. I heard a Class Advancement Hall opened up in Calore. Let’s go there and accept the class advancement quest.」

After Guo Huai received word of the situation, he anxiously contacted Nie Yan.「What are we going to do? With this expansion, we’ll have a lot more Masters popping up.」

「Have everyone at Level 135 and up take the class advancement quest and see if they can become Masters. As for those under Level 135, tell them to get their level up first,」Nie Yan said. Even though the bar for becoming a Master had been greatly reduced, the difficulty was probably still pretty high. Other than that, the post Age of Gods Masters would probably start off much weaker than the pre Age of Gods ones.

「I’m receiving reports that all the large guilds, including Angel Corps, are sending many of their players to take their class advancement quests,」Guo Huai said.

「Nothing to worry about. Just do as I say.」Nie Yan immediately started making some arrangements. Within this short time, he would have to take some measures to ensure that Asskickers United maintained their advantage over Angel Corps.

Even though an unexpected development like this had happened, it didn’t dampen Nie Yan’s mood of obtaining the Tyrant Abak Set at all. He glanced at his quest window.

Path of a Legend
Description: Each era, Legends rise up. They gain the power to shape the world around them. Will you become one of them? Set out on the path to becoming a Legend.

Objectives:
☐ Gather six Shattered Divinities. (3/6)
☐ Acquire all eight Divine Virtues. (7/8)
☒ Collect a Sacred Object. (2/1)
☐ Obtain the Holy Spirit Heart.

Nie Yan was dumbstruck. He was already more than halfway toward completing this Path of a Legend quest. He needed three more Shattered Divinities. Of the eight Divine Virtues, he was only missing Spirituality. With Death God’s Edge and Paternoster’s Warhammer, he already possessed two Sacred Objects. As for the final requirement, he was only a step from completing the Holy Spirit Heart.

This discovery was quite magical to Nie Yan. It turned out he was walking on the path of a Legend already.

After spending half a day digesting the new information from the Age of Gods expansion, Nie Yan closely examined the translucent egg. Letting it rest in his palm, he closed his eyes and focused his senses. He felt a holy energy. A Holy Fairy! He thought for a bit. In all of Asskickers United, the most powerful Holy Mage was undoubtedly Xie Yao. A Holy Fairy was similar to an Arcane Fairy. Once it died, it was gone. Only Xie Yao could protect it.

Nie Yan called Xie Yao over and gave her the Holy Fairy.

"Are you sure? I can really have this?” Xie Yao excitedly asked. She cutely gazed at the creature floating inside the egg.

"Yep.” Nie Yan nodded.

Xie Yao chanted an incantation and started transferring her holy energy into the egg. After a while, the egg cracked open with a pop, and a white Holy Fairy appeared in her hand. As Xie Yao poured more and more of her mana into the fairy, it slowly grew bigger until it was about half the size of Tang Yao’s Arcane Fairy. It was cute and chubby, blowing out white bubbles. It radiated a dense holy aura.

Another fairy was born!

After obtaining the Holy Fairy, Xie Yao’s strength greatly increased. Naturally, she would have to put in a lot of effort to raise the fairy’s rank and make it reach its full potential.

「Boss, did you trigger the Age of Gods expansion?」

「Was it really you, Boss?」

Everyone started spamming the guild chat with questions. It was a little too much of a coincidence. Moments after Nie Yan took something from a Level 180 Demonified Lord, the Age of Gods expansion hit. These two events were surely connected with each other.

「Seems like it.」Nie Yan nodded. Such a big happening was simply impossible to hide. So, he bluntly admitted it.

「Boss, what did you get?」

「Oh, that’s right. Weren’t you searching for the last piece of that Tyrant Abak Set? Is that what you got?」

「Yep, I’ve completed the set.」

「Show us!」

「Yeah, Boss! Show us the properties!」

The guild members shouted enthusiastically. They were all extremely curious to see the properties of the Tyrant Abak Set.

「Boss, you can show us the properties, right?」

Nie Yan considered what to do. Finally, due to the persistence of his fellow guild members, he gave in. Besides, there was nothing to hide anyway. Even if Angels Corps and the Century Financial Group got their hands on this information, it didn’t matter. The wheels of war were already turning anyway. Soon, he’d be on their doorsteps.

Nie Yan first shared the individual pieces of the Tyrant Abak Set in the guild chat. After which, he showed everyone the frightening set bonuses.

The previous bustling guild chat went deathly quiet. Everyone looked in shock and awe at the properties of the Tyrant Abak Set. A Level 180 Legendary Set! The stats of the individual pieces were frightening enough, to say nothing of the set bonuses. Nie Yan was already beyond powerful before, but with this set on, would anyone be his opponent?

「Boss, these properties… They’re absolutely insane!」Undying Scoundrel exclaimed. He couldn’t find the words to describe his feelings right now.

This was the ultimate set. It would even make the most mundane Thief look godly, to say nothing of a supreme expert like Nie Yan.

「Wait, isn’t it a Level 180 set? Why can the boss wear it?」

「Yeah, none of the pieces have any level requirement reduction gems socketed in them either.」

「I have something that reduces the level requirement of all equipment by 30,」Nie Yan explained.

They rolled their eyes. A Level 150 player wearing an unequalled Level 180 Legendary Set. Everyone else might as well just quit the game right now!

There was no second to the Tyrant Abak Set. Even the Saintess Christina Set Xie Yao was collecting couldn’t compare.

Chapter 820 - Boss Siege

Nie Yan hadn’t tested out the Tyrant Abak Set in actual combat yet. He had no doubt in his mind that it would feel amazing to hunt monsters with this kind of godly equipment. However, he didn’t dare to set foot outside of the city for the time being for fear of running into Phantom Princess Ina. She’d definitely revived again. He feared she was already a Level 180 Demonified Lord. Being stalked by this kind of existence definitely was certainly no pleasant matter.

Nie Yan started making preparations to tackle the latest expansion. A new dungeon map called World’s Edge was released with the Age of Gods expansion. The first reports mentioned that the final boss was a Level 200 Demonified Lord fallen angel. Apart from this, the dungeon also contained 20 smaller checkpoints with over 100 Variant Lords and 300 Lords of various levels roaming around. The gear that dropped from this dungeon was of the highest quality for every class. There were also many other rare, high level items, and even some of the chapters from the Book of Order were hidden there.

Exploring World’s Edge was non-negotiable. The progress every guild made in the map would directly influence their position in the power struggle.

Nie Yan hurriedly had Guo Huai collected data related to World’s Edge. After making ample preparations, they could start running this dungeon.

After receiving the Holy Fairy, Xie Yao immediately set out for the wilderness. With her mobbing speed, she could probably raise its rank in no time.

The other players in the guild also started busying themselves with levelling, running dungeons, or doing their class advancements quests. No one wanted to fall behind.

News of Nie Yan obtaining the Tyrant Abak Set eventually reached the forums. Its properties caused everyone to gape in amazement. They messaged their friends, and they theirs. From a few hundred admirers, to thousands, millions, and even more. It didn’t take long for the Tyrant Abak Set to be dubbed the strongest set of equipment in the game. Of course, Nie Yan was always mentioned in the same breath. This was another chapter to his legend.

Nie Yan’s acquisition of the Tyrant Abak Set struck a huge blow to the confidence of the likes of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. Nirvana Flame was already an undefeatable legend. Now, with the Tyrant Abak Set, it seemed all the more impossible to beat him.

Talk of the Tyrant Abak Set continued on for almost two weeks straight.

Even Nie Yan couldn’t gauge how much influence he had over the playerbase. He just knew that experts from both the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire were flocking towards Okoron to join Asskickers United. Those who failed to get into the main guild were lining up to join their branch guilds.

The Tyrant Abak Set once more pushed Nie Yan to the very forefront of everyone’s minds. He was almost unanimously declared the number one player in the game. The few dissenters were quickly drowned out by the overwhelming majority naming him the greatest of all time.

As for the moniker of number one player in the game, Nie Yan didn’t care much for it. It was an empty title given by those who couldn’t achieve greatness themselves. Like usual, he put on his cloak and turned off all the visual effects for his equipment. After which, he headed for the Starry Night Potion Shop branch in Okoron.

If Asskickers United was going to dispatch an expedition team to World’s Edge, potions were a must. An army marched on its stomach or in this case their supply of consumables. A large amount of high quality potions had to be stockpiled first.

The Starry Night Potion Shop’s had enjoyed a stable growth as of late. The number of high rank Alchemists working under them grew by the day. They occupied 95% of the potion market in the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire. Their daily profits exceeded 9,000,000 gold. This was an extremely frightening figure. Nie Yan ran the numbers. He had more than 90,000,000 gold on hand. This kind of capital could create huge waves no matter where it was used.

Strolling through the streets of Okoron, Nie Yan felt proud. To see his city bustling with activity, it was an indescribable feeling of happiness. Players and NPCs of all races blotted out the six-meter wide streets. Lavish and grand shopfronts were everywhere he looked. Most were Tier 10 or higher, with none below Tier 7.

As an Advanced City, many special buildings could be constructed in Okoron, such as Mage Towers, Warrior Training Camps, Holy Halls, and so on. Players could pay a certain fee to use these facilities. There were also Equipment Crafting Workshops, Equipment Upgrading Workshops, Gem Workshops, and so on, where players could upgrade their various equipment. There were even several secret shops where players could purchase special items they couldn’t get anywhere else.

Okoron generated 3,000,000 gold in profits every day. However, since the city was still growing and required a large sum of gold to support that growth, Asskickers United was investing 5,000,000 gold into it every day. As such, they were still running at a loss. The investment was well worth it, though, as could be seen by Okoron’s astonishing expansion.

Even Nie Yan couldn’t help but sigh in amazement at Okoron’s growth speed. According to Guo Huai’s reports, there were over 8,000,000 players active in the city every day. This was more than even in most NPC cities!

Nie Yan never dared to dream of ever reaching such heights. But now that he was here, he felt incredibly proud of all his achievements.

Nie Yan handpicked 1,000 players from the guild. He spent a large sum of gold to acquire rare materials, gems, and other items from the marketplace and outfitted them with the best equipment money could buy. Aside from that, he was also planning to hunt down some bosses to acquire top quality equipment. This was all in preparation for setting off to World’s Edge. From what he read in the reports, Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group had already dispatched their expedition teams there.

While Nie Yan was in the midst of working on a plan of attack for World’s Edge, the emergency sirens in Okoron went off. Several red orbs shot up in the sky before exploding and blossoming out like dazzling fireworks. The entire city was shrouded in a red veil of light.

"What’s going on?”

"Did something happen?”

The players in Okoron immediately started stirring.

"It’s the siege sirens! The city is under attack!”

"Which guild has the balls to attack Okoron!? They’re crazy! Angel Corps? No way, right? They’re no match for Asskickers United. If it really is them, they’re basically asking to be humiliated!”

The ordinary players were chatting fervently. At this moment, many Asskickers United players were rushing to the city gates. They couldn’t help but be curious. Angel Corps definitely wouldn’t be so stupid as to challenge Asskickers United, right? Before long, the players at the front sent back news. The city wasn’t being attacked by a guild but rather a super boss!

Nie Yan also rushed toward the commotion.

「What’s going on?」Nie Yan asked in the guild chat.

「Boss, it’s Phantom Princess Ina! She's a Level 180 Demonified Lord! She’s already on top of the walls!」Undying Scoundrel cried out.

She’s finally shown herself! Nie Yan activated Gale Step and dashed toward the scene. About 600 meters away, he saw an enormous kraken-like creature flailing its 10 tentacles on top of the walls. Phantom Princess Ina had grown much bigger than before. She was easily over 10 meters tall, and her body was jet black.

There were already over 60,000 players fighting off Phantom Princess Ina. Spells were whizzing through the air and bombarding her body. A string of mostly 1s and misses floated up in the air. Their damage was simply pitiful.

Phantom Princess Ina was wreaking havoc. She thrashed about with her enormous tentacles. BANG! BANG! BANG! Wherever her tentacles struck, rubble would fly out and players would be transformed into rays of light.

She left a trail of carnage and destruction in her wake.

Asskickers United’s players put up a fierce resistance, advancing dauntlessly like a surging tide. The arrow towers and turrets around the walls also started providing supporting fire. They dealt at least some damage at around several dozen damage on the low side to a few hundred on the high side. The hundred catapults in the city were also firing nonstop, with a barrage of shells arcing through the sky.

「Shit! She has too much health! There’s no way to see it!」

「God dammit! My flame burst only dealt three damage!」

…

Everyone was cursing up a storm. Their levels were simply too low. With Phantom Princess Ina’s formidable magic defense, their already mediocre spells barely dealt any damage. Even Undying Scoundrel and the other Masters only dealt 100-200 damage, occasionally critting for upwards of 600 damage.

Phantom Princess Ina wrapped her tentacles around an arrow tower. As she tightened her grip, cracks started appearing around the walls before it finally broke and collapsed into a pile of rubble. The players below scattered in every direction. Those who failed to get away in time were crushed to death.

The Level 180 Demonified Lord that Nie Yan and the others encountered in the Temple of the Goddess of Life was a defensive type. Bencroft had extremely high defense while his attack power was somewhat lacking. Since his health didn’t fall by much either, he didn’t use any powerful attack skills. That was why they never got to experience his full might. Phantom Princess Ina, on the other hand, was an attack type monster. The kind that destroyed everything she came in contact with. Seeing her frightening destructive might, everyone started to realize just how powerful a Level 180 Demonified Lord on a rampage was!

Relying on their numbers, players rushed toward Phantom Princess Ina from all over. Many of them weren’t even Asskickers United members. They had only come to join in on the fun.

The streets, roofs, walls, players were standing everywhere. They attacked Phantom Princess Ina non-stop with magic, arrows, or bolts.

More than 50% of the players in Okoron had mobilized. This was a super large scale battle!

Seeing so many people willingly participating in the defense of Okoron, Nie Yan was shocked.

Spells and arrows whizzed through the air and blotted out the sky!

Phantom Princess Ina’s health finally started falling. After such a long time, it had only fallen by the tiniest sliver. She roared out in a fury.

Chapter 821 - Playing Dirty

Every time Phantom Princess Ina lashed out with her tentacles, dozens of players would go flying. She was slowly making her way towards the heart of Okoron.

Everywhere Phantom Princess Ina went, buildings would collapse into ruins.

If Phantom Princess Ina was allowed to continue her rampage, Nie Yan couldn’t imagine the damage she’d do to Okoron.

Nie Yan leaped down from a tower. Landing on a tarp roof, he bounced off and pounced toward Phantom Princess Ina. The blades of the Bloody Dagger and Slaughter Edge flashed with a dazzling crimson light.

Even though Zennarde’s Sword was more powerful than either of these two daggers individually, the set bonuses of the Tyrant Abak Set were simply too good. So, Nie Yan favoured the Bloody Dagger and Slaughter Edge for the time being. Perhaps after he removed the last seal from Zennarde’s Sword, unlocking its full might, he would reconsider.

Let’s test out the Tyrant Abak Set!

Phantom Princess Ina immediately sensed Nie Yan’s presence. A tentacle came slamming towards him.

Nie Yan’s dagger drew a crimson arc through the air. PUFF! The tentacle was sliced cleanly off and dropped to the ground.

"GYAAAAH!” Phantom Princess Ina wailed out in pain. Her tentacle wriggled on the ground like some kind of snake before melting into a puddle of black water. Soon, a new tentacle sprouted out from where the old one was cut off.

−34,888

The onlookers were dumbstruck. What was this damage!? Their attacks couldn’t even reach double digits, but that cloaked player actually dealt over 30,000 damage in a single blow! Who could they be?

"It’s the boss! He’s here!”

The players from Asskickers United quickly recognized Nie Yan. They immediately broke out into cheers.

「Keep attacking. Don’t slow down!」Nie Yan ordered in the guild chat.

「You got it, Boss!」

Nie Yan’s appearance invigorated the fighting spirits of the guild members. Though their damage was minimal, they continued shooting at Phantom Princess Ina with magic and arrows.

The non guild members all glanced at each other. So that was Nirvana Flame! No wonder the damage was so high! Was this all thanks to the Tyrant Abak Set? How frightening!

The stat bonuses from the Tyrant Abak Set allowed Nie Yan to completely disregard Phantom Princess Ina’s defense and armour break her. He could also ignore the 30 level difference between them. Every attack dealt full damage.

Phantom Princess Ina’s aggro immediately shifted to Nie Yan. She slammed down with all her tentacles. BAM! BAM! BAM! Players were sent flying left and right. However, Nie Yan was simply too fast as he nimbly dodged around. None of her attacks could touch a single hair on his body,

After donning the Tyrant Abak Set, Nie Yan’s movement speed directly broke past 3,000. He was already pushing the limits of speed.

After evading the onslaught of attacks, Nie Yan shot forward and let loose with a flurry of attacks. Backbreaker! Assassinate! Reverse Grip Backstab! The three skills came one after another in quick succession. His attack speed was simply astonishing.

−33,289
−30,120
−387,119!

A string of damage values floated up above Phantom Princess Ina’s head.

Everyone forgot for a moment they were on a battlefield. They stood still in shock as they sucked in a cold breath of air. What terrifying critical damage! Was he still human!?

"GYAAAAH!” Phantom Princess Ina screeched out in fury. She slammed down with her tentacles, but before her attacks could even reach the ground, Nie Yan’s silhouette blurred. BAM! BAM! BAM! He evaded all her attacks.

Tentacles came slamming down one after the other. They were incredibly fast and destructive, with the next coming down before the first even hit the ground. Corpses piled up around her. Eventually, no one dared to approach her anymore. As the corpses despawned, only one player walked this otherwise deserted area—Nie Yan.

Nie Yan evaded everything while retaliating against Phantom Princess Ina with a whirlwind of attacks.

"The boss is so strong! He makes it look so easy!”

"Of course he does! He’s the boss!”

The onlookers chatted in a lively fashion. Nie Yan looked like he was having no trouble at all dealing with Phantom Princess Ina. The players couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. If it were them facing such a powerful boss, they would’ve died 10 times over by now.

With Nie Yan drawing Phantom Princess Ina’s attention, everyone else could attack her without worry. Even though they dealt almost no damage, given how many of them there were along with the supporting fire from the arrow towers and turrets, it all added up.

It took them half-an-hour to bring Phantom Princess Ina’s health down by 10%.

"GHYAAAAAAAH!” Phantom Princess Ina suddenly let out a blood curdling screech as a powerful sound wave swept out into the surroundings.

A mind attack! Nie Yan hurriedly activated Mind Immune!

Miss!

Nie Yan had reacted in a timely manner. However, the rest of the players in the battle weren’t so lucky. After getting struck by the sound wave, it was like they were hit by an AoE spell. Almost as if they were stalks of wheat in a field, they had their lives reaped en masse. At least 6,000 players died.

Phantom Princess Ina furiously pursued Nie Yan. Several dozen tendrils shot out toward him from different angles.

Gale Step! Nie Yan escaped the tendrils and fled away.

Phantom Princess Ina chased after him, ramming through three buildings in her way.

Soon, another crowd of players came rushing over.

After evading an attack, Nie Yan leaped into the air and spun around like a topspin with the Bloody Dagger and Slaughter Edge. PUFF! PUFF! He sliced off two tentacles, which quickly grew back.

This was too difficult!

Phantom Princess Ina was completely overwhelming the players in Okoron. Such a formidable boss! For Nie Yan to last this long against her was nothing short of a miracle. However, relying on him to solo a Level 180 Demonified Lord was a bit unrealistic. They could only try their best to dogpile her to death!

Players were dying in droves. Piles of corpses reached meters high as rivers of blood flowed down the streets. Most who died quickly ran back to their corpses to revive and jumped right back into the battle. There were also another 1,000,000 players on standby, ready to step forward at any time. A large portion of them were solo players.

News of Okoron being attacked by a Level 180 Demonified Lord quickly spread. A livestream of the battle was posted online. Even though many people were shocked by the might of Phantom Princess Ina, they were even more taken aback by the scale of the battle. Over 1,000,000 players advancing dauntlessly with no regard for their lives. They were like ants swarming a larger enemy. This was the rallying power of Asskickers United!

Many people willingly lend their strength to Asskickers United. As for why, no one really knew. Perhaps they were friends of players in Asskickers United. After all, the guild counted only experts. Players who’d grown strong and along the way made numerous friends. It wasn’t all that surprising they could rally together so many.

Apart from the shocking scale of the battle, the battle prowess Nie Yan displayed also kept people wide-eyed and speechless. He was simply inhuman!

No one knew how long it would take for this battle to conclude. All the major powers were paying close attention to the situation in Okoron. Soaring Angel and Cao Xu were even personally watching the livestream. Okoron being attacked by a Level 180 Demonified Lord was a great piece of news for them. However, even though Phantom Princess Ina’s health was falling very slowly, it was still falling. Seeing this, they became restless and started making some movements in the background.

Phantom Princess Ina was hot on Nie Yan’s heels. She cast all sorts of spells, like Quagmire and Lethargy, in an attempt to trap him. He relied on his unrivalled speed to evade all these attacks, creating the opportunity for the other players to attack her.

"Fuck! This boss is way too overpowered!”

"Are you dumb or something? Of course she is! That’s a Level 180 Demonified Lord! A while back, me and my friends got together and formed a 20-man team. Our average level was over 90. So, when we encountered a Level 60 Demonified Lord, we thought it would be a piece of cake. In the end, we were completely wiped out. A Level 60 Demonified Lord is already that strong! Do I need to say more!?”

The battle raged on as time ticked away.

While Nie Yan was dealing with Phantom Princess Ina, a group of 80 players infiltrated Okoron. They didn’t wear any guild emblems. Their equipment was pretty decent, and none of them was below Level 130.

These were some of the experts on Cao Xu’s payroll. They rarely ever showed themselves in public. So, very few if any players would recognize them. After receiving a mission from Cao Xu, they arrived in Okoron. All of them had sworn their undying loyalty to him. Not affiliated with any guilds, they reported to him directly and only mobilized under his command.

The leader of this group was a 30-year-old Elementalist in fiery robes called Foxfire Magic.

"The boss said if we complete this mission, we’ll receive a bonus 10 times our usual pay. So, give it your all. If I catch any of you slacking, don’t blame me for being ruthless,” Foxfire Magic said.

"Understood!”

Foxfire Magic’s team passed through the sea of players and approached the center of the battlefield. As Phantom Princess Ina’s enormous frame came into view, their faces paled. Seeing her in person or on video was completely different. For Nie Yan to last this long against her was simply inconceivable.

Under Phantom Princess Ina’s pursuit, Nie Yan rapidly retreated. He brandished the Bloody Dagger and Slaughter Edge and repeatedly sliced off her tentacles. Seeing a shower of flames raining down on him, he hurriedly escaped with Shadow Waltz. Then, he pulled out his Cavalry Crossbow, swung around, and fired a volley of bolts.

Nie Yan was caught in a dead end. After leading Phantom Princess Ina to a nearby street, he discovered the place was filled with a large crowd of players.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY! NOW!” Nie Yan shouted at the top of his lungs. However, there were simply too many people gathered here. There was no way they could disperse in time.

Chapter 822 - An Ant Trying to Topple an Oak

Phantom Princess Ina was barrelling forward. The players up ahead frantically tried to get out of the way.

The road ahead of him was blocked by a human wall. Nie Yan was just about to soar over the crowd with Leap, when more than 20 people suddenly appeared in front of him.

These 20 players weren’t running away like everyone else. Rather, they moved in to surround Nie Yan.

Ursine Transformation!

Three druids transformed into large bears and charged at Nie Yan.

Tempest Rage!

Umbra Arrow!

The Shamans and Druids unleashed their magic.

Three elven Thieves entered stealth and stalked around Nie Yan, ready to strike when the moment presented itself.

They moved like an experienced and skilled team of experts.

Some distance away, Xie Yao and several of the other Masters noticed Nie Yan getting surrounded by 20 players. They immediately sensed something wrong.

「Boss, watch out!」

「Nie Yan!」

…

Nie Yan was in danger! With Phantom Princess Ina chasing him from behind, he had little to no time to react to anything else. Everyone who saw his predicament broke out in a cold sweat on his behalf.

Not just Xie Yao, Undying Scoundrel, and others, also those watching the livestream online felt their breath stagnate.

…

Clemenci Stronghold, Angel Corps’ guild headquarters. Soaring Angel and Cao Xu were watching the live feed from the comfort of their seats.

Seeing 20 players ambushing Nie Yan out of nowhere, Soaring Angel couldn’t help but glance over at Cao Xu.

"I’m impressed, Brother Cao,” Soaring Angel said. His people were still rushing over to Okoron, while the Century Financial Group had already taken action.

Cao Xu chuckled.

Soaring Angel’s tone suddenly changed. "If it were me in that situation, I would be dead without a doubt. But our opponent is Nirvana Flame.”

Cao Xu furrowed his eyebrows. Nie Yan was indeed a tough nut to crack. More than a few instances came to mind where they thought he was dead for sure, only for him to make it out alive.

...

Phantom Princess Ina slammed down with one of her tentacles.

Nie Yan leaped out of the way. BOOOM! Phantom Princess Ina’s tentacle struck the ground beside him. The stone brick streets were crushed into rubble.

Just when Nie Yan was planning to use the Illusion Steps to attract Phantom Princess Ina’s attention, dozens of spells came raining towards him. He also felt the ground beneath him go soft. Quagmire! His stats dropped slightly. The enemy had cursed him too! Luckily, the Tyrant Abak Set offered high magic resistance, so these curses had minimal effect.

Nie Yan twisted his body as the spells whizzed right past him, mere inches from striking him.

Nie Yan immediately locked his gaze onto the perpetrators. They were definitely sent by Angel Corps or the Century Financial Group!

Fools! Nie Yan inwardly snickered. He suddenly erupted with killing intent as a profound light blossomed from his eyes. Eye of Truth!

Three Thieves appeared in Nie Yan’s vision.

The three bear form Druids came charging forward. Nie Yan leaped into the air and soared over them. After landing back on the ground, he shot forward like a spring and pounced on one of the Warriors.

"Stop him!”

"Don’t let him get away!”

The Mages and Shamans released a barrage of magic.

Death Immune!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Nie Yan was struck by eight spells, as a string of damage values ranging between 30–40 floated up above his head. Thanks to Death Immune, the additional effects of these spells were blocked.

Seeing Nie Yan closing in on him, the Warrior brandished his greatsword. Letting out a low shout, his muscles suddenly swelled in size.

A berserk skill!

"Die!” The Warrior slashed down as a powerful sword energy swept forth.

An ant trying to topple an oak! Nie Yan coldly smiled. He activated Gale Ambush. With an explosive increase in speed, he suddenly arrived in front of the Warrior.

BANG! The Warrior’s sword struck Nie Yan, dealing a little over 300 damage.

The difference in gear quality between both sides was enormous. The Warrior wore Level 130 equipment. Even though he even had a few Sub Legendary and Legendary-grade pieces, they really didn’t count for anything in front of Nie Yan’s Level 180 Tyrant Abak Set.

Nie Yan took the Warrior’s attack head-on and slashed out with his two daggers. PSHFT! PSFHT! PSHFT! He landed three consecutive blows.

THUD! The 17,000 health Warrior collapsed on the ground.

At the same time, a string of damage values floated up above the heads of the other 19 players closing in on Nie Yan. THUD! THUD! THUD! They dropped dead on the ground.

This was the effect of the Slaughter Aura! All enemies within the range of this aura would take splash damage from Nie Yan’s attacks!

The ground was littered with corpses.

Phantom Princess Ina’s three tentacles came slamming down. Nie Yan immediately leaped out of the way, soaring dozens of meters in the air before landing on a building. After which he dashed away.

Miserable screams rang out behind Nie Yan. Phantom Princess Ina continued madly slaughtering the surrounding players.

Nie Yan and the 20 players from the Century Financial Group had only clashed for a short few seconds, but it was enough to leave everyone speechless. A single exchange was all he needed to wipe them all out. Too frightening!

Many people impatiently hit the replay button of the clip and ran it in slow motion. They wanted to learn how Nie Yan accomplished such a feat.

"What kind of skill is that? It deals AoE splash damage?”

"If I’m not mistaken, there’s a skill called Shadow Slaughter that has that effect.”

"Those idiots actually dared to ambush Nirvana Flame. They were pretty much asking to die.”

It wasn’t hard to guess these perpetrators were sent by Angels Corps or the Century Financial Group to take Nie Yan out. Unfortunately for them, their little plot ended up in a complete failure. Their normal attacks only hit for 30–50 damage at most. Meanwhile, Nie Yan had over 60,000 health! Were they looking to die, or what?

Hiding in a corner and ready to ambush Nie Yan at any time, Firefox Magic and the rest gazed at each other with pale faces. If they’d joined that battle, the outcome wouldn’t have been any different. They reported their initial failure to Cao Xu and waited for further orders.

...

Cao Xu and Soaring Angel never expected such an outcome either. They looked at each other with bitter smiles.

"Brother Cao, it looks like these sorts of methods will no longer work on Nirvana Flame. That bastard is too overpowered after obtaining the Tyrant Abak Set. A Level 180 Legendary set, I wonder how he managed to get his hands on that. Such an incredibly rare set isn’t easy to collect,” Soaring Angel muttered, his voice filled with helplessness. How could he not hope that the people dispatched by Cao Xu would smoothly kill Nie Yan? However, it was too difficult of a task.

Cao Xu’s face was gloomy. Even though the people he dispatched weren’t Masters, they were still the most talented players under him. He had outfitted them with the best equipment available, among which quite a few pieces were Legendary-grade. However, when this group attacked Nie Yan, they could only deal a few dozen damage. Even when using a special skill like the Warrior did, 300 damage was the most they could do. Their attacks barely tickled. Meanwhile, Nie Yan cut down all 20 of them in the blink of an eye.

"Besides Masters, ordinary players can’t touch him. Fan, my boy, let’s put aside our past grievances and work together on this. If we let Nirvana Flame grow any further, there won’t be a place for us here anymore. We should hurry up and produce some more Masters,” Cao Xu said. He felt an increasing sense of urgency.

"We will, Brother Cao. There’s no denying it. We’ll have to work together on this matter. If I can ever be of help, feel free to contact me.”

This was Nie Yan’s first debut after donning the Tyrant Abak Set. This Legendary set left a deep impression on the minds of all players.

Nie Yan led Phantom Princess Ina in circles around the city. Since he was hitting like a truck, all her aggro was focused onto him. The surrounding players, arrow towers, turrets, and catapults could freely let loose with their attacks.

Phantom Princess Ina destroyed over 70 buildings, turning the entire east district of Okoron into ruins. The number of casualties exceeded 160,000. Many players even died several times.

After nearly six hours of bitter struggle, Phantom Princess Ina health finally dropped to 10%.

"We’re almost there guys! Just a little more!

Everyone’s endurance and physical strength was being pushed to the limit. They’d fought Phantom Princess Ina for hours and had died more times than they could count. Seeing her health dip below 10%, they all felt somewhat impatient to finish her off.

Phantom Princess Ina chanted an incantation. Raging black flames came to life, setting ablaze everything within a 300-meter radius.

The players caught in the flames died instantly.

Holy Descent!

Taking advantage of the brief period of magic immunity, Nie Yan dashed out of the flames. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw Phantom Princess Ina’s pale face glaring within the pitch black flames. She was chanting a cryptic incantation.

Phantom Princess Ina looked like a demoness from hell at this moment.

Alarm bells went off in Nie Yan’s head. He couldn’t imagine the destructive might the Forbidden Magic of a Level 180 Demonified Lord possessed. If Phantom Princess Ina were allowed to finish chanting, would there be anything left of Okoron?

Having built Okoron from the ground up, Nie Yan wouldn’t stand idly by and watch it get destroyed! No! He would stop her! He would save his city! An unprecedented resoluteness flowed over from his heart.

Chapter 823 - Kill Without Mercy!

Nie Yan had no intention of letting Okoron turn into ruins!

Adjudicator of God!

Nie Yan suddenly accelerated and shot toward Phantom Princess Ina.

Phantom Princess Ina’s torso was more than 10 meters above the ground. Her lower body was that of an enormous octopus with jet black skin and numerous thick and powerful tentacles.

Nie Yan leaped into the air and pounced toward Phantom Princess Ina’s torso.

Phantom Princess Ina whipped one of her thick and solid tentacles toward Nie Yan. Even in the middle of chanting, she could still freely attack with her tentacles!

Just as Nie Yan was about to be struck by one of the tentacles, he twisted his body in mid-air. At the same time, he brandished his dagger and drew a crimson streak through the air. PUFF! The tentacle was sliced off.

Gravity took over and Nie Yan started falling to the ground. As he made a rapid descent, he delivered a fearsome kick to Phantom Princess Ina’s lower body.

The power behind this kick was quite frightening.

BAM! Phantom Princess Ina staggered back, barely retaining her balance. However, this still didn’t interrupt her chanting.

Nie Yan borrowed the force generated with the kick to spin around and slash Phantom Princess Ina with his dagger before following up with an elbow strike. Afterwards, he kicked off a tentacle which came whipping towards him and propelled himself high enough to deliver another heavy kick to her midsection.

Nie Yan’s kicks had a powerful knockback effect. His relentless assault caused her to stagger several more steps back. Her incantation was interrupted for a short few seconds, but after stabilizing herself, she resumed chanting.

Kicks were effective. Nie Yan definitely couldn’t let Phantom Princess Ina continue chanting. If she got off her Forbidden Magic, Okoron would be finished!

All of Phantom Princess Ina’s tentacles came wrapping towards Nie Yan.

Nie Yan tried to close in on Phantom Princess Ina’s torso several times, only to be repelled by her tentacles.

Even if he couldn’t hit the human portion of her body, Nie Yan still had to stop her from chanting!

Nie Yan entered a state of absolute focus as he nimbly started dodging the tentacles and retaliated with a flurry of attacks. Phantom Assassination! Backbreaker! Lacerate!

With the black flames burning fiercely, everyone but Nie Yan had retreated to a safe distance of at least 300 meters away. They could only see a silhouette dancing around Phantom Princess Ina’s body. Nie Yan’s astonishing speed left them speechless. Was this still within the realm of what a human was capable to achieve!?

The awareness and reaction speed required to achieve such a state was absolutely mind boggling!

1-hit combo, 2-hit combo, 3-hit combo… After being interrupted, Nie Yan would start over again. 1- hit combo, 2-hit combo, 3-hit combo...

As time passed, Nie Yan’s attacks became smoother and smoother. Thanks to the effects of the Unlimited Bladeworks skill, his skills linked together much more easily. His attacks were fluid like water.

30,000 damage, 60,000 damage, 120,000 damage.

Nie Yan’s damage doubled for every next hit in the combo.

Nie Yan finally realized how frightening of a skill Unlimited Bladeworks was. If he pulled off a 5-hit combo or higher, the damage he dealt would be unimaginable.

BAM! Phantom Princess Ina staggered back, her chant coming to a short pause. Before she could even start chanting again, she received another kick and was interrupted again.

In this fashion, Phantom Princess Ina was continuously forced back. Every time she was about to continue chanting her Forbidden Magic, she would be interrupted.

Phantom Princess Ina managed to get out another three syllables. The wind started howling, and clouds of raging black flames blotted out the sky over Okoron. The surrounding temperature heated up.

Nie Yan could tell from the violent magic fluctuations in the air that this spell was powerful enough to obliterate Okoron!

Nie Yan couldn’t help but become anxious. Phantom Princess Ina only needed to chant a few more syllables. If he let her, the consequences would be disastrous!

"Mo-reh-ka…” Phantom Princess Ina had just chanted out another three syllables, when Nie Yan rushed forward and planted his foot deep into her abdomen.

Phantom Princess Ina staggered several steps back as her fleshy lower body violently shrunk back.

Nie Yan’s attacks were fierce beyond compare.

3-hit combo!

A tentacle came whipping towards Nie Yan. If he were to dodge out of the way, the combo would break, and Phantom Princess Ina would take advantage of this opportunity to cast her Forbidden Magic. This was a do-or-die moment! Darkbright Barrier! A dark golden membrane of light wrapped around his body. "HAAAH!” He braved the attack head-on and countered with an elbow strike.

BAM! The barrier instantly shattered into a million shards of light.

−37,777

Nie Yan’s health plummeted by more than half. Thankfully, it wasn’t an instant kill. The Darkbright Barrier had saved him.

4-hit combo! Nie Yan’s elbow strike dealt over 240,000 damage.

"GYAAAH!” Phantom Princess Ina staggered back. The Forbidden Magic was delayed again. She controlled her tentacles to wrap around Nie Yan.

Any ordinary boss would’ve had their magic broken after taking such a fearsome blow. However, Phantom Princess Ina was no ordinary boss. She could still continue chanting. This was what made her frightening to deal with!

As tentacles threatened to constrict him, Nie Yan suddenly switched over to Zennarde’s Sword.

"ANNIHILATION SLASH!” Nie Yan hollered as he slashed down with his blade.

10 flaming energy swords merged into one and came cleaving down on Phantom Princess Ina.

PUFF! PUFF! PUFF! All the tentacles were cut apart and burned away.

−888,120!

Nie Yan smirked. It was a pity his combo was broken after getting hit. However, he had bought enough time.

After being hit by the Annihilation Slash, Phantom Princess Ina wailed out in pain. The damage done to her body was too severe. It would take some time for her tentacles to regrow.

Nie Yan checked Phantom Princess Ina’s health bar. She still had a little over 3,000,000 health left!

After executing the Annihilation Slash, Nie Yan switched back to the Tyrant Abak Set. As his body came plummeting towards the ground, he borrowed the downward momentum to spin around and plunge his dagger into Phantom Princess Ina’s spine with Backbreaker.

Since Phantom Princess Ina’s tentacles were still regenerating, nothing could stop him now. He followed up with two consecutive kicks.

CRASSSH! Phantom Princess Ina was knocked to the ground. Her tentacle stumps flailed about as she struggled to upright herself.

Nie Yan had finally done enough. The Forbidden Magic was broken as the sky above Okoron cleared up.

The crisis was resolved!

Nie Yan’s heart was racing. He succeeded in stopping the Forbidden Magic. However, at this moment, something strange was happening. Phantom Princess Ina erupted into flames, letting out miserable cries as she trashed about in agony.

Nie Yan hurriedly retreated some distance. Phantom Princess Ina’s body was like a burning piece of paper, slowly turning into ash and blowing away with the wind. She was crumbling apart at a speed visible to the naked eye!

It suddenly hit Nie Yan. This was the frightening effect of failing to cast a spell. Magic rebound! If a powerful spell was broken mid-cast, the caster would suffer a powerful backlash. Worst case scenario, they would instantly die. Best case scenario, they would be severely weakened and lose all their mana.

Phantom Princess Ina was already at very low health to begin with. After suffering the backlash from having her Forbidden Magic broken, a damage value of over 3,000,000 floated up above her head. She let out a mournful cry as the last of her returned to dust.

The raging flames gradually dissipated, leaving behind a patch of blackened ground.

Clink! Clink! Clink! A ton of loot, ranging from coins to gems and equipment, fell down where Phantom Princess Ina died.

What a haul!

Nie Yan estimated at least 30 gems had dropped!

Seeing Nie Yan stopping Phantom Princess Ina from casting her Forbidden Magic and her dying from the resulting backlash, all the onlookers were excited beyond belief. This was a Level 180 Demonified Lord! The scene of her rampaging through Okoron was still fresh in their minds.

There were at least 100,000 players in the surroundings who had personally witnessed Nie Yan killing Phantom Princess Ina. The emotions they were feeling right now couldn’t be described in words. Nie Yan was undoubtedly a legend, an existence who stood at the apex of Conviction!

While everyone was caught up in the moment, someone suddenly shouted.

"THE BOSS IS DEAD! QUICKLY, SNATCH UP THE LOOT!”

These words immediately set off an uproar. Tens of thousands of players suddenly made a mad scramble for the loot.

Of these 100,000 players, almost 70% were non-guild members. Even though they feared Asskickers United, the allure of Phantom Princess Ina’s drops was too great. Any single piece of loot could sell for an enormous sum of gold. Even if they had to delete their accounts and restart from scratch, it would still be worth it. They surged forward like a tidal wave. Every single one of them wanted to get a piece of the pie.

With so many people fighting over the loot, even if someone took one or two gems, no one would notice, right? This what what they were all thinking.

Seeing this scene, Nie Yan’s face darkened. After braving such a huge risk to kill Phantom Princess Ina, he was not about to let the loot fall into someone else’s hands, especially considering how much damage Okoron had suffered!

「Suppress the crowd! Anyone that tries to steal the loot, kill them without mercy!」

「B-but Boss, so many people...」

「Do I have to repeat myself?」NIe Yan coldly asked. Asskickers United was the Viridian Empire’s number one guild. Even though they had a policy of not antagonizing anyone without just cause, when the situation called for it, they would mercilessly crush anyone that challenged their authority!

「Understood!」The players from Asskickers United knew Nie Yan’s words were ironclad!

Chapter 824 - Nightfall Gem

Undying Scoundrel, Xie Yao, and the other casters blinked over toward the loot.

Bladelight, Smokestub, and the rest also flew over. They erected up a human wall around the loot dropped by Phantom Princess Ina. The ordinary players had no way of approaching.

Those rushing forward, hungry for the loot, suddenly found themselves face to face with Bladelight and the other Masters. They came to a quick halt. Some of the smarter ones slowly backed away. They understood there was a fundamental difference between someone like Bladelight and them. If he decided to take action against them, they’d only be welcoming dead with open arms. He’d kill them in a single blow.

"Ghost Shadow, Birdman, get the fuck back. Are you guys looking to die!?”

"Monk, back off! If you take one more step forward, I’ll cut all ties with you!”

...

The players from Asskickers United shouted at those they recognized. Nie Yan was truly angered this time. If a battle really broke out, none of these people would leave here alive.

Many players weighed their options before ultimately deciding to withdraw. However, some still continued rushing towards the loot.

Nie Yan wouldn’t go after those who willingly gave up. He wouldn’t wantonly slaughter innocent players.

Several dozen Thieves came rushing forward. Hidden in stealth, they hoped they could snatch away the loot without being noticed.

They already pictured the loot in their possession. Only a few more steps! Bladelight let out a deep roar. The deafening sound swept out.

A blank of damage values floated up in the air. The Thieves were forced out of stealth.

Seismic Slam!

Bladelight stomped down on the ground, sending a powerful shock wave out around him. BANG! BANG! BANG! Numerous players were sent flying away. Five were instantly killed.

Young Seven raised his staff and cast Illuminate. The other casters quickly locked onto a respective target and waved their staffs. BANG! BANG! BANG! More than 30 players collapsed on the ground.

As a large crowd of players came charging over, Xie Yao waved her staff and chanted an incantation. Stagnation Domain! All several hundred players within the 30-meter wide area instantly slowed to a crawl, as if they were moving in slow motion. With another wave of her staff, a barrage of holy beams pierced down from the clouds and blasted them away.

Undying Scoundrel, Xie Yao, and the others were slaughtering ordinary people like chopping vegetables. The immediate vicinity was cleared of all players.

Seeing this scene, the players further back came to a screeching halt and glanced at each other with ashen faces. They were all thoroughly deterred by Asskickers United’s show of might. None of them wanted to throw their lives away.

「Secure the drops,」Nie Yan ordered.

Sun, King of the World, and the other Thieves started collecting the loot off the ground.

The onlookers watched on helplessly from several hundred meters away. They were all salivating over the drops, but none of them dared to take even half a step forward.

Nie Yan looked around at the hundreds of thousands of players in the immediate surroundings, all of them with unresigned looks on their faces.

Too many of Asskickers United’s Masters were present. No matter how unfair this situation was, they didn’t dare to try anything funny.

At this moment, a player stepped out from the crowd. He wore a fiery red robe and had the appearance of a 30 year old man. Holding a staff with a red gem at the tip, he gazed at Nie Yan and shouted, "Nirvana Flame, don’t you think you’re being a bit too unreasonable? I know you killed Phantom Princess Ina, but we helped you! Are you really going to claim it all for yourself? Isn’t that a bit too greedy? The only reason we came here to help today is because your guild is known for its righteousness and fairness. However, as you are now, you’re no better than those you claim to condemn!”

The Mage’s incendiary words immediately gained the crowd’s approval.

Everyone broke out in chatter.

"I heard a lot in the past about how Nirvana Flame treats everyone fairly. Looks like it was all a lie.”

"We sacrificed our lives, and this is the thanks we get!”

Seeing Nie Yan not immediately replying, the Mage continued, "Are you not even going to give us an explanation? Do you think you’re too good for us? We helped Asskickers United defeat Phantom Princess Ina, but you turn around and kill hundreds of us! What kind of justice is this!?”

Everyone stared at Nie Yan. If he didn’t give them a proper explanation, it would spell disaster for Asskickers United’s reputation.

Nie Yan inspected this player with Transcendent Insight. This elven Mage was called Foxfire Magic. He had never heard of this name before. Just where did he pop up from?

"We demand an explanation!”

Nie Yan had long since thought of a way to resolve this matter. "It’s true that everyone here today helped us in defeating Phantom Princess Ina. I, Nirvana Flame, am not a man who doesn’t know favours. However, without rules, there is no order. The loot dropped by Phantom Princess Ina doesn’t belong to any one person, but rather everyone on the battlefield. That’s why it’s a free for all. It’s true we secured all the spoils of the battle for ourselves. However, since we’ve taken something, we’ll also give back. Everyone who helped out in today’s battle can show proof through video at the Asskickers United guild office and receive 10–30 gold. As for those who died, they can receive a compensation of 20 gold. As for accusations of being unfair, I’m sure I don’t need to speak. We all know the unspoken rules here."

The crowd immediately started stirring. A few dozen gold might not be much to Nie Yan or the members of Asskickers United, but it was still a fair sum to ordinary players. Anyone with a keen eye could tell that at least 100,000 players had participated in this battle. Even if each person only received 10 gold, that was still 1,000,000 gold! Add this to the compensation for players who died, and Asskickers Untied was paying out at least 3,000,000 gold! Even if the loot Phantom Princess Ina dropped was extremely valuable, could it really be worth this much?

Seeing the crowd starting to feel appeased, Foxfire Magic became anxious. He shouted, "You think you can buy us off just like that? Show us the equipment Phantom Princess Ina dropped!”

This time around, much fewer players agreed with Foxfire Magic. After all, Asskickers United’s forces dealt almost 95% of the damage to Phantom Princess Ina. Most of them only came here to join in on the fun and didn’t actually put in too much effort. Even if Nie Yan kept the equipment for himself, there was nothing they would say, especially since he was paying out compensation to them.

"Nirvana Flame is honourable! We take back our words!”

"Apologies for misjudging you, Nirvana Flame!

Much of the crowd felt too ashamed to continue pursuing this matter and gradually scattered. Before long, Foxfire Magic had lost almost all the people behind him.

Nie Yan coldly gazed at Foxfire Magic. "If you’re willing to pay out the same compensation I offered to everyone here, I’ll transfer all of Phantom Princess Ina’s drops to you. How does that sound? I, Nirvana Flame, am a man of my word!”

Foxfire Magic immediately shut his mouth. With no way of refuting Nie Yan’s words, he tucked his tail between his legs and walked away.

Everyone gradually dispersed.

Bladelight walked up to Nie Yan with a smile on his face. "That was a good response.”

Nie Yan smiled. He looked at Bladelight and asked, "What did we get?”

"Some good things, at least enough to cover our losses. We got some high quality gems and a Legendary armour with great properties,” Bladelight said. Especially the armour had him endlessly excited, since it was another item with over 5,000 defense.

If Foxfire Magic had agreed to Nie Yan’s trade just now, he would’ve made a killing. The drops from Phantom Princess Ina were definitely worth more than 3,000,000 gold. However, that frightening figure had directly scared him off.

Nie Yan inspected the properties of the Legendary chestplate. It was Level 180 and offered 5,520 defense. He planned to have it socketed with level requirement reduction gems so Bladelight could wear it. Like this, his defense would be even more frightening. The more powerful the main tank, the more powerful bosses they could take on, which in turn would help them obtain better equipment.

Besides the Legendary chestplate, Nie Yan found something else of interest. A high grade Nightfall Gem about the size of his fist, jet black, and extremely pure.

Nie Yan could feel that this Nightfall Gem contained a powerful dark magic element. But he didn’t know its use. He could only do some research on it later. For now, he put it away in his bag.

Looking around, a large section of Okoron had been turned to ruins by Phantom Princess Ina. Nie Yan estimated it’d cost several million gold to pay for all the damages and rebuild this place.

Though it came at a sky high price, the threat of Phantom Princess Ina had finally been removed. Nie Yan could be at ease. He could now go out into the wilderness without having to look over his shoulder. He only lost money, something he didn’t lack. Smaller guilds might never recover from such a setback, but for him it was nothing big.

Everyone gradually dispersed. Guo Huai and his men started working on rebuilding the destroyed buildings, streets, and city walls. It would take quite some time for everything to be restored to its original state.

Nie Yan started selecting players from Asskickers United to form an expedition team to explore World’s Edge. He also received some good news. Lofty Shadow and Blue Yarn Thread had successfully completed their class advancement quests and become the latest Masters. With the release of the Age of Gods expansion, the rarity of Masters would slowly dwindle away, but for now they were still important strategic resources.

Asskickers United had 30 Masters now!

Nie Yan suddenly thought of Karsi and the 10 Holy Paladins quest. He wondered if they now met the requirements to beat Cerberus. If he could complete this quest, Karsi would become his servant. This would be an incredible boon.

Nie Yan thought it over. For now, it was still too early. They should first focus on gradually growing stronger before taking on this high difficulty quest.

Before long, 1,000 elites from Asskickers United gathered outside the guild headquarters in Okoron, awaiting Nie Yan’s orders. They represented the pinnacle of Asskickers United.

"How much information have you gathered on World’s Edge so far? Send it all over to me,” Nie Yan instructed Guo Huai.

Chapter 825 - White Leopard Cat

Before long, Guo Huai sent over all the data he had collected on World’s Edge. Nie Yan skimmed over the documents. It told of a grand city in the sky the angels had constructed in World’s Edge, one of their territories. The lord was Archangel Tallod’s older brother, Upton. When the demons launched their assault, Upton defended the city with his life and dealt disastrous losses to them. In the final battle, he pierced Demon King Utred’s heart with his blade. In turn, with his dying breath, Demon King Utred cast a curse on Upton.

Peace returned to World’s Edge. But as time passed, Upton was gradually taken over by the curse. His temper became more explosive, and he drove Tallod out of the city. After several decades, he fell from grace and became a fallen angel, the lord of a world shrouded in darkness.

This was the origin of World’s Edge. The task now fell on the players to bring peace back to this place by defeating Upton, a Level 200 Demonified Lord who stood on par with true gods.

Every mini boss in World’s Edge dropped special quest items. All of them had to be killed in order to meet the final boss Fallen Angel Upton.

At this stage of the game, Fallen Angel Upton was an invincible super boss no player had a chance of prevailing against.

Nie Yan planned to have the 1,000-man expedition team raise their levels and gear quality first. As he walked out of the Starry Night Potion Shop, he received a message from Xie Yao.

「Nie Yan, I hatched that egg we found back in the World of Darkness.」

「What hatched out of the egg?」Nie Yan asked, as the memory of this egg resurfaced.

「It’s a White Leopard Cat...」Xie Yao replied, sounding somewhat troubled. Of all the things that could’ve hatched from the egg, she didn’t expect something like this. It wasn’t much bigger than a regular cat, and she could carry it in her arms. Such a small pet was usually only good for its appearance and didn’t have any combat ability.

「A White Leopard Cat?」Nie Yan blurted out in surprise. He instantly recalled something and asked,「What sort of innate talents does it have?」

「It has one that buffs speed.」

「Anything related to poison?」

「Yeah, its attacks deal additional poison damage.」

「What’s its Growth Rate?」

「Only 15...」

「It’s a good pet! Feed it that Evolution Crystal,」Nie Yan said. Since the White Leopard Cat had just hatched, this was the best time to feed it an Evolution Crystal.

「Really? The Evolution Crystal? To this White Leopard Cat…?」Xie Yao asked in doubt. Wouldn’t that be a massive waste? After all, the Evolution Crystal was exceedingly rare and precious, whereas the Leopard Cat’s stats were pretty much garbage tier.

「Trust me. It’s fine. It’ll give you a pleasant surprise,」Nie Yan said with a mysterious smile. He recalled a White Leopard Cat in the previous timeline. It had the same innate talents as Xie Yao’s. After it had entered the pet ranking leaderboards, it never left the top three again.

The White Leopard Cat back then only had a Growth Rate of 12. Xie Yao’s had a Growth Rate of 15. This was already a big improvement.

Nie Yan couldn’t explain why the White Leopard Cat was so powerful for the time being. In the beginning, it was indeed pretty weak. In the previous timeline, the owner of the White Leopard Cat had tried to get rid of it several times. No one wanted it. Without the money to buy another pet, he was stuck with it. So, he persevered. After training it to Level 90, then Level 100, it obtained two skills which made it incredibly overpowered. He could only slowly explain the complicated mechanics and synergies of these skills to Xie Yao later.

「If you say so,」Xie Yao said. Even though she was puzzled, she had absolute trust in Nie Yan.

Xie Yao and Nie Yan met up. Nie Yan handed over the Evolution Crystal to her.

Nie Yan gazed at the Holy Fairy floating above her shoulder. "What’s it rank now?”

"It’s already Rank 2, 72%,” Xie Yao said with a happy smile.

Fairies were fairly easy to train at the early ranks. Especially since Xie Yao was already so high level. The first few ranks where she only had to kill monsters to increase its rank, she could simply go into the wilderness and let her AoE holy magic take care of the rest. Starting from Rank 3, it would slowly get more difficult.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao walked together to the guild headquarters in Okoron.

Nearly 1,000 players were assembled in the square outside the guild headquarters. They were in small groups chatting with each other. Seeing Nie Yan and Xie Yao arriving, they immediately started stirring.

"Boss!”

"Big Sis!”

…

The crowd greeted Nie Yan and Xie Yao excitedly.

Nie Yan nodded back with a faint smile. He recognized the vast majority of players here and could even call out the names of over 70% of them. After all, they were Asskickers United’s strongest elites.

Most of these players were from the Viridian Empire, but there were also quite a few who came from the Satreen Empire. Many of them had already officially immigrated over from their respective cities in the Satreen Empire to Okoron. So, they could join Asskickers United. Since the city sat on the border zone between both empires, Asskickers United could attract a lot of experts from the Satreen Empire, especially the Shamans whose versatility allowed them to be quite useful in many situations.

"Boss, are we setting off for World’s Edge now?”

"Yeah! Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group are exploring there already! We definitely can’t fall behind!”

"Not yet. We’ll be getting you guys some better equipment first,” Nie Yan said with a smile. He wanted to raise the equipment quality of these players first before entering World’s Edge.

Around the same time Nie Yan and Xie Yao arrived at the guild headquarters, Guo Huai sent over 100 people carrying a large amount of high rank potions, bombs, gems, and so on. All these items were distributed among the players.

The crowd was elated. These items had a production cost of around 8,000,000 gold. However, if they were put up in the marketplace, they could easily sell for over 20,000,000 gold. In other words, each person received about 20,000 gold worth of supplies.

Apart from these supplies, Nie Yan had also prepared a large number of Group Teleport Scrolls, Unknown Transfer Scrolls, and other similar items to everyone in the expedition team.

"Let’s set out. Our first target is the Lava Titan!” Nie Yan said. They had delayed this for long enough. After being slowed down by several incidents, they were finally going to challenge the Lava Titan!

As soon as the words Lava Titan left Nie Yan’s mouth, the players became excited. Kiln Fire Woods, this was an unforgettable place for Asskickers United. It was there where their legend had started.

The 1,000-man expedition team set out at once and headed to the central transfer area in Okoron.

News of Asskickers United’s elite expedition team setting out immediately spread out, causing many guild leaders and players to raise their eyebrows.

Chapter 826 - Rematch With the Lava Titan

Every movement of Asskickers United was being closely monitored by all the major guilds. Something as big as their 1,000-man elite expedition team setting out would naturally attract their attention.

Both Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group assumed Asskickers United were going to enter the World’s Edge. They immediately picked up the pace with their own exploration and started making various preparations to thwart Nie Yan and company.

However, what caught them by surprise was that Nie Yan’s expedition team didn’t head to World’s Edge but rather teleported to Calore instead.

Kiln Fire Woods. This was a low level map, only frequented by new players hunting monsters for quests and experience. There was still a thin layer of volcanic ash blanketing the ground, a vestige of the huge battle that previously took place here.

This was where Nie Yan first stepped into the limelight. This was where the world first met Nirvana Flame the invincible. The video of that battle was still up on the forums. Countless players watched this classic to this day. The scene of the crime had become quite famous, too.

The trees that were destroyed in that battle had grown back more lush and vibrant than before.

The 1,000-man expedition team advanced forward, interrupting the serenity of this place. Each member wore top-of-the-line equipment. The low level players levelling in the vicinity dropped what they were doing and gawked in shock. Were these the elites of Asskickers United they’d heard so much about? Those legendary existences they could only watch on stream or video? The onlookers were completely baffled. What were these people doing here of all places? Suddenly, that first video starring Nirvana Flame came to mind. There were two monsters in it. Nie Yan and the Lava Titan! Could this expedition team be here for the Lava Titan!?

Shortly after Nie Yan and his 1,000-man expedition team arrived, Asskickers United’s other forces sealed off the Kiln Fire Woods, driving away all non-guild members. No one dared to challenge their authority. So, they quietly left.

News of Asskickers United challenging the Lava Titan quickly spread, causing an uproar on the forums.

One had to know, the Lava Titan was a Level 200 Lord. Even though it wasn’t a Variant or Demonified Lord, it was still an extremely frightening existence. The memory of it slaughtering tens of thousands of players from Unhindered and Victorious Return was still fresh in everyone’s minds.

Asskickers United was actually taking on the Lava Titan! This left everyone baffled.

Nie Yan and the others scouted the area before finally finding a good spot to take down the Lava Titan.

This place was filled with enormous boulders on an otherwise flat ground. The bigger ones reached over a dozen meters high. Others were only around five to six meters high. By standing on these boulders they could avoid taking damage from the lava. With enough boulders to hold several thousand people, there was ample space.

"I’ll draw the Lava Titan out of the cave and lead it up here first. You guys wait for me,” Nie Yan said. He activated Gale Step and dashed toward the underground cavern below Kiln Fire Woods.

The caverns were pretty much the same as before, a maze of winding tunnels.

After reaching the heart of the caverns, Nie Yan spotted the absolutely stunning beauty Countess Alicia floating above the lava.

Her appearance hadn’t changed at all, looking like a portrait frozen in time.

Luring out the Lava Titan was fairly simple. All Nie Yan had to do was approach Countess Alicia, and it would detect his presence.

Nie Yan gazed at large stalactites hanging from the chamber ceiling. He leaped onto one of them before activating the Crawler skill, sticking to the rocky surface like a lizard. After he made his way to the area right above Alicia, he shot out a web line and slowly lowered himself toward her.

Hanging only one meter above Countess Alicia, Nie Yan could clearly make out her beautiful face as well as sense the formidable fire elemental energy undulating around her.

At this moment, Countess Alicia suddenly erupted with vitality.

This didn’t happen last time!

When Nie Yan was momentarily dazed, Countess Alicia’s eyebrows wriggled as she slowly opened her eyes. Her pupils were like the most beautiful sapphires, sparkling with an azure radiance. She locked eyes with Nie Yan. Her expression was calm and tranquil, almost otherworldly.

Fair skin and a picturesque face, Countess Alicia didn’t contain the slightest hint of anger. She didn’t look of this world. She was even prettier than Xie Yao, a flawless creation made by the system. Nie Yan had seen many virtual beauties before, but he never felt anything for them. No matter how beautiful they were, he knew they were fake.

Countess Alicia’s awakening caught Nie Yan completely off guard. Her bright eyes seemed to be trying to tell him something, but she couldn’t speak.

Suddenly, the entire chamber started shaking violently. Cracks started spreading all over the walls as the stalactites broke off and dropped into the lava below.

The lava started roiling and bubbling as pockets of hot air rose up.

An enormous creature slowly emerged while Countess Alicia sunk into the lava.

The Lava Titan!

Nie Yan hurriedly retreated. However, he didn’t lose his head in fear like last time. He took out his Cavalry Crossbow and shot out a volley of bolts.

The chamber started quickly filling with lava. Nie Yan swiftly retreated. He outran the lava.

Put put put! Five bolts struck the Lava Titan.

"GROAGH!” the Lava Titan bellowed and started pursuing Nie Yan.

One big one small, two silhouettes quickly traversed the caverns.

Meanwhile above ground.

"I wonder how the boss is doing right now,” Undying Scoundrel muttered. They’d been waiting for quite some time already. They were starting to get anxious.

"Don’t worry. It’s Nie Yan. The Lava Titan can’t threaten him!” Bladelight said confidently.

While they were in the middle of chatting, the ground started violently quaking, causing them to almost lose their balance.

Their expressions changed. "The Lava Titan is coming!”

Looking in the distance, a silhouette came darting out of a cave followed by another. It was Nie Yan with an enormous monster in tow—the Lava Titan! A wave of lava surged out from it like a tidal wave and swept out toward the surroundings. As more and more of its surroundings burned up, it quickly grew in size, becoming a 50-meter tall giant.

The Lava Titan was a defensive type boss. Its body was covered in a thick armour of rock and lava, causing its defense to reach an astonishing degree. Even though it only had 30,000,000 health, it was tougher than some bosses with over 100,000,000 health. Not to mention it possessed several extremely frightening skills, which made it one of several bosses no one dared to provoke.

Seeing the Lava Titan appear, the expedition team members started stirring, itching to start the battle.

"The Lava Titan is finally here!”

Under Bladelight and Smoke Stub’s command, the team members started getting into position.

The Lava Titan let out a deep roar and smashed the ground with its mallet-like fists.

Nie Yan soared several dozens meters through the air. BOOOM! A large six-meter wide crater appeared on the ground as rubble went flying everywhere.

The Lava Titan’s might was frightening beyond compare. Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He definitely couldn’t allow it to approach the expedition team members, or the consequences would be disastrous.

The lava on the ground was like a red carpet. It slowly spread out, engulfing all the green vegetation on the ground.

This was the Lava Domain skill of the Lava Titan! This lava was similar to a magic domain. Any player that entered its influence would take continuous damage. Those with low fire resistance would instantly die.

Nie Yan glanced at his stats. With his current fire resistance, there probably wouldn’t be a problem. He entered the lava as a fearsome heat assaulted him.

−2,025
−2,069
−1,951
…

A string of damage values floated up above Nie Yan’s head.

In the previous battle, this lava was fatal. Those with below 120 fire resistance were instantly swallowed up while those with over 120 fire resistance took serious continuous damage. Now, Nie Yan’s defense, health, fire resistance, and so on were far higher. He didn’t have to fear this lava anymore. That wasn’t to say losing 2,000 health every second wasn’t frightening.

A few seconds later, Young Seven waved his staff and cast a Radiant Heal on Nie Yan.

Nie Yan shot toward the Lava Titan and slashed down with his dagger. DING! His blade struck the thick, rocky flesh and barely cut an inch deep.

−2,893

What high defense!

Nie Yan knitted his eyebrows. If even he was only hitting for 2,000—3,000 damage, that was bad news for the rest of the expedition team.

Bladelight and Lofty Shadow leapt down from a boulder and charged toward the Lava Titan.

Shield Bash!

Shield Bash!

KLANG! KLANG! Bladelight and Lofty Shadow both dealt around 250 damage, a huge difference compared to Nie Yan.

BANG! BANG! BANG! The casters in the backline bombarded the Lava Titan with a dense shower of spells. Xie Yao and the other Magisters were hitting for around 3,000 damage. Meanwhile, the ordinary Mages were hitting for up to 300 damage.

Though it didn’t seem like much, it was enough.

It looked like the Lava Titan’s physical defense was pretty high, but its magic resistance was fairly mediocre.

The Lava Titan’s aggro immediately shifted to the Mages. It was about to charge toward them, when Bladelight bellowed out with a Taunt. BAM! THWACK! KLANG! He struck it several times with his sword and shield before drawing its attention back.

The Lava Titan’s aggro slowly shifted back to Bladelight. It raised its fists and slammed down on him.

Bladelight raised his shield to block. The defensive capabilities of Drakuru’s Tower Shield were unsurpassed. He could actually tank the Lava Titan’s attacks. It was only dealing around 20,000 damage a hit, with some of its attacks being completely blocked every now and then. Like this, he could endure more than half a dozen hits without receiving a heal!

Gentle rays of light fell over Bladelight’s body.

The battle entered a deadlock. The Lava Titan’s health was slowly being chipped away. The expedition team barely overcome its health regeneration with their damage.

Seeing the towering Lava Titan in front of him, Nie Yan started unleashing a flurry of attacks, from kicks to elbows and various other skills. When his combo count reached five, he dealt over 30,000 damage.

After executing a Backbreaker, Nie Yan was about to follow up with a kick, when the Lava Titan bellowed out and smashed down with its fist toward him. The enormous arm instantly ignited with blazing flames.

Chapter 827 - Frozen World

Raging flames filled Nie Yan’s view. Just as he was about to be hit by the fist, he activated Gale Step and fled away.

BOOOOM! The Lava Titan’s fist smashed into the ground. The ground melted into a pool of lava and splashed everywhere.

The Lava Titan searched for traces of Nie Yan. It was thoroughly enraged by his onslaught of attacks.

The surroundings were ablaze, resembling a world of fire.

If there were a skill that could go against the Lava Titan’s lava domain, that would be great.

A light bulb suddenly lit up in Nie Yan’s head. If they didn’t have any high rank skills that could do it, a low rank one would have to do.「All those with Frozen World, cast it!」

The Elementalists were dumbstruck. Frozen World was a spell that didn’t deal any damage. Why would they use it? Even so, they raised their staffs and started chanting. Soon, a thick, icy mist emerged, as the surrounding temperature plummeted by several degrees. Sheets of ice started forming in the air. As they rained down, they were immediately evaporated into steam by the Lava Titan’s lava domain. The lava flowing in the ground cooled down considerably. The Lava Titan also appeared to have an adverse reaction to this spell. As a thin layer of ice formed over its rocky skin, its movement speed slowed to a crawl, and its health regeneration speed too.

Frozen World was one of the few spells that could be stacked on top of each other. With over 260 Elementalists casting it at once, 60 of which had enhanced versions of the spell, the effects were clear and immediate.

Bladelight activated Bulwark of the War God, greatly increasing his magic resistance. However, he still couldn’t escape the effects of Frozen World. His body became stiff as he was covered in a thick layer of ice. Lofty Shadow didn’t fare any better. Only Nie Yan who had activated Holy Descent was unaffected.

Shaking the ice off its body, the Lava Titan shifted its attention to the Elementalists. It was in a weakened state.

Nie Yan chanted out an incantation and summoned Lil’ Gold. Locking down the Lava Titan was their main priority!

Lil’ Gold couldn’t withstand even a single blow from an existence like the Lava Titan, but he could still be useful in other areas!

「Frozen World works! I can’t believe it!」

「We stacked over 260 Frozen Worlds on top of each other! Of course it would be effective!」

The expedition team members stared at Nie Yan in amazement. How did he come up with the idea of using Frozen World? They all thought low rank spells were utterly useless against a super high level boss like the Lava Titan. However, he proved them wrong.

In truth, Nie Yan was nothing more than a blind cat coming across a dead mouse. A lucky guess, that was all. Thankfully, it was correct. Ingenuity was oftentimes one of the requirements for dealing with bosses.

「Watch out for its Lava Breaker skill! Discuss your tactics first before acting! We can’t risk any mishaps!」Nie Yan reminded.

The expedition team members all stood on top of boulders. Over 600 Mages let loose with their spells. They bombarded the Lava Titan with a barrage of magic.

About half an hour later, the Lava Titan’s health fell to 10,000,000. Suddenly, it started rampaging and rained down a flurry of blows on Bladelight, pushing him back bit by bit. "GROOOOAH!” It let out a deafening roar as a powerful sound wave swept out.

Mind Resist!

Tranquility!

Everyone activated skills to evade the Lava Titan’s attack. However, 700 players still failed to react in time. After being hit by the sound wave, their bodies turned rigid.

Immediately after, the Lava Titan activated Lava Breaker. An endless amount of lava surged out of the ground. A tidal wave swept over the expedition team.

Everyone was blindsided by this sudden turn of events. They had all discussed prior that if the Lava Titan used Lava Breaker, they would immediately escape with their various escape skills, something they had practiced to a great extent. As long as they reacted quickly enough, most of them could avoid it. However, none of them expected the Lava Titan to use Lava Roar first. Those who managed to dodge the first skill hurriedly teleported away with Unknown Transfer Scrolls. However, far more were engulfed by the lava.

It was a brutal wipe. The battle immediately ended. With no more enemies in sight, the Lava Titan lost all aggro and started roaming around. Its health quickly recovered back to full.

Only when the Lava Titan walked far away did the surviving Priests dare to start resurrecting their fallen teammates. Even more players had to run back to their corpses because the 20-man teams they belonged to didn’t have a Shaman or were completely wiped out.

After everyone was revived, they sat down in the forest clearing and started recovering their health and mana.

Gazing at the Lava Titan roaming around in the far distance, they couldn’t help but sigh. Sure enough, a Level 200 Lord wasn’t so easy to deal with.

Over 800 team members had died. However, wiping once or twice was a fairly common occurrence. No equipment was lost, just some experience.

「So, how did it feel? Facing the Lava Titan for the first time?」Nie Yan asked with a faint smile.

「Its attacks are too fast! There were no warning signs at all before it used Lava Roar.」

「Yeah! We couldn’t react at all!」

Nie Yan glanced at Paladin of the Elegy and Tyrannical and asked,「What do you guys think?」

「All bosses show a tell before doing a big attack. I saw the Lava Titan’s eyes burning brighter than usual right before the Lava Roar.」

「Also, the mana in the air started fluctuating violently,」Summer Bug chimed in.

This battle was different from the one with Phantom Princess Ina. At that time, they were relying purely on numbers to overwhelm her. There was almost no skill or strategy involved. This method wasn’t feasible with the Lava Titan. It had powerful AoE magic that would simply wipe everyone out. Nie Yan also knew this, so he’d only assembled a 1,000-man expedition team. To beat the Lava Titan, he needed a group of elites with fast reaction speed, great skill, and a good sense of strategy.

Soon, the Masters pointed out a lot of useful information. The rest of the expedition team members were left gaping in shock. How did one improve their skills? By taking in what these Masters shared.

The expedition team members practiced how to avoid Lava Roar and Lava Breaker. When everyone was fully recovered, they were ready for round two. Nie Yan and the other Shadow Dancers set off to lure the Lava Titan back.

An intense battle broke out. Even though the expedition team members managed to evade the first Lava Roar and Lava Breaker, they still couldn’t cope with its berserk state after its health fell below 30%. They suffered another wipe with 900 players dying.

After reviving and resting back up, they reviewed their mistakes and practiced methods to deal with the Lava Titan.

It wasn't just the expedition members who had to learn from their mistakes, but Nie Yan too. He found out that if he didn’t give Bladelight and Lofty Shadow the time to properly secure aggro, his high burst damage would cause it to shift. This put immense strain on the two tanks and made mishaps more likely to happen.

Everything looked good for their next attempt. Third time’s the charm, Nie Yan thought. However, the servers would soon go offline. They would have to wait until tomorrow.

Footage of the battle with the Lava Titan leaked online, creating a stir on the forums. Players once more witnessed the frightening might of the Lava Titan. Even Asskickers United’s elite expedition team was wiped out twice. Yet they also felt intense shock at the frightening strength Asskickers United displayed. They could actually fight a Level 200 Lord! Not to mention there was clear improvement between their first and second try. It was only a matter of time before the Lava Titan was taken down its pedestal.

Players could sense that Asskickers United was progressing at an astonishing speed. They were rapidly approaching the throne of hegemony. The Lava Titan was only a stepping stone on their path.

The expedition team spent the remainder of the day chatting. In the final few minutes before the servers went offline, Nie Yan’s voice chat rang. It was Guo Huai.

「I compiled the data you asked for.」Guo Huai sent over a file.

Nie Yan opened it. It contained a list with the locations of all the Level 130 and higher boses in the Viridian Empire—over 3,000 in total with detailed information on all of them.

「Thanks. You worked hard.」

「No problem.」Guo Huai chuckled.

Nie Yan planned to research this carefully, all in preparation for his next plan.

...

Necropolis City, the capital of the Undead Empire. Located on the corner of the main street was a villa. This was the private residence of Fallen Angel’s guild leader, Plenty.

There were currently 30 players gathered here.

"Boss, are you sure about this? We already have over 100,000 players on the surface. If we dispatch another 100,000, the burden will be huge,” Warlance asked. He feared deploying these additional troops would be beyond what the guild could bear. He couldn’t understand why Plenty was so determined to take down Angel Corps.

"I have my reasons. All you need to do is listen and obey,” Plenty said. He showed no signs of changing his mind.

"Alright, but I think we should at least take some measures against Asskickers United. Nirvana Flame recently obtained the Tyrant Abak Set, and their main tank has a Legendary tower shield. Plus, they have 30 Masters already! I heard they’re fighting the Level 200 Lava Titan right now. If the situation continues to develop like this, I think Angel Corps will be wiped out by them even without our help. When the faction wars begin, Asskickers United will become our greatest enemy. Why don’t we let Angel Corps hamper their growth a little first?”

"You guys don’t understand. Between me and Soaring Angel, only one can remain standing. When we finish dealing with Angel Corps, we won’t have anything else to worry about,” Plenty said in an indifferent tone.

Everyone gazed at Plenty in doubt. What did he mean by between him and Soaring Angel, only one could remain standing? They always had been curious about this connection in the past, but they never dared to poke their nose too deep. Since Plenty didn’t elaborate, they didn’t dare to continue asking questions.

Another 100,000 players from Fallen Angel set out for the surface.

...

After stepping out of the game capsule, Nie Yan received a call from Plenty informing him that he had dispatched another 100,000 players to the surface. Asskickers United couldn’t not get involved, or else their alliance with Fallen Angel would fall apart. So, Nie Yan agreed to dispatch another 500,000 players over to the Satreen Empire to lend support.

These additional troops weren’t going to attack Angel Corps’ strongholds directly. Because of the previous few battles, Asskickers United’s catapults were at an all time low. Even though they were busy producing more, because the crafting materials were in limited supply, the amount was far from enough. So, Nie Yan would have his troops merely annoy Angel Corps by harassing the players levelling out in the wilderness.

This was a tested method abused by all his past and current enemies, like Victorious Return and Angel Corps. It had put him in quite the predicament back then. Now, the shoe was on the other foot. It was Asskickers United’s turn to put pressure on Angel Corps.

Nie Yan ended the call with Plenty. Like usual, he and Xie Yao headed to school together.

Even with Qin Han’s mysterious disappearance, school carried on like usual. After suddenly losing their backing, all the people in his posse became quiet, no longer daring to act as brazen as before. Liu Rui was one of them. He was now forced to settle down and started behaving like a proper person. Whenever he saw Nie Yan and Xie Yao, he would make himself scarce. When noon arrived, Nie Yan received a text from Bayonet. The mission was completed.

Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise. He gave Bayonet a reply, then deleted the message.

Everything went as planned. The Monet Financial Group’s people had killed Liu Tianshi. Over in China, Liu Tianshi’s father was a powerful high official with a lot of influence. Few people could touch him. On the other hand, the Monet Financial Group was a powerful oligarch in South America. They were powerful enough to influence the entire political sphere of the region. They didn’t care at all for the influence of Liu Tianshi’s father in China. If the two sides clashed, there would be a fun show to watch. However, they could only use their influence to minorly inconvenience the other, nothing more. Unless a large-scale war between nations broke out, there was no way they could wipe each other out.

As long as Nie Yan, Bayonet, Wang Duo, and the others kept their mouths shut, the cause of Qin Han and Liu Tianshi’s death would forever remain a secret. With regards to Bayonet, Wang Duo, and the others, Nie Yan had complete trust in them.

After receiving Bayonet’s report, Nie Yan felt a weight lifted off his heart. He had quietly dealt with two calamities without any consequences. This was definitely the best case scenario. In the afternoon, he and Xie Yao went to visit Tang Yao in the hospital. Tang Yao had already woken up. The doctors had given him a blood transfusion and treated his wounds. Given today’s medical knowledge and technology, he would be as good as new in a few days. Better yet, the doctor said he could already start playing Conviction again. This was a great piece of news!

Chapter 828 - Necklace of Grimmar

Nie Yan called up his father to hear how everything was going over on his side. World Bloc’s businesses were growing smoothly. The money they earned was constantly being invested into the market. They already controlled more than a dozen smaller companies, becoming a de facto financial group. Furthermore, the number of shares they owned in the Century Financial Group was also rapidly increasing.

World Bloc maintained a steady momentum. At this rate, they would eventually stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of the Glory Financial Group and Dragonsoar Financial Group. One day, they might even have the power to challenge the Century Financial Group.

「Has the Century Financial Group made any new movements?」Nie Yan asked.

「Not really. Their profits are down a little in the last quarter. They’re currently accumulating funds. They’ve probably noticed we’ve been buying up their shares. I’m guessing they’ll be making a move soon,」Father Nie said. In spite of how formidable the Century Financial Group was, he didn’t appear the least bit anxious. In fact, he sounded eager.

Father Nie was in high spirits. Nie Yan didn’t want to rain on his parade. At present, World Bloc, the Glory Financial Group, and the Dragonsoar Financial Group all had their interests deeply entwined. Plus, with the backing of Heavenly Kings, there was no need to fear the Century Financial Group.

World Bloc was flourishing. As for what sort of heights it would reach in the future, Nie Yan couldn’t help but look forward in anticipation.

Nie Yan met up with Bayonet who had completed his mission. He asked some questions to confirm nothing had leaked out. Hearing their secret would go to the grave with them, he finally relaxed. He also learned that Liu Guocheng exploded in anger after Liu Tianshi’s death. He utilized all his political and business influence to retaliate against the Monet Financial Group, who naturally wouldn’t sit idly by. The two sides broke out in a fierce clash.

Nie Yan was speechless. It had only been a day, but the situation had already devolved so much! These guys moved quick!

At confrontations of this level, the one who made the first move seized the advantage while the other would be forced onto the defensive.

Their conflict already had nothing to do with Nie Yan anymore. His current enemies were only the Century Financial Group and Angel Corps. He hadn’t discovered much of anything regarding Soaring Angel’s background. It was somewhat of a mystery. So, he had Bayonet investigate it.

When evening came, Nie Yan and Xie Yao entered the game. The expedition team members were sitting on the ground. After everyone was online and ready, they stood up.

「Boss, are we going to start fighting the Lava Titan again right away?」

「Yes! Get ready! We’re starting in 10 minutes!」Nie Yan ordered.

「Understood!」

10 minutes later, the players finished their preparations and got into battle formation. Nie Yan and Sun dashed off toward the Lava Titan who was roaming around in the forest in the distance. The trees it passed by all ignited into flames.

Nie Yan arrived about 100 meters away from the Lava Titan. He took out his Cavalry Crossbow and pulled the trigger. Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Five bolts whizzed through the air.

Put put put! After being struck, the Lava Titan let out a deep roar. It turned around and locked onto Nie Yan. A powerful pressure descended on Nie Yan, rendering him immobile.

At this moment, 300 meters away, Sun activated a skill and suddenly switched positions with Nie Yan.

The Lava Titan stared at Sun in confusion, then at Nie Yan far off in the distance. It started chasing after Nie Yan.

Nie Yan turned tail and ran. The Lava Titan followed in close pursuit.

Nie Yan led the Lava Titan to where they’d fought it before. Bladelight and Lofty Shadow immediately went up and started securing its aggro.

Nie Yan retreated to the side, while the Mages in the back started firing their magic.

Just like before, the Lava Titan’s health was gradually shaved away. About half an hour later, the Lava Titan’s eyes suddenly glowed bright red.

Lava Roar!

The Mages all used their teleportation skills and retreated 500 meters away. Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and all the other frontliners used their mind resistance skills.

Immediately after, the Lava Titan used Lava Breaker. A tidal wave of lava swept over everything in a 500-meter radius.

Bladelight and the others all used skills like Bulwark of the War God to protect themselves.

After the lava had receded, the Mages teleported back and resumed attacking the Lava Titan.

Time quickly passed. When the Lava Titan’s health fell below 30%, it entered a berserk state. Its two fists ignited in raging flames as it rained down a flurry of punches. Bladelight and Lofty Shadow were knocked off their feet.

At this moment, Nie Yan and the other Thieves dashed up and activated various skills to attract the Lava Titan’s attention.

The Lava Titan went on a rampage. It killed one Thief after another.

Nie Yan let loose with a flurry of attacks, quickly racking up a high combo. He drew the Lava Titan’s aggro as he darted around the forest clearing.

The Thieves bought Bladelight and Lofty Shadow enough time to recover back to mint condition.

Team members were dying left and right. However, they were sacrificing their lives to keep the Lava Titan locked down.

Roughly 10 minutes later, the Lava Titan’s health fell to 10%. It broke through the front line in its rage and started attacking the Mages. Xie Yao and the others kited it to the best of their ability, relying mostly on their blink skills.

Even though the battle looked extremely chaotic with corpses scattered all over the ground, the Mages were keeping everything under control.

Xie Yao and the Magisters dealt more than fives times the damage of the other Mages. So, it was fairly easy for them to draw the Lava Titan’s aggro. It furiously pursued them all over the clearing. However, their blinks weren’t to be trifled with. They were on par with the movement speed of Shadow Dancers.

Even though the Lava Titan had killed quite a few people, it wasn’t to the extent of a wipe yet.

At this moment, in the northeast corner of the battlefield, a silhouette came blinking over. Seeing the new arrival, Nie Yan’s face lit up with joy. Tang Yao!

The Lava Titan was chasing Undying Scoundrel. Just as it was about to catch up to him, an endless stream of magic bombarded its back like a gatling gun. A long string of 6,000s immediately floated up above its head. Tang Yao’s firing rate was on par with modern military weapons.

The Lava Titan was just about to smash Undying Scoundrel into a pulp, when its fist froze in mid-air. It hesitated for a moment before turning its attention to Tang Yao. "GRAAAAOGH! It turned away from Undying Scoundrel and charged toward Tang Yao.

Tang Yao kept blinking away while unloading an endless barrage of magic on the Lava Titan.

Another five minutes later, under the hard work of the Mages, the Lava Titan let out a mournful groan before collapsing into a pile of molten rock.

After sacrificing nearly half their force, Asskickers United’s expedition team finally killed the Lava Titan.

"Whew, that was tough.” Undying Scoundrel breathed a sigh of relief. The Lava Titan gave a lot of experience. More than 100 team members directly leveled up while everyone else had their experience bar fill up by at least 60%. This was enough to cover their previous losses.

Nie Yan looked around. The ground was littered with corpses.「Revive the fallen! Those who can’t be revived, hurry up and run back to your corpses.」

The Lava Titan was truly a monster. Their group represented the pinnacle of Conviction’s playerbase, but they still struggled so much against it. Thankfully, it was only a regular Lord. They couldn’t even imagine how frightening a Level 200 Variant Lord or Demonified Lord would be. According to normal calculations, a Level 200 Lord was about as strong as a Level 120 Demonified Lord.

Nie Yan looked over at the Lava Titan’s corpse. It had dropped three items. He walked over to collect the loot.

「Boss, what did it drop?」The expedition team members were all curious. This was the loot from a Level 200 Lord! It couldn’t be lacking!

Nie Yan shared the three drops with the others. They were all Mage Items. One was a Level 200 Sub Legendary-grade Elementalist Robe, and another was a Level 200 Legendary-grade Elementalist staff. Even if these two items were socketed with level requirement reduction gems, it would still be a while before anyone could equip them.

Finally, the last item was a sparkling silver-white necklace. It was a part of the Grimmar Set!

Necklace of Grimmar (Sealed): Legendary

Requirements: 1,500 Intelligence, 200 Strength, and 200 Agility

Description: This sealed necklace still possesses tremendous magical power. Gather all the pieces of the Grimmar Set to unseal it: Grimmar Soulstaff, Necklace of Grimmar, Ring of Grimmar, and Robes of Grimmar.

Properties: 1,102-1,203 Defense, Will +50, Focus +50, Magic Damage +120%, All Spells Ranks +3, Chanting Time -30%

Elemental Domain: After using this skill, gain free control over the elements within a 500-meter radius. Guide the elements to either boost allies’ magic damage by 200%, or to seal enemies from casting magic. Last for 10 minutes. Cooldown: 1 day.

Note: The owner of this item must receive Countess Alicia’s approval to bring out its full power. Otherwise, the properties will be reduced by 80%.

The Grimmar Set was extremely powerful, on par with Nie Yan’s Tyrant Abak Set. If they could gather it, Asskickers United would have a godly Mage!

Nie Yan thought of Countess Alicia. She had awakened when he last saw her. He wondered if she had been released from her binds after the defeat of the Lava Titan.

Chapter 829 - To the Underworld!

The fallen expedition team members were revived. They sat down on the boulders and recovered their health and mana.

After distributing merit points to everyone, Nie Yan recuperated for a while. He planned to head back to the underground cavern to rescue Countess Alicia.

Rested and ready to go, Nie Yan got up and walked toward the cavern, only to see someone else walking out. As the dark silhouette stepped into the light, the most beautiful girl to have ever graced this world entered his eyes. He would recognize her anywhere, Countess Alicia!

"Brave adventurer, thank you for rescuing me and freeing me from that prison,” Countess Alicia said.

"The pleasure was all mine, my lady,” Nie Yan replied humbly.

Countess Alicia giggled. Her beautiful smile was like a blossoming rose, captivating everyone. Her gaze fell on the Necklace of Grimmar in Nie Yan’s hand. "The Necklace of Grimmar and Grimmar Soulstaff are extremely powerful items. But you’ll have to complete the set if you want to wield truly powerful elemental energy. As a sign of my gratitude, I’ll help your remove their seals. The Robes of Grimmar and Ring of Grimmar are both located in the distant underworld. The staff and necklace will guide you.”

Nie Yan checked his inventory. The seals on the Grimmar Soulstaff and Necklace of Grimmar were both removed.

"Thank you, my lady,” Nie Yan said. He then asked a few more questions about the Ring of Grimmar and Robes of Grimmar and recorded the information down.

"I have been gone from this world for too long. There is much I have to do. I’ll be taking my leave now. May the Light be with you.” Countess Alicia placed her right hand over her chest and gave a deep bow.

Countess Alicia was at a lower rank than Nie Yan who held a position equivalent to a Duke. So, she spoke to him with courtesy. This was an astonishing sight for ordinary players. When they were doing quests, they had to be extremely careful with every word and little action because the NPCs they encountered were above them in status. If they made the slightest mistake, an NPC might stop talking to them, and the quest would come to a screeching halt. It was nothing like for Nie Yan, who made most NPCs tremble in fear with his presence alone. Any one of his titles could crush them to death. A bit of courtesy from him was like a supreme grace in their eyes. They’d be more than happy to share every little detail regarding a quest, something other players could only dream about. So, he also had a far easier time questing than most.

Countess Alicia turned around and departed, her figure disappearing into the forest.

「Any of you interested in the Grimmar Set?」Nie Yan asked. After the seals on the Grimmar Soulstaff and Necklace of Grimmar were removed, their powerful properties could move the hearts of any Elementalist. As for the remaining two pieces of the set, those would have to wait. They didn’t have any time to head to the underworld for now.

Undying Scoundrel, Street Vulture, and Lustboy were all Elementalists.

「I think I’ll pass. I’m only a piece away from completing my Sub Legendary-grade set. The Grimmar Set will take too long to complete,」Street Vulture said.

「Give it to Undying Scoundrel,」Lustboy said.

「I’m also wearing part of a Sub Legendary-grade set. I think I’ll take my time slowly completing it. As for the Grimmar Set, I’ll pass. Give it to Lustboy.」Undying Scoundrel shook his head.

Lustboy wanted to refuse. After all, the Grimmar Set was an asset of the guild. He didn’t feel right taking it for himself.

「Just take it,」Nie Yan said. He handed over the Grimmar Soulstaff and Necklace of Grimmar as well as the quest clues to Lustboy.

Lustboy’s eyes lit up with excitement. Truthfully, the Grimmar Set was a midge worse than the Tyrant Abak Set, but it was still a genuine Legendary-grade set. If he managed to complete it, it would greatly boost his strength.

Lustboy rubbed his chin. Since he had accepted the two pieces of the Grimmar Set from Nie Yan, he decided that when he got back in town, he would contribute some items to the guild treasury.

After everything was taken care of, Nie Yan set off with the expedition team toward the next target. The bosses they challenged were all Level 120–130 Variant Lords or Demonified Lords. The drops from monsters like this were all Sub Legendary or Legendary-grade. Everyone saw their equipment quality increase.

Over the next five months, Asskickers United’s elites ventured everywhere. Traces of them could be found all throughout both the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire.

Nie Yan reached Level 153. The other expedition team members also rose in levels, with their average level being 140.

During this period, the conflict between Asskickers United and Angel Corps grew increasingly intense with clashes happening all over the continent. More than 700 larger scale battles had been fought, with the small skirmishes being too many to count. Asskickers United and their allies suffered 900,000 casualties. The count for Angel Corps had already reached 2,300,000.

The losses on both sides were astonishing. As the conflict continued to drag on, Angel Corps’ finances entered a precarious state. With so many players dying, equipment being lost, and compensation being paid out, they were scrambling for money to pay the bills. On the other hand, Asskickers United’s powerful financial ability was showing its use in this important time. They paid their fallen more than three times what Angel Corps did to help them get back on their feet. Not to mention, Nie Yan also offered a 20 gold bounty reward for every Angel Corps player over Level 130 that was killed.

In this five-month period, Asskickers United war costs had totalled to over 90,000,000 gold, but they didn’t show any signs of their finances getting tight. In fact, they still had 80,000,000 gold in the bank. Meanwhile, Angel Corps was already reaching a breaking point. Soaring Angel and Cao Xu had no choice but to spend a fortune to buy gold to support their war efforts.

This kind of difference was stark.

Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group were different from the enemies Asskickers United had faced before. They were extremely powerful with a deep foundation in the Satreen Empire. That was why Nie Yan had opted to fight a war of attrition before ending it all with a final battle.

Apart from Asskickers United, Fallen Angel dispatched their troops to attack Angel Corps’ strongholds. They had already razed 10 strongholds to the ground, which dealt a heavy blow to Angel Corps.

Soaring Angel and Cao Xu were probably feeling the pressure weighing heavily down on them.

While Nie Yan’s expedition team was hunting bosses non-stop, Angel Corps had made enormous progress in World’s Edge. The items that dropped from this dungeon included various high rank flying mounts, building blueprints, siege weapon blueprints, equipment, gems, and crafting materials.

Angel Corps used these blueprints to fortify the defenses of their strongholds. In terms of technology, they now held the advantage.

With this kind of technology advantage, Angel Corps started eyeing the Abernathy Great Grasslands like a predator eyeing its prey. They’d already tried to invade it several times, only to be beaten back by Okoron’s army.

Nie Yan checked out the expedition team. After these five months of hard work, most of them had several pieces of Sub Legendary-grade or higher equipment. A portion of them even had Level 120–130 Legendary-grade equipment.

The expedition team’s way of hunting bosses was fairly unique. Nie Yan would go into stealth and make his way to the target alone. Afterwards, everyone else would teleport to his location with the combination of the Hyperlink Rings and Group Teleport Scrolls. Like this, they wouldn’t have to waste time on the small fry.

Adding everything up, Nie Yan’s expedition team had killed over 1,200 Level 120–130 Variant Lords and Demonified Lords so far. All the maps where players had discovered theses bosses were cleared out. The tens of thousands of Group Teleport Scrolls that Asskickers United had spent an enormous sum on to acquire had nearly run out. As for their usage of other consumables, that was perhaps even more shocking. One could imagine how great of an undertaking this was. In the previous timeline, there had never been a guild that carried out such a large-scale clearing of Variant Lords and Demonified Lords.

The quality of the equipment of this 1,000-man expedition team had already reached a frightening degree.

After seeing that everyone’s gear quality had reached a satisfactory level, only then did Nie Yan set his sight on World’s Edge. With the current strength of these 1,000 players, as long they didn’t encounter an extremely high level super boss, no one would be their match. Their objective was the heart of the map. He would have Bladelight lead the expedition team at first, and only join later when the more difficult bosses started showing themselves.

Nie Yan analyzed the current situation. Even though Asskickers United had somewhat fallen behind on the technology front, after Bladelight and the others started exploring World’s Edge, they would quickly catch back up. The war with Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group was only just beginning. Who would come out on top in the end was still up in the air. He wanted to keep chipping away continuously at their strength. However, he wouldn’t destroy them just yet. He would let them transfer even more of their real life capital into the game, sinking more and more money into this bottomless black hole. Like a frog slowly being boiled alive, by the time they realized something was wrong, it would already be far too late. Of course, he would also take countermeasures against anything they might try in their death throes.

While the expedition team entered World’s Edge, Nie Yan planned to find a place to hunt dark-type monsters and obtain the Holy Spirit Heart so that he could rescue War God Kelo. The three-year deadline Kelo gave him was rapidly approaching. If he failed this quest, it would be a huge loss to him.

Where would be a good place to hunt dark-type monsters?

Nie Yan checked his quest window. He still hadn’t had an opportunity to search for Lich King Insar’s secret treasure or the Occult Talisman of Empress Finas. If he had the talisman, he would have another trump card up his sleeve in the war with Angel Corps!

A single thought popped into Nie Yan’s head. To the underworld!

Chapter 830 - Freakish Progression

The underworld was inhabited by almost exclusively dark attribute creatures. Nine out of 10 species of monsters encountered there were of the dark attribute. It was as such the best place to hunt them.

Nie Yan gazed at the progress of the Holy Spirit Heart. It was already at 98%. He didn’t know why, but it’d become much harder to complete this last bit. At least it still went up, albeit extremely slowly. So, he didn’t lose all hope.

Let’s make some preparations first, Nie Yan thought. He headed to the Starry Night Potion Shop to stock up on consumables. Since he planned to stay in the underworld for a long time, he filled all his bags to the brim. With everything taken care of, he left Okoron and headed north toward Judgement Valley.

The Dark Portal was still on cooldown for quite a while. Without it, he could only enter this way.

This was Nie Yan’s first time traversing Judgement Valley to reach the underworld. In the previous timeline, he didn’t dare to take such a dangerous journey since he depended on this game to make a living. But now, things were different. Even if the underground passage was completely occupied by Evil Faction players, he would still enter without the slightest hesitation.

Nie Yan passed through the dense forest in Judgement Valley. He encountered many players from both factions roaming around. They engaged in a game of kill or be killed with each other. The players here were pretty much all experts and only came for two things—equipment and Glory!

Nie Yan flitted through the forest, heading for the underground passage located deep in the valley.

...

Near the edge of Judgement Valley, in a small forest neighbouring Okoron, five players had just wrapped up a battle. A Spectral Thief and drow Slayer were keeping watch. Meanwhile, the drow Dark Invoker, fallen human Dark Invoker, and fallen human Dark Zealot sat on the grass and drank spring water to recover their mana.

They were in the middle of a conversation.

"Messy, how close are you to ranking up to a General?” the Spectral Thief asked the Slayer.

"I’m only five Glory away. We just need to kill a few passersby, and I’ll rank up,” the drow Slayer replied after glancing at his status screen.

"You’re the slowest out of all of us. You know what, in a bit, leave the party and kill a few players yourself. We’ll meet back up in the underworld later to restock on supplies,” the Spectral Thief said after checking his bag.

"Alright.”

The leader of this party was clearly the Spectral Thief. He wore a silver ashen set of leather armour. It was the Level 130 Legendary-grade Dark Adherence Set. This set didn’t give much bonuses to health and defense. Most of its bonuses were geared toward enhancing skills. It was battlefield armour that could be bought from an NPC shop once your Glory passed a certain threshold. It was fairly cheap.

Battlefield equipment was different from ordinary equipment. Where ordinary equipment gave a lot of advantages when facing monsters, battlefield equipment did the same for facing players.

"Black Pupil, how far away are you from becoming a Great General?”

"Still a far way off, likely a few more months,” the Spectral Thief replied.

"Boss, I just got a report. That guy who has the Death God’s Edge is making his way towards Judgement Valley,” the Dark Zealot said.

"Isn’t the Death God’s Edge in Nirvana Flame’s hands?”

"That’s just a rumour. Not confirmed. I’m guessing it's fake news spread by others trying to scare the competition off.”

"In any case, that guy seems to be heading for the underground passage. Do you think he’s going to the underworld?”

"Maybe someone got the Death God’s Edge and is going back to turn in the quest!”

Everyone turned to Black Pupil and waited for his response.

"Boss, what do we do?”

"Follow him. Let’s investigate first!” the Spectral Thief said after rubbing his chin.

The team got back up on their feet and set off toward the underground passage in Judgement Valley. The Spectral Thief suddenly accelerated with Gale Step. The other four instantly lost sight of him.

...

Nie Yan had forgotten something. The Death God’s Edge in his possession was something the entirety of the Evil Faction coveted. From the moment he entered Judgement Valley, countless players had already taken notice. Just what sort of waves would he create when he reached the underworld?

While Nie Yan was making his way towards the underground passage, Bladelight and the others had already entered World’s Edge. Registering under Asskickers United’s name, they started clearing the dungeon. This development instantly attracted the attention of the entire server.

Major powers like Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group had already dispatched players to World’s Edge. Exploration of this dungeon was quite difficult. Angel Corps had made the most progress, having already taken down 120 bosses. The guilds under the Century Financial Group had taken down 90. Meanwhile, the best of the rest had barely taken down 45 bosses. Asskickers United, on the other hand, hadn’t even set foot in the place in these past five month. This left everyone baffled. Because of this, they had already fallen far behind their rivals. Just what were they doing? It was precisely because of this curiosity that when Asskickers United finally did enter, it generated even more discussion on the forums.

"Asskickers United was probably raising their equipment quality before entering World’s Edge.”

"After falling behind by so much, I doubt it’ll be possible for them to catch up.”

Everyone was talking about Asskickers United’s elite expedition team and them finally entering World’s Edge.

After Bladelight and the others entered World’s Edge, they completely wiped away all doubts.

They started blitzing through the dungeon. In the first five minutes, they had already taken down the first boss. This was definitely the speed record. However, this was only the beginning. 15 minutes later, they had taken down the third boss. They progressed through the dungeon at an astonishing speed.

Every boss in World’s Edge had special skills. While the other guilds had struggled to learn the correct techniques to beat each boss, wiping countless times in the progress, Asskickers United were steamrolling through them like it was nothing. Their equipment quality had reached a frightening level, they were experienced in hunting bosses as a team, and they had some information on these bosses.

Asskickers United’s progression speed left everyone slack-jawed. In only three hours, they had already taken down five bosses.

A system announcement popped up.

For clearing the first stage at record speed, Asskickers United has obtained an additional reward.

The forums immediately went into an uproar.

"My god! Asskickers United took down the first five bosses in only three hours! Are they still human!?”

"I heard everyone in their 1,000-man expedition team has at least two pieces of Level 130 Sub Legendary-grade equipment, while more than 100 among them have Legendary-grade equipment. The average magic power of their Mages is over 6,000!”

"I heard Nirvana Flame isn’t even with them. Can you imagine how much faster they would be if he was!?”

Bladelight finished off the Level 160 Variant Lord-class Bloody Butcher. After collecting the loot off the ground, he checked the announcement and asked, "What’s the additional reward?”

The leader of the expedition team was Smoke Stub. So, the reward was deposited into his inventory.

"It’s a new kind of catapult blueprint. It has a range of 2,000 and a damage multiplier of 300%. It’s prety decent,” Smoke Stub said. This kind of blueprint was extremely important to Asskickers United. It was even more valuable than a piece of Sub Legendary or Legendary-grade equipment.

"We’ve really struck it big. Let’s keep going. Our goal is fifteen bosses before the end of the day!” Bladelight said in high spirits.

Asskickers United’s shocking achievements immediately caused Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group to feel a lot of pressure. Just what was this freakish progression speed? It was simply inhuman! It’d taken them over half a week to clear the first five bosses, and they had wiped quite a few times. Comparing side by side, the difference was instantly obvious! For the sake of not letting Asskickers United catch up to them, Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group tried to pick up the pace. However, as the adage goes, "Haste makes waste.”

When Nie Yan received news of Bladelight and the others’ progress, he faintly smiled. It was just as he anticipated. A sharpened knife was much better at carrying out the work. This affirmed his belief that not entering World’s Edge immediately and focusing on raising their equipment quality first was the correct choice. At their current strength, Bladelight and the others would have no problem advancing through World’s Edge.

The entrance to the underground tunnel was already within sight. The deep cavern was located within a mountain. It was winding and allowed very little light to enter.

Nie Yan surveyed the surroundings before finding an isolated corner and setting up a marker. Like this, he could freely teleport here at any time.

Just as Nie Yan approached the entrance to the underground passage, a Thief came sneaking over. They stopped at around 100 meters away from him and activated a stealth buffing skill.

Nie Yan suddenly sensed something off. His eyebrows jumped. An enemy Thief!

His powerful senses allowed him to sense even the tiniest rustle in the grass. He had instantly detected the Thief!

Eye of Truth!

Nie Yan’s eyes suddenly blossomed with a profound light as he looked over toward the Thief.

A faint silhouette entered Nie Yan’s eyes. However, in an instant, the Thief turned around and fled at a fairly quick speed. He withdrew his gaze and continued heading towards the passage. He couldn’t be bothered to give chase. Meeting these sorts of players in the wilderness was too common.

Chapter 831 - Traversing the Underworld Passage

Nirvana Flame!

Black Pupil turned around and ran. He didn’t even dare to look back, his heart nearly racing out of his chest, terrified of what might come next. He didn’t expect to be discovered at a distance of over 100 meters away. What frightening senses! Enough to make any Thief puke blood. Only after he’d already ran over two kilometers, did he realize that Nirvana Flame didn’t give chase.

Black Pupil had been expecting a blade to cut him down at any moment, but he escaped! Perhaps the other party didn’t even view him as worth the effort.

Nirvana Flame was truly mad, but he had the ability to back it up.

"Boss, what happened?” Messy asked.

"It’s Nirvana Flame,” Black Pupil said with a dejected sigh.

"What!? It’s really him?”

"Did you two fight?”

"Think about it. If we had, I’d already be a cold corpse on the ground. That guy is even scarier than the rumours described!” Black Pupil said in a grave tone. It was only the briefest interaction, but the sharp killing intent from Nie Yan’s eyes still gave him chills.

"Really? No way, really?” Messy said doubtfully. They were all well aware of Black Pupil’s skill. He ranked in the top five among all the players in the Evil Faction. As a Soulweaver, if he wanted to escape, there was no one that could catch him, not even Nirvana Flame!

Black Pupil shook his head. "You’ll understand what I mean if you ever come across him.”

"So, what do we do? Do we keep tailing him?”

"Of course. Pass on the news to the Blood Reaver Corps. Nirvana Flame is heading to the underworld. Since they suffered a crushing defeat at his hands not too long ago, they’ll probably want revenge. This is the perfect opportunity. Besides that, others will be interested in the Death God’s Edge in his possession,” Black Pupil said after thinking for a while. No matter how strong Nirvana Flame was, he was only one man.

Before long, the news of Nie Yan heading to the underworld solo circulated around among the big names of the Evil Faction. Nie Yan had no idea that before he even arrived in the underworld, a huge net was already set for him. This information was kept confidential among only a small circle of people. So, Guo Huai’s intelligence didn’t pick anything up.

When the Blood Reaver Corps passed on this information to the Century Financial Group, Cao Xu was overjoyed. With Nie Yan making the trek alone, this was the perfect opportunity to assassinate him. He quickly mobilized his connections in the underworld. They would be ready for his arrival.

Nie Yan was different from Cao Xu in the sense that he liked to go solo. Only on rare occasions where he had no other choice would he join a team. Even though he had the support of World Bloc behind him, he had never once touched the company’s funds for personal use. In fact, it was quite the opposite, with him frequently lending support to the company. Often times he was no different from a solo player. Meanwhile, Cao Xu didn’t hesitate to make use of the Century Financial Group’s resources, not batting an eye at the money he was spending. If Nie Yan made use of World Bloc’s capital, he could definitely go head-to-head with Cao Xu already. However, he had his own principles and refused to rely on World Bloc’s finances. He would rather take on all the risks himself, letting Cao Xu waste time and important resources trying to kill him, Even though this kind of expenditure was nothing more than a drop in the ocean for a leviathan like the Century Financial Group, every little bit added up.

Information about Nie Yan being in possession of Paternoster's Warhammer and the Death God’s Edge spread like wildfire. This stirred up the hearts of the players from the Evil Faction even more. If Nie Yan died, two Sacred Objects would drop. This drove them mad with greed.

Nie Yan entered the underground passage. He sped through the winding tunnels like a gust of wind.

Five players were tailing Nie Yan. The casters waved their staffs, blinking forward constantly in an attempt to keep up. As for the Slayer and Thief, they kept up from behind at a steady pace.

After running for about two minutes, Black Pupil asked the Dark Zealot, "Camel, how far ahead is he?”

"About 500 meters. We can’t keep up with his speed!”

Two minutes later.

"He’s already more than 1,000 meters away,” the Dark Zealot said after checking his quest window.

Three minutes later.

"How much now?”

"Over 3,000 meters.”

"Shit, what kind of insane speed is this!? He keeps pulling farther ahead! He’s at least two times faster than us!”

After giving chase for a few more minutes, the five players finally gave up. They glanced at each other while panting for breath. No words were needed to know how they were feeling right now.

"Forget it. Let’s give up for now. We’ll confirm his location again after we get back to the underworld,” Black Pupil said with a sigh. He had been thoroughly demoralized by Nie Yan’s speed.

...

Monsters respawned at a frightening pace in this underground passage. Ordinary players would have to take at least a day and a half to get through here, but Nie Yan only needed two hours! This was because he had bypassed all the monsters.

Thanks to his high Night Vision, Nie Yan could see clearly in the underworld, as though he were still walking on the surface.

"The underworld! I’m back again!” Nie Yan exclaimed. He put another mark down outside the underworld entrance of the passage. Like this, he would no longer need to rely on the Dark Portal to travel here.

At this moment, Nie Yan’s voice chat started ringing. The caller was Guo Huai. He picked up, wondering what it was about.

「Nie Yan, quickly return to the surface!」

「Huh, why? Did something happen with the guild?」

「No, not the guild! You! The Death God’s Edge exposes your position! Who knows how many people in the Evil Faction are already waiting for you! The Blood Reaver Corps is for sure. A few other guilds are also aiming for you. I heard even the Century Financial Group is busy creating trouble for you,」Guo Huai warned. He had just received the news.

From Guo Huai’s perspective, this was a calamity. However, what caught him off guard was that Nie Yan didn’t seem perturbed at all.

Nie Yan lightly chuckled.「It’s fine. Let them come. I was getting bored anyway.」

After hearing Nie Yan’s words, Guo Huai blanked for a moment. He couldn’t help but wryly smile to himself. Hearing that every expert in the Evil Faction was making a move, he had completely forgotten who they were moving against. The undefeated legend, the Mad Rogue whose name instilled fear in all, Nirvana Flame! With the Tyrant Abak Set, he couldn’t think of anyone that could take down Nie Yan. Plus, since the person in question himself was brimming with confidence, what did he have to worry about?

All the experts in the Evil Faction are coming for me, huh? I hope a few of them will actually have some ability! Nie Yan’s eyes flickered with a cold light. He wondered if he would get to face the apex experts of the underworld from the previous timeline. He licked his lips in anticipation. Challenging the strong was truly exhilarating.

Chapter 832 - Death and Glory

The underworld passage forked into two paths. One led to the Undead Empire, and the other to the Demon Tribe.

Nie Yan walked a few steps down one path, when a system notification popped up.

You have discovered the Desolate Marsh.

This was a marsh with black seaweed and other similar plants growing everywhere. On the edge of the swamp were the remains of dead animals, a foul stench coming from their rotting corpses.

Checking the map, Nie Yan guessed this was the territory of the Demon Tribe.

Nie Yan trekked along the edge of the marsh where the ground was harder. Looking far in the distance, he saw black serpent-like creatures moving around. The monsters that spawned here were Level 120 Black Swamp Snakes. They posed zero threat to him.

When Nie Yan got within six meters of these Black Swamp Snakes, they raised their heads and started hissing and flicking out their red tongues. Moments later, they slowly retreated. As they saw it, Nie Yan was a dangerous predator, not some easy prey.

Nie Yan didn’t pay them any attention at all. A short while later, a faint white light flew out and fluttered around him.

Over the past year, Bennett’s soul hadn’t appeared even once. Nie Yan had thought it had already disappeared.

Under Bennet’s lead, Nie Yan trekked through the marsh for roughly 20 minutes.

Nie Yan felt quite uncomfortable. The dense dark elemental energy here was cold and gloomy and carried a corrosive property.

After trekking forward for another 600 meters, Nie Yan halted his steps. He’d caught the whiff of something odd. Coldly chuckling, he continued on without the slightest care.

Pitch black shrubs which reached up to Nie Yan’s waist grew everywhere. It was a wonder how they survived in such an inhospitable environment. Behind these shrubs, several shadows flitted by.

After Nie Yan walked another few steps, five Thieves pounced forward from all directions and surrounded him.

After tailing Nie Yan for so long, they had finally run out of patience!

The movements of these five Thieves were nimble, a clear sign of their skill. Silver wings grew from their backs.

Five Silver Wings!

Over these past six months, thanks to the release of the Age of Gods Expansion, class advancing became much easier. The Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire already had over 200 Masters. Likely, the number of Silver Wings had ballooned as well. Nie Yan wasn’t the least bit surprised he was being ambushed by five Silver Wings.

Nie Yan stood still, showing no signs of action. Just as the five Thieves closed in on him, his figure blurred into multiple afterimages. He employed the illusion steps to dodge the attacks of three of the Thieves.

A dagger stabbed toward his chest. Nie Yan brandished the Bloody Dagger. KLANG! The two blades clashed as sparks flew into the air.

Nie Yan spun around. The Slaughter Edge was as fast as lightning as it stabbed toward the other Thief’s throat.

The Thief hurriedly tried to block. However, the Slaughter Edge suddenly snaked around his dagger as a dazzling light blinded his eyes. PSSHFT! His throat was pierced.

The Thief’s expression was frozen in shock. Even in death, he had no idea what had happened. Nie Yan’s attack was too fast! His eyes lost their light as he collapsed to the ground.

"Shit! I just lost over half my health! It’s some kind of skill similar to Slaughter Feast!”

"Kill him!”

When the Thief died, his four comrades sealed off Nie Yan’s escape routes and pounced on him.

Gale Ambush!

Nie Yan accelerated and pounced toward one of the Thieves.

"Son of a bitch! Die!”

Just as the four Thieves pounced on Nie Yan, he activated Death Exemption, making him immune to all crowd control. After taking on their attacks head-on, he struck out with Phantom Assassination! PSFHT! PSHFT! PSFHT! With the splash damage from Slaughter Aura, they all lost their health at the same time and dropped dead on the ground. Pentakill!

One notification after another popped up in quick succession.

Glory kill! Enemy 10,000-Man Commander slain! You have obtained 723 Glory.

Glory kill! Enemy 10,000-Man Commander slain! You have obtained 921 Glory.

…

The reward for a glory kill varied depending on the strength of the enemy faction player.

The five Silver Wings gave a surprisingly large amount of glory. Nie Yan instantly ranked back up to a 1,000-Man Commander. He wondered if he’d rank up to a General or Great General during his stay in the underworld. After thinking about it, it didn’t really matter much how high he got his military rank. Since he had no plans on killing Evil Faction players regularly, it would just fall back down again.

Nie Yan picked up the loot and started walking forward again. Moments later, he sensed something. Eyes of Truth! He immediately locked onto the positions of seven Thieves.

Discovered, they rapidly closed in and pounced on Nie Yan.

A dozen or so Mages and Warriors also moved in to surround Nie Yan.

Another batch of people looking to die. Nie Yan coldly smiled. In his eyes, these players were nothing more than cannon fodder.

Nie Yan suddenly shot forth. He escaped the encirclement of the seven Thieves and arrived in front of one of the Warriors, who raised his sword in a panic. With shadow steps, he broke past his defenses and struck out with Reverse Grip Backstab.

PSSFHT! A damage value of 18,000 floated up above the Warrior’s head.

This guy was Level 145. His defense and health were pretty high.

The Warrior wanted to swing around and retaliate, only for Nie Yan to follow up with a Backbreaker.

KRAAAK! The Warrior collapsed dead on the ground.

The splash damage from Slaughter Aura killed the surrounding several dozen players.

The ground was littered with corpses. After picking up the best equipment off the ground, Nie Yan departed.

The people coming after Nie Yan right now were simply sent over by the various major powers to probe his strength. The truly strong experts had yet to take action. So too the Blood Reaver Corps. After the previous clash with them, he was still somewhat wary of them. Such a strong group of Silver Wings was a force to be reckoned with. After their first defeat, they had definitely come up with new tactics to deal with him and Asskickers United.

Bennett’s Soul led Nie Yan to the deepest depths of the Desolate Marsh. The monsters in this zone were much higher level, ranging between Level 150—180. He summoned Lil’ Gold and had him level up in the surroundings.

Nie Yan hadn’t found any time to raise Lil’ Gold’s level recently. He was starting to fall behind in strength and level. Where before he could brave any danger, now he ended up dying time and time again. His loyalty had dropped to only 67. Right now was a great opportunity to grind some experience and loyalty.

The mob density here was pretty high. Nie Yan pulled out his Cavalry Crossbow and fired at the monsters in the distance, luring them over. After which he had Lil’ Gold go up and greet them.

Lil’ Gold spewed out a Dragon Breath to draw over the monsters in the surroundings, then swept through them with Explosive Counter.

A large number of corpses littered the ground. Every now and then, a few foolish players would try and ambush Nie Yan. However, they were all given a one-way ticket back to the cemetery.

...

At this moment, the 60 players from the Blood Reaver Corps were riding their flying mounts towards Nie Yan’s location.

「Boss, I just received an update. Nirvana Flame is at the heart of the Desolate Marsh right now. That guy is really fierce. He’s already killed over 600 players! All of them were sent over by the large guilds,」Autumn Gust reported. Thinking about Nie Yan, he felt a lingering fear in his heart.

「Nirvana Flame really is a daredevil, bringing the Death God’s Edge and Paternoster’s Warhammer to the underworld with him. He isn’t afraid of anyone. It seems even all the major guild in the Evil Faction together can’t scare him,」Dark Shadow said.

「He has the ability to back it up. Even though everyone knows where he is, no one one can do anything about it,」Blood Devil said. He couldn’t help but admire Nie Yan. He fully deserved the title of number one player in the game. However, this and that were separate. It wouldn’t change the fact that the two were enemies.

Thinking about the top players in the game, a silhouette appeared in Blood Devil’s mind. About two months ago, he had clashed with this person, only to be utterly defeated. That person was the guild leader of Pantheon, Godking. That bastard had already advanced to a Gold Wing. In the Demon Tribe, Gold Wing was the advancement above Silver Wing, equivalent to titles like Luminous Dancer and Shadow Strifer. However, becoming a Gold Wing was even more difficult than getting those two. At present, Godking was the only person in the Demon Tribe to have successfully become one.

In the Demon Tribe and Undead Empire, there were three extremely powerful experts that stood above the rest. One was Godking. The other was Fallen Angel’s guild leader, Plenty. Finally, the last was a Thief called Phantom. Though he was famed for his strength, no one really knew how strong exactly he was. Blood Devil had a good gauge of Godking and Plenty’s strength. As for the Thief, he couldn’t say.

Between Godking and Plenty, who was the number one?

With Nirvana Flame coming to the underworld, who knew if Godking would appear.

Blood Devil expelled these thoughts from his mind. If it were possible, he’d like to be the first to assassinate Nirvana Flame. After obtaining the Death God’s Edge, he could complete that quest and become the ruler of the underworld! Forget about Godking and Plenty, he’d be the number one player then! Nie Yan might be strong, but he refused to believe Nie Yan could take on all 60 members of the Blood Reaver Corps by himself!

Nie Yan had no idea what the significance of the Death God’s Edge was to the Evil Faction. This was because very few people knew the secrets behind the item. Most players only knew this was a Sacred Object. After obtaining it, they could hand it in to the leader of the Evil Faction, a Warlock, and receive an enormous reward.

Death God’s Edge, it shall be mine! Blood Devil tightly clenched his fists. He was burning with anticipation. After Asskickers United had driven them back to the underworld, the Blood Reaver Corps had sulked in shame. It almost took them a month to recover their bravery. After which they worked hard day and night for five months straight to improve their strength. All for this day!

Chapter 833 - Half-Demon Angud

Klarence Stronghold, main hall of Pantheon's guild headquarters. Godking sat on his throne, looking over the various reports coming in.

The top experts of Pantheon were gathered here, several dozen in total. They were all quietly chatting about something.

"Boss, Autumn Gust just sent an update. The Blood Reaver Corps is already on their way toward Nirvana Flame,” a Thief whispered into Godking’s ear.

"The Blood Reaver Corps are pretty quick. But if Blood Devil thinks they can take down Nirvana Flame, he’s going to be sorely disappointed.” Godking chuckled.

"I heard Blood Devil has a trump card up his sleeve.”

"Nirvana Flame isn’t that easy to kill. Let the two fight,” Godking said, showing no faith in Blood Devil whatsoever. ”How’s Autumn Gust doing? Has he made any progress?”

"He’s managed to find the real life identities of three of the members of the Blood Reaver Corps.”

"Not bad, have him continue,” Godking said. As early as nine months ago, Autumn Gust had fallen under his control. He relayed back all information, no matter what the Blood Reaver Corps was up to. Blood Devil, of course, was oblivious to this all.

Godking had never put Blood Devil into his eyes. The two simply weren’t on the same plane. He could easily have Blood Devil dance in the palm of his hand. The people he viewed as worthy rivals didn’t surpass 10 in the entire game. One was the guild leader of Fallen Angel, Plenty. Another was Asskickers United’s Nirvana Flame. Still another was Soaring Angel from Angel Corps. Cao Xu of the Century FInancial Group could be counted as one too. There were also a few others from secret powers.

"Boss, the Death God’s Edge is in Nirvana Flame’s hands. The Blood Reaver Corps alone can’t kill him. Should we dispatch our own forces? Just give the word, and I’ll pick out a few thousand experts. We can have them hide their identities and ambush him,” the Thief said.

"It doesn’t matter if they hide their identities. You underestimate Asskickers United’s intelligence network too much. They’ll trace it back to us.” Godking shook his head.

"Even if Asskickers United finds out we were behind it, we can just deny all accusations, maybe blame someone else. They already have their hands full with Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group anyway. Plus, we’re too far away from them. Honestly, us hiding our identities is giving them face. If we openly ambush and assassinate Nirvana Flame, they’ll find themselves in an awkward position where they have no choice but to declare war. By hiding our identities like this, even if they found out we were behind it, they’ll still have to turn a blind eye,” the Thief said.

Godking had to admit the Thief’s words made sense, but he still shook his head. "A few thousand people won’t be enough to kill Nirvana Flame. Even if he can’t win, he’ll just escape. I have a plan though. Flowing Maple, follow me. The rest of you, go off and level.”

The others in the room enviously gazed at Flowing Maple before dispersing.

Godking brought Flowing Maple through one winding corridor after the other to the deepest part of the guild headquarters. Several minutes later, they entered a secluded courtyard.

Flowing Maple looked around curiously. Bright red Crimson Bloodflowers grew in the garden. This was an extremely frightening species of plant. According to legend, they blossomed only once every half decade. Their fruit could be harvested to make an extremely vicious poison, potent enough to even kill immortals. It was a well-known evil flower, and demons loved to eat the fruit they produced.

When Godking and Flowing Maple entered the courtyard, a low and raspy voice range out.

"I told you not to disturb me!”

"Sir Angud, I have important information to report to you,” Godking said respectfully.

"If it turns out to be something unimportant, you know the consequences…” A big burly figure came walking over.

Flowing Maple raised his head and glanced up at Angud. His appearance was incomparably hideous. He was a head taller than the two of them with a very large and muscular build. There were patches of fair and white skin between the crimson red, resembling something human. However, the rest of his body looked like that of a demon. A single horn grew from his head and a long scaly tail grew out of his behind. Surprisingly, unlike an ordinary demon, he didn’t have wings.

Flowing Maple’s heart trembled. This was a half-demon! Angud’s level showed up as question marks to him, meaning this NPC was likely extremely powerful!

After hearing Angud’s words, Godking trembled. He was clearly fearful of Angud’s punishment.

Flowing Maple was flabbergasted. Why would Godking be so afraid of Angud?

"Sir Angud, I’ve recently received word that the Death God’s Edge has appeared. It’s in the hands of a mortal. He’s currently in the Desolate Marsh.”

"Bring the Death God’s Edge to me,” Angud commanded. His eyes flickered with a trace of excitement.

"Sir Angud, we’re not his match. He’s too strong. Besides the Death God’s Edge, he also carries another Sacred Object, Paternoster’s Warhammer,” God King sasid, carefully paying attention to Angud’s reaction.

Angud sunk into silence.

"This is the Thief with the greatest potential in our guild. He’s called Flowing Maple. Sir Angud, I require a capable helper. Please bestow him some strength,” Godking requested.

Angud shot an indifferent glance at Flowing Maple. "I don’t trust in your capabilities. Since that mortal has both the Death God’s Edge and Paternoster’s Warhammer in his possession, it proves he’s somewhat powerful. I’ll be going there personally. You two may leave.”

Angud refused Flowing Maple.

Godking stared at Angud in shock. He just wanted Angud to raise Flowing Maple’s strength. Flowing Maple was a member who had only recently risen to prominence in Pantheon. He showed great promise. According to the person himself, he had learned from watching footage of Nirvana Flame. As a result, his combat style was quite similar to that of the Mad Rogue. Godking believed he was the Thief with the most potential to catch up to Nie Yan. So, he wanted to lend Flowing Maple a helping hand. However, things didn’t turn out as planned. Angud actually refused his request. But at the same time, he was quite excited that Angud would personally take action.

Given Angud’s strength, killing Nie Yan would be as easy as lifting a finger.

After Angud dismissed them, Godking led Flowing Maple out of the courtyard. He turned to Flowing Maple with a somewhat apologetic expression. "I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do. I hoped he’d help you become a Gold Wing. Seems like I got ahead of myself. However, Angud setting out personally is good news. Nirvana Flame is dead for sure.” Speaking to this point, Godking became somewhat excited. If Angud obtained the Death God’s Edge, the first person to be rewarded would be him!

Flowing Maple glanced back at the courtyard and sunk into silence.

"Let’s leave,” Godking said.

...

Nie Yan carried out a wanton slaughter in the Desolate Marsh. He had already lost count of how many players and monsters he cut down. Words of fear quickly spread and reached the ears of many Evil Faction players. Nirvana Flame was back! This news caused a huge uproar. Everyone remembered the mess he caused the last time he came to the underworld, even earning himself the nickname of Slaughter God. At present, that moniker still rang true as ever!

Information that the Death God’s Edge was in Nie Yan’s hands also quickly spread, sending waves of shock through the underworld. Some players started drooling with greed. The allure of a Sacred Object was simply too great to resist. Nie Yan’s name was a powerful deterrent, but some daredevils still decided to go over and test their luck.

Nie Yan left a trail of corpses in his wake, striking fear into the hearts of those who saw him.

After only a short while, a crisp notification jingle rang out. Lil’ Gold levelled up!

Lil’ Gold had reached Level 139, with his defense rising greatly. The golden scales became thicker and gave off a deeper luster. Looking at Lil’ Gold’s status, his defense had risen up by one rank to Rank 9, and several of his passive skills had also improved. He hadn’t learned any new skills. Likely, that would have to wait until Level 140. After breaking past Level 100, he would only learn new skills every other 20 or even 40 levels.

Nie Yan followed behind Bennett’s Soul. After walking for three hours, passing through a rotten marsh, he arrived on the outskirts of a large open space. It was more than several kilometers wide. The ground was flat and paved with stone.

This area was a small tribal settlement. There were roughly 60 buildings, all built with grass and mud. They looked run-down. The perimeter of the settlement was surrounded by a wooden fence, with a few bows and arrows resting on top of them.

This was clearly a village. Players were walking up and down the main street. On both sides were NPC vendors selling their goods.

Nie Yan found it hard to understand why there’d be such a flourishing village in the middle of a swamp.

What Nie Yan didn’t know, was that before he came here this village was pretty much deserted. Almost no players wandered out here. However, with his arrival, it became lively again. Everyone was here for him!

There were about 500-600 players in the village, and about 20-30 NPCs.

Bennett’s soul circled around the village for a short time.

The quest clues were in this village?

He couldn’t say for sure. Nie Yan pondered for a moment. It seemed he had to go into the village and find out!

Many players had already noticed his arrival. Since the Death God’s Edge was in his hands, his position was completely exposed. So, sneaking into the village was pointless.

Nie Yan raised his head and looked at Lil’ Gold, who burped out some flames with a shake of his head.

Nie Yan decided to summon Paladin Lafus and his shadow clone. He spun the dagger in his hand with a flick of his wrist, a cold light emanating from it. The four walked over toward the village.

The players tasked with tailing Nie Yan looked at this scene with incredulous eyes.

"What’s Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame doing? Is he really going to walk into that village!?”

A single thought popped into everyone’s minds—village slaughter!

Chapter 834 - Soulweaver Necromancer

How gutsy! Nie Yan actually dared to waltz into the village!

The players in the village had long since noticed Nie Yan.

"Nirvana Flame is coming!”

"He’s really coming!”

"What is he planning!?”

…

A wave of panic swept through the village. A group of Warriors rushed out and formed a human wall outside the village gates.

Nie Yan would definitely be attacked by the NPCs if he entered the village. If he killed them, he would be put on a most wanted list and be hunted down by every NPC soldier of the Evil Faction.

Being pursued by hostile NPCs was a calamity for ordinary players. However, Nie Yan didn’t appear the least bit afraid.

Seeing Lil’ Gold drawing closer and closer, the Warriors felt an immense pressure weighing down on them. For most of them, this was their first time seeing him in the flesh. However, they had long since heard of his notoriety.

Nie Yan coldly swept his gaze over this group and noticed several NPCs among them. Only Level 170–180 Elites. They posed no threat to him.

These players blocked the village entrance. If Nie Yan wanted to enter, he would have to walk over a pile of corpses.

Several blood orc Warriors hoisted up their greatshields and slowly advanced. Mystics cast protection magic on them from behind. Everyone was paying close attention to Lil’ Gold’s every single move.

Almost 600 players were gathered here. They prepared to face off against Nie Yan. At this time, a group of about 100 players came rushing out from the back of the village. They were all at least Level 130, with a dozen Silver Wings and one Soulweaver among them. Their leader was a fallen human Mystic. He was Level 140 and clad in golden armour. His equipment was all Sub Legendary or Legendary-grade. He wielded a sapphire staff in one hand and a crystal sword in the other. His equipment glistened with a seven-coloured radiance, making him appear especially gaudy.

"Everyone participating in this battle will receive a reward of 500 gold! If we successfully kill Nirvana Flame, you’ll receive 5,000 gold. Whoever obtains the Death God’s Edge and Paternoster’s Warhammer will be rewarded 500,000 gold. Anyone that dares to fight with me over these two items will be killed without mercy!” the Mystic shouted. His arm was wrapped around a gorgeous female Thief with a fiery figure.

This Mystic was called Winterless Night. He was quite famous in the Evil Faction—not for his skill but rather for his young master-like behaviour and lavish spending. It was rumoured his current set of equipment cost over 2,000,000 gold, which he of course bought with real life money. He had quite a few strong experts under him, including 12 Silver Wings and one Soulweaver. The sole reason they followed him was the money in his pockets.

After finding out Nie Yan had come to the underworld, Winterless Night hurriedly started recruiting manpower in preparation to kill him.

From his point of view, Nie Yan was just another obstacle money could overcome.

After hearing Winterless Night's words, the players under him broke out in cheers. Only the Soulweaver Necromancer and several Silver Wings chuckled wryly. The person they were about to face wasn’t some kind of weakling but the Mad Rogue!

"When we win, I’ll take you guys over to Hades Highrollers and let you experience true pleasure!” Winterless Night laughed boisterously.

Hades Highrollers was the most famous nightclub in the Demon Tribe. What happened inside didn’t need to be explained.

Nie Yan shot a glance at the noisy fellow and coldly chuckled. It seemed like he was worth quite a bit of money, and someone had actually dared to fork over so much gold to kill him.

Nie Yan waved his hand. Lil’ Gold stepped forward and charged toward the blood orc Warriors.

"Don’t use physical attacks. The Golden Dragon has Explosive Counter!”

"Stand your ground. Let the Mages attack!”

"Focus down Paladin Lafus. His Heals are too strong!”

These players were all knowledgeable about Nie Yan’s skills. They wouldn’t stupidly throw their lives away!

Several stealthed Thieves pounced toward Paladin Lafus in attempt to ambush him. The Mages started chanting, releasing a barrage of magic.

Nie Yan and the shadow clone entered stealth and headed toward the backline.

"Stop him! Watch out for the AoE splash damage from his attacks. Dark Zealots, keep everyone topped up!”

Since these players belonged to different teams, even though there was someone shouting orders, there was still quite some disharmony in their actions.

The shadow clone charged into the enemy ranks and started carrying out a massacre. Blood-curdling screams rang out as players died left and right.

Black orbs of light flew up into the sky, illuminating the ground below and revealing Nie Yan’s position. Five Slayers rushed at him like streaks of light.

Arriving in front of Nie Yan, they slashed out with a flurry of blows, only to find him completely disregard their attacks. PSFHT! He pierced one of the Slayers in the throat with a Phantom Assassination. As the blades from the other Slayers came down on him, he turned into a blur and evaded them. He slightly bent his waist to the side. Reverse Grip backstab!

PSFHT! PSFHT! PSFHT! The dozen or so players in the vicinity collapsed dead on the ground.

"Nirvana Flame is over there, annihilate him with magic!”

Several dozen spells rained down from the sky.

Gale Step!

BANG! BANG! BANG! Nie Yan broke out of the cloud of smoke completely unharmed.

Nie Yan rushed toward the enemy players. Cries of panic rang out as they started scattering in all directions.

Just a moment ago, these players felt a false sense of security because of their numbers advantage. That quickly shattered when they saw Nie Yan slaughtering them like livestock. They lost their heads in a panic and started fleeing for their lives.

Even though Lil’ Gold’s Explosive Counter didn’t proc, his Dragon Breath was nothing to scoff at. It was more than enough to massacre these ordinary players.

Scorching flames swept through the surroundings, transforming player after player into rays of light.

The Thieves who attempted to surround and kill Paladin Lafus also suffered a crushing defeat. His Eyes of the Divine easily saw through their stealth. After which he made short work of them in close combat. Be it a melee or ranged fight, these Thieves never stood a chance. They were in far over their heads.

This was a one-sided slaughter. Before long, the ground was littered with corpses. Around 300 players had died while the rest all fled for their lives. They wished for nothing more than to get as far away from this walking calamity as possible.

Winterless Night was dumbstruck as he watched everything unfold. He never expected that so many players would drop like flies in front of one person. Seeing Nie Yan walking over, he panicked and shouted, "Q-quick, stop him! Willful, summon your giant skeleton!”

Wilful shot an annoyed look at Winterless Night and inwardly cursed. This guy had no situational awareness at all! If he were to try and do something so flashy, it would be a miracle if Nie Yan didn’t notice him. However, money was money. Even if he died, he would be paid handsomely in compensation. The one thing Winterless Night wasn’t lacking was money. He quickly hid behind some boulders and started chanting. It was Forbidden Summoning Magic!

"Cover him! Cover him!” Winterless Night screamed out frantically.

In an attempt to buy Winterless Night some time, the Silver Wings charged toward Nie Yan.

Nie Yan immediately noticed the magic fluctuating in the air. Sweeping his gaze around, he spotted a Necromancer hiding in a corner and chanting Forbidden Magic. Shadow Waltz! With a burst of speed, he shot toward Willful.

A Level 180 Elite NPC Slayer rushed up and threw himself at Nie Yan.

"He’s there! Block him!”

"Don’t let Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame get to Wilful!”

Five Silver Wings rushed up to Nie Yan from behind. Together with the Level 180 Elite NPC Slayer, they thought they had him surrounded, only to see his figure disappear. Next thing they knew, the Level 180 Elite NPC Slayer staggered back.

Looking more closely, they saw a damage value of 130,000 floating up above the Level 180 Elite NPC Slayer’s head, as his body crashed to the ground.

Instant kill!

Nie Yan quickly closed in on Wilful. Only a little closer, and he could stop the Forbidden Magic!

Suddenly, a peculiar feeling welled up from the bottom of his heart. He hurriedly retreated back. KWAAK! KWAAK! KWAAK! Six enormous bone spears erupted from the ground in front of him, cutting him off from Wilful. He looked past the bones, only to see Wilful staring back at him.

Finally, someone with some actual skill, Nie Yan inwardly remarked. However, he wasn’t the least bit wary.

The six bone spears had bought Willful some time. Looking at his Forbidden Magic, he was only three seconds away from completing it. His heart started racing. Come on! Come on! Just as he was about to chant the last syllable, he felt a chill at the back of his neck. Someone was behind him!

Wilful didn’t have any time to cast his magic. He cancelled it and blinked six meters away. Glancing over his shoulder, it was the shadow clone. He didn’t know when, but the shadow clone had somehow sneaked up on him. If he hadn’t reacted in time, he would already be a corpse on the ground.

The Mad Rogue truly wasn’t simple. Wilful forcefully calmed himself down. He waved his staff and fled.

A group of about 20 players spotted Nie Yan. They immediately ganged up on him.

Gale Ambush!

Nie Yan suddenly accelerated. The Bloody Dagger in his hand drew a dazzling streak through the air. PSHFT! PSHFT! PSHFT! 20 players fell dead to the ground.

Nie Yan glanced at the Mystic with the flashy equipment. He hoped this fellow would at least put up a decent fight.

Seeing Nie Yan looking over at him, Winterless Night broke out in a cold sweat. "M-mommy!” He pissed his pants in terror and fled.

Chapter 835 - Village Slaughter

Nie Yan and the shadow clone killed their way into the village. Apart from Wilful and the Silver Wings, the rest were nothing but small fry.

Footage of the battle was live-streamed on the forums, causing the players of the Evil Faction to blush with shame. They feared there was no one among them that could rival Nie Yan. Even your average player would become unstoppable on the battlefield after donning the Tyrant Abak Set, let alone a top expert like the Mad Rogue!

When ordinary players attacked Nie Yan, they could barely hit him in the double digits. Some of the weaker ones couldn’t even break through his defense. With the gap between the two sides being so large, what was there they could do?

In the blink of an eye, Nie Yan had wiped out 80% of Winterless Night’s 100-man force.

The Mad Rogue! The Slaughter God! Everywhere he passed, a bloodbath would follow! Winterless Night was scared out of his wits. He hurriedly shouted, "R-retreat! Everyone, retreat!”

Hearing Winterless Night’s orders, the Silver Wings breathed a sigh of relief and withdrew.

Nie Yan looked up ahead, only to see Wilful fleeing as though the devil was on his tail.

You want to leave just like that!? Not without losing a few limbs you won’t!

Gale Step!

Nie Yan blurred into motion and rapidly closed in on Wilful.

Wilful grew anxious. He pulled out an Unknown Transfer Scroll and prepared to teleport away, when Nie Yan targeted him with a Shackles of Strife Scroll.

"Shit!” Wilful cursed. With a wave of his staff, he blinked six meters away.

However, Nie Yan was simply too fast, pushing the limits of speed. Just as Wilful’s feet touched the ground after teleporting, Nie Yan had already arrived behind him. The Bloody Dagger drew a dazzling streak through the air as it stabbed toward the back of his head.

Wilful waved his staff, erecting a bone shield between him and Nie Yan.

BANG! The shield violently trembled but didn’t shatter.

The Undead Empire had very few Soulweavers. Even up until now, there were only 30 or so. Those who successfully class advanced had overcome perilous trials. So, they all had some actual skills and talent. Wilful’s grasp on timing and combat awareness was especially good.

In the entire Evil Faction, those who could survive several moves from Nie Yan didn’t exceed 20.

Wilful leaped back and targeted Nie Yan with several curses, only to discover they had no effect. His magic resistance was too high!

BANG! The bone shield shattered into pieces.

Wilful’s heart tightened. Blink! He teleported another six meters away.

Dashing Strike!

Nie Yan shot forward, instantly closing the distance, and stabbed toward Wilful’s spine.

Wilful waved his staff. A dense smoke screen suddenly emerged around him.

Nie Yan lost his target which caused his attack to miss. He could barely see anything in the smoke screen.

Eye of Truth!

Nie Yan’s eyes blossomed out with a profound light. He instantly pierced through the smoke screen and locked onto Wilful.

Wilful was frantically setting up traps around him. He was trying to take advantage of the smoke screen to surprise Nie Yan. Suddenly, he felt a pair of demonic red eyes pierce through the dense smoke and lock onto him. His heart trembled violently. Shit! He found me!

Wilful hurriedly summoned a dozen skeletons with a wave of his staff. He ordered them to stop Nie Yan while he retreated back.

Howl of Terror!

Wilful opened his mouth and let out a soul-shaking howl which contained the malice of a thousand evil spirits.

Mind Immune!

As the sound wave swept over Nie Yan, a miss floated up above his head.

Necromancers specialized in summoning magic. They could raise entire armies and even boss level undead. However, these skills weren’t practical in PvP. All of Wilful’s spells were useless in front of Nie Yan. His old bread and butter tricks and tactics also failed to have any effect.

Nie Yan appeared behind Wilful with shadow steps.

Lockdown!

Wilful tried to flee with Blink, only to find his body frozen in place.

He felt a sharp blade pressed to his throat. PSFHT! A streak of blood splattered out into the air. His eyes went dim as he slumped to the ground.

Instant kill!

Nie Yan gazed in the distance. Everyone had fled away while he killed Wilful. He shifted his attention back to Wilful’s corpse. He had dropped a Level 130 Legendary Necklace that increased the effectiveness of summoning magic by 50%.

Nie Yan estimated he could sell it for a good price to Fallen Angel.

After putting the necklace away in his bag, Nie Yan stood back up. The battle over at the village entrance had just concluded. The several NPCs were turned to ashes by Lil’ Gold’s flames. Meanwhile, Paladin Lafus had taken care of the last few stragglers.

An eerie silence fell over this village, not a soul was in sight, only the corpses of players and NPCs.

The rundown village, with only a few thatched huts, looked particularly bleak.

Bennett’s Soul fluttered in front of Nie Yan before drifting towards one of the thatched huts.

Nie Yan entered inside and discovered it was a shop. He spotted a row of shabby shelves filled with various items, such as monster hides, bones, gems, and various other goods. Tucked away in the corner was a large pile of scrolls. There had to be at least a hundred of them!

These were all high level scrolls. There was quite a wide variety, more than 20 different kinds. Running some calculations in his head, Nie Yan estimated their value was in excess of 60,000 gold. The gems on the shelves were also worth at least 100,000 gold.

Nie Yan swept everything in the shop into his bag.

Nie Yan finally understood why players from both factions chose to attack the villages and small towns of the opposing faction. These places were treasure troves! He could collect his spoils of war without having to worry about his Influence falling. In fact, he’d be rewarded with Glory for razing an enemy settlement!

Bennett’s Soul hovered over a thumb-sized stone. It was polished smooth and looked like an oddly shaped oval.

Empress Finas’ Stone: Special Item

Effect: Unknown

Nie Yan picked up the stone to examine its properties, when he received a notification.

Bring Empress Finas’ Stone to Old Goblin Monat. He will provide you with clues.

This was the first part of a quest! The quest information didn’t give him the location of Old Goblin Monat. Nie Yan glanced at Bennett’s Soul fluttering around him. It seemed to know!

After not finding anything else, Nie Yan walked out of the shop.

News of Nie Yan attacking a village and slaughtering over 400 players spread like wildfire, creating a huge uproar. A single person had taken on over 600 players and several dozen Level 180 Elite NPCs all by himself! This was simply inconceivable. Those who died at Nie Yan’s hands also included a Soulweaver and three Silver Wings!

Perhaps Nie Yan was the only one who could pull of such a crazy stunt!

After this incident, many players no longer dared to trouble Nie Yan. Those flocking over in the hopes of obtaining the Death God’s Edge and Paternoster’s Warhammer felt a bucket of cold water poured over their heads. They once more realized who they were dealing with. This wasn’t taking candy from a baby but rather a gold coin from the mouth of a dragon!

Walking over to the center of the village, Nie Yan was just about to leave, when a powerful gust of scorching hot air blasted past him, threatening to upturn the surrounding buildings.

A tall silhouette appeared in Nie Yan’s eyes. The appearance of this newcomer was extremely strange. He looked both human and demonic, with a single horn on his head and a long scaly tail, but no wings.

The figure walked toward him step by step. Space itself seemed to stagnate. His eyes glowed with an ominous red light, almost as if he could seize your soul with a single glance.

A powerful boss level NPC!

As Nie Yan’s eyes fell on the monster, his body turned stiff. Every movement became cumbersome. Glancing at his status bar, he was under the effect of fear!

Not just Nie Yan, Lil’ Gold, Paladin Lafus, and the shadow clone were also frozen stiff.

Transcendent Insight!

Half-Demon Angud (Demonified Lord): Level 180
Titles: Legendary Demon

Half-Demon Angud was just like Phantom Princess Ina, a Level 180 Demonified Lord!

Half-Demon Angud walked over toward Nie Yan. As he passed by Paladin Lafus, he casually swung his fist. THWACK! Paladin Lafus’ body was sent flying like a ragdoll.

Instant kill!

What the fuck!? Just where did this guy come from! Nie Yan didn’t expect razing a small village would draw the attention of such a powerful boss! This wasn’t good. In fact, meeting this kind of powerful Demonified Lord was a complete disaster!

This was some abysmal luck! Fallen Angel had razed more than a dozen villages in the Satreen Empire, but they were never chased down by a monster like this! Yet he took down one smaller than small village, and a Level 180 Demonified Lord showed up!

The last time Nie Yan faced a monster of this level was Phantom Princess Ina. It took hundreds of thousands of players, thousands of arrow towers, over 300 cannon towers, and 50 catapults just to take her down. Even then, she had torn through almost half of Okoron! Now, he had to face a similarly frightening existence all by himself! Needless to stay, he didn't stand a ghost of a chance!

Chapter 836 - Forbidden Zone

Nie Yan struggled to turn his head. Half-Demon Angud was only 100 meters away from him.

A premonition of death welled up from the bottom of Nie Yan’s heart. He glanced at his skill bar. He had no other choice. He had to face the enemy. His eyes fell on the only skill that could be of some use, Frozen Fortress. At the very least, it would buy him some precious time which he could use to find an opportunity to escape. The Tyrant Abak Set had the Instant Transmission Skill. However, bosses like Angud all had skills that could interrupt teleportation. He needed at least 10 seconds of time to escape with Instant Transmission or an Unknown Transfer Scroll.

Angud approached closer and closer. Nie Yan clenched Paternoster’s Warhammer in his hand, preparing to activate Frozen Fortress at a moment’s notice.

At this moment, Battle Angel Kalenna awoke from her slumber and waved her staff. A white radiance descended from the sky and fell over Nie Yan.

The fear status effect was dispelled. Nie Yan could move again!

Gale Step!

Nie Yan bolted for his life.

"Curses! A Battle Angel! Wretched being of light!” Angud chased after Nie Yan.

Nie Yan felt a corrosive miasma forming into a powerful whirlwind beside him, threatening to swallow him up.

Battle Angel Kalenna waved her staff, shielding Nie Yan with a formidable shield of holy light.

Angud spat out several deep syllables. A shower of black meteors started raining down from the sky, destroying everything in a 600-meter wide area.

Nie Yan believed he was dead. With so many meteors, there was no way he could dodge. Glancing down at his hotbar, he discovered Instant Transmission and the Unknown Transfer Scrolls were grayed out.

Just as Nie Yan was about to be annihilated by the black meteors, an enormous pillar of light shot up into the sky. It dissipated the meteors into ash and then disappeared.

Nie Yan’s jaw dropped as he stared at the scene with widened eyes. He didn’t expect Battle Angel Kalenna to take action, let alone go toe to toe with a Level 180 Demonified Lord!

Nie Yan realized what was going on. Angels and demons were sworn enemies, like fire and water. That was why Kalenna was helping him.

Angud unleashed various spells and curses. However, they were all neutralized by Battle Angel Kalenna. If it were just Nie Yan, just one or two of these spells or curses would’ve been enough to kill him.

Nie Yan turned tail and ran as fast as his two legs would carry him. He tried anything to shake off Angud. But no matter what he did, even after 20 minutes, he couldn’t get away. Battle Angel Kalenna’s mana was starting to run low.

"This lousy incarnation! Running out of mana so quickly! If I were in my real body, this would already long be over! I need time to recover my mana,” Kalenna grumbled in an annoyed tone. Her white gown was as thin as a wisp of smoke, wrapping around her curvaceous figure. Her cute and immature face made it difficult to stay angry at her. Nie Yan couldn’t give her commands. Sometimes she would buff him with one or two blessings or give him a shield. Other times she would ignore his existence, occasionally even disappearing without a trace or hole away in his breast pocket and sleep. She gave him endless headaches. How was he supposed to deal with her!? But at this crucial moment, against all his expectations, she stood up to save the day.

Angud soared several dozen meters into the air, then came diving down.

Seeing Angud getting closer and closer, Nie Yan shot a web line at a nearby tree and swung to safety. He opened up a distance of more than a dozen meters.

BOOOM! Angud’s struck the ground like a meteor, sending rocks and rubble flying everywhere.

Vorpal Sprint!

Nie Yan activated the skill from Abak’s Vorpal Striders. His body immediately transformed into a seven-coloured streak as he left Angud in the dust.

With his base stats, Nie Yan was already starting to push the limits of speed. After activating Vorpal Sprint, he reached an astonishing height.

Angud ran at his fastest speed, but Nie Yan was getting further and further away.

Nie Yan glanced over his shoulder and saw that he had already pulled open a distance of 100 meters between him and Angud. He continued running for his life, not daring to linger for the shortest moment. He was terrified of Angud striking him down with some random spell.

Battle Angel Kalenna kept waving her staff, neutralizing Angud’s attack.

About six minutes later, Nie Yan had widened the distance to over 300 meters.

Vorpal Sprint only lasted for 10 minutes. In other words, he could only pull open the distance between him and Angud to 600 meters at most. This was still far from enough. Angud would eventually catch up to him.

Glancing at his hotbar, Nie Yan had no idea what sort of skill Angud had used on him. The Unknown Transfer Scroll was still grayed out.

After running for a bit more, Nie Yan spotted a rocky barren up ahead. This rough terrain would make escaping even more difficult.

As he climbed past several rocks, he found a deep, pitch black pithole.

Looking behind him, Nie Yan saw Angud’s silhouette still chasing after him. Screw it! Not like I have any better options! He lunged forward and leaped into the pithole. After falling for about half-a-minute, the echoes coming from below him told him he was close to reaching the bottom. He activated the Crawler ability and dug his hands in the wall to slow his fall. THUD! He landed on the ground.

Nie Yan had no idea where he was. He could still clearly see around him with his high Night Vision. He didn’t linger for long and headed deeper inside.

Above ground, Angud was standing in front of the pithole. He paced back and forth around the entrance, hesitating to go inside.

News of Angud chasing after Nie Yan quickly reached the ears of the players from the Evil Faction. Some Thieves had even followed from a distance and witnessed Nie Yan leaping into the pithole. Angud was extremely frightening, striking dread into the hearts of all those who saw him. Yet Nie Yan had successfully escaped such an existence. This was an inconceivable matter! Battle Angel Kalenna also started gaining players’ attention. Since she hadn’t done much before, some players even believed she was purely decorative. But today, people finally got to see how powerful she was. Just what was she, that she could go toe to toe with Angud?

Discussion about Angud and Battle Angel Kalenna flooded the forums. However, many players were wondering about something else. What was Nie Yan up to right now!? One had to know, the pithole he entered was a famous forbidden zone. No one that entered there had ever returned alive.

Nie Yan trekked through the underground passage for roughly three minutes, when Bennett’s Soul floated out from his bag and came to a halt in mid-air.

Nie Yan took a few more steps forward, but Bennett’s Soul wouldn’t follow after him. So, he could only turn around and walk back.

What the hell was going on?

"I hate it here!” Kalenna grumbled.

Nie Yan could sense the wariness in Kalenna’s heart. Just what could make even her afraid?

Looking in the depths of the passage, all Nie Yan saw was a pitch-black darkness. He had no idea where he was going.

I better get out of this place fast, Nie Yan thought. This place left him feeling all sorts of uneasy. Conviction had many forbidden zones where players shouldn’t enter, especially maps where Level 200 Demonified Lords made their territory. Any intruders would be killed beyond a shadow of a doubt. If you accidently stumbled into such a place, it was best you turn around and leave quickly.

Kalenna wasn’t even afraid when fighting Angud, but whatever was inside the depths of this pithole left her trembling in fear.

Nie Yan determined the thing lurking inside here was even more powerful than Angud. Going amy deeper was simply seeking death.

Nie Yan glanced at his hot bar. He still needed to wait five minutes to activate his Unknown Transfer Scroll.

"Guess I have no choice but to wait. I hope nothing happens,” Nie Yan muttered, sitting down on the ground. He glanced back behind him. "Looks like Angud didn’t chase after me.”

Time slowly ticked away. There were still two minutes left. Nie Yan gazed around at his surroundings out of boredom. With his powerful Night Vision, he could see everything clearly within a 10-meter radius.

Nie Yan suddenly discovered a chest tucked behind some rocks. He didn’t know what rarity it was. It was nine meters away. He only needed to go just a bit further to open it!

Nie Yan hesitated for a moment. It was right in front of him! He looked at the chest. No, he had to open it! It’d be too much of a waste to leave it sitting here.

Glancing at Bennett’s Soul and Kalenna, Nie Yan took a deep breath and walked forward.

A sinister chill blew out from the depths of the passage, causing Nie Yan to shiver uncontrollably.

Nie Yan knew attempting to open that chest was an extremely dangerous and risky action.

The cold wind howled, and eerie screams and cries came echoing out from the depths of the passage, causing his hair to stand on end.

From this distance, Nie Yan could see that the chest was dark gold in colour and made out of some unknown metal. It was covered in black gems that resembled the night sky.

A Legendary chest!

Nie Yan could vaguely make out some different shapes next to the chest. Taking another step forward, his eyes widened in shock. They were skeletons! The bones were scattered over the rocks. Who knew how long they had been there. They had been badly eroded by the elements, brittled to the point that they could collapse into dust at any moment.

Nie Yan felt a chill in his heart. He wondered if there were any traps in this place.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. Let’s give it a shot! He recalled all the gadgets and bobbles in his bag. After rummaging through them, he pulled out two small capsules. These were specially made by Violet Mist. Her Tinkering had already reached the astonishing rank of Grandmaster, meaning she could make all sorts of high level items. On this trip to the underworld, he had brought 30 different kinds with him and 70 in total. They were quite good, coming in handy in many situations.

Nie Yan tossed the two capsules on the ground. BOMF! BOMF! Two basketball sized spiders ermerged. They looked just like real spiders, but they were actually automatons. They had zero attack power.

Chapter 837 - End of the Road

The two spider automata familiarized themselves with the surroundings. After spinning in circles several times, they started moving forward under Nie Yan’s command, their eight legs moving in a rhythmic fashion.

One spider moved faster than the other. A gap of two meters opened up between them.

The faster spider soon approached the chest, only a meter to go. It investigated the surroundings, searching for signs of traps.

While Nie Yan was patiently waiting, Lil’ Gold and later also the shadow clone arrived back by his side. They’d fallen behind earlier. Luckily, Angud only cared for Nie Yan and the Death God’s Edge in his possession. Other than Paladin Lafus who’d unfortunately been in his way, Angud didn’t bother with the other two. They were ant-like existences to him, not worth his time.

Angud was still standing outside the pithole, seemingly unable to come to a decision.

Nie Yan unsummoned Lil’ Gold. His large frame made it impossible to go unnoticed, not to mention the cave would only get narrower from here. There was no way a large dragon like him could squeeze through. As for the shadow clone, Nie Yan decided to keep it around for a while longer. He shifted his focus back onto the chest.

About a minute later. BANG! The faster spider was blasted into smithereens. The sound of the explosion wasn’t all that loud, but the power was something else.

An explosive trap!

After a while, the smoke and dust settled, revealing metallic parts scattered over the ground.

A whooshing sound rang out from the depths of the cave. Nie Yan entered stealth and hid behind some larger rocks, just in time to see several wraiths floating over. He couldn’t make out their appearances. Only their glowing red eyes which shone through the darkness. After hovering around the chest for a while and failing to find anything amiss, they returned back whence they came.

A group of Level 200 wraiths! Seven in total and one was an Elite!

This was a Level 200 map! Normally, if Nie Yan were to accidentally stumble into such a place, he would quickly turn around and leave. Similar to Level 50 and Level 100, Level 200 was a watershed in combat power for monsters.

These wraiths had no consciousness, filled only with the singular instinct of killing the living. Appearing and disappearing unpredictably, they were difficult to pin down. Such frightening monsters definitely couldn’t be provoked!

Even so, Nie Yan still felt reluctant to leave the chest be.

Thinking for a bit, he had the other spider go forward. After inspecting the area around the chest without triggering any more traps, it seemed safe to open it.

The Unknown Transfer Scrolls in his hotbar were no longer grayed out. Nie Yan could leave at any time!

"Tch… I already cleared all the traps. Leaving a Legendary chest would be such a waste…” The greed in Nie Yan’s heart was fighting the rational in his brain.

After thinking for a bit, Nie Yan put down a marker. Like this, he could come back here at any time.

"Let’s try opening that chest,” Nie Yan muttered. He slowly approached the chest. At three meters away, he came to a halt and warily looked around. Calming his breathing, he continued on forward and arrived in front of the chest.

The chest wasn’t large, but the craftsmanship was superb. Even the simple grooves on the sides were carved with meticulous care. Its ancient appearance was hidden underneath a thick layer of dust. After wiping it clean, it looked brand new.

The chest was sealed by a lock that looked quite intricate despite only being the size of a thumb. Picking it would take quite some time.

Nie Yan looked pensively at the chest. He didn’t know when or if the wraiths would come back. If they caught him opening the chest, that’d be it for him most likely. "Screw it! I’ve already come this far, no point in turning back now!” He crouched down and started picking the lock.

Opening chest… Progress: 1%... 2%... 3%...

Time passed by extremely slowly. This lock was a relic left behind from the Era of Darkness. It was extremely complex. If not for his Lockpicking Specialist skill, Nie Yan would have no way of opening it.

After a minute, the progress was only at 55%. Opening this chest was taking way too long!

Suddenly, several shrieks echoed out from the depths of the cave, piercing Nie Yan’s eardrums.

"Shit! They’re back!”

Nie Yan spotted the wraiths coming over in the far distance. They immediately went into a frenzy upon discovering his presence. They were like bloodsucking evil spirits, devouring any life they came across.

Seeing seven pairs of red glowing eyes getting closer and closer, Nie Yan had the shadow clone go up and try to stall them.

The shadow clone quickly arrived in front of the wraiths. Annihilation Slash! 10 flaming swords emerged in the air and cleaved down on them.

BANG! BANG! BANG! The massive attack filled the chamber with smoke and dust.

To Nie Yan’s dismay, none of the wraiths died. Even the lowest health one among them still had over 60,000,000 health. These were only ordinary monsters! He couldn’t even see the health of the Elite-class wraith.

The wraiths lunged forward and slashed down with their claws! PSFHT! PSFHT! PSFHT! Their attacks sliced right through the shadow clone.

Your shadow clone has been killed!

Nie Yan glanced at the chest—89%. So close! He just needed a bit more time!

However, the wraiths had already closed in on him. They were only three meters away.

"FUCK!” Nie Yan cursed. He had no choice but to give up on opening the chest.

Nie Yan tried to leap away, only to find a wraith right in front of him. Brandishing his blade, he stabbed forth with the Bloody Dagger.

Nie Yan’s attack was just about to pierce the wraith, when it suddenly vanished into thin air.

PSFHT! A claw slashed into Nie Yan’s back. A damage value of 17,000 floated up above his head.

"Shit! I need to escape!” Nie Yan flicked his wrist, an Unknown Transfer Scroll appeared in his hand. Just as he was about to crush it, his eyes widened as a silhouette appeared before him. She wore white robes and looked just like a goddess, with a pure and holy aura that rejected all that was profane around her. A faint but alluring smile hung over her lips.

"Xie Yao, what are you doing here?” Nie Yan asked. The instant he gave voice to his confusion, he realized something was wrong. An illusion!

Phantom Apparition! How did he forget about this skill!?

Some wraiths had a special skill that caused a target to hallucinate. The illusions of ordinary wraiths were easy to see through. However, the illusions from these wraiths had completely sucked Nie Yan in. This was definitely a first!

Nie Yan tried to focus his mind and break out of the illusion, only to jolt in pain as two more wraiths dug their claws into his back. He let out a groan and collapsed on the ground.

These wraiths were too strong! Their every attack sliced almost a third off of Nie Yan’s health bar. When the fourth claw dug deep into his back, his health bottomed out.

Seeing Nie Yan’s corpse on the ground, the wraiths searched around the chamber. Failing to find any other intruders, they returned to a passive state and headed back into the depths of the cave.

After some time, Nie Yan’s finger twitched. A bit of colour returned to his pale and icy face as he slowly regained consciousness. His eyes jolted open, and he hurriedly crawled back to his feet in preparation to evade an attack, only to discover the wraiths were nowhere to be found.

Nie Yan breathed out the turbid air in his lungs. Looking around, he saw the Death God’s Edge, Paternoster’s Warhammer, and the chapters from the Book of Order scattered all over the ground. He hurriedly picked them up. Seeing that his current health was only at one point, he scurried over to a corner of the cave, sat down behind some boulders, and started recuperating.

After class advancing to a Luminous Dancer, Nie Yan had acquired a skill called Death and Rebirth. It allowed him to revive upon death, and had a cooldown of two days.

Nie Yan never procced this skill before because he had never died up until now. Today, however, he had lost his life at the hands of these wraiths. Thankfully, they were beings without consciousness and so wouldn’t rob player drops.

Looking at his experience bar, Nie Yan found he’d only lost about 10%. This death penalty wasn’t all that bad, pretty much the best outcome of a bad situation.

Before long, Nie Yan was back to full health.

Nie Yan stood up and glanced over at the chest. He needed to think of some special way to open it!

The allure of a Legendary chest in a Level 200 map was immense!

Nie Yan assessed the situation. He needed at least 90 seconds to open the chest, while the wraiths would notice any movements within the chamber in 60 seconds. So, it was impossible to open the chest undetected.

The passageway up ahead was too narrow. Lil’ Gold’s frame was too large to fit in. The shadow clone could go in, but it couldn’t last against the wraiths for more than 15 seconds. The illusions of these wraiths were simply too powerful!

Opening this Legendary chest was as difficult as scaling the heavens for Nie Yan. He just needed 15 more seconds to open it, but figuring out a way to buy that time was giving him a terrible headache.

Nie Yan couldn’t think of anything no matter how much he racked his brains. It seemed like he could only give up for the time being. The chances of another player snatching the chest before him were pretty much nill, and he had already placed a marker here anyway.

"Guess this will have to wait for some other time,” Nie Yan muttered.

After using several Unknown Transfer Scrolls in quick succession, Nie Yan found himself in the middle of a barren plain. He had no clue where he was. Angud wouldn’t give up so easily in all likelihood. What should he do? Even if he couldn’t deal with Angud, he would have to at least think of a way to hide from him. No one would feel at ease being chased down by a Level 180 Demonified Lord.

Nie Yan rubbed his chin. When his eyes fell on the Instant Transmission skill, an idea flashed through his mind. There was a way!

"Let’s do this!” Nie Yan summoned the Darkwing Dragon and jumped on its back before flying off towards the southeast.

Chapter 838 - Silvermoon Gorge

Nie Yan placed down markers in the southern, eastern, and western part of the Demon Tribe and even some in the Undead Empire. 16 in total. They were at least three hours apart, with the largest distance between two markers being 12 hours away. Meanwhile, Instant Transmission only had a cooldown of 30 minutes. Like this, Angud would have no hope of catching him.

Nie Yan never stayed in the same place for more than an hour, and he continued placing more and more markers.

Back in the Klarence Stronghold, Godking was swamped with work. Angud kept asking him for Nie Yan’s whereabouts. Pantheon’s intelligence network would quickly track down his coordinates and report them to Angud. However, every time he rushed over, Nie Yan would be nowhere to be found. When they checked again, he would be more than a thousand miles away. After this happened several times in a row, Angud began to suspect Pantheon was purposely giving him bad intelligence. He erupted into a violent fit of rage and stormed over to Godking.

"Give me an explanation! You know the consequences for deceiving me!” Angud said coldly.

Godking shivered as he sensed icy killing intent emanating from Angud. If his reply was unsatisfactory in any way, not only him, but all of Pantheon would suffer a calamity. He carefully said, "L-lord Angud, I wouldn’t dare to deceive you. I believe Nirvana Flame has a skill which allows him to teleport freely to any location. That’s why he’s gone by the time you arrive.”

Angud closely observed Godking’s expression, judging whether he was telling the truth or lying.

Godking trembled in fear and trepidation. He bowed deeply in front of Angud, looking like a lamb ready for the slaughter.

Angud’s expression relaxed a little. He said indifferently, "Pay close attention to his whereabouts. If there are any updates, report to me immediately.”

"Yes!” Godking answered solemnly, feeling as though he’d just escape a calamity of epic proportions.

Nie Yan scoured through most of the Demon Tribe and the Undead Empire on his Darkwing Dragon, obtaining clues on Lich King Insar’s Treasure and the Occult Talisman of Empress Finas. However, he didn’t dare to get too invested into any single questline, lest he lost track of time and Angud caught him.

Nie Yan got in touch with the people of Fallen Angel. He planned to sell some of his spoils to them. The meeting point was a place in the southern part of the Undead Empire called Valley of Echoes.

Nie Yan arrived at the designated meeting spot. He examined the surroundings while in stealth. It was a 10-meter wide clearing in the middle of a vibrant forest.

The trees growing here were up to a dozen meters tall. Nie Yan climbed up to the top of one and gazed down below.

The representative of Fallen Angel wouldn’t be late. Likely, they had learned from their previous lesson and dispatched a more reliable fellow this time.

About five minutes before the appointed time, a silhouette appeared in the middle of the clearing. It was Proud Warlance! The two of them had interacted with each other a couple of times before. So, they could be considered acquaintances. Nie Yan didn’t immediately go down. After confirming there was no one else in the vicinity, he used the Pearl of Disguise to become an Evil Faction player and leaped down from the tree.

"You’re here,” Warlance greeted with a smile.

Nie Yan nodded. The two of them knew what the other wanted. Both Asskickers United and Fallen Angels enjoyed great profits from their partnership. He hoped things would continue on like this.

"Do you have anything good for me?” Warlance asked. Their time was short. So, he got straight to the point.

Nie Yan sent Warlance a trade request and placed all the Evil Faction exclusive items he had obtained into the window. There were several particularly excellent items among them.

"These are the spoils of war our players collected from the Satreen Empire,” Warlance said, as he put a great many items into the trade window.

Nie Yan confirmed the trade. He obtained seven pieces of Sub Legendary- and three pieces of Legendary-grade equipment. They were all in the Level 130–140 range, perfectly suited for the elites of the guild.

After completing the trade, Nie Yan and Warlance shortly chatted about the future partnership between their two guilds.

"It’s about time I get going.” Nie Yan turned around. Angud would soon be arriving most likely. Besides, he had things to do, like continuing on with his quests.

"Wait a moment,” Warlance called out.

Nie Yan halted his steps. "Is there anything else?”

Warlanced hesitated for a moment before finally asking, "Do you have the Death God’s Edge on you?”

Nie Yan’s eyes flickered with a sharp light. He locked eyes with Warlance, trying to find a clue for his interest.

Information about the Death God’s Edge being in his possession was already public knowledge by now. How could Warlance not know? Nie Yan slowly nodded.

"Plenty wants to buy it from you. Just state a price. So long as it’s within what we can bear, everything is negotiable,” Warlance said. Nie Yan’s sharp gaze caused his heart to tremble.

The Death God’s Edge had caused huge waves in the underworld. Even though Nie Yan couldn’t use this Sacred Object for the time being, he could confirm that it had something to do with the main quest in Conviction. Guo Huai was already investigating the secrets behind it and why the players and most importantly the NPCs of the Evil Faction coveted it so much.

Since Warlance had asked, this meant Fallen Angel was also after this Sacred Object!

The Death God’s Edge was part of Nie Yan’s quest. He still needed to bring it to Archangel Tallod. He didn’t know what the consequences of losing it would be.

"Tell Plenty that I need the Death God’s Edge for a quest. So, I’m afraid I can’t sell it to him.” Nie Yan turned around and left.

Seeing Nie Yan disappear into the forest, Warlance rang up Plenty.

「How’d it go?」Plenty asked.

「He said the Death God’s Edge isn’t for sale, that he needs it for a quest. This might just be an excuse. Boss, what do you think?」

「I doubt he’d lie about it. The Death God’s Edge is indeed a quest item. As for whether he can sell it or not, I’m not sure. Let’s leave it be for now. Before we wipe out Angel Corps, we need to maintain our relationship with Asskickers United,」Plenty said. He needed Nie Yan’s strength to deal with Soaring Angel. Though the Death God’s Edge was important, he couldn’t get his priorities mixed up.

「Are we just going to give up on the Death God’s Edge? What about that quest? Should we keep in contact with him? Maybe we can get him to change his mind.」

「Don’t worry about it. Just do as I say.」

「Alright.」Warlance didn’t ask any further questions and hung up the call. He glanced back at where Nie Yan disappeared before leaving himself.

Nie Yan teleported to a prairie in the eastern part of the Demon Tribe. He glanced at the Death God’s Edge in his bag. Carrying this item really was a calamity. The entire Evil Faction was after it, and they definitely wouldn’t give up easily. As for Fallen Angel, their interests were tied too deeply to those of Asskickers United, and there were still many more opportunities to work together in the future. They wouldn’t abandon this alliance just yet.

Nie Yan’s interest in the Death God’s Edge was piqued even more. Just what made this item so attractive?

Angud hadn’t shown his face for quite some time already. Nie Yan could only guess he’d given up for the time being.

Nie Yan finally received a solid clue for one of his quests. His quest objective was located in Silvermoon Gorge in the southeastern part of the Demon Tribe.

Following this clue meant that Nie Yan could possibly be held up in a single location for more than an hour. He decided to take some precautions first. He teleported to a location far in the northwestern part of the Demon Tribe, then attacked a nearby village, killing over 1,000 players before leaving.

Before long, Nie Yan received a report from Guo Huai that Angud was heading toward the northwest. He smirked. This was exactly what he wanted.

Nie Yan teleported to Silvermoon Gorge with Instant Transmission. After which he infiltrated the inner region of the map while in stealth, making sure no one saw him.

The outer region of Silvermoon Gorge was inhabited by Level 120–130 monsters. So, players often partied up and came here to level. However, once you reached the inner region of the map, Level 170–180 monsters would start appearing, and the number of players decreased drastically.

After passing through a dense forest, a large clearing entered Nie Yan’s vision. Up ahead was a small village. The scattered buildings were made out of straw and mud.

You have discovered Naga Village.

Looking into the village, Nie Yan spotted some Nagas moving around. These monsters had the lower body of a snake and upper body of a human. They had six arms with each hand wielding a halberd-like weapon.

They were Level 180 Elites!

Nie Yan was just about to go forward and clear out the village, when he noticed a commotion among the Nagas. It appeared something had agitated them. Looking over in the direction they were gathered, he could see a battle going on.

People? Could a team be levelling here?

Nie Yan inched closer until he finally got a good look. It wasn’t a team fighting the Nagas but rather a single person. Judging from his appearance, it was a Spectral Thief.

The Spectral Thief raised his short bow. Whoosh whoosh whoosh! He shot out several arrows in quick succession, hitting the Nagas. They were enraged. Flicking their red tongues, they moved in to surround him.

The Spectral Thief immediately retreated back while crushing several scrolls. Flame Walls rose up between him and the Nagas. When the Nagas passed through the fire, a string of damage values floated up above their heads.

Chapter 839 - Dragon Emperor

−29,444
−27,551
−26,397
...

Looking at the damage the Nagas took from the Flame Walls, it appeared this Spectral Thief was using some pretty high rank scrolls.

Someone helping him clear out these Nagas would save him a lot of trouble. Nie Yan gazed toward the plaza in the center of the village, where he saw a larger Naga roaming around.

That was Nie Yan’s target, the Level 180 Variant Lord, Naga King!

Nie Yan would hesitate to face a Demonified Lord. However, he was confident in soloing a Variant Lord.

The Spectral Thief was fully focused on dealing with the Elite Nagas. He was pretty fast, everytime opening a small distance with the chasing Nagas and then activating a Flame Wall scroll, but he still couldn’t hold a candle to Nie Yan. Even so, his speed was still more than enough to deal with these Elite Nagas.

Extreme Vanish!

Nie Yan quickly closed in on the Spectral Thief and inspected him with Transcendent Insight. Seeing the Spectral Thief’s name, his eyes widened in surprise.

This Spectral Thief was called World Dragon Emperor. He was Level 147.

This name rang a bell. In the previous timeline, World Dragon was a fierce character. He was a lone wolf who until the very end never joined any team or guild. Apart from his battle prowess, he was also one of the few Grandmaster Tinkerers in the Evil Faction. However, the reason his fame reached all the way to the surface wasn’t his battle prowess nor his Tinkering skills, but rather his unrivalled flying mount. It was a Sanguine Dragon, which just happened to match his name and also made him an apex existence.

Nie Yan recalled that the Sanguine Dragon had risen all the way up to Rank 9. In the previous timeline, where flying mounts were still scarce, this was a mindblowing achievement. It would already be impressive to have a Rank 5 or 6 flying mount. Back then, Fallen Angel had hired Dragon Emperor to fight against Angel Corps in several battles. His Sanguine Dragon had dealt heavy losses to the forces of Angel Corps. Even while surrounded by several dozen flying mounts, it had slaughtered six and escaped unscathed. After that incident, players engraved the image of Dragon Emperor and his Sanguine Dragon deep into their hearts.

Nie Yan estimated that the Sanguine Dragon and Darkwing Dragon were the same level of existence. At present, his Darkwing Dragon was Rank 7 and only a step away from reaching Rank 8. One could only imagine how powerful the Rank 9 Sanguine Dragon was back then!

Dragon Emperor was running around hunting the Nagas non-stop.

If I used Extreme Vanish to kill him, he probably won’t even know who hit him. But do I really want to make an enemy of someone with a potential Rank 9 Sanguine Dragon? Nie Yan hesitated.

After weighing his options, Nie Yan decided it was best not to pointlessly make more enemies.

However, the Naga King was right in front of him. If Dragon Emperor didn't leave, Nie Yan wouldn’t feel at ease facing the boss.

Nie Yan crept over toward Dragon Emperor and dispelled his stealth when he was only five meters away.

Dragon Emperor pulled out a scroll and was just about to activate it, when he saw a person appear beside him from the corner of his eye. He nearly had a heart attack. Activating Gale Step, he retreated more than 10 meters away.

A Naga came slithering over. Losing sight of Dragon Emperor, it shifted its attention to Nie Yan. It immediately brandished its weapons and pounced toward him.

Nie Yan took several steps back. With a Phantom Assassination, his body blurred into multiple after images. PSFHT! He pierced the Naga in the throat, then sent it flying with an elbow strike.

"Nirvana Flame!” Dragon Emperor cried out in shock. He came to an abrupt halt.

What was Nirvana Flama up to? Dragon Emperor sunk into silence. When Nie Yan had sneaked up on him, he hadn’t the slightest clue. If Nie Yan wanted to kill him, he would already be a corpse on the ground. His life was clearly spared!

Dragon Emperor came out of stealth. The two met eyes.

"Hey, mind if I take the Naga King?” Nie Yan asked. There were already three Naga corpses around his feet.

Dragon Emperor was bewildered. If it was simply laying claim to the Naga King, wouldn’t it be simpler to kill him? After all, the two of them belonged to different factions. He couldn’t for the life of him understand what Nie Yan was thinking. Perhaps the Mad Rogue was just eccentric like this.

"Go ahead. I can’t defeat it anyway,” Dragon Emperor said. He was still taken aback. However, even though Nie Yan spared his life, he wasn’t willing to show weakness.

"Thanks.” Nie Yan dashed off in the direction of the Naga King.

"Is this guy really planning to face the Naga King…?” Dragon Emperor muttered. After grinding here for the better part of the last six days, he knew just what kind of existence the Naga King was. Perhaps Nie Yan really did have the ability to face the Naga King. But wasn't Nie Yan worried he would try to ambush him, or wasn’t he a threat in the eyes of the Mad Rogue?

Dragon Emperor let out a sigh as he watched Nie Yan dashing off toward the Naga King. "Fine, you win this time.” Nie Yan had spared his life just now. He wouldn’t have the face to ambush Nie Yan while he was dealing with the Naga King.

"I want to see how you’re going to do it,” Dragon Emperor muttered. As he continued hunting the Nagas in the vicinity, he occasionally glanced over in Nie Yan’s direction.

It wasn’t that Nie Yan didn’t feel any sense of wariness, but rather he could tell at a glance that Dragon Emperor was an extremely prideful individual. Why else wouldn’t he join any teams or guilds? People like him hated resorting to underhanded methods. So, Nie Yan was gambling that Dragon Emperor wouldn’t try to bother him.

The Naga King was five meters tall with stone gray scales. It looked like an enormous statue, wielding six different weapons, a blade, sword, halberd, trident, spiked mace, and pole.

The Naga King slithered around the plaza, oblivious to the impending doom.

Since the shadow clone was still on cooldown, Nie Yan couldn’t use it in this fight. He summoned Lil’ Gold and Paladin Lafus, then approached within 100 meters of the Naga King.

The Naga King noticed Nie Yan’s gaze and locked its eyes onto him.

The two sides entered a stand off.

"Is he planning to face the Naga King head-on?” Dragon Emperor couldn’t help but mutter. That was practically seeking death! However, wasn’t this exactly how Nie Yan acquired the name of Mad Rogue? He became even more curious. Just how was Nie Yan going to take down the Naga King?

"HISSS!” The Naga King charged toward Nie Yan, causing the ground to rumble.

Dragon Emperor glanced over in Nie Yan’s direction. What he saw left him completely dumbstruck. A blur was dancing around the Naga King leaving behind a series of afterimages. Nie Yan launched a furious assault, pushing it back with every attack. It eventually lost its balance and fell down. When it finally struggled back upright, it swung its weapons in a frenzy, but none of its attacks could touch a hair on Nie Yan’s body.

He’s pushing the limits of speed! Dragon Emperor thought. He believed this kind of speed to only be a legend. He never expected someone to actually achieve it. Just how high were Nirvana Flame’s stats!? He immediately recalled the Tyrant Abak Set and Zennarde’s Sword in Nie Yan’s possession and broke out into a bitter smile. With such amazing equipment, it was only normal to have insane stats.

Nie Yan easily evaded the Naga King’s attacks. Even when its attacks rained down like a fierce gail, he was still finding openings with seeming ease and retaliate with a string of attacks.

Seeing Nie Yan repeatedly knocked the Naga King to the ground, Dragon Emperor sucked in a breath of cold air. Was this guy still human!?

The Naga King which was viewed as invincible in the eyes of ordinary players was being played around with like a small rodent. This completely overturned Dragon Emperor’s common sense. The Mad Rogue really did live up to his name!

Lil’ Gold and Paladin Lafus provided support fire from the back. In the rare occasion that Nie Yan did get hit by the Naga King, Paladin Lafus would instantly heal him back up.

About half-an-hour later, the Naga King’s health fell to 10%.

The Naga King went berserk. Its entire body burned hot red as its attacks came at a much faster rate.

Under the dense torrent of attacks, Nie Yan was gradually being overwhelmed.

PSFHT! PSFHT! Two damage values of over 10,000 floated up above Nie Yan’s head. If it weren’t for Paladin Lafus’ Rank 16 Holy Barrier taking the brunt of the damage, he would already be dead.

A gentle light fell over Nie Yan, restoring his health back to full.

Nie Yan quickly retreated back, then switched over to Zennarde’s Sword.

"HISS! HISS!” The Naga King flickered its red tongue and went in pursuit.

Nie Yan took two steps back, drawing the Naga King in between two buildings.

Annihilation Slash!

10 flaming swords emerged in the air above Nie Yan. They merged into one as they came cleaving down on the Naga King. BAANG! It was sent staggering several meters back.

Nie Yan leaped into the air and switched back to the Bloody Dagger and Slaughter Edge. He then started dishing out a string of attacks from kicks and elbow strikes to slashes and stabs, knocking the Naga King on to the ground. As he came falling down from the air, he ruthlessly stabbed his blade into its throat, causing blood to fly everywhere.

The Naga King’s health bar finally bottomed out as its body stopped struggling.

Chapter 840 - Occult Talisman of Arachne Empress Finas

Among the many bosses Nie Yan had faced, the Naga King was fairly easy to deal with because of his weak physical defense, which made it susceptible to knockbacks.

Nie Yan rummaged under the Naga King’s corpse. Apart from a Level 180 Sub Legendary-grade Warrior bracer and bronze key, nothing else dropped.

The bronze key was about the size of a thumb and covered in all sorts of intricate engravings. Likely, it was to open a treasure chest.

Nie Yan was thinking about where to find the chest, when Bennett’s Soul hovered in front of his face before heading off into the distance. It seemed to know the way!

Nie Yan turned his head and glanced back at Dragon Emperor one last time before running after Bennett’s Soul.

Dragon Emperor watched Nie Yan disappear at the end of the street. He turned to look at the corpse of the Naga King on the ground. No words could describe what he was feeling right now. This encounter with Nie Yan had left a deep impression on him. He glanced at the Sanguine Dragon in his pet space and wondered if he would ever be on equal footing with Nie Yan.

Nie Yan was strong enough to challenge some of the most powerful bosses, even legendary existences, and in the process obtained all sorts of amazing equipment. From the moment he first pulled ahead, his rewards only helped him widen the gap further and further. At this point, simply catching back up to him would require an inconceivable amount of effort.

"Just you wait, I’ll definitely challenge you one day!” Dragon Emperor declared. He then turned his focus back to hunting Elite Nagas.

After leaving the village, Nie Yan followed Bennett’s Soul for half-an-hour before arriving outside the entrance of a cave.

Entering the cave, Nie Yan found himself in a large room. Level 180 Elite Nagas were roaming around here, hundreds of thousands of them. It looked like a snake nest. Ordinary teams would have no way of clearing this place.

Nie Yan bypassed the Nagas using his stealth and the Web-Crawler Ring. About an hour later, he arrived in an even larger chamber. Strangely enough, there were no monsters roaming here.

Since the chamber was too large, Nie Yan couldn’t see the far side even with his high Night Vision. He summoned Paladin Lafus and had him toss a ball of light in the air, illuminating the surroundings. What he saw caused him to be dumbstruck.

The corpse of a gigantic 10-meter tall spider appeared in his vision. Bits of its carapace had broken off and lay scattered on the ground. The rest of the corpse had fossilized. It was impossible to tell its age. Approaching the abdomen, Nie Yan had Lafus toss up another light orb in the air.

This spider corpse was likely Arachne Empress Finas!

Exploring around, Nie Yan discovered something resembling a formation drawn into the ground. It was in the shape of a hexagram. Though incredibly old, it was still visible. As he drew closer, only then did he realize the formation was carved into the rock and so couldn’t be erased.

Bennett’s Soul continued floating forward until it arrived in the center of the formation. Suddenly, the formation lit up and illuminated the entire chamber.

Nie Yan watched everything unfold in amazement. Bennett’s Soul emitted a dazzling radiance like the sun and started rapidly dividing, from one to three, then three to nine, and so on. Before long, there were too many to count. It was as though the air were filled with fireflies. It was a mesmerizing sight. They gradually floated up and entered Empress Finas’ corpse before disappearing.

You have completed the quest ‘Bennett’s Guidance’.

Nie Yan lit up twice in a row with a dazzling radiance. He had levelled up to Level 155!

At his current level, each level up required a ridiculous amount of experience. Yet after completing this quest, he had levelled up twice! This was quite a pleasant surprise.

"This was it? The quest is complete? Where’s the Occult Talisman then?”

Nie Yan searched around before his eyes landed on a corpse resting against a nearby wall. It had already rotted into nothing but bones. In its embrace was a peculiar looking box. It was about the size of a palm and made out of an unknown silver-white metal. Just below the lid was a keyhole.

Nie Yan immediately took out the bronze key he obtained from the Naga King’s corpse. Inserting the key and turning it to the left, the lid popped open with a click. Inside was a talisman. It was made out of scaly yellow leather with indecipherable characters drawn on it.

Empress Finas’ Occult Talisman!

After seeing the talisman, Nie Yan’s eyes lit up with joy. He still recalled what an impact Bennett’s Occult Talisman had had when he used it in the final showdown against Bloodlust Blades. Arachne Empress Finas could only be stronger than Crypt Lord Bennett, not weaker!

Nie Yan examined the Occult Talisman’s properties.

Occult Talisman (Legendary): Special Item

Description: Summon the fleshly vessel of Arachne Empress Finas, a Level 200 Lord with 500,000,000 health, for three hours. Cooldown: 60 days.

Requirements: 5 Magisters, 20 Great Mages, 3 Occult Items, and 1 Magic Formation

Nie Yan sucked in a cold breath of air. What a powerful summon!

The Occult Talisman of Empress Finas was definitely a priceless treasure!

Bennet’s Occult Talisman was a waste of inventory space at this point. It required a specially tailored magic formation and a large number of Great Mages only to summon a Level 100 Lord. This was too much of a hassle. Especially considering the elites of the major guilds were all well over Level 130. On the other hand, a Level 200 Lord was an unrivalled existence. For a long time to come, no player not even Nie Yan should even dream about reaching Level 200. So, Empress Finas would be extremely useful.

Nie Yan could already imagine the reactions of the players from Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group after seeing the Occult Titan of Empress Finas. This was quite the harvest! He put away the talisman in his bag.

Immediately after, the cave started violently trembling as rocks started falling down. The entire place was coming down! Nie Yan hurriedly escaped with Gale Step.

BANG! BANG! BANG! The ceiling came crashing down behind Nie Yan. The Nagas in the cave went into an uproar, hissing loudly as they restlessly flicked their red tongues.

Unknown Transfer Scrolls couldn’t be used in this cave. Nie Yan dashed past the Nagas, going as fast as his legs would carry him before practically flying out of the exit. Looking back, the cave had already collapsed in on itself.

After two long years, Nie Yan had finally completed this quest and obtained the long sought Occult Talisman of Empress Finas! He couldn’t help but be in high spirits.

Nie Yan summoned his Darkwing Dragon and jumped on its back. With a flap of its wings, the two took to the skies.

The next goal was Lich King Insar’s Secret Treasure. Nie Yan had collected quite a few clues related to this quest, especially lately. He already knew its rough location.

The Darkwing Dragon’s wounds from last battle had healed, and it was only a small step away from reaching Rank 8.

Nie Yan ran his hand along the Darkwing Dragon’s scales, feeling a cold aura going up his palm. Over this past year, flying mounts were becoming more and more widespread. Since he hadn’t been paying too much attention to the Darkwing Dragon lately and hadn’t used it much, it had fallen from the top of the flying mount leaderboards. In the Righteous Faction, there were five flying mounts that could rival or even surpassed it, including Xie Yao’s Rank 7 Immortal Phoenix and Mistaken Smile’s Rank 7 Spectral Dragon. As for the other three, one belonged to Battle Crazed Alliance and the other two belonged to random solo players.

The Darkwing Dragon was starting to fall behind in rank. However, Nie Yan still had some Darkness Life Cores and other dragon related items in his bag. The Darkwing Dragon was fully recovered. This was the time to start feeding it again.

If Nie Yan fed the Darkwing Dragon all these items, it would at least reach Rank 8.

Nie Yan took out several Darkness Life Cores and tossed it to the Darkwing Dragon. It opened its mouth wide open and caught them. CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH! It chomped them down.

After eating these Life Cores, the Darkwing Dragon’s aura started rapidly climbing. The initial break through to Rank 8!

Nie Yan hoped the Darkwing Dragon would reach Rank 8 before they arrived at their destination.

The Darkwing Dragon could fly astonishingly fast at maximum speed. However, though higher altitudes supported a faster flying speed, Nie Yan could only stay relatively low. This was because at a certain height, a miasma of black covered the sky which obstructed all vision.

For the sake of evading Half-Demon Angud, it was absolutely necessary for Nie Yan to threaten the east and strike from the west. He would attract Angud’s attention in one place, then sneakily retrieve Lich King Insar’s Secret Treasure.

Chapter 841 - Enemies on All Sides

Somewhere in a marsh in the central region of the Demon Tribe, a group of 20 players from Pantheon were grinding on monsters. Two orc Warriors taunted a parade of Spectres, then drew them to an open space, where the Mages bombarded them with magic.

They were well-coordinated with superb teamwork. It would probably take them no more than five minutes to wipe out all these Spectres.

While they were engrossed in levelling, a dark speck appeared in the distant sky. It came closer at a frightening speed, casting a massive shadow on the ground.

What in the world was that!?

As the team members saw the shadow, fear gripped at their heads. Disorder struck. They forgot momentarily they were part of a team. The Priests didn’t cast their heals in time, causing the two orc Warriors to succumb to the Spectres. They collapsed to the ground. The Spectres took this opportunity to launch a counterattack.

The team members made a mad scramble for safety. Anywhere but here! But the flying creature didn’t swoop down at them, instead flying roughly 20 meters over their heads. A powerful whirlwind struck the ground wherever it passed by, causing both players and monsters alike to be nearly blown off their feet.

Fortunately, this flying creature didn’t target them. It quickly flew passed them and disappeared behind the veil of darkness off in the distance.

「W-what was that?」a Mage asked with a trembling voice.

「The Darkwing Dragon! It’s the Mad Rogue’s Darkwing Dragon!」a Slayer enthusiastically exclaimed.

「The Mad Rogue? Are you sure?」

「Yes! I’m telling you, that was Nirvana Flame!」

「Report it to the boss, now!」

The Slayer quickly reported the sighting of Nie Yan to Godking.

...

"Nirvana Flame is in the Swamp of the Damned? What’s he doing there?” Godking contemplated.

"Since he’s still in the Demon Tribe, he must be doing a quest!” Flowing Maple guessed.

"That makes sense.”

"Boss, should we tell Angud and let him deal with Nirvana Flame?”

Godking shook his head. In all honesty, he was terrified of Angud. "No, if we tell Angud, it’ll be the same as last time, and the time before. Nirvana Flame will be gone by the time he arrives, and he’ll definitely be pissed off at us again. We’ll have to think of something ourselves.”

"But we’re not strong enough,” Flowing Maple argued. "Even Angud couldn’t catch him! How are we supposed to?”

"He’s flying on his Darkwing Dragon, right?” Godking asked, a plan forming in his mind.

"That’s what the report says, yes.”

"What rank is it right now?”

"Rank 7.”

Godking nodded. Though a Rank 7 flying mount was strong, it wasn’t invincible. Pantheon had a total of 3,000 flying mounts in their ranks, among which 130 were Rank 6. They only needed 10 of their strongest flying mounts to take down a Rank 7. Since they couldn’t fight Nie Yan on the ground, they’d take the battle to the air! They didn’t have to worry about Asskickers United either. Asskickers United might have far more flying mounts in their ranks, but they were thousands of miles away, too far to send back up.

"Pay close attention to Nirvana Flame’s movements. Have Purple Blaze and his team hide their guild emblems. Our goal today is to kill Nirvana Flame. If that proves impossible, at least kill his Darkwing Dragon. Remember, this operation is absolutely confidential.” Godking looked over the core guild members he’d gathered together. Nirvana Flame would become their enemy sooner or later. So, it was in their best interest to bring him down a notch right now to simplify matters later on.

"Yes, Boss!”

...

Nie Yan flew over the Swamp of the Damned on his Darkwing Dragon. He had no idea what was up ahead. According to his map, at the edge of this marsh was a stronghold. He wondered which guild was occupying it.

Nie Yan was planning to take a detour around the stronghold, when two flying mounts approached him.

After they spotted Nie Yan, they didn’t alter their course. Rather, they flew straight at him. Based on their attitude, they were clearly hostile.

Fools!

Nie Yan held on tight as he had the Darkwing Dragon accelerate and charge toward the two flying mounts.

Two Rank 6 Nether Hawks!

Nether Hawks were widely known for their speed, and were extremely aggressive monsters. Their claws were so sharp they could even break through the scales of dragons. Not to mention the corrosive effect of their attacks.

The Darkwing Dragon dove down toward the Nether Hawks with its claws outstretched. The Nether Hawks gracefully dodged to the side, then flew back in and pincered the Darkwing Dragon.

Nie Yan spotted two players riding the Nether Hawks. However, it was too dark to clearly make out their appearances.

Since these two attacked Nie Yan on sight, they clearly came prepared. Likely, they were after the Death God’s Edge!

Nie Yan had the Darkwing Dragon make an abrupt ascent and perform a barrel roll to evade the pincer of the Nether Hawks.

The three flying mounts fought back and forth.

Seeing one Nether Hawk fly straight at him, Nie Yan felt his heart sink. He didn’t try to evade. Rather, he had the Darkwing Dragon make a sharp turn and shoot forward with its claws outstretched. PSFHT! It caught the leg of the Nether Hawk and tore it clean off.

"KYEEEEH!” the Nether Hawk cried out in pain. Flapping its wings, it turned around and fled away.

Nie Yan chased after the injured Nether Hawk on his Darkwing Dragon. Two minutes, that was all he needed to kill this wounded flying mount and take its Darkness Life Core!

10 meters, 8 meters, 5 meters… Nie Yan was only a few seconds from taking the Nether Hawk down. Suddenly, from all around flying mounts appeared and closed in on him. There were at least 30, and all of them were Rank 6!

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He was surrounded! There wasn’t enough light here, so his field of vision was limited. By the time he spotted the danger, it was already far too late. The enemy was within 100 meters of him, it was impossible to escape.

Nie Yan remained cool-headed. He continued chasing after the injured Nether Hawk.

The Darkwing Dragon was nearly on top of the Nether Hawk, when Nie Yan leaped off from its back and shot out a web line. It stuck to the Nether Hawk, after which he pulled it taut.

The player riding the injured Nether Hawk instantly stood up when he saw Nie Yan leaping over. However, he was still a beat too late. A cold light flashed as Nie Yan’s blade slashed his throat. His eyes were wide open even in death, an incredulous look on his face. He fell off the Nether Hawk’s back and plummeted to the ground below.

Nie Yan plunged the Bloody Dagger into the back of the Nether Hawk’s skull. PSFHT! Blood sprayed out into the air. A dark Life Core flickered with a captivating lustre inside the brain matter.

The Nether Hawk cried miserably as Nie Yan stuck his hands in and extracted the Darkness Life Core. He then leaped off the dying flying mount.

The Darkwing Dragon came swooping over and caught Nie Yan on its back before making a break for it.

The Nether Hawk’s corpse plunged toward the ground.

The players surrounding Nie Yan were both shock and enraged. He’d killed one of their own right in front of their eyes!

"Don’t let him get away!”

"Kill him!”

The numerous flying mounts chased after Nie Yan.

Nie Yan checked his hotbar, only to find all teleportation items and skills grayed out. A Dark Zealot had targeted him with Shackles of Strife! He was caught surrounded by all these Rank 6 flying mounts without a way out!

Damn it! Nie Yan’s heart dropped to his stomach. He’d still underestimated the persistence of the Evil Faction players to obtain the Death God’s Edge. After slaughtering his way into a village not too long ago, he figured he’d done enough to scare off anyone with thoughts of stealing it from him. But not only were these people unafraid to come after him, they’d also managed to track him down, assemble a team, and surround him, all within half-an-hour. They were definitely an elite team!

In the entire Evil Faction, the only ones capable of this were the likes of Pantheon and Fallen Angel!

The biggest suspect was Pantheon because they ruled over the Demon Tribe.

However, even if Nie Yan knew, he was helpless to do anything about it. Asskickers United wasn’t strong enough to deal with so many powerful enemies at the same time.

Nie Yan looked at the enemy. With the Darkwing Dragon’s strength, dealing with so many Rank 6 flying mounts would prove incredibly difficult.

Three Silverring Blightflies spewed out a green fog. This was a paralyzing poison that could incapacitate the enemy. The players from Pantheon had antidotes, so they didn’t fear it. However, this couldn’t be said for Nie Yan. Even though he had high poison resistance and drank a Specialist Antidote, he still felt a slight numb feeling all over his body. As for the Darkwing Dragon, he could tell that it had slowed down quite a bit.

"Shit!” Nie Yan couldn’t help but curse. He had the Darkwing Dragon rapidly ascend and ram into a Nether Hawk, sending it flying.

In this desperate situation, the Darkwing Dragon erupted with frightening might. After the Nether Hawk, it took out another five flying mounts in quick succession. Nie Yan tried to escape at every step, but these opponents were like debt collectors, pursuing him relentlessly. Several of them swooped down and attacked the Darkwing Dragon all at once.

PSFHT! PSFHT! PSFHT! The Darkwing Dragon could only evade so much. Several attacks struck its body and carved open large wounds as chunks of its flesh dangled in the air. The wounds were coated in a jet black liquid.

The Nether Hawk’s corrosive effect!

The corrosive liquid slowly sapped away at the Darkwing Dragon’s strength.

A Silverring Blightfly came flying over. Its abdomen was raised, revealing a sharp stringer like that of a bee. Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He definitely couldn't allow this attack to hit the Darkwing Dragon. He leaped toward the Silverring Blightfly.

The rider on top of the Silverring Blightfly was a Thief. Seeing Nie Yan pouncing over, he hurriedly had his flying mount retreat back.

However, he was a step too late. Nie Yan landed on the Silverring Blightfly and plunged the Bloody Dagger into its abdomen. He then drove the dagger further in, causing green blood to spray out.

As the Silverring Blightfly writhed in pain, the Darkwing Dragon came swooping over and grabbed onto its head and abdomen. PSFHT! Its body was torn into two.

Chapter 842 - Final Showdown

The Darkwing Dragon’s brutality caused everyone to suck in a breath of cold air. They couldn’t help but see the similarities between it and its master, both of them brimming with killing intent.

Even though the Darkwing Dragon was greatly outnumbered, it didn’t falter in the slightest, retaliating with fierce attacks.

"The Mad Rogue really does live up to his name. Anyone else would’ve fallen long ago.”

"What brutal and ferocious attacks!”

The players from Pantheon felt admiration for Nie Yan. But orders were orders. They wouldn’t let him go or hold back against him.

Two Nether Hawks bit the Darkwing Dragon and ripped out chunks of its flesh with their claws. "GRWAOAH!” It struck out with its claws and sent one of them flying.

Nie Yan leaped onto the other Nether Hawk. With a swift kick, he sent its rider flying off its back. He then ruthlessly slashed its throat with the Bloody Dagger. Blood sprayed out into the air.

"KYEEEH!” The Nether Hawk let out a mournful cry before plunging down from the sky.

Nie Yan leaped back onto the Darkwing Dragon’s back.

The Darkwing Dragon engaged in a fierce dogfight with these Rank 6 flying mounts. Small and large wounds covered its body.

Glancing at the Darkwing Dragon’s status window, it had suffered heavy injuries and was in critical condition.

There were still more than 20 flying mounts in the vicinity. They’d tightly locked them down. There was no way to charge out.

The Darkwing Dragon was like a caged beast backed into a corner.

This was the end of the road. The Darkwing Dragon was in its death throes.

Nie Yan’s heart sunk to the pit of his stomach. It looked like the Darkwing Dragon’s death was unavoidable. He looked around his surroundings, at the items in his bag, and at the skills on his hotbar, but all to no avail. It seemed there was no saving his Darkwing Dragon. He loathed to give up on it, but he saw no other option.

Nie Yan was confident in escaping by himself, even if he was bound by Shackles of Strife. However, if he wanted to take the Darkwing Dragon with him, that would be impossible. The incantation to recall it took too much time. The enemies would interrupt him before he could even start.

Sensing its master’s helplessness, the Darkwing Dragon let out a sad cry. It suddenly accelerated and dove down toward a Greenfinch Wyvern flying below.

The Greenfinch Wyvern tried to flee in a panic, but it was simply too slow.

The Darkwing Dragon grabbed onto the Greenfinch Wyvern’s wings, then chomped down on its neck.

"GREEEGH!” the Greenfinch Wyvern wailed out in agony. It ruthlessly whipped its tail into the Darkwing Dragon’s body. But no matter how much it struggled, it couldn’t break free.

Not another breath escaped the Greenfinch Wyvern’s mouth.

The Darkwing Dragon let go of the Greenfinch Wyvern, letting it fall from the sky.

Nie Yan saw an opening. He immediately seized the opportunity and passed down an order to the Darkwing Dragon.

The Darkwing Dragon accelerated and made a break for it.

"Stop him! Don’t let him escape!”

"If he gets away, we’ll be screwed!”

Three Nether Hawks moved to intercept the Darkwing Dragon and swooped down with their claws outstretched.

The Darkwing Dragon was already in critical condition. If it took the attacks of these Nether Hawks, it would definitely die!

Nie Yan had the Darkwing Dragon evade by making a sharp turn. Glancing back, the opportunity was already gone, the opening sealed.

The enemy was fairly skilled with excellent teamwork. They were definitely the experts of some guild. In the entire Evil Faction, there were only a handful of guilds that could mobilize so many Rank 6 flying mounts at once.

Nie Yan could still escape if he abandoned the Darkwing Dragon right now. However, even these chances grew slimmer as the battle raged on.

Normally, Nie Yan would act with rational in situations like these, choosing the path with the fewest losses. However, he was hesitating right now.

Given his current strength, Nie Yan could easily find another flying mount at the same level as the Darkwing Dragon.

However, even though he hadn’t spent much time with the Darkwing Dragon lately, when it came time to abandon it, a strong unwillingness welled up from the bottom of his heart. They’d gone through so many battles together. It would be a lie to say he didn’t feel a sense of attachment.

In this virtual world, from the moment the Darkwing Dragon hatched, it had formed a connection with Nie Yan. As time passed, their bond only grew deeper, and it also gradually developed some intelligence. No matter what happened, it would always unconditionally trust its master. Even if Nie Yan decided to abandon it, it would still fight for him until the bitter end.

The Darkwing Dragon turned its head and looked back at Nie Yan.

Meeting the gaze of the Darkwing Dragon, this was the first time Nie Yan noticed the flicker of intelligence in its eyes. The deep sadness, yearning, he could sense all the complicated emotions stirring in its heart.

"You realize it too, huh?” Nie Yan felt sorrow gripping at his chest.

Rank 7 flying mounts already possessed some intelligence. However, only Rank 8 flying mounts could express such human emotions.

A feeling of grief surged up from Nie Yan’s heart. The Darkwing Dragon was already so close to reaching Rank 8. Was it really going to die here just like that?

"GROAAAR!” the Darkwing Dragon let out a final cry, giving voice to the rage and defiance in its heart. The Rank 6 flying mounts in the surroundings trembled. They had an innate fear of dragons.

Though already a spent arrow, the Darkwing Dragon would struggle fiercely until the last flames of its life died out.

Nie Yan’s heart was deeply shaken. It was almost as if he was going to lose a child. This was the first time he ever felt this way toward a pet in a game.

Three Nether Hawks pounced forward once more.

Flying mounts were large creatures. With five pouncing forward at the same time, it was enough to completely fill up the surrounding air space, leaving no room to maneuver at all. So, three was the most optimal number. Since the Nether Hawks were famed for their close combat ability, they became the vanguard.

The Darkwing Dragon and the three Nether Hawks wrestled in the air. Several more wounds opened up on its body.

Nie Yan could sense the Darkwing Dragon’s life force rapidly slipping away.

The Darkwing Dragon glanced back at Nie Yan one last time. He could see the light in its eyes growing fainter by the second.

This was the final parting.

Nie Yan clenched his fist as a feeling of anguish tore at his heart. He was puzzled. How could he feel such pain for a virtual pet?

Humans were sentimental creatures. Even though the Darkwing Dragon was only a virtual pet, Nie Yan had raised it from the moment it hatched to now. For the sake of making it grow stronger, he searched all over for things like Darkness Life Cores and Dragon Cores. After investing so much love and energy into it, he would naturally feel attached to it. If the Darkwing Dragon died, he would certainly feel heartache.

Nie Yan glanced at his bag. It was filled with a large pile of Darkness Life Cores and four Dragon Cores. He didn’t have an opportunity to feed them to the Darkwing Dragon. He originally wanted to give them to it bit by bit, having it progress slowly, so it would have a higher chance of breaking through to Rank 9. However, right now, it seemed like all that was going to waste.

"The Darkwing Dragon is almost dead! We can do it!”

"When the Darkwing Dragon dies, don’t let Nirvana Flame escape!”

"I’ll pay 500,000 gold to buy the Darkwing Dragon’s Life Core. I call dibs on it!”

The players from Pantheon all grew excited, to the extent that they were bickering about who would get the spoils. Even if they couldn’t kill Nie Yan, the Darkwing Dragon’s Life Core would be a huge harvest.

Everyone felt the Darkwing Dragon was on its last breath.

"Screw it! What’s there to lose!?” Nie Yan said, his eyes still on the Darkness Life Cores in his bag. He had no idea if they would help the Darkwing Dragon. Every single one of them was extremely valuable. If they failed, they would all go to waste. But that was a gamble he was willing to take!

Nie Yan grabbed a handful of Darkness Life Cores out of his bag. He then gave the Darkwing Dragon one last command. Turn your head and open your mouth wide!

The Darkwing Dragon was barely conscious. However, it immediately stirred awake and turned its head around.

Nie Yan stuffed the Life Cores into the Darkwing Dragon’s mouth.

Gulp! The Darkwing Dragon swallowed them all into its stomach.

The Darkwing Dragon didn’t show any change, except for its aura that grew somewhat stronger.

No turning back now! Nie Yan shoved another handful of Life Cores into the Darkwing Dragon’s mouth.

Still not enough! He shoved yet another handful.

Nie Yan fed the Darkwing Dragon six handfuls of Life Cores for a total of 30. He had obtained all of them during his Luminous Dancer class advancement quest. So, it wouldn’t be easy to find more. However, he no longer cared about this.

Feeding a flying mount so many Life Cores at once, it wasn’t like no one had done this before. In fact, a player had stuffed his Rank 7 flying mount full of Life Cores in the previous timeline. The result was it swelling in size before exploding from all the energy and dying. Nie Yan was doing the exact same thing!

Nie Yan previously didn’t dare to feed the Darkwing Dragon too many Life Cores at once precisely because he recalled this incident. However, desperate times called for desperate measures!

After swallowing over 30 Darkness Life Cores, the Darkwing Dragon’s aura rapidly climbed. The powerful draconic aura caused the surrounding Rank 6 flying mounts to back away in fear. The riders stared at the Darkwing Dragon in bewilderment. No matter how much they commanded, their flying mounts refused to move.

"God dammit! Move, you stupid bird!” a Warrior gave his Nether Hawk a hard kick. It flapped its wings and flailed about wildly, nearly throwing him off. He barely hung on.

Chapter 843 - Rank 8 Darkwing Dragon

"What’s going on?”

"The hell?”

"Look, what’s he doing?”

…

The players from Pantheon watched Nie Yan stuffing Darkness Life Cores into the Darkwing Dragon’s mouth.

"The hell is he thinking!? He’s gone crazy! Is he not afraid of his Darkwing Dragon exploding!?” a Warrior exclaimed.

"My Buddha in Heaven. Where did he get so many Life Cores!?”

"Shit! Is he not afraid of all those Life Cores going to waste?”

"The Darkwing Dragon is pretty much dead! He might as well just give them to us! Fuck! I really have to bow my head to this prodigal son! My heart hurts just looking at all these Life Cores going down the drain!”

The value of these Life Cores probably exceeded that of the Darkwing Dragon!

However, from Nie Yan’s perspective, these Life Cores were only material, while the Darkwing Dragon was his baby. He’d raised it and fought with it, sharing together both the good and the bad times.

Nie Yan grabbed the seventh handful of Life Cores, when he sensed a powerful energy surging through the Darkwing Dragon, threatening to tear it apart from within. His heart sunk. This was the outcome he feared the most!

After being consumed, the hard shell of a Life Core would crumble, releasing the energy held within which the flying mount would feast on. The Darkwing Dragon was right now eating its belly full, and then some. But if it couldn’t digest all this energy, the only place it could go was out!

Was the Darkwing Dragon going to die here?

Nie Yan’s heart grew anxious. There was nothing he could do to help the Darkwing Dragon, but to support it with affection.

"GROOOAAAGHH…!” the Darkwing Dragon wailed out in agony. Nie Yan could sense how much pain it was going through.

Nie Yan had no idea what kind of transformation the Darkwing Dragon would undergo after consuming so many Darkness Life Cores while on the verge of death.

Live! Please, live! Nie Yan prayed.

However, the situation was far more severe than Nie Yan could imagine. The Darkwing Dragon’s scales released a dazzling black radiance as its flesh was splitting apart. The veins under its scales swelled to the extreme, looking as if they would burst at any moment because of the rampaging energy coursing through its body.

These were the warning signs before an imminent explosion. Alas, the Darkwing Dragon couldn’t withstand the energy contained inside all these Darkness Life Core after all.

Shit! Nie Yan despaired. Whatever he did was useless right now. He tossed the Darkness Life Cores in his hands back into his bag. The Darkwing Dragon was struggling to contain the energy going wild inside it. If he fed it anymore, he would be cutting off the last strand of hope.

The fearful image of the Darkwing Dragon exploding into a million pieces flashed before his eyes. Nie Yan shuddered in fear.

"Dammit! If the Darkwing Dragon explodes, we won’t get anything! All those Life Cores, wasted!”

"Blast it with magic! Kill it!”

The Mages waved their staffs and sent a shower of spells flying towards the Darkwing Dragon. However, when the spells came within 10 meters of it, they detonated in mid-air.

Before these spells could reach the Darkwing Dragon, they were destroyed by the berserk aura flowing out of it.

The fluctuations around the Darkwing Dragon grew increasingly intense. Nie Yan nearly lost his balance and had to activate the Rank 16 Darkbright Barrier to prevent himself from getting torn to shreds by the rampaging energy.

The Darkwing Dragon’s body started to expand.

It had reached its limit!

Glancing at the Dragon Cores in his bag, Nie Yan had a crazy idea. Dragon Cores were undoubtedly first rate Life Cores. The energy contained inside them were several dozens to hundreds of times greater than that of other cores. He’d hesitated using them before, always waiting for the right moment.

But at this rate, that day would never come! If not today, Nie Yan would never get another opportunity!

Faced with guaranteed death and the miniscule possibility of survival, Nie Yan no longer hesitated. Even until the end, he wasn’t willing to give up on the Darkwing Dragon. He shoved a Dragon Core into the Darkwing Dragon’s mouth.

Nie Yan’s eyes were fixated on the Darkwing Dragon, while in his mind a mental finger hovered above the button to activate Adjudicator of God.

"Holy shit! He really is mad! He actually fed it a Dragon Core!”

Everyone sensed the Darkwing Dragon was about to explode. Given how powerful it was, the force of its explosion wouldn’t be something they could survive.

"Everyone, back away! Don’t get caught in the explosion!”

The players from Pantheon retreated over 60 meters away. They watched from afar, waiting for the Darkwing Dragon to explode.

"Pay attention to Nirvana Flame. Don’t let him escape!”

Even though they had Nie Yan completely surrounded, they didn’t dare to lower their vigilance. Thieves were as slippery as an eel.

The Darkwing Dragon swallowed the Dragon Core. Nie Yan’s actions were those of a madman. It was already at its limit from all those Darkness Life Cores, but now he had fed it something as powerful as a Dragon Core! Its aura started rapidly climbing again.

Is this the end…? Nie Yan gulped, his face ashen.

Six seconds later, the Darkwing Dragon still hadn’t exploded. It thrashed about wildly in the air, nearly throwing Nie Yan off several times. He tenaciously clung onto its back, even activating the Crawler Ring.

Nie Yan suddenly discovered a peculiar change. Black, poisoned blood was being expelled out of the Darkwing Dragon’s wounds as they started closing up at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. It worked!

Over the next 10 seconds, the countless wounds covering the Darkwing Dragon’s body healed completely.

The Darkwing Dragon writhed in pain. After consuming the Dragon Core, the darkness energy inside its body went even more berserk, almost as if it were going to consume it. At the same time, its flesh grew stronger, its skin grew harder, and its scales grew thicker. Whether this was a good or bad thing remained to be seen.

The Darkwing Dragon was barely conscious and on the verge of being swallowed up by the rampaging energy. The pain it was going through was unimaginable. After flailing wildly in the air for six minutes, its aura suddenly grew faint to the point of being unnoticeable. It stopped moving and entered freefall.

Had the Darkwing Dragon died?

Nie Yan despaired. He could no longer feel the Darkwing Dragon’s heartbeat.

Seeing the Darkwing Dragon falling from the sky, the players from Pantheon became excited.

"The Darkwing Dragon is dead!”

"Don’t let Nirvana Flame escape!”

They urged their flying mounts to swoop down.

The Darkwing Dragon barrelled toward the ground, 1,000 meters, 500 meters, 100 meters… Nie Yan felt deep heartache. After trying so hard, he still failed to save the Darkwing Dragon. This sort of dismay and dejection was something he hadn’t yet experienced since reincarnating back to the past.

Nie Yan was just about to jump off, when the Darkwing Dragon’s aura suddenly blazed back to life, skyrocketing even higher than before. A dragon’s might swept out and enveloped the sky.

What was going on?

Nie Yan suddenly felt the Darkwing Dragon’s heartbeat. THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP! It was brimming with life force!

The Darkwing Dragon’s eyes snapped open, revealing two beams of crimson light which pierced through the darkness of the sky before fading away.

With a powerful flap of its wings, the Darkwing Dragon kicked up a whirlwind on the ground and shot back up to the sky.

As the connection between the two was reestablished, Nie Yan’s eyes lit up with joy. He thought he’d lost the Darkwing Dragon for good.

Nie Yan could tell the Darkwing Dragon was far stronger than before. The rampaging energy from the Darkness Life Cores and Dragon Core was all digested.

Nie Yan excitedly examined the Darkwing Dragon’s status window. He discovered it had broken through from Rank 7 to Rank 8. All its stats were substantially higher than before.

After all this time, the Darkwing Dragon finally ranked up!

Nie Yan raised his head and saw over a dozen Rank 6 flying mounts swooping down towards him. His eyes flashed with a cold light. It’s time for payback! I’ll let you experience the might of a Rank 8 flying mount!

Seeing the Darkwing Dragon crashing towards the ground, the players from Pantheon thought it was dead for sure. They were about to finish off Nie Yan and collect their spoils of war, only to see the Darkwing Dragon turn around and shoot back up to the sky. The powerful draconic might caused their Rank 6 flying mounts to freeze up with fear.

"W-what!?”

"T-the Darkwing Dragon came back to life!”

The players from Pantheon hurriedly reigned back their flying mounts, as the Darkwing Dragon shot upward like a black streak of lightning.

"It’s coming!”

"Shit! It broke through to Rank 8!”

The Darkwing Dragon was already a nightmare to deal with when it was Rank 7. Now that it was rank 8, the players from Panteon had no idea what to do. This moment of hesitation proved fatal.

"Stop it!”

"Fuck! Don’t panic! What are you running for!?”

Caught off-guard by the Darkwing Dragon’s revival, the players from Pantheon lost their cool and broke formation. However, they were still experts and quickly regained their composure. Three Nether Hawks swooped down toward the Darkwing Dragon.

"GROAR!” The Darkwing Dragon opened its maw and blasted one of the Nether Hawks with a black jet of scorching hot Dragon Breath. BOOOM! Flames flew everywhere. The Nether Hawk’s health instantly hit zero as it spiralled down toward the ground.

The Darkwing Dragon’s breath attack!

Flying mounts capable of attacking from afar were already few and far between. However, less than a handful had ranged attacks this powerful!

Nie Yan was surprised by the power of the Dragon Breath. Seeing the blackened body of the Nether Hawk giving off smoke, he couldn’t help but gasp. What frightening firepower!

Chapter 844 - Carnage

The Darkwing Dragon pounced on the next Nether Hawk. PSSFHT! Its powerful claws latched onto the bird’s body and tore the poor creature in two, blood and guts raining down from the sky.

"Shit! Stop him!”

"That toothless lizard is even scarier than before!”

"H-how did it end up like this!?”

The players from Pantheon lost their heads in fear. But there was no evading this calamity. They had to meet it head-on.

The last of the three Nether Hawks swooped in from the flank and dive-bombed the Darkwing Dragon with outstretched claws. KLANG! The attack bounced off as if it had struck a steel plate. Not only did it fail to deal any damage to the Darkwing Dragon, but it also almost broke its claws!

The rider of the Nether Hawk was dumbstruck. He didn’t expect the Darkwing Dragon’s scales to be so hard. Fuck! What kind of defense is this!?

Before the rider could recover from his shock, the Darkwing Dragon charged over and rammed into the Nether Hawk. BAM! It was sent flying.

The sheer size difference between the Darkwing Dragon and Nether Hawk was impossible to overcome. The Nether Hawk instantly died from the blow. This was the disparity between a Rank 6 and Rank 8 flying mount!

After taking out this Nether Hawk, the Darkwing Dragon pounced toward a nearby Black Demon Vulture.

The rider of the Black Demon Vulture paled in horror. He hurriedly had his flying mount turn and flee, but he was still a beat too late.

The Darkwing Dragon chomped down on the Black Demon Vulture’s back. "SQUAAWK!” The pitiful bird let out a blood-curdling cry as one of its wings was torn right off.

These Rank 6 flying mounts were like ants in front of the Darkwing Dragon!

When the players from Pantheon gazed at the Darkwing Dragon, they noticed its appearance had completely changed. It was more than one and a half times larger than before and brimmed with strength. The black scales covering its body looked like glistening gems while a dark aura circulated around its body.

The Darkwing Dragon was like a murderous asura covered in blood.

A powerful draconic might swept out from the Darkwing Dragon, causing the Rank 6 flying mounts to tremble in fear. None of them dared to move.

Nie Yan stood on top of the Darkwing Dragon, looking like a lofty god high above the clouds.

With this turn of events, the players from Pantheon lost all will to fight.

"We can’t win! Retreat!”

"Run!”

"M-my flying mount won’t listen to me!”

"S-same with mine!”

The players from Pantheon frantically urged their flying mounts to flee. But, alas, none heeded their call, frozen stiff by fear. The sole exception was a flying mount lucky enough to be a little further away than the rest. The draconic might didn’t effect it as much. It turned and fled, afraid to look back.

Nie Yan’s gaze locked onto a Silverring Blightfly below him. The Darkwing Dragon suddenly swooped down.

"He’s coming!”

"Get out of the way!”

The Warrior riding the Silverring Blightfly looked up, only to see the massive frame of the Darkwing Dragon blot out his vision. An immense pressure threatened to overwhelm him.

"GEEEGH!” the Silverring Blightfly let out a sharp cry.

The Warrior had no idea where he got the strength from, but he managed to stiffly steer his Silverring Blightfly around. With a frantic beat of its wings, it shot away.

Want to run? Not so easy! Nie Yan coldly snorted.

The Silverring Blightfly was simply too slow. The Darkwing Dragon swooped down and clutched onto its abdomen. PSSFHT! A gooey green liquid sprayed out into the air.

"GEEGH! GEEGH!” the Silverring Blightfly cried out. It frantically beat its wings and broke free from the Darkwing Dragon’s grasp, only for another claw to reach for its head. POP! Brain matter, green blood, and bits of exoskeleton fell down from the sky.

Even without a head, the Silverring Blightfly continued flying for some distance before plummeting towards the ground.

"GROOAAR!” The Darkwing Dragon opened its maw and blasted a nearby Phantasia Butterfly with jet black flames.

The Phantasia Butterfly trashed about in the flames before crashing down towards the ground.

The Darkwing Dragon carried out an absolute massacre. The Rank 6 flying mounts, which ordinary players viewed as powerful beyond compare, couldn’t put up the slightest resistance. After breaking through to Rank 8, the Darkwing Dragon’s strength skyrocketed.

The players from Pantheon had lost the will to fight. The Darkwing Dragon’s brutality caused them to tremble in fright. They wanted to flee, but their flying mounts refused to listen to their orders. They could only watch on helplessly as they were picked off one by one. They stared at Nie Yan riding atop the Darkwing Dragon. His gaze was ice-cold without the slightest trace of sympathy. He was ruthless.

The thick stench of blood permeated the skies, not dissipating for a long time.

Today, another attempt to end Nie Yan’s undefeated legacy failed. It was unlikely anyone could put a stop to him for a long time to come.

...

Back in the Pantheon guild headquarters, Godking was discussing the benefits of going to war against Fallen Angel with the other core members, when he received a report. His expression darkened.

"Boss, what happened?”

"Boss?”

…

Everyone noticed the change in Godking’s expression.

Godking shook his head. "It’s nothing. You guys continue.”

The people in the conference hall looked unconvinced. However, since Godking didn’t wish to speak, they could only drop the subject.

Godking had just received word that the aerial force he sent to ambush Nirvana Flame was almost completely wiped out, with only a few riders escaping because they were allowed to. He couldn’t pass down this information, since it was of the highest confidentiality. The loss of about 30 flying mounts caused his heart to bleed. Pantheon had suffered massively in this battle.

The Death God’s Edge… Godking clenched his fist. He originally didn’t want to provoke Nirvana Flame, but in the end he couldn't resist the temptation of this Sacred Object. Never in his wildest dreams could he have predicted that the Darkwing Dragon, while on the verge of death, would suddenly break through to Rank 8 and slaughter so many of his guild’s Rank 6 flying mounts. He couldn’t help but sigh. Just how powerful of an existence was a Rank 8 flying mount? At this stage of the game, it was doubtful if any flying mount could rival the Darkwing Dragon.

Godking ordered the people under him to continue closely observing Nie Yan, but he no longer dared to take action by himself again. He could only put all his hope in Half-Demon Angud.

…

Nie Yan gazed far off into the horizon. Several flying mounts had fled away. The amount of effort it would take to chase them down wasn’t worth the payoff.

The Darkwing Dragon wobbled unstably in the air, likely because of exhaustion.

Nie Yan chanted an incantation and recalled the Darkwing Dragon, then dropped down from the sky.

Right before hitting the ground, Nie Yan activated Featherfall.

Nie Yan’s feet gently touched the ground. Looking around, the scene before his eyes would cause most people to gasp in shock. All around him were the mangled corpses of flying mounts, with wings, heads, claws, and other body parts strewn everywhere. Few were intact. Most were still dripping with blood, which had yet to dry. This had been a brutal slaughter.

Nie Yan wasn’t the slightest bit perturbed by this carnage, having witnessed far gorier scenes in his past life. He walked to the corpse of a Rank 6 flying mount and split its skull open with his dagger, revealing a glistening black gem. He dug it out and raised it up to the sky. Another Rank 6 Darkness Life Core!

Most of the flying mounts in the underworld were of the darkness attribute. So, there was no lack of Darkness Life Cores, which Nie Yan just happened to need!

After digging out the first Darkness Life Core, Nie Yan started scavenging the other corpse, lest someone else snatched away his spoils.

About 20 minutes later, Nie Yan collected 26 Life Cores, among which 21 were of the darkness attribute. They were neatly stacked up in his bag.

A light bulb lit up in Nie Yan’s head. The Righteous Faction frequently carried out large-scale hunts on low rank flying mounts. Most likely, there were players in the underworld who did the same. And since most flying mounts here were of the dark attribute, these players would just happen to sit on stacks of Life Cores Nie Yan desperately wanted.

Nie Yan glanced at the sparkling Life Cores in his bag, then back at his Darkwing Dragon in his pet space.

The Darkwing Dragon appeared completely burnt out. Nie Yan picked out a Darkness Life Core and tossed it into his pet space. CRUNCH! CRUNCH! The Darkwing Dragon caught the Life Core in its mouth and ground it into pieces. After swallowing the Life Core, it closed its eyes and went to sleep.

Before long, the energy contained inside the Life Core was absorbed by the Darkwing Dragon. Its scales flashed with a dazzling brilliance and appeared even stronger than before.

The Darkwing Dragon had already overcome the previously rampaging energy while breaking through. Now, its body was even more resilient and could contain over a hundred times more energy than before. There was no need to worry about overfeeding it.

Nie Yan had no idea when the Darkwing Dragon would wake up. At that time, he could continue feeding it Darkness Life Cores.

The Rank 8 Darkwing Dragon was an amazing bonus for Nie Yan.

Rank 9 was incredibly difficult to reach. That meant that the Rank 8 Darkwing Dragon could rule the skies for a long time to come.

Since this aerial battle took place in a remote corner of the Demon Tribe, few players were aware of it. Nie Yan sent over footage of the battle to Guo Huai.「Help me find out who these people are.」

Guo Huai immediately carried out an investigation. Before long, he reported back to Nie Yan.「We already found some clues when we were investigating Half-Demon Angud. All signs point toward Pantheon.」

「Pantheon, huh? Just like I thought,」Nie Yan faintly smirked. With the Death God’s Edge in his hand, Pantheon wasn’t likely to sit still.

Chapter 845 - City of Sin

The Evil Faction greatly coveted the Death God’s Edge, though Nie Yan still didn’t know why. Even so, he wasn’t the slightest bit concerned. He would greet any enemy head-on.

Nie Yan took out the Death God’s Edge from his bag and raised it to the sky. A bloody light flickered along its blade.

Nie Yan felt an icy aura flow through his palm and up into his arm while hoarse, gloomy voices whispered into his ears, sounding like the wailing of the damned. He could feel the powerful spiritual energy contained within the Death God’s Edge.

This was a priceless artifact that many drooled over. Nie Yan estimated that if the Death God’s Edge had fallen into anyone else’s hands, they would’ve suffered a calamity. With an entire world chasing after them, they’d be killed for sure, only for the new bearer to be next in line.

Only because the Death God’s Edge was in Nie Yan’s hands was the Evil Faction so peaceful.

The reputation of the Mad Rogue was enough to deter the vast majority of players.

After finding Lich King Insar’s Secret Treasure, Nie Yan would have to quickly find Tallod. It wasn’t a wise choice to keep testing his luck.

Nie Yan received word from Guo Huai that Half-Demon Angud was on the move again. After giving him 20 minutes to catch up, he teleported to another location with Instant Transmission.

Instant Transmission gave Nie Yan the ability to keep even the god-like existences, like Angud, chasing after him without ever catching up.

Time was of the essence. Nie Yan appeared in a wasteland. He took Lich King Insar’s Secret Treasure Map out of his bag and followed the trail. His objective was in the southeast.

Nie Yan found a slightly higher hill and looked far off into the distance. At the edge of his vision, he saw the outline of a grand city.

That was Medmunt, the second largest city in the Demon Tribe. Even though it was still far away, Nie Yan could faintly make out the buildings. At the center of the city was a towering black spire with numerous magic lights on each floor, which resembled the stars in the night sky. The white radiance illuminated the land.

Thanks to these magic lighthouses, players could locate cities from far away. A beacon of life in this world of darkness.

Checking back with the map, it seemed like Lich King Insar’s Secret Treasure was inside this city!

Nie Yan furrowed his brows. What was he supposed to do if the treasure chest was in the city?

Entering the city in and of itself was extremely risky, to say nothing of the fact he would also be searching for a treasure.

Lich King Insar’s Secret Treasure was extremely tempting to Nie Yan. After all, it was something left behind by a Legendary NPC.

That old fox was smart. Hiding the treasure in a city was far safer than in the wilderness.

As Nie Yan was wondering how to enter the city, he casually looked over the map and noticed something strange.

There were mountains, rivers, and lava drawn on the map. Right over Medmunt was the symbol of a golden treasure chest. However, on another part of the map was the border of a mountain range with the symbol of a gravestone.

It was normal for a map to illustrate the surrounding terrain, but a grave? That was strange.

Perhaps it was a clue!

Nie Yan rolled the treasure map back up, then darted off with Gale Step. His destination was the grave shown on the map.

Nie Yan sped past various biomes with his lightning fast speed.

...

While Nie Yan was busy questing in the underworld, Bladelight and the expedition team had made great progress in World’s Edge. They had already killed over 50 bosses and obtained quite a bit of excellent loot. As they advanced deeper into the dungeon, the bosses they encountered grew more powerful.

After suffering their first wipe, they entered a public area in World’s Edge. It was called the City of Sin, originally a place the angels used to lock up their prisoners. There were buildings everywhere. Players could trade, sell, and replenish their consumables here. However, unlike the order in most cities, the rule of law didn’t apply here. PKing was as common as wiping to the next boss. Fights both small and large broke out multiple times a day, and the NPCs which were pretty grim themselves would only watch it happen.

Bladelight and the rest of the expedition team entered the City of Sin. After finding an empty house, they set up guard and took the necessary precautions to avoid being ambushed.

"Let’s go and take a look around. You guys stay here and wait for our word,” Bladelight said, turning to face Paladin of the Elegy. They had obtained quite a lot of strange items in World’s Edge, particularly gold coins with the engraving of an archangel on them. Most of the bosses they’d killed dropped them. They had obtained about 160 of them so far, and they could be used to trade with NPCS for Level 150–160 items.

"Bladelight, how many people are you planning to bring?”

"A party of seven is fine. We’ll sneak in, exchange a few things, and get out,” Bladelight said. He really wanted to explore the City of Sin. However, this place was different from others. It was riddled with dangers, so they had to be extra cautious.

A while later, Bladelight, Sun, Xie Yao, Painted Muslin, and three others headed toward the center of the City of Sin.

...

Elsewhere in the City of Sin, five robed players were walking down the main street.

"Boss, we just received a report that Asskickers United’s people are coming here. There are seven of them,” a Thief whispered into Soaring Angel’s ear.

They were five elites of Angel Corps, including Soaring Angel himself. With the coins they’d amassed, they just bought some equipment.

"Is the Mad Rogue with them?” Soaring Angel asked. Even if he wasn’t willing to admit it, he was fearful of Nie Yan.

"No, Nirvana Flame isn’t with them.”

"Then who is?”

"Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Young Sparrow Hawk, Sun, Yao Yao, Painted Muslin, and Mistaken Smile.”

Soaring Angel nodded. He couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on. This group was not easy to deal with.

"Boss, are we going to do anything to them?”

"Listen to my orders. No one do anything without my command!”

"Yes!”

In this lawless city, anything could happen. Perhaps the only noteworthy events were when nothing happened at all. The NPCs wore shabby, worn out clothes, looking no different from homeless beggars, yet sold some of the most powerful equipment. They weren’t to be trifled with. But even they didn’t instill a sense of peace, as the players walked around on edge, a hand always on their blade or staff and ready for the next fight.

...

Nie Yan dashed at full speed for 30 minutes before finally arriving at the base of a mountain. Up ahead was a tall peak.

This was where the grave should be.

Nie Yan started searching around.

Chapter 846 - Game of Courage

Nie Yan searched this side of the mountain for more than half-an-hour. The map wasn’t detailed enough, and the symbol too large. He could only discern the grave’s general location. How hard could it be to find? Harder than he expected, upturning even the pebbles in a desperate attempt to find it.

Looking over at the hillside to his left, Nie Yan noticed a green light flickering within the darkness.

Is it over there…?

Nie Yan had already searched that area before, but had only found a few mounds of dirt.

Let’s look again, Nie Yan thought before heading towards the green flames.

Several minutes later, Nie Yan arrived back at the mounds of dirt. A burial ground! He wondered how he could’ve missed this, though perhaps due to the lack of grave houses. The earth was muddy, with the stench of rotting corpses afoul in the air and crooked, broken gravestones scattered here and there. Specks of green flames floated up into the dark sky from a patch of weeds.

It was as if Nie Yan had been plopped into the set of a horror movie.

Is this it? The Lich King’s Tomb wouldn’t be this obvious, right?

Even though Nie Yan was doubtful, he still entered the burial ground. The moment he did, a powerful dark energy pervaded the area. Rotting hands erupted out from the earth as corpses crawled out of their graves and started stumbling towards him.

As a corpse stumbled within three meters of Nie Yan, he raised his leg and threw out a lightning fast fick. POP! Its head exploded.

It was only an ordinary Level 160 monster.

Losing its head, the corpse slumped back to the ground.

Nie Yan directly entered the heart of the burial ground and discovered a single intact gravestone. It was badly eroded by the wind and rain. Several words were written on it in Ancient Undead, a language he couldn’t read. On the corner of the stone face was the drawing of a blood red skeleton along with a thumb sized recess.

A secret mechanism?

Nie Yan dealt with the corpses crawling towards him while searching online for information related to Lich King Insar’s treasure. Failing to find anything new, he couldn’t help but get annoyed.

Looking back at the recess, Nie Yan suddenly recalled something. He still had Lich King Insar’s Finger Bone in his bag!

A light bulb lit up in Nie Yan’s head. He took out Insar’s Finger Bone from his bag. Looking back at the recess, the two were a perfect fit!

Nie Yan inserted the finger bone into the recess. After which the gravestone lit up with a dazzling radiance.

A series of characters flashed in Nie Yan’s mind.

「You have opened Lich King Insar’s Tomb. Before the powerful Necromancer died, he placed down a terrible Nightmare Curse. Anyone that disturbs the sanctity of his final resting place would have their stats reduced by 80% for a month. He then cut off his 10 fingers, sending each to faraway places all over the world. Any single one of them can open the tomb. Brave, or perhaps foolish grave robber, do you dare to continue forward even after losing your great strength?」

A harsh cackle lingered in Nie Yan’s ears for a long time, ridiculing him.

Nie Yan could sense a gloomy energy invading his body and sapping away his strength. His body felt much weaker all of a sudden, almost foreign.

Looking at his status, he had received the Nightmare Curse.

All his stats were reduced by 80%, something no player could bear.

"Shit!” Nie Yan’s face was covered in dark clouds. This curse lasted for a month, and there was no way to remove it, meaning there was nothing he could do during this time. If he were to encounter players from the Evil Faction, he would be in even more trouble. With his current stats, even ordinary players could beat him.

As Nie Yan was mulling over what to do, the ground in front of him suddenly collapsed, revealing a flight of stairs leading down to an underground cave.

Nie Yan nearly lost his balance because of the violent shaking. After stabilizing himself, he looked down at the dark cave. He hesitated. Should he continue forward?

With his stats reduced by 80%, even against a Level 100 Elite, he might lose.

While Nie Yan was pacing back and forth outside the entrance, a zombie slowly closed in on him.

The zombies were still ordinary Level 160 monsters, the same as before. But now, Nie Yan had no choice but to raise his vigilance.

What little flesh still covered this zombie’s bones was rotting and gave off a foul stench. It was missing an eye and its face didn’t look quite alright.

Nie Yan brandished the Bloody Dagger and stabbed forward. PSHFT! He stabbed the zombie in the forehead, shaving away about 6,000 health from its pool of 160,000 health.

Nie Yan could normally down these zombies in one hit. Now, however, it would be a long and hard battle.

"GRAAGH!” The zombie swung down its arm.

Nie Yan leaped back. However, he was still a beat too slow. The arm struck him in the shoulder.

THWACK! Nie Yan stumbled backwards.

−3,356

A little dizzy, Nie Yan saw the zombie coming at him again. He sidestepped and plunged his dagger into its back with a Reverse Grip Backstab.

Brushing the attack off, the zombie’s arm came swinging over. THWACK!

−2,991

Nie Yan couldn’t dodge in time. With his movement speed greatly reduced, his body was having a hard time syncing up with his mind.

God dammit! Nie Yan inwardly cursed. How was he supposed to fight like this!? He couldn’t even match up to a trash zombie mob!

After exchanging several blows with the zombie, Nie Yan finally got used to his restricted speed. It felt like a jump back in time when he was merely Level 90.

A few minutes later, Nie Yan finally downed the zombie.

More and more zombies came stumbling over from all around. Nie Yan hurriedly retreated. Bringing out his cavalry crossbow, he fired at them while kiting back.

With his stats suppressed by 80%, Nie Yan was questioning if he should enter Lich King Insar’s Tomb.

After deliberating for a long time, Nie Yan decided to enter anyway. Since he had come all the way here and even fell victim to a curse for no reason, if he were to turn back now, he would be losing too much.

Nie Yan descended the stairs. Looking up, the zombies were huddled together outside the entrance, seemingly afraid to come down after him.

Taking a deep breath, Nie Yan calmed his mind. His gaze fell on the cave which was faintly illuminated by torchfire. The cold and gloomy air coming out of it caused his body to lightly tremble. The stairs led down to an underground passageway three meters high and two meters wide. He saw skeletons of the fallen leaning against the walls. Covered in broken armour, they were likely adventurers in life.

"Welcome to Lich King Insar’s Tomb. Are you ready to take on his game of courage?” a disembodied voice cackled in Nie Yan’s ear. It was brimming with undisguised ridicule and mockery.

A game of courage, huh? Nie Yan’s heart turned cold, glancing at the corpses on the floor. You think this is enough to scare me off!?

Nie Yan was on full alert, ready for anything. As he took a step forward, he heard a rumbling noise. Looking up, he saw several dozen round wooden pillars.

Nie Yan quickly lunged six meters forward. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Glancing over his shoulder, the ground was smashed into rubble.

Close call!

There was no time. As his feet touched the ground, several hundred arrows came flying towards him.

Nie Yan stared at a solid wall of arrows roughly 10 meters thick. There was only a single crack, too big to fit a human.

Pygmy Transformation!

After shrinking down to a third of his size, Nie Yan activated Animorph and shrunk down even further into a small lynx, increasing his movement speed by 300%.

Put put put! Put put put! Arrows struck the ground behind Nie Yan as he nimbly found his way through the crack.

If Nie Yan hadn’t acted so quickly, he’d be swiss cheese by now!

After running for 60 meters, Nie Yan suddenly felt a quaking beneath his feet. Following the origin to a slope up ahead, he saw a giant boulder rolling towards him. It was quickly picking up speed and practically covered the entire passage.

No wonder this place was filled with so many slopes!

Seeing this boulder coming at him like a malevolent beast, Nie Yan turned tail and fled as fast as his legs would carry him. However, it wasn’t fast enough. In the next moment, he was going to be squashed into a meat patty.

Nie Yan leaped over to the corner of the wall and curled himself up as much as possible. The boulder was round while the passageway was square. So, he should be safe here.

The sound of the boulder whizzing past caused Nie Yan to break out in a cold sweat. Shrinking down in size had saved his life yet again. No human could pass through this space.

The traps here were some of the most dangerous ones Nie Yan had encountered in his life!

After traveling through the passageway for 30 minutes, Nie Yan finally experienced what was called a true trap. He feared even nine lives wouldn’t be enough to get out of this place alive.

Nie Yan finally reached the end of the passageway. A game of courage it truly was. He estimated the traps here were powerful enough to kill 99.99% of the experts that reached this tomb. Likely, only those who were fated could get through.

This was only the beginning!

Pygmy Transformation and Animorph wore off, and Nie Yan returned to his original size. Even after ranking up, the cooldowns of these two skills were still six hours long. Not knowing what lay ahead, he hesitated for a moment. He decided to sit down and wait for all his skills to come off cooldown first before proceeding.

Chapter 847 - Lich King’s Tomb

Pantheon’s guild headquarters. Godking was trembling in fear, not daring to raise his head. Angud was fuming with rage after making a trip to the far northwest of the Demon Tribe and failing to catch even a glimpse of Nie Yan’s shadow.

"Find me his exact location by tomorrow, or... You know the consequences.” Angud glared at Godking.

Godking felt bitterness in his heart. His intelligence network hadn’t found a trace of Nirvana Flame for a long time already. Given how big the Demon Tribe was, it was like trying to find a needle in a mountain of hay! Even if they found him, he could teleport away like before. But Godking had no way of going against Angud’s orders. If they failed to locate Nirvana Flame, a true calamity would befall him. Once Angud was angered, all of Pantheon would be done for.

"L-lord Angud, Nirvana Flame is as slippery as a louch. I-I really have no way of finding him…” Just as these words left Godking’s mouth, he felt a powerful force wrap around his neck and lift him off the ground. He was completely helpless before this power. On the verge of suffocating, he hurriedly screamed out, "B-but I have a way of making him come to you!”

Godking felt the grip on his neck released. He collapsed on the ground and gasped for air.

Angud shot Godking a glance. "You better pray your plan will satisfy me.”

Godking explained with a haggard face, "It’s impossible for us to locate a single Thief in a place as vast as the Demon Tribe. Not to mention Nirvana Flame belongs to the Righteous Faction and can return to the surface at any time. Even if we find him, you know how hard it is to catch him. We can only make him come to us. He’s the leader of a large guild in the Viridian Empire with hundreds of thousands of subordinates below him. If you start slaughtering his followers en masse, he’ll have no choice but to reveal himself before you. He’ll serve you the Death God’s Edge on a silver platter.”

Angud sunk into silence for a minute before staring at Godking. "If I discover you’re lying to me…”

"I-I wouldn’t dare, Lord Angud! Here’s all the data I’ve collected on that guild. One more thing, I’d like to advise you not to attack their strongholds. They’re in possession of extremely advanced artillery.”

Angud accepted the documents Godking provided. Even though Angud and Phantom Princess Ina were both Level 180 Demonified Lords, they were nothing alike. While Ina was an incarnation of destruction with only a singular goal in mind, Angud had his own intelligence. He wouldn’t mindlessly slaughter his way forward and end up foolishly killed. He was a much greater adversary than Phantom Princess Ina.

"Looks like I’ll be making a trip to the surface. I wonder how much has changed since I was last there,” Angud muttered before departing.

Watching Angud disappear, Godking’s flattering smile was replaced by a cold and gloomy sneer. "Merely an NPC. You’ve still become my tool in the end.” He predicted Angud would give Asskickers United quite the headache.

....

Time ticked away. Nie Yan familiarized himself with his weakened state. After six hours, all his skills were back off cooldown.

Looking in the distance, the dark passageway looked like the maw of an enormous beast.

Nie Yan steeled his resolve and entered deeper into the tomb.

After walking in the darkness for who knew how long, Nie Yan entered a chamber with a pond in the center.

Intuition told him something was hidden at the bottom of the pond.

Nie Yan walked to the edge of the pond and looked down. All he saw was an endless abyss.

Nie Yan wondered what dangers lurked inside.

Thinking his options over, Nie Yan summoned the shadow clone. Better be safe than sorry.

SPLASH! The shadow clone leaped into the pond, water splashing into the air.

Nie Yan watched the shadow clone disappear into the dark depths. Suddenly, his connection with it was lost. He couldn’t sense its location at all. The pond was still as tranquil as ever, not the slightest disturbance in sight.

Nie Yan had no idea where the shadow clone went. However, he could confirm it was still alive. If it died, a system message would notify him.

The pond was full of mystery as well as danger.

Hesitating, Nie Yan decided to dive in and look himself. No risk, no reward!

Since he had come all the way here, why would he turn back now?

SPLASH! Nie Yan dove into the water, activating an underwater breathing skill.

Nie Yan shivered. The icy cold water of the pond was making his body feel somewhat rigid and numb. Even his resistances were affected by the Nightmare Curse. This bit of cold was already too much. He hurriedly drank an Ice Resistance Potion and felt somewhat better.

The pond seemed like a bottomless abyss. The deeper he dove, the lower the temperature fell.

After several minutes, Nie Yan had no idea how deep he was, but the water pressure felt suffocating.

Nie Yan happened to spot something glowing at the bottom of the pond. He started swimming towards it.

This has to be at least 60 meters below the surface, right? Nie Yan muttered in his mind. He suddenly sensed something off, like something was approaching him. He was being watched!

A notification popped up.

Your shadow clone has died.

Shit!

A feeling of crisis welled up from the bottom of his heart. Nie Yan tried swimming back to the surface, only to feel something clutch onto his leg and drag him deeper down. Just as he was about to kick it away, he discovered his other leg was grabbed too.

No matter how much Nie Yan struggled, he couldn’t break free. The bottom of the pond was coming closer and closer.

An incorporeal force grabbed his throat, leaving Nie Yan unable to breathe. He felt the strength draining from his body.

Nie Yan had no idea who his opponent even was. He lost complete control of his body as he was slowly pulled toward the pond-bed.

His underwater breathing was dispelled. In a few seconds, he would undoubtedly die!

Nie Yan felt the light at the bottom of the pond getting closer and closer.

Sensing his consciousness slipping away, Nie Yan struggled to swim toward the light.

In the midst of his struggle, Nie Yan felt his hand come into contact with something. He immediately tightened his grip. However, it was already too late. His vision went black.

Dammit. I guess this it, Nie Yan thought before passing out.

Chapter 848 - Erased History

After an indeterminate amount of time, Nie Yan gradually regained consciousness. The cold wind blew in his face, causing his cheeks to sting.

Where is this place? Am I not dead…?

Nie Yan looked around. The sight that greeted him shook his heart—a vast open plain stretching out as far as the eye could see. Armoured corpses lay scattered on the ground, rusted weapons in their hands. Broken war chariots and various other siege engines lay in ruins. This place was likely an ancient battlefield.

A notification popped up.

You have discovered the Plains of Death, an ancient battlefield.

Plains of Death? Nie Yan searched for information related to this ancient battlefield online. A flood of information appeared before his eyes. During the reign of Tyrant Abak, Lich King Insar had launched six military campaigns to take over the world, not once successful. For the sake of revenge, he started an era-ending war which lasted for over two months. More than 60 of humanity’s legendary figures fell in this war before his undead army was finally defeated.

Lich King Insar had cast a Forbidden Magic with his dying breath, submerging the ancient battlefield into the underworld.

As for details of that military campaign, there were only brief descriptions. Not much was left of that era. Following the defeat of Tyrant Abak, his achievements were wiped from history before ultimately being forgotten.

Humanity was a race that followed blindly he who screamed loudest. They would latch onto that person and shout with him, drowning out any opposing voices with their ignorance.

Nie Yan spotted enormous, hideous Corpse Eaters roaming around the battlefield. They were six meters tall with crooked bodies and sharp spikes growing along their spines. There were also large vultures flying in the sky overhead.

It looked like this was already another world.

Withdrawing his gaze, Nie Yan discovered he had died and revived here with Death and Rebirth. His heart trembled. Where was the Death God’s Edge?

Nie Yan looked down. The Death God’s Edge, Paternoster’s Warhammer, and the chapters from the Book of Order were all scattered on the ground.

Nie Yan hurriedly picked them back up. Thankfully, he only lost a bit of experience.

After recuperating his health and mana, Nie Yan got back on his feet. He discovered five vultures sitting on a branch of a dead tree about 10 meters from him. They were watching him, their eyes following him wherever he went.

Damn! They see me as prey!

Nie Yan inspected one of the vultures with Transcendent Insight. They were ordinary Level 180 monsters.

Normally, Nie Yan could easily take down these vultures. But after being inflicted with the Nightmare Curse, it would be very difficult with his current stats.

Nie Yan pounced toward the vultures. Just as he was about to reach them, they took to the air and left him in the dust.

They had no intention of fighting Nie Yan.

Nie Yan took out the Cavalry Crossbow and fired at the vultures. After taking several hits, they quickly flew to a height where his bolts couldn’t reach them. However, they still circled in the air above him.

Nie Yan dashed off with Gale Step and ran across the battlefield for over 1,000 meters. Looking back up, the vultures were still following him closely.

These vultures could see through stealth!

If Nie Yan couldn’t shake off these vultures, things would be troublesome!

A short while later, two more vultures appeared in the sky. Now there were seven circling above him!

Nie Yan thought over his options. Lil’ Gold’s loyalty was already too low. He would need to slowly feed him over a period of time to get it back up. The only summon he had available right now was Paladin Lafus. However, Lafus’ stats were based on his. With his current stats, Lafus wouldn’t be of much help. Bringing him out would be useless. The shadow clone was still on cooldown, and his Darkwing Dragon was fast asleep.

This was the first time Nie Yan felt so helpless. He had nothing available to him.

"CAWWW! CAWWW!” The vultures cried out in the air, as if they were sending a message.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Looking in the distance, some Corpse Eaters were moving to surround him.

Here was trouble!

Nie Yan quickly dashed off and escaped from the Corpse Eaters. Although they were only ordinary Level 180 mobs, he was no match for them in his current state.

With the vultures tailing him, the Corpse Eaters continued chasing after Nie Yan.

The number of Corpse Eaters pursuing Nie Yan was rapidly increasing. The vultures were their eyes in the sky, guiding them and calling out for more Corpse Eaters to join in.

Seeing the horde of Corpse Eaters growing larger behind him, Nie Yan suddenly had an idea. Right! How could I forget about that skill!

Nie Yan glanced at Undead Rite in his skill bar. It had been a long time since he last used it.

These Corpse Eaters were dark attribute creatures. They could be controlled by Undead Rite!

Nie Yan continued fleeing while slightly adjusting his position. Slowly but surely, the 20 or so Corpse Eaters were herded together.

"Perfect!” Nie Yan’s eyes lit up. He took out a scroll from his bag and crushed it. POOF! The scroll disappeared into the air.

As the magic inside the scroll was released, the surrounding temperature plummeted. Ice spikes erupted from the ground in a 30-meter long line behind him. Exploding on contact, they instantly covered the Corpse Eaters in a thick layer of ice, leaving them unable to move.

It was a high rank freeze spell, Cryo Bind!

The Corpse Eaters were frozen stiff, unable to budge.

Nie Yan targeted the Corpse Eater at the front with Undead Rite.

Undead Rite has failed!

Nie Yan tried Undead Rite several more times. Since obtaining this skill, he’d used it a great many times, gradually increasing its rank until it maxed out. By now, its success rate was quite high and he could control up to 10 monsters at once, instead of the original three. The Nightmare Curse might’ve reduced his stats by 80%, but his skills were left untouched!

Undead Rite has failed!

Undead Rite has failed!

Undead Rite has succeeded!

Yes! Nie Yan finally had the first undead minion under his control.

Nie Yan ordered the Corpse Eater to retreat, then focused on the other frozen stiff Corpse Eaters. Time to get a second one!

About 20 seconds later, the ice locking the Corpse Eaters down started to crack before breaking apart.

The Corpse Eaters hadn’t yet had the time to move, when Nie Yan took out another scroll. Quagmire! The ground beneath their feet turned soft and boggy. Their movements were impaired again!

Nie Yan continued using Undead Rite. 10 seconds later, he took control of a second Corpse Eater.

Nie Yan’s bags were filled to the brim with all kinds of scrolls. He could keep these Corpse Eaters locked down in place indefinitely.

Over the next some minutes, Nie Yan took control of another seven Corpse Eaters for a total of nine. After falling to Nie Yan’s Undead Rite, these Corpse Eaters not only fell under his control, but their strength also increased by roughly 60%. Not to mention they now had a leader who could make them work together as a team, only further enhancing their strength. They started massacring their own.

While having his Corpse Eaters slaughter their own, Nie Yan gazed up at the sky. The vultures still hadn’t dispersed.

A light bulb flashed in his mind. Nie Yan instructed the nine Corpse Eaters to move in on him. With their menacing faces, they clawed at him, until he collapsed to the ground. After which they dispersed. At least, that’s what the vultures saw.

Nie Yan lay motionless on the ground.

The vultures circled above Nie Yan, puzzled. But the temptation of food was too great. They put their suspicions aside and alighted.

The vultures slowly waddled toward Nie Yan. After finding he wasn’t breathing, they pounced on him.

As he felt the vultures pounce on him, Nie Yan activated the scroll in his hand.

Black vines sprouted from the earth, catching the Vultures mid-pounce and tying them down.

Nie Yan used Undead Rite on one Vulture, while he had his Corpse Eaters attack the others.

Undead Rite has succeeded!

Before long, the other vultures were quickly wiped out.

Perfect!

Nie Yan swept his eyes over the surroundings. He was quite satisfied with himself. The corpses of the Corpse Eaters and vultures melted away. Hundreds of rays of light illuminated the sky.

Every ray of light represented a soul. These Corpse Eaters and vultures had consumed not only the corpses of their victims, but also their souls. By killing them, Nie Yan had set all these souls free.

Unexpectedly, Nie Yan found his Holy Spirit Heart was that much closer to completion. He grew incredibly excited. Just a little more, and it would beat in him! It’d been so close to completion for so long, with the last stretch taking forever. He hadn’t even seen the progress bar move at all as of late. But now, no matter how miniscule the increase was, it was there! His heart started beating faster. Would he finally get it!?

Nie Yan sat down and recuperated. He sent the vulture to explore around for more Corpse Eaters.

As Nie Yan was killing another group of Corpse Eaters, he received two messages. Angel Corps’ elite team had been causing trouble for Asskickers United in the City of Sin, seeking out skirmishes. Fortunately, Asskickers United hadn’t suffered any losses. With Bladelight there, he had nothing to worry about. The second piece of news was more worrying. Angud had been spotted in the underground passage by a 1,000-man team from Asskickers United. They’d been wiped out completely, with only a dozen or so players managing to escape with their lives.

What was Angud doing in the underground passage!?

Nie Yan had an ominous premonition. Could it be that Angud was going to the surface? If he was, Asskickers United would be in big trouble!

Chapter 849 - Lich King’s Inheritance

Nie Yan had Guo Huai dispatch some Thieves to track down Half-Demon Angud. Hopefully, he was only wandering the underground passage and not thinking of traveling to the surface. But if he did, Nie Yan had to know. Asskickers United would be in grave danger at that time, even hiding behind their stronghold walls wouldn’t save them.

Even Nie Yan was completely helpless against Angud, to say nothing of the other members.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but become anxious. An uneasy premonition welled up in his heart.

No matter what, he had to get out of here quickly!

Nie Yan suddenly thought of the Holy Spirit Heart. He would have to hurry and complete it first!

The vulture under Nie Yan’s control searched around. After finding a target, the nine Corpse Eaters would move toward them.

This ancient battlefield was extremely vast. Though there were a lot of monsters, they were spread out. This caused Nie Yan a lot of headache. He would have to walk a long distance for every Corpse Eater he killed.

Nie Yan slaughtered everything in his path. With nine Corpse Eaters at the vanguard, his hunting efficiency increased dramatically.

Time slowly ticked away. The progress bar for the Holy Spirit Heart continued filling up at that same dreadfully slow pace. Even so, Nie Yan was still filled with anticipation.

After grinding for seven days straight, the Holy Spirit Heart was almost complete.

Receiving updates from Guo Huai every day, Nie Yan grew increasingly anxious. The situation had devolved rapidly after Angud arrived on the surface. He first acted with some restraint, only killing players in the wilderness. That all changed when his kill count hit 5,000. He summoned a horde of ogres and launched an assault on two of the guild’s smaller strongholds, razing them to the ground. Casualties quickly broke through 6,000 and were still climbing higher and higher. Asskickers United hadn’t sat idly by, even trying to kill him once, but Angud was simply too powerful.

Nie Yan had Guo Huai order all guild members to avoid engaging with Angud. But the situation wouldn’t be resolved that easily. Even if they didn’t look for Angud, he would come looking for them.

Angel Corps naturally didn’t let this opportunity slip by. They launched several large-scale battles, hundreds of thousands of players fighting each other. In a short time, the entire surface was engulfed with the flames of war.

Fallen Angel’s 300,000 players and Angel Corps’ 600,000 troops directly clashed in Flame Canyon. Fallen Angel lost more than two thirds of their forces and helplessly retreated back to the underworld. Meanwhile, Angel Corps made full use of their home ground advantage and only lost 200,000 players. Elsewhere, Asskickers United clashed with the 20-guild coalition force under the Century Financial Group. Asskickers United suffered 300,000 casualties while the Century Financial Group suffered over 500,000.

This war took a heavy toll on everyone involved. Combined with Angud’s constant harassment, Guo Huai and the other higher ups of Asskickers United were at their wits’ end.

Seeing Asskickers United in such a sorry state, Angel Corps became even more brazen, dispatching 600,000 troops into the Abernathy Great Grasslands. If it weren’t for the fact that Okoron was heavily fortified and had a powerful NPC army to protect it from invaders, they would’ve already launched an all-out attack.

While all this was happening on the surface, Nie Yan was stuck in a battlefield of his own. Not to mention his personal battle with the Nightmare Curse. Thankfully, Asskickers United’s foundation was fairly stable. If all their strength in the Viridian Empire were mobilized, they would have at least 2,000,000 troops. There was no need to fear battle. What worried Nie Yan the most was Angud. If Angud were to interrupt in a crucial moment during a large-scale battle between Asskickers United and Angel Corps, the results would be disastrous.

Asskickers United couldn’t lose, nor could they afford to lose! If they did, all of Nie Yan’s hard work would go up in smoke!

Nie Yan wouldn’t allow such a thing to happen!

Misfortune came in threes. When Asskickers United’s elite expedition team was making a stop in the City of Sin, they suffered an ambush from Angel Corps. Even though they killed over 30 enemies, they also lost five of their own. This was definitely intolerable!

Reading the reports that kept flooding in, Nie Yan’s face turned gloomy. He had already confirmed that Angud was directed to the surface by Pantheon. On that subject, he also found out that Godking had business ties with Cao Xu in real life. He was the head of a financial group that held a monopoly on the mineral market in Australia. They weren’t the slightest bit inferior to the Century Financial Group. Nie Yan guessed this matter was probably also related to Cao Xu. Asskickers United didn’t have much enmity with Pantheon. However, Pantheon and Fallen Angel were sworn enemies. Judging from current alliances, they’d face each other in battle sooner or later.

Come on! Fill up faster! Nie Yan gazed at the progress bar for the Holy Spirit Heart. He was so close, yet at the same time still seemed so far away.

Time was of the essence!

Through the eyes of the vulture, Nie Yan was shocked by the scene he saw up ahead. Standing atop a mountain was the statue of a giant. It was over 60 meters tall and poked up into the clouds. It wore black robes over a skeletal body and wielded a ceremonial staff. Lich King Insar!

That was likely his tomb!

Looking at the Holy Spirit Heart, the progress bar was at 99%. This final 1% felt like the gap between heaven and earth.

Nie Yan longed to obtain the Holy Spirit Heart. Like this, he would obtain the aid of a Legendary character. Not to mention removing the final seal of Zennarde’s Sword. He’d finally be the proud owner of a true godly weapon!

However, the more he yearned for it, the farther away it seemed, like a beautiful temptress dancing before your eyes. You could see, but you couldn’t touch.

After thinking for a bit, Nie Yan resolved to make his way toward the statue. Maybe he would find something nice there.

After walking for 15 or so minutes, Nie Yan arrived at the base of the statue. Lich King Insar’s face was hidden behind a cloak, like a solemn sage. Black robes covered the rest of his body, except for his arm, fleshless, which reached out.

This was precisely the legendary figure who could cause all of humanity to tremble in fear!

The 60-meter tall statue was truly grand. The Staff of Judgement in Lich King Insar’s hand reached all the way to the ground. The tip of the staff was made out of an unknown material. It resembled a dark gem and glistened with a peculiar radiance under the curtain of darkness, illuminating the surface and making the air around the statue appear all the more mysterious.

A flight of stone stairs wound around the staff, leading all the way to the top of the statue.

Welcome to the land of death. The brave adventurers who arrive here can obtain the will of Lich King Insar. Are you willing to receive Lich King Insar’s inheritance? If you accept, your soul will become like Lich King Insar’s, overlooking all life and becoming the most powerful leader of darkness!

Chapter 850 - Lich King Insar’s Ring

After seeing the notification, Nie Yan didn’t show the least bit of excitement. Rather, he felt puzzled and doubtful. The title of Sovereign of Darkness might be attractive to the players of the Evil Faction, but not to someone from the Righteous Faction who followed the light. If he accepted Lich King Insar’s inheritance, he would be marked as a traitor and become mortal enemies with the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire!

Defect to the Evil Faction? What a joke! He wasn’t going to abandon everything he’d built up on the surface just for some lousy title!

Accepting the inheritance was most likely a part of the quest, though. Nie Yan wondered what would happen if he refused.

No matter what kind of penalty he received, anything would be better than accepting this inheritance!

Are you willing to accept Lich King Insar’s Inheritance?

The notification popped up again. Nie Yan was taking too long to decide.

No! Nie Yan decided firmly.

"Wretched mortal! How dare you refuse this most supreme glory! So be it, what awaits you is only death! Suffer in eternal anguish, a fate worse than death!” A sinister cackle rang out through the sky.

Nie Yan checked his status. Right next to the Nightmare Curse was now a Damned curse.

Damned: Die once every 10 days. All Stats -1% upon rebirth. (Removable)

"Shit! This Damned curse is even more vicious than the Nightmare Curse!” Nie Yan felt quite dejected. If he knew this would happen, he would’ve never tried to search for Lich King Insar’s Secret Treasure! At this moment, another notification popped up.

"Oh Great Prophet, under the threat of darkness, you held onto your faith in the light. The God of Light has granted you Spirituality.”

You have received Spirituality.

The final character property! Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He hurriedly looked at his character window. The eight character properties had already merged into one which was releasing a dazzling radiance. He felt a gentle yet boundless energy welling up from within him. His entire body exuded a powerful light energy.

You possess the virtues of a saint. All evil fears you. You are immune to all curses and negative status effect magic. You have received an additional 50 Divine Power.

Nie Yan sensed the dark energy from Lich King Insar’s curse rapidly retreating from his body before disappearing.

The Damned curse was the first to disappear, while the Nightmare Curse was greatly weakened. His stats returned to 60% of their original values.

Looking at the explanation, Nie Yan realized the Nightmare Curse had already rooted itself deep into his body. In three weeks’ time, it would automatically wear off. As for Damned, the removable property was why it reacted differently. From now on, a similar curse or any other curses for that matter would have absolutely no effect on him.

As someone who frequently adventured in the wilderness, Nie Yan understood the value of this. Take today for example, if he had been immune to curses from the start, he definitely wouldn’t have been forced into such a miserable state.

Apart from the immunity to curses, the additional 50 Divine Power also filled Nie Yan with hope. Perhaps he would really reach 300 Divine Power one day! The thought alone of equipping the Death God’s Edge brought a smile to his face.

Nie Yan also saw great progress to his Legendary class quest. Of the four requirements, he’d completed two already—possessing a Sacred Object and Virtues of a Saint—and was infinitesimal close to completing the Holy Spirit Heart. All he needed was three more Shattered Divinities.

Few people would ever obtain even one of these requirements. If Nie Yan successfully advanced to Legendary, he would become the sole Legendary-class player!

What a pleasant surprise. Nie Yan’s previous gloominess was completely washed away.

Fortune and disaster came in pairs. Even when you hit rock bottom and all seemed lost, something wonderful would arrive on your doorstep. Fate was mysterious like that.

Nie Yan recuperated for a while before ascending the stairs up the statue with his Corpse Eaters. As he walked up step by step, the scale and craftsmanship of this statue became all the more apparent.

As Nie Yan walked up the stairs that wound the staff, he couldn’t help but wonder where the Staff of Judgement was. It was likely also a Sacred Object.

Nie Yan had the vulture approach the head of the statue. When it approached within 30 meters, a black lightning bolt struck it down. It let out a miserable cry as it plummeted from the sky, smoke coming from its body.

Instant kill!

No wonder the vultures in this place didn’t dare to approach the statue!

Nie Yan eventually reached the top of the staff and arrived in a round hall. The ceiling and walls were made out of some unknown material and glistened a crystalline like radiance.

This hall was over 100 square meters in size. Spatial magic was probably used to create it.

Looking at the center of the hall, Nie Yan spotted a table with several items resting on it. Apart from this, there was nothing else.

Nie Yan was about six meters from the center of the hall. He didn’t dare to approach recklessly. He had one of his Corpse Eaters step forward first.

The Corpse Eater slowly approached the table. After two steps, it seemed as though he’d met eyes with Medusa. First, its feet turned to stone, after which his entire body became a statue before eroding into dust and disappearing.

Nie Yan observed closely. When the Corpse Eater approached the table, it was immediately hit by over 20 curses. The most severe was the combination of the petrification and erosion curse. It was far more terrifying than any killing technique.

"Just a few curses?” Nie Yan faintly smiled. If it were before, he might be afraid of these curses, but now, he possessed the Virtues of a Saint!

Taking extra precaution, Nie Yan took out a scroll and summoned a spider automaton.

Machines were also immune to curses!

As the spider crawled forward, it didn’t trigger any traps. It seemed like the only thing to fear here was the curses!

After confirming it was safe, Nie Yan walked over to the table.

As he stepped forward, different curses tried to invade Nie Yan’s body, only to be repelled by the holy aura around him.

These powerful and frightening curses were useless against him.

Nie Yan arrived in front of the table. Looking down, he saw a ring and scroll. Besides these, there was nothing else.

Nie Yan glanced at his bag. He discovered Lich King Insar’s Secret Treasure Map had already disappeared.

It seemed like these two items were the treasure!

Nie Yan picked up the scroll and examined it. It contained a powerful spell called Call of the End. It revived all corpses within a 3,000-meter radius and gave full control over them. The reanimated dead would have 120% of their original stats. The cast time was 60 seconds. This scroll was a one-time-consumable.

This spell was practically a Forbidden Undead Magic. In fact, it might even be more powerful! The reanimated undead from an ordinary Forbidden Magic would at most have 50% of their original stats.

If this scroll were used during a war, it would definitely be a calamity for the enemy.

After putting away the scroll in his bag, Nie Yan picked up the ring. An ominous energy immediately assailed him. Thankfully, his Virtues of the Saint protected him.

Nie Yan had no idea what this ring was crafted out of. It was the colour of ash, looking just like bone. On the face of the ring was a small skull with a sinister smile.

Nie Yan examined the ring.

Lich King Insar’s Ring (Divine): Sacred Object

Description: A ring worn by Lich King Insar. It possesses extremely powerful evil energy. If the wearer fails to control it, it will turn them into a lich.

Properties: When attacking an enemy, reduce their defense by 30% and attack by 20%; if the wearer is a Necromancer, All Stats +300%; Summoning Magic Effect +300%; all summoning spells raised to max rank.

Beckon Doom: Summon three Junior Doom Sentinels. Can be ranked up.

Soul Bind: Transform every enemy you kill into your servant of darkness.

This was Lich King Insar’s Ring!

Another Sacred Object! If this were to fall in the hands of a Necromancer, Nie Yan could only imagine how powerful they would become. Even though he wasn’t a Necromancer, its other properties were still very useful. Both Beckon Doom and Soul Bind were extremely powerful skills. Looking at the stats of the Doom Sentinels, they were about as strong as Lil’ Gold with over 200,000 health. Even though they didn’t have as many skills as Lil’ Gold, they were much more resilient. It was a pity Paladin Lafus couldn’t heal them. On the plus side, this skill could be raised to Intermediate, Advanced, and so on.

These properties were definitely worthy of a Sacred Object!

Nie Yan took off one of his rings and equipped Lich King Insar’s Ring. His other rings could all be switched out at any time. However, Lich King Insar’s Ring was definitely something that should be worn at all times. Apart from the two powerful skills, its other properties were pretty impressive too.

Chapter 851 - Holy Spirit Heart!

Even though Nie Yan had encountered some mishaps, finding the treasure went smoother than expected. Divine Power and another Sacred Object, what more could he ask for?

Nie Yan was just about to leave, when the whole statue started shaking violently.

Something was wrong!

Chunks of rock plummeted to the ground as a loud groaning sound reverberated around the room. The statue was collapsing! Cracks spread across the crystalline walls and the floor split apart.

Unknown Transfer Scrolls and other teleportation items couldn’t be used here!

Nie Yan sprinted forward and leaped out of the staff from a hole in the crystalline wall. The sight that entered his eyes left him gaping in shock.

The corpses of the fallen soldiers in the Plains of Death had been reanimated. They were crawling up from the ground.

The Ancient Battlefield Portal has opened. Coordinates: 375.285.293823. The portal closes in 20 days.

Nie Yan glanced at the coordinates. The portal was at least a day’s travel away at normal speed. However, that was assuming there were no undead blocking his path!

Slaughtering his way through them would be incredibly difficult!

Glancing at his skill bar, Nie Yan found that all his summoning skills had been sealed, except for the two skills from Lich King Insar’s Ring. The ring was the heart of this world. So, it couldn’t be restricted!

Beckon Doom and Soul Bind would have to do!

Just as Nie Yan was about to plunge into the sea of corpses, he activated a Glacial Freeze Scroll. A thick layer of frost swept out, turning every corpse in a 10-meter radius into an ice sculpture.

Featherfall!

Nie Yan landed gently on the ground.

Beckon Doom!

A powerful dark energy surged out of Lich King Insar’s Ring as three enormous Doom Sentinels appeared before Nie Yan. They were six-meter-tall giant skeletons clad in spiked black armour, with bone wings growing from their back. Their enormous greatswords overflowed with frightening power in spite of their corroded appearance.

The three Doom Sentinels brandished their greatswords and charged into the sea of corpses. Even though they were completely surrounded, they were like iron towers, firmly holding their ground.

Nie Yan gazed around. He saw corpses as far as his eye could see, stretching far off into the horizon. Their eyes were lifeless, and many had bodies that were badly mangled. However, none of this stopped them. They were mindless puppets.

This was a truly frightening number of skeletons!

The Doom Sentinels cleaved through the sea of corpses, as Nie Yan expected. It was what happened afterwards that left him gawking in shock. The fallen corpses melted into wisps of black smoke and became his dark servants.

The effects of Soul Bind!

His 4-man army soon doubled to eight, 16, 32… With a skill like this, there was nothing to worry about. Nie Yan could definitely reach the portal within 20 days!

The Doom Sentinels stormed forward, slaughtering hundreds of corpses. 200, 500, 1,000… Nie Yan’s army kept growing in size. Soon, there were more undead than he could handle. He took charge over a small portion of these dark servants, while giving a general command to the rest. Kill the enemy!

This ancient battlefield turned chaotic once more. Nie Yan took out a fire magic scroll. A shower of fireballs rained down from the sky and killed over 200 corpses. After which they were transformed into his dark servants.

This world felt like a sandbox. Nie Yan started truly understanding how powerful Lich King Insar had once been.

As the scope of the battle expanded, Nie Yan’s experience bar started slowly filling up. Given the vast amount of experience he needed to level up, this was a welcome surprise.

Not only his experience bar, but the progress bar for the Holy Spirit Heart was also starting to fill up, albeit still a slow crawl.

Seeing the Holy Spirit Heart filling up, Nie Yan picked up the pace and started slaughtering more and more corpses.

On the first day, Nie Yan’s army counted 2,000 undead. On the second day, it grew to over 8,000. On the third day, it broke past 30,000. Their area of operation covered a 10-kilometer radius. It started to remind him somewhat of Qin Han’s skeleton army.

On the fifth day, as Nie Yan continued pressing forward toward the portal, a notification popped up.

You have obtained a Holy Spirit Heart.

Nie Yan struggled to control his excitement. For the sake of obtaining the Holy Spirit Heart, he had spent almost two years killing who knew how many creatures of darkness. All combined, the kill count was definitely over 3,000,000! And now, a new heart beat in his chest. He’d finally reached his goal! How could he not be moved!?

After obtaining the Holy Spirit Heart, Nie Yan immediately thought of Zennarde’s Sword. The last seal was finally broken!

Nie Yan flicked his hand, swapping out the Bloody Dagger for Zennarde’s Sword. A dazzling light immediately enveloped the surroundings before slowly fading.

Zennarde’s Sword burned fiercely. The flames gradually changed colour from black to a deep azure, the heat nearly scorching Nie Yan’s hand.

The corpses around Nie Yan retreated in fear, staring at the sword in his hand.

The last seal was removed from this godly weapon. Its true strength was finally revealed!

Nie Yan’s heart raced in his chest. He couldn’t help but wonder what Zennarde’s Sword was like now. He impatiently examined it.

Zennarde’s Sword (Divine)

Description: A godly weapon created by Kallander and imbued with the dark magic power of Dragon King Zennarde. Failing to subdue the evil energy within Zennarde’s Sword will result in a fatal backlash.

Properties: Attack 7,560–9,827, Critical +750, 35% chance to deal 1,500% Critical Damage, Ignore Level +95, Ignore Armour

Hell Execution (Rank 18): Chance to instantly execute an enemy when their health falls below 30%. Success rate is determined by level difference and enemy defense. Energy Cost: 20. Cooldown: 2 seconds.

Advanced Apocalyptic Extinction: Inflict the enemy with five types of Curses: Rank 18 Exhaustion, Rank 18 Cripple, Rank 18 Disease, Rank 18 Fear, and Rank 18 Corrode. Duration: 15 minutes. Cooldown: 1 hour.

Annihilation Slash (Rank 18): Channel your energy into an enormous sword of dark fire and annihilate all enemies in your path. Deals 5,000% damage to all enemies in a five by 50 meter area in front of you. Cooldown: 1 day.

Dragon King’s Divine Might: You can own up to three dragon pets and two dragon flying mounts. All dragon pets and flying mounts will receive +30% to all stats and have their loyalty permanently maxed out. By comprehending the strength of Zennarde, you have obtained Divine Power. It will guide you to the secret treasure of the dragon race.

Restrictions: None

-Creator: Kallander

All the skills had seen an upgrade, and the almost 10,000 attack power had Nie Yan going crazy with excitement. The new Dragon King’s Divine Might property was also extremely shocking. He could have up to three dragon pets and two dragon flying mounts. Not to mention, they would all have permanently maxed out loyalty and receive a 30% bonus to all their stats. He couldn’t wait to try the new and improved Zennarde’s Sword out in combat.

Chapter 852 - Patience

Nie Yan glanced at his character window and was happy to find the several more slots for pets and flying mounts. Apart from this, the Dragon King’s Divine Might skill appeared to be related to some kind of special quest. Even though the description for the skill was only a few short lines, he could glean several clues.

A follow-up quest related to Zennarde’s Sword. Nie Yan’s interest was piqued.

Zennarde’s Sword was already a godly weapon through and through with its power out on full display. Even Nie Yan was shaken by its worldshaking properties.

Nie Yan lightly brandished Zennarde’s Sword. A powerful, flaming sword beam shot out of the blade. BOOM! It carved a six-meter long scar into the ground.

Nie Yan felt as though he could engulf the world in flames with this sword.

The Doom Sentinels advanced dauntlessly. Nie Yan followed from behind. Even after killing so many corpses, there were still ever more.

"Annihilation Slash!” Nie Yan took several steps forward and slashed out with Zennarde’s Sword.

10 flaming azure swords appeared in the air, merging into a single enormous sword before cleaving down on the ground. BOOOOM! Corpses were sent flying everywhere while those caught in the direct line of fire were instantly disintegrated into ash. Everything in a five by 50-meter area in front of Nie Yan was swept clean, leaving an enormous scar on the ground.

What destructive power!

Nie Yan sucked in a cold breath of air. Annihilation Slash’s damage was even more frightening than before!

Nie Yan put Zennarde’s Sword away. Unless he had no other choice, he would no longer use it in front of people. This was now his ultimate trump card!

Looking at the coordinates, at his current speed, it would take him too long to reach the portal. He needed to pick up the pace!

While Nie Yan was making his way through an ocean of corpses, Angel Corps intensified their offensive on Asskickers United. They’d started with probing attacks. When Nie Yan didn’t appear, they were convinced he was stuck in some sort of quest. Fearlessly, they became even more unbridled.

Asskickers United had successfully repelled all of Angel Corps’ attacks so far. Even though they lost a few strongholds, they launched their own counterattacks and razed a few of Angel Corps’ strongholds to the ground as well. So, the two sides were pretty much even.

What gave Asskickers United the greatest headache was still Half-Demon Angud. He had slaughtered over 20,000 guild members and destroyed six strongholds. The financial losses that came with this were immense.

Worst of all, even Asskickers United’s most powerful force wasn’t a match for Angud. They could only patiently endure and try their best to minimize losses.

「Boss, Angud just wiped out one of our expedition teams in Kranmor Marsh. More than 3,000 guild members were killed. What are we going to do? We can’t just keep sitting back,」Undying Scoundrel anxiously asked. He had requested to take action several times already, only to be refused by Nie Yan.

「I know how you’re feeling right now, but please wait for me to get back,」Nie Yan said. Asskickers United’s elite team was no match for a Level 180 Demonified Lord like Angud.

「Boss, if we don’t do anything soon, the people below us will start complaining. So many of our own have been wiped out. It’s not going to look good if the elite team keeps sitting still,」Bladelight said. He was fairly level-headed.

「How many Masters do we have now?」

「Around 60,」Paladin of the Elegy replied. This was a splendid achievement. Guilds like Angel Corps didn’t even have half as many Masters.

Nie Yan rubbed his chin.「If we mobilize all our elites, perhaps we’d stand half a chance. But we’d suffer disastrous losses, to say nothing of Angel Corps eyeing us from the sidelines like prey. The risk of them interfering is simply too great. I’ve clashed with Angud before. I know how strong he is. Trust me when I say we’re not his match.」

「Then what are we supposed to do?」

「I have a feeling that Angud has someone supplying him information. He always knows where to be to deal the most damage.」

「I think so too. It’s way too coincidental.」

Nie Yan immediately thought of Pantheon. Up until now, they never faced off against Asskickers United directly, but many incidents had traces of their handiwork behind them.

「I’ll think of a way. Just wait for my return, and absolutely do not engage Angud!」Nie Yan said. He had an idea. As for whether or not it would work, he wouldn’t know until he tried. But first, he had to get out of this ancient battlefield.

「Alright.」

Nie Yan hung up the call, then sent Plenty a message. He wanted Fallen Angel to keep a close eye on Pantheon and stop them from pulling anything funny.

Nie Yan glanced at Zennarde’s Sword in his bag. When he got out of this place, it was high time he paid back Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group for all their troubles!

Nie Yan plowed through the sea of corpses like an icebreaker. Another day passed. He stepped out of the game capsule.

It was a brand new day. Since the villa was located fairly remote, the air here was quite clean. A cool breeze blew in through the open window. The climate in this region of China was great all year around.

Xie Yao came walking out of the kitchen, looking lovely as ever. Wearing only an apron, she radiated all sorts of sex appeal.

Nie Yan felt a gentle warmth in his heart. He preferred this kind of peaceful and happy life.

What a relaxing and beautiful morning!

"Breakfast is ready.” Xie Yao smiled, revealing her cute dimples.

Nie Yan was instantly enamored. After spending all his time in the game advancing through an endless horde of corpses, her angelic-like smile was like medicine for his heart.

"Thanks.” Nie Yan nodded, snapping out of his daze.

Finding Nie Yan appear absent-minded, Xie Yao walked up to him and placed her hand over his forehead. "Are you feeling alright?”

"Seeing you, I feel great.” Nie Yan chuckled. "That quest in the game really has me losing my mind, though.”

Xie Yao giggled. Nie Yan started to recount all his experiences in the Plain of Death. When he reached the part about Zennarde’s Sword, she couldn’t help but ask, "Wait! You’ve fully unsealed Zennarde’s Sword!?” Even in its sealed state, Zennarde’s Sword was far better than any other weapon in the game. She couldn’t begin to imagine what it looked like now.

Nie Yan shared Zennarde’s Sword’s new properties with her, including the Dragon King’s Divine Might skill. He chuckled. "I should snag a few dragon pets, or else the skill will go to waste.”

"Dragon pets are pretty hard to find. So far, our guild only has nine dragons, seven of which were quest pets that automatically bound to the player,” Xie Yao said. With Zennarde’s Sword’s final seal removed, Nie Yan would only be more powerful, more invincible. He had probably reached the highest peak inside the game.

"It’s fine. I can take my time,” Nie Yan said. He had already reached his goal. He wouldn’t worry about finding any dragon pets for now. "How about you? How many pieces are you away from completing your set?”

Xie Yao was one of Asskickers United’s powerhouses. Needless to say, she had an enormous impact in wars. If she could complete the Legendary-grade Saintess Christina Set, it would be much easier dealing with Angel Corps.

"I’m only a single piece away,” Xie Yao replied. "But getting it has been a huge pain in the neck. I’ve already died three times trying to get it.” A slight annoyance sounded through in her voice.

Even Mages had their limits in certain situations. Lacking the survivability of a Thief, it was fairly easy for them to die.

"When we finish dealing with Angud, I’ll help you get the last piece,” Nie Yan said.

"Sounds good to me. But are you confident in dealing with Angud? He’s a Level 180 Demonified Lord after all.” Xie Yao gazed into Nie Yan’s eyes. Even though few things could trouble Nie Yan, Angud was simply too strong.

"I can’t say I’m 100% confident, but I’m pretty sure my plan will work,” Nie Yan said. He could only rely on his luck.

Nie Yan was never one to run head first into perilous situations; he would only move if he had some level of confidence. Even though Xie Yao was curious as to what he would do to resolve this situation, she didn’t continue asking.

After finishing breakfast, Xie Yao changed into a fleece sweater and went on a morning walk with Nie Yan. The skin tight sweater accentuated her flawless curves. As for her pants, she chose to wear jeans. Even though she was dressed pretty casually, she was still extremely charming. Nie Yan couldn’t pull his eyes away from her. While they were walking around the neighbourhood, passersby couldn’t help but glance over.

In the middle of the walk, Nie Yan’s phone rang. The caller was Bayonet. After the whole situation with Liu Tianshi, Nie Yan had given him some time off to relax. He had no idea where that guy went off on holiday to. Liu Tianshi’s death had caused the Liu Family and the Monet Financial Group to have a complete falling out, with several large clashes breaking out and both sides suffering losses. Both were powerful hegemons. They wouldn’t budge for the other, not even a little.

「How are you enjoying your time off?」Nie Yan chuckled.

「I just started to enjoy myself, but it looks like I’ll have to come back soon,」Bayonet replied.

Nie Yan didn’t miss the hidden meaning in Bayonet’s words.「What happened?」

「After the Liu Family and Monet Financial Group had several clashes, they suddenly calmed down. The situation has become more complicated. They likely sensed something off and are investigating the real cause of Liu Tianshi and Qin Han’s deaths.」

「Are you saying they’ll track it back to us?」Nie Yan’s heart turned cold. Be it the Liu Family or the Monet Financial Group, both were opponents that couldn’t be looked down on.

「I can’t say for sure. Liu Tianshi and Qin Han have many enemies. They won’t necessarily trace it back to us. But we’ll still have to take some precautions,」Bayonet said.

Nie Yan realized the gravity of the situation. Thankfully, they had done everything in secret. As long as Wang Duo and the others didn’t leak anything out, the Liu Family and Monet Financial Group wouldn’t uncover the truth.

Chapter 853 - Title Advancement

Nie Yan carefully recalled the incident in detail. Him and Bayonet entering the VIP room, still in disguise. No one had seen them. No one could find out it was them. The bodyguards were all taken care of. Qin Han was killed. Liu Tianshi, he was the only loose end. Though the blackmail should’ve kept him quiet. He died before he could reveal the truth.

Of course, there were more factors at play. There were bound to be some clues. Nie Yan’s greatest concern was Tang Yao. Did anyone else know about him being taken away by Qin Han and Liu Tianshi? Wang Duo and his men could also lead back to him. Even if they themselves kept quiet, their group storming through the bar most likely had drawn an eye or two.

Thankfully, Bayonet was a professional. He’d made sure the cameras were all disabled.

Tang Yao was recuperating somewhere safe. During the night, he would log into Conviction as usual. It would be incredibly difficult for the Monet Financial Group and Liu Family to find him. As for Wang Duo and the others, they were part of the 12th Mech Armoured Corps. Trying to investigate them would prove to be even more of an impossibility.

Even though everything seemed okay, it was hard to say nothing was overlooked. Nie Yan’s heart turned cold. It appeared he’d have to prepare for a clash with the Liu Family and Monet Financial Group. With World Bloc’s current strength alone, he wouldn’t stand a chance.

World Bloc had risen to become one of China’s top 10 financial groups, standing shoulder to shoulder with the likes of the Glory Financial Group and Dragonsoar Financial Group. Their connections in the military and political circle were also expanding. Even though their foundation was still shallow, they weren’t to be trifled with. If an outsider were to try and touch World Bloc, they would disturb the interests of many different powers.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. His main priority right now was still the Century Financial Group. The feud between World Bloc and the Century Financial Group had already come out in the open, with them clashing in many different spheres. Cao Xu was even dipping his fingers into the metal industry—World Bloc’s root. Father Nie definitely wouldn’t sit still. If World Bloc could defeat the Century Financial Group, their strength would skyrocket.

As for the Liu Family and the Monet Financial Group, for now keeping a close eye on them would have to do.

「Bayonet, I want to recruit some people. Do you have any recommendations?」Nie Yan asked. The situation was slipping from his grasp. He urgently needed capable people he could mobilize. Bayonet was a man of great skill, but at the end of the day he was just one man. Far from enough to face behemoths like the Liu Family, Monet Financial Group, and Century Financial Group.

「What kind of people are you looking for?」

「Bodyguards. The kind who won’t hesitate to pull the trigger when it’s needed,」Nie Yan said. He was already past the point of no return. He could only steel his nerves and press forward. If the enemy got too close, he wouldn’t resign himself to death.

「That’s simple. As long as you have the money, we can recruit anyone you want,」Bayonet said.

「I don’t want trash. Can we recruit experts?」

「Of course, but experts are expensive.」

「Money isn’t an issue, so long as they're worth the coin!」Nie Yan said.

「I have a few people in mind. I’ll get in touch with them. If they’re interested, I’ll bring them to meet you. Honestly, if you’re looking for experts, there’s no need to look for outsiders. Our guild has a couple,」Bayonet said.

「Our guild? You mean Asskickers United?」Nie Yan asked in a daze. Even up until now, he had always treated Asskickers United as an ordinary guild in a game. The thought that there were more real life experts like Bayonet among their ranks never crossed his mind.

「Of course. Don’t look down on your own guild. We have hundreds of thousands of players, all of whom are hand-picked elites. If we’re talking about experts, Shadow Killer is one. He's just as strong as I am. There are also a few others who are fairly low-key, but they definitely can’t escape my eyes!」Bayonet said. His vision was extremely sharp. He could easily tell a person’s profession from a single glance.

「Shadow Killer? You’re really sure he is as strong as you?」Nie Yan asked in disbelief. He understood how difficult it was to find another expert on the level of Bayonet!

「I’m 100% certain,」Bayonet said seriously.

「I recall your relationship with him is pretty decent,」Nie Yan remarked. Inside the game, Bayonet and Shadow Killer got along pretty well, probably because the two were in the same profession, so it was easier for them to connect.

Bayonet chuckled, not denying Nie Yan’s words.

「Would he be interested?」

「I think I can convince him.」

「That’s great! I’ll be counting on you,」Nie Yan excitedly said. If Shadow Killer really was as strong as Bayonet described, he would have another top expert by his side.「If you do convince him, don’t let anyone find out he’s working for me.」

「Of course.」Bayonet instantly understood what Nie Yan was getting at.

Apart from Shadow Killer, Asskickers United still had several other experts. Bayonet planned to recruit them all. Nie Yan was filled with anticipation. If they could bring together a group like this, he would have a few more trump cards. They could mean the difference in a crucial moment.

Hearing the birds chirping and feeling the cool breeze on his face, Nie Yan immersed himself in the moment. He understood that in the future he wouldn’t have many opportunities to enjoy tranquility like this again.

Seeing Nie Yan’s absent-minded state after finishing up the phone call, Xie Yao couldn’t help but sigh. She knew Nie Yan was carrying a lot of things on his shoulders. She really wanted to share his burden, but she didn’t know how. All she could do was grab his hand and be there for him.

The warm touch to his hand caused Nie Yan to snap back to his senses. Turning his head, he was greeted by Xie Yao’s beautiful smile. At this moment, the feelings of two lifetimes seemed to come together.

No matter what, Nie Yan resolved to protect those around him. Xie Yao and his parents were definitely his reverse scales that couldn’t be touched!

"Let’s head back,” Nie Yan said in a quiet voice.

"Mhm.” Xie Yao nodded. She stared at him with her bright eyes. The air around him had changed, from anxious and disarrayed to a firm resolve.

Nie Yan an Xie Yao went to school, spending most of the day in class. A peaceful day. Before long, evening arrived.

Nie Yan logged back into Conviction and resumed clearing away the corpses. This kind of work was tedious and monotonous. Ordinary players definitely wouldn’t have the patience for it.

On the seventh day, Nie Yan’s Adjudicator of Light title ranked up from Junior to Intermediate.

Just what sort of use does this title have? Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder. The difficulty of obtaining this title was just as great as obtaining the Great Prophet title. However, its use was still shrouded in mystery. It just gave some basic stat bonuses, along with a few skills like Extreme Deterrence.

After killing a certain number of evil creatures, every player would obtain the Demon Hunter title. If they continued raising it, it would turn into the Devil Slayer title. Above Devil Slayer was the Adjudicator of Light title. As for exactly how many evil creatures you needed to kill, Nie Yan had lost count.

For now, Nie Yan was perhaps the only player with the Adjudicator of Light title.

As Nie Yan’s Adjudicator of Light title ranked up from Junior to Intermediate, the wings on Kalenna’s back gew a bit larger and became more dazzling.

Pulling open Kalenna’s character page, Nie Yan noticed two skills he could make use of in her skill window. One was Angel’s Touch, a powerful healing skill. Even at the lowest level it could instantly bring someone like Bladelight back from critical health to full. The other skill was Seraph’s Cloak. It could completely erase his presence.

Two skills, it might not seem like much, but Nie Yan was extremely excited. This was a start. Did this mean that if he continued raising his Adjudicator of Light title, he could eventually completely control Kalenna?

"Oh Adjudicator of Light, congratulations on obtaining a Templar title.” Kalenna gave a cute bow.

"Templar title?” Nie Yan asked in confusion. He wanted to learn more information from Kalenna, but she didn’t bother explaining any further. He searched online for the term, but all he could find was a brief description. It was apparently a category of high rank titles exclusive to the Temple of Light.

Nie Yan guessed Templar was a step above regular Holy titles. Likely it was related to the angels. Why was it that the Adjudicator of Light title didn’t count as one at Junior rank but did at Intermediate? This was something he'd look into at a later time.

Making wild guesses was useless. All Nie Yan could do was to put it aside for now. Once he found some clues, the answers would naturally come.

Nie Yan happened to glance at his own character page at this moment and discovered a new window. It contained the coordinates of all the Chapters from the Book of Order.

Chapter of Radiance (Orc King City: 23852.28358.289)

Chapter of Silvermoon (Moran Marsh: 238582.282.283382)

…

Nie Yan’s eyes trembled in shock. The exact coordinates of every chapter from the Book of Order! One of them was constantly changing. Likely it was in the hands of someone.

Nie Yan didn’t expect a Templar title would have this kind of effect.

Seeing these coordinates, a crazy idea welled up in Nie Yan’s heart. If he could complete the Book of Order, he would become the Supreme Pontiff of the Temple of Light!

This was definitely extremely alluring.

After becoming the Supreme Pontiff, he would be completely unrivalled! Even the likes of Angel Corps would have to obediently submit to him.

After seeing the coordinates of all the chapters, Nie Yan calmed down. The ones that were in the hands of players were fairly easy to obtain. As for those located in the wilderness, several were in forbidden zones. The bosses there were all extremely powerful. Even existences like Half-Demon Angud were nothing but ants before them.

It seemed like completing the Book of Order wasn’t going to be easy.

Even though it was difficult, it wasn’t impossible. Just the coordinates was enough. Now he at least knew where to search for the other chapters.

The Book of Order had six volumes divided into 36 chapters. If Nie Yan gathered all of them, he would become the leader of the Temple of Light. His position would be on the same level as Jebiah the Great and the Orc King! This was his goal, an absolute pinnacle no one else could reach!

Chapter 854 - Return

Since so many of the chapters from the Book of Order had appeared, Nie Yan started to wonder who had collected the most chapters from the Book of Chaos.

With his curiosity piqued, Nie Yan didn’t hesitate to sate it.「Guo Huai, help me find out who’s in possession of chapters from the Book of Chaos!」

「Why...? Don’t they belong to the Evil Faction? Even if we find them, we can’t use them. I heard a rumour. If a player from the Righteous Faction gets their hands on a Chapter of Chaos, they’re presented with two options. One is to defect to the Evil Faction, and the other is to self-combust,」Guo Huai said. Conviction had very strict rules about the Chapters of Order and Chapters of Chaos.

「Just do it. I only want to know which individuals possess chapters from the Book of Chaos,」Nie Yan said. Whoever was in possession of the most chapters would undoubtedly become a formidable enemy. If someone completed the Book of Chaos one day, would they obtain a position of great power in the Evil Faction?

「I see,」Guo Huai nodded. He passed down the order to his subordinates and had them start collecting information.

「How’s the guild doing right now?」

「Not great. That Half-Demon Angud is too unbridled,」Guo Huai said, his head hurting at the thought.

「Since we’re contending for the top, we have to be always ready to deal with these kind of impossible obstacles our enemies will throw at us,」Nie Yan said. This was simply how Conviction worked. Since Asskickers United could recruit NPCs to defend Okoron, why couldn’t others recruit NPCs to deal with them? This was only fair.

「I understand, but we can’t do anything to Angud at all! All our strongholds are on high alert. That bastard appears and disappears like the wind. He’s already razed nine of our strongholds to the ground! We’ve suffered huge losses,」Guo Huai said helplessly. He wanted nothing more than to resolve this situation, but he had no idea how to.

「Keep stalling him and minimize our losses as much as possible. When I return, we’ll have a way!」Nie Yan said. He also felt helpless being trapped in this damned place. All he could do was pick up the pace and try to reach the portal as soon as possible.

「I guess that’s all we can do,」Guo Huai bitterly smiled. He hoped Nie Yan could stop Angud, and soon.

Guo Huai contacted Nie Yan a while later with information on the Chapters of Chaos.

「How many chapters have you found out about?」Nie Yan asked.

「We know about 10 Chapters of Chaos so far. Seven are with Fallen Angel, Pantheon also has a few. However, a mysterious group seems to be collecting the Chapters of Chaos. Both Pantheon and Fallen Angel’s sides have been ambushed. As for how many chapters they have right now, we have no idea,」Guo Huai said. Generally, those in possession of Chapters of Chaos wouldn’t reveal it to outsiders. Only previous holders who had their chapters stolen by others would reveal this information, sometimes.

At least 10 Chapters of Chaos had appeared. Nie Yan wondered if someone had collected a complete volume yet.

Nie Yan and Guo Huai chatted for a while. After hanging up the call, he continued full speed ahead toward the portal.

"What can I do to pick up the pace?” Nie Yan muttered anxiously. Looking at the vast sea of corpses ahead of him, he couldn't help but think how convenient it would be to have a pair of wings right now.

Glancing at his skill window, Nie Yan’s eyes fell on Extreme Deterrence.

Extreme Deterrence was a skill that would deter any monster up to 30 levels above him. However, its effects didn’t always work. If a monster’s aggro toward him reached a certain point, they could ignore the skill!

All the corpses here were aggroed onto him. Having them part ways for him like the Red Sea for Moses was pretty much impossible!

This plan was only feasible if he could first come up with a method to get rid of all aggro.

Nie Yan suddenly recalled another skill, Disguise! He could disguise himself as a corpse and escape their aggro!

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan immediately put his plan into action. As he activated Disguise, he slowly transformed into a corpse, wearing ragged clothes with his flesh rotting off from his bones. Barely alive, the wind blowing through his ribcage. He didn’t dare to look in the mirror right now.

Disguise only worked for humanoid creatures. His new appearance was pretty convincing. It would be difficult to tell him apart from the other corpses.

Immediately, Nie Yan sensed the surrounding corpses lose aggro on him. They still stared at him, but the hostility had taken place for confusion.

Extreme Deterrence!

Nie Yan started walking forward, as an invisible force pushed the corpses aside, a path opening in front of him.

The plan worked! Nie Yan’s eyes lit up in elation.

Since there were so many corpses crowded together, having them get out of the way quickly was unrealistic. Even though he wasn’t making super fast progress, it was still better than before!

As Nie Yan walked through the sea of corpses, he suddenly had an idea. Why don’t I just do this!?

Leap!

Nie Yan broke out into a sprint and soared into the air dozens of meters. Just as he was about to fall, he shot out a web-line at a distant boulder and swung back into the air, flying for a dozen more meters before landing on the boulder. He leaped off and activated Featherfall. His body came to a slow descent.

As Nie Yan slowly floated down to the ground, the corpses below him quickly parted ways.

Nie Yan made a gentle landing. Glancing back, the three Doom Sentinels were already quite a distance away from him. I’ll let them continue grinding experience for me, he thought before breaking out in a sprint towards the portal.

Nie Yan cycled through all his skills that could get him to the portal just a little bit faster. It worked. His speed increased substantially.

A crisp jingle rang out as he lit up with a dazzling radiance. Without him knowing it, he reached Level 156.

The Doom Sentinels he left behind were still giving him quite a bit of experience!

The 20-day journey only took Nie Yan 10 days. Arriving at his destination, he saw a large white portal. The exit!

"It wasn’t easy, but I’m finally here!” Nie Yan exclaimed.

Nie Yan stepped into the portal as everything before him turned into a void of white. After a while, he opened his eyes and found himself in a forest. He had no idea where this was, but he was likely still in the territory of the Demon Tribe.

"I’m out! Finally, I’m out!”

Nie Yan used Instant Transmission to teleport to Okoron. He appeared outside the entrance of the guild headquarters.

"Boss, you’re back!” two players who were standing guard outside the entrance cried out in excitement.

Nie Yan nodded, then walked into the guild headquarters.

Before long, news of Nie Yan’s return spread throughout the entire guild. All of Asskickers United erupted in exictement.

「Boss, it’s great to see you back!」

「We’ve all been waiting, we're ready! Boss, so long as you give the word, we’ll storm right into Angel Corps’ guild headquarters!」

…

The guild chat was flooded with activity. Even though Asskickers United had grown to a size where they no longer needed Nie Yan to step forward personally, he was still the guild’s spiritual pillar. This was partially why the members of the guild were able to endure despite Angud’s constant harassment. As long as Nie Yan was here, no mountain would be too high! This was an unwavering belief, which could give birth to unprecedented unity and fighting strength!

After learning that Nie Yan had returned, the elites of the guild all rushed back. It was time to take action against Angud!

Okoron’s central transfer area lit up with dazzling flashes of light. One player after another came rushing out towards the guild headquarters.

News of Nie Yan’s return quickly reached Soaring Angel, Cao Xu, and Godking’s ears. Each of them started responding.

...

In Pantheon’s guild headquarters, Godking anxiously paced back and forth. He didn’t know why, but he felt like something bad was going to happen. Logically speaking, he was in an invincible position. No one could defeat Angud.

However, Godking couldn’t help himself from becoming jittery. Nirvana Flame had appeared. Angud finally had his target. Once Nie Yan was killed, he would have the Death God’s Edge. This was good news!

Godking suddenly slumped back into his throne and sent a message to Flowing Maple.「Send out a Thief to tell Angud to come back quickly!」

「Why?」Flowing Maple asked in confusion. Angud was untouchable on the surface, and Nie Yan had once more appeared with the Death God’s Edge. This was something to be excited about. Why would Godking suddenly want Angud to come back?

「Just follow my orders,」Godking said in a grave tone, not bothering to answer Flowing Maple.

Flowing Maple didn’t dare to hesitate. He hurriedly passed down Godking’s words to the Thieves below him.

About 20 minutes later, Flowing Maple came rushing into the guild hall. He had a pale look on his face as he met Godking’s gaze.

"What happened?” Godking asked.

"All the Thieves we sent to report to Angud were killed by him,” Flowing Maple explained. Angud refused to take orders from Godking!

"Dammit! Fine, if he wants to get himself killed, let him!” Godking cursed. He had a feeling Nie Yan had a method to deal with Angud. This was why he wanted to call Angud back to the underworld. However, Angud wasn’t someone he could control.

Angud’s only goal was the Death God’s Edge. Anyone that got in the way of that would be killed without mercy.

Godking felt regretful. He shouldn’t have directed Angud to the surface.

About 20 minutes later, more than 3,000 of Asskickers United’s top elites had assembled in the guild headquarters. Bladelight and the rest of the expedition team were also making their way back. Everyone was waiting for Nie Yan’s command. They could sense a huge storm was brewing.

Chapter 855 - Ample Financial Resources

Nie Yan hadn’t given out the order to mobilize. Rather, all these elites had proactively gathered before him.

During Nie Yan’s absence, Asskickers United was in a state of chaos mostly due to Angud’s constant harassment. It wasn’t enough to shake their foundation. Even so, everyone still looked to Nie Yan. If he were to submit to this humiliation and not launch an all-out counterattack, it would be difficult for the guild members not to become disillusioned.

Nie Yan carried the hopes of Asskickers United on his shoulders.

The guild members only saw what they could see. Their guild was winning wars, and more gold was flowing in than they could ever dream of spending, all of this gave them a false sense of stability. However, Nie Yan understood the current situation better than anyone else. Asskickers United might be the overlord of the Viridian Empire, but they still needed time to consolidate their territories and strengthen their foundation. This was not the time to start a war against Angel Corps and the Century Financial group, enemies far different from the ones they’d faced before. It would be a long and bitter war against their several million members and hundreds of strongholds. Swallowing them up would be unimaginably difficult!

However, with the bow string already drawn, Nie Yan had no choice but to fire!

Angel Corps’ forces had already entered the Abernathy Great Grasslands. This was his fiefdom and Asskickers United’s main base. This blatant encroachment could not be tolerated!

Bladelight and the others also arrived, as did the various guild leaders in the alliance—Kill Love, Nightbreak Trickster, Fa Lan, and Sleepy Fox.

"Long time no see!” Sleepy Fox greeted with a bright smile, patting Nie Yan on the shoulder.

"It really has been.” Nie Yan chuckled. He glanced at Sleepy Fox’s equipment. "You’ve got yourself some pretty decent gear, my friend!”

"Three Legendary pieces and six Sub Legendary. It took me quite a bit of effort to get these items,” Sleepy Fox said proudly. "Of course, I can’t compare to you.”

All the big shots were present.

Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, Battle Crazed Alliance, the War God Tribe, and Radiant Sacred Flame had all been busy these last six months. They’d expanded their territories, each occupying a city and controlling dozens of strongholds.

Nie Yan glanced over the data Guo Huai provided him:

Member Count:
Radiant Sacred Flame: 220,000
Holy Empire: 270,000
Sapphire Shrine: 310,000
War God Tribe: 360,000
Battle Crazed Alliance: 600,000

All together, they were looking at around 1,760,000 members in total. Even though these players were on average a notch weaker than those in Asskickers United, they still weren’t a force to be looked down on. Not to mention these were only their main guild members. When war broke out, they could mobilize even more members from their multiple branch guilds.

As for Asskickers United, they counted over 500,000 members in the main guild, with an additional 1,000,000 members spread out over their five branch guilds.

Nie Yan felt even more appreciation for Guo Huai. He could hardly imagine how difficult it was to keep such a large machine running smoothly during times of peace, to say nothing of when they were in the middle of a conflict.

A guild couldn’t be compared to a military. In general, players were nowhere near as easy to manage as soldiers, nor were they as obedient. When their membership grew to this size, even basic communication became extremely convoluted. However, Nie Yan only had to say the word and millions of players would sweep through everything in his path like a swarm of locusts.

Nie Yan understood moral was crucial in the good but especially in the bad times. Even a force composed of millions of players could collapse in on itself if morale hit rock bottom.

"So long as you give the word, we will all help you sweep through the entire Satreen Empire!” Sleepy Fox declared with much gusto.

Nie Yan patted Sleepy Fox on the shoulder with a smile. "When we go to war, you guys will be the first ones I call up!”

"Good. Just what I’d like to hear.” Sleepy Fox laughed heartily.

Nie Yan turned to Guo Huai. "Explain our current situation to everyone.” He could tell everyone in the alliance from top to bottom was itching for war. Since that’s what they desired, he would give it to them. However, they would first have to make careful preparations. Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group weren’t easy prey.

Guo Huai pulled open a map of the Atlanta continent on the screen behind him. It was quite detailed, showing all the different environments and terrains of the various regions.

"According to our intelligence, Angel Corps has over 1,700,000 players in their main guild and an additional 1,200,000 players spread between their branch guilds. That said, only about a million from those forces can contend with us.

"Another factor is the coalition of the twenty guilds under the Century Financial Group, which has a combined strength of approximately 1,900,000 players.

"We should also keep in mind that it’s virtually guaranteed that both the Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group have hidden forces that we are not aware of.

"Both major powers have rooted themselves deeply into the Satreen Empire. In terms of territory, they control a total of 236 strongholds, all of which are linked through transfer points.

"We’ll be entering a long and bitter struggle once the horns of war sound. Don’t think it’ll be a one and done thing. Let’s make sure we come out of this victorious,” Guo Huai said.

Everyone sucked in a cold breath of air. The scope of this war was beyond their comprehension.

"Why not go straight for their main stronghold? Kill Love asked.

"The Clemenci Stronghold is too heavily fortified. Its defenses can only be described as a porcupine, covered in sharp quills. Not to mention it’s located in a narrow valley on top of a high slope. We’ll be at a severe disadvantage. Directly attacking the Clemenci Stronghold will only lead to heavy losses. As for the Century Financial Group, with over 20 guilds under them, there is not one main stronghold. Even if we take down the main strongholds of a few of their guilds, it wouldn’t make any difference,” Guo Huai replied. One had to know, they were facing the overlord of the Satreen Empire. Plus, this was a long distance war spanning the entire continent!

Only now did everyone begin to realize that a war with Angel Corps wouldn’t be as simple as they initially thought.

"We can only take things one step at a time and slowly chip away at Angel Corps’ strength. How long do you think it’ll take for the war to end?” Nie Yan asked. He was particularly concerned about this matter.

"Best case scenario, three months, and that’s only if everything works in our favour. Otherwise, it’s hard to say how long this war will drag on. Truthfully speaking, that’s the easy part. Even if we kill every last member of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group, Soaring Angel and Cao Xu will never accept defeat. The population of the Satreen Empire might not either. We’re the invaders, the bad guys, to them, after all. They’ll resist our attempt at unifying the continent. It’ll take us at least a year to slowly clear away the dregs of the Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group’s influence,” Guo Huai said.

Guo Huai’s considerations were fairly thorough. All of Asskickers United’s prior wars had been fought in the Viridian Empire against other human powers. So, the race issue was irrelevant. This time, that’d be different. Since Angel Corps’ presence was everywhere in the Satreen Empire, it was impossible for Asskickers United to assimilate players from the Satreen Empire on a large scale. Not to mention the players of the Satreen Empire wouldn’t necessarily be happy about having people from a foreign nation rule over their heads. It was like an empire attempting to colonize another nation. Keeping colonized people obedient was no easy task.

"What are your thoughts?” Nie Yan swept his eyes over Sleepy Fox and the others.

Sleepy Fox, Kill Love, and the others all glanced at each other.

"That’s your choice to make. We’ll support you the best we can,” Sleepy Fox said, throwing all the responsibility back to Nie Yan.

"Don’t misunderstand me. We will go to war with them. The question is when,” Nie Yan said. No matter how difficult it was, war was inevitable.

"If we do go to war, we have advantages on three fronts. The first is in terms of potion consumption. Needless to say, there’s no way Angel Corps or the Century Financial Group can compare with us in this respect. The second is in terms of unity and morale. After all, none of us are strangers to long and drawn-out conflicts,” Guo Huai said.

"Of course. What’s the third?” Kill Love asked.

"The third is capital!” Guo Huai said. After seeing Nie Yan give a nod of approval, he continued, "in terms of capital, we have the overwhelming advantage. Angel Corps probably only has 8,000,000 gold in circulation at most, and that’s a generous number. Even if they start selling off their assets, they would still only be able to scrounge together a few million more. On the other hand, we…” Guo Huai paused.

Sleepy Fox, Kill Love, and the others all stared at Guo Huai in confusion, wondering why he suddenly stopped. It seemed like he was struggling with something.

"We what?”

"We have more than 300,000,000 gold accumulated so far, and that number is still increasing every day. It should definitely be enough to sustain our war efforts!”

Several loud coughs sounded out in the room, people who had choked on their water in shock.

"You know, I’ve always known Asskickers United was loaded. But I never imagined it was to this magnitude!”

Everyone couldn’t help but feel their heart race. 300,000,000 gold! Just how did Nie Yan get this much!? This was simply unimaginable!

"My fucking god. With 300,000,000 gold, why bother with a war? Just buy out Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group!”

Sleepy Fox, Kill Love, and the others couldn’t contain the shock in their hearts. With player salaries to be paid out and strongholds to maintain, Asskickers United’s daily expenditures had to be immense. Only breaking even would already be impressive for them. Yet they had actually accumulated so much gold!

"Is all this gold a result of monopolizing the potion market?”

"The revenue from the strongholds should probably be enough to meet the guild’s daily expenditures, right?”

"The Starry Night Potion Shop plays a huge part, but there are also some auction houses and a few other business,” Nie Yan explained. The only reason he allowed Guo Huai to reveal their financial situation was to bolster confidence. That way, they could go into this war with one less worry.

"If they want a war of attrition, they can get one! If we somehow mess this up, we might as well ram our heads into a wall!”

The overwhelming capital would be their warchest! Nie Yan could sense that everyone felt much more confident than before.

Chapter 856 - Rescuing War God Kelo

"Nie Yan, what do we do about Half-Demon Angud? He isn’t just going to sit still because we’re fighting Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group,” Bladelight asked, concerned that Nie Yan had forgotten something that definitely could not be ignored.

"Why haven’t the Righteous Faction NPCs taken any action yet? Logically speaking, they should be infuriated with an existence like Angud rampaging around on the surface,” Smoke Stub remarked.

"As long as he’s only targeting our players and not attacking any NPC settlements, the Righteous Faction won’t come out,” Nie Yan explained. These were the system’s rules.

"Then what do we do?”

"Easy. We kill Angud first before declaring war on Angel Corps!” Nie Yan replied, his eyes flashing with an icy cold killing intent.

"How though? Tell us.”

"Boss, we’ll listen to you!”

"I want all of you guys to mobilize half your forces. I’ll give each of you a mission. Sleepy Fox, your goal is the City of Fog. I won’t be able to lend any reinforcements to support you. So, be careful,” Nie Yan said.

"Understood! Leave it to me. We’ll take the City of Fog down!” Sleepy Fox said in high spirits.

Nie Yan continued on with this plan for the guilds in the alliance, "Nightbreak, you and your Radiant Sacred Flame will hit the City of Black Magic in the territory of the taurens.

"Battle Crazed Alliance, you’ll be supporting Radiant Sacred Flame.

"War God Tribe and Sapphire Shrine, your goal is going to be the Forest City in the elven territory.

"Remember this, all of you, if you encounter Angel Corps’ forces, do not engage under any circumstances and withdraw immediately. I’ll have Guo Huai support you with the latest intel.”

"Understood!” Kill Love, Fa Lan, and the others nodded.

"Now for the branch guilds: Mages United, Priests United, Warriors United, Paladins United, and Thieves United. The five of you will be in charge of attacking the six cities under the Century Financial Group’s control.

"All of Asskickers United’s troops will remain on standby and await my commands. Our target is Angel Corps’ territory.

"The other half of our forces will be in charge of defending Okoron against any countertacks by the enemy!” Nie Yan said.

"You’re only bringing our core force? Will they be enough?” Guo Huai asked worriedly.

"Yes. It’s enough,” Nie Yan said confidently.

For the sake of consolidating their rule in the Viridian Empire, Asskickers United had no choice but to rapidly expand, causing their membership to grow to over 500,000. Naturally, there were both good and bad people mixed in. Nie Yan’s true force numbered around only 100,000. They were Asskickers United’s core, having followed him through thick and thin. More importantly, their gear was a cut above the rest. Most of them were wearing twinked gear. Their average level was also around Level 130. They were true elites, any one of them could take on multiple players from other guilds.

His core of 100,000 players was enough. Increased numbers didn’t always translate to increased strength, considering the difficulty in coordinating them and issuing battle commands.

"Charging into Angel Corps’ territory with only a hundred thousand. Damn, as expected of the Mad Rogue.” Sleepy Fox clicked his tongue in admiration.

"Don’t look down on these 100,000 players. Through the course of this year, Nirvana Flame has probably invested at least a billion gold into them, and that’s not even counting all the potions, scrolls, and other consumables we provide them,” Guo Huai chimed in. Nie Yan had put in a lot of blood and sweat into nurturing these players.

"My god! A hundred thousand players and a billion gold?” Everyone was dumbstruck. In other words, that meant Nie Yan had spent at least 10,000 gold on every player.

Normally, 10,000 gold was more than enough to purchase a decent piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment or a high quality set of Dark Gold-grade equipment!

If Guo Huai’s words were to believed, the battle prowess of the hundred thousand could not be underestimated!

Apart from his core force, Nie Yan still had many tricks up his sleeve. If Soaring Angel would vomit blood if he knew what was coming for him.

Everyone erupted with excitement. It was the dawn of war against Angel Corps! The decisive battle to determine the ruler of the Righteous Faction!

The guild chat flooded with messages discussing the eve of war. The alliance was mobilizing! They could sense the storm brewing in the air.

…

Angel Corps guild headquarters, Soaring Angel received a report from a subordinate.

"Boss, we just received word that Asskickers United is preparing to declare war!”

"Pay close attention to their movements. If there’s any information, report it immediately!” Soaring Angel roared out.

"Yes sir!” The subordinate retreated.

Soaring Angel slumped back into his throne with a brooding expression on his face. Even though he knew this day would arrive eventually, now that it had, he couldn’t describe his current emotions, be it anxiousness and fear or excitement and desire to do battle. This was the life-or-death battle for Angel Corps! If they were defeated, then all his effort up until now would go up in smoke!

War was unavoidable!

Soaring Angel clenched his fists so hard the veins on his arms bulged out. He coldly chuckled, a sinister expression on his face. "Nirvana Flame, if you’ve got the guts, come. You’ve kept me waiting long enough!” He felt confident. The final showdown was finally here, and he’d come prepared.

Glancing at his messages, it appeared the Century Financial Group was also mobilizing.

"A fight to death it is, Nirvana Flame,” Soaring Angel muttered, unable to calm down the emotions stirring in his heart.

Asskickers United and Angel Corps started mobilizing their troops on a large scale. The players of the Righteous Faction were shaken. Two empires were about to go to war. This news was like a bomb going off in their hearts. The flames of this war would sweep through every corner of the Atlanta continent!

The forums exploded with activity, with players from both sides flaming each other, hurling insults and memes.

Asskickers United was the crowd favourite. They had the Mad Rogue! But everyone also knew that Angel Corps was no easy prey. It was impossible to guess what cards they were hiding and how many tricks they had up their sleeve. The question at the heart of it all was which side would remain standing at the end.

In various maps across both empires, the frequency of PKing skyrocketed severalfold. The entire Righteous Faction was in chaos.

Back in Okoron, Nie Yan and the other leaders gradually dispersed and busied themselves with their respective tasks.

"What are you planning to do now?” Bladelight asked.

The entire elite team was gathered here. They all wanted to know the answer to this question.

"I’m going to do a quest.”

Everyone was dumbstruck at Nie Yan’s response, and then started to wonder if this was really the right time for leisurely questing.

"Boss, come on. No more quests!”

"Yeah, every time you go off on a quest, you end up disappearing for months! We’re about to go to war with Angel Corps. We need you here!!”

…

Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, and the others were all trying to dissuade Nie Yan. No one wanted him pulling his usual disappearing act on them right now.

"Relax. I’m only going to turn in a quest. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” Nie Yan chuckled.

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"I’m not going to lie. You really had us there in the first half...”

"Then what are we supposed to do?” Undying Scoundrel asked.

"Locate Angud for me. When you find him, do your best to lure him to Okoron and warn me. Don’t engage him, tag and run,” Nie Yan said.

"Understood!”

Nie Yan turned to Xie Yao. She wore angelic white robes and emanated a pure and holy aura.

Xie Yao met Nie Yan’s gaze, her eyes carrying indescribable love and warmth.

Nie Yan had no time for his girlfriend. He turned back to Bladelight and said, "Angud has a lockdown skill. Try not to let him get too close!”

Bladelight and the expedition team set out.

Nie Yan prepared some essentials. His destination was Sinful Gorge, where he found Zennarde Sword over two years ago. After obtaining the Holy Spirit Heart, he could finally rescue War God Kelo. Among all NPCs, he was definitely one of the most powerful Nie Yan had ever encountered, a Level 360 Lord. In comparison, Angud was nothing more than an ant.

Nie Yan had no idea if he could convince War God Kelo to help him deal with Angud. Best case scenario, Kelo would agree, and Angud would no longer be an issue. However, Nie Yan wasn’t banking on it. He only held a faint thread of hope.

Donning a cloak, Nie Yan strolled through the streets of Okoron. He saw guild members passing by him. The city was bustling as usual, but tension was thick in the air.

Once word of the imminent war between Asskickers United and Angel Corps broke out, the market price of medicinal plants spiked by 30%. The cost of various gems, high level equipment, and other items also soared.

Where there is war, there is also profit to be made, and the military-industrial complex roared to life.

This conflict was no longer a simple feud between two guilds. It concerned the future of all the players in the Righteous Faction.

After exiting the city gates, Nie Yan summoned the Darkwing Dragon. Hopping on its back, he took off in the air and soared toward Sinful Gorge.

Sinful Gorge hadn’t changed much. Ever more new players were entering the game. For them, this place was a prime grinding spot.

They were scattered all over the map. However, all of them could see the Darkwing Dragon flying through the sky when they turned their heads up. To them, flying mounts were things they could only dream of.

After passing through a narrow ravine, Nie Yan entered Zennarde’s Cenotaph and headed toward War God Kelo’s prison.

The monsters that spawned here no longer posed any threat to Nie Yan. He slaughtered the Skeleton Dragon Priests and made his way back to the lava region. Looking up ahead, he saw War God Kelo still chained to the stele.

Chapter 857 - New Race, New Class

After the sighting of the Darkwing Dragon in Sinful Gorge spread, many players flocked to the map. They varied in strength, but they all shared a common goal—Nirvana Flame!

Most of these players were Thieves. Some came to ambush Nie Yan. Others only wanted to know what he was up to.

Nie Yan was completely ignorant of the commotion outside. He calmly walked over to War God Kelo.

War God Kelo woke up as he sensed someone approaching. Seeing it was Nie Yan, his eyes flickered with a listless light, but they were still as sharp as ever.

"Youngster, you’re back.” War God Kelo chuckled. "I can sense it. You’ve removed all the seals on Zennarde’s Sword.”

"Correct, sir Kelo. I’m here to free you of your millenium long imprisonment,” Nie Yan said. With a flick of his wrist, he equipped Zennarde’s Sword. Deep azure flames blazed to life with an unworldly heat, eclipsing the glow of the surrounding lava.

"What a pure flame!” War God Kelo gasped in admiration.

"Isn’t it the evil sword of Dragon King Zennarde?” Nie Yan asked.

"A weapon is blameless. It’s a tool, no more. In the hands of a saint, this divine sword will bring salvation to the world. In the hands of a tyrant, the fiendish blade will reap the lives of the innocent,” War God Kelo replied.

Nie Yan could tell War God Kelo was wise. After being bound here for so long, he was like a sheathed divine weapon. Even if it gathered rust over the years, as soon as its blade came out, it would cut with unrivalled sharpness.

Nie Yan approached War God Kelo and slashed down at the chains binding him.

KLANK! KLANK! KLANK! The chains fell on the ground.

"ARRGH!” War God Kelo roared, his muscles bulging with unrivalled power as he sent the remaining chains flying out. His body dropped down from the crucifix. Freedom at last! Eyes shining with excitement, he raised his head to the sky and laughed heartily.

The lava chamber shook violently as if it were about to come caving in.

War God Kelo’s voice brimmed with explosive strength. However, Nie Yan, who was standing right next to him, wasn’t hurt one bit. It was clear that Kelo had restrained his voice; else Nie Yan would be bleeding from his internal organs right now.

Several hundred Thieves had followed Nie Yan into Zennarde’s Cenotaph. As they searched for him, they felt the ground beneath them shaking. Their eyes widened in alarm. What was going on? Suddenly, a powerful sound wave swept over them and sent them flying, causing them to cough out blood. It felt as if they had been struck in the chest with a hammer. Damage values of over 6,000 floated up above their heads. The weaker ones even found themselves at the graveyard!

Whose voice was that? Too frightening!

War God Kelo finally settled down.

"Please forgive me. I’ve been imprisoned here for far, far too long,” War God Kelo said apologetically.

"Don’t worry. Anyone would behave the same in your shoes.” Nie Yan nodded. He read the complicated emotions on Kelo’s face with some surprise. This was the most expressive NPC he had ever encountered. Most NPCs were fairly rigid and stiff. However, Kelo seemed almost human. It appeared that NPCs were the same as monsters in this regard; the higher level and more powerful they were, the closer they came to being truly alive

Now how can I convince him to help me defeat Angud…? Nie Yan wondered. Given he had just freed War God Kelo from a millennium of imprisonment, it was only natural that he received some kind of reward. He felt that putting forward such a request wasn’t unreasonable.

War God Kelo took out two stones. "These are Kelo Runestones. As thanks for rescuing me, you can call for my help twice. You can instantly summon me by crushing these runestones. However, as a god, I won’t participate in the conflict of men. Nor will I needlessly take lives, unless yours is in direct danger. Secondly, I won’t help you complete any quests. A true adventurer must brave risks and tackle any challenges head-on. There are no easy shortcuts.”

"I understand, and thank you.” Nie Yan accepted the two runestones and stored them away in his bag. With them, he could take down Angud! He couldn’t help but become excited.

As Nie Yan wondered how he could create an opportunity for War God Kelo to take action, a notification popped up.

War God Kelo has regained his freedom. The light of the god of war shines over this world once more. The War God Baptism quest has been released. The barbarian race and Raider class is now available.

Nie Yan was dumbstruck. A new race and class—barbarian Raider?

In the rich history of Conviction, barbarians were known for their strength. Many powerful heroes came from their tribe. In terms of racial bonuses, every barbarian was a natural born warrior. The release of this new race and class would bring about huge changes, which all players would welcome.

Nie Yan immediately searched up information related to barbarian Raiders online. All Righteous Faction Warriors could become barbarian Raiders. All they had to do was head to the barbarian tribe and complete a quest given by the tribe elders. However, there was one big caveat, if they accepted the class swap, they would be returned to Level 0 and have to restart from scratch. This was simply too heavy of a price for most players. It was a tough decision to make. The might of barbarian Raiders was unquestioned. With every level up, they’d receive a little more attack power, health, and defense than other similar classes. This would only become more apparent later on.

News of the release of the barbarian race and Raider class shook the hearts of the entire Righteous Faction. Many Warriors were brimming with excitement. Be it the the War God Baptism quest or the Raider class, both were extremely alluring to them. Before long, numerous Warriors flocked to the Abernathy Great Grasslands where the barbarian tribe resided.

Nie Yan didn’t expect rescuing War God Kelo would lead to the release of an entire new race and class. Whether this development was good or bad remained to be seen.

Chapter 858 - Insignia of the God of War

Class swapping to a Raider was an incredibly difficult choice. After all, many Warriors were already over Level 130. Starting over from scratch meant throwing away the time and effort they spent levelling up.

However, according to the information found online, a barbarian Raider was more powerful than a Warrior by roughly 30%.

The structure of levelling up supported the low level players to catch up to the rest. As such, the choice was obvious for some, and they wouldn’t hesitate to class swap to a barbarian Raider.

A Level 100 barbarian Raider was as strong as a Level 130 human or orc Warrior. When adding their class exclusive skills to the equation, the difference in strength only became bigger.

Reaching Level 100 from scratch would take no more than five or six months. With the help of a high level Mage, that could be shortened to half that time.

"Here, take these War God Insignias. When a Warrior changes to a barbarian Raider, they can show the insignia to the tribe elders to preserve their current level.” War God Kelo passed on six War God Insignias to Nie Yan.

"Thank you, sir Kelo.”

"I’ll be taking my leave. If you need my help, crush one of the Kelo Runestones,” War God Kelo said. His face was somewhat pale. The thousand years of imprisonment had probably taken a heavy toll on him.

After bidding farewell, War God Kelo disappeared.

Nie Yan received a notification.

You have completed the quest ‘War God Kelo’s Request’. You have received one level and +300 Influence in the barbarian tribe.

Nie Yan’s eyes lit up with joy. The quest reward was quite generous, especially the level up. As for the influence bonus, he would have to test out the effects himself the next time he encountered a barbarian.

With his business here concluded, Nie Yan teleported away with Instant Transmission.

About 15 minutes later, several Thieves arrived in front of the crucifix. Scattered on the ground were broken chains.

Nie Yan was the first, but not the only one to find the imprisoned War God Kelo. Over the last year, many players had found him chained up to the crucifix. All of them had approached him and attempted to obtain a quest, only to be met with failure.

As a Level 360 Lord, War God Kelo was the highest level NPC players had discovered so far. So, he was quite famous. Like an attraction, people would go on an excursion to see him in the flesh.

However, War God Kelo was gone! It seemed Nie Yan had freed him. This was a bombshell piece of news!

Recalling how Nie Yan was here just moments ago, the Thieves immediately connected the dots. It appeared the Mad Rogue had completed another legendary quest!

...

Back in the Angel Corps guild headquarters, Soaring Angel was anxiously tapping the armrest of his throne. The release of a new race and class didn’t make him feel the least bit excited. Rather, he felt a trace of worry in his heart.

「Did anyone discover what Nirvana Flame was doing in Sinful Gorge?」Soaring Angel asked irritably in guild chat.

「H-he freed War God Kelo!」

「W-WHAT!?」Soaring Angel shot up from his seat. War God Kelo was a Level 360 Lord. If such an existence would help Nirvana Flame, they might as well throw down their weapons and raise the white flag. He restlessly paced back and forth before eventually calming down. Logically speaking, NPCs like Kelo wouldn’t interfere in the conflicts between players, unless it was related to a special quest-related event. For example, the only reason Half-Demon Angud was attacking Asskickers United was to obtain the Death God’s Edge. If Nie Yan handed it over, he would immediately leave.

Nie Yan’s rescue of War God Kelo was probably only a quest. No wonder he had disappeared for such a long time. While Asskickers United was being attacked by Angud, he was busy doing this quest. That had to be it! Soaring Angel suddenly recalled something. He turned to Stone Splitter and anxiously said, "Quickly send word to Pantheon and have Angud return to the underworld. Nirvana Flame is about to make his move!”

"Understood!” Stone Splitter replied. He immediately went to carry out Soaring Angel’s orders.

Soaring Angel’s expression darkened. He glanced at his inventory. Will these be enough? His opponent was Nirvana Flame. No matter how much he prepared, it was never enough.

Soaring Angel rang up Cao Xu. That wily old fox was suspiciously calm. His 20-guild coalition didn’t appear to be making any large moves on the surface, business as usual. But apparently, the Century Financial Group was madly recruiting experts, resorting to any means fair or foul, including blackmail, imprisonment, and of course bribery. All the expert solo players had been recruited by them, and they had surpassed Angel Corps already in the number of Masters. Soaring Angel had no choice but to admit that he was still inexperienced compared to Cao Xu. He didn’t have the courage to be as unscrupulous and underhanded!

…

The north of the Satreen Empire. In the eastern district of a small town stood a grand castle. Most recently, it had been bought by the Century Financial Group and became Cao Xu’s private residence.

Cao Xu was sitting in a recliner leisurely reading a book titled, "Legends of the Atlanta Continent”.

Be it Conviction’s history, geography, culture, or anything else, no one was more knowledgeable than Cao Xu. Though he might not enjoy the thrill of battle, his understanding of every class, skill, synergy, and PvP technique that had ever appeared had reached the acme. Even Nie Yan’s techniques were thoroughly analyzed and passed on to the Thieves under him. He spoke over 200 languages in the game and frequently interacted with NPC scholars, obtaining clues about various quests. More than half of all the experts in the Century Financial Group had received pointers from him.

The Century Financial Group’s venture into the Viridian Empire ended in failure. So, Cao Xu focused his attention elsewhere. It didn’t take long for him to secure a foothold in the Satreen Empire, to the extent that he could go toe-to-toe with Angel Corps. At the same time, he also controlled a significant stake in Angel Corps. To have accomplished this much in such a short span of time was simply astonishing.

Cao Xu had 200 players standing behind him in rank and file. They were all recent recruits of the Century Financial Group.

Even though the Century Financial Group acquired a majority stake in over 20 guilds, they never established one themselves. The 100,000 players directly under Cao Xu weren’t allowed to join any guild either. Like this, they appeared like random solo players to the public.

"You’ve all arrived,” Cao Xu insipidly said, flipping over to the next page of his book.

Among these 200 people, many were glaring daggers at Cao Xu.

"I know many of you here wish nothing more than to rip me to shreds. You’re free to do as you please. However, I hope you think about the loved ones at home. Surely, they desire to see you again. So, make sure you complete your missions. I won’t tolerate any mistakes,” Cao Xu said in a calm, leisurely tone.

Many of those present trembled at Cao Xu’s words. They all understood what he meant. If they dared to pull anything funny, one could imagine what sort of fate awaited them. They were already in the palms of his hand.

Some were here under duress. Others were lured in by fat stacks of cash. However, they all understood one thing. They could not disobey Cao Xu.

"Did you collect the items I asked for?”

"We’ve gathered most of them. However, the Occult Talismans, Book of Resurrection, and Chapters of Order are fairly difficult to obtain. We’ve only obtained two low-rank Occult Talismans and six chapters, but they’re not part of the same volume.”

"Useless idiots! Did I not give you all the quest clues for the Occult Talismans and the Book of Resurrection? As for the chapters, I’ll give you three more days to complete a volume!” Cao Xu said in a grave tone.

"T-that’s impossible…”

"Yeah, there’s no way we can do that!”

...

Cao Xu’s orders were immediately met with opposition.

"Obtaining the high rank Occult Talisman is a legendary quest. We’ve already wiped more than 10 times!

"The Book of Resurrection is maybe even harder! We need to kill the Level 180 Variant Lord General of Darkness to reach that chest. We need at least a 5,000-man expedition team,” a Champion stepped forward and said. His words immediately received the agreement of several dozen others.

An elven Magister also stepped forward. "It’s impossible for us to complete a volume in three days. We pretty much have to kill Nirvana Flame to finish any volume. We’re not his match!”

After hearing their words, Cao Xu furrowed his brows. It appeared obtaining these last few items simply wasn’t possible right now.

As Cao Xu was pondering, two Shadow Dancers stepped forward. "Boss, leave the Occult Talisman and Book of Resurrection to us.”

Cao Xu shot a glance at the two Shadow Dancers and waved his hand. "Fine, don’t disappoint me.”

"Understood!” The two Shadow Dancers bowed before withdrawing.

"Forget about the Chapters of Order. I’ll give you a new mission,” Cao Xu said. After learning the other chapters were in the hands of Nie Yan, he had no choice but to give up.

The meeting continued for another 20 minutes before everyone scattered. Cao Xu reclined back into his seat and looked out the window. In the distance was an endless barren, and on the horizon was the blood red setting sun.

Chapter 859 - Barbarian Raider

Nie Yan returned to Okoron and immediately began preparations to deal with Half-Demon Angud.

Before long, a 1,000-man team assembled in the square in front of the guild headquarters. Clad in brilliant armour, they stood at attention, brimming with icy killing intent.

Each of these players were one out of 10,000 hand-picked elites!

A large crowd of curious passersby gathered too.

"What are they up to?”

"Surely, they aren’t going to attack Angel Corps with such a small force?”

"One of my friends in Asskickers United told me they’re preparing to face Angud.”

"Really? With only these guys?”

"You're joking, right? Angud is a Level 180 Demonified Lord!”

"Yeah! Super bosses like that can even wipe out entire guilds!”

"I don’t know guys, that’s what I heard.”

The crowd was awestruck by the domineering line-up. Sure enough, Asskickers United’s elites were on a completely different plane.

"Don’t underestimate those guys. I heard that on average their Warriors have over 13,000 defense, and their Mages over 17,000 magic power.”

"My god! How? That’s insane!”

For most Warriors it was impressive to reach about 8,000 defense by the time they hit Level 140. The same could be said for Mages with 10,000 magic power. Yet the average player in this 1,000-man expedition team almost doubled those stats. An insurmountable gap separated these top players from the rest.

The 1,000-man expedition team was split into different ranks.

Nie Yan and Guo Huai stood outside the entrance of the guild headquarters.

「So, how’s it going? Did you locate Angud yet?」Nie Yan asked. He had sent out Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and several others to track down Angud.

「Not yet. It’s like he vanished into thin air.」

「Be patient. He’ll show himself,」Nie Yan said. Worst comes to worst, he would step forth personally to act as bait.

「I don’t think our 1,000-man expedition team is strong enough to face him.」

「I have a plan.」Nie Yan explained the use of the Kelo Runestones.「Just follow my commands. When the time comes, I’ll summon War God Kelo.」He’d mobilized the 1,000-man expedition simply to reduce the workload on himself.

「War God Kelo? You mean the Level 360 Lord you rescued from Sinful Gorge?」

「Correct.」

「That’s great news!」

Learning there was a way to deal with Angud, everyone became excited. Angud had harassed them for long enough. It was about time they got their revenge!

「Smoke Stub, Bladelight, Monochrome, Edgeless, Lofty Shadow, Lei Su, you six come back first,」Nie Yan said.

「Why? Is something up?」

「You’ll find out when you get here,」Nie Yan replied.

Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the other four teleported back to Okoron with Return Scrolls. A few minutes later, they arrived at the guild headquarters.

"Take this.” Nie Yan tossed a War God Insignia to Smoke Stub.

"What is this?” Smoke Stub asked skeptically. The War God Insignia looked like an ordinary medal with no real use.

"If you have this War God Insignia with you when you class swap to a Raider, you won’t need to restart from Level 0,” Nie Yan replied before distributing the remaining five War God Insignias.

Smoke Stub couldn’t help but become excited and asked, "War God Kelo gave these to you?”

"Yep. It was one of my quest rewards.” Nie Yan chuckled.

These six Warriors had been faced with a difficult choice. Stick to their current class and eventually be outclassed by other players. Or class swap to a barbarian Raider and start back at Level 0, becoming utterly useless to the guild for the foreseeable future. They’d be leaning towards sticking to their current class, simply because they couldn’t let their guildmates fight Angud, or Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group without them. Thankfully, the War God Insignia had resolved this issue.

Bladelight and the other five couldn’t help but wonder how much a War God Insignia would sell for in the marketplace. Its value was certainly immeasurable!

War God Kelo only gave Nie Yan six War God Insignias, which he was offering to them! They couldn’t feel prouder. Clearly, their boss viewed them as the pillars of Asskickers United!

"Hurry up and go class change. I’ve already done some research. The quest is pretty easy. You guys should be able to finish it in half-an-hour tops. You’ll be the six strongest barbarian Raiders!” Nie Yan said. He heard barbarian Raiders had many powerful skills. His eyes shone with anticipation.

"Alright, wait for the good news.” Smoke Stub patted Nie Yan on the shoulder.

Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the other four left. Half-an-hour wasn’t long. The fight with Angud wouldn’t even have started by then.

About 15 minutes later, there was finally information on Angud.

「Boss, several of our people reported seeing Angud flying over Sky Lake! He’s probably heading straight for Okoron!」Undying Scoundrel reported.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Is he planning to assault the city? He couldn’t help but recall the battle with Phantom Princess Ina. If Angud decided to attack Okoron, the city might be razed to the ground for real this time!

「Where are you guys right now?」Nie Yan asked.

「We’re rushing back to Okoron,」Undying Scoundrel replied.

Nie Yan guessed Angud was coming for him. That son of a bitch knew he was in Okoron!

「He’s after me. I’ll draw him away from the city,」Nie Yan declared. Asskickers United was on the verge of an all-out war with Angel Corps. If Okoron were destroyed, Soaring Angel wouldn’t hesitate to kick him while he was down.

Guo Huai looked at a recent report. His face paled. "Nie Yan, An Angel Corps force of nearly 600,000 players is making their way to Okoron!”

Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a cold light. It appeared Angel Corps wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and attack Okoron while they were busy dealing with Angud.

"How large is our NPC army now?” Nie Yan asked.

"About 30,000 strong, all Level 160 Elites. I’ve assigned all the weaker NPCs to other work,” Guo Huai replied. Asskickers United had put in an enormous amount of effort into nurturing these NPCs, outfitting them with the highest quality equipment, all for the sake of building a powerful army.

When Phantom Princess Ina attacked Okoron, Nie Yan had the NPC army sit out of the battle. After all, having them face off against a Level 180 Demonified Lord was a simple method of killing off his entire army. Now, all his efforts paid off, and they would finally show their use in dealing with the forces of Angel Corps!

Okoron’s players also started to mobilize, organizing into ranks in preparation for the city’s defense.

"How many catapults did they bring with them?” Nie Yan asked.

"Over 200.”

"Mhmm, we should be good." Nie Yan nodded. Okoron had 100 catapults and 300 Goblin Magic Cannons stationed on the walls.

Okoron had entered battle mode.

Angel Corps’ army slowly approached Okoron. They were taking their time, seemingly waiting for something. The 600,000 troops stretched out across the plain. The players guarding the walls couldn’t help but shudder at the sight.

"Looks like we have a big battle on our hands.” Guo Huai chuckled. After serving as Asskickers United’s executive guild leader for so long, he had the air of a leader. "Are we still planning to fight Angud outside the city?”

"Yeah. Nothing’s changed.” Nie Yan nodded.

"Then we better watch out for Angel Corps ambushing us!”

"Mhmm. Don’t worry. I will,” Nie Yan turned to the 1,000-man expedition team. "The enemy’s 600,000 troops are right outside our walls. Tell me! Are you afraid!?”

"NO!” the 1,000 players cried out in unison, shaking the entire square.

"Good! Follow me!” Nie Yan said. According to War God Kelo’s conditions, Angud had to be a direct threat to his life for the Kelo Runestone to work. At the same time, it would also take some time to channel. That’s where the 1,000-man expedition team came in.

Following Nie Yan’s lead, the 1,000-man expedition exited the city gates.

Soaring Angel and Cao Xu were closely monitoring Asskickers United’s every movement. So, they immediately knew when Nie Yan and the 1,000 players set out.

After another 20 minutes, Nie Yan heard back from Smoke Stub and the other five. They were hurrying back to Okoron. The class change quest was fairly simple. All they had to do was talk to a few NPCs and pass a short trial. The only real hurdle was restarting from Level 0. However, the War God Insignia allowed them to completely bypass this.

「So, how’s it being a barbarian Raider?」Nie Yan asked.

「Pretty damn awesome!」Smoke Stub exclaimed, his voice cracking with excitement.

After hearing Smoke Stub’s words, Nie Yan knew the rewards for becoming a barbarian Raider were better than he expected.

「Thanks to the War God Insignia, we also obtained two additional skills.」

「I got Auto Counter and Mad Howl.」

「I got Frenzied Charge and Thunder Rend!」

…

Chapter 860 - Meeting Angud Again

As for how strong barbarian Raiders were, only battle could tell. All everyone knew for now was that they were stronger than human or orc Warriors. Asskickers United was the first to have a high level barbarian Raider, let alone six, causing others to gaze at them in envy.

When the barbarian race and Raider class were first announced, it was rumoured that tens of thousands of players flocked to the barbarian tribe to class change. Many of them were low-level players who didn’t have much to lose. Most of the high level players were still hesitating.

Shortly after exiting Okoron, Nie Yan received word that Half-Demon Angud had reached the outskirts to the south of the city. Roughly 200 guild members were unlucky enough to be in his path and were slaughtered.

「Tell me his exact coordinates!」

「237.285.238!」

King of the World, Sun, and the other Thieves were scouting the surroundings. Suddenly, an anxious voice rang out in the voice chat.「Watch out! Angud is approaching fast!」

Nie Yan searched for Angud. He was standing in the middle of an open field about 50 meters by 50 meters in size. Other than a few small bushes, there was nothing here that could obstruct his view.

「Get in position. Angud is approaching from the south.」

「Boss, we see him!」a Thief called out.

「Are the traps set?」Nie Yan asked anxiously.

「Yep! We used our most powerful traps!」

Nie Yan looked toward the south. Something was fast approaching. The silhouette turned from a black blur into a terrifying half-demon. Angud!

「Don’t get too close. He’ll come to u—」

BOOOM! Angud landed on the ground at high velocity, dirt flying everywhere.

Flutter has been killed!

A string of notifications popped up. Three Thieves in the vicinity of Angud’s landing zone failed to escape in time and were instantly killed.

Angud’s demonic eyes pierced through the cloud of dust and locked onto Nie Yan. He broke into a sprint and leaped into the air before crashing back down to the ground like a streaking meteor! Taking a few steps, he launched himself into the air again. Each landing felt like the world was collapsing as the earth quaked violently.

"Boss, he’s here!”

Nie Yan watched Angud charging over with narrowed eyes. We finally meet again!

Seeing Angud quickly closing in, the expedition team tensed up.

"Summon your pets and block him. Don’t let him close in on Nie Yan!" Bladelight shouted.

"We’re on it!”

From Smoke Stub to any random member of the expedition team, all of them summoned their respective pets. From giant tundra bears to sharp tusked mammoths, they charged forward to intercept Angud.

Seeing the pets rushing to his aid, Nie Yan retreated behind them.

The tundra bear arrived in front of Angud and swiped down with its paw.

"Nice timing!”

"Yes!”

As the attack was about to land, Angud slid forward and slammed his tail into the tundra bears neck. BAM! It was knocked off its feet, airborne for a good two seconds.

"Fuck! He’s too strong!”

"Everyone, get away!”

Below the still airborne tundra bear was a group Mages. They quickly blinked away. BANG! It crashed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Instant kill!

One by one, the other pets were knocked off their feet by Angud. Nothing could stop his advance. However, they achieved their goal. Angud’s charging speed had been greatly reduced.

Angud chanted an incantation and raised several dozen skeletons from the ground. Their bones sparkled with a golden sheen. With shields raised and swords held high, they charged toward the nearby players.

A shower of spells rained down from the sky and bombarded the golden skeletons.

"Level 180 Elites!”

"Don’t panic!”

"Warriors, pull their aggro!”

None of the expedition team members panicked at the appearance of the skeletons. They stuck to their role and adapted accordingly.

"We’ll be drinking bone soup tonight!”

"Haha! If we can take them down, sure!”

The melee players surrounded the golden skeletons and locked them down, while the Mages never stopped firing their spells.

Angud raised his arm into the sky and spread out his palm, conjuring a massive, crimson ball of flames. His entire body ignited with an ominous, black aura.

According to legend, demons came from the very depths of the earth. Surviving an eternity within the harsh, lava-filled environment, they mastered control of fire. The flames in their body could engulf everything.

"Wretched mortals, you’ve annoyed me for the last time! I can detect the presence of the Death God’s Edge. Hand it over to me, or else I’ll annihilate you all in both body and soul!” Angud’s voice thundered across the battlefield. With a wave of his hand, the crimson ball of flame descended on Nie Yan.

A dark, gloomy energy swept over Nie Yan, causing his body to go rigid.

It was the fear effect!

This time, Nie Yan dealt much better with it than before. He could still move his body, albeit with difficulty.

Nie Yan had learned from their last encounter that the fear effect would be manyfold stronger if he looked Angud directly in the eyes.

Nie Yan gauged the trajectory of the crimson ball of flame. Activating Gale Step, he fled for safety.

BOOOM! The ball crashed into the ground and exploded like a bomb, sending out a powerful fiery blast which instantly engulfed several nearby Warriors.

Nie Yan retreated a hundred meters back while ordering in voice chat,「Cover me! I’m going to summon War God Kelo! I’ll need at least 15 seconds!」

「Leave it to us. Even if every last one of us has to die, we’ll hold him back!」Bladelight replied, then charged toward Angud with several other Warriors in tow.

Nie Yan looked at Angud. The space between them was covered in a dense bed of traps. Should be good enough to buy me a few more seconds, he thought.

Nie Yan was about to crush a Kelo Runestone, when several anxious voices cried out in chat.

「Boss! Angel Corps’ forces are here!」

「Enemy Thieves!」

「Boss, several thousand Angel Corps troops are making their way over here!」

…

Nie Yan knitted his brows. Like he predicted, Angel Corps would pounce on this opportunity.

Suddenly, Nie Yan sensed an unfamiliar presence. His lips curved into a sneer. You managed to approach within 30 meters of me. Not bad...

Eyes of Truth!

Nie Yan’s eyes blossomed with a profound light. Looking around, he locked onto three Thieves in an instant.

Just as he was about to take action, Nie Yan noticed several silhouettes closing in on the Thieves at lightning speed. PSFHT! PSFHT! PSFHT! Several streaks of light flashed out in the air. The three Thieves dropped dead at practically the same time. Sun, King of the World, and Mistaken Smile materialized as their blades dealt killing blows.

King of the World chuckled. "Focus on summoning War God Kelo. Leave this trash to us!”

Many more Thieves attempted to ambush Nie Yan, only to be dealt with by King of the World, Sun, and Mistaken Smile before they could get anywhere near him.

Quite a few corpses littered the ground.

Because of the interruption, Nie Yan had already missed the most opportune time to crush the Kelo Runestone. Angud had broken free from the Warriors locking him down, sending six of them flying, and charged toward him again.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Angud detonated the Thunderstorm Totems on the ground as lightning engulfed the surroundings. However, it didn’t deal the slightest damage to him.

"Bladelight, let’s stop him together!” Smoke Stub charged toward Angud from the flank.

"Sure!”

Bulwark of the War God!

Bladelight’s muscles bulged out and brimmed with extraordinary power. He looked like a fortress of flesh.

After becoming a barbarian Raider, the Bulwark of the War God skill grew even more powerful.

"Come at me, you half-baked demon!” Bladelight rammed his shield into Angud.

"Begone! Angud swung his palm down at Bladelight, who quickly raised his shield to block. KLANG! He was sent skidding several meters back. A damage value of 137,000 floated up above his head. He only had 12,000 health remaining.

Nie Yan hurriedly had Kalenna cast Heal on Bladelight. Young Seven also followed up with his own Heal. Bladelight’s health was restored to full.

"Hah, that tickled! I expected more of a Demonified Lord!” Bladelight snorted and charged back up to Angud.

Nie Yan crushed the Kelo Runestone as it turned into fine powder. He felt an energy locking onto him. Likely, War God Kelo was confirming his position. Please arrive quickly! He couldn’t help but pray.

"Y-you!” Angud became enraged. His arm ignited with flames as he sent a fist flying towards Bladelight.

Bladelight accidentally looked into Angud’s eyes. His black pupils were like a bottomless abyss, threatening to swallow him whole.

Shit, I can’t move! Bladelight’s heart turned cold. He was immobilized! He gritted his teeth as he attempted to raise his shield, but it felt as heavy as a mountain.

It was already too late!

BAM! Angud punched Bladelight in the chest, knocking him down.

Bladelight has died!

"Dammit!” Smoke Stub had tried to save Bladelight, but he was a step too late. He slashed down on Angud with his sword, when a powerful force gripped onto his neck. His attack came to a halt mid-swing, while his body was raised into the air. KRAAACK! Blood dripped down and soaked into the earth.

Smoke Stub has died!

Chapter 861 - Purifying Angud

Half-Demon Angud locked his gaze onto Nie Yan and pushed off the ground. 50 meters, 40 meters, 30 meters...

The Warriors in the expedition team threw themselves into the path of Angud, only to be knocked away. No matter how much of them went up, they couldn’t even slow Angud down, let alone block him.

When Angud was 29 meters away, Nie Yan’s pupils shrunk.

The ground within a 20-meter radius around Angud transformed into a whirlpool of quicksand. Angud got stuck, unable to lift his feet. No matter how much he struggled or tried to leap away, he only sank further in.

This was Violet Mist’s most powerful Quicksand Trap, super effective against bosses!

Nie Yan didn’t have high hopes of this trap locking Angud down for long. Just a few seconds, and he’d be happy.

"Nirvana Flame can’t move! This is our chance! Kill him!”

Over 60 Thieves from Angel Corps came rushing out from their hiding spots. They only had a singular goal, to kill Nie Yan!

"Scoundrel, Yao Yao, Sparrow Hawk, come and help! We can’t deal with all of them in time!”

King of the World, Mistaken Smile, and Sun couldn’t block all these 60 Thieves from reaching Nie Yan. The rest of the expedition team members were busy dealing with the golden skeletons, so they couldn’t lend any help right now either. Nor could the other players who were stationed only a small distance away. They had their hands full with a 3,000-man team from Angel Corps rushing over.

Several Thieves were about to close in on Nie Yan, when Xie Yao arrived in front of them with just a few Blinks.

"Watch out for that Mage!”

"Kill her!”

Xie Yao waved her staff, casting a Rank 13 Holy Judgement. A massive pillar of light descended, only gaining in size.

"Carefu—!”

BANG! BANG! Two Thieves failed to evade in time and were sent flying.

One Thief escaped with Gale Step and tried to close in on Nie Yan. Xie Yao instantly blinked in front of them. With a wave of her staff, she fired a Holy Bolt.

Only a distance of two meters separated the two. The Thief had no time to react at all. BANG! His body flew through the air lifelessly.

Several of the Thieves further back broke out in a cold sweat.

"Shit, that Mage is too scary!”

"Ignore her! Deal with Nirvana Flame first!”

Two more Thieves were charging towards Nie Yan, when they suddenly both came to a screeching halt. Someone stood in front of them.

"It’s Sparrow Hawk! Run!”

"Get away!”

These were the last words the Thieves said. Tang Yao’s notoriety in Asskickers United was only second to Nie Yan’s. To the outside, he was an untouchable existence.

Tang Yao took quick care of these two Thieves with only a few spells.

Still struggling in the quicksand, Angud raised his hand and conjured an enormous fireball. He aimed it toward the ground below his feet.

BOOOM! The intense heat transformed the sand into glass, which shattered as Angud freed himself.

Angud leaped forward and landed 10 meters away from Nie Yan. He raised his fist, his face looking particularly sinister within the dark aura he was giving off.

Tang Yao waved his staff, summoning an Arcane Ice Shield in front of Nie Yan.

BOOOM! Angud punched the black shield and shattered it in one blow, practically disintegrating it as specks of ice crystals fluttered in the air.

"Shit! There’s no stopping him!” Tang Yao despaired.

Seeing Angud closing in fast, Nie Yan’s lips curved into a faint smile.

"Boss, run!” Undying Scoundrel cried out anxiously.

Nie Yan showed no signs of fleeing. Instead, he shouted, "Kelo, appear!”

WHOOOOSH! An unrivalled aura swept away all the players within a 60-meter radius. A giant tornado descended from the sky. Angud was sent flying away and crashed into the ground. He struggled to resist the fierce gale. The powerful new presence caused him to tremble in fear.

A large, burly figure appeared within the tornado.

"The boss did it!”

The surrounding Asskickers United players broke out in cheers.

War God Kelo had come to their rescue!

The tornado gradually dissipated, revealing War God Kelo.

"You’ve used a Kelo Runestone. As promised, I’ll help you with one thing, granted it doesn’t violate my two conditions,” War God Kelo said.

Nie Yan glanced over at Angud. He was trembling uncontrollably, like a mouse who encountered a cat. He didn’t even have the willpower to flee.

"Sir Kelo, that demon over there came all the way over from the underworld to kill me and steal my treasures. I’m powerless to stop him. Please get rid of him for me,” Nie Yan said.

"Treasures? Are you talking about the Death God’s Edge?” War God Kelo asked.

"Yes.” Nie Yan’s heart trembled. War God Kelo wouldn’t be after the Death God’s Edge too, right? If that were the case, he was powerless to stop him.

"It’s no wonder evil creatures have their eyes on you.” War God Kelo chuckled. "Sure, I will carry out your request.”

Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. With Angud taken care of, that was one less thing to worry about.

War God Kelo walked over to Angud. He placed his hand over Angud’s head and muttered, "You pitiful abomination. May your suffering end here.”

Angud didn’t even dare to raise his head.

A pillar of holy light descended from the sky and enveloped Angud.

Angud’s body slowly melted away, not struggling in the slightest, before disappearing completely as if he were never there in the first place.

"Youngster, I’ve completed your request. I’ll be going now,” War God Kelo said before disappearing.

Since Angud was killed by War God Kelo, he didn’t drop any loot.

The Thieves from Angel Corps made a retreat. The 3,000 players a little further away followed suit.

With Angud’s death, their opportunity was gone. The brief moment where Nie Yan was human came to an end, his status as invincible reinstated. There was no reason for them to stay here any longer.

Nie Yan had finally gotten rid of a sharp thorn in his side. Now the only ones left to deal with were Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. After that, Asskickers United's path to the summit would be unimpeded!

Corpses littered the ground. Nie Yan turned to Young Seven. "Revive Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the rest of the fallen.”

Young Seven, Painted Muslin, Black Heaven, and the other Priests walked over to the corpses and started reviving them.

After Angud’s death, the golden skeletons also collapsed into a pile of dust. The battlefield calmed down. The team members sat down to recover their health and mana.

...

Before long, Angel Corps, the Century Financial Group, and Pantheon received reports of Angud’s death.

Soaring Angel watched the video with a pensive look on his face. He sent a whisper to Cao Xu.

「What are your thoughts, Brother Cao?」Soaring Angel asked.

「Nirvana Flame is pretty lucky to get the help of War God Kelo. It’s a pity Angud died so soon. We could’ve used him to our advantage. Oh well.」

「Godking, that fool,」Soaring Angel cursed.

「You can’t blame Godking on this one. There’s no way he could control a Level 180 Demonified Lord. Angud didn’t listen to anyone. Right now, we can only rely on ourselves to deal with Asskickers United.」

Soaring Angel enlarged the video and locked onto the stone Nie Yan had crushed.

「That stone is probably what Nirvana Flame used to summon War God Kelo. I wonder if he has any more.」

「It doesn’t matter if he has more or not. The crucial point is that there is a limited amount of them. Also, didn’t you hear the exchange between War God Kelo and Nirvana Flame? War God Kelo has certain conditions on lending his help. Logically speaking, if War God Kelo could be freely called at any time, Nirvana Flame would’ve used him to deal with Angud right at the start. Would there be a need to go through all that trouble? Likely, the requirements for summoning War God Kelo are quite strict. Not to mention existences on the level of Kelo can’t participate in the affairs between players. This is something set by the system,」Cao Xu gave his analysis.

Soaring Angel sank into silence. Cao Xu’s words made sense.

「In any case, we’re already riding on the tiger’s back. We can only fight with Asskickers United until the bitter end. There’s no need to worry about these things. We can only deal with whatever comes our way. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.」Cao Xu chuckled.

「Thank you for your guidance, Brother Cao,」Soaring Angel said. At times like these, he could not allow fear and anxiousness to warp his judgement.

Soaring Angel and Cao Xu took Angud’s death fairly calmly. On the other hand, Godking went into a flying rage. Angud was crucial to several of his important quests. Now, all of them had come to a premature end. Not to mention that Angud’s existence was one of Pantheon’s greatest trump cards. They were left with nothing.

Chapter 862 - Encounter in the Skies

When news of Angud’s death reached the ears of the alliance, several million players broke out in cheers. Nothing could block Asskickers United’s path to the top! The Atlanta continent would be theirs!

Like a stone dropped into still water, the entire Righteous Faction was stirring.

All members of the alliances dispatched their troops as previously agreed upon. Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, the War God Tribe, Battle Crazed Alliance, and Radiant Sacred Flame divided 700,000 of their players into three different armies, all of them marching towards the Satreen Empire like a raging tide. The five branch guilds sent a force 1,000,000 strong. Asskickers United also dispatched 100,000 players, keeping the remaining 400,000 behind to defend Okoron and the other strongholds and keep the 600,000 Angel Corps players in the Abernathy Great Grasslands in check.

Nie Yan summoned his Darkwing Dragon and hopped on its back. It flapped its wings and took off in the air.

So far, everything was going according to plan. The different armies would soon reach the Satreen Empire.

Nie Yan had various videos coming in, all of which were captured from an aerial view. In valleys and plains, player forces marched forward like a flowing river while catapults slowly advanced among their ranks, stretching out off into the horizon as far as the eye could see. Up in the sky were numerous black dots. They were all flying mounts.

The alliance had over 12,000 flying mounts combined, 90% of which was made out of low rank ones while the rest were Rank 5 or higher. This was already an extremely powerful aerial force, enough to completely cover the skies.

Bladelight and the other Masters also summoned their own flying mounts and took to the sky.

"We’re finally going to war.”

"I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time.”

"With a single command, you made millions of people move. That must feel pretty amazing, huh?” Bladelight asked Nie Yan with a smile.

A myriad of emotions stirred in Nie Yan’s heart. He never once thought he’d be in such a position one day. In his past life, he was a target of scorn, forced into a path of no retreat by the Century Financial Group. But in this life, he had obtained the power to stand on equal footing with the likes of Soaring Angel and Cao Xu.

After reaching this point, the knowledge from his past life was already no longer relevant, only coming in handy on special occasions. Now, Nie Yan could only rely on his own ability to solve things step by step, such as the Tyrant Abak Set and Zennarde’s Sword.

Nie Yan was without a doubt already at the top, looking down on everyone from high above like the sun in the sky. The various emotions welling up in his heart wasn’t something people could understand. This was his secret, one he would take to the grave.

Looking in the distance, Nie Yan took in the grand landscape.

Breathing in deeply, a sense of heroism bubbled forth from his heart. "If we liken the entire Atlanta continent to a Chinese chess board, we’ve only crossed the river. The game is only beginning!”

The group of Masters couldn’t help but think back to the start of the game. Nie Yan had recruited them one by one, a nobody contacting them to join a guild without backing. That was how it all started. They never imagined themselves being in this kind of place today.

"Sometimes, I feel like you’re some kind of time traveller. Ever since I first met you, it was like you knew everything in advance.” Bladelight glanced at Nie Yan with a smile.

Nie Yan lightly jolted, his heart skipping a beat as he felt like his secret had been exposed.

Bladelight chuckled. "Of course, time travel doesn’t exist. Nor can we predict the future. I don’t know why, but I feel like I—no, all of us have absolute faith that you’ll lead us in the right direction. Perhaps that’s the main source of our strength.”

Nie Yan chuckled. "Well, I can tell you I’m not 100% confident we’ll win against Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group in this war.”

"Even if we lose, so what!? We’ve already left our mark in the game!” Undying Scoundrel was rather positive.

For all of them, their experiences in Conviction were filled with glory, enough to be remembered for a lifetime. Even in 20 years from now, people in the game would still talk about them enthusiastically.

"Let’s not get so emotional. We haven’t even started fighting yet. This war won’t be won with a single battle. We’ll be fighting them for months, maybe even years. But I’m confident the boss will lead us to victory and unify the entire Righteous Faction!”

Nie Yan glanced at Xie Yao riding atop her white phoenix’ back about 20 meters away. Her beautiful appearance under the glow of the white flames evoked countless memories in his mind.

Time seemed to come to a halt.

No matter what, this war had to be won. The outcome was related to their fate.

Even though Asskickers United wasn’t any weaker than Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group combined, defeating these two great powers would prove quite difficult. And that was without considering the aces hidden up their sleeve!

"I heard both Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group are frantically recruiting more manpower.”

"It doesn’t matter how many more people they pull in. They’ll just be increasing the burden on their payroll. The crucial part is the strength of their core members.”

Listening to his teammates’ conversation, Nie Yan checked on the overall situation. Guo Huai had 200 administrative players forming a brain for the guild. They would be responsible for receiving all the reports coming in from the various fronts as well as passing on information, giving out commands, and so on.

Before long, Nie Yan received word that Holy Empire’s forces had suffered an attack from three of the guilds under the Century Financial Group. They fiercely fought back, with both sides losing over 10,000 players.

This was merely the beginning!

Battles broke out all across the Satreen Empire, but the main battlefield was in the Abernathy Great Grasslands.

As they arrived in Okoron, Nie Yan allowed the troops under him to recuperate. Gazing into the distance atop the walls, he saw Angel Corps’ catapults slowly advancing forward. The 600,000-man army had the city completely surrounded.

In a battle of this scale, no matter how strong he was as an individual, there was no way he could go against the heavens. At best, he could turn things around in a small local area. Pets couldn’t make much of an impact either, their prowess greatly reduced by siege weapons like catapults.

Countless players from Asskickers United stood atop Okoron’s walls. All the defensive structures were also active.

A group of 100 flying mounts flew close by.

They were all Angel Corps forces!

"It’s time for battle!” Nie Yan turned to the players behind him.

Nie Yan had over 20 flying mounts, one rank 8 Darkwing Dragon and three Rank 7 flying mounts, which comprised the Immortal Phoenix, Azure Dragon, and Crystal Winged Dragon, while all the rest were Rank 6.

The Darkwing Dragon took the vanguard and charged toward the enemy flying mounts.

...

Skyscraper was a wing captain in Angel Corps’ aerial force. He had over 100 flying mounts under him, of which there were three Rank 6 flying mounts while the rest were all Rank 5. He was in charge of reconnaissance. He led his members into circling the skies over Okoron. They were divided into six squads.

「Squad One reporting, everything here is clear. We haven’t discovered Asskickers United’s flying mounts,」Skyscraper said. As he made a turn, the flying mounts behind him followed suit, forming an arrow in the sky.

「Captain, why do you think Asskickers United’s aerial forces hasn’t appeared yet?」

「I don’t know. Be careful. Asskickers United is different from any enemy we’ve faced before!」

「Captain, we’ve spotted an enemy flying mount!」

「It’s the Darkwing Dragon!」

Skyscraper’s heart trembled. He anxiously shouted,「Everyone, retreat!」

Skyscraper looked around, only to discover that they were already surrounded!

「Captain, what do we do!?」

「Let’s fight them! They only have 20 flying mounts, we have a hundred!」

「Did you get dropped on the head? Those guys are Nirvana Flame’s elite forces! Even if we had twice as many troops, we’d still be no match for them! Just listen to my orders, retreat!」Skyscraper shouted. He took the lead in trying to charge out of the encirclement.

Suddenly, an enormous phoenix cut him off. Standing atop its back, Xie Yao looked like a goddess, so beautiful it was stifling.

The phoenix breathed out a mouthful of flames, the fire shooting forward like a streaking meteor.

Skyscraper suddenly pulled on his Thunder Hawk, causing it to make a rapid descent and evading the flames by just a hair’s breadth. BOOM! The flames struck a Rank 5 flying mount behind him. It let out a shrill cry and plummeted from the sky, still covered in raging flames.

A scorched flesh smell spread out through the air.

Skyscraper’s face paled. That was the phoenix’s True Fire skill! If he had been hit by it, he could only imagine the consequences. He couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat.

「Captain! Nirvana Flame is closing in on us from behind!」

Skyscraper glanced back and discovered the Darkwing Dragon swooping down on them. Its enormous frame covered the entire sky. Its two claws grabbed onto a flying mount and tore it into shreds. In the blink of an eye, another flying mount fell down from the sky.

Several nearby flying mounts attacked the Darkwing Dragon, but it was like they were hitting a steel plate. They couldn’t even leave a mark on its scales.

「Captain, it’s too strong! We can’t get through its defense!」

「Captain, what do we do?」

…

Their voices were shaking with fear. This was the first time they’d encountered this kind of situation.

「You idiots, why aren’t you running!?」Skyscraper cursed.

Chapter 863 - Beginning Act

The players from Angel Corps latched onto the faintest hope, their number advantage, only to be met with cruel reality.

Blood curdling cries rang out as a one-sided massacre took place in the air.

「What’s going on? Do you need backup?」

「We encountered Nirvana Flame! Stay far away! Don’t come!」Skyscraper shouted anxiously.

「What’s your situation?」

「Quickly, reply!」

A Seawind Mistbird spewed out a black fog, which quickly spread out into the surroundings, creating a smoke screen that greatly reduced visibility.

「Boss, I can’t see anything!」Undying Scoundrel cried out.

「Be careful guys. Don’t accidentally hurt our own!」

Eyes of Truth!

Nie Yan locked onto several fleeing flying mounts and pounced after them.

The battle in the sky lasted for 10 minutes before the smokescreen finally dissipated. Only the players from Asskickers United remained.

"What’s the battle report?” Nie Yan asked, his eyes on a distant place. Several black dots were flying farther and farther away.

"We killed 36 enemy flying mounts. The rest ran away. Zero casualties on our side.”

"If it weren’t for that smoke screen, none of them would’ve escaped!”

"What a shame!”

Undying Scoundrel, Lustboy, and several others were annoyed. Given their strength, they could easily wipe out the enemy.

"Anyone recognize that flying mount with the fog skill? That smoke screen covered a pretty large area,” Smoke Stub asked.

"It’s a Seawind Mistbird. Our guild has them too. They’re not much in direct combat, but with their supportive abilities they can be quite effective in the right team. The smokescreen, for example, can cover up to a 300-meter wide area,” Undying Scoundrel replied.

"Let’s watch out the next time we meet one,” Nie Yan replied. Most flying mounts had their own unique skills. It was best to be wary of them.

"Let’s go down and collect the Life Cores. Don’t let others snatch it away from us!”

The team members descended to the ground to collect the spoils of battle.

Nie Yan tossed a Darkness Life Core from his bag to the Darkwing Dragon. CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH! It happily swallowed the Life Core.

Looking at the Darkwing Dragon’s status page, it had only just reached Rank 8, still a far cry from Rank 9. These Darkness Life Cores were like green peas, far from satisfying.

Experience told Nie Yan that feeding Dragon Cores to his Darkwing Dragon right now wouldn’t have any effect. He would keep feeding it Darkness Life Cores until it reached the peak of Rank 8, then he would feed it Dragon Cores!

Nie Yan tossed another Darkness Life Core to the Darkwing Dragon.

"Are all the Life Cores collected?”

"Yep!”

"If there are any surplus Darkness Life Cores, give them to me,” Nie Yan said. The Darkwing Dragon practically had a bottomless stomach. Where most flying mounts required up to two weeks to digest a couple of Life Cores, it could eat them to no end.

"Boss, what are we going to do next?”

"We split up and clear the air space around Okoron of any enemy flying mounts!” Nie Yan declared. Since battle could break out at any moment, it was important to take control of the skies.

"Understood! Let’s get to work!”

"We’ll split into pairs. Yao Yao, you come with me,” Nie Yan said. All of the guild’s other flying mounts were fighting on the frontline. So, it was up to them to secure Okoron’s air space.

After splitting up into pairs, Nie Yan glanced over at an anxious looking Bladelight. "What’s the matter? Something wrong?”

"None of our forces have discovered Angel Corps’ main aerial force yet, and we only encountered these small fry near Okoron. Don’t you find it strange?” Bladelight asked.

Nie Yan chuckled. "I can understand why you’re worried, but this is Okoron, our home territory. If anything happens, we’ll just retreat within the range of the city’s anti-air defenses.”

"I’m just afraid we’ll meet some problems since our forces are spread so thin,” Bladelight said.

"You’re overthinking things. It’s fine. We’re in Okoron. Come one, ten, or a hundred, we’ll slaughter them all!” Undying Scoundrel said confidently.

Everyone was in high spirits. Bladelight didn’t want to ruin the mood. He sent a whisper to Nie Yan,「I’m just warning you. Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group have invested far more into flying mounts than we have. Not to mention you haven’t summoned the Darkwing Dragon in a long time. Their aerial forces probably aren’t any weaker than ours.」

Nie Yan nodded.「I understand. But since some of their aerial forces have already arrived in Okoron, we should at least give them a welcome!」

Guo Huai’s brain unit sent over a report. There were seven Angel Corps wings in the vicinity of Okoron, totalling over 700 flying mounts. Their ranks weren’t that high. So, clearing them would be easy and also greatly reduce the pressure on the troops on the ground.

After Magic Bombs became prevalent, air bombings from the sky became a prime tactic for sieging strongholds. As a result, control over the skies became more and more important. In order to prevent Angel Corps’ forces from launching a surprise bombing, they had to be cleared away first.

Nie Yan gazed down from atop his Darkwing Dragon. Below was an ocean of players from Angel Corps. Suddenly, a red flare shot up into the sky, reaching a height of 100 meters before exploding.

This was a signal for the start of a battle!

"Boss, they’re about to take action!”

"We don’t have much time. Let's go!” Nie Yan said.

Nie Yan and the others split up to search for Angel Corps’ wings. Before long, fighting broke out in the skies again, with flying mounts plummeting to the ground from time to time.

On the ground, high rank trebuchets started bombarding Okoron’s walls, with the cannons on the walls returning fire.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Shells exploded left and right. Players on both sides were dying in droves.

The siege weapons would be exchanging fire for a good hour before the ground troops actually clashed.

On the side of Angel Corps, Shamans and Paladins started chanting and setting up anti-magic domains. This would protect their Warriors. While they were within the influence of the anti-magic domains, they wouldn’t have to worry about enemy magic attacks. However, their range was pretty small, each one only covering a three-meter diameter. Not to mention they could only shield against magic attacks and not physical projectiles.

Nie Yan could see the entire battlefield clearly. The trebuchets and cannons were in an intense firefight. Anywhere the shells landed, a fiery explosion would rock the ground.

「Guo Huai, what’s the latest battle report?」Nie Yan asked.

「We’ve lost just over 50 magic cannons and 10 catapults, and we’ve destroyed about 20 enemy trebuchets!」

In terms of production costs, magic cannons couldn’t be compared to trebuchets. The latter was one of the most expensive siege weapons to build. When comparing in production costs, the losses on both sides were roughly even.

In the middle of the intense shelling, under the protection of the Shamans and Paladins, tens of thousands of Warriors charged toward the walls of Okoron like a surging tide. They were pushing and towing mobile siege towers.

「All Mages, cast your AoE Magic! Everyone else, use the siege crossbows to aim for the Paladins and Shamans!」Nie Yan ordered.

Countless bolts rained down on the players charging towards the walls. Those hit were instantly skewered. Even if they weren’t dead, they were still at the bolt’s mercy.

Even someone like Nie Yan was wary of the might of these siege crossbows, to say nothing of these mostly ordinary players.

The bolts were aimed at the Shamans and Paladins. Following their deaths, the anti-magic domains came undone, and the Warriors became susceptible to magic again. A shower of spells rained down the walls, blasting them into oblivion. Less than a tenth of the Warriors actually reached the walls.

As the siege towers rammed into the walls, Warriors started ascending them.

「Mages, use your fire AoE magic! Release the hot oil and burning logs!」Nie Yan commanded.

Flames rained down from the sky. Within the raging inferno, the siege towers collapsed one after another. Giant flaming logs came falling down from atop the walls, crushing the players in their path.

Angel Corps’ first wave of attacks was repelled. The fighting stopped for the time being. Likely, the second wave would start soon. Forbidden Magic had yet to be cast. They were still on the beginning act. The real battle would happen later.

Angel Corps appeared to be waiting for something. Since they dared to attack Okoron, they definitely had something up their sleeve.

Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others had already engaged in battle. In terms of flying mounts, they had the absolute advantage. Combined with their exceptional teamwork, they had the enemy riders fleeing for their lives.

Everything was proceeding smoothly.

"Nie Yan, over there!” Xie Yao anxiously cried out.

Nie Yan looked over and spotted a wing of over 100 flying mounts. They were people from Angel Corps!

"Follow me, we’ll kill them together!” Nie Yan said. With the Rank 8 Darkwing Dragon’s strength, it could completely ignore ordinary Rank 5 and Rank 6 flying mounts. They would all be cannon fodder, let alone when he had the help of Xie Yao’s phoenix.

"Mhm!” Xie Yao nodded.

Likely because they had noticed Nie Yan and Xie Yao, this wing started fleeing toward the north. The Darkwing Dragon’s giant frame was too noticeable. As soon as they saw it, they lost all will to fight.

Nie Yan urged the Darkwing Dragon forward as it shot toward those enemy flying mounts.

Chapter 864 - Scarlet Flame Dragon

Angel Corps guild headquarters. Soaring Angel was watching a live feed of the battlefield from the comfort of his throne.

「Boss, Nirvana Flame is chasing us!」

「Boss, do we fight?」

...

This wing of 100 flying mounts was directly under Soaring Angel’s command. Mostly composed of Rank 5 and Rank 6 flying mounts, they looked no different from other wings of Angel Corps’ air force.

They had only one target, Nirvana Flame!

「Keep waiting. Stay calm. Draw him toward the east,」Soaring Angel ordered. Two other wings were moving to intercept Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the rest.

「Air Assassins Squad #2, ready on standby!」

「Air Assassins Squad #3, ready on standby!」

「Boss! Asskickers United have breached the walls of the Aaroth Stronghold! Their aerial forces are too strong! We can’t stop them!」

「Boss, what do we do?」

「It doesn’t matter. Have our troops withdraw from the Aaroth Stronghold!」Soaring Angel dismissed. His attention was focused solely on the feed from Okoron. Seeing the Darkwing Dragon and the Immortal Phoenix, his heart raced. BA-DUMP! BA-DUMP! Nirvana Flame, I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time! His faced warped into a sneer. He had invested a dozenfold more resources into flying mounts compared to Asskickers United, all for the sake of gaining an advantage in the skies today!

「Air Assassins Squad #1, ready on standby!」

「Alright, go! Bring me Nirvana Flame’s head!」Soaring Angel coldly ordered. He had named this wing Air Assassins for a reason.

A hundred flying mounts soared through the sky. Their riders were all handpicked by Soaring Angel. Though they weren’t necessarily high level, or even all that talented at the game, they shared one common characteristic—they all came from aviation backgrounds and felt only at home high up in the skies. They could maintain a calm mind even at high speeds in the air and were extraordinarily proficient in air combat.

Nie Yan stood atop the Darkwing Dragon’s head. He was quickly closing in on those flying mounts from Angel Corps. Xie Yao was right behind him. He didn’t know why, but an uneasy feeling sprouted from his heart. By all rights, there should be nothing to be afraid of. His Darkwing Dragon was the sole Rank 8 flying mount in the entire Righteous Faction. No matter the danger, nothing could stop him! Still, this uneasy feeling tugged at his heartstrings, playing a dangerous tune. He didn’t know where it came from.

The flying mounts from Angel Corps evenly split into two groups and flew in parallel.

Nie Yan finally understood that uneasy feeling. This group of flying mount riders seemed a little too experienced, almost as if they had trained in aerial combat before. They were completely different from the aerial forces he’d encountered before.

「Xie Yao, be careful. They probably came prepared. If something happens, we retreat immediately!」Nie Yan warned.

「Alright!」Xie Yao nodded.

When only 50 meters separated the two sides, the two groups of flying mounts up ahead suddenly rolled in the air, performing an astonishing turning maneuver, and pounced toward Nie Yan and Xie Yao.

After playing meek for so long, these guys finally bared their fangs!

"Come at me!” Nie Yan wasn’t intimidated in the slightest. He urged the Darkwing Dragon forward.

At a glance, the flying mounts heading towards him were only Rank 5 and 6. Only Rank 7 flying mounts could deal serious damage to his Darkwing Dragon!

The Darkwing Dragon let out a roar and charged into the enemy ranks, as did Xie Yao’s phoenix.

One flying mount after another dropped from the sky. Some were torn to shreds while others were set ablaze.

The Darkwing Dragon and Immortal Phoenix were unstoppable!

Seeing the Darkwing Dragon and Immortal Phoenix flaunting off their power, Soaring Angel couldn’t help but feel envious. How did Asskickers United get their hands on such rare, high rank pets? Angel Corps also had a few Rank 7 pets, but their growth rates paled in comparison to the likes of the Darkwing Dragon, Immortal Phoenix, Azure Dragon, and Crystalline Winged Dragon. The only comparable pet they had was the Scarlet Flame Dragon.

Angel Corps quickly lost six flying mounts to the Darkwing Dragon and Immortal Phoenix.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. Something was off. Normally, the enemy would have already started fleeing after suffering such a fierce assault. However, these players from Angel Corps still calmly remained in formation.

「Boss, we’ve got Nirvana Flame where we want him. Should we start the plan?」

「Boss, let’s go, or else we’ll have even more losses!」

「No. Keep waiting. Don’t panic. Stay calm.」Soaring Angel stared at the livestream while giving out orders. He understood Nirvana Flame wouldn’t easily retreat when the situation seemed to be in his favour. A little longer, and he would be trapped without a way out.

As the battle progressed, Nie Yan felt more and more uneasy. At this moment, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others sent word that they had been blocked by the players from Angel Corps. A premonition of danger immediately welled up from his heart. He shouted,「Xie Yao, let’s get out of here, now!」

Nie Yan had his Darkwing Dragon turn around and withdraw. Xie Yao had her Immortal Phoenix dive down, evading the encirclement of several flying mounts.

Seeing Nie Yan trying to flee, the players from Angel Corps immediately moved to surround him.

「Boss, Nirvana Flame wants to escape!」

「Go with our original plan! Lock him down!」Soaring Angel said in a cold voice.

At this moment, the flying mounts from Angel Corps split away as five enormous, blood red birds came swooping forward. They looked similar to Thunder Hawks, but they were much larger. Their feathers blazed like raging flames, and on their heads were glowing red crowns, dazzling. Five Rank 7 flying mounts! Nie Yan had never seen them before, nor had he received any reports about them. In fact, he’d never seen this specific kind of flying mount in his past life or this! Angel Corps had hidden them well!

Transcendent Insight!

These flying mounts were called Vermillion Garudas.

Despite tangling with this wing from Angel Corps for so long, Nie Yan and Xie Yao hadn’t noticed the Vermillion Garudas hiding among them at all. One could imagine how much effort Soaring Angel had put into ambushing them.

Just this? Here I thought you had some sort of killer move saved up for me! Nie Yan smirked. He had the Darkwing Dragon charge toward the Vermillion Garudas, knocking three Rank 6 flying mounts aside.

"Don’t let him escape!”

"Stop him!”

"Nirvana Flame, have a taste of my Flame Net!”

A Warrior had his Vermillion Garuda swoop over and fire out a net of flames which covered a 10-meter diameter.

Nie Yan coldly snorted. He had his Darkwing Dragon fly to the side to dodge, only for another Vermillion Garuda to swoop in and also spit out a Flame Net.

The other three Vermillion Garudas were keeping watch nearby, ready to stop the Darkwing Dragon from escaping.

"You think just this will stop me!?” Nie Yan had the Darkwing Dragon swipe out with its claws, only to discover these flame nets were more resilient than he thought.

It would take at least half-a-minute to tear them apart!

The Darkwing Dragon was caught in the flame net. As it struggled to flap its wings, the net only became tighter.

"GROOAAGH!” The Darkwing Dragon trashed about violently, opening up a small tear in the flame net.

Nie Yan slashed at the tear with Zennarde’s Sword, only to see his blade pass right through the flames as if they were ethereal objects.

Another flame net fell over Nie Yan and the Darkwing Dragon.

For the sake of preventing the Darkwing Dragon from escaping, Angel Corps had prepared five flame nets. Truthfully, three would do. But Nie Yan had defied logic and common sense too many times already, so they chose for the save route and prepared an extra two.

Nie Yan discovered that as long as his Darkwing Dragon was bound by the flame net, the Vermillion Garudas were bound too. It seemed there was a connection of sorts.

Seeing Nie Yan in trouble, Xie Yao immediately urged her Immortal Phoenix to his aid.

「Xie Yao, don’t worry about me. Run!」Nie Yan anxiously cried out. Even though he had no idea what Angel Corps was going to use to deal with her phoenix, he knew they would not let it go without a fight.

「B-but!」Xie Yao hesitated. How could she not be worried seeing Nie Yan bound like that?

As the phoenix made a rapid ascent, 40 Rank 5 and 6 flying mounts swooped down from above, casting a large shadow over Xie Yao. It completely blocked her vision.

Something red flashed before her eyes. Xie Yao immediately sensed something wrong. However, there was no way her phoenix could escape the encirclement of so many flying mounts. BAM! A large red silhouette rammed into her phoenix and bit down into its neck.

"SKREEH!” The phoenix cried out in pain. It shook off its attacker and retreated to the side.

Xie Yao finally got a good look at that flash of red. It was a large dragon covered in dark red scales, which burned with hot flames. Her heart trembled. The dragon before her was the mortal enemy of phoenixes, a Scarlet Flame Dragon!

Chapter 865 - Rise From the Ashes

Phoenix Den, a remote zone within Flame Canyon, was known for spawning many different kinds of high rank flying mounts. However, obtaining one of them came at a great price. Asskickers United never dispatched troops there, nor did most other guilds, simply because it was too dangerous. Angel Corps were the only ones who dared to explore that place. According to rumours, they suffered heavy losses with very little to show for their efforts. Now it appeared those reports were a bit off.

The Vermillion Garudas were likely all captured in the Phoenix Den. As for the Scarlet Flame Dragon, it’d been spotted there many times stealing phoenix eggs.

These several flying mounts caught Nie Yan and Xie Yao completely off guard.

"GRAAOH!” The Darkwing Dragon thrashed about violently, but it couldn’t break free. In fact, the more it struggled, the tighter the flame nets became. It became hard to breathe under the pressure.

Meanwhile, the Scarlet Flame Dragon and Immortal Phoenix were in a fierce struggle. The Immortal Phoenix was dealt a mortal blow during the initial ambust, leaving it at a disadvantage. It was caught again by the Scarlet Flame Dragon’s claws.

The rider of Scarlet Flame Dragon was a Warrior. His appearance was very familiar, someone Nie Yan had encountered several times before—Stone Splitter!

"So this is all a phoenix amounts to? Pathetic!” Stone Splitter sneered.

If it weren’t for your ambush, my Immortal Phoenix would not be in such a sorry state!

A large number of Rank 5 and 6 flying mounts were assisting the Scarlet Flame Dragon. Every time it attacked, they would get in the phoenix’s way, leaving it unable to dodge the Scarlet Flame Dragon’s attacks. Before long, it suffered serious injuries.

「Don’t worry about me! Just run!」Nie Yan anxiously cried out. He knew the situation was extremely grave. The Darkwing Dragon couldn’t escape. He couldn’t allow Xie Yao’s phoenix to be dragged in as well! Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others weren’t off any better. They were fighting their way out of a fierce battle, their losses quickly racking up, and in no shape to come help them.

Xie Yao steeled her heart and commanded her phoenix to escape.

"Think you can get away so easily? Dream on!” Stone Splitter snorted. The Scarlet Flame Dragon swooped down and grabbed onto the phoenix’s neck.

Xie Yao had her phoenix fire a jet of flames at the Scarlet Flame Dragon, only for a Rank 6 Thunder Hawk to swoop in from the side. BANG! The flames burned both flying mount and rider, its force sending them flying. An instant kill!

However, the phoenix’s only chance to escape was gone!

Xie Yao despaired. She waved her staff, casting Ethereal as her body vanished out of sight.

"SCREEEEH!” the phoenix let out a mournful cry before erupting into flames and disappearing into nothing.

Stone Splitter checked his notification.

You have killed the Immortal Phoenix.

Stone Splitter coldly chuckled. "Immortal my ass.”

Stone Splitter had his Scarlet Flame Dragon turn around and pounce toward the Darkwing Dragon.

The flame nets were too tight. Nie Yan glanced at his hotbar. The icon to recall his flying mount was grayed out. The situation felt eerily similar to the one in the underworld not so long ago. He didn’t like it one bit.

Several Rank 6 flying mounts swooped down from above in an attempt to kill Nie Yan. He leaped into the air and landed on the back of a Thunder Hawk. With a flash of his blade, the rider was instantly killed. Nie Yan switched his weapon to Zennarde’s Sword.

Annihilation Slash!

An enormous flaming azure sword cleaved through the air, instantly engulfing five Rank 6 flying mounts.

BOOOM! The tip of the attack struck one of the Vermillion Garudas, knocking it off course as it suffered heavy injuries.

One of the flame nets binding the Darkwing Dragon dissipated.

Sadly, Nie Yan only had a single Annihilation Slash. Ordinary skills wouldn’t work on Rank 7 flying mounts.

"Dammit!” Nie Yan cursed. He had underestimated Angel Corps’ strength, and because of that had fallen into their ambush. To make matters worse, he’d never seen the Vermillion Garuda before, in this life or the past one. He didn’t know its skills, or how to deal with it. Alas, it was already too late for regrets.

After killing the Immortal Phoenix, the Scarlet Flame Dragon’s next target was the Darkwing Dragon.

With Annihilation Slash on cooldown, Nie Yan was out of skills that could deal with high rank flying mounts.

The Scarlet Flame Dragon opened its maw and fired out a flame blast.

Adjudicator of God!

BOOOM! The Darkwing Dragon writhed in pain from the attack. Nie Yan was more fortunate, a golden membrane protecting him from the scorching hot flames.

It was already too late to save the Darkwing Dragon. Sensing the pain and suffering it was in, Nie Yan’s eyes went bloodshot. Clenching the handle of his dagger until the veins on his arm bulged out, he locked eyes with Stone Splitter.

"Nirvana Flame, glare at me all you want! If you have the guts, I’m standing right here! Let’s see how you’ll kill me!” Stone Splitter taunted. He didn’t know why, but he felt his legs go somewhat weak seeing Nie Yan standing within the flames like a god. He didn’t dare to let his Scarlet Flame Dragon approach too close.

The Scarlet Dragon’s flame blast had a cooldown!

Nie Yan swapped out Zennarde’s Sword back for the Bloody Dagger. He thought of a plan as he gradually realized one thing. The Darkwing Dragon couldn’t be saved this time!

He glanced at the Resurrection Crystal in his bag. His heart turned cold. He had no choice. This was the only way!

「Stone Splitter, you idiot! What are you doing!? Quickly kill him. Don’t give Nirvana Flame the chance to escape!」Soaring Angel cursed.

"The boss gave a command! Don’t let Nirvana Flame get away!”

Stone Splitter immediately had the Scarlet Flame Dragon pounce forward.

Nie Yan couldn’t face the Scarlet Flame Dragon head-on. He extended his hand and shot a webline at its back. However, as soon as the webbing came in contact with the flames on the Scarlet Flame Dragon’s scales, it went up in smoke.

The webline didn’t play well with fire!

Seeing the Scarlet Flame Dragon charging forward, Nie Yan leaped aside, dodging its claws, then came back in with a kick to its head.

Nie Yan’s attack dealt no damage. The Scarlet Flame Dragon ignored him completely, instead clawing down on the Darkwing Dragon’s neck.

"GRAAoooh…” the Darkwing Dragon let out a mournful cry.

Your Darkwing Dragon has died.

After being continuously burned by the flame nets for so long, the Darkwing Dragon was already greatly weakened. With this fatal blow from the Scarlet Flame Dragon, it finally succumbed to death.

Nie Yan chanted an incantation. With a flash of light, the Darkwing Dragon’s corpse disappeared.

The players from Angel Corps were caught off guard. They looked at the spot where only a moment ago the massive corpse of the Darkwing Dragon was.

In this brief moment of distraction, Nie Yan leaped toward a nearby Wind Serpent. Cut Throat! He instantly took out its rider.

"Stone Splitter, he’s over there!”

"Don’t let him run!” Stone Splitter roared.

Nie Yan started chanting on the Wind Serpent’s back. Flying mounts came swooping down towards him from every direction.

"Stone Splitter, t-the phoenix is reviving!”

"What!?” Stone Splitter turned around and looked into the distance. Where the phoenix died, a small ember blazed. Slowly, the silhouette of an enormous bird emerged. Xie Yao, who had vanished earlier, appeared on its back.

Phoenix Rebirth!

After the phoenix revived, it flapped its wings and fled away.

"Stone Splitter, she’s running!”

"Shit! So fast!”

The revived phoenix disappeared behind the horizon in the blink of an eye.

"It doesn’t matter! Take out Nirvana Flame!”

A murder of flying mounts swooped down on Nie Yan.

Seeing these flying mounts fast approaching, Nie Yan coldly smiled. "I’ll remember this debt today. Count my words, I’ll come back to settle this score!” He silently counted down in his mind. Five, four, three, two, one. With a flash of light, he disappeared.

The players from Angel Corps were all dumbstruck.

"Fatty, use your spatial magic to pull him back!”

"Quickly, we only have five seconds!”

A chubby Magister hurriedly waved his staff. A powerful magic ripple spread out. After several seconds, he grimaced. "What Nirvana Flame used wasn’t an Unknown Transfer Scroll, but some kind of fixed point teleportation magic. My spatial magic isn’t of high enough rank to pull him back.”

"Fuck! You useless sack of shit! Why can’t that fat of yours go to your brain instead!” Stone Splitter cursed. "Fuck, we let him escape again!”

The Magisters’ face turned red like a tomato. He angrily shouted, "I need at least Rank 13 spatial magic to pull him back. Do you think anyone has that at this stage of the game!? I’ve never seen anyone with higher than Rank 8! So, fuck off!”

"Whatever.” Stone splitter snorted. It appeared Nie Yan had already planned his escape.

Stone Splitter turned back and gazed into the distance. Xie Yao’s phoenix was already long gone.

Watching everything from the live feed, Soaring Angel slammed his armrest. "Those useless idiots! They can’t get anything done right!” Nie Yan had slipped right out of their grasp, again! And the phoenix they worked so hard to kill suddenly revived and fled away. Their only achievement was killing the Darkwing Dragon. However, more than its confirmed death they didn’t get. Its corpse had disappeared, and with it the Life Core within its head. The threat of revival was real. Though for most players an impossibility, Nie Yan was one of the few exceptions. Other than an intact corpse, he would need an incredibly rare Resurrection Crystal to bring it back to life. Soaring Angel could only pray Asskickers United didn’t have one.

Soaring Angel tapped his armest in agitation and shot up from his seat. Did this count as a victory or a loss? Even though they hadn’t obtained a single Life Core, they had succeeded in the ambush. He had his army outside Okoron launch a second wave of attacks.

Nie Yan returned to the guild headquarters in Okoron and entered the main hall. He worried for Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others. They too were in a fierce battle last he heard. He hurriedly ordered them to withdraw.

After a while, Xie Yao walked into the main hall. Thankfully, her phoenix had the Rebirth skill, giving it an extra life. With its revival, it had undergone a huge transformation.

Chapter 866 - Rank 8 Phoenix!

The Immortal Phoenix was already at the peak of Rank 7 for over a month. In the hopes of helping it advance, Nie Yan had Guo Huai acquire all the Fire Life Cores he could. But despite it gobbling up the Life Cores like beans, it showed no signs of breaking through.

Nie Yan had learned from his own Darkwing Dragon that Life Cores alone weren’t enough for a Rank 7 flying mount to break through to Rank 8. Luck and the right opportunity mattered too.

It would be a great boon to the guild if Xie Yao’s phoenix became Rank 8. But with his efforts not giving the desired outcome, Nie Yan could only leave it up to fate.

Perhaps luck and opportunity had already come alongside each other, hidden behind an ambush and death. The phoenix had undergone a complete transformation after rebirthing from its ashes. It was far bigger than before, putting it in the same size category as the Darkwing Dragon. Its feathers were more vivid coloured too, and the white flames surrounding its body blazed with an even more dazzling radiance.

"SCREEH! SCREEH!” The phoenix flapped its wings and puffed up its chest. A truly majestic bird!

"Did your phoenix break through?” Nie Yan asked in surprise.

"Mhm! It advanced to Rank 8. But after going through rebirth, it still only has the strength of a Rank 7 right now. It will take about a month for it to mature to its full strength,” Xie Yao said.

In only a short month, Asskickers United would have another Rank 8 flying mount! This was news worth celebrating.

Nie Yan glanced at his pet space. The Darkwing Dragon’s corpse was resting inside there. Angel Corps believed it was dead, but he had a Resurrection Crystal that could bring it back to life.

Even though the revived Darkwing Dragon would be greatly weakened and unable to participate in battle until it recovered, when it did regain its full strength, it would retake the skies!

"What’s the cooldown on that Rebirth skill?” Nie Yan asked. This skill pretty much served as a second life for the phoenix. Phoenixes were generally considered to be weaker than dragons, but it was this skill that levelled the playing field.

"It’s 60 days,” Xie Yao replied.

"That’s not too bad,” Nie Yan said, mentally prepared. It would be strange for such a powerful skill not to have a long cooldown.

"Nie Yan, your Darkwing Dragon…” Xie Yao said with a sad look.

Nie Yan chuckled. "Don’t worry about it. The Darkwing Dragon isn’t gone.”

"Not gone? How do you mean. I saw...” Xie Yao said doubtfully.

"I have a Resurrection Crystal,” Nie Yan explained.

"No wonder you retrieved its corpse!” Xie Yao blurted in realization. Her mood immediately cleared up.

Nie Yan had taken a great risk to retrieve the Darkwing Dragon’s corpse. After all, in a perilous situation, even a second could mean the difference between life and death.

The process of reviving the Darkwing Dragon wasn’t as easy as shoving the Resurrection Crystal down its throat. Nie Yan would have to travel to Calore to consult a Beastmaster. With the battle going on in Okoron, there was no time to do that now. So, he could only push it aside for another time.

Angel Corps intensified their siege on Okoron. They used some sort of spell to summon more than 60 hulking giants onto the battlefield. They were five meters tall and covered in bulging muscles. Shielding the players from Angel Corps below, they assaulted the city’s walls.

「They’re climbing up the walls again!」

「Ready the catapults!」

「Ready the siege crossbows!」

Even though the situation on the wall appeared hectic, everyone was carrying out their respective roles in an orderly fashion.

Shells whizzed through the sky. Some crashed into the walls, sending players flying down the side.

「We have six corpses here. Have someone carry them down!」

Before long, the corpses on the walls were cleared away. Everything continued on as normal.

「The boss is here!」

Seeing Nie Yan and Xie Yao arrive, the players on the walls immediately erupted into cheering and shouting. Nie Yan’s presence alone was a huge boost to morale.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The ground violently shook.

Nie Yan gazed down at the plains below and saw the giants charging towards the walls. They were carrying small trees in their hands, serving as battering rams.

A volley of shells rained down on these giants. They tried to dodge, but some were still hit and knocked back by the blasts.

Tens of thousands of players surged toward the walls like a raging tide.

Before long, the two sides clashed on the edge of the walls. Spells exploded in the sky like dazzling fireworks. A frightening number of players died every second, but neither side was willing to give an inch.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The giants began ramming their battering rams into the city gates as it trembled and groaned.

「Boss! Angel Corps opened up a hole in our south wall!」

「Send our Warriors to plug it up! Don’t let the enemy inside the city!」Nie Yan shouted. Looking back, Xie Yao was chanting Forbidden Magic as the holy light around her grew brighter and brighter until she was as dazzling as the sun itself.

Even though the enemy had anti-magic domains, with the supporting fire from the siege crossbows, the Forbidden Magic of Xie Yao would wipe out at least 10,000 players from Angel Corps.

At this moment, Nie Yan noticed something off.

Eye of Truth!

Sweeping his gaze over the surroundings, Nie Yan spotted two silhouettes dashing towards Xie Yao.

Nie Yan coldly snorted. "Fools! You’re overestimating yourselves!”

Two enemy Shadow Dancers! Their target was Xie Yao.

Demon Flame and Ink Sun were their names. Both were professional players, but they had been recruited by Cao Xu. They had mixed themselves in among the ordinary players in Okoron, waiting for the perfect moment to take action.

「Nirvana Flame is over there!」Demon Flame cried out as he found two piercing red eyes glaring at him. His heart trembled.「We’ve been made!」

「Cover me! I’ll take out Yao Yao. Prepare to withdraw!」Ink Sun ordered. He activated Gale Step as he pounced toward Xie Yao.

「Got it!」Demon Flame said. Standing between Nie Yan and Xie Yao, he couldn’t help but lick his parched lips. So, he was to fight the Nirvana Flame. He would be lying if said he didn’t feel the pressure.

Ink Sun was only six meters from Xie Yao, about to reach her in the next moment.

A blur flashed by as Demon Flame lost track of Nie Yan. He activated his own ocular skill and looked around, but failed to find any trace of Nie Yan. It was as if he had vanished into thin air.

「Watch out! He’s probably coming for you!」Demon Flame warned.

Ink Sun had already raised his dagger, when he felt a chill at the back of his neck. He pushed his front foot into the ground, then forcefully moved his body around and put his weight behind the blade.

KLANG! Sparks flew as the two blades clashed.

Nie Yan raised an eyebrow. This guy had blocked his attack! He had some skill!

「Run! Get out of here! There’s no time!」Ink Sun shouted. He flicked his wrist and pulled out an Unknown Transfer Scroll.

Just as he was about to crush it, a jolt ran through his body as he coughed out a mouthful of blood. Nie Yan had stabbed him through the heart.

Ink Sun slumped to the ground, dead.

Watching his brother in arms die, Demon Flame didn’t dare to linger. He immediately escaped with an Unknown Transfer Scroll.

Nie Yan was surprised Ink Sun was able to block his first attack. He thought that fellow might actually have some ability, but it turned out to be just a fluke. After Master classes became more accessible, the number of players carrying the Shadow Dancer title ballooned. Only a fraction of them had some skill. As for those at the level of Sun, King of the World, Mistaken Smile, and One Strike Vow, who could exchange several moves with him, there were even fewer.

Despite both being Shadow Dancers, players like Ink Sun and Demon Flame could only be considered ordinary players. Or in the eyes of Nie Yan, trash.

After only a brief exchange, one Shadow Dancer was killed and the other fled for his life. There were several more Thieves in the vicinity looking ambush Xie Yao. But after witnessing this scene, they were scared witless and quietly retreated. With Nie Yan guarding her, they couldn’t stop Xie Yao from casting her Forbidden Magic anyway. They wouldn’t pointlessly throw their lives away.

Xie Yao finally chanted the last syllable of her Forbidden Magic. An enormous pillar of light descended from the sky, transforming the plains outside of Okoron into a world of white. Over 50 giants let out miserably cries as they were turned into ash.

Xie Yao lowered her staff and drank a potion to recover her mana.

"Let’s go,” Nie Yan said. The two rushed over to the southern wall.

「Bladelight, Smoke Stub, what’s the situation over on your side?」Nie Yan asked.

「We’re still flying back. Making a descent right now. We lost six Rank 6 flying mounts, but we also killed over 30 enemy flying mounts, a dozen of which were Rank 6. So, all in all, we came out ahead.」

Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. As long as they returned safely, it was fine.「Watch out for their Vermillion Garudas. They have powerful flame nets. Don’t get trapped.」

「Understood!」

Nie Yan didn’t know a flying mount like the Vermillion Garuda existed until recently, which was why he fell for Angel Corps’ ambush. Now that he did know, he could take countermeasures against them. There was nothing to be worried about anymore. Not to mention their flame net skill probably had quite a long cooldown time, or else it would be too overpowered.

Nie Yan reached the breach in the wall. Several hundred Warriors from Asskickers United were preventing the players from Angel Corps from storming in. Even when the occasional shell landed blasted the defending Warriors away, more would replace them. With neither side willing to give in, the fight was extremely intense.

Gale Step!

Nie Yan disappeared into stealth. He leaped into the air, soaring over the heads of the Warriors from Asskickers United, and landed in enemy ranks. With a flash of his blade, he instantly killed a player from Angel Corps.

No one could see Nie Yan. All they saw was a blur. PSHFT! PSHFT! PSHFT! Blood sprayed into the air as over a dozen Angel Corps players collapsed to the ground.

After these players died, they transformed into shadows and crawled back up to the ground.

These servants of darkness charged forward, turning their blades against their former comrades.

Chapter 867 - Stalemate

"What’s going on?”

"W-what the hell is happening?”

Suddenly attacked by the shadows of their fallen comrades, panic spread through the ranks of Angel Corps. They beat a hasty retreat.

The shadow army grew rapidly in size.

Nie Yan summoned his shadow clone, even further increasing his killing speed.

Hundreds of shadows joined Nie Yan’s army. Those they killed would be instantly brought back and assimilated into their ranks.

"It’s the boss!” a player from Asskickers United cried out in elation.

"What kind of skill is that? It’s so badass!”

"The boss knows necromancy? Isn’t that a skill from the Evil Faction?”

"It looks way stronger than any Necromancer skill I know of!”

The players from Asskickers United discussed excitedly. Their morale skyrocketed the instant Nie Yan had appeared. They rushed forward like a surging tide and beat the forces from Angel Corps back.

Asskickers United succesfully repelled this wave of attacks. The players erupted into cheers.

Bladelight and the other Masters also returned at this moment. With their help, Okoron’s defenses were immediately bolstered.

"Boss, an enemy Mage is casting Forbidden Magic!”

"Activate the city’s anti-magic domain! Blast him to oblivion with the magic cannons!” Nie Yan ordered. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! A volley of cannon shells streaked through the sky.

Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed as ominous, black clouds gathered in the sky. Just as the Forbidden Magic was about to descend, an enormous membrane of light enveloped all of Okoron. This was an advantage of being on the defending side of a siege, a large-scale anti-magic domain. It could withstand the bombardment of at least six Forbidden Magic without any issue.

Suddenly, the thunder and lightning in the sky disappeared.

"Haha! The guy casting the Forbidden Magic got offed by one of the cannons!”

"Dang! That’s some crazy aim!”

"Oh my god! Haha. Who did it? Let me buy them a drink!”

"Reward whoever hit that Magister with 50,000 merit points. Triple the merit points for all other cannon operators!” Nie Yan ordered.

One of the cannon operators was dumbstruck. 50,000 merit point just for hitting someone with my cannon? Sweet!

Hearing they could earn merit points simply by doing their job, the players manning the cannons got pumped up.

Explosions sounded everywhere, no one was safe. The players from Angel Corps didn’t know what happened, but the cannon fire suddenly seemed fiercer than before. The bombardment left them frantically scrambling for cover.

"W-what the fuck! Did someone put them on steroids!?”

"S-shit! Retreat!”

…

The frontline of Angel Corps had no choice but to pull back out of the range of the cannons, leaving behind piles of corpses. Another wave of attacks met with failure. They set up camp more than a thousand meters away.

They wouldn’t give up so quickly!

「Any new movements from Angel Corps?」Nie Yan asked Guo Huai.

「According to our latest reports, they’re bringing in 200 more catapults and trebuchets,」Guo Huai replied. Angel Corps had lost many of their siege weapons in the first wave of attacks on Okoron.

「They’ve prepared well it seems.」

「Honestly, we shouldn’t be losing out to them in number of siege weapons. But we lost so many in the previous war against the Monet Financial Group and the fight with Phantom Princess Ina,」Guo Huai grumbled. Angel Corps hadn’t had to face countless trials and tribulations like Asskickers United. Yet they had only amassed this little strength. He didn’t think much of them.

「Apart from the catapults, is there anything else?」

「We got some reports on a secret weapon. Apparently it’s an enormous war machine. Luckily, they can only produce a single one every two months. We’ll only have to face three of them.」

Nie Yan furrowed his brows. What could this war machine be? As he searched his memories, his face paled. Could it be the Megacannon? If that were the case, they were in for a world of pain. His knowledge of the Megacannon was limited. It had only once appeared in a war between Angel Corps, who were invading the Viridian Empire, and Victorious Return. The Megacannon single handedly destroyed 20 strongholds! Only after steeling their hearts and sending over 300,000 players to their deaths, did Victorious Return finally take it down. That war had dealt a heavy blow to Victorious Return. Fortunately, they also had their own trump card and beat Angel Corps back to the Satreen Empire. After that war, the two great powers never fought again.

Fate worked in mysterious ways. There were also two great powers fighting for supremacy in this timeline, though Victorious Return and Asskickers United were not to be compared. Nie Yan wasn’t willing to let things fizzle out. Fighting to a draw was nothing to be happy about.

「Send Sun and King of the World over to investigate what that secret weapon actually is. Also, have Bladelight lead a 1,000-man force and see if they can destroy the enemy’s catapults and trebuchets enroute. Be careful. If it looks impossible, have them retreat immediately,」Nie Yan said. If something happened, he and Xie Yao could rush over to help within minutes.

The battle in Okoron entered a stalemate. Angel Corps was waiting for reinforcements, and Asskickers United was more than happy to wait behind the safety of their walls.

Over in the Satreen Empire, as the army of the Asskickers United alliance marched forward, smoke was rising everywhere. Angel Corps had already lost six strongholds. They’d tried to surround Asskickers United’s forces, only to be intercepted by Fallen Angel. Fallen Angel fought with Pantheon in the underworld, yet still had the spare manpower to send 600,000 troops to the surface to hinder Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group.

Asskickers United didn’t rush their advance, taking it one step at a time. Every time they sieged down a stronghold, they’d stop to consolidate their new territory and even recruit local players to form a new army. The new players and territory were all handed to Heaven Song.

Defeating Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group by razing a few strongholds was impossible. So, Asskickers United approached this as a war of attrition.

Angel Corps had no idea how to respond. Most of their army was concentrated in the Abernathy Great Grasslands. The ones left behind in the Satreen Empire couldn’t put up much of a fight.

Over the next few days, Angel Corps’ army didn’t move from their spot outside of Okoron. All of their movements were within the grasp of Asskickers United’s intelligence. Nie Yan felt his worries dwindle.

Guo Huai started paying out compensation to the players who died in battle. Those who distinguished themselves were also properly rewarded. Like this, over 3,000,000 gold was paid out. The guild members could use this money to replace their lost equipment and prepare themselves for the next battle.

The daily cost of the war was astonishing. Thankfully, Asskickers United had the support of the Starry Night Potion Shop.

During these past few days, news of the Darkwing Dragon’s death at the hands of Angel Corps quickly spread. Footage of the Darkwing Dragon being trapped by the five Vermillion Garudas filled the forums. After going through intense scrutiny, it was confirmed to be authentic.

The Darkwing Dragon was the sole Rank 8 flying mount in the game. It fully deserved to be called the ruler of the skies. However, an existence like that still died. Those who staunchly believed in Nie Yan’s undefeated streak felt their hearts waver. After all, Nie Yan was only one person. Even though he was viewed as a god by man, in this kind of large scale war, a single person wouldn’t change the outcome. Just like the Darkwing Dragon, in a one-on-one, it was no doubt unrivalled, but it was still rendered helpless by those five Vermillion Garudas.

Those who hadn’t taken this war too seriously, started to pay attention. It appeared Angel Corps had a plan to deal with Asskickers United.

After news of the death of the Darkwing Dragon spread, Angel Corps’ fame and reputation skyrocketed.

The forums were filled with discussion related to this matter. Everyone was waiting for Nie Yan to give his comments. However, it appeared he didn’t care about it at all, neither giving an explanation nor confirming the authenticity of the news.

With the Darkwing Dragon gone from the flying mount leaderboards, there was a vacancy at the top. This was quickly filled by another flying mount from Asskickers United. Yao Yao’s Immortal Phoenix! People were shocked to find it had already broken through to Rank 8.

Asskickers United had another Rank 8 flying mount. Everyone wondered how strong the Rank 8 Immortal Phoenix was. The discussion in the forums gradually shifted to flying mounts. Many players didn’t have much confidence in Xie Yao’s phoenix. If even the Darkwing Dragon could fall, the Immortal Phoenix wouldn’t make much of a difference.

Angel Corps had the absolute advantage in the skies. After several encounters, they had killed over 200 of Asskickers United’s flying mounts. Whenever Asskickers United’s high rank flying mounts discovered the Vermillion Garudas, they would have no choice but to retreat. They had no way of dealing with the flame net skill. So, in order to avoid being killed by the enemy, they could only temporarily concede.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao teleported to Calore and headed for the pet shop.

"Nie Yan, the forums are filled with talk about the Darkwing Dragon’s death. Are you sure you don’t want to say anything?” Xie Yao asked. As long as Nie Yan explained the Darkwing Dragon could still be revived, the comments doubting him would instantly disappear. However, Nie Yan remained radio silent.

"Explaining anything won’t help. It’s better to speak with actions. Let’s revive the Darkwing Dragon first. Everything will be fine,” Nie Yan said. He was the type who didn’t particularly like talking much in the first place.

"Alright.” Xie Yao nodded.

After passing through several streets, they were almost at the pet shop.

"We’re almost there.” Nie Yan glanced at the Darkwing Dragon’s corpse in his pet space. "It won’t be long now. We’ll be flying through the sky together again.”

Chapter 868 - New Flying Mount! Spectre Dragon!

Nie Yan and Xie Yao walked into the pet shop. There were only a few customers browsing around.

10 Beast Tamers were in the middle of feeding the pets. Nie Yan approached the one at the front. It was Collinson, the same NPC who had helped him hatch the Darkwing Dragon.

"Hello, Beast Tamer Collinson,” Nie Yan greeted.

Collinson turned around in surprise. "Oh Great Prophet, how can I help you?”

Nie Yan noticed that Collinson’s attitude was much more respectful than last time they met.

"It’s like this. My Darkwing Dragon died in battle. I’m wondering if you can help me revive it?” Nie Yan asked. With his Great Prophet title, he no longer needed to humble himself in front of NPCs. They would help him either way.

"Did you bring its corpse?”

"Yes.” Nie Yan nodded.

"Apart from its corpse, I also require a Wish Crystal, Resurrection Crystal, or a similar catalyst to help you revive the Darkwing Dragon,” Collinson replied.

"I have a Resurrection Crystal,” Nie Yan replied. He took out the Resurrection Crystal from his bag. The black crystal sparkled with a dazzling splendor.

Collinson’s eyes were immediately glued to the Resurrection Crystal. He muttered in astonishment, "T-that’s a black Resurrection Crystal!”

"They come in different colours?” Xie Yao couldn’t help but interject.

"Of course. Yes. All crystals are divided into separate colours. Every colour has a special characteristic. You don’t see many black ones, though. They usually only appear in the underworld. A powerful darkness energy is contained within them. If it’s used to revive a pet or flying mount of the darkness attribute, it will have some additional effects. It might even raise their growth rate,” Collinson explained.

Nie Yan raised an eyebrow. He’d bought this Resurrection Crystal from an NPC called Cranston, along with an Arcane Gem and Mysterious Black Egg for 900,000 gold in total. It’d been so long ago, he’d nearly forgotten all about it. Same for the egg. Only the Arcane Gem he’d given to Tang Yao.

"Beast Tamer Collinson, please help me revive the Darkwing Dragon.”

"Reviving the Darkwing Dragon will cost 600,000 gold. As a Great Prophet, you receive a 70% discount. So, 180,000 gold for you,” Collinson said. Pet Shops had strict price tables. A creature like the Darkwing Dragon was of the highest rank. So, the fee would be high.

180,000 gold might be a heavy burden for ordinary players, but it was a drop in the bucket for Nie Yan. He happily paid the fee.

"Please follow me,” Collinson said. He turned around and headed to the back of the shop.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao followed behind Collinson. After passing through a narrow corridor and walking down a flight of stairs, they entered a large room about 20 by 20 meters in size. Nie Yan didn’t expect there to be such a place in the back of the shop. The room was empty, save for a large magic formation, which radiated magical energy, in the middle.

"Please place your Darkwing Dragon in the center of the formation,” Collinson instructed.

Nie Yan chanted an incantation to summon the Darkwing Dragon. With a flash of light, its corpse appeared in the center of the magic formation. It lay there motionless, lacking the slightest trace of life.

Collinson walked forward and stopped at the edge of the magic formation. Raising the Resurrection Crystal in the air, he started chanting. A stream of darkness energy flowed out of the crystal and entered the Darkwing Dragon.

The magic formation erupted with a dazzling black radiance. Nie Yan and Xie Yao shielded their eyes from the blinding light. They could only vaguely detect Collinson and the Darkwing Dragon’s position.

After a while, the light gradually faded. Life had returned to the Darkwing Dragon as it slowly crawled back to its feet.

The Darkwing Dragon’s wounds were fully healed as the spark of life returned to its eyes. Nie Yan could also sense something different about it, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

The Darkwing Dragon’s scales looked like they were made out of a special, impregnable metal, glistening with a glossy lustre.

The Darkwing Dragon was still Rank 8, but incomparable to before. It’d completely transformed because of the effects of the darkness attribute Resurrection Crystal.

"I suggest you closely examine the changes in your Darkwing Dragon. You’ll gradually discover the 180,000 gold was well-spent,” Collinson said with a mysterious smile.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao couldn’t help but be attracted to the Darkwing Dragon’s glistening scales. Even though it was still a Rank 8 flying mount, they could tell it was far stronger than the Immortal Phoenix. The auras the two gave off were completely different.

Logically speaking, the Darkwing Dragon and Immortal Phoenix should be roughly equal in strength since they were both Rank 8 flying mounts. But even within a Rank there were differences. The internal changes inside the Darkwing Dragon had put it on the path to Rank 9, even if it was still far away in terms of strength, whereas the Immortal Phoenix was consolidating its break through to Rank 8.

"Thank you,” Nie Yan said.

"It was my pleasure, Great Prophet.”

Nie Yan unsummoned his Darkwing Dragon. Rummaging through his bag, he took out the Mysterious Black Egg. "Can you help me appraise this egg as well? I want to know what kind of creature is inside it.”

As soon as Collinson’s eyes fell on the egg, he couldn’t look away anymore, an expression of pure shock on his face.

Nie Yan could guess from Collinson’s reaction that the creature inside the black egg was extraordinary. Still, he had no idea what it was. Given its size, the likelihood it was a dragon egg was high. But he couldn’t be sure. Perhaps it was the egg of some other large creature. If it really were a dragon though, he would earn big. As long as he held Zennarde’s Sword, he could have three dragon pets and two dragon flying mounts out at the same time.

Collinson gently caressed the egg with his hand.

Watching Collinson, Nie Yan’s heart raced. Please! Let it be a dragon!

"Great Prophet, it’s a Spectre Dragon, an extremely powerful dragon flying mount that specializes in spirit-based attacks...” Collinson explained, his voice tinged with a hint of fear as an icy coldness transmitted from the egg into his palm.

Collinson’s words were like music to Nie Yan’s years. A dragon flying mount! How could he not be excited?

"Please hatch it for me,” Nie Yan impatiently said.

Collinson placed his hand over the egg. Shortly after, the shell cracked open and a small, pale-white dragon popped out. It plopped to the ground with a thud. After which it shook its head, then looked up at Nie Yan.

As the two met eyes, a connection formed. Nie Yan noticed a second flying mount slot appearing next to the Darkwing Dragon. Like the Darkwing Dragon, it was also Rank 6 at birth.

The Spectre Dragon was also a dark attribute flying mount. Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on. The Darkwing Dragon already had a bottomless stomach, now he had another dragon to feed!

Nie Yan gave the Spectre Dragon its first order. It quickly grew larger until it was about the same size as the Darkwing Dragon at Rank 6. Unlike the Darkwing Dragon, though, it wasn’t covered in scales. Rather, its body was pale and semi-translucent like that of a ghost.

The Spectre Dragon didn’t have high defense. Its physical attacks were also weak. However, its magic power more than made up for that. It already had two spirit-based attack skills at Rank 6.

Spirit Howl: Inflict fear on all surrounding enemies.

Spirit Possession: Take over the body of the target flying mount for up to three minutes. The skill ends if the host dies. Cooldown: one hour.

Flying mounts with skills were rare, making up 10% of all flying mounts. For example, the Darkwing Dragon only obtained its first skill after reaching Rank 8. Most Flying mounts relied on their powerful bodies. Not the Spectre Dragon. Like the Vermillion Garuda, it relied on its skills.

Be it the Spectre Dragon or the Vermillion Garuda, both had never appeared in the previous timeline. There was also no information on them online. These types of flying mounts made for good trump cards. The first time they appeared, they would definitely catch the enemy completely off guard.

Recalling Angel Corps’ Vermillion Garudas, Nie Yan’s expression darkened. Sooner or later, he planned to give them a taste of their medicine with his new Spectre Dragon.

Asskickers United’s aerial force lagged behind Angel Corps’. Nie Yan was well aware of this. That was why he’d led the charge into taking down enemy flying mounts. Flying mounts like his Rank 8 Darkwing Dragon and Yao Yao’s Immortal Phoenix could take down enemy flying mounts and alleviate some of the pressure his fellow guildmates were under. He’d known the risks of putting a target on his back, but what else could he do? However, after falling for that ambush, he wouldn’t act as carelessly as before. He had to be a little more vigilant.

Nie Yan took out a Darkness Life Core and tossed it to the Spectre Dragon.

After just hatching, the Spectre Dragon was a bit distant toward Nie Yan. Its loyalty wasn’t very high. However, seeing the Darkness Life Core, its eyes lit up. It immediately opened its mouth and chomped down on the snack.

The Spectre Dragon appeared to be more intelligent than the Darkwing Dragon.

Nie Yan thought of how Mage NPCs were usually smarter than Warrior NPCs. It appeared this same rule applied to flying mounts. A magic-based flying mount like the Spectre Dragon had more intelligence than a bruiser like the Darkwing Dragon.

The higher the intelligence, the harder it was to raise its loyalty. Nie Yan could only take his time building a bond with the Spectre Dragon.

Chapter 869 - Shadow Vultures

Nie Yan recalled the Spectre Dragon into his pet space. He now had two dragon flying mounts!

Dragon flying mounts were incredibly difficult to obtain. Even up until now, Asskickers United only had a few. Dragon pets, on the other hand, were a bit more simple, with more than a few high level quests giving them as a reward.

Nie Yan recalled a certain quest he failed to complete in his past life halfway through. He’d been too weak. Now, he could finish it with ease.

Failing this quest was one of Nie Yan’s lifelong regrets. Especially after learning of another Thief who did complete it, and received a dragon egg as the final reward. However, that time wasn’t all darkness. Those few rays of light were impossible to forget.

Nie Yan felt a sense of warmth in his heart. If it weren’t for the things that came to light in this life, he would’ve never known how much Xie Yao had done for him in his past life.

"Let’s go.” Nie Yan turned to Xie Yao.

"Okay.” Xie Yao nodded.

After bidding Collinson farewell, the two left the pet shop.

They headed through Calore’s transfer gate and teleported back to Okoron.

After the revival of the Darkwing Dragon, the voices doubting Nie Yan on the forums were silenced. They were shocked to find the Darkwing Dragon back at the top of the flying mount rankings. Now, Asskickers United had two Rank 8 flying mounts.

The discussion shifted to items like Wish Crystals and Resurrection Crystals, items that could revive a dead flying mount. As the guild leader of Asskickers United, Nie Yan would have a relatively easy time obtaining one of them compared to others.

A little farther down the list of flying mounts was another new arrival. A Spectre Dragon. Though not Rank 8, at Rank 6 it was still better than most. No one knew who this flying mount belonged to. Their collective curiosity was piqued.

The Darkwing Dragon and Spectre Dragon were the hot topic of conversation.

The war in the sky was just as important as the war on the ground. Many people originally believed Angel Corps had the superior aerial force after the first exchange. But perhaps they were wrong. Not only had they failed to kill the Darkwing Dragon, the very reason people considered them to be superior in the skies, they’d also aided the enemy by being the catalyst for the Immortal Phoenix to break through to Rank 8.

Soaring Angel received word about the revival of the Darkwing Dragon. He slammed his fist on his armrest and shot up to his feet. Fumes seemed to be coming from his ears, a dark expression on his face. They had given the bride away on top of losing the army. Not even mentioning the fact that they had sacrificed so many flying mounts without killing the Darkwing Dragon, they had also helped Asskickers United obtain another Rank 8 flying mount! This really was like pouring salt on an open wound.

Angel Corps had dispatched most of their aerial forces to Okoron. Though they enjoyed the numerical advantage, they still took loss after loss, failing to get any real victory. Especially their low rank flying mounts took a heavy hit. Soaring Angel feld endlessly vexed.

The battle in Okoron temporarily settled down. Even though Angel Corps’ army didn’t withdraw, they wouldn’t attack any time soon either. As for the Satreen Empire, Asskickers United had occupied nine strongholds. They used them as a foothold, from which they built up their line of defense. It took time to set this up, so the situation entered a brief lull as both sides took the time to rest and reorganize. The war wouldn’t end anytime soon. So, neither side was anxious about losing a city or territory. Rather, they focused on the long term, slowly raising up their strength.

While the Darkwing Dragon still had to recover, the Immortal Phoenix needed to mature to full strength of a Rank 8 flying mount. In other words, neither would be seen fighting anytime soon.

Nothing big would happen in Okoron for the time being. Even if something did happen, with Guo Huai and the 200 other members of the brain unit providing assistance, as well as the fact that Nie Yan could be reached at any time, there would be no issue.

Nie Yan decided this was a good opportunity to help Xie Yao get the last piece of her Legendary set. The importance of a Holy Magister to the guild didn’t need to be mentioned. If she also wore a powerful Legendary set, it would definitely be Angel Corps’ worst nightmare!

"Xie Yao, tell me about your quest. We’ll go get that last piece together,” Nie Yan said.

"Alright. I’ve already completed most of the quest. It’s only the final part that I’m stuck on. It’s way too hard! About an hour is all I need to get all the beforehand parts of the quest done. But when I get to the last part, I can’t figure out how to progress,” Xie Yao said. Hearing Nie Yan was going to help her with the quest, she became excited. It had been far, far too long since they last quested together. However, she also understood that Nie Yan’s class was more suited for going solo. She and him questing together all the time would only drag him down. So, she usually tried not to bother him.

"Just let me handle the last part of the quest,” Nie Yan said. After completing so many high difficulty quests, he was fairly confident in himself.

The two exited Okoron and entered the wilderness. After finding a secluded spot, they summoned their flying mounts and flew off toward the northern mountain range of the Abernathy Great Grasslands.

Many different quests led players to the Abernathy Great Grasslands. This was one of the reasons why Okoron was so bustling. Still, Nie Yan had never ventured this far north, mainly because the northern mountain range was a famous danger zone. To most it was just a scary story, but the few who had visited could attest to how frightening it really was.

The Spectre Dragon and Immortal Phoenix flew through the sky. They were as fast as lightning as the wind howled past them.

Nie Yan sat down on the Spectre Dragon’s back. He looked down at the vast mountain range covered in mist. The landscape looked quite enigmatic.

At this moment, Nie Yan spotted black dots blotting out the sky off in the distance, quickly increasing in size. They were heading straight for them! There were tens of thousands!

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. No matter what kind of creature was flying over, with so many, they would definitely be swarmed to death!

As the black dots drew closer and closer, Nie Yan could make out their appearances. They were giant birds.

"Shadow Vultures! Nie Yan, order your Spectre Dragon not to attack and release its dragon might. No matter how close they get to you, do not attack!” Xie Yao said. This wasn’t her first time encountering these Shadow Vultures. Once, she had made the mistake of attacking them and nearly died as thousands swarmed her. She quickly learned her lesson, never again daring to act so recklessly.

Nie Yan had the Spectre Dragon release its dragon aura.

Tens of thousands of Shadow Vultures came flying past as the sky darkened.

They were all Rank 6!

One Shadow Vulture after another flew past the Spectre Dragon. Some lingered around and stared at Nie Yan, looking like they were about to attack.

Under normal circumstances, being surrounded by so many Shadow Vultures, Nie Yan would definitely try to attack first rather than be forced into the passive. However, after hearing Xie Yao’s warning, he controlled himself. The Spectre Dragon let out aggressive roars, but it didn’t attack.

After a while, the Shadow Vultures realized the Spectre Dragon wasn’t to be trifled with and backed away.

Nie Yan glanced over at Xie Yao. She and her Rank 8 Immortal Phoenix had also scared off the Shadow Vultures.

A fierce battle didn’t break out like he expected.

Xie Yao explained, "These Shadow Vultures are scavengers. They generally won’t attack any creatures capable of fighting back, but they also have a flock mentality. If you attack one of them, they’ll all swarm on you.”

This sort of information couldn’t be found online. It had to be learned through multiple life-and-death and experiences. One could imagine how much danger Xie Yao faced trying to do this quest.

The Spectre Dragon followed behind the Immortal Phoenix, out of the flock of Shadow Vultures. Looking back, they were like a black cloud going farther and farther away.

Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. If he had taken action against them, the consequences would’ve been disastrous.

Xie Yao stared at the mountains below. After spotting something sometime later, she turned to Nie Yan. "We’re here. Let’s go down.”

The Immortal Phoenix and Spectre Dragon gradually made a descend, diving into the sea of clouds, before landing in an open area.

The two jumped down and recalled their flying mounts before entering a forest.

The trees had many branches at eye length, and the ground was covered in brambles.

For the sake of moving around easier, Xie Yao took off her cloak as her hair trailed down her shoulders.

The white robes she wore gave off a holy aura, enhancing her already divine figure.

Seeing Xie Yao’s fair face and alluring lips, Nie Yan’s heart skipped a beat. Even after all this time, it was still the same as when he first saw her. His feelings hadn’t waned in the slightest. Rather, they only grew stronger every day.

Xie Yao felt like the happiest girl in the world with Nie Yan accompanying her on a quest. She chatted with him about the things she experienced while doing it.

The dangers in the game could allow a person’s heart to become more steady. Even if they encountered danger, they could still maintain a calm mind. Nie Yan could distinctly tell that Xie Yao had changed since their time in high school, but he couldn’t quite put it into words.

After a patch of forest, they encountered several tribal villages. There were many human silhouettes moving around.

"Watch your step, the area around here is filled with traps,” Xie Yao said. She still had lingering fears from her previous experiences. Only the path she was taking Nie Yan through was safe. Everywhere else was filled with danger.

"When we came here just now, I noticed at least 10 high level traps. How did you find this path?” Nie Yan asked.

"I observed from far away for a long time. I noticed the paths the people in the village would take when they go out to hunt. That’s how I found it,” Xie Yao explained with a smile.

Chapter 870 - Unique Skill

Nie Yan chuckled. It appeared Xie Yao had come up with quite a few clever tricks to progress with this quest.

"These tribal villages only have NPCs roaming around them. Their levels vary, but the ones in full armour are all really powerful. Last time I came here, I killed one of them, and my crime instantly rose by 300. We can’t fight them and they won’t let us waltz in either; they’ll ring the alarm if we do and surround us,” Xie Yao explained, thinking back to her many, painful attempts.

"You found a way to sneak into the center of the village?” Nie Yan asked. Since Xie Yao had made it to the final part of the quest, that meant she had gotten through all these obstacles before.

"Yeah.” Xie Yao nodded.

"You take the lead, I’ll follow behind you,” Nie Yan said. If a Mage could sneak in, it would be even easier for him as a Thief.

Xie Yao’s face froze awkwardly.

"Huh, what’s the matter?” Nie Yan asked.

"Uh, I got in by using Blink…” Xie Yao replied.

"Oh! I see.” Nie Yan chuckled. "In that case, you sneak in first. I’ll catch up with you.”

The street leading into the village was filled with guards. Even Nie Yan would have a hard time sneaking through there unnoticed, to say nothing of Xie Yao.

"Alright.” Xie Yao nodded. She was confident Nie Yan could sneak into the village with ease.

"Show me how you get in,” Nie Yan said. He wanted to see how Xie Yao blinked her way in.

Xie Yao looked at her surroundings, altering her position little by little until she was happy. She watched the movements of the NPCs, waiting for them to reach a specific position. Exactly five seconds later, she moved forward.

She was showing herself! Another second and the guards would surely spot her! Nie Yan couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat on Xie Yao’s behalf.

At this moment, the guards crossed paths, and Xie Yao just happened to be in their blindspot.

Xie Yao mentally kept track of the time. Three seconds later, she blinked twice and arrived beside a wall seven meters away. When the guards turned their gazes back to the village, they overlooked that specific corner of the wall.

Two guards blocked the path up ahead. For a moment, they turned their gazes away, and Xie Yao blinked behind them. Another two seconds, the patrolling guards in the distance looked over. Too late. She’d positioned herself perfectly behind the burly guards.

The two guards suddenly sensed something off and turned around to look behind them. Again, too late. Xie Yao was already long gone. Seeing nothing suspicious, they turned their heads back. They would’ve never expected someone was behind them only a moment ago.

290.280
220.208
…

Xie Yao’s coordinates changed every few seconds. Her mentally mapped out path gradually revealed itself.

Nie Yan observed Xie Yao from afar. It didn’t take her long at all to reach fairly deep into the village. Her speed was impressive. From his vantage point, he could see every step of the process. She found every blindspot there was, never once letting a guard see her.

This was a special trick Xie Yao had picked up. To the untrained eye, it might look easy. But the slightest mistake could lead to disaster. It required excellent spatial awareness and observation ability. What made it even more challenging was that the paths the guards took weren’t completely fixed. So, she needed to be ready to adapt on the fly.

After 10 minutes, Nie Yan lost sight of Xie Yao as she’d safely found her way deep into the village.

Nie Yan entered stealth and made his way toward the village. Advancing 10 meters, he slowly approached the highest level guard in the vicinity. When he was roughly four meters away, the guard sensed something and looked around. Nie Yan slowly pulled his foot back.

After failing to find anything, the guard returned to a passive state.

3.7 meters! Nie Yan noted. So long as he kept at least this much distance from the guards, he’d be absolutely safe.

Nie Yan picked up the pace. As he quickly made his way forward, he maintained a safe distance of 3.7 meters from the guards at all times. Taking twists and turns, he flitted by. He didn’t make the slightest error.

Three minutes later, Nie Yan spotted Xie Yao. She was standing outside the entrance of a cave beside a cliff edge.

This village was actually built on top of a cliff. Nie Yan wondered where this cave led.

Nie Yan arrived beside Xie Yao.

Here already...!? Xie Yao was surprised. She’d kept an eye on him. He didn’t start moving until she was already past the halfway point, yet he arrived only a few minutes after her. However, on second thought, nothing with him should come as a surprise anymore.

"Are we there yet?” Nie Yan asked.

"No. We’re still a long way off. We have to clear out all the mobs and get through this cave, which will lead us to a lake. There, we’ll have to take a small boat to the other side. The graveyard there is our final destination,” Xie Yao said.

"What’s waiting for us there?” Nie Yan asked.

"An enormous spider. It built its nest on top of the graveyard and feeds off the corpses. The people of the tribe view it as a god. So, they regularly deliver their dead there to feed it. It’s a Level 180 Demonified Lord,” Xie Yao said. The last piece of her Legendary set was located in the graveyard. If she wanted to acquire it, she would have no choice but to face that spider. However, she was no match for it.

"This sounds like a job for a Thief.” Nie Yan chuckled. Snatching away items without being noticed was his specialty.

Xie Yao’s face lit up. "Be careful. It’s going to be really difficult. I’ve already died three times and made zero progress.”

Nie Yan sank into silence. With Xie Yao’s equipment and skills, something that could even make her feel helpless definitely wasn’t simple. He decided to go in there and take a look first, lest he make a fool of himself by trying to show off.

As usual, Xie Yao led the way. She had a method to get through the cave. Nie Yan followed behind her.

Chapter 871 - Water Demons

The ominous cave was filled with danger. Dark attribute demonic beasts could leap at you from nowhere.

As Xie Yao set foot in the cave, three shadows rushed toward her.

Xie Yao waved her staff. A ball of light formed in her palm and erupted with a dazzling brilliance.

The three shadows were blinded. Moments later, they regained their vision, but Xie Yao was already nowhere to be found.

Nie Yan looked after Xie Yao into the cave, watching her go. He saw the three shadows, the bright light, and then nothing. There was no more trace of Xie Yao.

After waiting for about 10 minutes, Nie Yan entered stealth.

The shadows in the cave were Shadow Demons, extremely fast monsters with powerful physical attacks. Most were around Level 160–170. Some were Level 180–190. They were ordinary monsters for the most part, with only a few Elite class ones here and there.

Nie Yan watched his steps as he carefully snuck past them.

Even though there were so many monsters, getting through here wouldn’t be difficult since he was a Thief. For a Holy Mage, on the other hand, it would be incredibly difficult to get through here without a scratch. Their safest bet was to clear away all the mobs before advancing.

Going forward, Nie Yan didn’t notice any corpses on the ground. He had no idea how Xie Yao was avoiding the Shadow Demons.

Xie Yao was intelligent to begin with. Playing a Holy Mage for so long, running dungeons with the other experts of the guild, along with Nie Yan’s guidance, she had honed her skills to an extremely high level. In fact, she occupied the spot of number one Holy Mage in Asskickers United.

Nie Yan faintly smiled as he thought of this.

After passing through many narrow, winding tunnels, the path up ahead opened up. It looked like a whole ‘nother world. This place was filled with darkness energy.

Walking through a patch of grass, Nie Yan arrived at the edge of a large lake. The water was pitch black, and the surface deathly still.

After reaching the lakeside, Nie Yan finally met back up with Xie Yao.

"Are we swimming?” Nie Yan asked. Looking into the distance, the lake surface was covered with fog. There was no way to see the other side.

Xie Yao shook her head. "There are monsters in there. Plus, the water is poisonous. We’ll be taking continuous damage if we step in it. There’s no way to safely swim across.”

"Then what do we do?”

"There’s a small boat that goes back and forth across the lake. It’ll come in a bit.”

Nie Yan and Xie Yao sat down in front of the shore. They chatted to pass the time.

"It seems like Tang Yao is in love. He is sending a new bouquet of flowers to Purple Pearl every day. She’s probably annoyed to death by now,” Xie Yao said. This was the hottest gossip going around in the guild the last few days.

A face surfaced in Nie Yan’s mind. Purple Pearl was an Alchemist in Asskickers United. One of their better ones, in fact; a Grandmaster. Tang Yao had learned the gathering skill. Every time he set out for the wilderness, he would pick some high level medicinal plants and hand it over to the Alchemists in the guild. That was probably how the two met.

"You think Tang Yao has a chance?” Nie Yan asked. He was quite concerned about this brother of his. He hoped Tang Yao could break away from the curse of his past life and find true love. It was that same painful memory that had haunted him so many times. Tang Yao falling in love with an escort in a bar he frequented, well aware how fickle she was. This woman was to be blamed for his death just as much as Liu Tianshi! Luckily, Liu Tianshi was dead already. The same fate couldn’t befall his friend in this life anymore. It was better to let the mirage of that other world disappear altogether.

"Pigs will fly in the sky before he gets her. She’s way out of his league.” Xie Yao giggled.

"Ah, not again.” Nie Yan facepalmed. Ever since they were young, Tang Yao always sought out the most mesmerizing beauties, only to be rejected time and time again. It seemed like this time wouldn’t be any different.

"Why do you have so little faith in Tang Yao?”

"It’s not that I don’t have any confidence in him, but the punk tries really hard to take away what little confidence I do have in him. Whenever he sees a beauty, his first head clocks out and the second one takes control. Have you heard his pickup lines? It makes me want to bash my head against a wall.”

"Sounds like you’re the expert. Are you really that good at picking up beauties?” Xie Yao asked, a dubious look on her face as she put her hands to her waist.

"E-eh, how did the conversation shift to me?” Nie Yan awkwardly coughed, and said with a smile, "Hehe. Just pretend I didn’t say anything?”

The two continued bantering with each other. Eventually, the silhouette of a boat appeared within the fog and slowly approached the shore.

"It’s here,” Xie Yao said.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Looking up ahead, he saw the empty boat slowly floating over, like an apparition in the fog.

This was sort of creepy. The boat was steering itself!

If it weren’t for Xie Yao leading the way, he would’ve probably wasted quite a bit of effort trying to get to the other shore.

The boat got closer and closer before stopping at the water’s edge. A faint, almost transparent figure stood at the bow. The captain! His appearance was impossible to make out. The only features slightly distinct were his hands holding the oars. This spirit looked like it could disappear at any moment.

Nie Yan clutched his dagger, wondering if he should take out this ghost. But Xie Yao grabbed his hand and shook her head. "We need him to get to the other side.”

Xie Yao led Nie Yan to the boat. The two carefully stepped on and sat down in the middle.

The ghost raised his head and looked at the two with a clouded expression. Then, he lowered his head back down and started rowing.

Nie Yan inspected the ghost with Transcendent Insight.

Lost Soul: Level 0
Health: 100/1000

The ghost had zero attack power. Even the weakest player could kill him, but that would likely spell the end of this quest.

The boat slowly moved across the lake’s surface, breaking into the fog.

They travelled across the lake for 20 minutes, the thick fog barring their sight. Sure enough, if Nie Yan had killed this ghost, they would be completely lost. Looking down at the water, he realized he could see the lake bed, where aquatic plants grew. This lake wasn’t deep at all!

There was a golden light flickering up ahead. It seemed to be coming from the bottom of the lake.

"What’s over there?” Nie Yan asked. He couldn’t help but think of treasure.

"A treasure chest. In about three minutes, we’ll be able to see it. I haven’t tried to open it because of the Water Demons lurking in the lake. Plus, the boat won’t wait for us. And with how thick the fog is here, we’ll lose vision of the boat pretty quickly. We can’t use our teleportation items either. So, we’d have to open it within a minute or two, or lose sight of the boat and die,” Xie Yao explained.

Nie Yan glanced at his pet slots. "You can’t summon flying mounts here?”

"Mhm.” Xie Yao nodded.

"Do you know what grade that treasure chest is?” Nie Yan asked.

"No, I couldn’t get a good look. There was too much vegetation blocking my view.” Xie Yao shook her head.

Nie Yan started comparing the boat’s speed with his own swimming speed.

"You’re planning to open it?” Xie Yao asked.

"Yeah. I want to give it a try.” Nie Yan nodded.

"It’s really dangerous,” Xie Yao said in a concerned tone.

"Since the system placed a treasure chest there, that naturally means people can open it. So, it shouldn’t be impossible, right?” Nie Yan chuckled. Risk and danger came hand-in-hand. Too many people in Conviction had a risk averse mindset. If they never stepped out of their comfort zone, they would forever languish in mediocrity. He didn’t wish to become someone like that. The greater the danger, the greater the reward.

Xie Yao knew that once Nie Yan had set his sight on something, there was no way of stopping him.

"Alright, just be careful,” Xie Yao said.

"Don’t worry. Just wait for the good news,” Nie Yan said with a confident smile. He looked up ahead and gauged his distance from the chest. Then, he used the Leaper skill and soared 30 meters across the lake before plunging into the water.

As soon as Nie Yan entered the water, he activated an underwater breathing skill. As he swam down toward the chest.

It rested on the lakebed, sparkling with a golden light. Since the underwater vegetation was too dense, he could barely make it out.

Time was short. Nie Yan dove deeper.

Back when Nie Yan was still a kid, he used to swim all the time. He had the technique, and now that he was more physically fit, also the power to swim fast. Plus, with the underwater breathing skill, he was like a fish in the water.

About 30 seconds later, Nie Yan finally reached the chest. Standing on the lakebed, he pushed away the water plants, revealing a sparkling golden chest. It was half buried in the silt. Its appearance was quite unique, covered in serpentine-like designs with a trident symbol engraved on the lock.

It was a Sub Legendary-grade chest. Nie Yan wasn’t disappointed. Though he of course had hoped for a Legendary chest, this was also good.

Nie Yan gazed at his surroundings. The water was extremely calm. He didn’t discover any of the Water Demons Xie Yao was talking about.

If Nie Yan lingered here for too long, they’d probably detect his presence.

Let’s quickly get this chest opened! Nie Yan crouched down and started picking the lock.

Opening chest… Progress: 3%... 7%... 36%...

Time slowly ticked away. Nie Yan was a bit anxious. He hoped no monster would interrupt him. Please, just let me open this chest in peace!

Nie Yan raised his head. Suddenly, he spotted several silhouettes quickly swimming over from 10 meters away.

Chapter 872 - Snatching Food from the Tiger’s Den

The Water Demons! They were here!

Nie Yan impatiently stared at the progress bar. It was already at 78%. If he were interrupted here, all that work would be for naught!

After discovering Nie Yan, the Water Demons let out shrill screams which sounded like grass scraping. This was apparently how they alerted the others. Water Demons swam in from all around, soon more than a dozen moving to surround Nie Yan.

Nie Yan was only eight seconds from opening the chest! This was the critical juncture.

The Waters Demons were like flies who caught a whiff of rotting meat. They made a beeline for Nie Yan.

Shit! Nie Yan was about to give up on the chest and return to the surface, when he heard a loud explosion.

The boat happened to be crossing directly over Nie Yan. Noticing he was in danger, Xie Yao shot a ball of light into the water.

The ball of light was dazzling beyond compare, illuminating the entire lakebed.

Bathed in the holy light, the Water Demons let out mournful screams and retreated back.

Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. He seized the opportunity to continue opening the chest.

BANG! The ball of light exploded, transforming the surroundings into a world of white.

This was the Radiance Explosion spell of a Holy Mage!

The dazzling brilliance completely disoriented the Water Demons.

Nie Yan was also blinded. But he didn’t need his eyes to pick the lock, only to hold it in his hands and keep the skill activated.

CLICK! The lid of the chest popped open. Nie Yan’s face lit up with joy. He stuck his hand in and grabbed onto a round object and something that felt like a necklace. In a hurry, he tossed them into his bag, whatever they were.

Nie Yan quickly swam back up to the surface. The light from Xie Yao’s spell gradually faded away. He could sense the demons rapidly closing in on him as he felt the cold water rushing past his face.

It looked like avoiding a fight with these Water Demons was impossible now.

Come! Nie Yan clenched the Bloody Dagger, ready to meet the enemy head-on.

The ghost captain still calmly rowed the boat, oblivious to the things happening underwater. He had zero consciousness. He was nothing more than a mindless spirit damned to row this boat across the lake for eternity. Xie Yao attempted to stop him, but nothing worked. Even the slightest nudge could cause his health to fall to zero and make him disappear, which would cause her to get stuck on her quest.

The boat was quickly leaving Nie Yan behind, Xie Yao anxiously looking back at him.

"Nie Yan, quickly, or else it will be too late!” Xie Yao cried out.

The fog was starting to obscure her vision of him.

Any longer, and Nie Yan would have no way of finding the boat, even from above the water’s surface. Worst comes to worst. She would have to kill the ghost, then turn the boat back to rescue him. As for what would happen after, she had no idea.

Come on! Come on! Xie Yao prayed.

Nie Yan felt his situation quickly turning south. Sensing a Water Demon closing in, he swung around and ruthlessly slashed its neck as they crossed each other in the water. A blood-curdling shriek rang out, causing his ears to ring in pain. His vision became hazy.

A mind attack! Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He quickly used Mind Immune as his head instantly cleared up.

Extreme Deterrence!

A wave of energy swept out, causing the Water Demons to retreat back. Nie Yan turned back around and swam to the surface. He had to hurry, or the boat would leave him behind!

The Water Demons didn’t back down after the Extreme Deterrence. They followed closely behind Nie Yan, looking like they would pounce on him at any moment now.

Almost there! Nie Yan tried to swim even faster. SPLASH! He broke out of the water’s surface. The boat! Where was the boat!? Where was it…?

"T-the boat’s gone,” Nie Yan sputtered. He knew the risk, and he knew the danger of missing the boat; death.

Nie Yan didn’t realize underwater, but he finally noticed the water had a paralyzing effect. His four limbs were starting to feel numb.

The water wasn’t fatal poison. Rather, it slowly made the player lose sense of their body!

Nie Yan hurriedly drank a high rank Antidote. He immediately had some feelings return to his limbs. But this wouldn’t last for long. The only way out of this was to get back on the boat! The boat was his only hope for survival.

「Nie Yan, are you alright!?」Xie Yao whispered.「Do you want me to kill the ghost and steer the boat back?」

「No, don’t. Cast Illuminate!」Nie Yan said. Even in this perilous situation, he still maintained a calm mind.

Xie Yao waved her staff and sent a ball of light into the air. BANG! It exploded with a dazzling radiance.

Nie Yan searched around before spotting a few rays of light piercing through the fog. Even though it was quite faint due to the distance, he still spotted it. As fast as he could, he swam in that direction.

Some seconds later, Nie Yan shouted in voice chat,「Cast another!」

Another ball of light flew up into the sky.

Nie Yan was happy to find the light was much brighter than before. This was proof he was getting closer to the boat!

Nie Yan picked up the pace and swam with all his might.

More and more Water Demons gathered behind him, none of them willing to give up their pursuit. They were faster than Nie Yan, only by a little. If it weren’t for Extreme Deterrence, they would’ve long since pounced on him.

Two minutes later, Nie Yan finally saw the outline of the boat. Salvation! He quickly swam toward it.

Xie Yao’s eyes scanned around the lake. When she heard the splashing and found Nie Yan swimming, it felt like her heart was going to erupt from her chest. She waved her arms and shouted, "Over here! Over here!”

Using every last ounce of strength in him, Nie Yan swam even faster.

Xie Yao waved her staff, sending a volley of light orbs in Nie Yan’s direction. They plunged into the water and exploded one after the other. Her gauge of distance was extremely precise. They all missed him, but the Water Demons underwater were blasted away.

Xie Yao knew the Water Demons wouldn’t stop chasing Nie Yan. So, she used Radiance Explosion to help him disperse them.

Since the spells exploded behind Nie Yan, the waves generated by their explosions propelled him forward even faster. After several more minutes, he finally reached the boat and climbed back up.

Xie Yao had gone through a rollercoaster of emotions these last 10 minutes. Seeing Nie Yan safely back on the boat, she tightly hugged him.

Nie Yan was stunned. Looking back at the water, he finally realized that the danger he exposed himself to might be normal to him, but frightening beyond compare to others. With the quest on the verge of failing and him lost in the middle of some lake, completely at its mercy, how could Xie Yao not be moved after seeing him return safe and sound.

Nie Yan was shivering from the cold water. Feeling the warmth of Xie Yao’s body, his mind flashed with a mischievous thought. He rubbed his hands against her butt as a soft and supple feeling was transmitted through his palms. He chuckled. "Don’t worry. Since when can trouble hold me back? I’m here, safe and sound, aren’t I?”

After feeling her butt groped, Xie Yao squealed and shoved him back. She didn’t expect Nie Yan to behave so pervertedly in this situation. There was even a ghost beside them! Even though it was just a mindless monster, she still felt extremely bashful as her cheeks flushed rosy red.

Nie Yan nearly lost his balance, trying his best to not fall back into the water. He bitterly smiled. "What? It was only a small feel. What would you do if I drowned?”

"It would serve you right!” Xie Yao shot him a glare.

The ghost raised its head to stare at Nie Yan, then at Xie Yao. It still had a vacant look in its eyes, unable to understand the actions of these two before it. It lowered its head back down and continued rowing.

Xie Yao reaffirmed the fact that the ghost had no consciousness. Only then did she slightly relax.

Nie Yan could sense that Xie Yao was still quite reserved. Only when the two of them were alone would she lower her guard. If another person were present, she would close up like a clam. Seeing her red all over, he couldn’t help but smile.

"We’re still a long way off.” Xie Yao shifted the topic to hide her embarrassment.

"Aren’t we already at the other shore,” Nie Yan asked in doubt.

The boat slowly approached the shore.

"This isn’t our stop.” Xie Yao shook her head. "We have to stay on the boat longer.”

After reaching the shore, the ghost looked around, almost as if he were waiting for passengers to get on board. Six minutes later on the second, he set off again and slowly sailed back into the fog.

"How do you know this isn’t the right place?” Nie Yan asked.

"From a quest clue. It’s a riddle, but I managed to figure it out. We disembark the third time the ghost reaches the shore,” Xie Yao explained. That riddle was extremely complicated, but she managed to slowly unravel it and figure out its secret.

"Oh, I see.” Nie Yan nodded.

"What did you get from the chest?” Xie Yao asked.

Nie Yan had nearly forgotten about the two items he retrieved from the treasure chest. Back when he pulled them out of the chest, he didn’t have any time to look at them. He took them out. One was a black gem, and the other a silver necklace adorned with a ruby. The necklace gave of a sparkling glint, the kind that captured your attention as soon as you laid eyes on it. As for the gem, its colour was pretty dull, but it barely fit in his palm.

Chapter 873 - Demon Realm Stone

Nie Yan inspected the necklace.

Memphis’ Illusory Necklace: Special Item

Properties: Mind Magic Resistance +220

Clear Mind: Grants immunity to Mind Magic for five minutes. Cooldown: 1 day.

Nie Yan thought of his own mind immune skill. Even though its duration paled in comparison to the five minutes from Clear Mind, it was more than plenty for his style of play. The crucial difference was the cooldown time. Compared to the 30 seconds from Mind Immune, one day was simply too long.

Xie Yao gasped in surprise as she read the necklace’s properties.

"What’s up?” Nie Yan asked, confused.

"I think I know how to complete the last stage of the quest!”

"With this necklace?” Nie Yan asked. He realized it probably played a crucial role in this quest.

"Mhm!” Xie Yao nodded. "With this Clear Mind skill, that fatass of a spider can’t target me with its mind attacks.”

"Fatass of a spider...?” Nie Yan broke into a smile. The treasure chest, within view but so far away. They were often placed like this when they were connected to a quest, seemingly just out of reach, yet containing vital items to progress. In many cases, he guessed here too, it meant the difference between success and failure.

Since Xie Yao had a plan to tackle the last stage of the quest, Nie Yan had one less worry on his mind. He felt somewhat hesitant to get involved in quests related to high level equipment sets. If luck were on his side, he could help Xie Yao get the final piece. Otherwise, he might lead to the quest failing permanently. Worst comes to worst, he would have no choice but to intervene and test his luck. But since she had come up with a solution, it was best if she completed it herself.

Nie Yan handed over the necklace to Xie Yao. "Are you confident in completing it yourself?”

"Yeah!” Xie Yao nodded vigorously. She had already failed three times. The two most recent attempts, she failed with the finish line in sight. That last stumble keeping her from success, this necklace could help her step over it!

"Then I’ll leave it to you.” Nie Yan smiled.

The second item was a gem. Nie Yan inspected it.

Demon Realm Stone: Special Item

Description: A stone from the remote demon realm, from where all darkness energy originates. It contains powerful darkness energy. In times long past, the demons had stolen three Demon Realm Stones from the demon realm. They didn’t get far, as the Demon Realm Sentinels hunted them down and killed them. But the Demon Realm Stones were never retrieved, lost somewhere within the human world.

Possible Effect: If directly consumed by a creature with the darkness attribute, it can raise their strength, completely transforming them or allowing them to directly break through. It can also lead to several unexpected side effects.

Nie Yan furrowed his brows. He’d never seen an item like this before. It had no set effect, instead tempting with good ones while warning for the opposite. The first line piqued his interest. He just happened to have two darkness-attribute creatures in his pet space. The prospect of increasing their strength, having them undergo a complete transformation or directly breaking through was quite tempting. However, the last line made him wary. If some kind of malicious side effect popped up, he might lose a flying mount.

After giving it some consideration, Nie Yan decided to put the Demon Realm Stone away in his bag.

10 minutes later, Nie Yan and Xie Yao arrived at the shore for the third time. The two hopped off the boat.

The lost soul did the same as before, waiting at the shore for a while before pushing off with oars and slowly sailing back into the fog.

Nie Yan gazed up ahead at the graveyard, a large open plane filled with tombstones. Most had snapped in half or collapsed. Thick webs ran across the place, connecting to the gravestones and a lone tree.

"Defeating that spider will take at least three hours. Nie Yan, you can go back first. You can use teleportation items here again,” Xie Yao said.

"You sure? How confident are you?” Nie Yan asked. He didn’t feel at ease leaving Xie Yao by herself.

"I’m 100% confident. Don’t worry.” Xie Yao nodded.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. He realized he had full faith in Xie Yao. If she was confident in defeating the spider and obtaining the last piece of her Legendary Set, there was no need for him to stay here. He’d only be wasting his time. Even if she did fail, he could always accompany her on the next try.

"I’ll leave in a bit. You go do your quest,” Nie Yan said.

"Alright.” Xie Yao headed toward the graveyard. After making her preparations, she engaged in a tense battle with the fatass of a spider.

Xie Yao blinked everywhere as her white robes flickered across the battlefield. She let loose with a flurry of spells. The spider immediately aggroed onto her and began retaliating. The two engaged in an intense firefight. Despite facing such a fierce assault, she appeared completely in her element.

She seems fine, Nie Yan thought. He activated a Return Scroll. After a flash of light, he disappeared.

Nie Yan returned to Okoron and replenished his consumables, reading the latest battle report. Bladelight and his team had ambushed Angel Corps’ catapult corps as it was enroute from the Satreen Empire to Okoron. They had destroyed 30 catapults and trebuchets. With no reinforcements arriving, Angel Corps’ next wave of attacks was delayed.

Nie Yan faintly smiled. Bladelight and his team had done a great job. Since the start of the war, Angel Corps hadn’t been able to get the slightest advantage. Asskickers United was no longer the easily bullied, fledgling guild of the past. They could go toe to toe with giants like Angel Corps now! As for the Century Financial Group, they were being held back by Holy Empire and the other allied guilds. With Fallen Angel glaring from the side too, there was nothing they could do to break free.

Asskickers United’s aerial scouts had already discovered Angel Corps’ troops and reported their location back to Nie Yan immediately.

Knowing Nie Yan was probably eyeing the Vermillion Garudas, Soaring Angel didn’t dare to deploy them easily. He had no idea if Nie Yan had a method prepared to deal with them. However, after being enemies for so long, he knew a thing or two about Nie Yan’s personality. Nie Yan would not let the Vermillion Garudas off easily. The Darkwing Dragon wasn’t dead, and Asskickers United had also a Rank 8 Immortal Phoenix. If the two teamed up together to launch an ambush, the Vermillion Garudas probably wouldn’t survive.

Even though the Vermillion Garudas didn’t take action again, the skirmishes in the air never stopped, with both sides taking losses.

Soaring Angel dispatched more forces into the Phoenix Den in order to obtain more powerful flying mounts to fend off against Asskickers United’s aerial forces. At the same time, he also sped up their exploration into World’s Edge. He was doing all he could to prepare his side for a long and bitter war.

With the Vermillion Garudas seemingly having disappeared, Nie Yan relaxed. He sent teams to continue exploring the Phoenix Den and World’s Edge on a large scale. When it came to progressing through high level maps, they would not lose out to Angel Corps!

Nie Yan’s equipment had reached the pinnacle. No other players could hope to match him for the foreseeable future. His next goal was powering up his pets, including obtaining two more pets to fill his three pet slots.

Nie Yan hadn’t raised Lil’ Gold’s level in quite some time, so he had somewhat fallen behind. Nevertheless, his battle prowess was still extremely shocking, especially in group battles. If Lil’ Gold was used well, he would have a huge impact on the battlefield.

If Nie Yan could obtain two more dragon pets and get their levels up, he could summon three pets at the same time. It would be a truly amazing sight.

What would Soaring Angel’s reaction be when Nie Yan suddenly summoned three powerful dragons in the middle of a fierce battle?

One dragon egg was in the Fate River in Calore. Nie Yan knew the rough location, but the exact location he would have to find himself.

However, as the guildleader of Asskickers United, Nie Yan didn’t have to do many things himself.

At this moment, the more than 100 Thieves levelling in the Abernathy Great Grasslands, Calore, and Nisode all received a command. To search the Fate River in Calore! Each of them took out a Return Scroll and teleported to Calore, where they replenished their consumables and set out for the Fate River.

Nie Yan gave a rough location to search. Their objective was a dragon’s den on a cliff. As long as they found the dragon's den, he could simply take over from there and obtain the egg himself. Though the Thieves were all elites in their own rights, they couldn’t be considered more than ordinary players to someone like Nie Yan. And since several dragons would pursue after whoever stole their egg, odds were better for an actual expert.

After receiving Nie Yan’s order, how could they dare to dally? The Thieves immediately started looking under every rock, nook, and cranny in the Fate River.

Nie Yan expected to receive word from them soon. He decided to find a place to level in the meantime.

About three hours later, Xie Yao sent Nie Yan a message. She had obtained the last piece of her Legendary set. Even though the Saintess Christina Set was far inferior to the Tyrant Abak Set, it was still a Legendary-set at the end of the day. In the entire server, the number of people with equipment rivaling hers could be counted on his fingers. The bonuses from the set greatly increased Xie Yao’s stats. The set also gave her two powerful holy skills, one of which was Forbidden Magic.

After spending so much effort, Xie Yao had finally completed the set. She was jumping with joy!

Nie Yan gazed at the properties Xie Yao shared with him. The long list of bonuses was dazzling to the eyes. Many were Holy Mage exclusive properties, such as bonuses to Holy Power. Only the most experienced Holy Mages could understand the complicated information. His attention focused on the Forbidden Magic, Radiant Dominion. It bombarded everything within a several thousand-meter radius with countless Radiance Explosions. He already witnessed the might of that spell himself. If tens of thousands of them were to explode all at once, one could imagine what kind of scene that would be.

Chapter 874 - Commerce Empire

With Xie Yao completing the set, Nie Yan had one less worry on his mind. She was like him now; standing high atop a peak far out of reach of any of her rivals. Including Nie Yan, there were at most 10 who could match her in the entire Righteous Faction.

Angels Corps and Asskickers United had both accumulated continuous losses over the last couple of days. Most players were on the battlefield. Only a few had the time to get some levelling done. As a result, there was practically no change in the strength of both armies. This was the reality of war, where both sides simply threw bodies at each other.

Under Nie Yan’s command, Asskickers United was also fighting on the economic front against Angel Corps, leveraging their enormous capital to buy up all the medicinal plants and many other raw materials required for war, including those required for making siege machines. The prices were driven up higher and higher. For the sake of replenishing their resources, Angel Corps had no choice but to pay up to five times more than before. This simply wasn’t sustainable. Both Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group would have no choice but to invest even more real-world capital into the game in order to buy enough gold to sustain their heavy war spendings.

This was precisely what Nie Yan was aiming for. By doing this, he would at least put some sort of pressure on the Century Financial Group’s financial state. With them suffering defeats on all sides, their pockets would eventually become strapped.

The Thieves Nie Yan dispatched to the Fate River reported back. They had discovered the location of the dragon’s den. However, after spotting eight adult dragons closely guarding the place, they didn’t dare to get a closer look.

Knowing the exact location of the dragon’s den was good enough. The rest Nie Yan could do himself. Though eight dragons protecting the place far exceeded his expectations. It seemed this easy task wasn’t as easy as he’d hoped.

Looking at his experience bar, Nie Yan was disappointed to find it had only risen by 5% over the past several days. This levelling speed was truly too slow.

Nie Yan headed toward the Starry Night Potion Shop. He rarely had the spare time to visit, so he hadn’t been here for quite some time already.

After walking for 10 minutes, a large 16-storey building appeared in his view. The Starry Night Potion Shop had undergone a complete renovation. It looked nothing like the building in his memory. The white walls were solemn and stately. It was the tallest building in all of Calore. Many players visiting the city for the first time would make a point to stop by here and take a few pictures. It had become a local landmark.

In front of the Starry Night Potion Shop was a large, 30 by 30-meter square with a fountain in the middle. The statue of a Thief in black cloak stood in the center of the fountain. His features were hidden by the cloak, no matter from which direction you looked at it. Waist bent, he held a dagger in each hand, looking like a cheetah ready to pounce on its prey—the typical form of a Thief. The only things that stood out were the two daggers; the Bloody Dagger and Slaughter Edge. Their ominously curved blades gave off a dense killing intent.

Everyone who played the game could tell who this was a statue of.

Orc King City had 10 statues of Soaring Angel. Meanwhile, Calore only had one statue of Nie Yan. Still, it had 10 times the fame any one of Soaring Angel’s statues had.

Because it was placed in front of the Starry Night Potion Shop, it was more than just a statue of a legendary existence. It was the statue of their founder!

Nie Yan had built up Asskickers United from nothing to the leviathan of the Viridian Empire it was today. In terms of businesses, he had the Starry Night Potion Shop which enjoyed a monopoly on the potion market. Beyond the position he had in his guild, or the many businesses he owned, most people knew him for his personal strength. The man who has never suffered defeat!

Nie Yan’s name represented an undying legend. Many people chatted about his exploits enthusiastically every opportunity they got.

Seeing the statue, Nie Yan couldn’t help but wryly smile. At the time when Guo Huai and the others suggested they build him a statue, he initially refused; only caving to their collective insistence later on. They had their own reasons. Angel Corps had statues of Soaring Angel all over Orc King City. How could Asskickers United lose out? Building this kind of statue held great meaning. The number of people who were qualified to have their own statues in a city was only a handful. This was a special type of honour.

What was unexpected to Nie Yan was that this statue had increased the traffic of people coming to the Starry Night Potion Shop. He was pleasantly surprised by this.

Walking past his statue, Nie Yan entered the Starry Night Potion Shop. The interior could only be described as magnificent. The floor was paved with a special type of white stone. If you were to look down at it, you could even see your own reflection.

Looking further in, there were rows upon rows of counters and numerous shelves in the back. The shelves were neatly stocked with all sorts of different goods. It was a feast for the eyes.

There were 60 sales clerks manning the counters. Most were players while a dozen or so were NPCs. They wore tidy work uniforms and were attending a line of customers.

Spread throughout the main hall were six rest areas with about a thousand seats, most of them completely filled.

At the edge of the hall were two flights of stairs leading up. An endless stream of players was going up and down. There was a staff exclusive passage at the back of the hall. Nie Yan could go through there. However, a sudden urge compelled him to take the public stairs. Even though it was spacious, wide enough to fit a dozen people side by side, there was simply too much traffic. Another flight of stairs wouldn’t hurt.

The first floor was the shopping area which exclusively sold potions. The second floor was for trading raw materials. Like a market, all sorts of players came here to sell their medicinal plants, haggling over prices. It created a messy atmosphere. 600 staff members were appraising medicinal plants. After purchasing the medicinal plants, they would be sent up two levels for sorting, from where they were sent to one of the many warehouses for storage.

More than 60% of the medicinal plants acquired by the Starry Night Potion Shop came from the main branch in Calore. It was always bustling with activity here.

Going up another level to the third floor, it was much less crowded. There were only a few dozen or so people. The environment was fairly calm. This floor was a lot more luxurious than previous ones. Some staff members were quietly talking to customers. These people were the big clients of the Starry Night Potion Shop. Many represented large guilds. They tended to buy in large batches, something they wished to keep from hostile powers, so the Starry Night Potion Shop offered a place for this.

The identities of these big clients were verified by staff in order to prevent goods from falling into the hands of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. Since they bought in bulk, they were usually given a good deal. Most transactions ranged anywhere from hundreds to thousands of gold. Occasionally, they even made million gold deals. Every transaction brought in a ton of profit.

The fourth floors and up were off-limits for customers. Rather, they were work spaces for Asskickers United’s Alchemists. The main branch had over 800 workshops with several thousand alchemists working for Nie Yan around the clock. The amount of potions they produced every single day was nothing short of astonishing. Of course, if you included the other branches, the number of Alchemists would rise to 60,000 plus. However, only the best of them were invited to work in the main branch. If they were to join another guild, any one of them would be treated as a precious treasure. They earned more than generous rewards, so much so that most people would go green with envy, but they were worth it.

Nie Yan strolled from floor to floor. On the higher floors, he sometimes walked down the corridors, looking at the workshops on both sides. Some of them were left open, letting him get a glimpse of Alchemists hard at work. The Starry Night Potion Shop paid wages based on performance. The more potions that were made, the higher the pay. This encouraged the Alchemists to work as hard as possible. Many were professional players. The wages they earned here were more than enough to support a comfortable life for themselves and their families in the real world. Many even had salaries equivalent to high level executives.

Conviction and the real world melded quite well together. The production ability of the real world was already highly developed. There was already no longer a need for many manual labour workers. However, how were so many people supposed to make a living? Without set work, they would become leeches on society. Conviction had created a whole new sector of jobs, and that was professional players. Income earned from the game provided for tens of millions of players and helped the federation resolve the unemployment crisis. It was no wonder they invested so heavily in the game.

With the support of the federation, Conviction also provided banking services. So, the gold trade was fairly lively. If players had a large amount of gold, they could easily exchange it for real world credits. Conviction became inextricably linked with the real world.

It was precisely because of the emergence of this new profession that so many people entered Conviction. Of course, the number who could earn the big bucks made up a small minority. Most could only make enough to barely sustain themselves. Just like in the real world, it took skill and hard work to make a killing. Many ordinary players would have no choice but to invest money into the game if they wanted to improve their situation.

According to the data released by the federation, Conviction accounted for roughly 20% of the country’s GDP. This was an extremely shocking number. It was no wonder all the large financial groups were entering Convictions, wanting to get a share of the pie. Many invested shocking amounts of money into the game, such as the Century Financial Group. Roughly 25% of all their investments were in the game. With recent events, that number had even increased to 40%.

Chapter 875 - Psychedelic Lust Potion

The entire Righteous Faction had over 3,000 Starry Night Potion Shop branches. It didn’t matter if they had tangible assets or intangible assets. They had all reached astonishing heights. The golden letters at the entrance spelling ‘Starry Night Potion Shop’ were a reminder for all. Through these doors, gold would never stop flowing.

Nie Yan stepped into an elevator. It was simple and crude, operating on several magic crystals. The speed was nothing to write home about, incomparable to the ones in reality. However, it was the best you could find in the entire Viridian Empire.

Nie Yan took to the 16th floor. It had an open floor plan, with many work tables set up with all sorts of alchemy wares. There were 33 people busy at work.

These 33 players were the core of the Starry Night Potion Shop. 13 were Sage Alchemists while the remaining 20 were Grandmaster Alchemists!

There were only 33 Alchemists in the Righteous Faction who had reached Grandmaster or higher, and they were all employed by the Starry Night Potion Shop. This was also one of the reasons other potion shops couldn’t compete with them and were eventually swallowed up.

These top rank Alchemists were the greatest asset of the Starry Night Potion Shop. Even though there were only 33 of them, they were good for 30% of the business’ profits!

All 33 were hard at work. None of them noticed Nie Yan.

Nie Yan walked past them. Seeing them so deeply engrossed in their work, he faintly smiled. Many people felt the work of an Alchemist was all the same. Anybody could do it and reach a high rank. It was simply a matter of luck, both with success rate and finding good recipes. If those detractors were to see this scene, they would realize there was a lot more to Alchemy than luck.

After Bird finished concocting a potion, he happened to raise his head and notice Nie Yan. The dazed expression on his face quickly turned to elation. He opened his mouth to greet him, but was hushed by Nie Yan who raised a finger over his mouth.

Bird chuckled, then spoke in a normal tone. "Don’t worry, Boss. Before they finish their work, even if lightning struck them, they wouldn’t notice it. So, what are you here for?”

"I came to take a look at the upgraded shop and also restock on potions. Do you guys have anything special for me?” Nie Yan said. He had long since heard that Bird and the other 32 Alchemists were working on all kinds of new potions.

"You’ve come at the right time! We’ve recently made quite a few new products.” Bird smiled. He had already been wanting to show off these new creations to Nie Yan for quite a while.

A new option opened for Alchemists who reached the Sage-rank; they could research their own potions and create recipes. So far, more than 60% of the products sold in the Starry Night Potion Shop had been replaced with improved versions made by them. 60 more different kinds of potions were made into recipes and being mass produced.

One could imagine how much of an impact a Sage Alchemist would have on a potion shop!

While Bird was chatting with Nie Yan, the other Alchemists one by one finished their work. Noticing Nie Yan, they all came to greet him.

"Boss!”

"Hello, Boss!”

...

The Starry Night Potion Shop was a trade organization. And their boss called Nie Yan boss. So, they followed by example. Plus, they also felt this form of address was more natural.

Nie Yan nodded in acknowledgement. He looked around at the Alchemists. "You’ve all worked hard. Without you guys, the Starry Night Potion Shop wouldn’t be what it is today. Recently, with the guild going to war with Angel Corps, the burden on you all has increased. I’d like to express my gratitude again.”

"What are you talking about, Boss? We’re only doing our job! Don’t be sorry!”

"Right, you’re treating us like outsiders here!”

"Without the Starry Night Potion Shop, we wouldn’t be here today. So what if we have to work a little bit harder?”

...

Seeing their passionate expressions, Nie Yan felt proud. It seemed that the effort he had put into them hadn’t been wasted.

If the Starry Night Potion Shop wanted to recruit new Alchemists, offering a high salary alone wasn’t enough. He also had to build a sense of loyalty and attachment.

Nie Yan chatted with the Alchemists for a while. He asked them about their work and showed genuine interest. They all felt motivated that he was interested in what they were doing. The big boss himself took the time to talk with them; this was a huge honour! Conviction had hundreds of millions of players, but there was only one Nirvana Flame. He held a high position in their hearts.

"Guys, show the boss your latest creations. If he likes it, you will receive a bonus, up to 50,000 gold for each new potion!” Bird said.

Though none of them were short on cash, quite the opposite really, 50,000 gold was still a large sum to them.

"Awesome! Trust me, manager, we will have the boss’ eyes sparkling!” Quiet Nannan said proudly. He was the Starry Night Potion Shop’s number one Alchemist. In terms of concocting potions, no one was his equal, not even Bird.

"Alright, those are your words. If the boss isn’t satisfied, I’ll be docking your pay!” Bird chuckled.

Quiet Nannan chuckled evilly. It appeared he already had something up his sleeve. In terms of developing new potions, if he said he was number two, no one would dare to claim number one.

Two Alchemists hurried to the back, from where they brought over an empty table. Nie Yan was full of anticipation. He wondered what these geniuses who had altered the landscape of Conviction’s potion market would show him.

No doubt these Alchemists had come up with quite a few concoctions. Nie Yan felt his anticipation build up.

"Who wants to go first?” Bird asked.

Everyone stared at each other, but no one showed any signs of coming forward.

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward.

"Seriously? You guys are making me look bad here! No one wants to go up first!?” Bird rolled his eyes.

"The first to go up is only there to build up tension! My inventions are too good for that!”

"Yeah! My concoction is too good to go first!”

No one wanted to come first. Nie Yan bitterly smiled. Just what were these weirdos thinking?

"Don’t dally. The boss’ time is precious. Fine, I’ll pick someone. You, go up and bring out your potions. You won’t get another chance,” Bird said, pointing at a random Alchemist; a 20-something man. His appearance was quite neat with a pale complexion. At a glance you could tell he was a shut-in.

The Alchemist nodded reluctantly but walked up. He rummaged through his bag and brought out two potions. One was blue, the other green. He placed them on the table. "The blue one is an invisibility potion.”

"What makes it different from other invisibility potions?”

"Yeah! Tell us!”

...

The other Alchemists started grilling him.

The Alchemist’s face turned red. He shouted, "Let me finish speaking!”

Everyone shut up.

"Invisibility potions only work on land, not underwater. The boss likely knows this too,” the Alchemist said.

Nie Yan nodded.

"Well, this potion works the other way around. After drinking it, you’ll become completely transparent in water. Other than that, it’s quite similar to normal invisibility potions, also lasting about three minutes. Oh! It does have a few more advantages! It has no effect on movement speed or any other side effects. You’ll be able to swim like you normally would,” the Alchemist said proudly.

Bird turned to Nie Yan, who gave a nod.

"Water Invisibility Potion, accepted! Your reward is 10,000 gold!” Bird said.

Money was secondary. Receiving Nie Yan’s approval made the Alchemist’s heart race with excitement. He then went on to introduce the green potion, "This is a transformation potion, but what it transforms you into is what makes it special. After drinking it, you’ll become a seal and have your swimming speed increased by 300%. You can’t attack, and the effects will be cancelled if you’re damaged. The duration is 20 minutes, and it has a cooldown of five hours.”

Nie Yan’s eyes lit up. This was exactly the kind of potion he was lacking! Now, if he ever encountered some sort of situation underwater, he could easily deal with it. It seemed like this Alchemist specialized in underwater potions.

"I’ll also accept the Seal Transformation Potion. Your reward is 20,000 gold,” Nie Yan said. He was in high spirits after receiving these two new potions.

Seeing their friend being reward 30,000 gold for his two potions, the other Alchemists also became excited. They all took out their various creations, all of which Nie Yan had never heard of or seen before.

"Psychedelic Lust Potion. Be it a person or monster, even a drop will cause the target to be trapped in a hallucination, incapacitated and unable to defend themselves! Please have a sample. It’s an essential item when going out into the wilderness,” an old man said. His hair was grey, as was his mustache that dropped down his face. This 70-something year old grandpa, an excited expression on his face as he held the gaudy red potion in his hand, looked quite questionable.

Several female Alchemists grimaced as their faces turned red. "You old pervert!”

"Hot damn! I’m blown away. You can even make something like that in the game!?”

"What a world-shaking creation!”

"But how are you supposed to use this kind of potion? It’s not like the enemy will just drink it!”

"You can spike it in their drink!”

"What a good potion!”

Everyone exchanged banter. Of course, they were only joking. If you were to really use this kind of potion, before you could even do anything, you’d probably be struck to death by lightning.

Everyone gazed at Nie Yan. Such a strange potion, it was likely he wouldn’t accept it, would he?

Looking at this potion, Nie Yan sunk into deep thought. This Psychedelic Lust Potion had very few applications, but it might just come in handy in some very special situations. "Psychedelic Lust Potion accepted. Your reward is 10,000 gold.”

Chapter 876 - Legendary Dragonbane

Nie Yan kept numerous items most players would consider useless. However, under the right circumstances, they could have a crucial impact.

The Crawler Ring and Silk Spinner Ring were two such examples. Only after players saw Nie Yan use them, did their popularity spike. Since these rings were quite rare, there was nowhere near enough of them to meet demand. Whenever one came up for auction, a bidding frenzy would erupt, with the final price often breaching 10,000 gold.

None of the people in the room understood why Nie Yan would want such a strange potion. Even the creator himself, the old pervert, was taken aback. However, Nie Yan already had a clear plan in mind for this potion.

Alchemy had many different branches. Only by comprehending one of them could an Alchemist advance to a Sage and create their own brand new potions. In other words, each of these Sages was a specialist in their own field, their potions a representation of that.

The Alchemists showed off their creations, one by one. There were many different kinds with their own unique uses.

Nie Yan accepted a total of 10 potions. Most of the Alchemists had already shown off their potions. The only one left was Quiet Nannan. Everyone looked at him expectantly.

"I guess we did save the best for last,” someone teased.

Quiet Nannan chuckled evilly. He took out five potions from his bag and displayed them on the table.

"Damn. Five new potions in such a short time! You really are a freak!”

"What kind of potions are these?”

"Stop acting so mysterious. Tell us already!”

"Even if the boss wastes a little time here, I guarantee it’ll be worth it. I’ll give everyone a nice surprise.” Quiet Nannan picked one bottle up. "This is a new creation of mine. After drinking it, your attack power will increase by 20% and your aggro generation by 30%. It’s ideal for Fighters, but it can also be used by Thieves.”

Nie Yan nodded. This potion really was great for Warriors pulling aggro. The 20% increase in attack power was pretty decent too, only further enhancing their aggro generation ability.

Nie Yan accepted this potion and rewarded Quiet Nannan with 5,000 gold.

Quiet Nannan showed off the next three potions. The first was a potent poison, the second a night vision potion, and the third a holy blessing potion. They pretty much did as their names suggested.

There was only one potion left. Everyone’s gaze fell on the bottle, expectations running high.

This potion was as black as the night. Yet the liquid sparkled and radiated an enchanting radiance.

"What kind of potion is this?”

"I haven’t named it yet,” Quiet Nannan replied, his expression turning serious.

"Why not?”

Quiet Nannan shrugged his shoulders. "Because I haven’t thought of a suitable name yet.”

"It sure looks pretty unique. What does it do?”

The enchanting glow the potion gave off drew everyone’s full attention.

One Alchemist walked over and tried to pick up the potion, only to have his hand slapped away by Quiet Nannan. "Don’t touch it!”

"Huh, why?” the Alchemist asked. He only wanted to take a closer look and see what it was made of.

"Because I concocted it by mixing Noxious Mandara, Corpsemaker, Mordor Nightshade Extract, Blight Dragon’s Saliva, and 10 other highly potent poisons together. And th—”

"What!? Impossible!”

"That can not be possible!”

The Sage Alchemists called Quiet Nannan’s claims into question.

"Every poison has unique properties. If you were to mix them together, rather than increasing the toxicity, they’ll clash with each other. At best, it’ll create a poison with a weaker potency. At worst, you’d blow up this entire building,” Bird said. He’d done his research.

Quiet Nannan shook his head with a mysterious smile. "You’re all wrong. While I was studying poisons, I made a discovery. The Noxious Mandara and Corpsemaker are compatible. They can eliminate the volatile effects of the Blight Dragon’s Saliva. It’s similar with the other poisons. This gave me a new understanding. Poisons also have their own set of rules, just that we don’t know them yet. It’s like how there are different elemental energies. Some oppose each other while others engender each other. Under certain circumstances, they can counteract each other, and given the right conditions, they can come together in perfect harmony.”

The Sage Alchemists sank into deep thought. This was a new revelation. It was like a window had been opened in their hearts. Their previous understandings of poisons had been flipped upside down.

"Get to the point. Just how strong is this poison?” Nie Yan asked. He wasn’t too interested in the theoretics of Alchemy.

"I’m not really sure. I’d say it’s at least fives times more potent than the next strongest poison. Its corrosiveness can easily melt any armour. It can instantly kill an enemy if their poison resistance isn’t high enough. Furthermore, it can cause blindness, full body paralysis, internal bleeding, and several more negative side effects. After I first created this poison, the system determined it was of Legendary-grade. Sadly, the difficulty of concocting it is pretty high, and the materials are all rare, so I was only able to make two bottles,” Quiet Nannan said. This creation was the culmination of all his hard work and research into poisons. It was his greatest achievement. No other poison could compare with it.

Everyone sucked in a cold breath of air. As fellow Alchemists, they understood just how difficult it was to make a poison of this level. This was definitely an epoch-marking concoction, worthy of being recorded down in the annals of alchemy.

Nie Yan shot a glance at this black poison. He couldn’t help but be flabbergasted. For this poison to have such heinous effects, it was truly shocking.

"You said you haven’t named it yet, right?” Nie Yan asked.

"Mhm.” Quiet Nannan nodded.

"How about we call it Dragonbane?” Nie Yan suggested. He was being a bit playful. The only reason he suggested that name was because he was about to go to the Dragon’s Den to steal a dragon egg.

"Dragonbane?”

"I mean, it is capable of killing dragons, right?”

"Dragonbane it is,” Quiet Nannan said. The names he came up with before didn’t really fit, and they weren’t too easy to remember either. Nie Yan’s suggestion did fit, so he agreed.

Quiet Nannan took a small sticker and put it on the bottle, then grabbed a pen from a workbench and wrote: ‘Dragonbane’.

"There’s only two bottles?” Nie Yan asked.

"Yeah. Just for these two, I burned through the guild’s entire stock of three different, rare medicinal plants,” Quiet Nannan said, scratching his head in embarrassment.

"As long as the result is this good, I’ll provide you with as many medicinal plants as you need.” Nie Yan chuckled. Even though there were only two bottles, it would do for now. Poisons were different from regular potions. Most potions were one time use consumables, but poisons could be used one drip at a time. A single bottle of Dragonbane could be used up to five times. All he had to do was coat a bit of it onto his dagger. These two bottles would last him a long time.

Quiet Nannan’s successful creation of the Dragonbane poison allowed the other Alchemists to view Alchemy from a different point of view. With their new insights, they were itching to get back to work.

"Today’s results exceeded my expectations. Apart from the 20,000 gold reward, I’ve decided to give Quiet Nannan another 30,000 gold for the Dragonbane. Any objections?” Nie Yan asked.

Everyone shook their head. They smiled and congratulated Quiet Nannan. He had undoubtedly earned Nie Yan’s recognition, as had the others to a lesser degree. Working under such a boss was truly great.

Nie Yan chatted with everyone for a bit, including a quick chat with Bird about the financial affairs. It would be pretty difficult for the Starry Night Potion Shop to grow any larger. Their daily profits had stabilized. On good days, they would pull in 9,000,000 gold. On bad days, it wouldn’t dip below 7,000,000.

The amount of income the Starry Night Potion Shop made every day was hard to imagine. However, all of it was quickly used. Apart from supporting Asskickers United’s daily expenses, Nie Yan reinvested a large portion into the market to swallow up items that had high appreciation potential.

Bird had opened up two warehouses just for these items, both of them filled to the brim with everything you could imagine. The items stored in there were bought at a low price, and would be sold when their value reached its peak. They would make a killing on them, somewhere in the several hundred million gold.

Asskickers United storing items worth such a large amount of gold was no big deal. Nie Yan still had 50,000,000 gold sitting in his personal account. He would take out a portion and exchange them for real world credits, then transfer it over to his father’s account. World Bloc was rapidly expanding. So, they needed the capital.

Nie Yan eventually left the Starry Night Potion Shop after a quick goodbye, stuffing the new potions in his bag. He traveled to the outskirts of Calore and summoned his Darkwing Dragon. It was about time he paid a visit to the Dragon’s Den in the Fate River.

Nie Yan took out a Darkness Life Core from his bag and tossed it to the Darkwing Dragon. It ate the Life Core like it was eating beans.

Nie Yan had already lost count of how many Darkness Life Cores the Darkwing Dragon had eaten. To ordinary players, these Life Core were each worth a small fortune, but the Darkwing Dragon was munching on them like every day snacks. Even though it showed no signs of breaking through to Rank 9, he could tell it was growing stronger bit by bit.

Nie Yan took out a Dragon Core from his bag. It had already been a long time since the Darkwing Dragon had eaten one. It was about time to feed it a second one.

Even though a Dragon Core wasn’t enough to allow the Darkwing Dragon to break through to Rank 9, it was enough to give it a significant boost in strength.

After Nie Yan took out the Dragon Core, the Darkwing Dragon repeatedly glanced back at him and let out begging cries. It was drooling from its mouth.

Nie Yan chuckled and tossed the Dragon Core to the Darkwing Dragon.

Chapter 877 - Path of the Thief

As the Darkwing Dragon swallowed the Dragon Core, the aura around its body shrunk, becoming far more dense and giving off a heavy feeling.

Since Nie Yan and the Darkwing Dragon had a spiritual connection, he could sense it was slowly digesting the Dragon Core. The energy permeated into its body a little at a time.

The Darkwing Dragon would need multiple days to digest this Dragon Core.

Fate River, a surging river cut through a mountain range and flowed into a deep basin at the foot of a mountain. This was one of Calore’s most treacherous areas.

All sorts of different monsters prowled about. Elite creatures were everywhere. Even the much rarer golden monsters that dropped good equipment were rather common here. Not to mention the Fate River was rich with natural resources, home to many different kinds of medicinal plants and rare ores. Teams of players frequently entered this place, not to level but to adventure!

A lucky few would return from the Fate River richer than in their wildest dreams. Just a few rare scores could allow you to live several months in luxury. If you were unlucky, however, and encountered some high level elites, you were most likely screwed. Even if you ran at the first possible moment, wiping was the most likely outcome. All this was assuming you didn’t encounter a powerful dragon, for if you did, you would be dead before even knowing what attacked you.

Nie Yan had the Darkwing Dragon circled in the sky before finally finding a suitable spot to descend.

The Darkwing Dragon landed on the ground. Nie Yan hopped off its back.

Before long, several Thieves arrived in front of Nie Yan.

"Boss, you’re here!”

Nie Yan glanced at these people. They were part of the Thief corps. Some of them looked more familiar than others. However, without inspecting them, he had no way of calling out their names. There were simply too many Thieves for him to remember all their names.

The Thieves all grew extremely excited when they saw Nie Yan.

"Show me where the Dragon’s Den is,” Nie Yan said.

"Alright. Follow us, Boss!” a Thief called Wind Blade said.

Nie Yan followed behind them as they dashed in a certain direction. The several mountains in the vicinity were poking into the clouds with high, precipitous cliffs. Occasionally, a few large creatures flew overhead.

The Thieves leading the way moved with extreme care. This place had dangers lurking everywhere. One slip up, and they could fall into a precarious state. They wouldn’t be the first, nor the last to die here.

"Boss, some large flying creatures frequently appear here,” a Thief said. However, seeing Nie Yan giving him a warm smile, completely unperturbed, he realized his reminder was unnecessary.

...

In a forest below a cliff, a dozen Thieves were eyeing the Dragon’s Den. They spotted two large dragons flying away to go hunt.

Two of the Thieves hid under some trees. They had a clear view of the cliff from behind the foliage.

"Chief, that should be the eighth one, right?” a 20 years old Thief with a somewhat immature appearance asked. His name was Su Yue. Beside him was a 30 years old Thief with a long mustache and dark skin. He showed a calm appearance. His name was Silvery Night, a junior captain in the Thief corps.

"No, still seven. We’ve counted that one before.” Silvery Night shook his head.

Su Yue asked in bewilderment, "Chief, how can you tell? All these dragons look exactly the same to me!”

Silvery Night chuckled. "Not at all. If you look carefully, you can easily spot their unique traits.”

Su Yue remained unconvinced. He stared at the dragons. They all looked the same to him. What unique traits were there to spot? He was amazed that Silvery Night could tell the differences between them. Ever since he joined the Thief corps, he’d always worked under Silvery Night, quickly gaining respect for his chief who always seemed to know everything.

"I heard the boss is coming,” Su Yu remarked. He had only heard this from a teammate. At present, everyone was still guessing. For the sake of preventing any information from leaking out, only a handful of them knew it was Nie Yan who ordered them to come to the Fate River.

"I’m not sure,” Silvery Night said, feigning ignorance.

"What kind of person is the boss?” Su Yue asked with curiosity.

"What kind of person is the boss? Hehe… I don’t really know either.” Many memories surfaced in Silvery Night’s mind. He was a long-time member of Asskickers United, having joined when the guild was only 20,000 members in size. At that time, he and the others had joined for fun. Who could’ve expected the guild would rise to such heights in two short years, experiencing victory after victory against some of the most powerful foes? Now they ruled over the Viridian Empire. Naturally, the status of people like him had risen as well. In the past, he wore trash equipment and was looked down on by almost everyone. Now, whenever he walked the streets of Calore, bystanders would gaze at him in envy and show respect. All of this was because of one person—Nirvana Flame! Thinking back to these past two years in Asskickers United, all of the guild’s ups and downs, honours and disgraces deeply affected his heart. As for Nie Yan, he was undoubtedly an unrivalled existence to him, not someone he actually knew.

"Chief, have you ever met the boss?” Su Yue asked.

"A few times.” Silvery Night chuckled.

"Wow! Tell me, what is he like? I’ve seen his videos, but I mean those are just videos! You can’t even get a close look at him in them!” Su Yue said. A big reason he joined Assskickers United was his admiration for Nie Yan. The man who had single handedly built up a hegemony from scratch! The man who undoubtedly was an extremely amazing character!

"From what I remember, he looks pretty average. But that only makes it easier to get along with him. He isn’t arrogant, he isn’t stuck-up. He’s a stand-up guy. I bet you’ll be greatly disappointed. He definitely isn’t like what you’re thinking.” Silvery Night faintly smiled.

"You’re lying, right?”

"Appearances are superficial, right? My most vivid memory of him was when me and two of my friends ran into 60 people from Victorious Return. We thought we were dead for sure. Only later on did we discover that those people were all chasing the boss. They didn’t even pay us any attention at all.”

"What happened after?” Su Yue asked, interested.

"Back then, we were all pretty low level. The boss’ equipment wasn’t like the Legendary set he has today. But it was still better than anyone else’s. He slaughtered half of them, the other half running for their lives. It was amazing,” Silvery Night recounted. "He showed me what a true Thief can do.”

A single person killing 30 enemies. Su Yue dropped his jaw in shock. This sort of thing was fairly normal for Nie Yan these days. However, when his equipment was only above average, that was a far greater achievement.

Silvery Night chuckled. "Anyway, after that event, I started improving by leaps and bounds. This was all thanks to seeing the boss in action that one time. Kid, do you know what’s called a true Thief?”

"What?” Su Yue asked. Wasn’t it just a class? Was there a need to be so mysterious?

"A Thief is a path, one of a king. If I explain it like that, you probably won’t understand. Do you know why the Thief is called the king of the wilderness? It’s not because our direct combat strength is particularly strong. We have two unparalleled abilities. The first is the ability to retreat and hide at any time. A highly skilled Thief can escape from any danger. The second is the ability to launch ambushes. Under the cover of the shadows, we’re invisible killers. This is just my understanding. If I wanted to kill you, you would die without even knowing what happened. Everyone can only tremble before my dagger. Their fear will sap away at their strength. They are my prey. When you truly understand the path of the thief, you’ll give off a certain aura. You’ll become invincible,” Silvery Night said.

"Path of the Thief?” Su Yue muttered. This topic went over his head.

"Try your best to understand, kid.” Silvery Night patted Sue Yue’s shoulder. Glancing at his chat, his face lit up with excitement. "The boss is here!”

They looked into the distance and saw several Thieves dashing over. One of them was wearing a cloak which hid his appearance. Even so, the gazes of all 12 of them instantly fell on him as their breath stagnated. They all knew who he was.

The man, the myth, the legend, Nirvana Flame!

Nie Yan walked over. Under the shade of the trees, he took off his hood. His eyes scanned over everyone’s faces before finally falling on Silvery Night’s.

"Silvery Night, have you investigated the surrounding terrain?” Nie Yan asked.

"Yes, Boss! You actually remember me?” Silvery Night asked, surprised. He didn’t expect the boss to remember a nobody like him.

The surrounding people all gazed at Silvery Night enviously. For the boss to remember him, this was a glorious thing.

Nie Yan chuckled. "How could I not? My impression of you is pretty deep. You have good eyes. The executive guild leader mentions you quite often."

After seeing Nie Yan in person, only then did Su Yue discover that they were around the same age. Even though Nie Yan was young, he gave off a mature impression. He appeared dignified and approachable. It made people feel as if his actual age were different from how he appeared. He was that kind of mysterious person!

Chapter 878 - Violet Eye Dragon

Nie Yan gazed up at the cliff. About halfway up he spotted a cave entrance, several dragons circling above it in the skies. Their scales sparkled like crystals and reflected a dark violet colour under the sunlight.

"Did you find out how many of them there are?” Nie Yan asked. Judging by their appearances, these dragons looked like Violet Dragons. The defense and physical attacks of Violet Dragons were mediocre at best, but they had extremely powerful magic attacks. From his memory, there was a nest of Violet Eye Dragons in this vicinity. Perhaps this was it.

"We’ve discovered seven Violet Eye Dragons so far. There might be more,” Silvery Night replied.

"How do you know they are Violet Eye Dragons?” Nie Yan asked.

"When some of them went out to hunt and drink water, we followed them and were able to confirm it.”

Nie Yan nodded in approval. Silvery Night had performed well.

Nie Yan decided to climb up the cliff and take a look inside the cave. His target was the dragon egg in the den.

Nie Yan knew of the Violet Eye Dragon from a story of the previous timeline. Back then, the players from several guilds had cornered a wounded Violet Eye Dragon. At the crucial time, a random Warrior had swooped in to steal the dragon’s egg, which he shortly after hatched. He instantly rose to the ranks of an expert, both in skill and level. The several guilds who had the egg snatched away from them sent people to kill him several times, only to have their forces slaughtered time and time again. Eventually, the Violet Eye Dragon became one of the top three pets.

Even though flying mounts did exist in the previous timeline, there weren’t all that many. The levelling speed of players also was substantially slower. As such, pets were of much greater importance. A high level one could instantly help a player become powerful.

Later on, stories spread of players discovering the den of another Violet Eye Dragon. Several large guilds dispatched expedition teams to kill the dragons and snatch their eggs. However, they were wiped out. Eventually, someone supposedly snuck into the nest and stole an egg, a Violet Eye Dragon hatching from it. However, these were all stories Nie Yan had heard in passing or read on the forums; it was hard to tell truth from fantasy.

What these events of the past did prove, was the strength of the Violet Eye Dragon. They were comparable to Lil’ Gold. Even though they paled in close combat ability, they more than made up for it with their powerful magic ability. In the previous timeline, Golden Dragons only ranked in the top 10, while that one Violet Eye Dragon was always in the top three, never knocked off from its position. It was no wonder Nie Yan was moved.

In the previous timeline, players had resorted to all means fair or foul to obtain a Violet Eye Dragon. Yet they still met with failure. In this life, if Nie Yan wanted to obtain a Violet Eye Dragon egg, it wouldn’t be easy.

The Violet Eye Dragon might be a dragon that could fly, but it wasn’t a flying mount. It could only sustain flight for about six minutes tops. And when flying, they couldn’t attack. Flying was an extremely strenuous activity for them.

Nie Yan and Silvery Night observed the dragon’s den for a while. Every now and then, one or two Violet Eye Dragons would come flying out. However, no matter what, the den was always guarded by at least three Violet Eye Dragons.

These Violet Eye Dragons were all Level 200 Variant Lords. They were extremely powerful. Any single one of them could wipe out Nie Yan and the other Thieves. One could imagine how difficult it would be to snatch an egg from this place. Nie Yan had no idea how the people of the previous timeline did it.

Even though he was about to do something so dangerous, Nie Yan was fairly calm. Ever since the game was released, he had risked his life countless times. This was part of the game for him.

When Silvery Night, Su Yue, and the others heard Nie Yan wanted to snatch away the dragon egg, they all looked at him with baffled expressions, believing they misheard. However, seeing the confident smile on his face, they knew he wasn’t joking. To snatch away an egg from right under the noses of seven Level 200 dragons, perhaps he was the only one who dared to do such a thing!

As Nie Yan was about to draw up a plan, a Thief let out a cry. "Boss, watch out!”

"It’s a Rank 7 Dark Mega Sandscorpion!”

"Shit, it’s coming straight for us!”

Nie Yan raised his head. An enormous, black winged scorpion was swooping down towards them from the sky. Its wings were kicking up a black sandstorm.

"Boss, run!”

Silvery Night, Su Yue, and the others all scattered.

"A darkness-attribute flying creature, here?” Nie Yan narrowed his eyes. His lips curved into a smile. Why would he run?

In the face of the scorpion swooping down towards him, Nie Yan showed no signs of moving.

Silvery Night, Su Yue, and the others wanted to call out to Nie Yan, only to hear a large explosion. A black sandstorm completely enveloped Nie Yan and swept out into the surroundings. They raised their daggers to block, yet were still pushed back several steps.

They paled in fright. Trapped within this powerful sandstorm, Nie Yan was doomed for sure!

How could a player go toe-to-toe with a Rank 7 flying creature!?

Nie Yan had to admit that the sandstorm was pretty powerful. Just as the Dark Mega Sandscorpion came swooping down, he activated Gale Step and combined it with his Shadow Steps footwork to evade the attack.

The scorpion landed heavily on the ground. Its multiple eyes scanned the surroundings for traces of Nie Yan. Its stinger was raised high in the air, ready to strike.

At this moment, a silhouette landed on its back.

Feeling something move on his back, the scorpion thrashed about and kicked up a powerful sandstorm.

PSFHT! Nie Yan plunged the Bloody Dagger into the back of the Scorpion’s head. It let out a painful screech and jabbed its stinger at him.

Nie Yan sidestepped and evaded the attack. With a grunt, he drove the Bloody Dagger across the scorpion’s head. PSFHT! A black liquid sprayed out and splashed his body.

A string of 10,000s floated up above Nie Yan’s head. He quickly took a high rank Antidote from his bag and drank it, removing the poison effect.

No matter how much the scorpion struggled, it couldn’t throw Nie Yan off its back.

After a while, the scorpion’s movements gradually came to a stop. Nie Yan stuck his hand into its head and fished out a Darkness Life Core.

Silvery Night, Su Yue, and the others were anxiously waiting a little distance away. The sandstorm was too powerful. They had no way of approaching. However, they could sense that the scorpion was thrashing about violently from within due to the ground shaking under their feet.

They were all puzzled. Just what was going on?

About two minutes later, the sandstorm gradually dispersed.

"The sandstorm ended!”

"Quickly, find the boss!”

If something were to happen to Nie Yan while with them, they definitely could not bear this responsibility!

Silvery Night raised his head. The sight before him had him gaping in shock. The scorpion lay collapsed on the ground in a pile of sand with black blood leaking from its head. It was dead!

After the dust settled, Nie Yan leisurely walked over toward them. His body was only covered with a bit of sand and the scorpion’s blood.

Silvery Night, Su Yue, and the others stared at Nie Yan, then back at the corpse of the scorpion. Their breaths stagnated, unable to describe the shock in their hearts. That was a Rank 7 flying creature! Yet it was dealt with by Nie Yan so easily!

Seeing Nie Yan walking over, Su Yue finally understood Silvery Night’s words from earlier. This was the path of a Thief. Under my dagger, if I want you to die, you won’t even know what killed you. This applied to both humans and monsters!

Nie Yan tossed the scorpion’s Darkness Life Core to the Spectre Dragon in his pet space.

"Boss, Dark Mega Sandscorpions are creatures that move in swarms. There are probably more of them,” Silvery Night warned.

Nie Yan nodded with a chuckle. "That’d be great. The more, the better.” His stockpile of Darkness Life Cores was starting to run low. The Darkwing Dragon and Spectre Dragon were both gluttons. He needed to restock on them, and Rank 7 Life Cores were fairly decent.

Silvery Night thought for a moment. It appeared he was overthinking things. Nie Yan didn’t seem to care about these Dark Mega Scandscorpions at all! He had always deeply admired Nie Yan, but today he was shocked once more.

Nie Yan started investigating the Violet Eye Dragon’s den. He used the Web-Crawler Ring to scale up the cliff, observing the inside of the cave as he hid behind the protruding rocks. He watched the Violet Eye Dragons moving inside. They were quite close together. The cave was dark, only lit up by a faint red glow. Violet Eye Dragons liked to make their dens near volcanic regions, since that was the best place to raise their young.

Entering this place would be difficult. While Nie Yan was thinking of a plan, more Dark Mega Sandscorpions did come flying over, allowing him to replenish his stock of Darkness Life Cores.

After eating several Rank 7 Life Cores, the Spectre Dragon rapidly grew in size. Likely because it was a spirit, its absorption ability of the Darkness Life Cores was much better than that of the Darkwing Dragon. Plus, since it was only Rank 6, Rank 7 Life Cores were extremely effective for its growth.

Nie Yan could sense the Spectre Dragon’s aura had already reached the peak of Rank 6. It was on the verge of breaking through to Rank 7. Once that happened, he would no longer have to fear the Vermillion Garudas.

The Spectre Dragon and Darkwing Dragon were different. The Darkwing Dragon was a close-combat flying mount. After ranking up, its defense and attack power would greatly increase. It rarely learned new skills. On the other hand, the Spectre Dragon would learn two new skills once it broke through to Rank 7! Nie Yan was filled with expectation.

Chapter 879 - New Plan

Spirit Howl and Spirit Possession, the two skills of his Spectre Dragon, were extremely useful. Nie Yan wondered what new skills it would learn next. He had no doubt they would be just as good, if not better. Even though its defense and attack power were fairly weak, those two skills made it far more valuable than the Darkwing Dragon at the same rank.

Nie Yan carefully observed the surroundings, constantly keeping one eye on the Violet Eye Dragons. He did this for three days straight, after which he had a fairly good understanding of their daily routines. Though briefly, he had come in direct contact with one. These dragons were ridiculously powerful. They were proficient in lightning, earth, and spirit magic. Their battle prowess was astonishing.

If Nie Yan wanted to sneak into the den, he would have to risk life and limb. He had no idea how that mystery person in his past life did it.

Silvery Night, Su Yue, and the others served supporting roles to Nie Yan. They would level in the vicinity, never straying too far, ready to see to his every need.

Level 200 Variant Lords! Nie Yan knitted his brows. Just one of these existences was far beyond him, to say nothing of seven!

After Su Yue helped Silvery Night and the other take down a Level 160 Elite-class War Wolf, he gazed into the distance. Nie Yan stood below a tree pondering something. Only his back was visible.

"Chief, it’s been three days. Do you think the boss will come up with a plan? He will find a way, right?”

"I’m not sure, but it’s not like we haven’t gotten anything out of these three days,” Silvery Night said. He wondered how Nie Yan was planning to enter the den. After all, those were Level 200 Variant Lords, and there were seven in total! Did Nie Yan have some kind of trick up his sleeve, simply waiting for the right moment to act, or was he coming up empty?

They couldn’t stay here forever!

Silvery Night and his team, every individual member, racked their brains. They were eager to show their worth to Nie Yan by helping him find a way inside the den.

A large Violet Eye Dragon exited the den and flapped its wings, flying off towards the east of the Fate River.

「Su Yue, tail that dragon!」Nie Yan ordered. No matter which Violet Eye Dragon left the den, he would have a Thief follow it and record its whereabouts, time spent away, and so on.

Over these three days, Nie Yan discovered there was a two-hour window when most of the Violet Eye Dragos would be away from the den, with only three remaining to stand guard. Though still an incredibly steep task, this was the best opportunity to act he’d found.

Worst comes to worst, Nie Yan could only try his luck.

Nie Yan was lost in thought, when he received a report back from Su Yue. The Violet Eye Dragon had flown to a spring in the east of the Fate River. After it finished drinking, it would fly back.

"Silvery Night, how many times a day do they go to the spring to drink on average?” Nie Yan asked.

"Reporting to the boss, at least once a day for around 20 minutes. Though, according to my analysis, over these past few days, it’s been the same Violet Eye Dragon every time,” Silvery Night replied.

"The same one?” Nie Yan knitted his brows. He suddenly thought of something. "Do all the Violet Eye Dragons go to the same spring to drink?”

"To our knowledge, yes they do.” Silvery Night nodded. He couldn’t help but wonder if Nie Yan was planning to ambush and kill one of the Violet Eye Dragons at the spring. However, he immediately discarded the thought. These Violet Eye Dragons were Level 200 Variant Lords! Even the guild’s elite team wasn’t a match for one!

"Bring me over there!” Nie Yan said.

"I’ll bring the boss over to the spring, you guys stay here,” Silvery Night instructed his team.

"Understood!”

Two silhouettes flitted through the forest. Nie Yan and Silvery Night headed toward the east of the Fate River.

About 10 minutes later, after passing through a dense patch of forest, Nie Yan and Silvery Night entered a wide open plain. Continuing forward, in the middle of a prairie was a small spring roughly five meters in diameter. Fresh water bubbled up from the underground source as hot steam rose up in the air, and the distinct smell of sulfur permeated the air. The water continuously seeped into the parched earth in the surroundings.

"This is it?” Nie Yan asked, his eyes scanning the surroundings.

"Yeah.” Silvery Night nodded.

"Anywhere else they go to drink?”

"Not that we know of. At least, they haven’t for the past week since we’ve started monitoring their movements,” Silvery Night said. Before Nie Yan had arrived, they’d already been observing these Violet Eye Dragons for quite a few days.

Seeing this small pond, an idea popped up in Nie Yan’s head. He discarded his previous thought of trying to sneak into the den. He had a new plan!

Nie Yan quickly called up Bird.

「Boss, need something?」Bird asked.

「Help me ask Old Liu if his Psychedelic Lust Potion will have any effect on a Level 200 Variant Lord,」Nie Yan said. If he could incapacitate these Violet Eye Dragons, they would be much easier to deal with.

「A Level 200 Variant Lord!?」Bird blurted out in shock.「No matter how great the potion, I’m afraid none are yet strong enough to have an effect on a Level 200 Variant Lord.」

After hearing Bird’s words, Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel disappointed. It looked like his plan wouldn’t come to fruition.

Bird sunk into deep thought for a moment before continuing,「But it’s not like it’s impossible. Our guild has so many Sage Alchemists. Especially Quiet Nannan, that guy’s alchemy skills can no longer be judged with common sense. Maybe we can come up with something.」

「I need a powerful potion that can disorientate, knock out, or incapacitate a Level 200 Variant Lord. Doesn’t matter how,」Nie Yan said. No matter what kind of effect the potion had, as long as it made the Violet Eye Dragon vulnerable, that was good enough.

「Boss, hold on a moment. I’ll go talk with the others and see if this kind of potion is feasible. I’ll have an answer in five minutes,」Bird said.

「No hurry.」The Starry Night Potion had the best Alchemists in the entire game. Perhaps they could really produce a potion even more potent than the Psychedelic Lust Potion.

After hanging up, Nie Yan patiently waited, praying Bird and the others would come up with a way. If it really proved impossible, he could only go back to square one.

...

The Starry Night Potion Shop main branch. Up on the 16th floor, the Sage Alchemists dropped what they were doing and gathered together for a meeting.

"Old Liu, would your Psychedelic Lust Potion have any effect on Level 200 Variant Lords?” Bird asked. He stared at the Alchemist across from him, the old pervert who’d created the Psychedelic Lust Potion.

Old Liu shook his head with a bitter smile. "How could that be possible? That’s a Level 200 Variant Lord you’re asking about!”

"Does anyone have any ideas? Anything that will be effective on a Level 200 Variant Lord? Doesn’t matter if it’s hallucogenic, paralyzing, or whatever.”

The Sage Alchemists knitted their eyebrows. They had yet to produce a potion at that level. Level 200 Variant Lords bordered on legendary existences. None of them had come in contact with that realm.

Old Liu thought for a moment, then said, "When I was developing the Psychedelic Lust Potion, the first prototype I created had an extremely weak effect and a short duration. However, since the manufacturing cost was so low, I created over 100 bottles and boiled them down to their essence to create the Psychedelic Lust Potion. If we increase that concentration by 50 times, I think it might be enough to disorientate a Level 200 Variant Lord for 20 seconds.”

"One without resistances maybe. A purely hypothetical situation. We first need to know the stats of this Variant Lord. If it has a strong resistance against hallucinogenic effects, then even if we increased the concentration by 50 times, it still won’t have any effect,” Quiet Nannan interjected.

"Hallucinogens have relatively weak effects. Among all the poisons, ones that can directly knock out the target are the strongest. If we use the concentration method, do you think we can make an effective potion?” Bird asked. He turned to Quiet Nannan, looking for his opinion.

"Theoretically speaking, it’s possible. However, we have to consider what kind of resistances that monster has and how resistant it is against knock-out poisons,” Quiet Nannan said, rubbing his chin. "It’s best if we combine that with the poison synergies hypothesis I came up with before. If we use different kinds of knock-out poisons that are compatible with each other, concentrate them together, we might just produce another Legendary poison.”

Quiet Nannan thought for a moment, then continued. "It’s best if we can get a sample of that Variant Lord’s blood, even if only a little bit. That way we can discover what kind of resistances and weaknesses it has and make an appropriate poison.”

"I’ll talk to him right now,” Bird said.

...

Nie Yan received Bird’s request. Even though it was a bit troublesome, he was glad there was a chance his new plane might work. Compared to killing the Violet Eye Dragon, it was far easier to get a sample of its blood. It wouldn’t take him much time at all.

「How long will it take to create this potion?」Nie Yan asked.

「If it were just one person working on it alone, it would take at least two months. However, with all our Sage Alchemists working together, we’ll get it done in a week at most. But you have to get us the blood sample first before we can even get started,」Bird said.

This was much faster than Nie Yan expected!

「I’ll get you that blood sample right away. I’ll have someone deliver it in half-an-hour,」Nie Yan said. He just received word that a Violet Eye Dragon was flying towards the south of the Fate River!

Chapter 880 - Insane Plan

It took Nie Yan 10 minutes to locate the Violet Eye Dragon roaming through the forest. It was hunting for food, several lion-like creatures its prey. They were spooked by the sudden appearance of the predator and fled in panic.

Nie Yan carefully observed the scene, counting seven lions in total. Despite being near the top of the food chain, they were no different from meek rabbits in front of the Violet Eye Dragon.

The Violet Eye Dragon quickly locked onto the lions. It opened its maw and chanted an incantation in dragon tongue, summoning earth spikes which directly skewered two of the lions. Immediately after, bolts of lightning came crashing down from the sky and struck three more lions. They were all burnt to a crisp.

Holding a lion’s corpse in place with its talons, the Violet Eye Dragon tore off a chunk of meat. It was the ruler of this area. No other creature could challenge it.

Sensing something, the Violet Eye Dragon looked at a patch of distant trees. Failing to spot anything, it continued devouring its meal.

Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief, his body hidden behind a tree. The violet eyes of the Violet Eye Dragon were as pure as crystal and could pierce through most objects.

After double-checking to make sure the Violet Eye Dragon was preoccupied with the lion, Nie Yan entered stealth and cautiously approached it from behind. Slowly but surely, the gap between them shortened until only 10 meters separated them.

Nie Yan held his breath, his eyes locked on the giant monster’s back.

The Violet Eye Dragon appeared to notice him and snorted out a hot breath of air, annoyed by the disruption.

Just as the Violet Eye Dragon turned around, Nie Yan launched himself forward. His body blurred as he summoned his shadow clone and split into two.

"GROAAH!” The Violet Eye Dragon opened its mouth and blasted scorching hot flames in Nie Yan’s direction.

Nie Yan and the shadow clone both activated Gale Step at the same time.

The Violet Eye Dragon searched for Nie Yan. Seeing a silhouette flash in front of it, it immediately cast a spell. The ground beneath the silhouette split apart as a giant rock pillar dropped down from the sky.

BOOOM! The silhouette disappeared, as if it were never there in the first place. The Violet Eye Dragon’s expression flashed with confusion. With its low intelligence it couldn’t possibly comprehend what happened. It looked around vigilantly, concluding that perhaps the enemy was gone.

The shadow clone had attacked from one side, now dead to the Violet Eye Dragon, while Nie Yan came at it from the other side, plunging Zennarde’s Sword deep into its back.

Only Zennarde’s Sword could pierce through the Violet Eye Dragon’s scales!

PSSFHT! Blood splattered everywhere.

Nie Yan pulled out Zennarde’s Sword as blood gushed out from the wound like a fountain. He hurriedly fetched an empty vial to collect it.

"GRAAAOGH!” the Violet Eye Dragon roared out in pain, shaking the entire forest. When it turned around to pounce on the enemy, they were already gone. It stomped around in pain, searching for Nie Yan who had already left with an Unknown Transfer Scroll.

The Violet Eye Dragon didn’t know spatial magic. So, it could only search around, confused for the second time by a sudden disappearance.

Somewhere 1,000 meters away from the Violet Eye Dragon, Nie Yan reappeared. His head was spinning, his body moving uncontrollably. More than once he felt the sharp pain of running head first into a tree. About 20 seconds later, he gradually regained control of himself.

When Nie Yan had crushed the Unknown Transfer Scroll, he had been hit by the Violet Eye Dragon’s mind magic. He had had no time to activate Mind Immune. The cast speed of a Level 200 Variant Lord was truly terrifying.

Three hulking savages in the vicinity were eyeing Nie Yan. They were ordinary Level 180 monsters.

Nie Yan hurriedly activated Extreme Deterrence. The savages stared at him with vigilance, though eventually backed away.

Nie Yan looked at the vial in his hand, filled to the brim with Violet Eye Dragon blood.

Nie Yan contacted Silvery Night and informed him of his coordinates, ordering him to hurry over. Silvery Night didn’t need to be told twice. He arrived no five minutes later.

"I’ve got the dragon blood. Have someone deliver it to the main branch of the Starry Night Potion Shop.” Nie Yan handed over the vial to Silvery Night. Now all he had to do was wait for Bird and the others to report back with the results.

"Alright. I’ll get to it immediately!” Silvery Night said. He had a Thief teleport back to Calore with the dragon blood using a Return Scroll.

The Sage Alchemists would at least require a week to create the new potion. Until then, Nie Yan planned to do some levelling, or perhaps do another quest.

"Boss, even if it works, the potion will at most knock out the Violet Eye Dragon for a few short minutes, maybe only 90 seconds if we’re unlucky. There’s no way we can kill it in that short amount of time. When it comes to, we will all be dead,” Silvery Night voiced his doubts. Even if there was a potion that could affect a Level 200 Variant Lord, they still would lack the damage to kill it. So, why go through all this unnecessary trouble?

"Who said we’re going to kill the Violet Eye Dragon?” Nie Yan chuckled.

"Huh, then what are we going to do?” Silvery Night asked. The dots connected in his head. "W-wait, Boss, don’t tell me you’re planning to capture it!?”

"Good plan, right?” Nie Yan laughed.

Silvery Night dropped his jaw in shock. Nie Yan was planning to make a Violet Eye Dragon his pet? That was a Level 200 Variant Lord! Silvery Night felt his head spin. This was absolutely ridiculous!

"Boss, do you really believe it’s possible?”

"Why not? As long as they’re not too intelligent, most monsters can become pets through beast taming.”

"Yes, but the level gap is way too big. There’s no way it’ll succeed!”

"So we keep them locked away and slowly work on taming them. When our levels are a bit higher, they’ll make for great pets,” Nie Yan said.

This seemed possible. Even though Silvery Night still had his doubts, he quickly dispelled them. All he needed to do was listen to the boss’ orders. In terms of experience, he couldn’t compare to Nie Yan. He thought for a bit. It wasn’t like there weren’t others in Conviction who were more skilled than Nie Yan. However, no one had yet managed to beat him. The reason was multi-faceted. One aspect was that none of them were as crazy as he was. Where he would fearlessly take on the most dangerous task, coming up with the craziest ideas to overcome the biggest hurdles, others would often instead take a step back. In Conviction which was filled with unlimited possibilities, this was also a sort of unrivalled talent.

In the past, Nie Yan could only use the Crawler Ring, Leaper Ring, Silk Spinner Ring, and other Special Items to pull some clever tricks. These items had helped him defeat one powerful boss after another, overcoming one tall obstacle after another, and contributing to his never ending legend. However, he was no longer limited to these few items. He now had an army of Alchemists, Tinkerers, Enchanters, Engineers, and other artisans as well as the manpower of Asskickers United at his beck and call. He could do even crazier things than before!

Nie Yan contacted Guo Huai via voice chat.「Help me get in touch with all our guild’s Sage Tinkerers, Enchanters, and Engineers.」

「Sure, how urgent is it?」Guo Huai asked. He had no idea what Nie Yan wanted to do that would require so much manpower.

「The faster, the better.」

「Alright, I’ll get to it right away.」

If Nie Yan could turn these Level 200 Variant Lord-class Violet Eye Dragons into his pets, they would be a strategic power in their war with Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. Wars in Conviction were just like reality. Apart from the standard ground forces, powerful super weapons were also required. Only by combining these two could you achieve victory! Why else would he go out of his way to collect something like Empress Finas’ Occult Talisman?

Nie Yan had no idea if his plan would succeed. However, he was already imagining what the faces of his enemies would look like if Asskickers United summoned several powerful pets like the Violet Eye Dragon. At this stage of the game, Level 200 Variant Lords were terrifying existences not to be trifled with.

Before long, Asskickers United’s artistans started stirring. Many Sage-rank artisans hurriedly assembled in Asskickers United’s headquarters in Okoron. They patiently waited in the conference hall. Even though they had no idea what Guo Huai gathered them together for, they could sense it was something special.

There were 24 people present in the conference hall, all Sage-rank artisans: 13 Tinkerers, three Enchanters, and eight Engineers. Tinkerer and Engineer were relatively easy professions to progress in. So, there were more Sages among them. Sage-rank Enchanters were rarer in comparison.

"I wonder what the executive guild leader called us for.”

"Violet Mist, do you know?”

Violet Mist shook her head. "I don’t know either.”

...

Everyone was chatting with each other. All Guo Huai had told them was to drop whatever they were doing and hurry over to the guild headquarters in Okoron.

Nie Yan left Silvery Night and his team in charge of monitoring the Violet Eye Dragons. He teleported back to Okoron with Instant Transmission, his silhouette appearing out of nowhere in the guild headquarters. He headed toward the special conference hall.

Nie Yan appeared at the entrance of the conference hall. The Sage artisans’ faces went blank.

"It’s the boss!”

"The boss is here!”

Nie Yan’s appearance left them shocked. They all stopped their idle chatter and instead faced him with serious expressions. They felt a slight pressure weighing on their hearts. After all, this was the big boss.

So Nie Yan had called for them. They couldn’t help but wonder what he wanted them for.

Chapter 881 - Preparations Complete

Nie Yan looked around. Asskickers United’s best Blacksmiths, Engineers, Tinkerers, and Enchanters were gathered here in the guild headquarters. They all held sublime authority in their respective fields.

"Today I gathered you all together for a special assignment,” Nie Yan said, sweeping his eyes over the crowd.

"What do you need us to do? We’ll do our best to accomplish it!”

"I need a pen of sorts that can hold a Level 200 Variant Lord,” Nie Yan said.

These proud men immediately fell silent.

"That’s going to be incredibly difficult if not impossible, Boss. A Level 200 Variant Lord isn’t just going to willingly let itself be captured.”

"What if it’s knocked unconscious, would that help?” Nie Yan asked. In the previous timeline, someone had pulled a similar thing off. Logically speaking, with so many Sage artisans around, containing a Violet Eye Dragon wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility. He briefly explained the situation, also making sure to inform them of the size of the Violet Eye Dragons, what magic they specialized in, and their other characteristics.

"That should be possible. As long as we can get it into the cage, it won’t get back out.”

"It has to be a pretty damn strong cage. We need to use the highest rank metal we have, and each individual bar has to be thick and solid. There can’t be any weak points in the design either. If the Enchanters know of a suitable magic formation to reinforce it further, that’d be of great help.”

"We have plenty of manpower. In terms of resources, Krutinium should work. There is no better alloy out there right now. Plus, producing it is pretty cheap. If we make the bars as thick as an arm, they should be enough to contain the dragon.”

"Let’s have the Engineers draw up a design. It would be best if we can prevent the Violet Eye Dragon from moving at all.”

The different Sages chimed in with their ideas.

"Mix in some Anti-Magic Silversand into the alloy. That’ll give the bars some additional magic resistance.”

"Anti-Magic Silversand is pretty expensive though…”

Everyone turned to Nie Yan.

"How much do you need?” Nie Yan asked.

"If we want the desired magic resistance, about 10 lbs. per cage. If we’re skimping, we can probably get by with five or six.”

"We only have 30 lbs. in the warehouse.”

"Are there any for sale in the marketplace?” Nie Yan asked. If the guild’s stock wasn’t enough, they could only turn to the marketplace.

"There is, but it goes for 60,000 gold per lb. Anti-Magic Silversand is too rare. It’s the most important material we use for adding magic resistance properties to our creations. Normally, it can be used sparingly. There’s only about 100 lbs. circulating in the market every day,” a Blacksmith said. He was fairly knowledgeable about the market.

Nie Yan rubbed his chin for a moment before turning to Guo Huai. "Help me buy up all the Anti-Magic Silversand on the market.”

"Alright.” Guo Huai nodded. He immediately passed down the order to his subordinates stationed in the auction houses across the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire.

The Sages glanced at each other in shock. The Blacksmith in particular was completely dumbstruck. He’d only described the rough situation, which was enough for Nie Yan to quickly decide to buy up all the Anti-Magic Silversand on the market! That was 6,000,000 gold! Yet Nie Yan was acting like he was buying cabbages at the grocery store. Even the executive guild leader didn’t bat an eyelid. It almost seemed like this was a normal day’s business for these two!

About three minutes later, all the Anti-Magic Silversand on the market had been bought up. Not even a single spec was left. Blacksmiths searched on the Super Trade Channel, but no one was selling. They could only turn to the forums and offload their frustration on the artisan boards.「Fuck! What is this bullshit!? Which goatfucker bought up all the Anti-Magic Silversand!?」

A single word from Nie Yan could influence the entire marketplace. Perhaps he was the only one with this much power.

Another five minutes later, the Anti-Magic Silversand was brought over from all across the surface world to the conference hall in Okoron. All 100 lbs. of it was dumped on the table.

"If you need anything else, let me know. As long as money can buy it, I’ll help you get it. Don’t worry about being frugal. This task is of the utmost importance. I need the cages as quickly as possible. The first one has to be finished by next week,” Nie Yan said.

"Don’t worry, Boss! Leave it to us!”

After explaining the finer details, Nie Yan left. The Blacksmiths and Tinkerers quickly went about producing the Krutinium. The Engineers started drafting up the design. As for the Enchanters, they would only come into play a little later. They went to prepare for then, researching a magic formation that would be most suitable for reinforcing the cage.

Over the next week, Nie Yan paid several trips to the battlefield. Whenever he appeared, the players from Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group lost their wits in fear. The number of people who had died at his hands these few days quickly exceeded 10,000. Soaring Angel dispatched Masters to assassinate him, but none of them came even close to succeeding.

Nie Yan was a huge thorn in the sides of the Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. He was simply invincible. His strength, equipment, skill, it all was far beyond that of most everyone else. If he continued to rampage around so unabashedly, this could have a major influence on the war. They focused even more of their efforts into killing him.

On the seventh day, Nie Yan finally received good news. Bird and the other Alchemists had finished creating the knockout potion. For the sake of developing this potion, they had worked tirelessly without rest. 13 Sage Alchemists had combined their knowledge into making this potion which was Legendary-grade. It had to be administered through the mouth. Apart from knocking the target out, it also had a weakness and paralysis effect.

With a recipe and Nie Yan providing the materials, they could produce three potions every day. Each one cost around 300,000 gold. This could be considered the most expensive potion on the market.

Nie Yan was itching to see its effects.

Apart from this "Dragon KO Potion”, the artisans had almost completed the cage. The Enchanters were working on the last few parts of the magic formation. Every part of the cage had to be reinforced with a runic seal. This was extremely delicate and tedious work. It required three Sage Enchanters working in tandem to complete. Suffice to say, it took quite some time. Though the artisans didn’t manage to finish it within the seven-day time limit he had set, Nie Yan didn’t mind too much.

Nie Yan already had a complete plan in his mind. He contacted Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, and eight other Mages and told them to come over.

After a while, the 10 of them arrived in front of Nie Yan. They were all Mages proficient with spatial magic.

"What do you need, Boss?” Undying Scoundrel asked.

"I have a special task for you guys.” Nie Yan explained his plan.

After hearing Nie Yan wanted to capture a Level 200 Variant Lord, the Mages were dumbstruck. This was simply mad! It required a special kind of crazy for someone to come up with a plan like this. They doubted there was anyone else than Nie Yan who fit this description.

"Boss, are you sure this will work?” Summer Bug couldn’t help but ask, a worried expression on his face.

"I’m at least 80% confident it will work,” Nie Yan replied. All preparations were complete. Turning back midway was not an option, or else all the time, manpower, and resources he invested would go to waste.

"Even if there was only a 10% chance, I’d still say we go for it, to say nothing of 80%!” Undying Scoundrel exclaimed. After all, they were about to attempt something no one in history had done before.

After a while, Bird and the others sent over the potion.

Nie Yan turned to Summer Bug. "How strong is that Summon Arcane Giant spell of yours now?”

"It’s already reached Advanced. I can summon three at once.”

"So they have the Inexhaustible Strength skill now, right?” Nie Yan asked.

The number of Magisters that had the Summon Arcane Giant spell could be counted on one hand. As for those who had raised it to Advanced, perhaps Summer Bug was the only one. This spell was his trump card. He didn’t reveal it easily. Only Nie Yan and a few others knew he had it. The official website had no information about it either. The Inexhaustible Strength skill was only obtained after the spell reached Advanced, something he’d only managed a few days ago. Even he himself didn’t know how useful it would be. How in the world did Nie Yan?

Even though Summer Bug was baffled, he still nodded. "Yeah, they do.”

"That’s good.” Nie Yan smiled in satisfaction. Everything was falling into place. When the Enchanters finished with the cage, they could get started.

Nie Yan and the others headed to the Fate River.

A half hour later, Nie Yan’s group arrived at the spring.

"This is the place?” Undying Scoundrel asked after looking around.

After Nie Yan nodded in confirmation, Summer Bug said, "This place is pretty wide and spacious. That’ll make it easier for us to move around.”

"Let’s get started,” Nie Yan said.

The Mages spread out in a circle around the spring about 30 meters away. They took out special items, runic stones, and other materials and started laying down a teleportation gate. It took them over three hours to get it ready. This transfer gate was up to six times larger than an ordinary one.

After a while, Silvery Night came rushing over. He looked at the Mages busy at work. He wondered what Nie Yan would do to capture the Violet Eye Dragon. He couldn’t help but be filled with anticipation. If Nie Yan were successful, this would be a history-making achievement and would have far-reaching effects. More importantly, he would be a part of it! This was an extremely great honour.

Chapter 882 - Trapping the Violet Eye Dragon

"How’s it been this past week? Anything new to report?” Nie Yan asked.

"Nothing unusual happened. However, I did discover that a different Violet Eye Dragon went to drink in the spring the last few days. I’m guessing they take turns, probably rotating every seven to 13 days. I haven’t had a chance to confirm yet,” Silvery Night said. They would need more information to prove or disprove this theory.

Nie Yan nodded. This was a new discovery.

All preparations were complete. They only needed the cage now. To pass the time, those near the spring did some levelling. About two hours later, Nie Yan received word that the cage was ready for use.

Nie Yan teleported back to the guild headquarters in Okoron with Instant Transmission. He entered the conference hall and was greeted by the sight of a large cage. It was five meters high with metal bars as thick as his arms. Each bar was densely carved with delicate runes, especially near the cage door. Its design was that of a simple cage, yet there were many complex mechanisms incorporated.

"Boss, this cage should be able to hold the Violet Eye Dragon. It’s made out of 1,200 lbs of Krutinium, 17 lbs of Anti-Magic Silversand, 32 lbs of Lodium, and 36 other different types of rare metals. It can withstand approximately 600,000 lbs of force, and no magic can damage it. Even if you dropped it from an altitude of 6,000 meters, it still will not break. The cage door is fixed with two complex mechanisms. After they’re activated, any creature locked inside will be forced to lay down,” an Engineer explained.

Seeing this cage, Nie Yan smiled in satisfaction. It looked almost exactly like he’d imagined it would. If even this couldn’t hold the Violet Eye Dragon, nothing would.

"In addition, we did some research and discovered the weak points of dragons are their bellies, their necks, and their collarbones. If the situation looks dicey, you can pull this red gear to target those weak spots.”

Nie Yan nodded. He already had a good understanding of how to use the cage.

Their first attempt of catching a Violet Eye Dragon would be a test run for the cage. If it really could lock one down, Nie Yan would have his artisans make a second one.

Before long, Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, and the eight other Mages entered the conference hall. Just like before, they set up a transfer gate, which took them several hours to complete.

Nie Yan called up several strong Warriors. They lifted the cage with all their power, then carried it over into the center of the transfer gate.

Everything was ready to trap the Violet Eye Dragon. Tomorrow, at 8 o’clock sharp in the morning—when the Violet Eye Dragon would make its next trip to the spring—their plan would be executed. But for now, with the servers soon going offline, Nie Yan and the others logged off.

They had no school, so Nie Yan took Xie Yao on a road trip, visiting several of the neighbouring cities. Time flew by.

When the servers came back online, Nie Yan and the others hurried over to the Fate River. They hid in the vicinity of the spring, waiting for the Violet Eye Dragon to appear.

No large animals prowled this open plain, only the occasional small bird or animal showing themselves. Since the Violet Eye Dragon frequented this spring fairly often, they were all scared off.

Time slowly ticked away. Nie Yan’s voice chat rang. It was Silvery Night.

「Boss, a Violet Eye Dragon just came out of the den. Its heading in your direction,」Silvery Night said.

「Kept me waiting long enough!」Nie Yan faintly smiled. He turned to Undying Scoundrel and the others. "It’s coming. Get ready!”

"Understood!” the Mages answered. Many of them retreated 500 meters away. They needed to maintain at least this much distance to ensure their safety.

Undying Scoundrel walked over to Nie Yan. He chanted an incantation as he conjured a waterball in his palm. It slowly rotated in the air. "I’m ready,” he said.

Nie Yan held the two bottles of "Dragon KO Potion” in his hands. Going back and forth in his mind, he eventually opted to use both. Better to be safe than sorry, he figured. He emptied the two bottles into the waterball, watching as the black liquid diffused into the water and slowly turned the whole thing ink black.

"Are you confident? This is going to be pretty difficult!” Nie Yan said.

"Don’t worry, Boss. When have I ever let you down?” Undying Scoundrel laughed.

The two potions cost 600,000 gold in total. If this failed, all that gold would go down the drain. Nie Yan couldn’t help but be prudent. However, he had faith in Undying Scoundrel. If he couldn’t do it, perhaps it really was an impossible endeavour.

Undying Scoundrel walked over to the spring with the waterball. He slowly placed it in the water and allowed it to sink just below the surface.

The waterball didn’t burst. Its contents were safely inside. Undying Scoundrel carefully controlled its movements underwater.

"Alright, what’s the farthest distance you can control the waterball from?” Nie Yan asked.

"200 meters. If I drink a powerful enough magic enhancing potion, 350 meters should also be possible,” Undying Scoundrel replied.

"That’s good enough.” Nie Yan nodded "Remember to use the invisibility cloak in a bit.”

"Got it.”

An anxious voice cried out in voice chat,「Boss, the Violet Eye Dragon is here!」

Nie Yan looked up at the sky. In the distance, a Violet Eye Dragon was flying over. Nie Yan and Undying Scoundrel hurriedly retreated and found a place to hide. Waist-high grass grew everywhere on this plain, making for good cover.

Before long, the Violet Eye Dragon arrived at the spring. Nie Yan entered stealth while everyone else put on their invisibility cloaks. They carefully erased their presence and eyed the giant beast.

Chapter 883 - Spiked Drink

The Violet Eye Dragon approached the spring. It appeared particularly irritable today, snorting out hot breaths of air as it looked around.

「Everyone, be careful. It might’ve already discovered us!」Nie Yan warned. The Violet Eye Dragon’s behaviour seemed off.

Everyone calmed their hearts, not daring to breathe too loudly. If they were discovered by the Violet Eye Dragon, it would be an absolute disaster. Failure of the operation would be the least of their worries.

The Violet Eye Dragon sniffed around the spring. It detected an unfamiliar presence. But failing to discover anything of substance, it slowly lowered its head and prepared to drink.

「It’s going to drink!」Undying Scoundrel felt his heart race. As soon as the Violet Eye Dragon started drinking, he could get to work.

The Violet Eye Dragon drank several mouthfuls of water.

「Be patient! Keep waiting!」Nie Yan eyed Undying Scoundrel. The Violet Eye Dragon still had its guard up, if only a little. If they acted rashly, they would alert it!

Sure enough, the Violet Eye Dragon only took a few swigs of water before raising its head and looking around restlessly. It seemed to have found something, as it started walking towards the transfer gate Undying Scoundrel and the other Mages set up.

「Boss, it’s walking over to the transfer gate!」

「What do we do?」

「Retreat another 100 meters. Let’s see what it’s planning to do!」Nie Yan said. Sure enough, a Level 200 Variant Lord wasn’t easy to deal with.

The players hiding near the transfer gate quickly retreated. From 300 meters, which was already an extremely safe distance, they fell back to over 500 meters away from the Violet Eye Dragon. However, Nie Yan still didn’t feel at ease and had them retreat even further back.

「Boss, the Violet Eye Dragon discovered the Transfer Gate!」

Nie Yan went over to investigate and discovered the Violet Eye Dragon standing right next to the transfer gate. His heart sunk.

「Stay put!」Nie Yan said after thinking for a bit. They had already dug out all the runestones and magic crystals from the transfer gate. Right now, it was only a frame radiating no magical energy.

The Violet Eye Dragon sensed the human presence around the transfer gate. It opened its mouth and blasted the ground with dragon breath.

「Boss, the transfer gate is destroyed!」

Nie Yan knitted his brows. Undying Scoundrel and the others had spent several hours working tirelessly on it. Their plan went up in smoke in an instant. Would they have to give up? He felt truly reluctant. If they went back empty-handed, without even making a true attempt, all their preparations would've been for naught. 600,000 gold worth of potions, wasted. Even if you had the money, you couldn’t throw it away like this!

The Violet Eye Dragon seemed irked by the transfer gate. It snorted, turned around, and headed back to the spring.

「Boss, what should we do? Do we continue?」Undying Scoundrel asked. They had spent three hours working on this transfer gate. Rebuilding it was not an option, the Violet Eye Dragon wouldn’t stick around that long.

「What’s the state of the transfer gate? Can it be repaired?」Nie Yan asked. If the transfer gate was beyond repair and they could only rebuilt it from scratch, they could only give up on this attempt. The two potions would also go to waste.

「I don’t know. We’re too far away. I can’t see it clearly.」

Nie Yan thought for a moment.「Wait for a bit. I’ll go over and check it out myself.」

「Boss, you’ll be discovered!」

The transfer gate was only 30 meters away from the spring. However, with the Awareness of a Level 200 Variant Lord, Nie Yan would be discovered before even getting anywhere near it. His stats might be overpowered, standing far above all other players, but this was no player, this was a monster so strong it could perhaps wipe out an entire city!

「Don’t worry. I got this.」Nie Yan chuckled. Slowly approaching the transfer gate, he took out Eye of Kirge and placed it on the ground. This item looked like a giant eyeball with pupils, blood vessels, and all. Its appearance was a bit frightening. He chanted an incantation and put his focus on the eye. Its pupils gradually expanded. When he finished chanting, the eye lit up with a profound light as if it had come alive.

Everything the eye saw Nie Yan saw too. The Eye of Kirge slowly floated over to the transfer gate.

Two minutes later, Nie Yan got a close look at the transfer gate. The Eye Of Kirge was hidden in the grass and stared at the burnt ground.

The Violet Eye Dragon, drinking from the spring, suddenly sensed something and raised its head vigilantly. It looked around but failed to find anything amiss, lowering its head back down again and taking a big swig.

「Boss, it’s drinking. Do I go now?」Undying Scoundrel anxiously asked.

「Don’t worry, it usually spends at least 20 minutes drinking, sometimes up to 40. We still got time,」Nie Yan calmly said. Looking through the Eye of Kirge, he reported back the damage.「There’s a hole in the center taking up about a tenth of the formation. How long do you think it'll take to repair it?」

「If we all work together, two minutes should be enough.」

「Do you have the materials?」

「Yeah, we do.」

「I have an Auto-Repair Scroll. If the damage to the transfer gate is serious, as long as I place the scroll on the formation, it should repair it,」Summer Bug said. He’d almost forgotten about this item stuffed in a corner of his bag. It was a reward from a quest, one that had seemed mostly useless until now. Who would’ve thought it would come in handy today.

「If we have the Auto-Repair Scroll, how long will it take to repair?」Nie Yan asked.

「20 seconds at most!」

「Undying Scoundrel, get to it!」Nie Yan said. Since there was still hope, they naturally had to give it a try!

「Got it!」Undying Scoundrel said, his voice somewhat trembling as he fought back the nerves. He took a deep breath and calmed his heart.

The Violet Eye Dragon finally relaxed its guard, confident the surroundings were safe, and started freely drinking from the spring.

Undying Scoundrel wore an invisibility cloak, which basically put him in stealth. He lightly moved his hand, controlling his movements extremely carefully to prevent the Violet Eye Dragon from detecting the subtle magic fluctuations.

All-Seeing Eye!

Undying Scoundrel’s eyes went red and radiated a profound light.

A little more. Closer, closer… Undying Scoundrel slowly guided the ball of water containing the black liquid toward the Violet Eye Dragon.

When the Violet Eye Dragon was drinking, the water in the spring moved around forcefully, being sucked into its belly. Undying Scoundrel started losing control of the ball of water when it reached within two meters of the Violet Eye Dragon.

Undying Scoundrel broke out in a cold sweat. The waterball was twisting around violently under the powerful sucking force. If it burst, the potion would dilute into the rest of the spring.

Keep going. Only a little bit more! Undying Scoundrel encouraged himself.

Only a meter from the water’s surface, ever so close to the mouth of the Violet Eye Dragon, Undying Scoundrel could no longer maintain the ball of water as it burst apart.

Undying Scoundrel’s hand trembled. He had lost all control.

「Boss, the water ball burst.」

「Where did it burst?」Nie Yan asked.

「About a meter from the surface. The Violet Eye Dragon should have sucked it all up, but I can’t confirm for sure,」Undying Scoundrel said in a worried tone.

「That’s fine. Good job. We can only wait. Everyone, start approaching the transfer gate and get ready to repair it!」

The Mages started moving towards the transfer gate. Before the Violet Eye Dragon would lose consciousness, their movements had to be extremely careful, lest they wished to end up burnt to a crisp.

The Violet Eye Dragon drank quite a bit of water. About 20 minutes later, it finally stopped and lay down near the edge of the spring to rest.

Nie Yan and the others waited and waited, but the Violet Eye Dragon didn’t lose consciousness. They couldn’t help but get worried. Perhaps it didn’t drink the potion or its resistances were too high for the potion to have any effect.

The Mages were hidden about 150 meters away from the Violet Eye Dragon, not daring to approach any closer.

「Boss, why hasn’t the Violet Eye Dragon passed out yet?」

「Do you think the potion maybe didn’t work?」

After suffering so many setbacks, the group members became extremely anxious. Even Nie Yan felt a bit restless. However, everyone was filled with expectation. Failure was not an option. He could only do his best to reassure them, as they continued to observe.

The Violet Eye Dragon took a few steps, rocking back and forth. It flapped its wings and prepared to leave.

Seeing the Violet Eye Dragon’s unsteady posture, Nie Yan’s eyes lit up.「Everyone, hurry and repair the transfer gate, now!」

「But the Violet Eye Dragon hasn’t passed out yet!」

「Go! Every second counts!」Nie Yan said in a deep tone.

The Mages finally blinked over to the transfer gate, braving the risk of being attacked by the Violet Eye Dragon.

The potion in the Violet Eye Dragon’s belly was starting to take effect. It had only flown about six meters before falling from the sky and crashing to the ground.

「We don’t know how long the potion will last. Work quickly, guys! Grab every second you can!」Nie Yan shouted.

When the Violet Eye Dragon discovered the Mages, it let out a deep roar. It started unsteadily walking towards them, only for the potion to cause it to lose its balance and fall down.

Nie Yan chanted an incarnation and summoned Lil’ Gold. If the Violet Eye Dragon attacked Undying Scoundrel and the others, he could only have Lil’ Gold take the blow.

One second, two seconds… nine seconds. THUD! The Violet Eye Dragon collapsed on the ground.

「It’s passed out!」

Chapter 884 - To Catch a Violet Eye Dragon

The Violet Eye Dragon’s enormous frame crashed to the ground, kicking up a large cloud of dust.

「Hurry, hurry! The potion doesn’t last long. If we’re not done when it wakes up, we’re done for!」Nie Yan said urgently.「Summer Bug, hand over the Auto-Repair Scroll to Scoundrel. You help move the Violet Eye Dragon. Everyone else, help repair the Transfer Gate!」

「Got it!」

Summer Bug handed over the Auto Repair Scroll to Undying Scoundrel, after which he blinked toward the Violet Eye Dragon. Undying Scoundrel rused after the other Mages to repair the transfer gate.

The Mages, both Great Mages and Magisters, quickly worked to repair the transfer gate. They went over the parts of the formation that were easy to fix. As for the most badly damaged area in the center, Undying Scoundrel placed the Auto-Repair Scroll there. All that was left to do was to lay down the magic crystals and runestones to activate the transfer gate.

The transfer gate was quickly repaired. The 10 Mages took up their respective positions around the formation and started chanting. Back in Okoron, a similar group of Mages started chanting too. To open this transfer gate, it required both sides to be opened simultaneously.

The leylines on the ground lit up, forming a double hexagram on the ground. This was the crystallization of their knowledge, allowing them to create a masterpiece that broke through the limits of space.

Nie Yan didn’t know exactly how long it would take for the transfer gate to activate. He felt his heart racing out of his chest, as did the others most likely. Luckily, he’d picked members in the guild he was fully confident in. Even though he was nervous, everything was going smoothly. There had yet to be any mistakes.

Summer Bug arrived in front of the knocked-out Violet Eye Dragon. He chanted an incantation and waved his staff. Three giants appeared before him. They were five meters tall with dark skin and hulking bodies. Glowing, runic tattoos covered their bare upper torsos, the only piece of clothing on them grey leather loincloths. Every step they took violently shook the ground. Just their presence alone gave off an overbearing pressure.

Arcane Giants!

Undying Scoundrel and the other Mages were still working on activating the transfer gate.

Nie Yan pressed Undying Scoundrel and the others to hurry up, while he ran over to Summer Bug.

Summer Bug waved his staff. The eyes of the three Arcane Giants snapped open, flashing with a black light. They bent down, and picked up the Violet Eye Dragon’s body. Their expressions were hollow, as though nothing of this fazed them.

This was the effect of Inexhaustible Strength!

Nie Yan guessed the Violet Eye Dragon weighed at least five tonnes. This kind of weight wasn’t something ordinary players could handle. Only these Arcane Giants could move its body.

The three Arcane Giants carried the Violet Eye Dragon over toward the transfer gate, with slow and careful steps.

Nie Yan stared at the unconscious Violet Eye Dragon, his heart filled with anxiousness. He hoped it would stay asleep a little longer. Looking back to Undying Scoundrel and the others, they seemed to be nearing the end of their chant.

「Boss, it’s about to wake up!」Summer Bug cried out anxiously.

The Violet Eye Dragon made slight movements, as though it could sense it was being carried toward captivity by three Arcane Giants.

A sign it was going to wake up!

When the potion was in full effect, the Violet Eye Dragon couldn’t move one bit. This was evidence its effects were wearing off!

Nie Yan checked the time. Not even 30 seconds had passed! Though an incredibly achievement, this was a Level 200 Variant Lord after all, it was nowhere near the suggested amount of time.

Nie Yan felt like his heart was about to burst. What could he do to make the Violet Eye Dragon sleep just a little longer?

Nie Yan was coming up blank.

The transfer gate suddenly lit up brilliantly, as if someone had thrown out a flash grenade. Everyone went blind.

After the light settled down, a giant cage stood in the middle of the transfer gate. It sparkled with a golden lustre. Nie Yan felt like he was looking at the most beautiful thing in the world.

「Open it, quick!」Nie Yan anxiously cried out. He could already sense the Violet Eye Dragon’s breathing becoming stronger. It would wake up any second now!

The Mages rushed up to the cage and pushed open the door.

Summer Bug didn’t need Nie Yan to tell him what to do. He had his three Arcane Giants carry the Violet Eye Dragon over to the cage as fast as they could.

As they reached the cage door, the Violet Eye Dragon’s eyes snapped open. It let out a deep roar and attempted to struggle free, only to find that the Arcane Giants were pretty strong. Plus, it was still half unconscious, the paralysis effect yet to completely wear off.

The three Arcane Giants pushed together and shoved the Violet Eye Dragon into the cage.

"Close the door!”

"Hurry!”

The Mages tried to close the cage door, but their strength was limited. Straining themselves to their limits, it slowly started moving. One of the Arcane Giants grabbed the door at this moment and exerted its full strength. BAM! The door slammed shut.

The Violet Eye Dragon furiously roared and rammed into the cage door.

"Lock the door!”

The three Arcane Giants carried a large metal rod. It was about as thick as their torso. They slid it through the door.

"The lock!”

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK! Several dozen mechanisms activated, locks upon locks.

The Violet Eye Dragon finally shook off the remaining effects of the potion. Finding itself locked in a cage, it started thrashing about violently. GROAAG!”

The Mages suddenly lost control of their bodies and fled in all directions. Nie Yan, Undying Scoundrel, and Summer Bug reacted fairly quickly, realizing that roar was a mind attack. They activated their mind immune skills.

The Violet Eye Dragon opened its mouth and breathed a jet of violet flames. BOOM! The flames struck the bars and disintegrated. The cage wasn’t damaged in the slightest.

Since the target was a dragon, for the sake of ensuring the cage’s magical resistance was high enough, the Blacksmiths had infused 17 lbs of Anti-Magic Silversand instead of the normal 10. As a result, the Violet Eye Dragon’s flames posed no threat.

"Heh, this damn overgrown lizard is trapped!” Undying Scoundrel chuckled. With such a strong cage, no matter how the Violet Eye Dragon fought, it couldn’t break free.

Just when Nie Yan and the others thought everything was set, their faces to pale in shock. Under the Violet Eye Dragon’s violent struggling, the bars were starting to bend. If this continued, the entire cage would break!

"Boss, the cage isn’t strong enough! What do we do!?”

Nie Yan suddenly recalled something. He rushed up to the cage and pulled down a red lever next to the door. The cage suddenly shrunk. Several rods shot out and struck the Violet Eye Dragon’s belly, immobilizing it. Several more rods pressed down on its neck and collar bone.

The Violet Eye Dragon could no longer struggle.

The originally square cage became conical and the size of the Violet Eye Dragon. The transformation was fascinating to watch.

"I always thought you didn’t need a lot of skill to become an artisan. But this cage, this is something else. I suppose I’ve thought a little too simple of them.” Summer Bug sighed in admiration.

The Violet Eye Dragon opened its mouth. However, its neck was being pressed down on by the rods. It couldn’t breathe anything out.

"Finally, we’re done. Let’s bring it home.” Nie Yan smiled. As the tension left his body, exhaustion took its place.

After the fear effect wore off, the Mages walked back over. They stood around the transfer gate and started chanting.

They were going to use the same method as before to teleport the Violet Eye Dragon to the Asskickers United guild headquarters in Okoron.

"I trust everyone knows none of this happened. Am I understood?” Nie Yan said severely. If they could successfully tame the Violet Eye Dragon, it would become Asskickers United’s ultimate trump card. Until it stepped onto the battlefield, this would be the guild’s number one secret; under no circumstances was it to leak out!

"Understood!”

"We actually managed to capture a Level 200 Variant Lord. I still can’t believe it…” Undying Scoundrel muttered. However, reality was right before his eyes. Seeing the pitiful state of the Violet Eye Dragon, his eyes flickered with a brilliant light. Once more, Nie Yan had created an unprecedented miracle.

"Taming it is another matter altogether. I remember it took Nest Melon and the others two months to tame a Level 160 Demon Bat,” Summer Bug said with furrowed brows.

"That’s a worry for later. Let’s get the Violet Eye Dragon back to the guild headquarters first,” Nie Yan said. Even though taming it was going to be a bit difficult, what they didn’t lack was time. Today’s harvest was enormous. However, this was only the beginning. The Dragon Den still had six more Violet Eye Dragons! Seven Level 200 Variant Lords! Thinking to this point, he couldn’t help but feel his heart racing with excitement.

Chapter 885 - Mysterious Beast Tamer

The conference hall in Asskickers United’s guild headquarters. 10 Mages stood around the transfer gate, patiently waiting for word from Nie Yan.

Guo Huai restlessly paced back and forth. Ever since Nie Yan came up with that crazy idea of his over a week ago, he was filled with stress. Simply catching a Level 200 Variant Lord, he’d said it so casually. But how could it be easy to capture!?

Under the combined efforts of the Engineers, Blacksmiths, Enchanters, and Tinkerers, they had finally created a cage. It had given Guo Huai some semblance of confidence. However, after Nie Yan started enacting the plan, he couldn’t help but let doubt get the better of him. Would this really work? He didn’t want to get his hopes up.

Everyone in the conference hall were loyal members of Asskickers United. They could be fully trusted. Everyone stared at the transfer gate.

"Do you think the boss will succeed?”

"Who knows? That’s a Level 200 Variant Lord.”

Most of the people remained skeptical. After all, Nie Yan’s objective was simply too ambitious.

Finally, the transfer gate lit up with a dazzling light. Everyone shielded their eyes.

"The boss did it! He captured the Violet Eye Dragon!”

"Don’t dally! Complete the transfer!”

The Mages quickly started chanting. A moment later, a different-looking cage appeared before their eyes. Within was a massive dragon. They couldn’t help but back away in fear.

Even though the Violet Eye Dragon was locked down by the cage, it was still radiating its draconic aura which beared down on them intensely. For many this was the first time seeing such a high level Variant Lord.

The Violet Eye Dragon fiercely gazed at everyone in the hall. But it couldn’t move. And with its throat locked down, it couldn’t cast any magic either. All it needed was an extra inch of space, and it could easily wipe out all these ants in here.

Unlike the Mages, Guo Huai and the other Level 0 players were far worse off. They all retreated a great distance back. Only then did they feel the pressure lessen. They were gasping heavily. Raising their heads to stare at the Violet Eye Dragon, their hearts were filled with an indescribable emotion.

"How did the boss manage to catch this thing?”

"I heard he used some kind of knockout potion.”

"For real? I didn’t know we even had such powerful potions. It can actually knock out a Level 200 Variant Lord.”

"I’m not sure either.”

None of them knew exactly how Nie Yan had done it. All they knew for certain was that he had done it, the living proof right in front of their eyes.

"I wonder how long it’ll take to tame this Violet Eye Dragon.”

"If we invite the Viridian Empire's best Beast Tamers, I’m guessing it will take at least half a year.”

The Mages were in excited discussion. Even though taming the Violet Eye Dragon was extremely difficult, most of them ignored this matter. Their focus was on what would happen afterwards. If a Level 200 Variant Lord were to step onto the battlefield, it would absolutely become the enemy’s worst nightmare!

Guo Huai was the first to calm down. It appeared there really was nothing Nie Yan couldn’t do. He could even capture a Level 200 Variant Lord! Guo Huai was truly impressed.

After confirming the Violet Eye Dragon had been successfully teleported back to the guild headquarters, Nie Yan returned to Okoron with Instant Transmission. Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, and the others also hurried back.

Guo Huai waited for Nie Yan in the conference hall.

"Where are we going to place this guy?” Nie Yan turned to Guo Huai. "We can’t let anyone find out.”

"I understand.” Guo Huai rubbed his chin. "Let’s just keep it in here.”

Nie Yan looked around and frowned. "This place is too small.”

"Too small?” Guo Huai was stunned. This conference hall was already so large. How could it be too small?

"It works for one Violet Eye Dragon, two or three too I suppose. But it’s too small to hold all seven. We need a bigger space,” Nie Yan explained.

"W-wait, you’re planning to capture seven?” Guo Huai blurted out in shock. "Uh… Hmm… give me a moment. I’ll find a more suitable place.” Since the caged Violet Eye Dragon was a top secret, they had to take extra precautions to make sure nothing leaked out.

"Have the artisans build more cages,” Nie Yan said. He wouldn’t give the other six Violet Eye Dragons the chance to get away!

"I already passed down the order, but what about finding a Beast Tamer? Since we caught the Violet Eye Dragon, it would be a waste if we didn’t tame it,” Guo Huai said. Taming it was a whole ‘nother matter, perhaps even more headache inducing than capturing it.

Nie Yan stared at the Violet Eye Dragon. He had already thought about taming it, which would be no simple task. "I’ll get Beast Tamer Collinson to come over.”

"Collinson? You mean the high rank Beast Tamer in the pet shop?” Guo Huai asked.

"That’s the one.” Nie Yan nodded.

"That’s a high rank NPC. Can you really call him over?” Guo Huai asked. NPCs weren't so easily ordered around.

Nie Yan chuckled. "Don’t forget I’m a Great Prophet, and my status in the Temple of Light is equivalent to that of a Cardinal. I can call upon the army of Calore. Summoning one NPC is nothing in comparison.”

Guo Huai nodded in realization. Nie Yan’s titles were something else. With his status, calling over Beast Tamer Collinson really wouldn’t be a problem.

"Find a place to store it and get preparations underway for the next six. I'm making a run to Calore,” Nie Yan said. He turned around to leave.

"Wait a second,” Guo Huai called out.

"What?” Nie Yan turned around.

"I received an interesting piece of information, but I haven't had a chance to confirm it yet. Apparently, there’s a secret NPC at the back of the pet shop, sometimes; he rarely appears. His Beast Tamer rank is higher than Collinson. He’s a Grandmaster. If Collinson takes half a year or even longer to tame the Violet Eye Dragon, it might be better to call over that NPC instead,” Guo Huai said. One of his subordinates had told him about this NPC not too long ago.

"I understand. I’ll go over and take a look,” Nie Yan said. If that NPC really did exist, he would call them over.

Nie Yan teleported to Calore, Instant Transmission proving once again to be an incredibly valuable skill, and headed for the pet shop.

As Nie Yan walked, he examined the progress of the war. Angel Corps had launched several more attacks on Okoron, only to be repelled every time. However, they had succeeded in razing down 10 of the surrounding strongholds in the Abernathy Great Grasslands. Asskickers United’s players tenaciously fought back, and had pushed back Angel Corps’ main force to the edge of the territory.

In the Satreen Empire, the fighting was still as chaotic as ever. With the aid of Fallen Angel, Asskickers United held a slight advantage. Though, the advantage of fighting on their home turf gave Angel Corps a large edge. Asskickers United could only eke out small gains. What worried Nie Yan the most was that Asskickers United’s aerial troops had suffered heavy losses in two large-scale battles. All the resources Angel Corps had invested into their flying mounts was finally showing results.

So far, Asskickers United had lost a fair bit more than 8,000 flying mounts while Angel Corps lost only 7,000. Unfortunately, Angel Corps had far more flying mounts than Asskickers United. It was an uphill battle they were losing for now.

It was a pity that the Darkwing Dragon was still recovering. Xie Yao’s Immortal Phoenix had yet to fully mature to the full strength of a Rank 8 flying mount as well. Plus, its Rebirth skill was still on cooldown. They couldn’t afford to take any risks right now. Looking at the Spectre Dragon’s current state, Nie Yan was extremely satisfied with its growth. It could break through to Rank 7 at any moment.

Asskickers United required more Rank 7 and Rank 8 flying mounts. In the face of a high rank flying mount, all Angel Corps’ low level flying mounts were nothing more than cannon fodder.

Nie Yan had Bladelight and the others focus on capturing stronger flying mounts. If they needed help, he could rush to their side. He looked back over the stats of the Spectre Dragon, the pet shop only a few streets away.

...

Angel Corps guild headquarters. Soaring Angel had just returned from the Phoenix Den. Looking at one of the reports, he knitted his brows. What was Nirvana Flame doing in the Fate River? So many people in such an insignificant map, they were most likely planning something big.

The Thieves he had dispatched to monitor any movements in Calore had discovered Nie Yan and Silvery Night’s movements. However, they had no idea Nie Yan had just captured a Violet Eye Dragon. If Soaring Angel knew, he definitely wouldn’t be able to sit still.

Soaring Angel rubbed his chin and passed down an order. "Have the Thieves dispatch a squad to the Fate River and investigate. If they encounter players from Asskickers Untied, tell them to back away and immediately report to me.”

Soaring Angel caressed the longbow in his hand. During this time, he had been thinking of ways of dealing with Nie Yan. Right now, he had a completely new understanding of the Demon Hunter class. If he could confirm Nie Yan’s position, he’d like to test himself against Nie Yan again. It had been a long time since their last clash. He wondered if the Mad Rogue’s reputation still held.

Before long, a team of 20 Thieves from Angel Corps set out.

Nie Yan had no idea Angel Corps had already noticed his movements in the Fate River. The artisans were hard at work building another cage for the sake of capturing the next Violet Eye Dragon.

After passing through the bustling streets, Nie Yan entered the pet shop.

"Great Prophet, how may I help you today?” Beast Tamer Collinson asked, giving a deep bow.

Chapter 886 - Beast Tamer Hall

The pet shop looked the same as always. Nie Yan found his way toward Collinson past rows of cages inhabited by all kinds of pets. "Beast Tamer Collinson, I have a request for you,” Nie Yan said. He had no idea how to get to the backroom Guo Huai had mentioned. As he looked around, he spotted a small door hidden by a few cages. It bore a sign that read "personnel only”. He couldn’t simply walk in all willy nilly. He would ask Collinson for permission first.

"I’m willing to serve,” Collinson said respectfully.

"It’s like this. I’ve recently captured a Violet Eye Dragon. I need your help to tame it,” Nie Yan said.

"Great Prophet, bring the Violet Eye Dragon to me, and I’ll help you tame it.”

Nie Yan shook his head. "I’m afraid I can’t do that due to some special circumstances. Please, could you come to Okoron with me? I promise to reward you generously.”

Collinson made an awkward expression. He pondered for a moment before asking, "What level is this Violet Eye Dragon you caught?”

"It’s a full grown adult, a Level 200 Variant Lord.”

Collinson sucked in a cold breath of air, an incredulous expression on his face. "My apologies, Great Prophet, but that’s really hard to believe. Are you sure it’s a Level 200 Variant Lord? In the entire Righteous Faction, only a few people, like Jebiah the Great, have such high level pets. If I may ask, how did you capture it?”

"Sorry, I’m afraid that’s a secret,” Nie Yan replied. He wouldn’t easily reveal how he caught the Violet Eye Dragon, even if the other side was an NPC.

Seeing Nie Yan’s displeased expression, Collinson trembled in fear. He quickly apologized, "I didn’t mean to offend! Please forgive me for overstepping my boundaries! Great Prophet, with my Beast Tamer rank, it will take me at least three years to tame a Level 200 Variant Lord.”

Nie Yan knitted his brows. The estimated time was far longer than he expected. Even though a Level 200 Variant Lord would still be extremely powerful in three years, he had no intention of waiting that long, to say nothing of how long it would take to tame all seven. By then, the dishes would already be cold.

"That’s too long. Is there any other way?” Nie Yan asked, hopeful. Thanks to his own status, Collinson wouldn’t dare to hide anything from him.

"Great Prophet, if you would like to speed up the taming process, you’ll need to find a higher rank Beast Tamer. I can recommend you someone. My master Hall, he can do it. He’s a Grandmaster Beast Tamer. With his help, it should take only six months to tame the Violet Eye Dragon,” Collinson said.

"Where could I find your master?” Nie Yan asked. This master was likely the mysterious NPC Guo Huai mentioned.

"Please follow me,” Collinson said.

Nie Yan followed behind Collinson. They entered the small door Nie Yan had spotted before. Behind it was a long, winding corridor that led to a back room.

The back room was quite small, with only a few tables and chairs. In the corner sat an NPC in ashen robes. He looked around 60 years old with a slim build. Even though he had a full head of white hair, he still appeared hail and hearty. Nie Yan’s eyes fell on the silvery-white insignia on the NPC’s shoulder. This was the mark of a high rank Beast Tamer. Since the profession was fairly hard to train in, Grandmaster Beast Tamers were extremely rare existences.

Nie Yan could sense magic fluctuations coming from the old man. It was of the fire element and that of a Magister. A Grandmaster Beast Tamer and a Magister, Hall’s status intrigued Nie Yan.

Nie Yan inspected Hall.

Hall: Grandmaster Beast Tamer

When Hall noticed Collinson and Nie Yan, his face darkened.

"I told you. Without my explicit permission, no outsiders are welcome here,” Hall said. He was displeased with Collinson bringing strangers to the back room.

"Master, this is the Great Prophet Nirvana Flame. He predicted the demonic beast invasion of the Hilton Stronghold and saved countless lives. He came here today to ask for your help,” Collinson said, choosing his words carefully.

These words got a reaction. Hall appeared to be moved. "Great Prophet, please excuse my rude behaviour just now.”

Nie Yan smiled. "No offense taken Sir Hall. It’s my fault for turning up without notice and disturbing you.” He was a bit skeptical. Hall’s reaction was a bit excessive.

"No, no.” Hall shook his head, his voice trembling. "Please listen to me, Great Prophet. I hail from the Hilton Stronghold. When the invasion happened, I was in Calore for important business. Both my wife and children were back at home. When word of the invasion reached my ears, it was already too late to rush back. I hated myself that I couldn’t be there, to protect them. So when I learned you prophesied the attack, giving the stronghold enough time to prepare... I can’t begin to express how grateful I am. You saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of residents, my wife and children included. From the bottom of my heart, permit me to express my deepest gratitude.”

Nie Yan finally understood. No wonder Hall was so moved after meeting him. It turned out this NPC was from the Hilton Stronghold. His high Influence there took effect. With this relationship, asking Hall to help him tame the Violet Eye Dragon wouldn’t be a problem.

"Sir Hall, as a Great Prophet, predicting disasters and ensuring the safety of the inhabitants of this land is my duty,” Nie Yan said.

"You truly are deserving of your reputation, Great Prophet. Collinson mentioned you needed my help. Please do tell. Even if you need me to sacrifice my life, I won’t refuse,” Hall said, excitement thick in his voice.

"Sir Hall, please don’t joke like that. Your life is too heavy of a burden for me to carry.” Nie Yan chuckled.

Hall laughed in embarrassment.

"It’s like this. I’ve caught a Violet Eye Dragon. I’d like you to come with me to Okoron in the Abernathy Great Grasslands and help me tame it,” Nie Yan explained.

"A Violet Eye Dragon? Is it still an adolescent?” Hall asked in surprise.

"No. I caught a full grown adult, a Level 200 Variant Lord.”

Hall gasped. "Great Prophet, you truly are amazing. Few have ever managed to capture such a high level monster. In fact, to my knowledge, only Jebiah the Great and two elders have pets of this level. Taming a Violet Eye Dragon will take at least six months, maybe even longer. If you’re willing to wait that long, I’ll pack my bags right away and travel with you to Okoron.”

"That would be great. Thank you, Sir Hall. You’ve helped me a great deal,” Nie Yan happily accepted. The taming time had been reduced from three years to six months. This was a huge difference. At the very least, they could make use of the first Violet Eye Dragon in the war against Angel Corps.

"I’m willing to serve you, Great Prophet. No need to address me so politely either, or else my wife will scold me. Just Hall is fine.” An expression of fear flashed across Hall’s face.

Nie Yan chuckled. Since Hall insisted, he wouldn’t bother arguing.

"Please give me a moment. I’ll be handing over a few tasks to my foolish disciple,” Hall said. He turned to Collinson.

Nie Yan patiently waited. This was was a pleasant surprise for sure. He had secured himself a Grandmaster Beast Tamer without any problem, not to mention Hall was also a Magister. With a person like this residing in Okoron, the city had another powerful protector.

Hall instructed Collinson how to run the pet shop while he was gone. It turned out he was the owner.

"Master, don’t worry. I’ll carry out everything to the best of my ability,” Collinson assured.

"I issued three quests in the mercenary association. About 3,000 people accepted them. If they come by, tell them to come find me in Okoron.”

Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise. 3,000 people had accepted his quests. They would all have to come to Okoron to turn them in.

"Hall, would you be interested in setting up a pet shop in Okoron? The city is just as bustling as Calore, with millions of players passing through every day as well as many large shops and an enormous auction house. The only thing we’re lacking is a pet shop.” Nie Yan attempted to persuade Hall. "If you’re willing to set up a pet shop in Okoron, I can provide you with a suitably large building, rent free.”

Hall rubbed his chin for a moment. "Let me go over there to take a look first. If the city is to my liking, sure I’ll open up another pet shop there.”

Nie Yan smiled. When Hall finished handing everything over to Collinson, the two headed to the transfer point and teleported to Okoron.

Nie Yan led Hall to the conference hall in the Asskickers United, where they kept the Violet Eye Dragon. When Hall saw the monster firmly bound in the cage, he couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. "Truly a work of art. The artisans who’ve made this have my praise.” Employing this kind of method to capture a Violet Eye Dragon was truly unprecedented.

"I’ll leave this Violet Eye Dragon to you,” Nie Yan said.

"Don’t worry, Great Prophet. I’ll help you tame it as quickly as possible.”

After leaving this matter to Hall, Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief, another worry off his shoulders. Now all he had to do was wait.

In another week, he could capture the second Violet Eye Dragon. Nie Yan planned to do a quest in the meantime, when he received word that there was movement from Angel Corps. Guo Huai wanted him to hurry to the meeting room.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. Just what happened for Guo Huai to be so anxious?

Chapter 887 - Visiting the City of Sin

Nie Yan entered the meeting room and found Guo Huai and the others were already gathered.

"What happened?” Nie Yan asked.

"A player from Angel Corps called Evil Monarch recently obtained a territory to the southwest of the Satreen Empire. It’s a bit smaller than the Abernathy Great Grasslands.” Guo Huai pulled open the map and pointed. "This is the region.”

Nie Yan looked at the map. The region Guo Huai pointed at was in a remote area, far away from the Abernathy Great Grasslands. It was a very safe location for Angel Corps, surrounded by high mountains which made it difficult for large siege weapons to reach.

"Their progress is worryingly fast. They’ve already developed their main city to Intermediate-rank and erected five strongholds,” Guo Huai said. If they didn’t put a stop to this quickly, Angel Corps would find themselves with a new and improved main territory. It’d be even more difficult to deal with them than it already was.

Evil Monarch? Nie Yan recalled bits and pieces of this player from the previous timeline. He was an orc Warrior Sword Saint who rarely showed himself in public. Even though everyone knew of him, almost no one knew him. Most of the players in Angel Corps had never even seen him. Finding any information on him was next to impossible. In the previous timeline, he had only appeared once, and that was in the war against Victorious Return. He single-handedly defeated three enemy Masters, which was why Nie Yan knew of him. After that, he vanished without a trace, never stepping in the limelight again.

Nie Yan recalled another rumour he’d heard around that time. Soaring Angel was the heir to some big family in Europe, his status extremely illustrious. Evil Monarch was a top assassin who had sworn loyalty to him. Apparently, he was even stronger than Soaring Angel!

If Evil Monarch hadn’t appeared today, Nie Yan would’ve completely forgotten about him. They would have to take special precautions against him.

Angel Corps also had their own territory now, and it was located in a mountainous region. This made things a bit troublesome. As it was, this war could already go both ways. Now it would become even more difficult for Asskickers United to win, especially if Angel Corps moved their guild headquarters to this new region. They sorely lacked siege weapons to fight them there.

Nie Yan frowned. Should they invade Angel Corps’ new territory while it was still in its infancy? That simply wasn’t realistic. They’d have to traverse half the Satreen Empire. However, if they waited, that would allow Angel Corps to lay down their roots there.

"What do we do? Have you thought of any good ideas?” Guo Huai asked.

"I’ve thought of two methods. The first is I bring our elites over there and attack their territory. We’ll make sure they can’t develop in peace. The second is we wait until the Violet Eye Dragon is tamed, then send it to harass them. That’s at least better than sacrificing the lives of our core members,” Nie Yan said.

"The first method is too risky. The second will take too long. The longer we wait, the more likely bad turns to worse. It’ll only become harder to keep control. Who knows what the situation will be like in six months.” Guo Huai knitted his brows. Even though Asskickers United had accumulated many advantages under Nie Yan’s leadership, if they didn’t continue acting proactively, Angel Corps would eventually catch up to them. Angel Corps obtaining a territory had caused him to feel a sense of danger. It was already approaching three years since the release of the game. During this time, Angel Corps and the Century Financial Groups, uninterrupted in their growth, definitely hadn’t been sitting around doing nothing!

Nie Yan thought for a moment. "I’ll go make a trip to their territory and investigate the situation there. I’ll see how their territory is developing. If I get the chance, I’ll try destroying it.”

"Just you alone?” Guo Huai’s eyes widened in surprise. He pondered for a moment. "Hmm… I guess you going alone is much safer than bringing a team.”

Too many players would only make them an easy target. If they were surrounded, casualties would be inevitable. If it were just Nie Yan alone, there was nothing Angel Corps could do to him. He could waltz around their territory as he pleased. He was their worst nightmare.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. With his pets, summons, and flying mounts, he could summon up to a total of nine units right now. If he obtained two more dragon pets, that would increase to 11. Even if he were surrounded by Angel Corps’ forces, it would at least be an even fight; perhaps he might even hold a slight advantage. Not to mention if he wanted to leave, there was no one that could stop him.

"I can only leave this up to you. Our troops are fighting the enemy on all fronts. We’re under a lot of pressure. The only thing giving me some peace of mind is that we haven’t had any problems yet,” Guo Huai said. "One other thing. A Golden One Horned Wyrm appeared in the City of Sin. It’s a Level 180 golden monster. It’s already killed more than 30 of our guild members. Players from all guilds are rushing towards it.”

A Level 180 golden monster was weaker than a Demonified Lord, but it would still give top quality drops, just like how he obtained Lil’ Gold’s egg back when the Golden Dragon was slain.

"Are Bladelight and his team there?” Nie Yan asked.

"Yeah, they’re all over there. I heard Soaring Angel and the other experts from Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group went over there too. Other guilds have also joined in on the action. Pretty much all the famous names in the Righteous Faction are gathered there right now,” Guo Huai said.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. "I’ll go take a look over there first.”

Since there was a lively gathering of experts in the City of Sin, how could he miss out? He had no idea what this Golden One Horned Wyrm was, but he definitely couldn’t allow it to fall in the hands of Angel Corps.

"It would put my mind at ease if you go,” Guo Huai said. He’d been afraid Bladelight and the others would suffer losses. But if Nie Yan was there too, there was nothing to worry about.

"Beast Tamer Hall has started taming the Violet Eye Dragon. Make sure no one disturbs him. If he needs anything, do your best to accommodate him,” Nie Yan said. This matter was of the utmost importance. Still not feeling assured, he added, "Given how long we’ve been staying in the Fate River, there’s no way Angel Corps doesn’t know about our movements. They’re probably trying to find out what we’ve been doing there. Do your best to keep everything under wraps. Don’t allow anyone to approach the conference hall, including your most trusted subordinates. No exceptions! Anyone that tries will be exiled from the guild!”

"Got it. You can leave it to me.” Guo Huai nodded.

After making some preparations, Nie Yan summoned the Darkwing Dragon and set off.

World’s Edge, a grand fortress floating in the sky. Only players with flying mounts could enter this place.

Since World’s Edge hadn’t yet been released in the previous timeline, Nie Yan had no knowledge of it. All he knew was what the guild reported back to him.

The players still knew only very little of World’s Edge. Even now, they’d only explored barely 20% of the map.

City of Sin, a shared common area, was a speck of dust compared to the vastness of World’s Edge. PvP was allowed here, and NPCs from various factions could be traded with. They sold many different trinkets and baubles. If you were lucky, you could get your hands on rare gems and crystals.

With the appearance of a Level 180 Golden One Horned Wyrm in the city, countless high level players from different guilds were rushing over. However, instead of obtaining wealth and riches, they paid with their lives. All who approached this monster died, no exceptions so far. This didn’t stop players from flocking over, though.

Nie Yan spotted numerous flying mounts on his way to the City of Sin. They were all players looking to get in on the action.

...

A group of 60 flying mounts flew through the sky, going straight ahead without a care in the world. When ordinary players saw this group, they immediately backed away.

Most of the flying mounts in this group were Rank 6, with some even being Rank 7. Such a line-up was terrifying to these ordinary players who would be considered lucky to have Rank 4 or 5 flying mounts. They didn’t dare to provoke this group.

"Who are they?”

"Are you blind!? That’s Angel Corps! The one up front there is Soaring Angel himself!”

"The group that came in before was from the Century Financial Group. All the big shots have arrived. It looks like we’ll have a good show to watch.”

They quietly chatted and watched as Angel Corps’ forces flew far away.

The 60 flying mounts from Angel Corps quickly approached the entrance to World’s Edge. A Warrior moved his flying mount closer to Soaring Angel and said, "Boss, Nirvana Flame is coming as well.”

"Is he already in the City of Sin?” Soaring Angel asked, narrowing his eyes. It appeared enemies really did walk on a narrow path.

"No idea. The reports say he was spotted flying in this direction some time ago. I’ve got no clue how far he is by now.”

"He's probably here for the Golden One Horned Wyrm too. Let him come. I’ve been itching to have a rematch with him.” Soaring Angel caressed his bow. Though his expression was calm, his heart was filled with a storm of emotions. He had employed all sorts of methods to collect powerful equipment, skills, and other items that would be useful to him. He was no longer the same as before. Plus, he also received guidance from Cao Xu. Even though the man himself didn’t play the game, his knowledge of it was vast beyond compare. He pointed out all of Nie Yan’s movements, habits, weaknesses, and so on. Soaring Angel felt extremely confident in himself. Today, he would finally get his revenge and wipe away his shame!

The 60 flying mounts arrived outside of World Edge’s entrance. Soaring Angel raised his head and looked up. The towering structures looked like mighty giants. They were grand and magnificent. The wind eroded walls and partially collapsed sections was proof of its long and ancient history.

"Let’s go inside.” Soaring Angel waved his hand. The 60 players recalled their flying mounts and entered World’s Edge.

Chapter 888 - Meeting Soaring Angel Again

Not long after Soaring Angel entered World’s Edge with his entourage, Nie Yan also arrived. He had his Darkwing Dragon land outside the entrance.

Nie Yan hopped down and recalled the Darkwing Dragon. He looked over a map Guo Huai had given him, then headed inside.

You have discovered World’s Edge. This place is brimming with danger. It is strongly advised you find a powerful team before proceeding.

Nie Yan glanced at the notification but paid no attention to the warning. As he walked forward, he saw towering builds piercing into the sky like a stone forest.

Nie Yan had seen many videos of World’s Edge. It almost felt like he’d been here before. As he proceeded along the white brick-lined path, a bustling block entered his vision. The buildings here were jet black with tarps laid out on both sides of the street, lined with all sorts of cast-away garbage for display. Hooded figures in black cloaks walked around everywhere.

This 1,000 by 1,000 meters area was known as the City of Sin.

There was a tangled and complicated network of alleys, the buildings equally chaotic. Apart from the main street, every other road was narrow and uninviting.

"I have a top-notch Poison Tempered Skull for sale! It increases the effects of curses. 600 gold.”

"Level 160 Limb Hatchet. It reduces the enemy’s magic power. Only 300 gold.”

Seeing Nie Yan walking over, the NPCs on both sides of the streets rushed up to him to show off their wares. Some were even tugging on his sleeves. He couldn’t help but feel incredibly annoyed.

A hooded NPC in a black cloaked clutched onto Nie Yan’s mantle. "Stranger, Dark Protection Talisman, only 600 gold.”

"Not interested. Piss off!” Nie Yan said. He was extremely annoyed at this point.

Nie Yan had his information hidden. So, these NPCs weren’t aware of who he was. If he had joined a team, they might’ve been a little more polite to him. But since he was alone, they mistook him for an easy target.

These annoying flies. Nie Yan knitted his brows. These NPCs were grabbing onto him with such persistence that he could barely take a step forward. It appeared he would have to resort to killing the chicken to warn the monkey. His eyes flashed with a cold light. With a flick of his wrist, the Bloody Dagger appeared in his hand.

This was the City of Sin. It didn’t follow the rule of law like most other places. No one would bat an eye if you killed someone. Even if Nie Yan killed one or two NPCs, it wouldn’t make a difference.

"Let go of him, Dilson, you despicable wretch! That’s my teammate! What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” a voice shouted in anger.

Dilson, in other words the NPC clutching onto Nie Yan, quickly withdrew his hand in fear.

Nie Yan took this brief moment of confusion to put away the Bloody Dagger.

"Miss Peerless Diana, I’m sorry. I didn’t know he was your friend,” Dilson stuttered in trepidation. "P-please forgive my rudeness.”

"Scram!” the voice growled.

Dilson fled in fright.

Nie Yan turned toward the source of the voice and saw a bright-eyed, fair-skinned elven Mage with a tall and perky figure standing about five meters away. She wore a silver-white dress, and held a sapphire staff. The ice elements floating around her further enhanced the mystique around her.

Most elves were stunningly beautiful, so Nie Yan wasn’t the least bit surprised by the appearance of this one. In fact, she looked like an ordinary elven Mage.

Peerless Diana? Nie Yan suddenly recalled this name. This elven Mage was fairly famous in the Satreen Empire. She ranked in the top three among Mages.

"Thank you,” Nie Yan said.

"No need. If you don’t have a team, it’s best if you stay away from this place. The NPCs will harass you to no end. You should probably leave.” Peerless Diana smiled, giving off an indescribable charm.

"I’m here for a quest, so I can’t leave,” Nie Yan explained, preparing to walk past her. He didn’t need any help. However, since Peerless Diana had stepped in on his behalf, it had saved him from potentially exposing himself.

"Oh, it’s like that? If you’re questing here alone, you should be careful of NPCs targeting you. The NPCs here are different from the ones elsewhere. They’ll use all sorts of underhanded methods to steal your gold and items,” Peerless Diana said. "If you want, you can tag along with my team. That way, you won’t be harassed.”

Nie Yan was surprised. He stared at Peerless Diana. He could tell from her eyes she was being genuine. To lend a hand to a stranger and offer to have them join your team, she really was a bit too good-natured.

"Hey, we’ve been talking for some time already and you haven’t even told me your name yet!” Peerless Diana said. She stared at Nie Yan, blinking her eyes in curiosity.

"Mo Yan.” Nie Yan randomly made up a name.

"The same Mo Yan who doesn’t like speaking?” Peerless Diana joked. The distance between them was only three meters, already within the killing range of a Thief. However, she didn’t seem the least bit on guard against Nie Yan. He didn’t know whether this was absolute confidence in herself or pure foolishness.

Nie Yan cast a glance at his chat. Asskickers United had 60 players in the vicinity. They had hidden their information and were wearing cloaks because they had discovered a group from Angel Corps. If they showed themselves, a huge battle would break out.

Nie Yan looked over in the distance. A group of Angel Corps players were gathered outside the entrance of a building. They appeared to be doing something, but he couldn't tell what; only that they were on guard.

Peerless Diana stared at Nie Yan. Ever since taking note of him, she could tell he wasn’t simple. This was her intuition. So, when she saw him being harassed by NPCs, she went out of her way to help him in at attempt to befriend him. Her circle of friends in the Satreen Empire was pretty wide. Whenever she encountered an expert, it was always better to try to befriend them. Even with these thoughts in mind, her intentions were pure. She had no ulterior motives.

Nie Yan politely declined her invitation.

At this moment, 16 people walked over in their direction. They were Peerless Diana’s teammates. All of their equipment was fairly decent with a healthy variety of different classes. Their average level was well over Level 140. They were definitely a strong team. Even most guilds couldn’t assemble such a line-up. These players weren’t simple.

"Hello, you’re the guy Peerless Diana was talking about? My name is Tarot,” a tall, hulking Warrior greeted with a hearty laugh. He was about 6’5” and was clad in heavy plated armour. He seemed like a straightforward man.

"Hi, Mo Yan. I’m Sonata.”

"Hello!”

...

Everyone greeted Nie Yan warmly while joking around with each other.

Nie Yan was surprised. He felt an unprecedented pureness from these people. They weren’t scheming against him at all. The way they treated strangers was completely different from most players. He was surprised Conviction actually had a group of people like this.

Nie Yan recalled how he was just like them when he first entered the game, treating everyone with zero wariness. Only after he was swindled and lied to time and time again, did he realize this was a dog-eat-dog world. If he wanted to enjoy the game, he would have to be a bit smarter.

Nie Yan sunk into silence. Perhaps these people truly viewed Conviction as a game. Meanwhile, he treated it as his life.

"Nice to meet you all.” Nie Yan nodded. These people made him remember a long forgotten feeling.

"Brother, what kind of quest are you doing in the City of Sin? If you need any help, we might be able to help you,” Tarot said. "I also came here alone. I had no friends. Then I met Peerless Diana. She invited me to her team, and now I got a whole group of friends!”

"You guys aren’t afraid of me swindling you?”

"We get the feeling you aren’t that kind of person. Plus, this is just a game. Even if we get swindled, it is no big deal. We’re just looking for like minded people.” Tarot chuckled.

"I’m sorry, but I’ve decided to do my quest alone. But I’m really happy to have met you guys. I’ll be taking my leave first,” Nie Yan said, turning around to leave. He decided not to join these people in order to avoid having them being dragged down into his mess.

Peerless Diana, Tarot, and the others were at a loss as they watched Nie Yan leave.

"He probably doesn’t need our help. Forget it,” Tarot said. Since Nie Yan didn’t want their help, they wouldn’t force it.

"Yeah.” Peerless Diana nodded.

Nie Yan headed toward where the Angel Corps players were gathered.

「Report your locations. Nie Yan said in voice chat.」

「238.281.28.」

「238.282.81.」

Nie Yan scanned the surroundings and locked onto some players wearing ashen cloaks. They belonged to Asskickers United! Bladelight was running the dungeon with most players, only some second-rate ones left behind in the City of Sin. They were here to monitor the situation, not to fight.

「How many people from Angel Corps are here?」Nie Yan asked.

「Reporting to the boss, there are around 1,000 players in World’s Edge. Most of them are running the dungeon. There are 60 players in the City of Sin. All of them are Angel Corps’ top elites,」a Thief said.

Nie Yan looked over at the group of Angel Corps players gathered in the distance. They were huddled around the entrance of a building in twos and threes, chatting with each other. They appeared quite relaxed, but they would regularly scan their eyes around the surroundings. This was proof they were on guard.

Nie Yan had no idea what those people were doing there. He was just about to go over to investigate, when a player in azure leather armour, a longbow strapped to his back, stepped out of the building. The Angel Corps players immediately parted ways to let him through, their expressions extremely respectful.

Nie Yan’s pupils constricted. It was actually him. They met again!

This wasn’t just any person, but the guild leader of Angel Corps—Soaring Angel!

Nie Yan’s lips curved into a cold smile. This world was truly small.

The two characters for Mo Yan (莫言) means no speech/no words.

Chapter 889 - Ambush?

Soaring Angel had completely changed his equipment since last time Nie Yan saw him. His azure leather armour and rune carved, silver long bow complemented his handsome appearance. He carried an imposing air about him. Nie Yan had to admit that Soaring Angel was a top talent.

As the players on the street started noticing Soaring Angel, they broke out in whispered discussion. The boss of Angel Corps showing up in the public eye was quite rare.

Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a cold light. He wondered if he should go up and give Soaring Angel a friendly greeting.

There were 60 experts from Angel Corps by Soaring Angel’s side. Nie Yan would have to factor them in. More than a dozen were even Masters. This was a little troublesome.

Even if the average quality of Masters had dropped since the latest update, they still weren’t to be looked down on. And there were so many of them gathered together here!

Nie Yan rubbed his chin for a moment before coming up with a plan. He entered stealth and disappeared into a nearby alley.

After confirming no one noticed him, Nie Yan summoned his shadow clone. His body split into two.

A cold wind blew through the gaps between the building, causing players to feel a stinging chill on their cheeks.

Soaring Angel looked around. The atmosphere here felt dark and depressing to him.

This stupid weather. It’s just a game. Why does it have to be so damn realistic! Soaring Angel inwardly cursed.

"Boss, I think they’ll take at least three hours to get back here. Do we really have to keep waiting here?” an Orc Warrior asked. He was none other than Soaring Angel’s confidante, Stone Splitter.

"Boss, I just received a report that Nirvana Flame was spotted outside the entrance of World’s Edge right after us. He’s probably inside by now,” a Magister said.

The mood immediately got tense. The group felt their heart sink as they heard the Magister’s words. They couldn’t help but glance around at their surroundings. There was no telling Nie Yan wasn’t eyeing them from some dark corner right now. A sense of danger crept up on them.

"We can’t catch him. Once he enters stealth, it’ll be impossible to find him, even if I set down a Detection Totem,” a Shaman sighed. He’d clashed with Nie Yan several times, each time ending on the losing side. This left a deep shadow in his heart. Even just hearing the words Mad Rogue or Nirvana Flame caused him to tremble in fear.

"No need to find him, he’ll come looking for us,” Soaring Angel insipidly said. Even though the people under him could lend some help, he knew he would have to rely on himself if he wanted to deal with Nie Yan. He didn’t expect them to be of much help.

The other players quickly became vigilant, afraid of a sudden ambush. Soaring Angel was right, he would come for them!

Soaring Angel took several steps forward, looking completely unperturbed. Unbeknownst to everyone, tucked away in a corner against a building was a hidden object. This item was a thin wooden stick with a transparent crystal embedded into it. It was extremely small, to the extent it was imperceptible to the untrained eye. Even if by chance someone did notice it, they would only think it was an ordinary stick and not give it a second thought. It was actually an item called Sorens’ Revealer.

This stick looked ordinary, but it was an extremely high rank tool created by the Sage Tinkerers of Angel Corps. It could detect the life force of all living beings in the surroundings. Soaring Angel could use it to discover any nearby Thieves. What made it special, and overpowered too, was that it didn’t matter how high someone’s Stealth stat was, what it detected was the person’s life force. In other words, the higher one’s stats, the greater the reading. Of course, this item was both expensive and incredibly difficult to produce. The stick alone was made from Abakru Wood, which had a 1 in 3,000 chance to drop from the Black Winged Hellion King of the Shadow Forest. Up until now, they had only collected 16. One could imagine how rare it was. To make matters worse, it was a one-use item.

Soaring Angel secretly planted this stick, hiding this movement behind a casual walk.

As he activated Sorens’ Revealer, Soaring Angel detected a reaction. His lips curved into a faint smile. So, you are here!

Soaring Angel didn’t turn to look at where Nie Yan was hiding. He didn’t want to ruin the surprise!

The battle between the two was only getting started!

With Nie Yan’s current strength, Soaring Angel had no way of facing him head-on. He could only rely on his box of tricks!

Sensing Nie Yan slowly moving towards him, Soaring Angel’s nerves went taut as his breathing slowed down. Every step Nie Yan took caused him to feel immense pressure.

The players from Angel Corps had no idea the clash between Nie Yan and Soaring Angel had already started. They were still scattered around, chatting with each other. Though still vigilant, occasionally glancing around their surroundings searching for anything out of place, they’d dropped their guard by quite a bit.

If these Angel Corps players weren’t regularly scanning the surroundings, Nie Yan would become suspicious. However, they showed quite a bit of discipline. After confirming everything seemed normal, Nie Yan activated Extreme Vanish and approached the group.

Nie Yan’s eyes swept over these experts from Angel Corps before finally landing on Soaring Angel. Even though these people here were experts, the only one worthy of making him take action was Soaring Angel himself.

50 meters, 30 meters, 20 meters… Time slowly passed as the distance got shorter and shorter.

Soaring Angel was still walking around like normal, seemingly oblivious to the encroaching danger.

Nie Yan was fairly confident in his stealth ability. Very few if any players could detect him when he activated Extreme Vanish.

From a distance of 10 meters normal Thieves could launch an ambush. All they would have to do was accelerate and deal a fatal strike. It would be very difficult for most players to react in time.

Nie Yan didn’t act rashly and continued approaching closer. When two experts were facing off, patience could mean the difference between a win or a loss. He couldn’t give the opponent any opportunity to react.

Nie Yan was about to approach closer, when the situation suddenly changed.

Soaring Angel turned around and started walking towards him. This sudden development completely caught Nie Yan completely off guard.

Soaring Angel’s face was the same as before. His gaze never once locked on Nie Yan. The ruse was played perfectly, Nie Yan didn’t have a clue his stealth was already seen through.

10 meters, 5 meters, 3 meters...

The two sides were getting closer and closer until there was only three meters between them. Nie Yan pounced forward and drew a brilliant arc with his dagger.

Die!

At this moment, Soaring Angel’s eyes flashed with a look of ridicule.

Chapter 890 - Wings of Sorens

Nie Yan leaped forward and plunged his dagger into Soaring Angel’s chest.

Shocked reactions sounded out all around. Practically everyone was caught off-guard by Nie Yan’s appearance.

Finding out Nie Yan had snuck through them completely unnoticed, these 60 players from Angel Corps felt their scalps go numb. A Thief this skilled was far more terrifying than even the strongest warrior; they could end your life, and you wouldn’t even know what killed you!

They felt a sense of helplessness, fear rising up from the bottom of their hearts. If Nie Yan so wished to, he could simply kill them and snatch away their hard-earned equipment. And there would be nothing they could do about it!

The moment his dagger pierced through Soaring Angel’s chest, Nie Yan sensed something off. Though he couldn’t tell what, something felt inherently wrong. Perhaps his ploy played out too smoothly.

In the next instant, Soaring Angel’s body shattered like a glass statue and crumbled to the ground.

A dark energy locked onto Nie Yan. He glanced over at his status bar. It was Shackles of Darkness!

Shackles of Darkness was different from Shackles of Strife. Apart from preventing the target from teleporting away, it also stopped them from using any escape skills. This was the most vexing aspect!

Shit! A trap! Nie Yan thought.

"Don’t let him run!”

"Kill him!”

The dozen or so players in the immediate vicinity roared orders as they raised their weapons. They reacted pretty quickly.

"Die!” Stone Splitter brandished his sword and unleashed a crescent-shaped slash.

BOOOM! The ground split apart as a shockwave swept out toward Nie Yan.

Nie Yan moved to dodge, several vines wrapping towards him from the ground underneath.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Three arrows, camouflaged by the vines, flew straight toward Nie Yan.

Nie Yan spotted Soaring Angel about 60 meters away from the corner of his eye. The arrows came from his bow!

Soaring Angel was truly wily. As the guild leader of Angel Corps and a legend in the previous timeline, he wasn’t an opponent to be taken lightly.

The start of a true battle!

With countless attacks about to hit him, Nie Yan leaped high into the air with the Leaper skill. Three arrows whistled past his cheeks.

"The boss locked him down with Shackles of Darkness! Don’t let him escape!” Stone Splitter shouted. Turning back towards Nie Yan, locking onto the opponent soon to fall under his blade… A silhouette appeared behind him. A dark shadow perfectly resembling Nie Yan.

Stone Splitter sensed the danger, but it was already too late. A sharp dagger stabbed into the back of his head, stunning him.

After incapacitating Stone Splitter, the shadow clone followed up with Cut Throat.

PSFHT! Blood sprayed into the air.

Stone Splitter’s eyes rolled to the back of his head as he collapsed to the ground. He’d completely forgotten about Nie Yan’s terrifying shadow clone skill.

The shadow clone had only stepped out of stealth for a brief moment before disappearing again. The surrounding players looked at Stone Splitter’s corpse in shock.

Soaring Angel used Sorens’ Revealer to lock onto the second Nie Yan, but the shadow clone was already out of range. Its movements were too quick. There was nothing he could do.

「Boss, which one is real!?」a player asked. If the one they’d been targeting all this time was the shadow clone, they would have wasted their resources and cooldowns. Especially against an opponent like Nie Yan, even the slightest mistake could lead to their whole team wiping.

Two Thieves. One was out in the open. The other was hidden in the shadows. No one knew which was real or which was fake.

Soaring Angel was also at a loss. He believed he’d baited Nie Yan out, but he had no idea if that was just the clone. Given how crafty Nie Yan was, that was entirely possible!

Nie Yan used this moment of hesitation to switch out the Bloody Dagger for Zennarde’s Sword. All who saw its raging flames gawked in awe.

Nie Yan cleaved down with his blade.

Annihilation Slash!

10 enormous swords cleaved down from the sky, merging into one. BOOOOM! The 20 or so players in the path of the skill were sent flying. Only the Masters managed to dodge in time and avoided taking any damage, though they still broke out in a cold sweat.

What a frightening skill!

They retreated in alarm, scrambling to prepare for the second round of attacks, only to hear a blood-curdling scream behind them. A Magister was killed by the shadow clone.

It almost felt to them like they were surrounded, by one player. A cold sweat drip ran down their necks. Nevertheless, they braced themselves and continued fighting!

The battle scene turned chaotic. Angel Corps’ players had Nie Yan completely surrounded. However, he was as slippery as a loach, and they still didn’t know if they were even fighting the real one!

Nie Yan’s lips curved into a cold smile. He still had many killing moves left to play, including summoning the Doom Sentinels. He could hold his own against these players.

While Nie Yan was tangling with the players from Angel Corps, the shadow clone snuck up behind Soaring Angel.

With the help of Sorens’ Revealer, Soaring Angel could clearly sense the shadow clone’s approach. 15 meters, 13 meters, 10 meters… He suddenly drew his bow and shot three arrows at it.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Soaring Angel could somehow detect players through stealth! No wonder his initial ambush failed!

Just as Soaring Angel’s arrows were about to hit, Nie Yan had the shadow clone dodge out of the way. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The arrows suddenly detonated with loud explosions. There was no time to react. It was sent flying away.

The shadow clone was in a sorry state. Several nearby Magisters targeted it with a barrage of magic. It scrambled to its feet and activated Gale Step to escape.

Nie Yan leaped up into the air, soaring more than 10 meters before landing on the side of a building like a spider. He’d jumped this far with only a single move.

Nie Yan and the shadow clone split up and ran in two different directions. Soaring Angel hesitated for a moment before locking onto the one on the side of the building. "I’ll catch that one. You guys go after the other!”

It was time to show off his true ability. Soaring Angel let out a low grunt, chanting an incantation. A pair of black wings sprouted from his back. They were three meters long. With a flap of his wings, he shot forward like a cannonball.

Nie Yan bolted away, only to hear a gust of wind coming from behind him. He turned his head around and discovered Soaring Angel fast approaching him.

Seeing the wings protruding from Soaring Angel’s back, Nie Yan’s heart sank. Shit! He actually obtained the Wings of Sorens!

In Conviction’s history, Sorens was a member of the winged tribe, who was born with black wings. He was a conqueror who led his people to glory before ultimately founding his own nation. After his death, the nation went into decline before eventually vanishing into the river of time. There were still many traces of them left throughout the continent, ranging from dungeons to quests and equipment. These wings were perhaps the most famous of what remained, since they were a direct link to Sorens. They dropped from the Black Hellion King of the Forest of Darkness.

In the entire game, there were only six types of wings. It was rumoured the drop rate of the Wings of Sorens was 1 in 500,000, but Soaring Angel had actually obtained it!

Wings were different from flying mounts. They provided much more freedom in aerial combat and were more suited for ranged classes—the treasures of Demon Hunters. A pair of wings could increase the battle prowess of a Demon Hunter by severalfold! Nie Yan had originally discarded the Wings of Sorens as a rumour. After all, who’d ever heard of a drop rate as ridiculous as 1 in 500,000? However, he was proven wrong. He was curious who got it. It was likely that Soaring Angel had simply bought it. As the guild leader of Angel Corps, he definitely had this kind of power!

Nie Yan thought of the wings he was looking for. They would definitely be better than the Wings of Sorens. However, he had no time to do that quest right now. Either way, since Soaring Angel had wings now, it’d be far more difficult to deal with him.

A flying archer!

"You can’t teleport away or use any escape skills! Let’s see how you get out of this one!” Soaring Angel sneered. He was 80% confident the one he was chasing was the real Nie Yan.

Soaring Angel fired three more arrows toward Nie Yan. Whoosh whoosh whoosh! They went streaking forward like bolts of lightning.

Nie Yan sensed the arrows whizzing towards him. Based on the sound coming from them, he could roughly guess their direction and speed. Their heads were covered in crackling lightning. He had no idea what kind of arrows these were, but recalling the loss his shadow clone had eaten just before, he didn’t dare to be careless. He shot out a web line and swung away.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Three explosions rocked the ground behind him, sending rubble flying everywhere. Some pieces struck Nie Yan at an extremely high velocity.

Nie Yan avoided the brunt of the attack. He turned around and dove into a small alley.

Soaring Angel wasn’t about to let Nie Yan escape so easily. He followed closely behind, skillfully flying between the two buildings. He pulled out another three arrows and drew his bowstring.

Nie Yan kept fleeing, occasionally glancing back to confirm Soaring Angel’s position. If it were anyone else, once they encountered a Demon Hunter with the Wings of Sorens, they only had two paths before them. One was to run, and the other was death. However, at this moment, he was extremely calm. It was simply a pair of wings. He wasn’t the least bit afraid!

Chapter 891 - Pursuit Battle

Nie Yan and Soaring Angel moved between the densely packed buildings of the City of Sin at high speed. Soaring Angel fired volley after volley of arrows.

Nie Yan nimbly dodged as explosions went off behind him.

Soaring Angel was hot on Nie Yan’s heels. After equipping the Wings of Sorens, his movement speed increased by 300%. This was barely enough to keep up with Nie Yan, which incredibly frustrated him. Just how overpowered were Nie Yan’s stats?

Not one arrow found its target. Soaring Angel felt his heart bleeding. These were explosion magic enchanted arrows he had specially crafted. Each one cost him 600 gold, and he only had 200 in total. It felt like Nie Yan had eyes at the back of his head, as he somehow kept dodging the arrows as they were about to hit him.

Nie Yan was also constantly ducking into different alleys, which greatly slowed down Soaring Angel.

As the chase continued, Soaring Angel saw the path up ahead was filled with stalls and people passing through. His lips curved into a fierce smile. Let’s see where you run off to this time! He let out a low grunt and activated Rapid Fire. He took out three arrows from his quiver, notched them, and pulled back his bowstring. Whoosh whoosh whoosh! The arrows came whizzing out. He repeated this two more times in quick succession. Nine arrows went flying straight towards Nie Yan.

Nie Yan raised his head to find a large crowd blocking his path, with NPC vendors on both sides of the street too. There wasn’t a single opening. He was blocked! His heart sank. This was going to be troublesome.

Nine arrows came streaking behind him. Based only on their sound, Nie Yan determined their speed and exact position.

Since his path forward was blocked, Nie Yan was left with only one option. Steeling himself, he turned around and dashed in the direction of Soaring Angel.

The first three arrows. Nie Yan leaped out of the way as they flew by his chest.

Three down, six to go. Nie Yan’s figure blurred into countless afterimages as he employed the Illusion Steps.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The three arrows flew into the crowd behind and exploded, killing over 20 players and two NPCs.

The crowd went into an uproar as curses rained out.

"Fuck! Who did that!?”

"I was almost killed! Whoever did that is going to pay!”

...

They suddenly went quiet, their eyes on the two fighting. One was Nirvana Flame, and the other was Soaring Angel. No one here dared to look for these two for trouble. After all, they were the Righteous Faction’s two most powerful players!

There were several more arrows flying towards them. Their faces paled as they immediately fled for their lives.

Nie Yan couldn’t turn around to see the devastation the explosions caused, but he could very well imagine.

Soaring Angel was shocked. He didn't expect Nie Yan to dodge his attacks like this!

Just as Soaring Angel reached for more arrows, Nie Yan leaped into the air like a cannonball and landed on the side of a building. He kicked off the wall and flew toward Soaring Angel.

Seeing Nie Yan shooting towards him at astonishing speed, Soaring Angel’s heart trembled. His first instinct was to dodge! He flapped his wings and kited back, shooting another volley of arrows.

A few explosions later, more than 80% of the crowd was wiped out. The alley was a mess with craters scattered all over the ground and debris strewn everywhere. The survivors were deeply shaken. What kind of arrows were these? Their attack power was too frightening!

They raised their heads to look at the two figures clashing in the air. Soaring Angel flapped his wings and moved around like the wind, occasionally shooting volleys of arrows. Wherever these arrows struck, they would create terrifying explosions. As for Nie Yan, he used a combination of leaping, crawling, and web-swinging skills to get around. His silhouette darted left and right between buildings. Even though he didn’t have any wings, he seemed even more nimble than a person with. Most shocking was that he could even dodge Soaring Angel’s arrows in mid-air.

These two overpowered freaks! The bystanders were witnessing a battle of the highest level! This was a height they could only dream of!

While Nie Yan was pursuing Soaring Angel, a notification popped up.

Your shadow clone has been killed.

Glancing at his notifications, the shadow clone had killed 13 players before finally being killed. Definitely worth it!

After spending so much effort and losing 13 comrades only to find out the enemy they killed was a clone, Nie Yan could already imagine their reactions.

News of the shadow clone’s death also quickly reached Soaring Angel. He confirmed the opponent in front of him was the genuine Nirvana Flame!

The battle became even more intense. The surrounding buildings were being destroyed by Soaring Angel’s explosive arrows.

Even though Nie Yan was extremely quick, he couldn’t move as freely in the air as Soaring Angel. So, he was having trouble catching Soaring Angel.

Elsewhere in the city, an orc Warrior clad in gold armour was running through an alleyway. He stopped in front of a group of 20 Angel Corps players.

"Where’s the boss?” the orc Warrior asked.

"Evil Monarch, the boss is chasing Nirvana Flame somewhere in the city. Just follow the explosions. We don’t know more than you do,” a Magister said.

The other players from Angel Corps couldn’t help but glance over at Evil Monarch. This man was a mystery to them, rarely ever revealing himself. Many had heard of him, but very few had actually seen him. They had no idea what he was about.

Evil Monarch knitted his brows. "Everyone, summon your flying mounts. Follow me!” He was worried something would happen to Soaring Angel. After all, the Mad Rogue couldn’t be judged with common sense.

"Understood!”

Evil Monarch’s status in Angel Corps was extremely high. Even Soaring Angel was respectful toward him, let alone these random elites.

Everyone summoned their flying mounts. The 20-plus players took off in the air and headed toward the battle between Nie Yan and Soaring Angel.

Nie Yan gradually closed in on Soaring Angel—only five meters of distance between them. He stuck to the wall and pounced toward Soaring Angel from behind.

Nie Yan stabbed his dagger toward the back of Soaring Angel’s head. Die! His dagger was as fast as lightning.

In this life or death moment, Soaring Angel suddenly swung around, a short sword appearing in his hand. He raised it to parry.

KLANG! The Bloody Dagger and the short sword clashed. Soaring Angel was sent reeling by the force of the impact.

Gravity took hold of Nie Yan again, dragging him back to the ground.

Soaring Angel was quite crafty. He’d actually pulled out a short sword to parry the attack!

After Soaring Angel regained his balance, he looked over. The two locked eyes as their gazes flashed with killing intent.

Both knew that if they lost their cool, they would lose.

Soaring Angel flapped his wings and shot out another volley of arrows.

As Nie Yan fell from the air, he grabbed onto a nearby roof and flipped himself onto it, evading the three arrows. He once more pounced toward Soaring Angel.

Soaring Angel beat his wings back in retreat again.

Nie Yan glanced up, his legs still moving fast as lightning. There were 20 flying mounts circling in the air above him. They blotted out the sky. Thankfully, he and Soaring Angel were fighting in a confined alleyway. There was no way they could descend!

Nie Yan didn’t spare the flying mounts a second glance and continued pursuing Soaring Angel.

Evil Monarch was riding on top of a large, blue bat. Looking down and seeing Soaring Angel being pressured by Nie Yan, he ordered, "All Magisters and Dark Demon Hunters, go down and help the boss!”

Three Magisters and one Dark Demon Hunter jumped down from their flying mounts.

"Be careful. Remember the enemy is Nirvana Flame!” Evil Monarch said.

"Understood!”

As their feet touched the ground, the three Magisters waved their staff, rapidly conjuring their magic, while the Dark Demon Hunter drew his longbow and locked onto Nie Yan, firing three arrows.

Nie Yan spotted the four silhouettes landing on the roofs of several nearby buildings. His heart trembled. Soaring Angel alone was already hard enough to deal with. Now he had to face three Magisters and a Dark Demon Hunter on top of that. The small advantage he’d gained was gone in a second.

Nie Yan was outnumbered, and Soaring Angel had also improved by a significant margin. He decided to retreat.

Nie Yan leaped back down to the ground and broke away from Soaring Angel.

Seeing Nie Yan trying to run, Soaring Angel immediately went into pursuit. A shower of magic and spells rained down toward Nie Yan.

Nie Yan activated Holy Descent from the Medal of the Ten Holy Paladins, taking 15 spells and six arrows head-on. A string of 5,000s rose up above his head. This was the damage from Soaring Angel and the Dark Demon Hunter’s arrows. He was immune to all Magic for the three-second duration of Holy Descent. Even the explosive magic on Soaring Angel’s arrows were rendered useless.

Their jaws dropped in shock.

"Shit, what kind of defense does he have!? My attack only dealt 5,000 damage!”

"He has over 50,000 health!”

"My magic didn’t work. He activated a magic immunity skill!”

Chapter 892 - Devouring Plasma Storm

Countless attacks ruthlessly struck Nie Yan, but they only managed to deal a little more than 20,000 damage. Within the span of a few short seconds, he pulled far away from the players of Angel Corps.

"Shit! Catch him! Don’t let him get away!”

The players from Angel Corps went into pursuit leaping from roof to roof. Soaring Angel also sped after Nie Yan.

「All Angel Corps players in or near the City of Sin, listen to my commands! Nirvana Flame is at 285.2830. None of you are to dally. Seize him immediately!」Soaring Angel ordered in voice chat.

「Yes, sir!」the players from Angel Corps replied in thunderous unison.

Roughly 3,000 Angel Corps players were currently in the City of Sin. They all moved to surround Nie Yan. It wouldn’t be long now before he was trapped.

These players were perfect for the job. They knew the City of Sin like the back of their hand, and were high level experts wearing some of the best equipment; not to mention they all had special items that could save their lives or trick the enemy.

Even Nirvana Flame would still have to hand over his life the moment he was trapped.

The commotion in the City of Sin had reached Guo Huai. He anxiously contacted Bladelight in voice chat,「Where are you guys right now!?」

「Don’t worry! We’re on our way!」Bladelight said.

Bladelight and 1,000 elites from Asskickers United, who’d been tackling a dungeon in World’s Edge, were rushing over to the City of Sin.

「I heard the Century Financial Group also mobilized 2,000 troops over. You guys be careful,」Guo Huai said, not in the least feeling reassured.

「The Century Financial Group came too, huh? Looks like we have a real party on our hands.」Bladelight knitted his brows.

「I’ll have Sleepy Fox, Fa Lan, and the others send some people over as well,」Guo Huai said.

A fight was inevitable. Both sides would suffer heavy casualties.

Reinforcements from Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, and the other allied guilds were already rushing over. The City of Sin had become a giant maelstrom, pulling in all the top experts from both sides. Over 80% of the Masters in the Righteous Faction were about to face off against each other.

Nie Yan was fleeing through a narrow alley. Looking up in the sky, he spotted over 20 flying mounts closely tailing him. Angel Corps players were also flooding in from everywhere.

Nie Yan created some distance and chanted an incantation. With a flash of light, Lil’ Gold appeared and blocked the alleyway with his enormous frame. Next, he pulled open Divine Recruitment and summoned Paladin Lafus.

Paladin Lafus appeared next to Lil’ Gold, ready to heal him at any moment.

"It’s Nirvana Flame’s Golden Dragon!”

"Everyone, be careful!”

...

"GROOAH!” Lil’ Gold blasted the Angel Corp players with Dragon Breath. BOOM! Over 10 players were burnt to cinders.

A shower of magic rained down on Lil’ Gold. However, he barely flinched. "GROOAH!” With a sweep of his head, he sent the Warriors charging towards him flying.

Lil’ Gold covered Nie Yan’s rear. However, there was nothing stopping the hundred Angel Corps players charging at him from the front. Countless spells whizzed toward him, blotting out the sky.

Beckon Doom!

Three enormous Doom Sentinels clad in spiky black armour appeared in front of Nie Yan. They brandished their flaming black swords and cut down a dozen Warriors.

Nie Yan hunkered himself down in the middle of the alleyway, having his pets and summons protecting his back and front.

The Angel Corps players were helpless against this tactic. They charged at Nie Yan in waves, but were beaten back by Lil’ Gold and the Doom Sentinels before even getting close.

「Dammit! That Golden Dragon and those Doom Sentinels are too strong! We can’t get close to Nirvana Flame!」

When the players from Angel Corps didn’t know what to do anymore, Soaring Angel finally arrived.

Soaring Angel knitted his brows. He already had a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of Nirvana Flame’s Golden Dragon. However, he had no idea about these Doom Sentinels, to say nothing of the fact that there were three of them. Seeing their large frames and the bone wings on their backs, their sinister black armour and large flaming swords, his heart sank.

Lil’ Gold went berserk, beating back the forces from Angel Corps with his full might. Dozens of enemies fell to his powerful attacks. These players were all elites of Angel Corps. Seeing them dying like this, Soaring Angel felt his heart bleed. He pulled out three arrows from his quiver and fired them.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The arrows struck Lil’ Gold, the impact from their explosions causing him to stagger back.

−28,997
−31,128
−30,001

What frightening damage!

Nie Yan hurriedly had Paladin Lafus heal Lil’ Gold.

Three Magisters stood on the rooftops above Nie Yan, forming a triangle. They started chanting an incantation, likely preparing to cast a large-scale magic.

Sensing the intense magic fluctuations above him, Nie Yan knitted his brows. Are they planning to cast Forbidden Magic!?

If they were to cast Forbidden Magic, not only him, but the several thousand Angel Corps players in the vicinity would also be done for!

Then again, it didn’t surprise Nie Yan that Soaring Angel was willing to sacrifice his own players to kill him.

Nie Yan felt the pressure weigh down on him. He had to get out of here, quickly! If those three Magisters were allowed to cast their Forbidden Magic, he would be in a world of trouble. Unfortunately, he was blocked in from all sides by Angel Corps players. There was simply no end to them.

There was no path of retreat!

"Whoever kills Nirvana Flame will be rewarded a full set of Sub Legendary-grade equipment and an additional 500,000 gold!” Soaring Angel roared, gritting his teeth.

The Angel Corps players immediately became fired up. A full set of Sub Legendary-grade equipment and 500,000 gold was an enormous temptation!

Under Soaring Angel’s rain of arrows, Lil’ Gold was forced back, unable to retaliate. Several golden armoured Warriors took the opportunity to charge toward him.

"Knock that overgrown lizard aside!”

Shield Bash!

Shield Bash!

…

The greatshields struck Lil’ Gold, the sounds of metal hitting metal ringing through the air.

"Demon Hunters, focus down Nirvana Flame!”

Countless arrows rained down from the sky.

Nie Yan employed the shadow steps to evade most of the arrows, but he was still struck by seven. Fortunately, they couldn’t deal much damage to him, about 10,000 health which he quickly healed back up with a potion.

Lil’ Gold couldn’t do much of anything, abused by Soaring Angel like a practice dummy. If it wasn’t for Paladin Lafus continuously healing him, he would’ve long since died. As for the Doom Sentinels, facing so many players among whom there was no small number of Masters, they were starting to falter.

Still, what worried Nie Yan the most were the three Magisters chanting over his head. He was ready to activate Adjudicator of God at any time. If it were an offensive type Forbidden Magic, he would have no other choice.

Ominous, swirling black clouds gathered in the sky, accompanied by the crackle of thunder and lightning.

The black storm clouds slowly descended. A suffocating pressure permeated the air.

A membrane of light spread in the surroundings, covering everything in a 300-meter radius like an impenetrable cage. Nothing could get in or out.

Seeing this development, Nie Yan’s face paled. It was Devouring Plasma Storm!

Nie Yan’s knowledge of this spell was limited to only a single, terrifying video in his past life. Devouring Plasma Storm locked down everything in a certain area before completely inundating it with lightning. As long as the three Magisters powering it didn’t die and the magic formation wasn’t broken, the spell could theoretically go on forever!

It appeared Angel Corps had spared no effort to deal with him, even getting their hands on something like Devouring Plasma Storm.

Nie Yan realized Adjudicator of God wouldn’t last long enough to weather the storm. I need to get out of here quick! At this moment, a lightning bolt cut through the air and came crashing down.

This place was filled with Angel Corps players. Soaring Angel was truly something. For the sake of killing Nie Yan, he was willing to sacrifice all these people!

BOOOM! The lightning bolt struck one of the Doom Sentinels. Sparks flew everywhere as it was disintegrated into ash. The six players around the Doom Sentinel didn’t fare any better.

The players from Angel Corps went into an uproar.

「All of you who die here will receive three times normal compensation! Focus on killing Nirvana Flame!」Soaring Angel said in a heavy voice.

This promise appeased his men as they steeled their hearts. Even if they died here, they wouldn’t lose out. They braved through the lightning and charged forward with reckless abandon.

As the first lightning bolt fell, two more came crashing down.

Thankfully, these lightning bolts fell over the players from Angel Corps. Nie Yan was yet to be hit.

These lightning bolts came down indiscriminately!

After the two lightning bolts, another four came crashing down, killing Paladin Lafus and the two remaining Doom Sentinels.

Nie Yan recalled the video he watched in his past life. When Devouring Plasma Storm was cast, at first only one bolt of lightning came down, then two, then four, eight, 16, and so on. Before long, everything would be annihilated.

16 lightning bolts came crashing down. One came directly for Nie Yan.

Adjudicator of God!

BOOOM! The lightning struck Nie Yan as sparks flew everywhere.

Fortunately, he was temporarily immune to all magic!

Nie Yan’s time was limited. He looked up at the rooftops. I have to kill those three Magisters first. That’s the only way to stop this spell! He suddenly spotted several silhouettes appearing behind the Magisters. His heart trembled. It’s them!

Chapter 893 - Reinforcements to the Rescue

At the last second, the Magisters sensed something off. They tried to react, but it was too late. Cold flashes of steel streaked across their throats.

PSFHT! PSFHT! PSFHT! Blood sprayed into the air.

The three Magisters were instantly killed, their corpses dropping down from the rooftops. The Devouring Plasma Storm, not even 20 lightning strikes strong, slowly dissipated from the sky.

Sun, Mistaken Smile, and King of the World emerged on the rooftops at the same time.

"Enemy reinforcements!”

Discovering Asskickers United players flooding in from everywhere, Soaring Angel’s heart trembled. Their chance of killing Nie Yan was gone!

「Kill as many as you can!」Soaring Angel drew his longbow and rained down arrows on the players from Asskickers United.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Dozens of players found themselves at the mercy of the explosions.

Lei Su, Bladelight, and Smoke Stub walked up to the edge of a rooftop, then leaped down into the middle of Angel Corps’ ranks.

A dense hail of magic and arrows rained down on Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su, only dealing several hundred damage each. Their stats were so ridiculously high, this little was negligible; the squishiest among them, Lei Su, had well over 100,000 health. It was one of the advantages of their new class. From Level 140 onwards, they’d receive an astonishing amount of health with every level up, turning them into walking fortresses no one could hope to bring down.

"Their defense is too high. We can’t get through their armour!”

"Shit! What kind of defense is this!?”

Normally, their attacks would deal at least 6,000 damage, but against walking fortresses like these three, they were doing only a few hundred damage.

Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su were like foxes in a henhouse. Each slashing motion of their blades unleashed powerful sword beams. They cut down dozens of players in the blink of an eye.

Angel Corps’ forces despaired into chaos. For fear of hitting their own, the Mages didn’t dare to use AoE Magic. They could only use their single target spells.

Soaring Angel looked down. Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su swept through everything in their paths. No one could stop their advance. Angel Corps’ battle formation was broken, while Asskickers United’s forces were slowly pushing forward.

Soaring Angel couldn’t help but inwardly curse. Damn you Nirvana Flame! Though at the same time, he also envied Nie Yan. Whenever Bladelight and the others appeared, they would display astonishing battle prowess and overturn the tide of battle. Just how did Nie Yan gather all these experts? The number of players in Angel Corps that could rival Bladelight, he could count on one hand. Meanwhile, Asskickers United had over 30 players on that level.

Seeing Bladelight cutting through his forces like cabbages, Soaring Angel couldn’t hold back his anger anymore. He pulled out some arrows and drew his longbow. TWANG! With the release of his drawstring, three arrows sought their target.

Soaring Angel repeated this two more times. Nine arrows flew toward Bladelight.

"Bladelight, watch out!” Nie Yan warned, having noticed the attack in advance.

Bladelight had just cut down three players. Hearing the shout, he looked up. He forcefully threw himself to the side in an attempt to dodge the nine arrows.

Shield Bash!

Shield Bash!

Two Angel Corps players happened to rush forward at this time and locked Bladelight down.

Bulwark of the War God!

Letting out a deep roar, Bladelight’s body lit up with a dazzling radiance, resembling an awe-inspiring war god. With a Seismic Slam, he sent the two Warriors flying back. He then raised his greatshield to block the nine arrows.

BOOOM! The first arrow struck Bladelight’s shield and exploded, causing six Angel Corps players close to Bladelight to be blown away.

Bladelight was forced several steps back by the explosion.

−32,494

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Eight more arrows struck Bladelight.

As the explosions went off, gentle rays of light fell over Bladelight, bringing his health back to full whenever it was about to bottom out. However, within all the chaos, very few people noticed it.

Nine arrows exploded in quick succession, each possessing frightening killing power. It was terrifying!.

A dozen Angel Corps players and eight Asskickers United players were caught up in the explosions and died. Only Bladelight stood. One could imagine how much pressure he was under!

After being pushed back nearly six meters, Bladelight missed a step and stumbled to the ground.

This was it. Bladelight was dead for sure this time! The Asskickers United players looked on with worry, those from Angel Corps with glee, their eyes filled with elation.

However, when the dust settled, everyone’s jaws dropped as they watched Bladelight stagger back to his feet.

How was Bladelight still alive!? They clearly saw each one dealing 30,000-40,000 damage. Could it be that he had 400,000 health? Only a few Masters had noticed the heals in between the hits. Their eyes fell on Painted Muslin and Young Seven off to the side.

Two of Asskickers United’s Archbishops were here. No wonder Bladelight didn’t die.

Soaring Angel had seen everything from his bird’s-eye view in the sky. In between his every arrow, one of Painted Muslin and Young Seven cast a heal. Their teamwork was flawless. If any of them were a beat too slow, Bladelight would’ve died.

Soaring Angel’s nine arrows had hit in quick succession, only a fraction of a second apart. However, Young Seven and Painted Muslin still managed to sneak in their heals. This was an incredible feat.

Soaring Angel wanted to ram his head into a wall. He couldn’t even kill Bladelight like this!

Bladelight stabilized himself. Seeing his health was already back to full, he knew Painted Muslin and Young Seven had saved him!

With two Archbishops at his back, there was nothing to worry about!

Bladelight and Soaring Angel locked gazes. With a smile on his face, Bladelight flipped him off.

Off in the distance, Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, and the others couldn’t help but laugh. It turned out even Bladelight had some vulgarity in him.

Soaring Angel’s face turned red. He was about to blow his top. This was a bare naked provocation! He angrily pulled out several arrows, wanting to teach Bladelight a lesson, but quickly stopped himself. The enemy was baiting him, a little too obvious. If he focused all his attention on Bladelight, he’d be wasting his time; he couldn’t deal more damage than those two Archbishops could heal. Then all the other Asskickers United players would be free to do whatever they wanted.

Soaring Angel suppressed the fury in his heart. He pointed his longbow elsewhere. As he tried to snipe the Magisters from Asskickers United, he was dejected to discover his explosive arrows had no effect on them since they could blink to safety.

Bladelight shrugged his shoulder, it seemed Soaring Angel didn’t wish to take the bet, and charged toward the other players from Angel Corps.

Meanwhile, Nie Yan had already killed 30 players. With the assistance of his guildmates, he could kill to his heart's content.

Asskickers United’s Masters were too strong. Angel Corps’ forces felt like they couldn’t breathe.

"Let’s show these trash who’s boss!” Undying Scoundrel shouted.

The morale of the Asskickers United players soared as they pressed forward with even more zeal.

Angel Corps’ forces were already falling under the pressure. This emboldened assault from Asskickers United was the final straw that broke the camel’s back. Angel Corps’ ranks were in disarray.

Seeing the situation taking a turn for the worse, Soaring Angel shouted,「Everyone. retreat!」

The players from Angel Corps lost all will to continue fighting. They beat a quick retreat. The Mages blinked away while the Thieves disappeared into stealth. Those who couldn’t run crushed their Unknown Transfer Scrolls.

Asskickers United’s forces seized this opportunity to kill several hundred more players from Angel Corps.

Before long, there wasn’t a single Angel Corps player left on the ground.

Nie Yan looked toward the sky. Soaring Angel still hadn't left. He used his explosive arrows to kill a dozen more Asskickers United players.

"Shoot him down!” Nie Yan shouted. An archer with wings was extremely difficult to deal with, especially in an environment like the City of Sin where flying mounts couldn’t move around freely. Even Nie Yan didn’t have a good way of dealing with him.

Undying Scoundrel and five other Magisters used their blinks and short distance flight skills to reach the rooftops of several buildings. Raising their staffs, they were preparing to shoot Soaring Angel down.

Soaring Angel didn’t give them the opportunity. He flapped his wings and retreated, disappearing behind some buildings.

They had no hope of catching Soaring Angel. They could only watch as he escaped.

"Boss, he’s gone.”

Nie Yan knitted his brows. "It’s fine. Report the battle results.”

"We lost 835 members. Most of their dropped equipment has been recovered. We managed to kill 1,300 Angel Corps players, 5 of whom were Masters. We obtained 11 pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment and 1,731 pieces of ordinary equipment.”

It was a clear victory for Asskickers United. Nie Yan’s only regret was that they had failed to kill Soaring Angel.

"Boss, Soaring Angel’s aerial forces are gathering in the northern part of the city.”

"It looks like they aren’t willing to take this loss sitting down. What do we do?” Bladelight asked.

"If they want to go for round two, let’s entertain them!” Nie Yan glanced at the two flying mounts in his pet space. A large aerial battle between their two guilds was bound to happen sooner or later!

Chapter 894 - Dragon King Fruit

Asskickers United had less flying mounts than Angel Corps from the start, but the distance between them only got bigger. Nevertheless, they still held the advantage when it came to high rank flying mounts.

According to the reports sent by Guo Huai, Angel Corps had mobilized over 1,000 flying mounts. They were preparing to have a final showdown with Asskickers United. Online on the public forums, they had already issued a declaration of challenge. Asskickers United had no way of backing down. The entire server was waiting to see how they would respond.

Nie Yan glanced at his pet window. The Darkwing Dragon had yet to fully recover, but it was back at at least 70% of its full strength. Meanwhile, the Spectre Dragon had already reached the peak of Rank 6 and was only a step away from breaking through to Rank 7. As for Xie Yao’s Immortal Phoenix, he wasn’t sure how much it had matured.

Asskickers United was definitely capable of going toe-to-toe with the enemy. However, since Angel Corps dared to issue a challenge, that meant they naturally came prepared. He wasn’t willing to gamble away the lives of his main force, especially when they didn’t need to.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment before whispering Guo Huai,「Help me get in touch with Plenty.」

「You want to ask for Fallen Angel’s help to deal with Angel Corps?」Guo Huai asked.

「Yes. Fallen Angel and Angel Corps are sworn enemies. Fallen Angel wants to get rid of them even more than we do. They’d be more than willing to lend us a helping hand in wiping out Angel Corps’ aerial force,」Nie Yan said with a faint smile.

It didn’t take long for Nie Yan to get in touch with Plenty and explain his plan. Sure enough, Fallen Angel immediately agreed to help and dispatched their most elite aerial force to help Asskickers United in this battle.

Nie Yan felt all the more confident. With the help of Fallen Angel, the situation had become a lot less troublesome. Now all he had to do was wait for help to arrive. The more effort Fallen Angel put in, the less casualties Asskickers United would suffer.

「Remember you had me investigate the connection between Fallen Angel and Angel Corps? Well, I found something interesting. Want to guess what it is?」Guo Huai asked.

「Stop with the suspense. Just tell me.」

「Have you heard of the Brutus Capital Group?」

「I have. What about it?」

「The members of the Brutus Capital Group come from all over the world, but their main operations are focused in Europe. At their peak, they were rumoured to have controlled over 50% of all global economic activity. Though they’re not what they were a few decades ago, a starved camel is still larger than a horse. They are a true unshakeable leviathan. In the present day, the leaders of six European nations are from the Brutus Capital Group.

「It was founded by a few men. Initially, no one else was accepted in. Only later did they expand to a little over 200 members, until finally 200 years ago, they started accepting descendants of their members. Each new generation, they select the most talented youth to become the successor. This era just happens to have two extremely talented descendants. So, the leader will be selected from the two of them.」

「So you’re saying these two descendants are Soaring Angel and Plenty?」

「Correct. Furthermore, as per tradition, the companies under the Brutus Capital Group never go public on the market. So, it’s difficult to find out the true depths of their assets. All we know is that their resources are pretty much endless. Their wealth far exceeds that of the six richest people in the world combined, and they’re capable of influencing the political sphere of several dozen nations.

「One final thing of note. It’s rumoured that when the federation was developing Conviction, they received an enormous amount of financial support from the Brutus Capital Group.」

This revelation left Nie Yan completely speechless. He wanted to know what Soaring Angel and Plenty’s backgrounds were since he first ran into them. He knew they were influential heirs from Europe, but he didn’t expect that their influence reached so deep. No wonder Fallen Angel was sparing no effort to wipe out Angel Corps!

「The higher-ups of the Brutus Capital Group gather once every five years. Their next meeting is in two years, and that’s when their new leader will be selected. Until then, the power Soaring Angel and Plenty can utilize is limited. However, suffice to say, we have to make sure Soaring Angel doesn’t become the leader. It’d be really bad for us,」Guo Huai said.

Nie Yan roughly understood the situation. Soaring Angel and Plenty were currently only members of the Brutus Capital Group. Fallen Angel’s victory might not necessarily be a good thing for Asskickers United. But if Angel Corps won, the Brutus Capital Group would undoubtedly become an existence that could threaten World Bloc! Between these two options, picking Fallen Angel was the lesser of two evils!

Nie Yan started mobilizing Asskickers United’s forces. They gathered in the central square in the City of Sin and summoned their various flying mounts.

In the middle of this, Bladelight, Undying Scoundrel, and several others came walking over, fuming with anger.

"That bastard Soaring Angel killed 16 of our members in an ambush! We almost got him, but those damn wings! That rat really can run fast!” Undying Scoundrel cursed.

Asskickers United had no method to deal with Soaring Angel for the moment. Those wings gave him a massive advantage. He could easily utilize them to fish up some easy benefits. Both sides only had a few thousand true elites. Killing 20 of them was an amazing result.

"Have you thought of a way to deal with him?” Nie Yan asked.

"Not really. We can only try and have the Magisters lock him down, but that bastard is really cautious. He ran the moment he saw our Masters coming. He won’t fight us dammit!”

Nie Yan recalled the Demon Feather in his bag. If he could find the other materials, he could craft Demon Wings. Then he’d have a way of dealing with Soaring Angel. It was a pity he had no time to do this quest.

"Let’s think of a way to deal with Angel Corps’ aerial force first,” Nie Yan said. He’d received word that the reinforcements from Fallen Angel were already on their way here. However, the next report said they were intercepted by Pantheon.

"How many flying mounts do we have?” Nie Yan asked.

"900 in the City of Sin. We have a few more rushing over right now,” Paladin of the Elegy said.

"Nie Yan, there is a boss that drops the Dragon King Fruit. If we can get it, it might help your Darkwing Dragon break through,” Bladelight suddenly recalled.

"Where is that boss located?” Nie Yan asked skeptically. Their battle with Angel Corps was about to begin. Why would Bladelight suddenly mention a boss?

"Bladelight, don’t you think it’s a bit too late to go hunting a boss?” Smoke Stub asked with knitted brows.

"It’s not too late. It’s right in the middle of World’s Edge. We can get it easily done in half-an-hour. I don’t believe for a second we’ll start fighting before then. Let’s take advantage of this time. If we can get the Dragon King Fruit, we’ll earn big. Think about it, the Darkwing Dragon is already a Rank 8 flying mount. If it eats the Dragon King Fruit and breaks through to Rank 9, everything will change,” Bladelight said with a smile.

Everyone became silent. Flying mounts were different from other creatures. A difference of two or three ranks was enormous. For example, Rank 6 flying mounts could only deal very little damage to Rank 8 flying mounts, and Rank 5 flying mounts pretty much could do nothing at all. If Asskickers United had a Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon, they could completely decimate Angel Corps’ aerial force. At that time, only the few Rank 7 flying mounts from Angel Corps could deal any damage to the Darkwing Dragon.

Bladelight’s words reminded everyone of how frightening a Rank 9 flying mount would be.

"So, are you up for it?” Bladelight asked Nie Yan. Now, everyone was waiting for his decision.

"Tell me about the boss,” Nie Yan said. A boss that dropped a super rare item like the Dragon King Fruit definitely wouldn’t be simple.

"Fallen Angel Brufut, a Level 180 golden monster. He is in a special underground dungeon. Once we open it, no one else can enter. It has a maximum size of 30 people,” Bladelight said.

"What are our chances of killing that boss?”

Everyone was curious for Bladelight’s assessment.

"I’m not sure. Both Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group have sent teams into that dungeon, but they wiped every time. I’ve collected some data. Take a look,” Bladelight said. What Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group couldn’t accomplish wasn’t something they necessarily couldn’t. After all, they had the best tanks, healers, and damage dealers in all of the game.

"Looking at the data, I say we have at least a 60% chance,” Smoke Stub concluded. They had fought at least several hundred if not a thousand bosses in World’s Edge. On some days, they would beat a dozen. He had ample experience. So, his judgement could be considered fairly accurate.

"If our chances are that good, let’s give it a try!” Undying Scoundrel said.

Dungeons were different from other places. With no chances of anyone disturbing them, even if they wiped, they could simply run back to their corpses to revive. Even if they dropped their equipment, they could simply pick it back up. The experience they lost was reduced too. If they could kill the boss within three wipes, they would come out ahead. Only if a team consistently wiped to a boss, without any hope of beating it, would it be disadvantageous to enter a dungeon.

Everyone gazed at Nie Yan. So long as he gave the word, they would immediately set out.

"Bladelight, you gather the members. Have everyone else remain on standby in the World’s End Bar,” Nie Yan said. The City of Sin had one fairly safe location, and that was the World’s End Bar. The owner was a Legendary Mage. So, no one dared to cause trouble there. It was a place of refuge.

Three minutes later, Nie Yan and the others broke away from public view and secretly set out.

Chapter 895 - Fallen Angel Brufut

The northern district of the City of Sin, The 1,000-strong aerial force of Angel Corps had gathered here. All kinds of large flying mounts could be seen circling in the sky.

The declaration of challenge Soaring Angel issued created a huge uproar on the forums. The relationship between the two guilds was already like fire and ice. Their fierce conflicts affected every player across the continent. With millions of troops on both sides, one could imagine the scope of this war. Both sides were preparing for the next big skirmish, to be fought in the skies above the City of Sin. Once fighting broke out, the entire map would be swept over with the flames of war!

Many unaffiliated players were setting out for the City of Sin. They wanted to witness the battle in person.

"Has there been any movements on the side of Asskickers United?” Soaring Angel asked.

"We just received word that Nirvana Flame, Bladelight, and their other Masters suddenly disappeared. We have no idea where they went,” a Mage replied.

Soaring Angel’s heart sank. He couldn’t help but wonder what Nie Yan’s group was planning.「All members, stay vigilant. If anything happens, report it immediately!」He rubbed his chin for a moment. "Apart from those you mentioned, where is the rest of Asskickers United’s troops?”

"They’ve holed up in the World’s End Bar.”

"World’s End Bar!? Tsk, those damn cowards!” Soaring Angel cursed. No matter how arrogant he was, he didn’t dare to stir up trouble there. Even though Asskickers United had accepted the declaration of challenge, the time limit was in another three hours. If they didn’t show up before then, it would count as them conceding. He could only wait for the time being.

"Boss, I’m certain they are up to something,” Evil Monarch said. He had an uneasy feeling.

"I think so too. Hm, do you think they’re trying to challenge Fallen Angel Brufut and obtain the Dragon King Fruit?” Stone Splitter asked.

"Not likely. And even if they are, Brufut is no pushover. If they try, even with their top elites, they’ll be in for a rude awakening!” Soaring Angel said. He’d experienced the might of Fallen Angel Brufut himself, and it left a deep impression in his heart.

"We should investigate anyway,” Evil Monarch suggested. If Asskickers United really was attempting that dungeon, they’d have to prepare for the worst.

Soaring Angel thought for a moment before nodding. "You’re right. I’ll send someone to investigate right now.”

A Thief from Angel Corps set out for the special dungeon. After a while, he reported back to Soaring Angel that no one had entered.

"Just where did they go off to...?” Soaring Angel muttered.

What Soaring Angel didn’t know was that Nie Yan and the others were still making their preparations to tackle Fallen Angel Brufut. Nie Yan had the Starry Night Potion Shop deliver 13 different kinds of potions—390 altogether—and distributed them. Apart from this, he also had a large amount of Tinkerer items sent over.

A sharpened blade was much better for carrying out a task. These preparations were absolutely necessary and could save the team from a wipe.

About 10 minutes after Soaring Angel’s scout left, Nie Yan and the others snuck into the dungeon. They ascended a tall flight of stairs and passed through a long, winding corridor before at an enormous shrine hovering in the air.

The shrine was over 100 meters high with towering pillars that pierced into the sky.

"This is the place,” Bladelight said.

"Damn, that shrine is huge!” Undying Scoundrel gasped in amazement. He had to tilt his head all the way back to see the top of it.

Nie Yan approached the shrine and looked inside. The interior was spacious, as the outside suggested, and the floor was crafted out of some unknown stone which glistened like the stars in the night sky. A thin membrane of light surrounded the entrance of the shrine, separating it from the outside world.

"Fallen Angel Brufut is inside. Before he comes out himself, he’ll first send out 10 waves of monsters. They’re also pretty difficult to deal with. So, stay vigilant,” Bladelight reminded. He turned to Nie Yan. "We’re ready whenever you are.”

Nie Yan walked up to the pedestal in front of the shrine entrance. Sitting on top of it was a crystal orb about the size of a basketball. He placed his palm on it and started chanting while slowly rotating it clockwise.

Click, click, click! Some sort of mechanism activated in the pedestal.

Nie Yan glanced over his shoulder and said, "Let’s go inside.”

Everyone entered the shrine.

At the center of the shrine was a wide open space about 400 meters in diameter. When they entered, a giant silhouette floated down from the ceiling. It was a five-meter tall angel clad in silver armour. From his appearance alone, one might mistake him for a human, if not for the two pairs of black wings growing from his back. He looked like a man in his fifties.

"That’s him! Fallen Angel Brufut!”

This four winged angel was their target!

At this moment, Battle Angel Kalenna awoke from her nap and glared at Brufut with scorn burning in her eyes.

"Brufut! You wretched traitor! If it weren’t for you, Heaven’s army would not have fallen against the dragon race!” Battle Angel Kalenna brandished her staff.

Seeing Battle Angel Kalenna’s reaction, Nie Yan became excited. With her help, their chances of succeeding would improve substantially.

Fallen Angel Brufut swept his eyes over Nie Yan’s group. "Another group of humans have come to throw their lives away. You trifling ants. When will you learn? Oh...? What is this I see? Kalenna, so you’re still alive. Truly a pity. You’ve become so small and weak. Hahaha!”

"Brufut, you disgrace! I’ll kill you if it’s the last thing I do and offer up your ashes to those who have fallen!” Kalenna’s petite figure trembled in pure rage.

"Come, Kalenna! I’d like to see you try! Just you and these puny humans? Hahaha!” Brufut’s laugh reverberated through the hall.

Are you willing to accept Kalenna’s quest, "Slay Fallen Angel Brufut”?

Bladelight and the others shifted their attention to Kalenna. They all saw the notification Nie Yan just received. Who would’ve thought she would trigger a brand new quest like this. Their goal was to kill Fallen Angel Brufut anyway. They couldn’t help but wonder what sort of additional rewards they would receive.

Nie Yan accepted the quest, and as he did Kalenna entered battle mode.

"Seems like our chances of winning will be much higher than 60% now,” Smoke Stub remarked with a smile. He’d witnessed the might of Battle Angel Kalenna before.

Brufut brandished his greatsword and shouted, "HAH!” A wave of 30 enormous black bears emerged out of thin air. They looked like tanks as they charged toward Nie Yan’s group.

"Shit! 30 bears in the first wave? Nie Yan, something’s off!” Bladelight cried out. According to the intel he gathered, Brufut would only summon these bears on the sixth wave, and there would be six not 30!

Battle Angel Kalenna’s addition had upped the difficulty by manyfold!

Their heart sank. Did that mean all their intel was meaningless now? What would come next, some monster they’d never seen before?

"Bulwark of the War God!” Bladelight roared. His body lit up with a golden radiance as he charged to intercept the bears.

Taunt!

A dozen bears immediately aggroed onto Bladelight.

Smoke Stub, Lofty Shadow, Monochrome, Edgeless, and Lei Su also went up. The defense of these bears was incredibly high, their skin near impenetrable. Not to mention their astonishing attack power. Angel Corps, the Century Financial Group, and everyone else who’d attempted this dungeon had had their hands full dealing with only six of these bears, but they had to deal with 30!

Young Seven, Painted Muslin, Black Heaven, and the other healers in the backline cast heals on repeat, trying their best to keep the Warriors alive. Their foreheads were drenched with sweat. They had to maintain strict focus, for the slightest mistake might cost the Warriors their lives.

The bears did over 9,000 damage a hit to Bladelight and over 13,000 to the others.

A shower of magic rained down on the bears. A blanket of 3,000s floated up into the air. That said, these bears had 6,000,000 health.

"Shit! There’s too many of them!” Undying Scoundrel shouted.

Nie Yan snuck behind a bear and stunned it with a Smothering Strike, then followed up with a Reverse Grip Backstab.

−7,329
−12,855

Even Nie Yan only dealt so little damage! The defense of these bears was simply too high! He knitted his brows. When he glanced at Kalenna, she finally took action. With a wave of her staff, she cast a shield on Bladelight.

A faint membrane of light enveloped Bladelight. It looked no different from a normal Radiant Shield.

BANG! BANG! Two claws landed on Bladelight.

−621
−625

Bladelight widened his eyes in shock. What a powerful shield!

Battle Angel Kalenna didn’t stop there, casting shields consecutively on all the other Warriors. The damage they took was instantly reduced by 90%. Next, she buffed everyone’s magic power, increasing their damage by eightfold.

Undying Scoundrel glanced at his status bar. He sucked in a cold breath of air. He counted more than 11 different blessings, increasing his magic power, cast speed, mana recovery speed, and so on. The effects of the blessings were mindblowing!

Chapter 896 - Rank 7 Spectre Dragon

BANG! BANG! BANG! A whirlwind of flames rose up into the air.

−33,234
−35,251
−30,799
...

A short time later, the first bear let out a mournful cry and collapsed on the ground.

Thanks to Kalenna’s blessings, Undying Scoundrel and the damage output of the other Magisters had skyrocketed.

As for the Warriors in the frontline, they didn’t even need shields to defend against these bears! They gathered the bears all into one place. The Magisters started chanting small-scale AoE magic and called down a shower of fire, lightning, and ice.

The Warriors smoothly retreated out of the range of the magic. Their teamwork was flawless.

Within two minutes, bear corpses littered the ground.

"Hot damn! Why couldn’t I get a battle angel during my class advancement quest!?” Tang Yao complained, envy thick in his voice.

"What are you complaining? You got a Rank 7 Arcane Fairy. You should be satisfied with what you have.” Nie Yan smirked. A Rank 7 Arcane Fairy was already ludicrously powerful.

Tang Yao scratched his head with a wry chuckle. "Pfft… how could my fairy compare to that overpowered angel of yours?”

Nie Yan glanced at Xie Yao’s Holy Fairy. It had already reached Rank 5. Even though fairies weren’t as rare as before—the entire Righteous Faction having around 30 altogether—maybe only three or four were Rank 5 or higher. That said, they couldn’t be compared with a Guardian Angel. A fairy was an existence that was more than several tiers lower on the totem pole.

King of the Word, Sun, and the other Shadow Dancers collected the drops from the bears.

"Find anything good?” Nie Yan asked.

"Yeah! A Darkness Divine Stone!” King of the World exclaimed.

Darkness Divine Stone!? Nie Yan’s heart thumped. Darkness Divine Stones were incredibly rare drops from demonic monsters. It was the ultimate catalyst, the crucial material in a great many recipes. If you also found a Transmuter or Pandora’s Box, the possible recipes to choose from were endless.

Apart from the Darkness Divine Stone, a decent Priest necklace also dropped. It was given to Painted Muslin.

Fallen Angel Brufut looked down at them disdainfully. He floated in mid-air, a barrier protecting him. So, Nie Yan’s group couldn’t attack him. They could only wait for his next move.

"How long do we have until the next wave? Do you know what he is going to summon next?” Nie Yan asked.

"Next wave is in about three minutes, I think. I’m not too sure. This first wave was already different from our intel,” Bladelight replied. The dungeon’s difficulty had ramped up a lot after Nie Yan accepted Kalenna’s quest.

"I see. Let’s recover as much as we can,” Nie Yan said.

Everyone sat down to recuperate.

I wonder what sort of things can be crafted out of this Darkness Divine Stone… Nie Yan was just about to search online, when Xie Yao sent him a link.

"What’s this?” Nie Yan asked.

"It’s a crafting recipe for the Darkness Divine Stone. I figured it’s something you’d be interested in,” Xie Yao said with an adorable smile.

Nie Yan felt a warmth in his heart. It’d already been three years since they first started dating. Their relationship had grown to the point where they could tell what the other wanted without needing to say anything.

Nie Yan skimmed through the recipes. There were around 60 altogether, but most of them didn’t really interest him. He was just about to close the page, when his eyes fell on the last recipe on the list—Demon Wings!

Demon Wings Recipe

Required Crafting Materials: Demon’s Feather x1, Darkness Divine Stone x1, Jadeite Gems x5, Dark Grimoire x1, Dark Runic Cloths x12

Nie Yan couldn’t help but get excited. These Demon Wings was precisely the item he was longing for! He already had a Demon’s Feather. Combined with the Divine Darkness Stone, he had two of the required crafting materials in his possession. He didn’t know how difficult Jadeite Gems, a Dark Grimoire, and Dark Runic Cloths were to find. He could only hope it wouldn’t be too hard. The sooner he got these wings, the sooner he had something to deal with Soaring Angel!

Nie Yan immediately contacted Guo Huai.「Help me find five Jadeite Gems, a Dark Grimoire, and 12 Runic Cloths. I need them as soon as possible.」

「What do you need these items for?」Guo Huai asked. Even though Jadeite Gems were rare, he knew about them. As for a Dark Grimoire and Dark Runic Cloths, he’d never even heard of them before.

「They’re crafting materials for wings,」Nie Yan explained.

Guo Huai immediately understood the importance of these items. He of course knew of the fight in the City of Sin, of Soaring Angel besting them with his wings. Both he and his team were trying to think of methods to deal with Soaring Angel, but wings were simply too difficult to find. After all, even the Wings of Sorens had a drop rate of only 1 in 500,000. So, when Nie Yan told him why he needed those items, he quickly replied,「I’ll get on it immediately!」

Nie Yan could only pray that Guo Huai found the materials fast. It would be massive if he had the wings for the upcoming battle.

Nie Yan hung up the call.

About three minutes later, Fallen Angel Brufut brandished his greatsword and summoned 20 Savage Bone Giants. "GRAAAOGH!” They paced back and forth restlessly around the center of the shrine.

"I’ll take five of them!” Bladelight rushed forward.

"I’ll take three!”

"I’ll take two!”

...

The Warriors quickly drew the aggro of the Savage Bone Giants. They had perfect synergy, and their movements were well-practiced and smooth.

Like against the bears, these Savage Bone Giants weren’t too big of a challenge thanks to Battle Angel Kalenna, who had buffed everyone with blessings and shields at the start of the fight. Within a few minutes, the Savage Bone Giants started dropping left and right.

Several Energy Crystals dropped from the Savage Bone Giants. They could be fed directly to pets and flying mounts. Nie Yan obtained two darkness attribute Energy Crystals. He was the only one in this team with a darkness attribute flying mount.

Thinking for a bit, Nie Yan summoned his Spectre Dragon and let it move around a bit before feeding it the two darkness Energy Crystals.

The Spectre Dragon was already on the verge of breaking through to Rank 7. These two Darkness Energy Crystals were perhaps all it needed!

When everyone saw the Spectre Dragon, they were completely dumbfounded. Nie Yan hadn’t told anyone about obtaining it, nor was he the type who liked to show off. So, this was their first time seeing it. Even though it didn’t look as formidable as the Darkwing Dragon, it was still extremely shocking.

"Boss, d-did you switch flying mounts?” Paladin of the Elegy asked.

It was common knowledge that every player could only have one flying mount.

"Remember that Dragon King’s Divine Might ability from Zennarde’s Sword? It allows him to have two dragon flying mounts,” Smoke Stub said.

Only a few people in Asskickers United knew Nie Yan had obtained the Spectre Dragon. This was the type of matter where the fewer people who knew, the better.

The people in this team were all trustworthy. So, Nie Yan had no misgivings about summoning the Spectre Dragon in front of them.

"This Spectre Dragon is Rank 6 right now, but it looks like it’s starting to break through,” Summer Bug remarked.

"Yeah. I hope it’ll break through before the upcoming battle,” Nie Yan said. "Then, our side will have another Rank 7 flying mount.”

In this downtime between waves, they started chatting about the Spectre Dragon, wondering how effective it would be in combat.

"Boss, is the Spectre Dragon a close-combat type or magic-type?” Undying Scoundrel asked.

"It’s a magic-type,” Nie Yan replied.

Everyone’s eyes lit up. Most flying mounts were close-combat types. Magic-types were much rarer, especially among existences like dragons. A high rank magic-type flying mount was a priceless treasure.

"What are its skills?”

"You’ll know in a few hours.” Nie Yan chuckled.

"Ah, stop being such a tease, Boss!”

Seeing Nie Yan’s mysterious smile, everyone’s curiosity was piqued even more.

After eating the two Darkness Energy Crystals, the Spectre Dragon let out a low roar, as though it was in pain. Nie Yan knew this was a good sign. He recalled the Spectre Dragon back to his pet space and paid close attention to its movements.

Before long, Nie Yan felt a powerful ripple of energy sweep across his pet space. His heart trembled. The Spectre Dragon underwent a world-shaking transformation. It grew much larger, and its skin turned as black as the void. Sharp spikes grew around its wings. They were incomparably sharp and radiated a freezing aura.

The Spectre Dragon broke through to Rank 7!

Even though it appeared feeble and weak right now, Nie Yan confirmed it was already Rank 7. Likely, breaking through had taken too much of its strength. Nie Yan fed it a couple of Darkness Life Cores to help it recover. By the time the showdown with Angel Corps started, it would be at peak strength!

The Spectre Dragon’s break through put Nie Yan in high spirits. He impatiently checked its status page. Just like he predicted, it had obtained two new skills.

The first new skill was called Phantom. The Spectre Dragon could turn incorporeal to evade an enemy attack. The second new skill was called Spontaneous Combustion. When possessing a target, it could use its soul fire to continuously burn away at the host’s health. An extremely ruthless skill! Spirit Possession and Spontaneous Combustion synergized perfectly and would make for an unrivalled killing move. As long as the target wasn’t two ranks higher, there was no way they could escape death!

Nie Yan was extremely happy with the Spectre Dragon’s two new skills.

Chapter 897 - Money is not a Problem

With Battle Angel Kalenna’s support, Nie Yan’s team breezed through the first eight waves. On the ninth wave, Fallen Angel Brufut summoned three Behemoths. Each had 30,000,000 health. This was the first fierce and bitter battle.

These five-meter tall beasts steamrolled through everything in their path. It was extremely difficult to secure their aggro as they chased after the Mages, who could only rely on blinks to avoid their attacks.

Nie Yan summoned Lil’ Gold and Paladin Lafus, adding whatever he could to the team’s combat strength.

"Shit! Their physical defense is too high! We can’t secure their aggro!” Bladelight anxiously cried out. He could only deal 1,000 or so damage to the Behemoths while the Mages were regularly critting for 8,000 to upwards of 10,000.

KWAANG! A Behemoth knocked Bladelight aside and charged toward Tang Yao.

Tang Yao executed several consecutive blinks and dodged the charge. He chanted an incantation and let loose with a barrage of fireballs.

With the Warriors out of play, the Mages could only rely on themselves to stay safe.

Nie Yan entered stealth and dashed toward one of the Behemoths.

This same Behemoth closed in on Summer Bug and swiped down on him with its massive claws.

Summer Bug was just about to blink away, when he noticed a silhouette dashing by. His heart thumped. Buffing himself with Windwalker, he dodged to the side.

The Behemoth turned around and wanted to pursue Summer Bug, when Nie Yan appeared behind it and struck out with a Backbreaker. BANG! It was immobilized.

In the blink of an eye, a deluge of spells rained down on the Behemoth.

...

Elsewhere in Conviction, many large guilds were stirring restlessly. Everyone could sense the tension in the air. Fallen Angel’s forces had already arrived at the underworld passage. It was reported they’d fought off a team from Pantheon that had intercepted them. Though they suffered some losses, their main force was still intact.

Angel Corps’ aerial force patiently waited in the northern district of the City of Sin. Even though they had dispatched a large number of Thieves to search for Nie Yan’s whereabouts, they failed to find anything. It was almost as if he’d vanished into thin air.

...

The Clemenci Stronghold. The higher-ups from Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group were holding an emergency meeting. There were 30 people present in the conference hall.

Soaring Angel glanced at Cao Xu beside him. "What are we going to do next? I’ll leave it to you.”

Cao Xu nodded before turning to face the rest of the people in the room. "Soaring Angel and I have come to an agreement. In two hours, we will declare an all-out war against Asskickers United. No more holding back. We’re going to put everything on the line and defeat the enemy! I hope everyone here will spare no effort.”

Cao Xu’s words went off like a bomb. Though the fighting with Asskickers United had never stopped, the clashes so far were restricted to local areas. Both sides were still holding back in order to avoid taking too many casualties. As long as they could keep the other in check, it was fine. However, once an all-out war broke out, casualties would soar until only one side was left standing.

"Boss Cao, what are our chances?”

"50%, maybe a bit higher.”

"Only 50%? Why are we taking such a huge risk? At least right now, we’re able to maintain a stalemate, and we can keep our strongholds in operation. However, once we enter an all-out war, it’ll be impossible to maintain any semblance of stability, to say nothing of Fallen Angel glaring at us like a tiger from the sidelines. This is a terrible idea!”

"Putting off the inevitable will only cost us more. Plus, we have a good opportunity right now. Fallen Angel’s main forces have already arrived on the surface. Their headquarters are defenseless. Pantheon will support our efforts by declaring an all-out war against Fallen Angel in two hours. Asskickers United and Fallen Angel are colluding together. If we wait for them to deal with Pantheon first, then when they turn their sights on us, we’ll have already lost the initiative,” Cao Xu explained.

Those in the room exchanged glances. So it turned out Pantheon was planning to declare an all-out war against Fallen Angel. Just like with Asskickers United and Angel Corps in the Righteous Faction, between Fallen Angel and Pantheon, only one could rule over the Evil Faction.

"Since it’s like this, we have no objections. Though may I remind the boss that our expenses will soar once the war begins.”

"Don’t worry. Your boss and I will take care of this. Within three days, we’ll have 10,000,000 gold ready and another 30,000,000 in the near future,” Cao Xu said. As the CEO of the Century Financial Group, he had ample resources. Soaring Angel didn’t lose out either as a potential successor to the Brutus Capital Group. The two of them had swept the real-world trading platform clean of all gold. Even the high level equipment up for auction wasn’t spared.

Of course, their actions had caused a huge upheaval in the market with the price of gold skyrocketing by 300%, as did the price of high level equipment. One could only imagine how much money Cao Xu and Soaring Angel had poured into the game.

When Cao Xu and Soaring Angel were spending money like madmen on the real world trade platform, Nie Yan was raking in the cash; the gold and equipment for sale was his. After converting it into real world credits, he would transfer the funds over to World Bloc’s bank account. He had no way of stopping Cao Xu and Soaring Angel from acquiring gold en masse. The exchange rates they offered were well above the market’s. So, he was better off simply making money off of them.

"40,000,000 is a lot of gold, but it still isn’t enough to go toe-to-toe with Asskickers United. According to my intel, they have several hundred million gold in reserves as well as an endless supply of potions. Once the war begins, we’ll be burning through our supply of potions. Before long, we won’t have a choice but to secretly buy more from the Starry Night Potion Shop. If nothing changes, our expenditure on potions alone will be in excess of 60,000,000 gold within half a month! What if we haven’t won the war by then?”

"Boss Angel, Boss Cao, if you think we have sufficient funds, we won’t hesitate to go to war with Asskickers United!”

"We do. Go and prepare. In two hours, we’re declaring an all-out war against Asskickers United!” Cao Xu said.

Going as far back as two years ago, Cao Xu and Soaring Angel had already fallen into the plan Nie Yan delicately laid out. The Starry Night Potion Shop was a giant net, covering the entire potion market of the Righteous Faction. In the face of his high potion prices, even two leviathans like Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group had no choice but to bow their heads. Every month, they barely broke even with their expenses. Once the war started, these two guilds would become money burning machines, to the extent that Cao Xu and Soaring Angel would have no choice but to pour in frightening sums of money from the real world to sustain their war efforts.

Nie Yan was selling gold while Cao Xu and Soaring Angel were buying gold, which in turn would be used to purchase potions and equipment. In the end, most of the gold would fall right back into Nie Yan’s pockets. It was basically the same as them throwing their money at him in a never-ending cycle.

In all likelihood, Cao Xu and Soaring Angel had already noticed this trap. However, they were helpless to do anything about it. After all, they couldn’t just abandon their investments in the Satreen Empire. Regardless of the costs, they would make it worth it!

...

Nie Yan and his team were still fighting the Behemoths. Two of the three were almost dead.

「Nie Yan, are you guys done yet?」Guo Huai anxiously asked.

「No, not yet. Why?」

「I just received a report that three armies composed of 1,800,000 troops from Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group are marching towards the Abernathy Great Grasslands amd Viridian Empire from three different directions. It seems like they’re planning to go all out,」Guo Huai said.「All the gold you put up on the real world transaction platform has been sold. What do we do?」

Nie Yan’s eyes widened in surprise. He didn’t expect them to act so fast.「Immediately assemble our troops! Deal with the ones coming towards the Abernathy Great Grasslands directly. As for those going to the Viridian Empire, make use of our strongholds to hold them off and chip away at their strength. Can you also list up another 50,000,000 gold for sale on the real world transaction platform?」

Guo Huai was shocked. He could understand the first two orders, but wasn’t the third simply giving away resources to the enemy?「50,000,000 gold? Won’t that be a problem?」

「Here’s what you’re going to do after putting the gold up for sale. Triple the prices of all goods sold in the Starry Night Potion Shop. Nothing comes for free,」Nie Yan said with a smile. He’d thought long and hard on this plan.

After he thought on it a little, it seemed all so obvious to Guo Huai.「You first had them rely completely on the Starry Night Potion Shop, to the extent they had no alternative left. Then, all you had to do was to wait for a war to break out. They need potions, and can only get them from us. This places a heavy burden on their finances. They need to fork up at least another 50-60 million gold. No matter what we do with the price, they can only accept it. Best of all, even when we raise the prices so high, it won’t affect the business of the Starry Night Potion Shop.」Especially this last point was an important factor to Guo Huai. After all, the Starry Night Potion Shop was the main financial pillar of Asskickers United. Without it, they would be broke before the day’s end.

「Trust me. I had a scholar research it. In the event of a war, the demand for potions will double, while the supply of raw materials will drop by approximately 30%. Supply won’t meet demand. We’ll blame the shortage of raw materials for the price hike. Sales to ordinary players might drop. However, to stay relevant in this war, Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group will be forced to keep buying our goods. It might not increase our profits, but they won’t fall either, while our enemy will see their expenditures shoot through the roof.」

It seemed like Nie Yan had it all planned out. Guo Huai felt relieved.

「Have we started manufacturing siege weapons in Okoron yet?」

「Yeah. We have 50 factories up and running. On a daily base, they can make 120 catapults and trebuchets. There are enough raw materials to last us another 15 days. However, it has cost us 120 million gold,」Guo Huai said. He’d started working on this half a year ago and was finally starting to see the fruits of his labour.

「Don’t worry. Money is not a problem,」Nie Yan said straightforwardly.

Chapter 898 - Something to Die For

"Money is not a problem.” Only Nie Yan would dare to utter these words. If anyone else were presented a 120,000,000 gold bill, they would probably pass out from shock.

In about two hours’ time, the entire Righteous Faction would descend into an all-out civil war, and the City of Sin would become the first battleground. If Nie Yan and the other elites of Asskickers United could defeat Angel Corps here, it would be a huge boost to the guild’s overall morale.

"Alright, let’s pick up the pace. It looks like the end is near. Angel Corps is already planning to declare an all-out war. We have to clear this dungeon before then, no matter what!” Nie Yan said.

"Boss, is Angel Corps really planning to declare an all-out war?”

"I'm afraid so, yeah. They’ve already dispatched 1,800,000 troops toward Calore and the Abernathy Great Grasslands. It will start with the aerial battle above the City of Sin. If we win there, at least in terms of aerial strength, we won’t have to fear Angel Corps any longer. If we lose, well, you can probably imagine the consequences,” Nie Yan said.

If they lost the aerial battle, it would spell disaster for Asskickers United’s aerial force.

"GROAAH!” a Behemoth let out a mournful cry and collapsed to the ground.

With the first Behemoth death, the team instantly found room to breathe. The rest of the fight became much easier. No five minutes later, the third and final Behemoth fell.

"Revive the fallen,” Nie Yan said. They had lost five teammates in this battle.

Painted Muslin, Young Seven, and the other Priests started reviving those who died. After which everyone sat down to recuperate.

"Did those Behemoths drop anything good?”

"Yeah, an Eternal Gem dropped!”

Nie Yan looked over at Mistaken Smile who was holding an egg-sized gem in his hand. It was oval-shaped and completely translucent, sparkling with a seven-coloured radiance.

Eternal Gems were extremely famous because they had more than 600 different kinds of uses, including repairing equipment and reviving pets. They were almost never for sale in the marketplace. This was definitely a priceless treasure.

The official website had a detailed explanation on the uses of the Eternal Gem.

Every monster in Conviction had a chance of dropping an Eternal Gem; the higher the level, the more likely. That said, this was the first time Nie Yan found one, a testament to how ridiculously low its drop rate was. Of the countless monsters killed every day, week, month, or year, maybe one or two would drop every once in a blue moon.

Nie Yan put away the Eternal Gem in his bag. Apart from this, the Behemoths also dropped a Warrior skill book called Wrathful Sundering. This was an incredibly high level and quality skill; it could even send a boss flying.

After some discussion, it was decided the skill book would go to Smoke Stub.

While most were still recuperating, Fallen Angel Brufut descended to the ground. His maniacal and enraged laughter shook the entire shrine.

Bladelight’s face paled. "Nie Yan, something is wrong. Normally, he summons one more wave before descending to the ground.”

Fallen Angel Brufut was about to engage them. Nie Yan had no time to think. "We were going to fight him anyway. Doesn’t matter if it’s now or later! Get into battle formation!”

Everyone quickly stood up. Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Lei Su, and the other Warriors took their position in front of the Mages like a human wall. The Thieves disappeared into stealth and lurked within the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Fallen Angel Brufut swept his gaze over Nie Yan’s group and coldly chuckled. "Kalenna, you and your rats have truly enraged me. I shall personally send you to the afterlife!”

As these words left his mouth, Fallen Angel Brufut waved his sword. A massive thunderbolt crashed into the ground as a giant dragon appeared before him. It was about the same size as an adult Violet Eye Dragon, and was also a Level 200 Variant Lord!

Thunder Dragon (Variant Lord): Level 200
Health: ???/???

Everyone gulped. Fallen Angel Brufut was already a hard enough opponent. Now they also had to fight a Thunder Dragon! It quickly went from hard to impossible!

"Nie Yan, I don’t think we can win this one. Let’s quit,” Bladelight said. This wasn’t him cowering, but rather the difference in strength was simply too great. Sometimes retreat was the better option.

Nie Yan knitted his brows before gritting his teeth. "Let’s retreat!”

The Thunder Dragon and Fallen Angel Brufut closed in on the team in a pincer.

Everyone had lost all will to fight back and quickly pulled back.

"It looks like we won’t escape this unscathed. Those of you who can escape, escape,” Nie Yan said.

When everyone despaired, Kalenna chanted an incantation. Her entire body lit up with a dazzling radiance. A powerful aura swept out, catching everyone off guard.

"... Oh, mighty God of Light, purify all evil, wipe out the unjust … May the light melt away the darkness wherever it passes …”

Kalenna hovered in the air. Even though her stature was tiny, she gave off an unapproachable feeling.

Even though Nie Yan had no idea what kind of spell Kalenna was casting, he could tell it was at least at the level of Forbidden Magic.

"Stop! Let’s hold off on the retreat for now. Bladelight, you go hold back the Thunder Dragon. Lofty Shadow, you take on Fallen Angel Brufut! Don’t let them approach Kalenna, no matter what!” Nie Yan ordered. Kalenna was completely defenseless mid-chant. If the Thunder Dragon or Brufut were allowed to interrupt her, any chance of victory would go down the drain.

They could all feel the powerful magic fluctuations in the air. It reignited the hope in their hearts.

Kalenna only chanted for a brief few seconds, when a powerful holy aura fell over the entire team. They received 12 blessings, increasing their stats by 300%, giving them shields, and more.

"Damn! I feel like I’m overflowing with power!”

"This is amazing!”

…

The team’s confidence rose to all new heights. Perhaps they really could defeat the Thunder Dragon and Fallen Angel Brufut!

"You puny mortals! Even Morphest’s Divine Blessings won’t save you. Weaklings like you aren’t worthy of receiving this power!” Fallen Angel Brufut cursed. As he stepped forward, the shrine trembled violently almost as if the whole place was coming down.

The Thunder Dragon’s body crackled with electricity as it bared its fangs and claws.

Bulwark of the War God!

Bladelight transformed into the embodiment of a war god and charged forward.

Lofty Shadow did the same, though his target was Fallen Angel Brufut.

"Separate them! Bladelight, lure the dragon to the left!” Nie Yan anxiously commanded. If the Thunder Dragon and Fallen Angel Brufut were allowed to work together, the situation would be much harder to control.

Bladelight slowly led the Thunder Dragon away.

"Have Bladelight keep the Thunder Dragon busy. We’ll focus down Fallen Angel Brufut first!” Nie Yan ordered.

"Luminous Dancer, kill the Thunder Dragon first! Or else Brufut will sacrifice it to obtain eternal life!” Kalenna warned.

Nie Yan was stunned. He quickly corrected his order, "Do as she says, focus down the Thunder Dragon first. Leave Brufut to me, Lofty Shadow, and Young Seven!”

Fallen Angel Brufut was dealing over 70,000 damage to Lofty Shadow with every swing of his blade. Thankfully, Morphest’s Divine Blessings gave Lofty Shadow the ability to tank such hits. If it weren’t for his new stats, like his 270,000 health, he would’ve been instantly killed.

On the other side, Bladelight and the others had the Thunder Dragon locked down. The Mages were bombarding it with a shower of spells.

...

After Soaring Angel returned to the City of Sin, he felt a sense of uneasiness. There was only about an hour left until the deadline for the challenge he issued, yet Nie Yan and the other Masters still hadn’t appeared. It was almost as if they’d vanished off the face of the earth. Meanwhile, Fallen Angel’s troops had arrived on the surface and were quickly making their way over.

"We still haven’t located Nirvana Flame?” Soaring Angel frowned.

"No, but we did discover that someone is in the middle of running the Fallen Angel Brufut dungeon,” Stone Splitter replied. When their people went to investigate the dungeon again, they discovered someone had entered inside.

Soaring Angel’s heart trembled. Did Nie Yan’s group really enter that dungeon? He didn’t believe Asskickers United could defeat Fallen Angel Brufut. That boss was far stronger than anyone could imagine, especially when his health fell below 30%. His skills would become ridiculously overpowered.

"How long has it been since they entered the dungeon?”

"About half an hour.”

"So it shouldn’t be long before they get sent out. Pay close attention to the situation over there. Report back immediately if you find out who is running it. Also, have a Shadow Priest monitor the graveyard with Spirit Vision!” Soaring Angel said. Only one team could attempt this dungeon at a time. However, if they used Spirit Vision to observe the graveyard, they could tell how many people died and from that deduce their progress in the dungeon.

"Boss, what do we do if they obtain the Dragon King Fruit?” Stone Splitter asked. Thinking about how they might be facing a Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon, he felt his scalp tingling.

Soaring Angel’s heart sunk. Even though he hated to admit it, there was a real possibility that Fallen Angel Brufut would be defeated. After all, the Mad Rogue proved time and time again he could make the impossible possible.

The Shadow Priests from Angel Corps immediately set out for the graveyard. Still, Soaring Angel felt uneasy. The Dragon King Fruit was something to die for! Only after confirming that Nirvana Flame failed to get it would he feel relieved!

Chapter 899 - Berserk Thunder Dragon

After 30 minutes of fierce fighting, the Thunder Dragon’s health fell to 35% while Fallen Angel Brufut still had 85% health remaining.

Everything was going smoothly. Thanks to Morphest’s Divine Blessings, Bladelight could comfortably tank the Thunder Dragon. Meanwhile, Fallen Angel Brufut was being kept busy by Lofty Shadow, Nie Yan, and Young Seven. With no mishaps occurring so far, their confidence was growing. Perhaps they really could kill Fallen Angel Brufut and the Thunder Dragon!

"We’re at the last stretch! The Thunder Dragon is almost dead!” Nie Yan anxiously shouted.

The Mages unloaded their highest damage magic. BANG! BANG! BANG! Countless spells ruthlessly bombarded the Thunder Dragon.

Only a little more and the Thunder Dragon would be dead! The situation suddenly took an abrupt turn. Fallen Angel Brufut let out a heavy roar, looking like he was about to break away. He transmitted an order to the Thunder Dragon.

"GRAAOGH!” the Thunder Dragon let out a powerful roar. After chanting an incantation in dragon tongue, a giant thunder bolt came crashing down towards the Mages.

"Get out of the way!” Tang Yao shouted.

Blink!

Flash!

The Mages used whatever means they had at their disposal to dodge the giant thunder bolt.

BOOOM! The thunderbolt slammed into the ground, carving out a large hole and causing cracks to spread across the floor.

So far, the Thunder Dragon had only used normal attacks. Now, it started using magic!

"Watch out for its magic!” Bladelight shouted anxiously. He could only protect the others from physical attacks. There was nothing he could about the Thunder Dragon’s magic.

"GROAAOR!” The Thunder Dragon grew even more enraged. Blue electricity started crackling around its body.

Bladelight’s forehead dripped with sweat as he started having trouble keeping the Thunder Dragon’s aggro. If it were to break free, the consequences would be unimaginable. He quickly swept over his skill bar, his gaze landing on an extremely powerful aggro generating skill.

"Black Dragon Ender!” Bladelight roared as he chopped down with his longsword. Shrouded in a black aura, his blade erupted with the roar of a dragon.

BANG! The powerful slash chopped down on the Thunder Dragon.

BAM! A powerful recoil force surged from the longsword and sent Bladelight tumbling back.

Not just Bladelight, all melee players who attacked the Thunder Dragon were knocked off their feet.

Bladelight staggered back to his feet. A gentle radiance fell over him, bringing his health which had fallen to less than a third back to full.

The others weren’t as fortunate as Bladelight. Even the other Warriors, though more offensively specialized, were instantly killed.

"It’s a physical damage reflection skill! Stop your physical attacks!” Bladelight shouted. However, his words came too late. Smoke Stub, Lei Su, Sun, King of the World, and Shadow Killer had already died.

The Thunder Dragon’s damage reflection skill dealt eight times the damage it received back to the opponent. Bladelight managed to survive because he focused primarily on his defensive stats; his offensive stats were relatively low. It was very much the opposite for Smoke Stub and Lei Su, not to mention the three Thieves.

The Warriors couldn’t keep the Thunder Dragon locked down anymore. It became a loose stallion, slaughtering the Magisters left and right.

The situation was reaching a tipping point. If they lost several more Magisters, the team’s damage output would plummet, and with that their hope of killing the Thunder Dragon.

Seeing things getting out of control, Xie Yao waved her staff. She slowly floated up in the air, her robes fluttering wildly.

Radiance Edict!

This was a buff-type Forbidden Magic. With another wave of her staff, Xie Yao shot five holy lances toward the Thunder Dragon.

BANG! BANG! BANG! The five lances struck the Thunder Dragon in quick succession, each dealing over 60,000 damage.

With every impact of a lance, the Thunder Dragon was forced back.

"GRAAOR!” The Thunder Dragon immediately locked onto Xie Yao and charged toward her.

"Let’s go all out!” Tang Yao shouted. Before, they’d given Bladelight room to secure the aggro. That was no longer a concern. There was no point in holding back anymore!

The Magisters let loose, using their highest damage skills. Tang Yao in particular resembled a gatling gun as he fired out an endless barrage of spells. Each of his attacks easily dealt 20,000 damage.

At this moment, Sunny South quietly retreated to a corner. He waved his staff, one cryptic syllables after another leaving his mouth, as magical energy spiralled around him.

The single target Forbidden Magic, Radiant Singularity!

The intense magical fluctuations in the air caused the Thunder Dragon to look up at Sunny South in hesitation.

BANG! BANG! BANG! The Magisters wouldn’t let such an opportunity slip by. They bombarded the Thunder Dragon with more powerful spells while it was distracted.

"GROAAR!” The Thunder Dragon turned its attention back to Xie Yao. It charged at her, but she blinked away.

BOOOM! The Thunder Dragon missed its attack and struck the wall behind.

Tang Yao’s spells ruthlessly pelted the Thunder Dragon. Its aggro shifted to him.

Among all the Magisters, the two with the greatest damage output were undoubtedly Tang Yao and Xie Yao. In fact, they easily dealt 30% more damage than anyone else. This also meant it was extremely easy for them to attract the Thunder Dragon’s aggro. They worked together to keep its attention while nimbly dodging with blinks, leaving it completely helpless.

"It only has 10% health left!”

"Keep going! It’s almost dead!”

After attacking non-stop for so long, the Magisters were starting to run low on mana. They downed Specialist Mana Potions to recover their mana back to full.

After its health fell below 10%, the Thunder Dragon became increasingly enraged. Its scales started glowing blood red as a powerful aura swept out.

Sensing this change, everyone’s face paled.

"It’s going berserk!”

At this moment, an enormous glowing sphere of light flew toward the Thunder Dragon. BAAANG! It compressed into a singular point, then exploded with immeasurable force as soon as it came into contact with the Thunder Dragon’s scales. This was Sunny South’s Forbidden Magic!

"Good work Sunny South!”

"Nice!”

Sunny South’s single target Forbidden Magic saved everyone a lot of trouble. The Mages quickly regained their wits and continued firing their magic.

The Thunder Dragon crashed into the ground before staggering back to its feet.

−4,755,954

Its health instantly dropped by 2%.

"Anyone else have Forbidden Magic?”

"Mine is on cooldown.”

"Same here.”

Single target Forbidden Magic had massive cooldowns of two to three months on average. For Sunny South to have his off cooldown was already very lucky. It would be unrealistic to expect others to have theirs ready too.

"Dammit! If I knew we were going to end up in a fight like this, I would’ve saved my Forbidden Magic!” Undying Scoundrel cursed. Sadly, there was no medicine for regret.

The 5,000,000 damage spell had thoroughly enraged the Thunder Dragon. Its body swelled several times in size. Every step it took sent lightning crackling out across the floor.

The Thunder Dragon locked onto Sunny South. Its eyes flashed with a ray of bright crimson.

Crap! Sunny South’s heart sank. He turned to flee, only to find his feet wouldn’t move; almost as if they were made out of lead.

It was paralysis!

"I can’t move!” Sunny South cried out.

The Thunder Dragon closed in on Sunny South and slashed down on him with its claws. An instant kill!

"Shit!” Everyone trembled in fear. There was nothing they could do. They had lost all control.

After killing Sunny South, the Thunder Dragon charged toward Xie Yao who had the second highest aggro. It was three times faster than before.

Xie Yao wanted to run, but her body wasn’t reacting like normal. It was turning stiff quickly!

The closer the Thunder Dragon got, the more dangerous it was!

Bladelight suddenly charged in from the side and stood in front of Xie Yao with his shield raised.

The Thunder Dragon slammed down on Bladelight with its claws. BANG! He was sent flying like a rag doll! Instant kill! Painted Muslin and Black Heaven’s Heals landed on Bladelight’s body, but it was already too late. There was nothing to heal if the target was 100 to 0’d in one attack!

"It only has 6% health left! Even if we wipe, we have to kill it!”

"Don’t look into its eyes!” Xie Yao cried out.

Everyone quickly shifted their gaze away, heading Xie Yao’s warning. Not looking at its eyes was fairly simply. They could just look at its massive body to determine its position.

The Thunder Dragon opened its maw and spewed out scorching hot flames, setting the floor on fire.

Under the Thunder Dragon’s fierce assault, the Magisters were forced into a sorry state.

Seeing the flames coming towards him, Undying Scoundrel quickly blinked away. Just as his feet touched the ground, he saw a lightning bolt crashing down towards him.

"Oh shit!” Undying Scoundrel wanted to blink away, only to discover he couldn’t cast any magic. His only path of escape was taken from him.

BANG! The lightning came down on Undying Scoundrel and turned him into a ray of light.

Another teammate died.

Shortly after, Summer Bug, Street Vulture, and many more died one after the other.

At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before everyone was dead.

By now, the Thunder Dragon’s health had fallen to 5%. However, the only people still dealing damage to it were Xie Yao, Tang Yao, and a few others. The ground was littered with corpses.

"Nie Yan, we’ve failed. We can’t defeat the Thunder Dragon!” Tang Yao cried out. A wipe seemed inevitable.

The Thunder Dragon was furiously chasing Xie Yao. She quickly took out the Earth Orb and waved her staff. A dozen thick earth walls appeared in front of her. However, they were not enough to hold back the Thunder Dragon for long.

Chapter 900 - Resurrection

The number of casualties quickly rose until there were only 11 people left alive: Nie Yan, Xie Yao, Tang Yao, Lofty Shadow, Young Seven, Painted Muslin, Black Heaven, Black Hell, Lustboy, Hapless Frog, and Happy Hermit. None of the physical damage dealers dared to clash with the berserk Thunder Dragon, so only Xie Yao, Tang Yao, Lustboy, and Black Hell fought it. They were still slowly chipping away at its health.

With only four casters who could effectively attack the Thunder Dragon, the team’s damage output was severely restricted. All the while they had to avoid the Thunder Dragon’s pursuit. Not to mention keep Fallen Angel Brufut busy.

The Thunder Dragon only had 5% health remaining, but that was still over 12,000,000 health! Killing it wouldn’t be simple.

The situation was desperate. Nie Yan ordered in a grave tone, "Muslin, get out of here first. The farther, the better! Escape the battle!”

Painted Muslin immediately understood Nie Yan’s plan. Without any hesitation, she bolted toward the door of the shrine.

Fallen Angel Brufut sneered, unimpressed. "Lowly ant! Think you can run? Not so easy!” He raised his greatsword and called down a blazing meteor from the air.

Just as the meteor was about to crash into Painted Muslin, she vanished with Space Jump and reappeared 60 meters away. She fled the shrine without looking back.

BANG! The meteor struck the ground and erupted into a plume of scorching hot flames. However, it already had nothing to do with Painted Muslin.

Painted Muslin has left the battle.

Nie Yan smiled. Everything was going according to plan. He shifted his sight toward the rampaging Thunder Dragon. Now, he could focus on killing it! After, he would proceed to the next step of his plan.

"GROAAHH!” The Thunder Dragon closed in on Black Hell. It struck down with its claws, about to rip him to shreds, when Black Hell let out a loud roar. He erupted with magical energy, which became increasingly volatile until he finally exploded. A self-destruct skill!

The force of the explosion sent the Thunder Dragon flying before crashing against a wall.

−6,835,676

This skill was also a Forbidden Magic, though it was stronger than normal ones since it required the caster to sacrifice their life.

The Thunder Dragon only had around 2% health remaining.

"Only 2% more! Come on, guys! We can do this!” Tang Yao exclaimed. He waved his staff and unleashed a fierce barrage of spells.

The Thunder Dragon pounced toward Tang Yao.

As the powerful dragon aura swept over him, Tang Yao felt his body go rigid. This aura was even stronger than before! It felt as if he were being bound by a rope.

"Cover Sparrow Hawk!”

Hapless Frog and Happy Hermit attempted to intercept the Thunder Dragon. BANG! BANG! The two were sent flying away. There was no way a couple of Thieves could stop a dragon.

The Thunder Dragon blasted Tang Yao with Dragon Breath, completing enveloping him in scorching hot flames.

The two Thieves and Tang Yao all died.

"Boss, me and Yao Yao aren’t enough. We’re barely dealing enough damage to overcome its health regeneration! We’d need hours to kill it like this!” Lustboy cried out.

"Young Seven, Lofty Shadow, you two keep Brufut busy. Buy me as much time as you can!” Nie Yan said before turning towards the Thunder Dragon.

"Got it!” Lofty Shadow said.

"Leave it to us!” Young Seven nodded.

Without Nie Yan’s help, the two of them wouldn’t last long against Fallen Angel Brufut. All they could do was give it their best!

Shadow Waltz!

Nie Yan disappeared into stealth as he dashed toward the Thunder Dragon.

Bladelight and the other melee classes, each barely dealing 2,000 damage a hit, had shown just how high the Thunder Dragon’s physical defense was. Its thick black scales with a deep gold lustre were near impenetrable with the sword. Nie Yan could only hope his damage would be higher.

Nie Yan looked like a steak of lightning as he pounced toward the Thunder Dragon’s back.

The Thunder Dragon’s damage reflection skill had worn off.

Backbreaker!

BANG! The sharp blade of the Bloody Dagger plunged into the Thunder Dragon’s spine.

Given how large and unwieldy the Thunder Dragon was, it couldn’t possibly avoid Nie Yan’s attack.

The Bloody Dagger’s piercing effect procc’d, allowing the attack to break through the Thunder Dragon’s scales. This was a Level 180 Legendary weapon. Such power was to be expected of it.

−205,981

The Thunder Dragon was immobilized.

The Thunder Dragon still had around 5,000,000 health left. As long as Nie Yan could keep it CC’d, he had a chance of killing it.

Nie Yan leaned to the side and executed a Reverse Grip Backstab.

Assassinate! Backstab! Nie Yan let loose with a flurry of attacks.

1-hit, 2-hit, 3-hit...

His damage doubled with each successive hit as the combo count increased.

Xie Yao and Lustboy waved their staffs, bombarding the Thunder Dragon with several spells and shaving away some of its health.

Two notifications suddenly popped up.

Lofty Shadow has died.

Young Seven has died.

Nie Yan’s heart sank. Lofty Shadow and Young Seven had managed to hold out for about 15 seconds. Now, without a tank to lock Fallen Angel Brufut down, he could do as he pleased.

"Lustboy, Yao Yao, be careful!” Nie Yan anxiously cried out.

Fallen Angel Brufut closed in on the two in a flash. The ground erupted with black tendrils which immobilized them. He slashed down on them with his sword and turned them into rays of light.

"Shit!” Nie Yan couldn’t help but curse. He glanced at the Thunder Dragon’s health. It still had over 2,000,000 left. If he didn’t kill it now, it would kill him!

The Thunder Dragon recovered from the cripple effect. It raised its claws and slashed down on Nie Yan, who quickly evaded to the side. His combo was broken.

Even though the combo was broken now, which was a pity, Nie Yan was still determined to finish off the Thunder Dragon, no matter what!

Nie Yan staked it all to kill the Thunder Dragon, when Battle Angel Kalenna waved her staff and protected him with a shield. His eyes lit up in joy. Looking at his status bar, the shield was called Kalenna’s Guardian Barrier. She had finally used this ultimate skill!

Kalenna’s Guardian Barrier: Reduces damage by 99%.
Armour Type: Divine
Durability: 132,000/132,000

Nie Yan thought back to when he’d relied on this shield to avoid the bone dragon’s pursuit.

With Kalenna’s Guardian Barrier, Nie Yan no longer had to fear the Thunder Dragon as he started face-tanking it.

BANG! The Thunder Dragon’s attacks only caused the barrier to slightly flicker. Its durability fell by about 10,000 points.

The Thunder Dragon only had 300,000 health left.

Sacrificial Gambit!

BANG! Nie Yan sacrificed 30% of his health to deal a powerful blow.

−303,319

The Thunder Dragon dropped three items. Nie Yan quickly scooped them into his bag.

"How dare you!? You lowly human!” Fallen Angel Brufut roared after witnessing the Thunder Dragon’s death. He slashed out with his greatsword, unleashing a 10-meter long sword beam.

There was no dodging it. BAM! Kalenna’s Guardian Barrier shuddered violently as it lost another 30,000 durability.

Even with this powerful shield, Nie Yan couldn’t solo Fallen Angel Brufut. He had to regroup with the team first. Fortunately, the Thunder Dragon was permanently dead. Fallen Angel Brufut couldn’t summon it again, which made it far easier to deal with him.

Gale Step!

Nie Yan turned around and fled.

Fallen Angel Brufut went into pursuit. However, he couldn’t keep up with Nie Yan, falling further and further behind.

Before long, Nie Yan disappeared behind the shrine entrance.

Fallen Angel gloomily turned back. Stepping on the corpses for good measure, he walked back up to his throne.

Black Hell revived in the graveyard. After self-destructing, his corpse was completely destroyed. So, he couldn’t run back to it or be revived by a Priest. His only option was to return to the graveyard and suffer the one-level drop penalty.

Only three players in the team were alive right now: Nie Yan, Painted Muslin, and Black Hell.

"Nie Yan, what are we going to do?” Black Hell asked.

"We’re going to see if we can revive the entire team,” Nie Yan said. The three had met back up in one corner of the dungeon. Black Hell and Painted Muslin were both Priests, so they had the Revive spell; though as a Shadow Priest Black Hell’s was on a longer cooldown. "I’ll go take a look first. You guys wait here.”

Before long, Nie Yan snuck his way back into the shrine. The corpses of the team members still lay scattered over the floor. Only a few were near the entrance. The throne where Fallen Angel Burfut sat in was on the far end. They could revive some of the members without attracting his attention. However, the others would have no choice but to run to their corpses to revive.

「Mistaken Smile, Undying Scoundrel… you guys will have to run to your corpses to revive. The rest of you, wait for Painted Muslin and Black Hell to bring you back!」Nie Yan said in voice chat.

Soon, Painted Muslin and Black Hell snuck back into the shrine. They revived Young Seven and Black Heaven first. Afterwards, the four of them began reviving the other team members. Those who died too close to the throne could only run back to their corpses to revive and try their best to avoid being noticed by Brufut.

The souls of Mistaken Smile, Undying Scoundrel, and eight others appeared in the graveyard. They immediately started running back to the shrine.

A Shadow Priest from Angel Corps was hiding in the vicinity of the graveyard with an invisibility cloak. He knitted his brows. Why were there only 11 souls? Soaring Angel clearly said 30 entered the dungeon. Seeing them rushing back towards the shrine, he quickly made a report.

Chapter 901 - Rage Bait

Nie Yan’s group had already been in the dungeon for over an hour. Soaring Angel was starting to become nervous. Did they really have a way to kill Fallen Angel Brufut? If Asskickers United obtained the Dragon King Fruit, the consequences would be unimaginable. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to interfere. The shrine was a special dungeon. Once a team entered, no one else was allowed in.

Cao Xu also didn’t think Asskickers United had a chance of obtaining the Dragon King Fruit. However, as time passed, he became increasingly uneasy.

"Why hasn’t Black Hawk reported back with any information yet?” Soaring Angel asked in an irritated tone.

"It’s already been an hour. Regardless of whether Asskickers United succeeded or not, we should’ve already heard something back by now,” Stone Splitter agreed. He could sense a change in Soaring Angel’s mood.

Soaring Angel’s team members were all chattering.

"Boss, Black Hawk has an update.”

"Tell him to contact me through voice chat!” Soaring Angel said.

"Yes!”

Before long, Black Hawk contacted Soaring Angel.

「What’s the situation over there? Did Nirvana Flame’s team defeat Fallen Angel Brufut?」Soaring Angel asked, anxious.

「Not yet, but I just saw some people coming out of the graveyard,」Black Hawk replied. 「There were only 11 spirits though, and one of them directly revived before running back to the dungeon.」

Soaring Angel knitted his brows.「Strange, only 11 returned to the graveyard? Whatever, this is good news. It seems their progress in the dungeon isn’t going great, and they’ve already wiped at least once.」

Soaring Angel hoped Nie Yan’s group would wipe a few more times. The more experience and levels they lost, the better.

Soaring Angel turned to Stone Splitter and Evil Monarch. "How about we make a trip to the World’s End Bar?”

Stone Splitter and the others trembled. They understood the meaning behind Soaring Angel’s words. With 900 Asskickers United players holed up in that bar, one could imagine their reactions if Soaring Angel walked in there. Fighting might be forbidden in the bar, but that didn’t mean their hands were completely tied. Stone Splitter coldly chuckled.

Soaring Angel, Stone Splitter, and Evil Monarch headed toward the World’s End Bar.

City of Sin, World’s End Bar.

Kelson was once a famous legendary Mage. However, he quickly lost all his fame when he released several demons in the middle of a war. The elder council caught him, and if it weren’t for Jebiah the Great’s intervention, he would’ve been executed for his crimes. Still, he was banished from the Viridian Empire. Years later, he ended up in World’s Edge and opened a bar.

Kelson strictly forbade fighting in the bar. One player had started a fight once. It didn’t last more than a few seconds before Kelson stepped in. As punishment, the player had to give all his equipment to Kelson and do hard labour in the bar to earn it back. That was the first and only time a player dared to challenge Kelson’s authority.

Among the densely clustered buildings, a large open space about several hundred meters wide was sectioned off. An ancient castle stood in the middle. The stone walls were severely damaged while some sections had completely collapsed. No one knew quite how old this structure was.

The inside of the World’s End Bar looked nothing like the weathered outside. It looked extremely luxurious and was brightly lit.

Three silhouette appeared outside the World’s End Bar. CREAK! CREAK! They pushed open the wooden door and walked inside.

The bar was packed. There were at least 1,000 people, most of whom belonged to Asskickers United. They sat around tables in groups of 20s and chatted.

"I wonder how the boss is doing right now.” Natural Fiend held up his beer and took a swig. He was starting to get restless. It had already been an hour, but they hadn’t heard anything yet! He didn’t dare to send a message, for fear of disturbing Nie Yan during a critical moment.

Tyrannical faintly smiled. "Lustboy just gave me an update. Everything is progressing smoothly. They wiped just now, but that was according to plan. They successfully killed the dragon Fallen Angel Brufut summoned. Now all that’s left is to kill Brufut.”

Natural Fiend felt a bit more reassured. With Nie Yan leading the team, there probably wouldn’t be a problem. After all, countless powerful bosses had already fallen at his hands. Fallen Angel Brufut would be no different!

As they were happily chatting, several players walked up to them and whispered something in their ears. Natural Fiend and Tyrannical’s faces dropped, then they exchanged a quick glance. Turning their gazes toward the bar entrance, they saw three people walking in. Soaring Angel and Stone Splitter’s faces were instantly recognizable even in the middle of a crowd. As for Evil Monarch, they had heard of him.

The Asskickers United players in the World’s End Bar all focused their attention on Soaring Angel, Stone Splitter, and Evil Monarch. In an instant, the atmosphere became tense. Some gritted their teeth, their eyes filled with hatred. Many among them had died at the hands of Soaring Angel and Stone Splitter before.

Soaring Angel actually dared to come here! Right in the lion’s den! Everyone drew their weapons, ready to jump into battle at the drop of a hat.

"Everyone, stay your hand! This is the World’s End Bar!” Natural Fiend shouted.

His voice immediately shook some sense into the players from Asskickers United. Only then did they recall where they were. If they dared to start a fight here, the consequences would be grave.

Soaring Angel knew this, that was why he walked in so calmly!

Natural Fiend and Tyrannical walked over to the front of the bar. The other Asskickers United players parted ways for them. Nie Yan, Bladelight, and the others were busy in the Fallen Angel Brufut special dungeon. The people with the highest position here were Natural Fiend and Tyrannical.

Soaring Angel swept his eyes over the Asskickers United players and chuckled coldly. "A bunch of trash.”

Soaring Angel’s voice wasn’t loud or quiet, just enough for everyone in the room to hear him. His provocation ignited their anger.

"Damn! Did this guy come here just to run his mouth? He really is asking for a beating! Let’s send him to the grave!”

"Some people are beyond saving. How many more times does the boss have to kick his ass for him to learn his lesson!?”

There were 900 Asskickers United elites in the bar. If they all rushed him at once, Soaring Angel would definitely be killed!

Natural Fiend and Tyrannical stopped in front of Soaring Angel, Stone Splitter, and Evil Monarch.

「Natural Fiend, Tyrannical, let’s teach him and his smug face a lesson!」

「Yeah!」

…

Everyone was expressing their anger in voice chat.

Natural Fiend raised his hand, signaling everyone to calm down. All 900 players went silent.

Soaring Angel raised an eyebrow in surprise. Sure enough, Asskickers United had some ability, at least when it came to disciplining their members. However, now wasn’t the time to admire the opponent.

"Boss, should we take care of these bugs? It’s been a while since my blade tasted blood,” Evil Monarch asked, licking his lips.

Stone Splitter chuckled, revealing his white teeth. "I bet none of these little turtles have the guts to fight us. Hey, you trash, does any of you dare to come outside and go a round with me?” He stared at the players from Asskickers United with a look of disdain.

"Y-you! Don’t think we’re afraid of you!”

"You’re all bark and no bite!”

Stone Splitter’s taunts immediately caused a furious reaction from the Asskickers United players. Many were ready to rush outside.

"Hold it right there! Before the boss comes back, none of you are to leave this bar!” Natural Fiend shouted. He was fairly quiet normally and rarely ever intervened in guild affairs. But once he stepped forward, no one would dare to oppose him.

"Natural Fiend, do you mean to say we’re just going to let them insult us like this!?”

"What did the boss say before he left?” Natural Fiend said in a stern tone, sweeping his eyes over everyone.

Everyone reluctantly sat back down. Nie Yan had instructed them not to set a single foot outside of the bar before he returned. They could disobey anyone. Many elites even dared to disobey the executive guild leader and other higher-ups, but none of them dared to disobey Nie Yan. He was their god.

Natural Fiend nodded in approval. This was proof of Nie Yan’s prestige in Asskickers United. No matter what kind of provocations Soaring Angel threw at them, none of them would leave this bar.

Soaring Angel, Stone Splitter, and Evil Monarch glanced at each other with faint smiles. Time for round two!

Natural Fiend stared at the three and sneered. "No need to waste your breath. As the guild leader of Angel Corps, aren’t you ashamed of provoking nobodies like us? If you were a real man, you would’ve challenged our boss.”

"Nirvana Flame is nothing. I’ll take him on any time!” Soaring Angel coldly chuckled.

"Then there’s no need for you to rush to your death. The boss will come to collect your dog life. Don’t think we can’t do anything to you just because you have the Wings of Sorens. You’re nothing but a monkey with wings!”

The Asskickers United players broke out in laughter. Soaring Angel’s face paled with anger. However, no matter what he said right now, it would be drowned out by the laughter.

"Boss, no need to stoop down to their level!” Stone Splitter turned to Natural Fiend and said coldly, "Tell Nirvana Flame, in an hour from now, our aerial battle in the City of Sin will start. Only one side will come out of this alive! We’ll be waiting, spineless turtles.”

"We’ll be there, don’t worry. We’ll have you eat your words then,” Natural Fiend fired back.

Chapter 902 - Wrath of the Water God

The smell of gunpowder was thick in the World’s End Bar. Soaring Angel had riled up the players from Asskickers United with his provocations. However, none of them acted on it. Natural Fiend and Tyrannical reported the situation to Nie Yan, who reminded them not to lay a hand on Soaring Angel.

The consequences were severe for anyone who started a fight in the World’s End Bar. Soaring Angel had come here only to exploit this rule, trying to bait the players from Asskickers United into attacking him. Of course, they wouldn’t just walk right into his trap.

These players were all elites of Asskickers United. They naturally knew how to restrain themselves.

Soaring Angel continued spewing out insults. Even though the players from Asskickers United were enraged, they feigned ignorance to his presence and chatted amongst themselves.

「These guys have patience. I’ll give them that. What do we do, Boss? Continue with the plan?」Evil Monarch asked.

Soaring Angel pondered for a moment before shaking his head.「Forget it, let’s leave.」

「Just like that?」Evil Monarch sounded somewhat reluctant.

Before coming to the World’s End Bar, Soaring Angel and the other two had agreed on a plan of action. In case their provocations wouldn’t do the trick, there was still a spy they planted among the 900 elites of Asskickers United. The plan was to have them rush out and attack Soaring Angel first, implicating the 19 other players in their team. That would allow Soaring Angel and the others to retaliate freely, triggering an all-out battle in the World’s End Bar. One could imagine the consequences.

However, when it was time to carry out the plan, Soaring Angel hesitated. He had spent quite a lot of effort into helping this spy climb up the ranks of Asskickers United. He wasn’t sure if exposing them was worth it for a bar fight. This was his sole spy among Asskickers United’s elite expedition team! He couldn’t just lose them like that!

Soaring Angel weighed his options. Perhaps it would be a waste to use the spy. After all, if Natural Fiend and the others didn’t fall for the bait, it would be the same as him wasting a chicken to obtain a grain of rice.

After considering the matter deeply, Soaring Angel decided to abandon the plan.

「We’re leaving!」Soaring Angel said.

Evil Monarch and Stone Splitter couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. They had already thrown out the line, only to reel it back in prematurely. However, they quietly accepted it.

"Hey, you bunch of trash. Pass on this message to your boss for me. If he dares to show himself in an hour from now, he should forget about leaving alive!” Stone Splitter said in an overbearing tone.

Natural Fiend and Tyrannical coldly chuckled.

"Big talk from someone who got one-shotted by our boss!” Natural Fiend said.

Soaring Angel left the bar with the other two. He threw one more hesitant glance at the shabby entrance of the World’s End Bar.

"Boss, let’s go back,” Evil Monarch said.

"Station some Thieves around here. If some idiot with a death wish steps out of there alone, kill them. If they come out together, leave them be,” Soaring Angel said.

"Yes sir!” Stone Splitter nodded.

A group of 20 Thieves quickly arrived at the World’s End Bar. They lured outside, ready to pounce at any time.

With the enemy gone for now, the World’s End Bar finally settled down. The infuriated players from Asskickers United were like dormant volcanoes.

"Why hasn’t the boss come back yet!?”

"Damn! The forums are filled with taunts from Angel Corps. I really want to teach them a lesson. Show them who the real trash is!” a player gritted his teeth after browsing the web.

Even though they wished for nothing more than to go at it with the players from Angel Corps, they obediently stayed inside the World’s End Bar, not going anywhere.

...

Back in the shrine, Nie Yan’s group of 30 gradually chipped away at Fallen Angel Brufut’s health. About 20 minutes later, his health finally fell below 30%. He went berserk.

Brufut’s roars shook the entire shrine as web-like cracks spread across the floor.

"Kalenna, you deluded follower of the light! I, Brufut, curse you to eternal damnation! May the Demon God shroud you in eternal darkness!” Brufut shouted. An ominous, dark energy fell over Kalenna.

"Ahhh!” Small patches of darkness appeared on Kalenna’s snow-white wings and started slowly spreading.

Nie Yan glanced at Kalenna’s status window. His face paled. He quickly turned to the others and said, "We have to hurry up and kill Brufut quickly, or else we’ll lose this chance. Kalenna was hit with a Dark Ruin curse. If we don’t kill Brufut within 15 minutes, she’ll die.”

Everyone’s heart trembled. Kalenna was the only reason they could endure Brufut’s berserk attacks for so long. If she were to die, a wipe would be inevitable, let alone the fact that her death was permanent. Without her, who knew how long it would take until they were strong enough to face Brufut again? Defeat was not an option.

"This is it, guys. Even if we have to fight until the last man standing, we will kill Brufut, no matter what!”

The team burned with fighting spirit. They were ready to stake it all!

"Puny ants!” Brufut roared. He slashed out with a fierce sword beam.

"Dodge!” Several Warriors jumped out of the way.

"Divine Bastion Shield!” Bladelight hollered. A golden armoured war god wielding a giant shield appeared in the air above. BOOOOOM! Brufut’s sword and the war god collided.

Before Brufut went berserk, they were already hard pressed to defend against his attacks. Now, his attack power had increased by 60%!

Bladelight was blown away by the shock wave. After skidding across the ground for half-a-dozen meters, he finally regained his balance. He immediately rushed back into the fray.

If it were any other Fighter, they would’ve succumbed to Brufut’s ferocious attacks. Only Bladelight could remain standing and become their greatest defensive line.

"Thunder Dragon Shield!” Bladelight hollered. A dragon roar rang out as blue electricity crackled around his body and transformed into a powerful barrier.

When they killed the Thunder Dragon earlier, it dropped quite a few good items. One was the Level 150 Legendary-grade Thunder Dragon Chestplate, which Bladelight now wore. The other two items were Level 150 Legendary-grade equipment as well, the Thunder Dragon staff and Thunder Dragon Leg Guards.

Besides Bladelight taking the chestplate, Undying Scoundrel got the Thunder Dragon Staff and Smoke Stub the Thunder Dragon Leg Guards. These three items had increased the team’s overall strength considerably. The Thunder Dragon Chestplate in particular greatly boosted Bladelight’s defense. It also came with the supplementary Thunder Dragon Shield skill. If not for this skill, he would’ve probably fallen under Brufut’s berserk attacks by now.

Nie Yan circled behind Brufut and let loose with a tempest of attacks. Tang Yao and the others also ruthlessly bombarded Brufut with magic.

Even though Nie Yan and the others let loose without reserve, Bladelight had managed to use some sort of special skill to hold Brufut’s aggro.

They had the fight under control for the time being!

When Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group entered the dungeon, they were slaughtered by Brufut’s berserk state again and again and again.

Brufut was completely unpredictable in his berserk state. Nie Yan and the others could only try their best to adapt accordingly.

Brufut’s body suddenly ignited with scorching hot flames, which surged out toward the surroundings.

"Crap! It’s the Infernal Sea skill!”

Bladelight immediately buffed himself with five fire-resistance boosting skills. As the scorching hot flames assailed him, a damage value of 20,000 floated up above his head. His heart trembled. He hurriedly downed a Specialist Fire Resistance Potion.

Not only Bladelight, the other team members also drank their Fire Resistance Potions after meeting with the flames.

"Should I use my Divine Avatar skill?” Bladelight asked. Divine Avatar was his only magic immunity skill. It lasted for 80 seconds and had a cooldown of two days.

"Not yet!” Nie Yan knitted his brows. Brufut still had quite a bit of health left. It was best to save this skill until absolutely necessary, lest they be caught helpless during a critical moment.

Brufut became a flaming giant. Wherever he passed, black flames would rage and continue raging. The Mages hurriedly retreated far away. The Warriors had enough health to tank the burn damage, but the Mages wouldn’t last more than a few seconds.

"Turn to ashes!” Brufut roared. He shot out a giant rays of flames from his mouth, incinerating anything in his direct line of sight.

Painted Muslin, Young Seven, and the others had to cast their Heals non-stop to prevent Bladelight and the others from dying.

"Nie Yan, we can’t keep up with the healing! Brufut’s damage is too high!”

If the healing failed to keep up, the frontline would collapse and soon after the casters in the back!

The situation was getting desperate.

"Lustboy, Street Vulture, let’s cast Wrath of the Water God!” Undying Scoundrel anxiously shouted.

Lustboy and Street Vulture’s eyes lit up. The three of them found an empty space and formed a triangle. With their staffs raised high, they chanted cryptic syllable after syllable. The magic energy in the atmosphere fluctuated violently as a giant whirlpool formed outside the shrine. All the water elemental energy within a several dozens kilometer radius was converging at one point.

A Forbidden Magic that required three Magisters to cast together—Wrath of the Water God!

Chapter 903 - Doom Cyclone

A vast swirling mass of water elemental energy surged toward Fallen Angel Brufut.

Brufut had just forced Bladelight and the other fronlinters back, when he sensed it. Turning his head in a daze, he was greeted by the sight of a vortex of water slamming into him.

FFSSHHTTT! The water transformed into steam as it made contact with the black flames on Fallen Angel Brufut’s body, gradually extinguishing them.

Brufut was stuck within the center of the spell, struggling to move an inch. It was almost as if he were plunged into the middle of a maelstrom.

The casters seized this opportunity to unload as many spells as they could on Fallen Angel Brufut.

Brufut wanted to slash down on Bladelight, but even moving his sword was difficult within the surging water. It looked like he was moving in slow motion as he strained to move his greatsword.

Bladelight easily dodged Brufut’s attack and retaliated by slashing down on his leg.

Wrath of the Water God took three Elemental Magisters to cast. They could freely control the water elemental energy in the vortex, using it to inhibit the enemy while aiding their allies.

"Not bad, not bad at all,” Bladelight remarked with a smirk as he watched Brufut struggle.

"You insolent mortals!” Brufut roared. No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t escape the bindings of Wrath of the Water God, so he could only scream to let out his fury. A whole three minutes later, the vortex finally showed signs of waning. Brufut had lost 10% of his health in these few minutes.

"Wrath of the Water God is about to end!” Undying Scoundrel anxiously cried out.

Once Brufut broke free, he would become an invincible existence once more.

"Holy Mages, cast Sword of Judgement with me!” Xie Yao shouted.

There were two other Holy Magisters in this group. They grouped up together with Xie Yao. With her as the core of the formation, the trio started chanting. A solemn, holy aura permeated the surroundings.

The chant didn’t take long.

10 seconds, 9 seconds, 8 seconds...

Wrath of the Water God gradually dissipated. Just as Fallen Angel Brufut was about to break free, a gargantuan sword of light took shape in front of Xie Yao. One of the most powerful Forbidden Spells of a Holy Magister—Sword of Judgement. It was super effective against creatures of darkness!

The sword of light was several times larger than Nie Yan’s Annihilation Slash. BOOOM! The blade cleaved down on Fallen Angel Brufut and sent him crashing into a nearby pillar.

−33,275,119

A combination single-target Forbidden Magic cast by three Holy Magisters wasn’t to be looked down on.

When they were facing the Thunder Dragon, they didn’t dare to use these spells. After all, they refused to waste their most powerful trump cards on the side boss. Right now, however, they weren’t facing some insignificant creature, they were fighting the final boss of a special dungeon! They were free to use whatever skill or ability they had to deal with it.

Brufut had just escaped Wrath of the Water God, only to be hit by another powerful combination spell. Climbing out of the rubble, he staggered back to his feet. His health had dropped to only 12%. He looked a bit dazed. Sword of Judgement had an additional stun effect.

The seconds ticked away. Brufut was about to recover from the stun.

"Any more crowd control skills, guys?”

"I’m out.”

"Mine are all on cooldown.”

...

Spells like Wrath of the Water God and Sword of Judgement didn’t just grow on trees. Undying Scoundrel, Xie Yao, and the other Magisters learned them from the Mage Tower in the Crips Stronghold. The requirements for learning them were extremely stringent. They’d only managed to learn two such spells.

The team looked at Brufut, more specifically at his health bar. Still 12% to go. They couldn’t help but wonder how they were going to shave it away.

Fallen Angel Brufut finally recovered from the stun. The beating he took this whole time left him thoroughly enraged. His deep, bartone laugh shook the entire shrine as he flapped his wings and floated up toward the ceiling. A berserk energy overflowed into the surroundings.

Brufut resembled an enraged demon god.

Suddenly, the ceiling of the shrine turned into a black void.

Everyone felt like they’d been transported to a different dimension. The vast void was like an enormous basin of darkness. Rather than feeling like an empty space, it exerted an immense pressure on them.

Fallen Angel Brufut floated ominously within this endless darkness.

Eventually, there was nothing left of the shrine as they found themselves in a pitch-black forest. An enormous blood moon hung over the dark sky.

"W-what’s going on?”

"I don’t know…”

Everyone sucked in a cold breath of air. This was their first time experiencing such an event. It was as if they had arrived in an entirely different world. Even though they were a bit alarmed, the Mages managed to maintain their maximum damage output.

"You trifling insects! Welcome to my world of darkness! In here, life and death are all under my control! Before I send you off to the after life, I’ll have you experience the true strength of a demon god!” Brufut cackled maniacally. As he started chanting an incantation, a cyclone of dark energy came slamming down towards Nie Yan’s group.

The powerful darkness threatened to swallow all life.

Alarm turned into outright fear, their faces paling. What kind of magic was this!?

The darkness came surging forward.

Great Purify!

Great Purify!

...

Young Seven, Painted Muslin, Black Heaven, and the others quickly reacted and used their magic to purify the darkness. As the two opposing elements clashed, much of the darkness was dispersed. However, even more darkness energy flooded in from the surroundings like an endless tide.

Everyone despaired. This was it. It looked like a wipe was unavoidable now.

Heaven Bastion!

Dark Requiem chanted an incantation. A white membrane of light rapidly expanded outward and enveloped everyone inside.

Dark Requiem was a Guardian. Most of his spells were of the defensive kind, like this holy barrier.

The darkness slammed into the barrier like a massive tsunami.

The barrier blocked the darkness from coming inside. However, under the relentless assault, it was flickering sporadically, like a dying flame.

Dark Requiem felt his mana draining away. Half of his 20,000 mana pool was gone already.

"I’m running low on mana!” Dark Requiem anxiously cried out. He hurriedly downed a Specialist Mana Potion. Heaven Bastion was a fairly unique defensive magic. If the caster had boundless mana, it would last forever. No matter how much damage the barrier took, the caster’s mana would repair it in an instant. However, when the caster ran out of mana, the barrier would automatically disappear.

"This is Heaven Bastion?” Young Seven asked in surprise. Seeing the barrier teetering on the verge of collapse under the assault of the darkness, he said in a low tone, "I’ll lend you a hand!”

Young Seven raised his staff and started transferring his mana into the barrier.

Holy Magisters, Archbishops, and Guardians could transfer their mana into the barrier.

"I’ll help you too!”

"Count me in as well!”

...

Painted Muslin, Black Heaven, Blue Yarn Thread, and the others started supporting the barrier with their mana.

The darkness was like a surging tide, ramming into the barrier and causing it to tremble violently. Thankfully, with eight teammates supplying it with mana, it was holding just barely.

However, even though everything was good for now, the cost of mana was extreme. This wasn’t something a Specialist Mana Potion could fix. They would run out of mana sooner rather than later.

"Crap! We don’t have enough mana! One more minute, that’s the most we can do. Boss, what do we do!? We need to act fast!” Dark Requiem anxiously cried out.

Everyone’s nerves were stretched taut.

Nie Yan glanced at Kalenna floating over his shoulder. She seemed to understand what he wanted. Raising her small staff to the sky, boundless holy energy flooded out. The barrier which was originally on the verge of collapsing lit up with a dazzling radiance and became manyfold stronger. The maelstrom of darkness couldn’t do anything to it anymore.

Everyone breathed in relief. With Kalenna’s help, the barrier wouldn’t break any time soon. Even though they had no idea how large her mana pool exactly was, given her previous feats, it was far larger than any of theirs.

The darkness surged forward from all directions like a raging tide. Maintaining a magic of this scale required an astonishing amount of mana. Fallen Angel Brufut believed he could kill Nie Yan’s group in a matter of seconds within this world of darkness. However, several minutes passed yet the barrier was still standing. His mana started running low!

After realizing Kalenna was supporting the barrier, Fallen Angel Brufut finally gave up. With a deep breath, he sucked up all the darkness in the surroundings back into his stomach.

The cyclone of darkness finally dissipated.

"Requiem, cancel the barrier!” Nie Yan said. Heaven Bastion also stopped their attacks from going out. With Fallen Angel Brufut interrupting his magic mid-cast, he likely wouldn’t cast it again anytime soon. Doom Cyclone likely also had a cooldown. Otherwise, they would have no hope of winning.

They had to kill Fallen Angel Brufut fast. There were only 10 minutes left before Kalenna was swallowed up by the curse!

"Got it!” Dark Requiem nodded, dispelling his Heaven Bastion.

Everyone looked up toward the sky and saw Fallen Angel Brufut gasping for breath. Likely, casting this magic had taken a toll on him.

"Let’s do this! We can't fail now! Kill Brufut!” Nie Yan shouted. Eyes locked on Fallen Angel Brufut, he leaped into the air and slashed out with his dagger.

Chapter 904 - Dragon King Fruit Acquired!

With a flap of his wings, Fallen Angel Brufut avoided Nie Yan’s attack. He then slashed out with his sword, sending a peerless sword beam flying towards the casters on the ground.

BOOOM! The earth was rent apart. However, it failed to hit anyone. The casters had already blinked away.

Another miss.

Brufut wasn’t slow. His attacks were super quick, in fact. If it were any other Mages, they would’ve definitely been cut down in an instant. However, these were some of the most skilled Magisters. Their reflexes were extremely sharp. Under normal circumstances, they were impossible to hit, unless you used a large-scale AoE attack like Doom Cyclone.

Fallen Angel Brufut never expected Nie Yan’s group to live through the doom cycle. It required a lot of mana to cast, and he had no mana potion to quickly replenish it.

The Magisters ruthlessly bombarded Brufut with spells as various magical explosions lit up the world of darkness.

After gracefully landing on the ground, Nie Yan pounced back into the air and stabbed Brufut in the back with a Backbreaker. He felt an odd sensation when his attack landed.

It didn’t cripple? Nie Yan’s heart trembled.

"Insolent ant!” Brufut laughed in rage. He slapped out with his palm toward Nie Yan like he was swatting a bug.

Caught mid-jump, Nie Yan had no way of dodging. He quickly protected himself with a Rank 18 Darkbright Barrier. BANG! He was sent flying several dozens of meters before crashing into the ground.

What frightening strength!

Nie Yan glanced at his health. He had taken over 30,000 damage even through the shield!

Fallen Angel Brufut was just about to chase down after Nie Yan, when three balls of light whizzed toward him.

When they were only a meter or so from Brufut, Tang Yao shouted. "Explosion! Explosion! Explosion!”

BOOOM! Three enormous explosions engulfed Brufut.

Cracks spread across Brufut’s armour. "Trifling bugs!” He was like an enraged beast, wishing nothing more than to rip Nie Yan and company to shreds and feast on their remains.

Three minutes later, Brufut’s health was chipped down to 3%.

Almost there! Everyone felt hope ignite in their hearts as an indescribable excitement bubbled within them. The Magisters activated skills like Arcane Reset, Elemental Reset, and Holy Reset.

Their cast speed tripled while cooldowns basically became nonexistent. Mana drained from their bodies as they let loose with a ferocious barrage of magic.

Fallen Angel Brufut roared furiously. He raised his greatsword to the sky as syllables flowed out of his mouth in an ancient language. The magic energy in the atmosphere started trembling violently.

Nie Yan and company felt their faces pale. Another magic! The last one, Doom Cycle, had nearly wiped them out. What kind of spell would it be this time?

"Finish him off! Quickly finish him with Execute!” Tang Yao anxiously cried out. If Fallen Angel Brufut were allowed to unleash this magic on them, they would die for sure. Then, all their efforts would go down the drain.

The spell Brufut was casting seemed even more powerful than Doom Cyclone.

"Kill him! Someone, kill him!”

Bladelight, Lei Su, and the other Warriors all leaped into the air and tried to finish Brufut off with an Execute.

This was their last opportunity!

Execute!

Execute!

One sword after another came down on Brufut. However, they all resulted in failures.

The magical fluctuations became increasingly violent. The spell was nearing completion.

They had to stop it now if they hoped to beat Brufut. Nie Yan let out a deep grunted and leaped into the air. Swapping out the Bloody Dagger for Zennarde’s Sword, his blade blazed deep crimson as he slashed down on Brufut with Hell Execution.

Hell Execution’s success rate was far higher than that of an ordinary Execute.

PSFHT! Zennarde’s Sword cleaved into Fallen Angel Brufut’s back as blood sprayed out into the air.

−12,555,555

Success? Nie Yan’s eyes lit up.

"GHHK!” Fallen Angel Brufut’s chant came to an abrupt halt.

The various team members, suddenly seeing Brufut falling from the sky, widened their eyes in shock.

"W-we did it!”

"I-I can’t believe it! You’re awesome, Boss!”

...

Everyone broke out into cheers. The surrounding darkness gradually dissipated as the shrine took shape around them again.

"Yes!” Nie Yan’s heart raced with excitement. With Fallen Angel Brufut’s defeat, the Dragon King Fruit was his! His Darkwing Dragon would soon break through to Rank 9!

Nie Yan suddenly sensed a frightening berserk energy permeating into the surroundings. He glanced over at Brufut’s corpse, which was swelling with a volatile red aura.

"Shit! Everyone, get out of the shrine! Hurry!” Nie Yan shouted.

"Boss, what’s going on?”

"Huh?”

Why did the boss cut their celebrations short?

It was already too late. BOOOOOOOM! A blood coloured light enveloped everyone as a giant plume rose up into the sky. The entire shrine shook violently, teetering on the verge of collapse. Even those back in the City of Sin felt the shockwave.

...

At a bar in the northern district of the City of Sin, Soaring Angel was fidgeting restlessly. It had already been an hour, but Nie Yan’s group still showed no signs of giving up on the special dungeon. Could it be that they were close to obtaining the Dragon King Fruit?

Everyone in World’s Edge had felt the previous two magic fluctuations in the air. Based on the intensity, they could tell they were of two powerful Forbidden Spells. The battle was most likely reaching a climax. This was exactly why Soaring Angel felt so anxious. If Nie Yan defeated Fallen Angel Brufut, that would be detrimental to Angel Corps.

BOOOOOOM! A giant explosion shook World’s Edge.

"W-what was that?” Soaring Angel asked in surprise.

"Boss, it came from the direction of the shrine! The might of that explosion was even more powerful than a Forbidden Magic!”

Soaring Angel’s heart sunk. Was this a trump card Nie Yan had been saving?

A feeling of dread welled up in Soaring Angel’s heart. Why did it seem like the heavens were always against him?

"Boss, Black Hawk sent back a report. Asskickers United wiped! A lot of souls appeared in the graveyard next to the shrine. We don’t know for sure if Nirvana Flame was among them.”

Even though Shadow Priests could detect spirits, they had no way of telling their appearance.

Soaring Angel burst out into laughter. "So, those guys still wiped in the end. I’ll give them credit. They lasted longer than we did, but that’s still not enough! Serves them right!” He felt a huge weight lifted off of his shoulders. He turned toward others and said, "The battle is about to begin. Asskickers United won’t have a second chance! Get ready! Today, we will crush Asskickers United and let them now that we are the true rulers of the Righteous Faction!”

Soaring Angel was filled with ambition. He’d been waiting for this day for a long time!

...

There wasn’t much left of the shrine. Parts of it were collapsed, with a massive crater in the center. Fallen Angel Brufut’s self-detonation was too frightening.

Fallen Angel Brufut’s corpse had disappeared without a trace. In the middle of the shrine lay 30 corpses. They were Nie Yan and company, all of them. The blast came too fast. They had no time to react.

About half a minute later, Nie Yan’s finger twitched as he gradually regained consciousness. He sat back up and looked around at the destruction. The power of that explosion was too shocking! Thankfully, he had a revive ability that allowed him to come back to life within a certain time frame.

Nie Yan staggered back to his feet and noticed all his items on the ground, including the Death God’s Edge, Paternoster’s Warhammer, and the chapters from the Book of Order. He hurriedly picked them back up.

Nie Yan suddenly thought of something. Fallen Angel Brufut had self-destructed. Then what about the Dragon King Fruit? If the fruit were destroyed in the explosion, all their effort would’ve been for naught!

Nie Yan scoured around the blast site. Within a pile of rubble, he spotted a red fruit about the size of a head. It was bright scarlet like a ball of flame, emanating a blazing energy which spread out to the surroundings.

The Dragon King Fruit!

Nie Yan’s heart skipped a beat. He could feel the most pure energy coming from the Dragon King Fruit. This was definitely an extraordinary item!

All dragons yearned for this Dragon King Fruit. If one below Rank 9 ate it, they would instantly break through to the next rank.

Within Nie Yan’s pet space, the Darkwing Dragon and Spectre Dragon seemed to have caught a sniff of the Dragon King Fruit. They started moving around restlessly.

Nie Yan walked toward the Dragon King Fruit to pick it up.

At this moment, the other 29 team members found their way back to the shrine in spirit form.

Do you wish to revive?

Yes!

Do you wish to revive?

Yes!

Rays of light flashed out as everyone revived. After coming back to life, they were in a weakened state. They sat back up and recovered their health and mana. Sensing the pure energy in the air, they all looked over at Nie Yan. Their eyes instantly focused on the fruit in his hand.

"Is that the Dragon King Fruit? Such pure energy!” Bladelight gasped in admiration. This was the famed item that could allow a flying mount to directly break through?

"We got it! We finally got it! Ha! I can already imagine Soaring Angel’s face when he sees the Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon.” Smoke Stub chuckled.

Everyone was elated. Even though they had wiped twice, they had succeeded in obtaining the Dragon King Fruit.

Chapter 905 - Breathtaking Aerial Battle!

Apart from the Dragon King Fruit, Nie Yan also discovered a dragon egg among the rubble. It was oval shaped and about the size of a washbowl. Black spirals ran across the white shell, creating strange markings.

Nie Yan had seen his fair share of dragon eggs by now, but this was his first time seeing one with such a unique appearance.

"Hmm… A flying mount or a regular pet?” Nie Yan knitted his brows. He collected the dragon egg and put it away in his bag. He would have it appraised first before making any decisions.

With no more loot to pick up, Nie Yan summoned the Darkwing Dragon.

The Darkwing Dragon immediately stared at the Dragon King Fruit in Nie Yan’s palm, impatience in its bearing.

Everyone looked full of expectancy. The time had come. What kind of change would occur in the Darkwing Dragon?

Nie Yan tossed the Dragon King Fruit in the air. The Darkwing Dragon’s eyes lit up in joy. It jumped up and gobbled it down. The fruit melted into a stream of energy, which flowed down into its stomach.

A dark radiance started circling around the Darkwing Dragon’s body as a powerful aura overflowed from it.

The overwhelming pressure threatened to crush those in the shrine to a pulp. They quickly retreated far back, from where they observed the Darkwing Dragon’s transformation.

"What powerful dragon might!”

The Darkwing Dragon’s scales started falling off, only to be replaced by brand new ones which gave off a faint violet sheen. Their colour gradually deepenened, changing from a simple black to a rich obsidian.

These new, sparkling scales looked completely indestructible.

The changes didn’t stop here. The Darkwing Dragon’s aura kept climbing as it grew in size. Nie Yan could sense the barrier impeding its advance crumbing away in the face of the Dragon King Fruit’s limitless energy.

BOOOOM! The Darkwing Dragon’s body ignited with raging black flames, which wrapped around its body like a phoenix experiencing rebirth. A roiling darkness overflowed into the surroundings.

Nie Yan opened the Darkwing Dragon’s status page. It finally broke through to Rank 9!

Bladelight and the others looked at the Darkwing Dragon from afar. It had grown to over nine meters tall with a wingspan of more than a dozen meters, while its scales burned with an inextinguishable black flame. It exuded a domineering pressure nothing the like they’d experienced before.

This was an existence that stood at the very apex!

"So this is a Rank 9 flying mount? Amazing!”

"The strongest flying mounts Angel Corps have are only Rank 7, and there are only about 20 of them at most. You won’t even have to care about their other flying mounts, they can’t leave a scratch on the Darkwing Dragon now. It’s pretty much invincible!”

Bladelight, Undying Scoundrel, and the others couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. A Rank 9 flying mount under Nie Yan’s control would certainly display mindblowing battle prowess. Thinking about the upcoming aerial battle with Angel Corps, they couldn’t help but feel their blood boiling. This would definitely be a turning point in the war!

With a wave of his hand, Nie Yan recalled the Darkwing Dragon back into his pet space.

"If we all leave, Angel Corps will only have to see if the dungeon is closed to tell that we’ve obtained the Dragon King Fruit. We can’t let them start preparing countermeasures. Who here is willing to stay behind? As long as one of us stays here, the dungeon won’t close, and Soaring Angel will think we’re stuck inside,” Nie Yan said.

"I’ll do it,” Undying Scoundrel said.

Nie Yan nodded. "That’s fine. You stay here on standby. Pay close attention to the battle. The moment I appear with my Darkwing Dragon, you can leave.”

"Got it, Boss!” Undying Scoundrel said. This was necessary to fool Angel Corps.

"Let’s go, guys. Put on your cloaks and follow me. Make sure no one notices us leaving!” Nie Yan said.

"Yes!”

Everyone save for Undying Scoundrel departed. They secretly snuck out through a side entrance. 29 people left the shrine, but since one player was still inside, the dungeon didn’t close. The scouts in the vicinity would think Nie Yan and the others were still inside. By the time they realized their mistake, it would already be too late!

Subterfuge at its finest!

...

The deadline of the battle was fast approaching. The Asskickers United players in the World’s End Bar were starting to get extremely anxious.

"Why isn’t the boss back yet?”

"We only have 10 minutes left! If he doesn’t return soon and we don’t show up, we’ll be seen as cowards!”

"C’mon, Boss! Be back in time!”

Natural Fiend and Tyrannical smiled bitterly. They tried their best to reassure their fellow guild members, but there was only so much they could do. If Nie Yan and the others didn’t return soon, it would be a huge blow to morale.

Natural Fiend was about to send a whisper to Nie Yan asking what was going on, when he received a message. His eyes flashed with an imperceptible light. Without batting an eyelid, he turned to the Asskickers United players in the bar and calmly announced, "I just got an update from the boss. Something came up in the dungeon. So, they’ll be stuck there for a while longer. He trusts we will win this battle for him.”

All around the bar the anxiousness started to show as faces paled.

"H-how are we supposed to fight without the boss?”

"Right! It’s impossible! Without the boss and the others, we only have three Rank 7 flying mounts on our side!”

"What!? I didn’t know you were all a bunch of useless tools! Get yourselves together! The boss and the others hit a temporary snag. They will come to help us when they can. But even if it takes him a little longer, we still need to show Angel Corps that we are not so easy to provoke! We will teach them a lesson they will never forget!” Tyrannical said.

Though this speech helped to calm everyone down and stop them from panicking, their hearts were still filled with doubts. Did they really stand a chance when their strongest members were all away in a dungeon?

"Remember! In this battle, don’t engage directly with the enemy! Fight only if you can win. If you can’t, retreat and kite back. Stall for as much time as possible until Fallen Angel’s reinforcements arrive. They’re almost here!” Natural Fiend said.

Everyone gathered into their ranks under Natural Fiend and Tyrannical’s orders. After stepping out of the World’s End Bar, they all summoned their flying mounts. Nearly a thousand players took off into the sky.

Fighting was also prohibited in the several hundred meters wide garden surrounding the World’s End Bar. So, they didn’t have to worry about being ambushed.

Natural Fiend and Tyrannical looked over toward the northern district of the City of Sin. Angel Corps’ aerial force was already fully assembled. They looked like a dark cloud blotting out the sky.

Guilds and teams from all over had come flocking over to the City of Sin. Many were here to watch the battle as well as to scramble over any Life Cores that dropped. Rank 5 or higher Life Cores were extremely valuable. Selling one could allow an ordinary player to transform into an expert like a carp jumping over the dragon gate. Many second-rate players from Asskickers United and Angel Corps were also on the ground. They naturally couldn’t allow their fertile waters to flow into another’s fields.

These bystanders started stirring when Asskickers United’s aerial force showed up. Nearly 80% of Asskickers United and Angel Corps’ aerial strength was concentrated here. This was the precursor to a spectacular battle!

"Who do you think will win?”

"I’m not sure, but I’d probably hedge my bets on Angel Corps. They’ve got the number advantage over Asskickers United at 1,500 to 1,000. Plus, Asskickers United hasn’t nearly put in as much effort into raising their aerial strength. Everyone knows that.”

"Sure, that might be true. But let me ask you this, have you ever seen Angel Corps claim a clear victory over Asskickers United? The battles between both sides so far have been fairly even. This can clearly be attributed to one man, Nirvana Flame!”

"Yeah, but do you see him? I don’t. I heard he and Asskickers United’s other top elites are stuck in a dungeon.”

"What the hell? Why are they running a dungeon at such an important time?”

"I have a feeling he’ll show up.”

"Angel Corps has always held the advantage in the skies, but the final outcome today is hard to predict. It’s not like Asskickers United is a stranger to being the underdog. If Nirvana Flame dared to accept Soaring Angel’s challenge, that means he has to have something up his sleeve.”

The bystanders discussed with each other fervently as they looked up in the air, where countless flying mounts blotted out the sky as they flew past.

This would definitely be the most breathtaking aerial battle to take place since the release of the game!

"Everyone, listen to my commands! Split into two groups. Remember, divide and conquer! Don’t tangle with the enemy for too long!” Natural Fiend said. Glancing at the earlier message, he understood Nie Yan wanted to lure out the Vermillion Garudas. Their flame nets truly posed a great threat. Only after they were dealt with would he feel at ease. Natural Fiend guessed Nie Yan and the others were already hiding in a corner, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike!

The two aerial forces came face to face. Everyone could feel the tension in the air.

Natural Fiend looked over at the enemy’s ranks and spotted Soaring Angel standing on top of a silver dragon. His pupils shrunk. Soaring Angel had managed to acquire a dragon flying mount as well!

Chapter 906 - Sovereign Overlooking the World

As the clock hit the appointed time, flying mounts flew forward like a swarm of locusts. The two forces clashed violently as the sky transformed into a chaotic battlefield.

The cries of countless flying mounts rang out across the City of Sin.

Soaring Angel’s silver dragon was like a sharp sword as it pierced through Asskickers United’s ranks.

Where Angel Corps had 27 Rank 7 flying mounts, Asskickers United only showed three. This advantage quickly became apparent.

Flying mounts dropped from the sky and crashed into the buildings and players in the City of Sin below.

"Brothers, kill! Show those ants from Asskickers United our strength! Kill them all!” Stone Splitter shouted at the top of his lungs, losing himself in a killing frenzy as his griffon swept through everything in its path.

"Kill!”

The battles cries of the players from Angel Corps shook the air. Half of their Rank 7 flying mounts pounced toward Asskickers United’s forces.

"Natural Fiend, we can’t hold on! They’re too strong!” a Mage cried out.

"What do we do!?”

"Tyrannical, Miracle Dancer, follow me!” Natural Fiend shouted. The three players urged their Rank 7 flying mounts to swoop down.

A Rank 6 Wind Serpent happened to cross their path. Tyrannical had his Gold Crown Griffon latch onto the Wind Serpent’s back with its sharp claws.

Natural Fiend’s Galewing Storm Hawk and Miracle Dancer’s Dark Albatross were only a second behind. PSFHT! PSFHT! Blood sprayed out into the air as the Wind Serpent was ripped to pieces. Leaping down onto its corpse, Tyrannical cracked open its head with his dagger and dug out its Life Core before jumping back onto his griffon. From start to end, no more than a few seconds passed.

"I’ll be keeping this Life Core,” Tyrannical said with a smirk.

"Sure, you can have it, you little punk. Seems like the boss’ teachings weren’t all in vain,” Natural Fiend chuckled.

"I still have much to learn. If he were here, he could single handedly take down a Rank 7 flying mount.” Tyrannical shook his head with a wry smile. He couldn’t help but picture Nie Yan’s awe-inspiring style in battle.

The Angel Corps players in the vicinity trembled in fear. Even though Rank 6 flying mounts couldn’t compare to Rank 7 flying mounts, it wasn’t to the extent where they would be one shotted. That Wind Serpent didn’t even have a chance to escape. Not to mention the enemy appeared to be quite relaxed, even exchanging light-hearted banter.

Natural Fiend, Miracle Dancer, and Tyrannical killed a Thunder Hawk next in the same fashion. Their teamwork was unsurpassed.

"A flight of Rank 7 flying mounts are coming over in our direction, three Vermillion Garudas among them! Let’s go with the original plan!” Natural Fiend shouted.

The trio had their flying mounts dive down into the labyrinth of buildings below.

The battle was in full swing. Its outcome would dictate the course of the entire war. So, neither side held anything back.

Soaring Angel’s Silverwing Dragon slaughtered three enemy flying mounts in quick succession. Its scales were dyed crimson with the blood of its victims and glistened under the sunlight.

Soaring Angel aimed his bow at a griffon swooping down towards him and fired three arrows.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The three arrows detonated on impact and sent the griffon reeling back.

Soaring Angel’s lips curved in a cold smile. He had his Silverwing Dragon charge forward, its claws tinged in a light green liquid. PFSHT! They ruthlessly dug into the griffon’s wings as blood flew everywhere.

"SCREEEEH!” the griffon cried out in agony as the poison quickly spread. Its wings died off as they turned black.

The rider urged his griffon to escape, only to discover it was paralyzed. His eyes widened in alarm. What kind of poison was this, to actually be effective against a griffon!? One had to know, griffons were famous for their high poison resistance. Ordinary poisons were useless on them!

The Silverwing Dragon opened its mouth and blasted the griffon’s head with scorching hot flames. BOOM! The griffon writhed in agony within the flames before finally going limp. The Silverwing Dragon released its claws, letting the corpse drop down from the sky.

How ruthless!

Just like that, Soaring Angel had taken another Rank 6 flying mount out.

The griffon’s cries alerted the Asskickers United players in the vicinity.

"That’s Soaring Angel!”

"Surround him! Let’s kill him and get revenge for our fallen brothers!”

A squad of 20 Rank 6 flying mounts pounced toward Soaring Angel.

"You fools have a death wish!” Soaring Angel coldly snorted. "Men, get rid of these pests!”

At his command, two Rank 7 and over 30 Rank 6 flying mounts rushed forward to greet the enemy.

"Boss, Evil Monarch is leading a flight to hunt down Asskickers United’s three Rank 7 flying mounts. With those three out of the picture, this battle is ours!”

"B-boss, the flying mount leaderboards!” a Warrior anxiously shouted.

"What?” Soaring Angel knitted his brows. What could be so urgent that it couldn’t wait until the end of this most important battle?

"N-nirvana Flame, h-his Darkwing Dragon,” the Warrior tried to explain, fear gripping at him.

Soaring Angel swept his eyes over the flying mount leaderboards. The Darkwing Dragon still held the first position, but its rank had changed from eight to nine! He felt a bomb go off in his head. How was this possible? Why was the Darkwing Dragon Rank 9? The Dragon King Fruit? Was it really possible? This was too inconceivable! A thought struck him, his face paling. "Tell Evil Monarch to get out of there right now!”

Too late. An incomparably powerful dragon cry rang out across the firmament, drowning out the sounds of all the other flying mounts in the battlefield.

Looking toward the west, an enormous jet black dragon soared through the sky. It looked like a small mountain with a wingspan of over a dozen meters. Its scales glistened like jewels under the sunlight.

A turbulent draconic might swept out into the surroundings, causing all other flying mounts to tremble in fear. This most frightening ancient aura looked down on all existences. The Rank 7 flying mounts were somewhat better off, but the Rank 6 flying mounts were losing their heads in fear while the Rank 5 and lower flying mounts were practically dropping from the sky.

The Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon’s might was on full display!

The players from Asskickers United erupted into cheers!

"It’s the boss!”

"The boss is back!”

"My god, his Darkwing Dragon is Rank 9 already!”

…

Morale soared. The players from Asskickers United felt endless confidence as they charged toward the enemies like a surging tide.

The players on the ground couldn’t believe their eyes, rubbing them violently after the initial shock wore off.

"Jesus, the Darkwing Dragon broke through! How did Nirvana Flame do it!? I checked the leaderboards just 15 minutes ago, and it was still Rank 8!”

"The leaderboards refresh every 10 minutes. I’m guessing it only broke through just now. But man, its aura is capable of suppressing all the other flying mounts on the battlefield!”

"It must be that Dragon King Fruit from the special dungeon. Asskickers United managed to defeat Fallen Angel Brufut!”

"Fallen Angel Brufut? Wasn’t Angel Corps trying over and over to kill that guy? Seems like their chance is gone now!”

The spectators looked at the Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon. It was undoubtedly the ruler of the skies. Its appearance instantly shifted the tide of the battle!

Closer to the ground, Natural Fiend, Tyrannical, and Miracle Dancer were still running from Evil Monarch’s flight by weaving through the gaps between the buildings. However, they weren’t fast enough. Just as they were about to be surrounded and locked down by the Vermillion Garudas, the Darkwing Dragon came swooping down from the sky like a flash of lightning.

One could imagine the shock of Evil Monarch’s flight upon seeing this behemoth of a dragon blotting out the sun above them.

"Shit! It’s Rank 9! Retreat, retreat!” Evil Monarch shouted anxiously. Only then did he realize they’d fallen for the enemy’s ambush.

Evil Monarch’s flight consisted of Rank 7 flying mounts. How could they possibly compete with a Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon in terms of speed?

"Want to run now? Too late! Wash your necks, and prepare to hand over your dog lives!” Smoke Stub shouted. From behind the Darkwing Dragon, 28 flying mounts appeared out of nowhere and moved to surround Evil Monarch’s flight.

Evil Monarch looked around. All escape routes were completely sealed off. Flying mounts like the Vermillion Garudas were only useful when they had the numbers advantage. Otherwise, they were pretty ineffective.

Nie Yan stood proudly on the Darkwing Dragon’s head. Based on its size, flying speed, and the aura, he could tell it was far stronger than before. Each beat of its mighty wings generated enormous thrust.

Riding on the head of this unrivalled existence, Nie Yan felt like a sovereign overlooking the world. After defeating Angel Corps, any place within the reach of the Darkwing Dragon’s wings would become his land!

One of the Vermillion Garudas lost its head in fear. Not even bothering to use its flame net, it threw caution to the wind and tried to flee, only for the Darkwing Dragon’s claws to grab onto it with lightning speed.

"SCREEEH!” the Vermillion Garuda cried out in pain. Evil Monarch and the others watched in horror as the Rank 7 flying mount was torn to shreds in the blink of an eye. Blood and entrails rained down from the sky.

A brutal display of strength!

Chapter 907 - Cherubim Grace!

After tossing aside the Vermillion Garuda’s corpse, the Darkwing Dragon pounced over and chomped down on the neck of a nearby Hearthfire Manticore. The Hearthfire Manticore was covered in thick black scales. Among Rank 7 flying mounts, it was considered an extremely powerful existence. However, in the face of the Darkwing Dragon, it was nothing more than a trifling bug.

"GRAOOOW!” the Hearthfire Manticore wailed in pain. It jabbed the Darkwing Dragon with its stinger in a last ditch effort.

KLANG! A light scratch appeared on the Darkwing Dragon’s scales. The Hearthfire Manticore’s attack couldn’t even pierce Darkwing Dragon’s scales.

The difference between Rank 7 and Rank 9 was too great. Only if several dozen Rank 7 flying mounts worked together in perfect harmony, would they stand a chance against the Darkwing Dragon. Anything less simply wasn’t enough to pose a threat to it.

The Darkwing Dragon dug its claws deep into the Hearthfire Manticore’s body. As the two tangled in the air, it bit down harder and crushed the manticore’s neck before severing it from the rest of the body. Blood sprayed out into the air.

The Darkwing Dragon tossed the Heartfire Manticore’s head into the air before swallowing it in one gulp.

Evil Monarch and the other players from Angel Corps felt their scalps go numb. The five remaining Rank 7 flying mounts tried to flee, but Xie Yao and a few others intercepted them.

Evil Monarch’s flight was surrounded by 18 Rank 6 flying mounts, nine Rank 7 flying mounts, a Rank 8 Immortal Phoenix, and a Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon. Escape was impossible.

"SCREEEH!”

"CROOAH!”

Under Xie Yao’s lead, two more Rank 7 flying mounts were slaughtered.

"Grab the Life Cores! Don’t leave a single one!” Bladelight ordered. Rank 7 Life Cores were extremely precious. Naturally, they couldn’t be allowed to fall in the hands of others!

The Life Core within the Hearthfire Manticore’s head was directly swallowed by the Darkwing Dragon. As for the Life Cores of the other three Rank 7 flying mounts, Sun and two others moved lightning quick to retrieve them.

Riding on top of a Vermillion Garuda, Evil Monarch’s face flashed between alarm and anger. It looked like death was inevitable today. The Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon was an invincible existence to them. They’d lost all initiative. There was absolutely nothing they could do to keep it in check!

「Boss, we’ve been surrounded. The Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon is too strong. We are powerless!」Evil Monarch said.

When Evil Monarch was on the verge of despair, a group of 600 flying mounts came charging over. They blotted out the sky with sheer numbers. At the very front was a silver dragon. It was Soaring Angel!

Finding four Rank 7 flying mounts missing and Evil Monarch and the remaining three Rank 7 flying mount in imminent danger, Soaring Angel became enraged.

"Nirvana Flame, don’t celebrate too early!” Soaring Angel shouted. "Kill!”

"Kill!”

"It’s 600 vs 30! Wipe out Nirvana Flame!”

…

The battle cries of the 600 players from Angel Corps shook the sky.

"Big Bro, what do we do? They’re with too many. Should we call for reinforcements?” Sun anxiously asked.

"Boss, the Kamikaze Drakes are on their way here. Should we retreat and drag it out until they arrive?” Paladin of the Elegy asked. He had witnessed their destructive power firsthand. The guild had poured in an enormous amount of resources to manufacture them.

Angel Corps had manpower to spare, but Asskickers United didn’t. Their main force was busy tangling with the enemy in front of them and couldn’t break away. Repelling 600 flying mounts with only 30 was impossible. Even though the Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon was powerful, how many could it possibly kill by itself? If every one of them were to be wiped out but the Darkwing Dragon, that really wouldn’t count as much of a victory.

"No need!” Nie Yan faintly smiled. His eyes flashed with a cold light. "Today, we will show the enemy our might! Come on, let’s go!”

Seeing Nie Yan brimming with confidence, Bladelight and the others were dumbstruck. Could it be that Nie Yan had yet another trick up his sleeve beside the Kamikaze Drakes?

Everyone but Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel their faces pale as they stared at the 600 flying mounts quickly drawing closer. If they didn’t leave now, they would be completely surrounded. Who could possibly remain calm in a situation like this?

At this moment, Battle Angel Kalenna appeared next to Nie Yan’s shoulder. She waved her staff and started chanting. A holy aura swept out around her.

Kalenna was casting a spell? Everyone looked toward her and noticed she had undergone a complete transformation. She now had two sets of wings on her back, and her pure, white dress was replaced with shining, silver-white battle armour. She looked dignified and imposing.

A four-winged cherub!

After Kalenna finished chanting two sets of syllables, an enormous pillar of light descended from the sky and fell over them.

Forbidden Holy Magic—Cherubim Grace!

A powerful energy flowed into the bodies of the 29 Asskickers United flying mounts.

"What’s going on?”

"M-my Azure Dragon is absorbing the energy!”

Nie Yan glanced at the Darkwing Dragon. It was also crazily drawing in the energy as its body rapidly grew in size. Even though this energy belonged to the holy attribute, it was a neutral type that could be absorbed by any living being, including the Darkwing Dragon. It was filled with boundless vitality.

"GRAAAWWR!” the Darkwing Dragon cried out. It nearly tripled in size as its draconic aura surged outwards.

Soaring Angel trembled in alarm.

"W-what’s going on?”

"I don’t know! What a powerful blessing!”

"Sweet mother of god! Look at the Darkwing Dragon! It’s friggin’ kaiju-sized!”

…

The players from Angel Corps sucked in a breath of cold air. After receiving the Cherubim Grace, the Darkwing Dragon had grown to over 30 meters in size with a wing span of more than 50 meters. It was larger than any boss they’d encountered to date. As for the other flying mounts, they also tripled in size to anywhere between 10–20 meters.

Facing these enormous flying mounts, the players from Angel Corps gulped. This blessing was so powerful that a Rank 6 flying mount seemed like a Rank 9! They lost all will to fight. If it weren’t for the discipline drilled into them, they would have long since run away.

Evil Monarch and the other two Rank 7 flying mounts in his flight didn’t even have a chance to retreat before they were instantly slaughtered by Nie Yan’s group.

Soaring Angel’s eyes turned red with rage! "All guild members, heed my orders! Today, I, Soaring Angel, declare that I won’t rest until Asskickers United is annihlated! If any of you dare to run, don’t blame me for showing no mercy! Our airships are about to arrive. So, fight until the bitter end! Victory or death! Kill!”

Under Soaring Angel’s threat, the players from Angel Corps didn’t dare to retreat. They charged forward like a surging tide.

"My stats quadrupled! What a powerful blessing!” Bladelight exclaimed. Be it mount or rider, all of their stats had increased by 400%.

"Is this the reward you got from that quest for killing Fallen Angel Brufut?”

"Yeah.” Nie Yan nodded. "I can order Kalenna to cast three spells now, Sword of Judgement, Cherubim Grace, and Sanctuary of Life. However, the cooldowns are relatively long. Sword of Judgement has a cooldown of five days, two days for Cherubim Blessing, and five hours for Sanctuary of Life.”

"Sword of Judgement? You mean that same Forbidden Magic it took Yao Yao and two other Holy Magisters to cast?” Bladelight blurted out in disbelief.

Nie Yan nodded. "Yep, seems like it. I haven’t tried it yet. So, I’m not a hundred percent sure if it’s the same one.”

"If it is, that would be amazing!” Bladelight exclaimed.

"I have a feeling it is! Too bad it has a cooldown of five days, or else we could let Angel Corps have a taste of it right now,” Smoke Stub said. He had no idea how strong the spell would be exactly, but no Forbidden Magic was ever weak. All of Kalenna’s spells had the power to turn the tide of battle. So, they couldn’t be used recklessly. After all, five days was a fairly long time.

The 600 flying mounts from Angel Corps were almost on top of them.

"Suicidal idiots. Guys, it’s about time we took out the trash!” Nie Yan chuckled. The powerful Darkwing Dragon gave him absolute confidence.

"Hehe. This is going to be fun!” Tang Yao grinned.

…

Their morale was sky-high. With the Darkwing Dragon taking the vanguard, they charged into Angel Corps’ forces.

BOOOM! The Darkwing Dragon collided into six Rank 6 flying mounts at high speed. The sound of miserable cries and bones breaking rang in the air. Its body was harder than any diamond and stronger than any metal. What was left of their bodies dropped down from the skies.

What domineering might!

Soaring Angel felt his scalp tingle. After obtaining the Rank 7 Silverwing Dragon and many other Rank 7 flying mounts, he believed Angel Corps’ aerial force to be invincible. Even in his wildest dreams, he hadn’t entertained the possibility of a Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon ruining his plans.

The Darkwing Dragon tore through the enemy ranks, slaughtering a dozen Rank 6 flying mounts in quick succession.

Seeing Nie Yan and company sweeping through the enemy, morale on the side of Asskickers United soared to new heights. With the Darkwing Dragon, they were unstoppable!

Chapter 908 - Kamikaze Drakes

Nie Yan and company were like a giant meat grinder. Wherever they passed, blood and flesh rained down from the sky.

Angel Corps and Asskickers United fell into a killing frenzy. Neither side was willing to tolerate the existence of the other.

The spectators on the ground were now scrambling for Life Cores. Bodies rained down from the sky. Every corpse of a flying mount contained a precious Life Core. It would be strange if it didn’t attract any attention.

The entire Righteous Faction had their focus on this single battle.

"Boss, our main force has suffered over 300 casualties already!” Paladin of the Elegy reported. They only had 1,000 flying mounts to begin with. Losing nearly a third of their force was a massive blow.

"Angel Corps isn’t faring much better. We’ve killed 500 of theirs!” Bladelight chimed in. Angel Corps’ losses were even worse than Asskickers United’s. However, they still held the advantage in numbers. It was hard to say who would win this battle.

The battle intensified. Nie Yan and company were tearing through Angel Corps’ ranks, when someone shouted in voice chat,「Look east! It’s the reinforcements from Fallen Angel! They’re here!」

Nie Yan shot a glance toward the east and saw a large group of flying mounts heading in this direction. He faintly smiled. It was Fallen Angel. They were finally here! Looking at their numbers, he estimated there were at least 4,000 flying mounts!

Bones as white as shale. Those were all undead flying mounts!

The leader of the group was riding a Rank 8 Bone Dragon. It was none other than Proud Lance who Nie Yan had met several times in the past. Plenty didn’t come personally. He had to preside over the guild matters in the underworld.

Fallen Angel was the absolute ruler of the Undead Empire. After carrying out their operations there for so long, they had created a rock solid foundation. Their strength was not to be looked down on.

Fallen Angel’s appearance immediately caused an uproar among the players in the City of Sin.

"It’s the Undead Empire!”

"That must be Fallen Angel! What’s going on? Is the Undead Empire attacking the Righteous Faction?”

Many players unaware of the situation thought Fallen Angel was coming to take advantage of the situation. Only a few who were in the knowhow understood Fallen Angel were actually Asskickers United’s reinforcements!

A total of 4,000 flying mounts, half of which were Rank 6. This was a force capable of turning the tide of battle!

Mass hysteria began to spread across the ranks of Angel Corps. They all knew Fallen Angel was their sworn enemy. Once Fallen Angel and Asskickers United joined forces, all that awaited them was complete annihilation!

「Boss, enemy reinforcements are arriving!」

「There are too many of them!」

「Boss, the Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon is too strong! We can’t stop it!」

...

Soaring Angel’s heart sunk. He said in a low growl,「Everyone, retreat 2,000 meters, and adjust your ranks while we prepare for round two! Reinforcements from the Century Financial Group and Pantheon are almost here. Asskickers United isn’t the only one with allies!」

The forces of Angel Corps beat a quick retreat. The main group and off-shoot group looked like two oriental dragons flying through the sky. After retreating far enough, they merged back into one. Even though they were retreating, they still defended their backs, preventing Asskickers United from running all over them. The only exception was the Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon, who they could do nothing about. It tore a large hole out of their ranks, with more than 15 flying mounts dying unders its claws.

Nie Yan shot out web-lines to catch the heads of the flying mounts the Darkwing Dragon ripped off. After extracting their Life Cores, he would throw them away. Like this, he obtained dozens of Life Cores. The darkness attribute ones he fed to the Darkwing Dragon.

The blood-soaked Darkwing Dragon was like a demon god. Wherever it went, blood and entrails rained down from the sky. The enemy flying mounts fled in fear.

Soaring Angel ordered his guild members to stay as far away from the Darkwing Dragon as possible and focus on killing the rest of the flying mounts from Asskickers United. Only like this could they give themselves the time to think of a method of dealing with the Darkwing Dragon without having to worry about anyone interfering.

「Boss, a large group of flying mounts has been spotted to the north! There are 20,000 of them. They’re heading right for Fallen Angel’s forces!」Paladin of the Elegy cried out out after looking at the incoming reports.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. How did Angel Corps get so many flying mounts? Do they have some kind of hidden force we don’t know about? Hmm, no, impossible. Guo Huai would’ve detected it.

「Go investigate where they came from!」Nie Yan ordered.

It didn’t take Paladin of the Elegy long to find out.「Watchful Snail got back to us with new information. They’re a joint force between the Century Financial Group and Pantheon. They might seem large, but they’re padding their numbers with all kinds of low Rank flying mounts. Only around 2,000 of them are Rank 6 or higher.」

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. No wonder there were so many of them. It turned out the enemy was padding their numbers! If all 20,000 flying mounts were Rank 5 or higher, Asskickers United and Fallen Angel would be in deep trouble. That kind of force was capable of sweeping through the entire continent!

「It looks like they mobilized every single flying mount under them. They’re really staking it all!」

Nie Yan brooded for a moment before saying,「Have every guild and branch guild in the alliance send over all their flying mounts! Since Angel Corps is going all out, we will do the same! Let’s have a competition of numbers!」

Everyone’s blood started boiling. Since Nie Yan had made his resolve, they would put everything on the line to defeat Angel Corps!

「Brothers! To the bitter end! Don’t leave a single one alive!」

「We won’t leave a single one alive!」

「Kill!」

...

The battles cries from Asskickers United rang out like thunder.

Nie Yan’s rallying call was passed down. In several dozen cities and 350+ strongholds across the Viridian Empire as well as Okoron and the 30+ strongholds in the Abernathy Great Grasslands, countless flying mounts took to the sky and set out for the City of Sin. It was like the great Yangtze river, all converging on one spot.

Asskickers United and their five branch guilds only had 16,000 flying mounts altogether. This was because they placed their focus elsewhere. However, Holy Empire, the War God Tribe, and the other allied guilds had placed more focus on acquiring flying mounts. Altogether, they had a force of 30,000 flying mounts. All of them were now flying towards the City of Sin.

This development shook the entire server. The scope of this battle had grown far larger than anyone could have possibly imagined!

At the same time Asskickers United took action, Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group started mobilizing as well. Cao Xu didn’t hesitate to spend an enormous sum of money to hire 60 large gaming organisations to fight on his behalf. That was another 30,000 flying mounts. Combined with the 20,000 already in the City of Sin, that made for over 50,000 in total!

Until now, Asskickers United and Angel Corps had clashed several times, even at the walls of Okoron. None of that was more than feeling out the enemy, though. Today was to be the same. A test of the enemy’s aerial force. However, when things got heated and neither side was willing to back down, it escaped to this degree.

Nie Yan knew this had become a deciding battle in this war. Asskickers United could not afford to lose. He continued slaughtering the Angel Corps flying mounts he encountered while directing the battle on different fronts.

「Nie Yan, the enemy is coming out in full force. I didn’t expect the 30 guilds under the Century Financial Group to have so many flying mounts. Be careful,」Guo Huai warned.

「Thanks. What about the Kamikaze Drakes? How many do we have ready?」Nie Yan asked. The Kamikaze Drakes were creations of Violet Mist, a secret operation overseen directly by Guo Huai. He estimated they’d spent over 20,000,000 gold on them. They were also one of his aces.

Kamikaze Drakes weren’t actual flying mounts but rather man-made machines. They were one of the Legendary-grade items that could be crafted from Dela’s Magical Device Book. Violet Mist had made great strides in her Tinkering, and could now craft high rank Tinkerer items like this Kamikaze Drakes!

Kamikaze Drakes were about the size of a Rank 5 flying mount. A large amount of Magic Redwood, Arcane Silver, Black Gold, and many other different kinds of rare gems were required to produce them. They were extremely fast, far faster than Rank 6 flying mounts, and required a Level 120 or higher fire Elementalist to operate. While in the air, they could carry up to five kilograms of gunpowder. They could lock onto a target and ram into them at high speed, taking out the enemy kamikaze style.

The explosive force from five kilograms of gunpowder was astonishing, enough to mortally wound even Rank 7 flying mounts.

「We have 300 on the way to the City of Sin, with 20 more in the final stages of production. I also told Violet Mist to speed up her production output.」

Chapter 909 - Apocalypse Storm

All the players in the server watched as the battle in the City of Sin unfolded on livestream. Tens of thousands of flying mounts from both great powers were converging here.

Though for the most part they watched in awe, there was also a trace of concern as to which side would come out on top. Every single one of them, even the solo players, would be impacted to some extent by the outcome of this war.

In the sky above the City of Sin, Asskickers United was fighting bravely against the forces of Angel Corps. The tide of battle was slowing going in their favour, as they had fewer casualties, a powerful Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon—who had already killed over 60 enemy flying mounts—leading the vanguard, and the Spectre Dragon lending its support from the sidelines.

Before Fallen Angel could team up with Asskickers United, they were intercepted by the joint forces of the Century Financial Group and Pantheon. Even though the enemy possessed superior numbers, most of those were low rank flying mounts.

With different guilds fighting in different locations, each battle evolving in a different direction, it became impossible for the spectators on the ground to tell who was who. That said, the spectacular aerial battles left their hearts racing with excitement.

A giant ball of flames ignited in the sky, dyeing the horizon crimson. Several nearby flying mounts were instantly burned to death, mournful cries ringing out as they plummeted to the ground.

What astonishing flames!

Within these blinding flames flew an enormous phoenix.

"That’s Yao Yao’s Immortal Phoenix!”

Feeling the blistering heat sweeping over them, everyone paled.

"This fire energy is so pure… What a powerful phoenix!”

"Of course! That’s a Rank 8 Immortal Phoenix!”

Nie Yan was the sole owner of a Rank 9 flying mount. There were four Rank 8 flying mounts a step below. Two of them belonged to the righteous faction, one of which was Xie Yao’s. The Evil Faction had the other two, belonging to Fallen Angel and Pantheon.

The battle prowess of a Rank 8 flying mount was astonishing.

Within the ball of flames, the Immortal Phoenix charged forward like a streaking meteor. Any flying mounts that came into contact with it were instantly transformed into ashes. All that remained of the burned Angel Corps flying mounts was their Life Core.

Riding atop the head of his Silverwing Dragon, Soaring Angel had an unsightly expression on his face. Asskickers United’s peak fighting force was simply too strong. There was very little he could do against them.

「Have the airships arrived yet?」Soaring Angel coldly asked.

「Reporting in Boss, they have already arrived. Five in total. They’re being shielded from view by our flying mounts.」

「Pass on the message to the Century Financial Group. Tell them to get started. Let Asskickers United and Fallen Angel have a taste of our newly created weapon!」Soaring Angel coldly smiled.

...

Over on the side of Fallen Angel. Warlance led the vanguard as his troops dove right into the ranks of the Century Financial Group and Pantheon. They succeeded in disrupting the enemy’s formation and scattering their forces, but they also suffered some damage in the process.

「Vice-lead! Our right flank is under attack. We can’t hold on any longer!」

「Vice-lead! Our second wing is almost annihilated with only two survivors! We’ve been surrounded!」

Warlance bravely charged forward, working together with his subordinates to kill dozens of enemy flying mounts. Their killcount quickly reached 1,300. This result was simply astonishing, especially considering many of their kills were high rank flying mounts.

However, the Century Financial Group and Pantheon had too many flying mounts, more than 20,000 in total. Even though most were low rank, they served perfectly as cannon fodder to absorb attacks.

Pantheon and the Century Financial Group outnumbered Fallen Angel’s forces six to one. They had Warlance and his men completely surrounded.

「Brothers, let’s show these trash our power! We are not so easily provoked!」Warlanced shouted. He was soaked in blood from head to toe, looking like an enraged asura. His killing intent soared to the heavens.「Go, Apocalypse Storm!」

The battle cries of the players from Fallen Angel rang out like thunder. From among their ranks, 300 Thunderwing Bone Hawks gathered together and used Apocalypse Storm. Lightning crackled from their bodies and converged into a sphere in the center of their formation. It continuously grew in size until it was over 200 meters in diameter, shooting out streaks of lightning into the surroundings like a giant tesla coil.

After the sphere fully took shape, Warlance shouted,「Kill!」

The enormous ball of lightning started moving towards the forces of the Century Financial Group and Pantheon.

「W-what the hell is that!?」

「I-I don’t know, but I don’t want to be anywhere near it!」

The flying mounts from the Century Financial Group and Pantheon quickly split apart in a mad attempt to get away from the sphere of lightning. However, the Apocalypse Storm was too fast and quickly closed in on them.

CRACKLE! ZAP! CRACKLE! ZAP! Streaks of lightning drilled into the ranks of the Century Financial Group and Pantheon.

BANG! BANG! BANG! All flying mounts the lightning came into contact with were instantly roasted to death, their bodies giving off smoke as they dropped from the sky.

Nothing survived near the Apocalypse Storm. Soon, more than 400 enemy flying mounts were killed.

「Kill!」

「Kill!」

The Apocalypse Storm picked up its speed and dove deeper and deeper into the enemy ranks. The flying mounts from the Century Financial Group and Pantheon fled away in a panic.

「Don’t go near that lightning ball!」

「Get out of the way!」

"Weaklings from the Century Financial Group and Pantheon, I’ll let you thoroughly experience the might of our Apocalypse Storm! Brothers, kill!” Warlanced bellowed out with a hearty laugh. Several hundred more Thunderwing Bone Hawks joined the formation, powering the sphere to almost double its current size. Its surface transformed from white to blue, making it resemble a giant blazing star.

Nie Yan and his team of 30 noticed the forces of the Century Financial Group and Pantheon being routed.

「What’s going on over there?」Bladelight asked.

「Damn, those guys from Fallen Angel really are something! Look at that ball of lightning!」Undying Scoundrel exclaimed in admiration. He had joined back up with everyone shortly after Nie Yan revealed his Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon.

They glanced at each other. If they were to meet with such an attack, they would probably also suffer a heavy loss.

In the blink of an eye, the Apocalypse Storm killed 1,000 enemy flying mounts.

"That’s Apocalypse Storm. To get one to that size, I estimate you will need at least 600 Rank 6 lightning attribute flying mounts.”

Nie Yan faintly smiled. As ruler of the Undead Empire, there was no way Fallen Angel wouldn’t have some aces up their sleeves. This Apocalypse Storm was probably one of them. The might of the attack was truly astonishing. He was glad Asskickers United wasn’t on the receiving side of it.

「We can’t let Fallen Angel show us up! Time to kill!!」Smoke Stub shouted!

「Kill!」

「Kill!」

Asskickers United’s aerial forces launched another fierce assault.

Nie Yan had received word that the 300 Kamikaze Drakes had arrived in the City of Sin. They were hidden from view, ready to move out at his command. He narrowed his eyes. After shaving away a bit more of the enemy’s strength, he would deal them a fatal blow.

「Nie Yan, how are you planning to use the Kamikaze Drakes?」Smoke Stub asked. He was one of the scarce few who were privy to their existence.

「Don’t worry. Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group have at least 30,000 flying mounts on the way here. I’m just waiting for them, so we can wipe them all out together!」Nie Yan said. Like this, the enemy would be like birds with their wings clipped.

「We have 45,000 flying mounts rushing over. Combined with what we have here already, that also makes 50,000. Even if we don’t use the Kamikaze Drakes, I’m sure we can sweep through them!」Natural Fiend said.

「You’re probably right. We won’t lose if we go toe-toe with them, but we’ll also suffer heavy losses. It’s better to use the Kamikaze Drakes, then clean up the survivors!」

Nie Yan chuckled.「Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group probably have some hidden aces as well. We won’t use the Kamikaze Drakes for now. Let’s focus on the battle!」

While Nie Yan and the others were chatting, the reinforcements from both sides started entering the City of Sin. The scope of the battle ballooned as two armies nearly 50,000 strong clashed in the air.

「Look! More troops are arriving!」

「Damn, I’ve never seen so many flying mounts!」

The players on the ground gawked at the sight of nearly 100,000 flying mounts, their hearts palpitating with a mixture of fear and excitement. This many flying mounts was enough to completely blot out the sky over the City of Sin.

So this was the rallying power of two superpowers! So breathtaking!

Most ordinary guilds would be proud to have 100 flying mounts, but these two clashing powers had rallied 1,000 times that number! A lightless sky over a dark landscape, what a truly apt description!

Nie Yan had the Darkwing Dragon fly toward the 40,000 flying mounts that came as reinforcements. One man and his dragon instantly attracted everyone's attention.

「Boss!」

「The boss is here!」

The reinforcements broke out into cheers.

Seeing these troops stretching out as far as the eye could see, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the rest, even Nie Yan himself, felt their hearts stirring with emotion. With this kind of army, they could conquer everything and anything in their way!

Chapter 910 - Awe-inspiring

At the command of Bladelight and the other group leaders, Asskickers United’s aerial troops split up into several groups, resembling an asian dragon flying through the sky. Each group consisted of several thousand flying mount riders.

Spectators looking up at this spectacle gasped in awe at the astonishing show of power.

The air force of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group was also rapidly convening together. They were organizing their ranks for the next phase of this battle.

Every Asskickers United player felt their heart pumping with anticipation. Having clashed many times in the past, Angel Corps was already an old rival. Now, both sides were duking it out one last time to decide who would become the ruler of the Righteous Faction!

All eyes were on Nie Yan, who stood atop the Darkwing Dragon’s head. Those too far away to see clearly perked up their ears to listen to him in voice chat. Everyone held their breath.

The Darkwing Dragon’s enormous size left even them stunned.

The Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon was already massive to begin with. But after receiving the Cherubim’s Grace blessing, it had grown to nearly 40 meters tall. The aura emanating from its body resembled that of a primordial dragon.

Nie Yan swept his eyes over his men. He noticed the gazes staring at him were filled with feverish reverence, as if he were a god. It was clear as day what kind of position he had in the hearts of these players.

An odd feeling pervaded Nie Yan’s heart. In his past life, he was a no-name character. Never did he imagine that he would one day be overlooking the world.

Asskickers United had grown from a small, obscure guild to the leviathan it was today. The journey had been fraught with obstacles. They’d teetered on the brink of collapse on more than one occasion, but somehow they always made it through in the end. Though the contributions of the numerous guild members couldn’t be discounted, it was Nie Yan who single handedly propped up the entire guild on his back.

Angel Corps, Holy Empire, the War God Tribe, the 30 guilds under the Century Financial Group… Which wasn’t erected by a large financial group or gaming organisation? Which didn’t have a solid foundation before entering Conviction? None of them had to build up from scratch, only Asskickers United did! They had truly come from nothing. At the time of their founding, there were only Nie Yan, Tang Yao, Guo Huai, and a handful of others!

Nie Yan had taken advantage of his past life’s knowledge to seize opportunities everywhere, allowing Asskickers United to slowly rise up until they eventually became a whirlwind that swept through the entire Viridian Empire. If not for him, Asskickers United wouldn’t exist. If not for him opening the Starry Night Potion Shop, if not for him recruiting experts from all over to his side, if not for his brilliant strategies, the guild would’ve long since collapsed! Even now, after Asskickers United grew strong enough to compete for control of the entire Atlanta continent, he was still the de facto spiritual leader of the guild. No matter how large the guild grew, that would never change. Nie Yan had used his brilliance and charisma to thoroughly win over everyone’s recognition, and with his unrivalled strength, he had them awed and subdued.

Nie Yan’s wisdom was like the hand of god, guiding Asskickers United straight towards glory. It wasn’t strange everyone in the guild revered him like so.

Nie Yan’s cape fluttered in the wind; his mind stirred with a myriad of emotions. With a flick of his wrist, he swapped to Zennarde’s Sword. The flames burning fiercely around the blade perfectly mirrored the desire to do battle raging within his heart. As he looked down over the crowd, he resembled an awe-inspiring war god, causing everyone to hold their breath.

Nie Yan’s voice rang out with surging emotions,「Ever since Conviction first opened its server, I’ve fought tens of thousands of battles and experienced no less than a dozen wars. Wherever I go, my enemies flee in terror. Those I’ve crossed blades with include Masters from every class, expedition teams composed of thousands of players, and even the most powerful NPCs. But have I ever suffered defeat? No! I have single handedly crashed my way through Angel Corps’ Clemenci Stronghold and left without so much as a scratch. With Bladelight and several others, I’ve swept through Divine Guardian’s main stronghold, slaughtering thousands of their players before finally razing it to the ground. Gossipers on the forums have given me a nickname, they call me the Mad Rogue. When I first heard this name, I couldn’t help but smile. Honestly, I didn’t think it would stick.」

The crowd stirred with indescribable emotion. Not once suffering defeat, sweeping through all enemies in his path… Apart from Nie Yan, would anyone dare to boast such arrogant words? However, his achievements spoke for themselves, many of which could easily be found online in video format.

「Since the release of Conviction, I have founded Asskickers United and the Starry Night Potion Shop; I have defeated Victorious Return and numerous other guilds to unify the Viridian Empire; and I have gained my own dukedom in the Abernathy Great Grasslands and erected the capital of Okoron!」Nie Yan narrated his various achievements.

「We are at a critical juncture whereby the results of this war will decide who will rule over the Righteous Faction. Angel Corps was once an insurmountable foe, leaving us quaking in fear. Now, we stand on equal footing with them. This is our moment of glory, to crush all obstacles beneath our feet and unify the Atlanta continent! This glory does not belong solely to me, but also to each and every single one of you standing here before me!」Nie Yan stared into the eyes of the players in the crowd.

「Recall Conviction’s poem that I recited that day. Amid the mist before the dawn. By the last glow of the bonfire. Let God be my witness! As the first light shines and the moon and stars fall. As the embers fade and the darkness dissipates! The world shall transform in our wake! From this day forth, we stand as one! Bound are our paths! So to our souls! ‘Till our presence spans heaven and earth! For glory is our fate! I have no idea whether this world really has a god, but I know it’s a real as the one in reality. By your sides are brothers who have shared life and death with you, who have fought shoulder-to-shoulder with you in battle! This world might be virtual, but that doesn’t make it any less real! Maybe one day, you’ll tell your friends out there in the real world about how you accompanied Nirvana Flame in his campaign through the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire; how you bravely fought with your fellow guild members in blood-soaked battlefields! Engrave this moment into your memories! Today, we will create yet another legend! For glory is our fate!」Nie Yan’s voice endowed to a hoarse cry, battering at the heartstrings of everyone here.

"FOR GLORY TO THE GUILD!”

"GLORY TO ASSKICKERS UNITED!!!”

...

The crowd of 50,000 bellowed out with deafening battle cries. The sound swept across the City of Sin, threatening to bring the whole place down.

The world-shaking sound startled the forces of Angel Corps. Many of the low rank flying mounts were even scared. Their ranks descended into chaos.

Soaring Angel had an unsightly expression on his face. Just what did Nie Yan say to cause such an impassioned reaction? Before every battle, he would also say a word or two to rouse his subordinates’ hearts. It usually evoked good responses, but never to that kind of effect.

Soaring Angel gradually realized the reason didn’t lay in his players, but rather himself as a leader. He could only bitterly accept the fact he couldn’t compare to Nirvana Flame. His face darkened. So what if you can say a few inspirational words? At the end of the day, strength rules over all! I’ve already prepared my trump card. So, you better wash your neck!

「Fallen Angel already seized the initiative. Let’s not let it go to waste! Kill!」Bladelight said.

「Boss, let’s go win this war!」Summer Bug added.

Nie Yan glanced over at Fallen Angel’s side. Their troops were still operating the enormous Apocalypse Storm, using it to sweep through the forces of the Century Financial Group and Pantheon and forcing them to retreat. The kill count had broke through 4,000.

Bladelight was right. It was time to take action.

"BROTHERS! TODAY, WE KILL!”

Nie Yan’s words immediately spread out to every corner of the army. All the guild members stirred in excitement. They’d been eagerly waiting for this order. Like an erupting volcano, they rushed forth.

"KILL!”

"KILL!!!”

Their killing intent soared to the sky. 25 groups of several thousand flying mounts each charged toward the forces of Angel Corps like a soaring tide. The sky darkened. Leading the charge were the high rank flying mounts of Nie Yan and Xie Yao. The army of flying mounts looked like it would engulf everything in its path.

The spectators on the ground held their breath in awe.

Angel Corps descended into panic. They still hadn’t finished organizing their forces. Many group leaders were busy passing orders down the chain of command. Directing so many players truly wasn’t a simple matter.

Asskickers United’s chain of command was relatively easy and clear cut. Every group, be it comprised of Asskickers United players or of allies like Holy Empire or Radiant Sacred Flame, was commanded by a pillar of Asskickers United, like Bladelight or Smoke Stub. They had full authority. By comparison, Angel Corps’ chain of command was extremely complex. Apart from their main force, there were 30 auxiliary guilds both large and small, each with their own set of rules. When adding the 30 guilds under the Century Financial Group, it became even more complicated. That wasn’t the end, however, as there were still the 60 gaming organisations Cao Xu had recruited for this battle. Simply put, it was a mess. Getting everyone in order in a short time was impossible.

Asskickers United’s army was already closing in. It was too late to take up any sort of battle formation. Soaring Angel gritted his teeth.「Like I said before, today we’re going to wipe out every last enemy! All of you will be rewarded handsomely for every flying mount you kill, the higher the rank, the higher the reward. I, Soaring Angel, am a man of my word. Brothers, charge!」

After receiving Soaring Angel’s orders, Angel Corps’ 50,000 flying mounts charged forward to greet the forces of Asskickers United.

In an instant, the world was engulfed in the flames of battle.

Chapter 911 - Goblin Airship

The two great armies collided, 50,000 versus 50,000. Both sides fought with no regard for their lives as casualties rapidly clambered up.

Nie Yan, Bladelight, and the rest led their respective forces into battle. Before long, their battle formations started helping them gain an advantage. Angel Corps’ forces were completely reliant on Soaring Angel’s command. However, before information reached him, it was already too late to react. In contrast, even though Asskickers United’s 25 groups acted independently of one another, they still managed to fight as a cohesive unit. They carried out a slaughter in the skies, displaying their astonishing might. The enemy’s flying mounts were quickly cut up into chunks.

When the casualties of Asskickers United finally broke through 1,000, Angel Corps had already lost in excess of 3,000 flying mounts.

Soaring Angel charged forward with a great number of flying mounts, forcing six of Asskickers United’s groups to scatter. However, before he could take advantage of the opening, the scattered riders quickly reformed into their groups. Those who couldn’t find their original group simply joined another one. This was a tactic Soaring Angel wasn’t familiar with and as such didn’t know how to respond to.

Soaring Angel became increasingly anxious. He shouted in voice chat,「Wing #1, Wing #2, Wing #3, follow me! Slaughter a way out!」

The Silverwing Dragon took the lead and charged out of the encirclement. Soaring Angel passed down the order to gather, with troops finding their place around him some time later.

Nie Yan looked over the battlefield from atop his Darkwing Dragon. Angel Corps’ army had been divided into 10 sections. Bladelight led Asskickers United’s elite aerial unit forward, employing a tactic to devour the enemy one bite at a time.

「Boss, we can’t hold on any longer!」Natural Fiend shouted anxiously. The group he was leading was clashing with Soaring Angel who led a group of the most elite force of Angel Corps. There wasn’t much he could do as their losses were climbing rapidly to critical levels.

Nie Yan had his Darkwing Dragon rapidly ascend. Looking down, he quickly locked onto a certain section of the battlefield. There he saw 5,000 flying mounts from Angel Corps rushing forward like a surging tide, threatening to swallow up three smaller groups from Asskickers United. At their head, Soaring Angel led his Silverwing Dragon in killing three Asskickers United flying mounts in a row.

「Bladelight, Smoke Stub, listen up. Bring your forces with you. We’re going to pay Soaring Angel a visit!」Nie Yan said as he had his Darkwing Dragon swoop down.

Bladelight and Smoke Stub immediately led their forces toward the location Nie Yan gave them.

The ground was just as hectic and chaotic as the battle up in the air, with scores of players scrambling for Life Cores.

"Look at the sky!” someone shouted.

Many players raised their heads to see what the commotion was about. Up there, 25 processions of flying mounts were charging forward. They split up Angel Corps’ army into smaller sections, gnawing at them bit by bit. Angel Corps was forced into the passive.

"It looks like Angel Corps really can’t compare to Asskickers United!”

"I wouldn’t say that so soon. Even if their forces are split up, it still won’t be easy for Asskickers United to eat them up!”

"Look over there! Soaring Angel’s Silverwing Dragon!”

The spectators looked toward the east, where a silver white dragon with several thousand other flying mounts in tow were slaughtering their way out of Asskickers United’s encirclement. The Silverwing Dragon tore several enemy flying mounts into shreds as his troops gradually managed to reconvene.

"Sure enough, Soaring Angel lives up to his reputation. I heard his Silverwing Dragon’s growth rate is the same as the Darkwing Dragon’s. If only their difference in rank wasn’t so great.”

Soaring Angel was about to break out of the encirclement, when two more groups of enemy flying mounts came flying over.

"It’s the Darkwing Dragon!”

"My god! It’s huge!”

From high within the clouds, an enormous black dragon came swooping down. It was more than eight times larger than the Silverwing Dragon.

These two dragons might have the same growth rate, but they were nothing alike. One looked like a grown up, the other like a child. At a glance, anyone could tell these two weren’t on the same level.

Everyone held their breath. Was the Silverwing Dragon going to die here?

"Brothers, kill!” Soaring Angel cried out hoarsely, oblivious to the fact a frightening flying mount had already locked onto him from above. He led his troops charging out of the encirclement, killing hundreds of enemy flying mounts, and madly attempted to gather his scattered forces back together. His eyes were completely bloodshot. Only a little further, and it would be their turn to be on the offensive!

"Boss, watch out!”

Soaring Angel’s heart trembled. He barely had to raise his head to see the enormous shadow blotting out his vision. It was fast as lightning.

Nirvana Flame! Soaring Angel lost all will to fight in the face of the Darkwing Dragon. It was more than eight times larger than his Silverwing Dragon. Its enormous claws could easily crush both him and his mount to death.

This speed! The Silverwing Dragon had no way of dodging in time! Soaring Angel despaired.

"Boss, escape!” Stone Splitter shouted anxiously. There was no time to hesitate. He let out a roar and had his Vermillion Garuda ram the Silverwing Dragon out of the way!

BANG! The Silverwing Dragon was knocked back.

The Darkwing Dragon’s vice-like claws gripped down on the Vermillion Garuda.

"SQUAAAK!” The Vermillion Garuda screamed in agony as it struggled to escape.

PSFHT! PSFHT! PSFHT! Blood and guts rained down from the sky. The Darkwing Dragon tore the Vermillion Garuda apart. Letting its mangled corpse drop from the sky, it turned around and pounced toward the Silverwing Dragon.

"No! Stone Splitter! Damn you, Nirvana Flame! You’ll pay for this!” Soaring Angel’s eyes burned with hatred. However, there was no time to hesitate. He had Silverwing Dragon drop into freefall to avoid the attack.

The Darkwing Dragon’s claws came slashing down, ripping open a deep wound across the Silverwing Dragon’s back.

PSFHT! The Silverwing Dragon’s blood splashed on the Darkwing Dragon.

The Darkwing Dragon moved in for the killing blow. The Angel Corps players in the surroundings, none of whom had a flying mount above Rank 6, reacted instantly. They posed zero threat to the Darkwing Dragon, but they didn’t need to. Their only goal was to slow it down enough to let Soaring Angel escape with his Silverwing Dragon still alive. Like a cardboard wall, they were torn through by the Darkwing Dragon’s claws. However, they successfully gave Soaring Angel the precious few seconds he so desperately needed.

Nie Yan quickly switched to his backup plan. He ordered his Spectre Dragon to finish off the Silverwing Dragon, but several Rank 7 flying mounts came flying over from the side and intercepted it.

Angel Corps’ troops were just about to turn the tables on Asskickers United, when they suddenly suffered an attack from the Darkwing Dragon. The Silverwing Dragon fled with serious injuries while they lost a Vermillion Garuda and several Rank 6 flying mounts. What little morale they’d built up was instantly destroyed. Even the Silverwing Dragon couldn’t stand up to a single attack from the Darkwing Dragon. If Stone Splitter hadn’t sacrificed his Vermillion Garuda, it would’ve already been dead. Just who could stop the Darkwing Dragon?

At this moment, Bladelight and Smoke Stub’s forces arrived. Several Rank 7 flying mounts led the charge as they slaughtered their way into Angel Corps’ ranks. The enemy was quickly routed.

After taking care of the dozen Rank 6 flying mounts blocking his way, Nie Yan searched around. The Silverwing Dragon was nowhere to be seen. Soaring Angel had fled pretty quickly!

When the casualties of Asskickers United finally broke through 2,000, Angel Corps had already lost in excess of 8,000 flying mounts.

Even though the Silverwing Dragon had escaped with its life, it had suffered heavy injuries. If Soaring Angel wanted to gather his troops back together, it wouldn’t be easy. Plus, he would constantly have to watch out for Nie Yan’s ambush. If he were the slightest bit careless, he could very well die at the hands of the Darkwing Dragon.

...

Back in the Clemenci Stronghold, Cao Xu was monitoring the progress of the battle through live video feeds. He’d just seen the brief encounter between Nie Yan and Soaring Angel that left the latter with a heavily injured Silverwing Dragon.

Cao Xu couldn’t help but wring his wrist. Thinking back to everything that happened over these past few years, it was like Nirvana Flame was his destined enemy. With his first appearance, Nirvana Flame had wrecked his plans in the Viridian Empire by crushing Victorious Return and the several other guilds under his control. This had forced him to pull out his assets in the Viridian Empire and shift his focus to the Satreen Empire. However, it seemed like that bastard still wasn’t satisfied and wanted to completely force him into a dead end!

The Century Financial Group’s main business was in virtual reality. Nirvana Flame single handedly caused their market share to shrink by close to 60% and made them miss out on the best opportunity to expand. Cao Xu had invested an enormous amount of money into Conviction, but was yet to see any return. If he pulled out of the game now, the consequences would be extremely dire. If this information were to leak out, it would be a fatal blow to the company. As a publicly traded company, their market value would evaporate into nothing.

Under this kind of situation, Cao Xu could only steel his nerves and press forward. Staring at Nie Yan’s figure through the video, he coldly chuckled. "Don’t get so full of yourself! Even if we lose, we’ll take you down with us! Have a taste of our newest aerial weapon!” He passed down the order in the voice chat,「Use the airships! Blast them to oblivion!」

Nie Yan stood on the Darkwing Dragon’s head. He disposed of the Angel Corps flying mounts in the vicinity while looking for traces of Soaring Angel. Only after killing Soaring Angel would he feel reassured. The enemy had to be eliminated at the roots. He would not allow Soaring Angel the opportunity to mount a comeback!

The Darkwing Dragon crushed two more Rank 6 flying mounts to death. Nie Yan’s kill count reached 76, six of which were Rank 7 while the rest were Rank 6.

Angel Corps’ defeat was already set in stone. Nie Yan was just about to have his troops sweep through the remainder of the enemy’s forces, when several loud explosions rang out. Looking towards the source of the sound, he spotted several plumes of black smoke rising up in the air from Fallen Angel’s side. His face paled. What was that!?

Chapter 912 - Illusion Revealed

Warlance and his forces held the upper hand on their side of the battlefield. Fallen Angel’s Apocalypse Storm had already killed 5,000 flying mounts from the Century Financial Group and Pantheon. Wherever it went, the enemy would flee in a panic.

「Brothers, wipe out every last one of them!」Warlance shouted as he proudly stood atop his Bone Dragon.

The Apocalypse Storm annihilated everything in its path. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before it wiped out the Century Financial Group and Pantheon!

As Warlance and his forces were about to go in for the kill, the Century Financial Group and Pantheon’s troops suddenly split apart, revealing five enormous airships.

The airships were 60 meters long, carried up in the air by enormous balloons made out of some unknown material. The gondolas had dozens of cannon holes with muzzles sticking out. These were the latest Goblin Megacannons! One could imagine their destructive might!

Warlance wasn’t sure what these airships were powered by, but they were extremely fast, moving through the air nimbly and freely.

"W-what are those?” Warlance blurted out in shock. He wouldn’t have to wait long. What happened next would be deeply engraved in his mind.

The cannons on the five airships all took aim and fired. BOOM! BOOM!BOOM! The shells released frightening explosions as they struck the ranks of Fallen Angel, forcing them into immediate retreat. Countless flying mounts let out miserable cries as they were shot out of the sky by the cannons.

With half the Thunderwing Bone Hawks dead and the others scattering for safety, the Apocalypse Storm exploded with a deafening boom!

The firepower of the latest magic cannons was at least a dozen times greater than their regular counterpart. The Century Financial Group had spent a mind-boggling amount of resources and manpower to produce just 50 of these cannons and install them into the airships.

The cannons fired again as explosions rocked the entire sky.

Three shells exploded in range of Warlance. The shock waves swept over him and his Bone Dragon, with his mount taking the brunt of the damage. Scorch marks covered its scales. Warlance looked behind him. His forces were in utter chaos. Only five rounds of attacks, and Fallen Angel had lost close to 70% percent of their forces while the survivors were all badly wounded.

Shit! Where the hell did Angel Corps get these airships!? Warlance’s heart trembled.

「Kill them all! They’re already too weak to fight back!」

「Don't let them escape!」

The forces from the Century Financial Group and Pantheon hurriedly moved to surround Warlance and the surviving troops of Fallen Angel. All paths of escape were blocked off.

「Boss, I’m sorry. We tried our best,」Warlance sent to Plenty. He then straightened his back and turned around to face what was left of his army. He shouted at the top of his lungs, "BROTHERS! THIS IS OUR LAST STAND! FIGHT WITH ALL YOU HAVE! DON’T LET THESE BASTARDS THINK WE’RE EASY PICKINGS!”

Warlance led his remaining forces forward fearlessly in one final charge. They would make the enemy pay a heavy price for their lives!

They fought bravely, but eventually succumbed to the overwhelming power of the Century Financial Group and Pantheon.

The ear-splitting explosions continued long after the final member of Fallen Angel died before eventually settling down.

「Have someone find out what’s going on!」Nie Yan said in voice chat.

「Boss, Fallen Angel’s forces are completely wiped out! The Century Financial Group somehow managed to get their hands on five Goblin Airships. They mounted Goblin Megacannons on them. It was a massacre! Those airships are heading for us right now!」Paladin of the Elegy said. If those airships were allowed near them, he didn’t dare to imagine the consequences.

「Goblin Airships?」Nie Yan knitted his brows. He knew that the Century Financial Group's factories were producing something, but until now he never found out what.「Have the Kamikaze Drakes set out! This is the decisive moment!」

「Understood!」Paladin of the Elegy said. He immediately passed down the order.

The Century Financial Group and Pantheon had lost more than 8,000 flying mounts to Fallen Angel. Those still alive recovered their health and mana before moving towards Asskickers United.

「All members, listen to my commands! Focus on quick kills and be ready to retreat at a moment’s notice!」Nie Yan didn’t dare to be careless. He had no idea exactly how strong the airships were. Before he understood what they were capable of, he didn’t dare to let his troops face them head-on.

Asskickers United’s troops intensified their assault, cleaning up Angel Corps’ remnant forces.

When the casualties of Asskickers United finally broke through 10,000, Angel Corps had already lost in excess of 18,000 flying mounts. It was clear which side had the advantage.

The 13,000 flying mounts from the Century Financial Group and Pantheon were fast approaching.

「Retreat!」Nie Yan ordered. The forces of Asskickers United beat a quick retreat.

The surviving players from Angel Corps breathed a sigh of relief. They merged together with the forces of the Century Financial Group and Pantheon.

Soaring Angel finally showed his face again. He had his troops rest up and reorganize while his focus shifted from Nie Yan to the five Goblin Airships. They looked like flying fortresses as they gave off a suffocating pressure. The 50 Megacannons looked especially astonishing.

With these superweapons, they could absolutely crush Asskickers United! Soaring Angel’s face warped with a sinister expression. Ever since he was little, he was a heaven-proud son. Everything had always gone his way, no one dared to even touch a hair on his head. Only when he entered Conviction, did he experience how it felt to have someone stand up to you. Nie Yan wasn’t afraid of him. He sought him out in battle, and beat him again and again. By now, his hatred for Nie Yan already ran bone deep, wishing for nothing more than to tear him to pieces. These airships gave him some much needed confidence. So what if the other side had a Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon? If it took a shelling from these cannons, it would still be blasted to smithereens!

Some distance away, Nie Yan finished reorganizing his troops. Standing atop the head of the Darkwing Dragon, he looked over toward the forces of Angel Corps, the Century Financial Group, and Pantheon. Among the tens of thousands of flying mounts were five enormous airships. They were as large if not larger than the Darkwing Dragon, and all of them were fitted with a dozen Goblin Megacannons.

Angel Corps was anxious to continue the battle, afraid Nie Yan would escape.

The five Goblin Airships led the charge. They weren’t any slower than regular flying mounts. Their cannons were pointed forward, ready to fire. They were protected by a larger number of high rank flying mounts.

「Boss, here is the footage of the airships attacking Fallen Angel’s troops!」Paladin of the Elegy said.

Nie Yan skimmed through the video. He made a quick assessment. These airships fitted with Goblin Megacannons were ridiculously powerful. Even he wasn’t sure he could defend against their astonishing firepower. It looked like he could only rely on the Kamikaze Drakes, his final trump card.

「Maintain your distance. Be prepared to flank the enemy at my command!」Nie Yan said in voice chat.

At this time, the forces from Angel Corps split apart, revealing another 20 airships. The 25 airships split into groups of five as they moved forward in a crescent formation.

「What the hell!? When did they multiply!?」

「There are so many of them!」

「What’s going on!?」

Asskickers United’s players instantly fell into a panic. They thought there were only five airships. Now there were 25! They felt an immense pressure weighing down on their hearts.

「Boss, how did this happen!?」

Nie Yan knitted his brows. It couldn’t be so easy to make these airships. How on earth did they find the time and resources to produce so many of them? A thought popped up in his mind. An illusion!

Eye of Truth!

Nie Yan’s eyes blossomed out with a profound light. As he scanned the airships, he instantly saw through the illusion. Only five of the 25 airships were real!

Angel Corps had tried to use these illusions to attract enemy attacks, allowing the real airships to close in unharmed and deal a fatal blow to Asskickers United’s troops. However, Nie Yan had seen through it.

「Group #1, Group #3, Group #6, Group #7, Group #12, flank the enemy from the right and attack!」 Nie Yan ordered.

「B-b-but Boss, there are seven airships coming straight for us!」Summer Bug cried out. They had all witnessed the might of the airships.

「Don’t worry! They’re just illusions. Ignore them and attack!」Nie Yan said. They would attack the enemy from the flank, then look for an opportunity to deal a serious blow. Blindly evading would only lead to more losses.

「Illusions? They’re fake?」

「Only five are real. Just listen to my commands. Don’t worry about anything else,」Nie Yan said.

「No wonder! So they are just illusions! We were nearly fooled by them!」

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. If it weren’t for Nie Yan seeing through the illusion, the consequences would have been grave. Even though these illusions would’ve only attracted their firepower for a brief moment, it was enough to dictate the tide of battle. Once they were forced into the passive, it would be difficult to seize back the initiative.

Chapter 913 - Detonate! Wipe the Enemy out!

Under the cover of the Goblin Airships, the forces from Angel Corps charged toward Asskickers United. They had no idea that the illusions they created had already been seen through. That the enemy was about to attack them from the flank.

The five airships rapidly closed in on Asskickers United’s main force. However, as they were about to enter firing range, the enemy suddenly beat a quick retreat.

Soaring Angel closely observed Asskickers United’s movements. Anxious the enemy would escape, he shouted,「Hurry up! Don’t let them escape!」

The airships went into full throttle as they chased after the retreating force.

Nie Yan had the Darkwing Dragon ascend several hundred meters in the air. He looked down and surveyed the entire battlefield from a bird’s eye view.

Angel Corps’ flank suffered an attack, forcing them to divert some of their forces to deal with it. Another force of Asskickers United had snuck up behind Angel Corps and were ready to deal them a heavy blow.

Nie Yan swept his eyes over the battlefield and locked onto several Kamikaze Drakes. They had a wooden frame which was protected by a layer of black metal. To make them resemble ordinary flying mounts, a layer of gray feathers covered the black metal. They were indistinguishable among the other flying mounts. He only spotted them because he knew what to look for.

「Boss, the Kamikaze Drakes are in position. All you need to do is give the order!」Paladin of the Elegy said.

「Good!」Nie Yan looked down. Angel Corps’ troops had taken the shape of an enormous sphere. With so many flying mounts in close proximity, able to lend a hand at a moment’s notice, their defenses increased severalfold. This put a quick stop to Asskickers United’s attempts to attack, because each time they would also suffer heavy losses.「The enemy is digging their own grave. With their forces clustered so close together, the Kamikaze Drakes will be even more effective.」

「What do we do about those five airships?」Bladelight asked.

「Keep your distance from them for now. Their firepower poses too much of a threat. The Kamikaze Drakes probably won’t get to them either, with all those flying mounts protecting them. Let’s just focus on Angel Corps’ main force first. We’ll take care of the airships after!」Nie Yan said.

「Sounds good to me!」Bladelight replied.

Nie Yan ordered in voice chat,「Kamikaze Drakes #1–10, go! Those nearby, cover them!」

Spread out and under the cover of other flying mounts, 10 Kamikaze Drakes were quickly nearing Angel Corps’ main force. At the last second, the Kamikaze Drakes broke off from the group and charged straight into the enemy’s ranks.

"Brothers! For the glory of Asskickers United! KILL!” an Elementalist riding a Kamikaze Drake shouted at the top of his lungs.

The 10 Kamikaze Drake riders all had that steely resolve borne from embracing death with open arms.

They were loyal members of Asskickers United, trusted subordinates of Nie Yan and Guo Huai. When they were asked to man the Kamikaze Drakes, they agreed without hesitation despite knowing this was a one-way trip. This was their opportunity to provide a great contribution to the guild and go out in a blaze of glory!

…

Some Angel Corps players located in the outer ring of the sphere were chatting.

「Hey, what do you think? Will we win this war?」

「Hard to say. One thing is for sure though, they don’t have anything as powerful as our five Goblin Airships! The firepower on those things is ridiculous!」a Mage said, his voice trembling with excitement as he recalled the previous scene of the airships annihilating the forces of Fallen Angel. If he were in their crosshairs, he would probably be blasted to smithereens!

「Look over there!」a Warrior cried out in alarm.

「What?」Several pairs of eyes flicked over to the direction the Warrior pointed toward, widening as they took in the few relatively small flying mounts charging straight at them. Their riders manning them seemed to be shouting unintelligible ravings at the top of their lungs. Some of the Angel Corps players couldn’t help but chuckle in amusement.

「The hell is that? Flying mounts? Rank 5 or 4?」

「They must have lost their minds! What can several low rank flying mounts possibly do? They’re pretty much throwing their lives away!」

Several Rank 6 flying mounts moved to intercept the wannabe rambos. Unconcerned, they approached the Kamikaze Drakes, who executed rolls mid-air and flew right past them.

「What!? So fast!」The Angel Corps players widened their eyes in alarm.

They were all confused. What was Nirvana Flame planning? These low rank flying mounts posed zero threat.

Behind them, an earth-shattering explosion rang out. They hurriedly turned around to witness a terrifying scene.

A Kamikaze Drake rammed straight into Angel Corps’ ranks and exploded, scorching hot flames erupting out. Hundreds of flying mounts were turned to ash as Life Cores started raining down. Many more received serious injuries, barely clinging onto their life.

The explosive power of five kilograms of gunpowder was extremely frightening. Add in the fact that Angel Corps’ troops were so concentrated together, and it was a recipe for disaster.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

「Stop them! Don’t let them get close!」

「Quickly stop them!」

The players from Angel Corps shouted in a panic, but their voices were drowned out by the sound of explosions.

The 10 Kamikaze Drakes took down with them 1,500 flying mounts, while another 2,500 were basically out of commission.

This was a devastating blow! These Kamikaze Drakes weren’t any less frightening than their Goblin Airships!

...

The players from Asskickers United were similarly shocked. What frightening explosions! Before long, they erupted into thunderous cheers.

「M-my god! W-what was that!?」

「The boss has done it again! Who would’ve thought he still had something like this up his sleeve! Amazing!」

「I wonder how many more we have! Angel Corps are really in for it this time!」

「Damn! What an explosion!」Undying Scoundrel gasped in admiration.

「Of course, they’re packing five kilograms of gunpowder each!」Smoke Stub smiled.

「Damn. We should’ve spent more time building those things. We wouldn’t even have to fight ourselves then, just let them bomb everything to smithereens.」

「How could it be that easy? Do you know how much resources and manpower went into making these 300 Kamikaze Drakes!? Plus, the range of the explosions is limited. So, they’re only effective in situations where the enemy is crowded together. If the target scatters, they lose all effectiveness,」Nie Yan said.

「The boss really did plan far ahead for this battle with Angel Corps. He was leading them right into a trap from the start! All we have to do is surround them now. If they try to break out, we’ll just kill them. If they stay inside, they’ll be blasted to death by our Kamikaze Drakes. None of them will escape alive!」Tyrannical chuckled.

Everyone suddenly realized Nie Yan’s plan. So, it turned out Nie Yan wouldn’t settle for a win, but desired the complete annihilation of Angel Corps’ forces! No wonder he had waited until now to take action!

「Second wave, Kamikaze Drakes #11–30, kill!」Nie Yan shouted. Another 20 Kamikaze Drakes charged toward Angel Corps’ forces.

「What’s going on?」Soaring Angel shouted, alarmed. The Kamikaze Drakes had attacked them from behind. As he was at the front of the formation, all he heard were the loud explosions.

「Boss! We’re under attack! We’ve lost over 1,000 troops already!」

「They’re suicide bombers! Their flying mounts are exploding!」

「My god! There are more!」

Soaring Angel felt his heart sink to the pit of his stomach. This was clearly a long worked on plan! They had simply been waiting for this exact moment to strike!

「Boss, what do we do?」

「Break out of the encirclement! Have the Goblin Airships lead the vanguard!」Soaring Angel gritted his teeth. They were surrounded. If Asskickers United continued sending Kamikaze Drakes at them, they would eventually be annihilated!

Another frightening explosion rang out from the rear, threatening to rupture Soaring Angel’s eardrums.

「Protect the Goblin Airships! Don’t let those flying mounts get close to the airships! All airships maintain one third of your firepower. If you see any of those exploding flying mounts, blast them!」Soaring Angel ordered. If the Goblin Airships were taken down by the Kamikaze Drakes, their last ray of hope would be gone.

Summon Hell Fiend Dragons!

Three dragons even larger than the Darkwing Dragon appeared within Angel Corps’ ranks and came charging out towards Asskickers United’s forces.

Nie Yan narrowed his eyes. So, Angel Corps still had this kind of trump card. These three Hell Fiend Dragons weren’t flying mounts, but rather summons. They looked quite strong. If Asskickers United didn’t have the Kamikaze Drakes, they would’ve suffered greatly under these dragons.

「Blast them!」Nie Yan ordered. Three Kamikaze Drakes headed straight toward the Hell Fiend Dragons.

BOOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The three Hell Fiend Dragons were instantly reduced to ash.

With 20 Kamikaze Drakes diving into Angel Corps’ ranks, another frightening chain of explosions rang out. Without even bothering to look at the results, Nie Yan passed down the next order.「Third wave! Kamikaze Drakes #30–60! Go!」

Chapter 914 - Splendid Victory

Another 30 Kamikaze Dragons sped toward Angel Corps’ main force.

Explosions rang out endlessly. The players from Angel Corps tried to flee in fear. However, most never got the chance as they were engulfed in flames.

The few players who did escape from the Kamikaze Drakes flew straight into the flying mounts from Asskickers United waiting for them.

The assault of the Kamikaze Drakes didn’t look like it would stop any time soon. Panic spread like wildfire through the ranks of Angel Corps. Even though they were all loyal members of the guild and their flying mounts were mostly provided to them by the guild, in this kind of situation, it was still every man for themselves. They fell into an awkward position. If they gathered together, they would die to the Kamikaze Drakes. If they scattered, they would be picked off by the troops of Asskickers United. They were dead either way. Not a single one of them managed to escape the encirclement. It was just as Nie Yan said. Leave none alive! Even Rank 7 flying mounts were instantly killed by the Kamikaze Drakes!

After five waves of attacks and 200 Kamikaze Drakes exploding, Angel Corps’ forces were decimated. The survivors were badly wounded and cleaned up by the flying mounts of Asskickers United. Only a smaller force of about 3,000 that was protecting the airships were still alive.

Angel Corps was standing on its last leg. Once those five airships were destroyed, they would be defeated.

Asskickers United had them completely surrounded with 20,000 flying mounts. Because of the five airships, none of them dared to go up. A portion of their forces tried to close in. However, under the fierce firepower of the airships, they suffered 3,000 casualties and immediately retreated.

50 Rank 6 flying mounts protected the airships from Kamikaze Drakes.

Five Kamikaze Drakes flew toward the airship. However, when they reached within 300 meters, they were quickly discovered. They airships concentrated firepower toward them. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Over 20 Goblin Megacannons fired at once, engulfing the Kamikaze Drakes in explosions and causing the gunpowder they carried to explode as well.

All five Kamikaze Drakes were destroyed.

「Boss, they are too strong! We have no way of approaching them!」Paladin of the Elegy cried out.

「Have 10 more Kamikaze Drakes go forward! Continue bombarding their troops! Wipe out their remaining 3,000 flying mounts!」

Another 10 Kamikaze Drakes circled round to the rear and charged toward the troops of Angel Corps.

It was impossible for the five airships to protect all 3,000 flying mounts. There would always be an opportunity for the Kamikaze Drakes.

...

The players from Angel Corps had learned through pain. Spotting the Kamikaze Dragons charging over, they immediately scattered though not so far as to run into Asskickers United’s encirclement. Like this, they could minimize casualties.

「What in the world are those things? Their firepower is ridiculous!」an Angel Corps player cursed.

「A friend told me. They’re called Kamikaze Drakes. Each one carries five kilograms of gunpowder.」

Five kilograms of gunpowder? Everyone sucked in a breath of cold air. Gunpowder was extremely rare, selling for up to 30,000 gold per kilogram. Only the rich, like large guilds, could afford it. Five kilograms was equivalent to up to 150,000 gold, and at least 200 Kamikaze Drakes had exploded so far. That was 30,000,000 gold! Plus the other production costs! This was no longer fighting a war but rather burning money!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Another 10 explosions rang out.

「Damn! How many Kamikaze Drakes do they have!?」someone cursed. They were being driven mad by these Kamikaze Drakes. As soon as they saw the silhouette of one, their hearts would tremble in fear. These machines were too frightening!

「There shouldn’t be many more. That last wave wasn’t as fierce as before. They’re probably running out.」

「Don’t underestimate Nirvana Flame. We have five Goblin Airships on our side. Apart from the Kamikaze Drakes, they have nothing that can stop those airships. Do you really think he will waste their greatest weapon unnecessarily? They have definitely saved some to deal with our airships. And without airships, we are screwed!」a Mage said.

Everyone paled in fear upon hearing these words. If Asskickers United still had a hundred more Kamikaze Drakes, they were doomed.

This round, 1,000 flying mounts fell to the 10 Kamikaze Drakes.

Soaring Angel felt his heart bleeding. For the sake of these flying mounts, he had poured in blood, sweat, and tears. He had regularly dispatched 100,000-man expedition teams to the Griffon Woodlands to build up this powerful air force. All his hard work, it was being destroyed before his eyes. Of the original 50,000 flying mounts, only 1,500 remained. Their last line of defense were the five Goblin Airships. However, without flying mounts to protect them, these airships would be exposed. An overwhelming sense of despair welled up in his heart.

Back in the Clemenci Stronghold, Cao Xu saw everything in real time through the livestream. He helplessly slumped back into his seat, a look of disbelief on his face. All his hopes were shattered by the explosions of the Kamikaze Drakes.

...

「Boss, only the five airships are left now. How should we proceed?」Paladin of the Elegy asked. Angel Corps didn’t have many flying mounts left. However, even without the protection of the flying mounts, the airships carried enough firepower to take out thousands of Asskickers United’s flying mounts before they could get close. Though victory was right within grasp, how to go about achieving it was the real problem.

「Send out all the remaining Kamikaze Drakes. Have 5,000 low rank flying mounts cover them!」Nie Yan said. Even if they had to cut off one of their limbs, the airships had to be destroyed!

With Nie Yan’s command, Asskickers United blew the final horn of battle. 5,000 low rank flying mounts shielded the remaining 90 Kamikaze Drakes as they charged forward from all directions.

The airships launched a fierce resistance the moment the enemy got in range. The sound of cannon fire drowned out the shouts of the charging Asskickers United players.

Soaring Angel’s face turned pale.

The sound of cannonfire and Kamikaze Drakes exploding mixed together before disappearing in the skies above the City of Sin.

After sacrificing 3,000 flying mounts and 61 Kamikaze Drakes, Asskickers United finally wiped out the last remaining forces of Angel Corps.

About 21,000 flying mounts from Asskickers United lived, 10,000 of which were wounded. Even though the losses were severe, compared to complete annihilation, it didn’t count for much.

Nie Yan had Paladin of the Elegy tabulate the results of the battle.

「Boss, the reports are in. We’ve collected a total of 26,000 Life Cores and 32,000 pieces of equipment!」Paladin of the Elegy exclaimed. Even though a large portion of the Life Cores had been snatched up by other guilds, their harvest was still quite good.

「Boss, we have wiped out Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group’s 52,000 flying mounts and Pantheon’s 5,200 flying mounts!」Tyrannical said, his voice trembling with excitement. He hadn’t expected they would achieve such amazing results.

「What are our casualties?」

「We’ve lost 12,000 flying mounts, and Fallen Angel lost 3,000,」Paladin of the Elegy replied.

A splendid victory for Asskickers United! They were the new rulers of the skies!

Asskickers United’s air force gathered back together. For the first time since the start of the battle, the skies above the City of Sin turned tranquil again.

Seeing Nie Yan standing atop the Darkwing Dragon’s head like a war god, the players in the vicinity were racing with excitement, unable to calm down.

Nie Yan swept his eyes over the crowd, 25,000 players and flying mounts in total. From now on, there was no other force that could contend with them in the skies of the Righteous Faction!

"Brothers, victory is ours! Today is only the first step! Not long from now, we will crush Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group beneath our feet! Not long from now, we will rule over the entire Atlanta Continent and unify the Righteous Faction! Not long from now, the world we look down at from our flying mounts will be ours! We will have control of over 70 cities and 1,000 strongholds! We will bring about the start of a brand new age!” Nie Yan declared.

Rule over the entire Atlanta Continent and unify the Righteous Faction, this was an extremely grand goal! However, it didn’t seem all that far away.

"Two hours from now, gather in Okoron to receive your rewards!” Nie Yan chuckled. After achieving victory, naturally those who fought hard would be rewarded.

"Long live the boss!”

"Long live Nirvana Flame!”

…

The crowd broke out in deafening cheers. This was undoubtedly a moment worth celebrating.

Back on the ground, the hundreds of thousands of players in the City of Sin also heard Nie Yan’s declaration. Unifying the entire Atlanta continent, just how glorious of an achievement would this be? However, none of them doubted Nie Yan’s words. Angel Corps’ air force had suffered a crushing defeat. With no aerial force to support them, their ground troops would be forced into the passive. In the entire Righteous Faction, there was no one else that could block Asskickers United’s advance.

Chapter 915 - Supreme Pontiff!

The players in the City of Sin chatted about the battle and Nie Yan’s declaration of unification.

"I’m afraid Angel Corps can’t stop Asskickers United’s advance anymore. After this battle, Asskickers United’s morale must be at an all time high.”

"It looks like Asskickers United really is going to unify the Righteous Faction. If I knew this would happen, I would’ve joined them when I had the chance,” a Warrior said enviously as he gazed at the Asskickers United players in the sky.

"Aren’t you the one who always looks down on Asskickers United?”

"That was long ago! And this now! Asskickers United will rule the entire Righteous Faction. I’d be a stubborn idiot to refuse to acknowledge that.”

Those who still doubted Asskickers United’s chances of victory quickly changed their tunes. Many opportunity seekers would naturally latch onto the success of the guild. However, it was already too late for them to join. Even if they did, they would be nobodies.

This battle placed Asskickers United at the peak of glory.

News of the victory in the City of Sin quickly reached the ears of the other players from Asskickers United. Millions of guild members erupted into cheers as their morale soared. They rode the momentum from this victory to intensify their assault. Within the span of half an hour, they captured five enemy strongholds.

「Let’s head back,」Nie Yan said.

The 25,000 flying mounts set off back toward Okoron.

Guo Huai messaged Nie Yan, chuckling.「Nie Yan, Fallen Angel just sent word congratulating us on defeating Angel Corps.」

「I’m sure they’re just as happy about Angel Corps’ defeat as we are,」Nie Yan said. Angel Corps was Fallen Angel’s sworn enemy. With Soaring Angel suffering a crushing defeat, the person celebrating the most was Plenty.

「I’m afraid they won’t have much time to celebrate. Apparently, Fallen Angel and Pantheon have also entered an all-out war. Fallen Angel somehow got their hands on some brand new war machines. Last I heard, they already steamrolled through 21 of Pantheon's strongholds.」

「Oh? Really?」Nie Yan remarked in surprise.

「With those two fighting it out, we at least won’t have to worry about Pantheon trying to find trouble with us,」Guo Huai said. After this last battle, he had designated Pantheon as enemies.

「Fallen Angel have their own plans. If we unify the Righteous Faction, even though they won’t have to worry about Angel Corps anymore, they’ll have no choice but to respond to the pressure coming from us. Taking advantage of our conflict with Angel Corps to swallow up Pantheon is probably the wisest choice,」Nie Yan said.

Guo Huai pondered for a moment,「So, Fallen Angel is next?」

「Most likely, but I can’t say for sure. Even if we do find each other on opposing sides, neither one of us can threaten the other’s main base. If it does come to that, it won’t be a war between guilds, but a war between factions. So, we should prepare, but there’s no need to be too worried,」Nie Yan analyzed.

「I see.」Guo Huai nodded.

「Gather up the top Thieves in the guild, and tell them to assemble in the special conference hall in Okoron. I need about 300.」

「What are you planning?」Guo Huai asked in surprise. If Nie Yan was gathering the top 300 Thieves in the guild, it couldn’t be something simple.「Want me to call Sun, King of the World, Mistaken Smile, and the others as well?」

「Yes, have them come too. I want our most elite members. I have an important mission for them.」

Guo Huai didn’t dare to dally. He immediately passed down the order to the top 300 Thieves in the guild to assemble in the conference hall in Okoron.

About half an hour later, Nie Yan arrived in the conference hall. The 300 Thieves were already waiting inside.

"Boss!”

"Boss!”

They greeted him enthusiastically, their faces filled with joy and excitement. They were still celebrating their victory over Angel Corps.

"Big Bro, what do you need us for?” Sun asked.

They stared at Nie Yan. He had to have gathered them for something special. After all, with 19 Shadow Dancers, most of which advanced after the Age of God’s expansion, and many other extremely talented Thieves, this was a force to be reckoned with.

"I called you over here because I have an important mission for you,” Nie Yan said.

"Just leave it to us, Boss! We’ll handle whatever mission you throw at us!” a player shouted. The others echoed his sentiments.

They were all excited. Nie Yan had gathered them back together so soon after defeating Angel Corps. He definitely had some kind of world-shaking mission for them.

"This mission will probably be a bit troublesome. I need you to help me collect some items,” Nie Yan said. He knew the locations of all the remaining chapters from the Book of Order, but it would take forever if he went after them himself He originally planned to push this to the backburner, but an orc Warrior called Hell Moon had already collected five chapters. If he completed a volume, that would make it incredibly difficult for Nie Yan to finish the Book of Order. So, he gathered all these Thieves here to help him collect the remaining chapters.

"Help you collect what?”

"Boss, what do you need us to help you collect?”

"The chapters from the Book of Order!” Nie Yan replied.

Everyone’s hearts trembled. They had all heard about the chapters from the Book of Order before. In the eyes of the players, the chapters were extremely mysterious items. Each one would greatly boost your stats. Some even had powerful supplementary skills. More importantly, they took effect while in your bag. It was rumored there were 36 chapters altogether, with every six chapters making a volume. A volume was like an equipment set, giving all kinds of amazing stat bonuses. It was already no longer a secret that Nie Yan had the Glimpse of Darkness. Legend also told that anyone who collected all six volumes and completed the Book of Order would become the Supreme Pontiff of the Temple of Light. This was undoubtedly a paramount existence.

"Boss, we don’t know where those chapters are. How are we supposed to find them?”

"Yeah, Big Bro. We have no idea where they are,” Sun chimed in. Many people wanted to find the chapters from the Book of Order. However, this wasn’t something that could be looked for but had to be chanced upon through luck. There were only a few special situations under which you could find out the location of a chapter. For example, if you possessed one chapter, you could see what players held the other chapters from that volume and where they were.

"Don’t worry. I know the locations of all the chapters. All you guys have to do is go where I tell you to go,” Nie Yan explained. After obtaining the Intermediate Adjudicator of Light title, he learned the locations of all the chapters of the Book of Order. All he had to do was collect them. With so many highly skilled Thieves helping him, it wouldn’t be long before they were all in his hands.

"R-really?” The Thieves stared at him in disbelief. If Nie Yan really knew the locations of all the chapters, then with all of them helping out, it wouldn’t take more than a few days for them to collect all the chapters. In other words, Nie Yan would become the Supreme Pontiff of the Temple of Light in a few days!

This title was like a huge clap of thunder in their hearts.

The Supreme Pontiff was an existence that stood on equal footing with Jebiah the Great and the Orc King. They could mobilize the entire military force of the Temple of the Light and grant titles to Priests and Paladins, allowing them to obtain more benefits while levelling. Not to mention the many other privileges, far too many to count.

If Nie Yan truly became the Supreme Prontif, all Priests and Paladins had better start worshipping the air he breathed. Pretty much all of them had to interact with the Temple of Light on a regular basis.

Thinking to this point, their hearts shuddered. If Nie Yan became the Supreme Pontiff, he would truly rise to the peak. With a single wave of his hand, he could call down the clouds and rain!

This was no small matter!

"Boss, how are we going to do it? We’ll do as you say!”

"Yeah, just tell us!”

"I’ll give everyone 200,000 merit points first. You can head to the treasury and pick up some good equipment. Afterwards, split up into groups of five and I’ll tell you the location of a chapter. If you run into trouble, immediately report to me, and I'll tell you how to proceed. Some of the chapters are in the hands of players. Others are with bosses or possibly hidden in certain secret instances within a map. If you can’t beat a boss, let me know and I’ll send an expedition team over. If it’s a player, be careful. Anyone capable of obtaining a chapter is a skilled expert. Lastly, Angel Corps has a bunch of chapters in their possession. I’m not sure exactly how many,” Nie Yan said.

The Thieves all became excited. 200,000 merit points could get them many different things. Asskickers United’s treasury contained over 30,000,000 pieces of equipment, various gems, crystals, and other rare items. There was no lack of good items. With this allowance, they could increase their strength by quite a bit.

Nie Yan glanced at Sun, King of the World, Mistaken Smile, Shadow Killer, and the other members of the elite team. Merit points were basically useless to them because their equipment was already far better than anything you could find in the treasury.

"Just tell us the coordinates. If it’s a player, we’ll kill them. Even if they hide inside the strongholds of Angel Corps or the Century Financial Group, we’ll still collect the chapters from their corpses,” King of the World said, brimming with confidence.

As Asskickers United’s top Thieves, these players were definitely worthy of the title of strongest. If they wanted to snatch something, there was no one that could escape their ambush, unless they never set foot out of the city again.

Chapter 916 - Eight Chapters from the Book of Order

The Forkingham Stronghold of the Century Financial Group. This was their most flourishing stronghold. The main road was bustling with people and rows of shops stretched down both sides.

Along the sides of the walls players had set up stalls and booths, where they sold their loot from the wilderness.

However, this lively metropolis concealed many hidden dangers.

Ever since Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group suffered defeat at the hands of Asskickers United above the City of Sin, the goods for sale here had their prices increased by double.

If the Century Financial Group kept this tactic up after every defeat, even the thriving commerce of the Forkingham Stronghold would go up in smoke.

A group of 13 players were walking down the street. They belonged to Mad Devil, a subordinate guild under the Century Financial Group. They were in charge of overseeing this stronghold. They used to walk around like they owned the place. Now, however, their pride appeared to have taken a huge blow.

When the Century Financial Group had put Mad Devil in charge of the Forkingham Stronghold, they’d given them free reign. So, the merchants seeking to do business here would fawn over the players from Mad Devil, for fear of offending them. Now, however, the Century Financial group started meddling in how to run this stronghold. Mad Devil were to do their best to appease the merchants. If they failed to do so and the entire market in the stronghold were to crash, the guild would suffer extremely severe losses.

Unfortunately, appeasing alone wasn’t enough to keep the merchants around any longer. Many of them closed down their shops and left the Forkingham Stronghold. Their destination was the Abernathy Great Grasslands. Asskickers United had drawn up many attractive policies to help businesses flourish. Not to mention its great location between the two great empires. Competitors of every market were selling their goods and services here. Security wasn’t a concern for the merchants either. Since Asskickers United had won the last several battles, with most competition taken out, they felt that the Abernathy Great Grasslands was absolutely a safe place to set up a business.

Mad Devil’s income plummeted as a small exodus took place in the Forkingham Stronghold. With trade dying in their stronghold, they could only rely on the welfare provided by the Century Financial Group.

"God dammit! Another six shops announced they’re closing down and selling their property. Their listed price is even 30% less than what they originally paid for it! To think these penny-pinching money-grubbers are actually willing to take a loss!” a Warrior from Mad Devil grumbled.

"Nothing we can do about it. It’s not like we can stop them from selling their shops. It would only cause more businesses to start fleeing the city,” an elven Mage in azure robes said. He was the leader of this group.

"Gale, is there nothing we can do?”

The elven Mage called Gale shook his head with a bitter smile. "What could we possibly do? We can only hope that Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group win some of their next battles. That might pacify some of these businesses. We will probably lose everything otherwise. They’re all aware that if Asskickers United’s troops arrive at the gates of this stronghold, their shops will be worth even less money.”

Previously, whenever they strolled through the streets, many people would approach them to try and curry favour. Now, whenever people saw the Mad Devil guild emblem on their chests, they would duck their heads and quickly walk past.

Gale was Mad Devil’s number one expert and also one of Cao Xu’s direct subordinates. Even he didn’t have much faith in the Century Financial Group and Angel Corps turning this around. Glancing at the Chapter of Silvermoon in his bag, he started dreaming of completing the volume. It would give him the strength to stand on his own two feet, instead of leaning on the Century Financial Group for support.

Even a direct subordinate of Cao Xu’s like Gale was filled with disloyal thoughts, to say nothing of lower rung members.

"Let’s head to the auction house and see if they have anything good for sale,” Gale said. He took a step, when his body suddenly turned rigid. His skills were all grayed out too! What was going on? A single thought flashed through his mind. An enemy attack!

If it were the wilderness, Gale definitely wouldn’t so carelessly walk into an ambush. However, this was the Forkingham Stronghold, his territory! Here, he had completely lowered his guard. Never in his wildest dreams did he expect to meet with an enemy attack here of all places!

The sharp blade of a dagger flashed before Gale’s eyes. His pupils constricted. PSFHT! PSFHT! Before he could even react, two daggers stabbed into his body. So quick! Definitely Shadow Dancers! This was his last thought before his vision went black.

At the same time Gale was killed, the 12 other players from Mad Devil also dropped dead on the ground. The Chapter of Silvermoon that dropped from his bag was picked up before it even fell on the ground.

These Thieves were gone before the bodies even hit the ground. It was almost as if they were never here in the first place.

The hundreds of players in the surroundings all witnessed this scene. They were slack-jawed. Within the short span of a few seconds, those Thieves had cleanly dealt with Gale’s group! What ruthless efficiency!

"Who were those Thieves?”

"No idea, but you can only find Thieves like that in Asskickers United!”

"Look, that’s Gale, the number one expert in Mad Devil! He’s a Magister. Yet even he didn’t stand a chance. Those Thieves are terrifying!”

The passerby felt their scalps turn numb. Asskickers United was too overbearing, actually daring to kill someone in their own territory.

The people who witnessed this scene felt an even deeper reverence for Asskickers United.

The merchants felt their trust for Mad Devil sink even lower, many of them opting to put up their shops for sale.

...

Cao Xu was taking a tour of the munitions factory in the Croft Stronghold. Relying on the people below him to help him win the war simply wasn’t realistic. He could only rely on his research of advanced arms. With all sorts of methods and the money to support it all, he’d acquired many advanced weapons blueprints, all in preparation for the final showdown. The sound of a voice message interrupted him.

「What’s going on?」Cao Xu asked, his deep voice carrying an unquestionable authority.

「Boss, it’s bad! Gale, Bright Night, Amber, and all of them were ambushed!」

Cao Xu’s heart sank. He recalled a certain matter. Previously, for the sake of maximizing the benefits of the chapters from the Book of Order, he’d distributed several to these subordinates. Even though he wanted to complete a volume, he didn’t have the opportunity. He instantly sensed something was wrong.「How are they?」

「They all died. The enemy was too quick. They were completely caught off guard. Asskickers United dispatched pretty much all their Shadow Dancers.」

「What about the chapters?」

「They’re all gone.」

「WHAT!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THEY’RE ALL GONE!?」Cao Xu’s voice rang out like thunder as he smashed his fist down on a table. The chapters he had worked so hard to get were all stolen. He was enraged! However, Gale and the others couldn’t be blamed. With Asskickers United mobilizing all their Shadow Dancers, there was no way to guard against their ambushes.

Cao Xu knitted his brows. For Asskickers United to dispatch so many Shadow Dancers to snatch the chapters, there had to be more to it. Likely, they weren’t after just these few chapters. Could it be that they already had a method to gather a volume, or maybe the entire book…?

If it were the complete Book of Order, Cao Xu didn’t dare to imagine the consequences. If Nirvana Flame were to become the Supreme Pontiff, the Century Financial Group and Angel Corps were done for.

According to the intel he gathered, several chapters were in the hands of Level 200 Demonified Lords. If Asskickers United wanted to complete the Book of Order, it wouldn’t be that simple. At best, they could maybe complete two or three volumes.

However, Cao Xu still couldn’t relax. Nirvana Flame wasn’t someone who could be judged with common sense.

Cao Xu knew he was already at the end of his road. He could only do his best to accumulate strength for the final battle with Asskickers United. The longer he delayed, the more grim his chances.

「Boss, we’re out of gold. What do we do?」

「The funds I transferred over from our gold farmers are already all spent?」

「Yes, it’s all spent, and we still need more. These past few days, our munitions factories have been burning through money like crazy. We’re spending upwards of 5,000,000 gold a day.」

Cao Xu pondered for a moment before gritting his teeth.「Go back to the real-world trading platform and buy more gold!」

「Yes, sir!」Cao Xu’s subordinate immediately got to work. He didn’t know who, but someone had listed up another 30,000,000 gold on the real-world trading platform. This would help sustain them a little bit longer.

Given Cao Xu’s personality, he wouldn’t so easily give up the business empire he’d worked so hard to build up and withdraw from Conviction. No matter how much money he would have to pour in, he would fight until the bitter end. His businesses in the game were being squeezed tight by Asskickers United. So, he could only rely on his funds from the outside.

...

Asskickers United was also heavily investing in the development of their war arms.

「Nie Yan, I just received an update. The Century Financial Group bought another 30,000,000 gold from the real-world trading platform. Should we continue listing up more gold? How about we stop for a bit?」Guo Huai said. He really felt apprehensive about this matter. After all, every piece of gold they listed would help their enemy grow stronger. This was playing with fire.

「It’s fine. Put up another 30,000,000 gold for sale. What’s the progress on acquiring the materials to build the Kamikaze Drakes?」Nie Yan asked. Apart from the siege weapons, he was also investing heavily into building more Kamikaze Drakes. The firepower of a single one was six times greater than that of six catapults.

「We got enough resources to build 100 more. However, the manufacturing process is still expensive,」Guo Huai said. The might of the Kamikaze Drakes was astonishing. They were also very effective against ground troops.

「Have Violet Mist pick up the pace,」Nie Yan said. The final battle could break out at any time. They had to gather as much strength as possible before then.

「Also, Sun sent back word. They’ve already collected eight chapters. All the chapters from Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group are in our hands.」

「Great work!」Nie Yan exclaimed. He knew he could count on Sun and the others.

Chapter 917 - Radiance Edge

Several chapters from the Book of Order were located in secret instances or in the hands of high level bosses. Collecting them all in a short time span was nigh impossible. Nie Yan could only take things one step at a time.

Asskickers United was researching new war machines. They would produce new results soon.

Apart from the war machines, the taming of the Violet Eye Dragon was still actively underway.

The millions of players in Okoron stopped what they were doing to look up at the sky. What they saw left them short of breath.

The survivors from the battle above the City of Sin, approximately 25,000 flying mounts, had gathered in the skies above Okoron. Massive flying mounts circled in the air everywhere. It was an especially magnificent sight.

"Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group lost pretty badly. Honestly, even if those two couldn’t win, I never expected it to be such a landslide victory. Asskickers United only lost half their force! What an overwhelming victory!”

"Yeah, it would take something very special, like Asskickers United’s Kamikaze Drakes, for Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group to do anything to stop Asskickers United’s 25,000 flying mounts.”

The players chatted enthusiastically. At this moment, an enormous black dragon broke through the clouds.

"Look, that’s the Darkwing Dragon, the only Rank 9 flying mount in the entire server!”

"Man, I wish I had a flying mount like that! I’d be invincible! No one could stop me!”

"Stop dreaming! Invincible? No one can stop you? Who do you think you are, Nirvana Flame?”

Even Masters generally wouldn’t dare to claim to be the very best in the world. Every class had its special skills and own strengths and weaknesses. Against a class that countered your own, even a powerful expert would have a very difficult time. For example, in the previous timeline, there was the number one Warrior, number one Thief, number one Mage, and so on. None of them ever dared to claim themselves as the number one player. However, in this timeline, practically everyone tacitly agreed that Nie Yan was the number one player in the game. This was a special kind of glory.

The 25,000 flying mounts gathered in formation. Nie Yan had his Darkwing Dragon fly to the front.

Nie Yan faintly smirked, looking over these troops whose morale was still high after experiencing a bloody battle. With Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group defeated, there was no no else who could challenge them in the skies!

"Long live the boss!”

"All hail the boss!”

The players from Asskickers United broke out in cheers.

Nie Yan raised his hand, signalling everyone to calm down. He chuckled, "Brothers, I won’t bore you with any more grandiose speeches. Now is the time to collect your spoils!”

Their cheers grew even more boisterous.

"When your name is called, come forth!” Paladin of the Elegy shouted. "Starting from the top 10. Lunar Breeze, 33 confirmed kills! 1 Rank 7 flying mount, 3 Rank 6 flying mounts, 5 Rank 5 flying mounts, 12 Rank 4 flying mounts, and 12 Rank 3 flying mounts. Your reward is one piece of Legendary-grade equipment, three pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment, and five high rank gems! Excellent work!”

Paladin of the Elegy spoke so loudly that even the players in Okoron could hear him. They gasped in astonishment.

"Damn! Lunar Breeze only has a Rank 6 flying mount! That’s freaking amazing!”

"Don’t forget, his Rank 6 flying mount is a Nightmare Wyvern. Its killing power is on the same level as a Rank 7 flying mount!”

"Still, I find it weird that Lunar Breeze took the top spot. You’d think Bladelight, Undying Scoundrel, and them would’ve done better.”

"Of course they did better. However, with their gear, why would there care for these kinds of rewards?”

"Ah! That makes sense!”

"The boss is really generous. One Legendary-grade piece of equipment, three Sub Legendary-grade pieces of equipment, and five high rank gems. That must be worth at least 100,000 gold!”

"Since when has the boss ever been stingy?”

"Haha, I guess you’re right!”

Lunar Breeze came forward on his Nightmare Wyvern. His face was brimming with joy and uncontrollable excitement. His equipment was average among elites, with only two pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment to his name. With this reward, his gear quality would soar by leaps and bounds. His heart welled up with pride and gratitude. If it weren’t for Asskickers United, he definitely wouldn’t have this day in the sun.

The crowd all clapped and congratulated Lunar Breeze.

"Number two. Pink Ant, 29 confirmed kills…”

One by one, Paladin of the Elegy called up the players who’d contributed in the aerial win over Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group and handed them their rewards.

The crowd that had gathered to watch the spectacle in Okoron would stir whenever the rewards were announced.

Nie Yan’s generosity couldn’t be overstated. Everyone who was called out received a huge boost in strength, especially those placed at the very top. Of course, the other rewards weren’t lacking either. Even those who barely did anything still got items worth a combined total of at least 1,000 gold.

As for those who had lost their flying mounts during the battle, they got an additional 3,000 gold in compensation and were placed at the top of the priority list for newly captured flying mounts.

The millions of players in Okoron were full of envy, wishing they could become a member of Asskickers United’s air force as well. Not even counting the average salary and other benefits, the extra rewards alone were enough to make them go mad with greed. Those who had had the opportunity to join Asskickers United but hesitated felt their intestines cramp with regret. It could’ve been them up there! Even if they were just ordinary members, they would still be swimming in glory and riches.

Nie Yan overlooked Okoron. He knew this public display would have a great effect. Everyone would realize what kind of person he was, someone who never mistreated those under him. This simple yet effective action would attract even more experts to Asskickers United.

It took two full hours to hand out the rewards, but it left a lasting impression on all the players who witnessed it. Many players started to reconsider their original choice of guild and were now eager to join Asskickers United. However, it was a bit too late for that now. Asskickers United had basically stopped recruiting new members. Of course, Masters and highly skilled experts were still welcome, under the condition that they underwent a thorough background check.

While those players were sulking in regret, Asskickers United made a shocking announcement. Nirvana Flame was establishing a brand new guild! It differed from their other branch guilds in the sense that anyone was welcome to join, and that no one was obligated to do anything.

This new guild would share a treasury with Asskickers United and its branch guilds. Its members could get whatever they wanted from the treasury or the Starry Night Potion Shop, so long as they had the merit points to pay for it. These merit points could be earned by completing the missions Nie Yan handed out. For example, to kill a certain number of players from Angel Corps or the Century Financial Group. There was one more announcement. Those who performed especially well had a chance of moving up to Asskickers United!

This announcement caused an uproar among the playerbase. Even if you couldn’t join Asskickers United, joining this guild would be the next best thing! At the very least, you could take advantage of their massive treasury. According to rumours, it had no less than 30,000,000 pieces of equipment, various gems, and countless other special items! Anything the market had, Asskickers United had too. Anything the market didn’t have, Asskickers United did have! Apart from the equipment, being able to exchange merit points for the potions in the Starry Night Potion Shop was a huge bonus too. The Starry Night Potion Shop sold a great variety of potions, many of which couldn’t be found anywhere else. In fact, there were even potions only for sale to members of Asskickers United in exchange for merit points. These included potions concocted by Sage Alchemists!

Even the solo players were tempted since they wouldn’t be bound by any of the normal restrictions of a guild. Those who were interested in joining Asskickers United felt this path was a decent option.

Nie Yan called the new guild Radiance Edge, the blade that would cut down Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group.

A hundred thousand players joined Radiance Edge on the same day it was established. This broke the record for fastest growing guild. Reaching 1,000,000 members was only a matter of time. Even though the guild was filled with all sorts of people both good and bad, at the very least Nie Yan wouldn’t take any losses. All he had to do was issue out some missions every now and then.

After Radiance Edge expanded to a certain size, Nie Yan would start making a profit. This was directly tied to the guild treasury. Generally, if a player wanted to exchange an item from the treasury, a Beryl for example, it would cost 3,000 merit points. Players had to either do missions to earn these merit points, or donate items to the treasury. This second method was faster and more efficient. After donating 3,000 merit points worth of equipment, they could then exchange for the Beryl. When they no longer needed the Beryl and wanted to exchange it for something better, it would only have a trade-in value of 2,400 merit points. To most players, a loss of 600 merit points wasn’t a big price to pay to enjoy the benefits of the Beryl. Plus, they could earn it back in various other ways.

Like this, opening up the treasury to more players wouldn’t cause it to deplete by one bit. On the contrary, it would only expand even more.

Nie Yan would never do something that didn’t benefit him. Shortly after, Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group also set up similar guilds. However, the early bird always catches the worm. They would have no way of rivalling Radiance Edge.

Chapter 918 - Divine Eclipse Dragon

The astonishing expansion of Radiance Edge was simply unprecedented, sending waves of shock throughout the playerbase.

On the first day, 100,000 players joined. On the second day, 170,000 players joined. Only 50,000 players joined on the third day. However, by the seventh day, the number of members broke through 1,000,000 and it was still growing crazily. Radiance Edge might be a guild in name, but it was really just a subsidiary organization under Asskickers United. Moreover, the guild headquarters was placed in Okoron, which Nie Yan was the lord of. This meant that the membership size of Radiance Edge was unrestricted.

Nie Yan had created another legend. 1,000,000 members in only seven days! Even though Radiance Edge was filled with a mish-mash of people both good and bad, this number was still astonishing. Not to mention that there were no signs of it slowing down anytime soon.

Nie Yan issued various quests in Radiance Edge. For every player from Angel Corps or the Century Financial Group you killed, you would earn merit points. Apart from this, there were also gathering missions for certain materials, which were also rewarded with merit points. If Asskickers United was short on any materials, all he had to do was issue a mission in Radiance Edge, and the players there would immediately get to work for him.

Radiance Edge’s establishment solved Asskickers United’s lack of manpower. Plus, Nie Yan didn’t have to give any of these people salaries. This was a win-win situation!

Even though Radiance Edge didn’t have many elite players, when a guild with over 1,000,000 players suddenly popped out of nowhere, it would be a lie to say Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group weren’t apprehensive.

The war between Asskickers United and Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group was already in full swing. On the endless battle lines, millions of players were clashing across the entire continent. Truly a breathtaking sight. There was no clear victor yet. However, Asskickers United occupied a noticeable advantage. The players from Radiance Edge also quickly jumped into the fray. To them, this war was a chance to earn some easy merit points.

Nie Yan carried out his large-scale war strategy. Unfortunately, he couldn’t singlehandedly win this war. He could only do his best to arrive at losing battlefields and try to turn things around.

While closely monitoring the progress of the war, Nie Yan went to capture the remaining Violet Eye Dragons. Even though taming all of them would take years, there was no harm in bringing them back first.

Glancing at his character page, Nie Yan was surprised to see a new Wolf King skill had appeared in his Great Prophet title.

For now, it was still locked. Nie Yan would have to earn 1,000 Influence in either the Viridian Empire or Satreen Empire to unlock it.

Nie Yan looked at his Influence. He had already accumulated more than 700 Influence in the Viridian Empire. To get this far, he’d completed multiple grand-scale quests over these past three years. This number was pretty much out of reach for normal players. However, he was still a good ways off from 1,000.

If Nie Yan wanted to reach 1,000 Influence in the Viridian Empire anytime soon, he would have to do a few more high difficult, grand-scale quests. However, he didn’t have the time to spend another year working on the last 300 Influence. This was a bit troublesome.

「Guo Huai, ask if anyone in the guild has a way to quickly raise their Influence in the Viridian Empire,」Nie Yan said.

「Huh, quickly raising your Influence in the Viridian Empire? How much are we talking here?」Guo Huai asked. It looked like Nie Yan was busy with another quest.

「About 300,」Nie Yan replied.

「300!?」Guo Huai sucked in a breath of cold air.「That’s going to be difficult.」Many skilled experts like Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, and Lustboy had only accumulated 300 Influence in the Viridian Empire. Generally, by that point they’d already completed the quests that rewarded high Influence. It would be incredibly difficult for Nie Yan to raise his Influence by that much in a short amount of time!

「I’ll go ask,」Guo Huai said. With so many members in the guild, perhaps someone did know of a way.

「Thanks. I’ll make a trip to the frontlines. Get back to me if you find a method,」Nie Yan said. If Guo Huai found a good way to raise his Influence, there would be no harm in trying it. In the worst case scenario, he would have to slowly raise his Influence to 1,000 over the next year or two before he could summon his Great Prophet Wolf King.

「Will do.」Guo Huai nodded.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. If he didn’t enter some special instance or kill a super high level boss, given his current level, it would be extremely difficult to raise his level quickly. Even after killing thousands or tens of thousands of monsters, his experience bar would only fill up by a small chunk. At that point, he was better off paying a trip to the frontlines and killing more players from Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. Even though it would have very little effect on the overall war, it would still help to raise morale.

Going over his options, Nie Yan recalled a dragon egg tucked away in his bag. It was one of the rewards for killing Fallen Angel Brufut. He hadn’t had a chance to hatch it yet. Whether it was a pet egg or flying mount egg was still a mystery. It would probably be best to have Beast Tamer Hall take a look at it.

Guo Huai had made a section of the guild headquarters in Okoron off-limits to almost everyone. It was made specifically for Beast Tamer Hall to tame the Violet Eye Dragons. Only a select few had permission to enter.

Nie Yan headed toward the secret location, which was hidden deep within the guild headquarters. High level NPC guards were stationed along the way. When they saw him, they would bow their heads and respectfully greet him.

Nie Yan arrived in a large chamber. It was extremely spacious, about 500 meters in diameter. There were many cages here, three of which contained Violet Eye Dragons.

Asskickers United had already caught three Violet Eye Dragons. There were still four more in the dragon’s den.

Beast Tamer Hall was fully concentrated on taming one of the Violet Eye Dragons. Countless runic markings entered its body and calmed its explosive temper.

Beast Tamer Hall had to perform this ritual regularly.

About half an hour later, Beast Tamer Hall finally completed this exhausting work. Panting heavily, he sat down to rest. Only then did he notice Nie Yan from the corner of his eye. He immediately shot up to his feet.

"Great Prophet, my apologies, it will still take a while for me to tame this Violet Eye Dragon,” Beast Tamer Hall said apologetically.

"It’s fine, Hall. I didn’t come to rush you. I recently obtained a dragon egg, and I’d like you to help me appraise it,” Nie Yan said as he took out the dragon egg from his bag.

Beast Tamer Hall’s eyes were instantly glued onto the egg. He gasped, "T-this, are my eyes deceiving me?”

Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise. A Grandmaster Beast Tamer like Hall had pretty much seen everything. There were very few eggs in existence that could make him react like this.

"Do you know what kind of egg this is?” Nie Yan asked.

"Please, let me take a closer look,” Hall said.

"Sure.” Nie Yan handed over the dragon egg to Hall.

A milky white light rose up from Hall’s palm and entered the egg. He clicked his tongue and let out a gasp in admiration, "This fella is brimming with life energy. It can hatch any time.”

Nie Yan’s interest was piqued even more.

"No doubt, this is the egg of a Divine Eclipse Dragon! I read from ancient historical records that it was completely extinct. Who would’ve thought it would appear in this world again!” Hall exclaimed.

"Divine Eclipse Dragon? Is it a flying mount?” Nie Yan asked. He’d never heard this name before.

"No, it’s a dragon pet, but it’s a bit different from others. It can cast both light and dark attribute magic. According to legend, it is the ruler of all land-bound dragons, a genuine dragon king!” Hall explained.

From Hall’s words, the Divine Eclipse Dragon sounded pretty powerful, probably even stronger than Lil’ Gold. Nie Yan’s interest grew deeper. Even though he wasn’t too interested in dragon pets, he still had two empty pet slots. He might as well hatch this egg.

"Can you help me hatch this egg?” Nie Yan asked.

"Great Prophet, a person can only have one pet. To my knowledge, you already have a Golden Dragon. Are you sure you want to abandon it?” Hall asked.

"No worries. I have the Dragon King’s Divine Might skill. It allows me to have three dragon pets.” Nie Yan smiled.

Hall’s eyes widened in astonishment. He didn’t expect Nie Yan to have the fabled Dragon King’s Divine Might skill. However, after thinking for a bit, it wasn’t all that strange. Nie Yan was already a legend in the Viridian Empire, and only a step away from the Legendary realm. It wasn’t strange that he possessed such a powerful skill.

Hall started hatching the dragon egg. Thin strands of milky white energy rose up from his hand and slowly entered the egg.

POP! Small hairline cracks started spreading across the shell before a cute little baby dragon popped out of the egg.

You have hatched a Divine Eclipse Dragon!

This Divine Eclipse Dragon was a bit smaller than Lil’ Gold when he first hatched. Its body was covered in glittering scales which fluctuated between light and dark. It radiated an aura composed of the two diametrically opposing forces, giving off an energy that could annihilate all of existence.

It slowly opened its eyes and curiously looked around at this new world it was born into, just like a baby duck. It slowly waddled its way toward Nie Yan.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon was successfully hatched!

Nie Yan glanced at the status page of the Divine Eclipse Dragon. The potential of a pet was directly related to its Growth Rate. His heart trembled. It had a Growth Rate of 25! One had to know, when Lil’ Gold first hatched, he only had a Growth Rate of 15. Later on, after he ate the Evolution Crystal, it increased to 20! One could imagine how frightening of an existence the Divine Eclipse Dragon would grow up to be! At the very least, it would be far stronger than Lil’ Gold. A pet like the Divine Eclipse Dragon naturally also had to be fed an Evolution Crystal.

Chapter 919 - Strange Quest

At this point in the game, Evolution Crystals were nothing too out of reach for Nie Yan. There were three sitting in the guild treasury, obtained by Bladelight and the others while they were running dungeons. Since they were still extremely rare, members needed to pay a ludicrously high amount of merit points to obtain one. As a result, no one even attempted. However, Nie Yan was the bank. He could take from the treasury as he pleased.

Nie Yan had a subordinate deliver him one of the Evolution Crystals, which he fed to the Divine Eclipse Dragon.

Evolution Crystals increased Growth Rate by a flat five points. So, the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s Growth Rate increased from 25 to 30.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon was the king of all land-bound dragons. Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder how powerful it would grow in the future.

Higher level maps had a better chance of dropping Evolution Crystals. With an increasing number of players becoming strong enough to explore Level 170–180 maps, they were starting to appear more often in the marketplace. As a result, a rumour or two would occasionally go around of someone obtaining a super powerful pet. Even though Lil’ Gold was still unrivalled in the eyes of most players, he was no longer the awe-inspiring creature he once was. Especially since siege weapons became commonplace on the battlefield.

These days, Lil’ Gold was simply too weak and often ended up serving as a meat shield or cannon fodder. On the other hand, the Divine Eclipse Dragon had the potential to become a truly powerful existence. With a Growth Rate of 30, it would surpass Lil’ Gold in strength by Level 100. Not to mention it would learn skills—both of the light and dark attribute—befitting of a dragon king, including powerful Forbidden Magic at the higher levels!

As a Thief, Nie Yan had no way of casting Forbidden Magic like Mages, Priests, and Paladins. So, having a pet that could cast Forbidden Magic was the next best thing!

However, bringing up the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s level was going to be a problem. Nie Yan decided to push this worry off for later. When he obtained his third dragon pet, he could simply power level both of them together. That way, he could save some time.

With the Divine Eclipse Dragon in his pet space, Nie Yan was ready to continue with his plan of capturing the remaining Violet Eye Dragons. However, just as he was about to set out, Guo Huai messaged him.

「Nie Yan, I found a good way to quickly raise your Influence in the Viridian Empire!」Guo Huai exclaimed.

「How?」Nie Yan asked. After all, 300 Influence was no small number.

「This method requires a lot of gold. I don’t know how much we’ll have to spend for 300 Influence.」

「Gold is a trivial matter. How do we do it? Just tell me,」Nie Yan said. Asskickers United had more than enough money in their reserves. For the sake of 300 Influence, he could easily spend several million gold without batting an eye. The Wolf King skill was extremely powerful. It allowed him to turn any wild wolf-type monster into his permanent mount. Apart from functioning as a mount, it could also fight in battle like pets. The skills of the Great Prophet title naturally couldn’t be looked down on.

「Not so fast. Let me finish speaking, and you’ll know it’s not that simple.」Guo Huai shook his head.「What do you know about Elder Katherine of the Elder Council?」

「A little bit. She’s in charge of the empire’s charitable works, right? She hands out food, clothing, and other essentials to the poor. Her prestige is extremely high among NPCs. If I recall correctly, she gives out a repeatable quest that asks you to collect various goods, and the reward is Infl-」Nie Yan’s eyes lit up. How could he forget a quest like this? Influence was exactly what he needed!

「Someone did the calculations. 300 Influence will costs somewhere between 6,000,000 and 10,000,000 gold. That’s because the quest rewards are random. Sometimes you’ll receive gold, but most of the time you’ll only receive a bit of experience. Every 30th time, you’ll receive a random item, but at best it can only recoup some of your losses. I heard one guy refused to believe there were no better rewards, So, he turned in the quest 300 times. He got some experience, a bit of Influence, and a few pieces of equipment, nothing of note. Afterwards, most everyone lost interest in this quest.」

However, Nie Yan wasn’t looking for some grand reward. All he wanted was Influence. Even if he had to spend several million gold, it wouldn’t be a problem. So, this quest was perfect for him.

「I’ll make a trip to Calore to take a look. Send me a few helpers,」Nie Yan said. For things like collection quests, he naturally wouldn’t do any of the work himself. What was the point of being a guild leader if he did? Of course, he rewarded these helpers for their time.

Nie Yan teleported to Calore, planning to make his way to the Elder Council. However, as he stepped out of the transfer point, he sensed something off. The sky was dark and gloomy and an inexplicable, stifling pressure weighed down on him. In the northeast, he saw pitch-black, ominous clouds forming on the horizon, with the occasional rumbling of thunder reaching his ears. This didn’t look anything like an ordinary storm.

Calore was located in the skies above a high plateau, making it sunny pretty much all year around. The city rarely got any rain, let alone thunderstorms.

Nie Yan had a foreboding premonition. When he obtained the title of Great Prophet, his senses became much sharper. It was starting to make him a bit paranoid. Any time he encountered a strange phenomenon, he would think it was the precursor to a disaster. He would have to remind himself time and time again that he couldn’t actually predict the future like NPC Great Prophets.

Apart from the weather being a bit unusual, Calore was the same as always, with large bustling crowds walking up and down the streets.

No longer lingering on this thought, Nie Yan headed toward the Elder Council and entered a side hall.

"Greetings, Great Prophet. Do you have business with me today?” a young woman in her 30s welcomed him. She carried herself with elegance and grace, wearing a long dress which reached down to the floor. This was Elder Katherine of the Elder Council.

"Hello, Elder Katherine. I’d like to do my part in helping the less fortunate of the Viridian Empire,” Nie Yan said.

"That’s wonderful! You really are a benevolent person! The citizens of the Viridian Empire will forever remember your kindness,” Katherine said with a delighted smile. "Due to the unusual torrential downpour in Blaze City, many of the houses there have collapsed into ruin. Many residents have suffered severe injuries. We require a large amount of Dragon Blood Grass. Could you help me collect 10 stalks of grass?”

Quest 1: Are you willing to accept Elder Katherine’s request to find Dragon Blood Grass?

Yes!

Nie Yan accepted the quest.

「Help me get 10 stalks of Dragon Blood Grass,」Nie Yan said in voice chat. Not even half-a-minute later, the Dragon Blood Grass was delivered to his hands. He handed it over to Katherine.

"Thank you for your generosity,” Katherine said as she gave Nie Yan his reward for completing the quest. 5,000 experience points. This amount wasn’t even enough to fill 0.01% of his experience bar!

"The regions to the north have suffered 30 days of extreme cold, Great Prophet, could you help me find 40 Durable Sackcloths?”

Nie Yan accepted the second quest. Less than 30 seconds later, 30 Durable Sackcloths were delivered to him. After turning in the quest, he obtained 1 Influence.

Nie Yan continued to accept and turn in quests. Anything he needed to find would be immediately delivered to him by his helpers. Given Asskickers United’s vast amount of resources, he faced zero obstacles.

After receiving multiple quests from Katherine, Nie Yan gradually became aware of the misfortunes popping up all over the Viridian Empire. Help was needed everywhere. He didn’t know how many items and materials he needed to deliver to earn 300 Influence.

After turning in the quest 30 times, Nie Yan only obtained 5 Influence.

"Great Prophet, thank you for all your help. May the Light be forever with you. This is something I obtained in my travels in the Kruin Plains. Please accept it as a token of my gratitude.” Katherine took out a red gem.

Nie Yan glanced at the gem. It was a Rugosa Gem, worth about 2,000 gold at most. A drop in the ocean compared to the hundreds of thousands of gold’s worth of items he’d turned in!

Sure enough, doing this quest really was the same as flushing money down the toilet. To think someone actually persevered and turned in this quest 300 times. They must have really been rich. Even for a tycoon like Nie Yan, if it weren’t for him needing 300 Influence, he definitely wouldn’t do this quest.

However, he needed 300 Influence. So, he could only continue doing this quest.

If it were a normal player, just gathering all these items would drive them mad. Repeating this monotonous task over and over again, it would probably drive them to the brink of despair! Nie Yan was much better off. All he had to do was stand here and exchange a few words, his subordinates doing most of the work.

After four hours, Nie Yan had turned in the quest about 200 times. He was quickly catching up to that person in the rumours. He had spent about 1,000,000 gold to obtain 35 Influence. He also gained quite a bit of experience, but it was only enough to fill up his experience bar by 2%. As for the random item rewards he received, the only one worth mentioning was an Azure Fantasy Sapphire. If he could even recoup 10% of his losses, it would already be amazing.

As Nie Yan continued the monotonous task of turning in this quest again and again, his mind started to wander. He gradually realized something. For the system to create this kind of quest, the reason definitely couldn’t be as simple as a money sink. There might really be a big reward at the end, or perhaps a clue to a major questline.

Many people before had come to the same conclusion as Nie Yan. That was why someone had completed it 300 times. However, everyone gave up in the end because this quest really was a bottomless money sink. No matter how much money they put in, it was like throwing a grain of salt into the ocean.

Nie Yan was probably the richest person so far to tackle this quest.

Chapter 920 - Venerable Title!

Time slowly passed as Nie Yan repeatedly turned in the quest. His Influence was gradually rising.

After turning in the quest 300 times, the items Katherine requested became more and more expensive, including materials like Dark Runic Cloth and Blackwater Crystal. The value of these items were over several thousand gold, and she would ask for multiple at a time. Yet there was no indication that the rewards would increase. It was no wonder that the person in the rumours had given up after turning in the quest 300 times. Even Nie Yan started to feel his wallet hurt.

Nie Yan wondered if he should give up. If he continued on with this quest, the amount of gold he would have to spend for a point of Influence simply wasn’t worth it.

Weighing his options, Nie Yan decided to go up to 390 times. If nothing happened by then, he would give up.

So far, Nie Yan had gained 132 Influence. This was roughly equal to completing three S-rank quests.

After handing over five Blackwater Crystals, a crisp notification jingle rang out.

You have received 3 Influence.

This was the 306th time. There finally seemed to be a slight increase in rewards, a small consolation for the ever increasing costs of completing the quest.

When Nie Yan turned in the quest for the 330th time, he received a Resurrection Crystal worth about 60,000 gold. One had to know, he’d spent at least 1,000,000 over the last 30 quest turn ins. A Resurrection Crystal did very little to soothe his bleeding heart. The experience rewards were fairly decent though, filling up his experience bar by 7%. He’d also gained 52 Influence.

Nie Yan estimated even big shots like Cao Xu, Plenty, and Soaring Angel would be hard pressed to continue. Nevertheless, he continued turning in the quest. He couldn’t help but wonder how much more he would have to do to reach the end.

"Oh, Great Prophet. The Hilton Stronghold is being sieged by demonic beasts once more. The soldiers there are fighting bravely to protect our homeland, but they’re running low on equipment and supplies. Please help me find 1,000 pieces of Level 130 Gold-grade equipment,” Katherine said.

Katherine started to ask for equipment. Thankfully, 1,000 pieces of Level 130 Gold-grade equipment wasn’t worth that much. It was much cheaper than the items Nie Yan had to collect before.

Nie Yan had his helpers deliver a thousand pieces of Gold-grade equipment with fairly mediocre stats. They weren’t worth much. Fortunately, Katherine had only specified that the equipment had to be Gold-grade, not whether their quality was good or not.

Nie Yan handed over the equipment to Katherine.

"Great Prophet, thank you for your generosity. I thank you on behalf of the soldiers from the Hilton Stronghold.” Katherine performed a deep bow.

You have received 9 Influence.

That was 161 Influence gained so far. 300 Influence didn’t seem all that far away anymore.

The subsequent quests all asked Nie Yan to collect equipment, 500 pieces of Level 130 Dark Gold-grade equipment, 800 pieces of Level 135 Silver-grade equipment, 700 pieces of Level 135 Gold-grade equipment… If not for him being the guild leader of a large guild, gathering this much equipment would’ve probably driven him mad. Even though he could always go to the auction house, the equipment listed there were all high quality with expensive price tags. Anything mediocre or bad would generally be scrapped. However, turning in anything better than mediocre equipment for this quest would be pointlessly wasting gold.

From the 331st repeat and onwards, it was all equipment collection, which wasn’t too difficult for Nie Yan. After all, the guild treasury was filled with low-level equipment no one needed anymore, at least several million in fact. Even though the treasury would regularly undergo a spring cleaning, Level 130 equipment was still relatively recent.

After the Resurrection Crystal, the rewards only got better and better, leaving Nie Yan bursting with joy. He quickly accumulated 230 Influence, and his experience bar was also rapidly filling up.

Ding dong! A crisp notification jingle rang out. A level up!

Nie Yan quickly opened his status bar. Sure enough, he had risen to Level 157!

At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before he gained 300 Influence. This progress was far faster than he expected, and the experience rewards were nice too!

Nie Yan was nearing the 360th quest turn in. He wondered if there would be a special reward.

On the 359th repeat, Nie Yan was asked to look for 30 pieces of Level 120 Sub Legendary-grade equipment. This was Sub Legendary equipment! In the past, he had Guo Huai do some inventory. All of Asskickers United only had 1,200 pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment, and only 600 of those were over Level 120. Yet Katherine wanted to take away 30!

This was only the 359th repeat. Who knew how much more ridiculous the subsequent quests would be?

Nie Yan started hesitating. 30 pieces of Level 120 Sub Legendary-grade equipment, this was no small number!

「Guo Huai, do we have 30 pieces of Level 120+ Sub Legendary-grade equipment to spare?」Nie Yan asked.

「W-what!? D-don’t tell me it’s for that quest?」Guo Huai asked in shock.

「Yeah, it is.」Nie Yan bitterly chuckled.「Should we continue?」

「How much more Influence do you need?」Guo Huai asked. If he was still far away, it wouldn’t be worth it to continue. Even though Wolf King was an extremely powerful skill, one that could absolutely serve as a deterrent, they had already spent too much to obtain the 300 Influence Nie Yan needed. Katherine was now even asking for Sub Legendary-grade equipment!

「Only 52 points away,」Nie Yan replied.

Guo Huai knitted his brows. Based on Nie Yan’s current progress, 52 Influence really wasn’t that much. Perhaps they really should continue.

「I think the 360th repeat will be an important milestone, but the things we’re being asked for is way too much. I think we should just give up. I’ll get the remaining 52 Influence by doing a couple of major quests. Besides, worst case scenario, we can always continue this later,」Nie Yan said.

「You know, major quests don’t just grow on trees, and it’s not like you’re guaranteed to be rewarded Influence either,」Guo Huai argued. Nie Yan was Asskickers United’s untoppable pillar. Having him further raise his strength and hold onto his position as the strongest player was crucial to keeping up the morale of the guild members. He was worth every coin. Plus, true morale wasn’t something that could necessarily be bought with money. Guo Huai gritted his teeth.「No, continue with the quest. 30 pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment isn’t a big deal. I’ll have someone send them over in a bit.」The guild had some unwanted Sub Legendary-grade equipment lying around. Even though they were Sub Legendary-grade, their properties were terrible. There were 16 pieces in total. All he had to do was find another 14.

Nie Yan felt his heart ache as he handed over the equipment to Katherine.

You have received 25 Influence.

"Oh Great Prophet, as a token of my gratitude, this is something I found while braving through the Abyss Marsh. I hope it will be helpful to you. Your potential is limitless, and you have a high chance of breaking through to the Legendary realm.” Katherine took out a translucent blue crystal.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He couldn’t be any more familiar with this item. It was a Shattered Divinity, one of the four things he needed to enter the Legendary realm. He already possessed three of the four: Virtues of a Saint, a Sacred Object, and a Holy Spirit Heart. As for the Shattered Divinities, including this one from Katherine he now had four in total. He was only a step away from becoming a Legend, the next realm after a Shadow Dancer. In the previous timeline, no one had ever reached this height!

Nie Yan didn’t expect to receive such a great reward!

"Oh Great Prophet, I’ve bothered you with many troublesome requests. Please accept my sincerest apologies. However, there is one more thing I need. This is my final request. Will you be willing to help me find five pieces of Level 120 Legendary-grade equipment?” Katherine asked.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. This was the final request! At the same time, it was almost the most frightening request of all. Five pieces of Legendary-grade equipment. Oh Lord Budha up in the heavens! Even in Asskickers United, Legendary equipment over Level 120 was as scarce as could be. The top players in the guild, including himself, only had 60 pieces between them. Yet Katherine wanted to take away five! This was practically asking him to donate his lifeblood!

However, considering the Shattered Divinity he received for the 359th turn-in, he couldn’t help but think the next reward would be even more amazing!

Nie Yan recalled there were seven pieces of Legendary-grade equipment sitting in the guild treasury without anyone touching it. This wasn’t because he restricted them or anything, but rather their requirements were too high to the point of being impractical. Normal players had no way of equipping them. Since they were just sitting there rotting away, it would be better to make use of them. Maybe the reward for the 360th repeat would be enough to overshadow the loss of these pieces of Legendary-grade equipment.

Nie Yan had someone retrieve the Legendary equipment. Even though he felt extremely reluctant, he had already reached this point. It would be a waste to turn back now!

When Nie Yan handed over the equipment, a pure and holy light fell over him, causing a warmth to seep through him.

You have completed all of Katherine’s requests and obtained the Venerable title.

The white light woke up Kalenna from her slumber. She flapped her wings and flew up above his shoulder. As she bathed in the white light, another pair of white wings slowly grew out from her back. She had become a Seraph, a six-winged angel! Even though her size didn’t change, the holy aura around her became even stronger.

Nie Yan glanced at Kalenna’s information. Nearly half of the skills in her skill window had become available. He could now command her to use 16 skills!

What an amazing harvest! Even though the most powerful skills were still grayed out, like Kalenna’s Guardian Barrier, the 16 unlocked skills already had Nie Yan jumping with joy.

Ever since he became a Shadow Dancer, Nie Yan had experienced first-hand on multiple times just how powerful this little angel was. She was definitely better than any pet!

Nie Yan had no idea what sort of bonuses this Venerable title gave. He opened up his character page.

Chapter 921 - Void Necklace

The stat bonuses from Venerable were amazing. It was certainly an extraordinary title. With the additional 150 Influence, Nie Yan’s total Influence in the Viridian Empire broke through the 1,100 mark. He could finally use the Wolf King skill!

"Oh Great Prophet, thank you for helping me complete my mission. To express my sincerest gratitude, please accept this present. It is not something of this world, but from the distant void, passed down to me by my father. Over this past year, I’ve seen it begin to stir. When darkness befalls us, a true hero will emerge and lead us back into the light,” Katherine said.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Katherine’s words were likely an omen that something big was about to happen. He considered using his Great Prophecy skill right then and there. However, he eventually opted to wait until later.

Katherine took out a small necklace. It was made out of an unknown metal, gloomy-white in colour. The necklace didn’t reflect any light. Attached to it was a pendant, shaped like a gemstone but lacking the sparkle. The pendant appeared to contain a mysterious energy which could suck everything into it.

With a single glance, Nie Yan could tell this necklace wasn’t of the Atlanta Continent.

Nie Yan respectfully accepted the necklace, and examined its properties.

Void Necklace of Clara

Description: A part of the Void Armour set.

Properties: Defense +2,300, Attack +1,200, +300% damage to void creatures, immunity to Void Gaze.

Restrictions: Master

Nie Yan sucked in a cold breath of air. This simple-looking necklace gave so much defense and attack power! The two other properties were for dealing specifically with void creatures.

Comparing it with his current necklace, Nie Yan quickly concluded that the attack and defense bonuses of this necklace were too good to pass up on, even if the other properties weren’t really useful right now. He unequipped Langdon’s Necklace of Fake Death and swapped it out for the the Void Necklace of Clara.

The reward for this quest chain was extremely generous. If Nie Yan were to reveal the things he received from it, that person who had turned in the quest 300 times before him would probably be stewing in regret. Who could’ve imagined the quest chain would end at 360?

Nie Yan chatted with Katherine for a bit, but he didn’t get any more information out of her. So, he left the Elder Council.

Nie Yan still hadn’t followed up on his quest related to the betrayal of Elder Redwin, nor did he have any clue on where to get started. Since there were no developments, he could only leave it on the sidelines for now.

As Nie Yan left the Elder Council, preparing to return to Okoron, he raised his head to the sky. It was still dark and gloomy, as though a downpour was about to come soon. The atmosphere was filled with a stifling pressure.

"Could this be a sign of something?” Nie Yan muttered. "Is a disaster going to befall Calore? Should I use Great Prophecy here?”

Nie Yan changed direction and headed to the Asskickers United guild office in Calore.

The players in the guild office were busy with work. After seeing Nie Yan enter, the entire place went into a stir. Many of them had worked here for a long time, but the opportunities to meet him were still extremely rare. It was no wonder they were all so excited. Of the many players in Asskickers United, only a small portion could claim they’d personally met him.

Everyone came up to greet Nie Yan. He simply nodded and smiled back. After reaching the courtyard in the center of the office, he raised his head to the sky and closed his eyes.

The players were confused. What was Nie Yan planning to do?

Before their eyes, a large pillar of light fell down from the sky, piercing through the gloomy clouds above.

Holy Proclamation: God’s light descends to the human world, blessing all pious believers.

The dark, ominous clouds shrouding Calore’s sky gradually scattered. It seemed this Holy Proclamation was a good omen. At least in the immediate future, no great disaster would befall Calore.

Nie Yan could put his mind at ease. Whatever came in the future, he would deal with it then.

Clear and sunny weather returned to Calore. Nie Yan left shortly after using Great Prophecy. Those who had personally witnessed him using the skill were all chatting excitedly. They were wondering what skill he used to change the weather. When the pillar of light fell over him, he looked like a god, brimming with dignity. That scene would forever be imprinted in their minds, something they would bring up in conversations for a long time to come.

Nie Yan returned to Okoron. Even though he hadn’t predicted a disaster, Elder Katherine’s words had attracted his attention. The information she revealed was probably related to an extremely large expansion. Regardless of what happened in the future, it was better to plan ahead. Since he now had more than 1,000 Influence, he could finally use the Wolf King skill. In other words, he finally had a new mount! It was about time. Even though his Falkner Warhorse was still great, it had fallen behind. Players like Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others had already gotten themselves powerful Kodos. Other strong mounts also appeared everywhere. He naturally had to get himself something even better than all of them.

Knowing Nie Yan was planning to make use of the Wolf King skill, Guo Huai had already dispatched people to search various maps and help Nie Yan find a suitable target.

This wolf mount had to be amazing. It couldn’t disgrace Nie Yan’s name!

Plus, if the wolf mount they captured was extremely powerful, it would also be a great asset on the battlefield!

Given how big this matter was, Guo Huai treated it with the utmost care. For the sake of helping Nie Yan find a suitable wolf mount, Asskickers United’s entire Thief corps was dispatched.

Nie Yan waited to hear back from them so he could set out.

"Angel Corps and the Century Financial Groups have been making a lot of big movements. They must be planning for the final battle,” Guo Huai said as he chatted with Nie Yan in the master lounge.

"They’re that anxious?” Nie Yan asked in surprise. Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group were at a disadvantage right now. If they tried to force an early final showdown, they might as well give up.

"How could they not be anxious?” Guo Huai chuckled. "Over in the underworld, Pantheon are on their last leg. We really have been underestimating Fallen Angel. They’re progressing much faster than we are. When they strike, they strike with ruthless ferocity. Pantheon has lost more than half their strongholds already. When Fallen Angel finishes them off, there’ll be no one left them to keep them in check. This is also a great defeat for Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. So, at this moment, even if they only have a 30% chance at victory, they’ll still stake it all.”

"Is that so? Seems like Fallen Angel has disrupted my plans. I wanted to make money off the Century Financial Group and Angel Corps for a bit longer. Ah well, so be it,” Nie Yan said. If his enemies wanted to force the final battle early, he would thoroughly crush them until they had no chance of ever rising back up.

Apart from his movements in Conviction, Nie Yan already had his father mobilize nearly ¥20 billion in capital. Add in the support of the Dragonsoar, Glory, and other financial groups, and the amount of cash they had on hand reached an astonishing ¥50 billion. Furthermore, he had secured some scandalous information on the Century Financial Group. With them investing so much into Conviction yet making nothing back in return, their business performance would definitely suffer. If they were to withdraw from Conviction, their market share in the virtual reality industry would go up in smoke. If he released this information at the right time, causing their stocks to plummet, then seized the opportunity to make a forceful takeover, he might have a real chance of taking out this leviathan-like existence that threatened World Bloc. If he succeeded, it would undoubtedly be a magnificent feat, and World Bloc would rise to even greater heights.

Nie Yan had only shared this plan with his father. Over these past few years, World Bloc’s quarterly reports had been remarkable. With someone keeping an eye on everything from above, their various ventures into different markets were a huge success. Every day, their profits reached an astronomical figure. The amount of cash they had on hand also totalled over ¥30 billion. As a privately held company, this was an achievement worth noting. Even though World Bloc ranked among the very bottom spots of the top 10 large financial groups, their strength couldn’t be looked down on. With the Glory and Dragonsoar Financial Groups being tightly linked to them, if they joined forces, there was no one that could stop them.

All preparations were complete. Nie Yan no longer needed to stall for time. Since Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group wanted a fight, he would give it to them.

"Nie Yan, someone found a Frost Dire Wolf. It’s a Level 160 Variant Lord. What do you think?” Guo Huai asked. A Level 160 Variant Lord was definitely a frightening existence on the battlefield.

Nie Yan thought for a moment before shaking his head. "It isn’t strong enough. It’s best if we find a Demonified Lord. The difference between a Variant Lord and a Demonified Lord is too great.” Since he was going to get a new mount, he might as well get the best.

"I’m afraid if the monster is too strong, it will be too hard to tame,” Guo Huai said worriedly.

"If we can’t do it, I guess we can only settle for the next best thing. But how will we know if we don’t try?” Nie Yan asked. This kind of opportunity definitely couldn’t be wasted on a low level monster.

Chapter 922 - Shadow Demon Wolf

Finding a wolf-type Variant Lord was already quite difficult. However, Nie Yan was adamant on getting a Demonified Lord mount. It would take the entire Thief corps most likely several days, if not more, to find one.

Nie Yan went to catch the remaining Violet Eye Dragons. It was better to get this out of the way first while he had the free time.

In the middle of catching a Violet Eye Dragon, Guo Huai sent Nie Yan a message.

「Nie Yan, good news!」Guo Huai exclaimed.

「What is it? Did you find a Demonified Lord wolf?」Nie Yan asked skeptically.

「No.」Guo Huai shook his head.「You’ll never guess it. Hall ranked up!」

「W-what? Really? You mean Hall the Beast Tamer, right?」Nie Yan asked in surprise.

「Yeah, him!」Guo Huai said with a face full of smiles.

Nie Yan knew the significance of Hall advancing from a Grandmaster to Sage Beast Tamer. The time it required to tame the Violet Eye Dragons would be substantially reduced. If a Violet Eye Dragon could be tamed before the final battle with Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group, it would become a great trump card!

「How… How did he do it?」Nie Yan asked. It was incredibly difficult to rank up as a Beast Tamer. Hall’s sudden advancement left him baffled.

「That’s all thanks to you.」

「Me?」Nie Yan asked in surprise.

「Yes, you! Didn’t you have him hatch a Divine Eclipse Dragon?」

Nie Yan was dumbstruck. Did hatching the Divine Eclipse Dragon really lead to Hall’s break through? This was certainly a possibility. After all, the Divine Eclipse Dragon was a dragon king. Hatching a mythical beast like this was definitely a once in a lifetime chance. After being stuck at Grandmaster for a long time, this just happened to be the last little push he needed! Nie Yan didn’t know when the first Violet Eye Dragon would be successfully tamed, but it wouldn’t be far off.

This piece of news left Nie Yan ecstatic. With a Sage Beast Tamer taming the Violet Eye Dragon, it would become far more obedient!

...

Over the next 10 days, Soaring Angel and Cao Xu felt like the world was collapsing around them. While they were preparing for the final battle against Asskickers United, bad news continuously came flowing in from the side of Pantheon. Fallen Angel’s offensive was too fierce. Pantheon was pretty much losing on every front. Only in a small few battles did they achieve victory.

Soaring Angel and Cao Xu were forced to give up a portion of their strongholds to concentrate their forces. For the sake of the final battle against Asskickers United, they mobilized everyone under them and recruited several dozen more large guilds and gaming organisations into their campaign. Their army size reached an astonishing 3,500,000 and countless war engines of every kind. Their troops were stationed in the Wild Plains of the Satreen Empire, which directly neighboured the Abernathy Great Grasslands.

...

Under Guo Huai’s command, Asskickers United assembled around 2,500,000 troops. Though they couldn’t compare to the Century Financial Group and Angel Corps in terms of raw numbers, their average level, equipment quality, and so on were far higher. There was also Radiance Edge. They weren’t a proper army, but many would be taking to the battlefield and try to complete a few of the missions issued by Nie Yan.

The army formations of both sides gradually took shape. Nie Yan rode on the Darkwing Dragon and surveyed the world below him. Before his eyes were millions of players stretching as far as the eye could see. At the forefront were 3,500 catapults split into five columns arranged in a rectangle. Further back were 1,200 trebuchets arranged in a crescent shape.

Asskickers United had utilized all their resources to produce this many siege engines. Apart from the catapults and trebuchets, there were also 600 tanks placed on the flanks. They resembled giant steel dragons covered in sharp spikes. These tanks were powerful killing weapons, fitted with magic cannons which gave them long-range firepower. They were also incredibly fast. Anyone unlucky enough to be caught under them would be crushed to death. Even the powerful war machines would crumble beneath them.

Behind the war machines was an endless ocean of players, supported by 20,000 flying mounts circling in the sky above.

Asskickers United’s big advantage was their aerial strength. Ever since the battle in the City of Sin, Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group’s air force had been completely wiped out. Even if they worked around the clock capturing new flying mounts, they’d be lucky to have even a few hundred, which was pretty much negligible in a battle of this scale. Additionally, Asskickers United had produced another 50 Kamikaze Drakes. It might not be much, but it was more than enough to deal Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group a heavy blow.

Controlling an army of this size was extremely difficult. They could only give general orders on how to move. Ultimately, it would be up to the individual captains and leaders to command their squads. It would be a chaotic battle, no doubt. Once the battle was underway, one of Asskickers United’s advantages was that their individual troops were far stronger than Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group’s. Of course, no matter how strong their individual troops were, if they were ganged up on all sides, they would still die. Even Masters couldn’t fend off a horde of ordinary players that had them completely surrounded.

「The battle will likely take place on the border between the Wild Plains and the Abernathy Great Grasslands. We also have to be careful of any movements from Judgement Valley. A large number of players from the Evil Faction are flocking up to the surface. My best guess is that they’re going to try and fish up some easy benefits. It’s better if we take precautions,」Guo Huai said. He and his subordinates were overwhelmed with work. Their team of only 300 was directing an army of 2,500,000. One could imagine their stress.

「Any idea which guild they’re from?」

「Some are solo players. The others are from a few dozen different guilds. The Evil Faction is having its own civil war right now between Fallen Angel and Pantheon. These players are probably afraid of those two guilds, so they came here to get some easy benefits since we’re part of an enemy faction anyway,」Guo Huai said. The appearance of these players was an additional variable.

「Do you know how many of them there are?」

「About 400,000. When the battle actually starts, probably more.」

「It’s fine. We can make use of them. They'll prey after whichever side looks like it’s losing and stay far away from whichever side is winning.」

「I’m just worried Cao Xu has a hand in this. That guy will employ any method.」

Nie Yan knitted his brows. This was a problem. If Cao Xu bribed these Evil Faction players to attack Asskickers United, it would become troublesome.

「It’s fine, just pay close attention to their movements when the time comes. This battle isn’t just about numbers anyway. Absolute strength is all that matters. Siege engines, Forbidden Magic, summons… who knows what sort of aces they have up their sleeves. Just don’t let yourself fall into their trap,」Nie Yan said. Asskickers United had many trump cards ready, including the Kamikaze Drakes, Magic Tanks, Arachne Empress Finas. He hoped the taming of the first Violet Eye Dragon would be finished in time as well. Furthermore, he also planned to catch a powerful wolf mount before the start of the battle. If he couldn’t find anything better, he would have to settle for the Level 160 Frost Dire Wolf.

「Our scouts have just reported back. Angel Corps has 2,700 catapults and 1,100 trebuchets. Seems like their production ability still can’t compare to ours.」Guo Huai chuckled.

「They have many more arms factories than us. It’s not that their production ability isn’t good enough, but rather they lack the materials. With their resources, it’s impressive enough that they were able to produce so many catapults and trebuchets. Who knows how much money they had to spend and how many favours they had to call in,」Nie Yan said. His heart was filled with pride. The Century Financial Group was buying gold from the real-world trading platform non-stop and spending even more to maintain their gold farmers. However, all of that still wasn’t enough to compete with Asskickers United. This was definitely something for him to be proud of.

「Even though Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group seem weaker than us on the surface, who knows what sort of trump cards they have. I’ve received reports that Angel Corps have secretly assembled an army of giants. Cao Xu is a crafty old fox. I haven’t been able to get any information out of that side. It's just like with the airships. We haven’t unearthed a shred of information,」Guo Huai said. He had managed to insert spies into the guilds under the control of the Century Financial Group, but he had no way of penetrating their upper ranks. The Century Financial Group wasn’t established only a few days ago. They had long since built a solid system. It would be incredibly difficult for him to infiltrate them.

「We’ll just have to be ready for whatever comes our way. No matter what move they make, we’ll deal with it when it comes. No point in worrying over it,」Nie Yan said.

「I guess so.」Guo Huai agreed. While chatting with Nie Yan, he never stopped working on the war preparations.

「How much gold do we have?」Nie Yan asked.

「Don’t worry about that. We still have 600,000,000 gold, and that number is rapidly growing every day. We’ve pretty much bought all the equipment and materials from the marketplace that we needed. It’s getting to the point where I have no idea what we can spend it on. We just sold another 30,000,000 gold on the credit exchange,」Guo Huai said. The Starry Night Potion Shop was an unrivalled money machine. Especially in chaotic times like this which caused the prices of potions to skyrocket, their revenue would soar even higher.

「Get in contact with the various large guilds and gaming organisations across the Viridian Empire. As long as it’s something we need, buy it for a premium!」Nie Yan said. No matter how much they spent, the gold would all come flowing back to them anyway. So, there was no harm in buying more useful items. Generally, the truly good items wouldn’t circulate in the marketplace. Rather, they would be in the hands of these large guilds and gaming organisations. Even though buying them would be extremely costly, in this situation, there was no need to worry about money.

「Don’t worry, I’m on it. Oh! I just got word back on your mount,」Guo Huai glanced at his messages. Tyrannical had sent back word that they’d found a suitable wolf boss. It was a Shadow Demon Wolf, a Level 180 Demonified Lord. It would definitely fit Nie Yan’s requirements!

Chapter 923 - Conscripting the Shadow Demon Wolf

After learning of the Shadow Demon Wolf, Nie Yan became excited. A Level 180 Demonified Lord was just about right for what he wanted. In fact, any Level 180+ Demonified Lord was more than powerful enough. He didn’t dare to claim he could tame one, but facing one was absolutely no problem. With the help of all of Kalenna’s blessings, like against the Level 180 monsters he’d faced so far, he would definitely succeed!

Taming the Shadow Demon Wolf with Wolf King was a step easier than killing it. Not to mention the effects of the Great Prophet title, which could subdue it to a certain extent. All he had to do was make it slowly acknowledge him.

「Have Tyrannical send me its location,」Nie Yan said. Fortunately, he had plenty of time for hunting the Shadow Demon Wolf. The final battle against Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group was still a far ways away, since organizing several million troops spanning two continents took a lot of time. This war was nothing the likes they had ever seen before. It proved incredibly difficult, impossible even, to control such a large number of troops. They needed time to get used to this.

The Darkwing Dragon took to the air and flew off toward the southwest of the Abernethy Great Grasslands.

...

Dark Eldar Forest, this place was filled with towering trees. They were pitch black, almost as if they had been scorched by hellfire. Pockets of swamp dotted the forest floor. They contained the corpses of different creatures. No one could tell how long they’d been there, but they were thoroughly rotted. Anyone that came here would smell the thick stench of blood. Few players dared to enter this forest because it was the territory of Shadow Wolves.

Shadow Wolves were Level 180 monsters. They moved in packs and were extremely territorial. Anyone that intruded on their territory would be surrounded and attacked. Tyrannical and his team had searched around this area for quite some time before discovering the Shadow Demon Wolf.

A Level 180 Demonified Lord! After they found it, it also found them. Of the six of them, only Tyrannical escaped with his life, after which he immediately contacted Guo Huai.

The fallen Thieves revived at the graveyard and met back up with Tyrannical. Fear still gripped at their bodies and pulled them away from the forest. The Shadow Demon Wolf was simply too fast. They were dead before they could even react.

"The boss really wants to turn that thing into his mount? Is it really possible?” a Thief in ash gray leather armour asked.

"You shouldn’t doubt the boss. There’s nothing he can’t do!”

Still, that was a Level 180 Shadow Demon Wolf! It was truly difficult to imagine it being turned into a mount. Just its movement speed alone was beyond terrifying!

"The boss is coming in a bit. Stop dallying around. Help me clear the Shadow Wolves around here!” Tyrannical said.

The six Thieves hurriedly got to work. They were elite Thieves in Asskickers United. Any one of them could deal with a Shadow Wolf or two easily. However, if they were faced with an entire pack, they could only turn their backs and run.

Busy killing Shadow Wolves, a powerful gust of wind nearly sent them flying. A giant black dragon descended outside the forest. It was the Darkwing Dragon! Nie Yan hopped down from its back.

The Thieves went up to greet him.

"I’ve troubled you guys. Thank you. Now, where is the Shadow Demon Wolf?” Nie Yan asked.

"It’s deep inside the forest, behind all those Shadow Wolves. We’ll have to clear them out first, or else it’ll be a pain when we try to fight the Shadow Demon Wolf,” Tyrannical said, explaining the general situation.

"Alright, let’s clear them out.” Nie Yan nodded. At his command, Battle Angel Kalenna cast several blessings on the Thieves with a wave of her hand.

Tyrannical and the others were dumbstruck after seeing the change in their stats. Before, they could take on two Shadow Wolves at most. However, thanks to these blessings, they could easily deal with five at once!

Simply amazing!

Tyrannical’s group stared at Kalenna floating over Nie Yan’s shoulder. They were quite familiar with her, especially after the more recent battles. They couldn't help but think that she was even stronger than Tang Yao’s Arcane Fairy.

They didn’t waste time and hurriedly went about clearing the Shadow Wolves.

Nie Yan brought out Lil’ Gold and Paladin Lafus to help. They started covering more and ground. Before long, the forest floor was littered with the corpses of Shadow Wolves.

After methodically taking down a pack of Shadow Wolves, Tyrannical’s group turned to see where Nie Yan had gone. Their mouths dropped open in shock. Nie Yan had already entered the depths of the forest. In his wake was a large trail of corpses.

They glanced at each other and hurriedly chased after him.

After entering the heart of the forest, they arrived at a large clearing, where grass freely grew to waist height.

In the middle of the clearing stood a three meters tall wolf, even larger than Bladelight’s Kodo. Its entire body was covered in a luxurious coat of black fur without the slightest discolouration. A pair of icy blue eyes shone through the darkness of the forest. It bared its sharp fangs and let out a deep howl as it locked its gaze onto Nie Yan. The Shadow Demon Wolf!

It felt a sense of danger from Nie Yan. This wasn’t prey!

Nie Yan slowly walked toward the Shadow Demon Wolf.

"Pay close attention to the surroundings. If any Shadow Wolves wander over, kill them. Don’t let any of them approach the boss!” Tyrannical said.

"Understood!”

The six Thieves formed a perimeter around the clearing.

Nie Yan carefully moved toward the Shadow Demon Wolf. It started growing increasingly enraged. Its eyes flickered with a red light, ready to pounce at Nie Yan.

If he enraged the Shadow Demon Wolf, a battle was inevitable. Nie Yan didn't want to kill it. He just wanted to tame it.

Kalenna floated up over Nie Yan’s shoulder. She waved her staff, causing a gentle energy to wrap around the Shadow Demon Wolf. This magic wasn’t a holy-type offensive magic, but rather a simple natural calming spell.

The red glow in the Shadow Demon Wolf’s eyes gradually dissipated. It revealed a confused expression.

Nie Yan took the opportunity to take a few more steps toward the Shadow Demon Wolf.

The Shadow Demon Wolf finally reacted. Its eyes turned a piercing red, and it let out a deep growl, as if to convey that if he took another step closer, it would pounce.

Off on the sidelines, Tyrannical’s group felt like their hearts were going to leap out of their chests. Nie Yan and the Shadow Demon Wolf were practically within touching distance of each other. If it suddenly attacked, Nie Yan would be dead for sure!

Their heartstrings were stretched taut, but they didn’t dare to utter a word, for fear of alerting the Shadow Demon Wolf.

Battle Angel Kalenna continued casting calming magic. However, it didn’t seem to have any effect anymore. Its gaze was locked dead on Nie Yan.

Nie Yan took another step forward.

The Shadow Demon Wolf had had enough. It let out a deep snarl and slammed down at Nie Yan with its paw.

"No!” Several of the Thieves watched on in horror as the Shadow Demon Wolf’s claws came down on Nie Yan. The boss would be turned into mincemeat like they had!

Out of all of them, only Tyrannical kept his calm. He faintly smiled. These guys hadn’t seen Nie Yan’s true strength. How could he possibly die to this Shadow Demon Wolf!?

As the claw came down, Nie Yan’s silhouette blurred. He evaded the attack and planted an elbow into the Shadow Demon Wolf’s abdomen. After which he followed up with a Reverse Grip Backstab, roundhouse kick, and Backbreaker.

BANG! The Shadow Demon Wolf was briefly immobilized.

Nie Yan continued adding more attacks to the chain, with each consecutive attack doubling his damage. One damage value after another floated up above the Shadow Demon Wolf’s head.

The Shadow Demon Wolf was crowd controlled for a total of 15 seconds before losing its balance and crashing to the ground. Afterwards, it staggered back to its feet, gazing at Nie Yan arrogantly standing before it. It let out a low whimper.

This reversal left all the Thieves but Tyrannical dumbstruck. This was a Level 180 Demonified Lord! Yet it was being toyed around with like a child by Nie Yan. They couldn’t believe their eyes. Were they dreaming?

Nie Yan stood still and let the Shadow Demon Wolf get back up. He had Kalenna cast several more calming spells on it, causing it to slowly calm down. He tried to approach it again.

Nie Yan was like an emperor overlooking the world, giving off a domineering aura. His eyes flickered with a profound light, brimming with the power of a Venerable.

Sensing the frightening aura coming off of Nie Yan, the Shadow Demon Wolf couldn’t help but back away a few steps. All its senses were screaming at it to submit to this person. However, it was still a Level 180 Demonified Lord. it wouldn’t be bound that easily. It continued to fiercely resist.

Seeing the stubborness in the Shadow Demon Wolf’s eyes, Nie Yan understood it wouldn’t yield so easily. He had plenty of time to play around with it. Under the pressure of the Great Prophet title, it could only display 30% of its usual combat strength. With Nie Yan’s strength, he could easily deal with it.

The Shadow Demon Wolf retreated several more meters in fear. Seeing Nie Yan continuing to approach, it became enraged again. Letting out a furious snarl, it pounced on him.

Nie Yan’s silhouette disappeared. The Shadow Demon Wolf only saw a blur before losing sight of him. An instant later, a sharp pain came from its abdomen.

Another 5-hit combo. The Shadow Demon Wolf was sent flying back and crashed into the ground.

Chapter 924 - Prelude to the Final Battle

The Shadow Demon Wolf gazed at Nie Yan with a fearful expression. It couldn’t display anywhere close to its full strength due to this suffocating pressure coming from that hateful human. It felt another heavy blow landing in its side, its paws losing touch with the ground.

It wasn’t that the Shadow Demon Wolf was weak, but rather that the suppressive aura coming from Nie Yan was closely tied to God, whose authority couldn’t be blasphemed.

Not just the five Thieves, Tyrannical too was in shock as he looked on in bewilderment. Even though Nie Yan was strong, absurdly so, he certainly wasn’t on the level to manhandle a Level 180 Demonified Lord.

Tyrannical pondered for a moment before realizing what was going on. This was likely the effect of the Wolf King skill, allowing the Great Prophet to obtain a mount they were more satisfied with.

If he claimed he wasn’t envious, that would be a lie. Tyrannical couldn't help but think how wonderful it would be if he could gain the Great Prophet title as well. However, this was only a wishful dream. In the entire Righteous Faction, only Nie Yan had this title. One could imagine how hard it was to get.

The Shadow Demon Wolf stubbornly resisted the pressure, only to be continuously beaten down by Nie Yan. No matter how it tried, it failed to touch a single hair on Nie Yan’s body, let alone land an attack.

The Shadow Demon Wolf whimpered pitifully, and tried to hide from Nie Yan. However, its legs were paralyzed from fear.

Tyrannical’s group deeply engraved this scene into their hearts.

The Shadow Demon Wolf finally lied down belly flat against the ground, lowering its head as if begging for mercy. Nie Yan calmly walked over and placed his hand over its head. A white radiance emerged from his palm and slowly entered its body.

Roughly 10 seconds later, a notification rang out.

You have turned the Shadow Demon Wolf into your mount.

Nie Yan glanced at the Shadow Demon Wolf’s status page. A Level 180 Demonified Lord’s stats were truly frightening! Moreover, the effects of his Wolf King skill boosted its stats by 30%.

Nie Yan was quite satisfied. Though he couldn’t have the Shadow Demon Wolf help him hunt monsters since anything it killed wouldn’t give him any experience or loot, it would still be a great asset against players in the upcoming battle. It would almost certainly be a killing machine on the battlefield.

The Shadow Demon Wolf stood back up. Its black fur gave off a bright lustre. Paired with its large size, it appeared especially domineering once again.

Nie Yan turned to Tyrannical’s group. "You guys can go back now.”

"Alright.” Tyrannical nodded.

"The boss actually turned that Shadow Demon Wolf into his mount! Amazing!” The Thieves gawked at the giant wolf, their hearts racing with excitement.

"What we saw today has to be kept absolutely confidential! Got it?” Tyrannical said, sweeping his eyes over the group.

"Understood!” the five Thieves cried out in unison. They naturally understood the sensitivity of the matter and that leaking this information out was equivalent to betraying the guild. They didn’t dare to wade into this minefield.

Nie Yan recalled the Shadow Demon Wolf into his pet space. With this super powerful mount, his Falkner Warhorse was now basically obsolete. After which he summoned his Darkwing Dragon and took off.

"Let’s head back as well,” Tyrannical said to his team. They took out their Return Scrolls.

Apart from these six Thieves and Nie Yan, no one knew what happened here today.

...

While Nie Yan was capturing the Shadow Demon Wolf, Asskickers United clashed with Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group’s forces several times. They were small skirmishes between smaller forces, with both sides getting a few wins. Before their armies fully assembled, an all-out battle was unlikely to break out.

Even though both sides were on a tense stand-off, no major battles broke out over these past few days.

Nie Yan divided Asskickers United’s army into 10 legions, one of which was their main force composed of 100,000 players. He also had the surrounding mountains, rivers, forests, and other terrains completely mapped out. As for the side of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group, apart from setting up tight defenses, they also dug out deep trenches in the plain. All preparations pointed to a long and drawn out war.

...

Back in the Clemenci Stronghold, Cao Xu, Soaring Angel, and the other highers ups of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group were holding a meeting. The atmosphere in the conference room was heavy.

A large screen was affixed to the wall. It played a video showing surveillance footage of Asskickers United’s army, which one of their scouts had brought back.

"Fan, my boy. I’ll be troubling you this time around. You’ll be commanding the troops from the front lines,” Cao Xu said. Though they were once fierce rivals, they had found a common threat in Nie Yan. Only by fighting against him as a united front did they stand a chance.

"What is there to trouble me about? It’s only natural that I go. I’ll be relying on you to oversee the overall situation from here, Brother Cao. If anything unexpected happens, please guide us.” Soaring Angel had to admit that Cao Xu was a far superior commander. His knowledge on everything Conviction-related was impeccable. His ability to direct an army was not the slightest bit inferior to Asskickers United’s. The only area he was lacking was that he never actually played the game. Even up until now, he was still only Level 0. He had no way of garnering the respect of countless players with his astonishing strength, like Nie Yan.

Cao Xu offered his hand. "This concerns both our futures. Let us gentlemen work together to defeat Asskickers United and bring about our glory!”

Soaring Angel accepted Cao Xu’s handshake. He knew they were tied to the same ship. If they still had reservations with each other, what awaited them was only death.

Soaring Angel led the top experts of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group toward the frontlines. As for Cao Xu, he stayed behind in the Clemenci Stronghold with 500 members of the command group to direct the army.

Cao Xu wore his usual ash gray robes. He stood with his back straight as he stared at the screen. His gaze looked distant as he thought back to the past. He never expected that a brat who had gotten some fame early on in the game would force him to this kind of state. At first, Asskickers United was only a small guild of a few hundred players, not worthy of his attention. Though their guild leader Sparrow Hawk was far ahead of the pack on the level leaderboards, it wasn’t enough to threaten him. At that time, the Century Financial Group was a major financial powerhouse, with several dozen guilds scrambling over each other to be acquired by him. Hegemony was only a matter of time. However, now it seemed that he might be defeated at the hands of a single player.

Thinking about Nie Yan’s rise to power, Cao Xu felt a chill run down his spine. It wasn’t because of Nie Yan’s astonishing strength. No matter how strong a player was, it wouldn’t cause him to feel any sense of danger. An individual’s strength was limited. No, it was something else. Ever since he started looking deeper into Nie Yan’s actions, he discovered that since the start of the game, Nie Yan had the uncanny ability to buy all the right properties, invest in the right items, and rally countless powerful experts to his side. This all culminated into him growing powerful enough to unite the entire Viridian Empire. Every business venture Nie Yan went into netted a profit. Every shop and property he bought became prime real estate sooner or later. Even the people he recruited, like Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Sun, and the others were genuine peak experts that couldn’t be bought with money alone. It was almost as if he could predict the future.

Cao Xu’s intuition told him that Nie Yan had been gunning for him from the start, as if the two were fated to become sworn enemies. Every action Nie Yan took had thoroughly foiled his plans, causing him to suffer repeated setbacks. He’d contemplated sending people to take out Nie Yan several times, but he never dared to in the end. One reason was Heavenly Kings. If he assassinated Nie Yan, he would also have to do something about them. World Bloc had the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups as backers as well. Another reason was that even if he sent assassins after Nie Yan, they wouldn’t necessarily succeed. Leaving aside that the person in question was already pretty strong themselves, Nie Yan also had a top expert in Bayonet by his side. And Shadow Killer too since recently. Even though he’d never appeared, Cao Xu knew Shadow Killer was guarding Nie Yan. This phantom-like hitman caused him to feel a deep sense of fear. If either one of these two world-class assassins were to come after his life, they would probably succeed. If the two worked together, his fate would be sealed. If he failed at assassinating Nie Yan, the consequences would be unimaginable.

With so many variables to consider, even though Nie Yan had been a constant thorn at his side, Cao Xu never dared to take action. From what he knew, Soaring Angel had once tried sending people to assassinate Nie Yan. However, they were taken out by Bayonet and Shadow Killer, including the number two ranked assassin in the world Blood Moon. It appeared everyone had underestimated Bayonet’s strength. Since even Blood Moon failed, there was no point in sending anyone else.

As for World Bloc, back when it was just a small upstart, Cao Xu could’ve nipped them in the bud. However, they’d already grown too powerful. They weren’t a publicly listed company either, with the Nie Family controlling 100% of the equity. Unless some problems arose in their businesses, it would be extremely difficult to find an opportunity to take action against them. They were closely tied to the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups, and at the same time, they’d partnered with several dozen other companies. Because of their connection with Mo Yuntian, many long-established names didn’t dare to slight them. Plus, with how rapidly they were growing in the virtual reality industry, it was impossible for any problems to occur! The amount of capital they controlled was astronomical!

Cao Xu had recently discovered something that caused his heart to shiver. World Bloc had already acquired 7% of the Century Financial Group’s shares. This piece of information was far more frightening than anything else. He hadn’t had a good night’s rest since he learned of it. Just what were they planning to do?

Cao Xu felt a profound sense of helplessness against Nie Yan and World Bloc. The more he realized they were his destined enemies, the more he wanted to spare no costs to thoroughly defeat them so that they could never rise back up again. However, reality was often disappointing. Any advantage or influence the Century Financial Group had in the past was already neutralized by Nie Yan. He genuinely felt like he was slowly sliding deeper and deeper into an abyss. As a result, he became more and more desperate with his actions.

As for the war at hand, thanks to his meticulous preparations, he felt confident they at least had a 50% chance of victory. He wanted to see who would win in the end. Throwing one last glance at the footage of Asskickers United’s two-million strong army, he turned around.

Chapter 925 - Unrivalled on the Battlefield

These past few days, all players were focusing their attention on the border between the Abernathy Great Grassland and Wild Plains. The two great armies, both several millions strong, left their hearts trembling. This was undoubtedly the showdown for the top. A war for the throne. Whatever the outcome, the entire Righteous Faction would be led into a new era. As for the losing side, they would be annihilated, returning to specks of sand in the ever-flowing river of time.

The spectators didn’t have to wait for long. Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group’s army started stirring before surging forward like an unstoppable tide.

Standing atop the Darkwing Dragon’s head, Nie Yan looked down at the world. He saw several million players moving forward. The heavy rumbling of their footsteps and their battle cries rang out across the air.

Several thousand catapults were slowly moving forward over the plain.

"It’s starting!” Nie Yan gazed into the distance as he reminisced on the past. In the previous timeline, he was only an ant in front of Cao Xu, easily crushed to death. He had to endure in silence as he suffered countless humiliations. It wasn’t until the very end that he got the opportunity to take revenge, though at the cost of his own life. However, in this timeline, he had finally reached the same heights as Cao Xu. Now, he was commanding millions of troops to determine the winner. This was probably the most glorious moment in his life. His eyes flashed with a peculiar light. "Cao Xu, you better prepare yourself. Today, I’ll crush you beneath my feet, and never let you get back up again!”

The Darkwing Dragon flew through the sky with Nie Yan standing loftily atop its head.

The millions of players below all raised their heads to stare at Nie Yan. In their hearts, he was a god. They excitedly awaited his commands.

「This battle today will mark the moment of our glory. We will wipe the floor with Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group! I want everyone to give me your 110%! Kill the enemy until they have nothing left and let them experience the full might of our Asskickers United! To the unification of the Righteous Faction! Everything our eyes can see across the Atlanta Continent will be ours!」Nie Yan declared. The upcoming battle meant life or death. So, they could only stake it all and fight until their very last breath.「Glory to Asskickers United! Charge!」

Nie Yan’s voice rang out like thunder, causing the hearts of all the Asskickers United players to blaze with passion. Unifying the continent and conquering everything under the heavens, a bad joke in reality. However, those who entered Conviction and truly immersed themselves in the game would no longer feel like these words were the ramblings of a fool. This virtual world was as real as the one outside. The people here were very much alive, had their own thoughts, and struggled to make a better life for themselves. It was almost as if you were transported into a medieval world of fantasy and magic. Here, the joy, anger, and various other emotions you felt were no different than those in reality. Which man didn’t dream of glory and honour? However, reality was governed by strict rules, and the expectations of society weighed down on everyone. There was no room for hopes and dreams. Inside the game though, they were unbound, free to be their true selves and pursue their own passions.

Sweeping through all obstacles and conquering them. Just how glorious of a feat would this be? The Asskickers United players felt their blood boiling with exictement. They let out battle cries which rang out across the air like thunder.

「Vanquish the enemy and unify the continent! Glory to Asskickers United! Charge!」It was as if everyone suddenly became medieval warriors, rushing into battle for honour and glory. The surrounding landscape, the equipment of the people around them, trebuchets and catapults, and the towering walls behind them only served to strengthen this impression.

Asskickers United felt their morale soar. All two million of them charged toward the enemy army, loudly cheering.

「Catapults are within firing range!」

「Load the brackets. Fire!」

「Warriors, charge!」

「Mages, provide cover fire!」

The two armies clashed. A hail of shells blotted out the sky, raining down on the enemy forces. Explosions and miserable cries rang out in the air. Guo Huai could hardly breathe. He and the 300 other members of the command team continuously gave out commands.

In a battle of this scale, it took something special for a single player to make any waves. The only thing you could rely on was a fierce offensive and safety in numbers. Countless pets were summoned onto the battlefield, bears, lions, imps, demon guards, flame fiends, and many more.

Casualties on both sides were rapidly climbing. Even so, one could hardly see a dent in the vast ocean of troops. The backlines weren’t even in range yet to fire. The two great armies didn’t go all out right away. It would take at least a week of continuous fighting to decide the outcome of this battle.

「Nie Yan, you stay here and command the troops. We’ll head down and join the battle!」Bladelight laughed. Seeing the chaotic melee going on down below, he was itching to join in on the fun.

「You guys be careful.」Nie Yan nodded. The entirety of Asskickers United revolved around him. He couldn't participate in the battle just yet, or else he would’ve already done so. However, there was no harm in letting Bladelight and the others go down. This could allow them to gain a slight advantage. Plus, with their skills, even if they encountered danger, they could easily escape.

「Let’s go down. We’ll wipe the floor with them!」Lei Su said excitedly.

More than a dozen flying mounts descended to the ground. Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Lei Su, and the other Warriors jumped down toward the ground.

As soon as they joined the fray, the battle became more lively. These members had all class advanced long ago. How could the ordinary players of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group ever hope to compete with them?

「Bladelight, Smoke Stub, you guys go that way. I’ll go over there!」Tang Yao said. With a wave of his staff, an enormous black meteor fell from the sky. BOOOM! Swaths of Angel Corps players were engulfed in scorching hot flames and burnt to a crisp.

In this kind of large-scale battle, a squishy Mage like Tang Yao didn’t dare to charge headfirst into the enemy ranks. Even so, he posed an extreme threat by simply firing his magic from a distance. His magic was like a tornado, sweeping through several hundred players.

Tang Yao’s killing power was too frightening. It didn’t take long for him to attract the ire of the enemy. A sharp whistling sound rang out through the sky. His heart trembled. Raising his head to the sky, he just about froze in fear. A hail of shells was flying straight towards him.

「Sweet buddha!」Tang Yao cried out. After several consecutive blinks, he escaped just far enough away. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Several dozen shells bombarded the ground behind him.

The catapults stayed far back, firing at the opposing troops. Several thousand catapults fired a continuous barrage of shells. Each one had an astonishing range. Their killing power was frightening.

The trebuchets had a far greater range. They aimed for the enemy catapults. Unfortunately, their reload speed was significantly slower and they could only fire one projectile at a time. It involved a combination of luck and skill to hit a catapult, not to mention destroy it. In general, it took dozens of trebuchets working closely together to take out a single catapult.

The battle had only just started, but the graveyard was probably already packed with players waiting to revive.

The Magisters on both sides could only hide behind the Warriors and cast long range magic to attack. Even the strongest Magisters would only become cannon fodder if they rushed into enemy lines. Warriors like Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su could completely ignore the enemy thanks to their frightening defense.

「Bladelight, how about a little competition? Let's see who can kill the most players!」Smoke Stub said, cutting down an enemy in front of him.

「You’re spec’d offensively. I’ll be at a disadvantage,」Bladelight said, brushing off the attacks coming at him.

「I’ll give you a 100-kill head start,」Smoke Stub said. He really did have the advantage when it came to killing power. Berserkers had far higher attack power and AoE attacks.

「What do we bet for?」Bladelight asked.

「The loser owes the winner a beer.」

「Sounds good. Let’s start counting,」Bladelight laughed.

「That’s +10. You guys can count me in too!」Lei Su said after mowing down a dozen enemy players.

「Now!」Smoke Stub grinned.

Smoke Stub had hardly finished speaking as the three of them stepped up the offensive, splitting through Angel Corps’ ranks like a sharp dagger.

Lei Su brandished his massive greatsword, which was almost as long as he was tall. As he cleaved down with his sword, a 10-meter long beam extended out from the tip of his blade. BOOM! Several dozen Angel Corps players were sent flying by his powerful slash. Lei Su put away the greatsword with a slight smile.「Plus 56!」

「Good job, seems like someone came prepared! We better up our game or we’re paying, Bladelight,」Smoke Stub laughed. He charged into the fray with a battlecry, spinning around his axis with his blade outstretched. Sword beams shot out continuously and beheaded more than 30 enemy players.

Bulwark of the War God! A massive golden armoured god of war took shape behind Bladelight. It smashed down its hand into the ground. BOOM! Several enemy players wearing high quality equipment were instantly killed.

No one was their match. They spread out across the battlefield, wreaking havoc over their sections of the battlefield. Even if Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group sent their Masters, they still couldn’t stop them.

...

Cao Xu looked at the livestream of the battle with a gloomy expression. Watching Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Lei Su made him all the more upset. He couldn’t understand for the life of him how Nie Yan managed to recruit so many top talents. No matter what guild they would join, they’d be their number one expert, even in Angel Corps or one of his own guilds. He’d offered them more money than they could ever dream of spending. However, they’d rather be second best in Asskickers United. It were these players that led Asskickers United to continuous victories and glory. He tried to understand, but it simply didn’t make any sense. Why did they all choose for Asskickers United?

Chapter 926 - Killing Blow

Cao Xu couldn’t help but envy Nie Yan for recruiting such skilled experts. Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Lei Su, all of them left him feeling a profound sense of helplessness.「Aim the catapults! Blast them to smithereens!」

The Wild Plains and the Abernathy Great Grasslands quaked.

Magic and shells whizzed through the air. Blood and death was everywhere, painting the sight of a bleak and brutal battle.

After a whole day of intense fighting, both sides retreated to their respective encampments in preparation for the server going offline. Asskickers United suffered a total of 30,000 casualties while Angel Corps suffered 50,000.

On the second day, the war continued. The fighting was even more intense than on the first day. Since this was a guild war, those who died couldn’t revive. So, they were stuck waiting in the graveyard. The number of players on both sides would only keep decreasing.

「Nie Yan, we’re being ambushed by Evil Faction players coming from Judgement Valley!」Guo Huai anxiously cried out.

「How many are there?」Nie Yan frowned.

「We count roughly 300,000. But there might be more coming!」

「Have our flying troops deal with them!」Nie Yan said. The Evil Faction players that came to the surface wouldn’t bring siege weapons with them. Nor could Angel Corps or the Century Financial Group supply them with any. So, they were left completely exposed to attacks from the air. They were a distraction, nothing more.

Nie Yan looked over the battlefield, his gaze landing on the enemy siege weapons. If it weren’t for those, their aerial troops could support the ground troops.

「Guo Huai, have our catapults advance!」Nie Yan ordered.

「Alright!」Guo Huai passed down the order. Asskickers United’s catapult corps advanced forward, gradually entering the range of the enemy catapults. Both sides started exchanging fire as shells whizzed through the sky. One armoured catapult after another was destroyed.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The intensity of the battle left the spectators breathless.

More than 90% of Asskickers United’s catapults were upgraded Armoured Ice Catapults. The enemy couldn’t compare both in quality and number of catapults. They were gradually overwhelmed. A few more hours and their catapults would be completely wiped out.

「Looks like we have the better firepower!」Guo Huai exclaimed.

「Have our tanks charge forward and attract some of the enemy fire. I want a full frontal assault on their catapult corps!」Nie Yan said, not letting the thrill of battle take over his rationale. The situation on the battlefield was liable to change at the drop of a hat. Before the war was actually won, it was better to stay calm and not let the small victories cloud your judgement.

「Got it!」Guo Huai nodded.

At this moment, a dark cloud spread over the horizon. It was a large group of flying mounts. They were escorting something.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Enemy airships!

Last time, Asskickers United had destroyed all five of the Century Financial Group’s airships. Nie Yan wondered how many they would have this time. One airship after another appeared within his vision until he eventually counted over 50 in total. How was this possible?

How could the Century Financial Group produce so many airships in such a short amount of time? Nie Yan recalled the previous battle. If it were another illusion, that would go a long way to explaining it.

The Darkwing Dragon, at Nie Yan’s command, flew toward the airships with a powerful beat of its wings.

Eye of Truth!

Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a profound light. Sure enough, there were only five real airships. However, with so many fake ones among them, it would be hard to guide the ground forces manning the catapults to target the real ones.

The formation of the airships continuously changed. With the five real airships mixed among the illusions, it was hard to tell real from fake.

The 50 airships all started firing at once as countless shells blotted out the sky. The megacannons mounted on the airships were already much more powerful than regular cannons. Now, with the added range advantage from their high altitude, their destructive power was even greater. Even though the cannonfire from only five of the airships was real, with a single round of bombardments, more than a dozen catapults were blasted into smithereens.

Some of the catapults adjusted aim to return fire. However, most of their shells went straight through the illusions. Very few actually hit real airships.

The advantage Asskickers United worked so hard to gain was instantly neutralized. Now they were on the backfoot.

「Boss, the firepower from their airships is too powerful. There’s nothing we can do!」a commander directing the catapult corps cried out. The sound of continuous explosions rang out in the background, almost completely drowning out his voice.

「Have your catapults focus on the ground troops! Let our aerial troops handle the airships!」Nie Yan ordered. Several thousand flying mounts escorted 50 Kamikaze Drakes toward the airships.

Both the sky and land were engulfed in the flames of war. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! A sea of explosions swept through the enemy airships. However, Asskickers United also took heavy losses. All 2,000+ flying mounts and 50 Kamikaze Drakes were gone.

Those watching the battle unfold through a livestream were dumbstruck. What a war! This was their first time seeing a battle of this scale. They wondered what other moves both sides would pull out and who would come out on top in the end.

With the curtains falling on the second day, Asskickers United’s casualties totalled 600,000 troops and 1,200 catapults. Meanwhile, Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group lost 900,000 troops and 1,600 catapults.

Neither side showed signs of slowing down. It seemed this war would only conclude when one side was completely annihilated.

「Fallen Angel is making faster progress than we are. They’ve captured 100 of Pantheon’s 130 strongholds. Pantheon are on their death throes. All they can do is turtle behind their remaining defenses,」Guo Huai messaged Nie Yan.

Nie Yan didn’t expect Fallen Angel’s offensive to be so fierce. This likely put enormous pressure on Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. If Pantheon fell, there was nothing left that could stop Fallen Angel from interfering in their war against Asskickers United.

The players from Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group were starting to feel demoralized. The results from the past two days weren’t looking good for them, with Asskickers United always coming out on top. When they were mentioned on the forums, it was mostly in a pessimistic light. Meanwhile, Asskickers United’s morale was sky high. If this trend continued, victory was theirs!

Cao Xu didn’t hesitate to make all sorts of promises to build back the morale of the troops. Nothing was decided until the fat lady sang. Who knew, maybe a sudden reverse would happen at the very last moment.

Soaring Angel who had been fighting on the frontlines since the start of this battle was both physically and mentally exhausted. Appeasing so many men was no easy thing. However, if he didn't do anything about the atmosphere, the entire army might collapse. Meanwhile, Asskickers United’s morale didn’t seem the least bit affected. In fact, they fought with more confidence than ever before.

Both sides unofficially agreed to an armistice on the third day, only occasionally sending out small units to harass the enemy.

From day four to day eight, both sides fought with all they had. That evening, both sides retreated back to their encampments and erected tight defenses. After some rest, it would be the final showdown!

Asskickers United still had 650,000 troops left, 70,000 of which were their main elite force. In addition to that, 10,000 flying mounts, 500 catapults, and 120 trebuchets had also survived until now. Meanwhile, Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group were in much worse shape. Of their 3,500,000 strong army, only 520,000 players were left. Their catapults and trebuchets were reduced to 300 and 80 respectively.

Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group were at the end of their ropes. They could only pull out all their cards for one last fight. Their strength was simply too lacking compared to Asskickers United’s.

It was time to deal the finishing blow to Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. Asskickers United would reveal their true strength and completely crush the enemy.

Over these past several days, the Sage-rank Beast Tamer Hall had lived up to all expectations. He had finished taming a Violet Eye Dragon, which was given to Smoke Stub. When the final battle began, Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group would be in for a nasty surprise.

Nie Yan hopped off the Darkwing Dragon’s head and landed on the ground. Summoning his Shadow Demon Wolf, he walked to the front of Asskickers United’s army. The Shadow Demon Wolf obediently followed by his side. Wherever he walked, the surrounding players immediately parted ways to let him through.

"The boss is finally going to jump into the battle!” The players stared at the Shadow Demon Wolf. It gave off a stifling pressure, making it hard for them to breathe. Their hearts were filled with shock. Their boss was walking around with a Level 180 Demonified Lord!

When the Asskickers United players saw this scene, they couldn’t help but become even more excited. A Level 180 Demonified Lord was a ludicrously powerful existence. Who knew how much manpower Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group would have to spend just to take it out, to say nothing of the fact they were already at an absolute disadvantage.

Smoke Stub stood to the side. He didn’t summon his Violet Eye Dragon. The Shadow Demon Wolf was already enough to boost confidence. He would wait until the battle started before summoning his pet.

Nie Yan looked past the players and found Xie Yao smiling at him. Her gentle gaze was brimming with reverence. For him to have gained the undying allegiance of so many people, she couldn’t help but be filled with pride. Recalling she still had work to do, she turned around and disappeared behind the crowd. The other Magisters followed closely behind her. Only Nie Yan knew what they were up to. In Xie Yao’s hands was the item he’d braved countless dangers in the underworld to obtain, the Occult Talisman of Arachne Empress Finas. This was his most powerful killing move!

What felt like a long time ago already, during the battle at the Cripss Stronghold, he had forced Angel Corps to flee in retreat just by summoning Crypt Lord Bennett. One could imagine what would happen if he summoned Arachne Empress Finas, who was far more powerful.

Chapter 927 - Exploding Stone Giants

The morale of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group hit at an all time low. After fighting for over a week, their army of 3,500,000 troops was reduced to only 520,000. Be it in terms of troops, war machines, or flying mounts, Asskickers United now had more of everything. They were doomed.

A hopeless atmosphere spread among their ranks. They were on the verge of giving up, when Soaring Angel spoke up in voice chat.「We haven’t lost yet, guys! Asskickers United only has a little more troops than we do. Come on, raise your spirits!」

Soaring Angel’s words didn’t affect the mood at all. He would have to do much more to lift their hopes.

Aware speaking any further would be meaningless, Soaring Angel opened a private voice chat and said in a grim tone,「Monarch, Stone Splitter, send out our troops for the final battle.」

「Understood!」Evil Monarch and Stone Splitter replied in unison.

When the armies were several millions in size, some things wouldn’t be of great use. However, now that both sides had been shaved down to only half-a-million or so troops, they could make full use of all their cards.

The several hundred Shamans in Angel Corps’ camp were subdivided into groups of eight. Each group gathered together in a small open space and started chanting long incantations. The magic energy in the atmosphere fractionated intensely.

What were they doing? The surrounding players all backed away, bewildered. The way these Shamans were positioned looked like magic formations. There stood a Druid in the middle of most formations. They wore the most ordinary civilian clothing, raising their heads to the sky as if praying to something.

Rays of light pierced through the clouds and fell over these Druids.

BADUM! BADUM! BADUM!

One muffled explosion rang out after another. The Druids let out ferocious roars. Their bodies rapidly grew in size until they transformed into large apes with ash white hair. They stood over six meters tall.

There were more than 30 apes, each of them looking extremely powerful.

The players in the vicinity all retreated, frightened by these enormous beasts.

What a frightening transformation skill!

They knew Druids had transformation magic, but only for turning into normal animals like wolves, bears, and so on. This was their first time seeing them transform into Kong-sized apes.

Everyone started imagining just how powerful these enormous apes would be in battle! They could probably even take a direct hit from a catapult and walk it off!

Even more Shamans were chanting incantations. In their hands were scrolls filled with mysterious runes. As they finished their chants, a thousand stone giants appeared within the crowd. They were smaller than the apes, with many things hanging from their bodies. Taking a closer look, everyone sucked in a cold breath of air. They were pouches of black gunpowder!

Only now did the players from Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group realize that the scrolls the Shamans were holding were Monster Sealing Scrolls. They allowed players to seal monsters they encountered in the wilderness to summon them at a later date. These stone giants were equipped with a large amount of black gunpowder, which could be detonated from a distance. They were basically suicide bombers, much like the Kamikaze Drakes.

Every stone giant carried two kilograms of black gunpowder. Even though their destructive power couldn’t be compared to the Kamikaze Drakes, there were a large number of them, and producing more was easy and simple. Angel Corps had about 2,000 of them in total. Those summoned were only a portion of them.

The players from Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group realized Soaring Angel still had this trick up his sleeve. Perhaps they stood a chance at victory after all! Their morale quickly recovered.

...

Nie Yan hopped onto the back of his Shadow Demon Wolf and gazed toward the army of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. He quickly spotted the giant apes and stone giants being summoned. His lips curved into a faint smile. This is the final showdown. I’d like to see what you guys have in store for me!

「Catapults advance! Ground troops, surround the enemy!」Nie Yan ordered.

Asskickers United’s catapults started rolling forward, intermittently stopping to fire.

A dense hail of shells rained down from the skies.

...

「Kill! Have the stone giants tear through their ranks!」Soaring Angel roared after seeing Asskickers United’s army start advancing forward. A thousand stone giants charged up to greet them.

The stone giants were spread out pretty far apart from each other. As the catapult shells rained down, several were struck. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! As the gunpowder they carried detonated, the fallen stone giants transformed into giant plumes of flames.

However, only a small fraction of the stone giants was taken out.

「Everyone, be careful! Those stone giants are walking bombs!」

It seemed like there was nothing Asskickers United could do to stop the stone giants from charging over.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. Soaring Angel were pretty clever, fighting fire with fire.

「Tang Yao, blast those stone giants! Bladelight, Lei Su, Smoke Stub, let’s go up and also take some out!」Nie Yan shouted. He urged his Shadow Demon Wolf forward.

「Nie Yan, should I summon the Violet Eye Dragon?」Smoke Stub asked.

「Summon it. No point in hiding it any longer!」Nie Yan said. The Shadow Demon Wolf leaped into the air and chomped down on the neck of one of the stone giants. Instant kill! Before it had a chance to explode, the Shadow Demon Wolf was already moving towards its next target. BOOOM! A giant explosion rang out behind Nie Yan. The Shadow Demon Wolf endured the shockwave created by the detonation.

The Shadow Demon Wolf lost its balance for half a second before pouncing on another stone giant. Fortunately, the explosion didn’t deal any real damage it.

「Good! I’ve been itching to show it off!」Smoke Stub struck an avant-garde pose and shouted, "Come forth, my Violet Eye Dragon!”

BOOOM! An enormous dragon appeared on the battlefield, the ground violently shaking as its claws dug into the ground. The towering Violet Eye Dragon immediately attracted everyone’s attention. What a frightening dragon! In front of this creature, even Lil’ Gold seemed like a pup!

"GROOAAR!” The Violet Eye Dragon charged forward and sent a stone giant flying with a swipe of its claws. BOOM! The stone giant released a frightening explosion mid-air. However, the resulting shockwave only caused the Violet Eye Dragon to slightly flinch.

The Shadow Demon Wolf and Violet Eye Dragon swept through the stone giants at an astonishing speed. Even though the stone giants had a lot of health, only about 30% made it past the volley of magic and shells and the Masters. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! One heaven-shaking explosion after another rang out, engulfing the players and catapults in the vicinity.

Nie Yan glanced back. Less than 300 stone giants managed to get through, but they still dealt significant damage. His face darkened.「Smoke Stub, come with me!」

「Got it!」Smoke Stub said.

The Shadow Demon Wolf and Violet Eye Dragon both plowed into the enemy’s ranks.

「All flying troops, attack!」Nie Yan ordered. The 10,000 flying mounts in the sky all swooped down.

Soaring Angel had to focus all his attention on directing his troops. When he saw the Shadow Demon Wolf and Violet Eye Dragon charging over, he shouted,「All catapults, focus your firepower on those two! Blast them until there's nothing left of them!」Raising his head to the sky, he saw thousands of flying mounts swooping down. What he feared the most was finally happening. After losing the protection of their catapults—only a fraction of them still in working order—there was nothing keeping the enemy aerial troops from attacking them. There was no way to stop all of them.

「Activate the barrier!」

「Quickly, activate it!」

An enormous umbrella of light surrounded the army of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group, supported by over a hundred Mages. This barrier could temporarily block the enemy flying troops, but it wouldn’t last for long.

A shower of shells rained down on Nie Yan, the enemy catapults trying to obliterate him and his wolf mount.

Nie Yan raised his head. Several dozen black shells were whistling right towards him. The catapults were meant for sieging city walls. So, their firepower was extremely high. If he were hit by even a couple of them, even if he survived, he would be hanging onto life by a thread.

Nie Yan passed down a command to the Shadow Demon Wolf. It immediately leaped forward through the air. He could feel several shells brushing past him. However, with his reaction speed, he dodged all of them.

Before the rest of his army could advance, Nie Yan was already several hundred meters ahead of them. Seeing him dodging the enemy fire by a hair’s breadth, their anxiety level spiked up, worried something might happen to him.

Nie Yan was fearless in the face of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group’s army. Cao Xu, Soaring Angel, let me give you a show!

The Shadow Demon Wolf leaped over 30 meters into the air and pounced down into a crowd of enemy players.

Seeing the Shadow Demon Wolf coming right down at them, the players from Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group lost their heads in a panic and tried to scatter in all directions.

However, how could they compare with the speed of a Level 180 Demonified Lord? BOOOM! The Shadow Demon Wolf landed on the ground, over 20 players knocked off their feet by the shockwave.

The Shadow Demon Wolf ferociously swiped down with its claws. Wherever it went, bodies dropped. Nothing could stop its rampage across Angel Corps’ ranks.

Without the support of a Priest, even Bladelight would fall to the Shadow Demon Wolf, let alone these ordinary players from Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group.

Chapter 928 - One Strike Kill

The barrier could only stop the attacks from the air. It could do nothing to stop the ground troops. Soaring Angel gazed at Nie Yan who was wreaking havoc across his ranks like some valiant general from the distant past.

"Bastard! Nirvana Flame! Just how arrogant can you get? Charging right into our lines all by yourself, what do you take my Angel Corps for?” Soaring Angel gnashed his teeth, anger overboiling from his heart. He’d been pushed around by Nie Yan for far too long, and suffered way too much at his hand. He finally couldn’t hold back any longer.「All Silverback Kongs, charge!」

The 30 Silverback Kongs charged toward Nie Yan and his Shadow Demon Wolf. These enormous apes were like tanks as they barrelled forward. Soaring Angel drew his bow and let loose five golden arrows.

Five golden streaks whizzed through the air, traversing over 500 meters.

Nie Yan coldly chuckled. You think just that is enough to deal with me? Aren’t you underestimating me a bit too much?

The Shadow Demon Wolf leaped into the air, pouncing down on a Silverback Kong that had come charging over. PSSSHFT! Its sharp claws dug deep into the ape’s flesh. The ape wailed out with a blood-curdling cry.

Nie Yan glanced at the the five arrows streaking towards him. Homing arrows again, huh? Those might be effective on others, but they’re useless against me! Homing arrows were incredibly difficult to dodge because they had the ability to home in on targets!

Nie Yan gave a command to Kalenna. She waved her staff and protected him with a shield.

PUT! PUT! PUT! Five arrows struck Nie Yan in quick succession. A string of 100s floated up above his head. These arrows didn’t even pierce his skin.

Though the Shadow Demon Wolf was extremely powerful, it lacked AoE killing attacks. Nie Yan waved his hand, summoning Lil’ Gold, Paladin Lafus, and the three Doom Sentinels. Kalenna waved her staff yet again. A gentle ray of light fell over them, causing their stats to increase by severalfold. They immediately started sweeping through everything in their path.

Lil’ Gold charged into the crowd of enemy players, spewing out flames. After chanting an incantation, he called down a meteor from the sky. BOOOM! Scorching hot flames engulfed the surroundings.

Paladin Lafus activated Indomitable Will. Charging forward, he left a trail of corpses in his wake.

Swaths of enemy players were cut down, like fields of wheat before a scythe. And as their bodies hit the floor, they climbed back up to their feet as shadow servants.

Soaring Angel’s face paled. First his arrows failed to do any real damage, then Nie Yan brought out another five summons, and finally his troops started turning into undead. He had to do something!「Use AoE magic!」

A shower of spells rained down on Nie Yan. The recently arisen shadow servants were immediately engulfed in flames.

Even Nie Yan’s numerous pets and summons couldn’t withstand the assault of so many enemy forces. These players weren’t low-level fodder that could be easily slaughtered. Most were over Level 120. Their battle prowess were astonishing. After sacrificing 600 of their own, Angel Corps finally took down the Doom Sentinels, Lil’ Gold, and Paladin Lafus. However, the Shadow Demon Wolf left them feeling helpless. Its health was simply too high, and it was extremely agile. Every time it swiped down with its claws, several players would die. They also had a difficult time dealing consistent damage to it. The Silverback Kongs came charging over one after another, but they were too slow and clumsy to lock it down.

Nie Yan who was originally riding atop the Shadow Demon Wolf had disappeared without a trace. Every time he revealed himself, several heads would fly. If Soaring Angel hadn’t retreated further back behind the protectors of his most elite ranks, he too would be a corpse on the ground right now.

Ever since he’d regressed 10 years into the past, Nie Yan had continuously searched for powerful equipment to raise his strength. With his current gear, he could look down on the entire world, let alone Soaring Angel.

In the previous timeline, figures like Soaring Angel, Evil Monarch, and Stone Splitter were all valiant heroes. In the eyes of players, they were apex experts through and through. However, compared to Nie Yan, they were like a glow of candlelight compared to the moon, failing to even reach his feet! If they fought, they wouldn’t last a single move. This was an absolute gap in strength!

As Nie Yan rapidly built up his battle achievements, Smoke Stub finally caught up with his Violet Eye Dragon. The players from Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group finally got to experience the frightening strength of a Level 200 Variant Lord. All of their attacks were brushed off. With a blast of its dragon breath, it directly destroyed several enemy catapults as wood and metal debris flew everywhere.

What few catapults were left started collapsing. Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group tried to lock down the Violet Eye Dragon. However, they quickly realized how laughable that thought was. Their attacks didn’t even leave a scratch on its scales. As for the Warriors that tried to intercept it, they were all sent flying without exception.

Asskickers United troops finally caught up to Nie Yan and Smoke Stub. Even though many of them had been killed by the exploding stone giants, their fighting spirits weren’t the least bit affected. The forces of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group were in complete chaos, unable to put up any meaningful resistance. Slowly but surely, they were being routed, even more so after all their catapults were destroyed.

Soaring Angel didn’t expect his ranks to collapse so quickly. The culprits behind this were undoubtedly the Shadow Demon Wolf and the Violet Eye Dragon. These two super powerful boss monsters wrecked their battle formation. Though he still had a thousand stone giants on standby, if they weren’t used properly, he could end up killing his own troops. After all, unlike the Kamikaze Drakes who could enjoy the freedom of flight, the stone giants had to find a path on the ground, which required careful control. This was one of the reasons why he had them charge out at the beginning. Once the two armies were entangled with each other, it would be hard to make use of them.

Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group could do nothing to resist Asskickers United’s offensive. Something had to change, and fast, or they would be routed within the next several minutes.

In the blink of an eye, the 500,000 strong army was reduced to only 80,000. Soaring Angel’s heart sunk. He could only play their ultimate trump card.

「Stone Splitter, have them summon the Occult Behemoth!」Soaring Angel growled. This was his final stand! If things continued on like this, Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group’s most elite force would be wiped out!

「Understood!」Stone Splitter nodded. He immediately passed down the order.

After seeing the enemy’s resistance wasn’t as fierce as they thought it would be, Asskickers United’s forces upped their offensive. They advanced with even greater bravado, leaving a trail of corpses in their wake.

With victory right before his eyes, Nie Yan went in for the kill. He wouldn’t rest until every last enemy was wiped out!

「Brothers! Victory is in our grasp! Kill!」Nie Yan shouted.

Angel Corps’ anti-air barrier finally collapsed. An enormous black shadow came swooping down from the sky. It was the Darkwing Dragon, and following close behind it was the Spectre Dragon. The two dragons slaughtered their way through the enemy forces as miserable shrieks rang out.

「Bladelight, Lei Su, cover me!」Nie Yan said in voice chat. He looked around at all the corpses around the battlefield. This was the perfect opportunity to use his Call of the End scroll. It reanimated all corpses within a 3,000-meter radius with 120% of their original stats and gave him full control over them. The cast time was 60 seconds.

No matter how strong Nie Yan was individually, his killing power was limited. However, if he could summon a massive army of the undead, things would be different.

Nie Yan took out the Call of the End scroll. A biting cold aura of death immediately suffused out into the surroundings, causing everyone to feel shivers running down their spine.

Let’s do this! Call of the End!

Nie Yan started chanting. The Shadow Demon Wolf vigilantly patrolled the surroundings. Any player that got too close was immediately killed. Bladelight, Lei Su, Lofty Shadow, and two others formed a human wall around him. The enemy had no way of getting near him.

Off in the distance, surrounded by his strongest elites, Soaring Angel watched Nie Yan pull out a scroll with his hawk-like vision. Spotting Bladelight and the rest rushing over to cover Nie Yan, he instantly sensed something off. He wanted to stop whatever Nie Yan was doing, but it was impossible for his troops to get past these five hulking Warriors.

「Cast small-scale Forbidden Magic! Quickly! If none are off cooldown, use large-scale Forbidden Magic!」Soaring Angel commanded. He was long past maintaining his calm. Generally, small-scale Forbidden Magic would only take 15 or so seconds to cast. That would likely be fast enough to interrupt whatever spell Nie Yan was activating. And if it wasn’t, he would at least take the enemy down with him as he fell.

「Boss, our own people are there too!」a Mage said.

「Tough luck for them. Cast the Forbidden Magic!」Soaring Angel ordered.

Five Magisters gritted their teeth. However, an order was an order. They scattered and hid among the troops, where they started chanting. No matter what Soaring Angel asked of them, they would do it; even if it ended in mutual destruction!

PSFHT! PSFHT! PSFHT! The five Magisters had barely started casting their Forbidden Magic, when blood splattered everywhere. An inconceivable looked flashed through their eyes. How? They really couldn’t understand it.

Before their eyes flashed a figure. One saw Sun, another Shadow Killer. The other three saw King of the World, Mistaken Smile, and One Strike Vow. They were killed by the top Thieves of Asskickers United!

Sun and the others had been stalking these Magisters from within the shadows for quite some time. No one had noticed them until it was already far too late. Even those responsible for protecting the Magisters didn’t know what had happened until they were long dead.

Chapter 929 - Dark Behemoth King

All the Shadow Dancers of Asskickers United carried a trace of Nie Yan’s style. They attacked with ruthless precision, leaving the enemy with no opportunity to react. They were the most skilled experts of the guild as well as its pillars. Naturally, Nie Yan wouldn’t hide anything from them. Everything he knew was passed on to them. Their skill was roughly equal to his, the only difference being the equipment quality; Nie Yan had some of the best equipment in the entire game. Being ambushed by such an unrivalled group of Thieves, one could easily imagine the outcome. Add on the fact that these Magisters were focused on casting their Forbidden Magic, their fates were sealed from the start.

Within Asskickers United’s ranks, Sunny South cast his Forbidden Magic. An enormous sphere of light crashed down on the ground and exploded, engulfing a section of Angel Corps’ forces in a dazzling radiance. After the light dissipated, all that remained were corpses.

This Forbidden Magic wiped out 30,000 enemy players. Sunny South’s control was impeccable. Only 200 allied players took damage, none of it lethal.

The last shred of morale on the side of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group was destroyed. By now, they had suffered another 200,000 casualties, reducing the size of their army to only 300,000. Even though the ones still alive were all elites, the enemy outnumbered them by almost two to one and were superior in individual strength. A complete wipeout seemed inevitable. The likely fallout of this scenario would be a mass exodus. Whether they could come back from that was up in the air.

The scroll in Nie Yan’s hand lit up with a dazzling brilliance before disappearing. A powerful ripple of death energy swept out for 3,000 meters across the battlefield. Immediately, skeletons started climbing up from the corpses on the ground. Their bones were pure-white while their sockets blazed with an eerie green soulfire.

A total of 100,000 skeletons. They all had powerful stats. Some were clad like Warriors. Others donned Mage robes and could cast magic.

Seeing so many skeletons rising up beside them, the players from Asskickers United were taken aback. They thought for a second that these skeletons were raised by the enemy. However, to their shock, the skeletons didn’t attack them, but rather charged straight for the forces of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group.

"It’s the boss’ spell!”

"Brothers, kill!”

The confidence of Asskickers United’s troops was bolstered even more. They charged forward like a surging tide. With the 100,000 skeletons leading the vanguard, it was the equivalent of having another 100,000 allies. They already held the advantage. Now with powerful reinforcements like these, if they still failed to wipe out the enemy, they might as well ram their heads into a wall.

Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group’s morale was already at rock bottom. The Forbidden Magic followed by Nie Yan’s scroll became the final straw that broke the camel’s back. Before the frontline was even defeated, the rear was already on the verge of fleeing in a panic.

Soaring Angel stared blankly at his army being wiped out before his eyes. There were less than 200,000 troops remaining. He cursed in voice chat,「Stone Splitter, where the hell are our Occult Behemoths!? What’s taking you so long?」

「They have a 10-minute cast time. W-we’re almost finished!」Stone Splitter explained. He knew they were in a dire situation. If they waited any longer, the entire army would collapse. Then, even the Occult Behemoths couldn’t turn the tide anymore.

"GROAWR! "GROAAWR!” Two heaven-shaking roars rang out across the firmament, shaking heaven and earth.

The troops of Asskickers United froze up in fear.

"W-what’s going on?”

Whereas a disturbance broke out in Asskickers United’s ranks, the troops from Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group remained relatively calm. Soaring Angel had notified them in advance, so they knew what was happening.

Two enormous beasts emerged at the rear of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group’s forces. Their appearances resembled bears with pitch black fur and a pair of sharp, bull-like horns. Standing over 30 meters tall, they were practically mobile fortresses. They were Occult Behemoths from another world—Level 250 Dark Behemoth Kings!

The two Dark Behemoth Kings dwarfed the Shadow Demon Wolf and Violet Eye Dragon in size. In the face of these enormous titans, the wolf and dragon were nothing more than ants! However, Occult Behemoths had a limited summon duration of half-an-hour. After which they were forced to return to their own world.

However, this was enough time to reverse the tide of war!

Soaring Angel leaped onto the back of one of the Dark Behemoths. He coldly shouted,「Kill!」

The Dark Behemoth King leaped into the sky, soaring over 100 meters in height, before crashing down back to the earth like a meteor. BOOOOOM! 300 skeletons were turned to dust as the impact carved a giant crater out of the ground.

The Dark Behemoth King charged forward. With a swing of its massive paw, it took out 200 players.

The other Dark Behemoth King didn’t stay idle either. Under the command of Stone Splitter, it wreaked havoc on Asskickers United’s troops, killing a thousand players in the blink of an eye.

In the face of these frightening beasts, all other life forms were insignificant, like specks of dust. A dense barrage of magic rained down on the Dark Behemoth Kings, but they took no damage at all.

They were practically unrivalled overlords. They single handedly flipped the entire situation on the battlefield.

Countless flying mounts swooped down from the sky in an attempt to kill one of the Dark Behemoth Kings. The behemoth raised its paw and snatched one of the flying mounts out of the air. KRRAAACK! It crushed the flying mount to death, then chucked the lifeless corpse back into the air, taking out another six flying mounts.

The two Dark Behemoth Kings helped Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group create an astonishing reversal. No matter how fiercely the players from Asskickers United resisted, they were trampled on by these two beasts.

「Where’s our Occult Behemoth!?」Nie Yan anxiously asked. Logically speaking, Arachne Empress Finas should’ve already appeared by now. Once she entered the battlefield, these Dark Behemoth Kings would meet their match.

「Our Magisters got ambushed by enemy Shadow Dancers! We’ve taken care of the situation without suffering any losses, but it’ll take another four minutes to summon Arachne Empress Finas,」Bladelight replied.

「What!?」Nie Yan’s eyes darkened. After all his precautions, it seemed like it still wasn’t enough. To make matters worse, it happened at a crucial moment like this! Though they couldn’t be compared to the likes of Sun, King of the World, and Mistaken Smile, Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group had a couple of highly skilled Shadow Dancers on their payroll. Likely, they’d been stalking Xie Yao and the others for days now. The only positive note right now was that Xie Yao and the others hadn’t suffered any damages, or else the consequences would be unimaginable.

「What do we do now?」

「We buy as much time as we can! Have all our flying troops focus on those two Dark Behemoth Kings. Our ground force has no way of stopping them!」Nie Yan anxiously shouted. Against titans like these Dark Behemoth Kings, the players on the ground were nothing more than bugs to be squashed, not even amounting to cannon fodder. The flying mounts could at least put up a tiny bit of a fight.

After the order was passed down, countless flying mounts launched a fierce assault on the Dark Behemoth Kings.

Soaring Angel raised his head to the sky and let out a cold chuckle. "Send out as many flying mounts as you want, they’ll all end up as cannon fodder!”

The Dark Behemoth King opened its maw, creating a giant, dark sphere of energy in its mouth. FWOOOM! It shot out the energy ball into the air, which then detonated into a huge explosion. BOOOOM! Over 100 flying mounts instantly dropped dead from the sky.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Stone Splitted enjoyed the same situation as Soaring Angel.

Asskickers United’s flying mounts were no match for these land-bound kings.

The players from Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group had originally given up all hope. However, after seeing these two Dark Behemoth Kings sweeping through the ranks of Asskickers United, turning the tide of the battle around, their fighting spirits reignited. They all madly rushed forward, launching a fierce counterassault.

If Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group fell, who knew what hardships awaited them in the future. Seeing a sliver of hope, they immediately snatched onto it. This was their one and only chance to mount a comeback!

In the blink of an eye, Asskickers United lost 200,000 troops, half of which were the skeletons.

Soaring Angel stood atop the Dark Behemoth King’s head. Looking down at the players below fleeing like ants, his heart was filled with satisfaction. The forces of Asskickers United were helpless to stop him. He let out a sinister smile, "Go to hell, Nirvana Flame! I’ll send you and all your little troops to the grave! The final victor will be me, Soaring Angel!”

Nie Yan quickly flitted across the battlefield, but he couldn’t keep up with the enormous strides of the Dark Behemoth Kings, let alone stop them. The Shadow Demon Wolf wasn’t of any help either, it couldn’t survive a single hit. So, they could only watch helplessly as the Dark Behemoth Kings went on a slaughterfest. Nie Yan gritted his teeth. Were they really going to lose at the hands of these Occult Behemoths?

Nie Yan’s heart surged with rage. He raised Zennarde’s Sword and cleaved down, unleashing an Annihilation Slash. BOOOM! Over a hundred enemy players were killed.

Unfortunately, Nie Yan’s killing speed was nothing compared to that of the two Dark Behemoth Kings. In front of these Occult Behemoths, he too was as insignificant as an ant!

Numerous flying mounts came swooping down from the sky in an attempt to stop the Dark Behemoth Kings. However, they were all swatted to death.

「What the hell is going on!? Why hasn’t Arachne Empress Finas been summoned yet!?」Nie Yan roared. If she wasn’t summoned soon, it would be too late!

...

Back in the Clemenci Stronghold, Cao Xu was watching the Dark Behemoth Kings decimating Asskickers United’s troops through the livestream. However, his expression was tense as ever, a deep frown on his forehead. Even though it appeared like a comeback was inevitable, he still felt a sense of unease, as if some frightening existence was about to appear to cut off their last strand of hope and plunge them back into the abyss of despair.

Cao Xu prayed this feeling was wrong, but it was soon proven right as a frightening earthquake—far worse than when the Dark Behemoth Kings were summoned—shook the entire battlefield, threatening to upheave the heavens and earth. His face paled.

Chapter 930 - Arachne Empress Finas!

An unbelievably powerful, primordial aura pierced through time and space and entered the Atlanta Continent.

Off in the distant plains, an enormous dark portal formed out of thin air, and out came an equally large figure. It was an arachnid-like monster standing over 60 meters tall, with the lower half of a spider and the upper half of a beautiful woman with skin as white as jade. Her eyes were closed as her long locks of black hair draped down her shoulders.

An ancient aura pervaded the surroundings.

Everyone was frozen stiff by this frightening presence. Even the two Dark Behemoth Kings were trembling in fear.

Arachne Empress Finas! She finally appeared!

A Level 300 Lord was practically an unrivalled existence.

The players from Asskickers United erupted into cheers.

"It’s the boss’ Occult Behemoth, Arachne Empress Finas!”

"Dang! She’s awesome! In front of Finas, those Dark Behemoth Kings are nothing!”

Reality proved cruel for Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. Their hopes were snuffed out as soon as they were reignited. The two Dark Behemoth Kings didn’t stand a chance against Arachne Empress Finas.

Back in the Clemenci Stronghold, Cao Xu stared fixedly at the screen. Though when he got a good shot of Arachne Empress Finas, he closed his eyes in resignation. In the end, they still suffered defeat.

Among the ranks of Angel Corps, Soaring Angel’s previously gloating expression was frozen on his face. He originally believed victory was virtually guaranteed with the two Dark Behemoth King’s on his side. Of course, he’d accounted for the possibility that Asskickers United would have Occult Behemoths of their own. After all, they’d summoned the Crypt Lord before. Nevertheless, he still carried a sliver of hope that they would win by some stroke of luck. That last hint of hope was now thoroughly crushed.

Soaring Angel refused to believe this was the end, that several years of effort would all go down the drain, that he would lose to Plenty for leadership over the Brutus Capital Group! An intense feeling of unwillingness welled up from his heart. No! Not like this!

「Stone Splitter! Come with me! We’re going to kill that damned spider!」Soaring Angel practically went mad. He had his Dark Behemoth King charge toward Arachne Empress Finas.

「Understood!」Stone Splitter followed up with the other Dark Behemoth King.

The two Dark Behemoth Kings rapidly closed in on Arachne Empress Finas, whose eyes were still closed as if she were fast asleep.

Seeing this scene, the players from Asskickers United felt their hearts sink. If Empress Finas didn’t wake up, they would still be wiped out by these two Dark Behemoth Kings in the end!

Nie Yan’s figure flitted across the battlefield. The Darkwing Dragon came swooping down beside him. He leaped up onto its back. After which it shot forward toward Arachne Empress Finas at an astonishing speed. As it flew past overhead, he leaped down.

The two Dark Behemoth Kings were getting closer and closer to Empress Finas. 500 meters, 300 meters, 100 meters...

They were about to reach her in the next moment.

Nie Yan landed on Empress Finas’ back. As he placed his palm on her, a mental link was established.

"Stay like that forever! Never wake up! Die!” Soaring Angel shouted madly. He had his Dark Behemoth King pounce toward Empress Finas.

Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a cold light. "Awaken, Arachne Empress Finas!”

A strong gust of wind blew aside Empress Finas’ hair, revealing a stunningly beautiful face that deeply entranced anyone that gazed upon it. It was almost enough to make you forget about her grotesque lower half.

Empress Finas’ eyes snapped open. It was as if time came to a stop. Her pitch-black pupils as deep as the starry night sky scanned the surroundings. Everyone on the battlefield felt as if they had been transported to another dimension, shrouded by a vast and infinite dark void.

Her stare alone was already this terrifying!

Empress Finas’ eyes fell on the two Dark Behemoth Kings. They instantly froze up, as if they were petrified.

Only now did Soaring Angel realize how laughable it was to think the two Dark Behemoth Kings could kill Empress Finas.

A single glance from her could already rob them of all their fighting strength!

Empress Finas flicked her finger and bound the Dark Behemoth King of Soaring Angel in a thick cocoon of webs. It lost its balance and collapsed to the ground, unable to budge an inch. She then turned her attention to the other Dark Behemoth King. With another flick of her finger, an enormous black spur erupted from the ground and impaled its abdomen. "GROooaoar…!” It let out a mournful cry as it hung in the air. Stone Splitter was also skewered. A double instant kill!

As for Soaring Angel, his blood-curdling cries rang out in the air as the corrosive webbing dissolved his flesh and bone before finally going silent.

Empress Finas moved her eight legs and charged toward the forces of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. Everywhere she looked, enemies were petrified into white stone statues. A slight tap was all that was needed to cause them to crumble into a pile of rubble.

Before long, a hundred thousand stone statues dotted the battlefield.

The last remaining forces of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group were finally cleaned up. A 3,500,000 strong army was completely annihilated!

Asskickers United didn't come out of this final battle unscathed either. They only had 350,000 ground troops and 2,000 flying mounts left. All their siege weapons were destroyed.

Standing atop Empress Fnas’ head, Nie Yan gazed across the battlefield. Countless corpses filled his vision, stretching far out into the horizon. A desolate scene.

Victory was paved with the bones of countless dead. The old adage still held true today.

The glory from today’s battle didn’t belong to Nie Yan alone, but rather to all the players of Asskickers United’s alliance!

News of the battle spread like wildfire all through the forums, creating an enormous uproar. The only thing left for Asskickers United to unify the Righteous Faction was to collect their spoils of war by capturing all of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group’s remaining strongholds. Apart from this, the war in the underworld also concluded. After learning the results of the battle on the surface, Pantheon raised the white flag and swore allegiance to Fallen Angel, handing over full control of their guild.

On the first two days, 2,000,000 players withdrew from Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. At this point, their fates were already sealed.

On the third day, Asskickers United started carrying out a blitzkrieg through the territory of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group, capturing 36 strongholds before the servers shut down.

On the fifth day, another 39 strongholds were captured.

On the eighth day, 21 more strongholds were captured, and 16 of the 30 guilds under the Century Financial Group surrendered while the rest disbanded.

On the 15th day, the Clemenci Stronghold fell along with 34 other strongholds.

Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group still had around 200,000 players left. Scattered all across the Satreen Empire, they occasionally clashed with the forces of Asskickers United. However, they were no longer a threat.

More and more of the surface came under the rule of Asskickers United. Everything under the sky became their domain. Only the underworld wasn’t theirs.

...

Valley of Glory. An open space was cleared out in a forest deep in the map. Here, a stone table and two chairs were set up.

Nie Yan and Plenty sat across from each other. Neither of them was wearing a disguise. Given their current positions, even if they directly met out in the open, no NPC guard would come to arrest them. This was the benefit of position and authority.

"You sure work fast, taking over all of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group’s stronghold in such a short time. We’d been hoping to get a slice of the pie.” Plenty calmly laughed, sizing up Nie Yan. This was his first time talking to Nie Yan face-to-face like this. Even though they collaborated for so long, they’d never had a casual conversation.

Plenty wasn’t arrogant and flashy like Soaring Angel. He wore ash-coloured robes, giving off a sense of wisdom and calmness beyond his years despite only being 28.

After Pantheon raised the white flag, Fallen Angel annexed control of all their strongholds to prevent them from ever rebelling in the future. Despite the peaceful transition of power, the entire process still took 16 days. Yet Asskickers United only required 15 days to seize Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group’s territory by force.

"Naturally, I can't have you taking land from the Righteous Faction, now can I?” Nie Yan chuckled, expressing his stance. The surface belonged to him and him alone. Right now, the only power that could pose a threat to Asskickers United was Fallen Angel.

Plenty straightforwardly smiled. "Don’t worry. As long as you remain in Asskickers United, our forces will never try to invade the surface. However, if you ever withdraw from Asskickers United or perhaps Conviction one day, that would be a different story.” He knew if he were to compare himself with Nie Yan, he was at least a peg lower. Moreover, given the strength of Asskickers United, starting a war with them was simply not worth it.

Nie Yan inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Plenty was a hard person to get a read on, but Nie Yan knew he was a man of his word.

Plenty continued, "Honestly speaking, I should be thanking you. You helped me obtain what I wanted by defeating Soaring Angel.”

Nie Yan knew Plenty was referring to the leadership of the Brutus Capital Group. "I hope we won’t become enemies in the future.”

"Likewise,” Plenty replied. He certainly didn’t want to provoke an enemy like Nie Yan. He flashed a mysterious smile. "I’m guessing you’re planning to take action against the Century Financial Group next?”

Chapter 931 - Hunting Operation

As the successor of the Brutus Capital Group, Plenty’s information channels were deep. He was aware of many currents, including the World Bloc’s recent movements. Considering the enormous amount of capital they were amassing, the Century Financial Group wasn’t in for a good time.

"You inherited the Brutus Capital Group. I’m carrying out a forceful takeover of the Century Financial Group. We each came out of this getting what we wanted.” Nie Yan didn’t deny Plenty’s claim.

Plenty didn’t expect Nie Yan to admit so openly to everything. Information was vital in this kind of capital market struggle. If a third party were to find out one’s plans beforehand, they might intervene and reap all the benefits instead.

"If you’re interested, I wouldn’t mind letting you have a slice of the pie,” Nie Yan said.

"Give me some time to think about it,” Plenty replied. He still needed to deliver the final blow to Soaring Angel. However, he was unsure whether he could secure enough funds to do so. Since Nie Yan offered to cooperate, he wouldn’t feel good pulling any dirty tricks.

Nie Yan chuckled. He naturally had his own plans. If Plenty were to interfere when World Bloc took action against the Century Financial Group, it would likely ruin the hope of reaping the full potential of profits for both of them. However, if he offered to cooperate and Plenty joined his alliance, then the Century Financial Group would be even worse off while Nie Yan and Plenty would enjoy greater benefits.

"I can join in for about ¥10 billion,” Plenty said. This kind of venture had potential for massive profits. He naturally wouldn’t pass up on it.

"Let’s get in touch when the time comes,” Nie Yan said. The Century Financial Group had just suffered a massive defeat in Conviction. Now was the best opportunity to strike in real life. They could not let this opportunity slip by.

Nie Yan and Plenty chatted for a while longer before bidding each other farewell. The goal for this meeting was accomplished. For a long time to come, the Righteous Faction and Evil Faction would live together in peace.

Plenty stared at Nie Yan’s receding back and sunk into silence. If a war were to break out in the future, Nie Yan would undoubtedly be a difficult opponent. However, the likelihood of that happening was quite low. He would not declare war on Nie Yan for no good reason, and Nie Yan likely thought the same. Both sides feared the other's power.

Nie Yan returned to the guild headquarters in Okoron. All of Asskickers United was in a celebratory mood.

Within the span of several days, Asskickers United established 20 more branches. After an intense recruitment campaign and hundreds of millions of applicants, they selected 3,000,000 new members. These auxiliary guilds were tasked with managing the various strongholds.

The total number of strongholds under Asskickers United’s control already reached 500, most of which were being operated by World Bloc. The potential profits from these strongholds was beyond anything ordinary people could imagine.

Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others could all breathe a sigh of relief. All of them received ample rewards. With their new salaries, they would never have to worry about money again. Even those less skilled who had followed Nie Yan in his countless campaigns repeated major profits. Nie Yan distributed nearly ¥300,000,000 worth of assets and a 30% stake of all strongholds to them. With this income, they could live a pretty luxurious life in reality.

This resolved one of Nie Yan’s biggest worries. With no more threats on the horizon, they could finally enjoy the fruits of their labour.

After confirming all the strongholds were up to standards, Nie Yan told Guo Huai to pay close attention to the remnant forces of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group.

With everything ingame taking care of, Nie Yan messaged Xie Yao.「Let’s exit out of the game.」

「Sure.」Xie Yao nodded. Nie Yan had already spoken with her about this before.

Nie Yan stepped out of his game capsule and glanced at Xie Yao as she stepped out of hers. She wasn’t wearing any clothing, not even lingerie. Her jade-like skin and curvaceous figure were especially moving.

"Are we heading there right away?” Xie Yao asked. Sensing Nie Yan’s lustful gaze, her cheeks blushed red. She felt embarrassed for a moment, then pushed it aside. After all, they’d already shared the most intimate moments together. She puffed out her chest, displaying her beautiful figure in front of Nie Yan.

"Yeah. Wash up and get dressed. We’re leaving immediately!” Nie Yan nodded, withdrawing his gaze.

20 minutes later, Nie Yan got into the driver's seat of his Thrawn, and Xie Yao sat down next to him in the passenger seat. The two sped off toward Huahai.

The Thrawn zoomed through the curtain of the night, its lights drawing a red blur on the road.

Two hours later, the Thrawn arrived in Huahai. Nie Yan parked outside the Rekod Grand Tower. The place was brilliantly lit with lavish decorations. It was an establishment under the Glory Financial Group.

Only a select few knew a world-shaking matter was about to take place here.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao walked inside and toward the elevator going to the top floor, when a woman’s shrill cry came from the elevator door.

"You’ve gotten really full of yourself. Liu Dongming! You better let me in. Don’t forget that I'm still a sub board member of the Glory Financial Group. If I’m not happy, I can have a puny head of security like you kicked out!”

Nie Yan and Xie Yao glanced at each other. They instantly recognized who the shrill voice belonged to. It was Xie Yi, Xie Yao’s aunt.

"I’m sorry, ma’am. The chairman instructed no one but core members are allowed on the top floor,” a voice calmly replied.

"Are you implying I’m not a core member of the Glory Financial Group?” Xie Yi’s eyes sharpened.

"I never said such a thing. But the chairman said you’re on probation for 10 days. You’re not allowed to participate in any affairs of the company or enter the top floor of the building. If you have any complaints, you can direct them at him,” a middle-aged man dressed in a security guard uniform politely explained. He didn’t dare to be rude. After all, Xie Yi was a member of the Xie Family.

"Y-you…!” Xie Yi pointed her finger threateningly at Liu Dongming. A fallen phoenix was no better than a country hen. She never thought there’d be a day when even a lowly security guard would disregard her.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao walked over.

"Auntie, stop giving Old Liu a hard time. You know he’s just doing his job,” Xie Yao said.

Liu Dongming gratefully said, "Thank you, Young Lady.” After which he stepped aside, letting her and Nie Yan past.

Over the past year or so, the Glory Financial Group had had a huge shake-up. Xie Jun had nominally became the chairman. Meanwhile, Xie Yi was ousted from the board and in the middle of handing over her responsibilities.

When Xie Yi saw Nie Yan, her face paled. She knew everything that was happening to her today was all because of him. Back then, she had really made an error in judgement. The former World Bloc was only a small, nameless company. Now, it was an enormous financial group capable of contending on the world stage. Their rise was astonishing. This really was a case of the younger generation surpassing the old. They were already well on their way to overtaking both the Glory and Dragonsoar Financial Groups. The brat she had mocked in the past had grown to become a dragon. He was no longer someone she could afford to provoke. Be it Mo Yuntian standing behind him or World Bloc itself, even the chairman of both the Glory and Dragonsoar Financial Groups would have no choice but to give him face. Add on the fact that him and Xie Yao had recently announced their engagement to the world—an expensive ring on the ring finger of Xie Yao’s left hand—if she had a falling out with him, even her own family would take his side.

Xie Yi coldly snorted.

Nie Yan didn’t want to see this loathful woman anymore. He whispered in Xie Yao’s ears, "Come on, let’s go.”

"Alright.” Xie Yao nodded.

"Old Liu, the meeting today is extremely important. Clear the building of anyone not taking part. No need to be courteous,” Nie Yan said, his voice carrying an unquestionable authority.

"Understood, Young Master!” Liu Dongming replied. He knew Nie Yan would be one of the people leading the entire Xie Family in the future. He didn’t dare to ignore such a person.

"You’re an outsider. What gives you the right to boss around people in someone else’s house!?” Xie Yi naturally understood Nie Yan’s meaning. Her face was red with anger.

Nie Yan coldly chuckled. "What gives me the right? Could it be that you don’t know yet?” He then entered the elevator with Xie Yao, not giving Xie Yi a second glance.

Liu Dongming turned to Xie Yi. "Please leave, miss. If you don’t cooperate, we’ll have to resort to using force.”

Xie Yi glanced at the three other burly body guards that were standing at the ready a little distance away. She was only a weak, petite woman. If she made a scene, the only one suffering would be her. She coldly snorted. "Don’t think I’ll forget this matter. One day, you will have hell to pay!”

Xie Yi stomped away, her high heels clacking loudly on the floor.

Liu Dongming snickered. He and many others never liked Xie Yi in the first place. Today, they finally got to vent out their frustrations, if only a little bit!

Liu Dongming glanced back at the closed elevator door. Nie Yan and Xie Yao had arrived. Many other big characters had come as well. Even a sub board member like Xie Yi was barred from this meeting. It seemed like something big was going to happen today.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao took the elevator straight to the top floor and entered the corridor. It was packed with bodyguards, all of whom were armed to the teeth. They entered the central hall. More than 100 people were already present here, including Nie Yan’s parents, the higher-ups of the Glory and Dragonsoar Financial Groups, and the bosses of several dozen large companies. All of them were busily moving back and forth. The atmosphere was tense. There were 60 computers set up in a semi circle in the middle of the room. The screens displayed different charts and diagrams. Nie Yan only understood a few of them.

"Nie Yan, Xie Yao, you’re here,” Xie Jun greeted. He glanced at Nie Yan. Nie Yan was dressed in a western suit and looked quite dashing, brimming with youth. The more he looked, the more gratified he felt. His daughter had quite a good eye. After all, she’d latched onto the man who was writing history!

"Hello, Uncle,” Nie Yan greeted.

"Daddy!” Xie Yao smiled and jumped into Xie Jun’s embrace.

"Today will be a special day. Let’s chat later. Everyone has already prepared. Come take a look with me,” Xie Jun said. He led Nie Yan and Xie Yao toward the computers.

"Uncle, I managed to secure another ¥10 billion in funds.”

"Oh? Who is it?” Xie Jun asked in surprise.

"A friend. When we begin, I’ll get in touch with him,” Nie Yan said. He felt it was better to give Xie Jun a heads-up.

Chapter 932 - Cao Xu Missing!

Everyone in the room was busy at work, carrying out the prep work for the early stages of the hostile takeover of the Century Financial Group. They would be holed up here for the next 5 to 10 days, with at least 20 people watching the computer screens at all times. There was even a special catering service hired.

Everyone was both nervous and excited. Each action they took caused major ripples in the outside world.

Nie Yan and his parents sat down on chairs off in a corner.

There were representatives of several dozens of companies, with three in particular attracting the most attention: the Glory Financial Group’s Xie Family, the Dragonsoar Financial Group’s Liu Family, and World Bloc’s Nie Family. The first two were long-established names while World Bloc was undoubtedly a powerful up-and-coming player in the industry. The heir was the guild leader of Asskickers United in Conviction, an inner member of Heavenly Kings, and someone Mo Yuntian paid close attention to. All these identities created a dazzling halo around him. There was one other matter that left everyone especially shocked, the engagement between Nie Yan and Xie Yao. The Nie Family only had one son. All the family’s assets would go to him. Once Nie Yan married Xie Yao, he would control 100% of World Bloc, 12% of the Dragonsoar Financial Group, and 28% of the Glory Financial Group. That was, assuming the current situation wouldn’t change. When the current higher-ups of the Glory and Dragonsoar Financial Groups handed over their power to Xie Yao, Nie Yan’s power would be even greater. If this attempt at a forceful takeover of the Century Financial Group succeeded, one could hardly imagine what the future would look like for him. They felt like they were witnessing the rise of a major global superpower under the leadership of Nie Yan.

The representatives approached the Nie Family, wanting to strike up a good relationship with Nie Yan. He in turn stood up and politely greeted them. It was better to make a friend than an enemy. He naturally wouldn’t push them away.

Xie Jun was the head of this operation. He put on a solemn expression and supervised the work. His usually calm and amiable demeanor was nowhere to be found. Right now, he gave off the air of a leader.

It was about time to get this operation underway. The room gradually settled down. Everyone became deathly quiet, especially the people in front of the computers. All of them were staring fixedly at the many screens. After going through five capital market reforms over several hundred years, in the process becoming one of the most important capital markets in the world, China’s stock market introduced a short selling mechanism.

"How are the preparations going?” Xie Jun asked.

"Everything is ready.”

Xie Jun turned to the higher ups of the Glory and Dragonsoar Financial Groups and asked, "Are the three large shareholders willing to take action?”

"They didn’t give us a straight answer. They are opportunists. Once the situation looks bad for the Century Financial Group, they’ll pounce on them like a pack of starved wolves. However, if Cao Xu manages to survive this, convincing them to help us will be a little harder,” an old man in casual clothing replied. Even though he was a bit thin and short, he still appeared hale and hearty. Everyone here knew him. He was the legendary Liu Hongze, the leader of the Dragonsoar Financial Group and Xie Yao’s maternal grandfather.

"Start the operation. Release the information online! Start short selling the shares in 10 minutes!” Xie Jun said heavily. He passed down the order. Even though he only spoke a few simple lines, everyone in the room held their breaths.

It was finally starting! A huge stir was about to overtake the world!

The various large economic news sites started reporting on the Century Financial Group’s financial scandal, how the higher-ups were corrupt and reporting false quarterly figures. If these claims were false, it would be considered slander, and Xie Jun and the others would be liable for defamation. However, if it were true, the consequences would be unimaginable!

The government watchdog agency announced almost immediately that they had started carrying out an investigation on the Century Financial Group. Naturally, this was orchestrated by the Glory Financial Group, Dragonsoar Financial Group, and World Bloc, or else they wouldn’t be so quick to act.

Apart from the investigation, various other information that painted the Century Financial Group in a negative light was also leaked out, such as how they were predicted to suffer an 80% decline in sales in the fourth quarter with a deficit of ¥1.7 billion. The Century Financial Group had completely withdrawn from the virtual reality industry, which accounted for nearly 35% of their total revenue. All of it was gone. The investment couldn’t be recouped.

All this news triggered a mass panic in the market. Plus, with the Century Financial Group’s shares being intentionally short sold, their stock price was plummeting.

The Century Financial Group’s shares dropped by 12% within minutes. As they tried to invest money back to prevent the drop, it would be immediately swallowed up.

After all, with several large financial groups working together, as soon as they took action, any sort of resistance would be futile. Cao Xu originally had an enormous amount of cash on hand. However, after failing to recoup his investment in Conviction, he was running short. To make matters worse, over the past year to keep investing in Conviction, in hopes of winning the war against Asskickers United, he’d even resorted to selling some of his shares. The controlling stake he had in the Century Financial Group had dropped to 30% by now, reaching a dangerous level.

The Century Financial Group’s net worth was over ¥500 billion, a drop of 12% in share prices meant a loss of ¥60 billion.

This was a frightening disaster! And it was only beginning!

...

The Century Tower. Tonight it was brightly lit. This 600-meter tall building, built several decades ago, towered over the eastern part of Huadong. The once unimaginably grand building appeared a bit aged and worn.

At the top floor, there were people rushing everywhere, similar to the situation at the Rekod Grand Tower.

Cao Xu sat in his office chair with his eyes closed. His former vigorous self now appeared desolate.

"Chairman, are you feeling alright? Here’s the medicine you asked for,” a 24-year-old secretary said. Cao Xu’s heart condition had flared up 15 minutes earlier, giving everyone a huge scare.

"Place it over there.” Cao Xu powerelessly waved his hand, not bothering to glance at his peerlessly beautiful secretary.

Cao Xu knew this hostile attack on his company was only the beginning. In the next few days, the other side would launch an even fiercer assault. He’d called up several old friends. However, they were all scared of the enemy, and so refused to help him. This was the hypocrisy of the world. He knew these friends only associated with him for the benefits, so it didn’t come as much of a surprise. The fact they didn’t go after him while he was down was already quite polite.

On the second day, the collapse only accelerated. As investors from around the world woke up and found the huge dip in the Century Financial Group’s share prices, they panicked and started selling their shares like crazy. The once guaranteed golden goose suddenly became a terrifying monster in their eyes. Only after throwing it away would they feel safe.

The Century Financial Group’s stock price dropped by 32%, at which point it stabilised. Some people who saw the share prices falling so dramatically had an inclination to buy. After all, the Century Financial Group was still a financial giant. Even though they had withdrawn from the virtual reality industry, the profits from their other sectors couldn’t be looked down on. A large part in why they weren’t performing well right now was the failed investment in Conviction.

On the third day, the Century Financial Group’s stock price fell by another 11%, and the trend seemed to be continuing.

The clash was incredibly fierce. Every little fluctuation tested the judgement of both sides. After three consecutive days of the stock price of the Century Financial Group dropping, the vast majority of people who held their shares lost all confidence. The Glory Financial Group, Dragonsoar Financial Group, and World Bloc naturally wouldn’t let this opportunity slip by and intensified their assault.

On the fourth day, the stock price fell even further. Four consecutive days. One could imagine what sort of blow this was to the shareholders. Those who still held shares started cutting their losses and selling at a low price to recoup as much as they could.

On the fifth day, the Century Financial Group’s stock price was only a quarter of what it once was.

...

Xie Jun and the others were already on several days without a good sleep. Eating or napping was done in the control room. The rest of the time, they would be staring fixedly at the computer screens. Under their attack, the Century Financial Group lost ¥375 billion. Naturally, they didn’t let up.

"Do you evaluate the current situation positively?” Xie Jun glanced at Liu Hongzhe and the others.

Liu Hongzhe nodded. The others also didn’t express any complaints.

Xie Jun finally started buying up the Century Financial Group’s shares. Their movements were discrete so as not to alert others. Apart from this, they also convinced several large shareholders of the Century Financial Group to sell their shares for 50% above market price. All of them felt their guts cramp up with regret. They didn’t expect the assault of the Dragonsoar Financial Group, Glory Financial Group, and World Bloc to be so fierce. Likely, the Century Financial Group wouldn’t recover from this for a long time to come, if ever. If they knew this earlier, they would’ve sold when the prices were still high. By selling their shares off now, it could only be considered making the best out of a bad situation. After all, they were getting a fairly attractive offer considering the circumstances. And who knew what other tricks those three powers still had left up their sleeves!

Within the span of 10 days, the Glory Financial Group, Dragonsoar Financial Group, and World Bloc swallowed up close to 22% of the Century Financial Group’s shares. Apart from this, they also bought another 25% from several large shareholders.

It appeared the Century Financial Group was going to have a change of leadership.

After signing the contract with those several large shareholders, the entire room erupted into cheers. When selling off shares, Cao Xu had priority to buy them back. However, the amount of funds he could maneuver was limited. So, he could only watch on helplessly as the 25% fell in the hands of the enemy.

From this moment forward, the Glory Financial Group, Dragonsoar Financial Group, and World Bloc could start requesting that Cao Xu resign from his position and taking over their businesses. The Century Financial Group’s assets were extremely valuable to them. If they merged, they would definitely profit immensely.

Nie Yan also became excited. In this moment, the threat of the Century Financial Group that weighed heavily on his shoulders was finally crushed into pieces.

"Reporting to the chairman! We just received news that Cao Xu sold the remaining 30% of his shares to the Radiance Financial Group and disappeared!” a staff member in a black suit came running and exclaimed.

"He disappeared?”

Everyone was shocked.

Nie Yan felt an uneasy feeling creeping up his heart.

Chapter 933 - News on Cao Xu!

The Radiance Financial Group was rather small, to the extent it didn’t even rank within the top 10 domestically. They had bought Cao Xu’s remaining 30% stake in the Century Financial Group for 10% less than market price, totalling around ¥30 billion. It was no exaggeration to say they’d gotten an amazing deal.

After selling the last of his shares, Cao Xu completely vanished without a trace.

Nie Yan was well aware of Cao Xu’s personality. He certainly wouldn’t let this matter sit.

Armed with ¥30 billion and the countless connections and resources at his disposal, Cao Xu posed a great threat.

In the previous timeline, Nie Yan only got the opportunity to take revenge because Cao Xu ignored him. Nie Yan wasn’t about to make the same mistake. Cao Xu’s disappearance was a dangerous sign.

Nie Yan made a phone call, a sense of unease in his heart.

「Bayonet, do everything you can to find Cao Xu! If you can, find an opportunity to dispose of him!」Nie Yan said. He had to be ruthless. The slightest hesitation would only bring harm to himself.

「Understood,」Bayonet replied. He understood the severity of the situation.

Bayonet and Shadow Killer organized a small team composed of 25 people. All of them were famous experts working for World Bloc. Nie Yan had spent quite some money over the last few years hiring these people. Now, they would finally show their use.

After finding out Cao Xu disappeared, the Xie Family and Liu Family also became nervous. They started making movements in the background as well, dispatching people to search for the whereabouts of Cao Xu and upping their security, especially around Xie Jun, Nie Yan, Xie Yao, Liu Hongzhe, and a select few others.

"Dad, Mom, Cao Xu never lets a matter drop. Please, be careful. It’s best if you don’t reveal yourselves in public,” Nie Yan said. For the time being, he wouldn’t enter Conviction. All the guild affairs were already taken care of. He would focus completely on eliminating Cao Xu.

Every day that Cao Xu was still alive and well was one where they couldn’t rest easy.

The smoke in the stock market gradually scattered. It was time for stage two of their plan.

The people on the top floor of the Rekod Grand Tower gradually dispersed. Next up was to dispatch people to take over the Century Financial Group and make contact with the Radiance Financial Group. If they were willing to sell their shares, that would be for the best. If they weren’t, they would be forced to rely on some other methods.

With the Century Financial Group being swallowed whole, it would take a while to digest.

News of the Dragonsoar Financial Group, Glory Financial Group, and World Bloc seizing the Century Financial Group in a forceful takeover spread across the world, shocking everyone. Not too long ago they hadn’t even heard of World Bloc, yet now they controlled 33% of the Century Financial Group!

World Bloc had replaced the Century Financial Group as the largest financial group in Asia.

This was a shocking piece of news. Everyone needed some time to digest it. It appeared the world was about to change.

Father Nie, Xie Jun, Liu Hongzhe, and the others got to work. After taking over the Century Financial Group, they still had a lot of work to do, including making arrangements for staff and so on. However, with the support of several large financial groups, the Century Financial Group would quickly rebound and likely rise higher than ever before.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao helped their families out with the work around the clock.

Guo Huai had proven his worth in Conviction, and Nie Yan felt more than confident leaving everything on that side to him.

Everything was developing smoothly. However, Nie Yan’s worries grew by the day. After Cao Xu disappeared, even Bayonet and Shadow Killer’s team couldn’t find any traces of him. The deeper he hid himself, the more of a threat he was. With nothing left to lose, he would probably start sending assassins after those behind the hostile takeover of his company. Nie Yan needed to make preparations for this.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao sat in the dining hall at the very top floor of the Moro River Banquet Hall, a building of the Dragonsoar Financial Group, and looked down on the city. They could see the most beautiful scenery of Huahai here.

Nie Yan gazed at Xie Yao. He felt like he was in a dream, only to realize it was reality and sigh with emotion. Thinking back to his past life, then the present day, he felt life was full of coincidences! Over the last four years since he regressed to the past, he had changed history and achieved a long-cherished dream. He had obtained everything he wanted.

"Nie Yan, what are you thinking about?” Xie Yao asked, seeing him lost in thought.

If Nie Yan were to reveal his secret to Xie Yao, how would she react? It would probably come as a great shock. "Nothing. I was just admiring how beautiful you are.” On the topic of the past, he wondered how Liu Rui was doing right now. He’d heard Liu Rui’s father was ousted from the Dragonsoar Financial Group. Given their ability, they wouldn’t have any problem finding work at another company. However, it was unlikely they’d ever climb back to the top.

Xie Yao pouted, dissatisfied. Of course, she wasn’t really angry.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but smile, pulling Xie Yao closer to him. "When all this is over, let’s go on a well-deserved holiday. We’ll tour the world.”

Exhaustion exploded within Nie Yan. Over the past four years, he’d been carrying this heavy burden in his heart. Every day that the Century Financial Group stood was one he couldn’t live in peace, fearing the tragedy of his past life would repeat itself. His enmity from back then was resolved with a bullet, shortly after which he passed through time and space to wake up 10 years in the past. Treasuring those close to him in the past life, Cao Xu became his biggest threat to a happy life once again. His only choice was to get strong enough to resolve this nightmare that constantly haunted him. Only with Cao Xu’s death would he feel thoroughly at peace.

It really hadn’t been easy for Nie Yan over these past four years. Now, he was only a step away.

"Mhm!” Xie Yao cutely snuggled herself up into Nie Yan’s embrace. She knew he was worried about Cao Xu.

Nie Yan nestled his head on Xie Yao’s shoulder. Her sweet fragrance calmed his heart. Thinking about it, he had Bayonet and Shadow Killer by his side. Not to mention ever since regressing to the past, he’d never stopped training his body, and with Bayonets guidance, his technique was top-notch too. Even if he encountered a hitmen Cao Xu sent after him, he wouldn’t be completely helpless. Right now, the Glory Financial Group, Dragonsoar Financial Group, and World Bloc were all searching for Cao Xu. Someone would find a trace soon enough.

After putting the food on the table, the staff discreetly left. The only people on the top floor were Nie Yan and Xie Yao. This was a special private room. No one would come over to disturb them. Safety wasn’t a concern either. Only a few of their most trusted people knew they were here. They were responsible for Nie Yan and Xie Yao’s safety, and weren’t allowed any outside communication. They were isolated from what was happening in the outside world. No matter how capable Cao Xu was, he would have no way of knowing they were here.

Xie Yao was wearing white sportswear which clung snugly around her curves. Her splendid figure gave off a unique charm.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel that Xie Yao was becoming more and more beautiful. What he didn’t know was that Xie Yao was secretly practicing her dancing. This caused her body to become more flexible and toned. Add on the fact that her physique was already quite good, and she really did become more beautiful.

Nie Yan mischievously gave Xie Yao’s butt a squeeze.

"Yeek!” She jumped up in surprise. "Nie Yan! This is a public area!” Her face was bright red. She instantly knew what was floating in his perverted mind.

"Our subordinates already left. They know better than to come barging in here.” Nie Yan smiled. He felt Xie Yao was incredibly cute right now.

"Still! H-how about we wait until we get home?” Xie Yao became flustered she noticed Nie Yan’s heated gaze.

Nie Yan pulled Xie Yao over and planted his lips onto hers.

Xie Yao struggled in vain, closing her eyes as she melted in his embrace.

Inside the private room, a scene of springtime was taking place.

About an hour later, Xie Yao straightened out her clothes and messy hair. She shot Nie Yan a reproachful glare, looking as cute as ever.

"Let’s leave,” Xie Yao said, her face still flushed red.

"Mhmm. It’s getting late. We should call it a night,” Nie Yan replied in high spirits.

The two were about to leave the room, when Nie Yan’s phone buzzed. It was a text from Bayonet. After reading it, his face changed.

"What happened?” Xie Yao asked in a concerned voice.

"We have news on Cao Xu!” Nie Yan said.

Chapter 934 - Pulling a Snake From Its Hole

"Give me a minute. I’m going to give Bayonet a call,” Nie Yan said to Xie Yao.

Xie Yao stood off to the side with a nervous expression as Nie Yan rang up Bayonet.

「So, where is Cao Xu hiding?」

「We still have no intel on his location, but word down the grapevine is that he’s recruiting world-class contract killers, likely to deal with you,」Bayonet said. Calling Cao Xu covert was an understatement. Just finding this little bit of information had been incredibly difficult.

「Is there any way we can find him?」Nie Yan asked. This was a dangerous sign. The only reason Cao Xu would be recruiting contract killers at a time like this was to deal with him and his family.

「No, not for now at least. However, I have an old friend making contact with Cao Xu’s recruitment agents. If everything goes smoothly, we might be able to pinpoint his location. However, we should be careful. The man has gone mad. He’s offering up ¥10 billion in total. ¥5 billion for your head; ¥1 billion for your parents and Xie Yao; and ¥20 million each for the other members of the Xie Family and Liu Family. This sum is unprecedented, even in the underworld. If a few certain people are tempted, even I can’t guarantee your safety,」Bayonet said. The world of contract killers and mercenaries was filled with hidden experts. Cao Xu offered what basically amounted to the highest paying assassination contract in the history of the profession.

「Is there really nothing we can do? We can’t just sit here and wait for death,」Nie Yan said. Cao Xu was ruthless. He’d forced them on a road to death.

「Sorry. I’m drawing up a blank too.」Bayonet bitterly smiled.

「Help me release this information. I’ll reward ¥5 billion and a 5% share in the Century Financial Group to anyone who kills Cao Xu!」Nie Yan gritted his teeth, then cursed under his breath, "Let’s see who’s more ruthless, you son of a bitch! I dare you to put up that remaining ¥20 billion as well!”

「Not a bad idea. That’ll help alleviate a lot of pressure on us,」Bayonet said. Like this, the hitmen wouldn’t just be after Nie Yan but Cao Xu as well. Those who took the contract to kill Nie Yan also couldn’t move easily. If they were discovered, it would pretty much be the end of the road for them; the other assassins wouldn’t let their contractor get killed before they received their money.

「I’m planning to go back to school,」Nie Yan said in a heavy tone.

「You’re going back to school? With Xie Yao? That’s too dangerous. You’ll be targeted before you even get on the academy grounds,」Bayonet dissuaded.

「No, not with Xie Yao. Just me alone. This is called pulling a snake out of its hole,」Nie Yan said. If he holed himself up somewhere, those killers would shift their target to others, including his parents, friends, and other members of the Xie Family and Liu Family. With so many people, there was no way to protect them all. Sooner or later, someone was bound to get killed. However, as long as he showed himself in public, all attention would be focused on him. This was the only way. He didn’t want to endanger those he cared about.

Bayonet went silent. He understood Nie Yan’s plan. He was cold-blooded on the job, but that didn’t mean he was completely unfeeling. After being with Nie Yan for so long, apart from their employer-employee relationship, the two also formed a deep bond. He didn’t want to see Nie Yan place himself at risk. However, since Nie Yan had already decided, he could only try his best to protect him.

「Don’t worry. I have full faith in you guys. Let them come. The bigger Cao Xu’s movements get, the more likely he’ll expose himself,」Nie Yan said.

"I don’t agree to this!” Xie Yao suddenly interjected.

"Please, Xie Yao. Stay here and let me go. I have my reasons.” Nie Yan carressed Xie Yao’s face. It wasn’t that he wanted to put himself in danger, but rather he was compelled to. In his past life, he’d failed all those who were close to him. In order to ensure their safety, Xie Yao’s safety, this was something he had to do. Only when Cao Xu was dead would he feel at ease.

"No! You can’t go! I won’t let you! If you’re going, I’m coming with you!” Xie Yao was on the verge of breaking out in tears. She knew Nie Yan better than anyone. Once he made up his mind, it was impossible to change it. Even so, she still tried to stop him.

"Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. I still have Bayonet and Shadow Killer protecting me, right? But if you come, they will have to protect both of us and I will be fraught with worry. It’d only be more dangerous,” Nie Yan replied.

Bayonet finally broke his silence.「Miss Xie, please, don’t worry. Even if something happens to me, I won’t let anything happen to Nie Yan.」

Bayonet’s words didn’t reassure Xie Yao at all. However, she knew she couldn’t stop Nie Yan. She hated the path he was taking, the fact that he chose to carry all the burdens by himself. And she hated it even more that there was nothing she could do about it.

"Give me five days. I promise I’ll take care of Cao Xu and come back to you!” Nie Yan said.

Nie Yan had Xie Yao retreat to an absolutely secure place and had people from the Xie Family protect her. Only then did he feel comfortable enough to go to school.

「Are you sure you want to go through with this? It’s not too late to go back,」Bayonet said.

「If you were in my shoes and the lives of your friends and family were in danger, wouldn’t you do the same?」Nie Yan faintly smiled. Human nature was weird like that. Sometimes, for the sake of their loved ones, people were willing to brave any danger or even offer up their own life.

Bayonet helplessly smiled.「Fine, I can’t win against you. Shadow Killer and I will do our best to protect you.」

「They likely won’t dare to make a move in the Top Military Academy. I’ll reveal myself on school grounds, then leave the campus out in the open. That’ll make it easier for them to take action,」Nie Yan said. He didn’t know how many hitmen Cao Xu sent after him, and whether it’d be possible to wipe them all out in one fell swoop.

「If that’s your plan, Shadow Killer and I won’t be enough. I’ll call over Wang Duo and the others as well,」Bayonet said. Apart from Wang Duo and the others, he still had a few people under him. All of them were top experts they previously recruited. Afraid a battle would unfold, he had all of them come.

...

A small, unnamed bar in a corner of Huahai, a middle-aged man in a black windbreaker was downing a beer. His hair was messy, and his face haggard. Even if someone who was familiar with him walked over, they would have no idea the person right here was once the world-shaking boss of the Century Financial Group, Cao Xu!

Cao Xu gazed down at the new message he received on his burner phone. World Bloc had also thrown caution to the wind, offering up ¥5 billion and a 5% share of the Century Financial Group. He coldly snorted before gritting his teeth.

Cao Xu’s hatred for Nie Yan was bone deep. Nie Yan had foiled his plans time and time again before finally forcing him to this cliff edge. He wanted nothing more than to tear out Nie Yan’s bones and flesh. Only then would the hatred in his heart be sated. His former subordinates left him one after another as he found himself utterly deserted, and the perpetrator behind all this was Nie Yan!

After selling off his shares, Cao Xu had nothing left to lose. He’d instantly started recruiting contract-killers from all over. His target was Nie Yan! If he couldn’t kill Nie Yan, killing his loved ones and making him live with the guilt for the rest of his life was the next best thing!

Cao Xu checked his phone. A new message appeared. His lips curved into a cruel smile. He didn’t expect Nie Yan to show himself. Since Nie Yan had a death wish, he would gladly oblige. He relayed an order through his phone.「Eliminate him!」

...

News of Nie Yan’s return to school shook the entire Top Military Academy. Practically everyone recognized him. Over the past few weeks, there were two shocking pieces of news. One was that Asskickers United had defeated Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group and united the Righteous Faction. The other was that the Dragonsoar Financial Group, Glory Financial Group, and World Bloc succeeded in a forceful takeover of the Century Financial Group. The orchestrator of both these events was Nie Yan!

Nie Yan walked along the campus pathway. The students in the vicinity all pointed and stared. From a nobody to the most famous person in school, he’d stolen the spotlight away from everyone else.

"Look, that’s Nie Yan! He’s Nirvana Flame in Conviction and the heir to World Bloc! I bet his net worth is at least ¥80 billion!”

"It’s probably more. If it isn’t, it will be very soon. With World Bloc swallowing up the Century Financial Group, they’re bound to rapidly expand in strength. Who knows how big they’ll get?”

"If you could hook a husband like that, you can live your life in riches.”

"Don’t even think about it. His fiancée is the young miss of the Dragonsoar Financial Group and Glory Financial Group. Her family is also worth a few billion. She’s really beautiful to boot. Everyone calls her the goddess of the governing faculty. Do you think you can compete?”

Hearing the discussion around him, Nie Yan couldn’t help but smile. He continued walking forward calmly as usual. He knew there were many experts eyeing him from the shadows. They likely wouldn’t take action on school grounds, but he couldn’t say for sure. So, he had to stay vigilant.

Nie Yan carried a pocket watch in his chest pocket. It was an extremely advanced piece of technology, capable of detecting an approaching bullet and generating an electromagnetic field that would cause its trajectory to diverge. This little toy would help him guard against ambushes to a certain degree. It was something Bayonet had gotten him. Apparently, it was the latest military technology. Only a few top brass in the country could get their hands on it. It wouldn’t be for sale in the market anytime soon.

Bayonet and Shadow Killer were following Nie Yan from the shadows. With their well-trained vision, they could easily tell killers from ordinary civilians. If Nie Yan was being followed, they would find out.

After receiving Bayonet’s message, Wang Duo and the others came rushing over to the Top Military Academy. Mo Yuntian was also aware of the situation and dispatched some people of his own. Even though they weren’t on the same level as Shadow Killer and Bayonet, they were still elite special forces, far stronger than an ordinary hitman. Right now, they were holding back, waiting for Cao Xu’s people to take action.

Nie Yan’s phone buzzed. Bayonet had sent a message. All the targets had been identified. They were going to take action.

Putting away his phone, Nie Yan started making a full circle around the campus forest. Finally, he reached the school entrance.

Chapter 935 - Encounter in the Woods

For the sake of cover, Nie Yan pretended to go back to class to get something. Then making his way through the tree-shaded walkway, he arrived at the school entrance. He hopped in his thrawn and drove off toward the middle of nowhere.

The Thrawn sped along the road. Nie Yan took a few things out of the glove box, including an earpiece which he put into his ear.

「Nie Yan, you have at least five cars following you. You’re also being tracked by satellite. Be careful! I left some weapons under your front passenger seat,」Bayonet said.

Nie Yan glanced to his right. Sure enough, there was a black duffel bag under the passenger seat. He grabbed it and placed it on the seat. While paying attention to the road, he unzipped the bag. Inside was a gun, a KJ-382 Burstfire with a sniper scope attachment. It had a firing range of 1,200 meters and a firing rate of three rounds per second. The bullets were needle-thin. Once they entered the target, they would explode. There were six clips in the duffel bag, containing 3,000 rounds each. This was a terrifying weapon. Even kevlar was useless against it. Only something like the heavy duty plating of a mech suit could defend against it.

"Nice.” Nie Yan remarked in pleasant surprise. Bayonet was actually able to get his hands on something like this. Besides the gun, there was also a military-style combat knife inside the duffel bag. It was wrapped in black strips of leather.

"A dagger!” Nie Yan’s heart welled up with a sense of familiarity. His weapon of choice inside the game was precisely the dagger. Conviction’s simulation was extremely close to reality, to the extent there was practically no difference. So, he was just as adept with the dagger in the real world. Even though he couldn’t enter stealth, many of his techniques were still usable. His lips curved in a cold smile. He was well aware this was reality, but the enemy before him wanted his life. He naturally wouldn’t hold back.

The Thrawn gradually left the city behind. Nie Yan was still focused on driving, when three cars appeared out of nowhere and tried to ram him off the road.

Nie Yan was a moment away from being struck. Even a sturdily built car like the Thrawn would take heavy damage if hit. He jerked his steering wheel to the side. BOOM! His car swerved into the woods beside the road. He drove for several more minutes through the woods until it grew too thick for him to continue. Strapping the dagger to his waist, he opened the car door and jumped out with the gun in hand. Throwing a quick glance behind him, he bolted deeper into the woods.

Several vans came to a stop behind the Thrawn and almost 60 people jumped out.

These were all hitmen hired by Cao Xu. They normally operated solo, and were even now unwilling to share the bounty on Nie Yan’s head with the others. However, Cao Xu had instructed these lone wolves to work together as equals. Most of them felt sending so many after a single kid was excessive. If it weren’t for the ¥5 billion, they wouldn’t be here.

They fired their submachine guns at the Thrawn. Bullets struck the metal frame of the car and bounced off everywhere.

Afterwards, the hitmen went around the Thrawn and scanned the surroundings. However, there was no sign of Nie Yan.

「What’s the situation?」Nie Yan asked through the intercom while dashing through the woods using the cover of the trees.

「At least 300 people came, with 60 chasing behind you right now. About half of them are world famous hitmen. Our people are here too. This will be a bloodbath. You be careful. I managed to hack into their satellite and intercept their communications. We found Cao Xu. Shadow Killer is going after him right now. The rest of us will deal with the situation here,」Bayonet said, sounding even more serious than usual. The people that came today weren’t easy opponents.

「You’ve found Cao Xu already? Good, quickly eliminate him. Then we can finally put an end to this saga. As for the hitmen coming after me, we will kill them all!」Nie Yan said, his eyes flashing with a cold light. With Mo Yuntian’s people and his own, they had over 600 experts in total, most of whom were special forces. If they couldn’t deal with this ragtag bunch of hitmen, they might as well commit suicide by headbutting a wall.

...

After discovering Nie Yan wasn’t in the Thrawn, the hitmen immediately carried out a search. As they expanded their search area, more and more hitmen entered the woods. Originally, they had the help of a satellite that was constantly tracking Nie Yan’s position. However, just a moment ago, the signal went dead. No matter what they did, they couldn’t get it working again. They cursed the piece of technology Cao Xu had given them. In the end, they could only rely on themselves.

For Cao Xu to lose his satellite so quickly was a big loss. Unfortunately, with his contacts, he only managed to get his hands on a private, civilian-made satellite. It didn’t take long for a hacking specialist like Bayonet to disable it.

PSFHT! PSFHT! Suddenly, two of the hitmen that went into the woods to search for Nie Yan were lit up with bullets and collapsed to the ground.

"Enemy ambush! Take cover!”

"Shit! It’s special forces soldiers!”

These hitmen instantly went into a panic. Many of them could take on special forces soldiers one-on-one, but they were now facing a proper force. If a large unit came, they would be in serious trouble.

An intense firefight unfolded. The hitmen refused to go down with a fight and started retaliating fiercely.

...

Nie Yan hid within the woods. Thanks to Bayonet taking out Cao Xu’s satellite, the hitmen had lost track of him. Meanwhile, his satellites were still fully operational. They could pinpoint the locations of their own people as well as those of the enemy. They had the clear advantage.

Nie Yan’s body was hidden within the tall grass, resembling a cheetah waiting to pounce. He scanned his eyes over the trees and spotted a hitman in black clothes walking in his direction. He pulled out his KJ-382. After lining the sights, he pulled the trigger. A muffled bang rang out.

When the bullet pierced the hitman’s throat, it exploded, causing blood to spray out in the air.

A life-ending shot!

Not bad! Nie Yan was satisfied with his own gun skills. This wasn’t too surprising. After all, he had spent so much time training with Bayonet.

Nie Yan stealthily walked out of the grass and spotted two camouflaged special forces soldiers. They were Mo Yuntian’s men. Both sides spotted each other almost at the same time. A wave and a nod later, they went off in different directions.

With the help of satellites, they could effectively avoid friendly fire because they knew exactly who was who.

"Over there!”

"Kill those two bastards!”

Three hitmen came rushing over. They had likely noticed the two special forces soldiers from before. Nie Yan hid within the tall grass and approached one of the hitmen.

The hitman suddenly heard a rustle. He looked behind him, but didn’t discover anything. As he turned back, a shadow dashed from the grass. A cold glint was the last thing he saw.

PSHFT! Nie Yan pierced the hitman’s throat with his dagger.

The hitman tried to open his mouth, but no sound came out.

The two hitmen at the front sensed something wrong. Looking back, all they saw was the corpse of their comrade lying on the ground, blood still dripping from his throat. Their faces paled with horror. What frightening speed! Somebody had actually ambushed them from behind and killed one of their comrades without them noticing!

One of the hitmen took out his SMG and pulled the trigger, sweeping a patch of woods with a hail of bullets.

After he emptied his clip, he heard a muffled choke behind him. Turning around, his companion weakly collapsed to the ground, a gaping wound on his throat and eyes wide open. His heart trembled. From the corner of his eye, he noticed a dagger stuck to a tree, the blade still vibrating.

The hidden expert had killed his companion by throwing their dagger. Before he had any time to react,a bullet pierced his forehead, and his vision went black.

Nie Yan walked out from behind a tree, and pulled his dagger from the tree trunk. Sometimes, daggers were more useful than guns.

After killing the three hitmen, Nie Yan ran off in another direction, looking for new targets. Checking his phone screen, the black dots that represented the enemy were disappearing one after the other. Before long, they would be completely wiped out.

Bayonet was astonishing. He had killed over a dozen people by himself, and the targets he selected were all famous experts.

The hitmen Cao Xu sent over were quickly getting killed off. That wasn’t to say Nie Yan’s side hadn’t suffered any losses. 50 were dead and another 30 were seriously injured. Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel guilty. These men died for him. When this was all over, he would properly take care of the people they left behind and provide ample financial support.

Death followed him through both lifetimes. Nie Yan didn’t know whether what he was doing was right or wrong. However, sometimes, people had to do things they didn’t want to.

Before long, all the hitmen were taken care of. Bayonet used the satellite to scan the area. After confirming there was no one left, only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. He reported through the intercom,「That was the last of them.」

With all the hitmen dealt with, Nie Yan wondered if Cao Xu was still alive.

Everything seemed to be going too smoothly, giving Nie Yan a sense of uneasiness. However, he quickly dispelled this from his mind. All the hitmen Cao Xu had mobilized were neutralized. The person himself had also been located. In this situation, what other moves could he possibly pull? If there were any other plans, Bayonet would’ve already found out about it.

Right now, Nie Yan just had to wait to hear back from Shadow Killer. If Shadow Killer could kill Cao Xu, everything would be settled. Bayonet had locked onto Cao Xu’s location. He had no way of escaping!

Chapter 936 - Number One Assassin

In the old, run-down bar, Cao Xu sat in a corner sipping his drink. Truthfully, ever since he went into hiding and started planning out Nie Yan’s assassination, he already knew his fate. Because as long as he was alive, World Bloc, the Dragonsoar Financial Group, and Glory Financial Group wouldn’t be able to rest easy. However, even if all that awaited him was death, he refused to die a lowly death. He was still Cao Xu!

So, Cao Xu spent the entire ¥30 billion he made from selling his shares in the Century Financial Group on assassinating Nie Yan. He didn’t leave a cent behind for himself. ¥10 billion was revealed out in the open while the remaining ¥20 billion was in a notary office. So long as Nie Yan died, all of it would be transferred to the bank account of whoever killed him.

Cao Xu quietly drank his beer, a trace of spiciness flowing down his throat. He had to admit. Even if he killed Nie Yan, he had still lost. That little bit of dissatisfaction would never leave his heart.

The bustling of the bar seemed to have nothing to do with him.

Cao Xu knew the time he had left in this world was short. He took another sip of his drink.

"Server, another bottle!” Cao Xu shouted.

A moment later, a server came over with a bottle of baijiu.

"Sir, your drink,” the server said, placing the bottle on the table.

Cao Xu glanced at the server with slightly glazed over eyes. He gave a stupid grin, then muttered in a drunk stupor, "You know, you’re shit compared to Demon Fox. His disguises are far superior to yours.”

The server’s face turned cold. He subtly placed his hand into his inner breast pocket.

Cao Xu picked up the bottle of alcohol and filled up his glass. Then he downed it in one gulp.

The server was caught by surprise. If Cao Xu already recognized him, why did he drink and not run? Perhaps, he already knew his fate.

"How do you think Demon Fox became the number one hitman? It’s not because his skills in combat are superior to other world-class hitmen, but rather that his disguises are flawless. Your pathetic attempt at a disguise is garbage in comparison. None of the other servers here have a gaze as sharp as yours. Besides, you’re the only male server who isn’t checking out the pretty patrons. Your eyes have been on me for some time now, like a predator stalking its prey. It’s clear I’m your target. One more thing. This isn’t some high end establishment. You look completely out of place with your prim and proper look.” Cao Xu poured himself another glass. No one could tell whether he was drunk or sober.

Even though Cao Xu knew he was in a perilous situation, his movements were still calm and collected. He gave off an air that one couldn’t quite put into words.

"Report back to your master, and tell him this is my final gift to him. I, Cao Xu, started my career at 20 years of age by entering the Century Financial Group. At 31 years old, I climbed my way up to the ranks of general manager. At age 35, I sent my wife and children away. I brought down the chairman of the Century Financial Group and seized the position for myself. I’ve since done more despicable things than I can count, or remember. Karma finally caught up to me. My wife and children were murdered. At age 56, I only had one son and one daughter left. What lies at the end for those who pursue only fame and fortune? The same as for everyone else; the earth and dust, leaving behind only myriad emotions. Such is the meaningless of life!” Cao Xu let out a bitter laugh, looking desolate.

Looking at Cao Xu teetering on mad, the server sighed before before turning around and walking away.

Elsewhere in the bar, Shadow Killer also let out a sigh. Cao Xu collapsed on the floor. The people in the bar were in chaos. Before long, the police would come. Those hidden in the darkness gradually withdrew.

...

Nie Yan watched the livestream from his phone, sighing at how a ruthless and ambitious character like Cao Xu met such a pitiful end. He thought deeply on Cao Xu’s final words. In his past life, Cao Xu had committed a multitude of evils, but no one could stop him until it was already far too late. Could it be that his rebirth in this life was also Cao Xu’s retribution?

Even Nie Yan couldn’t explain how destiny tied everything together.

With Cao Xu’s death, Nie Yan finally felt the last weight in his heart disappear. This saga was finally over.

"Let’s go home,” Nie Yan said. His smile carried an indescribable feeling of relief.

"Nie Yan, watch out!” Bayonet’s voice came shouting from behind.

BANG! Nie Yan’s smile froze on his face. He gazed down at his chest with a look of disbelief. A sickly sweet, iron taste rose up his throat. Raising his hand to his face, it was covered in his blood. This wet, sticky feeling felt so familiar.

Nie Yan felt his eyelids slowly close, as if he were about to sink into an endless darkness. One silhouette after another flashed through his mind: his father, his mother, Xie Yao, Tang Yao, Guo Huai, Bayonet, and many, many others. All those who’d left a lasting impression in his life. However, at this moment, they seemed to drift farther and farther away. He reached out to grab them, but all he saw was an infinite void of black.

"Am I really going to die like this?

"The past four years seem like a dream now. Or was this perhaps reality, continuing from that one moment?

"Maybe it was fate all along. Fate gave me the opportunity to make up for my past regrets. And now that I have, it’s taking me back. Such a mysterious thing.

"But I don’t want it to end like this. Please, dear God, give me some more time. Let me see my father and mother live out their golden years in peace, and let me see her beautiful face again!

"Am I too late? Was this wish never meant to be fulfilled?

"I finished what I came back for. My loved ones are safe, and Cao Xu is dead.

"Xie Yao, my love. There are many great guys in this world, maybe you will find one of them and fall in love all over again. I just hope you can be happy. I still remember many years ago, when the warm sunlight shone down on your fair cheeks; your beautiful sweet smile as you gazed at me.

"Farewell, my love.”

Nie Yan felt his consciousness slip, the panicked shouts by his earside growing distant until everything faded away into a deathly silence.

"Hurry! Get him hemostatics!

"Put pressure on the wound! Quickly!

"Doctor! Get a doctor already!” Bayonet madly shouted, his voice growing hoarse. His tiger-like eyes were filled with fury.

Two doctors soon rushed over and nervously started treating Nie Yan’s wound.

About 1,600 meters away, a person hidden in camouflage was peering through a scope with a cruel grin on his face. He was certain the bullet had struck the heart. A follow-up was unnecessary. Too many were crowding around Nie Yan anyway. There was no second chance even if he wanted to. He dropped his sniper rifle and dashed away.

Bayonet looked toward the east. That was the direction the bullet came from! He immediately spotted a green silhouette flash between the trees. The slightest of movements, but it didn’t escape his vision. He dashed off after it. Right now, his mind was filled with only a singular thought!

The satellite had shown that all the hitmen were killed, but someone had still slipped through the net. The enemy had disguised themselves and infiltrated their works! It was also possible something had occurred during the battle, or perhaps they were compromised long before. This kind of style, Bayonet could only think of one person—the number one assassin, Demon Fox!

Demon Fox was one of the most mysterious assassins in the world. He rarely accepted new contracts, but when he did, it would always be for ludicrous sums. Though having never failed, he was worth the price. It didn’t matter if the target was an important government figure or large tycoon. All of them had died at his hands. Not to mention he was like a ghost. No one had ever met the person.

This was Cao Xu’s trump card. All other hitmen were merely a smokescreen! Sadly, Bayonet only realized this now.

Bayonet felt like a piece of his heart had been carved out with a steak knife. Working so closely together with Nie Yan, their relationship was no longer as simply as employer and employee. He viewed Nie Yan as a little brother!

Demon Fox flitted across the woods, running for a thousand meters. Glancing back, he confirmed no one chased after him. He threw off his special forces uniform into the nearby brush, then changed into ordinary civilian clothing. He looked just like a graceful young master. It was as if everything that happened in the woods had nothing to do with him. When he’d taken action, he’d interfered with the satellite so that it wouldn’t mark him as a target. He chuckled. The mission was complete. He only had to confirm Nie Yan’s death, and the ¥20 billion could be transferred to his account. The profession of an assassin was truly lucrative. He walked over to the side of the road where a car was waiting for him.

Demon Fox reached out to open the door, when he heard a muffled bang. He felt an intense pain in his chest. He gazed down in disbelief. A large hole, with blood flowing from it. His eyes glazed over as he slumped to the ground.

A silhouette came walking out of the woods about 1,000 meters away. It was Bayonet. He arrived at the corpse with an ice-calm expression on his face. When he fired the shot a moment ago, he missed the heart on purpose. Demon Fox had suffered a serious injury, but it would take him several minutes to bleed out and die.

Demon Fox’s body was twitching in pain. He wanted to climb up.

Bayonet walked over and planted his foot on Demon Fox’s back. Demon Fox trembled intensely.

"W-who are you?” Demon Fox asked, gritting his teeth. He didn’t even have the strength to raise his head.

"I’ll give you the courtesy of knowing who killed you. I’m Bayonet,” Bayonet said coldly. He took out his pistol and aimed it at Demon Fox’s head.

"S-so it was you… hah… to die at your hands, I really can’t believe it,” Demon Fox grinned. He originally wanted to chuckle, but it came out uglier than a crying face.

Bayonet pulled the trigger. BANG! Demon Fox’s brains splattered over the ground.

Demon Fox spasmed one last time before going dead still.

Looking at Demon Fox’s corpse, Bayonet’s fury was sated, only a sense of sorrow left in his heart. That brat Nie Yan, was he really dead? He refused to believe this was reality, but he had no other choice. He raised his head to the sky and let out a thundering cry as tears dripped down his face.

Chapter 937 - Mystery of Life or Death

In a villa on the outskirts of Huahai. Xie Yao walked around restlessly, a constant worry for Nie Yan gripping at her heart. She couldn’t help but worry something bad was going to happen. Cao Xu had hired nearly 300 hitmen to kill Nie Yan. Though he also had a small army of himself protecting him, it was still impossible for her to relax.

Cao Xu was a wily old fox. Who knew if he had some sort of last ace up his sleeve.

Xie Yao prayed nothing would happen to Nie Yan. She didn’t know what she would do if something did happen to him.

Xie Yao sat on a sofa by the window. The sun shone through the window and on her face. She wore a long white dress, beautiful like a dream, indescribable. Anyone would think she was a peerless beauty. However, this peerless beauty was sick with worry.

A 25 years old woman in an office dress rushed into the room. "Miss, something bad has happened!” she said with a panicked voice.

Xie Yao’s heart sank. "What happened!?”

"Nie Yan was shot in the heart. He’s in surgery right now. Maybe-” She was about to say something, but thought better of it. "The chairman says you should go to the hospital.”

Xie Yao looked deathly pale as though she was struck by lightning. How was this possible...

No! He will be fine! Xie Yao stood up and grabbed her jacket. "Let’s go!”

Xie Yao and the lady ran out of the villa and stepped into the car waiting for them outside.

The car immediately sped away.

...

Every news agency jumped on the news of Cao Xu’s death. This story quickly grew wings as it crossed the world. Having lived in the spotlight for so many years, the entire world knew Cao Xu. So, his death would naturally garner a lot of attention. Police quickly arrived at the scene of the crime and conducted a thorough investigation. They found that Cao Xu had died from poisoning. According to eyewitness records, the deceased showed signs of suicidal tendencies; both in the amount of liquor he drank and the words he spoke. However, due to a satellite malfunction these reports couldn’t be confirmed, and it would be hard to convince the public of them. Nevertheless, a lot of people were happy to hear of Cao Xu’s death.

In other news, it was reported that Nie Yan, the young master of World Bloc and future son-in-law of the Glory and Dragonsoar Financial Groups, was shot in the heart and currently fighting for his life. If it were only for these titles, not many people would care. They had other things to worry about than some big shot from a large financial group. However, Nie Yan was better known under another name–Nirvana Flame! If Nirvana Flame died, who knew what great waves would wash over Conviction?

A rumour started spreading that Cao Xu had sent hitmen to take Nie Yan out. Afraid and desperate that he would be found out, he took his own life. It was unclear whether there was any truth to this rumour. It was said that one of Cao Xu’s former confidantes had requested the police to release the satellite footage. The police complied, but the videos were all noise and static. This only served to fan the conspiracy theories further.

Another rumour started spreading that some of Cao Xu’s men had attempted to enter Huahai First Hospital to confirm Nie Yan’s death. But they couldn’t find out anything. Apparently, Cao Xu had left ¥20 billion with an underworld notary. If Demon Fox successfully killed Nie Yan, the money would be his. If he failed, whoever did kill Nie Yan would receive the money. However, it seemed like Demon Fox went missing as well, never showing up to turn in the mission.

The Huahai First Hospital didn’t give any updates on Nie Yan’s condition to the public. His life and death became an unsolvable mystery.

Over the next two months, countless people eagerly followed the news, expecting an update on Nie Yan’s condition. However, none came; not from the hospital nor from World Bloc. In fact, all mentions of Nie Yan on the intensive care ward were removed as though he’d never been there in the first place.

This made everyone feel silly. All the major news outlets started writing pieces guessing as to whether Nie Yan was still alive or dead. Some people asked the doctors who were supposedly in charge of Nie Yan, but even they didn’t know. Nie Yan had indeed arrived at the Huahai First Hospital with a gunshot wound to the chest. However, early the next morning he was secretly moved to an undisclosed location. The hospital and World Bloc only kept the ruse up for the patient’s safety. Something that was proven a wise choice, as five terrorist attacks hit the hospital within these two months. Naturally, World Bloc rewarded the hospital generously for all their troubles. Some employees could even retire because of it and live a life of comfort.

Learning Nie Yan was moved to an undisclosed location within 24 hours after being shot only added to the suspense. If Nie Yan died, World Bloc shouldn’t be holding up the news but rather announcing when the funeral would be. However, if he survived, then why did they move him the next day after surgery? Everyone knew this was the most crucial moment in a recovery. Were they not worried that transport would irritate the wound and cause internal bleeding? With an injury to the heart, internal bleeding could be deathly! He’d be done for! However, if Nie Yan was already dead, there was of course nothing to worry about.

The mystery of the life or death of Nie Yan was impossible to unravel.

Many people checked Conviction every day to see if Nirvana Flame had logged on yet. However, they were left disappointed. Ever since Nie Yan, or Nirvana Flame, was shot, he hadn’t logged back online.

The Mad Rogue already started becoming a distant memory in the hearts of the players.

Some people said Nie Yan was dead. Others claimed to have spotted him with Xie Yao at some famous tourist attraction. Either way, Nirvana Flame didn’t show himself again. Perhaps he was alive and simply felt he had reached the peak in the game, deciding to leave on a high. There were many more guesses floating around online. Who knew, perhaps one of them was real.

Time slowly passed and the game changed with it. Players still spoke of the legend of the Mad Rogue. However, many more had forgotten about him. As the third anniversary of Nirvana Flame’s departure from Conviction came and went, the playerbase finally accepted the legendary Thief was gone for good.

Over the last three years, World Bloc worked together with the Glory and Dragonsoar Financial Groups to take care of the last people still loyal to Cao Xu. As for the ¥20 billion left with an underworld notary, a certain hacker had made it disappear from their account. This caused them to fall into disrepute.

The Century Financial Group, now in the hands of World Bloc, took over many businesses. They became more profitable than ever before, leaving former shareholders filled with regret.

World Bloc became one of the biggest holding companies in the world. After the Century Financial Group, they also bought shares from the Glory and Dragonsoar Financial Groups and took over hundreds of listed companies. They became an incredibly powerful business empire. In the entire world, only the Brutus Capital Group could rival them. However, unlike the Brutus Capital Group, World Bloc was completely family-owned.

As for Conviction, Asskickers United still controlled the entire Righteous Faction. Even without Nie Yan, they still had players like Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Sun to keep the other powers in check. If anyone tried anything funny, they would simply squash them beneath their feet. The only threat came from the underworld. Fallen Angel still ruled over the underworld and was growing stronger by the day.

...

On a small island in the western Pacific Ocean, where it always felt like spring. The sun shined brightly, reflecting on the golden sands and blue ocean. It was a beautiful scene.

This island was originally a famous tourist center belonging to the United States of America. A year ago, however, World Bloc bought it and turned it into private property. In the middle of the island, they built a castle, which looked magnificent under the sun.

A golden beach wrapped around the island. There was only a single place in the shade, the sun blocked by a large parasol. Lounging in one of two deck chairs beneath the parasol was a fit, young man wearing only red swim shorts. He had a healthy bronze skin. His stomach was slowly moving up and down and his eyes were closed shut.

A husky jumped up from underneath his deck chair, but the young man didn’t seem to notice. It seemed he was adamant on continuing his sleep.

From the middle of the isle a girl in bikini came walking over, happily greeting the husky running at her. She was 1.65 meters tall with skin as white as curd. The water on her body quickly evaporated as she let the sun overhead shine in her face.

She wore only a bikini, her face beautiful and her body curved to perfection. Anyone that saw her would be instantly enamored. This was because there was a certain elegance to her. With each step, her buttocks slightly jumbled with grace.

Even though the young girl knew that aside from the young men in red swim shorts and a few maids there was no one else on the entire island, she still blushed. The bashfulness only added to her her charm.

Chapter 938 - Recollection of the Mad Rogue

The young woman walked up to the empty deck chair and sat down beside the man. She gazed at his still fast asleep face, a faint warmth in her heart. It was really hard to look back on that nightmare three years ago. Fortunately, that was all behind them now.

As long as she could be with him, even if it was just quietly staying by his side, she felt truly blessed.

The young woman fell asleep. As she opened her eyes, she found herself walking down the aisle, her father by her side. At the altar stood the young man wearing a suit, a kind smile on his face.

This beautiful dream was of her happiest moment alive. A year ago, she’d married the man of her dreams in a small private setting. After which they took their time traveling the world.

Still half asleep, she slowly woke up to a tickling sensation on her chest. Opening her drowsy eyes, she found the young man had woken up. His hands were on her breasts, softly kneading them.

"Nie Yan! You ass!” Xie Yao pouted.

"You look so sexy. How could I not?” Nie Yan whispered in Xie Yao’s ear with a teasing smile.

This was the very Nie Yan who got shot in the heart three years ago. Against all expectations, he’d pulled through. If the world were to find out, who knew what kind of large waves that would set off. Back then, Nie Yan was only an inch from death. Even with the ability of his pocket watch to alter the direction of the bullet as well as Bayonet’s warning shout, he still hadn’t had enough time to dodge. He only moved a little to the side before the bullet pierced his heart.

Nie Yan had a massive haemorrhage of the heart. Fortunately, two special forces military doctors performed an on sight procedure to seal the wounds with a special coagulant. This simple treatment preserved his life until he arrived at the hospital.

Nie Yan was fortunate to have such a strong body. If it were an ordinary person, they’d have died without a shadow of a doubt.

Huahai First Hospital unfortunately couldn’t do much for Nie Yan. His heart was too badly damaged. Even if they did all they could to patch him back up, he wouldn’t make a full recovery. There would be a loss to the function of his heart. His only hope was to find a match for a heart transplant. However, though the technology for it had advanced tremendously, hearts were in short supply. Especially since it was forbidden by law for a healthy person to offer up their heart. So, Huahai First Hospital had done what they could, then frozen Nie Yan in. The next morning, he was transported away.

Two maids walked over toward the beach before promptly turning around and bolting away, their cheeks a deep red.

Xie Yao finally found some strength and shot Nie Yan a reproachful look.

"Don’t blame me, I’m innocent. You asked for it,” Nie Yan looked at Xie Yao with a smile on his face.

"Stop it.” Xie Yao slapped Nie Yan’s chest, her cheeks a gorgeous pink.

Xie Yao draped a jacket over her shoulders, secretly glancing at Nie Yan. Maybe this time she would get pregnant. The reason she’d seduced Nie Yan with her outfit today was because she’d just ovulated. After being married for a year, their feelings for each other had grown all the more profound. She really wanted to give Nie Yan a baby. Thinking back to what just happened, she couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. Not to mention they’d even been spotted. Fortunately, apart from Nie Yan, there were only women on the island. Though even with them, she wasn’t sure if she could ever look them in the eyes again.

"Let’s head back.” Looking at Xie Yao’s embarrassed look, Nie Yan laughed.

One man, one woman. They walked along a trail to the middle of the island, where a castle towered over the trees. It was an auspicious and peaceful scene, as though the outside world couldn’t disturb their tranquil life.

...

Inside Conviction. Even after Nie Yan’s disappearance, Asskickers United still remained the ruler of the Righteous Faction. No one had managed to shake their rule. Okoron had become the heart of the Righteous Faction, its prosperity unimaginable. The streets were bustling, with players going everywhere. They could hardly breathe, it was that busy. Although Okoron was already larger than Calore after several more expansions over the last three years, there still wasn’t enough room for the players to move around freely.

Players from both the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire visited Okoron. This meant a wide variety of races, like humans, elves, and orcs, all congregated here.

The atmosphere was bustling. The shop owners on the sides of the streets were naturally delighted with the business. All of them were raking in the profits.

Apart from the shops, the players who set up their wares on the street were also making good money, hawking at the passing crowd.

"Selling Level 170 Dark Gold Warboots! It increases movement speed and resistances. If you want to look, whisper me!”

"Selling Level 190 Gold-grade Thief chest armour. It increases skill ranks. Quickly get it before it's sold!”

The vendors on both sides of the streets were selling all sorts of skill books, equipment, and other items.

Anyone that came here would gawk at the sight.

A player clad in black armour walked down the street. He was wearing the Morans Magic Armour Set and carried two Blackfiend greatswords on his back. He was heading in the direction of the Starry Night Potion Shop.

The players in the surroundings noticed the unrivalled aura coming off of him. They all paled in fright and parted ways to let him through.

That person continued walking normally, not paying the slightest attention to those around him.

"Who is that guy?” a player couldn’t help but ask, looking at this person’s massive back.

"How do you not know him? He’s Asskickers United’s Smoke Stub! A Level 197 Sword Saint! He has the most potential to advance to a Legend. Apparently, he’s already in the middle of the advancement quest. One of my friends in Asskickers United told me Smoke Stub was tasked with soloing the Level 200 Demonified Lord Abyssal Blight Dragon in World’s Edge. He almost killed it!”

"No wonder! I only saw his back, so I didn’t recognize him. I was about to say, who could possibly be that fierce, wearing the Morans Magic Armour Set and the dual Legendary Blackfiend Greatswords. Damn, challenging a Level 200 Demonfied Lord. He’s really amazing!” a player exclaimed.

"Of course. Smoke Stub is one of the bigshots of Asskickers United. Most frightening is that there are people who are even stronger. Their number one expert Sparrow Hawk is Level 203. He can already solo Level 200 Demonified Lords!”

"Apparently, when Nirvana Flame was only Level 150, he could already solo Level 180 Demonified Lords with his Tyrant Abak set. If he were still here today, that number one position would definitely belong to him.”

"What a shame. He’s already been gone for three years. He’s still around Level 150. I’m guessing Sparrow Hawk and the rest have gone far ahead of him.”

They quietly chatted with each other, sighing deeply in their hearts. The Mad Rogue would never appear again, only leaving behind an unforgettable memory.

Chapter 939 - Chairman of the Dark Council

Over these past three years, Conviction released two new dungeons, Chaos Temple and Sword of the War God. Both accelerated the levelling speed of players. More and more people completed their second class advancements, with Masters becoming commonplace. All sorts of powerful equipment dropped from the two new dungeons.

Asskickers United’s strength had grown by an astonishing degree. The main guild had over 1,000,000 members, and the 30 or so branch guilds combined together had another 9,000,000 members. Among all these guilds, they now had 10,000 Masters.

After Nie Yan’s departure, many outstanding talents rose up from the Righteous Faction. Some could even rival Bladelight, Sun, and the rest. Not to mention the even greater number of players who entered the ranks of experts after coming across a lucky encounter.

As for the Evil Faction, Fallen Angel also underwent tremendous growth, their strength rivalling Asskickers United’s. Even though the two great powers butted heads occasionally, there was no sign of a big conflict. If a war did occur, neither side would win.

Smoke Stub arrived outside the Starry Night Potion Shop. The branch in Okoron was a Tier 16 building. The size of a large mall, its architectural design was distinctly from the Abernathy Great Grasslands, giving off an ancient tribal feeling.

The shop was bustling. Players browsed the hundreds of thousands of different potions on display. The number of transactions processed by the Starry Night Potion Shop every day was extremely frightening. In this establishment alone, there were 60 counters and hundreds of sales clerks processing purchases.

Smoke Stub walked to the very back of the shop and entered a side room only members of Asskickers United were allowed to enter. A dozen people were already there waiting for him.

"Smoke Stub, you’re late,” an Arcane Mage in silver ashen robes said with a faint smile. It was Tang Yao. He was wearing the Drankto Obscurus Robes, a Level 200 Legendary-grade item. In his hand was the Dark Inheritance Staff. Attached to the tip was a black crystal orb with a nebula of arcane energy circulating inside. Floating above his shoulder was a dark fairy about the size of a small child. The translucent black wings growing from its back fluttered up and down. With every beat, a whirlpool of magic energy would pulse out.

"Sorry, I got held back on the way here,” Smoke Stub said with an apologetic smile.

Smoke Stub glanced over the group of people. They were all familiar faces. Since everyone was usually off levelling on their own, they rarely ever got a chance to meet like this.

"It’s fine. You can make it up by treating us all to a few rounds of beer in our next get-together!” a tall Warrior laughed. The person speaking was Bladelight. He was taller than the people around him by a head. The Arlan Warsuit he was clad in looked just like a mech suit from the real world, protecting his whole body without a single gap. He got this set from the Chaos Temple. The powerful void metal was impervious to attacks. In his hand was the azure coloured Kelan Divine Shield. It was about half his height, and if he hunkered down, it could protect his entire body. A blue aura constantly thrummed around the shield, making it seem like it had a life of its own. The queer runic engravings were only barely visible under the blue glow.

"Damn, you switched out that dragon shield?” Smoke Stub asked in surprise.

"Its defense was too low for me. I passed it down to Lofty Shadow.” Bladelight laughed.

The defense was too low!? Smoke Stub rolled his eyes. If anyone else dared to say that the dragon shield’s defense was too low, he’d slap them to tomorrow.

"Alright, enough chatting. Bird prepared the 600 Sage-grade potions we requested. Let’s set out,” Bladelight said. He was the captain of the team while Young Seven was the vice-captain. There were 36 people in total. They were Asskickers United’s top elites.

"Mhm.” Smoke Stub nodded.

After the potions were divided up, they teleported to the city outskirts and summoned their flying mounts. Of the 36 flying mounts, there were 19 Rank 9 flying mounts while the rest were Rank 8. Two of them were on the verge of breaking through to the Legendary realm. This kind of lineup was one of a kind.

The 36 flying mounts flapped their wings and took to the skies. They flew in the direction of the Chaos Temple. After passing through the dimensional portal of the temple, you could reach the Sword of the War God. It was an enormous sword floating in the middle of the void. No one knew how long it had been there, but it was petrified. On top of it was a desolate barren. This was one of two great dungeons that came out recently.

...

While in the Righteous Faction everything was peaceful and quiet, something huge happened in the Evil Faction.

Necropolis, the capital of the underworld, was carrying out a grand ceremony.

The appearance of this city was extremely unique. The ground was dotted with an endless sea of gravestones. Walking to the center of the graveyard, one would find an enormous portal gate. Floating just above the gate was a giant eye gazing around at the surroundings. The magic eye emitted a gloomy cold light. Anyone that saw it would feel like it was alive.

After entering the gate, players would be teleported to an underground grave. All around was green corpse water, flowing and crisscrossing every which way like a giant underworld river.

Players who were unfamiliar with this place would easily get lost. After travelling through the river landscape for a while, you would arrive in a massive underground city.

A labyrinth of streets and buildings, it was no different from the cities on the surface.

At this moment, on the main road, a grand ceremony was taking place. Necromancers in black robes raised their staff and summoned up balls of green soulfire, which hovered up and down in the air.

They stood around an altar in the center of the city, muttering cryptic incantations.

The central altar was made out of ashen-gray rocks. It covered a 600-meter wide area. 10 large Sanguine Dragons lay crouched down around the altar, trembling in fear.

Outside were 6,000,000 players observing the ceremony. They converged from the various interlinking streets and made a loud ruckus.

As the Necromancers continuously chanted, a large throne emerged above the altar. An NPC in black robes appeared in front of it and sat down. A long scepter hovered in front of his chest. Attached to the top was a black skull. Its jaw would occasionally unhinge and let out a frightening cackle.

A powerful aura of death radiated from his body, spreading out to the surroundings. All the players on the scene could feel their bodies brimming with strength.

The NPC raised his skull scepter and announced, "I am the Lich King, the ruler of the underworld. My soul is forever undying. In this world, I am the most powerful! Even fate is not beyond my control! I represent the will of the Death God. May death walk with you wherever you go, and spread out to everything you see. Calamity, blight, fear, madness. No mortal can escape death. All will fall into its domain.”

Countless gazes focused on the throne. For many people here, this was their first time seeing the Lich King, the unquestionable ruler of the undead. It was rumoured he controlled the entire undead army of the underworld. Every time he set out, 30 bone dragons would pull his carriage. When he declared war, hundreds of millions of undead would surge forward at his call.

The Lich King’s powerful aura caused everyone to involuntarily bow their heads.

"My pious believer, come up here,” the Lich King’s hoarse voice rang out.

A Dark Incantist in gray robes slowly walked up. When everyone saw him, they held their breaths. It was the guild leader of Fallen Angel! Why would he appear here of all places!?

Why did the Lich King call him up there?

They were all curious to find out.

The Fallen Angel players below erupted with thunderous cheers.

The Lich King flicked his wrist. A black crown appear in his hand. It was encrusted with blood red gems, which emanated a dazzling radiance.

Plenty walked up to the Lich King and kneeled down before him.

The Lich King placed the crown on Plenty’s head. "From now on, you will be the chairman of the Dark Council, the leader of the underworld. This grace is only given to the most faithful believers. This grace is only given to a member of the Undead Empire who has fought for the glory of the underworld. Countless ancestors relied on their unyielding will to conquer the arrogant and despicable mortals countless times before. Now, you have inherited their will. Shoot down the sun of the Atlanta continent! The soul of Hades, awaken! Bless your believer!”

Everyone was astonished. The Chairman of the Dark Council, just how high of a rank was this title?

Many players suddenly recalled a matter. Wasn’t it said that if you collected all six volumes of the Book of Chaos, you could become the Chairman of the Dark Council? Didn’t this mean that Plenty had already completed the Book of Chaos? This was an incredibly shocking piece of news!

After Plenty received the crown, the staff in his hand shattered and transformed into a two-meter tall scepter. A powerful aura of death overflowed from his body. He stood up and gazed down at the crowd below.

"I am the new Chairman of the Dark Council! All the members of the underworld are under my command. Those who do not submit to Fallen Angel, shall be killed! All those who oppose me, shall also be killed!” Plenty’s sharp gaze pierced the souls of all the spectators, his overwhelming killing intent causing them to tremble in fear.

Plenty’s words were extremely arrogant, but he had every right to be. After becoming the Chairman of the Dark Council, there was no one in the underworld that could oppose him.

The Fallen Angel players below felt their blood boiling with excitement. They broke into even more fervent cheers.

Chapter 940 - Back into the Thick of Things

News of Plenty’s ascension to the Chairman of the Dark Council spread like wildfire, from the underworld to every corner of the surface. Before long, it was known to everyone in both great factions.

Asskickers United’s guild chat. A group of people were chatting.

「What kind of title is Chairman of the Dark Council? I wonder what’ll happen now,」a Warrior said.

「It’s similar to the Supreme Pontiff of the Righteous Faction. So, you tell me,」a Priest replied.

The Warrior dropped his jaw in shock.「So, you’re telling me that even Bladelight’s Judge of the End, Smoke Stub’s Will of Kawasi, and Sparrow Hawk’s Adjudicator of Light titles can’t compare?」

「Those three titles are roughly on par with the old boss’ Great Prophet title. They’re far inferior to Chairman of the Dark Council. If the old boss were still here, he’d probably already be the Supreme Pontiff of the Temple of Light. He’d shut those guys in the underworld up.」

When the topic shifted to Nie Yan, everyone became sad. The guild chat became quiet.

「Without Nie Yan around, when did you guys all become so useless? It’s just a title, nothing more. What’s there to be amazed about? You should worry about levelling instead. There are plenty of high rank titles, Will of God Nirta, Will of the Radiant God, Undying King, I could go on. Any one of those are better than Chairman of the Dark Council!」Guo Huai berated in voice chat.

「Executive Guild Leader, those are impossible to get,」a player quietly muttered. Titles like Chairman of the Dark Council and Supreme Pontiff required you to complete the Book of Chaos or Book of Order respectively. As for titles like Will of God Nirta, Will of the Radiant God, and Undying King, those were even more difficult to obtain.

「Either way, Fallen Angel still has no way of threatening us. After all, our Righteous Faction has so many Legendary NPCs. If the Evil Faction wanted to siege our cities and strongholds, they’ll be in for a rude awakening. When we have our first Legendary players, they’ll have even less of a chance,」Bladelight said.

Discussion about the Chairman of the Dark Council title continued for a long time. It was highly unlikely anyone would obtain a title that could rival it anytime soon. The top experts in the guild all felt under pressure. Right now, Asskickers United and Fallen Angel were roughly equal in strength. So, Fallen Angel wouldn’t try anything. However, if they started falling behind in strength, that might change in the future. The Chairman of the Dark Council could mobilize a large number of undead forces. If a war broke out, the consequences would be hard to imagine.

「We have no choice but to be careful, not just in the game but outside in the real world too. You guys know that World Bloc and the Brutus Capital Group each basically rule half the world now. If a conflict breaks out between the two of them, it will most definitely begin in Conviction. Fallen Angel will start by launching an attack on Asskickers United. Three years ago, Plenty said that as long as Nie Yan was in Asskickers United, he wouldn’t touch us. However, Nie Yan has since left us. Even if he makes a return now, he’ll only be at Level 150, and the only title he still has of note is Great Prophet. His equipment is still pretty strong, but it’s far too weak compared to that of the current top players. Now, all the best equipment is found in the Chaos Temple and Sword of the War God. Ordinary equipment has no way of competing,」Guo Huai said. The fact that Nie Yan’s equipment of three years ago still allowed him to enter the ranks of experts was a testament to his strength back then. However, his glory days were long over. Even if he logged back on now, it wouldn’t make much of a difference. After three years, the average skill level of the playerbase had seen tremendous growth. Sun, King of the World, and the others had caught up to Nie Yan and surpassed him. In all fairness, Nie Yan had laid out the groundwork for them. They didn’t need to do much of anything.

The guild chat eventually shifted to another topic.

…

A player in a gray cloak was walking through the streets of Calore. The hood over his head covered his face, hiding his appearance from view. Seeing the discussion in the guild chat, his expression was filled with shock. Plenty had actually become the Chairman of the Dark Council!

The Supreme Pontiff of the Temple of Light, huh…? He let out a deep sigh. That was a long and distant memory. If he hadn’t been shot in the heart, he probably would’ve already ascended to that position two years ago.

Sun and the others had helped him find most of the chapters from the Book of Order. If he went back to collect them, he’d only be missing four chapters. Becoming the Supreme Pontiff wasn’t that far off.

However, it had been three years. In the eyes of an expert, this was an incredibly long time. His level had fallen behind, and his skills were rusty. Given the three-year gap, catching back up to the top experts would be tough to say the least. Not to mention the long revalidation process after undergoing a heart transplant. Though he was physically in great shape again, his game senses had thoroughly deteriorated. Making a comeback would be incredibly difficult. Add on the fact that more and more powerful equipment and skills had been added to the game, along with there being many new combat styles that he hadn’t encountered before, if he were to go against a top expert, he wouldn’t even have a 1% chance of winning.

If he were to reveal himself to the guild members in this state, they would probably be sorely disappointed. Nie Yan thought for a bit before deciding that he’d cross that bridge when he came to it. Right now, he was in appear offline. After the release of the Chaos Temple, Conviction introduced this new function. It could hide his online presence from everyone, including friends and guild members. His level, pet information, and various other stats wouldn’t update on the leaderboards, and if someone were to record footage of him, it would show him as a hazy silhouette. This lasted all the way up to until he left this state.

This new status mode was extremely useful. Even if Nie Yan couldn’t climb back to the peak, sneaking back into the game as a casual player was fine too. Like this, he could still enjoy the entertainment of the game. With Cao Xu death and World Bloc thriving, Asskickers United found itself in an incredibly stable position. He only wanted to get back into the game to kill some time.

Nie Yan walked into the Starry Night Potion Shop, then found his way to a counter in the backroom.

Even though Nie Yan’s appearance was hidden by a cloak, the guild emblem on his chest still proved he was a member of Asskickers United.

"How can I help you, sir?” the clerk greeted politely. He looked to be around 30 years old. He gazed at Nie Yan curiously. After all, it wasn’t everyday that a member of Asskickers United acted so mysteriously in the backroom of the Starry Night Potion Shop. However, on second thought, Asskickers United was huge. For there to be one or two weirdos was pretty normal.

"I’d like 50 Disguise Potions, 120 Health Potions, 10 Poison Resistance Potions, 10 Ice Resistance Potions… all of them at your highest grade,” Nie Yan said in a purposefully hoarse voice.

"S-sir?” The clerk’s eyes widened in shock. "You do realize the highest rank potions we offer here are Sage-rank, right? You surely know about the restriction. Only core members can buy these potions. Please show me your membership badge.”

Nie Yan took out his membership badge. It was crescent shaped.

"M-magicite?” The clerk’s face paled. He immediately became a lot more respectful. "Please hold on a moment. We will get you your potions as soon as possible, two minutes at most.”

Asskickers United’s membership badges were divided into several types: bronze, silver, gold, and magicite. The higher the rank, the higher the member’s position in the guild. In all of Asskickers United, only 30 members held a magicite badge. Anything under 2,000,000 gold could be withdrawn for free every month. All they had to do was record their names.

The clerk wondered what sort of big shot stood before him right now. He gazed at Nie Yan curiously, finding his silhouette somewhat familiar.

Before long, the potions Nie Yan requested were delivered and placed on the counter.

"Sir, here are all the potions you asked for. Please collect them. The total price is 670,000 gold. Just sign your name here,” the clerk said.

"No need, I’ll just pay directly.” Nie Yan shook his head, handing over 670,000 gold.

After completing the transaction, Nie Yan put away the potions in his bag, then turned around and left.

The clerk stared at Nie Yan’s departing back, finding it all the more familiar. Soon, a certain person flashed in his mind. However, when he was about to look more closely, Nie Yan had already disappeared behind the door. He smacked his head. Did he see wrong?

Nie Yan walked out of the Starry Night Potion Shop. He drank a Specialist Disguise Potion and changed his appearance to look more average and less handsome. Looking a bit uglier was not a problem. He was just here kill time anyway.

Bird and the others’ skills had improved immensely over these past three years. These Specialist Disguise Potions had a duration of two days. Like this, he wouldn’t have to keep drinking potions every few hours.

As Nie Yan strolled through the streets, he pulled up the official website. It was filled with many different videos. Searching for Thief related ones and filtering for most viewed and highest rated ones, videos of Sun, King of the World, Mistaken Smile, Shadow Killer, and the others came up at the very top.

It looked like none of them had slacked off since his disappearance.

Nie Yan smiled and started watching the videos. They would help him recover his skills quicker.

Chapter 941 - Inheritance Gem

Sun, King of the World, Mistaken Smile, and all the other top Thieves who had received guidance from him had truly grown strong enough to stand on their own.

After watching the stunning battles in the videos, Nie Yan felt he definitely couldn’t do any better than them. He let out a deep sigh, a mix of gratification and regret in his heart.

Maybe coming back was unnecessary. Asskickers United was in good hands. Plus, even if he wanted to claw his way back to the peak, he was already past his prime. He might as well enjoy his retirement in peace.

Nie Yan glanced at his pet window. Even though he’d hatched the Divine Eclipse Dragon over three years ago, it was still at Level 0. Then there was the final empty pet slot. Thinking for a bit, he decided to take one of the dragon eggs from the guild treasury. When they cleared out the last of the Violet Eye Dragons from the nest all those years ago, they obtained three eggs. Those quickly found an owner. However, there still was a Violet Eye Dragon egg sitting in the guild treasury. Apparently, it was produced later on when the tamed Violet Eye Dragons bred. This was definitely a rare event.

Nie Yan decided to hatch this Violet Eye Dragon, then feed it an Evolution Crystal. Like this, he would have three dragon pets. With their unrivalled firepower, his levelling speed would quickly increase.

The Chaos Temple dropped a skill book called Spirit Awe. It was a passive skill that was available to all classes. After learning it, all pets would flee at the mere sight of you. So, when PvPing against experts, pets were effectively useless. Nevertheless, three powerful pets would accelerate his levelling speed by quite a bit, saving him a lot of time. He needed every little advantage he could get because he had fallen too far behind in level.

Nie Yan headed to the treasury manager. Pulling open the treasury window, he bought the Violet Eye Dragon egg for 3,000,000 merit points. This was an unimaginable sum for ordinary guild members. But to him, it was only a drop in the ocean.

News of the Violet Eye Dragon egg disappearing from the guild treasury sent large waves among some players who’d been working on getting the merit points for it. However, with so many other amazing items in the guild treasury, one less dragon egg didn’t attract too much attention.

After Beast Tamer Hall had finished taming the Violet Eye Dragons, he decided to open up a pet shop in Okoron. Nie Yan went here to hatch it, after which he fed the Violet Eye Dragon an Evolution Crystal, raising its Growth Rate from 15 to 20 and putting it on par with Lil’ Gold. However, it was still a far ways off from the 30 points of the Divine Eclipse Dragon.

Nie Yan went back to browsing the guild treasury to see if there were any other good items. His gear hadn’t improved in three years. Many of the items inside the treasury were far better than what he was currently wearing. Not to mention the treasury had grown even more dazzling. There was pretty much anything you could imagine, with no lack of oddities and ends. He would have to check the auction house out too and see what was up for sale.

Even though his equipment was still the same, the amount of gold he had his disposal ballooned dramatically. Just the Starry Night Potion Shop brought in gold in the 10 digits daily.

After browsing for a bit, Nie Yan concluded the guild treasury was truly filled with good things. However, most of these items still couldn’t enter his eyes. He shifted his focus to the Special Items section. It consisted of over 30 pages and 100,000 items in total.

There were many items Nie Yan didn’t recognize. Occasionally, he would find something interesting. The sheer amount of items left his head spinning.

Flipping to the next page, a particular item caught his eye.

Heart of Gaia: Special Item

Description: Earth Resistance +50, Earth Magic +20%

Gaia’s Might: Channel the power of Gaia and become immune to all earth damage. Duration: 30 seconds. Cooldown: 20 minutes.

Restrictions: Righteous Faction

Nie Yan recalled the Kiln Fire Heart and Heart of Winter, both of them still in his bag. So he was right! These items were part of a series!

Taking the Heart of Gaia, Nie Yan started searching for other similar items. Before long, he found two more, the Aqua Heart and Arcana Heart.

The Kiln Fire Heart, Heart of Winter, Heart of Gaia, Aqua Heart, and Arcana Heart emitted a multicoloured radiance in Nie Yan’s palm. He wondered if there were any others and what their use was when put together.

Nie Yan sunk into deep thought. These items were most definitely part of a series, and there were likely only five of them!

For items like the Kiln Fire Heart, 50 Magic Resistance was pretty decent, but not something to write home about at this stage of the game. The supplementary skill was better, but it took time to cast. Skills like Kiln Fire and Gaia’s Might simply weren’t practical in PvP. When facing off against a Mage, you wouldn’t know if they were going to use Fire Magic, Earth Magic, or even combination magic.

Apart, these items were of little value to Nie Yan. However, perhaps he could bring them together. He still had Pandora’s Box which had the synthesize option. It was worth a try. Worst case scenario, he would lose the five items because he didn’t have a synthesis recipe. This wouldn’t be much of a loss to him, whereas the best case scenario would net him a great item!

Nie Yan placed the five gems inside Pandora’s Box.

The five gems shined with different colours.

Do you wish to synthesize these items?

Yes!

The box lit up with a dazzling radiance that threatened to blind him.

Nie Yan quickly covered his eyes with his arms. He could sense five different energies being transformed, then melded together, letting out a scorching heat.

Ah, seems like a failure, Nie Yan thought. He didn’t have high hopes. After all, he was attempting this without a synthesis recipe. There were strict rules to the things you could synthesize inside Pandora’s Box. You couldn’t throw in just anything you wanted. Long ago, he’d tried to synthesize several low grade gems. The end result was nothing being produced and all of the gems being destroyed.

This was only an experiment. Nie Yan had no idea if he would succeed.

Pandora’s Box continued to radiate a scorching heat for several minutes before finally settling down. A crisp notification jingle rang out.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. This was the sound of a successful synthesis!

Nie Yan hurriedly opened Pandora’s Box and found a five-coloured gem. It was about the size of an egg and completely translucent. Pulsing with different colours, it occasionally released scorching hot fire energy that seemed to come from the depths of the earth, the biting cold ice energy from the heart of the tundra, and so on.

This gem certainlty looked out of the ordinary. Nie Yan wondered what sort of effects it had. So, he examined it.

Elemental Heart: Special Item

Description: All Elemental Resistance +500, Magic +50%

Elemental Familiarity (Passive): Greatly weaken elemental damage from all sources with a 20% chance of nullifying it.

Restrictions: Righteous Faction

All Elemental Resistance +500 was incredible even by today’s standards. The skills of the Kiln Fire Heart, Heart of Winter, and other three items had all disappeared, replaced with Elemental Familiarity, which reduced elemental damage and had a 20% chance of nullifying it. This was definitely a top-notch item!

Nie Yan equipped the Elemental Heart into his accessory slot. What was a strong player without an equally amazing accessory? Every slot had to be used to its full potential!

Many of Nie Yan’s accessories needed to be changed out. He would have to build up his gear again one step at a time.

Nie Yan continued browsing through the guild treasury. Seeing the gobsmacking number of items, he couldn’t help but sigh. Since his departure three years ago, many things had changed. The treasury had so many more new special items, many of which were even better than what he currently had. One could imagine how much the players of Asskickers United had grown!

Nie Yan’s eyes fell on a particular set of items. His heart trembled. It’s them!

They were three gems, Inheritance of Radiance, Inheritance of Darkness, and Inheritance of Fire. These items were probably found by the players from Asskickers United. However, they didn’t know what they were used for and so left them in the guild treasury.

The Glimpse of Darkness recorded down how to obtain the Abak Tyrant Set. After following all the clues, searching far and wide, and expanding who knew how much effort, Nie Yan finally collected all the pieces and completed the set. Later on, when he completed the Glimpse of Light, it described how to obtain the five Inheritance Gems. These five gems were used to strengthen the Tyrant Abak Set. In other words, the Tyrant Abak Set could become stronger.

Even though the Level 180 Tyrant Abak Set was still fairly powerful at this stage of the game, it was nothing compared to the gear of the strongest few players. However, after strengthening it with the Inheritance Gems, Nie Yan wondered how powerful it would become.

After withdrawing the Inheritance of Light, Inheritance of Darkness, and Inheritance of Fire, Nie Yan still needed two more Inheritance Gems. They were the Inheritance of Life and Inheritance of Arcana.

Two new quests popped up in Nie Yan’s quest window.

The Inheritance of Life has been stolen by the Chaos Keepers in Judgement Valley. Punish these petty robbers! This is your glory. May the Light bless you.

The Inheritance of Arcana has been lost in the Sin Swamp of the underworld. It is brimming with danger there. Brave adventurer, set foot on your journey and retrieve this gem!

Nie Yan already knew where the remaining two gems were. He wondered what would happen to the Tyrant Abak Set after he gathered them.

Chapter 942 - Demon Realm Stone

As Nie Yan continued browsing the guild treasury, he found two map pieces called Cahill’s Memories.

Cahill’s Parchment Scroll (Damaged): Seeker’s Memories

Nie Yan recalled he had such a treasure map fragment in his bag. He’d gotten it from a Thief called Jack the Ripper who he killed many years ago. This item had been sitting in the corner of his bag ever since. He’d forgotten all about it. However, seeing the two other map pieces jolted his memory. He placed the three pieces together. They just happened to make a complete treasure map.

Nie Yan wondered what the grade of this treasure map was. There was a complex route drawn on it. It was likely the introduction for a quest. However, he had no interest in going treasure hunting right now, so he decided to put it on the backburner. He tossed the treasure map into his bag.

Continuing his search of the guild treasury, Nie Yan found nothing else that caught his interest. Many Special Items were related to quests. Their stats weren’t that great, but they could trigger follow-up quests to obtain better loot.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. His main priorities were to collect the Inheritance Gems and complete the Book of Order.

Becoming the Supreme Pontiff wouldn’t just be important to him but the entire guild as well. Even though Asskickers United and Fallen Angel hadn’t had any major conflicts, if a war were to break out, Plenty would have a significant advantage since he could mobilize the army of the Evil Faction. Three years ago, Plenty had said that he wouldn’t touch Asskickers United as long as Nie Yan was around. However, that was then, and this was now. The only reason Plenty had said those words was because he feared Nie Yan’s strength. Now, Nie Yan was no longer the Mad Rogue who instilled fear in all. He lacked all leverage to force Plenty to comply with their previous promise. If he could attain the Supreme Pontiff title, however, he would at least have some way of alleviating the pressure coming from Fallen Angel.

Nie Yan decided to do some power leveling first as well as finding the remaining Inheritance Gems. Right now, he was too lacking in both level and gear. If he didn’t get stronger, obtaining the remaining chapters from the Book of Order would be impossible.

Sun and the others had tried to collect the remaining four chapters, but they all failed. With Nie Yan’s current strength, the results wouldn’t be any different.

Nie Yan made a trip to the auction house but failed to find any gains. He teleported to the outskirts of Okoron with Instant Transmission, then summoned the Darkwing Dragon and took off in the air.

The Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon was no longer one of its kind. In the entire Righteous Faction, apart from his there were already five other Darkwing Dragons, two of which were also Rank 9. So, Nie Yan didn’t have to worry about being recognized.

Nie Yan glanced at his bag, his gaze landing on the Demon Realm Stone inside. This was something he’d obtained a long time ago.

Demon Realm Stone: Special Item

Description: A stone from the remote demon realm, from where all darkness energy originates. It contains powerful darkness energy. In times long past, the demons had stolen three Demon Realm Stones from the demon realm. They didn’t get far, as the Demon Realm Sentinels hunted them down and killed them. But the Demon Realm Stones were never retrieved, lost somewhere within the human world.

Possible Effect: If directly consumed by a creature with the darkness attribute, it can raise their strength, completely transforming them or allowing them to directly break through. It can also lead to several unexpected side effects.

Nie Yan wondered if he should feed the Demon Realm Stone to the Darkwing Dragon.

Back when he first obtained this item, the Darkwing Dragon was Asskickers United’s sole Rank 9 flying mount. It was an extremely important asset in the war against Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. If it ate the Demon Realm Stone and died, it would’ve been a huge blow to the guild. Now, however, Rank 9 flying mounts were no longer that rare. Perhaps he could try his luck to see if it could help the Darkwing Dragon break through to Rank 10.

Rank 10 was within the realm of Legendary.

The Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon had fallen to mediocrity. If he fed it the Demon Realm Stone, he would at least have a chance of getting it to Rank 10. There was no harm in trying.

Having made up his mind, Nie Yan enjoyed the scenery down below.

Roughly 15 minutes later, Judgement Valley was already within view and Nie Yan had his Darkwing Dragon land on the ground.

Nie Yan took out the Demon Realm Stone from his bag. The Darkwing Dragon instantly focused its attention on the stone in his hand.

The Demon Realm Stone couldn’t look any more ordinary, but it was extremely enticing to dark attribute creatures. Contained inside was the purest darkness energy.

As a person climbed toward the peak, the path would grow increasingly narrow. Sometimes, there was no choice but to brave risks. If they succeeded, they would look down on the world. If they failed, they would fall back to the earth. This reasoning could also be used for the Darkwing Dragon. If it wanted to break through the ranks of Legendary, it would have to take some risks.

Nie Yan tossed the Demon Realm Stone in the air. The Darkwing Dragon opened its mouth and swallowed it in one gulp.

The Darkwing Dragon’s body erupted with a dazzling black radiance. The incredibly pure darkness energy ignited and started burning like scorching hot flames. It let out a mournful cry as it started trashing about in pain, toppling down several trees in the surroundings. Under the black flames, they were reduced to ash on touch.

Nie Yan wrinkled his brows. The Demon Realm Stone was more frightening than he imagined. The darkness energy contained within these black flames was incredibly volatile. He didn’t know if the Darkwing Dragon could endure it. If it could, its strength would go up by leaps and bounds. If it couldn’t, it might even die.

Mulling it over, Nie Yan decided to retrieve the Darkwing Dragon back to his pet space. He would check up on it later.

A red sun hung just above the mountain peaks far in the distance, dying the woods a crimson colour. The air was brimming with the stench of blood.

Judgement Valley!

This place was one of the first passages between the underworld and surface. It was where the two great factions clashed. The map had five occupation points. Players from the Righteous Faction and Evil Faction would fight for control of them. The number of PvP battles that occurred here on a daily basis exceeded at least 10,000. The deaths were innumerable. This was one of the places where the experts of both factions gathered. If it were before, Nie Yan would’ve walked around the place like he owned it. Now, however, he had no choice but to be careful.

At present, Nie Yan was only Level 156, far behind the top players. His equipment was also no longer the best, nor did he have an advantage in terms of skills. Plus, extremely skilled players could be found everywhere. He didn’t dare to think he was still superior. If he encountered an expert, he wasn’t confident he could win, let alone crush them like three years ago.

I’ll get the Inheritance Gem and leave! Nie Yan didn’t want to linger here for too long. Recovering his strength was the greater priority.

Just when Nie Yan was about to head in the depths of Judgement valley, he heard a rustling in the distance.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. People! He immediately entered stealth.

Five silhouettes flew out of the woods. They were all Evil Faction Players: a Slayer, Mystic, Dark Zealot, Necromancer, and Dark Incantist. Their average level was over 180, with the strongest among them being Level 186. Most of their gear was also chaos equipment.

Chaos equipment came from the Chaos Temple. They all shared one trait, and that was high defense.

Facing this lineup of people, Nie Yan immediately felt the pressure. He carefully snuck over, activating Extreme Disappear. The players today all had frighteningly high Awareness. If he wasn’t careful, he would be discovered.

If Nie Yan had kept playing over these past three years, he would definitely be well over Level 200 by now. Crushing these people would be as simple as could be. However, he couldn’t linger on hypotheticals and what-ifs. Now, he wasn’t even remotely their match. For better or for worse, he simply wasn’t under that much pressure, nor was his desire to raise his strength that intense.

"What happened here?” the Dark Zealot asked with a frown. It appeared as if a fire had gone through this place. Six trees had been toppled over and burned to ash.

"That dragon cry we heard just now came from here. Could it be that a dragon died here? But where’s the corpse?” the Slayer said suspiciously.

The group started investigating the place.

These people had come here because they heard the Darkwing Dragon.

The Dark Zealot was the leader of this group. Upon closer inspection, Nie Yan saw a Fallen Angel emblem on his chest. He was a member of Fallen Angel!

These people were unfamiliar to him. Likely, they had joined after his departure. Countless experts had popped out of the woodworks over these past three years. Nie Yan didn’t dare to underestimate them.

Transcendent Insight!

Nie Yan circled around to an area about 20 meters from the Dark Zealot. He wanted to take a look at their stats.

At this moment, the Mystic in the group sensed something off. "A Thief!”

Their faces turned cold. The Necromancer waved his staff and placed down a green wooden stick. At the top was an eye. As it looked around, a light shone on Nie Yan, revealing him from stealth.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. His Stealth stat was already too low. In the past, he could be within five meter of these people, and they wouldn’t notice a thing. Of course, the biggest factor here was the fact that he was over 30 levels lower than these players.

"It’s a Righteous Faction player! Kill him! Don’t let him run!” the Dark Zealot ordered.

Chapter 943 - Clever Use of the Incorporeal Potion

As soon as the Dark Zealot gave the order, the Mystic blinked over to within five meter of Nie Yan. With a flick of his wrist, his hands ignited with a ball of flames. His sword went ablaze as he let loose a slash.

"Die!” the Mystic shouted. Nie Yan’s name was invisible, but his level wasn’t. "Judgement Valley is no place for weak Level 156 trash!”

What frightening speed!

This attack speed was unprecedented three years ago. Even the Nie Yan of back then wasn’t this fast!

A scorching hot flame sword cleaved down.

Nie Yan hurriedly had Kalenna buff him with several blessings.

Gale Step!

With a flash of light, Nie Yan took advantage of the brief invincibility of Gale Step to retreat far back. A second slower and he would’ve been toast.

"Oh? Pretty quick. You’ve got a guardian angel too. But if you want to escape me, it won’t be that simple!” the Mystic blinked over, his flaming sword already cleaving down on Nie Yan.

BOOOM! Everything within a 10-meter radius was engulfed in an inferno.

As the flames reached his skin, Nie Yan activated Shadow Waltz and dashed out.

If not for the game sense and instinct Nie Yan built up before he quit, he would’ve been swallowed up by the flames. This attack speed was far beyond his imagination. He felt true danger for the first time.

So a Mystic could be this powerful!

Before the invincibility of Shadow Waltz wore off, the Necromancer had already summoned 30 skeletons to block Nie Yan’s path. The Dark Incantist buffed them, then threw out several curses at Nie Yan. However, none of them stuck. So, he immediately switched to magic attacks.

"You actually need our help to kill a Level 156 scrub? Fiendmark, are you still asleep? Come on, man!” the Necromancer chided.

Fiendmark was already annoyed that his curses were ineffective. The Necromancer’s snide remark only served to further infuriate him.

"Something is weird about this Thief. My curses don’t work on him!” the Dark Incantist said.

The Slayer shot forward like a meteor. A dexterity focused Slayer was the most potent killer, even more frightening than a Thief.

Nie Yan’s invincibility had just worn off, when he saw a torrent of slashes coming straight towards him. His heart trembled. The skeletons were blocking his path of escape! With a flick of his wrist, he switched out to Zennarde’s Sword and let out a deep roar.

Annihilation Slash!

10 flaming swords merged together in the air, then came cleaving down towards the ground.

BOOOM! The skeletons were obliterated.

The Necromancer looked in shock at the enormous sword. He quickly waved his staff as an enormous bone shield appeared in front of him. BANG! It was instantly destroyed, exploding into pieces. The remnant force from the attack struck his body, dealing 13,000 damage.

Even though the Necromancer had well over 30,000 health, he was still badly frightened by this attack. If it weren’t for his bone shield just now, he would’ve been killed! Wasn’t this Thief supposed to be only Level 156?

"What the hell! Are you sure he is a Level 156 Thief?” the Necromancer cursed.

"H-holy shit! I-it’s Nirvana Flame! That’s Zennarde’s Sword in his hand!” the Dark Incantist cried out in fright.

"Damn, you’re right! It is Nirvana Flame! I’m sure of it!” the Slayer cried out. He had closed in on Nie Yan, only to have all his attacks parried. He could hardly imagine an ordinary Thief pulling off such a feat. However, if he really was the Mad Rogue, everything made sense.

Three years ago, just the mention of his name would cause the players of the underworld to pale in fear. Stood he really before them today? Everyone was stunned.

"Fuck! Don’t just stand there you idiots! Kill him! What the hell are you afraid of? He’s just a Level 156 Thief, and his equipment is shit! Even if he is Nirvana Flame, so what? He is nothing but a washed up expert, a low level piece of trash! We have five on our side!” the Dark Zealot cried out. The five of them had an average level of 183. Yet they were scared of a Level 156 Thief. If word got out, they would be laughingstocks!

The four players snapped back to their senses. They might be facing Nirvana Flame, but he was still only a Level 156 Thief. Not to mention he hadn’t played in years, so his skills had probably deteriorated.

"We kill him today and record it! When we post the video online, the whole world will see that the Mad Rogue is nothing more than trash!” the Slayer exclaimed, his eyes flashing with a cruel light. The dual blades in his hands turned into streaks as he sent out 10 slashes flying towards Nie Yan.

A washed up expert? Trash? Nie Yan’s anger boiled. Even though he hadn’t logged on in three years, his honor couldn’t be besmirched! Want to kill me? It won’t be that easy!

Nie Yan knew that killing these five people today was impossible. He simply wasn’t strong enough. They were clearly no strangers to PvP, and their teamwork was excellent. Not to mention they were far higher level than him. Even a trump card like the Annihilation Slash only dealt 13,000 damage to the Necromancer, to say nothing of the others.

Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a cold light as he noted down the faces of the five in his head.

Nie Yan had used up all his escape skills. Yet these five were still pursuing him relentlessly. If he clashed with them head-on, they would force him into the passive and ultimately kill him.

Escaping this party of five would be incredibly difficult. Five Level 180+ experts who used skills he’d never seen before. Their might was frightening! To be able to endure until now was already his limit. If others knew that Nie Yan could last almost two minutes against a group of Level 180+ players despite only being Level 156, they’d be flabbergasted.

How could he escape? Their attacks were too fierce! No matter how he ran, they would stick to him like burrs, and overtake him.

Nie Yan sidestepped an attack from the Necromancer and had Kalenna protect him with a shield. At the same time, a slash came cleaving down on him. He couldn’t dodge in time. PSSHFT! The shield instantly shattered. A damage value of over 17,000 floated up above his head.

That’s it! A light bulb lit up in Nie Yan’s head.

Three spells came whizzing towards Nie Yan. The Mystic and Slayer also charged toward him from the flanks.

Shadow Clone!

Nie Yan’s body split into two, each dashing off in a different direction.

"It’s his shadow clone!”

"Which one is real?”

"Don’t know. Catch them both!”

Nie Yan’s actions caught these players off guard. They had no idea which one to chase after.

"I’ll go chase that one!” the Mystic said. He blinked over and came hurtling down with a crescent slash.

When the Slayer saw the Mystic chasing after one of them, he went off chasing the other.

Nie Yan glanced over his shoulder and found the Slayer chasing after him. A caster also had their eyes on him, several spells about to hit him. Nie Yan activated Holy Descent. BANG! BANG! BANG! The spells struck him one after the other but failed to deal any damage.

Under the cover of the explosions, Nie Yan drank a Sage-rank Incorporeal Potion. His body disappeared and became intangible.

The Slayer came from behind and slashed down on Nie Yan with his two blades. PSHFT! PSFHT! It was almost as if he cut into clouds. His target disappeared like smoke.

The Slayer was stunned. He quickly shouted, "This one is the fake! That’s the real one!”

The Slayer immediately turned around and headed over to the other Nie Yan.

The other three casters also focused their attention in that direction.

The Sage-rank Incorporeal Potion made the user’s body incorporeal, lasting for a total of three minutes. However, their movement speed would be greatly reduced. In these three minutes, they could at most cover a distance of about 400 meters. If you were in a battle and the enemy knew you used an Incorporeal Potion, they would simply guard the surroundings and stay on the lookout. After several minutes, the potion effect would wear off and you would enter a weakened state for 30 seconds. In other words, you would be an easy target.

For this reason, Incorporeal Potions weren’t practical in most situations.

The players from Fallen Angel chased after the shadow clone. Nie Yan had it use all its speed boosting skills. Its speed was still considerable. It leaped into the air, traversing over 30 meters, then shot out a web line and swung for another dozen meters.

The five players relentlessly pursued the shadow clone. Before long, they surrounded it.

With the enemy running away from him, Nie Yan struggled to escape in the other direction, looking for a place to hide.

The Mystic conjured up a ball of fire and slammed it into the shadow clone’s abdomen. BOOM! It was sent flying, a damage value of over 16,000 floating up above its head.

The shadow clone struggled to crawl back to its feet, attempting to escape. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Three spells ruthlessly bombarded its body.

POOF! The shadow clone collapsed into a puff of smoke and disappeared before their eyes.

"Wait, what’s going on?” the Mystic asked in confusion.

"Both were fake? Then where’s the real one?” the Slayer was dumbstruck. Just what happened?

The trick Nie Yan pulled with the Incorporeal Potion had utterly fooled them. They were at a complete loss at what to do.

"Nirvana Flame got away?”

Chapter 944 - Chaos Keeper

A Level 156 player had actually escaped right from under their noses! If their fellow guild members found out about this, they could never raise their heads again, even if the escapee was Nirvana Flame!

"Guys, think carefully! How did he escape?” Fiendmark said. Even now, he still had no idea what happened. They saw Nie Yan split into two people, then run off in opposite directions. How did both end up being fake? Where was the real one?

"I don’t know. It makes no sense,” the Necromancer said.

Everyone was scratching their heads.

"That guy is real slippery. No wonder everyone considered him invincible,” Fiendmark gloomily remarked. A Level 156 Thief had actually played them for complete fools. Given their better equipment and higher levels, the five of them still couldn’t do anything to Nie Yan. He couldn’t imagine what the result would be if it were back during Nie Yan’s peak.

"I think I know how he did it! He fled when I attacked him!” the Slayer exclaimed.

"When?” The others turned to the Slayer.

"Do you remember when we killed the first one? He disappeared like a puff of smoke when our attacks landed on him. That’s why we thought it was the fake!” the Slayer said. He was truly amazed that Nie Yan employed such a clever trick to pull the wool over their eyes.

"Wait. Are you saying he used an Incorporeal Potion?” the Necromancer asked, finally realizing what happened.

"Right! He definitely used an Incorporeal Potion!” the Slayer nodded. The Mad Rogue’s shadow clone had substance. When it was attacked, it would take damage. That small detail had slipped their mind. After all, they had never faced him before. All they knew was from hearsay over the years, nothing concrete like whether the clone was just an illusion or had actual substance. Not to mention in that kind of tense situation, they simply didn’t have the time to consider all possibilities.

They all glanced at each other in dismay. Even this kind of method worked. In any other situation, a Level 156 Thief had no way of escaping them. However, today, they had been thoroughly duped and had their horizons widened.

"Sure, he has a few tricks up his sleeve. But the next time we meet, we’ll come prepared!” the Necromancer said.

"Do you think he’ll give us another chance? I’m guessing if he sees us again, he’ll stay far away. Thankfully, his level is too low. It’ll take him at least a few years to catch back up. We’re lucky we won’t have to worry about being stalked by him,” the Dark Zealot sighed. After today’s fight, he got a glimpse of how amazing the Nirvana Flame of three years ago was.

"Devil Sky, should we chase after him? He used an Incorporeal Potion. That means he couldn’t have gone far,” the Necromancer asked.

"Are you stupid? Even if Nirvana Flame is only Level 156 right now, he’s still the guild leader of Asskickers United. You think he’s that easy to bully? With a single word from him, all the tens of thousands of Asskickers United players in Judgement Valley will come down on us with the might of Thor’s hammer! If you want to throw your life away, go ahead, but don’t drag us down with you!” the Dark Zealot cursed. "Also, don’t speak about what happened today to anyone. If people find out, we won’t have the face to show ourselves again.”

Fiendmark and the others could only leave with their heads hanging low in dejection.

After Devil Sky’s party disappeared into the forest, Nie Yan stepped out from behind a tree with a bitter smile on his face. If it weren’t for his quick thinking just now, he would’ve been dead.

Nie Yan simply wasn’t strong enough to take on the attacks of a Level 180+ player. Recalling the Mystic, he still felt fear lingering in his heart.

In the eyes of that party, none of them top experts, a Level 156 player like Nie Yan was only trash. Players on the level of Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and Tang Yao probably wouldn’t even bother to stop and kill him. To them, even that party of five was easy pickings!

Nie Yan wondered if Devil Sky’s party would reveal news of his return to the world of Conviction. His past fame was simply too dazzling. If others found out he was trying to make a comeback, who knew how many eyes would start targeting him. Moreover, who knew how many people were waiting for him to make a fool of himself!

The players on the forums, especially those who didn’t like him in the first place, would almost certainly mock him to no end. "Look, that’s Nirvana Flame, the wash-up piece of trash.”

As for the players from Asskickers United, Nie Yan didn’t know how he would face them.

The taunts would only become more aggressive if he decided to leave again so quickly after returning. "Haha! A few words and Nirvana Flame is already too scared to log back on anymore!”

Nie Yan rubbed his forehead. This was human nature. When you were powerful, many people would praise you, fear you, and envy you. When you fell from the top back to rock bottom, only your closest friends would stay by your side. The rest wouldn’t hesitate to kick you while you were down. The more miserable you became, the happier they were.

Faced with the ridicule of the world, are you just going to give up? Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with determination. He coldly snorted. Call me a washed-up expert, will you? I’ll prove to all of you that even if I haven’t logged on in three years, I’m still the legendary Mad Rogue! Trust me, I will climb back to the top!

Nie Yan’s heart brimmed with motivation. In the beginning, he relied on his unshakable confidence to slowly walk his way to the peak and make Assskickers United the absolute ruler of the Righteous Faction. Even though some of it had to do with luck and the knowledge from his past life, his success was born from so much more than that. Perhaps his skills and strength played the biggest role.

One day, I will let everyone know that Nirvana Flame is still the Mad Rogue and not someone to be mocked. This is the dignity of the Mad Rogue!

Originally, Nie Yan just wanted to walk the path of an ordinary player and spend the rest of his days in relaxation. In the end, however, he wasn’t willing to let himself become a relic of the past; or perhaps he just refused to linger in mediocrity. He’d already spent more than enough time doing that in his past life. In this second chance, he wanted to spurn this path and rule over the world from high atop the clouds.

Nie Yan clenched his fists. He finally had a new goal. Looking far into the distance, he entered stealth and dashed into the forest.

With his current strength, PvPing with others wasn’t the wisest choice. He needed to quickly raise his level. However, he knew all too well the struggles of levelling up. Every successive level required a ludicrous amount of experience. He needed to hole himself up somewhere where no one would disturb him and start a power levelling session!

Let’s find the Inheritance of Life first, Nie Yan thought. If he could obtain the two remaining Inheritance Gems and upgrade the Tyrant Abak Set, levelling up would be much easier.

Nie Yan headed straight into the depths of Judgement Valley. He encountered many players on his path. All of them were at least Level 170. Any players weaker than that would generally be throwing their lives away. This was the gathering place of experts, after all! They frequently came here to hone their skills and PvP against their peers. Level wasn’t the be all and end all of combat. Some Level 190 players who came here might even find themselves cut down by a Level 170 expert. These players who lived on the battlefield and those who spent most of their time grinding monsters to level weren’t on the same plane in terms of skill.

When Nie Yan encountered Evil Faction players, he would take a long detour around them. His exchange with Devil Sky’s party made him realize his situation. His level was simply too low. His stealth ability could no longer cope.

As Nie Yan travelled deeper into Judgement Valley, a wide-open space appeared before his eyes. This was the central area of the map, about 3,000 meters away from the passage to the underworld.

In the center of the clearing was an enormous demonic beast. It was six meters tall with pitch-black fur. It looked just like a minotaur, save for a pair of large fleshy wings growing from its back. It held a large cleave in its hand.

"GROAAGH!” The demonic beast let out a world-shaking roar.

A large group of players were gathered around it. Because they were too far away, he couldn’t make out their appearances.

This Chaos Keeper was actually a Level 190 Demonic Lord! Nie Yan was dumbstruck that such a powerful monster showed up in Judgement Valley. This was too frightening!

What Nie Yan didn’t know was that after his disappearance three years ago, more and more powerful bosses started appearing in the Atlanta continent. Let alone Level 190 Demonified Lords, even Level 250 Demonified Lords weren’t super rare anymore!

It appeared the release of the Chaos Temple had caused this. Nie Yan bitterly smiled. He had fallen too far behind.

Nie Yan originally wanted to see if he could kill the Chaos Keeper to obtain the Inheritance of Life. However, looking at the fight raging on before him, he came to the painful realization that he couldn’t even take on those players, let alone the boss.

A shower of spells rained down on the Chaos Keeper, creating a lightshow of explosions.

There were players from both factions fighting the Chaos Keeper. It was extremely chaotic. For any side to kill the Chaos Keeper would be no easy matter.

"GRRAAOGH!” The Chaos Keeper cleaved down with its cleave, creating a massive slash that swallowed up several hundred players.

The surviving players started to retreat in fear, scattering in all directions. The Chaos Keeper went into pursuit, with every slash of its blade, several dozen heads would fly.

Nie Yan sucked in a cold breath of air. What a powerful monster!

Nie Yan estimated only the top experts of both factions could kill this Chaos Keeper. However, those players were gathered in the Chaos Temple and Sword of the War God. None of them would come here!

Chapter 945 - Dark Demonic Space

Starting from Level 180, every 10 level difference meant an exponential increase in power for Demonic Lords. Beyond Level 200, that would be entering the realm of Legendary,

A Level 190 Demonic Lord was no joke. Three years ago, Nie Yan could at most deal with a Level 180 Demonified Lord. If he encountered a Level 190 Demonified Lord, he would be dead before he had a chance to escape.

Seeing the Chaos Keeper sweeping through the players below, Nie Yan decided to give up on the Inheritance of Life for now. Honestly, defeating the Chaos Keeper was fairly simple. All he had to do was have Guo Huai send over a few people, and he wouldn’t even have to lift a finger. However, that would defeat the purpose.

Besides, if Nie Yan wasn’t the one to kill the Chaos Keeper, the Inheritance of Life might not even drop.

The Chaos Keeper respawned once every 10 days. It appeared his objective today would end in failure.

Seeing the Chaos Keeper rampaging around, Nie Yan’s expression became resolute. Since he’d decided to climb back to the peak, it would be his first target.

If Nie Yan could defeat the Chaos Keeper, that meant he had taken one step forward on the path of power.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Nie Yan pulled open Conviction’s website and started searching for a good location for a power levelling session.

Most high level maps were filled with people. Nie Yan wanted to find a secluded place with a high mob density!

After skimming through numerous threads and guides, Nie Yan finally found a suitable place, a solo dungeon called Dark Demonic Space. There were countless Level 180 monsters inside, while only players Level 180 and below could enter. The maximum amount of time you could stay inside was two days. If you cleared it before then, you would receive a bonus reward. The current fastest clear time belonged to Howling Wind of the Satreen Empire at a little over five hours. The next best records were all over eight hours.

"Soloing a new dungeon, huh…” Nie Yan licked his lips. This dungeon was perfect for him. It could only be run until Level 180. That meant, the levelling speed would be extremely quick.

The dungeon was in the vicinity of Judgement Valley. Players from both factions could enter. Nie Yan activated Gale Step and flitted through the forest.

About 10 minutes later, Nie Yan arrived at his destination. An enormous portal in the shape of a black gate entered his vision. There was a steady stream of players constantly entering inside. Those who died in Judgement Valley and fell below Level 180 would come here to raise their level back up.

Generally, only Level 170–180 players would enter this dungeon. Any lower than that, and it would be hard to progress. However, Nie Yan still decided to go in and take a look. After all, he was convinced he could easily take on a Level 180 player in a duel. Not to mention his multiple powerful pets and summons.

"It’s time to start power levelling!” Nie Yan was filled with excitement. He’d already stagnated at Level 156 for far too long.

Nie Yan approached the gate.

Do you wish to enter the Dark Demonic Space?

Yes!

The portal to the Dark Demonic Space has opened.

Nie Yan was enveloped in a brilliant flash of light. After opening his eyes, he found himself in a plain. Up ahead was a 15-meter wide bridge that stretched far into an endless void, filled to the brim with an uncountable number of humanoid monsters in dark robes.

Two angels guarded the entrance to the bridge. Clad in silver armour with a pair of white wings growing out of their backs, they looked holy and noble. Every now and then a monster would find the courage to dash past them, only to be cut down within an instant.

"Brave Adventurer, welcome to the Dark Demonic Space,” an angel greeted. He had the appearance of a 30-year-old man brimming with valor. His name was Gower. "Have you come to challenge this space?”

"I have.” Nie Yan nodded.

"Good! You may begin! Set foot on your journey to glory!” the angel exclaimed.

Nie Yan walked toward the bridge. He summoned Lil’ Gold, the Shadow Demon Wolf, the Eclipse Divine Dragon, and the Violet Eye Dragon. The latter two were still Level 0. So, they would have to sit in the back and soak up experience.

Lil’ Gold and the Shadow Demon Wolf let out roars and charged into the black swath of monsters.

Explosive Counter!

Mad Wolf Slash!

The Level 160 Elite-class Dark Demonkin up ahead instantly crumpled. Ding dong! Ding dong! Ding dong! One level up sound after another rang in Nie Yan’s ears as rays of light fell over the Divine Eclipse Dragon and the Violet Eye Dragon. These two pets both reached Level 20 in an instant.

The amount of experience required at the early levels was next to nothing at this point. So, they quickly gained levels.

Lil’ Gold and the Shadow Demon Wolf pressed forward at an astonishing speed. The monsters appearing up ahead got stronger and stronger, and the amount of experience they gave rose accordingly.

Nie Yan summoned Paladin Lafus and had him and Kalenna support Lil’ Gold and the Shadow Demon Wolf.

The 15-meter wide bridge was crowded with Dark Demonkin, to the extent some were standing on the edge. When Lil’ Gold and the Shadow Demon Wolf charged over, some of them lost their balance and fell down in the nothingness below. Even those gave Nie Yan experience.

Nie Yan glanced down at his level. His experience bar was slowly but surely filling up. This levelling speed was quite decent.

The Dark Demonkin didn’t drop any equipment after dying. Occasionally, one or two would drop a Dark Demonic Fragment.

Dark Demonic Fragment (Quest Item): Hand this item to Angel Gower to receive additional rewards.

Lil’ Gold’s health rapidly fluctuated up and down. The Shadow Demon Wolf was much better off. It barely lost any health. One could clearly see it was far superior in terms of combat strength.

With these two powerful pets at the front, Nie Yan didn’t have to lift a finger. He followed behind Lil’ Gold and the Shadow Demon Wolf while leisurely browsing the official site. He was catching up on what happened over the past three years as well as any balance changes.

There were big changes to skills. Many new powerful skills had come out. It appeared he would have to swap out some of the skills in his skill bar. Besides that, during his absence, everyone had realized the might of pets, especially after his showing with the Shadow Demon Wolf. Even though the Shadow Demon Wolf was a mount, it was still in the pet category. Many players started seeking out powerful pets. This completely changed the balance of the game, greatly reducing the impact of individual player strength in PvP. As a result, the number of people calling for the nerf of pets grew greater and greater. Eventually, when the Chaos Temple was released, Conviction introduced the Spirit Awe skill, which rendered all pets useless in PvP. Even some bosses possessed similar suppression skills.

Apart from pets and the changes to skills, the next largest change was Chaos Gear, which could be obtained by entering the Chaos Temple upon reaching Level 180. Generally, the level requirement for Chaos Gear was Level 180+. Their properties were a bit better than Legendary-grade equipment.

This way, if Nie Yan grinded his way to Level 180, then entered the Chaos Temple to farm a set of Chaos Gear, he would catch up to most of the high level players. He wondered which was better, Chaos Gear or the enhanced Tyrant Abak Set.

With a clear levelling plan in mind, Nie Yan felt even more motivated.

Nie Yan glanced at the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s level. It had already broken past Level 50. The number of spells it could use left his eyes slightly spinning. The Divine Eclipse Dragon was a caster type pet. It could use both light and dark attribute magic, including no small number of Forbidden Magic which could be learned after Level 100. At Level 50, it already knew many AoE spells, only that it was too low level at present to contribute any damage.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon would definitely become a mobbing machine. It would have no issue helping Nie Yan get to Level 200!

As for the Violet Eye Dragon, it wasn't bad but it simply couldn’t compare to the Divine Eclipse Dragon. At best, it could only match Lil’ Gold.

Lil’ Gold also levelled up quite a few times, reaching Level 153. His health reached an astonishing 320,000, and his mobbing speed became visibly better.

After grinding nonstop for three hours, Nie Yan’s party had advanced about 3,000 meters on the bridge. The angels guarding the entrance were already no longer in view. It seemed as if both ends of the bridge stretched out endlessly.

Finally, a crisp notification jingle rang out. Nie Yan levelled up to Level 157.

"Man, it’s been a long time since I heard that,” Nie Yan basked in the feeling of levelling up again for the first time in three years.

After a while, the Dark Demonkin turned into Level 180 Elites. They were far stronger than their Level 160 or Level 170 counterparts. Lil’ Gold was starting to have a harder time keeping up, nearly dying on multiple occasions.

Nie Yan slowed down his pace and had the Shadow Demon Wolf lead the vanguard, alleviating some of the pressure on Lil’ Gold.

Seeing Lil’ Gold unable to hold on any longer, Nie Yan summoned his three Doom Sentinels. Even though they could only resist for a short time, it was better than nothing.

After levelling here for a whole day, the Divine Eclipse Dragon and Violet Eye Dragon reached Level 93 and 92 respectively.

After reaching Level 92, the Divine Eclipse Dragon was already as strong as Lil’ gold at Level 140. As a result, he could start dealing damage to the Demonkin.

Nie Yan pulled out some of the high rank scrolls he withdrew from the guild treasury. Crushing a Frost Torrent Scroll, icy white rain started pouring down from above. Before long, the Dark Demonkin within a 200-meter radius were frozen solid, making it difficult for them to move even an inch.

Lil’ Gold called down a meteor. BOOOM! Countless Dark Demonkin shattered into fragments of ice.

Several more rays of light fell over the Divine Eclipse Dragon and Violet Eye Dragon.

Nie Yan glanced at his experience bar. "Sweet! That was 2%!” After reaching high levels, it had been a while since he experienced this kind of levelling speed.

Chapter 946 - Holy Nova Ray

The Dark Demonkin gave ample experience, and there was a ludicrous number of them packed together on this bridge. With Lil’ Gold and the Shadow Demon Wolf wantonly killing them, one could imagine how frightening the levelling speed was.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon and Violet Eye Dragon were gradually starting to contribute to the battle. If they got just a little stronger, Nie Yan’s levelling speed would reach a completely new plane.

There were simply too many Level 180 Dark Demonkin. Lil’ Gold and the Shadow Demon Wolf were starting to have a hard time advancing forward. However, if Nie Yan were to kill them himself, their speed would drastically slow down. At that point, he might as well go somewhere else to find harder individual targets.

After two days of continuous grinding, a flash of light fell over Nie Yan, and he was teleported outside the entrance to the Dark Demonic Space.

Here, the players from both great factions were fighting fiercely with sparks flying everywhere. Nie Yan didn’t bother participating. He avoided the commotion with Gale Step and reentered the Dark Demonic Space.

The dungeon was reset. Nie Yan would have to start from the beginning. However, that wasn’t a problem. In fact, it was precisely what he wanted.

The days passed by one after another. The faces Nie Yan saw outside the entrance kept changing, but he never left. After grinding in the Dark Demonic Space for two entire weeks, he reached Level 160. The Divine Eclipse Dragon was starting to catch up. It had reached Level 130 and could already rival a Level 200 Lil’ Gold. It was finally ready to display its might!

Nie Yan entered the Dark Demonic Space once more. He handed over all the Dark Demonic Fragments he’d collected so far to Gower and received 3% worth of experience.

"Sir Nirvana Flame, you have turned in 16,253 Dark Demonic Fragments. Your current rank among all contestants is 226. You have yet to clear the Dark Demonic Space,” Gower said.

Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in suspicion. Could this mean there was an additional reward for reaching number one? Since the Dark Demonic Fragments couldn’t be traded, every fragment he turned in was obtained by himself. After grinding for two weeks straight, he only reached rank 226 on the leaderboards. He couldn’t help but wonder how many more fragments he would need to reach rank one.

Nie Yan continued grinding without pause. The Divine Eclipse Dragon had recently learned a new skilled called Holy Nova Ray. He was eager to test it out.

At Nie Yan’s command, his several pets charged forward. The Divine Eclipse Dragon was still too weak. So, it could only stay in the rear and cast magic.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon started chanting an incantation. Countless specks of light were drawn toward its body.

The air was saturated with holy energy.

Kalenna waved her staff, buffing the Divine Eclipse Dragon with several holy blessings.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon was emitting a dazzling radiance of holy power, as if it were a divine being. FWOOOOOM! It opened its mouth and shot out a giant beam of light. It was 15 meters wide and continued on for more than 600 meters. It pierced through all the Dark Demonkin in its path.

Miserable shrieks rang out from within the light. A string of 500,000s at 10 hits per tick floated up above their heads. Three seconds, five seconds, seven seconds... the beam continued to fire.

Swaths of Dark Demonkin collapsed within the light, transforming into ash.

The beam finally stopped after 10 whole seconds. Nie Yan looked up ahead, his jaw dropping in shock. The next 600 meters of the bridge was completely swept clean of monsters, only Dark Demonic Fragments hinting at their previous existence.

At least 10,000 Level 180 Elite-class Dark Demonkin were wiped out in that attack! This Holy Nova Ray was practically the ultimate skill for levelling up in the Dark Demonic Space! It was more useful than any Forbidden Magic, which had a long cast time; and even though they had large area of effects, only a small portion of it would hit the Dark Demonkin. Not to mention their usual cooldowns of one to two months. Meanwhile the Holy Nova Ray was frightening beyond belief and only had a cooldown time of 30 minutes!

Nie Yan’s experience bar instantly filled up by 0.2%. After reaching Level 160, the amount of experience he required to level up was 580 times that of when he was Level 156. So, it was clear how astonishing this levelling speed was.

If Holy Nova Ray could be used once every half-an-hour, then by the end of the day, he could gain 6% experience from this skill alone! Adding in the contribution from his other pets, that was an additional 5% for a total of 11%. By these calculations, he would reach Level 161 within only 10 days! This was nothing short of incredible!

Nie Yan entered the second stage of the Dark Demonic Space. Where on the first stage he had to fight Level 160-180 Elites, now his opponents were Level 160-180 Variant Elites. Their health increased by six times. The difficulty instantly ramped up. However, the drop rate of Dark Demonic Fragments also increased. After tuning them in to Gower, he could gain quite a bit of additional experience.

The cycle continued. Nie Yan would grind for two days, get booted out of the dungeon, and start all over again.

As calculated, a crisp notification jingle rang out 10 days later. Nie Yan reached Level 161.

Grinding day-in-day-out for 16 hours a day for almost a month straight, any other player would be driven mad from the sheer monotony. In this regard, Nie Yan’s discipline and perseverance were to be commended.

During the offline hours, Nie Yan relaxed with Xie Yao on the beach, while he would play through the night. Like this, one day after another passed. He deeply cherished this kind of simple life. Only those who had died before could understand this feeling, let alone someone like him who had died twice! His state of mind was no longer the same as before.

As he logged in, Nie Yan found himself again on the bridge of the Dark Demonic Space. He had the Divine Eclipse Dragon cast several AoE spells, clearing out a large swath of Dark Demonkin. After which a white ray of light fell over its body.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon levelled up again! Level 150! This was an important milestone!

Holy Nova Ray rose up by a rank. Its range was increased by 30%, the damage by 50%, and the cooldown reduced to 25 minutes.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon also learned several new skills, all of which were AoE spells.

One was a darkness attribute spell similar to Holy Nova Ray, Abyssal Pierce.

There was a saying that every light attribute magic had a darkness attribute counterpart. It appeared this was true.

Nie Yan was excited to see the effects of Abyssal Pierce.

At Nie Yan’s command, the Divine Eclipse Dragon stood behind the Shadow Demon Wolf and started chanting. Ripples of death energy emanated from its body. WHOM! A line of darkness as deep as the abyss shot out, shrouding the world in death and gloom.

The next 600 meters of the bridge became a sea of death. The Dark Demonkin turned into piles of bones.

"Damn! What a scary spell!” Nie Yan sighed in admiration. "I can use Holy Nova Ray and Abyssal Pierce right after each other! Nice!”

Sure enough, the Divine Eclipse Dragon was great for levelling.

Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon were both brawlers. No matter how fast their mobbing speed, it would still be limited. However, the Divine Eclipse Dragon was different. It was the most powerful caster-type dragon! Not to mention its Growth Rate of 30. Once it reached a truly higher level, it would become an unrivalled existence. Its mobbing speed was already on par with peak Magisters like Tang Yao! The only thing holding it back was that it was too low level to deal with some of the higher level monsters.

After the Divine Eclipse Dragon reached Level 150, Lil’ Gold, the Violet Eye Dragon, and the Shadow Demon Wolf were relegated to the back. They were in charge of ensuring its safety and cleaning up any stragglers. It fired out spells non-stop, leaving a trail of corpses in its wake.

With the help of the Divine Eclipse Dragon, the second stage of the Dark Demonic Space was cleared within a day and a half. Nie Yan finally reached the end of the bridge. There, he saw a stone tower floating in the void. There was a single light at the top, giving off a faint glow. There was a shrine inside, which held an enormous crystal ball. He rested his hand over the crystal, which released a dazzling radiance.

You have cleared the Dark Demonic Space in 25 hours, 32 minutes, and 57 seconds. The current fastest time is held by Howling Wind at 5 hours, 21 minutes, and 12 seconds.

You have received a Resurrection Crystal.

After clearing the dungeon, Nie Yan actually obtained a Resurrection Crystal! This was definitely a pleasant surprise. They were still quite rare, but that was secondary. The fact they could revive fallen flying mounts and fairies was far more important to him. A single crystal was worth at least several hundred thousand gold.

If Nie Yan broke the current record, he would probably obtain something even better. He was filled with expectation. He wondered what sort of method Howling Wind used to clear the dungeon in only five hours and what sort of reward he obtained.

Nie Yan was teleported out of the dungeon. Afterwards, he immediately entered back inside. After picking up the pace, he no longer bothered with cleaning up the stragglers. He was rushing forward as fast as he could. His second clear time was 13 hours, 32 minutes, and 50 seconds. This was already a lot faster. He received a Dark Emerald this time around. It was useful for socketing equipment and was also worth several hundred thousand gold.

On the third clear, the time was 12 hours, 22 minutes, and 9 seconds. Nie Yan didn’t receive anything this time. According to the official website, every player would only receive a reward if certain conditions were met: once when they cleared the dungeon within two days, once when they cleared it within one day, and once when they beat the fastest time. Apparently, the reward for beating the fastest time was extremely generous. The first two rewards were merely tokens.

Thinking about it, it made sense. If you received this kind of rewards every time you cleared the Dark Demonic Space, everybody would be running it non-stop.

The first two rewards were already quite good. Nie Yan wondered what sort of reward he would receive for beating the record. Clearing the Dark Demonic Space in five hours seemed incredibly difficult though. That Howling Wind wasn’t ordinary. In the previous timeline, he was also the Satreen Empire’s number one expert. It was a shame Guo Huai failed to pull him into Asskickers United.

"Five hours, huh. It’s hard, but not impossible,” Nie Yan muttered. "I’m going to be levelling here until Level 180 anyway. I’ve got plenty of time.”

Chapter 947 - Record Broken

Nie Yan checked the forums. There was nothing about him returning to the game. It looked like Devil Sky’s party didn’t reveal anything about their encounter to others. It made sense. Five Level 180+ players couldn’t even kill a single Level 156 player. They were probably too embarrassed to tell anyone.

For the time being, Nie Yan didn’t wish to return to Asskickers United. Unless left with no other choice, he wouldn’t let the players of the guild know he was back. The day he revealed himself would be the day when the Mad Rogue climbed back to the peak.

Nie Yan spent several more days in the Dark Demonic Space, bringing the Divine Eclipse Dragon up to Level 156.

Nie Yan gradually realized something. Even though the system had nerfed the use of pets in PvP, they also greatly reduced the amount of experience required to level them up. For example, Lil’ Gold was already Level 172. Generally, unless there was some sort of special circumstance, it was best not to raise a pet more than five levels over that of the player, or else there was a risk of the pet rebelling against its master. However, he didn’t have to worry about this because his Dragon King’s Divine Might demanded absolute loyalty of all dragon pets.

As Lil’ Gold levelled up several times, he became more useful again in the Dark Demonic Space. However, it couldn’t be compared to that of the Divine Eclipse Dragon.

The Level 156 Divine Eclipse Dragon had the ability to challenge the fastest clear time of the Dark Demonic Space.

Holy Nova Ray!

The Divine Eclipse Dragon shot out a ray of light. The dazzling radiance illuminated the entire Dark Demonic Space. All the Dark Demonkin in the next 800 meters of the bridge were wiped out clean.

Nie Yan’s pets steamrolled through everything and anything in their path. Seeing a large horde of Dark Demonkin charging over, Nie Yan had the Divine Eclipse Dragon fire an Abyssal Pierce. Another 600 meters of the bridge were cleared instantly.

Nie Yan continued pressing forward at a monstrous pace. In only six minutes, he’d already advanced several thousand meters. This kind of speed was inconceivable in the eyes of ordinary players.

Lil’ Gold, the Violet Eye Dragon, and the Shadow Demon Wolf charged into the Dark Demonkin, shoving them into each other until some were pushed off the bridge. Nie Yan used this method to press forward for a minute, packing the Dark Demonkin as closely together as possible. When the mob density was high enough, the Divine Eclipse Dragon opened its mouth. A black and white light beam shot out toward the Dark Demonkin before combining together.

BOOOOM! A monochrome light lit up the entire Dark Demonic Space. The bridge quaked violently as if it were about to collapse. Nie Yan’s face paled. "It’s not really going to collapse, right?”

The explosion slowly subsided. Thankfully, the bridge was still intact. All the Dark Demonkin for the next 100 meters were blasted into oblivion.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon had pretty much used all of its powerful magic. Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon took the vanguard again and started sweeping through everything in their path. As for the Shadow Demon Wolf, all it had to do was charge forward. Every time it leaped into the horde of Dark Demonkin, many would be forced off the bridge.

About two hours later, Nie Yan saw the tower in the distance.

There was about 1,000 meters left. All he needed was one final push.

Nie Yan had the Shadow Demon Wolf lead the vanguard. He leaped up onto the wolf’s back, then slashed out with an Annihilation Slash. BOOOM! Another 60 meters of the bridge were cleared out.

Barrelling forward for another 30 minutes, Nie Yan leaped 30 meters through the air, then shot out a web line at the tower. As he swung inside, he lunged forward and slammed the crystal with his hand.

A dazzling light shone out. Nie Yan’s time was recorded down.

"2 hours, 15 minutes, and 2 seconds! Not bad.” Nie Yan smirked.

You have cleared the Dark Demonic Space in 2 hours, 15 minutes, and 2 seconds. The current fastest time is held by Howling Wind at 5 hours, 21 minutes, and 12 seconds.

Congratulations! You have broken Howling Wind’s record. You have become the first player to clear the dungeon within 3 hours. You have received the Craftsman God’s Invitation.

Craftsman God’s Invitation: You may request Craftsman God Bronnik of the Hardrock Mountain Valley to upgrade one piece of equipment into Chaos gear.

Nie Yan was stunned. Craftsman God Bronnik? He had never heard of this NPC before, even in his past life. It seemed like Bronnik had appeared sometime over the past three years, and he could turn ordinary equipment into Chaos gear!

According to the information Nie Yan read online, the equipment in the Atlanta continent was already fully developed, with the highest grade being Sacred Objects like the Death God’s Edge. The next best were Divines like Zennarde’s Sword. Chaos gear was a brand new type of equipment introduced in the past three years. They came from the distant void and were crafted from void metal. Using the grading system of the Atlanta continent, they could be considered Divines, with the best being on par with Sacred Objects.

This was one of the reasons Nie Yan had fallen so far behind!

Nie Yan glanced at his equipment window. "Should I try turning Zennarde’s Sword into a piece of Chaos gear?”

If it were possible, would Zennarde’s Sword become a Sacred Object?

While Nie Yan was deep in thought, a global announcement rang out.

Nirvana Flame has beaten the record for the fastest clear time in the Dark Demonic Space. The new record is 2 hours, 15 minutes, and 2 seconds. This is the first clear time in under 3 hours. Adventurers, you are welcome to challenge this record.

This announcement was made both in the Righteous Faction and Evil Faction. The playerbase instantly went into an uproar.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but bitterly smile. It seemed like he had screwed up. Even though was in appear offline mode—not even his friends knew he was online—when he accomplished this large of a feat, the system would still make an announcement.

Nie Yan didn’t expect beating the record for the Dark Demonic Space would result in a global announcement. He couldn’t help but gloomily shake his head.

What Nie Yan didn’t know was that when the Dark Demonic Space was first released, there were countless players challenging it every day, up to 800,000 at its peak. Every time someone broke the fastest record, the system would always make a global announcement. New and improved methods were thought of every day. It was only until Howling Wind created the five-hour record that it slowly died down, since no one was able to beat it.

The players who challenged the Dark Demonic Space all reached Level 180, then moved on to different places. There were still around 50,000 players coming here every day to level, but no one could break Howling Wind’s record.

The Satreen Empire’s number one Magister was truly powerful.

However, his record was broken, and by none other than Nirvana Flame! The entire server was in a state of upheaval. Nirvana Flame was back!

Asskickers United’s guild chat.

「Guys, look at the global announcement!」a Magister shouted excitedly.

「We know! The boss is back? How come he hasn’t said anything?」

News of Nie Yan’s return was like a tornado, sweeping through all of Asskickers United.

「I knew the boss would come back! I knew he wouldn’t abandon us!」Several veteran guild members were choking up in tears. They thought back to three years ago. Nie Yan had led them in braving through countless storms, defeating all the enemies in their path before finally unifying the entire Righteous faction.

「Why hasn’t the boss said anything?」

「Boss, say something!」

「It doesn’t matter how much time passes. You will always be our boss! We’ve all been waiting for you to come home!」

The guild chat flooded with messages. Reading through them all, countless faces flashed through Nie Yan’s mind, his nose turning sour.

"Should I tell them?” Nie Yan muttered. As the guild leader of Asskickers United, he didn’t want to return like this. He was only Level 161, and his equipment was out of date. It would truly feel a bit depressing. He didn’t know how many voices, especially those from outside, would start making disparaging comments.

More notifications filled his vision. His friends were sending whispers without break.

Bladelight:「Damn! You came back and didn’t even let us know? You owe us three rounds of beer in the next gathering!」

Smoke Stub:「It’s good you’re back. You’ve really made everyone wait.」

Undying Scoundrel:「Boss, you don’t know how much we’ve missed you! Please say something. Your brothers are waiting!」

Young Sparrow Hawk:「Back already from your honeymoon? Wanna go levelling together with us later? Without you here, it’s just not the same.」

…

Nie Yan received several hundred whispers. In offline mode, he couldn’t receive any calls. So, they could only send him text messages. Even so, he could feel the sincere emotions from their words. His eyes started tearing up. It felt really good to be alive.

Nie Yan hadn’t seen any of them in quite some time already. He wondered how they were doing. So, he took his time to reply to their messages and explain why he wouldn’t step out from the shadows for now.

Guo Huai, Bladelight, and the others placated the guild members in the chat, telling them that Nie Yan would return, just not quite yet.

Nie Yan took in a deep breath. Seeing the warm greetings of all the members in the guild, he couldn’t help but get emotional. If he returned to the guild right now, he didn’t know what he would do. He might even burst into tears. Separation made the heart grow fonder, perhaps this was this feeling.

The guild chat was in a celebratory mood. Nie Yan had returned, even if he was only at Level 156. What they didn’t know was that he’d already grinded himself to Level 161. The time of his return to the peak and the guild would soon come!

All guild members were incredibly excited.

「The boss really knows how to make an entrance. As soon as he came back, he broke the record for the Dark Demonic Space. He more than halved Howling Wind’s time!」

「With this kind of speed, it won’t take long for the boss to break past Level 180!」

「Hehe, I bet Plenty is starting to sweat right about now.」

「I can’t wait for the boss to complete the Book of Order and become the Supreme Pontiff. That would be awesome.」

Asskickers United’s players were excitedly chatting with each other. Only a few of the more level headed players knew that a three year gap wasn’t that easy to overcome.

Chapter 948 - Void Metal

Nie Yan’s return didn’t merely shock the players of Asskickers United but the entire playerbase. Originally, many people felt that even if he came back now, it wouldn’t stir up any big waves. After all, he was only Level 156, and over these past three years, he had long since fallen from the number one spot. Catching up to the players at the peak was easier said than done!

Most players were pessimistic about a potential return of Nie Yan. However, when they saw the global announcement, they all quietly shut their mouths.

Someone did the calculations. Every clear of the Dark Demonic Space netted about 5 billion experience. If Nie Yan kept grinding the dungeon at his current pace, he could get in about five to six runs in a 16-hour day. At that pace, he would go from Level 156 to Level 180 in only two months!

Howling Wind was the previous record holder for the fastest clear time in the Dark Demonic Space. He averaged around seven hours a run and achieved his five-hour record at Level 180. From Level 163 to Level 180, it took him a total of seven months. Even Tang Yao failed to beat this record. However, Nie Yan had done just that and he wasn’t even close to Level 180!

The frightening Mad Rogue. Did this mean that Nirvana Flame was going to rise back to the top?

The Albalia Void Lava Ruins in the Sword of the War God. A team of players was advancing through the void lava. The highest level among them was 202 and the lowest 196.

「Howling Wind, look at the global announcements!」a Warrior said in voice chat.

Howling Wind opened up the global announcements and looked at the latest one. His eyes lit up.「Nirvana Flame is back!?」

「Wow, he is already strong enough to clear the Dark Demonic Space, and in under three hours! The rewards there are really good.」

「Howling Wind got a Chaos-grade Mage robe for his top time. I wonder what Nirvana Flame got.」

「All the top experts are probably starting to feel the pressure. I wonder how long it will take Nirvana Flame to climb back up to the top after his three-year hiatus. After all, only a freak like him can pull something like that off.」

While his teammates were chatting, Howling Wind was lost in thought. Like many others, he thought Nie Yan had died three years ago. At that time, he was filled with regret. He wondered if he would have the qualifications to challenge Nie Yan when he caught back up.

Nie Yan was also the main subject of discussion in the Fallen Angel guild chat.

Back when Nie Yan was at his prime, no one in both factions even came close to him. Although he had fallen behind a lot, no one could say for certain he wouldn’t overtake them again. So, many of the players in Fallen Angel had the inclination to snuff out this potential threat while it was still in the cradle.

「Boss, Nirvana Flame is grinding in the Dark Demonic Space. Let’s send some people over to ambush him.」

「Yeah, Boss! We can’t risk Nirvana Flame rising back to the top again!」

…

Everyone in Fallen Angel was waiting for Plenty’s reply.

Plenty was also in the Sword of God at this moment. Seeing the discussion in the guild chat, he faintly smiled.「That kind of mindset is for the weak. If you have time to think about getting in the way of others, you’re better off spending it levelling up and getting stronger.」

The players in Fallen Angel’s guild chat went silent. They no longer brought up this topic.

"Boss, I know you’re a straightforward person who does everything in the open. But if we really don’t stop Nirvana Flame, I’m worried… You know, we can always hire someone outside of our guild,” a Warrior beside him said.

Plenty shook his head. "It’s fine, no need. I want to see how Nirvana Flame will make up for this three-year gap.”

The Warrior’s eyes flashed with a subtle light. He met gazes with the several teammates around him.

Plenty lowered his head in contemplation. He couldn’t help but bitterly smile. Clearing the Dark Demonic Space in under three hours. This was truly astonishing. Even he felt the inclination to send someone to go after Nie Yan.

If you really can climb back up to the peak, I will gladly await the day!

...

Nie Yan was still grinding away in the Dark Demonic Space. Every time he exited the dungeon, he would only be out for a few seconds before stealthing and entering back in. He discovered that the number of players outside the entrance had spiked. There were faces from Asskickers United and from Fallen Angel. There were even quite a few guildless players. Still, Most were from Asskickers United. They were guarding the area.

Nie Yan realized these people were sent by Guo Huai. Likely, Guo Huai was worried there would be people looking to ambush him and interfere with his levelling.

Nie Yan didn’t want to betray their good intentions. He didn’t linger and continued levelling.

After a dozen more runs, Nie Yan averaged a clear time of around two and a half hours. Breaking through the two-hour mark was difficult. He would have to get the Divine Eclipse Dragon a bit higher level first. Unfortunately, he didn’t receive rewards for breaking his own records. The only exception was if he broke through the two-hour mark.

It took Nie Yan another five days to break through the two-hour mark. His new record was 1 hour, 52 minutes, and 7 seconds.

You have received one Dark Void Iron.

Nie Yan’s heart stirred. He had no idea what this Dark Void Iron was. He opened his inventory and checked it.

The Dark Void Iron was about the size of a fist and dark black in colour, like a lump of coal. It shone a black lustre.

Dark Void Iron (Void Metal): Give this Dark Void Metal to Bronnick for a pleasant surprise.

The entire playerbase had their eyes glued on the leaderboards for the Dark Demonic Space. They felt their scalps go numb as they watched Nie Yan repeatedly breaking his own record. It reminded them all too much of the impossibilities Nie Yan achieved time and time again all those years ago. He would be back.

Nie Yan grinded like a madman. Within no more than 30 seconds of clearing the Dark Demonic Space, he would be back on that bridge again. Every time his Divine Eclipse Dragon levelled up, his speed further increased to the point where he could clear it in around an hour and a half.

Players across both factions started speculating whether Nie Yan would break the one-hour mark before hitting Level 180. At the current trend, that was a real possibility. Either way, everyone realized it would become an unbreakable record regardless.

Apart from the shock, there was also a deep-felt sense of reverence for Nie Yan. Just how long had he been grinding in the Dark Demonic Space? At least two weeks consecutively. If it were an ordinary player, they would’ve long since puked out blood from the repetition. For him to persevere for this long, it was no surprise he used to be the number one player.

After an entire month, Nie Yan reached Level 175. From his point of view, this levelling speed was still fairly slow. Lil’ Gold, the Violet Eye Dragon, and the Divine Eclipse Dragon were all levelling up far quicker. Lil’ Gold was already level 185, the Violet Eye Dragon Level 175, and the Divine Eclipse Dragon Level 183.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon contributed most of the damage. So, its share of the experience was also the largest.

The Level 183 Divine Eclipse Dragon was ludicrously powerful. It had 367 spells in total, of which 35 were ordinary AoE spells, three were single target Forbidden Magic, and two were AoE Forbidden Magic.

With this kind of super pet by his side, Nie Yan’s levelling speed was naturally extremely fast. Ordinary players would have no way of imagining this.

Pets were only good for levelling these days. They had some influence on his strength, but it wasn’t much. Even though the average skill level of players was much higher than before, an old dog could still learn new tricks. During Nie Yan’s time in the Dark Demonic Space, his pets were doing almost all the work. He was following behind while binging PvP videos. From them, he gained a few new insights. His skills weren’t necessarily inferior to others. The biggest differentiators were his level and gear.

Levelling inside the Dark Demonic Space was already starting to get too slow for Nie Yan’s taste. He planned to make one final attempt at breaking the one-hour mark, then leave to find a more suitable place to level.

As soon as Nie Yan entered the Dark Demonic Space, he had Kalenna buff his several pets to the max with her blessings. Afterwards, they steamrolled through everything in their path. Their enormous frames were like a giant plow, leaving a trail of slaughter in their wake and shoving countless Dark Demonkin off the bridge.

This was absolutely the fastest and most enjoyable way to level. Seeing the health bars of his pets dip, Nie Yan hurriedly had Kalenna and Paladin Lafus heal them. Like this, they pressed forward through the bridge at an astonishing speed until the tower was in sight. He made the last sprint and touched the crystal. Looking at the time, he smirked—59 minutes and 59 seconds. Even though he had just barely broke the one-hour mark, it was enough.

You have cleared the Dark Demonic Space in 59 minutes and 59 seconds. This is a new record.

You are the first player to clear the Dark Demonic Space in under an hour. You have received one piece of Black Void Gold.

Black Void Gold (Void Metal)

Previously, it was a piece of Void Iron. Now it was a piece of Void Gold. After looking them up online, Nie Yan learned void metal was used to reinforce equipment. It only worked on Legendary-grade equipment and would upgrade them to Chaos gear, greatly boosting their stats.

It looked like it was about time he visited the Craftsman God. Nie Yan wondered how powerful Zennarde’s Sword would become after being reinforced. He couldn’t help but be filled with expectation. Maybe it would rise to be on par with the Death God’s Edge.

Nie Yan unsummoned his pets and teleported out of the Dark Demonic Space. He started taking his leave. There were too many people in the vicinity. Summoning the Shadow Demon Wolf would be too eye-catching.

Not far away, six Evil Faction players were looking around. Spotting Nie Yan in his black cloak, they lowered their heads and whispered something before leaving.

Seeing the expressions of these players, Nie Yan immediately sensed something off. Before long, he saw a dozen Evil Faction players moving in to surround him. Their intentions were obvious. Likely, these people were from Fallen Angel. After all, he was their greatest threat right now.

The only reason Nie Yan nearly died at the hands of Devil Sky’s party of five was because his level was too low. There was almost a 30-level difference. Now, he was already Level 177. If these players wanted to kill him, it wouldn’t be that simple.

Chapter 949 - Unlocked Skills!

It would be pretty much impossible for these players to kill Nie Yan. However, they were still troublesome opponents due to their level difference.

A PvP battle was different from fighting bosses, which could be easily exploited as long as you knew their weaknesses. A Level 170 player could even take down a Level 200 Lord if they knew what they were doing. However, most players weren’t stupid like monsters, especially experts who possessed exquisite combat techniques and countless trump cards. When several such experts teamed up together, their combat prowess would be more than the sum of their parts.

Three years ago, Nie Yan was far ahead of ordinary players in level and stats. So, killing them was easy. However, he had lost these advantages. If he were surrounded by many players, he would still have to be careful.

Nie Yan hadn’t done any PvP in a long time. He was both rusty and unsure as to which skills were the current flavour of the month. Fortunately, his bag was chock full with useful items, like the Web Crawler Ring that could help him bait the enemy. Not to mention the Sage-rank potions he’d picked up earlier. His eyes fell on the large pile of Dark Demonic Fragments in his bag. For the sake of maximizing his levelling efficiency, he had yet to turn them all in to Gower. It looked like after this battle was over, he would be making another trip into the Dark Demonic Space.

Nie Yan wasn’t too nervous. Even though he hadn’t logged on in three years, he still had the same domineering style. He counted 12 enemy players. Killing all of them would be difficult, but taking out a few wouldn’t be a problem.

Preoccupied with raising his level, Nie Yan hadn’t taken the time to check his skill window. Until now that was. The biggest surprise he found were three new skills: Helix Edge, Fatal Burst, and Crippling Bellow. They were all high rank skills.

Nie Yan hadn’t learned any skill books recently. How did these skills appear?

A light bulb flashed in Nie Yan’s head. He recalled the Glimpse of Darkness. It contained many skills that still needed to be unlocked.

The monsters inside the Dark Demonic Space were all of the darkness attribute. After grinding there for such a long time, he had no idea how many Dark Demonkin he’d killed, though at least tens of millions.

Unlocking Helix Edge required killing 6,000,000 darkness attribute monsters, 13,000,000 for Fatal Burst, and 22,000,000 for Crippling Bellow. That meant he had killed at least 41,000,000 Dark Demonkin!

The Glimpse of Darkness allowed three to six skills to be unlocked at the same time. Only after raising their ranks to the max could the remaining skills be unlocked. So, it would be some time before he could unlock the rest.

The skills Nie Yan obtained previously from the Glimpse of Darkness like Gale Ambush were pretty decent. He wondered how useful these three new skills would be. He checked their descriptions.

Helix Edge: Send out a spiralling strike that skewers all targets in a straight line for 3 meters. 100% chance to deal 5x Critical Damage. Cooldown: 30 minutes.

Fatal Burst: Drive your dagger through the enemy’s back, dealing 300% damage. Chance to instantly kill the target. Cooldown: 12 minutes.

Crippling Bellow: When a target approaches within three meters of you, unleash an ear-piercing roar that cripples them for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 15 minutes.

These skills were just like the ones he unlocked before, fairly decent for PvP. If he used them well, he could easily turn the tables in the heat of battle, and he just so happened to have a few practice dummies to try them out on!

The players from the Evil Faction tailed anyone that left the Dark Demonic Space with their appearances cloaked. Even if it clearly wasn’t Nirvana Flame, they wouldn’t be satisfied until that person was dead.

Even though Plenty didn’t approve of taking action, many of the guild members saw Nie Yan as a thorn in their eyes, wishing nothing more than to get rid of this threat as soon as possible. So, some of them set out to intercept him.

Nie Yan who was already Level 177 looked around at the 12 players circling in on him. Averaging around Level 183, they weren’t peak experts. If he couldn’t even deal with a bunch of small fry like them, how could he possibly climb back to the top?

Three Mystics, two Slayers, two Spectral Thieves, and five Necromancers, they were all classes that were powerful in PvP. Apart from a few exceptional top experts, support classes like Dark Zealots and Priests weren’t willing to step in PvP zones because they would instantly become the focus of the enemy.

"That guy looks like Nirvana Flame! Kill him!” one of the Mystics shouted. He conjured up a ball of black flames in his hand. Meanwhile, a thick layer of black ice wrapped around his sword. He blinked in front of Nie Yan and drove the fireball toward Nie Yan’s abdomen.

With his attack mere inches away from Nie Yan, the Mystic’s lips curved into a sinister smile.

The next thing the Mystic saw was a flash as his fireball missed.

Phantom Assassination!

Nie Yan’s silhouette blurred as he dodged the Mystic’s attack, his dagger stabbing towards the enemy’s throat.

The Mystic raised his ice sword to parry the attack. His reaction was incredibly fast.

However, Nie Yan was even faster. Reverse Grip Backstab! His figure blurred as he plunged his dagger into the Mystic’s back with one hand, the other crushing a scroll.

Bewitching Scroll: Cause the target to hallucinate for three seconds.

The Mystic never expected that Nie Yan would use a scroll. Add on the fact that Nie Yan’s actions were extremely subtle, and it completely slipped his notice.

"W-what the hell! What’s going on!?” the Mystic cried out in confusion. One moment he stood on the battlefield, the next he lay comfortably on a lounge chair, numerous scantily clad beauties dancing for him.

Nie Yan followed up with Backstab and Backbreaker as three damage values for a total of 30,000 floated up above the Mystic’s head. However, the Mystic had close to 60,000 health.

Seeing their companion in trouble, the other Evil Faction players pounced forward.

"T-this guy really is Nirva-” the Mystic’s words got stuck in his throat. He never thought this cloaked player would actually be Nirvana Flame. 12 against one, they had naturally underestimated the enemy.

Ordinary skills didn’t deal enough damage. It would take Nie Yan at least a few seconds to kill the Mystic. There was no time for that. Fatal Burst! After dealing this fatal blow, he evaded the oncoming attacks from the other enemies.

In a situation like this, every single skill was precious. If he used them all at the start, he would be powerless afterwards.

"His combat style is just like Nirvana Flame’s! It really might be him! Kill him!” a Slayer shouted.

Nie Yan evaded several more attacks. His gaze locked onto a Necromancer standing in the rear. He pounced toward them.

In the past, Nie Yan could one-shot most players because he was so far ahead of the pack in both terms of level and attack power. He’d already lost count of the number of Warriors that were instantly cut down by his blade. Now, however, after the average level, defense, health, and other stats of the playerbase rose considerably, it was difficult for him to one-shot anyone, unless it was a squishy caster or if he used a powerful skill like Annihilation Slash that had 20x damage multipliers. In his current situation, he was greatly outnumbered. So, he had to take care not to be locked down.

When the several Necromancers saw Nie Yan disappear, they immediately stuck their detection eyes into the ground. One of them spotted Nie Yan’s silhouette dashing straight towards him. He hurriedly shouted, "He’s over here! He’s coming for me!”

The Necromancer waved his staff. A large bone serpent erupted from the ground and shot toward Nie Yan.

Blink Strike!

Nie Yan suddenly disappeared from his spot and appeared right in front of the Necromancer. As his dagger stabbed toward the Necromancer’s forehead, a bone shield shot out of the ground, the spikes on its edge about to snap his arm in two. He hurriedly retracted his arm.

The Necromancer’s reactions were quick!

At the end of the day, the Necromancer was a veteran of Judgement Valley. Even though he couldn’t compare to Nie Yan in skill, he wasn’t easy pickings either.

Gale Ambush!

Nie Yan accelerated, circling round the bone shield and stabbing the Necromancer in the back.

A cluster of bone spurs erupted from the ground beneath Nie Yan. They were incomparably sharp and over six meters long. There were a dozen in total. The other Necromancers also took action. In order to prevent Nie Yan from dodging, all the spells they used were instant cast.

PSFHT! PSFHT! Two bone spurs pierced Nie Yan’s body, dealing 9,000 damage each.

In the instant Nie Yan was struck by the bone spurs, he activated Gale Step to prevent any further damage. Seeing the Necromancer turning to flee, he stabbed forward with Helix Edge. A spiralling attack shot out and pierced the Necromancer’s back. PSFHT! Blood flew into the air.

5x Critical Damage, the Necromancer had no way of enduring this attack. He was instantly killed.

The three new skills Nie Yan had just learned were quite useful.

"Shit! Old Six got done in!”

"This guy is definitely Nirvana Flame! Don’t let him escape!” a Mystic cursed. He was the leader of the group.

Two Mystics and two Slayers charged toward Nie Yan.

Nie Yan swapped his weapon to Zennarde’s Sword and slashed down. A massive slash came cleaving down.

"It’s Annihilation Slash!”

"Dodge!”

They were well aware of the might of this skill. Three years ago, it was called the strongest skill. Even in the present day, it wasn’t to be looked down on.

One of the Mystics and one of the Slayers reacted in time. As the slash came cleaving down, they escaped by a hair’s breadth. The other two weren’t so lucky. By the time they thought to dodge, the attack was already upon them. BOOOM! They were sent flying.

Annihilation Slash was still an extremely powerful killing move. Another two players were killed!

That makes four. Nie Yan licked his parched lips. By PvPing with these players, he was starting to get back that feeling from years ago. Everything was under his control!

Chapter 950 - Dark Demon Crystal

It was only the briefest exchange yet four people had died. The others were shocked and furious.

"Dammit! What a tough bastard!” the Slayer cursed. Nie Yan hadn’t logged on in three years. If it were any other player, their skills would’ve reset to factory settings. One could easily imagine how domineering he was during his prime. "Watch him closely. Don’t let him escape!”

Two Spectral Thieves circled in on Nie Yan. Meanwhile, the four Necromancers planted detection eyes in a 600-meter wide area to prevent him from escaping.

The Mystic and Slayer pursued Nie Yan relentlessly from behind.

"Annihilation Slash has a long cooldown. He won’t be able to use it again any time soon. Since he’s been grinding all this time in the Dark Demonic Space, he likely hasn’t learned any new skills either. All we have to watch out for are scrolls. Don’t give him any time to use them!” the Mystic shouted. "If we can kill Nirvana Flame, Black Spear will reward us handsomely!”

The other members felt their dwindling confidence reinvigorated. They would kill Nirvana Flame, no matter what! Their levels were all higher than his. They had crossed paths with countless experts before, undaunted. Today wouldn’t be any different!

However, it was still a fact that Nie Yan managed to take out four of their members while being outnumbered 12 to one. His strength wasn’t to be underestimated.

Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar. Most of his skills were still available. However, his high damage ones were on cooldown. He could only rely on his crowd control skills. The enemy was with many, so they could save each other. Thankfully, none of them played a healing class.

Nie Yan’s eyes landed on the Necromancers. "You lot first.” He shot forward with Gale Step.

"Stop him!” a Necromancer shouted.

Bone walls shot up from the ground in front of Nie Yan. He had no choice but to carefully dodge them. Even though these bone walls were relatively weak, shattering in a single hit, they had virtually no cooldown and were instant casts. If a Thief were to be boxed in by them, they would be skewered by countless bone spurs.

Nie Yan leaped into the air, soaring over the bone walls. As he came falling back to the ground, he stabbed toward the Necromancer with his dagger.

The Necromancer was a veteran of many battles. He was no stranger to the erratic attacks of Thieves. Seeing Nie Yan coming down on him, he kept his calm. With a wave of his staff, a golden skeleton appeared in front of him. It was three meters tall and held a large bone shield.

Nie Yan flicked his wrist and summoned Lil’ Gold, whose massive frame rammed into the skeleton, smashing it into pieces.

"It’s his Golden Dragon!” the Necromancer anxiously shouted as he hurriedly retreated back.

"Don’t worry! I have Spirit Awe. It can’t do anything to us!” the Mystic said cooly.

Nie Yan glanced at Lil’ Gold’s status. He was indeed affected by Spirit Awe. He couldn’t move, nor use any long ranged attacks. This skill completely crippled pets!

However, Nie Yan didn’t care much for this. His objective for summoning Lil’ Gold wasn’t to kill anyone, but rather to function as cover while he activated Shadow Clone.

Distracted by the collision between Lil’ Gold and the golden skeleton, the enemy players unknowingly lost track of Nie Yan.

"Wait. Where did Nirvana Flame go?”

"Huh, I don’t know!”

"Be careful guys!” the Mystic shouted. As the words left his mouth, he saw a faint silhouette dashing towards one of the Necromancers. "He’s over there!”

The several melee classes all charged toward the silhouette.

With those players lured away by his shadow clone, Nie Yan activated Gale Step and Extreme Disappear and appeared behind one of the Necromancers.

The Necromancer’s attention was focused on the silhouette in the far distance. He didn’t expect an ambush. By the time he sensed something wrong, his feet were already locked to the ground.

Confirming his Extreme Intimidate was effective, Nie Yan struck the Necromancer in the back of the head with Smothering Strike. Then he followed up with an elbow strike, Backstab, and Lacerate. After completing the 3-hit combo, he fled away.

The melee class players were several dozens of meters away chasing the shadow clone. There were two Necromancers nearby. However, by the time they noticed something was wrong, Nie Yan had already completed his 3-hit combo.

Two spells flew toward Nie Yan. He quickly evaded the attacks with Disappear.

After taking the 3-hit combo, the Necromancer only had 6,000 health left. By the time the stun wore off, two 3,000s from bleed damage floated up above his head. He didn’t even have the time to drink a health potion before collapsing to the ground.

"What happened?” The Mystic frowned.

"He probably used his Shadow Clone skill!” The Slayer glanced at the silhouette they were chasing after. If what they were chasing after was just a clone, they were wasting their time.

"Everyone, regroup!” the Mystic shouted. Nirvana Flame had already summoned his shadow clone. If he wanted to escape, he could’ve easily done so by now. But he was still here. It looked like he wanted to kill them all!

The seven still alive regrouped. Five of their brothers were already dead. Their losses were heavy. The only upside was that they had managed to retrieve all the fallen equipment.

"What do we do?”

"Let’s give up on chasing him. In a bit, we’ll have reinforcements arriving. If he wants to run, there’s nothing we can do about it,” the Mystic said. If they continued on like this, they would only lose more.

Nie Yan recalled Lil’ Gold, then lingered around on the outskirts. Seeing the seven players huddled close together, he guessed they’d had enough.

Nie Yan smirked. If they wanted to kill him, they would have to prove they had the ability first!

Even now when these players were huddled close together, he could still kill a few and escape in one piece. However, it would waste a lot of time, and he would have to brave a certain risk. Looking in the distance, it seemed like some Righteous Faction players were rushing over. He decided to put an end to this bout of fun. He would turn in his Dark Demon Fragments, then continue levelling!

Nie Yan made his way back to the entrance to the Dark Demonic Space.

The seven Evil Faction players stuck closely together in place until they were absolutely certain Nie Yan had left.

"He should have left by now, right?”

"I think so.”

The Mystic was about to have everyone withdraw, when he discovered a large group of Righteous Faction players moving to surround them.

"It’s Asskickers United!” The Mystic’s face paled. Before their reinforcements even arrived, they had alerted the players from Asskickers United. There were 70 players in total. All of them were well over Level 180. They were doomed!

Nie Yan had long since left. Unaware of what was happening to those seven players, he entered the Dark Demonic Space.

"Welcome, brave adventurer. How may I help you?” Angel Gower asked.

"I’d like to turn in my Dark Demonic Fragments.” Nie Yan handed over all the fragments he’d collected over the past couple of weeks.

On the leaderboards for the Dark Demonic Space, the previous rank one person had turned in 370,000 Dark Demonic Fragments. Nie Yan became the new number one after turning in a total of 890,000 Dark Demonic Fragments.

Two crisp notification jingles rang out. Nie Yan directly levelled up from Level 177 to Level 179.

The reward for turning in so many Dark Demonic Fragments was quite generous. Apart from the high mob density, this was another reason the Dark Demonic Space was lauded as the best levelling place. If a powerful Mage were to grind here, their levelling speed would be several dozens of times faster than outside.

You have achieved rank 1 for most Dark Demonic Fragments turned in. You have received one Dark Demon Crystal.

Nie Yan wondered what sort of item this Dark Demon Crystal was. He checked his inventory and found a long strip of black crystal. It emitted a faint black glow, its colour was muddled and clouded.

Nie Yan examined the item.

Dark Demon Crystal (Chaos Item): Unique

Use: Feed to any pet and transform their attribute to Chaos. All stats +30%. Greatly increases Growth Rate.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder what the Unique on the item meant. Could it be that this was a one of a kind item?

This was the most likely explanation. As for who to use this item on, the Divine Eclipse Dragon came to mind. Nie Yan wondered if it could get even stronger.

At the thought alone, Nie Yan became incredibly excited.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon’s Growth Rate was already quite high. Furthermore, Nie Yan’s Dragon King’s Divine Might skill gave a large stat boost to all dragons, bringing its power to an even more ludicrous level. If it could get even stronger, then no one else could compete!

Nie Yan started realizing something. The Divine Eclipse Dragon was his ticket back to the peak. Even though pets had become mostly irrelevant in PvP and boss fights, their mobbing abilities had been buffed as compensation, and the amount of experience they required for every level up was also greatly reduced. Like this, it was fairly easy to make a powerful pet, allowing them to carry their masters to higher levels. His Divine Eclipse Dragon was undoubtedly the most powerful pet in the game. If he fed it the Dark Demon Crystal and made it even stronger, he wouldn’t have to worry about catching up in level at all. As he progressed to higher level maps, he would naturally have more opportunities to find better equipment!

"Great Prophet, may I ask if you have an item called the Death God’s Edge on your person?” Gower asked.

"I do.” Nie Yan nodded. Why would Gower ask about this now and not earlier? Could it be because he had handed over a certain number of Dark Demonic Fragments?

Nie Yan keenly sensed that he was about to receive a major quest.

"Archangel Tallod has already been waiting for you at the Gates of Hell for a long time,” Gower said.

"How am I supposed to find him?” Nie Yan asked. The topography of the Gates of Hell was extremely complicated. Even up until now, the players levelling there hadn’t discovered so much as a trace of Archangel Tallod. If he went over there, even if he flipped the whole map over, he might not necessarily find Tallod!

"I can teleport you to him right now,” Gower said.

Chapter 951 - The Divine Eclipse Dragon Evolves!

Gower could teleport him straight to Tallod? Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel a little excited. He’d already lost track of how long the Death God’s Edge was sitting in his bag. He hadn’t heard any news about Archangel Tallod. Though he hadn’t gone himself to investigate the Gates of Hell, he did once have Guo Huai send people. This was certainly a pleasant surprise. Like this, he could save a lot of time and effort!

Nie Yan knew Tallod’s quest wouldn’t be simple. After all, one of the quest items was the Death God’s Edge. This was a Sacred Object!

However, Nie Yan worried he wasn’t strong enough to go right now. He couldn’t wait too long, but he at least wanted to feed the Divine Eclipse Dragon the Dark Demon Crystal and upgrade Zennarde’s Sword.

"Sir Gower, I still have some business to take care of. Would it be possible for me to come back later?” Nie Yan asked. This kind of request shouldn’t be a problem.

"Of course, Great Prophet. You can come back and look for me at any time,” Gower said.

Nie Yan exited the Dark Demonic Space. He teleported back to Okoron with Instant Transmission and headed into a certain villa.

The villa occupied a roughly 300-meter wide area, surrounded by six-meter high walls. It was quite luxurious, only that the location was a bit remote. This was a little rest area he specifically left for himself. Very few people knew about it.

Nie Yan walked out into the courtyard and summoned the Divine Eclipse Dragon. It was five meters tall and covered in silvery ashen scales. It exuded the aura of a king, which overshadowed all dragons.

Nie Yan brought out the Dark Demon Crystal. The Divine Eclipse Dragon’s gaze instantly locked onto it, a begging cry escaping its throat.

Nie Yan couldn’t wait to see the changes in the Divine Eclipse Dragon after eating the Dark Demon Crystal. He tossed it in the air.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon snapped the crystal up and gulped it down in one go.

In the next moment, a dazzling radiance started glowing on the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s scales. The alternating flashes of black and white were mesmerizing.

Land bound dragons were different from their flying counterparts. Advancing from one rank to the next was incredibly difficult for flying dragons, taking at least one to two months or even longer. On the other hand, land dragons weren’t restricted by ranks. After eating something, it would be quickly digested.

Nie Yan struggled to look at the Divine Eclipse Dragon through the blinding light. It underwent immense changes. After growing to eight meters tall, it also grew a second head! A twin-headed dragon! One head had a white horn that radiated holy aura, and the other had a black horn that radiated dark aura.

A powerful aura swept out. Anywhere the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s gaze swept past, cyclones would form in the surroundings.

Nie Yan felt his heart palpitate. The Divine Eclipse Dragon had evolved into a twin-headed dragon! Apart from its formidable might, it also gave a sinister appearance.

Nie Yan checked the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s status window. Its Growth Rate had doubled from 30 to 60! It had also learned 30 new skills.

The Dark Demon Crystal really was too powerful! It seemed only logical now that it was a one of a kind item. If Nie Yan had evolved the Divine Eclipse Dragon when it was still Level 0, just how powerful would it be now!? However, thinking about it, if he hadn’t brought its level up, there was no way he could’ve gotten the Dark Demon Crystal. It didn’t matter anymore either. He’d already fed it.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon’s two heads could individually and simultaneously cast spells. It was only a pity that one head could only cast light magic and the other could only cast dark magic.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but think how valiant the Divine Eclipse Dragon would look with both its heads casting magic at the same time. Just thinking about it made his blood boil with excitement!

With this extraordinary pet, why would Nie Yan ever worry about catching up in level?

Conviction didn’t lack anything. Even dungeons like the Dark Demonic Space were in no short supply!

Before evolving, the Level 183 Divine Eclipse Dragon was already more frightening than any Level 200 player or pet. Even Lil’ Gold would have to grow to Level 270 to rival its stats. After eating the Dark Demon Crystal, he wondered what sort of level it had reached. Its stats had increased by 30%, and its two heads could cast magic at the same time.

The ultimate levelling weapon... Nie Yan sighed in admiration. If he could bring the Divine Eclipse Dragon to Level 200, as long as he didn’t bump into any Demonified Lords, he could go through Elites and Lords like dicing vegetables!

Nie Yan unsummoned the Divine Eclipse Dragon. His next objective was to upgrade Zennarde’s Sword. Only then would he feel confident in making a trip to the Gates of Hell.

After stocking up on consumables, Nie Yan left Okoron. He summoned the Spectre Dragon and took off toward his next destination. Glancing at his pet space, the Darkwing Dragon was still curled up in pain. He had no idea if it was struggling to survive, or fighting to break through. It all depended on luck.

Hadrock Valley, this map was located on the border of the Satreen Empire. Apparently, Craftsman God Bronnick was a tauren with an extremely explosive temper. Most players that came here would be driven out.

Only players with 500+ Influence were allowed an audience with Bronnick.

Nie Yan had 1,100 Influence in the Viridian Empire and 500 in the Satreen Empire.

Influence was incredibly difficult to build up. Even now, 500 Influence was an unreachable number for most players. On the entire surface, only a small amount of players had reached it.

One could imagine how inconceivable of a thing it was for Nie Yan to achieve 1,100 Influence three years ago.

The few people who were allowed an audience with Craftsman God Bronnick came here every now and then for the quests he gave out. They were all high difficulty ones that took one to two months to complete. The reward was more than worth it, though. Bronnick would upgrade your equipment to Chaos gear. If he had the right materials in stock, he could even make an item second only to a Sacred Object.

Even though Nie Yan had two Sacred Objects, he couldn’t equip them. So, he had yet to experience the true might of one.

About 20 minutes later, a valley covered in a thick layer of clouds appeared in Nie Yan’s vision. That was his objective.

The Spectre Dragon descended into the clouds. After passing through the dense mist, he saw a faint red glow in the distance, the air brimming with the smell of sulfur.

This was a valley in Hadrock Valley that served as Bronnick’s forge.

The Spectre Dragon landed on the ground. Nie Yan unsummoned it. Looking at his skill bar, he discovered all his skills were greyed out, including Gale Step. It looked like this place forbade PvP. He walked along the path and headed deeper into the valley.

Let’s upgrade Zennarde’s Sword! Nie Yan’s eyes lit up with anticipation.

Several minutes later, Nie Yan spotted a thatch hut right at the edge of a crater. That was Bronnick’s residence. Five Level 190+ players were already waiting outside his door. Seeing Nie Yan walking up the path alone, they looked at him with eyes full of skepticism.

"Is that guy stupid? Why did he come alone? Doesn’t he know you have to have at least a party of five to accept Bronnick’s quest?” a Shaman remarked.

"Look, he’s only Level 179. What the hell is he coming here for?” an Orc said. He couldn’t help but feel superior. To reach Level 193 and his current achievements, he didn’t know how much blood and sweat he spent. Anyone below Level 180 wasn’t even worthy of a second glance.

"I bet it won’t be long before he’ll be walking back up that path like a sorry sap. Bronnick will kick him out,” the Shaman said.

"After turning in this quest, we can get a Void Ore. That’s worth at least 100,000 gold! So, 20,000 between the five of us. Which one of you wants to use it?” the orc Warrior asked. On the topic of Void Ore, his face broke into smiles.

"Give it to me. I need an upgrade for my staff,” an Elven Mage said.

Nie Yan followed behind the party of five, eavesdropping on their conversation. Many new items and materials were introduced during his three-year hiatus. This Void Ore they were talking about, he had no clue what it was. However, at a 100,000 gold valuation, it was worth more than ordinary Legendary-equipment! Would his Dark Void Iron and Void Gold be worth the same, or more even? It looked like he would have to research more on his general knowledge, though not right now. He was already outside of Bronnick’s residence.

The party of five entered the thatch house first. Nie Yan knitted his brows. Who knew how much time they would take speaking with Bronnick. Right now, he didn’t even want to waste several minutes.

Forget it, they came first, Nie Yan inwardly grumbled.

Nie Yan followed the party inside the thatch hut. He finally got a look at Craftsman God Bronnick. He was over two meters tall with a hearty build. His appearance was the same as any other tauren, save for his long, grey beard.

"Craftsman God Bronnick, we’ve found the item you requested,” the orc Warrior said, bringing out an old parchment scroll.

Chapter 952 - Upgrading Zennarde’s Sword

Craftsman God Bronnick’s thatch hut looked run-down and shabby. The things inside were strewn all over and haphazardly piled on top of each other. There wasn’t much space either. With six people entering at once, the place instantly felt cramped.

Bronnick raised his head. He swept his turbid eyes swept over the visitors before focusing on Nie Yan. His expression lit up. Ignoring the party of five trying to turn in their quest, he approached Nie Yan.

"That poor sap is screwed. Bronnick is going to send him flying out of here with a boot,” the orc Warrior said with schadenfreude.

"Ha, yeah. A Level 179 scrub coming here, I wonder if his Influence even reaches the requirements.” The Shaman chuckled.

The party of five gleefully waited for Nie Yan to be humiliated. From their point of view, any player below Level 180 had no right to be here.

Bronnick stopped in front of Nie Yan and greeted him with a respectful bow. "You honor me with your presence, sir. Welcome to my humble abode.” Since Nie Yan was in appear offline mode, NPCs wouldn’t use his name in their speech.

Nie Yan’s status as a Great Prophet put him above Bronnick in the hierarchy.

"I’ve heard a lot about you, Craftsman God Bronnick.” Nie Yan nodded.

Hearing the exchange between Nie Yan and Bronnick, the party of five dropped their jaws in shock.

"H-how is this possible? W-why is Bronnick so respectful to that guy?” the orc Warrior asked in utter disbelief. He felt like the world was going loopy right now.

"Whos is this guy? Damn! This a load of bull! The last time we came here, Bronnick couldn’t even be bothered to raise an eyelid to look at us!” the Shaman fumed. This was their first time seeing Bronnick treating a player so affably.

The party of five could hardly believe their eyes.

Nie Yan and Bronnick continued to converse. Neither of them leaked any important information.

"I can upgrade any one of your items to Chaos-grade, free of charge. If you happen to have any void metals, the results will be much better,” Bronnick said.

The party of five sucked in a cold breath of air. It had to be someone really famous behind that cloak for Bronnick to offer an upgrade for free! One had to know, even if you brought void metal, upgrading any piece of equipment would cost at least 60,000 gold, and you would have to find large pile of rare and bizarre materials. Just what kind of quest did this Level 179 player complete to receive a reward like this?

"There’s no way that low level piece of trash has a piece of void metal!” the Shaman hatefully whispered, his eyes on Nie Yan’s hands. One had to know, their party of five risked life and limb to complete Bronnick’s quest, all for the sake of obtaining a single piece of Void Ore. Void metals were one of the rarest items in the game! He refused to believe Nie Yan possessed one!

"A Void Ore is worth at least 100,000 gold. No way a Level 179 player has that kind of gold.” The orc Warrior refused to let go of his feeling of superiority.

The party of five quietly whispered amongst each other. Even if Nie Yan didn’t possess a piece of void metal, just the exchange between him and Bronnick was enough to leave them completely shocked.

Nie Yan hadn’t had the time to research the new materials introduced to the game. So, he wasn’t too familiar with void metals. His only clue were the Dark Void Iron and Void Gold in his bag, both labelled as Void Metal. However, he doubted they were enough. Blacksmiths generally required dozens to hundreds of pieces of metal when upgrading a piece of equipment. If he had to collect 100 pieces of either of them, he’d be better off using that time to level.

"Bronnick, is this the void metal you’re talking about? How many will I need to upgrade my equipment?” Nie Yan asked. He took out the Dark Void Iron from his bag. It was about the size of a fist and looked completely ordinary without any particular features.

"You have a piece of Dark Void Iron? That’s great! Upgrading a piece equipment doesn’t require much. Just one piece is enough,” Bronnik said. His gaze landed on the lump of metal in Nie Yan’s hands. "The purity of this Dark Void Iron is quite high. It will produce a great result!”

Nie Yan felt a little silly. So, one piece was enough! He’d been worried for nothing.

The party of five players from the Satreen Empire sucked in a cold breath of air. They felt their heads spinning. A piece of Dark Void Iron was actually in the hands of a Level 179 player! This world was so unfair! Their eyes were bloodshot from all the staring. The orc Warrior pinched himself hard on the cheeks. The sharp pain told him he wasn’t dreaming.

Just what in the world was going on?

The five players had every right to be shocked. The market value of a Void Ore started at 100,000 gold, and rarely ever appeared in the marketplace. Even if you camped out in the auction house for a week straight, you’d be lucky to find one or two pieces. Around 20 to 25 Void Ores were equal to a single piece of Dark Void Iron.

One could imagine how valuable Dark Void Iron was!

If it weren’t for the fact that Bronnick was a powerful Legendary NPC and PvP was disabled in this zone, they would’ve tried to rob Nie Yan on the spot.

A Legendary item and a piece of Dark Void Iron, as long as you helped Bronnik collect the necessary materials, it would become an item on par with a Sacred Object!

Bronnick had already agreed to upgrade one of Nie Yan’s items for free. Nie Yan had also taken out a piece of Dark Void Iron. They weren’t stupid enough to believe he didn’t have a Legendary item!

This was simply too shocking! A Sacred Object! How powerful of an item was this!

The party of five licked their parched lips.

Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. He only needed one piece of Dark Void Iron to upgrade Zennarde’s Sword to a Chaos item. He still had the Void Gold in his bag. The Dark Void Iron was the reward he received for clearing the Dark Demonic Space within two hours; while he received the Void Gold for clearing the Dark Demonic Space within one hour. It was clearly of a higher rank.

Since Nie Yan was going to upgrade Zennarde’s Sword, he would of course use the best material!

"I still have this Void Gold. I wonder if it can also be used to upgrade equipment?” Nie Yan asked as he took out the lump of Void Gold from his bag.

The party of five stared in both disbelief and suspicion. "Void Gold? Is he for real?” They felt their hearts race as they tensely awaited Bronnick’s reply.

"Without a doubt, this is Void Gold, quite a high purity too. Using this to upgrade equipment will produce a much better finished product than with Dark Void Iron.” Bronnick nodded.

The party of five felt a bomb go off in their heads. This lump of metal was actually Void Gold!? The same material countless people were going crazy over? The world really was going lopsided today! Sure, they could barely accept a level 179 player had a piece Dark Void Iron, but Void Gold? This was straight up heaven-defying!

Dark Void Iron could still be obtained if you forked over two or three million gold. Apparently, the guild leader of Fallen Angel, Plenty, had collected more than 20 Void Ores and refined them into a Dark Void Iron ingot. Asskickers United was even more ruthless. Any piece of void metal that didn’t exceed 10% above the normal market price was instantly snatched up by them. Only when the prices were inflated too high would they give up. According to rumours, they’d gotten some Dark Void Iron through this method. As for how many pieces exactly, no one knew. They were all used up by their top ranked players.

However, even if you had the gold, it was impossible to purchase Void Gold. Up until now, the number of Void Gold Ores in both great factions didn’t exceed five. However, this information couldn’t be correct, since 20 to 25 pieces of Void Gold Ore were required to extract a Void Gold Ingot!

They simply couldn’t imagine how much a Void Gold Ingot could upgrade a piece of Legendary-grade equipment.

When the party of five was still recovering from their shock, Nie Yan finished speaking with Bronnick. A trade window popped up in front of him. All the necessary upgrade materials were already there. He placed in Zennarde’s Sword, then the Void Gold Ingot.

A notification popped up.

Do you wish to upgrade Zennarde’s Sword? Success Rate: 99.8%.

With this kind of success rate, if he failed, it simply wasn’t meant to be. However, he doubted he would have this kind of bad luck.

Yes!

Nie Yan hit confirm. In the next moment, he felt like he was transported into a void. Craftsman God Bronnick stood in front of an enormous forge, striking his hammer. Several days seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. When Nie Yan snapped out of his reverie, he was back in the thatch hut. In the trade window, Zennarde’s Sword had a completely new appearance.

The upgrade was a success! Even though he didn’t think his luck was that bad, he still couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. After all, the item he put up was perhaps his most precious. Even he couldn’t bear such a big loss. Seeing it was a success, he felt a huge weight off his heart quickly replaced by endless excitement.

Zennarde’s Sword was originally a pure black, but now it flickered with hints of gold. There was also the addition of pulsing gold runes within the dark flames that raged around the blade. From the extremely demonic appearance to a more solemn and dignified one, it gave off the unrivalled power of a king!

Nie Yan felt the spirit inside Zennarde’s Sword slowly awakening. Only the slightest presence, yet it gave off an imposing aura that looked down on all in the world!

Nie Yan wondered how much the stats of Zennarde’s Sword had changed. His heart raced with excitement and anticipation. He retrieved the item back into his inventory.

Chapter 953 - Chaos Set

As soon as Zennarde’s Sword entered back into his inventory, Nie Yan felt a powerful aura surge out from his bag.

This weapon which had accompanied Nie Yan in his rise to glory so many years ago, and would do so again!

Nie Yan examined Zennarde’s Sword.

Zennarde’s Sword (Sacred): Chaos

Description: A godly weapon created by Kallander and imbued with the dark magic power of Dragon King Zennarde, becoming a Divine weapon. Failing to subdue the spirit within Zennarde’s Sword will result in a fatal backlash. After being reinforced with Void Gold, its power has risen greatly.

Properties: Attack 39,560–39,827, Critical +1,250, 55% chance to deal 1,800% Critical Damage, True Damage

Hell Execution (22): Chance to instantly execute an enemy when their health falls below 35%. Success rate is determined by the level difference and enemy defense. Energy Cost: 15. Cooldown: 1.5 seconds.

Advanced Apocalyptic Extinction: Inflict the enemy with five types of Curses: Rank 22 Exhaustion, Rank 22 Cripple, Rank 22 Disease, Rank 22 Fear, and Rank 22 Corrode. Duration: 15 minutes. Cooldown: 1 hour.

Annihilation Slash (Rank 22): Channel your energy into an enormous sword of dark fire and annihilate all enemies in your path. Deals 8,000% damage to all enemies in a 5 by 50 meter area in front of you. Cooldown: 1 day.

Dragon King’s Divine Might: You can own up to three dragon pets and two dragon flying mounts. All dragon pets and flying mounts will receive +50% to all stats and dragon pets also have their loyalty permanently maxed out. By comprehending the strength of Zennarde, you have obtained Divine Power. It will guide you to the secret treasure of the dragon race.

Restrictions: None

-Creator: Kallander

Nie Yan compared it to the old properties of Zennarde’s Sword.

Zennarde’s Sword (Divine)

Description: A godly weapon created by Kallander and imbued with the dark magic power of Dragon King Zennarde. Failing to subdue the evil energy within Zennarde’s Sword will result in a fatal backlash.

Properties: Attack 7,560–9,827, Critical +750, 35% chance to deal 1,500% Critical Damage, Ignore Level +95, Ignore Armour

Hell Execution (Rank 18): Chance to instantly execute an enemy when their health falls below 30%. Success rate is determined by the level difference and enemy defense. Energy Cost: 20. Cooldown: 2 seconds.

Advanced Apocalyptic Extinction: Inflict the enemy with five types of Curses: Rank 18 Exhaustion, Rank 18 Cripple, Rank 18 Disease, Rank 18 Fear, and Rank 18 Corrode. Duration: 15 minutes. Cooldown: 1 hour.

Annihilation Slash (Rank 18): Channel your energy into an enormous sword of dark fire and annihilate all enemies in your path. Deals 5,000% damage to all enemies in a five by 50 meter area in front of you. Cooldown: 1 day.

Dragon King’s Divine Might: You can own up to three dragon pets and two dragon flying mounts. All dragon pets and flying mounts will receive +30% to all stats and dragon pets also have their loyalty permanently maxed out. By comprehending the strength of Zennarde, you have obtained Divine Power. It will guide you to the secret treasure of the dragon race.

Restrictions: None

-Creator: Kallander

All of the properties of Zennarde’s Sword saw a massive upgrade. What excited Nie Yan the most was the boost in attack power. The almost 40,000 attack power was even higher than the 37,000 attack power of the Death God’s Edge! It had become a genuine Sacred weapon!

With such a powerful weapon, Nie Yan’s attack had once more risen to astonishing heights, allowing him to take another step toward the apex. He estimated even if the likes of Plenty, Smoke Stub, and Bladelight pulled out all their aces, their damage wouldn’t be much higher than his. The only thing still lacking behind was his level.

If Nie Yan could turn his Tyrant Abak Set into Chaos gear as well, then he would truly stand at the apex once more.

"Craftsman God Bronnick, I would like to talk to you about a more sensitive matter. Could you have that party of five wait outside first please?” Nie Yan asked. This was a rather rude request, but those five had seen enough. If he continued the discussion in their presence, he might leak out some important secrets.

"You lot, step outside.” Bronnick waved to the five players. "Don’t worry. I’ll compensate you for the inconvenience.”

The party of five was slightly annoyed. However, after hearing that Bronnick would give them compensation, their anger quickly disappeared. Anything he gave would be amazing.

They didn’t dare to voice any complaints as they walked to the door. Before heading out, they let their eyes land on Nie Yan one last time in the hope of seeing through this mysterious man’s cloak. However, there was not a clue to their identity. Besides, Nie Yan had drank an Appearance Changing Potion, so even if he took his cloak off, these players wouldn’t recognize him.

"If I want to upgrade my Tyrant Abak Set, what materials will I require?” Nie Yan asked after the party of five closed the door behind them.

Bronnick pondered for a long while before breaking his silence. "That will be difficult. Let me make you a list.” He grabbed a pen and paper and started scribbling down the required materials as he mumbled, "8 Void Metal ingots; 32 different Rank 16 Gems, and I’ll need 20 of each; Dark Crystals…”

Bronnick listed of a dizzying number of different materials. When he was all done, he turned to Nie Yan and said, "You know, your Tyrant Abak Set is already very good. If you want to turn it into Chaos gear, I’ll have to do it piece by piece. This Legendary set will no longer be a set, and the set bonuses will disappear. However, in exchange, you’ll see a large increase in stats, far greater than what the set bonuses provide right now. This is something you’ll have to carefully consider.”

The Tyrant Abak Set would go from a Legendary set to eight separate pieces of equipment? Nie Yan frowned. However, if the stats of each individual piece were going to be much higher than the combined whole, that was the only way to go.

Since it would no longer be a set, Nie Yan wouldn’t have to worry about upgrading the Bloody Dagger and Slaughter Edge. He would be just fine with the six armour pieces and Zennarde’s Sword.

Not upgrading the Tyrant Abak Set was out of the question. It already lagged far behind compared to the best equipment out there right now. Either Nie Yan had to find a way to upgrade it, or he could only switch it out for a more powerful set.

Between the two choices, Nie Yan would prefer the first one. Obtaining the Tyrant Abak Set was already incredibly difficult. He didn’t want to imagine how hard it would be to find even higher quality gear. The first option was much simpler. As for the Void Metal, apparently the ores were rare drops in the Chaos Temple. If he utilized the entire strength of Asskickers United, even if he couldn’t find something as high end as Void Gold, getting Dark Void Iron was still possible.

"If I only want to upgrade six pieces, does that mean I’ll only need six Void Metal ingots?” Nie Yan asked. He already had a Dark Void Iron Ingot in his bag. That meant he just needed to get five more.

"Correct. Actually, if you only want to upgrade six pieces, I think I might have another method.”

"What is that?” Nie Yan asked curiously.

"Melt the eight pieces into six and create a completely new Chaos set. Of course, it will require a lot more materials, and we’ll also have to sacrifice a piece of Sacred-grade equipment,” Bronnick said. This would be his most powerful creation!

Turning the eight-piece Tyrant Abak Set into a completely new six-piece Chaos set? Nie Yan’s heart trembled. If this was really possible, his strength would go up by leaps and bounds!

If Nie Yan said he wasn’t moved, it would be a blatant lie. However, it would cost him a Sacred item.

Nie Yan immediately thought of Patternoster’s Warhammer. This hammer wasn’t meant to be used by a Thief. It was useless to him.

"Even though a Sacred item will have to be sacrificed, it won’t be in vain. Its properties will be transferred over to the new set,” Bronnick said.

"Apart from the Sacred item, what other materials will I need?” Nie Yan asked. He was very interested in Bronnick’s suggestion.

"Many. Let’s see…” Bronnick listed off a large number of materials, many of which Nie Yan had never heard of before. They all came from the Chaos Temple or Sword of the War God. Of the 30 different materials, a few sat in the guild treasury. After acquiring all those different materials, he would also still need six Void Metal ingots.

"So, if I gather all these things, You can turn my Tyrant Abak Set into a Chaos set?” Nie Yan asked.

"Yes, Great Prophet. Apart from the materials, the crafting fee will be 10,000,000 gold,” Bronnick said.

The crafting fee was irrelevant. The amount of gold at Nie Yan’s disposal had long since passed astronomical levels. He couldn’t care less about a measly 10,000,000 gold.

Nie Yan had gained quite a lot from this trip to Craftsman God Bronnick’s place. Apart from upgrading Zennarde’s Sword, he also found out how to upgrade his other equipment. Even if it wasn’t possible to do this right away, he at least had a goal to work toward.

Nie Yan sent Guo Huai a message.「How’s the guild lately?」

Guo Huai was overjoyed beyond belief to hear from Nie Yan.「You finally show yourself! You really left us out to dry over these past three years. I had to work around the clock with the other staff members to pick up the slack when you disappeared!」

「You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s been hard on you guys. It’s because of all of you that Asskickers United hasn’t collapsed.」

Nie Yan knew that after his departure from the game, Guo Huai and the others had spent an untold amount of effort to pacify the panic and despair in the guild.

「That’s right! Now, when are you planning to lead us again?」

「Not any time soon. With my current equipment and level, I don’t think it’s suitable for me to come back as the guild leader. Even if the people in the guild don’t care, the people outside will. 」

「That’s fine. Let them speak. They’re nobodies anyway,」Guo Huai said.「Sure your level has dropped, but everyone in the guild reveres you just as much as they did three years ago.」

「I know, but still. Let me climb back to the peak first,」Nie Yan said in a determined tone. Even if he went back now, there wasn’t much he could do.

「Are you sure? You’ve been gone for three whole years! Even if you’ve power levelled to 180 inside the Dark Demonic Space, you’re still more than 20 levels away from the top ranked players. Plus, they’ve all had two years to collect Chaos gear,」Guo Huai said worriedly. Catching up after a three-year absence was easier said than done!

「Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.」Nie Yan shared the list of materials Bronnick had given him.「How many of these things can you help me find?」

Guo Huai glanced at the list.「Many of these materials are quite rare. I estimate the total value of everything on this list is at least 30,000,000 gold. Just the five Void Metal ingots will cost 12,000,000 gold at minimum. However, it’s nothing for our guild.」

Even Nie Yan was surprised. He never thought these materials would cost so much. However, thinking about it, a top rank Chaos set was even more valuable!

「So, you want me to help you get these things, right?」Guo Huai asked.

「Yeah. All of these materials are important. I'll focus on raising my level. Message me back when you’ve found all of them,」Nie Yan replied.

Chapter 954 - Archangel Tallod

The materials for upgrading the Tyrant Abak Set already cost 30,000,000 gold. However, Nie Yan estimated this new set would rival, if not outshine, the best equipment in the game.

After bidding farewell to Craftsman God Bronnick, Nie Yan left the thatch hut. Back outside, he found the party of five players from the Satreen Empire staring at him, trying to figure out his identity.

A little earlier, the five of them had discussed whether or not they should kill Nie Yan and rob him of his items, but they ended up giving up on the idea. In the entire Righteous Faction, very few players could take out something as precious as Void Gold. This kind of person definitely had an astonishing backing. If they failed their ambush and offended someone they shouldn’t have, the consequences would be unimaginable.

They stared at Nie Yan’s departing figure before going back inside the thatch hut.

Nie Yan walked away from Bronnick’s residence for a few minutes, then placed down a teleportation marker so he could return here anytime he wanted. Afterwards, he teleported back to Okoron.

Zennarde’s Sword was upgraded, and the Divine Eclipse Dragon had evolved. It was about time Nie Yan went to the Gates of Hell and met Tallod.

Okoron was as flourishing as ever. No one noticed Nie Yan’s arrival.

If it weren’t for him appearing in the Dark Demonic Space, most people would’ve already forgotten the name of Nirvana Flame. His glory was already a long and distant memory. Only a few people would still excitedly bring up tales of those old days. The deepest memory he left for everyone was the still ever dominant Asskickers United and the Starry Night Potion Shop which enjoyed a true monopoly.

After depositing the Dark Void Iron Ingot into his personal storage, Nie Yan summoned the Spectre Dragon and left Okoron again. His next destination was the Dark Demonic Space in Judgement Valley.

While Nie Yan was off doing his own thing, a huge stir was occurring in the Righteous Faction’s market.

Guo Huai dispatched a large number of players all over to collect the high rank materials Nie Yan requested. All the auction houses across the Righteous Faction were swept clean of Void Iron Ore. Even then, it still wasn’t enough. So, they set out to acquire more.

Within 10 minutes, Guo Huai utilized Asskickers United’s massive network to collect three quarters of the materials needed. Close to 20,000,000 gold flooded the market. One could imagine how big of an impact this had. The final bunch of items were fairly easy to find, with the exception of Void Iron Ore.

Guo Huai left the task of acquiring more Void Iron Ore to Tang Yao and the others. They formed a party and started farming the Chaos Temple and Sword of the War God.

They needed 100 Void Iron Ores. Even a super power like Asskickers United would have some difficulty acquiring so many.

Guo Huai had his men also search for Dark Void Iron Ore in the underworld. He would employ special methods to have them smuggled back to the surface. Gold was universal in the game. So, you could pretty much buy anything anywhere.

...

Fallen Angel, the Dark Council Hall.

Ever since Plenty became the Chairman of the Dark Council, many members of Fallen Angel rose to high positions in the Evil Faction. One of them was their vice guild leader, Proud Warlance. He was now a member of the council. He sat proudly on his seat, clad in the Fallen Angel Kasar Set. The silver ashen armour pulsated with a mottled light.

Plenty sat at the throne, striking a grand appearance. He wore the robes of the chairman and held the Monas Curse Scepter.

"Boss, let’s declare war on the Righteous Faction. With our current strength and the Dark Council’s dark army, we can easily capture a few dozen of Asskickers United’s strongholds,” a Necromancer in black robes suggested.

Plenty remained silent, an unreadable expression on his face.

"I know you promised Nirvana Flame that you wouldn’t attack Asskickers United as long as he was there, but that was because he was invincible back then. Things have changed, and he’s become a relic of the past. You can easily crush him now, and there’s nothing he can do to stop you,” the Necromancer continued, refusing to give up.

Plenty shot a sharp glance at the Necromancer, then coldly said, "You know very well that the Righteous Faction has at least a dozen Legendary NPCs. If we declare war, we won’t win a thing. We need a dozen Legends to even stand a chance of taking down Calore. Yet you keep pestering me about declaring war on the Righteous Faction. Are you really that afraid of him rising up again? You’re a coward, nothing more.”

Plenty’s gaze seemed to be capable of seeing through a person’s heart. The Necromancer tried to justify himself, but he could only dejectedly admit he was afraid, terrified even. He’d recently received word that not only did the 12 players he sent after Nie Yan failed their ambush, but five also died! One had to know, Nie Yan was only Level 177 at that time! If he went up another 10 or 20 levels and completed the Book of Order to become the Supreme Pontiff, they would have no hope of taking him down anymore!

Nie Yan’s levelling speed also made him feel a chill in his heart. Nie Yan was only Level 156 when he returned to the game. A few short months was all he needed to reach Level 177! This kind of progress was simply too monstrous!

If he were to learn that Nie Yan was already Level 179, he would probably faint on the spot.

"Warlance, what do you think?” Plenty asked.

"You’ve just become the Chairman of the Dark Council. While it’s true that you can mobilize the dark army to attack the Righteous Faction, it’s best if we make the proper preparations. Even without Nirvana Flame, Asskickers United has many top ranked experts. After operating in the Righteous Faction for so long, their roots run very deep. Attacking them means declaring war on the entire Righteous Faction. We have no choice but to be prudent. I think we better wait for a few of our top ranked players to become Legends first. For now, we can try sending out some people to probe their strength. I can personally go and bring a dozen players with me,” Warlance said.

Plenty sunk into silence. Warlance’s words made sense. Attacking the Righteous Faction right now simply wasn’t worth it. Without an absolute advantage, what was the point? At present, he was the Chairman of the Dark Council and was busy pulling the experts from Fallen Angel into its membership. Several of his members already had opportunities to advance to Legends. Fallen Angel’s advantage was growing bigger and bigger. Was it necessary to rush things?

"Alright, you bring a few people up there to probe their strength.” Plenty nodded. Truthfully, he already knew about Nie Yan taking out five of their members outside the Dark Demonic Space. He was also taken aback by how quickly Nie Yan reached Level 177. A trace of urgency welled up in his heart. He would have Warlance go up to probe the strength of Asskickers United’s top experts. If their strength was only so-so, he would immediately declare war!

...

Nie Yan had no idea these matters were going on in the underworld. He was too focused on himself to care about anything else. The only thing on his mind was climbing back to the apex with all his strength.

Before long, Nie Yan stepped inside the Dark Demonic Space, where he appeared in the safe zone. Angel Gower walked over to greet him.

"Great Prophet, have you finished your preparations?” Gower asked.

"I have, please teleport me to Archangel Tallod.” Nie Yan nodded.

"Alright, please wait a moment.” Gower chanted an incantation, a white light enveloping Nie Yan.

Bathing in the light, Nie Yan sensed the space around him warping. With a flash of light, he disappeared from his spot.

The scenery before Nie Yan suddenly changed. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself on top of a shabby transfer gate formation. Surrounding him was a vast wasteland. It felt as though he arrived in a place completely forgotten by man.

Countless boulders were scattered around the barren while the dirt was pitch black. There was no life of any sort to be seen.

An enormous gate floated in the sky overhead. It was 100 meters tall and sealed shut. In the middle of the gate was a carving of an enormous skull with a malevolent appearance. It looked extremely life-like, almost as if it came from a real being.

Guarding the gate was a tall angel. He was clad in silver white armour and wielded an enormous sword over 10 meters in length. Growing out of his back were three pairs of wings. They were transparent and wispy, almost as if they were made out of light. They were several dozen meters in size. Fluttering in the wind, they radiated a divine aura.

This was the legendary Archangel Tallod, the Guardian of the God of Radiance and propagator of faith!

After the fall of the gods in the ancient past, Tallod became the Righteous Faction’s most powerful representative, a Level 360 Lord! He was on the same level as War God Kelo, and he had light attribute Divine Power, the bane of all evil creatures. Meanwhile, the most powerful representative of the Evil Faction was his shadow, Fallen Angel Augus. According to lore, the God of Radiance granted divinity to Archangel Tallod, allowing him to ascend to godhood and discard the darkness within himself, and from that abandoned darkness, Fallen Angel Augus was born.

Sensing a visitor, Archangel Tallod opened his eyes which shone with a profound light. He stared at Nie Yan.

Nie Yan instantly felt his spirit purifying, his mind no longer bothered by distracting thoughts.

What formidable divine power!

This pure divine power seemed to reign over all!

Kalenna, floating beside his shoulder, immediately became respectful.

"You’ve come,” Archangel Tallod finally spoke. His voice seemed to travel all the way from the ancient past to the present.

"Yes, Archangel Tallod,” Nie Yan respectfully greeted. He didn’t dare to behave rudely in front of an NPC of this level.

Chapter 955 - Advanced Adjudicator of Light!

Nie Yan had imagined what Archangel Tallod would look like countless times in the past. However, seeing him now for the first time, he was still deeply shocked.

"By obtaining the Death God’s Edge, you have become the chosen one. It is the key to opening the Gates of Hell and enter that infernal realm. Enter its deepest depths and retrieve the Death God’s Skull for me; I’ll reward you generously. Of course, you can choose not to go. It is a frightening place no sane man would dare enter. If you choose to leave, I will give you something of equal value in exchange for the Death God’s Edge. For the sake of the entire world, the Death God’s Skull cannot find its way into Fallen Angel Augus’ hands. Either you enter now and secure it, or I will destroy the Death God’s Edge,” Archangel Tallod said.

Nie Yan had read the main storyline of Conviction. According to the lore, if Fallen Angel Augus obtained the Death God’s Skull and thereby the Divinity of the Death God, he would lead hundreds of millions of demons and undead in an all-out assault on the Righteous Faction. The entire continent would face a world-ending calamity.

To go or not to go?

Given Nie Yan’s personality and the fact he’d already come here, there was no way he would shrink back now!

"Archangel Tallod, I’m willing to enter the Gates of Hell,” Nie Yan said with a respectful bow. At this moment, his heart was racing in his chest. This was definitely the highest rank quest he’d ever received since entering the game! If he completed it, no matter what kind of reward he received, it would definitely cause his strength to soar by leaps and bounds!

"Brave adventurer, I express my deepest gratitude to you. In the darkness where the blessings of god cannot reach, may luck be by your side,” Archangel Tallod said, returning the bow with his own gesture.

Nie Yan felt a divine power lifting him up and bringing him towards the Gates of Hell. In front of the enormous gates, his eyes fell on a small recess about the size of the Death God’s Edge.

"The Death God’s Edge is the key to opening the Gates of Hell,” Nie Yan muttered. He took out the Death God’s Edge and inserted it into the recess.

KLINK! The Death God’s Edge was a perfect fit.

RUMBLE! RUMBLE! The Gates of Hell slowly opened as wisps of dark energy leaked out.

Nie Yan was just about to step inside, when an icy gust blew past his face, followed by ear-piercing screams. A floodwave of evil spirits started rushing out from the small opening between the gates.

As the spirits swarmed toward Nie Yan, Archangel Tallod swung his great sword. A radiant slash cleaved down. The spirits wailed out in pain before crumbling into dust.

"Hurry up, and go in. The Gates of Hell will close in three minutes. If you don’t enter now, it will be too late. Every 30 days, a portal will open for five minutes. Enter the portal within that time, and you can come out. May the light of God be with you,” Archangel Tallod said, continuously slashing out with his sword as he disposed of any of the spirits trying to escape.

Looking at the boundless darkness before him, Nie Yan stepped forward without hesitation and entered.

It was almost as if Nie Yan were travelling through a vast void. After 15 minutes, he finally felt his feet touch solid ground. Glancing at his inventory, the Death God’s Edge didn’t return to his bag.

An icy gust blew past his face, causing him to shiver. Gazing around, he finally got a clear look at his surroundings.

Nie Yan sucked in a breath of cold air. He stood in the land of corpses. The mountain ranges in the far distance were simply larger piles of corpses.

There were no living creatures. This was a true hell!

Countless undead roamed this barren wasteland in search of food. Wraiths and demons flew in murders, resembling enormous black clouds.

Never before had Nie Yan seen anything like this. He finally grasped the true meaning of innumerable!

Nie Yan understood why legends told that if the Gates of Hell were opened, a calamity would befall the entire world. This was why Archangel Tallod was guarding it!

What an incalculable number of undead!

Nie Yan’s appearance immediately alerted the undead in the vicinity. The breath of the living was like an irresistible delicacy to them, enough to drive them mad with hunger!

The monsters that attacked him were only Level 180 Elites. Nie Yan could easily deal with them. After obtaining the Divine Eclipse Dragon, when he saw large hordes of monsters, instead of being afraid, he felt his heart racing with excitement!

All he saw was large sacks of experience flooding towards him!

Nie Yan immediately entered combat mode. He summoned his various pets and summons and had Kallena buff them with her blessings.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon immediately went wild. Letting out a thundering roar, its two heads started shooting out light and dark magic. The surroundings turned into a monochrome world of black and white.

Judgement Light!

An enormous pillar of light bombarded a 400-meter wide area up ahead. In an instant, a thousand undead let out mournful cries before transforming into ash.

Holy Nova Ray!

A ray of light pierced through the dark sky. In the blink of an eye, countless demons were scorched and dropped from the sky. As for the wraiths, they were burned to nothing.

Almost simultaneously, a black beam of light pierced through the sky.

Abyssal Pierce!

What frightening might!

After upgrading Zennarde’s Sword, Dragon King’s Divine Might increased the stats of all dragon pets from 30% to 50%. This was on top of the 30% stat increase the Divine Eclipse Dragon gained after evolving. The number of spells at its disposal also increased by quite a bit. Not to mention its two heads that could work independently from each other. Its ridiculous firepower would even put Tang Yao to shame.

The commotion Nie Yan created shook the entire realm. Countless wraiths and demons in the horizon were swarming over. Their vast numbers blotted out the sky.

"I need Forbidden Magic!” Nie Yan muttered. Only Forbidden Magic could deal with such a large number of monsters!

After clearing out the horde of monsters in the surroundings, the two heads of the Divine Eclipse Dragon both started casting Forbidden Magic.

One creature casting two Forbidden Spells simultaneously, this was an inconceivable matter for ordinary players!

The air shuddered intensely as an enormous vortex of light and dark converged on the Divine Eclipse Dragon. The two opposing elements clashed together before eventually coming to a strange harmony.

It was rumoured that when Forbidden Spells of opposing elements were cast simultaneously, under some special circumstances, they could merge together to form a powerful combination magic!

"Is this going to be a light and dark combination magic?” Nie Yan wondered, his heart beating excitedly. The destructive power of a single Forbidden Spell was already frightening enough. He couldn’t imagine a combination magic formed out of two. That was something straight out of legends!

After chanting two sets of syllables, the Divine Eclipse Dragon fired out two enormous balls of light, one white one black, into the sky. They spiralled around each other before finally colliding into a massive explosion. BOOOOM! Nie Yan nearly lost his footing as the ground below quaked violently. His ears were ringing, while his vision was dyed in monochrome.

It felt as if the entire world was going to be destroyed!

This was a legendary combination magic from two Forbidden Spells! Too powerful!

After half-a-minute passed, Nie Yan gradually regained his vision. The horde of wraiths and demons swarming towards him from the horizon were all gone. All that remained was a large pile of corpses scattered over the ground. He gaped his mouth in shock. This combination spell was more powerful than 10 Forbidden Magic combined! Just how many monsters had died in that attack!

A crisp notification jingle rang out. Nie Yan glanced at his level. He reached Level 180, 7%! A moment ago, he was still Level 179, 71%!

Nie Yan felt his head spinning. The amount of experience required to level up from Level 179 to Level 180 could be described with the number of grains of sand in the world. Just going up by 1% was extremely difficult. Yet he had gone up by 36% in one attack! This was too shocking!

Nie Yan wasn’t aware that there were many Lord-class wreaths and demons among the Elites. All of them were completely wiped out without a trace!

At least several thousand Level 180 Lord-class monsters died in that one attack!

"Amazing…” Nie Yan sighed. This combination magic out of Forbidden Spells was completely unrivalled. If the players outside were to learn of this, just how would they react?

Apart from the level up, Nie Yan also discovered that his Adjudicator of Light title had ranked up from Intermediate to Advanced.

Advanced Adjudicator of Light was on the same rank as Great Prophet.

It made sense. Both titles had equally difficult requirements. From the moment he obtained Adjudicator of Light to now, he’d killed at least 80,000,000 dark creatures.

A title that could only be obtained after killing so many dark creatures! How could it be possibly be lacking?

Nie Yan checked the bonuses of the title.

Advanced Adjudicator of Light

Description: A second order title of the Temple of Light.

Properties: Influence in the Righteous Faction +1,200.

Supreme Resurrection: Revive any fallen NPC. Cooldown: 30 days (Cannot be used on deities.)

The revival skill from Advanced Adjudicator of Light was different from that of Priests. It could be used to revive NPCs!

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Did that mean if one of his powerful NPC subordinates died in battle, he could still revive them?

Advanced Adjudicator of Light was already on the same rank as Great Prophet. Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder if there was another title above it.

Chapter 956 - Deceased Skulls

Nie Yan’s heart was filled with curiosity. Unfortunately, the Advanced Adjudicator of Light title gave no hints as to whether it could advance any further.

Truthfully, Supreme Pontiff and Chairman of the Dark Council were the highest rank titles of their respective factions. If there were another title above Advanced Adjudicator of Light, would it be even better than Supreme Pontiff?

Righteous Faction +1,200 Influence, this was too frightening. It was even greater than the amount of Influence he gained from Great Prophet and all his other titles combined. As for the revival skill, he didn’t immediately see how it would be of use to him. What NPC was there to revive? Nie Yan doubted he would have many opportunities to use it, unless he were in some very special circumstances.

Nie Yan continued heading deeper into this wasteland of death. This place was a levelling paradise. The monsters in the vicinity all swarmed toward him. They were practically endless.

The initial excitement eventually faded away as the levelling turned into a monotonous grind. Nie Yan felt time passing at an excruciatingly slow pace.

Nie Yan traversed through the mountains of corpses and seas of bones. There seemed to be no end.

The first day came to an end. Nie Yan checked his level. After the Divine Eclipse Dragon cast several Forbidden Spells, he had shot up to Level 182. Three levels in a single day. If anyone were to find out, they would have a heart attack. However, since the several Forbidden Spells the Divine Eclipse Dragon cast had cooldowns of around a month, it would be some time before he could repeat it. Nevertheless, levelling here was far better than anywhere else. Even the Dark Demonic Space couldn’t compare.

Nie Yan looked around his surroundings to check for loot. After all, these undead were all Level 180 monsters!

Unfortunately, the drop rate of these monsters turned out to be pitifully low.

After passing by the corpse of a scorched demon, Nie Yan saw something black sparkling on the ground.

"What is this?” Nie Yan mumbled as he picked it up. The object was ice cold to the touch. Flipping his palm over to examine it, he discovered it was some sort of ore.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. His appraisal senses for ores were extremely sharp right now. As soon as he saw it, he thought of the Void Gold Ingot he obtained back in the Dark Demonic Space. He promptly examined it.

Ancient Occult Silver Ore: Special Material

Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel disappointed. So this thing wasn’t Void Gold. He knitted his brows. "Then what is this Ancient Occult Silver?”

Nie Yan searched online fort the term Ancient Occult Silver. A lot of search results popped up for Occult Silver, but there was nothing for Ancient Occult Silver. It looked like he would have to go ask Craftsman God Bronnick about it later.

There were corpses scattered all over the ground. Nie Yan was like a battlefield looter, searching around for spoils. The monsters here didn’t drop equipment, only different odds and ends.

Ancient Black Copper Ore: Special Material
Ancient Platinum Ore: Special Material
Ancient Viridian Iron Ore: Special Material
Ancient Violet Gold Ore: Special Material

Nie Yan found many more of these odd ores, more than 60 in total. He had no idea what they were used for. However, anything that dropped in a place like this certainly wasn’t ordinary. So, he picked them up anyway, even if it wasted a bit of time. He eventually noticed that only the Level 180 Lords dropped these ores. Even then, it was still rare with a drop rate of 1 in 60.

The low drop rate was all the more reason for Nie Yan to pick these ores up.

Apart from the ores, Nie Yan also collected 600 skulls.

Deceased Skull: Level 180 Elite Bone Demon
Deceased Skull: Level 180 Lord Shadow Knight
…

Nie Yan had no idea what the ores were used for, but he was quite familiar with the use of these skulls. The Necromancers from the Evil Faction could summon undead and command them. However, these undead didn’t come out of nowhere. There needed to be a summoning item. That was where these Deceased Skulls came into play.

A Necromancer generally carried anywhere between 20 to 30 Deceased Skulls with them at all times. The low level skulls had high drop rates and were relatively common, while the highest level skulls were near impossible to find.

The Deceased Skulls Nie Yan was picking up were already quite rare. If they were smuggled to the underworld, a single Level 180 Elite Deceased Skull would easily sell for 20,000 gold. As for the Level 180 Lord skulls, the price was even higher. Of course, this was assuming supply and demand were in equilibrium. They weren’t, so it was impossible to tell what they would actually go for.

Needless to say, if Nie Yan were to smuggle these Deceased Skulls to the underworld, it would cause a huge uproar in the Evil Faction!

Only a special map like Hell would drop so many high level Deceased Skulls! Glancing at all the skulls in his bag, Nie Yan felt like he was looking at a sack of gold.

Of course, Nie Yan wouldn’t dump all these Deceased Skulls in the marketplace of the underworld. Who knew how many would fall into the hands of Fallen Angel? He would only be making the enemy stronger!

Nie Yan contemplated on how to best use these Deceased Skulls as he returned to the monotonous grind. It would be a waste to let them sit in the guild treasury and collect dust.

A light bulb lit up in Nie Yan’s head. Even though Fallen Angel had unified the Evil Faction more than three years ago, there were still pockets of resistance spread all throughout the underworld, just like how the remnants of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group would occasionally pop up to stir up trouble on the surface. Of course, they would be promptly dealt with, and they had very little effect on the larger scale. However, they were still a pain and never gave up.

Nie Yan didn’t want to let these Deceased Skulls fall into the hands of Fallen Angel. So, he would sell them to Fallen Angel’s enemies. He would be hitting two birds with one stone. It was a perfect plan!

The idea quickly became a well thought out plan, lifting Nie Yan’s spirit. When he would finally leave this place and sell the Deceased Skull, there’d be a nice show to watch!

The days came and went. Nie Yan was slowly inching back towards the top of the level leaderboards. Thinking about how he wasn’t far from returning to the peak, he couldn’t help but get excited.

...

While Nie Yan was grinding like a madman in Hell, a huge stir broke out in the Abernathy Great Grasslands.

Warlance had shown up in Judgement Valley with 20 top elites from Fallen Angel. They went on a rampage, killing more than 1,200 players from Asskickers United before vanishing without a trace. When they turned up again, it was outside a stronghold controlled by Asskickers United. The people there stood no chance against these close to Level 200 peak experts. More than 6,000 players were killed before one of Fallen Angel’s Dark Incantists cast a powerful Forbidden Magic, turning the stronghold into cursed grounds. Anyone that entered would take 1,000 damage every second. This effect would last an entire year. In other words, this stronghold was uninhabitable for a whole year.

The players from Asskickers United were infuriated. More than 200 Masters went over to surround Warlance’s group. However, Fallen Angel had come prepared. They disappeared again without a trace, only to show their faces sometime later near another one of Asskickers United’s strongholds in the Abernathy Great Grasslands.

Okoron guild headquarters. Guo Huai was infuriated as he read the incoming reports. Fallen Angel was clearly provoking them! Did they think Asskickers United was so easy to bully!?

Guo Huai immediately issued an order.「Bladelight, quickly come back with the others!」

「We’re already on our way. We’ll be back in five minutes tops!」Bladelight replied. He’d just checked the forums and guild chat. So, he was already aware of the situation. He caressed the handle of his sword, a hint of excitement welling up in is heart. Finally, some action! After grinding endless mobs and dungeons for so long, he was starting to get bored out of his mind.

Bladelight glanced back at Lei Su, Tang Yao, and the other members of the team. It looked like they were also itching for a real battle. He chuckled. "You guys already know the situation. Fallen Angel is finally taking action against us. Let’s go, it would be rude not to respond to their greetings. Most of them are easy to deal with. But we have to be careful against Plenty and Warlance. One is the Chairman of the Dark Council, and the other is a member. Their equipment, levels, and skills are probably pretty high up there.”

"Great timing! It’s been a while since we’ve had a real battle. I felt like my bones were going to rot.” Smoke Stub laughed. Not only the youngsters, even an old and seasoned veteran like him was longing for some action.

About five minutes later, many of Asskickers United’s top ranked players gathered in Okoron. There were over 2,000 people in total. Now was the time for a battle of experts. Ordinary players wouldn’t be of much help in this situation.

Asskickers United’s conference hall was bustling with voices. The large room was packed to the brim. The 2,000 people here were all Masters!

"Executive Guild Leader, give us your command! How are we going to deal with those guys?” a player asked.

After finding out two of their strongholds had been attacked, all of Asskickers United was buzzing like an angry hornet’s nest. Their honor could not be trampled on!

Faced with this kind of situation, Guo Huai remained completely calm. Over these past three years, he had seen all sorts of things, both good and bad. He had long since attained the absolute calm of a leader.

"Smoke Stub, Lei Su, you two lead your own parties into the underworld. Since Fallen Angel decided to send their people here to cause us trouble, we’ll naturally respond in kind. If they destroyed two of our strongholds, we’ll destroy a dozen of theirs! Bladelight, you bring a group of people to intercept Warlance’s group. Be careful, his strength isn’t to be underestimated. He’s known as the number one Warrior in the Evil Faction. You probably don’t have much experience with the skills of an Undead Warrior either. So, stay on your toes,” Guo Huai said.

Chapter 957 - Challenge Accepted

Guo Huai predicted an all-out war between Fallen Angel and Asskickers United was unlikely. A conflict between two great factions was different from a regular war between two guilds. NPCs would also participate. If Fallen Angel launched an all-out offensive, it would attract the attention of the NPCs of the Righteous Faction. If one or two Legendary NPCs took action, the outcome would be difficult to predict. Likely, Plenty would only dare to act when the number of Legendary experts in Fallen Angel far surpassed that of Asskickers United.

Guo Huai faintly realized that Nie Yan’s reappearance had put a lot of pressure on Fallen Angel. They were worried about him becoming powerful again. That was why they were probing their strength right now. To see if they could take action before that moment arrived.

Guo Huai couldn’t help but wryly smile. Sure enough, there was never a day of peace with Nie Yan around, kicking up a storm the moment he reappeared. Nevertheless, he was filled with anticipation. Could Nie Yan really return to the apex and become the invincible Mad Rogue once more?

A three-year gap was fatal for ordinary players. However, Nie Yan always seemed to find a way to defy all logic and accomplish what others could not. Would he create another miracle?

Nie Yan had laid down a solid foundation for Asskickers United all those years ago. Even if Nie Yan couldn’t climb back to the peak, Guo Huai was determined to protect it! He issued some orders. Since Fallen Angel wanted to test Asskickers United, he would naturally give them a strong showing!

Over the next couple of days, Bladelight led a group of Masters from Asskickers United after Warlance and his cohorts. With the added pressure from the pursuit, Warlance was forced on the defensive. As for Smoke stub, Lei Su, and the others, they managed to raze two enemy strongholds to the ground, sending the players from Fallen Angel into a rage. Now, things were considered even. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.

Proud Warlance issued a challenge on the forums.「Two days from now, Fallen Angel will send 10 representatives to Judgement Valley for a showdown. Asskickers United, do you dare to accept?」

The conflict between Asskickers United and Fallen Angel had long since become a hot topic of discussion among players. Everyone was wondering if these two superpowers would go to war. Proud Warlance’s challenge only served to further fuel this speculation. A fight between the peak experts of Asskickers United and Fallen Angel! How exciting!

A few sharp-eyed observers could tell Fallen Angel was simply probing Asskickers United. If the results were in their favour, they’d likely launch an all-out offensive and declare war on the Righteous Faction.

Asskickers United and Fallen Angel were the respective rulers of their factions. Asskickers United was a guild for experts since its early inception. After unifying the entire Righteous Faction, the number of experts under their flag naturally skyrocketed. Fallen Angel similarly was a gathering place for experts. They had more than 60,000 Silver Wings and 100 Gold Wings in their ranks. Since the Evil Faction had fewer players than the Righteous Faction, their innate skills were slightly better. This was a widely known fact. For ordinary players, such a small difference didn’t mean much in PvP. However, between experts, even the slightest advantage could determine victory or defeat.

Not long after Proud Warlance issued the challenge, Bladelight replied as representative of Asskickers United that they would gladly accept the challenge.

This instantly triggered a huge uproar in the forums. Players excitedly discussed the upcoming fight. This was an unprecedented clash! With Asskickers United and Fallen Angel both sending 10 representatives, this would basically be a gathering of peak experts from both great factions!

This was the highest competition of skill in the entire server! How could anyone not be excited?

The forums were flooded with posts discussing this competition.

"Who do you think will win?”

"Difficult to say. Both sides are massive titans. I don’t think either side has a clear advantage.”

"I’m hedging my bets on Asskickers United. They’ve always been known for their experts. I refuse to believe Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Sun, King of the World, and them would lose to anyone!”

"I’m not so sure. Fanboying aside, I think Fallen Angel came prepared this time, or else they wouldn’t have issued the challenge. Didn’t you see the rules they set out for the competition? It’s a 10v10. Every player only gets one chance. The loser gets kicked off the stage, and the winner stays on. The first side to run out of representatives loses. They have Proud Warlance, Godking, and Plenty. Just those three alone will be incredibly difficult to beat. Especially Plenty, the Chairman of the Dark Council!”

A betting ring popped up online. You could bet on Asskickers United or Fallen Angel. The odds were already out. However, they were basically one to one.

Asskickers United’s guild chat was also filled with discussion about this upcoming competition.

「Bladelight, teach those Fallen Angel guys a lesson!」

「Sun, I believe in you!」

...

The 10 players participating in the competition were already decided. They were Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Mistaken Smile, Sun, King of the World, Black Hell, Lustboy, Dark Requiem, Sunny South, and Tang Yao.

All 10 of them were from the Viridian Empire. Several newer members from the Satreen Empire also expressed their interest to join. Guo Huai had tried finding a top elven Thief and orc Shaman among them but gave up in the end.

Nie Yan had had an enormous influence on Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and them. They were far more skilled than many of the other top experts. As a result, even though Asskickers United had recruited many experts from the Satreen Empire, they still couldn’t compare to these veterans.

There were no objections to the list of participants, mostly because Guo Huai said that anyone who defeated one of those on the list could take their place. In other words, this list wasn’t final.

Because of Fallen Angel’s challenge, the number of members from Asskickers United heading to Judgement Valley and the underworld increased by sixfold. They were too weak to participate in the showdown. So, they could only go elsewhere to scratch that itch.

Nie Yan occasionally checked the guild chat while grinding in Hell. The lively discussion brought a smile to his face. Even after three years, the passion of the members hadn’t waned one bit. They were still fighting for the sake of the guild! He felt gratified.

Fallen Angel’s challenge to Asskickers United was definitely premeditated. On one side, they wanted to test Asskickers United’s strength. On the other side, they wanted to strike a blow at Asskickers United’s morale.

Nie Yan wondered how well Bladelight and the others would fare. It was a pity he couldn’t participate. With his current level and equipment, he would be one shot most likely. He couldn’t help but feel unresigned in his heart.

However, Bladelight and the others should be strong enough to deal with Fallen Angel. The only two that made Nie Yan worry were Godking and Plenty. Godking was the former guild leader of Pantheon. After surrendering to Fallen Angel, he ended up under Plenty. As someone capable of leading a guild, Godking wasn’t to be looked down on. Who knew how much he’d grown. As for Plenty, his title as Chairman of the Dark Council alone probably gave a ton of stat bonuses. Not to mention he kept almost everything about himself a secret. No one even knew what kind of equipment he had. Perhaps this was the most frightening thing.

If Asskickers United lost, it would be a heavy blow.

Over these past seven years, Nie Yan and his fellow guild members had paid untold amounts in blood and sweat to lead Asskickers United to where it was today. They pledged their lives for the guild’s glory!

Asskickers United was something Nie Yan built from the ground up. One could imagine how much emotion he invested into it! However, after his three-year hiatus, he no longer even had the qualifications to defend its glory!

Nie Yan felt a bit dejected. He hated the fact that he couldn’t instantly rush to Level 200, complete this quest and leave. However, there was no quick fix. In the end, he sent a message of encouragement to Bladelight and the others.

Replies quickly came back.

「Don’t worry, you can leave it to us! Just focus on raising your level. We’re all waiting for you!」

「Big Brother! I’ll do my best! I definitely won't let you down!」

....

Nie Yan let out a deep sigh. Fallen Angel’s challenge caused him to feel a sense of urgency. The enemy had already set their sights on the Righteous Faction! His heart stirred restlessly, only a single thought in his mind. Level up! Level up! Level up! The desire to climb back to the peak grew all the more intense.

How silly of him. Nie Yan originally planned to return as an ordinary player and enjoy his days in leisure, free from the shackles of responsibility. However, when he logged back on and saw all those familiar names in the guild chat, he couldn’t resist to make a full return.

Nie Yan finally realized why he had the inexplicable urge to log back onto Conviction after three long years. It was because he couldn’t abandon his guild!

Asskickers United could not fall, or else World Bloc might be implicated too. In the worst case scenario, the Brutus Financial Group would do what he had done to the Century Financial Group, or what the Century Financial Group had done to him in his past life.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon appeared to have understood Nie Yan’s feelings. Its two heads started firing magic at an even faster pace, steamrolling through everything in its path.

Nie Yan checked the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s level. After grinding for such a long time, it had already reached Level 189 and was only a step away from Level 190. After stepping through the Gates of Hell, it became like a fish in water. Its ridiculous firepower was utilized to its fullest potential.

Chapter 958 - Showdown in Judgement Valley

Nie Yan plowed through this land of the death. The days passed, but neither the sky up above nor the vast expanse of corpses in front of him changed. There was no escaping this until the Gates of Hell would open again in a little less than 30 days.

With nothing else to occupy his mind, Nie Yan wondered what the results of the competition would be. He opened up a livestream and watched the situation in Judgement Valley.

...

Judgement Valley. An unprecedented event was taking place in this grim battlefield. A 300-meter wide area was cleared out in the middle, a hundred thousand experts from both factions forming a circle around it. They were here to show the strength of their faction, as well as to cheer on their representatives. The 10 peak experts from both Asskickers United and Fallen Angel had already arrived and stood opposite from each other in the middle.

Warlance and Godking brought 3,000 people over for insurance. The guild leader of Fallen Angel, Plenty, didn’t come.

As for Asskickers United, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others brought 60 top elites with them and another 3,000 troops were stationed in the surroundings. Even though it was a 10v10, the outcome of this competition would decide many things. In order to prevent any meddling, having experts around was necessary.

Both sides took up battle formations as the smell of gunpowder permeated the air. Some of the unaffiliated players in the crowd started looking for trouble. However, they were quickly dealt with.

Bladelight swept his gaze over Fallen Angel’s ranks and didn’t spot any traces of Plenty. "Your guild leader didn’t come?”

"This kind of competition isn’t worth his time!” Warlance arrogantly replied.

The Righteous Faction immediately stirred. What an arrogant declaration! They wanted to see if Fallen Angel would still be laughing by the end of this competition!

Bladelight shrugged his shoulders. He couldn’t be bothered to retort. Today, their fists would do the talking!

Godking remained silent. Clad in a gray robe, no one could make out his expression.

Of course, Plenty was plenty interested in this event. He was back in the Fallen Angel guild headquarters, watching a livestream. Not just him, but countless players from both great factions were watching the livestream of this event. After all, this was a clash of the strongest players from both great factions!

The 10 representatives of both guilds were present. The PvP area in the center was already decided on. Everything was ready.

Warlance swept his eyes over the representatives from Asskickers United. "Are you lot ready?”

"Whenever you are,” Bladelight replied. Asskickers United had long since been prepared.

The rules of the competition were clear. One side would first send out a person, after which the other side would send out theirs. The loser was booted off while the winner would stay on. It would go on until one side had no more players. The side that had to send a person out first was undoubtedly at a disadvantage.

"We don’t want to be accused of bullying. So, we’ll take the disadvantage. Soul Feather, you go up first!” Warlance said, glancing at a Mystic clad in black armour.

Soul Feather entered the stage, causing the people in the surroundings to break out into whispered discussion. The number one Mystic in the underworld, and the only player to have obtained the Hell Soul Hunter title! In the entire Evil Faction, he ranked within the top five. He was nicknamed the King of Killers!

Bladelight’s face turned serious. He’d heard of Soul Feather’s name before. He was a famous figure in the underworld!

They weren’t playing around! Bladelight looked around, deciding who to send up first. His target was Warlance. He would have to leave Soul Feather to someone else.

"Let me go,” Lei Su said. Warrior against Warrior. He refused to believe he was any weaker than this Mystic before him!

Bladelight glanced at Lei Su. After pondering for a moment, he nodded. "Alright, I’ll leave him to you. That guy isn’t ordinary. Don’t underestimate him!”

"Don’t worry! I won’t be careless!” Lei Su confidently said. He stepped forward in his golden armour, carrying a large greatsword on his back. The people on the side of the Righteous Faction started stirring.

"War God Lei Su is taking the stage!”

"I wonder who’s stronger, the War God or the King of Killers. What do you think?”

Lei Su’s name was very famous among the playerbase. He carried the two-meter long War God Kelo’s Sword on his back. According to rumours, he had already upgraded it to a Chaos weapon. Its attack power was astonishing. As for whether his nickname as the War God was just for show, it was difficult to say. Among Sword Saints, the two most famous were in Asskickers United. One was Lei Su, and the other was Smoke Stub. It was difficult to say who was the better of the two. Smoke Stub was known for his steadiness, while Lei Su was known for his wild and domineering style!

When Lei Su and Soul Feather faced each other in the arena, the players in the vicinity felt two unrivalled auras sweep out. They unconsciously backed away a few steps.

"Nobody can stop the War God!”

"All hail the King of Killers!”

…

The players from both sides erupted into cheers.

Mystics were known for their fierce attacks and frightening speed. Lei Su wondered how powerful Soul Feather was. He drew his greatsword from his back.

Soul Feather’s sharp eyes locked onto Lei Su. He coldly chuckled. "Seems like you’re out of luck today, having to face me!”

"We’ll see about that!” Lei Su hit back.

"What are you waiting for, let’s start!” Soul Feather said, not wasting any more words.

A referee oversaw the match. He repeated the rules of the fight, asked both parties if they were ready, and finally gave the signal to start the match.

Soul Feather instantly shot a fireball at Lei Su. He then blinked forward with a slash, igniting his sword with flames.

Soul Feather blinked around the stage, letting loose one powerful attack after another. Lei Su was forced on the backfoot. However, he was a veteran of countless battles. It would take much more than that to overwhelm him. He swung his sword, unleashing a giant slash.

Soul Feather’s feet had just touched the ground after a Blink, when he discovered a large slash flying towards him. His heart trembled. What sharp reaction speed! He immediately leaped back several meters. Lei Su’s attack brushed past his chest armour. He coated his sword in black ice and slashed forward.

Flaming Earthrender!

Lei Su smashed his sword into the ground, causing cracks to spread out and a fiery inferno to erupt into the air.

Soul Feather protected himself with a dark shield, tanking Lei Su’s Flaming Earthrender head on. Meteor Blade! His sword streaked toward Lei Su’s throat like a meteor. The tip of the blade glowed red from the friction with the air, releasing a dazzling light.

Seeing the black shield protecting Soul Feather, Lei Su immediately sensed something off. He cancelled his Flaming Earthrender mid-attack and raised his guard. KLAAANG! His greatsword clashed against Soul Feather’s longsword.

The spectating players felt their breath stagnate watching the two battle. In the blink of an eye, Lei Su and Soul Feather had already exchanged several moves. If an ordinary player were to face these attacks, they would’ve already died several times over!

Lei Su and Soul Feather were evenly matched. Even the slightest lapse in judgement or split-second reaction would decide the victor!

The players from Asskickers United broke out in a cold sweat.

"Soul Feather’s attacks just keep on coming! I think Lei Su might lose this one.” Bladelight knitted his brows. The offensive of a Mystic was simply too ferocious. Lei Su was constantly forced on the passive.

"I wouldn’t call it so soon. I know Lei Su. That brat is really crafty. He has a lot of hidden aces up his sleeve. I can’t count how many times I’ve died to him because I wasn’t careful. I think he’s looking for an opening. Soul Feather hasn’t PvPed with him before. He won’t see it coming!” Smoke Stub shook his head. He was the most authoritative person on this topic because he’d fought Lei Su the most.

Over on the side of Fallen Angel, Warlance and the others were also closely watching the battle. They really didn’t expect that Lei Su could go toe-toe with Soul Feather. It looked like they had still underestimated Asskickers United!

Warlance suddenly sensed the magic energy in the area go berserk. His lips curved into a smile. Soul Feather was about to use his trump card!

Vacuum Chain Burst!

Even after several exchanges, Soul Feather hadn’t eked out any advantage. He was finally running out of patience. He originally wanted to save this skill for someone else. Now, however, he was going to use it to bury Lei Su!

"Die!” Soul Feather growled. As he unleashed a relentless torrent of slashes with the longsword, he started casting magic in his free hand.

Lei Su instantly sensed the fluctuations in the air. Soul Feather was about to use his killing move! This was his chance! He made his move.

Mind Banish!

War God’s Fury!

This was Lei Su’s killer combination of skills!

When Soul Feather used his killer spell, he didn’t expect Lei Su to charge at him with even greater ferocity. He was just about to use his longsword to block, when his mind felt sluggish. His heart trembled. Not good! It was Mind Banish! By the time he regained clarity, it was already too late to block. Lei Su’s greatsword was already coming down on him. It was too late to dodge. Then you can die with me! Soul Feather’s face flashed with a sinister expression. He cast his magic.

PSFHT! PSFHT! PSFHT! Countless slashes cleaved down on Soul Feather. A long string of 20,000s floated up above his head. Instant kill!

In the same moment, something went off in the space beside Lei Su. BANG! A damage value of 17,000 floated up above his head. BANG! B ANG! BANG! Several more explosions followed.

Lei Su was sent flying back before crashing into the ground.

The might of Vacuum Chain Burst was also extremely frightening!

The crowd was stupefied. The last exchange practically happened in a flash. All they saw was Lei Su and Soul Feather both flying out. Was it a double knock-out? A draw? Outcomes like this did happen every once in a while!

No one expected the first match to end in a draw!

When everyone thought the battle had ended, Lei Su struggled back to his feet. Wiping the blood from the corner of his lips, he gave a cheeky smile.

Chapter 959 - Consecutive Victories!

The spectators gazed at Lei Su in shock. They didn’t expect this turn of events!

Vacuum Chain Burst was a 10-hit skill. Eight hits dealt 17,000 damage while two random hits critted for 38,000 for a total of 212,000 damage.

Lei Su somehow survived that frightening damage! He was truly monstrous!

Lei Su just barely clinging onto life, with a little over 5,000 health remaining. But he was still alive! This was an undeniable fact!

"What a lucky son of a bitch!” Warlance cursed under his breath. He never imagined Lei Su would survive after taking a Vacuum Chain Burst head-on.

Soul Feather’s loss caught the players of the Evil Faction off guard. Even Plenty didn’t expect this outcome.

The Righteous Faction was the first to recover from the shock. They erupted into boisterous cheers. Lei Su took home the first win!

"Lei Su, come back.” Bladelight chuckled. He knew just what kind of danger Lei Su braved. If Lei Su had tried to force his attack any sooner, it would’ve missed. If he had been a step later, he would’ve gotten hit by the Vacuum Chain Burst first. The battle was decided in that one instant as Lei Su attacked at the perfect moment. Even though he took a huge risk, to the extent he didn’t even have the time to activate any defensive skills, he relied on his massive health pool to eke out a victory.

Be it War God’s Fury or Vacuum Chain Burst, both were killer trump cards. It was clear neither side held anything back.

After just barely scraping by with a victory, Bladelight naturally wouldn’t force Lei Su to stay on.

"We’ll send our next fighter up first this time. Sun, it’s your turn.” Bladelight glanced at Sun.

"Got it.” Sun nodded.

Seeing Asskickers United sending out a Thief, and Sun at that, Warlance knitted his brows. As far back as Asskickers United’s early days, their Thieves were the most difficult to deal with. That remained true even after Nie Yan’s departure. Sun, King of the World, Mistaken Smile, Shadow Killer, One Strike Vow, Tyrannical, Hapless Frog, just to name a few had all inherited his skills. Now, they’d developed their own styles, and their skills had reached the apogee. Especially Sun, King of the World, Mistaken Smile, and Shadow Killer, who were dubbed the Four Heavenly Kings by the players of the Righteous Factions.

Warlance had received an order from Plenty before coming here today. Fallen Angel wouldn’t make use of any class advantages. If they were going to fight, it would be blow for blow. If Asskickers United sent out a Thief, so would they!

Warlance turned to Ghost. "I’ll leave Sun to you.”

"Alright.” Ghost nodded.

"How confident are you?” Warlance asked.

If the opponent were anyone else, Warlance’s question would have incurred Ghost’s displeasure. After all, he was the strongest Thief in the Evil Faction! He had yet to meet another Spectral Thief that could best him. However, his opponent this time was Sun. He didn’t have the slightest confidence in victory. Truthfully speaking, he would every now and then go online and search for videos of the Four Heavenly Kings. The more he watched, the more shocked he would become. Every session he would discover they had come up with a new tactic or technique.

With so many top ranked Thieves mingling together and learning from each other in Asskickers United, they would naturally progress at a much faster rate. On the other hand, Ghost could barely find any good opponents in Fallen Angel. He had no choice but to stumble forward on his own. However, if he turned down this challenge, how would he know where he placed?

Ghost didn’t dare to underestimate his opponent. Three years ago, Nirvana Flame was the invincible Thief. The teachings and insights he left behind couldn’t be compared to that of other guilds.

After Sun took the stage, Asskickers United broke out into even more boisterous cheers. As long as he didn’t face someone like Warlance, a win was guaranteed! Even if Warlance did come up, he still had ways of adapting!

Those on the Righteous Faction wondered who Fallen Angel would send out in response to Sun. Would it perhaps be Warlance?

At this moment, a Spectral Thief entered the PvP stage. It was Ghost.

The players from the Righteous Faction gasped in surprise.

"That’s a large guild for you, forward and upright! They could have easily sent out a powerful Warrior up to deal with Sun, but they sent up another Thief!”

With Fallen Angel unwilling to take the class advantage, the players from the Righteous Faction started viewing Fallen Angel in a new light.

"Damn, I don’t see any hope of Fallen Angel winning this round. Even at Nirvana Flame’s prime, Sun was right behind him!”

The two Thieves stood opposite of each other on the stage. The referee outside gave the signal to begin.

Both of them vanished into stealth.

Many of the spectators activated their ocular skills. Those without didn’t even have the qualifications to view this match. A duel between Thieves was the most difficult to follow. A large portion of the battle was spent in stealth while the actual clashes only lasted a brief instance as the sparks from daggers clashing flew out into the air. Much of what was going on was guesswork. Only the system recorded replay, which would be released at a later time, would show what actually happened in super slow motion.

After exchanging only several moves with Sun, Ghost already felt a deep fear in his heart. What speed and reflexes! He had yet to land a single attack on Sun, and it seemed like Sun was holding back!

Sun appeared to have come from the same mold as the Mad Rogue of yore!

Assassinating Pierce!

Ghost accelerated, the dagger in his hand glowing red hot as he stabbed toward Sun’s forehead. Even though Sun was in stealth, Ghost could still accurately lock onto his positions with Demon Eyes.

As the dagger came piercing towards him, Sun slighted to the side and avoided the attack.

Ghost only saw Sun’s figure blur before disappearing from his vision. His heart shivered. It was Sun’s signature shadow steps! Suddenly, he felt a cold chill as a dagger flashed behind him. He hurriedly twisted around, bending his arm in a bizarre fashion. KLANG! He just barely parried Sun’s attack.

Reverse Grip Backstab!

Ghost quickly retaliated, swinging his dagger towards Sun’s back.

KLANG! Sun casually parried the attack before pulling away and retreating back into stealth. The two had a dozen exchanges like this in the span of 30 seconds, each lasting only a second or two at most. At the end of the day, Ghost was still the number one Thief in the Evil Faction. He wouldn’t be defeated so easily. However, he was clearly being overwhelmed.

Over on the sidelines, King of the World, Mistaken Smile, and the others closely watched the match. They glanced at each other.

"That Ghost isn’t half bad. He can actually hold his own against Sun for this long,” King of the World said. Of course, Fallen Angel stood no chance against Asskickers United when it came to Thief players!

"From the start of the match to now, Ghost has used three more skills than Sun. That’s the gap in strength. When he runs out, Sun will win,” Mistaken Smile said. They could tell at a glance which side was superior. Ghost was still a few notches below Sun.

Two minutes into this high tempo battle, Ghost finally ran out of skills. Struck in the spine by a Backbreaker, he became crippled. A split second later, he was dead on the ground.

The spectators from the Righteous Faction erupted into another round of passionate cheers.

"Another loss…” Warlance frowned. It appeared they had greatly underestimated the strength of Asskickers United’s elites. If the two great factions were to go to war, it would be difficult to seize an advantage. Regardless, the die was already cast. They could only see this competition through until the end.

One match after another came to a close. Asskickers United won all of them. It was only in the seventh match, Warlance versus Dark Requiem, that Fallen Angel achieved its first win. However, that was achieved by relying on a class advantage.

These results had the players from the underworld grumbling with dissatisfaction. The players Fallen Angel sent out were their peak experts, not to mention the advantage they had in innate skills. Yet they were losing so badly to Asskickers United! How did this make any sense!?

Fallen Angel had only four more players eligible to compete. If they were killed too, it would be a resounding defeat!

...

Back in Hell, Nie Yan was watching the livestream with a smile on his face. Sun, Smoke Stub, and the others had grown tremendously in his absence. Fallen Angel had really kicked a steel plate this time. With this kind of showing, they likely wouldn’t have the face to return to the underworld. Even though Warlance was strong, he was only on the same level as Bladelight and the others. At best, he could force another defeat by relying on a class advantage, but there was no avoiding defeat in the end.

"I wonder if Plenty will show up to save the day.” Nie Yan narrowed his eyes. If Plenty felt forced to take the stage, then Fallen Angel had already lost the battle in one respect.

However, if Plenty really were to take the stage, Bladelight and the others would be in serious trouble. The bonuses from the completed Book of Chaos were no joke!

...

Unbeknownst to Nie Yan, Plenty was already starting to get restless. He was pacing around in the Fallen Angel guild headquarters.

"Nirvana Flame, even if you haven’t logged on in three years, the people you brought with you back then are still as strong as ever. If you never left, you would’ve taken over the underworld by now.” Plenty deeply sighed, a myriad of emotions stirring in his heart.

The players Plenty sent out all stood at the very peak of their respective classes in the Evil Faction, the number one Thief, the number one Slayer, the number one Mystic, the number one Necromancer, and so on. Yet in front of these players from Asskickers United, they suffered one defeat after another. How could he possibly stay calm?

In this competition, the gap between Fallen Angel and Asskickers United became painfully clear. Even if his strength far exceeded others as the Chairman of the Dark Council, he still had to rely on those below him to win wars. There was a limit to how much he could do by himself!

Plenty bitterly smiled as his gaze landed back on the livestream. "It looks like I’ll be forced to make a showing.”

Chapter 960 - Number One Warrior!

Plenty couldn’t wrap his head around why the elites of the Evil Faction lost so badly to their counterparts of the Righteous Faction.

Plenty's confusion was understandable. When Nie Yan regressed to the past, he’d changed the dynamic of the two great factions. His influence on Bladelight, Sun, and the others was especially great. When Sub Legendary gear was still extremely rare in the game, they were already building towards their Legendary sets. This immense advantage only grew as time passed. When the Chaos Temple first released, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Tang Yao, Sun, and several dozen other peak experts from Asskickers United entered with full sets of Legendary gear. While Fallen Angel was struggling to progress and continuously wiping on the temple outskirts, Asskickers United quickly slaughtered their way into the inner hall and snatched up all sorts of high quality loot. The gap grew even bigger after the release of the Sword of the War God. Because the stats of Fallen Angel’s main team weren’t high enough, they didn’t dare to enter this new dungeon at first. Meanwhile, Asskickers United started running it on the day of release and blitzed their way straight to the inner region. By the time Fallen Angel really started running the Sword of the War God, they were more than three months behind Asskickers United.

The difference in strength continued to widen like this! Logically speaking, the peak experts from the Righteous Faction and Evil Faction should be roughly on par in strength, with the latter even being slightly stronger even because of the innate skill advantage. However, the outcome was completely out of expectation. Smoke Stub, Sun, and the others were onesidedly dominating these arrogant top experts of Fallen Angel!

It was all the more humiliating for Fallen Angel, since they were the ones to propose this showdown. If things went on like this, they’d become the laughingstocks of both great factions!

It couldn’t go on like this. Plenty had no choice but to step in.

Another member was booted out of the competition. Fallen Angel only had three players left, which included Warlance, Godking, and an empty spot. That empty spot was saved for Plenty.

Warlance and Godking glanced at each other. "I’ll go up,” Warlance said after thinking for a moment. Godking would likely be matched up against Tang Yao while he would be facing Bladelight.

This would be Warlance’s second showing. In his first fight, he abused his class advantage to beat Dark Requiem, a truly shameful act. Just thinking of it caused his face to flush red with shame. It was a pity that hadn’t been enough to turn things around. Seven losses to only one win. They had three people left, Asskickers United nine.

Warlance really wanted to know how Bladelight and the others got so freakishly strong. Every single one of them were powerhouses! Previously, Fallen Angel had even reviewed the battle footage of the top experts from Asskickers United. Even if they weren’t assured of victory, they believed they at least had a 50-50 chance. Who knew these guys had hidden their strength so well!

Warlance had no idea how well he would fare against Bladelight. Originally, he was quite confident. However, after seeing the people on his side lose one after the other, he started doubting his chances of victory.

If they lost this competition, Fallen Angel would truly lose all face. They would never be able to raise their heads again.

The members from Fallen Angel weren’t the only ones in shock. Everyone was, even the players from Asskickers United. No one expected things to turn out this way!

"You know, I thought Fallen Angel and Asskickers United would be evenly matched, like a 50-50 toss-up on who would win. I never imagined Fallen Angel would be so much weaker!”

"Damn. I’m a fan of Asskickers United, and even I’m starting to feel bad for Fallen Angel. If the two factions go to war, Fallen Angel will just end up like Angel Corps back then, on the back foot as soon as the war begins.”

...

The forums were also booming with discussion about the competition. Everyone had a new grasp on the strength of Asskickers United’s peak experts. Apart from Warlance scoring a victory and Soul Feather putting up a decent fight, the rest of Fallen Angel’s representatives had suffered humiliating defeats.

「I wonder if Plenty will come. If he loses too, that would be a scene.」

「Plenty is the Chairman of the Dark Council. If he does come up, it’ll be hard to say who will win this competition.」

「Hard to say my ass! Even if he comes, what’s the use if all his subordinates lose? He can’t stop Asskickers United alone!」

…

Warlance walked onto the stage.

Bladelight smirked. "It’s finally my turn to go up!”

Bladelight stepped onto the stage and took position 10 steps away from Warlance. He asked with a small grin, "So, is Plenty really not coming?”

Warlance’s face flashed between anger and humiliation. He previously claimed that Plenty didn’t need to bother with a competition of this level. Now, however, they would have zero chance of victory without him.

"I admit, we vastly underestimated you lot. You have my sincerest admiration. In this match, I’ll give it my all. I hope we won’t ever meet on the battlefield!” Warlance drew the greatsword strapped to his back. It was a white bone sword blazing with soulfire.

Warlance admitted he’d misspoken. So, Bladelight dropped the subject. He focused his full attention on the battle. No matter what, he could not lose!

Simply by standing there, Bladelight gave off a domineering aura. Warlance’s pupils constricted. He knew the person before him was undoubtedly one of the strongest opponents he’d encountered so far!

"Begin!” The referee’s voice rang out.

"Taste my blade!” Warlance roared. He charged forward and slashed down with his large bone sword.

Bladelight didn’t bother dodging. He raised his greatshield to block and slashed out with the longsword in his other hand.

The two were quick and decisive. When it came to a battle between two powerful Warriors, petty tricks wouldn’t work. Speed and unrivalled power were all that mattered! In this high-speed clash, the first one to chicken out would lose!

Both attacks landed simultaneously.

KLAANG! Both Warriors were forced back a step.

A damage value of 6,300 floated up above Bladelight’s head. As for Warlance, a 9,400 floated up from his head.

Warlance didn’t expect the gap to be so great right off the bat. He finally got a look at Bladelight’s health pool and sucked in a breath of cold air, it was almost 300,000! This was monstrous! He was practically a raid boss! One had to know, even the tankiest Undead Warrior in Fallen Angel only had 180,000 health! Bladelight had so much more health that it was practically like facing two Warriors at once! He finally grasped the true meaning of a tank. Compared to Bladelight, all other tanks were slag! Warlance himself only had 160,000 health!

Bladelight’s defense had to be equally as monstrous. Warlance normally dealt upwards of 20,000 damage with his Fury Bone Slash. Now, however, his attack only dealt 6,000 damage!

Tendon Break!

Whirlwind!

Half Moon!

Even though a battle between Warriors was one of blow for blow, there were also plenty of techniques you could employ to get in a bit of extra damage, preserve your own health, or interrupt the opponent!

Sword slashes flew out in every direction. The attacks of the two Warriors were fast and precise. Though they appeared to be evenly matched at first glance, Warlance was painfully aware of the difference in stats. The 140,000 health difference aside, even his defense and damage were below that of Bladelight. As for skills, he was offense focused while Bladelight was defense focused. So, there was no comparing the two on that front.

When Warlance faced other players, he felt like he was pretty adept at using his skills. However, when he was faced against Bladelight, it was like his every move and opening was seen through. Every time he was about to use a high damage skill, Bladelight would rush in just at the right moment with a Shield Bash. Even though it didn’t deal much damage, it had an interrupt effect, causing him to waste several powerful skills.

Interrupting an opponent with Shield Bash was a show of pure skill. It required precision, awareness, speed, and so on. You only had a split second window.

To be able to interrupt so many high rank skills in a row with Shield Bash, this kind of Champion was truly a super expert!

Bladelight was like a boulder, immovable. Warlance didn’t stand a chance.

Those watching the battle on video were dumbstruck, especially the Warriors. Their hearts were racing with excitement. Even though it appeared the two were simply trading blow for blow on the surface, they were well aware of the deeper skills being employed! Even the most minute action was something they couldn’t replicate even after a thousand repetitions!

Both Bladelight and Warlance were amazing! All the ordinary players shared this thought. Only the true experts could tell that Bladelight was more skilled than Warlance.

This was an uneven match-up from the start!

Everyone believed that even if Warlance couldn’t beat Bladelight, he would at least put up a good fight. However, after seeing Bladelight walking all over him, they couldn’t help but sigh. Even if Warlance’s stats were 50% higher, it might still not be enough for a win. They could fight another 10 times, the result would still be the same.

It was clear as day. Bladelight was the number one Warrior in all of Conviction.

As for number two, that was either Smoke Stub or Lei Su. Warlance wasn’t even qualified to enter the top three!

Likely, at this moment, everyone was wondering the same question. Why was there such a huge discrepancy in strength between the Righteous Faction and Evil Faction?

Practically in the next instant, they all thought of one person, Nirvana Flame! All of these players had been guided by Nie Yan. From when the game was first released, Nie Yan had gathered them together and taught them all he knew.

Chapter 961 - Dark Demon King

Seven years ago, Nirvana Flame gathered these players together, then led them to the summit, sweeping through all opposition.

The glory of the Mad Rogue was still vivid in their minds as it was three years ago.

At this moment, they recalled Nirvana Flame had recently returned to game. It was just that no one knew in what corner of the game he was off levelling in!

Would Nirvana Flame return to the apex and lead Bladelight and the others in defeating Fallen Angel?

While the spectators were lost in thought, Warlance was suspensefully defeated by Bladelight.

As Bladelight walked down from the stage, Tang Yao walked up with a wide grin. "It’s finally my turn!” He locked eyes with Godking on the other side.

There were only two more representatives left on Fallen Angel’s side. Godking, and after him Plenty. The first nine were only the appetizer. Asskickers United’s remaining nine players were itching to test their skills. They wanted to see just how strong the Chairman of the Dark Council was!

Tang Yao versus Godking. Nie Yan was fairly confident in Tang Yao’s skills. Although Godking was a veteran expert who was one of the first to become a Gold Wing, Tang Yao was equally if not more unfathomable. As a Level 206 Magister with a full set of Chaos gear, he held a 60%-victory rate against the other peak experts in Asskickers United.

Though the position of number one expert in the Righteous Faction had been left vacant ever since his departure from the game, even Nie Yan wouldn’t have any objects if Tang Yao were to take his place.

Godking’s chances of winning were basically nill.

Nie Yan shifted his attention away from the livestream. He returned to diligently picking up the loot off the ground, acquiring a stunning amount of Ancient Ores and Deceased Skulls. Thankfully, he had plenty of bag space. The bags he was using were 1,000-slot bags he’d obtained from the guild treasury. He had five altogether. The same ores and skulls could be stacked together, with 20 making a full stack. So, even though he’d collected more than 200 ores and 1,000 skulls, he still had plenty of space left.

After circling around a mountain of bones, Nie Yan spotted an enormous figure roaming the plains in the distance.

Standings over 30 meters tall, the creature resembled a primordial demon from the distant past. It was a skeletal monster with a long tail, sharp spines growing all over its body. Its eye sockets blazed with crimson flames which pulsed around non-stop, like a pair of headlights.

Dark Demon King (Demonified Lord): Level 200

Nie Yan sucked in a breath of cold air. He didn’t expect to encounter a Level 200 Demonified Lord here! Starting from Level 180, monsters became exponentially stronger every 10 levels. A Level 180 Lord and Level 200 Lord shouldn't even be compared in the same breath.

With Nie Yan’s current strength, he would die to the Dark Demon King if he were discovered.

The Dark Demon King seemed to vaguely sense something and looked over in Nie Yan’s direction.

Nie Yan hurriedly had the Divine Eclipse Dragon hide behind a large pile of bones. He himself held his breath, deathly afraid to budge an inch.

Nie Yan could sense the Dark Demon King’s gaze sweep over him from more than 300 meters away. Thankfully, it didn’t appear to have discovered him. It bent down, grabbed a handful of undead and shoved them into its mouth.

The countless undead were like helpless fowl as they went straight into the Dark Demon King’s stomach.

Even from this distance, Nie Yan could feel the ground shaking from every step the Dark Demon King took.

What a frightening existence!

The Dark Demon King was slowly moving towards Nie Yan’s hiding place. If it got any closer, it would discover him.

Nie Yan had an idea. He summoned his shadow clone, then had it dash off into the distance with Gale Step.

The Dark Demon King was just about to devour another handful of undead, when something caught its attention. The crimson flames in its eye sockets pulsed. It quickly locked onto the fleeing silhouette of the shadow clone. A piercing roar resounded through the surroundings as it gave chase.

Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. His plan worked. He quickly left before the Dark Demon King would be back.

Before hitting Level 190, Nie Yan felt he wouldn’t stand a chance versus the Dark Demon King.

Nie Yan checked the skills in the Glimpse of Darkness. The very last one he could unlock was a Legendary skill called Sanguine Tide. To unlock it, he first had to max out the three skills he already obtained, and then meet the kill count requirements for it. He couldn’t help but wonder what kind of skill it was.

A Legendary skill certainly wouldn’t be lacking!

Unlocking Sanguine Tide required him to kill 200,000,000 dark creatures. This figure was a bit daunting. The previous three skills he obtained would require him to kill 300,000,000 dark creatures to max out. He wouldn’t be reaching this goal of 500,000,000 any time soon. However, extending his stay in Hell wasn’t out of the question.

Nie Yan decided to avoid the area he found the Dark Demon King in. This land of death was massive anyway. He could always explore in a different direction.

After marking down the Dark Demon King’s territory on his map, Nie Yan carefully backtracked and discovered the monsters he cleared out were already back. What a frightening respawn speed! However, ordinary monsters were perfect for him right now.

Exploring another section of Hell, Nie Yan checked up on the livestream. Tang Yao and Godking’s battle had already reached its climax. Godking activated Demonic Embodiment as the golden wings on his back turned jet black, firing out spells in rapid succession. Tang Yao used the most basic Blink skill to dance around the battlefield as he fired out magic like a machine gun. All of his spells were instant cast.

Instant cast spells generally didn’t deal much damage. However, a Fireball from Tang Yao was incomparable to a Fireball from an ordinary player. Even his most basic spells could instantly kill a Level 190 Warrior!

Tang Yao’s damage had reached ludicrous heights!

Even though Godking had activated Demonic Embodiment and protected himself with a shield, he still didn’t dare to take Tang Yao’s attacks head-on. He continuously beat his wings to dodge.

While Godking and Tang Yao were facing off, a small commotion broke out among the spectators. Nobody knew when, but Plenty had appeared in front of the players from Fallen Angel. He was wearing luxurious black robes.

"Plenty finally couldn’t sit still anymore and came himself!”

"Of course. Look how badly they’re losing. If he didn’t come, Fallen Angel would become the laughingstocks of both factions.”

"I wonder if Plenty can turn the tide by himself, or if he’ll just be another body to the count.”

The spectators were anticipating how this development would change the competition. A true heavyweight had appeared!

Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others smiled. The real boss had finally appeared. They’d been waiting for this moment.

Plenty wore a calm expression on his face. The domineering air he gave made all the surrounding players retreat three meters away. No one dared to stir up trouble, unless they had a death wish.

Plenty observed the stage. Though his expression was calm on the surface, his heart was battered with waves of shock. Even Godking was being suppressed! At this rate, the match would be over in the next few minutes. After so many rounds, Fallen Angel had only achieved one win! This was undoubtedly a disgrace. The gap between Asskickers United and Fallen Angel was actually this great!

Young Sparrow Hawk could actually defeat Godking! Plenty realized that if he wanted to beat Sparrow Hawk, he would actually have to put in some effort.

Plenty originally planned on launching an attack on Asskickers United. Of course, it wasn’t going to be an all-out offensive. Rather, he would first take control of the passage linking the surface to the underworld, then dispatch an army of 30,000 experts to sweep through the enemy’s strongholds. They wouldn’t tangle with the NPCs of the Righteous Faction and suppress Asskickers United first. Even if Nirvana Flame returned, Asskickers United would be at an absolute disadvantage. However, he quickly realized what a joke this idea was. With how strong Asskickers United’s top experts were, they would end up making a fool of themselves and have their own strongholds taken instead.

If it were one versus one, Plenty was confident he could beat anyone. However, if he were to face two or three of Asskickers United’s peak experts at once, even he would have no choice but to turn his tail and flee.

Plenty thought back to three years ago. Back then, Nirvana Flame could face off against several dozen peak experts, massacre a bunch of them, and escape completely unscathed. What’s more, there was nothing the enemy could do to stop him!

Plenty inwardly sighed. That was a height he could never hope to reach.

Godking cut for a sorry figure, just barely surviving at this point. On the other hand, Tang Yao was getting more and more bold. He had a smug smile on his face, just like a cat playing around with its prey.

Fallen Angel had talked a good game, but their skills just couldn’t match up in the end.

Plenty’s eyes flashed with a cold light. Sure enough, he had miscalculated today’s outcome. Asskickers United was much stronger than he predicted, but he wouldn’t allow anyone to look down on Fallen Angel!

Arcane Reset!

Dark Flame Burst!

Dark Flame Burst!

Dark Flame Burst!

Godking blinked away, dodging the dense shower of spells. He reappeared 10 meters behind Tang Yao and coldly snored. You’ve had your fun. It’s my turn now! He waved his staff, sending three black fireballs flying towards Tang Yao. As they closed in, he growled, "Explode! Explode! Explode!”

Three Dark Flame Bursts suddenly detonated, the flames engulfing everything in a 30-meter radius, turning it into an AoE attack.

At the same time, Tang Yao lightly waved his staff. Arcane energy surged out into the surroundings.

Just like three grenades going off, the three fireballs completely engulfed Tang Yao.

Dark Flame Burst was a super powerful, high damage spell. Even Warriors like Smoke Stub and Lei Su would be clinging onto dear life after taking three in a row, let alone a squishy Mage like Tang Yao!

Chapter 962 - Plenty Takes the Stage!

Seeing Tang Yao getting swallowed up by the explosions, the spectators thought it was a win for Godking for sure. Even if Tang Yao somehow managed to evade a direct hit, the shock waves would still kill him.

After the flames subsided, there was no trace of Tang Yao anywhere.

Godking was dumbstruck. He missed?

"He’s over there!” a spectator shouted. It was taboo to reveal someone’s position like this during a match. However, the sheer destructive power of the Dark Flame Bursts had them thoroughly shocked. So, some couldn’t help themselves when they found Tang Yao’s location. Not that it mattered much, since Godking had already spotted him.

No one knew when but Tang Yao had emerged right behind Godking. With a wave of os his staff, he cast Shock Blast as a powerful wave of force swept out into the surroundings.

Godking was already in the middle of dodging. He wouldn’t be hit by a measly Shock Blast!

Magic Lockdown!

Tang Yao waved his staff as the nebula at its tip started swirling rapidly.

Godking tried to blink away, only to discover his spell was interrupted mid-cast. It was already too late to dodge. BANG! A powerful shock wave swept over his body. A damage of value of 20,000 floated up above his head as he became crippled.

Tang Yao linked his spells together beautifully. Even the most basic spells, after linking them together, were enough to subdue a peak expert like Godking!

If Godking hadn’t been so eager to see if his Dark Flame Bursts hit, he wouldn’t have been distracted for that brief moment. If Tang Yao had cast Magic Lockdown first, then even if Godking couldn’t blink away, he could still use other spells to run away.

Tang Yao had calculated all of this. So, he used Shock Blast first to bait Godking into trying to blink away. This was basically a subconscious reaction. Every expert had their own habits and conditioned reflexes. By the time Godking failed to Blink to safety, it was already too late to use another spell before the Shock Blast struck him

Godking was a famed expert. Yet he was hit by two extremely basic spells. The spectators were stunned. As they replayed the previous exchange back in their heads, they quickly realized what happened. Their hearts trembled. Who could possibly dodge a combination like this? Even peak experts would need a good dose of luck to achieve this.

Godking was crippled for around two seconds. Tang Yao naturally didn’t let go of this opportunity. Arcane Flame Burst! A basketball sized ball of dark purple flames shot toward Godking. BANG! Flames exploded everywhere as his body was flung away, a damage value of 30,000 floating up above his head. Some distance away, he collapsed dead to the ground.

Another loss for Fallen Angel. No one was surprised anymore. Against the freaks from Asskickers United, no one stood a chance. Even Fallen Angel were making a fool of themselves.

With Godking’s loss, there was only one representative left on the side of Fallen Angel. Everyone turned their gaze to Plenty.

Everyone wondered if Plenty planned to go up.

Plenty only had two options. One, go up and face Tang Yao, Bladelight, and the rest. However, even if he could take out three or four of them, all nine would be impossible. Two, become a laughingstock. If he chose for option two, not just him, but all of Fallen Angel would never be able to raise their heads again. He wouldn’t be their proud leader, but a simple coward.

Everyone looked at Plenty, awaiting his decision. One had to know, he was a Dark Zealot, the Evil Faction counterpart to the Priest from the Righteous Faction! Nothing more than a support class! Even if he was a godly one, could he really turn back the raging tide?

Tang Yao, Bladelight, and the others also stared at Plenty. He was their final target. Everyone before was just an appetite whetter!

The crowd quietly discussed among each other. No one had high hopes for Plenty. No matter how strong the Chairman of the Dark Council was, his opponents were the nine peak experts from Asskickers United. Even if he fought them one at a time, every next match his chances of victory would grow slimmer and slimmer.

This competition changed the mind of countless players from both great factions. No one had any hope for Fallen Angel anymore. The players from the Righteous Faction were all elated. They originally thought it would be an unfair matchup since the innate skills of the Evil Faction were better. Now, however, they didn’t have any complaints. It turned out they were by far the stronger side! As for the Evil Faction, especially those from Fallen Angel, they were on the verge of flipping out. What number one Necromancer, number one Undead Warrior, number one Mystic? After losing so badly, what good were these titles?

At this moment, Plenty whispered something to the people beside him. They nodded to him and went off to do something.

Plenty knew he could easily win the first two matches with his current equipment. However, from the third match onwards, Asskickers United would’ve more or less seen through his playstyle. He estimated winning five matches was probably his absolute limit. As such, he dispatched some subordinates to fetch the best Dark Zealot equipment in the Fallen Angel guild treasury. After fighting a few matches, he would switch out his equipment. Maybe that would increase his odds of success!

Plenty entered the stage. He wore a tranquil expression, lacking the arrogance of an expert.

The players from the two great factions went into an uproar. The guild leader of Fallen Angel was finally forced to take the stage!

Tang Yao, Bladelight, and the others were discussing something below the stage.

"The big fish has finally come out. Which one of you guys wants to go up first?” Tang Yao asked. Even though none of them were clear on Plenty’s strength, the Chairman of the Dark Council wasn’t to be underestimated. In strategy, he could look down on everyone in contempt. On the battlefield, he was the focus of the enemy. So, they had to be cautious.

"Whoever goes first, they should probe his strength,” Bladelight said. He glanced at the members beside him. The nine of them were all roughly on par in strength. So, it didn’t really matter who went up first.

"I’ll go first. It doesn’t matter who goes up anyway. I want to see just how strong he is!” Smoke Stub smiled.

"Sounds good,” Bladelight said. Smoke Stub ranked in the top five among the nine of them. If Plenty wanted to beat him, it wouldn’t be easy. Maybe Smoke Stub would perform even better than expected and defeat Plenty in the first match. If that were to happen, Fallen Angel would truly have no face left.

Smoke Stop entered the stage.

Plenty was an extremely mysterious figure, rarely ever appearing in public. No one knew just how strong he was. This was his first public match. So, naturally everyone was paying close attention.

Everyone wondered if Smoke Stub could defeat Plenty.

When Smoke Stub stopped across from him, Plenty opened his mouth. "The person I respect the most in my life is the Nirvana Flame of back then. He was truly invincible. I have no doubt in my mind I would lose if we were to face off. But I didn’t expect that three years later, even the people that accompanied him would grow to become so exceptional. You have my deep admiration. Today, I won’t hold anything back. One more thing. If Nirvana Flame manages to climb back to the peak, pass on a message to him for me. I look forward to the day we clash!”

The players from the two great factions broke into a stir. They didn’t expect Plenty as the Chairman of the Dark Council to claim the person he respected the most was Nirvana Flame. However, thinking back to three years ago, it made sense. The name of the Mad Rogue was an undying legend!

Smoke Stub could hear the arrogance behind Plenty’s words. He didn’t mind, simply chuckling. "If you want to challenge Nirvana Flame, you’ll have to get through us first. If you defeat all of us, he will naturally come looking for you!”

...

Back in Hell, Nie Yan watched the livestream with a pensive look on his face. Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the other seven had all pretty much fought a match. So, Plenty had a rough understanding of their strength. At this moment, Plenty switched out his Scepter of the Dark Council to a Chaos-grade redwood staff he’d never seen before. Likely, Plenty was trying to hide his strength.

Nie Yan knew Plenty wouldn’t do anything without reason. Since he changed his scepter, it meant he wasn’t planning to go all out in the first few matches. He was clearly gunning for a full sweep!

Nie Yan knitted his brows. It was a pity he was too weak right now to participate in a competition of this level. He couldn’t help but feel a bit worried.

...

"Begin the match!” the referee shouted.

Smoke Stub and Plenty both moved at practically the same instance.

Plenty protected himself with a barrier. A ring of dark flames rapidly rotated around his body, preventing any enemies from drawing near.

Tri Judgement Slash!

Smoke Stub attacked the barrier with his most powerful skill. Three enormous slashes shot out toward Plenty, brimming with unrivalled destructive power.

Both sides were going all out from the start!

Plenty didn’t panic. He calmly retreated a few steps and waved his staff. A dark aura erupted from the ground as a Dark Succubus emerged on the battlefield.

The Dark Succubus was a summon. It had zero killing power against a player like Smoke Stub.

The speed and defense of the Dark Succubus was decent while its attack power was pretty mediocre. It was a middle rank summon. No matter how high its defense or health, it couldn’t withstand a single hit from Smoke Stub’s ultimate attack. Not to mention Spirit Awe which also worked against summons. So, why did Plenty summon the Dark Succubus for?

Chapter 963 - Die!

The Tri Judgement Slash was about to swallow up the Dark Succubus, when Plenty calmly waved his staff. A tide of bones erupted from the ground and formed a shield in front of it.

BANG! BANG! BANG! The three slashes collided into the shield in quick succession. To the surprise of the entire crowd, the Dark Succubus only staggered several steps back, and the shield was still perfectly intact.

Smoke Stub’s eyes trembled. He had no idea what kind of protection magic this shield was, but its defensive capabilities were phenomenal!

At the same time the Dark Succubus served as a body to block the attack, Plenty brandished his staff. Dark magical energy started rapidly condensing at the tip.

Nightmare Curse!

Smoke Stub was moved forward to attack, when a shadowy energy invaded his body. His vision became slightly blurry as his steps faltered.

Curses were instant cast spells. Unless the player used a defensive skill that blocked curses beforehand, there was no way to dodge them. Thankfully, curses generally didn’t have powerful crowd control effects. They were usually more annoyances than anything else.

Plenty’s Nightmare Curse couldn’t be cured for the first five minutes.

Smoke Stub charged forward and slashed down on Plenty with his greatsword.

Ever since Smoke Stub class swapped his base class to a barbarian Raider, his physical stats and Strength scaling skyrocketed. Someone like the Dark Succubus was too weak to put up any kind of resistance, and even a godly Dark Zealot like Plenty wouldn’t survive more than two hits.

At this moment, the Dark Succubus started multiplying, going from one to two, to four, to eight, and so on.

Smoke Stub’s face paled. What kind of skill was this? He’d never seen it before!

Why were there so many Dark Succubi?

"It doesn’t matter how many there are!” Smoke Stub roared, knocking aside three Dark Succubi with his charge.

Smoke Stub looked up ahead, only to find Plenty had disappeared. "Shit!” he cursed. The skills of that Succubus were too strange. This was his first time experiencing something like this. "Whirlwind Slash!” He spun his greatsword around and sent five more Dark Succubi flying.

Radiant Sight!

Smoke Stub’s eyes flashed with a dazzling radiance. He believed these Dark Succubi were mere illusions and could be dispelled with his ocular skill. However, he was wrong. They were all real. To make matters worse, he couldn’t find Plenty, even sweeping his gaze over the entire arena.

The spectators were also dumbstruck. No one had eyesight on Plenty. It was as if he had vanished into thin air!

From the very start of the game, Plenty had taken note of Nie Yan and took a keen interest in Special Items, collecting them all throughout the Evil Faction. With them as foundation, he created a style of combat that ordinary players could never imagine. Of course, since he’d never shown off his combat style before, no one knew what to look for.

The ordinary Summon Succubus spell combined with a Body Double Ring and Possession skill became a viable PvP tactic.

After bringing out a summoned creature, players could use the Body Double Ring ring to create a clone of their summon.The higher the summon’s rank, the greater the mana cost to duplicate it. Plenty picked the Dark Succubus precisely because its level was low. He could basically duplicate it infinitely. After creating a large number of clones, he used the Possession skill to hide himself among them. As he made more clones, he also continuously targeted Smoke Stub with curses.

Even though Smoke Stub had a skill that could dispel curses, it could only dispel them one at a time and there was a cooldown. Faced with so many curses, there was nothing he could do.

If Plenty were to fight him head-on, Smoke Stub certainly wouldn’t be in such sorry straights. Everything was going according to Plenty’s plan. He immediately seized the initiative by using non-conventional tactics. These little tricks weren’t very above board, but he didn’t care that much, or rather he was in no position to care. He had already made his decision. He would resort to these tactics to win the first few matches, then reveal his true strength in the latter matches!

This tactic wasn’t perfect. There was a certain chance the enemy could see through his tricks. It had no place on a battlefield, but it was extremely effective in PvP.

Smoke Stub sent five Dark Succubi flying. He used all the AoE skills in his arsenal, but every Dark Succubus was protected by a bone shield. They were originally frail enough for him to one-shot them, but now they could tank several of his hits. Not to mention the dozen curses that greatly reduced his stats.

On the sidelines, Tang Yao knitted his brows. Plenty resorting to cheap tricks was truly something you’d never expect. However, he couldn’t see through it. If it were on the battlefield and you encountered a tactic you couldn’t deal with, you could simply run away. When the skill ran out, they were naturally done for. However, it was completely different in a duel.

"Plenty is trying to hide his strength and using cheap tricks to take out as many of us as he can. He will use his real strength to take out the rest of us,” Bladleight surmised. He could see through Plenty’s intentions. Anyone that faced the nine of them in a row would find it difficult not to lose. If someone could do it, it would be Nie Yan at his peak. It was impossible for everyone else.

Plenty was backed into a corner. If he lost, Fallen Angel would suffer a crippling blow. It would be an eternal stain on their reputation. So, for the sake of defeating Bladelight, Tang Yao, and the others, he had no choice but to try to conceal as much of his strength as possible in the first few matches. The more he revealed, the quicker he would lose.

Even though Plenty was hiding his strength, Tang Yao, Bladelight, and the others saw through a few things. When Plenty was standing on the stage, he was calm and collected. When he cast a spell, it was at the perfect timing. Thinking back to how he brought out the Dark Succubus, bone shield, and so on, his true strength definitely wasn’t lacking. If he were using his normal scepter, even if it were a frontal confrontation, Smoke Stub wouldn’t necessarily be his match!

One had to know that cheap tricks required a lot of skill. To be able to defeat an expert like Smoke Stub with them showed just how high Plenty’s caliber was. If he were an ordinary player, he’d likely be killed before getting the first skill out.

Inflicted by so many curses, Smoke Stub saw his health dwindle away to less than half. However, the desire to win was still blazing brightly in his heart. As he swept his gaze over the countless Dark Succubi, he locked onto one that happened to be keeping a distance. His eyes flashed with a cold light.

Charge!

BANG! BANG! BANG! Smoke Stub sent six Dark Succubi flying.

Plenty’s eyes widened in alarm. What a guy! He actually found me! He immediately dispelled his possession. BANG! The Dark Succubi was sent flying.

Plenty reappeared on the stage. He waved his staff and targeted Smoke Stub with Shadow Bind.

Sky God’s Furor!

Smoke Stub’s body shone out with a dazzling light. The silhouette of a celestial Warrior appeared behind him as if he had become the vessel for a god. His body swelled in size.

Plenty didn’t expect Smoke Stub to explode with so much might even after being inflicted with over a dozen curses. He sighed. It looked like cheap tricks could only take him so far against an expert of Smoke Stub’s level. He would still have to use his full strength.

Lich King Form!

Plenty waved his staff. A dark decaying power instantly surged out and enveloped his body, lifting him about half a meter up in the air.

"Burning Hand!” Plenty roared. An enormous hand of black flames appeared out of the air and shot toward Smoke Stub.

Smoke Stub roared and charged straight toward it.

BOOOM! The ground shook violently as a whirlwind of power swept all the Dark Succubi out of the stage.

The spectators retreated back in fear. Just of how high a level was this battle? The skills of these two were too frightening!

However, thinking about it, it made sense. Smoke Stub was one of Asskickers United’s peak experts. He frequently ran all sorts of high level dungeons with the main team. Meanwhile, Plenty was the Chairman of the Dark Council. Both their backgrounds were extremely astonishing. Them having super powerful skills was perfectly normal.

Previously, when Plenty brought out all those Dark Succubi, everyone thought Smoke Stub was doomed. But not only did he escape this impasse, he also forced out Plenty’s real body and launched a powerful counterattack. This kind of grit was worth admiring.

Even though Smoke Stub had foiled Plenty’s trick, he was already an arrow at the end of its flight. Too much of his health had been shaved away. Originally, he should’ve pulled back to recover his health. However, with the Burning Hand coming straight for him, he had no choice but to go for broke.

Smoke Stub took the hit head-on and was forced back several meters. A damage value of 30,000 floated up above his head.

Smoke Stub’s 200,000 health pool was shaved away to only 50,000 by Plenty’s curses. Now, after taking another powerful hit, he could only stake it all on one last attack.

Smoke Stub’s sharp eyes locked onto Plenty.

Plenty didn’t plan to give Smoke Stub the chance. He used another Burning Hand. The giant hand made out of black flames came down from the sky, wanting to squash Smoke Stub to dead. The hand was like a giant black top, completely blotting out the sky above Smoke Stub.

A powerful pressure bore down on Smoke Stub as if several thousand lbs weighed down on him. He could hardly move an inch.

"Die!” Plenty’s lips curved into a cold smile.

Chapter 964 - Dark Demon Guard

What a powerful spell! Not to mention it could be cast multiple times in a row! Smoke Stub hurriedly protected himself with a golden shield.

BOOOOM! The Burning Hand ruthlessly slammed into Smoke Stub.

Smoke Stub suffered another powerful attack. The golden shield around his body shuddered as a damage value of 10,000 floated up above his head.

Burning Hand!

Plenty hit Smoke Stub with another Burning Hand. This normally didn’t pose much of a threat. Now, however, he was like a candle at the end of its wick. He only had a sliver of health left, and he had no way of dodging this spell.

Nie Yan watched the livestream with rapt attention. Even if Smoke Stub could dodge the Burning Hand, victory was still impossible. It was clear that Plenty was holding back. Even if he hadn’t used those cheap tricks to shave away so much of Smoke Stub’s health, Smoke Stub still wouldn’t have more than a 30% chance of winning.

Sure enough, after several more exchanges, Smoke Stub eventually ran out of health and collapsed to the ground.

Nie Yan felt his heart sink. Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the rest were all roughly on par in strength. Factoring out class advantages, not one was significantly better. Plenty was clearly stronger than them by a notch or two.

Smoke Stub’s defeat led to a huge stir, especially to those who were familiar with Smoke Stub’s strength.

"It looks like the guild leader of Fallen Angel is no joke.”

"Of course, he is the Chairman of the Dark Council! Do you have any idea how many high difficulty chain quests and super high level bosses you have to kill to obtain all the chapters from the Book of Chaos? How could he possibly be weak!”

Plenty won back some face for Fallen Angel by defeating Smoke Stub. If he had lost as well and in the first match at that, Asskickers United would forever cement itself as the most powerful guild in all of Conviction.

The second person to take the stage was Mistaken Smile.

Since Thieves suppressed casters and Bladelight and the rest were all roughly on par with each other, Nie Yan estimated Mistaken Smile had about a 35% chance of winning. However, anything could happen.

Plenty stood on the stage valiantly, refusing to take a rest. When Mistaken Smile stepped forward, he said, "Asskickers United has so many experts. If two of you were to go up against me at once, I admit I would lose. But if it’s one on one, none of you will ever defeat me!” If these players Asskickers United could easily defeat him, then all the effort spent questing and becoming stronger would be all for nothing!

One had to know, the entirety of Fallen Angel had poured an enormous amount of resources and manpower on him. For the sake of collecting the chapters from the Book of Chaos, more than 100,000 players had died on a low estimate. Only through their sacrifice could he reach this nigh invincible state. This was something Bladelight, Mistaken Smile, and the others couldn’t compare to.

Originally, Plenty had an air of arrogance around him. How could Smoke Stub, Mistaken Smile, and them possibly compare to him? Before this showdown, he believed he could easily 1v3 or 1v4 them, since he could do the same with the peak experts from the Evil Faction. Only after seeing the first 10 matches did he realize his misjudgement. Even he himself probably couldn’t go against Smoke Stub and them 1v2.

"Winner, loser, we won’t find out until we actually fight!” Mistaken Smile said, brandishing his dagger.

"Come.” Plenty stared at Mistaken Smile. Humbled after his match with Smoke Stub, he decided to go all out.

Nie Yan watched the livestream. He was eager to see how Plenty would do against Bladelight and them. However, regardless of the outcome, Plenty’s strength put enormous pressure on him. No one could 1v1 him, not even the pillars of Asskickers United! It looked like he would have to work even harder, or else he wouldn’t have the qualifications to face Plenty!

Nie Yan continued south, killing all the enemies in his path. Several minutes later, another large creature entered his sights. Could it be another Dark Demon King?

The creature looked nearly identical to the Dark Demon King. Nie Yan halted his steps. He prepared to leave. If he was spotted, he would probably be killed!

Nie Yan was about to walk in another direction, when he noticed something different about this monster. It was somewhat smaller than the Dark Demon King. After looking closer, he was sure of it!

Could it be that that wasn’t a Dark Demon King?

Nie Yan decided to get closer and take a look. He entered stealth and approached the creature. After getting close enough, he activated Transcendent Insight.

Dark Demon Guard (Demonified Lord): Level 190

So it was only a Dark Demon Guard, and not a Dark Demon King! Nie Yan relaxed. A Level 190 Demonified Lord was still extremely powerful but not impossible to deal with!

Nie Yan would have to kill every monster in this unholy place sooner or later anyway. So, he might as well get to it.

Nie Yan had his pets, which were slaughtering monsters some distance away, group back up with him and also summoned Paladin Lafus.

Lil’ Gold was the tankiest out of his three dragons. The Violet Eye Dragon came in second, while it also had decent magic ability. As for the Divine Eclipse Dragon, even though it was the squishiest out of all three, its magic ability was in a tier of its own. Finally, Paladin Lafus could simply stay in the rear and support. His attacks would have no effect on the Dark Demon Guard!

This was Nie Yan’s first time facing a Level 190 Demonified Lord. It was stronger than a Level 180 Demonified Lord by several times over. However, between Zennarde’s Sword, his level, and the Divine Eclipse Dragon, Nie Yan had also grown much stronger.

Nie Yan felt confident. Even if he couldn’t defeat the Dark Demon Guard, he could always flee!

Every step the Dark Demon Guard took shook the ground.

Nie Yan pondered his options. The Dark Demon Guard was a melee monster, making it far easier to deal with than a ranged one. However, that didn’t mean he could fight it head-on!

Seeing the Dark Demon Guard lumbering around, Nie Yan wasn’t naive enough to believe that it was actually this slow. If it wanted to, its movement speed would definitely be astonishing. Melee-type Demonified Lords had to be fast, or else they would be easily kited to death by Mages. The system wouldn’t put in a boss like this.

As his thoughts reached the idea of kiting the boss, Nie Yan had an idea. If it worked, he could even take down the Level 200 Dark Demon King!

Defeating a Level 200 Demonified Lord would prove difficult, but there would be no issue in defeating this Level 190 Demonified Lord!

"Let’s give it a go!” Nie Yan muttered. He had Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon charge toward Dark Demon Guard.

When the Dark Demon Guard discovered Nie Yan and the two dragons, it roared at the sky, then brandished its greataxe and charged toward Nie Yan who gave off the holy aura of a Luminous Dancer.

A black and white beam suddenly cut across the air and struck the Dark Demon Guard.

FWOOM! The two beams blasted the Dark Demon Guard, causing it to wail out in pain and stagger several steps back.

Holy Nova Ray and Abyssal Pierce!

The two attacks continued for 10 seconds, both dealing over 10,000 damage per tick.

Only 10,000 damage a tick? Nie Yan was dumbstruck. When he used these two spells against Level 180 Lords, they could easily deal several hundred thousand damage per tick!

The defense of this Dark Demon Guard was extremely high!

200,000 damage was barely a tickle for the Dark Demon Guard!

Nevertheless, the Divine Eclipse Dragon successfully attracted the aggro of the Dark Demon Guard. It let out a furious roar and charged toward its attacker.

"Now!” Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a devious light. Lil’ Gold immediately shot forward and slid himself right in front of the Dark Demon Guard’s feet.

BOOOM! The Dark Demon Guard came to a halt as its leg collided with Lil’ Gold. It was much larger than him, but not large enough to get past.

A damage value of 130,000 floated up above Lil’ Gold’s head. Nie Yan hurriedly had Kalenna and Lafus heal him, restoring his health back to full. Even though Lil’ Gold already had over 500,000 health, Nie Yan didn’t want to take the risk. He wanted to keep Lil Gold’s health topped just in case.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon fired out two balls of light, one black and one white. BOOOM! They struck the Dark Demon Guard and exploded.

The Dark Demon Guard was infuriated. However, Lil’ Gold kept it locked in place. It had no way of chasing the Divine Eclipse Dragon. This only worked to further infuriate it as it tried anything and everything to get past Lil’ Gold.

Of course, Nie Yan wouldn’t let that happen.

Whatever the Dark Demon Guard tried, Lil’ Gold would block its path.

Even though his skills had gotten rusty over the years, Nie Yan was still extremely proficient at these little tricks!

The Divine Eclipse Dragon bombarded the Dark Demon Guard while Lil’ Gold continued blocking its path. With the two working together, the Dark Demon Guard basically became target practice for the Divine Eclipse Dragon! Though different from kiting, it basically led to the same result!

Chapter 965 - The Mad Rogue’s Challenge

Ordinary players couldn’t hope to control their pets as skillfully as Nie Yan. His control had reached perfection. In all of Conviction, perhaps there were only a few players that could match his level.

The Dark Demon Guard’s health was slowly being shaved away. Since it was too high, Nie Yan couldn’t see exactly how much it had.

The Dark Demon Guard was incredibly tanky. Nie Yan had no idea how long it would take to kill it.

However, Nie Yan wasn’t worried. There was plenty of time. He would continue chipping away at it until it was dead!

The Dark Demon Guard was finally thoroughly enraged. It swung out with its greataxe and sent Lil’ Gold flying. Just as it was about to take a step forward, the Violet Eye Dragon blocked its path.

BANG! The Violet Eye Dragon was also sent flying.

The Dark Demon Guard wanted to charge forward, only to have Lil’ Gold stagger back and block its path once more. It was completely helpless against its pestering.

Only a few bosses had Spirit Awe. Thankfully, the Dark Demon Guard wasn’t one of them, or this tactic wouldn’t work.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon wasn’t the only one dealing damage. Nie Yan went up and let loose with a flurry of attacks. Since the Dark Demon Guard’s aggro was completely focused on the Divine Eclipse Dragon, the damage he dealt wasn’t enough to cause its aggro to shift.

...

The competition in Judgement Valley was intensifying. Smoke Stub, Mistaken Smile, and Black Hell had lost one after another. Even though Plenty’s wins weren’t easy and he was forced to use almost all his strength every time, a loss was still a loss.

With Plenty winning three matches in a row, the players from Fallen Angel regained some of their morale and even broke out in cheers.

Plenty bitterly smiled. Even though he won three matches in a row, he wasn’t happy. After reaching this point, he had a good idea of Asskickers United’s strength. He wanted to use this competition to probe the enemy and gauge whether or not he should attack the Righteous Faction. He didn’t expect his meticulous plan to almost become a spectacle for Asskickers United to show off their might. Given the strength of their peak experts, if Fallen Angel were to attack the Righteous Faction, they would likely be inviting egg on their face. He started to hesitate on whether he should attack the Righteous Faction.

Either way, Plenty still had to see this competition through to the end, though the goal was different now. He had to defend Fallen Angel’s honour!

Asskickers United still had six people, Bladelight, Sun, King of the World, Lei Su, Lustboy, and Sparrow Hawk. It would be a tough task. Plenty didn’t have any more tricks up his sleeves, and many of his high rank skills were on long cooldowns.

Plenty got down from the stage and said to a Warrior below the stage, "Give me the equipment. I’m swapping sets!”

The Warrior respectfully gave Plenty a large pile of equipment. It was all Chaos gear, many of which had different supplementary skills. All of the best Dark Zealot equipment in Fallen Angel was here. Plenty picked out a few pieces and put them on.

After swapping into a new set of equipment, Plenty brought out his Scepter of the Dark Council. Wearing his new equipment, he stepped back into the ring.

Lustboy was already waiting there. Seeing Plenty take out the scepter, his eyes faintly trembled.

...

Nie Yan looked worriedly at the livestream. He didn’t expect Mistaken Smile and Black Hell to lose as well.

"Dammit!” Nie Yan felt himself getting restless. He guessed Plenty’s ambitions had grown after becoming the Chairman of the Dark Council, and his reappearance had only served to further drive Plenty’s ambitions. Fallen Angel’s reason for challenging Asskickers United was simple. It was to probe Asskickers United’s strength. He had no idea if Plenty would declare war after it concluded. Of course, Asskickers United was never afraid of a fight.

Nie Yan hoped the war between the two great factions could be pushed back as much as possible. He needed every second he could get to catch back up. When he recovered his position atop the leaderboards, whatever happened would at least be within his control.

Fallen Angel’s ambitions could not be allowed to grow any further. The only way for that was to crush Plenty head-on!

If Plenty lost in the next few battles, then that would be perfect. Nie Yan wondered if Bladelight, Sun, and the rest could complete this task.

Nie Yan estimated he only needed three more months to reach level 190. At that time, even if he were to face the Level 200+ Plenty, he could face him with confidence. Anything within a 20-level difference was under his control!

If Bladelight and the others could defeat Plenty, Nie Yan estimated Fallen Angel would throw away any and all plans of attacking the Righteous Faction in the near future.

Nie Yan understood worrying was useless. He could only put his all into defeating the Dark Demon Guard. What he didn’t know was that Plenty’s mind was already starting to change. Right now, his only goal was to defend Fallen Angel’s honour.

As time slowly passed, under the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s ruthless bombardment, the Dark Demon Guard’s health finally fell to 90%.

Nie Yan checked the time. It took about 20 minutes to shave away 10% of the Dark Demon Guard’s health, mostly thanks to the Divine Eclipse Dragon. Its damage was quite decent

If other players were to find out Nie Yan was only using the word decent to describe the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s damage, they would try to drown him in spit. This was a typical case of the well-off being oblivious to the plights of the poor. Even the number one player on the leaderboards, Tang Yao, couldn’t compete with the two-headed Divine Eclipse Dragon! If even Mr. Walking Gatling Gun couldn’t compare, there was no need to speak about other players.

After his hiatus, Nie Yan didn’t really understand where he placed in terms of strength. He only knew that the Divine Eclipse Dragon was really powerful. However, never could he imagine that its damage already surpassed that of Tang Yao!

With a powerful pet like the Divine Eclipse Dragon, it would be strange if Nie Yan didn’t level up quickly!

So long as no mishaps occurred, he could slowly chip away at the Dark Demon Guard until it was dead.

A Level 190 Demonified Lord. Even someone like Tang Yao would have to put in quite a bit of effort to defeat it. However, Nie Yan wasn’t breaking a sweat.

Nie Yan engrossed himself in dealing with the Dark Demon Guard, occasionally glancing at the livestream. Over the next half-an-hour Bladelight, Sun, and the others all lost to Plenty. Tang Yao was the last to challenge him, but even he didn’t stand a chance. This caused the forums to erupt in discussion.

Asskickers United had still lost in the end.

Even Tang Yao lost? Nie Yan knitted his brows. He opened the replay of the match. Plenty went all out. He looked like a god as he floated high up in the air, a scepter in his hand. The two both used large scale AoE magic against each other, resulting in the spectators retreating more than a thousand meters back to not be affected.

Tang Yao went all out. However, in terms of skill arsenal, he was inferior to Plenty by a notch.

Tang Yao’s highest ranked title was Advanced Adjudicator of Light, and his strongest support creature was the Rank 9 Arcane Fairy. It gave him several supplementary Forbidden Spells. Forbidden Magic was useful both in team fights and on the battlefield. However, in a one versus one duel, they were mostly useless.

Meanwhile, the Scepter of the Dark Council that Plenty wielded was a Chaos weapon on par with a Sacred item. He also had a grimoire the Lich King provided him. When he made use of all his strength, Tang Yao had no way of competing.

The match was simply world-shaking. Unfortunately, none of the spectators got a good look due to the intense magic forcing them back in fear. If they wanted a clip of the match close up, likely only the two participants would have it.

After skimming through the videos of the matches, Nie Yan let out a deep sigh. What he worried about the most happened.

...

The arena stage was completely obliterated. The area was flattened smooth.

Hovering in the air, Plenty checked his health. He only had 6,000 left. If he hadn’t given himself a few shields and healed himself, he would’ve died to Tang Yao. He felt a cold sweat on his back. That was too close for comfort!

Plenty actually fought and beat nine of Asskickers United’s peak experts in a row! Thinking about it, he felt a lingering fear in his heart. Him winning in the end was largely due to luck.

The players from Fallen Angel broke out into uproarious cheers.

The forums were filled with posts praising Plenty for defeating so many of Asskickers United’s peak experts in a row. He cemented his place as the number one player in both great factions. This title was achieved by relying on his strength alone to defeat all opponents.

Plenty stepped down from the stage. His brothers in Fallen Angel were bursting with excitement, unable to calm down. Just how amazing was it to defeat nine of Asskickers United’s peak experts in a row! Perhaps only Nie Yan in his prime could compare!

Tang Yao revived. He let out a deep sigh. A loss was a loss. There was nothing he could do to change that.

In contrast to the noise on the side of Fallen Angel, Asskickers United’s players were dead silent. Even though they were stronger than Fallen Angel as a whole, Plenty had still single handedly turned the tide and defeated them.

Above all, the title of number one expert in all of Conviction fell to Plenty. Many players couldn’t accept this, but there was nothing they could do about it.

Even though Plenty commanded his subordinates not to throw insults or taunts at Asskickers United, the forums were still filled with flaming from both sides. It was to the extent someone proposed settling things once and for all on a certain date in Judgement Valley. Likely, there would be another huge battle breaking out in the near future.

Within the mess the forums were in, a single post especially attracted everyone’s attention.

「In five month’s time, I’ll set out for the Evil Faction. Let’s meet then, Plenty. -Nirvana Flame」

It was the Mad Rogue’s account, no doubt! The same one that hadn’t logged on in three years!

This post was immediately shot to the top of the forums with tens of millions of upvotes. The entire server was in an uproar. Even though it was just a simple sentence, the waves it made was no less than when Plenty defeated nine of Asskickers United’s peak experts in a row.

Nirvana Flame was making a comeback, and he issued a challenge to Plenty, the guild leader of Fallen Angel! Just how shocking was this piece of news!

Chapter 966 - Demon King Stone

Many players were skeptical. However, Asskickers United’s higher-ups quickly confirmed its authenticity. The account without a doubt belonged to Nie Yan. Since accounts were bound to the person themselves, there was no way to fake an identity. He was indeed the poster.

News of Nie Yan’s return had already spread to every corner of Conviction. However, this challenge still left everyone dazed.

Nie Yan had taken a three-year break from the game! During this time, Plenty went from around Level 150 to Level 205, only a bit away from catching up to Tang Yao, while also completing the Book of Chaos and obtaining high rank titles like Chairman of the Dark Council. There was also the matter of his gear. With the resources available to him, he had acquired himself some of the best equipment in the entire game. This showdown only proved how far ahead of the pack he was; even the peak experts of Asskickers United couldn’t beat him.

It was mind boggling to the playerbase that Nie Yan would have the confidence to challenge Plenty, even if it was in five months. From their perspective, Nie Yan had only started playing again a couple of months ago. Though his level on the leaderboards was still 156, after seeing his achievements in the Dark Demonic Space, they guessed he had reached somewhere around Level 170 at most. This might be impressive, but nowhere near enough to challenge Plenty!

How shocking was this news!

Nie Yan lived up to his nickname of the Mad Rogue. He really was mad!

Given what everyone knew of Nie Yan, he wouldn’t do anything unless he was confident. This meant he believed he truly stood a chance.

Was Nirvana Flame going to reclaim his throne at the summit?

Asskickers United had suffered a blow in morale. Even though Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and them had steamrolled through nine of Fallen Angel’s peak experts, the position of number one expert was still snatched away by Plenty. How could they possibly be happy with this result? However, Nie Yan’s post instantly lifted their moods and caused the entirety of the guild to stir. The boss was challenging Plenty! What an exciting development!

Even though the players from Asskickers United had no idea how Nie Yan was going to get strong enough to challenge Plenty in five months’ time, which of his accomplishments in the past didn’t subvert expectations? Every member had full confidence in him. Since he dared to issue the challenge, he naturally had a plan!.

The crowd gathered in Judgement Valley gradually scattered. Fallen Angel also returned to the underworld.

Plenty singlehandedly reverse sweeped Bladelight, Tang Yao, and them to win the competition. All of Fallen Angel was rejoicing. After all, their boss had had snatched up the position of number one expert. Still, shock reigned in the guild at this moment.

「Nirvana Flame really is suicidal! He wants to challenge the boss in five months? Dream on! Can he even get to Level 190 in that time? I’ll eat my socks if he can even reach 180! Not to mention the boss is now Chairman of the Dark Council!」

「Hard to say. That’s Nirvana Flame we’re talking about. He isn’t the type to wildly boast. Plus, Asskickers United’s reputation is on the line as well.」

Fallen Angel’s guild chat was filled with discussion. Plenty read through the messages with a frown.

"Nirvana Flame is finally back,” Warlance said, glancing at Plenty.

"What are your thoughts?” Plenty asked.

"Knowing him, he will definitely come looking for us in five months. I don’t know how strong he’ll be by then, but if he didn’t have some assurances, he wouldn’t have issued the challenge,” Warlance said.

Plenty wore a deep expression. "This pertains to the honour of Asskickers Unied. So, he definitely isn’t joking around, meaning he has the confidence in climbing back to the peak in the next five months. If he really pulls it off, he will create another legend. However, I won’t sit still and wait for him to catch up! In five months, we will see who comes out on top! Gather all the peak experts in the guild. I have a mission for them. I want to build up a new set of equipment!”

After Plenty instructed his subordinates, he also went to work himself.

Watching Plenty leave, a strange feeling sprouted from Warlance’s heart. He was worried Plenty was going to lose. However, Nirvana Flame was probably Level 170 at most right now, still a long shot away from Plenty’s Level 206. Could he really catch up? This was simply inconceivable. How could a Thief’s levelling speed be faster than a caster’s? If Warlance knew Nie Yan had a super powerful pet like the Divine Eclipse Dragon and was already level 183 right now, he would probably be breaking out in cold sweat.

...

Somewhere deep within Hell. Nie Yan didn’t bother with the forums anymore after posting his challenge. He only casually glanced at the guild chat, checking on the discussion going on there.

Since the date was set for his challenge with Plenty, he had to hurry up. Catching up in such short time would still prove extremely difficult. Not to mention Plenty would only be stronger in five months!

Nie Yan would have to give it his all if he wanted to stand a chance of victory.

His main priority right now was to complete the quest in Hell!

Nie Yan gazed at the Dark Demon Guard before him. He had finally shaved away this Level 190 Demonified Lord’s health to less than 30%.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon was moving around and firing magic nonstop.

The Dark Demon Guard tried to charge past Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon several times, only to be foiled at every attempt.

When the Dark Demon Guard’s health fell to 10%, its entire body turned blood red, and its aura soared.

It was going berserk!

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. He hurriedly passed down an order to the Divine Eclipse Dragon. As it chanted an incantation, magical energy in a several hundred-meter radius started sailing towards it.

One set of syllables, two sets of syllables…

Sensing the intense fluctuations in the air, the Dark Demon Guard felt a threat. BANG! BANG! It sent Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon flying with a Charge.

The Dark Demon Guard rushed toward the Divine Eclipse Dragon.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! The Dark Demon Guard was getting closer and closer.

Nie Yan didn’t panic. He knew there was still time!

The Dark Demon Guard closed in fast, 50 meters, 40 meters, 30 meters… Suddenly, a boundless pressure bore down from the sky.

An enormous sword of holy light and blazing black meteor descended from the sky. BOOOM! BOOOM! The two single target Forbidden Spells struck the Dark Demon Guard. Two massive damage values floated up above its head. Its last remaining 10% health was gone in an instant.

THUDD! A dying cackle sounded from this monster of bones as it crashed to the ground, kicking up a large cloud of dust.

Nie Yan glanced at his experience bar. It filled up by 6%. This much for a single monster was almost unheard of!

Nie Yan faintly smiled. Everything was going as planned. He walked over to the Dark Demon Guard’s remains and rummaged around. He found a single item, a gem fragment about the size of an egg.

Demon King Stone Fragment (1/5): Special Item

Properties: Can only be used in Hell. Reduces the stats of Dark Demon Guards and Dark Demon Kings by 8%.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. With this item, he would have a much easier time facing Dark Demon Guards and Dark Demon Kings.

This was just one fragment. It appeared there were four more.

If Nie Yan could gather all five fragments and levelled up to 185, he felt he could take on the Level 200 Dark Demon King.

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan decided to search around for more Dark Demon Guards. Half-an-hour later, he spotted a massive figure in the distance.

It wasn’t a Dark Demon Guard but a Dark Demon King!

It turned out this map didn’t only have one Dark Demon King! Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Taking advantage of the fact it hadn’t noticed him, he quickly ducked far away.

After almost two whole days, Nie Yan finally mapped out the surrounding region. Within a 50 kilometres radius, there were six Dark Demon Kings and more than 20 Dark Demon Guards roaming around.

Even though Nie Yan could solo Level 200 Demonified Lords by now, there were only a few in the entire Righteous Faction, and they spawned once a month. Usually, entire expedition teams would set out to hunt them at certain times. Of course, there were also many kill stealers out there. So, it was near impossible to monopolize them.

Nie Yan wondered where Hell was located to have so many Dark Demon Kings!

At Nie Yan’s current level, defeating the Dark Demon Kings would be a challenge. He could only take out the Dark Demon Guards one at a time.

However, hunting Dark Demon Guards to level up was still pretty efficient. Nie Yan estimated he could level up quite a few times in the next two to three months.

The Demon King Stone Fragment only had a chance of dropping every one out of six Dark Demon Guards.

About a month later, Nie Yan hit Level 189.

In his first month and a little back in Conviction, Nie Yan spent his time grinding away in the Dark Demonic Space. Now, he’d been in Hell for over a month as well. Anyone else would have gone mad from the monotony.

The portal out came and passed. Nie Yan decided to extend his stay in Hell.

Apart from his level, his harvests over this past month were ample. The Divine Eclipse Dragon had already reached Level 199. Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon also reached Level 193.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon was a whole 10 levels higher than Nie Yan. Were it any other master, it would’ve long since rebelled. Thankfully, he didn’t have to worry about that.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon was only a tiny bit away from reaching the Level 200 mark. Its stats were already far higher than any player could imagine. One had to know, this was the sole dragon king in both great factions, the most powerful pet!

Chapter 967 - Level 200 Divine Eclipse Dragon

With the Divine Eclipse Dragon about to reach Level 200, Nie Yan couldn’t help but get excited. This would be another milestone! And more importantly, the Divine Eclipse Dragon would learn new magic, maybe even a Legendary one.

It would be a game changer if the Divine Eclipse Dragon learned a Legendary skill. Its combat power would break through to a whole new realm. At present, it could easily take on a Dark Demon Guard. At Level 200, it could take down Level 200 Dark Demon Kings!

Nie Yan’s levelling speed would increase dramatically when he started grinding Dark Demon Kings. Plus, they should drop even better loot!

Nie Yan’s desire to level up intensified. He restlessly found another Dark Demon Guard.

Since passing through the Gates of Hell, Nie Yan’s strength had increased by at least 30%. Combined with the four Demon King Stone Fragments in his bag, which had a powerful suppressing effect on the Dark Demon Guards, he could take one down in about an hour and a half.

Under the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s ruthless bombardment, a Dark Demon Guard groaned out in agony as it was forced back step by step. Even when it did manage to take a step forward, Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon would firmly lock it down, both of them having grown tremendously in terms of raw strength.

The Dark Demon Guard was powerless to put up any kind of resistance. After it died, Nie Yan scanned around its corpse before finding a glittering black gem fragment.

The fifth Demon King Stone Fragment!

Nie Yan could now fuse a complete Demon King Stone!

After putting the five Demon King Stone Fragments together in his bag, they started emitting a scorching hot black flame. They gradually moved together in formation before merging together with one final brilliant flash.

The light slowly subsided. A fist sized, black gem appeared in Nie Yan’s bag, the intact Demon King Stone.

Demon King Stone: Special Item

Properties: Can only be used in Hell. Reduces the stats of Dark Demon Guards and Dark Demon Kings by 50%. +10% to all stats if consumed by a dark creature.

A 50% stat suppression effect! Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise. With this item, taking on the Dark Demon King would be a cinch. As for the +10% to all stats if consumed by a dark creature, he wondered if it would work on the Divine Eclipse Dragon.

After all, the Divine Eclipse Dragon was a dual attribute creature!

Nie Yan grabbed the Demon King Stone from his bag and held it tightly in his palm. He could sense a dark energy radiating out.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon immediately turned its attention to the gem in Nie Yan’s hand, both its mouths dripping with drool.

Nie Yan could sense the begging in its eyes. That was one question answered.

However, Nie Yan couldn’t feed it to the Divine Eclipse Dragon just yet. He still had a use for it!

"Should I try challenging a Dark Demon King?” Nie Yan’s heart stirred. At present, the number of players that could solo a Level 200 Demonified Lord didn’t exceed three. Not to mention there weren’t many bosses of that level for them to challenge. However, Nie Yan had located a total of six in Hell! Thanks to the 50% stats suppression effect, he stood a chance. And even if it didn’t drop any good rewards, the experience alone would be enough to make it worth his while!

However, hesitation sprouted in Nie Yan’s heart. Even when weakened by 50%, a Level 200 Demonified Lord still couldn’t be looked down on. It was stronger than a Level 190 Demonified Lord by several times over.

Nie Yan ultimately decided to level up a few more times first. Since he had decided to stay here for another month anyway, he had plenty of time. There was no need to rush. Besides, if he left, where else could he find such a phenomenal levelling place?

Over the course of the next month, the stir from Nie Yan’s challenge to Plenty gradually calmed down. The players from both great factions immersed themselves in levelling and secretly competed with each other. Especially Asskickers United and Fallen Angel, the competition having cemented their rivalry. Neither side was willing to back down with conflict spreading to the maps neighbouring Judgement Valley. Larger scale battles even broke out on several occasions.

Guo Huai kept Nie Yan up to date. Meanwhile, Bladelight and the others had formed a 1,000-man expedition team and were grinding Sword of the War God to help Nie Yan find void metals. After running it for a total of 600 times, they still weren’t satisfied. Only the best items were good enough for their boss! So, they continued running the dungeons in their hunt for Void Gold.

Nie Yan was being realistic by deciding to settle for Dark Void Iron. If he had Void Silver or even Void Gold, the quality of the upgraded Tyrant Abak Set would be even higher. However, up until now, Asskickers United had only collected 13 Void Silver Ores. This wasn’t even enough to refine a single Void Silver Ingot, which required 25 ores.

Even though it seemed hopeless, Asskickers United’s players didn’t give up. Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others spent 95% of their time running Sword of the War God. Their perseverance and determination didn’t lose out to Nie Yan’s.

The three innermost regions of the Sword of the War God consisted of the Radiant Lake, Silverbright Peak, and Emerald Marsh. Out of the three, the Radiant Lake was the easiest to run. Next came the Silverbright Peak, which was only cleared by Asskickers United so far. Fallen Angel’s main team had already wiped there more than 60 times. Even if Plenty personally led the team, it wouldn’t change this. After all, he was just one person. Their overall strength was several notches below that of Asskickers United. According to rumours, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others were running Sword of the War God six times a day. But perhaps the hottest piece of news was that they were supposedly looking to attempt the Emerald Marsh. The drop rates of void metals were a lot higher here than in the other two places. There was even a chance of Void Gold appearing.

Apart from having a team grinding Sword of the War God at all times, Guo Huai also had his subordinates clean the auction houses across the Righteous Faction from all void metals on a daily basis.

Asskickers United’s only wish was to help Nie Yan return to the peak and defeat Plenty! For this end, they were willing to pay any price!

After learning this information, Nie Yan couldn’t help but be moved. Countless guildmates were silently working around the clock to help him. If he didn’t beat Plenty, he would really be letting everyone down.

Though mentally exhausted from the several months of nonstop grinding, Nie Yan gritted his teeth and persevered. So many brothers in the guild were slaving away for him! How could he not respond to their hard work?

Asskickers United had already gathered all the required Dark Void Iron. If they could get the higher quality Void Silver, that would be even better. However, looking at the current situation, acquiring enough for one ingot would already be quite impressive. Six ingots were next to impossible.

Nie Yan thought back to the ancient ores in his bag. They were clearly different from void metals, nor were they as rare. But their use was a mystery to him. He’d already gathered more than 1,200 of them spread across a dozen different kinds. If these ancient ores turned out to be on the same level as void metals, how great would that be? However, this was only a wishful thought. If these ancient ores could be turned into void metal, he’d have really struck it rich.

Guo Huai also informed Nie Yan that Plenty had vanished into thin air after receiving the challenge. The moles they had planted in Fallen Angel had no idea where he went.

Nie Yan knitted his brows, uneasiness sprouting in his heart. In all likelihood, Plenty set off to increase his strength. He wondered what level Plenty would reach in five months’ time and whether he’d stand a chance against him.

On a more positive note, Xie Yao had also returned to the game. Three years ago, she left the game to spend time with Nie Yan. Now that she was back, it was unlikely she would catch back up to Tang Yao and the others. She wasn’t a freak like Nie Yan. Still, she currently spend her days grinding in the Dark Demonic Space to bring her level up. Her fastest clear speed so far was six hours, a far cry from Nie Yan’s one hour.

Nie Yan focused his attention up ahead again. The Divine Eclipse Dragon was still continuously firing magic, sweeping through everything in its path.

After grinding for so long, the Divine Eclipse Dragon was 97% of the way toward levelling up to Level 200.

After travelling south for an hour, a grand tower atop a mountain of bones appeared in the distance. It was snow white as if it’d been crafted from jade. It somewhat resembled a tower with a flight of stairs leading up from the foot of the mountain to the peak.

This structure appearing out of nowhere couldn’t be a coincident. It was likely related to the main quest!

Thinking to this point, Nie Yan approached the tower. As he looked at the base of the mountain, he sucked in a cold breath of air. He saw more than 60 colossal figures roaming around. They were even larger than the Dark Demon Kings!

An existence even more frightening than Dark Demon Kings, and there were more than 60 in total!

They completely blocked the path forward. Nie Yan had no way of approaching the tower.

In this kind of situation, Nie Yan didn’t dare to get closer. If he were discovered, he’d be done for!

Nie Yan couldn’t help but sigh. He started wondering if it was really possible for him to clear this quest. 60 monsters that were no weaker than Level 200 Demonified Lords, and they were packed so closely together. How was he supposed to get past them?

Entering the tower seemed inevitable. Nie Yan could only avoid it for the time being.

Nie Yan decided to get the Divine Eclipse Dragon to Level 200 and defeat the Dark Demon Kings first. Just like how the Dark Demon Guards dropped the Demon King Stones, the Dark Demon Kings might drop something similar.

After walking in a different direction for another half an hour, a white light finally fell over the Divine Eclipse Dragon. Nie Yan’s heart trembled. It finally reached Level 200!

Chapter 968 - Legendary Skill!

Nie Yan’s heart was brimming with elation and excitement. When he first logged back in after his three-year hiatus, he thought he had no chance of climbing back to the peak. However, as the Divine Eclipse Dragon grew stronger, its mobbing speed rose to such ludicrous heights that the impossible seemed possible.

All Nie Yan’s hopes were placed on the Divine Eclipse Dragon. If he hadn’t obtained its egg three years ago, he would have no way of levelling this easily.

All those years ago, Nie Yan had built a great foundation. Even now it still stood rock solid, since many of his items had boundless upgrade potential!

With things such as the Divine Eclipse Dragon, Zennarde’s Sword, Death God’s Edge, Paternoster's Warhamer, the Tyrant Abak Set, and so on, as long as Nie Yan put in the effort, climbing back to the rank of experts was an easy matter. He just didn’t know if he could return to his prime from three years ago, when he was the undisputed number one player in the game. After all, people like Plenty were also exceptionally talented and blessed with immense luck.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon reaching Level 200 meant Nie Yan was one step closer to returning to the peak.

Nie Yan impatiently opened the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s status page.

After reaching Level 200, the Divine Eclipse Dragon saw a substantial boost in stats. It also learned two Legendary skills, Doppelganger and Enrage.

Doppelganger: Split into five clones. The clones have 100% of the user’s stats and last for one hour. As long as one of the clones is still alive, the user won’t die. Cooldown: 1 day

Nie Yan couldn’t help but gasp in amazement. Doppelganger was indeed worthy of being a Legendary skill! It was far stronger than his Shadow Clone! Where his shadow clone was a separate entity entirely, these clones were still linked to the Divine Eclipse Dragon and only by killing all of them would it die. This skill was more powerful than any Forbidden Magic. One had to know, all five bodies could cast Forbidden Magic. With two heads each, that was 10 Forbidden Spells in total. Even a Level 200 Demonified Lord couldn’t survive such an attack!

The second skill was similarly amazing.

Enrage: Enter an enraged state. Stats increased by 300% for 10 minutes. Cooldown: 5 hours

With its high Growth Rate, this skill only made the Divine Eclipse Dragon more frightening of a powerhouse. Not to mention the cooldown was only five hours, which meant it could be used about three times a day!

Nie Yan’s eyes fell on the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s name. He hadn’t noticed it before, but there were changes to its name!

It was originally just called the Divine Eclipse Dragon, but now it had changed to Legendary Magic Beast, the Divine Eclipse Dragon Gimmeria Worun.

Nie Yan didn’t expect the Divine Eclipse Dragon to gain a proper name. The first part was clearly a title, while Gimmeria was most likely its name. As for Worun, that was the clan of dragons it hailed from.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon was a Legendary Magic Beast. Its strength was on a level of its own.

Nie Yan searched online and discovered a bit of ancient lore on the Divine Eclipse Dragon. Thousands of years ago, it was the king of land dragons. However, it ultimately went extinct because of its low reproductive rate. The only proof of its existence for many generations was a single egg. But after that vanished, the last traces of this species disappeared completely.

This was all recorded down. In other words, the Divine Eclipse Dragon was undoubtedly one of its kind!

Just this information alone made Nie Yan endlessly excited. Generally, the more ancient and rare something was, the stronger it was. Thankfully, the Divine Eclipse Dragon hadn’t fallen into the hands of someone else.

What Nie Yan didn’t know was that he had also spent quite a bit of effort into hatching the Divine Eclipse Dragon. Only with the help of Beast Tamer Hall did he succeed. Odds were, he was the only Beast Tamer in the Righteous Faction who had the qualifications to hatch it.

The hatching of the Divine Eclipse Dragon marked the crucial point of Nie Yan returning back to the peak.

This world truly was full of coincidences!

With two Legendary skills, The Divine Eclipse Dragon could probably take on a Dark Demon King now!

Nie Yan set off to where one of the Dark Demon Kings was located. He’d already marked the coordinates of every Dark Demon King he encountered on the map. He could slowly take them down one at a time.

15 minutes later, an enormous skeletal creature entered Nie Yan’s vision. Standing over 30 meters tall, it resembled a titanic beast. Even though this wasn’t Nie Yan’s first time seeing one, upon closer inspection, he still couldn’t help but hold his breath. He wondered if Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon could even take a single stomp from this behemoth.

If Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon couldn’t lock it down, it wouldn’t matter if the Divine Eclipse Dragon could split into five.

Nie Yan scanned the surroundings. The area was completely barren. There was no terrain he could use to his advantage.

After thinking for a bit, Nie Yan ultimately decided to just go for it. Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon were already over Level 190. They were probably strong enough to take a few hits, and that was all he needed!

Nie Yan passed down a command. The Divine Eclipse Dragon activated Doppelganger. It split into five, after which they all activated Enrage. Battle Angel Kalenna waved her staff, buffing the five Divine Eclipse Dragons, Lil’ Gold, and the Violet Eye Dragon with various blessings.

All preparations were complete. Nie Yan firmed his resolve. Win or lose, he would have to attempt it to know for sure.

Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon roared before barreling towards the Dark Demon King.

The Dark Demon King was the strongest boss Nie Yan had fought so far. He couldn’t afford to hold anything back. He summoned his shadow clone and dashed forward as well.

Sensing the enemies fast approaching, the Dark Demon King swung around. It let out an equally fierce roar as it charged toward toward Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon. Its speed was astonishing.

BANG! BANG! Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon were knocked six meters back. They both took over 300,000 damage. That was two-fifths of their health gone in an instant!

However, Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon were unphased. They stubbornly rushed back forward.

The Dark Demon King’s first attack was especially fierce. After exhausting the momentum from its charge, it could only use its greataxe to attack.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Five dark and five light spells bombarded the Dark Demon King. The ferocious bombardment caused it to wail out in pain.

The Dark Demon King’s exact health was hidden, but those 10 attacks dealt at least 1,000,000 damage. Unfortunately, its health bar only dropped by a small sliver.

BANG! Lil’ Gold was sent flying with a kick.

If it weren’t for Kalenna and Paladin Lafus’ potent heals, Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon would’ve died numerous times already.

Apocalyptic Extinction!

Nie Yan debuffed the Dark Demon King with a slew of curses, then launched a relentless assault with his shadow clone. Zennarde’s Sword blazed, chipping away chips of bone. It was a Sacred-grade weapon at the end of the day. Its attack power was astonishing. Every attack dealt at least 60,000 damage. The shadow clone was the same.

Even after having its stats suppressed by 50% by the Demon King Stone, the Dark Demon King was still this strong. Nie Yan couldn’t imagine how frightening it was at full strength!

Tang Yao and Plenty could both solo Level 200 Demonified Lords. Nie Yan started to get a better understanding of where he stood compared to them.

Under the fierce assault, the Dark Demon King went into a rage. It cleaved down with its greataxe. BOOOM! A pillar of black flames soared into the sky.

BANG! Nie Yan felt a powerful force slam into his chest as he was sent flying. A damage value of 80,000 floated up above his head. The Shadow Clone, Lil’ Gold, and the Violet Eye Dragon were also sent flying.

The Dark Demon King was just about to continue its assault, when one of the Divine Eclipse Dragons fired out an enormous black ball of light. BOOOM! The powerful blast forced the Dark Demon King to retreat half a dozen steps. A damage value of 15,000,000 floated up above its head.

Dark Divine Burst, a single target Forbidden Magic!

Just as the Dark Demon King regained its footing, an enormous white ball of light slammed into it. The ball of light ruptured with dazzling rays. Smoke started coming off the Dark Demon King’s bones as it cried out in misery as it staggered further back.

Holy Stellar Flare, another single target Forbidden Magic!

Seeing the Forbidden Magic was effective, Nie Yan passed down an order to the five Divine Eclipse Dragons.

The Dark Demon King fell into sorry straits. Every time it regained its footing, it would be blasted by another single target Forbidden Magic. It didn’t even have a chance to get up to its feet, let alone attack.

The 10 heads of the five Divine Eclipse Dragons fired Forbidden Magic one after another. After completing a cycle, they would use a different Forbidden Magic. The time between spells was calculated to perfection, leaving no room for the Dark Demon King to recover.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon could use all light and dark Forbidden Magic. The two attributes had more than 10 each. With them being cast one after another, the might was astonishing.

Only 50 Forbidden Magic would be enough to blast the Dark Demon King into smithereens.

After two rounds of 10 Forbidden Spells, the Dark Demon King lost more than two thirds of its health.

The Dark Demon King’s mournful cries lingered in the air. Seeing this Level 200 Demonified Lord being trampled so thoroughly, Nie Yan couldn’t help but smack his lips, even if it was 50% weaker than normal.

After another round of Forbidden Magic, the Dark Demon King would be dead. Nie Yan became excited. As long as he could successfully take this one down, the rest would naturally follow. He could slowly take his time dealing with them. He wondered what kind of amazing loot they would drop!

Chapter 969 - The Fifth Shattered Divinity!

Just when Nie Yan thought this kill was in the bag, the Dark Demon King let out a deafening roar that cut across the sky. Its body turned a glowing scarlet red as it swelled in size.

"Shit! It went berserk already?” Nie Yan’s eyes trembled.

The super powerful lords would generally only go berserk when their health fell to 10%, sometimes even at 15%. However, the Dark Demon King went berserk at 30%! This completely broke the norm!

The Dark Demon King brandished its greataxe and cleaved down on Lil’ Gold.

Nie Yan hurriedly had Lil’ Gold pull back, but it was already too late.

BOOOM! Lil’ Gold was smashed into the bed of bones below him, his body completely submerged. He had no way of moving.

The Dark Demon King brandished its greataxe once more. With another hack, blood flew into the air as Lil’ Gold transformed into a ray of light.

Nie Yan’s heart shook. He hurriedly ordered the Violet Eye Dragon to retreat.

The Violet Eye Dragon didn’t even have the time to turn around, when the Dark Demon King swung out with its axe in a circular arc. It was a Whirlwind Slash!

BOOOM! The Violet Eye Dragon was sent flying. A damage value of almost 700,000 floated up above its head. It crashed back to the ground dead.

A critical hit! Instant death!

BANG! BANG! BANG! Forbidden Magic rained down on the Dark Demon King. The damage was even higher than before, reaching up to an astonishing 20,000,000!

In its berserk state, the Dark Demon King’s defense was weakened.

However, unlike before, the Dark Demon King no longer suffered any knockback from Forbidden Magic. It strode forward and charged toward one of the Divine Eclipse Dragons.

"Crap!” Nie Yan’s face paled. If the Dark Demon King killed just one of the Divine Eclipse Dragons, the damage output would tank. That would give the Dark Demon King more time to kill them all! He hurriedly ordered the targeted Divine Eclipse Dragon to escape.

BANG! Another Forbidden Magic struck the Dark Demon King.

The Dark Demon King caught up with the fleeing Divine Eclipse Dragon and cleaved down with its greataxe.

BANG! A damage value of 500,000 floated up above its head.

However, the Divine Eclipse Dragon had a total of 1,670,000 health thanks to the effect of Enrage. It ignored the attack and continued to flee.

The Dark Demon King bellowed out furiously. Its greataxe blazed with a black flame as it loosed another slash. An unrivalled destructive power surged out. BOOM! The Divine Eclipse Dragon was sent flying like a rag doll.

One Divine Eclipse Dragon was killed!

BANG! Another Forbidden Magic struck the Dark Demon King.

"It’s effective! Only a little more!” Nie Yan and his shadow clone rushed toward the Dark Demon King in a pincer attack.

Annihilation Slash!

A blazing tsunami of sword energy swept forth, far larger and more powerful than any Annihilation Slash that Nie Yan had executed before. BOOOM! BOOOM! The dual Annihilation Slashes struck the Dark Demon King at the same time. Two damage values of 1,000,000 floated up above its head.

Nie Yan’s Annihilation Slash actually dealt half the damage of the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s Forbidden Magic! This was simply incredible!

A brief moment later, another Divine Eclipse Dragon failed to escape the Dark Demon King and was killed.

In the time it took the Dark Demon King to kill two Divine Eclipse Dragons, its health was shaved away to only 13%.

The Dark Demon King was towering with rage as it pursued its next target relentlessly. Nie Yan felt a chill in his heart. If it weren’t for the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s Doppelganger and Enrage skills, he would have to wait until he was well over Level 200 to take it on.

Nie Yan and his shadow clone danced around the Dark Demon King.

Hell Execution!

Hell Execution!

Regardless of whether Hell Execution was effective, Nie Yan wouldn't know unless he tried. After all, its success rate had sharply risen after Zennarde’s Sword was upgraded to Chaos-grade. If it did work, it would save him a lot of trouble.

As the Dark Demon King’s health dropped lower and lower, its attacks only grew more ferocious. It killed another Divine Eclipse Dragon.

The two remaining Divine Eclipse Dragons fled far away under Nie Yan’s command. He wanted to buy as much time as possible.

Hell Execution!

Hell Execution!

Nie Yan had already lost count of how many times he used Hell Execution. Just as the Dark Demon King was about to close in on another Divine Eclipse Dragon, Zennarde’s Sword shone with an ominous crimson radiance.

−90,551,297!

A dazzling red slash bisected the Dark Demon King. It let out a mournful cry as it crashed to the ground.

"Yes!” Nie Yan exclaimed. If it weren’t for Hell Execution succeeding, he didn’t know how much effort he would have had to spend or if it was even possible for him to shave away the last of the Dark Demon King’s health.

The remains of the toppled Dark Demon King looked like a giant hill.

A crisp notification jingle rang out. Nie Yan had reached Level 190! This one kill gave him about 73% of a bar’s worth of experience!

When players like Tang Yao killed a Level 200 Demonified Lord, they would be lucky to have their experience bars increase by even 1%. However, since Nie Yan was only Level 190, he received an immense amount of experience from the Dark Demon King.

Nie Yan felt a strange energy float up from the remains of the Dark Demon King and flow into his body.

Divine Power +5

Nie Yan was filled with excitement. This truly was an unexpected surprise! He wondered how many Dark Demon Kings were in Hell. If they all gave him five Divine Power, then that would be quite impressive. Checking his status page, he already had 56 Divine Power.

If Nie Yan could acquire 300 Divine Power, he could equip the Death God’s Edge. A thought suddenly occurred to him. This quest might be important for the Death God’s Edge. Perhaps he would gain enough Divine Power to equip it by clearing this quest!

Nie Yan had only this one kill to base his conjecture on. The rest was all intuition.

The Death God’s Edge in one hand and Zennarde’s Sword in the other, these two Sacred weapons could boost his attack considerably.

Regardless of how difficult this quest was, Nie Yan was determined to see it through to the end. After all, if he completed it, his strength would rise to a whole new level!

Nie Yan wondered if the Dark Demon King dropped any good loot. He rummaged through the remains and spotted a viridian coloured crystal fragment.

Nie Yan couldn’t be more familiar with this item! His heart trembled. After such a long time, he finally found another Shattered Divinity!

Even in this dark world filled with death, the Shattered Divinity still glowed a dazzling radiance.

This item was the key to him advancing to a Legend!

There were four requirements to entering the Legendary realm: six Shattered Divinities, Virtues of a Saint, Holy Spirit Heart, and a Sacred item. He’d already gathered the latter three. The only thing he was missing was the Shattered Divinities. Including this one, he now had a total of five! He only needed one more!

The difficulty of becoming a Legend could be described with an SSS-rating. Nie Yan had searched online before. The requirements to advance were different for every player. It was rumoured Bladelight only needed to kill a Level 200 Demonified Lord to become a Legend. Though the truth was that that was only one part in a long chain of quests.

Many players were tackling the barrier to Legendary. There were quite a few at 80% or 90% of the way done. However, there were no reports on anyone succeeding yet.

Nie Yan had spent who knew how much effort on fulfilling the latter three requirements, nearly failing along the way on more than one occasion. Still, relatively speaking, his progress was quite quick.

If Nie Yan hadn’t taken a break from the game, he would’ve likely already become a Legend two years ago. Based on his experience, Shattered Divinities weren’t too hard to find. If you were lucky, they would drop. The other requirements, which he had already fulfilled, were far more difficult!

Since luck seemed to be the determining factor, Nie Yan had been curious to learn when he would collect the final two Shattered Divinities. He was happily surprised the first came to him today!

Nie Yan was only a tiny step away from entering the Legendary realm! If he could take this step before Plenty, that would take him a long way in the upcoming duel.

Since this Dark Demon King dropped a Shattered Divinity, Nie Yan wondered if the others would too. He couldn’t help but become excited. Legend! This mythical realm was already within his sight!

When he became a Legend, Masters would be nothing but scrag!

Nie Yan suppressed the excitement in his heart. Killing another Dark Demon King today wasn’t possible. The Divine Eclipse Dragon’s two Legendary skills would take until tomorrow to come off cooldown!

However, Nie Yan could wait!

After putting away the Shattered Divinity, only then did it occur to Nie Yan that the Dark Demon King might have dropped something else. He was too excited just now and forgot to look.

Nie Yan rummaged through the remains once more and found another strange item.

Ancient Scale (Special Material): Can be used to upgrade equipment.

This item looked like a dragon scale. It was black and translucent, and fit perfectly in his palm.

Another upgrade material. Nie Yan had no clue what it was used for. This was another item he would have to consult Bronnick on.

Nie Yan wasn’t too excited about acquiring the Ancient Scale. After all, he had no idea how good it was. He continued relishing in the joy of obtaining the fifth Shattered Divinity as he returned to grinding the weaker mobs. Tomorrow, he would see if a sixth Shattered Divinity would drop!

Chapter 970 - The Sixth Shattered Divinity!

After confirming he hadn’t missed anything, Nie Yan returned to levelling with the Divine Eclipse Dragon. As for Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon, he revived the two. They were in a weakened state, but would soon fully recover.

On the second day, the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s two Legendary skills came off cooldown. Nie Yan found a second Dark Demon King and killed it.

From its corpse dropped an Ancient Scale and skill book. Unfortunately, there was no Shattered Divinity this time.

No matter what kind of skill book it was, it couldn’t be compared to another Shattered Divinity. Still, Nie Yan wasn’t disappointed.

Nie Yan took a look at the skill book.

Fawne’s Phantom (Thief): Legendary
Requirements: Legend

It was a skill that could only be learned after becoming a Legend!

Fawne was one of the most famous elven Thieves in Conviction’s history, a Legend. This skill book actually carried his name! Nie Yan wondered what this skill did, but there was no description.

This wasn’t the first Legendary skill book. There were already many of them in Asskickers United’s treasury, acquired when the guild members took down Level 200 Demonified Lords. However, since no one had yet become a Legend, they were collecting dust. Among the collection, there were two for Thieves.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but be filled with anticipation. As long as he became a Legend, he could learn three Legendary skills!

All Nie Yan needed was one more Shattered Divinity!

Since Shattered Divinities couldn’t be traded, Nie Yan could only rely on himself to obtain them. There was no official information on where they dropped, but through trial and error he learned that Demonic Lords like the Dark Demon King had a certain chance of dropping them.

Now what Nie Yan needed most was luck!

Nie Yan wondered if another one would drop by the time he took out all the Dark Demon Kings.

Over the next few days, Nie Yan would set aside some time to hunt the Dark Demon Kings. He spent the rest of his time hunting the smaller mobs.

Nie Yan’s harvests were incredibly. The six Dark Demon Kings and the countless smaller mobs he killed helped him level up to Level 193. Apart from this, he also obtained some great loot, including two Demon King Seal Fragments and five Ancient Scales.

Demon King Seal Fragment: Special Item

Properties: Leave this item in your bag to obtain an additional 1% experience when hunting monsters. 0.10% chance a monster will drop an additional magic item. Gather six Demon King Seal Fragments

An item that increased experience gain and drop rate!

If this Demon King Seal Fragment were to be placed in the marketplace, it would cause the strongest and richest players to fight over it. Even if it only increased experience gain by 1%, this was still extremely valuable to any player over Level 150. After all, it meant you could progress 1% faster than others. The astronomical amount of experience required to level up would also seem just that little bit less daunting. Occasionally, items that increased experience gain did appear. However, they were all equipment that had to be worn. Items like the Demon King Seal Fragment which could be left in your bag were extremely rare. It was easily worth 6,000,000 gold.

As for the increased drop rate, that was even better. Every monster had a certain chance of dropping an item. An increase of 0.1% meant you would receive an additional item for every 1,000 monsters you killed. Not to mention magic items were things that gave supplementary skills.

Nie Yan had already gathered two of these fragments. He wondered if the reward for collecting six of them would be a complete Demon King Seal.

Hell was vast. Likely, there were many more Dark Demon Kings he hadn’t discovered yet. Each one he killed could drop a Demon King Seal Fragment!

For the sake of gathering six Demon King Seal Fragments, Nie Yan expanded his search range. He traversed the endless sea of bones without pause.

After 10 whole days, Nie Yan still failed to find the end of Hell. However, he did encounter two more Dark Demon Kings and obtained another Demon King Seal Fragment.

Nie Yan could feel the effects of gaining 3% additional experience. These Demon King Seal Fragments would have a huge impact on his future growth. Even if he wasted a bit more time in Hell, it would be worth it. He wouldn’t even mind spending three or four more months here!

On the level leaderboards, Nie Yan was still Level 156. However, everyone knew that was because he was still in appear offline mode. So, they were every day guessing what his updated level would be. With the levelling speed of a Thief, it definitely couldn’t surpass that of a Mage. This was evident on the leaderboards. The number one player was Tang Yao at Level 206, 92%. Meanwhile, the highest Level Thief was Sun at Level 201, 32%.

Sun’s levelling speed was already nothing short of astonishing for a Thief, but he was still a full five levels behind Tang Yao. The higher the level, the more significant this gap was. One had to know, Tang Yao had been Level 206 for close to two months already, but he still hadn’t levelled up. If you were to compare time, then Tang Yao was at least five months ahead of Sun.

Taking all information available to them into consideration, the playerbase estimated it would already be a heaven-defying miracle if Nie Yan was Level 185 by now. Little did they know that he was already Level 193.

The playerbase concluded the highest Nie Yan could go before his duel with Plenty was Level 195. Meanwhile, Plenty should be able to reach at least Level 205. In a one versus one duel, a 10-level difference was detrimental. Not to mention Level 200 was watershed. The difference would simply be too big.

In terms of equipment, even though Asskickers United had mobilized everyone to help Nie Yan, one couldn’t forget that Plenty was the Chairman of the Dark Council and the guild leader of Fallen Angel. His equipment was the best in the entire underworld. He also had all of Fallen Angel behind him. He wouldn’t necessarily lose out to Asskickers United!

Defeating Plenty in five months, what a joke! Many players felt Nie Yan was in over his head. In the entire Righteous Faction, the only ones who had faith in him were the members of Asskickers United.

The discussion in the outside world didn’t bother Nie Yan one bit. He fully immersed himself in levelling, only checking the forums sporadically. Reading the mocking and pessimistic comments on the forums, he dismissed them with a laugh. If they knew he was already level 193, they’d change their minds real quick.

It didn’t matter what people predicted. Results were all that mattered!

Nie Yan wandered around this barren wasteland of death. Over this past month and a half, apart from that strange pyramid tower, he discovered nothing else. It appeared that place was his destination. However, defeating those 60 super powerful bosses was going to be incredibly difficult.

A devilish laughter cut across the air. Nie Yan’s face lit up with joy. A Dark Demon King!

Nie Yan finally found another Dark Demon King! He dashed over toward the source of the sound. Before long, a towering silhouette appeared in his vision.

Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon charged toward the Dark Demon King. These two had both reached Level 200, which had greatly enhanced their stats; especially Lil’ Gold, with its defense tripling!

Nie Yan no longer needed to spend as much effort to kill a Dark Demon king.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon split into five. After activating Enrage, they started a ferocious assault on the Dark Demon King.

A string of ludicrously high damage values floated up above the Dark Demon King’s head. Its mournful cries rang out across the air.

After whittling the Dark Demon King’s health down for approximately half an hour, Nie Yan dashed in to finish it off with a Hell Execution.

Nie Yan guessed that once he reached Level 200, he wouldn’t need the Demon King Stone anymore to take down a Dark Demon King. By then, he would be strong enough to take care of it himself!

Nie Yan estimated he would reach Level 200 if he stayed here for four months. This already far surpassed his original expectations.

Approaching the Dark Demon King’s remains, Nie Yan’s heart tumped fiercely. Another viridian crystal fragment!

When Nie Yan picked up the crystal fragment, his hands couldn’t stop shaking from excitement. Legend, a Legend, I can finally become a Legend!

Nie Yan finally fulfilled all the requirements for advancing to Legend!

When Nie Yan put away the Shattered Divinity in his bag, a notification popped up.

You have fulfilled all the requirements to become a Legend. Seek out Archangel Tallod. He will help you complete your advancement.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. It turned out you had to visit Archangel Tallod to complete your advancement. It made sense. Only an NPC of that level could help a player ascend to the Legendary realm.

Nie Yan could finally become a Legend! It truly hadn’t been easy. The journey it took to get here was far more difficult than becoming a Shadow Dancer. It was a pity he couldn’t immediately advance, or else his levelling speed in Hell would increase considerably.

Nie Yan suddenly had an idea. Before the portal leading out opened, he definitely had to complete this quest! Then when he became a Legend, he wouldn’t have to worry about finding another place to level!

After placing all the items required to advance to a Legend in one corner of his bag, Nie Yan continued searching around the Dark Demon King’s remains and found another Demon King Seal Fragment. Now he had a total of four fragments, two away from completion. Given the drop rate of these fragments, it wouldn’t be too difficult to gather the rest.

Nie Yan could already imagine his glorious return.

Chapter 971 - Demon King Seal!

With the goal right before his eyes, Nie Yan felt time was of the essence. His motivation was reinvigorated and he picked up the pace.

Sure enough, a person’s potential was decided by how much effort they were willing to put in.

Five days later, Nie Yan finally collected the sixth Demon King Seal Fragment. After putting it in his bag, it fused together with the other five fragments. The complete Demon King Seal! It looked like the seal of an ancient emperor, with the design of a demon spreading its wings carved on the surface.

Nie Yan examined the item.

Demon King Seal: Special Item

Properties: Leave this item in your bag to gain 10% additional experience when hunting monsters. 1% chance for monsters to drop an additional magic item.

These bonuses were great, far better than the six fragments added together.

It was worthy of an item that dropped from Hell. Nie Yan had spent a month and a half down here already. His harvests were ample. Of course, this was to be expected since the gatekeeper was Archangel Tallod and the entrance key a Sacred Item.

With the Demon King Seal, Nie Yan had an even better chance of reaching Level 200 in five months’ time.

"Plenty, just you wait! I'll come looking for you!” Nie Yan clenched his fist. No matter what, he wouldn’t allow anyone to destroy Asskickers United!

After completing the Demon King Seal, Nie Yan felt there was no longer any reason to continue levelling in this area. He set off toward the pyramid tower of bone he spotted before.

About half an hour later, Nie Yan arrived at his destination.

Nie Yan had the Divine Eclipse Dragon and his other pets hunt monsters in the area. Meanwhile, he approached the foot of the mountain upon which the pyramid tower stood. Up ahead were 60 enormous monsters. They completely sealed off the path. Each one of these monsters was more frightening than a Dark Demon King. He closed in on one of them and activated Transcendent Insight.

Umbra Demon King (Demonified Lord): Level 210

The Umbra Demon King sensed something and looked over in Nie Yan’s direction.

Nie Yan hurriedly hid behind a large pile of bones and activated Extreme Disappear. The Umbra Demon King glanced over at his hiding spot, but failed to find anything. Finally, it turned around and walked away.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat. Level 210 Demonified Lords! They were a full 10 levels higher than the Dark Demon Kings!

Sure enough, just one of these monsters was already far too strong for him to take on, let alone 60 of them. A frontal confrontation was suicide.

It seemed like Nie Yan’s only option was to sneak past them.

However, sneaking by these Umbra Demon Kings was easier said than done. They could easily one-shot him!

Nie Yan glanced at the Divine Eclipse Dragon, Lil’ Gold, and the Violet Eye Dragon farming in the distance. An idea came to mind. He could have his trio of dragons draw away the attention of several Umbra Demon Kings. Like this, it would alleviate some of the pressure on him.

Nie Yan didn’t expect to succeed on the first try. However, dying had to be avoided. If he died, the quest would fail. So, he had to move with caution.

Nie Yan circled around the bone mountain and carefully examined the terrain. The defenses at the front were the tightest, with 62 Umbra Demon Kings roaming around. To both sides of the mountain were also 40 to 50 Umbra Demon Kings. The back of the mountain was the least heavily guarded, with only 21 Umbra Demon Kings. However, behind them was a cliff wall about 100 meters high.

This cliff didn’t pose much of an obstacle to Nie Yan. All he had to do was draw the Umbra Demon Kings away.

Nie Yan decided to choose the path of least resistance. He had his trio of dragons regroup to his side as he began to carry out his plan.

First, Nie Yan had his shadow clone dash toward an Umbra Demon King. Before long, it approached within 200 meters of it.

The Umbra Demon King noticed the shadow clone’s presence and let out a terrifying roar. It charged forward while madly flailing its greataxe.

Nie Yan hurriedly had his shadow clone flee as far away as possible.

The Umbra Demon King barrelled forward with enormous strides, the earth violently quaking beneath its feet. Nie Yan could tell the distance between the two was rapidly shrinking.

The Umbra Demon King’s movement speed was at least 8,500!

Nie Yan felt a chill run down his spine. Even he wasn’t even half a fast as this Umbra Demon King!

Faced with this kind of boss, running away was impossible!

The Umbra Demon King quickly closed in on the shadow clone. It brandished its greataxe and cleaved down.

The shadow clone leaped out of the way! CRASH! A several meters wide scar was carved out of the earth in the place the shadow clone originally stood.

The shadow clone managed to dodge the first attack, but before it had a chance to continue fleeing, the Umbra Demon King cleaved down again with its greataxe. BOOOM! Dirt and bone fragments flew everywhere.

Your shadow clone has died.

The shadow clone barely lasted a minute!

The Umbra Demon King’s attack speed was even more frightening than its movement speed at at least 9,500! Nie Yan moved like a snail in comparison, with only 5,300 attack speed.

Faced with this kind of attack speed, Nie Yan estimated he’d be lucky to dodge even two attacks. As for its attack power, even his three dragons combined couldn’t compare.

However, the most frightening aspect was that there were 21 such existences gathered together in one spot.

Nie Yan lingered around the outskirts of the area for two days, occasionally sending out the Divine Eclipse Dragon, Violet Eye Dragon, Lil’ Gold, Paladin Lafus, and his shadow clone to probe the attack patterns of the Umbra Demon Kings. Only like this could he gather the confidence to take action.

On the third day, Nie Yan decided to bombard the Umbra Demon Kings with Forbidden Magic.

The maximum attack range of the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s Forbidden Magic was 1,200 meters. Nie Yan wanted to know if he could lure the Umbra Demon Kings from such a great distance.

Nie Yan led the Divine Eclipse Dragon to the top of a hill about 1,200 meters away. The air was filled with a dark haze. It was hard to spot the Umbra Demon Kings from this far away.

Nie Yan used the shadow clone to locate the Umbra Demon Kings, then had the Divine Eclipse Dragon cast its Forbidden Magic.

Holy energy started rapidly converging in the air, flooding the surroundings with light.

Glorious Radiance!

This Forbidden Magic had the largest attack range. It had a cast range of 900 meters and a radius from the epicenter of the attack of about 300 meters. So, it was just enough to reach the Umbra Demon Kings.

Sensing the torrent of holy energy converging in the sky, the Umbra Demon Kings turned restless.

However, their detection range was far lower than 1,200 meters.

After two full sets of syllables, a boundlessly dazzling sphere of light streaked down toward the earth like a meteor. BOOOM! It detonated mid-air and rained down a torrent of pure and holy flames.

As the Forbidden Magic fell down, Nie Yan had his shadow clone activate Adjudicator of God.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Holy flames rained down on the Umbra Demon Kings. A blanket of 100,000s floated up into the air. However, this kind of damage was nothing to these bosses.

After suffering an attack the Umbra Demon Kings immediately dispersed. Five charged toward the source of the attack, while the rest escaped the range of the attack, leaving the path to the mountain wide open.

Borrowing the shadow clone’s vision, Nie Yan was elated. This method could work!

Even though a Forbidden Magic like Glorious Radiance wouldn’t deal much damage to the Umbra Demon Kings, it could scatter them!

Nie Yan didn’t expect this crazy idea to work. However, it still carried some danger. If he were unlucky enough to bump into one of the Umbra Demon Kings and suffered an attack, he would undoubtedly die!

Without a better method, Nie Yan had no other choice. Besides, if he didn’t try, how would he know?

Glorious Radiance lasted for about two minutes. The holy energy in the sky rapidly dissipated as the surroundings settled down. Seeing the five Umbra Demon Kings fast approaching, Nie Yan had his Divine Eclipse Dragon retreat far away. When the Umbra Demon Kings failed to find anything, they turned around and left.

Through the shadow clone’s eyes, Nie Yan discovered the Umbra Demon Kings gathered below the cliff wall again.

The duration of Forbidden Magic was limited. Nie Yan had to make use of every second. If a mishap occurred, he would be doomed!

After waiting around for another day and replaying his plan over and over again in his mind, Nie Yan finally made his decision. He was going to give it a shot.

Nie Yan recalled Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon. He had the Divine Eclipse Dragon activated Doppelganger and Enrage. Five Divine Eclipse Dragons appeared on the hilltop.

Nie Yan carefully carried out his plan. Two Divine Eclipse Dragons remained on the hilltop, preparing to cast the Forbidden Magic. Another three approached the Umbra Demon Kings from the flanks.

Double checking everything, Nie Yan confirmed he was ready.

Nie Yan flitted across the wasteland, stopping at about 300 meters from the Umbra Demon Kings. Looking to his sides, the three Divine Eclipse Dragons slowly closed in on their targets, 300 meters, 200 meters...

Nie Yan narrowed his eyes as his heart raced. It was about to begin!

The three Divine Eclipse Dragons let out a low dragon cry, their voices cutting across the air like thunder. The Umbra Demon King stirred as half of them charged toward the three dragons.

Meanwhile, a large amount of holy energy violently surged in the air. It was another Forbidden Magic similar to the previous, Radiance Rupture!

Balls of light started streaking down from the sky like a meteor shower.

Nie Yan waited for the right moment before activating Adjudicator of God.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Countless balls of light exploded on Nie Yan’s body. Streaks of light and debris flew everywhere.

Chapter 972 - Mysterious Throne

A shower of berserk magic bombarded Nie Yan but failed to do any damage to him.

The Umbra Demon Kings immediately dispersed. Nie Yan’s path forward was cleared open.

Still, Nie Yan patiently waited. Only after the Umbra Demon Kings were a good distance away, did he dash forward with Gale Step.

Nie Yan only needed half a minute at most to reach the bottom of the cliff wall.

Thanks to the five Divine Eclipse Dragons working together to draw the aggro from all 21 Umbra Demon Kings, Nie Yan’s path ahead was completely clear. However, even this wasn’t enough. The two Umbra Demon Kings closest to him sensed him and roared out angrily. They charged toward him, brushing off the Forbidden Magic.

Crap! How in the world did they notice me?

Nie Yan was about a hundred meters away from the Umbra Demon Kings. Never did he expect that he would still be detected!

A tremble shot through Nie Yan’s heart as he watched the two Umbra Demon Kings surround him. He was no match for these two bosses!

Thankfully, Nie Yan had prepared for this kind of situation. He had Kalenna buff him with all sorts of blessings, giving him an explosive boost in speed. As long as he reached the cliff wall, he would be safe!

The two Umbra Demon Kings rapidly closed in on Nie Yan.

Beckon Doom!

Three Doom Sentinels appeared behind Nie Yan. He had Kalenna buff them with defensive spells. His speed didn’t slow at all.

With the protection of the defensive spells, the Radiance Rupture couldn’t harm the Doom Sentinels.

The three Doom Sentinels moved to intercept the two Umbra Demon Kings.

The two Umbra Demon Kings roared and cleaved down with their greataxes. BOOOM! Triple instant kill! The Doom Sentinels were blown apart. They were nothing more than ants in front of the Umbra Demon Kings!

However, the Doom Sentinels did briefly stall the two Umbra Demon Kings.

Nie Yan glanced back over his shoulder. He was happy to find his tactic worked. Without missing a beat, he summoned Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon and protected them with shields.

The two dragons roared and went up to meet the Umbra Demon Kings. They could hold them off for a brief moment, but it still wasn’t enough. It was another 300 meters to the cliff wall for Nie Yan while the Umbra Demon Kings were only 50 meters behind him. They could still catch up to him!

Shadow Clone!

Nie Yan split into two. The real him vanished with Extreme Disappear while the clone fled in a different direction.

BANG! BANG! The two dragons also failed to withstand the attacks from the Umbra Demon Kings. Their mangled bodies arced through the air before lifelessly crashing into the ground. Instant death!

A Level 210 Demonified Lord was at least eight times stronger than a Level 200 Demonified Lord. Even Level 200 dragons like Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon were felled with one attack.

After the two Umbra Demon Kings finished dealing with the dragons, they halted their steps and stood in place with confused looks. They sensed two presences. One was particularly strong and fleeing to the left. The other was rather faint and heading towards the cliff wall.

These two presences were naturally Nie Yan and his shadow clone.

After hesitating for a brief second, the two Umbra Demon Kings charged after the shadow clone.

True, the Umbra Demon Kings were Level 210 Demonified Lords, but they were also undead. Their intelligence wasn’t very high. So, most of their decisions were based on the aggro system. The shadow clone had the stronger presence. So, they went after it first!

The Umbra Demon Kings had no ability to think, let alone do something as complex as trying to determine Nie Yan’s objective. So, they couldn’t tell which was which.

Nie Yan smirked. Everything was going as he planned. He gradually closed in on the base of the cliff wall.

Only five seconds later, a notification popped up.

Your shadow clone has died.

However, in these five seconds, Nie Yan had already covered a distance of more than 100 meters, widening the gap with the Umbra Demon Kings to 150 meters. After killing the shadow clone, the two Umbra Demon Kings immediately set their sights on him.

Nie Yan could only stake everything he had. Looking up ahead, the cliff wall was almost within reach.

The two Umbra Demon Kings were hot on Nie Yan’s tail. They were right behind in a moment and swung down with their greataxes.

Just as one greataxe came down on his head, Nie Yan’s dodged to the side, the energy of the attack barely brushing past him.

BANG! Nie Yan could easily guess what happened to the ground behind, but he didn’t dare to turn back to look.

The two Umbra Demon Kings both missed their attacks. Seeing a silhouette fleeing into the distance, their anger soared. They roared out as their bodies ignited with black flames. Swinging out with their greataxes, two enormous, fiery slashes cleaved down from the sky.

Nie Yan was only 50 meters from the cliff wall, when a piercing heat attacked him from overhead. He held his breath as he saw the two flaming slashes coming down on him. Given how large they were, it would be impossible for him to dodge. He had Kalenna protect him with her highest rank shield.

Nie Yan took out a Specialist Health Potion and soared into the air with a Leap, braving one of the flaming slashes head-on.

BANG! The shield around Nie Yan’s body shattered instantly as flames engulfed him.

A damage value of over 90,000 floated up above Nie Yan’s head as his body was flung toward the cliff wall. He quickly downed the Specialist Health Potion before shooting out a web line at the cliff wall. With a hard tug, he swung through the air and landed on the wall.

He didn’t die!

Nie Yan was panting heavily, cold sweat drenching his neck. That was an attack from a Level 210 Demonified Lord!

The only reason Nie Yan had survived was because of the magic immunity effect of Adjudicator of God. He’d activated it earlier to move around freely through the Radiance Rupture. The flame slash the Umbra Demon King unleashed was at least 80% magic damage. All of it was completely negated, meaning he only took 20% damage. Even then, that was still enough to instantly shatter his shield and shave away more than 90,000 of his health.

Seeing the two Umbra Demon Kings fast approaching, Nie Yan activated the Crawl skill and quickly scaled up the cliff wall like a spider.

BANG! BANG! BANG! The sound of the rocks crumbling below him threatened to swallow him whole.

Nie Yan ignored the Umbra Demon Kings as he climbed up the mountain with graceful agility.

At about 60 meters up the wall, Nie Yan looked down. The two Umbra Demon Kings were moving around restlessly at the base. They couldn’t climb. So, all they could do was roar and flail their greataxes.

Nie Yan looked up into the sky. He saw several enormous flying creatures circling above him. They were even larger than the Rank 9 Darkwing Dragon. He definitely couldn’t let them discover him, or else he would be done for.

Borrowing the protruding bones as cover, Nie Yan slowly approached the pyramid tower. As he circled round to the front, he found an opening just large enough to fit a single person.

Looking up at the sky to confirm those flying creatures hadn’t noticed him, Nie Yan carefully entered the pyramid tower. His surroundings instantly became dark.

Nie Yan had no idea where the narrow passage led to. The sides of the walls were lit up with torches, their dim flames flickering to and fro, stretching out far into the distance.

Nie Yan walked with extreme caution. He had no idea what he would encounter around the next corner.

Six minutes later, Nie Yan arrived in a large hall. The ceiling was about 30 meters high. The rows of towering pillars made this place appear especially grand. Painted on them, the walls, and the ceilings were beautiful murals of demons and angels. It depicted a war between the two sides. At the center was a mighty angel facing a dark creature with countless tentacles. That was likely the God of Light and the Death God.

Only after making sure there were no monsters here, did Nie Yan relax. At the end of the hall stood an empty throne made out of a mysterious black metal. There also appeared to be something beside the throne.

It appeared he was too paranoid. There really were no monsters here.

It made sense. Just entering this pyramid was already extremely difficult. The Umbra Demon Kings guarding outside were powerful beyond belief. It was enough to make this an SSS-rated quest. If even more powerful monsters appeared inside, then it really would be too unfair!

Nie Yan focused on the thing next to the throne, his heart trembling. As he took a step toward it, an immense pressure bore down on him.

This force couldn’t be resisted. Nie Yan felt as if he were going to be squished into a meaty patty. It was the aura of a god!

This frightening strength reigned over all!

Could it be that he was going to die here? Nie Yan was filled with unwillingness. After braving through countless dangers, was he really going to die right before the finish line?

Did he fail to meet some important condition of the quest?

Chapter 973 - Great Hell Judge!

Nie Yan’s mind flashed with countless possibilities. Just what requirement did he fail to fulfill? Could it be that he first had to wipe out all the Umbra Demon Kings for the quest to be considered complete?

But how could that be it? It was simply impossible for him, or any other player, to take out so many Umbra Demon Kings!

As Nie Yan gave up all hope, Kalenna floated up above his shoulder and waved her staff. A white light enveloped his body, alleviating the pressure.

Guardian Barrier!

Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced at Kalenna. If it wasn’t for her, he’d be done for.

After carefully checking the area up ahead for any traps, Nie Yan walked toward the throne.

You have discovered the Death God’s Throne.

This mysterious metal throne actually belonged to the Death God!

The throne was without its lord. According to legend, the Death God and the God of Light had killed each other in mutual destruction. Nie Yan shifted his gaze down to the small black box sitting next to the throne on the floor. It was made out of wood and bore no special engravings. It couldn’t look any more ordinary.

Nie Yan wondered what was inside the box. He picked it up. There was no lock, but he could sense a strange energy coming from within.

Nie Yan carefully opened the box and discovered a black skull inside. His heart trembled violently. It was about the same size as a human’s, and gave off a black shine, as if it were made out of crystal. Inserted in the middle of its forehead was a large crimson jewel. Though most terrifying were the eyeballs that still filled its eye sockets. As they shifted around, its jaw unhinged and let out an eerie cackle.

Sure enough, it was the Death God’s Skull, the item Nie Yan came to Hell for!

"Got it!” Nie Yan closed the box. He was just about to leave when he discovered he couldn’t use his Unknown Transfer Scroll.

A violent tremor suddenly shook the entire hall. Frightening cracks spread out through the walls. This whole place was going down!

Nie Yan fled toward the exit! He had to escape before thinking about anything else!

Using all his speed boosting skills, Nie Yan streaked across the narrow passageway like a bolt of lightning.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Nie Yan heard the walls collapsing behind him.

As Nie Yan exited the pyramid tower, he saw the Umbra Demon Kings running away in the distance. They seemed terrified by something to the point they didn’t even bother looking at him. He felt an odd sense of relief and fear welling up.

Several dozens of kilometers away, far into the horizon, an enormous pillar of light descended from the sky. It pierced through the boundless darkness.

It was the portal to the outside!

Nie Yan’s heart was filled with elation. Even though the appointed time for the portal hadn't arrived yet, his quest was completed. So, Archangel Tallod had opened the portal early for him.

Nie Yan sprinted for half a kilometer before feeling the earth violently quake below him. The mountain behind him collapsed as an unrivalled creature crawled out. It was a titanic skeletal monster!

This monster was over 100 meters tall. Compared to this creature, the Umbra Demon Kings were nothing more than ants. It could easily squash them to bits with one foot!

Nie Yan inspected the creature with Transcendent Insight.

Bone Emperor (Lord): Level 300

The Bone Emperor climbed out of the collapsed mountain and locked onto the fleeing Nie Yan. It let out a world-shaking roar.

Nie Yan felt his soul leaving his body. Just the roar of the Bone Emperor alone threatened to send him flying!

Nie Yan sensed an ice-cold gaze lock onto him, causing his body to shiver violently from head to toe. He couldn’t help but curse uncontrollably. What kind of frightening boss was this? Who could possibly deal with it, when escaping from under its watch was already impossibly difficult?

What kind of difficulty rating would this quest have? An SSSSS-rating?

What Nie Yan didn’t know was that this quest was originally never this difficult. However, with the release of the Chaos Temple and Sword of the War God, the system upped this quest’s difficulty. There was no way he could possibly complete it at this difficulty.

For the first part of Hell, unless a player was Level 200+, they wouldn’t stand much of a chance against the Level 180 Elites and Lords. When it came to the Level 210 Demonified Lords, perhaps even Level 220 players wouldn’t be enough to kill them.

Nie Yan reaching this point and obtaining the Death God’s Skull was nothing short of a miracle.

Under the gaze of the Bone Emperor, Nie Yan lost all will to resist. Angering a Level 300 Lord was no different from committing suicide. He couldn’t even run away as he wasn’t nearly fast enough.

There were at least 90 gigantic flying creatures circling in the sky. So, trying to escape by summoning the Spectre Dragon wasn’t an option either.

Nie Yan was ready to give up, when a light bulb lit up in his head. With his current strength, facing the Bone Emperor spelt absolute death. However, he wasn’t completely helpless. He still had two Kelo Stones!

Nie Yan fetched a Kelo Stone from his bag and crushed it.

The Bone Emperor was about to kill Nie Yan with its first attack, when a presence even more powerful than it swept out. It halted its steps in shock.

The hulking figure of War God Kelo appeared in front of Nie Yan. He originally worried Kelo might not be able to enter Hell. However, after seeing him, he breathed a sigh of relief. He was finally safe.

"Hello, War God Kelo,” Nie Yan greeted. The Bone Emperor stood some distance away, frozen in fear.

War God Kelo’s gaze fell on Nie Yan, then on the Bone Emperor. He faintly smiled. "Long time no see, young lad. It looks like you need my help?”

"Yes, sir!” Nie Yan nodded vigorously.

"I can’t help you complete a quest, but your quest only requires you to obtain the Death God’s Skull. It doesn’t include defeating this bag of bones. Alright, I will help you take it down. Hurry up, leave,” War God Kelo said.

Nie Yan recalled War God Kelo had said something about this before. Fortunately, his quest was merely to retrieve the Death God’s Skull, and it was already in his hands. This could be considered a loophole. Hell was an actual map, and not a special quest instance. So, since Nie Yan had already finished the quest, War God Kelo could come to his side and help him deal with this monster that chased after him because of the quest.

Nie Yan relaxed. As he left the Bone Emperor to War God Kelo, he sprinted toward the distant portal. He wouldn’t gain any experience from War God Kelo killing the Bone Emperor anyway, nor would he receive any drops. So, there was no point in staying.

A loud clashing sound broke out behind him. With War God Kelo’s strength, defeating the Bone Emperor would be simple. Nie Yan didn’t bother looking back. He stepped into the portal and disappeared with a flash of light.

When Nie Yan opened his eyes again, he was outside the Gates of Hell.

"Youngster, I’m truly surprised. You actually retrieved the Death God’s Skull,” Archangel Tallod said in astonishment.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Thinking about their previous exchange, no wonder he was offered the choice to simply hand over the Death God’s Edge and leave. Instead, he foolishly jumped right into Hell and almost lost his life!

Nevertheless, Nie Yan had profited immensely from disaster. If he hadn’t entered Hell, he wouldn’t have gained so many levels in such a short amount of time, nor would he have obtained the two Shattered Divinities.

Especially this last point lightened Nie Yan’s mood.

"Archangel Tallod, this is the Death God’s Skull you asked me to retrieve,” Nie Yan said, handing over the skull.

Archangel Tallod accepted the black box, whereupon his hands lit up with a pure white flame. A shrill cry rang out as the box and its contents were rendered into ash, disappearing into the wind.

You have completed Archangel Tallod’s Request and obtained the Great Hell Judge title.

Three rays of light fell over Nie Yan. Apart from the title, there was also the experience reward! Nie Yan couldn’t help but become excited. Since this was basically a god-level mission, the experience reward couldn’t possibly be small! He had levelled up three whole times!

If Nie Yan were to gain three levels in a row at Level 150, he wouldn’t be too excited. Now, however, he was already level 193! With these three levels, he jumped directly to level 196!

This quest reward put him one large stride forward to Level 200.

Nie Yan glanced at the Great Hell Judge title. It was a Tier 3 Temple of Light title, superseding the Adjudicator of Light title. This title even surpassed Great Prophet and was on the same footing as Supreme Pontiff!

Great Hell Judge: All Stats +50%, Movement Speed +200%, Summon an Archangel (Requires Book of Order).

What an amazing title! When Nie Yan completed the Book of Order, he could summon an Archangel. He wondered how strong the Archangel would be. Would it reach the Legendary realm?

Apart from these bonuses, there was also one more pleasant surprise. Kalenna’s strongest defensive magic, her Guardian Barrier, was finally unlocked! He could freely use it now!

A title that didn’t lose out to the Chairman of the Dark Council, an unrivalled defensive magic, and about to become a Legend. If he were to challenge Plenty after completing this last part, how much of a chance would he have?

Nie Yan felt he was already strong enough. However, he couldn’t guarantee Plenty didn’t have some kind of trump card. Since he had already reached this point, he needed to thoroughly crush Plenty and wipe away any traces of his ambition!

Chapter 974 - Legendary Thief!

The final reward for delivering the Death God’s Skull to Archangel Tallod was 300 Divine Power. Nie Yan was already at 180 Divine Power, most of which came from killing Dark Demon Kings. Combined together, he had a total of 480 Divine Power, allowing him to equip the Death God’s Edge.

With the Death God’s Edge in one hand and Zennarde’s Sword in the other, Nie Yan’s attack power would rise by another level. Not to mention the Death God’s Edge had crit bonuses and the ability to inflict various high rank curses as well as the Death God Tempest supplementary skill.

Be it in PvP or PvE, this weapon’s might was not to be looked down on!

The two daggers were the ultimate weapons. Nie Yan’s only regret was that he didn’t have the armour to match them. However, that would soon change.

Nie Yan sunk into deep thought. After he successfully completed his class advancement, he still had many things to do. First, he had to find the Inheritance Gems to rank up the Tyrant Abak Set and turn it into a Chaos set with the Dark Void Iron. After that, he needed to get to Level 200. Then came Karsi’s quest to rescue the Ten Holy Paladins. Even at this stage of the game, a Legendary servant would still be of immeasurable value. The Book of Order would come next. It would not only give him the Supreme Pontiff title, but also let him summon an Archangel. Finally, there was the Hidden Treasure of the Dragon Race, which would hopefully give him a special reward, and the wings for which he needed to find a few more materials. This last point was of vital importance if he were to fight winged opponents.

These six things were his main priorities. Beside that, his quest window was filled with six other quests both large and small that he hadn’t completed yet. However, he didn’t consider them important. He’d probably just pass them on to someone else. After reaching this point, even if he completed them himself, they would do little to make him stronger. For example, Cahill’s Parchment Scroll was likely related to some treasure. However, he couldn’t be bothered to retrieve it. One of the top members in the guild could do it instead.

As long as Nie Yan succeeded in becoming a Legend, all his quests would become a piece of cake for him.

Nie Yan retrieved the Death God’s Edge from the gate. In the instant it entered his hand, it let out a dazzling radiance before slowly fading away, leaving behind an ominous red glow.

The feeling of being able to wield the Death God’s Edge was wonderful.

"You have fulfilled all the requirements to step into the Legendary realm. Do you wish to become a Legend? If so, I shall be your guide,” Archangel Tallod said.

Do you wish to become a Legend? In order to step into the Legendary realm, one of the Sacred items in your possession will be bound to you.

Nie Yan decided to have the Death God’s Edge bound to him, then confirmed his choice.

From out of nowhere, six small angels appeared above Nie Yan’s head. They were about the size of Kalenna. There were both men and women, their bodies draped in pure white robes. They sprinkled white specks of light which floated down from the air and entered his body.

Nie Yan felt a warm energy flowing throughout his body. This was a completely new feeling.

Roughly three minutes later, the angels disappeared without a trace.

"Nirvana Flame, you have completed your ascension. From henceforth, you will serve as a representative of God in the human world, spreading the light in his place. You can choose to make your ascension public to the world. If you do, you will receive the support of the entire Righteous Faction. You may also choose to keep your identity concealed. However, if the Righteous Faction comes under attack, I hope you will step forward to save the innocent and banish all evil,” Archangel Tallod said.

Do you wish to make your ascension to a Legend public?

Nie Yan had been worried news of him becoming a Legend would make its way to the Evil Faction. But it seemed there was nothing to worry about, since he could choose to conceal this information!

Nie Yan declined to make his advancement public. This was a server-shaking piece of news! Unbeknownst to everyone, he had become the first Legendary player in the game! Be it the players from the Righteous Faction or Evil Faction, none of them would even consider this a possibility.

Since news of becoming a Legend could be hidden, Nie Yan wondered if there were others who had advanced before him. One thing was for sure though. Apart from him, no one else in Asskickers United had become one. In fact, only Plenty came to mind when he thought about it.

Nie Yan glanced at his character window. In front of his name was a long list of titles: Legendary Thief, Great Hell Judge, Great Prophet, Great Duke, and Venerable Nirvana Flame - Edmet.

Edmet was the family name of the guider, signifying that Nie Yan was guided to the Legendary realm by Tallod Edmet.

Nie Yan had acquired many more titles over the years. However, as his standing rose within different regions and the Righteous Faction as a whole, none of these titles were worthy of being displayed with his name.

Any one of the five high rank titles mentioned would make a person gasp in astonishment. Moreover, one person possessed them all! When Nie Yan completed the Book of Order, he would even gain another one, Supreme Pontiff!

After advancing to a Legend, Nie Yan saw a 300% boost to all his stats. Like this, his movement speed and attack speed directly closed in on the post Chaos Temple and Sword of the War God cap. If he were to face an Umbra Demon King now, he could easily chip away at it until it was dead!

Apart from the stat bonuses, Nie Yan could also choose to rank up three of his skills to Legendary. He chose Gale Step, Backbreaker, and Counter. These three skills were the most important to him. Skills like Annihilation Slash, Apocalyptic Extinction, and so on were all supplementary skills from his equipment and so couldn’t be selected.

Gale Step, Backbreaker, and Counter became Gale Step of Nirvana Flame, Backbreaker of Nirvana Flame, and Counter of Nirvana Flame. Nie Yan couldn’t help but wryly smile. However, the change in the names signified they were no longer ordinary skills. They had received the branding of a Legendary Thief!

If Nie Yan used Gale Step of Nirvana Flame, any player below Legendary wouldn’t be able to detect a trace of his existence. As for Backbreaker and Counter, they became much fiercer than before. Their effects were increased by at least sixfold. Even if he were to face a super powerful boss, they would still have an effect!

Nie Yan also learned the Legendary skill book he found in Hell, Fawne’s Phantom.

This was a skill similar to Gale Step, but it had no cooldown or duration. It was basically a passive skill. Its effects were up to the player to comprehend.

While Nie Yan was distracted by all his new stat bonuses, a notification popped up to all players of the Righteous Faction.

Hell has been released. All players from the Righteous Faction are welcome to enter this new map and explore it.

The release of a new map generally wouldn’t shock players. After all, there were at least five or six every month. However, the official website released quite some information on Hell, including the mobs that spawned here. This immediately caused an uproar.

Hell had a total of 13 Level 200 Demonified Lord spawn areas, while on the entire surface world there were only 23 Level 200 Demonified Lord spawn areas. These Demonified Lords usually took at least a week to respawn, some a month or more. There simply weren’t enough to go around. Every day countless players would camp these areas. As soon as the boss spawned, a large scramble would break out. Now, a new map with more than a dozen new Level 200 Demonified Lords was released. How could the players not be excited?

Countless cities opened up transfer gates directly to the Gates of Hell. Before long, expedition teams from all the large guilds set out to explore Hell.

Nie Yan chatted with Archangel Tallod for a bit, wanting to dig up anything extra. However, all Tallod spoke about was the history of the conflict between the Righteous Faction and Evil Faction. Gleaning no useful information, he could only give up.

As he looked at the players in the distance rushing over, Nie Yan weighed whether he wanted to go back now and upgrade his equipment or take on a Level 210 Umbra Demon King first. After all, as a Legend he could probably take them on!

There were at least 200 Umbra Demon Kings. From Nie Yan’s point of view, that was a large pile of experience!

"Let’s upgrade my equipment first!” Nie Yan decided. Even though a large number of players had entered Hell, it would take several weeks for them to explore far enough to encounter the Umbra Demon Kings.

Nie Yan teleported to Judgement Valley with Instant Transmission. With his current strength, killing the Chaos Keeper would be a piece of cake. He’d be able to retrieve the two remaining Inheritance Gems in one hour tops!

「Have you gotten the materials I asked for?」Nie Yan sent a message to Guo Huai.

「We have everything, including the Dark Void Iron. However, Bladelight and them want to help you get the higher quality Void Silver. Sadly, we’ve only collected 16 ores so far, still not enough to smelt one ingot,」Guo Huai replied.

「That’s fine. It’s the thought that counts. Just deposit everything into my personal storage. I’ll go pick it up in a bit. You can dispatch an expedition team to Hell. The levelling speed there is pretty good. But be careful. The mob density there is unusually high. Bring more Priests and Paladins,」Nie Yan said. After which he continued to explain the situation inside Hell.

Guo Huai gasped in shock as he listened to Nie Yan talk of the hordes of wraiths and undead blotting out the sky and covering the land. Let alone going there to level, he was worried their members would be killed as soon as they stepped foot in there. Only an expedition team of several hundred Masters could survive such a place! Since there were so many monsters, the levelling would certainly be fast. It was best to use AoE magic!

「I’ll send out an expedition team right away!」Guo Huai said.

After finishing his chat with Guo Huai, Nie Yan rushed over to the Chaos Keeper spawn area. Time was precious. He wanted to get everything done as quickly as possible!

Chapter 975 - Inheritance of Life Gem

The Depths of Judgement Valley.

The Chaos Keeper had spawned three days ago. However, no one had managed to kill it yet.

At this stage of the game, a Level 190 Demonified Lord wasn’t too difficult to deal with. However, few Masters bothered to come here to fight this boss. There were many reasons for this. First and foremost was the fact that Judgement Valley was a PvP hotspot, especially for skirmishes between the two great factions. It didn’t matter who came to deal with the Chaos Keeper, there was always someone ready to interfere. It also didn’t help that the Chaos Keeper didn’t drop anything particularly amazing. In fact, what it did drop was pretty sub par given the difficulty of the boss. So, it really wasn’t worth the effort for higher level players.

Nevertheless, the Chaos Keeper was still a hotly contested battleground.

After flitting through a patch of forest, Nie Yan finally entered the hunting grounds of the Chaos Keeper. Seeing this Level 190 Demonified Lord again, his feelings toward it were completely different from before.

No longer was it an unreachable existence. Now, Nie Yan could easily wipe the floor with it!

Around the Chaos Keeper was a large crowd. The players from the two factions were clashing fiercely. When some players occasionally died, either to the boss or those from the enemy faction, they would drop their equipment, triggering a mass scramble.

Kill the Chaos Keeper, retrieve the Inheritance Gem, and leave. Nie Yan had zero intention of tangling with these players.

Glancing at his skill bar, Nie Yan had an idea. Why not use this opportunity to test out his new Legendary skills?

Nie Yan strode forward and blurred into motion.

Wind howling past his ears and the scenery flitting before him, Nie Yan felt faster than ever. This was the speed cap!

About 60 players from Asskickers United were on the battlefield. One of them was called Thunderfire Blaze. He was a first-rate member in the guild.

"Old Six, Old Eight! Help me kill that Spectral Thief. He’s already injured three of our members! He doesn’t have any skills left!” Thunderfire Blaze roared, commanding two Warriors to pincer the Spectral Thief.

Charge!

Charge!

The two Warriors accelerated toward the Spectral Thief. As they raised their weapons to attack, a silhouette flashed before the Spectral Thief. They saw the flash of a blade, and then a damage value of 70,000 floating up above the Spectral Thief’s head. An instant kill!

Thunderfire Blaze froze in place, his mouth gaping open in shock. He searched for the silhouette, only to find it had already traversed 60 meters! What astonishing speed!

Thunderfire Blaze was no stranger to peak experts, having interacted with the likes of Sun and Mistaken Smile before. However, even those two nor any other player he’d met was fast as that silhouette. He looked with incredulous eyes.

As Thunderfire Blaze thought back to what happened a moment ago, he recalled catching a glimpse of a black flame when the Spectral Thief was killed. Zennarde’s Sword! His heart trembled as a certain figure surfaced in his mind. His eyes started tearing up with emotion. The boss was back!

Nie Yan was already this strong? He’d only returned to the game a few months ago!

Thunderfire Blaze looked over in the distance and saw Nie Yan making a beeline for the Chaos Keeper. He immediately shouted in voice chat,「All guild members, gather at 356.271.278!」

The Asskickers United players in Judgement Valley were all stunned by this order. However, Thunderfire Blaze’s status in the guild was pretty high. He wouldn’t sound this excited over nothing! So, they rushed over from all directions.

「Thunderfire, what’s going on?」

「Yeah, don’t keep us in the dark!」

....

Many players voiced their confusion in voice chat.

Thunderfire Blaze ignored their questions.「From the coordinates I gave you, clear the area within a 500-meter radius! Kill all those from the Evil Faction and tell those from the Righteous Faction to leave!」

Nie Yan’s objective was clearly the Chaos Keeper. So, Thunderfire Blaze wanted to clear the path for him. Still, while Nie Yan was facing the Chaos Keeper, there was a high chance the people from the Evil Faction would try to interfere. So, he led more than 20 Asskickers United players over to help.

Nie Yan was oblivious to Thunderfire Blaze’s actions. He’d already arrived in striking distance of the Chaos Keeper. Glancing up, its sinister appearance entered his vision. From time to time, spells from the Mages of both sides rained down on it and exploded.

Nie Yan glanced at the Chaos Keeper’s health—73%. He leaped up into the air and slashed out with Zennarde’s Sword. BANG!

−133,281

The players around the Chaos Keeper froze, their faces filled with indescribable shock. They nearly forgot to attack.

"L-lord, what kind of damage is that? Over 130,000!”

"That’s a Level 190 Demonified Lord! How…? Is that 10x critical damage or something?”

Nie Yan loosed another slash on the Chaos Keeper’s neck, landing a critical hit for real this time.

−369,121!

The players in the surroundings felt their heads spin as if their world were being flipped upside down.

Even peak Mages, including the likes of Tang Yao, would be hard pressed to deal more than 100,000 damage to the Chaos Keeper. Yet this person’s normal damage was already at 130,000, and he was critting for more than 360,000! How were people supposed to live?

Little did these players know that this wasn’t even Nie Yan’s highest damage attack.

With Zennarde’s Sword and the Death God’s Edge, Nie Yan’s attack power and critical hit had already reached an astonishing level. Even Level 200+ Mages could at best match his damage.

This was only natural. After all, even Tang Yao and the others weren’t dual wielding Sacred weapons!

Right now, a Level 190 Demonified Lord like the Chaos Keeper was as brittle as sugar glass in front of Nie Yan!

Nie Yan only needed two attacks for the Chaos Keeper to fully aggro onto him. It bellowed out furiously and raised its mallet-like fists, raining down punches on him. It was dead set on smashing him into meat paste.

BANG! BANG! BANG! The Chaos Keeper’s furious attacks were incredibly frightening. The players from both factions quickly dispersed in every direction.

Only Nie Yan stood his ground. His silhouette danced around the Chaos Keeper. As if he were an ethereal phantom, no matter how furious its attacks, it couldn’t land a single hit on him at all.

"Woah! Who is that guy?”

"He must be one of the big shots from Asskickers United! Amazing!”

None of the spectators could’ve imagined the person soloing the Chaos Keeper was Nie Yan. He’d hidden the visual effects of his weapons and was primarily attacking with the Death God’s Edge. Few people had seen this dagger. So, no one immediately recognized him.

On top of that, the strength Nie Yan displayed right now was not the slightest bit inferior to the likes of Sun, King of the World, and Mistaken Smile! Everyone was still under the belief that he was still relatively low level and weak.

Nie Yan didn’t care if he was recognized. When the players in the surroundings all backed away, he smirked. Like this, he could focus on the Chaos Keeper without worry.

As Nie Yan played around with Fawne’s Phantom, he was shocked with its effects. This Legendary skill raised his evasion to an astonishing level. The Chaos Keeper couldn’t even touch a hair on his head! Meanwhile, he could easily shave away at its health.

This Legendary skill was impossible to deal with, unless the other side had something similar!

The Chaos Keeper smashed down with one of its fist. Nie Yan used one of his other Legendary skills.

Counter of Nirvana Flame!

Nie Yan easily slid past the fist. The Death God’s Edge flickered with a cold light as he plunged the blade into the Chaos Keeper’s waist, crippling it.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Nie Yan rained down a flurry of slashes on the Chaos Keeper.

−131,456
−269,155
−977,777!
...

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Thunderfire Blaze and the others were clearing out the area, causing a fierce battle to break out. In the chaos, the players lost sight of Nie Yan.

Only five minutes later, the Chaos Keeper’s health bottomed out. It let out a mournful cry before toppling down.

"The Chaos Keeper died! Quickly snatch the loot!”

Several Evil Faction players tried to rush in to steal the loot, only to be intercepted by Thunderfire Blaze and the others.

THUD! The Chaos Keeper’s heavy corpse crashed into the ground, causing the earth to violently quake.

Nie Yan’s eyes landed on a light blue gem next to the Chaos Keeper’s corpse. He rushed over and picked it up. Standing back up, he glanced at the Asskickers United players gathered in the vicinity and bitterly smiled. Likely, these guild members had already recognized him. However, if it weren’t for them, he would’ve had to fight with countless players over the drops.

Nie Yan checked his inventory. He confirmed it was the Inheritance of Life gem.

After getting what he came here for, Nie Yan activated Gale Step. His figure blurred before disappearing without a trace.

Holding the Evil Faction players off, Thunderfire Blaze glanced over in the direction Nie Yan disappeared off to, a deep expression on his face.

「Thunderfire, who is that guy? He looks familiar,」a guild member asked. Thunderfire Blaze had so many people come over to clear out the area. He hadn’t allowed anyone to interfere in the battle. There was definitely a deeper meaning behind this. Moreover, they had all witnessed that Thief’s strength. He was no weaker than the likes of Sun and King of the World, possibly even stronger. However, none of them realized it was Nie Yan.

「You’ll all know soon enough.」Thunderfire Blaze mysteriously smiled. He knew Nie Yan had a reason for not revealing himself. Seeing the Chaos Keeper’s corpse, his heart boiled over with excitement. The legendary Mad Rogue was back!

Chapter 976 - Sacred Set - Abak!

The remaining Inheritance of Arcana was in the hands of another Level 190 Demonified Lord. Within 20 minutes, Nie Yan traveled to the underworld and killed it before teleporting back to Okoron with Instant Transmission.

As usual, Nie Yan hid his appearance behind a black cloak as he headed to his personal storage.

If it weren’t for aiding World Bloc’s expansion into the virtual reality market or so many brothers relying on Asskickers United to feed their families, Nie Yan would rather spend his time as an ordinary player; levelling, looking for treasure, and haggling over prices in the marketplace. However, since he’d decided to walk the path of a hegemon, he could no longer enjoy the privilege of the common man.

Nie Yan deposited everything he didn’t need into the Asskickers United guild treasury. After which he withdrew all the materials he previously asked Guo Huai to collect, including the Dark Void Iron.

Nie Yan glanced at the five Inheritance Gems in his bag and arranged them according to the description in the Glimpse of Light. A multicoloured radiance instantly lit up the surroundings.

Do you wish to upgrade the Tyrant Abak Set?

Yes!

Nie Yan hit confirm without hesitation. BANG! BANG! BANG! The five Inheritance Gems shattered as eight streams of light fell over the Tyrant Abak Set. After which the entire set blazed with a five-coloured radiance.

This upgrade boosted the defense of the six armour pieces and the attack of the two daggers. Apart from this, there were six new stat bonuses.

Even though the upgrade wasn’t world shattering, it was still fairly decent. However, Nie Yan had no interest in taking a closer look at the changes in the Tyrant Abak Set. He wanted to smelt them into a brand new Chaos set first! That upgrade would help it become a whole new beast!

After finishing up his business in Okoron, Nie Yan teleported to the Hardrock Mountain Valley. He arrived outside the entrance of Craftsman God Bronnick’s thatch hut and entered inside.

Craftsman God Bronnick appeared noticeably more respectful than before. This was only natural. Nie Yan had just received the Legendary Thief and Great Hell Judge titles. So, his status was much higher.

"Bronnick, I gathered all the materials you requested.” Nie Yan brought out a large pile of crafting materials. Apart from this, he also handed over the eight pieces of the Tyrant Abak Set and Paternoster's Warhammer.

"That’s perfect, sir Nirvana Flame. Please step back a little. I’ll get to work right away,” Craftsman God Bronnick said.

"Uhm, before you do that. While I was out adventuring in the wilderness, I encountered some strange metals that I couldn’t identify. I wonder if you can appraise them for me first?” Nie Yan asked.

"I’m willing to serve,” Bronnick replied.

Nie Yan took out the items he found in Hell. There were more than several thousand ores as well as nine Ancient Scales.

Bronnick’s eyes swept over the pile before falling on the Ancient Scales, which instantly grabbed his attention. He emotionally said, "T-these ores, these scales! My God! Sir Nirvana Flame, just where did you find them? According to legends, they can only be found in the depths of Hell! In the far and ancient past, Hell was once a treasured mining site of the human race. It was only later on that the servant of the Death God forcefully occupied it and turned it into a bleek realm of death. God hasn’t descended in the mortal world for several millennia. Now, Archangel Tallod guards the Gates of Hell, preventing anyone aligned with the Evil Faction from entering, and malevolent undead inside from escaping into the human world. Could it be that you found a way in?”

"Correct. At the behest of Archangel Tallod, I entered Hell to complete a quest and obtained these materials along the way.”

Bronnick had a deep look of veneration.

Nie Yan inwardly chuckled. He knew his way around NPCs. With Bronnick, as long as someone as great as Archangel Tallod was mentioned, he’d instantly be awed.

"Could you tell me what these ores are used for?”

"You have to carefully examine their composition, then refine them. 2,000 refined ancient ores can be smelted into a special alloy that won’t lose out to any void metal. It can be used together with the Dark Void Iron to remake the Tyrant Abak Set. As for the Ancient Scales, they can be used to bolster the defense of any armour,” Bronnick explained.

Nie Yan’s heart shook. These materials would make his Tyrant Abak Set even better? That surely meant it would reach the Sacred-grade, right?

"Sounds good. Please, use as many of them as you need.” Nie Yan didn’t hesitate to hand over the materials he’d collected from Hell over to Bronnick.

Bronnick didn’t dare to dally and got to work right away.

Reforging an equipment set wasn’t something that could be done in a short few minutes. Bronnick opened up his forge as searing heat billowed out.

Nie Yan patiently waited at the side as he started imagining what his new Tyrant Abak Set would look like. He was filled with anticipation!

Bronnick was hard at work. As the smelting furnace reached the right temperature, he threw in the ores and Paternoster's Warhammer. The hammer slowly melted into a molten form.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. A Sacred weapon was melted down just like that!

The Bloody Dagger and Slaughter Edge were also melted down. After turning the weapons and ores into molten metal, Bronnick poured it over a large mold with the six remaining armour pieces of the Tyrant Abak Set inside. Mysteriously, they didn’t melt under the red hot molten metal. He grabbed a large hammer and started beating away.

While waiting, Nie Yan checked his pet window. It appeared the Darkwing Dragon succeeded in digesting the Demon Realm Stone and could advance to Rank 10. However, it would take a lot longer to advance than previously. So, it couldn't come out his pet space for the time being.

Nie Yan hoped the Darkwing Dragon would break through to Rank 10 before he set off for the underworld. Like this, if he encountered any enemies in the sky, he would have nothing to fear.

Time slowly ticked away. Craftsman God Bronnick was still carefully beating away with his hammer. The newly reforged Abak’s Gloves of Sealing was placed to the side. It appeared to be still missing a few finishing touches. The outside was covered in a layer of azure metal. Under the glow of the forge, it reflected a peculiar lustre. The sleek design was otherworldly and captivating.

Craftsman God Bronnick slaved away for three hours straight. Finally, the six pieces of the Tyrant Abak Set were placed on top of a stone table. Muttering some unintelligible syllables, he took out a small chisel and engraved enigmatic runes on each piece. As he finished, the armour pieces released a dazzling azure brilliance as a light started circulating around the armour like flowing streams.

Nie Yan gasped in amazement, his breathing growing heavy.

This was the brand new Tyrant Abak Set! Nie Yan could sense an icy aura in the air, causing the surrounding temperature to plummet. Within that chill was a heavy murderous intent.

Bronnick’s hand trembled as he caressed each piece of the newly created Tyrant Abak Set. He emotionally said, "I have no doubt this will be the greatest masterpiece in my lifetime!”

Nie Yan couldn’t help but get excited. Since Bronnick claimed this was his greatest masterpiece, it had to be phenomenal!

Bronnick sent a trade request to Nie Yan, then placed the six pieces of the Tyrant Abak Set into the trade window.

Nie Yan confirmed the trade, after which he checked the quality of the reforged Tyrant Abak Set. Sure enough, it was a Sacred-grade set.

A single Sacred item was already unattainable for most players. A Sacred set was simply unheard of! The Tyrant Abak Set was the only one in existence!

Nie Yan calmed his restless nerves. As he checked the stats of the new Tyrant Abak Set, he felt his heart tremble violently.

The new Tyrant Abak Set was composed of the Glacial Gloves of Sealing, Dark Frostwinter Shoulderguards, Vorpal Frost Striders, Leg Guards of Glacial Focus, Cape of Frozen Ruin, and Winterwalker Phantom Leather Armour. Each piece was Sacred-grade, their properties more than six times higher than before! Nie Yan’s stats rose to an unfathomable level.

As for the set bonuses, there were 10 in total. They included All Stats + 500%, All Skills Max Rank, and so on. The previous four skills were still there, and they were all enhanced. Slaughter Aura had its splash damage increased from 50% to 100% and the area of effect increased. The crowd control effect increase of Unlimited Bladeworks was buffed from 50% to 100%, and the damage bonus per hit in a combo was doubled. Bloodthirsty Aura’s stat bonus to surrounding allies increased from 120% to 300%. Finally, Instant Transmission’s cooldown was reduced from half-an-hour to zero.

There were two more skills, the two from from Paternoster’s Warhammer: Frozen Fortress and Thunder God’s Hammer.

What shocked Nie Yan the most was that the set had a brand new Legendary skill.

Jotunheim’s Descent: Freeze everything within a 30-meter radius with the icy air from the realm of absolute frost. Those with less than 1,200 Ice Resistance will take godfrost damage. Those with less than 1,800 Ice Resistance will have their movement speed reduced dramatically. Those attacked while under the influence of the skill will be inflicted by Godice Shatter.

When players encountered extreme cold, they would start taking frost damage. Godfrost would probably instantly freeze you to death. Less than 0.1% of the playerbase had 1,200 Ice Resistance, while those with 1,800 Ice Resistance could probably be counted on a single hand. As for Ice Shatter, that was a single-target Forbidden Magic. When a target was frozen, they would be shattered from the inside, suffering extremely high damage. Then there was still Godice Shatter. Nie Yan couldn’t begin to imagine how powerful it was, but it would definitely be astonishing.

Chapter 977 - Icy Aura

Thankfully, Jotunheim’s Descent only affected players Nie Yan deemed enemies. Otherwise, he would literally become a person no one could approach.

Nie Yan equipped the reforged Tyrant Abak Set. The sleek outfit had a unique appearance. Keeping in line with the style of a Thief, it wasn’t too conspicuous. The surface of the armour was polished to a glossy shine, flickering with a metallic radiance. An intricate rune was engraved on every piece, each completely different from the other, but forming a peculiar harmony with each other.

Azure streaks of light circulated around the surface of the armour. The powerful frost aura caused the air around Nie Yan to condense into ice crystals. Simply being near it, people in the surroundings would feel a bone-chilling cold.

Nie Yan’s gear had already reached the peak of endgame. As for accessories and so on, their impact was minimal. He could simply head to the guild treasury and pick out what he liked.

Things like accessories were merely minor details. With the new Tyrant Abak Set, Nie Yan’s stats already reached a level countless players could only dream of.

The Winterwalker Phantom Leather Armour provided 12,830 defense, the Leg Guards of Glacial Focus 6,832 defense, the Glacial Gloves of Sealing 5,290 defense, the Cape of Frozen Ruin 3,290 defense, the Vorpal Frost Striders 3,293 defense, and the Dark Frostwinter Shoulderguards 3,272 defense. Combined with Nie Yan’s base defense and other defense bonuses, he breached 80,000 defense.

For a player under Level 200, this was unimaginable.

Nie Yan estimated he could even tank the damage of the Level 210 Umbra Demon Kings head-on now.

"Thank you for helping me reforge the Tyrant Abak Set, Bronnick,” Nie Yan said.

Bronnick hurriedly shook his head. "No need to thank me, sir. I was only doing my job.”

Nie Yan recalled his Legendary Thief and Great Hell Judge titles. Considering how high of a rank they were, it was only natural that NPCs would treat him with such reverence.

"Sir Nirvana Flame, I must warn you. A great calamity will descend on this world. To be able to forge this equipment for you is not only my honour but also my contribution to the living beings of this world,” Bronnick said.

Nie Yan was stunned. A great calamity? He tried to suss out some more information out of Bronnick, but to no avail. Bronnick was extremely tight-lipped regarding this matter.

Nie Yan ultimately decided to drop the matter. He could always use Great Prophecy to find out what was going on. Then he could start preparing, likely for the release of a new expansion.

After reforging the Tyrant Abak Set, Nie Yan had one less worry on his mind. He teleported to Okoron and picked out some new accessories to replace his obsolete ones. This was also where the Void Silver Ore came in handy. He didn’t require a full ingot to craft an accessory. Just a few was enough. So, together with what was left of his ancient ores he crafted a necklace.

Nie Yan found a secluded place to use Great Prophecy, but it failed to show anything. It appeared whatever calamity was coming couldn't be predicted. He would have to slowly figure it out.

With his new equipment, Nie Yan was ready to take on those Level 210 Umbra Demon Kings. He left his private villa and walked out onto the streets of Okoron.

Nie Yan was inconspicuous in his black cloak. Cloaked players could be spotted walking the streets all the time, and those with the same build as him could be found everywhere. Even if Tang Yao, Bladelight, and them bumped into him, they still wouldn’t recognize him.

As Nie Yan walked through the streets, the players around him parted to the sides and stared at him in shock.

They felt a deep chill permeate into their bones. Looking at the source of the bone-chilling aura, they found a mysterious player hidden behind a cloak. They couldn’t even see what kind of equipment he was wearing, As they tried peaking at the face under the hood, they felt an icy cold gaze pierce through them, causing their hearts to shiver uncontrollably.

The passerby couldn’t help but wonder who this mysterious person was. A powerful ice Mage perhaps?

Sure, many ice Mages gave off cold auras, but it was never this intense! Even when they were casting ice magic, it wouldn’t have such a strong effect on the surroundings!

Nie Yan hadn’t even activated Jotunheim’s Descent, or else who knew how many people would be frozen to death in his wake!

Jotunheim’s Descent didn’t have a cooldown. It could be toggled on and off at will. If he activated it, it would be a calamity for the players around him.

Nie Yan was caught off guard by the stares of alarm directed at him. He didn’t expect his equipment’s ordinary aura to have such a powerful effect.

After passing by the entrance of Asskickers United’s guild headquarters, Nie Yan briefly hesitated. However, this wasn’t the time to reveal himself. He would wait until he was strong enough to defeat Plenty with absolute confidence.

Nie Yan browsed his quests while walking along the streets of Okoron, when his voice chat rang. It was Guo Huai.

「Nie Yan, I just received word that Plenty is doing his Legendary advancement quest. Apparently, he will succeed within the next two months. What do we do?」Guo Huai asked anxiously. From his point of view, Nie Yan stood zero chance of winning if Plenty advanced to a Legend.

Nie Yan lightly chuckled.「Don’t worry, I already guessed he would be tackling his Legendary advancement quest. Two months, huh? Longer than I expected. I thought he’d only need a month.」

「W-why are you acting so nonchalant? If he becomes a Legend, how will you win?」Guo Huai exclaimed. He couldn’t resist the urge to dispatch Shadow Killer, King of the World, Mistaken Smile, and them to interfere with Plenty’s advancement. Little did he know that Nie Yan already was a Legend.

「He’s late. I am a Legendary Thief now,」Nie Yan said. Guo Huai was one of his own. There was no need to hide anything. Plus, Guo Huai knew better than to blab this information to others.

Guo Huai dropped his jaw in shock. He muttered in disbelief,「H-how did you? How is that possible? You’ve only been back for what, three months? Tang Yao has been doing his Legendary class advancement quest for close to two years now, and he’s only 90% finished! How did you complete yours so quickly?」

「Nothing is impossible. I already accepted the quest three years ago and completed most of it. I was only missing two Shattered Divinities. After collecting them, advancing was pretty easy.」

「T-three years ago...」Guo Huai muttered in shock. It turned out Nie Yan was already doing his Legendary class advancement quest three years ago, and had come so close to completing it back then! Guo Huai couldn’t imagine what the present Nie Yan would look like if he’d never taken a break from the game. He excitedly said,「Hah, here I was worried about you all for nothing. Turns out you were already prepared. Guess I can rest easy now. In the two months Plenty is taking to finish his class advancement, you can work on catching up to him in level. Speaking of which, what level are you now?」

「Level 196,」Nie Yan replied.

「Damn! You monster! That’s some insane levelling speed! You’re almost Level 200! At this rate, you might even overtake him!」Guo Huai clicked his tongue. If Nie Yan were to reveal his current level to the public, who knew what kind of uproar it would cause. He was simply inhuman!

「Oh, one more thing. Sun, King of the World, and them have already helped you find three chapters from the Book of Order. However, the last chapter, the Chapter of Holiness, is the core chapter. So, you can only get it yourself,」Guo Huai said. When Nie Yan completed the Book of Order, he would become the Supreme Pontiff, which was the Righteous Faction’s equivalent of Plenty’s Chairman of the Dark Council title. The level difference would be negligible. The two would also be evenly matched in terms of titles and class advancement. As for equipment, Nie Yan had just gotten himself a Sacred set. In terms of skill, Nie Yan definitely wouldn’t lose out to Plenty. His chances of winning started looking better and better.

Little did Guo Huai know that Nie Yan had recently obtained Great Hell Judge, a title no less inferior to Supreme Pontiff or Chairman of the Dark Council. Furthermore, he could also use Kalenna’s ultimate defensive spell now.

Nie Yan chuckled. He couldn’t be bothered to flaunt about every little thing. What mattered the most was that he was confident in himself.「Have them hold onto the chapters. I’m going to raise my level some more. I’ll let you know when I go collect the Chapter of Holiness.」He wanted to take this one step at a time. If he waited until he was Level 200 to retrieve the Chapter of Holiness, his chances would be higher. After all, Plenty had only completed the Book of Chaos at Level 205. The quest for collecting the last chapter likely wasn’t ordinary.

「Got it. If you need anything, just let me know,」Guo Huai said.

「I collected a large amount of Deceased Skulls while in Hell. I’ve deposited them all in your personal storage. Find a way to deal with hem.」

「I see them. I don’t know what we’re going to do with all of them though. They’re all really powerful. It’s not worth it to sell them to the Evil Faction. We’ll only be making the enemy stronger, and scrapping them seems like a huge waste too.」

「Who says we need to scrap them? Fallen Angel still has a lot of enemies. We can just sell the Deceased Skulls to them for a slight discount.」

「Hah! Why didn’t I think about that? What a ruthless move! I’ll get to it right away. 」

「Remember to sell them for cheap, or else they won’t be able to afford them. Also, don’t sell too many at once, or else they’ll try reselling the skulls in the marketplace.」

「I know, I know. How long have I been running errands for you now?」Guo Huai chuckled. This time, they could deal a sneaky blow to Fallen Angel. Plenty would likely be in for a real headache.

Nie Yan chatted with Guo Huai for a bit longer before hanging up. After restocking on his consumables, he teleported to the Gates of Hell.

The entrance outside the Gates of Hell was packed with players, many seeking to join teams. Only expedition teams of 1,000 people or more dared to enter. Nie Yan ignored these players and headed directly for the gates.

Chapter 978 - Returning to Hell!

Unbeknownst to Nie Yan, while he was busy reinforcing his equipment, countless players flocked to Hell with 20-man teams. The end result was them being quickly surrounded by an endless horde of undead and killed.

It was a quick and painful lesson. Hell was a boundless pit of undead.

However, many people refused to accept this outcome and formed 1,000-man expedition teams. It took 12 expedition teams in total to gain a foothold and clear out a safe area. From there, they expanded outward to hunt monsters. Like this, a large number of players, many of which belonged to Asskickers United, entered Hell and so began a grand levelling spree in this brand new map.

Hell was a special map with only two entrances, one in each great faction. The Death God’s Edge was the key to opening the Gates of Hell. If the Righteous Faction opened Hell, their players could enter Hell for an exclusive amount of time, and vice-versa with the Evil Faction. So, the players from the Righteous Faction would have to thank Nie Yan for all the benefits they could reap from this place.

The surroundings at the Gates of Hell were bustling with activity, filled with players looking to join teams. Nie Yan couldn’t be more familiar with this kind of scene. In the previous timeline, he would frequently be on the lookout to join expedition teams. The earnings he could make with them were far better than if he were alone.

Nie Yan lightly chuckled. He walked past Archangel Tallod and entered through the gates. Tallod was incredibly busy. There were 60 expedition team leaders lined up in front of him. They received quests to enter Hell and collect undead items. After turning them in, they would receive ample experience and gold. If they did enough quests for Tallod, they could even receive a high level item.

Nie Yan had no interest in doing these quests, nor did he have any plans on lingering in the outskirts hunting monsters. The real rewards were in the very depths of Hell. With a flash of light, he appeared inside the map.

Some players saw Nie Yan arrive alone, shock forming in their eyes. This guy was mad! Someone actually dared to enter Hell all by themselves?

Seeing the skeptical looks directed at him, Nie Yan could guess what these players were thinking. Not sparing them a second glance, he set off, transforming into a blur.

The players gaped open their mouths. What frightening speed! Who was he? A race car in human form?

What happened next astonished them even more. The temperature around Nie Yan plummeted. All the moisture in his immediate vicinity froze into icicles and dropped to the ground. As he flitted forward, the undead that approached within a 30-meter radius of him were instantly turned into frozen statues. BANG! BANG! BANG! They exploded into fine powder of ice.

Nie Yan sped ahead with remarkable speed. Skeletons and wraiths alike exploded into particles of ice as he ran past them.

Nie Yan traversed a thousand meters in an instant, a long stretch of ice and mist trailing behind him.

"Holy shit! What kind of ice magic is that? It’s terrifying!”

"That’s crazy! Imagine if he ran a whole circuit around Hell. Just how many times would he level up?”

None of the people present ever imagined levelling up in this way. They gazed at Nie Yan’s rapidly departing back with envy on their faces.

Little did they know that Jotunheim’s Descent wasn’t ice magic. Though many monsters had died in Nie Yan’s wake and the levelling speed was good to the ordinary player, it simply couldn’t be compared to what he could achieve with the Divine Eclipse Dragon. The little amount of experience he was gaining this way didn’t enter his eyes.

Some 15 minutes of running later, Nie Yan glanced back and no longer saw anyone behind him. The exploration of Hell was going far slower than he expected. He could deal with the Umbra Demon Kings without worry.

About an hour later, Nie Yan reached his destination. The Level 300 Bone Emperor was taken down by War God Kelo, leaving behind only the collapsed mountain and the ruins of the pyramid tower. However, the Umbra Demon Kings were still there, refusing to disperse.

About 200 Umbra Demon Kings were gathered together. This place would soon be labelled a forbidden death zone for ordinary players, but all Nie Yan saw was walking sacks of experience. After killing all of them, he’d likely have no problem reaching Level 200! The amount of experience a Level 210 Demonified Lord gave was several million times that of an ordinary Level 180 undead!

Briefly observing the Umbra Demon Kings, Nie Yan opted to summon the Divine Eclipse Dragon. He decided not to use Doppelganger for now. He’d have it position itself on top of a hill about 1,000 meters away from the Umbra Demon Kings and cast Forbidden Magic. After scattering them with the magic, he’d lure a few over with his crossbow and pick them off bit by bit!

Nie Yan quickly got to work. The Divine Eclipse Dragon started chanting in dragon tongue.

An enormous amount of holy energy converged in the sky.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Holy flames rained down on the ruins of the pyramid tower.

The Umbra Demon Kings hurriedly scattered.

Nie Yan lingered around the outskirts of the area. Seizing the opportunity, he pulled out his Cavalry Crossbow and fired a volley of bolts. Put! put! put! The five bolts struck one of the Umbra Demon Kings. Even though his crossbow wasn’t high level and its base attack power was nothing special, after his stat bonuses were applied, it still dealt considerable damage at 10,000 damage a bolt.

"HHGRRAWO!” The Umbra Demon King charged toward Nie Yan.

Nie Yan turned around and fled. He was much faster than the Umbra Demon King. However, he slowed down on purpose to let it catch up to him.

Nie Yan’s luck was pretty good. Only one Umbra Demon King followed him.

After luring it away from the others for a good 600 meters, Nie Yan came to a halt.

When the Umbra Demon King arrived within 30 meters of Nie Yan, its movement slowed down to a crawl as a thick layer of ice spread across its body. Jotunheim’s Descent was in full effect!

"HHHAGHW!” the Umbra Demon King roared and chopped down with its greataxe.

With a Gale Step of Nirvana Flame, Nie Yan turned into a streak of light and reappeared behind the Umbra Demon King.

Backbreaker of Nirvana Flame!

Nie Yan’s dagger stabbed into the Umbra Demon King’s spine. BANG! A deluge of ice ruptured from the wound, an astonishing damage value of several million floating up in the air.

A God-rank ice rupture wasn’t to be looked down on!

"HHWRAWH!” the Umbra Demon King roared out in pain. It wanted to swing its greataxe at Nie Yan, but its movements were too slow. Nie Yan had already circled back around again. BANG! Another explosion of ice went off.

Nie Yan’s every attack procc’d the ice rupture effect. Its damage was beyond frightening. The range varied, but it was always more than 10 times higher than his normal damage.

BANG! BANG! BANG! A series of explosions continuously rang out. Resembling the heavy beats of war drums, it followed a unique tempo!

This was the rhythm of Nie Yan’s attacks!

At this rate, Nie Yan could take down the Umbra Demon King in less than half an hour!

This was an astonishing speed. If Plenty, Tang Yao, Bladelight, and them were to find out that Nie Yan could solo a Level 210 Demonified Lord at only Level 196, and within half an hour no less, just what kind of reactions would they have?

While Nie Yan was chipping away at the Umbra Demon King in front of him, two more started approaching him from some distance away.

"Shit!” Nie Yan cursed. Taking on three Umbra Demon Kings at the same time would prove difficult even for him.

Nie Yan knew he had to act quickly. He drew all three Umbra Demon Kings another 3,000 meters away. Like this, there was no chance of any more coming over.

The two other Umbra Demon Kings also had their movements slowed to a crawl after entering the range of Jotunheim’s Descent. The speed at which they swung their greataxes was over 30% slower than before.

Nie Yan evaded a greataxe, then retaliated with a Counter. BANG! Another explosion of ice went off.

From Nie Yan’s point of view, the movements of the Umbra Demon Kings were slow like a snail’s. He could easily evade all they threw at him. Not to mention his ice rupture only served to further slow them.

The three Umbra Demon Kings were practically moving in slow motion. Meanwhile, Nie Yan was dancing around them like a butterfly and stinging them like a bee. Any time the ice rupture debuff was about to wear off on one of them, he would reapply it with an attack.

If Nie Yan were to attack by himself, who knew how long it would take for this battle to be over. So, he had the Divine Eclipse Dragon come over, splitting into five with Doppelganger and activating Enrage, and summoned Lil’ Gold and the Violet Eye Dragon. Seven dragons altogether joined the fray. A dense barrage of single-target magic rained down on one of the Umbra Demon Kings. A large string of damage values immediately floated up in the air as its health started plummeting downward.

The damage was astonishing, leaving Nie Yan satisfied.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon dealt too much damage, drawing the aggro of the Umbra Demon King. But still slowed by Nie Yan, it had no chance of catching up to any of the dragon’s clones. Especially since with every step it took, an ice rupture would go off on its body.

About 15 minutes later, the first Umbra Demon King let out a mournful cry and collapsed to the ground. A white light fell over Nie Yan. His eyes lit up. A level up! The experience from a Level 210 Demonified Lord was quite ample!

Chapter 979 - Inconceivable Sight!

The experience from a Level 210 Demonified Lord was enormous for a player in their Level 190s, mostly due to the 600% bonus multiplier from the level difference. Nie Yan shot up from Level 196, 23% to Level 197, 62%.

Nie Yan was certainly an outlier. He was the first at his level to solo a Level 210 Demonified Lord.

It was unlikely anyone would match this feat. After all, who else but Nie Yan would have a Sacred set and be a Legend at Level 196?

Nie Yan scanned his eyes over the Umbra Demon King’s remains and spotted a greyish black fragment on the ground.

Death God’s Bone Fragment (1/12): Special Item

Nie Yan wondered what the Death God’s Bone was used for. He guessed it was similar to the Demon King Stone and Demon King Seal.

Relying on the might of Jotunheim’s Descent, Nie Yan continuously chipped away at the health bars of the two remaining Umbra Demon Kings. The seven dragons supported him from a distance with their magic.

CRASH! The second Umbra Demon King collapsed to the ground.

A crisp notification jingle rang out. Another level up! This kill gave Nie Yan 41% experience.

Sweet!

If Nie Yan were grinding ordinary mobs, it would probably take him almost a week to level up, more if he took his time. Now, however, his level was rocketing upwards.

Apart from Jotunheim’s Descent, Nie Yan was also getting a better grasp of Fawne’s Phantom.

It was truly worthy of being a Legendary skill. After activating it, it was almost as if he were draped in an illusory veil, his silhouette constantly flickering back and forth erratically. He could easily confuse the enemy, preventing them from locking onto his exact position. Even an Umbra Demon King at full power couldn’t touch a single hair on his head, let alone when it was affected by Jotunheim’s Descent!

As Nie Yan continued using Fawne’s Phantom, his use of the skill became more natural. He couldn’t help but wonder how Plenty would ever counter a skill like this. Ordinary magic certainly couldn’t do the trick.

Nie Yan recalled two more Legendary skill books sitting around in the guild treasury. He wondered how powerful they were. Since they were also Legendary skills, they couldn’t be any worse than Fawne’s Shadow. After he was finished here, he would go back and take a look.

Nie Yan grinded away without a worry in the world. One Umbra Demon King after another collapsed to the ground.

Reaching Level 199 would take five more Umbra Demon Kings, Level 200 21, and Level 201 83.

The surroundings of the pyramid tower were littered with the remains of the Umbra Demon Kings.

As time passed, the number of players entering Hell grew exponentially. There were teams setting out in droves, including the elites from Asskickers United. However, no one had reached Nie Yan’s spot yet.

After spending the whole day in Hell, Nie Yan looked back at what was left of the mountain in the far distance. There were still at least 160 Umbra Demon Kings left.

Nie Yan glanced inside his bag. He’d collected three Death God’s Bone Fragments so far. Likely he would have to clear out all the Umbra Demon Kings to gather all 12! As for his level, he was knocking on the door of Level 200.

While Nie Yan was working on downing another Umbra Demon King, three silhouettes flitted across the barren some 5,000 meters away. They were incredibly fast. By the time the monsters in the vicinity noticed them, they were already far away.

These three were experienced Shadow Dancers, having reached an incomprehensible speed for ordinary players. They were fast enough that if they didn’t wish to fight these Level 180 mobs, they could simply run past them.

Even though the spawn rate in Hell was still extremely high, it had slowed down significantly compared to when Nie Yan first arrived. The mob density was slowly getting lower.

"Damn! There are so many monsters here! When the team gets here, the levelling speed will be amazing!” a Thief in silver gray leather armour said.

"Looks like we’ll be busy here for the next few days. If we grind here for a month, we should reach Level 200!” another Thief exclaimed. He glanced at his experience bar. He was about 63% away from levelling up. Since there were so many monsters here, they wouldn’t be running out of targets anytime soon.

Their team comprised 20 people, all of whom were Masters. They had an average level of 200. The three of them were here to scout out a good place to grind mobs.

As the three Thieves were looking around with glee, a mournful cry cut across the air. It sounded like a boss monster dying.

The three glanced at each other.

"What was that?”

"I don’t know. Should we go take a look, Imperial?”

The leader of the three, Imperial Sword, pondered for a moment. Judging from the sound of that cry, his intuition told him whatever died was incredibly dangerous. His heart was filled with curiosity. Could it be that a team was already hunting bosses all the way out here?

Imperial Sword said, "Let’s go take a look. Remember, if we encounter danger, listen to my commands!”

"Got it!”

The three dashed over to the source of the sound. They soon found a high vantage point, from where they spotted several gigantic bosses, far larger than any they’d seen before. These bosses were like moving fortresses. The large greataxes they slung over their shoulders caused the hearts of the trio to shiver in fear.

"I’ll go up and take a look to see what level those bosses are!” one of the Thieves excitedly said. Their 20-man team was composed entirely of Masters, and they were all around Level 200. So, if this was a field of Level 200 Demonified Lords, they’d hit the jackpot!

The Thief slowly approached one of the Umbra Demon Kings, excitement in his hurried steps.

At about 300 meters, the Umbra Demon Kings started stirring. One of them locked its gaze on to him. He immediately froze as cold sweat dripped down his neck. Even moving was difficult. Fuck! This is no Level 200 Demonified Lord!

"HHHRWWAH!” The Umbra Demon King charged forward, closing the 300 meter distance in an instance, and slashed down with its greataxe.

The earth quaked violently. Imperial Sword’s face paled. What astonishing destructive power! A notification popped up.

Your teammate Gloom has died.

"Shit!” Imperial Sword cursed. He was very familiar with Gloom’s strength. When the Umbra Demon Kings stirred just now, he thought Gloom would have no trouble getting away. He didn’t expect Gloom to be killed so quickly.

Gloom revived at the graveyard. He hurriedly warned in voice chat,「Imperial, don’t go there! Those are Level 210 Demonified Lords, Umbra Demon Kings!」

Imperial Sword’s heart trembled. No wonder Gloom failed to get away! Level 200 Demonified Lords were already extremely powerful. Level 210 Demonified Lords were basically invincible existences to them!

"Crimson Note, we’re retreating!” Imperial Sword said, rapidly pulling back. With so many Level 210 Demonified Lords up ahead, they would be dead if they were discovered.

Crimson Note ignored the command. His eyes were fixated on something that by all rights should be impossible. He shouted, "I-imperial, look over there!”

Imperial Sword looked over to where Crimson Note was pointing. About 500 meters away, an Umbra Demon King was wildly swinging its greataxe, displaying its astonishing might. Just below its feet was a silhouette darting about continuously. Looking more closely, he realized that was a player!

The two glanced at each other.

"There are people fighting that Umbra Demon king!”

"Come on. Let’s go take a closer look,” Imperial Sword said. He wondered who could possibly be fighting a Level 210 Demonified Lord. The only possibility coming to mind was Asskickers United’s main team.

The two Thieves took a detour around the group of Umbra Demon Kings and approached Nie Yan. They both activated all their stealth boosting skills for fear of being discovered.

After approaching close enough to get a good look, the duo sucked in a breath of cold air. A team wasn’t fighting the Umbra Demon King, a lone Thief was!

If it were a Mage, they might find this situation easier to accept. After all, ranged classes could still kite. But a Thief? This was simply inconceivable!

"Who is that? Sun? King of the World? Maybe Shadow Killer?” Crimson Note asked in a trembling voice. Soloing a Level 210 Demonified Lord, this was simply too monstrous!

"One of those freaks. No one else can pull something like this off,” Imperial Sword replied. The sight before him was a huge shock. Their 20-man team of Masters struggled to face even a single Level 200 Demonified Lord. Yet this Thief before them was soloing a Level 210 Demonified Lord!

As they watched the battle, they saw the silhouette flashing nonstop. Their speed was shocking. No matter how the Umbra Demon King attacked, it couldn’t touch a hair on their head. There also appeared to be a white mist around him, which froze everything it touched. Even the boss was no exception.

"Is that a domain skill?” Crimson Note asked.

"It might be an aura. What an inhuman guy! Look over there, there’s the remains of at least a dozen Umbra Demon Kings!” Imperial Sword said. Soloing Level 210 Demonified Lords, just how much of a show-off was this guy! "Crimson, clip this.”

Chapter 980 - Legendary Video!

Imperial Sword and Crimson Note found a safe vantage point and secretly recorded Nie Yan’s battle.

Since the duo was relatively far away, Nie Yan didn’t discover them. Like a well-oiled machine, he killed the Umbra Demon King in front of him, then lured over three more Umbra Demon Kings. Them befell the same fate as the ones before them, their health chipped away until it bottomed out.

"Look! He has several pets over there!”

"One of them looks like a Golden Dragon. Why does this guy have so many pets?”

"How can he control three pets?” Imperial Sword gasped. This completely overturned his common sense. A player was only supposed to have one pet! The enormous Divine Eclipse Dragon was especially eye-catching. He was taken aback by the fact that its two heads could seemingly cast magic independently.

Who knew how shocked Imperial Sword and Crimson Note would be if the Divine Eclipse Dragon had used Doppelganger!

The two didn’t link Lil’ Gold back to Nie Yan. Many people had Golden Dragons these days, at least several tens of thousands in the entire Righteous Faction. Besides, most players wouldn’t even consider it possible for this to be Nie Yan. He’d returned to the game after a three-year hiatus only a few months ago. No matter how astonishing his achievements in the past, they figured it would still take him a year or two to climb back to the peak. There was no way he could’ve progressed this much so quickly.

It was hard to imagine the Righteous Faction had someone who could solo Level 210 Demonified Lords. Likely not even Sun, King of the World, and them were this strong. Could he be some kind of hidden expert?

Imperial Sword and Crimson Note gradually drew closer in an attempt to get a better look.

As Nie Yan concentrated on dealing with the three Umbra Demon Kings, he suddenly sensed an unfamiliar presence. He gazed into the distance, but couldn’t find it.

"Am I hallucinating? It felt like someone was approaching me… Nah, it’ll still be a while before anyone reaches here,” Nie Yan muttered.

Even if there was someone, they couldn’t scare Nie Yan. He continued dealing with the Umbra Demon Kings while paying close attention to his surroundings. If he confirmed someone had really come to ambush him, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill them.

About 100 meters away, Imperial Sword felt a cold gaze sweep over him. His heart trembled, fearing he’d already been discovered. He froze in place and held his breath. Only after confirming Nie Yan was still fighting the Umbra Demon Kings did he dare to breathe out again. However, he didn’t dare to get any closer. Even though he was only a hundred meters away, he could still feel bone piercing chill in the air.

Even the Umbra Demon Kings were greatly affected by Nie Yan’s domain. He couldn’t imagine what would happen if a person were to enter its range.

Before long, two videos were posted on the forums. One was of Gloom being killed while trying to scout out the Umbra Demon Kings. Gloom had at least a bit of fame among players. Seeing this Shadow Dancer getting one shot, the players could imagine how powerful the Umbra Demon Kings were. Judging from the background in the video, this event likely took place in Hell.

When the playerbase learned there were a hundred-plus Level 210 Demonified Lords in Hell, their interest for this new zone soared even higher.

As for the second video, it caused an even greater uproar. Everyone already knew how powerful the Umbra Demon Kings were from the first video. Yet here was a guy soloing not one, not two, but three of them at once! They could hardly contain their shock. Even though the video was shot from over a hundred meters away, they could still see everything clearly, just that the player was simply too fast. He only appeared as a blur. You couldn’t even see what equipment he was wearing, nor what weapons he was using. That monstrous damage, devilish dodging speed, and powerful domain left players intensely curious. Who was this mysterious expert?

Nie Yan became the hot topic of discussion in the forums.

Monstrous strength!

This display of strength even surpassed Plenty, who everyone previous recognized as the number one expert in the game. Sure enough, there was always a higher mountain!

Some people guessed the mysterious expert was Nie Yan, but they were quickly drowned out by criticism. What a joke! He’d only returned to the game how long ago? Even if he were riding a rocket, he wouldn’t be this quick!

However, there were always those who thought different. Maybe it really was Nie Yan. After all, a player that could solo Level 210 Demonified Lords would naturally rocket up in levels! This levelling speed was even several times faster than that of the top player on the level leaderboards, Young Sparrow Hawk!

Apart from this, there was also those three pets. Especially the Divine Eclipse Dragon was too eye-catching. A two-headed dragon, each head capable of functioning independently. What’s more, both heads were far stronger than an ordinary dragon. This was definitely a first. A Level 200 dragon that was more powerful than any other dragon pet they’d seen before, this matter was simply inconceivable!

The two videos attracted the attention of many people.

On a nameless hillside in Sword of the War God, a team of several dozen players were advancing through the desolate plains. It was Tang Yao, Bladelight, and company.

"Did you guys see that video being passed around on the forums?” Tang Yao asked.

"I saw. That Thief is crazy, soloing multiple Level 210 Demonified Lords, and it looks like he isn’t even breaking a sweat! That dude’s a monster!” Undying Scoundrel remarked.

"Where?”

"Lemme take a look.”

Everyone checked the forums.

"What do you guys think?” Bladelight asked.

"That has to be the boss!”

"It’s Nie Yan. I’m sure of it.” Tang Yao nodded. Even though he couldn’t make out the equipment, that was his gut feeling.

"Smoke Stub, what do you think?” Bladelight asked. He also believed the person in the video was Nie Yan. He was just surprised Nie Yan could already solo Level 210 Demonified Lords. He’d only returned to the game some three months ago at Level 156!

"What else is there to say? I have no doubt that that is Nie Yan,” Smoke Stub replied. "Do you remember that egg we got from the tamed Violet Eye Dragons breeding? Well, it has disappeared from the guild treasury a couple of months back. That must have been Nie Yan. Needless to say, that Golden Dragon is Lil’ Gold. As for the two headed dragon, do you remember that black and white dragon egg Nie Yan obtained after defeating Fallen Angel Brufut? Plus, don’t forget one of the supplementary skills of Zennarde’s Sword, Dragon King’s Divine Might. It allows him to own up to two dragon flying mounts and three dragon pets at once.”

Smoke Stub’s explanation convinced them all.

"Nie Yan, that punk! He can already take on Level 210 Demonified Lords! How long has he been back in the game? Does he want to let others live?” Tang Yao rolled his eyes. He already had five pieces of Sacred-grade void equipment. However, he still didn’t dare to imitate Nie Yan and solo Level 210 Demonified Lords. The Sword of the War God dungeon had many bosses at that level, which they had fought as a team. But trying to solo them? He felt his heart go numb.

"We helped Nie Yan collect six Dark Void Iron Ingots. All he needs is six pieces of Legendary equipment to craft six pieces of Sacred void equipment. He probably has already upgraded his Tyrant Abak Set and Zennarde’s Sword. Just by taking a look at how he’s dealing with that Umbra Demon King, you can tell his equipment has risen to a whole new plane. Combined with those three powerful pets, his levelling speed definitely won’t lose out to any Mage. With his skills on top of that, soloing a Level 210 Demonified Lord should be no issue for him. Remember his clear time in the Dark Demonic Space, and then the release of Hell, it all adds up,” Bladelight said.

After hearing Bladelight’s conjecture, they no longer lingered on Nie Yan’s rapid progress. No, what they were the most excited and moved about was the return of the Mad Rogue. Wherever he pointed Zennarde’s Sword, everything in his path would be swept away. Three years, an entire three years, Nirvana Flame was finally retaking his throne of glory!

Even though Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the others knew the person in the video was Nie Yan, they didn’t reveal it. The players on the forums were still guessing the identity of that person.

Elsewhere in Sword of the War God, another team was steadily advancing through the barren. Their leader was the number one player in the Satreen Empire, Howling Wind.

Howling Wind had never PvPed with Tang Yao before. So, no one could tell who was the number one Mage in the Righteous Faction. Nevertheless, his status as the number one Mage in the Satreen Empire was unquestioned. He led a team of 50 people, all of whom were top experts.

Howling Wind watched the video on the forums with a pensive look on his face.

"Do you know who that is?” an orc Warrior beside him asked. He was also deeply shocked by the video.

"I don’t,” Howling Wind replied. He already had a certain person in his mind. He just wasn’t willing to voice it out.

As the number one Mage in the Satreen Empire, he always strived to improve himself, honing his skills by pitting himself against the strongest opponents. The title of number one Mage in the Righteous Faction was never settled. Tang Yao’s fame always surpassed him. Yet he never once tried to challenge Tang Yao. One could take that as an act of submission, but he simply wasn’t interested. True, Tang Yao was strong, but at best they were evenly matched. Ever since he entered the game, he’d only admired one person, and that was Nirvana Flame. There were many times he wanted to challenge Nie Yan, but something would always come in between. When Nie Yan disappeared three years ago, all he felt was a deep sense of regret. So, since Nie Yan’s return, he’d patiently waited for him to climb back to the peak. He knew for a person like Nie Yan, it wasn’t a question of if but when. It’s just that he didn’t expect the day to come so soon. Seeing the silhouette in the video, his blood boiled with anticipation.

"Let’s clear this section in 30 minutes. Then we’re returning to Orc King City!” Howling Wind announced.

"W-what? Why are we returning so soon? We prepared enough potions for three days! Wasn’t that supposed to be the original plan?” the orc Warrior asked doubtfully.

"I have something important to do. You guys can stay here and grind for a few more hours if you want,” Howling Wind said, his eyes flickering with a peculiar light. Over these past three years, he’d never been as excited as he was today.

Chapter 981 - Howling Wind’s Challenge

Nie Yan finally noticed the commotion on the forums. He didn’t expect to find a video of himself. Apparently, that feeling earlier wasn’t him imagining things. A Thief had indeed approached him. Checking his surroundings once more, he discovered nothing out of the ordinary. The other side had hid themselves fairly well. However, he couldn’t be bothered to investigate any further.

As long as the enemy wasn’t a Thief at the level of Sun, King of the World, and the others, they were nothing to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan was confident in the might of Jotunheim’s Descent. If anyone dared approach him within 30 meters, in stealth or not, they would be frozen to death!

BANG! BANG! BANG! The heavy sound of ice rupturing rang out through the air like the sound of gongs being struck.

Another Umbra Demon King let out a mournful cry and collapsed to the ground.

Ding dong! A crisp jingle rang out as a white light fell over Nie Yan. A level up!

Nie Yan was elated. He’d finally reached Level 200!

It hadn’t even been four months since his return to the game. Nie Yan never expected his levelling speed would be so quick. Thinking about it, be it the quest related to Hell or the Divine Eclipse Dragon, they were all part of the foundation he’d built up before his hiatus. If it weren’t for them, he certainly wouldn’t have these achievements today.

Nie Yan picked up the loot that the Umbra Demon King dropped. It was another fragment of the Death God’s Bone. As he held the item in his hand, he detected something unfamiliar in the air. His face turned cold.

Hiding behind a pile of bones, Imperial Sword had the urge to jump out and snatch the loot the Umbra Demon King dropped. However, sensing the temperature in the surroundings plummeting, he couldn’t help but bitterly smile. The person before him was insanely strong. Trying to steal from him was the same as snatching food from a tiger’s den. Even though a Level 210 Demonified Lord was certain to drop amazing things, he needed to be alive to get them! So, he didn’t dare to try his luck in the end.

Eye of Truth!

Nie Yan snorted, his eyes flashing with a profound light.

Sensing Nie Yan’s gaze locking right onto him, Imperial Sword’s heart trembled. He hurriedly said in voice chat,「Crimson, let’s get out of here!」

Imperial Sword and Crimson Note both crushed the Unknown Transfer Scrolls in their hands. With a flash of light, the two disappeared.

"Looks like they know what’s good for them.” Nie Yan withdrew his gaze. If those two Thieves stuck around any longer, he would’ve definitely taken action and killed them. Them voluntarily leaving saved him the hassle.

Nie Yan returned to his grind. The experience the Umbra Demon Kings gave was far more ample than he expected. Likely, he would be at least Level 202 by the time he cleared them all out!

Nie Yan still had another two and a half months before his five-month deadline was up!

At the appointed time, Nie Yan would head to the underworld and challenge Plenty. However, he knew he wouldn’t be facing Plenty alone. Moreover, Plenty definitely had killer aces up his sleeve. So, he wanted to be absolutely confident he could win, and level played an important factor in this.

For Asskickers United’s glory, Nie Yan couldn’t allow any mishaps!

Since those two Thieves from earlier had discovered this place, more people would likely start arriving. Nie Yan decided to pick up the pace. Thankfully, the players from the Evil Faction couldn’t enter Hell. If Plenty found out about a Righteous Faction player solo grinding Level 210 Demonified Lords, he would definitely send his subordinates to obstruct them. It didn’t matter if that person was Nie Yan or not.

Nie Yan wasn’t afraid of them, but it would impact his levelling speed.

...

The Gates of Hell. An elven Elementalist donning the Azeran Void Robes and wielding the Soranda Void Staff arrived. Instead of looking for a team, he directly entered Hell.

The players in the surroundings were stunned.

"I-isn’t that Howling Wind?”

"It is! I recognize him! Why is he here all alone?”

...

Even though Howling Wind was all by himself, no one dared to look down on him. He was a Magister who stood on the same footing as Young Sparrow Hawk!

Howling Wind ignored these players, though their whispers reached his ears. He set out with consecutive blinks. Before long, he was more than 600 meters away, leaving the gossipers far behind. The players back near the entrance couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. What astonishing speed!

Howling Wind treated the monsters in Hell like they were nothing as he began searching for Nie Yan.

Five hours later, Howling Wind spotted a group of gigantic skeletal creatures in the far distance. They were the Umbra Demon Kings from the video!

"Found you!” Howling Wind muttered. After which he sank into deep thought. With his current strength, soloing a Level 210 Demonified Lord was possible, but it would be a struggle. Nie Yan was indeed strong. However, that was precisely why he wanted to challenge him! If his opponent were only roughly on par with him, he’d have no interest in fighting!

Howling Wind was an eccentric person. The stronger the opponent and more outmatched he was, the more astonishing power he’d display!

Only by challenging the strong could he grow more powerful!

Ever since he became the number one Mage in the Satreen Empire, Howling Wind hadn’t found a worthy opponent. It was rather lonely at the top.

Perhaps the only worthy opponent was Nie Yan. However, he’d never found the right opportunity. This was his only regret. After Nie Yan disappeared three years ago, his heart became empty, as if he had lost something important. When he learned of Nie Yan’s return, his desire for battle reignited. He knew the Mad Rogue of that time would eventually return, and an expert like Nie Yan definitely would not be content living quietly in mediocrity. Some people were destined to break the heavens and earth. Nie Yan was such a person! It was just that he never expected Nie Yan to come back with such ferocity. Within a short few months, he’d already gained such astonishing strength!

Howling Wind executed several consecutive blinks. As he looked around, he heard a mournful cry in the distance.

"There you are!” Howling Wind raised an eyebrow, teleporting towards the source of the sound.

...

Nie Yan had just killed an Umbra Demon King. As he started focusing on another one, he sensed something in the air. Looking into the distance, he spotted a silhouette rapidly coming in his direction.

Shortly after returning to the game, Nie Yan had watched many videos on the Dark Demonic Space and researched PvP techniques. Howling Wind was in some of them. So, he was somewhat familiar with Howling Wind’s appearance. However, since the distance was too great, Nie Yan didn’t immediately recognize him.

"A Mage huh,” Nie Yan remarked, his expression turning dark. If the other side tried to interfere with his grinding, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill them!

Howling Wind stopped at about 200 meters away from Nie Yan. He showed no signs of raising his staff to attack, instead patiently waiting. This place was the territory of the Umbra Demon Kings; ordinary undead didn’t dare to approach here. The surroundings were completely barren.

After seeing that Howling Wind came with no ill intent, Nie Yan concentrated on his battle. The Umbra Demon King held strong for some 15 minutes before collapsing to the ground.

Seeing the battle end, Howling Wind approached Nie Yan.

Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise as he finally recognized Howling Wind. Why did he come all the way here?

"Hi, I’m Howling Wind.” Howling Wind could sense the cold aura emanating from Nie Yan, threatening to turn him into an icicle. He stopped at about 50 meters away from Nie Yan.

Nie Yan nodded. "I’ve heard of you.”

"I know you’re Nirvana Flame. I want to challenge you. Right here, right now,” Howling Wind said, his eyes blazing with fighting spirit. No doubt, the person before him was Nirvana Flame!

"Not interested,” Nie Yan replied curtly. It turned out Howling Wind had only come here for a duel. If it were a week or two ago, he might’ve been interested. Now, however, he was already a Legend with a full set of Sacred-grade void equipment. The difference in strength was too great.

Howling Wind froze. He never imagined Nie Yan would reply in such a way, his heart quickly filling with indignation. So what if you’re Nirvana Flame? There is no reason to look down on me like that!

"If you don’t kill me, don’t even think about grinding here in peace!” Howling Wind said. This was his only way to force Nie Yan to go all out!

"You’re not my match. Come back when you’ve become a Legend.” Nie Yan shook his head. Even though Howling Wind was the number one Mage in the Satreen Empire, the gap between a Master and a Legend was like that of the heaven and earth. If Howling Wind were to fight him now, it would be a one-sided beatdown.

Howling Wind sucked in a breath of cold air. Nie Yan had already become a Legend? He stared at Nie Yan in disbelief. How was that possible? He’d only returned to the game a few months ago. How did he become a Legend before all of them?

Nie Yan really did live up to his reputation as the Mad Rogue. He wasn’t undefeated for no reason. Howling Wind felt dejected. Was a Legend really that strong? Did he really not even have a sliver of hope of winning?

Staring at Nie Yan, Howling Wind’s eyes flashed with determination. He pointed his staff at Nie Yan and said, "I didn’t expect you to become a Legend so quickly. Even though I know you’re extremely powerful and I have no hope of winning, no matter what, I still want to try. So, please humour me. This has been my only wish for these past three years.”

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. No wonder Howling Wind could become the number one Mage in the Satreen Empire. This resoluteness couldn’t be found anywhere.

"Fine, come at me,” Nie Yan replied in an insipid tone.

Howling Wind’s eyes lit up with joy. He raised his staff and cast Elemental Judgement.

Six tornadoes formed around Howling Wind and swept out toward Nie Yan. Such a powerful AoE magic was an instant cast!

Chapter 982 - Death God’s Bone

Under the cover of the six tornadoes, Howling Wind’s body became a blur before splitting into three clones, which dashed off in different directions.

The ground stiffened as a layer of frost spread out. THUT! THUT! THUT! A dense cluster of ice spikes erupted out.

Howling Wind’s attack was ferocious. If a player were to encounter such a frenzied assault, they would likely turn tail and flee.

Nie Yan’s silhouette flickered before disappearing from his spot.

Fawne’s Phantom!

Nie Yan was like a phantom, his silhouette flickering back and forth. It was impossible to pinpoint his exact location.

No matter how much of a seasoned expert Howling Wind was, he’d never seen a skill like this before. His heart sank. With a wave of his staff, he sent a shower of spells raining down on Nie Yan.

Eye of Truth!

Nie Yan’s eyes blossomed out with a profound light. Sweeping his gaze over the three Howling Winds, he discovered to his shock that all three were real. "Whatever, I’ll just kill them all.”

Gale Step of Nirvana Flame!

Nie Yan’s figure blurred, in the same moment appearing behind one of the Howling Winds 60 meters away. PSHFT! Blood flew into the air. Instant kill!

The speed of a Legendary Gale Step was fast beyond belief. All Howling Wind saw was a blur before one of his clones was killed.

So this is the speed of a Legend, Howling Wind inwardly muttered. Nie Yan was far faster than any player he’d met before!

The two remaining Howling Winds blinked around the battlefield, letting loose with a flurry of spells. Earth Spikes, Ice Arrows, Lightning… all his spells were instant cast. To his dejection, however, he discovered even with him completely focusing his senses, he couldn’t pinpoint Nie Yan’s position.

A Legendary skill wasn’t something ordinary skills could compete with!

Howling Wind felt death drawing ever closer from behind him. BLINK! BLINK! BLINK! He continuously blinked around the battlefield, but the feeling never disappeared, as if Nie Yan’s dagger was already on his neck.

PSFHT! The second Howling Wind died to a single attack.

Howling Wind felt deep shock battering at his heart. Just how did Nie Yan do it? How did Nie Yan have the energy to spare to deal with his other clone?

Unbeknownst to Howling Wind, Nie Yan had already toggled off Jotunheim’s Descent. If it were activated, he would’ve long since turned into an ice sculpture!

This was the difference between a Master and a Legend. The two weren’t even on the same plane! Howling Wind finally realized this was an opponent he stood no chance against. He originally thought even if he couldn’t defeat Nie Yan, he could still put up a decent fight. Now, he knew that was only wishful thinking. How hard was it to advance to a Legend? He himself had been at it for a year already, but even after 20 attempts, he still was no step closer to breaking through that final hurdle. By the time he finally became a Legend, what level would Nie Yan be at?

No matter how much Howling Wind blinked around, he could sense Nie Yan’s killing intent following him relentlessly. He couldn’t comprehend how. His Blinks were completely random. How did Nie Yan pinpoint his location every time? His prediction ability was terrifying!

Nie Yan’s comprehension of Fawne’s Phantom grew deeper as he fought Howling Wind. Apart from the unrivalled evasion ability and speed, it also provided him unmatched pursuing ability. With this skill, even if the enemy blinked away at random, he could still track the movement through the flow of their mana.

Nie Yan became increasingly confident that if Plenty wanted to stand a chance against him, he had to advance to a Legend. Unfortunately, he didn’t know whether Plenty already succeeded or not. So, rather than taking the risk of challenging him now, he would focus on increasing his strength instead.

"You’ve lost,” Nie Yan said in an indifferent tone. He had to admit that Howling Was was quite strong. However, a Master had no chance of winning against a Legend. This was a gap that couldn’t be closed with equipment nor level nor skill.

Howling Wind halted his step, looking a little lost. The strength he was so proud of was nothing in front of Nie Yan. He realized that cold chill he felt on his neck was Nie Yan’s blade, ready to chop down whenever. He’d already lost.

Nie Yan stopped about 10 meters across from Howling Wind. Seeing his opponent’s dejected appearance, he consoled, "This isn’t an issue of skill. That’s just how the game works. Legend beats Master like rock beats scissors. If you want to have a real duel, come back when you’ve become a Legend.”

Howling Wind bitterly smiled. "I’ve got to witness the might of a Legend firsthand. But to be honest, even if you were still a Master, I don’t think I could’ve won. You’ve already advanced while I’m still struggling to get past that final hurdle. This is a difference in skill. I won’t make any excuses for myself. A loss is a loss.”

Nie Yan shrugged his shoulders, declining to express his opinion. Perhaps it really was like what Howling Wind said. Even if Tang Yao came over right now, he probably wouldn’t last more than a few moves. The difference in class rank was too great. When he defeated Howling Wind, he didn’t have to do anything fancy. All he did was rely on the overwhelming power of his skills.

"If you want to improve, go learn from Sparrow Hawk, Sun, and them. Fumbling forward by yourself can only take you so far. You’re a bit weaker than them in terms of skill.” Nie Yan had an idea. He’d first belittle Howling Wind a little. Perhaps that would get him to join Asskickers United. An expert like Howling Wind was difficult to find. If he could be pulled into Asskickers United, it would be a big win. However, after becoming a Legend, Nie Yan didn’t particularly care anymore if Howling Wind joined. One more or one less, it made no difference on the overall picture.

Howling Wind seemed dissatisfied with Nie Yan’s evaluation. He opened his mouth to argue.

"I’m going back to levelling.” Nie Yan turned around and dashed over to the Umbra Demon Kings in the distance, continuing his grind. After this match with Howling Wind, he had a rough idea of his own strength. He was confident that he had an absolute chance of victory if Plenty failed to break through in the next two and a half months.

Fallen Angel, I’ll be coming for you soon!

The video of Nie Yan battling the Umbra Demon Kings continued circulating around. Eventually, news of this mysterious expert reached the ears of Fallen Angel. However, their higher-ups remained calm, expressing no particular reaction. Plenty appeared to have vanished into thin air, while Fallen Angel’s elites were frequently spotted going in and out of Sword of the War God. According to the rumours, they were frantically collecting void metal.

Nie Yan received constant updates on the situation in Fallen Angel from Guo Huai. From that, he guessed Plenty was also crazily raising his level and the quality of his gear. Once the five-month deadline was up, he wondered how strong Plenty would be.

After grinding in Hell for three more days, Nie Yan received word from Guo Huai that Howling Wind had brought his team with him to join Asskickers United. Subsequently, he defeated Sun, Tang Yao, and the rest. Nie Yan couldn’t help but chuckle. It looked like this was Howling Wind’s way of proving him wrong. He had several powerful experts under his wing. If Fallen Angel ever tried to declare war on Asskickers United, they would now have a greater advantage.

Nie Yan recalled how Howling Wind took on Angel Corps all by himself in the previous timeline. Yet this unyieldingly proud figure was absolutely dominated by him.

Even though when the game first released Nie Yan had the advantage of foresight, he had to rely on hard work to get to where he was now.

Nie Yan eventually found the final fragment of the Death God’s Bone. After he placed all 12 fragments together in his bag, they let out a dazzling light.

The 12 fragments gradually merged together before becoming a single bone.

Nie Yan stared fixedly at the bone, wondering what it would become.

The intact Death God’s Bone was extremely smooth. There wasn’t a trace of a single crack. It looked as if it were crafted from a black metal, giving off a dark lustre.

Death God’s Bone: Special Item

Death Sentence: Target an enemy for death. If the target is not more than 20 levels above the user, this spell will instantly kill them. Cooldown: 30 days.

Death Sentence? Nie Yan was curious to see this skill in action.

A cooldown of 30 days. If Nie Yan used it, it would be back up by the time he would duel Plenty.

Looking in the distance, an Umbra Demon King happened to be moving towards him.

Death Sentence!

Suddenly, an enormous hand emerged from the sky as if it had crossed through from the void. As the index finger pointed at the Umbra Demon King, a powerful aura of death spread out.

This skill was far grander than Annihilation Slash! It also looked even more difficult to dodge.

The hand blotted out the entire sky as an immense force bore down on the ground. All the undead in the vicinity trembled in fear.

BOOOM! The Umbra Demon King appeared to be struck by a powerful force. It collapsed to the ground.

Instant kill?

Nie Yan gasped. What a powerful skill! It really was an instant kill! This skill was ridiculously overpowered. In terms of killing power, no other skill could beat it. Of course, it wasn’t invincible. At the very last moment before the attack landed, it could still be evaded. However, only the fastest and most skilled could pull that off. Especially since Nie Yan would only use it at the most opportune time, when the enemy had no chance of evading!

After gathering the 12 fragments, Nie Yan had another killer ace!

Nie Yan’s harvests were quite good. Looking around, there were still two Umbra Demon Kings left. He’d deal with them in 30 minutes. At this home stretch in Hell, a satisfied smile appeared on Nie Yan’s face. He was already Level 202, 32%, while his dragons were even higher with the Divine Eclipse Dragon at Level 211 and the other two at Level 205.

Nie Yan broke out into laughter, his voice reverberating for a long time in the air. It brimmed with confidence, just like in the past. The moment he left Hell would mark the Mad Rogue’s return to glory!

"It’s been three years. I’m back!”

Chapter 983 - Return of the Mad Rogue

With a flash of light, Nie Yan teleported back to Okoron. As he walked down the bustling streets of his city, he sighed with emotion. Finally, he was going to return to Asskickers United in glory!

Nie Yan was about to announce his return anyway, so he disabled appear offline mode. On the level leaderboards, he immediately shot up from the hundred millions to rank 93.

The players in the Righteous Faction quickly caught wind of the change on the level leaderboards, shock spreading among them. They rubbed their eyes in disbelief. How was this possible? How did Nie Yan level up from Level 156 to Level 202 in under four months? This was simply insane!

The news of Nie Yan’s updated level quickly reached the Evil Faction, causing an enormous uproar.

The forums erupted with discussion. Those who previously claimed Nie Yan had no chance of catching up quietly shut their mouths. They couldn’t wrap their heads around how he managed to level up at such an insane speed! It didn’t take long before someone linked the footage of a Thief soloing the Umbra Demon Kings to him. All of a sudden, everything made sense.

At Level 202, there was only a four or five-level difference between Nie Yan and Plenty, meaning the level suppression was negligible. At that point, victory would be decided by skill and gear quality.

The players took Nie Yan disabling appear offline as a declaration of his return. The throne of number one player in the game once more had its master!

The phrase ‘monarch overlooking the heavens’ perfectly described Nie Yan. At this moment, no one believed Plenty could beat him. His undefeated record was engraved deeply in the hearts of countless players. Even to this day, it still remained standing!

After finding out Nie Yan was already Level 202, the entirety of Asskickers United broke out in celebration. The guild chat flooded with messages as everyone expressed their excitement. Some old veterans felt their eyes tickling with tears. It had been three whole years. Everything seemed like a dream.

At some point, word of Nie Yan walking down the streets of Okoron towards the guild headquarters started going around.

The Abernathy Great Grasslands, Calore, Orc King City, Blaze City, Chaos Temple, Sword of the War God, countless guild members stopped what they were doing and activated their Return Scrolls to teleport back to the closest city, then made their way to Okoron.

Players from Asskickers United were flocking from all over towards Okoron. There were also quite a few non-guild members rushing over to witness the occasion. The city was large enough to contain tens of millions of people, but it was still packed to the brim, even more so than usual. Everyone was brimming with excitement. They were here to witness the return of the Mad Rogue, the return of the king! This was sure to be a historic moment.

Three years, an entire three years! When news of Nie Yan being shot came out, countless guild members felt a huge blow to their hearts. Many even cried. He had guided Asskickers United down the path of glory, going from nothing to becoming the ruler of the Righteous Faction. Many people joined the guild as nobodies, slowly maturing over the years. The feelings these old veterans had for Nie Yan were extremely deep. Finally, he was coming back! He hadn’t forgotten about them!

...

Sword of the War God.

Smoke Stub glanced at the guild chat, then turned to the others with a faint smile. "Looks like Nie Yan is coming back. How about we go back and welcome him home?”

"You sure this information is legit? If he’s planning to come back, you’d think he would tell us first. Someone might just be spreading rumours,” Bladelight said.

"It doesn’t really matter. He has already disabled appear offline. With so many people gathering in Okoron, he has no choice but to show himself.” Smoke Stub laughed.

Bladelight thought for a moment. It made sense. "Alright, let’s head back!”

The rest of the team erupted into cheers. Sun, Undying Scoundrel, Lustboy, all of them were excited beyond belief. With a flash of light, they teleported back to Okoron.

Watching Bladelight and the others appearing in Okoron, everyone was even more sure Nie Yan was making his return. Their boisterous cheers shook the city to its very core.

...

Nie Yan made a run to the Starry Night Potion Shop. He originally wanted to take care of a few things, then get in touch with Bladelight and the others. But by simply appearing online again, he had caused such a huge commotion. He was a little taken aback.

It seemed futile to keep hiding. So, Nie Yan sent Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others a message. Taking off his cloak, he walked straight past the Starry Night Potion Shop and toward the Asskickers United guild headquarters.

Seeing a player in the middle of the street revealing himself to be Nirvana Flame, all the players in the vicinity stared at him in shock before quickly parting ways to let him through.

"Boss!”

"Boss, do you remember me?”

…

Some Asskickers United players in the surroundings yelled out to him. They didn’t expect Nie Yan to reveal himself here. They could hardly contain their excitement.

Nie Yan nodded back with a faint smile. It had been three years. Even though he had forgotten the names of many of the people before him, he still recognized them. His heart was filled with a myriad of feelings. Three years ago, he had briefly died. Fortunately, he was given a new lease on life. Seeing these people again, he couldn’t help but sigh with deep emotion.

As Nie Yan continued walking towards the guild headquarters, from everywhere people started following behind him.

Even though Nie Yan knew his return would cause a huge reaction, he didn’t expect it would be to this extent. Okoron was even more packed than usual, tens of millions all here to see his return!

In the blink of an eye, the entirety of Asskickers United knew of Nie Yan’s return.

Nie Yan glanced at the guild chat. It was moving so fast he couldn’t possibly keep up, only seeing a few messages.

「Boss, welcome home!」

After catching a glimpse of this message, Nie Yan fought back the urge to let his tears come out. He wondered how Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Sun, and them were doing.

The players following behind Nie Yan started taking notice of his equipment. He’d hidden the stats of his equipment, but they could tell from its appearance what grade it was. Their minds trembled in shock. All Sacred-grade, and it looked like a set!

All six pieces had a sleek and stylish appearance and sparkled with a metallic lustre. Just above their surface circulated streams of azure light, which gave off an ice cold aura. They couldn’t help but shiver.

Thinking back to the video of Nie Yan soloing the Umbra Demon Kings, they guessed this equipment set had an astonishing aura or domain type ability as well as that ice rupture effect. As they thought about that monstrous damage, they couldn’t help but shudder in fear.

Nie Yan leisurely strode forward, wearing a calm expression on his face. Yet the players around him felt an untouchable prestige. The person before them was the undefeated legend, the Mad Rogue who accomplished countless impossible feats! His name alone gave off a sense of pressure.

A few minutes later, the entrance to the guild headquarters was already within view. Gathered there were several thousand of the guild’s elites standing in rank and file. Seeing these passionate faces, Nie Yan couldn’t feel more at home. He recognized many of them by name. Three years ago, they had fought shoulder-to-shoulder with him in leading Asskickers United to glory!

"Boss!”

"Boss, you’re back!”

…

Many players let their tears run freely as their emotions got the better of them.

Nie Yan spotted Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Sun, King of the World, and the others.

Bladelight walked up to Nie Yan and gave him one big bearhug. Afterwards, he stepped back and patted him on the shoulder with a hearty smile. "You lil’ punk. You finally have the nerve to show yourself, huh?”

"Big Bro!” Sun excitedly walked forward, his face full of snot and tears.

Tang Yao and King of the World were more calm. After all, they still interacted with Nie Yan regularly in real life.

Nie Yan’s heart was deeply moved. He swept his gaze over the crowd gathered around him. Smoke Stub, Undying Scoundrel, Young Seven, Mistaken Smile… seeing all these familiar faces, he fought back the urge to holler at the top of his lungs that he was finally back.

"The king has returned, the monarch overlooking the world!”

"All hail the Mad Rogue!”

…

No one knew who was the first to yell out these words, but the rest of the crowd quickly followed suit. Their passionate cheers rumbled like thunder, threatening to bring all of Okoron down. One could imagine how loud they were. All the non-guild members in the scene paled in fright. They finally understood why Asskickers United always came out on top in an impossible situation and how they rose up to become the ruler of the Righteous Faction.

Even though Asskickers United remained relatively stable over these past three years, everyone in the guild felt like something intrinsic was missing without Nie Yan. With his return, all of them lost themselves in excitement. He was the spiritual pillar of the guild. As long as he was there, they felt invincible. This was the power of a leader!

The Mad Rogue was the glory of Asskickers United, their symbol of invincibility.

Okoron descended into a state of merriment. Countless Asskickers United players surged through the streets and gathered around the guild headquarters. Several million players were packed so closely together around the guild headquarters that their feet didn’t touch the ground anymore.

Nie Yan climbed to the top of the highest tower in the guild headquarters. He looked over the sea of people, all of them eagerly looking up and waiting for him to speak.

Even the roofs of nearby buildings were packed with players! They were all cheering.

"Long live Asskickers United! Long live Nirvana Flame!”

Nie Yan’s heart stirred with emotion and a sense of pride. This was the feeling of overlooking the world! As long as he gave the word, millions of players would sweep through all enemies in his path!

Chapter 984 - Chapter of Holiness!

Nie Yan swept his gaze over the crowd below. He could sense the passion and emotions stirring in each and every one of them.

Bladelight put a hand on Nie Yan’s shoulder and said with a smile, "Go on. They’re all waiting for you to speak.”

"Yeah, Big Bro! They’ve all been waiting for your return,” Sun chimed in.

Tang Yao, Smoke Stub, and the rest nodded in agreement.

Nie Yan looked down at the excited crowd. "Brothers, it’s been three long years. I’m finally back. I am so happy to see all of you again. You know, I was looking at the guild chat earlier and saw some say, ‘Boss, welcome home!’ Yes, I am home, and I’m deeply touched, touched that so many of you didn’t forget me, didn’t give up on me. To be honest with all of you, I’m overwhelmed that so many of you showed up here today. I vividly remember as though it happened yesterday how we fought shoulder-to-shoulder together and broke through all obstacles to rule the Righteous Faction. Today, for the sake of those who fought and still fight with us, for the glory of Asskickers United, join me again as we continue on this path of glory!”

Nie Yan pointed Zennarde’s Sword toward the sky, the blazing azure flames reflecting the excitement in his heart.

"Long live Asskickers United!”

"Long live Nirvana Flame!”

"Defeat Fallen Angel and rule the world!”

...

The roaring cheers of the crowd shook all of Okoron. Nie Yan knew speaking any more words would simply be superfluous. He was back. That was all that mattered to these players. Their morale skyrocketed to an all time high.

Over the next few hours, Okoron was livelier than ever as Asskickers United launched a massive celebration for the Mad Rogue’s return.

Nie Yan entered a conference hall in the guild headquarters. Guo Huai and the others were already waiting for him.

"Thank you. I know it’s been tough on you guys,” Nie Yan said. He truly meant these words from the bottom of his heart. When news of him being shot came out, Asskickers United might have very well collapsed were it not for the efforts of Guo Huai, Bladelight, and the rest. They fended off the guilds that rose to prominence in his absence, and kept Asskickers United a coherent whole.

"Pfft! What is this courteous and polite nonsense? Don’t treat us like strangers!” Guo Huai said with a smile.

"Right! When we hit the bar later, you can treat us to a few rounds!” Bladelight laughed.

"Consider it your punishment. Going off on a honeymoon with Yao Yao, and leaving us behind! We thought you’d forgotten us!” Smoke Stub broke into a smile. "It’s good to have you back.”

Nie Yan smiled at King of the World and Tang Yao.

They held a short celebration in the conference hall. After all, Nie Yan’s return was an enormous deal.

Nie Yan took the opportunity to get to know some of the new faces. The number of elite experts under Asskickers United’s banner reached the tens of thousands. Many were no less inferior to the likes of Undying Scoundrel, Summer Bug, and them. They had all joined after his departure from the game. For many of them, this was their first time meeting him. Still, he recognized more than half of them, since they were famous experts in his past life. Howling Wind and his group had also arrived. All these talented people were his subordinates. It really was like a dream.

"Guo Huai, how has Fallen Angel reacted to my return?” Nie Yan asked. News of his return had definitely reached Plenty’s ears by now.

"It’s strange. There seems to be no reaction whatsoever. Their members are talking about it, but apart from pacifying some worries, their staff members haven’t expressed any thoughts. Their main team still hasn’t returned either, and Plenty is nowhere to be found,” Guo Huai replied.

"Looks like Plenty is really feeling the heat. He’s probably holed himself up somewhere to raise his level,” Bladelight said.

"I wonder if he’s succeeded in becoming a Legend.”

"Hard to say…”

...

Everyone chimed in with their thoughts.

Nie Yan eventually raised his hand, signalling everyone to calm down. "I’m going to complete a few quests by myself, then head to the Evil Faction to see what’s going on down there for myself.”

"Boss, you sure you don’t want us to come with you?”

"No need. I’ll be going alone.” Nie Yan shook his head.

Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others didn’t show much surprise. They weren’t at all worried. There was a reason why Nie Yan remained undefeated. Even if he headed to the Evil Faction alone, he would still be fine.

"What quests do you still need to do?” Bladelight asked. "Need our help with anything?”

"They’re all unique, exclusive quests, including completing the Book of Order,” Nie Yan said. With his current strength, these quests wouldn’t take much time or effort.

"Big Bro, before you go, let us hand over the chapters from the Book of Order we collected for you,” Sun said.

"Ah, right. Yeah, that sounds good.” Nie Yan nodded. He needed all the chapters to complete the Book of Order anyway. There was no need to refuse out of politeness.

The party lasted for two hours before everyone dispersed. Nie Yan had Sun and the others hand over their chapters from the Book of Order. Of course, they were non-transferable items and could only drop upon death.

A dazzling radiance shone from Nie Yan’s bags. The scattered chapters fused into complete volumes. Five volumes and five chapters neatly lay inside his inventory.

These five volumes were divided into the Glimpse of Darkness, Glimpse Of Light, Glimpse of Ice, Glimpse of Thunder, and Glimpse of Fire. The Glimpse of Darkness gave the greatest stat bonuses for a Thief with the Glimpse of Light coming in second. The other three volumes didn’t benefit Nie Yan as much, but they were still good. To complete the Glimpse of Divinity and with that the Book of Order, he only needed to find the Chapter of Holiness. Afterwards, he would have another Sacred item in his possession and would be bestowed the title of Supreme Pontiff.

According to rumours, the Chapter of Holiness was in the hands of a Level 200 Demonified Lord called the Void Walker. Nie Yan could only defeat it himself. To others, a boss like the Void Walker was near impossible to beat. To draw a comparison, for the sake of obtaining the last chapter of the Book of Chaos, Plenty had expended an untold amount of effort just to defeat the Level 200 Demonified Lord the Divine Djinn. At that time, Plenty was already level 205. Fortunately, retrieving the Chapter of Holiness would be a cake walk for Nie Yan. After all, he could already solo Level 210 Demonified Lords. What did he have to fear of the Level 200 Void Walker?

Over the next few days, Nie Yan completely engrossed himself in questing. Finally, he found himself at the entrance to the Void Palace, a place deep within the Chaos Temple. Behind those gates was the Level 200 Void Walker.

The Void Palace was the only place in the Chaos Temple that hadn’t been explored yet. Most teams weren’t strong enough to kill the monsters guarding the entrance. And even those teams who did kill the guards found themselves stuck, as the gates wouldn’t budge no matter how they tried. So, they could only turn back in dejection.

Nie Yan stared at the gates, his three giant dragon pets proudly standing behind him. If others were to see him trying to enter the Void Palace alone, they would turn pale in fright.

Nie Yan placed his palm on the gate. It instantly lit up with a dazzling radiance as the gates slowly rumbled open. He blurred into motion and dashed straight toward the Void Walker.

The Divine Eclipse Dragon used Doppelganger and split into five bodies. The 10 heads all started chanting extremely powerful single-target Forbidden Magic.

The Void Walker roared out and slashed out with its ethereal claws. However, no matter how it attacked, it couldn’t land a single hit on Nie Yan.

A dense shower of spells rained down on the Void Walker, causing it to wail out in pain.

A Level 200 Demonified Lord was actually powerless to fight back!

To Nie Yan, fighting this Void Walker was like a walk in the park. The monster continuously wailed out in pain as its health plummeted down. Even a team of apex experts wouldn’t necessarily be able to match this damage!

About 10 minutes later, the Void Walker let out a final mournful cry. Its body started falling apart as it disintegrated into nothing.

To Nie Yan’s surprise, nothing dropped after the Void Walker died.

"Where’s the Chapter of Holiness?” Nie Yan knitted his brows. He looked around the palace hall and found a passage leading to who knew where.

So the Chapter of Holiness wasn’t on the Void Walker after all! The passage was too narrow for the three dragons to fit in. Nie Yan thought for a moment before activating Gale Step and dashing in.

The scene that greeted Nie Yan left him gasping in shock. At the end of the passage was a long flight of stairs. It was about two meters wide, leading up to the endless void. The only interruption were the flaming green meteors streaking past.

This scene was more spectacular than tens of thousands of meteor spells combined together. It seemed like the work of an invincible Mage.

Even though there were countless meteors streaking through the void, none of them struck the stairs.

For the sake of obtaining the Chapter of Holiness, Nie Yan was willing to brave any danger, to say nothing of the fact he had absolute confidence in his strength now. Even if he did meet with danger, he could rely on his skills to turn the situation around to his advantage.

As Nie Yan ascended the stairs, he felt like he was walking through the void.

Nie Yan had no idea where he was anymore. Around him was a boundless void, and the stairs continued stretching upward without end. It felt similar to the dimension inside the Dark Demonic Space.

After climbing more than 200,000 steps, Nie Yan finally saw a black gate up ahead. It was sealed shut. On it were various strange engravings. He was instantly curious. What could lay beyond here?

Thinking to this point, a speck of light entered Nie Yan’s vision. There appeared to be something floating in front of the gate.

That light couldn’t be more familiar to Nie Yan.

It was unmistakably a chapter from the Book of Order, the Chapter of Holiness!

Nie Yan’s face lit up with elation. The final chapter was almost within reach!

Chapter 985 - Book of Order

The Chapter of Holiness floated in the void, emanating a powerful holy aura.

The last remaining chapter! The title of Supreme Pontiff was within grasp!

Nie Yan had started to realize a certain truth over the years while playing Conviction. The strong only grew stronger! Those more skilled than their peers could complete more difficult quests and obtain better gear and skills. With this better equipment, they could naturally take on even higher difficulty quests and get their hands on even better loot. Like this, they would pull farther and farther ahead from ordinary players.

Nie Yan was a prime example. After becoming a Legend, many things became much easier to obtain, such as the final chapter from the Book of Order and the Supreme Pontiff title. After obtaining these things, his strength would rise by another level, and he would pull even farther ahead.

Nie Yan climbed up to the top of the stairs and stopped in front of the floating Chapter of Holiness. He reached out to it with his hand.

The Chapter of Holiness appeared to sense the other chapters in Nie Yan’s possession and started whirling around, giving off a gentle white light.

Nie Yan grabbed the Chapter of Holiness and placed it inside his bag. The remaining chapters slowly came together, releasing a dazzling light before merging into a complete volume. Afterwards, the six volumes fused together into a thick book. The front cover was made out of some unknown material while the edges were embroidered with gold thread. It was worn out and drab, evidence of its long history. Written on the cover in Ancient Common were the bolded words, Book of Order.

Nie Yan wondered what the stats of the completed Book of Order were. However, the stairs beneath his feet started shaking violently before he had a chance to find out. Countless cracks spread across the enormous black gate in front of him.

The whole place was about to go down!

Nie Yan’s heart shook. He didn’t dare to dally here any longer. He bolted away with Gale Step.

BANG! BANG! BANG! A cacophony of explosions rang out behind him.

The meteors, each of them hundreds of times larger than the ones summoned by Forbidden Magic, started raining down on the stairs. They obliterated large sections as they smashed through the steps.

A meteor crashed down directly below Nie Yan. BOOM! Hundreds of steps exploded into the void.

Nie Yan halted his steps. His way down was cut off!

Three notification and announcement jingles rang next to Nie Yan’s ears. He had no time to check what they were. Just as he was about to summon the Spectre Dragon and fly away, several meteors came falling right towards him.

"Crap, I’m done for.” Nie Yan despaired. Thankfully, he didn’t have anything on him that would drop on death. His several Sacred items were all bound to him. That included the Death God’s Edge, which bound to him after completing the quest in Hell, and the Book of Order which was now complete. So, he would only lose some experience.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Nie Yan felt an overwhelming heat engulfing him before all went dark.

A while later, Nie Yan revived in the graveyard. Looking at his experience bar, he felt it was well worth it. He obtained the Book of Order at a small loss of experience that didn’t even see him drop a level.

Nie Yan glanced at the notifications and announcements he received.

Nirvana Flame has completed the Book of Order. In two hours, Archangel Tallod will descend on the Temple of Light in Calore and officially bestow him the title of Supreme Pontiff in a coronation ceremony.

Nirvana Flame has opened the Entrance to the Void World.

Invasion of the Void World: Inhabitants of the Atlanta continent, for the preservation of humanity, return to your cities and fight off the invaders from a foreign world. May the God of Light be with you.

Jebiath the Great has died. You have failed the quest "Elder Redwin’s Betrayal.” Jebiah the Great’s Scepter Fragment has disappeared.

Before Nie Yan could comprehend what was going on, he received a second string of announcements.

Calore is under siege by creatures from the void. Calling all players for assistance.

Okoron is under siege by creatures from the void. Calling all players for assistance.

Nisode is under siege by creatures from the void. Calling all players for assistance.

...

Nie Yan received more than 30 such announcements in total. He was flabbergasted. Did him grabbing a single chapter really cause such a huge event?

Unbeknownst to Nie Yan, the trigger condition for the release of the Void World was the completion of both the Book of Order and Book of Chaos. Since Plenty had already completed the Book of Chaos, Nie Yan completing the Book of Order became the key to opening the floodgates.

Since this was a trigger event, Great Prophecy couldn’t predict it.

Invasion of the Void World, this sounded like another major expansion.

In two hours, Nie Yan had to be in the Temple of Light in Calore to be coronated as the Supreme Pontiff. However, with the invasion of the void, the entirety of the Atlanta continent was in chaos. Likely, it wouldn’t be as grand of an event as the crowning of the Chairman of the Dark Council.

Be it Nie Yan completing the Book of Order, receiving the Supreme Pontiff title, or the opening of the Void World, it triggered a huge uproar among the playerbase. So many major events were clustered together. Everyone was dumbstruck.

「Guo Huai, what’s the situation like on your side right now?」Nie Yan asked.

「It’s complete and utter chaos here. All our strongholds are under siege from void creatures. There are too many of them. We can’t hold on.」Guo Huai anxiously reported.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. Every now and then in Conviction, a major event would rear its ugly head to wreck immense havoc, forcing players to rebuild from the ruins. It was only a matter of time for this invasion of the void to happen.

「What about the Evil Faction?」Nie Yan asked. He hoped the void creatures were also invading the underworld and not just the surface, or else it would be really unfair.

「They’re also under siege. I’m guessing Plenty is tearing his hair out trying to deal with it.」

「I see, that’s good. Since everyone is being attacked, whoever can survive this calamity will be the victor. I’ll return to Okoron immediately!」Nie Yan said. He skimmed through the guild chat and pieced together a rough picture of what happened. After he completed the Book of Order, innumerable green meteors starting raining down all over the Atlanta continent. After they crashed into the ground—obliterating many man made structures and even entire towns—they opened up to reveal hordes of void creatures. These monsters started hunting down the players in the wilderness. Before long, they found themselves without players left to feast on. Not satisfied with this, they started attacking settlements and cities too.

The weakest among these void creatures were ordinary Level 180 monsters. Among them there were countless, Void Walkers, Void Slaughterers, and Void Predators; Level 200, 210, and 220 Lords respectively. There were even Demonified Lords. The players in the cities fought back fiercely. However, taking down these void creatures required enormous manpower. On average, tens of thousands of players were required to deal with a single Void Walker!

Under the siege of the void creatures, strongholds were quickly lost; especially those of which that were hit by the meteors. The cities fared somewhat better. With countless powerful NPCS guarding them, they could put up a decent resistance.

Nie Yan was puzzled about one thing. What did Jebiah the Great’s death and Elder Redwin’s Betrayal have to do with the invasion of the void? He’d been putting off that quest for who knew how long without issue. But now he’d suddenly received a notification that he failed it. Thankfully, there weren't any penalties, nor did the quest disappear as a new continuation opened up. Could it be that Elder Redwin had something to do with this invasion?

Nie Yan didn’t have the luxury to continue pondering this question. He would have to deal with things as they came. Plus, this was also a blessing in disguise for him. With his current strength, these high level Lords were perfect food for him. He could seize this opportunity to power level!

Nie Yan still hadn’t had a chance to check out the Book of Order. He pulled it out and examined it.

Book of Order (Sacred): Inheritance Item

Description: Only the holder of the Book of Order will receive God’s inheritance and become the Righteous Faction’s Supreme Pontiff. Your mission is to spread the glory of light. The owner of this item may mobilize the army of the Temple of Light and give out orders to all its followers.

Properties: All Stats + 300%, Experience +80%, Magic Item Drop Rate +10%, All Skills Max Rank, Dark Magic Immunity, Physical Damage Reduction +80%. Access to all skills and spells; the user may learn up to 100 of them at any time (Some effects cancelled out by the Book of Chaos).

Restrictions: Nirvana Flame

Note: Item effects are applied immediately upon entering the player’s bag.

The Book of Order was undoubtedly amazing. As an item that took effect just by sitting in the player’s bag, it could only be described as heaven defying. Then again, it was one of the ultimate items in Conviction. For it to have these kinds of properties wasn’t shocking.

Nie Yan was especially taken aback by the fact that he had access to all skills and spells and could learn up to 100 at any given time. Likely, the Book of Chaos also gave something similar. If he didn’t have the Book of Order and rashly challenged Plenty, he would’ve probably suffered a humiliating defeat. It appeared Plenty was still holding back. Thankfully, he wasn’t hot-headed.

What Nie Yan didn’t know was that the Book of Chaos was completely different from the Book of Order. But since the properties of the Book of Chaos weren’t public, he had know way of knowing what they were.

Nie Yan obtained another item that didn’t lose out to any other Sacred-grade piece of equipment. His strength soared up by another level. He could probably stand as an equal among the Legendary NPCs now.

Plenty probably saw in the void creatures the same as Nie Yan, a great opportunity to level up. Nie Yan’s heart was filled with eagerness and competitive spirit. As he tightly gripped Zennarde’s Sword in his hand, the flames blazed brightly. "Let’s see who can kill them faster, Plenty!”

Chapter 986 - Absolute Might!

When Nie Yan returned to Okoron, he found the whole place in chaos. Countless players were rushing towards the city walls. However, they couldn’t stop some void creatures from breaking through the city’s defenses. They floated ominously above the ground, resembling mega sized spectres with sharp teeth and claws. The troops from Asskickers United desperately fought back against them.

A Void Walker moved through the city, toppling down buildings while completely brushing off the shower of magic raining down it.

Even though the players fighting the Void Walker were panicked and confused, they still managed to form a relatively effective resistance.

"Mages, take position to the left. Use the buildings as cover. Maintain your damage output! Warriors, protect the Mages!” a Priest from Asskickers United ordered. The players in the surroundings rallied under his leadership.

BANG! BANG! BANG! The Warriors charged forward while the Mages bombarded the Void Walker with their magic.

A Level 200 Demonified Lord was normally an untouchable existence for ordinary players. However, by throwing enough bodies at it, they slowly whittled its health down.

"HREEEEEK!” the Void Walker cried out, wrecking the surrounding buildings with one clean slash.

Just at this moment, Nie Yan arrived on the scene. Okoron was his city. He had poured an untold amount of blood and sweat on it. Seeing the Void Walker wantonly destroying everything he had worked so hard for, his expression turned ice cold.

Nie Yan disappeared from his spot and reappeared right below the Void Walker. He slashed out with Zennarde’s Sword as a string of frightening damage values floated up above its head. Three minutes later, it let out a mournful wail and collapsed to the ground.

Nie Yan glanced at his experience bar. It had only filled up by a tiny bit. As for the loot, he left it where it was. The city needed him right now, and he wasn’t about to let it fall because he was preoccupied with something as unimportant as that.

The players in the vicinity were dumbstruck. They’d been fighting the Void Walker for who knew how long and only brought its health down to 90%. Yet a single person had come around and took care of it in the blink of an eye.

"That Thief, that dagger… it’s the boss!” the Priest exclaimed as he stared at Nie Yan’s departing silhouette. "No doubt about it, the boss is here!”

This small piece of news sent waves through the players from Asskickers United as they started fighting with even greater ferocity.

The non-guild members dumbly starred in the direction Nie Yan disappeared in. So, that was Nirvana Flame? How strong! This was their first time seeing Nie Yan live in action. Under the blade of Zennarde’s Sword, a Level 200 Demonified Lord was nothing more than helpless prey!

Nie Yan was putting out fires all over Okoron, bumping into Bladelight and other familiar faces along the way. They were also working hard to drive the void creatures out of the city.

"Nie Yan, the east gate needs help! I’ll go with Smoke Stub to back up the west gate!” Bladelight said.

"Got it!” Nie Yan said before dashing off.

...

Okoron, east gate. Several hundred thousand Asskickers United players were on the walls, beating back the void creatures outside. The arrow towers and catapults were firing at full power.

Undying Scoundrel was the man in charge at the east gate. From atop the wall, he gravely looked at the endless sea of void creatures, with no small number of high level Demonified Lords among them. The Mages had already cast 60 Forbidden Spells to kill just one of them. They were too strong, and there were simply too many of them! Their every attack would break large chunks off the wall. It wouldn’t be long before the east gate would fall.

「Scoundrel, we can’t hold on any longer!」

「Send up the three Magisters who still have their Forbidden Magic! Cast them one after another!」Undying Scoundrel shouted.

A Level 220 Demonified Lord-class Void Predator managed to scale the walls and slashed down with its monstrous claws. BAANG! The walls shook violently as several dozen players were sent flying.

For many of them it wasn’t their first death since the void invasion. Even so, they didn’t hesitate to rush back from the graveyard and continue helping in the city’s defense. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough as the walls were starting to crumble.

The players on the walls desperately tried to fend of the enemy. If worse came to worst, they could only retreat from the walls and set up a defensive line in the city. However, that meant Okoron would suffer even greater destruction.

At this moment, seven dragons appeared out of nowhere on the city wall.

The players from Asskickers United were briefly taken aback before realizing who these dragons belonged to. Their eyes lit up with joy.

A silhouette rushed forward to greet the Void Predator.

「Scoundrel, focus all your attacks on whichever monster I’m attacking!」Nie Yan ordered.

「Understood, Boss!」Undying Scoundrel relaxed someone as he passed on the message to his men.「Everyone, the boss is here! Listen to my orders!」

「It’s the boss!」

Morale instantly skyrocketed. Nie Yan’s presence was an enormous source of confidence for these players.

「Listen to Scoundrel!」

「Follow my lead! Help the boss!」Undying Scoundrel shouted.

Nie Yan struck the Void Predator with his Backbreaker of Nirvana Flame. BANG! An explosion of ice ruptured out from the wound, halting its movements. Immediately after, the Forbidden Magic from the dragons along with the spells from the Mages came raining down.

An assault of more than 50,000 spells!

About a minute later, the Void Predator let out a mournful cry and collapsed to the ground.

Nie Yan glanced at the Void Predator’s remains and noticed something sparkling. "Void metal!” He reached down and grabbed it. Upon closer examination, he discovered it was Void Silver Ore! Not a bad harvest. Every ore was definitely precious!

After taking down the first Void Predator, Nie Yan immediately locked onto the next. He pounced forward with a Legendary Nightmare Beheader!

Nie Yan had taken the two Legendary skill books for Thieves that were in Asskickers United’s guild treasury. One was Nightmare Beheader and the other was Shadow Escape.

Nightmare Beheader’s range couldn’t compare to Annihilation Slash. However, its damage wasn’t any bit inferior, and its cooldown was much shorter. It worked best on a single target!

BANG! The Void Predator took a heavy blow and staggered several steps back.

The Void Predator was about to retaliate, when a locust swarm spell came whistling over. The locust swarm engulfed it, interrupting its attack. Nie Yan seized the opportunity and circled around with a Lacerate.

PSFHT! Ice rupture proc’d again!

About a minute later, the second Void Predator fell under the fierce assault.

As for the weaker Level 180 Void Wolves in the vicinity, they couldn’t endure the bitter cold of Jotunheim’s Descent and instantly froze to death.

Nie Yan had Kalenna protect him with Kalenna’s Guardian Barrier. It almost tickled as multiple Demonified Lords attacked him together.

Asskickers United’s players were left speechless. No matter how much they attacked, they couldn’t deal with a single Void Predator. However, with Nie Yan’s arrival, they killed two in the span of a short few minutes. His position in their hearts rose even higher as they once more viewed him as an invincible god.

Seeing Nie Yan’s silhouette flickering around the battlefield like a phantom, they wondered how long it would take for them to reach his level.

They could only rely on the protection of the walls to deal damage to the void creatures. Meanwhile, Nie Yan dared to charge into the frightening sea of monsters all by himself. What astonishing strength!

「M-my God! Look at our stats!」a Mage shouted.

「36 blessings! Holy crap! No wonder our damage increased by so much after the boss arrived! Before we were barely hitting in the double digits. Now, we’re hitting in the several thousands!」

Kalenna’s blessings weren’t just for Nie Yan, but for all his nearby allies too!

It was a pity the second Void Predator he killed didn’t drop any void metal. Nie Yan picked up a piece of equipment. It was a Level 200 Legendary void metal chestplate. Its stats were pretty decent. He tossed it into his bag.

Under Nie Yan’s leadership, Asskickers United launched an all-out counterattack. They focused on the Demonified Lords, which fell beneath his blade one after another. As for the ordinary Level 180 Void Wolves, they were swept away by the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s AoE magic.

As the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s light and dark Forbidden Magic rained down on the battlefield, countless void creatures were vaporized into nothing.

Ding dong! Nie Yan glanced at his level. He had reached Level 203!

What astonishing levelling speed!

Not only Nie Yan, everyone else received a lot of experience too. More than 80% of the players had at least levelled up once. Some even levelled up two or three times!

About an hour later, the void creatures at the east gate were almost completely wiped out, the ground littered with corpses. There were only a few stragglers left alive. Nie Yan didn’t stick around for them as he immediately headed elsewhere.

An hour and 50 minutes later, Nie Yan levelled up again. He smacked his lips in satisfaction. With the release of the Void World, levelling became much faster. At the same time, he also received a notification.

You have killed 36,000 void creatures and obtained the Allied Army Legion Commander title.

You have obtained a Void Silver Ore.

Nie Yan was puzzled. What was the Allied Army Legion Commander? Would it give him something useful?

That said, the Void Silver Ore was a pleasant surprise. Apart from this one, he’d also obtained five from killing Void Predators.

Nie Yan wondered if he could upgrade the Tyrant Abak Set again with the Void Silver. Then again, the Tyrant Abak Set was already quite powerful. If he couldn’t use it, he could always pass it on to Bladelight and them.

Thanks to the efforts of the players form Asskickers United, most of the void creatures around Okoron were eventually cleared away. However, there were still many void creatures in the wilderness. Sooner or later, they would come swarming over. So, they had to take advantage of this brief period of peace to strengthen their defenses and prepare for the next wave.

Chapter 987 - Fallen Angel, Get Ready!

Calore, Temple of Light. The flames of battle couldn’t reach here, a gentle holy aura in the air.

News of Nie Yan’s coronation ceremony had quickly spread around the Righteous Faction. Even though the situation across the continent was chaotic right now, many people still came to witness this historic moment.

After all, the Supreme Pontiff held the highest authority in the Righteous Faction.

The main hall in the Temple of Light was packed with players. A red carpet was rolled out that led directly to a seat at the front of the room. The throne of the Supreme Pontiff! A symbol of absolute authority!

In front of the throne was Archangel Tallod clad in his silver white armour. The ethereal wings of light on his back fluttered back and forth. His palms rested on the pommel of his greatsword, which was pointed downward toward the ground. He appeared dignified.

After the Gates of Hell opened, many players became familiar with Archangel Tallod. Seeing his dignified expression, they knew better than to open their mouth. Even though the main hall was packed, it was deathly silent, so much so that you could hear a pin drop.

Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others weren’t present. They were busy protecting Okoron. Besides, the coronation ceremony was merely a formality.

Nie Yan entered the hall, slowly walking over the red carpet. Looking at Archangel Tallod and the throne behind him, he still couldn’t help but feel excited. From the beginning of the game to now, from an ordinary player to the Supreme Pontiff, the journey truly wasn’t easy.

Nie Yan scanned the room before landing on a familiar face. Standing in the crowd right below the throne was Xie Yao. She had an indescribable grace about her, making her stand out like a snow lotus in full bloom.

As they met eyes, Xie Yao broke into a smile so gentle and enchanting that time appeared to come to a halt.

Whenever Xie Yao was by his side, Nie Yan felt like he could accomplish anything.

Nie Yan slowly strode forward, all eyes following his every step. The crowd felt like they were watching the ruler overlooking the world as reverence filled their hearts. He was about to officially become the Supreme Pontiff of the Temple of Light!

Nie Yan was an unreachable, god-like existence to countless players!

Many members of the crowd belonged to Asskickers United. They excitedly watched as Nie Yan approached Tallod, their eyes welling up with emotion. As they recalled the brilliance of his past achievements, they couldn’t help but feel their hearts race and boil with excitement. It was him who had led them to the peak of honour and glory!

Nie Yan stopped in front of Archangel Tallod, who placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Holder of the Book of Order, Nirvana Flame, are you willing to inherit God’s glory and spread the faith of his light?” Archangel Tallod asked.

"Yes, I’m willing,” Nie Yan said. He felt a heavy pressure just by being in Archangel Tallod’s presence. What an overwhelming aura! It was far more powerful than any Legendary NPC!

"Nirvana Flame, will you accept the title of Supreme Pontiff and become the executioner of God’s will?” Archangel Tallod asked.

"Yes, I’m willing!” Nie Yan answered. Under the weight of Archangel Tallod’s aura, he showed the utmost respect, not daring to show the slightest arrogance.

"Hereby I grant you the absolute authority to lead the followers of the Temple of Light. Fight bravely! May God’s light be with you!” Archangel Tallod finished. A dazzling radiance brimming with an unrivalled power power fell over Nie Yan,

Nie Yan felt every pore of his being surging with strength.

Within the radiance, Archangel Tallod took out a golden crown and placed it over Nie Yan’s head. His stately voice lingered in Nie Yan’s ears.

"As I bathe in the light of Heaven, God has granted me an immortal body. Archangel Tallod has bestowed upon me supreme authority. As the Supreme Pontiff of the Temple of Light, I will declare war against the darkness and make sure His light illuminates every corner of the land. I will drive off all evil from this world and dispel all of humanity’s sickness. I am this world’s king!”Nie Yan’s deep voice reverberated out.

A powerful aura swept out, causing the players in the surroundings to pale in shock. They didn’t dare to show any resistance as they knelt before him in submission.

Nie Yan’s eyes swept over the crowd. It was as if his gaze could see through all. The players felt like they were sitting on pins and needles.

Finally, the players from Asskickers United erupted into cheers.

"Supreme Pontiff! Supreme Pontiff!”

"Long live Nirvana Flame!”

...

Nie Yan lightly nodded. He could finally mobilize the army of the Temple of Light! Opening his status page, he noticed an additional tab for summoning NPC troops, which comprised a 200,000 strong Paladin Legion, 20,000 strong Priest Legion, and 50,000 strong Holy Griffon Knight Legion.

With the threat of the void creatures still looming over them, Nie Yan instantly mobilized them. They would help the cities across the continent in repelling this invasion.

After the coronation ceremony, Archangel Tallod stayed in the Temple of Light. From now on, he would personally oversee the temple in Calore. With him here, Calore would never fall!

Nie Yan took his crown in his hands and inspected it. It gave zero stats, but it represented the highest position and authority!

The cheering of the players from Asskickers United could be heard all across Calore. Nie Yan faintly smiled. The coronation ceremony gave him a brand new feeling. Today marked the day that he had reached the highest peak in Conviction! From now on, he would rule over the entire Righteous Faction! Perhaps in the future, his influence would even spread to the underworld!

Staring at Nie Yan who bathed in a holy radiance, Xie Yao started reminiscing about the past. When they first met, she didn’t know why, but from the first moment she felt like they were connected by destiny. In these past seven years, countless things had happened, all of which had become her most cherished memories. While Nie Yan sought higher and higher glory, she was content simply being by his side.

The celebration after the coronation ceremony lasted for a few hours. The Asskickers United players in Okoron were also endlessly excited. Watching the video of the event, they wished nothing more than to be there in person. Unfortunately, they had to stay behind and defend Okoron.

The guild members shared their joy in the guild chat.

「Archangel Tallod crowned the boss Supreme Pontiff!」

「The title of Supreme Pontiff and Chairman of the Dark Council basically cancel each other out. He can definitely beat Plenty now!」

「That’s for sure!」

「Boss, we’ll follow you wherever you go! Lead us to victory against Fallen Angel!」

…

Nie Yan glanced at the guild chat. He was pretty much set on heading down to the Evil Faction. However, with the opening of the void, he could still raise his level a bit more first!

Lost in thought, Nie Yan’s pet space suddenly erupted with a powerful energy. His heart trembled. The Darkwing Dragon broke through to Rank 10! It had increased in size by several times over with a wing span of well over 100 meters! Nie Yan was speechless. It had practically become a flying fortress. Its scales even radiated a faint holy aura. He had probably triggered some special evolution during the coronation ceremony.

The sole Rank 10 Legendary flying mount! At this moment, the Darkwing Dragon was once more the supreme ruler of the skies!

The Spectre Dragon also showed signs of breaking through. However, it likely wouldn’t come into play in the underworld.

Karsi’s quest had a time limit of three years. However, no one had ever completed it. Nie Yan reaccepted the quest and headed out of Calore before summoning the Darkwing Dragon. Hopping on its back, he took to the air and paid a visit to the Roth Wetlands and Abyss Caverns of the Lorang Mountain Range.

This quest was rather easy to Nie Yan now. Even though Cerberus was strong, it was nothing more than a Level 200 Demonified Lord. With his current strength, he could make quick work out of it. He finished the quest in just under two hours.

After saving the eight surviving members of the Ten Holy Paladins, they joined the Temple of Light. They were all powerful NPCs that now fell under Nie Yan’s command.

As the Supreme Pontiff of the Temple of Light, even if Nie Yan didn’t finish the Ten Holy Paladins quest, he could still command Karsi to a certain extent. However, after rescuing them, Karsi directly became his servant and could be dispatched at will.

Apart from the Abyss Caverns, Nie Yan also made a trip to the Dragon Valley in the Moz Mountain Range. It took him roughly three hours to complete the Secret Treasure of the Dragon Race quest. Even though the rewards weren’t that spectacular, he did obtain two dragon runes for Zennarde’s Sword. They were ancient enchants that increased the attack power of Zennarde’s Sword by 5,000, while also boosting the effects of all its supplementary skills by an additional 20%. It was now better than the Death God’s Edge in every regard.

The void creatures surged out endlessly from the void. Even though there was chaos all over Conviction with cities collapsing, the average level and gear quality of players was shooting up. The void creatures gave an extremely ample amount of experience, far more than equal level monsters. Not to mention the equipment they dropped was of high quality.

The Righteous Faction and Evil Faction entered an arms race of sorts, with both competing to raise their levels and the quality of their gear faster than the other.

In the short span of half a month, Tang Yao reached Level 210, Plenty Level 211, and the other top experts also rapidly climbed in levels.

During this time, Nie Yan didn’t head to the Evil Faction to challenge Plenty, nor did any conflicts break out between the two great factions. There was a rare period of peace.

Of course, this couldn’t last forever. In the darkness of the underworld near the entrance to the surface a silhouette appeared. This person was naturally Nie Yan. He had teleported here with Instant Transmission.

Nie Yan looked in the distance. Even though his Night Vision stat was extremely high, he could still only see a relatively limited range. Everything beyond was covered in a veil of endless darkness. He smirked. "Fallen Angel, Plenty, get ready. I’m coming!”

Chapter 988 - Heads Rolling with Every Step

Nie Yan summoned his dragons. The void creatures were also invading the underworld. So, he could do some levelling along the way.

Since the start of the void invasion, Nie Yan’s level skyrocketed. He caught up to Tang Yao at Level 210. Of the Level 220+ Demonified Lords that spawned in the Righteous Faction, he had single-handedly taken down more than half of them.

Nie Yan no longer hid himself behind a cloak. His azure armour flickered with a dazzling radiance within the darkness. A pair of black wings slowly fluttered on his back. These were Demon Wings he crafted from the Demon Feather. In the past few weeks, Guo Huai had helped him collect the other materials he needed for crafting them They didn’t give any stat bonuses, only the ability to fly.

Even so, these wings were still useful to Nie Yan. He now had decent aerial mobility.

Apart from his unrivalled equipment, Nie Yan also had an old man wielding the Amos Void God Staff following behind him at a steady pace. A white nebula of holy energy circulated around him.

This old man was Karsi. As a Legendary NPC, he had seen countless battles and racked up astonishing achievements on the battlefield. He was an existence countless players revered.

Karsi would only take action if Nie Yan gave him the order.

A Level 230 Demonified Lord-class Void Succubus appeared up ahead. When it discovered Nie Yan, it immediately let out a shrill cry and pounced toward him.

Nie Yan’s figure blurred, activating Fawne’s Phantom, and reappeared in front of the Void Succubus. He twisted his body to the side and executed a Reverse Grip Backstab. His blade plunged into her side, proccing ice rupture and instantly covering her body in a thick layer of frost.

The Void Succubus lashed out in a violent frenzy. But no matter what she did, she failed to land a single hit on Nie Yan.

BANG! BANG! BANG! A shower of Forbidden Magic rained down on the Void Succubus. A string of 20,000,000s floated up above her head.

Not far from where Nie Yan was battling the Void Succubus, several Thieves were flitting across the darkness.

Sensing something, Nie Yan looked in the distance and spotted several silhouettes. He smirked. It appeared Fallen Angel would find out about his arrival pretty soon.

He was going to openly slaughter a path to the capital of the Undead Empire, Necropolis!

From here to Necropolis. Meet god, slay god! Meet buddha, slay buddha! Nie Yan wanted to see who in the Evil Faction could block his path!

Beneath his feet was the territory of the Evil Faction. Fallen Angel probably didn’t expect him to announce himself in such an arrogant manner.

Under Nie Yan’s fierce assault, the Void Succubus let out a mournful cry and disintegrated into nothing.

...

Necropolis, Fallen Angel’s guild headquarters.

Over 200 higher-ups from Fallen Angel were holding an emergency meeting in the conference hall. They’d just received word that Nirvana Flame was spotted in the underworld. The entire guild was in an uproar. Even though Plenty was an invincible existence in their hearts, the person coming for them was the Mad Rogue! In the short span of five months, he’d gone from being pitifully weak at Level 156 to only being one level behind Plenty at Level 210! What insane levelling speed! It was practically heaven-defying! Seeds of doubt sprouted in their hearts. Could Plenty really defeat Nirvana Flame?

The showdown between Nie Yan and Plenty was unavoidable. If Plenty lost, Fallen Angel would suffer an enormous blow. Previously, Asskickers United’s peak experts had already shown their superoirty. If it weren’t for Plenty single-handedly making a comeback, they would’ve lost all face. However, as if in response Nie Yan had risen back to the top. It appeared he wasn’t content to let them have even that victory.

"That son of a bitch! Who does he think he is? Does he think we are so easy to bully? Boss, we should send our people to intercept him!” a Dark Zealot exclaimed in righteous indignation.

Sending people to intercept him? That would be the same as Fallen Angel declaring that Plenty was too afraid to fight Nie Yan! Warlance glanced at Plenty, whose eyes were closed.

Plenty wore a cloak that hid his equipment. He remained silent, causing the others players to glance at each other confidently.

Eventually, Plenty opened his eyes and replied in an indifferent tone, "He’ll come sooner or later. No need to get anxious.” There was no avoiding the inevitable. As for how sure he was of victory, he couldn’t say.

Godking joined in and asked, "Boss, should we at least send some people to probe his strength?”

Plenty pondered for a moment. Nie Yan was without a doubt the strongest enemy he’d encountered to date. He had no idea how much stronger Nie Yan had grown in this short amount of time. This didn’t bode well for his chances of victory. However, sending people to intercept Nie Yan was a show of weakness.

Seeing Plenty frozen with indecision, God King and Warlance glanced at each other. They began making arrangements themselves.

Since Plenty wasn’t willing to tarnish his reputation. It could only be left to the two of them.

"Help me prepare the summoning formation. If I can’t defeat Nirvana Flame, we can only rely on that move,” Plenty said.

These words caused Godking and Warlance’s eyes lit up. With that move, they might actually stand a chance!

"Yes! We’ll prepare right away!”

...

Word of Nie Yan’s arrival in the underworld quickly spread. Not just within Fallen Angel, but throughout both great factions. The players couldn’t help but get excited to see what Nie Yan would pull off this time.

A post on the forums soared to the top. It contained a livestream from Nie Yan’s perspective.

"Nirvana Flame actually went to the underworld alone! He’s crazy!”

"With his skill, he can be as arrogant as he wants to be.”

"Huh? Who’s that man next to him wearing a cloak?”

"That should be Karsi, a Legendary Holy Mage. I heard a rumour that he’s Nirvana Flame’s servant.”

"A Legendary servant…”

Discussion surrounding Nie Yan filled the forum. Many people were guessing whether Plenty stood a chance. After witnessing Nie Yan’s might, would he even dare to fight? Apart from the discussion, the flame wars between Asskickers United and Fallen Angel had never stopped. However, in terms of morale, Asskickers United’s side held a clear-cut advantage. Nie Yan had killed his way into the Evil Faction by himself, and his destination was the capital of the Undead Empire, Necropolis! Even if Fallen Angel’s side wanted to argue back, there was nothing they could say.

Nie Yan glanced at the forum and smiled indifferently. These comments didn’t mean anything. In the end, strength prevailed over all!

After picking up the loot the Void Succubus dropped, Nie Yan strode forward. As more void creatures fell to his blade, he started noticing an increase in player activity near him.

As expected, Fallen Angel had sent people to intercept him!

A dozen Thieves suddenly jumped on Nie Yan. But as their blades cut down on him, they failed to connect. PSFHT! PSFHT! PSFHT! Blood splashed out as 12 bodies dropped to the ground.

The Thieves had inconceivable expressions on their faces.

What insane speed! Was this the might of a Legend?

These Thieves hadn’t even advanced to Soulweavers, yet dared to challenge him! Nie Yan sneered. Even ants would put up a better fight.

Though these Thieves weren’t wearing any guild emblems, Nie Yan was sure they were sent by Fallen Angel. After all, no one else was crazy enough to provoke him!

Nie Yan’s eyes flashed coldly as he locked onto something on a distant hill. Moments later, the Divine Eclipse Dragon’s magic struck there. Three Thieves were revealed from stealth as their bodies exploded.

Triple kill!

Every step Nie Yan took another Thief would reveal themselves. They tried a wide variety of techniques to catch him by surprise, to deal some actual damage. However, they all failed. Before they could even get close to him, they would find their health bars suddenly empty.

To Nie Yan’s surprise, there wasn’t a single Soulweaver among the Thieves that came for him. In fact, he hadn’t so much as sensed the presence of one. These Thieves were nothing more than cannon fodder, probably to make him drop his guard. He guessed the real fun was still to come.

At this moment, three Thieves came dashing towards Nie Yan, closing in with lightning speed.

They pincered Nie Yan, not even giving him the time to command his dragons.

Lockdown!

One of the Thieves tried to lock Nie Yan down. Nie Yan quickly activated his Legendary Gale Step and used the brief moment of invincibility to evade at an unimaginable speed. He was faster than these Soulweavers by several times over.

One of the Thieves sensed a sharp killing intent washing over him. His face paled in horror. He tried to escape with Gale Step.

Lockdown! Cutthroat!

Nie Yan executed the two skills masterfully with no gap in between, almost as if he’d practiced them millions of times. The Thief didn’t even have a chance to activate Gale Step before his body was immobilized by lockdown. PSFHT! A fountain of blood jetted out from his throat.

Instant kill!

Nie Yan’s ruthless and efficient dispatching of their comrade left the other two Thieves breaking out in a cold sweat. However, in this critical moment, they had no time to hesitate or think. They’d come here with the resolve to die anyway. Their attacks were filled with an unyielding might as they staked everything on the line.

Dash Strike!

Dash Strike!

The daggers of the two Thieves streaked forward like meteors.

Nie Yan’s figure flashed. All the two Thieves saw was a blur as their attacks missed. They panicked.

Before they could react at all, Nie Yan chained Extreme Intimidate with Counter and Phantom Assassination! PSFHT! PSFHT! Two jets of blood spurted out at the same time. The Thieves wore expressions of disbelief as the light slowly faded from their eyes.

Chapter 989 - Killing Godking

Nie Yan slaughtered everyone who came for him. These players were simply too weak, lacking even the qualifications to probe his strength. He decided to try out some of the 100 skills he could learn from the Book of Order. Even if he wasn’t familiar with them, they were still more than enough to kill these small fry.

Between killing players, Nie Yan quenched his thirst on void creatures. He made quick work of them and raised his experience all the way to Level 210, 65%. Just a bit more grinding, and he would catch up to Plenty!

A Level 220 Void Predator appeared up ahead. Nie Yan was about to engage it, when he detected the presence of a large group of players in the distant forest.

After thinking for a moment, Nie Yan summoned his shadow clone. It entered stealth and dashed toward the forest.

Before long, blood-curdling screams rang out from the forest. These players were no match for the shadow clone!

Some players attempted to approach Nie Yan, who had his dragons blast them from afar with their flames. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Their bodies were thoroughly roasted.

Nie Yan ignored the prying eyes and engaged the Void Predator.

About a hundred Mages in the greater surroundings paced back and forth in hesitation. They didn’t dare to approach Nie Yan. All those that tried before them were instantly killed. Some didn’t even get anywhere near him as they were frozen to death by the effects of Jotunheim’s Descent. Still, their job was clear. They all drank Sage-rank Ice Resistance Potions, and then closed in on Nie Yan.

Nie Yan glanced east, where a group of Mages was approaching him. Since the Thieves couldn’t handle him, they sent in the casters!

The 100 Mages were all Gold Wings. In the entire Evil Faction, no one besides Fallen Angel could mobilize such a force!

The Mages hid their appearances behind cloaks, rapidly closing in on Nie Yan with blinks.

Nie Yan shot a glance at the Mages before shifting his attention back to the low health Void Predator. He didn’t panic in the slightest. He let loose with a flurry of Hell Executions. A string of misses floated up above its head before the last one landed. The Void Predator wailed out in anguish and disintegrated into nothing.

Nie Yan gazed over at the Mages. The leader was a player in silver ashen robes. Giving a signal with his hand, the hundred players split into teams of five and moved in to surround Nie Yan.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! Magic started raining down from the sky.

Gale Step of Nirvana Flame!

Nie Yan evaded the bombardment of spells. At the same time, the Divine Eclipse Dragon fired out two spheres of light, one black and one white. The two balls spiralled around each other before colliding together. BOOOM! A massive explosion immediately swept out. Some Mages failed to escape in time and were engulfed in the flames.

"Fuck! What kind of skill is that?”

"Those were clearly instant cast spells! Why the hell was that attack so powerful?”

The two spells the Divine Eclipse Dragon fired out were Light Ball and Dark Ball. On their own, they were nothing special. However, after being combined together, their destructive potential increased exponentially, far surpassing the realm of low level magic.

Even more frightening, this combination magic could be used freely! The cooldown was near non-existent and the cast time was almost instant.

A chaotic battle broke out. Many of the Mages switched focus to the Divine Eclipse Dragon. A few others tried to surround and pincer Nie Yan, but they couldn’t keep up with his unpredictable movements.

Most terrifying though, was that Karsi had yet to take action.

With Karsi’s strength, dealing with them would be extremely easy. No one understood why he hadn’t taken action yet. Could it be that Nie Yan couldn’t command him? Of course, this was only a faint hope. The Divine Eclipse Dragon and Nie Yan alone were already too much for them.

Because of this, their objective was simply to draw out and probe as much of Nie Yan’s strength as possible. They had no hopes of actually killing him.

Unfortunately, Nie Yan appeared to have already figured out their purpose. He used only Fawne’s Phantom, Counter, Gale Step, and a few other common skills. Yet they still couldn’t get a handle on him at all.

Nie Yan’s figured blurred as he closed in on one of the Mages.

The Mage immediately felt the surrounding temperature plummet and his movement speed decrease. Staring in Nie Yan’s eyes, he blinked away. As his feet touched the ground, he heard a rupturing sound behind his back. Nie Yan had somehow followed him!

Instant kill! Blood sprayed into the air.

Even in death, the Mage couldn’t wrap his head around how Nie Yan predicted his blink.

A blink from a Gold Wing Mage was a 100% effective tool. No matter what kind of attack they faced, they could blink away to escape. However, this surefire skill was completely useless against Nie Yan!

Finally locking onto Nie Yan, the Mages immediately targeted a barrage of spells at him, like Earth Spikes, Ice Blast, and so on.

Nie Yan’s figure blurred and disappeared without a trace.

BANG! BANG! BANG! The barrage of spells failed to hit their target.

Nie Yan used Gale Step to appear behind another Mage. Sensing a cold chill behind their neck, the Mage panicked. They tried to blink, but discovered their skill bar was grayed out.

PSHFT! Nie Yan stabbed through the Mage’s chest with Zennarde’s Sword. Another instant kill!

The Mages were dropping like flies, unable to put up any form of resistance.

Watching his men dropping like flies, the leader ordered, "Have the 200 on standby come forward!”

Nie Yan had come to the Evil Faction alone. A hundred Gold Wings fighting him was already pushing it. It would be difficult to avoid rumours that Fallen Angel was unscrupulous, sending so many players to gang up on one person.

Fallen Angel originally believed these 100 Gold Wings were enough to force Nie Yan to pull out his cards. Never did they expect that he could take them out without breaking so much as a sweat. This was unacceptable! So, the leader called more players over.

As the leader of the Mages called for reinforcements, Nie Yan locked onto him among the crowd.

Nie Yan’s silhouette blurred into motion as he shot forward.

Feeling the temperature around him plummet, the leader of the Mages froze. Even though there were seven other Gold Wings around him, he knew Nie Yan was after him.

The leader of the mages waved his staff. Darkness Burst! A dark explosion swept out from around him.

Nie Yan activated Shadow Escape, taking advantage of the brief invincibility to nullify the attack. As he pounced forward, Zennarde’s Sword blazed brightly as he slashed down on the leader of the Mages.

The leader of the Mages quickly waved his staff. A thick layer of stone formed around his body. This Stone Sculpture spell had incredible defensive properties.

Nie Yan’s attack landed on the statue. BOOM! It instantly shattered into a million pieces as debris flew everywhere.

The statue was destroyed in one hit!

At this moment, the leader of the Mages appeared 30 meters away, his chest heaving up and down heavily as he gasped for air. Nie Yan’s attack was too fast and too fierce. It was impossible for him to dodge it physically!

Stone Sculpture was actually an escape skill.

Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise before his lips curved into a faint smile. The Mage in the silver ashen cloak was actually Godking! No wonder he could escape his ferocious assault!

Godking was once the guild leader of Pantheon, a former rival that stood on equal footing with Plenty. His strength wasn’t to be underestimated.

Godking knew his identity was exposed after using Stone Sculpture. The number of players in the Evil Faction with this skill could be counted on one hand.

Godking started waving his staff to shield himself, when Lil’ Gold blasted him with a jet of flames.

Lil’ Gold was already Level 230. If Godking were hit by the attack, even if he didn't die, he would be barely clinging onto life.

Godking quickly blinked away. BOOOM! The flames blasted the ground where he previously stood, sending rubble flying everywhere.

What destructive might!

Godking had Spirit Awe active, but the effective range was only 120 meters. Meanwhile, the Level 230 Lil’ Gold’s attack range was an astonishing 300 meters!

The other players with Spirit Awe tried to close in on Lil’ Gold, the Divine Eclipse Dragon, and the Violet Eye Dragon. However, the dragons’ firepower was too fierce. They couldn’t enter anywhere within a 200-meter range. Even though they could exchange fire with the Divine Eclipse Dragon from afar and try killing it that way, it was the equivalent of using a pistol to go against a turret! One player after another was transformed into white rays of light.

Godking had just dodged Lil’ Gold’s flame breath, when a light and dark combination spell from the Divine Eclipse Dragon came whizzing over. BOOOM! An enormous explosion swept out.

Godking had already used several consecutive blinks to escape the range of the blast. Just as his feet touched the ground, he felt the temperature around him plummet.

Nie Yan was after him again!

Godking blinked away again. In his place, a demon in black armour emerged out of thin air and came slashing out with its blade.

Nie Yan’s silhouette flickered, instantly engulfed in a cloud of smoke and debris.

"Did it hit?” Godking felt the temperature around him returning to normal.

He’d seen the Archfiend’s attack land on Nie Yan!

In this brief moment of hope, Godking felt an ice-cold aura lock onto him. His body immediately froze up, unable to move.

No! Godking’s heart trembled.

The last thing Godking saw was a dagger shrouded in black flames slashing down on his chest. These ominous flames seemed to want to devour him completely, both body and soul. His pupils shrank.

PSFHT! Instant kill!

Nie Yan’s figure slowly materialized over Godking’s corpse.

Chapter 990 - Rank 10 Legendary Darkwing Dragon!

By the time the reinforcements Godking called over arrived, less than 30 of the 100 Gold Wings were still alive.

Nie Yan and his dragons were absolute killing machines, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. The enemies trembled with fear.

When the 200 Gold Wings arrived, Karsi finally took action. He waved his staff, and the magic energy within a several thousand meters radius undulated violently. Lowering his head, he started chanting a cryptic incantation. His voice seemed to pierce through time and space.

"W-what’s going on?”

"I don’t know!”

The players from Fallen Angel knew they were in great danger. However, they were frozen in place with no idea on what to do. This was a strength that couldn’t be resisted.

"L-look over there! Karsi is casting magic!”

"Shit. Everyone, retreat!”

The Gold Wings scattered without hesitation. Stop Karsi? What a joke! Nie Yan would never give them the chance to even get near him! Moreover, they sensed that whatever spell Karsi was casting was already on the verge of completion. Even if they wanted to, they didn’t have the time to stop him.

Several players had Transfer Rings and directly teleported away. The rest ran as far as their legs could carry them.

At this moment, Karsi chanted the last syllable. A dazzling radiance erupted from his body, making him resemble a miniature sun. Everything in a several thousand meters radius was turned into a world of white. A divine hymn could be heard in the air as the image of a holy temple appeared.

The Gold Wings cried out in pain. The holy light threatened to purify their entire existence.

They were all Evil Faction Players. So, their bodies were filled with darkness energy. The powerful holy energy tried to cleanse this.

PSFHT! PSFTH! PSFTH! 200 Gold Wings burst into smoke and disappeared without a trace, not even leaving behind a corpse.

Even Nie Yan was taken aback. He stared at Karsi with his mouth wide open like a goldfish. So, this was the might of a Legendary Mage? Too frightening! Even though Nie Yan was also a Legend, he was a player while Karsi was an age-old NPC. They simply weren’t on the same level in terms of strength.

Nie Yan’s only advantage over Karsi was that he could revive an unlimited amount of times. However, even this advantage wasn’t enough to beat Karsi, who reached infinitely close to the realm of a god. If he tried, he would simply be beaten back to Level 0.

Nie Yan only wanted to see Karsi in action a little. He didn’t expect Karsi would use such a shockingly powerful spell on the first move. More than 200 Gold Wings wiped out in an instant! He was afraid after this, no one would dare to play with him anymore.

The viewers of the livestream felt their scalp tingling, expressions of horror plastered on their faces. They had no idea how to describe the shock in their heart. The might of a Legendary Holy Mage was beyond anything they could’ve ever imagined!

With such a powerful servant at his side, Nie Yan was pretty much invincible!

「Who would do something without being sure of themselves? Especially someone like Nirvana Flame. Since he dares to slaughter his way into the Evil Faction alone, that likely means he has confidence in winning. Plenty is probably in for a world of hurt. I don’t see him beating a Legendary NPC like this.」

「I wouldn’t be so sure. I don’t think Nirvana Flame will have Karsi join the battle. After all, it’s a 1v1 duel between him and Plenty. Still, I don’t see Plenty winning.」

…

The players on the forums were all voicing their opinion. Unfortunately, there was no word from Fallen Angel. Plenty chose to remain silent, not bothering to give any reply. Everyone was wondering how Plenty was going to deal with Nie Yan. Apparently, Fallen Angel was working on something in Necropolis. However, in the face of absolute power, no trick would work.

...

The holy light slowly faded away. Nie Yan felt like he was transported to another world, then brought back.

There wasn’t a single corpse in the surroundings. The battlefield was completely swept clean. However, there were quite a few sparkling pieces of equipment on the ground. Nie Yan collected them all and tossed them into his bag. Looking in the distance, he spotted several Thieves in hiding. Karsi’s spell hadn’t purified them. Likely, they were people from the Righteous Faction. The spell only dealt damage to those from the Evil Faction. Since they weren’t his enemies, he didn’t bother with them. They were probably just trying to get some footage of his escapades in the Evil Faction to broadcast in real time.

Nie Yan continued making his way forward. After Karsi’s display of might, no one else dared to stir up trouble with him. He easily dispatched the many void creatures he encountered on his journey. Along the way, he happened to come across five strongholds belonging to Fallen Angel. However, they were all in ruins. During the invasion of the void, Fallen Angel had also taken heavy losses. It was easy to see from all this ruin and destruction.

Destruction, creation, destruction, and creation again. This was simply how the world of Conviction worked. Players would rise up from the ruins and rebuild a brand new world.

About five hours later, a crisp notification jingle rang out. Nie Yan glanced at his character page. He had reached Level 211 and caught up to Plenty!

Nie Yan smirked. At least in terms of level, he wouldn’t be at a disadvantage.

A grand stronghold appeared over the horizon. An Advanced Stronghold!

Both Asskickers United and Fallen Angel had obtained several Advanced Strongholds and numerous Intermediate Strongholds over the last few years. Advanced Strongholds had extremely thick walls that could be compared with Intermediate Cities. They were heavily fortified and often housed a large number of siege engines. They were important strategic points.

The walls of the stronghold were packed with players. They were relying on the protection of the walls to repel the siege of the void creatures. Most of the void creatures around the stronghold had already been cleaned up. Only 30 high level Demonified Lords were still attacking the walls.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The walls groaned under the assault of these void creatures. The arrow towers and cannons were firing nonstop at them as a dense hail of arrows and shells rained down from the sky. Several hundred flying mounts were circling in the air, sweeping down regularly to attack the void creatures.

The fighting was extremely intense.

An evil grin formed on Nie Yan’s face as he watched this scene. Fallen Angel only had three Advanced Strongholds. If he razed one of them to the ground, even with how large they were, it would still be a huge blow to them.

Darkwing Dragon!

Nie Yan summoned his Darkwing Dragon. With the sound of a howling gale, the gigantic Darkwing Dragon appeared in front of him. Its 100-meter wingspan made it resemble an ancient behemoth. Ordinary flying mounts were less than a tenth of its size.

With the arrival of the Darkwing Dragon came also a powerful aura that swept out into the surroundings.

The sole Rank 10 Legendary flying mount!

Apart from the Darkwing Dragon, Nie Yan also summoned his Spectre Dragon. Although it was still fairly large compared to other flying mounts, it looked like a child next to the Darkwing Dragon. A single beat from the Darkwing Dragon’s wings could send it flying.

Nie Yan leaped onto the Darkwing Dragon. He also had his several land dragons and Karsi jump on its back. There was plenty of space.

The Darkwing Dragon flapped its wings and took to the air. A powerful gale sent the Spectre Dragon reeling several meters back. Shortly after, it also took to the air and followed behind.

As soon as the Darkwing Dragon appeared, it immediately attracted the attention of the players defending the stronghold.

"L-look over there! What’s it that?” The players on the walls gazed in horror as an enormous black beast came flying straight for them.

"It looks like a flying mount!”

"A dragon! It’s the Darkwing Dragon! Oh my God! Why is it so big?”

This was their first time seeing such a large flying mount.

"His Darkwing Dragon broke through to Rank 10!” the flying mount riders cried out in shock. They had a better understanding of the strength of flying mounts. A one rank difference, especially at the higher ranks, was like the gap between the heavens and earth.

What did a Rank 10 flying mount represent? Invincibility! Every other flying mount in the face of a Rank 10 flying mount was nothing more than an ant! Fallen Angel had more than 300 Rank 9 flying mounts. They were the ultimate weapons in the sky. It was believed Rank 10 was only a myth, so they considered themselves at the apex. So, one could imagine their shock when they saw the one and only true Rank 10 flying mount in existence!

The Darkwing Dragon was like a tempest, pouncing towards the flying mounts from Fallen Angel.

The several hundred flying mounts instantly scattered. They didn’t have the slightest will to fight.

The riders frantically tried to recall their flying mounts. However, the flying mounts wouldn’t budge. In the presence of a Legendary Rank 10 flying mount, they were frozen in terror, some even outright refusing the orders of their masters.

PSFHT! PSFHT! PSFHT! Three Rank 9 flying mounts tried to attack the Darkwing Dragon, only to be torn into pieces.

Nie Yan’s dragon pets and Karsi started casting magic. A shower of single-target Forbidden Magic rained down from the sky, instantly taking out the flying mounts from Fallen Angel.

A one-sided slaughter!

"Show them your might!” Nie Yan said.

The Darkwing Dragon raised its head to the sky and let out a roar. The powerful dragon cry swept out, carrying the aura of an invincible king.

All the Fallen Angel players on the scene paled in fright.

Chapter 991 - Battle of the Pinnacle (1)

The Rank 10 Darkwing Dragon terrorized the sky, tearing through multiple Rank 9 flying mounts in the blink of an eye.

The flying mount riders from Fallen Angel fled in every direction. Instead of giving chase, Nie Yan had the Darkwing Dragon swoop down toward the stronghold.

"The Darkwing Dragon is coming for us! E-everyone, run!”

In the face of the invincible and unstoppable Darkwing Dragon, the players from Fallen Angel lost all will to fight and quickly scattered.

Both light and dark energy rapidly converged above the Darkwing Dragon. Before long, two beams pierced through the air and headed directly for the stronghold below. They spiralled around each other before finally merging at the end. BOOOM! A giant explosion shook the entire stronghold.

The destructive blast swept mayhem through the entire stronghold.

After the dust and smoke settled, everything within a several thousand meters radius of the blast zone was transformed into ruins. The walls were no exception, with the void creatures flooding in like a surging tide.

The stronghold became a chaotic battlefield. Nie Yan had the Darkwing Dragon fly across the air. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Its enormous wings collided with the arrow and cannon towers, causing some to collapse completely and others to have their tops broken off.

A shower of magic rained down on the stronghold. The dragons focused their spells on where players were most concentrated. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Countless players were engulfed by explosions.

After suffering Nie Yan’s assault, the stronghold was quickly overrun by void creatures.

The Mages from Fallen Angel raised their staffs and attacked the Darkwing Dragon with their magic. BANG! BANG! BANG! The spells exploded on its body but failed to do any meaningful damage. Their attacks barely left a mark.

Nie Yan passed an order to the Darkwing Dragon. It quickly ascended to a 600-meter high altitude.

Looking down from above, the stronghold was in complete chaos. There were over 100 high level void creatures wreaking havoc inside. Surrounding them were countless black dots. These were the players from Fallen Angel. They were trying their best to repel the void creatures, but their numbers were quickly dwindling. Before long, the stronghold would be lost.

Nie Yan had successfully broken the previous deadlock with his appearance. Fallen Angel had no way of repairing their walls in the middle of combat, nor could they deal with the never-ending flood of void creatures. In the end, they would have no choice but to abandon the stronghold.

Nie Yan no longer paid any attention to the players below. The Darkwing Dragon sped away and disappeared into the horizon.

...

Necropolis, Fallen Angel guild headquarters.

Plenty wore a grim expression on his face. He had just received word of Nie Yan’s destructive display in the Soraga Stronghold. The stronghold was one of Fallen Angel’s three Advanced Strongholds. If the void creatures turned it into ruins, it would be a heavy blow to Fallen Angel.

However, there was nothing Plenty could do to save the stronghold. Nie Yan was heading right for Necropolis. This was where his odds of winning were the greatest. If it were anywhere else, he would have no hope!

So, even though he knew Soraga was going to fall, he didn’t take the initiative to attack.

Right now, Plenty’s only hope was that Nie Yan would arrive here faster so they could have their showdown in Necropolis.

...

Nie Yan stood on the Darkwing Dragon’s back and gazed into the distance. A vast grave stretching as far as the eye could see appeared in his vision. In the center was an enormous transfer gate. At the top of the gate was a giant eyeball which emitted an ominous light as it swept its gaze over the surroundings.

The only way for a Righteous Faction player to reach Necropolis was by destroying this gate.

Hundreds of thousands of Evil Faction players formed a giant semicircle around the gate to protect it.

"I heard Nirvana Flame is about to arrive!”

"Yeah, I wonder how the showdown will go.”

…

Several players were quietly discussing amongst each other. They were guildless players who only came here to watch the show. This kind of once in a lifetime match filled them with curiosity. If Fallen Angel hadn’t sealed off the area, even more people would’ve come to watch.

Some players gazed over at Fallen Angel’s ranks. Standing at the front was Plenty in his ashen cloak. According to rumours, he had upgraded all his equipment to Sacred-grade with void metal. As for their stats and bonuses, no one knew but him.

The distance was too great. The spectators couldn’t see Plenty’s expression. He stood proudly with his cloak fluttering in the wind and a large scepter in his hand. The other players from Fallen Angel stood more than five meters behind him, surrounding him like the stars around the moon.

In the Evil Faction, Plenty was an absolute existence. No one dared to go against his authority.

"Look, over there!” someone shouted.

The entire crowd stirred. They all looked into the distance, where a large shadow appeared over the horizon.

"It’s Nirvana Flame! He’s here!”

Many people carried a hint of excitement in their voices. Today, they would witness a battle between the highest peaks in the two great factions.

Plenty looked up at the sky. His eyes flashed with a peculiar light. His Night Vision was far higher than that of anyone else. Piercing through the darkness, the enormous Darkwing Dragon entered his vision. His face slightly paled.

The Rank 10 Legendary Darkwing Dragon. Plenty couldn’t help but wonder how Nie Yan managed to obtain such a powerful flying mount.

The Darkwing Dragon’s body was enormous. Every beat of its wings left him reeling with shock.

What a frightening flying mount!

The Darkwing Dragon was like a gale. As it came flying over and landed in an open space about 400 meters away from Plenty, the gusts of wind it kicked up sent the players in the vicinity flying. Facing this terrifying beast in person, they broke out in a cold sweat. Never had they seen anything like it!

Nie Yan swept his gaze over the crowd before locking onto Plenty. He leaped down from the Darkwing Dragon’s back and calmly walked forward.

Even though he was surrounded by hundreds of thousands of enemies, Nie Yan didn’t show the slightest fear.

Everyone held their breath as they focused their attention on Nie Yan. The man before them was the same Mad Rogue who rebuked the heavens and earth and swept through everything in his path. He’d departed from Conviction three years ago, vanishing from the eyes of the players. Some even believed that he was no longer a top expert. But now here he was, an expert they could never hope to rival. His legend hadn’t faded in the slightest! He was undefeated today just as he was three years ago!

Even though Nie Yan belonged to the enemy faction, the players from Fallen Angel didn’t hold the slightest bit of hostility toward him. On the contrary, they felt a deep respect. A character like the Mad Rogue was a legend in their eyes. They simply couldn’t bring themselves to hate him.

After giving the crowd a moment to overcome their shock, Plenty took off his cloak and walked forward.

Nie Yan and Plenty stopped at about 100 meters away from each other.

The players in the surroundings retreated 800 meters back, giving the two plenty of room to fight.

This place would be the battlefield for Nie Yan and Plenty. So as to not get caught up in the middle of it, they opted to back away a good distance.

Everyone stared at the two. Nie Yan’s azure light armour was extremely impressive. As he held Zennarde’s Sword in one hand and the Death God’s Edge in the other, he resembled an unsheathed blade, brimming with killing intent. Even though they were more than 800 meters away, this murderous aura still pierced their hearts and caused their souls to tremble.

Standing across from one legend stood the other. Plenty wore ashen black robes. Holding a mighty scepter in his hand, he was also quite imposing.

These two players held the greatest authority in their respective faction. A single word from either could shake the heavens and earth. The spectators couldn’t help but lose themselves in reference. If they could reach this level one day, they would have no more regrets in life.

"I didn’t expect us to meet again after you quit.” Plenty smiled, sizing Nie Yan up. "Nor did I think our first meeting after three years would be like this.”

Nie Yan shrugged his shoulders. "Fate works in mysterious ways. Even three years ago, everyone guessed we would have this match one day.”

"If there wasn’t any other choice, no one would want to go against a freak like you.” Plenty bitterly smiled. Nie Yan really was inhuman. Over these past three years, he’d gained an enormous advantage, but Nie Yan still managed to close that gap in a short five months and perhaps even surpassed him. As much as he didn’t want to believe this, these were the facts. If he waited another one or two years, he’d be left behind in the dust.

"No matter what, with so many people from both factions watching us, this match is unavoidable!” Nie Yan chuckled. Looking at Plenty, his eyes flashed with a cold light. "Come, Plenty. Let’s see how strong you’ve grown over these past three years!”

Zennarde’s Sword seemed to sense Nie Yan’s fighting spirit and blazed to life, emitting a scorching heat.

"Alright, I’ll keep you company. The battle today will determine who’s the true ruler between Asskickers United and Fallen Angel!” Plenty turned serious. Holding out his scepter in front of him, darkness energy came pouring out and transformed into a powerful whirlwind.

Chapter 992 - Battle of the Pinnacle (2)

The spectators felt a powerful aura sweep out, threatening to blow them away. With pale faces, they retreated back further as they stared at the two in alarm. What powerful might!

All eyes were on the battlefield. Both sides were ready to battle!

At this moment, several hundred silhouettes came flying over and landed about 700 meters from the battle area. They were players from the Righteous Faction led by Bladelight.

"Looks like we made it just in time.” Bladelight chuckled. Nie Yan and Plenty were still standing opposite of each other.

"Like we would miss this match!” Undying Scoundrel exclaimed.

"They’re starting!” Smoke Stub said, taking a step forward to get a better look.

When the players from the Evil Faction saw Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the rest, their eyes widened in fear as they retreated another 60 meters.

Their numerical advantage meant nothing against these peak experts from Asskickers United. Fighting them was simply seeking death! Besides, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the rest wouldn’t have to expend any effort to kill them.

Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others didn’t bother with these players either. Their eyes were fully focused on the battle that had just started.

Apart from Bladelight and others, there were also a few guildless players from the Righteous Faction. Of course, anyone that dared to come here was a top expert.

A white robed Holy Mage holding a white leopard cat in her bosom was watching the battle. Her graceful temperament and charming appearance captivated those around her. However, no one dared to try and flirt with her. They weren’t suicidal! No one in their right mind would dared to hit on Xie Yao, the girlfriend of Nirvana Flame!

"It’s starting!” The crowd stirred.

Nie Yan entered stealth and disappeared from view. Even the murderous aura pouring out of Zennarede’s Sword seemed to wink out of existence.

This caused Plenty to feel even greater danger!

The enemy before him was the legendary Mad Rogue. Plenty didn’t dare to be careless, for the slightest lapse in concentration would result in a dagger in his throat.

In a battle between peak experts, a hair’s breadth could mean the difference between victory and defeat!

Demon Eyes!

Plenty’s black pupils glowed crimson and transformed into the shape of a diamond. As his gaze swept out, he instantly became aware of every creature in the surroundings.Yet he still couldn't detect a single trace of Nie Yan!

How was this possible?

Plenty felt apprehension. Activating Demon Sense, he focused his senses and quickly felt a frightening cold air behind him.

What insane speed!

Nie Yan was faster than any player he’d encountered before!

After Nie Yan entered stealth, he activated Fawne’s Phantom and true to the skill’s namesake appeared behind Plenty like a ghost. Zennarde’s Sword came slashing down.

Plenty waved his staff. A large, black serpent congealed from darkness energy leaped up from the ground and wrapped itself around him. PSSFHT! Nie Yan’s attack slashed the serpent apart, causing it to vanish like a wisp of smoke. However, Plenty was gone.

Eye of Truth!

Nie Yan let out a grunt as his eyes blossomed out with a profound light. The surroundings instantly became clear as he locked onto Plenty in the distance. At the same time, a dark gloomy aura rose up from the ground. Though it was nearly indiscernible, it still didn’t escape his detection!

A giant shadowy hand shot up from the ground and moved to grab Nie Yan.

What frightening cast speed! Nie Yan had no idea when Plenty cast Shadow Bind.

If it were an ordinary player, there would be no way they’d be able to predict, nor react to a Shadow Bind right after killing the dark serpent.

However, Nie Yan had already lost count of how many battles he’d experience in both his past life and this one. His senses for danger were refined to the extreme. He activated Gale Step in the nick of time and escaped.

Miss!

In the next moment, Nie Yan appeared in front of Plenty and stabbed at his chest with a Dash Strike.

Plenty’s body suddenly turned into several shadows as he avoided Nie Yan’s attack. With a wave of his staff, the ground beneath Nie Yan’s feet became soft. Everything in a 60-meter radius of the two transformed into a giant sandpit.

Nie Yan hurriedly retreated several dozen meters away, raising an eyebrow in surprise. Plenty had really grown much stronger. He was definitely the strongest enemy he’d faced to date!

The battle had only just started. So, both sides had yet to pull out their cards. They’d only used probing attacks so far. However, in the hands of these peak experts, even the most ordinary skill became extraordinary!

Be it Nie Yan or Plenty, the slightest slip-up would prove fatal.

The exchanges between Nie Yan and Plenty were too fast for most players to keep up with. All they saw was two blurs darting around non-stop on the battlefield. In the span of a short few seconds, the two moved between six different places. Only the experts could tell how perilous the battle truly was as they broke out in a cold sweat. If it were them there, they would’ve already died several times over.

The players who couldn’t make heads or tails of the live battle downloaded the recording and replayed it back frame by frame. They immediately felt their scalps tingle, shocked by how many times Nie Yan and Plenty had exchanged moves in such a short time frame. Even more, each move was incomparably fierce. Nie Yan’s attacks were ruthless and as fast as lightning. On the opposite side, Plenty’s reflexes were extraordinary, and the speed at which he cast his magic was astonishing. Most casters would have to wave their staff several times and chant a long incantation to cast a single spell. Meanwhile, he only had to slightly move his lips and wave his scepter to do the same. Not to mention how easily he transitioned from one spell to the next. The slightest hesitation would result in his opponent being hit.

"Seems like they’re still feeling each other out. Plenty, that bastard, has grown really strong. It’s no wonder he defeated us,” Bladelight remarked.

"What? This is still just a warm-up?” A few Asskickers United players in the vicinity gazed at Bladelight with a look of disbelief.

"Look, they’re still using the most ordinary skills. We haven’t seen any high rank ones yet!” Bladelight explained. Observing the battle between Nie Yan and Plenty, his heart was also filled with a myriad emotions. Both of them could be described as heaven-blessed geniuses. Only these two freaks could allow everyone to experience the pinnacle of PvP.

The spectators watched the match with eyes full of astonishment. Meanwhile, Plenty and Nie Yan were immersing themselves deeper and deeper into the battle until it seemed like they were the only two people in the world.

A stray fireball landed in a crowd of players. BOOOM! The resulting explosion swallowed up 30 players. The rest of the crowd quickly retreated another several hundred meters.

Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar. In less than a minute, he’d used 60 skills. If it weren’t for the Book of Order, he would be really worrying right now!

As the battle continued, Plenty was starting to feel the pressure. Many of his ordinary skills were on cooldown. It was obvious that Nie Yan had far more skills than him. With each wave of attacks being fiercer than the previous, he was forced onto his back foot.

If he kept trying to match Nie Yan blow for blow, he would be done for.

Both sides had already finished gauging the other’s strength. Since it was like this, Plenty was ready to go all out to see who was the strongest between the two of them!

Plenty retreated 100 meters. Seeing Nie Yan chasing after him, he let out a low grunt. A powerful aura surged out of him as he stabbed his scepter into the ground. BOOOM! Enormous cracks started spreading out from the earth at a frightening pace!

An enormous serpent formed out of electricity coiled around Plenty, sending bolts of lightning flying into the surroundings.

Finding the earth trying to swallow him up, Nie Yan quickly pulled back. With his hand bracing against the ground, he catapulted 60 meters back before landing on his feet. As he gazed over in Plenty’s direction, his expression turned serious.

There was no more holding back!

Nie Yan showed no signs of retreating. The true match would now starts. Everything before was only child’s play!

Plenty flapped his golden wings. He slowly started ascending in the air as his robes fluttered in the wind, resembling a demon god. He chanted out a cryptic incantation in a hoarse tone. With a wave of his staff, he sent his lightning serpent lunging towards Nie Yan.

What a fast attack! Nie Yan’s silhouette blurred as he dodged out of the way. BOOOM! A large five-meter wide crater was carved out of the earth where he previously stood.

This was the destructive might of magic!

Plenty didn’t stop here. Seeing his attack miss, he waved his scepter again as the serpent lunged toward Nie Yan once more.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Explosions rang out across the battlefield like a torrential downpour.

The spectators paled in fear. How could someone possibly dodge such a fierce attack? If they were the slightest bit slow, they would be struck by the lightning serpent and killed.

Nie Yan’s silhouette continued flickering back and forth. He used Fawne’s Phantom to barely avoid the attacks. As he tried to close in on Plenty, the attacks became even more intense.

Plenty had completely broken through the limits of his class! For him to be able to become the Chairman of the Dark Council, his strength had to be extraordinary!

Chapter 993 - Battle of the Pinnacle (3)

Dark electricity crackled all around Plenty. Occasionally, a stray bolt would hit the ground and send rubble flying everywhere.

With his path to Plenty obstructed, Nie Yan’s heart sank. Since they were already starting to use skills of this caliber, he wouldn’t hold back either. Kalenna waved her staff as a white radiance fell over him.

Kalenna’s Guardian Barrier!

A dazzling barrier enveloped Nie Yan. After which he braved the lightning and dashed straight for Plenty.

Thunder God’s Hammer!

A giant white hammer appeared in front of Nie Yan and shot directly toward Plenty. This was the supplementary skill transferred over to the Tyrant Abak Set from Paternoster's Warhammer! It was extremely deadly. If Plenty were hit, he would be barely clinging onto life at best. Even then, the added stun effect meant his fate was sealed!

BANG! BANG! Two electric serpents struck Nie Yan, causing the barrier around him to tremble lightly. A damage value of 200 floated up above his head.

Plenty’s heart trembled. What a sturdy barrier! At the same time, the Thunder God’s Hammer was about to smash him flat. He quickly waved his scepter and called forth a Bone Cage. Thick bone spurs resembling the fangs of an ancient beast erupted from the ground. They shone with a black, metallic lustre.

BOOM! The hammer crashed into the bone spurs before exploding. The three bone spurs were rendered into a fine powder.

Nie Yan swung out with Zennarde’s Sword and unleashed a Legendary slash.

Nightmare Beheader!

Before Plenty could even catch his breath, the frightening slash came cleaving down towards him.

The famous Annihilation Slash, which had killed scores of players, had similar visual effects. So, as soon as Plenty saw the Nightmare Beheader, he mistook it for Annihilation Slash!

Only six meters were between Nie Yan and Plenty when he cast Nightmare Beheader. In the same breath, he also targeted Plenty with Lockdown.

Plenty paled in fright. The enemy was upon him, and he couldn’t use any escape skills! He hurriedly waved his scepter.

Lich King’s Barrier!

In this life-or-death moment, the image of the Lich King appeared behind Plenty and shielded him with a black barrier.

BOOOM! The Nightmare Beheader slammed into Plenty and sent him flying like a cannonball. A damage value of 36,000 floated up above his head. BANG! The ice rupture effect was triggered too, causing him to take an additional 20,000 damage. He lost more than half of his health in this one attack!

It was a pity the ice rupture failed to deal more damage to Plenty. Even though Nie Yan had already activated Jotunheim’s Descent, it had a limited effect on Plenty. This probably had to do with Plenty’s Ice Resistance. After all, Jotunheim’s Descent was revealed a while back already. It would be strange if Plenty didn’t take measures against it.

If it weren’t for the Lich King’s Barrier, even if Plenty had twice as much health, he still wouldn’t have survived Nie Yan’s attack!

Nie Yan wasn’t surprised Plenty had a powerful skill like Lich King’s Barrier. In fact, it would be strange if a player of his caliber didn’t.

Gale Step of Nirvana Flame!

Nie Yan’s figure flashed, disappearing into stealth yet again as he pounced toward Plenty.

Plenty didn’t dare to linger. He quickly activated Shadow Mist as his body transformed into fog and disappeared with the wind.

Nie Yan concentrated his gaze, trying to pinpoint Plenty’s location.

The powerful skills displayed by both players left the spectators breathless. They didn’t even dare to blink, afraid they would miss the next move.

"My lord! This is out of this world!”

"Those two are Legends!”

"What amazing skills!”

The crowd sighed in admiration. Even though the exchange in the beginning was impressive, apart from the speed, Nie Yan and Plenty were only using ordinary skills. So, everyone felt the match was fairly normal. Now, however, Legendary skills were used left and right. They felt this was the way things should be. The skills Nie Yan and Plenty were using they had obtained through their own strength. Only those who had mastered the basics had the right to learn these powerful Legendary skills! The heavens were fair!

In order to stand at the very apex, luck alone wasn’t enough. Unrivalled skills and talents and an even stronger backing were all essential. Even with how large Conviction was, only Nie Yan and Plenty had reached these heights.

Watching the battle between Nie Yan and Plenty, the spectators felt their hearts racing with excitement. So this was the battle of the pinnacle!

Nie Yan locked onto Plenty’s position. Zennarde’s Sword and the Death God’s Edge flickered with a sharp light as he shot forward.

Plenty backed away with several consecutive blinks, shooting out one powerful spell after another. From the start of the battle to now, he could sense the huge gap between him and Nie Yan. If things went on like this, he would undoubtedly lose!

Nie Yan seemed to possess an endless amount of skills, each more powerful than the previous. Who knew how many more trump cards he still had up his sleeve?

Plenty glanced at his skill bar. The skills he hadn't used yet were mostly Forbidden Magic. However, Forbidden Magic was fairly useless in PvP since their cast times were too long. In such an intense battle, a split-second could determine victory or defeat. If he stopped to cast Forbidden Magic, it would be the same as throwing in the towel.

Looking at his last two skills, Plenty’s eyes flashed with determination. No matter what, I have to win! I’ve never lost before, and I’m not about to start losing now!

Three years ago, he might’ve felt that he stood no chance against Nie Yan and had no desire to fight him. However, things had changed and he refused to believe he would still lose!

"Lich King Form!” Plenty growled.

An enormous silhouette emerged behind Plenty. It wore ragged, ashen robes. Behind its hood was a frightening skeletal face, its eye sockets blazing with ominous crimson flames. Its body rapidly shrunk down and entered Plenty’s body.

Plenty raised his head to the sky and roared. An endless sea of magical energy formed an enormous vortex around him, resembling a boundless nebula. It rapidly expanded to several thousand meters in size, looking like it would sweep up everything.

The spectators tripped over their feet as they ran for safety. This enormous vortex of magic energy threatened to suck their very souls away!

"L-look, our mana!”

"That thing is draining our mana away!”

The casters paled in horror. They watched as their mana was sucked away by the nebula.

"Everyone, retreat! Especially the casters!” Bladelight shouted. The casters here were basically serving as an endless source of mana for Plenty!

Running for safety, Tang Yao frowned.

"Since when the hell did his Lich King Form become so strong?”

"Right, his Lich King Form back then didn’t seem so powerful!” Everyone was puzzled. They had all witnessed Plenty’s Lich King Form during the competition in Judgement Valley. It wasn’t anywhere near as powerful as it was now, though.

"I think it’s because he upgraded his equipment. He’s wearing a full set of Sacred-gear now. The supplementary skills attached to his equipment should’ve received an upgrade as well!” Bladelight surmised.

"That must be it!” Everyone had anxious expressions as they looked over at Nie Yan in the middle of the vortex. How would he deal with this powerful skill?

At this moment, Plenty became the embodiment of the Lich King himself. His entire body radiated a frightfully sinister aura. With a wave of his staff, it was as if the heavens were going to collapse and the earth would cave in. Countless cracks opened up across the ground as large pillars of black flames erupted into the air.

The magic energy from Kalenna’s Guardian Barrier was being sucked away at a rapid pace.

At this rate, Nie Yan would die within this vortex!

He had to kill Plenty kill! However, to Nie Yan’s shock, he discovered his body was basically locked down. The force of the vortex was too strong!

A light bulb flashed in Nie Yan’s head. He unfolded the Demon Wings on his back and allowed the vortex to carry him up in the air. He started swirling around Plenty, picking up greater and greater velocity.

Nie Yan was being sucked closer and closer to the center of the vortex, to Plenty. If it were an ordinary player, they would’ve probably passed out from dizziness.

However, Nie Yan’s eyes were firmly locked onto Plenty, like a predator stalking its prey. His gaze spelled murder.

"Within my nebula, I am the master! Die! I’ll peel away your flesh one piece at a time and offer it to the eternal darkness!” Plenty’s eyes flashed with a sinister light. His expression contained all the dark forces: pestilence, wrath, fear, death…

Plenty reached out with his hand. A giant hand made out of darkness energy pierced through the endless void to grab Nie Yan.

Even before this sinister energy reached him, Nie Yan felt like it was going to corrode everything in existence.

Nie Yan felt his body slowly being melted away by this corrosive darkness. Kalenna’s Guardian Barrier was on the verge of collapse.

The Lich King Form skill was actually so powerful!

However, when he unfurled his wings, Nie Yan had already decided to go for broke. He activated Shadow Clone as his body split into two.

Adjudicator of God!

Death Sentence!

Suddenly, two enormous black hands emerged from the sky. Their target wasn’t Nie Yan but rather Plenty in the middle of the nebula!

"Die!” Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with determination. If he was going down, he would take Plenty down with him!

BANG! An unrivalled power slammed into Nie Yan’s chest, instantly shattering Kalenna’s Guardian Barrier. "GUGH!” He spat out a mouthful of blood as his entire body was sent rocketing towards the ground.

Chapter 994 - Battle of the Pinnacle (4)

When Nie Yan was sent flying like a kite with its string cut, he felt a white light fall over him. Then, his body crashed into the ground. A damage value of more than 90,000 floated up above his head. If it weren’t for Kalenna’s Guardian Barrier absorbing a portion of the damage and Adjudicator of God negating the magic damage, he would already be dead. Just a small portion of the attack’s physical damage had shaved away more than two-thirds of his health! He sucked in a cold breath of air.

Plenty had put all his focus into controlling the nebula and delivering that all-out attack to Nie Yan. His body was depleted of all energy as his knees wobbled violently. Seeing the two massive hands crashing down towards him, his eyes flashed with a trace of panic. He couldn’t understand how Nie Yan managed to cast such a powerful magic in this situation. This was simply inconceivable!

However, reality was right before his eyes!

In order to control the nebula, Plenty had to give up everything else; he couldn’t move, he couldn’t cast other skills, he couldn’t do anything but watch as the two hands crashed down on him.

The only reason Nie Yan used two Death Sentences was because he was afraid Plenty would dodge the first one. The second one was insurance. If he knew Plenty couldn’t move, he would’ve only just used one!

Plenty’s gaze landed on Nie Yan on the ground. He still hadn’t died!

Plenty’s eyes flashed with despair. However, a split-second later, they became firm with resolve. I cannot lose! He used his last skill.

Sacrifice to the Dark End!

BANG! Struck by the Death Sentence, Plenty was sent crashing into the ground. The nebula around him came to a halt and gradually dispersed.

When the howling winds stopped, Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. Looking in the distance, he saw Plenty’s corpse on the ground.

"I won?” Nie Yan’s heart relaxed. He had won by luck. Plenty's magic completely surpassed his expectations. At the end of the day, the other side had a three-year lead on him! This victory truly didn't come easily!

The spectators stared at the ground in a daze. The might of the Lich King Form was too astonishing! They all thought Nie Yan was done for. What could he possibly do to defend against that invincible nebula? Never did they imagine that he would overturn their expectations again. When the dust settled, he stood while Plenty’s corpse lay on the ground.

Nie Yan was the victor!

The players from the Righteous Faction erupted into cheers.

As Nie Yan was about to turn around and leave, Plenty’s corpse turned into dark energy and circled in the air, transforming into the image of a giant Lich King. The entire world was once more enveloped in a gloomy aura.

The players were taken aback, staring at the scene in disbelief. Could it be that the battle hadn’t ended yet? Did Plenty have a second life?

Nie Yan’s heart sank. He sensed an unrivalled power, far beyond what he’d come across from a player before. This was the presence of a deity level NPC!

The Lich King! Nie Yan seemed to realize what was going on. According to rumours, the Lich King’s real body was hidden in the depths of the underworld. He was on the same level as Archangel Tallod. The one that appeared in Necropolis was simply an apparition.

Did Plenty summoning the Lich King count as violating the match’s rules?

The Lich King hovered in the air like a spectre. His body was semi-transparent. Illusory images of him covered the entire sky. A heavy pressure weighed down on the players. Some fell to their knees, while others fought their wobbling knees. No one had the strength to oppose this force.

"Kakaka, I sense the power of eternal life. I’ve revived once more. My disciple, you’ve summoned me. I will help fulfill your wish! Wretched maggot, accept your lamentable fate!” The Lich King’s enormous dark hand moved toward Nie Yan.

In the face of this absolute power, Nie Yan had no ability to resist.

Just as Nie Yan was about to be crushed to death, Karsi’s silhouette blinked over from the far distance and erupted with a dazzling radiance. A barrier of light slowly expanded outward, protecting the two within.

BOOOM! The dark hand exploded after crashing into the barrier and dissipated into nothing. However, Karsi’s barrier was also shattered, and the person himself was sent flying back.

In front of a deity level NPC, even a Legendary NPC like Karsi was powerless.

"A mere Legend. Is that all? You might be proud of your 1,000 years of life, but I’ve already existed in this world for tens of thousands of years,” the Lich King said with a look of contempt.

Nie Yan glanced back at Karsi. He was badly injured, and no match for the Lich King. Blocking one attack was already his limit.

Was he really going to wait helplessly for death? After he lost, what was he going to do? March onto the forums and cry out with righteous indignation, "I didn’t lose to you! I lost to the Lich King!” No. That wasn’t his style! When Plenty summoned the Lich King, didn’t he have a Legendary NPC like Karsi take action as well? He had still lost. What ground did he have to stand on?

"How did he summon that thing?” Nie Yan’s mind flashed with an idea. Right, it had to be the Book of Chaos! That was definitely it! That was the only reason Plenty could summon the Lich King! He recalled his own Book of Order. Wasn’t he able to summon an Archangel himself?

Nie Yan pulled out his skill window and scrolled down to the Summon Archangel skill.

The Book of Order and Book of Chaos were direct opposites!

"Come out! Summon Archangel!”

Another dark hand appeared in the sky and came crashing down towards Nie Yan.

The aura of death permeated outward.

As the hand approached ever closer, Nie Yan started to despair. Suddenly, a scorching white radiance enveloped him. He was like a beacon of light in the darkness. As the rays cut into the Lich King, he let out a mournful cry.

Nie Yan raised his head and saw a tall angel descending. Clad in silver-white armour with a pair of translucent wings of light flowing down his back, he wielded a large white greatsword in his hand.

Archangel Tallod!

Another deity level NPC!

A showdown between two deity level NPCs!

"I swear on my life, in the name of God, I will annihilate all darkness and illuminate the world in his light…” Archangel Tallod chanted a solemn hymn as he charged toward the Lich King while brandishing his greatsword. He was like a dazzling sun, bringing dawn to this world of eternal night.

BOOOM! A tremendous collision rang out, threatening to destroy the entire world. Even Forbidden Magic paled in comparison to this absolute strength.

The world seemed to calm to a halt as if time froze.

Those on the forums lost all colour in their faces, let alone the spectators on the scene. Just what kind of battle was this? When everyone thought the battle had ended with Nie Yan’s victory, Plenty had summoned the Lich King right before his death. Even a Legendary NPC like Karsi was sent flying by the Lich King. They all thought Nie Yan was doomed for sure. Facing a deity level NPC like the Lich King, how could he possibly win? Upturning their expectations yet again, Nie Yan summoned his own deity level NPC in the form of Archangel Tallod.

This development was completely unprecedented!

Nie Yan saw a grand holy temple emerge in the sky and heard the hymns of countless angels. He could also see countless evil spirits blotting out the sky. In the end, both these things disappeared as the world descended into a deathly silence. Archangel Tallod and the Lich King vanished as if they had never appeared in the first place.

The blinding light gradually subsided. As for what happened in the end between Archangel Tallod and the Lich King, no one knew. That could only be left up to imagination. However, the match between Nie Yan and Plenty was clear. Nie Yan was the victor!

The news spread like wildfire as the spectators gradually dispersed. Not much was left of this battlefield but the traces of the battle between two deities.

Video of this final battle was saved by countless players, immortalizing this grand spectacle. In many years from now, people would still watch it in awe, a legend that was passed down from generation to generation.

After the battle ended, a full-out war between the Righteous Faction and Evil Faction broke out. With Asskickers United as a representative for the Righteous Faction, they launched a frontal assault against the Evil Faction. As for the outcome of this war, it would take years to decide. However, the Righteous Faction had an immense advantage. It would be extremely difficult for the Evil Faction to turn the tide.

Nie Yan planned to stay in Conviction as long as the servers were still up and running. The name of the Mad Rogue would forever be a part of its history and ring out across the Atlanta continent.

On the 10th anniversary of Asskickers United’s founding, Nie Yan and Xie Yao announced the happy news of the birth of their first child. Hundreds of thousands of guild members gathered in real life in Huahai for a grand celebration. Those who couldn’t make it were holding little parties of their own.

World Bloc only kept expanding. It formed an official alliance with the Dragonsoar Financial Group, Glory Financial Group, and many other famous financial groups. Their reach spread across the entire world, surpassing even the Brutus Capital Group. It got to the point where even the federation couldn’t do anything to them.

Among its many ventures, World Bloc also joined the bidding process for the rights to develop the newest virtual reality game in collaboration with the federation. It would be built on better technology than Conviction and receive far larger funding. As to how long this project would take to complete, no one knew.

Another several years later, the Brutus Capital Group was slowly pushed to the background. World Bloc won the rights to create the next virtual reality game, but there was no news on when it would be released yet.

There was no one who could touch World Bloc anymore. Nie Yan could finally relax as his wish of two lifetimes had been fully realized.

Chapter 995 - Past Life, This Life (Fin)

Huahai, the Moro River Banquet Hall. This establishment was bustling, with a steady stream of people coming and going. A total of 6,000 people were invited for tonight’s celebrations.

The gathering was quite secretive. No one from the public knew why they were here.

The guests came from all walks of life. There were the CEOs of large financial groups as well as ordinary shop owners you would find in your everyday corner store. There were bureaucrats and white-collar workers. Some were even freelancers with no particular job. However, none of them seemed to care about any of this. They chatted merrily, shoulder to shoulder as if they were close brothers.

If other players from Conviction were here, they would be shocked speechless. The names these people were calling each other were the most famous characters in the game.

The top few floors of the Moro River Banquet Hall were merged together. 600 people were gathered together across 40 tables. They were chatting happily and toasting to each other.

On both sides of the hall were 60 waitresses dressed in elegant qipaos.

"Scoundrel, aren’t you quite the playboy in Conviction? You always have a beautiful girl around your arm! I didn’t expect you to be so timid. When that waitress poured a drink for you just now, your face was bright red,” Tang Yao teased.

"W-well… you know, it’s different! That’s inside the game!” Scoundrel refuted in embarrassment.

Everyone erupted into laughter. Who knew Undying Scoundrel had such an interesting side to him?

"The boss is coming!”

The 600 people stirred, standing up one after another as their faces lit up with excitement. Even the waitresses couldn’t help but shoot curious gazes over. They also played Conviction and naturally knew Nie Yan’s name, not to mention he was also the Xie Family’s son-in-law.

Nie Yan was dressed in a well-ironed western suit. He looked dignified and suave. Next to him was Xie Yao in a white evening dress, her long hair worn up in a bun. Her beautiful figure was perfectly accentuated. Many of the guests couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. What a lovely couple!

"Nie Yan, you lil’ punk! You’ve made us wait! Get over here and toast with us, or are you going to let us all down?” Bladelight walked over. He looked like a bear with his large, hulking figure. Sure enough, he lived up to his reputation even in real life.

Following Bladelight’s words, everyone heckled jokingly.

Nie Yan swept his eyes over the crowd. These fellows were all a bunch of troublemakers, wishing nothing more than to stir up chaos. They were his old comrades who’d followed him through countless campaigns. So, there were no misunderstandings between each other, and they all spoke fairly frankly.

"I had to pay a visit to the guys below. So, I ended up being a little late. Alright, a toast to you all! I’ll down the first drink!” Nie Yan raised the glass from his table and downed his drink in one gulp, letting out a satisfied sigh.

Today was the largest gathering they’ve had since the start of the game. Asskickers United’s core members were all here, Young Seven, Smoke Stub, Sun, and so on. Not only Asskickers United, but Holy Empire, Radiant Sacred Flame, Sapphire Shrine, the War God Tribe, they were all here as well. Naturally, Sleepy Fox, Fa Lan, and Nightbreak Trickster were among the crowd.

"Big Bro!” Sun walked up to Nie Yan with an excited expression.

Looking at Sun’s juvenile face, it was hard to imagine that he was one of the most ruthless and decisive killers in the game. Nie Yan chuckled, "Today’s a school night, isn’t it? Don’t tell me you’re planning on playing hooky tomorrow? Remember to study hard! Don’t let Asskickers United lose face!”

Sun rolled his eyes. How was skipping school related to the face of the guild?

Seeing Sun’s crumbling expression, Xie Yao couldn’t help but giggle. Convincing this mischievous kid to study hard wasn’t easy!

"Did everyone make it?” Nie Yan asked, looking around.

"Yeah, everyone’s here. This is our biggest gathering yet,” Paladin of the Elegy said.

"That’s great! I didn’t expect so many people to turn up. Tonight, we’re going to drink until everyone’s piss drunk!” Nie Yan declared.

The entire banquet hall erupted into cheers.

"Yeah, piss drunk!”

Asskickers United’s peak experts all made toasts to Nie Yan one after the other, downing several dozen glasses in the process. Despite Nie Yan’s shocking alcohol tolerance, he also started showing signs of getting tipsy.

The celebrations in the Moro River Banquet Hall continued all night.

No one could imagine that these 6,000 people had changed the history of Conviction as well as the world. In real life, they were ordinary civilians, working hard everyday for a livelihood. However, with the escape of the game, they’d all played out their own respective legendary stories and became existences that countless players revered.

Seeing this rag-tag bunch of people, all from varying backgrounds and social circles, Nie Yan couldn’t help but recall a certain phrase, "The stage is as wide as your heart makes it!”

As he thought back to the last 10 years since his reincarnation, Nie Yan couldn’t help but express his thanks to the heavens for giving him another opportunity at life. Finding love with Xie Yao and coming to know this amazing group of brothers was the best thing in the world to have happened to him. Life was no longer lonesome!

After partying into the early morning, at around 5 AM, everyone retired to their respective suites.

Nie Yan staggered into the room, Xie Yao supporting him with her shoulder. His vision was hazy from all the alcohol. Looking at her delicate face, he could tell she had also drank a few glasses. Her flushed cheeks looked particularly charming.

"Xie Yao, thank you. Hic... Y-you know… The most fortunate thing to happen in my life is bumping into you on that fateful day in Ningjiang. I… Hic, I thought I’d pass away with that regret in my heart. Who knew the heavens would give me another chance?” Nie Yan slurred. He was completely drunk.

Xie Yao thought Nie Yan was referring to the time he was shot in the heart. Her eyes brimmed red with tears. When the news had reached her, she felt like her whole world was collapsing as all the colour drained away from her life. Thankfully, that had all passed.

"Come, let me bring you somewhere.” Nie Yan pulled Xie Yao into the bedroom. There were two game capsules set up. He’d already prepared them in advance.

"This late? Where are we going?” Xie Yao asked in confusion.

Nie Yan’s gaze fell on Xie Yao’s body. Her skin-tight white dress revealed her perfect curves. She was like an angel descended from heaven, the most beautiful spark to his life. Her jet-black hair draped down over her shoulders, her picturesque face you could only find in the magnum-opus of a painter. Everything about her carried an indescribable, otherworldly charm.

"The game!” Nie Yan said. Focusing his gaze on Xie Yao, countless memories gushed forth like a spring. His heart was beating wildly.

Xie Yao was skeptical. Why did Nie Yan want to play Conviction with her now of all times?

The two stepped into the game capsule. Nie Yan teleported to an underground dungeon using Instant Transmission. He appeared in a stone chamber. It was completely sealed while the remains of disarmed boobytraps could be found all around the entrance. They were enough to blow up anyone.

「It’s safe now. Use the ring to teleport to me,」Nie Yan said.

With a flash of light, Xie Yao apepared by Nie Yan’s side. She looked around in a daze. What was this place? Why did Nie Yan bring her here?

The room was clean without a speck of dust in sight. On the walls were various murals, giving off a mysterious feeling.

"Yeeek!” Xie Yao cried out. Nie Yan’s rugged arms had latched onto her waist.

The two locked bodies. Sensing Nie Yan’s heavy breathing, Xie Yao’s heart couldn’t help but beat wildly. Did Nie Yan really plan to… here of all places?

This stone chamber was unfamiliar to Xie Yao. She couldn’t help but worry that a stranger might walk in on them.

Nie Yan was drunk. His hands mischeviously groped Xie Yao’s body, delving into her robes and caressing her fair white skin. She felt an electric shock run through her from head to toe.

Nie Yan was behaving particularly wild tonight. Xie Yao couldn’t help but bashfully close her eyes, letting him devour her.

Xie Yao’s robes dropped to the ground, revealing a beautiful, fair figure, as if she were the most perfect statue carved by God himself. Her slender shoulders trembled lightly. This was her first time doing it in the game. She felt like she’d returned to their first time. Her stomach was filled with butterflies as well as a hint of expectation.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but recall his past life. Back then, Yao Yao had exposed herself to him, resembling a goddess that had come down from the heavens. It was after that fated night that the two of them slowly drifted apart as she left his world.

Nie Yan felt his hands tremble. The scene before him wasn’t a dream. The tragedies of his past life were nothing more than that, relics of a history that would never repeat.

Nie Yan gently nibbled Xie Yao’s ear, his heart filled with a slight ache as he relived the memories of that fateful night. His voice trembled as he whispered, "Tonight, you’re Yao Yao.”

Xie Yao’s eyes trembled as she felt a mysterious aching in her heart. She didn’t understand. After all, Yao Yao was her, and she was Yao Yao.

No longer thinking about it, the two lost themselves in each other’s embrace.

Fin.

Message From the Translation Team

Translator Afterword

Even though it's been a couple of weeks since the novel ended for me, it still feels a bit surreal that I'm finished with Rebirth Thief. After dedicating four years of my life to it, I feel sort of lost and restless. That said, I'm happy to have experienced this journey alongside you guys. It's been a source of consistency for me over these rocky few years of my life. There were many times I was seriously considering dropping the novel, when things were getting rough in real life, and as a translator, wondering if I was really cut out for this scene. However, I'm glad I stuck it out, and one of the things that kept me going was reading your discussions in the comments and interacting with you guys there or on Discord. Without your support, I don't know where I'd be in life right now, but I'm sure it would be much worse off, and I really mean it when I say this.

Regarding my thoughts on the end of the novel, the story personally ended for me in Chapter 937. Everything thereafter was just an epilogue with Mad Snail tying up as many loose strings as he could. Honestly, I enjoyed it for what it was. I used to get really annoyed by the retcons, inconsistencies, and dropped plot threads in Mad Snail's writing in the beginning. I'm sure some of you older readers remember the page-long rants I would go on about it. But I eventually learned to accept that this was just a fact of life with the author.

All in all, it's been a fun ride, but I don't plan to end it here. I've come to realize that I still love translating and bringing these fun stories to you guys. From what started out as a fun hobby to give back to the community has developed into a career I genuinely want to pursue. So, I'd love to have you guys join me again in seeing where this ship will take us next.

Editor Afterword

No matter how great the journey, it must end one day. Well, here we are. When I began on this journey four years ago, I never could’ve imagined it would lead to here. Rebirth Thief seemed like one of those novels you would start, but never finish. Unfortunately, it has. I want to thank everyone who has been here with us throughout this journey from the bottom of my heart. Shanks, I could’ve never been here if it wasn’t for you. You gave me trust when I needed it the most. Devshard, you showed me how little I knew of editing, and taught me how to improve. And of course you, the reader, without whom all of this wouldn’t have been possible.

It has been a phenomenal four years. From laughing with Shanks over the latest interesting Snail math to reading the many comments under each chapter, I’ve enjoyed every aspect of working on this novel and I’m eager to see what the future has in store for me. For now, I can say that I will continue working with Shanks on the next project. I hope to see all of you there!

Table of Contents

Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed The World

Synopsis
Chapter 1 – Rebirth
Chapter 2 – To Meet Once Again
Chapter 3 – Haggling
Chapter 4 – Flying Stone
Chapter 5 – Vital Strike
Chapter 6 – Making Preparations

Chapter 7 – Bypassing The Level Gap And Killing The Bison

Chapter 8 – The Price Of Underestimation
Chapter 9 – Fishmen
Chapter 10 – Physician Blevins
Chapter 11 – Assassinate Skill Book
Chapter 12 – Extra Income
Chapter 13 – Golden Electric Eel
Chapter 14 – Close Friends
Chapter 15 – Viewed In A New Light

Chapter 16 – Arrogant Before, Respectful After!

Chapter 17 – Lacerate
Chapter 18 – Hidden Quest
Chapter 19 – New Money
Chapter 20 – Killing A Red Named Player
Chapter 21 – Fire Chaser Set
Chapter 22 – Deer Chief
Chapter 23 – Coming And Going Unobstructed
Chapter 24 – Rock Spider Cave
Chapter 25 – Silver Chest
Chapter 26 – Locked Chest
Chapter 27 – Meteor
Chapter 28 – Ring Of Woven Silk
Chapter 29 – Book Of Order

Chapter 30 – Search For The Chapter Of Courage

Chapter 31 – Assassin’s Decree

Chapter 32 – The Third Chapter Of The Book Of Order

Chapter 33 – The Boss Emerges: Guardian Of Order

Chapter 34 – The Holy Crusaders
Chapter 35 – Trip
Chapter 36 – Sleepy Fox
Chapter 37 – Joke Becomes A Reality
Chapter 38 – Boots Of Swiftness (Gold)
Chapter 39 – Frail, Sickly, And Poor
Chapter 40 – Setting New Records
Chapter 41 – Vulgar Fellow
Chapter 42 – Temporary Team For Treant Forest
Chapter 43 – Prior To Departure
Chapter 44 – Dusk, The Arcane Mage
Chapter 45 – Specialist Difficulty
Chapter 46 – The Prowess Of A True Thief
Chapter 47 – Not All Men Are Created Equal
Chapter 48 – Godly Ability
Chapter 49 – Insane Levelling Speed
Chapter 50 – Treant Caretaker
Chapter 51 – Elves
Chapter 52 – Einpat’s Flute
Chapter 53 – Top Quality Round Shield
Chapter 54 – Treant King
Chapter 55 – The Rhythm Of A Boss Battle
Chapter 56 – Featherfall Jewel
Chapter 57 – Generous Rewards

Chapter 58 – Clever Use Of The Featherfall Jewel

Chapter 59 – Gato The Lion King
Chapter 60 – Resplendent Bladelight
Chapter 61 – Favour
Chapter 62 – Ogre
Chapter 63 – Art Of Weaving
Chapter 64 – Slow Death
Chapter 65 – Crossbow Of Blood
Chapter 66 – Godslayer of Yore
Chapter 67 – Medicine King

Chapter 68 – Medicine King Signs Away His Soul

Chapter 69 – Sulgata’s Shadow
Chapter 70 – Natlan Marsh
Chapter 71 – Elemental Temple Magic
Chapter 72 – Thief
Chapter 73 – Tricked
Chapter 74 – Foiled Ambush
Chapter 75 – Turn Of Events
Chapter 76 – Ancient City Of Sulgata
Chapter 77 – Cursed Skull
Chapter 78 – Fate Dice
Chapter 79 – Sulgata Colosseum
Chapter 80 – Controlling The Undead
Chapter 81 – Dark Gladiator
Chapter 82 – Skeleton Executioners
Chapter 83 – Expressing Goodwill
Chapter 84 – Aggroing Monsters
Chapter 85 – Secret Compartment
Chapter 86 – Gem
Chapter 87 – Sulgata’s Boots
Chapter 88 – Escape
Chapter 89 – Trading The Lion King’s Shield
Chapter 90 – Holy Empire’s Elite Team
Chapter 91 – Trembling Milo’s House
Chapter 92 – Agmota
Chapter 93 – King Manticore
Chapter 94 – Templar Magic
Chapter 95 – Convinced
Chapter 96 – King Manticore
Chapter 97 – Fog And Lighthouse
Chapter 98 – Repel Evil
Chapter 99 – Flash Powder

Chapter 100 – Adapting To Unforeseen Circumstances

Chapter 101 – Unknown Transfer Scroll
Chapter 102 – Invitation Declined
Chapter 103 – Paying In Installments
Chapter 104 – Preparing For The Future
Chapter 105 – Hatred And Desire For Revenge
Chapter 106 – Nie Yan’s Talent
Chapter 107 – Black Phenol Frenzy
Chapter 108 – Plague Canyon Tasoyi Village
Chapter 109 – Gaia Monitor
Chapter 110 – Lively Market
Chapter 111 – Upgrade
Chapter 112 – Blood Pact +7
Chapter 113 – Thunderbolt Blaze
Chapter 114 – Insei Rais The Cripple
Chapter 115 – Chapter Of Freedom
Chapter 116 – Arcane Fairy
Chapter 117 – Skeleton Kodo
Chapter 118 – Sea Of Bones
Chapter 119 – Abraham’s Tomb
Chapter 120 – Grace Of The Civet

Chapter 121 – Junior Magic Resonance Potion Recipe

Chapter 122 – Escape!
Chapter 123 – 130 Strength!
Chapter 124 – Business
Chapter 125 – City Of Jadeite, Hilderlocke
Chapter 126 – Battle Crazed Alliance
Chapter 127 – Krusch’s Scam
Chapter 128 – Eye of Truth

Chapter 129 – Solitary Wanderer’s Leather Armour

Chapter 130 – Collaboration
Chapter 131 – Encounter
Chapter 132 – To Bully Intolerably
Chapter 133 – Murder!
Chapter 134 – Red Name
Chapter 135 – Smoke Powder
Chapter 136 – Level 30 Elite!
Chapter 137 – Leaderboards
Chapter 138 – Beat Heaven Breaker!
Chapter 139 – Taiga Black
Chapter 140 – It’s Always The Quiet Ones
Chapter 141 – Asskickers United
Chapter 142 – Sent Flying
Chapter 143 – Basic Magic Bomb
Chapter 144 – Lord-Class Scaled Frog
Chapter 145 – Explosive Levelling
Chapter 146 – Empire
Chapter 147 – Establishing the Guild Treasury
Chapter 148 – Ambush
Chapter 149 – A Sentiment Known As Comradery!
Chapter 150 – Reinforcements
Chapter 151 – Self-Destruct!
Chapter 152 – Glaring Red Name
Chapter 153 – Ambitions
Chapter 154 – Dispute
Chapter 155 – Ceasefire
Chapter 156 – Sapphire Shrine
Chapter 157 – Heaven-Acclaimed Genius
Chapter 158 – Master
Chapter 159 – Godly Video
Chapter 160 – Seeking Shelter
Chapter 161 – Locked Dark Gold Chest
Chapter 162 – Shrine
Chapter 163 – Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow
Chapter 164 – Undead Slayer
Chapter 165 – Demon Hunter
Chapter 166 – Intermediate Demon Hunter
Chapter 167 – Key

Chapter 168 – Entering The City With A Red Name

Chapter 169 – Union Of Assassins
Chapter 170 – Kill Stealing
Chapter 171 – Guild! Brothers!
Chapter 172 – Hellfire Cavern
Chapter 173 – Chapter Of Wisdom
Chapter 174 – Exchange
Chapter 175 – Treasure Hunter
Chapter 176 – Warlock
Chapter 177 – Snatching Treasure
Chapter 178 – Kill
Chapter 179 – Light Monastery
Chapter 180 – Recruitment
Chapter 181 – Withered Leaf
Chapter 182 – Fierce Person
Chapter 183 – Ash Cloaked Heretics
Chapter 184 – Splitting Edge
Chapter 185 – Legend Of The Ten Holy Paladins
Chapter 186 – Holy Priest, Shadow Priest
Chapter 187 – Paladin Kavana
Chapter 188 – Chapter Of Justice
Chapter 189 – Elite
Chapter 190 – Charge Weapon
Chapter 191 – Heavy Crossbow!
Chapter 192 – Large-Scale Mobbing
Chapter 193 – Evolution Crystal
Chapter 194 – Decision!
Chapter 195 – Hundred Thief Task Force
Chapter 196 – Yu Long
Chapter 197 – Ten Men Massacre!
Chapter 198 – Field Of Corpses
Chapter 199 – Names Red As Blood
Chapter 200 – The Master Emerges
Chapter 201 – The Secret Of Kiln Fire Woods
Chapter 202 – Grimmar Soul Staff!
Chapter 203 – Unrivalled Titan
Chapter 204 – Birth Of The Mad Rogue!
Chapter 205 – The Hero Returns Triumphant
Chapter 206 – Unrivalled Godly Staff
Chapter 207 – Killer’s Demonic Medallion
Chapter 208 – Mutual Defense Pact
Chapter 209 – Skill Of A Shadow Dancer

Chapter 210 – Slaughter Fiend Medallion (Thief)

Chapter 211 – Invincible
Chapter 212 – Amassing Funds
Chapter 213 – Honour
Chapter 214 – Black Hell
Chapter 215 – Chapter Of Harmony
Chapter 216 – Everlasting Silver Set
Chapter 217 – Defeat Of Holy Empire
Chapter 218 – Vying For The Stronghold
Chapter 219 – Gathering Of Elites
Chapter 220 – Dueling Holy Empire
Chapter 221 – Strength Of The Bull
Chapter 222 – Rank 6 Shield
Chapter 223 – Complete Victory!
Chapter 224 – Upcoming Storm
Chapter 225 – Soaring Murderous Aura
Chapter 226 – Berserk Power
Chapter 227 – Killing Intent!
Chapter 228 – Killing Clear Sky
Chapter 229 – Meeting Of The Big Shots
Chapter 230 – Soaring Morale
Chapter 231 – Taking Lives Like Reaping Wheat
Chapter 232 – Fleeing After Making A Killing

Chapter 233 – Snatching Food From The Tiger’s Den

Chapter 234 – Tuoba Family Head

Chapter 235 – Weary Dragon Soaring To The Heavens!

Chapter 236 – Dark Immortal
Chapter 237 – True Illusion
Chapter 238 – White Elves
Chapter 239 – Chapter Of Virtue
Chapter 240 – Volume I: Glimpse Of Darkness
Chapter 241 – Buried History
Chapter 242 – City Guards
Chapter 243 – Faulkner Warhorse
Chapter 244 – Meeting Xie Yao Again
Chapter 245 – Cunning
Chapter 246 – New Student
Chapter 247 – Planning
Chapter 248 – Shocked
Chapter 249 – Bringing To Level
Chapter 250 – Return Of Aqua Smoke Stub
Chapter 251 – Plasma Core Golem
Chapter 252 – First To Explore The Map
Chapter 253 – Leaper Ring
Chapter 254 – Trapping The Boss
Chapter 255 – Divine Right Set
Chapter 256 – Plot
Chapter 257 – Xie Yao
Chapter 258 – Goblin Cannoneer

Chapter 259 – Darkbright Leather Armour Of Solga

Chapter 260 – Golden Dragon
Chapter 261 – Setting Out For Battle
Chapter 262 – Strongest Champion
Chapter 263 – Sinful Gorge
Chapter 264 – Jack The Ripper

Chapter 265 – However Many Arrive, However Many Die

Chapter 266 – Golden Dragon’s Massacre!
Chapter 267 – Magic Ignition
Chapter 268 – Divinity
Chapter 269 – Kill!
Chapter 270 – Dividing Up The Loot
Chapter 271 – Golden Dragon Horn
Chapter 272 – Sealed Off
Chapter 273 – Declaration
Chapter 274 – Dragonsoar Financial Group
Chapter 275 – Father And Son
Chapter 276 – Seductress
Chapter 277 – Teacher’s Assistant
Chapter 278 – Summoning the Golden Dragon
Chapter 279 – Shadow Slaughter
Chapter 280 – Black Sea Devil Banmu
Chapter 281 – Karsi’s Teachings
Chapter 282 – Chapter of Peace
Chapter 283 – Pearl of Disguise
Chapter 284 – Legendary Quest
Chapter 285 – Sinkhole
Chapter 286 – Black Sin Lotus
Chapter 287 – Zennarde’s Domain
Chapter 288 – Zennarde’s Cenotaph
Chapter 289 – God’s Blessing
Chapter 290 – Zennarde’s Sword
Chapter 291 – Barbarian Kelowitz
Chapter 292 – Sword of Slaughter
Chapter 293 – Stronghold Infrastructure
Chapter 294 – Faded
Chapter 295 – God-Slaying Sword
Chapter 296 – Shocking
Chapter 297 – Powerful Foe
Chapter 298 – Gale Ambush
Chapter 299 – The Might of Shadow Slaughter
Chapter 300 – Chapter of Compassion
Chapter 301 – Fighting like a Caged Beast
Chapter 302 – Reinforcements
Chapter 303 - Shadow Killer
Chapter 304 – Pursuit
Chapter 305 – Crystal Caverns
Chapter 306 – Marquis
Chapter 307 – Super Alliance
Chapter 308 – Super Trade Channel
Chapter 309 – Great Thief
Chapter 310 – Molelord
Chapter 311 – Necklace of Deception
Chapter 312 – Great Thief Skill Book
Chapter 313 – Empress Finas’ Fate Pearl
Chapter 314 – Undying Soul
Chapter 315 – Molelord Bennett
Chapter 316 – Windfall
Chapter 317 – War God Tribe
Chapter 318 – Gathering Funds
Chapter 319 - Laying Cards Out on the Table
Chapter 320 – Surrender
Chapter 321 – Daze
Chapter 322 – Placing Bounties
Chapter 323 – Awed
Chapter 324 – Utterly Eclipsed
Chapter 325 – Declaration of War
Chapter 326 – Unprecedented Unity
Chapter 327 – Twisting Vines Scroll
Chapter 328 – Standardized Equipment
Chapter 329 – Magical Device Book
Chapter 330 – Abak’s Gloves of Sealing
Chapter 331 – Tinkerer
Chapter 332 – Brothers!
Chapter 333 – Dark Portal
Chapter 334 – Underworld
Chapter 335 – Glory Kills
Chapter 336 – One Hit Kill
Chapter 337 – Underworld Trip
Chapter 338 – Exam
Chapter 339 – Freak
Chapter 340 – Drunk
Chapter 341 – Devil Slayer
Chapter 342 – Launching a Sneak Attack
Chapter 343 – Black Kingsnake Shield
Chapter 344 – Three Hammers, Instant Death
Chapter 345 – Slaughter God
Chapter 346 – Graveyard Village
Chapter 347 – An Invitation to Chat
Chapter 348 – Smuggling
Chapter 349 – Soul Pendant
Chapter 350 – Conjuring Skull
Chapter 351 – Pygmy Ring
Chapter 352 – Empress Finas’ Fang
Chapter 353 – Departure
Chapter 354 – Akeph’s Hand of Knowledge
Chapter 355 – Offloading
Chapter 356 – Windfall
Chapter 357 - Death Wave Scroll
Chapter 358 - Legend of the Assassin

Chapter 359 - Power-Levelling With Death Wave Scrolls

Chapter 360 - Sulgata’s Runic Cloth

Chapter 361 - Blaze Step

Chapter 362 - Great Thief Class Advancement Quest

Chapter 363 - Contempt
Chapter 364 - Super Alliance
Chapter 365 - Mana Storage Jewel
Chapter 366 - Thief Treasure Hoard
Chapter 367 - Animorph Necklace
Chapter 368 - Underground Dungeon
Chapter 369 - Last Hostage
Chapter 370 - Truth Revealed
Chapter 371 - Romantic Invitation
Chapter 372 - Monstrous Achievement
Chapter 373 - Magic Introduction
Chapter 374 - Great Thief

Chapter 375 - Preparations for Capturing an Intermediate Stronghold

Chapter 376 - Cripps Stronghold
Chapter 377 - Phantom Assassination
Chapter 378 - Foreign Players
Chapter 379 - War Preparations
Chapter 380 - Coordination
Chapter 381 - Magic Tower
Chapter 382 - Reward Building
Chapter 383 - Blackett Grizzly
Chapter 384 - Corpse Eater
Chapter 385 - Execution!
Chapter 386 - Earl Kelfield’s Worries
Chapter 387 - The Earls Ancient Castle
Chapter 388 - Holy Stone
Chapter 389 - Abak’s Bloody Dagger

Chapter 390 - Defeating the Wraith of the Ancient Castle

Chapter 391 - Elven Thief
Chapter 392 - Goblin Magic Cannons
Chapter 393 - Ransack and Ransack

Chapter 394 - Obscurus Magic, Explosion Inferno!

Chapter 395 - Lightning Storm!
Chapter 396 - Illusion Steps
Chapter 397 - Apocalyptic Extinction
Chapter 398 - Cao Xu!
Chapter 399 - Banquet
Chapter 400 - Anger
Chapter 401 - Soaring Angel
Chapter 402 - Xie Yao’s Bedroom
Chapter 403 - Lava Sea
Chapter 404 - Occult Titan
Chapter 405 - 10-Man Commander
Chapter 406 - Flight Point
Chapter 407 - Leshen
Chapter 408 - Nadago’s Staff of Curses
Chapter 409 - Game Capsule
Chapter 410 - Armoured Catapults
Chapter 411 - Empress Finas’ Eye
Chapter 412 - Legendary Necromancer Nadago
Chapter 413 - Occult Behemoth, Molelord
Chapter 414 - Rock Giant Stargazers
Chapter 415 - Star Shrines
Chapter 416 - Empress Finas’ Venom Sac
Chapter 417 - Occult Summoning Array
Chapter 418 - The Real Battle Begins!
Chapter 419 - Slaughter!

Chapter 420 - Frightening Might of a Golden Dragon

Chapter 421 - Unity, Comradery, Glory!

Chapter 422 - Decisive Battle!!!

Chapter 423 - Dance of the Thief!

Chapter 424 - Even Female Priests Can Be Deadly!

Chapter 425 - Death of Smoke Stub
Chapter 426 - Instagibbed!
Chapter 427 - Emergence of the Crypt Lord

Chapter 428 - Crypt Lord Bennett Sweeps the Battlefield!

Chapter 429 - Struggle to the Bitter End

Chapter 430 - Even a Nobody Can Make a Huge Impact!

Chapter 431 - The Crushing Defeat of Victorious Return!

Chapter 432 - Unification of Calore
Chapter 433 - Sniper!
Chapter 434 - Hitmen, Mercenaries!
Chapter 435 - Bayonet!
Chapter 436 - Entrusted By Father Xie
Chapter 437 - Bloodshadow Legion
Chapter 438 - Bloodshadow Totems
Chapter 439 - Everwinter Potion
Chapter 440 - Evil Gemstone
Chapter 441 - King of the World
Chapter 442 - Complete Trust
Chapter 443 - Scammed!
Chapter 444 - Upgrading the Silk Spinner Ring
Chapter 445 - Sleeping Beauty
Chapter 446 - Bayonet’s Skill
Chapter 447 - Qualifications
Chapter 448 - Riled Into Action
Chapter 449 - Shadow
Chapter 450 - Challenge
Chapter 451 - Hilton Stronghold
Chapter 452 - Dark Crimson Gold
Chapter 453 - Great Prophecy
Chapter 454 - Ignatius Fur Shop
Chapter 455 - Slaves
Chapter 456 - Darkwing Dragon
Chapter 457 - The Release of Flying Mounts
Chapter 458 - Gambler

Chapter 459 - Clever Display of the Kick Skill

Chapter 460 - Even Priests Can Make Outplays!
Chapter 461 - Godly Priest
Chapter 462 - Polar Behemoth
Chapter 463 - Lil’ Gold vs. Polar Behemoth
Chapter 464 - Luminous Dancer
Chapter 465 - The Fifth Character Property
Chapter 466 - Golden City
Chapter 467 - Friction
Chapter 468 - Ray of Hope
Chapter 469 - Cursed Grounds
Chapter 470 - Artisan Forging Hammer
Chapter 471 - Zennarde’s Sword Upgrade!
Chapter 472 - Lying in Ambush!
Chapter 473 - The One Called Shadow Killer!
Chapter 474 - Three Lives for Three Lives
Chapter 475 - Treasury Quest
Chapter 476 - Song of the Bramble Bird
Chapter 477 - Sub Legendary Treasure Chest
Chapter 478 - Abak’s Cape of Ruin!
Chapter 479 - Backer
Chapter 480 - Pet Hatching

Chapter 481 - Hatching the Netherthunder Eagle!

Chapter 482 - Netherthunder Eagle Takes Flight

Chapter 483 - Aerial Treasure Hunting
Chapter 484 - Struck Gold
Chapter 485 - Scarlet Blaze Ruby!

Chapter 486 - Wandering Bard’s Sheet Music Scraps

Chapter 487 - Fate Wheel
Chapter 488 - Viper Dagger
Chapter 489 - The Sixth Character Property
Chapter 490 - Spreading a Net
Chapter 491 - Reaching the Summit
Chapter 492 - Challenge
Chapter 493 - Dance of the Peacock
Chapter 494 - Javelin Launcher
Chapter 495 - Shocking Plan
Chapter 496 - Twinked Gear
Chapter 497 - Skyfire Wing
Chapter 498 - Poking the Hornet’s Nest
Chapter 499 - Prelude to the War with Eternal
Chapter 500 - Smoke Screen
Chapter 501 - Fall of a Stronghold

Chapter 502 - Kill One of My Own? I’ll Destroy Your Stronghold!

Chapter 503 - Howling Wind
Chapter 504 - Magic Runestones
Chapter 505 - Three Men Make a Tiger
Chapter 506 - Troll Dillons
Chapter 507 - Clever Use of the Eye of Kirge
Chapter 508 - Bloodfiends
Chapter 509 - Mana Key
Chapter 510 - The Bloodfiends Strike
Chapter 511 - Fighting Fire with Fire
Chapter 512 - Selling Gems
Chapter 513 - Authority!
Chapter 514 - New Title!
Chapter 515 - Nirvana Flame’s Residence!
Chapter 516 - Resurrection Scroll

Chapter 517 - Another Sub Legendary-grade Chest!

Chapter 518 - Phoenix
Chapter 519 - Hearts Entwine
Chapter 520 - Targeted
Chapter 521 - Massacre
Chapter 522 - Wind Serpent!
Chapter 523 - Mysterious Shadow Priest
Chapter 524 - Fake News
Chapter 525 - Old Enemy
Chapter 526 - Setting Up the Date of the War
Chapter 527 - Pulling at the Root
Chapter 528 - Hyperlink Ring
Chapter 529 - Hatching the Darkwing Dragon
Chapter 530 - Darkwing Dragon!!!
Chapter 531 - Black Hell Joins the Guild
Chapter 532 - What It Means To Be Brothers
Chapter 533 - Realm of Death!
Chapter 534 - Hunting
Chapter 535 - Death God Appears
Chapter 536 - Flawless Interception
Chapter 537 - Luring the Tiger
Chapter 538 - Clever Deployment of Thieves
Chapter 539 - Absolutely Flawless Teamwork
Chapter 540 - Chaining Traps!
Chapter 541 - Debut of the Darkwing Dragon!
Chapter 542 - Absolute Advantage
Chapter 543 - Death From Above!
Chapter 544 - Death From Above (2)
Chapter 545 - Hunted
Chapter 546 - Surrounded
Chapter 547 - Defeat of Alliance of Mages
Chapter 548 - The War Begins
Chapter 549 - Doppelganger Necklace
Chapter 550 - Targets Sighted
Chapter 551 - Flawless Assassination!
Chapter 552 - Ruthless!
Chapter 553 - Existential Threat
Chapter 554 - Rivers of Blood

Chapter 555 - The Darkwing Dragon Takes the Stage

Chapter 556 - Steamrolling
Chapter 557 - The First Batch To Leave
Chapter 558 - Conspiracy!

Chapter 559 - The Century Financial Group’s Assets!

Chapter 560 - Wish Necklace
Chapter 561 - Magister!
Chapter 562 - Dragon Girl Venita
Chapter 563 - Skill Proficiency
Chapter 564 - Training Freedom Skills
Chapter 565 - Rank 8 Backbreaker!
Chapter 566 - Level 120 Elite
Chapter 567 - Plain Looking
Chapter 568 - Heavenly Kings!
Chapter 569 - Fitness Testing!
Chapter 570 - Rank 10 Steal!
Chapter 571 - Seduction (Censored)
Chapter 572 - Trebuchets!

Chapter 573 - Bombarding the Edgarton Stronghold

Chapter 574 - Mages, Charge!
Chapter 575 - Catapults vs. Flying Mounts
Chapter 576 - Dividing up the Spoils of War
Chapter 577 - Overpowered Skills
Chapter 578 - Hell Execution!!!
Chapter 579 - Book of Holy Judgement
Chapter 580 - Poison Valley
Chapter 581 - War God!
Chapter 582 - Record of Seals
Chapter 583 - Soloing a Level 110 Lord
Chapter 584 - Sacrificial Gambit
Chapter 585 - Royal Library
Chapter 586 - The Seventh Character Property
Chapter 587 - Get-Together
Chapter 588 - Beautiful Class President
Chapter 589 - Cheater

Chapter 590 - Another Piece of the Tyrant Abak Set?

Chapter 591 - Paladin Lafus
Chapter 592 - Holy Spirit Imprint
Chapter 593 - Pharaoh Brannigan
Chapter 594 - Shadow Dancer Skill Book

Chapter 595 - Encountering Phantom Princess Ina Again

Chapter 596 - Escape
Chapter 597 - Cranston
Chapter 598 - Town Slaughter!

Chapter 599 - An Eye for an Eye, A Tooth for a Tooth

Chapter 600 - Conspiracy
Chapter 601 - Godly Blessings
Chapter 602 - Baited
Chapter 603 - Complete Reversal
Chapter 604 - Loot Scramble!
Chapter 605 - Legendary Vambraces
Chapter 606 - Ostracized
Chapter 607 - War God Lei Su!
Chapter 608 - Request to Join

Chapter 609 - Settling Scores on the Arena Stage

Chapter 610 - Blowing Off Steam
Chapter 611 - Five Versus Five
Chapter 612 - Breathtaking Attack
Chapter 613 - Heart of Winter
Chapter 614 - Book of Forgotten History
Chapter 615 - Sulgata’s Feather

Chapter 616 - Sulgata’s Shadow Walkers (Legendary)

Chapter 617 - Ancient World

Chapter 618 - Luminous Dancer Class Advancement Quest

Chapter 619 - Red Dragon Herb

Chapter 620 - Removing the Second Seal from Zennarde’s Sword

Chapter 621 - Even Saints Have a Limit to Their Tolerance

Chapter 622 - Blown Away
Chapter 623 - 6-Hit Combo!
Chapter 624 - Advanced Devil Slayer
Chapter 625 - A Rift
Chapter 626 - Master of All Trades!
Chapter 627 - Ice Wraith
Chapter 628 - Feeding the Darkwing Dragon!
Chapter 629 - World Heart!
Chapter 630 - Dragon Core!
Chapter 631 - Luminous Dancer!
Chapter 632 - The Darkwing Dragon Ranks Up!
Chapter 633 - Shattered Divinity
Chapter 634 - Cardinal!
Chapter 635 - Shadow Dancer Medal
Chapter 636 - Pinnacle of Speed!
Chapter 637 - Dark Puppet Lord
Chapter 638 - Techniques of a Shadow Dancer
Chapter 639 - Dancer of the Shadows
Chapter 640 - Towering Mountain
Chapter 641 - Encounter In the Skies
Chapter 642 - Slaughter in the Air
Chapter 643 - Arrogant
Chapter 644 - Sub Legendary Blueprint
Chapter 645 - Even Dragons Must Submit!
Chapter 646 - A Huge Stir
Chapter 647 - Remodeled Cavalry Crossbow
Chapter 648 - Necromancer Vorderman
Chapter 649 - Failed Prophecy
Chapter 650 - Skeleton Army
Chapter 651 - Reinforced Cavalry Crossbow
Chapter 652 - Wild Soul
Chapter 653 - Prediction?
Chapter 654 - Breaking the Third Seal!
Chapter 655 - Amazing Range!
Chapter 656 - Killing from Afar
Chapter 657 - Bone Dragon
Chapter 658 - Web-Crawler Ring
Chapter 659 - The First Magister!
Chapter 660 - Sword Saint
Chapter 661 - 30 Paladins!
Chapter 662 - The Might of Magisters!
Chapter 663 - Junior Adjudicator of Light
Chapter 664 - Decree of Dusk!
Chapter 665 - Disparity
Chapter 666 - Mass Sacrifice
Chapter 667 - Great Prophet!
Chapter 668 - Swept Away
Chapter 669 - Bow Down and Submit
Chapter 670 - Great Prophet Medal

Chapter 671 - Nirvana Flame vs. War God Lei Su

Chapter 672 - Cut Throat
Chapter 673 - Joining Heavenly Kings
Chapter 674 - Enemies on a Narrow Path
Chapter 675 - Archon Flame Apocalypse
Chapter 676 - Invincible Lei Su
Chapter 677 - General?
Chapter 678 - Mo Yuntian’s Request
Chapter 679 - Aces
Chapter 680 - Military Instructor
Chapter 681 - Bayonet’s Name
Chapter 682 - Entering the Guild
Chapter 683 - Plundering Chapters of Order
Chapter 684 - Legendary Priests
Chapter 685 - Fishing Up Easy Benefits
Chapter 686 - Shoe on the Other Foot
Chapter 687 - Ambush
Chapter 688 - Glimpse of Light
Chapter 689 - 12 Master Class Players!
Chapter 690 - Battle of the Strongest!
Chapter 691 - Enemy Attack
Chapter 692 - Bulldozing!
Chapter 693 - Enemies on All Sides
Chapter 694 - Death Note
Chapter 695 - Casualties
Chapter 696 - Lost Longbow of Sorodin
Chapter 697 - Forbidden Lightning Magic
Chapter 698 - Great Prophet’s Fiefdom
Chapter 699 - Dinner Party
Chapter 700 - Private Worries
Chapter 701 - Reversal of Fortune
Chapter 702 - Ruthless Monopolization
Chapter 703 - Hoarding!
Chapter 704 - Frantic Market
Chapter 705 - Inspecting the New Territory!
Chapter 706 - Slave Yallop
Chapter 707 - NPC Follower
Chapter 708 - Okoron
Chapter 709 - The 13th Master Class Player
Chapter 710 - Kong King
Chapter 711 - Getting to Work
Chapter 712 - 13-Man Team
Chapter 713 - Diffusion Crystal
Chapter 714 - Inferno Bomb!
Chapter 715 - 10 Great Overlords!

Chapter 716 - Staking Everything on the Final Battle

Chapter 717 - The Rallying Call of Invincible!

Chapter 718 - Return of the King!

Chapter 719 - Teleport Formation

Chapter 720 - Return of the Bone Dragon!

Chapter 721 - Royal Griffon Corps, Kill!

Chapter 722 - Death God Tempest!

Chapter 723 - Utterly Alone and Abandoned

Chapter 724 - Zennarde’s Sword Breaks Through!

Chapter 725 - Sacred Object - Death God’s Edge!

Chapter 726 - Abak’s Tomb

Chapter 727 - Abak’s Frostwinter Shoulderguards

Chapter 728 - Mystic, Slayer
Chapter 729 - Shadow Strifer!
Chapter 730 - Old Friend
Chapter 731 - Comrades in a Past Life
Chapter 732 - Insar’s Finger Bone
Chapter 733 - The Eighth Character Property
Chapter 734 - Satreen Empire
Chapter 735 - Angel Corps’ Territory
Chapter 736 - Assassinating an Elite Team
Chapter 737 - Might of a Single Slash!
Chapter 738 - Framed
Chapter 739 - Dark Elf Tribe
Chapter 740 - Elven Beauty
Chapter 741 - Twin-Headed Ogre
Chapter 742 - Treasure Key
Chapter 743 - Demon
Chapter 744 - Bloodbath
Chapter 745 - Deadly Trap
Chapter 746 - Revival
Chapter 747 - Butcher Sark

Chapter 748 - A Meat Bun Thrown is Forever Lost

Chapter 749 - Kamikaze

Chapter 750 - Legendary Chest

Chapter 751 - Sacred Object - Paternoster’s Warhammer!

Chapter 752 - Spectral Dancer
Chapter 753 - Stronghold Besieged
Chapter 754 - Impasse
Chapter 755 - No Retreat
Chapter 756 - Demon’s Feather
Chapter 757 - Fallen Feather
Chapter 758 - Chapter of Elements
Chapter 759 - Painful Memories
Chapter 760 - Extraordinary Beauty
Chapter 761 - Erotic Training
Chapter 762 - Tossed Into Jail!
Chapter 763 - Demon Soulstone
Chapter 764 - Phantom Princess Ina Reappears
Chapter 765 - Lost City
Chapter 766 - Barthe Inner District
Chapter 767 - Devil World Riders
Chapter 768 - Path of the King
Chapter 769 - Ridiculous Critical Hits
Chapter 770 - Mage Tower
Chapter 771 - War God Gaming Organization
Chapter 772 - Meeting Wei Kai Again
Chapter 773 - Show of Strength
Chapter 774 - Forbidden Magic of a Guardian
Chapter 775 - Earth Orb
Chapter 776 - World of Darkness

Chapter 777 - Power Levelling with Forbidden Magic

Chapter 778 - Blood Reaver Corps

Chapter 779 - Number One Team Under the Heavens

Chapter 780 - General
Chapter 781 - A Deal
Chapter 782 - Soul Blessing
Chapter 783 - Almost Killing an Ally
Chapter 784 - Traitor Drakuru
Chapter 785 - Level 180 Demonified Lord

Chapter 786 - The First Clash With the Blood Reaver Corps

Chapter 787 - Graceful Strike
Chapter 788 - Dealing with the Traitor
Chapter 789 - Farewell For Now
Chapter 790 - Out of Mana
Chapter 791 - Kalenna Takes Action
Chapter 792 - The Final Stretch
Chapter 793 - Fatal Blow
Chapter 794 - Demon Drakuru’s Tower Shield
Chapter 795 - Declaring War
Chapter 796 - Tomb Keeper Karise
Chapter 797 - Magister Lefis
Chapter 798 - Life Hanging by a Thread
Chapter 799 - Abak’s Vorpal Striders
Chapter 800 - Movement Speed Cap

Chapter 801 - Putting a Stop to the Blood Reaver Corps

Chapter 802 - Flawless Ambush
Chapter 803 - Caged Beasts
Chapter 804 - Legendary Scroll
Chapter 805 - All-Out Slaughter

Chapter 806 - By Far the Strangest Attack in the Game

Chapter 807 - Killing Blood Devil!
Chapter 808 - Legendary Realm?
Chapter 809 - Temple of the Goddess of Life
Chapter 810 - Surrounded by Variant Lords
Chapter 811 - Extreme Vanish
Chapter 812 -Tang Yao’s Fate
Chapter 813 - Bayonet’s Might
Chapter 814 - Bar Brawl
Chapter 815 - Lunatic
Chapter 816 - Sub Legendary Gem
Chapter 817 - Almost Within Reach
Chapter 818 - Three Chest Dilemma
Chapter 819 - Legendary Tyrant Abak Set
Chapter 820 - Boss Siege
Chapter 821 - Playing Dirty
Chapter 822 - An Ant Trying to Topple an Oak
Chapter 823 - Kill Without Mercy!
Chapter 824 - Nightfall Gem
Chapter 825 - White Leopard Cat
Chapter 826 - Rematch With the Lava Titan
Chapter 827 - Frozen World
Chapter 828 - Necklace of Grimmar
Chapter 829 - To the Underworld!
Chapter 830 - Freakish Progression

Chapter 831 - Traversing the Underworld Passage

Chapter 832 - Death and Glory
Chapter 833 - Half-Demon Angud
Chapter 834 - Soulweaver Necromancer
Chapter 835 - Village Slaughter
Chapter 836 - Forbidden Zone
Chapter 837 - End of the Road
Chapter 838 - Silvermoon Gorge
Chapter 839 - Dragon Emperor

Chapter 840 - Occult Talisman of Arachne Empress Finas

Chapter 841 - Enemies on All Sides
Chapter 842 - Final Showdown
Chapter 843 - Rank 8 Darkwing Dragon
Chapter 844 - Carnage
Chapter 845 - City of Sin
Chapter 846 - Game of Courage
Chapter 847 - Lich King’s Tomb
Chapter 848 - Erased History
Chapter 849 - Lich King’s Inheritance
Chapter 850 - Lich King Insar’s Ring
Chapter 851 - Holy Spirit Heart!
Chapter 852 - Patience
Chapter 853 - Title Advancement
Chapter 854 - Return
Chapter 855 - Ample Financial Resources
Chapter 856 - Rescuing War God Kelo
Chapter 857 - New Race, New Class
Chapter 858 - Insignia of the God of War
Chapter 859 - Barbarian Raider
Chapter 860 - Meeting Angud Again
Chapter 861 - Purifying Angud
Chapter 862 - Encounter in the Skies
Chapter 863 - Beginning Act
Chapter 864 - Scarlet Flame Dragon
Chapter 865 - Rise From the Ashes
Chapter 866 - Rank 8 Phoenix!
Chapter 867 - Stalemate

Chapter 868 - New Flying Mount! Spectre Dragon!

Chapter 869 - Shadow Vultures
Chapter 870 - Unique Skill
Chapter 871 - Water Demons

Chapter 872 - Snatching Food from the Tiger’s Den

Chapter 873 - Demon Realm Stone
Chapter 874 - Commerce Empire
Chapter 875 - Psychedelic Lust Potion
Chapter 876 - Legendary Dragonbane
Chapter 877 - Path of the Thief
Chapter 878 - Violet Eye Dragon
Chapter 879 - New Plan
Chapter 880 - Insane Plan
Chapter 881 - Preparations Complete
Chapter 882 - Trapping the Violet Eye Dragon
Chapter 883 - Spiked Drink
Chapter 884 - To Catch a Violet Eye Dragon
Chapter 885 - Mysterious Beast Tamer
Chapter 886 - Beast Tamer Hall
Chapter 887 - Visiting the City of Sin
Chapter 888 - Meeting Soaring Angel Again
Chapter 889 - Ambush?
Chapter 890 - Wings of Sorens
Chapter 891 - Pursuit Battle
Chapter 892 - Devouring Plasma Storm
Chapter 893 - Reinforcements to the Rescue
Chapter 894 - Dragon King Fruit
Chapter 895 - Fallen Angel Brufut
Chapter 896 - Rank 7 Spectre Dragon
Chapter 897 - Money is not a Problem
Chapter 898 - Something to Die For
Chapter 899 - Berserk Thunder Dragon
Chapter 900 - Resurrection
Chapter 901 - Rage Bait
Chapter 902 - Wrath of the Water God
Chapter 903 - Doom Cyclone
Chapter 904 - Dragon King Fruit Acquired!
Chapter 905 - Breathtaking Aerial Battle!
Chapter 906 - Sovereign Overlooking the World
Chapter 907 - Cherubim Grace!
Chapter 908 - Kamikaze Drakes
Chapter 909 - Apocalypse Storm
Chapter 910 - Awe-inspiring
Chapter 911 - Goblin Airship
Chapter 912 - Illusion Revealed
Chapter 913 - Detonate! Wipe the Enemy out!
Chapter 914 - Splendid Victory
Chapter 915 - Supreme Pontiff!

Chapter 916 - Eight Chapters from the Book of Order

Chapter 917 - Radiance Edge
Chapter 918 - Divine Eclipse Dragon
Chapter 919 - Strange Quest
Chapter 920 - Venerable Title!
Chapter 921 - Void Necklace
Chapter 922 - Shadow Demon Wolf

Chapter 923 - Conscripting the Shadow Demon Wolf

Chapter 924 - Prelude to the Final Battle
Chapter 925 - Unrivalled on the Battlefield
Chapter 926 - Killing Blow
Chapter 927 - Exploding Stone Giants
Chapter 928 - One Strike Kill
Chapter 929 - Dark Behemoth King
Chapter 930 - Arachne Empress Finas!
Chapter 931 - Hunting Operation
Chapter 932 - Cao Xu Missing!
Chapter 933 - News on Cao Xu!
Chapter 934 - Pulling a Snake From Its Hole
Chapter 935 - Encounter in the Woods
Chapter 936 - Number One Assassin
Chapter 937 - Mystery of Life or Death
Chapter 938 - Recollection of the Mad Rogue
Chapter 939 - Chairman of the Dark Council
Chapter 940 - Back into the Thick of Things
Chapter 941 - Inheritance Gem
Chapter 942 - Demon Realm Stone

Chapter 943 - Clever Use of the Incorporeal Potion

Chapter 944 - Chaos Keeper
Chapter 945 - Dark Demonic Space
Chapter 946 - Holy Nova Ray
Chapter 947 - Record Broken
Chapter 948 - Void Metal
Chapter 949 - Unlocked Skills!
Chapter 950 - Dark Demon Crystal

Chapter 951 - The Divine Eclipse Dragon Evolves!

Chapter 952 - Upgrading Zennarde’s Sword
Chapter 953 - Chaos Set
Chapter 954 - Archangel Tallod
Chapter 955 - Advanced Adjudicator of Light!
Chapter 956 - Deceased Skulls
Chapter 957 - Challenge Accepted
Chapter 958 - Showdown in Judgement Valley
Chapter 959 - Consecutive Victories!
Chapter 960 - Number One Warrior!
Chapter 961 - Dark Demon King
Chapter 962 - Plenty Takes the Stage!
Chapter 963 - Die!
Chapter 964 - Dark Demon Guard
Chapter 965 - The Mad Rogue’s Challenge
Chapter 966 - Demon King Stone
Chapter 967 - Level 200 Divine Eclipse Dragon
Chapter 968 - Legendary Skill!
Chapter 969 - The Fifth Shattered Divinity!
Chapter 970 - The Sixth Shattered Divinity!
Chapter 971 - Demon King Seal!
Chapter 972 - Mysterious Throne
Chapter 973 - Great Hell Judge!
Chapter 974 - Legendary Thief!
Chapter 975 - Inheritance of Life Gem
Chapter 976 - Sacred Set - Abak!
Chapter 977 - Icy Aura
Chapter 978 - Returning to Hell!
Chapter 979 - Inconceivable Sight!
Chapter 980 - Legendary Video!
Chapter 981 - Howling Wind’s Challenge
Chapter 982 - Death God’s Bone
Chapter 983 - Return of the Mad Rogue
Chapter 984 - Chapter of Holiness!
Chapter 985 - Book of Order
Chapter 986 - Absolute Might!
Chapter 987 - Fallen Angel, Get Ready!
Chapter 988 - Heads Rolling with Every Step
Chapter 989 - Killing Godking

Chapter 990 - Rank 10 Legendary Darkwing Dragon!

Chapter 991 - Battle of the Pinnacle (1)
Chapter 992 - Battle of the Pinnacle (2)
Chapter 993 - Battle of the Pinnacle (3)
Chapter 994 - Battle of the Pinnacle (4)
Chapter 995 - Past Life, This Life (Fin)
Message From the Translation Team

Landmarks

1. Table of Contents

2. Cover